Anonymous Asks (257)

“Who authored the Psalms?”

Scripture clearly identifies many of the psalmists with superscriptions. Sometimes we even get a little bit of detail about the circumstances in which they wrote. For example, the superscription for Psalm 3 is “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son”, and Psalm 7 is called “A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite”.

Please don’t ask what a “shiggaion” is. It’s one of those words Strong’s Concordance labels as “doubtful”.

The Authors in Order

Anyway, these sorts of identifiers enable us to be confident about the authorship of 2/3 of scripture’s 150 psalms. The remaining third are not quite anybody’s guess, but we cannot be dogmatic about authorship.

David (75)

King David wrote at least 75 psalms, and possibly many more. The superscriptions over the psalms name him 73 times, making him responsible for Psalms 3-9, 11-41, 51-65, 68-70, 86, 101, 103, 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 133 and 138-145. Luke also attributes the glorious Psalm 2 to David (we might have guessed), and the writer to the Hebrews attributes Psalm 95 to him as well. As far as I’m concerned, these after the fact credits are as conclusive as any superscription.

Asaph (12)

Asaph was a Levite singer and musician commissioned during David’s reign. Among other things, he was a harpist and a cymbal player. He and his brother Levites sang and played David’s psalms as well as their own. His songs were a big part of Hezekiah’s revival. He wrote Psalm 50, as well as Psalms 73-83. Psalm 79 is particularly striking when we recognize the timeframe in which Asaph was actually writing. In it, he anticipates the destruction of the temple.

Sons of Korah (11)

Korah was a Levite who led a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron that ended very badly for the rebels. All the same, his children, who did not die in the rebellion, had large numbers of descendants who served in the tabernacle and temple, the most famous of whom was Samuel. Samuel’s grandson Heman is credited with Psalm 88, which was possibly a collaboration with his relatives. It is likely these descendants of Korah wrote most of their psalms during David’s reign, including Psalms 42, 44-49, 84-85, 87 and 88.

Solomon (2)

Solomon is credited with Psalms 72 and 127.

Moses (1)

Psalm 90 is attributed to Moses, which would make it the oldest psalm of which we have definite knowledge. There are solid reasons to believe he may also have written Psalm 91.

Ethan (1)

Ethan was a Levite prophet, singer and musician commissioned during David’s reign, also renowned for his wisdom, which was eclipsed by Solomon. He wrote Psalm 89. Come back Wednesday; we’ll talk more about that one.

Heman (1)

Heman was a Levite singer and musician, a distant descendant of Korah, commissioned during David’s reign. He wrote part or all of Psalm 88, depending on how you read the introduction.

Don’t Know (48)

The rest of the psalms are uncredited in Psalms and elsewhere.

In Summary

In summary, though the writers of almost 1/3 of scriptures psalms remain unidentified, the vast majority of the Psalms hail from the lifetimes of David and Solomon, the glory years of united Israel. James Hamilton makes the case that the order of the Psalms is not random but intentional, and that they tell a larger story.

Obviously, David would be the most likely culprit.