PSALMS: INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERARY STRUCTURE

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 The Book of Psalms is a masterpiece of structural organization at whatever level of detail it is viewed, from the composition of the individual verses up to the layout of the entire collection. Any good introduction to biblical literature of the Bible will explain the basics of how an individual verse of Hebrew poetry is constructed. In turn, each individual psalm has its own unique literary structure as demonstrated, for example in Dorsey's fine chapter on the Psalms (The Literary Structure of the Old Testament).

Books

These psalms are gathered into five books, or collections. This is reflected in the headings put in most translations before chs. 1, 42, 73, 90 and 107. Even without the headings, it can be noted that several pairs of psalms are almost identical, indicating that they were originally part of separate collections. In addition, these five collections differ, for the most part, from one another in their relative frequency of certain divine names.  Another hint as to the book’s prehistory is the grouping together of several psalm blocks by author, but not in a consistent manner. For example, 72:20 states, “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended” even though, in fact, a number of Davidic psalms follow.

Taking this above case as a clear-cut indication of where at least one collection ends, one can see that the concluding words of Ps. 72 are a doxology:

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name for ever; may his glory fill the whole earth: Amen and amen!”

Similar doxologies may be found at Psalms 41:13, 89:52, and 106:48, thus demarcating the conclusions of the five books. Only Book V possesses no such closing verse; however, most commentators treat the entirety of Ps. 150 (or perhaps Psalms 146-150) as the closing doxology. Similarly, many consider Psalms 1-2 to be the Prologue to the Psalter.

In looking for an organizing principle within each of these five books, no obvious clues meet the eye such as classification by types of psalms (whether in the ancient headings or by modern standards).

The present structural treatment is based on the belief that the key to the internal structure of the five collections in the Psalter is found in the authorship given in the traditional headings. Many of the insights that follow are based on Holladay's remarkably concise discussion found in The Psalms Through Three Thousand Years, pp. 76-80. He notes the presence of “bridging psalms” placed strategically to provide transitions between blocks of similar psalms (i.e., by the same author). By plotting the various alternations of psalm blocks identified by Holladay (see figures below), one can see that each of the five books possesses a clear symmetry. Thus, I-IV appear to be chiastically arranged while Book V consists of three repetitious sets. Whether or not Holladay recognized these literary patterns (and he does not remark on them in his discussion), they certainly appear to be present.

Book I

Figure 1: Structure of Psalms 1-41

A. Introduction (Ps. 1-2)

B. Seven Psalms of David, ending in an acrostic (Ps. 3-9)

C. Bridge (Ps. 10)

D. Psalms of David (Ps. 11-32)

C'. Bridge (Ps. 33)

B'. Seven Psalms of David, beginning with an acrostic (Ps. 34-40)

A'. Conclusion (Ps. 41)

The Introduction is balanced by the concluding Ps. 41 in that both talk about protection of the king from his enemies. Additionally tying together these two sections is the fact that both Psalms 1 and 41 start and end with the phrase “blessed is.” Further literary analysis of ID points to Ps. 19 or 25 as the probable center of Book I.

Book II

Figure 2: Structure of Psalms 42-72

A. Sons of Korah (Ps. 42-49)

B. Bridge (Ps. 50)

C. Psalms of David (Ps. 51-65)

D. Anonymous Praises (Ps. 66-67)

C'. Psalms of David (Ps. 68-70)

B'. Bridge (Ps. 71)

A'. Psalm of Solomon (Ps. 72)

In Book II the outer members of the arrangement consist of eight psalms by the Sons of Korah at the start and a Psalm of Solomon at the conclusion. Tellingly, Psalm 45 in the middle of the first group of psalms (IIA) is called a Love Song, in which one can detect at least fourteen references to the Song of Solomon. This psalm, together with Ps. 72, thus frames the whole of II.

The bridge psalms present an interesting pair. In Ps. 50 God tells the people to call on Him in a time of trouble and give Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving; in Ps. 71, the Psalmist does call on God in a time of trouble and says he is looking forward to praising Him for deliverance.

The largest collection within Book II, the Davidic psalms 51-65, possesses its own unique structure, which deserves separate attention. The analysis below owes much to the observations of Beth Tanner.

God, Forgive (Ps. 51)

    The Wicked and Their Fate (Ps. 52-53)

        Psalms of Trust (Ps. 54-59)

            A Cry for Help (Ps. 60)

        Psalms of Trust (Ps. 61-63)

    The Wicked and Their Fate (Ps. 64)

God Forgives (Ps. 65)

Book III

Figure 3: Structure of Psalms 73-89

A. Psalms of Aseph (Ps. 73-83)

B. Sons of Korah (Ps. 84-85)

C. Prayer of David (Ps. 86)

B'. Sons of Korah (Ps. 87-88)

A'. Psalm of Ethan (Ps. 89)

There are no bridge sections in this collection, just a simple five-part chiasm. Only one psalm of David is present in Book III, but it is given the place of honor in the center. In addition, the two psalms in the Psalter specifically mentioning God's election of David appear in A and A' (78:70-72 and 89:20, respectively). Another correspondence between the first and last sections is that the former psalms (of Aseph) tend to look backwards into Israel's roots while the last psalm (of Ethan) is mainly prophetic in nature. One strong verbal parallel between these paired sections is:

“ ...the earth, which he has founded for ever.” (78:69)

“ ...the earth also is thine; the world and all that is in it thou hast founded them.” (89:11)

Book IV

Here we return to a seven-part chiasm containing two bridge psalms. Moses and the Exodus form the dual center of attention in this group. Moses is mentioned in chs. 99 and 103, at the end of two parallel sections. He is also given as the author of the beginning Ps. 90 (and presumably the closely related Ps. 91) as well as being the subject of the concluding psalms 105 and 106. In all, Moses is mentioned by name seven times in Book IV.

Figure 4: Structure of Psalms 90-105

A. Prayer of Moses (Ps. 90-91)

B. Bridge (Ps. 92)

C. Yahweh as King (Ps. 93-99)

D. Anonymous Praise (Ps. 100)

C'. Answers to Psalm 90 (Ps. 101-103)

B'. Bridge (Ps. 104)

A'. Moses’ Career (Ps. 105-106)

The central hymn of this collection is Ps. 100, which has been called “the hymn of the Psalter.” It appears to be an anthology composed of borrowings from the previous psalms. There are strong verbal parallels between the symmetrically situated psalms 92 and 104. Sections C and C' both contain non-alphabetic acrostics (Ps. 94 and 103). In addition, the enthronement psalms (93-99) are matched by the royal psalm, 101.

Book V

Figure 5: Structure of Psalms 107-150

A. Bridge (Ps. 107)

B. Psalms of David (Ps. 108-110) 

            C. Hallelujah (Ps. 111-117)

A'. Bridge (Ps. 118)

B'. The Torah (Ps. 119)

C'. Song of Ascents (Ps. 120-134)

A''. Bridge (Ps. 135-137)

B''. Psalms of David (Ps. 138-145)

C''. Hallelujah (Ps. 146-150)

This book is arranged somewhat differently than the other four. Three parallel sections begin with bridging psalms that contain very similar language. The statement “O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!” appears in all three.

Psalms 146-150 can be alternatively viewed as the doxology to the whole Psalter. They proceed from an individual praise (Ps. 146) to praise within the community of believers (Ps. 147) to praise of all the earth (Ps. 148-150).

The first and third cycles of Book V contain Davidic psalms in the center, and the center of the whole composition, appropriately enough, is the grand tour de force, Ps. 119. Associations between the bridge psalms 135-137 have been previously noted in the literature.

Overall Patterns in The Psalter

Lastly, let us consider the Psalter as a complete composition to see if there is any overarching order to the whole. It has been suggested that its five-part structure is meant to remind the reader of the Pentateuch or to act as a parallel with the flow of Israel's history. Beyond this level of organization, the silence from scholarly sources has been almost deafening, except in recent years.

One indication that Book III should be viewed as a center, or transition, point in the Psalter comes from the observation that the divine name overwhelmingly preferred in Book II is Elohim while only Yahweh is used in Book IV. Book III serves to transition from the one usage to the other by its preference for Elohim in Ps. 73-83, with Yahweh predominating in Ps. 84-89. In addition, certain “family resemblances” have been noted that unite I-II and IV-V, with Book III possessing a more gloomy attitude overall than seen in the other four collections.

The present analysis of the architecture of the Psalter derives from the structure presented in Fig. 1. By looking at the central psalm or pair of psalms in each of the five books, one can discern another emerging pattern.

Figure 6: Overall Structure to the Psalms

Theme of

Book            Outer Sections                                                      Center Section

I                                                                       A Torah psalm (Ps. 19 or 25)

II                  Wisdom                                         “Make a joyful noise” (Ps. 66)

“ Let the peoples praise” (Ps. 67)

III              Prophecy                                                           A model psalm (Ps. 86)

IV                 Law                                                        “Let the peoples praise” (Ps. 99)

                                                                                       “Make a joyful noise” (Ps. 100)

V                                                                    A Torah psalm (Ps. 119)

The above scheme works whichever of the center psalms one chooses for Book I. Psalms 25 and 119 are both acrostic poems with the shared theme of God's instruction. Of the eleven usages of the phrase “teach me” in the Psalter, ten occur in these two psalms. On the other hand, psalms 19 and 119 both praise God's word. In fact, synonyms for “word” figure prominently in both. Each group of eight verses in Ps. 119 contains eight different Hebrew words for God's law, and Ps. 19:7-9 (which would be at home anywhere in Ps. 119) contains six such synonyms. Only three chapters – Psalms 1, 19 and 119 – have been categorized as Torah psalms, and all can be seen to occupy structurally significant positions.

Psalm 86

The central psalm of the arrangement of five central psalms in Fig. 2 is Ps. 86. This psalm is also found at the exact center of the 171 psalms in the Psalter (counting Ps. 119 as 22 separate psalms). At first glance this poem seems to be a very poor choice to be given such a position of honor. It has been dismissed as “something of a mosaic of quotations and reminiscences of other psalms.” (M'Caw and Motyer)   Childs cites this psalm as a prime example of those that “are actually only compilations of other psalms” in which “almost every line has picked up a phrase from another portion of scripture and fashioned it into a poem.”  In fact, there are at least fifty quotations from other psalms in this short poem of 17 verses.

Psalm 86 thus incorporates features drawn from the entire Psalter to form an anthology of psalms or, in other words, the model psalm It also embodies the book of Psalms in two other significant ways. In the first place, many individual psalms begin in lament and end in praise. As stated earlier, this same movement has been detected in the Psalter as a whole with Lament Psalms predominating in the first half of the book and Praise Psalms in the last. Appropriately, Psalm 86 is usually characterized as a “mixed type” which (almost uniquely) begins and ends with petitions while having a center of thanksgiving and praise.

A more detailed literary analysis of Psalm 86 locates the center of this central psalm at verse 9, thus identifying it as the point of emphasis for the entire Psalter. This key verse universalizes the call for all humanity to worship God: “All the nations thou hast made shall come and bow down before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.” This exactly echoes the dual emphasis identified above for Fig. 6: our proper response to God's revelation is to bow down in obedience to His commands and praise His name.

Additional Patterns

As mentioned above, Wilson has observed the thematic importance of the “seam psalms” placed at the beginning and end of each book. Thus, some additional intriguing possibilities for overall themes in the Psalter appear if the outer elements of the five books' structures are examined (Fig. 6). Book II begins and ends with prominent mention of Solomon, the embodiment of wisdom; Book III is bracketed by prophetic psalms; and Book IV features Moses in its beginning and concluding units. In this manner, the book of Psalms embodies the three traditional divisions of the Hebrew Bible (Torah, Prophets and Writings), which in turn are roughly equivalent to the three means by which humanity receives the truth: the Mosaic Law, the prophets and common wisdom (see Jeremiah 18:18). This observation fits in well with Longman's statement, bolstered by quotations from noted authors, that the Psalms are a sort of “Bible in miniature.”

Coupling this insight with the emphases already seen in the center sections of the Five Books leads to the overall theme of the Psalter as revealed through its literary structure: Praise and obedience are the proper responses of man to God's three-fold revelation. In a small way, this analysis may help to soften Bullock’s negative assertion that “Old Testament history and theology are impressed upon this book in fragmented and unsystematic form.”

A final insight into the structure of the Psalms comes from a consideration of the opening psalms of Book I together with their sister section, the beginning of the last subsection of Book V. Two elements occur in a chiastic order:

“the way of the wicked” (1:6)

                                messianic prophecy (2:7)

                                messianic prophecy (146:7-8)

                        “the way of the wicked” (146:9)

Perhaps not coincidentally, direct quotations or echoes of these two prophecies occur in the Gospel of Luke (at 3:22 and 4:18-19) directly before and after Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, the supreme example of the Messiah confronting the Wicked One.