Understanding the Psalms—part 1

Understanding the Psalms—part 1

Every worship leader should study the Book of Psalms and also, the significance of music in this great historic collection.  The study of music in the Book of Psalms is an awesome, valuable and very useful  task.  Many of the other aspects of music in the Bible are not well researched by Bible commentators, but the subject of the "Psalms" is a well-worn topic.  There are hundreds of complete volumes devoted to the study of the Book of Psalms. These books range from small paper back volumes on the devotional aspects of the psalms to monumental treatises like William Plumer's Psalms which is 1,212 pages in length.  So, it is not difficult to find valuable information about the Book of Psalms.

          Many of the Bible commentaries on the psalms have valuable introductions that give information on the history, poetry, theology, arrangement, authors, inscriptions, parallelism, figures of speech, inspiration, prophesy, names of God, divisions, collection, and even musical terms in the Book of Psalms.  There are often long discussions concerning the dating, collection, and authenticity of the inscriptions of the various psalms in this ancient collection of poetry.

Thought for the Day

When a worship leader thinks about the history, poetry, theology, arrangement, authors, inscriptions, parallelism, figures of speech, inspiration, prophesy, and names of God that are used in the Psalms, the value of singing psalms knowledgably becomes apparent.