The Book of Psalms

The book of Psalms is the biggest book of the Bible with 150 chapters. It is my go-to comfort book in times of distress and when perplexed. I love it and though I love poetry, my love for the Psalms goes beyond their poetic value. They were written with such raw sincerity and drenched in the imagery and metaphors of the time but still relatable for 21st-century readers. 

Currently, SASA, the Christian arts group I belong to, is embarking on this reading and writing project we call the Psalmic Expressions. In this project, we read the Psalms each weekday and create art (write poems and songs, design artworks, etc.). based on inspiration from the Psalms. Currently, we are in the late 20s of the Psalms. We have 120+ more Psalms to read, so I invite you to join this project. The songs and poems that are coming out of it are phenomenal and I am not exaggerating when I say God is moving tremendously in our lives. I was also inspired to work on this Bible Data Story because of the Psalmic Expressions project. 

This write-up takes a cursory glance at the Psalms. It is not a deep analysis of their central themes and messages but a look at the structure, a summary of the authorship, and other minor details. Perhaps, later, we can do a deep dive into it but for now, let’s just flick through the Psalms. 

Authorship:

One of the main points I want to make with this post is that David is not the sole writer of the book of Psalms. The Psalms are a collection of Jewish poetry and songs that were recited and sung by the Jews. David wrote 73 out of the 150 Psalms accounting for about 49% of the book. For some interesting reason, the Psalms are almost always synonymous with David perhaps because of the number of Psalms attributed to him. Another interesting fact is that 50 Psalms are not directly attributed to anyone. 

The other writers are Asaph, the Sons of Korah, Moses, Solomon, Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman the Ezrahite. Asaph was a prominent Psalmist and musician during the reign of King David. He played the cymbal and was appointed by David to lead worship before the Ark of the Covenant in 1st Chronicles 16:4. Throughout the Old Testament, his descendants were known to be worshippers and musicians. It is said of the sons of Asaph that they prophesied with lyres, harps, and cymbals in 1st Chronicles 25:1. One of the Sons of Korah (Heman, not Heman the Ezrahite) was also mentioned in 1st Chronicles 6 as one of the men David put in charge of the service of songs in the house of the LORD. 

According to 1 King 4:31, Ethan and Heman the Ezrahites were wise men during Solomon’s reign as king of Israel. The passage under discussion now (1 Kings 4:29-34) illustrated the magnificence of Solomon’s wisdom; it was stated that Solomon was found to be wiser than a list of supposed wise men including Ethan and Heman. The next verse is also quite related to the topic under discussion. In verse 32, we are told that Solomon spoke 3000 proverbs and his songs were 1005. Yet only 2 of the 150 Psalms are attributed to Solomon. I assumed that based on this information, perhaps the other writers too had 100s of poems and songs that didn’t make it into the book of Psalms. Especially, David, who was largely known as a harpist and Psalmist. Moses too wrote other songs, for example, the song of Moses recorded in Deuteronomy 32 and another one in Revelation 15 (also attributed to him). Yet only one Psalm in the book of Psalms is attributed to him (Psalm 90).

NB: Psalm 88 is attributed to different authors: the sons of Korah and Heman the Ezrahite. But in this data story, I chose to attribute it to Heman alone just to avoid confusion and double counting. 

Structure:

The Psalms are broken into 5 major books or collections of Psalms. For example, in the ESV Bible, it is boldly indicated on top which book you are about to read. Find the breakdown below:

And there are other categorizations of the Psalms as well. Theologians break down the book according to themes such as laments, praise, etc. First, I would like to talk about the Hallel Psalms. These Psalms are regarded as a Jewish prayer: a verbatim recital of Psalms 113-118 on special Jewish festivals and occasions as an act of praise and thanksgiving. All six Psalms of the Hallel are recited as a unit on the following joyous Jewish occasions: Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, Hanukkah, and Rosh Chodesh.

Also, I would like to highlight a specific collection of the Psalms referred to as the songs of ascent and how I came to know them. I often speak about how worship music has helped me go through the toughest times of my life.  Just as I run to read my favorite Psalms when I am in distress, I also binge on worship songs when I am facing a hard time. One such song, for which I wrote an explication, is Highlands by Hillsong. I wrote an entire article based on that song elaborating on the lines and what they meant generally and then to me. One line of that song got me thinking and led me to do a little research. The songwriter, Benjamin Hasting, said “And if ever I walk through the valley of death / I’ll sing through the shadows my song of ascent”. This got me wondering what the songs of ascent were. The songs of ascent are a collection of 15 Psalms from Psalm 120 to 134. “The songs were sung possibly by Hebrew pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem or while ascending Mount Zion or by the Levite singers while ascending the 15 steps of the temple in Jerusalem to minister”. These are Psalms recited or sung while the Jews were ascending either a hill or steps. It is even more intriguing when you look at how some of them start:

• Psalm 121:1 – I will lift up my eyes to the HILLS. From where does my help come?
• Psalm 122:1-2 – I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the LORD! Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!
• Psalm 125:1-2 – Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.

The imagery of the ascent of Hebrew pilgrims can be sensed strongly in these verses. One can also sense a pilgrimage, especially in the passage in Psalm 122 quoted above. The Psalms were meticulously written, carefully collected, and curated into one big book for our edification, consolation, and exhortation. I urge you to read them regularly and follow the instructions at the end of some Psalms: Selah. Which is an instruction for readers or listeners to pause and soberly reflect on them. Ponder over the Psalms, it will do you a lot of good. 

The visualization:

This data visualization is known as a bubble chart. In this instance, there are 150 bubbles representing each Psalm in the Bible hence the numbers you see on the bubbles are the chapter numbers. Some of the bubbles are so small the chapter numbers did not fit on them so they are blank. Each color represents a different author and the bigger the bubble the more verses there are in that Psalm. For example, the biggest bubble represents Psalm 119 because that is the longest Psalm with 176 verses. The shortest Psalm is Psalm 117, it is also represented by the smallest bubble because it has only 2 verses. The bar chart at the bottom right corner of the bubble chart represents each author and how many Psalms they wrote. 

Below is an interactive version of the visualization more easily accessed and interacted with if you are reading this article on your laptop/pc. You can hover over the bubbles and additional information regarding each Psalm will pop up. Since the legend in the top right corner is interactive, once you click on the writer’s name it will highlight all the Psalms they wrote in the bubble chart.

For an optimized experience of the visualization above, follow this link to interact with it on my online Tableau Public account on your laptop/PC.