PSALMS OF DAVID

The psalms are poetry and constitute the identification of a people with their manifestly Triune God. Normally, they were sung with the accompaniment of instruments. Some psalms were used on special occasions, for example, during pilgrimages to Jerusalem (known as “ramagem psalms”). When we talk about the book of Psalms, King David immediately comes to everyone's mind, as he was the author of most of them and the ones that became most famous. But there are other authors of psalms, such as Moses, Solomon and the sons of Korah and Asaph.

In total, there are 150 poems expressing consolation, encouragement, hope and victory for the Jewish people. For the redeemed of the Lord (the church), in addition to bringing the same benefits they brought in the past, they constitute a great source of manifestation of the majesty, security and love of a faithful God to those who seek him. These are important themes such as praising God, doubts about faith, suffering, hope in God's promises, very human feelings that can be present in anyone's life. Individually, it is a pleasure for the needy, whose anxious and troubled soul finds encouragement, renewal and peace. In the past, these Psalms were sung in acts of worship, festivals, etc. They were always appreciated due to the source that inspired them, the Holy Spirit. Poetry is the expression of the soul. The Word reaches the mind, changing attitudes, reaching the spirit, leading it to notable transformations.

King David is the author who appears with the largest number of psalms attributed to him, at least 73 psalms. Some scholars have already tried to dispute David's authorship of the psalms, claiming, mainly, that the David mentioned in the titles of the psalms is not the same one who reigned in Israel. However, there is no basis for this theory, beyond what the Bible itself is clear in stating that King David was a musician and poet (I Samuel 16:14-23; II Samuel 1:17-27; 22; 23:1; I Chronicles 6:31; 15:16; 16:7; Psalm 18). The tradition that links David to music is so strong that even the prophet Amos, 300 years later, speaks of David as an inventor of musical instruments (Amos 6:5).

Of the more than 70 Psalms written by him, at least 13 of David's Psalms are about facts related to events in his life. Through the writings found in these psalms, we can get an outline of the full knowledge of his relationship with God.

David has always been associated with praise and singing. From the time of Saul, he was known for playing well – 1 Samuel 16:17. In the face of praise that emanates from the heart and not from the hands, evil withdraws. There is no place for it if the praise is for the triune God, full of glory and majesty. David lived in the time of the tabernacle and the worship in it – Psalm 122:1. In this Psalm, he refers to the tabernacle.

There are Psalms that prophesy the sufferings of the Messiah. These Psalms are called Messianic. They portray, through the psalmist’s sufferings, pains and ailments, which prefigure those of the Lord Jesus; They also report the glory that will come to him. For example, in Psalms 8, 16, 22, 40, 72, 110 and 118, we find the expressions loneliness, rejection and which were passed by him in his life in humiliation.

David wrote 73 Psalms, dating back to the early period of the kings, 1020–970 BC. David's time spanned from a very young age to old age, having gone through great struggles due to persecution by Saul, to whom he devoted unrequited love and respect. Psalm 3 was written when David was fleeing from Absalom. Enemies, such as men who trusted him and fought with him, were now in the ranks of his son, Absalom. These psalms report his anguish, abandonment by men and his firmness in God.

It is impossible to comment on all the psalms, but in Psalm 18, there is a great affirmation of the deliverance that God granted to David, when he found himself surrounded by Saul's army. Defenseless, he played like a flea or a partridge before King Saul-Psalm 26:20. Magnificent is his identification with God as his shepherd, due to his own experiences as a shepherd (Psalms 23). Surely, this psalm is the most well-known, read and always comforting. The certainty of God’s presence in times that resembled the “valley of the shadow of death”.

In Psalms 32, it reports the relief of the sinner receiving God's forgiveness. The experience of forgiveness felt by David in this psalm teaches man that he must not lose the blessing of confession. He compares this loss to the horse or mule without understanding. It is as if everything were the pain of the wicked, who don't make use of God's mercy in forgiving. It is the testimony of the life of a man who, when confronted before God, does not justify himself for his sin, but rather seeks mercy from God. Only God can restore the afflicted soul, but it must recognize itself as a sinner.

David understood that only on the wings of the Holy Spirit would he be brought to rest: Jesus. God is not limited to the difficulties seen on the mountain, even the highest ones, but He dwells eternally in His own power. – Psalms 68:17. Power is seen in a manifestation that inspires absolute security. David was missing 100,000 years before – Psalm 68:18 – upon the death of the Lord Jesus. In it, we see the glorious prophecy cited in Ephesians 4:8,11 as having been fulfilled. Jesus died, he took captive all the saved people who were waiting for him in Seoul, the captivity of the redeemed. When he went there and took them, he also gave his Holy Spirit so that the gifts would gladden the early church and, according to Joel, given to the male and female servants before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes – Joel 2.

David was like that, a man after God's own heart. Humble, empty of himself. He reports in Psalms 133 the direction to the people so that the tribes were united to live in a world different from the will of God that surrounded them. The Lord's church today struggles in the same circumstances. David speaks of the service in the tabernacle, remembering the incense burning in the afternoon prayer, in a pre-figure of the Lord Jesus, when he offered himself on the cross of Calvary to the Father as incense, in the last sacrifice of the afternoon. David knew the greatness of a kingdom and the privileges of the king, but he had God as his king and David exalts the magnificence and majesty of the kingdom of God – Psalm 145. Without a doubt, it is a psalm that prefigures the millennium of the Lord Jesus upon the land.

The Old Testament is an inexhaustible source of quotes from the Psalms. Each verse is analyzed according to the time, and, logically, the time lived from creation, the call of Abraham, the Egyptian exile, the period of judges, kings and Babylonian captivity, until the capture of the land and its destruction by the Romans.

By faith, David saw the wonders of his son Solomon's kingdom, his prayers for this blessing reached the throne of God - I Chronicle 28:9. His prayers were fulfilled and within the line of humility. Identification of him, son of Jesse (Psalms 72:20), reveals this. Nothing more to ask, everything was answered. Amen.