The Book of Psalms is estimated to have been written between 1440 BC and 586 BC. As with so many books of the Bible, it was written over an extended period of time and we can see many connections between the events we read in other books of the Bible (especially the historical books such as 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Chronicles). These books give us the plot to David’s story; the Psalms show the passion, revealing to us David at prayer, giving us insight into his internal life. They show us David as shepherd, guerrilla fighter, court musician and politician (not just as king.) ‘His entire life was lived in the sacred ordinary that we are apt, mistakenly, to call the secular. The regular place of prayer is the ordinary life.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Answering God’, P 50) This is useful to us who live ‘ordinary lives’ and reminds us also that life is about so much more than is visible to others; the internal life, hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3), is crucial to understanding our speech and behaviour, since Christ is our motivation and life.
Of the 73 psalms linked to David’s story, 13 refer to specific incidents in his life.
- Ps 3 when he fled from Absalom his son
- Ps 7 which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite
- Ps 18 when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul
- Ps 34 when he feigned madness before Abimelech
- Ps 51 when confronted by Nathan the prophet after his adultery with Bathsheba
- Ps 52 when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul David had gone to the house of Ahimelech
- Ps 54 when the Ziphites told Saul David was in hiding with them
- Ps 56 when the Philistines seized him in Gath
- Ps 57 when he fled from Saul in the cave
- Ps 59 when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him
- Ps 60 when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zoba/ when Joab on his return killed 12,000 of Edom in the Valley of Salt
- Ps 63 in the wilderness of Judah
- Ps 142 in the cave
In giving us a historical root, we see that prayer is not escapism or fantasy; it is real relationships worked out in real life. We may well wish we knew even more about the circumstances which provoked some of the Psalms and even about the dating of the psalms, but we see that these prayers were collected and edited in such a way to provide spiritual sustenance for us through the ages. It is the power of the Word of God that words written many years ago can still strike deep chords with us, sustaining and nurturing faith in the 21st century.