The Authorship of Psalms
By now, the fact that tradition credits David as the author of the book of Psalms, should no longer have much weight for the skeptical reader. While it may be possible that David was responsible for some of the psalms in the book, it is obvious that he could not be the originator of all of them.Some of the Psalms centered around themes that was simply not present during the lifetime of David. An example of this is the 137th Psalm. This psalm was written in commemoration of the Jewish captivity in Babylon (from 586 to 536BC) an event which happened four centuries after the death of David.
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Psalm 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. |
It is interesting to note, that despite such clear cut evidence against David's authorship of this psalm, the Septuagint actually attributed the 137th Psalm to David by name. [1]
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References
| 1. | Asimov, Guide to the Bible: p488,506 Paine, The Age of Reason: p156 Anderson, A Critical Introduction to the Old Testament: p179 |
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