1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

The titles or superscriptions of the Psalms

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by rlvaughn, May 26, 2017.

Tags:
  1. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    ...how do you view them?

    By titles or superscriptions, I mean the information that comes after the psalm number and before the 1st verse in English Bibles. For example, Psalm 3 has a note that says “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.”

    There are 150 psalms in the Old Testament book of Psalms. 34 of the psalms carry no introductory inscription whatsoever. 116 of them have some kind of title or superscription. 16 of these 116 have an inscription which is only a general reference such as “psalm” or “prayer.” 100 of these 116 psalms mention the name of an author – or in some cases possibly a person it was written “to” or “for”. Of the superscribed Psalms:
    • 73 of these are “of David.”
    • 12 of these are “of Asaph.”
    • 11 of these are “for the sons of Korah.”
    • 2 of these are “for Solomon.”
    • 1 of these is “of Moses.”
    • 1 of these is “of Ethan the Ezrahite”
    In addition to these, others are mentioned. “Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite” is mentioned in one of the psalms that is “for the sons of Korah.” “To Jeduthun” is mentioned in two of the psalms of David and one of the psalms of Asaph. King Saul is mentioned in the superscriptions of 5 psalms – Psalm 18, Psalm 52, Psalm 54, Psalm 57, and Psalm 59.

    There are lots of variations about what these superscriptions are, but the views seem to break down into two main categories -- either they are inspired and important, or they are later additions that may or may not be helpful.

    What think ye of them?
     
  2. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2002
    Messages:
    9,461
    Likes Received:
    1,225
    Faith:
    Baptist
    The Hebrew Scriptures are numbered differently from our English translations.

    It usually counts the superscription as the first verse.

    I view them as additions to the text but historically important, providing early commentary, connections ancient scholars observed.



    Another question to answer - Inspired or uninspired?

    Rob
     
  3. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2000
    Messages:
    15,371
    Likes Received:
    2,405
    Faith:
    Baptist
    The titles and superscriptions are counted as verse 1 in the Russian Synodical Bible.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. TCassidy

    TCassidy Late-Administator Emeritus
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    20,080
    Likes Received:
    3,490
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Probably uninspired but useful, historic opinion of the Mesors and Rabbis.
     
  5. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2002
    Messages:
    9,461
    Likes Received:
    1,225
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I appreciate the Holman Christian Standard Bible's translation of the common superscription seen in Psalm 26:1 (BHS) לְדָוִד [david]

    Many translations simply translate this, "Of David".
    Perfectly acceptable.​

    The HSCB's translation is "Davidic"
    Excellent!​

    IMO, this more fully embraces the question of authorship.
    Was this written by David or simply about him?

    Unfortunately the recent Christian Standard Bible conforms to "Of David"

    Rob
     
  6. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I think this changed with the Geneva Bible, was like the Hebrew before that. Haven't had an opportunity to look at copies of several of them.
     
  7. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Looking at the dictionary, I'd say "of" and the suffix "-ic" have pretty the same semantic range of meaning. The difference might be more in the connotation the average American reader would put on it -- IOW, more likely to read "of David" as meaning "written by David" and less likely to read "Davidic" that way.

    I'd say inspired.
     
  8. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2002
    Messages:
    9,461
    Likes Received:
    1,225
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Exactly my point!

    The Hebrew scholars of the past obviously considered the titles inspired when they added numbers to the text.
    Christian scholars of ages past, not so sure.

    The Septuagint adds even more titles to the list of Psalms with titles.

    Rob
     
  9. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    My point is that studying the word "of" and suffix "-ic" would lead us to basically the same conclusion.

    On the other hand, it seems to me that at some of the Psalms should be understood as written by David. For example, within the text of 2 Samuel 22:1, we have the same inscription as Psalm 18, which attributes the words to David. In Luke 20:42 Jesus refers to Psalms 110 and says “David himself saith in the book of Psalms.” Only in the superscription and nowhere else in the text of the psalm relate the psalm to David. Both Peter and Paul cite Psalm 16 (v. 10; in Acts 2:29-32 and Acts 13:35-36), making the point that David himself was speaking, but that he was not speaking of himself. Only in the superscription and nowhere else in the text of the psalm relate the psalm to David.

    There may be other cases where we considered the inscriptions as part of the inspired text. Foe example:
    • Habakkuk 3:1 “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.”
    • Habakkuk 3:19 “…To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.”
    Yes, that seems right about the Hebrew scholars. Haven't made a comparison of Christian scholars of the past, other than randomly noticing that some thought one way and some the other. If I am correct that the Geneva Bible was the first to cordon these, it would be interesting to see if that was their reasoning.

    The Septuagint (by my count, if correct) has 83 superscriptions attributed to David, as opposed to 73 in the Hebrew and our English Bibles. [Haggai and Zechariah are mentioned in 5.] This does muddy the waters somewhat. In the copy of the Septuagint I have, printed by Hendrickson, I believe every Psalm has some kind of title (simply Alleluia on some).
     
  10. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Looks like the consensus is that Augustine considered them inspired, though I have not found it in so many words. In his exposition of Psalm 60 he speaks of "the Prophetic Spirit in the Psalms' titles." On Psalm 59 he says:
    On the other hand, John Calvin seems to dismiss them as uninspired additions (although he usually [always?] comments on them). On Psalm 22 he writes:
    Spurgeon's advice seems good:
     
    #10 rlvaughn, May 28, 2017
    Last edited: May 28, 2017
  11. Martin Marprelate

    Martin Marprelate Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2010
    Messages:
    8,817
    Likes Received:
    2,106
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Personally, I have always considered them as part of the inspired text, and comment on them briefly whenever I preach on the Psalms. The introduction to Psalm 60 is particularly helpful IMO.
     
  12. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I agree. Curiously, I grew up in churches that would have considered them inspired yet preachers might not read them or mention them. Of course, this might have meant some folks just weren't sure what to do with most of them, but this was an inconsistency nevertheless.
     
Loading...