Bible Question: A student asked me if most of Davids Psalms were written before his affair |
Bible Answer: Greetings 561joshua01! As for the authorship of the Psalms, 73 (in the titles) are ascribed to David, 12 to Asaph, 11 to the sons of Korah, 2 to Solomon (72, 127), 1 to Moses (90), 1 to Ethan (89), and 50 are anonymous. David, no doubt, was the author of some of the anonymous Psalms. Now, the Psalms were written to be sung. W.E. Gladstone once said of the Psalms "All the wonders of Greek Civilization heaped together are less wonderful than is this simple Book of the Psalms." We know from the titles that David wrote Psalm 51 in the aftermath of his sin with Bathsheba. But there are several Penitential Psalms, and they include: Psalm 6, 25, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143. Since we know that David wrote at least 6 of these Penitential Psalms (the other two, 102 and 130, are anonymous), then it could be said that his sin with Bathsheba could have been a motivation for him to write multiple Penitential Psalms. With that being said, and considering the anonymous Psalms as well, it is probably more likely that David wrote most of these Psalms after his affair with Bathsheba then before the affair. But we could never know for sure as to the exact timing. Blessings to you, Makarios |