A Coincidence or A Deliberate Decision?
Psalm 86 Contains 17 Verses and 147 Words
As I was preaching Psalm 86 on Sunday, I stated that Psalm 86 is situated in “the center of the Psalms.” Here is a quick summary of the points I made and few more that I did not explain in detail.
Is Psalm 86 the Center Psalm?
Psalm 86 is located in Book # 3, which is the center book. In total, the book of Psalms is made up 5 books/scrolls:
Book # 1 = Ps. 1-41
Book # 2 = Ps. 42-72
Book # 3 = Ps. 73-89 — (Book 3 contains 17 Psalms)
Book # 4 = Ps. 90-106
Book # 5 = Ps. 105-150
Psalm 86 contains 17 verses which is the exact number of psalms in Book # 3.
Psalm 86 is located in the center of “A Korahite Collection,” which is the fancy name for the group of psalms that are from the Sons of Korah.
Psalm 84 - “To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.”
Psalm 85 - “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.”
Psalm 86 - “A prayer of David”
Psalm 87 - “A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song.”
Psalm 88 - “A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite”
Psalm 86 contains 147 words in the original Hebrew, which corresponds to the total number of psalms according to the Jewish oral traditions that are recorded in The Talmud. The reason Jewish tradition counts 147 Psalms instead of 150 is because the following three pairs of psalms were read as a single psalm.
Psalms 1 & 2 — Notice that these psalms do not have authors or headings.
Psalms 9 & 10 — Notice how Psalm 9 has a title, but Psalm 10 does not.
Psalms 42 & 43 — Again, Psalm 42 has a title, but 43 does not.
Based upon these observations, one Bible scholar concludes that…
“coincidence seems improbable. It is more likely that the final editor arranged this deliberately.”1
What do you think?
Is it a coincidence or deliberate decision by whoever the person was that God used to arrange the Psalms in the order that we have them now?
This quote comes from Hendrik J. Koorevaar, “The Psalter as a Structured Theological Story with the Aid of Subscripts and Superscripts.” In Composition of the Book of Psalms, edited by Erich Zenger, 579–92. BETL 238. (Leuven: Peeters, 2010), 591.
It seems highly unlikely that this could be a coincidence. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the possible significance of this beyond the fact that it indicates a great deal of precision and care in the final editing of the psalms. It also makes me wonder when/why the three psalms were divided to increase the number of psalms to 150. This is a bit unrelated, but it made me also think about the way that the Christian church modified the order of the books of the New Testament compared to the way they were—and are still—arranged in Jewish tradition. How important is it to know the traditional order—does it impact interpretation in some cases—and what were the reasons for the early Christians adjusting the order in the way that they did?