April 2025

The book of Psalms is the longest book in the Bible based on both chapters and number of verses. There are 150 chapters and 2,461 verses. Many of the chapters (also called psalms) are attributed to King David’s authorship, while some are credited to the writing of Moses, Asaph, and the sons of Korah. Moses is the most well-known after David due to his trials of mediating between God and the Israelites. Psalm 90 is Moses’ psalm. It is a communal psalm which talks about Moses’ concern for the well-being of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Next, Asaph was a Levite, also known as a talented musician during the time of King David and Solomon. He was also a prophet whose psalms were used by kings to lead worship. Psalms 50, and 73-83 are usually attributed to Asaph. And lastly, The Sons of Korah is a little trickier. The descendants of the Korahites were soldiers with King David. There are three descendants of the line of Korah who go on to become great musicians and are known to write psalms: Heman, Asaph, and Ethan. Now, Heman was a grandson of Samuel, he was known for this wisdom and wrote his lament in Psalm 88. There are a few men known as Asaph in the Bible, this one is probably the same as listed above. And Ethan, another one of David’s musicians, was also a prophet like Asaph. Ethan, Asaph, and Heman served as choral directors of the Psalms. Often the heading of their psalms will say it is a “maskil” meaning it would have been accompanied by music. The sons of Korah are credited with writing eleven different Psalms. Psalm 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87, 88 all express highest praise to the Lord.