Resources on the Headings of the Psalms

Do you find the headings of the Psalms confusing? Here are some resources to help you understand them.

For years, I have urged students of the Psalms to read James Thirtle’s classic (1905) but overlooked work on the titles of the psalms. I was delighted this past weekend to find that it is now available complete and for free here on Google Books.

The headings of the Psalms include several kinds of information. The most complete example is Ps 56:1,

To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.

Here we have

1. a dedication to “the chief musician,” probably an official in the temple responsible for leading the music (1 Chr 25:1-7)
2. “upon Jonathelemrechokim” (the dove of the distant terebinths), a musical directive, perhaps the name of a tune
3. “michtam,” a description of the type of composition
4. “of David,” the author
5. a description of the circumstances when the work was written.

Thirtle observed that in the last chapter of Habakkuk, which is a psalm, items 4-5 come at the beginning, but items 1-3 at the end. He hypothesized that the divisions in the book of Psalms have been misplaced, and that in fact the psalm divisions should come between 2 and 3 in this list. Thus, in the case of Ps 56:1, the phrase “To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim” is actually the conclusion to Ps 55. When one does this, many of the expressions in the musical directions make much more sense. For example, in Ps 55, David laments, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” What better tune to accompany these words than one that was known by the name, “the dove of the distant terebinths.”

Recently, I found another example that confirms Thirtle’s thesis, the Psalm of Hezekiah in Isa 38:9-20. Verse 9 gives the type of work, the author and the circumstances, and 20b dedicates the work to use in the temple and specifies musical instructions, just as in Habakkuk.

Many people disparage the usefulness of the titles, in particular the historical information that they contain. The classic statement of the case for their original position in the psalms and their historical accuracy is E.W. Hengstenberg’s commentary, which is occasionally available in reprint editions. Many of his insights are preserved in the freely available commentary on the psalms by his student J.A. Alexander. Highly recommended.