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Historical Ascriptions of the Psalms of David
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David is closely identified with worship music in the Bible (Amos 6:5). He sang to calm his sheep on the hillsides and King Saul in his palace (1 Samuel 16:14-23; 18:10-11), accompanying himself on a lyre or harp. He is called "the sweet psalmist of Israel" (2 Samuel 23:1), with 73 psalms attributed to him – nearly half of the Book of Psalms. Several of these tell us on what occasion he wrote the psalm. These ascriptions have a lesson for us. Here are some of them:
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1 Samuel 19:11 |
Psalm 59. “When Saul had sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him.” |
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1 Samuel 21:12-15 |
Psalm 56. “When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.” |
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1 Samuel 21:13-15 |
Psalm 34. “When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.” A beautiful acrostic psalm. |
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1 Samuel 22:9-10 |
Psalm 52. “When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him, ‘David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.’” |
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1 Samuel 22:1 |
Psalm 57. “When he had fled from Saul into the cave.” |
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1 Samuel 22:1 |
Psalm 142. “When he was in the cave.” |
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1 Samuel 22:5; 23:14-16, 23-25 |
Psalm 63. “When he was in the Desert of Judah.” |
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1 Samuel 23:19 |
Psalm 54. “When the Ziphites had gone to Saul and said, ‘Is not David hiding among us?’” |
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2 Samuel 22 |
Psalm 18. “He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” |
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2 Samuel 8:13-14 |
Psalm 60. “When he fought Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah, and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.” |
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2 Samuel 12:13 |
Psalm 51. “When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” |
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2 Samuel 15 |
Psalm 3. “When he fled from his son Absalom.” |
Copyright © 2026, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor
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