ChristadelphianBooksOnline
George Booker
Psalms Studies - Book 1

2. The Psalms and the Pentateuch

It is generally considered that the Psalms are divisible into five books, answering to the five books of Moses, i.e.:

Book	Psalm Nos.	Comments
1.	1-41	The Genesis Book — concerning man and his relationship with God. All blessing is bound up in obedience. Closes with a Benediction and double Amen.
2.	42-72	The Exodus Book — concerning Israel as a nation. The counsels of God concerning Israel’s ruin, redeemer, and redemption. Closes with a Benediction and double Amen.
3	73-89	The Leviticus Book — concerning God’s sanctuary. Closes with a Benediction and double Amen.
4	90-106	The Numbers Book — concerning Israel in relation to the nations. Closes with a Benediction, Amen, and Hallelujah.
5	107-150	The Deuteronomy Book — concerning God and His Word. Closes with five psalms, each beginning and ending with “Hallelujah”.

The last five Psalms may be seen as an echo and reminiscence of the whole of the five books. Thus,

Psalm 146	Genesis:	cp. v. 4 with Gen. 2:7
		cp. v. 5 with Gen. 2:8
		cp. v. 6 with Gen. 1
Psalm 147	Exodus:	cp. v. 4 with Exod. 1:1
		cp. vv. 2-20 / Exod. 1:7-10
Psalm 148	Leviticus:	cp. v. 14 with Lev. 10:3
Psalm 149	Numbers:	cp. vv. 5-9 with Num. 14:21; 24:17-24
Psalm 150	Deuteronomy:	cp. v. 2 with Deut. 3:24

It is now generally accepted that the ancient Jewish Sabbath worship incorporated the reading of a portion of the Pentateuch, so that over a three-year period the whole of the Pentateuch was covered. The suggestion has further been made that it was customary also to recite a related psalm at the close of each Sabbath service.

It is said that the reading of Genesis ended on the 41st Sabbath, Exodus on the 72nd, Leviticus on the 89th, Numbers on the 116th, and Deuteronomy on the 144th. The 12 extra Sabbaths in a three-year period [(3 times 52) minus 144] were possibly related to the intercalary month (a sort of “leap-year” arrangement by which a 13th month was added periodically to the Jewish calendar). It is presumed that special readings (the final 5 Psalms, perhaps?) occupied those Sabbaths.

There is then a remarkable association between the Pentateuch and the Psalms, which suggests a plausible reason for the division of the Psalms into five books. This also suggests a reason for the inclusion in the Psalter of almost identical psalms, 14 and 53, for example: the same psalm being only very slightly modified for use in two different collections.

Other interesting thoughts are now suggested: such as the use Jesus might have made of the day’s readings when he preached in the synagogue on many a sabbath during his three-plus years of public ministry. It might be possible to trace quite a series of such connections through the gospels. For one example, it appears that the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is based on Psalm 15.

Sabbaths		Pentateuch	Psalms
*Nos.*	*Total*	*Related book*	*Psalter*	*Alternative*
1-41	41	Genesis	41 (1- 41)	41 (1-41)
42-72	31	Exodus	31 (42- 72)	31 (42-72)
73-89	17	Leviticus	17 (73- 89)	17 (73-89)
90-116	27	Numbers	17 (90-106)	29 (90-118)
117-144	28	Deuteronomy	44 (107-150)	27 (119-145)
Totals	144		150	145

It will be noticed that there is an exact correspondence between the first three books of the Pentateuch and of the Psalms. There is difficulty with the remaining sections, which is solved if the “alternative” column is accepted. In considering this, the following must be borne in mind:

Psalm 90 (the Wilderness psalm) fittingly begins Book 4: Numbers.
Psalm 119 just as fittingly would coincide with the beginning of Book 5: Deuteronomy, both relating to God’s Law and His Word.
Certain psalms (i.e. 119) may have been divided into two sections, while others (105/106, etc.) may have been merged into one. This would account for the remaining minor discrepancies between the Pentateuch sections and the Psalms readings.

All this is of course very tentative: There is so much uncertainty as to the exact format of the Book of Psalms in these times: For example, the Septuagint (c. 250 BC) combines Psalms 9 and 10, and 114 and 115; then it divides each of Psalms 116 and 147 into two psalms (116 at vv. 9/10 and 147 at vv. 11/12), and so retains a total of 150. J.W. Thirtle also lists 32/33, 42/43, 70/71, “and several other psalms in the fourth and fifth books” as being combined in “the Hebrew manuscripts, and in codices of the early versions”. (See E. Wilson, A Handbook to the Psalms, pp. 8-10.)