188 | Introduction (PSALMS 1-2)

Welcome, everyone. Before we open the first page of the Book of Psalms, we need some context. The Psalter, as scholars call it, is basically the ancient hymnal, prayer book, and theological anthology of Israel, all rolled into one. It took shape over centuries, with roots going back at least to the early Israelite monarchy around 1000 BCE, though it was probably compiled into its final form sometime during or after the Babylonian exile in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. The world that produced these texts was the ancient Near East, a landscape of rival kingdoms, temple cults, and court poetry. Egyptians composed hymns to Amun-Ra. Mesopotamians sang to Marduk. Canaanites praised Baal. Israel's psalms came out of that same world, borrowing forms, repurposing imagery, and arguing, sometimes fiercely, for the supremacy of their own God, YHWH.Source:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eS1joXoJaSA_EbWMZbWElNo1IjqwPro6/view?usp=sharing