# History of the Psalms of David



## Grimmson (Dec 18, 2010)

Does anyone know a good book on the history of the canonization process on the Psalms of David? I like to know more about the supposed 4050 songs (3600 Psalms) that were supposedly written by David according to Col. 27 of 11QPs-a. I also ran across a interesting story (dated from about 800 A.D.) reported recently by Eric Mitchell ( from “A Brief History of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” _SouthWestern Journal of Theology_, Fall 2010, v. 53, no.1, p. 3) that he got from Weston Fields, _The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Full History Volume One, 1947-1960_, p. 21:



> > ' "An Arab’s dog was hunting, it pursed it into a cave, and did not come out. Its master went after it and found in the rock a little house that contained many books. The huntsman then went to Jerusalem and told the Jews. Many of them went out and found books of the Old Testament, along with others, in the Hebrew script."'
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> "Thus wrote Timotheus, Nestorian Patriarch of Seleucia, in a letter addressed to Sergius, Nestorian metropolitan of Elam. Two hundred Psalms of David had been found in a discovery not to be exceeded until modern times”



These two pieces of data opens up the question of how many psalms did David actually write and what were the criteria for the acceptance of some psalms over others? How many of them were in use in Temple worship and for how long? Were they written through prophecy like 11QPs-a suggests?

Am curious on who has written on this subject and has addressed these issues. Does anyone know? This post is in the church history forum because I want the history addressed, not to be a post for or against the EP position.


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