How should the reader approach the Psalms? How should he or she regard the author(s) of a psalm and the content of the psalm itself? This paper proposes the OT and NT authors present the authors of the individual psalms as prophets and the content of the psalms as prophecies. These two facts should impact how the reader receives and acts upon the message contained in the Psalter. The reader, based upon this evidence, should accord the same weight to the words in the Psalms as he or she gives to any other prophetic oracle.
The argument in this paper proceeds in five steps. First, it considers evidence in the OT and NT that David should be seen as a prophet. The evidence ranges from David’s words in the OT and the probable time when he heard the promises in the Davidic covenant, to Peter’s words distinguishing between the deeds of David the patriarch and the words of David the prophet.
Second, the paper examines the superscriptions of the psalms, revealing these features of the psalms, among other functions, serve to present the author(s) as prophets. Third, this study considers Jesus’s words to his disciples on the road to Emmaus (as recorded in Luke 24:44). Jesus’s words demonstrate he did not distinguish between the prophecies found in the Prophets and the prophecies found in the Psalms. When talking about the different parts of the OT which were “written about [him],” Jesus placed these two different portions of Scripture (i.e., the Prophets and the Psalms) in the same category. Modern English translations and many evangelical scholars fail to recognize the unity Jesus recognizes in these two portions of Scripture.
Fourth, the study examines NT passages in which the NT authors used quotations from the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. A table considering “mixed quotations” in the NT demonstrates NT authors freely mixed quotations from the Law and the Prophets with quotations from the Psalms. The intermingling of quotations demonstrates the NT authors do not differentiate between the words found in the Law and the Prophets and the words found within the Psalms. Interpreters, therefore, should not treat direct prophecy from the Psalms as if it differs from direct prophecy in other books.
The paper concludes with a table outlining the NT authors describe the eschatological intent in prophecy.