Hermann Gunkel categorized ten psalms by their subject matter of kingship as royal psalms. Specifically, the royal psalms deal with the spiritual role of kings in the worship of
Yahweh. Aside from that single qualification, there is nothing else which specifically links the ten psalms. Each of the psalms make explicit references to their subject, the king. However, it has been posited that other psalms, which do not mention the king directly, may have been written for royalty (e.g. Psalm 22).
Old Testament scholar
Brevard Childs has raised the possibility that the royal psalms are strategically scattered throughout the psalter. According to Childs, these psalms are often paired with other psalms that give the royal psalms an eschatological and messianic sense.
Gunkel's royal psalms
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Psalm 2
*
Psalm 18
*
Psalm 20
*
Psalm 21
Psalm 21 is the 21st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The king shall joy in thy strength". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testam ...
*
Psalm 45
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Psalm 72
*
Psalm 101
*
Psalm 110
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Psalm 132
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Psalm 144
Other royal psalms
Additionally, Psalms
93,
94,
95,
96,
97,
98, and
99 are called royal psalms because they "celebrate God as King".
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Further reading
*Clines, D. J. (1998). On the Way to the Postmodern: Old Testament Essays 1967-1998 (Vol. 2). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
Psalms