Psalm 62

The subtitle wasn’t part of the original psalm. And the possible byline “of David,” isn’t necessarily a byline. The vague phrase could mean the song was written by David, about David, or was inspired by David. Almost half of the psalms are attributed to David in this way, 73 of 150. Ancient Jewish history tells of David playing a lyre and writing songs. For one, he wrote a song of mourning at the battlefield death of King Saul and his sons: “How have the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19-27 New American Standard Bible). An ancient Jewish scroll from about the time of Jesus, discovered among the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, reports that David wrote 3,600 songs.

Jeduthun was a famous music director at the worship center when David was king, before his son Solomon built the Jerusalem Temple (1 Chronicles 25:6). He also walked with David in that happy parade when David brought the sacred Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. It was a gold-plated wooden box holding the tablets with the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, after his meeting with God (1 Chronicles 16:42).

The word in the original language of Hebrew is selah. Bible scholars haven’t figured out what it means yet, so all we can do is guess. It could mean “pause for effect,” “instrumental interlude,” or “choir singing ‘Amen.’” We’re offering a guess instead of selah. Though selah might be the better way to go because it’s always correct, it’s also always incomprehensible. “Instruments” has a good chance of being wrong, but at least we convey the idea that the Hebrew word behind it probably has something to do with enhancing the song.

This quote from God may have come in a vision, through a strong inner voice, or perhaps while worshiping God while reciting or singing songs.