The Prayers of David

In the second of his invigorating studies on the Psalms, Goulder builds a fascinating case for a Davidic connection in Psalms 51-72. Goulder argues that the Prayers were composed by one of David's priests, and stand in their historical order. Thus, Psalm 51, with which the sequence opens, is in Jewish tradition David's psalm of contrition for Uriah's murder, and 72 is the psalm for Solomon's coronation-the beginning and end of the 'Succession Narrative'. 'The whole is prefaced by a shrewd and highly entertaining account of Psalm scholarship and a discussion of the character of the "succession narrative," and rounded off by a note suggesting how the present structure of the Psalter developed.' Richard Coggins, Expository Times.