Christian Art · Early Church & Byzantine · Old Testament Scenes
David Composing the Psalms — The Paris Psalter
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” — Psalm 23:1 (KJV)
About
The Paris Psalter, a luxury Byzantine book of about the 940s, opens with David playing his harp in a moonlit classical landscape, a mountain god and an echo nymph nearby borrowed from Greek art. It is one of seven full-page pictures of David's life in the book.
The Meaning
The empire that nearly smashed all images now poured its finest classic art into the Psalms. David the shepherd-psalmist was their mirror for every king and every singer: the man after God's own heart, making music before God made him a throne.
For Us Today
Take up David's book as your own prayer book. The Psalms teach the heart its whole range — praise, grief, repentance, war, and rest — and a man who prays them is never at a loss for words before God.
Image: Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons — the file’s page. Tap the picture to open the full-size original there.
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