The Beginning of the Psalms

It is reported that after David’s secret anointing as king, he was called to play the harp for King Saul, who was abandoned by God and plagued by an evil spirit: “And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him”. That may have been the beginning of the writing of the Psalms by David. 

In the power of the spirit of God, which had come upon him at the time of his anointing, he drove away the evil spirit through his song. No Psalm has been transmitted to us from the time prior to the anointing. The songs which later were accepted into the canon of the Holy Scriptures were first prayed by the one called to be the messianic king, from whom the promised king Jesus Christ was to descend.