Psalm 151 stands outside the common NKJV / Masoretic 150-Psalm numbering, but it is preserved in the Septuagint tradition. Brenton’s superscription calls it “a genuine one of David, though supernumerary,” composed when David fought Goliath. It is short, personal, and theologically sharp: the small shepherd is chosen, anointed, and sent to remove reproach from Israel.
The Psalm gathers David’s hidden shepherd life, his musical vocation, his anointing over his older brothers, and his victory over Goliath. Its spiritual center is divine election through humility. Human eyes admire height, beauty, and visible strength. The Lord chooses the small one tending sheep.
Patristically, Psalm 151 is best read beside the Church’s David and Goliath typology. Augustine, commenting on Psalm 144’s Goliath heading, says that David’s victory points to Christ overthrowing the devil with the enemy’s own weapon. Psalm 151 therefore becomes a compact Christological portrait: the humble shepherd, despised by appearances, conquers the giant and removes reproach from Israel.
Psalm 151 (LXX 151) - I Was Small Among My Brethren
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Common NKJV / Masoretic status | Not included in the usual 150-Psalm Old Testament text of the common NKJV / Masoretic numbering. |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Psalm 151, supernumerary after Psalm 150. |
| Accepted author | David by the LXX superscription. |
| Period in author’s life | David’s youth, his shepherding, Samuel’s anointing, and his battle with Goliath. |
| Christ prophecy status | Typological and Christological. David the small shepherd prefigures Christ the humble King and Shepherd who defeats the devil. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | This passage has no established place in the Coptic Orthodox lectionary. |
| Numbering issue | Psalm 151 is Septuagint-only / supernumerary in this project. It should not be treated as simply another standard NKJV Psalm. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
Psalm 151 belongs to the Greek Psalter tradition beyond the 150 Psalms of the Hebrew / Masoretic collection. Brenton’s title preserves the reception: genuine Davidic material, but supernumerary. Modern historical discussion also notes that Hebrew forms related to Psalm 151 were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially in 11Q5 / 11QPsa, and that the Greek Psalm combines material connected with David’s anointing and Goliath victory.
The Psalm draws from 1 Samuel 16-17. David is the youngest, tending sheep. His brothers are impressive, but the Lord does not choose by outward appearance. Samuel anoints David with oil. David later faces Goliath, who curses him by idols. David defeats him and removes reproach from Israel.
Theologically, the Psalm is about hidden preparation. David’s public victory over Goliath begins in hidden faithfulness with sheep, music, and obedience. Before he carries a sword, he carries a psaltery. Before he defeats the giant, he is formed in hidden service.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
The visible geography is Bethlehem’s fields and the battlefield against the Philistine. Spiritually, the Psalm moves from hidden pasture to public confrontation. The sheepfold is not insignificant. It is the school of the king.
In Christian typology, the geography widens. The small shepherd points to Christ, born in Bethlehem, the Good Shepherd, who enters the battlefield of death and defeats the enemy. The apparent weakness of the Cross becomes the victory that removes reproach from God’s people.
The Characters 👥
David. Small among his brothers, youngest in his father’s house, shepherd, musician, anointed one, and conqueror of Goliath.
David’s brothers. Handsome and tall, but not chosen by the Lord. They represent visible human criteria.
The Lord. The one who hears, sends, takes David from the sheep, and anoints him.
The Philistine / Goliath. The idol-cursing enemy whose sword becomes the instrument of his own defeat.
Israel. The people whose reproach is removed by the small shepherd’s victory.
Christ. The true David, humble Shepherd and King, who defeats the devil and removes humanity’s reproach.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 151:1-2, small among the brethren and formed in hidden praise
151:1 This Psalm is a genuine one of David, though supernumerary, composed when he fought in single combat with Goliad. I was small among my brethren, and youngest in my father’s house: I tended my father’s sheep.
151:2 My hands formed a musical instrument, and my fingers tuned a psaltery.
The Psalm begins with smallness. David does not present himself as naturally impressive. He is small among his brothers and youngest in the house. His first vocation is shepherding, and his hands are trained in music before battle.
St Athanasius says the Psalms give the Church words for the soul’s own prayer, and St Gregory of Nyssa teaches that psalmody trains the soul toward virtue and that the end of the life according to virtue is blessedness. Psalm 151 (LXX 151) is a hidden-shepherd Psalm that teaches the soul to receive God’s choice in humility by fixing its gaze on the Lord who exalts the small and overthrows the proud.
The music matters. David’s fingers tune a psaltery before they hold the enemy’s sword. In spiritual formation, hidden praise precedes public courage. A servant who cannot be faithful with sheep and psalmody is not ready to face Goliath.
This also connects Psalm 151 to the whole Psalms project. After Psalm 150 commands every breath to praise, Psalm 151 shows a young David whose life is already shaped by song. The supernumerary Psalm looks back to the human singer through whom so much of the Psalter is received.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “small among my brethren”; “youngest”; “tended my father’s sheep”; “tuned a psaltery.”
- Emphasize: hidden faithfulness and praise form public courage.
- Avoid: turning David into a self-made hero.
Psalm 151:3-5, the Lord hears and chooses differently
151:3 And who shall tell my Lord? the Lord himself, he himself hears.
151:4 He sent forth his angel, and took me from my father’s sheep, and he anointed me with the oil of his anointing.
151:5 My brothers were handsome and tall; but the Lord did not take pleasure in them.
The Lord Himself hears. David’s hiddenness is not invisibility. No one needs to advertise him to God. The Lord sends, takes, and anoints.
This section closely echoes 1 Samuel 16. The Lord tells Samuel not to look at appearance or height, because the Lord sees the heart. Psalm 151 turns that history into prayer. The handsome and tall brothers are not condemned as evil, but they are not chosen by appearance.
The spiritual insight is severe and freeing. The Church must not choose leaders, servants, spouses, or vocations only by visible impressiveness. Height, beauty, charisma, polish, and public confidence are not the same as election. God may be forming His chosen one in the sheepfold.
Christ fulfills this in deeper humility. Isaiah 53 says He had no form or comeliness that we should desire Him. Philippians 2 says He emptied Himself. The rejected and humble One is anointed above all and becomes the Shepherd-King.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “he himself hears”; “took me from my father’s sheep”; “anointed me”; “handsome and tall.”
- Emphasize: hidden people are not hidden from God.
- Avoid: despising visible gifts. The warning is against choosing by appearance alone.
Psalm 151:6-7, Goliath, idols, and the enemy’s own sword
151:6 I went forth to meet the Philistine; and he cursed me by his idols.
151:7 But I drew his own sword, and beheaded him, and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
The battle is theological before it is military. Goliath curses by idols. David’s victory is not only a tactical upset. It is the defeat of idolatrous arrogance and the removal of Israel’s reproach.
Augustine’s reading of David and Goliath from Psalm 144 gives the Church’s Christological key:
“This our David also did, He overthrew the devil with his own weapons.”
He explains that David used Goliath’s own sword to cut off Goliath’s head. Christ likewise conquers the devil through the very weapons the devil used: suffering, death, fear, and the Cross. Death becomes the means by which death is trampled.
This makes Psalm 151 more than a heroic story. David is a type of Christ. The small shepherd becomes champion, not by worldly greatness but by the Lord’s anointing. Goliath’s sword becomes his own judgment. The Cross, which looked like defeat, becomes victory.
The phrase “removed reproach from the children of Israel” is also important. Christ removes the reproach of sin, death, shame, and captivity from His people. The Church sings this not as national bravado but as Paschal deliverance.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “cursed me by his idols”; “his own sword”; “beheaded him”; “removed reproach.”
- Emphasize: David’s victory is typological of Christ’s victory over the devil and death.
- Avoid: presenting the story as mere underdog motivation.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
This passage has no established place in the Coptic Orthodox lectionary.
Psalm 151’s importance in this project is therefore not a verified local service placement but its Septuagint reception and its theological position after Psalm 150. The usual 150-Psalm Psalter ends with universal praise. Psalm 151 then gives a personal Davidic witness: the small shepherd, formed in music, chosen by God, anointed, and victorious over the idol-cursing giant.
For a Coptic Orthodox study, this matters because the Church receives the Septuagint tradition deeply in worship and biblical imagination. The Psalm should not be inserted into the common NKJV numbering as if nothing changed. It should be taught as a supernumerary Septuagint Psalm, with a clear note that it is absent from the usual NKJV Old Testament canon but preserved in the LXX tradition.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
Psalm 151 may use David/Goliath visuals, but only if the caption keeps the Psalm’s emphasis in view: smallness, shepherding, anointing, God’s choice, and then victory. A verified public candidate is the Rijksmuseum print David doodt Goliath (1708, CC0, Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_doodt_Goliath_Goliath_door_David_gedood_(titel_op_object),_RP-P-OB-67.891.jpg). This is Western biblical art, not Orthodox iconography.
The project Psalmist Attribution and Liturgical Association Aid can also help readers understand why Psalm 151 must be discussed differently from the 150-Psalm Masoretic collection. It is a relationship / office aid, not a genealogy. Good Shepherd or Anastasis imagery can be a theological pairing, but should not be presented as a direct icon of Psalm 151.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
- Do not despise hidden formation. Sheepfold, music, and obedience prepare David before the battlefield.
- Let God define calling. The Lord hears and chooses beyond appearance.
- Reject the idolatry of visible greatness. Handsome and tall are not enough.
- See Christ as the true David. The humble Shepherd conquers the enemy through apparent weakness.
- Let the enemy’s weapon be turned by Christ. Death itself becomes the means by which Christ tramples death.
- Remove reproach by faithfulness, not self-display. David’s victory serves Israel, not his ego.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 15 minutes on Psalm 151’s canonical and numbering status, 15 minutes on hidden shepherd formation, 15 minutes on anointing over appearance, 20 minutes on David and Goliath as Christological type.
- Where to linger: Augustine’s line, “This our David also did, He overthrew the devil with his own weapons.”
- Key phrase to say slowly: “I was small among my brethren, and youngest in my father’s house.”
- Pastoral warning: do not make the lesson merely motivational. The center is God’s election, humility, and Christ’s victory.
Glossary
- Supernumerary: Added beyond the usual numbered collection. Brenton uses this term for Psalm 151.
- Septuagint-only in this project: Preserved in the LXX tradition after Psalm 150, but absent from the common NKJV / Masoretic Old Testament numbering.
- Goliad: Brenton’s form of Goliath.
- Anointing: God’s choice and consecration of David, fulfilled in Christ the Anointed One.
- Typology: A real Old Testament person or event that points forward to Christ.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 151. The common NKJV / Masoretic Psalter ends at Psalm 150, so Psalm 151 should be explicitly identified as Septuagint supernumerary material. Historical sources note Hebrew forms related to Psalm 151 at Qumran, but the study uses Brenton’s Greek Septuagint text as its base.
Sources
Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 151; 1 Samuel 16-17; Isaiah 53; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Corinthians 15:54-57; Hebrews 2:14-15.
Patristic sources: St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLIV in NPNF1 volume 8 via New Advent, especially the David and Goliath typology; St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus; St Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms.
Historical and textual sources: Bible Odyssey, James A. Sanders, article on Psalm 151 and Qumran 11Q5 / 11QPsa; Brenton Septuagint Psalm 151 superscription.