August 7, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.

I’ve been keeping you updated on the journey of my second volume on the Book of Psalms from my initial thoughts to the printing press. Now, the press and its digital counterparts are on the horizon.

But there’s a bit more to it than this.

Like all believers, I had long had a certain level of interest in the Psalms. The book was, after all, inspired Scripture. Some of its contents, like Psalm 23, are part of the vocabulary of many of us.

But the day when the enormous significance of this book began to dawn on me was when I sat in a class taught by John H. Sailhamer, a professor widely regarded as a world class Old Testament scholar.

I could hardly believe my ears. According to Jesus, the Psalms are rich with messianic significance (Luke 24:44). From beginning to the end, they point ahead to the coming Messiah. In the New Testament, more than 200 references recall the Psalter.

My fingers flew over the keys of my laptop. I was in the midst of an academic journey, but an academic journey turned spiritual, to earn the Master of Theology degree at Western Seminary. This degree would prepare me for acceptance into the Ph.D. program at Regent University.

Another professor at Western saw the copious notes I was taking and asked if I would be willing to share them.

I had already earned the Master of Arts in Exegetical Theology degree from Western. That degree required a thesis, but so did this second degree.

After sitting in two of Dr. Sailhamer’s courses, I knew my second thesis would be influenced by what I had learned from the Book of Psalms.

The title of my 156 page thesis was “An Application of Canonical-Compositional Hermeneutics to Psalms 14 and 53.”

After graduating with the Th.M., I began work on my first verse-by-verse commentary on Psalms. Its 382 pages examined Psalms 1-72 and were published in 2007 under the title The Messiah in the Psalms: Discovering Christ in Unexpected Places.

But I knew I needed to finish the commentary on all 150 psalms. In addition to the academic component of this task, I have been praying that God would help me to “rightly divide the word of truth” and to understand how the Scriptures testify of Him.

This has led to the second volume which consumes about 250 pages in its examination of Psalms 73-106.

Although I can’t promise it at this moment, it seems very possible this volume will be available at the upcoming general conference of the United Pentecostal Church International. If so, I plan to be on hand to sign copies for those who may be interested.

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