According to Wikipedia, Jewish tradition divides the book of Tehilim into five sections (1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150). This is unsourced there; the references at the bottom of the page include The Jewish Study Bible (which I don't have) and a bunch of non-Jewish sources. I had not heard this idea before seeing a question about it on Biblical Hermeneutics, but Google tells me it's a commonly-held understanding at least among non-Jews.
Is this idea of Jewish origin? If so, what is the source, and what is the purpose of these divisions?
Answer
One of the best ways to tell if books are separate is by looking at the divisions in a scroll. Traditionally, a number of lines are skipped in between books to mark a separation (see my discussion here). Looking at the Aleppo Codex yields just that. Here is the end of Psalm 41:
You can clearly see the larger gap in the right column.
Textually we find strong conclusive verses placed at the end of each of the books which don't immediately mesh with the preceding lines. Book Two (72:20) even concludes with:
כָּלּוּ תְפִלּוֹת דָּוִד בֶּן-יִשָׁי.
The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
Perhaps this means that historically our Book of Tehillim is a compilation of 5 "Booklets" of Tehillim passed down from/to David and others.
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