In the traditional Hebrew Bible layout there were three major groupings: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. It seems like a pretty easy connection to say that when Luke mentions “Moses and all the Prophets” that he is lumping all the books in the first two groupings together (emphasis mine):
Luke 24:27 (HCSB)
27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
What is less clear to me is what he might have in mind when he adds the “Psalms” a few verses later (emphasis mine):
Luke 24:44 (HCSB)
44 Then He told them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
I’ve heard it suggested1 that this was likely a reference to the entire third section, Writings, to include non-poetic books such as what most Christians today have categorized as historical (e.g. Chronicles) and even prophetic (e.g. Daniel) books.
What linguistic, contextual or historical evidence do we have that this is the case rather than being strictly a reference to what we generally title as the book of ‘Psalms’ today?
1 Dennis Johnson, Walking with Jesus through His Word, pg. 13.