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The Case of Psalm 151A I

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The Case of Psalm 151A I HOW TO WRITE A POEM: THE CASE OF PSALM 151A (11QPsa 28.3--12)" Mark S. Smith (Philadelphia) I: Introduction Psalm 151 is so numbered in Creekl and Syriac psalters,2 and it is at­ tested in psalter texts in Old Latin, Ethiopic, Coptic and Armenian.3 A Hebrew version of this text was unknown until the discovery of the Psalms Scroll in Cave 11 at Qumran. J.A. Sanders published the scroll first in 1963 in a preliminary edition and then in 1965 in the form of • This paper represents two presentations made at the Leiden Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira, held 11-14 December, 1995 at the Rijks Universiteit te Leiden. The discussion of the text of Psalm 151 in sections of I through IV of this essay was the basis for my workshop at the symposium, and section V, the appendix on superscriptions in 11QPsa, repre­ sents my lecture. Because of the closeness of subject matter in the two contri­ butions, I have combined them into a single paper for this volume. I wish to express very warm thanks to Professor T. Muraoka for the invitation to the Symposium, as weIl as appreciation for the improvements to my paper sug­ gested at the Symposium by Professor Muraoka and other participants; these are cited below. 1 J. Magne, 'Les textes grec et syriaque du Psaume 151', RQ 8 (1975), 548-64; 'Le verset des trois pierres dans le tradition du Psaume 151', RQ 8 (1975), 565-91; R. Meyer, 'Die Septuaginta-Fassung von Psalm 151, 1-5, als Ergebnis einer dogmatischer Korrectur', in Das ferne und nahe Wort (Fs. Leonard Rost; BZAW, 105; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1967), 164-72; D.N. Wigtil, The Sequence of the Translations of the Apocryphal Psalm 151', RQ 11 (1983),401-407. 2 See W. Baars (ed.), 'Apocryphal Psalms', in The Old Testament in Syriac ac­ cording to the Peshitta Version edited by the Peshitta Institute, Part IV, fascicle 6 (Leiden: E.J. BrilI, 1972), i-ix, 1-4; Magne, 'Textes'; 'Verset'; M. Noth, 'Die fünf syrisch überlieferten apocryphen Psalmen', ZAW 48 (1930), 4, 8, 11; H. Schneider, 'Biblische Oden im syrohexaplarischen Psalter', Bib 40 (1959), 202- 05; P.W. Skehan, 'Again the Syriac Apocryphal Psalms', CBQ 38 (1976), 143- 58; H.H. Spoer, 'Psalm 151', ZA W 28 (1908), 65-67; J. Strugnell, 'Notes on the Text and Transmission of the Apocryphal Psalms 151, 154 (= Syr. 11) and 155 (= Syr. III)', HTR 59 (1966), 258--72, 278--81; Wigtil, 'Sequence'. 3 See S. Stre1cyn, 'Le psaume 151 dans le tradition ethiopienne', JSS 23 (1978), 316-29; G. Viaud, 'Le Psaume 151 dans le liturgie copte', Bulletin de l'Institut Fran~is d'Archiologie Orientale du Caire 67 (1969), 1-8. The first work contains a critical Ethiopic edition with translation and notes. SMITH: PSALM 151A (11QPsa 28.3-12) 183 an editio princepS.4 The final composition in this seroll was Psalm 151 (llQPsa column 28, lines 3-14). A terminus ad quem of the third cen­ tury has been generally accepted largely on the witness to the text in the LXX.5 However, dates of either the second or first century B.C. have been proposed for the Septuagintal psalter.6 Perhaps a better in­ dicator of a second-century date (or earlier), this text displays none of the thematic traits specifically associated with Qumran community literature. Lines 3-14, attesting to two poems, offer a rare opportunity to witness the process of poetic composition in the Second Temple pe­ riod.7 The psalm was regarded rightly by its editor as a sort of 'midrash'8 on the life of David in 1 Sam 16.1-13. This sort of composi­ tion is not altogether exceptional. Yet there is evidence, albeit seanty, for such a genre earlier than the Syriac Psalms 152-153. J. Strugnell points to the survival of such a piece in Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiqui­ tatum Biblicarum 59.4.9 The second half of this composition includes many of the same themes found in Psalm 151 (the mention of shep­ herding; David's father and brothers; his anointing; the reference to 'messengers' as in LXX Psalm 151 but not 11QPsa 28; the prophet>. The text also shows the technique of taking language from 1 Samuel. Pseudo-Philo 62.5 contains a line which J. Strugnell and D. Harring­ ton compare with the opening of Ps 151: 'For I, the least among my brothers, was tending sheep'.10 Ben Sira 47.1-12's praise of David for his many exploits might be placed in the same or a similar subgenre. Ben Sira 47.4 compares weIl with the final verse in LXX and Syriac: 'As a youth he slew the giant and did away with the people's dis­ grace' (cf. 1 Sam 17.26). One of the methods of composition utilized in 4 J.A. Sanders, 'Psalm 151 in llQPss', ZA W75 (1963), 73--86; The Psalms Seroll w.Qumran Cave 11 (DJD, IV; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), 5~4. So F.M. Cross, 'David, Orpheus, and Psalm 151:3--4', BASOR 231 (1978),69- 7l. 6 G. Dorival, M. Harl and O. Munnich, La Bible grecque: du judai"sme hellinis­ tique au christianisme ancien (Paris: Cerf/C.N.R.S., 1988), 91, 93, 97. O. Munnich prefers the earlier date based on a relative chronology of the LXX Psalter's influence on the translation of other LXX books. See Munnich, 'Etude lexicographique du Psautier des Septante' (2 vols.; these presentee pour le doctorat; Paris: Universite de Paris-Sorbonne, 1982), 1, 19-53. See the summary of his views in Dorival, Harl and Munnich, La Bible grecque, 96, 111. 7 For the grammatical basis of this argument, see A. Hurvitz, 'The Language and Date of Psalm 151 from Qumran', EI8 (1967), 82-87 (Hebrew). 8 Sanders, Psalms SerolI, 56. 9 J. Strugnell, 'More Psalms of "David''', CBQ 27 (1965), 207-16. For a transla­ tion, see D. Harrington, 'Pseudo-Philo', in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Vol. 2; ed. J.H. Charlesworth; Garden City: Doubleday, 1985),372. 10 Strugnell, 'More Psalms', 215, n.6; Harrington, 'Pseudo-Philo', 375. .
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