An Introduction to the Book of Psalms
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
An Introduction to the Book of Psalms John F. Hobbins [email protected] The book of Psalms is actually a collection of five books each of which ends with a note of praise. Known as “the book of praises” in Jewish tradition, almost every composition in it is suffused with praise, culminates in praise, or anticipates offering praise to the national deity of Israel. A doxology closes Book 1 (Psalms 1-41), Book 2 (Psalms 42-72), Book 3 (Psalms 73-89), and Book 4 (Psalms 90-106). Several psalms of praise close Book 5 (Psalms 107-150). In the Psalms, the chief calling of God is to respond to the needs of his creatures. The chief calling of his creatures is to offer him praise and spread abroad his greatness. The psalms are also characterized by raw passions and an emotional logic that are alien and familiar to moderns at the same time. Faith in God is something that always comes to expression in the psalms, even if it manifests itself as protest and rage against God. Scansions and translations of a few of the psalms are offered on this site: Psalms 2, 6, 104, 111-112, and 137; also, Jonah 2:3-10, a psalm outside the Psalter. Psalms manuscripts recovered from the caves of Qumran demonstrate that the book of Psalms as passed on to posterity by rabbinic Judaism is not identical in contents and arrangement to psalms collections in existence before the standardization of the biblical text became an accomplished fact in the first and second centuries CE. So it is that 11QPsa, dated ca. 50 CE, contains compositions previously unknown, psalms appended to the standardized collection in Greek and Syriac but absent from the Masoretic Psalter, and many of the psalms in Books 4 and 5 of the Masoretic Psalter, but not in the same order. See “Psalms” in The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible (ed. Martin Abegg, Jr., Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich, San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1999) 505-589. The existence of once separate collections is also evidenced by the inclusion of the same psalm in more than one collection (Psalm 14=Psalm 53, etc.). The complexity of the compositional history of the Psalter is evidenced by Psalms 42-83, in which a generic term for God (“Elohim”) takes the place of the name of the deity (“Yahweh”). It is not clear why. Like Habakkuk 3 outside the Psalter, some of the psalms have superscripts and subscripts (3-5, 7-13 [9-10 are a single psalm], 16-21, 29- 30, 35, 38-48 [42-43 are a single psalm], 50-69, 74-76, 79-80, 83-84, 87, 108, 138-139). This is no longer apparent due to faulty textual transmission. Subscripts are now combined with superscripts of following psalms. Once the textual situation is recognized, one cannot fail to wonder if “a song for the dedication of the House” was interposed between “psalm” and “for David” in Psalm 30:1 when its function as a subscript to Psalm 29 was no longer understood. It also becomes clear that a “song” in the cultic sense is without exception a celebration in song of the deeds of the deity (29, 46, 47, 65-68, 82 [not 83], 87 [not 88], 92-97). A mizmor or “psalm” is any piece of cultic function that was “picked to” with a stringed instrument. 57 compositions in the Psalter are indicated as psalms in the technical sense. A michtam always memorializes a petition which received a positive response (16, 56-60; cf. Isaiah 38:9-20). A “prayer” always includes a cry to the deity for help (17, 86, 90, 102, 142; cf. Habakkuk 3). The precise meaning of maskil (32, 42, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, 142) is unknown. As elsewhere in ancient Hebrew poetry, prosodic, semantic, syntactic, morphological, and sonic parallelisms recur across versets, lines, and groups of lines in the psalms and give the psalms their characteristic stamp. The psalms are marked by a common rhetorical style and vocabulary and similar forms of expression. They share a similar understanding of the obligating relationship that binds deity to a nation and king, and a similar set of expectations regarding the role of the king, the role of the temple, the conduct of war, and the importance of acts of justice relative to acts of piety. Many of these understandings and expectations are reflected in hymns and prayers of other ancient Near Eastern literatures. In a few cases, it can be shown that a psalm closely follows a non-Israelite model that originally involved a deity other than Yahweh. Examples: Psalms 20, 29, and 104. Psalms 1-72, Books 1 and 2 of the Psalter, appear to be a collection of earlier collections (3-13, 16-21, 22-30, 34-39, 42-48, 52-69) prefaced and post faced by individual psalms (1, 2, 14, 15, 31, 32, 33, 40, 41, 49, 50, 51, 70+71, 72). With few exceptions these psalms present themselves as meant for use by the Davidide king or singers of his employ in First Temple times (10th-early 6th cent. BCE). “For David,” “For the Korahites,” and “For Asaph” in the headings of the psalms refer to user, not (necessarily) author. In the same way, Psalm 102 is a prayer “for” the afflicted, not “of’ the afflicted. This was not understood in later times. Psalms unlikely to have been intended for use by a Davidide were labeled as “for” David or “for” Solomon because they were designed to be recited to the king by another (20-21, 72), because they seem apt in the king’s mouth (124, 127, 131, and 133), or because they make reference to him (122). Comments were added to the headings of some psalms so as to situate them in the life of David as known from other sources. Psalm 18 is a unique example because it is found with minor variations in 2 Samuel 22 as an inset in the narrative of David’s life. Prayers and plaint in response to crises and misfortunes, often combined with expressions of praise for the deity’s past beneficent deeds, dominate Books 1 and 2 (3-7, 9+10, 12, 13, 16-17, 22, 25-28, 31, 35-36, 38-40, 42+43, 51, 52, 54-57, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, and 69-71). Psalms of thanksgiving (18, 30, 32, 34, 41, 65-68) and trust (11, 23, and 62) also occur. The misfortunes and threats are often of collective proportions, or involve rival nations, as do recounted interventions by the deity. It is natural to infer that it is the king who expresses confidence or appeals to the deity in these cases (2, 3, 7, 9+10, 12, 18, 22, 27, 54, 59, 60, 61, 63, and 77). Psalms 73-89, Book 3 of the Psalter, presents itself as another collection of psalms meant for the Davidide king and the temple singers. 74 and 79 are the first psalms in the Psalter that clearly date to a time after the destruction of the First Temple, the time of the exile of the 6th cent. BCE. Psalms 90-150, Books 4 and 5 of the Psalter, include a few psalms for the Davidide king from First Temple times (101, 108-110, 138-145), but themes, language, and theology suggest a date in early Second Temple times (late 6th–5th cent. BCE) for the majority of the psalms in them. A date for the hymns to Yahweh’s kingship (93, 95-99) is suggested by a superscript to 96 in the ancient Greek translation: “when the house [Temple] was being rebuilt after captivity”. They are prefaced by prayer and prophecy attributed to Moses (90+91) and an introductory hymn of praise (92). Psalms 102, 105- 107, and 137 are clearly post-exilic. Psalms 111-117 and 145-150 are collections of psalms that begin and end with Hallelujah, meaning “Praise Yah(weh)!” Psalms 120-134 constitute a collection of “songs of ascent” of diverse origins intended to be sung by pilgrims as they approached the temple in festival seasons. As alluded to above, the “I” of many of the psalms is plausibly understood to be that of the Davidide king. The deity’s relationship to king is very close and is fraught with privileges and obligations. See Psalms 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 60, 72, 89, 101, 108, 110, 132, and 144. Yahweh is bound by oath to the king who rules in Jerusalem. Mount Zion in Jerusalem is Yahweh’s earthly seat. Zion as the seat of Yahweh’s earthly presence is celebrated in several psalms (46, 48, 76, 84, 87, and 122). The end of the Davidic dynasty, the destruction of Jerusalem and temple, and the consequent experience of exile and national humiliation are the theme of other psalms (74, 79, 89, 102, 105-107, 137, 147, and 149). Precisely from the point of view of a host of psalms, it might appear that history had dealt a mortal blow to Israel’s faith. But the theological resources of Israelite faith overcame these devastating events. The tradition of communal prayer in times of national humiliation was not dependent on the “I” of the king. See Psalms 44, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, 89, 94, 106, 123, 126, and 137, where the “I” behind the “we” is either a temple singer or a common worshipper who identifies with the whole community. Cf. Lamentations 3. A single hymn celebrating the kingship of Yahweh is preserved from the First Temple period (47).