Psalms Introduction What is the Book of

Psalms Introduction

What is the Book of Psalms? • Mc. Cann states, “the book of Psalms presents nothing short of God’s claim upon the whole world and … articulates God’s will for justice, righteousness, and peace among all peoples and all nations. ”

What is the Book of Psalms? • Brueggemann states, “the book of Psalms provides the most reliable theological, pastoral, and liturgical resource given us in the biblical tradition. …The Psalms are helpful because they are a genuinely dialogical literature that expresses both sides of the conversation of faith. ”

What is the Book of Psalms? • Gerhard von Rad echoed the dialogical nature of the Book of Psalms. He called the psalms “Israel’s Answer” to the acts of God, rehearsing those acts, responding both positively and negatively to Yahweh, and interacting with Him in praise.

What is the Book of Psalms? • Claus Westermann begins one of his books on the psalms, “the psalms are poems or lyrics which have survived for centuries, through changes of civilization, religions and languages, to speak still a living word to us today. The reason for this continued vitality of the psalms is that their words are directed to God, they are prayers and appeals to Him. ”

What is the Book of Psalms? • Westermann: Under the influence of my wartime experiences, I realized that the people who had written and prayed the psalms understood prayer differently than we do. Prayer was closer to life, closer to the reality in which they lived, than is true with us. For us, prayer is something a person does or is admonished to do—a human act. But in the Psalter, crying to God grows out of life itself; it is a reaction to the experiences of life, a cry from the heart.

What is the Book of Psalms? • Hermann Gunkel developed the formcritical norms of psalm study in use today. The psalms of the Old Testament arose “in the real life of persons and have their setting therein. …The genres of an ancient writing must be differentiated by the various events of life from which they developed. ”

What is the Book of Psalms? • Brevard Childs points out, the crucial conclusion of Gunkel’s work was the demonstration that “the historical settings of the psalms were not to be sought in particular historical events, but in the cultic life of the community. ”

What is the Book of Psalms? • Nahum Sarna: In the Psalms, the human soul extends itself beyond its confining, sheltering, impermanent house of clay. It strives for contact with the Ultimate Source of all life. It gropes for an experience of the divine Presence. The biblical psalms are essentially a record of the human quest for God.

What is the Book of Psalms? • Bonhoeffer: Whoever has begun to pray the Psalter earnestly and regularly, will soon give leave to those other, easy little prayers of their own because they lack the power, passion, and fire, to be found in the Psalter.

What is the Book of Psalms? • De. Claisse-Walford: We encounter something different in the Psalter. Its pages record, for the most part, not the words of God to humanity, but the words of humanity to God. In it, we encounter striking second-person language, language found only rarely in the rest of the Bible. The words are meant to be spoken by people in the presence of and directly to God (3).

What is the Book of Psalms? • Prayer book of the second temple.

Poetry, Translation • Synonymous Parallelism • The two lines of the poetic pair (bi-cola) are basically synonymous. PS 24: 1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; PS 27: 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?

Poetry, Translation • Antithetical Parallelism • The second line expresses the opposite of the first, thus stating its antithesis. PS 1: 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Poetry, Translation • Chiasm --PS 107: 32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders (NIV). --lit. , “Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and in the council of the elders praise him. ” --PS 109: 30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng I will praise him. --lit. , “I will give thanks to the LORD greatly with my mouth, in the midst of the multitude I will praise him. ”

Poetry, Translation • Acrostic ארוממך אלוהי המלך ואברכה שמך לעולם בכל־יום אברכך ואהללה שמך לעולם 2 ועד׃ 3 ועד׃ 4 גדול יהוה ומהלל מאד ולגדלתו אין חקר׃ 5 דור לדור ישבח מעשיך וגבורתיך יגידו׃ 6 הדר כבוד הודך ודברי נפלאותיך אשיחה׃

Historical Development of the Psalms

Historical Development of the Psalms • Pre-monarchic Psalms? Ps 291 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings 1 , 1 Hebrew sons of God, or sons of might 3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. 8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.

Historical Development of the Psalms • Pre-monarchic Psalms? Ps 821 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

Historical Development of the Psalms • Davidic Psalms? • Ps 236 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. • Sam 713 He shall build a house for my name, and will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Historical Development of the Psalms • Pre-exilic Psalms? Ps 721 Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! 2 May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!

Historical Development of the Psalms • Pre-exilic Psalms? Ps 243 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?

Historical Development of the Psalms • Pre-exilic Psalms? • Ps 7860 He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind, • Jeremiah 712 -14 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

Historical Development of the Psalms • Post-exilic Psalms? • Ps 1371 -3, 8 -9 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”. . . O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

Psalms and Hymns outside of Psalms • • • 1 Chronicles 16: 8 -36 Exodus 15 Job 3 Jeremiah 18: 19 -23; 20: 7 -12 Habakkuk 3: 1 -19 Isaiah 38: 10 -20 Luke 1: 46 -55 Philippians 2: 6 -11 Colossians 1: 15 -20

Canonical Arrangement of Psalms Masoretic Text Septuagint 1 -8 9 -10 9 11 -113 10 -112 114 -115 113 116 114 -115 117 -146 116 -145 147 146 -147 148 -150 151 11 QPsa 1 101 -103, 109, 118, 104, 147, 105, 146, 148 121 -132, 119, 135 -136, 145 139, 137 -138, 93, 141, 133 144, 142 -143, 149 -150, 140 134, 151 1 http: //biblical-studies. ca/dss/introductions/11 QPs-a. html

Sub-Groups • 5 Books – Psalms 1 -41, 42 -72, 73 -89, 90 -106, & 107 -150. – The doxology at the end of Psalm 72 states that “the prayers of David are ended. ” • “Songs of Ascent” (lit. “Songs of Going Up”), Psalms 120 -134 • Others?

Superscriptions • “Of David” = ledavid ( )לדוד – Seventy-three Psalms (85 in the LXX) • “Of Solomon" (Ps. 72) • “Of Moses" (Ps. 90) • “Of Ethan" (Ps 89) – Ethan is a sage in 1 Kings 4: 31, but a temple musician in 1 Chronicles 6 & 15. • “Sons of Korah”--Psalms 42 -49, 84 -85, 87 -88 – Musicians & gatekeepers in the temple in 1 Chron. • “Of Asaph”—Psalms 50, 73 -83 – Asaph was a temple musician under David in Chronicles, and his descendants are listed as singers after the exile (Ezra 2: 41).

Historical Superscriptions • A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. – Psalm 3 • To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. – Psalm 51 • To the choirmaster: according to Shushan Eduth. A M iktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. – Psalm 60

Superscriptions • What might the superscriptions tell us? – Bellinger: Compare “Psalm of David” to “Authorized King James Version” • Brueggemann: “Whose psalm is it? ”

Musical Notations? • shir ( —) שיר Often with notation that it refers to songs accompanied by musical instruments. It is one of two basic words for “song. ” • mizmor ( —)מזמר Often translated “psalm, ” but the difference between these two terms has been lost. • maskil ( —) משכיל Often associated with wisdom circles and referred to “didactic poetry. ” • selah ( —)סלה This term occurs 71 times in the Psalms (92 in the LXX). • Other notations apparently refer to tunes, e. g. “The Deer of the Dawn” (Ps. 22), “The Dove of the Far-off Terebinths” (Ps. 56), and “Lilies” (Pss. 45, 69).

Literary Types • Coded Speech • Rhetorical Patterns

Literary Types • Hymns – Psalm 96 (also called an “Enthronement song”) • 96: 1 -3—Call to Worship the Lord • 96: 4 -6—Act/attributes of the Lord for which He deserves praise • 96: 7 -13—Concluding call to praise because He reigns as king

Literary Types • Complaints/Laments – Opening address, often with a vocative – Description of the trouble – Plea or petition for God’s response, sometimes with reasons that He should help – Profession of trust or confidence – Promise of vow to praise God or offer a sacrifice

Literary Types • Complaints/Laments – Psalm 42 -43 • Address to God or cry for help (42: 12, 9; 43: 1) • Description of current distress (42: 3, 5 a, 6 -7, 10 -11 a; 43: 5 a) • Affirmation of Trust (42: 4, 5 b, 8, 11 b, 43: 5 b) • Vow to praise and assurance of being heard (43: 2 -4)

Literary Types • Thanksgiving Songs – Expressions of praise/gratitude to God – Description of the trouble or distress from which the psalmist has been delivered – Testimony to others concerning God’s saving deeds – Exhortation to others to join in praising God and acknowledging God’s ways

Literary Types • Thanksgiving Songs – Psalm 92 • 92: 1 -3 --Introductory summary and resolve to give thanks. • 92: 4 -14—Reason for giving thanks • 92: 8—Chiastic(? ) structure with v. 8 as a statement of praise at the center of the psalm. • 92: 15—Summary of Thanksgiving

Literary Types • Royal/Messianic Psalms – King – Messiah – Psalm 110

Literary Types • Other Types – Wisdom Psalms • Psalm 1 – Entrance Liturgy • Psalm 24 – Psalms of Confidence • Psalm 23

Brueggemann “The edge of emotional coping” Anguish {LIFE} Ecstasy Technology “numbs us to the edges” and “thins life. ”

Brueggemann

Brueggemann’s Rubric • We stay in orientation as long as we can —we put off admitting that it is not working. • You must make the move to Disorientation in order to “stay human. ” • Otherwise, we live in a “wonderland of denial. ” • New Orientation is always a surprising gift of God.

Paul Riceour • Limit experiences—Limit expressions • “Once you say it, you must own it. ” • Once you own it, you can deal with it.

Disorientation • Faith requires candid entry into our suffering. • Suffering is God’s natural habitat. • God is hope. (Jews are “hopers. ”) • Moves to disorientation are “profoundly countercultural. ”

Brueggemann Friday Sunday

Brueggemann

General Comments • Psalms are “generative of new reality. ” • They are “performative speech”: – Psalm 96 “makes” Yahweh king. – Eucharistic language brings Christ present. – Laments are “Performance of Absence”!

J. Goldingay, Psalms Praise Protest Obedience Plea Thanksgiving Trust