JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. JSOTSup Journal for Study of the Old Testament Supplement JTS Journal of Theological Studies.
INTRODUCTION
The present study argues that Fløysvik's conclusion is an even more apt summary of the theological contribution of Pss 73–83 to the Psalter. 24Eric Zenger, “Psalmenexegese und Psalterexegese: Eine Forschungsskizze,” in The Composition of the Book of Psalms, ed.
Parallelism is the primary means of detecting literary unity at the inter-psalm level. Parallelism is not the only means of identifying structure in the
He notes that the expansion of parallelism in recent years to include all levels of the individual text. Bar-Efrat shows how the theme of "transfer of leadership" in 1 Sam functions as "a decisive factor in the overall composition of the book." Ibid.
Evidence must be weighed, not counted. This guideline has
Clinton McCann
The first is a scholarly lack of attention to questions about the collection's arrangement and placement within the Psalter. 30Christine Dannette Brown Jones, "The Psalms of Asaph: A Study of the Function of a Psalm Collection" (PhD diss., Baylor University, 2009).
H. Bellinger
Bellinger's observation that the "protest poems" of Book III are a significant aspect of the Psalter's response to questions of theodicy is insightful. But his focus on the "persuasive impact" of the book's protest poems does little to illuminate the distinctive structure of the book itself.
Palmer Robertson
Mitchell, The Message of the Psalter: An Eschatological Program in the Book of Psalms JSOTSup 252 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 90. This is an impressive one-third of the total occurrences of this verb in the Psalter;.
FAITH AND
The basis of this distinction is the types of God's predictions (ie the various form-critical motifs or components) contained in these psalms. They (foe) lament" laments a hardship, but does not attribute it to God.4 God's lament presents the psalmist's perception of God's role in adversity in a distinctive way. Another negative prayer occurs in verse 12: "Kill them not (ie the wicked), lest my people forget it."
In verses 31 and 116, the psalmist makes the same request: "Let me not be ashamed (ינשיבת לא)." The hiphil is again used to express a permissive idea. John Goldingay's suggestion that this is a case of litotes seems correct (i.e., "Don't take it [i.e., the word of truth]. This examination of negative petitions confirms Broyles' assessment of the petition motive as a prophecy of God:" petitions belong to the sermons of God, but their meaning cannot carry much weight because they are not in it.
But the psalmist can say: 'The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
FAITH AMID CONFLICTING EVIDENCE
The psalm's first part (vv. 1–16) describes the problem facing the psalmist: the conflict between the doctrine stated in verse 1 ("God is good to Israel, to the pure in heart") and the eternal prosperity of the wicked (vv. Is there knowledge in the Most High?" This sentiment is a confirmation of God's apparent indifference, apathy and possibly approval of the wicked. The second half of the psalm is largely an expansion of the decision that the psalmist at the sanctuary.
It consists of the psalmist's confident affirmations about God's future, though certain, destruction of the wicked. The psalmist confesses that he behaved like a brute animal in his earlier envy of the wicked (vv. 21–22). The last two verses of this section form a concise conclusion of the psalm as a whole: the instability of the wicked (v. 27); the stability of the psalmist (v. 28).
The psalmist confidently affirms the truth of the core belief of the Israelites that "God is good to Israel, to the pure in heart." v. 1) amid the conflicting evidence of the eternal prosperity of the wicked (vv.
PSALMS 74–76
10–11] is the axis of the request, then the main theme of the psalm is the status of God's name and reputation. Christine Danette Brown Jones, "The Psalms of Asaph: A Study of the Function of a Psalm Collection." The content of the oracle is best interpreted as the "miracles" of God's judgment recounted by the congregation praising God (see ךיתואלפנ ורפס [v. 2]).
The motif serves to emphasize God's sole sovereign authority as judge and the certainty of His judgment over the wicked. God as judge of the wicked (Ps 75)/enemies (Ps 76) is the main image of God and a major theme in each psalm. 37See the discussion of Psalm 74 earlier in this chapter for evidence of the psalm's concentric arrangement.
41As noted earlier, Sharrock argues that the status of God's name or reputation may be the main theme of the psalm.
PSALMS 77–78
Remembering the great redemption of the Exodus provides assurance that God's faithful love/compassion has not ceased. But, as he notes, the return to God in the closing verses shows that the psalm as a whole was uttered in the presence of God. In Psalm 78 the account of God's past dealings with his people shows the truth of this creed (v.
These psalms differ in their orientation, setting, focus, attitude of the psalmist/community, and regarding the effects of God's inactivity. 8–10, and the absence of an explicit concern for the effects of God's inactivity on his reputation in the psalm. The distinctive perspective of Psalm 77 is that God's absence in the destruction of the temple undermined the truth of the basic creed of Exodus 34:6-7.
76 and 77-78, the basic theological message communicated in the opening Psalm 73 and the grouping of Psalms 74-76 is the same (faith clings to God's self-revelation in the midst of conflicting evidence). On the contrary, the first half of both Psalms 73 and 77 consists of the psalmist's personal reflection or reflections on God/God's dealings with the psalmist. Jerusalem (םלשורי) into ruins and given the bodies of God's servants to the birds of the sky (םימש) and the beasts of the earth (ץרא).
PSALMS 80–81
Thomas Heike, “Psalm 80 and Its Neighbors in the Psalter: Psalter Context as Background for Psalm Interpretation,” BN. It contains God's most direct address to the assembled congregation and subsequent listeners/readers of the psalm. The significance of this connection is reinforced by the presence of the verb עשי as a key word (along with בוש [“to restore”]) in the prominent refrain of Psalm 80.
It is also strengthened by the rarity of the verb ץלח ("to save") in the Psalter. Three observations heighten the importance of this lexical connection: (1) its high frequency;37 (2) its recurrence as a key word in the prominent refrain of Psalm 80 (and a line very similar to it [i.e. v. 15]); and (3) his presence in the important closing verses of the divine oracle (vv. 14–17). It is not listed because the occurrence of the verb in 81:11 is part of a more important connection between these psalms, the motif of God feeding his people.
These connections suggest, as previous studies suggest, that the primary importance of the oracle is to resolve the conflict of faith and experience at the heart of Psalm 80 (vv. 5–16).
PSALMS 79–82
The repetition of the second-person singular masculine pronoun referring to Yahweh in these verses portrays the nations as God's own enemies. The actual content of the taunt is contained in verse 10 and is central to the psalm's argument for God to act. One might conclude that, as in earlier psalms, the quote from the enemy is the key element in the psalm's argument.”14.
In Psalm 82:1, God is depicted as the undisputed leader of the divine world, placing himself "in the midst of the gods (םיהלא ברקב)" to govern. They command םיהלא to distribute justice in the territories among the nations where the Most High has appointed them.24 They are a strong accusation against םיהלא because he does not do this. However, it is not necessary to assume (as some do) a direct influence of the Ugaritic concept of the divine world.
For you possess all nations (םיוגה לכב לחנת התא יכ).”27 In his important study of the Divine Council in ancient Israel, Michael Heiser draws on B.
So Heiser rightly observes that in this closing petition the Most High is not asked to arise to begin a new, hitherto unimaginable administration of the nations; he is requested to maintain the order he proclaimed in ancient times. This section provides evidence that Psalms 79 and 82 have been deliberately combined in the current form of the collection, and then considers interpretation. Second, a related and equally prominent link is the "defeat of the gods/God" motif.
In Psalm 82, this motif takes the form not of Yahweh's apparent defeat, but of Yahweh's authoritative death sentence of the gods of the nations (vv. 6–7). Fifth, the only two occurrences of the verb לצן ("to save") in Psalms 73-83 are in these Psalms. In Psalm 82:4 Yahweh commands םיהלא "Save!" the weak and the poor from the hands of the wicked.
In Psalm 82, the authority of Yahweh over all the nations (םיוג) of the earth is central to the psalm (verse 8).
Yahweh is depicted as the Most High God who condemns the gods of the nations to death (cf. 82 that there is a unit; (2) others have noted the structural function of the superscriptions;36 and that (3) a similar symmetry exists in the titles preceding the unit (Pss 74-78 ) This was practically the same conclusion as in the case of the first major structural unit, Psalms 74-78.
The perspective of Psalm 79 is that this crisis seriously undermined God's justice and meant his defeat by the gods of the nations. Recognizing the unity of Psalms 79-82 allows for a proper interpretation of the connections between Psalms 78 and 79 discussed in chapters 6 and 7. The implications of the correspondence between Psalm 73 and Psalms 79-82 are practically the same as those between Psalm 73 and the unity of Psalms 74-82, which is discussed in Chapter 7.
Thus, to avoid unnecessary repetition, the implications of the correspondence between Psalm 73 and Psalm 79-82 are left to the conclusion of the study.
They are discussed in conjunction with the structure and message of the collection as a whole. This perspective is most evident in Psalm 79, especially in its opening lament over the massacre of the enemy in Jerusalem (see vv. 1–4, 7). Fifth, Psalm 83 shares with the collection (especially the first major unit) the perspective that God must act on behalf of his people in the present/future in accordance with his past works of salvation/judgment (see 83:10-13; Ps. .
Seventh, the urgent threefold opening petition ("Be not silent; be not silent; be not still") (83:2) reflects the overall perspective of the collection that the community urgently needs God to act and intervene on their behalf (see Pss. A final perspective that Psalm 83 shares with the earlier collection may be its most significant. Like the first major unit of the collection (Pss 74–78), the literary unity of the second is reflected in its terms and structure, single theological crisis and coherent message.
64. Supporting this interpretation of the petitions in the present case is not only their non-prescriptive nature.
