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C7/43 (2008): 183-212

Discerning the Voices in the Psalms:1

A Discussion of Two Problems in Psalmic Interpretation2

Carl J. Bosma

In the first volume of his magnum opus, Old Testament Theology, volume 1, The Theology of Israel's Historical Traditions, Gerhard von Rad treats the Psalms under the rubric "Israel before Jahweh (Israel's answer)."3 This chapter represents von Rad's important contribution to the interpretation of the book of Psalms. In it, he introduces two important modifications in psalmic interpretation. First, he redefined the proper object of a theology of the psalms, which reignited a renewed interest in the theology of the psalms. According to von Rad, Israel's response to Yahweh's mighty deeds in the cult is the proper object of inquiry for a theology of the Psalms. Second, as a corollary of his redefinition of the proper object of a theology of the Psalms, von Rad also rejected the nineteenth-century biographical-psychological approach to the Psalms that concentrates its attention on the unique experience of the individual authors. Instead, he called for a kerug-matic approach. These modifications mark a significant transition in the interpretation of the Psalms.

Von Rad's important modifications, however, raise several important methodological and hermeneutical issues in psalmic interpretation. In this article, we will limit ourselves to a discussion of two of these problems. The first problem concerns the implications of von Rad's rejection of the nineteenth-century biographical-psychological and individual author-centered approach to the psalms vis-à-vis the very popular psychologizing approach to the Psalms that focuses its attention primarily on human emotions and voices. Is this a valid approach? The second problem concerns the status of

1ΈΟΥ this part of the title, I am indebted to Karlfried Froehlich's article, "Discerning the Voices: Praise and Lament in the Tradition of the Christian Psalter," Calvin Theological Journal 36 (2001): 75-90.

2This article is a revision of a previous version published in Portuguese in Fides Reformata 9 (2004): 75-118.

3Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, vol.1, Chapter D, "Israel Before Jahweh (Israel's Answer)," trans. D. M. G. Stalker (New York: Harper and Row, 1962), 355. Hereafter OTT.

CALVIN THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

the Psalms as the inscripturated Word of God: Is it God's word, a human response, or both?4

To explain the nature of these problems, the first installment of this two-part article will first discuss von Rad's important modifications to the interpretation of the Psalter. Next it will discuss the first problem. The second installment will consider the second problem.

Von Rad's Modifications to Psalmic Interpretation

To understand von Rad's modification to the interpretation of the Psalms, it is important to recognize the basic assumptions of his tradition-historical (Traditionsgeschichte) approach. For von Rad, "Israel's answer" is articulated within the larger context of two foundational complexes of Old Testament traditions, each of which is centered on a special divine intervention in Israel's history. The first divine intervention was the complex of acts from Abraham to Joshua recorded in the Hexateuch. The second was the choice of David that "became the point of crystallisation and the axis for the historical works of the Deuteronomist and the Chronicler."5 "On these two saving data rested the whole of Israel's existence before Jahweh."6

On the basis of this key assumption, von Rad describes "Israel's answer" in the Psalms in the following manner:

When these saving acts had happened to her, Israel did not keep silent: not only did she repeatedly take up her pen to recall these acts of Jahweh to her mind in historical documents, but she also addressed Jahweh in a wholly personal way. She offered praise to him, and asked him questions, and complained to him about all her sufferings, for Jahweh had not chosen his people as a mere dumb object of his will in history, but for converse with him.7

For von Rad, Israel's personal answer is gathered "for the most part from the Psalter" and "is theologically a subject in itself."8 Israel's answer shows us how

4Our discussion of these issues will be based on the writings of Nicholas H. Ridderbos, especially the introduction to his commentary: De Psalmen: Opnieuw Vit de Grondtekst Vertaald en Verklaard, Eerste Deel Psalm 1-41 (Kampen: Kok, 1962). In this introduction, he made several important observations on these two issues. Unfortunately, his commentary was never translated from the Dutch into English. Nevertheless, his comments merit wider attention.

'Von Rad, OTT, 1:355. 6Ibid., 1:355. For a critical appraisal of von Rad's heihgeschichtliche framework for a

theology of the Psalms see: Hermann Spieckermann, Heilsgegenwart: Eine Theologie der Psalmen, Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testament 148 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989), 12-16.

7von Rad, OTT, 1:355.

»Ibid., 1:355.

DISCERNING THE VOICES IN THE PSALMS

in her conversation with Jahweh "Israel was revealed to herself and how she pictured herself when she came before Jahweh to speak to him."9 According to von Rad, in Israel's response one can find the basic features of a theological doctrine of man. By that he does not mean a doctrine limited to a word study of Hebrew terms, such as, ΊΚΠ "flesh," and ^s5 "spirit."10 Instead, he means a theological reflection that focuses its attention on how Israel pictured herself before God. This, he asserts, is worth the highest theological attention.11 Consequently, he treats it in a separate section of the first volume of his magisterial Old Testament Theology, parallel to 'The Theology of the Hexateuch" and "Israel's Anointed," but, significantly, separate from 'The Theology of Israel's Prophetic Traditions," which was completed in a separate volume in 1960.

In this connection, it should be underscored that for von Rad Israel's response to Yahweh's mighty deeds in history occurs primarily in the cult.12 The cult was the Sitz im Leben of the Psalms. By linking psalmody with the cult, von Rad implicitly rejected the spiritualizing approach to the Psalms à la Herman Gunkel,13 the pioneer of the form-critical (Gattungsgeschichte) method of exegesis. Gunkel's spiritualizing approach was marked by a radical anticultic spirit. For von Rad, however, the spintualization of cultic ideas (cf. Ps. 141:2) "are scarcely equivalent to a radical anti-cultic conception."14 For this reason, he adopted Sigmund Mowinckel's cult-functional approach to the Psalms.15

Von Rad's tradition-historical approach to the theology of the Psalms marks an important transition in the history of interpretation of the Psalms.16

First of all, his claim that Israel's cultic answer to Yahweh's two saving interventions in history constitutes the proper object of theological inquiry for the Psalms represents an important move from the individual author to wider communal cultic traditions and setting. This move is a natural consequence

9Ibid, 1 356 10Ibid According to von Rad, this method results only in general statements about human

beings, which is probably "just a variant of the understanding of man generally common in the ancient East " For von Rad, these "general concepts of man theologically do not amount to much" (p 356)

nvonRad, OTT 1356 12Ibid, 1 357 13Ibid, 1 368n29 14Ibid, 1 397 For von Rad (pp 396), the spintualization of cultic ideas represents the

individual's interpretation and appropriation of the world of the cult "in a living way " 15Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, 2 vols, trans D R Ap-Thomas

(Nashville Abingdon, 1962), 1 1-22 Hereafter cited as PIW In chapter 2 of this monumental work, Mowinckel refers to his method of Psalmic interpretation as "cultic interpretation " Others refer to it as the cult-functional approach Mowinckel's influence on von Rad is particularly evident from his treatment of the spintualization of cultic ideas on pp 396-401

16Erhard Gerstenberger, 'The Psalms," in Old Testament Form Criticism, 2d ed , ed John H Hayes (San Antonio Trinity University Press, 1977), 186


of Gunkel's form-critical method that bracketed authorship in favor of wider communal oral traditions in their respective Sitz im Leben.

Moreover, as a natural corollary of this significant switch, von Rad's emphasis on Israel's communal cultic response also resulted in a rejection of the romantic, individualistic, personalized approach of nineteenth-century historical criticism. As a result of Friedrich Schleiermacher's influence, the practitioners of the historical-critical approach were more interested in the individual psalmist's inner feelings and his psychological and religious condition.17 Von Rad rejects this approach. According to him, even psalms of individual lament bear the stamp of conventionalized liturgical formulae. Consequently, he argues, "in their phraseology these psalms are in no sense whatever to be understood as personal outpourings . . . but as discourses bound to the cult and the liturgy."18

Von Rad's rejection of the biographical approach is clearly articulated in his very important essay entitled "'Righteousness' and 'Life' in the Cultic Language of the Psalms."19 In this significant essay, he emphasizes that an uncritical acceptance of the psalmist as an individual "leads to serious theological error—in assertions of the psalmist's righteousness, and in statements concerning life and death."20 Thus, von Rad positions himself against Hermann Gunkel and aligns himself with Sigmund Mowinckel's emphasis on the intimate connection between the cult and psalmody.21 He clearly states this in the following quotation from the same article:

Thus in our interpretation of the passages quoted from the psalms, we must be on our guard against a personal, biographical exegesis. In the controversy between Gunkel and Mowinckel I side with the latter, who severely criticized the view that they are personal compositions. To know the forms of cultic address, to be familiar with sacral traditions, and to be able to adapt and modify them was a task for the professional and authorized official and a member of the guild, and it was not simply left in each case to the free choice of the layman to improvise as he would. Had the "individual laments" in sickness, for example, been composed by the sufferer, they would not have contained so little concrete information concerning the patient's actual condition.22

17For a succinct description of the major focus of nineteenth-century critical studies of the psalms, see Gerstenberger, "Psalms," 180.

18vonRad, OTT 1:399-400. 19Gerhard von Rad, "'Righteousness' and 'Life' in the Cultic Language of the Psalms," in

The Problem oftheHexateuch and Other Essays, trans. E. W. Trueman Dicken (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), 243.

20von Rad, "'Righteousness' and 'Life,'" 243. 21Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, 1:1-22. 22von Rad, "'Righteousness' and 'Life,'" 255.


Von Rad also rejects the psychologizing approach of the nineteenth century in his Old Testament Theology. In the chapter on the general methodological presuppositions of a theology of Israel's historical traditions, he writes the following:

The subject-matter which concerns the theologian is, of course, not the spiritual and religious world of Israel and the conditions of her soul in general, nor is it her world of faith . . . ; instead, it is simply Israel's own explicit assertions about Jahweh. The theologian must above all deal directly with the evidence, that is, with what Israel herself testified concerning Jahweh, and there is no doubt that in many cases he must go back to school again and learn to interrogate each document . . . as to its specific kerygmatic intention.23

For von Rad, therefore, it is clearly not the pious individual's feelings and religion that constitute the proper object of inquiry of a theology of the Psalms but the "kerygmatic intention" of Israel's response as it is located in the text.24

Finally, von Rad's interest in the kerygmatic intention of Israel's prayers and praise in the Psalms also represents a rejection of Gunkel's primary interest in Israel's religion. As a result of Schleiermacher's influence, particularly the tendency to substitute the term religion for the term revelation, Gunkel and the first decade of post-Gunkel form critics were not very interested in a history of divine revelation. To be sure, theological interests were not completely absent in Gunkel and his followers; nevertheless, their dominant concern was the religionsgeschichtliche significance of the Psalms.25

Under the positive influence of Karl Barth, however, von Rad became interested not only in the literary genres of the Psalms but also in the kerygmatic intention of these genres.26

The First Problem: The Validity of the "Mirror of the Soul" Approach

The Problem Historically Understood

Von Rad's important redefinition of the proper object of inquiry for a theology of the Psalms and its rejection of the psychological approach of nineteenth-century Old Testament historical criticism raises an interesting question concerning the validity of the very popular psychological and

23von Rad, 07T, 1:105-6. 24For a discussion of this aspect of von Rad's methodology, see Hansjoachim Kraus, Theology

of the Psalms, trans. Keith Crim (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1979), 13. 25Harry P. Nasuti, Defining the Sacred Songs: Genre, Tradition and the Post-Critical Interpretation

ofthe Psalms, JSOT Supplement Series 218 (Sheffield: Scheffield Academic Press, 1999), 15. 26Gerstenberger, "Psalms," 186.


biographical approach that has characterized Christian interpretation of the Psalms since the early Christian writers and commentators. The fact is that the historical-critical Old Testament scholars of the nineteenth century were not the first to make the inner conditions of the psalmist's soul their primary focus. The anthropocentric psychological approach is already present among the early church fathers. To be sure, following the New Testament writers, the church fathers accepted the Psalms as Scripture and they underscored its prophetic character. Nevertheless, for them the Psalms were also important voices from the heart of God's people.27

Among the early church fathers, the psychological approach comes to clear expression in Athanasius's Letter to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms. In this letter, Athanasius acknowledges, on the one hand, that the Psalms speak prophetically of the life of Christ.28 On the other hand, however, he emphasizes that, in distinction from the other biblical books, one of the peculiar characteristics of the Psalter is

that within it are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed and, seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given . . . in the Psalter . . . you learn about yourself. You find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and downs, its failures and recoveries.29

Another distinctive feature of the Psalms is that when a person reads the Psalms "it is as though it were one's own words that one read."30 In fact, "the reader takes all its words upon his lips as though they were his own, and each one sings the Psalms as though they had been written for his special benefit."31 As a result of discerning one's own voice in the Psalms, affirms Athanasius, the Psalms "serve him who sings them as a mirror, wherein he sees himself and his own soul."32

27For a brief survey of psalmic interpretation in the early church see: O. Linton, "Interpretation of the Psalms in the Early Church," in Studia Patristica, vol. 4, ed. F.L. Cross (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1961), 143-56.

28St. Athanasius, 'The Letter of St. Athanasius to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms," in On the Incarnation, Intro. C. S. Lewis, Popular Patristic Series (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000), 99-102.

29Athanasius, "Letter to Marcellinus," 103. On p. 116, he expresses essentially the same view: "For I think that in the words of this book all human life is covered, with all its states and thoughts, and that nothing further can be found in man."

30Athanasius, "Letter to Marcellinus," 104. 31Ibid., 105. 32Ibid. For a similar position see: James L. Mays, 'The Self in the Psalms and the Image of

God," in Preachingand Teaching the Psalms, ed. Patrick D. Miller and Gene M. Tucker (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2006), 52-53.


Significantly, for Athanasius, the Psalms are not merely texts that readers can use to voice their feelings. According to Athanasius, the Psalms have, as it were, a sacramental power33 because they enable those who read them to mold their Christian character: "And every other Psalm is spoken and composed by the Spirit in the selfsame way: just as in a mirror, the movements of our own souls are reflected in them and the words are indeed our very own, given us to serve both as a reminder of our changes of condition and as a pattern and model for the amendmet of our lives."34 With their sacramental power, the Psalms are a means of therapy for the emotions and of teaching a person to amend one's life according the model presented in the Psalms. For Athanasius, therefore, the Psalms are not merely a mirror of emotions. On the contrary, the Psalms also possess the "perfect image for the soul's course of life." In fact, for Christian readers, this perfect image in the psalms belongs to a larger "imitatio Christi."35

A similar approach is found in Augustine's influential homiletical commentary, Enarrationes in Psalmos {Expositions of the Psalms). In this commentary, "Augustine designates the function and effect of the psalms by the terms 'mirror' and 'remedy' {speculum et medicamentum) in order to indicate their diagnostic significance and their power to bring psychological healing."36

Commentaries of the sixteenth-century Reformers on the Psalms continued the anthropocentric mirror of the soul approach. Like the church fathers, they, too, acknowledged the prophetic character of the Psalms. In his First Psalm Lectures, for example, Luther also saw the psalms as references to Christ.37 In addition to this christological approach, however, they also recognized the value of the inner emotions of the psalmists. Martin Luther, for example, wrote the following eloquent words in his introduction to his Lectures on the Psalms.

Where does one find finer words of joy than in the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving? There you look into the hearts of all saints, as into fair and pleasant gardens, yes, as into heaven itself. There you see what fine and

33Harry P. Nasuti, Defining the Sacred Songs, 107-116; idem, 'The Sacramental Function of the Psalms in Contemporary Scholarship and Liturgical Practice," in Psalms and Practice: Worship, Virtue and Authority, ed. Stephen Breck Reid (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2001), 79.

34Athanasius, "Letter to Marcellinus," 106. On p. 103, Athanasius writes: "from this same book [the Psalms] you can select a form of words to fit it, so that you do not merely hear and then pass on, but learn the way to remedy your ill."

35Athanasius, "Letter to Marcellinus," 106. 36Michael Fiedrowicz, "General Introduction," Expositions of the Psalms, THE WORKS OF

SAINT AUGUSTINE: A Translation for the Twenty-first Century, vol. 15, trans. John E. Rotelle (Hyde Park: New City Press, 2000), 38. Cf. Pss. 36:1,3; 106:1; 118:4,3; 123:3. It should be noted that Augustine used the adjective psychological as soul care.

37Luther's Works: Lectures on the Psalms I, vol. 10, trans. H.J. Bouman (St. Louis: Concordia, 1981), 23.


pleasant flowers of the heart spring up from all sorts of fair and happy thoughts toward God, because of his blessing. On the other hand, where do you find deeper, more sorrowful, more pitiful words of sadness than in the psalms of lamentation? There again you look into the hearts of all the saints, as into death, yes, as into hell itself. How gloomy and dark it is there, with all kinds of troubled forebodings about the wrath of God! So, too, when they speak of fear and hope, they use such words that no painter could so depict for you fear or hope, and no Cicero or other orator so portray them.38

John Calvin clearly echoes Athanasius's opinion39 when he wrote in the important preface to his commentary on the Psalms:

I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, "An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul"; for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror (italics mine). Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated.40

Calvin recognized these emotions particularly in the person of David "as in a mirror,"41 who, according to Calvin, Vas exhibited to me by God as an example for imitation."42 In stressing his identity with David, Calvin continues a feature of Augustine and medieval exegesis of the Psalms.43

38Ibid., 10:7. 39James L. Mays, The Lord Reigns: A Theological Handbook to thePsalms (Louisville: Westminster/

John Knox, 1994), 46. Cf. Allan M. Harman, 'The Psalms and Reformed Spirituality," The Reformed Theological Review b§ (1994): 60.

40John Calvin, Commentary on thePsalms, trans. James Anderson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949), l:xxxvi-xxxvii. In his exposition of Ps. 28:9, for example, Calvin {Commentary, 1:474) writes: "Let us remember that David is like a mirror, in which God sets before us the continual course of his grace." On the same page, Calvin also notes that David's prayer for God's people in Ps. 28:9 serves as an example for earthly kings to pursue the common good.

41For the importance of the mirror concept in Calvin's exegesis of the psalms see: Wulfert de Greef, Calvijn en ztjn uitlegvan de Psalmen: Een onderzoek naarzyn exegetische méthode (Kampen: Kok Uitgeverij, 2006), 158-60. According to de Greef (pp. 158-59), Calvin borrowed the mirror concept from 1 Cor. 13:12. De Greef (p. 160) concludes that for Calvin the Psalms are, on the one hand, a mirror through which we obtain insight into God's ways of dealing with human beings. On the other hand, they are also a mirror through which we, as God's children, learn to live with God in all types of situations. Calvin's use of the mirror concept in his exposition of Ps. 27:4 (Psalms, 1:454-55) and Ps. 28:2 (Psalms 1:467) suggests that mirror equals type.

42Calvin, Commentary on thePsalms, l:xl. Cf. Richard A. Hasler, 'The Influence of David and the Psalms upon John Calvin's Life and Thought," The Hartford Quarterly 5 (1965): 7-18; James L. Mays, "Calvin's Commentary on the Psalms: The Preface as Introduction," mfohn Calvin and the Church: A Prism of Reform, ed. Timothy George (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox,


Calvin's exemplary version of the mirror of the soul approach on the psalms had a wide impact, especially in Reformed and Presbyterian circles. Tremper Longman III, for example, employs Calvin's mirror of the soul concept to demonstrate how the psalms "arouse our emotions, direct our wills and stimulate our imaginations."44 Brevard S. Childs,45 James L. Mays,46

C. Hassel Bullock,47 J. Clinton McCann, Jr. and James C. Howell,48 and John C. Endres49 also quote Calvin's remarks approvingly. In fact, Walter Brueg-gemann claims that "there is a close correspondence between the anatomy of the complaint song . . . and the anatomy of the soul (which Calvin related to his discernment and presentation of biblical faith)."50 Moreover, Henk Leene uses the approach to explain the identity of the I-figure in Psalm 51. Following Athanasius, he writes: "Yet it seems to me that, in the first place, the /o f Psa[lm] 51 refers to the pious reader, in the sense that the text in-

195-204). (Reprinted in James L. Mays, Preaching and Teaching the Psalms, 85-93); Barbara Pitkin, "Imitation of David: David as a Paradigm for Faith in Calvin's Exegesis of the Psalms," Sixteenth Century Journal 24 (1993): 843-63; de Greef, Calvijn en zijn uitleg van de Psalmen, 161-68. According to Pitkin ("David as Paradigm," 848), for Calvin "David functions . . . as an example of beliefs and teaching that remain the same under the new covenant." To support her claim, she refers to E. A. Gosselin, The King's Progress to Jerusalem: Some Interpretations of David dwring the Reformation Period and Their Patristic and Medieval Background (Malibu: Undena Publications, 1976), 70. However, de Greef (Calvijn's UitUgvan de Psalmen, 161n2l7) points out that Calvin never appeals to the unity of the covenant when he writes about David as example. Instead, Calvin appeals to N. T. texts in which the word example occurs. Cf. 1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1; Gal. 4:12; Phil. 3:16; 1 Thess. 1:6-7; 1 Tim. 4:12; Titus 2:7.

43For Augustine and the medieval tradition, see Michael P. Kuczynksi, "Imitating David," in Prophetic Song: The Psalms as Moral Discourse in Late Medieval England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995), 55.

^Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 75-85.

45Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979), 523. Hereafter cited as IOTS.

46James L. Mays, The Lord Reigns: A Theological Handbook to thePsalms (Louisville: Westminster/ John Knox, 1994), 46; idem, Psalms, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox, 1994), 1.

47C. Hassel Bullock, Encountering the Book of thePsalms: A Literary and Theological Introduction, Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 46.

^J. Clinton McCann, Jr., and James C. Howell, Preaching the Psalms (Nashville: Abingdon, 2001), 34. Cf. J. Clinton McCann, Jr., A Theological Introduction to the Book of Psalms: ThePsalms as Torah (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), 20.

49John C. Endres, "Praying With Psalms: A School of Prayer," in Psalms and Practice: Worship, Virtue, and Authority, ed. Stephen Breck Reid (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2001), 72.

50Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary, Augsburg Old Testament Studies (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 18-19; idem, Spirituality and the Psalms (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002), 7.


vites him to identify with it. The text holds a mirror up to the reader, asking: 'These are your words, are they not?'"51

The fact that the mirror of the soul approach to the Psalms continues to exert its influence in Jewish52 and Christian reading of the psalms raises the natural question concerning its validity, especially in view of von Rad's rejection of its nineteenth-century form. In response to this vitally important question, we recall, first of all, that von Rad's redefinition of the proper object of inquiry for a theology of the Psalms changed the focus from the individual psalmist's prayer and praise to God to Israel's conversation with God. Second, in our judgment, Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, and Calvin recognized important distinctive features of the Psalms. One of the unique features of the Psalms that contribute to their vitality is the undeniable fact that one encounters here, according to Colin J. Sedgwick, "the many and varied moods of everyday life"53 In short, "the Psalms are unashamedly emotiona."54 This is true especially in the psalms of lament. One need but read the gut-wrenching protestations of Psalm 88, which Walter Brueggemann calls "an embarrassment to conventional faith."55 Because the Psalms are saturated with a panoply of human emotions, they continue to penetrate deeply into the hearts and minds of readers and listeners alike.56 As a result, they also continue to serve believers as model prayers that teach them what to pray, how to pray, and why to pray.57 As Brueggemann has argued persuasively in his writings on the Psalms, the lament psalms help believers process their pain formfully and enable them to move from pain to praise by way of protest and petitions.58

51Henk Leene, "Personal Penitence and the Rebuilding of Zion: The Unity of Psalm 51," in Give Ear to My Words: Psalms and other Poetry in and around the Hebrew Bible, Essays in honour of Professor N. A. van Uchelen, ed. Janet Dyk et all. (Amsterdam: Societas Hebraica Amstelodamensis, 1996), 68.

52Cf. Nahum M. Sarna, Songs of the Heart: An Introduction to the Book of the Psalms (New York: Schocken Books, 1993), 3.

53Colin J. Sedgwick, "Preaching from the Psalms," Expository Times 103 (1991-1992): 362. For this reason also, claims Sedgwick (p. 362), "the preaching of the Psalms is of great evangelistic—or, at least, pre-evangelistic—value."

54Colin J. Sedgwick, "Preaching from the Psalms," 362. 55Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis:

Augsburg, 1984), 78. 56Sedgwick, "Preaching the Psalms," 361. 57Mays, "Means of Grace: The Benefits of Psalmic Prayer," in The Lord Reigns: A Theological

Handbook (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 40-45. Cf. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Psalms: The Prayerbook of the Bible, trans. James H. Burtness (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1970). For Calvin (Psalms, Lxxxvii) also, the Psalter was a primer of prayer.

58See especially his essays, 'The Psalms as Prayer," "From Hurt to Joy, from Death to Life," and 'The Formfulness of Grief ' in The Psalms and the Life of Faith, ed. Walter Brueggemann and Patrick D. Miller (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 33-97. For an important critical evaluation of Brueggemann's contribution, see Nasuti, Defining the Sacred Songs, 55-81.


Third, Harry P. Nasuti claims that "treatises on the psalms as St. Athanasius's Letter to Marcellinus have much to contribute to the present reassessment of the way we view the psalms."59 In fact, he asserts, "there is no better place to begin a discussion of the Psalms' special nature than St. Athanasius' Letter to Marcellinus, a work whose penetrating insights on the Psalms have rarely been surpassed."60 Moreover, he opines that Athanasius's recognition of the transformative power of the Psalms is also present in the writings of Mowinckel, Brueggemann and Mays.61 For Mays, for example, the Psalms are a "means of grace."62 Finally, in the introduction to his important commentary on the Psalms, Nicholas H. Ridderbos recalls Luther's famous statement quoted above, "there you look into the hearts of all the saints," and observes that this formulation is exactly right. He agrees that in the individual psalms of the Psalter the faith of the poets comes to expression in all of its fullness but it is the response of faith to the Lord's revelation (italics mine).6 3

Ridderbos's (Qualifying Statements

Although Ridderbos concurs with Luther's affirmation, he also posits three important qualifications to the traditional psychologizing biographical exposition of the Psalms.64 We believe that these qualifying statements are vitally important for the exegesis of the Psalms, for the present methodological discussion in psalms scholarship,65 and for the church's use (or nonuse) of the Psalms in its preaching and liturgy.

First Qualification

Ridderbos's first overarching qualification is that many psalms were originally intended primarily for liturgical use in the cult.66 Consequently, the Psalms must be interpreted in terms of their function in Israel's worship. In this, Ridderbos, like von Rad, disagrees with Gunkel67 who, although he concluded from his history of religion and form critical research of Babylonian

59Nasuti, Defining the Sacred Songs, 25.

^Nasuti, 'The Sacramental Function of the Psalms," 79.

61Nasuti, Defining the Sacred Songs, 107-16; "The Sacramental Function of the Psalms," 79.

62Mays, "Means of Grace," 40.

6 3N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:45. Cf. Ν. Η. Ridderbos and P. C. Craigie, "Psalms," in The

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Fully Rev., ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans, 1986), 3:1037. Hereafter ISBE.

M N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:45.

65Cf. Nasuti's Defining the Sacred Songs.

6 6N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:45.

67Ibid., 1:19.


psalms that most of Israel's psalms had their origin in the cult,68 nevertheless, continued to perceive "behind them the personality and the individual experience of the poet."69 Gunkel also had a profound distrust of the cult and assumed that cultic worship was "unspiritual.,, For this reason, Gunkel postulated that the Psalms freed themselves from the cult under the influence of the prophets and that, as a result, most of the canonical psalms are noncultic and belong to "spiritual" songs.70 Like von Rad, Ridderbos rejects this position71 and in agreement with Sigmund Mowinckel, the most eminent and independent student of Gunkel, argues for an intimate connection between Israel's normative cult and psalmody.72 For Ridderbos, the reader encounters in the Psalter Israel's official and normative response to God's revelation.73

In the introduction to his commentary, Ridderbos marshals eight arguments in support of his view on the intimate relationship between the cult and psalmody.74 For the purpose of this article, we will briefly discuss only two of these because they are foundational for understanding his second and third qualifications of the traditional psychologizing biographical approach to the psalms.

The first crucial supporting argument is that the psalms were composed and molded in a cultic style.75 Consequently, they employed stereotypical

^Hermann Gunkel and Joachim Beglich, Einlätungin die Psalmen: Die Gattungen der religiösen Lyrik Israels, Göttinger Handkommentar zum Alten Testament (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1933), 11 and 30. English translation by James D. Nogalski, Introduction to the Psalms: The Genres of the Religious Lyric of Israel (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1998), 7.

69von Rad, "'Righteousness' and 'Life,'" 243. Unfortunately, von Rad provides no direct evidence for his claim. However, the following quote from Gunkel's essay "Ziele und Methoden der Erklärung des Alten Testamentes," in Reden und Aufsätze (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1913,11-29,13) substantiates von Rad's point:"Die lebendige Person also, in ihrem Wollen und Denken, in der Mannigfaltigkeit ihres ganzes geistigen Seins, sie ist der eigentliche Gegenstand aller Exegese."

70Gunkel and Beglich, Einleitung 29-30 and 398 (ET: 20-21 and 306). 71N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:19. 72Ibid., 1:15. With respect to this important topic, Mowinckel (PIW, 13) observed that

modern critical interpreters "had no real understanding of the cult either in Biblical religion or in religion in general. More or less consciously they all shared that contempt of ordered ecclesiastical worship which was common to pietism, revivalist movements, rationalism, and liberalism. Often coming from pietistically influenced circles themselves, they took it for granted that such groups had existed in Judaism as well, and found there the birthplace of psalmody."

73Ridderbos and Craigie, "Psalms," ISM 3:1037. 74N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:15-18. Cf. Mowinckel, PIW, 5-12. 75N.H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:16.


and formulaic language.76 In the psalms of lament, for example, the enemies are typically called "wicked," "workers of iniquity," "sinners," "fools," and so forth, while the psalmist and his supporters are called "the righteous," "the loyal ones," "they that wait on the Lord," and so forth. Moreover, Ridderbos calls attention to the fact that a comparison of the hymnic units outside of the Psalter with the psalms also shows the same stereotypical use of language, from which he concludes that the poets intentionally bound themselves to a particular style. A comparison between the language of 1 Samuel 2:1-10 and Psalm 113 confirms this readily.77 As a result of this use of stereotypical expressions, the Psalms lack historical and biographical concreteness. One of the reasons for this, Ridderbos postulates, was that the Psalms were composed for continuing use in the cult.78

As Patrick D. Miller, Jr.,79 James L. Mays,80 and Cees Houtman81 have underscored, this feature gives the Psalms a "paradigmatic openness" and facilitates transference for readers of any generation. In fact, Mays affirms that in the formulaic and typical language of the Psalms lies their potential to be "the continuing prayers of the faithful."82

The fact that the Psalms were stamped by liturgical formulae and were written for the cult demands a different approach to their interpretation. It implies that the reader should not overrate the historical and emotional features in a psalm. In his special hermeneutics on psalmic interpretation, for example, Lois Berkhof recommends that in the exegesis of a psalm one should first study carefully the historical occasion, especially when such an occasion is provided (cf. Pss. 3 and 51).83 Next, "the interpreter should study the character of the poet and the frame of mind in which he composed his song."84 As rep-

76Ibid., 1:16; idem, Psalmen en Quitus (Kampen: Kok, 1950), 20-22. Gunkel (Einleitung, 10-11 [ET: 8]) also used this argument. For the formulaic and typical language of the psalms, see RobertC. Culley, Oral Formulaic Language in the Biblical Psalms (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1967); Mays, The Lord Rägns, 25-39.

"According to Moshe Greenberg ("Hittite Royal Prayers and Biblical Petitionary Psalms," in Neue Wege der Psalmenforschung: für Walter Beyerlin, Herders Biblical Studies, vol. 1, ed. Klaus Seybold and Erich Zenger [Freiburg: Herder, 1994], 26), the author placed a royal psalm of thanksgiving on the lips of Hannah.

78N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:16. 79Patrick D. Miller, Jr., Interpreting the Psalms (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 8. 80Mays, The Lord Reigns, 41, 43, 47. 81Cees Houtman, "Die Aktualisierung der Geschichte in den Psalmen," in Give Ear to My

Words, 107. 82Mays, The Lord Reigns, 26. 83Louis Berkhof, Prindples of Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 156. 84Ibid., 156.


resentatíves of Mowinckel's cult-function approach, von Rad and Ridderbos emphasize that the Psalms are not primarily individual but cultic and therefore communal. To his credit, Berkhof also recognizes that "the psalms are not purely individual, but largely communal,"85 but he does not link this communal aspect to the cult! Instead, he links the communal aspect to the doctrine of regeneration.86 Like von Rad, Berkhof also recognizes that the Psalms "have a representative character."87

Ridderbos's second supporting argument is the phenomenon of subtle changes in voice and address in a psalm,88 a feature to which Gunkel had already called attention in his discussion of liturgical psalms89 and that for Ridderbos constitutes an important key to the compositional structure of the Psalms.90 A clear example of such a shift in voice in a psalm is Psalm 12:5,91 in which a divine oracle is quoted in the middle of the psalm:

a "Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, bI will now anse, " csays the LORD. d "I will place in safety the witness in his behalf>m

Shifts in voice and addressee are frequent in the Psalms, especially the psalms of lament. These shifts are recognizable by syntactical shifts in subject, predicate, and second or third person addressee. Changes in voice normally entail a shift from first and/or second person to third person discourse, and shifts in addressee usually involve a change from speech directed to the Lord to descriptive speech about the Lord.

85Ibid. Like von Rad, Berkhof (p. 155) also recognizes that the psalms "have a representative character."

86Berkhof, Biblical Interpretation, 156. 87Ibid., 155. 88N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:17. For a stimulating systematic treatment of the shifting

of voice and addressee in psalms of lament, see Carleen Mandolfo, God in the Dock: Diafogic Tension in the Psalms of Lament, JSOT Supplement Series 357 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002). Unfortunately, she appears to be unaware of Ridderbos's work.

89Gunkel and Begrich, Einleitung, 404-5 (ET: 31-11). 90N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:41-42. 91We will discuss the significance of this example in more detail below in connection with our

treatment of the second problem. 92The translation of the final clause is notoriously difficult. For the purpose of this article,

we have adopted the translation of J. Gerald Janzen, "Another Look at Psalm XII 6," VT54 (2004) :164. This translation, in turn, is based on the proposal of Patrick D. Miller, Jr. ("ÎAPÎAIJ in Psalm XII6," VT29 [1979] : 495-501), which assumes on the basis of Dennis Pardee's article {"YPIJ 'Witness' in Hebrew and Ugaritic," VT27 [1978]: 204-13) that the Hebrew word ¡Ta; is a noun, not a verb. For this question, see also Gert T. M. Prinsloo, "Man's Word—God's Word," ZAW110(1998):391n3.


The recognition of this phenomenon is very important, for example, for the interpretation of Psalm 28. In verses 1-4, a first-person speaker / addresses the Lord directly. Strikingly, however, in verses 5-8 the Lord is referred to in the third person. In verse 9, the Lord is again addressed directly. Moreover, there is also a significant shift in tone. In verse 2, the speaker pleads persistently for an audition, "Hear my cry for mercy" (^IJnn Ij? JJÖC0), but, surprisingly, in verse 6, he praises the Lord because "he has heard my cry for mercy" Ojlinn b*)tf S7ÇÇ) using the same words from verse 2 and changing only the imperative verb J7Ç V of verse 2 into a QTL (IJÇÇ) in verse 6. Furthermore, the closing verse, verse 9, addresses the Lord directly and, like Psalm 3.8b, shifts the focus to God's people.

How should one explain these features of Psalm 28? Those who apply the historical-critical method of reading to this text normally separate verses 8-9 as later additions.93 However, Artur Weiser rightly objects, "such a procedure would mean carrying too far the modern fashion of contrasting the individual and the community."94 Moreover, this approach ignores the fact that the Psalms were governed by liturgical and ceremonial considerations of the cult.95 In sharp contrast, therefore, Ridderbos interprets Psalm 28 as a compositional unity and infers from the alternation of addressee and of the change in tone that the poem was designed for liturgical and ritual use in the cult (cf. v. 2) ·96 In fact, he claims that the Psalm can be divided by different speakers: in verses 1-4, a petitioner speaks; in verse 5, another voice gives the response; in verses 6-7, the petitioner thanks the Lord for obtained assistance; and in verses 8-9, another voice expresses praise and intercession.97 As we will see below, Ridderbos's suggestion that another voice speaks in verse 5 about the Lord has important implications for the interpretation of this psalm.

93T. Κ Cheyne, ( The Book of Psalms: Translated from a Revised Text with Notes and Introduction [London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1904], 1:119), for example, considers v. 5 to be a mosaic of borrowed phrases that was inserted later; similarly, he classifies w. 8-9 as a liturgical appendix. In like manner, Charles August Briggs and Emilie Grace Briggs ( The Book of Psalms, ICC [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906], 245 and 249) consider w. 5 and 9 to be a gloss. Cf. Rudolf Kittel, Die Psalmen, ΚΑΤ XIII (Leipzig: A. Deichertsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1914), 116; W. Stewart McCullough, 'The Book of the Psalms," in The Interpreter's Bible in Twelve Volumes (Nashville: Abingdon, 1955), 4:153-54.

94Artur Weiser, The Psalms: A Commentary, OTL, trans. Herbert Hartwell (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), 258-259.

95Craig C. Broyles, Psalms, New International Biblical Commentary (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1999), 145.

96N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:17 and 287. Cf. Broyles, Psalms, 145. 97Ibid., 1:287. Cf. Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 237; Broyles, Psalms, 145; Mandolfo, God in the Dock,

64-67; John Goldingay, Psalms, Vol. 1: Psalms 1-41, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament and Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 1:405-6.


Second Qualification

Ridderbos's inference that shifts in speaker and addressee in a psalm argue for the fact that the Psalms were composed for liturgical use in the cult constitutes the basis of his second important qualification of the mirror of the soul approach. According to Ridderbos, we do not hear just the voice of any individual believer in the Psalter.98 Sometimes the / who speaks in the Psalter is a king," as in Psalm 2:7-9, where a Davidic king recounts the Lord's decree that a cult official or prophet may have given to him on the occasion of his enthronement:100

7a7 will proclaim the decree of the LORD: hHe said to me, c "You are my Son; d today I have become your Father. 8*Ask of me, b and I will make the nations your inheritance, c [. ] the ends of the earth your possession. 9*You will rule them with an iron scepter; b you will dash them to pieces like pottery. "m

At other times, the /who speaks is a priest or prophet, as in Psalm 20:6.102

After a series of wishes (with third person singular verbs) directed to an unidentified you (second masculine singular suffix) in verses 1-4,5c and a first person plural vow to praise in verse 5ab (we/Our), there is a sudden switch to a first person speech in verse 6 that talks about the Lord:

*NowIknow b that the Lord saves103 his anointed; c he answers him from hü holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.

98N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:45.

"Ibid. Greenberg ("Hittite Royal Prayers," 25) agrees with Mowinckel {PWI, 1:76-77) that the I of the psalms refers to a king because, as in Babylon and Egypt, the psalms were written for kings. For this reason, he argues that the superscription ΊΊΊ1? should be translated as "for David." The meaning of this prepositional phrase is debated. For the options, see James L. Kugel, "David the Prophet," in Poetry and Prophecy: The Beginning of a Literary Tradition (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990), 49.

100N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:81. 101 According to J. A. Emerton ('The Translation of Verbs in the Imperfect in Psalm 2.9 "Journal

ofTheobgical Studies 29 [1978] : 499-503), the YQTL verbs should be translated as modals, 'You may break...." For this possibility, see also A. Niccacci, "A Neglected Point of Hebrew Syntax: Yiqtol and Position in the Sentence," Studium BtbUcumFransciscanum, Liber Annuus 34 (1987): 7-19. On p. 7 he claims that "[a] Yiqtol in the first position of a sentence is always jussive "

102N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:41-42. 103According to Franz Delitzsch ("Psalms," in Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes,

trans. James Martin [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976], 5:294) and Hans Joachim Kraus {Psalms 1-59: A Commentary, trans. Hilton C. Oswald [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988], 281), the QTL verb TOin is a perfect of certitude. For this use of QTL (=Perfect) verbs, see Williams, Hebrew Syntax: An Outline, §165.


Ridderbos suggests that the speaker represented by lis a liturgist—perhaps a Lévite, priest, or prophet—who, in one way or another, has received the assurance that the Lord has accepted the king's prayers and offerings.104

Consequently, the /speaks in the name of the Lord.105 To support this suggestion, Ridderbos refers to 2 Chronicles 20:14-18, a key passage for him. In this passage, Jahaziel, a Lévite and descendant of Asaph, proclaimed an oracle of salvation106 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in response to Jehoshaphat's prayer for deliverance recorded in verses 6-12.107

The examples of Psalm 2:7-9 and Psalm 20:6 cited above lead Ridderbos to emphasize that in the Psalter the prophet, priest, and king speak in an official capacity.108 That is, the speakers do not merely voice their personal opinion, but speak as officials of Yahweh's covenant community.109 This is evident from the superscription in Psalm 18:1 in which David, like Moses, is identified as "the servant of the Lord," a person who stands in a special relationship to the Lord.110 In spite of the diversity represented in the Psalter and the uniqueness of each individual psalm, the Psalter as a whole embodies Israel's official piety—one that lends the collection a deeper unity.111

Third Qualification

As a corollary to Ridderbos's second qualification follows the third important qualification, namely, that the psalmists' experiences are not just individual "personal experiences."112 While Ridderbos acknowledges that each

104N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:42, 216, 218. Cf. John H. Stek, "Psalms," The NW Study Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1985), 804. For additional examples, see Ridderbos, De Psalmen, § 4, II, D; § 8,1. Delitzsch ("Psalms," 5:294) speculates that the speaker is an unidentified Lévite. Like Ridderbos, Weiser (Psalms, 207) thinks that the speaker is a priest or cult prophet. Carroll Stuhlmueller (Psalms I, (Psalms 1-72), Old Testament Message [Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1983], 140) suggests thatw. 6-8 were uttered by a priest and/or prophet. Similarly, Broyles (Psalms, 111) claims that we hear a liturgist in w. 6-8. Kittel (Psalmen, 81) calls attention to examples of this phenomenon from Babylonian and Egyptian literature. On the basis of Pss. 81:6 and 85:9, Kittel claims that this is a typical cultic phenomenon in the Psalter.

105N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:17. 106Cf. Edgar W. Conrad, Fear Not Warrior: A Study of (al tîr~'Pericopes in the Hebrew Scriptures,

Brown Judaic Studies 75 (Chico: Scholars Press, 1985), 65-69. 107N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:216-17. 108Ibid., 1:45. Cf. Ridderbos and Craigie, "Psalms," ISBE 3:1037. 109For further evidence, see our treatment of Ps. 3:8 below. 110N.H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:192. mIbid., 1:45. 112Ibid., 1:45.


psalm expresses the dynamic faith of a real human being, he cautions against the nineteenth-century historical-critical approach's overemphasis on each psalm as the most unique expression of an individual poet's experience.113

In the light of the ancient Near Eastern concept of corporate personality,114 Ridderbos emphasizes, first of all, that the individual speaker represents the community. The poet's psalm articulates the heart and mind of the community.115

First Supporting Argument

In support of Ridderbos's claim, we call attention to the alternation between the first person singular (I, me, my) and the first person plural {we, us, our) in the expression of trust in Psalm 44:4-8, which reaches its climax in the people's vow to praise in verse 8. On the assumption that the speaker is a king,116 Peter C. Craigie lays out the antiphonal structure of these verses as follows:117

King 4aYou are my King, o God. hdecree victories for Jacob!

People ^Through you we push back our enemies; h through your name we trample our foes.

King 6a / do not trust in my bow, hmy sword does not bring me victory,

People ^but you give us victory over our enemies, hyou put our adversarìes to shame. 8aIn God we made our boast all day long, hand we will praise your name forever.

Aside from the question concerning the identity of the first person speaker in verses 4 and 6, for the purpose of this article, it is important to note that here (and in verses 15-16) the /clearly represents the corporate person of Israel and so speaks on behalf of the community.118

113 N.H. Ridderbos, "Kenmerken der Hebreeuwse Poëzie," G7T55 (1955): 179. 114For this concept, see H. Wheeler Robinson, Corporate Personality in Ancient Israel, rev. ed.

(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), especially pp. 37-42. Cf. Sigmund Mowinckel, 'Traditionalism and Personality in the Psalms," HUCA 23 (1950-51): 206-7 and 219.

115N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:45; idem, "Kenmerken," 179. Cf. Mowinckel, "Traditionalism and Personality," 206-7.

116Sigmund Mowinckel, PIW 1:76. 117Pieter C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 19 (Waco: Word, 1983),

332. 118Cf. Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 447; Broyles, Psalms, 201.


Two features of the antiphonal expression of trust in verses 4-7 call for special attention. First, the antiphonal affirmation of confidence in verses 4-7 functions as a response to the communal "re-presentation"119 of the Lord's mighty deeds in verses 1-3, based on the Lord's incomprehensible will, according the last clause of verse 3.120 This confirms von Rad's claim that in the Psalms Israel responds to the oral traditions of her history—in this case the history of the conquest of the Promised Land. Second, the antiphonal affirmation also highlights the importance of the communal recitation of the Lord's mighty deeds in public worship, especially in the psalms of lament.121 In Psalm 44:1-8, the rehearsal of the Lord's mighty deeds in the past were appropriated as the basis for confidence in the present. This is particularly evident in the switch from past narrative sequence with QTL (=Perfect) and WAYYIQTOL (=Imperfect) verbs in verses 1-3, to present-future sequence with YQTL (=Imperfect) verbs in verses 6-7 and 8b. According to Weiser, the connection between verses 1-3 and verses 4-8 shows us "the hidden energies of faith which that living cultic tradition was able to activate."122 Craigie draws a similar inference: "And it was the essence of the Hebrew faith that the past could always be appropriated for the present, that the people in faith could look in the present moment for the continuation of those mighty acts of God in the past which had been so pregnant with future implications."123 Weiser and Craigie's comments suggest that the re-presentation of the Lord's mighty deeds in Israel's public worship in times of distress has important implications for the liturgical practice of the church today.

Second Supporting Argument

As a second argument for the communal emphasis in the Psalms, Ridderbos claims that the experience of the individual psalmist has important ramifications for the community.124 Two formally related examples support this claim.

119For this concept, see Martin Noth, 'The 'Re-Presentation' of the Old Testament Proclamation," in Essays on Old Testament Hermeneutics, ed. Claus Westermann (Richmond: John Knox Press, 1971), 76-88; Claus Westermann, T h e 'Re-Presentation of History in the Psalms," in Praise and Lament in the Psalms, trans. Keith R. Crim and Richard N. Soulen (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1981), 214-49.

120Weiser, Psalms, 356. 121Cf. Pss. 74:13-17; 77:15-20; 80:8-11. For the function of the recital of Israel's history

in Psalm 77, see Walter Brueggemann, "Psalm 77: The Turn from Self to God," in The Psalms & the Life of Faith, 258-67. For Psalm 80:8-11, see Westermann, T h e 'Re-Presentation of History,'" 215-20; idem, "The Psalms as Limit Expressions," in Performing the Psalms, ed. Dave Bland and David Fleer (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2005), 44r-45.

122Weiser, Psalms, 356. 123Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 333. 124N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:45.


The first example is the concluding verse in Psalm 3, a short lament of an individual that Gunkel considers to be a model of this genre.125 Stylistically, verse 8 is an epiphonema.126 It reads as follows:

"From the LORD comes deliverance. bMay your blessing be on your people.127

Some historical-critical128 and form-critical scholars consider this verse to be a liturgical addition.129 However, Craig C. Broyles notes that "the alternation between direct address to Yahweh (w. 1-3, 7,8b) and third-person reference to him (w. 4-8, 8a) may imply liturgical shifts between prayer to God and testimonies of trust addressed to a group of supporters, perhaps a congregation."130 On the assumption that liturgical use reverberates in Psalm 3, Ridderbos suggests that the speaker of this concluding verse is a priest.131 He notes that verse 9b has a priestly tone and observes that the voice of cultic officials was frequently heard in connection with psalms of lament by individuals. As an example of this phenomenon he refers to Psalm 27:14:132

125Hermann Gunkel, Die Psalmen, Göttinger Handkommentar zum Alten Testament, 2/2, 4th ed. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1926), 3:13.

126Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 141. For this stylistic device, see E. W. BuUinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible: Explained and Illustrated, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1968), 464.

127According to Bernard Duhm (Die Psalmen [Freiburg: Mohr, 1899], 13), this nonverbal clause must be translated as a wish. However, N. H. Ridderbos (De Psalmen, 1:87), recognizes that this nonverbal clause can also be translated as "On your people is your blessing." Goldinday (Psalms, 1:108) adopts this translation.

128Cheyne, Psalms, 1:10. 129Gunkel, Die Psalmen, 13-15 (v. 8b); Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 141. 130Craig C. Broyles, Psalms, 49. 131N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:84. 132Ibid., 1:84 and 286; idem, Psalmen en Cultus, 23. On p. 286 of his commentary Ridderbos

also refers to Ps. 31:25. Another example could be Ps. 55:22. As Ridderbos admits, however, it should be noted that on the basis of Psalm 42:5, 11, 43:5 (cf. Pss. 55:22; 62:5) Delitzsch ("Psalms," 5:361), Gunkel (Die Psalmen, 2:116), Jan Ridderbos (De Psalmen I Psalm 1-41 [Kampen: Kok, 1955], 239), Weiser (Psalms, 254) and Stek (NIV Study Bible, 814) interpret 27:14 as the poet's encouragement to himself to hope in the Lord. Samuel Terrien (The Psalms: Strophic Structures and Theological Commentary, Eerdmans' Critical Commentary [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003], 268) also holds this position. Kraus (Psalms 1-59, 337) rejects this interpretation on the basis of the fact that the text does not read ^D], "my soul," but -pb. For this reason he claims that 27:14 is an encouraging word from the Lord (cf. 1 Sam. 1:17). Following N. H. Ridderbos, Craigie (Psalms 1-50, 234) also claims that a priest is the speaker. Howard Neil Wallace (Words to God, Word from God, 96) adopts a similar position. Erhard S. Gerstenberger (Psalms: Part I with an Introduction to Cultic Poetry, FOTL 14 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988], 1:127) and J. Clinton McCann ("Psalms," The New Interpreter's Bible in Twelve Volumes, vol. 4 [Nashville: Abingdon, 1996], 787) classify v. 14 as an exhortation to the worshipping community. To support his claim, Gerstenberger refers to Pss. 22:27 [26]; 31:24-25 [23-24]; 55:23 [22]). However, Mandolfo (God in the Dock, 61) correctly notes that the imperatives are in the singular. She herself (God in the Dock, 61-63, 105, 111, 112, 115)


Wait for the LORD;

be strong33

and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Even if the speaker in Psalm 3:8a is not a priest, as, for example, A. A. Anderson maintains,134 it is clear that the unidentified speaker directs his brief expression of confidence and praise in verse 8a as a testimony to the people because he speaks about the Lord, not directly to the Lord.135 This climactic expression of the certainty of divine assistance stands in sharp contrast to the devastating appraisal of the arrogant enemies in verse 2, 'There is no deliverance for him from God!"1 3 6 and, together with it, articulates the keynote of the poem: deliverance, which also occurs as an imperative in verse 7.

After the dramatic testimony in verse 8a, the focus broadens in verse 8b from the individual to the people: "May your blessing be on your people." In this climactic clause, there is another shift in address and mode of discourse. In it, the speaker looks beyond the /and me οι the previous verses (w. 1-7)137

and directs an intercessory prayer for the well-being of the people to the Lord. The speaker of this concluding intercession could be a priest because, according to Numbers 6:23, the invocation of a blessing on the congregation was a priestly responsibility.138 In any case, this unexpected concluding intercession demonstrates clearly that the individual speaker cannot think only of his own deliverance without connecting it at the same time with the well-being of the larger community that is specifically identified as "your people" (cf. Ex. 19:4-6) .139 On the contrary, through the closing intercession for a

classifies v. 14 as a didactic interjection. Mays {Psalms, 132) recognizes that the imperatives are in the singular and infers that v. 14 is "addressed to whoever uses it and to a personified congregation." Derek Kidner {Psalms 1-72: An Introduction and Commentary on Books 1 and 2 of the Psalms [London: Intervarsity Press, 1973], 122) opines that "in the final verse the psalmist may be addressing anyone undergoing such a trial, or may be speaking to himself, as in, e.g., 42:5, etc., to stiffen his resolve (the your is singular, as are the verbs, unlike those of 31:24 . . . ); or this may even be the Lord's answering oracle."

133Cf. Deut. 31:6, 7, 23; Josh. 1:6, 7, 9, 18; 10:25; Isa. 35:3; 41:10; Ps. 31:25; 1 Chron. 22:13; 28:20; and 2 Chron. 32:7.

134A. A. Anderson, The Book of the Psalms, New Century Bible (London: Oliphant, 1972), 1:76.

135Cf. Konrad Schaefer, Psalms, Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2001), 11. Edward J. Rissane, The Book of the Psalms Translated

from a Crìtically Revised Hebrew Text with a Commentary (Dublin: Browne & Nolan, 1953-1954), 1:11-12, emends the Hebrew text.

136McCullough, "Psalms," 4:30; Mays, Psalms, 52-53. 137Kidner, Psalms, 1:55. 138Cf. Schaefer, Psalms, 11. 139N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:87.


blessing, the psalm preserves the intimate connection between the individual speaker and die community, even in the midst of adversity.140 The speaker and the people constitute an indissoluble unity.141

In view of the corporate solidarity between the speaker and the people, one may agree with Conrad Schaefer and Samuel Terrien that the / who speaks in Psalm 3 is not a private citizen142 but a public personality who represents the people.143 In all likelihood, the speaker is a king.144 Significantly, their claim lends additional support to Ridderbos's second restriction to the mirror of the soul approach to the psalms.

The second example that demonstrates the unity between the individual speaker and the larger community is found in the concluding verses of Psalm 28, another lament by an individual.145 The concluding verses of this psalm, verses 8-9, mark a clear shift to corporate concerns:146

8aThe LORD is their strength, ba fortress of salvation for his anointed one. 9aSave your people band bless your inheritance; cbe their shepherd dand carry them forever.

According to Ridderbos, there is a shift in speakers between verses 6-7 and verses 8-9.147 Although other commentators assume that the speaker of verses 8-9 is the same as the one in verses 6-7,148 the lack of first person singular pronouns in verses 8-9 argues for this shift.149 If one accepts the

140Cf. Broyles, Psalms, 49. Interestingly, Erich Zenger ("Das Buch der Psalmen," in Einleitung in das Alte Testament, ed. Erich Zenger, et al., Studienburchücher Theologie, 6th ed. (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2006], 351) claims that Pss. 3:8b and 14:7 frame Pss. 3-14, the first block of psalms in book 1.

141For other instances of communal conclusions to psalms by an individual, see also Pss. 5:11-12; 25:22; 28:8-9; 31:24-25; 36:11-13; 51:18-19; 69:34-36; 130:7-8; (128:6); and 131:3.

142Gunkel, Die Psalmen, 2:13. 143Schaefer, Psalms, 11; Samuel Terrien, The Psalms: Strophic Structure and Theological

Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 92. In the introduction of his exposition of Psalm 3, Kraus (Psalms 1-59,138) reaches a similar conclusion. He writes, "on the other hand, the conception that a 'private citizen' is speaking in the prayer songs of the Psalms is becoming more and more questionable."

144Cf. Rissane, The Book of the Psalms, 1:12. 145N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:287; Gerstenberger, Psalms, 1:129. 146Broyles, Psalms, 148. 147N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:287, 288, and 292. Cf. Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 237 and 240;

Broyles, Psalms, 145; Mandolfo, God in the Dock, 66 and 68. 148Cf. NIV; NRSV; Weiser, Psalms, 258; Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 342; Mays, Psalms, 134; McCann,

"Psalms," 789. 149Mandolfo, God in the Dock, 66.


suggestion that there is a change in speakers in verses 8-9, then the /who speaks in verses 1-4 and 6-7 of this psalm is a king,150 and the speaker of verses 8-9 could be a cult official, probably the same cult official who spoke in verse 5.151

On this proposed reading, verse 8 serves as an affirmation of trust in the third person that confirms the suppliant's confession of trust in verse 7a of the song of thanksgiving in verses 6-7. It is addressed to the worshipping community and the suppliant of verses 1-4 (i.e., the king).152

The interpretation of this short confession depends on one's interpretation of the awkward prepositional phrase Iftb in verse 8a of the Hebrew text. On the basis of eight Hebrew manuscripts, the Septuagint, and the Syriac, many translators and commentators emend the text to read *\ϋφ (cf. Ps. 29:11), "of his people," instead of Ifcb "to them" (cf. Ps. 2:4).153 According to Ridderbos, however, if one assumes that verses 8-9 are spoken by a different voice, then the text need not be emended.154 In this case, Iftb may be translated as "to them," as in Psalm 2:4. Yet, in light of GKC §91f, he admits that ißb can also be translated as "to him."155

If one translates the prepositional phrase iftb in the plural as "to them," or if one emends the text to read *)Ώφ "of his people," then the people and the Lord's anointed clearly constitute a unity.156 This unity is underscored by the fact that as the Lord is the strength of the individual in verse 7 (TO) so he is the strength of his people in verse 8 (TU).157 With respect to this corporate solidarity between the individual petitioner and God's people, Weiser makes the following important observation:

What he has experienced does not, however, belong exclusively to him as his personal possession. Being a member of the community of the people of God, he lives as such in the fellowship of faith and from that fellowship,

150N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:288.

151Ibid., 1:287, 288, and 292. Cf. Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 237 and 240; Broyles, Psalms, 145; Mandolfo, God in the Dock, 66 and 68.

152Kraus (Psalms 1-59, 342) correctly notes that 'Verse 8 is to be thought of as a confession to the recipients of salvation beyond the individual."

153NIV, NRSV; Briggs, Psalms, 1:249 and 251; Weiser, Psalms, 255; Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 339; Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 236. According to Delitzsch ("Psalms," 5:366), Ps. 28:8 is thematically related to Ps. 29:11.

154N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:292. Cf. Delitzsch, Psalms, 5:365. 155For this position, see Ν. Α. van Uchelen, Psalmen, DeelI(l-40), POT (Nijkerk: Callenbach,

1971), 187 and 191; Mandolfo, God in the Dock, 66-67. Mandolfo argues for the singular on the basis of the synonymous parallelism between *\ftb and 1!T2H3.

156Stek, NIV Study Bible, 815.

157Broyles, Psalms, 149.


which is here manifested in the cult; just as, on the other hand, the fellowship of faith feeds on the strength and experience of faith of its individual members. The psalm is a significant testimony to both these facts.158

In a similar manner, Kraus asserts that in this verse "one can easily recognize how an individual constantly participates in a larger reality of salvation, one that encompasses and supports his individual fate."159

The declaration of faith in verse 8 serves as the basis for the intercession for the people that follows in verse 9.160 As with Psalm 3:8a, this verse also has a priestly tone and is linked to the preceding affirmation of faith via the keyword W.161 Through this important hook word, the corporate connection between the individual suppliant and the community comes to clear expression. With respect to this concluding intercession Kraus writes: 'Thus also this intercessory prayer shows once more how firmly the psalmist sees the help that he has experienced anchored in Yahweh's gracious attention to Israel."162 Moreover, the broadening from the individual to the community in verse 9 leads J. Clinton McCann, Jr., to claim that "ultimately there is no such thing as individual salvation."163 Furthermore, Craigie asserts that "this broadening of the psalm's implications for justice in its initial context provides the basis for its perpetual relevance."164

Two Practical Implications

The intimate corporate relationship between the /o f Psalms 3, 28, and 44 has two practical implications. First, it is instructive for a sermon on the deep and moving lament of an individual in Psalm 51. The superscription above this poem leads preachers to interpret and preach this psalm in terms of 2 Samuel 12. While this approach may be legitimate,165 sermons on Psalm 51 often use the mirror of the soul approach to focus attention on the person of David, to the exclusion of verses 18-19. These verses are either simply ignored

158Weiser, Psalms, 258. 159Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 342. 160N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:292. According to Briggs {Psalms, 1:245 and 249), v. 9 is

a liturgical gloss. 161N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:292; van Uchelen, Psalmen, 1:190; Broyles, Psalms, 149. 162Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 342. 163McCann, "Psalms," 4:790. 164Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 241. 165Miller {Interpreting the Psalms, 53) claims that the superscription only means to suggest

that the poem makes sense in the context of 2 Sam. 12. He goes on to say, 'The superscription does not force one to confine the power of those words to that occasion alone, but it does illustrate with power where such words of passionate self-condemnation and extreme plea for transformation and cleansing are appropriate."


or considered to be a posterior liturgical addendum.166 However, according to Leene, there is no convincing linguistic or literary evidence against the original unity of Psalm 51.167 Furthermore, he claims that verse 17 serves as an intentional introduction to the concluding prayer on behalf of Zion in verses 18-19.168 From the confidence that the Lord will not despise "a broken and contrite heart" (cf. Ps. 147:2, 3) the speaker gains courage to extend his petitions to corporate concerns and pray for the good of Zion.169 Consequently, there is an intimate relationship between personal penitence and the rebuilding of Zion, to use the title of Leene's article. The inclusion of verses 18-19, therefore, reminds the reader, first of all, that "sin is never simply a matter of individual decision; it is also a matter of corporate, institutionalized evil."170

Moreover, in view of the correspondence between the petitions in verses 10-12 and verses 18-19,171 Psalm 51 "teaches us to find our renewal in the renewal of the church and the church's renewal in our sanctification."172 From a canonical perspective, this psalm serves as a model response to Psalm 50:23.173

The intimate corporate relationship between the / and the community in Psalms 3:8, 28:8-9, 44:4-6, and 51:18-19 also demonstrates that the personality of the individual does not occupy as prominent a position in Israel as in Western European and North American culture. Against the exegetical tradition of the eighteenth through nineteenth centuries, Ridderbos warns that the aim of the poets was not to give an original, unique individual expression to unusual individual feelings.174 On the contrary, as is evident from the formulaic and conventional character of the language of the Psalms, Israel's poets were also shaped by oral and written traditions, not only of their own community but also of ancient Near Eastern culture in general.175

166Kittel, Die Psalmen, 211; Gunkel, Die Psalmen, 226; McCullough, 'The Book of Psalms," 4:267 and 272; J. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 2:96-97; Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 500 and 506; Terrien, Psalms, 403; Bratcher and Reyburn, Handbook, 476; Tate, Psalms 51-100, 29.

167Leene, "Personal Penitence and the Rebuilding of Zion," 73. Cf. Briggs, Psalms, 2:10. 168Leene, "Personal Penitence and the Rebuilding of Zion," 73. 169Ibid., 73. 170McCann, "Psalms," 4:887. 171Mays, Psalms, 203; Schaefer, Psalms, 131. 172Mays, Psalms, 204. 173Cf. Stek, NIV Study Bible, 842; Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms Volume I, The NIV Application

Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 772-73. 174N. H. Ridderbos, "Kenmerken," 179. On page 180n20, Ridderbos quotes the following

words from Mowinckel's article, 'Traditionalism and Personality:" 'To the old Israel personality with the quality of originality and uniqueness was neither an ideal nor a reality," 206.

175N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:44. In this connection, Ridderbos ("Kenmerken," 180n20) again quotes from Mowinckel's article: 'To write poetry was, one may say, to put together the details, thoughts and phrases which were presented by tradition, in the form which, according to custom and tradition, corresponded to the purpose." Mowinckel, 'Traditionalism and Personality," 206.


The following examples illustrate Ridderbos's main point. First, in Psalm 92:10, we encounter the following tricolon with climactic parallelism:

For surely your enemies, O LORD,

surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.

Significantly, in UT 68:8-9 (CTA 2 4:8-9), a text from the city of Ugarit, we find a similar thought addressed to the deity Baal also in a tricolon with climactic parallelism:176

Lo, your enemies, O Baal, Lo, your enemies you will smite, Lo, you will vanquish your foes.177

This example clearly shows that Israel's psalmists employed the same poetic verse structure as their Canaanite neighbors.178

Moreover, Psalm 23 is by all accounts a unique, powerful, and effective expression of the poet's trust,179 especially its pivotal thematic line in verse 4:180

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, hI will fear no evil, c for you are with me; d your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Although many know the memorable opening line of this psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," the powerful image of the Lord as a shepherd is anything but original. On the contrary, the label "shepherd" was a conventional ancient Near Eastern metaphor for a king.181 For example, the powerful Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III calls himself "shepherd of mankind,"182 and in Psalm 78:71, David is called the shepherd of

176N. H. Ridderbos, "Kenmerken," 179. mLoren R. Fisher, Ras Shamra Parallels, Analecta Orientalia 49 (Rome: Pontifical Institute

Press, 1972), 40. 178For this verse structure, see Samuel E. Loewenstamm, 'The Expanded Colon in Ugaritic

and Biblical Verse," JSS 14 (1969): 176-200; Y. Avishur, "Addenda to the Expanded Colon in Ugaritic and Biblical Verse," UF4 (1972): 1-10.

179N.H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 44; idem, "Kenmerken," 179. 180For the pivotal position of v. 4, see Stek, NIV Study Bible, 810. 181N.H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 44. Cf. Stek, NIV Study Bible, 810; Walter Zimmerli, Ezekiel

1, 242; Ezekiel 2, trans. J. D. Martin (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983), 213-14; Dennis Pardee, "Structure and Meaning in Hebrew Poetry," MAARAV5-6 (1990) : 273n56; Beth Tanner, "King Yahweh as the Good Shepherd: Taking Another Look at the Image of God in Psalm 23," in David and Zion: Biblical Studies in Honor of J. J. M. Roberts, ed. Bernard F. Batto and Kathryn L. Roberts (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2004), 270-72.

182William P. Brown, Seeing in the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor (Louisville: Westminster/ John Knox, 2002), 151-52.


God's people. As a royal title, the metaphor of shepherd was also used as an epithet for deities in ancient Near Eastern texts. The Sumerian deity Enlil, for example, is referred to as "God Enlil, faithful Shepherd, Master of all countries."183 Similarly, Marduk is also referred to as a shepherd.184 In like manner, this stock royal epithet was also used in the Psalter as an epithet for the Lord as the Shepherd-King.185 In the light of the above ancient Near Eastern background, Beth Tanner infers that the memorable metaphor of Psalm 23:1 communicates the image of a powerful divine king who will establish justice in the world with his powerful arm.1 8 6

Unfortunately, many Christian readers are unaware of the actual referent of this widely used metaphor and, consequently, they frequently misinterpret the imagery in romantic terms. Needless to say, if they misinterpret the shepherd metaphor in Psalm 23, they will also misunderstand the use of this metaphor in John 10:11,14 in which Jesus claims to be the noble187 shepherd.

Ridderbos explains the above phenomenon in terms of the formative power of oral tradition. He also postulates that Israel's poets had committed significant parts of the then-current literature to memory.188

The above phenomenon also has important implications for the exegesis of the Psalms. Nineteenth-century historical-critical interpretation of the Psalms strove to discover the person of the psalmists and the uniqueness of their poems. Instead, argues Ridderbos, the distinctiveness of each poem is to be found in the creative way in which it transmits traditional

183James B. Pritchard, ed., Anaent Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University, 1950), 337.

184Tanner, "King Yahweh as the Good Shepherd," 272. Cf. ANET, 69, 71 and 72. 185Gen. 49:24; Pss. 28:9; 80:1; Isa. 40:11; Jer. 31:10; and Ezek. 34:15. The concept of the

Lord as shepherd is also implicit in the image of the Lord's people as "sheep" and "pasture" (Pss. 79:13; 95:7; and 100:3; Isa. 5:16-17; 49:9; Jer. 50:19; Ezek. 34:2-24; and Zeph. 3:13) and the verbs "to shepherd" (Ps. 28:9) and "to lead" (Pss. 23:2-3; 67:4).

186Tanner, "King Yahweh as the Good Shepherd," 272. 187For the translation of the Greek adjective καλός see Jerome H. Neyrey, 'The 'Noble

Shepherd' in John 10: Cultural and Rhetorical Background, " JBL120 (2001): 267-91 188N. H. Ridderbos, "Kenmerken," 180. The existence of "letters of petition" that were

deposited at the temple of a deity for recital, according to William W. Hallo ("Individual Prayer in Sumerian: The Continuity of a Tradition, "JA OS 88 [1968]: 71-89, especially 75-76), lends credence to Ridderbos's hypothesis. It gains additional support from Klaus Seybold's claim (Introdudng the Psalms [Edinburgh: Τ & Τ Clark, 1990], 196) that prayers of individuals were written down without names so that they could be used by anyone. In this connection, Mowinckel's ('Traditionalism and Personality," 218) observation that "we have also from Babylonia-Assyria copies of the same psalm, which has been supplied with different royal names Ί Nebukadressar' or Ί Ashurbânaplu, pray to thee,' etc." lends additional support to the hypothesis.


literary genres and formulaic and typical expressions of faith.189 Mowinckel expresses this principle as follows:

The personal contribution by the poet consisted, in a way, in finding new variations of the fixed forms, a new turn in the call to praise, another expression for confidence, a new picture of the fury of the enemy and the hardship of suffering. In this way they created many original, individual pictures of the noblest kind which later became classical.190

A typical example of this can be found in Psalm 100. As James L. Mays has noted, this poem consists of Israel's standard cultic vocabulary. The imperative verbs in the call to praise, for example, represent typical acts of worship: "Acclaim Yahweh" (Pss. 47:1; 66:1; 98:4, 6); "come into his presence, gates, courts" (Pss. 95:6; 96:8); "bless him, his name" (Pss. 66:8; 96:2; 134:1).191 Moreover, verses 4 and 5 are a revised version of the familiar Todah hymn.192 Because its language is so standard, Gunkel opines that one should not overestimate the value of Psalm 100,193 and W. Stewart McCullough downgrades its poetic value.194 However, Mays195 and others196

have argued that the person who composed Psalm 100 was not only a skilled poet but also an accomplished theologian who gave customary words new meaning. The poet has, for example, modified the compositional structure of this imperatival hymn of praise.197 After the first three imperative verbs in the call to praise of verses 1-3, the reader would have expected the typical thematic statement that is usually introduced by the conjunction "'S. In fact, the poet used this typical pattern in his revision of the familiar Todah hymn in verses 4-5,198 but not in verses 1-3. Instead, he inserted the impera-

189N. H. Ridderbos, De Psalmen, 1:44. Cf. Mowinckel, 'Traditionalism and Personality," 206.

190Mowinckel, 'Traditionalism and Personality," 206. 191Mays, The Lord Rägns, 150n3. Cf. Erich Zenger, 'The God of Israel's Reign over the World

(Psalms 90-96)," in The God of Israel and the Nations: Studies in Isaiah and the Psalms, ed. Norbort Lohfink and Erich Zenger (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000), 179.

192Mays, The Lord Reigns, 150n3. 193Gunkel, Die Psalmen, 2:432. 194McCullough, 'The Book of the Psalms," 4:533. 195Mays, The Reign of God, 73-74. 196Nobert Lohfink, "Die Universalierung der 'Bundesformel' in Ps: 100:3," Theologie

und Philosophie 65 (1990): 172; W. S. Prinsloo, "Psalm 100:'n Poëties minderwaardige en saamgeflansde teks," HTS 47 (1991): 972; L. P. Mare, "Psalm 100—Uitbundige lof oor die Godheid," Old Testament Essays 13 (2000): 235-60.

197Mays, The Lord Reigns, 74-75. 198Ibid., 74.


tive verb ISTI, "know," 199 of the recognition formula,200 followed by the well-known words from 1 Kings 18:39 and an echo of Psalm 95:7:

*Know b uthat the Low is God. c It is he who made us, d and we are his; e we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

As McCann has noted, the imperative verb "1ΙΠ is of a different order. While the other imperatives demand that the addressee act in a specific way, the verb ΊΙΠ requires a reflective act that serves as the basis for the other acts.201 For this reason, the verb 11Π was inserted at the center of seven imperatives.202 As a result, all the emphasis falls on this imperative:

Acclaim...serve...enter... Recognize that the Lord, he is God...

Enter . . . give thanksgiving . . . and bless. . . . 2 0 3

However, Gunkel failed to recognize the poet's creative insertion of the imperative verb ΊΙΠ at the center of seven imperatives and, consequently, divided Psalm 100 into two separate hymns: verses 1-3 and verses 4-5.204

As a result, Gunkel also missed the poet's bold subversively polemical missionary maneuver. The addressee of this psalm, "all the earth" (v. 1), is now enjoined to recognize publicly that, in the language of 1 Kings 18:39 and based on the doctrine of creation, the LORD—only He—is God.205 Moreover, through this public acknowledgement they are also indirectly invited to become part of his sheep. The theological boldness of this indirect invitation in verse 3 gains in import when Psalm 100:2b-3 is compared to Psalm 95:6-7, which together with Psalm 100 frames Psalms 96-99:206

199It is important to note that in the Psalms this imperative verb is found only in Pss 4 4, 46 11, and 100 3

200For this formula, see Walter Zimmerh, I Am Yahweh, trans Douglas W Stott, ed Walter Brueggemann (Atlanta John Knox, 1982)

201McCann, The Psalms as Torah, 65-66 202Luis Alonso Schökel and Cecilia Carniti, Salmos II (Salmos 73-150) Traduçao, introducati

e comentario, Coleçâo grande comentario bíblico (Säo Paulo Paulus, 1998), 1237 Cf Frank-Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger, Psalms 2 A Commentary on Psalms 51-100, Hermeneia—A Critical Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis Fortress, 2005), 493

203Schaefer, Psalms, 245-46 Cf McCann, The Psalms as Torah, 65 204Gunkel, Die Psalmen, 2 432 205Cf Hossfeld & Zenger, Psalms 2, 496 206Marvm E Tate, Psalms 51-100, WBC 20 (Dallas Word, 1990), 535 Cf Zenger, 'The God

of Israel's Reign," 178


Psalm 100:2b-3 Psalm 95:6-7 2a Come into his presence with singing. 6a Come, SaKnow that the LOBD—only He—is God. blet us bow down in worship, It is he that made us, clet us kneel before the Lord our Maker; and not we ourselves; 7a for he is our God we are his people— he sheep of his pasture. b and we are the people of his pasture, the

flock under his care.

In Psalm 95:6-7, Israel is invited to come and submit herself to the Lord, the great Shepherd-King. Psalm 100:3 picks up the expanded covenant formula from Psalm 95:7 (cf. Ps. 79:13) and boldly extends the invitation to come and serve the LORD to "all the earth." As a result, the foundational covenant formula has been universalized.207

Summary Conclusion

To conclude this first part of our essay, we note, first of all, that Ridder-bos's modified form-critical cultic and stylistic approach to the Psalms allows him to interpret meaningfully verses that historical critics of the nineteenth century considered to be liturgical additions because of their focus on the original author. Second, against the excesses of psychologizing the psalmic text that characterizes various versions of the mirror of the soul approach, Ridderbos diminishes the importance of the individual from a corporate personality perspective and underscores the fact that frequently the individual / speaks in an official capacity of a covenant representative. Third, this fact and the stereotypical language of the psalms lead Ridderbos to emphasize that in the psalms the reader hears Israel's normative response to the Lord's revelation. This emphasis brings us to our discussion of the second problem of psalmic interpretation, which we will treat in the second installment of this article in a future issue of the Calvin Theological Journal

207Cf. Norbert Lohfink, "Die Universalisierung der 'Bundesformel' in Ps. 100:3," ThPh 65 (1990): 172-83; Hossfeld and Zenger, Psalms 2, 496.

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