Write a brief critical introduction to the book of Psalms.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Write a brief critical introduction to the book of Psalms

Introduction

Martin Luther wrote that the Psalms are like “a little Bible, and the summary of the Old Testament” (Dillard & Longman III 1995, p.227). The Psalms are a collection of 150 individual compositions, which like the rest of the Old Testament, do not appear to be systematically ordered and whose content spans a vast period of time, written by many different authors. In the whole collection, there seems to be a Psalm for every occasion of human life in ancient Israel. Indeed, one cannot read the Psalms without being impressed by the “humanness” and literary beauty of them. In regard to the title of this essay, to call the Psalms a single book is somewhat misleading. The Psalms are only a book in so far as being a collection book, itself containing five collection books, arranged so that each book ends with a doxology (at 41:13, 72:18-19, 89:52, 106:48, 150) (USCCB 2002, p. 1 cf. Gawrisch 1981, p. 15). The Psalms take their place in the (the Writings) part of the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew name for the Book of Psalms is or simply . This masculine plural is not found in the text of the Psalms themselves, but is a Talmudic form. The regular plural of is . is translated “a song of praise.” The book of Psalms may not have always been known as . For example, the Septuagint calls the Psalms, . The same name appears in the New Testament in Luke 24:44, and in Luke 20:42, and Acts 1:20 it is referred to as means “a song sung to the music of a stringed instrument.” It is a translation of , which is used as an individual title for many of the Psalms. (Gawrisch 1981, p. 4). It is from this Greek word from whence we get the English title to the collection, “Psalms”. This essay will focus mainly upon the critical approaches undertaken to investigate the origin and meaning of the Psalms.

Gunkel and Mowinckel and the search for a historical background

Although theologically used, classified, and commented upon throughout the ages, he exact origin of the Psalms have, until quite recent times, been somewhat of a mystery. Most of the psalms had been considered to be the products of individuals in response to specific moments in their lives. Often, when no author was mentioned, it was assumed to be the work of King David, to whom 73 of the Psalms are attributed. (See discussion on attribution of authorship). Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932) is sometimes called “the father of Formgeschichte (form criticism)” for his great influence upon the higher critical schools of Old Testament study (Gawrisch 1981, p.32). By observing its formal characteristics, style, terminology, and rhetorical features, Gunkel attempted to determine the Gattung (type or literary genre) of each psalm. With the assumption that there was a great deal of oral tradition behind the composition of the Psalms, he set out to find the Sitz im Leben (general social setting in life) responsible for each of the compositions. This study became known as gattungforschung (type research). Gunkel concluded that the earliest Psalms were cultic songs composed for public worship. These would have been handed down through oral tradition and written during or soon after the Exile. Soon after these came individual psalms which pious poets composed for their own use. (Wilson 1999, p.4; cf. Gawrisch 1981, p. 32)

Gunkel claimed that he had found five principal categories for the classification of the Psalms:

Hymns –Songs of praise to God intended for the choral part of temple worship (e.g. Pss. 8, 19, 23, 33).
Laments of the Community –Poems which rose out of national calamities, in which the nation brings its cause before God and asks for his help (e.g. Pss. 44, 74, 79).
Royal Psalms –Songs concerned with a reigning Hebrew king (e.g. Pss. 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 101, 110, 132, 144:1-11).
Individual Laments –The individuals’ cries of help to God in difficult ...

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Gunkel claimed that he had found five principal categories for the classification of the Psalms:

Hymns –Songs of praise to God intended for the choral part of temple worship (e.g. Pss. 8, 19, 23, 33).
Laments of the Community –Poems which rose out of national calamities, in which the nation brings its cause before God and asks for his help (e.g. Pss. 44, 74, 79).
Royal Psalms –Songs concerned with a reigning Hebrew king (e.g. Pss. 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 101, 110, 132, 144:1-11).
Individual Laments –The individuals’ cries of help to God in difficult situations (e.g. Pss. 3, 5, 6, 7, 13).
Individual Songs of Thanksgiving –Songs thanking God for his goodness towards His people, Israel (e.g. Pss. 30, 32, 34).

In addition to these, he also classified the following minor types which did not fit into the other five categories:

Enthronement Songs (e.g. Pss. 47, 93).
Psalms of Confidence (e.g. Pss. 4, 11, 16, 23).
Wisdom Poetry (e.g. 1, 37, 49).
Liturgies (intended for cultic use. e.g. 42-43, 46).
Prophetic Liturgies (liturgical poems containing prophetically-styled oracles. e.g. 12, 75).
Mixed Poems (e.g. Pss. 9-10, 40, 78).

The Norwegian, Sigmund Mowinckel was a student of Gunkel, and carried Gunkel’s work further. In his work, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, he concluded that nearly all of the Psalms were cultic, rather than a good deal of them being private, in origin, being composed by priests for temple worship. Being influenced by the Scandinavian Myth and Ritual school of interpretation (which held that religious texts were used in worship to re-enact significant religious experiences and ideas), he attempted to classify about 43 of the Psalms to the class known as “Enthronement Songs”. He assumed that Israel’s worship was something parallel to the yearly Mesopotamian Akitu (New Year) Festival which celebrated the rule of the Mesopotamian king, who at the festival, represented the god Marduk, head of the pantheon. Mowinckel envisioned an annual New Year celebration in Israel whereby the Hebrew king would represent YHWH and be re-enthroned at the start of the year, to celebrate both human and divine rule over Israel. (Dillard & Longman III 1995, p. 218; cf. Wilson 1999, p. 5; Gawrisch 1981, p. 33).

Mowinckel’s work served to open up academic thought to the possibility that the Psalms were somehow collected for use in temple worship. However, his reasoning for this was faulty, and lacked any explicit evidence.

While providing the first and classic attempt to place the psalms in the context of a single festival, few people would follow Mowinckel today. The lack of evidence for such festival in biblical tradition, combined with the tenuous nature of the evidence from within the Psalter, lead most to reject this approach. It appears to be an imposition of Mesopotamian religious thought onto the biblical world.

(Dillard & Longman III 1995, p. 218; cf. Gawrisch 1981, p.34-35)

Gawrisch (Gawrisch 1981, p. 34-35) also notes that many scholars disagree with Mowinckel’s re-interpretation of to mean “YHWH has become king”, in order to support his views of the annual re-enthronement of YHWH. Instead of this, the translation “YHWH reigns” or “YHWH exercises kingship” is preferred. (cf. Wilson 1999, p. 5).

Historicity and attributed authorship

There is strong evidence that not only the Psalms as a collection, but also individual psalms, were open to adaptation during the entire Old Testament period. In addition, psalms were not simply added to the end of the collection as they were developed, but apparently interwoven. For example, Psalm 72:20 announces “This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse” despite the fact that before it are many Psalms attributed to be authored by someone other David, even Psalm 72 itself, and many Psalms attributed to David which come after it. An example of the same dynamic open-endedness in individual psalms is Psalm 69. If one takes the title seriously, as being reliable for the entire psalm, then we should date this psalm to the time of David, and yet in the last three verses we see phrases which seem more at home in an exilic situation (Dillard & Longman III 1995, p.213).

Nevertheless, not all scholars have recognised the dynamic nature of the Psalms and have focussed on the historical background of individual psalms, attempting to discover this by carefully analysing the content of each psalm. However, large disagreements are often made between scholars over the dating of psalms. For example, some scholars recognise phrases such as “marvellous things” and “his right hand and his holy arm” in Psalm 98 as being references to God’s victory over the Egyptians at the beginning of the Exodus, and so date the psalm to around this time. However, W. Beyerlin argues that the psalm should be dated to the time of the restoration, because he believes it displays literary dependence on Isaiah (Dillard & Longman III 1995, p.213).

It should be admitted, then, that attempting to completely identify individual psalms to specific historical events run contrary to the intention of the psalms themselves, which are not specific in terms of historical reference. For example, if we compare Psalm 24, a deliverance psalm, with the deliverance song in Judges 5, we see that Judges 5 is rooted in events which took place in Israel’s victory over the Canaanites towards the end of the second millennium B.C., whereas Psalm 24 celebrates military victory as the army approached the gates of the city, with praises to YHWH who is “mighty in battle”. However, it is difficult to identify Psalm 24 with any one battle in particular. This historically non-specific character of the psalms is a contributing factor to their continued use in the worship of Israel (Dillard & Longman III 1995, p.213-214).

For the sake of brevity, the reliability of information contained in individual psalm titles, or superscriptions, will not be considered in detail here, apart from the issue of apparent attributed authorship. There is no direct textual evidence for the Psalms ever lacking their titles, though scholars differ as to their views on the authenticity and reliability of these titles, and they often differ between different textual traditions (Dillard & Longman III 1995, pp.214-216; cf. Gawrisch 1981 pp. 5-7; USCCB 2002, p. 1).

Traditionally, the titles have been understood to designate authorship. However the Hebrew language demands heavily upon immediate context, and the inseparable preposition, can be translated “by,” “of,” “about,” “for,” and possibly “according to the style of”. This gave reason, to those scholars who stuck rigidly to an evolutionary view of Israel’s religion, and who rejected the notion of such elevated expressions of piety found in the Psalms existing as early as David’s reign, to doubt Davidic authorship of those Psalms traditionally attributed to him. However, this view is rare today because we know more about ancient poetry from other Semitic cultures (Dillard & Longman III 1995, p. 215). It is, of course, also impossible to prove that David wrote or had some input into each psalm attributed to him, but with the biblical tradition surrounding his interest in and involvement with music, it is not inconceivable. Also, one example of being used definitely to denote authorship, is in Habukkuk 3, where we find a prayer of the prophet Habukkuk, with the above inseparable preposition logically having to mean a prayer “by”, not “about”, or “according to the style of” Habukkuk.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the historical background of the Psalms as a whole and as individual psalms remain very much elusive. The Psalms were dynamic, expanding and changing during the time of their composition and collection, and, at least in the forms we have today, are historically non-specific, which made them very useful in Israel’s worship, and in the worship of Jews and Christians today.

Bibliography

Dillard, R.B. & Longman T. III; 1995; An Introduction to the Old Testament; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Apollos.
Gawrisch, W.R.; 1981; Introduction to the Psalms; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; published in the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library and available online at –accessed January 2003
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; 2002; Psalms: Introduction; Washington, DC; published at – accessed January 2003
Wilson, G.; 1999; Types of Psalms; Azusa, California; published at – accessed January 2003
The Holy Bible – English Standard Version; 2001, 2002; Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Bibles