Longman Iii How to Read the Psalms

Revised, 2. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-5140-0282-7
Verlag: IVP Academic
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 192 Seiten

Reihe: How to Read Series

The Psalms have been well-loved and frequently used by Christians throughout history. For directness, intensity, and intimacy, they are unrivaled in all of Scripture. Somehow the psalmists seem to have anticipated our own awe, desires, and frustrations. Yet the Psalms also challenge us when we look at them closely. Their poetry is unfamiliar in form. Many images used are foreign to us today. And the psalmists sometimes express troubling thoughts that seem hard to reconcile with other teachings of Scripture. In this volume of the popular How to Read Series, Tremper Longman III gives us the kind of help we need to overcome the distance between the psalmists' world and ours. He explains the various genres of psalms, the way they were used in Hebrew worship, their relationship to the rest of the Old Testament, and the characteristics of Hebrew poetry. Then he looks at how Christians can appropriate the message and insights of Psalms today. Step-by-step suggestions for interpreting the psalms on our own are followed by exercises for further study and reflection, plus a helpful guide to commentaries on the Psalms. This second edition includes expanded content, updated sources, and a new appendix on the structure of the book of Psalms.

Tremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He is also visiting professor of Old Testament at Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and adjunct of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. He lectures regularly at Regent College in Vancouver and the Canadian Theological Seminary in Calgary.Longman is the author or coauthor of over twenty books, including How to Read Genesis, How to Read the Psalms, How to Read Proverbs, Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation, Old Testament Essentials and coeditor of A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible. He and Dan Allender have coauthored Bold Love, Cry of the Soul, Intimate Allies, The Intimate Mystery and the Intimate Marriage Bible studies.

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Longman Iii, Tremper

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2
The Origin, Development, and Use of the Psalms

Now that we have learned to detect different types of songs in the Psalter, we stand amazed, not only at the many different types, but also at their apparent lack of order! If we start reading with Psalm 20 and continue in order, we encounter an individual lament, a kingship hymn, a second lament for the individual, and a psalm of confidence. Why are the Psalms in this apparent disorder, or is there, as some recent scholars suggest, an underlying order that cannot be detected on the surface?

This question leads to a second, related question. How did the individual psalms come into being? Did David write all of the poems? If not, then who did?

Last, how were the Psalms used by the Old Testament people of God? The answer to this question will be the first step toward solving how we, as God’s new covenant people, should use them.

These are the questions this chapter will explore—questions of the origin, development, and use of the Psalms. Of course, there are many aspects of this question we cannot answer. We get only rare glimpses of the Hebrew psalm writers in action. But the Psalter and the historical books of the Old Testament do provide some clues.

THE TITLES

One hint concerning the origin of psalm writing comes from the titles. The titles introducing individual psalms give information about the author, the historical occasion that prompted the writing, the melody, the psalm’s function, and, occasionally, other matters.

Titles are frequent in the Psalter. Indeed, psalms that don’t have an authorship title are called “orphan” psalms (such as Ps 33). Very few psalms, however, have titles that incorporate all of the information just mentioned. Most English translations make it appear as if the titles are only loosely connected to the psalms themselves, but this is not true in the Hebrew, where the titles usually constitute the first verse!

Our interest here really focuses on two types of titles: authorship and historical occasion.1 The title of Psalm 3 contains both:

A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.

The title implies David wrote Psalm 3 in response to a very definite event in his life recorded in 2 Samuel 15:13-37. And indeed, the content of the psalm makes sense in light of that tragic time when his own son challenged him and chased him out of his city, Jerusalem.

Authorship titles. In the history of psalm interpretation, however, many have challenged the accuracy of the authorship titles, particularly those connected with David. The titles ascribe more psalms to King David than to any other (seventy-four to be exact). Indeed, so many palms are cited as Davidic that the whole collection is often attributed to him, though this is clearly wrong, since psalms are also attributed to the sons of Korah, to the sons of Asaph, to Solomon, and even to Moses. Further, many are without ascription.

The argument against Davidic authorship was particularly strong in the early twentieth century, when many believed almost all of the psalms were written late in the history of Israel, after the exile.2 Since David lived half a millennium before the postexilic period, his authorship would be problematical, to say the least.

In spite of this earlier critical consensus, the biblical witness to David’s role in the development of worshipful song-singing is so strong that it is hard today to imagine why so many disputed it. When David is introduced in 1 Samuel 16 and 17, he appears as a young man with two special gifts, which will later characterize his leadership. The second story tells how God used the boy David to defeat a superior enemy, Goliath. The first story tells how the youth used unusual musical gifts to soothe Saul’s tormented mind. This story anticipates the one who later calls himself “the hero of Israel’s songs” (2 Sam 23:1).

It is true that the Hebrew phrase translated in many English versions “of David” can also be translated “to David” or “for David.” Hebrew prepositions are slippery things without a context! The argument has been forcefully made that these psalms are Davidic, not in the sense that he wrote every one with his name connected with it, but because the majority of psalms were written in the style he established. For instance, a Miltonic ode is not necessarily an ode written by Milton, but one written in his style.

A title like that found in Psalm 18, however, leaves little doubt as to its authorship, especially when it is remembered that Psalm 18 has as its pair David’s song of praise in 2 Samuel 22. The authorship title is connected with a historical title, which reflects the understanding that “of David” means “composed by David”:

Of David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

In brief, we have little reason in principle to doubt that David wrote those psalms ascribed to him. Even most critical scholars agree that, though the titles are late additions, some psalms are Davidic, and most of the psalms are early. In fact, the early twentieth-century belief that the Psalms were very late was bound up with a now discarded view concerning the evolution of Israel’s religion. It was felt that such intensely personal and spiritual prayers could not have been composed early in Israel’s religious development.3

While these and other arguments establish a strong likelihood for the accuracy of authorship titles, they do not prove the canonicity of the titles, a topic that leads us to discuss the historical titles.

Historical titles. The historical titles present us with more difficulties than the authorship titles. As a result, they should be approached more cautiously.

The historical titles at the beginning of a psalm pinpoint the event that inspired its writing. There are only fourteen historical titles (Ps 3; 7; 18; 30; 34; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63; and 142). Despite the fact that only a few psalms enter this category, they are important in that they may provide (and certainly are often taken as providing) a glimpse at the circumstances in which the psalms were written.

Most of the historical titles have a number of similarities. For one thing, they all concern David. Each connects a psalm with a specific event in David’s life. Second, though the psalm itself often speaks in the first person, the title refers to David in the third person. This shift from third-person to first-person pronouns suggests that someone other than David later added these titles. Third, most of them share the same grammatical form.4

Scholars differ radically over the significance of the historical titles. Many feel that they have no real, or at least original, connection with the psalm.5 It is interesting to observe how more and more titles were added to the Psalms as the years passed. Most of the psalms have titles by the time we come to the time of Christ (as evidenced by the Septuagint [second century BC]). And even more elaborate titles are found in the later Syriac translation of the Old Testament (Peshitta [in the early centuries AD]). These new titles were clearly added after the time of David.

Other scholars strongly argue that the historical titles are canonical.6 After all, there is no textual evidence that they were not part of the text. They are canonical and, therefore, inerrant.

One cannot be dogmatic about this issue. There is no doubt that, at the very least, the fourteen titles are early tradition and, therefore, provide valuable insights into the origin of the text. Frequently, the text’s content will be illuminated by the information given in the title. The best example of this is in Psalm 51:

When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

This title places the psalm within the context of David’s horrible sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam 12) and after he recognizes the depths of his guilt. The title fits well with the content of Psalm 51.

However, occasionally a title seems to be in tension with the content of the psalm. If we turn back to Psalm 3, we see an example. We have already commented that the setting provided by the title and the psalm itself basically agree. In the Samuel passage (2 Sam 15:13–18:6), David is fleeing the army of his son Absalom. In Psalm 3, the psalmist beseeches God for help in the presence of attackers.

A closer examination, however, produces a more cautious analysis. David’s attitude seems different in the two cases. In the psalm David displays confidence in himself and in his desire to see God crush his enemies. In the Samuel account, on the contrary, David seems quite depressed and concerned that Absalom not be harmed.

Other psalms show even more pronounced difficulties. Psalm 30 is “for the dedication of the temple.” As we carefully study its contents, however, the most natural reading is that it is a thanksgiving offered by a person who has been healed of a serious illness (see analysis of Ps 30 in chapter eleven).

After all the evidence has been surveyed, it is best to treat the titles as noncanonical but reliable early tradition.7 Practically speaking, the implications for reading a psalm are twofold. We should let the psalm title initially inform the reading of a psalm. However, we shouldn’t bend the interpretation of a psalm unnaturally to make it conform to the...