Bernard P. Robinson, «Form and Meaning in Psalm 131», Vol. 79 (1998) 180-197
Psalm 131 displays a subtle play on words. The psalmist has silenced and calmed down his soul/breast (he has put an end to its loud complaints). The two verbs used express or suggest the idea of assimilation (I have transformed it into something silent and something calm), which leads up to the material image which follows. In 2b gamul means a child that has been weaned or is happy (and has stopped crying loudly); instead of kaggamul one should read tiggmol, you have been nice to me. Although the psalm has an unusual form, it has the same structure as Psalm 130. It probably constitutes a literary unit. It may by royal psalm.
appeal in v. 2 to the divine Master to hear his voice and the sound of his pleading. Similarly in Ps 62,2.6 [EVV 62,1.5], quoted above, y#$pn hymwd Myhl)-l) K) and y#$pn ymwd Myhl)l K) may carry connotations of making a silent cry to God.
If the #$pn were identical with the "I", as is commonly supposed, how could a relationship between the two be envisaged, even an "imaginary" one, as predicated by Beyerlin 23? Beyerlin rightly draws a parallel between our Psalm and Ps 42-43 (a single Psalm originally), where the Psalmist addresses his #$pn and calls upon it to wait in hope for Yhwh (the same verb as we have in 131,3). He does not, however, acknowledge how appropriately connotations of "throat" can be predicated of the word #$pn in that Psalm: it yearns and thirsts for God like a hart for waters (42,2-3).
The accentuation, with the word y#$pn carrying the accent ôlè weyôred, has a pause after 2a. Quell, in the light of this, argues for taking 2a with verse 1. He contends that the metre also favours this, vv. 1-2a consisting of three phrases in 2+2 metre (hwhy being excluded from the calculation, being in anacrusis), followed by 3+3 in 2b 24. Metrical calculations are, of course, somewhat speculative 25. Further, the ancient Rabbis also indicate a pause after yty#$w in 2aa, witness the presence of the disjunctive accent azla legarmeh (similarly with the accent shalsheleth magnum after ytklh in 1c), which Quell ignores since it would not help his case. The accentuation in fact of v. 2 is perfectly consistent with its being taken as a unit 26.