Ruth Fidler, «A Touch of Support: Ps 3,6 and the Psalmist’s Experience», Vol. 86 (2005) 192-212
Vv. 5-6 mark a turning point in Psalm 3, both structurally
and thematically, probably reflecting a significant personal experience. Due to
the mention of sleeping and waking (v. 6a) this experience is sometimes
interpreted as a dream in which the psalmist got word of his imminent
deliverance. Recently supported by a Qumran parallel that mentions dreaming
explicitly (11QPsa xxiv 16-17;B. Schroeder,
Biblica 81 [2000] 243-251), this argument nevertheless
seems questionable, given e.g. the tendency of later Judaism to attribute dreams
also to biblical figures that are not characterized in such terms in the Bible.
The main thrust of this article is to examine the psalm in comparison with
theophanic reports elsewhere in the Bible and in ANE literature. This analysis
shows the language of Psalm 3 to be compatible with an incubatory ritual that
culminates in a real experience of presence with a divine gesture of support.
These findings are related to the proximity to God that finds expression in the
psalms.
A Touch of Support: Ps 3,6 and the Psalmist’s Experience 195
mentioned at the beginning of a new clause (12) and linked to a divine
gesture or intervention (ynkmsy hwhy) by the conjunction yk indicating a
causative or temporal relation. This special emphasis is perhaps due to
the fact that only upon waking does the poet become aware of God’s
positive involvement. (IV) The precise nature of the divine gesture or
intervention intended by ynkmsy hwhy and its relation to the waking of the
psalmist has to be determined. If the relation is causal then the verb
Ëšms (Qal, imperfect) should perhaps be taken as a historic past,
although it is usually and more naturally rendered as durative present.
(V) Possibly connected to these issues is the supposed break in v. 8:
The poet appeals to Yahweh to rise and act on his behalf, and then goes
on to suggest that God has already crushed the wicked enemies.
As often in Psalm interpretation, opinions on these issues are
divided between proponents of different basic approaches that can be
roughly characterized as ‘ritual’ (or ‘institutional’) and ‘spiritual’.
The ‘ritual’ approach typically takes the sleeping and waking as
part of a rite such as temple incubation, which would bring a petitioner
to spend the night in the temple “in order to gain there a dream-
theophany concerning his ailment (Krankheit)†(13). If this rite brought
about the psalmist’s reversal of fortune, this may well explain the very
mention of sleeping and waking in the midst of the crisis as well as the
special emphasis on the waking (I and III above). However, an
“ailment†is not borne out by the text of this psalm (14). Neither are
(12) GUNKEL, Die Psalmen, 14 would have the main pause after hnvyaw: (I slept)
“gegen die Akzenteâ€. It seems, however, that the accents do reflect the same
division, the disjunctive accent drwyw hlw[ in hnvyaw: indicating the principal pause.
(13) MOWINCKEL, Psalmenstudien I, 155. Apart from Ps 3,6 Mowinckel
considered Ps 4,9; 17,15; 63,3.7; 91,1.5 as possible allusions to temple incubation,
but others have raised objections regarding some of these scriptures: E.L.
EHRLICH, Der Traum im Alten Testament (BZAW 73; Berlin 1953) 51-52; A.
CAQUOT, “Les songes et leur interprétation selon Canaan et Israelâ€, Les songes et
leur interprétation (ed. S. SAUNERON ET AL.) (Sources orientales 2; Paris 1959)
116; J. LINDBLOM, “Theophanies in Holy Places in Hebrew Religionâ€, HUCA 32
(1961), 104; J.-M. HUSSER, Dreams and Dream Narratives in the Biblical World
(Sheffield 1999) 174-175. R.J. Tournay has more on later scholars who adopted
or opposed this line of interpretation in Psalm 3; See R.J. TOURNAY, Seeing and
Hearing God with the Psalms. The Prophetic Liturgy of the Second Temple in
Jerusalem (JSOTSS 118; Sheffield 1991) 191-192.
(14) For the idea that “the poet in Psalm 3 is perhaps sick†see also L.
DELEKAT, Asylie und Schutzorakel am Zionheiligtum. Eine Untersuchung zu den
privaten Feindpsalmen (Leiden 1967) 52. However, MOWINCKEL, Psalmenstudien
I, 154-155 did not define Psalm 3 as “a sickness psalm†as he did e.g. Psalms 6
and 28 (ibid. 149, 151).