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 203
close to dream reports. However, the conceptualization of divine-
human communication among prophets must have been affected also
by the feeling, typical amongst members of these circles, of special
closeness to the divine. To one who “stood in the council of YHWH to
perceive and to hear his word†(Jer 23,18), who spoke with him
“mouth to mouth†and beheld his form (Num 12,8) the notion of
dreams bridging the gap between heaven and earth could seem
superfluous at best. The tendency to avoid dream terminology in
reports of prophetic experiences is observable as early as the reports
concerning Balaam (Num 22,9.20) and his counterpart in the early 8th
century BCE inscription from Deir ‘Alla (41). Rather than the result of
later deletions by scrupulous scribes this tendency should be seen as a
true reflection of a prophetic perspective on encounters with the
divine.
Which of these explanations, if any, could best fit the liminal
quality of the experience reflected in Psalm 3?
The literary-historical line (1) would mean that in Ps 3,5-6 there
was basically a reference to a dream, but unequivocal dream terms
were excluded (or were used but subsequently removed) perhaps
following the rise of more critical attitudes towards dreams and their
revelatory significance. Such possibilities seem to gain support from
“Psalm 155â€, an apocryphal psalm extant in Syriac (Psalm III) and in
the Qumran Psalm scroll (11QPsa xxiv 3-17), because this psalm
indeed features a dream term (ytmlj i.e. I dreamt) in a passage (Ps
155,18-19 = 11QPsa xxiv 16-17) that closely resembles Ps 3,5-6 (42):
ynn[yw hwhy ytarq
I cried “O Lord†and he answered me,
ybl rbv ta apryw
[And he healed] my broken heart.
hnvyaw ytmn
I slumbered [and s]lept,
[ytwxyqh] µg ytmlj
I dreamt; indeed [I awoke]
hwhy yntkms
[Thou didst support me, O Lord,
[yflpm] hwhy arqaw
And I invoked] the Lord, [my deliverer]
(41) The late 7th century BCE dating for the core of the Balaam story in Num
22–24* proposed by Husser (Le songe et la parole, 180) following Mowinckel,
Rost and Rouillard raises too many difficulties.
(42) The text and translation follow J.A. SANDERS, The Dead Sea Psalms
Scroll (Ithaca, NY 1967) 110-111. For the Syriac version and its reconstructed
Hebrew Vorlage see M. NOTH, “Die fünf syrisch überlieferten apokryphen
Psalmenâ€, ZAW 48 (1930) 1-23, esp. 6-7, 12-16. See also H.F. VAN ROOY, “Psalm
155: One, Two or Three Texts?†RevQ 16 (1993) 109-122 with further
bibliography.