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.
194 Ruth Fidler
this transformation came about. Indeed, vv. 4-5 seem to bear out this
expectation: In contrast to the cruel verdict of his fellow men (v. 3) the
poet asserts his confidence in God’s power to protect and to elevate
him (v. 4) (9), relating that he cried to YHWH who answered him “from
his holy mountain†(v. 5) (10).
What purpose may be served by the reference to the psalmist’s
sleeping and waking in this context? A fair answer to this question
should take account of the following factors: (I) As mentioned, the
reference to sleeping and waking in v. 6 follows immediately upon a
report of a successful invocation of Yahweh (v. 5) — an odd sequence,
unless it is supposed to represent a real sequence of events. In this case
v. 6 may be seen as further elaboration on the circumstances of the
divine response stated only generally in v. 5. In any case the setting of
v. 6 entitles us to see in it part of a personal experience that became the
turning point in the mood and circumstances of the psalmist: I, for my
part, just lay down and slept, and I awoke to YHWH’s support. This
reading helps explain also why (II) the subject in v. 6 (“Iâ€) is
emphatic (11): Thus the small, almost banal, part played by the psalmist
himself in accomplishing his deliverance (v. 6a) is juxtaposed with the
crucial part played by God (v. 6b; cp. also v. 4). This reading also fits
in with (III) the special significance sensed in ytwxyqh (I awoke). A
natural corollary of sleeping, the waking here is nevertheless
(9) The contrast is expressed by the initial adversative Waw, often translated
“but†(e.g. RSV: “But thou, O Lord, art a shield about meâ€; cp. LXX su; dev,
kurie), as well as by the emphatic vocative hta (“thouâ€) suggesting opposition to
v
the preceding clause, in this case to the threats and hostile utterances against the
psalmist.
(10) Some interpreters take v. 5a as an iterative temporal clause e.g. “When I
cry aloud to Yahweh, he answers me from his holy hill†(H.-J. KRAUS,
Psalms 1–59. A Continental Commentary [Minneapolis 1993] 136-137; Cp.
BUTTENWEISER, The Psalms, 396, 401) or a conditional one (GUNKEL, Die
Psalmen, 14 followed by M. DAHOOD, Psalms [AB 16; Garden City, N. Y. 1966]
I, 15, 19), but this requires a slight emendation in v. 5b (ynn[yw“ – cp. Gunkel; Kraus;
BHS; Dahood differs). MT ynn[yw" (he answered me) favors historic past, although v.
5a can still be taken as iterative (past): The psalmist recalls how he repeatedly cried
to God and how his prayer was finally answered (BRIGGS, Psalms, 24-25, 27).
LXX extends the historic interpretation also to other parts of the psalm (vv. 2a, 6a),
so that it “reads more like a description of a past incident than does MTâ€. Thus A.
PIETERSMA, “When Dauid Fled Abessalom: A Commentary on the Third Psalm in
Greekâ€, Emanuel. Studies in the Hebrew Bible Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls in
Honor of Emanuel Tov (ed. S.M. PAUL ET AL.) (Leiden – Boston 2003) 647.
(11) This is usual when a personal pronoun indicating the subject is placed
before a conjugated verb. See GK §§ 32b, 135a.