Philip Sumpter, «The Coherence of Psalms 15–24», Vol. 94 (2013) 186-209
This article develops recent arguments that Psalms 15–24 constitute a relatively self-contained sub-collection that is chiastically arranged. It seeks to uncover the logic underlying the arrangement by attending to three points: 1) the manner in which the content of each psalm is 'expanded' and 'brought forward' in its chiastic parallel; 2) the nature of the relation between the framing psalms (15; 19; 24) and those that intervene; 3) the significance of David and Zion. In short, it argues that the editors were concerned to situate David within his true theological context.
188 PHILIP SUMPTER
are the righteous servants of the Lord (the “Messianic communityâ€;
cf. Psalms 18,1; 19,13), those who will experience the salvation once
granted to David, even in the face of ongoing suffering (cf. Psalms
17 and 22) 8. Hossfeld and Zenger feel that this development is ev-
idenced in the signs of a “communal consciousness†(Gruppenbe-
wußtsein) that comes to expression in, e.g., Psalms 16; 18,26-32;
19; 22,4-6; 23; 24,6. Finally, they suggest, albeit only in passing,
that the cosmic elements within the collection (Psalms 19; 24,1-2)
function to set the faithful struggle of David and the community of
the “poor†within the context of the meaning of creation itself.
Two further articles on Psalms 15–24 by the American Protes-
tant scholars Patrick Miller (1994) and William Brown (2010) es-
chew diachronic reconstruction and focus entirely on the meaning
that the individual psalms acquire when read synchronically as a
relatively self-referential unit 9. Miller’s interpretation mirrors that
of Hossfeld and Zenger in that he, too, sees the idealization and de-
mocratization of David as the primary motif of the collection. Un-
like Hossfeld and Zenger, he does not attribute this move to a
particular Israelite group wishing to appropriate the Davidic pre-
rogatives to itself 10; rather, he claims that David is simply being
held up as a role model for others to emulate. In this vein, Miller
makes an important observation about the function of the more “ex-
istential†(my term) psalms which can be found between the more
“theoretical†psalms (Miller’s term) that frame the collection
(Psalms 15; 19; 24). In these psalms the reader is provided with a
demonstration of Israel’s role-model engaged in the struggle of faith
“The various experiences of salvation or the ‘salvation histories’ of both
8
King David (Psalm 18) and the suffering individual (Psalm 22) are taken to
be a paradigm for oppressed Israel [das arme Israel]. YHWH binds himself to
the one who is oppressed [dem Armen] in a communion, the quality of which
remains undiminished in the face of suffering and persecution and which con-
tinues after death (Psalm 16; 23)†(HOSSFELD – ZENGER, “Psalmengruppe 15–
24â€, 181; translation mine).
P. MILLER, “Kingship, Torah Obedience, and Prayer: The Theology of
9
Psalms 15-24â€, Neue Wege der Psalmenforschung. Festschrift für Walter Bey-
erlin (eds. K. SEYBOLD – E. ZENGER) (Freiburg im Br. 1994) 127-142; BROWN,
“Psalms 15–24â€.
It seems to me that in order to do so he would have to engage in Hoss-
10
feld and Zenger’s historical reconstruction, for the final form of the text alone
does not make this clear, despite references to a community within the psalms
(see my interpretation of this motif below).
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