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.
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THE COHERENCE OF PSALMS 15–24
to have hope (vv. 24-25) 54. Once again, David has become a type
of the true Israel: suffering yet certain of ultimate vindication. We
may also note that whereas it was the temple as the locus of God’s
fullest presence that connected Psalm 23 with Psalm 24, in Psalm
22 it is the royal imagery of the kingdom of God. The conclusion
of Psalm 22 provides a picture, as it were, of what awaits the suf-
fering king/community once they have ascended to Zion from the
Valley of the Shadow Death.
We now come to the final pairing in this sub-collection, the royal
Psalms 18 and 20–21, with their common focus on the salvation of
the king from his enemies. With this juxtaposition, the pattern of
“intensification†I have identified so far appears to be reversed. In
this case, it is Psalm 18, the first psalm of the pair, that has the ex-
plicit eschatological horizon at its conclusion with its language of
the universal dominion of the king (vv. 44-46; Psalms 20 and 21
both simply end with a cry for help). God will remain faithful to
the Davidic lineage and submit all nations to him. Its imagery is
also more vivid, with its extended description of the divine theo-
phany that takes up its opening stanza (vv. 8-16; the descriptions
in 20,7b.9 and 21,10 are far tamer by comparison). There is one
key difference, however, that leads me to conclude that Psalms 20–
21, despite their lack of obvious eschatology and poetic vibrancy,
function to clarify Psalm 18 by contextualizing it theologically
within the divine economy (and the reversal of the pattern may in-
tend to highlight this). This is found in the fact that the speaking sub-
jects of these psalms are Israel, the people of the king, and not the
king himself. In other words, these psalms are being articulated by
those whose identity in Psalms 22–24 are correlated with that of the
king. The correlation can also be found in Psalms 20–21. Just as
David trusts in the Lord (21,8), so too do his people (20,7); just as
David is saved as a result of this faith (20,7; 21,2-7), so too are his
people (20,8). In both cases, whether for Israel or for David, it is the
Lord who is the ultimate agent of salvation. The theological contri-
bution of Psalms 20–21 to this act of correlating is that here they por-
tray the king as the particular vehicle by means of which Israel is
Cf. HOSSFELD, in HOSSFELD–ZENGER, Psalmen:1, 145: “The deliverance
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of the individual with its collective significance should be a signal to the na-
tions and the generations within the flow of time to abide by the kingdom of
YHWH†(translation mine).
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