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.
206 PHILIP SUMPTER
Psalm 15 (entrance Torah) Psalm 19 (creation/Torah) Psalm 24
(creation/entrance Torah/arrival).
If the function of creation is to set the horizon for the meaning
of Torah and if the function of the arrival scene in Ps 24,7-10 is to
mark the consummation of creation, then what we have in this
arrangement is a step-wise elucidation of the divine economy that
reaches its climax at the end of Psalm 24 (element C in the pattern).
The series is opened with a Grundsatzfrage (“axiomatic questionâ€)
concerning eligibility of access to the place of life and an answer
in the form of a revelation of the will of God 61. Psalm 19 develops
Psalm 15 theologically by repeating the principle that obedience
leads to life (vv. 8-15) and then prefixing it with a vision of creation
which grounds this obedience ontologically (vv. 1-7): to be obedi-
ent is to be integrated into the greater cosmic scheme of things; the
righteous Israelite participates in a divine order that is vaster than
the concerns of daily life. This pattern in turn is repeated in Psalm
24: God creates a space for a primordial quality of life in vv. 1-2
that becomes uniquely accessible within the temple on condition
of obedience in vv. 3-6. Already an element of deferral has been
introduced; the immediacy of the Tun-Ergehen-Zusammenhang
(deed-consequence relation) has been loosened, for one must em-
bark on a journey and climb a mountain to access it (cf. the contrast
between Psalms 16 and 23) 62. To this rather static correlation be-
tween Torah and creation is added the narrative, “eschatologicalâ€
moment found in vv. 7-10, whereby YHWH himself enters into his
created order, does battle, and then brings his righteous people to
Zion, the place where the new creation will finally flourish 63. Psalm
24 thus contextualizes Psalm 19 by showing that any experience
of “creational blessing†in the present can only be a proleptic fore-
taste of a greater reality yet to come, one that can only be accessed
emphasis on YHWH’s militant intervention (though see Psalm 18 in the first
“pane†and Psalm 23 in the second, which has no militant element!). He
leaves Psalm 15 out of consideration.
The term is used by T. PODELLA for Ps 24,3, but the same applies here.
61
See his “Transformationen kultischer Darstellungen: Toraliturgien in Ps 15
und 24â€, SJOT 13 (1999) 95-130; here, 125.
Podella notes the proximity of the language in v. 3 to the Sinai epiphany
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in Exodus 19 (PODELLA “Transformationenâ€, 125).
Psalm 24 thus contains protology (vv. 1-2) and eschatology (vv. 7-10).
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