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JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
199
Editors
David J.A. Clines
Philip R. Davies
Executive Editor
John Jarick
Editorial Board
Robert P. Carroll, Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper,
J. Cheryl Exum, John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon,
Norman K. Gottwald, Andrew D.H. Mayes, Carol Meyers,
Patrick D. Miller
Sheffield Academic Press

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Psalms of the Way
and the Kingdom
A Conference with the
Commentators
J.H. Eaton
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Supplement Series 199

To Henry St John Hart
inspiring teacher, scholar, and friend
Copyright © 1995 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19 Kingfield Road
Sheffield, SI1 9AS
England
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
by Bookcraft Ltd
Midsomer Norton, Bath
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1-85075-552-3

CONTENTS
Preface 7
Abbreviations 8
Introduction 9
PART I: PSALMS 1, 19 AND 119
Chapter 1
THE COMMENTATORS 14
Franz Delitzsch 14
Friedrich Baethgen 18
Bernhard Duhm 21
Charles Briggs 25
Rudolph Kittel 28
Hermann Gunkel 29
Aage Bentzen 33
Sigmund Mowinckel 35
Hans-Joachim Kraus 38
Mitchell Dahood 41
Continuing Discussion:
Westermann, Gerstenberger and Spieckermann 44
Chapter 2
CONCLUSIONS 46
Dating 46
Textual Criticism 47
Form-Criticism 47
Thought and Piety of Psalm 1 48
Unity and Flow of Thought in Psalm 19 49
Contemplation in Psalm 119 51
The Openness of the Tbra-Theme 52

6 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
PART II: PSALMS 93, 97 AND 99
Chapter 3
THE COMMENTATORS 54
Franz Delitzsch 54
Friedrich Baethgen 58
Bernhard Duhm 61
Charles Briggs 65
Rudolph Kittel 67
Hermann Gunkel 70
Aage Bentzen 75
Sigmund Mowinckel 79
Hans-Joachim Kraus 84
Mitchell Dahood 88
Continuing Discussion: Edward Lipinski 91
Continuing Discussion: John Gray 100
Continuing Discussion: Jörg Jeremias 103
Chapter 4
CONCLUSIONS
108
Text and Sense of Psalm 93 108
Text and Sense of Psalm 97 111
Text and Sense of Psalm 99 113
The Proclamation: yahweh mālāk 116
Relation to Deutero-Isaiah 118
Realities of History, Cult and Eschatology 119
Assessing Form-Criticism 123
The Theology of Psalms 93, 97 and 99 124
The Spirituality of Psalms 93, 97 and 99 125
Appendix 127
Nahum H. Sarna on Psalm 1 127
Georg Fohrer on Psalm 19 130
Will Soll on Psalm 119 132
Bibliography 135
Index of Hebrew Words 137
Index of Biblical References 138
Index of Authors and Subjects 143

PREFACE
For me this is a time for gratitude. In the immediate present I think
especially of David Clines and all who work at Sheffield Academic
Press. It has been a pleasure to see how the Press, and also the
Department of Biblical Studies at Sheffield University, have so
splendidly developed.
As I look further back there are too many to mention. But one
situation I must especially recall. The setting was a fifteenth-century
college, fifty years ago, on the banks of the River Cam. There the young
students met scholarly guides, as kind as they were learned. On my
staircase lived the Professor of Sanskrit, Harold Bailey, an Australian.
When the college kitchens closed in the vacations, he was said to live on
apples, as he unremittingly continued his studies. A quiet and humble
man, he organized a few of us to play quartets, contributing himself the
viola part. The kitchens being then active, he would provide us with tea
and sandwiches, and show us oriental books until we were almost
buried.
The newly arrived college chaplain was Henry Chadwick. We could
not know what a wrench it must have been for him to break off his
studies on Celsus and Origen for our tutorials. Ever helpful and friendly,
he enlivened our study of the New Testament and the Early Church
with his wit and zest.
And then there was the Dean, Henry Hart. In a mysterious way he
conveyed to us the riches not only of the Hebrew Bible, but also of Jane
Austen, Coleridge, Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot, and calligraphy. I can see
now that he was like one of the Chinese sages, writing texts artistically
and unhurriedly in a well-ordered room with flowers, teaching
tangentially. To me, and many other beginners in Hebrew, he gave
enough inspiration to last a life-time. His kindness has continued through
the years. I venture to dedicate this small work with gratitude to him.
John Eaton

ABBREVIATIONS
BDB F. Brown, S.R. Driver and C.A. Briggs, Hebrew and English
Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1907
BHK Biblia hebraica, ed. R. Kittel, 1937
BHS Biblica hebraica Stuttgartensia, ed. K. Elliger and W. Rudolph,
1977
BWANT Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament
FOTL Forms of Old Testament Literature
GKC Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, ed. E. Kautzsch, trans.
A.E. Cowley
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
PIW S. Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship
4QPs b a psalm scroll from Qumran Cave 4
11 QPs Psalm scrolls from Qumran Cave 11
UF Ugarit-Forschungen
VT Vetus Testamentum
7A W Zeitschriftfiir die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
a/b

INTRODUCTION
Imagine you are called upon to write a commentary on the Psalms. You
soon discover that not only is 150 a large number, but also that there
are many difficult issues to face. Each psalm poses its own questions.
Yet there are also important issues which may often recur throughout
the collection, and you need to deal with these consistently.
Having made your decisions and published your commentary, you are
cast as a Psalms pundit. It is you they think of whenever there is a
chapter or an entry or an article to be written on the subject. The
history, the present state, and even the future of psalm criticism are all
frequently unfolded by your pen.
The years go by, and you begin to worry that, like Nehemiah, you are
only taking counsel with yourself. True, you read and review many
books, but swiftly, and from your long established points of view. A
desire grows in you to renew patience with the views of others, to go
back to fundamentals, and with an open mind begin again.
Well, that is all imagining. And yet something of the kind really happened
to me. So I formed the plan of going back into patient and
detailed consultation with a range of substantial commentators, people
who had not just come up with a theory on one particular text or issue,
but had faced the whole task and made a well-considered contribution. If
I was going to listen to them sympathetically and understand them
deeply, I knew I would have to limit the conference to a selection of
commentators, perhaps representing a good century of exegesis, and I
would begin with just a few related psalms—others might follow in later
work. I would come with these few psalms to each commentary in turn,
note the treatment carefully, comment a little in passing, and at the end
of all the consultations summarize what had emerged and express my
conclusions.
All this would be good for me. But what of my readers? For them too
there should be benefit, quite different to what they might gain from the
typical survey of a century or a decade of psalm research. From such

10 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
surveys they could gain a great bibliography and a rapid view of trends
in scholarship—all useful for possible research programmes, but nothing
profound. But from the 'conference' I was proposing, they might first
see a great deal of considered opinion brought to bear on difficult details
in the texts. Further, they would see better into the minds responsible
for major interpretations; hesitations, inconsistencies, developments
would become apparent. Importantly too, our patient study in depth
should serve to spread knowledge of commentators who were only
superficially known outside their own language area. If trends came to
light—arising, fading, coming back again—it would be possible to see
deep into the factors governing them. And all in all, my readers would
be able with me to take fresh stock of some important issues in the
interpretation of Hebrew psalmody and religion.
And so we come to the plan as it has actually emerged. Two groups
of psalms are put before the conference, and each group is treated with
the same procedure. First, we discover in detail what ten influential
commentators, from Delitzsch to Dahood, make of them. Then three
further writers are brought into the discussion to reach to our own day.
And finally I sum up the fruits of the conference and offer conclusions
on important issues.
The two groups are, first, psalms exalting Yahweh's tora (1, 19, 119),
and second, psalms beginning with the proclamation of his kingship (93,
97, 99). The ten commentators consulted are the same for each group of
psalms, namely Delitzsch (in German, 1859/1894), Baethgen (in German,
1892/1904), Duhm (in German, 1899/1922), Briggs (in English, 1906),
Kittel (in German, 1914/1929), Gunkel (in German, 1929), Bentzen (in
Danish, 1939), Mowinckel (in Norwegian, 1955), Kraus (in German,
1960/1978), Dahood (in English, 1966-70).
For the first group of psalms a link to current debate is made by
brief reference to recent work by Westermann, Gerstenberger, and
Spieckermann (in German); this link is strengthened with reference to
Sarna, Fohrer, and Soil in the Appendix. For the second, more controversial,
group, the link to the present is more substantial, with examination
of the monographs of Lipinski (in French), John Gray (in English),
and Jorg Jeremias (in German).
In all this programme I try to avoid superficial reference to the work
of others, the pitfall of general surveys. With respect and patience, we
seek the views of the selected exegetes, to understand both the

Introduction n
11
fundamentals and the details of their judgments, to learn from as well as
to criticize their opinions.
In both groups of psalms issues are raised which are notoriously
difficult to settle—we have only to mention, for example, the date and
provenance of the fora-psalms, or the meaning and context of the
proclamation of the Lord's reign. Such questions will long excite debate.
But may our sitting with learned scholars be both enjoyable and productive.
May it set the problems in perspective, clarify their intricacies,
and sometimes point to solutions.

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Parti
PSALMS 1, 19 AND 119

Chapter 1
THE COMMENTATORS
Franz Delitzsch
The first edition of Delitzsch's Die Psalmen appeared in 1859-60 in the
series Biblischer Kommentar tiber das Alte Testament, Leipzig, which
he was editing jointly with C.F. Keil. The edition I refer to is the last, the
fifth, which was posthumously edited by his son Friedrich in 1894.
Friedrich used a revised manuscript prepared by his father and restricted
his own interventions to matters of philology and some compressions.
Franz had gradually modified his conservative view of the history of
Old Testament literature. But he could not go all the way with the trends
which came to be represented especially by Wellhausen.
He is aware that even his revised commentary may appear as overtaken
by the advance of Old Testament science. But if he had yet
another life-time to live, he remarks, he would not be able to assimilate
the spirit animating this critical movement. And the present state of critical
opinion, he is sure, will not be the last.
From Hitzig's commentary of 1835 onwards, leading scholars were
seeing Maccabean psalms as the basic stock of the Psalter. Delitzsch
came to leave open the possibility of there being some psalms of this
period in the collection, but not Psalm 1. He dated this some time after
Solomon because of its wisdom affinities, and before Jeremiah because
he considered it to be reworked in Jer. 17.5-8. Although later criticism
would have little patience for Delitzsch's logic on this latter point, it is
interesting that he saw more clearly than his successors, inasmuch as he
recognized Jeremiah's custom of taking up earlier psalm language into
the flow of his speech.
The readers, after noting the patristic and ancient Jewish evidence
which Delitzsch gives for the psalm's curious transmission, become all
the more aware of the rigorous quality they may expect in this commentary
when they find the actual exegesis of the Psalter begins with close

1. The Commentators 15
attention to the metheg accent unexpectedly written (twice in some
manuscripts) under the first word; it is said to denote a more solemn
pronunciation (the shewa being sounded) to emphasize the benediction.
The readers may know now that the received Hebrew text will be
heeded in detail, and they will not be too surprised to find citations in
Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Syriac etc. in their respective scripts.
In 1.1 Delitzsch agrees with the view that the three verbs are climactic.
Verse 2, he says, refers to pleasure taken in that 'guidance'
(Unterweisung) of the Lord which became Israel's order of life. Unlike
most of his successors, Delitzsch wisely avoids introducing the anachronism
of using the absolute expression 'the Law'. The meditation (run) is
the quiet self-converse of one who searches and reflects.
The image of the well-rooted tree (1.3) is seen to contrast well with
that of the chaff flying in the wind (1.4). Some later scholars were to
pass over this point and delete 1.3 to improve metrical symmetry (so
Briggs). Delitzsch takes the 'judgment' of 1.5 generally, as that which is
ever falling on individuals and nations.
He does not discuss the type of psalm, relation to other psalms,
foreign parallels, metre or structure. But he looks keenly at every word
and its syntax, and structural points emerge from these details, as when
he notices the contrast of the first and last words ('happy' and 'perish').
Though he opens the theological import of words and statements, he
does not invite objections. The prosperity of the wicked and the misfortune
of the pious are not mentioned, and no problem of legalistic
piety is envisaged. In fact, he offers no reflections on the thought of the
psalm as a whole.
Delitzsch's exposition of Psalm 19 shows how little he shared the
current critical view of the evolution of Israel's religion and literature.
The two parts (19.2-7, 8-15), which others felt to be far apart in period,
he accepted readily as a unity composed by David. Thus he observes
that in the superscription of Psalm 18 David is called 'Servant of the
Lord', and in 19.14 he names himself so; in both psalms David calls to
the Lord with the name 'my Rock'. At the least such observations, we
may think, are relevant to the position of the psalm in the collection.
He rejects theories of two independent compositions, 19A and 19B.
By ingenious line division he counts 14 lines in each part, falling into
strophes of 8 and 6 lines. The thought runs easily from the morning sky
to the day's work, which will be guided by the light of God's law. In the
first part, God as generally known Creator is naturally 'El', named once,

16 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
while in the second part God revealed in salvation-history is 'Yahweh',
named seven times plus two epithets, as befits the closer relationship.
The change of metre for the second part expresses greater animation for
the theme nearer the heart.
Delitzsch argues closely through some half-dozen interpretations of
the important 19.4, preferring at last, in line with LXX: 'It is not speech,
they are not words, the voice of which is incomprehensible.' It is a revelation
all should understand. Against the opposite sense ('There is no
speech, there are no words; their voice is not heard') he objects that
19.5 would then need to begin with a 'but'; also, with such a platitude,
the poet would be dashing water on the fire of his imagination. Delitzsch
offers 139.4 for a similar construction, but the comparison appears
strained.
In explaining 19.5a he is not unsympathetic to the explanation of Dip
as 'their sound' ('string', then 'musical note, reverberation', citing
Gesenius and Ewald and the Sanskrit tanas 'thread, tone', Greek
tovoq). This would have the support of LXX qftoyyoq, cited also in
Rom. 10.18. But he prefers 'their measuring line has gone out' because
the idiom with the same noun and verb occurs in Jer. 31.39. The
metaphor would denote the arresting, universal reach of their witness
and avoid a plain repetition of the thought of 19.4 (as he has understood
it). However, this last argument may rather increase doubt about his
understanding of v. 4.
In treating the second part of Psalm 19, Delitzsch recognizes the
matching of sun and tora as light (comparing Prov. 6.23), also the solar
reference of the epithet ma in 19.9. Accepting (as almost always) the
Massoretic text, he explains 'the fear of the Lord' in 19.10 as, not
human performance, but (suiting the context) the revealed way one has
to fear God (comparing Prov. 15.33 with Deut. 17.19). The 'seething
ones' (D-IT) of 19.14 he takes as deliberate sins, suiting the prayer
'restrain me' better than would 'arrogant men'. It is a neutral collective
term, for which he compares D'oo 101.3, D'-IKT Prov. 16.13, D'pn
Prov. 12.11 etc. Noting the sacrificial language of 19.15, he does not
question the text as many do, but remarks that -pa 1 ? belongs with ]tx-b
and is held over for the sake of parallelism. Here he anticipates modern
studies of the breakup of stereotype phrases over parallel members.
On the devotion of the psalmist to tora, he remarks that while the
term in itself does not mean 'the Law', but 'guidance, instruction,
teaching, especially divine', and can be used of prophecy, in this psalm

1. The Commentators 17
no other revelation is meant than that mediated by Moses: the order of
life for Israel, including its promising content. With the psalm's praises of
tora he aligns Rom. 7.12, 14: 'The Law is holy and spiritual, the
command holy and right and good.' For one who stands in the position
of grace, it is no longer a curse-law, but a mirror of the God who is
gracious in holiness, into which one looks without slavish fear; it is a
norm of voluntary obedience. And Delitzsch contrasts the law-love of
psalmists and prophets—directed at the moral essence and promises of
the commands, interiorizing the letter—with the law-zeal of post-exilic
times directed to the literal and ceremonial. The text, however, does not
propose such distinction of moral essence from literal meaning, and
Delitzsch might have done better to dwell on the personal relationship
which the text does express.
On Psalm 119 Delitzsch makes many helpful observations. He finds
thoughtful artistry in the composition and, accepting the received text,
makes no comment on the partly irregular rotation of terms for 'law'.
Unusually, he represents the acrostic composition in his translation. He
seems open to a post-exilic date, since he mentions without contradiction
views favouring settings from the Ezra tensions to the Hellenistic persecutions.
He is definite in finding personal experience of a clearly
described situation: a young man (119.9f., 99, 100, 141) is being persecuted
in a time of much apostasy fostered by the regime. While lamenting
imprisonments and closeness to death, the psalmist finds comfort in
God's word, prays for help and for constancy in the godless surrounding.
Delitzsch traces an inner progression of thought, above all in the
mounting prayer for grace. The calculated artistry of composition does
not obscure the reflection of the bearing of a confessor in deep
suffering.
Expounding the themes as of God's word, rather than 'the Law',
Delitzsch illumines many phrases. To hide God's word in the heart
(119.11) is to have it continually present as an interior driving force,
replacing selfish motives. Under the letter of tora (v. 18) is a fulness of
wonders into which only the eye unveiled by God can see. For our
earthly pilgrimage (v. 54) God's statutes are like marching songs with a
rhythm that gives wings to the steps. The good word of the good God
(vv. 65f.) is the source of all good, learnt on the way of humility. The
persecuted psalmist is like a skin bottle (v. 83) hung up in a smoky roof,
thrust aside, blackening and shrivelling. Against Aquila and Aboth 4.1
(and, we could add, the Midrash), Delitzsch insists on the comparative JQ

18 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
of v. 99, parallel to those in vv. 98 and 100: not 'From all my
teachers...' but 'More than all my teachers I have gained insight'. He
accounts for this surprising statement by assuming that the teachers and
elders share the laxity of the times. It may be better, however, to accept
that the shocking statement is just meant as an extreme tribute to the
power of God's word.
A special value of his commentary is his wrestling for a sound grammatical
explanation of difficult passages in the received text. In a very
few cases he will consider an emendation, but not before showing the
best that can be done with the Massoretic reading. Thus on 119.128 he
eventually concludes that 'the author hardly wrote thus' and then 'one
will have to read ^K -lips (cf. 139.17) or after LXX, Syriac, Jerome
^Tips'. The latter course is surely the best, if one takes the further step
of keeping MT's subsequent b as emphatic prefix on msr. 1
Observant also of Massoretic accents, he favours taking v. 176 as: 'If I
have erred, like a lost sheep seek thy servant.' This may seem more
consistent with the psalmist's protestations of law-abiding loyalty than
the natural translation 'I have erred like a lost sheep...', but the latter
represents a precious paradox of religious experience which we had best
not deny to the psalm.
Friedrich Baethgen
The first edition of Baethgen's Die Psalmen ubersetzt und erkldrt
appeared in 1892 in the series Handkommentar zum Alien Testament,
Gb'ttingen, edited by W. Nowack. Revised editions appeared in 1899 and
1904; the latter, which was able to take account of E. Sievers' Studien
zur hebrdischen Metrik of 1901 and respond to B. Duhm's commentary
of 1899, is the one referred to here.
Although he finds Duhm's work to be richly furnished with all sorts
of ill-mannered things (Ungezogenheiten) against colleagues, he has
resolved not to repay in kind. He is certainly more moderate than Duhm
in dating. He judges from 30 to 40 psalms to reflect pre-exilic conditions.
The rest, as literary dependence is said to confirm, date from the
Exile onwards, including all of Psalms 90-150. He is sceptical of specific
datings, though he concedes some Maccabean links: certain in Psalms
44, 74, 79 and 83; probable in 2, 110, 69 and 149; possible in 75, 102,
108 and 144. He is enthusiastic about Sievers, and looks for regularities
1. As I proposed in Vetus Testamentum 18 (1968), pp. 557-58.

1. The Commentators 19
in syllables, feet, rows (stichoi), and periods (lines), but only the
beginnings of development to strophes.
Baethgen's view of Psalm 1 is firmly against the latest datings. The
prose Josh. 1.8 cites the naturally more original poet of Ps. 1.2, a verse
which may be also echoed in Ezek. 47.12. The similarity of the psalm to
the (possibly dependent) Jer. 17.5-8 also suggests a time just before the
Exile. Maccabean dating is disproved by comparison of 1.2 with Ecclus.
6.37 and 14.20-21, the psalm having been the model. Nor could we
think of this effective poet as one who would cobble together his lines
from half-a-dozen citations. The collector has put this psalm at the head
to insist that, despite the oppression of the pious expressed in many
psalms, the just will triumph in the end. In all this, Baethgen may well be
working his way towards a reasonable conclusion, but one misses a
sense of the general flow of tradition behind particular instances of
phrases.
Baethgen gives close attention to vocabulary, with detailed reference
to the Versions, for example on narr and ^irro ('transplanted', a common
practice with fruit trees). Mention of irrigation channels' (-a^s) is said to
show the writer's acquaintance with Egypt or Babylonia—but this is to
overlook the existence of irrigation near Jerusalem, as from Gihon to the
royal gardens, and once again to ignore the streams of poetic tradition.
He discusses the Targum which makes the 'tree' the subject of 1.3; he
grants noa can denote fruit-bearing but judges such an interpretation
here as tortuous and unnatural. The 'judgment' of 1.5 he takes, with the
Targum, to be the messianic day expected by the prophets. He takes
'way' of 1.6 of life-course, not fate, and so answering to 1.1.
Baethgen's view of Psalm 19 recognizes points of contact between
the two main parts. From the enlightening sun to the enlightening tora is
regarded as a feasible step in view, for example, of Prov. 6.23 (TTO
TIN mm msn). Yet the two parts, he believes, cannot have arisen as one.
He notes especially the lack of transition between them and the difference
in metre. As the first part lacks a conclusion, he sees this as an old
fragment to which, in post-exilic times, a counterpart was added with the
tora theme, making of the whole a song that could be sung in
communal worship.
On the disputed 19.4, Baethgen stresses that "IDN should mean the
same as in the previous verse. To avoid a contradiction, therefore, 4b
must be a relative clause: 'Not a message and not words, the sound of
which could not be heard.' Noting that the poetic 'bn tells against 19.3

20 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
being a gloss, he argues from its distinctive metre that it is a citation
from another poem, originally placed in the margin. He emends the
slightly awkward 19.5c to 'The sun-ball has there a tent in the sea (Dtp
and D»3), but retains Dip in v. 5 as 'their measure', which stands by
metonymy for the well-measured structure of the heavens which evokes
praise for the Creator from all the world.
In 19.10, says Baethgen, mm n«T would have to denote Israel's
religion as prescribed, but D.H. Miiller's work (see below on Ps. 119)
'has made it very probable' that we should read mm rnn«, 'Yahweh's
word' (cf. 12.7; 18.31; Prov. 30.5). 2
More broadly, Baethgen takes the view—later so disparaged by
Gunkel—that the voice of the psalm represents the community. Israel's
'great sin' has been partly purged by the Exile, but she must still pray
for completion.
Baethgen's treatment of Psalm 119, revised in 1904, accepts the
arguments of D.H. Miiller's Strophenbau und Responsion (1898) that
scribal errors have obscured the original scheme of eight synonyms for
'law' deployed in the eight lines of each alphabetic strophe, e.g. 119.41-
48 mm, -m, D'aatDia, min, ampa, rrra, rrran, D-prr. He follows Miiller in
emending the text in the 22 places where the scheme is now defective.
The eight terms are those found (after emendation!) in Psalm 19, which
is thus said to have inspired the scheme. While we may think there is
plausibility in Muller's theory, reconstruction of the text, usually without
support of the Versions, proves to be hazardous and unprofitable.
Baethgen considers that Psalm 119 was probably composed as a
vade-mecum for the young (v. 9). He thinks the experiences it mentions
are those of the people rather than of an individual—dealing with
princes, almost done away, wandering, formerly sinning, revived by the
tor a that maintained Israel's identity. The period may be the early
Hellenistic, and the disparaged teachers of v. 99 may be the Greeks,
rather than the Chaldeans proposed by Bar Hebraeus. In view of
heathen oppression and Israelite apostasy, the psalm was written to
2. Linguistic details are helpfully given on inn (as Niphal tolerativum, GKC 5 Ic,
'lets himself be warned'), D'fT (never abstract, 'arrogance', against Qimhi, so
'presumptuous law-breakers'), crr« (pausal for nrrN, root nan, for cn$ as in 5 codd.
Kennicott, with omission of dagesh forte and compensatory lengthening, cf. GKC
67g, 20m), and fran (construct of Iran, with omission of dagesh forte and effect of
guttural on the initial vowel). He inserts Tan after T3B 1 ? with LXX, rather dubiously
claiming support from metre.

1. The Commentators 21
vaunt the glory of the ancestral law. Baethgen here seems to miss the
centrality of the lamenting supplication, the confession of devotion to
torn being oriented to God as a supporting plea.
The skin-bottles were hung in the smoke, he explains after
Rosenmueller on v. 83, to make their wine ripe and mild; the blackened
and wrinkled bottles typify Israel in fire and mourning. Though the
accentuation of v. 176 gives 'I have erred; like a lost sheep...', he
prefers with the Versions 'I have erred like a lost sheep; seek thy
servant...'. The strayed sheep is Israel in the diaspora.
Throughout the long psalm Baethgen notes points from the Versions
and details of metre, grammar and syntax. He emends chiefly to restore
the supposed original scheme of synonyms. He gives useful cross references
and brief clarifications of thought. But he does not evaluate the
thought or piety of the psalm in any depth. His corporate interpretation
of the voice in the psalm seems to have no justification in the text.
Bernhard Duhm
Duhm's Die Psalmen (1899) was in the series Kurzer Hand-Commentar
zum Alien Testament (XIV) edited by Karl Marti. 3 His incisive opinions
include late dating. Psalm 137, with its reference to the Exile, is declared
to be the oldest psalm, as far as clear evidence goes. He thinks datings
even to the Persian period are generally arbitrary and best disregarded;
the great majority of psalms he thinks are certainly later. From the time
of flourishing temple and city in the Greek period before Antiochus IV
one can trace in the Psalms the conflicts that lead to the Hasmonean
kings. Where no events are mirrored, the late date is still shown by traits
of legalism or apocalyptic and by dependence on older scriptures. The
collection, he concludes was rounded off about 70 BCE.
His view of the literary quality of the Psalms is somewhat scathing.
While the best pieces were often misinterpreted or mishandled in transmission,
most of the material is in popular style (volkstiimlick), geared to
the mass of people who want the conventional, easy, middle of the road,
and even the platitudinous, provided it fits their attitudes. This piety
includes the virtue of hating enemies.
Turning to Psalm 1, Duhm adjudges it almost prose; it was not
intended as a song, but as a proverbial composition to preface the
3. A revised edition, without change of basic views, appeared in 1922 (Tubingen:
Mohr).

22 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Psalter, stressing what are deemed its most important thoughts. If not
specially composed for the purpose, it might have formerly served as
a motto on a tora scroll. He notes the discordant opening consonants
~w» tzn*n ntPK. Like most psalmists, this author means by D'Uttn the lax
or apostate Jews opposed to the strict adherents of the Law. The
'sinners' disregard rules of sabbath, food, etc., as do the auapicoAxH of
the New Testament; to sit in society with such was a serious offence.
Duhm pictures the contrasting groups vividly—the freer Jews who
made merry in Greek-style symposia, laughing at the quaint, laborious
ways of the scrupulous; and on the other hand the circles studying tora,
'breaking their heads' over questions like the egg laid on the sabbath.
In his first edition he accepted Lagarde's emendation of rmra (v. 2a)
to n«"i';3, giving a logical progression through the verse, but his revised
opinion is that, instead, irrnra (v. 2b) was originally nil. However, with
these stylistic improvements, he seems to have forgotten that he has
already characterized the author as an indifferent stylist. The emphasis of
the repeated tora may well be a deliberate feature.
Duhm's portrayal of the meditation is clear if unattractive: nan is the
mumbling and murmuring of a man who laboriously deciphers word by
word in his unpointed tora scroll, pronouncing half aloud, repeating and
glossing what he has read. Duhm has no difficulty in regarding the
psalmist as dependent on Jer. 17.7f.; whereas the model speaks of one
who trusts God contrasted with one who trusts in men, the psalm treats
of one who reveres the Law contrasted with those who scorn it.
Nomism has narrowed the horizon. In citing also from Josh. 1.8, the
psalmist does not feel himself a plagiarist because these are by now
ancient Scriptures.
Duhm favours these further emendations: the addition of pn«n -33 ^on
with LXX at the end of 1.4 (after Bickell), the omission of p ^r in 1.5 as
inappropriate, and (in his revised edition) the transfer of v. 6b to the end
of v. 3. In line with his proposed dating, he readily takes the 'judgment'
of v. 5 to be eschatological: then the Pharisees will triumph over opponents
like Alexander Jannaeus.
Duhm's treatment of Psalm 1, though logical, is rather hazardous. He
has little sense of the streams of tradition in which the ancients lived. His
psalmist 'quotes Scripture'; the pious man 'deciphers' words from a
hitherto unknown text. And Duhm's depiction of 'nomism' goes
beyond anything in the psalm, where there is no allusion whatever to the
niceties of ceremonial law, nor indeed to 'the Law'. It is Duhm who has

1. The Commentators 23
transposed this piece into a key suited to the clashes of New Testament
times. And it is ominous that, with his low estimate of it, he also thinks it
expresses well the mood and outlook of most of the psalms.
Between Psalm 19A (vv. 2-7) and B (vv. 8-15) Duhm allows no
essential connection. To A he warms for its poetic flair, while the
most he can say for B is that it is not as bad as its dreadful successor,
Psalm 119.
He thinks of 19A as a fragment from some long composition about
God's glory in Nature. References to the firmament, heavens, day and
night show dependence on the creation account of Genesis 1 and so are
post-exilic. Psalm 19.3, which he admires, refers to the glossolalia of the
created elements, which can only be understood by initiates, through the
ears of the spirit. The first day and night witnessed God's acts as he
made skies and heavenly bodies, and they passed on the story to their
successors, all conceived of as animated beings. With Olshausen, Bickell
and Wellhausen, he regards 19.4 as a scribe's gloss to help any nonetoo-bright
readers: 'these are not speech or words; their voice is not
heard.'
With Cappellus etc. he emends mp of 19.5 to cfrip, since 'measuring
line' hardly gives sense. The Versions, he suggests, will have reached
(pGoyYOQ/sonws through the analogy of TOVOC; (rope, string, musical
sound), but ip is not attested of a musical string. Against Duhm, one
may feel that to assume the development for ip would be less drastic
than to emend against the witness of the Versions. He suggests v. 5c
(am having a distant antecedent in D'Qcn v. 2) is but a prosaic summary
of a longer original, which mentioned the horizon as the place of the
sun's nightly lodging. In his revised edition, Duhm rearranges the verses:
5c, 7c, 6,7a, b.
Neither in form nor in content, Duhm affirms, has 19B the least to do
with 19A. It is an independent composition glorifying the written Law.
Though he notes the link with the sun in rrn (v. 9), he sees no relevance
for the psalm's composition and in his revised edition cuts this remark.
He keeps mrr HRT in v. 10 and explains it as the way of life prescribed
by God'slaw.
In contrast to the genuine poet of 19A, the writer of 19B is narrow in
outlook. On v. 8 Duhm remarks that only one can speak thus who puts
the whole ideal of his life into the tora, satisfies his whole spiritual need
from it, gazes at it with the look of a lover, studies in it day and night—a
real scribe. The passage, he says, is all the more instructive for the

24 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
psychology and history of religion precisely because of the relatively
slight religious value which the tora actually possessed. Taking the D-TT of
19.14 as denoting those who scoff at strict observance, he faults the
psalmist in v. 13 for assuming one can keep oneself free from conscious
sin, with no need of an inner transforming power. Here is a man happy
with a law, a system of a thousand rules, which indeed demands understanding,
attention and self-denial, but keeps a person in a child's harness,
occupies him mechanically, even entertains him like a serious
game, and fills him with a fatal self-satisfaction.
In conclusion, Duhm allows that there is something moving in this
piety, something childlike in this singing and praying. But in relentlessly
transposing the psalm into the sphere of the derogated scribes and
Pharisees of the New Testament he has hardly done it justice. He has not
picked up the thread of personal relationship to God which is constantly
maintained in the personal suffixes of the tora synonyms and sounded in
the significant concluding notes of 'my Rock and my Redeemer'; nor
has he given adequate weight to the prayers for God's grace in vv. 13-
15. And his estimate of the artistic achievement of Psalm 19 would of
course have been higher if he had felt its united power.
On Psalm 119 Duhm follows Miiller in restoring the eight synonyms
for 'law' in each strophe of eight lines. He describes the metre as hexameter,
with the caesura, as in Greek poetry, forming patterns of either
3:3 or 2:2:2. At first he took the 'young man' of v. 9 to indicate an
instructional composition, but in his revised edition he deduces that the
author himself is young. In several ironic remarks, Duhm portrays him
as a young zealot lacking poetic gifts and humility, a kind of Elihu. He
indeed thought himself wiser than his teachers and elders (vv. 99f.)—the
continuation rules out resort to an explanation of the teachers as foreign
nations. Duhm pronounces it an example of 'the well-known rabbinic
vanity'. The danger to the psalmist's life (v. 109) is exaggerated; one
does not write such a composition in mortal peril. The acrostic plan
occasions other overblown expressions, such as the terrible v. 120. Here
Duhm has no sense of a genuine mystical experience, arising from
contact with the Lord himself (v. 120a), and has overlooked that
Lamentations offers evidence of the composition of acrostics in times of
genuine sufferings. The pathos of v. 176 is reduced by Duhm to a
'probable' sense: 'If I am in misfortune, help me.'
Duhm's concluding estimate of Psalm 119 is scathing indeed, finding
no redeeming features in its art, thought or piety. It is useful only in

1. The Commentators 25
illustrating the perils of book-religion. It stands as the most empty
product that ever blackened paper. His 1922 edition only adds to the
condemnation. If only the psalmist had shared with us something from
the wondrous results he claims from his tora studies, or helped us to
comprehend the joy with which his research into the food laws filled
him! Such a narrow horizon, such enthusiasm for the thoroughly
insignificant, such absence of higher impulse for truth is perhaps to be
found not only in the domain of the Jewish law. In all this one wonders
if Duhm can be speaking of the same psalm that the Fathers judged to
be 'the Teacher of the faithful, a paradise of all fruits, the storehouse of
the Holy Ghost, and just in proportion as it seems easier on the surface,
so it is deeper in the abyss of its mysteries'. 4 One must feel that he is so
negatively disposed towards 'the Law' in antithesis to grace, that he has
relentlessly overlooked every sign of valuable piety, especially the sustained
relation to God explicit in 172 of the 176 verses. In its huge
number of references to Yahweh's directions, the psalm makes no
mention of any particular law, let alone a food law, but constantly makes
reference to the God who so guides.
Charles Briggs
In 1906-7 appeared in two volumes A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the Book of Psalms by C. A. Briggs in the series The
International Critical Commentary, Edinburgh. On the title page was
also the name of his daughter Emilie Grace Briggs, in recognition of her
indispensable assistance. Briggs had the remarkable title of Professor of
Theological Encyclopaedia and Symbolics, Union Theological Seminary,
New York.
His commentary is marked by a radical textual criticism. He is bent on
the 'detection and elimination of the glosses in the search for the original
texts as they came from their authors'. Moreover he seeks an original
that was well arranged in measured lines and, in most cases, in equal
strophes. On dating he declares an extreme position which would allow
no pre-exilic psalms.
Accordingly, Briggs's treatment of Psalm 1 produces a symmetrical
poem which he dates between Alexander the Great and Antiochus IV
(v. 5 referring to resurrection, but stopping short of Daniel's rising of the
wicked, and the psalm perhaps lying behind Ecclus. 6.37 and 14.20-21).
4. See J.M. Neale's Commentary on the Psalms, IV (1860-74), p. 3.

26 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
He attains his symmetry (the metre being 'one of the simplest and finest
in the Psalter') by regarding v. 3 as a gloss. The editor of the Psalter, he
thinks, has here inserted an illustration based on Jer. 17.8, Ezek. 47.12
and Josh. 1.8. The original text had two antithetic strophes each of five
(not six as stated on p. 4) tetrameter lines, each introduced by a separate
dimeter—'Happy the man' and 'Not so the wicked'. However, two
further unsupported emendations are needed to reach this structure—
the insertion of wizr (does he mean i«i3; K"??) in v. 5b and 13« in 6b.
Against all this we may object that his omission of 1.3 loses the contrast
of the well-planted tree and the driven chaff, while his own suggestion of
an original antithesis between 'drives away' (v. 4) and deliberate walking
in counsel (v. 1) is unclear and strained.
In 1.2 Briggs finds reference to 'the Law', 'embracing the entire
legislation compacted in the Pentateuch'. He thinks run denotes, not
'meditating', but a reading over and over again in a low tone to memorize.
He does not evaluate the piety in question.
By separating technical matters into distinct sections of the commentary,
a feature of the series, he is able to provide a useful discussion for
the general reader, while furnishing the student with copious details on
vocabulary and text. But he offers no theological critique. His ascribing
of resurrection ideas to the psalm would in any case have eased the
problem of evil which threatens to belie the psalm's doctrine.
Briggs takes Psalm 19 to result from the joining of two originally separate
poems for purposes of public worship. So 19A, probably adapted
from a sun-hymn of the Babylonian period, has become a foil for 19B:
the glory of the Lord in the Law transcends his glory in the heavens.
Psalm 19B is taken to have been 'a didactic poem in praise of the Law',
and links with sun imagery in rra etc. are not noticed. Regarding it as
much influenced by the Priestly legislation (vv. 13-15) and closely
related to Psalm 119, he thinks it cannot be earlier than the Greek
period. He finds regular structures (19A having two strophes each of six
trimeters, 19B two strophes each of six pentameters), but only after
removing v. 4 and v. 11 as glosses. Here he has taken 19.4 as just a later
correction of the bold figure of the speaking elements: 'There is no
speech and there are no words, their voice is not heard.'
He emends nip of 19.5 to n'pip in spite of the Versions which he cites,
since Hebrew usage of ip 'admits only of the meaning "measuring
line'". Where usage is so patchily attested, it may seem odd to us that it
is found a greater obstacle than speculative emendation. In v. 14 he

1. The Commentators 27
notes the preponderance of those who take D-IT as 'presumptuous men',
but prefers on grounds of context to take it as high-handed sins. In v. 15
he curiously appears to relate 'the words of my mouth' to prayer
accompanying sacrifices rather than to the present psalm. In general his
treatment is again characterized by abundant notes on vocabulary, by
manipulation of the text to obtain a tidy result, and by absence of
theological assessment.
For Psalm 119 Briggs is all the more inclined to contrive a perfect
pattern, even transposing lines, not only for regular rotation of the eight
law synonyms, but also to have each line ending in a rhyming suffix or
the like. He claims to have discovered the original order in which the
terms for law rotated, but it is a complicated theory which an elaborate
table does little to clarify. As so much 'restoration' is involved, it can
hardly be taken seriously. In the first strophe, for example, he has
numerous changes to second person suffixes in vv. 1-3, and re-arranges
the lines as 1, 2,4, 6, 3, 5,7, 8b, 8a!
He talks uninhibitedly of 'the Law' in his not unsympathetic account
of the psalm's thought. In this 'prayer of the congregation', the Law has
become the representative of God, almost hypostatical, almost what the
Memra became to later Judaism. 'It was eternal in heaven before it came
to the earth—upon its observance depend life and every joy.' He denies
that the author has the Deuteronomic spirit. Questionably, he affirms
that the personal allegiance to Yahweh of Deuteronomy has become a
legal allegiance, love for 'the Law' replacing love for the Lord. The author
is 'far in advance of the priestly attitude of P', and is 'a scribe and an
early Pharisee of the highest and noblest type'. The situation is that of
persecution by Hellenists or Syrians near the end of the Greek period.
He takes v. 53 as 'A burning wind (nai^T) has seized me from the
wicked'—their scorn is like the assault of the sirocco. The teachers of
v. 99, he thinks, are not teachers of the Law; God is the great teacher
and his Law superior to all other instruction. The 'seven times a day' of
v. 114 refers, not to set times for prayer, but to the holy number of
completeness. Unfortunately Briggs emends the direct relation to God in
this verse, "jrb^n—he removes the suffix and the following ^s on the
dubious grounds that the metre is too full. In v. 176 he has 'I stray as a
lost sheep', explaining that the erring is physical—falling into danger.
Moreover, 'seek thy servant' is to be deleted on metrical grounds.
It all amounts to a usefully detailed commentary, but chiefly on what
the text might have been, rather than what it is.

28 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Rudolph Kittel
Die Psalmen, ubersetzt und erklart appeared first in 1914 in the series
Kommentar zum Alien Testament edited by E. Sellin. The revised third
edition of 1921 made the translation reflect the metrical structure, which
is marked at the end of each line—3 + 3 etc. In the sixth edition of 1929
a postscript was added with discussion of the recent work of Gunkel,
Mowinckel, Konig and Stummer.
Kittel's view of Psalm 1 is marked by caution. He can see that it may
well suit the Greek period with its opposing Jewish parties, but he leaves
the door open for a dating around the Ezra period. In any case he finds
an expectation of eschatological judgment. He finds that v. 3c disturbs
the symmetry and may be an addition. He draws DN "3 back to the preceding
phrase: 'Not so the wicked, no',—examples of such a usage, if
they exist, would have helped his case.
Unlike some predecessors, Kittel does discuss the 'religious value' of
the psalm. He values the serious concern for God's will. But he judges
the ideal fastened on 'the Law' too narrow and he sees a contrast with
Jesus seeking out and eating with 'sinners'. The doctrine of retribution
also needs qualification. Critical appraisal of the psalm in the light of the
faith of Jesus and Paul is especially important, he says, as it stands programmatically
before the whole Psalter. Kittel's remarks are a useful
step towards a theological discussion, but remain weighted on the
negative side.
In Psalm 19 Kittel sees two independent and disparate compositions
joined by a redactor, either at random or perhaps with recognition of the
common theme of God's revelation. In 19A he thinks the great elements
of Nature are treated as living beings by now only through poetic
imagination. They praise God only by exemplifying his power and skill.
The changing beauties of the sky speak a language of the heart, everywhere
understood. Verse 4b is therefore an abbreviated relative
sentence: There is no speech or language where their sound is not
audible.' In this way it does not contradict the context. In v. 5 he
emends Dip to n'Tip. In all this Kittel is preferring an attractively rational
interpretation which hardly does justice to the actual wording and so
misses the mystery. He waxes lyrical over the sun observed from
Jerusalem—rising over the eastern desert and the Mountains of Moab,
and blazing its way to a purple-clad descent into the blue waves of the
Mediterranean.

1. The Commentators 29
He describes 19B as a 'hymn on the Law' from the late period, when
the strict forms were breaking down. It speaks for a period when the
Law was not seen as a burden, before the elaborations of the scribes had
caused the strains reflected in the New Testament. By New Testament
times, he says, the weaknesses of the piety based on the Law had come
more clearly to light. He has questions about reward, perfection and sin,
and especially about the assumption that the pious person can fulfil
God's will. He finds the conception of sin superficial.
Kittel thus again dwells on the negative side in his evaluation. He has
not noticed details of solar imagery in 19B and does not give any consideration
to the force of Psalm 19 as a whole.
For Kittel, Psalm 119 is a didactic poem, but in the form of a confession
(Bekenntnis) which often has the tone of a lament or prayer. It
treats of 'the Law' and the promise it becomes to one who keeps it, and
the enmities it involves. It illustrates the almost idolatrous reverence for
the Law in the Judaism of the Greek period. It is not clear whether the
sufferings are national or personal, or even just echoes from older compositions.
He doubts if there is sufficient cause to emend as extensively
as Muller's theory requires; better to suppose the author handled the law
synonyms of Psalm 19 with freedom. As usual, he marks his metrical
count line by line, the majority being 5. But in many cases we may think
this far from certain.
In v. 33 he takes npu as 'reward': the Law is kept as a 'reward' for
God, that is, as thanks. In v. 84 he thinks the figure is of wineskins discarded
on the wall or in the roof, since the mellowing process adduced
by other commentators should symbolize something good.
Kittel has no evaluation of Psalm 119 as a whole, perhaps feeling he
has said enough on 'the Law' on Psalms 1 and 19. He has rightly seen
importance in the seeking of God in v. 2 (incriT) and in v. 82's understanding
of mat* as 'promise'. But he scarcely begins to unfold the
significance of such verses. He has no comment at all on v. 176, though
he renders 'against the Massoretic accents': 'I have erred like a lost
sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments.'
Hermann Gunkel
Although published in 1929 as a further edition of Baethgen's commentary
in the same series, Gunkel's Die Psalmen was an entirely new
work. As he explained in his preface, he felt that, with the critical

30 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
movement's emphasis on the genius of the prophets, the Psalms had
been relegated to a corner in the little-valued late period. It was necessary
now to approach them with sympathy and more fairly let them
speak for themselves. He would try to be a mouth for them, speaking in
language of our own time what the early world had felt in the depths of
its heart. He would strive to present the piety from within, standing
beside the authors in their times of torment or rejoicing. For this, something
additional to the diligence and patience of scientific research was
needed. There must be given hours of experience when the researcher's
own soul was touched by the past, when the melodies of the early
world, long blown away by the storms of history, sounded again in the
heart of the present. For such hours one could prepare oneself, but one
could not compel them. One must wait.
Along with this difference of attitude, reviving the spirit of J.G. von
Herder, Gunkel showed a different emphasis in method. Determined to
see each piece in context, he gleaned comparable material from far and
near, and laboured to establish the classes or types (Gattungen) natural
to the Hebrew religious lyric. When a psalm was seen in its proper class,
many questions could be settled objectively. The text (which he came to
think was profoundly corrupted) could be remedied from parallels, and
the structural units of thought could be identified by reference to motifs
characterizing the class. For correcting the text, he regarded the metrical
studies of Sievers as indispensable, provided pedantry was avoided—
Hebrew poetry, in its freedom,, was more like the Gothic than the
classical.
When we turn to Gunkel's treatment of Psalm 1, we feel at once the
aesthetic achievement of his writing for which, he says, he had laboured
hard. Here is no accumulation of notes, but an integrated interpretation
of the psalm's content, as simple in style as possible. The translation is
arranged to show the structure, and the metre of each verse is clearly
marked. He explains his analysis gradually within a fluent exposition of
the thought.
He classifies the psalm as a 'Wisdom song' (Weisheitslied), with the
favourite Wisdom teaching on retribution and the favourite Wisdom
form of a benediction (Segensspruch). The tor a motif, however, is from
quite a different class, and this mixing points to a late period, along with
the reflective manner and the dependence on Jer. 17.5f. But he thinks it
not permissible to identify the contrast of righteous and wicked with
party strife of the Maccabean era in particular, since it runs through the

1. The Commentators 31
whole of Judaism. And the 'judgment' of 1.5 is not eschatological
but, as generally in Wisdom teaching, the constant acting of God (cf.
Ecclus. 12.14).
The fairly numerous emendations adopted by Gunkel comprise v. 2
n«T for rmn; v. 3 deletion of ^bs, run and rrb:r rroir io» ^21; v. 4 repetition
of p tf? after D'jJBnn; v. 6 rnpni: for -pm. He gives his reasons
cogently, along with careful notes on language.
While Gunkel seeks to do the psalm justice in recollecting difficulties
for Judaism in the later periods and the natural turn to scriptural piety
after an era of great prophets, still he finds it poetically weak, comparing
badly with its, for him, undoubted precursor and model Jer. 17.5f. As
preface to the Psalter, however, it is not unimpressive in its earnestness.
He does not undertake any theological evaluation.
Gunkel sees Psalm 19 as two wholly independent pieces which only
later tradition has 'falsely' joined together. Accordingly, he expounds
each piece in isolation from the other.
To 19A he warms: it is one of the loftiest creations of the Old
Testament, filled with power and beauty from remote antiquity. It tells
of a mysterious tradition. The tale told by the heavens is a secret knowledge
confided down a chain of tradition from the first days of creation.
The Hebrew poet has adapted some idea like the Greek notion of the
harmony of the spheres: the heavenly song resounds to earth's boundaries,
yet no man has ever heard it—there are no words for human
hearing. The poet speaks paradoxically in v. 4 because he struggles to
express a mystery: 'Without speech, without words, without their voice
being heard...' It is not that they speak to human eyes—'to whom
should the poet need to say that?' Those who regard v. 4 as a gloss
have simply not appreciated the mysterious quality of the whole depiction.
The verse is circumstantial, connecting to v. 5. In v. 5 Dip can
hardly be emended to a'pip, which would be against the evidence of the
Versions and clumsy after n'np in 4b. Gunkel therefore understands ip in
terms of Isa. 28.10, 13 and rootN'p 'spue', hence 'ihr Schwall', 'their
overflowing speech'. He does not speak of the poet as reaching his idea
through meditation, a kind of prophetic experience, a hearing with the
inner ear; he expresses it rather as due to the powerfully aroused fantasy
of the poet. He warms also to the depiction of the sun, comparing
mythological elements from Greece, Babylon and China—the sun as
lover, hero and athlete. He emends the slightly awkward 5c to 'The sunball
has there (DO) a tent in the sea (D»,3)'.

32 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Gunkel's separate exposition of 19.8-15 explains the form as a combination
of hymn (praise of the Law, related to the old forms which sang
of God's thunder-voice, Ps. 29, etc.) and a more personal section (12-14)
in the form of the songs of lament. The sacrificial terms in v. 15 indicate
that prayer has taken the place of sacrifice. In discussing the law-piety of
the piece, he explains the inner joy as fitting a time before the Law's
requirements were swollen by the manifold additions of the scribes, a
time when the view of sin was not profound—the Law's requirements
could be fulfilled, granted purification from unwitting errors. While
allowing that the piece belongs to a period when the Law was glorified
and diverse forms could be mixed, he distances himself from Duhm's
dating to Pharisaic times.
Although Gunkel notes that rm (v. 9) is used of the sun in Song 6.10,
he makes no connection for this or any other term with the sun in vv. 5-
7. His discussion of the piece's piety seems to miss entirely the dimension
of relation to God himself. Thus he falls into the transposition of
'thy law' into 'the Law' and he passes over 'my Rock and my
Redeemer' without substantial comment. But his greatest omission is
any consideration of Psalm 19 as a whole.
Gunkel finds Psalm 119 to be an extraordinary mixture of types—a
garish mosaic of almost all the lyrical forms, changing by the verse or
even half-verse. It is like a tumble of rocks below a precipice, which
challenges the scientist to classify each fragment. It cannot be described
as a Wisdom (^DD) poem, or a didactic poem, or a hymn. It is simply a
'mixed poem'. Here, however, he scarcely addresses the question as to
what function this selection of motifs serves. It is hardly adequate to find
one dominant idea—'to compose in honour of the Law', adapting the
old motifs to that end. That would suit only the hymnic strand.
Aesthetically, Gunkel judges that the author has burdened himself
with an acrostic scheme well-nigh impossible to carry through without
sacrifice of quality in content. The vast spaces have had to be filled up
with borrowings from predecessors, and the thought is disjointed, with
few verses belonging together in context. Gunkel here does not consider
the radial character, like spokes of a wheel, the unity being formed by
the relation of each statement to the centre in God. He accepts the
theory of Miiller, emending to give a regular rotation of the eight
synonyms for 'law', and thereby, as he says, increasing the monotony.
In summarizing the author's piety, Gunkel is appreciative of some
features. He takes note that the promises of the Law, as well as its

1. The Commentators 33
requirements, are in view, as also is the word of God that heals and
creates. The poet is aware of his need for enlightenment, though he
never asks for forgiveness. Penetrating words from older psalmody are
taken up, such as 'With my whole heart I seek thee' (v. 10) and 'My
portion is Yahweh' (v. 57). The psalmist passionately enters the conflict
of two opposed parties—those devoted to the Law and those who have
abandoned it. The statements express the author's own experience—
here Gunkel simply follows the line from his treatment of the Songs of
Individual Lament. The psalmist is probably an old man since he looks
back over much experience of God's dealings. He teaches the young
like a sage (v. 9) and feels that the Law has made him surpass his former
teachers—they may have been sages of the older type, not knowing the
glory of the Law. There is no mention of foreign enemies or of the later
scribal applications of the Law, so a setting in the late Persian period is
suggested.
In v. 176 he deletes 'like a lost sheep' on metrical grounds. He makes
little of the pathos of this ending, and in general does not explore the
mystical aspect of the psalm—the numinous awe of God and his word,
the life of obedience, the sense of need, the moments of rapturous
delight, and above all the sustained and constant address to God.
Gunkel's commentary on the Psalms was undoubtedly a great landmark
in the history of psalm interpretation, but while his treatment of
our three psalms repays the closest study, it cannot be said that it is adequate.
His zeal for classification has distracted him from the most
significant things these psalms have to offer.
Aage Bentzen
In the year of the outbreak of war, 1939, Bentzen published his Danish
commentary. 5 It is a bulky work of 691 pages which, however, for basic
information on introduction and bibliography, only makes reference to
other works. Rather like a teacher's notes for a text-reading class, it first
peruses the Hebrew text of a psalm with comments ad lib and then
rounds off with broader reflections. Coming soon after the important
psalm publications of Mowinckel and Gunkel, its chief value is in
reflecting the impact of these works and the development of the creative
contribution of Scandinavia. Its own positions are moderate and
5. A. Bentzen, Fortolkning til de Gammeltestamentlige Salmer (Copenhagen:
Gad, 1939).

34 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
cautious, not least regarding emendation.
Psalm 1 Bentzen summarizes as an admonition to live after the law of
Israel's God. The three perfect tenses of v. 1 describe a characteristic or
condition. The use of mm in both parts of 2a he retains as lectio
difficilior. r The Targum, which is the only Version to vary the term (with
«oiQ33 and rrrmta), he explains as influenced by the strength of the usual
style-tradition. As regards the nature of the 'judgment', he admits that
Wisdom parallels point to a present character, but he suggests that the
collector has taken Psalm 1 eschatologically along with Psalm 2. When
considering literary dependence, Bentzen is sensitive to the issue of
tradition. The image of the tree, as Egyptian sources show, is from old
Wisdom stock. Jeremiah (17.5f.) has worked it through more skilfully
and is not necessarily the source of Ps. 1.3. The cultic background of the
blessing and curse formula is a pointer to an ancient relationship of
Wisdom and temple.
For the date of Psalm 1 Bentzen mentions broadly the late Jewish
period when law-piety was strong. The abiding value of the psalm lies in
its summons to a clear choice between good and evil. He notes how
study of the Law is taken to imply living according to its precepts, but
he does not expound it as itself a nourishing communion.
On Psalm 19 Bentzen notes that Buhl's commentary 6 and
Mowinckel's Psalmenstudien1 have already represented for v. 4 a solution
like that which Gunkel offers, thinking of the mysterious voice
known only to the inspired poet. 8 Bentzen himself argues that their
translation is correct ('Without speech, without words, and without their
voice being heard, their sound has gone out...'), but nevertheless thinks
of a universal witness (presumably visual), proclaiming God's glory in a
manner clear to all. For the problematic Dip of v. 5 he seeks the sense
'sound' (LXX (pGoyyoc;) with Buhl through the emendation Dap, from a jp
related to Jewish Aramaic «3p 'sound' (cf. Aquila icdvcov, Hebrew rnp).
He defends n«T in v. 10 with reference to Job 15.4 for the sense
'religion'. Among many remarks on vocabulary, he points out in v. 12
how D3 can emphasize a sentence, while 3pu is best taken as 'rewar
how D3 can emphasize a sentence, while 3pu is best taken as 'rewar
6. F. Buhl, Psalmerne oversatte og fortolkede (Copenhagen, 2nd edn, 1990
[1918)
7. S. Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien IE (Kristiania, 1923), p. 2
8. Gunkel in fact had given such an interpretation in his Augsewdhlte Psalme
(Gottingen, 2nd edn, 1905), pp. 26-27.

1. The Commentators 35
v. 14 DHT is taken to mean demons who lead one astray into sin—the
proposal of Mowinckel. 9 For the resemblance of v. 15 to sacrificial
prayer he compares Isa. 56.7 and 60.7, and, comparing Ps. 141.2, he
joins Mowinckel 10 in warning against the conclusion that the psalmist is
therefore emancipated from cultic religion. He sees the extremely late
datings as unjustified; a terminus a quo is possible from the
Deuteronomic period beginning in late pre-exilic times.
Bentzen has one of the most interesting discussions of the unity of the
psalm, referring to the ancient Near Eastern evidence put forward by
Schroder and Diirr. 11 His conclusion is to emphasize the deliberate unity
of the whole psalm, although it has involved a work of redaction. Rather
as in Psalm 139, the prayer is prefaced by a long preparation dwelling
on God's universal sovereignty and righteousness.
For Psalm 119 Bentzen, despite his usual textual caution, accepts
Muller's theory of an original consistency in the use of eight synonyms
for 'law'. The thought of the psalm, he says, is not always disjointed—
the first strophe, for example, is quite coherent. What the psalm has to
say should not be undervalued; along with some 'wood, hay and straw'
there are precious metals. He regards Duhm's scorn of the psalm as
unjustified, explaining the sharpness of Duhm's remarks as the reaction
of a nature passionate for truth against those who for pious reasons
covered over the literary inadequacies of some Scripture. Bentzen
appreciates that Psalm 119 was meant to serve the purpose of individual
meditation, perhaps as a kind of penitential chant, but he does not bring
out the importance of communion. He sees it in a period after Ezra, a
witness to a holding fast to God's word and promise in days when this
was costly.
Sigmund Mowinckel
Drawn from a reservoir of forty years of penetrating research and exegesis,
Mowinckel's Norwegian edition of the Psalms, translated and
annotated, appeared in 1955. 12
9. Psalmenstudien I, pp. 72f., 102.
10. Psalmenstudien VI, p. 53.
11. O. Schroder, 'Zu Psalm 19', TAW 34 (1914), pp. 69-70; L. Diirr, 'Zur Frage
nach der Einheit von Ps. 19', in Festschrift fur E. Sellin (BWANT 13; Stuttgart,
1927), pp. 37-48.
12. S. Mowinckel, Det Gamle Testamente, oversatt...IVSkriftene, 1 Del (Oslo:
H. Aschehoug, 1955).

36 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
On Psalm 1 Mowinckel appears less prone to emend than Gunkel. He
makes three minor adjustments to the text: in v. 1 he reverses ms and
1~n with the Syriac; and on metrical grounds he reads in v. 3 )]in (fio)
as Jer. 17.8, and in v. 4 rrr (f CD).
He sees the pattern of the psalm as originating in the blessing and
curse procedures of the cult (Deut. 27.11-13), represented well in Jer.
17.5-8, and here adapted as admonition by Wisdom teachers. The perspective
of 'judgment' remains that of the Wisdom literature, referring
to the fate of individuals. Verse 2 refers to the half-vocal recitation of
holy texts as a means to memorization, a work of piety and warding off
danger. Although he speaks of a piety on the way to Pharisaism and
refers to the poems of Ben Sira, he leaves a wide range of Jewish history
open for the date. A Christian use, he suggests, would entail emphasis on
the teaching of spiritual reward for trust and piety.
In Psalm 19 Mowinckel gives full weight to the distinction of the two
parts, but respects the final unity. The distinction is apparent not only in
metre and topic, but also in basic mood, religious type and poetic
standard. The first part is obviously much older, with its fresh, mythically
coloured view of Nature. By comparison, the second part's praise
of the Law is monotonous and abstract. Psalm 19A indeed seems to
have originated as a hymn chiefly to the sun, only introduced by the
account of the Creator's glory. The Babylonian parallels are especially
notable. But the widespread Near Eastern association of the sun with
righteousness and law, reflected in many Old Testament passages, has
provided the link to the theme of Yahweh's tora. The later author has
therefore taken up a fragment of an ancient hymn to be the introduction
for his praise of the Law—or we might say he has reworked an older
hymn to make the Law the chief benefit for which the Lord is to be
praised. The word of the Lord has thus become the spiritual light corresponding
to the inaudible praise voiced by the heavenly elements.
In 19.5 Mowinckel explains Dip as 'their rule' (via 'measuring line'):
through the heavenly bodies are demarcated days and seasons and
thereby activities on earth. It seems doubtful whether this explanation
fits the context of praising utterances. In v. 10 he favours the alteration
of n»T to rnpN after 119.38. The DHT of v. 14 he takes as either demons
or apostate Jews.
Mowinckel's view of Psalm 119 is one of the most sympathetic, and
also one of the most coherent. He accepts Miiller's theory of the eight
terms for 'law' deployed in each strophe, and emends accordingly. He

1. The Commentators 37
classes the psalm as a lamenting prayer for help (klagesalme), in which
the all-pervading statements about the Law are motifs for a favourable
hearing, especially as professions of innocence. The speaker is a leading
figure in his community (vv. 74, 79), while the composition reveals
someone familiar with the techniques of psalmody. It may well be, therefore,
that one of the levitical singers, strong also in the traditions of the
Law, has composed the prayer for the use of the leader, who shares his
piety.
Distress is caused by false accusations (vv. 60, 78, 86, 23 and 161).
The enemies are men of power (26 and 161); they hate him for his
devotion to the Law (51 and 115). He is in urgent need (50, 57, 67, 71,
75, 92, 107, 141 and 153). In close accord with H. Birkeland's view of
the Laments of the Individual, Mowinckel depicts this situation as that of
a leader who has been accused by the officials of an overlord of
troubling the state. His adherence to the Law clashes with imperial interests.
But his adversaries include their Jewish allies, traitors to the Law,
apostates (21, 53, 126 and 158) and some who are two-faced (113).
Even the godly have doubts about him, taking his sufferings as signs of
fault (79).
The psalm expresses a piety of devotion to the Law of Moses, the
Pentateuch. This is the 'way' to attain life. This is God's grace and gift,
enduring, true, enlightening, counselling, rewarding, comforting, quickening.
Understanding of it is also a gift to be prayed for, so also the will
to keep it. This Law is the psalmist's whole love and delight; he longs to
sink ever deeper in it. It has become his song (v. 54).
There is nothing random or arbitrary in the commands. They express
the very order of existence. The cosmic law—life's own law—and
God's tor a are, at the deepest, one and the same. The Law is not only
austere demand, but also gospel—God's revelation of the way to
salvation.
The tension between avowals of loyalty and admissions of error
Mowinckel resolves with the concept of unwitting sins. The sufferings
point to such errors and the psalmist prays to overcome them (vv. 10,
12, 19, 26f., 33-37, 64, 73, 101, 124f. and 135). God is right to chasten
him (7 land 75).
The Law includes God's promises to people and individual, and the
psalmist often appeals to these (25, 37f., 41f. etc.). The 'judgments' also
include acts of deliverance (39, 52,73, 84, 120,161 and 175).
Against those who disparage Psalm 119, Mowinckel considers that the

38 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
author succeeds in richly expressing his piety—his zeal for God's will,
his ethical idealism (v. 14), his love and trust for the God who reveals
himself in the Law, his fear of offending this God (120 and 161). Here is
many a kernel-saying about the word of God and the right relation to it,
which continues to be valid.
The historical situation reflected in the psalm and the role of the Law
point to the end of the Persian period or even later, in Mowinckel's
view. Everything falls into place in his treatment, and he excels most predecessors
in giving a careful and positive account of the spiritual stance
of the author. However, the role of 'unwitting sins' may be questioned.
Is it an adequate explanation, for example, of v. 176 (where Mowinckel
deletes 'like a lost sheep' on metrical grounds)? And the possibility of an
earlier date, with Deuteronomic links, cannot be excluded.
Hans-Joachim Kraus
The first edition of Kraus's large commentary appeared in I960. 13 It
was substantially revised in the 'fifth edition', 1978. In the same series
(XV/3, 1979) Kraus has contributed a Theologie der Psalmen which
includes syntheses of his view of the theological aspects of our psalms. 14
A feature of the revised edition of the commentary was a new attempt
at a comprehensive scheme of classification. Six broad form-groups
were defined, within each of which were subdivisions according to
theme. Within the form-group he calls Instructional Compositions
(Lehrdichtungen) Psalms 1, 19B and 119, because of their theme, constitute
his main 'tora-psalms'. This scheme, however, appears somewhat
arbitrary. In the present instance we have arrived at a sub-group where
only Psalm 1 is truly didactic, oriented from teacher to disciples, while
Psalms 19B and 119 are in the main prayers directed to God.
Kraus leaves the date of Psalm 1 very vague, pointing only to the
likelihood of the post-exilic period. The conception of the 'judgment' in
v. 5 he thinks rooted in a ceremony connected with solemn entrance
into the sanctuary. The conditions for participation in worship were
declared, along with condemnation of the unfit (cf. Pss. 15; 5.5-6; 24.3).
The conception has been spiritualized and even applied to entrance into
the community of the end-time.
13. In the series Biblischer Kommentar, Altes Testament XI, Psalmen
(Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1960).
14. For instance, on pp. 39-41.

1. The Commentators 39
Kraus sees nothing of a narrow Pharisaism in Psalm 1. The dissociation
from scoffers and sinners is an old Wisdom teaching (Prov. 1.10-19;
14.14-19) and a presupposition of the life of faith. The continual
engagement with God's tora means joy in the revelation of his will and
a constant interchange (Lebensverkehr). Tora (correctly repeated for
emphasis in v. 2) is not 'law' but 'guidance' (Weisung), the gracious
revelation of God's will, now in written form, but still linked with oral
teaching and response. 15 It may have been the Scripture of the
Deuteronomists, or the Pentateuch, or a wider canon in which the
Psalms were important. The unfavourable comparison which Gunkel
made between the trust in the Lord in Jer. 17.7-8 and the devotion to
tora here is not fair to the context, and the image could legitimately be
used in different ways. Kraus indeed counts in the psalm's favour that it
uses the more secular, open-to-life expression '~IBK against the 'cultblessing'
"p-Q of Jeremiah 17.
Kraus goes even further in his unqualified appreciation of Psalm 1.
Noting that the good life is represented by a singular figure in vv. 1-3,
against the plurality of the wicked, he sees here an archetype of the
Christ who will delight in the divine will. Perhaps it is the plurality of the
righteous in vv. 5-6 which leads him to speak of this Christ as the one in
and through whom the many find life-giving relation to Scripture and
the Psalms.
Kraus thus makes a distinctive contribution in reading the psalm theologically
within a scientific exegesis. There is something here of the great
Reformers, and even of the Fathers (such as Augustine, for whom the
'man' of v. 1 was 'the Lord Man', Homine Dominico). One may feel,
however, that in his extremely positive approach he has brushed aside
legitimate theological questions. Should the ungodly be seen in such
absolute, unredeemable terms? Is there no reaching out to them? Is
there no danger from constant absorption in written tora! Does the leaf
of the good man never wither, nor his work fail? Which way actually
fares best? Some acknowledgment at least of such questions would
make the exegesis of Kraus seem less selective.
Kraus sees Psalm 19 as consisting of two different psalms, which
nevertheless have in the end to be considered in the relation in which
tradition has set them. Psalm 19A belongs to the form-group of praisesongs
(Loblieder), though rather eccentric. It is much older than 19B,
15. H.-J. Kraus, Theologie der Psalmen (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener
Verlag, 1979), p. 40.

40 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
which is not earlier than Ezra, presupposing tora as a complex written
corpus of high authority in the community. Kraus places 19B rather
unconvincingly in the sub-division 'tora psalms' within his form-group
of didactic psalms. He thinks both psalms, 19A and B, probably came
from the materials of the autumn festival, 19A glorifying the Creator,
and B reflecting the festal reading of the Law.
He translates 19.4 as 'Without words and without speech—with
incomprehensible voice (nicht vernehmbare StimmeY. In 19.5 he translates
Dip as 'their sound' (Schall), in line with LXX and Jerome, and
appealing to Isa. 28.10, 13 for his interpretation 'an incomprehensible
ecstatic noise'. The way is thus clear for him to expound his chief
interest in Psalm 19: a theology of Scripture. Here is no double witness
to God, namely Nature and revelation, but a contrast. The cosmos
secretly celebrates God's glory, but does not reveal him. Psalm 19B
gives the deciphering code-word, tora, where the human being can learn
who God is and what he wills, and is guided on a way of salvation
through the spheres of guilt. Tora is the revelation of God in his word,
comprising promise and claim. Here the human being meets the Creator
in his life-giving faithfulness; here the mysterious, unceasing utterances
of the created order can be understood.
The emphasis which Kraus puts on this aspect of the psalm, significant
as the aspect is, distracts him from other features, such as the sun as
counterpart to tora, the contextual significance of 'my Rock and my
Redeemer', and the developing course of the meditation through the
entire psalm.
For Kraus, Psalm 119 is a kind of anthology, a collage of sayings
based on Scripture. He is influenced here by the book of A. Deissler, 16
which had appeared in 1955. Kraus is sceptical about any wholesale
attempt to restore an eight-fold scheme of law-synonyms, but is open to
consideration of particular instances. He sees the psalm, in a variety of
Gattungen, revolving round the theme of the mystery and wonder of
the revelation of God's will. He regards it as post-exilic, but not necessarily
as late as Ben Sira. He gives a sympathetic account of the piety as
relating the individual to the living word of God, and avows that it contains
no trace of religious legalism. The psalm's joy in this evangelical
word is what really interests Kraus, and various points in the text that
might provoke concern are quickly passed over—such as the 'I am
wiser' of v. 99 and the 'I have erred' of v. 176.
16. A. Deissler, Psalm 119 (118) und seine Theologie (Munich, 1955).

1. The Commentators 41
Mitchell Dahood
The three volumes of Dahood's commentary appeared in 1966, 1968
and 1970. 17 Due to his radical approach to the translation, inspired
especially by Ugaritic studies, he was in no danger of failing to find
something fresh to say. The exegetical comment is, however, sparse,
philology having pride of place.
In Psalm 1 Dahood offers a fresh understanding of several key
expressions. He thinks v. 1 blesses 'the man who has not entered the
council (rrai?) of the wicked, nor in the assembly (l~n) of sinners stood,
nor in the session of scoffers sat'. The case for rrcu here as 'council'
rather than the usual 'counsel' is reasonable; its advocates include
R. Bergmeier, who renders 'Gemeinschaft, Kreis'. 18
This shift of meaning is well attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls 19 and fits
Isa. 19.11 (a passage not mentioned by Dahood). The preposition 3 is
perhaps more at home with 'council'. However, it would seem unwise
to accept this biblically rare sense here unless the following -pi has a
similar sense, linking to the concluding ntznn 'session'. Dahood,
undaunted, argues for ~[~n as 'assembly', here and twice in v. 6, but can
only appeal to Ugaritic drkt 'dominion, throne'. His interpretation of
vv. 1 and 6 therefore appears over-bold.
In v. 2 he suggests we may render 'from m
the law of Yahweh' and
'from his law'; this is a possibility, the greater range of such prepositions
being helpfully exemplified in his Volume III, pp. 390-94. In 1.3c he
renders, 'Whatever it produces is good', remarking that rro:; can be used
of trees yielding fruit, though ancient and modern versions assume the
subject changes from 'tree' to 'the just man'. In fact the Targum anticipates
him here (naian nbn'pai -inbib ^m) but the wording for this understanding
would seem clumsy (as Baethgen says) and involve a heavy
repetition after v. 3b.
With v. 3 Dahood also introduces his interpretation that the promise
of the psalm refers to immortality in the Elysian Fields. A future tense
found in rrm, and the symbolism of 'channels of water' and evergreen
leaves, however, are hardly enough evidence to substantiate this perspective.
Since the psalm may be late, and the 'judgment' of v. 5
17. M. Dahood, Psalms (New York: Anchor Bible, 1966-70).
18. R. Bergmeier, 'Zum Ausdruck n'jrcn ras in Ps. 1.1, Hi. 10.3, 21.16 and
22.18', ZAW19 (1967), pp. 229-32.
19. Bergmeier, 'Ausdruck', p. 229.

42 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
possibly eschatological (Targum 'the Great Day'), Dahood's view is not
out of the question, and at least may alert us to the way it may have
been read in the late period.
Dahood's treatment of Psalm 19 is also replete with philological contributions.
He has a valuable note on Dip of v. 5, where he succinctly
restates Jacob Earth's little-heeded proposal of 1893. 20 The root is to be
equated with mp II 'to collect' in the related sense 'to call' evidenced in
Pss. 40.2; 52.11; Job 17.13. He thus renders: 'Through all the earth their
call went forth.' Though Dahood does not comment on the form of the
noun with this derivation, this appears to be the best-founded and most
suitable solution, if 'their (musical) tone/note' is considered an
insufficiently attested development.
Less commendable is his understanding of am (v. 5), to introduce v. 6
as 'From these things = Then'. This would seem clumsy before »im, and
the inclusio he finds in vv. 5c and 7c is already better suited by the
Massoretic verse-division, which gives eight syllables each to 5c and 7c.
In 19.8-9 Dahood observes that TE as 'simple' breaks the sequence
'soul...heart...eyes'. He improves the sequence by deriving TB from ns
'forehead' 21 with suffix, hence 'my mind'. This usage is not attested,
whereas the received text expresses the suitable thought that the wise
would be a simpleton but for God's tora. In v. 10, where n«T also
strains the sequence, Dahood transfers the preceding D~ and reads nton
'edict of (root mr', in Ugaritic 'to command'). This would be to introduce
a unique term into a context of synonyms for 'law' which otherwise
match those of Psalm 119.
Among other proposals, Dahood explains v. 14's DHT as false gods, b»
as 'lest' after Ugaritic, and nrr« as from ytm, by-form of tmm. In v. 15
he translates pm*? as 'according to your desire', explaining that it is
qualified by a 'double-duty suffix' on "pa 1 ?. However, this is to overlook
the parallels for pin 1 ? in sacrificial terminology (Exod. 28.28; Lev. 22.21
etc.). His assumption of double-duty suffixes in vv. 8-10 ('my soul', 'my
mind', 'my heart', 'my eyes') is also precarious, since both the suffixes
in question arise from his proposals.
In his overall interpretation of Psalm 19, Dahood sides with those who
find 'two distinct but related parts'. The first part is an adaptation of an
ancient Canaanite hymn to the sun. The second part matches this adaptation
in that the excellence of the Law is praised often in terms that
20. J. Earth, Etymologische Studien (Leipzig, 1893), pp. 29f.
21. Isaiah 3.17 (?), see Koehler's Lexikon, 3rd edn, p. 924.

1. The Commentators 43
properly describe the sun. Such terms noted by Dahood are rrn, rrr«n,
inn ('enlightened'). To these we should add mints and i^ rnniu 22 and
even the images of fine gold and fresh honey. Dahood's argument,
however, that the double-duty suffixes he has found in both parts may
indicate common authorship is of little force, if only because the occurrences
themselves are often dubious.
Dahood approaches Psalm 119 with enthusiasm. Of all the psalms this,
he says, benefits most from the Qumran discoveries, 114 verses being
represented in the main psalm scroll (HQPs a ). Modern analysis of
syntax reveals for him 'a freshness of thought and felicity of expression'
hitherto hardly noticed. In twelve verses, for example, he discovers a
'double-duty modifier', a divine title being distributed between two cola.
He considers that torn, here and in Psalms 1 and 19, has its widest sense,
'including all divine revelation as the guide of life and prophetic exhortation
as well as priestly direction'. Unfortunately, he does not give
evidence for this interpretation.
Respectful of the received consonants, Dahood does not follow those
who would restore regularity to the pattern of synonyms for 'law'. In
v. 57 he prefers 'my Creator Cp'pn) to 'my portion' Cp^n). It is difficult
to see the advantage of this change, though the possibility is shown to be
well-grounded philologically. Hardly well-founded is his explanation of v.
83 as 'I have become like one weeping from smoke', where 183 is
understood as nad, participle of TO 'move to and fro, show grief.
Dahood is inclined by his discoveries of syntax and vocabulary
strongly to favour a pre-exilic date for Psalm 119. The late seventh
century, with its Deuteronomic activity, provides a likely background, he
thinks, for the spirit and legal language pervading the poem. The view
that it was composed for a Davidic king (cf. Deut. 17.18f.) or some
other leader 'does not seem improbable'.
All in all, and granted that Dahood's commentary has a pioneering,
experimental character with a predominant interest in language, his contribution
on our psalms must be judged noteworthy, offering some fruitful
insights.
22. J.H. Eaton, 'Some Questions of Philology and Exegesis in the Psalms', JTS
NS 19 (1968), p. 605.

44 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Continuing Discussion: Westermann, Gerstenberger and Spieckermann
As a link to the present day, brief reference may be made to three contemporary
writers. C. Westermann's The Living Psalms 23 is a translation
of his Ausgewahlte Psalmen of 1984. He sets out to show in a
commentary how the conclusions of his earlier psalm studies work out
in practice. For this purpose he treats only 33 psalms and some fragments.
His discussion in itself is also very selective, only reiterating
themes dear to his heart. Of Psalm 19 only vv. 2-7 are treated (pp. 252-
55), 'a fragment', but still 'a psalm in praise of the Creator', to which a
praise of the Law was added in later times. Westermann adopts the
emendation of Dip to n'pip, a retrograde step in view of the objections
seen by his predecessors. Retrograde also is his lack of inclination to see
the thought of 19A in the context of the entire psalm. He finds the point
of the description of the sun in showing how the elements render their
praise just by being there. He gives a translation of Psalm 1 with brief
comments on pp. 293-94. As he believes that at one stage the Psalter
ended with Psalm 119, it would then have been prefaced and concluded
with stress on an opposition of pious and godless that turned on their
attitude to tora. Psalm 119 (pp. 294-96) he describes, incorrectly, as an
act of devotion directed to the word of God, a witness to a Bible-based
piety: 'God's word is available in a book which is read reverently and
devoutly.'
E. Gerstenberger contributes Psalms, Part I to the series The Forms
of Old Testament Literature. 2 * For Psalm 1 he devotes much of his
space to the evolution of -ISDN sayings, our psalm standing at the end of a
development from educational contexts to liturgical adaptation. In the
Wisdom tradition, he says, description of opposing fates is relied on,
rather than direct exhortation. Deeply symbolic metaphors—tree, chaff,
water, wind, fruit—reinforce the message. The teaching of separation
from 'non-orthodox Jewish groups' and private effort concentrated on
tora are 'synagogue values', prerequisites for survival. Perhaps the
psalm, he suggests, was read before a Scripture reading or to open a
service. Against these interpretations of Gerstenberger, however, we
have to recall that these 'values' reach back to Deuteronomy.
On Psalm 19 Gerstenberger incorrectly uses the expressions 'Hymn
23. C. Westermann, The Living Psalms (ET; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1989).
24. E. Gerstenberger, Psalms Part I (FOIL 14; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988).

1. The Commentators 45
to Creation...to the heavens...to the sun' and 'Hymn to the Torah'. It is
also incorrect to ascribe to Mowinckel the view that the two parts of
Psalm 19 were originally unrelated, since, as we have seen, Mowinckel
thinks of the author of the psalm as having used an old fragment for his
introduction. Gerstenberger seems to think of the psalm as having
resulted from the accretion of disparate sections. As a whole, he sees it
as a personal prayer on the pattern of old individual complaints. But he
finds in it generalizing and socializing tendencies and (compared with the
old patterns) a decrease in direct address discourse, from which he concludes
that it was used in a liturgical framework in the worship of
Torah-oriented synagogal assemblies'. One may feel that Gerstenberger
is set to find 'synagogal' settings at all costs. His suggestion that the
roots in? and mo are indications of late date is unjustified, and some
consideration should be given to the fact that the psalm, after all, is
embedded between royal psalms in a collection that contains much
material of obvious antiquity.
H. Spieckermann traces the theological core of the Psalms in
Heilsgegenwart: Eine Theologie der Psalmen. 25 Most of his argument
arises from the exegesis of selected psalms, which are set out in Hebrew
and in translation in a way that displays structure and supposed layers of
additions. Psalm 19 is thoroughly treated in this fashion in connection
with the theme of God as sustaining Creator. He disparages the common
view of a Psalm 19A and B, and stresses that the psalm falls into four
parts (2-5a, 5b-7, 8-11, 12-15). The first three formed a hymn about
God's continuing glory in cosmos and tora, adapting material of
Canaanite provenance or mediation (2-7) and temple theology of God's
presence (8-11). The author will have worked together diverse traditions
to express his overall theological understanding, and Spieckermann
notes evidence of skilful balancing and relating of the materials. He sees
vv. 12-15, however, as later expansion which reflects a different view of
tora—anxious rather than loving. Here he seems to judge with excessive
rigidity, and it is notable that he does not consider the piety of this
passage adequately, ignoring for example the striking address to God as
'my Rock and my Redeemer'. The difference of view he insists on may
rather be understood as the climax of meditation, which has arrived at
direct communion with God, fitly involving feelings of unworthiness. 26
25. H. Spieckermann, Heilsgegenwart: Eine Theologie der Psalmen (Gottingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989).
26. For other recent treatments, see Appendix.

Chapter 2
CONCLUSIONS
While many points of detail have been discussed in the preceding critical
survey, the following broad issues deserve concluding comment.
Dating
The dating of our psalms appeared far from agreed, our commentators
variously advocating periods from David to the Pharisees. The connection
which Delitzsch made between David and Psalm 19 at least suggested
some significance in the occurrence of the psalm within a series
of royal texts. 1 Transmission has sometimes joined Psalm 1 to royal
Psalm 2, and for Psalm 119 Dahood, for one, judged a royal interpretation
not improbable. These considerations give some support to a
linking of the tora psalmody with the period of Deuteronomic activity,
which cherished the ideal of the ruler devoted to tora, exemplified in
Joshua, Josiah, and the model king of Deuteronomy 17.
The confluence of wisdom tradition and tora piety, especially clear in
Psalm 1, is also heralded in Deuteronomy (4.5-8); but judging from the
virtual absence of this confluence in Proverbs and its rarity in Psalms,
Gunkel may be right in seeing here the 'mixing' appropriate to later
periods. Arguments based on 'quotations' and use of 'late words', however,
appeared to be of little worth.
Most of our commentators definitely rejected the extremely late
dating of Duhm, chiefly on the grounds that the texts do not express the
extremes of the late law-zeal. The view of Briggs that love for 'the Law'
has replaced the Deuteronomic love for Yahweh was not justified. One
must conclude that it is wiser to think of times closer to the
Deuteronomic movement.
1, Certainly Psalms 18, 20 and 21, quite possibly also Psalms 16, 17, 22 and 23.
See J. Eaton, Kingship and the Psalms (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 2nd edn, 1986).

2. Conclusions 47
Textual Criticism
In their textual criticism, our commentators varied from the extremely
conservative Delitzsch to the boldly reconstructing Briggs, from the
reasonable but ready emender Gunkel to Dahood, the respecter of
received consonants. All observations arising from variants in the ancient
witnesses, from awkwardness of metre or other intrinsic difficulties,
were valuable. But substantial emendation has been seen to lead
nowhere. Commentators have rightly recognized that the composers of
Psalms 1 and 19 adapted traditional material into their work, but the
task is still to comment on the resulting text, not to remake it. Likewise,
some textual details were shown to be fluid in transmission, but the aim
of studying the textual evidence best remained as not so much to emend
as to understand a given form of the text.
The case of the elaborate patterns in Psalm 119 was interesting. We
saw that even cautious commentators were drawn to Miiller's view that
originally eight synonyms for 'law' were used regularly in the eight lines
of each strophe. While there was hardly any encouragement from the
Versions for the enterprise of restoration, we can now bring forward
another witness, the Psalms scroll from Qumran which contains nearly
two thirds of Psalm 119. 2 The scroll differs from the law-synonyms of
the Massoretic Text in v. 43 (with ~m instead of COSCD), in v. 83 (with ion
instead of n-pn), in v. 107 (ma« instead of "at), v. 152 (run instead of
rrra), v. 159 (mat* instead of ion), and v. 176 (nnj; instead of rmsn). None
of these variants have support in the Versions, and only in v. 107 had
several of our commentators made the same change, though in v. 176
Bentzen mentioned that either here or in v. 172 rrnu should be read. The
elaborate pattern found by Briggs is not supported by the scroll. This
example suggests how commentators may be right in suspecting fluidity
in textual details, but can still hardly be confident of success in extensive
reconstruction.
Form-Criticism
The contribution of form-criticism to the understanding of our psalms
was not immediately evident. None of the three psalms fell into wellestablished
types; there was no Gattung in which any, as a whole, was at
2. The text is in J.A. Sanders, The Psalms Scroll of Qumran Cave 11 (Oxford,
1965), pp. 27-35.

48 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
home, and consequently there was no decisive pointer here to their Sitz
im Leben.
But the Gunkelian approach did reveal many well-known motifs in
these psalms, and also led away from the conception of 'quotations' to
one of streams of tradition. For Psalm 1 there was evident the affinity
with Wisdom materials, and with the Deuteronomic ideal of absorption
in the divine teachings; but also some inheritance from cultic procedures
of blessing and curse and entrance controls. For Psalm 19 it had to be
admitted that its hymnic passages were peculiar, both in the creation and
in the tora sections. But Bentzen's conception of a long preparation
leading up to a prayer in the conclusion was helpful. For Psalm 119
most commentators were content to speak of a great medley or collage
of form-elements with only the alphabetic scheme (originally supported
by rotation of synonyms) giving the overall pattern. Mowinckel, however,
came nearer to form-critical norms by seeing the psalm as a
lamenting supplication which uses supporting motifs as grounds for a
hearing, especially the motif of profession of loyalty.
Thought and Piety of Psalm 1
A substantial question in Psalm 1, not easily resolved, was the nature of
the 'judgment' (v. 5). While some commentators spoke of the immanent,
continuous divine work of reward and punishment, others thought
of an eschatological event; Dahood even related it to resurrection and
immortality, the just being transplanted to the Elysian Fields. If the
phrases of v. 5 reflect a cultic usage which effected standards of participation
in the congregation, the question is not settled, as the sense could
still have been transferred to a final event. It is possible that an eschatological
judgment like that depicted by early fifth-century Malachi (3.17f.)
is in mind. But the language of the psalm's continuation supports rather
the view of Gunkel, that judgment here is the ever-active divine retribution
taught by the old sages: the two ways of life will each have their
recompense.
The theological point of this, at first sight, unrealistic conception is that
there is an intrinsic value in the righteous life, an intrinsic penalty in the
wicked life. The final fate would only make manifest the 'reward' operative
from the first. On the good way there is experience of the loving
Lord; he 'knows' this way, walking with his disciple, caring and guiding.
On the evil way, whatever the outward appearance, there is alienation, a

2. Conclusions 49
missing of worthwhile goals, an ever deepening 'lostness'.
Theological interest also attaches to the confluence of Wisdom
teaching and tora-piety which is present in all our three psalms, but most
obviously in Psalm 1. The little poem is for the most part couched in
thought and language typical of the Book of Proverbs, but the conduct
of the happy person is defined with only one positive characteristic, one
which never occurs in Proverbs: his delight is in the tora of Yahweh, as
he meditates in it day and night. The Wisdom teaching that related the
individual to the cosmic order is here united with the revelation of
Yahweh to Israel. The one qualifies the other, and together they make a
whole.
Unity and Flow of Thought in Psalm 19
Psalm 19 attracted the greatest differences of exegesis, arising especially
from different views of its unity and of the paradoxical thought in vv. 4-
5. After Delitzsch had stoutly defended the unity of the piece, grasping
much of its rich message, there came a time when complete separation
of a 19A and a 19B held sway. Duhm and Gunkel (echoed years later
by Westermann) were at the extreme here, while Briggs and Kittel mitigated
their view only a little. But the fascination of the psalm in its
entirety could not be obliterated, and more balanced views were
expressed by Baethgen and Dahood, and especially by Bentzen and
Mowinckel, who depicted the psalmist as using old material for his
introduction. Spieckermann's analysis of the psalm into four parts, of
which only the fourth part was an addition, further emphasized the
correspondences in the main text, stretching across the themes of
creation and tora. Spieckermann, however, had not seen that the last
verses of the psalm were a necessary part of its movement, where the
experience of God becomes more direct.
It is possible that another link has been generally overlooked: a connection
between the break of day in the opening verses and the
sacrificial language in the conclusion. Psalmists who meditated and
played string instruments under the night sky and at break of dawn are
known from Pss. 8.4 and 57.8-10. When the psalmist of 19.15 uses the
musical term |ran for the heart's reverberation, sent up to God with the
song of his lips, we may well think of a musician at one with the instrument
pressed against his body, like the blind harpist-singer depicted on

50 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
an Egyptian tombstone. 3 'Heart' and instrument are one in the dawn
praise of 57.8-10. If our psalmist, meditating and singing in the temple
court under the open sky, has first contemplated the night sky (19.2),
then the change of night to dawn (19.3-4), then the sunrise (19.5c-7), he
would then be aware of the sacred watchmen (130.6) and the priests
who attended to the daily morning offerings in the court. With their
offerings he sent up his sung meditation, like them to be accepted ]"\}srb.
All is a prayer for worshipper, people and world to be granted divine
grace. And if the psalmist of 130.5-6, with the approach of dawn, had
yearned for God's 'word', it may seem appropriate also that the meditation
of Psalm 19 passed from night to dawn, sunrise, and then to
God's tora-word, before concluding with the thought of offerings met
with grace, and knowledge of God as sure refuge and merciful
redeemer. Plenteous redemption is also the last thought of Psalm 130.
It seems all the more probable, then, that Bentzen, Mowinckel and
several others were right to see Psalm 19 as a single flow of composition
incorporating ancient words as a starting point. It must ever be reiterated
that music and poetry were digested deep in the soul. From
recital of old familiar tones and words fresh inspiration would flow, and
the whole would express the actual developing experience of the singerseer.
And as the contemplative force of Psalm 19 begins to be recognized,
the interpretation of vv. 4-6 which Gunkel especially developed gains in
probability. By inspiration the psalmist has become aware of the voices
of the great elements of the heavens, which pass down within their own
species a sacred knowledge and a testimony that glorify the Creator, a
flow of praise in which they have their health and function, but which is
beyond the reach of human ears and understanding. The sun is a
supreme example of this joyful life of service, but contemplation of it
also prepares the way for praise of the just and healing rule which shines
forth from the sovereign Yahweh. From him who is praised and contemplated
by the great elements radiates a guiding governance for all.
Nothing is said of restriction here, and in the context of the whole psalm
this governance is nothing less than his universal rule.
This aspect is fundamental, even though the psalmist may experience
this rule in the teaching of a Mosaic tora. From the character of the
Lord himself come the good qualities of his guiding words. It is he who
3. So J.H. Eaton, The Contemplative Face of Old Testament Wisdom in the
Context of World Religions (London and Philadelphia, 1989), pp. 93-96.

2. Conclusions 51
through his words restores life, keeps faith, gives wisdom, rejoices the
heart, brightens the eyes, proves constant and righteous, is all that can
be desired, all sweetness and all beauty. Here is no mention of 'the
Law', only of utterances 'of Yahweh'. For communion with him the
psalmist longs to be made whole and pure, and to him he offers his
song, to move him to show mercy, the Lord whom he already trusts as
his unique Saviour. Here then is indeed one flow of meditative experience,
comprehending in authentic mystical way a disclosure of the universal
order and the loving relation of God to this one soul.
Contemplation in Psalm 119
The contemplative factor was also largely overlooked in the interpretations
of Psalm 119. As a work of art it was judged scathingly, and as
teaching it was said to be narrow and near to the age of religious
legalism. Some thought it the work of a young man, some of an old.
Some thought its purpose didactic, some anthological in honour of the
Law. Mowinckel, we have seen, was the most successful in aligning it
with psalmody's usual typology, and its grand, elaborate scale suits
Mowinckel's inclination to think of it as a supplicatory psalm composed
for a leader. But it still remains to emphasize the sustained intensity of
communion in this extraordinary psalm.
Apart from the introductory vv. 1-3 and from v. 115, the rest of the
176 verses directly address God. Meditation, involving recitation of
sacred words and the name of God, is mentioned frequently (vv. 15, 27,
48, 55, 97 and 108). It is a pervasive orientation, a way of life, day and
night (55, 62, 97, 147-48 and 164). The rapturous delight it brings (14,
16 and 24) is the mystical awe and delight of contact with the Lord (120
and 131-32). It is the Lord himself who is the worshipper's shelter and
shield (114), and it is the Lord he would praise (175) and the Lord he
asks to seek and save him (176). As in Psalm 19, the chant is sent up as
an offering to find grace (108), and also as in Psalm 19, the closing
words are especially significant. Brought near in the holy presence
through the long meditation, the psalmist must speak of his frailty and
forlornness: may the Lord seek and bring home this his wandering
sheep.
The alphabetic scheme and the rotation of synonyms take on more
meaning from the contemplative purpose. The aid to memory, the sense
of order and completeness, the dedicated skill—here are valid appreciations
of the acrostic. But there is more. From the letters which are the

52 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
primal elements of all utterance unfolds a yet richer alphabet of communion—from
each letter in turn eight sayings that draw to God. It is
precisely the 'disjointed' nature of the sayings that is their strength,
intentionally so. Each has its own completeness as a link to God, spokes
in a wheel of communion. The various names for God's healing word
are told over and over again like beads on a rosary. They reveal new
facets, like stones ever moved to new settings.
The Openness of the Tora-Theme
Most commentators were guilty of an anachronism in speaking of 'the
Law' in these psalms. But what is this tora-of-Yahweh, so vital for these
poets? We have seen that some commentators pointed to teachings
revered by the Deuteronomists, others to the whole Pentateuch, and
others again to a wider collection. But the remarkable fact remains that
none of these psalms gives a specification or an example of such
Scripture. No document is mentioned, no command is cited. The centre
of interest thus remains the Lord himself, and the relation to him. The
warm devotion centres in the fact that he teaches, guides, commands
and promises, and thereby in mercy and faithfulness bestows life. The
form of the revelation remains open, 'exceeding broad (119.96).
So it was open for succeeding generations to receive these psalms to
their hearts—generations of Jews as their collection of Scripture grew,
generations of Christians as they took the way of union with the Word
made flesh. It remains of special ecumenical significance that these
psalms that express the highest rapture of fora-based Judaism also
became the dearest, most familiar companions of Christian devotion.
The impression remains that, while all our commentators have contributed
to the interpretation of these psalms, each bringing his own gift,
we are still only on the threshold of experiencing the richness of meaning.
These psalms continue to beckon spiritual explorers of all cultures
into the presence of the universal Lord, who seeks, guides and delights
through his life-giving word.

Part II
PSALMS 93,97 AND 99

Chapter 3
THE COMMENTATORS
Franz Delitzsch
Franz Delitzsch came to agree unambiguously with the contemporary
trend in declaring Psalms 93,97 and 99 post-exilic. He saw Second Isaiah
as a book of comfort for the exiles, which became a fountain of religious
lyric for subsequent psalmists. The freedom and restoration experienced
under the Persians was the high point from which these psalms gained
their view of the distant final kingdom.
He takes it as obvious and undisputed that Yahweh 'becomes king' in
each of the succeeding revelations of his work. He notes the Greek
superscription of Psalm 93 and the Talmud 1 to the effect that God
'began to reign' over the inhabited earth on the sixth day of creation.
And God 'became king' of Israel at the Mosaic assembly (Deut. 33.5; cf.
Exod. 15.18) and also in later high points of salvation (Ps. 47 linked to
Jehoshaphat's victory of 2 Chron. 20). Finally, Yahweh 'becomes king'
of the whole inwardly and outwardly conquered world (Rev. 11.17;
19.6). The relationship which theocracy represents is finally revealed
universally, and this is the eschatological prospect which our psalms
depict.
In his translation, however, he does not use the expression 'has
become king'. He renders 93.1 as 'Yahweh is now king, has clothed
himself with highness...' He comments that maldk is historic in describing
the event of God's taking his reign, but it also depicts the state, the
continuing result: he has entered on his kingdom and now rules. It is a
new era, for previously the Lord has limited himself, foregoing the
exercise of omnipotence. Now he puts on his supreme exaltation, as a
king dons his robes of royalty, and shows himself to all the world.
With this entry upon the new reign, signifying the final actualization of
1. B. Ros.Has. 3la.

3. The Commentators 55
God's royal power, the place of the kingdom is made secure. Hitherto,
hostile forces have rocked the earth and threatened all divinely ordained
relationships with dissolution. But now God's final intervention has
made the earth utterly secure. His eternal throne is set high above all
opposition. Delitzsch finds no contradiction between the new reign and
the throne 'from everlasting'. The being of Yahweh, including his kingship
and omnipotence, exists beyond all limits of time. The new reign is
its manifest actualization.
In 93.3-5 the raging sea is an image of the God-hating world, and
the streams represent hostile kingdoms (such as the Nile for Egypt,
Jer. 46.7f.). Following the shift in the tenses of «B], he explains that these
foes raged in the past and still rage in the present. Here Delitzsch has
been forced into a rather complex interpretation of the psalm, for he
takes it to depict the future perfection of the kingdom as though present,
but also to depict the suffering of the actual present. The hymn for a
moment becomes a lament; the poet, as he looks to Yahweh, is both
lamenting and comforted.
The complexity is increased when Delitzsch expounds 93.4 to the
effect that Yahweh's ultimate (jenseitige) majesty towers above all the
raging majesties here below—their waves will never reach his throne.
This seems quite different from the understanding that the psalm offers a
vision of God's kingly omnipotence actualized in all the world.
Delitzsch admits the attractiveness of the emendation proposed by
Dyserinck and Gratz in 93.4: nnwao T-TO (still recorded in BHS}—but he
still prefers to hold to the Massoretic Text, venturing only to alter the
punctuation so that D'TIN is drawn back from direct connection with
D" 1 t "i3ffln. He renders: 'More than the tumults of great waters, the lordly
ones, the breakers of the sea, is lordly in the heights Yahweh.' Delitzsch
seems here to have a good instinct for the hovering parallelism of the
ancient poet. We shall have to consider whether the greater knowledge
of Canaanite poetry now available confirms his instincts.
In 93.5 Delitzsch relates the 'testimonies' to the revelation of God's
final kingdom, which has been conveyed in faithful and true words, a
promise that cannot be broken. The 'house' here is the earthly temple,
and the 'holiness' which 'befits' it means that it is sacrosanct, and if
defiled will always be vindicated again. The fact that this verse is
expressed as address to God prompts Delitzsch to find in it a petition
that God will ever preserve his house from defilement.
Thus Delitzsch does not understand Psalm 93 to carry through the

56 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
triumphant scene of the new divine kingdom with which it opens. For
him it is as a whole more like a confrontation between an intuition of the
ultimate perfection and the experience of present danger and disorder.
Hence he entitles it: The King's Throne above the Seas of Nations'.
Whether this understanding is justified by the text we shall continue to
ponder, as also whether the idiom of language and thought has been
correctly adjudged to be post-exilic, following from Second Isaiah.
Delitzsch entitles Psalm 97 The Break-through of the Reign of God
the Judge and Saviour'. Again his translation begins 'Yahweh is now
king, the earth rejoices', and he comments that the theme is God's
future, when through judgment he takes his reign; yhwh malak is the
resolution (Losung) of the world's conflicts and is the key-note of the
psalm. The poet projects himself into the future, the end-time, to be
present to the reign of God, to know it as something already come to pass.
Delitzsch is explicit that Psalm 97 is a post-exilic composition, a
mosaic of clear echoes of older passages—from 'Davidic-Asaphite
psalms' and the prophets, especially Second Isaiah. It all amounts to an
expression of the religious consciousness stemming from the Exile. He
gives numerous references for these 'echoes'.
On 97.11 he notes that Aquila, Symmachus and a few Hebrew
manuscripts support ITIT instead of mr (BHS would adopt this reading,
rnj as Ps. 112.4). But he is struck by the beauty of the metaphor of the
sowing of light, cites parallels in the great poets, and so holds to ini. He
explains that the righteous person walks step by step in a light that is
strewn on his path.
Delitzsch's view of Psalm 97, then, is that the author, having
described the future final advent of God as king as though it were
present, concludes with admonition and comfort to those who love God.
He does not discuss the usage of such a composition, nor in what way
the community shared in the poet's projection of himself into the endtime.
He translates iKnp IDT as 'holy name' without comment, although
there could be a link here with actualizing procedures in worship—the
citation of name and attributes that evoke the Presence.
In taking the psalm to be a mosaic of citations and echoes of 'original
passages', he shows no sense of a common stock of language and ideas
especially associated with worship, and consequently no sense of the
prophets' own dependence on such stock.
Psalm 99 appears to fall into three parts marked by the formulaic
praise of the divine holiness in vv. 3, 5,9. Delitzsch finds the first section

3. The Commentators 57
to be a unit of six stichoi, likewise the second, while in the third the
structure occurs twice over. Comparing the structure of Genesis 1 (with
its double work on the third and sixth days), he suggests that the pattern
follows an artistic law and so tells against emendations that would reshape
the psalm.
The three tributes to God's holiness ('the earthly echo of the seraphic
trisagion') he takes, with acknowledgment to Bengel, as referring
respectively to the final future, to the present, and to the past. Thus the
first section depicts that future time when ' Yahweh reigns' and 'peoples
tremble' (so he translates 99.la). The second section (vv. 4-5) celebrates
Yahweh's present rule, limited to Israel and seen in the theocratic institutions
of the monarchy and temple (his 'footstool'). The third section
looks back to the pre-monarchic times, mentioning the heroic figures of
Moses, Aaron and Samuel and then alluding to the sometimes wayward
people they represented.
Delitzsch argues that in 99.4 "pQ Tin cannot be a second object of
v. 3's TTP, because of the intervening refrain and the division of the
sections. He translates: 'And the power of a king who loves justice you
have established in equity'. That Delitzsch has in mind the Davidic kings
is apparent from his reference to theocracy as illustrated by 1 Chron.
28.5; 29.23; 2 Sam. 8.15 etc.
He argues that the content of 99.6a points to a reference to the past,
and accordingly the participle and imperfects of v. 6b denote repeated
actions in the past. He strives to show the appropriateness of the depictions
of the three leaders, but thereby rather blurs the distinctiveness of
these characterizations. In v. 7 'to them' is taken to refer to the whole
people, as also 'he answered them' in v. 6. Thus the section of twelve
stichoi refers to the twelve-tribe nation, which was called as a whole to
priesthood and prayer. The contrast in v.8b is then in order: to a people
often sinning God came sometimes with forgiveness, sometimes with
retribution. Delitzsch considers that to take nrrb^u of 'misdeeds done
against them' on the lines of Symmachus, Vulgate and Qimhi would be
strained (gewaltsam).
Delitzsch's treatment of 99.6-9, responding to tensions in the text,
involves adding considerably to what is actually stated. His effort to
harmonize what is said of Moses, Aaron and Samuel with other scriptural
tradition obscures the distinctiveness of the psalm, which could
otherwise be recognized as independent of the completion of the
Pentateuch and the books of Samuel.

58 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Friedrich Baethgen
Friedrich Baethgen comments on Ps. 93.1 that the choice of the perfect
(pausal) -$Q rather than participle ^b, signifies that Yahweh has entered
on the sovereignty, has become king, in line with the Greek 6 Ki>pio

3. The Commentators 59
Altogether Baethgen presents a rational account of Psalm 93, with
good points of detail. But his resort to an unidentifiable event, later than
the return from Babylonia, is hardly convincing. If the poet thought that
now, following this event, the world was made stable, the wicked subdued,
and God was manifestly reigning now and for all time to come, he
must soon have been proved wrong. In this concise psalm, one must feel
that every item has special significance essential to the whole, and that
Baethgen has not entered the circle of meaning at any point. His readiness
to ascribe a late date, with the psalmist looking back a considerable
way to Isa. 52.7, is only another sign of his failure to appreciate the
psalm's ancient style and world of thought.
Baethgen sees Psalm 97 as drawing both from Deutero-Isaiah and
from Psalm 50. In a great and recent historical intervention, Yahweh has
become king, and the earth is summoned to rejoicing. The perfect tenses
in the psalm depict how the intervention has occurred, while the imperfects
(which he renders with presents) make the scenes present.
For 97.1 he refers approvingly to Bar Hebraeus: Yahweh has taken
possession anew of his land and become king over it; far and wide there
is joy at liberation from the yoke of Babylon. Baethgen thinks that the
author uses Isa. 42.10 and 51.5 (which mention 'isles'), while his theophany
in vv. 2, 3 and 6 depends on Ps. 50.3-6. Further, Baethgen
regards 97.4a as taken from 77.19, v. 4b from 77.17, v. 5a from
Mic. 1.4, v. 8 from Ps. 48.12, while v. 12 is 'put together' from 32.13
and 30.5. The annihilation of the Babylonian forces and their idols has
been a revelation of God's punishing judgment and of his glory.
For the text of Psalm 97 Baethgen has several suggestions. In v. 5a he
thinks mrr ^s^Q overloads the stichos and is probably a variant to be
deleted (so also BHS). In v. 9, where both stichoi seem too long, ~^~^
"iND f"iKn is perhaps an addition. In v. 10 the imperative IKDKJ is said to be
inappropriate and best read as wxp (cf. for the construction GKC 116x),
though he concedes that a simpler construction results from reading
with Wellhausen '«$ mrr nnfc 'Yahweh loves those who hate evil'. He
considers the expression 'light is sown' in v. lla strange, though
supported by Aquila and Symmachus. He thinks it fits poorly with nrrac
in v. 1 Ib and prefers to follow the other Versions, reading rni 'a light
has risen' as 112.4. While citing from Rosenmueller the opinion of Aben
Jechija that MT's $ here stands for n, Baethgen notes how, through error
of hearing, n and a have been interchanged in other passages (cf. 14.6 "]W
with 53.6 -pn, and Isa. 39.2 rrazn with 2 Kgs 20.13 BDEH).

60 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Perhaps it is the reminders of Second Isaiah (coastlands, shame of
idol-worshippers, Zion), along with the absence of reference to the
temple, which give Baethgen more confidence than he had for Psalm 93
to define the historical event prompting Psalm 97. But he is walking on
a tight-rope. It is Yahweh's manifest world sovereignty which is
involved, and for how many events in broadly the same period would
psalmists keep claiming this significance? Baethgen says that Psalm 97 is
from the same circumstances as Psalm 96, which however he expounds
as widening the historical event of Babylon's overthrow to the messianic
depiction of the future, when Yahweh will have fully entered into the
sovereignty. One may feel that the inadequacy of linking the inauguration
of Yahweh's world reign to a recent historical event begins to be
apparent here. There is inconsistency too when Baethgen notes on 96.8
that the temple has been rebuilt, but the memory of Babylon's downfall
is still fresh enough—for Psalm 93, he said, mention of the temple ruled
out the Babylonian downfall as the underlying subject of the psalm.
Baethgen explains the thread of thought in Psalm 99 as starting again
from the overthrow of Babylon seen as the inauguration of the divine
kingdom: 'Yahweh has become king (ward Konig)—let the peoples
tremble!—he who thrones on the cherubim—let the earth quake!' The
event is seen from the angle of the divine holiness. The holy God is dangerous
indeed to all who affront his majesty, and strong to protect his
chosen ones. These latter, however, rely on his merciful forgiveness
responding to their intercessions, which indeed have been answered in
the present salvation. Moses, Aaron and Samuel—great intercessors—
live on in their spiritual successors: 'A Moses and an Aaron are among
his priests, a Samuel among those who call upon his name' (v. 6). From
D'top onwards Baethgen rather questionably finds a reference to God's
people in general, while the answers from the 'pillar of cloud' include
present responses. Verse 7b is taken as a relative clause: 'to those who
have observed his testimonies.'
Baethgen considers that the reference to punishment at the end of
99.8 jars with the context and is perhaps an addition by some reader. He
thinks that to take the suffix of nm^i? of evils done 'to them' (he compares
'OQD in Gen. 16.5; Jer. 51.35) would still leave the difficulty that
*?y Dp] is not a known usage.
Following Dathe, he sees «in rcnp of 99.3 as an intervening cry from a
second choir, and so v. 4 can the more easily be taken as continuing the
sentence of v. 3: 'May they praise your name great and terrible—and

3. The Commentators 61
the power of the king (Yahweh) who loves right.' Though finding
support in the Targum, this interpretation cuts across the divisions of the
psalm, as Delitzsch observed, and Baethgen himself concludes by wondering
if the text has been disturbed.
Baethgen's account of Psalm 99 has the merit of seeking a unity of
thought. His link with the end of Babylonian empire, however, has
scarcely any foundation, and one may feel that there is much more to
unfold about the interrelation of the newly inaugurated kingdom of
God, the cherub-throne, the three-fold attribution of holiness, and the
prophetic-priestly work of intercession.
Bernhard Duhm
With Bernhard Duhm we find a greater readiness to alter the text to
achieve a supposedly original metre. But already at the outset of Psalm
93 we find too an insensitivity to the ancient style of this poem. In his
edition of 1899 he takes Mi to be the object of the second ton 1 ?, and
assumes that the object of "irnnn has fallen out; *]« of v. 2 may have been
~n$ and the missing object after it could have been irn«?pi (cf. 96.6).
Translating 'Yahweh is king...he has girded himself...', Duhm seems to
think of the simple continuation of Yahweh's reign from creation. Ever
since then, the world has remained firm, his throne and mighty power
have endured. In Duhm's edition of 1922 he alters details of his reconstruction:
~$Q is pronounced "$g and taken appositionally ('Yahweh the
king is clad in highness') on metrical grounds—a strained attempt to
read the cola as 3+3. He further reads i-ti? for Ti> (from the KCU in LXX)
and now suggests that *]* is itself the remains of an original n~n« a n
having been lost through haplography.
He takes 93.3 as a description of the primeval battle when the raging
waters were subdued. He would remove any doubts by regarding iKtzr as
an error for WE. In v. 4 he readily adopts the emendation 'an TIN, 'Over
the voices of the great waters, glorious over the breakers of the sea,
glorious in the height is Yahweh'.
The 'testimonies' of 93.5 he understands as the Law, with its admonitions
and promises. It is mentioned, he says, as a second creation, the
foundation of the spiritual world order. Because of these two enduring
works, the temple will thrive and endure.
Duhm describes Psalm 93 as 'a liturgical composition'. His thought
seems to be that it was composed for regular use in worship, rather than

62 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
as a response to some particular event. Referring to the Greek heading,
which appoints the psalm for the eve of Sabbath in recollection of the
completion of creation, he commends the Egyptian Jews for understanding
the psalm better than the exegetes who relate it to a historical
event. He is thus averse to any connecting of this and similar psalms to
the return from exile, and he makes no reference to Deutero-Isaiah. He
probably assumes a late date, to judge from his interpretation of 93.5a as
a reference to the Law and from his treatments of Psalms 97 and 99.
The strength of Duhm's exegesis of Psalm 93 may be found in the
clarity with which he has seen the reference to the primaeval victory of
creation. Although he implies some cultic usage commemorative of
creation, he does not develop this, and so leaves the excitement of the
opening proclamation undiscussed, as also the contradictions of actual
experience of the state of the world. It is as though he is assuming that
liturgy, in its commemorative work, conveys an ideal picture amid fresh
excitement, but he does not bring this aspect into the discussion.
Duhm begins his translation of Psalm 97 'Yahweh is king', but he is
still thinking of a revelatory event—God is manifesting his majesty in a
thunderstorm. The author, says Duhm, depicts what has happened
before and will happen ever again; he would have indeed been a bungler
(Stumpfer—so the edition of 1899) if he had intended to refer to an
event in political history—introducing it so unskilfully and then losing
sight of it. In v. 7, however, the 'judgments' are announcements of
Yahweh's world-rule of which the thunderstorm is the symbol and often
the prelude. Duhm here seems to suggest that with the manifestation of
Yahweh's royal power in the storm, thoughts of his judgment in the
world are readily aroused. The power that is disclosed is that which must
compel the nations to subjection and adoration, while filling his own
people with joy and confidence.
It is interesting to compare Duhm's exegesis of Psalm 29, which, he
says, is chiefly notable in describing a natural phenomenon—the
thunderstorm—without special purpose or further application. Here
again he does not perceive the antiquity of the style and conceptions. He
thinks the author of Psalm 29 is shown to be late by his ideas of the
heavenly ocean and the priest-like D'btf -n, and as a poet he uses crude
means not deserving the praise often lavished on him by uncritical
readers.
For Psalm 97 Duhm advocates a number of deletions and emendations,
including mr for mr in v. 11. In v. 10 he reads with Wellhausen

3. The Commentators 63
(so also BHS) in '^to mrr anh. He assumes dependence on prophets, for
example the D"K of v. 1 stem from Deutero-Isaiah, and the melting hills
of v. 5 fromMic. I A.
Duhm's view that a thunderstorm has prompted the composition of
the psalm and occasioned the thoughts of God's discriminating judgment
does seem somewhat strained. It is symptomatic that he regards
v. 7a, b (D-y^ta ...lam-) as a stupid insertion since idolaters would not be
put to shame by a thunderstorm. The fact is that the storm imagery is a
motif subordinate to the theme of the present action of the self-revealing
God, action in judgment and salvation. The exposition of the psalm has
somehow to account for this.
For Psalm 99 Duhm gives one of his warmer expositions. He is especially
interested in it as he takes it to be a revealing and important
document from the Hasmoneans. His comments on metre and structure
are of limited interest as he alters the text considerably. He heightens the
psalm's symmetry by repeating the refrain 'Holy is he' at the end of
v. 7 and by emending the refrain at the end of v. 9 to 'Holy is Yahweh'.
With further changes he secures four strophes, each consisting of a
tristich and a distich of four beats and closed with the congregational
refrain 'Holy is he'/'Holy is Yahweh'.
He begins his translation of Psalm 99 'Yahweh is king—let the
peoples tremble, he thrones on the cherubim—let the earth shake!' (He
reads CDQFI for the 'unknown' coin. This exciting opening is explained by
Duhm from the rise of Hasmonean power. The psalm glorifies Yahweh
and the priestly kingship he has installed, and fosters the sense that the
climax of history is near.
In the difficult 99.4, Duhm puts aside nn« CDStun as a qualifying gloss
added by editors of the Psalter, who felt some reserves towards the
Hasmoneans. He translates the remainder: 'And royal power, thou hast
established it; uprightness, justice and righteousness hast thou executed
in Jacob.' Since the psalm 'cannot be pre-exilic', the reference must be
to the Hasmoneans, and the phrase "pD TJJI suggests the approach to the
royal style, before its full adoption. The psalm could thus be as early as
the rule of Simon. The 'footstool' of v. 5, to judge from v. 9, denotes
the temple mount, a reinterpretation of Isa. 66.1.
Duhm renders the puzzling 99.6f. in present tenses:
Moses and Aaron are among his priests, Samuel among those who call on
his name. These call to Yahweh and he hears. In the pillar of cloud he talks
to them, who keep his testimonies and the statute which he gave to them.

64 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
The meaning, he says, is that the mediation of a full intercourse with
God—such as existed in the days of these three—is still in operation. So
the priesthood of the latter-day temple, headed by the Hasmoneans,
would assure the people that their needs were still effectively represented
before God. The Sadducees assert their claim against all disparagers. The
pillar of cloud, symbol of wonderful communion, is still present, and
history comes to its glorious climax.
The difficulty at the end of 99.8 Duhm resolves by emending to
nrr^yn '(taking revenge) for attacks on them'; he claims, rather
questionably, that rfr^s does not occur in a purely bad sense.
Duhm's account of Psalm 99 goes along with his dating of the completion
of the Psalter to the first century BCE. Such dating, implausible
enough in itself, appears to have no justification in the text of our psalm.
The peculiar characterization of the ancient leaders in v. 6f., perhaps predating
the completion of the Pentateuch, is not considered by Duhm.
Nor does he correlate his handling of this psalm with that of the other
Yahweh-malak psalms.
This habit of leaving psalms of similar type uncorrelated is in contrast
with the method which became common through Gunkel's work. For
our three psalms, Duhm suggests three quite different centres of gravity:
reference to creation in Psalm 93, a thunderstorm in Psalm 97, and
Hasmonean propaganda in Psalm 99. It is interesting to see what he has
done earlier in his commentary with Psalm 47. Here also he specifies a
'liturgical composition', elusive for dating because lacking reflection of a
historical situation, intended rather for regular celebration. In this case,
however, because of a reference to blowing of the horn, he goes further
and specifies the feast on New Year's day, the first day of the seventh
month. He notes the suitability of the psalm's universalist thought (he
has emended the suffixes in 47.4 to vnnn and rbri). The change to the
new year arouses trust that Yahweh rules the world and affords a glimpse
of the great change of things which lies in the future. The liturgical event
of Yahweh's ascension (v. 6) he connects with the practice of sacrifice:
Yahweh descends at the moment of offering, and so ascends again.
Thus Duhm leaves us with a variety of insights and proposals about
this type of psalm, examples of his originality and penetration, but on the
whole remaining rather disjointed and inadequate.

3. The Commentators 65
Charles Briggs
To follow the thought of Charles Briggs in his comments on particular
psalms of God's kingship, one has to note that he regards 93, 96-100 as
but the remains of one grand song of praise. Moreover, he thinks of
these remains as needing to be re-ordered and purged of ample glosses.
He envisages the original great structure with some precision: it had
three parts, each of five strophes, and each strophe consisted of six
stichoi of three beats. But in the third part he shows the third strophe as
lacking most of its lines.
The great song celebrated the advent of Yahweh as universal king,
newly come to execute judgment. Although Briggs translates "pQ mrr as
'Yahweh doth reign', he explains emphatically that the reference is not
to God's everlasting royal prerogative, but belongs to a joyful celebration
of his having even now shown himself to be king. He has come in a
regal advent and taken his place on his throne to govern the world
himself, and no longer through inefficient or wicked servants.
Briggs thinks of this advent as known in the first place in a great
historical event. But only in comments on Psalms 96 and 98 does he
venture to identify this as probably Alexander's overthrow of Persia.
More often he does not mention a historical background, even in general
terms. The advent is simply 'celebrated', involving a musical festival at
the temple, with sacred dance in which all nations share. Just what this
meant in the experience of the worshippers, and why the conception
occurs with its peculiar features, Briggs does not discuss. His commentary
on Psalm 47, however, shows that he could envisage a great
ritual celebration, with blowing of trumpets and a procession where God
ascends to his throne-room in the temple, all in celebration of some
historical deliverance. The ark does not come to mind here, as such texts
are assumed to be post-exilic.
Understanding that the great song celebrated a particular demonstration
by Yahweh of his royal power, Briggs sees no contradiction in the
tribute of 93.2 to the eternal kingship. In 93.3-4 he does not see the
waters as foes of God. Emending D'Di to nnpt 'their commemoration'
(the Targum has jirprno 'their praises'), he explains that the sea, in real
storms, is understood to commemorate the wonders of God; its appearance
is majestic, but the poet asserts that Yahweh on high is still more
magnificent, and can eventually ensure stillness and order.
Briggs does not perceive the significance of 93.5, with the temple as

66 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
an essential part of the ancient pattern of kingship, and he omits the
verse as a gloss from a later editor, who'was concerned about the Law
and the temple which was 'separate and apart from all that is unconsecrated
and profane'.
Psalm 97, in Briggs's view, declares that Yahweh is come in
theophany. 'He doth reign'—he has now shown himself to be king—
and all Nature has broken into commotion, and heaven and earth see and
declare his glory. The description 'cites' older texts such as Deut. 4.11;
5.19; Ps. 50.8. A glossator has added v. 2b from Ps. 89.15 to alleviate
the terrifying picture.
All that follows, 97.7-12, is said to be simply a patchwork of glosses
from various hands. Verse 7a is taken as a Maccabean imprecation
against idolaters, but 7b comes from another glossator who differs in
seeing the gods as realities. Here Briggs seems to be imposing his own
logic, for even in Deutero-Isaiah rejection and utter depreciation of the
gods need not entail total denial of their existence. Psalm 97.10b-ll is
said to be a little fragment, probably from the Maccabean period.
Briggs sees Psalm 99 as continuing the depiction of the same
theophany of Yahweh, newly proven king, greatly exalted, awful in
holiness, just in his administration. It can be seen as a suitable part of the
greater hymn once the particularistic passage vv. 6-9 is identified as a
lengthy gloss and put aside. Briggs takes the end of v. 8 as referring to
Yahweh's judgment on the rebellious ringleaders in the wilderness. He
remarks, rather vaguely, that the third-person suffixes in v. 8 were
doubtless meant generally and were probably prosaic interpolations.
It is remarkable that Briggs is so ready to set aside such a large proportion
of Psalms 97 and 99 as glosses. He goes well beyond supposed
requirements of metre and parallelism in reconstructing his original long
hymn, and employs sweepingly a criterion of logic. Any thought-pattern
which he considers to contain inconsistencies he takes as resulting from
a combination of the ideas of several different 'hands'. Since the kingship
of Yahweh here proclaimed is a universalistic idea, involving all
peoples, distant isles, the whole earth, references to Jewish institutions
are taken to betray the work of glossators. Thus 93.5 is a gloss because
of its reference to the Law and the temple, and 99.6-9 is a gloss because
of its concern with early Israelite history. As for 97.7-12, its inconsistency
over the gods and its citations of other texts mark it for him as a
veritable patchwork of later additions.
There is a danger here of obliterating the ancient poet's own logic

3. The Commentators 67
before it has had a chance to be heard. With more patience we might
come to see a vital role in cosmic kingship for the temple and decrees of
93.5. We might further see an ancient pattern in the interplay of elements
universal and local in all three psalms. And we might discover
reasons why, from early times, gods could be acknowledged to exist, but
also derided as nothings.
The commentary of Briggs is nevertheless interesting as concerned
with an original liturgical function of these psalms of Yahweh's kingship
as parts of one whole. The combined witness of these psalms to an act of
worship in celebration of Yahweh's newly revealed kingship was something
which other exegetes were soon to explore deeply. And as for
Briggs's drastic identification of secondary material, there were to be
some scholars up to our own day to sympathize with this approach.
Rudolph Kittel
Rudolph Kittel thought of eschatology as having first had a popular
basis, with crude expectations of revenge on foes and of material plenty.
The great prophets, he thought, refined such expectations with stress on
righteousness and judgment. Though the Psalms contain the popular
view, in some cases they represent the nobler view of the prophets.
Deutero-Isaiah had interspersed his utterances with eschatological hymns
to impress his message on his hearers, and from him this type of praisesong
had been derived by the psalmists. The type must have originated
with the prophets, since eschatology was especially their province. 2 All
this Kittel sets out with reasoned clarity, but our doubts may remain as
to whether the psalms in question are indeed eschatological, and whether
account has been taken of a cultus where prophecy and song could both
have a role, perhaps often merging.
Kittel sees Psalm 93 as following the manner of the great eschatological
prophets. Like one of them, the psalmist looks out on the end-time
and sees Yahweh ascend his throne to begin his perfect reign: 'Yahweh
has become king (ward Konig), has robed himself...!' The relation of
vv. 1 and 2 is explained logically: when Yahweh first created the world
he showed he was lord and king and set up his throne—only to ascend
it when the right time should come. Inspired by the spirit, the psalmist
sees this future messianic time as though present, and so depicts the
2. R. Kittel, Die Psalmen ubersetzt und erklart (Leipzig, 1929 [1914]), pp. 171-
74.

68 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
ascension to the throne. (But a few lines later, Kittel speaks of Yahweh's
throne-ascension at creation, and in this slip seems to betray the
artificiality of his explanation).
Logical again is the explanation of the tenses in 93.3. First he finds a
reference to the time of the original creation: 'Floods lifted, O Yahweh,
floods lifted their roar'. Then the present vision of the end-time is
resumed, when the battle will recur: 'Floods lift their din'. And Kittel
joins those who in v. 4 emend to "OBI? TIN. He translates 93.5: 'What
you have testified is trustworthy indeed'. It is an affirmation that the
promises God has given to his people through his visionaries will be
kept, and the holiness of the temple will remain ever inviolate. But in
suggesting that this verse may reflect a time of threatening danger,
Kittel has hardly grasped the unity of the psalm's thought and so may
have introduced an unnecessary complication.
A 'compelling proof that Psalms 96 and 98 are eschatological is found
by Kittel in the phrase p«n v&vh to -D (96.13; 98.9), which he translates
'when he comes to judge the earth'. And this, he says, gives a starting
point for the interpretation of similar psalms which lack this phrase. He
carries this interpretation over into Psalm 97, which again he takes as a
song about the end of the world, prophetically seen by the singer as
present. He makes much of 97.6a and lOa as a distinctive contribution
of the psalm. Its chief concern is thus not with the outward show of
Yahweh's triumph, but with its inner glory, its spiritual and religious
meaning—the universal victory of righteousness.
He gives a vivid account of the act of ascension. Dark clouds gather
like a court around their ruler, while he, wrapped in light, strides to his
throne. Zion and the daughter towns rejoice not in an Israelite victory,
but in the victory of truth, the true knowledge of God. So the mission of
Israel to proclaim the true God to the nations celebrates its most glorious
triumph in Yahweh's ascension to the throne at the end of the days,
when he inaugurates his kingdom. Appropriately, the psalm ends not
with contrast of Israel and the heathen, but with open ethical terms
which befit the psalm's 'world-spanning spiritual conception of God'. In
97.10 Kittel emends to ir\ -«#? mrr nnfc and in v. 11 to rnj TIN.
Kittel has no doubt captured some of the splendour of Psalm 97, but
in his notion of a universal ethical ideal derived from the prophets, he
fails to take account of the cosmic thought deeply rooted in the ancient
Near East, where the right and the good are considered essential to the
very order of things, the main feature indeed of the heavenly kingship.

3. The Commentators 69
For Psalm 99 Kittel takes a surprisingly different approach. He
describes it as a hymn to Yahweh as Israel's God of war and victory,
who at the same time has shown himself as lord of all the world and has
given Israel its Law. Israel has won some victory over the heathen and
wishes to give the glory to God. High religious value is found especially
in the concluding thoughts of God's unmerited grace.
Kittel explains that the joyous cry 'Yahweh has become king' (ward
Konig, 99.1) announces the inauguration of the final kingdom of God;
the historical events have kindled in the poet an enthusiastic confidence
that the new and marvellous era has already begun. In 99.4 he prefers
the emendation "^n W] 'and a strong one has become king'.
The period when all this can be imagined is located by Kittel before
the exile. He thinks the rescue of Jerusalem from Sennacherib may be
the event on which the song is based. The circumstance are best related
to those envisaged by Psalm 2, where Kittel has seen a development of
messianic ideas during the late monarchy. Against a post-exilic dating he
argues that history then offered no suitable circumstances, while the fact
that the 'great prophets' are not mentioned among the mediators of salvation
suggests that the author lived within their period.
Kittel explains the logic of 99.6-9 from the thought of God's grace,
which is all the clearer when a negative is conjectured into v. 8c—'and
did not punish'. In the ancient past, Moses, Aaron and Samuel won forgiveness
for the people by their intercession, and the implication is that
the present salvation was also a work of grace. Kittel translates v. 6a:
'Among his priests are Moses and Aaron, a Samuel among his confessors',
but he makes no comment on the question of how the ancient
intercession is continued.
Kittel rates Psalm 99 highly. With its enthusiastic spirit, living religion
and vigorous congregational acclaim of Yahweh's holiness, it must be
considered, he thinks, a highly effective aesthetic composition. That his
exegesis differs so markedly from his treatment of Psalms 93 and 96-98
seems to be due to the old Israelite colouring he observed in the sitting
over the cherubim (v. 1), the 'in Jacob' of v. 4, the footstool (v. 5), and
the content of vv. 6-8. So he preferred here to see the world-kingdom—
messianic and definitely inaugurated—as arising from the stuff of
present history, some political deliverance of the later monarchy.
Granted that Psalm 99 offers something distinctive, we may question
whether the fundamental element in the group of psalms proclaiming
Yahweh's new reign should be so variously interpreted.

70 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Hermann Gunkel
The view of Hermann Gunkel on the 'songs of Yahweh's throneascension'
are not entirely easy to follow as, during his latter years,
when writing his commentary and the groundwork of his Einleitung in
die Psalmen (1933), he was in process of revising his position in
response to the work of P. Volz, S. Mowinckel and H. Schmidt. We
have the impression not only of inconsistency but also of opinions in
flux. The reader of the Einleitung, for example, has to reckon with a
first account of these psalms on pp. 94-100, a revised opinion on
pp. 100-116, and a different view again from the co-writer and editor of
this posthumous volume, J. Begrich, pp. 420-22. It is no wonder that
simple accounts of Gunkel's views down to the present time tend to be
misleading.
In the first place, however, we have to see what he says—and what
he does not say—about our psalms in his commentary. It is at once
apparent, as he treats Psalm 93, that he argues from the nature of
the type (Gattung) to which he assigns a psalm. He explains that since
this jubilant and well-constructed poem belongs, as its opening shows, to
the Songs for Yahweh's Throne-ascension, it is to be understood
eschatologically. 3
For the details of his scene, Gunkel explains, the psalmist is able to
imitate poems sung at the enthroning of earthly rulers, and in the
present case seizes on the donning of glorious vestments. Then he makes
reference to the mighty action preceding the throne-ascension—how
God has made firm a world that was shaken by the chaos preceding the
end-time. This preceding action is further described in 93.3-4, drawing
on ancient mythology to give colour: the primaeval battle with the
chaos-waters has recurred in the end-time. Gunkel accordingly renders
v. 3 in the past tense throughout ('Streams raised') and would either
emend IKOT to IKCM or regard w as used for variation and to be understood
as a 'poetic aorist'. In this latter suggestion, Gunkel's feeling for
the context seems to be leading him in the right direction. In v. 4 he
points out that D'~n« cannot easily be taken as attribute of D"3~i D-Q as it
follows the caesura, so he translates from the emendation '

3. The Commentators 71
The point of 93.5, according to Gunkel, is that the promises
('testimonies') given to the prophets will have been fulfilled with the
subjugation of the chaos-sea, and the temple will have become a sure
asylum 'in the raging flood'—'holiness' signifying inviolability. In this
verse it seems that Gunkel has not seen the connection of thought,
which was to become clearer after the Ugaritic discoveries. His picture
of an 'asylum in the raging flood' seems to move us back from the
happy completion of Yahweh's kingdom.
In this exegesis Gunkel does not discuss the setting of Psalm 93,
though he does mention Mowinckel's theory without comment. He does
not discuss the date. He does not here fill out what he means by the
'eschatological' character, nor specify relation to the prophets. He does
not comment here on the nature of the psalmist's experience, and he
makes no mention of congregational participation. It is easy to fill out his
thought from his other writings (and he is more forthcoming on Psalm
47), but still his reticence here does suggest growing uncertainties in his
mind.
A particular difficulty arises in 93.2, where Gunkel decides that the
psalmist 'goes beyond' ('outbids') the fundamental thought of 'the
entire Gattung', whereby Yahweh ascends the throne only in the endtime.
Rather, says this psalmist, God's sovereignty stands from of old
and is not shaken by the final savage assault. It is difficult to relate this
with Gunkel's account of v. 1 as a scene of throne-ascension. When we
reckon also with the shift of viewpoint involved in his explanation of
v. 5, we may feel that he has not been able to trace a unity of thought in
this tightly-knit psalm. His reference to imitation of earthly enthronements,
though plausible at first sight, may also prove to involve profound
misunderstanding. For it would be an anomaly to imagine the
existence of a great ceremonial for the Davidic king's installation
centuries earlier than ceremonies of God's kingship. The Davidic king in
essence is installed only as servant and agent of the real king, God.
In view of Gunkel's silence on the setting and period of Psalm 93, as
just noted, it is quite surprising to find his bald statement on Psalm 97:
'The poem will have been sung, like the other Throne-ascension Songs,
at an annually occurring festival for the celebration of Yahweh's throneascension
(Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien II) cf. Einleitung §3.8.' 4
4. The section of Gunkel's Einleitung referred to here works over the texts
adduced by Mowinckel and concludes that a new-year throne-ascension festival of
Yahweh existed in the late monarchy, influenced by the Babylonian New Year festival

72 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
It is also noticeable that Gunkel's eschatological interpretation of
Psalm 97 is not put strongly before the reader. Only after a considerable
amount of exposition is an 'eschatological context' mentioned. This
contrasts with Gunkel's exposition of this psalm in his Ausgewahlte
Psalmen? where there is no mention of a festal setting, and it is made
crystal clear that the psalm portrays the end of the world, when Yahweh
appears as king of the whole earth, casts down the rule of the gods into
the dust, and redeems Zion; all this is essentially prophecy, and the
psalmist in the manner of the prophets describes the future as though he
himself stood in the midst of it. He hears the cry ring through heaven
and earth, 'Yahweh has become king'—contrasting with the psalmist's
actual situation where the government of the world is in the hands of the
heathen world empires, and the peoples honour idols. In such a
forthright manner Gunkel made clear in Ausgewahlte Psalmen his
eschatological interpretation, and one can only think that in writing his
full commentary he was no longer so sure of this view.
The commentary begins by designating Psalm 97 as a Song for
Yahweh's Throne-ascension with hymnic affinities. Yahweh has
'become king' and the inauguration of his reign is cause for the rejoicing
of the whole world. The depiction of vv. 2-6 shows Yahweh on his
throne and radiant with such terrible effects of divinity that his foes are
instantly overcome. So, like oriental kings throning at the scene of battle,
Yahweh is pictured as triumphing without having so much as to move
his hand. The heavens, like heralds, carry news of his triumphant throneascension
into all lands. Regarding the details of the depiction, Gunkel
suggests the volcanic imagery has descended from the Sinai experience,
the throne is pictured after those of earthly rulers, while the fiery manifestation
had become a favourite eschatological theme of the prophets.
Gunkel takes 97.7-9 to depict the effects of Yahweh's manifestation
on the religious and political circumstances of the world. While the gods
sink into the dust before Yahweh, Zion rejoices that her God has
become the highest in the world. Gunkel reads into v. 9 the thought that
if Yahweh is exalted, so also shall be his people—a consoling thought
ever since the prophecies of Deutero-Isaiah. Verses 10 to 12 then apply
this thought to the pious individual: he can look forward to the day of
and by the enthronement ceremony of the Israelite kings; the ideas of this festival
were transformed by Deutero-Isaiah into eschatology, and from this development
result our present throne-ascension psalms.
5. Gottingen: 2nd edn, 1905.

3. The Commentators 73
Yahweh, confident that light will arise for him. 6 And Gunkel adds that
Duhm was right in setting his face against a historical occasioning of
Psalm 97, but not in deriving it from experience of a thunderstorm,
which would not fit the psalm.
For Psalm 99 Gunkel notes the special form it has from its refrains,
but because of its content classifies it as one of the Songs for Yahweh's
Throne-ascension. On grounds of parallelism and context he changes the
vowels in v. Ib to nstr, 'he has taken his seat on the cherubim', comparing
47.9 and 93.1. The reference, he says, is not to a general truth, but
to an eschatological event. The psalm thus opens with the proclamation
of sovereignty, the Konigsruf, f,
a message to all the world. But it is char-
acteristic of this psalm that all are summoned not to rejoice but to
tremble. With the repeated acclamation of God's holiness and the reference
to his retribution in v. 8, the tone of Psalm 99 is one of moral
earnestness.
For the difficult 99.4a, Gunkel's solution may be thought too free
with the text: he deletes as a gloss nntf CDDCB and revises the remainder to
Ti? ^jy\—'(Holy is he) and a stern king'. It would surely be wiser not to
alter the refrain by extending it in this manner.
Gunkel's account of 99.6-9 is imaginative, but scarcely satisfactory.
Pursuing his idea that the throne-ascension psalms borrow established
features of (hypothetical) songs for the enthronement of human rulers,
he imagines that the latter would glorify the king by listing heroes of the
realm and their deeds—how great a king who could have such servants!
However, we may object that this is scarcely the thought of our
psalmist, who seems rather to be especially interested in mediation and
intercession. Gunkel thinks the sequence is improved if v. 8a is transferred
to follow 6c, and for metrical reasons he reads in v. 8b '^zrbj?
nm'rbiJ with the Greek. He explains the surprising v. 8b, c as meaning
that God forgave their lesser sins and punished their greater ones. The
punished sins he illustrates from Exod. 32.If., Num. 12.If.; 20.12, 24 in
the case of Aaron, and Num. 20.12 in the case of Moses. The contrasting
of forgiveness and punishment he illustrates from Exod. 34.7.
He notes the psalmist's variations from Pentateuchal tradition in regarding
all three as priests powerful in intercession, and in thinking of the
law-giving in the pillar of cloud as continuing into Samuel's time, but he
sees these as natural developments and does not consider them as
6. Reading mr 'with 1 ms, Greek, Jerome, Syriac, Targum: cf. 112.4; Isa.
58.10'.

74 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
possible pointers to an earlier date before Pentateuchal tradition was
fixed and normative.
Finally Gunkel dismisses any attempt to explain Psalm 99 from a
recent historical victory, and also disparages Duhm's Hasmonean interpretation
as due to failure to recognize the fundamentally eschatological
character of the psalm. He reiterates that among the throne-ascension
songs this psalm is distinguished by its emphasis on the righteousness of
the new king—and here he sees the after-effect of the spirit of the great
prophets.
As with Psalm 93, we note again that Gunkel does not here discuss
the setting of the psalm, although his remarks on Psalm 97 and argument
in Einleitung referred to above would locate Psalm 99 also in a
post-exilic celebration of Yahweh's eschatological throne-ascension. That
he does not discuss the matter here, when this particular text might have
something to contribute to the question, suggests that he is far from
happy with the position he has sketched in Einleitung.
The picture, then, that emerges from examination of Gunkel's commentary
on these prime examples of his Gattung of Songs for Yahweh's
Throne-ascension is that of a great exegete who had once had a settled
view of them as 'eschatological'—poems of psalmists who like prophets
experienced and described future finalities as present—but who has
partly been won over to Mowinckel's placing of them in the New Year
festal liturgy. He had only a few years to reflect on Mowinckel's work
of 1922 before his own commentary appeared in 1929. He remains in
an awkward position, not ready to expound them as anything but eschatological
and subsequent to Deutero-Isaiah, yet unable to demonstrate
these positions with conviction from the texts before him.
Even so, in his last working days he was using the new insights to
explore further the soul of the ancient worshippers. Thinking of the
festival of Yahweh's throne-ascension in pre-exilic times, he speaks of
the rapture arising from experience of God's nearness:
A simple people, unaccustomed to thought, makes such an abstract idea
clear to itself by presenting things not as permanently existing but as happening,
and they embody them in rites, whereby they gain immeasurably in
impact. Thus the fundamental thought of these poems is that Yahweh on
this day becomes king and makes entry.. .and the soul gladly accepts that
with the new year everything becomes new. 7
7. Gunkel, Einleitung, p. 113.

3. The Commentators 75
After the exile he sees our psalms injecting an eschatological message
into the old frame of the festival, and he briefly explains what this meant
for the assembly: 'So the people is caught away into the future with
unheard-of force and has to experience the coming Day as present.' 8
Aage Bentzen
With his commentary appearing in 1939, Aage Bentzen had had time to
digest Gunkel's earlier work, the revolutionary studies of Mowinckel,
and Gunkel's subsequent commentary and Einleitung. From his exposition
of Psalm 47 it is already apparent which approach he finds most
satisfactory. The only interpretation of rfti? (47.6) that suits the text, he
says, is the cultic one, with Duhm, Briggs and Mowinckel, while ^Q
(47.9) clearly means not 'he is king' but 'he has become king, taken
dominion (cf. 2 Sam. 15.10 etc.) and so refers to Yahweh's throneascension
in the festival. This is the directly suitable interpretation,
whereas the explanation by a historical event or by prophetic knowledge
of the end of the world would entail re-interpretation of the expression.
In any case, the psalm is too unspecific to be celebrating a historical
event, and it lacks the prophetic formulae which would signal eschatology.
The position Gunkel reached—that the content was eschatology
but the setting was an annual feast—is described by Bentzen as 'a
bloodless compromise'.
Dealing with Psalm 93, Bentzen begins as usual with textual and linguistic
matters. In v. 1 he favours MT •pn (Ni. imperf. of ]ID) against the
common emendation with the Versions }?n (Pi- perf. of pn, cf. 75.4;
96.10). He thinks the Versions here will have been influenced by theological
considerations, desiring to spell out the omnipotence of Yahweh.
In v. 3 he joins the many who emend to "202 TIN. In v. 5 he suggests
that "pmu is derived from "ur, hence 'your assemblies', cf. Jer. 30.20
'your assembly shall be established before me'. Such reference to peaceful
festivals would match the parallel reference to the temple now
glorious with the divine presence. Here mw, he thinks, is best taken as
Pa'lel (masc.) perfect of nfc« (after Noldeke), but the contexts might be
better suited by the proposal of Buhl (as in BHK) to read rn], construct
of mw 'beauty', as was favoured also by Mowinckel, 9 )
translating either
8.
9.
Gunkel, Einleitung, p. 115.
Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien V, p. 27.

76 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
'your house has the beauty of holiness' or 'may your house have the
beauty of holiness'.
Coming now to the thought of Psalm 93, Bentzen insists that ~pn mrr
must not be translated timelessly, 'Yahweh is king', as though it were
~$Q mm; rather 'he has entered (his) reign'. There is no indication that
this is a prophetic perfect referring to a future time. It is in present time,
looking back on the moment when Yahweh took power (mo v. 2); so
rightly the Greek superscription and the renderings epao-{A,et>aev,
evaStjaaio etc. The psalm, he continues, is only well understood when
one has found its 'place in life', where it says something about a religious
experience. And the characteristic of its religious experience is that
it sees Yahweh's throne-ascension after the creation as something that
has just happened. One might justly with Mowinckel add 'now' in the
translation of vv. 1, 2, 4 and 5. At all events, one can say that the psalm
belongs to a particular festival where the thought of Yahweh's worldsovereignty
since creation is the most important, the bulwark of the
community's faith.
In 93.1 Bentzen thinks the clothing is not battle array but coronation
robes, symbolic of royal power. Verse Ic refers back to what lies behind
Yahweh's throne-ascension, namely the creation of the world, preceded
by the battle with the primaeval ocean. Thus the psalm is praise of
Yahweh as giver of natural order, who makes the world firm for living,
despite all evil powers.
In 93.2 Bentzen notes that 'your throne' could refer to the Zion
throne, since the parallel *73n has already moved attention to the earth,
and so, like v. 5, this verse would allude to the setting in worship. He
does not see a contradiction between vv. 1 and 2: mn and cbiSQ both
refer to remote primordial time now brought near in the rites. The praise
of the throne as eternal is in any case, he says, a conventional royal
tribute (cf. 45.7).
Bentzen understands 93.3-4 to relate how throne and world were
established. Behind the brief account is the idea of Yahweh's thundervoice
quelling the hostile chaos-waters (cf. Pss. 29; 104.6-9). His voice
proved stronger than all their din. So the waters, now governed by his
law, became the life-yielding blessing.
Bentzen might then have done well to relate yrny in 93.5 to the
decrees which order the elements in the cause of life. But in fact he
prefers to translate 'your assemblies' as mentioned above. He sees this
as suiting the thought of the 'house', but does not perceive the special

3. The Commentators 77
role of the 'house' as climax of God's triumph.
Thus for Bentzen, Psalm 93 speaks of that moment in worship when
God's proof of his supremacy in the events of creation is actualized. The
central thought, as with the other throne-ascension psalms, is that under
the Creator's reign life is secure. He thinks the suitable setting is the
celebration of God's throne-ascension in the autumn festival. But the
date of the psalm is a matter he passes over in silence.
For Psalm 97 Bentzen again passes over the question of date, but he
does point out a difference from Deutero-Isaiah. In the psalm, he says,
monotheism has still not been thought through theoretically; the gods
are just required to make obeisance to Yahweh (v. 7).
He outlines the psalm as beginning with the cry of proclamation—
'Yahweh has become king!'—and the consequent summons to the
world to rejoice. Already this is clearly a hymn for Yahweh's throneascension.
The main section, 97.2-11, first describes God's appearing
(vv. 2-3), then its effect on the world: Nature (vv. 4-5), the heathen and
their gods (vv. 6-7), Jerusalem and Israel (vv. 8-9). Whereas other
mountains melt in consternation, Zion rejoices in Yahweh's judgment.
Then follows the statement that it is the righteous that Yahweh saves
(v. 10). Originally this gave the reason for Judah's joy (v. 8), and the
text may have read "Vds '" nnfc. Later, with the present text, the verse
served rather as an admonition like the conclusion of Psalm 95. Through
vv. 10-11 runs the thought that judgment will be executed on Israel as
well as on the other peoples. The psalm concludes with a formulaic
summons to the 'righteous', that is Israel, to praise Yahweh.
Bentzen's commentary on Psalm 99 continues in his quiet, detailed
style, but one or two of his laconic remarks are of considerable consequence.
He describes the psalm as beginning with the proclamation that
God has taken his power, oiin shows that MT takes the imperfects of v. 1
as descriptive rather than as a summons. But either way, such words, he
says, are meant to shape the future in the year now inaugurated by the
feast-day. As for cran itself, it is to be taken as Jewish Aramaic equivalent
to colon 'sway' and need not be emended. Bentzen would also keep 22T
(rather than emend to atzr) as in apposition to mrr. In v. 2 he thinks ]r^a
disrupts the 3+3 metre and is an addition made still earlier, in a period
when Yahweh was worshipped at other sanctuaries also (he compares
65.2).
Bentzen takes the view that 99.4a begins a new section after the
Kin crip and so cannot be construed with TIV of v. 3. He considers taking

78 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Ti> abstractly ('His royal majesty loves right') but since there is no good
parallel for such usage in Hebrew he prefers, with Staerk and Kittel, to
read "^a TI?I 'and a powerful one has taken the kingship', a new
proclamation matching that of v. 1. But we may object that this too is
without good parallel!
On 99.6-8 Bentzen remarks that while other throne-ascension psalms
point to the creation battle as background for Yahweh's kingship, here
we have primordial events from the foundation of the people. What
happened then continues effectively in the present. It is not a matter of a
new Moses, but that king and priests and prophets of the present are
Moses, Aaron and Samuel. The events referred to—wonders from the
wilderness days—are now repeated in the festal drama. The special
Israelite theme—the creation of the people in the wilderness—has here
taken the place of the usual theme of world creation. Samuel is mentioned
as father of the prophets or because reckoned as priest, but is no
longer referred to in v. 7, which deals rather with the period of Moses.
Verse 8 still refers to Moses and Aaron, not the people generally, and
Dpi) alludes to punishments alongside pardons (Lev. 10.13; Exod. 32.If.;
Num. 12.If.; 20.12, 24). So Buhl's clever emendation to Dj?ii from np]
'acquit' is unnecessary.
Bentzen argues that it is a mistake to see dependence on the great
prophets in Psalm 99's stress on holiness and God's requirements.
Prophets like Amos made this element dominate, so the more balanced
treatment in psalms will have been the prophet's presupposition. As
regards the date, the psalm could hardly have arisen when Jer. 15.1 had
become canonical Scripture. Moreover, the idea of Moses and Samuel as
priests points to a time before priestly theory had hardened into the
form known in P. Bentzen thus finds the pre-exilic period the most
likely, against which the 'Aramaism' ran is not a valid argument.
All in all, then, Bentzen presents a view of our psalms where dependence
on the eschatology of the prophets, historical occasioning, and late
dating have been banished like phantoms of the night. With Mowinckel's
research into Israel's chief festival as his basis, he has been able to
present a calm and reasoned account of the texts, often pointing out
aspects where earlier commentators—Duhm, Briggs, Koenig, Gunkel
etc.—were on the right track.
For Psalm 93 we might say that his excellent understanding had yet
to be improved by the Ugaritic discoveries. For Psalm 99 we might
question whether it is enough to explain vv. 6-8 as a theme of origins

3. The Commentators 79
able to function in place of the world creation myth; the matters there
mentioned hardly seem a basis for Yahweh's assumption of cosmic
sovereignty. For Psalm 97 Bentzen's treatment seems to be a valuable
antidote to any facile assumptions of dependence on Deutero-Isaiah.
Sigmund Mowinckel
Sigmund Mowinckel's commentary of 1955 rests on the striking interpretation
of this type of psalm which he presented in 1917 and more
fully in 1922. But it was not the final development of his thought, and
we shall note some shifts on details that he was to make in The Psalms
in Israel's Worship (1962).
Already in the commentary he has outlined his view of this type of
psalm when dealing with Psalm 47. He sees the type as hymns praising
Yahweh as one who has just achieved mighty deeds and sat down on his
throne amidst acclamation. These psalms are not referring to the last
times, but are bound to something already experienced. They make no
mention of any recent occasioning event. The great deeds of Yahweh
here in mind are rather his victory over the primaeval waters and chaos,
the creation that has secured Nature's life and provided for his people
and city, judgment on other divine powers, and the constitution and
election of Israel, exodus and covenant. Yahweh's kingship is thus seen
as world-embracing, but with Israel in a leading role. And all these great
deeds are as though just done.
Mowinckel's explanation is that this represents experience in a festival,
where the originative divine deeds come freshly to the worshippers as
life-renewing realities. There can be only one festival in question, he
says—that of autumn and New Year (Exod. 23.16c, d; Deut. 16.13a).
Here the old Canaanite festival before the hoped-for rainy season had
been transformed by infusion of Israel's 'salvation-history'. Yahweh's
'throne-ascension' is an aspect of this feast, expressed in processions and
acclamations on one of its days.
Coming to Psalm 93, Mowinckel describes it as a typical throneascension
hymn. After the cry of homage, 'The Lord has now taken the
royal name' (Nu har Herren tatt kongsnavn), we hear that he has
donned the apparel which not only expresses his royalty, but also is his
battle array. TD and mto denote the terrible blaze of light which strikes
fear into his foes and makes his worshippers fall before him in obeisance.
Mowinckel makes comparison with Marduk, who in Enuma Elish is

80 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
proclaimed king, clothes himself in royal glory, and then goes to fight
the monstrous sea. However, Mowinckel's comparison would not have
to be pressed, as the order and details of the Israelite story may be quite
independent of the Babylonian. In the psalm we may rather have a
present scene of ceremonially confirmed royal power, and then a retrospect
to the preceding creation victory.
In 93.1b-2, says Mowinckel, we have the result of the combat alluded
to in vv. 3-4: the earth became created and enduringly firm, and just as
firmly stands Yahweh's throne in heaven, where he has fixed it over the
subjugated sea (cf. 29.10). Mowinckel does not comment on any contradiction
between a kingship just taken and the throne 'from of old'.
Presumably he allows for some oscillation in that it is an ancient event
which is being made contemporary. He does remark on v. 3 that the
poet knows that the battle took place in the first origins; but this has
been repeated and known as new in the festival. The ni"in] are the primordial
waters thought to lie like a broad stream around the world-disc.
They represent the evil powers which rise up again every year, but
Yahweh comes and triumphs over them and creates the world and
establishes it anew. So in this holy hour he has (again) become king.
But it is to be noted that for Mowinckel there is no question of a cycle
where Yahweh loses the kingship, let alone dies and rises. Rather that
the moment of danger before the creation is recalled year by year,
aptly representing the hazards of earthly life, for which the conquering
intervention of God is ever needed afresh.
Benefiting from the Ugaritic discoveries, Mowinckel is able to see
more in 93.5 than did his predecessors. Yahweh's creation-victory
means that the temple on Zion, one with the throne in heaven, stands
newly firm. His sure promises of salvation (-prniO, repeated in worship
(cf. Pss. 48, 95, 132), have been fulfilled and so are praised. The temple,
after its annual purification, has been filled again with God's holy presence;
from this holiness can stream the blessings of new life for the
world.
In this connection Mowinckel notes 1 Kgs 8.20 and 12.33a as evidence
that the autumn festival served also as feast of dedication for the
temple. Just as the establishment of a temple rounded off the autumnal
New Year story of Baal for the Canaanites, so the crown of Yahweh's
work of creation and salvation-history is the choice and foundation of his
temple, where he takes his seat as king (cf. Exod. 15.17f.). Mowinckel
sees in the little psalm a most concise allusion to the whole work of

3. The Commentators 81
Yahweh from creation to the foundation of his Zion temple: 'In
Yahweh's epiphany feast was re-lived the whole salvation-history from
the victory over the waters and the creation of the world to Israel's
election and settlement, and the foundation and dedication of the temple
on Zion.' This could be an important insight, bringing the various
throne-ascension psalms more closely together—they may each choose
a different part of the story of Yahweh's deeds to mention in relation to
his newly proclaimed kingship, but remain within the same festal experience.
Mowinckel further suggests that the annual purification of the
temple was an aspect of the festival which eventually appears as a separate
observance before Tabernacles proper—the day of Atonement
(Lev. 16). He has no comment here on the date of Psalm 93.
Mowinckel describes Psalm 97 also as a typical throne-ascension
hymn. He thinks it was composed for the annual festival, but does not
specify the period, though he describes the author as working to a great
extent with conventional material and standing expressions. Indeed
vv. 7-10, with change of metre, may have been taken up from an older
psalm. The psalm, he thinks, has no trace of dependence on some historical
event or of an eschatological outlook; rather it has a vision of the
great rectifying judgment which belonged to the New Year festival.
Mowinckel outlines the psalm as opening with the proclamation ('The
Lord has taken the royal name [kongsnavn]' ) and the summons to all
the world to joyful praise. Then comes the outstanding feature—a
description of the epiphany of Yahweh now experienced, a description
using traditions of the Sinai revelation. With the coming is bound the
downfall of the other gods. Effects of Yahweh's victory are the shame
of idol-worshippers and the jubilation of Jerusalem and Judah. Then in
97.9-10 we have praising sayings about Yahweh as the only real God
and ruler of the world, and as saviour of his people. The conclusion
(97.11-12) affirms that light has now risen for the righteous (i.e. Israel)
and again summons the community to praise.
In this outline Mowinckel perhaps underrates the significance of the
conception that the gods actually continue to exist, and also of the avoidance
of explicit terms for 'Israel' in 97.9-12. The open, ethical terms for
Yahweh's worshippers suit the universal kingship. Although the outline
seems to assume the emendation 'light is risen' (nil), in fact Mowinckel
keeps to MT 'light is sown' (int) in his translation and in his textual
notes. For the text in v. 10 he joins those who emend 'Wto mrr nrrfc. He
finds a notable trait in the epiphany: Yahweh is already on his throne as

82 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
he enters (97.2-3; cf. Ezek. 1 and Ps. 80.2), a conception arising from
entrance processions with the ark, and perhaps also influenced by the
oriental practice of bearing rulers on palanquins. Shaped by tradition
from Sinai days, the experience is of an epiphany mysteriously covered
by cloud and darkness, surrounded by lightning and flames.
Mowinckel takes Psalm 99 as again a throne-ascension psalm, but
with a content more akin to the 'autumn festival liturgies' Psalms 81
and 95 than to the immediately preceding psalms of this type. It begins
with the usual proclamation or cry of homage ('The Lord has taken the
royal name') and summons to all peoples to tremble in reverent fear
before the new world-ruler. Then come the customary praising expressions
about his greatness and supremacy over other gods (reading DTI^N
for D'Q^n in v. 2, cf. BHS) and about his establishment of right order. The
section concludes (v. 5) with a call to the congregation to do homage to
the holy God.
In this section Mowinckel makes several textual changes on grounds
of metre, perhaps unwisely. He transfers Kin amp from v. 3 into v. 2,
yielding
In v. 4 he reads u?i 'for a strong one is the king, he loves the right'. He
fills out the end of vv. 5 and 9 to read in both cases: irn^K mrr Kin tzmp.
In 99.6-9, says Mowinckel, the covenant-making time is recalled and
experienced as present. Now that Yahweh is enthroned on the cherubim
and has established right order, it is appropriate to recall how he
revealed himself in the origins of Israel and gave his law, and showed
himself gracious, but also a holy God who punishes wayward deeds.
There were great leaders in prayer, whose intercession Yahweh heard.
And all this is real again this day, and the present worshippers will know
the same grace if only they remain loyal. By the covenant Yahweh has
established his kingship in Israel (cf. Deut. 33.4f.; Ps. 1 14. If.). And this
day of festal worship is again the very day of Yahweh' s newly established
kingship, awaiting their good response. Thus Mowinckel relates
this distinctive section to the 'throne-ascension' core of the psalm,
building on the strong argument of the parallelin Psalm 95. Somewhat
boldly he transposes the first four words of v. 8 to the end of v. 6 on
grounds of metre and content.
As regards the date of Psalm 99, Mowinckel suggests here that
it belongs to the older Jewish period (presumably he means early

3. The Commentators 83
post-exilic) since it does not mention the Davidic kings among the
people's blessings, but only priests and prophets. The previous four
psalms (95-98), he now says, also suit this period. But we might object
that the argument from silence is hazardous. None of the Songs for
Yahweh's Throne-ascension mention the Davidic kings, though some
(29, 47 and 93) may well be pre-exilic. For that matter, there is no
mention either of post-exilic leaders or events.
As it happens, Mowinckel shortly afterwards, in The Psalms in
Israel's Worship, changed his opinion. It seems that, with developments
such as Ugaritic research, he began to feel he could break with the
entrenched convention of dating these psalms in the post-exilic period.
He now says: 'I feel convinced that it will not be possible to give cogent
proof of the post-exilic origin of any one of the enthronement psalms'
(PIW I, p. 117). For Psalm 99 he adds that interest in the law can be
compared with the early 18.23; Samuel as priest agrees with early tradition;
reference to Yahweh's 'footstool' may indicate pre-exilic use of the
ark.
Another change of opinion concerns the end of 99.8. In PIW 1
(p. 128) he inserts ffr—Thou hast not taken vengeance on their deeds'.
And he compares the amnesties granted by human rulers on their
enthronement day.
In his Psalms in Israel's Worship, of course, there is much comment
on the fundamental questions of the setting of this type of psalm. If his
Psalmenstudien II of 1922 still has the advantage as a clearly presented
thesis in the spring-time of discovery, Psalms in Israel's Worship is able
to engage with nearly forty years of counter-argument.
Characteristic of the group (Psalms 47, 93, 95 and 96 to 99), so
Mowinckel can still write in Psalms in Israel's Worship I (p. 106), is that
it salutes Yahweh as the king who has just ascended his throne to wield
power. The psalm is the song of praise acclaiming Yahweh at his
epiphany as victorious king. However, Mowinckel also writes (PIW II,
p. 112) that Yahweh enters already upon his throne: 'Yahweh becomes
king, shows himself as king and performs kingly deeds...this is all
gathered up in the definite picture of his royal entry and arrival, invisibly
mounted on the cherub-borne throne.'
On the meaning of "pQ mrr he agrees firmly with scholars otherwise
in the opposing camps of eschatological or historical interpretation, that
the meaning is ingressive, denoting the event of becoming king, taking
power. His main arguments are the context in the psalms and the

84 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
parallels in the stories of Absalom and Solomon (PIW I, p. 107). After a
detailed note he remarks that if we accept that the expression is a shout
of homage at the throne-ascension, it is a secondary matter whether we
translate 'reigns as king' or 'becomes king', for in any case the intention
is ingressive (PIW II, p. 222). Mowinckel's view is in effect that the
exclamation mark is more important than the wording. Here is a
dramatically new situation to shout about, an event to make all the
world clap hands, dance, and yet tremble.
Hans-Joachim Kraus
Summaries of the views of Hans-Joachim Kraus regarding this type of
psalm and the related festivals have often been based on his book of
1951 (Die Konigsherrschaft Gottes im Alien Testament}. 10 However, his
opinions soon changed and appear quite differently in his commentary
of 1960. The revised version of this (the '5th edition' of 1978) does not
represent any further change here of significance.
In his commentary Kraus translates the beginning of Psalm 93:
'Yahweh is king, clad with highness; yes, Yahweh has clad himself,
girded himself with power!' He argues that ~["?n mrr is a nominal sentence
(subject placed first) and so expresses an unchanging condition; so
also his translation of vnb m»3. On the other hand, iwin T:J mrr en 1 ?,
being verbal (verb preceding subject), is translated by Kraus as an
action—'Yahweh has clad himself...' Without commenting on this latter
point, Kraus lays great stress on his view of "[^o mrr. It corresponds, he
thinks, to an act of worship acknowledging Yahweh's unchanging kingship
and excludes any acknowledgment that he has now become king,
which would imply, he says, that Yahweh annually weakened and temporarily
lost the kingship.
And yet, as we have noted, Kraus's translation of 93.1 does include
an event—Yahweh has put on the robes of royal glory—and is justly
concluded with an exclamation mark. Already one may be uneasy that
too much weight is being put on a grammatical argument, which in itself
is only partly true. A subject may be put first purely for reason of
emphasis, and it should also be allowed that this ancient poetic style,
with its subtle parallelism, can vary the order normal in prose. Both
sentence orders are used in parallelism in 29.10 to express Yahweh's
taking his seat above the heavenly ocean. The context in Psalm 93, even
10. Tubingen, 1951.

3. The Commentators 85
in Kraus's own rendering, seems to be pointing to the proclamation of a
mighty event. Most previous commentators have spoken of Yahweh's
taking his power, taking the kingly title, becoming king etc., without
assuming his seasonal demise.
For Kraus, 93.Ib draws admittedly on the tradition of God's act at
creation, but is now rather an affirmation that because of God's
enduring kingship the earth continues firm. Verse 2 then refers to the
primordial time when the sovereignty was founded, while v. 3ab depicts
what happened then—the chaos waters raged against the Creator (a
conception derived from Syria-Canaan rather than from Babylonia,
Kraus notes). With the change of tense in v. 3c, however, Kraus sees
reference to chaotic powers that still threaten. So 93.4 declares that
Yahweh constantly reigns in full majesty above them all—the psalm
dispenses with any depiction of mythical battle. Kraus takes 93.5 to
declare the reliability of Yahweh's law (celebrated from early times in
the feast of Tabernacles) and the holiness resulting from God's presence
in his temple. Thus through vv. Ic to 5 Kraus strives to maintain a
description of timeless truth, avoiding any notion that the worshippers
experience acts of God as new.
He finds that Psalm 93 contains no eschatological elements. Profiting
from the rapid development of Ugaritic studies, he recognizes the
ancient character of the psalm: 'One will hardly be wrong to place
Psalm 93 in the early royal period. The traditions are archaic, the conceptions
of great antiquity.' Kraus does not see the Yahweh-malak
psalms as sufficiently distinctive and homogeneous to constitute a
Gattung of their own. Rather, within the Hymns they form a group
which, he thinks, belonged to the obeisance given to Yahweh when a
great entrance procession reached the Jerusalem temple at the beginning
of the feast of Tabernacles (cf. 95.6; 96.9; 99.5).
Kraus translates the opening of Psalm 97 again in exclamatory style:
'Yahweh is king! Let the earth rejoice! Let the many islands be glad!'
He believes that 97.8 shows clearly that we have here a song in a festival
on Mount Zion. It will be the feast of Tabernacles, but because of the
peculiar way God's appearing is described, we should think of the postexilic
continuation of the old ceremony of obeisance to Yahweh the
king. The depiction of God is now decidedly eschatological, following in
the footsteps of Deutero-Isaiah.
This view of Psalm 97, so different from what has just been said of
Psalm 93, is based on the argument that there is here a new force in the

86 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
universal role of Yahweh. The old cultic ceremonies had seen Yahweh as
Creator and Lord of all the world. But now the kingdom of God
appears as historically universal—extending rule over the nations to the
farthest bounds. There is an expectation of universal judgment in the
manner of Deutero-Isaiah.
Just how this prophetic eschatological meaning relates to the cultic
setting of the psalm which Kraus also maintains is not clarified. We are
still to think of Yahweh's cultic entry as king at the beginning of the
feast of Tabernacles, and of the homage-cries acclaiming his kingship,
and the mass obeisance. But the psalm continues, we are to understand,
by depicting a future coming to take power over all peoples and
acknowledged by them—and the peoples are already called to this
acknowledgment, as though the great future day were already present.
We must feel this all needs clarification. Appeal to dependence on
Deutero-Isaiah does little to explain the function of the psalm in the
midst of the festal ceremony.
Working through Psalm 97 in detail, Kraus says the opening cry of
"jbn mrr is best described as a formula of homage. Yahweh, enthroned
and reigning from primordial times, is honoured as king, and in this
homage all the world should now join. Comparison can already be made
with Isa. 49.13 and 42.10, 12. In v. 2 he finds not just royal ideology,
but also links with the promulgation of divine law in Israel (he cites
Psalms 50; 93.5; 97.8; 99.7). In this context it is promulgation for all the
world, and hence is to be understood eschatologically. To depict this
ultimate event, the singer makes use of cultically rooted theophany
tradition. Kraus argues that the imperfect tenses of v. 3 set a framework
of future reference, determining the tenses of vv. 4-6 as also future in
reference and still eschatological in meaning. While this approach to
tenses in itself seems precarious, it could still be countered in its own
terms: the governing reference may be already established in vv. 1-2,
beginning with a perfect and apparently setting a present scene.
Kraus looks for an opposition between the older cultic tradition
(which may have used ritual to announce theophany with fire and
smoke) and a prophetic message (modelled on Deutero-Isaiah) about the
end of history. Perhaps we should rather be looking for a prophetic
aspect natural to ritual from early times.
Passing to Psalm 98, Kraus speaks ever more strongly of dependence
on Deutero-Isaiah and his eschatology. With the scene removed to the
end-time, Kraus can call it uninhibitedly an enthronement. So he adds in

3. The Commentators 87
his 1978 edition: 'With the new song Israel sings of the enthronement
(Inthronisation) )
of her God.' For Psalm 99, however, Kraus has quite a
different conclusion. Nowhere, he thinks, can dependence on Deutero-
Isaiah be established in this psalm. There are resemblances, but not
dependence, and there is nothing to gainsay a pre-exilic dating. Like
Psalm 93, so also Psalm 99 can be set in the royal period, and its 'thriceholy'
refrain may show the background for the temple-oriented call and
message of Isaiah.
This being so, there can be for Kraus no question now of enthronement
or eschatology. The psalm begins with the homage cry in the obeisance
before Yahweh: 'Yahweh is king—the peoples tremble. He
thrones upon the cherubim—the earth quakes.' The trembling is simply
described as the effect of Yahweh's greatness, not called for in a summons.
Even so, we may feel that Kraus has difficulty in suppressing the
eventful character of the scene. Also it may be hard to follow him in
distinguishing sharply between this world-shaking manifestation of
Yahweh's kingship and Yahweh's coming as king for all creation in
Psalms 96 to 98.
It is true, however, that Psalm 99 speaks of justice and right 'in Jacob'
(v. 4), and dwells on old Israelite tradition in vv. 6-8. Kraus sees this
element in the psalm as linked to the guarding and promulgating of the
covenant-law at home in the feast of Tabernacles. Experiencing anew
the holiness and judgment of their God, the worshipping community
reflect on the first mediators. Kraus adds to this a little in his 1978
edition: their reflection is about the necessity of intercessors before so
holy a God, so that the people can live through forgiveness.
In 99.4 Kraus favours the solution of reading ~fift pi 'A strong one is
king!' (he omits the 'and' in translation and puts an exclamation mark,
unlike his v. 1). Otherwise he accepts the received text of the psalm. In
v. 8 he has: 'A forgiving God you were to them, but an avenger of their
misdeeds.' He comments only that God is here honoured as gracious
and just, effecting forgiveness, and revenge upon the godless. We may
feel that Kraus here glosses over the difficulty of the flow of thought
and the reference of the suffixes.
Reflecting upon the positions of Kraus in his commentary, one may
welcome his readiness to look for the peculiar character of each text.
But he appears inconsistent, especially over the question of Yahweh's
'becoming king'. He states that to 'become king', 'be enthroned', can
apply only to one who previously was not king or has temporarily lost

88 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
his kingdom. Yet he translates 47.9: 'For Yahweh has become king over
the nations', and he says regarding Psalm 98 that Israel sings of the
eschatological enthronement of her God. Moreover, his idea of an act of
obeisance as setting for Psalms 93, 97 and 99 is in practice not far from
the 'throne-ascension' interpretation of Mowinckel. For Kraus accepts
that there is an exciting procession at the great festival. Yahweh enters
his sanctuary with splendid manifestation of his kingship. And Kraus
pictures how the festal assembly fills the courts, and the cry goes up,
Yahweh mdldkl All bow low. It is a time of holy fear and joy. The effects
are felt as world-wide. There is promulgation of God's royal law. And
Kraus describes how in the post-exilic period the thoughts in this great
moment pass over into vision of Yahweh's final manifestation and
enthronement as king of all creation.
If so much is entailed in the interpretation given by Kraus, he is not so
far from the openly dynamic interpretation of Mowinckel, who in his
commentary also avoids the translation 'he has become king'. In spite of
some inconsistency, apparently arising from a 'dogmatic' tendency, it
appears that Kraus joins Mowinckel in making valuable and imaginative
contributions to the difficult task of interpreting these psalms.
Mitchell Dahood
Proceeding through the exegetically meagre commentary of Mitchell
Dahood, we may look for some preliminary hints as to how he will
approach our psalms. His interpretation of Psalm 29 does not go much
beyond the idea that Yahweh manifests his power in a storm; but
Dahood does remark on 29.10 that Yahweh is mythopoeically conceived
as acquiring full dominion over earth and sea through his defeat of the
primaeval forces of chaos, a theme, he says, also underlying Ps. 93.2-3.
Dahood further describes Psalm 47 as a hymn celebrating God's
enthronement as king of all the world. God's 'going up' means his
ascending of his throne on Mount Zion. However, somewhat confusingly
reversing the position of Kraus, he thinks n-n'w "pQ (47.9) is less
likely to be inchoative than f^o mrr, which in 93.1 and 97.1 probably
denotes (he says) 'Yahweh has become king'. His view here seems to be
based on the respective contexts rather than the order itself, and he suggests
D'rfw -pQ in 47.9 is a repetition in verbal form of the sentiment
expressed in a nominal sentence in v. 8, DTT^N...-^^ However, he
modifies this view by concluding that the phrase in v. 9 probably means
that Yahweh has proved himself to be a king and hence is king now.

3. The Commentators 89
By the time Dahood reaches Psalm 93 he appears to have shifted
ground, beginning his translation: 'Yahweh reigns, in majesty robed,
robed is Yahweh, belted with victory.' One may be surprised not only
by the change of view on ~[^Q mrr, but also by the passive and stative
renderings of on 1 ? and imnn. He accepts the view that 'Yahweh' may
precede the verb to stress that this and no other god exercises kingship.
In 93.2 Dahood notes that ^R, as in Ugaritic, is an emphatic conjunction,
'surely'. He prefers MT ]iDn to the reading pn supported by the
Versions and 11 QPs a , because of the assonance with coinn and pi.
Dahood's familiarity with the Ugaritic texts brings a dividend in 93.3.
He recognizes the qtl-qtl-yqtl sequence of verbs as a lively description
of accomplished actions corresponding to Ugaritic style: 'Ocean currents
raised...raised...raised.' He suggests D-DI ('their pounding waves')
is from root rm 'crush'.
Discussing 93.4, Dahood well points out the symmetry of the totals of
syllables (7+7+7) and a chiastic tendency which shows n-in as opposite
number of D-TI«. But his further reasoning is strained, taking D'zn and
D'Titf as plural adjectives referring to God, and the p of rrftpo as understood
also before "atoa: 'Stronger than thundering waters, mightier than
breakers of the sea, mightier than high heaven was Yahweh.' Here is a
case where Dahood needs several of his hypotheses to get through a
verse, including the existence of a 'comparative n'.
He has a proposal for -prnu in 93.5, translating 'your enthronement'
in the light of Ugaritic 'd 'seat, throne'. He suggests we have an
infinitive mi) from iir ('appoint, assemble'). However, the word in MT
and its verb are plural, and the similarity Dahood makes with v. 2 would
seem too repetitive in such a short but pregnant psalm.
Dahood's suggestion, after Shenkel, to understand cznp (v. 5) collectively
of 'the holy ones' in heaven again has to be joined with his translation
of ni3 (after 4 QPs b nij) as 'will laud you', thus: 'In your temple the
holy ones will laud you.' This seems a rather optimistic treatment of this
rare verb which he does not attempt to justify, and it seems best to keep
close to the more traditional translations of the verse, which after all give
suitable thought.
While Dahood does not consider the exegetical issues in Psalm 93
with depth and consistency, he does contribute a firm opinion on the
dating, declaring the case for a tenth century date to be convincing. On
his reckoning, only five of the words in the psalm have not been attested
in the Ras Shamra tablets.

90 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Dahood takes Psalm 97 to be eschatological, portraying how Yahweh
will come at the last as universal judge. He. analyses it into three parts.
The first, vv. 1-6, depicts how God will appear, and it draws on traditional
imagery such as we find in Psalm 18 and Habakkuk 3. The
second, vv. 7-9, describes how Israel will rejoice over the defeat of the
heathen gods. The third, vv. 10-12, depicts what God has in store for his
righteous worshippers.
He translates 97.1-6 in present tense, after beginning 'Yahweh reigns,
let the earth be glad, the many isles rejoice'. In v. 4 he suggests nio0 is
precative perfect and renders 'Let Zion hear and rejoice; let the daughters
of Judah be glad'. But perhaps Dahood is here only adding to the
difficulty of his interpretation, since the calls to rejoice fit a genuinely
present event better than a depiction of the future.
Among several other characteristic linguistic suggestions, there is one
which would lend support to his eschatological interpretation.
Commenting that mi TIN 'light is sown' in v. 11 does not yield a congruous
metaphor, he proposes to re-point to TIN, translating 'field': 'a
sown field awaits the just', that is a reward in the fields of Paradise.
However, the precarious nature of the evidence for the meaning 'sown
field' and for the place of the image in the future hope makes it seem
wiser to remain with either of the received readings, 'light is sown' or
'light has arisen'.
Eschatology is absent from Dahood's view of Psalm 99. He explains it
as a hymn in praise of God's kingship and holiness. His translation
begins: 'Yahweh reigns, let the peoples tremble, O Enthroned upon the
Cherubim, let the earth quake.' This explanation of aczr as vocative,
however, is awkward in the context; it would not match the announcement
~pQ mrr and it would not directly provide the grounds for the call
to tremble. However, his relating of ai] to Ugaritic ntt 'wobble' is
valuable.
In 99.2 Dahood takes 3 as comparative, 'Yahweh is too great for
Zion', ignoring the well-attested idea of Yahweh's presence in Zion
(e.g. 76.2). The grammar would be precarious, and the resultant thought
uncharacteristic.
For the difficult 99.4 Dahood is not without resource. He suggests
that ft is Phoenician pronunciation for ft and the phrase may then mean
'the strongest of kings' ("pn collective, or read plural). However, ft is
not in question, but ft, which would not lend itself to a variant pronunciation
ft. And no mention is made of the apparently inappropriate

3. The Commentators 91
conjunction in Tin. So the proposal is hardly convincing.
As regards the function of 99.6-8 in the psalm's thought, Dahood
only implies that the passage illustrates both the grace and the severe
holiness of God. He takes it as a retrospect, with a yqtl form for past
tense: 'Moses and Aaron were among his priests, and Samuel among
those who invoked his name. They called to Yahweh and he himself
answered them.' He does not comment on the difficulties of thought,
with the continuation in vv. 7-8 not being wholly appropriate to these
three leaders. The paradox of forgiveness and punishment (v. 8b) he
accepts, but rather questionably takes"?,» Dp] as a divine title, 'Most High
Vindicator', and am^a as a verb 'you dealt severely with them'. Even
if, as suggested, his verb ^hv has borrowed the form of a 'hollow verb'
fysfrs), we ),
would surely still have nrfp'Tiy. Dahood is reticent with details
here, but presumably he thinks it in order to ignore the vowel letters.
Taking Dahood's treatment of all three psalms together, and with an
eye to what he offers on related psalms, it seems that he has not thought
through the difficult issues of exegesis. His attention has been taken up
rather with his fresh look at the language—grammar and vocabulary.
Here he can often appear rash, piling up one bold suggestion on another
to explain a phrase which may have been best left in its traditional sense.
But it is nevertheless good to hear from one so versed in the Ugaritic
texts, and some of his instincts, for example for yqtl as a past tense and
for poetic structure, are helpful.
Continuing Discussion: Edward Lipinski
Our foregoing study of commentators on Psalms 93,97 and 99 can now
be extended towards the present day by notice of three substantial
studies. The first of these is by Edward Lipinski: La Royaute de Yahwe
dans lapoesie et le culte de Vancien Israel. 11 It is a work abounding in
detail, especially of bibliography and comparable Near Eastern texts. At
the same time, it is extremely well ordered and clearly expressed. The
bulk of his research will have been undertaken a little later than that of
Kraus and a little earlier than that of Dahood.
In his 81 pages on little Psalm 93, Lipinski first discusses textual
questions. He argues against emendation of v. 1. For the understood
complement of the second w±> he compares the first clause of v. 3. The
reading of 11 Ps a ~iwm (MT ~iT«nn), though agreeing with the Greek,
11. 1965, corrected impression 1968.

92 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Syriac and Targum, would spoil the phrasing and rhythm, and the conjunction
i is notably absent elsewhere in the psalm. He thinks MT jiDn is
likewise to be preferred to the common emendation pn because of assonance
with pa] in v. 2 and because third-person pn would not match the
second-person address of v. 2. But *]K he judges to be probably
secondary, as scribes seem prone to make such additions, and the style
of the psalm is otherwise very concise and devoid of particles. The
argument here is questionable, and we recall that Dahood notes resemblance
to Ugaritic use of ap.
Lipiriski agrees with those who want to augment the end of v. 2 for
metrical reasons and with a little ancient support, especially Targum
(NrftK, though Lipiriski has it as ^K). The addition he prefers to make is
3BT, following his emendation of Ps. 9.8 acr to y$\ It is perhaps
unsatisfactory for him to support one emendation by another, and one
might argue that the 3:2 metre of MT v. 2 produces at the end a
splendid emphasis.
In 93.3 Lipinski retains the verb sequence, considering the emenders
here to have been ignorant of ancient style. He translates throughout
with the present ('lift'), but he comments on p. 99 that IKSD- denotes
repeated action as the waves break in succession. For the hapax ITST, he
concludes his survey of recent proposals by preferring the usual derivation
from root dky 'break', hence 'their roaring'. For v. 4 he is content
to follow the many who read -aoao TIN.
Lipinski surprises us in 93.5. Taking as his starting point his wish to
treat -jrvn'? and mrr cznp as parallel terms, he decides that the main break
in the verse is after "]rv3 t 7. He sees the rhythm as 2+2, 2+2; 2+2, 2+2,
and claims a suitable match here with the metre of v. 1. Relating TmiJ
to the Davidic covenant, he renders: 'Your covenant is faithful! It is a
strength for your house! Beautiful is the sanctuary of Yahweh! For long
days!' However, we may not readily agree that mrr cnp~mfc« counts as
two beats, and his line gives a second-person address parallel with a
third-person statement, a pattern he objected to in discussing emendations
of vv. lb-2. He mentions the alternative explanations of mw: Niphal
of m» which in Piel means 'to desire', or Pa'lal (/Pi'lel) of nw which has
the primary sense 'be beautiful'. He follows the latter and suggests that
4 QPs b rra is only a phonetic spelling of mto.
As regards structure, Lipinski declares Psalm 93 to be a perfect literary
unity. He defines an introduction (v. lab), main body (vv. lc-4) and
a conclusion (v. 5). With his treatment of the text, the introduction has a

3. The Commentators 93
metre of 2+2, 2+2, the body 3+3+3, 3+3+3, 3+3+3, and the conclusion
2+2. 2+2 (MT however has the conclusion maintaining 3+3+3). He
points out that the 3+3+3 metre is relatively rare in the Psalms, but is
attested in Ugaritic texts.
He sets out several features of the style of Psalm 93. It is remarkably
concise. Images are not developed. Conjunctions are absent. Terms are
repeated, sounds reverberate. In v. 4 especially there is great sonority of
m and r, evocative respectively of water and thunder. In vv. 3-4 there is
an ascending movement which only ends with the final term, held back
for the perfect effect of the divine supremacy. The structure is not
normal in Israelite hymns, but attests a perfect craft.
Expounding Psalm 93, Lipinski describes ~pn mrr as a solemn
proclamation of Yahweh's kingship rather than a simple enunciation. He
translates: 'Yahweh has become king! He has clothed himself with
splendour! He has clothed himself, he has wrapped himself in power!'
The verb ~pn expresses the fact on which the yqtl form JIDPI is dependent,
and so is active and dynamic; Yahweh has acceded to the kingship
and now reigns; simply put, he 'has become king'. The reference is to
the great events of creation, which resulted in the marvellous stability of
the earth, firmly set on mountain pillars in the subterranean ocean. In
ancient Near Eastern tradition, the attribute of terrifying splendour, fatal
to enemies, clothed the sovereign from the moment of his enthronement.
So also Yahweh, when he became king, was clothed in allconquering
splendour. Lipinski reasons then that through this fiery
manifestation he overcame chaos and the world was made stable—so
vv. 1-2. In vv. 3-4, he says, we have not the presupposition of Yahweh's
accession, but the consequence. The 'throne' of v. 2, in view of its parallel
bun (v. Ic) and of many texts which show the cosmic significance of
holy mountain and temple, is to be understood as Yahweh's throne
manifest in Zion.
In 93.3 Lipinski finds description not of the past defeat of the chaoswaters
at creation, but (surprisingly) of a continuing surge and roar of
historical enemies. The poet evokes the primordial ocean as mythical
archetype of Israel's historical foes. Many comparisons lead Lipinski to
the conclusion that mrr 01102 TIN evokes the picture of God uttering his
thunderous voice, roaring like a lion, from out of his throne-centre.
Lipinski decides against Bentzen's translation of ~pmiJ as 'thine
assemblies', objecting to the plural and questioning the suitability then of
13QK3—objections not strong in themselves, we might think. Looking for

94 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
a meaning more appropriate to the ideas of the psalm than 'laws' or
'promises', he notes associations in various texts of nni? and ma, and so
translates 'covenant' (French alliance), meaning that of Zion and the
dynasty (cf. 132.13-18). He thinks the poet would not be troubled by
tension between the Davidic origin of the covenant and sanctuary on the
one hand and the primordial origin of God's seat stated in v. 2 on the
other; such psalms exploit pre-Israelite themes and motifs. Once
identified with the world-mountain, Zion would be linked with age-old
events.
Lipiriski next discusses the genre of Psalm 93. He thinks it should be
classed with the Songs of Zion (Pss. 46,48, 76, 84, 87 and 122, cf. 132)
since he finds it, like them, to join praise of God with celebration of the
sanctuary itself, and shares several of their motifs. The effect of this reclassification
would be to make the formula f bn mrr no longer the hallmark
for a genre. The setting of the psalm Lipinski sees, somewhat on
the lines of Kraus, in a festival of royal Zion within the observation of
Tabernacles—a ceremony where the installation of the ark and the dedication
of Solomon's temple were recalled. The presence of Yahweh as
king in his temple was experienced as bulwark against enemies identified
with primordial chaos.
Lipinski judges that Psalm 93 dates from the time of Solomon or of
one of his immediate successors. It is probably a liturgical text from the
Solomonic temple. Vocabulary and style indicate the early date. The
absence of the article and of the conjunction, the repetition of terms, the
metre, the tense sequence in v. 3, the ideas—all appear in their antiquity
when aligned with Ugaritic poetry. He considers at length the views of
scholars wedded to much later datings. He shows that the idea of a late
renaissance taking up ancient mythology is not applicable in this case.
And neither in ideas nor in language is there any trace in Psalm 93 of
dependence on Deutero-Isaiah.
While there are many valuable points in Lipinski's ample treatment of
Psalm 93, the wisdom of his judgment may be questioned especially on
vv. 3 and 5. The grounds for translating v. 3 in the present and explaining
it of current historical enemies seem virtually non-existent. It is most
naturally understood as past tense, a straightforward depiction of
Yahweh's mastery of the chaos-waters at creation, and there is no great
difficulty in setting it as a tribute to the presently manifest king-creator,
depicting the great deed underlying his sovereignty and his securing of
the world.

3. The Commentators 95
In 93.5 Lipinski, on rather dubious metrical grounds, has produced a
somewhat strained translation, and his interpretation of this and v. 2
seems to have over-emphasized the Davidic-Zion aspect, which after all
is anything but explicit in the psalm. His classification of the psalm with
the Songs of Zion is also of doubtful value. There is certainly an
underlying affinity with those psalms, but we should respect the special
focus of the Yahweh-malak psalms on the moment of royal epiphany
and proclamation.
Lipinski then devotes 102 pages to Psalm 97. For the text, after full
discussion, he accepts several common emendations: in v. 5 mrr -sa^o is
probably a gloss, and likewise mrr in v. 9, the glossator in each case
wishing to identify the mentioned deity unambiguously; in v. 10 the
emendation in "V^jn mrr nnfc is preferred—MT arose after dittography of
the •" in mrr, which then prompted confusion of the very similar letters i
and' in ^30; in v. 11 rnj ('arises') is preferred to in? 'sown', and ample
demonstration is given of the confusion of n and i>. In this last case,
however, I wonder if the fact that n~iT would be the more expected
reading, familiar from 112.4, Isa. 58.10 etc., does not militate in favour
of the less expected int.
Considering the structure of Psalm 97, Lipinski describes it as having
'a great irregularity of rhythm', which inclines him to think that an
ancient song has been re-worked in later times. The final product, however,
is adjudged well-designed and he analyses it thus: v. 1 invitation to
praise, preceded by the leitmotif of the psalm, "pQ mm; vv. 2-11 reasons
for praise in five sections (vv. 2-3 Yahweh's manifest majesty, vv. 4-5
cosmic effects of his epiphany, vv. 6-7 effects on nations, vv. 8-9 effects
for Zion, vv. 10-11 significance of the epiphany for the faithful); v. 12
hymnic conclusion.
In his exegesis of Psalm 97 Lipinski concludes that the psalm in its
present form was composed with use of ancient material for the re-dedication
of the temple in 164 BCE. The acclamation rfra mm, 'Yahweh has
become king', echoes the victory of the Hasmoneans, who are the D'Ton
of v. 10, and the epiphany of vv. 2-5 continues this theme of Yahweh's
victorious intervention. It is therefore not an eschatological song. The
epiphany section itself he thinks very old, perhaps from before David's
time. He examines every expression throughout the psalm where
dependence on Deutero-Isaiah has been claimed, and he finds that in not
a single case is the claim tenable.
We may grant that the author of Psalm 97 was prone to use stock

96 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
phrases and, in the case of the depiction of the epiphany, may have
taken up an older block of material, but it is still difficult to feel
confidence in the Hasmonean dating advocated by Lipinski. The references
to the faithful and righteous in vv. 10-1 1 are quite general, and a
date for the psalm around the middle of the Old Testament period, in the
seventh or sixth centuries, would seem a reasonable conclusion from the
main part of Lipinski' s analysis and display of literary affinities.
In Psalm 99 Lipinski finds evidence of revisions in the text, made with
a demythologizing aim. In v. 1 he thinks the original will have intended
3&r rather than aar, forming a good parallel to "pn and giving cause for
the earth's trembling. For the construction nmiD aizr he compares 122.5
m«OD ner. For oun he deplores emendation or explanation as an
Aramaism and aligns Qi] with ntt (Arabic 'jump', Ugaritic 'wobble'; so
also Dahood above). In v. 2 he prefers DTT^K (instead of D-nun) with three
Hebrew mss. and some Greek, since it seems the harder reading
theologically. He then finds in vv. 3-4a, with slight changes, the praise
uttered by these gods:
So that they praise his name:
'Great, terrible, holy is he!
He is the strength of the king, he loves right!'
This seems strained, and it is especially unconvincing that Kin tzrnp is set
within the speech of the gods, rather than left as an independent refrain
as in vv. 5 and 9.
In v. 6 Lipinski eases problems of interpretation by regarding
r]rD3 prwi as secondary. Likewise he omits v. 7b as a gloss to v. 7a. He
has an interesting suggestion for the awkward np]i in v. 8. He gives
many examples of the root np] developing the sense 'protect' in other
Semitic languages, and suggests that here too it means the avenger who
protects his own: 'A benevolent God are you to them, safeguarding (all)
their enterprises.' The 'all' is here inserted with the Greek as suiting this
interpretation and the metre. One may still feel that the phrase as a
whole, on Lipniski's explanation, remains somewhat strange.
The refrains of 99.5, 9 are treated also rather unconvincingly. In v. 5
Kin is taken to refer to mn 'footstool' as nearer than mrr. But nearer still
is the suffix on r^n, standing for Yahweh! In v. 9, simply to continue his
interpretation, Lipinski emends emp to enp , 'for it is the sanctuary of

3. The Commentators 97
Yahweh our God'—a rather redundant statement. The striking threefold
praise of God's holiness in this psalm, comparable with Isa. 6.3, would
be considerably weakened in Lipinski's treatment.
In 99.4 his discussion of "[^D T#I is of interest. Having omitted the
conjunction as a typical later addition, he deals with the rhythmic awkwardness
(the succession ~p& w) by assuming a final vowel for the construct,
'ozi or originally 'azi, and cites (p. 294) the Phoenician name
'zmlk, transcribed A^euiAxoq, 'power of the king', name of a royal
official. Lipinski takes the phrase here to refer to Yahweh as power of
the human king. This, however, would involve a curious re-interpretation
of the phrase, the Phoenician referring to the servant of the master,
the Hebrew to the divine master of the servant. We may agree, however,
that the existence of this name should play some part in the
elucidation of this verse.
For the structure of Psalm 99, Lipinski treats v. 1 as an initial proclamation,
outside the strict body of the psalm, which would rather begin
as a Song of Zion with vv. 2-3a. He then takes vv. 3b-4a and 4b-4c as a
first couplet, followed by a refrain, v. 5; Then a second couplet is formed
by vv. 6-7a and v. 8, followed by the refrain v. 9. He suggests that two
choirs sang the introduction and refrains, singing together, but divided
each couplet between them (the second choir would have each time the
direct address to Yahweh). But one may still doubt whether his
identification of refrains is an improvement on the threefold 'holy'
refrain of the received text.
In his exegesis of Psalm 99, Lipinski again emphasizes that it begins
with the 'cry of enthronement'—not the announcement of an eternal
verity, but the proclamation of a title which has just been in some way
acquired by Yahweh. This is especially clear in this psalm, where the
advent of the divine king provokes universal terror: 'Yahweh has
become king! The peoples tremble! He has sat down on the cherubim!
The earth rocks!' The verbs -pfi and nor are true perfects with inchoative,
dynamic sense. The cherubim are conceived in the pre-exilic manner
as forming a seat with their touching wings. The formula D'TTO ntzr is
best understood as announcing to the festal assembly that Yahweh has
just taken his place on the throne in the obscurity of the Holy of Holies
in the midst of a cloud of incense (cf. Lev. 15.2, 13). The theme of the
manifestation in this place appears again in vv. 2, 5 and 9. In lapidary
and pregnant form, 99.1 has proclaimed Yahweh's throne-ascension,
suggested a visual image of it, and indicated its universal significance.

98 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
The explicit naming of the place, 'Zion', in v. 2 is shown to be typical of
proclamations of accession.
For 99.3 Lipinski gives much comparable material from the Near East
to show that revering the deity's 'name' was a widespread feature, not a
prerogative of Deuteronomic theology; the Deuteronomists used an
already ancient datum. Lipinski describes Kin as expressing the
redoubtable majesty of God. This point could have been further developed;
this and other Niphal forms often denote the active, outgoing
blaze of Yahweh's terrible glory—not so much 'to be feared' as revealing
dread holiness, causing dread. 12 For szrnp he again points to the Near
Eastern background of a term which suggests, not moral perfection, but
the terrible transcendence of a being belonging to the heavenly world.
He also notes the long history of the royal ideal in nrrN EDEQ, from
Sulgi of Ur (c. 2052-2007) who says 'I love the right', to Esarhaddon
of Assyria—'I...king of the four quarters of the earth, who love the
right and for whom injustice is an abomination'. And similar background
is illustrated for D—itzra and pis. It is obviously not necessary to
posit the 'influence of the Hebrew prophets' behind the righteous tone
of this psalm. Yahweh's exercise of justice 'in Jacob' is related by
LipMski to the experience of oracular decisions on difficult cases and
proclamation of covenant law. Although the usual expression for invocation,
mrr DED top, is varied in v. 6 as DEJ Nip, Lipinski considers the
meaning is still the same, as the context makes clear. The name
'Yahweh' was uttered in a loud voice, and this was regarded as an
efficacious way to begin intercession.
But here Lipinski will surprise many readers. According to him, the
psalm declares that Moses and Samuel in the realm of the dead still call
the name 'Yahweh' and he appears in Sheol, at once revealed and
shrouded in the pillar of cloud, and answers them. He still has regard for
them and safeguards in Israel the work they undertook. In support of
this interpretation, Lipinski (p. 326) cites an Egyptian text about the god
Re appearing in the 'West', the land of the dead, wakening them to
praise and joy and answering their prayers. An influence of this
Egyptian theme, he suggests, may be found also in Ps. 22.30. Lipiriski is
therefore happy to agree with those who translate vv. 6-8 in the present
tense. The view of the dead that he finds in Psalms 99 and 22 he admits
would be rather exceptional in the Hebrew Bible. We would be wise not
12. So my article, 'Some Misunderstood Hebrew Words for God's Selfrevelation',
The Bible Translator (1974), pp. 136-40.

3. The Commentators 99
to dismiss his interpretation out of hand. But for Psalm 99 especially we
should continue asking whether there may be a fair explanation more in
line with usual Hebrew ideas.
Lipinski pictures the congregation of Psalm 99 as making procession
to the temple—with vv. 5 and 9 he compares 95.6 and 132.7. At the
foot of the last ascent they are bidden to prostrate themselves before
Yahweh's footstool (v. 5), which here indicates the temple mountain
(cf. the parallel in v. 9, also Lam. 2.1; Isa. 60.3; Ezek. 43.7) rather than
the ark (1 Chron. 28.2). He shows how the idea of the 'footstool'
involves a vivid picture of God seated on his throne; he understands that
the congregation is to bow down in the direction of the temple.
As regards dating Psalm 99, Lipinski argues that it will have prepared
the way for Jer. 15.1, and also that (on his view of "j^n TU) a pre-exilic
date is required, the Hasmonean king being impossibly late. The use of
'Jacob' in v. 4 for all Israel worshipping at Zion points, he thinks, to
early times. His treatment of the text also implies an early orthography
without final vowel letters, for example ~\ for -D in v. 3. He therefore
believes the psalm could be dated to the era of Solomon, and could well
be seen as part of the wealth of liturgical poems called into being by the
great new temple. The references to cherubim and Yahweh's footstool
fit well with this, though not in themselves a decisive argument.
As against those who find in Psalm 99 eschatological thought dependent
on Deutero-Isaiah, Lipinski asserts that nothing in the psalm reveals
the least influence of the great prophet, nor does it contain any eschatological
elements.
The rest of Lipinski's massive book of course provides the framework
for the above interpretations. Here we see that he takes (pp. 384-87) the
proclamation ' Yahweh has become king' as adapted from the Canaanite
formula 'Baal has become king', which has survived in a name wellattested
in pre-monarchic times. In Israel, he thinks, to 'become king'
was tantamount to 'win the victory', with reference to Yahweh's
historical victories. The order ba'al malak had simply stressed which
contestant had triumphed, and the adaptation yahweh malak was also
appropriate as marking Yahweh's supremacy over the gods. In
monarchic Jerusalem it had a liturgical use, especially as actualizing
Yahweh's first ascent to his Zion sanctuary, renewing the election of
Zion and the dynasty. Later echoes of such a 'historical victory'
application were to be seen in Isa. 52.8 and in Ps. 96.10-11 at the end of
the Exile, and in Ps. 97.1 for the rededication of 164 BCE.

100 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
In sum, although Lipinski recognizes the seasonal importance of
Tabernacles, festal context of Yahweh's 'intronisation', related to the
hope of rains in ancient and later traditions, he nevertheless emphasizes a
specifically Israelite theme—Yahweh victorious in holy war and so
renewing the election of Zion and the Davidic dynasty. In his exegesis of
our psalms, therefore, he is inclined to see a historical dimension in the
fresh experience of Yahweh's kingship, rather than an actualization of
creation.
Lipinski offers some reconstruction of the pre-exilic autumn festival.
There was ritual actualization of victory, perhaps at the Gihon spring
below Jerusalem's east wall, and as the procession then made its way up
to the sanctuary, a dove was released as messenger of victory to Zion, a
runner also bore tidings, and a priest walked before the ark proclaiming
'Yahweh has become king'. After ceremony at the temple gates, the ark
was brought to its resting-place in the Holy of Holies, and Yahweh took
his seat as manifest king over the cherubim. This was the culmination of
the 'intronisation' begun at Gihon; now he had taken possession of the
domain of Zion and hence of the world. A cloud of incense veiled and
yet signalled the Presence. The antiphon resounded in announcement
that Yahweh had sat down on the throne of cherubim and manifested
himself as king (99.1)
Lipinski must be credited with having made one of the major contributions
to our subject. Above all, his achievement has been to anchor
the discussion in the world of the ancient Near East with his great array
of comparative materials. Somewhat in the manner of Kraus, he has
highlighted themes of the election of Zion and the dynasty and has perhaps
underplayed the actualization of creation itself and its relevance to
the physical survival of the community. Although he has excellently
shown (pp. 451-56) the dependence of later eschatological and apocalyptic
writers on the formulas and images of the liturgy, he has not
envisaged an eschatology already growing in the perspectives of
worship.
Continuing Discussion: John Gray
John Gray's The Biblical Doctrine of the Reign of God (1979) makes a
wide sweep from Ugarit and early Israel to the New Testament, and
offers support for Mowinckel's basic positions on God's kingship in cult
and eschatology by exploiting the Ugaritic texts (Gray's area of special

3. The Commentators 101
expertise). He has much discussion of psalms, and under the name
'enthronement psalms' includes a wide range of pieces which, from their
contents, appear to have strong links with the autumn festival. He takes
some heed of O. Loretz's stichometric analysis whereby accretions are
identified by severe metrical calculations. 13 He is thus prepared to allow
that Psalms 47, 93, 96-99 are but fragments or developments of typical
enthronement psalms of the pre-exilic liturgy. But with the aid of obviously
old materials like Psalms 29, 68 and much of 89, along with the
themes of Ugaritic myth, he thinks the prototype can easily be
envisaged.
He discusses the formula "[^n mrr at some length and in the light of
numerous recent studies of it. He agrees with Lipinski in describing it as
the proclamation of an event, and concludes that the objection to the
inchoative sense is basically a theological one, arising from a literalistic
understanding of the German 'Jahwe ist Konig geworden'. Gray's own
translation is 'Yahweh has proved himself king!' Whatever additional
implications it acquired, he says (p. 22), it meant originally and continued
to mean that Yahweh, and not the forces of Chaos, had once again
proved to be king. The crisis 'recalled' at the autumn festival was that of
the establishment of creation-order, but with this was joined from early
times the epiphany of Yahweh as covenant-lord. Past, present and future
coalesced in the ritual. Israel was no doubt realistic enough to know that
the reign of God was not yet a full, visible actuality. But the festival conveyed
a sacramental experience of the sovereignty of God, an 'earnest'
of its full realization. This gave assurance and help in the urgent present,
which meant more than predictions for the remote future.
On Psalm 93 Gray takes note of Loretz's identification of v. Ic as a
later accretion, but notes that all the same it comes from someone wellinformed
about the original ideology. In v. 3, significantly enough,
Loretz's method is called into question, as it would remove the third
colon, which Gray recognizes from Ugaritic poetry as splendidly
authentic. In v. 5 he translates "[-my as 'thy covenant', in line with the
composite ideology—creation and covenant. Earlier (p. 18) Gray has
spoken of the importance of the 'house/palace' in the story of Baal's
conflict with Yam/Nahar; the building of the house marks the apogee of
Baal as vindicated king. And in Enuma Elish, Gray notes (p. 12), we
have the building of a palace for Marduk in honour of his victory over
13. Especially in Loretz's 'Psalmenstudien IIP, UF 6 (1974), pp. 175-209.

102 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
the monster of salt-water, followed by a 'house-warming' feast where
Marduk is praised for his attributes and actions. In such materials, and in
Israel, the divine house is the 'visible token' of the divine kingship. Gray
translates 93.5: 'Thy covenant stands most firm, holiness graces thy
temple, O Yahweh, while time endures.' He favours a pre-exilic date for
Psalm 93, finding support especially in the thematic affinity with
Ps. 89.2-19 and in the Ugaritic parallels of vocabulary, grammar and
prosody.
Gray's view of Psalm 97 is that an ancient section (vv. 1-6, perhaps
the theophany section of a pre-exilic enthronement psalm) has been
expanded with vv. 7-12 after the Exile. He doubts that the complete
psalm can be dated with Lipiriski as late as Hasmonean times, in view of
the existence of the gods expressed in vv. 7 and 9. He notes how the
psalm indicates the dynamic of "pn mrr, which is obviously more here
than the declaration of a permanent attribute. Yahweh has proved to be
king, causing dismay to his enemies and joy to his own. He follows
Dahood in translating: 'Fire goes before him and blazes around his back
(Ugaritic zr).'
In 97.10 Gray assumes the usual emendation 'Yahweh loves those
who hate evil', remarking that in itself this thought suggests dependence
on the discriminating view of God's people taught by the prophets
(Isa. 2.6f.; Isa. 6; Amos 5.18-20; Zeph. 2.3). On the other hand, he notes,
v. 8 sees God's judgment as favourable to the whole people without
discrimination, so that 'the faithful' and 'the wicked' could be terms for
the antagonists of the Hellenistic period. We may feel that it is hardly
profitable to argue thus from ethical motifs, which are far older than the
prophets and more widespread than Israel, and easily blend in with
motifs of general rejoicing.
On Psalm 99 Gray notes that it combines the theme of Yahweh as
king with that of the covenant. As others have done, he observes that
the refrain 'he is holy' matches the trisagion in the acclamation of God
as king in Isa. 6.3, suggesting a pre-exilic basis for the psalm. A postexilic
development of the psalm, however, might be indicated by the reference
to the priesthood and Aaron and their role in forgiveness. In
v. 8c he favours easing the tension by accepting the emendation to Dj?]Q
'acquitting them/not punishing them'. Even if the final form is postexilic,
the psalm still can witness to the long tradition of the epiphany of
God as king in the 'covenant-sacrament'.

3. The Commentators 103
On the whole, then, Gray is not too concerned over uncertainties in
the dating or integrity of the texts. He attends especially to themes of
kingship and covenant, and sees them as vital from very early times and
right down the centuries. But he is clear that the themes centre in the
dynamic assertion of kingship, a fresh proving of it within the feast of
Tabernacles, when the origins and the end-time met in a present sacrament.
He contributes as one particularly familiar with the interpretation
of Ugaritic poetry, appreciative also of the insights of biblical scholars,
and sensitive to the relation of all these studies to the continuing understanding
of God.
Continuing Discussion: Jo'rg Jeremias
Jorg Jeremias makes a fresh attempt to find a path of development
through the 'enthronement psalms' and a few related pieces in his Das
Konigtum Gottes in den Psalmen (1987). 14 While accepting that these
psalms belonged to the celebration of God's reign in Jerusalem's
autumn festival, he distributes them through eight centuries and distinguishes
two types. The first group includes Psalms 93, 97 and 99, with
their opening formula "pn mrr, 'It is Yahweh who rules as king'. Here
we have adaptation of Canaanite myth, its repetition of primaeval story
being transformed into a statement of present and continuing reality. By
contrast, his second group, Psalms 47, 95 and 98, arises from the
hymnic form with summons to praise. Here God's world-reign is based
on historical experience, celebrated in the cult through dramatic
actualizations.
The path of development for all this material, says Jeremias, begins in
the encounter with Canaanite seasonal myth, transformed into stative
reality in Psalm 93 (cf. 29 and 104.1-9). Meanwhile, still in the early
period, the reign of God based on history was celebrated in Psalms 47,
68, Deuteronomy 33, Exodus 15. In the late period the implications of
Yahweh's royal title were further unfolded. Psalms 95 and 99 reflect the
Deuteronomic circle, 96 and 98 echo Deutero-Isaiah, while 97 reflects
the Hellenistic age.
Jeremias accordingly translates Psalm 93 in present and unchanging
sense:
14. Das Konigtum Gottes in den Psalmen (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1987).

104 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
1. Yahweh rules as king,
with highness clothed,
clothed is Yahweh,
with might girded.
So the earth is firmly founded,
it cannot sway.
2. Firm stands your throne from of old,
from the primordial time are you.
3. Currents raised, Yahweh,
currents raised their noise,
(yes continually) currents raise their din!
4. More than the noise of mighty waters,
more powerful than the breakers of the sea
is powerful in the heights Yahweh.
5. Your precepts are truly reliable;
for your house holiness is fitting,
Yahweh, for the length of the days.
Jeremias is among those who regard Psalm 93 in its received form as
a perfect structure. His analysis has an advantage over that of Lipifiski,
who makes a few dubious changes and whose procedure, in the view of
Jeremias, goes terribly astray in the determination of form. For Jeremias
the psalm is built of two strophes, vv. 1-2 and 3-5. Their metres are
distinct: a prevailing 2+2/2+2 against a 3+3+3. The second strophe
begins with a sharp change of subject. Both strophes begin with thirdperson
speech and end with second-person address. In both strophes
report of the kingdom of God passes into thankful hymnic appreciation
of its effects. This parallelism is said to suggest how the weight falls on
the consequences of the kingdom of God for the community. Both
strophes begin with the firmness of the kingdom, mention the place
from which the reign is exercised, and end with the time aspect, 'from
of old' (v. 2) being fitly complemented by 'for length of days' (v. 5).
From this view of the structure, Jeremias concludes that the constant
duration of the kingdom from and to everlasting is the main thought of
the psalm, and therefore everything in the psalm will contribute to the
expression of this unchanging reality. The floods raised and still raise
their din, but Yahweh is depicted throughout in unchanging sovereign
existence. The verbs in v. 1 are said to describe the conditions for the
firmness from of old expressed in v. 2; they describe the permanent
exercise of the royal power—'Yahweh rules as king' and 'he is clothed
with highness, girded with might'. Because of v. 2, the action statements
(Handlungssatze) )
in v. 1 must be interpreted as timeless truth. The

3. The Commentators 105
psalm tells not how Yahweh won his kingship, but how his kingship is
ever present from everlasting to everlasting. Close as it is to Canaanite
myth in conceptions and time categories, it represents a transformation
of dramatic myth into a description of steady state, excluding both the
cult-dramatic and the eschatological interpretations. Regarding this transformation
of myth, Jeremias notes how Yahweh in vv. 3-4 does not contend
with a rival god, a Prince Sea or Governor Flood, nor indeed does
he contend at all, but simply is—eternally, in the height.
Jeremias may somewhat misrepresent the poet here. Truly the
refinement and condensation of the mythological tradition is wonderful,
but it can still be seen as a powerful disclosure of the primordial battle,
with the waters appearing still personified as lordly powers with royal
ambitions (this point will be resumed below in Chapter 4), while
Yahweh's responding action, in the form of a thunderous roar from
the height, may well be intended, as Lipinski suggests, in the phrase
mrr nrm TTK.
Comparing 93.2 and 5, Jeremias finds there still a mythic view of the
sanctuary. Heaven and Zion are here not two places, but the one throne
of the world-king, the one mountain of God which binds together earth
and heaven and guarantees the cosmic stability. As regards the •yrnj; in
v. 5, he suggests that the plural reading 'testimonies' is the interpretation
of later times, and that originally a singular form denoted the decree of
Yahweh embodied in the royal protocol (2 Kgs 11.12, cf. Ps. 2.7 pn).
Jeremias thinks the psalm belongs to the earlier monarchy and had its
place in the autumn festival. While allowing that it has affinities with the
Songs of Zion, he wishes to preserve a distinction, since the Songs of
Zion celebrate and actualize repulse of a primordial assault of the nations
on Zion. For Jeremias Psalm 93 is a description of the presupposition of
a stable world. This stability derives from that of God's kingship and the
seat of that kingship, the seat which is in heaven and at the same time is
Zion.
Jeremias begins his translation of Psalm 97: 'Yahweh rules as king!
Let the earth rejoice...!' We note that he has supplied exclamation
marks, which he does not do for Psalms 93 and 99—we shall see that in
97 he is thinking of an eschatological revelation. The psalm begins, he
says, with the proclamation of the kingship of Yahweh and the summons
to world-wide joy. He finds a strange mixture of sentence types in the
account of the theophany (vv. 2-5)—nominal, then x-yiqtol (v. 3), then
qatal-x (v. 4), and (he might have added) x-qatal (v. 5). His explanation

106 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
is that a citation from Ps. 89.15 in nominal form has confused the
normal pattern, though the citation is integral to the composition, as a
motto for its theme of 'righteousness'. Jeremias always places great
emphasis on sentence type in his exegesis as a basis for his differentiation
between the kingdom seen as static or (with reference to history)
dynamic. But his approach to such sentence order in poetry seems
excessively regimental. It may be better to accept that the poet-singer
varies order of verb and subject and type of sentence to suit emphasis,
rhythm, euphony, and lively changes of angle.
His logic of tenses and word-order leads him to see 97.1-5 as portraying
an essentially future event, that is however not purely future. From
the constant firmness of God's throne, veiled in cloud, will one day
blaze a fire to consume his foes, a final war that will shake the earth.
Likewise in vv. 6-9 the supremacy of God is known and celebrated in
advance of its future full disclosure. In the last section, vv. 10-12,
Jeremias finds purely present experience, the saving work of God which
is constantly available. In his translation, however, he forsakes present
tenses in v. 6b: 'all peoples will see his glory'.
Jeremias concludes that to grasp the logical progression of thought
one needs to read the psalm from back to front. The joy of v. 12 is
focused on present experience. The (future) joy of the world in v. 1 and
the anticipatory joy of God's people in v. 8 depend on the final revelation
of the kingdom of Yahweh, as already known about by the celebrating
community but not yet experienced. Present experience is much
rather of the might of God's enemies, and vv. 1-9 intend to give assurance
that the supremacy of God, real indeed in its concealment, will
shortly erupt. Meantime, according to vv. 10-12, the individual can have
experience analogous to that of the end-time. In a nut-shell, God's
present care of his righteous ones is proclaimed as the ground of hope
for the final world-fulfilment.
From this interpretation Jeremias deduces that Psalm 97 belongs to
the latest period, the Hellenistic age, though he does not see grounds to
be as precise as Lipinski. A time of national suffering under foreign rule
encourages eschatological hopes. The psalm moreover draws heavily on
earlier psalms and prophecies. It is also less inhibited in use of mythical
conceptions ('the gods' etc.) than earlier psalms liked to be—the myths
were no longer felt to be a danger.
The crucial question for Psalm 99 is the relevance of vv. 6-8, and here
Jeremias has a distinctive contribution to make. He brings the passage

3. The Commentators 107
into relation with Deuteronomy, where the experience of exile has
heightened the need for a great supplication to God. The institution of
the great intercessor, a cultic leader who stood before God and cried for
forgiveness for the sinful people, is reflected in the Deuteronomic
theology of prayer from the depths of national need. So also Psalm 99,
says Jeremias, presupposes the Exile and the sense of Israel's guilt. The
thought of Yahweh's unchanging kingship (vv. 1-3) passes into
reflection on his justice which restores to rights (4-5), and on the gift of
institutional intercession (6-8). Thus the way of crying to God in penitence
is commended in a time of continuing distress, and hope is placed
in the God who gives the intercessors, hears them, and answers
graciously. It is the note of reassurance which is fundamental to the
psalm.
As usual, Jeremias is respectful of the received text. However, he is
inclined to regard as expansions vv. 7b and 8c ('yet an avenger with
regard to their misdeeds'). The difficult v. 4 he translates: 'But it is the
power of the king (Yahweh) that he loves the right.' This hardly seems a
fair and convincing translation.
All in all, Jeremias has provided a helpful study, notable for its close
attention to exegesis. He works with an ingenious and intricate theory of
the development of the enthronement psalms and their interaction with
Canaanite myth and Israelite covenant tradition. But particularly in his
determination of where Yahweh's kingship is portrayed as static, and
where as dynamic, he gives the impression of imposing his theory on the
texts, exaggerating the indications of verb-forms and word-order to
bring the passages into line.

Chapter 4
CONCLUSIONS
Text and Sense of Psalm 93
Although a number of emendations to Psalm 93 found advocates among
the scholars in our survey, none were compelling. Extensive changes to
the text, as favoured by Duhm and Briggs, would only damage a structure
which our most recent exegete, Jeremias, judged to be perfect. The
stichometric method, regarded with some respect by Gray, only
revealed its limitations when it required changes in the heart of this
structure, vv. 3-4.
In 93.1 the most widely favoured emendation was of jinn to pn 'he
has adjusted'. Against this, however, some noted the assonance of ]iDn
with the following coian and ]O], also the not quite happy match a thirdperson
pn would make with the second-person address of the following
parallel member. Bentzen also suggested that the Versions' support for pn
had been theologically motivated. Several exegetes, including Mowinckel
and Lipinski, favoured expansion of 93.2b on metrical grounds, but the
received text achieves an impressive and appropriate emphasis.
In 93.3 objection was raised to the sequence of verbs, and Duhm preferred
to read IKCW throughout. Many, however, found a deliberate shift
of meaning: the rivers raged of old (i»sw) and are still raging (IKB-)—so
Delitzsch, Baethgen, Kraus. Gunkel, however, spoke of a 'poetic aorist',
and Dahood and Lipinski compared Ugaritic coupling of qatal and
yiqtol forms. We should accept that 'perfect' and 'imperfect' forms of
verbs could be used by Hebrew poets in sequence or parallelism to
achieve lively effects, without intending an important change of temporal
meaning. The verse, retained in its received form, is most simply taken
then as a description of how the torrents raged before Yahweh asserted
his power over them.
In 93.4b the emendation natoaa TIN was generally favoured. The
change would, however, weaken the poetic effect, where 4c brings an

4. Conclusions 109
emphatic resolution—concentrated in its very last word—after the suspense
built up in 4a and 4b. Delitzsch, earliest of our exegetes yet often
proved the wisest, retained the build-up in his rendering: 'the lordly
ones, the breakers of the sea'. Baethgen also expressed doubt about the
emendation, sensing from Exod. 15.10 that D-TIB should qualify D-Q,
while Dahood looked for a chiastic arrangement where D-TIR would be
confirmed as opposite number to n-an. We can accept and refine the
view of Delitzsch if we recognize that D-vtK is here used as a title of
honour, like the titles given to the water-powers in Ugaritic poetry—
'Prince Sea', 'Judge River' etc. 1 If D-zn is likewise a title of 'the Waters',
we may render this ironic and climactic gem of ancient Hebrew poetry:
More than the thunders of their Majesties the Waters,
their Lordships the Breakers of the Sea,
more lordly in the heights was Yahweh.
In 93.5 Lipinski's surprising analysis ('Your covenant is faithful! It is a
strength for your house! Beautiful is the sanctuary of Yahweh! For long
days!') was justly regarded by Jeremias as misconceived. The only real
question in this verse is the form and meaning of mt«, where a Qumran
MS (4 QPs b ) has m]. Before the latter reading was known, Bentzen and
Mowinckel were already in favour of reading a construct noun m.3,
'beauty of (holiness)'. But it may be more appropriate to take the "? of
-[rrn'? in the sense 'on/over', as suits also in the kindred Ps. 29.10a, and
so find intransitive meaning in the verb, either 'holiness is beautiful (Ni.
of m«) on your house', or 'holiness abides (m[«]] as Qal of rra) on your
house'.
The sequence of thought in Psalm 93 was variously explained by our
exegetes, confusion being caused by a pedantic view of the tenses in
v. 3, and then in more recent times by desire to make v. 1 a statement
of ever-abiding, static sovereignty. Another complication would be the
view of Mowinckel and Lipinski that the royal clothing in v. 1 was
preparation for battle. As regards this clothing, however, we may look
with Bentzen for a broader symbolism: its warrior associations could be
taken up into the meaning expressed at the formal assumption of kingship;
in the ceremonial moment, victorious power and supremacy are
symbolized and shown as decisive factors for the forthcoming reign.
The role of the 'house' in v. 5 was not understood by our earlier
exegetes, who had an unfortunate tendency to link 'holiness' primarily
1. As I suggested in 'Some Questions', pp. 608-609.

110 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
with 'apartness' and so to speak of a petition or hope that the temple
might be kept undefiled and inviolate. The role was eventually clarified,
through Ugaritic and other parallels, as representing the completion of
the divine victory. And here was an important clue to the psalm's
thought.
Psalm 93 could now be heard, from beginning to end, as resonant
with Yahweh's royal triumph. He it is, victorious over rivals, who has
begun his reign, having clothed himself with supremacy and glory. By
him the world has been brought to order, and under his reign it will not
be shaken.
In 93.2 praise is offered in direct address to this manifest king, and
here the throne 'from of old' and God's existence 'from eternity'
should not be seen as conflicting with the statements of present triumph.
As Bentzen points out, these are a traditional way of hailing a new
sovereign; profoundest value was ascribed by linking the present with
primordial destiny and remote future (cf. Mic. 5.1; Ps. 45.7).
In 93.3-4 the praise continues with an account of the preceding battle
against the water-powers. This was the mastering of chaos which was
the essential prelude to the Creator's orderly reign. The description of
the waters maintains the vigour of the ancient mythological poetry, but
is concluded with brilliant economy. The waters too were aspiring kings,
attempting to win power through their mighty voices, claiming titles of
greatness and lordship. But for all their raising, raising, raising din, high
above them, supreme, was Yahweh. That he spoke his all-conquering
word of rebuke may indeed be implied, as Bentzen surmises and
Lipinski makes probable, but the laconic account of his assertion of
mastery is the best possible tribute to his superiority, fitting with the
irony of the lordly titles in 4a-b.
With such an implied utterance of God in 93.4c, the transition to v. 5
appears especially suitable: Yahweh is now directly praised for the sureness
and solid power of his royal attestations, his solemnly pronounced
words of authority. The context suggests that in the first place these are
instruments in the reigning of the Creator-king, maintaining the order of
the cosmos and of society. It is possible that there is also an allusion to
the covenant with David, as several of our exegetes believed. Indeed,
Lipinski and Gray rendered it'Jmu as 'covenant', my certainly has this
association quite often, and the ideological bond between Zion and the
cosmic mountain may well have its effect in this verse, as Lipinski
argued.

4. Conclusions 111
From the thought of the preceding victory, the established supremacy
and the continuing decrees of sovereignty, we pass in 93.5b-c to the
praise which depicts .Yahweh's palace. That holiness has taken its abode
over this house means that here is true and full divinity. Holiness is the
property that characterizes Yahweh's presence and flows from it. That
his reign is praised as one that shall last long indeed (5c) is again a traditional
tribute to a new king (Isa. 9.7; Pss. 72.5-17; 110.4).
While we see the 'house' (with Mowinckel, Lipinski and Gray especially)
as the culmination of Yahweh's taking to himself the kingship,
and so as the continuing source of order and life for the world, the transcendent
palace is represented by the Zion temple, centre of the festal
celebration. Mowinckel was therefore justified in connecting with this
verse the ceremonies of cleansing and renewal for the sanctuary in the
festal season of autumn. For all its conciseness, the psalm would thus
cover the actualization of creation and covenant, with the ascent of
Yahweh to his throne-room above the heavenly ocean, the room symbolized
on Zion.
Text and Sense of Psalm 97
For Psalm 97 also, the received text serves us well. In v. 5 most of our
exegetes chose to obtain a 3+3 metre by regarding mrr -]abD as an
expansion. Since mrr in v. 9 seems also superfluous to metre, one can
reckon with an intention in later times to underline the identity of 'the
Lord of all the earth', 'the Supreme'.
Most also favoured the emendation in 96.10: in *v$to mrr nnfc. This
would represent a modest change, since % nn« could have resulted from
dittography of *, while 'tfqo does occur in a few Hebrew MSS and finds
support in the Syriac. Although ~ino as participle without expressed
subject is not an impossible construction (cf. GKC 116s), the emended
lOa would fit more naturally with lOb and can therefore be accepted.
In 97.11 the reading mr, with one Hebrew MS and the Versions, was
generally preferred to MT's mi. Since the exegetes in question also
emphasized a supposed dependence of the psalm on other texts, they
readily brought the phrase into line with 112.4, but thereby they disregarded
the claim of the more difficult reading. Delitzsch, on the other
hand, appreciated the beauty of MT's image of the sowing of light and
joy, noting classical parallels. One can also add in favour of MT that, in
the context of reassurance in time of peril (v. 10), mt is especially

112 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
appropriate: that light and joy are 'sown' may mean that salvation is
hidden for a while, but will duly come to fruition. The probable setting
of the psalm in the autumn festival would be near to the time of sowing
(cf. 126.5-6).
Concerning the flow of thought in Psalm 97, the main problem was
the function of the account of theophany. There is mention of Yahweh's
throne and of his terrifying advance, and opinions differed as to what
was present scene, accomplished fact, or prediction. The discussion was
complicated by the idea that the theophany section was some older
fragment used in a much later composition.
This last complication would surely be best laid aside. Particularly in
the recurring situations of worship, it is to be expected that the poetic
singers would draw upon traditional images and phraseology. When an
ancient and recurring item such as the theophanic advance to the sanctuary
was to be described, it was natural for psalmists soaked in tradition
to sing from and for the tradition. Such a text should therefore be heard
in the first place for what it says, whether or not some other text
happens to use a similar phrase.
In relating the throne and the march, two possibilities came through
the discussion. The first fitted with Lipinski's idea of proclamation of
Yahweh's kingship being made on the move, a priestly herald preceding
the ark. So the throne itself was mobile, invisible above the ark. The
very procession of the throning God brought destruction to adversaries.
The proclamation of kingship, the call to rejoice, and the description of
victorious power would all have present reference, belonging to the processional
event then in progress.
The other possibility would be to regard 97.1-2 as belonging to the
scene when the entrance has been completed and Yahweh has begun his
reign from his sanctuary. Verses 3-6 would then be a retrospective
tribute (rather as proposed for 93.3-4): this was how Yahweh overcame
his foes on the way to his present occupation of the throne. This interpretation
is preferable in view of its possible parallel in Psalm 93 and its
distinction of the moment of sheer gladness from the prelude of terrifying
warfare. The enemies having been destroyed, now was the moment
to proclaim that Yahweh had triumphed and begun his reign, and the
purged earth and distant coastlands could be summoned to happy praise.
Shrouded in clouds of incense, the throne was founded on goodness and
justice, and so would the new reign be characterized.
Then 97.3-6 followed as a hymnic tribute which portrayed the march

4. Conclusions 113
of victory just completed. Yahweh had gone forth against his foes and
overcome them with his fiery glory and shafts of lightning. So he had
entered his palace, with all heavenly beings giving testimony to his rightful
sovereignty, and all peoples beholding his glory.
The sequence continues smoothly in 97.7, which extends the praise by
describing the effects of the victory—the shame of idolaters, the submission
of other gods, the rejoicing in Judah. All this culminates in direct
address to Yahweh (8c-9), praising his universal supremacy.
In 97.10-11 tribute is paid to the righteous and saving ways of this
world-king, and it is implied that his servants too must reject evil and
remain loyal and sincere. The concluding summons (v. 12) to 'rejoice in
Yahweh' is accordingly addressed to 'the righteous' (and one need not
deny an open, universal character to this expression); they are to give
praise through the chanting of 'his holy remembrance'—the sacred
name and the formulas of testimony in which it resounds.
Lipiriski and Jeremias regarded the use of TTon and n"p"i^ as pointing
to the Hellenistic period. But the manner of their use is not peculiar and
would be at home in much earlier psalmody. It may be granted that the
reference to 'Zion' and 'the daughters of Judah' could indicate a period
after the reduction of Davidic rule. A seventh-century date would suit
the resemblances to the theophanic account of Habakkuk, who also had
a word for the p'Ti, and with this period Lipinski's adduced literary
parallels also generally agree. A background of national subjugation such
as Habakkuk laments may be visible in our psalm, vv. 10-11.
Text and Sense of Psalm 99
Turning to Psalm 99, we find textual issues more prominent. In v. 1 the
unique ain was defended by Bentzen as an Aramaic variant of ainn, and
Dahood and Lipinski noted in its favour the discovery of a Ugaritic root
ntt 'wobble'. The sense of TOT and ai]n suits MT's non-jussive understanding:
the verbs simply describe the present effects of Yahweh's
terrible manifestation of glory as he takes up the kingship. Already then,
the characteristic emphasis of this psalm on the dreadful divine holiness
is apparent. Bentzen explained nszr as in apposition to mrr, but Gunkel
and Lipinski seem justified in preferring to repoint as nzr; then the act of
taking the throne would suit both the parallelism of ~pQ and the context
of reactions of terror.
In 99.2b Lipinski preferred (with a few Hebrew and Greek MSS)

1 14 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
D'n^st'^D'^y as the harder reading, and one may agree that MT's
D'Qurr^D" 1 ?!) may have been a revision to avoid such a lively depiction of
the gods uttering praise (vv. 2b-3).
None of our exegetes had a satisfactory solution for the awkward
99.4a: f^Q un. Several chose the repointing as ^po w\ 'and a
strong/fierce one has become king'; not least peculiar here would be the
occurrence of the prefix 'and'. Significantly, Lipinski quietly drops this
prefix in his own interesting reconstruction and translation: 'dzi malk,
'He is the force of the king, he loves the right'. Such a direction
mention of the human king would have no parallel in this class of psalm.
We can, however, obtain a good chiastic statement from the four words
in 4b and excellent parallelism with the rest of the verse, if we translate
Ttfi as Qal participle of TinAir 2 and "j"?Q as a noun similar to Ugaritic mlk
'kingship' (which also occurs paired with mtpt), thus:
Commanding good rule, loving good governance,
you yourself have established justice.
Good governance and righteousness in Jacob
you yourself have fashioned.
Lipinski has done well to call attention to the Phoenician name 'zmlk
(we may compare Hebrew I WTI>, irrw etc.) and it is possible that knowledge
of such names has influenced the pointing of MT.
Although substantial emendations have been proposed in the remainder
of Psalm 99, such as Lipinski's setting aside of TTD2 prrai, the only
acute difficulty in the text arises from the thought of v. 8c, where the
construction ^u Dp] also arouses suspicion. Several of our exegetes,
including Gunkel, Bentzen and Kraus, were prepared to accept the
jarring statement: 'A God forgiving you were to them, and punishing
concerning their (mis)deeds.' It is true that such a 'contradiction' is
found elsewhere (notably in Exod. 34.6-7), but what would be the point
of such a passage here? Some of our exegetes insisted on a present
sense for v. 6—the great men as still living in their successors, or represented
in the cult-drama, or even still active in Sheol. Some took the
passage to be intended as praise, some as admonition in view of the
holiness of Yahweh.
But it is unlikely that admonition is the purpose, since the climax, v. 8,
is addressed to Yahweh. The bulk of vv. 6-8 deals with Yahweh's
gracious response to the intercessors of classic times. Culminating in
2. As I proposed in 'Proposals in Psalms 99 and 119', VT 18 (1968), pp. 555-
57, cf. BDB, p. 418a and the Arabic wa'aza there mentioned.

4. Conclusions 115
direct address to Yahweh, the passage is best explained as an implied
plea for merciful hearing now. In v. 6 the 'tense' can easily be rendered
as frequentative past, as Delitzsch says, and the preposition 3 (twice)
may well indicate pre-eminence:
Moses and Aaron,
chief of his priests,
And Samuel,
chief of his intercessors,
would call to the Lord
and he would hear them. 3
The tactful third-person reference to the Lord finally changes to direct
address in v. 8: 'A God forgiving you were to them...' The psalm has
portrayed God in awful holiness, and here appropriately seeks merciful
reception of any intercessions which are to follow; but it asks implicitly,
using the tact traditional in intercession.
If this is the best explanation of the function of the passage as a whole,
probability greatly favours the exegetes who looked for a parallel statement
of divine mercy in 99.8c. There were several ways of obtaining
such a sense. Too speculative were proposals to emend the consonants,
as when Mowinckel inserted vb before Dp], or Gray changed opn to Dj?20
'acquitting them'. Delitzsch rightly found the explanation of DnVrbr as
'misdeeds against them' to be rather forced. More satisfactory were two
other possibilities: Lipifiski's well-documented proposal to translate Dp]
as 'avenger > protector'—'a protector over all their doings'; and Buhl's
proposal in BHK to re-point as Dp']i, Qal participle with suffix, 'and
acquitting them'—though such a transitive Qal of np] is not attested, one
can compare verbs which, though normally using developed stems for
the transitive sense, do occasionally have it in Qal (so 3iiD and tibti).
We can now proceed to the resultant view of the thought of Psalm 99.
Proclamation of Yahweh's assumption of the kingship is accompanied
by description of the trepidation caused by the awesome event. He has
taken his seat on the cherubim—a heavenly event manifest in Zion. His
greatness and supremacy are revealed. Praise is offered in heaven and
on Zion with citation of his dread name and attributes. There is ascription
to him alone of full divinity—Kin cmp. The importance of the trisagion
in this psalm is comparable with the final statement of Psalm 93:
the powerful manifestation of Yahweh's holiness is part of the event of
his taking the kingship.
3. For this way of expressing eminency see BOB, p. 88a.

116 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
In v. 4 the psalmist exalts Yahweh in direct address as founder and
lover of righteous kingship, fashioner or doer of good rule in Jacob; this
is probably a reference to the establishment of the Davidic dynasty as
instrument of God's reign from Zion. This section is rounded off with a
call for praise and obeisance towards the footstool of Yahweh's throne.
In view of the 0-3113 aczr of v. 1, the ]r^3 of v. 2, and the name-presence
of v. 3, the 'footstool' is best taken as the ark deposited in the Holy of
Holies. This would also accord with the related scene in Isaiah 6. At this
point the psalm repeats the confession of Yahweh's unique godhead, the
tribute that sounds through heaven and earth: 'Holy is he!'
The relation to Isaiah 6 shows us how terrible this moment of
Yahweh's royal epiphany would seem. The holy God might now speak
a word of judgment destructive to a sinful people. This is the moment,
then, for the singer to recall the mediation and intercession of Moses,
Aaron and Samuel; these were obedient servants who found mercy and
grace for themselves and (it is understood) for the people they represented
and prayed for. In the awful moment of epiphany, this is as much
as the psalmist thinks right to say on this subject. He has praised God as
merciful in response to faithful intercession. The entreaty and the hope
are implied, and he will leave it at that.
The conclusion follows in 99.9—a renewed call to praise and obeisance,
and a third confession of Yahweh's unique holiness. The obeisance
'to his holy mountain' has prompted Lipinski to envisage the
congregation here reaching the foot of the temple hill, but if we allow
for the symbolism of steps and temple platform we can still think of
obeisance in the court towards the Holy of Holies.
The Proclamation: yahweh malak
Our exegetes for the most part found an inchoative sense in this formula,
even if a continuing state were also denoted: Yahweh has become
king and now reigns. Delitzsch, the earliest and so often the best,
explains that Yahweh 'became king' in succeeding revelations in history,
and that our psalms see the final revelation, now fully universal: he has
entered his kingdom and now rules, and this new reign is the manifest
actualization of his eternal omnipotence beyond time. The great event in
this ~pQ mrr, explained Delitzsch, meant the resolution of the world's
conflicts. Baethgen stressed that we have, not ^a, but ^a ward Konig,
an event fulfilling prophetic promise, and he noted the explanation of

4. Conclusions 117
Bar Hebraeus that Yahweh was repossessing his land and becoming king
over it.
A variety of translations was suggested to catch the event-laden sense
and yet make a bridge to modern readers. Briggs had 'Yahweh doth
reign' but was emphatic that the reference was not to the enduring royal
prerogative, but to Yahweh's having now shown himself king and
entered with regal advent to reign directly. Mowinckel had 'Yahweh has
taken the royal name'; Gray 'Yahweh has proved himself king'. After
detailed examination, Lipinski preferred the clear 'Yahweh has become
king'.
Whatever the translation offered, the earlier commentators generally
explained the inchoative sense confidently, as something obvious. It
seems that there was no controversy on the matter while the new reign
was understood to be a prophetically seen event of the end-time, or as a
new era of history. But with Mowinckel's success in explaining it as an
annual actualization of Yahweh's first ordering of the world and of
covenant, the force of "p& mrr began to be keenly debated.
Kraus and Jeremias ostensibly shared the view that the order
'subject-verb' indicated a statement of abiding sovereignty. Kraus,
however, recognized an exclamatory force in the formula, and where he
detected an eschatological message (Ps. 98) he readily spoke of
Yahweh's enthronement. Jeremias found exclamatory force in the
beginning of Psalm 97, along with eschatological reference.
But granted that the order 'subject-verb' conveys an emphasis on
Yahweh as king, rather than his rivals, the contexts remain firm ground
for finding in -[bn mrr an event-laden proclamation. Yahweh has donned
his royal apparel (93), he has given cause for an outburst of joy (97,
cf. 47), his sitting down on the cherubim has made the world quake with
dread of his holy epiphany (99), gods and peoples fall down in homage
(99), he is fresh from mastering the waters (93) and from routing his
foes with fire and lightning (97).
In the related Psalms 47,96 and 98 the event of the kingship is no less
marked. God has ascended with blast of horns, clapping and dancing, a
new song for the new era, and good news which must be carried far and
wide.
Gray's judgment that only 'theological' considerations could resist the
obvious conclusion seemed fair. It was significant that Kraus had to
leave his interpretation of Psalm 47 in a state of suspense, and was
happy to find an inchoative reign, but eschatological, in the similar

118 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Psalm 98. In fact he was scarcely able to depict the festal setting of the
"pQ mrr psalms as anything but dramatic and exciting, a climax of revelation
and acknowledgment. Purporting to distance himself from what
was in effect but an Aunt Sally of a Mowinckel, he was found in practice
to have crept up close beside the real Mowinckel.
Relation to Deutero-Isaiah
Prior to Mowinckel, our exegetes were assuming that the psalms of
Yahweh's kingship drew their inspiration from the prophets, and especially
from Deutero-Isaiah. This view was not founded on detailed study
of language, since only Psalms 96 and 98 are at all close to the prophecies
in style. The view sprang rather from an assumption that the great
prophets were the fount of great conceptions, and it was reinforced
by the understanding of these psalms as prophetic eschatology. The
1 -nb« "pa of Isa. 52.7 was rashly seen as the inspiration of the "pa mrr of
the psalms. With a more sympathetic view of the liturgy and its poetic
resources, with the rejection or modification of the eschatological interpretation,
and with form-analysis of prophets and psalms, the prevailing
assumption of the priority of Deutero-Isaiah crumbled away.
So strongly had the assumption been held that even Mowinckel only
gradually came to propose pre-exilic dates for some of our psalms. But
as ancient Near Eastern evidence accumulated, our exegetes grew away
from the old assumptions. Kraus, Dahood, Gray, Lipiriski and Jeremias
were definite about the very early character of Psalm 93. Psalm 99 was
placed somewhere between Solomon (Lipinski) and Deuteronomy
(Jeremias). Psalm 97 was thought by some to be very old in part, but if
late as a whole, still independent of Deutero-Isaiah. Lipinski's detailed
study of phraseology showed how, irrespective of date, there was no
justification for assuming dependence on Deutero-Isaiah in any of our
three psalms.
The episode of the rise and fall of the Deutero-Isaiah assumption
points to a fundamental misunderstanding which dies hard. We need to
recognize a lyrical prophetic ministry associated with the festal liturgy
from early times. While psalmists served as liturgists, singing essential
materials of the recurring worship, prophets often co-operated by giving
interpretation and application to meet current circumstances. Deutero-
Isaiah should not be seen as the font of inspiration for the psalms of
God's kingship, but rather as an outstanding example of the tradition of

4. Conclusions 119
festal prophecy, an example shaped by a particular historical setting. So
the question of priority was misconceived. The psalms and the lyrical
prophecies should be seen as witnesses to different roles in the use of the
poetic traditions of worship.
Realities of History, Cult and Eschatology
With conclusions reached about text, sequence of thought, the force of
•j^Q mrr, and the relation to prophecy, broader consideration can now be
given to the views of our exegetes regarding the reality presented by
Psalms 93, 97, and 99. What are we to make of the variety of interpretation
offered for the manifestation of Yahweh's kingship which our
psalms so strikingly convey? Has not the variety often been a matter of
subtle variations rather than of clear-cut differences?
A common interpretation was the eschatological, the theme being
explained as a kind of vision of the last times. Consistent on these lines
was Delitzsch, who took all three psalms to begin with the eschatological
scene as present, before alluding to the actual present and (in the case of
Psalm 99) the past. A historical factor was not lacking, as he saw the
precedent of Deutero-Isaiah and the early Persian period as forming high
ground from which our psalmists gained their view to the distant endtime.
Kittel's view was similar. All three psalms he saw as eschatological,
drawing from the great prophets who had ethically refined popular
nationalist hopes. He too thought Psalm 93 alluded in addition to current
actual dangers, and assumed a historical cause—perhaps Sennacherib's
withdrawal—for Psalm 99's vision of the final kingdom. From Psalm 93
he deduced the idea that Yahweh's throne was prepared at creation, but
ascended only in the end-time.
More restrained than in his earlier publications, Gunkel's eschatological
interpretation was nevertheless maintained in his commentary. The
Gattung of our psalms, he thought, had become characterized by this
eschatological outlook, but Psalm 93 went beyond the norm by also
linking Yahweh's throne-ascension to the creation. Although Gunkel did
not speak of a historical event as occasioning these psalms, his general
view of the influence of prophecy implied an underlying factor of
restoration from the Exile.
For Psalm 97 Gunkel envisaged a setting in a festival as proposed by
Mowinckel. In his Einleitung he had a more elaborate view: responding

120 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
to Mowinckel, he envisaged a pre-exilic festival which at new year dramatized
the truth of Yahweh's enduring kingship, then a post-exilic
counterpart of the festival affected by the eschatological lyric of
Deutero-Isaiah, and so (as in our psalms) conveying experience of the
last times as though present.
Several commentators did not consider our psalms to be generally
eschatological, but admitted some evidence of eschatology. Thus
Baethgen explained that in all three psalms Yahweh 'became king' in
some recent event such as the return from the Exile but he also granted
that the related Psalm 96 widened this idea towards the messianic future.
Duhm took Psalm 93 of the reign that continued from creation, but in
Psalm 97 he found a thunderstorm which might presage Yahweh's acts
of world power, while in Psalm 99 he detected Hasmonean triumph that
brought foreboding of history's climax. And he had already explained
the related Psalm 47 as a festal psalm for New Year's day that gave a
glimpse of a future era.
Kraus saw all three of our psalms as set in the feast of Tabernacles, 93
and 99 being pre-exilic and celebrating Yahweh's constant reign, while
97 was post-exilic and eschatological in the wake of Deutero-Isaiah.
Dahood appeared to take 93 and 99 just as general praise, but was clear
that 97 was concerned with eschatological judgment, a future when the
righteous would inherit the 'sown field' (JTIT ~n«) of Paradise. Jeremias
took the opening announcements of Yahweh's kingship ("jba mrr) as
affirming constant sovereignty, while he added that in the final composition
of 97 there was also expectation of the final day of judgment. He
distinguished Psalms 47, 95, 96, and 98 as hymns which celebrated
events of national salvation.
Yet other commentators found no eschatology at all. Briggs saw our
psalms as derived from a larger whole, which celebrated Yahweh's
advent in some recent upheaval, probably the overthrow of the Persian
empire. Lipinski also saw the throne-ascension of Yahweh in relation to
past events. In the pre-exilic autumn festival he placed Psalm 93, as
actualizing a salvation that arose from creation and the covenant of Zion
and David; also 99, which included reference to the continuing intercession
of Moses and Samuel in Sheol. Psalm 97, however, he saw as
celebrating national deliverance at the Hasmonean re-dedication of the
temple. Bentzen likewise found no place for eschatology in his exegesis
of our psalms, understanding Yahweh's 'becoming king' as cultic actualization
of primordial victory; in Psalm 93 the victory was clearly that of

4. Conclusions 121
creation, celebrated in the autumn festival as though it had just
happened.
Mowinckel's commentary was also on these lines, but with rather
fuller explanation: like other psalms of this type, our psalms saw
Yahweh, in the autumn festival, as taking his royal title after accomplishing
the mighty deeds of creation and election—deeds that founded the
world of the worshippers' experience. Psalm 93 actualized the victory of
creation, but also the salvation history down to the foundation of the
temple. Psalm 97 concentrated on Yahweh's advent in judgment at the
festival, while 99 related the kingship to the covenant-lordship: the great
day of grace, laden with promise and warning, was present again. While
there was no eschatology in all this exegesis of Mowinckel, he did
comment elsewhere on the 'future' aspect of such psalms. Because the
ceremonies were concerned with blessings for the coming year, the texts
had relevance to the immediate future. Prophets, especially from
Deutero-Isaiah onwards, drew on the poetry and rites of the festival to
express their visions of the future, and these at last, in the Hellenistic age,
passed into eschatology proper. Influences from such developments in
prophecy worked back again into the psalm tradition, as witness Psalms
85 and 126, but not our psalms. 4
In similar fashion John Gray made no mention of eschatological
elements in his exposition of Psalms 93, 97 and 99; Yahweh 'proved to
be king' in the autumn festival's recalling of the crisis of creation and
the epiphany of the covenant-lord. But in a well-balanced general interpretation,
Gray explained that past, present and future joined in the festal
'sacrament' of God's kingship, which was an earnest of its full realization,
bringing present relief and assurance.
When we ask what grounds were given for eschatological interpretations,
we find that none of our exegetes were able to point to clear
expressions of eschatology in these psalms. Jeremias argued that in
Psalm 97 present sense in vv. 1-2 changed to future in v. 3, with reference
to eschatological judgment; but in fact present or past senses are no
less possible. Kittel found proof of eschatology in the expression used in
the related Psalms 96 and 98: p«n enc 1 ? ta '3, but this expression could
easily refer to a present advent, 'for he has come'. An incentive to
eschatological interpretation was the belief that these psalms depended
on great prophets who characteristically spoke of the last day; but this
belief, as we have seen, was not well-founded. The substance of the
4. Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, I, pp. 186-92; II, pp. 225-26.

122 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
eschatological interpretation thus lay solely in the need to account for
the extraordinary theme of these psalms: the fresh proclamation of
Yahweh's perfect and manifest sovereignty.
So long as the cultic experience was not explored, the eschatological
explanation seemed to be the only way to do justice to the scope of this
newly assumed kingship. This approach was reinforced by the fact that
expressions similar to the key idioms of our psalms came to be used
in prophetic or apocalyptic materials such as Zech. 14.9, Obadiah 21,
Rev. 11.7 and 19.6. But the lack of directly predictive expressions in our
psalms led to equally strained rival interpretations—that the inauguration
of sovereignty was a metaphor for some new political success, or was
not an inauguration at all, but an ever-abiding, unchanging reign.
The way through the impasse could only be that offered by sympathetic
understanding of the festal worship. The secret lay in the liturgy's
actualization of Yahweh's originative deeds. In the chief annual festival,
the founding of world-order and of the community loyal to Yahweh was
recalled and known as new. The epiphany of God as newly triumphant
and beneficent king was proclaimed in the way illustrated by Psalms 93,
97 and 99—each seizing on different aspects of the central event. The
various psalms could each proclaim the kingship while contributing their
own development of the rich implications.
The question then remained as to whether the eschatological interpretations
were now entirely superseded. The classic past was
actualized—but what of the future? It was plain that such a festival
around the New Year answered to hopes for the coming year and its
round of growth. Was that as far as it went? Granted such relevance to
the coming year, did the festival and its psalmody otherwise just leave an
inheritance which prophets and apocalyptists were able to adapt to their
own eschatological outlook? Or did the festal songs, while actualizing the
past, already carry hope for a future age?
Here account must be taken of the intensity and depth of the festal
experience. As a vivid encounter with Yahweh, it was a coming face to
face with the ultimate. In this sense the festal psalms had an eschatological
force. Responding to Yahweh in his victorious glory, they pulsate
with transcendent joy; they see a transfigured world.
It was suggested above that psalmody and a kind of prophecy had
long worked side by side, each song-like and visionary, but each contributing
its distinctive service to the festal experience. From quite early
times, the prophets might have spoken of a future era. But for the

4. Conclusions 123
psalms of God's kingship the present festal experience of a transfigured
world was apparently enough.
Assessing Form-Criticism
Even before the form-critical approach to the Psalms was developed,
Psalms 93, 97 and 99, along with 47, 96 and 98, were readily seen as a
group. For one thing, they shared the great theme of the proclaimed
kingship, and for another, most lay together in the arrangement of the
book. So Briggs in 1906 even saw Psalms 93, 96-99 as derived from
stanzas of one great psalm. However, it was Gunkel's newly systematic
classification which led Mowinckel to go deep into their common
themes and break through to their liturgical setting. Following
Mowinckel, the exegetes in our survey accepted the link with the
autumn festival—so Gunkel, Bentzen, Kraus, Lipinski, Gray and
Jeremias (the question is not discussed by Dahood).
Subsequent debate led critics of Mowinckel to emphasize the diversity
within this group of psalms. Kraus would not call it a Gattung; it was for
him rather a group within the hymns, characterized by having belonged
in the festival to the moment of obeisance before Yahweh as king.
Jeremias distinguished two kinds within the group. The diversity is
indeed obvious. While Psalms 96 and 98 have most in common, the rest
are each marked by individuality—93 has its concise evocation of the
ancient ideology, 97 has its account of God's fiery war, 99 its trisagion
and theme of mercy. Each is a text to grapple with in its own right, and
we must beware of assuming its intention from its classification, as
Gunkel seemed to do for Psalm 93.
Nevertheless, it was the approach of Gunkel which prepared the way
for clarifying the purpose of these peculiar psalms. Comparison within
the group remains an important aid to solving their problems. To grasp
the force of the proclamation ~[bo mm, the allusion to Yahweh's primordial
creation and salvation, the involvement of heaven, earth, Zion,
peoples, Jacob—in all such tasks of interpretation it has proved necessary
to keep all the psalms of this type under review. Relating Psalms 93
and 99, for example, showed the special relevance of the holiness of
Yahweh to his taking of the kingship.
Lipinski proposed to merge our psalms with the class of Songs of
Zion, with "J^D mm being no longer the hall-mark of a genre. The
distinction of the two groups, however, was defended by Jeremias.

124 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Whatever the terminology and details of classification, it remains valuable
to note peculiarities which point to one phase of the festal ceremonies,
while other traits show affinities with psalms from the larger
complex of rites.
It was significant that Duhm's exegesis contained valuable insights but
remained rather arbitrary and disjointed. This showed the need for the
thorough correlation which became accepted soon afterwards from
Gunkel's work.
The Theology of Psalms 93, 97 and 99
Here was an aspect rarely developed by our exegetes. Delitzsch was
outstanding as a commentator always sensitive to the theological profundity
of his texts. Kraus had the merit of concluding his treatment of
each psalm with theological reflections, including some reference to the
New Testament.
But in taking "j^Q mrr as a statement of continuous, unchanging rule,
Kraus was not in a position to see the relevance of Psalms 93 and 99
(and therewith the pre-exilic festal liturgy) to theodicy. To those suffering
the tyranny of injustice, what would be the point of declaring that
Yahweh reigns exactly as he has always done, the world is happy as
always, and how good to make pilgrimage to his throne, bow low and
give thanks for the rule that continues without change? Kraus has
drained the drama and so also the hope out of these psalms and the preexilic
worship. With an eschatological interpretation, such as he applies
to Psalms 96-98 (post-exilic in his view), there would be hope that
present suffering would at last give way to Yahweh's perfect reign. But
since, as Kraus agrees, Psalms 93 and 99 can no longer be interpreted as
directly eschatological, a dynamic, salvific meaning of the kingdom must
be found in some other way, if their message is not to sound like a
travesty of truth.
So there is a great theological importance in recognizing the inchoative
force of "pQ mrr. When this is done it appears that, to worshippers
who knew well the ravages of chaos, our psalms conveyed a gospel of
salvation. This gospel was delivered, not in preaching, but in celebration,
the actualizing of an ideal world, centred on the Creator's fresh presence.
Here was victory, here was a vision of salvation which exalted the
worshippers in faith and hope.
Another aspect of our psalms vital for theology was their essential

4. Conclusions 125
universality, entirely integrated as it was with the divine choice of Jacob,
Zion, and the Davidic dynasty. Our older commentators were inclined to
think in terms of development: with the passing of centuries and the
preaching of great prophets, the narrower view of Yahweh God of Israel
had expanded to the conception of the God of all nations. It was a welcome
feature of the commentary of Kraus that he forthrightly recognized
the extreme antiquity of the conception of the Creator-king, the
universal lord, orderer of the cosmos, with Zion as the counterpart of his
throne above the heavenly ocean.
Our psalms were equally emphatic that this Creator, the Most High,
was Israel's Yahweh, giver of the covenant-testimonies at Zion
(Psalm 93), guardian of Judah's faithful (97), merciful guide of the
people of Moses, Aaron and Samuel (99). On such statements had
Briggs swooped, declaring them particularist glosses from the late
period. But they were more wisely seen as constituents of an early,
integrated theology, where the universal and election elements must be
understood by reference to each other.
To worshippers who knew the din of chaos and the cruel hands of the
wicked, our psalms were a disclosure of the victorious power of the
Creator. With this power was knit the beautiful quality of righteousness.
The foundation of his reigning was pts and ostzja. The terrible Holy One
was the ordainer of right rule, lover of the fair and compassionate governance
that protected the needy. This Holy One, before whom all
heaven fell in awe, would hear intercessions for mercy, would forgive,
and would set free from guilt.
The Spirituality of Psalms 93, 97 and 99
The aspect of spirituality, which in other connections has become a topic
of great interest for our generation, takes theology into the realm of
practical application, centring on life in communion with God. But of
this aspect the exegetes had virtually nothing to say. Duhm's pungent
commentary at least had the merit of passing opinions on spiritual
worth. If he thought a psalmist was blinkered and empty-headed, he
would say so (as he did in the case of Ps. 119). For Psalm 99 he had
something warm to say. Bentzen and Mowinckel sometimes gave terse
indication of spiritual message and relevance to Christian life. Kittel
wrote appreciatively of the theme of righteousness in 97 and of the
enthusiasm, congregational participation, and message of grace in 99.
But all this comment was slight.

126 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
For ancient and modern pilgrims our psalms in fact have something
very precious to offer in terms of spirituality. Those who hear and
respond to their proclamation know a peculiar joy. Other texts may
exhort to faith, hope and patience, promising that the world's sufferings
will at last be changed. But in our psalms are open gates to a celebration
already begun. Their invitation is to time-transcending experience of the
great intervention, the world's transformation, the salvation that makes
all well.
Perhaps what these psalms offer could be called a life of realized
eschatology, or of eschatology beginning to be realized—a life in this
world of suffering, but suffused with resurrection light. At all events,
they are ready to impart a spirituality of ever-renewed joy, a joy deep
and strong as the spirit of those who ever and again hear, see, and
celebrate the beginning of the triumph of good.

APPENDIX
In my treatment of Psalms 1, 19 and 119,1 provided a link from the selected ten
commentators to the present day by briefly discussing the work of Westermann,
Gerstenberger, and Spieckermann. In this Appendix I want to strengthen this link by
taking stock of the very recent and valuable work of Sama, Fohrer, and Soil.
Nahum H. Sarna on Psalm 1
Nahum M. Sarna devotes 30 pages (including 120 notes) to Psalm 1 in his book
Songs of the Heart: An Introduction to the Book of Psalms. 1 His commentary makes
a distinctive contribution by clarifying vocabulary and ideas in the light of rabbinic
and ancient Near Eastern comparisons, and it is stimulating to read his evaluation of
this psalm made from a Jewish perspective. He writes gracefully for the general
reader, but treats the issues with precision and documents his points. Citing the
opinion of Rabbi Yudan (fourth century) that this is the choicest of all psalms, he
approaches the little text with sympathy and warmth.
The opening phrase of the psalm does not promise a romanticized future, he says,
but describes an existing reality. This HOR expresses the judgment of an observer
filled with wonderment at another's enviable state. The intensive plural 'TOR suits the
exalted happiness that is in mind. Unlike self-centred, transient 'pleasure', this happiness
is deep-rooted, serious and enduring. Unlike the kindred -p~a, "IOK possesses
no antonym, always applies to human life, never to God, and is not conferred, or
invoked. The existing situation it describes has a this-worldly character, as is indicated
by its use sometimes with 'nation' and 'land'.
Noting the occurrences of the root -HB« in a verb 'to walk' and a noun 'footstep',
Sarna finds word-play in the following ~pn and ~[~n for which he cites several other
examples in Psalms and Proverbs. The happiness suggested, therefore, is not a passive
condition but a dynamic process of rejecting and accepting.
For mrr mira in 1.2 he has 'the Lord's Teaching', and his explanation of i^sn
holds together the senses of 'delight' and 'occupation'—the reference is to diligent
and gratifying application. Pointing out that mm in the Psalms never occurs with the
article or with mention of a book, he thinks on the one hand that the meaning here is
simply 'teaching, instruction', but on the other hand the form of a book is assumed
since the verb nan denotes audible recital. The individual is studying a sacred text
1. New York: Schocken Books, 1993.

128 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
with intense concentration, and his method is reading aloud, rote learning, and
constant oral repetition.
Sarna presents a wealth of rabbinic evidence for the sense of "Tine (1.3) as 'wellrooted';
surprisingly he does not mention the rendering 'transplant' favoured by
most lexicons. The thought is not only of access to perennial waters, he says, but also
of stability against violent winds. The question of the subject of ntoir (1.3)—the tree
or the person portrayed?—is answered inclusively. The line is 'marvelously ambiguous',
and deliberately so; it is a rhetorical device that allows for both meanings to be
simultaneously apprehended. Sarna lists the passages where nou and rfai have agricultural
meanings ('yield' and 'flourish') and for the latter gives evidence also of
such usage in rabbinic Hebrew.
He takes the sense of lap' in 1.5 as 'prevail' if a tribunal is envisaged, just as in
Akkadian uzzuzu 'to stand up' can also mean 'to prevail, triumph in a lawsuit'. But if
(as he seems to prefer) the 'judgment' is God's providence exerted through life's
vicissitudes, lap 11 will refer to endurance: the wicked will not be able to 'withstand' the
shifting tides of fortune.
This careful treatment of vocabulary continues with helpful comments on 1.6. The
Lord 'cherishes' the way of the righteous. And Sarna notes that jnv here is the
antonym of •QKn. As in other Semitic languages, 'to know' has a rich semantic range
in which the senses predominate, rather than intellectual cognition. Emotional ties,
empathy, intimacy, sexual experience, mutuality, and responsibility all fall within the
uses of the root ST. He further notes the valuable light which has been shed by the
ancient Near Eastern treaties and related texts. In this technical covenantal language
'to know' refers to mutual recognition and acceptance of obligations. When the
superior 'knows' his subordinate, he is placing him under his care and protection. So
Sarna hears in 1.6 the note of a special relationship: these D'p'Tf are under God's
personal care and guidance, and he orders and sustains the pattern and course of their
life. -a«n, notes Sarna, is by contrast intransitive. Self-ruin is the fate of the wicked.
Their way is inexorably doomed.
Turning now to the broader questions of thought, we note that Sarna is especially
taken by the opening contrast of the one and the many. This er«, this person, he says,
is indeed the one against the many. The individual has to withstand the pressure for
social conformity. With their great numbers and seeming success, the wicked can
mould the patterns of behaviour and influence popular ideas of right and wrong to suit
their own interests. But here is a person who can withstand the allurements of the
wicked and stand apart from the crowd. Here is one who can resist the strong
influence of peer pressure, withdraw from harmful though enticing social situations,
and concentrate energies of mind and heart on God's teaching.
In this teaching, says Sarna, was an authoritative guide to right conduct. Continual
repetition and review served to make the values part of the individual's own being. It
was in continuance of this piety that the study of tora came to be seen in rabbinic
Judaism as a fundamental mode of worship, designated along with prayer as rrrai?,
which was also the term for the sacrificial system of worship in the temple. Sarna
notes here how the Qumran sectarians used a shift system to ensure that the study of
the sacred texts never ceased by day or by night.

Appendix 129
He judges the simile of the tree to be the heart of the entire composition. Here is
still the beleaguered individual. The surrounding land is hot and arid, but the tree has
a copious source of water. A pool is fed by a spring and in turn feeds the waterditches
that nurture the fruit-tree without fail. So the study of tora nurtures the inner
life. In a morally and spiritually barren climate, the individual can flourish and be a
model of reliability. And as the tree renders service through its shelter, its medicinal
leaves, its good fruit, so this ideal person bestows benefits on others, and indeed
provides food, shelter and medicines for those in need.
On 1.4 Sarna remarks how terse the style is in contrast with v. 3, as though
abruptly disposing of the wicked. He finds the symbol of 'chaff appropriate not only
for its lightness, but also because it is an outer covering. These seemingly powerful
ones are whisked away by the winds of adversity, unmasked as rootless nonentities.
With the phrase cyis mm (1.5), Sarna sees the result of the individual's stand:
the social situation has been transformed. The individual who needed to shun evil
company now has companionship. It is the wicked now who are excluded, condemned
to self-centred isolation. The one who maintained integrity in an immoral
society has triumphed. This individual has been able to bring about a change in
society because there is a divinely ordained moral law, which must at last prevail. But
Sarna's readers may feel that this is rather an optimistic message in his this-worldly
terms. They may be surprised that the exposition does not reckon with the
contradictions of experience.
He does not discuss the date of the psalm directly, but he finds the psalm to reflect
developments that he associates with the reforms of Josiah. These developments,
illustrated by Deut. 4.6, 8 and Jer. 8.8-9, entailed the merging of wisdom and tora
schools. The wise scribes handle and interpret the divine teaching. In accordance with
this development, Psalm 1 has many characteristics of wisdom in vocabulary and
ideas, and yet centres on the value of tora-study.
The position of the psalm at the head of the collection, notes Sarna, may seem
puzzling at first sight, since the piece is not a typical psalm. Here is no outpouring of
the soul, no invocation of God, no praise, no petition, no jubilation. Attention is
focused not on God but on a human being. The positioning of this piece must be
meant to make a statement, to stress something fundamental and essential at the
outset. Indeed Sarna assumes that the psalmist composed the piece specifically to
head the Psalms.
Sarna finds three aspects in the psalmist's 'statement'. First is the central value of
tora-study in the righteous life. And here Sarna notes the relation of the 150 psalms
to the 150 weekly tora readings in the three-year cycles. He notes also the tora theme
stated early at the head of the canonical divisions: the Former Prophets (Jos. 1.7-8),
Latter Prophets (Isa. 1.10), and now the Writings (Ps. 1). And as first of the psalms,
our psalm showed tora-study as a fundamental mode of worship.
The second aspect of the psalmist's 'statement', says Sarna, concerns the moral
order: human destinies are ultimately governed by this righteous, divinely given order;
the cries to God in other psalms presuppose belief in his righteous will for the world.
The third aspect is the implicit teaching that the individual, nourished by divine
tora, has power to transform society.

130 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Sarna's treatment of Psalm 1 is helpful in many ways. It is more useful than many
commentaries in its documented reference to biblical, rabbinic, and Near Eastern
comparisons. Questions will arise, however, about the value of the psalm's teaching
as he emphatically presents it. Readers may wonder about the unredeemability of evildoers,
the blanket approval of a Deuteronomic or Pentateuchal Scripture as a totally
satisfactory moral guide, the this-worldly happiness and fruitfulness of the everreciting
tora student, the success of this strong-willed devotee in transforming society,
and the ruin of the ungodly. The expositor would need to take more account of these
misgivings to show Psalm 1 as a worthy preface to the Psalms.
Georg Fohrer on Psalm 19
The experienced German scholar Georg Fohrer treats a selection of 35 psalms in his
Psalmen. 2 For each psalm he provides a translation and commentary, while footnotes
give literal renderings and information about emendations and the supposed glosses
he has omitted from his translation. It is a well-ordered and clear-cut presentation.
Not quite clear, however, is his view of the unity of Psalm 19. He first states that
the psalm falls into two parts (vv. 2-7 and 8-14) which were originally independent of
each other and were subsequently put together. Later he speaks of vv. 2-7 as the
remnant of a psalm about creation, a remnant preserved because the author of vv. 8-14
used it as an introduction for his tora-psalm. We might conclude that Fohrer thinks
the later author had composed his fora-psalm before lighting upon the creation
passage and adding it to his own work. In this case we must feel that v. 8 was an
unusual way to have begun a psalm; also that Fohrer does not show why, on his view,
the uniting of the pieces should be ascribed to the author of the tora-psalm. Fohrer
does allow that the united composition has its own force, depicting the greatness of
the God who has given the tora. But with his approach he is not able to see the author
of vv. 8-14 composing his tribute to tora in the light of the sun imagery of vv. 5-7.
As regards the point of vv. 2-7 in their original context, Fohrer stresses their
present fragmentary nature. Even the description of the sun is incomplete. From the
phrase 'the work of his hands' it would appear that the old psalm looked comprehensively
at the created order.
Rather than call for praise, Fohrer notes, the psalm begins by describing a continual
praise of God. This is poured forth neither by human beings nor by stars and
heavenly beings, but by the heaven itself and its alternating rulers, Day and Night.
Extending over the whole earth and sky-space, the personified heaven sees and knows
well what it celebrates: the all-pervading glory of the Creator and his handiwork. Day
and Night likewise know well the story of his deeds, having come into being on the
first day and experienced all that followed. The original creation-psalm may then have
treated God's acts as far as the creation and appointment of the human race.
At this point, Fohrer believes, a glossator intervenes: 'There is no utterance, and
there are no words, never has their voice been heard.' So Fohrer relegates v. 4 to his
footnotes, and something of the wonderful mystery which Gunkel, Kraus and others
2. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1993.

Appendix 131
found in the passage is removed. Adopting the emendation of cip to cbip in v. 5,
Fohrer is left with the unqualified and unexplained statement that the call (Ruf) and
words of the heaven and Day and Night resound over the whole earth to its very ends.
But the psalmist, says Fohrer, now reports the words which he has overheard from
this outpouring of heavenly praise. The translation therefore puts vv. 5b-7 in
quotation marks. What we have is only a fragment of the original, and DTD (v. 5b) will
have referred to the waters of the heavenly ocean. In those waters was the tent for the
sun's nightly repose. The mythological background is illustrated by a representation
of the sun-god of Sippar, which shows the god sitting in his tent in the heavenly
ocean while the sun-disk rests on a table outside. Sumerian comparisons further show
the antiquity of the conception of the sun going out on his course by foot. Later came
conceptions of the sun's chariot drawn by horses or mules (a target for Josiah's
purge, 2 Kgs 23.11), reflecting new awareness of the length and necessary speed of
the sun's journey. But in Psalm 19 the old mythical conceptions have lost their
character, for the praise is no more for a divine sun, but for the one God, to whose
work the sun belongs.
Thanks to his removal of two 'glosses' (vv. 4, 15), Fohrer is able to set Psalm 19
out in three strophes (vv. 2-7, 8-10, 11-14), each of 12 cola. The central theme of the
second and third strophes is 'the tora'—Fohrer uses the absolute, definite expression
(actually never found in Psalms) without inhibition, and never translates 'tora', not
even in his main translation of the psalm. But he does expand on it as 'the exposition
of the divine will, the guideline for the human being'. He accepts 'the fear of the
Lord' (denoting 'true religion', v. 10) as one of six designations of the tora.
That Psalm 119 has eight such designations he takes as a sign that it is the later of
the two psalms; its author knew, valued and developed 19.8-14. Both authors, Fohrer
notes, declare that the tora makes the simple wise, both use here the term TE to mean
an inexperienced person, both use the same verb form for the statement, both further
speak of a rich reward, both compare the tora's value to gold and fine gold (he gives
no references, but we can note 119.72, 103, 130, 133, 142, 151 and 160). Noting
similarity with the style of Wisdom literature, he suggests that the author is in effect
saying that not the worldly rules of Wisdom but the precepts of the tora make one
wise. What the wisdom teaching meant to offer, the way of reverence, was in reality to
be found in the tora.
In expounding his third strophe (vv. 11-14), Fohrer stresses that the foregoing
testimony to the tora has arisen from the author's personal experience. 'Warned'
(~iriT3) from wrong paths by the tora, the psalmist stands as guiltless and sinless
before God. Fohrer here imagines the dubious shakings of his readers' heads, but he
declares that it is a fundamental certainty of the psalm that human beings are capable
of following the divine will and avoiding every deliberate fault—why else would the
tora have been given? Admittedly, he concedes, the thought is chiefly of the externals
of behaviour, not the inner disposition perceived by the prophets.
For such obedience to the tora the psalmist sees 'much reward' (v. 12), and again
Fohrer imagines readers who react adversely, this time wrinkling up their noses. But
he thinks the psalm here also leads to a better understanding of biblical thought. What
we have here is not the puritanical or ascetic spirit, but an every-day, down-to-earth

132 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
religion, with expectation of gain from following the tora, reward in the form of a
well-filled life.
The 'errors' and the 'hidden faults' of v. 13 Fohrer takes as breaches especially of
ritual rules, 'hidden' because committed unwittingly. The c-rt of v. 14 he takes as
irreligious adversaries who would ensnare the psalmist and alienate him from the
tora.
It is as a 'doxological gloss' that v. 15 is relegated to the footnotes. Here one may
feel that Fohrer has lost a valuable source of light on the intention of the composition
and the piety of the psalmist. Fohrer's picture of a psalmist who has found the tora to
be all that it was meant to be, enabling him to be guiltless and sinless, may then seem
overdrawn. The note of human frailty and dependence on the Redeemer grows
stronger through vv. 12-15 to its climax in the last word: '"proi.
Will Soil on Psalm 119
Will Soil has written an illuminating study of Psalm 119. 3 Aptly he prefixes a quotation
from St Augustine, who had left this psalm to be the last of his expositions on
account not only of its length, but also of its depth, for here was an obscurity which
was not at first evident; superficially the psalm did not seem to need an expositor, but
only a reader and a listener.
Under the heading 'Matrix' Soil treats the two great constraints on the formation
of the psalm: the eight-fold acrostic and the rotating tora synonyms. He lays out the
relevant facts of the known seven Babylonian acrostics and the Hebrew acrostics in
the Psalms, Lamentations, Proverbs, Nahum, and the Qumran psalmody. These facts
alone are enough to show the hollowness of things often said about acrostics in our
commentaries—talk of late dates, anthologies without the consistent aim of the true
Gattungen, wisdom exercises, memory aids etc. The Babylonian examples date from
about the time of David onwards and include hymns, prayers, and the dialogue on
suffering which far surpasses the length of Psalm 119 by consisting of 27 stanzas of
11 lines that each begin with the same syllable. Two of the Babylonian acrostics were
written for named kings. The biblical examples come from before, during, and after
the Exile and represent the genres of hymn and prayer as well as Wisdom literature.
The constraint of the acrostic, Soil argues, does not destroy the nature of a genre but
interacts with it creatively and leaves it essentially intact.
Soil finds several reasons for doubting the idea that acrostics were designed to aid
the memory. The idea would not suit the Babylonian type of acrostic where the initial
syllables of lines read downwards spell a name or a sentence. Nor would it suit the
multiple acrostics of Psalm 119 and Lamentations 3. Recitation of acrostics, in their
rather learned contexts, would be likely to have the support of written texts. And even
if the alphabetic scheme sometimes aided memory, it would not follow that this was
the author's reason for using it.
Rather, Soil looks to an aesthetic approach, bearing in mind that artists often
3. Psalm 119: Matrix, Form, and Setting (CBQ Monograph Series 23; Washington DC:
Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1991).

Appendix 133
express themselves in interaction with an abstract, unchanging pattern. Putting aside
the usual disparagement of the acrostic from an artistic point of view, he assesses it
positively. For a Hebrew poetry already rather 'enumerative' in style, it gave a useful
frame and a limit. It gave a sense of balance and completeness, the alphabet being a
sign of totality. Although the mystical interpretation of the alphabet is not evidenced
as early as biblical times, Soil may well be right in supposing the alphabet was already
an object of wonder. Here was an orderly sequence of letters, relatively few, relatively
simple in their shapes, which seemed to suffice to express all language, including that
of the tora. How appropriate then was an acrostic for Psalm 119, with its theme of
word and tora, and its aim to pray exhaustively for salvation!
The other great constraint in the formation of Psalm 119, the second 'axis' of the
'matrix', is now examined: the rotation of the eight tora words in each stanza. First
Soil comments on the terms individually. He strongly prefers to keep the translation
'law' for mm, as comprehending all the obligations and conveying a note of authority.
He traces its comprehensive sense in Deuteronomy, especially the later strata. On
"an he comments that, like motf, it is used in Psalm 119 often to mean 'promise',
and so is vitally connected with the comfort the psalmist derives from tora. From the
study of Near Eastern treaties, rrns? appears more definitely now as the 'testimony' of
Yahweh who is both witness and sovereign in his treaty with Israel.
From the eight tora words Soil gains the dominant impression of a body of laws
given by Yahweh. Exclusively legal meanings are said to be expressed by cpn, nips
and rrnj;, while the plurals niiiQ, G'CDSon and trim seem 'primarily legal' in the
psalm, mm appears chiefly as a summary term for these laws. The eight terms, he
thinks, are generally used synonymously to extol Yahweh's covenantal will in ever
fresh ways. So the expression of Yahweh's will and authority is the primary though
not the only meaning of these terms in the psalm. The dominant impression, says
Soil, is of a tora consisting of laws but understood in such a way that it also contains
a divine promise. One may question, however, whether Soil's account here really does
justice to the way the tora-terms are used in Psalm 119, instrumental as they are said
to be in revelation and mystical rapture.
The view of some commentators that one or other of ~[~n, H;IQK and rn« belong
among the tora-terms is rejected by Soil after examination of the usage. Surprising,
he considers, is the absence of rp~n from this psalm.
Though this poet's use of tora synonyms is unique in Hebrew and without any
known foreign parallel, Soil examines some partial antecedents and resemblances.
From a covenantal background it appears that multiplication of 'law' terms was
favoured in the preambles of Near Eastern treaties and codes, not for specification of
distinctions, but to emphasize the urgency of heeding the stipulations. For Psalms 19
and 119, however, Soil notes that the usage makes for a 'more multi-faceted presentation'
of tora than could have been achieved with only one term. The number eight
may have been chosen, like the alphabet, as signifying completeness, as when the
weekly cycle conies back to its beginning. Soil considers that the psalmist did not aim
to use all eight tora words in each strophe, so he does not favour making the 24
emendations necessary for producing such a pattern. Still less would he support the
drastic emendations needed to establish a regular sequence of terms. But he thinks it

134 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
reasonable to emend in the four verses which lack a tora word (vv. 3, 37, 90 and 122).
Soil gives many useful statistics and facts of word-usage and poetics. He notes, for
example, that rather few lines (bicola) employ parallelism between their cola, but more
common is parallelism between lines. If there is monotony in the psalm, it is due more
to the system of tora words than to the acrostic. This system was a limitation
deliberately chosen by the author from the outset, not a drying up of inspiration.
Within the self-imposed constraints of the eight-fold acrostic and rotating tora words,
the psalmist proves to be rather inventive.
Everything said in the psalm, remarks Soil, relates to tora, but still the psalm is not
about tora. Rather it is a prayer. He argues that it contains all the traditional components
of prayer and uses them largely in accordance with the tradition. The apparently
didactic question and answer often found in v. 9 is rather to be translated through
both cola as a suppliant's question. The psalm is not a medley of genres, nor 'a hymn
in praise of the law', nor an anthology; it is an individual lament, a prayer containing
lament and petition. Soil counts 60 verses with clear petitions and 38 with lament
(which never, however, blame God). Other motifs are employed to introduce, support
or conclude the prayer. An important observation is that in many cases it is plain that
the psalmist refers not so much to tora as through it to experiences of the kind often
mentioned in biblical prayer. The presence of these 'correlative' uses shows that for
the psalmist tora is not an end in itself.
Another interesting chapter argues that there is much more coherence in the
strophes than is often supposed. For example, the Aleph and Beth strophes serve as
prologue. The Lamed strophe begins the second half of the alphabet and at once rises
high and wide above the depths of anguish plumbed by the preceding Kaph strophe.
The Taw strophe includes the appropriate concluding thoughts for a prayer—vow of
praise and words of confidence. Movement through the customary components of
prayer, however, does not pass in a single stream throughout the psalm, but is
repeated several times with varying emphasis. Like an arch, the argument of the prayer
reaches its climax in the middle, and returns gradually to the opening level.
As regards the 'setting' of the psalm, Soil dismisses views that the purpose is
didactic or to be an exemplar of prayer. He finds it hard to imagine a teacher of any
kind writing vv. 99-100 (with p comparative!) though the author is undoubtedly
learned. The explanation he prefers is that the psalm is the prayer of a deposed
king—in fact the exiled Jehoiachin. This grandson of the great tora king Josiah was
indeed in dire straits. All that remained to him was tora. This was a time of strong
Deuteronomistic influence, and behind the psalm would be the idea that the restoration
of the king depended on his devotion to tora. So in Psalm 119 tora, the only remnant
of the broken kingship, becomes the basis of appeal for dynastic restoration. Soil's
view here has some partial precedents, but he is able to argue his case at length on the
basis of his thorough study of the psalm. He makes his case well, though some will
point to the lack of clear royal references such as we have in Psalm 89.
All in all, Soil's monograph must be commended as informative and enlightening.
If he has not brought us to the heart of the psalm's piety—and after all, he has not
written a commentary here—he has at least provided a basis which every exegete of
this great psalm will be glad of.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baethgen, P., Die Psalmen ubersetzt und erklart (Gottingen, 1892, 1904).
Barth, J., Etymologische Studien (Leipzig, 1893).
Bentzen, A., Fortolkning til de Gammeltestamentlige Salmer (Copenhagen, 1939).
Bergmeier, R., 'Zum Ausdruck D'JJOT n*i> in Ps. 1.1, Hi. 10.3, 21.16 und 22.18', ZAW
79 (1967), pp. 229-32.
Bickell, G., Carmina Veteris Testamenti metrice (Oeniponte, 1882).
Briggs, C.A., and E.G. Briggs, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of
Psalms (The International Critical Commentary; Edinburgh, 1906-07).
Buhl, F., Psalmerne oversatte og fortolkede (Copenhagen, 1900, 1918).
Coxe, A.C. (ed.), Saint Augustin: Expositions on the Book of Psalms (New York, 1979
[1888]).
Dahood, M., Psalms (Anchor Bible; New York, 1966-70).
Deissler, A., Psalm 119 (118) und seine Theologie (Munich, 1955).
Delitzsch, F., Die Psalmen (Leipzig, 1859-60, 1894).
Duhm, B., Die Psalmen (Tubingen, 1899, 1922).
Diirr, L., 'Zur Frage nach der Einheit von Ps. 19', in Festschrift fur E. Sellin (BWANT
13; Stuttgart, 1927), pp. 37-48.
Dyserinck, J., 'Kritische Scholien' in Theologische Tijdschrift 12 (1878), pp. 279f.
Eaton, J.H., 'Proposals in Psalms 99 and 119', VT 18 (1968), pp. 555-58.
—'Some Questions of Philology and Exegesis in the Psalms', JTS NS 19 (1968),
pp. 603-609.
—'Some Misunderstood Hebrew Words for God's Self-revelation', Bible Translator 25
(1974), pp. 311-38.
—Kingship and the Psalms (Sheffield, 1986 [1976]).
—The Contemplative Face of Old Testament Wisdom in the Context of World Religions
(London, Philadelphia, 1989).
—'"A Bloodless Compromise"? The Question of an Eschatological Ritual in Ancient
Israel', in Essays in Biblical Interpretation in Honour of Michael Goulder (ed.
S. Porter et al; Leiden, 1994), pp. 69-82.
Ehrlich, A., Kommentar zu den Psalmen (Berlin, 1882, 1905).
Ewald, H., Die Dichter des alien Bundes I, 1 (Gottingen, 1840, 1866).
Fohrer, G., Psalmen (Berlin and New York, 1993).
Gerstenberger, E., Psalms I (FOTL 14; Grand Rapids, 1988).
Gratz, H., Kritischer Kommentar zu den Psalmen (Breslau, 1882-83).
Gray, J., The Biblical Doctrine of the Reign of God (Edinburgh, 1979).
Gunkel, H., Ausgewahlte Psalmen (Gottingen, 1904, 1905, 1917).
—Die Psalmen (Gottingen, 1929, repr. 1968).
—Einleitung in die Psalmen (completed by J. Begrich, Gottingen, 1933).

136 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
Herder, J.G. von, The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry (London, 1782-83).
Hitzig, F., Neuer Kommentar zu den Psalmen (Leipzig, 1835—36, 1863-65).
Jeremias, J., Das Konigtum Gottes in den Psalmen (Gottingen, 1987).
Kittel, R., Die Psalmen ubersetzt und erklart (Leipzig, 1914, 1929).
Koehler, L., and W. Baumgartner, Hebraisches und Aramdisches Lexikon zum Alien
Testament (Leiden, 3rd edn, 1967-90).
Kb'nig, E., Die Psalmen eingeleitet, ubersetzt und erklart (Giitersloh, 1927).
Kraus, H.-J., Die Konigsherrschaft Gottes im Alten Testament (Tubingen, 1951).
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—Theologie der Psalmen (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1979).
Lipinski, E., La Royaute de Yahwe dans la poesie et le culte de I'ancien Israel
(Brussels, 1965, 1968).
Loretz, O., 'Psalmenstudien III', UF 6 (1974), pp. 175-209.
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Mowinckel, S., Psalmenstudien I-VI (Kristiania, 1921-24, repr. Amsterdam, 1966).
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—The Psalms in Israel's Worship I-II (Oxford, 1962).
Mu'ller, D.H., Strophenbau und Responsion (Vienna, 1904).
Neale, J.M., Commentary on the Psalms (London, 1860-74).
Olshausen, J., Die Psalmen erklart (Leipzig, 1853).
Rosenmuller, E., Scholia in Psalmos (Leipzig, 1798-1804, 1821).
Sanders, J.A., The Psalms Scroll of Qumran Cave 11 (Oxford, 1965).
Sarna, N., Songs of the Heart: An Introduction to the Book of Psalms (New York,
1993).
Schmidt, H., Die Thronfahrt Jahwes (Tubingen, 1927).
Schroder, O., 'Zu Psalm 19', ZAW 34 (1914), pp. 69-70.
Sievers, E., Studien zur hebrdischen Metrik (Berlin, 1901).
Soil, W., Psalm 119: Matrix, Form, and Setting (Washington, 1991).
Spieckermann, H., Heilsgegenwart: Eine Theologie der Psalmen (Gottingen, 1989).
Staerk, W., Lyrik, in H. Gressmann, et al., Schriften des Alten Testaments in Auswahl
III.l (Gottingen, 1911, 1920).
Stummer, F., Sumerisch-Akkadische Parallelen zum Aufbau alttestamentlicher Psalmen
(Paderborn, 1922).
Volz, P., Das Neujahrsfest Jahwes (Tubingen, 1912).
Wellhausen, J., The Book of Psalms (ed. P. Haupt; The Sacred Books of the Old
Testament/The Polychrome Bible, no. 14; London, 1895).
—'Bemerkungen zu den Psalmen', in Skizzen und Vorarbeiten VI (Berlin, 1899),
pp. 163f..
Westermann, C, The Living Psalms (ET; Edinburgh, 1989).

INDEXES
INDEX OF HEBREW WORDS
crr« 109 -inT3 20, 43
crr« 20 cp] 96, 115
HOK 15, 39, 44, 127 jma 75, 80, 89, 92, 93, 101, 105, 110,
ma 16,32 133
-p-a 39, 127 crn^a 51, 60, 64, 73, 91
n'3T 92 n*jj 41
-]-n 41 3p» 29, 34
run 15, 19, 22, 26, 127 noa 41, 128
]nn 20 'j"» 19, 129
TOT 57, 63, 69, 82, 87, 91, 97, 107, 114 T,D 42, 131
Fit 16, 24, 27, 35, 36, 42, 132 ip 16, 20, 26, 28, 34, 36, 40, 42, 44,
HDT 56 131
nsu^T 27 nip 42
s-n 62, 73, 81, 90, 95, 111 C-SOT 22
»T 128 "WTO 19, 128
in 17, 43 mm 34, 39, 127, 130, 133
1K3 43 mm 63,77,96, 113
m»3 75, 92, 109

Genesis
1
16.5
Exodus
15
15.10
15.17-18
15.18
23.16
28.28
32.1-2
34.6-7
Leviticus
10.13
15.2
15.13
16
22.21
Numbers
12.1-2
20.12
20.24
Deuteronomy
4.1
4.5-8
4.6
4.8
5.19
8.19
16.13
57
60
103
58, 109
80
54
79
42
73, 78
114
78
97
97
81
42
73, 78
73, 78
73, 78
66
46
129
129
66
58
79
INDEX OF BIBLICAL REFERENCES
17
17.18-19
17.19
27.11-13
33
33.4
33.5
Joshua
1.7-8
1.8
2 Samuel
8.15
15.10
1 Kings
8.20
12.33
2 Kings
11.12
20.13
23.11
OLD TESTAMENT
1 Chronicles
28.2
28.5
29.23
2 Chronicles
20
46
43
16
36
103
82
54
129
19, 22, 26
57
75
80'
80
105
59
131
99
57
57
54
Job
15.4
17.13
Psalms
1
1.1-3
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5-6
1.5
1.6
2
2.7
34
42
10, 14, 19,
21, 22, 25,
28-30, 34,
36, 38, 39,
41, 43, 44,
46-49, 127,
129, 130
39
15, 19, 34,
39,41
19, 22, 26,
31, 34, 36,
39, 41, 127
15, 19, 22,
26, 28, 31,
34, 41, 128,
129
15, 22, 26,
31, 129
39
15, 19, 22,
25, 26, 31,
38,41,48,
128, 129
19, 22, 26,
31,41, 128
18, 34, 46,
69
105

5.5-6
8.4
9.8
12.7
14.6
15
16
17
18
18.23
18.31
19
19.2-7
19.2-5
19.2
19.3-4
19.3
19.4-6
19.4-5
19.4
19.5
19.5
19.5-7
19.6
19.7
19.8-15
19.8-14
19.8-11
19.8-10
19.8-9
19.8
19.9
38
49
92
20
59
38
46
46
15, 46, 90
83
20
10, 15, 16,
19, 20, 23,
26, 28, 29,
31, 32, 34,
36, 38-40,
42-45, 47-
51, 127,
130, 131,
133
15, 23, 44,
45, 130, 131
45
23, 50
50
19, 23
50
49
16, 19, 23,
26, 28, 31,
34, 40, 130,
131
16, 20, 23,
26, 28, 31,
34, 36, 40,
42, 131
34
32, 45, 50,
130, 131
23,42
23,42
15, 23, 32
130, 131
45
42, 131
42
23
16, 23, 32
Index of Biblical References 139
19.10
19.11-14
19.11
19.12-15
19.12-14
19.12
19.13-15
19.13
19.14
19.15
20
21
22
22.30
23
24.3
29
29.10
30.5
32.13
40.2
44
45.7
46
47
47.4
47.6
47.8
47.9
48
48.12
50
50.3-6
50.8
52.11
16, 20, 23,
34, 36, 42,
131
131
26
45, 132
32
34
24, 26
24, 132
15, 16, 24,
26, 35, 36,
42, 132
16, 27, 32,
35, 42, 49,
131, 132
46
46
46, 98
98
46
38
32, 62, 76,
83, 88, 101,
103
80, 84, 88,
109
59
59
42
18
76, 110
94
54, 64, 65,
71,75,79,
83, 88, 101,
103, 117,
120, 123
64
64, 75
88
73, 75, 88
80, 94
59
59, 86
59
66
42
53.6
57.8-10
65.2
68
69
72.5-17
74
75
75.4
76
76.2
77.17
77.19
79
80.2
81
83
84
85
87
89
89.2-19
89.15
90-150
93
93.1-5
93.1-4
93.1-2
93.1
93.2-3
93.2
59
49, 50
77
101, 103
18
111
18
18
58, 75
94
90
59
59
18
82
82
18
94
121
94
101, 134
102
66, 106
18
10, 54, 55,
59-62, 64,
65, 67, 69-
71, 74-79,
81, 83-85,
87-89, 91-
94, 101-
105, 108-
10, 112,
117-25
85
92
80, 92, 93,
104
54, 58, 67,
71,73,75,
76, 84, 85,
88, 91-93,
101, 104,
108, 109
88
58, 61, 65,
67, 71, 76,
85, 89, 92-

140 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
93.3-5
93.3-4
93.3
93.4
93.5
95-98
95
95.6
96-99
96-98
96-100
96
96.6
96.8
96.9
96.10-11
96.10
96.13
97
95, 104,
105, 108,
110
55, 104
58, 65, 70,
76, 80, 93,
105, 108,
110, 112
61, 68, 70,
75, 80, 85,
89, 91-94,
101, 104,
108, 109
55, 61, 68,
70, 76, 85,
89, 93, 104,
108-10
55, 58, 61,
62, 65-68,
71, 75, 76,
80, 85, 86,
89, 92, 94,
95, 101,
102, 104,
105, 109-11
83
77, 80, 82,
83, 103, 120
85, 99
83, 101, 123
69, 87, 124
65
60, 65, 68,
103, 117,
118, 120,
121, 123
61
60
85
99
75, 111
68
10, 54, 56,
59, 60, 62,
64, 66, 68,
71-74, 77,
79, 81, 85,
86, 88, 90,
97.1-9
97.1-6
97.1-5
97.1-2
97.1
97.2-11
97.2-6
97.2-5
97.2-3
97.2
97.3-6
97.3
97.4-6
97.4-5
97.4
97.5
97.6-9
97.6-7
97.6
97.7-12
97.7-10
97.7-9
97.7
97.8-9
97.8
97.9-12
97.9
97.10-12
97.10-11
97.10
97.11-12
97.11
91, 95, 102,
103, 105,
106, 111,
112, 117-
23, 125
106
90, 102
106
86, 112, 121
59, 63, 88,
95, 99
77, 95
72
95, 105
77, 82, 95
59, 66, 86
112
59, 86, 105,
121
86
77
59, 90, 105
59, 63, 95,
105, 111
106
77, 95
59, 68, 106
66, 102
81
72, 90
62, 63, 66,
77, 102, 113
77,95, 113
77, 85, 86,
102, 106
81
59, 72, 95,
102, 111
72, 90, 106
66, 77, 95,
96, 113
59, 62, 68,
77, 81, 95,
102, 111
81
56, 59, 62,
68, 90, 95,
111
97.12
98
98.9
99
99.1-3
99.1
99.2-3
99.2
99.3-4
99.3
99.4-5
99.4
99.5
99.6-9
99.6-8
99.6-7
99.6
59, 95, 106,
113
65, 68, 86,
88, 103,
117, 118,
120, 121,
123
68
10, 54, 56,
60-64, 66,
69, 73, 74,
77, 78, 82,
83, 87, 88,
90, 91, 96-
99, 102,
103, 105-
107, IB-
IS, 117-25,
127
107
57, 69, 73,
77, 78, 87,
96, 97, 100,
113, 116
97, 114
77, 82, 90,
96-98, 113,
116
96, 97
56, 57, 60,
77, 82, 98,
99, 116
57, 107
57, 60, 63,
69, 73, 77,
82, 87, 90,
97, 107,
114, 116
56, 63, 69,
82, 85, 96,
97, 99
57, 66, 69,
73, 82
69, 78, 87,
91, 98, 106,
107, 114
63, 64, 97
57, 60, 73,

99.7-8
99.7
99.8
99.9
101.3
102
104.1-9
104.6-9
108
110
110.4
112.4
114.1-2
119
119.1-3
119.1
119.2
119.3
119.4
119.5
119.6
119.7
119.8
119.9
119.10
119.11
119.12
119.14
96,98, 114,
115
91
57, 60, 63,
78, 86, 96,
107
57, 60, 64,
66, 69, 73,
78, 82, 83,
87, 91, 96,
97, 102,
107, 114,
115
56, 63, 82,
96, 97, 99,
116
16
18
103
76
18
18
111
56, 59, 73,
95, 111
82
10, 17, 20,
23, 24, 26,
27, 29, 32,
35-38, 40,
42-44, 46-
48, 51, 125,
131-34
27, 51
27
27, 29
27, 134
27
27
27
27
27
17, 20, 24,
33, 134
33, 37
17
37
38, 51
Index of Biblical References 141
119.15
119.18
119.19
119.21
119.23
119.24
119.25
119.26
119.27
119.33-37
119.33
119.37
119.38
119.39
119.41
119.43
119.48
119.50
119.51
119.52
119.53
119.54
119.55
119.57
119.60
119.62
119.64
119.65-66
119.67
119.71
119.72
119.73
119.74
119.75
119.78
119.79
119.82
119.83
119.84
119.86
119.90
119.92
119.96
119.97
119.98
119.99-100
51
17
37
37
37
51
37
37
51
37
29
37, 134
36
37
20, 37
47
51
37
37
37
27, 37
17, 37
51
33, 37, 43
37
51
37
17
37
37
131
37
37
37
37
37
29
17,21,43,
47
29, 37
37
134
37
52
51
18
134
119.99
119.100
119.101
119.103
119.107
119.108
119.109
119.113
119.114
119.115
119.120
119.122
119.124
119.126
119.128
119.130
119.131-32
119.133
119.135
119.141
119.142
119.147-48
119.151
119.152
119.153
119.158
119.159
119.160
119.161
119.164
119.172
119.175
119.176
122
122.5
126
126.5-6
130
130.5-6
130.6
132
132.7
132.13-18
137
17, 20, 24,
27,40
17, 18
37
131
37, 47
51
24
37
27, 51
37, 51
24, 37, 38,
51
134
37
37
18
131
51
131
37
17, 37
131
51
131
47
37
37
47
131
37, 38
51
47
37
18, 21, 24, 27,
29, 33, 38, 40,
47, 51
94
96
121
112
50
50
50
80, 94
99
94
21

142 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
139
139.44
139.17
141.22
144
149
Proverbs
1.10-19
6.23
12.11
14.14-19
15.333
16.13
30.55
Song of Songs
6.100
32
Isaiah
1.100
2.6-7
3.17
6
6.3
9.7
19.11
28.100
28.13
39.2
42.100
42.12
49.13
51.5
35
16
18
35
18
18
39
16, 19
16
39
16
16
20
129
102
42
102, 116
97, 102
111
41
31,40
31, 40
59
59, 86
86
86
59
52.7
52.8
56.7
58.100
60.3
60.7
66.1
Jeremiah
8.8-9
15.1
17
17.5-8
17.5
17.7-8
17.7
17.8
30.20
31.39
46.7-8
51.355
Lamentations
2.1 99
3
132
Ezekiel
1
43.7
47.12
Amos
5.18-20
58, 59, 118
99
35
73, 95
99
35
63
129
78, 99
39
14, 19, 36
30, 31, 34
39
22
26, 36
75
16
55
60
82
99
19, 26
102
Obadiah
21
Micah
1.4
5.1
Habakkuk
3
Zephaniah
2.3
Zechariah
14.9
Malachi
3.17-18
Ecclesiasticus
6.37
12.14
14.20-21
Romans
7.12
7.14
10.18
Revelation
11.7
11.17
19.6
122
59, 63
110
90
102
122
48
19,25
31
19, 25
17
17
16
122
54
54, 122

Acrostic 17, 24, 51, 132-34
Augustine 39, 132
Autumn festival 40, 75, 77, 79-82, 101,
105, 111, 112, 120, 121, 123
Baal 80, 101
Baethgen, F. 10, 18-21, 49, 58-61, 108,
109, 116, 120
Bar Hebraeus 20, 59
Earth, J. 42
Begrich, J. 70
Bentzen, A. 10, 33-35, 47-50, 75-79,
93, 108-10, 113, 114, 120, 123,
125
Bergmeier, R. 41
Bickell, G. 22, 23
Birkeland, H. 37
Briggs, C.A. 10, 15, 25, 27, 46, 47, 49,
65-67,75,78, 108, 117, 120, 123,
125
Briggs, E.G. 25, 26
Buhl, F. 34, 75, 78
Cappellus 23
Contemplation 51, 52
Dahood, M. 10, 41-43, 46-49, 88-92,
96, 102, 108, 109, 113, 118, 120,
123
Deissler, A. 40
Delitzsch, F. 10, 14-17, 47, 49, 54-58,
61, 108, 109, 111, 115, 116, 119,
124
Dove 100
Duhm, B. 10, 18, 21-24, 32, 35, 46, 49,
61-64, 73-75, 78, 108, 120, 124,
125
INDEX OF AUTHORS AND SUBJECTS
Diirr, L. 35
Dyserinck, J. 55, 58
Eaton, J.H. 43, 46, 50, 98, 109, 114
Elysian Fields 41, 48
Enuma Elish 79, 101
Esarhaddon 98
Ewald, H. 16
Fohrer, G. 10, 127, 130-32
Gattung 47, 70, 71, 74, 85, 119, 123
Gattungen 30, 40, 132
Gerstenberger, E. 10, 44, 45, 127
Gesenius 16
Glossolalia 23
Gratz, H. 55
Gray, J. 10, 100-103, 108, 110, 111,
117, 118, 121, 123
Gunkel, H. 10, 20, 28-34, 36, 39, 47-
50,64,70-76,78, 108, 113, 114,
119, 123, 124, 130
Herder, J.G. von 30
Hitzig, F. 14
Jehoiachin 134
Jeremias, J. 10, 103-108, 113, 117,
118, 120, 121, 123
Judgment 15, 19, 31, 36-38, 41, 48, 62
Keil, C.F. 14
Kittel, R. 10, 28, 29, 49, 67-69, 78,
119, 121, 125
Koehler, L. 42
Koenig, E. 78
Kraus, H.-J. 10, 38-40, 84-88, 91, 100,

144 Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom
108, 114, 117, 118, 120, 123,
124, 130
Konig, E. 28
Law, the 15-17, 22-29, 32-34, 36-38,
42, 44, 46, 47, 51, 61, 62, 66, 69,
133
Lipinski, E. 10, 91-102, 105, 106, 108-
18, 120, 123
Loretz, O. 101
Maccabean psalms 14, 18, 66
Memra 27
Midrash 17
Mowinckel, S. 10, 28, 33-38, 45, 48-
51, 70, 71, 74-76, 79-84, 88, 108,
109, 111, 115, 117-21, 123, 125
Miiller, D.H. 20, 24, 29, 32, 35, 36, 47
Neale, J.M. 25
Nowack,W. 18
Olhausen, J. 23
Qumran 43, 47, 109, 128
Resurrection 25, 26, 126
Rosenmueller, E. 21, 58
Sanders, J.A. 47
Sarna, N. 10, 127-30
Schmidt, H. 70
Schroder, O. 35
Sellin, E. 28
Sievers, E. 18, 30
Soil, W. 10, 127, 132-34
Spieckermann, H. 10, 45, 49, 127
Staerk, W. 78
Stummer, F. 28
Sulgi 98
Targum 19, 34, 41, 42, 92
Ugaritic 41, 42, 78, 80, 83, 85, 89, 93,
94, 96, 100-103, 108-10, 113
Voltz, P. 70
Wellhausen, J. 23,58,59
Westermann, C. 10, 44, 127
Wineskins 17,21,29
Wisdom 30-32, 34, 36, 39, 44, 46, 48,
49, 131, 132
Yahweh 16, 25, 27, 46, 49-51, 54, 55,
57, 58, 60-91, 93-108, 110-23,
125, 133