The Psalms of Asaph and the Pentateuch: Studies in the Psalter, III

385 Pages·1996·19.98 MB·English

by  Michael D. Goulder

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
233
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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The Psalms of Asaph
and the Pentateuch
Studies in the Psalter, III
Michael D. Goulder
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Supplement Series 233
Copyright © 1996 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19 Kingfield Road
Sheffield SI 19AS
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 1-85075-639-2
CONTENTS
Preface 9
Abbreviations 12
Chapter 1
DELITZSCH' S DILEMMA 15
The Names for God 17
Prophetic Speeches of Divine Judgment 19
History 22
Northern Echoes 24
Common Language 28
Relation to Deuteronomy 31
Conclusion 34
Parti
THE PSALMS OF ASAPH
Chapter 2
BEFORE THE FESTIVAL 3 8
Psalm 50 38
Psalm 73 52
Psalm 74 61
Excursus: Leviathan 68
A Liturgical Hypothesis 73
Note on Lamentations 2 77
Chapter 3
THE OPENING OF THE FESTIVAL 79
Psalm 75 79
Psalm 76 85
Excursus: Salem 86
The Liturgical Hypothesis 95
6 The Psalms ofAsaph and the Pentateuch
Chapter 4
THE VIGIL 97
Psalm 77 97
Psalm 78 107
The Liturgical Hypothesis 128
Chapter 5
THE DAYS OF PETITION 131
Psalm 79 131
Psalm 80 137
The Liturgical Theory 145
Chapter 6
THE NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS 147
Psalm 81 147
The Liturgical Theory 158
Psalm 82 159
Psalm 83 166
The Liturgical Theory 174
Chapter 7
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PSALTER 177
Part II
E, D, J, P
Chapter 8
THE PRIMACY OF THE AsAPH TRADITIONS 190
The Asaph Traditions 192
The Korah Traditions 195
Our Fathers Have Told Us 198
Chapter 9
JACOB AND JOSEPH 211
Jacob 211
Joseph 223
Contents 1
Chapter 10
ABRAHAM, CREATION AND THE SONS OF MERARI 232
Abraham 232
Creation, the Flood and the Work of P 241
Chapter 11
THE EXODUS 253
The Oppression in Egypt: Exodus 1.1-7.13 257
The Plagues: Exodus 7.14-13.16 264
Chapter 12
THE WILDERNESS 271
The Crossing of the Sea 271
The Wilderness 275
Water from the Rock 278
Taberah 281
Manna 282
The Quails 283
The Spies 284
Amalek 286
Judges 287
Chapter 13
THE MOUNTAIN 290
The Theophany 290
The Decalogue 293
The Covenant Law 297
After the Revelation 303
The Apostasy at Meribah/Horeb 305
Leaving the Mountain 309
Chapter 14
THE SONS OF AsAPH 312
Chapter 15
CONCLUDING UNHISTORICAL POSTSCRIPT 328
The Asaphite Exodus-Kings 329
The Asaphite Genesis 331
The Asaphite Deuteronomy 333
8 The Psalms ofAsaph and the Pentateuch
The Korahite Revolution 334
The Deuteronomistic History 337
The Priestly Expansion 340
Bibliography 342
Index of References 349
Index of Subjects 369
Index of Authors 376
PREFACE
This book is the third volume of a series of Studies in the Psalter. The
first of these, The Psalms of the Sons ofKorah, was published in 1982,
the second, The Prayers of David (Psalms 51-72), in 1990.1 The sub-
title is intended to draw attention to a difference of approach from that
of standard commentaries. Whereas they are preponderantly studies of
the psalms, taken individually or viewed as members of a Gattung, I
have taken more seriously their arrangement in the Psalter. Our earliest
commentary on the psalms is their arrangement by anonymous Israelite
tradents: in groups with differing names in the heading, for the Sons of
Korah, for David, for Asaph, and so on; in the order in which they stand
within these collections; in Books I-V; with technical notes, Selah,for
the Chief Musician, and so on; at the Lilies, at the Dove of the Distant
Terebinths, and so on; even the 'historical' notes, associating a psalm
with an episode in David's life. Not all of these features will be guides to
the original sense of the psalms, but they are the comments of people
closer to the psalmists than we are, and we ignore them at our peril.
This book, then, was intended as an analysis of a third group of
psalms so bound together by the tradition, The Psalms of Asaph. I
thought of it as a third volume of the series, on a group of psalms put
together (their detail suggested) in the 720s in the northern sanctuary at
Bethel, and accepted (with marginal amendments) in Jerusalem there-
after. The analysis revealed a number of interesting details of Israelite life
in the period, and above all it showed the profound religious tension
underlying it, between faith in the God who redeemed the people in the
Exodus, and the harsh reality of the armies of Tiglath-Pileser III and his
successor. I also thought I could trace the outline of a pattern of festal
1. The Psalms of the Sons of Korah (JSOTSup, 20; Sheffield: JSOT Press,
1982); The Prayers of David (Psalms 51-72): Studies in the Psalter, II (JSOTSup,
102; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990).