Two Books on the Psalms

Abstract

JBL 57 (1938): 428-31 TWO BOOKS ON THE PSALMS Three distinct stages may be recognized in the history of higher criticism as applied to the Psalter. In the first, the headings of the Psalms were taken at their face value; expressions involving a personal name were held to certify authorship, and occasionally the actual circumstances in which a Psalm was composed could be identified. The second stage goes back as far as to Theodore of Mopsuestia, the exegetepar excellence of the Eastern Church, though it had no effect on the general body of scholarship until it was sponsored by the genius of Ewald, whose methods held the field throughout the nineteenth century. Scholars no longer accepted the headings as reliable evidence of authorship, though some Psalms might be ascribed to David. It was thought possible to assign individual pieces to different periods in the history of Israel, on the basis of the general situation reflected in each poem. Nearly the whole history of Israel was covered, from the time of David down to that of the Hasmonean priest-kings, and the tendency, especially at the turn of the century, was to regard the greater number of the pieces in the Psalter as post-exilic. In the third stage an entirely new line of approach was adopted, and while a rough approximation to the period of a Psalm was generally attempted, the main stress was laid on the place it took in the religious life of Israel. It was assumed that in every case a poem was composed to meet a definite need or was adapted to a definite situation, either in the public worship of the community or in the spiritual life of the individual. Thus Mowinckel refers many of the Psalms to the annual celebration of the enthronement of Yahweh, while the pattern school relates a number of them to a great New Year festival of pre-exilic days. The leading exponent of this line of approach, however, is Gunkel, who classifies the Psalms according to their types (Gattungen). Each type had a characteristic form, especially noticeable at the beginning or at the end of a Psalm. A minor, though important variation of this view is to be seen in the theory of Hans Schmidt, who holds that certain Psalms were used in legal processes, being employed by persons who came for trial before the supreme court of Israel, i. e. the priests acting in a judicial capacity as the mouthpiece of Yahweh. Adherents of all three methods are still to be found, though the first has been generally discarded by Christian scholars, and is no longer universal among Jews. The second and third, however, still hold their place, and in the last few months American scholarship has given us a conspicuous example of each. We may take first the work of Buttenwieser.* This is a full-length commentary by a veteran scholar, and contains the results of patient and devoted study carried on through a life-time. The general arrangement is that of Ewald, the Psalms being grouped in successive periods. Several authors are identified, if unnamed; Ps. 68B (consisting, in the following order, of w. 8, 9a-b, 9cβ, 9cα, 16-18, 12-13, 14b, 15,19a-b, 25-28,14a) is assigned to the poet of Jud. 5, several are ascribed to David, and 68A, 85 and 126 are the work of Deutero-Isaiah. A favorite dating is that of the Persian period, and these Psalms are used for the reconstruction of a history otherwise almost unknown to us. Each Psalm is translated and expounded, frequently with copious reference to other literature, and with discussion of various related problems, especially such as deal with the historical background. Textual notes also are appended, for Buttenwieser is not afraid of conjectural emendation, though he uses it with caution. In this volume, then, we have a monument of painstaking and careful study of the text, combined with a high degree of originality in certain directions. It is, further, difficult to speak too warmly of the sincerity and devotion of the author. Yet it must be admitted that it belongs to a past age and to a passing school, of which it is not even a good representative. …