The Psalter poetically retells the story of Israel in a way that assures its reader that YHWH directs human history, the entirety of human experience is accounted for, a new Davidic king will return, and a new Zion will accompany him. Each of these perspectives is present throughout Scripture, but they are all enhanced when the Psalter is read as a book.

Abstract

The canonical shape of the Psalter has enjoyed concentrated attention in the academe for more than four decades. While scholars have agreed on the effort, they have not always agreed on the results. The message of the Psalter, when considered canonically, remains debated. This article distils some of the key pieces of evidence that the Psalter bears traces of editorial activity—thus suggesting it is a purposefully ordered collection—and then proposes a reading of the Psalter that fits this evidence. Some theological implications connected to such a reading are noted throughout. The hope is that this article might elicit renewed vigour in the task of reading the Psalter as a book.

Many things that are beautiful on their own create beauty of a different degree when placed together. A single bird flitting around the garden is intriguing to watch—but thousands of them flocking in the sky is mesmerising. A tree towering upwards is majestic—but tens of thousands of them stretching in all directions as far as the eye can see is breath-taking. A solitary snowflake is delicate, intricate, and unique—but billions of them together completely alter a landscape. Likewise with the book of Psalms. An individual psalm is a piece of art worthy of study in its own right—beautiful all on its own. But viewing all 150 together as a purposefully ordered collection reveals another degree of beauty.

The aim in this article is to glimpse this other degree of beauty in the Psalter by viewing it as a book—as a purposefully ordered collection. It necessitates three steps: First, a presentation of the evidence for reading 150 individual poems as a purposefully ordered, unified collection. Second, an outline of this collection’s narrative impulse. Third, and threaded throughout the narrative impulse as it is outlined, brief reflections on some of the theological values that emerge from such a reading of the Psalter.1 When read as a book, the Psalter possesses a collective beauty and weight that cannot be gained by examining a single psalm in isolation.

Such a reading of the Psalter is by no means new: “This is now the dominant subject of research in Psalms studies.”2 The publication of Gerald Wilson’s The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter in 1985 often demarcates the watershed moment in this line of enquiry in Psalms studies.3 Since then, a consensus has been growing that the Psalter does possess evidence of editorial activity, as the volume of publications corroborates.4 The meaning of the Psalter’s narrative, however, lacks a similar consensus. As Howard and Snearly observe: “Where agreement begins to breakdown … concerns the nature of that storyline.”5 The following aims to reinvigorate the search for consensus concerning the message of the Psalter, and, along the way, to evidence the theological benefit of reading the Psalter as a book.

1. Evidence for Reading the Psalter as a Book

The first task is distilling the evidence that 150 discrete psalms can be read as a unified book. Space permits the presentation of four primary pieces of evidence.6 Even so, this snapshot of the evidence confirms that reading the Psalter as a book is legitimate.

First, the Psalter possesses an introduction. Psalms 1–2 form a two-part introduction to the Psalter. Given every other psalm in Book One possesses a Davidic superscription, these two psalms are evidently set apart by the absence of superscriptions.7 As Cole observes regarding the lack of superscriptions in Psalms 1–2, “Their absence would appear to indicate recognition of their mutual prefatory function.”8 Psalms 1–2 are tied together with both lexical and thematic features. Lexically, they are bracketed by an inclusio (אַשְׁרֵי, “blessed” in 1:1; 2:12), both open with the image of meditation/plotting (the same Hebrew root underlies both images: הָגָה), and both end with a consideration of the “way” (דֶּרֶךְ in 1:6; 2:12).9 Thematically, both psalms appear to present the same person. In Psalm 1 it is a nameless righteous person, while in Psalm 2 the individual is identified as the king—YHWH’s anointed. Reflecting on the wording of Joshua 1:8 and the Kingship Law in Deuteronomy 17:14–20, it is not difficult to appreciate the royal overtones in Psalm 1. Cole explains that “Psalm 1 speaks of a future conquering king using Joshua as a pattern and, as such, is as ‘royal’ a psalm as the following Psalm 2. Its affixing to, and close integration with, Psalm 2 simply confirms further that a king is in view.”10 Furthermore, ancient commentators paid careful attention to the relationship between the two psalms.11 In agreement with Grant, “The best conclusion seems to be that these psalms were deliberately placed alongside one another because of their lexical, thematic and theological similarity as the dual introduction to the Psalter.”12

Second, the Psalter possesses a corresponding conclusion. Psalms 146–150 form a unique collection of psalms that all begin and end with הַלְלוּ־יָה (transliterated as hallelujah and translated as “Praise the Lord!”). Book Five appears to have a doxology in Psalm 145:21 (for more on doxologies and divisions see below), thus further setting the five concluding psalms apart. Thematic links develop through the five-part conclusion, such as kingship and Zion.13 Arguably, the five concluding psalms may correspond to the five books of the Psalter.14 Furthermore, many of the themes present in the two-part introduction are picked up in the five-part conclusion: the wicked perish (1:5–6; 146:8–9), the peoples, kings, and judges of the earth are addressed (2:1, 2, 10; 148:7, 11), and the ones breaking bonds in Psalm 2 (v. 3) are bound in Psalm 149 (vv. 7–8).15 It is reasonable to conclude that these five psalms function as a conclusion to the Psalter.

Third, within the Psalter there are five movements designated as books but which we might consider chapters. Psalms 41, 72, 89, 106, and 145 all contain a doxology at or near their end (41:14; 72:18–19; 89:53; 106:48; 145:21). The doxologies, although differing slightly, each share four elements in common: a blessing, the name of YHWH, an eternal time frame, and the term “amen” (145:21 lacks this concluding term but carries each of the other elements).16 The Psalter therefore appears to be intentionally separated into five movements, each designated a book. As Hamilton observes, each of the “benedictions stand as punctuation marks at the end of the books within the Psalter.”17 These five books therefore evidence an internal, intentional structure to the Psalter. They are key features of the Psalter’s shape.

Fourth, it is significant that the psalms within the Psalter are not arranged by genre or theme. This is a point made emphatically by Wilson in his groundbreaking study, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter. There, as part of his assessment of various indicators of editorial activity, he exhaustively examines the various methods of ordering ancient collections of hymns, psalms, and poetry before exploring the Psalter for indications of a similar ordering methodology. Other ancient collections appear to factor in genre in their ordering, but not so the Psalms. Wilson concludes, “while the analysis of the distribution of genre terms in the pss-headings reveals the existence of clusters of terms spread throughout the Psalter, there is no evidence of any consistent attempt to group all the pss by genre categories as in the Mesopotamian catalogues.”18 Another ordering purpose must therefore exist and the second step necessary in this article will outline a convincing possibility.

The above four pieces of evidence permit the claim that the Psalter is in fact a book of psalms. Like any other book it possesses an introduction, conclusion, internal structure, and agenda that orders the whole. It is wholly justifiable to consider the 150 individual psalms as a collective literary unit. As Wilson asserts:

Let us begin with the fact that the Psalter does have a shape. The one hundred fifty canonical psalms have come down to us in a particular arrangement that is traditional, if nothing else. This arrangement can be found in the versions (e.g. Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Aramaic) and, with the exception of some of the Qumran psalms manuscripts, dominates the Hebrew tradition as well. So, the question that confronts the student of the Psalter is not whether it has a shape but what the indicators of shape are. Further, one must ask what the significance of this shape is.19

2. Outlining the Psalter’s Narrative Impulse

Step two must seek to set forth an ordering purpose in the Psalter—the significance of its shape. The indicators that the Psalter has a shape, presented in step one, aid the reader in discerning the message of the Psalter. This second step therefore outlines the Psalter’s narrative impulse, arguing that the Psalter traces the history presented in the Old Testament.20 The fivefold division of the Psalter is key to unlocking the narrative impulse. Step three weaves theological reflections throughout the narrative impulse as prompted by the Psalter’s shape.

2.1. Book One: The Rise of the King

As noted above, the Psalter opens with a focus on the destinies of the righteous and the wicked as determined by their relation to YHWH’s word and YHWH’s king. Psalm 1 unambiguously sets up the division, affirming that the righteous one meditates on YHWH’s torah and thus his way is known to YHWH—an idiom that confirms protection and care. On the other hand, the wicked perish. Psalm 2 relates this division to YHWH’s anointed king who is seated in Zion. As Deuteronomy 17:14–20 stipulates, YHWH’s chosen king is to be a student of torah. It is therefore justifiable to view the anointed king of Psalm 2 as the righteous one of Psalm 1. In doing so, it becomes apparent that the wicked do not simply spurn YHWH’s torah, but rebel against his king. Thus, the Psalter’s introduction—as any good narrative should do—establishes a tension that needs to be resolved. Who will prevail in the battle between the righteous and the wicked, the torah-abiding king and the rebellious kings of the nations?

Book One, which commences with this two-part introduction, proceeds to connect the nameless royal, torah-abiding individual of the introduction with King David. It does so initially by way of authorship ascription in the psalm superscriptions.21 Virtually all the psalms of Book One are ascribed to David; only Psalms 1, 2, 10, and 33 lack Davidic superscriptions. While Psalms 1–2 form the introduction, Psalms 10 and 33 are intimately connected to the preceding psalms and are thus colored with a Davidic hue. Book One is therefore thoroughly Davidic. Consequently, the reader is invited to read the psalms of Book One in relation to the Davidic king.

The first book also develops the programmatic division established in the two-part introduction between the righteous and the wicked. The generic righteous/wicked division of Psalm 1 is specified as YHWH’s chosen king (righteous) and the rebellious kings and nations (wicked) in Psalm 2. The ensuing psalms strongly allude to this conflict.22 It is primarily the terminology present in Book One that develops this division, with Miller claiming that almost half of the references to the wicked in the Psalter, and slightly less than that to the righteous, occur in Book One.23 The occurrence of the root אָיַב (“enemy”) alone is prolific.24 Other roots possess some overlap in meaning: צָרַר/צַר (“adversary” or “foe”),25 אָוֶן (“evildoers”),26 רַע/רָעַע (“evildoers”),27 עָנָו (“afflicted”),28 עָנִי (“afflicted”),29 and רָדַךּ (“pursuers” or “persecutors”).30 Furthermore, there is the frequent appearance of רָשָׁע (“wicked”).31 Thus, Book One depicts that the rulers have set themselves against YHWH’s anointed (cf. 2:2). YHWH, however, knows the way of the righteous and so brings deliverance from the wicked. The roots חָלַץ (“deliver” or “rescue”),32 נָצַל (“deliver” or “rescue”),33 and פָלַט (“deliver” or “rescue”),34 both seeking or testifying deliverance, occur regularly. Salvation terminology is likewise repeated.35 This testimony of deliverance, prominent in Book One, establishes two expectations: first, YHWH will watch over the righteous as promised in Psalm 1; and second, YHWH will enthrone his chosen king in Zion as promised in Psalm 2.

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