Psalms Through the Centuries, Volume One by Susan Gillingham

Author:Susan Gillingham [Gillingham, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781118830536
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2018-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

Psalms 35–41: Poverty, Sickness and Trust in God

We now turn to the final collection of seven psalms in Book One, which falls into two related groups. Psalms 35–37 are concerned with the external threat of ‘enemies’ who undermine the wellbeing of the suppliant; their identity is unclear, but they are undoubtedly malevolent (35:11) and wicked (36:1, 11; 37:1, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 28, 34, 35, 38, 40). Psalms 38–41, meanwhile, are more about the internal problem of sin and suffering: each psalm contains a citation of the psalmist’s inward thoughts, starting with ‘I pray…’, or ‘I said…’ (38:16; 39:1; 40:7; 41:4). All seven psalms are concerned in different ways with the fate of the poor, who are characteristically termed ‘poor and needy’ (ʿani weʾebyon) as in 35:10; 37:14; and 40:17.865 The first and last psalms form ‘bookends’, on a shared theme: in Psalm 35 the enemies are those who once were friends (verses 13–14), and in Psalm 41 the suppliant feels betrayed by a ‘familiar friend’ (verse 9). These betrayers mock the psalmist: an unusual expression, used only here in the Psalter, is ‘Aha! Aha!’ (heʾaḥ) (35:25; 40:15; see 41:6).866 An interest in ‘the land’ runs throughout the entire collection: Ps. 35:20 advocates the cause of those who are ‘the quiet in the land’ and Ps. 41:2 defends the cause of those who are called ‘the happy in the land’: each is a unique expression. The motif of ‘inheriting the land’ dominates Psalm 37, and we will shortly note what an unusual psalm this is. So the ways in which the compilers have sought to create connections between these seven psalms represent an early stage of their reception.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.