Smith DTh Thesis (final).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

Chapter 4: Analysis of Psalms 3-8Richards 1985:282), in the Hiphil meaning “put to flight, cause to flee” (6 timesin Masoretic Text) and “flee” in the Qal. It occurs three times in the Psalter,בְ‏ בָ‏ שְ‏ חו מִ‏ פְ‏ נֵ‏ י־שָ‏ אּול once in the superscription of Psalm 57 in the identical phrase(“when he fled from the presence of Saul”) to Psalm 3:1.The psalmist refers to his enemies as (a) “foes” ‏,קַ‏ ש)‏ 112:40:2, v. 2a), (b) those“rising against me” ( מִ‏ ים ףָ‏ לָ‏ י ‏,רָ‏ v. 2b), (c) those “who have set themselvesagainst me” ( שֶ‏ ש סָ‏ בִ‏ יב שָ‏ תּו ףָ‏ לָ‏ י ‏,אֲ‏ .v (7b and (d) “enemies” ‏,אָ‏ יַב)‏ ,283:74:4 .v .(8cFour times these enemies are said to be “many” (vv. 2-3, three times) or“thousands” (v. 7), conjuring images of an army (cf. Ross 1985:793; Bratcherand Reyburn 1991:38; VanGemeren 1991:77; Rawlinson 2004:17-18). Theroot קש denotes being under pressure, in adversity, with the accompanyingsense of anguish it causes (see Hartley 1999b:778-780; Swart and Wakely1996:§7674). By extension, it is used of those who cause adversity andanguish, namely, adversaries (see Hartley 1999b:778-780; Swart and Wakely1996:§7674). In the Psalter, קש occurs 16 times in the sense of “adversity”‏,רּום)‏ arise” (43:16:1) and 24 times as “adversary” (67:24:1). 27 The verb “to27 The BHS Westminster Hebrew Morphology 4.2 does not distinguish between the varioussenses of ש ‏.קַ‏ The figures given at the beginning of the paragraph, 112:40:2, combine bothmain senses and the rare uses of the same root with the meaning “flint” and “narrow.” The98