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

Chapter 4: Analysis of Psalms 3-81990:61). Third, it was a song זְ‏ מוש)‏ ‏;(מִ‏ it was sung to the accompaniment ofstringed instruments נְ‏ גִ‏ ינות)‏ ‏,(בִ‏ presumably as part of the temple worship.In terms of modern form-critical classification, it is an individual lament(USCCB 2002; Bratcher 2006b). Weiser (1962:119) succinctly summarisedthe standard view of the form and setting of Psalm 4.The psalm is a prayer of confidence which, mostly on account ofv. 8, is called an ‘evening hymn’, and for that reason hasprobably been inserted after Ps. 3, a ‘morning hymn’.Classifying it as a “prayer of confidence”, a sub-category of individual lamentfits the content well. The allusions to “your bed” (v. 5) and “lie down andsleep” (v. 9) indicate that the psalm was either written in the evening or writtenfor use in the evening, but whether it ever had a formal setting in eveningtemple worship has not yet been ascertained conclusively. Both Hayes’(1976:63) suggestion that verses 6-7 contain the words of a priest during aliturgy and Dahood’s (1966:23) proposal that it is a prayer for rain (based onhis interpretation of verse 7) are also plausible, but difficult to verify.What strikes me about the psalm is that although the psalmist calls it a“prayer” (v. 2c), aside from his opening request for Yahweh to listen to hisprayer, the only invocation to God is “lift up the light of your face upon us, O110