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

Chapter 4: Analysis of Psalms 3-8misfortune, and even intended to profit from his demise. Hishealing and return to life will shame their hostility and exposetheir perfidy.The final strophe is addressed to these foes. In a sharp change of tone, hecommands the “workers of evil” ‏,פֹףֲ‏ לֵ‏ י אָ‏ וֶ‏ ן)‏ 23:15:2, cf. 5:6) to “depart” from him.All of a sudden, he has discovered renewed faith that the Lord has heard his“weeping” ‏,בְ‏ כִ‏ י)‏ 30:3:1, v. 9b), his “plea” , ְ חִ‏ נָ‏ ה)‏ 25:3:1, v. 10a); the Lordaccepts his “prayer” , ְ ץִ‏ לָ‏ ה)‏ 77:32:2, v. 10b). He closes the psalm with aconfident declaration that his “enemies” ‏,אָ‏ יַב)‏ 283:74:4, v. 11a) will be“ashamed” ‏,בוש)‏ 125:34:2, v. 11a) and “troubled” ‏,בָ‏ הַ‏ ל)‏ 39:10:3, v. 11a; cf. vv.3-4). 6969 Psalm 13 bears some striking verbal links to Psalm 6, such as the cry “how long, O Lord”(vv. 2-3, four times, though using a slightly different Hebrew expression to Ps 6:4), “my soul”(v. 3; Hebrew, ץְ‏ שִ‏ י ‏,(נַ‏ “eyes” (v. 4), “death” (v. 4), “steadfast love” (v. , סֶ‏ ד ‏(חֶ‏ and, mostnoteworthy, unexpected references to both “enemies” (vv. 3, 5; י ‏(אֹיְבִ‏ and “foes” (v. 5, שַ‏ י ‏.(קָ‏ Inhis analysis of Psalm 13, Staton (1990:59-65) suggests that it reflects a situation in which “thepetitioner is sick and near death” (p. 60). He goes on to suggest that the allusions to an“enemy” are best understood as personifications of “death or a sickness which leads to death”(p. 62). Although the enemies in Psalm 6 do seem to be human foes, the various points ofsimilarity between Psalms 6 and 13 would be worth more detailed examination.147