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

Chapter 4: Analysis of Psalms 3-8and more in keeping with the preceding imperatives רּומָ‏ ה)‏ and נָ‏ שֵ‏ א ‏,(הִ‏ so Iconsider it the likelier reading.4.5.2 Historical reconstructionThis is the second psalm with an editorial superscription linking it to aparticular event in David’s life: “which he sang to the Lord concerning thewords of Cush, a Benjamite” ( שֶ‏ ש־שָ‏ ש לַ‏ יהוָ‏ ה ףַ‏ ל־דִ‏ בְ‏ שֵ‏ י־כּוש בֶ‏ ן־יְמִ‏ ינִ‏ י ‏.(אֲ‏ The headingimplies that David composed Psalm 7 as a prayer to Yahweh in response tofalse accusations made against him by a Benjaminite named Cush. Thewords “he sang” ש)‏ ‏(שָ‏ indicate that the editor intended or interpreted לְ‏ דָ‏ וִ‏ ד as anindicator of Davidic authorship.The historical books of the Old Testament make no mention of an incidentinvolving David and Cush. Attempts to identify Cush with charactersmentioned in the biblical books have proposed Saul himself (Hengstenberg1842, translated 1846), Shimei (Kay 1877; see 2 Sam 16:5-13), and Doeg theEdomite (Delitzch, cited by Leupold 1961:92). None of these suggestions isconvincing. Hutton (1986) argued that the heading was designed to fill out thestory of 2 Sam. 18-19” (Goldingay 2006:144, note 2). The best explanationremains the most natural one—the inscription refers to an incident betweenDavid and Cush recorded outside the biblical text. 1 Chronicles 29:29 implies150