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

Chapter 5: Concatenation in Psalms 3-85.1.3 Basis of arrangementAfter presenting the evidence of links between Psalms 3 and 4, it remains toposit the reason(s) why the redactors of the Psalter placed them side-by-side.No other pair of psalms in the chosen corpus bears as many similarities asthese psalms do. This makes one conclusion easy, but another difficult. It issurely no coincidence that two such similar psalms appear together in the finalordering of the Psalter. There is a high probability that the compilers placedthem together because of their similarities. This is the easy conclusion.The more difficult decision is to determine which links the editors had in mind.As mentioned in the discussion of the methodology of the study (see chapter3), arrangement could be based on historical, cultic and/or contentconsiderations. All three of these have been proposed as the basis of therelationship between Psalms 3 and 4. Those who argue that both psalmsoriginate with David’s flight from Absalom intimate an historical relationship.Those who regard them as morning and evening hymns positioned at thebeginning of the Psalter (after the two introductory psalms) posit a culticreason for their placement. I find neither of these views convincing. Verballinks between the two psalms provide a content-based rationale for theirpositioning. I shall now state my reasons for this conclusion by examining theevidence for each alternative.192