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

Chapter 5: Concatenation in Psalms 3-8In addition to the shared lexemes, there are five cognate words that occur inboth psalms. The five are (a) אָ‏ מַ‏ ש and מֶ‏ ש ‏,אֵ‏ (b) חָ‏ סִ‏ יד and סֶ‏ ד ‏,חֶ‏ (c) קֶ‏ דֶ‏ ר andseem שב and אמש While ‏.שָ‏ מַ‏ ח and שִ‏ מְ‏ חָ‏ ה (e) and ‏,שֹב and שַ‏ ב (d) ‏,קְ‏ דָ‏ רָ‏ ה/קַ‏ דִ‏ ירinsignificant as linking words, קדר ‏,חסד and שמח may provide significant linksin spite of the fact that they are common terms in the Hebrew Bible.The root קדר provides the clearest link between the two psalms because of itsprominent place in both of them. Psalm 4 opens with the psalmist’s appeal fora hearing from אֱ‏ ‏ֹלהֵ‏ י קִ‏ דְ‏ רִ‏ י (“O God of my righteousness”). This sets theprogramme for the psalm, which views the Lord as the one who will vindicatethe righteous psalmist against his unrighteous opponents. The cognate termsare equally strategically placed in Psalm 5, appearing in the ‏(קָ‏ דִ‏ יר and קְ‏ דָ‏ רָ‏ ה)‏focal centre strophe of a chiastic psalm (v. 9) and in the concluding verse ofthe psalm (v. 13). They depict Yahweh as “the faithful covenant God” whodoes “that which is right and just toward those who have proved faithful toHim” (Leupold 1961:78). Both psalms portray the Lord as a righteous Godwho vindicates the righteous against the unrighteous.(v. 2) to form part of קֶ‏ דֶ‏ ר (v. 4) is a key word in Psalm 4. It combines with חָ‏ סִ‏ ידthe framing of the opening strophe (vv. 2-4; see Craigie 1998:79-80). Theother part of the framing is the double use of בְ‏ רָ‏ שְ‏ אִ‏ י (“when I call”) at thebeginning and end of the strophe. Together these two parts form what198