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

Chapter 5: Concatenation in Psalms 3-8a) The wicked are portrayed as slanderous deceivers. This themedominates two entire stanzas of Psalm 5. In Psalm 4, it emerges in thepsalmist’s complaint, “How long will you love vain words and seek afterlies?” (v. 3). כָ‏ זָ‏ ב (31:6:2) serves as a link word (see 4:3 and 5:7).b) Yahweh is portrayed as a faithful, covenant keeping God, whom therighteous can approach with confidence, knowing that he will receivetheir prayers and vindicate their causes. Closely related to this is theunderlying image of Yahweh as a sovereign and righteous Judge.c) The interrelated themes of intimacy, rejoicing and protection end thetwo psalms on almost identical notes (see discussion of the root שמח in§5.2.1).In contrast to these similarities, the psalmists’ tone towards their enemies ismarkedly different in the two psalms. The tone changes from praying for them(Psalm 4) 109 to praying for their downfall (Psalm 5). Psalm 4 addresses thewicked, counselling them to repent and return to the Lord, whereas Psalm 5109 Admittedly the psalmist does not literally pray for his opponents in Psalm 4, but the tone ofhis counsel in verses 3-6 reveals his heartfelt concern for them (see Richard 2002). Thepastoral tone of his counsel was tantamount to his prayer for them to repent and return to theLord.203