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

Chapter 5: Concatenation in Psalms 3-8usage in the Psalms 5 and 6 is very similar. In the opening strophe of Psalm5, the psalmist promises Yahweh שְ‏ מַ‏ ע רולִ‏ י ִ (“you hear my voice”). Thefollowing strophe conveys the basis of his confidence that he will receive afavourable hearing with Yahweh; part of his confidence is rooted in the factthat Yahweh hates כָ‏ ל־פֹףֲ‏ לֵ‏ י ףָ‏ וֶ‏ ן (“all evildoers”). Thus there is a cause-andeffectlink between the fact that his enemies are “evildoers” and hisconfidence that the Lord will “hear his voice”. The exact same logic is evidentin Psalm 6:9, where the psalmist commands כָ‏ ל־פֹףֲ‏ לֵ‏ י ףָ‏ וֶ‏ ן to depart from himbecause the Lord hears his voice מַ‏ ע . . . רול)‏ ‏.(שָ‏ Thus in both psalms, thedesignation of the psalmist’s enemies as כָ‏ ל־פֹףֲ‏ לֵ‏ י ףָ‏ וֶ‏ ן is collocated with theshared words שָ‏ מַ‏ ע and ‏,רול referring to Yahweh’s receptivity to the psalmist’sprayer. The implication is that the Lord will receive the psalmist’s prayerרול ( 5:3 in רול because he is more righteous than his evil enemies. The use of“the sound of my weeping”) is ‏,רול בִ‏ כְ‏ יִי)‏ “the sound of my cry”) and 6:9 ‏,שַ‏ וְ‏ ףִ‏ יalso similar. רול occurs 59 times in the Psalter, but in construct relations withnouns of praying or pleading the count is only 11. 112 Thus both psalms portraythe psalmist in urgent prayer רול)‏ plus noun of pleading), expecting Yahweh to112 My manual count of 11 such occurrences includes Psalms 5:3, 6:9, 28:2 and 6, 31:23,66:19, 86:6, 102:6, 116:1, 130:2 and 140:7212