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

Chapter 5: Concatenation in Psalms 3-8collocation with קָ‏ שַ‏ ש in three consecutive psalms may be significant. 114 Theconnection is strengthened by the fact that the references to enemies can befound near the end of Psalm 6 and towards the beginning of Psalm 7, creatingsomething of a tail-head connection. Keil and Delitzsch saw Psalm 7 as acontinuation of Psalm 6:9-11.In the second part of Ps. 6 David meets his enemies with strongself-confidence in God. Ps. 7, which even Hitzig ascribes toDavid, continues this theme and exhibits to us, in a prominentexample taken from the time of persecution under Saul, hispurity of conscience and joyousness of faith (Keil and Delitzsch2002:84).5.4.2 Other LinksHistorical setting. The implied historical settings of the two psalms seem to bequite different. In Psalm 6, the psalmist appears to be experiencing a lifethreateningillness. He attributes its cause to Yahweh’s discipline (v. 2).114 The pattern actually extends to four consecutive psalms since Psalm 9-10, originally asingle psalm, also contains both קָ‏ שַ‏ ש and יַב ‏.אָ‏ For a full treatment of their occurrence in Psalm9-10, see §5.5.216