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

Chapter 5: Concatenation in Psalms 3-8the usage for ministering to people in different situations, the redactionalrationale is much more nuanced.What conclusions can be drawn? Since the stated goal of the study is to dealwith demonstrable links between psalms, the speculative suggestion in #2above must be ignored because there is no hard evidence to support it. Thisleaves two possibilities—either there is no editorial rationale for thejuxtaposition of Psalms 6 and 7 or editorial rationale lies in the allusion toenemies, who were introduced in Psalm 6:9-11, being continued in Psalm 7(so Keil and Delitzsch 2002). On the evidence of Psalms 6 and 7 alone, Iwould be inclined to overlook the use of קָ‏ שַ‏ ש and אָ‏ יַב as deliberate hook wordsjoining the two psalms. However, the fact that the same words are also foundin the next two psalms (Pss 8 and 9-10) sways my assessment. The odds areheavily against these two synonyms occurring in four consecutive psalms bychance. Consequently, I favour Keil and Delitzsch’s view that Psalm 7continues the theme of meeting enemies with strong confidence, a theme thatwas introduced towards the end of Psalm 6.220