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

Chapter 6: Composition of Psalms 3-8Coupled with the similarities between their headings, these five verbalthematiclinks are enough to persuade me that Psalms 3 and 7 wereneighbouring psalms in an earlier collection of Davidic psalms. In the finalform of Book I, they were separated by the insertion of Psalms 4-6. In otherwords, Psalms 3-7 result from merging two earlier collections, namely, anearly pair of Davidic psalms (Pss 3 and 7) with a pre-existing trio from themusic director’s collection (Pss 4-6). Figure 6.1 illustrates how the twocollections were merged.Figure 6.1: Merging Psalms 4-6 with Psalms 3 and 7Psalm 3Psalm 4Psalm 5Psalm 6Psalm 3Psalm 7Psalm 4Psalm 5Psalm 6Psalm 7This partially explains some of the idiosyncrasies regarding the placement ofPsalm 7, idiosyncrasies that were noted in section 6.1. However, it does leaveme wondering why, having made the decision to separate Psalms 3 and 7,the editors did not move Psalm 7 to a different location in order to unite thecollections which it interrupts. Even in its present location, it is לַ‏ מְ‏ נַ‏ and ַ ֵ מִ‏ זְ‏ מוש251