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

Chapter 6: Composition of Psalms 3-8Table 6.9 immediately shows that the only shared words are the verb שָ‏ מַ‏ ע andthe roots חסד (“steadfast love”) and ץלל (“prayer”), all of which are commonwords that occur only in Psalms 4, 5 and 6 in my corpus. Because theseterms are so common, their complete absence from Psalms 3, 7 and 8 is asstriking as their presence in Psalms 4-6. In my judgement, they represent afairly meaningful link tying these three psalms together. In addition, the phraseכִ‏ י ( variations occurs in all three psalms, albeit with slight ‏(אַ‏ ָ ה יהוה)‏ Lord” “youin 6:4). Unlike the way that וְ‏ אַ‏ ָ יהוה in 5:13 and כִ‏ י אַ‏ ָ ה . . . יהוה 4:9, in אַ‏ ָ ה יהוהlink Psalms 6-9/10, there is no outstanding linking word binding איב and קששPsalms 4-6 together. Nevertheless, the four terms mentioned in thisparagraph do add credence to the view that they were a trio of consecutivepsalms in the music director’s collection.There are some verbal links between Psalms 4 and 6. Both psalmists appealto Yahweh to “be gracious to me” ‏,חָ‏ נֵ‏ נִ‏ י)‏ 4:2 and 6:3). Both psalms use “hear”) in the same verse (see 4:2 and 6:9), though in ְ ץִ‏ לָ‏ תִ‏ י)‏ prayer” and “my ‏(שָ‏ מַ‏ ע)‏6:9 these two terms occur in separate clauses. There is little similarityחֶ‏ סֶ‏ ד (4:4) and חָ‏ סִ‏ יד (6:8) or קָ‏ שַ‏ ש (4:2) and קַ‏ ש between the use of the cognates(6:5). Thus the verbal links between Psalms 4 and 6 are weaker than thosethat each psalm shares with its immediate neighbours in the canonicalPsalter. I find no lexical links that would have motivated an editor to positionthese two psalms in proximity.260