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

Chapter 6: Composition of Psalms 3-82004b:20). 136 In Psalm 4:3, “my glory” is being shamed by enemies. In Psalm7:6, the psalmist invites Yahweh to let his enemy ruin “my glory” if he is guiltyof wrongdoing. Each of these three references seems to be alluding to thepsalmists’ honourable status in society. The final allusion refers to the “basichuman dignity conferred by God” (Wilson 2002:131). God has crowned allhuman beings “with glory בוד]‏ ‏[כָ‏ and honour דָ‏ ש]‏ ‏”[הָ‏ (Ps 8:6). In all theseallusions, human “honour” is viewed as a divine blessing. Yahweh confers abasic human dignity on all people by virtue of their humanity (8:6); beyondthat, he can confer honourable status upon a person (3:4) and he can take itaway (7:6).Rows 2 and 3 indicate both that God blesses the righteous (Row 2) and howhe does it (Row 3). The conclusions of two psalms directly assert that Godblesses “your people” (3:9) and “the righteous” (5:13). The specific blessingsmentioned include “lifting my head” (3:4), “covering him [the righteous person]with favour” (5:13), “establishing the righteous” (7:10) and “giving him [thehuman race] dominion” over creation (8:6).136 An alternative interpretation takes it as a title for God, that is, “my Glorious One” (Motyer1994; cf. Keil and Delitzsch 2002:62).278