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

Chapter 6: Composition of Psalms 3-8(d) Salvation (see Table 6.14)Various references to salvation or deliverance form another thread runningthrough Psalms 3-7. Although their enemies are not always the direct objectof the psalmists’ requests for and references to deliverance, their presencealways forms part of the motivation for these allusions. As Table 6.14 shows,this theme is strongest in Psalms 3 and 7 (which I believe were neighbouringpsalms before Psalms 4-6 were inserted). Deliverance terminology is alsoprominent in Psalm 6, but here the primary object from which the psalmistneeds deliverance is adversity caused by illness rather than hostileenemies. 137In Table 6.14, Rows 1-2 cohere around the root ‏.ישע The first row consists ofthe psalmists’ pleas for Yahweh to “save me”, while both entries in the secondrow declare that he does save. At first glance the two occurrences of “arise, OLord” (3:8 and 7:7) may seem out of place in this list, but since this wasstereotypical language for beseeching God to arise in judgement of the137 As indicated in section 4.4.2, there are many commentators (e.g., Ridderbos 1972;Rogerson and McKay 1977; VanGemeren 1991; McCann 1996) who do not see the crisis ashaving to do with illness. Instead, they view it as an unnamed crisis causing the psalmist greatanguish.279