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

Chapter 6: Composition of Psalms 3-8wicked and deliverance of the righteous, its inclusion is justified. Althoughusing different Hebrew roots יְשּוףָ‏ תָ‏ ה)‏ in 3:3 and נָ‏ קַ‏ ל in 7:3), both entries in Row4 affirm the same idea—there is no deliverance for the psalmist.In Row 5, “deliver my life” (6:5)—“my life” is a circumlocution for “me”—is aprayer for deliverance from death caused by sickness, whereas “rescue me”(7:2) is a prayer for deliverance from “my pursuers” (7:2).(e) Protection (see Table 6.15)As a theme, divine protection is closely related to deliverance. Not only willYahweh ultimately deliver the psalmists’ from their enemies, but he will protectthem in the interim from their enemies’ schemes. This theme is prominent inPsalms 3-5 and 7 (see Table 6.15).Three psalms use the metaphor of a “shield” to depict God protecting therighteous (see Row 1). Since none of them are touching psalms, this was notflagged at all in the previous chapter. The strong link between Psalms 3 and 4created by the expression “I lie down and sleep” was discussed in Section 5.1(see Row 2). The two references to “taking refuge” (see Row 3) in God bothuse the Hebrew verb סָ‏ ה ‏,חָ‏ which refers to going “to a place where one will findsafety, rest, or comfort, implying the place of refuge is a place to be trusted tokeep one safe” (Swanson 1997:§2879). Rows 4 and 5 contain disparate280