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

Chapter 6: Composition of Psalms 3-8to the Lord. Psalm 8 is framed by the jubilant exclamation, “O LORD, our Lord,how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (8:2, 10). In the context of praise,the “name” of the Lord is mentioned in 5:12, 7:18, 8:2 and 8:10.6.3.5 The nature of thematic unitySeveral themes emerge repeatedly in Psalms 3-8. The most pervasive ofthem pertains to references to the psalmists’ “enemies” (see Table 6.11).These allusions, which occur in all six psalms, provide a thematic umbrellawhich accounts for the presence of other recurring motifs. The enemies,depicted as wicked people, stand in sharp contrast to the more righteouspsalmists. This explains why the Lord’s disfavour will come upon the enemies(see Table 6.12), but his favour will rest upon the psalmists (see Table 6.13).The threat that the enemies pose to the psalmists accounts for the urgentprayers (see Table 6.16) as well as the allusions to deliverance (see Table6.14) and protection (see Table 6.15).Although there are definite thematic threads running through Psalms 3-8,there are also significant differences which, in my opinion, make it unlikelythat they were arranged to form any sort of “cantata” pertaining to a singlehistorical event or complex of events. Walton (1991; cf. Malick 2005) arguedthat the psalms in Book I of the Psalter were arranged to form a cantata about284