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

Chapter 7: Conclusionlooked at in isolation, one might argue for either a cultic-liturgical motivation(as evening and morning hymns respectively) or a verbal-thematicrationale. 149 At an early stage of the study, before I had analysed later pairs ofpsalms, I felt the verbal-thematic links provided a stronger basis for linkingPsalms 4-5 than the cultic-liturgical hypothesis. Later observations about theimportance of verbal-thematic links between adjacent psalms stronglycorroborated this feeling. The secondary basis of arrangement for Psalms 5-6clearly lay in verbal-thematic similarities. 150 Verbal links also provided the onlyplausible rationale for the intentional juxtaposition of Psalms 6-7. 151Besides verbal-thematic links, no other kind of linking emerged regularly as acandidate to account for the arrangement of Psalms 3-8. With the possible149 The verbal links include שמח ‏,חסד ‏,קדר ‏,כָ‏ זָ‏ ב and ָ ה יחוה ‏,אַ‏ while shared themes includedeception, rejoicing and protection.150 Noteworthy verbal-thematic links include (a) references to “all evildoers” ( ל־פֹףֲ‏ לֵ‏ י ףָ‏ וֶ‏ ן ‏,(כָ‏ (b)vows that Yahweh will “hear my voice” ( שְ‏ מַ‏ ע רולִ‏ י ִ ), (c) allusions to “the sound of mycry/weeping” ( רול שַ‏ וְ‏ ףִ‏ י and בִ‏ כְ‏ יִי ‏(רול and (d) the similar use of the homonyms “my enemies”‏.(קושֵ‏ ש)‏ adversaries” and “my ‏(שושֵ‏ ש)‏151 The use of two roots alluding to enemies, the rare קשש and the common יַב ‏,אָ‏ not only inPsalms 6-7 but also in Psalms 8 and 9/10, is most unlikely to be coincidental.306