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

Chapter 7: ConclusionPsalms 3-8 have a loose form of thematic unity. I found no evidence tosuggest that they were arranged to tell a story, that is, that they wereorganised so that each successive psalm develops the theme introduced byits predecessor.Putting all these observations together, it is possible to reconstruct tentativelythe process by which the editors organised Psalms 3-8. Working with acollection of לְ‏ דָ‏ וִ‏ ד psalms, they collected a group in which “enemies” wereprominent. This group included a pre-existing trio from the music director’scollection (Psalms 4-6) and a pair from an unnamed collection (Psalms 3 and7). Psalms 3 and 4 fitted together like a hand and glove, while Psalms 6 and 7shared a couple of verbal links; therefore, the editors inserted Psalms 4-6between Psalms 3 and 7. Psalm 8 was added after Psalm 7 because of thehook word “name” (see §5.5). Throughout the arrangement, the primaryeditorial concern was to ensure that each psalm shared verbal-thematic linkswith its immediate neighbours.7.2.3 Qualified acceptance of the hypothesisThe hypothesis articulated in chapter 1 stated my expectations as follows:The researcher expects the study of Psalms 3-8 to revealsurface-level redaction, but not deep-level redaction. That is, the310