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

Chapter 3: Methodologyheadings, offer clues by which ealier collections can be tentativelyidentified.The term ַ ֵ לַ‏ מְ‏ נַ‏ in a psalm’s heading indicates that it belonged to themusic director’s collection.The final editors of the canonical Psalter, possibly postexilic templepersonelle (Stek 2002:777), finished putting the collection into itscurrent form around the third century B.C. 17 It would not materiallyaffect the findings if a different date of compilation were assumed.3.4 Exegesis of individual psalmsThe exegetical step consists of a detailed study of each psalm in isolation,focusing primarily but not exclusively on literary as opposed to historicalanalysis. The purpose of the exegetical step is to provide a solid basis foridentifying intentional links between Psalms 3-8. Exegetical methods thatemploy tentative reconstructions and subjective speculations of historicalmatters do not provide a sound basis for identifying intertextual links that mayhave served as the criteria for the arrangement of the psalms. For this reason,17 This is the most commonly held view, although no less a figure than Gerald Wilson (2000)argued Books IV and V were only finalised in the first century A.D. On the basis of evidencefrom the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hill and Walton (2000) concur with Wilson.69