(Part 1)

JBTM Jeffrey G. Audirsch
43
Ps 119; the book of Lamentations). Acrostics are literary masterpieces and demand an
interpretation in the specified order. 47
Key Approaches for Interpreting the Psalter
When discussing biblical poetry we tend to immediately think about the book of
Psalms. It is no wonder that the book of Psalms has been called “the most conventional
poetry in the Bible.” 48 For centuries, Jews and Christians have been drawn to the Psalter
“as a hymnbook for worship and a prayer book for devotion.” 49 The Psalter’s attractiveness
is probably linked to its all-encompassing expression of “human emotions before God.” 50
Thus, I have decided to include principles for interpreting the Psalter. Before doing so,
however, an overview is needed of the most notable approaches to interpreting the Psalms.
The study of the Psalter begins with Hermann Gunkel, the father of the form-critical
study of the book. 51 Famously, Gunkel tried to isolate the Sitz im Leben (i.e., “setting of life”)
for each psalm. In short, he maintains the Psalms “arose in the cult of Israel originally.” 52
Through his two works on the Psalter, Gunkel identifies several different types in the
Psalter: hymns, community/individual laments, individual psalms of thanksgiving, royal
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vol. 1, eds. Dale Allison et al. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009), 281.
47
Dobbs-Allsopp, “Acrostic,” 282–83. Abecedaries were used by students/scribes to “practice
writing letter forms of the alphabet.” The acrostic texts of the Old Testament are influenced by
abecedaries. Dobbs-Allsopp added, “The acrostic quite literally holds the poems together, like a
container, and through its long-standing conventional sequence of letter forms guides the reader
from beginning to end” (p. 285).
48
Alter, “Poetic and Wisdom Books,” 231.
49
James Limburg, “Book of Psalms,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 5, ed. David Noel Freedman
(New York: DoubleDay, 1992), 524.
50
Nancy deClaisse-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, Psalms, New International
Commentary of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 1. Many scholars have recognized
this truth. For example, John Goldingay explained, “Psalms make it possible to say things that are
otherwise unsayable,” See John Goldingay, Psalms 1 –41, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament
Wisdom and Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 22.
51
Hermann Gunkel, The Psalms: A Form-Critical Introduction (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1967) and
Hermann Gunkel and Joachim Begrich, An Introduction to the Psalms, trans. James D. Nogalski (Macon,
GA: Mercer University Press, 1998).
52
Gunkel questioned, “So where would the poetry of the Psalms have had its ‘setting of life?’” See
Gunkel and Begrich, An Introduction to the Psalms, 7. Gunkel’s student, Sigmund Mowinckel tried to
identify all of the psalms according to the annual New Year’s “Enthronement of YHWH Festival.”
This approach has been described as the “cult-functional method” and represents ancient Israelite
worship. Although Mowinckel’s work is important within Psalms studies, his approach falls outside
the confines and purpose of this essay. See Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, trans.
A. Thomas (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004).