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JBTM_13-2_Fall_2016
JBTM_13-2_Fall_2016
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JBTM Jeffrey G. Audirsch<br />
43<br />
Ps 119; the book of Lamentations). Acrostics are literary masterpieces and demand an<br />
interpretation in the specified order. 47<br />
Key Approaches for Interpreting the Psalter<br />
When discussing biblical poetry we tend to immediately think about the book of<br />
Psalms. It is no wonder that the book of Psalms has been called “the most conventional<br />
poetry in the Bible.” 48 For centuries, Jews and Christians have been drawn to the Psalter<br />
“as a hymnbook for worship and a prayer book for devotion.” 49 The Psalter’s attractiveness<br />
is probably linked to its all-encompassing expression of “human emotions before God.” 50<br />
Thus, I have decided to include principles for interpreting the Psalter. Before doing so,<br />
however, an overview is needed of the most notable approaches to interpreting the Psalms.<br />
The study of the Psalter begins with Hermann Gunkel, the father of the form-critical<br />
study of the book. 51 Famously, Gunkel tried to isolate the Sitz im Leben (i.e., “setting of life”)<br />
for each psalm. In short, he maintains the Psalms “arose in the cult of Israel originally.” 52<br />
Through his two works on the Psalter, Gunkel identifies several different types in the<br />
Psalter: hymns, community/individual laments, individual psalms of thanksgiving, royal<br />
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vol. 1, eds. Dale Allison et al. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009), 281.<br />
47<br />
Dobbs-Allsopp, “Acrostic,” 282–83. Abecedaries were used by students/scribes to “practice<br />
writing letter forms of the alphabet.” The acrostic texts of the Old Testament are influenced by<br />
abecedaries. Dobbs-Allsopp added, “The acrostic quite literally holds the poems together, like a<br />
container, and through its long-standing conventional sequence of letter forms guides the reader<br />
from beginning to end” (p. 285).<br />
48<br />
Alter, “Poetic and Wisdom Books,” 231.<br />
49<br />
James Limburg, “Book of Psalms,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 5, ed. David Noel Freedman<br />
(New York: DoubleDay, 1992), 524.<br />
50<br />
Nancy deClaisse-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, Psalms, New International<br />
Commentary of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 1. Many scholars have recognized<br />
this truth. For example, John Goldingay explained, “Psalms make it possible to say things that are<br />
otherwise unsayable,” See John Goldingay, Psalms 1 –41, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament<br />
Wisdom and Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 22.<br />
51<br />
Hermann Gunkel, The Psalms: A Form-Critical Introduction (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1967) and<br />
Hermann Gunkel and Joachim Begrich, An Introduction to the Psalms, trans. James D. Nogalski (Macon,<br />
GA: Mercer University Press, 1998).<br />
52<br />
Gunkel questioned, “So where would the poetry of the Psalms have had its ‘setting of life?’” See<br />
Gunkel and Begrich, An Introduction to the Psalms, 7. Gunkel’s student, Sigmund Mowinckel tried to<br />
identify all of the psalms according to the annual New Year’s “Enthronement of YHWH Festival.”<br />
This approach has been described as the “cult-functional method” and represents ancient Israelite<br />
worship. Although Mowinckel’s work is important within Psalms studies, his approach falls outside<br />
the confines and purpose of this essay. See Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, trans.<br />
A. Thomas (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004).