Review in: Interpretation
2007 61: 218
Review door: William
P. BrownGevonden op: http://int.sagepub.com/content/61/2/218.full.pdf+html
Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51-100
by
Frank-Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger. Edited by Klaus Baltzer. English translation by Linda M. Moloney.
Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005.
552 pp. $65.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-6061-7.
FRANK-LOTHAR HOSSFELD (University of Bonn) and Erich Zenger (University
of Münster) have teamed up to develop a literarily
sensitive and technically sophisticated commentary on the middle portion of the
Psalter. Their work originally appeared in German (2000) in the Herders
theologischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament (HTKAT) series. Now it appears in
English under the aegis of Hermeneia. The next volume will be on Pss 101-150
and thereafter Pss 1-50. The order is deliberate: it is only in the last volume
that the authors will proffer a detailed analysis of the entire Psalter's
formation in their introduction. So the last shall be first. In the meantime,
the reader must hit the ground running with an all too brief introduction that
focuses exclusively on the Psalter's redactional development. The introduction
to this volume is not for the neophyte.
To summarize, Hossfeld and Zenger identify various
groupings of psalms (shaped by certain "compositional arcs") and
their order of codification. They identify Pss 52-68 as the "oldest
collection," which came to be expanded into a "Davidic Psalter"
consisting of Pss 51-72 through the work of the "Asaphite theologians,"
who also created Pss 50, 73-83. But before this collection was finalized, the
Korah cluster (Pss 42-49) was added, together forming the so-called
"Elohist Psalter" (Pss 42-83). This "partial Psalter," the
authors contend, is not the result of a "reticence toward the misuse and
utterance of the Tetragrammaton"—a much later development—but the product
of "theological thought that emphasizes God's distance and
transcendence" (p. 5). The resulting collection subsequently grew into the
"Messianic Psalter" (Pss 2-89), divided into three "books."
Finally, Pss 90-92 were added, serving as transition to the final collection,
namely, Pss 93-100, the "YHWH is king" psalms. And so (voila!) we
have our fully redacted collection for this volume. How the authors actually
know the precise ingredients and their order vis-à-vis the final product
remains an open question, but as a heuristic model it is useful.
As with most
Hermeneia volumes, much space is devoted to copious translation notes,
including text-critical notations. The authors skillfully navigate the various
scholarly positions on a given psalm (complete with extensive quotations),
attending to matters of genre and poetic form as well as theological
significance. Exposition follows. New to this volume is the sustained attention
given to "context, reception, and significance" for each psalm.
"Context" refers to a psalm's relationship to neighboring psalms;
"reception" discusses how the psalm was appropriated in later textual
traditions, from Targum and Septuagint to the NT. "Significance"
refers primarily to the psalm's theological contribution to biblical faith.
Some psalms are also given iconographical treatment.
For Ps 76, the authors present several ancient drawings of lion and solar
imagery, particularly of Egyptian and Mesopota-mian provenance, which supports
their argument that God is profiled as a "fighting lion" and
sun-deity (pp. 265-69). The authors' generous use of iconographical material,
drawn in part from the work of Othmar Keel, highlights the rich stock of
mythical tropes that many an Israelite psalmist adopted for liturgical usage.
A description of the authors' treatment of a
particular psalm is revealing. Psalm 82 has been the darling of countless
exegetes, and for good reason. It is, in the words of Zenger, "one of the
most spectacular texts of the Old Testament" (p. 337). And this opinion is
shared not only by a few erudite Psalms scholars. John Dominic Crossan refers
to Ps 82 as "the single most important text in the entire Christian Bible"
(The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years after the
Execution of Jesus, HarperSanFrancisco, 1998,575).
But Ps 82 is also one of the most controversial, if
not ambiguous, of biblical psalms. It reports a particularly dramatic scene
"in the assembly of the gods" in which God judges and sentences to
death all the "sons of the Most High" for failing to establish
justice for the marginalized. But does the psalm actually engage the gods from
on high, or does it speak metaphorically of corrupt judges on earth? Zenger
first discerns three discrete ideas in Canaanite myth that the psalm retrieves
"to shape an original Israelite poesy": 1) "the Canaanite
pattern of the hierarchical assembly... with a 'god-president' at its head";
2) the distribution of territories to individual deities; and 3) the rise of a
particular deity to the pantheon's summit (p. 329). The use of the felicitous
designation "god-president" may be more than just a scholarly
designation for the rank of high god in the assembly, because, at least in
modern American discourse, it just as easily refers to a human individual
within the political realm. (I'll let readers fill in the blank.) And therein
lies the crux: does the psalm operate primarily within the heavenly or in the
"world-political" realm?
Only after Zenger discerns the various roles
Israel's God assumes within the psalm (i.e., as accuser, judge, and governor)
does he wade into the debate with characteristic judiciousness. He presents the
case for each position and identifies a third position, namely, that to choose
between the two assumes a "false dichotomy" (p. 330). The psalm, he
concludes, operates on both levels. It announces the "death of all the
gods—except for the God of Israel— and the disempowerment of the systems of
dominance that rely on these gods" in the earthly realm (p. 334). Psalm 82
thus presents a "powerful social critique" (p. 331).
Zenger presents a careful analysis
of the literary contours of the text that unites v. 1 (an
"exposition" cast in "reporting style") with v. 5, which he
interprets as a communal lament corresponding to the concluding petition in v.
8. The rest is divine discourse (w. 2-4,6-7).
Central to the psalm is what
Zenger calls the "radicalizing of the ancient Near Eastern 'ethics for the
poor'" in w. 3-4: the psalm calls for a "comprehensive alteration in
social and political conditions" in behalf of the marginalized, which
includes not only widows and orphans but also the "mass of small farmers,
artisans, and day laborers" (pp. 333-34). Dramatically, Israel's God does
not simply ascend to top rank among the gods; YHWH dissolves the whole divine
assembly (p. 336).
Regarding the psalm's preceding
context, Zenger finds an integration of the "theology of the poor" in
previous psalms, particularly in the Asaphite collection. Moreover, Ps 82
"offers a visionary glimpse of the fulfillment of Ps 81" (p. 336).
Looking forward, Ps 82 is transitional for the following psalm, the climax of
the Asaph composition. In terms of reception history, Zenger makes the
suggestive claim that the Septuagint resets the psalm on Olympus. He notes the
quotation of 82:6a in John 10:34-35, which allows him to explore briefly the
hermeneutical appropriation of OT texts in the New. The psalm's significance,
in conclusion, lies in its "definition" of the true God as one
"whose divinity [is tied] to the fate of the poor and dispossessed"
(p. 337), much in tune with the portrayal of God in Exodus.
The discussion of Ps 82 is illustrative of the
scholarly rigor and passionate convictions that characterize the authors'
discussion. We will no doubt hear more about the Psalter's "theology for
the poor" and creational emphases in the subsequent volumes.
And now for some quibbles. The authors' translations
of the Hebrew are frequently cumbersome, indicating exegetical indecision and
inconsistency. Alternative translations for a particular Hebrew word are
featured in the translation itself: e.g., "indeed/for,"
"scattered/ scatters," "rejected/rejects" all in Ps 53:6, "indeed/certainly"
in 62:2, "blind/arrogant" in 73:3, and "steadfast
love/mercy" in 59:11. The enigmatic term Mahalath is left
untranslated in Ps 53:1 but is translated in 88:1 ("Sickness").
Misprints and editorial sloppiness also hamper the presentation: several of the
exegetical notations for Ps 56 do not match the translation (due to a missed
footnote in v. 5; see also 72:17). The "ancient persons" of Ps 78 are
actually "ancient versions" (p. 285). Although the notations are
full, certain words in the translation require notation but are curiously left
unaddressed (e.g., 73:3a; 79:5b; 90:10c). Finally, scarce mention is made to
Qumranic versions of the Psalms in the text-critical discussion.
To an extent, such mistakes and
inconsistencies are expected for such a substantive and detailed volume. Still,
they are annoying. In comparison to the commentary's masterful exposition of
these psalms, they are mere blemishes. The next volume is eagerly awaited.
William P. Brown
COLUMBIA
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
DECATUR,
GEORGIA
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