Psalms as Christian Worship: An Historical Commentary

by Bruce K. Waltke, James M. Houston

Overview

This commentary uniquely combines a verse-by-verse exposition of the Hebrew text of selected Psalms with a history of their interpretation in the Church from the time of the apostles to the present. / Bruce K. Waltke begins the collaboration by first skillfully establishing the meaning of the chosen psalms through careful exegesis in which each text is interpreted in light of its historical backgrounds, its literary form, and the poet's rhetoric. James M. Houston then exposits each text's relevance in conjunction with the Church's interpretation of it throughout her history. To further the accuracy of this interpretation, he commissioned fresh translations of numerous Latin and Middle English texts. / The authors' purpose in creating this volume was not merely to produce a masterful commentary. Rather, they wished to aid in enriching the daily life of the contemporary Christian and to deepen the church's community. Waltke and Houston here bring together the two voices of the Holy Spirit -- heard infallibly in Scripture and edifyingly in the Church's response -- in a rare and illuminating combination.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802863744
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	08/01/2010
Pages:	640
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Bruce K. Waltke is professor emeritus of biblical studies at Regent College, Vancouver, and distinguished professor emeritus of Old Testament at Knox Theological Seminary, Fort Lauderdale. He was a translator of the New American Standard Version of the Bible and is also a member of the committee responsible for the New International Version.

James M. Houston is founding principal and former chancellor of Regent College and was the college's first professor of spiritual theology.

Read an Excerpt

The Psalms as Christian Worship

A Historical Commentary

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By Bruce K. Waltke James M. Houston Erika Moore

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Copyright © 2010 Bruce K. Waltke and James M. Houston
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-6374-4

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Chapter One

Survey of Second Temple Period Interpretation of the Psalms

I. Diversity in Judaism and the Psalter

The era commonly referred to as the "Second Temple" period dates from 516 BCE (the completion and dedication of the Second Temple) to 70 CE (the destruction of that temple by the Romans). The return to a demolished Judah after spending nearly seventy years in exile in Babylon, the reduction from an independent nation to a small province in the backwaters of the Persian empire, the building and dedication of the Second Temple, the continuing existence and growth of the Jewish Diaspora, the conquests of Alexander the Great and the encounter with Hellenism, the Maccabean revolt, the restored Jewish state, and the Roman conquest of Palestine all influenced the way in which the postexilic community understood itself and how the various groups in that community interpreted and appropriated the Scriptures and the Psalms in particular.

In order to understand the various interpretive approaches to the Psalms, the diversity of this period must be appreciated in three main areas. First, according to some estimates, approximately 50,000 Jews returned to Judah after Cyrus's decree in 538 BCE (Ezra 2:64-65), joining those who had been left behind after the Babylonian deportation in 586 BCE (2 Kings 25:1-12). Second, many exilic Jews had followed Jeremiah's instructions to "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters.... Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile" (Jer. 29:5-7, TNIV). For these folks and their children, Babylon had become "home," and so they remained in Babylon in spite of Isaiah's command: "Leave Babylon" (Isa. 48:20). Third, a number of Jews responded to the Babylonian threat by settling in Egypt (2 Kings 25:26; Jer. 41:16–43:7). This recognition of geographical pockets of Judaism is to be distinguished from a simplistic designation of "Palestinian Judaism" and "Hellenistic Judaism."

Despite the various geographic locations, the prevailing mood of the Jews during the Second Temple era can be distilled into a general set of tendencies. First, there was a crisis of faith. The Babylonian exile itself had led to an earlier crisis of faith regarding the trustworthiness and omnipotence of I AM. The promises of an eternal Davidic kingdom (2 Sam. 7:7-16; Ps. 89:3-4, 35-37; 132:1112) and I AM's vow to set up his abode forever in the temple at Jerusalem (Ps. 68:16; 132:13-14) seemed to fail. During the Babylonian crisis the Davidic promise was already under a cloud: Jehoiachin, the rightful heir of the line of David, had been taken into captivity to Babylon, and in his place Nebuchadnezzar set the puppet king Zedekiah. In addition, the land of Canaan had played a significant role in shaping the Israelites' understanding of themselves as I AM's chosen people (Gen. 12:1-3; Deut. 4:37-38; 7:1-11). Because true worship of God was so closely aligned with the Israelites' inheritance of the land (Deuteronomy 12), to be outside of the land immediately raised grave concerns about their status before God (1 Sam. 26:19) and led to a questioning of whether or not true worship was even possible (Ps. 137:4). I AM's power and/or character became suspect in the minds of many. To meet this crisis I AM made himself known by amazing prophecies (Isa. 41:22-29; and the recognition formula, "you will know that I am I AM" in Ezek. 5:13; 6:7, c. fifty times). The frustrated expectations of the restoration community — no restored monarchy, continuing threats from neighbors, economic hardships — led many in Palestine and the Diaspora to find ways to reconcile their present circumstances with the glorious future portrayed by various prophetic voices (Amos 9:11-15; Isa. 40–48; Obad. 17–21; Jer. 30–33; Ezek. 36:24-32; 37:15-28). Second Temple Judaism adopted an array of strategies to reconcile their present reality with Biblical expectation. One such strategy was renewed study of and reflection on the sacred texts. Hence, during this period there was considerable literary activity involving theological reflection on the Scriptures. Many remained faithful in the face of the non-fulfillment of the Messianic promises, rereading and adapting the Psalms to speak into their situation. This renewed interest in the Scriptures resulted, at least in part, in an eschatological reinterpretation of the Davidic promises and the prophetic passages found in the Psalter (see pp. 105-7). Second, persecution, resulting from Alexander the Great's policy of the rapid spread of Hellenistic culture and from the Roman occupation, caused many others to apostatize. Third, the Psalms were appropriated to address the theological concerns of the restoration community, in particular their relationship to God's covenant promises to their ancestors.

The complexity of the period was matched by the rich diversity of the Psalter itself. This diversity allowed for, even demanded, an equally diverse approach to its function in the community of believers. The Psalter was appropriated by the different communities as well as by individuals in the communities for various purposes, including liturgical, didactic, pietistic, and eschatological.

II. The Composition and Shape of the Psalter

Before we seek to evaluate how the Second Temple community (re)interpreted and appropriated the Psalms, we first must ask, "What was the shape of the Psalter at this time?" Is there evidence that the Psalter underwent compositional changes and editorial adjustments during the Second Temple period? The question as to when the Psalter, which is obviously made up of several smaller, earlier collections, assumed its canonical form cannot be answered precisely, but certain parameters can be identified. The prologue to Ben Sirach (c. 180 BCE) refers to a tripartite canon. Customarily, the Psalms were placed first in the third part of the canon, the Writings (Hebrew, K^etûbîm). Thus, the title "Psalter" as a metonymy for the third part of the Jewish canon, was an accepted conventional title (see also Luke 24:44). This conventional title appears in a Greek translation, allowing us to assume that the tripartite canon had existed in Hebrew for some time. Additionally, the Septuagint translation (LXX) reflects a form of the Psalter virtually identical to ours. Although it is notoriously difficult to date this translation, recent attempts all place it mid-first century BCE or earlier.

Most scholars believe that some of the smaller collections of psalms now included in the canonical Psalter were organized during the pre-exilic and exilic periods. During the earlier part of the Second Temple era more psalms were composed and organized into collections, and the pre-exilic and exilic psalms collections were brought together with them to form the bulk of the Psalter as we now have it.

Many scholars have claimed to find evidence of editorial hands in the contents of individual psalms that have left us with clues about interpretation of the psalms in the Second Temple period. Unfortunately, nearly all of these claims are either no longer tenable or in dispute. Candidates for this alleged editorial activity include the addition and/or expansion of psalm superscriptions, the addition of concluding doxologies (Ps. 41:13; 72:19-20; 89:52; 106:48), and the addition of an initial and/or concluding "Praise the Lord" to some psalms (103–106, 111–113, 115–117, 135, 146–150). It is now widely believed that the "Praise the Lord" phrases and the doxologies were part of the original compositions to which they are now attached. While it is generally recognized that the Targums (Aramaic translations) and the LXX added historical and authorship notes to psalms that lacked them in the Masoretic Text, evidence that similar superscriptions were added to the MT Psalter by later hands is questionable. That some superscriptions were not part of the original composition of the psalms is suggested by cases such as that of Psalm 69. The authorship title attributes the psalm to David, and yet verses 34-36 may suggest a post-exilic setting. According to Childs, the historical superscriptions found in Psalms 3, 7, 18, 34, 51–52, 54, 56–57, and 59–60 were added by editors to associate the contents of the psalm with an event in the story of David to serve as a model for individual response to the crises of life. Jonker argues that the psalm superscriptions, especially those of Books II and III, were added as part of Levitical propaganda in the Second Temple period. Wilson further suggests that the placement of Psalm 1 at the beginning of the Psalter is meant to provide hermeneutical reorientation for the rest of the Psalter. This Psalm leads the reader to treat the rest of the Psalter as material for individual study and edification. The historical superscriptions assist in this reorientation.

Many scholars also believe that the editors of the Psalter succeeded in building out of pre-existing psalms and psalm collections a book with a distinct overall message. In addition, there exists a growing consensus among several leading scholars that there is a sequential "theological intentionality" in the Psalter's current shape, although they disagree about where the center of this intentional ordering lies (i.e., Brueggemann, Psalm 73; Wilson, Book 4 [Psalms 90–106]). According to Gerald Wilson, there is a historical movement reflected in the arrangement of the Psalter: Books IV and V are a response to Psalm 89,17 a psalm in which the issues of the failed Davidic monarchy and the crisis of the Babylonian exile are addressed. Accordingly, the answer provided to the exilic crisis by Books IV and V is a redirection from reliance on an earthly monarchy to an appreciation of God's eternal kingship.

III. Common Features of Second Temple Interpretation of the Psalms

In the remainder of this chapter we will seek to identify common features of Second Temple Judaism's interpretive approaches to the Psalter, bearing in mind that what is described may not apply without exception to all the Jewish communities of this period. First, both the Biblical texts (Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles) and non-canonical materials from this period point to a renewed emphasis on the Torah among the Jewish people. One of the major religious concerns of the Second Temple period was seeking how the Torah applied to the contemporary situation. As is noted elsewhere in this chapter, there was a tendency to view the Psalter as a sourcebook for models of proper response to the Torah, for personal study and reflection — in short, as a supplement to Torah, another word from God. Second, the faithful in this period of crisis used the psalms as resources for personal and corporate worship. Finally, there were gradual shifts in emphasis and understanding of the Davidic promises and prophetic counterparts as these Scriptures were now understood in Messianic terms to be speaking toward a future restoration of the Davidic monarchy (i.e., Psalms 2 and 72). In addition, without a monarchy, the royal psalms were democratized. For example, Psalm 101 was no longer interpreted as referring exclusively to royalty and could now be appropriated by any head of family.

A. Davidic Authorship of the Psalms

The traditional association between David and the Psalter was expanded during the Second Temple period. For example, the number of superscriptions that bear David's name increased from 73 in the Hebrew Psalter to 85 in the LXX. Superscriptions describing the historical circumstances of a Psalm's composition were expanded or in some cases added where there was none in the MT. According to the Qumran Psalms Scroll (11QPs), David wrote 3,600 psalms. From the Qumran remains also comes an indication that references to "David" could indicate an authoritative corpus of Scripture in similar fashion to the well-attested practice of citing "Moses" when referring to the Torah.

B. Liturgical and Cultic

1. Hymnbook of the Second Temple

The Psalms have been referred to as the "hymnbook of the Second Temple." That is, the Psalter functioned as the cultic hymnbook of this period, not that it was compiled during this period for this reason. According to Mowinckel, this does not necessarily mean that every psalm served a hymnic function in Second Temple Judaism. Rather, "there came a time when every psalm used in the temple service had to be from the Psalter. The Psalter attained such canonical authority and 'monopoly' that when a new festival was instituted and there was need of a special psalm for the festal offering, a new psalm would no longer be composed, but one of the psalms of the Psalter was chosen and interpreted in a way which would fit in with the festival." For example, in 165 BCE, following the Jewish victory over Antiochus IV, when Judas Maccabeus and his brothers instituted the Hanukkah festival to celebrate the rededication of the temple, no new psalm was composed for the occasion. Rather, Psalm 30, a psalm originally concerned with an individual, was used and reinterpreted (1 Macc. 4:25).

2. Jewish Festivals and the Psalms

The Psalms played a vital role in the religious life of the Second Temple Israelite community because the Psalter offered a rich liturgical deposit for Second Temple Judaism to speak to the contemporary crisis of faith and to depict a coming period of restoration. Various socio-liturgical settings for how the Psalms were used in this period can be identified. For example, there were various guilds of Levitical temple singers (i.e., Asaphites, Korahites) who used the Psalter in their liturgical practices in the temple service, for both festal days and daily sacrifices (1 Chron. 16; Sir. 50:16-17; 1 Macc. 4:54). These Levitical singers served, among other roles, a prophetic function. Their sacred music functioned prophetically, either offering salvation or threatening punishment. In the temple they dialogued with I AM on behalf of the community. According to Tournay, in this period the psalms were sung, along with other sacred music, and they were given pride of place among liturgical celebrations, feasts, and pilgrimages in Jerusalem. He notes, "during the rule of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans, the singing of the psalms and sacred music had a privileged place among all the liturgical celebrations, sacrifices." The Chronicler quotes three excerpts from the psalms (1 Chron. 16; Ps. 105:1-15; 96:1-13; 106:1, 47-49). Also, in 2 Chronicles 6:41-42, Psalm 132:8-10 is quoted.

The liturgical appropriation of the psalms was not limited to the temple in Jerusalem. For example, the liturgical occasions listed in the 11QPsalms scroll poem found at Qumran match the occasions of all-Israel sacrifices in Numbers 28–29.

C. The Psalms in Prayer

The psalms were also used to shape the private worship and prayer of pious Jews. A confessional prayer found in a fragmentary manuscript from Qumran Cave 4 expands on Moses' prayer recorded in Deuteronomy 9:26-29, incorporating language from Psalm 51 and Nehemiah 9. In acknowledging the community's guilt in light of God's righteous judgment, echoes of Psalm 51 may be heard: "and what is evil [in your eyes I have done], so that you are just in your sentence, you are pu[re ... when] you [judge]. Behold, in our sins w[e] were founded [we] were [br]ought forth in imp[urity of ...] and in [st]iffness of neck" (4Q393 1-2.ii.2-4). The penitential prayer attributed to David in the superscription of Psalm 51 is here adapted for communal confession.

D. The Messianic and Eschatological Use of the Psalms

Alongside the liturgical use of the Psalter there was a gradual appropriation of the Psalms toward a future orientation. The deaths of the post-exilic prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) signaled the end of the prophetic voice in Israel. The Levitical singers compensated for this prophetic silence in the Second Temple period by bringing an eschatologically oriented message of hope and consolation to the post-exilic community (1 Chron. 15:22ff.; 25:1ff.; 2 Chron. 20:19). In particular, there was an increasingly eschatological appropriation of the explicitly royal psalms, interpreted as pointing to the judgment and vindication ushered in by the Day of I AM. Theological focus shifted from the historical Davidic monarchy to an indefinite future where the Davidic promises were expected to be fulfilled in the Messianic rulership.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Psalms as Christian Worship by Bruce K. Waltke James M. Houston Erika Moore Copyright © 2010 by Bruce K. Waltke and James M. Houston. Excerpted by permission of William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents

Contents

I. Commentary's History....................1
II. Commentary's Objective: An Apologia....................2
III. Commentary's Scholarly Context....................11
IV. Commentary's Arrangement....................15
1. Survey of Second Temple Period Interpretation of the Psalms....................19
2. Historical Introduction to the Interpretation of the Psalms in Church Orthodoxy....................37
3. History of Interpretation Since the Reformation: "Accredited Exegesis"....................80
4. Psalm 1: The Rewarded Life....................115
5. Psalm 2: Ask of Me, My Son....................145
6. Psalm 3: Living in the Borderland: Morning Prayer After a Dark Night....................182
7. Psalm 4: An Evening Prayer in Crisis....................210
8. Psalm 8: I AM Rules Through "Infants"....................244
9. Psalm 15: A Liturgical Decalogue....................276
10. Psalm 16: My Body Will Not Decay....................307
11. Psalm 19: A Royal Sage Praises and Petitions I AM....................340
12. Psalm 22: Prophetic Psalm of Christ's Passion....................376
13. Psalm 23: The Good Shepherd....................416
14. Psalm 51: "The Psalm of All Psalms" in Penitential Devotion....................446
15. Psalm 110: "Sit at My Right Hand"....................484
16. Psalm 139: Search Me, God....................519
Glossary....................573
Index of Authors....................583
Index of Subjects....................589
Index of Scripture References....................605