76 Th. Booij ‘to / for the Strong One of Jacob’, vv. 2.5; ˚lAaskl, ‘on the throne for you’, vv. 11b.12b; bvy, ‘sit, reside’, with d[Ayd[, ‘forever’, vv. 12b.14) (3). II Several of the local references in Psalm 132 need explanation. Apart from Ps 132,6, Jaar (r[y, ‘Forest’), or possibly Sedé-Jaar (r[yAydc, ‘Fields of the Forest’), is not found as a place-name. It is understood, generally, as a designation of Kiriath-Jearim, the place where the ark was after its return from the land of the Philistines (1 Sam 7,1) (4). This explanation is plausible, as it is supported by v. 8 and suits the overall meaning of the psalm. In v. 7 YHWH ’s twnkvm, ‘dwelling place’, is mentioned. Since twnkvm, as a plural, suggests greatness (5), the housing of the ark in Kiriath-Jearim can hardly be meant (6). The same may apply to the tent pitched for the ark by David (2 Sam 6,17; 1 Kgs 8,1) (7); and anyhow, as a provisional dwelling this tent is unlikely to be named YHWH’s hjwnm, ‘resting place’ (v. 8). It has been argued that in vv. 7 and 8 the reference is to different places, ‘dwelling place’ (v. 7) referring to the tent in the city of David, ‘resting place’ (v. 8) to the temple (cf. 1 Chr 28,2: hjwnm tyb) (8). This view, however, complicates the reading of the text, as it implies an act of entering between the call of v. 7 and that of v. 8. The most natural assumption is apparently that in v. 7, as in v. 5, twnkvm refers to the ‘place’ (μwqm) that David pledged to find. Verse 7b has the phrase wylgr μdh, ‘footstool’. In 1 Chr 28,2 ‘footstool’ seems to be a designation of the ark. As such, it is not illogical, because the cherubim are YHWH’s throne: the ark beneath it could be considered his footstool. However, when in Psalm 132 the ‘footstool’ is mentioned, the ark is clearly outside the sanctuary. In addition, it has a different function here, (3) Cf. P. VAN DER LUGT, Strofische structuren in de Bijbels-Hebreeuwse poëzie. De geschiedenis van het onderzoek en een bijdrage tot de theorievorming omtrent de strofenbouw van de Psalmen (Kampen 1980) 420-422; J.P. FOKKELMAN, Major Poems of the Hebrew Bible. At the Interface of Prosody and Structural Analysis (Assen 1998-2004) III, 298-299. (4) Kiriath-Baal and Baalah are also, according to Josh 15,9.60; 18,14, names for Kiriath-Jearim. For a survey of opinions on htrpa and r[yAydc see A. ROBINSON, “Do Ephrathah and Jaar Really Appear in Psalm 1326?”, ZAW 86 (1974) 220-221. (5) See W. GESENIUS – E. KAUTZSCH, Hebräische Grammatik (Leipzig 281909) § 124a.b.e. (6) Contra R. KITTEL, Die Psalmen. Übersetzt und erklärt (KAT XIII; Leipzig – Erlangen 3.41922) 405 (translating v. 7 in past tense, p. 404). O. EISSFELDT, “Psalm 132”, WdO 2 (1954-1959) 481-482, reads vv. 6-9 as a quotation from an older poem. In view of the correspondence between vv. 8-10 and vv. 13-18, however, the sayings of vv. 8-10 must be on the same temporal level. Eissfeldt’s interpretation takes no account of this. (7) The view that twnkvm refers to this tent is found in DELITZSCH, Psalmen, 812 (cf. p. 809); T.E. FRETHEIM, “Psalm 132: a Form-Critical Study”, JBL 86 (1967) 294-295; A. LAATO, “Psalm 132 and the Development of the Jerusalemite/Israelite Royal Ideology”, CBQ 54 (1992) 65-66. (8) This opinion is held in two variants. Delitzsch and Laato think that in the situation from which the psalm was born the tent still existed. In Fretheim’s opninion it existed imaginarily, “just as the ark is understood to be in Kiriath-jearim, in the actualization of the cult” (n. 40 on p. 297).