Philip Sumpter, «The Coherence of Psalms 15–24», Vol. 94 (2013) 186-209
This article develops recent arguments that Psalms 15–24 constitute a relatively self-contained sub-collection that is chiastically arranged. It seeks to uncover the logic underlying the arrangement by attending to three points: 1) the manner in which the content of each psalm is 'expanded' and 'brought forward' in its chiastic parallel; 2) the nature of the relation between the framing psalms (15; 19; 24) and those that intervene; 3) the significance of David and Zion. In short, it argues that the editors were concerned to situate David within his true theological context.
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THE COHERENCE OF PSALMS 15–24
Although Brunner-Traut is primarily concerned with Egypt, she
does mention the juxtaposition of the two creation narratives in
Genesis 1 and 2 as an example of aspectival perception.19 On her
reading, the function of this juxtaposition would be to illuminate a
single subject matter—in this case creation—by allowing the in-
terplay of various images to make it more “tangible and multidi-
mensional†(“faßbarer und runderâ€) 20.
All statements in parallel (nebeneinander) produce a unity (ein
Einziges). They are bound by their knowledge of their common sub-
ject matter (das Wissen von dem gemeinsamen Einen), yet they can-
not be unified by being correlated according to the rules that apply
to a detached observer, one situated within a camera obscura 21.
Interestingly, Brunner-Traut believes that the same principle of as-
pective perception is at work in the poetic device of parallelismus
membrorum, whereby a series of individual statements are brought
into juxtaposition in order to illuminate a single thought 22. This is
corroborated by Adele Berlin’s metaphor of “binocular vision†to de-
scribe the semantic function of poetic parallelism. As she puts it, “Like
human vision (parallelism) superimposes two slightly different views
of the same object and from their convergence produces a sense of
depth†23. If we take into account the recent work by, e.g., Jan Peter
Fokkelman and Beat Weber, who argue that semantic parallelism can
be found at all levels of the prosodic hierarchy (verses, strophes, stan-
zas, sections) 24, as well as Matthias Millard’s argument that in the
final form of the Psalter entire psalms have been juxtaposed according
BRUNNER-TRAUT, Frühformen des Erkennens, 124: “The two Genesis
19
reports are only offensive to those who seek a single point de vue†(translation
mine).
BRUNNER-TRAUT, Frühformen des Erkennens, 124: “Viele Bilder
20
umkreisen das Numen, so daß es faßbarer und runder werdeâ€.
BRUNNER-TRAUT, Frühformen des Erkennens, 124 (translation mine).
21
Klement notes that such “an aspectival view can show greater congruity with
actuality, because in this way objects and people are depicted in a way which
is more in accordance with their being than would be possible with a mere
spatial portrayal of their visible surface†(KLEMENT, II Samuel, 91).
BRUNNER-TRAUT, Frühformen des Erkennens, 153.
22
A. BERLIN, The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism (Bloomington, IN 1985).
23
See, e.g., J.P. FOKKELMAN, Major Poems of the Hebrew Bible. At the In-
24
terface of Prosody and Structural Analysis. Vol. 3 (SSN 43; Assen 2003); B.
WEBER, Werkbuch Psalmen I. Die Psalmen 1–72 (Stuttgart 2001) 99.
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