A.L.H.M. van Wieringen, «Psalm 65 as Non-Appropriation Theology», Vol. 95 (2014) 179-197
The biblical perspective that a receiver of God's promises is not allowed to claim these promises is called non-appropriation theology. Psalm 65 can be read as an example of this non-appropriation theology. The 'I'- character does not claim the fertile Land but can only speak about the abundance of the harvest of their wheat (v. 10). The heading of Psalm 65, identifying the 'I'-character as David, preserves the non-appropriation theology. This non-appropriation theology is retained in the receptionhistory of Psalm 65, as can be found in the Septuagint and the liturgical use of Psalm 65 in the funeral Mass.
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V. The “I”-character acts as the “David” in the heading
of Psalm 65
Now that the “I”-character has received the features of David
due to the heading of the Psalm, a new window onto the mechanism
of non-appropriation opens up. The semantic parallels between
Psalm 65 and the David narrations in the books of Samuel make it
clear that self-appropriation is not the road David is allowed to
travel. When he appropriates to himself the wife of someone else,
this is regarded as a sin. His confession, however, leads to forgive-
ness. When he plans to build a house for the Lord, appropriating,
as it were, the Lord’s temple, God makes it clear that not David but
God himself will build a house and that David is not allowed to
self-appropriate the task of building the temple.
The semantic parallels between Psalm 65 and David are even
stronger. According to the theology of the Ketuvim, David becomes
the ideal king. In this capacity, he receives the features of a second
Moses: just as Moses sees the Promised Land but does not enter
into it, so David announces the building of the temple but does not
build the house of God himself.
A comparison between the descriptions of the commencement
of the construction of the temple in 1 Kgs 6,1 and in 2 Chr 3,1-2
makes this new vision clear. In 1 Kgs 6,1, the date of the start of
the construction of the temple is connected to the exodus from
Egypt. In this way, the plot which starts in the book of Exodus
reaches its completion. 2 Chr 3,1-2 instead contains a connection
to David by using the proper name David, even twice: the location
of the house of God is the location where the Lord appeared to
David; the location of the house of God is the location which has
been designated by David himself; however, David himself is not
the one who builds the house of God 22.
David plays the part of a second Moses here, parallel to the part
of the “I”-character in Psalm 65. Just as the “I”-character in Psalm
65 can neither appropriate being chosen nor appropriate the Prom-
22 Cf. R.K. DUKE, The Persuasive Appeal of the Chronicler. A Rhetorical
Analysis (JSOT.S 88; Sheffield 1990) 63; for the location of the temple in
Chronicles, see also S.J. SCHWEITZER, “The Temple in Samuel-Kings and
Chronicles”, Rewriting the Biblical History (eds. J. CORLEY – H. VAN GROL)
(Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies 7; Berlin 2011) 133-134.