Thijs Booij, «Psalm 118 and Form Criticism», Vol. 96 (2015) 351-374
Psalm 118 was recited in the time of Nehemiah. The speaker in the first person singular passages is Israel's representative. The psalm, a communal song of thankfulness, belongs to a group of texts related to Succoth (Psalms 65; 66; 67; 98; 107; 124; 129; Isaiah 12; 25,1-5). These texts, dating from the later post-exilic period, do not constitute a welldelineated literary genre. Psalm 118 and Isaiah 12; 25,1-5, however, constitute a special category. Psalm 118,24 refers to Succoth as the time when YHWH judges the world and decides on the nation's well-being (v. 25) for the year to come.
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361 PSALM 118 AND FORM CRITICISM 361
IV. The Speaker and the Community
Several elements in Psalm 118 — the call to groups of
worshippers in vv. 2-4, the plurals in vv. 24.26.27, the prayer in
v. 25 — seem to characterize the text as a collective song. It may
also be noted that in other texts the refrain of vv. 1-4 occurs in
connection with matters concerning the people 44. To a great extent,
however, the psalm is composed in the first person singular.
Moreover, since passages in the singular are at the centre of the
text, they appear to represent an important aspect of the festival.
Who then is the speaker in these passages? And what are they
about? Opinions are greatly divided. Gunkel thinks the speaker is
a common Israelite delivered from distress 45. Others take him to
be a commander or a king celebrating a victory 46. Eaton imagines
he is the king telling of his peril, humiliation, rescue and
reinstatement as shown in a preceding ritual 47. The mood in Psalm
118 and some of its phraseology 48 recall the memoirs of Nehemiah.
Could the speaker be Nehemiah himself? Some authors take the
view that the first person singular does not at all refer to an
individual here, but to the people praising YHWH for his help 49.
44
See Psalms 100,5; 106,1; 107,1; 136; Ezra 3,11; 2 Chr 5,13; 7,3.6; 20,21.
45
H. GUNKEL, Die Psalmen (HK II/2; Göttingen 1926) 505, 509; also e.g.
H.J. KRAUS, Psalmen (BKAT XV; Neukirchen – Vluyn 61989) 979.
CRÜSEMANN, Formgeschichte, 217-219, discussing the individual songs of
thanksgiving, takes Psalm 118 as a starting point. In HOSSFELD – ZENGER,
Psalmen 101–150, 316, the salvation of the speaker is considered to be “die
individuelle und kollektive Aktualisierung der universalen Rettungsgeschichte”.
46
Thus E. KÖNIG, Die Psalmen (Gütersloh 1927) 444-445; DAHOOD,
Psalms III, 155; J.H. EATON, Kingship and the Psalms (London 1976) 61-62;
ALLEN, Psalms 101–150, 165.
47
EATON, Psalms, 404, 405.
48
ynwbbs ~ywg-lk (v. 10) recalls wnytbybs rva ~ywgh-lk in Neh 6,16a;
htyh hwhy tam (v. 23) recalls htf[n wnyhla tam in Neh 6,16b. The words
an hxylch of v. 25 are found in Neh 1,11.
49
Thus e.g. F. DELITZSCH, Biblischer Commentar über die Psalmen
(Leipzig 41883) 751; E.J. KISSANE, The Book of Psalms. Translated from a
critically revised Hebrew text. With a commentary (Dublin 1953-1954) II,
216; S. MOWINCKEL, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship (Oxford 1962) I, 38; J.
SCHRÖTEN, Entstehung, Komposition und Wirkungsgeschichte des 118.
Psalms (Weinheim 1995) 30-31, 75-76 (with valuable remarks regarding the
use of exegetical methods; see also 36, 42).
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