02_Booij_351_351_374 30/10/15 13:01 Pagina 363 363 PSALM 118 AND FORM CRITICISM 363 community 54. This usage is also found in the psalms; there, in liturgical texts, the reference may historically be indirect, as statements in the singular may have been spoken by a liturgical official representing the people. At this point, it is important to note that in Psalm 118 the first person singular passages recall the Song of the Sea in a few places. In v. 14 the text of the psalm agrees verbally, and in v. 21b almost verbally, with Exod 15,2a; v. 28 is reminiscent of Exod 15,2b. The words “my father’s God” 55 in Exod 15,2 strongly suggest the speaker in vv. 1-2 to be an individual. The words “strength”, “might” and “salvation” in v. 2, however, clearly relate to actions as mentioned in vv. 4-17. Therefore, when this speaker says that YHWH has become his salvation, he speaks not only for himself but also for all those belonging to Israel 56. Given the relationship between Psalm 118 and the Song of the Sea, it may be supposed that in the psalm, as in the Song, the speaker of the first person singular passages is the people’s representative. A reading based on this supposition is supported by vv. 15-16. In other texts, the phrase lyx h$#(, “do valiantly”, bears upon matters beyond the private sphere 57. Therefore the right hand “doing valiantly” is more appropriate as a portrayal of help to Israel than of help granted to an individual. Verses 10-12, as noted earlier, suit the community at the time when, led by Nehemiah, it “warded off” the surrounding “nations”. Verses 17-18 speak of chastisement and salvation. Their meaning must be that the sins of the people caused great misery and the threat of complete ruin (“death”: cf. Ezek 18,31), which now, however, has been overcome by the help of YHWH. The narration in Psalm 118 is based, apparently, on the notion that the completed repair of Jerusalem’s wall marked the end of the oppression and affliction under which the people had suffered since 54 See Jer 10,19-20; 31,18-19. The singular is alternated with forms of the plural in Num 20,14-21; 21,2-3; Josh 17,14-18; Judg 11,17-27. In Josh 9,7 it seems to be occasioned by ywxh, usually singular, in 1 Sam 30,22 by lk as “every”. Cf. e.g. H.W. ROBINSON, “The Hebrew Conception of Corporate Per- sonality”, Werden und Wesen des Alten Testaments (ed. J. HEMPEL) (BZAW 66; Berlin 1936) 49-62. 55 That is, “my ancestral God”; see Gen 31,5.42; 43,23; 46,1.3; Exod 18,4; 2 Chr 17,4. Cf. W.H. SCHMIDT, THAT I, 157-158. 56 The introductory v. 1a even includes them in the singing itself. Cf. Ps 106,12. 57 See Num 24,18; 1 Sam 14,48; Ps 60,14; Ru 4,11.