02_Booij_351_351_374 30/10/15 13:01 Pagina 367 367 PSALM 118 AND FORM CRITICISM 367 may turn to the father of Old Testament form criticism, Hermann Gunkel. In Gunkel’s view, literary genres, as found in the psalms, distinguish themselves by three characteristics 68: (a) a traditional use or function, called the genre’s “setting in life” (Sitz im Leben); (b) a traditional pool of thoughts and moods; (c) a traditional “form language” (Formensprache), including the use of typical elements, images, modes of expression, words, syntactical peculiarities. The first of these characteristics is debatable 69, because indications of a traditional use will generally be scarce. Texts of different literary genres, moreover, may have been used in the same setting, and texts of the same genre in different ones. Moreover, the same texts might have been adapted to new settings and functions as well 70. Nevertheless, if it can be argued that texts originated from the same specific situation, or were related to it, this may support form-critical classification. All in all, I think Gunkel’s definition is helpful, since it points out features that are characteristic of literary genres as present in the psalms. Now the question is: are there Biblical Hebrew texts that, together with Psalm 118, exhibit these features and so are clear examples of a particular literary genre, namely that of “collective thanksgiving songs”? 1. Let us start with Gunkel’s second characteristic. In Psalm 118 Israel praises God for the good he has done to the people. Texts with a similar content are indeed found in the Hebrew Bible. In Psalm 67 the community praises God because “the earth has yielded its increase”; the psalm is clearly an expression of gratitude for such blessing (v. 7). Psalm 124 calls Israel to voice gratitude because YHWH was on the side of his people (vv. 1-2), not giving it as a prey to its enemies (v. 6). Psalm 129, in its first half, is in the same vein. In Isaiah 12 Israel praises YHWH because, after he was angry, he comforted his people. In Isa 25,1-5 the speaker, representing the people, thankfully praises YHWH for making “the fortified city a ruin” (v. 2) and for being “a refuge for the poor” (v. 4). 68 See GUNKEL, Einleitung, 10-11, 22-24, and the discussion of Gattungen separately; also “Der Micha-Schluss”, ZS 2 (1924) 145-146; “Jesaia 33”, ZAW 42 (1924) 182-183; “Literaturgeschichte, biblische”, sub 2b, in RGG2 III (1929) 1677-1678; “Psalmen”, sub 3, in RGG2 IV (1930) 1612-1613. 69 In more recent definitions this is not mentioned as a characteristic. “Genre” is defined, for example, as a trans-individual pattern of text formation, or as a concept for an ideal and typical form. See BLUM, “Formgeschichte”, 34. 70 Cf. R.C. VAN LEEUWEN, “Form Criticism, Wisdom, and Psalms 111– 112”, Changing Face, 80-81.