Establishing connections between Pss 49 and 50 within the context of Pss 49-52 : a synchronic analysis

Abstract

Recent scholarship on the Psalter has witnessed a growing interest in the comprehension of the various collections, such as those of David, Korah, Asaph, psalms of ascents and others. The findings have indeed been enriching but have also marked out a path that would lead towards a fuller understanding of the logic and dynamics of the whole Psalter. In this respect, one can notice an insufficient analysis of the relation between different collections. To cite one example, the psalms of Korah, Asaph and David have been researched intensely as independent groups, but the transition from one to the other in Book II of the Psalter (Pss 42- 72), in order to give a coherent vision of this book, has generally been overlooked. The fact that a single Asaph psalm (Ps 50) is sandwiched between two collections, those of Korah (Pss 42-49) and David (Pss 51- 72), raises questions as to why the singular Ps 50 was placed in this position. Claudia Stissenbach has claimed that it is a "programmatisches Vorwort" for the following David-Asaph collections (Pss 51-83) and numerous scholars have demonstrated the relationship between Pss 50 and 51, even viewing them as a penitential liturgy in the form of a diptych (Alonso Schakel - Cami ti, Lorenzin), which makes the question as to whether Ps 50 is related to the previous Korah Ps 49 even more pertinent. Indeed, although Ps 49 does have significant relations to the group in which it is found, the connection to it is not all that obvious. The present task is thus to analyze the relation between Pss 49 and 50 within the context of Pss 49-52 in order to demonstrate the existence of a continuity of thought that flows through these psalms and to prove that Pss 49 and 50 are securely connected on various levels, thereby rendering Book Il more coherent at both of its internal seams and not just at the one between Pss 50 and 51. The number of those who relate Ps 50 to Ps 49 to some extent or other is significant: Briggs - Briggs, Delitzsch, Gese, Rendtorff, Millard, Goulder, Steinberg. [Excerpt]