IV. Recent Study of The Psalter and Psalm Types

A. Recent Study of the Psalter

Two European scholars, Hermann Gunkel and Sigmund Mowinckel, writing mainly in the first three decades of this century, have exercised dominant influence on modern study of the Psalms. Gunkel pioneered the method of “form criticism” in the study of the Psalms, in numerous separate studies and then in a major commentary (Die Psalmen übersetzt und erklärt, published in 1926), along with a later introduction to the Psalms (Einleitung in die Psalmen, completed and published in 1933 by his student, J. Begrich, after Gunkel’s death). His method has now been applied to virtually the entire Scripture. This approach to the Psalms takes its name from Gunkel’s contention that it was possible to discern basic literary types in the Psalms, each having its own form (common inner structure, flow, and treasury of ideas), arising out of and shaped by its own setting in the worship/cultic life of the community. He identified five main psalm types (Gattungen) or genres: (1) hymns, (2) communal laments, (3) royal psalms, (4) individual laments, and (5) individual songs of thanksgiving, along with several minor types.

Gunkel emphasized the study of the psalms within the context of the other OT songs and particularly within the literary and cultural context of the ancient Near East, notably Egyptian and Babylonian materials. From such inquiry Gunkel concluded that virtually the entire Psalter had its traditional source in the cult, thus radically altering the traditional understanding of the settings for many psalms. The Davidic psalms of Book 1, for example, were in his judgment individual complaints originally reflecting different specific rites or situations in the cult such as incubation rites, prayers for healing, and exorcism of demons. Psalms that are traditionally taken as messianic Gunkel saw as spoken by and to the king in songs analogous to the royal hymns of Babylon and Egypt and reflecting a view of divine kingship common to those cultures. Gunkel’s work in many ways was simply the culmination of earlier critical study of the psalms, but his discernment of distinctive psalm types and the anchor of these types firmly in the temple cult was programmatic for following studies, including eventually those by evangelical and Wesleyan scholars.

Sigmund Mowinckel’s work, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship (Nashville: Abingdon, 1967), appeared in English in the sixties but was first published in six volumes from 1921-24 as Psalmenstudien. Mowinckel extended Gunkel’s early work by seeking to tie individual psalm types and the present psalms much more specifically to their cultic settings. He sought to reconstruct as fully as possible the liturgical contexts that produced the psalms and in which they were used. Mowinkel concluded that an Israelite autumn New York Festival was the major source of the psalms. Relying heavily on the Babylonian Akitu festival, he reconstructed a celebration in which Yahweh died and rose in conquest of the forces of Chaos and was enthroned, confirming his kingship and continuation of the cosmic order for another year. In his Psalms (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), Artur Weiser extended Gunkel’s work much as Mowinckel had done but reconstructed an autumn covenant renewal ceremony rather than a divine enthronement festival.

While later scholars have worked under the influence of these pioneers, findings of Gunkel and Mowinckel have attracted substantial critique and refinement. The failure of the OT to mention explicitly any of the major festivals or cultic events thus reconstructed as exercising pervasive influence on the Psalter and in the life of people has been pressed by persons like Roland de Vaux (Ancient Israel, 502-6). Thus many who continue to see significant evidence of cultic influence in the Psalter refrain for lack of clear evidence from detailed reconstruction of the events. Placing the inner theological frame of reference of the OT more clearly over against the assumptions of Israel’s Canaanite and larger ancient Near East setting leads others to part company with the “myth and ritual” orientation in Gunkel’s and Mowinckel’s work and pursued avidly by some of their successors in Psalms research. This commentary shares these critiques.

In addition, even though Gunkel’s idea of the psalm types and their common forms seems obvious, once pointed out, further research has demonstrated the difficulty, if not actual inability, of establishing clearly the common literary form alleged for each major type, such as the royal psalms or the hymns. While there are many common rhetorical and structural features among the works grouped under a particular type, there is also considerable variation, stretching the forms many times beyond recognition. And the types themselves prove open to question. The “laments of the individual,” for example, turn out in many cases neither to be “laments” nor to be really tied to “individuals” standing apart from the community of Israel (e.g., Ps 130).

One reason for these difficulties is that Gunkel’s literary categories derived as much from larger European literary studies as from the Bible itself. The superscriptions of the psalms themselves and other references in them together with their own subject matter should provide the most promising source material for discerning such psalm types, if they exist.

No scholar I am aware of has made more headway than Hans-Joachim Kraus at attempting thus to discern and group psalm types/genres on the basis of the text’s own awareness of these matters. His work is most accessible to the English reader in the introduction and commentary of Psalms 1-59. This volume, a translation of the fifth (1978) edition of volume 1 of his German work is particularly noteworthy. In a radical departure from his stance in the first four editions of that work and in several other of his previous studies, Kraus here works from a thoroughgoing critique of Gunkel at numerous points (see esp. pp. 38-43). The following presentation of psalm types reflects at many points this work by Kraus (Psalms 1-59, 43-62), as do the resulting psalm groups expounded theologically in the commentary below. Numerous psalms are of “mixed types” (e.g., Pss 19 or 66), eluding easy categorization but still much illuminated by the attempt. Still others do not fit easily into any category known yet. These will be located in a type without extended defense, with the awareness that we still have much to learn about such matters and with the attempt to let the text speak for itself in each song, our discernment of its “type” notwithstanding.

B. Psalm Types

Hymns of Praise (the t^ehillâh). Only Ps 145, is actually designated a “song of praise” in its superscription (cf. III.E above). But numerous other references to the t^ehillâh in the Psalms and the parallels partly noted above lead to the discernment of the general designation (Kraus, 26, 43-47). The term appears frequently as the name of the songs of praise of individuals (e.g., 22:25; 65:1) and the community (e.g., 33:1; 100:4). The label highlights the distinctive yet general praise orientation of these songs. The “song of praise” can be a synonym for the “thanksgiving” (tôdâh) as in 100:4, and can stand in parallel to the “new song” (40:3; 149:1). Other designations also appear for the song of praise, some of them included in the treatment of superscriptions above, for example, the cultic song (šîr) or the “psalm” (mizmôr). But these are not exclusively used for this song type and seem to call attention to other features of the song than its form and content, such as its accompaniment.

Four major themes find expression in the Psalter’s hymns of praise: praise of the Creator (Pss 8, 29, 33, 65, 100, 104, 136, 148); Yahweh, the king (Pss 24, 47, 93, 95-99, 145); and Yahweh’s sovereign activity in history (Pss 105, 106, 114, 135, perhaps 136), with several themes sometimes woven together in a single song (Pss 68, 146-48). At times the theme is more generally the praise of God, his glory, or his works (Pss 75, 103, 113, 117, 134, 150).

Prayer Songs (the t^ep̠pillâh). The prayer song is specifically designated the prayer for deliverance (80:4) and the prayer of intercession (109:4), i.e., prayer for another’s deliverance (Kraus, 26-27, 47-56). The song arises from deep distress (102:1; cf. 1Ki 8:38) and is at times uttered in a setting of sackcloth and fasting (35:13). Often (with Gunkel) called lament, these are much more than lament. The worshipers here do not simply complain or bemoan their plight. They declare in faith their distress and cry to God for deliverance. The t^ep̠illôt (plural) include prayer songs of the individual and of the people (i.e., community prayer songs, cf. 80:3). Because of the arrangement the book of Psalms achieved in its final editing, the prayer songs, which predominate in number, do not in the end set the tone and overall impression gained from the Psalms.

With regard to themes, some prayer songs are general prayers of distress (Pss 16, 28, 36, 82), but most are not. The majority of the prayer songs of the individual carry the theme of deliverance from accusation and persecution (Pss 3-5, 7, 9-13, 17, 22, 25-27, 31, 35, 42, 43, 54-59, 62-64, 69-71, 86, 94, 109, 120, 139-43). Others concern sickness and healing (Pss 6, 38, 39, 41, 88, 102), inextricably related to the prayer song of the sinner (Pss 40, 51, 130). The “prayers of the people” deal mainly with national defeat or distress and the need for restoration (Pss 14, 44, 53, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, 90, 126, 129, 137), though other more general concerns appear as well (Pss 123, 125). Several of these prayers cry for deliverance and vindication with such passion that they have come to be known as “imprecatory” psalms (5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 140) in which curses are called down upon the enemy. Prominent in many prayer songs are affirmations of deliverance or of God as deliverer.

Thanksgiving Songs (the tôdâh). The Thanksgiving Songs echo the themes from the prayer songs in the course of offering thanksgiving for rescue (Pss 18, 23, 30, 32, 52, 66, 92, 107, 116, 118, 124, 138). On the one hand, they differ from the prayer songs in that the deliverance sought has now come. On the other hand, they differ from the various praise songs in their frequent inclusion of narrative of their plight and deliverance in the thanksgiving and in their thanksgiving for specific deliverance experienced by the worshiper as opposed to praise for the various attributes and historic acts of Yahweh.

Royal Songs (the ma'^aśay l^emelek). The Royal Songs (Pss 2, 20, 21, 45, 61, 72, 89, 101, 110, 132, 144) include works of widely differing character but find their unity in their concern for the king—most likely David and his sons (Kraus, 56-57). The king’s relationship to Yahweh and the Davidic covenant, his enthronement, victory in battle, wedding, splendor, righteous rule, longevity, and salvation are important themes in these songs. Changing speakers and form indicate liturgical use for several of these (e.g., 2, 61, 72, 110, 132), though the exact nature of the celebration in which they would have been used is a matter of debate. Included here are songs that have come to be regarded as messianic.

Songs of Zion (the šîr ṣiyyôn). Even the Babylonians knew of the “songs of Zion” (137:3), of which at least six have survived in the Psalter (Pss 46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122; Kraus, 58). Extolling Zion—her beauty, election, and sanctuary—the worshiper sang these songs, among other times, when entering the sanctuary after pilgrimage (Pss 84, 122).

Didactic Songs (the ḥok̠mâh). The “Didactic Songs” may be a variety of prayer song and praise song, using the language and thoughts of Israel’s instructional heritage, more than an independent psalm type (Kraus, 58-60). Often called wisdom psalms, two traditions in Israel’s life find expression here, the teachings of the wise and instruction from and in Yahweh’s law. One is familiar to us from Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. The other expresses instruction associated first with the priesthood (Mal 2:1-9). Ps 1, a classic “wisdom psalm” focused in the blessings of Torah meditation, illustrates the merging of these two in what has come to be known as “Torah piety.” (“Torah” here means not simply the Law of Moses, but sacred instruction in general grounded in that law.) Thus these songs address the congregation in an instructional mode, some explicitly (e.g., 34:11, 78:1-2) and others implicitly (e.g., Pss 15 or 37). We take Pss 1, 15, 34, 37, 49, 73, 78, 111, 112, 119, 127, 128, and perhaps 92, as didactic songs.

Festival Songs and Liturgical Pieces (Pss 50, 81, 115, 121, 131, 133). Not surprisingly we are unable with any confidence to categorize several psalms (no doubt including some we have confidently labeled!). If they constitute a grouping of their own, the indigenous name for it eludes the modern reader. Pss 121, 131, and 133 are all Songs of Ascent, but not the others. In some cases they relate obviously to a specific festival, such as the New Moon (Ps 81). The connection of the others is vague. Pss 50 and 81 appear to provide settings for delivering divine oracles. Pss 121, 131, and 133 are (perhaps benedictory) affirmations, with no obvious liturgical setting. Ps 115 could perhaps be located in the praise songs but looks more like a liturgy of affirmation and response.

C. Psalm Types and Judeo-Christian Prayer and Song

These psalms are both songs and, in almost every case, prayers. They correct skewed or overly narrow understandings of prayer that equate “prayer” with “petition” or some other specific feature of communication with God. Prayer in the Psalter is obviously much larger than “merely” asking God for help or praising God. It includes, of course, cries for help. But prayer also includes affirmation of faith, confession of sin and need, promise of action and attitude, and thoughtful reflection on inner and outer life in the fear of the Lord. Prayer includes instruction and liturgy, wisdom and celebration, and much more.

And these are also song. Again the Psalter stands over against overly confined understandings of “sacred song.” The music of the saints here includes songs focused solely on God, his person and his works, and, just as readily, solely on the biography of the people of God, their walk with him, and their life in the world before him. Others flow effortlessly between these poles, oblivious of modern predilections for “objective” or “subjective” music. The genius of Charles Wesley’s hymns in good measure was their ability to reflect this great breadth of prayer and song in the idiom of the people.