36. Note: The superscriptions or titles are headings that appear at the beginning of 116 psalms (the opening verse or verses in Hebrew). They provide ancient, though not original, information in a variety of forms: authorial attribution, historical setting, instrumental accompaniment, poem-prayer types, etc. The remaining psalms which have no titles are sometimes referred to as “orphans.” The psalm titles are late editorial additions to the collections and may most certainly be dated in the late postexilic era.
37. Crenshaw, A Whirlpool of Torment, 95.
38. Admittedly what we know of the monarchy in the northern kingdom of Israel—at least what is in the Bible— is filtered through the 7th century BCE Deuteronomist historians who view Israel’s monarchy through the prism of the southern kingdom perspective. This royal propaganda considered all the kings of northern Israel bad—in their view.
39. Polytheism is the devotion to and worship of a plurality of gods; Henotheism is the worship of one God per tribe or nation among other gods; Monotheism is the worship of the One and Only God of All. Monolatry is a synonym of henotheism.
40. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, vol. 1 Word Biblical Commentary, 53. cf. Curtis, Psalms in Epworth Commentaries “The Hebrew name sepher tehillim means ‘Book of Praises’ and the title is most appropriate. Many psalms are hymns of praise to God, while others praise [him] indirectly, e.g. by praising Zion where [his] presence was believed to dwell.” xxi.
41. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, vol. 1. A Continental Commentary, 11. Kraus prefers the designation, “the Hymnal of the Jewish Community,” as, in his view, “the title Sepher Tehillim is not at all suitable to serve as a general title that is exhaustive and at all adequate for the contents of the 150 psalms.” 5. Note: However, even the prayers of lament or complaint, by their structure and occurrences throughout, demonstrate the inexorable movement toward praise.
Deep Memory
The Psalter is divided into five distinct books, each of which, excepting Psalm 145, concludes with a benediction: Book I (3–41: Blessed be יהוה, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity. Amen and Amen); Book II (42–72: Blessed be יהוה, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; Amen and Amen); Book III (73–89: Blessed be יהוה forever. Amen and Amen); Book IV (90–106: Blessed be יהוה, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity. And let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise יהוה); and Book V (107–145). Psalms 146 through 150 serve as the postscript and the unitive doxology of praise to the entire Psalter. Each begins “Alleluia” or Praise יהוה! In these schema we take also Psalms 1 and 2 as the Introduction to the Psalter.
In Hebrew, Psalm 1 begins with aleph, the first letter of the alphabet; its final word begins with the letter taw, the last letter of the alphabet. Consequently, the letters aleph and taw are intended to symbolize all the letters and words in between, thereby embracing the entire Psalter. Psalm 2 alerts all readers who approach the book of Praises to listen carefully to what follows and meditate on it day and night for what they will encounter there reaches beyond time!
Psalm 2 is the second panel of the introduction to the Book of Psalms. It is united to the first psalm by the inclusion of the . . . (“Blessed,” or “How happy”) which open the first [Psalm] and conclude the second [Psalm], and by the repetition of themes from the first (1:6) in the second (2:12). Together Psalms 1 and 2 introduce major topics and terms that are woven through the texture of the entire book. The piety represented by these psalms is beset by the problems of the wicked and the nations. The reader is asked to take both psalms as the voice of the speaker, who identifies himself in 2:7 by an identity given him by God. ‘ The son’ pronounces the beatitude of Psalm 1 about the wicked and the righteous and discloses the policy of heaven concerning the nations in Psalm 2. 42
Likewise, the doxology, Psalms 146–150 is a collection of “Hallelujah Psalms” that constitutes the conclusion of the Psalter in a crescendo of praise. In this manner we are then left with one hundred and forty-three psalms (3–145). These are divided into two segments (3–89 and 90–145). With these divisions we are able to recognize more clearly the definitively intentional organizational structure and shaping of the book of Psalms. This lends the view that the Psalter in its final form is the result of a collection of collections, purposeful editing and arranging, resulting in a distinct shape. These sets of markers are, however, not immediately recognizable to us. What gives a distinct shape to the corpus as a whole, from the Introduction of Psalms 1 and 2, to the corporate Doxology of Psalms 146 to 150, is a consciously intentional ordering of a “collection of collections” and assumes a deliberate editorial arrangement.43 We tentatively posit a final, settled arrangement of the Psalter before the end of the first-century CE (ca. 90) or even into the early second-century. We know that the psalms were widely read and sung by the first-century Christian churches and in the Jewish synagogues that were scattered throughout the ancient Roman world.
This conscious arrangement of the Psalter, and its ready inclusion into the Hebrew canon, may be asserted as having come about rather early in the canonical process. We posit a second-century BCE time frame. The canon–as we now have it in our bibles—was not yet closed for all Judaism in the first-century BCE. Some of the psalms found at Qumran show that the last third of the Psalms was the section with the greatest textual fluidity. These manuscripts (4QPsf = 4Q8811; Qps a-b = 11Q 5–6)44 include additional apocryphal psalms, some of them known from the Greek Psalter (Ps 151) or the Syriac Psalter (Pss 151, 154, and 155). Some scholars view these Qumran psalters as biblical or “canonical,” all of which suggest that the number and sequence of the canonical psalms had not yet been definitively established in the Qumran period. Others view these scrolls as a secondary compilation for liturgical use or as library editions.45 However, this arrangement hinges on several other considerations relevant to our study.
The implication that follows is that both Psalms 1 and 2, the Introduction, and Psalms 146–150, the final Doxology, were added late in the development of the entire book. A late post-exilic setting in the Persian period of the restoration and the rebuilding of the walls of the temple under Ezra-Nehemiah can reasonably be postulated. This does not mean, however, that they were the last of the compositions to be included in the collection. Psalm 2 alone can reasonably be set in the tenth-century BCE and Psalm 1 “is more than an introduction to the Psalter; it is a precis of the Book of Psalms.46. This assessment of the shaping of the Psalter implies that the canon of the Hebrew scriptures was open for a very long time. We know now that the Hebrew canon was still quite fluid at the time of the LXX and included the book of Daniel, thought to be one of the last entries into the Hebrew canon. This is significant for determining a relative time of the closing of the canon of Hebrew scripture by the community of scribal authorities, toward the end of the first-century CE.
The earliest attestations of the Hebrew canon as a list come from the second half of the first century C. E. Between 250 B.C.E. and 50 C. E., it seems that there was no canon in the sense of a numerus fixus of holy books. The widely accepted doctrine of the era of revelation permitted discussion about the authenticity, antiquity, and authorship of specific books.47
But the closing of the Hebrew canon, which we postulate as ca. 90 to 125 CE does not preclude the Psalter’s continued shaping and editing right up to that time. Final canonization and the editing of the texts are two very different activities; and the consideration of the text of the Hebrew Bible as being in some sense sacred prior to canonicity is not a contradictory position.
The Psalms did not become “inspired scripture” the moment they