Faculty of Humanities
School of Languages
Department of Ancient Languages
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Psalm 108 is a composite text, compiled from parts of Ps 57 and Ps 60. To many researchers it remains a mystery why two psalms which occur earlier in the Psalter would be cut up and used to create a new one. One possible answer which is offered in this reseach, is that the composers wanted to comment on these earlier texts. By segmenting them and realigning them, the impression left by these earlier compositions could be emended. The possibility that the composer or the editors thought it unlikely that worshippers would notice the duplicates can be neglected. These scribes knew the Psalter much better than anyone today. A new psalm had to be composed for new circumstances. It made use of a well-known oracle of God, but in a new political, social, religious, and/or historical context, that oracle had a new message. In a context of praise it opened a perspective to the future. It emphasized in a new way that God had to bring about the new dispensation, and that he would. They gave the faithful a new historical and cosmological perspective. The new psalm would fit into its literary context following on Ps 106 and 107, and preceding Ps 110. It would answer some remaining issues from the earlier books of the Psalter, and it would form a parallel to Ps 2, beginning the last book of the Psalter in a way comparable to the first, but now using the figure of David as a prophetic interpreter of the way in which God himself would establish his kingdom.
Contact person: Prof PJ Botha.
The author of Ps 31 made use of a variety of contexts in the Hebrew Bible to compose the psalm, and he prominently displayed his indebtedness to, inter alia, one of the confessions of Jeremiah and the prayer of Jonah in Jonah 2. These prayers of Jonah and Jeremiah were in turn composed to display similar intertextual connections with other psalms and other parts of the Hebrew Canon. There is also a similarity of theological disposition visible between the psalm and the view of the implied authors of Jonah 2 and Jeremiah 20. It therefore seems feasible to conclude that Ps 31 was written by exponents of the same group of people who were responsible for inserting the confessions of Jeremiah and the prayer of Jonah into these biblical books. Their purpose seems to have been to portray such prophetic figures as pious followers of YHWH who possessed the same religious qualities that they (the authors) had, and which are also found in the book of Psalms.
Contact person: Prof JH Potgieter.
In this research it was established that the biblical Ps 33 can be described as an interpretative text. Its purpose was to provide a theological perspective to the post-exilic community of Jewish believers about the power and ability of their God who created though a spoken word, but also controlled the destiny of his elected people through his word of intervention. The author of the psalm does this by way of an extremely clever allusion to and commentary on biblical texts such as Genesis 1 and Exodus 15.
Contact person: Prof PJ Botha.
It was established that there is a close intertextual relationship between Ps 31 and the poetic "frame" of the books of Samuel, the Song of Hannah in 1 Sam 2 and the Song of Victory of David in 2 Sam 22. The wisdom influence in these songs was carried over into Ps 31, but Ps 31 also has its ownwisdom connections, independent of these creations. In addition to this, the vocabulary of the psalm displays conspicuous similarities with the history of persecution of David by Saul and his consequential ostracism from Israelite society. This investigation reinforces the surmise that the attempt to establish a connection between David and the Psalms did not stop with the insertion of Davidic headings and biographical data at the beginning of certain psalms, but was much more profound. Certain psalms were composed in this phase to strengthen the connections, and to portray David as one of the humble, poor faithful followers of YHWH. There was a strong impetus from wisdom in this endeavour, enabling us to refine the profile of the poor and humble worshippers of YHWH who suffered much in the post-exilic community, and who produced so much of what we have as an end-product in the Psalter today. It is this group of people who found David to be an ally and spiritual companion, and used his historical legacy to further their own cause.
Contact person: Prof PJ Botha.
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