Songs for the Journey Home: The Purpose of the Songs of Ascents

Psalms is a book. As such, it demands to be read like others, especially taking into account context and structure. Although this is often difficult, collections within the larger Psalter demonstrate the benefit and justify the methodology. I say this, because I would like to share a few thoughts regarding the collection of Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134), beginning with the larger picture and then perhaps providing some further reflections on individual psalms in later days. So … today you get my purpose statement (albeit with little explanation).

The collection of Songs of Ascents is an eschatological interpretation/application of the Priestly Blessing based upon the psalmists’ hope in Yahweh’s faithfulness to fulfill the Davidic Covenant at Zion.

Put another way: Through the lens of the Priestly Blessing (Num 6:24-26), the Songs of Ascents encourage the faithful to look forward to the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promises to David at Zion. They fill out what it means for the Lord to bless, to keep, to be gracious to, and to give peace to His people. They do this by interpreting their past, present, and future in light of God’s intention to bless them through the Son of David at Zion.

The eschatological fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant provides the basis for understanding the journey to Zion that is painted in these psalms not as a simple, historical pilgrimage theme but as a journey toward an idealized/new Zion in the eschaton.

Jesus and the Hebrew Scriptures

Saw this quote in the preface to Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament by Christopher J. H. Wright, which I thought was helpful, certainly for someone who teaches the Hebrew Bible:

I find myself aware that in reading the Hebrew scriptures I am handling something that gives me a closer common link with Jesus than any archaeological artefact could do.

For these are the words he read. These were the stories he knew. These were the songs he sang. These were the depths of wisdom and revelation and prophecy that shaped his whole view of ‘life, the universe and everything.’ … In short, the deeper you go into understanding the Old Testament, the closer you come to the heart of Jesus. (ix)

Hebrew Clauses – Diethelm Michel (Section 28)

Although his work consists of a detailed study of the Psalter, Diethelm Michel’s Tempora und Satzstellung in den Psalmen has an important section about the syntax of clauses in Hebrew (Section 5 of the work). For my own benefit and perhaps some out there who find such study interesting, I thought it might be helpful to present his results. (I did a similar summary of Wolfgang Schneider here.) In section 28, Michel lays out his understanding of the verbal clause and the nominal clause.

The Verbal Clause

1. We refer to a clause as a verbal clause (VC) when it reports the performance of an action or the appearance of a characteristic.
2. The predicate of a VC always consists of a finite verb.
3. The finite verb always stands at the beginning of the clause; only adverbial qualification can step in before it. An explicit subject follows the verb in attributive position. An example of an adverbial phrase coming before the finite verb would be Ps 102:9a:

כָּל־הַ֭יּוֹם חֵרְפ֣וּנִי אוֹיְבָ֑י
all day my enemies surround me

The Nominal Clause

1. We call a clause a nominal clause (NC) that makes a statement about a subject.
2. A subject of the NC is a substantive or an equivalent of such (pronoun, substantive adjective or participle, substantive clause).
3. A predicate of a nominal clause can be (1) a substantive, (2) an adjective (participle), (3) a pronoun, (4) an adverb, or (5) an entire clause. The last possibility is important in that it leads the third classification, the compound nominal clause.

The Compound Nominal Clause

1. We call a clause a “compound nominal clause” when its predicate consists of an entire clause, a NC or a VC.
2. In the predicate of the clause, a back-reference to the larger subject can take place.
3. When a so-called copula is used in a nominal clause, it is regarded as a compound nominal clause.

Here are two examples, the first is a CNC with a NC as predicate, the second with a VC as predicate. Both have a nominal at the front about which a whole clause makes a claim.

Psalm 69:14
וַאֲנִ֤י תְפִלָּתִֽי־לְךָ֙׀ יְהוָ֡ה
As for me: my prayer is to you, Yhwh.

Psalm 103:19
יְֽהוָ֗ה בַּ֭שָּׁמַיִם הֵכִ֣ין כִּסְא֑וֹ
Yhwh [he has done this as a characteristic]:
he has established his throne in the heavens.

Reading, Interpreting, and Preaching the Psalms – Step 2

Please see this post for the origin and purpose of the process I’m continuing today. Breaking the 10-fold procedure into bite-size chunks, I will be explaining what I mean by step #2:

1. Read the Hebrew Text

Please refer to this post for my thoughts on this step.

2. Evaluate the Variants

If the first step of reading the Hebrew text is taken seriously, this second step of textual criticism will naturally arise as difficulties in translation are observed or the critical apparatus becomes significant. As variants in Hebrew manuscripts and ancient translations are considered, exegetical commentaries (e.g., the Word Biblical Commentary volumes) or other reference works (e.g., Emanuel Tov’s Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible) will be helpful in this process.

The casual reading of various English texts will also demonstrate that not all translations are alike. Not only do they have various translations of Hebrew forms and tenses, but they also reveal completely different readings. For the preacher/teacher, the practical advantage of being diligent in this step is coming to understand why modern translations differ. As such, evaluating variants will prepare the preacher to speak intelligently and honestly about the nature of the text. Decisions will have to be made, and those decisions will need to be carefully integrated into interpretation and wisely presented to the congregation.

For example, evaluating the variants of the text will elucidate why English translations of Ps 100:3 vary. The NASB says, “It is He who made us, and not we ourselves” (cf. also [N]KJV), while the ESV reads, “It is he who made us, and we are his” (cf. also NIV, NRSV). Faithful expository preaching will probably have to address such an issue, so the preacher/teacher must be prepared.

Another example would be Psalm 72:5. In his work, The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic, Michael Rydelnik has a helpful chapter regarding “Text-Criticial Perspectives on Messianic Prophecy.” Although the whole chapter (and book) is well worth reading, I refer to it in this discussion because he shows how a textual variant is important in reading 72:5, where the MT (יִירָאוּךָ) and LXX (και συμπαραμενει) differ, with quite distinct meanings. As such, English versions vary: “May they fear you” (ESV, see also NASB, NKJV) or “He will endure” (NIV, see also NRSV). Since there are possible messianic implications involved here, the reader must take these alternative readings into account.

This is not an easy step and can be done at various stages of this whole process. But the reader of the Psalter must come to an understanding of the textual criticism and how these differences are to be handled within a responsible view of composition and inspiration.

3. DIAGRAM THE TEXT

4. ANALYZE THE PARALLELISM

5. EXAMINE THE PSALM’S COHERENCE

6. COMPARE THE PSALM TO ITS CONTEXT

7. READ THE TEXT CANONICALLY

8. FOLLOW THE TEXT INTO THE NEW TESTAMENT

9. APPLY THE PSALM RESPONSIBLY

10. PRAY THE PSALM

Reading, Interpreting, and Preaching the Psalms – Step 1

Please see this post for the origin and purpose of the process I’m beginning today. Breaking the 10-fold procedure into bite-size chunks, I start with the first one:

1. Read the Hebrew Text

Essentially, become acquainted with the text, specifically its vocabulary and grammar. Since the Psalter was written in Hebrew, it only makes sense that the one who desires to read it competently and faithfully will spend time reading it in its original language, especially if you have gone through the difficult process of learning biblical Hebrew. Why be satisfied with reading poetry in translation when so many nuggets lie clearly before the one who will crack open that Biblia Hebraica purchased with such high hopes of devouring the OT? [Sorry . . . I’m now getting off my soapbox.]

In this early stage of reading, all that was learned in basic Hebrew will feed this step as your knowledge of Hebrew is stretched to learn (1) new forms, (2) vocabulary, and (3) grammatical tendencies of Hebrew poetry. The goal in this step is simply to saturate one’s mind with the text, ideally to the point where you can read through the text with no helps. A mind saturated with the text will more readily be prepared to make the observations on many of the later steps in this exegetical process.

I have recently begun to listen to the Psalter being read in the Hebrew, following along in the text. Although I was somewhat hesitant to do this at first, reasoning that I didn’t want to confuse the written with the oral, I have somewhat changed my mind on this with regard to the Psalter. In the psalms, I believe it provides help in recognizing the phonetic tendencies, i.e. consonance, assonance, other repetitions, etc. I will talk more about this in a later post on parallelism. If you’re interested, here is a resource.

Most students and preachers have a tendency to run quickly through the text by basically reading it along with the English versions. This is certainly not bad, but it surely is not the best. Granted, when one first gets out of basic Hebrew classes in school, he/she is probably not ready to break open the Psalter and read every line with just BDB in hand. This is probably the reason why many well-meaning students become disillusioned with using practically their Hebrew knowledge. However, increased exposure to the text will procure increased competence and decreased discomfort in the language.

So…try it. Psalm 117 would be a great place to start developing your “vocabulary of praise.”

הַֽלְל֣וּ אֶת־יְ֭הוָה כָּל־גּוֹיִ֑ם שַׁ֜בְּח֗וּהוּ כָּל־הָאֻמִּֽים׃
כִּ֥י גָ֨בַ֤ר עָלֵ֙ינוּ׀ חַסְדּ֗וֹ וֶֽאֱמֶת־יְהוָ֥ה לְעוֹלָ֗ם הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃

Here are the other steps I will be discussing in later posts:

2. EVALUATE THE VARIANTS

3. DIAGRAM THE TEXT

4. ANALYZE THE PARALLELISM

5. EXAMINE THE PSALM’S COHERENCE

6. COMPARE THE PSALM TO ITS CONTEXT

7. READ THE TEXT CANONICALLY

8. FOLLOW THE TEXT INTO THE NEW TESTAMENT

9. APPLY THE PSALM RESPONSIBLY

10. PRAY THE PSALM