Читать книгу Psalms Through the Centuries, Volume 3 - Susan Gillingham - Страница 21

Psalms 78 and 79–83 together form the second *Asaphite sub-group, and like Psalms 73–77 they suggest a similar structure and a number of internal correspondences. As for structure, Psalm 78 is a psalm of instruction, like 73; 79–80 are both laments concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, like 74; 81–82 ask questions about injustice and the permanency of God’s abode in Zion, like 75–76; and 83 is an individual lament, like 77. So this repetitive arrangement uses the two themes of the judgement of God and yet confidence in God’s presence in Zion—themes which were prevalent in the eighth and seventh-century prophets. Even the first and last psalms of the entire twelve-psalm Asaphite collection echo it as well (see 50:2–3 and 83:17–18, where ‘God Most High’ is a familiar name for God in relation to Jerusalem).⁸⁵ Furthermore, Psalm 78, with its overall theme of the memory of God appealing to the memory of the people, plays a critical part at the heart of the Asaphite psalms, just as Psalm 89, with its similar theme of divine and human remembering and forgetting, plays a critical part at the conclusion to the *Korahite collection. So in this intricately formed collection, the first stage of reception, namely the placing of certain psalms within a particular group of psalms, is clearly evident.

Each psalm in this latter collection is also linked to its neighbour by specific themes and vocabulary. Examples include the shepherding imagery at the end of Psalm 77 and the end of Psalm 78; the concern with David and the Temple at the end of Psalm 78 and the beginning of Psalm 79; the shepherding image, again, at the end of Psalm 79 and the beginning of Psalm 80, with the plaintive cry in each, ‘Why?’ (79:10 and 80:13); the Israel/Joseph references in 81:5,6 echoing 80:2; and the shared concern about gods and mortals in Psalms 82:6 and 83:19 which is also a challenge as to who is the ‘true god’, where in 82:6 the deities fall down as dead and in 83:10–11 the nations fall down, defeated. Yet again, this first stage of reception through compilation does not seem to be accidental.