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Monday 25 June 2012

Messing around with genre as inscribed

Working only with the Hebrew - the question is - do the genres in the inscriptions form a pattern? Here is the raw data [updated].
........Book 1..................Book 2..................Book 3..................Book 4..................Book 5.........
1-2 no genre
3-6 psalm
7 reel
8-9 (10psalm
11 no genre
12-13 psalm
14 no genre
15 psalm
16 miktam
17 prayer
18 no genre
19-24 psalm
25-28 no genre
29 psalm
30 songpsalm
31 psalm
32 insight
33,34,35 no genre
36 oracle
37 no genre
38-41 psalm
42 (43) 44-45 insight
46 song
47 psalm
48 song, psalm
49-51 psalm
52-55 insight
56-60 miktam
61 no genre
62-64 psalm
65 psalmsong
66  songpsalm
67 no genre
68 psalm
69-72 no genre
73 psalm
74 insight
75-76 psalmsong
77 psalm
78 insight
79 psalm
80 testimony, psalm
81 no genre
82-85 psalm
86 prayer
87 psalmsong
88 songpsalm, insight
89 insight
90 prayer
91 no genre
92  psalmsong
93-97 no genre
98 psalm
99 no genre
100-101 psalm
102 prayer
103-106 no genre
107 no genre
108 songpsalm
109 psalm
110 oracle,  psalm
111,112,113-119 no genre
120-134 song
135-138 no genre
139-141 psalm
142 insight
143 psalm
144 no genre
145 praise
146-150 no genre





Notes and observations:
several have double even triple genre
No prayer in Book 2
The prayers of Book 4 are a significant frame for that book.
No insight (maskil, Kimhi : a poem requiring an interpreter) in Book 4
psalm 14 the double of psalm 53 - one is an insight but the other is not
Miktamim (gold, inscribed, atonement ?) only in Books 1 and 2
Analysis could be impacted by the placement of acrostics (in bold)

A side note re inscriptions: Kimhi cites the tradition that ‘of David : a Psalm signifies that the Holy Spirit rested upon him, and (then) afterwards he uttered a Psalm while a Psalm of David signifies that he uttered a Psalm and (then) afterwards the Holy Spirit rested upon him’. See Psalms 24, 40, 68, 101, 109, 110, 139. That these are the 7 psalms that are marked in this way is an argument in favour of Kimhi’s comment.

4 comments:

  1. Bob this is so way over my head it doesn't know which way to spin... but good on you.

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  2. Hi David - I have been working on the psalms in detail for 6 years. I was wondering why the psalms as a whole called psalms when there are so many different types. The name for them in Hebrew is Tehillim - praises. The word occurs in Psalm 22: But you are holy, seated on the praises of Israel. You will remember that psalm which begins "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

    My use of the word 'genre' has a bit of a hook in it. Genre criticism is a branch of scholarship that assigns a type to many of them: lament, penitential, royal etc. It could be useful but it hasn't helped me see the wholeness of the Psalter.

    I think the Psalter - the 150 collected psalms that we have, is a story of exile and a hope of restoration as well as a set of poems designed to create a merciful people.

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  3. Hey, Bob. I was a student of John Walton many moons ago. He called the collection of Psalms as a whole a "canticle" (using a modern term to communicate something very like what you are saying about there being a story in the order of the whole thing).

    Meanwhile, Radak (Kimhi) consistently gets my vote as the best of the medievals.

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  4. Hi Derek, thanks for the note. I once tried to imagine the characters of 6th or 5th century redactors and their conversations - but it is too difficult for me to be realistic and the book I have nearly completed would be many more pages long and years in the making.

    My experience with the medievals is quite limited - that too would be a fascinating story to research. I have enjoyed a little of Saadya Gaon, RaDaK and more of Rashi - with the help of an interpreter.

    The key for me to the exilic era redaction is the presence of the 8 acrostics, 4 imperfect in Book 1 and 4 perfect in Book 2. These seem to me to reflect the 4 acrostics of Lamentations. Also there is a singular-plural dynamic in both Psalms and Lamentations, confirmed by Rashi. I develop these thoughts in the book (described here) as we read through the whole in sequence.

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