SPEECH ETHICS IN THE HEBREW PSALTER Samuel Onchonga Asuma, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012 Chairperson: Duane A. Garrett This dissertation examines the use of speech terminology in the Hebrew Psalter in order to find out why the terminology is used frequently and what it teaches about speech ethics. Also, it seeks to determine the Psalter's contribution to the study of Old Testament ethics in general. Chapter 1 discusses the problem, purpose, thesis, and the methodology of the study. Chapter 2 briefly looks at the history of the study of Old Testament ethics during the modern era beginning from the nineteenth century to the present, paying special attention to how it developed into an independent discipline and the key issues that have dominated scholarly discussion along with the underlying philosophical ideas that inform that discussion. Chapter 3 examines the occurrence of speech terminology outside the Hebrew Psalter, using select passages from the Pentateuch, prophetic and wisdom literature in order to determine what these passages teach about the proper use of speech. Chapter 4 discusses briefly whether or not the Psalter contains ethical instruction. In answering the question, it takes into consideration the approaches taken by pre-critical interpreters and form and canonical critics. Chapter 5 examines the use of speech terminology in the Hebrew Psalter with the aim of finding out why it is used frequently and what the Psalter teaches about speech ethics. Chapter 6 summarizes the findings of the study and proposes an answer to the question as to why the Psalter has more references to the use of speech than any other book in the Old Testament. It suggests the contribution the Psalter makes to the study of Old Testament ethics. Finally, proposals are made regarding areas for further research. This work contends that speech terminology features prominently in the Psalter not only because the Psalter places strong emphasis on truthful speech but also because speech is used by the wicked as a weapon of oppression. The powerful members of society devise evil schemes and put them into effect using false accusation, false testimony, false oaths, slander, and humiliation against the weak. Since the weak do not have any human being or institution to protect them, they appeal for justice from God as the righteous king and judge. / This dissertation is under embargo until 2014-12-14.

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This study examines Book IV ofthe Hebrew Psalter to understand the editorial purpose ofthe book in itsfinal canonical form. After Wilson, many scholars have agreed that the Psalms is the result ofintentional editorial activity and that Book IV provides an answer to the failure ofthe Davidic covenant illustrated in Ps 89: exalting YHWH’s exclusive kingship over the world and diminishing Davidic kingship. Against the prevailing notion that David is deemphasized in Book IV, I argue that the editors ofthe Psalter anticipate an ideal messianic figure by amalgamating the imageries of Moses, the great intercessor, and David, the great king. This thesis employs canonical and literary approaches to explore the seventeen psalms within Book IV (Pss 90-106), with a special interest in how the book responds to the issue ofthe seemingly broken Davidic covenant in Ps 89. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Over the past three centuries a number of biblical scholars have focused on the poetic and even lyric qualities of biblical poetry. However, perhaps due to its characterization as a “slavish” translation, the lyric, poetic, or even stylistic qualities of the Old Greek Psalter have received less sustained attention, raising the question of the extent to which the Greek Psalms might reflect literary sensitivity. Drawing on polysystem theory as a framework for understanding the development of literary corpora, the current analysis identifies cultural systems that could have influenced the translator’s work and their stylistic features. Ultimately, by focusing on the Greek Psalter’s style, the current project establishes that by drawing on Greek Pentateuchal poetry, Hebrew poetic technique, and Greek literary style, the translator contributed to the developing corpus of Jewish-Greek literature with a text that both respects the integrity of its Vorlage and reflects sensitivity to style, particularly its performative aspects, which are seen in the translator’s sensitivity to sound, rhythm, and the matching of content and composition. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Psalter has formed the basis of Judeo-Christian worship since ancient times. It has served, and continues to serve, individuals and communities of faith as a foundation for communal and personal devotion. As a devotional tool it is unique in that it provides prayers which address God directly concerning the whole gamut of life experience. While the Psalms can be examined and analysed as a literary text, they must be used and experienced by people to more fully discover and recognize their power in providing a pathway for expressing life experience. The lament psalms are of particular interest in this regard. There appears to be a reluctance, in some quarters, to employ them as an expression of prayer. As a result, the lament psalms as a way of engaging with experiences of personal distress, and voicing the reflections and responses such experiences produce, have often been ignored. This study suggests that psalms of lament provide a framework for expressing personal distress in the context of prayer. The framework, identified as a matrix of lament, consists of various modes of articulation characterized as expressing, asserting, investing and imagining constellations. The study examines what happens when individuals, who have first been made aware of the matrix of lament and its constellations, use lament psalms for prayer. Praying of lament psalms in this study is embedded in a prescribed process through which participants engage with their experiences of personal distress. As a result of such a process any significant psychodynamic changes which may take place can be observed, examined and explored, thereby, highlighting the efficacy of using lament psalms as a form of prayer. The study achieves this by examining the reflections and responses of selected individuals to see whether the process does in fact facilitate changes in the individual’s levels of distress, sense of personal control over distress and the nature of relationship between the individual and God. The reflections and responses also provide some indication of how the process might ‘birth’ a fresh perspective on personal distress for those who choose to incorporate these psalms into their journey of faith.

Psalms slip from cries of imprecation and lament to divine answer, from quoting the accusations and slander of the enemies to testifying to the character of Yahweh, from reflexive commands to communal imperatives. As these constructed voices and addressees oscillate, they create dialectics of distance and proximity, play with center and periphery, and fluctuate between presence and absence. The poetic devices of biblical Hebrew poetry allow for multiple voices to be heard and evoke experiences. The goal of this dissertation is to demonstrate, by using a lyric poetic approach, that voicing— especially shifts in voicing—contributes to the meaning of a psalm and lyric sequence. The Psalter calls to be read as lyric poetry, a voiced genre that is heard and overheard. The vocality of the Psalter invites hearers to listen to the dynamism of shifting voices, which create dialectics of distance and proximity, presence and absence. The three chapters of analysis explore the vocalic nature of lyric poetry. These chapters address twenty-five psalms in the Hebrew Psalter. The analyses of the ten individual psalms are sorted into two chapters based on the nature of the voicing they feature: psalms that feature shifts in addressee (Pss 23, 28, 32, 76, and 146) and psalms that featured shifts in both speaker and addressee (Pss 12, 46, 52, 91, and 94). The third chapter of analysis explores vocality in a lyric sequence, the Songs of the Ascents (Pss 120-134). The interpretation of these ten individual psalms as well as the fifteen-psalm lyric sequence demonstrate how the vocality of these lyric poems contribute to the construction of meaning and the cohesion of its respective text. This study makes contributions to biblical scholarship in two main areas: 1) it advances the conversation on voicing in Hebrew lyric poetry and 2) it applies a lyric approach to biblical Hebrew poetry. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis investigates small-scale mappae mundi, world maps, created in the thirteenth-century, which record the historical, mythical, social, and religious reality of the world for wealthy English patrons. My research focuses on two maps found in a Psalm book (British Library Add. MS 28681, f. 9 and f. 9v) on either side of a single page. One depicts the world in typical mappae mundi fashion, with Jerusalem at the centre of a network of cities, topographic features and monstrous creatures while the other lists place names and geographic descriptions. The maps depict the world in very different manners, one textually and the other visually, but their placement on the same leaf emphasizes their connection. This work explores the iconography, socio-historic context and literary precedence of mappae mundi in order to comprehend the distinct need for mixed-media to represent and understand a complex worldly existence in thirteenth-century England.

During services of the Reformed Churches of South Africa (RCSA), certain psalms and Biblical hymns are used frequently, while others are almost never used. The objective of this study is to determine how the Psalter of 2003 can be used optimally. The model of Zerfass is used for the investigation. The final results of the study are presented in the form of a model that can enrich the optimal use of the Psalter 2003 as means of communication in the liturgy of the RCSA. In Chapters 2 and 3, a basic-theoretical investigation is conducted, with reference to perspectives from Scripture and history. The investigation reveals that music and songs had already played an important role in the church of the Old Testament, and that the Psalms had had a significant influence on the liturgy and the faith. In the New Testament, new hymns are found that supplement those from the Old Testament. The form in which these hymns were composed, was closely connected to the context whence these songs arose. The communication that a hymn effects, is achieved jointly by word and music, in the church of the New Testament and subsequently. Since the Reformation, a degree of separation arose between the songs used in the church and outside, but mutual influences are observed. In Chapters 4 and 5, attention is paid to metatheoretical perspectives, first in communication science, then in hymnology. It is in their singing that the congregation participates in the worship of a church service. Such singing is indeed the basic form of participation, which promotes communication among members of the congregation. In judging a metrical version of a Psalm, attention should especially be paid to the content, style of the text and the melody. In the empirical investigation, qualitative and quantitative methods are used. The investigation proceeds in three phases. In the first phase, information is obtained about the hymns that were sung in a number of congregations in the course of a year. In the second phase, a questionnaire was set and sent to ministers, organists and members of congregations. In the final phase, interviews were conducted with ministers and organists from five congregations. The data show that the hymn occupies an important place in the liturgy. However, the investigation reveals that this point of departure is not fully realised in practice, and some shortcomings are identified. In particular, there is a need for extension of the hymnody, especially by hymns from the New Testament. In Chapter 7, an indication is given of the factors that constrain the optimal use of the Psalter 2003 as means of worship in the church service. The most important problems are: • the incomplete utilisation of the full collection of hymns in the Psalter, • the underuse of the 2001 metrical version, • the repeated use of a small subset of hymns, • problems with the melodies and liturgical usefulness, • limitations in the training of ministers and organists, • resistance to the 2001 metrical version, • a lack of proper programmes to practice the new hymns, and • inadequate support and encouragement by church councils in respect of improving the skills of organists. In view of these problems, a model is proposed, which identifies the relationships among the role players / elements necessary to promote worshipping through singing: • the users of the Psalter 2001, viz. Ministers, organists and members of the congregations, together with the role of the church council, • the Psalter 2003 as hymn book, and • the possible extension of the current corpus of hymns. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Liturgics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The Problem statement which was examined in this study is the following: Throughout the history the accuracy and historical value of the Psalm headings were questioned. Translations of the Psalm headings that later on developed for example the Septuagint, the Vulgate and the Peshitta is generally more extended than the Hebrew text. The use of the Grammatical–Historical method shows that the Psalm headings are authorative and that they are part of the Canonical text of the Hebrew Bible. Thorough word study by the method of Verhoef (1973), Hayes & Holladay (2007) and Kaiser (2007) of certain terms was important to note in the naming of the Psalter. This word study was approached through the Grammatical–Historical method. It was further necessary to study the importance of Psalm 145 in the whole of the Psalter, because Psalm 145 is the only Psalm with the heading: תְּהִלָּה . Other Psalm headings were studied and historical information was compared with other parts of Scripture. This study was approached Revelation–Historical. Further on it was necessary to do a comparative study between the Psalm headings of the Masoretic text, the Septuagint and the writings of Qumran to determine the authority of the Psalm headings. A study of contents about the element of praise was also necessary as Van Rooy (2008) explained, because the Psalter shows a development from lament to praise. It is also connected with the title that was originally been given to the Psalter by the Jews. / Thesis (M.Th. (Old Testament))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.