Psalm 6/Assumptions
Assumptions
v. 1
Common ground
It is normal for songs to have superscriptions.[1] E.g., "the superscripts to Egyptian hymns mention genre classification and/or authorship."[2]
The consistent structure of biblical psalm superscriptions is (1) +/- address (2) +/- musical notation (3) +/- genre/author (4) +/- liturgical notation (5) +/- historical superscription[3]
David is a king
In Israel, the king "both incorporates and represents the people."[4]
David is a musician (1 Sam. 16:17ff.; 2 Sam. 1:17ff.; 22:1f; 23:1f.; Amos 6:5).
"Music is an accomplishment that kings - Shulgi, king of Ur, or David, king of Israel - needed to master in order to become model rulers. Therefore, music was part of the education of rulers and the elite.[5]
In the psalms, as elsewhere in the ANE, "the king is privileged in prayer," and he is "prominent in leading prayers."[6]
David is a prophet (2 Sam. 23:1f; cf. Acts 2:30)
Local ground
Playground
As a song of David, this has the imprimatur of the king. This song is to be interpreted as from David's perspective. This psalm is not tied to a particular event in the life of David. This psalm is to be performed/prayed by Israelites other than David.
v. 2
Common ground
YHWH is the creator of heaven and earth (Gen. 1-2).
YHWH is the covenant God of Israel and of David, Israel's king. The king is God's son. "The Canaanite and ANE culture shows that the notion of the king as a son of god was well established."[7] (Cf. Ps. 2:7; 2 Sam. 7:14). Good fathers discipline their sons (Prov. 13:24; 23:13-14; cf. 2 Sam. 7:14). Discipline is a necessary response to disobedience. The purpose for discipline is correction and/or retribution (SDBH). Deities may be said to experience emotions such as anger. "The overwhelming majority of instances of anger in the OT speak of God's anger"[8] YHWH is slow to anger (Ex. 34:6-7).
Local ground
YHWH is angry.
It is possible to discipline without anger.
Playground
David has sinned against YHWH. Discipline itself is to be desired, just not discipline animated by anger. Discipline in anger could lead to death and destruction. Discipline in mercy could lead to restoration.
v. 3
Common ground
YHWH is merciful (Ex. 34:6-7).
YHWH is able to heal (Ex. 15:26).
Sickness may come from YHWH and is perceived to be more directly connected to divine activity than are other distressing situations, such as enemies (2 Sam. 24:13-15), though these too ultimately come from YHWH.
Sickness may be a form of divine punishment (2 Sam. 24:13-15; see SDBH on נֶגַע).
In the Psalms, sickness is closely linked with sin" (Pss. 41:4; 107:17-20)."[9]
Local ground
Playground
David is physically ill. David's illness is the manifestation of YHWH's discipline.
v. 4
Common ground
Humans are a psychosomatic unity, having both a body and a soul (an animating life-principle) (Gen. 2:7; cf. 1 Kgs. 17:21-22; Isa. 10:18).
Local ground
Playground
David's suffering has gone on for some time (confirmed, v. 7b). YHWH is able to end the suffering at any time.
v. 5
Common ground
YHWH is in covenant with David (2 Sam. 7; Ps. 89:4). חסד (loyalty) is a characteristic of covenant relationships. YHWH is abounding in חסד (Ex. 34:6). Even when David sins, YHWH's HESED will not leave חסד (1 Sam. 7:14-15).
Local ground
Playground
YHWH's rescuing David would be a fulfillment of covenant obligations. David's not being rescued would mean a failure for YHWH to uphold his end of the covenant relationship. The covenant relationship is still intact, even after David's disobedience (cf. 2 Sam. 7:14-15, "I will discipline him..., but my loyalty will not depart from him...")
v. 6
Common ground
Dead people go to a place called "Sheol," a proper name for "the underworld" (BDB, HALOT). Sheol is a place of great depth (e.g., Deut. 32:22), guarded by gates (e.g., Isa. 38:10), associated with darkness (e.g., Job 17:13), dust (e.g., Job 17:16), and silence (e.g., Ps. 31:18). [10] R.L. Harris has argued that Sheol is a poetic synonym for קֶבֶר, referring merely to the grave. "Its usage does not give us a picture of the state of the dead in gloom, darkness, chaos, or silence, unremembered, unable to praise God, knowing nothing... Rather, this view gives us a picture of a typical Palestinian tomb, dark, dusty, with mingled bones and where 'this poor lisping stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.'"[11]
Local ground
If David dies, he will be unable to mention YHWH's name. If David goes to Sheol, he will be unable to praise/thank YHWH.
Playground
David is on the brink of death. If David lives, he will praise YHWH. YHWH desires David's praise
v. 7
Common ground
Beds were sometimes associated with sickness (2 Kgs. 1:4; Ps. 41:4).
“The Semites from Canaan did not usually sleep on raised beds, but rather on skins spread on the floor. When the bed was a piece of raised furniture, it took a form similar to beds used in most cultures today.”[12] The wealthy (e.g., kings) slept on raised beds.
Local ground
Playground
v. 8
Common ground
It was commonly (though not always correctly) assumed that sickness is the result of sin (cf. Pss. 41:4; 107:17-20; Job 4:7-11, 8:1-22, 11:13-20; cf. John 9:2). "The reference to enemies may be the result of a common experience of the sick in ancient Israel; many persons believed that the sick were sinners, being judged by God, so that even a sick man's friends might become his enemies."[13] See e.g., Ps. 38:12. The sickness of a king would give opportunity to his enemies, whether domestic or foreign (cf. Pss. 38:13, 17; 41:6-11). In Psalm 41, for example, the king's "lament centres not on his ailment but on the opportunity it gives to his enemies, those perpetual accompaniments of a king's life. Respectful visitors to the sickbed secretly plot his overthrow."[14]
Local ground
David has enemies
Playground
David's enemies are (indirectly) part of the disciplinary process.
v. 9
Common ground
The enemies of the king are the enemies of his God and vice-versa. "The Israelite king's view of his enemies can be compared with that of other sacred kings. The Assyrian king, for example, considered his enemies as enemies of his gods, guilty of impious rebellion."[15]
Local ground
Davids enemies have acted wickedly. David's enemies are near him in some sense.
Playground
In opposing David, the enemies have opposed YHWH and thereby committed "wickedness." The enemies did not expect YHWH to hear David's prayer. David is vindicated as God's anointed. YHWH forgives David's sin. "The fact that God heard has heard the supplication means that the suppliant has been forgiven."[16]
v. 10
Common ground
Local ground
David petitioned YHWH's favor (cf. v. 3a) David prayed to YHWH.
Playground
v. 11
Common ground
Lex talionis (Lev. 24:20); imprecatory prayers in the psalms are rooted in the law of just retribution (cf. Crisis,_Cursing,_and_the_Christian) YHWH is just. The doings of wicked people come back on their own heads (e.g., Ps. 7:17).
Local ground
Playground
The enemies are publicly humiliated for having opposed God's chosen one. David had experienced public shame during his suffering.
- ↑ James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Third Edition with Supplement (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969): 365-81.).
- ↑ Waltke 1991:587
- ↑ Daniel Bourguet, “La structure des titres des psaumes,” Revue d’Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses, 61, 1981, 109-124).
- ↑ Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship (Oxford: Blackwell, 1962), I 61.
- ↑ Anne Caubet, "Music and Dance in the World of the Bible" in Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018), 468-9.
- ↑ Eaton 1975:174, 195.
- ↑ Peter Gentry, "A Preliminary Evaluation and Critique of Prosopological Exegesis," SBJT 23.2, 2019: 113.
- ↑ DBI 1998:25
- ↑ Keel 1997:62.
- ↑ See Theodore Lewis, “Dead, Abode of The” in ABD, Vol. 2, New York: Doubleday, 1992, 101-105.
- ↑ R.L. Harris, “שְׁאוֹל” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 2, Chicago: The Moody Bible Institute, 1980, 2303-4).
- ↑ Ray Pritz, The Works of Their Hands: Man-made things in the Bible, New York: UBS, 292.
- ↑ Craigie 1983:94.
- ↑ Eaton 1975:45.
- ↑ Eaton 1975:141.
- ↑ A. A. Anderson, Psalms (1-72), Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972:91.