Saturday Scripture Series continues on Sunday: Psalm 19 Part II (Historical Setting/Central Point)
Posted by tom | Dec 18, 2011"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge." To God be the glory!
Photo taken en route to The Power of Forgiveness: Lessons From Nickel Mines (Sponsored by The Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. 9/22/2011).
In Responding to "The heavens declare the glory of God" (12/8/2011), I noted the focused attention I was giving to Psalm 19 and in Saturday Scripture Series: Psalm 19 I gave the first part of my final paper for Dr. Dorsey's Psalms class at Evangelical. May you find the series a blessing. Wish I had more time to give to the paper. Feel free to recommend revisions, corrections, affirmations . . . To God be the glory!
Historical Setting
The above survey of modern theories indicates the wide disparity regarding the acceptance of Ps 19’s attribution to David. Bernhard W. Anderson, Robert G Bracher and William D. Reyburn, Franz Delitzsch, James Limburg, Perowne, and Wilson do not address the question. Weiser appears to assume David is not the author. Craigie finds the psalm ambiguous in author and dating. Buttenwieser advances a pre-exilic author for 19A without attention to the authorship of a “labored and hackneyed” 19B (170). Along these lines Kraus considers Ps 19A a piece of great age, but places Ps 19B as no earlier than Ezra (269).
Goldingay suggests the psalm as written for David or one of his successors with David as “an exemplar of spirituality” (286). Leupold affirms the possibility of Davidic authorship by noting his high regard of the law as recorded in I Kings 2:1-4 (177, 184). He submits:
The claim commonly made in our day that this psalm dates from the time of Ezra because in that age the interest in the law of the Lord is supposed to have become strong is a viewpoint that grows out of the late dating of the so-called sources of the Pentateuch. There is much historical evidence pointing to the fact that in the age of David the distinctive importance of the law was rather clearly understood (cf., I Kings 2:1-4; 9:4ff) (Leupold, 184).
Hegenstenberg considers there to be no doubt of David authorship, leaning upon the superscript and the similarities to both Ps 8 and II Sam 7 (327). Similarly, Joseph A. Alexander argues for Davidic authorship by “its position in the Psalter, its resemblance to Ps. viii., and its peculiar style and spirit” (87). Delitzch rests Davidic authorship in parallels to Psalm 28 (281-282). Calvin writes with an assumption of Davidic authorship, referring to David throughout his commentary in manner which scholars do not do today.
Central Point and Summary
According to David Dorsey, Ps 19 is a praise of God as creator of heaven and earth in the larger category of hymns, i.e., songs praising God, expressing admiration for him (31, 87). Craigie classifies Ps 19 as a wisdom hymn, with some features of prayer (180). Although Kraus notes Ps 19A differs from the usual hymn format, he considers the psalm as a song of praise (269). Kraus identifies Ps 19B as a Torah psalm (269).
As for a concise summary of Ps 19, Limburg and Goldingay focus on the contrasting testimony of the book of nature and the instruction of the torah. They entitle their treatment “A Tale of Two Books” (Limburg, 58) and “The Fiery Cosmos and the Encouraging Law” (Goldingay, 282). Alexander disagrees with the emphasis upon the two books, instead seeing the focus of the psalm “to identify their author and their subject. The doctrinal sum of the whole composition is, that the same God who reared the frame of nature is the giver of a law, and that this law is in all respects worthy of its author” (87).
