Tiêu đề B 223.2_The David of the Psalms (Mays, J. L.).pdf ✅

In the New Testament, interest in David as source of psalmody and liturgy for the community seems marginal, but it is important to remember that the emphasis which is present is the basis for the use of the Psalms in the liturgy ofthe early church. The Psalms were used, and were understood as they were, because of their connection through David with Christ. The Dead Sea Psalms Scroll shows the interest at Qumran in the notion of the David of the Psalms. 4 The scroll reflects the most fully-developed phase ofthe tradition known from the ancient world. David is said to have composed four thousand and fifty psalms and to have provided songs for all the occasions in the cultic calendar. All the psalms were spoken through prophecy given him by God. The scroll contains two, perhaps three, psalms composed to go with occasions in David's life known from the Book of Samuel (Psalms 152, 153, and 15IB). There is even a suggestion in Psalm ISlA that the practice of psalmody in his youth was a human basis for David's selection by God, a kind of merit which justified the divine choice. The notion of the "David of the Psalms" has its defining and orienting origin in the Old Testament. The question can be asked whether a descriptive and constructive look at it in that context can contribute to its understanding and use today. There is no need to look again at the history of the notion. Questions about whether David composed any of the psalms, or which psalms, and what basis there is in fact for the connection between David and psalmody, have probably been pressed to their useful limits. The various conclusions reached have, of course, always been less than the tradition claimed. The purpose here is rather to ask what im- plications about the character and use of the idea can be drawn by looking at it in its literary context in the Old Testament. The contexts are several. David is connected with the Psalms in the books of Samuel, Chronicles, and Psalms. As one looks at these textual areas, one quickly sees that nothing like the full traditional notion of the David ofthe Psalms is present in anyone ofthem. One must look in turn at all three and ask in what way each stands in relation to the other. The Old Testament "David of the Psalms" is a notion to which there are three different witnesses. The Books of Samuel At the beginning of this story in Samuel, David appears as a musician. 4. On matters in this paragraph see J. A. Sanders, The Dead Sea Psalrlls Scroll (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967). The numbering of psalms from the scroll is that given by Sanders. 146 Downloaded from int.sagepub.com at NANYANG TECH UNIV LIBRARY on June 15, 2015