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Psalm 89 in Light of the Strategically Positioned Royal Psalms: Is the Davidic Covenant a Failed Mission?

Jinkyu Kim 1

1백석대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

It is well known that royal psalms 2, 72, and 89 are strategically placed at the seams of Books I-III because of Wilson's pioneering work on their strategic arrangement. He observed there is a thematic development among these royal psalms. The key issue is how the Davidic covenant is to be viewed in light of their arrangement. The Davidic covenant is positively viewed in Ps 2. It is transferred to his son Solomon in Ps 72. However, it is negatively evaluated in Ps 89. According to Wilson the heart of the message of Ps 89 is the Davidic covenant failed. He sought to find the answer to this failed mission from Books IV-V. He called the YHWH MALAK psalms (Pss 94-99) the theological heart of the expanded final Psalter. Wilson's negative evaluation of Ps 89 derived primarily from his failure to observe the strategic arrangement of the royal psalms in Books IV-V. The method he employed for the study of Ps 89 also involves a logical problem by overlooking the theme of the Davidic covenant from the royal psalms in Books IV-V. The royal psalms that are strategically placed in Books I-III should be compared to those in Books IV-V, not to the YHWH MALAK psalms in Book IV. The goal of this paper is to unravel that the Davidic covenant in Ps 89 is not a failed mission. This study utilizes my previous research on the royal psalms in Books IV-V(“The Strategic Arrangement of Royal Psalms in Books IV-V,” WTJ 70 [2008], 143-57). The present study will show how the theme of the Davidic covenant develops from Ps 89 to the strategically positioned royal psalms in Books IV-V (Pss 110, 132, and 144). The hope for the anointed of YHWH did not evaporate in the air; it reappears as a new form of the Messianic hope matched with the eschatological hope which appears in prophetic writings in the postexilic period(e.g., Zech 9-14, Joel 3-4[MT], etc.). In Ps 110, the Messiah triumphs in the warfare and sits at the right hand of YHWH. In Ps 132, the Messiah rules on Mount Zion. In Ps 144, the Messiah will finally win the victory over the enemies in the eschatological warfare and there will be abundant eschatological blessings. In light of this thematic development, the message of Ps 89 will be identified as the Davidic king's temporary suffering, humilation, and rejection. The living hope for the anointed of YHWH in Ps 89 is vividly expressed in the psalmist's exclamation, “How long, O LORD?”(v. 46/H47).

Citation status

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