Psalm 120 and the question of authorship of the songs of Ascents

As the first of the songs of Ascents, Psalm 120 might be seen as key to understanding the whole corpus, but its content remains poorly understood. This study suggests that its author was a smith-poet committed to the Edomite/Qenite traditional worship of YHWH, here complaining about participating, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Amzalag, Nisim 1962- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2021
In: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Year: 2021, Volume: 45, Issue: 4, Pages: 588-604
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bible. Psalmen 120 / Hellenism / Edom (Landscape) / Psalms
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
Further subjects:B early Persian Period
B Ezrahite singers
B non-Israelite yahwism
B Edom
B Psalm 120
B Songs of Ascents
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:As the first of the songs of Ascents, Psalm 120 might be seen as key to understanding the whole corpus, but its content remains poorly understood. This study suggests that its author was a smith-poet committed to the Edomite/Qenite traditional worship of YHWH, here complaining about participating, through the fabrication of iron weapons, in the demise of Edom (553 BCE). On this reading, the poem becomes a lament on the irremediable demise of traditional (metallurgical) Yahwism after the rise of iron metallurgy and its transformation of war. Introducing the Ascents, this song might express the search for an alternative form of Yahwism emancipated from the original metallurgical dimension. Expressed in Israel, this alternative Yahwism becomes praised in the other songs of Ascents. This interpretation corroborates the rise of a group of Edomite poets (Ezrahites) in Jerusalem in the early Persian period and its integration within the temple staff.
ISSN:1476-6728
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0309089220963429