The Shape and Message of Book III (Psalms 73–89)
Overview
This study of Book III of the Psalter examines evidence for the canonical organization of these seventeen psalms and finds cohesive links that create a consistent and coherent dialogue throughout. Continual laments by a righteous individual on behalf of and in concert with the nation spring from the non-fulfillment of hopes raised in Psalm 72 at the end of Book II. Divine answers give reasons for the continuing desolation but assure the eventual establishment of a kingdom without specifying its time. Book III ends as it began, asking how long God's wrath will smolder, and in response, Book IV opens with Psalm 90 contrasting human and divine perspectives on time.
Top Highlights
“Furthermore, by the end of Book III, he is promised a throne that is indistinguishable from that of Yahweh” (Page 231)
“73 brings the reader back to the hard reality of the present, a situation quite opposite to that just described” (Page 15)
“promise, complaint at the opposite conditions to those promised, reassurance, and then further complaints” (Page 27)
“disobedience is the cause, while affirming the validity and certainty of a future restoration” (Page 231)
“the voice of a single righteous one in the beginning Psalms 73, 75, 77, 78” (Page 231)
- Title: The Shape and Message of Book III (Psalms 73–89)
- Author: Robert L. Cole
- Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
- Publication Date: 2000
- Pages: 262