The King As Exemplar: The Function Of Deuteronomy's Kingship Law In The Shaping Of The Book Of Psalms (Society of Biblical Literature Academia Biblica)

This book contributes to one of the more fruitful areas of Old Testament studies in recent years: the canonical study of the Psalter. It asks why the three psalms that focus on the torah (instruction) of Yahweh (Pss 1, 19, and 119) are associated with royal psalms and suggests that the answer lies in an editorial attempt to draw attention to Deuteronomy's kingship law (Deut 17:14-20). This focus on the Pentateuch's paradigm for kingship is meant not only to shape the psalmic presentation of the eschatological king but also to direct the reader to a piety that every believer should emulate - the king as exemplar for the people of God. This volume will be of interest to scholars of the Psalter, Deuteronomy, and intertextual studies as well as profitable reading for anyone interested in biblical perspectives on living as the people of God. The rationale of the order of Psalms is a puzzle at least as old as Augustine in the fourth century, and Grant (Biblical studies, Highland Theological College, Scotland) does not aspire to solve the whole thing here and now. Rather he bites off only one aspect, a particular paradigm that may have influenced the shape of the Psalms in certain ways. He argues that the Deuteronomic Kingship Law, in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, has been used as an intellectual construct to shape and nuance the psalmic presentation of kingship. His quotations are in Hebrew with English translation. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR