Editing Psalms (section)

===Editorial agenda===
[[File:Utrecht Psalter (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Psalm 11]] in the ninth-century [[Utrecht Psalter]], where the illustration of the text is often literal.]]
Many scholars believe the individual Psalms were redacted into a single collection during the [[Second Temple]] period.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Haley|first=Kevin Joseph|date=7 December 2012|title= 'In the Midst of the Congregation I Will Praise You' (Ps 22:23b): The Reinterpretation of the Psalms of the Individual in Judaism and Christianity|url= https://curate.nd.edu/show/c247dr29234|degree=Doctor of Philosophy (Theology)|chapter= |publisher=University of Notre Dame|access-date=19 December 2023}}</ref> It had long been recognized that the collection bore the imprint of an underlying message or [[metanarrative]], but that this message remained concealed, as [[Augustine of Hippo]] said, "The sequence of the Psalms seems to me to contain the secret of a mighty mystery, but its meaning has not been revealed to me" (''Enarr.'' on Psalms 150:1). Others pointed out the presence of concatenation—that is, adjacent Psalms sharing similar words and themes. In time, this approach developed into recognizing overarching themes shared by whole groups of psalms.<ref>C. Westermann, ''The Living Psalms'' (trans. J. R. Porter; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1989; M. E. Tate, ''Psalms 51–100'' (Waco, Texas: Word, 1990).</ref>

In 1985, [[Gerald H. Wilson]]'s ''The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter'' proposed—by parallel with other ancient Near Eastern hymn collections—that psalms at the beginning and end (or "seams") of the five books of Psalms have thematic significance, corresponding in particular with the placement of the royal psalms. He pointed out that there was a progression of ideas from adversity through the crux of the collection in the apparent failure of the [[covenant (biblical)|covenant]] in Psalm 89, leading to a concert of praise at the end. He concluded that the collection was redacted to be a retrospective of the failure of the [[Davidic covenant]], exhorting Israel to trust in God alone in a non-messianic future.<ref>G.H. Wilson, ''The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter'' (Chico, California: Scholars Press, 1985).</ref> [[Walter Brueggemann]] suggested that the underlying editorial purpose was oriented instead towards wisdom or sapiential concerns, addressing the issues of how to live the life of faith. Psalm 1 calls the reader to a life of obedience; Psalm 73 (Brueggemann's crux psalm) faces the crisis when divine faithfulness is in doubt; Psalm 150 represents faith's triumph when God is praised not for his rewards but for his being.<ref>W. Brueggemann, 'Bounded by Obedience and Praise: The Psalms as Canon', ''JSOT'' 50:63–92.</ref> In 1997, David. C. Mitchell's ''The Message of the Psalter'' took a quite different line. Building on the work of Wilson and others,<ref>B. S. Childs, ''Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture'' (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979) 511–18; J. L. Mays, '"In a Vision": The Portrayal of the Messiah in the Psalms', ''Ex Auditu'' 7: 1–8; J. Forbes, ''Studies on the Book of Psalms'' (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1888).</ref> Mitchell proposed that the Psalter embodies an eschatological timetable like that of [[Book of Zechariah|Zechariah]] 9–14.<ref>David C.  Mitchell, ''The Message of the Psalter: An Eschatological Programme in the Book of Psalms'', JSOT Supplement 252 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997).</ref> This programme includes the [[Gathering of Israel|ingathering of exiled Israel]] by a bridegroom-king; his establishment of a kingdom; his violent death; Israel scattered in the wilderness, regathered and again imperiled, and then rescued by a king from the heavens, who establishes his kingdom from Zion, brings peace and prosperity to the earth and receives the homage of the nations.

These three views—Wilson's non-messianic retrospective of the Davidic covenant, Brueggemann's sapiential instruction, and Mitchell's eschatological-messianic program—all have their followers. However, the sapiential agenda has been somewhat eclipsed by the other two. Shortly before he died in 2005, Wilson modified his position to allow for the existence of messianic prophecy within the Psalms' redactional agenda.<ref>G.H. Wilson, 'King, Messiah, and the Reign of God: Revisiting the Royal Psalms and the Shape of the Psalter' in P. W. Flint and P. D. Miller (eds.), ''The Book of Psalms: Composition and Reception'' (Leiden: Brill, 2005).</ref> Mitchell's position remains essentially unchanged, but he now sees the issue as identifying when the historical beginning of the Psalms turns to eschatology.<ref>He has expanded his views on some subjects; see '"God Will Redeem My Soul From Sheol": The Psalms of the Sons of Korah', ''JSOT'' 30 (2006) 365–84; 'Lord, Remember David: G.H. Wilson and the Message of the Psalter', ''Vetus Testamentum'' 56 (2006) 526–48; ''The Songs of Ascents'' (Campbell: Newton Mearns, 2015) 211–16; 36–44.</ref>

James VanderKam’s ''The Dead Sea Scrolls Today'' examined the large Psalms scroll from [[Qumran]], [[11Q5|11QPs(a)]], showing that while the first three books (Psalms 1-89) were largely fixed by the early 1st century&nbsp;CE, Psalms 90-150 show variations in ordering and content, suggesting the collection was still being finalized into the mid-1st century&nbsp;CE and included material not found in the later [[Masoretic Text]].<ref name=":0">VanderKam, James. The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. 2nd ed., Eerdmans, 2010, pp. 172—176.</ref> [[Peter Flint]] argues that the findings show there were three different versions of the Psalter circulating during the Second Temple period, with the Masoretic version being attested among the scrolls found at [[Masada]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Flint |first=Peter W. |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-978333-5 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=William P. |page=240 |chapter=Unrolling the Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o9jQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA240}}</ref>