Psalms

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 2002 by Cole, Robert

Psalms. By James Limburg. Westminster Bible Companion. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2000, 509 pp., n.p. paper.

The commentary forms part of a series written to "help the laity of the church read the Bible more clearly and intelligently" (p. xi). Included are a six-page introduction, commentary on each psalm (Psalms 9-10 are considered one), and a short bibliography. There are no indexes or footnotes. Samples of titles given to individual psalms are "The Way to Go" (Psalm 1), "The Plotting Politicians" (Psalm 2), "A Mighty Fortress" (Psalm 46), "Rock Music" (Psalm 60), "From King David to Duke Ellington" (Psalm 150). Translations of each psalm, including the ancient superscriptions where they exist, precede introductory remarks, the latter consisting typically of personal incidents from the commentator's life, discussion of its role vis-a-vis previous psalms, suggestions regarding an ancient life-setting, and observations on the psalm's structure. General summaries follow according to paragraph divisions.

The approach is predominantly form-critical, although the canonical method is given due regard. Psalms is categorized as "The People's Book" because in it are songs, reflections, and advice for all of life's experiences, and so it is a "collection of 150 psalms" (p. xiii). Summarizing statements such as "lament and praise are the two fundamental themes running through the Psalms" and "a majority of the Psalms arose out of two fundamental situations in the lives of God's people" (p. xiv), confirm the governing approach. The basic theme is praise, since "the name of the book of Psalms in its original Hebrew form is one word: tehillim" (p. xiv). Such an asseveration overlooks the fact that the book lacks a title in Codex Leningradensis, and the traditional Hebrew title tehillim does not correspond to the Greek Psalmoi, the latter most probably derived from mizmor. Gunkel himself is mentioned when describing the interpretation of psalms "with other psalms of the same type" (pp. xvi-xvii). As part of the introduction, the canonical approach is succinctly described, including the names of some of its better known practitioners, followed by observations in the commentary itself.

The author has attempted to combine the more recent canonical approach with traditional form criticism, two approaches that are fundamentally different. The canonical method assumes a unified text and message wrought from the hand of the final redactor, while form critics attempt to reorder and reclassify the canonical Psalter. Mirroring the fact that at the present time the canonical approach is in its infancy, observations in the commentary from this perspective are of a scattered and mostly local nature, not accompanied by integration into the whole. To use Limburg's own words, the canonical method seeks to read each psalm in "the context of the entire book of Psalms, called the Psalter" (p. xvii), a task yet unfinished, as this commentary and the field at large demonstrate.

Robert Cole

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, SC