• The Gods-Complaint: Psalm 82 as a Psalm of Complaint

    Author(s):
    Daniel McClellan (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    Biblical Studies
    Subject(s):
    Bible. Psalms
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Book of Psalms
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/j57c-ma92
    Abstract:
    Psalm 82 has long resisted a consensus regarding its genre. While some scholars have noted that the psalm’s language overlaps with that of the complaint genre, several features of the psalm appear to complicate that reading. As a result, the framework of the divine council is frequently given interpretive priority, which has resulted in a variety of solutions to the psalm’s several interpretive difficulties and has also contributed to a general reluctance to consider the psalm within the literary context of the psalms of Asaph. I argue that the psalm’s interpretive difficulties are best resolved by understanding the psalm as a complaint, specifically a complaint put into the mouth of YHWH and addressed to the gods of the nations—a “gods-complaint.” This reading provides a new interpretive framework that may help resolve important questions related to the psalm’s compositional background, rhetorical function, and theological influence.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.15699/jbl.1374.2018.452196
    Publisher:
    Society of Biblical Literature/SBL Press
    Pub. Date:
    2018-12-17
    Journal:
    Journal of Biblical Literature
    Volume:
    137
    Issue:
    4
    Page Range:
    833 - 851
    ISSN:
    0021-9231
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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