Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear George,

> The use of the preposition lamed often signifies a characteristic. With
> regards the Psalms, I think it is easier to take the preposition this way
> each time you encounter it in the express LeDawid. As such, it does not
> actually mean "of David" in the sense of authorship, but rather "Davidic" in
> the sense of content or tradition. Thus, the 'Davidic Psalms' are not
> necessarily Psalms written by David (though they might be). Rather, they are
> Davidic Psalms which imbibe Davidic theology and tradition, no matter who
> wrote them. In this regard, even the psalms written in the first person
> about incidents in David's life could have been written by someone else much
> later than David, a bit like a monologue in one of Shakespeare's historical
> plays. The issue is content, not authorship.
>
> In this regard, the connection between the Jerusalem temple and the Davidic
> dynasty may be the point of Psalm 30. It does not have to be David who is
> the speaker. In fact, going by the strength of the tradition, you would
> imagine that the speaker would be understood as Solomon (if it is talking
> about the dedication of the first temple in Jerusalem). And good old Solomon
> is as 'Davidic' as they come.


HH: Are you claiming special treatment for the phrase LDWD as opposed 
to all the other superscriptions phrases with L and then a personal 
name. There is L with Ethan, Solomon, the sons of Korah, Heman, 
Moses, and Asaph. Are these psalms that imbibe the theology and 
tradition of these men, no matter who wrote them? If you say yes to 
that too, it would display even further the subjective nature of the 
claim. On what basis do you make a claim even about the Davidic 
psalms? There are plenty of psalms that have no phrase with L and a 
personal name. And many of these are similar to psalms that are 
labeled as belonging to David. It is called the lamed of authorship, 
not the lamed of similarity.

HH: There is such a lamed with the name Hezekiah just before a poem 
attributed to Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:9. The Book of Isaiah is not 
claiming that it is a poem with the content and tradition of 
Hezekiah. Isaiah is claiming that Hezekiah wrote it. So this whole 
theory seems misguided, especially in its claim that Davidic psalms 
about incidents in the life of David may not have been written by 
David but by someone else, perhaps generations later and along the 
lines of fictional writings by Shakespeare.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard



> Best Regards,
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Moore Theological College
> 1 Kings St, Newtown 2042, Australia
> Ph: (+61 2) 9577 9774
>  <mailto:george.athas AT moore.edu.au> george.athas AT moore.edu.au
>
>
>
>
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