Biblical Hebrew Forum

["R. Lehmann" <lehmann AT uni-mainz.de>]

Dear Bryant, and list,

ad 1: tacet
ad 2: naphshi in 23:3 is "my life" (or life-energy, if you want), of course.
ad 3: yeshovev in connection weith naphshi is of course "restore" - "to make 
my nephesh return" means: to bring back my energy to live, and this because:
ad 4: whoever wrote Psalm 23, it consists of two pieces: first, there was a 
"liturgic piece" (vv 4-6), which originally belonged to the application area 
of asylum / shelter in the sanctuary (cities of refuge), see Numbers 35:22ss 
and the book by Lienhard Delekat, Asylie und Schutzorakel am Zionheiligtum, 
1967. This explains fully the meaning od yeshovev naphshi and the following, 
including the double-meaning of W$BTY, which first was we-$ibti (Y$B 
inf+sff), see LXX kai to katoikein me: "I will stay in the temple / sanctuary 
..." (as a refugee).
Later, when there were no more cities of refuge after exile, this changed 
into we-$abti ($WB perf 1sg.qal): "I will come back..."  Here, the Psalm has 
turned into a pilgrimage song. Praise to those who had done this and re-read 
the psalm this way! Without their work, it would have been lost like lots of 
other Ancient Hebrew texts.
I think the vv. 1-3 (maybe also 4) were added as a song of confidence and 
reliance to make it better fitting the pilgrimage situation.

Of course, all this is not my idea, but Delekat's. But it has been forgotten 
a little bit in the last decades, and in my opinion it is the best you can 
get to explain the philological AND theological profundity of this Psalm. I 
explain this every term to my students in the Hebrew beginner's class, and 
they are grateful to learn how theologically important it is to learn Hebrew. 


¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
Dr. Reinhard G. Lehmann, Academic Director
Research Unit on Ancient Hebrew & Epigraphy
FB 01/ Faculty of Protestant Theology
Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz
D-55099 Mainz
Germany
lehmann AT uni-mainz.de
http://www.hebraistik.uni-mainz.de/eng
11th Mainz International Colloquium on Ancient Hebrew (MICAH) 2013:
http://www.micah.hebraistik.uni-mainz.de/204.php




> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:23:43 -0800
> From: "Rev. Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Psalm 23
> To: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <6ABD59E8097841778D2D049FD45BE5E5@williamspc>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> Dear List,
> 
> I have been reviewing the Messianic Psalms 22, 23, 24 very recently. Since 
> these three Psalms are a triad, it puzzles me that while Psalms 22 and 24 
> prophecy the death and glory of the Messiah Psalm 23 is silent.
> 
> I have several questions:
> 
> 1.    How does Psalm 23 fit with the prophetic Messianic Pss. 22 & 24?
> 
> 2.    Does "nephesh" in 23:3 (MT) mean "soul" or "life" or ?
> 
> 3.    Does "YeShUBeB" (Polel Impf) mean "restore" as traditionally 
> translated or is it closer t o the idea of "to turn, return?"
> 
> 4.    How would David have understood them when he wrote them NOT how they 
> have been understood by the Christian exegetical tradition?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
>