„Gelobt sei der Herr, mein Fels ...!" (Ps 144,1) Wirkung und Bedeutung von Psalm 18 (// 2 Samuel 22) im Nachfeld des Psalters

What is it about?

In a preliminary hermeneutic deliberation, the meaning of the Psal-ter as a book and the importance of perceiving the individual psalms in sequence (lectio continua) is established. The Davidic Psalter furthermore contains a reception vector “back” to the historical narratives in the books of Samuel. In addition to details provided in the psalm headings, the duplicated transmission of the royal Da-vidic song of thanksgiving, 2 Sam 22 // Ps 18, forms an integral part of this reception connection. In addition to studies that have investi-gated the textual “prelude” of Ps 18, this article addresses the “postlude” (Ps 19-150). For this purpose, recurrences of Gattung (royal psalms) and of concepts and motifs (refuge, rescue, theo- phany, etc.) are worked out in view of Ps 18. These are found pre-dominantly in the immediate context (Ps 19-21); in a number of (sapiential) psalms in the first Davidic Psalter; at the end of Books II and III (Ps 71-72; 89); and at the beginning and towards the end of Books IV-V (Ps 91; 94 and especially 144). In reading through the book, one finds a shift in emphasis towards demilitarization, theolo-gizing and an increased stress on piety.

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