The Book Of Psalms As The Book Of Christ: A Christo .

gratefulness, I remember the teaching, encouragement andfriendship of the late Dr. Raymond B. Dillard.I say thank you to Ms. Donna Conley, Registrar, for herassistance in the final stages of the dissertation.Thank youalso to various members of the Library staff, Dr. Darryl G.Hart, Ms. Grace Mullen, and Ms. Jane Patete for all theirvaluable assistance.With special gratitude I acknowledge the congregationsof three churches: Peace Baptist Church in Germanton, NorthCarolina; Maple Glen Bible Fellowship Church in Maple Glen,Pennsylvania; and West Meadows Baptist Church in Edmonton,Alberta.Without their gracious support, this dissertationwould never have been completed.I wish also to thank the administration, faculty, andstaff of Edmonton Baptist Seminary (and North American BaptistCollege) for all they have done to enable me to complete thisdissertation while serving on their faculty.It is an honorto work alongside these colleagues.My greatest debt of gratitude and love is to my dearwife, Cheryl, for her undying love and for believing in me.She has earned this degree as much as I have.Thank you forbeing my wife and for being there when I needed you.Mywonderful children, Jennifer, Joel, and Timothy, have had tolive with "Dad's dissertation" longer than they should have.Thank you for the constant joy you bring into my life.xv

Finally, praise to the Lord who has revealed himself toin canon and in his Christ.May he be pleased to use thiswork for his glory and the good of his Church.xvi

PREFACEThis dissertation is an investigation into the properinterpretation of the messianic psalms, with special referenceas to whether the current emphases on canonical analysis canassist in that process.Part One investigates the history of messianic psalminterpretation and the relatively brief history of canonicalanalysis and criticism.Chapter 1 is a look at the history ofthe messianic exegesis of the Psalms from after the time ofthe New Testament to the present.Chapter 2 focuses entirelyon the canonical analysis of Brevard Childs, while chapter 3examines the canonical criticism of James Sanders.Part Two deals with the what I have called the Christocanonical approach to distinguish it from some approaches thatare called canonical, but, which, I will argue, should not beconsidered so.Chapter 4 deals with the canonical processapproach of Bruce Waltke, who provided the original stimulusfor the topic of this dissertation.Chapter 5, then, outlinesthe theses and assumptions of the Christo-canonical approachwith respect to the nature of canon.Chapter 6 outlines thetheses and assumptions of the Christo-canonical approach withrespect to the nature of the interpretive canonical task.Part Three applies the approach to the book of Psalms.Chapter 7 deals with the shape of the Psalter.xviiChapter 8

investigates the function of the Psalms in their canonicalcontext.Chapter 9 applies the findings of the two previouschapters to three test cases, Psalms 8, 41, and 129.Finally, chapter 10 briefly outlines some of the implicationsof the Christo-canonical approach for reading andunderstanding the book of Psalms.Throughout the dissertation the Hebrew verse enumerationis used for the Masoretic Text of the book of Psalms.Whenreference is made to the Greek text of the Psalter, theSeptuagint enumeration is used.Except for those places whereI felt it was necessary to give a more literal translation,the New International Version (copyright 1973, 1978, 1984,International Bible Society and Zondervan Bible Publishers),has been used.xviii

PART ONETHE HISTORY OF MESSIANIC PSALM INTERPRETATION ANDCANONICAL INTERPRETATION

CHAPTER 1A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF MESSIANIC OR CHRISTOLOGICALINTERPRETATION OF THE PSALMSThis survey could begin with the very writing of thePsalms themselves, for, as I will try to show, there was amessianic intention present from the very start.Thisintention becomes increasingly clearer as the canon grows andbecomes fully developed with the revelation of Jesus Christand the completion of the canon of the Old and New Testaments.Also, this survey could start with the New Testament, for itis certainly true that the early Church Fathers saw theirexegesis as being of a piece with the apostles (though notcanonical, of course).1However, since that is part of thethesis I am trying to prove, this survey will begin postcanon, that is, from the time when the canon is complete,though not necessarily well-defined and recognized.Thesurvey will cover the following broad areas: Apostolic Fathersto ca. AD 200, the Alexandrian and Antiochene schools to ca.500, Middle Ages to ca. 1500, the Reformation to ca. 1600, andfrom the Reformation to the present.1Glenn W. Olsen, "Allegory, Typology and Symbol: The SensusSpiritalis. Part Two: Early Church through Origen," Communio 4(1977): 366, 371.2

3Apostolic Fathers to ca. AD 200The Old Testament exegesis of the Church in this timeperiod must be seen in the light of the Church's struggle withenemies on several different fronts: the military might of theRoman Empire, Greek philosophy, the anti-Christian polemic ofthe Jews,2 and heretical tendencies within the Church itself.Use and exegesis (not necessarily Christological) of thePsalms served to combat enemies on all these fronts.Inparticular, it helped to combat Marcion's attempt to cut theChurch off from the Old Testament, an attempt which theFathers rightly recognized would result in cutting off thevery foundation of the Church's argument that Jesus was theChrist.3At the same time, it should be remembered that we2I believe, however, that William L. Johnson ("Patristic Useof the Psalms until the Late Third Century" [Ph.D. diss.,Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1982], 3) goes too far incharacterizing the whole of Psalms exegesis in this era as being"anti-Jewish." The dissertation fails both to define "antiJewish" and to distinguish various levels of opposition to theJews and their exegesis. An example of this is as follows (pp.100-101): "Some anti-Jewish attitudes in the Fathers supported bythe Psalms which have already been referred to and/or implied cannow be noted in summary fashion. The Christian affirmation ofJesus as the messiah stands as a single but profound rejection ofJudaism's insistence that the messiah was yet to come. Inaccounts of his passion, the Fathers habitually found propheciesin the Psalms which the Jews said were really references to someOld Testament figure. The Fathers openly and emphaticallypointed out direct participation of the Jews in the death ofJesus. The Jews were even accused of deleting parts of thePsalms which made reference to the cross of Jesus." The problemhere is that "Christian affirmation of Jesus as the messiah"should not be seen as "anti-Jewish" on the same plane as theother things he mentions.3Peter R. Ackroyd, "The Old Testament in the ChristianChurch," Theology 66 (1963): 51. Ralph L. Smith notes that"early Christians could continue to use the psalms because they

4have no extant Psalms commentaries from this time period, andthat there is no hard evidence that there was a consciousattempt to find Christ in every psalm.4The Fathers did notalways draw a straight line from a particular psalm to Christ,nor did they always feel the need to allegorize to "search forsome hidden meaning."5The earliest uses of the Psalms in theApostolic Fathers seem to be directed more toward motivationto good works than for pointing either prophetically orallegorically to Christ.Among the Apostolic Fathers, 1 Clement (ca. AD 95) andBarnabas (ca. AD 100) are the only works that use the Psalmsto any significant degree.6For the most part their use isparenetic, but they engage in Christological exegesis as well.An example from each will demonstrate this.Clementintroduces the words of Ps 34:12-20 by putting them inChrist's mouth: "Now faith in Christ confirms all these thingsreinterpreted them in the light of Christ" ("The Use andInfluence of the Psalter," Southwestern Journal of Theology 27[1984]: 6).4Raymond E. Brown, "Hermeneutics," JBC, ed. Raymond E.Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmeyer, and Roland E. Murphy (EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968), 611.5Contra R. D. Richardson, "The Psalms as Christian Prayersand Praises," ATR 42 (1960): 343.6O. Linton, "Interpretation of the Psalms in the EarlyChurch," in Studia Patristica 4, ed. F. L. Cross, TU 79 (Berlin:Akademie-Verlag, 1961), 146. Johnson notes that even theDidache, which gives elaborate instructions in regard to severalof the liturgical and ritual functions of the early Church, makesno reference to the Psalms as a part of these services, nor doesit do any prooftexting from the Psalms ("Patristic Use of thePsalms," 161-63).

5for he himself through the Holy Spirit thus calls us: Come mychildren, listen to me . . ."7Motivation for making Christthe speaker of this particular psalm could come from the useof v. 21 in John 19:36; yet, interestingly, Clement stops justshort of quoting v. 21 in his rather lengthy citation.The author of the Epistle of Barnabas, allegorizes topoint to both baptism and the crucifixion in Psalm 1.Heintroduces his quotation of Ps 1:3-6 as the words of "anotherprophet," and then, after finishing the quotation, says:Notice how he pointed out the water and the crosstogether. For this is what he means: blessed are thosewho, having set their hope on the cross, descended intothe water, because he speaks of the reward "in itsseason"; at that time, he means, I will repay. But fornow what does he say? "The leaves will not wither." Bythis he means that every word that comes forth from yourmouth in faith and love will bring conversion and hope tomany.8Among the apologists there is not much use made of thePsalms except for Justin Martyr (AD 96-166).9Linton commentson how Justin followed a well-recognized method in order tomake his Christological interpretations.The method was (1)to over-literalize the language of a particular passage, (2)71 Clem. 22. Cited in J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, TheApostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of TheirWritings, 2d ed., rev. and ed. Michael W. Holmes (London:Macmillan, 1891; 2d rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989), 55.8Barn. 11. Cited in Lightfoot and Harmer, ApostolicFathers, 305. See also Frederic W. Farrar's comments on thispassage (History of Interpretation [E. P. Dutton, 1886; repr.,Grand Rapids: Baker, 1961], 169-70).9Linton, "Interpretation of the Psalms in the Early Church,"147.

6to show, based on the over-literalized language, how thepassage in question cannot refer to the "natural subject," (3)then substitute, or rather, "reintroduce," the correctsubject.10For example, Justin refers Psalm 22 to Jesus,remarking that David suffered none of the things mentioned inthe psalm.11Again, in Psalm 24, Justin shows how the gates invv. 7-10 cannot be the gates of the temple, for they are nolonger existent; they must, therefore, be the doors of heaven.The King of glory cannot be either Solomon or Hezekiah, forthey were both well-known, and in either case, "it would beabsurd to think, that the guardians of the temple-doors shouldask him, who he was."Nor can the text refer to God, for hehas always been in heaven and has never had an occasion toenter it."Thus the text must concern the risen Lord, whoenters heaven to sit on the right hand of God.not of earth but is cosmic.The scenery isIt is the guardians of heaven whodo not recognize Christ in his kenosis."12Another device that Justin used was that of trying todistinguish the person or prosopon speaking in the passage.1011Ibid., 144-47.Justin, 1 Apol. 35.6.of the Psalms," 147.12Quoted in Linton, "InterpretationLinton ("Interpretation of the Psalms," 147-48)paraphrasing Justin (Apol. 51; Dialog. 36, 85). Linton notesthat this is not far removed from the argumentation used by Peterin Acts 2 regarding Psalm 16. On other early Christian usage ofPsalm 24, see Allen Cabaniss, "The Harrowing of Hell, Psalm 24,and Pliny the Younger: A Note," VC 7 (1953): 65-74; and Alan M.Cooper, "Ps 24:7-10: Mythology and Exegesis," JBL 102 (1983): 3760.

7That is, it is important to determine whether the prophet isspeaking from himself or "out of person" (apo prosopou).Whenit is according to the latter, the psalmists are speaking "bythe divine word which moves them."13We will see this again inClement of Alexandria.Justin also argued with the Jews over textual matters.Evidently, a Christian interpolation in Psalm 96:10 had addedthe words "from the tree [or "cross"]" after the declaration"The Lord reigns."Several of the Latin Fathers quote thepassage with the interpolation, even though there is only asingle extant Septuagint manuscript that has the addition.Rather than recognize the addition as an obviousinterpolation, Justin argues with Trypho that the Jews were,in fact, the ones who had left out the phrase."14Irenaeus (AD 135-202), as the father of biblicaltheology, stressed the essential unity of the Old Testamentand New Testament and the normativity of New Testamentexegesis of the Old.15The Psalms became for him a source ofdetails regarding Christ's earthly life.He found the virginbirth prophesied in Ps 85:13 and the memorialization of thevirgin Mary in Ps 45:18 ("I will perpetuate your memory13Linton, "Interpretation of the Psalms," 147.14Noted by Johnson ("Patristic Use of the Psalms," 39-40).Johnson notes that Tertullian also supports the authenticity ofthe phrase and ridicules the Jews for not being able to recognizethe obvious reference of the psalm to Christ.15Linton, "Interpretation of the Psalms," 149.

8through all generations"; cf. Luke 1:48, "From now on allgenerations will call me blessed").16Two scholars closely related in their exegesis areTertullian (AD 160-220) and his great admirer Cyprian (AD 195228).Tertullian, like others before him, found details ofChrist's life in the Psalms.Using Ps 22:10 he showed how ithad been prophesied that the Messiah would come forth from thewomb and nurse at his mother's breasts.17Everywhere in thePsalms he could find references to the Lord's passion, and inat least two different places found in the Psalmsconversations between Jesus and his Father.18his master Tertullian closely in his exegesis.Cyprian followedIndeed, it hasbeen suggested that the Psalms were as important as theGospels in forming his Christology.19Three things should be noted at this point.First, asDonald Juel notes, there is no one method of Scriptureinterpretation here that takes precedence over another in16Johnson, "Patristic Use of the Psalms," 32-33.17Ibid., 33.18Ibid., 14. Interestingly, Max Wilcox ("The Aramaic Targumto the Psalms," in Proceedings of the Ninth World Congress ofJewish Studies, ed. David Asaaf [Jerusalem: World Union of JewishStudies, 1986], 147) has shown how in one of his messianicinterpretations, Tertullian agrees with the Targum to the Psalmsagainst both the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text.19Lars Olav Eriksson, "Come, Children, Listen to Me!": Psalm34 in the Hebrew Bible and in Early Christian Writings, ConBOT 32(Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1991), 132 n. 244.

9seeing Christ in the Psalms.20In other words, we are not yettalking about schools of interpretation.Second, I think itis important to note that, while these interpretations mayseem allegorical to us, most of the Fathers we have looked at(except perhaps for the Epistle of Barnabas) were being, atleast in their own eyes, fairly literal in their exegesis.They talked in terms of prophecy or promise and fulfillment,rather than in terms of some arbitrary allegorism.I am notdenying that they were allegorical, but rather, that they didnot perceive themselves to be so.And in this, they somewhatunconsciously practiced and anticipated the exegesis thatFaber Stapulensis (Lefevre D'etaples) consciously articulatedin the fifteenth century.21Third, though it may seem like theopposite may be the case, it is impossible, as noted before,to prove that these early Church Fathers tried to find Christin all the psalms.Indeed, Justin's attempt to determine theprosopon of the Psalms seems to show that there was no allpervasive attempt to find Christ in "every nook and cranny."But this would change.The Alexandrian and Antiochene Schoolsto ca. 500The contrast between Alexandrian and Antiochene exegesishas been exaggerated.It is true, however, that the contrast20Donald Juel, Messianic Exegesis: ChristologicalInterpretation in Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress,1988), 139.21See the discussion on Faber later in this chapter.

10shows up most sharply in their respective exegeses of the OldTestament and, most particularly, in the Psalms.The Alexandrian SchoolIn opposition to the previously named Church Fathers,the Alexandrians openly embraced Greek philosophy, thought ofit as being of divine origin, and brought its allegorizingtechnique into their exegesis.22The first prominent scholarof this school was Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-215).Whilehis overall approach to Old Testament exegesis wasallegorical, he did not always use it indiscriminately.Forexample, he used the prosopon argument that we saw earlier inJustin Martyr to show that Christ must be the speaker in Psalm16.However, anticipating the concept which was later called"corporate personality," he regards Christ as speaking not forhimself, but as the representative of the whole people of Godof all time, both Jew and Gentile.23Of course, the most prominent scholar of the Alexandrianschool and, to our knowledge, the first Christian commentatoron the Psalms, though the commentary is not extant,24 wasOrigen (AD 185-254).2223There is no doubt that he engaged inFarrar, History of Interpretation, 183-84.Clement, Strom. 6.6, sec. 49,2-50,1."Interpretation of the Psalms," 150.24Cited in Linton,Karen Jo Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure and TheologicalMethod in Origen's Exegesis, Patristische Texte und Studien 28(Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1986), 19.

11very fanciful and highly arbitrary allegorical exegesis.25That he did so, however, exclusive of the historical andgrammatical sense is simply not the case.Though he did tendto relegate the literal meaning of a passage to a place ofvalue only for the more simple believer, he made it clear thathe thought the literal sense was important.For example, hisexegesis of Psalm 37 is very literal with no real trace ofallegory.26psalm.Nor did he necessarily try to find Christ in everyIn one place he criticizes the Devil for hisexegetical blunder in trying to apply Ps 91:11-12 to Christ.Satan should have known that the p

SBLMS Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series SBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers . SBT Studies in Biblical Theology SJT Scottish Journal of Theology SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series ST Studia Theologica STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Des