Psa 72:20 | KD | STEP | Superscription of the primary collection. The origin of this superscription cannot be the same as that of the doxology, which is only inserted between it and the Psalm, because it was intended to be read with the Psalm at the reading in the course of the service ( Symbolae , p. 19). כּלוּ = כּלּוּ, like דּחוּ in Ps 36:13, כּסּוּ, , all being Pual forms, as is manifest in the accented ultima . A parallel with this verse is the superscription “are ended the words of Job” in , which separates the controversial speeches and Job’s monologue from the speeches of God. No one taking a survey of the whole Psalter, with the many Psalms of David that follow beyond Ps 72, could possibly have placed this key-stone here. If, however, it is more ancient than the doxological division into five books, it is a significant indication in relation to the history of the rise of the collection. It proves that the collection of the whole as it now lies before us was at least preceded by one smaller collection, of which we may say that it extended to Ps 72, without thereby meaning to maintain that it contained all the Psalms up to that one, since several of them may have been inserted into it when the redaction of the whole took place. But it is possible for it to have contained Ps 72, wince at the earliest it was only compiled in the time of Solomon. The fact that the superscription following directly upon a Psalm of Solomon is thus worded, is based on the same ground as the fact that the whole Psalter is quoted in the New Testament as Davidic. David is the father of the שׁיר ה, , and hence all Psalms may be called Davidic, just as all משׁלים may be called Salomonic, without meaning thereby that they are all composed by David himself. Temptation to Apostasy Overcome After the one Asaph Psalm of the Second Book, Ps 50, follow eleven more of them from Psalms 73-83. They are all Elohimic, whereas the Korah Psalms divide into an Elohimic and a Jehovic group. forms the transition from the one to the other. The Elohim-Psalms extend from Psalms 42-84, and are fenced in on both sides by Jahve-Psalms. In contents Psalms 73 is the counterpart of pendant of Ps 50. As in that Psalm the semblance of a sanctity based upon works is traced back to its nothingness, so here the seeming good fortune of the ungodly, by which the poet felt himself tempted to fall away, not into heathenism (Hitzig), but into that free-thinking which in the heathen world does not less cast off the deisidaimoni'a than it does the belief in Jahve within the pale of Israel. Nowhere does there come to light in the national history any back ground that should contradict the לאסף, and the doubts respecting the moral order of the world are set at rest in exactly the same way as in Ps 37; Ps 49, and in the Book of Job. Theodicy, or the vindication of God’s ways, does not as yet rise from the indication of the retribution in this present time which the ungodly do not escape, to a future solution of all the contradictions of this present world; and the transcendent glory which infinitely outweighs the suffering of this present time, still remains outside the range of vision. The stedfast faith which, gladly renouncing everything, holds fast to God, and the pure love to which this possession is more than heaven and earth, is all the more worthy of admiration in connection with such defective knowledge. The strophe schema of the Psalm is predominantly octastichic: 4. 8. 8. 8; 8. 8. 5. Its two halves are , Psa 73:15.

‏ Psalms 72:20

Superscription of the primary collection. The origin of this superscription cannot be the same as that of the doxology, which is only inserted between it and the Psalm, because it was intended to be read with the Psalm at the reading in the course of the service (Symbolae, p. 19). כּלוּ = כּלּוּ, like דּחוּ in Ps 36:13, כּסּוּ, Psa 80:11, all being Pual forms, as is manifest in the accented ultima. A parallel with this verse is the superscription “are ended the words of Job” in Job 31:40, which separates the controversial speeches and Job’s monologue from the speeches of God. No one taking a survey of the whole Psalter, with the many Psalms of David that follow beyond Ps 72, could possibly have placed this key-stone here. If, however, it is more ancient than the doxological division into five books, it is a significant indication in relation to the history of the rise of the collection. It proves that the collection of the whole as it now lies before us was at least preceded by one smaller collection, of which we may say that it extended to Ps 72, without thereby meaning to maintain that it contained all the Psalms up to that one, since several of them may have been inserted into it when the redaction of the whole took place. But it is possible for it to have contained Ps 72, wince at the earliest it was only compiled in the time of Solomon. The fact that the superscription following directly upon a Psalm of Solomon is thus worded, is based on the same ground as the fact that the whole Psalter is quoted in the New Testament as Davidic. David is the father of the שׁיר ה, 2Ch 29:27, and hence all Psalms may be called Davidic, just as all משׁלים may be called Salomonic, without meaning thereby that they are all composed by David himself. Temptation to Apostasy Overcome

After the one Asaph Psalm of the Second Book, Ps 50, follow eleven more of them from Psalms 73-83. They are all Elohimic, whereas the Korah Psalms divide into an Elohimic and a Jehovic group. Psa 84:1-12 forms the transition from the one to the other. The Elohim-Psalms extend from Psalms 42-84, and are fenced in on both sides by Jahve-Psalms.

In contents Psalms 73 is the counterpart of pendant of Ps 50. As in that Psalm the semblance of a sanctity based upon works is traced back to its nothingness, so here the seeming good fortune of the ungodly, by which the poet felt himself tempted to fall away, not into heathenism (Hitzig), but into that free-thinking which in the heathen world does not less cast off the deisidaimoni'a than it does the belief in Jahve within the pale of Israel. Nowhere does there come to light in the national history any back ground that should contradict the לאסף, and the doubts respecting the moral order of the world are set at rest in exactly the same way as in Ps 37; Ps 49, and in the Book of Job. Theodicy, or the vindication of God’s ways, does not as yet rise from the indication of the retribution in this present time which the ungodly do not escape, to a future solution of all the contradictions of this present world; and the transcendent glory which infinitely outweighs the suffering of this present time, still remains outside the range of vision. The stedfast faith which, gladly renouncing everything, holds fast to God, and the pure love to which this possession is more than heaven and earth, is all the more worthy of admiration in connection with such defective knowledge.

The strophe schema of the Psalm is predominantly octastichic: 4. 8. 8. 8; 8. 8. 5. Its two halves are Psa 73:1, Psa 73:15.