Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 25:3 (Fall 2021)
Article: Hearing The Canonical Voice Of The Psalter: An Exegetical Overview
Author: Bradley L. Baugham

SBJT 25:3 (Fall 2021) p. 35

Hearing The Canonical Voice Of The Psalter: An Exegetical Overview

Bradley L. Baugham

Bradley L. Baugham is senior pastor of Emmanuel Bible Church, Mauldin, South Carolina, which he planted sixteen years ago. He received his DMin from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he wrote on the implications of the canonical shape of the Psalter for hermeneutics. Dr. Baugham also serves on occasion as a small group facilitator for Charles Simeon Trust Preaching workshops.

Introduction

Examining the context and structure of a text plays a crucial role in biblical exegesis.1 Like opening the layers of a Matryoshka doll, when interpreters work through the exegetical layers of context and structure, they discover the richness and depth dimensions of a text.2 Unfortunately, interpreters tend to treat the Psalter like a “storage cabinet” of unrelated, individual pieces of sacred sheet music rather than as a well-ordered oratorio.3 Commentators, then, tend to handle the Psalter as no other part in the Bible and ignore the micro-context of a psalm and the macro-context of the Psalter.4 In contrast to such common approaches, a canonical approach to the Psalter widens the exegetical field of play to include not only the context and structure of an individual psalm, but also the context and structure of surrounding psalms, the book (of the Psalter) a psalm is in, the Psalter itself, and even the Psalter’s placement in the biblical storyline.5

For this article, I will examine the overall exegetical data for interpreting the Psalter in view of its canonical shape and deliberate design along three main lines.6 First, I will begin by recovering Christ’s perspective on the Psalter and by providing two general ways to hear Christ’s voice in the Psalter. Second,

SBJT 25:3 (Fall 2021) p. 36

I will examine the final shape of the Psalter by tracing the broad thematic progression of the Psalter. Finally, I will note the macrostructure of the Psalter based on textual features such as psalm titles, concluding doxologies of each book, and the opening and closing of the Psalter. Yair Zakovitch argues that the ordering of psalms within the Psalter was not random but an activity of a “deliberate design.”7 Zakovitch even describes the arrangement of psalms as “an exegetical act.”You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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