Michael D. Goulder

A persuasive account, in brief compass, of the dramatic flow of the Song of Songs. Many sensitive observations on the imagery of the songs are presented in the form of a running commentary. The author offers his own original verse translation of the fourteen poems.

The Song of Fourteen Songs

The Asaph psalms (50, 73-83) are a unity. They often call God 'Elohim' and 'El', and the people 'Joseph', as Amos does; they appeal to Israelite history, the exodus and the covenant; they are written in the face of military catastrophe. In this suggestive and brilliant work, Goulder argues that they were composed in Bethel in the 720s for use as the psalmody for the autumn festival. This gives us vital new evidence for the history of the Pentateuch: there was at Bethel a historical tradition from at least the time of the oppression in Egypt to the Solomonic Empire; the Asaphites took this tradition to Jerusalem and their descendants were the Deuteronomists.

Studies in the Psalter, III

The Psalms of Asaph and the Pentateuch

Stanley E. Porter

Paul M. Joyce

David E. Orton

The 24 articles in this Festschrift for Michael Goulder, a renowned master of creative exegesis, either deal with questions of method or exemplify the practical investigation of Old and New Testament texts with their wider (cross-boundary) context in mind.

Essays in Biblical Interpretation in Honour of Michael D. Goulder

Crossing the Boundaries

Book V of the Psalter (Psalms 107-150) divides into three, with the Songs of the Ascents (120-134) as the central section, and the first and third units following parallel structures (historical, Davidic, alphabetical, Hallel psalms). The units are all compositions of the Return period: 107-119 for the reconstruction of the Temple, 120-134 for Nehemiah's wall-building, 135-150 for Ezra's mission. Psalms 120-134 follow the episodes of Nehemiah's 'memoir', in order. All three groups show evidence of evening-morning alternation, and were intended for festal use: 107-118 at the Passover of Ezra 6, 120-134 at the Tabernacles of Nehemiah 12, 135-150 at Ezra's Tabernacles (Neh. 8).

Michael D. Goulder

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