Year: 2014
Type: report
Abstract: Psalm 1-Logotechnical Analysis Guidelines Please read the General Introduction as well as the Introduction to Book I. For common features found in the numerical analysis charts, see the "Key to the charts". Specific features of Psalm 1 The opening psalm of the Book of Psalms is a showpiece of biblical numerical composition.In a most ingenious way, the 7-word meaningful centre of the text (v.3b) is positioned within a larger 15-word core around the pivotal word , 'in season', in a perfectly concentric menorah pattern: 26 + 4+3+1+3+4 + 26.The 14 (7 + 7) words surrounding the pivot demonstrate the use of the number of fullness, while the 26 words on either side witness the use of the divine name number 26. The first psalm also exhibits a striking numerical device shared by a considerable number of psalms and others texts: the use of the numerical value of a key-word to give structure to the text.Here, the number of words enveloping the meaningful centre, 52 (26 + 26), represent the numerical value of the first word, , 'happy' (1+21+20+10 = 52), which is an important key-word occurring 26x in the Book of Psalms.Psalm 1 shares this feature particularly with Psalm 41 concluding Book I.This key-word clearly serves as a device for inclusion.For the use of the numerical value of a key-word to define the number of words in a given text, see "The numerical value of a key-word in the text" in the General Introduction. The psalm also introduces the use of syntax as a device to structure the text in still another way to weave divine name numbers into the fabric of the text: in this case, the number 26 is divided in vs. 2-3 and 4-6 into its basic components, YH = 15 and WH = 11.
Author: Casper Labuschagne
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2799482510