ANALECTA BIBLICA [dissertationes] - 212

ATTARD Stefan M.

The Implications of Davidic Repentance.
A Synchronic Analysis of Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42–72)

2016, pp. 548.

This work analyses the various lexical, thematic, and rhetorical links that span Book 2 (Ps 42–72) to undergird its organisation. A smooth transition across the inner seams of Book 2 consolidates its unity. David's life sheds light on the exilic debacle trough the parallelism between Ps 42–49 and 51–72 where the latter interpret and refine the former. The penitential tone ensuing from Ps 50–51 bears upon Ps 52–72 which hence a clear didactic function in relation to Ps 42–49, challenging the position taken in Ps 44. The Jenseits and Diesseits interpretations with which Ps 42–49 and 51–52 respectively conclude (and where the poor feature clearly) further develop the exilic underpinnings present in their initial laments. Unlike the royal Ps 45 which answers exilic concerns, Book 2 closes off with a royal psalm which focuses on the poor, that is, those whose situation is comparable to that of the exile.

Stefan M. Attard was born in Malta in 1972. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Malta and obtained a Licentiate Degree in Pastoral Theology after being ordained a priest in 1999. He received a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute and read for his doctorate in the same institute under the tutorship of Prof. Gianni Barbiero S.D.B., in whose honour he recently co-edited a Festschrift. Attard presently lectures Old Testament in the faculty of Theology at the University of Malta.