This paper proposes that Psalm 145:18 alludes to Deuteronomy 4:7. To date, although some interpreters have noted the two texts as cross-references,[1] seemingly none have proposed that the psalmist alludes to Deuteronomy 4:7. This paper analyzes the lexical and contextual evidence for the allusion before considering its rhetorical role in the psalm.[2] Because of proposals concerning Psalm 145’s role as a conclusion to the Psalter’s five Davidic Collections,[3] Book V,[4] and the Psalter as a whole,[5] the paper then considers what the allusion means for the relationship between the Psalter and Deuteronomy. To wit, Psalm 145 uses the allusion to climactically frame Deuteronomy 4:7 as Israel’s prayer charter and the Psalter as a response to and surprisingly wide application of the charter.[6] Patrick Miller argued for just such a relationship between Deuteronomy 4:7 and the Psalter as a whole, but the proposed allusion solidifies and concretizes the relationship between Deuteronomy 4:7 as prayer charter and the Psalter as its “articulation.”[7]
[1] E.g., A. A. Anderson, Psalms 73–150, NCBC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 2:939 (Anderson lists the cross-reference along with Ps 34:18); Geoffrey W. Grogan, Psalms, TH (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 224; A. F. Kirkpatrick, The Book of Psalms, CBSC (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1906), 817 (Kirkpatrick lists the cross-reference along with Ps 34:18; 119:151). Reformation-era commentator John Bradford quotes Deut 4:7 in his exposition of Ps 145 also. Herman J. Selderhuis, editor, Psalms 73-150, Reformation Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament VIII (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2018), 378. Deuteronomy literature sometimes notes Ps 145:18 as a cross-reference to Deut 4:7. E.g., Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1-11, AB (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 202 (listed along with 1 Kgs 8:52).
[2] On this methodology, see my From Recollection to Recommitment: The Rhetorical Function of Allusions to Judges in Psalms 68, 83, and 106, Bulletin for Biblical Research Dissertation Series (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, forthcoming).
[3] Peter C. W. Ho, The Design of the Psalter: A Macrostructural Analysis (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2019), 155.
[4] Gerald H. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, SBL Dissertation Series 76 (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985), 225.
[5] Patrick D. Miller, “The End of the Psalter: A Response to Erich Zenger,” JSOT 80 (1998): 107.
[6] S. D. McBride argues for seeing Deuteronomy as a covenantal, social, and political charter. The term works nicely for Deuteronomy’s spiritual-liturgical vision for Israel also (e.g., Deut 4:7; 31:19). “Polity of the Covenantal People: The Book of Deuteronomy,” Int 41.3 (1987): 229-44.
[7] Patrick D. Miller, “Deuteronomy and Psalms: Evoking a Biblical Conversation,” JBL 118:1 (1999): 8. Miller mostly located the conversation between the Psalms and Deuteronomy in the torah theme present in Pss 1; 19; 119, but notes that “There is far more to this conversation than I have been able to evoke” (16).