Curses or complaint in Psalm 108 (109)?

Abstract

The present article raises the problem of the genre and addressees of Psalm 108(109), which is solved in two ways in scholarship. Some exegetes side with the Davidic authorship of the work, softening the curses pronounced against the opponents (vv. 6–19), while others believe that the Psalm represents a complaint related to the post-exile historical context, when the «theology of the poor» and the idea of the just judgement of the reigning God in Zion was developed. Comparing the hermeneutical approaches of classical Jewish and Christian interpreters with the modern exegesis, one must conclude that regardless of the solution of the problem of the authorship of the Psalm (David or not David), we do not have an unambiguous solution to the problem of the addressees of the «curses» (vv. 6–19), and therefore it makes no sense to soften the harshness of the rhetoric, directed against enemies, which is repeatedly found in the Psalms poetry (see Ps 34(35):4–6; 57(58):7–10; 68(69):23–29).