Interpretation of the Inscription ‘Song of Ascents’ (Psalms 120–134) in the Jewish Tradition

Abstract

«Songs of Ascents» (Psalm 120-134) is a collection of fifteen Psalms. An interpretation of this title in popular Psalter commentaries relates the origin of this group of Psalms to the return from Exile and the subsequent pilgrimage to the Temple for major religious feasts. The author of the article aims to verify the validity of this popular interpretation in such authoritative sources of Jewish religious tradition as Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem and Babylonian Gemara, Targum on the Psalms, Midrashim, works of Saadiya Gaon, Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra and David Kimchi. To achieve the goal of the research, the context of the phrase תולעמה ריש («song of ascents») in the mentioned sources was analyzed. The study showed the expression «song of ascents» did not have the same interpretation in the sources of the same period. Later sources show dependence on earlier ones, but it is impossible to conclude that there was unanimity in Jewish tradition regarding the origin of this superscription. So, it's possible to conclude that the historical causes for this superscription were forgotten before the written fixation of Jewish exegetical tradition had begun. Consequently, the subsequent associations of the inscription «song of ascents» with the return from captivity or pilgrimage to Jerusalem were born intuitively and were more connected with the liturgical goals of using the psalms after the destruction of the Second Temple, than with the penetration into the real historical origin of the title.