approbation, the man after God’s own heart (I Sam 13:14). Luke’s account of Paul’s sermon in Antioch in Pisidia includes the following quotation: In his (Samuel’s) testimony about him (David) he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my (Yhwh) heart, who will carry out all my wishes. Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, just as he promised’ (Acts 13:22, 23, NRSV).
It was David who celebrated the entrance of the ark of יהוה into the newly captured royal city of Jerusalem.
It has often been suggested that David’s decision to bring the ark to Jerusalem in the presence of all the elite warriors of Israel (2 Sam. 6:1) indicates the acuity of his political flair. To be sure, the king probably saw in the cultic object of the ancient tribal confederation a rallying force that was attractive to both northerners and southerners. Beyond its Philistine fiasco, the ark summoned to the popular mind the memories of the Holy Warrior in Sinai and Edom as well as the Magnalia Dei in the conquest of Canaan. David’s act was probably meant to unite under Yahweh the tribesmen of Israel properly speaking with the brash young heroes of Judah as well as the keepers of the Yahwist tradition in the southern shrine of Hebron. There is no evidence, however, that his move was solely dictated by political opportunism.71
It is there and then that the Davidic dynasty is announced to David by the prophet Nathan. This is confirmed subsequently in the entering of יהוה into a solemn oath or covenant with David (2 Sam 7). Here we have the beginning of the royal theology of Jerusalem that is to dominate the Psalter. Psalms 2 and 110 are fine examples of this motif.72
The event of the Exodus ordeal and subsequent deliverance was celebrated in another unparalleled hymn of praise and thanksgiving. Liberation from Egypt became the core hallmark of the religion of the Hebrews. As a celebration of thanksgiving and gratitude Exodus 15 is unrivaled by any of Israel’s later deliverance hymns. Though it was never incorporated into the Psalter, it is used effectively by the writer (s) of the book of Exodus to make the central theological point: God is involved in Israel’s history and thereby in her deliverance. The psalm of Moses is written in archaic Hebrew verse and, using parallelism, expresses Israel’s trust. Egyptian paintings and reliefs dating to the late second millennium BCE picture horses pulling chariots but not being ridden. But other biblical texts of the eighth-century BCE (Isa 31:1) write of Egyptians traveling on horseback. Regardless, this psalm is a potent hymn marking their deliverance by יהוה and the defeat of the Egyptian pharaoh. This hymn accentuates the fact that Israel’s God, Yhwh, acted directly in human history on Israel’s behalf. This is the core event in ancient Israel’s story.
Exodus 15: 1–18
The Song of Moses
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to יהוה
I will sing to יהוה, who has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider are thrown into the sea.
יהוה is my strength and my might,
and has become my salvation;
this is my God whom I will praise,
my father’s God, whom I will exalt.
יהוה is a mighty warrior;
יהוה is [his] name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his whole army
are cast into the sea;
his elite officers sank in the Sea of Reeds.
The floods covered them;
they sank down into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand O יהוה, glorious in power -
your right hand, O יהוה, shattered our enemies.
In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your enemies;
you sent out your wrath, and it consumed them like stubble.
At the blast of your nostrils the waters were gathered in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the midst of the sea.
The enemy said, “I will pursue, I will overtake them,
I will divide the spoil; my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.”
Then you blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like you, O יהוה, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
You stretched out your right hand,
the earth swallowed them up.
In your constant love you led the people whom you redeemed;
you guided them by your strength to your holy dwelling.
The peoples heard and they all trembled;
terror seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
trembling seized the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
Terror and dread fell upon them;
by the might of your arm, they became still as stone
until your people, O יהוה, passed by,
until the people whom you purchased passed by.
You brought them in and planted them especially
on the mountain of your own possession,
the place, O יהוה, that you made your dwelling,
the sanctuary, O יהוה, that your hands have established.
יהוה will reign forever and ever!”
The Song of Moses is accompanied by the Song of the Sea in a later tradition, which served an instructional purpose, and the Blessing of Moses (Deut 32) possesses a prophetic and oracular character. It is rather likely that Israel’s earliest poetry was arranged and transmitted orally rather than being the creation of any particular literary composition. It would be another two centuries until the time of Samuel, Saul, and David and the flowering of Israel’s psalmic musical poetry. Other traditional hymns of praise likely were sung but no additional compositions are extant to our knowledge. One of the scrolls from the Dead Sea (11QPs a) attributes the composition of over four thousand psalms to David.
And he [David] wrote psalms: three thousand six hundred; and songs to be sung before the altar over the perpetual offering of every day, for all the days of the year: three hundred and sixty-four; and for the sabbath offerings: fifty-two songs; and for the offering for the beginning of the month, and for all the days of the festivals, and for the day of
