Remember, O Yahweh

One of the major shifts in OT studies over the past half of a century has been the move away from studies dominated by diachronic matters toward more text-immanent, synchronic approaches. In Psalter studies, one can see such a shift on two levels. First, on the level of the individual psalm, there has been a general trend to focus on the literary and linguistic features as the proper means for discerning the meaning of the poem. Second, on the level of the Psalter as a whole, scholars have devoted significant attention to its canonical shape and the role of adjacent psalms in the interpretation of each individual psalm. In Remember, O Yahweh, Todd approaches Psalms 135–137 on both of these levels. After a detailed poetic analysis of each psalm, he proposes that Psalms 135–137 serve as a bridge between the Songs of Ascents (Pss 120–134) and the Last Davidic Psalter (Pss 138–145). As such, this group highlights Yahweh's past acts of deliverance as the basis for the post-exilic community's prayer for Yahweh to remember his people's lowly condition.