Four Approaches to the Book of Psalms

Uriel Simon is Professor of Bible and Co-director of the Institute for the History of Jewish Bible Research at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. He is the author of Abraham Ibn Ezra's Two Commentaries on the Minor Prophets.

The book also includes the full text of a previously unknown introduction to Ibn Ezra's lost commentary on the Psalms, which is much more elaborate and revealing than the introduction to his familiar classical commentary.

• Preface Chapter One: Saadiah Gaon: The Book of Psalms as a Second Pentateuch I. The Rhetorical Thesis: Commandment and admonition phrased as prayer and petitionII. The Polemical Motive: An attack on the Karaite order of prayer and support for the Rabbanite prayerbookIII. The Ritual Thesis: The five-fold conditionIV. The Exegetical Application: Radical reinterpretationV. Polemic and Truth: To what extent is Saadiah's approach to Psalms anchored in his thought?Notes to Chapter OneChapter Two: The Karaite Approach: The Psalms as Mandatory Prophetic Prayers I. Salmon ben Yeruham: The Psalms as prophetic prayer for all ages: Monarchy, Exile, and RedemptionII. Yefet ben 'Ali: The Psalms as prophetic prayers, perfect in form and contentNotes to Chapter TwoChapter Three: Moses Ibn Giqatilah: The Psalms as Non-prophetic Prayers and Poems Notes to Chapter ThreeChapter Four: Abraham Ibn Ezra: The Psalms as Prophetic and Sacred Poetry I. Abraham Ibn Ezra's two commentaries on PsalmsII. Echoes of Ibn Ezra's predecessors in his commentaries on PsalmsIII. The prologue to the First Introduction: The musical and thematic superiority of the Psalms as divine songsIV. The First Inquiry: Who wrote the Psalms? V. The Second Inquiry: Who edited the Book of Psalms?VI. The Third Inquiry: Are the Psalms prayers or prophecies?The answer of the introduction: Prophetic prayersThe answer in the body of the commentary:Prophetic prayers with abundant theological loreVII. The Fourth Inquiry: Editorial matters—the order of the Psalms and the terms used in their headings The five books of psalms in comparison to Iberian anthologiesTwo different explanations of the problematic term mizmorTwo explanations of la-me nasseahThe enigmatic expressions in the superscriptions as melodic indicationsNotes to Chapter FourBibliography Appendix: Ibn Ezra's introduction and commentary on Psalms 1-2: The "First Recension" (Hebrew and English) Ibn Ezra's introduction to the standard commentary: The "Second Recension" (Hebrew and English)Index of Citations Index of Names and Topics