An Intercessor Like Moses: A Key Component of the Psalter's Message

Abstract

            It is widely recognized that Book III of the MT Psalter explores the downfall of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and that Book IV has a Mosaic emphasis. This study builds on both of these observations and identifies textual features in Book III of the Psalter, namely the introduction of Moses and Aaron and numerous allusions to Exodus 34, that anticipate and elucidate unique aspects of Books IV and V. The clustering of references to Moses and Aaron in Books IV and V along with an increase of allusions to Moses’ intercession in Exodus 32-34 suggest that the Psalter hopes for, among other things, a representative intercessory figure like Moses who can stand between God and a covenant-breaking people and turn away God’s anger in the aftermath of the Babylonian exile. The study contributes to final form readings of the Psalter and argues that the expression of hope for an intercessor like Moses is one of the communicative features that emerges from the text when it is analyzed as such.