Psalm 11


Psalm 11 is the 11th psalm from the Book of Psalms. In the Septuagint and Vulgate it is numbered as Psalm 10. Its authorship is traditionally assigned to king David, but most scholars place its origin some time after the end of the Babylonian captivity.

Structure

The shape of the Psalms differs from the usual scheme, for which the Old Testament scholar Hermann Gunkel finally assigns as a "confidence Psalm in the form of conversation." Erhard S. Gerstenberger calls the psalm a "disputierendes prayer" within the genus of Lamentations of an individual. Hans-Joachim Kraus has the Psalm as a song of prayer.
Usually, the Psalm is organized as follows:
  1. Verse 1a: trust in YHWH
  2. Verse 1b-3: Rejecting the advice of well-meaning friends
  3. Verse 4-7: YHWH as fair judge and legal helpers of the persecuted
A division into verses is sometimes not done.

Interpretation

The psalm is strongly individual. Klaus Seybold calls this the personal testimony of persecution, who have opted for the legal process. Hermann Gunkel agrees calling it the subjective response of a single poet to an involuntary emergency. Oswald Loretz called the Psalm ''a product of postexilic scriptural scholarship that seeks to streamline the texts of the tradition to interpret.
The psalm leads off with a question which is put to the writer's soul: 'Why should I flee like a bird to the mountains?' Barnes and many others see the fleeing as negative and running away rather than trusting God. The Psalmist instead resolves to trust God. There is an irony in that David often did flee from Saul to the mountains, but in the long run became King in Jerusalem in 1 Sam chapters 21 through 23. Additionally there is a contrast with Psalm 7: the wicked shoot arrows at the righteous in Psalm 11, but in Psalm 7 God readied his bow and arrows for the wicked. There is also a tension: God is felt to be far away and unresponsive - but He is not and that tension also appears in other Psalms, such as in Psalm 22.

Uses

Catholic Church

According to the Rule of St. Benedict, Psalm 1 to Psalm 20 were mainly reserved for Office of Prime. This psalm was traditionally performed at the Office of Prime on Wednesday.
In the current liturgy, Psalm 11 is, most solemnly recited or sung during vespers on Monday of the first week.