Bernard Gosse

Bio: Bernard Gosse is an academic researcher. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 11 citations.

Pride and the suffering of the poor in the Persian period: Psalm 12 in its post-exilic context

Abstract: This paper contends that Ps 12 should be read, as part of the composition Pss 9–14, as a response to and an explication of Prov 30:1–14 by exponents of Wisdom thinking in the Persian period. The suffering of the righteous people in Ps 12 is described as the result of arrogant Jewish and also non-Jewish rulers who use speech as an instrument of deception, fraud, flattery, boasting, and questioning Yahweh’s authority in order to oppress and intimidate believers. It is proposed that the historic context of the final form of the text was that of the “piety of the poor,” a theology which developed from the need to restore dignity and provide hope to victims of social and religious oppression in the post-exilic era. It would seem that these people sought comfort in the word of Yahweh and that they found vindication for themselves in those sections of the developing “canon” which promised that Yahweh would intervene on behalf of those people who represented true humility and piety.

'I am like a green olive tree': The Wisdom context of Psalm 52

Abstract: The article revisits the thesis of Walter Beyerlin from 1980 that Psalm 52 is a paraenetic- didactic Wisdom poem from the late Persian period. Beyerlin reached his conclusion from a comparison of Psalm 52 with post-exilic Wisdom psalms such as Psalms 37, 49, and 73. The direct literary influence that Psalm 52 received from the book of Proverbs and the motifs it shares with Jeremiah 9 are investigated here, since the author contends that the Wisdom influence on the Psalm was even greater than Beyerlin had envisaged. The article comes to the conclusion that the author(s) of the Psalm attempted to compose a psalm by establishing a network of allusions to a corpus of authoritative texts, inter alia , the Wisdom psalms. The end product is a brilliant composition which interprets the teaching of Proverbs for the needs of a group of Jewish believers who probably lived at the end of the Persian period.

Interpreting 'Torah' in Psalm 1 in the light of Psalm 119

Abstract: This article argued that Psalm 37 and Proverbs 1–4 served as sources for the composition of Psalm 1. The emphasis in both donor texts on the righteous people’s inheriting the Promised Land seems to have imprinted also on Psalm 1, a factor that could change our understanding of it. All three contexts in turn played a role in the composition of Psalm 119, but whilst the author of this long psalm also understood the ‘Torah’ of Yahweh as the incarnation of true wisdom, it seems that ‘Torah’ also subsumed the Promised Land for him. The investigation showed that ‘Torah’ in Psalm 1 should be understood as an arch-lexeme for all the religious texts its author used to compose, similar to what was the understanding of the author of Psalm 119 a little later.

Psalm 32 as a wisdom intertext

Abstract: Psalm 32 is considered by the majority of investigators to be a psalm of thanksgiving with a mix of wisdom poetry. In this article, the thesis is defended that it was devised from the beginning as a wisdom-teaching psalm although it simulates the form of a psalm of thanksgiving in certain respects. The case for this is argued on the basis of the complete integration of its parts, as well as its similarity to Proverbs 28:13–14 and some other wisdom texts. The aim of the psalmist seems to have been to argue (on the basis of a personal experience) that stubbornness in accepting the guilt of sin causes suffering, but that Yahweh is eager to restore an intimate relationship with those worshippers who confess their guilt and are willing to accept his guidance on the way of life.

Psalm 32: A social-scientific investigation

Abstract: The article identifies the root metaphors used in Ps 32 and uses these to identify the purpose and strategy of the psalm as a means of communication between its author and its original audience. It argues that the psalm should not be read as a psalm of thanksgiving with wisdom elements, but a wisdom-teaching psalm which replicates a psalm of thanksgiving. The author and/or editors used the composition, which is ascribed to King David, as a means of exhorting members of the in-group in a post-exilic setting in Judah to trust in YHWH and to stay faithful to him. The implied author’s experience of suffering because of pent-up guilt, as well as an authoritative first-person address by YHWH, was used in conjunction with a range of wisdom features by the author to communicate this message to its original audience.