PsalterMark

This post is as much a call for comment and expert feedback as it is informative. It explores the question of when was it that the Seven Psalms – Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143 – were fixed as a group and designated the Penitential Psalms. It might sound like an odd thing to explore. Surely the answer is obvious? At the outset, we might expect (i) that these seven psalms would all be obviously penitential in nature, and (ii) that they are the sum total of the 150 biblical psalms that have a penitential aspect. However, the facts that (a) some of the seven could readily be described as something other than penitential, and (b) that Psalm 25 is more penitential in nature than some of the Penitential Psalms reveals otherwise.

Some readers might well already be thinking about moving on. Why should we care that some centuries into the history of the church seven psalms were labelled (or mislabelled!) as the Penitential Psalms?

Wrapped up in their origin story are a whole freight train of interpretive questions that are interesting in their own right, and informative more generally in how we handle Scripture. These include:

• How do we read the Bible via other bits of the Bible?
• Why do we tend to make some parts of the Bible a canon-within-the-canon?
• What was the appeal of these psalms to our ancestors?
• Why don’t these psalms have such a high profile today?
• Are we misconstruing what early interpreters meant by penitential?
• What might we learn ancient interpreters of the Bible about the Bible, ourselves, and God?

Many books on the Psalms look to Augustine (354–430) as the originator of the Penitential Psalms. Some simply state he originated this group of seven psalms. Others speak of his penitential understanding of some psalms in a less precise way. So, what are the facts with regard to Augustine and these psalms?

It is certainly the case that in his massive work on the psalms—Enarrationes in Psalmos—that collected well over 20-years of sermons, he interprets some of the seven around the theme of repentance. For Augustine, his congregation’s, and indeed all humanity’s, need for forgiveness in Christ is central to Christianity. Nevertheless, he does not examine the seven programmatically, nor is there any hint that the seven belong together as a prescribed group. Some refer to his deathbed where it is claimed he was surrounded by the Penitential Psalms. Well, this is partially true, for as we read in Augustine’s ancient biography by Possidius we are told that:

Now the holy man in his long life given of God for the benefit and happiness of the holy Church (for he lived seventy-six years, almost forty of which he spent as a priest or bishop), in private conversations frequently told us that even after baptism had been received exemplary Christians and priests ought not depart from this life without fitting and appropriate repentance. And this he himself did in his last illness of which he died. For he commanded that the shortest penitential Psalms of David should be copied for him, and during the days of his sickness as he lay in bed he would look at these sheets as they hung upon the wall and read them; and he wept freely and constantly. And that his attention might not be interrupted by anyone, about ten days before he departed from the body he asked of us who were present that no one should come in to him, except only at the hours in which the physicians came to examine him or when nourishment was brought to him. This, accordingly, was observed and done, and he had all that time free for prayer. [1]

This evidence, from after his death is at best ambiguous. Whilst it is clear that some Davidic psalms are labelled here as penitential psalms, it is unclear whether this refers to the fixed group of Seven Psalms. If Augustine did know of the seven as a fixed group, or indeed established them, we have no clear evidence that this is the case.

What is less contentious is that by the time of Cassiodorus (c.485–c.580) the Seven Psalms were formally understood to be closed group. In his work—Expositio Psalmorum—which is closer in form to a modern commentary, Cassiodorus interprets each of the seven penitentially and alludes to each of them as a formal member of the penitential psalms—now a defined group. For example in discussing Psalm 6 Cassiodorus explains:

Remember that this is the first of the penitents’ psalms. It is followed by Psalms 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142. We shall discuss each of these in its due place as opportunity allows. Do not believe that there is no significance in this aggregate of seven, because our forbears said that our sins could be forgiven in seven ways: first by baptism, second by suffering martyrdom, third by almsgiving, fourth by forgiving the sins of our brethren, fifth by diverting a sinner from the error of his ways, sixth by abundance of charity, and seventh by repentance. [2]

The difference in the numbering of the Penitential Psalms is because Cassiodorus like the majority of the Father’s follows the Latin tradition rather than the Hebrew tradition that dominates modern biblical scholarship and English translations. Cassiodorius’ connecting the Seven with the stated seven means of forgiveness is noted for interest here but cannot detain us now.

Until recently I thought that there was no further evidence between Augustine’s death, in 430, and 548 when Cassiodorus ‘completed the Psalm Commentary and dedicated it to Pope Vigilius’ [3]. As Nasuti sees it:

The first unequivocal reference to the seven penitential psalms as a group is to be found in the Expositio Psalmorum of the sixth century Latin father, Cassiodorus. [4]

He does add a footnote that other earlier works examine the penitential role of certain psalms, especially Psalm 51. He mentions Athanasius and Tertullian in this respect.

Last week, however, I was reading the excellent English translation of Theodoret of Cyrus’ Psalms Commentary, ably edited by Robert Hill [5,6]. There is evidence in this work that Theodoret new of the Penitential Psalms. This work dates from between 441 and 448 according to evidence within the work. The first four Penitential Psalms are each interpreted with a strong focus on repentance and there is some intertextual references that links them to David’s twin sins of murder and adultery, captured explicitly only in the heading of Psalm 51. The commentary on the last three Penitential Psalms—Psalms 102, 130 and 143—shows little interest in the topic of repentance or penitence, however.

On the basis of this evidence, it is quite possible that Theodoret is referring to a fixed group of seven penitential psalms. Yet, it is just as possible that he is referring to an emerging idea that a number of psalms have a strong penitential emphasis, and this can be interpreted in the light of David as both author of many psalms and model penitent. I would be delighted to hear further reflections on this origin story, especially of there is additional evidence prior to Cassiodorus.

It appears, however, most likely that the precise origin and rationale for the identification of the seven as a group will remain a uncertain this side of the veil.

References
1. Possidius, Life of St. Augustine (1919), see:
https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/possidius_life_of_augustine_02_text.htm#C31

2. Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms Volume 1, P. G. Walsh (translator), Paulist Press, 1990). pp.90–91.

3. Ibid, p.5.

4. Harry P. Nasuti, Defining the Sacred Songs: Genre, Tradition, and the Post-Critical Interpretation of the Psalms, Sheffield Academic Press, 1999, p 33.

5. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalms 1-72, Robert C. Hill (translator), Catholic University of America Press, 2000.

6. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms, 73-150, Robert C. Hill (translator), Catholic University of America Press, 2001.