‘Like the snail that dissolves’: Construction of Identity of Psalmist and Enemy in the Lament Psalms of the Individual

Abstract

The paper explores how the psalms of lament of the individual constructed the identity not only of the Israelites who used them in worship but also of their antagonists. It starts with a critique of Amy Cottrill’s Language, Power, and Identity in the Lament Psalms of the Individual, which is critical of the psalmist’s non-specific presentation of the enemies that ‘obscures the humanity of the one he prays against’. This alleged dehumanisation of the enemies is explored further through the dialogical framework of Martin Buber’s ‘I-Thou’. A consideration of Buber’s two basic word pairs, ‘I-You’ and ‘I-It’, prompts the question of whether the psalmist treats the enemies as ‘You’ or ‘It’. Further arguments based on the social setting of the lament psalms lead to the conclusion that they construct an identity of a psalmist who is in real relationship with both God and the enemy and who treats them as genuine relational beings.