Shirley S. Ho

Wisdom, Prayer for Life and Restoration of Zion: a Compositional Study of Psalm 119 and the Songs of Ascent ( Pss 120-134) Shirley S. Ho

The book of Psalms has been historically one of the beloved Bible books of the Christian community. While many souls have profited in meditating upon and studying each psalm individually, the recent effort to read any psalm in relationship to other psalms will bring more benefits and enhance the reading experience of the Psalter-reading community. Advancing this practice is the goal of this book. This book attempts to provide a possible solution to the struggle in understanding the rationale behind the literary proximity between Psalm 119 and the Songs Ascents (Pss 120-134). After a careful exegesis of Psalm 119 and the Songs of Ascents independently, I propose a complementary relationship between the two sections by particularly underscoring how the petition of the psalmist in Psalm 119 for "life" is appropriately answered in the Songs of Ascent collection with Yahweh?s restoration of Zion. This complementary relationship finds traditional, theological and linguistic roots from Deuteronomy 30. Furthermore, the suggested complementary relationship between Psalm 119 and the Songs of Ascent is reinforced when read in light of Psalm 107 and in the larger context of Book V.