Nancy L. DeCLAISSE-WALFORD.  Psalms Books 4-5 (Wisdom Commentary).  Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press/Michael Glazier, 2020, pp. 400, $39.95, Hb. ISBN: 9780814681213, 8121. Reviewed by Daniel L. SMITH-CHRISTOPHER, Prof. Old Testament, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA. 90045.

Dr. DeClaisse-Walford has already established herself as a scholar of the book of Psalms whose work warrants close attention.  Her proposals for a chronological sequence inherent in the widely noted “five books of Psalms”, for example, was frankly ingenious.  Her contribution to the Wisdom Commentary series, dealing with the last two of the “five books” of the Psalms, is therefore, especially welcome.  According to the division of the Psalms into “books”, then, book 4 would be Ps 90-106, and book 5: Ps 107 – 150.  Other volumes will deal with the rest of the “books” of Psalms, which appears to be planned as at least a three-volume set on the Psalms alone.

The Wisdom Commentary series is guided by a stellar editorial board.  The General Editor, Barbara E. Reid, OP, provides a helpful overview to the goals of the series as a whole.  She notes in her introduction that this series is “the first series to offer detailed feminist interpretation of every book of the Bible”.  The commentaries, however, are not densely theoretical, and while there is forthrightly stated interest in questions relevant to the study of feminist approaches to the reading of Scripture, the series is also clearly aimed at “clergy, teachers, ministers, and all serious students of the Bible” (Reid, Introduction, xxi).  This is not intended to be an “in-group” discussion – and this is one of the major strengths of this series.

DeClaisse-Walford, however, has also chosen to incorporate observations from many of her colleagues (teachers, clergy, and students) that she met during a teaching visit in South Africa.  Many of the Psalm discussions, therefore, feature short essays reflecting on the Psalms from these colleagues, all clearly identified in the introduction.  These reflective essays are a particularly interesting – and generous – feature of this study.

Reviewing commentaries briefly is inherently problematic, but in this case, it is a pleasure to report that the commentary throughout is clear and direct.  While DeClaisse-Walford provides brief “Translation Notes” for particular linguistic problems in the Hebrew text in her discussions of many of the Psalms, this is not a predominantly technical or philologically oriented commentary.  Furthermore, her discussions of the historical-critical problems of the text are in dialogue with the major scholarship in the field of Psalms study, all helpfully well documented in footnotes provided at the bottom of every page rather than at the end of each chapter.  It is important to note, furthermore, that her dialogue with contemporary scholarship includes theological issues of textual analysis as well.  In her discussion of Psalm 109, for example, DeClaisse-Walford brings Erich Zenger’s work, A God of Violence: Understanding the Psalms of Divine Wrath (1996) into her discussion, concluding her own comments with observations including the following, which is a good summary of the wide-ranging issues that DeClaisse-Walford brings into her analysis of the Psalms:

We live, and always have lived, in a world of unspeakable injustices.  In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries alone, Jim Crow laws, the sho’ah, issues of women’s rights, racial injustice, forced migrations of peoples, human trafficking, political oppression, food deserts, economic inequalities, and many issues and events are stark reminders that psalms of vengeance are still relevant today… the words of Psalm 109 teach us, though, that anger and action exist in a delicate dance…” (103).

This is followed, then, by an autobiographical reflection from one of her South African colleagues, reflecting on her South African experience in reading Psalm 109 as well.  The dialogue is quite interesting, and is an especially helpful addition to this work.

Dealing with the angry “imprecatory” Psalms like 109, and especially the infamous (and equally famous!) Psalm 137 (“By the Rivers of Babylon…”) is an especially challenge – and it is here that the dialogue DeClaisse-Walford sets up is especially helpful.  The author does not avoid staring into the cold face of angry Psalms.  She notes of Ps. 137, for example, that the angry words of “…Psalm 137 cannot be tamed; they are harsh and venomous…” (248), but seeks to make sense of reactions to suffering not only in the world of the Judeans (it is an exile Psalm, after all) but in contemporary reactions to suffering as well.  DeClaisse-Walford will even mine wise words from older traditional sources, citing Spurgeon, for example, on Ps. 137, when he offered especially insightful comments.

This is a solid, academically informed commentary that adds crucially important perspectives and voices to the discussion of Biblical texts.  The Wisdom Commentary series is a welcome production, and DeClaisse-Walford’s work is surely a worthy addition to the impressive achievement thus far.