Authors’ Preface and Acknowledgments
TO WRITE A COMMENTARY on a biblical book is a humbling task indeed. It asks the interpreter both to receive and give—to receive the heritage that comes with these texts and to give a faithful rendering of them for the current generation. In pouring over these psalms and the related secondary material, we have been reminded of a long heritage of able scholars and faithful followers who have also poured over these texts. They have studied faithfully, thought deeply, and written carefully. Names such as Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Hermann Gunkel, to mention but a very few, represent the breadth of this heritage, as do the many other names that appear in the footnotes of this commentary. They have cast a long shadow, and we are all the beneficiaries of their diligent work. Beyond the luminaries we know, however, we are also well aware of the countless number who remain nameless but who, through the ages, sought to read, teach, and preach these texts faithfully. And while in many cases we do not have the benefit of their writings, we remain well aware that they too cast a long shadow—one in which we all stand as well. What unites them all, however, is the primacy they gave to the study of the text. Because they were careful readers, they provided faithful renderings of it.
It is our prayer that those who use this commentary will receive with gratitude the heritage that comes with these texts and that they too will be humbled by the thought of stepping into this broad stream of faithful interpreters. But even more, it is our hope that users of this commentary, like those before them, will give primacy to the study of the text—that they too will study faithfully and think deeply and, in so doing, give a faithful rendering of the biblical book that Luther termed “the Little Bible.”
There are a number of people who have played a critical role in seeing this project to completion. Chief among them are Terry Muck, the general editor for the NIV Application Commentary series, and Tremper Longman, consulting editor for the series. Both men patiently awaited the completion of our work and provided guidance where needed. In addition to these scholars, Katya Covrett, executive acquisitions editor at Zondervan, and Nancy Erickson, senior editor at Zondervan, have been helpful interlocutors and wise guides. We would also like to thank the colleagues at our two institutions: the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University and Highland Theological College UHI. These colleagues have offered encouragement at every turn in this project. Finally, we thank our families, who have graciously and generously allowed us the time necessary to complete this work. Like the psalmist, we count ourselves blessed because of them (cf. Ps 127).
Gerald H. Wilson wrote Psalms, Volume 1 in the NIV Application Commentary series, and he was slated to write the second volume.1 Tragically, however, Gerald died far too young and well before his work on this commentary had commenced. Like those commentators mentioned above, Gerald Wilson cast a long shadow. Few people produce scholarship that actually shapes a discipline for a generation, but with the publication of The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter in 1985, Wilson did just that.2 The influence of his research and the paradigm shift he initiated cannot be adequately measured or fully appreciated. In 2010, some 25 years after the release of his 1985 monograph, a group of psalms scholars convened to consider the lasting impact of Gerald Wilson on the larger guild, and on psalms scholarship in particular.3 Within that volume most contributors noted that, while scholarly investigation on the Psalter continues to pursue new avenues of research, the work of Gerald H. Wilson remains a formative influence on the discipline. His influence is keenly felt throughout the pages of this commentary.
Finally, we would like to dedicate this commentary to our students—past, present, and future—at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University and Highland Theological College UHI. These students are faithful servants of the church who lean fully into the unfolding of God’s reign in the world.
—W. Dennis Tucker Jr. and Jamie A. Grant
1. Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, Volume 1, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002).
2. Gerald H. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, SBLDS 76 (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985).
3. Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford, ed., The Shape and Shaping of the book of Psalms: The Current State of Scholarship, AIL 20 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2014).