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ASCENTS, SONGS OF

A collection of 15 psalms (Pss. 120-134) of various types united by the Hebrew superscript šîr hammaʿă, “the song of the ascents” (šîr lammaʿă in Ps. 121). Four interpretations of the superscript have been suggested. (1) Origen and Augustine understood it as referring mystically to the ascent of the soul to God. (2) Theodoret considered it as an identification of the historical songs sung by returning exiles (cf. Ezra 2:1; 7:9). (3) Some early modern scholars suggested that the title refers to the formal steplike climactic parallelism of the psalms themselves. (4) Most have argued that the songs were cultic and sung in conjunction with approaching the temple (cf. b. Mid. 2.5; b. Sukk. 51b).

Recent studies, focusing less on the superscript and more on the character of the songs themselves, have concluded either that these songs were votive offerings brought to the temple by pilgrims, and subsequently incorporated into a song- or prayerbook by cultic officials, or that they represent a “pilgrim psalter” created to encourage northern Israelites during the Persian period to make pilgrimage to the Jerusalem temple.

Bibliography. L. D. Crow, The Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120–134). SBLDS 148 (Atlanta, 1996).

Tyler F. Williams







Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)

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