CšD II, 4 – IV, 9. A Song of David for Each Day

Sequel of G.W. Lorein, EvS-S, 'A Song of David for Each Day: The Provenance of the Songs of David', RevQ 85 (2005), 33-59. The authors discuss the text, language and contents of the second, third and fourth of the Songs of David (šîrē Dawîd), found in the Cairo Genizah (hence the siglum CšD), and put forward a historical reconstruction of its origin – by reason of the many parallels and of philological arguments – as possibly written by the Qumran Community in their last period, a period which had a positive attitude to King David and which is known for its production of liturgical manuscripts. King David is the pivotal figure, acting as the historical figure and at the same time as the coming Messiah; typical is the universalism, that is, the understanding that all the nations will come to acknowledge the God of Israel

Songs of David

Hebrew, but only four survive. The introductions to the songs suggest that the collection contained psalms for each day of the year. The songs mention King David (I, 15) in our opinion as the name of the Lord’s servant (I, 6, 8, 14), which is to be identified with the ‘I’ of the songs (II, 1, 8, 24, etc.). Hence the songs can be called a Jewish pseudepigraphic writing