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Book Review: They Cried to the Lord

Anyone who enjoyed A Rabbi's Bible (SCM Press 1991) will welcome another example of Dr Magonet's refreshing, witty and, in an unassuming way, scholarly approach to the Bible. There was no need for him to devote a whole chapter to justifying 'another book on the Psalms': the Psalms can take it, especially in the hands of someone whose exposition is constantly informed and enriched by the best Jewish exegetical tradition, probably unknown to most of his readers, and enlivened with characteristically apposite anecdotes and jokes. An introductory chapter includes a fascinating account of Jewish liturgical and other uses of the Psalms, from the Hallel Psalms (113-18) sung at every Jewish festival, 90 and 91 at funerals, 84 at weddings and the like, to the magical use of Psalms in the Middle Ages (e.g. 58 against vicious dogs, 73 against compulsory baptism, 138 for love), and the continuing belief in the efficacy of Psalms in times of distress, nicely illustrated by the Yiddish saying 'Don't wait for a miracle, zog iillim (recite Psalms)'. There is a chapter on the main literary structures and patterns characteristic of biblical poetry. Most useful here is the author's easy movement between the ancient and medieval Jewish sources and the leading modem authorities on the subject such as Alonso Schokel, Robert Alter and Wilfred Watson. The main part of the book then presents detailed commentaries on thirteen Psalms, some taken together like 145 and 92 ('concentric psalms') and 115, 121, 124, 134 and 146 ('Maker of Heaven and Earth'), others looked at separately. These include some of the best known in Christian tradition, Psalm 23, for example, and Psalm 22 ('Why have you forsaken me?'), which makes it all the more fascinating and sometimes very moving to read them 'through rabbinic eyes'. Hebrew quotations are given throughout in transliteration, and then, for Hebraists, the complete Hebrew text of the Psalms discussed is printed at the end.