This useful study is a work more for the specialist scholar than for the general student of the Old Testament. For it reviews and advances a discussion which, in the form in which it is presented, is essentially a scholar’s problem: What is the relationship between psalms and prophecy in the Old Testament? Given that some of the characteristic forms of divine speech found in the prophets are also to be found in the psalms, especially God speaking words of assurance in response to a cry for help, what does this show about the relationship of the prophet to the context in which psalms were used, that is the institutional temple worship, the cult, of Israel? Although scholars have sometimes argued for a marked division between prophets and the cult (shades of liberal Protestantism versus Roman Catholicism), it has been more common recently to argue for the existence of a cult prophet, a prophetic figure who exercised his ministry of speaking on God’s behalf within the context of temple worship; and it is this that accounts for similarities in form and content between psalmody and prophecy.

After reviewing modern debate on this issue, Bellinger offers some helpful comments on problems of method, with special reference to the problems of knowing what inferences may legitimately be drawn from the generalized and figurative language of the psalms. He then offers a detailed study of selected lament psalms, both individual and corporate, focusing upon the recurrent phenomenon of a marked change of tone from lament to joyful certainty that God has heard and answered the lament. He considers the various proposed explanations for this, and shows that the hypothesis of a cult prophet is open to question. After reviewing such prophetic elements in the psalms, Bellinger briefly considers some psalm-like elements in the prophets, especially Habakkuk and Joel, and again argues that this does not constitute evidence for cult prophets.

Bellinger’s conclusions are not very remarkable, but his careful analysis will be helpful for all who are interested in this area of Old Testament study.

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