Driving to work today, having made my left turn onto Merrick Boulevard, gone three blocks to 243rd Street and made a right turn, I saw a vehicle with the license plate PSALM 30. That got me curious; once in the library, I began a little research on the psalm.
It begins: I will exalt you, O LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
The Oxford Companion to the Bible quotes Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932), a German scholar and Old Testament scholar. He is noted for his contribution to form criticism and the study of oral tradition in biblical texts. He was an outstanding representative of the "History of Religion School." (Wikipedia)
Oxford states that he "originated the modern literary analysis of the psalter." Psalm 30 is characterized as a prayer "offered up after deliverance from stress" - counterpart to lament.
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