Psalm 24: reading from right to left and from back to front

Abstract

The heading of the article “Reading from right to left and from back to front” is a play on the words of David A. Clines — “Reading from left to right.” The phrase “and from back to front” is added to emphasise the cultural difference existing between people living in the twenty first century and the writers and first readers of biblical texts. It is deliberately different form Clines’ reading. The writer of the article claims to have been influenced by scholars working within the historical-critical paradigm of biblical studies. His is thus a historical-critical reading of Ps 24 taking into account the ancient context in which the text originated, but with a slant—it was read in the South African context.