REVISITING THE PLAGUES IN PSALM CV by W. DENNIS TUCKER JR. Waco, United States The traditions associated with the Plague narratives in Exodus vii- xii are reappropriated, in varying fashion, in Ps. lxxviii and Ps. cv. Suggestions concerning the relationship (or lack thereof) between the Pentateuchal sources and the two psalms have been numerous. 1 In revisiting the relationship between Ps. cv and the Plague narratives in Exodus, the present study will argue that a proper emphasis on the idea of land is central to interpreting the plague tradition as devel- oped by the psalmist in Ps. cv. And further, that appropriate atten- tion to the repetition of land in Ps. cv as a whole, and particularly in vv. 26-36, may offer a rationale as to the omission of the fifth and sixth plagues in Ps. cv, and further, the repositioning of the ninth plague to the beginning of the recital of the plague events. The significance of land R. J. Clifford 2 and A. Ceresko 3 have both sought to explore the "rhetorical particulars of the poem". 4 And more central to the 1 Those who contend that multiple Plague traditions were in circulation include S. E. Lowenstamm {The Tradition of the Exodus in its Development [Jerusalem, 1965]). He suggests "the traditions of the Plagues crystallized originally in various series of seven plagues (= Pss 78 and 105) a n d . . . the narrative in the Book of Exodus resulted from the amalgamation of different traditions of this type" (p. II). See also Lowenstamm, "The Number of Plagues in Psalm 105", Bib 52 (1971), pp. 34-38. Other suggest some type of dependence on the Pentateuchal sources by the psalmists. See Hans Joachim Kraus, Psalms 60-150 (Minneapolis, 1993), p. 309; R.J. Clifford, "Style and Purpose in Psalm 105", Bib 60 (1979), pp. 420-427; B. Margulis, "The Plagues Tradition in Psalm 105", Bib 50 (1969), pp. 491-496; and A. C. C. Lee, "Genesis 1 and the plagues tradition in Psalm cv", FT 40 (1990), pp. 257-263. 2 "Style and Purpose in Psalm 105". 3 "A Poetic Analysis of Ps 105, with Attention to Its Irony", Bib 64 (1983), pp. 20-46. 4 "Style and Purpose in Psalm 105", p. 420. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Vetus Testamentum LV,3 Also available online - www.brill.nl