Neither Story or Arbitrary: The Rhetoric of Juxtaposition in the MT Psalter

Recent trends in final-form Psalter studies have swung toward opposing extremes. On one end, some scholars read the Psalter as a cohesive whole, arguing for an overarching narrative or "storyline." On the other hand, a recent counter-trend flatly rejects this approach, claiming that individual psalm contents rarely inform their ordering and that the Psalter's organization is largely arbitrary. This presentation draws on key case studies from the MT Psalter to argue for a nuanced middle ground: while juxtapositions across 150 poems do not yield a neat, linear story, the ordering of the Psalter is far from arbitrary and has rhetorical and theological weight.

Matthew Montgomery, PhD, currently serves as an adjunct professor at Butler University and the University of Indianapolis. His research focuses primarily on the Hebrew Bible, with particular attention to the Book of Psalms and the literary, rhetorical, compositional, and theological shaping of the Masoretic Psalter.

His scholarship examines the Asaph Psalms, inner-biblical allusion and intertextuality, biblical rhetoric, literary juxtaposition, biblical poetics, narrative patterning, and the relationship between the Psalter and traditions preserved in the Torah and Former Prophets. His research also explores the reuse and transformation of Exodus traditions, the roles of Moses and Aaron within the Psalter, and the ways in which individual psalms participate in larger literary and theological structures.

Montgomery completed doctoral research at the University of Aberdeen with a dissertation entitled "Inheritance in the Asaph Psalms: Interpreting a Unifying Theme." His wider research also includes Second Temple Judaism, Malachi and the Book of the Twelve, Elijah and Phinehas traditions, biblical theology, and the literary dynamics through which biblical texts interpret and reshape earlier scriptural traditions.

His recent scholarship has appeared in the European Hebrew Journal and Old Testament Essays and reflects an interdisciplinary approach combining close reading of the Hebrew text with literary, rhetorical, compositional, intertextual, and theological analysis.