From the Overseer to the End: The Hermeneutical Role of <i>LMNṢḤ</i> in Psalm Interpretation

Abstract Before the modern period, the headings found on the psalms were an important component in forming one’s understanding of the content within a psalm, whether thematic or contextual. The rejection of the “historicity” of the psalm headings within the modern period is well known, as is their recent reassessment on heuristic and hermeneutical grounds. This reassessment has yielded positive results that have been picked up in many contemporary commentaries, usually focused on the role of the so-called historical notices associated with Davidic psalms. Similar reassessment has been slower or nonexistent for other elements of the headings. This article presents the results of research into the rubric lamnaṣṣēaḥ (“for the leader”). Modern scholarship has been largely negative in its assessment of this rubric’s early translation and interpretation, but a careful review of the history of interpretation shows that the early versions were aware of a cultic-liturgical meaning of the term, choosing to go in a different direction. Indeed, there is no mention of the view taken by the modern consensus until the early medieval period. A few potential models are offered on how the history of interpretation can inform our understanding of the ongoing function of the lmnṣḥ rubric in the canonical book of Psalms.