The Psalter's Book I

A week ago I ran across a German review of The Formation of the Hebrew Psalter. The Book of Psalms Between Ancient Versions, Material Transmission and Canonical Exegesis; the English introduction is freely available. This came from the panel "Canonical Exegesis of the Psalter: Challenges and Prospects" at the SBL International Meeting 2019 in Rome. I've translated this review locally; it's not worth offering the whole thing here. D. Willgren Davage's five foundations are notable:

First, the Psalter was written on scrolls of different length; second, before the advent of printing, it did not have a fixed arrangement; third, in the Second Temple period, it did not have a uniform sequence; fourth, it grew with different compositional “trajectories”; fifth, the individual Psalms were not read on the basis of the neighbouring Psalms

... and then the following essays rip that fifth foundation to rubble.

Sure - Willgren's example 4Q171 is a pesher as exists to create a context for 37 and 45. But... it's tendentious. For my part I find difficult to believe that 1 Chronicles 16 hadn't read Psalms 105-106, exactly, as sequential; that neopsalmist is tendentious too, but he'd inserted a text into there. Schnocks pp. 309-330 seems to agree upon Psalms 90-106 as Book IV.

Botha pp. 167-185 will flag Psalm 37 as a commentary upon a Psalter beginning with Psalms 1-2, presumably the Psalter preceding the injection of "Books IV and V". Hartenstein (187-214) and Liess (215-242) go deeper, assuming subgroups at Psalms 15-24 and 25-34 (respectively). Hartenstein claims the famous Psalm 23 as Brennspiegel: a focal-mirror, constructed as conclusion to the sequence 16, 17–18*, 20–21. Liess looking at Psalm 25 sees this one as much later, foisted between these blocks in the (late) post-exilic period. Weber then argues for the unity of 25-34: [deliberate] composition, not Davage's [random] anthology. If we can bring these Germans together the process would go: collections of 15-34 like the sporadic 16-23, then a quick hymnal of 15-24 as a block with 23, then a Psalter 1-37 with 25 as bridge and 37 as summation, brought into Jerusalem. Meanwhile, note, at least Psalm 137 may already have existed.

Elsewhere we can read Botha on Psalm 39: as a response to Psalms 34 and 37 both. Psalm 73 would then respond to Psalm 39; the Book of Job will have its foils cite 73 alone and its protagonist cite both.

Our "Book I" actually goes as far as Psalm 41. Barbiero pp. 289-305 argues that, yes, its core exists: Psalms 40-41 have back references... to 1-2, 18, and 20-22. Hartenstein would have to see this as a witness to his group as expanded with 22 - as such, it probably had 23 too. Although this "Book I" may have lacked the 25-34 block, or 37, let alone 39. Who knows, right? Note that Psalm 22 implies messianism to Christians and, here, to Barbiero. Also if Psalms 35-41 are a "unity" this was imposed upon Psalms 37 and 39 secondarily, you'd think.