I. Preliminary. The Psalms appear in the earliest classification we have of the Hebrew Scriptures, viz., that of the New Testament, as one of the three great divisions of sacred literature, side by side with the Law and the Prophets. In the more elaborate arrangement of the Talmudic Canon, they lose their distinctive title in the more general one of Hagiographa or sacred writings (in Hebrew, Kethubim),* at the head of which they stand, in the order adopted in the Hebrew Bibles.+ In the Septuagint this threefold division, not having been settled at the time of that translation, does not of course appear, and the Psalms there are classed with the poetical and didactic books, as in our English Bibles. It is often assumed that the title Psalms in Luke xxiv. 44 means the whole of the Hagiographa, the whole being named after its most important part. It is, however, more probable that the pre-eminence there given to the Psalms is due to another reason. The threefold division into Law, Prophets, and Psalms, was not a popular mode of designating the Scriptures as a whole, but an arrangement arising out of the use of the synagogue, where the Psalms supplied the lesson for the afternoon, as the Prophets did for the morning, of the Sabbath. The collection in its present form bears evidence of adaptation to the exigencies of the synagogue services. It was, however, originally made for the (Second) Temple service, and for musical was the Jewish hymnal. This appears in the names by which it was known. In Hebrew the book is that of the Tehillim, or shortly, Tillim, that is, praises. The Greek name is in one Codex auoi, in another tarpion (the Lyre), from which comes Psalter. The Hebrew word for psalm (mizmor), whatever be the root idea of the term, apparently denotes a composition, not merely lyric, like shir, and so capable of being sung, but one actually set to music and accompanied by music.

purposes.

It

pilation of the Psalms, and indeed of the composition of many of them, is found in the titles prefixed to a great number of the hymns. The meaning of these titles, and their bearing upon the difficult questions of date and authorship, will be discussed in the individual psalms. Here it is only necessary to call the reader's attention to the musical character of many of them. Some, for instance, convey directions to the choir or choir-master: in the Authorised Version, " To the chief musician" (Pss. xi., xiii., &c.). To this is sometimes added the kind of instruments to be employed (Pss. v., vi., liv., &c.), or the name of a musician or designation of a body of musicians (Pss. lxii., lxxvii.). Others apparently indicate the tune to which the psalm is to be sung, or the compass of the voices for which it is suitable (Pss. ix., xxii., lvi., vi., xii.). Others, again, bring the Psalter into close connection with the Levitical guilds or families, the Asaphites and the Korahites (Pss. 1., lxxiii.-lxxxiii., xlii.-xlix.), whose connection with the Temple worship is elaborately described in the Book of Chronicles.

books of poetry.

But there is, besides, ample historical testimony which corroborates what the nature of many of the Psalms, as well as the titles of others, would lead us to conclude that the whole collection was intended for public worship. That the use of the Psalter in the various branches of the Christian Church is a continuation of its original purpose and use in the Jewish Church, is proved by Talmudic directions, and that the use had begun at an early time and continued unbroken through all the fortunes of Israel is shown by notices in the historical books, in the apocryphal books, and in the New Testament.

Its character as the Jewish hymnal once recognised, the Psalter will be found to answer, so to speak, frankly and openly the many questions that can and must be asked of its composition, arrangement, &c., even if on all points the answer cannot be so complete as we could wish. For instance we see at once from the analogy of hymn-books of modern churches that the collection is likely to turn out to be a compilation of works of different authors and different times, composed with various purposes, and on a vast variety of subjects, and only so far connected as being capable of use in the public worship of the Church; and this the most cursory glance at the Book of Psalms is sufficient to establish.

There is, however, this important difference between the Jewish and other hymn-books; it is rare that into one of the latter a poem not having a distinct religious

*Tradition, as embodied in the Talmud, has preserved the liturgical form in use in the Herodian Temple, and it is confirmed by notices in Josephus, who was an eye-witness. Psalms were sung by Levites to a musical accompaniment after the presentation of wine on the altar, when all the congregation were on their bended knees.

Pss. cxlvi.-cl., anonymous, each beginning with "Hallejuhah."

This arrangement does not correspond with that of the LXX. and Vulg., which put together Pss. ix. and x., cxiv., cxv., and separate Pss. cxvi. and exlvii. into two. There are also considerable variations in the titles. The LXX. ascribe seventeen to David, which have no author named in the Hebrew, one to Jeremiah (Ps. cxxxvii.), four to Haggai and Zechariah (Pss. cxxxviii., exlvi.-exlviii.) making at the same time the omissions noticed above, while other less important variations show themselves.

The complete absence of any perspicuous method in this table is the first point that strikes us. It is told that in the first century of our era an ambitious scribe wished to classify the Psalms and arrange them on some more intelligible plan, but was met by the objection that it would be impiety to meddle with what David had left in such confusion. Modern scholars have not been so scrupulous, and many attempts at classification have been made, none, perhaps, with complete success, but even the worst with this result-to show how entirely without plan the last compiler of the Psalter worked, or rather to suggest that he made no attempt at classification, but found certain collections or groups already formed, and merely attached others to them so as to serve for the purpose of public worship, without either endeavouring to improve on a previous system or invent one of his own. That such collections previously existed there can hardly be a doubt. Just so much plan appears in the arrangement of the whole as to show it, for surely no collector would have taken the trouble to bring all the Davidic psalms which occur in the first and second books together, unless he were intending to make, as far as he could, a complete collection of such psalms. Indeed, the compiler of Books I. and II. himself declares he has effected this object by the statement, "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended," which can mean nothing else than that there were, in the writer's knowledge, no more to be found. We may even perhaps assume that before the bulk of the others bearing the inscription "of David" were discovered, not only Books I. and II., but also III. and IV., had taken their present shape, or surely the last redactor would have placed those occurring in Book V. nearer the others of the same reputed authorship.

The position of groups called from their titles Asaphic and Korahite psalms in Books III. and IV., points to the same conclusion. Unless the last compiler had found them already spread over two books, he surely would have grouped them together. Another distinct group, which seems to owe its arrangement to some previous hand, appears under the title "songs of degrees."

The groups, too, known as the Hallel psalms, were evidently formed for purposes of public singing, and not on any system affecting the whole collection of psalms.

The general conclusion is, that the Psalter owes its shape chiefly to what we may call the accidents of growth. Whenever the last redaction was made, individual psalms, nay, whole groups of psalms, may have been inserted, or added; but the addition was made without regard to any definite system, either chronological or artistic. The previous grouping may even have been interfered with, and to some extent disordered, by the latest hand that touched the Psalter.

On the other hand, so much of chronological sequence as naturally must show itself in a collection of compositions which has grown with time, may have been

so far recognised and continued as that most of the very late psalms occur towards the end, while the earlier Books I. and II. were-except in one particular— but very slightly, perhaps from the same motive, interfered with.

This one particular relates to Psalms i. and ii. That these were by the Rabbis regarded as one composition, and were placed at the head of the collection with a purpose (see Introduction, Pss. i. and ii.) can hardly now be questioned. It is also probable that they owe their position to the latest, or, at all events, a very late hand. The collector of the Davidic psalms of Book I. would hardly have begun his collection with an orphan psalm, as the Rabbis call those wanting inscriptions; whereas a late compiler, who had already under his hand many such, would not pay any regard to a point of the kind. Wishing to strike at once the key-note of the whole collection, and to place at the opening of the Psalms a composition presenting the covenant relation in both its aspects, as affecting the individual towards ungodly individuals and the nation towards uncovenanted nations, and at the same time to bring into prominence the dignity of the written law, and the glory of the Messianic hope, he would select the two hymns most strikingly suiting his purpose, and weld them into one inaugurating psalm.

III. The titles of the Psalms. Preliminary to any attempt at discussion of the authorship of the Psalms or the date of the composition and collection, the titles or inscriptions found at the head of so large a number of them claim notice, as being apparently the only guide followed in the arrangement of the Psalter as it has come down to us.

In the Hebrew Bible 116 psalms have inscriptions of some kind. The rest, 34 in number, are called by the Rabbis "orphan" psalms. In the Greek Bible no psalm has been left without a heading, except the first and second. An indication of the difference of opinion as to the value of these headings is supplied by the numbering of the verses. When the text of the Hebrew Bible received its present shape they were evidently regarded as an integral part of the Psalms, forming in many cases the first verse, to the great inconvenience in reference, since in all versions they have been treated as prefatory and not as part of the composition. That this opinion was not as old as the ancient versions is shown by the liberties the translators took with the inscriptions. They evidently did not, like the Fathers and later Jews, regard them as of equal importance with the text of the Psalms; and this very fact prepares the way for that criticism to which they have been in modern times subjected.

On the other hand, the fact that the LXX. found the inscriptions in their copies, proves that they were not the invention of those who incorporated them with the Psalms. Nay, it is often argued that because the translators were so perplexed by some of the musical directions as to have made hopeless nonsense of them, these at least, and by implication the titles generally, must be of an antiquity considerably greater than the version of the LXX., lapse of time having rendered these musical terms obscure. They may, however; have been obscure not from antiquity but from novelty. Newly-invented technical terms offer as much difficulty to a translator as obsolete words, and the musical system of Palestine was not improbably quite unknown at Alexandria long after it had come into use. On the other side it must be noticed that the translators allowed themselves considerable license with the titles even

when they understood them, both changing and supplementing them, and generally treating them not as authoritative, but merely as convenient, finding them in many points defective, and often capable of improvement. This mode of treatment is not confined to the LXX. The Syriac allows itself the same freedom, and in one case prefixes a most interesting, but at the same time most tantalising heading, "from an ancient document."

Since such was the point of view of the old versions, it may justly be claimed by modern scholarship, that the inscriptions are open ground, coming to us with no kind of external authority, and to be judged in each separate case on their merits. They may here embody a tradition, here merely represent a clever guess, but whether due to popular tradition or Rabbinical adventure, the value of each inscription depends on the support it receives from the contents of the Psalm to which it has been affixed, and not to any authority from its age or position.

The meaning of the many obscure and perplexing musical inscriptions will be discussed as they present themselves. But one inscription, since it designates a whole group of psalms, calls for notice here. It is that prefixed to the fifteen psalms, cxx.―cxxxiv., “a song of degrees." This translation comes through the Vulgate, canticum graduum ; but song of steps or ascents would more nearly represent the Hebrew. The inscription was plainly intended to describe either the purpose for which the Psalms were composed, or some use to which they were adapted, for we may dismiss the theory that it describes a peculiarity of rhythm, a step-like progression, which is indeed audible in some of them, but only very faintly or not at all in most.*

Three accounts have been given of these psalms.

(1). They were composed to celebrate the return from the Captivity, and the title means songs of going up." This view, however, must be abandoned. Some of the poems may very probably have been composed in honour of this event, but others of them (Pss. cxx., cxxii., cxxxiv.) have nothing to do with the march homewards from exile. Nor does the inscription really refer to that event. It is true that the verb from which the noun is formed is the usual word for journeying from the Babylonian low country to Palestine, and in Ezra vii. 9 the very noun in the singular is used of the return, but the plural cannot well refer to it.

(2). They are pilgrim songs which were chanted by the caravans as they journeyed to Jerusalem to the yearly feasts. This view is more natural, but against it is the fact that some of the hymns seem in no way suitable for such a use, and there is no historical authority (though strong probability) that any such custom prevailed. The form of the noun is also, in the opinion of many scholars, against this theory.

(3). They were psalms chanted by the Levites at the feast of Tabernacles as they stood during the waterdrawing on the steps leading from the court of the men to that of the women. They are in fact literally "step songs." In favour of this view there is the fact

The peculiarity is really nothing more than a variety of Hebrew verse, not confined to these Psalms (Comp. Pss. xciii., xcvi.; Is. xvii. 12, seq.. xxvi. 5, seq.; and especially Jud. v. 3, 5, 6, &c.) in accordance with which the sense is carried to a climax by the repetition of some prominent word, eg., in Ps. cxxi. 3, 4.

He will not suffer thy foot to move,
Thy keeper will not slumber,

Behold slumbereth not and sleepeth not
The keeper of Israel.

This device is hardly apparent in Pss. cxx., cxxvii., cxxix., cxxxi., and not at all in Pss. cxxviii., cxxxii.

that the number of the steps so occupied was fifteen, corresponding with the number of the Psalms. It is gathered also from the Talmud that these very Psalms were actually sung in this position. The inscription "songs of steps" not only exactly suits this explanation, but is what we should expect a rubrical title to be. (Comp. the Graduale of the Romish Church). This is also the explanation given by the Rabbinical authorities, on which we have to rely for our knowledge of Jewish ritual.

IV. Authorship and Date of the Psalms. -The discovery that little historical value was to be attached to the titles, at once opened up the difficult question as to the authorship and date of every part of the collection, and, unfortunately, without knowing the principle on which the collectors worked in prefixing the titles, we are without the benefit of profiting by their errors. That they thought they were working on materials extending through the whole possible period of the nation's literature, is shown by the ascription of one Psalm (xc.) to Moses. That, however, they did not work with the intention of making their collection representative of all the different ages of greatest literary vigour in that long period, is evident from the exclusion of the Song of Deborah, and the Psalm of Hannah, which would have served as examples of the times of the Judges. Nor are more than two Psalms allotted to the prolific age of Solomon (Pss. xxxii. and cxxvii.), and none at all to the revivals under Hezekiah and Josiah.

Apparently the first purpose was to collect and edit only Davidic psalms. Others, of Levitical origin, were soon added. But the tendency to attribute more and more of the hymns to David becomes evident as the collection goes on, and shows itself more decidedly still in the LXX. By the time of Christ the whole Psalter had acquired the name of the royal poet, and in the phraseology of the Eastern and Western churches alike, it is simply called "David," while the Ethiopic version closes with the words "David is ended." Modern criticism has gone as far or even farther in the opposite direction. Ewald refers to David and his time only seventeen psalms; Grätz, the latest commentator on the Psalms, grudgingly allows him part of one, the xviiith. The question of authorship, in so far as data exist for it, must be discussed with every individual psalm. Doubtless a very large part of the collection is due to the Levites. The inscriptions point that way, as well as the musical associations of the psalter. Within this body not only were the rites of the national religion preserved and continued, but its best spirit, as we know from the histories, was kept alive by them. In times when even the priests were carried away by the idolatrous influences of the court, Levites were found more "upright in heart," to struggle against the corrupt tendencies of the times, or throw themselves into any movement for reform (2 Chron. xxix. 34, xxxiv. 8-13). Professionally a religious body, they were certain to be the first victims of religious persecution, and cannot doubt that they were generally among that better part of the community whose voice is so constantly lifted up in the psalms, now in plaintive prayer, now in fierce denunciation against the prevailing idolatries and apostacies. Add to this that they often

we

The LXX. allot to David Pss. x., xxxiii., xliii., lxvii., lxxi., xci., xciii-xcix., civ., cxxxvii. On the other side it omits the Davidic inscription in cxxii., cxxiv., cxxxi., cxxxiii. (The numbers refer to the Hebrew Bible.)

suffered from negligence in paying the tithes, and were therefore literally among those poor afflicted ones, whose constancy to the Theocratic ideal is to be rewarded as in Pss. xxii. and xxxvii., which console the true seekers of God with the hope of temporal as well as spiritual blessings.*

The task of discovering individual authors for the Psalms must be given up; that of ascertaining the date of composition is hardly less difficult since so many have no strongly-marked individuality, and greatly resemble one another. Critics have, however, placed the largest number of the Psalms in four periods of history.

(1). Before the Captivity.

(2). During the Captivity.

(3). From the Captivity to the Maccabees. (4). In the Maccabean (or subsequent) age.

Still, within limits so large it is often next to impossible to decide on the precise date of a psalm. Certain general features, however, present themselves as tests, and these have been followed here, and will be found noticed in the particular introductions.

The most important question with regard to these periods relates to the Maccabean age. In the controversy as to the existence of psalms of this period, critics of the greatest eminence are found on each side. If (see below) it can be proved that the Canon, as far as regards the Psalter, was not closed till after the reign of the Asmonean Queen Alexandra (Salome) then there is no external argument against Maccabean Psalms, while there is in many cases strong internal evidence in their favour. Nay, there is the strongest a priori probability that times so stirring, and marked by such a striking revival of patriotic and religious sentiment, should have given birth to poetry.

The question of the close of the Psalter has received a new light from the discovery of Grätz, that, according to tradition embodied in the Talmud, the night service, alluded to in Ps. cxxxiv., did not become part of Jewish ritual before the re-inauguration of the Water Libation during the Feast of Tabernacles by Queen Alexandra. This, if certain, brings the composition of that psalm, and, by implication, others of the "songs of degrees," down to the middle of the first century before Christ, and gives for the whole range over which the Psalter extends, counting from David, a period of eight hundred years.

V. Nature of the verse.-Of quantity and metre, in the sense a Greek would have used the words, Hebrew poetry knows nothing.

It is even doubtful whether any regard was paid to the number of syllables in a line, as distinguished from words. Nor did rhyme lend its charm to Hebrew verse. Its music is heard rather in the succession of sentences than the succession of words. Single lines show no certain indication of a rule of quantity or accent, guiding and regulating the flow of thought, but when two or more are taken together, there is found to be a rhythmical proportion or symmetry between them, which has received various names, but

Grätz has worked out this theory fully, and even goes so far as to adopt from the Hebrew (anavim) a name for this class of Psalm-writing Levites. He justly observes that while poor in material things, they were intellectually and morally far above the rest of the nation.

+ Instances of assonance indeed are common, and the appearance of the same suffix, sometimes in five or six words together, shows that the Hebrew car was pleased with a frequent repetition of identical sounds. Some of the Liturgical Psalms, e.g., cvi., show a special tendency to this device.

is most usually, after Bishop Lowth's terminology, called Parallelism.* This term, though mathematical rather than poetic, serves well to express the essential peculiarity of Hebrew verse, in which the lines are so balanced one against the other, that thought corresponds to thought, in repetition, amplification, contrast or response. We might make a rough analogy by comparing the rhythmic movement of verse to the timebeats of a clock or watch. Other languages divide the verses into measured feet, as a watch ticks off the seconds; but Hebrew offers line to line with the longer, more solemn, and more majestic beat of the pendulum of a large clock. If one sentence balances another, so that voice and sense stop together, the natural cadence thus produced satisfies the Hebrew ear, though, very generally, the effect is improved by an actual equality in the number of words in the two clauses.

It is convenient to speak of parallelism as simple or complex according as the verse formed by it consists of

two members or more than two.

The perfect form exhibits a symmetry both in form and expression; there is a balance not only in the sense, but in the order and arrangement of the words, the lines being of equal length and identical in structure, verb answering to verb, and noun to noun, as in Ps. xix. 2.

"Day to day uttereth speech,

And night to night sheweth knowledge."

This form is variously called the synonymous or cognate parallelism. The second line may be an exact echo or repetition of the first, as in verse 1 of the same psalm.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, And the sky sheweth his handy-work." But generally it either explains and illustrates the first line, as in Ps. xviii. 14.

"Yea, he sent out his arrows and scattered them,

And he shot out his lightnings and discomfited them." Or it gives a new turn to the thought, and carries it on, as Ps. lxxvii. 1.

"My voice is unto God, and I cry aloud,

My voice is unto God, and he will hearken unto me." The Psalms offer endless modifications of this perfect form. Sometimes the similarity of sense is dropped, while that of form remains. Often a graceful diversity is introduced by inverting the order of the words, as in the example above given, from Ps. cxix. 1, where in the Hebrew the clauses run

"The heavens declare the glory of God,
And the works of his hands shews the sky."

a figure which the Greeks called chiasmus, and which in Hebrew poetry is often called introverted parallelism. Comp. Ps. cvii. 9, 16, where the English partially repeats the figure.

Often again the principal element is not one of resemblance, but of progression, as in Ps. cxxix. 3. "The ploughers ploughed upon my back, And made long furrows."

Here the echo is not so much in the sense as in the construction of the clauses. The balance is maintained in the number and order of the words employed, though an entirely new thought is introduced. Indeed, sometimes, the rhythm almost disappears. There is still a manifest intention of parallelism, but the charm of the echo is gone. We are very near prose in such verses as Ps. evii. 38, &c.

He blesseth them so that they multiply exceedingly,
And suffereth not their cattle to decrease."

Other names are "rhyme of sentiment;" "thought rhythm;' "sentence rhythm."

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