CHAPTER VII. THE PSALMS. Literature.-H. Ewald in the Dichter des AB.s (ed. 2), 1866 (translated); Justus Olshausen (in the Kgf. Exeg. Handb.), 1853; H. Hupfeld, Die Pss. übers. u. ausgelegt, 1855-62, ed. 3, revised by W. Nowack, 1888; F. Hitzig, Die Pss. übers. u. ausgelegt, 1863, 1865; F. Delitzsch (in the Bibl. Commentar), 1867, (ed. 4) 1883 (translated: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887-9); J. J. S. Perowne, The Book of Psalms: a new transl. with Introd, and Notes, 1864-68, (ed. 6) 1886; W. Kay, The Psalms with Notes, ed. 2, 1874; R. W. Church (Dean of St. Paul's) in The Gifts of Civilisation, 1880, p. 391 ff.; H. Grätz, Kritischer Komm. zu den Psalmen, 1882-3 (alters the text much too freely); T. K. Cheyne, The Book of Psalms (translation, with short notes), in the "Parchment Library," 1884; The Book of Psalms, or th Fraises of Israel: a new translation with Commentary, 1888 (on the text, see esp. pp. 369-406, with the references); The Historical Origin and Religious Ideas of the Psalter (being the "Bampton Lectures" for 1889), 1891; and in the Expositor, Aug. 1889-Jan. 1890 (Ps. 8. 16. 86. 87. 24. 26 and 28), 1890 March (Ps. 113-118), July (Ps. 63), Sept. (Ps. 68). See also Lagarde, Orientalia, ii. (1880) p. 13 ff.; W. R. Smith, 07JC. Lect. vii., and art. "Psalms" in the Encycl. Brit. (1886); M. Kopfstein, Die Asaph-Pss. untersucht, 1881; A. Neubauer, On the Titles of the Psalms according to early Jewish Authorities, in Studia Biblica, ii. p. 1 ff. (Oxford 1890). The Book of Psalms (in most German MSS.,1 which are followed in the printed editions of the Hebrew Bible) opens the third division of the Hebrew Canon, the Dan, or writings (also sometimes pn an, Aylóypapa). Hebrew Poetry.2-Hebrew poetry reaches back to the most 1 In Spanish MSS., as in Massoretic lists, it is preceded by Chronicles. 2 See Rob. Lowth, De sacra poesi Hebræorum prælectiones academi:@ (Oxon. 1753; transl. by G. Gregory 1847); J. G. von Herder, Vom Geist der Ebr. Poesie, 1782-3, ed. 3, by K. W. Justi, 1825; H. Ewald, Die Dichter des AB.s, i 1 ("Allgemeines über die hebr. Dichtkunst, und über das Psalmenbuch;" only pp. 239-292, 209-233 translated, in the translation of the Psalms, i. p. 1 ff., ii. p. 328 ff.); Kuenen, Onderzoek (ed. 1), 1865, vol. iii. p. I ff., with the references. Y ancient recollections of the Israelites (Gen. 49. Nu. 21, 17 f. 27-30. Jud. 5 &c.); probably, as with other nations, it was the form in which their earliest literary efforts found expression. Many poetical pieces are preserved in the historical books; and the Books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job (the Dialogue), Song of Songs, and Lamentations are entirely poetical. The line between poetry and elevated prose being, moreover, less sharply drawn in Hebrew than in Western languages, the prophets not unfrequently rise into a lyric or elegiac strain; and even the author of Ecclesiastes is led sometimes, by the moralizing character of his discourse, to cast his thoughts into the form of gnomic poetry. Of the two forms of poetry in which the greatest masterpieces of the Aryan races have been cast, the epos and the drama, the former is entirely unrepresented in Hebrew literature, the latter is represented only in a rudimentary and imperfect form. will be shown in its proper place, the Song of Songs is of the nature of a drama; and the Book of Job may be styled a dramatic poem. But the genius of the ancient Israelite was pre-eminently subjective; the Hebrew poet did not readily accommodate himself to the exhibition, in a poetical form, of the thoughts and emotions of others, such as the epos and the drama both require; it was his own thoughts and emotions for which he sought spontaneously to find forms of expression. Hence Hebrew poetry is almost exclusively lyric and gnomic. In lyric poetry, the poet gives vent to his personal emotions or experiences-his joys or sorrows, his cares or complaints, his aspirations or his despair; or he reproduces in words the impressions which nature or history may have made upon him. The character of lyric poetry, it is evident, may vary widely according to the subject, and according to the circumstances and mood of the poet himself. Gnomic poetry consists of observations 、on human life and society, or generalizations respecting conduct and character. But the line between these two forms cannot always be drawn strictly: lyric poetry, for instance, may assume a parenetic tone, giving rise to an intermediate form which may be called didactic (e.g. Ps. 15. 25. 37; Pr. 1-9); or again, a poem which is, on the whole, didactic may rise in parts into a lyric strain (Job 29-31. 38—39; Pr. 8, 12 ff.). Most of the Hebrew poetry that has been preserved is of a religious type: but poetry is the expression of a national character; and no doubt other sides of the national life-e.g. deeds of warriors, incidents of domestic interest, love, wine, marriages, and deaths-were fully represented in it. Examples of poems, or poetic sayings, in the OT. of a purely secular character are Gen. 4, 23 f. (Lamech's song of triumph over the invention of metal weapons). Nu. 21, 17 f. 27-30. Jud. 15, 16. 1 Sa. 18, 7, and even David's two elegies, 2 Sa. 1, 19-27. 3, 33 f. Allusions to songs accompanying banquets or other festal occasions occur in Gen. 31, 27. 2 Sa. 19, 35. Am. 6, 5. Is. 5, 12. 16, 10. 24, 9. Job 21, 12. Ps. 69, 12 (cf. Job 30, 9. Lam. 3, 14. 63). 78, 63. Lam. 5, 14. Eccl. 2, 8: cf. also Is. 23, 16. Jer. 38, 22. Poetry is distinguished from prose partly by the character of the thoughts of which it is the exponent,-which in Hebrew poetry, as a rule, either express or spring out of an emotion,— partly by its diction (the choice and order of words), but especially by its rhythm. The onward movement of emotion is not entirely irregular or unrestrained; it is checked, or interrupted, at particular intervals; and the flow of thought has to accommodate itself in a certain degree to these recurring interruptions; in other words, it is divided into lines. In most Western poetry these lines have a definite metre or measure: they consist, viz., of a fixed number of syllables (or of "feet"): in some cases all the lines of a poem being of the same length, in other cases lines of different length alternating, according to certain prescribed rules. To the modern ear, also, the satisfaction which the recurrence of lines of equable length produces, is often enhanced by that assonance of the corresponding lines which we term rhyme. But in ancient Hebrew poetry, though there was always rhythm, there was (so far as has yet been discovered) no metre in the strict sense of the term; and rhyme appears 1 On the attempts that have been made to discover metre (strictly so called) in the OT., see the study of C. Budde in the Stud. u. Krit. 1874, p. 747 ff., and in the Theol. Litzt. 1888, col. 3. The cleverest of these attempts is that of G. Bickell in his Carmina Vet. Test. metrice (1882), where the poems of the OT. are transliterated in metrical forms analogous to those used by the Syriac poets (Ephrem, &c.). But the alterations in the text, and the metrical licences, which are necessary for Bick system, form a serious objection to it. At the same time, it is probable that in his search for a metre he has in reality been guided by a sense of rhythm, which has enabled him to discover imperfections due to corruption of the text. Prof. Briggs' system (Biblical Study, p. 279 ff.; Hebraica, 1887, p. 161 ff., 1888, p. 201 ff.; comp. Fr. Brown, Journ. of Bibl. Lit. 1890, p. 71 ff.) is not one of strict metre, but of measurement by accents or rhythmical beats, the "foot" not necessarily consisting of the same number of syllables. The principle of Jul. Ley, Leitfaden der Metrik der Heb. Poesie (1887), is similar. Apart from con. to have been as accidental as it was with the classical Latin poets. The poetical instincts of the Hebrews appear to have been satisfied by the adoption of lines of approximately the same length, which were combined, as a rule, into groups of two, three, or four lines, constituting verses, the verses marking usually more distinct pauses in the progress of the thought than the separate lines. The fundamental (and predominant) form of the Hebrew verse is the couplet of two lines, the second line either repeating, or in some other way reinforcing or com pleting, the thought of the first. In the verse of two lines is exemplified also the principle which most widely regulates the form of Hebrew poetry, the parallelismus membrorum — the parallelism of two clauses of approximately the same length, the second clause answering, or otherwise completing, the thought of the first. The Hebrew verse does not, however, consist uniformly of two lines; the addition of a third line is apt especially to introduce an element of irregularity: so that the parallelismus membrorum, though an important canon of Hebrew poetry, is not the sole principle by which its form is determined. The significance in Hebrew poetry of the parallelism of clauses was first perceived by Rob. Lowth, who thus distinguished its principal varieties: 1. Synonymous parallelism. In this kind (which is the most frequent) the second line enforces the thought of the first by repeating, and, as it were, echoing it in a varied form, producing an effect at once grateful to the ear and satisfying to the mind: as Nu. 23, 8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied ? Or the second line expresses a thought not indeed identical with that of the first, but parallel and similar to it Josh. 10, 12 Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; And thou, Moon, upon the valley of Aijalon. jecture, metre is only known to ha been introduced into Hebrew poetry by the Jewish poets of the Middle Ages, in imitation of Arabic poetry. (Bickell's Carmina should be supplemented by his short papers in the Innsbruck Z. für Kathol. Theol. 1885, p. 717 ff.; 1886, p. 205 ff., 355 ff., 546 ff., 560 ff.). 1 And approximately, also, each complete in itself, or coinciding with a pause in the thought,-another point of difference from Western poetry, in which the thought may generally move on continuously through two or more 2. Antithetic parallelism. Here the thought of the first line is emphasized, or confirmed, by a contrasted thought expressed in the second. Thus Pr. 10, 1 A wise son maketh a glad father, But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Ps. 1, 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous; This kind of parallelism is most frequent in gnomic poetry, where, from the nature of the subject-matter, antithetic truths are often contrasted. 3. Synthetic or constructive parallelism. Here the second line contains neither a repetition nor a contrast to the thought of the first, but in different ways supplements or completes it. The parallelism, therefore, is merely of form, and does not extend to the thought at all. E.g.— Ps. 2, 6 Yet I have set my king Upon Zion, my holy hill. Pr. 15, 17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, 26, 4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, 27, 8 As a bird that wandereth from her nest, So is a man that wandereth from his place. A comparison, a reason, a consequence, a motive, often constitutes one of the lines in a synthetic parallelism. 4. A fourth kind of parallelism, though of rare occurrence, is still sufficiently marked to be noticed by the side of those described by Lowth, viz. climactic parallelism (sometimes called "ascending rhythm"). Here the first line is itself incomplete, and the second line takes up words from it and completes them— Ps. 29, I Give unto the LORD, O ye sons of the mighty, 8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; The LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. Ex. 15, 16 Till thy people pass over, O LORD, Till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. This kind of rhythm is all but peculiar to the most elevated poetry: see Jud. 5, 4. 7. 19. 23. Ps. 29, 5. 96, 13. Is. 24, 15 (Cheyne). There is something analogous to it, though much less forcible and distinct, in some of the "Songs of Ascents" (Ps. 121-134), where a somewhat emphatic word is repeated from one verse (or line) in the next, as Ps. 121, 1o. 2a (help); 3o. 4; 4. 5; 7. 8a; 122, 2o. 3a &c. By far the greater number of verses in the poetry of the OT. consist of distichs of one or other of the types that have been illustrated; though naturally every individual line is not constructed with the regularity of the examples selected (which, |
