THE
TITLES OF THE PSALMS
THEIR NATURE AND MEANING
EXPLAINED
BY
JAMES WILLIAM THIRTLE
HENRY FROWDE
AND
1904
[Public Domain: Ted Hildebrandt]
PREFACE
IN the following pages I propound a
new
treatment
of the Psalm Titles, especially the
Musical
Titles. I have endeavoured to set
forth
my views in a plain manner, and, as far
as
possible, to avoid side issues and extraneous
considerations.
It would have been easy to enlarge
on several
points
of great interest; but the exercise of such
freedom
would have involved undesirable delay
in
placing my observations before Bible students
in
general. I think enough has been said to
make
my position clear, and to evoke discussion
along
lines that promise important results to
legitimate
research.
On some grounds I should prefer to
have
developed
the subject more thoroughly before
sending
forth my book. Others, doubtless, will
complete
what I have begun. I remember the
wise
saying of Rabbi Tarphon: ‘It is not incum-
bent
on thee to complete the work, yet art thou
not
free to leave it alone.’
vi PREFACE
Having regard to the history of the
Hebrew
Text
of the Old Testament, as received through
the
Massoretes, I hold it to be impossible, on any
such
grounds as verbal features or literary style,
to
distinguish with certainty documents of varying
ages
or authors as entering into the composition
of
the several books. Accordingly, in these pages,
I
have treated the various books of the Old
Testament
as constituting one ‘Divine Library’;
in
other words, I have recognized, as beyond
doubt,
a substantial uniformity in the language
of
the Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings.
Hence
I have been content to quote from one
and
all the books without such qualifications and
reserve
as have come into vogue during recent
years.
Except where otherwise stated, the
Revised
Version
has been followed in these pages.
J.
W. T.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I.
INTRODUCTORY I
FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
II.
(I) THE KEY LOST 6
III. (2) THE KEY FOUND 10
IV. (3) SOME RESULTS OF MISCONSTRUCTION 17
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
V.
(I) PSALMS FOR SPECIAL SEASONS 21
VI. (2) PSALMS FOR THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER 31
VII. (3) PSALMS FOR A `SECOND PASSOVER 42
VIII. (4) PSALMS FOR THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES 55
DAVID IN THE PSALTER
IX. (I) THE POET-KING'S PLACE AND INFLUENCE 67
X. (2) ON THE DEATH OF GOLIATH 70
XI. (3) THE VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINES 76
XII. (4) THE
VIII. (5) A NATIONAL ANTHEM 86
XIV. (6) CONFLICTS COMMEMORATED 90
XV.
PSALMS FOR A SEASON OF HUMILIATION 95
XVI.
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 105
XVII.
OTHER MUSICAL TITLES 123
XVIII.
LITERARY AND HISTORICAL HEADINGS 131
XIX.
SELAH-HIGGAION 143
viii CONTENTS
XX.
THE AGE OF THE PSALTER 151
XXI.
OTHER THINGS THAT FOLLOW 160
XXII.
CONCLUSION 167
APPENDIX
§1. PSALM
DIVISIONS AND CLASSES 169
§ 2. THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE PSALMS 170
§ 3, THE MUSICAL TITLES 171
§ 4. SELAH 172
§ 5. THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 173
THE
BOOK OF PSALMS (ACCORDING TO THE REVISED
VERSION). WITH TITLES DISCRIMINATED
AND
BRIEFLY EXPLAINED 175
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
VARIED as they are in character and
purpose, the
Titles
of the Psalms have, from time to time, met
with
a treatment no less varied at the hands of trans-
lators
and expositors. In days gone by, reverent souls
who
found a mystery in every word of Holy Scripture,
regardless
of text or version, approached the Psalm
inscriptions
in the same submissive spirit as they studied
the
Inspired Word itself, assured that each and every
title
had some message to deliver in harmony with
the
general trend of Revealed Truth. Hence what
we
have come to consider as catchwords, having little
or
no syntactical relation with one another, have been
often
combined and construed in terms explanatory
of
the deep things of God. Divested of their true and
simple
character, common words have been regarded
as
expressions of mystery; and thus, without actual
desire
or intention, legitimate criticism has been deferred
and
the pursuit of sound knowledge postponed.
Opinions
having such an origin, and running counter
to
the recognized principles of Scripture interpretation,
have
at length been set aside, and scholars have, during
more
recent years, addressed themselves to this subject
along
saner lines. As a preliminary to exposition, en-
deavours
have been made to consider the Psalms as
2 INTRODUCTORY
compositions,
and to bring to their elucidation such
help
as can be gathered from the literature of other
branches
of the great Semitic family. So far as these
efforts
have related to what are called the Musical
Titles
of the Psalms, it cannot be said that much
success
has attended research. Hence there is, it is
believed,
ample room for another attempt, in which
the
Psalter and its phenomena will be studied in an
entirely
new aspect, and therefore with results different
from
any so far attained.
At the outset, one cannot but be
impressed with
the
variety and, indeed, the complexity of the Psalm
titles.
A cursory survey discovers that some of these
relate
to authorship, others to historical origin; some
describe
literary features, others liturgical use. Yet
others
are of the nature of musical indications. Deal-
ing
with these last, some translators have found in
them
topical titles, some musical instruments, some
initial
words of popular airs ; and others have thought
to
find in them remains of all these varied features.
While
questions of literary description—Psalm, Song,
Prayer,
&c.—have been discussed in order to an appre-
ciation
of verbal distinctions, and statements as to
authorship
have been subjected to criticism on other
grounds,
less attention has been paid to the so-called
Musical
Titles, of which ‘For the Chief Musician; set
to the Gittith' (Ps. 8,
R.V.) may be instanced, for the
present,
as an example.
In fact, this field has seemed so
unpromising of reward
to
the investigator that, for the past hundred years or
so,
scholars have been content to follow one another in
the
weary iteration of views largely based upon con-
jecture,
and avowedly impossible of accommodation to
INTRODUCTORY 3
all
the facts as they appear on the surface of the litera-
ture
of the Old Testament. Referring to these musical
terms
in general, the great Franz Delitzsch spoke his
mind
with characteristic candour:
‘The key to their comprehension must have been
lost
very early1.'
Speaking of the titles as a whole,
it is well, before
going
further, to notice that just one hundred of the
psalms
are in such a manner referred to their reputed
authors—one
(90) is ascribed to Moses, seventy-three
to
David, two (72, 127) to Solomon, twelve to Asaph,
eleven
to the sons of Korah, and one (89) to Ethan
the
Ezrahite2. From this it appears that David is
the
psalmist — no other writer can overshadow his
fame;
and it is easy to understand how it has come
about
for the entire collection to pass by his name. It
is
no longer the fashion to discuss the meaning of l' David
and
other similar expressions: beyond question author-
ship
was intended by the formula. At the same time,
we
must be consistent in regard to the preposition
When
prefixed to a name at the head of a psalm it
1 Commentary on the Psalms, Eaton's translation, vol. i. 28.
Delitzsch
spoke the conviction of scholars in general. Neubauer,
after
a minute examination of Jewish thought on the sub-
ject,
writes: ‘From all these different expositions of the titles
of
the Psalms, it is evident that the meaning of them was early
lost;
in fact, the LXX and the other early Greek and Latin
translators
offer no satisfactory explanation of most of them '
(Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica, vol. ii
2 This is how things
appear in the common editions. We
shall
show, however, in a later chapter, that Ps. 88 belongs to
Heman
the Ezrahite, and not to the sons of Korah. Further,
on
examining the inscription over Ps. 46, we shall find a repeti-
tion of the authorship of
the preceding psalm. This will bring
the
Korahitic psalms down to nine (see note 2 on p. 14).
INTRODUCTORY 3
stands
for possession in the sense of authorship; when
prefixed
to Hace.nam; (‘The Chief Musician’) it must also
stand
for possession, though in another sense; presum-
ably
that of having been given a place in the precentor's
repertory
or list of psalms proper for rendering in the
As already intimated, it is not our
intention to discuss
those
headings which relate to authorship; we shall
also
leave out of our investigations the purely historical
notes.
At present we merely remark as to these, that
thirteen
psalms have headings of an historical character,
and
in every case they relate to David. This means
much;
certainly more than it has become customary
to
allow in recent times. It not only says a great deal
for
the influence of the king and his place in the history
of
ages
there was no hero to divide honours with David
‘the
man after God's own heart'—in other words, the
man
whom Jehovah chose for the throne of
Where
is Solomon in this category? It is clear that in
the
history of
the
stripling who slew Goliath.
Other headings, again, define the
purpose of the
psalms
to which they are prefixed, as for example
A
Psalm of thanksgiving (100), To bring to remem-
brance
(38, 70), A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day
(92).
Again, there are terms in which literary features
and
spiritual purposes are distinguished—A Psalm,
1 We use language in this
way to-day. Possession may be
regarded
under various aspects : there is a landlord's posses-
sion
and a tenant's also. A picture may be Turner's or Leigh-
ton's
for the artistic work in it; or it may be associated with
the
name of its owner for his proprietary rights in it.
INTRODUCTORY 5
a
Song, a Prayer, a Praise, Michtam, Maschil, Shiggaion1.
Our
present undertaking aims at discriminating head-
ings
that are literary or historical from such as are
musical
or have to do with the
work
will entail important consequences; for we shall
find
that the musical lines are not headings at all, and
that,
for two thousand years at least, while occupying
an
improper place, they have been misunderstood in
themselves,
and also have inevitably involved the text
of
Scripture in a measure of confusion and disorder.
Moreover,
we shall find that the technical meanings,
varied
and contradictory, that have been attributed to
certain
of the musical terms, in the most approved
lexicons
and expositions, must be rejected; and that
weight
must be given to the simple and obvious signifi-
cations
of such words, which will, as a fact, be shown to
be
in no sense mysterious or recondite in character.
And
as, along these lines, we become better acquainted
with
features of the Psalter that have been much con-
troverted
during the centuries, we shall find ourselves
in
an improved position to survey and examine the
Psalms
as a work of literature, and to appreciate their
peculiar
qualities and religious design.
1
These terms, and the literary designations as a whole, will be
dealt
with in chapter xviii.
CHAPTER II
FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
(I) THE KEY LOST
THE words ‘For the Chief Musician’
(A.V. ‘To the
Chief
Musician’) are prefixed in the ordinary editions of
the
Psalter to fifty-five psalms1, most of which bear the
name
of David. The designation is conveyed by the
participle
of a verb meaning ‘to lead in music’ (HcanA
nazah). The features of this
word are well summarized
by
Professor Kirkpatrick :
‘The verb is used in Chronicles and Ezra in
the
sense of superintending (i Chron. 23. 4; 2 Chron.
2. 2, 18; 34. 12; Ezra 3. 8, 9), and
in it Chron. 15.
21 in the specific sense of leading (R.V.) the music.
There can be little doubt that the
word Hace.nam; means
the precentor or conductor of
the
trained the choir and led the music,
and that it refers
to the use of the psalm in the
Here we see the distinction between
the poet and the
precentor—between
the Psalmist and the Chief Musician.
The
Psalms might be written by David, or Asaph, or
the
sons of Korah, and it did not particularly matter at
what
time, or in connexion with what circumstances
or
events ; when at length the precentor, or Chief
Musician,
adopted them for the services of the
1 The term is distributed
as follows : In Book I (Pss. 1-41)
it
occurs nineteen times ; in Book II (42–72) twenty-five times;
in
Book III (73–89) eight times ; in Book IV (9o–106) not at
all;
and in Book V (107–150) three times.
2 The Book of Psalms (
Colleges),
p. xxi.
THE KEY LOST 7
they
were invested with a new quality. They might be
headed
Psalm or Song, Michtam or Maschil; they might
be
historical in origin or not associated with any special
occurrence:
now they were given a stated and recog-
nized
place in ‘the praises of
lamed
(l) prefixed to Hcnm must be understood (as
already
intimated) as meaning that the psalm belonged
to
the precentor for singing purposes, equally as it
belonged
to the poet as its author.
Later on, we shall show that the
words which occa-
sionally
accompany the line ‘For the Chief Musician’
are
of great importance—such words, for instance, as
Gittith, Shoshannim, Alamoth. They inform us, in an
indirect
way, that some psalms were, so to speak, ear-
marked
for one season of the year, and some for another;
some
were for male voices and some for female; while
several
were specified for use in the commemoration of
great
events in the history of
these
words provide certain psalms with topical titles,
whereby
they could be recalled in an instant, and with
precision,
even although their opening lines might seem
similar
to those of other pieces in the general collection.
In
fact, the elements of such a classification as is ex-
hibited
in our modern hymn-books are discernible in
the
Musical Titles of the Psalms.
The parallel does not end here,
however. As to the
hymns
used in Christian worship, whatever may be the
circumstances
of their origin they are selected for sing-
ing
in order that their message may come into relation
with
some present and immediate subject, or some
teaching
actually under consideration. In like manner,
it
would appear, the Chief Musician accepted for
use
psalms that were made before he came into office,
8 FOR
THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
as
well as others which doubtless were strictly contem-
porary
writings; and one and the other he endorsed
for
employment on occasions that were by no means
parallel
with the circumstances of their original com-
position.
That a psalm conveyed a timely lesson, seems
to
have determined its selection for a given season or
purpose
in public worship.
From this standpoint we can realize
how psalms
written
by David before the
afterwards
associated with great events in his own
career,
and sung in his memory and to the praise of the
Lord
his God. The poet wrote of conflict with enemies;
in
the spirit of a wholesome accommodation to the needs
of
later times the words were sung to assist a realization
that
‘Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is
that
shall tread down our adversaries’ (Ps. 60. 12).
To recur to the confusion that has
gathered round the
musical
terms. When we have dealt with them in
detail
we shall have something to say about their un-
doubted
antiquity. It is sufficient now to observe, in
the
words of Delitzsch:
‘The LXX found them already in existence, and did
not understand them ; they cannot be
explained even
with the aid of the Books of
Chronicles (including the
Book of Ezra, which forms a part of
these), in which
much is said about music, and in
which they make
their appearance, like much else, as
the revival of
choice old expressions, so that the
key to their compre-
hension must have been lost very
early1.’
1 Commentary on the Psalms (Eaton's translation), vol. i. 28.
Of
the same terms, Kirkpatrick says: ‘Many of them are ex-
tremely
obscure, and their meanings can only be conjectured'
(Psalms, Introd. xviii). Driver: ‘The
terms . . . are frequently
obscure'
(Literature of the Old Testament,
seventh edition, p. 369).
THE KEY LOST 9
Doubtless the key was lost very
early. With some,
the
explanation will be found in the history of
Now
the songs of
of
captivity; again, in later years, the stress of political
conflict
effectually held down the religious spirit of the
people.
Whatever, also, may have been
for
the Law of Moses, and the care shown by the Rabbis
for
the Pentateuch, certain it is that no corresponding
devotion
was lavished upon the books which compose
the
other divisions of the Old Testament—the Prophets
and
the Hagiographa. Hence, when the Septuagint trans-
lation
came to be made (about 250—200 B.C.), the work
fell
to men who knew nothing of the liturgical use of the
psalms
in the
tradition
of bygone years had passed out of mind, and
the
translators were, in consequence, without safe and
effective
guidance.
Though not able to speak positively,
we the
sequel
will show that when the Alexandrian translators
entered
upon their work ‘the key’ was lost. In the wake
of
that loss has come an ever-increasing volume of
speculation,
which has done little or nothing to solve
the
problem. This is hardly surprising. The material
which
is the subject of examination has become dis-
ordered:
and, before history or philology can contribute
anything
to the interpretation of the titles, a readjust-
ment
must take place. This we now proceed to explain.
Cheyne:
‘There is an appearance of better philology in the
later
theories, but the result remains uncertain ' (Origin of the
Psalter,
p. 460). Wellhausen: ‘In most cases these musical
directions
are unintelligible to us' (Polychrome Bible: Psalms,
p
217).
CHAPTER III
FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
(2) THE KEY FOUND
As a result of minute study of the
Psalms, as to their
history
and structure, alike in the original Hebrew and
the
early versions, the ‘key of the so-called musical
titles
has at length been found. In the course of
research,
we bore in mind the general conditions of
ancient
writing and the various ways in which docu-
ments
become corrupted in transmission from genera-
tion
to generation. We remembered that, owing to the
absence
of paragraph divisions and the lack of any
system
of punctuation, old-time writings present, among
other
problems, cases in which scholars have found it
difficult
to decide questions of construction, and impos-
sible
to individualize with certainty distinct passages
of
great works.
Here, in the Psalter, we find a
remarkable illustration
of
this very problem. Though the Hebrew text which
lay
before the Septuagint translators was substantially
that
which we possess to-day, in points of detail it
doubtless
had peculiarities that have not come down to
us.
It may be taken for certain, among other things,
that
the writing was close and compact, the psalms
following
one another without break or division. Some
benediction
or closing line of a formal character indi-
cated
the end of a psalm ; and some such inscription as
‘A
Psalm,’ ‘A Song,’ ‘By David,’ ‘By Asaph,’ with
occasional
elaborations of a descriptive or historical
THE KEY FOUND 11
nature,
indicated the beginning of another. Where
psalms
had no such words as these at the end or the
beginning,
two or more of them were often combined,
and
many are so found to-day, both in Hebrew MSS.
and
in codices of the early versions1.
In whatsoever way these tokens of
division were set
out
in the actual MSS. that lay before the Septuagint
translators—in
whatsoever way they may have been
understood
or estimated by the Septuagint translators
themselves—one
fact is beyond dispute, the so-called
‘musical’
titles have come down to us, alike in the
Massoretic
recension of the Hebrew text (copies about
900
A.D.) and in the Greek and other early versions
(codices
dating from about 400 A.D.) in a form that
has,
even to the present day, caused great confusion.
Whether
literary or musical, the lines have been a stum-
bling-block
for lexicographers, critics, and commen-
tators;
and among other results this is found, namely,
words
which in other connexions would have been
regarded
as unmistakable in meaning2, when met with
here
are immediately enshrouded in mystery, and in-
vested
with fanciful and speculative significations.
Yet,
all down the ages, the Canonical Scriptures have
supplied
us with a psalm which, standing by itself,
claimed
to be studied as a model in all its various
features,
literary and musical. That psalm appears
in
Habakkuk 3. Being alone, it cannot have
taken
anything
from a preceding composition, nor can any
1 This is the case, for
instance, with Pss. 9 and 10, 32 and J3,
42
and 43, 70 and 71, and several other psalms, in the Fourth
and
Fifth Books.
2 For instance, Alamoth and Shoshannim, as appearing at the
head
of Pss. 46 and 45 in the ordinary editions of the Psalter.
12 FOR
THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
concluding
words have been misconstrued as belonging
to
some succeeding composition. It proclaims itself
as
normal—as a model, a standard psalm. And its
striking
features are these1: it OPENS with--
'A PRAYER OF HABAKKUK THE PROPHET
UPON
SHIGIONOTH,'
and
it ENDS with--
‘To THE CHIEF SINGER ON MY STRINGED
INSTRUMENTS.'
In
other words, at the head of the psalm we have a
statement
of its class (a Prayer), its author (Habakkuk),
and
its special character (Shigionoth2). These particu-
lars
are literary; they deal with the writer and the
writing.
At the end, we have a statement that is
musical
and exclusively so; the psalm has been
adopted3 by the Chief Singer
(the same word as is ren-
dered
‘Chief Musician’ in the Psalms), and it
is one for
orchestral
rendering in the worship of God. The pro-
noun
‘my’ before ‘stringed instruments’ seems to
suggest
(what we do not appear to find in the Psalter)
a
definite and first-hand assignment of the piece to the
Chief
Musician.
This psalm in Habakkuk tells us what
the Psalms of
1 For the general
purposes of this statement, we quote the
A.V.
We shall, later on, controvert the ‘set to’ of the R.V.;
but
for the present there is no need to dispense with the guidance
of
the familiar versions.
2 See chapter on ' Literary
and Historical Headings'; also
Appendix,
§ 5.
3 As already observed,
the (lamed) implies possession in
both
cases. The psalm belongs to Habakkuk as its author.;
to
the chief singer it belongs in the sense that he has charge of
it
for a special purpose (see note on p. 4).
THE KEY FOUND 13
succession
of compositions that make up the Psalter
there
has been a displacement of the ‘Chief Musician’
line,
along with the words that accompany it in a score
or
more of instances. The proper place of this line as
we
shall demonstrate in a practical manner, is at THE
CONCLUSION
of a psalm. Through an unfortunate error
it
has, in every case, been placed at the beginning of THE
PSALM
FOLLOWING that to which it rightly belongs. The
various
words that have accompanied it in its wandering
have
added to the confusion, which has baffled explana-
tion
for the past two thousand years. Accordingly,
words
such as Gittith, Alamoth, and Shoshannim, and
others,
which could hardly perplex the tyro in the
Hebrew
language, have, in the abnormal circumstances,
been
more than a match for the profoundest erudition;
and
a desperate ingenuity has overlaid them with
meanings
that are purely conjectural, and as unin-
teresting
as they are valueless from a philological point
of
view.
In the edition of the Psalms which
follows these pages
the
titles have been carefully discriminated as to their
character:
the lines that should follow have been dis-
tinguished
from those which should precede each psalm.
The
combination which is thus dissolved has been
responsible
for lamentable confusion at the head of
Ps.
88, as ordinarily printed. There, as has been often
pointed
out by expositors, one and the same composition
is
ascribed to two distinct writers. The psalm is de-
scribed
as ‘A Song, a Psalm of the sons of Korah,’ and
also
as ‘Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.’ In the words
of
Franz Delitzsch, we have here ‘alongside of one
another
two different statements’ as to the origin of one
14 FOR
THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
psalm1. We do not ask, with
the distinguished com-
mentator,
‘which notice is the more trustworthy?’
The
former is out of place ; it belongs to Ps. 87, which
is
explicitly described in its heading as ‘A Psalm of the
sons
of Korah; a Song2.’
In the accompanying Psalter
the
conflicting notices are given their proper positions.
As will have been inferred, the
displacement here
described,
and which it is the purpose of the present
work
to correct, takes us back beyond the age of
existing
Hebrew manuscripts. The Massoretes seem
to
have had no conception of the text having become
deranged
in this particular. Going backward for a
second
period of a thousand years, we find the Sep-
tuagint
translation in progress, or possibly just com-
pleted;
but the best extant copies of this work give us
no
help. In fact, we are driven to the conclusion that
the
Seventy were quite unfamiliar with the use of the
Psalms
in the days of the
1