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 Commentary on the Psalms (vol. ii. 499).
2 A peculiarity of the
musical line here is that it repeats
the
facts
as to class and authorship. There is only one other case
in
which this feature appears, Ps. 46 in the ordinary editions.
Both
the psalms of which the authorship is repeated are by the
sons
of Korah. Regarding other psalms which have had more
than
one name over them, see the ` Praise and Confession
Choir'
(p. 116).
3 Ginsburg's Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew
Bible
presents
the features of the best MSS. and the most approved
editions
of the text. There the psalms are set out in lines
as
poetry, and (what is conclusive on the point in hand)
hcnml and dvdl rvmzm, or corresponding
words, are given IN ONE
AND
THE SAME LINE. As to the Septuagint translation, the collo-
type
reproductions of the
exhibit
the same confusion. The words Ei]j to> te<loj, which
stand
for ‘For the Chief Musician,’ occupy the same line as
THE KEY FOUND 15
no
idea of a Chief Musician, or precentor; and when, in
z
Chron. 15. 20, 21, they met with the words Alamoth
and
Sheminith (which occur as psalm
titles) they were
content
to transfer them into their work in Greek letters,
as
terms which to them were unmeaning or misunder-
stood1.
Nevertheless, in one case at least,
expositors have
very
generally observed the relation of a musical title
to
the psalm immediately preceding it. Dealing with
literary
design in the arrangement of the Psalter, they
have
called attention to the fact that Psalm 56, over
which
stands the title Jonath elem rehokim (‘The
Dove
of
the Distant Terebinths’) is Receded by a psalm in which
David
says: ‘Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then
would
I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wan-
der
far off, I would lodge in the wilderness’ (Ps. 55. 6, 7).
Green,
Delitzsch, Hengstenberg, and others, have seen
some
relation between the line in question and the pre-
ceding
psalm; but it seems never to have occurred to
them
to go behind appearances and thoroughly to ex-
amine
the entire system of psalm inscriptions.
While the observation of the
expositors named indi-
cates
the relation of the line to Psalm 55, the absence
yalmo>j t&? Dauei<d, or such-like headings,
as is represented
with
precision in Swete's Greek Old Testament
according to the
Septuagint.
1 The Septuagint
translators rendered Hac.enam;la (‘For the Chief
Musician’)
by Ei]j to> te<loj (‘For the end’). None of the
Greek
versions give material help as to that important word.
In
dealing with the other musical lines, however, the Seventy
and
their successors were more successful. In due course, we
shall
amply justify this remark, which is much more favour-
able
to the Greek versions than is the commonly expressed
judgement
regarding the Psalm Titles.
16 FOR
THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
of
any echo of the title in the succeeding psalm plainly
suggests
that the line is out of place. Pending the de-
velopment
of our case as to the displacement, we ask for
some
consideration for this candid observation on the
part
of scholars who had no theory to support in pointing
out
the facts now described. The line, though standing
so
long over Psalm 56, proclaims itself as properly
belonging
to Psalm 55, which it furnishes with a topical
title
of much force and beauty. In this edition of the
Psalter
it is given what we hold to be its primitive place.
To conclude this chapter: in a
proper arrangement
of
the material, the lines at the top of a psalm should do
this
and no more--(I) describe the piece, whether a Song,
a
Psalm, Michtam, &c.; (2) state the author, David,
Asaph,
sons of Korah, &c.; (3) set out the circumstances
of
its composition, as is the case in thirteen historical
psalms
(Doeg, Ziphites, When Saul sent, &c.); or the
object
for which it was written (‘To bring to remem-
brance,’
‘For the Sabbath day,’ &c.). Anything not
coming
within this description belongs to the preceding
psalm;
and in the present edition such notices have been
restored
to the place which they originally occupied.
There
is no need to emphasize the world of difference
between
authorship and use in worship, between his-
torical
origin and liturgical application. It is primarily
with
liturgical application and use in divine worship
that
the subscript line, ‘For the Chief Musician,’ has
to
do1.
1 Still we would not
overlook, in this connexion, the excep-
tional
instances in which points relating to the class of psalm
and
the authorship are repeated with the
musical notice—Pss. 45
and
87 (as numbered in this edition). See note 2 on p. 14.
CHAPTER IV
FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
(3) SOME RESULTS OF MISCONSTRUCTION
WHEN the Musical Titles of the
Psalms were mis-
construed,
seed was sown for centuries of confusion,
followed
by speculation along various lines. The Sep-
tuagint
translators seem to have looked for a measure
of
relation between these titles and the psalms that
followed
them; and occasionally their renderings were
accommodated
in some degree to such features as they
deemed
responsive1. One thing is certain, at that early
time
the titles were, with few exceptions, regarded as
words
to be translated as simply as possible—as the
most
cursory examination of the Septuagint and other
Greek
versions will show. Though two or three of the
titles
may have been thought to stand for musical in-
struments,
none were treated as catchwords of popular
airs.
The guess-work of subsequent centuries, among
Jews
and Christians alike, had not as yet begun.
All
the same, the Septuagint translators and their
followers
found no clear and consistent response in the
psalms
to the titles so far as they understood them. For
1 See their rendering of Aijeleth hash-Shahar as ‘Concern
ing
the Morning Aid.’ They associated the title with tUlyAx<
(Eyaluth) in Ps. 22. 19 (20) (R.V, ‘succour’).
Even the most
distinguished
of recent expositors have shown a readiness to
seize
upon such points of similarity ; and well they might,
considering
how frequently any such response has to be sought
in
vain in the psalm following the musical line.
18 FOR
THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
instance,
as to Gittith (or Gittoth) which they rightly ren-
dered
‘Winepresses,’ they found no echo in Pss. 8,
81,
84—that is, in the psalms following the title; and
the
same may be said regarding other psalms and titles.
Hence
there arose a disposition to seek a mystical rather
than
a logical correspondence; but this, it need hardly be
said,
yielded no satisfactory result. Speculation threw
no
light upon the problem of the titles, either as to their
meaning
or their purpose in regard to the psalms1.
Next it became general to find ‘a
musical instrument’
expressed
by the various words that gave difficulty to
the
expositor. Seeing that a title received no explanation
in
the psalm itself, perhaps an explanation could be
found
in something separate and independent! A safe
inference,
no doubt; and ‘a musical instrument’ was
a
definition sufficiently abstract for any and every
troublesome
term. Though Semitic literature and
Oriental
antiquities might be silent regarding the sup-
posed
‘harp of eight strings,’ or ‘trumpet in the shape
of
a lily,’ the rendering served a purpose in the absence
of
exact information. The Authorized Version of the
Psalms
had this view underlying its renderings of the
musical
titles.
The more recent tendency has been to
find, not
musical
instruments, but styles of singing and catch-
lines
of popular songs. Here, again, the desideratum is
met
of something altogether independent of the text.
Seeing
that the Hebrew Psalter, as hitherto studied, had
1 Neubauer's essay in Studia Biblica, vol. ii, on the Psalm
Titles
according to Early Jewish Authorities, proves how
essentially
without authority early Jewish opinion is in regard
to
this subject. In fact the views are in many cases as unreason-
able
as they are generally discordant.
SOME
RESULTS OF MISCONSTRUCTION 19
furnished
no explanation of the titles, let the song-books
of
the surrounding nations be introduced! Why should
not
the Psalms have been sung to heathen melodies and
airs?
Rather the question should have taken the op-
posite
form—Why should heathen melodies come in?
The
suggestion is unthinkable to a mind that has any
understanding
of Israelitish thought and history. How-
ever
scholars may have reasoned, the position thus
stated
describes their most approved conclusions—Jews
and
Christians agreeing. And the Revised Version, with
rendered
‘set to,’ reflects this view.
Let it be noted that these theories,
which for a time
have
foreclosed inquiry, have been based on pure as-
sumption.
As a fact, dummy musical instruments and
supposititious
airs, associated with people of whom we
know
comparatively little, have been introduced in
order
to explain the literature of
know
more by far than we do of any other ancient
nation!
Speculation having, in these circumstances,
yielded
no solution of the problem, the psalm titles
invite
attention from an altogether new point of view.
Our
course of procedure is simple. First, we correct
the
misplacement of the musical line throughout the
Psalms;
and then, by applying to the general treat-
ment
KNOWN facts and teachings, as distinguished
from
mere conjectures, we deal with the various titles
themselves
in the light of the psalms to which they
properly
belong. We shall be rewarded by glimpses of
worship
in
of
services in commemoration of outstanding events in
the
history of the nation. These observations will pre-
pare
us for others, which will help us to understand the
work
of the Chief Musician of the
CHAPTER V
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
I) PSALMS FOR SPECIAL SEASONS
WITH the musical line ` For the
Chief Musician' thus
restored
to its original place in the Hebrew Psalter, we
are
enabled to study the Songs of Zion with promise of
a
larger knowledge of their contents and use. At once
we
see that we have not simply a collection of poems,
but
a hymnal consisting of songs and prayers, medita-
tions
and homilies, to be rendered in divine worship by
singers
and instrumentalists. For this latter purpose
the
pieces have, so to speak, been endorsed by the Chief
Musician,
or precentor, and received into his repertory.
Proceeding to examine the words
which accompany
the
familiar notice, we inquire, quite naturally, whether
they
give us any clue as to the occasions on which specific
pieces
were brought forward in the service of praise.
Was
everything hap-hazard? or were psalms selected
with
thought and judgement for use at different seasons
of
the year? Investigation shows to demonstration that
reverent
care, along the line suggested, was exercised on
the
part of those who arranged for the due expression of
‘the
praises of
traces
of the ministry of the Chief Musician and his work
in
connexion with
Assuredly we have not in the Book of
Psalms any
complete
calendar such as was doubtless anticipated by
David,
realized by Solomon and other pious kings, and
elaborated
on the return from
TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN 21
fled,
however, that there was a formal calendar of
worship,
and what has not hitherto been recognized will
now
be shown; for the Psalter rubrics (to use the term
generally)
indicate the elements of appointments for the
great
festivals of
national
interest and importance.
At the time of the carrying away to
had
a magnificent heritage of religious experience.
There
had undoubtedly been times of indifference, and
disregard
of Jehovah and His service; but there were
periodical
revivals, which avowedly aimed at bringing
back
the days of David and Solomon and in particular
was
the name of the great poet-king influential and his
aims
regarded as satisfying the highest ideals. Nothing
more
glorious was conceived by the most godly rulers
in
in
the golden age, in fact, to ‘do according to the com-
mandment
of David.’ Such, undoubtedly, is the im-
pression
conveyed by the Books of Chronicles1.
1 This deeply interesting
subject may be studied in the light
of
the following passages: David's ordinance for the service
of
praise, on the bringing of the ark to
with
harps, &c.,’ and for song (I Chron. 25. I sq.); Solomon's
appointmentof
Levites to ‘praise and minister before the priests,’
for
all seasons of the year, ‘according to the ordinance of David
his
father’ (2 Chron. 8. 13, 14); Jehoiada's provision, after the
death
of Athaliah, ‘according to the order of David’ (2 Chron,
23.
18); the appointment of Hezekiah, in times of deep revival,
‘according
to the commandment of David’ . . ‘with the instru-
ments
of David king of
the
Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer’: ‘since
the
time of Solomon the son of David king of
not
the like in
solemn
passover... ‘the singers the sons of Asaph were in their
place,
according to the commandment of David’ (2 Chron. 35. I,
22
THE CALENDAR TN THE
PSALTER
Whatever
might be the circumstances of their origin,
psalms
which referred most definitely to the glorious
past
of the nation, and such as gave expression to earnest
prayer
to the God of Israel, could not but be selected for
the
worship of the sanctuary. And, needless to say, the
festivals
of the spring and autumn would be the first
to
claim attention on the part of the precentor. Passover,
with
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, came first; and
then
Tabernacles, with the Feast of Ingathering. These
bulked
large in the life of
surprised
to find psalms associated with them.
Among the psalm titles which have
excited the deepest
interest
are Shoshannim and Gittith. These, we shall
show,
point respectively to the Passover and Taber-
nacles
feasts. We shall discuss the words and examine
the
psalms to which they belong.
Speaking generally, Shoshannim means ‘lilies,’ and
Gittith
speaks of ‘winepress.’ The one represents
flowers,
which tell us of spring; the other represents
fruit,
which speak of autumn. Passover was the
spring
feast; Tabernacles was the autumn feast.
On
good and sufficient grounds lexicographers and
15).
And on the return from
once
more with ‘the musical instruments of David,’ with songs
and
singers, also with Levites whose duty it was to praise and
give
thanks, according to the commandment of David the man
of
God’ (Ezra 3. 10; N eh. 12. 24, 36, 45, 46). In the literary
headings
of the Psalms, and also in the musical titles, to be
explained
in subsequent pages, David was the one hero of the
nation
of
the
glory of the people for many generations. And does not
in
mercy to
David’?
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL
SEASONS 23
expositors
have suggested the relation of Gittith
to the
autumn
feast, for ‘winepress’ suggests the vintage
season;
but we are not aware that Shoshannim
has yet
been
recognized as designating the spring feast which
was,
of course, celebrated in the flower season.
There
is no need to prove that spring is the time of
flowers,
or that autumn is the time of fruits. The two
seasons
represent the earth's productiveness in beauty
and
in wealth. Ancient and modern poets have sung
these
notes1, and months have been named accord-
ingly2. The pictorial
statement of Song of Songs 2. 11,
12
holds true in the West no less than the East: ‘The
winter
is past, the rain is over and, gone; THE
FLOWERS
APPEAR ON THE EARTH, &c.’ In other
words,
after
winter comes spring, and the flowers announce the
fact.
In Israelitish life and experience spring meant the
Passover,
and anything that recalled the season must
of
necessity have suggested the feast.
As to the word Shoshannim, which
stands for the
Passover
season in the system of psalm titles, its simple
meaning
is ‘lilies.’ It was, however, used in a general
1 Athenaeus spoke of
flowers as ‘children of the spring’—
e@aroj te<kna (Deipnosoph., 1. 13, c. 9, 6o8). W. Cullen Bryant
wrote
of ‘flowering springs’ (The Planting of
the Apple-tree).
Thomas
Moore's muse brought the two seasons into contrast,
thus:
‘Every season hath its pleasures:
Spring may boast her
flowery prime,
Yet the vineyards' ruby treasures
Brighten autumn's
sob'rer time.’
(Spring and Autumn.)
2 Compare the Old Dutch Grassmonth and Winemonth; the
French
Republican Fioreal and Fructidor; also the Attic Greek
Anthesterion
(Flower-month).
24
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
way
for flowers of various kinds, as is explained by
Dr.
G. F. Post, who writes:
‘Susan, in Arabic, is a general term for lily-like
flowers, as the lily, iris,
pancratium, gladiolus, &c.,
but more particularly the iris. It
is as general as the
English term lily, which is applied
to flowers of the
genera Lilium, Gladiolus,
Convallaria, Hemerocallis,
of the botanical order Liliaceae,
and to Nyrnphaea,
Nuphar, Funkia, &c., not of that
order. The Hebrew
Shushan must be taken in the same
general sense1.’
The word was used for spring flowers
in general, the
brightest
and most beautiful giving a name to the whole2.
It
is not in the least surprising that the Passover, falling
in
the month Abib (‘growing green’), should be asso-
ciated
with the flower season and expressed by such a
word.
For a long period the Israelitish practice was to
indicate
times and seasons by expressions describing
natural
phenomena and agricultural operations. Indeed,
it
was not until after the Babylonish captivity that the
month
names which at present prevail came into use
among
the Jews3. Shoshannini and Giltith are both
1
2 Compare Seneca's
allusion to the lily as ‘the spring flower’
—‘florem
vernum’ (Epist. 122); and Mary Tighe's line, ‘And
thou,
0 virgin queen of spring’ (The Lily).
3 There are three sets of
terms to distinguish the Biblical
months—(a)
Old (Canaanite) names, (b) numbers, and (c) the
Babylonian
names. Of the first class only four have survived :
these
names are all derived from climatic and economic con-
ditions
(Abib, Ziv, Ethanim, Bul). In the time of the Exile,
the
old Canaanite names were dropped, and the months were
distinguished
by numerals, as in parts of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
Kings.
From the Exile, the new Babylonian names begin to
find
a definite place (Abrahams, in
Bible, s.v. ‘Time’).
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL
SEASONS 25
terms
that come within this category ; they belong to
nature
and agriculture, and are not strictly technical in
character.
These words come before us the one
with the other,
and
we shall shortly find that this is their right relation.
That
they represent the seasons will be shown to be not
merely
an assumption but rather an inference from
a
considerable array of facts that have not as yet re-
ceived
the attention they deserve. As to Shoshannim,
it
may be remarked that the Septuagint translators mis-
read
it in the psalm titles, so they give us no help as to
its
application. With regard to Gittith,
which they
apparently
read Gittoth, they do assist us: they
render
it
‘winepresses.’ The two words represent
flowers and
fruit,
and, as we shall see, fall into line with combinations
of
great importance in Israelitish history, monumental
and
literary. In tracing their meaning, we are on
the
track of some of the most interesting symbols of
Biblical
archaeology.
The Passover season, it is hardly
necessary to say,
spoke
of the making of the nation; and the Feast of
Tabernacles
recalled God's care for His people during the
journey
to the
a
table in the wilderness,’ and thus prove Himself
Keeper
as well as Redeemer of His heritage? If He did,
should
we not reasonably expect to find emblems or
monumental
tokens of feasts that were invested with
such
deep significance in the history of the nation? Yes,
and
we do find them. As the feasts spoke of the
nation,
so memorials of various kinds pointed to the
feasts.
What are we to understand by the
decorative details
26
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
of
the pillars of Solomon's
GRANATES
(i Kings 7. 20—22 ff.)? What was the meaning
of
the ornamentation displayed on the
given
by Ptolemy Philadelphus to the Jews of Egypt—
LILIES
and CLUSTERS OF GRAPES (JOS. Antiq. 12.
2. 9, 10)?
What,
again, are we to understand by the FLOWERS OF
PURPLE
and the GOLDEN VINE exhibited on the veils
which
adorned the doors of the
(ibid.
15. 11. 3)? Once more, can we overlook the
symbology
of the seven-branch candlestick on the Arch
of
Titus, as it appeared in 1710, and was described by
Reland—LILIES
and POMEGRANATES1? Ever and anon
one
meets the same combination, FLOWERS and FRUIT
1 The candlestick of the
tabernacle in the wilderness (Ex. 25.
31–34)
displayed ‘knops and flowers’; according to the Sep-
tuagint,
‘globes and lilies’; the Targums (Onkelos and Pales-
tine),
‘apples and lilies.’ Josephus understood the ornaments
to
be ‘knops and lilies, and pomegranates and bowls’ (Antiq. 3.
6.
7). In a number of places the Seventy have rendered HraP,
(perach, flower) by kri<non (lily). There seems to
have been a dis-
position
to speak of flowers in general as ‘lilies.’ The point
is,
that flowers and fruit entered into the symbology of
with
a definite purpose, ultimately representing the nation
itself.
May we not see an extension of the same symbols in
the
‘golden bells and pomegranates’ upon the hem of the high
priest's
robe? (Exod. 28. 33, 34; 39. 25, 26). The bells stood
for
flowers--for lilies are bell-flowers. As other appointments
were
‘for a memorial of the children of
28.
29 ; 39. 7), so this robe was understood to be in the history
of
the nation (see Ecclus. 45. 9). It is well to notice, on the other
hand,
that in the Oracle, or most holy place, of Solomon's
palm-trees
and open (or garlanded) flowers (1 Kings 6. 23 if. See
also
Ezek. 40. 22; 41. 18–20 ; and cp. Ps. 92. 12, 13). Leaving
considerations
of passing seasons and human experience, these
emblems
seem to be eloquent of the things which abide.
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL
SEASONS 27
the
flowers of spring suggesting the Passover, and the
fruit
of autumn the Feast of Tabernacles.
ncient monuments display similar
emblems, some
of
which we may mention. Remains of ancient syna-
gogues
in the
the
Palestine Exploration Fund, include lintels and
cornices
with decorations such as have been described
now
the LILY-FLOWER is with a WINE-BOWL, at other
times
with a cluster of grapes1. And what shall be said
THE SYMBOLS REPRESENT THE SPRING AND
AUTUMN FEASTS;
AND
THE TOKENS OF THE FEASTS BECAME THE INSIGNIA OF
THE
NATION.
of
the designs upon those much-discussed coins, the
Hebrew
shekel and half-shekel, which some numismatists
assign
to one period, some to another? On the one side
is
a TRIPLE LILY, on the other a WINE-BOWL! Schiirer
speaks
of the significance of these symbols as still ‘doubt-
ful2.’ Association with such
a round of objects as we
have
indicated, going back to Bible times, should help
to
determine their age beyond dispute3. And, need-
1 When the symbols take
the form of a lamb and a wine-
bowl,
the meaning is the same—the Feast of the Passover and
the
Feast of Tabernacles.
2 Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ,
vol.
ii. p. 380.
3 The designs on other
coins may be explained by looking in
the
same direction for their motive. For instance, a silver coin
28
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
less
to say, when symbols are found on coins they declare
their
national importance even though their meaning
may
for a time remain obscure.
If Passover (Pesach) stood for
anything, it stood for
the
nation of
Whatever
may have been the inclusive meaning of
Tabernacles
(Succoth), certainly the sense of divine care
and
protection was specially prominent. So the two
feasts
expressed the alpha and omega of
in
Jehovah—the REDEEMER and KEEPER of the nation
(Deut.
24. z8; Lev. 23.43 ; PS. 121. 5). Hence the signs
for
the seasons came to stand for the people themselves,
who
claimed in anticipation, and as a present possession,
the
blessings of the promise given by Hosea: ‘I will be
as
the dew unto
.
. . his beauty shall be as the olive tree, . . . they shall
revive
as the corn, AND BLOSSOM AS THE VINE : the scent
thereof
shall be as the wine of
also
the remarkable words in 2 Esdras 5. 23, 24: ‘0
Lord
that bearest rule, of all the woods of the earth,
and
of all the trees thereof, THOU HAST CHOSEN THEE
ONE
VINE: . . . of all the flowers of the world THOU
HAST
CHOSEN THEE ONE LILY,' &c.
Let other allusions be considered.
‘
of
the reign of Herod Agrippa has features precisely similar
to
the one depicted in the text. On the one side are three ears
of
corn, springing from one stalk (Passover: see Lev. 23. 10-14);
and
on the other a tent or booth (Feast of Tabernacles). May
the
triple character of the Passover symbol not be owing to the
fact
that, in a certain sense, the institution had three stages—
first
in
of
Promise itself? (see Exod. 12. 3 ff.; Num. 9. 5; Joshua 4.
19;
5. 10).
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL
SEASONS 29
27.
2-6; Jer. 2. 21; 12. 10ff.).
the
Prayer-book for British Jews, in the service for the
Feast
of Purim, where
Jacob.’
Moreover, in a hymn chanted in connexion
with
the Feast of Hanuca (Dedication), the Jews praise
God
for delivering ‘the Standard of the Lilies,’ meaning
As
the feasts were a parabolic expression of the origin
of
the nation, so the signs of the feasts afterwards
became
emblematic of the people themselves. Capable
of
a varied expression, they became the insignia of
Whether monumental or literary,
appearing on
are
full of meaning. If further proof is demanded of
their
religious and national significance, it is assuredly
afforded
by the fact that these very symbols were
employed
long ago on Hebrew tombstones. The
commonest
symbol found in the Jewish catacombs at
explained,
in its original represented both flowers and
fruit.
Moreover, in the old Jewish cemeteries at
similar
features are displayed. On some gravestones
the
TRIPLE LILY appears; on others the POME-
GRANATE1.
1Where the symbols take
the form of a bunch of grapes or
a
basket of fruit, the meaning is the same. That the lilies have
been
identified as ‘poppies,’ and the pomegranates spoken of as
‘a
round fruit,’ is evidence of the extent to which Old Testament
symbology
has been neglected and misunderstood (See Jewish
Encyclopaedia, s. v. ‘Catacombs,’ and
literature there indicated;
also
30
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
As seen on the monuments of the
dead, such symbols
cannot
be regarded as merely accidental or of an
ephemeral
character. With
the
national and the religious were combined. So the
flowers
declare the sleepers to be of the people of the
Passover—that
is, REDEEMED; the fruit proclaim them
to
be of the people of the Tabernacles Feast—that is,
KEPT
of the Lord.
The symbols and facts which we have
considered go
deep
into Israelitish history. From them emerge im-
pressions
having all the force of logical conclusions. Let
us
mark well the signs and their meaning
(I) SHOSHANNIM—Lilies (Flowers) for the Feast of
Passover
(in the Spring), which, in a word, meant
LIVERANCE
FROM EGYPT, a guarantee or pledge of a
thousand
deliverances (Exod. 12. 2, 27 ; Deut. 24. i8).
(2) GITTITH—Winepresses (Fruit) for the Feast of
Tabernacles
(in the Autumn), which, in a word, meant
the
ENJOYMENT OF DIVINE PROTECTION and full reliance
upon
Jehovah's care (Lev. 23. 43).
These fixtures, as we have already
observed, cover the
entire
ground of the making of the nation, and its con-
secration
to the Lord as a peculiar people. We now
proceed
to examine, the psalms which were associated
with
them.
CHAPTER VI
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
(2)
PSALMS FOR THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER
SHOSHANNIM (Psalms 44, 68)
THERE is no need to give a
description of the Passover
Feast,
nor to rehearse the full significance of the spring
commemorations
as they struck the Israelitish mind
(Exod.
13. 4; 23. 15; 34. 18). Chief as well as first in
order
of the national festivals, the Passover was cele-
brated
on the fourteenth day of the first month, called
Abib—ear-forming
(of barley) or growing green (of
vegetation
in general). It recalled the coming out of
It
was instituted in its first significance in the land of
derings
in the wilderness of Sinai, it was next observed in
the
The
ordinance was, above all else, a memorial of great
deliverances.
In special mercy Jehovah passed over
the
houses of the Israelites when the first-born of the
Egyptians
were destroyed.
Whatever may have passed out of mind
in the course
of
centuries, the descendants of the liberated Israelites
retained
a lively recollection of the story of their national
redemption.
Jehovah brought them out of the house
of
bondage with outstretched arm, and for their sakes
He
cast the heathen out of the land which He had pro-
mised
to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The
32
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
progress
of the Ark of the Covenant during the journey
to
the
ark set forward, Moses said, ‘Rise up, 0 LORD, and
let
thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate
thee
flee before thee’ (Num. 10. 35). This we do well to
remember
in our present studies. When God was with
before
their enemies (Deut. 28. 7, 25). The Passover
was
also called. the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which
was
ordained to be kept ‘in its season from year to year
for
ever’ (Exod. 12. 14; 13. 10; Lev. 23. 5, 6). Taken
as
a whole, these seven days of festivity reminded
of
the hard bondage of
wrought
for them by a covenant-keeping God, arid of the
triumphant
entrance that had been accorded them into
the
land of their inheritance.
The Shoshannim psalms, two in number, are on this
note,
and very distinctly so. Those entitled Shoshan-
nim Eduth, also two in number,
will demand separate
treatment.
Our present concern is with Psalms 44 and
68.
In the latter (ver. 1) we once more meet with the
words
of Moses, ‘when the ark set forward,’ in this form:
‘Let
God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let
them
also that hate him flee before him.’ Although
the
prayers and praises of these psalms were timely for
any
day, they were specially suited for the Passover
season,
for they rehearsed, with much animation and
power,
the signs and wonders that were wrought in
could
not but bring home to the Israelitish mind the
assurance
that the God of the Exodus from
ready
to deliver His people again and again.
looked
forward to new mercies like these enjoyed by the
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF THE PASSOVER 33
fathers
of the nation. If Jehovah was the God of the
past,
nevertheless the future was with Him: ‘I the
Lord,
the first, and with the last; I am He.’
PSALM 681
A Psalm of David, a
Song.
1
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered;
Let them also that hate him flee before him.
2
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away:
As wax melteth before the fire,
So let the wicked perish at the presence of
God.
3
But let the righteous be glad ; let them exult before
God:
Yea, let them rejoice with gladness.
4
Sing unto God, sing praises to his name :
Cast up a high way for him that rideth
through the
deserts;
His name is JAH; and exult ye before him.
5
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows,
Is God in his holy habitation.
6
God asetteth the solitary in families: a Heb. maketh the solitary to
He bringeth out the prisoners into
prosperity: dwell
in a house
But the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
7
0 God, when thou wentest forth before thy people,
When thou didst march through the
wilderness;
8
The earth trembled, [Selah
The heavens also dropped at the presence of
God:
Even yon Sinai trembled at the presence of
God, the
God
of
9
Thou, 0 God, didst send a plentiful rain,
1 The verses which
specially respond to the Musical Title are
printed
in black (Clarendon) type.
34
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
Thou
didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was
weary.
10 Thy acongregation dwelt
therein: a Or, troop
Thou, 0 God, didst prepare of thy
goodness for the poor.
11 The Lord giveth the word:
The women that publish the tidings are a
great host.
12 Kings of armies flee, they flee:
And she that tarrieth at home divideth the
spoil.
13 bWill ye lie among the
sheepfolds, b
Or, When ye lie among
As the wings of a dove covered with
silver, the sheepfolds, it is as
And her pinions with yellow gold? the wings....gold.
14
When the Almighty scattered kings therein,
c It was as when it snoweth in Zalmon. c Or, It snowed
15 A
d An high mountain is the
16 Why look ye askance, ye high mountains, of
summits
At the mountain which God hath desired
for his abode ?
Yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.
The chariots of God are twenty thousand,
even thou-
sands
upon thousands:
17
The Lord is among them, eas in Sinai, in the
sanctuary.
Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led
thy captivity
captive;
18 Thou hast received gifts among men,
Yea, among the rebellious also, that f
the
LORD God f Heb.
Jah. See ver. 4
might gdwell with them. g Or, dwell there
h Blessed be the Lord,
who daily beareth our burden, h
Or, Blessed be the Lord
19 Even the God who is our salvation. [Selah day
by day: if one oppresseth
20 God is unto us a God of deliverances; us, God is our salvation
And unto JEHOVAH the Lord belong the
issues from
death.
21 But God shall smite through the head of his
enemies,
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF THE PASSOVER 35
The hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on
still in
his guiltiness.
22
The Lord said, I will bring again from
I will bring them again from the depths of the sea :
23
That thou mayest dip thy foot in blood,
That the tongue of thy dogs may have its
portion
from thine enemies.
24
They have seen thy goings, 0 God,
Even the goings of my God, my King, ainto the sanc- a Or, in the sanctuary
tuary. Or,
in holiness
25
The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, Hess
In the midst of the damsels playing with
timbrels.
26
Bless ye God in the congregations,
Even the Lord, ye that are of the fountain
of
27
There is little Benjamin their ruler,
The princes of
The princes of Zebulun, the princes of
Naphtali.
28
Thy God hath commanded thy strength :
c Strengthen, 0 God, that
which thou d hast wrought c Or, Be strong. O God,
for us.
29
Because of thy temple at
Kings shall bring presents unto thee.
30
Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds,
The multitude of the bulls, with the
calves of the
peoples,
e Trampling under foot
the pieces of silver; e
Or, Every one submitting
f He hath scattered the peoples that delight in
war. himself
with pieces of silver
31
Princes shall come out of
g
God. g Heb.
32
Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth;
0 sing praises unto the Lord; [Selah
36
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
33
To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens,
which are of old;
Lo,
he uttereth his voice, and that a mighty voice.
34
Ascribe ye strength unto God:
His excellency is over
And his strength is in the skies.
35
a O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: a Or, Terrible is God
The
God of Israel, he giveth strength and power unto
his people.
Blessed be God.
For
the Chief Musician ; set to b Shoshannim1. b That is, Lilies
In this song-psalm of David we have
the Passover
story—the
deliverance from Egyptian and other enemies,
and
the settlement in a land of prosperity—told with
striking
detail and great poetic force. Jehovah is the
God
of complete salvation (19, 20). In the words of
Perowne:
‘The great central idea of the psalm is the choice
of
leads; from this all flows2.’
But it is because of its graphic
outline of antecedent
events
that the psalm was designated by the chief
musician
for the Passover season; and whether we take
verse
29, ‘Because of thy temple at
1 Or rather, relating to
Shoshannim, the Passover Feast.
The
preposition lfa (‘al),
in all such cases as this, may well
be
rendered ‘on’ or ‘concerning.’ A still
more useful render-
ing
is ‘relating to’; for then any qualifying description is
easily
supplied by the mind: relating to—(as a season); re-
lating
to-- (as a choir); relating to--(as a subject), as the
case
may be. In no precise sense does the word mean ‘set to’;
though
it may mean ‘corresponding with’ or ‘answering to.’
2 The Psalms, vol. i. p. 534 (8th ed.).
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF THE PASSOVER 37
allusion
to the tabernacle that was actual in David's
time
or as an anticipation of the more glorious building
erected
by Solomon, one thing is clear: the
psalm re-
flects
conditions of national ascendency and prosperity
on
the part of people whose God was Jehovah (18, 34),
and
whose song was of salvation and deliverances such
as
the Passover brought to mind from year to year
(19,
20).
PSALM 44.
This psalm brings us into another
atmosphere. Mas-
chil
of the sons of Korah, it was written for times of
national
decline. Yet it opens on the distinctive Pass-
over
note.
A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
Maschil.
1
We have heard with our ears, 0 God, our fathers
have told us,
What work thou didst in their days, in the
days of old.
2
Thou didst drive out the nations with thy hand, and
plantedst them in;
Thou didst afflict the peoples, and adidst spread them a Or, cast them forth abroad.
3
For they gat not the land in6possession by their own
sword,
Neither did their own arm save them:
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the
light of
thy countenance,
Because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4
Thou art my King, 0 God:
Command bdeliverance for Jacob. b Or, victories
5
Through thee will we push down our adversaries:
Through thy name will we tread them under
that
rise up against us.
6
For I will not trust in my bow,
38 THE
CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
Neither shall my sword save me.
7
But thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
And hast put them to shame that hate us.
8
In God have we made our boast all the day long,
And we will give thanks unto thy name for
ever.
[Selah
9 But now thou bast cast us off, and brought us
to dis-
honour;
And goest not forth with our hosts.
10.
Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary:
And they which hate us spoil for
themselves.
11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for
meat;
And hast scattered us among the nations.
12
Thou sellest thy people for nought,
And hast not increased thy wealth by their
price.
13
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and a derision to them that are
round about us.
14
Thou makest us a byword among the nations,
A
shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 All the day long is my dishonour before me,
And the shame of my face hath covered me,
16
For the voice of him that reproacheth and blas-
phemeth;
By reason of the enemy and the avenger.
17
All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten
thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy
covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from thy
way;
19 a That thou hast sore
broken us in the place of jackals, a
Or, Through
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or spread forth our hands to a strange god;
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF THE PASSOVER 39
21
Shall not God search this out?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22.
Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23
Awake, why sleepest thou, 0 LORD?
Arise, cast us not off for ever.
24
Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our
oppression?
25
For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26
Rise up for our help,
And redeem us for thy lovingkindness' sake.
For the Chief Musician; set to a Shoshannim1. a That is, Lilies
Note
the condition of need expressed in this psalm.
honour,’
like ‘sheep appointed for meat,’ and ‘scattered
among
the nations.’ There were stall fighting hosts, but
Jehovah
went not forth with them, so they were de-
feated
on the field (9–11). This was virtually a reversal
of
old-time experiences, when the enemies of
before
them. Yet the nation was still in the land, but
held
in contempt by the surrounding peoples (13, 14).
Not
because of any flagrant wickedness were the chosen
people
being ‘killed all the day long,’ but presumably
because
it was the inscrutable will of God that trial
should
come upon them (18-22). In conclusion
comes
a
prayer for help—for deliverance from the ‘affliction
and
oppression’ of the new house of bondage (24: comp.
Exod.
3. 7, g, the words of which are repeated with
precision).
1 Or rather, relating to Shoshannim, the Passover Feast. See
note
on p. 36.
40
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
It
may seem hardly reasonable to inquire what inter-
pretations
others have put upon the word Shoshannim
(singular
Shushan or Shoshan) in this connexion; seeing
that
in no case have such interpretations been subject
to
help and direction derived from the psalms to which
the
word rightly belongs in the system of titles as here
explained.
Yet, in order to show that the conclusions
which
we have advanced are not opposed to con-
sistent
or cogent views, we give the following excerpts
from
the works of authorities in lexicography and
exegesis:
SHOSHANNIM.
GESENIUS: Shushan (or Shoshan). A
lily; an instrument
of
music, perhaps so called as resembling the form of the lily
(Heb.
Lex. s.v., Robinson's edition, 1872. The
has
not yet reached the word. Buhl's German edition (1899),
reminding
one of the modest Query of old-time lexicons, after
dealing
with the ordinary uses of the word, says of the occur-
rences
in psalm-inscriptions—'No indication of meaning.'
FURST : Proper name of one of the
twenty-four music choirs
left
by David, so called from a master, Shushan (Heb.
Lex.
s.v.,
Davidson's edition).
KIRKPATRICK: ‘Shoshanninm denotes, not the theme of the
psalm,
nor a lily-shaped instrument by which it was to be
accompanied,
but the melody to which it was to be sung—
some
well-known song beginning with the word Shoshannim'
(The Book of Psalms, Cambridge Bible, p.
245).
WELLHAUSEK: Probably the catchword
of an older song,
to
the tune whereof this psalm was to be sung (Polychrome
Bible:
Psalms, p. 183).
HAUPT: The Hebrew 'al Shoshannim may mean ‘with
Susian
instruments’ (Polychrome Bible: Psalms,
p. 183).
By the application of the canon
suggested by Hab.
3.
19, the entire relation of the word has been altered.
We
find it associated with psalms that convey a definite
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF THE PASSOVER 41
message;
and hence an exegetical reason is brought in
for
our contention that Shoshannim means lilies, and
not
a melody; that it stands for a season, and not a
musical
instrument; and that it is used by way of
metonymy
for the Passover commemoration. There-
fore,
it is neither the name of a choir-master, nor the
catchword
of an old song, nor a technical term implying
that
the musical instruments employed in the worship
of
Jehovah were ‘made in Shushan,’ or any other land
of
captivity.
We proceed to consider the Shoshannim Eduth Psalms,
which
in several respects are of special importance, in
particular
because their Musical Title seems to associate
them
with a well-known epoch in the history of
CHAPTER VII
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
(3) PSALMS FOR A ‘SECOND PASSOVER’
SHUSHAN EDUTH: SHOSHANNIM EDUTH
(Psalms 59, 79)
THE Shoshannim Psalms proclaim their special cha-
racter
with great distinctness. We cannot say at what
time
they were first employed in the Passover celebra-
tion;
but the facts regarding the Musical Titles seem
to
push the data, back into days anterior to those in
which
many modern scholars are disposed to find
anything
like a collection of psalms. And if the Chief
Musician's
notes take us so far, then it becomes needful
to
place the origin of the pieces, in some cases at least,
in
a time still earlier than the date of their coming into
liturgical
use.
There are two Passover psalms
besides those already
studied,
and the designation of these is accompanied
by
a peculiar qualification. They are Psalms 59, 79,
the
former of which is entitled Shushan Eduth,
and the
latter
Shoshannim Eduth. As to Shushan, it is the
singular
of Shoshannim; and it would seem
that, as
designating
the spring season, the two forms were
interchanged.
No difficulty presents itself here. With
Eduth, however, the case is
somewhat different. Its
character
in the system of titles is fairly obvious ; it
supplies
a note of qualification, but what that qualifi-
cation
implies, may not, perhaps, be affirmed with
PSALMS
FOR A ‘SECOND PASSOVER’ 43
certainty.
The meaning of the titles is—Psalm 59,
‘Lily:
Testimonies’; Psalm 79, ‘Lilies: Testimonies.’
According as tvdf is read as the plural
of hdAfe (Edah),
namely
tOdfe
(Edoth), or as the singular
substantive tUdfe
(Eduth), we shall render ‘testimonies’ or
‘testimony.’
As
the two terms are intimately related, and the
pointing
to which they have been subjected is doubt-
less
arbitrary, we may make our choice. In those
Pentateuch
passages in which light is thrown on our
subject,
scholars prefer to read tvdf as the plural of hdf—
‘testimonies.’
Both words are of great importance in
the
Old Testament literature.
First as to tUdfe—Eduth. The slabs bearing the ten
words
of the Law were called the ‘tables of TESTIMONY’
(Exod.
31. 18); the chest containing the said tables was
called
the ‘ark of the TESTIMONY’ (Exod. 25. 22); and
the
tent in which the ark was lodged was designated the
‘tabernacle
of TESTIMONY’ (Exod. 38. 21). It is not
easy
to see how the word, as so associated, could be used
to
qualify a title pointing to the Passover.
As the plural of hdAfe the word is found in a
series of
passages
which will readily occur to the mind. It stands
for
laws as divine TESTIMONIES (Edoth),
or solemn
charges,
and is often combined with other terms of simi-
lar
import—statutes, judgements, commandments. One
such
passage is i Kings 2.3, in which we read that David,
being
nigh unto death, charged Solomon in these words:
‘Keep
the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his
ways,
to keep his statutes, and his commandments,
and
his judgements, and his TESTIMONIES, according
to
that which is written in the law of Moses,’ &c.
In
2 Kings 17. 15, we read how
statutes’
of Jehovah ‘and his TESTIMONIES which he
44
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
testified
unto them.’ Again, in 2 Kings 23. 3, we find
Josiah
making a covenant with his people, in the presence
of
Jehovah, ‘to keep his commandments, and his
TESTIMONIES,
and his statutes, with all his heart, and all
his
soul.’
Here we may find a connexion between
the TESTI-
MONIES
and the Passover. To begin with, let it be
recalled
that, as originally given, the Passover does not
strictly
come under this heading. The feast, in its first
significance,
was ordained in
had
left the house of bondage. It was given while as
yet
the people were unredeemed, in fact while they were
still
in ‘the land of the enemy.’ It was the sign and
token
of redemption, and designed to show forth God's
mercy
and power to all generations. Though that night
was
one ‘to be much observed unto the Lord for bring-
ing
them out from the
and
though the celebration of the ordinance in other
circumstances
forty years afterwards, immediately after
crossing
the
be
memorable (Joshua 5. 10), there was also an instruc-
tion,
having the nature of a statute, judgement; and
TESTIMONY,
concerning the feast, which it is essential to
recognize
in this connexion.
The particulars are recorded in Num.
9. 5-14; and
there
we have a detailed statement of the conditions on
which
what has come down to our days as the Second
Passover,
otherwise the Little Passover, was to be cele-
brated.
The original institution was to be held in
the
first month; but for those who, by
reason of ceremonial
uncleanness,
or ‘being in a journey afar off,’ found
attendance
impossible, it was commanded that there
should
be a celebration in the second month,
‘according
PSALMS
FOR A ‘SECOND PASSOVER’ 45
to
the statute of the Passover, and according to the
ordinance
thereof.’ The suggestion is that the psalms
bearing
the subscript title Lilies: Testimonies
were on
some
memorable occasion selected for use at the Second
Passover,
a Passover qualified by the word Testimonies
to
show that it was the one contemplated by the special
command
of the Lord, given through Moses in the
wilderness
of Sinai two years after the exodus (Num.
9.
1, 8).
And here we might leave the subject.
But we must
examine
the psalms themselves. Before doing so, how-
ever,
we inquire whether Israelitish history gives us any
record
of such a Passover celebration as is here described.
We
are directed to the reign of Hezekiah, and in par-
ticular
to the Chronicler's account of his reorganiza-
tion
of the
that,
in the first year of his reign, the king opened the
doors"
of the house of the Lord; and, calling the priests,
commanded
them to sanctify themselves and to cleanse
the
holy place. For sixteen days the 'work was in hand
and
afterwards the offering of sacrifices in atonement for
the
sins of the people was carried out on such a large
scale
that ‘the priests were too few.’ The service of
song
was restored, cymbals, psalteries and harps being
brought
in; the Levites stood with ‘the instruments of
David,’
and ‘sang praises unto the Lord with the words
of
David and of Asaph the seer’ (29. 25-30).
‘So the service of the house of the
Lord was set in
order’
(2 Chron. 29. 35). But what had happened by
consequence
of the prolonged sanctification of the
house,
and the renewal of the order of worship? The
Passover
season had gone by—the house was not ready
when
the opening day arrived. There was, in the cir-
46
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
cumstances,
nothing for it, but that the provision set
forth
in Num. 9 should be accepted, and this was done.
‘The
king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the
congregation
in
second
month. . . . So they established a decree to make
proclamation
throughout all
even
to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover
unto
the Lord, the God of Israel, at
had
not kept it in great numbers (of a long tirne, RN.
marg.) in such sort as it is
written' (30. 2, 5).
he entire proceedings bear witness
to revival. The
congregation
of people was large, representing slime of
the
tribes included in the
Levites
‘sood in their place, after their order, according
to
the law of Moses, the man of God.’ The
having
been purified, efforts were afterwards made to
purify
the land from monuments of idolatry and symbols
of
wickedness. Every work which Hezekiah undertook
‘in
the service of the house of God, and in the law, and
in
the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all
his
heart, and prospered' (30. 13, 16, 18 ; 31. I, 21).
Bearing in mind the unrest which
characterized the
opening
of his reign, and remembering the Passover
note
of trust and joy in view of
redeemed
people, we may well regard the Edith or
‘Testimony’
psalms as designated for this period.
PSALM 59.
A Psalm of David: Michtam: when Saul
sent, and they
watched the house to
kill him.
1
Deliver me from mine enemies, 0 my God:
Set me on high from them that rise up
against me.
2
Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
PSALMS
FOR A ‘SECOND PASSOVER’ 47
And save me from the bloodthirsty men.
3
For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul ;
The mighty gather themselves together
against me:
Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, 0
LORD.
4
They run and prepare themselves without my fault:
Awake thou to a
help
me, and behold. a Help. meet
5
Even thou, 0 LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Arise to visit all the b heathen: b Or, nations
Be not merciful to any wicked trangressors.
[Selah
6
They return at evening, they make a noise like a dog,
And go round about the city.
7
Behold, they belch out with their mouth;
Swords are in their lips:
For who, say they, doth hear?
8
But thou, 0 LORD, shalt laugh at them;
Thou shalt have all the c
heathen
in derision. c Or, nations
9
d 0 my strength, I will wait upon thee: d So some ancient authorities.
For God is my high tower. The
Hebrew text has, His strength
8
e The God of my mercy shall prevent me: e According to some ancient authorities
God shall let me see my desire upon f mine enemies. My
God with his mercy.
9 Slay them not, lest my people forget: f Or, Make that lie in wait for me
g Scatter them by thy
power, and bring them down, g Or, Make them wander to and fro
0 Lord our shield.
12
For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their
lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride,
And for cursing and lying which they
speak.
13
Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they
be
no more:
And let them know that God ruleth in
Jacob,
Unto the ends of the earth. [Selah
14
And at evening let them return, let them make a noise
like a dog,
48
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
And go round about the city.
15.
They shall wander up and down for meat, 15
And tarry all night if they be not
satisfied.
16. But I will sing of thy strength ;
Yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the
morning
For thou hast been my high tower,
And a refuge in the day of my distress.
17.
Unto thee, 0 my strength, will I sing praises : 17
For God is my high tower, the God of my
mercy.
For the Chief Musician; set to a
Shushan
Eduth1.
a That is, The lily of testimony
PSALM 79.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1.
0 God, the b heathen are come into thine inheritance; b Or, nations
Thy holy temple have they defiled ;
They have laid
2.
The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be
meat
unto the fowls of the heaven, 2
The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of
the earth.
3.
Their blood have they shed like water round about
And there was none to bury them.
4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and derision to them that are
round about us.
1 Or rather, for Shushan Eduth, the Passover Feast, as
or-
dained
for special circumstances, for the second month (Num. 9.
5-14).
In this case the preposition lfa (‘al), ‘relating to,’ ‘con-
cerning,’
makes way for lx, (el), which may equally be under-
stood
to mean ‘answering to’ or ‘corresponding with,’ See
note
on p. 36. Possibly, in this instance, the Chief Musician's
programme
is out of mind, and the season itself is referred to,
in
which case lx, would imply ‘in connexion with,’ or ‘for’
the
Passover Feast.
PSALMS
FOR A ‘SECOND PASSOVER’ 49
5.
How long, 0 LORD, wilt thou be angry for ever ?
Shall thy jealousy burn like fire ?
6.
Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that know
thee not,
And upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy
name.
7.
For they have devoured Jacob,
And laid waste his a habitation. a Or pasture
8.
Remember not against us the iniquities of our fore-
fathers:
Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us:
For we are brought very low.
9.
Help us, 0 God of our salvation, for the glory of thy
name:
And deliver us, and purge away our sins,
for thy
name's sake.
10
Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their
God?
Let the revenging of the blood of thy
servants which
is shed
Be known among the heathen in our sight.
11.
Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee;
According to the greatness of thy b power
preserve b Heb. thine arm
thou c those that are appointed to
death; c Heb. the children of death.
12.
And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their of deal/i. 1.
bosom
Their reproach, wherewith they have
reproached
thee, 0 Lord.
13.
So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture
Will give thee thanks for ever:
We
will shew forth thy praise to all generations.
For the Chief Musician; set to a Shoshannim Eduth1. d That is, Lilies, a testimony
1 Or rather, relating to Shoshannim Eduth, the Passover
50 THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
The prayer in Psalm 59, that Jehovah
will ‘scatter’
the
heathen and ‘bring them down’ recalls the victories
given
to
10.
35). The words ‘Let them know that God ruleth in
Jacob,
unto the ends of the earth’ (13) correspond with
those
of Joshua just after the promised land was entered:
‘The
Lord your God dried up the waters of
that
all the peoples of the earth may know the hand
of
the Lord, that it is mighty; that they may fear the
Lord
your God for ever’ (Joshua 4. 23, 24).
In Psalm 79, as in the first Shoshannim psalm (44),
the
reproaches of the heathen, as levelled against
are
regarded as in reality directed against Jehovah, and
as
constituting a reflection upon His sacred honour (4. ro).
If
the Passover stands for anything, it is for the redemp-
tion
of
invaded
by heathen, cruel and corrupt. Hence the
prayer
for deliverance—an essential aspect of the Pass-
over
story: Jehovah is besought, by mighty acts as of
old,
to evoke the eternal praise of ‘the sheep of his
pasture’
(13).
It will be asked by some, no doubt,
whether these
psalms—or
at any rate the latter of them--are not
post-exilic,
and therefore such as Hezekiah could not
possibly
have employed on the occasion described. We
reply
that, when carefully examined, they proclaim
themselves
very plainly as belonging to the time when
59,
the heading, ‘Of David . . . when Saul sent, &:c.,’ must
count
for something. Whatever may have been its
origin,
Hezekiah could well use it of the enemies that
Feast,
as ordained for special circumstances for the second
month
(Num. 9. 5-14).
PSALMS
FOR A ‘SECOND PASSOVER’ 51
were
seeking the downfall of his kingdom when he
ascended
the throne. His predecessor Ahaz, by his
ungodliness,
invited divine retribution, and from all
quarters
‘the heathen’ gave him trouble (2 Chron. 28.
16-22).
The terms of the psalm were true of the opening
days
of Hezekiah's reign.
As to the second psalm (79), which
is confidently
claimed
for a much later period, we say that everything
depends
upon how its opening verses are interpreted. Is
this
a poem—to say nothing of a portion of Holy Scrip-
ture?
If so, then must we not expect in it the qualities
of
poetry—intensity, passion, vision? We shall look in
vain
for a period when the entire situation of the poem
is
reflected in the history of the people as
set forth in
prose records. Take any psalm we may
choose, we shall
meet
with a like disappointment. Poets do not use the
language
of historians; the things they see are often
different,
the emphasis is different, the interpretation
different.
If this is so in ordinary literature, why should
we
expect less in Holy Scripture?
As for this psalm of Asaph, what is
it but an ampli-
fication,
poetic in form and fervid in religious faith, of
Hezekiah's
address to the Levites on his succeeding to
the
crown? He said: ‘Our fathers have trespassed, and
done
that which was evil in the sight of the Lord our God,
and
have forsaken him, and have turned away their
faces
from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their
backs
. . . Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon
a
terror (R.V. marg.), to be an
astonishment and an hiss-
ing,
as ye see with your eyes. For, lo, our fathers have
fallen
by the sword, and our sons and our daughters
and
our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in
52
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
mine
heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God
of
(2
Chron. 29. 6-10).
This condition of things, with an
anticipation of the
certain
issue, forms the subject of the opening verses of
the
psalm. Asaph's vision embraces the coming years,
and
when speaking of the reproach of
whereunto
the evil would lead. The forsaking of Jeho-
vah
involved all this in retribution. But that the end
had
not come, was made clear by the terms of the
prayer
that followed: ‘We are brought very low. Help
us
. . . deliver us . . . wherefore should the heathen say,
Where
is their God?’ (8-10).
but
in the land. The nations are their neighbours, people
dwelling
round about them (4, 12); the pressure is so
intense
that
to
death’ (II). There is no prayer, however, for
a
‘turning of captivity,’ or for restoration to the inheri-
tance
of the land. Though in distress, the Israelites are
still
‘the sheep of God's pasture,’ and prepared to ‘show
forth
his praise to all generations’ (13).
The historical record tells us that
at Hezekiah's
command
the Levites sang ‘praises unto the Lord
with
the words of David and of Asaph the seer’
(2
Chron. 29. 30). Is it nothing to the point to find that
these
Eduth psalms exactly answer this
description
—Psalm
59 being by David, and Psalm 79 by Asaph?
The
latter writer is styled ‘the seer.’ The former was
no
less a prophet (2 Sam. 23. 2 ; Acts 2. 30).
There is another point, arising from
the musical line
itself.
The psalm goes back at least as far as the days
of
the Chief Musician. Can any one conceive of a time
when
the service of praise was organized in the manner
PSALMS
FOR A ‘SECOND PASSOVER’ 53
which
the said term implies when
‘on
heaps’? When the city was destroyed, and the
in
the days of Ahaz, the predecessor of Hezekiah. When
‘the
service of the house was set in order,’ then, what-
ever
terrors were impending, such a prayer as Psalm 79
was
appropriate and timely. But if the opening lines
are
understood as pointing to a post-exilic date, then
the
psalm was never timely, nor the prayer one which
pious
faith could deliver in the
Looking at the prayer as serious,
and taking into
account
the allusions that indicate continued habitation
of
the land, we grasp the true meaning of the first three
verses
as prophetic of coming judgement. If we remem-
ber
the glorious reign that followed, we cannot but con-
clude
that the prayer for deliverance was abundantly
answered.
The psalm was, in a word, eminently suited
for
such a time as that in which Hezekiah celebrated the
Passover
in the second month (instead of the first), as
empowered
by the TESTIMONY, or precept, or command-
ment,
or statute, of Jehovah, given by Moses in the
wilderness
of Sinai.
As in regard to other titles, so
with Shushan Eduth
and
Shoshannim Eduth, we get no reliable
sense unless
we
recognize their relation to the psalms which precede.
This
is clear from the following:
SHUSHAN EDUTH: SHOSHANNIM EDUTH.
Gesenius:
Shushan Eduth, Shoshannim Eduth. A
melody
whose
first line compared the Law as Testimony to a choice
flower
(Heb. Lex. s.v. Eduth,
DELITZSCH : There was probably a
well-known popular song
which
began ‘Lily is the Testimony,’ &c.; or ‘Lilies are the
Testimonies’;
and the psalm was composed after the melody
54 THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
of
this song in praise of the Thora [Law], and was to be sung in
the
same way as it (Commentary on the Psalms,
Eaton's transla-
tion,
vol. ii. 89).
FURST: Perhaps the name of a musical
choir whose presi-
dent
was called Shushan, and who was stationed at Adithaim
(
Josh. 15. 36) in
known
about the point (Heb. Lex. s.v.,
Davidson's edition).
This, of course, is confusion. The
outcome of our
treatment
is that both Shoshannim and Eduth are
allowed
their true lexical meaning, and that simple
sense
is adequate for all the purposes of a consistent
interpretation.
CHAPTER VIII
THE CALENDAR IN THE
PSALTER
(4)
PSALMS FOR THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
GITTITH (PSALMS 7, 8o,
83)
PROCEEDING to consider psalms
selected for use at the
Feast
of Tabernacles, we are on ground equally inter-
esting:
and to a certain extent, as already observed,
some
scholars have anticipated our conclusions, by
defining
Gittith, after the Septuagint translators, as
‘Belonging
to the Winepress.’ And assuredly the
vintage
season synchronizes with the great autumn
festival,
which followed the Day of Atonement, when
the
soul was afflicted in penitential sorrow for sin; it
was,
in fact, the joyous ‘Harvest-Home' in
land.
Coming in the seventh month—Ethanim,
‘flowing
brooks’—which
after the Exile was called Tishri, the
feast
lasted eight days. During this time the people
lived
in booths formed of the branches of trees (Exod.
23.
16; Lev. 23. 33–43; Num. 29. 12–38; Deut. 16. 13).
It
was at this season that Solomon's
cated
(1 Kings 8. 2; 2 Chron. 7. 8–10), and the same
ordinance
was observed with great joy by the captives
returned
from
Historically this feast is said to
commemorate the
wanderings
in the wilderness, but obviously in order to
emphasize
some special aspect of those experiences—
namely,
that, though far away from organized human
society,
and in remote inhospitable regions, God pro-
vided
for the children of
booths’
(Lev. 23. 43). In the words of Keil:
56
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
‘The booth (hKAsu) in Scripture is not an image of
privation and misery, but of
protection, preservation,
and shelter from heat, storm, and
tempest (Ps. 27. 5;
31. 21; Isa. 4. 6). That God made
his people to
dwell in booths during their
wanderings “through the
great and terrible wilderness, fiery
serpents, scorpions,
and thirsty ground where was no
water” (Deut. 8. 15),
was a proof of his fatherly concern
for his covenant
faithfulness—which
at this feast, was to recall and
bring vividly to the
remembrance of succeeding
generations1.’
Jehovah cared for His people when
they most stood in
need
of His protection. The pillar of cloud to lead them
by
day, and the pillar of fire to give them light by night,
were
divine ordinances that could not but impress the
camp
of
Jehovah.
No wonder that, in the Targum of Onkelos,
the
words of Lev. 23. 43 should be extended so as to
interpret
the cloud as the Heaven-provided tent: the
Lord
‘made the children of
shadow
of clouds’ and that the Targum of
Palestine
should
be more specific still, and read the verse: ‘That
your
generations may know how, under the shadow of
the
Cloud of Glory, I made the sons of
the
time that I brought them out redeemed from the
not’
(Ps. 78. 53). He who had redeemed the Israelites,
became
their Keeper (Psalm 121).
With recollections of God's care,
the feast combined
the
delights of Harvest Home. Of all festive seasons in
been
long stored; and now all fruits were also gathered,
the
vintage past . . . The Harvest Thanksgiving of the
1 Biblical Archaeology, vol. ii. p. 55.
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF TABERNACLES 57
Feast
of Tabernacles reminded
of
their dwelling in booths in the wilderness, while, on
the
other hand, it pointed to the final harvest, when
gathered
unto the Lord 1.' Hence the season was also
called
the Feast of Ingathering.
The Winepress psalms are three in number—7, 80, 83.
The
Hebrew tyTiGi
(Gittith) is almost certainly a
variant
of
tOTGi
(Gittoth), which appears in Neh. 13.
15: ‘In
those
days saw I in
the
sabbath.’ It was apparently read as a
plural (and
not
as an adjective) by the Seventy, who render it in
each
case, u[pe>r tw?n lhnw?n—‘Concerning the Wine-
presses
2’; and with this the Vulgate agrees Pro Torcu-
laribus. Here we have a safe
guide as to the meaning of
tyTiGi, an explanation which has simplicity and
antiquity
in
its favour.
In view of the natural history of
the
in
the light of the customs and institutions of the people,
Winepress is a word that tells
its own tale. Both in the
Pentateuch
and in later Scripture the vintage is com-
bined
(in varying terms) with the general harvest :
‘threshing-floor
and winepress’ (Deut. 16. 13), ‘treading
winepresses,
bringing in sheaves,’ &c. (Neh. 13. 15).
and
fig-trees and pomegranates’ (Deut. 8. 8); and above
all
else in popular esteem stood the vine.
1
Edersheim: The
2 The variant in Cod. A
as regards Ps. 8o (classing this with
the
Shoshannim psalms) is passed by as simply curious. The
psalm
headings in that codex seem to be largely independent
of
the sources followed by Cod. B, and of that represented by
the
Massoretic text.
58
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
Jehovah's
vine; the vintage spoke of Jehovah's pro-
vision
for His people. To talk of the winepress implied
the
harvest home, the gifts of God brought into the
garner
for the service of man.
But the winepress meant more than
that. If to
tread
the grapes was a figure of harvest joy (Isa. 16. 1o),
so
also was it a symbol of divine judgement (Isa. 63.3–6).
And,
as viewed by
fate
of their enemies, because of their being, in effect,
the
enemies of God; and this judgement was regarded as
inevitable
in order to the complete redemption of the
chosen
of the Lord and the triumph of holiness and truth.
With
‘the day of vengeance’ for the nations, would
come
‘the year of the redeemed’ of Jehovah (Isa. 63. 4).
In
each of the Gittith psalms there is an echo of the
winepress;
and possibly this had much to do with their
allocation
for the season of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Yet,
above all, we cannot fail to be impressed with the
language
in which prayer is made to ‘the Shepherd of
‘Jehovah
my God, in whom I put my trust’ (7. 1)—by
the
nation whose great privilege it was to enjoy ‘the
pastures
of God’ (83. 12). In a word, these psalms,
whatever
their characteristic terms, are the prayers of
such
as lived in a consciousness that Jehovah was their
Keeper—the
essential note of the Feast of Tabernacles.
PSALM 80.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1. Give ear, 0 Shepherd of
Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock ;
Thou that a sittest upon the
cherubim, shine forth. a
Or, dwellest between
2.
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up
thy
might,
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF TABERNACLES 59
And come to save us.
3
a Turn us again, 0 God; a Or, Restore
And cause thy face to shine, and we shall
be saved.
4
O LORD God of hosts,
How long b wilt thou be angry
against the prayer of b Heb. wilt thou smoke
thy people ? See
Ps. 74:1
5
Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,
And given them tears to drink in large
measure.
6
Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours :
And our enemies laugh among themselves.
7
Turn us again, 0 God of hosts
And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be
saved.
8
Thou broughtest a vine out of
Thou didst drive out the nations, and
plantedst it.
9
Thou preparedst room before it,
And it took deep root, and filled the land.
10
The mountains were covered with the shadow of it,
And c the boughs thereof were
like d cedars of God. c Or, the cedars of
God
11
She sent out her branches unto the sea, with the boughs thereof
And her shoots unto the River. d Or, goodly cedars
12
Why hast thou broken down her fences,
So that all they which pass by the way do
pluck
her ?
13
The boar out of the wood cloth ravage it,
And the wild beasts of the field feed on
it.
14
Turn again, we beseech thee, 0 God of hosts :
Look down from heaven, and behold, and
visit this
vine,
15
And e the stock which thy right hand hath planted, e Or, protect (or main-
And the f branch that thou madest
strong for thyself. tain) that which &c.
16
It is burned with fire, it is cut down: f Heb. son.
60 THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
17. They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right
hand, 17
Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong
for
thyself.
18.
So shall we not go back from thee:
Quicken thou us, and we will call upon thy
name.
19. Turn us again, 0 LORD God of hosts;
Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be
saved.
For the Chief Musician; set to the
Gittith1.
The note of this psalm is clear and
definite, the lan-
guage
of the season being employed to depict the condi-
tion
of things in which Jehovah is asked to intervene as
Judge
(8-12).
people
are encompassed by enemies, He will yet bring
them
back to favour (1-7).
vine;
He has cared for it in the past, and He will assu-
redly
visit it for salvation. Patience and victory are
the
subject of impassioned prayer (17, 18). If Jehovah
will
smile once more—or rather when at length He shall
smile
again—His people will be saved from their dis-
tresses
(17—19).
PSALM 7.
This also is a psalm for adversity.
Accepting for
themselves
the first person singular of David's song, the
people
of
like
lions, were rending them in pieces (I, 2).
Shiggaion of David, which he sang
unto the LORD, con-
cerning the words of
1.
0 LORD My God, in thee do I a put my trust: a Or, Take refuge
Save me from all them that pursue me, and
deliver
me:
1 Or rather, relating to
the Gittith, the Feast of
Tabernacles.
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF TABERNACLES 61
2
Lest he tear my soul like a lion,
Rending it in pieces, while there is none to
deliver.
3
O LORD My God, if I have done this ;
If there be iniquity in my hands ;
4
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace
with
me
(Yea, I have delivered him that without
cause was
mine adversary:)
5
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;
Yea, let him tread my life down to the
earth,
And lay my glory in the dust. [Selah
6
Arise, 0 LORD, in thine anger,
Lift up thyself against the rage of mine
adversaries:
And awake for me; thou hast commanded
judgement.
7
a And let the congregation of the peoples compass a Or,so shall
thee
about:
And over them return thou on high.
8
The LORD ministereth judgement to the peoples:
Judge
me, 0 LORD, according to my righteousness,
and to mine integrity b that is in me. b Or, be it unto me
9
Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
but
establish thou the righteous:
For Lie righteous God trieth the hearts and
reins.
10
My shield is with God,
Which saveth the upright in heart.
11
God is a righteous judge,
Yea, a God that hath' indignation every
day.
12
c If a man turn not, he will whet his sword; c Or, Surely he will
He hath bent his bow, and made it ready. again
whet
13
He hath also prepared for him the instruments of
death;
He maketh his arrows fiery shafts.
14
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity;
62
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
Yea, he hath conceived mischief, and
brought forth
falsehood.
15.
He hath made a pit, and digged it,
And is fallen into the ditch which he
made.
16.
His mischief shall return upon his own head,
And his violence shall come down upon his
own
pate.
I will give thanks unto the LORD according
to his
righteousness:
And will sing praise to the name of the
LORD Most
High.
For the Chief Musician ; set to the
Gittith1.
This psalm shows a reversal of
as
the people in Jehovah's keeping. The judgement
of
its enemies is delayed, and persecutors are repre-
sented
as rending men who have made Jehovah their
trust.
In fact (to use the language of the winepress)
the
adversary is ‘treading down their life in the earth,
and
laying their glory in the dust’ (5). Assuredly
Jehovah
is holding Himself in readiness for the work of
judgement,
whereby the mischief of the wicked shall
‘return
upon his own head, and his violence come down
upon
his own pate’ (16). They who are oppressing
shall
themselves be trodden down. The entire psalm
is
an appeal for Jehovah to avenge His own2.
1 Or rather, relating to
the Gittith, the Feast of
Tabernacles.
2 In his Origin of the Psalter, Cheyne argues
that this psalm
comes
of the Persian age, because of a Talmudical state-
ment
associating it with the Feast of Purim.
The musical
title
Gittith takes us many centuries
further into antiquity
than
the treatise quoted, Massechet Sopherim;
and it tells us
that,
a good while before 200 B. C. (long enough before for
important
words in the musical lines to become archaic and
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF TABERNACLES 63
PSALM 83.
A Song, a Psalm of
Asaph.
1
0 God, keep not thou silence:
Hold not thy peace, and be not still, 0 God.
2
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult:
And they that hate thee have lifted up the
head.
3
They take crafty counsel against thy people,
And consult together against thy hidden
ones.
4
They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from
being
a nation;
That the name of
membrance.
5
For they have consulted together with one consent;
Against thee do they make a covenant:
6
The tents of
7
Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of
8
misunderstood
by the LXX), the psalm was connected with the
Feast
of Tabernacles, then designated ‘Winepresses.’ Its sub-
stance
justifies the selection. In these circumstances, we follow
the
psalm backward to a generation before Purim was instituted,
to
the times of the Chief Musician of
arrived
at chat point in
contest
the claims of David as the veritable author of the Shig-
gaion.
Changes in lectionaries and service-books are certainly
of
interest, but they do not speak the final word as to the origina-
tion
of the materials affected. Hymns may exist for genera-
tions
before finding their place in collections. It is not in the
least
surprising that a psalm which, in the days of
was
associated with Succoth, should
afterwards come to be
included
in the service for Purim.
64
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
a They have holpen the children of
9
Do thou unto them us unto Midian; an arm to the children of
As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river
Kishon.:
10.
Which perished at En-dor;
They became as dung for the earth.
11.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb;
Yea,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna:
12.
Who said, Let us take to ourselves in possession
The b habitations of God. b Or, pastures
13.
0 my God, make them like the whirling dust;
As stubble before the wind.
14.
As the fire that burneth the forest,
And as the flame that setteth the mountains
on fire ;
15. So pursue them with thy tempest,
And terrify them with thy storm.
16. Fill their faces with confusion;
That they may seek thy name, 0 LORD.
17. Let them be ashamed and dismayed for ever;
Yea, let them be confounded and perish:
18. That they may know that c thou alone, whose name c Or, thou, whose name
is JEHOVAH alone is JEHOVAH art
Art the Most High over all the earth.
For the Chief Musician; set to the
Gittith1.
This also is an appeal to the Keeper
of Israel. To
conspire
against God's people, is to hold Him in contempt.
If
He really cares for His hidden ones (3), is it not time
that
He stirred Himself? Yet He ‘holds his peace,’
and
is ‘still’! (I). Jehovah's enemies—the enemies of
ment
has arrived, now that those who hate God and His
people
are devising means for the destruction of
1 Or rather, relating to
the Gittath, the Feast of Tabernacles.
PSALMS
FOR FEAST OF TABERNACLES 65
(2-4).
They form an alliance against
every
tribe of dishonoured name has joined in the con-
spiracy
(5-11). The purpose is to descend upon God's
own
inheritance (12). The figures of the threshing-floor,
and
the unquenchable fire which consumes the stubble,
provide
words in which to frame the judgement which
is
invoked upon the enemies of
Could psalms more suitable have been
chosen for the
Feast
of Tabernacles? There are, in each, the associa-
tions
of language; also the notes of
peculiar
people, and of His purpose to avenge their
sufferings
in judgement upon the nations who have
oppressed
them. All suggest the wine-press; and
the
wine-press gives colour to their
meaning.
As to the word Gittith, this remains
to be said :
standing
in its wrong place in the Psalter, it has received
varied
and inconsistent treatment. Here are some
definitions
:
GITTITH.
GESENIUS: Upon the Gittite (lyre)—so Targum; To the Gittite
(melody)
Ewald, Olshausen, Delitzsch; or either of these,
Hupfeld,
Perowne. Septuagint and Vulgate Ha-Gittoth,
wine-
presses, whence Baethgen and
others, at the wine-presses—i.e.
(Baethgen)
a song for the Feast of Booths (Heb. Lex. s.v.,
DELITZSCH: An instrument with a joyous
sound; or (and
this
explanation accounts better for the fact that it occurs only
in
psalm titles), a joyous melody, perhaps a march of the
Gittite
guard, 2 Sam. 15. 18 (Hitzig). (Commentary
on the
Psalms, Eaton's translation,
vol. i. p. 190.)
FURST : A musical body of Levites, who had
their chief
seat
in the Levitical city of
Davidson's
edition).
WELLHAUSEN
: We do not know whether Gittith here means
66
THE CALENDAR IN THE PSALTER
‘belonging
to the city of
destroyed
before the Babylonian Exile, or ‘belonging to a
winepress’
(= song for the vintage?), or whether it denotes
a
mode or key, or a musical instrument (Polychrome Bible:
Psalms,
p. 166).
The psalms themselves suggest quite
another order of
lexical
facts. Gittith (Gitt/ith) = ‘Winepresses,’ recalls
the
Feast of Tabernacles, the object of which was to
commemorate
God's great goodness to
pilgrimage
through the wilderness. As the Passover
reminded
the
Tabernacles feast brought to mind that He was also
their
Keeper. Hence the psalms illustrate reliance on
God
in times of adversity, and that very plainly.
As for the preposition lfa (‘al), it cannot be
accommo-
dated
to the rendering ‘set to’ of modern expositions.
Its
use is for the English ‘on,’ ‘concerning,’ ‘relating
to.’
‘Relating to the Winepresses’ (as a season) is
a
good rendering of the formula. If the precentor
had
a separate collection, in which these psalms were
classed
with others, then the object of the musical line
may
have been to represent the psalms as ‘correspond-
ing
with’ or ‘answering to’ pieces in the classified
collection.
CHAPTER IX
DAVID IN THE PSALTER
(I)
THE POET-KING'S PLACE AND INFLUENCE
THE place of David in the Psalter is not a
question to
be
settled by criticism alone. We have to consider
a
man whose achievements impressed the imagination
of
succeeding generations, as well as one whose actions
asserted
for themselves a conspicuous place in the life of
his
own time. Other men may have slain giants; but
David
is the celebrated hero of the encounter with the
‘uncircumcised
Philistine.’ Other kings may have
performed
acts of piety that men could not but see and
admire;
yet David stands pre-eminent among the rulers
of
the
erection of the glorious
should
worship Jehovah from generation to generation.
Whatever else he may have been,
David was the
beloved
of
(dviDA = UhvAdAOD. Comp. 2 Chron. 20.
37). His name occurs
more
frequently than any other in the Old Testament,
even
eclipsing that of Moses, the ever-to-be-revered
founder
of the
1 A glance at a full
concordance will show this. Moses is
mentioned in
the Old Testament over 65o times, David over
950 times. Of
David it was said: ‘He played with lions as
with kids,
and with bears as with lambs of the flock. In his
youth did he
not slay a giant, and take away reproach from the
people, when
he lifted up his hand with a sling stone, and beat
68 DAVID
IN THE PSALTER
reason
has he been idealized for two thousand years.
Was
not the Messiah, which is called Christ, ‘born of the
seed
of David, according to the flesh’? Over and above
everything
David is the hero of the Old Testament;
and,
what is more to our present purpose, he alone is the
hero
of the Book of Psalms.
Let the inscriptions implying
Davidic authorship be
discussed
or discarded, their very existence means some-
thing;
they mean that the place of the poet-king in the
hearts
and minds of the editor (or editors) of the Psalter
(or
Psalters) was second to no other name. Let the
headings
relating to the historic circumstances that gave
rise
to particular psalms be discussed or discarded, their
very existence means something; e