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; every one of them
presents
DAVID as the delight of the Israelitish people.
There
is no such inscription in honour of Solomon, or
any
other king or champion.
In all, seventy-three psalms are
described as ‘Of
David’;
thirteen of these bear historical inscriptions,
and
two of the (five) psalms of stated purpose are
David's.
Moreover, in addition, the name occurs twelve
times
in the Psalms themselves, not numbering the
famous
colophon, Ps. 72. 20. And frequently the word
‘the
king' stands for David the son of Jesse. Hence,
David
must not be merely counted as a personage, but
weighed
for his mighty influence in his own day and
down
the boasting of Goliath? For he called upon the Most
High
Lord; and he gave him strength in his right hand, to slay
a
man mighty in war, to exalt the horn of his people. So they
glorified
him for his ten thousands, and praised him for the
blessings
of the Lord, in that there was given him a diadem of
glory.
For he destroyed the enemies on every side, and brought
to
nought the Philistines his adversaries, brake their horn in
pieces
unto this day’ (Ecclus. 47. 3-7). Cp. note on p. 21.
THE POET-KING'S
INFLUENCE 69
afterwards.
Down the ages, in the Synagogue, prayers
have
not ceased to be offered daily that Almighty God
will
re-establish the throne of David, and ‘cause the
offspring
of thy servant David speedily to flourish,' to
the
end that His people
We proceed to show that, as it is
with the Psalms in
their
ordinary titles, so it is with the place of David in
the
subscript lines—that some of those lines bring under
notice
commemorative services held in the days of the
Chief
Musician, in honour of David, the man of war and
the
devoted worshipper of Jehovah.
1 See Jewish Daily Prayers: Sh'moueh Esreh petitions.
CHAPTER X
DAVID IN THE PSALTER
(2) ON THE DEATH OF GOLIATH
MUTH-LABBEN (PSALM 8)
THE words Muth-labben have been the
subject of keen
controversy.
In some measure, the confusion has
arisen
from a failure to recognize the extent to which
the
Psalms are connected, in one way or another, with
the
person and times of David. And confusion has been
made
‘worse confounded’ by the unfortunate fact that
expositors
have sought in thewrong psalms fora response
to
the Musical Titles—looking to the psalm following
instead
of that preceding the line which has been so long
misplaced.
So far, we have found a logical
relevancy to subsist
between
the Psalms and their subscript titles. Whether
these
titles denominate a class, recall an incident, or
furnish
a pictorial designation founded on outstanding
expressions
in particular psalms, we shall find this
relevancy
all through. We must, however, be prepared,
in
a degree, to meet with titles of the ‘catchword’
order,
such as modern literature abundantly presents;
but
this may be safely said—in no case will a connexion
between
title and psalm be missing, so long as we keep
the
right psalm in view.
It is beyond question that the words
Muth-labben at
first
suggest ‘Dying for the son.’ But in examining the
ON THE DEATH OF GOLIATH 71
phrase
we have some things to remember. First, that
the
psalm titles, having been out of place for two thou-
sand
years, have been hopelessly misunderstood: and
second,
that, through being misunderstood, they have
not
received that editorial attention which the Massoretes
gave
to the general text of the Old Testament. Hence
the
words that make up these titles are, in a number of
cases,
defective in spelling 1, and in some instances have
been
supplied with points which give a misleading
sense2. When the points ‘stereotype’ a sound read-
ing,
we are thankful for them, but when they give
sanction
to a Rabbinical misunderstanding we pass
them
by without hesitation.
Instead of following the Massoretic
doctors, let us
inquire
regarding traditions and explanations other than
the
one which they seem to have followed. Among the
most
striking of these we find that of the Jewish Para-
phrase,
known as the Targum, which tells us, in effect,
that
Nbela
(labben), ‘of the son,’ should be
read NyBela
(labbeyn),
‘of
the champion’: that is, a quiescent, or vowel-
letter,
should have been supplied to place the word in its
proper
light. The title, as given in the Targum, is:
—‘To
praise, regarding the death of the man who went
out
between the camps’—that is, regarding Goliath the
Philistine.
Distinguished Jewish commentators have
read
NBela in
this sense. In I Sam. 17. 4, 23, Goliath
is
called ‘a champion’—MyinaBeha-wyxi ('ish habbenaim)—
‘A
man who stood between the two’—an intermediary
1 That is, the quiescents
(or vowel-letters) have been supplied
incorrectly
; or the vowel-points have been so placed as to per-
petuate
a misreading of the word.
2 See chapter on ‘Other
Things that Follow’ (p 16o).
72 DAVID IN THE PSALTER
who
presented himself for single combat to decide and
terminate
conflict. Hence the word NyBe ‘champion’1.
Recall
the story of the slaughter of Goliath, and then
look
at the psalm. The ‘uncircumcised Philistine’
defied
the armies of the living God, and cursed David by
the
gods of his country. David's reply was: ‘I come to
thee
in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the
armies
of
the
Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite
thee,
and take thine head from off thee; and I will give
the
carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto
the
fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth;
that
all the earth may know that there is a God in
(1
Sam. 17. 45-46). Is David, whom the Philistine dis-
dained
for his youth, to be victorious through the power
of
Jehovah? As a shepherd he has killed a lion and
a
bear God delivered them into his hand. Is he now to
add
conquest over the Philistine giant and attendant
hosts
to the dominion which is already his over the
most
fierce beasts of the field? Read the psalm in
which
he praises God for the result of the contest :
PSALM 8.
A Psalm of David.
1. O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth !
Who a hast set thy glory b upon the heavens. a So some ancient versions
2.
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou The
Hebrew is obscure.
established strength, b Or, above
Because of thine adversaries,
That thou mightest still the enemy and the
avenger.
3.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
1 See the Hebrew Lexicon of Buxtorf, s. v. Nb; and the Con-
cordance of Particles by Noldius (ed.
Tympius), s. v. Nyb,
ON THE DEATH OF GOLIATH 73
The moon and the stars, which thou hast
ordained;
4
What is man, that thou art mindful of
him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5
For thou hast made him but little lower than a God, a Or, the
angels
And crownest him with glory and honour. Heb. Elohim
6
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works
of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet:
7
All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and the beasts of the field;
8
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the
seas.
9
0 LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
For the Chief Musician ; set to Muth-labben1.
Surely it is impossible not to see
the appropriateness
of
this psalm to the incident which it was selected to
commemorate.
The words are David's according to the
inscription;
he is the man whom Jehovah has visited (4).
Can
the words have had any other text than the one now
suggested,
on the strength of the title, at length placed at
the
foot of its own psalm? After such an act as the killing
of
Goliath, what could David's note be other than domi-
nion?
He who smote the lion and the bear had now
felled
to the earth the mighty man from whom the
Israelites
had fled sore afraid (I Sam. 17. 24, 49). Did
he
not come next to God in dominion? and was he not
crowned
with glory and honour (5)? And seeing that
‘the
beasts of the field’ had found their match in him,
were
not all things ‘under his feet’ (6-8)?
1 Or rather, on or
relating to Muth-labben —For the Death of
the
Champion (Goliath).
74 DAVID
IN THE PSALTER
The God who delivered David ‘out of
the paw of the
lion
and out of the paw of the bear’ had given him this
victory
also. David went forward in the Name of
Jehovah,
who, through mighty acts, had got to Himself
glory
reaching up to heaven (I). And all had been done
by
the agency of one who had no power of his own in
fact,
by one who classed himself with ‘babes and suck-
lings’
(2). The stripling who went out between the
camps
` to take away the reproach from
that
victory would be his, ‘that all the earth may know
that
there is a God in
psalm
concludes, as it began, ‘O LORD, our Lord, how
excellent
is thy name in all the earth!’ Little
did the
poet
think, however, when describing a memorable
event
in the beautiful words of this psalm, that the
language
he was employing had been charged by the
Spirit
of Prophecy with higher doctrine and deeper
significance
than could be realized in his day and
generation
(see Heb. 2. 6-8).
May it not be said with confidence
that what the
superscription
lacks the subscript line supplies ? The
former
says ‘A Psalm of David,’ the latter ‘Relating to
the
Death of the Champion’1. It is in harmony with
1 The suggestions that Muth-labben (i) refers to the death of
Ben
(a Levite referred to in i Chron. 15. 18); or (2) indicates
some
unknown prince, or a mystical personage, hardly merit
consideration.
A psalm endorsed by the Chief Musician for
great
event, must be associated with a person or occurrence of
national
importance. Nations do not celebrate fireside fame or
private
heroism. To explain the title as relating to the death
of
Absalom, whom David mourned in the pathetic words of
2
Sam. 18. 33, ‘Would God I had died for thee, my son,’ &c.,
is
also unsatisfactory; for it is clear that the king's conduct
ON THE DEATH OF GOLIATH 75
what
we know of Israelitish practice that the Philistine
should
not be named here. When he came forth there
was
an end of his boasting; but David lived to praise
the
Lord for a mighty victory.
was
unpopular with the leaders in
being
so, the event was not one for subsequent commemoration.
CHAPTER XI
DAVID IN THE PSALTER
(3) THE VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINES
MAHALATH (PSALM 52)
THE word tlaHEma as pointed here and in
Psalm 87,
occurs
nowhere else in the Old Testament except as
a
proper name (Gen. 28. 9; 2 Chron. ii. i8). Acknow-
ledged
authorities regard the meaning of the word as
‘dubious’
and ‘extremely obscure,’ though some venture
suggestions.
Having brought the title into association
with
its proper psalm, we may hope to learn something
about
both. We must not lose sight of David's com-
manding
place in the Psalter; and assuredly we have
no
reason to put complete confidence in the Massoretic
points.
Long before the text was punctuated, the ‘key’
to
the titles ‘was lost,’ to recall words already quoted
from
Delitzsch and others.
As pointed, the word has no
indisputable meaning;
so
in any case there must be investigation. The Septua-
gint
translators do not help us; they transferred the
mysterious
word, thus—u[pe>r maele<q. The
Greek ver-
sion
of
portant
indication by rendering the word e]pi> xorei<%,
‘on
a dancing.’ This means that they read
the Hebrew
as
tloHom; (m’holoth), ‘dancings’1. Symmachus, just
1 That is, the plural of hlAOHm; (m’holah), the occurrences of
THE
VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINES 77
afterwards,
seems to have read the word similarly.
Now,
dancing stands for rejoicing, which, in the life of
commotion,
and excitement occasioned by national
victories.
Seeking occasions in the career of
David when the
people
gave themselves up to a ‘great dancing,’ we
cannot
but be struck with the relevance of this psalm
to
the incident recorded in i Sam. 18. 6, 7, and referred
to
in chaps. 21. ii ; 29. 5. What is the scene ? David
has
returned from the slaughter of Goliath and the rout
of
the Philistine hosts, when he receives a sort of
national
ovation: ‘The women came out of all the
cities
of
meet
king Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with instru-
ments
of music. And the women sang one to another
in
their play, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands,
and
David his ten thousands’ (18. 6, 7).
We cannot overlook the incidents
that follow. Saul
‘was
very wroth,’ for this saying of the women dis-
pleased
him; he sought to slay David, and his intrigues
are
set forth in detail (chs. 19, 26). Escaped from the
place
of danger, David receives the sword of Goliath from
Ahimelech
at Nob, in the presence of Doeg the Edomite,
a
follower of Saul (ch. 21). Doeg reported what he had
witnessed,
and at the command of Saul slew the priests
of
Nob. This period of David's life, though full of
which
are: Sing. const., Song of Songs, 7. I; plural, Exod.
15.
20; 32. 19 ; Judges 11. 34; 21. 21; I Sam. 18. 6; 21.
I
I (12) ; 29. 5. In all cases the word is defective
as to the holem
of
the root-syllable; and the same applies also to the plural
ending
of the occurrences in the Book of Exodus, as shown in
the
most correct editions of the Massoretic text.
78 DAVID
IN THE PSALTER
incident,
deals mainly with the fight with Goliath and
the
consequences which ensued. By the subscript line
‘To
the Chief Musician, relating to Mahalath,’ Psalm 52
is
apparently appointed to be sung in honour of the
great
victory, the event being recalled in simple fashion
by
the ‘Great Dancing’ which followed it. One may well
conceive
David holding in his hand the sword of the
fallen
giant, and writing this psalm :
PSALM 52.
Maschil
of David: when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul,
and said unto him, David is come to the
house of Ahimelech.
1
Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, 0 mighty
man?
The mercy of God endureth continually.
2 Thy tongue deviseth very wickedness;
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3
Thou lovest evil more than good;
And lying rather than to speak
righteousness. [Selah
4
Thou lovest all devouring words,
a 0 thou deceitful tongue. a Or, And the deceitful tongue
5 God shall likewise b destroy thee for ever, b
Or, break thee down
He shall take thee up, and pluck thee out
of thy tent,
And root thee out of the land of the living. [Selah
6 The righteous also shall see it, and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his c strength; c Or, strong hold
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness.
8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree
in the house
of God:
I
trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
THE
VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINES 79
9
I will give thee thanks for ever, because thou hast
done it:
And I will wait on thy name, for it is good,
in the
presence of thy saints.
For the Chief Musician; set to
Mahalath1.
It is not clear what we are to
understand by the his-
torical
heading, ‘When Doeg the Edomite came, &c.’
Maybe
it simply indicates the scene in which the poem
was
written; the real subject remains--Goliath of Gath.
In
the words of Perowne: ‘This psalm is a lofty chal-
lenge,
a defiance conceived in the spirit of David when
he
went forth to meet the champion of
courage
of faith breathes in every word. There is no
fear,
no trembling, no doubt as to the end which will
come
upon the tyrant. How vain is his boast in
presence
of the lovingkindness of God, which protects
His
people; in presence of the power of God, which
uproots
the oppressor! Such is briefly the purport of
the
psalm2.
And it is to this conclusion that we
are guided by the
word
tlhm,
so pointed as to find its counterpart and
response
in the general language of Holy Scripture:
M'holoth,
‘dancings3.’ However it may be understood,
the
word bears no relation whatever to the psalm which
1 Or rather, on or
relating to Mahalath (for M'holoth)—
‘Dancings’
(or ‘Great Dancing’). See i Sam. 17. 37 — 18. 6.
2 The Book of Psalms, eighth edition, vol. i. 439, 440.
3 Of course the dancing
stood for all the jubilation of which
it
was the token and expression. There was a sacredness about
the
exercise which we can hardly understand to-day. A time
of
dancing would be remembered in
giving
would stand out in the round of modern life. (See
J.
Millar, s.v. ‘Dancing,’ in Hastings'
Bible Dictionary.)
8o DAVID
IN THE PSALTER
follows
it. Here are some of the definitions that have
been
given:
MAHALATH.
GESENIUS: Apparently a catchword in
a song giving
name
to tune [renderings of
indicated:
a great service] (Heb. Lex. s.v.,
Possibly
a special kind of song or a musical instrument. . .
(Buhl's
German edition).
DELITZSCH: ‘Set to a sad melody,’
whether it be that
Mahalath
itself is the name of such an elegiac melody, or that
the
latter is indicated by means of the opening word of some
popular
song (Commentary on the Psalms, Eaton's translation,
vol.
ii. p. 170).
FURST: The name of a musical choir
that dwelt in Abel-
Meholah
(Heb. Lex. s.v., Davidson's edition).
HAUPT: Perhaps the catchword of an
older hymn, the first
line
of which may have been: ‘The sickness of Thy people heal,
O
God!’ It is possible, however, that Mahalath is the name
of
a musical instrument (Polychrome Bible: Psalms, p. 186).
Against these conjectures we oppose
a reasonable
re-reading
of the word 1. Following the lead of
and
Symmachus, which antedate by hundreds of years
the
Received Massoretic Text, we find ourselves referred
to
a striking event in Israelitish history, which, in turn,
proves
itself to be the subject of the psalm! The lexical
facts,
then, as here developed, are simply these: tlHm
has
been pointed tlaHEma (Mahalath) in error; it should
1 On dealing thus with
the Hebrew text, Chwolson, the
Russian
orientalist, writes: ‘In explaining the books of the
Old
Testament we have the right, where necessary, of disre-
garding,
not only the vowel signs but also the vowel letters,
and
of not allowing ourselves to be bound by them. The ex-
positor
must have before his mind the ancient grammatical
forms
also, in order to see whether one or other of these forms
THE
VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINES 81
have
stood tloHom;. (M'laoloth, ‘dancings’).
The word
refers
us to a story in the history of David, which was
recalled
by Psalm 52 being rendered in the
worship.
may
not have been mistaken by the Sopherim and the Massoretes,
and
wrongly interpreted ' (Hebraica, vol.
vi. io8).
CHAPTER
XII
DAVID IN THE PSALTER
(4) THE
MAHALATH LEANNOTH (PSALM 87)
THE second Mahalath psalm has
another catchword
combined
with it, which means ‘Shoutings’—the chant-
ing
songs of the dancers. Here, then, is a psalm which,
in
the service of the
a
memorable time, all event characterized by great
rejoicings.
Again we look to the life of David to supply
the
historical fact, and a glance at the psalm itself sug-
gests
quite easily the appropriate story, as recorded in
2
Sam. 6. 5, 14, 15 (also in i Chron. 13. 8 ; 15. 16, 28).
The
the
Philistines for seven months, had been sent to
Kirjath-jearim,
and there it remained for twenty years-.
till
the time of David, in fact (I Sam. 4. 3-11 ; 5. 7, 8;
6.15;
7. 1, 2; 1 Chron. 13. 6-14; 15.1-16.1ff.). Removal
having
been begun, there came ‘the breach upon Uzzah,’
who
‘put forth his hand to the ark of God’; and, in
consequence
of this, the
months
in the house of Obed-edom in Gath-rimmon
(2
Sam. 6. i-ii). At the end of that time, David
removed
it in a grand procession to
it
was kept in a tent till a place should be prepared for
it
(verses 12—19).
This procession became historic in
dancing
and shouting such as made a profound impres-
sion.
‘David and all the house of
THE
the
Lord with all manner of instruments made of
fir
wood, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with
timbrels,
and with castanets, and with cymbals. . . . And
David
danced before the Lord with all his might. . . . So
David
and all the house of
the
Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the
trumpet’
(2 Sam. 6. 5, 14, 15). It is admitted that the
word
used for ‘dance’ here is distinctive—rKer;Ki (kirker)
the
pilpel of rraKA (karar) ‘to circle’ [in i Chron. 13. 29
we
find a form of dqarA (kakad) ‘to leap’]; but, all the
same,
it is beyond question that the general term lUH
(hul), whence we have m’holoth, covers and embraces all
the
various exercises. Also it is admitted that the word
rendered
`shouting' in 2 Sam. 6. 15 is (t’rua’h); but
this,
with the other forms of jubilation, may well be
included
in the more common and comprehensive term
hnAfA (‘anah),
whence comes the catchword tOnfE (‘anoth)
of
the subscript line. The verb hnAfA (‘anah) is associated
with
dancing as expressed by tloHom; (m’hooloth) in the
following
places: i Sam. 18. 7 ; 21. II (12) ; 29. 5.
The
R.V. renders ‘sing’ in each case.
Bearing in mind that the incident to
which we have
been
thus directed is the bringing of the ark to Mount
and
its brief sojourn at Beth-shemesh and Gath-rimmon
(in
Dan), let us look at the psalm itself:
PSALM 87.
A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a
Song.
1
a His foundation is in the holy mountains. a Or, His foundation in the
2
The LORD loveth the gates of
More than all the dwellings of Jacob. loveth, even the gates &c
84 DAVID
IN THE PSALTER
3. Glorious things are spoken of thee,
0 city of God. [Selah
4. I will make mention of a Rahab and Babylon as
among a Or, Egypt
them that know me:
5. Behold Philistia, and Tyre, with b Ethiopia; b Heb. Cush
This one was born there.
Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one
and that one
was born in her;
And the Most High himself shall establish
her.
6. The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the
peoples,
This
one was born there. [Selah
7.
They that sing as well as c they that dance shall say, c Or, the players on
All my fountains are in thee. instruments
shall be
there
A
Song, a Psalm of the sons of Korah; for the Chief Musician;
set to Mahalath d Leannoth1.
d Or,
for singing
The relevancy of the psalm to the
occasion which it
was
selected (if not indeed written) to commemorate, is
as
beautiful as it is obvious. The note is very much that
of
Ps. 132. 13, 14: ‘The Lord hath chosen
Zion; he hath
desired
it for his habitation. This is my resting place
for
ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.’ ‘The
Lord
loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings
of
Jacob.’ How, then, can the ark be allowed to rest in
Kirjath-jearim
or any other of the ‘dwellings of Jacob’?
No;
Benjamin will not do; Dan will not do. Zion is
‘the
city of God’ (3); ‘the Most High himself shall
establish
her’ (5). Great kingdoms and empires may
have
‘this one' born in them (4); but Zion has ‘this one
1 Or rather, on or
relating to Mahalath (for i'VI'holoth)
Leannoth—‘Dancings
(or Great Dancing) with Shoutings.’ See
2
Sam. 6. 4, 14, 15, and i Chron. 13. 8 ; 15. 16, 28.
THE ARK BROUGHT TO ZION 85
and
that one’ born in her (5). It is the city of which
all
should desire to be citizens; and ‘when the Lord
writeth
up the peoples,’ there will be nothing to compare
with
having been ‘born there,’ or being a citizen of
Zion
(6). Of no other place could the psalmist say:
‘They
that sing as well as they that dance 1 shall say,
All
my fountains are in thee’—all my sources of delight
are
in thee 2!
1 ‘They that dance,’ Mylil;Ho, from lUH, ‘to dance’; whence
comes
the word of the subscript title, TloHom;.
2 Or possibly those
participating in the rejoicings are repre-
sented
as declaring that all their descendants shall assuredly be
citizens
of Zion. See this sense of Nyifa in Dent. 33. 28.
CHAPTER XIII
DAVID IN THE PSALTER
(5) A NATIONAL ANTHEM
AI JELETH HASH-SHAH AR (PSALM 21)
THIS
psalm, one of the favourites of the collection,
seems
to have been chosen to recall the coronation of
David.
Mindful of national blessings, the people praise
God
for their King. This is their National Anthem, in
which
the ` politics ' and ` knavish tricks ' of the enemies
of
Israel are not left out of sight (8-12), and confidence
in
Jehovah the Strong is earnestly expressed (13). The
title,
as given in the musical line, is rHawa.ha tl,y,.xa (Aijeleth
hash-Shahar), ‘The Hind of the
Dawn.’ A figure, at
once
delicate and splendid, is wrapt in the words. The
‘Hind
of the Morning’ glow—this is an Oriental word-
picture
of the sun as he sheds his rising rays. The
traveller
watches with keen desire for the first beams of
light,
and he warmly greets the ‘Dawn Hind’ as he
dances
on the distant horizon. The opening verses
of
the psalm provide a response to the title.
PSALM 2I.
A Psalm of David.
1. The king shall joy in thy strength, 0 LORD;
And in thy salvation how greatly shall he
rejoice!
2. Thou hast given him his heart's desire,
And hast not withholden the request of his
lips. [Selah
3.
For thou preventest him with the blessings of
a goodness: a Or, good things
A NATIONAL ANTHEM 87
Thou settest a crown of fine gold on his
head.
4
He asked life of thee, thou gayest it him;
Even length of days for ever and ever.
5
His glory is great in thy salvation:
Honour and majesty dost thou lay upon him.
6
For thou a makest him most blessed for ever: a Heb. settest him to be
Thou makest him glad with joy in thy
presence. blessings.
See Gen. 12:2
7
For the king trusteth in the LORD,
And through the lovingkindness of the Most
High he
shall not be moved.
8
Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies:
Thy right hand shall find out those that
hate thee.
9
Thou shalt make them as a fiery furnace in the time of
thine b
anger. b Or, presence Heb. countenance
The LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath,
And the fire shall devour them.
10
Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth,
And their seed from among the children of
men.
11
For they intended evil against thee :
They imagined a device, which they are not
able to
perform.
12
For thou shalt make them turn their back,
Thou shalt make ready with thy bowstrings
against
the face of them.
13
Be thou exalted, 0 LORD, in thy strength :
So will we sing and praise thy power.
For the Chief Musician; set to c Aijeleth hash-Shahar
The ‘Hind of the Morning’
represents, in a word, an
object
of grace and beauty, towards which the soul goes
1 Or rather, on or
relating to Aijeleth hash-Shahar —The
Hind
of the Dawn—recalling God's goodness to David in giving
him
his heart's desire (2); perhaps also embodying an allusion
to
the king as the pride and glory of his people.
88 DAVID
III THE PSALTER
out
in passionate desire. Hind stands for
love (see
Prov.
5. Ig), and Morning implies waiting; ‘HEART'S
DESIRE’
interprets the title as a whole. And the
psalmist
does not keep us waiting long for the words
which,
by this title, are proclaimed as the most striking
of
the poem: ‘Thou hast given him (the king) HIS
HEART'S
DESIRE, and bast not withholden the request of
his
lips.' How warm is the language! What follows in
the
psalm is but an unfolding of these words, in which
David
paints the Dawn Hind in royal beauty. As
designating
a psalm which is laden with ideas of satis-
faction,
no title could have been more striking and
graceful.
And verses 3–6 justify the inference that
the
psalm was associated with the commemoration of,
Israel's
greatest king—David.
A somewhat divergent view of this
psalm is thus ex-
pressed
by Delitzsch:
‘In the preceding psalm (20), the people, interceding
for their king, cried for him,
"May Jehovah fulfil all
thy desires"; in this they can
say thankfully to God,
"the desire of his heart hast
thou granted him." In
both psalms the people appear before
God in con-
nexion with matters that concern their
king; in the
former desiring and praying, in the
latter thanking
and hoping; here as well as there in
the midst of war;
here, however, now that the king has
recovered, in the
assurance that the war will be
brought to a victorious
issue1.’
Yet it is permissible to ask whether
the HEART'S
DESIRE
of the people, as well as that of the king, had not
been
graciously granted by Jehovah? If so, may not the
title
do more than recall the words of
verses 1-4, and
1 Commentary on the Psalms, vol. i. 365, 366.
A NATIONAL ANTHEM 89
bring
to mind KING DAVID himself1 who was the glory
of
the people, captivating their vision like the ‘morning
glow’?
Assuredly, they offer for him a noble prayer in
this
beautiful psalm.
1 That the word ‘Hind’
is feminine, is no bar to this sugges-
tion. The
subsidiary features of a figure do not limit its ap-
plication
along the lines of some outstanding quality. It is
well known
that in Hebrew and cognate dialects feminine
titles and
figures of speech are at times applied to masculine
objects, when
there is a desire to express intense affection, or
profound
esteem to one in high station. Besides that, we
should bear
in mind that a parable is not an allegory. Christ
said He was
the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Door, the
Vine—using so
many Greek words that were all feminine. There
was no
impropriety, no confusion. Neither would it be im-
proper, in
speaking of David as the ‘Heart's Desire’ of his
people, to
say that he was as ‘the Hind of the Dawn’ to them.
(See
Gesenius-Kautzsch, Heb. Gram., Oxford
edition, pp. 412,
413.)
CHAPTER
XIV
DAVID IN THE PSALTER
(6) CONFLICTS COMMEMORATED
JONATH ELEM REHOKIM (PSALM 55)
THAT the words Jonath elem rehokim belong to Psalm
55,
as they are placed in this edition, must assuredly
have
been suspected by many a student. It has become
quite
general for expositors to support arguments for the
substantial
compactness of the Psalter by expressing
themselves
in some such words as these, by the late
W.
H. Green, of Princeton: ‘It is a most significant
circumstance
that the link which binds Psalm 56 to 55 is
the
correspondence between the title of the former and
the
text of the latter. The former is set to the tune of
“The
silent dove of them that are afar off’; in the latter
the
psalmist exclaims, verses 6, 7, “Oh that I had wings
like
a dove . . . lo, then would I wander afar off 1.”’
It is a pleasure to see the title
associated, at length,
with
what is unquestionably its own psalm. There is
no
need to argue the propriety of the combination. Let
us
see the psalm as properly set out:
PSALM 55.
Maschil of David.
1. Give ear to my prayer, 0 God;
And hide not thyself from my supplication.
1 Old and New Testament Student (now Biblical World, of
Chicago),
vol. xi. p. 163. See also Jebb, Hengstenberg, Delitzsch,
Kay,
and others, in commenting on the psalms specified.
CONFLICTS
COMMEMORATED 91
2
Attend unto me, and answer me:
I am restless in my complaint, and moan;
3 Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the oppression of the wicked;
For they cast iniquity upon me,
And in anger they persecute me.
4
My heart is sore pained within me:
And the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
5
Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me,
And horror hath overwhelmed me.
6
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!
Then would I fly away, and be at rest.
7
Lo, then would I wander far off,
I would lodge in the wilderness. [Selah
8
I would a haste me to a shelter a Or,
hasten my escape
From the stormy wind and tempest.
9
b Destroy, 0 Lord, and divide their tongue: b Heb.
Swallow up.
For
I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10.
Day and night they go about it upon the walls
thereof:
Iniquity also and mischief are in the midst
of it.
11
Wickedness is in the midst thereof:
c Oppression and guile depart not from her
streets. c Or, Fraud
12
For it was not an enemy that reproached me;
Then I could have borne it:
Neither was it he that hated me that did
magnify
himself against me;
Then I would have hid myself from him:
13
But it was thou, a man mine equal,
My companion, and my familiar friend.
14
We took sweet counsel together,
We walked in the house of God with the throng.
15
d Let death come suddenly upon them, d Or, as otherwise read
Desolations
be upon them!
92 DAVID
IN THE PSALTER
Let them go down alive into a the pit: a Heb. Sheol
For wickedness is in their dwelling, in b the midst of b
Or, their inward part
them.
16. As for me, I will call upon God;
And the LORD shall save me.
17. Evening, and morning, and at noonday, will I
complain,
and moan:
And he shall hear my voice.
18.
He hath redeemed my soul in peace c from the battle c Or, so that none came
that was against me: nigh me
19.
For they were many that strove with me.
Or, afflict God shall hear, and d answer them, d Or, afflict
Even he that abideth of old, [Selah
The men who have no changes,
And who fear not God.
20.
He hath put forth his hands against such as were at
peace
with him:
He hath profaned his covenant.
21.
His mouth was smooth as butter,
terebinths
But his heart was war:
His words were softer than oil,
Yet were they drawn swords.
22.
Cast e thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain e Heb. that he hath
thee: given thee.
He shall never suffer the righteous to be
moved.
23.
But thou, 0 God, shalt bring them down into the pit
of destruction:
Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not
live out half
their days; f That is, The silent dove of them that are
But I will trust in thee. afar off, or as otherwise read
The dove of the distant terebinths
For the Chief Musician; set to f
Jonath
elem rehokim1.
1 Or rather, on or
relating to Jonath elem rehohim—'The
Dove
CONFLICTS COMMEMORATED 93
The rebellion of Absalom furnishes
the subject of the
psalm,
the allusions of which are in striking harmony
with
the occurrences recorded in 2 Sam. 15-19. The
betrayal
of David by Ahithophel, ‘his familiar friend’
with
whom he had ‘taken sweet counsel,’ may be styled
the
traditional explanation of the psalm. It was also
the
explanation adopted by Delitzsch, who wrote:
‘Psalm 55 belongs, like Psalm 41, to the four years
of the growth of Absalom's
rebellion; only it belongs
to a somewhat later time, when
Absalom's party were
already so certain of their cause
that they no longer
required to make any secret of it. .
. . In David's sur-
roundings there are wild ongoings
that aim at his
destruction. He would fain flee away
from these and
ide himself, like a dove with its
noiseless yet perse-
ering flight, which betakes itself
to a hole in a rock
rom the storm or from the claws of
the bird of prey . . .
t is not open foes, who might have
had cause, that
re opposed to him, but faithless
friends, among them
hithophel the Gilonite, the scum of
perfidious in-
ratitude.1’
hese characteristics justify the
title 2 given to the
of
the Distant Terebinths '—apparently a commemoration of
David's
conflicts and distresses. The word ‘moan’ in verse 17
is
hmAhA
(hamah) used in Ezek. 7. 16 of the
cooing (or mourning)
of
a dove.
1
Commentary on the Psalms, Eaton's
translation, vol. ii.
pp.
178, I8I, I82.
2 The line is variously
rendered according to the pointing
that
is adopted for the central word: The Oxford Hebrew
Lexicon
(after Olshausen, Cheyne, and others): ‘The Dove
of
Distant Terebinths’; Delitzsch, ‘The Silent Dove among
the
Afar-off ‘; Wellhausen, ‘The Dove of Far Off Islands’;
Perowne,
‘The Silent Dove in Far-off Lands.' From each and
all
of these pictures we can gather impressions of the severity of
David's
trials at the time indicated in the psalm.
94 DAVID
IN THE PSALTER
psalm
by the Chief Musician. And that David's trials
should
have been commemorated is not unreasonable,
in
view of the fact that the psalm selected for the
purpose
affirms unwavering faith in Jehovah, as witness
the
concluding verses:—'Cast thy burden upon the
LORD,
and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer
the
righteous to be moved,' &c.
CHAPTER XV
PSALMS FOR A SEASON OF HUMILIATION
AL-TASHHETH (PSALMS 56, 57, 58, 74)
THE Al-tashheth psalms are four in number, and have
features in common. A study of the contents affords
a fair indication of the meaning of the subscript title;
of which ‘Destroy not’ gives the plain sense. Among
the early versions, the Septuagint and Vulgate render no
suggestive help. The Syriac Peshito, however, which
for the most part exhibits fanciful headings, unquestion-
ably of Christian origin, follows a singular course. It
ignores the title Al-tashheth in every case; but in an in-
scription over Psalm 74, which according to our arrange-
ment of the material is related to the Al-tashheth title,
it says: ‘A psalm of Asaph: when David saw the
angel destroying the people, and wept and said, Let thine
hand be against me, and against my seed, and not
against these innocent sheep,' &c.
A glance at the Psalm itself will show that it was in-
tended for other times.
hands of the enemy, as implied in verses 2 and 3, when
David's sin of numbering the people was followed by
divine judgement and sorrow unto repentance. Doubt-
less the Syriac inscription was built on the similarity
of the language of the opening verse of the psalm with
that of 2 Sam. 24. 17 (and 1 Chron. 21. 14 ff.): ‘Lo,
I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these
sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray
thee, be against me, and against my father's house.’ All
96 PSALMS OF HUMILIATION
four psalms speak of adversity in greater or less degree.
It matters not what the individual occasions of writing ;
it seems evident from the At-tashheth title that these
psalms were used as Prayers of Humiliation.
PSALM 56.
A Psalm of David: Michtam: when the Philistines took
him in Gath.
1. Be merciful unto me, 0 God; for man would swallow
me up:
2. All the day long he fighting oppresseth me. a Or, They that lie in wait
They a Mine enemies would swallow me up all the day long: for me
For they be many that fight proudly against me.
3. What time I am afraid,
I will put my trust in thee.
4. In God I will praise his word:
In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;
What can flesh do unto me?
5. All the day long they wrest my words:
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
6. They gather themselves together, they hide them-
selves,
They mark my steps,
7 b Even as they have waited for my soul. b Or, Inasmuch as
c Shall they escape by iniquity? c Or, They think to escape
8. In anger cast down the peoples, 0 God.
Thou tellest my wanderings:
Put thou my tears into thy bottle;
Are they not in thy d book? d Or, record
9. Then shall mine enemies turn back in the day that
I call:
10. This I know, e that God is for me.
In God will I praise his word:
PSALMS OF HUMILIATION 97
In the LORD will I praise his word.
11. In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid;
What can man do unto me ?
12. Thy vows are upon me, 0 God:
I will render thank offerings unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death:
Hast thou not delivered my feet from falling?
That I may walk before God
In the light of a the living. a Or, life
For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth l.
PSALM 57.
A Psalm of David: Michtam: when he fled from Saul,
in the cave.
1. Be merciful unto me, 0 God, be merciful unto me;
For my soul taketh refuge in thee:
Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I take refuge,
Until these b calamities be overpast. b Or, wickednesses
2. I will cry unto God Most High;
Unto God that performeth all things for me.
3. He shall send from heaven, and save me,
When he that would swallow me up reproacheth; [Selah
God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
4 My soul is among lions;
c I lie among them that are set on fire, c Or, I must lie
Even the sons of 'men, whose teeth are spears and
arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.
5. Be thou exalted, 0 God, above the heavens ;
1 Or rather, Al-tashheth, ‘Destroy not,’ an appeal or prayer
for deliverance from danger and adversity (Exod. 32. 11—14;
Deut. 9. 26).
98 PSALMS OF HUMILIATION
Let thy glory be above all the earth.
They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down:
They have digged a pit before me;
They are fallen into the midst thereof themselves.
7. My heart is fixed, 0 God, my heart is fixed: [Selah
I will sing, yea, I will sing praises.
8. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp:
a I myself will awake right early.
9. I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the
peoples:
10. I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
For thy mercy is great unto the heavens,
11. And thy truth unto the skies.
Be thou exalted, 0 God, above the heavens;
12. Let thy glory be above all the earth.
For the Chief Musician ; set to A1-tashheth
PSALM 58.
A Psalm of David: Michtam.
1. b Do ye indeed c in silence speak righteousness? b Or, Is the righteousness ye
Do ye d judge uprightly, 0 ye sons of men? should speak dumb?
2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; c Or, as otherwise read, O
Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. he gods; or, O ye mighty ones
3. The wicked are estranged from the womb: d Or, judge uprigthly the sons of men
They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:
They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
1 Or rather, Al-tashheth, ‘Destroy not,’ an appeal or prayer
for deliverance from danger and adversity (Exod. 32. 11-14;
Deut. 9. 26).
PSALMS OF HUMILIATION 99
5. Which hearkeneth not to the voice of a charmers, a Or, enchanters
Charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, 0 God, in their mouth:
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, 0
LORD.
7. Let them melt away as water that runneth apace:
When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though
they were cut off.
8. Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth
away:
Like the untimely birth of a woman, b that hath not b Or, like them that have not
seen the sun. seen the sun
9. Before your pots can feel the thorns,
c He shall take them away with a whirlwind, the c Or, Even as raw flesh,
green and the burning alike. so shall fury sweep them away
10. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the ven-
geance:
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11. So that men shall say, Verily there is d a reward for d Heb. fruit
the righteous:
Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth1.
PSALM 74.
Maschil of Asaph.
1. 0 God, why bast thou cast us off for ever?
Why cloth thine anger smoke against the sheep of
thy pasture?
2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast pur-
chased of old,
1 Or rather, Al-tashheth, ‘Destroy not,’ an appeal or prayer
for deliverance from danger and adversity (Exod. 32. 11-14;
Deut. 9. 26).
100 PSALMS OF HUMILIATION
Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine
inheritance;
And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins,
a All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanc- a Or, The enemy hath
tuary. wrought all evil
4. Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine
ssembly;
5. They have set up their ensigns for signs.
They b seemed as men that lifted up b Or, made themselves known
Axes upon a thicket of trees.
6. And now all the carved work thereof together
They break down with hatchet and hammers.
7. They have set thy sanctuary on fire;
They have profaned the dwelling place of thy name
even to the ground.
8. They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them
altogether:
They have burned up all the c synagogues of God in c Or, places of assembly
the land.
9. We see not our signs:
There is no more any prophet;
10. Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
How long, 0 God, shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11. Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right
hand?
Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.
12. Yet God is my King of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13. Thou didst d divide the sea by thy strength:
Thou brakest the heads of the e dragons in the waters.
PSALMS OF HUMILIATION 101
14. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,
Thou gayest him to be meat to the people inhabiting
the wilderness.
15. Thou didst cleave fountain and flood:
Thou driedst up a mighty rivers. a Or, ever-flowing.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine:
Thou hast prepared the b light and the sun. b Heb. luminary
luminary.
17. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth :
Thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy c hath reproached, c Or, hath reproached the Lord
0 LORD,
And that a foolish people have blasphemed thy
name.
19. 0 deliver not d the soul of thy turtledove unto the d Or, tiny turtledove unto
wild beast: the greedy multitude
Forget not the e life of thy poor for ever. e Or multitude
20. Have respect unto the covenant:
For the dark places of the f earth are full of the Or, laud
habitations of violence.
21. 0 let not the oppressed return ashamed :
Let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, 0 God, plead thine own cause :
Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee
all the day.
23. Forget not the voice of thine adversaries:
The tumult of those that rise up against thee g as- g Or, which ascendeth
cendeth continually.
For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth1.
But why ‘Destroy not’? Surely there could be no
1 Or rather, Al-tashheth, ‘Destroy not,’ an appeal or prayer
for deliverance from danger and adversity (Exod. 32. 11—14;
Deut. 9. 26).
102 PSALMS OF HUMILIATION
prayer more becoming a people whose God was Jehovah,
in days of judgement and tribulation. They had been
taught that they were the heritage of the Lord, who
would nevertheless chastise them for iniquity and trans-
gression. In days of visitation, therefore, how could
they help invoking the Divine mercy, in some such
words as Al-tashheth—‘Destroy not!’? In the early days
of the nation, when Aaron made a golden calf and the
people worshipped it, was not Jehovah's anger turned
away by the prayer of Moses? And had not that all-
prevailing prayer come down in the words of the great
lawgiver himself: ‘O Lord God, DESTROY NOT (Al-
tashheth) thy people and thine inheritance,’ &c.? How
could such a petition, as a consequence of which ‘the
Lord repented him of the evil which he thought to do
unto his people,’ pass out of mind1?
Again, could Israel forget the days of David, when
pestilence raged over the land, and swept away seventy
thousand? The king confessed his sin in numbering the
people, and besought Jehovah to stay the hand of
judgement. Do we not read that then, `when the angel
stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel
that destroyed the people, It is enough ; now stay
thine hand'? As the verbal forms here are from the
same root, thawA, it would appear that the prayer of
David was like unto that of Moses before him. And
the result was the same in each case: ‘Jehovah
repented him of the evil’ (Deut. 9. 26; 2 Sam. 24. 16).
Neither could Israel forget the great promise by Moses
‘When thou art in tribulation . . . thou shalt return
to the Lord thy God . . . he will not fail thee, NEITHER
1 Exod. 32. 11-14; Deut. 9. 26.
PSALMS OF HUMILIATION 103
DESTROY THEE, nor forget the covenant,' &c. (Deut. 4.
30, 31).
In the psalms classed Al-tashheth, a nation, and not
an individual, implores Divine clemency. The hand
of judgement is again upon Israel, and the God who
has often delivered is approached with prayers of ‘Be
merciful’ (Pss. 56. 1, 57. 1), ‘deliver from enemies’ (Ps.
59. 1), ` remember thy congregation which thou hast pur-
chased of old' (Ps. 74. 2). Jehovah is asked to ' have
respect unto the covenant '—the covenant which, in an
earlier time, He said HE WGTJLD NOT FORGET (PS. 74.
20; Deut. 4. 31). In other words, the note of prayer
was, ‘DESTROY NOT thine inheritance, 0 Lord!’1.
The judgements of God and the warnings of the
prophets sometimes brought Israel face to face with
destruction. In a memorable passage, Jeremiah wrote:
‘Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel
stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this
people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go
forth . . . For who shall have pity upon thee, 0 Jerusa-
lem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall turn
aside to ask of thy welfare? Thou hast rejected me
saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: therefore have
1 We have passed by the general explanation of Al-tashheth
as ‘possibly the title of a vintage song,’ to which the psalms
were set! The reason given for this suggestion is that, in sub-
stance, the words appear in Isa. 65. 8. It is not, however, by
any means clear that a song is there quoted ; and nothing can
be adduced to show that the psalms of sadness and sorrow
classed as Al-tashheth were sung to melodies of such a type as
is assumed by the explanation referred to. The incidents in
the life of Moses and David give an explanation of the title
which cannot but be regarded as appropriate, and moreover
seems to be adequate on distinctly religious grounds.
104 PSALMS OF HUMILIATION
I stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed
thee; I am weary with repenting’ (Jer. 15. I, 5, 6).
In presence of such denunciations, in times when
sorrow and suffering for sin came upon the people, how
should the Chief Musician class the psalms in which
Israel mourned their calamities and prayed for the
turning away of judgement? There was, indeed, no
Moses or Samuel to ‘stand before Jehovah’; but the
God of the fathers was Israel's Lord, and to Him they
presented their At-tashheth (‘Destroy not!’) prayers in
the words of men who had found favour with Jehovah.
The common desire was expressed in the prevailing plea
of Moses—‘Destroy not!’ The words of the petitions
were taken from the psalms of David, the sweet
psalmist of Israel, and the writings of Asaph, the leader
of Temple song.
CHAPTER XVI
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
ALAMOTH—SHEMINITH—JEDUTHUN
THERE can be no doubt that there were male and
female choirs, in a distinctive sense, in the Temple
service. The provisions in the time of Solomon find
their counterpart in those that were made after the
return from Babylon. Apart altogether from such
arrangements as resulted from the division of the
Levites into orders, some of them for leading the
praise of the people; and apart also from the dis-
tinction between instrumental music and ordinary
singing, there were choirs that were specifically female
as well as such as were properly called male. The
psalm titles refer to these, as well as witness to the
place occupied by stringed instruments in divine
worship.
THE FEMALE CHOIR : ALAMOTH (PSALM 45).
It would appear that Miriam and Deborah had their
successors in many generations. In Ps. 68—a psalm
recalling the jubilations of the people in years of God's
mighty working for Israel—there is clear recognition of
the way in which each sex had its proper part:
They have seen thy goings, 0 God,
Even the goings of my God, my King, into the sanc-
tuary.
The singers went before, the minstrels followed
after,
In the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels.
(Ps. 68. 24, 251; and cp. Ps. 148. 12.)
1 Singers lead the procession, after them players upon lyres
106 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
The Chronicler's account of Solomon's Temple and
its services gives a prominent place to song and music
--2 Chron. 5. I2, 13 ; 20. 28 ; 29. 25, 26 ; 35. 15.
Coming to the ‘Return,’ it will be noted that Ezra
mentions two hundred singing men and singing women
among those who came back to Jerusalem; and we know
no reason why the statement should not be received in
its unvarnished simplicity (Ezra 2. 65). In social life
the voices of women were heard as well as those of men,
in times of joy no less than in times of sorrow (2 Sam.
19. 35 ; 2 Chron. 35. 25). They were also heard in
the Temple service, if the mark, ‘To the Chief Musician
—Maidens,’ conveys any meaning as following Ps. 45.
Can there be any question as to the propriety of this
selection for female voices ?
PSALM 45.
A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of loves.
1. My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter:
a I speak the things which I have made touching the a Or I speak; my work is
king: for a king
2. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Thou art fairer than the children of men;
Grace is poured b into thy lips: b Or, upon
Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
3. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, 0 mighty one,
Thy glory and thy majesty.
4. And in thy majesty ride on prosperously,
c Because of truth and meekness and righteousness: c Or, In behalf of
and harps, and on both sides maidens with timbrels—a retro-
spective allusion to the song by the Sea, which Miriam and the
women of Israel sang to the accompaniment of timbrels.
Delitzsch, Commentary on the Psalms (vol. ii. p. 304).
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 107
And a thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. a Or, let thy right hand teach
5. Thine arrows are sharp;
The peoples fall under thee;
They are in the heart of the king's enemies.
6. Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever: b Or, Thy throne is the throne
A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom. of God &c.
7. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wicked-
ness:
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee
With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
8. All thy garments smell o/ myrrh, and aloes, and
cassia;
Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made
thee glad.
9. Kings' daughters are among thy honourable women:
At thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of
Ophir.
10. Hearken, 0 daughter, and consider, and incline thine
ear;
Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
11. So shall the king desire thy beauty;
For he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
12. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift;
Even the rich among the people shall intreat thy
favour.
13. The king's daughter c within the palace is all c Or, in the inner part of the
glorious: palace
Her clothing is inwrought with gold.
14 She shall be led unto the king d in broidered work: d Or, upon
The virgins her companions that follow her
Shall be brought unto thee.
15. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led:
They shall enter into the king's palace.
108 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
16. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,
Whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth.
17. I will make thy name to be remembered in all genera-
tions:
Therefore shall the peoples give thee thanks for ever
and ever.
For the Chief Musician; a Psalm of the sons of Korah;
set to Alamoth1.
‘A song of loves’—a nuptial ode—every line of this
psalm is characterized by delicacy and grace. The
special justification of the title is found in verses 9 to
15; but from first to last the psalm is out of the ques-
tion for male voices. The words are largely about
females, and by females they could well be sung--
moreover, be sung best. The women's choir in the
Temple precincts would appear to have been the special
charge of skilled leaders, whose names have come down
to us in i Chron. 15. 20. Those placed over the damsels
(Alamoth) had psalteries, as distinguished from those
over the Sheminith choir (of which presently), who had
harps. The word Alamoth is simple and common-
place; and, seeing that its plain meaning makes good
sense, we should not be justified in looking afield for
a technical signification 2.
ALAMOTH.
GESENZUIUS: ‘al-Alamoth: to (the voice of) young women,
either literally or of soprano or falsetto of boys (Heb. Lex.
s.v., Oxford edition).
1 Or rather, on or relating to Alamoth, 'Maidens ' (as a choir).
2 That lfa (‘al) should precede Alamoth presents no difficulty.
In each and every case in the psalm titles, this particle may be
rendered ‘on’ or ‘relating to’—sometimes as to a season, at
other times as to a subject, and at other times as to a choir. See
note on p. 36.
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 109
DELITZSCH: We approve of Perret-Gentil's chant avec voix
de femmes, and still more of Armand de Mestral's en soprano
(Commentary, vol. ii. p. 109).
KIRKPATRICK : The term appears to mean in the manner of
maidens, or, for maidens' voices : soprano (Psalms: Cambridge
Bible, p. xxv).
FURST: A musical choir, dwelling perhaps in tm,l,.fa, over whom
was placed a Hace.nam; (director) (Heb. Lex. s.v., Davidson's edition).
WELLHAUSEN: With Elamite instruments (Polychrome Bible:
Psalms, p. 46).
A failure to see the relation of the musical line to
its proper psalm sufficiently explains the confusion
that has prevailed regarding the use of tOmlAfE (Alamoth).
Finding no echo or response in Ps. 46, expositors felt
driven to seek a definition along abstract lines. Being
thrown off the scent by the misplacement of which we
have spoken so frequently, they have given ample rein
to the faculty of conjecture, with confusing results.
Among other suggestions advanced is one that would
bring the Muth-labben psalm (9 in ordinary editions)
into association with this, because of manuscript varia-
tions consequent upon the nature and intention of
the line being unrecognized by copyists. Still others
have argued for Ps. 49 being of the same class because
of the concluding words of its predecessor (‘al-muth =
‘unto death) having been pointed in different ways
by the Massoretes, so as to yield divergent significa-
tions. The unfortunate misplacement of the musical
line throughout the Psalter is answerable for these
and other adventurous speculations.
A minute examination of all the titles makes it
evident that Ps. 45 is the only one that can properly
bear the Alamoth mark. If, at length, we are satisfied
that the musical titles bear some relation to the sub-
110 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
stance of the psalms to which they are affixed, then
by reading with care the two just specified, we shall
speedily arrive at a definite conclusion, denying them
a suitableness for the Female Choir. Further, when
Dr. Paul Haupt (in the Polychrome Bible; Psalms)
makes Ps. 48 to end with lost words, thus, ‘He will
guide [ ]’ in order to place over Ps. 49 the notice,
‘With Elamite instruments,’ he robs one psalm and
does not enrich its successor. As, moreover, the
musical titles, without a single exception, are intro-
duced by the formula Hcnml, we are assuredly not jus-
tified in assuming the propriety of a reverse order of
words, as Dr. Haupt has done, by treating as a title
the phrase tUm-lfa at the end of Ps. 48.
THE MALE CHOIR: SHEMINITH (PSALMS 5, 11).
Next comes the Male Choir, designated by a word
which undoubtedly gives difficulty. As to tyniymiw;ha,
taken simply, it means ‘the eighth.’ If we had only
the occurrences in the psalm titles, we might feel com-
pelled to adopt the explanation, ‘the octave, or the
bass part in singing,’ although there seems to be no
adequate grounds on which to conclude that music in
the Israelitish sense knew anything of the standard
implied. It is impossible, however, to ignore the occur-
rence of the word in i Chron. 15. 21, where it is used
in contradistinction to the word tOmlAfE (Maidens). Two
facts are there brought before us : (i) certain skilled
men were appointed ‘with psalteries, over maidens’;
and (2) certain other skilled men were appointed ‘with
harps, over the Sheminith.’ If the maidens are spoken
of in one clause, should we not expect the males to be
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 111
specified per contra? Whatever ‘the eighth’ may
mean, it would seem to describe the Male Choir.
Sheminith may point in one of several directions. A
time might be intended; but the passage in I Chron. 15
is against that. A dace might be intended; but here
again the way is barred. A class seems the inevitable
intention; and such a signification is agreeable to the
psalm titles as well as to the decisive passage in I Chron.
15. In Ps. 68. 25 (26), we have the MyriwA, male singers,
and the tOmlAfE, maidens; here in I Chron. 15, we seem to
have the same classes again, with the masculine char-
acter presented under another aspect. With fanciful
explanations, Talmudical writers have found in ‘the
eighth’ a reference to the rite of circumcision 1. The
circumcised are, of course, the males ; and in i Chron.
15. 21, it is affirmed that they are ‘to lead,’ to have
pre-eminence, which is precisely what we should sup-
pose in view of the peculiar privileges of the males in
The word was obviously a puzzle to the early trans-
lators. In the Psalms, the Septuagint renders it liter-
ally, ‘the eighth’; in 1 Chron. 15, it does less—both
Alamoth and Sheminith are transferred thus: a]laimw<q
and a]maseni<q. Some have interpreted Sheminith as
meaning an instrument of eight strings; others as
meaning ‘on the octave,’ or to be sung by the bass
voice. Regarding these explanations, it is sufficient
to say that they are mere guesses; we never meet
with such an instrument anywhere else, and we have
no information whatever as to such a musical standard
as is implied in ‘the octave2.’
1 Jewish Encyclopaedia, art. Circumcision.
2 Sir John Stainer, it may be remarked, writes on this
112 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
Both the contrast suggested by the passage under
notice (1 Chron. 15. 20, 21), and similar statements
elsewhere (2 Chron. 35. 25; Ezra 2. 65; Neh. 7. 67),
support our view that, whatever Sheminith may specify
in its quality of eighth, it stands for Male Choir in its
practical intention. If the circumcision, or consecra-
tion mark is alluded to, then we have an admirable
counterpart of Alamoth, the two words being singu-
larly free from naturalism. In that case, moreover,
the choir would be confined to descendants of Abraham
in the line of Isaac their eligibility being also based
on an act of piety of supreme importance in
Possibly, however, the Male Choir may have been
described as Sheminith on other grounds. We re-
member that some of the most solemn seasons of wor-
ship in
Num. 29. 35; Neh. 8. 18). The ‘solemn assembly’
nosy of the Feast of Tabernacles may have been
typical, and thus have given name and character to
a particular choir. In that case, the eighth would
imply association with special solemnities 2. Certain
point: ‘Although it is true that the octave is not only
one of the best known intervals in music, as being the dis-
tance between the singing pitch of men and women, but also
the most important naturally, being produced by the simplest
ratio of vibrations I : 2 ; yet the name octave could only be
given to it by those who possessed a scale in which eight steps
led from a note to its octave. Such a sound-ladder is of com-
paratively modern origin' (‘Music of the Bible,’ in The Bible
Educator, vol. i. p. 298).
1 Thus the children of Ishmael, or the Edomites, and others
who, though circumcised, submitted to the ordinance on any
other than the eighth day, were excluded.
2 How this comes about, seeing that the word is feminine,
is no less a difficulty with us than with expositors who have
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 113
it is that the Sheminith psalms have features agree-
able to this view.
PSALM 5.
A Psalm of David.
1. Give ear to my words, 0 LORD,
Consider my meditation.
2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my
God:
For unto thee do I pray.
3. 0 LORD, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice;
In the morning will I order my prayer unto thee,
and will keep watch.
4. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wicked-
ness:
a Evil shall not sojourn with thee. a Or, The evil man
5. b The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight: b Or, Fools
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
6. Thou shalt destroy them that speak lies :
The LORD abhorreth the bloodthirsty and deceitful
man.
7. But as for me, in the multitude of thy lovingkindness
will I come into thy house :
In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
8. Lead me, 0 LORD, in thy righteousness because of
c mine enemies; c Or, them that lie in wait for me
Make thy way plain before my face.
explained it as an eight-stringed harp or lyre, in each case
relating it to substantives that are of the masculine gender
The word to be understood seems for the present to elude
capture. Sheminith cannot represent a musical instrument, for
in I Chron. 15. 21 we read that harps were put over it—which is
comprehensible if a choir is in. question.
114 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
9. For there is no a faithfulness in their mouth; a Or, steadfastness
Their inward part is b very wickedness b Or, a yawning gulf
Their throat is an open sepulchre;
10. They c flatter with their tongue. c Heb. make smooth their tongue
Hold them guilty, 0 God;
Let them fall d by their own counsels: d Or, from their counsels
Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgres-
sions;
For they have rebelled against thee.
11. e But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice, e Or, So shall all those...
Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest rejoice, they shall ever
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. shout...and thou shalt
12. For thou wilt bless the righteous; defend them: they also...
0 LORD, thou wilt compass him with favour as with shall be joyful in thee
a shield.
For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments,
set to f the Sheminith1. f Or, the eighth
PSALM II.
A Psalm of David.
1. In the LORD put I my trust:
How say ye to my soul,
2. Flee g as a bird to your mountain? g Or, ye birds
For, lo, the wicked bend the bow,
They make ready their arrow upon the string,
That they may shoot in darkness at the upright in
heart.
3. h If the foundations be destroyed, h Or, For the foundations
are destroyed; what hath
the righteous wrought?
1 Or rather, on stringed instruments, relating to the She-
minith, or Male Choir
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 115
4. The LORD is in his holy temple,
The LORD, his throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
5. The LORD trieth the righteous :
But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul
hateth.
6. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares;
Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the
portion of their cup.
7. For the LORD is righteous; he loveth a righteous- a Or, righteous deeds.
b The upright shall behold his face. b Or, His countenance doth
For the Chief Musician; set to c the Sheminith1. behold the upright
c Or, the eighth
These psalms for the Male Choir, though not so dis-
tinctive as that assigned to ‘Maidens,’ bear the re-
quisite marks of judicious selection on the part of the
precentor. Points of gender are not to be pressed as
features ; the Male Choir represented all Israel, and
the common note is that of worship in the immediate
presence of Jehovah. The Temple is mentioned in
both psalms. The words ‘In thy fear will I worship
toward thy holy temple’ (Ps. 5. 7) forcibly remind
one of I Kings 8. 30, 33, 38 (also 2 Chron. 6. 29). More-
over, the former psalm seems to be for morning prayer
(verse 3), the latter for evening worship (verse 2).
Whatever our difficulties may be in understanding
the word Sheminith, there can be little doubt of the
actual application of the term. The passage in i Chron.
15 seems to decide that matter. The extent to which
lexicographers and expositors have speculated on the
term is shown by the following excerpts:
1 Or rather, relating to the Sheminith, or Male Choir.
116 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
SHEMINITH.
GESENIUS: The eighth, the octave, a technical musical
term of which the significance is doubtful; opposed to ‘al
Alamoth, which is equally obscure (Heb. Lex. s. v., Robinson's
edition). The Oxford edition has not yet reached this word.
Buhl's German edition (1899): Perhaps a deeper octave.
DELITZSCH: The bass. . . the lower octave (Commentary on
the Psalms, vol. i. p. 168).
FURST: The eighth ; the eighth division (Heb. Lex., s.v.).
KIRKPATRICK: Probably denotes that the setting was to be
an octave lower, or on the lower octave—tenor or bass (The
Psalms: Cambridge Bible, p. xxv).
WELLHAUSEN: Probably the number of the mode or key
is here indicated (Polychrome Bible : Psalms, p. 165).
From the above it will be seen that we set aside no
consensus of opinion. The obvious meaning of Ala-
moth, when connected with Ps. 45, as in this edition,
shows the way out of a difficulty which expositors have
long laboured to surmount. The occurrence of She-
minith, in obvious contradistinction to Alamoth, leaves
nothing to be desired excepting an explanation of ‘the
eighth.’ Possibly one or other of the various abstract
terms for Praise, Thanksgiving, or Service may have
imposed a feminine name upon the choir.
PRAISE AND CONFESSION CHOIR: JEDUTHUN
(PSALMS 38, 61, 76).
There seems to have been a third choir, especially
designed for thanksgiving and praising God—the choir
of Jeduthun. In 1 Chron. 15. 16–22 we read that David
requested the Levites to appoint choirs and orchestras,
with the result that duties were imposed upon Asaph,
Heman and Ethan. In further arrangements, for
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 117
leading purposes, certain men were given psalteries (for
the Maidens' Choir) and others harps (for the Male
Choir). When next these musical organizers are met
with, Ethan is named Jeduthun (16. 41); and a little
later we read of them in another light—as musical
households or guilds, to ‘prophesy with harps, with
psalteries, and with cymbals’ (25. I).
We have already met with David making it the chief
work of Asaph and his brethren to give thanks unto the
Lord (16. 7). Now we read that they prophesied
‘according to the order of the king’ (25. 2, 6. See also
Ezra 3. 10). All the choirs were for the service of God;
but of Jeduthun's it is specifically recorded that it was
to prophesy ‘IN GIVING THANKS AND PRAISING THE
LORD’ (25. 3). Others, of course, would do the same;
but, none the less, this appears to have been the part of
Jeduthun's choir along lines of its own; and, if we would
know why this name of the former Ethan persisted in
Temple history, it may be found in the duty of the choir,
for NUtUdy; (Jeduthun) and tOdOh (hodoth) ‘give thanks’;
both come from hdAyA (yadah) to give thanks, confess,
praise. And the Jeduthun psalms are in this note:
PSALM 38.
A Psalm of David, a to bring to remembrance. a or, to make memorial
1. 0 LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath:
Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2. For thine arrows b stick fast in me, b Heb. lighted on me.
And thy hand b presseth me sore.
3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine
indignation;
Neither is there any c health in my bones because of c Or, rest
my sin.
118 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
4. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head:
As an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5. My wounds stink and are corrupt,
Because of my foolishness.
6. I am a pained and bowed down greatly; a Heb. bent
I go mourning all the day long.
7. For my loins are filled with burning;
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8. I am faint and sore bruised:
I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my
heart.
9. LORD, all my desire is before thee;
And my groaning is not hid from thee.
10. My heart throbbeth, my strength faileth me:
As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone frorn me.
11. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my
plague;
And my kinsmen stand afar off.
12. They also that seek after my life lay snares for me;
And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things,
13. And imagine deceits all the day long.
But I, as a deaf man, hear not;
14. And I am as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
Yea, I am as a man that heareth not,
15 And in whose mouth are no b reproofs. b Or, arguments
For in thee, 0 LORD, do I hope:
Thou wilt answer, 0 LORD My God.
16. For I said, Lest they rejoice over me:
When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves
against me.
17. For I am ready to halt,
And my sorrow is continually before me.
18. For I will declare mine iniquity;
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 119
I will be sorry for my sin.
19. But mine enemies are lively, and are strong:
And they that hate me a wrongfully are multiplied, a Heb. falsely
20. They also that render evil for good
Are adversaries unto me, because I follow the thing
that is good.
21. Forsake me not, 0 LORD:
O my God, be not far from me.
22. Make haste to help me,
O Lord my salvation.
For the Chief Musician, for Jeduthun 1.
This is emphatically a psalm of confession (3-8, 18).
The Lord is the psalmist's hope and desire (9, 15, 21,
22). The heading, ‘to bring to remembrance,’ may
mean more than at first appears. It is a personal heart-
searching; it is also an appeal to Jehovah. The word
thus rendered (ryKiz;hal;) represents an act of worship; in
1 Chron. 16. 4 we read that certain Levites appointed
by David were to ‘celebrate [same word] and to thank
and praise Jehovah.’ In such an act as this, man recalls
his sin and weakness, and takes hold of God's holiness
and power.
PSALM 61.
A Psalm of David.
1. Hear my cry, 0 God;
Attend unto my prayer.
2. From the end of the earth will I call unto thee,
when my heart b is overwhelmed: b Or, fainteth
Lead me to c the rock that is higher than I. c Or, a rock that is too high for me
1 The lamed (l) of possession comes before the name.
Jeduthun is presumably the master of the choir. In the other
psalms of this class the usual preposition, lfa relating to, is
employed.
120 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
3. For thou hast been a refuge for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
4. I will dwell in thy a tabernacle for ever: a Heb. tent
I will take refuge in the covert of thy wings. [Selah
5. For thou, 0 God, hast heard my vows:
Thou hast b given me the heritage of those that fear b Or, given an heritage unto those
thy name.
6. Thou wilt prolong the king's life:
His years shall be as many generations
7. He shall abide before God for ever:
0 prepare lovingkindness and truth, that they may
preserve him.
8. So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever,
That I may daily perform my vows.
For the Chief Musician; after the manner of Jeduthun1.
PSALM 76.
A Psalm of Asaph, a Song.
1. In Judah is God known:
His name is great in Israel.
2. In Salem also is his c tabernacle, c Or, couvert
And his d dwelling place in Zion. d Or, lair
3. There he brake the e arrows of the bow; e Or, fiery shafts, Or, lightnings
The shield, and the sword, and the battle. [Selah
4. Glorious art thou and excellent, f from the :mountains f Or, more than
of prey.
5. The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their
sleep;
And none of the men of might have found their hands.
6. At thy rebuke, 0 God of Jacob,
Both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
1 Or rather, relating to Jeduthun (as a choir),
PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS 121
7. Thou, even thou, art to be feared:
And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art
angry?
8. Thou didst cause sentence to be heard from heaven ;
The earth feared, and was still,
9. When God arose to judgement,
To save all the meek of the earth. [Selah
10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee :
The residue of wrath shalt thou a gird upon thee.
11. Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God:
Let all that be round about him bring presents unto
him that ought to be feared.
12. He shall cut off the spirit of princes :
He is terrible to the kings of the earth.
For the Chief Musician ; after the manner of Jeduthun 1.
There are common elements in these psalms; in the
former, note ‘Thou hast heard my vows’ (5), and ‘That
I may daily perform my vows’ (8). In the latter, note
‘Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God: Let all that be
round about him bring presents unto him that ought
to be feared’ (II). Confession of sin; reparation for
wrong; with a firm reliance upon God: these are har-
monious notes. See how praise comes in (61. 8; 76. 1-4).
In an earlier chapter 2 we called attention to the con-
fused condition of the title material over Psalm 88 in
ordinary editions, that psalm being apparently set forth
as by the sons of Korah as well as by Heman the Ezra-
hite. A like confusion. has been detected by some in
connexion with the Jeduthun psalms; in consequence
of which such expositors have readily assumed that
1 Or rather, relating to Jeduthun (as a choir).
2 Seep. 13.
122 PSALMS FOR SPECIAL CHOIRS
literary consistency was an unknown sense among
Hebrew writers and editors. The criticism has been
stated briefly as follows: ‘Two of the Jeduthun psalms
are also ascribed to David, and the third to Asaph.’
Those who have followed the contention of these pages,
will be prepared to allow that the confusion cannot
be placed to the account of the psalm writers or of the
Chief Musician. Once more we see reason to deplore
the misplacement whereby the subscript and super-
script lines were so combined as to rob each of its distinc-
tive purpose, and effectually to cover from view every
sign of the earliest classification and appropriation of
certain psalms for special occasions in the Temple
worship.
CHAPTER XVII
OTHER MUSICAL TITLES
NEHILOTH (PSALM 4).
SETTING Out with an impression that the psalm titles
must in a large degree relate to musical terms, expositors
have followed one another in explaining tOlyHin; as
meaning ‘flutes.’ Although on the face of it the word
suggests ‘inheritance,’ and although the Septuagint and
other early Greek versions point indubitably in that
direction, the word has been associated with llaHA (halal)
‘to perforate,’ hence flutes or pipes, and has been
explained as a virtual synonym of lyliHA (halil). By way
of justification, the fact is emphasized that flutes or
reeds were in use in the Temple service; and Isa. 30. 29,
1 Sam. 10. 5, and 1 Kings 1. 40, have been quoted
in proof. In all these cases, however, we meet with
lyliHA; and there is nothing to prove that the title
Nehiloth is in any way related to that word, or to any
other having the meaning of ‘flute.’
If not the name of a musical instrument, may not
Neliloth mean a tune or melody? So far, we have found
no instance of a tune or melody, or a catchword, or some
popular song, being essential to a rational view of the
psalm titles; and there is no obvious reason why we
should assume such in this case. But we have consis-
tently compared the titles with the preceding, as
distinguished from the succeeding, psalms; and that has
made all the difference in affording clues as to the
meaning of the musical lines. Let us note, then, the
124 OTHER MUSICAL TITLES
renderings of Nehiloth in the early versions: Septuagint,
‘Her that inherits’; Aquila, ‘Divisions of inheritance’;
Symmachus, ‘Allotments.’ The Old Latin and Vul-
gate versions are similar.
Our first inference from these renderings is, that in
early times, before the Sopherim and Massoretes did
their work on the Hebrew text, the title word was
composed of four consonants, namely tlHn. These
were understood to stand for a word which was after-
wards written full with points, as follows: tOlHAn; (n’haloth)
‘inheritances.’ Hence the renderings in the early ver-
sions, as just quoted. Jewish tradition, however, in
succeeding centuries, conceived the idea of a musical
instrument being implied, and the word was accordingly
pointed by the Massoretes in a way which made it possi-
ble, as already shown, to collate it with another word
meaning ‘flute.’ We are under no obligation to follow
a reading having such an origin—a reading which only
gives us a puzzle of a word after all. The old versions
indicate a better way, and suggest that, at periodical
or stated times in public worship, the Daughter of Zion
praised God in a definite manner for the inheritance
which He had caused them to possess—in fact, for the
inheritances of the tribes as a whole (Num. 26. 53–56;
33. 54; 36. 2; Joshua 11. 23; 14. 1, 2).
The significance of the holding of the land bye the
tribes is stated in forcible terms by Keil :
‘The way and manner in which Israel received the
land of Canaan in possession, corresponds to its calling
to be God's people. Though Israel had become
master of the land by force of arms, it was not their
own might, but the arm of the Lord which had wonder-
fully helped them and smitten the Canaanites, to
OTHER MUSICAL TITLES 125
fulfil the promise given to the fathers—Jehovah's
hand, which had extirpated the Canaanites and
planted Israel (Ps. 44. 3 f.). To this corresponded the
division of the land by lot to the tribes of Israel, and
the right of property attached to possession . . . The
land was and remained the property of Jehovah,
the Covenant God, in which the Israelites dwelt with
Him as strangers and sojourners (Lev. 25. 23), lived
on the produce of its soil, and enjoyed its products
and fruits1.'
In these circumstances, it was quite to be expected
that Israel would, on fitting occasions, avouch itself the
people of God in some such terms as these
PSALM 4.
A Psalm of David.
1. Answer me when I call, 0 God of my righteousness;
Thou hast set me at large when I was in distress:
a Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. a Or be gracious unto me
2. 0 ye sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned
into dishonour?
How long will ye love vanity, and seek after false-
hood? [Selah
3. But know that the LORD hath set apart b him that is b Or one that he favoureth
godly for himself:
The LORD will hear when I call unto him.
4. c Stand in awe, and sin not: c Or, Be ye angry
Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and
be still. [Selah
5. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the LORD.
6. Many there be that say, Who will shew us any good?
1 Biblical Archaeology, vol. ii. p. 304.
126 OTHER MUSICAL TITLES
LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon
us.
7. Thou hast put gladness in my heart,
More than they have when their corn and their wine
are increased.
8. In peace will I both lay me down and sleep:
For thou, LORD, a alone makest me dwell in safety.
For the Chief Musician; with the b Nehiloth 1.
Whether this psalm was sung frequently or not, we
do not know. It was, anyway, a timely reminder of
some of the deeper truths involved in Jehovah's solici-
tude for His people. That Israel was Jehovah's portion
was by no means new teaching; the tribes had been
trained to live in the consciousness of that great convic-
tion. What possession could be compared with the
condition of mind expressed by the heart-gladness
induced by the smile of Jehovah (6, 7) ? The joys of
harvest were not to be mentioned in comparison.
With these conceptions and assurances the soul may
rest in perfect peace.
From first to last the psalm is a suitable commemo-
ration of Israel's perpetual obligation to God for the
1 Or rather, For the Nehiloth (for N’haloth), Inheritances (as
a commemoration). Again the particle lfa makes way for
lx,, which is quite suitable for the sense given, but would not
so well apply to a musical instrument. As a fact, in the two
cases in which with is understood before the word lyliHA (flute
or pipe), in 1 Kings I. 40 and Isa. 30. 29, the particle used is B;,
which we shall presently show is employed in most of the cases
in which a musical instrument is beyond question spoken of in
the psalm titles. Thence we infer that, if in this case a musical
instrument were intended, we should have had the preposi-
tion B;.
OTHER MUSICAL TITLES 127
inheritance into which the tribes had come. And its
concluding verse, ‘I will lay me down in peace,’ would
suggest that it was sung every night 1.
NEGIN0TH (PSALMS 3, 5, 53, 54, 6o, 66, 75).
The word Neginoth is the one undoubted reference
to musical instruments in the psalm titles. It occurs
seven times: Pss. 3, 5, 53, 54, 6o 66, and 75 (also in
Hab. 3. 19). In every case the Chief Musician note
precedes, and the meaning is ‘with stringed instru-
ments.’ In every case also, except Ps. 6o, the ‘with’
is expressed by the prefix 4; in the exceptional case,
lfa is used, suggesting that (recognizing the singular
form of the substantive) we should understand the
notice as relating to ‘a stringed instrument choir,’ as
in the case of the other choirs, which follow after gyp.
The presence of this note, ‘with stringed instru-
ments,’ raises interesting questions. If we understand
the subscript lines of Pss. 5, 11, and 46 in the light of
1 Chron. 15. 20, 21, we shall conclude that they at
least were performed ‘with stringed instruments’
1 The celebration of God's goodness in the matter of the
fatherland, might either recall the original settlement or any
reinstatement in the inheritance. The word lHanA (to inherit)
with its derivatives, would serve both purposes. Other
familiar Hebrew words suitable either for a first act or its
repetition—with the sense of again being understood and not
expressed—are xlemA to fill, or replenish; hnABA to build, or re-
build; hyAHA to live, or revive.
2 In this case it stands as apparently the construct
form of the singular substantive. In some MSS., however,
it stands as the plural Neginoth, written defectively ; while
in others it is fully written as a plural. So also was it read
by the Septuagint, other early versions following.
128 OTHER MUSICAL TITLES
the Chronicler speaks of the psalteries and harps.
Doubtless, the same is true of many of the psalms;
it was the work of the Chief Musician to attend to these
arrangements, and the intimation that the psalms had
been included in his repertory should be a guarantee
that the psalteries and harps and other ‘instruments
of music’ came in somewhere.
May not ‘with stringed instruments’ have implied
something definite as to the time of day when par-
ticular psalms were rendered? May not the expres-
sion have specified the piece, say, as for morning
worship, or for the opening exercises of divine ser-
vice? It is assuredly remarkable that of the two
Sheminith psalms, only the former (5) is ‘with stringed
instruments’; and that is evidently for morning wor-
ship (see verse 3). The same observation applies to
Ps. 3 (see verse 5); and of none of the Neginoth psalms
can it be said that they are obviously unsuitable for
the opening exercises of daily service. Whatever in-
strumental music there was, it served (in the words
of Edersheim1) ‘only to accompany and sustain the
song.’ Therefore, as the stringed instruments would
not be used by themselves, but in connexion with
choirs, it would seem almost certain that some prac-
tical intention lies behind the simple classification
‘with stringed instruments.’ And that only one of
the Sheminith (or Male Choir) psalms is so described
(and that for morning worship in particular), may
help in some measure to an appreciation of the in-
tention.
Some impressions have come down to us of the
glorious harmonies of the
1 The
OTHER MUSICAL TITLES 129
David's purpose and the achievements of his successors.
Whether the musical instruments were few or varied,
certain it is that the psaltery and the harp were
given leading parts (see i1Chron. 15. 20, 21; Ps. 81. 2,
3; 108. 2). As to the degree of perfection developed,
we have no exact information 1. In the words of Keil,
however:
‘We are not to think of the
limited to mere cantillation, but must suppose real
melodies; for we dare not reason back from the
character of the later synagogue singing to the
singing of the
This singing was lost with the extinction of the
theocratic life and the destruction of Solomon's
only feeble remnants survived (Ezra 3. 10; comp.
2. 44, 65; Neh. 7. 73, 12. 27f., 36; Ps. 150; Sirach
49. 20 [18] 2).
Of David, the Psalmist, we read: He appointed
certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the
Lord, and to celebrate and to thank and praise the
Lord, the God of
whole heart he sang praise, and loved him that made
him. Also he set singers before the altar, and to make
sweet melody by their music’ (Ecclus. 47. 8, 9). And
1 The extent to which ‘The Music of the Bible,’ as popularly
explained, is music of another kind, is illustrated by the fact
that in one such treatment hardly any information was pre-
sented regarding instruments that were actually Israelitish
but engravings were given of such as had obtained in
of the horns used by Jews in modern times! As a fact, the music
of old
2 Biblical Archaeology, vol. ii. 281.
130 OTHER MUSICAL TITLES
of a later time, when the
ened’ by Simon the Just (died B.C. 291), we read:
‘Then shouted the sons of Aaron, they sounded the
trumpets of beaten work, they made a great noise to
be heard, for a remembrance before the Most High.
. . . The singers also praised him with their voices;
in the whole house was there made sweet melody’
(Ecclus. 5o. 16-18).
CHAPTER XVIII
THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL
HEADINGS
OUR purpose in these pages has been to distinguish
the so-called Musical Titles from such as are generally
recognized as literary and historical in character. It
has, we think, been made plain that, with the exception
of Neginoth, the former can no longer be regarded as
designating musical instruments, or even as indicating
tunes or melodies. On the contrary, in association
with their proper psalms, they render a good account
of themselves as marking (1) the reasons for which
psalms were used in public worship 1; (2) national
commemorations, and other special purposes, for which
psalms were selected 2, (3) choirs to which certain
psalms were particularly assigned 3; (q.) the topical
description of psalms which easily lent themselves to
such treatment 4.
Not only would a measure of direction be thus
secured in the general use and application of the
psalms; but by reducing the entire body to classes,
it became easy for leaders and choristers to recall a
particular psalm as it might be desired. The first line
of a psalm hardly individualized it when included in
a large number; but to demand psalm ‘Give ear,
O Shepherd of Israel ' in the Gittith class, at once
1 As Gittith and Shoshannim.
2 As Muth-labben, Mahalath, Nehiloth, and Al-tashheth.
3 As Sheminith, Alamoth, and Jeduthun.
4 As Aijeleth hash-Shahar and Jonath elem rehokim.
132 LITERARY AND HISTORICAL HEADINGS
directed attention to Ps. 80; and again, if, to quote
another psalm, ‘Give ear to my prayer, 0 God,’ was
wanting in definiteness, through similar words appear-
ing elsewhere 1 there could be no doubt as to which
was intended when the title of the psalm was added,
Jonath elein rehohim (55). Whatever may have been
the purpose of classification in the
is obvious that the general arrangement would sub-
serve practical convenience along the lines indicated.
The other titles, which properly form headings of the
psalms, fall into two main classes. In the first, we
would place those which deal with the compositions
themselves, as to their character and authors; in the
second, those which set forth the historical origin or
religious purpose of particular psalms. A psalm may
be without any such headings, and yet be none the less
precious as to contents or beautiful in form 2; on the
other hand, it may have a formal superscription which
the most sympathetic student may find of little value for
any help it may yield in the understanding of the psalm3.
The intimations as to authorship claim respectful
attention, if for no other reason than that they accom-
pany the text as it has come down to us in its most
reliable form. The Massoretic text attributes seventy-
three psalms to David; twelve to Asaph; eleven to the
sons of Korah 4; two to Solomon ; and one each to
1 In first verse of Ps. 17.
2 See some of the ‘orphan psalms in the fourth and fifth
books (90 to 150).
3 For instance, Ps. 34, when David ‘changed his behaviour,’ &c.
4 These are reduced to nine in this work, by the discrimina-
tion of the titles which have hitherto stood over Pss. 46 and 88.
The latter psalm is ‘Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.’ See note
on p. 14.
LITERARY AND HISTORICAL HEADINGS 133
Ethan, Heman, and Moses 1. On examining the Sep-
tuagint text, we find divergencies that are more than
curious ; some psalms which in the Massoretic text
are anonymous are there ascribed to David, others
are attributed to Haggai and Zechariah: while lines
descriptive of occasion or purpose are prefixed in a
number of instances, additional to those found in the
Hebrew Psalter
In the literary description of the psalms there is
considerable variety; but this does not matter so
much as some have been disposed to think. In modern
literary style the same freedom of expression is con-
tinually exercised, without giving rise to criticism or
causing confusion. A poem is not less a psalm because
it is described as a song; nor is it any less a prayer
because it has no heading at all. On careful examina-
tion, a psalm may appeal to us as a Song, a Prayer,
a Meditation, a Thanksgiving, a Homily, an Exhorta-
tion, a Plea, an Expostulation„ Which shall we call
it? Perhaps one day one aspect will prevail; another
day we may be impressed in a different manner
Though called Michtain, a poem may be a psalm never-
1 It is interesting to note that these single psalms follow
each other, and as i c were comprise a group by themselves.
2 Some of these are given as footnotes in the Psalter that
follows this Introduction.
3 Note, by way of illustration, the following forms of speech:
‘David spake . . . the words of this song’ (2 Sam. 22. I ); ‘Consider
my meditation . . . unto thee do I pray’ (Ps. 5. I, 2); ‘David
. . . spake unto the, Lord the words of this song ' (super-
scription of Ps. 18). Again and again invocation is followed
by thanksgiving, and meditation by rebuke. Any one of
these aspects may be asserted in the heading. Note the
number of cases in which Psalm-Song and Song-Psalm appear:
134 LITERARY AND HISTORICAL HEADINGS
theless; call it Maschil, and it belongs to the same
great cl ass. The genus includes the species, the general
the particular.
Hence we would not regard such terms as expressive of
refined poetical distinctions, but rather as indicating
the dominant note or obvious intention of the psalm as
practically estimated and analysed. We are not with-
out help in assuming this standpoint. Ps. 14 (‘The
fool hath said in his heart’) is headed simply l’ David
(David's). When it appears again, as Ps. 53, it is
styled Maschil of David. So there may be Maschil
psalms without that word standing over them. Again,
the early part of Ps. io8 (I–5) reappears in Ps. 57
(7-11). In the former it is part of a Song-Psalm of
David; in the latter, part of a Michtam of David. The
latter part of Ps. 108 (6–13) is included in Ps. 6o (5–12);
a part of a Song-Psalm now has the character of a
tam. From these facts one seems justified in conclud-
ing that no nice points of poetical theory or literary
structure are implied in such words as Maschil and
Michtam, for in some cases the compositions which
are so described actually embody portions of ordinary
psalm-songs.
Speaking generally, it must be admitted that variety
of designation is no monopoly of a remote antiquity.
Modern hymnals include psalms and songs, solos and
choruses, canticles and melodies, chants and anthems.
In these terms the musical features are emphasized in
a way that affords but slight indication of the character
of the words—whether the note be prayer or praise,
exhortation or appeal, designed to stir up emotion or
e.g. 30, 48, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 76, 83, 87 (repeated in subscript
line), 92, 108.
LITERARY AND HISTORICAL HEADINGS 135
to provoke enthusiasm. The psalm headings, however,
appear to point in another direction. Far from indi-
cating musical distinctions, they emphasize the character
of the pieces, or the moral and spiritual intent of the
poet. Many of the psalms are strongly personal, others
are of the nature of homilies ; yet all have their place in
‘the praises of
four psalms are without any literary designation; forty-
three are styled Miz;nor, rendered ‘psalm’ in the
English versions; two are simply designated Shir
('song'); twelve Mizmor shir or Shir mizmor, ‘a psalm
or song,’ ‘a song or psalm’; fifteen Shir hamma ‘aloth,
‘song of degrees’ (R.V. ‘ascents’); five are T’philah,
‘a prayer’; six are Michtam, thirteen Maschil, and
one Shiggaion, all three words transferred without
translation into our English versions; one is T’hillah,
‘a praise’; and one Mizmor l’Thodah, ‘a psalm of
praise.’
With the psalm titles discriminated, as advocated in
these pages, something is done to focus light upon
words that have long been discussed but with little
definite result. Already we may be sure that Michtam
and Maschil are not musical terms; they are attached
to the name of the psalm writer, and not to the Chief
Musician's mark of appropriation. Standing as they do
in relation to the poems, they displace such general
terms as ‘psalm’ and ‘song.’
MICHTAM: MASCHIL.
Take Michtam first. It occurs in the headings of six
psalms, and in each case it is followed by ‘of David’ 1.
1 The Michtam psalms are--16, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60.
136 LITERARY AND HISTORICAL HEADINGS
The Septuagint translators rendered it sthlografi<a, or
ei]j sthlografi<an—‘an inscription,’ or ‘foran inscription.’
A variety of fanciful interpretations have competed for
acceptance from time to time. Some have held the
words to describe the associated psalms as specially
epigrammatic in character, although no sufficient
evidence is forthcoming to justify the description.
Others, as the A. V. marg., have suggested ‘a golden
psalm,’ ‘a gem,’ from Mt,K,, ‘gold’ (because hidden
away in treasuries), although the psalms in question
are by no means alone in displaying features that
are attractive and thoughts that are precious in a high
degree.
If we examine the Michtam psalms themselves, we
shall not be long in gathering impressions as to their
special qualities and the first thing that will strike
us is that they are personal. Four of them are in the
first person singular of the pronoun, and have the nature
of private prayers (16, 56, 57, 59); the others have the
character of meditations, but are very direct in phrase.
These exhibit the plural pronoun, and in one instance
the reason seems to be given, for Ps. 60 is described as
Michtam, to teach. May this mean that a prayer that
was personal and private was put forth, in special cir-
cumstances, as a model for general worship--to teach?
The other Michtam psalm, 58, is a combination
of expostulation with sinners and appeal to Jehovah
to visit judgement upon them. All are very direct,
and the sense of being covered, concealed, which lies
in the root-word, may imply the PERSONAL and PRI-
VATE nature of these psalms, in their origin and first
intention.
Alike in its meaning and use, the word Maschil is
LITERARY AND HISTORICAL HEADINGS 137
much wider. It seems, in fact, to be the opposite of
Michtam, and to describe a psalm of instruction,
A PUBLIC HOMILY 1. The word is found over thirteen
psalms. It comes from a verb (sachal) meaning to be
prudent and intelligent, and has been explained as
signifying a didactic poem. In the Septuagint, it is
rendered by forms of su<nesij, ‘understanding,’ ‘dis-
cernment,’ implying a purpose of instruction in the
psalms. Some have