Early folksongs Ancient bards and songbooks poetry. It begins about 450, to which date may be assigned the main poetical sections of the books of Job, and extends to about 50 B.C., when the apocryphal book known as the Wisdom of Solomon was probably written. The poetical books of the Old Testament, therefore, represent a period of at least eleven centuries. They are clearly the work of scores of different writers. Certain of the songs found in Genesis and Numbers, as, for example, the so-called Song of Lamech in Genesis 4 and the Song of the Well in Numbers 2117-18, come in all probability from the early nomadic period preceding the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. The few folk-songs and early poems that have been preserved in the historical books of the Old Testament suffice to suggest the character of this once extensive poetic literature. Evidently all the important events in the early life of the Hebrews were celebrated with songs and music. Although the Song of Songs itself is late, it has preserved a group of popular poems that were apparently sung in connection with the wedding festivals. They are in many ways the best representatives of the popular poetry of ancient Israel. Similarly, songs were sung in connection with national calamities and beside the bier of the dead. Many of these dirges have been preserved. Amos 63 also contains a reference to the songs that were sung in connection with the banquets given by the voluptuous nobles of northern Israel. The Song of the Well in Numbers 21 is evidently a type of the popular songs that were composed by the local poets on the occasion of any important event in the life of a tribe or the nation. Isaiah 144 and 2316 contain examples of the taunt songs that were sung over a fallen enemy or to cast disgrace upon a private or public foe. Great deliverances like that of the exodus, or victories like that of the Hebrews beside the Kishon, inspired the poets to sing of the achievements of their heroes. These songs appear to have been chanted by the women, as in the days of David, when the victorious warriors returned from battle laden with spoils. Scattered through the historical books there are also many priestly oracles, such as that attributed to Jacob in Genesis 49, and public prayers, like that of Solomon at the dedication of the temple, now found in the Greek versions of I Kings 812, 13. Their original poetic form is still retained and they all testify to the prominent place that poetry held in the early life of the Israelites. Numbers 2127 and II Samuel 1935 contain references to a class of bards or singers who doubtless composed many of these songs and preserved in oral form those which had been handed down from preceding generations. They correspond to the similar class of singers who are still found among the Arabs of the desert and who recite beside the camp-fires the songs that tell of the adventures of the tribe and the achievements of its popular heroes. In I Samuel 2528 there is a reference to the Book of the Wars of Jehovah which is evidently a collection of songs recording the victories won by the Israelites in the name of Jehovah. A similar collection of ancient songs, which has unfortunately been lost, was the Book of Jasher; that is, The Book of the Upright. Jasher is evidently a popular designation of the nation, Israel. The quotations (e. g., Josh. 1013b, II Sam. 118, I Kgs. 853, Gk.) indicate that these poems dealt with important events in Israel's history, such as David's THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HEBREW POETRY lament over the death of Saul and Jonathan or Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple. These references and quotations also suggest the wide variety and extent of the popular Hebrew poetry, most of which has, unfortunately, been forever lost. of He poetry The character and content of the prophetic poetry which comes from the The second period of Israel's literary history have already been discussed in pro phetic Volume III. The poetic addresses of the prophets were the natural out- period growth of the early oracles which appear to have been invariably cast in brew poetic form. In presenting their messages the prophets used almost every type of poetry known to the Hebrew. With the exception of portions of Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah, their original oral prophecies were always put in the form of poetry. By them the lyrical note, which was struck by the earlier prophets, was still further developed and the foundations laid for that still wider development of lyrical poetry which characterized the third period of Israel's literary history. Doubtless, during the same prophetic period many of the proverbs and some of the psalms, which have ultimately found a place in the book of Proverbs and the Psalter, were current on the lips of the people. It was this second prophetic period of Israel's history that gave to the race the ideas and the impulses which found expression in the retrospective and didactic literature of the third period. of the During the third period Israel's poetry assumed two distinct forms. The The lyrical group is represented by the Psalter, the occasional psalms in the first poetry book of Maccabees, in the concluding chapters of Ben Sira, and in the Psalter third period of Solomon. This group reflects the experiences, the emotions, and the aspirations of the Jewish race and of the different classes within Judaism. The other group includes the gnomic or wisdom literature found in Proverbs, portions of Ecclesiastes, Ben Sira, the Wisdom of Solomon, and in the crowning work of the Hebrew sages—the book of Job. It is the result of the earnest desire of Israel's latest teachers to make practical and effective in the life of their own and succeeding generations that which was best in the moral and religious experiences of the past and most vital in the teachings of earlier priests and prophets. drama and the The drama was not a product of the Semitic mind. Thus far no drama has The been found in the literatures of ancient Babylonia and Egypt. The Hebrew prophets, in their poetic addresses, frequently employed dialogue. Ezekiel epic reveals great dramatic qualities, and one of the chief charms of Hebrew literature is its dramatic character; but the Israelites produced no pure drama. The book of Job is the nearest approximation to it, yet its action and progress are subjective rather than objective. Furthermore, the Old Testament contains no clear example of an epic. The song of Deborah has many epic qualities, but it is more than mere poetic presentation, for through it all runs a large lyric element. Its brevity also forbids its classification as a pure epic, for less than twenty verses are devoted to heroic narration. The epic, however, was not foreign to the Semitic mind. One of the earliest and noblest examples of early Babylonian literature is the so-called epic of Gilgamesh, which in a series of twelve cantos tells of the various deeds of the traditional hero Gilgamesh, who was the prototype of Reasons why the lyric overshadowed all other types of Hebrew poetry The grouping of the Hebrew lyrics the Greek Hercules. The marked epic character of Israel's early narratives, the frequent references to older poetic sources, and the fact that the prose narrators at many points quote from early poetic sources favor, although they do not absolutely prove, that the Hebrews once possessed a great epic which described in connected form the earlier events in their national history and the deeds of their great heroes. Fortunately, we possess the prose (which may have been the original and only) version of that national epic. The most characteristic product of Hebrew poetic genius is the lyric. This type of poetry was originally intended to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument, and expresses the individual emotions of the poet or of those for whom he speaks. Like most Semitic poetry, it is highly subjective, although its figures are often exceedingly concrete. The dominance of the lyric note in Hebrew literature is due to a variety of causes. It was primarily owing to the peculiar genius of the race. The Hebrews were pre-eminently individualists. The personal and racial points of view are prominent in all of their early writings. The extremely simple structure of the Hebrew language also favors the lyric rather than the more complex forms of poetry. Furthermore, as has been noted, the chief motive in their life was religion, and the lyric is the most natural expression of religious feeling. The great crises through which the Hebrews passed and the many painful experiences which came to them aroused the deepest personal emotions and intensified their tendency to develop the lyric. While this type of poetry is distinctly individualistic, there is also a strong universalistic note running through the lyric poetry of the Old Testament. It is, in part, because the experiences of Israel's poets were common to the human race. In the psalms many chords are struck which find a quick response in the heart of man in every age and race. The result is that in much of the lyric poetry of the Old Testament there is a timeless quality which expresses the universal experiences and emotions of humanity. The lyric poetry of the Old Testament represents the work of many different poets who wrote under the impulse of a great variety of emotions and in widely separated periods in Israel's history. The oldest as well as the latest poems in the Old Testament are lyrics. In their present form they are either scattered through the historical books or else massed together in the Psalter without any definite system of arrangement. In order to utilize them for reading, study, or even devotional purposes, it is important that they be classified. The primary need is to group together those poems which are written from the same point of view and with kindred aims. The first canon of classification, therefore, is that of authorship. Each of the three great groups of Israel's teachers, the prophets, the priests, and the sages, contributed certain of the lyric poems now found in the Psalter. Most of the lyric poems fall under one of the three heads, prophetic, priestly, or didactic. A still more fundamental canon in the classification of lyric poetry is the dominant emotion, whether it be that of exultation or aspiration, as in certain of the early tribal songs; or of sadness, as in the dirges found in the book of Lamentations; or of thanksgiving, of praise, of THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HEBREW POETRY adoration, of penitence, or of worship, as in the different psalms of the Psalter. A few psalms reflect a wide variety of emotions, but the great majority may be readily classified in accordance with this canon. from the national to the ual Before the exile the chief note in Israel's life was either the pride or aspira- The tion of the tribe or nation. After the exile the Jews for four centuries trend turned from their narrow national ambitions and from trust in their own resources to Jehovah as their one source of joy, glory, and deliverance. individAs the nation went down in ruin the individual for the first time emerged point of into prominence. The result is that the personal note becomes ever clearer view in the poetry that comes from the four centuries beginning with the Babylonian exile. Adoration, praise, and thanksgiving, expressive of triumph not of the sword but of faith, or else the note of penitence and fervent petition, filled the hearts and found expression through the lips and pens of the faithful who worshipped at the second temple. This unmistakable trend from the national to the individual point of view suggests the canon to be followed in determining the order of the larger groups of poems. Within each group it is also important to arrange the poems, as far as possible, in their chronological order, thus furnishing a basis for an historical study of the different phases in the development of Israel's faith. trium The oldest group of Hebrew lyrics are the folk or national songs. These The fall naturally into four general divisions: (1) triumphal odes, (2) traditional phal oracles, (3) dirges, and (4) love and wedding songs. The triumphal odes odes were sometimes sung by the warriors but in early Israel more commonly by the women after a great deliverance, like that of the exodus, or a great victory, as that over the Canaanites beside the Kishon. They preserved in this popular, poetic form the memory of the great events and achievements in Israel's history and, therefore, have found a place among Israel's historical records. Out of these triumphal odes there developed, under the changed conditions which resulted from the Babylonian exile, the imprecatory psalms in which the inherited hatred and the burning sense of injustice with which the Jews regarded their heathen persecutors found fervent and often to us repulsive expression. Out of the older triumphal odes also developed the hymns of praise, thanksgiving, and adoration addressed to Jehovah by his afflicted yet trusting people. A third group included the majestic psalms describing Jehovah's leadership of his people in the past and the way in which he had delivered them from their foes. Through many of these runs the spirit of the old triumphal odes, even though the victories which they commemorate took place centuries before. ditional oracles Another early form of Hebrew lyric poetry may be designated as the The tratraditional oracle. In these poems the experiences and aspirations of later generations were put in the mouths of the early fathers and leaders of the race, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. These memories and hopes were cast in the characteristic poetic form of the ancient prophetic oracles. Many such traditional oracles are incorporated in the historical books. Most of them are older than their prose setting. Out of these grew in later times the great oral prophecies of the pre-exilic period and the psalms which embody the messianic hopes of the exilic and post-exilic periods. The The dirge The Hebrew mourn ing customs Their psychological basis Jewish apocalypses, as, for example, those in the second part of the book of Daniel, are still later modifications and expansions (but in prose form) of the earlier oracles. The third primitive type of lyric poetry is the dirge. Public lamentations for the dead may be traced back to the beginnings of Semitic history. In the days of the ancient Sumerian king Gudea professional mourners were employed to sing songs of lament over the bier of the dead. They were probably connected with the temples. One class was known as the wailers, another as the howlers. They included both men and women. These lamentations were usually accompanied by music. The plaintive music of the harp and flute was best suited to the spirit of these dirges. The song of lament and the praise of the departed were voiced by the leader, while the chorus joined in the refrain. In the famous old Babylonian epic the hero Gilgamesh laments over his dead friend Eabani: Thou takest no part in the noble feast, To the assembly they call thee not. What is hit by the bow is not for thee; Thy hand grasps not the club nor strikes the prey, Nor stretches thy foemen dead on the earth. The wife thou lovest thou kissest not, The wife thou hatest thou strikest not. The child thou lovest thou kissest not, The child thou hatest thou strikest not. Like a deep well thou enclosest him! The Hebrew mourning customs apparently preserved those which had been followed for thousands of years in the ancient Semitic world and still prevail in the lands of the East. The relatives of the deceased, and especially the hired mourners, were clad in sackcloth made from the hair of goats or camels (II Sam. 2110, Is. 153). With dishevelled locks, with bare feet and legs, often cutting their hair and mutilating their features, they threw themselves down beside the dead or else sat on the ground casting dust upon their heads (II Sam. 1530, Is. 326, Jer. 16°). Among these Hebrews the majority of these hired mourners were women, although male mourners are mentioned (Jer. 917, II Chr. 3525). Ordinarily, the mourners fasted during the daytime (I Sam. 3113, II Sam. 335). At sunset the funeral feast was held. The wild shrieks and weird cries uttered by the hired mourners in the East to-day make vivid the scenes about the graves of the dead in ancient Israel. In the old Babylonian epic the laments of Gilgamesh secured immortality for his friend Eabani; but this does not appear to have been the original psychological basis of the death dirge. Not until the later Jewish period |