VI THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PSALTER Sume MODERN discovery and research have demonstrated that at least two The old millenniums of intense human struggle and earnest religious thought lie back rian of the Hebrew Psalter. Centuries before the days of Moses and David the hymnology ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, and Babylonians developed a hymnology that in volume and literary form, if not in spirit and content, was startlingly like that of the Hebrews. In one ancient inscription the titles of over one hundred Sumerian and Babylonian hymns are given. These ancient hymns for public service were classified according to the musical instruments that were to be used with them. Some were to be sung with the flute, some with the lyre, and others probably with the bagpipe. The poetic structure of these ancient hymns is also clearly indicated on the clay inscriptions. As in modern poetry, each succeeding line begins anew at the left of the page. Where longer metres are employed, the pause in the middle of each line is also marked. to A few of the older Sumerian hymns strike noble chords. The most sig- Hymns nificant are the hymns and prayers addressed to Enlil, the old god of Nip- Enlil pur. One opens with the significant words: O Enlil, counsellor, doth any one comprehend thy form? The strength-begifted lord of the harvest lands, Created in the mountains, lord of the grain-fields, Warrior who possesseth great strength, father Enlil, Thou art the powerful prince of the gods, For creating posterity thou sustainest life, Another psalm which is really a lament addressed to Enlil begins: O honored one, relent, behold thy city! O exalted and honored one, relent, behold thy city! O lord of the lands, relent, behold thy city! O lord of unerring word, relent, behold thy city. The little ones perish, the great ones perish, Amenhotep IV'S hymn to Aton Her pillage the rude foe defiles, In her banqueting hall the wind revels. A large number of hymns sung to the gods have come down from the beginnings of Egyptian history. The crowning product of this wide-spread tendency to worship the gods with song and musical accompaniment is the famous hymn in praise of Aton by the great reforming king Amenhotep IV. It opens with the majestic passage: Thy dawning is beautiful in the horizon of heaven, O living Aton, beginning of life! When thou risest in the eastern horizon of heaven, Thou fillest every land with thy beauty; For thou art beautiful, great, glittering, high over the earth; Though thou art afar, thy rays are on earth, Though thou art on high, thy footprints are the day. The hymn then goes on to describe night and darkness and the god's care for men and animals in language strikingly parallel to that of Psalm 104. (Cf. § 95.) After picturing the creation of man and the animals the poem continues: How manifold are thy works! They are hidden from before us, O thou sole god, whose powers no other possesseth, Thou didst create the earth according to thy desire, While thou wast alone: Men, all cattle large and small, All that are upon the earth, That go about upon their feet; All that are on high, That fly with their wings. The poem concludes with an ardent prayer by the king in his own behalf: Most of the Egyptian hymns are trivial and repetitious. After the remarkable burst of reforming activity under Amenhotep IV, little religious Breasted, Hist. of Egypt, 371-5. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PSALTER ence of the Egyptian hymns upon the Psalter progress is discernible. The later poems become mere repetitions of the Influancient hymns or else tiresome liturgies. As in art and literature, so in the praise of the gods, the Egyptians reached their zenith long before the beginnings of Israel's history. It is not improbable that the prominence given to the song service of the Egyptians exerted a certain influence on the Jewish worshippers at the Yahu temple, which stood for generations in the city of Elephantine, only a few yards away from a famous Egyptian shrine. In the sacred city of Memphis and in other great cities of Egypt there were ample opportunities for the Egyptians to exert at least an indirect influence upon the imitative Jews of the dispersion. With the possible exception, however, of the one hundred and fourth Psalm, it is impossible to trace a direct transference of Egyptian thought to the Jewish Psalter. The incontestable superiority of the Hebrew psalms to those which come from the land of the Nile speak conclusively against such a transfer. lonian The history of the development of Babylonian and Assyrian hymnology Babyis in many ways closely parallel to that among the Egyptians: the older and hymns are the nobler; the later are little more than repetitions or slavish Assyrian hymns imitations of the older models. The same hymns were sung as late as 200 B.C. in practically the same form as in the days of Hammurabi, who lived nearly two thousand years earlier. Of these ancient psalms the hymns to Shamash, the sun-god, are the noblest. In one he is addressed as follows: The law of mankind dost thou direct, Eternally just in the heavens art thou, Of faithful judgment towards all the world art thou; Thou knowest what is right, thou knowest what is wrong. O Shamash! Supreme judge, great lord of all the world art thou! Lord of creation, merciful one of the world art thou! O Shamash! on this day purify and cleanse the king, the son of his god; Elsewhere the chief god of Babylon is thus addressed: Powerful Marduk, whose anger is a destroying flood Who reconciled is like a merciful father, I am oppressed by prayers without reply; Sometimes these psalms or petitions are in dialogue form: first the priest presents the cause of the petitioner and then the petitioner himself speaks. In all of them there is much repetition, which reveals their liturgical purpose. They also contain references to their use in connection with the great feasts, as, for example, that of the New Year. Upon the Jewish exiles living in Babylon these elaborate services must have made a profound impression and must have emphasized the tendency, already strong, to develop this Psalms in the preexilic Hebrew temple Different types of psalms The titles form of the ritual in connection with the second temple. Occasional echoes of the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian hymns may be traced in the Hebrew Psalter, but for the most part the older hymnology is cold and barren compared with the fervent songs later sung by the worshippers of Jehovah. Distinct references, like that in Amos 523, to the songs sung in the temple at Bethel, and, in Lamentations 27, to the din on the day of solemn assembly, leave little doubt that the Hebrews, even before the exile, chanted songs at their sanctuaries on the great feast-days. In certain of the preexilic prophetic books, as, for example, Jeremiah 917-22 and 127-12, are found lyrical poems which in form and content closely resemble many of the individual psalms found in the first part of the Psalter. Concerning the nature of the psalms sung in connection with pre-exilic temples there is no clear evidence. Amos appears to have regarded them with disfavor. Whether or not any of them are still preserved in the Psalter must be determined from a detailed study of the individual psalms. The superscriptions of the individual psalms contain certain suggestions regarding the history of Old Testament hymnology. The oldest Hebrew designation of a lyric poem (shîr) is usually translated song. It is used to describe the joyous songs in Genesis 3127, Isaiah 51, 3029, the triumphal ode chanted by the Hebrew women after the great victory under the leadership of Deborah and Barak (Judg. 512), and the love-songs in the Song of Songs. It also describes the songs sung at drunken revels (Is. 249). In every case it is the designation of joyous songs sung probably with musical accompaniments. This meaning is also implied by the Greek equivalent psalmos (from which comes the English word psalm), which means a song sung to the accompaniment of a harp or some stringed instrument. This title is borne by a group of psalms which appear to be among the oldest in the Psalter. As the title implies, they are especially adapted to liturgical Seven psalms bear the title Miktam, which probably means chosen. All of them are ascribed to David and most of them are relatively early. Their noble style and strong emotion confirm the popular interpretation of this term. Fifty-seven psalms bear the title Mizmor. The derivation of this term is not certain, but it probably means prime, that is, psalms selected for use, possibly, in the synagogue. Thirteen psalms bear the title Maskil, which comes from the common Hebrew verb meaning to ponder, to meditate. The contents of these meditations indicate that most of them come from the circle of the wise. Their contents also suggest that they are comparatively late. These different titles clearly indicate that the Psalter consists of collections of psalms which come from different periods and from different groups of writers. use. A second group of superscriptions represents the later traditions regarding the authorship of individual psalms or gives the names of famous characters in Israel's history to which they were ascribed. Seventy-four psalms in the Hebrew Bible bear the title To David. In the Greek version many other psalms are ascribed to Israel's early poet king. The meaning of this title has been differently interpreted. It is exceedingly doubtful if the Hebrew preposition to was ever used before the exile to designate authorship. In LITERARY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PSALTER Isaiah 389, which is probably post-exilic, it is used to describe a poem attributed to Hezekiah. From the beginning of the exile the use of this term to indicate possession became increasingly prominent. The Sidonian coins bear a similar inscription: To the Sidonians. The closest analogy to the title To David is the inscription, To the Sons of Korah, borne by Psalms 42-49, or the title To Asaph (e. g., Ps. 50). Clearly this title does not mean that these psalms were written by members of these guilds of singers but rather that they were either dedicated to them or written for their use. Hence the title To David must mean either a psalm dedicated to David or else one of a collection of songs made by a guild of singers who bore the historic designation David. The contents of these seventy-four so-called Davidic psalms leaves no doubt that the majority, if not all of them, were written long after the days of David. This fact lends probability to the conclusion that the title Psalm to David, like the corresponding terms Proverbs of Solomon and Law of Moses, was used to designate an early literary production the exact authorship of which was unknown, but which was by current tradition attributed to the traditional patron of this type of literature. ten ute all psalms to David That the tendency in time became strong to attribute all lyric poetry The to David is confirmed not only by the title but also by the epilogue to Psalm dency 72: The Prayers of Jesse the Son of David are ended. The same tendency to attrib gave rise to the third type of superscription which connects individual psalms with incidents in the life of the great king. Thirteen such superscriptions are found. These historical notes are based on the narratives in I and II Samuel after these books had received their final Deuteronomic redaction. They cannot, therefore, be earlier than the exile. It is possible that they were added by the editor who collected the so-called Davidic collection of psalms. They are scattered throughout the Psalter, beginning with the third psalm and concluding with Psalm 142. direc A third type of superscription consists of the musical directions attached Musical to certain psalms. Most of them are found in connection with the psalms inscribed to the musical director, and they were clearly intended to facilitate the use of the psalms in the synagogue or temple service. Of these musical directions there are two types: (1) those designating the voice and (2) those indicating the tone or melody. Under the first class several, as in I Chronicles 1520, bear the title For maidens, that is, for soprano or falsetto voices. Two others (6, 12) have a musical direction that recurs in I Chronicles 1521. It probably means on the octave, or the lower octave. The designations of tone or melody apparently consist of the opening word or words of a popular song introduced by the phrase in accordance with. Thus, Psalm 56 was to be sung to the same tune as the popular song, The Silent Dove of Them Who Are Afar Off. The superscription to Psalms 45, 69, and 80 is probably to be translated, My Testimony is a Beautiful Anemone. The melody of Psalm 22 bears the picturesque title Hind of the Dawn. The difficulties which later translators found in interpreting these superscriptions is shown by the wide variations in the renderings. In the light of the Greek and Syriac, the superscriptions of Psalms 8, 81, and 84 should |