The immediate histor ical back ground of the Psalter Hopes that centred about the rebuild ing of the temple probably be rendered, For the Wind Presses, but this is rendered by the Targum, The Harp which David Brought to Gath. The final proofs regarding the date of individual psalms and, therefore, of the growth of the Psalter are the literary characteristics, the historical allusions, and the spirit and thought of each psalm; but the analogies in the development of hymnology in other religions, the occasional references in the Hebrew writings outside the Psalter, and the testimony of the superscriptions indicate beyond doubt that the growth of Israel's lyric literature was gradual and culminated in the four centuries following the destruction of Jerusalem. The immediate historical background of the majority of the psalms was clearly a period of crisis and persecution. Like the earliest Christian hymns, they were cast in the furnace of affliction. Recent discovery and biblical research have given us a new and increasingly definite knowledge of the four centuries and a half that followed the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. For the faithful Jew it was a period of intense and protracted agony relieved only by a few brief intervals of peace and prosperity. The sack of their temple and capital city, the flight of many refugees to Egypt, and the deportation of their political and spiritual leaders to Babylonia left the Jewish people dismembered and crushed. In the words of the author of Lamentations 414, 15. They wandered as blind men through the streets, polluted with blood; Sadly he wails: Our eyes still fail in looking, for help that is unavailing, In our watching we have watched in vain for a nation that does not help. The Jews, however, through the ages have always proved a race of optimists. Even the disaster of 586 B.C. could not crush them. Gradually their hope kindled and centred in the survivors of the house of David. Refugees came back to build their hovels on the ruins of Jerusalem and a simple ritual was instituted on the desecrated temple site. The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 538 B.C. brought to the Jews of Palestine religious liberty and possibly inspired a handful of the exiles to come back from distant Babylonia. In 520 Haggai and Zechariah fired the zeal of the povertystricken remnant that remained in Palestine to rebuild the ruined walls of the ancient temple and to revive the sacrifices. The news of the mighty revolutions that shook the Persian Empire at the beginning of the reign of Darius led the temple builders to hope, though in vain, for the restoration of their former independence and glory under the rule of their governor, Zerubbabel, the surviving representative of the house of David. It was one of the rare moments in post-exilic history when Israel's earlier messianic hopes burst into a flame; but that flame was quickly extinguished when the rule of Darius was firmly established throughout the Persian LITERARY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PSALTER Empire. Zerubbabel was probably banished or put to death. The high priest under a Persian governor became henceforth the civil as well as the religious head of the Jewish people. The seventy years which followed were among the darkest and most discouraging in all of Israel's history. They are recorded not in the annals but in the lyrics of the Old Testament. When Nehemiah came to Palestine in 445 B.C. he found the Jewish community the helpless victim of the pitiless attacks of its heathen neighbors. Worse still, he found the mass of the people robbed of their hereditary estates and enslaved by their heartless rulers. It was a period when fidelity to Jehovah and to his demands was rewarded by poverty and persecution and the taunts of those who, like Job's friends, held to the old dogma that misfortune and suffering were the inevitable proofs of sin and divine displeasure. It is probable that out of this period of anguish come the two noblest products of Israel's immortal genius, the book of Job and the rhapsodies of Isaiah 40-55. Faith, which, though crushed to earth, rose to heaven, was invincible. Apparently, it was the II Isaiah's peerless ideal of the suffering servant of Jehovah that kindled the zeal of the youthful Nehemiah in distant Susa and thus set in motion forces which not only resulted in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem but also in the transformation of the ideals and life of Judaism. The seventy years of distress of The period which followed the work of Nehemiah was one of prosperity Closing and confidence and exultation for the Jews of Palestine. It is clearly the ethe background of many of the most beautiful psalms in the Psalter. Through Persian period the dark, gloomy valley Jehovah had led his people forth unharmed, and now as their divine host set before them a rich table in the presence of their enemies. During the closing years of the Persian period the avenging armies of the bloody Artaxerxes Ochus traversed Palestine. How far they afflicted the Jews and left their mark upon the Psalter is not entirely clear. At about the same time the feud between Jew and Samaritan began to distort and embitter the spirit of these two kindred yet alien peoples. Greek The conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C., did not ma- The terially affect the fortunes of the Judean community but it greatly broad- period ened their intellectual horizon. Many Jews followed in the wake of Alexander's conquests or else were attracted to the great cities of the eastern Mediterranean, and especially to Egypt, by the unusual opportunities offered them for commerce and trade. Flourishing Greek colonies on the borders of Syria and in Palestine itself brought the Jews into close contact with the alluring life and culture of Greece. The psalms of the Greek period show the influence of this broader outlook which came through contact with Greek thought and civilization. Joel, who lived during the latter part of the Persian period, is the last Old Testament prophet whose name we know. Henceforth the wise men, or sages, filled the place formerly occupied by the prophets. Unlike the earlier prophets who spoke to the nation, they addressed their teachings to the individual. Recognizing the great value of the lyric as a form of teaching, they presented the results of their thought and experience not only in proverbs but in psalms. Like the prophets and priests, they made a profound impression upon the Psalter. The Maccabean struggle Con clusions During the century and a half following the death of Alexander the Jews of Palestine were in turn courted or conquered by the Ptolemies of Egypt or by the Seleucid rulers of Syria. Finally, about 200 B.C., they came During the next half century Greek under the permanent control of Syria. The three great crises that have left their indelible stamp upon the Psalter are (1) the destruction of Jerusalem in 586, (2) the seventy years of discouragement and petty persecution which followed the disillusionment of those who rebuilt the second temple, and (3) the bitter Maccabean struggle. The brighter, more joyous periods were (1) the few short years between 520 and 516 B.C. when the temple was being rebuilt, (2) the period of hopefulness and rejoicing following the work of Nehemiah in 445, (3) the comparatively calm though less joyous Greek period, and (4) the confident, exultant, warlike age inaugurated by the brilliant victories of Judas Maccabeus. THE STRUCTURE AND HISTORY OF THE PSALTER THE Psalter in its present form is divided into five divisions or books. These are 1-41, 42-72, 73–89, 90-106, and 107-150. Each of these divisions is marked by a concluding doxology. Psalm 150 in itself constitutes the closing doxology. The first three divisions are natural and apparently mark successive stages in the early growth of the Psalter. The division between 106 and 107 is arbitrary, for Psalms 104-107 are in theme a literary unit. This fivefold division is the work either of the final editor of the Psalter or else of some later reviser. Its aim was probably to divide the Psalter into five divisions corresponding to the five books of the law. It emphasizes, however, the fact that the Psalter is made up of smaller collections and that, like the book of Proverbs, it grew gradually as the result of bringing different collections together. Chapter 1, which constitutes a general introduction, like the introduction to the book of Proverbs (1-9), is probably one of the latest additions to the book. Its didactic character reflects the thought of the later wise and of their successors the scribes. The oldest collection of psalms in the Psalter is clearly the so-called first Davidic collection found in 2-41. Psalm 10, which lacks the title To David, was once the second half of an acrostic of which the first is found in 9. The title of Psalm 33 is also lacking except in the Greek version. Its contents indicate that it was later inserted in this earlier collection. Another Davidic collection is found in 51-72. At the close of this collection is found the significant note, following an elaborate doxology: The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. This postscript lends force to the suggestion, made long ago by Ewald, that the first Davidic collection was once followed immediately by the second contained in 51-72. If this reconstruction be adopted it also solves another problem, for at present Psalm 50, which is dedicated to Asaph, is separated from the other Asaph psalms in 73-83 by the second Davidic collection (51-72). This restoration brings together the two great collections of psalms attributed to the temple singers, the sons of Korah and the sons of Asaph. The general character and contents of the second Davidic collection confirms the conclusion that they come from the same general point of view and from a little later period than those in the first collection. The five divisions great of the Psalter The two collec Davidic tions date The evidence is reasonably convincing that the majority of the sixty-two Their psalms in these Davidic collections (2-41, 51-72) were written during the first half of the Persian period or earlier and that the first collection was made soon after the work of Nehemiah and the priestly reforms associated The Korahite psalms The psalms of the sons of Korah The psalms with Ezra. The literary style of these psalms is vigorous and free from the Aramaisms and artificialities which characterize many of the psalms in the latter part of the Psalter. They contain few liturgical formulas and most of them are written from the individual or class point of view. In general they reflect the events following the Babylonian exile and the life of a poor, struggling community surrounded by merciless oppressors. The teachings of the pre-exilic prophets, and especially Jeremiah (e. g., Ps. 16 and 39), have made a profound impression upon the minds of the psalmists. The chief problems are those of Lamentations and of Isaiah 40-66, with which writings these psalms have many points of contact. They reveal the sufferings and the hopes of the afflicted during the days preceding the appearance of Nehemiah as well as the confidence and optimism that burst out after his advent. The editor or editors who collected them were probably inspired to do so by the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, the revival of the Judean community, and the extension of the temple service which resulted from the work of that great Jewish layman. The fact that Psalm 14 is reproduced in 53 and 311-3 in 711-3 suggests that the second collection, 51-72, was made independently and a little later, possibly near the close of the Persian or early in the Greek period. Psalms 42-49 bear the superscription, To the Sons of Korah. Inasmuch as these were the chief guild of singers at the Jerusalem temple during the middle and latter part of the Persian period, and were later supplanted by the guilds of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, it is probable that the collection of Korahite psalms comes from the same period. This dating is confirmed by their contents. The problem of innocent suffering still rests heavily upon the psalmists, but the earlier sense of guilt is lacking, even as in the contemporary prophecy of Joel. The literary style is vigorous and highly poetic. The liturgical form as well as the title of these psalms indicates that most of them were written for use in the temple service. The eight Korahite psalms (42-49) were probably added to the earlier Davidic collections about the beginning of the Greek period. In the second half of the Psalter the indications of historical growth are indistinct. The titles point to the work of a final editor who combined many smaller collections. The third general division opens with a collection of eleven psalms, 73-83, to which should be added Psalm 50, which in the process of editorial revision had been separated from them. These are all dedicated to the sons of Asaph, who, we may infer from the references in Chronicles, came into prominence about 250 B.C. In this collection are found certain psalms, as, for example, 74, 79, and 83, which clearly voice the feelings of the Jews while they were being ground down under the cruel heel of Antiochus Epiphanes (167-164 B.C.). Scattered through the latter part of the Psalter are two groups of so-called Hallel psalms (104-118 and 136-150), each of which is introduced by the superscription Hallelujah, which may be interpreted: Give praise to Yah. Their contents as well as their title indicate that they were written for liturgical use. Psalms 104-107 are in reality one psalm describing Jehovah's rulership of the world and leadership of his people. Psalm 104 de |