THE BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM AT THEIR HOME

8' We have a little sister, and she has no breasts;

What shall we do for our sister

In the day when she shall be spoken for?

"If she prove to be a wall,

We will build upon her a turret of silver;
And if she prove to be a door,

We will enclose her with boards of cedar.' 1oI am a wall, and my breasts towers;

Now I am as one who has found peace."

11Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon;
He let out the vineyard to keepers,
Everyone for its fruit was to bring silver;
12But my vineyard, which is mine, is before me.
O Solomon, thou mayest have the thousand,
And those who keep its fruit two hundred!

13Thou that dwellest in the gardens,

The companions hearken for thy voice;
Cause me to hear it.

14Make haste, my beloved,

And be thou like a gazelle or a young hart,

Upon the mountains of spices.

u810 So Gk.B. Heb., in his eyes.

V 81 Heb. adds a thousand; but this suggests the prosaic detail of a later scribe.

Assertion that she has proved to her family her

chastity

Con

tent

ment

with

her humble lot

The bride

groom's request

The reminis

cent refrain

THE KINGLY AND MESSIANIC PSALMS

I. PETITIONS FOR THE KING'S WELFARE AND SUCCESS Pss. 20, 21, 61, 72

II. THE DIVINE PROMISES TO DAVID AND TO HIS

SUCCESSORS

Pss. 8917-21, 3, 4, 22-52, 2, 110, 132

III. A RULER'S OATH OF OFFICE

Ps. 101

IV. THE RULE OF JEHOVAH THE DIVINE KING

Pss. 24, 47, 93, 95, 96, 98, 97, 99, 2227-31

THE KINGLY AND MESSIANIC PSALMS

I

PETITIONS FOR THE KING'S WELFARE AND SUCCESS

Pss. 20, 21, 61, 72

§ 34. A Prayer for Victory on the Eve of Battle, Ps. 20

Ps. 201May Jehovah answer thee in the day of stress,

May the name of the God of Jacob protect thee.
2May he send thee help from the sanctuary,

And from Zion may he sustain thee.
May he remember all thy cereal-offerings,
And accept as perfecta thy burnt-offerings.b
4May he grant thee thy heart's desire,

May he bring to pass thine every plan.

"We will shout with joy over thy deliverance,

We will magnify the name of our God.d

The Kingly Psalms of the Psalter.-The first group of kingly pss. consists of prayers or litanies apparently uttered when the king or ruler to which each refers was still living. They are without reasonable doubt the oldest group of pss. in the Psalter. Inasmuch as the king is the chief representative of the nation, the psalmists have incorporated in these pss. the noblest patriotic hopes of their age. In this group the national and material hopes which are frankly expressed, for example, in the early Balaam oracles, Nu. 237-10, 18-24, 243-9, 15-19, are combined with the nobler ethical ideals so clearly set forth by the great prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. Progress toward a more ethical and spiritual kingly ideal is clearly discernible when the pss. are arranged in their chronological order.

$34 The aspirations expressed in this ps. are closely related to those found in the Balaam oracles. It is full of youthful vigor and energy. It is apparently a litany, chanted by the priestly singers in the temple courts while an offering was being presented by the king. The one addressed in the opening stanza is the king, who was probably present, surrounded by his warriors. Three reasons are urged why Jehovah should give deliverance and victory: the first is his character and unique relation to the people in behalf of whose king the prayer is uttered; the second is the rich sacrifice, including both cereal and whole burnt offerings, which the king had probably caused to be presented to his divine Lord while this litany was being sung; the third is the vow of the priestly singers that if Jehovah will grant deliverance they will repay him with the gift of song and praise. It is the naïve, childish conception of Jehovah and of religion which here confronts us. The confident joyousness of the pre-exilic period is everywhere in evidence. The absence of the detailed references to persons, found, e. g., in the song of Deborah and in David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, indicates that the litany was probably written to be used whenever the need for it arose. It may come from the days of Jehoshaphat or Amaziah or Uzziah or possibly Josiah. Its background is an hour of stress, when the self-sufficiency that characterized most of Judah's rulers was shaken; but its confident tone implies that it was written before the Assyrian and Babylonian armies had broken the strength of the Hebrews. In any case, it is one of the earliest pss. of the Psalter and is an excellent example of the pre-exilic royal hymn.

a 203 Lit., accept as fat.

b203 So Syr., Targ., and certain Heb. MSS. The standard Heb. text has the singular. 205 So Gk., Lat., Syr., and revised Heb. texts. Certain Gk. texts read rejoice in.

d205 In the Heb. a scribe has practically repeated a at the end of 5, May Jehovah bring to pass thine every request, and inserted Jehovah in ❝.