811 Heb. adds a thousand; but this suggests the prosaic detail of a later scribe. The bridegroom's request The reminiscent refrain UNIV. OF 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. And from Zion may he sustain thee. 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 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. us. 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. 4205 In the Heb. a scribe has practically repeated 4 at the end of 5, May Jehovah bring to pass thine every request, and inserted Jehovah in . |