12, in contrast to profane literature, refers to a collection of genuine wisdom. Similar collections occurred finally under Judas Maccabæus, 2 Mac. ii. 14. This must also have been the period of the final collection. For, contrary to the assumption of Olshausen, et al., that we must come down to the times of Simon, the Hasmonean prince (143 to 135 B. C.) or to the time of John Hyrcanus (135-107 B. C.) this circumstance seems conclusive; that the Psalter was known as such, to the author of Chronicles, who wrote in the fourth century B. C., towards the end of the Persian rule, and was accepted into the canon, at the latest, in the times of Judas Maccabæus (Ewald, Geschichte vii. 428 sq.) It follows, moreover, from 1 Chron. xvi. 35, that the liturgical doxology which precedes Ps. cvi. was also associated with it at that period. Hitzig naturally enough, reverses this relation, and supposes that the Psalmist drew from the Chronicles. He regards the High Priest, Alex. Jannæos, as the author of the present arrangement and the composer of Psalms i. and ii., as well as Ps. cl. and several others besides, and as having determined also the acceptance, the sequence and the division of the Psalms into five books.*

Were the time of the Alexandrian translation of the Psalms definitely known, this would furnish a fixed starting-point. But even if we reject Herzfeld's assumption (Geschichte iii. 470, who believes we have Maccabean Psalms in the Psalter) of a piecemeal translation not completed until a very late period, the time of the translation of the Psalms still remains very indefinite, if we suppose the translation of the Pentateuch-the oldest of all-to have begun under Ptolemaus Philadelphus (284-247.) The statement of the Talmud given by Frankel (Vorstudien zu der Septuaginta, 1841, S. 25 ff.) is not decisive. We can only say that the threefold division of the canonical Scriptures was in existence when the grandson of Sirach in Alexandria wrote the Prologue to his Greek translation of the book of Proverbs. But this would lead to no new result, even if the investigations of Grätz (in Frankel's Monatschrift 1875, S. 46 f., with whom Fuerst agrees, Geschichte des Karäerthums, 1862, S. 132,) had established the fact that the Book of Proverbs was collected in the beginning of the third century B. C., or according to Horowitz, (Das Buch Jesus Sirach, 1865), about 250 B. C. For the word grandson must not be taken too precisely. The author of the Prologue states that he arrived in Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of Euergetes. Now since Ptolemy iii. Euergetes ruled only twenty-five years, (246-221), we are obliged to think of Ptolemy vii., Euergetes ii., who was associate regent 170 B. C., so that Jesus the Siracide could not have arrived in Egypt until the year 132. If we assume, on the other hand, that his own grandfather compiled the Book of Proverbs, its compilation could not have occurred earlier than between 180 and 170 B. C.

:

[The division into five books was certainly the work of the last editor. The first three books were ready to his hand in essentially their present form. The last two books were formed by collecting various groups of Psalms then existing in separate collections. The division of the 4th and 5th books is not clear except from the arbitrary division of the doxology, for Pss. cvi. and cvii. really belong together as reciprocal to one another as Ewald shows (Die Dichter ii. 495.) These two latter books contain then the following groups with some intermediate Psalms of whose position it is difficult to see the reason. (1.) Beginning with a Psalm of Moses (Ps. xc.), one similar to it in many respects is added. Then follows a group of 7 Psalms (Ps. xcii.-c.) of the same author as Ewald shows. Delitzsch regards this group as beginning with Ps. xci. and calls it the "Reihe deuterojesaianischen Psalmen." "In them all is that mild elevation, sunny cheerfulness, serene spirituality and New Testament breadth of view, which we admire in the second part of the book of Isaiah, and they are likewise connected together by the use of the anadiplosis and many similarities in feeling and sound," (Comm. 588.) This same group is called by Binnie (The Psalms; their history, teachings and use, 1870, p. 96) the songs of the Millennium. (2.) Another group is formed by Pss. ciii.-cvii. Delitzsch regards Pss. civ.-cvii. as a tetralogy. "Ps. civ. derives its material from the history of creation, Ps. cv. from the period before and at the beginning of the history of Israel, Ps. cvi. from the history of Israel in Egypt, in the wilderness, in the land of promise until the exile, Ps. cvii. from the time of the Restoration." These Psalms follow Ps. ciii. ascribed to David, of which Ewald (Dichter ii. 487,) says that it is in a reciprocal connection with Ps. civ. This group is followed by three Psalms ascribed to David, of which Ps. cviii. may belong to the previous group as a song of praise (although the latter half of the Psalm is found in Ps. lx. of the 2d Book). (3.) A third group is formed by Pss. cxi.-cxviii. of which Pss. cxiii.-cxviii. is the Hallel. Delitzsch supposes that it follows Ps. cx., "because it puts they of Ps. cx. 4, in a more extended historical light, in that it adds one series of praises to another in praising the works and institutions of Jehovah." Then follows the long alphabetical Psalm cxix. A fourth group is made up of the pilgrim songs Pss. cxx.-cxxxiv., which are followed by Ps. cxxxv. (which is sometimes regarded as a part of the previous Psalm, vid. Delitzsch in loco), and Ps. cxxxvi. the great Hallel. Delitzsch (Comm. p. 731) informs us that the entire group Pss. cxix.-cxxxvi. was called the great Hallel in its widest significance; but that Ps. cxxxvi. ordinarily bore this name, whilst the ordinary Hallel was Pss. cxiii.-cxviii. We now have a song of the captivity and a group of Davidic Psalms (Ps. cxxxviii.-cxlv.), the last of which, Ps. cxlv., begins the final group of doxologies (Ps. cxlv.-cl.) which Ewald ascribes to the same author.-C. A. B.]

(Fritzsche, et al.) Nor does the fact that the book of Proverbs contains distinct references to individual Psalms bring us any nearer a result (vid. Beiträge zur Einleitung in das A. T. von H. Gelbe, 1866, S. 4). This circumstance, however, is significant, that the Septuagint concludes with the apocryphal Psalm (cli.) on the victory of David over Goliath, which is designated in the superscription as, "A Psalm of David written with his own hand, not of the number of the Psalms ascribed to him." The number of the canonical Psalms (150) was therefore fixed before the addition of this apocryphal Psalm. "And yet the translator finding it in existence, clearly proves that between his time and the conclusion of the Psalter, as found in the canon, a considerable period must have elapsed" (Ewald, i. 266, Neu. Ausarbeit.). Now the liturgical use of the Psalms encourages the assumption of a very early translation, while Hitzig's conjecture that it was made after the translation of the prophets, has no other motive than the interest of his hypothesis. The Septuag. itself assumes that the time of Nehemiah was the period of the cessation of the composition of Psalms, vid. Dillmann (Jahrb. für deutsche Theol. 1858, S. 457).

The numbering of the Psalms is variously given.* Many Hebrew manuscripts unite Iss. i. and ii., and likewise Pss. xlii. and xliii. and cxvi. and cxvii. Ps. cxviii. is on the other hand, divided sometimes in two and sometimes in three. In many cases the entire number is set down at 149. Delitzsch, in fact, refers to a numbering found in a Hagadabook in which there are but 147 Psalms, corresponding to the years of Jacob's life. The Septuag. likewise originally united the first two Psalms, and still like the Vulgate unites Pss. ix. and x., so that from Ps. x. to cxlvii. the numbering of the Septuagint remains one Psalm less than the Hebrew text, until it reaches the latter Ps. which it divides. By another variation Pss. cxiv. and cxv. are united, while Ps. cxvi. is divided. Attention must be paid to this in the citations of the Church fathers.†

5. THE LITURGICAL USE OF THE PSALMS IN ISRAEL.

All the Psalms were not originally composed for liturgical use, nor with direct reference to the Church of God, as has been assumed from various grounds, by Dursch, Hengstenb. and Olshausen. They are adapted, however, by their contents and form, to such an application, and they served that liturgical purpose in part in the first temple, but especially in the second temple. Some Psalms, moreover, were destined from the first for the divine service of the temple. This will be more specifically set forth, hereafter, in its connection. At present we confine ourselves to a general survey.

Whatever our conclusion respecting the use of Ps. cvi. in 1 Chron. xvi., it, at least, establishes the custom of that period to sing Psalms in the temple on festal occasions (Hengstenb. iv. 1, 168). But the Chronicler must have been a contemporary of Ezra, or Nehemiah, in which case his labors fall between 536 and 400 B. C. (Hävernick, Keil, Movers, et al.) or he must have lived (from the genealogy 1 Chron. iii. 18 f.), in the latter days of the Per

*["The many divergencies in the numbering of the Psalms may be easily accounted for, if we remember that the original MSS. employed no other means of marking the beginning of a new Psalm, than a short space, or at most, the beginning of a new line, except in the case of those Psalms which were separated by superscriptions and these latter were doubtless many of them of late date. The noticeably similar contents of many of the Psalms and the sudden transitions of thought or feeling so natural to this kind of poetry, would render the copyist all the more likely to unite two Psalms in one, or to divide one Psalm in two quite unconsciously." Perowne.-J. B. H.]

[We add to this section some appropriate remarks of Perowne. "It is plain, then, that these ancient Hebrew songs and hymns must have suffered a variety of changes in the course of time, similar to those which may be traced in the older religious poetry of the Christian Church, where this has been adapted by any means to the object of some later compiler. Thus, hymns once intended for private use became adapted to public. Words and expressions applicable to the original circumstances of the writer, but not applicable to the new purpose to which the hymn was to be put, were omitted or altered. It is only in a critical age that any anxiety is manifested to ascertain the original form in which a poem appeared. The practical use of hymns in the Christian Church, and of the Psalms in the Jewish, far outweighed all considerations of a critical kind; or rather, these last never occurred. Hence it has become a more difficult task than it otherwise would have been to ascertain the historical circumstances under which certain Psalms were written. Some traces we find leading us to one period of Jewish history; others which lead to another. Often there is a want of cohesion between the parts of a Psalm; often an abruptness of transition which we can hardly account for, except on the hypothesis that we no longer read the Psalm in its original form."-C. A. B.]

sian rule, or at the latest early in the Grecian period (Zunz, Ewald, Bertheau, Dillmann, Bleek, Stähelin). Now, in spite of the appearance of a didactic and parenectical treatment in his style, and the controversy concerning some of his statements, especially in our present text; his accounts are still regarded by our modern critics as essentially historical notwithstanding the opinions of De Wette and Gramberg to the contrary, (Stähelin, Spezielle Einl. in die kanon. Bücher des A. T., 1862, S. 155). This is especially true of David's regulations for worship, so that we may safely infer from the information given by the Chronicler, that the Psalms were in liturgical use during the period of the first temple. This is favored also by the vow of King Hezekiah to sing his songs in the house of the Lord, Is. xxxviii. 20, and apart from the prophet Jonah, by the remark in Jer. xxxiii. 11, that the voice should be heard again of those who say, "Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endureth forever," and of those who should bring the sacrifice of praise to the house of the Lord. Even R. H. Graf (Die geschichtl. Bücher des A. T., 1866, S. 245), whose general opinion of the Book of Chronicles, as a source of historical information, is so unfavorable, admits that they approach nearer to history in referring many of the regulations of the temple service to Hezekiah and Josiah than in ascribing them to David.

Aside from the conclusion to be drawn from 1 Chron. xvi. the formula employed in 1 Chron. xvi. 41, and reappearing 2 Chron. v. 13; vii. 13; xx. 21; Ezra iii. 11, taken probably from Ps. cxxxvi., favors the view that the Psalms were liturgically employed during the period of the second temple, as songs for festal occasions. The same is true of the formula, "To sing with praise and thanksgiving," which occurs frequently in connection with Ezra and Nehemiah, and which is certainly not without reference to the Hallelujah Psalms, and the "praise" in Psalms cv.-cvii, cxv., cxxxvi. (comp. Stähelin, Zur Einleit. in die Psalmen, 3). Furthermore, the agreement of many Psalms, especially in the fourth and fifth books, with the prayers of Ezra ix. and Nehemiah ix.; and finally the musical and liturgical remarks in the Psalms themselves, which are found, although in a somewhat enlarged and extended form, in the Septuag., which was composed during the period of the second temple, prove that the Psalms were at that time liturgically employed.

From the Talmud (Mischna, Tract. thamid; Gemara Tr. Kidduschim in Lud. de Dieu, Animadv. p. 389,) we learn more particularly, that on the first day of the week, at the morning sacrifice, Levites were appointed to sing Ps. xxiv.; on the second day Ps. xlviii.; on the third day Ps. lxxxii.; on the fourth day Ps. xcii.; on the fifth day Ps. lxxxi.; on the sixth day Ps. xciii.; on the seventh day Ps. xcii. Respecting the ritual cf. 11. For the chief and the intermediate feast days there were other Psalms prescribed concerning which tradition is partly at variance and partly silent. While, for example, at the present day, Ps. lxv. is sung at the close of the feast of Tabernacles (schemini azereth) and the xxix. on the feast of Pentecost, the Septuag. designates Ps. xxix. for the close of the former festival, and the Talmud gives no account at all of the liturgy for the latter day, while the commentators are divided between Pss. vi. and xii. Pss. xxix.; l. 16; xciv. 16; xciv. 8; lxxxi. 7; lxxxii. 5 b., are assigned for the intervening days of the feast of Tabernacles. Ps. xxx. was appointed to be sung on the presentation of the firstlings. Eighteen times in the year, viz., on the first two days of the Passover, on the eight days of Succoth, i. e., the feast of Tabernacles, and on the eight days of the chanuka or festival of the dedication of the Temple, introduced by Jud. Maccab., the hallel Pss. cxiii.-cxviii. was a part of the festal service. Even as early as the Alexandr. version, they bore the superscription, 'Aλhovta. This hallel, likewise called the Egyptian (hallel hammizri), was afterwards called the great hallel to distinguish it from the little hallel, in which Ps. cxv. 1-12; Ps. cxvi. 1-11 were omitted. In the ancient ritual only Ps. cxxxvi., with its refrain repeated twenty-six times, "For his mercy endureth forever," was called hallel haggadôl. In the Talmud and Midrash this title was also applied to Ps. cxxxv. 4-cxxxvi., and to Ps. cxx.-cxxxvi. On the feast of the Passover the hallel was so divided, that Pss. cxiii. and cxiv. were sung before the meal, before taking the second festal cup; Pss. cxv-cxviii. after the meal, after filling the fourth cup. At the time of the full moon, the hallel was customarily sung, although not legally prescribed (Tr. Soferim.)

As examples of the standing use of single verses of the Psalms at that period Delitzsch

(Zur Geschichte, & 179), adduces, 1.) The hosanna which was sung by the priests, in marching around the altar of burnt offering, shaded with willow twigs, on the seven days of the Passover, the last day thereby receiving the name of the great hosanna; 2.) Ps. xliv. 24, as a daily cry of the Levites in times of need and apostasy; 3.) Ps. cxxvii. 1, which verse the nobles of Jerusalem used on the night preceding the day of atonement, in calling out to the High Priest repeatedly, lest sleep should overpower him.

After the destruction of the temple, prayer came to occupy more and more the place of sacrifice, and the synagogue service became the vital centre of Jewish life, "the only bearer and banner of their nationality, in the ruin of all their other institutions" (Zunz, Die gottesdienstl. Vorträge, S. 1). Its two parts consisted in the reading of the Scriptures and singing of Psalms and other psalm-like passages. The reading was conducted by the teachers, and those versed in the Scriptures, the "wise men," and it was connected with expositions, (Midrash). The singing was conducted by the leaders in prayer, "the representatives of the assembly," who delivered in a singing style, Psalms or songs of a psalm-like character which were introduced gradually, and grew up out of free renderings of passages from the Psalms and other biblical sentences. This poetry (pint) was like that series of exclamations and praises resembling litanies used on the day of atonement, or those declarations of Divine pardon composed of passages of Scripture which were connected with penitential prayers, and which were called selicha, and were accompanied with hymns in rhyme (pismon) in the recitation of which the congregation united, answering with passages from the Bible or other responses, (Zunz, Die synag. Poesie, S. 89). This poetry was originally composed of fragments without rhyme and metre, usually with an alphabetical arrangement of the lines or sentences. As it gradually became richer in contents, so it became more artistic in form and more difficult of expression, and finally as a whole was reduced to definite technical rules, (l. c. S. 60,) in which, however, the grand culmination of the strophe was in the biblical passage with which it concluded, (l. c. S. 95), which was selected with special reference to the significance of the day, or its striking effect upon the ear or mind. There was, however, for centuries, no fixed arrangement of prayers, and no prayer-book to which the leaders in prayer were restricted. They exercised, in fact, the greatest freedom in the choice of Psalms and hymns for divine service, and in the manner of their delivery, and not unfrequently appeared themselves in the character of poets or singers, with original productions. They were generally confined, however, to local usage (Minhag.), (Zunz, Die Ritus des synag. Gottesdienstes geschichtl. entwickelt, 1859, S. 2), until the middle of the ninth century (l. c. S. 7), when a prevailing type of festal poetry had been formed for the entire year. The usage of the West (Palestine) extended itself over the hymns of Christians, particularly German nations, whilst the usage of the East (Babylon) established itself in the countries of Islam and in Spain. For the Psalms at present used by the Jews, in family devotions and the worship of the synagogue, vid. in J. F. Schroeder, Satzungen und Gebräuche des talmudisch. rabinischen Judenthums 1851, S. 25, ff. Among the Karmans the cxix. Ps. is read in seven divisions on the Sabbaths preceding the feast of weeks, and is used as a prayer in the month Tebet, on Monday and Thursday nights (Zunz, Die Ritus, S. 159).

86. LITURGICAL SUPERSCRIPTIONS OF PARTICULAR PSALMS.

The following indications of the special liturgical use of individual Psalms may be drawn from their superscriptions.

1. Psalm xcii. was designed for the Sabbath. The Sept. represents other Psalms as designed for other days of the week.

2. The statement, Ps. xxx., "A Psalm sung at the dedication of the house of David," is referred by Venema, Hengstenb., Keil and Tholuck, to the consecration of the site selected for the future temple, upon which an altar had been erected provisionally, whence it was called the house of Jehovah, 1 Chron. xxii. 1. But David himself was not taken sick with the plague, which was visited upon the people as a punishment for the numbering, mentioned 2 Sam. xxiv. 17, and which was the occasion of the erection of the altar, v. 18 sq. The Psalmist, however, speaks of his personal deliverance from a sickness which threatened

his life. Such a reference is therefore inappropriate. Calvin, Clauss, et al. take it as referring to a consecration of the palace, which had been desecrated by Absalom, on David's return. The word house, used absolutely, certainly may signify "palace," as is clearly proved by the official title of the major domo, ascher al-labajith; but the Psalm does not speak of deliverance from the hand of an enemy, but of recovery from sickness. Most commentators, therefore, take it as a reference to the re-built citadel on Mount Zion, and call attention to the fact that David regarded this structure as a pledge of the firmness and greatness of his kingdom, (2 Sam. v. 12), the immediate occupation of which was prevented by a severe sickness. De Wette's assumption that there was in general use a song appropriated to the consecration of houses (Deut. xx. 5), and that this Psalm was to be sung to the melody of that song, is without foundation. Ewald regards it as an ancient song of thanksgiving, which was afterwards sung at the consecration of the second temple. The later superscription then says that this Psalm should be sung again at each anniversary of that day.

3. The statement, Pss. xxxviii. and lxx., lehazkir=to bring to remembrance, Septuag. eis ėváμvnoi nepì (Tou) oaßßárov. This, according to some, refers to the sufferings in remembrance of which David is said to have composed this Psalm. Others apply the expression to the person of David himself, who brings himself in remembrance to Jehovah. Thus Gesenius in the Thesaurus. Olshausen regards it in general as a liturgical designation equivalent to "prayer." Michaelis (Krit. Colleg., S. 419), on the contrary, gives it a more specific application at the sacrifice; Ewald, with reference to Isa. lxvi. 3, still more particularly=at the offering of incense; cf. Ps. cxli. 2; Rev. viii. 4, as a supplicatory prayer in contrast with lethodah, Ps. c.=for the thank-offering. Delitzsch conjectures that the expression is not employed in a symbolic but in a proper liturgical sense at the presentation of the askârah, and remarks (Comment. I. 297), "At the presentation of the meat offering (minchot) a portion, viz., a handful of meal mingled with oil and all of the incense, was consumed upon the altar; this portion was calledávánois, because the ascending fragrance served to bring the offerer in remembrance with God." Delitzch also regards the Hiphil as denominative, and believes that the Chronicler refers to the hazkir with the hodu and hallelujah Psalms, 1 Chron. xvi. 4. Concerning the later ritual, vid. ? 11.

4. The superscription of Ps. c., "A Psalm of praise," is regarded by Mendelssohn, Ewald and Delitzsch as appropriate especially to the thanks-offering.

5. The superscription of Pss. cxx.-cxxxiv., shîr hammaaloth; Septuag. ¿ðì tõv ávaßaðμāv; Vulgate: cantica graduum, from which they have received the liturgical title, "Psalms of degrees," signifies according to Luther, "songs in the higher choir," which refers, according to Bake, to the singers who stood upon an elevated position. According to an uncertain tradition the opinion had prevailed that these fifteen Psalms were sung upon the fifteen steps, which led from the court of the women to that of the men of Israel, thus, according to Lyra one for every step. This, however, is not the statement of the Talmud. It simply compares the fifteen songs with those fifteen steps on which the music of the priests sounded on the first day of the feast of the Tabernacles, vid. ? 11. The comparison does not justify the inference that the Psalms were sung on these steps or that the title, "Psalms of degrees" was taken from this locality. No more can we base on the Syriac the supposition that there is here a metrical designation (J. D. Michaelis, Zu Lowth, De sacra poesi, etc., prælect. 25 nach Assemani), and that it indicates a rhythm advancing by degrees (Gesenius, zu Jes. xvii. 13; xxvi. 1). Dietrich (in Delitzsch's Comment. ii. 451, f.) has shown the error of this supposition and remarks that the Syriac sebletho (or, according to an easier pronunciation sebelto, plural sebloto) simply indicates the division of a greater whole, and occurs, therefore, with reference to the division of the Psalms for the use of the church (cf. 13). E. Meier, (Form der hebr. Poesie, 1853, S. 31), understands by maalah, the simplest and smallest strophe, consisting of four members, and supposes these Psalms to have been designated from this, the prevailing form in this group. According to Herder, Eichhorn, Hengstenb., Reuss et al., these Psalms were composed at different times and for different purposes, but were afterwards appointed to be sung in the pilgrimages towards Jerusalem, for which they were especially adapted by their rapid rhythm and their contents referring mainly to Jerusalem and the sanc