PSALMS

found reason for regarding as the close of collections; that at 89'^ howeyer, occurs not at the close of the Elohistio Psalms, but six Psalms later. Now five of these six Psalms are drawn from the same sources as supplied the Elohistic editor, viz. from the 'prayers of David' (Ps 86) and the book "of the sons of Korah.' In Pss 42-89 we not improbably have the original Elohistic Psalter (Pss 42-83), enlarged by the addition of an appendix (Pss 84^89), in which the name ' Jahweh' was left unchanged, and consequently the form 'Elohim' ceases to predominate.

From the evidence thus far considered or suggested (it cannot here be given in greater detail), we may infer some such stages as these in the history of the Psalms before the completion of the Psalter: —

1. Compilation of a booli entitled 'of David' and in-cluding Pss 3-41 (except the untitled Ps 33).

2. Compilation of a second hymn-book entitled 'of David' (Pss 51-72, with exceptions).

3. Compilation of a book entitled 'of Asaph' (Asaph being the name of a guild of singers, Ezr 2^').

4. Compilation of a book entitled 'of the sons of Korah' (also probably a guild of singers; of. 2 Ch 20*^).

5. Compilation of 'the Elohistic Psalter' out of Psalms derived from 2. 3. 4 by an editor who generally substituted 'Elohim' ('God') for 'Jahweh' (EV 'the Lord').

6. Enlargement of 5 by the addition of Pss 84-89.

7. Compilation of a book entitled ' Songs of the Ascents.' Can we detect the existence of other earlier Psalters?

So far we have taken account mainly of titles of one type only and of titles which occur in groups. Dr. Briggs carries the argiunent from titles to the existence of collections of Psalms further. He infers that there was a collection of BEchtams or chosen pieces, whence Pss 16. 56-60 and Is SS'-^" were drawn; another collection of Uaschils or meditations, whence Pss 32. 42-45. 52-55. 74. 78. 88. 89. 142 were derived; another collection of Psalms proper, of poems set to music, whence the 57 Psalms described in the titles as Mlzmor (EV 'psalm') were derived; and yet another collection which bore the name of the musical director or choir master (EV ' the chief musician '), whence the 55'Psalm3 so entitled were derived. If this be the case, then the composite titles enable us to see that many Psalms stood successively in two or three collections before they obtained their place in the completed Psalter; e.g. Ps 19 — entitled 'of (or belonging to) the chief musician, a Psalm, of (or belonging to) David' — had previously been included in three distmct collections; and so also Ps 44 — entitled 'of the chief musician, of the sons of Korah, Maschil.' Perhaps the strongest case for these further collections is that of the chief musician's Psalter; hi any case, the English reader must be warned that the preposition prefixed to the 'chief musician' is the same as that prefixed to 'David' or 'Asaph' or 'the sons of Korah,' though in the first case RV renders 'for ' and m the latter cases 'of.' Consequently, since in many cases it is impossible, owing to intervening words (e.g. in Pss 12. 45) , to interpret such a combination as ' of the chief musician, of David,' 'of the chief musician, of the sons of Korah' of joint authorship, we must see In them either conflicting ascriptions of authorship placed side by side, or, far more probably, as just suggested, the titles of collections of Psalms or hymn-books to which they had previously belonged. It is then highly probable that in the first instance such titles as 'of David,' 'of Asaph,' 'of the sons of Korah,* were neither intended nor understood to name the author of the Psalm in question. But if this was so, we can also see that before the final stage m the growth of the Psalter they were misunderstood; for the title "of David' clearly implied authorship to the author (s) of the longer titles in Pss 7 and 8: it is scarcely less clear that the title implied authorship to the authors of other titles that suggest an historical setting (see, e.g., Pss 3. 57).

Titles of the Psalms. — Inasmuch as the terms occurring in the titles to the Psalms are not explained elsewhere in this Dictionary, It will be convenient to give here brief notes

PSALMS

on those which have not already been discussed. It may be said in general that great obscurity enshrouds the subject, and that, in spite of the many in^nious speoulationa to which the terms in question have given rise, it is hazardous to base, on any particular theories of interpretation, far- reaching conclusions. With few exceptions the titles of the latter part of the Psalter (Pss 90-150) are free from these terms.

Apparently we have in the'titles not only notes indicating the source whence the Psalm was deriveci (see above), but also in some cases notes defining the character of the Psalm (see below^ Nos. X2 and 13 and [?J No. 18), or some circum-stances of its use. Thus Ps 92 was to be used on the Sabbath, Ps 30 at the Feast of the Dedication (1 Mac 4^, Jn lO^s), celebrated from the time of the Maccabees onward; and Ps 100 on the occasion of offering thank-offering: -so also 'to bring to remembrance' (EV) in Pas 38 and 70 may rather mean 'at the time oi making the offering called azkarah ' (RV ' memorial,' e.g. Nu 5^) : see also No. 5 (below). This type of note is more frequent in the LXX, which assigns Pa 24 for the use of the first day of the week, Ps 48 for the second, Ps 94 for the third, Ps 93 for the day before the Sabbath. Othertitles, it is supposed, name, by the opening words of songs sung to it or otherwise, the tune to which thePsalm was to be sungiaee Aijeleth hash-shahar,Al-tashheth, Jonath-elem-rehokim, Shoshannim; see below), or the instru-ments which were to accompany the singing of the Psalm (? Nehiloth, Neginoih).

For ease of reference we give the terms in alphabetic order.

1. Aijeleth hash-shahar (Ps 22) is a transliteration of Heb. words which mean 'the hind of the morning'; the Heb. consonants might equally well mean ' the help of the morn-ing.' These words are preceded by the Heo. preposition ' c3,, which, among many others, has the meaning ' in accord-ance with,'andhereanain other similar titles not improbably means 'set to' (AV). The whole note, then, may mean that the Psalm was to be sung to the tune to which the song beginning 'the hind (or 'the help*) of the morning' had been accustomed to be sung. The renderings ' upon Aijeleth Shahar ' ( AV) and ' concerning Ai j eleth hash-shahar ' are also legitimate, but less probable. With this title cf . below Nos. 3> 7, 9» lOi 14, 19 (not all equally probable instances).

2. Alamoth(Ps46). This term and Sheminith (Pss 6. 12) must be treated together. They are preceded by the same preposition 'ai discussed under No. 1, and accordingly RV renders 'set to the Sheminith,* etc. But it is hardly likely, in view of 1 Ch Xb^^-^, that these terms are names of tunes, though they obviously have some reference to the music. The usual meaning of sheminith in Heb. is 'eighth,' of *alamoth 'young women'; so that the titles run 'upon' or 'according to' or 'set to the eighth' or 'the maidens.' 'The maidens,* it is conjectured, means 'the voices of maidens,' and that, it is further conjectured, stands for •the falsetto voice of males'; so that the whole phrase 'set to the maidens' would mean 'to be sung witn soprano voices.' Thence, it is inferred, 'set to the eighth' means 'sung with the bass voice.' All this, though it has found considerable acceptance and has sometimes been stated with little or no qualification, possesses no more than the value of an unverified and perhaps unverifiable guess.

3. Al-tashheth (Pss 57. 58. 59. 75). The words mean 'de-stroy not,' and may be the beginning of a vintage song cited in Is 658 • Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.' Then the note presumably directs that the Psalms shall be sung to the tune of this song (cf. No. 1). But the omission of the preposition 'al used in similar cases is suspicious.

4. The Chief Musician. See preced. colunm.

5. 'Ascents' (RV; 'degrees* AV), a song of (Pss 120-134). The Heb. may also be the plural of a compound expres-sion, and mean 'Songs of Ascent.' In the latter case the title of the whole collection has been prefixed to each Psalm (see above). 'Songs of Ascent' might mean 'Songs of the Ascent' (cf. Ezr 7^), from Babylon, but more probably ' Songs of the Ascent * to Jerusalem on the occasion of the greatyearly festivals. On the supposition that the meaning is ' A song of Ascents' (pi-), the phrase has been explained with reference to the 15 ascents' or 'steps' (such is the meaning of the Heb. word in Ex 2023, 1 K 10^" ), that led from the Women's Court to that of the men in the Temple area; it has been inferred that one of each of these 15 Psalms was sung on each of the 15 steps. Other ingenious but im-

Jrobable suggestions have been offered (cf., most lately, . W. Thirtle, Old Testament Problems).

6. Dedicationof the House, i.e. the Temple (Ps 30). See above and art. Dedication [Feast of the].

7. Gittith (Pss 8. 81. 84). The word is the fem. of the adj . derived from Gaih, In the three titles it is preceded by

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