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over, was the all but invariable custom of the prophets, not only as a general heading of their predictions, but for detached portions, especially those of a lyrical character, which were intended for separate recitation, as for instance, ·Isai. ii. 1, xiii. 1; Habakkuk iii. 1. In fact, it would be less difficult to account for the presence of a distinct title, than for the omission of one, in those psalms, which on that account the Talmudists call "orphans," or fatherless.

(2) Again, there is no probability that a title once given by the author, or the first collector, would be intentionally changed. It was not the custom of antiquity to invent, or materially to alter, such designations. Errors of transcription, omissions or displacements might occur; but all ancient nations, the Hebrews more especially, had a religious reverence for traditions touching the great names of their ancestors: what they received they transmitted, to the best of their power intact and unchanged, to their children.

We must, however, bear in mind that, useful and important as these inscriptions may be, they are by no means indispensable: the subject-matter of the psalms, their doctrinal and practical bearings, may be elicited without such aid: and critics of very different schools have admitted that the authenticity or accuracy of each inscription may be fearlessly discussed without impugning the authority of Holy Writ. The variations of the inscriptions in the Septuagint and other ancient versions sufficiently prove that they were not regarded as fixed portions of the Canon, and that they were open to conjectural emendation: on the other hand, the fact that they were to a great extent unintelligible

to the writers of the LXX. is a conclusive evidence of their antiquity.

The first suggestion of doubt appears to have been made by Theodorus of Mopsuestia, a man of great ability,

whose latitudinarian tendencies were shewn in far more important questions. Since the publication of a treatise by Vogel', the general tendency of German criticism until very lately has been un

1 The work is quoted by Moll in Lange's 'Bibelwerk,' 'Inscriptiones psalmorum serius demum additas videri,' 1767.

favourable to the authority of the titles. Some of the ablest critics disregard them altogether. Hupfeld holds them to be wholly worthless, for the most part mere conjectures of uncritical collectors. On the other hand, their general trustworthiness and value are firmly maintained by German critics certainly equal in learning and honesty of purpose to their opponents, as for instance, Hengstenberg, Tholuck, Keil, and Delitzsch, whose work 'Symbolæ ad Psalmos illustrandos isagogicæ,' 1846, has a standard value. Critics again, who occupy a middle position, while admitting the force of objections in the case of certain psalms, unhesitatingly reject the sweeping conclusions of Hupfeld and his party. Thus Bleek holds that in the case of many inscriptions there is conclusive evidence of very great antiquity, especially in reference to events which are either not recorded, or differently related, in the historical books. Moll again, one of the very latest (1869) and ablest commentators, asserts, that on the whole the result of laborious research has issued in a far more favourable estimate of the age and character of these inscriptions.

At present we may confine our inquiry to the authorship of those psalms, which bear the names of the writers, more especially those which are ascribed to David: proceeding in the first place to a consideration of the internal characteristics.

§ 6. Characteristics of David's Psalms.

A considerable number of the psalms are recognized by critics, with very few exceptions, as belonging severally to distinct periods in David's personal history. They have peculiarities of thought and both the authorship, and the date; they style, which go far towards determining abound in allusions to local or temporary circumstances; and they indicate progressive stages in the development of a bination of vigour, dignity, and grace. character, which stands alone in its com

§7. Psalms of the first period of
David's life.

The following may be ascribed, some without hesitation, others with a high dence of the ancient inscriptions, and on degree of probability, both on the evithat of internal indications, to the period

of his youth, or early manhood, first at the court of Saul, then during his exile, whether in the wilderness, among the Philistines, at Gath, or Ziklag, up to the close of Saul's reign. vii. viii. (?) xvi. (?)

xi. xii. xiii. xvii. xxii. xxiii. (?)

xxxiv. XXXV. lii. liv. lvi. lvii. lix. The most striking characteristics recognized for the most part by critics in those psalms, which they severally accept as belonging to this period, may be classified under the following heads.

1. Consciousness of innocence. This feeling is more strongly expressed in the early psalms of David than in any Hebrew composition: it continues unbroken up to his great fall; after that crisis it is never found without some distinct limitation, as a relative innocence, with reference to accusations of his enemies, or to the discharge of public duties. It occurs in broad general terms in those psalms which are admitted to be the earliest of his extant poems; he describes himself as "upright in heart," vii. 10, xi. 2; as righteous and loved by the "righteous Lord," xi. 7. This righteousness he specially dwells upon as thoroughly tested, tried and approved by God, to Whom he directly appeals as a witness of his integrity, cf. vii. 3, 8, 9. He describes himself as just to all, not only kind to his friends, but actively beneficent to his enemies, vii. 4, xxxv. 13, 14: and he attributes his persecutions to malice unprovoked by any fault or iniquity, vii. 3-5.

speaks of his "honour," v. 5; the word is very strong in Hebrew, implying dignity and weight; it occurs frequently in his later psalms, when it refers generally to his kingly rank: but the feeling of personal nobleness is characteristic of David: from his first entrance on public life he knew himself to be a peculiar object of divine favour, with a high and special vocation, and he felt in himself powers and gifts (which, however, he is careful to attribute to God's love, see xviii. 32-36), such as would enable him. to perform the work entrusted to him. No similar feeling is shewn by any other Psalmist, nor, to the same extent, by other Hebrew writers. It is in fact the consciousness of an election, which marked David from youth onward as a type of the Messiah.

4. This feeling again is connected with others, which appertain partly to David's earnest and impulsive temperament, partly to an early and imperfect state in the development of ethical and spiritual principles. The Hebrews generally felt and expressed bitter enmity towards those by whom they were harshly and unjustly treated; but by no other writer is this feeling expressed with such force and variety. He compares his persecutors to lions, to savage beasts, xxxv. 17; he describes their malice, their ferocity, their craft and treachery, vii. 14, 15, xi. 2; their calumnies, vii. 3, xii. 2, XXXV. 11, 20, lvi. 5, lvii. 4; their pride, xii. 2, 3, lii. 1, 7, lix. 12; their sensuality and insolence, xvii. 10, xxxv. 16; above all, their utter ungodliness, xii, lii. 7. We find anticipations of the utter ruin of the persecutors, lix. 7; they are continually the objects of God's wrath, vii.

2. This feeling is connected with intense devotion, shewn especially in absolute trust. The first word in both psalms, which critics regard as his earli-11, Who will rain upon them snares, fire, est productions, is an expression of trust; vii. 1, “O Lord my God, in Thee do I put my trust;" xi. 1, "In the Lord put I my trust." Compare the psalms which the inscriptions assign to this period; at Gath, lvi. 4 and 11; in the cave, lvii. 1; and on the night before his flight, lix. 9, 10, 17. This feeling indeed is not peculiar to the early psalms, but in them it is specially associated with consciousness of freedom from guilt.

3. A strong sense of personal dignity. The first expression of this feeling occurs in the seventh psalm: David already

and brimstone, and a horrible tempest; xi. 6. Such anticipations are characteristic of psalms in the second book, which the inscriptions assign to David's youth, e.g. lv. 15, 19, 23; lvi. 7, 9; lvii. 6; lix. 11; compare the words of David, 1 S. xxvi. 19. A careful examination of the expressions used in the psalms now in question will satisfy the reader that they bear strong marks of individuality, and of feelings, if not wholly peculiar, yet specially appropriate, to the circumstances and character of David in his youth. Compare 1 S. xxvi. 19.

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5. The imagery in these psalms, if not peculiar to David, has yet characteristics which bring his personality vividly before our minds, and help us to realize his position and feelings. They abound in references to warfare; the Psalmist's nind is constantly occupied by thoughts of strife and battle, the onset, the desperate struggle, the sudden defeat, the shout of victory. In his earliest psalms we have the wicked in ambush, bending his bow; but detected and discomfited, falling into his own pit, slain by his own weapons: Ps. vii. 15, 16. To David God is specially present as a God of battle, wielding the spear and the sword, taking hold of shield and buckler (Ps. xxxv. 1-3); as Himself the Psalmist's Shield, or more commonly his Rock, his Fortress, his Stronghold, images specially connected with the dangers and escapes of David's exile. All these figures recur constantly in these psalms, but are comparatively rare in those which are attributed to other composers. Other images belong rather to David's experience as shepherd. The love of nature is not as yet shewn in conscious reflections, unless indeed we attribute the eighth and the twenty-third psalms to David's youth: but, as might be expected in one at once so full of genius and so actively engaged, it is manifested spontaneously and naturally in vivid portraiture of all that passes before him; forms of grace and beauty; wild beasts tearing, rending, or crouching, and then rushing on their prey; storms and tempests alternating with sudden flashes of light, and with scenes of peaceful loveliness. We have before us the early stage in the formation of a mind susceptible to impressions, which will find fuller utterance in later years.

6. The characteristics of David's early style are so strongly marked, that they are discernible even through the veil of a translation. The English reader will not indeed recognize the archaisms of word and construction, which chiefly attract the attention, and determine the judgment, of critics: it may suffice here to state that, in the great majority of these psalms, they are numerous and unquestionable. But the suddenness and abruptness of the transitions, the complete predominance of feeling over external form, the elasticity

of a spirit which feels every blow, and recoils instinctively from pain, yet at once recovers itself, putting forth new powers and overcoming with little effort all impediment and opposition, these and similar indications of genius of the highest order in an early process of development force themselves upon every mind capable of appreciating and sympathizing with them. Attention may also be called to the metrical structure, which, as will be presently shewn, has some marked peculiarities in those early psalms. §8. Psalms of the second period, between his accession to the throne and his great sin. On grounds partly stated in the commentary the following psalms may be more or less confidently attributed to this period.

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With David's accession to the throne a noticeable change, not indeed of direction, but of progress and development, comes over his spirit.

We observe in the first place that the spirit of devotion, ever increasing in earnestness and warmth, and expressed in terms of tender affection (see note on xviii. 1), has now a kingly character. The key-note is struck in the two psalms (xv, xxiv) which were recited when the ark was transferred to Jerusalem. David proclaims Jehovah as King of glory, and Lord of Hosts, attributing all past triumphs to His might; His dominion extends over the whole world, of which He is at once the Creator and Lord; a declaration of special importance, made just at the time when a local and permanent sanctuary was inaugurated. Warfare has a religious significance; but acceptance with Jehovah, and all access to His Presence, are determined exclusively by moral and spiritual qualifications. As a subject David had protested against deceit, slander, corruption and oppression; as a king he proclaims the expulsion of the guilty from the Tabernacle and the Holy Hill. In two other psalms, which probably belong to the same period, we have the same strain of thought: in the twenty-sixth David ex

presses his own determination to keep aloof from the sins thus specially designated; in the hundred-and-first he announces his resolve to suppress them in his kingdom, to drive away the froward, to cut off slanderers, to destroy the wick ed, and "cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord." The great outburst of devotion comes in the eighteenth psalm, which exhausts the experience of his early manhood. The reader will note, as characteristic of David, the accumulation of appellatives at the beginning (1, 2); his unshaken confidence in the midst of dangers (3-6); his realization of the might and majesty of God, Whose interposition is described as a Theophany, in language full of vivid perception of the grandeur of natural phenomena, and of the living Power to which they owe their true sublimity (7-15); the constant reference of all deliverance to Jehovah (16-18) is combined with a distinct consciousness that it depends upon a faithful discharge of all kingly duties (20-24). In this psalm we find the first intimation of consciousness of sin (see note on v. 23): on the other hand, a singularly full description of personal qualities, speed, force, elasticity, and indomitable energies, which however he ascribes entirely to the favour, and-a very remarkable word-the gentleness of the Lord (v. 35). As might be expected, the sense of dignity finds fuller expression at this period; it takes a different form, and rises into a higher sphere. The king feels that he occupies the position to which he had been called, and for which his qualifications had been tested and approved, and now for the first time recognizes the fact that it involves headship over the heathen (43), and a vocation to be teacher of the world; see note on v. 49, and compare ix. 8-11. We find indeed the same feeling of burning indignation which characterized his early psalms; it is equally strong, but less personal; it is directed against the ungodly (4), against traitors (18), oppressors (27), and foreign enemies (37-45).

The style of this period differs to some extent from that of David's youth. In some psalms the construction is difficult, owing chiefly to archaic forms; but, as a general rule, the flow of language is fuller

and easier, the transitions less frequent and less abrupt: the eighteenth psalm, indeed, of which the authorship is not open to question, has a certain diffuseness, which may partly be accounted for as suitable to a liturgical, and probably a processional hymn, which would necessarily occupy a considerable time in the recitation; but for which a still more satisfactory reason may be assigned, if we regard the gradually increasing length of each successive portion, which gives a peculiar character to the structure of this grand Pæan, as a fitting expression of a heart overflowing with gratitude, and stirred by the remembrance of countless blessings.

§9. Third period, from the fall of David to his flight.

V. vi. xxxii. xxxviii. xxxix. xl. xli. li. lv. lx. lxiv. In this series the change comes suddenly, even as the temptation of David and his fall. One psalm, the fifty-first, sets the king before us, and bares his heart in the crisis of his agony, in the depth of an abasement unparalleled in the records of God's servants. Yet in this psalm the old characteristics of devout trust in God (1, 14), of consciousness of a high vocation (11, 13), of generosity and unselfish patriotism (see note on v. 18), of a spirit at once impressionable and elastic, feeling to its inmost depths the wrath of God, but sustained by an ineradicable sense of union with Him, make us feel that we have the same man, whose teaching (see v. 13) will, like that of St Peter (cf. Luke xxii. 32), be henceforth more persuasive and heart-converting, full of sympathy and experimental knowledge, flowing from "a broken spirit" and "contrite heart." The same strain pervades all the psalms of this period: in no psalm to the end of David's life do we find the early consciousness of innocence: in none is there an absence of the sustaining influence of God's free Spirit. We trace the course of David's inner life, and of the outward events by which his sin was at once punished and corrected. In the notes on these psalms it will be shewn that some (xxxii) were probably written soon after his repentance; contrasting the bitterness of past

struggles with the blessedness of restoration. At a still later period we find again indications of renewed suffering, doubtless connected with the misery caused by the guilt of his children; the thirty-eighth psalm introduces a series, extending to the end of the first book, in which spiritual and physical prostration, outward calamities, successful machinations of conspirators headed and guided by one arch-traitor, the confidant and bosom friend of early years, are represented in strains full of vivid imagery and intense feeling. Such are the characteristics of other psalms probably belonging to the same interval (v, lv, lviii); yet even the fifty-fifth, which gives a full portraiture of his inner sufferings, and of the circumstances which endangered and afflicted him most sorely, breathes a spirit of hopeful prayer, and winds up with the key-note of his earliest psalm, "but I will trust in Thee."

§10. Psalms written probably at the time of his flight, or before his restoration.

iii.

lxi.

iv. xxvii. xxviii. xxxi.

lxiii. lxix. lxx. cxliii. Of these the sixty-third is probably the earliest, composed on the morning after the flight from Jerusalem: it illustrates most remarkably the characteristics, so often noted, of susceptibility to all impressions, and elasticity; in none indeed is the contrast more strongly marked; by a sudden rebound the king rises at once to a joyous consciousness of God's continued help, and of his own salvation. Here too the indignation against traitors, which in youth had been intensely personal, in middle age dignified and kingly, assumes a prophetical character; see notes on vv. 8, 9. The same feelings breathe in the sixty-first, written probably after crossing the Jordan; and in the twenty-seventh, which appears to have been composed shortly before the decisive battle: the remembrance of past guilt haunts David, v. 9; but all other thoughts are swallowed up in the certainty that he would be lifted up, offer sacrifices of joy, and see again the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. The psalm winds up with the old strain, adapted to his actual circumstances, "Wait, I say, on the Lord."

§11. Psalms belonging to the last period of David's reign.

To this period may probably belong those psalms in which the didactic character predominates: in none is the identity of spirit with the productions of youth and early manhood more conspicuous than in the 139th; in none is there a more perfect development of the noblest and most spiritual elements of David's nature. An intense realization of God's immediate and all-pervading presence, issuing in a consciousness of his own dependence and security; a feeling, not, as in early youth, of natural innocence, or, as in mid-life, of accepted penitence, but of a heart cleansed and renewed, and a life at last clear from every wicked way (24); a spirit at once humble and confident; a lively appreciation of the majesty and preciousness of God's purposes manifested in His works and dealings with man: such are the great thoughts in this psalm: and it is to be noted that, while we have the last, crowning form of the old ever-recurring strain of indignation and perfect hatred of the wicked, it is here grounded wholly on the sense of their antagonism to God. See vv. 21, 22 and compare 2 S. xxiii. 6, 7. The spirit of Ps. ciii., which is attributed to David, points to the same period: chastened, pardoned, healed and perfectly restored, the Psalmist calls on all creatures of Jehovah, all His works in all places of His dominion, to join in blessing Him.

As a general result it may be fairly maintained, (1) that by far the larger number of the psalms, attributed to David in the inscriptions, bear the characteristics which are most prominent and most peculiar in those, which critics, who accept any psalms as Davidic, unhesitatingly and unanimously ascribe to him. (2) Those characteristics are pointed out by critics in reference to psalms about which they differ most hopelessly. Psalms, which Ewald rejects or assigns to very late periods, are fixed upon by Hitzig, Köster, and others, as bearing undoubted marks either of extreme antiquity, or of the personal experience and character of David. (3) It is quite possible that some which bear the name of David underwent alterations, .probably in order to adapt them to the

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