סֵפֶר תְּהִכִּים songs of praise, and the collection תְּהִנִּים the Psalms

also, abbreviated,

, an appellation which applies to a part or , songs, odes,

only of the Psalmis. The term,

would be more correct.

The

The Psalms are lyric, in the proper sense; for with the Hebrews, as in the ancient world generally, song and music were connected, and the titles to most of the Psalms determine their connection with music, though in a manner which is often unintelligible to us. These compositions deserve, moreover, the name of lyric, on account of their character as works of taste. essence of lyric poetry is the immediate expression of feeling; and feeling is the sphere to which most of the Psalms belong. Pain, sorrow, fear, hope, joy, confidence, gratitude, submission to God, every thing that moves and elevates the soul, is expressed in these hymns.

In the Psalms we have merely the remains of the lyric poetry of the Hebrews. The productions of this class were undoubtedly far more numerous than would seem to have been the case from these remains, and spread through a wider and more diversified field. The Psalter is chiefly composed of religious and devotional hymns; but it cannot be maintained, that the lyric poetry of the Hebrews was exclusively devoted to the service of religion and of public worship. The supposition is sufficiently contradicted by those invaluable examples of another species of lyric poetry, which are preserved in other parts of the Scriptures; such as David's elegy over Saul and Jonathan, the song at the well (Numb. xxi. 17), and especially the Song of Solomon, although the last belongs to a somewhat different branch of poetical composition. In the Book of Psalms itself, there is one production which possesses an altogether secular character, namely, Ps. xlv. For most of the hymns which are extant, we are indebted probably to the religious use to which they were consecrated, rather than to any common poetical sympathy; and hence so few secular songs have been preserved from destruction.

In respect to their contents and character, the Psalms have been classified in the following manner:

* See De Wette's Commentar über die Psalmen, p. 3. Biblical Repository for 1833, p. 448.

I. Hymns in praise of Jehovah. 1. Generally as God of nature and of man, Ps. viii., civ., cxlv. 2. As God of nature and of Israel, Ps. xix., xxix., xxxiii., lxv., xciii., cxxxv., cxxxvi., cxlvii., and others. 3. As God of Israel, Ps. xlvii., lxvi., lxvii., lxxv. 4. As the saviour and helper of Israel, Ps. xlvi., xlvii., xlviii., lxxv., lxxvi.; and of individuals, Ps. xviii., xxx., cxxxviii., and others.

II. National psalms, containing allusions to the ancient history of the Israelites, and to the relation of the people to Jehovah, Ps. lxxviii., cv., cvi., cxiv.

III. Psalms of Zion and of the temple, Ps. xv., xxiv., lxviii., lxxxi., lxxxvii., cxxxii., cxxxiv., cxxxv.

CX.

IV. Psalms relating to the king, Ps. ii., xx., xxi., xlv., lxxii.,

V. Psalms which contain complaints under affliction and the persecution of enemies, and prayers for succor; the most numerous class, comprising more than a third part of the whole collection. These psalms of complaint are, -1. Personal, relating to the case of an individual, Ps. vii., xxii., lv., lvi., cix., and others. 2. National, Ps. xliv., lxxiv., lxxix., lxxx., cxxxvii., and others. 3. Personal and national at the same time, Ps. lxix., lxxvii., cii. From these divisions proceed still others. 4. General psalms of complaint, reflections on the wickedness of the world, Ps. x., xii., xiv., xxxvi. 5. Didactic psalms, respecting the condition of the pious and the godless, Ps. xxxvii., xlix., Ixxiii. 6. Psalms of thanksgiving for deliverance from enemies, which also pass over into the first class, Ps. xxxiv., xl., and others.

VI. Religious and moral psalms. 1. Odes to Jehovah with special allusions, Ps. xc., cxxxix. 2. Expressions of religious conviction, hope, confidence, Ps. xxiii., xci., cxxi., cxxvii., cxxviii. 3. Expressions of religious experience, resolutions, &c., Ps. xlii., xliii., ci., cxxxi. 4. Development of religious or moral ideas, Ps. i., cxxxiii. 5. Didactic poems relating to religion, Ps. xxxii., l. 6. Collections of proverbs, in alphabetical order, Ps. cxix. The few which cannot be brought under any of the foregoing classes and divisions either constitute new ones by themselves, or possess an intermediate character.

It will be perceived, that, in this classification, proposed by De Wette, no place is assigned to psalms relating to the Messiah. This is in accordance with the opinion of the above-mentioned distinguished commentator, and others, who reject the doctrine of a double sense in the Scriptures, that there is not in the Book of Psalms any prediction relating to the Messiah. The question whether any, and, if any, how many, of the Psalms relate to the Messiah is attended with considerable difficulty. At first view, it would be natural to expect, that the 'lyrical productions of the Jewish poets, as well as the writings of the prophets, would contain allusions to the Messiah. But when we come to examine those which have been chiefly referred to as containing the Messianic hopes, such as the ii., xvi., xxii., xl., xlv., lxxii., cx., we seem to find, on the principles of historical interpretation which are applied to all other books, in some of them no predictions whatever, but only references to the past or the present; in others, only glowing anticipations, which seem to refer to the writer of the psalm, or to Jewish kings contemporary with him. The question can be decided only by a critical examination of each psalm. But it deserves consideration, whether Christ may not be said to have fulfilled what is written in the Psalms concerning him, when he filled out, or completed, what was valuable in the experience, or precious in the hopes, of David and other servants of God, which are the proper subjects of the Psalms.* His life and sufferings were analogous to theirs, but of a higher character and attended with more glorious results. It is well observed by Stanley, in connection with other valuable remarks on the subject, "The Psalter is especially prophetic of Christ, because, more than any other part of the ancient Scriptures, it enters into those truths of the spiritual life, of which he was the great revealer."† This view is confirmed by the interpretation of the Psalms which has generally prevailed in the Christian church. The ever-recurring remark of the common expositor is, "This psalm in part refers to David, and in part to Jesus Christ; or, "This psalm is fulfilled in a lower sense in David, but in a higher and better sense in Christ." But the supposition that the psalm itself contained,

*See Int. to the Prophets, p. lxx.

† History of the Jewish Church, vol. ii. p. 161.

in the mind of the writer, more senses than one, seems to contradict all just views of the nature of language. In regard to some of the references* made to the Psalms by Paul and Peter, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, it seems necessary to suppose that they were not inspired as critics and interpreters, but that they argued according to a mode of reasoning and of interpretation which they held in common with their contemporaries, but which cannot be regarded as valid at the present day.

Now, it is an indisputable fact, that the ancient Jews, without regard to any just laws of interpretation, without any regard to the connection in which words stand, and especially in pursuance of the typical or the allegorical method, applied hundreds of passages of the Old Testament to the Messiah, which no one in modern times can suppose to relate to him.† It would be singular, therefore, if we did not find traces of the same mode of applying Scriptural passages in the writers of the New Testament.

It is probable, that, in some cases, the reference in the New Testament to a passage in the Psalms is merely in the way of rhetorical illustration, or of argumentum ex concessis; for instance, in John xiii. 18; Matt. xxii, 44, &c. But this mode of explanation cannot be applied to such passages as Acts iv. 25, xiii. 33, and several in the Epistle to the Hebrews, without doing violence to language.

These observations are offered for the consideration of those, of whom I am one, who can find no psalm of which, in its primary sense, the Messiah is the exclusive subject. Of recent orthodox commentators, Tholuck finds only four, namely, Ps. ii., xlv., lxxii., and cx., containing a direct and literal reference to the Messiah. So also Hengstenberg applies to him only the same psalms. It seems to me that all four plainly indicate that they refer to kings actually living and reigning in the time of the writers. Nor is any thing ascribed to them, or hoped for them, which, when due allowance is made for the language of Oriental hyperbole, does not belong to the conception of a Jewish theocratic king, the vicegerent of Jehovah. As the ancient prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, &c., predict the Messiah in the char*Acts iv. 25; xiii. 33; Heb. i. 5, 6; x. 5, &c.

† See Schoettgen's Hora Hebraicæ et Talmudicæ, passim.

acter of a perfect Jewish king, it follows, of course, that the representations of actual kings in the Psalms will resemble the Messianic predictions of the Prophets. But why some writers should exert their ingenuity to find predictions of a future Messiah, where there are none, it is difficult to say. If the predictions of a Messiah in the Old Testament are regarded as a miraculous attestation of the truth of Christianity, are not the plain and universally acknowledged predictions of a Messianic king in the writings of the prophets Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, enough for the purpose? Why multiply doubtful cases of Messianic predictions, when there are so many beyond doubt? Truly, it is cause for thankfulness, that God has laid the foundations of the Christian religion deeper than some of its friends imagine.

On the relation of the literature and history of the Jewish Commonwealth to the Christian dispensation, Dean Stanley * has a passage, which we cannot help citing for the benefit of those who cannot have access to his expensive work: "I may be allowed to express by an illustration the true mode of regarding this question. In the gardens of the Carthusian Convent, which the Dukes of Burgundy built near Dijon for the burial place of their race, is a beautiful monument, which alone of that splendid edifice escaped the ravages of the French Revolution. It consists of a group of prophets and kings from the Old Testament, each holding in his hand a scroll of mourning from his writings; each with his own individual costume and gesture and look; each distinguished from each by the most marked peculiarities of age and character, · absorbed in the thoughts of his own time and country. But above these figures is a circle of angels, as like each to each as the human figures are unlike. They too, as each overhangs and overlooks the prophet below him, are saddened with grief. But their expression of sorrow is far deeper and more intense than that of the prophets whose words they read. They see something in the prophetic sorrow, which the prophets themselves see not; they are lost in the contemplation of the Divine Passion, of which the ancient saints below them are but the unconscious and indirect exponents.

*Lectures on the Hist. of the Jewish Church, part ii. pp. xii.-XV.