The principal specimen of the real historical folk-song is tlie fine Song of Deborah, Jg 5. This attaches itself closely, at the same time, to the preceding specie.s, being as it is a ]ioem in which praise and blame are distributed, from v.'- on- wards. First of all, praise is given to Deborah, who by her recruiting-song has called to the battle, and then to Barak as the commander (v."). This is followed by an enumeration of the tribes who jjut in an appearance (v v. ""'■''"), with censure and ridicule of those who kept at a distance (%'v. ""'""). Next a tribute is paid to the valour of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali (v.'"), the city of Meroz is cursed (v.^), while to the Kenite woman Jael is awarded the palm for the greatest deed of personal heroism (v.-'"'). We have here, at least from v.' onwards, the primitive mode of a sung tliat grew up in the life uf the n.-ition as a whole. Via are directly reminded of the distribu- tion of the rew.ards of victory after the battles of Plala\a and My kale. Of other war-songs we possess only fragments (Nu •Jl'"--'-*', Jos 10'*') or very brief extr.acts compressed into a single verse, such as the Song at the Pus/iage of the Red Sea (Ex 15-'), and that which was sung in honour of Said and David when thci/ deflated the Philis- tines (1 S 18"'). Similarly, tlie substance of a song of triumph over Sain.ion is put into t lie mouth of the I'hilistines in Jg lO-'"-. Un the other hand, it is clear that the Song contained in Ex IS''" is a lato composition in I'salm style, expanded from the short v.'" and really meant to take the place of this ; and in like manner David's triumphal song in 2 IS 22= I's 18 is a late insertion.
As a feature of the real life of ancient times it ii
12
POETRY (HEBREW)
POETRY (HEBREW)
to be noted that in Ex 15-' as well as in 1 S 18*'- it is the women, or rather the maidens, who meet the returning warriors with songs, and the same custom is presni)i)osed in Jg IP', in the story of Jephthali. Among the Arabs at the present day a victory is still followed by a sword-dance, pei- formed by a maiden to the accompaniment of a song.
It is an extremely important circumstance that Nu 21'*, according to the note wherewith it is introduced, is derived from nin- m^n'rs 1:1, the Book of the Wars of Jahweh, i.e. of the wars of Israel, which, as sucli, are the wars of Israel's God (cf. 1 S 25'^). We have thus to do here with a collection of ancient war-songs which already lay before the ancient historian as a source, and thus to a cer- tainty mark tlie beginning of writing amongst the Hebrews. Side by side with this source we read in Jos 10'^'' of a icn isd or Book of the Upright, from whicli v.'-""" is said to be cited. From it, accordinj; to 2 S 1'*, is cited also David's laincnt for Saul and Jonathan, no less than Solomon's words in dcdi'-ating the Temple, according to the LXX of 1 K S'"^, where iv ;3i/3\t(j) t^s ijJ5^s = ts'? "ie?3, and the last Heb. word is doubtless corrupted from "vf'jt. Here, then, we have to do with an ancient song-book, which contained more than war-songs, and whose composition, or at least completion, must be brought down as far as the time of Solo- mon. We have no room to complain that more of the contents of these two books have not come down to us, when we consider that Charlemagne's collection of Old German songs has been com- pletely lost.
2. The Poetry of the Prophets. — That the pro- phets availed themselves of poetical composition is self-evident from the first. For their utterances were intended for publicity, and, as time went on, more and more for being treasured in the memory, while at the same time the prophetic movement grew out of the pojiular soil, which was com-
f)letely saturated with poetry.* The prophets lave accordingly not swttered to escape their notice any of the manifold forms of poetry that unfolded themselves in the midst of the people. At the same time, thanks to the great variety of entrances u])on the scene made by the writing pro]>liets of who.se literary activity more extensive remains have come down to us, we must, even in the matter of poetical form, distinguish a number of possibilities which show a marked divergence from one another.
(a) The prophet may adopt the poetical forms current in other social circles, and come forward himself as a poet, thus playing a .strange part, as in the extremely frequent [jrophetical laments (ef. above, i. B, d), or the isolated marriage-song. Is 5"- (cf. above, ii. B, a). liul, even apart from these special cases, later prophecy has a special fondness for interrupting a proiilietical address by songs, whether these are sung by tlie prophet himself, as happens with special fre(iuency in Deutero-Isaiah, or are put into the mouth of other persons, as liappens repeatedly in Is 24-27, and as has been done by a redactor in Is 12. In all these instances the language necessarily follows the laws of strictly poetical composition, because it attaches itself to lixed forms taken as a model.