(2, The Book of Lamentations. — Here, truly, poetiy as an art rules, till artiliii.'ility is reached in the alphabetic arrangement. Hut this art is based on the employment by the projihuts of the popular lament for tlie dead, and is an imitation ot the latter. A higher degree of art than that found in chs. 1. 2. 4 is present in cli. 3, which is meant to be, as it were, a central peak between the other chapters ; ch. 5, again, is popular, and alien in subject and form from tlie rest.f See, further, art. Lamentations.
(3) The Psalms. — In this collection we have to recognize the Temple hymn-book of the post-exilic community, the religious lyric with artistic de- velo|)ment. Only in a single instance has a secular .song strayed into this company, namely Ps 4.5, also a wedding-song, but one of quite an artificial chfiracter. More frequent is gnomic poetry, although with a decidedly religious application; cf. e.g. Ps 1. But even here the i)Opular basis is not wanting. In its purest form this meets us in the collection known as the Pi!r/rim Songs, I'ss 120-137. Psalms outside the collection proper are found in Hab 3, which exhibits the same Kind of titles and technical terms as meet us in the Psalms ; in 2 S 22= Ps 18; in 1 S 2'-'<' wrongly put in the mouth of Ilannali ; further, suitable to the situa- tion are Ex lo'™ (ef. above) : the Song of Moses, Dt 32; Is 12. Perhaps also Nah 1 was originally an alphabetical psalm (see art. Nahum for a de- fence of this view). In the .so-called Psaltns of Sulmnon (which see) there has come down to us, although only in the Greek language, another small collection of p.salnis from the 1st cent. n.c. The title 'Psalms of Holomon' exjaesses nothing more than that they are secondary, as compared with the canonical l^salms, which as a whole are attributed by tradition to David.
On the titles found in the Book of Psalms see art. Psalms, p. 153 ff.
(6) The. ]Vis(lot.% Literature.— (\) The Book of Proverbs unites in W^rnM finomic poctnj of the most diverse kinds and with the most varying degrees of development. The basis and the kernel (chs. 10- 22", also chs. 2.")-29) are supplied by the two-line imishdl, which in form and contents is certainly the oldest structure of this species, and in its origin is distinctly popular. To this were appended, towards the end, more elaborate species, a|>oph- thegms expres.sed at greater length, enigmatical and numerical sayings, and finally (31"'"-") an alphabetical eulogy of the virtuous woman. At (he I cginning of the book (chs. 1-9) we have a I'nnnected series of pa'dagogical - philosojvhical didactic discourses, in which Wis<loni and Folly personified are introduced. l'"or details see art.
PROVKIiliS.
(2) The Book of Job is based upon a popular
• Of. the present writer's Comm., p. utf. t Cf. KuTZer Udcamm,
story, and gives to the problem raised in this a new turn which it carries artistically through the conversations of chs. 3-42*. The form adopted is essentially the same as is found in Pr 1-9, but the l)oet has succeeded in giving to this a lyric move ment throughout, and has even cast the dillcrent speakers in so plastic a mould and kept them so well apart as to give rise to the appearance of a dramat;ic performance (cf. above, p 9). Be>ond any doubt, the Book of Job is the highest product of the poet's art to be found in the OT. It brings to a focus, as it were, all that Ileb. poetry could contribute, and stands out as one of the noblest poetical compositions of any age, or any people. See, further, art. Job.
(3) Qoheleth. — This book takes its place as a counterpart to Pr 1-9, as a philosophical didactic poem, but has an essentially dilferent point of view. P.elonging to a very late period, it does not stand high poetically; both language and verse- structure leave much to be desired. See, further, Ecclesiastes.
(4) To the same species belongs the Book of Sirach. This is proliably older than Qoheleth, it stands higher as regards language and form ; from the religious standpoint it is more valuable, if less original in its views. It concerns us here because recently a considerable part of its contents has been recovered in the origin.al Hebrew (see Sirach). With this book we may brin^ our survey to a close. K. BUDDE.
POISON (.iin hemd/i, 5 times, Dt 32-'^-^, Job 6*. Ps GS-* 140» ; axi ro'xh, in Job 20'" ; LXX Ov^6i except in Ps 140', where it is ibi as in NT ; Vulg. indiqrmtio Job 6*, caput Job 20'", furor Dt 32-'', Ps 6i\ vcnenum Dt 32^, Ps l40-\ Ko 3", Ja .3*).— The commonest signification of licmdh is fury oi the heat of anger, in which .sense it occurs over 100 times in the OT. In some of these passages the ideas of anger and of poison are united, as in Is51"■^^ where the cup of tjod's wrath is spoken of; see also .lob 21"", Jer 2.5", etc. Luther trans- lates 'fervent lips' of Pr 2I>'-^ by gif tiger Mund. The Greek word flu/t6s likewise primarily means that part of human nature which is affected with passion or anger. The Hebrew idea is therefore that poison is a substance which causes fatal heat and irritation, and in nearly every instance in the OT the material referred to is tlio venom of ser- l.eiits or scori)ious; see Dt ,32-J-^, Job 6* 20'", Ps .3S' MO'', and in the NT Ko 3'^.