ii. History of Praise in Israel. — Like sacri- fice and other branches of the cultus, the praise oilered to Jahweh had in early times a mora unconventional and spontaneous character than it afterwards assumed, especially in the second Temple. From the first, both vocal and instru- mental music were employed in thin exercise, of which heartiness and loud noise (cf. tne meaning of tehilluh above) were leading characteristics. A typical example is the song of the children of Israel after the passage of the Red Sea (Ex 15), which, although in its present form it con- tains much that belongs to a later age, yet La undoubtedly to some extent archaic, wliile the description of the part played by Miriam and the women, with their timbrels and dances (v.'*'-), may be regarded as a true picture of the manners in ancient Israel (cf. also the Song of Deborah in Jg 5, one of the most ancient of the undoubtedly genuine relics of early Heb. poetry). So in 2 S 6* ( = lCh 138) < David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord with all their might, even with songs [reading, with 1 Ch 13', div31 ijrSjj for DV'n? 'SI!,'''?? of 2 S 6', cf. the same phrase li-V;? used in v.'* of David's dancing] and with harps and with psalteries, and with timljrels, and with castanets, and mth cymbals.' In short, praise to God, whether upon the occasion of any great act of deliverance, or when the people as- sembled at the sanctuaries either of the Northern or the Southern kingdom, partook largely of the noisy character of vintage and bridal rejoicings (Jg 9", Lv 19", Ps 78'"). When the prophet .A.mos denounces the crass unspiritual worship of his day, he delivers this message from Jahweli, ' Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy harps ' (Am 5^, cf . 8'°). Isaiah promises to the people, ' Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goeth with a pipe to come unto the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel ' (Is 3(P). The author of La 2' can say of the rude plundering Chalda?an soldiery in the temple, ' They have made a noise in the house of the Lord as in the day of a solemn assembly.' The same impression is conveyed by some of the phrases which occur in the musical titles of the earlier psalms. For instance, Ps 57. 58. 59. 75 are set to the tune of Al-ta-shheth, ' destroy not,' probably the opening words of a vintage song (Is 65*). Cf., further, on this point W. R. Smith, OTJC^ 209, 223 f.
We should have individual songs of praise in the Song of Hannah (1 S 2'"-) and the Song of Hezekiah (Is 38"'-*'), were it not that neither of these can be supposed to have belonged originally to their present context (see on the former. Driver, Text of Sam. 21 f., and on the latter, Cheyne, OP 117 f., and cf. the analogous cases of the Prajer of Jonah and the Psalm of Hahakkuk).
As to the arrangements for praise in the pre- exilic Temple, we have no precise information. In particular, we are left very much in the dark as to how far any special class performed or directed this service. The statements on this subject contained in the Books of Chronicles are unfortunately of little nse, owing to the tendency of the Chronicler to antedate the institutions of his own day. But while it will be generally admitted that the part he attributes to DaWd is greatly exaggerated, it is probable enough that this king, whose skUl as a musician is witnessed to in Am 6', as well as in 2 S 6'- '■*, used his talents in organizing the Temple music, whether he fur- nished to any appreciable extent the hymns used or not. It is undoubtedly the case that, down t« the Exile, praise was the privilege of the con- gregation at large (Cheyne, OP 194), but this ii
PRAISE IX OT
PEAISE IN OT
not inconsistent witli at least the rudiments of the elaborate system which we meet witli in Clironicles havinj; been in existence in pre-exilic times. It is hanily liUely tliut the singers, who are lirst expressly naiiieil in Neh 7" ( = Ezr 2^'), anil of whom 14S (12S) returned, or were believed to have returned, with Zerubbabel, represent a class that hud been instituted during the Exile, wlien uo elaborate cultus was possible, or during the early years of the Ueturn, when the circum- stances were by no means favourable to such a new de|>arture. It seems more reasonable to con- clude that they were the reiiresenlalivcs or de- scendants of singers who had performed this office in the pr6-exilic Temjile (see art. I'lilESTS AND Levitks, p. 74''). Uut it is equally beyond ques- tion that after the Ketiirn the whole system of praise was re-organized by Ezra and Nehemiah.
At the Return the singers appear to have formed a single guild, ' tiie sons of A,s:iph'* (Neh 7''^ = Ezr 2"), and are distinguislied from the Levites (Ezr 10^'-, Neh 7''". In Neli 12-'''- the musical service at the dedication of the wall is divided between the Levites and 'the sons of the singers'). Such pas- sages as Neh IV^-"- ■-■ =^ 12''- '•'• -••■ ", where the .singers are included among the Levites, do not belong to the .Memoirs of Nehemiah, at least in a |)ure form, and their account approximates to the condition of things represented in 1 Cb ly"- 23^', 2 Ch 2'J-» etc. (cf. Ezr 3'°, where ' the Levites the sons of Asai)li ' is the phrase of the Chronicler). The guild of Asaph at a later period shared the musical service with tlie Koraliites (cf. 2 Cb 2il'" and tlie titles of Ps 42-49 and 84. 85. 87. 88), who, by the time of the Chroni< ler, have become porters and doorkeepers (1 Ch U'" 20'- '"etc.). Tlie Cbronieler himself is acquainted with three guilds, — IIkman, AsAi'H, and Jeduthu.n or Ethan (I Ch O"^"-" 15" 16'"- 25'"), to whom a Levilical origin is at- tributed, lienian being descended from Koliath, Asanli from tier.shom, and Ethan from Merari (1 Cii 6^""). These tliree the Chronicler charac- teristically represents as choirmasters appointed by David, to whom the whole organization of the service of praise is attributed, and who is said to have divi(fed the singers into 24 courses (1 Ch gsiir. 1516-111 i(;j 25'"-, 2 Ch 5'- 29-\ cf. Sir 47").