When we pass to the question of the use of a hymnal or similar forms in the Temple service, we encounter fresh uncertainties. Whatever view be taken of the contents of the Psalter (ami there is a growing tendency to increase the jiroportion not only of post-exilic but of Maccalxean psalms), it wil) be generally admitted that, in its present form, the whole collection bears marks of having been intended for u.se in the sec</H(/ Temple. To wliat extent it may contain older (possibly even Davidic) psalms, which have been adapted for later con- gregational use, to what extent Nehemiah found the work of collecting already done for him, and how far a later hand, say that of Simon the Maccabee (Clieyne, 01' 12 and pu.^.mn), is respon- sible for the book .'is we now have it, are questions that cannot be said to be yet finally decided. Even so cautious a scholar a.s \V. 11. Smith was inclined to think that certain 'facts seem to indicate that even Book I. of the Psalter did not exist during the Exile, when the editing of the historical books was completed, and that in psalmody as in other matters the ritual of the secund Temide was com- pletely reconstructed ' (t/^'-/''- 219). ' It would be absurd to maintain that there were no psalms before the Exile. Ihit it is not absurd to question whether Teiiiplebymnscan have greatly resembled those in the l'salt<;r' (Choyne, 01' 213 f.).
It is a fair question whether praise was not
• Tliis (riiild ffivca its name to one of the collections la the PBalter, consisting o( Ps 50 and 7a-s3.
oll'ered in the Synagooije as well as in the Temple. This is usually denied (see Gibson, J£xpositur, July I«'JO, pp. 25-27, and cf. Schiirer, HJP II. ii. 70, where the parts of the Synagogue service are enumerated), but Cheyne (OP 12, 14, 363) urges forcible considerations in favour of a diflerent con- clusion. There is all the less dilliculty in conceiv- ing of the Psalter as a manual of praise in the Synagogue when we observe that, even in post- exilic times, praise might be otlered at other times and places than public worship. Thus, not only was Ps 118 sung in the Temple on high festival days (as on the eight successive days of the Feast of Booths and that of the Dedication), but the Hallel (Ps 113-118), of which it forms a part, was sung in two sections (113. 114. and 115-118) in every dwelling-place where the Passover was cele- brated. It is to the singing of the second part of the Halld over the fourth and last cup that the vfiviitrai'Tes of Mt 26*', Mk 14-" refers. Again, the 'Songs of the Ascents' (Ps 120-134) are perliaps most plausibly explained as 'Songs of the Pilgrimages,' i.e. songs with which the caravans of pilgrims enlivened their journey to the stated festivals. See, further, Duhm, ' Ps.almen ' (Hdcom.), p. xxiv.
How far in post-exilic times the general body of the people took part in the public service of praise is noi, clear, but the analogy of other parts of the ritual suggests that they participated in it to a very limited extent. In Sir 50'™- (referring to the time of Simon the high priest) the people ' fell down upon the earth on their faces to worshij) the Lord ' and 'besought the Lord Most High in prayer' (cf. Lk 1'°, Ac 3'). It is of the sons oj Aaron that it is said tliat they 'shouted and sounded the trumpets of beaten work,' whUe ' the sin(ji;rs also praised him with their voices.' This corresponds clo.sely with 2 Ch 7' ' all the peojile . . . bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshipped and gave thanks unto the Loitl) (ni.T^ n'nini ii-ny'i, Kal Trpoff€Kivi}(Tav Kal yvouv TtfJ Ki'pf^^j), saying. For he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.' Even this last formula appears to be in this instance not so much the language of praise as of prayer, A similar remark applies to 1 Mae 4" 'all the people fell upon their faces and worshipped and gave praise {-qiXbyriuev) unto heaven, which had given them good success.' So in 2 Ch 29'-" ' all the congregation tvorshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpets sounded ' (on all these passages see Biichler, as cited in the Literature below). On the other hand, that some part in the service of praise was taken by the people is clear from such a liturgical direction as ' let all the jieople say Amen, Hallelujah' (Ps 106«, cf. 1 Ch 16* where the citation of this Psalm is followed by the atlir- niation, 'and all the people .said Amen, and praised the Lord'). Moreover, it is extremely probable that, in antiphonal psalms like Ps 118, the congre- gation as well as the Levitical choirs took part. Biichler (i^^l7'ir xix. flS'.l'J] p. 103 n.) will have it that the call in Ps 150' ' praise him with the sound of the trumpet' {s/iuphdr, 'horn,' mainly a secular instrument, whereas the oHicial sacred trumpet is hi1z6zSrah, cf. Driver, Joel and A »ios, p. 144 f. ) is addressed not to the Levites but to the congre- gation. He compares Ps SP"-, and Jth 16"'- where Judith leads oil' and all the people take up the soul-.