Hbb.
LXX
Psalms 1-8
1-8
9.10
9
11-113
10-112
114.116
113
116
114. 115
117-146
116-145
147
146. 147
148-160
148-150
The arrangement of the Greek is followed in the Vulg. and in some of the older Eng. VSS. In the LXX is found an additional psalm (151) with the following title : ' This psalm was written by David with his own hand, though it is outside the number, composed when he fought in single combat with Goliad. It runs as follows : —
• I was small among my brethren. And youngest in my father's house, I used to feed my father's sheep.
My hands made a harp,
My fingers fashioned a psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, He it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father's sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing
My brethren were goodly and tall.
But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine, And he cursed me by his idols.
But I drew the sword from beside him ;
I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of IsraeL'
The psalm has no pretensions to genuineness, some of its phra.si's being obviously adaptations of the language of 1 S, but something is to be learned by comparing and contrasting it with the canonical 5salms. Certain apocryphal psalms, dra^\'n from Syrian sources, are given by Wright (PSBA, June 1887), including the above with four other psalms. One of these, in which a poet speaking in the first person is supposed to represent the feelings of the nation when Cyrus gave permission to the exiles to return from Babylon, is quoted at length by Baethgen {Introd. p. xl).
The diiierent methods of numbering, indicated above, point to a various arrangement of material which there is good reason for thinking has been much more extensive. Ps 1 and 2 are found together in some copies. In Ac 13^ the Western reading preserved in D, 8, and some Lat. MSS known to Origen, describes what we call the second as the first psalm, whilst Justin (Apol. i. 40) quotes the whole of both psalms together as one prophetic utterance. As will be seen below, the distinc- tion between Ps 9 and 10 and between 42 and 43 should never have been made ; the latter two psalms are found together in several Heb. MSS. These facts, together with others to be men- tioned, prepare us for the phenomenon of com- posite psalms.
ii. Formation of the Collection. — The Psalter, as we now have it, is divided into five books, including respectively Ps 1-41, 42-72, 73-89,
i'
90-106, 107-150. These divisions are marked in KV, and have been recognized by the Jews from at least the 2nd cent, of our era ; it is not to be understood, however, that they represent the original lines of demarcation in the formation of the Psalter. The close of each ' book ' is marked by a doxology, appended ' after the pious fashion, not uncommon in Eastern literature, of closing the composition or transcription of a volume with a briet prayer or word ' (W. R. Smith, who adduces parallels from the Diwan of the Hodalite poets, to show how the limits of an older collection of poems may be marked by the retention of a doxological phrase). This explanation unquestionably applies to the three doxologies, 41", 72''*- " and 89°^ ; these are clearly separable from the psalms at the end of which they are respectively found. It is not clear that 106", at the end of Book iv., has precisely the same history ; whilst the fifth book has no closing doxology, Ps 150, which is itself a full ascription of praise, being understood to obviate the necessity for such an addition. The fivefold division is recognized in the Midrash Tehillin on Ps 1', which undoubtedly embodies a tradition much earlier than the commentary itself. Jerome, also, in his Prolg. Galeat. distinguishes between the quinque incisiones and the uniun rolunun of the psalms. The passage from Hippolytus which refers to this subject cannot be urged as certainly genuine. The presence in the LXX version of the doxology at the end of the fourth book, with its liturgical addition, ' And let all the people say Amen,' un- questionably points to a fivefold division as more or less clearly marked in at least the 2nd cent. B.C., but it is not probable that this division was made by the final redactor of the Psalter himself setting in their respective places four doxologies to mark the limits of the various collections. On the contrary, evidence is forthcoming to show that the Psalter gradually grew into its present shape, and several of the stages by which the final result was reached can be distinctly traced. The chief evidence for this gradual compilation of the Psalter is as follows : —
a. The existence of duplicate editions of the same psalm. Compare Ps 14 with 53, 40'''" with 70, 108 with 57"-" and 60'-'-. The collections in which these duplicates severally occur must at one time have existed separately.
b. The use of the names of God in the various books is such that it cannot be considered acci- dental or without significance. The facts in brief are these. In Book i. the name J" occurs 272 times, Elohim, used absolutely, only 15 ; in Book ii. the case is reversed, Elohira being found 164 times, J" only 30 times. The figures in Book iii. are more complex, and it is found necessary to divide it into two parts, so that in Ps 73-83 J" occurs 13 times, Elohim 36, while in 84-89 J" is found 31 times, Elohim only 7 times. In Books iv. and v. J" is used almost alone (339 times) ; the only exceptions being in Ps 108 (found also in earlier collections) and Ps 144, which there ars other reasons for holding to be composite. That this prevailing use of one or other name is due (at least in part) not to the author but to editorial modification, is made probable by the fact that we have a Jahwistic and an Elohistic recension of the same psalm (cf. 14 and 53, also 40'^ and 70) ; whilst the repetition of the phrase ' God, thy God ' in 43'' 45' and 50' appears to have arisen from the much more appropriate ' J", thy God.' The phraseology of some psalms appears to have been drawn directly from certain passages in the Law, with an alteration only in the Divine name used. Cf. Ps 50' with Ex 20-, Ps 71"* with Ex 15" etc.