Eeriod of the Second Temple, and Ps 118, which as generally been considered as especially suitable to the return from Captivity, is conlidentlj- assigned by Cheyne to the Maccabwan period. Ps 45, which most critics place during the monarchy, is under- stood by the same writer of Ptolemy Philadelphus. If historical allusions are not decisive, neither will the evidence of parallel passages avail much. If the dates of Joli, of Ueut., and of certain chapters of Isaiali could be fixed, the dates of a few psalms mipht be approximately determined ; e.g. Ps 8 was written before the Book of Job, and Ps 90 after Deuteronomy. The date of Jer. is well known, but a comparison between the language of the psalms and the prophet (cf. Ps 1 with Jer 17'-*) makes it difficult to say whicli can claim the priority. A certain group of psalms, e.g. 69, may with some conlidence be assigned to the period of Jeremiah.
In only a verj' few cases can linguistic evidence be considered as decisively characteristic of late date ; Ps 1.39 is probably tlie best example of this. The criterion of style is too svibjective and too differently estimated by different eriti(-s to be re- lied iipon as evidence of date. Arguments drawn from the stage of theological thought visible in the psalms depend upon the view taken of the history of OT theology, and opinion can hardly be con- sidered ripe enough on this subject for it to be
employed with certainty. The psalms themsf>lves form no inconsiderable portion of the evidence by means of which that history is to be traced out, and it is clear that the vicious circle must ba avoided which would conclude that a given psalm ' cannot be of early origin because the ideas it con- tains cannot have been promulgated so early.' Tlia state of religious thought and life manifested in the writings of the prophets Amos and Hosea presup-
Eoses a long religious history, the nature of which as not yet been made sutiiciently clear to allow of sweeping dogmatic assumptions. And, apart from a belief in the supernatural, the history of religion shows how frequently the vntes, whether bard or prophet, has been before his time in his religious intuitions and aspirations. Certain general conclusions may, however, be given, which wUI guide us approximately to the time when the psalms as a whole were composed. A few being probably Davidic, a considerable number, especially in the earlier books, are pre-exUic, but tfce greater proportion of these date after the 8th cent. B.C. The large majority of the psalms may be with confidence assigned to the period during and shortly after the Exile, some few to the 3rd and even the 2nd cent. B.C.
Are any Maccabman psalms included in th« Psalter ? This much debated question has received very various answers. There is an a priori proba- bility in favour of the existence of such psalms and of their inclusion in the Psalter, if the Canon of OT were not closed too early to admit them. The stron" probability is that the Canon was not virtually c-losed till about B.C. lOU, and the Psalter maj' have been kept open even after the various collections were formed, in the sense that a few later psalms might find their way in after a collec- tion possessed a separate existence. The evidence of Josephus and of 2 Mac maj' be taken as indirectly confirming the a priori prol<ability that the Mac- cabaean times would furnish a vigorous psalmody. The evidence of the 'Psalms of Solomon' shows that the true spirit of psalm -composition existed even later, though the ho])es and ideals of the psalmist had altered. When we examine the e.xtant psalms, however, difficulties arise. Those which appear most likely to have sprung from Maccabiean times, such as 44. 74. 79. 83, are found, not in the later, but in the earlier or middle collec- tions. It is possible, but not easy, to understand how a psalm composed B.C. 150 made its way into Book ii. and was labelled, not in the Heb. only, but in the Greek, as a psalm of Asaph. It is urged by some that the language of these psalms may be appropriately understood of earlier desolations than those of the time of Antiochus. But in Ps 74*, for example, the phrase ^n "ti'id (though understood by the LXX of feasts) seems distinctly to point to the synagogues of a later period, while 74' connects itself naturally with 1 Mac 4« 9-'' 14-". The argu- ment drawn from the repeated use of nn'pq, on the other hand, has been too much pressed, as if it must necessarily refer to the time when the Handim became a recognized party, when 'the comjiany of the Hasidseans, mighty men of Israel,' olfcrcd themselves 'willingly for the law' (1 Mae 2^'-). It by no means follows that all mention of ' the pious ones ' is to be taken as distinctly Mac- cabfean.
The history of opinion displays considerable diversity of opinion on this question. Theodore of Mopsuestia, holding the Davidic origin of the
f)salms generally, taught that David projected limself m the spirit of prophecy into the times of the Maccabees, so that some oi the psalms faith- fully picture that period. Calvin attnbuted Ps 44. 74 and 79 to the period in question ; Hitzig and Olshausen enlarged this short list to embrace th«