• Slifbtly modified In Study q/ Uolu Script. (1899) p. 3C9(.
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PSALMS, BOOK OF
PSALMS, BOOK OF
are ' to be regarded as logical rather than poetical units, and as not properly deserving — even in its modified sense — the name of strophes.' The construction of Heb. poetry, however, is such that it is always more or less diHicult to make the distinction between thought and form ; and as the length of line depends largelj' upon the movement of tliouglit, so also with tlie length of what in
Erose would be called a section, but in the irregu- irly but rhythmically constructed poetry of Israel, may be called a strophe or a stanza. Sec, further, art. I'OETUV, 1). 7 fV.
Several iisalms are acrostic, or alphabetical, in their arrangement. Sometimes successive verses be"in with the letters of the Heb. alphabet in order ; sometimes half-verses, or pairs of verses, are thus marked, and in the 119th psalm eight verses are found to each letter. In Ps 9-10 we find two verses to a letter, but the scheme is not complete. In 9-" p takes the place of 3, Ps 10 be- gins with S, and tlie last four pairs of verses close with p, 1, c, n, the intervening verses not being arranged alphabetically, tliough their number exactly corresponds with the number of letters passed over. In Ps 25 one verse is found to each letter, though i is missing, and an extra verse is added at the end. In Ps 37 two verses occur to each letter (with slight irregularity), in HI and 112 half a verse. In 34 and 145 the single-verse arrangement is found, w'ith slight irregularities, which may be accounted for by a corruption of text. It might be supposed that so artificial an arrangement of matter would form a sure sign of late date, of a ' silver age ' and fading poetic power, but this hardly appears to be the case. One of the most elaborate and complete instances is found in the 'Lamentations,' which is consider- ably earlier than many of the psalms. In Latin poetry the acrostic arrangement is found in early times (see Cicero's reference to Ennius, quoted by Delitzsch, i. 204) ; and Hitzig, who allows only fourteen Da\'idic psalms, includes 9 and 10 amongst tliem. The alphabetical psalms do not, as a rule, exhibit much poetic fire or vigour in comparison with psalms which are strictly lyrical in char- acter. But this may be due to the subject and the mode of treatment adopted, for single phrases in the 119th psalm mi"ht easily be quoted which are full of im-aginative fervour and power. If we can- not say with Delitzsch that the acrostic arrange- ment is 'full of meaning in itself,' it may be admitted with Driver that it was 'sometimes adopted by poets as an artificial principle of arrangement, when the subject was one of a general character, that did not lend itself readily to logical development.'
It is needless to say, however, that it is not in their form and construction that we find the true poetry of the psalms, though this is of such a charac^ter as to aid in securing for them the uni- versality which is one of their chief features. The form of Heb. poetry bears rendering into other languages better than the poetical literature of any other nation. But the poetry of the psalms does not lie in their artistic form. The word ' artistic,' indeed, is out of place here. Artilice hides itself abaslied in the presence of deep re- ligious feeling. It is not merely that the pre- dominating tone and spirit of the book is religious : religion has laid its stron" uplifting liand upon every string of the psalmist s harp, every touch of the psalmist's fingers. The literary character- istics which charm us in the great poets of the world are indeed present. Lofty imagination marks some of the descriptions — 'Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.' ' He rode upon a cherub and did fly ; yea, he did fly upon the wings
of the mnd.' Fancy appears in slighter touches, often unnoticed — ' In Salem is his leafy covert, and his (rocky) lair in Zion.' The varied metaphors of the j>salnis have furnished religious life with brightness and picturesque variety for more tlian two thousand years. The terebinth p!;inte<l by the streams, the hind panting for the water- brooks, the sun going out like a bridegroom from his cliamber, the Divine Shepherd tending His flock alike in the pleasant jiasture and the lonely and gloomy ravine, — these familiar images are not more striking than the tliousand less noticed pictures, sketched in outline only : the crowned and anointed guest at the banquet of life spread in the very \vildemess amongst foes ; the harassed and overthrown forces of the enemy scattered over hillside and plain, like the ten thousand flakes ' when it snowetli in Zalmon ' ; or Death the shepherd herding among his flock in Sheol those who had arrogantly defied liis power — yet the psalmist knows of a miglitier Shepherd still, who shall ' redeem my soul from tlie power of Sheol, for he will receive me.' Some of the poetical efl'ect is doubtless peculiar to the Hebrew, the picturesqueness of some of the words, and occasion- ally the variety of its synonyms, or the play of tenses, alternating one with another, like lights and shadows upon the hillside, or the changing colours upon tin; burnished neck of the dove. But the simplicity of diction which imparts such sublimity to a phrase — ' with thee is the well- spring of life : in thy light we shall see light' ; the depth of human feeling which can be felt like a beating pulse on every page — ' Fervently do I love thee, J ", my strength ! ' — ' Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy cataracts ; all thy waves and billows are gone over me ' ; the concrete directness with which the most abstract truths of religion are set fortli — ' In the hand of J" there is a cup, and the wine foanieth ; surely the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth sliall drain them out and drink them ' ; — ' He shall cover thee with his pinions, and under his wings slialt thou take refuge ' ; these words appeal to the heart of the world, and their power is as great for the English- man as for the Israelite. But the reason for this is not chiefly, though it is partly to be found in these poetical characteristics. The Psalter lives in virtue of its unique religious power and beauty, and on its theology sometliing must now be said.