] gave my back to the smiters,
And my cheeks to them that plncked off the hair;
My face 1 hid not from shame and spitting."
Jebb gives as an illustration Psa.xix,7 10:
•• The law of Jehovah is perfect, converting the soul. The testimouy of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple." etc.
h is instructive, as showing bow difficult, if not impos- sible, it is to make any strict classification of Hebrew poetry, to observe that, this very passage is given by Gesenius as an example of synonymous parallelism. while De Wette calls il synthetic. The illustration of synthetic parallelism quoted by Gesenius is Psa.xxvii,4: "One thing I ask from Jehovah. It will I seek after— My dwelling in the house of Jehovah all the days of
my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in his temple."
In this kind of parallelism, as Nordheimer ( firm:,. 1 nal. p. 87) observes, "an idea is neither repeated nor fol- lowed by iis opposite, bul is kept in view by the « riter, while he proceeds to develop and enforce his meaning by accessory ideas and modifications."
('/.) To the three kinds of parallelism above described Jebb adds a fourth, which seems rather to be an nine ces- sary refinement upon than distinct from the others. He denominates il introverted parallelism, in which he says, "there are stanzas so constructed that, whatever be the number of lines, the first line shall be parallel with the last; the second with the penultimate; and so throughout in an order that looks inward, or. to- borrow a military phrase, from Hanks to centre" (Sacr. Lit. p. 53). Thus:
"My son. if thine heart he wise, My heart also shall rejoice; Yea, my reins shall rejoice When thy lips speak right things"
(Prov. xxiii. 15, 10). "Unto Thee do I lift up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens;
i as the eyes of servants to the hand of their masters : As the eyes of a maiden to the hands of her mistress: Even so look our eyes to Jehovah our God, until he have mercy upon us" (Psa. exxiii, 1, 2).
Upon examining these and the other examples quoted by bishop Jebb in support of his new division, to which he attaches great importance, il will be seen that the pe- culiarity consists in the structure of the stanza, and nol in the nature of the parallelism ; and any one who reads Ewald's elaborate treatise on this part of the subject will rise from the reading with the conviction thai to attempt to classify Hebrew poetry according to the Character of the stanzas employed will be labor lost and
iii vain, resulting only in a system which is no system, and in rules to « Inch the exceptions are more numerous
than the examples.
words may now he added with respect to the
classification proposed by De Wette, in which more re- gard was had to the rhythm. The four kinds of paral- lelism are: i. Thai which consists in an equal number of words in each member, as in Gen. iv, 23. This he calls the original and perfeel kind Of parallelism ot members, which corresponds with metre and rhyme. without being identical with them (Die Psalmen,Einl l> '■ I I"1, r this head are many minor divisions. 2. I nequal parallelism, in which the number of words in
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the members is not the same. This again is divided into — a. The simple, as Psa. lxviii, 33. b. The composite, consisting of the synonymous (Joh x, 1 ; Psa. xxxvi, 7), the antithetic (Psa. xv, 4), and the synthetic (xv, 5). c. That in which the simple member is disproportionately small (xl, 10). d. Where the composite member grows up into three or more sentences (i, 3; lxv, 10). e. In- stead of the close parallelism there sometimes occurs a short additional clause, as in Psa. xxiii, 3. 3. Out of the parallelism, which is unequal in consequence of the composite character of one member, another is devel- oped, so that both members are composite (xxxi, 11). This kind of parallelism again admits of three subdi- visions. 4. Rhythmical parallelism, which lies merely in the external form of the diction. Thus in Psa. xix, 11 there is nearly an equal number of words:
"Moreover by them was thy servant warned, In keeping of them there is great reward."
In Psa. xxx, 3 the inequality is remarkable. In Psa. xiv, 7 is found a double and a single member, and in Psa. xxxi, 23 two double members. De Wette also held that there were in Hebrew poetry the beginnings of a composite rhythmical structure like our strophes. Thus in Psa. xlii, xliii, a refrain marks the conclusion of a larger rhythmical period. Something similar is observ- able in Psa. cvii. This artificial structure appears to belong to a late period of Hebrew literature, and to the same period may probably be assigned the remarkable gradational rhythm which appears in the Songs of De- grees, e. g. Psa. cxxi. It must be observed that this gradational rhythm is very different from the cumula- tive parallelism of the Song of Deborah, which is of a much earlier date, and bears traces of less effort in the composition. Strophes of a certain kind are found in the alphabetical pieces in which several Masoretic clauses belong to one letter (Psa. ix, x, xxxvii, cxix; Lam. iii) ; but the nearest approach to anything like a strophical character is found in poems which are divided into smaller portions by a refrain, and have the initial or final verse the same or similar (Psa. xxxix, xlii, xliii). In the opinion of some the occurrence of the word Selah is supposed to mark the divisions of the strophes.