The second book (xlii-lxxii) consists mainly of pieces by the sons of Korah (xlii-xlix), and by David (li-lxv), which may have been separata minor collections. At
the end of this book is found the notice, " The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended ;" and hence some have thought that this was originally the close of a large collection comprising Psa. i-lxxii (Carpzov, Intro- ductio, etc., ii, 107). But that the second was originally distinct from the first book is proved by the repetition of one or two pieces ; thus Psa. liii is plainly the same as Psa. xiv, with only a notable variation in the divine name, D^ln'SX, Elohim, God, being used in the former . wherever FvViT), Jehovah, Lord, is found in the latter. So also Psa. lxx is but a repetition of Psa. xl, 13-17, with the same singular variation in the divine name. This division appears by the date of its latest psalm (Psa. xlvi) to have been compiled in the reign of king Hezekiah. It would naturally comprise, first, several or most of the Levitical psalms anterior to that date, and, secondly, the remainder of the psalms of David previously uncompiled. According to others, this col- lection was not made till the period of the captivity, on the ground that Psa. xliv refers to the days of Jeremiah.
The third book (lxxiii-lxxxix) consists chiefly of Asaph's psalms, but comprises apparently two smaller collections — the one Asaphitic (lxxiii-lxxxiii). the oth- er mostly Korahitic (lxxxiv-lxxxix). The collector of this book had no intention to bring together songs writ- ten by David, and therefore he put the above notice at the end of the second book (see De Wette, Psalmen, Einleitung, p. 21). This book, the interest of which centres in the times of Hezekiah, stretches out, by its last two psalms, to the reign of Manasseh : it was prob- ably compiled in the reign of Josiah. In the opinion of others, the date of this collection must be as late as the return from Babylon, on the supposition that Psa. lxxxv implies as much.
The fourth book (xc-cvi), containing the remainder of the psalms up to the date of the captivity; and the fifth (cvii-cl), comprising the psalms of the return, are made up chiefly of anonymous liturgic pieces, many of which were composed for the service of the second Tem- ple. In the last book we have the Songs of Degrees (cxx-cxxxiv), which seem to have been originally a separate collection. There is nothing to distinguish these two books from each other in respect of outward decoration or arrangement, and they may have been compiled together in the days of Nehemiah.
The five books may, with some propriety, be thus dis- tinguished: the first Davidic, the second Korahitic, the third A saphitic, and the two remaining liturgic. (Comp. § v, below.)
The ancient Jewish tradition as to this division is preserved to us by the abundant testimonies of the Christian fathers. Of the indications which the sa- cred text itself contains of this division the most ob- vious are the doxologies which we find at the end of Psa. xli, lxxii. lxxxix, cvi, and which, having for the most part no special connection with the psalms to which they are attached, mark the several ends of the first four of the five books. It suggests itself at once that these books must have been originally formed at different periods.
This conclusion is by various further considerations rendered all but certain, while the few difficulties which stand in the way of admitting it vanish when closely examined. Thus there is a remarkable difference be- tween the several books in their use of the divine names Jehovah and Elohim to designate Almighty God. In book i the former name prevails : it is found 272 times, while Elohim occurs but fifteen times. (We here take no account of the superscriptions or doxology, nor yet of the occurrences of Elohim when inflected with a pos- sessive suffix.) On the other hand, in book ii Elohim is found more than five times as often as Jehovah. In book iii the preponderance of Elohim in the earlier is balanced by that of Jehovah in the later psalms of the book. In book iv the name Jehovah is exclusively em- ployed; and so also, virtually, in book v, Elohim being
PSALMS
74S
PSALMS
there found only in two passages incorporated from earlier psalms. Those who maintain, therefore, that the psalms were all collected and arranged at once, con- tend thai the collector distributed the Psalms according to the divine names which they severally exhibited. But to this theory the existence of book iii. in which the preferential use of the Elohim gradually yields to that of the Jehovah, is fatal The large appearance, in fact, of the name Elohim in books ii and iii depends in great measure on the period to which many of the psalms of those hooks belong — the period from the reign of Solomon to that of Bezekiah, when through certain causes the name Jehovah was exceptionally disused. The preference for the name Elohim in most of the Davidic psalms which are included in hook ii is closely allied with that character of those psalms which in- duced 1 >a\ id himself to exclude them from his own col- lection, hook i ; while, lastly, the sparing use of the Je- hovah in Psa. lxviii. and the three introductory psalms which precede it, is designed to cause the name, when it occurs, and above all Jah, which is emphatic for Je- hovah, to shine ou( with greater force and splendor.