Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/603

 PSALMS

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PSALMS

and authority which they give to the rest of Scripture. True, the obscurity of the titles often leads the Fathers to mystical and highly fanciful interpreta- tions. St. John Chrysostom ("De Compunctione", II, 4; P. G., XLVII, 415) interprets i-r^p rijs 6yi6-ns, "for the eighth day", "the day of rest", "the day of eternity". St. Ambrose (In Lucam, V, 6) sees in this title the same mystical number which he notes in the Eight Beatitudes of St. Matthew, in the eighth day as a fulfilment of our hope, and in eight as a sum of all virtues: "pro octava enim multi inscribuntur psalmi". In this matter of mystical interpretations of the titles, St. Augustine is in advance of the generally literal and matter-of-fact Sts. Ambrose and John Chrysostom. Yet when treat- ing the worth and the genuineness of the titles, no Father is more decided and pointed than is the great Bishop of Hippo. To him the titles are inspired Scripture. Commenting on the title to Ps. H, "of David, when Nathan the Prophet came to him, what time he had gone into Bethsabee", St. Augus- tine (P. L., XXXVI, 586) says it is as inspired as is the story of David's fall, told in the Second Book of Kings (xi, 1-6); "Utracjue Scriptura canonica est, utrique sine ulla dubitatione a Christianis fides adhibenda est". Some recent Catholic scholars who are of St. Augustine's mind in this matter are: Comely, "Specialis Introductio in Libros V. T.", II, 85; Zschokke, "Hist. Sacr. V. T.", 206; Thal- hofer, "Erklarung der Psalmen", 7t.h ed., 1904, 8; Patrizi, "Cento Salmi", Rome, 1875, 32; Danko, " Historia V. T.", 276 ; Hoberg, ' ' Die Psalmen der Vul- gata", 1892, p. xii. Only a very few Cathohc scholars have denied that the titles are an integral part of Holy Writ. Gigot, in "Special Introduction to the Old Testament" (New York, 1906), 11,75, cites with ap- proval this denial by Lesetre, "Le Livre des Psaumes" (Paris, 1883), p. 1. Barry, in "Tradition of Scrip- ture" (New York, 1906), 102, says: "It is plausible to maintain that inscriptions to which the Massorah, LXX, and Vulgate bear witness cannot be rejected. But to look on them, under all circum.stances, as portions of Scripture would be to strain the Tridentine Decrees". Because of the danger that, without grave rea.son, these time-honoured parts of the Bible may be rated as extra-canonical, the Biblical Commission has recently (1 May, 1910) laid special stress on the value of the titles. From the agreement we have noted between the titles of Massorah and those of the Septuagint, Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, St. Jerome, etc., the Commission has decided that the titles are older than the Septuagint and have come down to us, if not from the authors of the Psalms, at least from ancient Jewish tradi- tion, and that, on this account, they may not be called into doubt, unless there be some serious reason against their genuineness. Indeed, the verj- dis- agreements which we have noted lead us to the same conclusion. By the time the Septuagint was written, the titles must have been exceedingly old; for the tradition of their vocalization was already very much obscured.

III. AnTHORS OF THE PsALMS. — A. Witness of Tradition. — (1) Jewish tradition is uncertain as to the authors of the Psalms. Baba Bathra (14 f) mentions ten; Pesachim (10) attributes all the Psalms to David.

(2) Christian tradition is alike uncertain. St. Ambro.se, "In Ps. xliii and xlvii" (P. L., XIV, 923), makes David to be the sole author. St. Augustine, in "De Civitate Dei", XVII, 14 (P. L., XLI, 547), thinks that all the Psalms are Davidic and that the names of Aggeus and Zacharias were superscribed by the poet in prophetic spirit. St. Philastrius, Ha?r. 130 (P. L., XII, 12.59), brands the opposite opinion as heretical. On the other hand, plurality of author- ship was defended by Origen, "In Ps." (P. G., XII,

1066); St. Hilary, "In Ps. Prooem. 2" (P. L., IX, 233); Eusebius, "In Ps. Procem. in Pss. 41, 72" (P. G., XXIII, 74, 368); and many others. St. Jerome, "Ad Cyprianum", Epist. 140, 4 (P. L., XXII, 1169), says that "they err who deem all the psalms are David's and not the work of those whose names are superscribed".

(3) This disagreement, in the matter of authorship of the Psalms, is carried from the Fathers to the theologians. Davidic authorship is defended by St. Thomas, the converted Jew Archbishop Paul of Burgos, Bellarmine, Salmeron, Sa, Mariana; multiple authorship is defended by Nicholas of LjTa, Cajetan, Sixtus Senensis, Bonfrere, and Menochio.

(4) The Church has come to no decision in this matter. The Council of Trent (Sess. IV, 8 April, 1546), in its decrees on Sacred Scripture, includes "Psalterium Davidicum 150 Psalmorum" among the Canonical Books. This phrase docs not define Davidic authorship any more than the number 150, but only designates the book which is defined to be canonical (cf. Pallavicino, "Istoria del Con- cilio di Trento", 1. VI, §91, Naples, 1853, I, 376). In the preliminary vota, fifteen Fathers were for the name "Psalmi David"; six for "Psalterium Davidi- cum "; nine for " Libri Psalmorum ' ' ; two for " Libri 1 50 Psalmorum"; sixteen for the name adopted, "Psal- terium Davidicum 150 Psalmorum"; and two had no concern which of these names was chosen (cf. Theiner, "Acta Authentica Concilii Tridentini", I, 72 sq.). From the various vota it is clear that the Council had no intention whatsoever of defining Davidic authorship.

(5) The recent Decree of the Biblical Commission (1 May, 1910) decides the following points:

(a) Neither the wording of the decrees of the coun- cils nor the opinions of certain Fathers have such weight as to determine that David is sole author of the whole Psalter.

(b) It cannot be prudently denied that David is the chief author of the songs of the Psalter.

(c) Especially can it not be denied that David is the author of those psalms which, either in the Old or in the New Testament, are clearly cited under the name of David, for instance ii, xvi, xviii, xx.xii, Ixix, ex (ii, XV, xvii, xxxi, Ixviii, cix).

B. Witness of Old Testament. — In the above deci- sion the Biblical Commission has followed not only Jewish and Christian tradition, but Jewish and Chris- tian Scrijjture as well. The Old Testament witness to the authorship of the Psalms is chiefly the titles. These seem to attribute various psalms, especially of Books I-III, to David, Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, and others.

(1) David: — The titles of seventy-three psalms in the Massoretic Text and of many more in the Septua- gint seem to single out Da\'id as author; cf. Pss. iii- xli (iii-xl), i. e. all of Bk. I save only x and xxxiii; Pss. li-lxx (1-lxix), except Ixvi and lx\ni, in Bk. II; Ps. Ixxxvi (Ixxxv) of Bk. Ill; Ps. ciii (cii) in Bk. IV; Pss. cviii-cx, cxxii, cxxiv, cxx.xi, cxx.\iii, cxxxv-cxlv (cvii-cix, cxxi, cxxiii, cxxx, cxxxiv-cxliv) of Bk. V. The Hebrew title is li^V It is now generally held that, in this Hebrew word, the preposition Ic has the force of a genitive, and that the Septuagint toC AauiS "of David", is a better translation than the Vulgate ipsi David, "unto David himself". Does this prep- osition mean authorship? Not in every title; else both David and the Director are the authors of Ps. xix (xviii), and all the sons of Korah, together with the Director, are joint authors of the psalms attributed to them. In the case of such composite titles as "of the Director, a psalm of David" (Ps. xix), or "of the Director, of the sons of Korah, a psalm" (Ps. xlviii), we probably have indications not of avif horship but of various collections of psalms — the collections en- titled "David", "the Director", "the sons of Korah".