Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/605

 PSALMS

539

PSALMS

The Lord said to my Lord" (cf. Matt., xxii, 43-45; Mark, xii, 36-37; Luke, xx, 42-44; Ps. ex, 1). There can be here no question of the name of a collection "of David". Nor is there question of a collection when St. Peter, on the first Pentecost in Jerusalem, says: "For David ascended not into heaven; but he himself said: The Lord said to my Lord etc." (Acts, ii, 34). Davidic authorship is meant by Peter, when he cites Pss. Ixix (lx\'iii), 26, cix (cviii), 8, and ii, 1-2 as "from the mouth of David" (Acts, i, 16; iv, 25). And when the chief Apostle has quoted Ps. xvi (xv), 8-11, as the words of David, he explains how these words were intended by the dead patriarch as a prophecy of centuries to come (Acts, ii, 25-32). St. Paul's testimony is conclusive, when he (Rom., iv, 6; xi, 9) assigns to David parts of Pss. xxxii, xxxv, and Ixix (x.xxi, xxxiv, l.xviii). A non-Catholic might object that St. Paul refers to a collection called "David", especially as such a collection seems clearly meant by "in David", iv Aaveid of Heb., iv, 7. We answer, that this is an evasion: had St. Paul meant a collec- tion, he would have dictated if Aawid in the letter to the Romans.

D. The Critics incline to do away with all question of Davidic authorship. Briggs says: "It is evident from the internal character of these psalms, with a few possible exceptions, that David could not have written them" (Psalms, p. Ixi). Ewald allows that this internal evidence shows David to have written Pss. iii, iv, vii, xi, xv, xviii, first part of xix, xxiv, xxix, xxxii, ci (iii, iv, vii, xi, xiv, xvii, xxiii, xxviii, xx.\i, c).

IV. Canonicity. — A. The Christian Canon of the Psalms presents no difficulty; all Christians admit into their canon the 150 psalms of the Canon of Trent ; all reject Ps. cli of the Septuagint, probably a Macha- bean addition to the canon.

B. The Jewish Canon presents a vexing problem. How has the Psalter been evolved? The traditional Jewish opinion, generally defended by Catholic scholars, is that not only the Jewish Canon of the Psalms but the entire Palestinian Canon of the Old Testament was practically closed during the time of Esdras (see C.\non). This traditional opinion is probable; for the arguments in its favour, cf. Cornely, "Introductio Generalis in N. T. Libros", I (Paris, 1894), 42.

(1) The Critical View: — These arguments are not all admitted by the critics. Says Driver: "For the opinion that the Canon of the Old Testament was closed by Ezra, or his associates, there is no foundation in antiquity whatever" ("Introduction to the Litera- ture of (he Old Testament", New York, 1892, p. x). In regard to the Psalms Wellhausen says: "Since the Psalter is the hymn-book of the congrega- tion of the Second Temple, the question is not whether it contains any post-exilic psalms, but whether it contains any pre-exilic psalms" (Bleek's "Intro- duction", ed. 1876, 507). Hitzig ("Begriff der Kritik", 1831) deems that Books III-V are entirely Machabean (168-135 b. c). 01shau.sen ("Die Psalmen", 18.53) brings some of these psalms down to the Ilasmona^an dynasty, and the reign of John Hyrcanus (135-105 B. c). Duhm ("Die Psalmen", 1899, p. xxi) allows very few pre-Machabean psalms, and assigns Pss. ii, xx, xxi, Ixi, Ixiiii, Ixxii, Ixxxiv (b), cxxxii [ii, xix, Ix, Ixii, Ixxi, Ixxxiii (b), cxxxi] to the reigns of Aristobulus I (10.5-104 b. c.) and his brother Alexander Jannaus (104-79 b. c); so that the Canon of the Psalter was not closed till 70 b. c. (p. xxiii). Such extreme views are not due to argu- ments of worth. So long as one refu.ses to accept the force of the traditional argument in favour of the Esdras Canon, one must at all events admit that the Jewish Canon of the Psalms was undoubtedly closed before the date of the Septuagint translation. This date la 285 b. c, if we accept the authority of the

Letter of Aristeas (see SEPTnAGiNx); or, at the very latest 132 b. c, the period at which Ben Sirach wrote, in the prologue to Ecclesiasticus, that "the law itself and the prophets and the rest of the books [i. e. the Hagiographa, of which were the Psahns] had been translated into Greek". This is the opinion of Briggs (p. .xii), who sets the final redaction of the Psalter in the middle of the second century B. c.

The gradual evolution of the Book of Psalms is now quite generally taken by the critics as a matter of course. Their application of the principles of higher criticism does not result in any uniformity of opinion in regard to the various strata of the Psalter. We shall present these strata as they are indicated by Prof. Briggs, probably the least rash of those who have lately published what are called "critical edi- tions" of the Psalms. His method of criticism is the usual one; by a rather subjective standard of in- ternal evidence, he carves up some psalms, patches up others, throws out portions of others, and "edits" all. He assigns seven psalms to the early Hebrew monarchy; seven to the middle monarchy; thirteen to the late monarchy; thirteen to the time of exile; thirty-three to the early Persian period ; sixteen to the middle Persian period (the timesof Nehemias) ; eleven to the late Persian period; "the great roj'al advent psalm" (Pss. xciii, xcvi-c) together with eight others to the early Greek period (beginning with Alexander's conquest); forty-two to the late Greek period, and to the Machabean period Pss. xxxiii, cii (b), cix (b), cxviii, cxxxix (c), cxxix of the Pilgrim Psalter and c.xlvii, cxlix of the Hallels.

Of these psalms and portions of psalms, according to Briggs, thirty-one are "p.salms apart", that is, never were incorporated into a Psalter before the pres- ent canonical redaction was issued. The rest were edited in two or more of the twelve Psalters which mark the evolution of the Book of Psalms. The earliest collection of psalms was made up of seven Mikhtdmini, "golden pieces", of the middle Persian period. In the late Persian period thirteen Maskilim were put together as a collection of meditations. At the same time, seventy-two psalms were edited, as a prayer-book for use in the synagogue, under the name of "David"; of these thirteen have in their titles references to David's life, and are thought to have formed a previous collection by themselves. In the early Greek period in Palestine, eleven psalms were gathered into the minor psalter entitled the "Sons of Korah".

About the same time in Babylonia, twelve psalma were made into a Psalter entitled "Asaph". Not long thereafter, in the same period, the exilic Ps. Ixxxviii, together with two orphan Pss., Ixvi and Ixvii, were edited along with selections from "David," "Sons of Korah", and "Asaph", for public worship of song in the synagogue; the name of this psalter was "Mizmorim". A major psalter, the Elohist, Pss. xlii-lxxxiii (xli-lxxxii), is supposed to have been made up, in Babylonia, during the middle Greek period, of selections from "David", "Korah", "Asaph", and "Mizmorim"; the name is due to the use of Etohim and avoidance of Jahweh in these psalms. About the same time, in Palestine, a prayer- book was made up of 54 from "Mizmorim", 16 psalms from "David", 4 from "Korah", and 1 from ".\saph"; this major psalter bore the name of the "Director". The Hallels, or AUeluiatic songs of praise, were made up into a psalter for temple service in the Greek period. These psalms have haUeluyah (Praise ye Yah) either at the beginning (Pss. cxi, cxii), or at the close (Pss. civ, cv, cxv, cxvii), or at both the beginning and close (Pss. cvi, cxiii, cxxxv, cxlvi-cl). The Septuagint gives 'AXXjjXoiiio also at the beginning of Pss. cv, cvii, cxiv, cxvi, cxix, cxxxvi. Briggs includes as Hallels all these except cxviii and cxix, "the former being a triumphal Machabean song,