Page:Philip Birnbaum - ha-Siddur ha-Shalem (The Daily Prayer Book,1949).pdf/171

146 with songs of praise. For the Lord is a great God, a King supreme above all powers.

This is the fifth day of the week, on which the Levites in the Temple used to recite:

For the Choirmaster, upon the Gittith; a psalm of Asaph.

Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob, Raise the chorus, sound the drum, the sweet harp and the lute. Blow the trumpet on the new moon, at the full moon for our feast day. This is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob, He made it a law in Joseph, when he went forth against the land of Egypt. I heard an unfamiliar speech: "I have removed the burden from your shoulder; your hands are relieved from the heavy basket. In trouble you called, and I saved you; I answered you from the thunder cloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Hear, my people, while I warn you; O Israel, if you would only listen to me! You shall have no strange god; you shall worship no foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth, and I will fill it. But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would have none of me. So I left them to their own stubbornness, that they might follow their own devices. If only my people would listen to me, if Israel would only walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their foes, and turn my hand against their oppressors. Those who hate the Lord would cringe before them, and their time would be forever. I would feed them with the finest of wheat, and with honey from the rock would I satisfy them.

occurs in the titles of fifty-five psalms, and refers to the use of the psalm in the Temple services. The word means the conductor of the Temple choir, who trained the choir and led the music.

occurs in the titles of three psalms. According to the Targum, Gittith was a harp used by the Philistines of Gath. Since the Hebrew word gath means "a winepress", Gittith may mean a melody sung at vintage festivals.

is rendered by the Targum and the Talmud: Rosh Ḥodesh Tishri, that is Rosh Hashanah. Metal trumpets, and not a shofar, were used on all other occasions of Rosh Ḥodesh.

that is, the Sukkoth festival which begins on the fifteenth of Tishri when the moon is full.

is a synonym for Israel, so called from the favored son of Israel, In Psalm 77:6, Jacob and Joseph are named as the fathers of the entire people of Israel

... The psalmist represents Israel as quoting the following words of God, heard for the first time after the exodus from Egypt.

refers to Exodus 17:7; Numbers 20:13.

... God will abundantly supply your needs as long as you are faithful to him.

... God's enemies are the enemies of his people, and he would compel them to pay homage to Israel, Israel's national existence and prosperity would know no end.