Reading: Wisdom of the Bible by Burton Scott Easton

LITERATURE

1. Linguistic:

In the Revised Version (British and American) the noun "wisdom" and its corresponding
adjective and verb ("be wise," "act wisely," etc.) represent a variety of Hebrew words:

bin (binah, and in the English Revised Version tebunah), sakhal (sekhel, sekhel), lebh (and in
the English Revised Version labhabh), tushiyah (and in the English Revised Version Te`em,
`ormah, piqqach. None of these, however, is of very frequent occurrence and by far the most
common group is the verb chakham, with the adjective chakham, and the nouns chokhmah,
chokhmoth, with something over 300 occurrences in the Old Testament (of which rather more
than half are in Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes). Cokhmah, accordingly, may be treated as
the Hebrew equivalent for the English "wisdom," but none the less the two words do not quite
correspond. For chokhmah may be used of simple technical skill (Exodus 28:3; 35:25, etc.;
compare The Wisdom of Solomon 14:2; Sirach 38:31; note that the English Versions of the
Bible gives a false impression in such passages), of military ability (Isaiah 10:13), of the
intelligence of the lower animals (Proverbs 30:24), of shrewdness applied to vicious (2 Samuel
13:3) or cruel (1 Kings 2:9 Hebrew) ends, etc. Obviously no one English word will cover all
these different uses, but the general meaning is clear enough--"the art of reaching one's end
by the use of the right means" (Smend). Predominantly the "wisdom" thought of is that which
comes through experience, and the "wise man" is at his best in old age (Job
12:12;15:10; Proverbs 16:31; Sirach 6:34; 8:9; 25:3-6, etc.; contrast Job 32:9; Ec 4:13; The
Wisdom of Solomon 4:9; Sirach 25:2). And in religion the "wise man" is he who gives to the
things of God the same acuteness that other men give to worldly affairs (Luke 16:8). He is
distinguished from the prophets as not having personal inspiration, from the priestly school as
not laying primary stress on the cult, and from the scribes as not devoted simply to the study of
the sacred writings. But, in the word by itself, a "wise man" need not in any way be a religious
man.

In the Revised Version (British and American) Apocrypha and New Testament the words
"wisdom," "wise," "act wisely," etc., are always translations of phronimos, or of their cognates.
For "wisdom," however, sophia is in almost every case the original word, the sole exception in
the New Testament being Luke 1:17 (phronesis).

See also PRUDENCE.

2. History:

(1) In the prophetic period, indeed, "wise" generally has an irreligious connotation. Israel was
fully sensible that her culture was beneath that of the surrounding nations, but thought of this
as the reverse of defect. Intellectual power without moral control was the very fruit of the
forbidden tree (Genesis 3:5), and "wisdom" was essentially a heathen quality (Isaiah
10:13; 19:12; 47:10; Ezekiel 28:3-5; Zechariah 9:2; specifically Edomite in Jer 49:7; Ob 1:8;
contrast Baruch 3:22,23) that deserved only denunciation (Isaiah 5:21;29:14; Jeremiah
4:22; 9:23; 18:18, etc.). Certainly at this time Israel was endeavoring to acquire a culture of her
own, and there is no reason to question that Solomon had given it a powerful stimulus (1 Kings
4:29-34). But the times were too distracted and the moral problems too imperative to allow the
more spiritually-minded any opportunity to cultivate secular learning, so that "wisdom" in Israel
took on the unpleasant connotation of the quality of the shrewd court counselors, with their
half-heathen advice (Isaiah 28:14-22, etc.). And the associations of the word with true religion
are very few (Deuteronomy 4:6; Jeremiah 8:8), while Deuteronomy 32:6; Jeremiah
4:22; 8:9 have a satirical sound--`what men call "wisdom" is really folly!' So, no matter how
much material may have gathered during this period (see PROVERBS), it is to the post-exilic
community that we are to look for the formation of body of Wisdom literature really associated
with Israel's religion.

(2) The factors that produced it were partly the same as those that produced scribism (see
SCRIBES). Life in Palestine was lived only on the sufferance of foreigners and must have been
dreary in the extreme. Under the firm hand of Persia there were no political questions, and in
later times the nation was too weak to play any part in the conflicts between Antioch and
Alexandria. Prophecy had about disappeared, fulfillment of the Messianic hope seemed too far
off to affect thought deeply, and the conditions were not yet ripe that produced the later flame
of apocalyptic enthusiasm. Nor were there vital religious problems within the nation, now that
the fight against idolatry had been won and the ritual reforms established. Artistic pursuits were
forbidden (compare especially The Wisdom of Solomon 15:4-6), and the Jewish temperament
was not of a kind that could produce a speculative philosophy (note the sharp polemic against
metaphysics, etc., in Sirach 3:21-24). It was in this period, to be sure, that Jewish commercial
genius began to assert itself, but there was no satisfaction in this for the more spiritually-
minded (Sirach 26:29). So, on the one hand, men were thrown back on the records of the past
(scribism), while on the other the problems of religion and life were studied through sharp
observation of Nature and of mankind. And the recorded results of the latter method form the
Wisdom literature.

(3) In this are included Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, with certain psalms (notably Ps 19; 37;
104; 107; 147; 148); in the Apocrypha must be added Sirach and Wisdom, with part of Baruch;
while of the other writings of the period parts of Philo, 4 Maccabees, and the Abikar legend
belong here also. How far foreign influence was at work it is hard to say. Egypt had a Wisdom
literature of her own (see EGYPT) that must have been known to some degree in Palestine,
while Babylonia and Persia could" not have been entirely without effect--but no specific
dependence can be shown in any of these cases. For Greece the case is clearer, and Greek
influence is obvious in Wisdom, despite the particularistic smugness of the author. But there
was vitality enough in Judaism to explain the whole movement without recourse to outside
influences, and, in any case, it is most arbitrary and untrue to attribute all the Wisdom
speculation to Greek forces (as, e.g., does Siegfried, HDB).

3. Religious Basis:

The following characteristics are typical of the group:

(1) The premises are universal. The writers draw from life wherever found, admitting that in
some things Israel may learn from other nations. The Proverbs of Lemuel are referred explicitly
to a non-Jewish author (Proverbs 31:1 the Revised Version margin), and Sirach recommends
foreign travel to his students (34:10,11; 39:4). Indeed, all the princes of the earth rule through
wisdom (Proverbs 8:16; compare Ecclesiastes 9:15). And even some real knowledge of God
can be obtained by all men through the study of natural phenomena (Psalms 19:1; Sirach
16:29-17:14; 42:15-43:33; The Wisdom of Solomon 13:2,9; compare Romans 1:20).

(2) But some of the writers dissent here (Job 28:28; 11:7; Ecclesiastes 2:11; 8:16,17; 11:5; The
Wisdom of Solomon 9:13(?)). And in any case this wisdom needs God's explicit grace for its
cultivation (Sirach 51:13-22; The Wisdom of Solomon 7:7; 8:21), and when man trusts simply
to his own attainments he is bound to go wrong (Proverbs 3:5-7; 19:21; 21:30;28:11; Sirach
3:24; 5:2,3; 6:2; 10:12; Baruch 3:15-28). True wisdom must center about God (Proverbs
15:33; 19:20f), starting from Him (Proverbs 1:7;9:10; Psalms 111:10; Sirach 21:11; Job 28:28)
and ending in Him (Proverbs 2:5); compare especially the beautiful passage Sirach 1:14-20.
But the religious attitude is far from being the whole of Wisdom. The course is very difficult
(Proverbs 2:4; 4:7; Sirach 4:17; 14:22,23; The Wisdom of Solomon 1:5; 17:1); continual
attention must be given every department of life, and man is never done learning (Proverbs
9:9; Sirach 6:18; Ecclesiastes 4:13).

(3) The attitude toward the written Law varies. In Ecclesiastes, Job and Proverbs it is hardly
mentioned (Proverbs 28:7-9;29:18(?)). Wisdom, as a special pamphlet against idolatry, has
little occasion for specific reference, but its high estimate of the Law is clear enough (The
Wisdom of Solomon 2:12-15; 18:9). Sirach, especially, can find no terms high enough for the
praise of the Law (especially Sirach 24; 36; compare 9:15; 21:11, etc.), and he identifies the
Law with Wisdom (24:23-25) and claims the prophets as Wisdom teachers (44:3,4). Yet this
perverse identification betrays the fact that Sirach's interest is not derived from a real study of
the Law; the Wisdom that was so precious to him must be in the sacred books! Compare
Baruch 4:1 (rather more sincere).

(4) The attitude toward the temple-worship is much the same. The rites are approved
(Proverbs 3:9; Sirach 35:4-8; 38:11; Sirach seems to have an especial interest in the
priesthood, 7:29-33; 50:5-21), but the writers clearly have no theory of sacrifice that they can
utilize for practical purposes. And for sacrifice (and even prayer, Proverbs 28:9) as a substitute
for righteousness no condemnation is too strong (Proverbs 7:14; 15:8; 20:25; 21:3,17; Sirach
34:18-26; 35:1-3,12; Ec (5:1).

(5) An outlook on life beyond the grave is notably absent in the Wisdom literature. Wisdom is
the only exception (The Wisdom of Solomon 3:1, etc.), but Greek influence in Wisdom is
perfectly certain. In Job there are expressions of confidence (14:13-15; 19:25-29), but these do
not determine the main argument of the book. Proverbs does not raise the question, while
Ecclesiastes and Sirach categorically deny immortality (Ecclesiastes 9:2-10; Sirach 14:16;
17:27,28; 30:4; note that the Revised Version (British and American) in Sirach 7:17; 48:11 is
based on a glossed text; compare the Hebrew). Even the Messianic hope of the nation is in the
background in Pr (2:21,22 (?)), and it is altogether absent in Job and Ecclesiastes. To Sirach
(35:19; 36:11-14; 47:22) and Wisdom (3:8; 5:16-23) it is important, however, but not even
these works have anything to say of a personal Messiah (Sirach 47:22 (?)).

(6) That in all the literature the individual is the center of interest need not be said. But this
individualism, when combined with the weak eschatology, brought dire confusion into the
doctrine of retribution (see SIN). Sirach stands squarely by the old doctrine of retribution in this
life:

if at no other time, a man's sins will be punished on his deathbed (1:13; 11:26). Neither Job nor
Ecclesiastes, however, are content with this solution. The latter leaves the problem entirely
unsolved (8:14, etc.), while the former commends it to God's unsearchable ways.

4. Ideals:

The basis of the Wisdom method may be described then as that of a "natural" religion
respecting revelation, but not making much use of it. So the ideal is a man who believes in God
and who endeavors to live according to a prudence taught by observation of this world's laws,
with due respect, however, to Israel's traditional observances.

(1) From many standpoints the resulting character is worthy of admiration. The man was
intelligent, earnest, and hard-working (Proverbs has a particular contempt for the "sluggard";
and compare Ecclesiastes 9:10). Lying and injustice are denounced on almost every page of
the literature, and unceasing emphasis is laid on the necessity for benevolence (Psalms
37:21; 112:5,9; Job 22:7; 31:16-20; Proverbs 3:27,28; 14:31; 21:13; 22:9; Ecclesiastes 11:1;
Sirach 4:16; 7:34,35; 29:11-13; 40:24, etc.). All of the writers feel that life is worth the living--at
their most pessimistic moments the writers of Job and Ecclesiastes find attraction in the
contemplation of the world. In Proverbs and Sirach the outlook is even buoyant, Sirach in
especial being far from indifferent to the good things of life (30:23-25; 31:27;
compare Ecclesiastes 2:24 and contrast The Wisdom of Solomon 2:6-9).

(2) The faults of the Wisdom ideal are the faults of the postulates. The man is always self-
conscious and self-centered. All intense enthusiasms are repressed, as likely to prove
entangling (Ecclesiastes 7:16,17 is the most extreme case), and the individual is always
calculating (Sirach 38:17), even among his friends (Sirach 6:13; Proverbs 25:17) and in his
family (Sirach 33:19-23). Benevolence itself is to be exercised circumspectly (Proverbs 6:1-
5; 20:16; Sirach 12:5-7; 29:18), and Sirach, in particular, is very far from feeling an obligation to
love all men (25:7; 27:24; 30:6; 50:25,26). So "right" and "wrong" become confused with
"advantage" and "disadvantage." Not only is adultery wrong (Proverbs 2:17; Sirach 23:23), but
the injured husband is a dangerous enemy (Proverbs 5:9-11,14;6: 34,35; Sirach 23:21). As a
resuit the "moral perspective" is affected. With some of the finest moral observations in
Proverbs and Sirach are combined instructions as to table manners (Proverbs 23:1-3; Sirach
31:12-18) and merely humorous observations (Proverbs 20:14), while such passages
as Proverbs 22:22-28 and Sirach 41:17-24 contain extraordinary conglomerations of disparate
motives.

(3) So hope of earthly recompense becomes a very explicit motive (Proverbs 3:10; 11:25, etc.;
The Wisdom of Solomon 7:8-12 is the best statement on the other side). Even though riches
are nothing in themselves (Proverbs 10:2; 11:28; 23:4,5; 28:11; Ecclesiastes 5:13; Sirach
11:19; 31:5-7; all the literature denounces the unrighteous rich), yet Wisdom is to be desired as
bringing not only righteousness but riches also (Proverbs 8:21; 11:25; 13:18; Sirach 4:15;
20:27,28; The Wisdom of Solomon 6:21). This same desire for advantage gives an unpleasant
turn to many of the precepts which otherwise would touch the highest point; perhaps Proverbs
24:17,18 is the most extreme case:

"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, .... lest Yahweh .... turn away his wrath from him" (!)

(4) But probably the most serious fault was that the Wisdom method tended to produce a
religious aristocracy (Sirach 6:22, etc.). It was not enough that the heart and will should be
right, for a long course of almost technical training was needed (the "house of instruction" in
Sirach 51:23 is probably the school; compare Proverbs 9:4). The uninstructed or "simple"
(Proverbs 1:22, etc.) were grouped quite simply with the "sinners"; knowledge was virtue and
ignorance was vice. Doubtless Wisdom cried in the streets (Proverbs 1:20,21; 8:1-13;9:1-6,
almost certainly a reference to the canvassing efforts of the teachers for pupils), but only men
of ability and leisure could obey the call to learn. And despite all that is said in praise of manual
labor (Proverbs 12:11; 24:27; 28:19; Sirach 7:15; 38:31,32,34), Sirach is merely frank when he
says explicitly (38:25-34) that Wisdom cannot be for artisans (a carpenter as Messiah evidently
would have been unthinkable to Sirach; Mark 6:3). Scribism was at work along the same lines
of development, and the final union of the Wisdom method with the scribal produced a class
who called the common people accursed (John 7:49).

5. Teaching of Christ:

The statement of the methods and ideals of the Wisdom school is also virtually a statement of
our Lord's attitude toward it and an explanation of why much of His teaching took the form it
did. As to the universality of the premises He was at one with the Wisdom writers, one great
reason for the universality of the appeal of His teaching. Almost everything in the life of the
time, from the lily of the field to the king on his throne, contributed its quota to His illustrations.
And from the Wisdom method also the form of His teaching--the concise, antithetical saying
that sticks in the memory--was derived to some degree. (Of all the sayings of Christ,
perhaps Luke 14:8-10--a quotation of Proverbs 25:6,7--comes nearest to the pure Wisdom
type.) In common with the Wisdom writers, also, is the cheerful outlook, despite the continual
prospect of the Passion, and we must never forget that all morbid asceticism was entirely
foreign to Him (Luke 7:34 parallel Matthew 11:19). With the self-conscious, calculating product
of the Wisdom method, however, He had no patience. Give freely, give as the Father giveth,
without regard to self, in no way seeking a reward, is the burden of His teaching, and such a
passage as Luke 6:27-38 seems to have been aimed at the head of such writers as Sirach.
The attack on the religious aristocracy is too familiar to need recapitulation. Men by continual
exercise of worldly prudence could make themselves as impervious to His teaching as by
obstinate adherence to a scribal tradition, while His message was for all men on the sole basis
of a desire for righteousness on their part. This was the true Wisdom, fully justified of her
children (Luke 7:35; compare Matthew 11:19), while, as touching the other "Wisdom," Christ
could give thanks that God had seen fit to hide His mysteries from the wise and prudent and
reveal them unto "babes" (Luke 10:21 parallel Matthew 11:25).

6. Remainder of the New Testament:

(1) James

The remainder of the New Testament, despite many occurrences of the words "wise,"
"wisdom," etc., contains very little that is really relevant to the technical sense of the words.
The one notable exception is James, which has even been classed as "Wisdom literature," and
with some justice. For James has the same appeal to observation of Nature (1:11; 3:3-6,11,12;
5:7, etc.), the same observation of human life (2:2,3,15,16; 4:13, etc.), the same antithetical
form, and even the same technical use of the word "wisdom" (1:5; 3:15-17). The fiery moral
zeal, however, is far above that of the other Wisdom books, even above that of Job.

(2) Paul

Paul, on the other hand, belongs to an entirely different class, that of intense religious
experience, seeking its premises in revelation. So the Wisdom method is foreign to him and the
absence of Nature illustrations from his pages is notorious (even Romans 11:17 is an artificially
constructed figure). Only one passage calls for special comment. The "wisdom" against which
he inveighs in 1 Corinthians 1-3 is not Jewish but Greek-speculation in philosophy, with studied
elegance in rhetoric. Still, Jewish or Greek, the moral difficulty was the same. God's message
was obscured through an overvaluation of human attainments, and so Paul's use of such Old
Testament passages as Isaiah 29:14; Job 5:13; Psalms 94:11 (in1 Corinthians 1:19; 3:19,20) is
entirely lust. Against this "wisdom" Paul sets the doctrine of the Cross, something that outraged
every human system but which, all the more, taught man his entire dependence on God.

Yet Paul had a "wisdom" of his own (1 Corinthians 2:6), that he taught to Christians of mature
moral (not intellectual:

1 Corinthians 3:1-3) progress. Some commentators would treat this wisdom as doctrinal and
find it in (say) Romans; more probably it is to be connected with the mystical experiences of
the Christian whose life has become fully controlled by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-13). For
religious progress is always accompanied by a higher insight that can never be described
satisfactorily to persons without the same experience (1 Corinthians 2:14).

7. Hypostasis:

(1) One characteristic of the Wisdom writers that proved of immense significance for later
(especially Christian) theology was a love of rhetorical personification of Wisdom (Proverbs
1:20-33; 8:1-9:6; Sirach 4:11-19; 6:23-31; 14:20-15:10; 24; 51:13-21; The Wisdom of Solomon
6:12-9:18; Baruch 3:29-32). Such personifications in themselves are not, of course, remarkable
(compare e.g. the treatment of "love" in 1 Corinthians 13), but the studied, somewhat artificial
style of the Wisdom writers carries out the personification with a curious elaboration of details:

Wisdom builds her house, marries her disciple, mingles wine, etc. The most famous passage
is Proverbs 8:22-31, however. The Wisdom that is so useful to man was created before man,
before, indeed, the creation of the world. When the world was formed she was in her
childhood, and while God formed the world she engaged in childish play, under His shelter and
to His delight. So Proverbs 8:30 should be rendered, as the context makes clear that 'mwn
should be pointed 'amun, "sheltered," and not 'amon, "as a master-workman." And "Wisdom" is
a quality of man (Proverbs 8:31-36), not a quality of God.

(2) Indeed, "Wisdom" is an attribute rarely predicated of God in the Old Testament (1 Kings
3:28; 31:2; Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15; compare Daniel 5:11), even in the Wisdom writers (Job
5:12; 9:4; Psalms 104:24; Proverbs 3:19). Partly this reticence seems to be due to a feeling
that God's knowledge is hardly to be compared in kind to man's, partly to the fact that to the
earlier writers "Wisdom" had a profane sound. Later works, however, have less hesitation in
this regard (e.g., Sirach 42:21; Baruch 3:32, the Massoretic Text pointing and the Septuagint
of Proverbs 8:30), so that the personifications became personifications of a quality of God. The
result was one of the factors that operated to produce the doctrine of the "Word" as it appeared
in the Palestinian form.

See LOGOS.

(3) In the Apocrypha, however, the most advanced step is taken in Wisdom. Wisdom is the
only-begotten of God (The Wisdom of Solomon 7:22), the effulgence of eternal light (The
Wisdom of Solomon 7:26; compare Hebrews 1:3), living with God (The Wisdom of Solomon
8:3) and sharing (?) His throne (The Wisdom of Solomon 9:4). She is the origin (or "mother") of
all creatures (The Wisdom of Solomon 7:12; compare 8:6), continualiar active in penetrating
(The Wisdom of Solomon 7:24), ordering (The Wisdom of Solomon 8:1), and renewing (The
Wisdom of Solomon 7:27) all things, while carrying inspiration to all holy souls (The Wisdom of
Solomon 7:23), especially to Israel (The Wisdom of Solomon 10:17,18). Here there is no doubt
that the personification has ceased to be rhetorical and has become real. Wisdom is thought of
as a heavenly being, not so distinctively personal, perhaps, as an angel, but none the less far
more than a mere rhetorical term; i.e. she is a "hypostasis."

(4) Most of Wisdom's description is simply an expansion of earlier Palestinian concepts, but it
is evident that other influence has been at work also and that that influence was Greek. The
writer of Wisdom was touched genuinely by the Greek philosophy, and in The Wisdom of
Solomon 7:24, at any rate, his "Wisdom" is the logos spermatikos of the Stoics, with more than
suspicions of Greek influence elsewhere in the descriptions. This combination of Jewish and
Greek thought was still further elaborated by Philo--and still further confused. For Philo
endeavored to operate with the Wisdom doctrine in its Palestinian form, the Wisdom doctrine
into which Wisdom had already infused some Loges doctrine, and the Logos doctrine by itself,
without thoroughly understanding the discordant character of his terms. The result is one of the
most obscure passages in Philo's system. Sometimes, as in DeFug. section 109, chapter xx,
Wisdom is the mother of the Logos, as God is its Father (compare Cherubim, sections 49, 50,
chapter xiv), while, again, the relation can be inverted almost in the same context and the
Logos appears as the source of Wisdom (De Fug. section 97, chapter xviii).

See LOGOS.

(5) Philo's influence was incalculable, and Wisdom, as a heavenly power, plays an almost
incredible role in the Gnostic speculations of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the Gnostic work,
Pistis Sophia, probably attaining the climax of unreality. The orthodox Fathers, however,
naturally sought Wisdom within the Trinity, and Irenaeus made an identification with the Holy
Spirit (iv. 20, 3). Tertullian, on the other hand, identified Wisdom with the Son (probably
following earlier precedent) in Adv. Prax., 7, and this identification attained general acceptation.
So Proverbs 8:22-30 became a locus classicus in the Christological controversies (an
elaborate exposition in Athanaslus, Orat. ii. 16-22), and persisted as a dogmatic proof-text until
a very modern period.

LITERATURE.

The Old Testament Theologies, particularly those of Smend, edition 2 (1899), and Bertholet
(1911). For the intermediate period, GJV, III, edition 4 (1909), and Boasset, Die Religion des
Judentums, edition 2 (1906). Special works:

Toy, "Wisdom Literature," EB, IV (1903); Meinhold, Die Weisheit Israels (1908); Friedlander,
Griechische Philosophie im Altes Testament (1904, to be used cautiously). On Philo, compare
especially Drummond, Philo Judaeus, II, 201-13 (1888).

See also the articles on the various books and compare LOGOS; PHILO, JUDAEUS.

Reading: Worship by Philip Wendell Crannell

Honor, reverence, homage, in thought, feeling, or act, paid to men, angels, or other "spiritual"
beings, and figuratively to other entities, ideas, powers or qualities, but specifically and
supremely to Deity.

1. Terms:

The principal Old Testament word is shachah, "depress," "bow down," "prostrate" (Hithpael),
as in Exodus 4:31, "bowed their heads and worshipped"; so in 94 other places. The context
determines more or less clearly whether the physical act or the volitional and emotional idea is
intended. The word is applied to acts of reverence to human superiors as well as supernatural.
the Revised Version (British and American) renders it according to its physical aspect, as
indicated by the context, "bowed himself down" (the King James Version
"worshipped," Genesis 24:52; compare 23:7; 27:29, etc.).

Other words are:

caghadh, "prostrate," occurring in Isaiah 44:15,17,19; 46:6, but rendered (English Versions of
the Bible) "fall down." In Daniel 2:46; 3:5,6,7,10,15,18,28, it (Aramaic ceghidh) is "worship"
(English Versions of the Bible), 7 times associated with "falling down" and 5 times with "serve."
`abhadh, "work," "labor," "serve," is rendered "worship" by English Versions of the Bible
in 2 Kings 10:19,21: "the worshippers (servants) of Baal." In Isaiah 19:21 the Revised Version
(British and American) has "worship with sacrifice and oblation" (the King James Version "do
sacrifice"). Isaiah 19:23 the King James Version has "served," the Revised Version (British and
American) "worship." `atsabh, "carve," "fabricate," "fashion," is once given "worship," i.e. "make
(an object of) worship" (Jeremiah 44:19, the American Revised Version margin "portray").

The Old Testament idea is therefore the reverential attitude of mind or body or both, combined
with the more generic notions of religions adoration, obedience, service.

The principal New Testament word (59 times) is proskuneo, "kiss (the hand or the ground)
toward," hence, often in the oriental fashion bowing prostrate upon the ground; accordingly,
Septuagint uses it for the Hithpael of shachah (hishtachawah), "prostrate oneself." It is to
render homage to men, angels, demons, the Devil, the "beast," idols, or to God. It is rendered
16 times to Jesus as a beneficent superior; at least 24 times to God or to Jesus as God. The
root idea of bodily prostration is much less prominent than in the Old Testament. It is always
translated "worship."

Next in frequency is sebomai, "venerate," and its various cognates, sebazomai, eusebeo,
theosebes, sebasma. Its root is sebas, "fear," but this primitive meaning is completely merged
into "reverence," "hold in awe":

"In vain do they worship me" (Matthew 15:9, etc.). latreuo, is "serve" (religiously), or "worship
publicly," "perform sacred services," "offer gifts," "worship God in the observance of the rites
instituted for His worship." It is translated "worship" in Acts 7:42; 24:14 the King James
Version, but "serve," American Standard Revised Version: "serve the host of heaven," "serve I
the God of our fathers"; but both the King James Version and the American Standard Revised
Version render Philippians 3:3, "worship by the Spirit of God," and Hebrews 10:2, "the
worshippers," the context in the first two being general, in the second two specific. In 2 Timothy
1:3 and many other cases both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and
American) give "serve," the meaning not being confined to worship; but compare Luke
2:37 Revised Version: "worshipping (the King James Version "served") with fastings and
supplications."Romans 1:25 gives both sebazomai and latreuo in their specific meanings:
"worshipped (venerated) and served (religiously,) the creature." doxa, "glory" (Luke 14:10, King
James Version: "Thou shalt have worship," is a survival of an old English use, rightly discarded
in the Revised Version (British and American)). threskeia (Colossians 2:18), "a voluntary
humility and worshipping of the angels" (the American Revised Version margin "an act of
reverence"), has the root idea of trembling or fear. therapeuo, "serve," "heal," "tend" (Acts
17:25, King James Version: "neither is worshipped by men's hands"), is "served" in the
Revised Version (British and American), perhaps properly, but its close connection with
"temples made with hands" makes this questionable. neokoros, "temple-sweepers," "temple-
keeper" (Acts 19:35), has its true meaning in the Revised Version (British and American), but
"worshipper" is needed to complete the idea, in our modern idiom.

In the Apocrypha the usage is the same as in the New Testament, the verbs used being, in the
order of their frequency, proskuneo, sebomai, threskeuo, and latreuo.

The New Testament idea of worship is a combination of the reverential attitude of mind and
body, the general ceremonial and religious service of God, the feeling of awe, veneration,
adoration; with the outward and ceremonial aspects approaching, but not reaching, the
vanishing point. The total idea of worship, however, both in the Old Testament and New
Testament, must be built up, not from the words specifically so translated, but also, and chiefly,
from the whole body of description of worshipful feeling and action, whether of individuals
singly and privately, or of larger bodies engaged in the public services of sanctuary, tabernacle,
temple, synagogue, upper room or meeting-place.

Space permits no discussion of the universality of worship in some form, ranging from
superstitious fear or fetishism to the highest spiritual exercise of which man is capable; nor of
the primary motive of worship, whether from a desire to placate, ingratiate, or propitiate some
higher power, or to commune and share with him or it, or express instinctive or purposed
devotion to him. On the face of the Bible narratives, the instinct of communion, praise, adoring
gratitude would seem to be the earliest moving force (compare Genesis 4:3,4, Cain,
Abel; Romans 1:18-25, the primitive knowledge of God as perverted to creature-
worship;Genesis 8:20, Noah's altar; and Genesis 12:7, Abram's altar). That propitiation was an
early element is indicated probably by Abel's offering from the flock, certainly by the whole
system of sacrifice. Whatever its origin, worship as developed in the Old Testament is the
expression of the religious instinct in penitence, prostration, adoration, and the uplift of holy joy
before the Creator.
2. Old Testament Worship:

In detail, Old Testament worship was individual and private, though not necessarily secret, as
with Eliezer (Genesis 24:26), the expression of personal gratitude for the success of a mission,
or with Moses (Exodus 34:8), seeking God's favor in intercessory prayer; it was sometimes,
again, though private, in closest association with others, perhaps with a family significance
(Genesis 8:20, Noah; Ge 12:7; 22:5, Abraham:

"I and the lad will go yonder; and .... worship"); it was in company with the "great
congregation," perhaps partly an individual matter, but gaining blessing and force from the
presence of others (Psalms 42:4: "I went with the throng .... keeping holyday"); and it was, as
the national spirit developed, the expression of the national devotion (1 Chronicles 29:20: "And
all the assembly .... worshipped Yahweh, and the king"). In this public national worship the truly
devout Jew took his greatest delight, for in it were inextricably interwoven together, his
patriotism, his sense of brotherhood, his feeling of solidarity, his personal pride and his
personal piety.

The general public worship, especially as developed in the Temple services, consisted of:

(1) Sacrificial acts, either on extraordinary occasions, as at the dedication of the Temple, etc.,
when the blood of the offerings flowed in lavish profusion (2 Chronicles 7:5), or in the regular
morning and evening sacrifices, or on the great annual days, like the Day of Atonement.

(2) Ceremonial acts and posture of reverence or of adoration, or symbolizing the seeking and
receiving of the divine favor, as when the high priest returned from presenting incense offering
in the holy place, and the people received his benediction with bowed heads, reverently
standing (2 Chronicles 7:6), or the worshippers prostrated themselves as the priests sounded
the silver trumpets at the conclusion of each section of the Levites' chant.

(3) Praise by the official ministrants of the people or both together, the second probably to a
very limited extent. This service of praise was either instrumental, silver "trumpets and cymbals
and instruments of music," or it might be in vocal song, the chant of the Levites (very likely the
congregation took part in some of the antiphonal psalms); or it might be both vocal and
instrumental, as in the magnificent dedicatory service of Solomon (2 Chronicles 5:13), when
"the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and
thanking Yahweh." Or it might be simply spoken:

"And all the people said, Amen, and praised Yahweh" (1 Chronicles 16:36). How fully and
splendidly this musical element of worship was developed among the Hebrews the Book of Ps
gives witness, as well as the many notices in Chronicles (1Ch 15; 16; 25; 2Ch 5; 29; 30, etc.).
It is a pity that our actual knowledge of Hebrew music should be so limited.

(4) Public prayer, such as is described in Deuteronomy 26, at the dedication of the Temple
(2 Chronicles 6, etc.), or like Psalms 60; 79; 80. Shorter forms, half praise, half prayer, formed
a part of the service in Christ's time.

(5) The annual feasts, with their characteristic ceremonies.

See PASSOVER; TABERNACLE; etc. Places of worship are discussed under ALTAR; HIGH
PLACE; SANCTUARY; TABERNACLE; TEMPLE, etc.

3. New Testament Worship:

In the New Testament we find three sorts of public worship, the temple-worship upon Old
Testament lines, the synagogue-worship, and the worship which grew up in the Christian
church out of the characteristic life of the new faith. The synagogue-worship, developed by and
after the exile, largely substituted the book for the symbol, and thought for the sensuous or
object appeal; it was also essentially popular, homelike, familiar, escaping from the
exclusiveness of the priestly service. It had four principal parts:

(1) the recitation of the shema`, composed of Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21, and Numbers
15:37-41, and beginning, "Hear (shema`), O Israel:

Yahweh our God is one Yahweh";

(2) prayers, possibly following some set form, perhaps repeating some psalm;

(3) the reading by male individuals of extracts from the Law and the Prophets selected by the
"ruler of the synagogue," in later years following the fixed order of a lectionary, as may have
been the case when Jesus "found the place";

(4) the targum or condensed explanation in the vernacular of the Scriptures read.

It is questioned whether singing formed a part of the service, but, considering the place of
music in Jewish religious life, and its subsequent large place in Christian worship, it is hard to
think of it as absent from the synagogue.

4. Public Christian Worship:

Public Christian worship necessarily developed along the lines of the synagogue and not the
temple, since the whole sacrificial and ceremonial system terminated for Christianity with the
life and death of Jesus. The perception of this, however, was gradual, as was the break of
Jewish Christians with both synagogue and temple. Jesus Himself held the temple in high
honor, loved to frequent it as His Father's house, reverently observed the feasts, and exhibited
the characteristic attitude of the devout but un-Pharisaic Israelite toward the temple and its
worship. Yet by speaking of Himself as "greater than the temple" (Matthew 12:6) and by
quoting, Hosea 6:6, "I desire goodness and not sacrifice," He indicated the relative
subordinateness of the temple and its whole system of worship, and in His utterance to the
woman of Samaria He intimated the abolition both of the whole idea of the central sanctuary
and of the entire ceremonial worship:

"Neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father"; "They that worship
him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:21,24). His chief interest in the temple seems to
have been as a "house of prayer" and an opportunity to reach and touch the people. We
cannot help feeling that with all His love for the holy precincts, He must have turned with relief
from the stately, formal, distant ceremonial of the temple, partly relieved though it was by the
genuine religious passion of many worshippers, to the freer, more vital, closer heart-worship of
the synagogue, loaded though that also was with form, tradition, ritual and error. Here He was
a regular and reverent attendant and participant (Mark 1:21,39;3:1;6:2; Luke 6:6). Jesus did not
Himself prescribe public worship for His disciples, no doubt assuming that instinct and practice,
and His own spirit and example, would bring it about spontaneously, but He did seek to guard
their worship from the merely outward and spectacular, and laid great emphasis on privacy and
real "innerness" in it (Matthew 6:1-18, etc.). Synagogue-worship was probably not abandoned
with Pentecost, but private brotherhood meetings, like that in the upper chamber, and from
house to house, were added. The young church could hardly have "grown in favor with the
people," if it had completely withdrawn from the popular worship, either in temple or
synagogue, although no attendance on the latter is ever mentioned. Possibly the Christians
drew themselves together in a synagogue of their own, as did the different nationalities. The
reference in James: "if there come unto your synagogue" (2:2), while not conclusive, since
"synagogue" may have gained a Christian significance by this time, nevertheless, joined with
the traditions concerning James's ascetic zeal and popular repute, argues against such a
complete separation early. Necessarily with the development into clearness of the Christian
ideas, and with the heightening persecution, together with the hard industrial struggle of life,
the observance of the Jewish Sabbath in temple or synagogue, and of the Christian's Lord's
Day, grew incompatible. Yet the full development of this must have been rather late in Paul's
life. Compare his missionary tactics of beginning his work at the synagogue, and his custom of
observing as far as possible the Jewish feasts (Acts 20:16; 1 Corinthians 16:8). Our notions of
the worship of the early church must be constructed out of the scattered notices descriptive of
different stages in the history, and different churches present different phases of development.
The time was clearly the Lord's Day, both by the Jewish churches (John 20:19,26) and by the
Greek (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2) The daily meeting of Acts 2:46 was probably not
continued, no mention occurring later.

There are no references to yearly Christian festivals, though the wide observance in the sub-
apostolic period of the Jewish Passover, with references to the death and resurrection of
Jesus, and of Pentecost to commemorate the gift of the Holy Spirit, argues for their early use.
The place was of course at first in private houses, and the earliest form of Christian church
architecture developed from this model rather than the later one of the basilica. 1 Corinthians
gives rather full data for the worship in this free and enthusiastic church. It appears that there
were two meetings, a public and a private. The public worship was open, informal and
missionary, as well as edificatory. The unconverted, inquirers and others, were expected to be
present, and were frequently converted in the meeting (1 Corinthians 14:24). It resembled
much more closely, an evangelical "prayer and conference meeting" of today than our own
formal church services. There is no mention of official ministrants, though the meeting seems
to have been under some loose guidance. Any male member was free to take part as the Spirit
might prompt, especially in the line of his particular "spiritual gift" from God, although one
individual might have several, as Paul himself. Largely developed on synagogue lines, but with
a freedom and spirit the latter must have greatly lacked, it was composed of:

(1) Prayer by several, each followed by the congregational "Amen."

(2) Praise, consisting of hymns composed by one or another of the brethren, or coming down
from the earlier days of Christian, perhaps Jewish, history, like the Benedictus, the Magnificat,
the Nunc dimittis, etc. Portions of these newer hymns seem to be imbedded here and there in
the New Testament, as at Revelation 5:9-13:

"Worthy art thou," etc. (compare Revelation 15:3;11:17, etc.); also: "He who was manifested in
the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in
the world, Received up in glory" (1 Timothy 3:16). Praise also might take the form of individual
testimony, not in metrical form (1 Corinthians 14:16).

(3) Reading of the Scripture must have followed, according to the synagogue model. Paul
presupposes an acquaintance with the Old Testament Scriptures and the facts of Jesus' life,
death, resurrection. Instructions to read certain epistles in the churches indicate the same.

(4) Instruction, as in 1 Corinthians 2:7;6:5, teaching for edification. (These passages, however,
may not have this specific reference.)

(5) Prophesying, when men, believed by themselves and by the church to be specially taught
by the Holy Spirit, gave utterance to His message. At Corinth these crowded on one another,
so that Paul had to command them to speak one at a time.

(6) Following this, as some believe, came the "speaking with tongues," perhaps fervent and
ejaculatory prayers "so rugged and disjointed that the audience for the most part could not
understand" until someone interpreted. The speaking with tongues, however, comprised praise
as well as prayer (1 Corinthians 14:16), and the whole subject is enshrouded in mystery. See
TONGUES, GIFT OF.

(7) The meeting closed with the benediction and with the "kiss of peace."

The "private service" may have followed the other, but seems more likely to have been in the
evening, the other in the morning. The disciples met in one place and ate together a meal of
their own providing, the agape, or love feast, symbolizing their union and fellowship, preceded
or followed by prayers (Didache x), and perhaps interspersed by hymns. Then the "Lord's
Supper" itself followed, according to the directions of the apostle (1 Corinthians 11:23-28).

How far "Christian worship" was "Christian" in the sense of being directly addressed to Christ,
is not easily answered. We must not read into their mental content the fully developed
Christology of later centuries, but it is hard to believe that those who had before them Thomas'
adoring exclamation, "My Lord and my God!" the saying of the first martyr, "Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit," the dictum of the great apostle, "Who, existing in the form of God," the utterances of
He, "And let all the angels of God worship him," "Thy throne, O God, is forever and forever,"
and, later, the prologue of Jn, and the ascriptions of praise in the Apocalypse, could have failed
to bow down in spirit before Jesus Christ, to make known their requests through Him, and to lift
up their adoration in song to Him, as according to Pliny's witness, 112 AD, "they sing a hymn to
Christ as God." The absolutely interchangeable way in which Paul, for instance, applies "Lord"
in one breath to the Father, to the Old Testament Yahweh, and to Jesus Christ (Romans
10:11,13; 14:4,6,8,11,12, etc.) clearly indicates that while God the Father was, as He must be,
the ultimate and principal object of worship, the heart and thought of God's New Testament
people also rested with adoring love on Him who is "worthy .... to receive the power and riches
and wisdom, and might, and glory, and honor and blessing." The angel of the Apocalypse
would not permit the adoration of the seer (Revelation 22:9), but Jesus accepts the homage of
Thomas, and in the Fourth Gospel declares it the duty of all to "honor the Son, even as they
honor the Father" (John 5:23).

The classical passages for Christian worship are John 4:23,24, culminating in (margin):

"God is spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth," and Philippians 3:3,
"who worship by the Spirit of God." These define its inner essence, and bar out all ceremonial
or deputed worship whatever, except as the former is, what the latter can never be, the
genuine and vital expression of inner love and devotion. Anything that really stimulates and
expresses the worshipful spirit is so far forth a legitimate aid to worship, but never a substitute
for it, and is harmful if it displaces it. Much, perhaps most, stately public worship is as
significant to God and man as the clack of a Thibetan prayer-mill. The texts cited also make of
worship something far deeper than the human emotion or surrender of will; it is the response of
God's Spirit in us to that Spirit in Him, whereby we answer "Abba, Father," deep calling unto
deep. Its object is not ingratiation, which is unnecessary, nor propitiation, which has been
made "once for all," nor in any way "serving" the God who `needeth not to be worshipped with
men's hands' (Acts 17:25), but it is the loving attempt to pay our unpayable debt of love, the
expression of devoted hearts, "render(ing) as bullocks the offering of our lips" (Hosea 14:2).
For detail it is not a physical act or material offering, but an attitude of mind: "The sacrifices of
God are a broken spirit"; "sacrifices of praise, with which God is well pleased"; not the service
of form in an outward sanctuary, the presentation of slain animals, but the service of love in a
life: "Present your bodies a living sacrifice"; not material sacrifices, but spiritual: your rational
"service"; not the service about an altar of stone or wood, but about the sanctuary of human life
and need; for this is true religion ("service," "worship," threskeia), "to visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction"; not the splendor of shining robes or the sounding music of trumpets
or organs, but the worshipping glory of holy lives; in real fact, "hallowing Thy name," "and
keeping oneself unspotted from the world." The public worship of God in the presence of His
people is a necessity of the Christian life, but in spiritual Christianity the ceremonial and
outward approaches, if it does not quite reach, the vanishing point.

LITERATURE.

BDB; Thayer's New Testament Lexicon under the word; arts; on "Praise," "Worship," "Temple,"
"Church," "Prayer," in HDB, DB, New Sch-Herz, DCG; Commentaries on Psalms, Chronicles,
Corinthians; Weizsacker, The Apostolic Age of the Church, II; Pfleiderer, Das Urchristenthum
(English translation); Leoning, Gemeindeverfassung des Urchristenthums; Edersheim, The
Temple, Its Ministry and Service, as They Were at the Time of Jesus Christ, and Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah; Hort, The Christian Ecclesia; Lindsay, Church and the Ministry in
the Early Centuries; McGiffert, A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age.

Reading: Holiness by J. C. Lambert

I. In the Old Testament Meaning of the Term.

There has been much discussion as to the original meaning of the Semitic root Q-D-SH, by
which the notion of holiness is expressed in the Old Testament. Some would connect it with an
Assyrian word denoting purity, clearness; most modern scholars incline to the view that the
primary idea is that of cutting off or separation. Etymology gives no sure verdict on the point,
but the idea of separation lends itself best to the various senses in which the word "holiness" is
employed. In primitive Semitic usage "holiness" seems to have expressed nothing more than
that ceremonial separation of an object from common use which the modern study of savage
religions has rendered familiar under the name of taboo (W.R. Smith, Religion of the Semites,
Lect iv). But within the Biblical sphere, with which alone we are immediately concerned,
holiness attaches itself first of all, not to visible objects, but to the invisible Yahweh, and to
places, seasons, things and human beings only in so far as they are associated with Him. And
while the idea of ceremonial holiness runs through the Old Testament, the ethical significance
which Christianity attributes to the term is never wholly absent, and gradually rises in the
course of the revelation into more emphatic prominence.

1. The Holiness of God:

As applied to God the notion of holiness is used in the Old Testament in two distinct senses:

(1) Absoluteness and Majesty

First in the more general sense of separation from all that is human and earthly. It thus denotes
the absoluteness, majesty, and awfulness of the Creator in His distinction from the creature. In
this use of the word, "holiness" is little more than an equivalent general term for "Godhead,"
and the adjective "holy" is almost synonymous with "Divine" (compareDaniel 4:8,9,18;5:11).
Yahweh's "holy arm" (Isaiah 52:10;Psalms 98:1) is His Divine arm, and His "holy name"
(Leviticus 20:3, etc.) is His Divine name. When Hannah sings "There is none holy as Yahweh"
(1 Samuel 2:2), the rest of the verse suggests that she is referring, not to His ethical holiness,
but simply to His supreme Divinity.

(2) Ethical Holiness

But, in the next place, holiness of character in the distinct ethical sense is ascribed to God. The
injunction, "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44;19:2), plainly implies an ethical
conception. Men cannot resemble God in His incommunicable attributes. They can reflect His
likeness only along the lines of those moral qualities of righteousness and love in which true
holiness consists. In the Psalmists and Prophets the Divine holiness becomes, above all, an
ethical reality convicting men of sin (Isaiah 6:3,1) and demanding of those who would stand in
His presence clean hands and a pure heart (Psalms 24:3).

2. Holiness of Place, Time and Object:

From the holiness of God is derived that ceremonial holiness of things which is characteristic of
the Old Testament religion. Whatever is connected with the worship of the holy Yahweh is itself
holy. Nothing is holy in itself, but anything becomes holy by its consecration to Him. A place
where He manifests His presence is holy ground (Exodus 3:5). The tabernacle or temple in
which His glory is revealed is a holy building (Exodus 28:29; 2 Chronicles 35:5); and all its
sacrifices (Exodus 29:33), ceremonial materials (30:25;Numbers 5:17) and utensils (1 Kings
8:4) are also holy. The Sabbath is holy because it is the Sabbath of the Lord (Exodus 20:8-11).
"Holiness, in short, expresses a relation, which consists negatively in separation from common
use, and positively in dedication to the service of Yahweh" (Skinner in HDB, II, 395).

3. Holiness of Men:

The holiness of men is of two kinds:

(1) Ceremonial

A ceremonial holiness, corresponding to that of impersonal objects and depending upon their
relation to the outward service of Yahweh. Priests and Levites are holy because they have
been "hallowed" or "sanctified" by acts of consecration (Exodus 29:1; Leviticus 8:12,30). The
Nazirite is holy because he has separated himself unto the Lord (Numbers 6:5). Above all,
Israel, notwithstanding all its sins and shortcomings, is holy, as a nation separated from other
nations for Divine purposes and uses (Exodus 19:6, etc.; compare Leviticus 20:24).

(2) Ethical and Spiritual

But out of this merely ceremonial holiness there emerges a higher holiness that is spiritual and
ethical. For unlike other creatures man was made in the image of God and capable of reflecting
the Divine likeness. And as God reveals Himself as ethically holy, He calls man to a holiness
resembling His own (Leviticus 19:2). In the so-called "Law of Holiness" (Leviticus 17:1-26:46),
God's demand for moral holiness is made clear; and yet the moral contents of the Law are still
intermingled with ceremonial elements (Leviticus 17:10; 19:19;21:1). In psalm and prophecy,
however, a purely ethical conception comes into view--the conception of a human holiness
which rests upon righteousness and truth (Psalms 15:1) and the possession of a contrite and
humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15). This corresponds to the knowledge of a God who, being Himself
ethically holy, esteems justice, mercy and lowly piety more highly than sacrifice (Hosea
6:6; Micah 6:6-8).

II. In the New Testament:

The Christian Conception.

The idea of holiness is expressed here chiefly by the word hagios and its derivatives, which
correspond very closely to the words of the Q-D-SH group in Hebrew, and are employed to
render them in the Septuagint. The distinctive feature of the New Testament idea of holiness is
that the external aspect of it has almost entirely disappeared, and the ethical meaning has
become supreme. The ceremonial idea still exists in contemporary Judaism, and is typically
represented by the Pharisees (Mark 7:1-13; Luke 18:11). But Jesus proclaimed a new view of
religion and morality according to which men are cleansed or defiled, not by anything outward,
but by the thoughts of their hearts (Matthew 15:17-20), and God is to be worshipped neither in
Samaria nor Jerusalem, but wherever men seek Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:21-24).
1. Applied to God:

In the New Testament the term "holy" is seldom applied to God, and except in quotations from
the Old Testament (Luke 1:49; 1 Peter 1:15), only in the Johannine writings (John
17:11; Revelation 4:8; 6:10). But it is constantly used of the Spirit of God (Matthew 1:18; Acts
1:2; Romans 5:5, etc.), who now, in contrast with Old Testament usage, becomes specifically
the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.

2. Applied to Christ:

In several passages the term is applied to Christ (Mark 1:24; Acts 3:14; 4:30, etc.), as being
the very type of ethical perfection (compare Hebrews 7:26).

3. Applied to Things:

In keeping with the fact that things are holy in a derivative sense through their relationship to
God, the word is used of Jerusalem (Matthew 4:5), the Old Testament covenant (Luke 1:72),
the Scriptures (Romans 1:2), the Law (Romans 7:12), the Mount of Transfiguration (2 Peter
1:18), etc.

4. Applied to Christians:

But it is especially in its application to Christians that the idea of holiness meets us in the New
Testament in a sense that is characteristic and distinctive. Christ's people are regularly called
"saints" or holy persons, and holiness in the high ethical and spiritual meaning of the word is
used to denote the appropriate quality of their life and conduct.

(1) As Separate from the World

No doubt, as applied to believers, "saints" conveys in the first place the notion of a separation
from the world and a consecration to God. Just as Israel under the old covenant was a chosen
race, so the Christian church in succeeding to Israel's privileges becomes a holy nation
(1 Peter 2:9), and the Christian individual, as one of the elect people, becomes a holy man or
woman (Colossians 3:12). In Paul's usage all baptized persons are "saints," however far they
may still be from the saintly character (compare 1 Corinthians 1:2,14 with 5:1).

(2) As Bound to the Pursuit of an Ethical Ideal

But though the use of the name does not imply high ethical character as a realized fact, it
always assumes it as an ideal and an obligation. It is taken for granted that the Holy Spirit has
taken up His abode in the heart of every regenerate person, and that a work of positive
sanctification is going on there. The New Testament leaves no room for the thought of a
holiness divorced from those moral qualities which the holy God demands of those whom He
has called to be His people.

See SANCTIFICATION.

LITERATURE.

Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, Lects. iii, iv; A. B. Davidson, Theology of the Old
Testament, 145; Schultz, Theology of the Old Testament, II, 167; Orr, Sin as a Problem of
Today, chapter iii; Sanday-Headlam, Romans, 12; articles "Holiness" in HDB and "Heiligkeit
Gottes im AT" in RE.

Reading: Prayer by J. C. Lambert

PRAYER

prar (deesis, proseuche, (enteuxis; for an excellent discussion of the meaning of these see
Thayer's Lexicon, p. 126, under the word deesis; the chief verbs are euchomai, proseuchomai,
and deomai, especially in Luke and Acts; aiteo, "to ask a favor" distinguished from erotao, "to
ask a question," is found occasionally):

In the Bible "prayer" is used in a simpler and a more complex a narrower and a wider
signification. In the former case it is supplication for benefits either for one's self (petition) or for
others (intercession). In the latter it is an act of worship which covers all soul in its approach to
God. Supplication is at the heart of it, for prayer always springs out of a sense of need and a
belief that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). But adoration
and confession and thanksgiving also find a It place, so that the suppliant becomes a
worshipper. It is unnecessary to distinguish all the various terms for prayer that are employed
in the Old Testament and the New Testament. But the fact should be noticed that in the
Hebrew and Greek aloe there are on the one hand words for prayer that denote a direct
petition or short, sharp cry of the heart in its distress (Psalms 30:2; 2 Corinthians 12:8), and on
the other "prayers" like that of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10), which is in reality a song of
thanksgiving, or that of Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, in which intercession is mingled with
doxology (Ephesians 3:14-21).

1. In the Old Testament:

The history of prayer as it meets us here reflects various stages of experience and revelation.
In the patriarchal period, when `men began to call upon the name of the Lord' (Genesis 4:26;
compare Genesis 12:8; 21:33), prayer is naive, familiar and direct (Genesis
15:2; 17:18; 18:23; 24:12). It is evidently associated with sacrifice (Genesis 12:8; 13:4; 26:25),
the underlying idea probably being that the gift or offering would help to elicit the desired
response. Analogous to this is Jacob's vow, itself a species of prayer, in which the granting of
desired benefits becomes the condition of promised service and fidelity (Genesis 28:20). In the
pre-exilic history of Israel prayer still retains many of the primitive features of the patriarchal
type (Exodus 3:4; Numbers 11:11-15; Judges 6:13; 11:30; 1 Samuel 1:11; 2 Samuel
15:8; Psalms 66:13). The Law has remarkably little to say on the subject, differing here from
the later Judaism (see Schurer, HJP, II, i, 290, index-vol, p. 93; and compare Matthew 6:5;
23:14; Acts 3:1; 16:13); while it confirms the association of prayer with sacrifices, which now
appear, however, not as gifts in anticipation of benefits to follow, but as expiations of guilt
(Deuteronomy 21:1-9) or thank offerings for past mercies (Deuteronomy 26:1-11). Moreover,
the free, frank access of the private individual to God is more and more giving place to the
mediation of the priest (Deuteronomy 21:5; 26:3), the intercession of the prophet (Exodus
32:11-13; 1 Samuel 7:5-13; 12:23), the ordered approach of tabernacle and temple services
(Exodus 40; 1 Kings 8). The prophet, it is true, approaches God immediately and freely--Moses
(Exodus 34:34; Deuteronomy 34:10) and David (2 Samuel 7:27) are to be numbered among
the prophets--but he does so in virtue of his office, and on the ground especially of his
possession of the Spirit and his intercessory function (compare Ezekiel 2:2; Jeremiah 14:15).

A new epoch in the history of prayer in Israel was brought about by the experiences of the
Exile. Chastisement drove the nation to seek God more earnestly than before, and as the way
of approach through the external forms of the temple and its sacrifices was now closed, the
spiritual path of prayer was frequented with a new assiduity. The devotional habits of Ezra
(Ezra 7:27; 8:23), Nehemlab (Nehemiah 2:4; 4:4,9, etc.) and Daniel (Daniel 6:10) prove how
large a place prayer came to hold in the individual life; while the utterances recorded in Ezra
9:6-15; Nehemiah 1:5-11; 9:5-38; Daniel 9:4-19; Isaiah 63:7-64:12 serve as illustrations of the
language and spirit of the prayers of the Exile, and show especially the prominence now given
to confession of sin. In any survey of the Old Testament teaching the Psalms occupy a place
by themselves, both on account of the large period they cover in the history and because we
are ignorant in most cases as to the particular circumstances of their origin. But speaking
generally it may be said that here we see the loftiest flights attained by the spirit of prayer
under the old dispensation--the intensest craving for pardon, purity and other spiritual blessings
(13048/A>), the most heartfelt longing for a living communion with God Himself (Psalms
42:2; 63:1; 84:2).

2. In the New Testament:

Here it will be convenient to deal separately with the material furnished by the Gospel
narratives of the life and teaching of Christ and that found in the remaining books. The
distinctively Christian view of prayer comes to us from the Christ of the Gospels. We have to
notice His own habits in the matter (Luke 3:21; 6:12; 9:16,29; 22:32,39-46; 23:34-46; Matthew
27:46; John 17), which for all who accept Him as the revealer of the Father and the final
authority in religion immediately dissipate all theoretical objections to the value and efficacy of
prayer. Next we have His general teaching on the subject in parables (Luke 11:5-9;18:1-14)
and incidental sayings (Matthew 5:44; 6:5-8; 7:7-
11; 9:38; 17:21; 18:19; 21:22;24:20; 26:41 and the parallels), which presents prayer, not as a
mere energizing of the religious soul that is followed by beneficial spiritual reactions, but as the
request of a child to a father (Matthew 6:8; 7:11), subject, indeed, to the father's will (Matthew
7:11; compare Matthew 6:10; 26:39,42; 1 John 5:14), but secure always of loving attention and
response (Matthew 7:7-11; 21:22). In thus teaching us to approach God as our Father, Jesus
raised prayer to its highest plane, making it not less reverent than it was at its best in Old
Testament times, while far more intimate and trustful. In the LORD'S PRAYER (which see). He
summed up His ordinary teaching on the subject in a concrete example which serves as a
model and breviary of prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4). But according to the Fourth
Gospel, this was not His final word upon the subject. On the night of the betrayal, and in full
view of His death and resurrection and ascension to God's right hand, He told His disciples that
prayer was henceforth to be addressed to the Father in the name of the Son, and that prayer
thus offered was sure to be granted (John 16:23,24,26). The differentia of Christian prayer thus
consists in its being offered in the name of Christ; while the secret of its success lies on the
one hand in the new access to the Father which Christ has secured for His people (John 17:19;
compare Hebrews 4:14-16; 10:19-22), and on the other in the fact that prayer offered in the
name of Christ will be prayer in harmony with the Father's will (John 15:7; compare 1 John
3:22;5:13).

In the Ac and Epistles we see the apostolic church giving effect to Christ's teaching on prayer.
It was in a praying atmosphere that the church was born (Acts 1:14; compare Acts 2:1); and
throughout its early history prayer continued to be its vital breath and native air (Acts
2:42; 3:1; 6:4,6 and passim). The Epistles abound in references to prayer. Those of Paul in
particular contain frequent allusions to his own personal practice in the matter (Romans
1:9; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:2, etc.), and many exhortations to his
readers to cultivate the praying habit (Romans 12:12; Ephesians 6:18; Philippians
4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17, etc.). But the new and characteristic thing about Christian prayer as
it meets us now is its connection with the Spirit. It has become a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians
14:14-16); and even those who have not this gift in the exceptional charismatic sense may
"pray in the Spirit" whenever they come to the throne of grace (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 1:20).
The gift of the Spirit, promised by Christ (John 14:16, etc.), has raised prayer to its highest
power by securing for it a divine cooperation (Romans 8:15,26; Galatians 4:6). Thus Christian
prayer in its full New Testament meaning is prayer addressed to God as Father, in the name of
Christ as Mediator, and through the enabling grace of the indwelling Spirit.

See PRAYERS OF CHRIST.

Reading: Psalms by John Richard Sampey
1. Title:

The Hebrew title for the Psalter is cepher tehillim, "book of praises." When we consider the fact
that more than 20 of these poems have praise for their keynote, and that there are outbursts of
thanksgiving in many others, the fitness of the Hebrew title dawns upon us. As Ker well says,
"The book begins with benediction, and ends with praise--first, blessing to man, and then glory
to God." Hymns of praise, though found in all parts of the Psalter, become far more numerous
in Books IV and V, as if the volume of praise would gather itself up into a Hallelujah Chorus at
the end. In the Greek version the book is entitled in some manuscripts Psalmoi, in others
Psalterion, whence come our English titles "Psalms," and "Psalter." The Greek word psalmos,
as well as the Hebrew mizmor, both of which are used in the superscriptions prefixed to many
of the separate psalms, indicates a poem sung to the accompaniment of stringed instruments.
The title mizmor is found before 57 psalms. The Psalter was the hymnal of the Jewish nation.
To individual psalms other titles are sometimes prefixed, such as shir, "song"; tehillah, "praise";
tephillah, "prayer," etc. The Psalter was both prayerbook and hymnal to the Jewish people. It
was also a manual for the nurture of the spiritual life in private as well as public worship.

2. Place in the Canon:

The Psalms were placed in the kethubhim or "Writings," the third group of the Hebrew
Scriptures. As the chief book of the kethubhim, the Psalter appears first in the great majority of
German manuscripts, though the Spanish manuscripts place Psalms after Chronicles, and the
Talmud puts Ru before Psalms. There has never been any serious question as to the right of
the Psalter to a place in the Canon of Scripture. The book is possibly more highly esteemed
among Christians than by the Jews. If Christians were permitted to retain only one book in the
Old Testament, they would almost certainly choose Psalms. By 100 BC, and probably at a
much earlier date, the Book of Psalms was completed and recognized as part of the
Hagiographa, the 3rd division of the Hebrew Bible.

3. Number of Psalms:

According to the Hebrew text, followed by modern VSS, there are 150 separate poems in the
Psalter. The Greek version has an additional psalm, in which David describes his victory over
Goliath; but this is expressly said to be "outside the number." The Septuagint, followed by
Vulgate, combined Psalms 9 and 10, and also 114 and 115, into a single psalm. On the other
hand, they divide Psalms 116 and 147 each into two poems. Thus, for the greater part of the
Psalter the Hebrew enumeration is one number in advance of that in the Greek and Latin
Bibles.

The existing division in the Hebrew text has been called in question at various points. Psalms
42 and 43 are almost certainly one poem (see refrain in 42:5,11; 43:5); and it is probable that
Psalms 9 and 10 were originally one, as in Septuagint. On the other hand, it is thought by
some that certain psalms were composed of two psalms which were originally separate. We
may cite as examples Psalms 19:1-6,7-14; 24:1-6,7-10; 27:1-6,7-14; 36:1-4,5-12. It is evident
that such combinations of two different poems into one may have taken place, for we have an
example in Psalms 108, which is composed of portions of two other psalms (57:7-11; 60:5-12).

4. Titles in the Hebrew Text:

(1) Value of the Superscriptions.

It is the fashion among advanced critics to waive the titles of the psalms out of court as wholly
worthless and misleading. This method is as thoroughly unscientific as the older procedure of
defending the superscriptions as part of an inspired text. These titles are clearly very old, for
the Septuagint, in the 2nd century BC, did not understand many of them. The worst that can be
said of the superscriptions is that they are guesses of Hebrew editors and scribes of a period
long prior to the Greek version. As to many of the musical and liturgical titles, the best learning
of Hebrew and Christian scholars is unable to recover the original meaning. The scribes who
prefixed the titles had no conceivable reason for writing nonsense into their prayerbook and
hymnal. These superscriptions and subscriptions all had a worthy meaning, when they were
first placed beside individual psalms. This indisputable fact of the great antiquity of these titles
ought forever to make it impossible for scientific research to ignore them. Grant for the sake of
argument, that not one of them came from the pen of the writers of the Psalms, but only from
editors and compilers of exilic or post-exilic days, it would still be reasonable to give attention
to the views of ancient Hebrew scholars, before considering the conjectures of modern critics
on questions of authorship and date. Sources of information, both oral and written, to which
they had access, have long since perished. In estimating the value of their work, we have a
right to use the best critical processes known to us; but it is unscientific to overlook the fact that
their proximity to the time of the composition of the Psalms gave them an advantage over the
modern scholar. If it be said by objectors that these ancient scribes formed their conclusions by
the study of the life of David as portrayed in the historical books of Kings and Chronicles, the
reply is ready that several historical notices in the titles cannot be thus explained. Who was
Cush? Who was Abimelech? (Psalms 7 and 34). A careful weighing of the facts concerning the
superscriptions will make it seem highly improbable that the earliest of these titles does not
reach back into pre-exilic times. We almost certainly have in them the results of the labors of
Hebrew scribes and compilers stretching over several centuries. Some of the titles may have
been appended by the psalmists themselves.

We are far from claiming that the titles are always intelligible to us, or that, when understood,
they are always correct. The process of constructing titles indicative of authorship had not
ceased in the 2nd century BC, the Septuagint adding many to psalms that were anonymous in
the Hebrew. The view expressed nearly 50 years ago by Perowne is eminently sane:

"The inscriptions cannot always be relied on. They are sometimes genuine, and really
represent the most ancient tradition. At other times, they are due to the caprice of later editors
and collectors, the fruits of conjecture, or of dimmer and more uncertain traditions. In short, the
inscriptions of the Psalms are like the subscriptions to the Epistles of the New Testament. They
are not of any necessary authority, and their value must be weighed and tested by the usual
critical processes."

(2) Thirtle's Theory.

J. W. Thirtle (The Titles of the Psalms, 1904) advances the hypothesis that both
superscriptions and subscriptions were incorporated in the Psalter, and that in the process of
copying the Psalms by hand, the distinction between the superscription of a given psalm and
the subscription of the one immediately preceding it was finally lost. When at length the
different psalms were separated from one another, as in printed editions, the subscriptions and
superscriptions were all set forth as superscriptions. Thus it came about that the musical
subscription of a given psalm was prefixed to the literary superscription of the psalm
immediately following it. The prayer of Habakkuk (Habakkuk 3) was taken by Thirtle as a model
or normal psalm; and in this instance the superscription was literary. "A prayer of Habakkuk the
prophet, upon Shigionoth," while the subscription is musical, "For the Chief Musician, on my
stringed instruments." The poem of Hezekiah in celebration of his recovery (Isaiah 38:9-20)
seems to support Thirtle's thesis, the superscription stating the authorship and the occasion
that gave birth to the psalm, while Isaiah 38:20 hints at the musical instruments with which the
psalm was to be accompanied in public worship. If now the musical notes be separated from
the notes of authorship and date that follow them, the musical notes being appended as
subscriptions, while the literary notes are kept as real superscriptions, the outcome of the
separation is in many instances a more intelligible nexus between title and poem. Thus the
subscript to Psalms 55, "The dove of the distant terebinths," becomes a pictorial title of 55:6-8
of the psalm. The application of the rule that the expression "for the Chief Musician" is always a
subscript removes the difficulty in the title of Psalms 88. The superscription of Psalms 88, on
Thirtle's hypothesis, becomes "Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite."Psalms 87 thus has a subscript
that repeats the statement of its superscription, but with an addition which harmonizes with the
content of the poem. "Mahalath Leannoth," with a slight correction in vocalization, probably
means "Dancings with Shoutings," and 87:7 speaks of both singing and dancing. The tone
of Psalms 87 is exceedingly cheerful; but Psalms 88 is the saddest in the entire Psalter. The
application of Thirtle's hypothesis also leaves Psalms 88 with a consistent literary title, whereas
the usual title ascribes the psalm first to the sons of Korah and then to Heman the Ezrahite.

(3) Meaning of the Hebrew Titles.

Scholars have not been able to come to agreement as to the meaning and application of a
goodly number of words and phrases found in the titles of the Psalms. We append an
alphabetical list, together with hints as to the probable meaning:

(a) 'Ayeleth ha-Shachar (Psalms 22) means "the hind of the morning," or possibly "the help of
the morning." Many think that the words were the opening line of some familiar song.

(b) `Alamoth (Psalms 46) means "maidens." The common view is that the psalm was to be
sung by soprano voices. Some speak of a female choir and compare1 Chronicles
15:20;Psalms 68:11,24f. According to Thirtle, the title is a subscript to Psalms 45, which
describes the marriage of a princess, a function at which it would be quite appropriate to have
a female choir.

(c) 'Al-tashcheth (Psalms 57-59; 75) means "destroy not;" and is quite suitable as a subscript
to Psalms 56-58 and 74 (compare Deuteronomy 9:26). Many think this the first word of a
vintage song (compare Isaiah 65:8).

(d) Ascents, So of" (Psalms 120-184):

the Revised Version (British and American) translates the title to 15 psalms "A So of Ascents,"
where the King James Version has "A So of Degrees." The most probable explanation of the
meaning of the expression is that these 15 psalms were sung by bands of pilgrims on their way
to the yearly feasts in Jerusalem (Psalms 122:4). Psalms 121-123; 125; 127; 128 and 132-134
are well suited for use on such occasions (see, however, Expository Times, XII, 62).

(e) "For the Chief Musician":

55 psalms are dedicated to the precentor or choir leader of the temple. "To the Chief Musician"
might mean that the precentor was the author of certain psalms, or that there was a collection
of hymns compiled by him for use in temple worship, or that certain psalms were placed in his
hands, with suggestions as to the character of the poems and the music which was to
accompany them. It is quite likely that there was an official collection of psalms for public
worship in the custody of the choir master of the temple.

(f) "Dedication of the House" (Psalms 30):

The title probably refers to the dedication of Yahweh's house; whether in the days of David, in
connection with the removal of the ark to Jerusalem, or in the days of Zerubbabel, or in the
time of Judas Maccabeus, it is impossible to say positively. If Psalms 39 was used on any one
of these widely separated occasions, that fact might account for the insertion of the caption, "a
So at the Dedication of the House."

(g) "Degrees":

see "Ascents" above.

(h) Gittith (Psalms 8; 81; 84) is commonly supposed to refer to an instrument invented in Gath
or to a tune that was used in the Philistine city. Thirtle emends slightly to gittoth, "wine
presses," and connects Psalms 7; 80 and 83 with the Feast of Tabernacles.

(i) Higgayon:

This word is not strictly a title, but occurs in connection with Celah in Psalms 9:16. the Revised
Version (British and American) translates the word in Psalms 92:3, "a solemn sound," and
in Psalms 19:14, "meditation." It is probably a musical note equivalent to largo.

(j) Yedhuthun:

In the title of Psalms 39, Jeduthun might well be identical with the Chief Musician. In Psalms 62
and 77 the Revised Version (British and American) renders "after the manner of Jeduthun." We
know from 1 Chronicles 16:41; 25:3 that JEDUTHUN (which see) was a choir leader in the
days of David. He perhaps introduced a method of conducting the service of song which ever
afterward was associated with his name.

(k) Yonath 'elem rechoqim (Psalms 56):

We have already called attention to the fact that as a subscript to Psalms 55 "the dove of the
distant terebinths," or "the silent dove of them that are afar off," would have a point of contact
with Psalms 55:6-8.

(l) Machalath (Psalms 53), Machalath le`annoth (Psalms 88):

Perhaps Thirtle's vocalization of the Hebrew consonants as mecholoth, "dancings," is correct.

As a subscript to Psalms 87; mecholoth may refer to David's joy at the bringing of the ark to
Zion (2 Samuel 6:14,15).

(m) Maskil (Psalms 32; 42-45; 52-55; 74; 78; 88; 89; 142):

The exact meaning of this common term is not clear. Briggs suggests "a meditation," Thirtle
and others "a psalm of instruction," Kirkpatrick "a cunning psalm." Some of the 13 psalms
bearing this title are plainly didactic, while others are scarcely to be classed as psalms of
instruction.

(n) Mikhtam (Psalms 16; 56-60):

Following the rabbinical guess, some translate "a golden poem." The exact meaning is
unknown.

(o) Muth labben:

The title is generally supposed to refer to a composition entitled "Death of the Son." Possibly
the melody to which this composition was sung was the tune to which Psalms 9 (or 8) was to
be sung. Thirtle translates "The Death of the Champion," and regards it as a subscription
toPsalms 8, in celebration of the victory over Goliath.
(p) On "Neghinoth'' occurs 6 times (Psalms 4; 6; 54; 55; 67; 76), and means "with stringed
instruments." Neghinath (Psalms 61) may be a slightly defective writing for Neghinoth. Perhaps
stringed instruments alone were used with psalms having this title. According to Thirtle's
hypothesis, the title was originally a subscript to Psalms 3; 5; 53; 54; 60; 66; 75.

(q) Nechiloth (Psalms 5), possibly a subscript to Psalms 4, is supposed by some to refer to
"wind instruments," possibly flutes.

(r) Celah, though not strictly a title, may well be discussed in connection with the
superscriptions. It occurs 71 times in the Psalms and 3 times in Habakkuk. It is almost certainly
technical term whose meaning was well known to the precentor and the choir in the temple.
The Septuagint always, Symmachus and Theodotion generally, render diapsalma, which
probably denotes an instrumental interlude. The Targum Aquila and some other ancient
versions render "forever." Jerome, following Aquila, translates it "always." Many moderns
derive Celah from a root meaning "to raise," and suppose it to be a sign to the musicians to
strike up with a louder accompaniment. Possibly the singing ceased for a moment. A few think
it is a liturgical direction to the congregation to "lift up" their voices in benediction. It is unwise to
dogmatize as to the meaning of this very common word.

See SELAH.

(s) Sheminith (Psalms 6; 12), meaning "the eighth," probably denotes the male choir, as
distinguished from `Alamoth, the maidens' choir. That both terms are musical notes is evident
from 1 Chronicles 15:19-21.

(t) Shiggayon (Psalms 7) is probably a musical note. Some think it denotes "a dithyrambic
poem in wild ecstatic wandering rhythms, with corresponding music."

(u) Shoshannim (Psalms 45; 69) means "lilies." Shoshannim `edhuth (Psalms 80) means "lilies,
a testimony." Shushah `edhuth (Psalms 60) may be rendered "the lily of testimony." Thirtle
represents these titles as subscripts to Psalms 44; 59; 68; 79, and associates them with the
spring festival, Passover. Others regard them as indicating the melody to which the various
psalms were to be sung.

(v) "So of Loves" (Psalms 45) is appropriate as a literary title to a marriage song.

(4) Testimony of the Titles as to Authorship.

(a)Psalms 90 is ascribed to Moses.

(b) To David 73 psalms are ascribed, chiefly in Books I and II.

(c) Two are assigned to Solomon (Psalms 72; 127).

(d) 12 are ascribed to Asaph (Psalms 50; 73-83).

(e) 11 are assigned to the sons of Korah (Psalms 42-49; 84; 85; 87).

(f)Psalms 88 is attributed to Heman the Ezrahite.

(g)Psalms 89bears the name of Ethan the Ezrahire.

In most cases it is plain that the editors meant to indicate the authors or writers of the psalms.
It is possible that the phrase "to David" may sometimes have been prefixed to certain psalms,
merely to indicate that they were found in a collection which contained Davidic psalms. It is
also possible that the titles "to Asaph" and' "to the sons of Korah" may have originally meant
that the psalms thus designated belonged to a collection in the custody of these temple
singers. Psalms 72 may also be a prayer for Solomon rather than a psalm BY Solomon. At the
same time, we must acknowledge, in the light of the titles describing the occasion of
composition, that the most natural interpretation of the various superscriptions is that they
indicate the supposed authors of the various poems to which they are prefixed. Internal
evidence shows conclusively that some of these titles are incorrect. Each superscription should
be tested by a careful study of the psalm to which it is appended.

(5) Titles Describing the Occasion of Writing.

There are 13 of these, all bearing the name of David. (a) Psalms 7; 59; 56; 34; 52; 57; 142; 54
are assigned to the period of his persecution by Saul. (b) During the period of his reign over. all
Israel, David is credited with Psalms 18; 60; 51; 3; and 63.

II. Authorship and Age of the Psalms.

Psalms 90 is ascribed to Moses. It is the fashion now to deny that Moses wrote anything. A
careful study of Psalms 90 has brought to light nothing inconsistent with Mosaic authorship.
The dignity, majesty and pathos of the poem are worthy of the great lawgiver and intercessor.

1. David as a Psalmist:

(1) The Age of David Offered Fruitful Soil for the Growth of Religious Poetry.

(a) The political and religious reforms of Samuel created a new sense of national unity, and
kindled the fires of religious patriotism. (b) Music had a large place in the life of the prophetic
guilds or schools of the prophets, and was used in public religious exercises (1 Samuel 10:5).
(c) The victories of David and the internal expansion of the life of Israel would inevitably
stimulate the poetic instinct of men of genius; compare the Elizabethan age and the Victorian
era in English literature. (d) The removal of the ark to the new capital and the organization of
the Levitical choirs would stimulate poets to compose hymns of praise to Yahweh (2 Samuel
6; 1 Chronicles 15; 16; 25).

It is the fashion in certain critical circles to blot out the Mosaic era as unhistoric, all accounts of
it being considered legendary or mythical. It is easy then to insist on the elimination of all the
higher religious teaching attributed to Samuel. This leaves David "a rude king in a semi-
barbaric age," or, as Cheyne puts it, "the versatile condottiere, chieftain, and king." It would
seem more reasonable to accept as trustworthy the uniform tradition of Israel as to the great
leaders, Moses, Samuel and David, than to rewrite Israel's history out of the tiny fragments of
historical material that are accepted by skeptical critics as credible. It is often said that late
writers read into their accounts of early heroes their own ideas of what would be fitting. James
Robertson's remark in reply has great weight:

"This habit of explaining the early as the backward projection of the late is always liable to the
objection that it leaves the late itself without explanation" (Poetry and Religion of the Psalms,
332).

(2) David's Qualifications for Composing Psalms

(a) He was a skillful musician, with a sense of rhythm and an ear for pleasing sounds
(1 Samuel 16:15-23). He seems to have invented new instruments of music (Amos 6:5). (b) He
is recognized by critics of all schools as a poet of no mean ability. The genuineness of his
elegy over Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:19-27) is commonly accepted; also his lament over
Abner (2 Samuel 3:33). In the elegy over Saul and Jonathan, David displays a magnanimity
and tenderness that accord with the representations of S as to his treatment of Saul and of
Jonathan. No mere rough border chieftain could have composed a poem full of the tenderest
sentiment and the most exemplary attitude toward a persecutor. The moral elevation of the
elegy has to be accounted for. If the author was a deeply religious man, a man enjoying the
friendship of God, it is easy to account for the moral dignity of the poem. Surely it is only a step
from the patriotism and magnanimity and devoted friendship of the elegy to the religious fervor
of the Psalms. Moreover, the poetic skill displayed in the elegy removes the possible objection
that literary art in the days of David had not attained a development equal to the composition of
poems such as the Psalms. There is nothing more beautiful and artistic in the entire Psalter.

Radical critics saw the David of the Bible asunder. They contrast the rough border chieftain
with the pious Psalmist. Though willing to believe every statement that reflects upon the moral
character of David, they consider the references to David as a writer of hymns and the
organizer of the temple choirs as the pious imaginings of late chroniclers. Robertson well says:

"This habit of refusing to admit complexity in the capacities of Biblical characters is exceedingly
hazardous and unsafe, when history is so full of instances of the combination in one person of
qualities the most diverse. We not only have poets who can harp upon more than one string,
but we have religious leaders who have united the most fervent piety with the exercise of
poorly developed virtue, or the practice of very questionable policy. A critic, if he has not a
single measure of large enough capacity for a historical character, should not think himself at
liberty to measure him out in two halfbushels, making one man of each" (Poetry and Religion of
the Psalms, 332). Among kings, Charlemagne and Constantine the Great have been likened to
David; and among poets, Robert Burns. There were contradictory elements in the moral
characters of all these gifted men. Of Constantine it has been said that he "was by turns the
docile believer and the cruel despot, devotee and murderer, patron saint and avenging
demon." David was a many-sided man, with a character often at war with itself, a man with
conflicting impulses, the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. Men of
flesh and blood in the midst of life's temptations have no difficulty in understanding the David of
the Bible.

(c) David was a man of deep feeling and of imperial imagination. Think of his love for Jonathan,
his grateful appreciation of every exploit done in his behalf by his mighty men, his fondness for
Absalom. His successful generalship would argue for imagination, as well as the vivid imagery
of the elegy. (d) David was an enthusiastic worshipper of Yahweh. All the records of his life
agree in representing him as devoted to Israel's God. In the midst of life's dangers and
disappointments, "David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God" (1 Samuel 30:6). We should
have been surprised had no trace of religious poetry come from his pen. It would be difficult to
imagine Milton or Cowper or Tennyson as confining himself to secular poetry. "Comus," "John
Gilpin," and the "Charge of the Light Brigade" did not exhaust their genius; nor did the elegy
over Saul and Jonathan and the lament over Abner relieve David's soul of the poetry that
clamored for expression. The known facts of his life and times prepare us for an outburst of
psalmody under his leadership. (e) The varied experiences through which David passed were
of a character to quicken any latent gifts for poetic expression.

James Robertson states this argument clearly, and yet with becoming caution:

"The vicissitudes and situations in David's life presented in these narratives are of such a
nature that, though we may not be able to say precisely that such and such a psalm was
composed at such and such a time and place, yet we may confidently say, Here is a man who
has passed through certain experiences and borne himself in such wise that we are not
surprised to hear that, being a poet, he composed this and the other psalms. It is very doubtful
whether we should tie down any lyric to a precise set of circumstances, the poet being like a
painter who having found a fit landscape, sits down to transfer it to canvas. I do not think it
likely that David, finding himself in some great perplexity or sorrow, called for writing materials
in order to describe the situation or record his feelings. But I do think it probable that the
vicissitudes through which he passed made such an impression on his sensitive heart, and
became so inculcated withn an emotional nature, that when he soothed himself in his
retirement with his lyre, they came forth spontaneously in the form of a psalm or song or
prayer, according as the recollection was sad or joyful, and as his singing mood moved him"
(Poetry and Religion of the Psalms, 343 f).

The Biblical writers, both early and late, agree in affirming that the Spirit of Yahweh rested
upon David, empowering him for service of the highest order (1 Samuel 16:13; 2 Samuel 23:1-
3; Matthew 22:43; Acts 2:29-31). The gift of prophetic inspiration was bestowed upon Israel's
chief musician and poet.

(3) External Evidence for Davidic Psalms

(a) In the New Testament David is named as the author of certain psalms. ThusPsalms 110is
ascribed to David by Jesus in His debate with the Pharisees in the Temple (Matthew 22:41-
45; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44). Peter teaches that David prophesied concerning Judas
(Acts 1:16), and he also refers Psalms 16 and 110 to David (Acts 2:25-34). The whole
company of the disciples in prayer attribute Psalms 2 to David (Acts 4:25). Paul quotes Psalms
32 and 69 as Davidic (Romans 4:6-8; 11:9). The author of He even refersPsalms 95 to David,
following the Septuagint (Hebrews 4:7). From the last-named passage many scholars infer that
any quotation from the Psalms might be referred to David as the chief author of the Psalms.
Possibly this free and easy method of citation, without any attempt at rigorous critical accuracy,
was in vogue in the 1st century AD. At the same time, it is evident that the view that David was
the chief author of the Psalms was accepted by the New Testament writers.

(b) In 2 Macc 2:13 (the Revised Version),in a letter purporting to have been written by the Jews
of Palestine to their brethren in Egypt, about 144 BC, occurs the following:

"And the same things were related both in the public archives and in the records that concern
Nehemiah; and how he, rounding a library, gathered together the books about the kings and
prophets, and the books of David, and letters of kings about sacred gifts." We do not know the
exact date of 2 Maccabees, but it was almost certainly in the 1st century BC. The author
regards David as the author of books in the sacred library gathered together by Nehemiah.

(c) Jesus the Son of Sirach, who wrote not later than 180 BC, and possibly a good deal earlier,
thus describes David's contribution to public worship:

"In every work of his he gave thanks to the Holy One Most High with words of glory; with his
whole heart he sang praise, and loved him that made him" (Ecclesiasticus 47:8 f the Revised
Version (British and American)). David's fame as a psalmist and the organizer of choirs for the
sanctuary was well known to Ben Sira at the beginning of the 2nd century BC.

(d) The author of Chronicles, writing not later than 300 BC, and probably much earlier,
represents David as making provision for a service of song before the ark of God and in
connection with its removal to the city of David (1 Chronicles 15;16). It seems to be imagined
by some scholars that the Chronicler, whose historical accuracy is severely attacked by certain
critics, is responsible for the idea that David was a great writer of hymns. On the contrary, he
has less to say about David as a poet and psalmist than the author of Samuel. Only
in 2 Chronicles 29:30 is there explicit mention of David as the author of praises to Yahweh. The
Chronicler speaks repeatedly of the instruments of David and of his organization of the choirs.
And so in the kindred books of Ezra and Nehemiah there is mention of the style of worship
introduced by David (Ezra 3:10; Nehemiah 12:24,36). The author of the Book of Kings refers
repeatedly to David as a model king (1 Kings 11:4; 2 Kings 14:3; 20:5, etc.). He becomes a
witness for the high reputation of David for uprightness and religious zeal.

(e) Amos refers incidentally to David's great skill as an inventor of musical instruments (Amos
6:5). The same prophet is a witness to the fact that songs were sung in worship at Bethel to the
accompaniment of harps or viols (Amos 5:23).

(f) The earliest witness, or witnesses, if the narrative be composite, we find in 1 and 2 Samuel.
David is described as a wonderful musician and as one on whom the Spirit of Yahweh rested
mightily (1 Samuel 16:13-23). He is credited with the beautiful elegy oyer Saul and Jonathan
(2 Samuel 1:17-27) and the brief lament over Abner (2 Samuel 3:33) . He is said to have
danced with joy before the ark, and to have brought it up to Jerusalem with shouting and with
sound of trumpet (2 Samuel 6:12). He is credited with the pious wish that he might build a
temple for Yahweh and the ark, and is said to have poured forth a prayer of thanksgiving to
Yahweh for the promise of a perpetual throne (2 Samuel 7). David dedicated to Yahweh much
wealth taken from his enemies. (2 Samuel 8:11). Both the good and the bad in David's life and
character are faithfully set forth in the vivid narrative.

We come next to two statements that would settle the question of David's psalms, if critics
would only accept them as the work of an author living within a generation or so of the time of
David. Unfortunately 2 Samuel 21-24 is regarded by most critical scholars as an appendix to
the early narrative of David's career. There is no agreement as to the exact date of the
composition of these chapters. Naturally the burden of proof is on the critic who tries to
disintegrate a document, and suspicion of bias is inevitable, if by the disintegration he is able to
escape the force of a disagreeable argument. Happily, we live in a free country, every man
having a right to hold and to express his own opinion, for whatever it may be worth. It seems to
the present writer that 2 Samuel 21-24 may well have come from the pen of the early narrator
who told the story of David's reign in such a masterly fashion. Even if these chapters were
added by a later editor as an appendix, there is no sufficient reason for putting this writer so
late as the exile. His statements cannot be set aside as unreliable, simply because they run
counter to the current theory as to the date of the Psalms. 2 Samuel 22 purports to give the
words of a song which David spake to Yahweh, when he had been delivered from Saul and
from all his enemies. Psalms 18 is evidently a different recension of the same poem. The
differences between 2 Samuel 22 and Psalms 18 are not much greater than the differences in
the various odd of "Rock of Ages." Only the most advanced critics deny that David wrote this
glorious song. 2 Samuel 23:1-7 must not be omitted, for here David claimed prophetic
inspiration as the sweet Psalmist of Israel. This original and striking poem is worthy of the
brilliant royal bard. (g) The titles of the Psalms are external evidence of real value for
determining the date and authorship of the Psalms; and these ascribe 73 to David. A sweeping
denial of all the forms of external evidence for Davidic psalms ought to be buttressed by
convincing arguments from internal evidence. Unverified conjectures will not answer.

(4) Internal Evidence for Davidic Psalms

The fact that many of the psalms ascribed to David correspond in tone and temper and in
historical allusions with incidents in his life, while not in itself convincing proof that David wrote
them, certainly re-enforces the external evidence in favor of Davidic psalms. We must refer the
reader to the commentaries of Delitzsch, Kirkpatrick, Perowne and others for the evidence
discovered in individual psalms. In many psalms the evidence is strongly in favor of the
superscriptions, in which David is named as the writer. See especially Psalms 18; 23; 32; 3.

(5) Number of Davidic Psalms

Opinion varies among conservative scholars all the way from 3 or 4 to 44 or 45. It has come to
pass that a critic who acknowledges even Psalms 18 to be David's is called conservative. In
fact, the more radical critics regard a scholar as conservative if he assigns even a small group
of psalms to the period before the exile. We must not allow ourselves to be deterred from
ascribing to David any psalm that seems to us, on the basis of both external and internal
evidence, to come from his pen. Delitzsch and Kirkpatrick are safer guides than Cheyne and
Duhm. Maclaren also has made a close and sympathetic study of David's life and character,
and accepts the results of sane criticism. W. T. Davison (HDB, IV) speaks out clearly and
strongly for Davidic authorship of Psalms 7; 11; 17; 18; 19 (first half), 24 and a few other
psalms or parts of psalms, though he makes large concessions to the present tendency to
bring the psalms down to a later date. He stands firmly for a large body of pre-exilic psalms.
Ewald assigned to David Psalms 3; 4; 7; 8; 11; 18; 19; 24; 29; 32; 101; also 60:8-11 and 68:14-
19. Hitzig ascribed to David Psalms 3-19, with the exception of Psalms 5;6 and 14. If one
follows the titles in the Hebrew text, except where internal evidence clearly contradicts the
superscriptions, it will be easy, to follow Delitzsch in attributing 44 or 45 psalms to David.

2. Psalmody after David:

(1) Psalms of Asaph (Psalms 73-83, also 50).

The prophetic spirit throbs in most of the psalms ascribed to ASAPH (which see). God is
pictured as a righteous Judge. He is also pictured as the Shepherd of Israel. Psalms 73holds
fast to God's righteous rule of mankind, in spite of the prosperity of the wicked.Psalms 50,
which is assigned by many to the time of Hosea and Isaiah, because of its powerful prophetic
message, may well have come from Asaph, the contemporary of David and of Nathan. Some
of the Asaph group, notably 74 and 79, belong to the period of the exile or later. The family of
Asaph continued for centuries to lead in the service of song (2 Chronicles 35:15; Nehemiah
7:44). Inspired poets were raised up from age to age in the Asaph guild.

(2) Psalms of the Sons of Korah (Psalms 42-49; 84; 85; 87).

This family of singers was prominent in the temple-worship in the days of David and afterward.
Several of the most beautiful poems in the Psalter are ascribed to members of this guild (see
Psalms 42; 43; 45; 46; 49; 84). We are not to think of these poems as having been composed
by a committee of the sons of Korah; no doubt each poem had an individual author, who was
willing to sink his personality in the psalm that he was composing. The privileges and blessings
of social worship in the sanctuary are greatly magnified in this group of psalms

(3) Psalms of Solomon (Psalms 72; 127).

Even conservative critics are in doubt as to the Solomonic authorship of the two psalms
ascribed to him by the titles. Perhaps assurance is not attainable in the present state of inquiry.
Delitzsch well says:

"Under Solomon psalmody already began to decline; all the productions of the mind of that
period bear the stamp of thoughtful contemplation rather than of direct feeling, for restless
yearning for higher things had given place to sensuous enjoyment, national concentration to
cosmopolitan expansion."

(4) The Era of Jehoshaphat.

Delitzsch and others regard the period of Jehoshaphat as one of literary productivity. Possibly
Psalms 75 and 76 celebrate the deliverance from the great eastern invasion toward the close
of Jehoshaphat's reign.
(5) The Era of Hezekiah.

The latter half of the 8th century BC was one of literary vigor and expansion, especially in
Judah. Perhaps the great deliverance from Sennacherib's invasion is celebrated in Psalms 46
and 48.

(6) The Period of Jeremiah.

Ehrt and some other scholars are inclined to attribute to Jeremiah a considerable number of
psalms. Among those which have been assigned to this prophet may be named Psalms 31; 35;
38; 40; 55; 69; 71. Those who deny the Davidic authorship ofPsalms 22also assign this great
poem to Jeremiah. Whether we are able to name definitely any psalms of Jeremiah, it seems
thoroughly reasonable that he should have been the author of certain of the plaintive poems in
the Psalter.

(7) During the Exile.

Psalms 102 seems to have been composed during the exile. The poet pours out his complaint
over the present distress, and reminds Yahweh that it is time to have pity upon Zion.Psalms
137 pictures the distress of the captives by the rivers of Babylon. The fire and fervor of the
poem bespeak an author personally involved in the distress. No doubt other psalms in our
collection were composed during the captivity in Babylon.

(8) Post-exilic Psalms

As specimens of the joyous hymns composed after the return from exile, we may name Psalms
85 and 126. Many of the liturgical hymns in the Psalter were no doubt prepared for use in the
worship of the second temple. Certain recent critics have extended this class of hymns so as to
include the greater part of the Psalter, but that is surely an extreme view. No doubt, the stirring
times of Ezra and Nehemiah stimulated poets in Jerusalem to pour forth thanksgiving and
praise to Israel's God. Ewald taught, that the latest psalms in our collection were composed at
this time.

(9) Are There Maccabean Psalms?

Calvin, assigned Psalms 44; 74 and 79 to the Maccabean period. If there are Maccabean
psalms, Calvin has perhaps hit upon three of them. Hitzig assigns to the Maccabean period all
the psalms from 73 to 150, together with a few psalms in the earlier half of the Psalter. Among
moderns, Duhm puts practically the whole Psalter in the period from 170 to 70 BC. Gesenius,
Ewald, Hupfeld and Dillmann, four of the greatest names in Old Testament criticism, oppose
the view that the Psalter contains Maccabean psalms. Most recent students admit the
possibility of Maccabean psalms. The question may well be left open for further investigation.

III. Growth of the Psalter.

1. Division into Five Books:

In the Hebrew text as well as in the Revised Version (British and American), the Psalms are
grouped into five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41; Book II, Psalms 42-72; Book III, Psalms 73-89; Book IV, Psalms 90-106;
Book V, Psalms 107-150. It is possible that this division into five books may have been already
made before the Chronicler composed his history of Judah (compare 1 Chronicles
16:36 with Psalms 106:48). At the end of Book II appears a subscript which is significant in the
history of the Psalter. It is said in Psalms 72:20: "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are
ended." It would seem from this note that the editor who appended it meant to say that in his
collection he had included all the psalms of David known to him. Singularly enough, the
subscript is attached to a psalm ascribed to Solomon. Psalms 51-70, however, lie near at
hand, all of which are attributed to David. Psalms 71 is anonymous, and Psalms 72 might
possibly be considered a prayer for Solomon. There is a further difficulty in the fact that the
Second Book of Psalms opens with nine poems ascribed to the sons of Korah and to Asaph. It
is a very natural conjecture that these nine psalms were at one time united with Psalms 73-83.
With these removed, it would be possible to unite Psalms 51-70 with Book I. Then the subscript
to Psalms 72 would be a fitting close to a roll made up of psalms ascribed to David. It is
impossible at this late date to trace fully and accurately the history of the formation of the
Psalter.

2. Smaller Groups of Psalms:

Within the Psalter there lie certain groups of psalms which have in a measure retained the form
in which they probably once circulated separately. Among these groups may be named the
Psalms of Ascents (Psalms 120-134), the Asaph group (Psalms 73-83), the sons of Korah
groups (Psalms 42-49; 84-87, except 86), a Mikhtam group (Psalms 56-60), a group praising
Yahweh for His character and deeds (Psalms 93-100), to which Psalms 90-92 form a fitting
introduction. Psalms 103-107 constitute another group of praise psalms, and Psalms 145-150
make a closing Hallelujah group.

The Psalter has had a long and varied history. No doubt the precentor of the temple choir had
his own collection of hymns for public worship. Small groups of psalms may have been issued
also for private use in the home. As time went on, collections were made on different
organizing principles. Sometimes hymns attributed to a given author were perhaps brought into
a single group. Possibly psalms of a certain type, such as Maskil and Mikhtam psalms, were
gathered together in small collections. How these small groups were partly preserved and
partly broken up, in the history of the formation of our present Psalter, will, perhaps, never be
known.

IV. Poetry of the Psalter.

For general discussion of the form of Hebrew poetry, see POETRY. In the Psalms almost all
known varieties of poetic parallelism are exemplified. Among moderns, C.A. Briggs has made
extensive research into the poetical structure of the Psalms. In summing up the result of his
study of the various measures employed in the Psalms, he classes 89 psalms or parts of
psalms as trimeters, that is, the lines have three main accents; 22 psalms or parts he regards
as tetrameters, each of the lines having four accented syllables; 25 psalms or portions are
classed as pentameters, and an equal number as hexameters. He recognizes some variety of
measure in certain psalms. There is coming to be agreement among Hebrew scholars that the
rhythm of Hebrew poetry is largely determined by the number of accented syllables to the line.
Some critics insist rigorously on perfect regularity, and therefore are compelled to resort to
conjectural emendation.

See POETRY, HEBREW.

Nine psalms are known as alphabetical poems, namely, Psalms 9; 10; 25; 34; 37; 111; 112;
119; 145. The most elaborate of these is Psalms 119, which is divided into 22 sections of 8
verses each. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet occurs 8 times in succession as the initial
letter of the verses in its section.

As to strophical structure or stanza formation, there is evidence in certain psalms of such

organization of the poems. The refrains with which strophes often close form an easy guide to
the strophical divisions in certain psalms, such as Psalms 42; 43; 46; 107. Among English
commentators, Briggs pays most attention to strophical structure. There is some evidence of
antiphonal singing in connection with the Psalter. It is thought by some that Psalms 20 and 21
were sung by responsive choirs. Psalms 24 and 118 may each be antiphonal.

V. The Speaker in the Psalms.

Smend, in ZATW, 1888, undertook to establish thesis that the speaker in the Psalms is not an
individual, but a personification of the Jewish nation or church. At first he was inclined to
recognize an individual speaker in Psalms 3; 4; 62 and 73, but one year later he interpreted
these also as collective. Thus, at one stroke individual religious experience is wiped out of the
Psalter, A few scholars have accepted Smend's thesis; but the great majority of critics of every
school have withheld their assent, and some of the best commentators have shown that theory
is wholly untenable.

Perhaps the best monograph on the subject, for the German student, is one by Emil Balla, Das
Ich der Psalmen. Balla's thesis is that the "I" psalms, both in the Psalter and in the other books
of the Old Testament, are always to be understood as individual, with the exception of those in
which from plain data in the text another interpretation of the "I" is necessary. Of 100 psalms in
which "I" occurs, Balla classes 80 as easy to interpret; in the remaining 20 there might be
reasonable room for difference of opinion whether the psalm was individual or collective.

Personification is largely used in all parts of the Old Testament. There is no room for doubt
that Psalms 129, though using "I," "my" and "me," is the language of Israel as a people. The
same is true of Psalms 124. The author of Psalms 126 likewise associates himself with his
brethren. The author of Psalms 122, however, is evidently speaking for himself individually,
when he says in 122:8, "For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be
within thee." The intelligent reader usually has no difficulty in deciding, after a careful reading
of a psalm, whether the "I" refers to an individual Israelite or to the congregation of Israel. Sane
views on this subject are important, inasmuch as Smend's theory does violence to the strength
and power of the individual religious experience of Old Testament believers. In many portions
of the Old Testament, national duties are urged, and Israel is addressed as a whole. At the
same time, it would be easy to exaggerate the relatively small place that individual religion
occupies in the prophetic writings and in the Law. The Psalter absolutely refuses to be shut up
in the molds of a rigid nationalism.

VI. The Gospel in the Psalms

Christians love the Psalter as much as the ancient Jew could possibly have done. On every
page they discover elements of religious life and experience that are thoroughly Christian. In
this respect the earlier dispensation came nearer to the perfection of Christian standards than
in political and social organization. Along with the New Testament, the aged Christian saint
desires a copy of the Psalms. He passes easily from the Gospels to the Psalter and back again
without the sense of shifting from one spiritual level to another. Religious experience was
enjoyed and was portrayed by the ancient psalmists so well that no Christian book in the
apostolic period was composed to displace the Psalter.

1. The Soul's Converse with God:

(1) The Psalmists Are Always Reverent in Their Approach to Deity.

Yahweh is infinitely holy (Psalms 99:3,5,9). Psalms 95-100 are models of adoration and
worship.

(2) Thirsting for God.

Psalms 42 and 43, which were originally one psalm, voice the longing of the individual soul for
God as no other human composition has been able to express it. Psalms 63 is a worthy
companion psalm of yearning after God.

(3) Praising God.

More than 20 psalms have for their keynote praise to God. See especially Psalms 8:1,9; 57:7-
11; 71:22-24; 95:1-7. The first three verses of Psalms 33; 34; 40; 92 and 105 reveal a rich
vocabulary of praise for stammering human lips.

(4) Joy in God's house.

Psalms 84 and 122 are classic hymns expressive of joy in public worship in the sanctuary.
Religious patriotism has never received a more striking expression than is found in Psalms
137:5f.

(5) Practicing the Presence of God.

In Psalms 91 and 23 the worshipping saint delights his soul with the sense of God's protecting
presence. The Shepherd, tender and true, is ever present to shield and to comfort. The
shadow of the Almighty is over the saint who dwells in the secret place of the Most High.

(6) God in Nature.

The Psalmist did not go "through Nature up to Nature's God"; for he found God immanent in all
things. He heard God's voice in the thunder; felt His breath in the twilight breeze; saw the
gleam of His sword in the lightning's flash, and recognized His hand in every provision for the
wants of man and the lower animals. See Psalms 104, "Hymn of Creation"; Psalms 29,
"Yahweh, the God of the storm"; and the first half of Psalms 19, "the heavens are telling."

(7) Love for God's word.

Psalms 119 is the classic description of the beauty and power and helpfulness of the Word of
God. The second half of Psalms 19 is also a gem. Psalms 119 was happily named by one of
the older commentators "a holy alphabet for Zion's scholars." The Psalmist sings the glories of
God's Word as a lamp to guide, as a spring of comfort, and as a fountain of hope.

(8) God's Care of All Things.

Faith in Divine Providence--both general and special--was a cardinal doctrine with the
psalmists; yea more, the very heart of their religion. Psalms 65 sings of God's goodness in
sunshine and shower, which clothes the meadows with waving grain. The river of God is
always full of water. Psalms 121, "Yahweh thy Keeper," was read by David Livingstone at
family worship on the morning when he left home to go out to Africa as a missionary.

(9) God Our Refuge.

The psalmists were fond of the figure of "taking refuge in God." Yahweh was to them a rock of
refuge, a stronghold, a high tower, an impregnable fortress. Psalms 46; 61 and 62 exalt God as
the refuge of His saints. His help is always easy to find. The might and wisdom of God do not
overwhelm the inspired singers, but become a theme of devout and joyous contemplation.

Our Lord Jesus found in the Psalms prophecies concerning Himself (Luke 24:44-47).

2. The Messiah:
(1) The Suffering Saviour.

While hanging on the cross, the mind of our Lord turned to the Psalter. He voiced the terrible
anguish of His soul in the opening words of Psalms 22, and breathed out His spirit at the end
with the trustful words of Psalms 31:5. He also invited the fulfillment of a Messianic prediction
in Psalms 69:21 by saying, "I thirst." Isa and the Psalms did not fail Him in the hour of His
shame, when reproach broke His heart, and there was none to comfort Him. Only Isaiah 52:13-
53:12 surpasses Psalms 22 as a picture of Calvary and an interpretation of the significance of
the cross. Whether Psalms 22 is a direct prophecy of Christ, or only a typically Messianic
psalm, is in dispute. Every sentence can be applied to Jesus without straining its meaning. If
David or some other sufferer took up his harp to sing of his own sorrows, the Spirit of God
guided him to describe those of a greater.

Rationalistic critics insist that to apply part of a psalm to David and part to Christ introduces
confusion. They ridicule theory of a "double sense," and contend that the language refers to
the Psalmist and to him alone, and that the application of certain verses to our Lord Jesus is
only by way of accommodation. This theory ignores the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit
altogether; and when men talk of "psychological impossibilities," they may be talking nonsense;
for who of us can us can understand fully the psychological experience of men while receiving
revelations from God? The real author of inspired prophecies is the Holy Spirit. His meaning is
that which the reverent interpreter most delights to find; and we have evidence that the Old
Testament writers did not fully comprehend their own predictions concerning Christ (1 Peter
1:10-12). We ought not to be surprised that we should be unable to explain fully the method of
the Holy Spirit's activity in guiding the thought of prophets and psalmists in their predictions of
the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them.

(2) The Conquering King.

Psalms 2 and 110 (with which Psalms 72 may be compared) describe the Messiah as
Yahweh's Son, a mighty. Conqueror, who shall overwhelm all foes and reign supported by
Yahweh. Some will oppose the Messiah, and so perish; others will enter His army as
volunteers, and in the end will enjoy the fruits of victory. "It is better to sit on His throne than to
be His footstool."

(3) The Growing Kingdom.

There is room in the earth for no god other than Yahweh, the Creator and Redeemer of
mankind. Psalms 47; 67; 96-100 and 117 are proofs of the glorious missionary outlook of the
Psalter. All nations are exhorted to forsake idols and worship Yahweh. Psalms 47 closes with a
picture of the whole world united in the worship of the God of Israel. Psalms 67 is a bugle call
to all nations to unite in the worship of the true God. Psalms 96-100 paint the character of
Yahweh as a basis of appeal to all nations to turn from idols and worship the God of Abraham.
Psalms 96 and 98 exalt His righteousness; Psalms 97 His power and dominion; Psalms 99 His
holiness and His fidelity to Israel, while Psalms 100 tells of His goodness. Idols will finally go
down before a God worthy of men's reverence and love.

3. Problem of Sin:

The Psalter deals with man as a sinner. Seven of the best known poems in the collection are
so charged with a sense of sin and of its deadly fruits that they have been known for centuries
as the Penitential Psalms (6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143). Besides these poems of penitence
and confession, there are many passages elsewhere in the Psalter which depict the sinfulness
of men. And yet there are assertions of personal innocence and righteousness in the Psalter
that sound like the claims of self-righteous persons (7:3-9; 17:1-5; 18:20-24; 35:11-17; 44:17-
22). The psalmists do not mean to affirm that they are sinless before God, but rather that they
are righteous in comparison with their foes who are seeking to destroy them. Sometimes they
plead for mercy in the same context. The honest exegete does not find the Pharisaic temper in
these noble hymns, though he is quite willing to admit that the Christian cannot well employ
some of the expressions concerning his own experiences. Jesus requires a humility deeper
than that which was attained in Old Testament times.

(1) Confessing Sin.

(a) Individual confession:

Psalms 32 and 51 are notable examples of individual confession. The cries of the penitent
in Psalms 51 have been repeated by thousands on bended knee as the best expression of
their own sense of sin and yearning for forgiveness. (b) National confession (see especially 78;
95 and 106). Psalms 105 celebrates the praises of Yahweh for His unfailing kindness to
Israel; Psalms 106 tells the tale of Israel's repeated rebellion.

(2) Seeking Forgiveness.

Psalms 51 is the penitent's cry for mercy. Never did the soul of man plead more powerfully for
forgiveness. God cannot despise a heart broken and crushed with the sense of sin and
pleading like a lost child for home and mother.

(3) Conquering Sin.

Psalms 130 begins with a cry out of the depths and ends with a note of joy over redemption
from sin. The plenteous redemption of which the poet speaks includes triumph over sin in one's
heart and life. The cries of the Old Testament saints for victory over sin were not unheeded
(139:23; 19:13; 119:133). The author of Psalms 84 truthfully depicts the life of Yahweh's
worshippers, "They go from strength to strength." Victory over sin is sure in the end.

4. Wrestling with Doubts:

The ancient Hebrew seems to have had no temptation to atheism or pantheism. The author of
Ecclesiastes felt the pull of agnosticism and materialism (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21; 9:2-10), but in
the end he rejected both (12:7,13 f). The ancient Hebrew found in the world about him one
difficulty which seemed almost insuperable. He believed in the wisdom and power and justice
of God. How then could it be possible, in a world over which a wise and just God presides, that
the wicked should prosper and the righteous suffer? This is the question which is hotly debated
by Job and his three friends. A partial solution of the difficulty may be seen inPsalms 37, theme
of which is `the brevity of godless prosperity, and the certainty that well-doing will lead to well-
being.' A better solution is attained in Psalms 73, which depicts God's attitude toward the
wicked and toward the righteous. The wicked will be suddenly overthrown, while the righteous
will live forever in the enjoyment of communion with God. Not even death can sever him from
God. The fleeting pleasures of proud scoffers pale into insignificance before the glories of
everlasting fellowship with God.

5. Out of the Depths:

(1) Out of the depths of persecution and slander the author of Psalms 31 climbed into his
refuge, as he exclaimed, "In the covert of thy presence wilt thou hide them from the plottings of
man:

Thou wilt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues."
(2) Psalms 77 is a stairway out of depths of suspense and the anxiety. The experience of the
author well illustrates Maclaren's epigram, "If out of the depths we cry, we shall cry ourselves
out of the depths."

(3) The author of Psalms 116 looked into the jaws of death. Perhaps no other psalm has so
much to say of physical death. The singer is filled with gratitude as he reviews the deadly peril
from which Yahweh has saved him.

(4) Psalms 88 is unique, because it is sad and plaintive from beginning to end. The singer has
long cried for deliverance from bodily weakness and from loneliness.

(5) Out of the depths of disaster and defeat the authors of Psalms 60; 74; 79 and 89 cry to
God. The Babylonian exile was a sore trial to patriotic Jews. They mourned over the
destruction of their beautiful temple and the holy city in which their fathers had worshipped.
The author of Psalms 60 closes with hope and confidence (60:12).

6. Ethical Ideals:

"Unquestionably in the Psalms we reach the high-water mark of Old Testament practical piety,
the best that, the Old Testament can exhibit of heart-religion."

(1) What Sort of Man, Then, Would the Psalms Acclaim as Good?

Psalms 1 opens with a vivid contrast between the righteous and the wicked. Psalms 15 is the
most complete description of a good man to be found in the Psalter. The picture is drawn in
answer to the question, What sort of man will Yahweh receive as an acceptable worshipper?
The morality of the Bible is rooted in religion, and the religion of the Bible blossoms and bears
fruit in the highest ethics known to man. Psalms 131 makes humility a prime quality in real
goodness. Psalms 133 magnifies the spirit of brotherly love. The social virtues had a large
place in the psalmists' ideals of goodness. Humility and brotherly love are a guaranty of peace
in the home, the church and the nation. Psalms 24:4 is a compend of ethics in a single
sentence.

(2) The Ethics of Speech.

Even a casual reading of the Psalms must impress one with the fact that the psalmists felt very
keenly the lies and slanders and boastings of the wicked. Stirred with righteous indignation,
they call upon God to awake and confront the blatant foes of truth and righteousness (see
especially Psalms 12; 52 and 120).

(3) Ministering to the Needy.

Bible readers are familiar with the ideal of the good man in Job 29:12-16; 31:13-22. Psalms
82 is a plea for justice. Venal judges are one day to confront the great Judge. Men need fair
play first. Perhaps there will then be no occasion for the exercise of almsgiving. Psalms 41 is a
plea for kindness. The Christian reader is reminded of the words of Jesus, "Blessed are the
merciful:

for they shall obtain mercy." The Ideal Ruler is both just and beneficent (Psalms 72:2,12-14).

7. Praying against the Wicked:

To be a good lover one must know how to hate. The excitement of battle throbs in many of the
Psalms. The enemies of righteousness are victorious and defiant. Their taunts drive the
psalmists to importunate prayer. Yahweh's honor is at stake and His cause in peril. More than
20 psalms contain prayer for the defeat and overthrow of the wicked. Warlike imagery of the
boldest kind is found in many of the imprecatory psalms. To the Christian reader some of the
curses pronounced against the wicked are startling and painful. Many are led to wonder how
such imprecations ever found a place in the Bible. The most severe curses are found in
Psalms 35; 69 and 109. Maclaren's words are well worth reading as an introduction to Psalms
109:

"For no private injuries, or for those only in so far as the suffering singer is a member of the
community which represents God's cause, does he ask the descent of God's vengeance, but
for the insults and hurts inflicted on righteousness. The form of these maledictions belongs to a
lower stage of revelation; the substance of them, considered as passionate desires for the
destruction of evil, burning zeal for the triumph of truth, which is God's cause, and
unquenchable faith that He is just, is a part of Christian perfection." Two remarks may be
made, as suggestions to the student of the Psalter:

(1) We ought to study the psalms of imprecation in the light of their origin. They are poetry and
not prose; and De Witt reminds us that the language of oriental poetry is that of exaggerated
passion. Some of these imprecations pulse with the throb of actual battle. Swords are drawn,
and blood is flowing. The champion of Yahweh's people prays for the overthrow of His foes.
The enemies cursed are men who break every moral law and defy God. The Psalmist identifies
himself with Yahweh's cause. "Do not I hate them, O Yahweh, that hate thee? And am not I
grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred:

They are become mine enemies" (Psalms 139:21). Thus the psalmists pray with God's glory in
view.

(2) We ought to use the imprecatory psalms in the light of our Lord's teaching. We cannot
pronounce curses on our personal enemies. This heavenly artillery may be turned upon the
saloon, the brothel and the gambling hell, though we must not forget to pray for the conversion
of the persons who are engaged in these lines of business.

8. The Future Life:

"If a man die, shall he live again?" What answer do the Psalms give to Job's cry for light?
There are expressions in the Psalter which seem to forbid hope of a blessed immortality
(Psalms 6:5;30:9; 39:13; 115:17). The psalmists are tempted to fear that fellowship with God
would cease at death. Let this fact, however, be borne in mind, that not one of the poets or
prophets of Israel settled down to a final denial of immortality. Some of them had moments of
joyous assurance of a blessed life of fellowship with God in the world to come. Life everlasting
in the presence of Yahweh is the prospect with which the author of Psalms 16 refreshes
himself (16:8-11). The vision of God's face after the sleep of death is better than worldly
prosperity (17:13-15). The author of Psalms 73 wins rest for his distressed mind in the
assurance of a fellowship with God that cannot be broken (73:23-26). God will finally take the
singer to Himself. It has been well said that Psalms 49 registers the high-water mark of Old
Testament faith in a future life. Death becomes the shepherd of the wicked who trusted in
riches, while God redeems the righteous from the power of Sheol and takes the believing soul
to Himself.

LITERATURE.

One of the most elaborate and informing articles on the history of the exposition of the Psalms
is found in the Introduction to Delitzsch's Commentary (pp. 64-87, English translation). Among
the Fathers, Jerome, Chrysostom and Augustine are most helpful. Among the Reformers,
Calvin, the prince of expositors, is most valuable. Among modern commentators, Ewald and
Delitzsch are scholarly and sane. Their commentaries are accessible in English translation
Hupfeld is strong in grammatical exegesis. Baethgen (1904) is very thorough. Among recent
English and American commentators, the most helpful are Perowne (6th edition, 1866),
Maclaren in Expositor's Bible (1890-92), and Kirkpatrick in Cambridge Bible (1893-95). Briggs
in ICC (1906) is learned; Davison, New Century Bible, is bright and attractive. Spurgeon,
Treasury of David, is a valuable compilation, chiefly from the Puritan divines. Cheyne, The
Book of Psalms (1888) and The Origin and Religious Contents of the Psalter (1891), is quite
radical in his critical views. Binnie, The Psalms:

Their Origin, Teachings and Use (1886), is a fine introduction to the Psalter. Robertson, The
Poetry and Religion of the Psalms (1898), constructs an able argument against recent radical
views.