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MARK BALNAVES, STEPHANIE HEMELRYK DONALD & BRIAN SHOESMITH

-- - - - - -
l
'
viii Contents
• •• ••• ••• •• •••

Contradictory potential of media tech no logy ..........................44

Mobile cultures and sense of place ..................................... 48
Summary .............................................................. s3
Key themes ............................................................ 54
Discussion questions ................................................... 54
Further reading ........................................................ 54

Part 2 Theories 55

Chapter 4 Classics in media and effects s7

The influence of media ................................................. 58
Theorist snapshot Paul Lazarsfeld ...................................... 59
The active audience .................................................... 73
case study Hero ........................................................78
The medium ........................................................... 79
Summary .............................................................. 80
Key themes ............................................................ 81
Discussion questions ................................................... 82
Further reading ........................................................ 83
s Classics in media and ideology 84
Ideology and hegemony ............................................... 85
Theorist snapshot Stuart Hall .......................................... 92
Empirical evidence for Marxist views ................................... 92
Critical theory .......................................................... 95
Theorist snapshot The Frankfurt School ................................ 97
case study Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels......................... 1 oo
Discourse ............................................................ 101
Theorist snapshot Toby Miller ........................................ 103
Su mmary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 os
Key themes .......................................................... 1 os
Discussion questions ................................................. 106
Further reading ...................................................... 107
6 Classics in reasoning about information and its ownership 108

The reality of information ............................................ 109

case study Google 'Don't Be Evil' and the universal Iibrary ........... 1 20
The second enclosure ................................................ 1 21
Su mma ry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3
Key themes .......................................................... 1 24
Discussion questions ................................................. 1 24
Further reading ...................................................... 1 24
 •
Contents IX
• • • • • • •• •• •• • • •

Part 3 Content, audiences and effects 125

Chapter 7 Information warfare and modern propaganda 127

Elements of public opinion ........................................... 128
case st udy Greenwashing ............................................ 137
Perception management ............................................. 1 38
Summary ............................................................ 143
Key themes .......................................................... 144
Discussion questions................................................. 144
Further reading ...................................................... 145

8 Transforming cultures
lntercultural communication ......................................... 146
Global flows ......................................................... 154
case st udy Culture jamming.......................................... 160
Media ownership .................................................... 162
Radical and rebellious media ......................................... 166
Summary ............................................................ 168
Key themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Discussion questions ................................................. 169
Further reading ...................................................... 170

9 Brand China and Bollywood India 171

An overview of China and India ...................................... 173
China ................................................................ 176
case st udy Still Life .................................................... 181
India ................................................................. 183
Summary ............................................................ 195
Key themes .......................................................... 195
Discussion questions ................................................. 195
Further reading ...................................................... 196

Part 4 Structures and organization 197

Chapter 1 o Governance and digital identities 199

Media activism, citizenship and participation ........................ 200
E-democracy ......................................................... 202
Electronic civil disobedience ......................................... 207
Active and passive digital persona.................................... 209
Privacy .............................................................. 211
Sum mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3
Key themes .......................................................... 214
Discussion questions ................................................. 214
Further reading ...................................................... 214
x Contents
• •• ••• ••• •• •••

11 Interactive media and news 215

News as a form of knowledge ........................................ 216
Journalism and push technology ..................................... 224
Public relations ....................................................... 228
case study Salam Pax and Bring Them Home Now ................... 231
Su m m ary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 3
Key themes .......................................................... 233
Discussion questions .................................................. 234
Further reading ....................................................... 234

12 Media economics 235

Public service broadcasting .......................................... 236
Traditional media economics ........................................ 242
case study Advertisers and on line newspaper consumers ............ 245
New media economics............................................... 249
Digital pi racy ......................................................... 254
Su mmary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5 5
Key themes .......................................................... 256
Discussion questions ................................................. 257
Further reading ...................................................... 25 7

13 Games 258
Media audiences ..................................................... 259
Global snapshot The Norton Online Living Report, 2008 ............. 261
Massively multiplayer ................................................ 262
World-building and age compression ................................ 267
Su mmary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 7 3
Key themes .......................................................... 274
Discussion questions .................................................. 274
Further reading ........................................................ 274

14 Media research 275

Science and media research .......................................... 276
Interpretative paradigm .............................................. 280
Focus groups......................................................... 285
Research and impact: Global cyberbullying .......................... 289
Su mmary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 91
Key themes .......................................................... 292
Discussion questions .................................................. 293
Further reading ...................................................... 293

15 Conclusion 294
Theories.............................................................. 295
Structures and organizations ... . ............... . ............... . ..... 297
 •
Contents XI
•• •• ••• • •• •• • •

Content ............ . .... . . .. .... . .. . .... . . .. .... . .. . .... . . .. .... . .. . . 298

Audiences . . . . .. . .... . .. . .. . . . .. . .... . .. . .. . . . .. . .... . .. . .. . . . .. . .... . 299
Effects................ . .. . .... . .. . .... . .. . .... . .. . .... . .. . .... . .. . .... 300
Media capital ... . .. . .... . . .. .... . .. . .... . . .. .... . .. . .... . . .. .... . .. .. 301
Further reading . ........ . ....... . ....... . ....... . ....... . ....... . .... 303
Glossary 304

Bibliography 311

Index 335
 • ••
XIII

List of figures

1.1 Map of density of Internet connections 7

1.2 City to city Internet connections 7

2.1 Terrors of the telephone 12

2.2 The spread of printing 17
2.3 Long song seller 22
1
2.4 Opening of the Regent Theatre, Albany s first cinema, Western Australia, 1925 28
2.5 Decline of cinema viewing in Britain 30

3.1 Mobile subscription per 100 people and PCs per 100 people 47
3.2 Mobile subscriptions, Ghana, 2000 and 2005 47

4.1 One-step model of mass media inAuence 58

4.2 Two-step model of mass media inAuence 59
4.3 Size of effects due to mass media 61

7.1 Hugh Grant at Los Angeles police department 132

7.2 Central and peripheral routes of persuasion 135

8.1 Benetton Al DS advertisement 148

8.2 Benetton death penalty campaign 148
8.3 Liu Di - the Stainless Steel Mouse 153
8.4 Trade links between major trading blocs 156
8.5 Telephone traffic in the 1990s 157
8.6 ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts, by minutes, 1994 165
8.7 lndymedia website 168

10.1 Passive digital persona 209

10.2 Active digital persona 210
10.3 Creating avatars in Second Life 210
xiv List of figures
....... ............

12.1 Expenditure on public and private funding of broadcasting services as

a share of GDP 242
12.2 Calculating share in audience ratings 248
12.3 Calculating a rating 248
12.4 International comparison of ratings panels 248
12.5 Pirating of Placebo's Meds 255

13.1 Gender and games

14.1 Methods of data collection and personal involvement 281

14.2 Inductive approach 282

14.3 Deductive approach 282

 xv

List of tables

2.1 The constancy of programme preference (1947 compared with 1945) 27

3.1 Terms used to describe revolutionary change 37

3.2 A selective description of key terms used to describe social change 38
3.3 Television viewing and other evening activities in Western Samoan
households, 4-10 pm 45
3.4 Percentage of US households with Internet access, 1998 and 2000 48
3.5 Percentage of adults who use wireless devices to access news and information online so
3.6 Percentage of adults with broadband at home who are members of
P2P file-sharing communities so
3.7 Average messaging use per active mobile per week so
3.8 Average daily visitors ( ooo) to major social networks so
3.9 Total worldwide home-work locations among Internet users 15+ 51

4.1 Theories by different conceptions of media effects 60

4.2 Effectiveness of Programme A and Programme B for men with initially
unfavourable and men with initially favourable attitudes 75
4.3 Effectiveness of Program me A and Program me B for men of different
educational backgrounds 75

7.1 Rhetorical language in news reporting during the Gulf War 136

8.1 Spectrum of high and low context cultures 148

8.2 Countries ranked by individualism 149
8.3 Countries ranked by masculinity 149
8.4 Countries ranked by power distance 149
8.5 Countries ranked by uncertainty avoidance 150
8.6 Languages on the Internet 151
8.7 Modernization 156
8.8 Dependence 156
8.9 The largest media corporations in the world, by media sales volume 2001 162
8.10 Media densities in the world 1970 and 1997. Units per thousand inhabitants 162
8.11 Global press freedom rankings 164
xvi List of tables
.. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .

8.12 A region's interest in news stories about itself, as a percentage of all news received 165
8.13 Top online news services in the United States 166
8.14 Typology of alternative media 167
8.15 Typology of lndymedia features 167

9.1 Brief country comparison of China and India 174

9.2 Brief country comparison of Internet use, China and India 175
9.3 Chinese mediascape 182
9.4 Nationalist agendas and India 185
9.5 Household penetration of StarTV, 1992-2001 187
9.6 A timeline of Indian film 188
9.7 A star dynasty 191
9.8 The Indian movie industry, 2006 192
9.9 The transition to Bollywood 193
9.10 The Indian mediascape 194

10.1 Top 10 countries in the E-government Readiness Index 204

10.2 Top 10 countries in the E-participation Index 204
10.3 Differences between government and governance 204
10.4 Major hacktivist targets 207

11.1 Grunig's four models of public relations 230

12.1 Share of TV viewing in Britain, 2000 239

12.2 BBC services 241
12.3 Nielsen panels 251
12.4 Global OTT homes as a percentage of TV households in 2010 254
12.5 Global OTT homes rankings in 2010 ( ooos) 254
12.6 Internet download sales (units millions) 254
12.7 Characteristics of public versus private media funding 255

13.1 Games consoles 1970s onwards 262

13.2 Chinese on line game players 264
13.3 Worldwide online gaming community 264
13.4 Possession of video games consoles per 100 households 265
13.5 Sales of video games by country, western Europe, USS million 2003 269
13.6 Sales of video games by country, eastern Europe, USS million 2003 269
13.7 Sales of video games by country, Latin America, USS million 2003 269
13.8 Sales of video games by country, Australia, Canada, United States 2003 269
13.9 Sales of YuGiOh and other card games, 2004 269

14.1 Elements of focus groups 286

15.1 Pluralist and hegemonic perspectives on media and power 296

15.2 Conceptions of information 297
15.3 Different dimensions of structures and organizations 298
15.4 Broad differences between centralization and decentralization 299
15.5 Audiences as markets and publics 300
15.6 Contradictions in globalization 301
 ••
XVII

Foreword

hina in March 2008 represented the biggest web marl<et by users of any
-..... other country in the world. It had an estimated 230 million users, adding a
staggering 73 million users in 2007 alone. For companies lil<e Google (who
represent only 15 per cent of the marl<et share - the largest marl<et share is held
by Baidu at about 75 per cent), this marl<et will be worth US$3.5 billion by 2012.
Such a scenario, wherein China challenges US pre-eminence in usage and
delivery, indicates how marl<et, growth and politics define the grounds of media
debate today.
It was only in the 1920s, as Briggs and Burl<e (2002) point out in their bool< A Social
History of the Media, that the Oxford English Dictionary first picl<ed up that people
spol<e about the media as an important part of their lives, or indeed as a collective
'thing' at all. This bool< is about 'the media' but it is also about 'global media studies:
When the first astronauts who landed on the moon toured the world they were univer-
sally greeted with the phrase 'We did it!' 'We' may have meant the US, but many
viewers around the world took it to include them as well, part of the audience. 'We'
uttered at the climax of a major media event gave the impression of an interdependent,
interconnected, world. The landing on the moon, though, was a Cold War event when
nuclear war was on the horizon. Interconnections were, then as now, determined by
power and money. There was an East-West split (Soviet bloc-Allies) and a North-
South (rich-poor) divide (the latter still continues). The wealthy nations' description of
other, less advantaged, nations also reflected the ethnocentric view of international
affairs dominated by the powerful. 'Third World countries' or 'developing nations' were
phrases used to describe nations struggling to feed their own people. Even recently,
with events lil<e the tragedy in Rwanda, 'First World' nations were slow to put the
massacres of the Tutsi people as a top news agenda item while the arguably parochial
O.J. Simpson drama was unfolding in Los Angeles. September 11, 2001, however, has
changed the mediascape, and the sense of space in which important events occur.
Commentators lil<e Tom Pyszczynsl<i proclaimed, for example, that the event for the
average US citizen was equivalent to the cultural trauma that many indigenous peoples
experienced in response to colonization by European and American countries (cited in
Prewitt et al., 2004). You may or may not accept that assessment, but it is the case that
something enormous happened to the mediation of global events after that date. The
xviii .Foreword
. . . . . . .. . . . . ..

aftermath of 9/11 brought with it psychological shocl< for wealthy nations together with
a rhetoric of 'axis of evil' and terror as an all-encompassing and everywhere threat. The
9/11 tragedy also brought with it, though, a recognition of the basic fact that we are
physically connected in our future. Climate change, similarly, has heightened this
awareness of interconnectedness, in terms of overall human survival. Most recently to
the writing of this bool<, the 2008 natural disasters in Sichuan, China and in Myanmar
have prompted great media interest, and profound international empathy. The sense
that natural disasters are part of a global experience and are not localized to 'other
people' is travelling through the intimacy of immediate media reportage.
A genuine global media studies programme, therefore, is not just about the rich,
North, view of the world. Globalization is about the networks - of media, goods,
people - that cross national boundaries and can vary in their extent, intensity, tempo
and influence. Global media studies as a discipline involves studying the complexity of
the media process, locally and globally. The media networl<s and flows are not all unidi-
rectional, originating from Hollywood or from monopolized news agencies. The
modern global mediascape is rich and complex and often contradictory. The authors
have tried to capture some of this complexity in lool<ing at different phenomena within
this global mediascape - including theories, structures and organizations, content,
audience and effects.
 •
XIX

Acknowledgements

he authors are grateful for colleagues' permission to reproduce material

and to relatives and colleagues for their ideas and contributions to the
formation of the bool<.
• I(im Balnaves, doctoral student at Charles Sturt University, for her insights into
children, education and digital games;
• John and Charles Balnaves and Harrison for their insights;
• Ulla Carlsson, Dr, Professor, Director, NORDICOM, Goteborg University, for permis-
sion to reproduce worl< from The Rise and Fall ofNWICO - and Then? From a Vision
ofInternational Regulation to a Reality ofMultilevel Governance. NORDICOM;
• Miguel Centeno, Princeton University, for his permission to reproduce global flows
maps from his unpublished paper 'McDonalds, Wienerwald, and the Corner Deli';
• Maurice Dunlevy for his insights into modern journalism and his generous permis-
sion to use his unpublished worl< on news; some of which was done jointly with
Marl< Balnaves in the Canberra days;
• John G. Gammacl< for his permission to cite and include sections of his co-authored
bool< with S.H. Donald on tourism and the branded city;
• Chris Harrison, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon Univer-
sity, for permission to reproduce his Internet maps;
• Dylan Horrocl<s for his insights into world-building and comics;
• The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for permission to
reproduce its data and information from its reports on digital piracy;
• Niel< Jankowsl<i and the Electronic Journal of Communication (2004) 14(3/ 4) for
permission to reproduce or adapt from the essay 'Digital Culture and the Digital
Divide: A Theoretical Frameworl<';
• Anne McLaren, University of Melbourne, for permission to use worl< from her
paper Targeting Chinese women: constructing a female cyberspace;
• Debra Mayrhofer, Edith Cowan University, Marl< Gibson and the editorial collective
at Continuum, and Taylor & Francis, for permission to reproduce parts of 'The
Media Professions and the New Humanism' in Continuum: Journal of Media and
Cultural Studies (2004) 18(2), http://www.informaworld.com;
• Laura Nelson for permission to reproduce worl< from her project Lookingfor Love in
Cyberspace;
xx Acknowledgements
.. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

• Eril<a Pearson, for her permission to reproduce worl< from her Honours thesis The
Digital is Political and other worl<s;
• Madanmohan Rao and Eastern Universities Press for permission to reproduce or
adapt material from the chapter 'Push, Pull, Layering, and Blogs: user behaviour in
the online medium' from News Media and New Media (2003);
• Tom O'Regan, University of Queensland, for his permission to use worl< from the
joint Australian Research Council (ARC) study on the history of audience ratings;
• Ian Saunders, University of Western Australia, for his ideas on 'dome logic';
• Greg Smith, for permission to reproduce his worl< on the Berbers;
• Glen Spoors, Edith Cowan University, for his provision of extensive references and
insights to worl< on games culture;
• Damien Spry, University of Technology Sydney, for his written contribution to the
section on mobile cultures in Chapter 3;
• David Tham, for his assistance with compiling the online atlas;
• John and Glenda Tomlinson and Madeline Lambert for their support and access to
family archives on the history of cinema in Albany;
• John Yunker, president and chief analyst at bytelevel/research and Fellow of the
Society for New Communications Research, for permission to reproduce for students
his country code map.
The authors are also grateful to students and colleagues at Edith Cowan University
and University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), colleagues in Chinese media, espe-
cially in Guangzhou and Hong l(ong, and Leicia Petersen and Ming Liang for their
various contributions.
A very special thanl<s from the authors to Emily Salz, Commissioning Editor at
Palgrave Macmillan, for her ideas and extensive and insightful summaries of reviews
that helped to shape the text intellectually as well as in format. Thanl< you also to
Sheree l(eep and Anna Reeve at Palgrave for their assistance and good humour. The
authors are grateful to the reviewers of the initial manuscript for this bool<. The
comments were much appreciated and the suggestions followed up.
Finally, Bryony Allen's copy editing - thorough and witty - and the worl< of Linda
Norris and colleagues at Aardvark Editorial were much appreciated.
 1

,,,
,,,,, ,,
part

Chapter 1 Introduction
2 Technologizing the word
3 A global view
2 Part 1 Convergences
.................. ........ ... .......

Media studies involves tracing the media through the ways in which they participate in
contemporary social and cultural life. It deals with various components of that process,
including structures and organization of media, content, audience and effects.
In this book the authors will explore in detail each of the components of the media-
tion process in a global context. The book will introduce you to the world of media
studies in an era where nations are becoming more interconnected through modern
media networks.
This section is called 'convergences' because the authors, like many of our peers, have
learned to recognize that convergence did not arrive with the computer and that all
previous communications are moments of convergence. Convergence is the transfor-
mation of older media, like print, into new cultural or new technology forms, like on line
news. Different societies and cultures are dealing with convergence and globalization in
different ways.
Globalization at the minimum involves networks - of media, goods, people - that
cross national boundaries and can vary in their extent, intensity, tempo and influence.
In this section the authors will introduce you to some of the key issues in media studies
and globalization, and provide you with background to the history of convergence of
media and the current global context.

Chapter 1, Introduction, introduces the discipline of media studies and the ideas
of globalization and convergence.

Chapter 2, Technologizing the Word, looks at the historical context of

convergence, including:
• writing and the alphabet, an early technologization of the word;
• the printing press, enabling standardization of languages, grammars and spelling;
• broadcast media, introducing instantaneous worldwide and mass audience
• •
commun1cat1on;
• computers and social media, combining the one-to-many possibilities of mass
media with the many-to-many capability of personal networks.

Chapter 3, A Global View, puts convergence in a con tern porary context and
outlines:
• the terminology used to describe some of these global changes, and their
implications for globalization;
• the problem of autonomy versus interconnectedness of cultures and the idea of
a digital divide;
• the rise of mobile cultures as a global phenomenon.
 3

Introduction

,,, ,,,,,
,,
chapter

----
,, I I I I I I I I I I I 11 I I I 11 I I I I I I I I I 11 I I I 11 I I ll,.
--
--- This chapter will introduce ---
---
--- you to:
----
---
-- • media studies as a field ---
-- of study and research; ---
--- ---
--- • ideas of social change,
---- globalization and ----
---- convergence; ---- _,,,.
_,,,.
-- --- _,,,.
----
• the book chapters and
their purpose.
---- ----,.
---- ---- ----
"II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I\:;;;-

our-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from an apartment in Praia

-
da Luz, in the Algarve, Portugal, on Thursday 3 May 2007. Madeleine, from
Rothley in Leicestershire, United l(ingdom, had, her parents said, been taken
from her bed while they were eating at a restaurant in the same complex, close
to the apartment. l(ate and Gerry McCann told police that they had regularly
checked on Madeleine and their two-year-old twins.
Madeleine was never found and the story went global. The parents soon became
'media' suspects in the disappearance and debate about their innocence or guilt became
passionate and prurient conversation among those who did or did not support them.
Meanwhile the parents set up a website, http://www.findmadeleine.com, to seel< help
in finding Madeleine and received contributions of millions of dollars to the cause.
The McCann story has all the elements of interest to media studies and this bool<.
There is a global system that distributes the story. There are interpersonal Internet
networl<s, such as blogs, where the story becomes a hotly discussed topic. There are
complex cultural and intercultural interpretations of the symbolic content. Chinese
and British reactions for example were different. There are issues of social class and
media agenda setting. Did the McCanns receive overly supportive reporting and
4 Part 1 Convergences
Technologizing of the word.
Describes the move to media
- such as writing and the
alphabet - as major
revolutions in human evolution.
coverage or overly negative reporting? Was the emphasis on their story to the detri-
ment of other more deserving stories?
Roger Silverstone famously asked 'Why Study the Media?' (1999). And so we echo
him. Why study the media and processes of mediation of symbolic content? Why study
the McCann tragedy? Because media are central to our everyday lives. And every day
people ask questions about the media. Who mediates the media? And how? And what
are the consequences? Indeed, what are the aspects of the media that are 'invisibly
ideological' (Silverstone, 1999 )?
How do we assess the ways in which the struggles over and within the media are played
out: struggles over the ownership and control of both institutions and meanings; strug-
gles over access and participation, struggles over representation; struggles which inform
and affect our sense of each other, our sense of ourselves? (Silverstone, 1999, s)
Research into the media and the distribution of symbolic content helps us to better
understand how our own society and other societies work. But it can also provide organ-
izations and policymakers with key insights into planning for the future. For example, it
was not long ago that many demographics and minorities in western countries were not
represented in simple things like audience ratings measurement. Knowing who is missing
from and who should be represented by audience ratings is important for equity purposes
and fairness. Such knowledge is not esoteric, nor is it necessarily the product of idealism
or of commercial greed. It can be applied by policymakers to rectify problems in meas-
uring audiences, and making the media work better for more people.
Dennis McQuail (McQuail, in Downing et al., 2004, 1) in his overview of media studies
says that media studies is a field that has 'uncertain boundaries: Valdivia (2003, 3) further
argues that defining the media studies field 'remains a project fraught with difficulty:
While this may or may not be true, we know, as Thompson (1997, 30) points out, that
cultural forms in modern society have increasingly been mediated by the mechanisms
and institutions of mass media or mass communication. For example, a mobile phone, as
a cultural form, may signify wealth in one society and be a symbol of fashion in another.
Now, you might say that a mobile phone is not a mass medium. Mass media and mass
communication are often associated with newspapers, radio, television and other media
that are one-to-many. Interestingly, a mobile phone can be a personal communication
technology at one moment and, potentially, a receiver of broadcast advertisements at
another. Either way though, it is possible to argue that whether operating as a personal or
mass technology, a mobile phone is part of a process of mediating symbolic content. In all
cultures we attach meanings to things, people and to practices as well as to our physical
environment. The media are an intimate part of this process of distributing symbolic
content and meanings. In media studies, this mediation, or technologizing of the word, has a
long history and starts, at least in alphabetic writing systems, with the alphabet. Language
is a medium as are speech, writing, print and audio-visual representation.
We can therefore perhaps again quote Silverstone and usefully describe media
studies as tracing the media through the ways in which they participate in social and
cultural life (Silverstone, 1999, 4).
In media studies, the technologization of the word - using media to convey meaning -
is often discussed from different components of the process of distributing symbolic
content. Traditionally, this includes theories, structures and organizations, audiences,
content and effects.
• Theories: Theories are explanations. Media theorists or writers try to explain
different phenomena in the process of mediation. For example, the question 'Does

Empirical research.
Observations about the world
using systematic quantitative
or qualitative research
methods.
Administrative research.
Refers to early US media
research tied to commercial or
governmental interests in
audience behaviour and
•
persuasion.
Critical research. Refers to
early European theorizing
about media, ideology and
culture.
to recap ...
Media studies involves
tracing the media
through the ways in
which they participate
in contemporary social
and cultural life. It deals
with various compo-
nents of that process,
including structures and
organization of m edia,
content, audience and
effects.
Social and global change
Chapter 1 Introduction
.. .. . .. .. ... . .. .. .. . .. ... . .. .. .. . ....
5
showing violence in movies lead to violent people?' raises causal questions about the
effects of the media in society. There may be competing theories that come up with
competing conclusions.
• Structures and organizations: Media, political and social systems all affect the
process of mediation of symbolic content. Ownership and control of the media,
media economics, and of course the media professions themselves, are all part of
the structures and organization of media.
• Content: What we see, hear or read, whether today's news in a newspaper or an SMS
(text) message, are a part of the symbolic content of media. The symbolic content is
what lies behind the actual content - the relationship between reader, sociocultural
context and information that creates the symbolic 'ness' of the mediated information
transfer. The distribution of symbolic content can, of course, be affected by the struc-
tures and organization of media as well as the culture within which we live. The
construction of meaning from media content, or media texts, and ideological conflicts
involved in these constructions are a major area of research in media studies.
• Audiences: Early media researchers had an intense interest in the behaviour of
audiences or in fact what constituted 'an audience: The study of audiences can be at
individual, group or societal level.
• Effects: The process of mediation of symbolic content has effects. For example, in
the United I(ingdom advertising junl( food to children who are watching television
is considered harmful and, indeed, is banned. Effects research has an empirical
tradition, also called administrative research in the United States. Early empirical or
administrative research tool< a commercial interest in how public opinion was being
shaped by media or how audiences were using media or advertising in their buying
behaviour. Critical research in contrast, dealt with power and ideology and how culture
had itself become an industry.
If media studies involves tracing the media through the ways in which they participate
in contemporary social and cultural life, then we cannot ignore the global nature of
this enterprise. The technology of digital media is expanding into complex networl(s.
Indeed, the virtual world of multiplayer, globally accessed online worlds such as Second
Life and World of Warcraft now involves hundreds of thousands of people. Massively
multiplayer online role playing game groups (MMORPG) such as World of Warcraft
now have budgets the size of the Gross Domestic Product of small nation states. They
also set up new regional bases, with I(orea, the US and increasingly China becoming
centres of participation in these trends.
The modern discourse on the technology of media often uses statistics and compari-
sons to show the scale of technological change. In 1996, the 'The Hitch-hil(er's Guide
to Cybernomics' in The Economist said:
Twenty-five years ago only about 50,000 computers existed in the whole wide world;
now the number has rocl(eted to an estimated 14om. And that does not include any
of the chips inside cars, washing machines or even tall(ing greeting cards. A typical
car today has more computer-processing power than the first lunar landing-craft
had in 1969. In 1844 Samuel Morse launched the era of instant communication by
telegraphing the prophetic words: 'What hath God wrought!' In 1960 a transatlantic
telephone cable could carry only 138 conversations simultaneously. Now a fibre-
optic cable can carry 1.5m conversations. (The Economist, 1996, S3-7)
6 Part 1 Convergences
Convergence. The
transformation of older media,
like print, into new cultural or
new technology forms, like
online news. Different
societies and cultures are
dealling with convergence and
globalization in different ways.
The discourses on changes in the technology of media include discourses on changes
in how media professions operate. Friedland and Webb (1996) describe how they set
up Online Wisconsin, an online journal as part of their journalism course at the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin, beginning in 1993. They were driven to it by the realization that news
was already being delivered in new ways. 'The rapid pace of acceptance of new tech-
nologies means the vision of the "multimedia journalist" carrying a tape recorder, small
format video camera, and notebook becomes less futuristic every day ... we can now
define multimedia journalism as the combined application of hypertext, graphics audio,
and video in a single journalistic publication on the Internet' (Friedland and Webb,
1996, 55). As they point out, the move was already happening and was being led partly
by traditional media organizations and partly by computer-based organizations.
The process of bringing together different media into one activity or one medium is
called convergence. The Internet is a convergence technology because it brings together
video, sound and text. Convergence can also mean new service types or corporate
restructuring, for example telecommunications companies also becoming broadcasting
companies and publishing companies. Convergence raises obvious questions about
whether society has changed as a result of the introduction of new media. There are
two main positions on the issue of social change in this world of global media. Webster
(1995) distinguishes between those social theorists who think that contemporary
society is a new kind of society, different from hitherto existing societies, and those for
whom it is a continuation of established social relationships but with an intensified
role of information and media.
The supporters of continuity over change tend to be pessimistic about the future.
The supporters of contemporary society as a new kind of society tend to be optimistic.
Those who support the idea of continuity in social and technological change tend to
have ideology and issues of power, ownership and control as their predominant
concern. Those who support the idea of radical change tend to have pluralism and
issues of free flow of information, diversity and competing power bases as their
predominant concern.
Influential to discussions on emerging technologies has been the work of Manuel
Castells (1996; 1997; 1998) who introduced several ideas concerning the networked
realm of globalization. 'The rise of the network society calls into question the processes
of construction of identity ... thus inducing new forms of social change. This is because
the network society is based on the systemic disjunction between the local and the
global for most individuals and social groups' (Castells, 1997).
Technology is, without a doubt, one of the most important contributory factors
underlying the internationalization and globalization of economic activity (Dicken,
1998, 145) Since the development and expansion of telecommunication networks
brought the concept of the 'shrinking world' to public knowledge, an idea derived from
McLuhan's (1962) concept of global village, the convergence of technologies such as
the telephone, fax, and computer, has inspired debate about issues of societal transfor-
mation toward an information society. Manuel Castells in his early work motivated
discussion on themes concerning the philosophical and theoretical basis of the infor-
mation society. Works such as Postmodern Geographies (Soja, 1989) and Collapsing
Space and Time (Brunn and Leinbach, 1991) heralded ideas that emphasized diversity
and increased freedoms.
It was not, however, until the expansion of the Internet in the mid-9os and the
analysis of experiences of networks, their meaning to users, their operability and other
qualitative issues related to the communicational information systems, that critical
Another random document with
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Instead of going to Nineveh he set out in a boat for Tarshish; during
a storm he was thrown overboard, swallowed by a fish, and again
brought to the shore. He then carried out the Divine mission, the
result of which was that the Ninevites repented of their evil deeds
and [82]obtained a respite. Jonah, disappointed that the threat of
which he was the bearer was not fulfilled, was rebuked by God, and
taught by his own grief at the destruction of a plant “that had come
up in a night” how wrong it was to wish that God should not show
mercy upon the inhabitants of Nineveh, and to neglect anything that
could lead to their repentance and consequent salvation.

(6.) Micah (‫‏מיכה‬‎).—Micah of Moresha was likewise a contemporary

of Isaiah. He prophesied in Judah.

1. (i.–iii.) He raises his voice especially against the princes,

magistrates, and false prophets, who unite in oppressing and ruining
the people. When Micah tells them their sins and the coming
punishment, they say to him, “Do not preach; they do not preach for
such things; they do not offend” (ii. 6). But the prophet of the Lord is
not deterred from his mission, but continues to denounce their
wickedness: “Her chiefs judge for bribery, and her priests teach for
payment, and her prophets decide for silver; yet will they lean upon
the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord in our midst? no evil shall come
upon us. Therefore shall Zion be plowed into a field, and Jerusalem
shall become heaps, and the mountain of the Temple as the high
places of a forest” (iii. 11, 12).

2. (iv.–v.) Like Isaiah, he depicts the Messianic period, in which the

house of Jacob will be an example of true faith in God to all nations;
in which Israel will be restored to his land, under the rule of a
descendant of David. But a period of trials and troubles must
precede those happy days, in order to punish Israel, and to purify
and prepare him for his future greatness. [83]
3. (vi.–vii.) The same principles are taught in the next part (vi. and
vii.) in the form of a controversy (‫‏ריב ליי עם עמו‬‎) between the Lord and
His people. The latter are reminded of the benefits God has
bestowed on them; and when they ask how they are expected to
show their gratitude, the prophet says, “O man, He has told thee
what is good; and what does the Lord require of thee but to do
justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (vi. 8).

(7.) Nahum (‫‏נחום‬‎).—The fall of Nineveh is predicted. The power of

the mighty Assyrian Empire, hitherto a terror to Judah and other
kingdoms, will come to an end; no remedy can save her any more.

(8.) Habakkuk (‫‏חבקוק‬‎).—Habakkuk prophesied at the time when the

Casdim or Chaldeans were about to occupy the place of the
Assyrians as conquerors of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and to
become the rod in the hand of God for the punishment of Israel.
Habakkuk, on receiving the mission to announce the Casdim as the
executors of the Divine decree, is at a loss to understand why these
wicked and cruel people should be chosen to chastise those who are
far less wicked; why the evil-doer should swallow him who is more
righteous. The answer he receives is, “But the just shall live by his
faith.” The evil-doer will in due time receive his full punishment.
Habakkuk then gives expression to his implicit faith in the justice of
God, in a hymn which is superscribed, “Prayer (‫ )‏תפלה‬of the prophet
Habakkuk on account of errors;” for in it he rectifies, as it were, his
previous groundless doubt.

(9.) Zephaniah (‫‏צפניה‬‎).—He prophesied in the days [84]of King

Josiah. He proclaims the approach of the great day of the Lord, on
which all those who turned away from Him will receive their
punishment, all the rich and powerful who say the Lord does neither
good nor evil. He appeals to the humble in the land (‫ )‏ענוי ארץ‬to seek
the Lord in prayer, in order to be saved on “the day of the anger of
the Lord.” For the Philistines, the Phœnicians, Moab, Ammon, and
Assyria will be punished, nor will Jerusalem escape free. “I will then
turn,” he says in the name of God, “a pure language to the nations,
that all of them will call by the name of God, and serve Him with one
accord” (iii. 9). “In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy
doings wherein thou hast transgressed against me; for then I will
take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and
thou shalt no more be haughty on my holy mountain. And I will leave
in thy midst a poor and humble people, and they shall trust in the
name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, and
they shall not speak falsehood, and a tongue of deceit shall not be
found in their mouth” (iii. 9, 11–13).

(10.) Haggai (‫‏חגי‬‎)—The Israelites, who by the command of Cyrus

had discontinued the rebuilding of the Temple after the foundation
had been laid by his permission, were exhorted by Haggai, in the
second year of the reign of Darius, to resume the work. Guided by
Zerubbabel and Joshua, son of Jehozadak, they obeyed, and the
prophet describes to them the blessing which they will henceforth
enjoy.

(11.) Zechariah (‫‏זכריה‬‎):—

1. (i. to vii.) Zechariah, a contemporary of Haggai, [85]exhorts the

Israelites to listen to the words of the prophets, seeing that the words
of former prophets have been fulfilled. The Divine scheme for the
restoration of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple in spite of all
obstacles, is shown to the prophet in various visions. In one vision
Joshua is appointed high-priest, notwithstanding the aspersions of
his adversary (‫‏השטן‬‎), and Zerubbabel or Zemach, the political chief
of the community. Joshua is exhorted “to walk in the ways of the
Lord, to keep the charge entrusted to him, and to guard the House of
God and His courts;” and Zerubbabel is reminded that success is not
obtained “by might and strength, but by the spirit of the Lord.” “Thus
the one—Zemach by name—shall sit on his throne and be ruler, and
the other—Joshua—shall sit on his throne and be priest, and a
counsel of peace shall be between the two” (vi. 13).

2. Chap. viii.—The prophet is asked whether the day of mourning in

the fifth month is to be continued. The prophetic answer is as
follows: The reason for the mourning was, that your fathers did not
listen to the word of God, and were punished for their disobedience.
Now, as the time of punishment is over, it is for you to prevent a
recurrence of these sad experiences. What you have to do is this:
Speak the truth one to another; truth and judgment of peace judge in
your gates. Let no one plan in his heart the ruin of his neighbour, and
do not love to swear falsely. Let the fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh,
and tenth months be to the house of Judah for rejoicing, joy, and
good seasons; love truth and peace (viii. 16, 17, 19). At the same
time the promise is given [86]that the time will come when nations will
seek the Lord in Jerusalem, and say to the Jews, “We will go with
you, for God is with you” (viii. 23).

3. (ix.–xi.) The prophet encourages Zion to rejoice in her future

mission; her enemies round about will be brought to silence, and her
king, meek and humble, “poor and riding on an ass,” “will speak
peace to the nations, and his rule will extend from sea to sea, and
from the river to the ends of the earth” (ix. 9, 10). Judah and Ephraim
will unite, and both will enjoy the Divine protection. If this has not yet
taken place, it is the fault of the “bad shepherds,” i.e., the bad
leaders of the people.

4. (xii.–xiv.) The prophet foretells troubles which will come upon

Jerusalem when the nations will make the last effort to take that city.
They will be defeated, and Judah will be filled on that occasion with
“a spirit of grace” (‫‏רוח חן ותחנונים‬‎), and will pray to God for the safety
of his enemy; the very Jews, “whom the enemy desired to pierce,”
will pray for him, and mourn for his death as a father mourneth for
the loss of his only child. Judah will then be free from false prophets
and bad shepherds. God will make Himself known to all: “And the
Lord will be a King over the whole earth; on that day will the Lord be
One and His name One” (xiv. 9). All will come to Jerusalem “to
worship the King, the Lord Zebaoth, and to celebrate the feast of
Succoth” (Ibid. 16), expressing thereby their conviction that God
alone is able to afford protection and blessing.

(12.) Malachi (‫‏מלאכי‬‎).—Malachi, the last of the prophets, exhorts the

priests to true reverence of the [87]sanctuary, and to conscientious
fulfilment of their duties. The distinction of the priest was based on
the distinction of his conduct: “The law of truth was in his mouth, and
iniquity was not found on his lips; in peace and uprightness he
walked with me, and many turned he back from iniquity. For the lips
of the priest shall keep knowledge, and instruction shall they seek of
his mouth, for he is a messenger of the Lord Zebaoth” (ii. 6, 7).
Judah is then rebuked for his faithlessness. Both, the Levites
(including the priests) and Judah, will pass through a process of
refining; the wicked will be removed, whilst for “those who fear the
name of God” the sun of salvation will shine. Those who desire to
obtain a place among these latter must “remember the law of Moses,
the servant of God, which God commanded him on Horeb for all
Israel; statutes and judgments” (iii. 22). Before the great day of the
Lord, the day of judgment, the Lord will send “the prophet Elijah, who
will cause the hearts of fathers and children to unite in returning to
God.”
[Contents]

3. The Hagiographa (‫‏כתובים‬‎).

The Hagiographa form the last collection of holy writings, composed

by men who, although they were not prophets, were filled with the
spirit of the Lord (‫‏רוח יי‬‎). They include the three larger works: (a)
‫‏תהלים‬‎(or ‫‏תלים‬‎) Psalms, ‫‏משלי‬‎Proverbs, and ‫‏איוב‬‎Job; (b) the Five
Scrolls (‫‏חמש מגלות‬‎), viz., ‫‏שיר השירים‬‎Song of Songs, ‫‏רות‬‎Ruth, ‫‏איכה‬‎
Lamentations, ‫‏קהלת‬‎Ecclesiastes, ‫‏אסתר‬‎Esther; (c) the historical
books: ‫‏דניאל‬‎Daniel, ‫‏עזרא‬‎Ezra, ‫‏נחמיה‬‎Nehemiah, and ‫‏דברי הימים‬‎the
two books of Chronicles.

1. Psalms (‫‏תהלים‬‎).—The Psalms are hymns containing [88]praises of

God’s greatness, prayers for His mercy, and meditations on His
wisdom, power, justice, and goodness. However various the Psalms
are in form and contents, they have this in common, that they all are
based on the purest and sincerest trust in God’s justice and
goodness. “The mighty and proud, ‫‏זדים‬‎who rely on their own
strength and are guided by the dictates of their own will, cannot
succeed for ever; the poor and humble, ‫‏ענוים‬‎who rely on God’s
mercy and are guided by the word of God, will not suffer for ever.”
This is the truth which the Psalmist proclaims in his songs over and
over again. Yet there is a great variety in the contents of the Psalms.
Some are simply praises of God’s greatness, e.g., viii., xix., xxxii.,
xcii., xcv. to xcix., ciii., civ., &c. Others are the expression of
gratitude, e.g., ix., xviii., xxxiv., lxvi., lxviii., &c. Many are prayers in
time of trouble; in most of these the suppliant feels sure that God will
accept his prayer, and is confident that help will come. Such psalms
are iii., iv., v., vi., xii., xiii., &c. To this class belong also all the psalms
which refer to the troubles of David during the reign of Saul, as lii.,
liv., lvi., lix., lxiii., &c.; some of the Asaph-psalms, lxxiii., lxxvii., lxxix.,
lxxx.; the penitential psalms, in which the sinner prays for mercy, as
xxv., xxxii., xxxviii., li.; and those in which a longing is expressed for
the House of God, e.g., xxvii., xlii., xliii., lxv., lxxxiv. Some psalms are
a protest against those who rely on human force and human cunning
instead of having faith in God, a protest of the ‫‏ענוים‬‎against the view
and creed of the ‫‏זדים‬‎and ‫‏גאים‬‎or ‫‏גוים‬‎e.g., ix. and x., xi., xiv., xvi.,
xvii., &c. Some psalms are of a more [89]didactic character, showing
the way of true happiness (Ps. i.), depicting a truly pious life (xv.,
xxiv.), or the excellence of the word of God, as xix., cxix.; or the
uselessness of sacrifice without purity of heart (xl., l., li.).

The poetical form of the Psalms, as of Hebrew poetry in general, is

parallelism. The sentences are formed in such a manner that the
psalm can be arranged in lines divisible into two parts, which are
either two elements of a single idea, or a double expression of the
same idea, or a combination of two ideas or things opposed to each
other, illustrating an idea by its antithesis. In some of the Psalms the
parallelism is perfect throughout, in others it is partly abandoned,
probably in order not to slavishly subordinate the idea to the form of
its expression. The same is to be noticed as regards other forms of
the Psalms. Some are arranged alphabetically, that is, the
successive verses begin with successive letters of the alphabet; but
deviations from the plan are met with almost in all such psalms.
There are psalms which are divided into a certain number of parts or
strophes, each part beginning or ending with the same phrase or
verse; but almost invariably these phrases or verses undergo some
modification.
The style is naturally poetical, and figurative language is employed
throughout. God is a Rock (‫‏צור‬‎), an habitation (‫‏מעון‬‎), a Shepherd
(‫‏רועה‬‎), who feeds His flock with great care and love; He is an eagle,
under whose wings (‫‏אברתו‬‎, ‫‏כנפיו‬‎) the weak find protection; He rides
in the heavens of the heavens of old (‫‏רכב בשמי שמי קדם‬‎). Man is
compared to “grass that withers,” to a “flower that blossoms in the
morning, and in the [90]evening it is withered and dried up;” the life of
man is but a breath (‫‏הבל‬‎); a lie (‫‏כזב‬‎); light in the balance (‫‏במאזנים‬
‫לעלות‬‎); he changes like a garment, like a raiment. The days of a long
life are like the days of the heavens, the sun or the moon (‫‏כימי שמים‬‎,
‫‏לפני שמש‬‎, ‫‏עם שמש‬‎or ‫‏לפני ירח‬‎). The mighty are mountains with many
peaks (‫‏הרים גבנונים‬‎), they have horns like those of the unicorns,
whilst the weak are “a wall bent” (‫‏קיר נטוי‬‎), “a fence thrust down” (‫‏גדר‬
‫הדחויה‬‎); “they have sunk in deep mire;” “they have come into fire and
into water;” “the waters have come unto the soul.” The meek are
“broken in heart,” “crushed in spirit.” The wicked and unjust are like
lions and dogs; they have poison “like the poison of a serpent, like a
deaf adder that stoppeth its ears, that does not listen to the voice of
charmers, to the clever sorcerer.” Their words are smooth like cream
and oil, whilst in the heart there are war, daggers, sharp swords. The
threatened one runs like a hind, escapes like a bird. Those who have
no higher aim than material enjoyments are like “sheep driven to
death;” “man in his dignity, without understanding, is like cattle that
perish.” Mishaps come upon man like the waves of the sea. The
Divine judgment visits the wicked like a thunderstorm; it shakes the
earth like an earthquake or volcano. Sinners receive “the cup of
confusion” (‫‏כוס התרעלה‬‎) at the hand of God; for “a cup is in the hand
of the Lord, and the wine therein is red; it is full with drink, and He
pours out from it, but its dregs all the wicked of the earth will suck
and drink.”

The sinner is punished by his own deed; “he digs a pit and falls into
it;” he feels like a sick person [91]whose “bones are troubled, and
wither;” his purification is toe healing of the soul; he is purified with
hyssop; he becomes whiter than snow (li. 9). When man sins he
feels as if he had become a changed creature, as if he had now
been born and conceived in sin (ver. 7); when he repents and
improves, God creates in him a new heart, and renews a firm spirit
within him (ver. 12). The wife of the God-fearing man is compared to
the fruitful vine, his children to young olive-trees (cxxviii.). The
righteous will flourish like a palm-tree, will grow high like a cedar
upon Lebanon (xcii. 13). Whilst the righteous is like a tree planted by
the brook of water, the wicked are like chaff which the wind drives
away (i. 3, 4). Israel is likened to a vine brought from Egypt and
planted in Palestine (lxxx. 9). Peacefulness and brotherly love,
between high and low, the mighty and the weak, the rich and the
poor, the wise and the simple, are illustrated by the fine oil that flows
down from the head to the beard, the beard that descends over the
garments, and the dew of the high Hermon that comes down to the
lower mountains of Zion (cxxx.).

There are some instances of play upon words (lvi. 9), and of rhymes
(cxlv. 11; xxxiv. 6); the latter are apparently not intentional.

Although we generally speak of the Psalms of David, only a portion

of them was composed by King David; the headings ascribe also
one psalm to Moses, two to King Solomon, twelve to Asaph, one to
Heman, and one to Ethan; and some have no author mentioned in
the heading. Many have no superscription at all, and most of these
seem to belong to a later period. [92]

The individual psalms have various names. The most general of

them is ‫‏מזמור‬‎a poem, set in music. Of some it is distinctly stated that
they were intended to be sung; this is expressed in the heading by
the word ‫‏שיר‬‎“song,” which either precedes or follows the title ‫‏מזמור‬‎
or stands alone without ‫‏מזמור‬‎. The term, ‫‏שיר‬‎“song,” is further
qualified by ‫‏חנוכת הבית‬‎“of the dedication of the house,” ‫“‏ידידות‬of
love,” and ‫‏המעלות‬‎or ‫‏למעלות‬‎“of degrees leading upward,” i.e.,
towards God. Another name occurring in twelve psalms is ‫‏משכיל‬‎
“instructive song;” the maschil proclaims the lesson that God is King
of the universe, and that those are happy who trust in His justice and
mercy. A similar meaning attaches to ‫‏ללמד‬‎the word superadded to
‫‏משִכ ל‬‎in Ps. lx.; lit. “to teach,” i.e., that the song be learnt by all, in
order that people may strengthen their confidence in God in times of
trouble (comp. 2 Sam. i. 18). The meaning of ‫‏להזכיר‬‎which occurs in
two psalms (xxxviii. and lxx.), is “for prayer.” There is one psalm
‫‏לתודה‬‎(c.), “for thanksgiving;” another “for the Sabbath-day,” ‫‏ליום‬
‫השבת‬‎(xcii.). Four psalms are called ‫‏תפלה‬‎“prayer” (xvii., lxxxvi., xc,
cii.); one (cxlv.), ‫‏תהלה‬‎“praise;” one (vii.), ‫‏שגיון‬‎“an error,” 6 referring to
the miscalculation of the wicked in preparing weapons against the
innocent, which weapons are turned against themselves; and six are
superscribed ‫‏מכתם‬‎“a jewel.” Such a jewel is the Psalmist’s “faith in
God,” that inspires him with hope and pure joy in the midst of
misfortune.

The headings include also instructions for the singers and references
to the musical instruments which are to [93]be used. The most
general term is ‫‏למנצח‬‎“to the chief,” scil., of the singers or Levites; it
refers to the chief of a particular division of the Levites if it is followed
by a qualifying phrase, and to the chief of all the Levites if it is not
followed by any qualification. The term ‫‏למנצח‬‎describes the psalm as
a Temple-song, although this may not have been its original object.
Even poems which have been composed by David on certain
personal events became—perhaps slightly modified—national
songs, and formed part of the public service. The adaptation was
easy, because these historical psalms rarely contain any allusion to
the particular event mentioned in the superscription.
The term ‫‏למנצח‬‎is qualified by ‫‏על נגינת‬‎“on a stringed instrument,”
‫‏נגינת‬‎being the particular instrument of the Levites, of whom this ‫‏מנצח‬‎
was the master. The term ‫‏בנגינות‬‎which in several psalms follows the
word ‫‏למנצח‬‎is grammatically unconnected with the latter; it means
“on stringed instruments,” and is the instruction for the ‫‏מנצח‬‎. There
were several kinds of such instruments; two kinds are named ‫‏שמינית‬‎
and ‫‏גתית‬‎“the neginath with eight strings” or “chords,” and “the gittith”
coming from Gath, a town in the land of the Philistines. Other kinds
of musical instruments are ‫‏נהילות‬‎(v.), ‫‏מחלת‬‎(liii.), and ‫‏עלמות‬‎(xlvi.);
these are hollow flute-like instruments, also called ‫‏נבלים‬‎(1 Chron. xv.
20). In some cases the division of Levites is named instead of the
instrument: ‫‏ידותון‬‎“Jeduthun” (xxxix., lxii. and lxxvii.; comp. 1 Chron.
xxv. 3); ‫‏לבני קרח‬‎“to the sons of Korah” (xlii. to xlix., and lxxxiv. to
lxxxviii.); once the direction occurs ‫‏לענות‬‎(lxxxviii.), “to sing
alternately,” referring to [94]the two divisions of Levites headed by
‫‏הימן האזרחי‬‎and ‫‏איתן האזרחי‬‎“the Ezrahite Heman,” and “the Ezrahite
Ethan” (lxxxviii. and lxxxix.).

A few terms are met with in the headings which describe the
contents of the psalm in a poetical style. Such are (a.) ‫‏שושן עדות‬‎,
‫‏ששנים עדות‬‎and ‫‏ששנים‬‎(lx., lxxx., xlv., and lxix.), “Testimony for the lily
or lilies,” or “for lilies.” The poet calls by this name the flower of the
nation, the meek and God-fearing, who are under the special
protection of God, and are destined to be crowned in the end with
glory and victory, (b.) ‫‏אילת השחר‬‎(xxii.), “The strength of the dawn.”
The phrase refers to the strength given to the sufferer in the
darkness of his despair by the awakening of his faith in God, which is
compared by the poet to the dawn as the forerunner of daylight, (c.)
‫‏אל תשחת‬‎“Do not destroy” (lvii., lviii., lix., and lxxv.). By this heading
the author indicates that the psalm is a protest against the self-
confidence of the wicked in the success of their wickedness, either
with reference to their evil designs against the author himself, or to
their plans in general. (d.) ‫‏יונת אלם רחקים‬‎“Dove in the force of those
far,” scil., from God (lvi.). The psalm contains the expression of
David’s faith in God when he was caught by the Philistines in Gath.

In some of the headings the event is mentioned which prompted the

Psalmist to compose the psalm: David’s flight from Jerusalem when
Absalom rebelled against him (iii.); the slander of the Benjamite
Kush (vii.); the death of Labben (ix.); rescue from the hands of Saul
and other enemies (xiii.); dedication of the house (xxx.); David’s
escape from Abimelech, king [95]of the Philistines (xxxiv.); his capture
by the Philistines in Gath (lvi.); his stay in the cave of Adullam (lvii.,
cxlii.); danger of being put to death by the servants of Saul (lix.); war
with Aram and Edom (lx.); sojourn in the wilderness of Judah (lxiii.).

The order of the Psalms is not chronological; e.g., chap. iii. refers to
the rebellion of Absalom, whilst chap, cxlii. was composed before the
death of Saul. The principle which guided the collector in fixing the
place of each psalm is not known. But it is certainly not the result of
mere chance that the first two psalms speak of the Law of God, and
of the punishment of those who rebel against God and against His
anointed; and that the last psalm calls upon all to praise God with all
their soul: “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord,
Hallelujah!” Nor is it mere chance that the psalms are divided, like
the Law, into five groups or books, each one ending with a doxology.
It is possible that the psalms were recited or sung at the public
service in a manner corresponding to the reading of the Law and the
Prophets.

The first two books contain most of the psalms superscribed ‫‏לדוד‬‎“by
David,” but there are also some in the other books (one in III., two in
IV., fourteen in V.). At the end of the second book (lxxii. 20) the
following words are added: “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse,
are ended;” i.e., the hope which has just been expressed in the
words ‫‏וימלא כבוד יי את כל הארץ‬‎“And the whole earth shall be filled
with the glory of God,” forms the aim and end of all the prayers of
David, the son of Jesse. The verse does not mean that the first
seventy-two chapters of the Psalms contain all the [96]prayers of
David, as there are several psalms of David between chaps, lxxiii.
and cl.

The Psalms were composed by David and other authors partly for
private use, partly for the public service in the Temple and other
places of worship. Of those that were originally for private use some
were subsequently adapted for public service, and even those
intended from the beginning for public worship were adapted to the
different modes of recitation or singing. The Book of Psalms
includes, therefore, two recensions of several chapters; e.g., xiv. and
liii.; xviii. and 2 Sam. xxii.; lx. 7–14 and cviii. 7–14; lvii. 8–12 and cviii.
2–6; cv. 1–15 and 1 Chron. xvi. 8–22; xcvi. and 1 Chron. xvi. 23–33;
cxxxv. and cxxxvi.

A considerable portion of our daily prayers consists of psalms. We

distinguish the following groups:—(a.) ‫‏פסוקי דזמרא‬‎“Verses of song,”
Ps. cxlv. to cl.; to which the following are added on Sabbaths and
Festivals: xix., xxxiv., xc, xci., cxxxv., cxxxvi. (called ‫‏הלל הגדול‬‎“the
great Hallel”), xxxiii., xcii., and xciii. (b.) ‫‏שיר של יום‬‎“Song of the day;”
a different psalm is recited each day of the week after the morning
prayer in the following order: xxiv., xlviii., lxxxii., xciv., lxxxi., xciii.,
xcii. (c.) ‫‏קבלת שבת‬‎“Friday evening psalms,” xcv. to xcix. (d.) Sabbath
afternoon psalms: civ., cxx. to cxxxiv. (e.) ‫‏הלל‬‎“Praise,” cxiii. to cxviii.
(f.) Penitential psalms after evening prayer on week-days, in the
following order: xxv., xxxii., xxxviii., li., lxxxvi.

2. ‫‏משלי‬‎Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. The

Book of Proverbs belongs to those Biblical books which are called
‫‏ספרי חכמה‬‎“books of wisdom.” [97]They appeal to the reason of man,
and do not support their words by the authority of Revelation,
although the authors and those who gave them the final shape were
inspired and guided by the ‫‏רוח ה׳‬‎“the divine spirit.” The
commandments of God and His ways are referred to as the safest
guide for man in all conditions of life. Three books are included in
this class: Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes.

“The Proverbs of Solomon” are divided into the following six

sections:—(A.) Introduction, i. to ix.; (B.) Collection of Proverbs: (a.)
Proverbs of Solomon, x. to xxii. 16; (b.) Words of the Wise, xxii. 17 to
xxiv. 22; (c.) Second group of Words of the Wise, 23 to 34; (d.)
Proverbs of Solomon collected by the men of Hezekiah, xxv. to
xxviii.; (e.) Words of Agur-bin-yakeh, xxx.; (f.) Words of Lemuel, xxxi.

The fourth section (chaps, xxv. to xxix.) is introduced by the following

superscription:—“Also these are the Proverbs of Solomon, which the
men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, had removed.” The men of
Hezekiah seem to have been uncertain whether this section should
form part of the book, because of the seeming contradiction between
the fourth and fifth verses of the twenty-sixth chapter. The men of the
Great Synagogue decided the question in favour of its incorporation
in the book, and reconciled the seeming contradiction by their
interpretation.

The fifth collection of proverbs is ascribed to Agur-bin-yakeh, an

allegorical phrase meaning “collection deserving respect.” The
collection is further called “the burden”—the usual heading of
prophecies—in order to give it more weight. Also the rest of the
[98]superscription, “The saying of the man Leïthiel,” Leïthiel ve-
ucchal, is of an allegorical character, signifying, “God—i.e., the word
of God—is my task, and I shall prevail.” The phrase is set forth more
clearly in the succeeding verses: human knowledge is insufficient,
but “All the word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who trust in
him” (xxx. 5). The second half of this collection has the heading La-
alukah, “For a necklace” (comp. i. 9), similar in meaning to the
heading ‫‏מכתם‬‎“Jewel,” in the Psalms. The form of these proverbs,
based on the numbers two, three, and four, is similar to that of the
prophecies of Amos (chaps, i. and ii.). The last collection is headed,
“Words to Lemuel, the king; the burden wherewith his mother
instructed him.” The contents of the instruction is, “Be not licentious
and intemperate; help the poor and oppressed.” The name Lemuel is
likewise allegorical, meaning “God-ward.” The book concludes with
the praises of a virtuous woman.

(A.) Introduction.—The object of the book is set forth in verses 2 to 7

of the first chapter as follows: “To make man know wisdom and
instruction, comprehend words of understanding, and take the
instruction of acting wisely, with justice, judgment, and
righteousness; to give skill to the simple; to the young knowledge
and discretion; that the wise may hear and increase doctrine, and
the prudent acquire cleverness to understand proverb and figure, the
words of wise men and their allegories. The beginning of knowledge
is the fear of the Lord; wisdom and instruction fools despise.” This
last sentence is the basis of the book. Without fear of the Lord all
knowledge and wisdom will prove [99]insufficient for establishing
man’s true happiness. The Introduction consists of several
connected addresses, in which the author persuades the reader to
listen to his advice, and keep away from wicked people before it is
too late. He exhorts man to entrust himself to the guidance of the
Lord, and not to rely on his own understanding. “Be not wise in thine
eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil” (iii. 7). He warns against
bad society, against becoming security for debtors, and against
idleness. The two ways open to man are allegorically represented by
two women, the one wise, the other foolish; the one leading to
happiness, the other to ruin; each one inviting man to her house, and
displaying in the very act of invitation her full character.

(B.) The collections of proverbs begin with the tenth chapter. The
proverbs have the form of parallelism, each verse being divided into
two parts, mostly containing an antithesis illustrating the difference
between the wise and the foolish, the good and the bad, the just and
the unjust, the industrious and the idle, the rich and the poor, and the
like. Each verse is a proverb by itself, and is independent of the
verses which precede and follow. There are only a few passages in
which several verses are connected, and these occur in the later
collections, e.g., xxii. 22–23, 24–25, 26–27; xxiii. 1–3, 4–5, 6–9, 10–
11, 12–13, 20–21, 29–35; xxiv. 3–7, 10–12, 30–34; xxvii. 23–27. The
whole of the thirtieth chapter consists of small paragraphs of three or
four verses, and the last chapter consists of two continuous parts.

In these collections of proverbs we find advice for [100]every condition

of our life. Our relation to God is shown; how He loves the good and
just:—

“The way of the wicked is an abomination of the Lord; but he loveth him
who pursues righteousness” (xv. 9).

“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination of the Lord, but the prayer
of the righteous is his pleasure” (xv. 8).

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but he heareth the prayer of the
righteous” (xv. 29).

“To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice”
(xxi. 3).

He protects the poor, the weak, the widow, and the orphan:—

“He who oppresseth the poor, blasphemeth his Maker; and he who is
gracious to the needy, honoureth him” (xiv. 31).
 “He who is gracious to the poor, lendeth to the Lord, and he will repay him
his reward” (xix. 17).

“Do not rob the poor because he is poor; and do not crush the poor in the
gate, for the Lord will plead their cause, and will take the soul of those who
rob them” (xxii. 23).

“The Lord will pull down the house of the proud, and will establish the
border of the widow” (xv. 25).

“The rich and the poor meet; the Maker of them all is the Lord” (xxii. 2).

He punishes the evil-doer and rewards the righteous:—

“Do not say, I will repay evil; hope in the Lord, and he will help thee” (xx.
22).

“He who closeth his ear because of the crying of the [101]poor, he also will
call and will not be answered” (xxi. 13).

“He who keepeth a command, keepeth his soul; he who despiseth his
ways shall die” (xix. 16).

“When the Lord is pleased with the ways of man, he will cause even his
enemies to make peace with him” (xvi. 7).

“The Lord will not let the soul of the righteous be hungry, but the desire of
the wicked will he thrust back” (x. 3).

He knows the heart of man:—

“There is a test for silver, and a refining pot for gold; but God trieth the
hearts” (xvii. 3).

He directs all events:—

“Man’s heart planneth his way, but the Lord directeth his step” (xvi. 9).
 “The horse is prepared for the day of war, but the victory is the Lord’s” (xxi.
31).

His blessing is a true blessing:—

“The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and doth not increase trouble
with it” (x. 22).

His Will alone must be obeyed:—

“There is no wisdom, and no understanding, and no counsel against the

Lord” (xxi. 30).

“Whoso despiseth a word will be punished, but he who feareth a

commandment will be rewarded” (xiii. 13).

“Without a vision the people cometh into disorder; but he who keepeth the
Law, happy is he” (xxix. 18).

[102]

The fear of the Lord is the basis of a virtuous and happy life:—

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (i. 7); the fountain of
life (xiv. 27); the fear of the Lord adds days, but the years of the wicked
will be short” (x. 27).

According as we display wisdom or folly we make others and

ourselves happy or unhappy:—

“A wise son giveth joy to his father, and a foolish son is the sorrow of his
mother” (x. 1).

“The wisdom of woman buildeth her house, and folly pulleth it down by her
hands” (xiv. 1).
 “Eat, my son, honey, for it is good, and honeycomb, which is sweet for thy
palate; know that thus is wisdom for thy soul; if thou hast found it, there is
a future, and thy hope will not be cut off” (xxiv. 13, 14).

“The prudent seeth evil, and is hidden; the ignorant pass by, and are
punished” (xxvii. 12).

“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman without

discretion” (xi. 22).

“The simple believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his
going” (xiv. 15).

The ways of wisdom and folly are frequently displayed in our words:
—

“In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he who spareth his
words acts wisely” (x. 19).

“A soft answer turneth back wrath, but a harsh word raiseth anger” (xv. 1).

“Also a fool when silent is considered wise; he who closeth his lips is
prudent” (xvii. 28). [103]

“He who keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from
troubles” (xxi. 23).

“By long-suffering the prince is persuaded; and a soft tongue breaketh a

bone” (xxv. 15).

“Answer not a fool like his folly, lest thou be equal to him. Answer a fool
according to his folly, lest he be wise in his eyes” (xxvi. 4, 5).

The principal virtues recommended to man are righteousness

(‫‏צדקה‬‎), honesty (‫‏אמונה‬‎), truthfulness (‫‏אמת‬‎), meekness (‫‏ענוה‬‎),
industry, thrift, temperance, contentment, and moderation:—

“Treasures of wickedness are of no profit, but righteousness delivereth

from death” (x. 2).
“Better a little in the fear of the Lord than a large treasure, and confusion
therewith” (xv. 16).

“The righteousness of the upright maketh his way straight, but the wicked
falleth by his wickedness” (xi. 5).

“The remembrance of the righteous is for blessing; but the name of the
wicked will rot” (x. 7).

“Guilt is the interpreter of fools, but favour that of the straightforward” (xiv.
9).

“To do justice is joy to the righteous, and a terror to evil-doers” (xxi. 15).

“Like a fountain made turbid and a well that is corrupted, is the righteous
that yieldeth in the presence of the wicked” (xxv. 26).

“Where a man of honesty is, there is multitude of blessings; but he who

hasteneth to become rich will not be guiltless” (xxviii. 20).

“The lip of truth will be established for ever, but the tongue of falsehood for
a moment” (xii. 19).

“A witness of faithfulness is he who does not lie, [104]but he who uttereth

falsehood is a false witness” (xiv. 5). 7

“A lip of excellency becometh not a low man; how much less doth a lip of
falsehood a noble man!” (xvii. 7).

“Pride came, and shame came; but with the meek is wisdom” (xi. 2).

“Meekness cometh before honour” (xv. 33). “Pride cometh before the fall,
and haughtiness of spirit before the stumbling” (xvi. 18). “Let another
praise thee, and not thy mouth; a stranger, and not thy lips” (xxvii. 2).

“He is poor who worketh with a slack hand, but the hand of the industrious
maketh rich” (x. 4).

“Better is he who thinketh little of himself, and is a slave to himself, than

he who thinketh much of himself and lacketh bread” (xii. 9).

“The hand of the industrious shall rule, but the slack hand shall be
tributary” (xii. 24).