06.18. The Titles of the Psalms
Chapter 17 The Titles of the Psalms The larger number of the Psalms, more than two thirds of them indeed, have titles affixed, which are regarded by some as part of the inspired text and possessing the same authority. Among those who question this, it is nevertheless admitted that the title in every case records a tradition about the psalm of more or less historical value, as affording a clue to the time and occasion of its composition. There are certain features about these titles, too, which point to their very early origin, although until recently scholars have been altogether baffled about their meaning.
During the past year, however, a book has appeared by James William Thirtle (London), on The Titles of the Psalms, which is not only throwing light upon the subject, but in so doing contributing as well to the traditional view of their antiquity and sustaining the question of their genuineness in that sense. The remainder of this chapter is a quotation from a review of Mr. Thirtle’s book in the Tablet (London) (December 1904). setting forth the whole matter very concisely and perspicuously, the timely value of which is the only apology necessary for its transcription:-- The idea which Mr. Thirtle now brings before the public is suggested in the first place by the psalm found in Habakkuk 3:1, which opens with the words: ‘A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth,’ and ends with: ‘To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.’ The possibility of misplacement among the titles in the Psalter occurred to the author. The psalms having been anciently written in continuo, it was difficult to know what belonged to a foregoing psalm and what to a following psalm when in later times divisions were made. After examination, Mr. Thirtle comes to the result that a distinction must be made between the musical and the literary or historical titles found in the Psalter. As in Habakkuk historical and literary notices precede the psalm, the musical titles are added as a subscript at the end of the psalm. A redistribution of these musical titles shows in many cases a clear connection between the titles and the contents of the psalms which precede them, where none whatever exists between them and the psalms which follow, and throws much new light upon the meaning of those obscure terms which have been so long discussed with so little result. As an example we may notice the title which occurs at the head of Psalms 56:1-13, ‘For the chief musician: set to Jonath elem rehokim. A Psalm of David: Michtam: when the Philistines took him in Gath.’ The translation of ‘Jonath elem rehokim’ is given generally as ‘The dove of the distant terebinths,’ or something similar. There is nothing in the psalm over which it stands to suggest an explanation. When according to Mr. Thirtle’s disposition of the titles it is brought into connection with the preceding Psalms 55:6-8 at once offer an interpretation. ‘Oh that I had wings like a dove: etc.,’ and suggest the idea that these words are a pictorial title, founded on verses Psalms 55:6-8.
Other titles, thus arranged, get a meaning in accordance with the etymology suggested by the Septuagint, much to be preferred to the fanciful explanations of later times. Thus Gittith, so often explained as a musical instrument, is again brought forward with the meaning of ‘winepresses.’ When the psalms which bear this subscript title are examined the conclusion is reached that these psalms were used at the feast of tabernacles, and that ‘winepresses’ is a term used to designate this autumn festival.
“Thus in association with their proper psalms, these titles serve a purpose. According to the author they mark: ‘(1) the reasons for which psalms were used in public worship; (2) commemorations, and other special purposes for which psalms were selected; (3) choirs to which certain psalms were particularly assigned; (4) the topical description of psalms which easily lent themselves to such treatment.’
Such a work as the above must necessarily be tentative and suggestive, rather than fully demonstrative, yet in the 174 pages which comprise the first part of the book, there is much food for thought, and whatever opinion experts may come to in the future regarding the details of the theory, it seems clear that the main point, i.e., the rearrangement of the musical titles, not merely invites but demands consideration.
Other conclusions which seem to follow from the main question are briefly referred to. The most interesting is ‘the age of the Psalter.’ If the traditional use of these terms had been lost before the time of the Septuagint, as is evident from the disordered state in which they are presented even at that age, it follows at once that these titles must be very old. And if the liturgical notices attached to the psalms are so ancient, what of the psalms themselves? In the midst of the Greek or Macedonian period of Israel’s history, from the death of Alexander the Great till the time of the Maccabees, the psalms were misunderstood as to their shape, and important features of the worship of the old days were utterly beyond recall. The best that could be done in translating the Psalter into the world-language of the age was faulty and misleading where context failed, and the analogy of common things had nothing to say. If this was the condition of things from 323 to 146 B.C. if then the psalms as a collection had features that baffled the translators, how can it be supposed that the Maccabean period, say the generation of 160 to 130 B.C. should account for important contributions to the Psalter (p. 155)? So the movement is ever backward, to the days of David and his band of singers, of whom the Chronicler speaks, and some of whom are named as authors of the psalms.