He subdueth peoples under us,And nations under our feet.
He subdueth peoples under us,
And nations under our feet.
Indeed according to Psalm149it means the most complete and vindictive vengeance of Israel upon the nations (verses 6-9). However, in hymns broader and more generous of conception it means the establishment of a reign of righteousness and peace over all the earth, for which not only the peoples but the physical world itself will rejoice. The world is to be established so that it can not be moved. The earth will give her increase. Yahwe will bless his people and the very ends of the earth will fear him (Psalms96:13;98:9,67;82).
Unique in the group of eschatological hymns is Psalm82. It has no call to praise, no summons to the Israelites, nor to the nations, nor to the physical universe, to rejoice at God’s appearing; it does not even announce that God has become king. What it does is to single out from all the momentous events of God’s final victory on earth one scene, but the description of that one scene is of itself such as to kindle hymnal enthusiasm and to give the psalm the atmosphere and character of a hymn.
God takes his place as judge in the council of the gods (verse 1). He arraigns the gods for their protection of the wicked, and exhorts them to do justice to the poor and the fatherless, and to rescue them from their oppressors. He realizes, however (verse 5), that appeal to these judges is hopeless. They are without understanding and in darkness, while the very moral foundations of the world tremble. Therefore God pronounces final judgment upon the judges. They had been given the status of gods but now they are to die like men (verses 6, 7).This pronouncement, implying as it does that God will now himself give justice to the earth, calls forth the petition of verse 8:
Arise O God, judge the earth,For thou shalt inherit all nations.
Arise O God, judge the earth,
For thou shalt inherit all nations.
Despite this anticipatory petition at the close, Psalm82is essentially a positive announcement of God’s triumph, and calling forth as it does hymnal enthusiasm, is itself essentially a hymn.
Similarly Psalm2must be assigned to the group of eschatological hymns. Here again there is no call to praise, no summoning of the nations to welcome God’s appearing, no proclamation that Yahwe has become king over all the earth. Like Psalm82this psalm also selects and describes a single situation out of the many that go to make up Yahwe’s final establishment of his kingdom upon earth. It is presupposed in the psalm that Yahwe has already proclaimed his sovereignty over the earth and established his own anointed king upon the throne of the world in Jerusalem. But (verses 1-3) the nations of the world are plotting rebellion against Yahwe and against his anointed king. Their rebellion (verses 4-6) simply provokes Yahwe to derisive laughter. Over against their impotence he simply reaffirms his inflexible decision:
As for me I have set my kingUpon my holy hill of Zion.
As for me I have set my king
Upon my holy hill of Zion.
Then the king takes up the word (verses 7-9) and announces the divine decree. Yahwe had formally adopted him as son, and had given to him the kingdoms of the earth with power over them to break them in pieces. The king has spoken. Another voice makes the practical application (verses 10-12) and warns the kings and the rulers of the earth to make their humble peace with Yahwe, and with his anointed, before his wrath is fully aroused.
The abode of the hymns already discussed was the sanctuary and their place was in sanctuary worship, but there is a group of hymns, the real background of which was Nature’s great out of doors. These hymns include Psalms29;19:1-5b;19:5c-7;104; and8. Of these Psalm29resembles most closely in its literary form the standard hymns. It has the call to praise, the body of the hymn setting forth the greatness of Yahwe; and it has a conclusion, though the conclusion is not a renewed summons to exalt the deity. The hymn as a whole expresses the reaction of the psalmist to a thunder and lightning storm. He watches it rise in the Lebanon mountains in the North, and follows it with his eye and ear and imagination until it loses itself in the desert of Kadesh. He observes the forked lightning (verse 7) but is vastly more impressed by the thunder to which he attributes the destructive power of the storm. The significant fact is that the storm does not create in the psalmist fear, but moves him to adoration of his great God, and to renewed faith and confidence. The introductory call to praise (verses 1-2) summons the gods above to worship Yahwe and to ascribe to him glory and strength. The body of the hymn celebrates the thunder, “The Voice of Yahwe,” somewhat asPsalm 19:8-10celebrates: “The Law of Yahwe.” Verse 9c: “But in his temple every one saith Glory” forms a transition to the conclusion in verses 9-10, which remembers that the God of the thunder storm was also the God of the flood, the eternal king, who because of his eternal existence and his great power can give strength and peace to his people.
Psalm19contains two short nature hymns or more probably two fragments of hymns. The firstPsalm 19:1-5bseems to be a hymn of the night. It does not call upon the heavens to praise God, as the typical hymn would do, but simply announces that the heavens do declare God’s glory. This they do without language or words or sounds over all the earth, ceaselessly declaring his glory from day to day, from night to night, from age to age.Psalm 19:5c-7has no introductorynor concluding call to praise, and the few lines that we have, effective though they are, are probably only a fraction of the body of the original hymn. Moreover the original was undoubtedly a hymn to Shamash the Assyrian Sun God. The Assyrians watched with reverent eye the Sun God’s glorious journey across the heavens. They knew also of his wearisome return in the underworld from West to East, and they were glad to think of the bride and the repast awaiting him in his tent on the edge of the heavenly ocean. The Hebrew like the Assyrian had great admiration for the illuminating rays and the fervent heat of the sun, but he would go no further than to compare the sun to a bridegroom, and a strong man. It does seem strange that the psalmist has retained in verse 4c the sun’s tent: “For the sun he hath set a tent in the sea,” but even so it is Yahwe who has placed the tent there, even as it is Yahwe who has placed the sun in the heavens. The Hebrew who used this fragment of a poem saw God’s glory revealed in the progress of the sun across the sky by day, even as he saw that glory revealed in the star studded heavens by night.
Psalm104differs from the standard Hebrew hymns of praise in two respects. It is addressed in considerable part directly to Deity in the second person, while the standard Hebrew hymn regularly uses the third person. Also it has a petition at its close, which the standard hymn has not. In these two respects Psalm104resembles a prayer. However the petition is very brief, formal, almost incidental; it can scarcely be said to grow out of the psalm, and certainly the hymnal portion (verses 1-34) can not be regarded as introductory to it. Psalm104is also remarkable among Hebrew hymns for its length, as a hymn devoted exclusively to the activity of God in nature. Of the other nature hymns in the Psalter,Psalm 19:1-5bandPsalm 19:5c-7are mere fragments, and Psalms8and29are relatively short, but Psalm104contains seventy-nine lines of which the first seventy-one are dominated by the theme:
How manifold are thy works, O Yahwe!All of them in wisdom thou hast made.—Verse 24.
How manifold are thy works, O Yahwe!
All of them in wisdom thou hast made.
—Verse 24.
As it stands in the text Psalm104has a hymnal introduction andconclusion. The brief introduction may indeed be a liturgical addition. In it the psalmist calls upon himself to praise Yahwe: “Bless my soul Yahwe.” The conclusion is longer and expresses the psalmist’s life long devotion to his God:
I will sing to Yahwe while I live;I will sing praises to my God so long as I exist.May my meditation be pleasing to him;As for me I rejoice in Yahwe.
I will sing to Yahwe while I live;
I will sing praises to my God so long as I exist.
May my meditation be pleasing to him;
As for me I rejoice in Yahwe.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bless my soul YahwePraise ye Yahwe.Verses 33, 34, 35cd.
Bless my soul Yahwe
Praise ye Yahwe.
Verses 33, 34, 35cd.
Again it may be noted that the petition in verse 35ab: “Let sinners be consumed, out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more,” has no real organic connection with the hymn, and certainly the concluding “Hallelujah” may well be an addition.
The analysis of the body of the hymn is clear. Verses 1-4 praise the God of heaven; verses 5-9, the God of creation; verses 10-18, the God of the earth, the domestic animals, and man; verses 19-21, the God of the night; verses 22-24, the God of the day; verses 25-26, the God of the sea; verses 27-30, the God who giveth life to everything that liveth. The body of the hymn then culminates in the pious wish that Yahwe’s glory may endure forever and that the mighty God may rejoice in his works, even he who causes the earthquake and the volcanic eruption. Here also comes the petition, but a petition has really no place in a genuine Hebrew hymn of praise.
It is clear that Psalm104is predominatingly and essentially a hymn of praise. Yet it has in its use of the second person; in the presence of the petition; and perhaps also in its length, since it is a nature hymn, features that seem unhebraic. It is perhaps also significant that its close resemblance to the famous Egyptian hymn of Pharaoh Iknaton has often been observed. We have, it would seem, in Psalm104a very probable example of the influence of foreign literature, Egyptian, Assyrian, or both.
Psalm8might be considered an impressionistic soliloquy of the starry night, were it not dominated by the thought of God, and addressed directly to God. It begins with an exclamation for the psalmistis overwhelmingly impressed with the realization of the glory of God:
Yahwe our God,How sublime is thy name in all the earth,Thou who hast placed thy glory upon the heavens.—Verse 2.
Yahwe our God,
How sublime is thy name in all the earth,
Thou who hast placed thy glory upon the heavens.
—Verse 2.
Yet how strange that the great God of the universe should have revealed himself to the weak children of Israel. It is assuredly the knowledge of God as the creator of the heavens that is to overcome arrogant rebellion against God, such rebellion as actually prevails in the psalmist’s world. May it not be true that the great God hath chosen through the testimony of the humble to confound the mighty:
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou has established strengthTo bring to silence the enemy and the rebel.
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou has established strength
To bring to silence the enemy and the rebel.
But how marvelous this condescension of God to stoop to man in his weakness, and then what a marvelous place God has given man in the universe! The psalmist feels first the insignificance of man:
As I look at thy heavens, the fine workmanship of thy fingers,The moon and the stars which thou hast shaped,What is man that thou should’st remember him?Even the son of man that thou should’st care for him?—Verses 4-5.
As I look at thy heavens, the fine workmanship of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars which thou hast shaped,
What is man that thou should’st remember him?
Even the son of man that thou should’st care for him?
—Verses 4-5.
Then, however, he pays tribute to the place that God has given man:
Yet thou hast made him but a little lower than God,And crownest him with glory and honor,Thou causest him to rule over the works of thy hands;Everything hast thou placed beneath his feet,Sheep and oxen all of them,And also the beasts of the field,The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,That which passeth on the paths of the sea.—Verses 6-9.
Yet thou hast made him but a little lower than God,
And crownest him with glory and honor,
Thou causest him to rule over the works of thy hands;
Everything hast thou placed beneath his feet,
Sheep and oxen all of them,
And also the beasts of the field,
The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
That which passeth on the paths of the sea.
—Verses 6-9.
And now in recognition both of the glory of God revealed in the heavens and also of the goodness of God to man, the psalmist again exclaims out of the fullness of his heart:
Yahwe our lord,How sublime is thy name in all the earth.
Yahwe our lord,
How sublime is thy name in all the earth.
Psalm8takes a unique position among the Old Testament hymns of praise. It is addressed altogether in the second person to Yahwe, and to that extent takes on the form and nature of a prayer. But it has no suggestion of a petition, nor does it make any definite effort to express gratitude. It has something of the reflective attitude, as it seems to ponder over man’s place in the universe, but it is assuredly not a teaching nor a wisdom psalm. It has been maintained by some scholars that the first two and last two lines were meant to be sung by a chorus, while the body of the hymn is a solo. However, it is more natural to suppose that in the use of the plural, “YahweourLord,” the psalmist is simply recognizing himself as one of the many followers of Yahwe, rather than that a choir is singing. The truth is that the psalm is intensely individualistic and dominated from beginning to end by the feeling of adoration for Yahwe, the Hebrews’ God and only God, whose name is glorious in all the earth. It is a hymn of praise, but one that stands apart because of the originality and beauty of its literary form, and the sincerity and profundity of the spiritual experience that inspired it.
But there were in Hebrew religious poesie not only hymns in praise of deity, but also hymns in praise of sacred institutions. Especially prominent were hymns in praise of the sanctuary. Naturally however, only those that were written in praise of the temple in Jerusalem, or could be so interpreted had a chance for survival, and of those we have in the Psalter only84,122,48, and87.
It is best to begin with Psalm84, for it represents a transition stage between the psalm of lamentation and petition and the hymn of praise. In great part Psalm84is addressed in the second person to deity, and it actually has, in verses 9, 10, a petition for Yahwe’s favor. The request in these verses is not explicit, yet the context, especially verses 3 and 11, makes it clear that our psalmist, like the author of Psalms42-43, earnestly desires the privilege of worshipping in the temple. Moreover the petition of verses 9, 10 is reinforced by a profession of devotion in verses 11-13 that corresponds to the affirmation of faith, so characteristic a feature of the prayer of supplication. In so far this psalm is also itself a psalm of lamentation and supplication. On the other hand verses 2-8 are essentially an expression of devotion to the temple:
How lovely is thy dwelling,O Yahwe of hosts!Longeth, yea fainteth my soulFor the courts of Yahwe;My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God.—Verses 2-3.
How lovely is thy dwelling,
O Yahwe of hosts!
Longeth, yea fainteth my soul
For the courts of Yahwe;
My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God.
—Verses 2-3.
He envies the birds which nest in the temple (verse 4), the priests who are continually in the sanctuary praising God, and the men who, by God’s favor, are privileged to pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to pass from rampart to rampart, and to behold God in Zion. Psalm84therefore deserves to be grouped with the hymns in praise of the temple.
As Psalm84has kinship with the psalms of lamentation and supplication,so Psalm122has a certain kinship with the psalms of faith. In the latter the psalmist has a joyous confidence in Yahwe, in this psalm he has great joy in the temple and the holy city. Verses 1 and 2 affirm his joy in the temple, and his positive intention of attending in company with others the great festivals:
I am glad whenever they say unto me,Let us go to the house of Yahwe.Our feet shall assuredly standWithin thy gates O Jerusalem.
I am glad whenever they say unto me,
Let us go to the house of Yahwe.
Our feet shall assuredly stand
Within thy gates O Jerusalem.
Then follows, in verses 3-5, his praise of Jerusalem the city of David:
Jerusalem that is builtAs a city compact and solid,Whither go up Yahwe’s tribes.A law is it for Israel to give thanks to Yahwe’s name,For there abide the thrones of justice,The thrones of the house of David.
Jerusalem that is built
As a city compact and solid,
Whither go up Yahwe’s tribes.
A law is it for Israel to give thanks to Yahwe’s name,
For there abide the thrones of justice,
The thrones of the house of David.
Having thus praised the city, the psalmist exhorts others to pray for it:
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,May thy dwellings prosper,May peace be within thy walls,Prosperity in thy palaces.—Verses 6, 7.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,
May thy dwellings prosper,
May peace be within thy walls,
Prosperity in thy palaces.
—Verses 6, 7.
The psalm then closes with his personal protestation of devotion to the city:
For the sake of my brethren and companionsI will say: “Peace be in Thee.”For the sake of the house of Yahwe our GodI will seek thy good.—Verses 8-9.
For the sake of my brethren and companions
I will say: “Peace be in Thee.”
For the sake of the house of Yahwe our God
I will seek thy good.
—Verses 8-9.
It has been said above that this psalm has some similarity to the psalms of faith. It is possible that it also, in verses 6-9, reflects the influence of prophetic style. But, since the spirit that animates it is one of enthusiasm for the holy city, it is best classed among the hymns of praise.
Psalm48is also, in a sense, a transition hymn, for it praises, not God alone, but both God and the city in which he dwells. Verse 2 praises Yahwe, and verse 3 the city:
Great is Yahwe and to be praised exceedinglyIn the city of our God on his holy mountain.Beautiful for situation, the joy of all the earth,Is Mount Zion, on the Northern slope,The city of the great King.
Great is Yahwe and to be praised exceedingly
In the city of our God on his holy mountain.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of all the earth,
Is Mount Zion, on the Northern slope,
The city of the great King.
Then verses 4-8 record the city’s chief glory, that Yahwe has been in its midst, its mighty defender against its foes:
God is known in her palaces as a defense:For lo, kings assembled;They invaded her together;They saw, so they marveled;They were troubled, they fled.Fear seized them there,As pain seizes a woman in travail,While thou didst shatter them,As an east wind the great merchantmen.
God is known in her palaces as a defense:
For lo, kings assembled;
They invaded her together;
They saw, so they marveled;
They were troubled, they fled.
Fear seized them there,
As pain seizes a woman in travail,
While thou didst shatter them,
As an east wind the great merchantmen.
Our psalmist and his associates are obviously pilgrims to Jerusalem. They had previously heard of such events as the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib; they have now seen with their own eyes the sacred sites which testify to such deliverances. They have meditated on Yahwe’s goodness in the holy temple, and are certain of his universal fame. Therefore, they can bid Zion and the towns of Judah rejoice in their God:
As we have heard, so have we seenIn the city of Yahwe of hosts, in the city of our God.God will establish it forever.We have thought O God of thy loving kindnessIn the midst of thy temple.As thy name O God,So is thy praise unto the ends of the earth.Victories fill thy right hand.Let Mount Zion rejoice,Let the towns of Judah be gladBecause of thy deliverances.
As we have heard, so have we seen
In the city of Yahwe of hosts, in the city of our God.
God will establish it forever.
We have thought O God of thy loving kindness
In the midst of thy temple.
As thy name O God,
So is thy praise unto the ends of the earth.
Victories fill thy right hand.
Let Mount Zion rejoice,
Let the towns of Judah be glad
Because of thy deliverances.
It is evident that the closing verses (13-15) must have been spoken in Jerusalem, and it is perhaps equally clear that they must have been spoken, not by the pilgrims to residents of Jerusalem, but rather by residents of Jerusalem, probably the temple choir to the pilgrims, exhorting them to make their final procession around the city, thatthey may know it and be able to tell the story of the city to the oncoming generation, and so inspire in them reverence and loyalty for the God of their fathers:
Walk about Zion and go round her:Count up her towers;Give heed to her ramparts;Consider her palaces,That you may tell it to the coming generation,For this God is our God forever and ever;He will be our guide even unto death.
Walk about Zion and go round her:
Count up her towers;
Give heed to her ramparts;
Consider her palaces,
That you may tell it to the coming generation,
For this God is our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide even unto death.
But if verses 9-12 were spoken by the pilgrims, and verses 13-15 by the temple choir, then it is probable that likewise verses 2-4 were spoken by the pilgrims, and verses 5-8 by the temple choir. Thus Psalm48may be considered a liturgical hymn of praise, rendered in the temple on one of the great religious festivals that brought the pilgrims of the diaspora to the holy city.
Psalm87is a hymn devoted entirely to the praise of the temple and the holy city. Unfortunately the text is in disorder. Probably verse 5b should be brought back to verse 1, and then the introductory verses 1-3 would read:
Its foundation is in the holy mountains,And the Most High doth sustain her.Yahwe loveth the gates of ZionMore than all the dwellings of Jacob.Glorious things he speaketh concerning thee,O city of God.
Its foundation is in the holy mountains,
And the Most High doth sustain her.
Yahwe loveth the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things he speaketh concerning thee,
O city of God.
The rest of the psalm is exceedingly difficult. Verse 3 leads us to expect a divine pronouncement regarding Zion’s future glory. In that day Egypt and Babylon, Philistia and Tyre, together with far distant Ethiopia, will recognize it as a distinction to be a Hebrew. Verses 4 and 5 perhaps read:
I will cause Egypt and Babylon to remember thy children,Behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia,They shall say of Zion, “This one and that one was born in her.”
I will cause Egypt and Babylon to remember thy children,
Behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia,
They shall say of Zion, “This one and that one was born in her.”
Then the psalmist informs us (verses 6, 7) that Yahwe himself will count up the scattered Jews of the diaspora, and they in turn in that great day will be proudly mindful of the mother city:
Yahwe will count them in the midst of the peoplesThis one and that one was born there;And princes as common people will sayWe shall all make our home in thee.
Yahwe will count them in the midst of the peoples
This one and that one was born there;
And princes as common people will say
We shall all make our home in thee.
Two psalms,119and19:8-15, are in praise of the Jewish law. Since Psalm119is an alphabetical psalm, each successive eight lines beginning with the twenty-two successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, its one hundred seventy-six lines are necessarily a very mechanical and mediocre production. Psalm19:8-15, on the other hand, is a much finer piece of craftsmanship. The first six lines (verses 8-10) which are strikingly uniform in style, draw attention to six complementary virtues of the law. Then four lines (verses 11-12) express in general terms the joy that is to be found in knowledge of the law and the practical benefit to be derived from obedience to it. Verses 13 and 14 present his humble petition that he be delivered from violating the law unwittingly or presumptuously, while verse 15 dedicates the hymn so carefully written, not to any princely patron but to Yahwe, his strength and redeemer.
Another little group of hymns deals with the king, who as the anointed of Yahwe was also a sacred institution. From a modern standpoint however Psalm45is purely secular in character, celebrating as it does the king’s wedding day. Verse 2 is introductory in which the author announces himself as a clever poet. Verses 3-10 are in characteristically extravagant praise of the king. Verses 11-16 are devoted to the bride, while verse 17 makes tactful and appropriate reference to the princes yet to be born. Verse 18 concluding the poem, makes the naïvely modest promise that the pen of the poet will guarantee immortal fame to the king.
Psalm101is likewise secular, for it is evidently a king’s proclamation. As such it may have been used in the coronation service in the temple, and so preserved in the sanctuary song book. Quite naturally, as is always to be expected, the king promises to walk uprightly in his own private life, to choose wise counsellors, to turn a deaf ear to slanderers, to give protection to honest men, and to suppress the wicked.
Psalm72might likewise be fitted into the coronation service, being then the prayer offered for a just and successful reign. This would mean translating the successive sentences of the psalm from verse 1to verse 11 and from verse 15 to verse 17 as petitions. Thus verse 2 would be translated:
May he judge thy people with righteousnessAnd thy poor with justice,
May he judge thy people with righteousness
And thy poor with justice,
and the other verses correspondingly, and the psalm would accordingly be classed as a prayer of supplication. On the other hand if the successive sentences, with the necessary exception of verse 1 are to be regarded as predictions of a glorious reign, then the psalm is to be regarded as a hymn in praise of the Messiah, or possibly of an ordinary king who has just ascended the throne.
Psalm110and Psalm2are clearly hymns in praise of the king. Psalm110brings to the king in verse 1 the oracle of Yahwe:
Oracle of Yahwe to my lord, sit on my right handUntil I make thy enemies my footstool.
Oracle of Yahwe to my lord, sit on my right hand
Until I make thy enemies my footstool.
Then in verses 2-7 the priest supplements this oracle with his assurance of Yahwe’s effective support, and the king’s great triumph over all his enemies. The imagery describing Yahwe’s activity belongs to eschatology, and we undoubtedly have here an eschatological hymn in praise of the king.
Psalm2is likewise an eschatological hymn, dealing with that same feature of the last days as Psalm110, and the last futile rebellion of the nations against the will of Yahwe and Yahwe’s king. In verses 1-3 some one, perhaps a layman, asks why the nations are so foolish as to rebel against Yahwe:
Why do the nations rage,And the peoples plan a mad thing?The kings of the earth take their stand,And princes plot togetherAgainst Yahwe and against his anointed:“Let us break their bandsAnd cast from us their cords.”
Why do the nations rage,
And the peoples plan a mad thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand,
And princes plot together
Against Yahwe and against his anointed:
“Let us break their bands
And cast from us their cords.”
Then in verses 4-5 a priest, one who knows the plan of God, gives answer:
He that sitteth in the heavens laugheth;The lord is scornful of them.Presently he will speak to them in his anger,And terrify them in his rage:“I, on my part, have set my kingUpon Zion, my holy hill.”
He that sitteth in the heavens laugheth;
The lord is scornful of them.
Presently he will speak to them in his anger,
And terrify them in his rage:
“I, on my part, have set my king
Upon Zion, my holy hill.”
And now it is for the king himself to add a final authoritative word concerning Yahwe’s plan, for to the king himself Yahwe had actually spoken:
I will declare the decree;Yahwe said to me: “You are my son;”I this day have adopted you.Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,And the entire earth your possession.You can beat them with an iron rod;You can break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
I will declare the decree;
Yahwe said to me: “You are my son;”
I this day have adopted you.
Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
And the entire earth your possession.
You can beat them with an iron rod;
You can break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Yahwe’s decree, bestowing such power over the nations upon Israel’s king, having thus been made known, it only remained to advise the nations to make humble submission to Yahwe and to Yahwe’s representative upon the throne in Zion:
And now, O kings, be prudent;Take warning, ye judges of the earth.Worship Yahwe with reverence,Submit to him with trembling.Do homage to the son, lest he be angry and ye perish,For his anger is quickly kindled.Happy are all who secure his protection.
And now, O kings, be prudent;
Take warning, ye judges of the earth.
Worship Yahwe with reverence,
Submit to him with trembling.
Do homage to the son, lest he be angry and ye perish,
For his anger is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who secure his protection.
Here again, as in Psalm110, because of the prominence of the king in this dramatic setting forth of one of the important features of the last days, Psalm2must be classed as an eschatological hymn in praise of the king.
As in the case of the Hebrew hymns of praise, so also it is right to attempt to see the Assyrian hymns in relation to the whole body of Assyrian religious poetry. Assyrian communities and Assyrian individuals inevitably had their afflictions, and like their kinsmen the Hebrews they called out unto deity in their distresses in prayers of lamentation and supplication. They experienced also on various occasions what they believed to be deliverances out of their troubles, and when they could attribute those deliverances to the aid of deity, they felt gratitude and expressed their gratitude by sacrifices and thanksgiving to the gods. Furthermore the Assyrians felt adoration for deity, trusted in deity, reflected upon the will of deity and the secret of the prosperous life, and like their kinsmen the Hebrews they strove to express their ideas and their emotions in poetry. Accordingly we have in Assyrian religious poetry much that corresponds to what is found in the Old Testament psalter.
However, one striking difference between Hebrew and Assyrian religious poetry confronts us at the very outset. The Hebrew poetry is concerned with the one god Yahwe, while Assyrian poetry has to do with many gods, Shamash, Sin, Nebo, Ninib, Nergal, Adad, Nusku, Bel, Marduk, and others. This might seem to make it very difficult, if not impossible, to form any unified conception of Assyrian religion, or to make any satisfactory comparison between the psalms of Assyrian and Israel. But from the beginning there were many points of similarity between the Assyrian gods of the various city states, who frequently bore, to be sure, different names, but who represented or were associated with the same objects or forces in nature. Furthermore the growth of political unity in Mesopotamia was accompanied there, as it has been elsewhere, by a growth in religious unity. As one city gained authority over other cities, its god not only acquired greater prestige, but he also extended his authority in greater or lesser measure over the conquered cities and over the gods of thosecities. Moreover he tended to take to himself the chief prerogatives and attributes of the conquered deities. With the growth and organization of empire there developed, in the exaltation of one god to a supreme place, a tendency toward monotheism; and with the inevitable interchange of religious ideas a gradually increasing similarity in the attributes and prerogatives of the chief gods. Especially is it to be recognized that hymnal enthusiasm tends to blot out for the time the consciousness of other deities, and to exalt in wisdom and power and goodness the deity which is being worshipped, so that for the moment the attitude of the worshipper may be practically that of a monotheist. Accordingly the many names for deity have relatively little significance; they offer no serious obstacle to the student who would compare the religious ideas and experiences of Mesopotamia with the religious ideas and experiences of Israel.
Here again, however, it must be borne in mind that the literature of Assyria which has survived is only a small fraction of that which once existed, and what we now have owes its survival in part, to be sure to merit, but in part also to mere chance. Nevertheless sufficient literature exists to justify two general observations. The first is this, that the closest correspondence between Assyrian and Hebrew religious poetry is to be found in the psalms of lamentation and supplication, which represent and express only the lowest level of religious experience in the Hebrew psalms. The second general observation is that while Hebrew religious poetry develops, and clearly differentiates into independent literary species, the Assyrian religious poetry does not achieve so full a development, nor so clear a differentiation. The one explanation of this fact would seem to be that Assyrian religion did not go so far in emancipating itself from superstition and formalism, and in achieving a lofty conception of deity and a profound religious experience. Certain it is that Assyria did not develop to the same degree as did Israel the independent prayer of thanksgiving, the independent psalm of faith, the independent wisdom psalm, nor the independent hymn of praise.
The number of Assyrian hymns copied, transliterated, and translated by Assyriologists, is between sixty and seventy. The number can not be definitely fixed, since many texts are but mere fragments because of the breaking and marring of the clay tablets. The factthat so many hymnal compositions are incomplete necessarily makes the task of interpreting the individual hymns and of arriving at well founded general conclusions much more difficult. The sixty odd hymns, it may be of interest now to note, are distributed among the Assyrian deities as follows: Marduk 14, Nergal 8, Shamash 7, Ninib 7, Ishtar 6, Sin 5, Adad and Nusku 3 each, Nebo, Bel, and Belit two each, Enlil, Asshur, Sarpanitum, Damkina one each.
Perhaps the most important general fact about the Assyrian hymns is that the great majority of them are addressed directly to the deity in the second person, which is the usage of prayer. Moreover a very large proportion of these can not be called independent literary compositions, since they are followed by, and are introductory to, prayers, or magical ceremonies, or the offering of sacrifices. In some cases the prayer is much longer than the hymn, while in others the prayer shrinks to a very brief petition, couched in general terms. This has occasioned much confusion of terminology, some calling a poem a hymn, others naming it a prayer. It is necessary therefore at this point to attempt to distinguish clearly between the hymn and the prayer.
The purpose of the hymn is to praise the deity and the emotion behind the hymn is enthusiasm for the great and glorious god; for his power, for his wisdom, for his great achievements. The genuine hymn, accordingly, is objective rather than subjective. The prayer, on the other hand, is concerned with the relationship of worshipper and deity. The worshipper is in trouble and looks to the deity for forgiveness, or prosperous and turns to the deity with gratitude. The prayer is accordingly subjective rather than objective. In the hymn, the deity is prominent; in the prayer the worshipper. Prayers are most naturally addressed to the deity in the second person, while the hymn, in which the worshipper recedes into the background and the thought is of God alone, would more naturally employ the third person. Since then these Assyrian hymns are in the second person, which is the usage of prayer, and since the vast majority of these hymns are actually followed by prayers, it is best to begin with the hymns which are clearly only hymnal introductions to prayers, and then to pass by way of those, in which the petition is secondary and unimportant, to that which approaches the genuine independent hymn. It seems atleast possible that the Assyrian hymn is an evolution from the hymnal introduction of the prayers.
Beginning then with class I of Assyrian hymns, the hymnal introductions to prayers, it is to be further observed, that these prayers are temple prayers. Marduk No. 9 has fourteen lines of directions for the performance of certain ceremonies, after which the priest is instructed to take the hand of the sick man and repeat the psalm, of which lines 17 to 44 are the hymnal portion, and 45 to 94 the prayer proper. So also Marduk No. 12 states in lines 1 to 5 of the text that the Urugallu priest is to arise in the first hour of the night on the second day of Nisan, wash in river water, put on a linen garment, and repeat the psalm; of which lines 6 to 28 are hymnal, 29 to 32 petition the favor of the deity for the city Babylon and the temple Esagila.
In a hymn to Marduk No. 11, the connecting link between the hymnal portion and the petition is: “I, the Urugallu priest of Ekur, would speak the favorable word.”
A hymn to Ishtar No. 3 is followed by an enumeration of the sacrifices for the goddess and of presents for the temple servants. Above all, the hymns are in such a uniform and formal style, and the gods are so frequently addressed as lords of such and such temples that one is compelled to look to the temple as the birthplace and home of many of these Assyrian hymns.
It is altogether natural that there should be a hymnal introduction to the temple prayer. The Assyrian god in his temple is as the king in his palace. He must not be approached abruptly or brusquely. Indeed the Assyrian gods are kings, queens, princes. Consequently the formal court style is used in addressing them. It is not used rigidly in all hymns, but it is the norm from which it is advisable to take our departure. An example of this formal court style is Nergal No. 1.
O lord mighty and exalted,first born of Nunammir,Prince of the Annunaki,lord of the battle,Offspring of Kutushar,the mighty queen,O Nergal, strong one of the gods,darling of Ninnenna.
O lord mighty and exalted,first born of Nunammir,
Prince of the Annunaki,lord of the battle,
Offspring of Kutushar,the mighty queen,
O Nergal, strong one of the gods,darling of Ninnenna.
Thou treadest in the high heavens,lofty is thy place.Thou art great in Hades,there is none like theeWith Ea, in the multitude of the gods,is thy council preëminent.With Sin in the heavensthou see’st through everything.Given thee has Bel, thy fatherthe black headed race, all living creatures,The living creatures of the fieldhe has entrusted to thy hand.
Thou treadest in the high heavens,lofty is thy place.
Thou art great in Hades,there is none like thee
With Ea, in the multitude of the gods,is thy council preëminent.
With Sin in the heavensthou see’st through everything.
Given thee has Bel, thy fatherthe black headed race, all living creatures,
The living creatures of the fieldhe has entrusted to thy hand.
Assyrian hymns of class I can be divided into two portions, the first portion, the invocation, the second portion, the ascription of praise. It is especially the invocation in which the court style is seen. Every member at the court of a monarchy has an official title, be that member king, queen, prince or noble. That title consists first of all in the lineage or genealogy by virtue of which he has his rank. So it is with the Assyrian deity. Thus the hymn to Nebo No. 1 begins:
O lord, first born of Marduk,O Nebo lofty offspring of Sarpanitum.
O lord, first born of Marduk,
O Nebo lofty offspring of Sarpanitum.
A hymn to Ninib No. 1:
O strong son,first born of Bel,Great perfectson of Isara.
O strong son,first born of Bel,
Great perfectson of Isara.
A hymn to Nergal No. 1:
O lord, mighty and exalted,first born of Nunammir,Prince of the Annunaki,lord of the battle.Offspring of Kutushar,the mighty queen, Ninnenna,O Nergal, strong one of the gods,darling of Ninnenna.
O lord, mighty and exalted,first born of Nunammir,
Prince of the Annunaki,lord of the battle.
Offspring of Kutushar,the mighty queen, Ninnenna,
O Nergal, strong one of the gods,darling of Ninnenna.
Hymn to Marduk No. 7:
O mighty, powerful, strong one of Eridu,O noble, exalted, first-born of Ea.
O mighty, powerful, strong one of Eridu,
O noble, exalted, first-born of Ea.
Just as the king’s title includes mention of the provinces and countries over which he holds sway, so the god is to be addressed as lord of those cities and temples, in which he is recognized and honored. Nebo is:
Lord of Ezida,protection of Borsippa.[1]
Lord of Ezida,protection of Borsippa.[1]
Marduk is:
Marduk, the mighty, who causeth Itura to rejoice;[2]Lord of Isagila, help of Babylon, lover of Ezida.
Marduk, the mighty, who causeth Itura to rejoice;[2]
Lord of Isagila, help of Babylon, lover of Ezida.
Sin is:
Father Nannar, lord of Ur,chief of the gods,[3]Father Nannar, lord of Egissirgal,chief of the gods.
Father Nannar, lord of Ur,chief of the gods,[3]
Father Nannar, lord of Egissirgal,chief of the gods.
Nusku is:
God of Nippur, leader and counsellor of the gods.[4]
God of Nippur, leader and counsellor of the gods.[4]
The sway of the gods was extended however far beyond their temples and temple cities. Marduk is not merely “King of Ezida, lord of Emachtila,” he is “Marduk, lord of the lands,” and “Marduk, king of heaven and earth.”[5]So also Ishtar is “Ishtar, queen of all peoples, directress of mankind”;[6]while Shamash is:
Shamash, king of heaven and earth,[7]Ruler of things above and below.
Shamash, king of heaven and earth,[7]
Ruler of things above and below.
It would be expected that the gods would have official duties at the heavenly court, and that these offices would be included in their titles. Opposed to this, however, must have been the tendency of the worshippers to exalt their own special deity to a supreme position; and this would tend to bring with it the elimination of all titles that would suggest a subordinate position, and they would be inclined at the same time to attribute to their own deity those offices, for which other deities were famed. Nebo however is addressed as
Nebo, bearer of the tablets of destiny of the gods, director of Esagila.[8]
Nebo, bearer of the tablets of destiny of the gods, director of Esagila.[8]
Nusku is: