There is a great deal in favor of the opinion that the collection and redaction of the book, such as we have it now, is owing to one man, who arranged the single hymns according to their contents and tendency. Thus, folloWing all the while the law of analogy, the redactor gave the first place to David's and his contemporaries" (Asaph. Ethan, Helmut) compositions. These were further classified according to the prevalent use of the peculiar divine name (Jehovistic and Elohistic), and were divided into three hooks—the first of which contains the Davidic Jehovistic psalms; the second, the Elohistic ones of the Korahites, of Asaph, David, Solomon, and some unknown poets: the third, the rest of Asaph's and the Korahite psalms of a mixed (Jehovah-Elohistic, or purely Jehovistic) nature. The arrangement within these larger classes was made, again, according to the inner nature and relation of these hymns to each othcri, and by a certain likeness in phraseology, similes, etc. Psalms i. and ii. were then prefixed, on account of their generally introductory matter and manner. The same laws have also been fol lowed in the remaining portions of the collection.
It is difficult to fix the period of the redaction. Assuming, however, the collecting and editing to be the work of one man, he could not possibly &rye lived before the time of Nehemiah, even according to those who affirm the non-existence of Maccabean psalms in our canon. If, on the other hand, various single collections are assumed. out of which our present book has grown, there is no reason why some of those should pot be placed at a much earlier date. We forbear to add a list of writers oil the subject of psalms. Nearly all the principal authorities in biblical literature, in the Jewish, Roman, and Protestant churches, have contributed their share toward the elucidation of the Psalms; and to the individual works of the chief biblical commentators, the reader is referred for special information. Le Long, in his Bibliotheca Sacra, enumerates more than t;00 commentators on the Psalms, carries the number up to a thousand. Of these, some are very voluminous, that of Le Blanc filling no fewer than six folio volumes.