1, and in 2 Sam. i. 17, IS (Tholuck's Psalmen, p. xxiv.) The other instances commonly appealed to in Exod. xv. i ; Dent. xxxi. 3o ; Judg. v. I ; 2 Sam. xxii. 1, furnish no evidence, since they are not proper titles of the songs so much as brief statements connecting them with the narrative. But in 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, and Num. xxiv. 3, there is strong proof of the usage, if, with Tholuck, we take the verses as inscriptions, and not as integral parts of the songs, which most hold them justly to be from their poetical form.
The following considerations militate against the authority of the titles. 1. The analogy between them and the subscriptions to the Apostolical Epistles. The latter are now universally rejected : why not the former ? 2. The Greek and Syriac versions exhibit them with great and numerous variations, often altering the Hebrew (as in Ps. xxvii.), and sometimes giving a heading where the Hebrew has none (as in Ps. xciii.-xcvii.) Would the ancient translators have taken such liberties, or could such variations have arisen, if the titles had been considered sacred like the Psalms themselves ? At any rate the existence of these glaring variations is sufficient 'to induce a distrust of the titles in their present form, even though they had been once sanctioned by inspired authority. If ever Ezra settled them, the variations in versions and manuscripts (Eichhorn's iii•, pp. 49o, 495) have tended since then to make them doubtful. 3. The inscriptions are occasion ally at variance with the contents of the Psalms. Sometimes the author is incorrectly given, as when David is named over Psalms referring to the capti vity, as in Ps. xiv. q ; xxv. 22 ; li. 20, 21 ; lxix. 36. It is possible, however, as Tholuck thinks. that these references to the exile were added during that period to the genuine text of the royal singer. Others, as Calvin and Hengstenberg, with far less probability, take these passages in a figurative or spiritual sense. Also Ps. cxxxix, cannot well be David's, for its style is not free from Chaldaisms. Then sometimes the occasion is incorrectly specified, as in Ps. xxx., unless indeed this refers to the dedi cation of the site of the Temple (1 Chron. xxii. 1), as Rosenmiiller, Tholuck, and Hengstenberg think after Venema.
On the whole, as the result of this investigation, it seems the part of sober criticism to receive the titles as historically valid, except when we find strong internal evidence against them.
The design of these inscriptions is to specify either the author, or the chief singer (never the latter by name, except in Ps. xxxix.), or the his torical subject or occasion, or the use, or the style of poetry, or the instrument and style of music. Some titles simply designate the author, as in Ps. xxv., while others specify several of the above par ticulars, as in Ps. li. The longest and fullest title of all is prefixed to Ps. lx., where we have the author, the chief musician (not by name), the his , torical occasion (comp. 2 Sam. viii.), the use or : design, the style of poetry, and the instrument or style of music. It is confessedly very difficult, if not impossible, to explain all the terms employed in the inscriptions ; and hence critics have differed exceedingly in their conjectures. The difficulty, arising no doubt from ignorance of the Temple music, was felt, it would seem, as early as the age of the Septuagint ; and it was felt so much by the • translators of our A. V., that they generally re.
tained the Hebrew words, even though Luther had set the example of translating them to the best of his ability. It is worth observing that the difficulty appears to have determined Coverdale, 1535, to omit nearly all except names of authors ; thus in Ps. lx., which is lix. in his version, he gives only —a Psalme of David.
Of the terms left untranslated or obscure in our Bible, it may be well to offer some explanation in this place, taking them in alphabetical order for the sake of convenience. On this subject most commentators offer instruction, but the reader may especially consult Rosenmiiller, Scholia in Camp. Redacta, vol. iii. 14-22 ; De Wette, Commeniar fiber die Psahnen, pp. 27-37 ; Ewald, Poet. Bdcher, 1. 169-18o, 195; and Davidson, Introduction.
Aijeleth Mahar, nreni hind of the morn ing-4 e., the sun, or the dawn of day. This occurs only in Ps. xxii., where we may best take it to designate a song, perhaps commencing with these words, or bearing this name, to the melody of which the psalm was to be sung. So most of the ablest critics after Aben-Ezra. Yet Tholuck and Hengstenberg, after Luther, suppose it to denote the subject of the psalm, meaning David himself, or typically the Messiah.