The example and countenance of the king natur ally led others to cultivate poetry and music. It appears from Amos vi. 5 that lovers of pleasure took David's compositions as a model for their worldly songs : how much more would the lovers of piety be induced to follow him by producing sacred songs and hymns ! The fine psalm iu Hab. iii. is a striking imitation of his style as seen in Ps. xviii. And the celebrated singers of his day were men, like himself, moved by the divine afflatus not only to excel in music, but also to in dite hallowed poetry. Of these psalmists the names of several are preserved in the titles.
2. Asaph is named as the author of twelve psalms—viz., 1., lxxiii.-1xxxiii. He was one of David's chief musicians [ASAPH]. All the poems bearing his name cannot be his ; for in Ps. lxxiv., lxxix., and lxxx., there are manifest allusions to very late events in the history of Israel. Either, then, the titles of these three psalms must be wholly rejected, or the name must be here taken for the ' sons of Asaph f which is not improbable, as the family continued for many generations in the choral service of the Temple. Asaph appears from Ps. 1., lxxiii., and lxxviii., to have been the greatest master of didactic poetry, excelling alike in sentiment and in diction.
3. The sons of Korah was another family of choristers (see KORAH, at the end), to whom eleven of the most beautiful psalms are ascribed. The authorship is assigned to the Korahites in general, not because many of them could have been en gaged in composing one and the same song, but because the name of the particular writer was unknown or omitted. However, in Ps. lxxxviii. we find, besides the family designation, the name of the individual who wrote it, viz.— 4- Heman, another of David's chief singers Chron. xv. 19) : he is called the Ezrahite, as being descended from some Ezrah, who appears to have been a descendant of Korah ; at least Heman is reckoned a Kohathite Chron. vi. 33-38), and was therefore probably a Korahite ; for the Ko hathites were continued and counted in the line of Korah ; see 1 Chron. vi. 22, 37, 38 [HEmAr]• Thus Heman was both an Ezrahite and of the sons of Korah. That Ps. lxxxviii. was written by him is not unlikely, though many question it.
5. .Elhan is reputed the author of Ps. lxxxix. He also is called the Ezrahite, but this is either a mistake, or he as well as Heman had an ancestor named Ezrah, of whom nothing is known. The Ethan intended in the title is doubtless the Levite of Merari's family whom David made chief musi cian along with Asaph and Heman (1 Chron. vi. 44 ; xxv. 1, 6). The psalm could not, however, be composed by him, for it plainly alludes (ver. 38-44) to the downfall of the kingdom.
6. Solomon is given as the author of Ps. lxxii. and cxxvii., and there is no decided internal evidence to the contrary, though most consider him to be the subject, and not the author, of Ps. lxxii.
7. Moses is reputed the author of Ps. xc., and there is no conclusive reason to doubt the tradition, as De Wette, Hupfeld, and Olshausen do. But the Talmudists—whom Origen, and even Jerome, fol lows—ascribe to him also the ten succeeding psalms (xci.-c.), on the principle that the anonymous pro ductions belonged to the last-named author. This principle is manifestly false, since in several of these psalms We find evidence that Moses was not the author. In Ps. xcv. the forty years' wandering in the wilderness is referred to as past ; in Ps. xcvii. 8 mention is made of Zion and Judah, which proves that it cannot be dated earlier than the time of David ; and in Ps, xcix. 6, the prophet Samuel is named, which also proves that Moses could not be the writer.
..dzithuit is sometimes, without just ground, held to be named as the author of Ps. xxxix. (see above, under that head.) Many conjectures have been formed respecting other writers, especially of the anonymous psalms. The Sept. seemingly gives, as authors, Jeremiah (Ps. cxxxvii.), and Haggai and Zechariah (Ps. cxxxviii.) Hitzig (Com ment. fiber die Psalmen) ascribes to Jeremiah a large number of the elegiac or plaintive psalms, and some to Isaiah (Ps. xlvi.-xlviii.) ; but these are mere surmises, though perhaps consonant with fact.
The dates of the Psalms, as must be obvious from what has been stated respecting the authors, are very various, ranging from the time of Moses to that of the Captivity in Babylon, and even later —a period of nearly woo years. In the time of king Jeboshaphat (about B.C. 896) Ps, lxxxiii., setting forth the dangers of the nation, as we read in 2 Chron. xx. 1-25, was composed either by himself, as some suppose, or most likely, accord ing to the title, by Jahaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph,' who was then an inspired teacher (see 2 Chron. xx. 14. In the days of Hezekiah, who was himself a poet (Is. xxxviii. 9-2o), we may date, with great probability, the Korahitic Psalms xlvi. and xlviii., which seem to celebrate the de liverance from Sennacherib (2 Kings xix. 35). In the period of the Captivity were evidently written such laments as Ps. xliv., lxxix., cii., and cxxxvii. ; and after its close, when the captives returned, we must manifestly date Ps. lxxxv. and cxxvi.
Some have maintained that several psalms, espe cially lxxiv., were written even in the days of the Maccabees. This view is urged by Hitzig, Ols hausen, and others ; whilst it is opposed not only by such men as Hengstenberg, Havernick, and Keil, but even by bolder critics, such as Gesenius, Ewald, Thenius, and others. Delitzsch, however, seems inclined to admit the existence of some psalms of so late a date (see his Psalmen' in Herzog's Real-Encyklopadi; p. 273)•