formed by a didactic-prophetic couplet of psalms (Ps. i. ii),
introductory to the whole Psalter and therefore in the ear-
liest times regarded as one psalm, which opens and closes
with (
Hebrew characters); and its close is formed by four psalms (Ps. cxlvi
—cxlix) which begin and end with (Hebrew characters). We do not in-
clude Ps. cl. for this psalm takes the place of the beracha
of the Fifth book, exactly as the recurring verse Isa. xlviii. 22
is repeated in lvii. 21 with fuller emphasis, but is omitted at
the close of the third part of this address of Isaiah to the
exiles, its place being occupied by a terrifying description of
the hopeless end of the wicked. The opening of the Psalter
celebrates the blessedness of those who walk according to the
will of God in redemption, which has been revealed in the
law and in history; the close of the Psalter calls upon all
creatures to praise this God of redemption, as it were on the
ground of the completion of this great work. Bede has al-
ready called attention to the fact that the Psalter from Ps.
cxlvi ends in a complete strain of praise; the end of the Psal-
ter soars upward to a happy climax. The assumption that
there was an evident predilection for attempting to make the
number 150 complete, as Ewald supposes, cannot be esta-
blished; the reckoning 147 (according to a Haggadah book
mentioned in Jer. Sabbath xvi, parallel with the years of Jacob’s
life), and the reckoning 149, which frequently occurs both in
Karaitic and Rabbinic MSS., have also been adopted; the
numbering of the whole and of particular psalms varies.[1]
There are in the Psalter 73 psalms bearing the inscription
(Hebrew characters), viz. (reckoning exactly)37 in book i; 18 in book ii; 1 in book
iii; 2 in book iv; 15 in book v. The redaction has designed the
pleasing effect of closing the collection with an imposing group of
Davidic psalms, just as it begins with the bulk of the Davidic
psalms. And the Hallelujahs which begin with Ps. cxlvi (after
the 15 Davidic psalms) are the preludes of the closing doxology.
- ↑ The LXX, like our Hebrew text, reckons 150 psalms, but with va- riations in separate instances, by making ix and x, and cxiv and cxv into one, and in place of these, dividing cxvi and cxlvii each into two. ‘The combination of ix and x, of cxiv and cxv into one has also been adopted by others; exxxiv and exxxv, but especially i and ii, appear here and thero as one psalm. Kimchi reckons 149 by making Ps. cxiv and cxv into one. The ancient Syriac version combines Ps. cxiv and cxv as one, but reckons 150 by dividing Ps. exlvii.
