Page:03.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.B.vol.3.LaterProphets.djvu/235

of the psalm, on the other hand, the summons to the Israelites to proclaim that Jahve is King among the peoples, is, after the call, “Let the whole earth tremble before Him,” a somewhat tame expression; and after it, again, we should not expect the much stronger וגו תּכּון אף. When we further consider that the clause which follows in the Chronicle, “He will judge the people in uprightness,” is a reminiscence of Psa 9:9, we must hold the text of the Chronicle to be here also the original, and the divergences in Psa 96:1-13 for alterations, which were occasioned by the changing of a part of our hymn into an independent psalm. Finally, there can be no doubt as to the priority of the chronicler's hymn in 1Ch 16:34-36. The author of the Chronicle did not require to borrow the liturgical formula וגו טוב כּי ליהוה הודוּ from Psa 106:1, for it occurs in as complete a form in Psa 97:1; Psa 118:1, Psa 118:29; Psa 136:1, and, not to mention 2Ch 5:13; 2Ch 7:3; 2Ch 20:21, is a current phrase with Jeremiah (Jer 33:11), and is without doubt an ancient liturgical form. 1Ch 16:35 and 1Ch 16:36, too, contain such divergences from Psa 106:47 and Psa 106:48, that it is in the highest degree improbable that they were borrowed from that psalm. Not only is the prayer וגו הושׁיענוּ introduced by אמרוּ, but also, instead of אלהינוּ יהוה of the psalm, we have ישׁענוּ אלהי; and to וקבּצנוּ, והצּילנוּ is added, - a change which causes the words to lose the reference to the Chaldean exile contained in the text of the Psalms. The post-exilic author of the Chronicle would scarcely have obliterated this reference, and certainly would not have done so in such a delicate fashion, had he taken the verse from Ps 106. A much more probable supposition is, that the post-exilic author of the 106th Psalm appropriated the concluding verse of David's to him well-known hymn, and modified it to make it fit into his poem. Indubitable instances of such alterations are to be found in the conclusion, where the statement of the chronicler, that all the people said Amen and praised Jahve, is made to conform to the psalm, beginning as it does with Halleluiah, by altering ויּאמרוּ into ואמר, “and let them say,” and of ליהוה והלּל into הללוּ־יהּ.
On the whole, therefore, we must regard the opinion that David composed our psalm for the above-mentioned festival as by far the most probable. The psalm itself needs no further commentary; but compare Delitzsch on the parallel psalms and parts of psalms.Division of the Levites for the management of