and authorship of the psalms, while always indispensable, are yet inadequate methods of procedure. It is true that again and again fixing with philological accuracy the meaning of a word or clause is the clue to the understanding of a psalm, yet to arrive at any just appreciation of the psalms it is absolutely necessary to classify them scientifically on the basis of their similarities and dissimilarities, and so to arrange them in the species or groups into which they naturally fall. It is then possible to compare psalm with psalm within the species, fixing as nearly as possible the type and noting every variation from the type. In this way the eye of the reader is opened to the originality and literary beauty of particular psalms, which originality and literary beauty are in turn the expression of the uniqueness and power of the psalmist’s spiritual experience.

It may also be suggested that another principle of investigation should prove fruitful, namely, an attempt to arrange the groups of psalms, and the individual psalms within the groups, according to the principle of development from the lower to the higher stages of religious experience. Of course opinions may and do differ as to what is highest in religion, but the student of religion may never cease in his effort to find the line of development and to determine the highest. Since then the psalms are almost exclusively religious literature, and since the supreme motive for studying them is to gain the more complete understanding of religion, it is necessary to arrange the psalms in ascending order, so that one can more readily appraise the worth of religion in them, and determine and properly appreciate that which is most precious.

Finally, a further source of enlightenment and a valuable standard of appraisal has been neglected, unless the Old Testament psalms in their respective groups are compared with the psalms of Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, India, and Greece. Many decades have passed since a succession of studies first pointed out striking similarities between the Hebrew and the Babylonian so-called penitential psalms. Recent commentaries on the psalms such as Staerks in 1911 and Kittels in 1916 have printed in the appendices a number of Egyptian and Babylonian psalms, but the comparative method has not yet been widely and thoroughly applied.

An immense amount of work yet remains to be done in comparative study of the religious poetry of the different literatures. Species must be compared with species; prayer of supplication with prayer of supplication; prayer of thanksgiving with prayer of thanksgiving; affirmation of faith with affirmation of faith; hymn of praise with hymn of praise, and teaching psalm with teaching psalm. Before Hebrew hymns of praise, however, can be properly studied, the relationship of the hymns to the other groups that make up Hebrew religious poesy ought to be understood. Consideration must first be given, therefore, to the different groups of psalms to be found in the Hebrew Psalter.

Psalms of Lamentation and Petition

It has been suggested that the psalms ought to be classified in groups, and that the groups ought to be arranged in an ascending order, according to the stage of religious development which they represent. Following this principle, one can quite properly place lowest the Psalms of Lamentation and Petition. The lament in such psalms describes the unhappy plight of the oppressed nation, the persecuted religious community, or the afflicted individual. The petition makes earnest appeal to Yahwe for deliverance. Frequently the petition is reinforced by rather naïve considerations, such as are calculated to persuade the Deity to action. Surely Yahwe ought to be concerned for the glory of his name! Why should the unbelievers say scoffingly, “Where is now your God?” Again what profit is there to Yahwe in the death of his followers? Assuredly the dead in Sheol do not praise him. Most commonly does the psalmist urge that he has long trusted Yahwe; that Yahwe is his only hope, and that therefore Yahwe can not fail him.

In addition to the lament and the petition—the two most characteristic features of this group—one generally finds the vow. If God will come to the help of the sufferer, he will in turn render some specified service to Yahwe. It may be an animal sacrifice at the sanctuary, or it may be such a spiritual sacrifice of praise and testimony as will turn sinners to Yahwe. Yet another common feature of this group is the protestation of confidence that Yahwe will most certainly deliver the suppliant. Frequently it is found near the end of the psalm, and so confident is the sufferer of deliverance that he commonly uses the perfect tense, as if his salvation were already effected.

Of the fifty Psalms of Lamentation in the Psalter, thirteen express the petition of the nation or the religious community for Yahwe’s deliverance. Psalms 79, 74, 44, 80, 83, 60, 137, and 129 lament the humiliation and suffering endured by the nation at the hands of foreign enemies; 85 and 126 recognize in general terms Israel’s affliction, and implore Yahwe’s mercy; while Psalms 10 and 123 lament the wrongs inflicted upon the pious of the land by the powerful and godless rich.

Of these Psalms 137, 129, 125, and 123 are distinctive both for originality and simplicity of expression and for sincerity and intensity of feeling. Psalm 137 recalls the wrongs and the insults received at the hands of Babylonians and Edomites and calls for vengeance upon those nations. Psalm 129, in much the same spirit, remembers Israel’s manifold sufferings at the hands of many foes and petitions vindictively for revenge. On the other hand 125 recalls Yahwe’s goodness in restoring the nation from exile and pleads with confidence for a further manifestation of his favor; while in 123 the contempt of the rich and the proud causes the pious to look with humble and childlike confidence to the God of mercy.

Undoubtedly greater far than any of the preceding psalms is Psalm 90, which, transcending the limitations of the nation and the sect, laments the brevity and troubled nature of human life, and pleads for some knowledge of the plan of the eternal God, some permanency for human effort, some small measure of happiness in life’s brief day.

To this group of national prayers of lamentation and petition ought possibly to be added Psalm 67. There is here, to be sure, no lament, but verses 2 and 3 are a petition for the coming of Yahwe’s salvation to earth, and verses 4, 5, and 6 may also be understood as a petition for the establishment of divine government upon earth:

Verses 7 and 8 are then simply a positive expression of confidence that the prayer just uttered is to be answered and God’s supreme blessing received. The psalm is not then an eschatological hymn of praise, but rather an eschatological prayer.

Psalms 20 and