CHAPTER XVI

1

LITERATURE AT THE CLOSE OF THE MONARCHY

(597 to 586 B.C.)

If it was matter of surprise that so much literature of Northern Israel survived the catastrophe of 722, it is more difficult to understand how so many of the writings of Judah were preserved at the time of the Babylonian captivity. It may be that some precious rolls, which later found their way back to Judea, were carried by those who had fled to Egypt; the story of Jeremiah's last preaching must have been brought thence, and other matter may have been. Those who remained in Palestine may have preserved some writings; but Babylon now became the centre of literary activity, and it is evident that the devoted love which led the exiles to carry their precious books with them was the means of keeping from destruction the major part of the literature discussed in the previous chapters, together, we must suppose, with much that has since disappeared. Many writings undoubtedly perished in the confusion of the capture and subsequent burning of the city, and in the herding together of the exiles for their long, overland journey on foot. Possibly the official chronicles which had been kept from the days of David until this time were now destroyed; presumably only such rolls as were held most dear by individual owners were hugged close and carried those seven hundred miles. In general, we can infer that the exiles carried with them their composite histories that dealt with traditions and events from Adam to the death of Solomon. Of these, our books of Samuel, the history of Solomon's reign, and the narratives of the Judges were probably separate rolls; while the narrative from the creation to the death of Joshua may have been treated as one book. They carried also a history of Northern Israel and one of Judah, cover

1 Jeremiah 44.

ing all the years of the divided kingdom; though these are now lost, a compiler in the exile used them. Collections of stories about Elijah and Elisha and concerning other prophets, used by the compiler of Kings, the little books of Amos, Hosea, Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, books of the genuine prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah - all these must have been taken, not as a Bible, but as little rolls, each consisting of one book or succession of very short books. Perhaps most important of all in the minds of the exiles, was the law book which had been found in the Temple in the eighteenth year of Josiah and had been made the basis of the great reform led by that king. Certainly this book had a controlling influence on the writing of the exile and on the life of the people for a hundred and fifty years.

Besides these writings, we have seen reason to think that collections of songs from Northern Israel, now embodied in the Psalter, may have been among the treasures which survived all the vicissitudes of time (Chapter IX). In addition, there must have been Judean hymns as well; some composed perhaps as early as the tenth century were noted in Chapter III. Others were written at various periods during the three centuries and a half of Judean history that we have seen to be so rich in prose compositions and in the poetic oracles of the great prophets.1

Two poems that quite clearly belong to the age of the monarchy are the prayer for victory on behalf of the king about to go forth to war (Psalm 20) and the Te Deum on the king's return victorious (Psalm 21):

Jehovah answer thee in the day of trouble;

The name of the God of Jacob set thee up on high;

Send thee help from the sanctuary,

And strengthen thee out of Zion;

Remember all thy offerings,

And accept thy burnt-sacrifice;

Grant thee thy heart's desire,

1 Professor Briggs, Psalms, Int. Crit. Com., 1906, finds some twenty-one psalms or parts of psalms that he assigns with varying confidence to the period between the division of the kingdom and the fall of Jerusalem. They are 2, 3, 19 7, 20, 21, 23 (perhaps time of Solomon), 27 16, 28, 36 25, 45, 46, 54, 55?, 56, 58, 60 3-7, 12b-14, 61, 62, 72 1−7, 13–178, 87, 110.

And fulfil all thy counsel.

We will triumph in thy salvation,

And in the name of our God we will set up our banners:

Jehovah fulfil all thy petitions.

Now know I that Jehovah saveth his anointed;

He will answer him from his holy heaven

With the saving strength of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;

But we will make mention of the name of Jehovah our God.

They are bowed down and fallen;

But we are risen, and stand upright.

Save, Jehovah:

Let the King answer us when we call.

The king shall joy in thy strength, O Jehovah;

And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

Thou hast given him his heart's desire,

And hast not withholden the request of his lips.

For thou meetest him with the blessings of goodness:

Thou settest a crown of fine gold on his head.

He asked life of thee, thou gavest it him,

Even length of days for ever and ever.
His glory is great in thy salvation:

Honor and majesty dost thou lay upon him.

For thou makest him most blessed for ever:

Thou makest him glad with joy in thy presence.

For the king trusteth in Jehovah;

And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he shall not be moved. Thy hand will find out all thine enemies;

Thy right hand will find out those that hate thee.

Thou wilt make them as a fiery furnace in the time of thine anger:

Jehovah will swallow them up in his wrath,

And the fire shall devour them.

Their fruit wilt thou destroy from the earth,

And their seed from among the children of men.

For they intended evil against thee;

They conceived a device which they are not able to perform.

For thou wilt make them turn their back;

Thou wilt make ready with thy bowstrings against their face.
Be thou exalted, O Jehovah, in thy strength:

So will we sing and praise thy power.

The beautiful hymn praising the glory of God in the heavens (1916) could consistently be the product of the last period of the monarchy, when the worship of the heavenly bodies themselves was so prominent among the faithless :

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament showeth his handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech,

And night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language;

Their voice is not heard.

Their line is gone out through all the earth.
And their words to the end of the world.

In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course.
His going forth is from the end of the heavens,

And his circuit unto the ends of it;

And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

Associated in thought with this morning hymn is the morning prayer of the harassed leader who wakens to thoughts of Jehovah's protection:

Jehovah, how are mine adversaries increased!
Many are there that rise up against me.

Many there are that say of my soul,

There is no help for him in God.

But thou, O Jehovah, art a shield about me;

My glory and the lifter up of my head.

I

cry unto Jehovah with my voice,

And he answereth me out of his holy hill.

I laid me down and slept;

I awaked; for Jehovah sustaineth me.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people

That have set themselves against me round about.

Arise, O Jehovah; save me, O my God:

For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone;

Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked.

Salvation belongeth unto Jehovah:

Thy blessing be upon thy people.

One of the noblest of the hymns which came from the days of the monarchy is found in the prayer for a true king, apparently an accession hymn, more appropriate for Josiah than for any other of the kings of Judah. Parts of this psalm imply later Messianic hopes and must be omitted from the original, preëxilic ode.1

Give the king thy judgments, O God,

And thy righteousness unto the king's son.
He will judge thy people with righteousness,
And thy poor with justice.

The mountains shall bring peace to the people,
And the hills, in righteousness.

He will judge the poor of the people,

He will save the children of the needy,

And will break in pieces the oppressor.

They shall fear thee while the sun endureth,

And so long as the moon, throughout all generations.
He will come down like rain upon the mown grass,
As showers that water the earth.

In his days shall the righteous flourish,

And abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.

He will have pity on the poor and needy,

And the souls of the needy he will save.

He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence;

And precious will their blood be in his sight:

And they shall live; and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba:

And men shall pray for him continually;

They shall bless him all the day long.

There shall be abundance of grain in the earth upon the top of the

mountains;

The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon:

And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

His name shall endure for ever;

His name shall be continued as long as the sun:

The original book of songs that passed current under the name of David, from which so many poems were embodied in the later collections making up our Psalter, was not completed until postexilic times. We have no means of knowing, indeed, how far the early poems that were embodied in the collections lying back

1 See Briggs, Psalms, Int. Crit. Com., in loc.