Capítulo I: DISPOSICIONES GENERALES
MOTRICES QUE SE PUEDEN DESPLAZAR
I.8 Definiciones Conceptuales
A careful reading of the Psalter reveals that a large number of the psalms were intended, by their authors, to be sung. This is clear, firstly, from the content of those psalms in which we find exhortations to sing (e.g., Pss 9:11; 30:4; 68:4) or from calls to join the psalmist in singing the Lord’s praise (e.g., Pss 34:3; 95:1–2; 118:24). It is also apparent from the historical information contained in the titles of a number of psalms. Psalm 7, for example, bears the title: “A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.” The title of Psalm 18 is even more detailed: “For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.”
4P. Bradbury, Sowing in Tears: How to Lament in a Church of Praise (Cambridge: Grove, 2007), 11.
5B. K. Waltke, J. M. Houston and E. Moore, The Psalms as Christian Lament: A Historical Commentary
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 2.
6C. R. Trueman, “What Can Miserable Christians Sing?” in The Wages of Spin: Critical Writings on Historical
In addition to this, if not from the point of composition, certainly by the time of the Psalter’s compilation, a plethora of musical designations and liturgical directions are embedded in the psalm titles. For example, fifty-eight bear the description
רוֹמ ְז ִמ
(LXX: ψαλμός), meaning something like a lyric ode set to music and usually translated “psalm.” Fifty-four contain the addressַח ֵצ ַנ ְמ ַל
(LXX: εἰς τὸ τέλος), meaning “to the choirmaster” (ESV) or “to the director of music” (NIV).7 Twenty-nine employthe Hebrew designation
רי ִשׁ
(LXX: ᾠδή), meaning a song. Six psalms (Pss 16, 56–60) are nominated as aם ָתּ ְכ ִמ
(LXX: στηλογραφία), which appears to mean some kind of musical reflection or supplication. Psalm 7 (along with Habakkuk 3) is described as aןוֹיָגּ ִשׁ
(LXX: ψαλμός), which also appears to be a musical or liturgical term, possibly calling for “an animated musical beat.”8 Psalm 145 has the designationה ָלּ ִה ְתּ
(LXX: αἴνεσις), meaning a “song of praise (ESV) or “psalm of praise” (NIV) or “hymn” (HCSB).91.2. Were the Psalms Intended to Be Accompanied?
Building on these descriptors, a range of titles give specific directions regarding the use of musical instruments; notably, the
תוֹלי ִח ְנ
or “flutes” (e.g., Ps 5) and theה ָניִג ְנ
or “stringed instruments” (e.g., Pss 4; 6; 54; 55; 61; 67; 76). Others refer to the employment of a particular tune (e.g., Pss 6; 8; 9; 12; 22; 45; 46; 53; 56; 57; 60; 62; 81; 84; 88). Additional instructions such as “According to Mahalath” (Pss 50; 88), “According to Sheminith” (Pss 6; 12), “According to Gittith” (Pss 8; 11; 84) and “According to Alamoth” (Ps 46) all seem to refer to “musical terms, possibly indicating melodic or rhythmic formulae which should be used.”10 References to various musical instruments—such as harps, lyres, tambourines, pipes,trumpets and cymbals—are also to be found within the body of a large number of psalms (e.g., Pss 33:2; 43:4; 49:4; 57:8; 68:25; 71:22; 81:2; 92:3; 98:5–6; 108:2; 137:2; 144:9; 147:7; 149:3; 150:3–5).
All of these indications simply reinforce the picture presented by the writers of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah; that music played a major part in Israel’s temple worship in both pre- and post-exilic times (e.g., 1 Chr 6:31–48; 15:16–28; 25:1–8; 2 Chr 5:11b-13; 7:6; 29:26; Ezra 3:10; Neh 12:35, 41, 46). As far as performance was concerned, this seems to have been entrusted mainly to the Levites who not only sang and led as a choir but also played the instruments (e.g., 1 Chr 16:4–42).11 As far as congregational
participation was concerned, this involved not only the periodic interjection of acclamations such as “Amen!,” “Hallelujah!,” and “Glory!,” but also the widespread communal singing of both praise (e.g., Pss 32:11; 33:1–3; 34:4) and lament (e.g., Pss 44:9–14; 60:1; 74:1–2).12
7While the meaning of this term is disputed and has been variously translated (e.g., the LXX takes it to mean
“to the end”), D. Kidner’s verdict is difficult to gainsay: “If economy of a hypothesis is its strength, the familiar translation has little to fear from its alternatives” (Psalms 1–72, TOTC [Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973], 40.
8N. deClaissé-Walford, R.A. Jacobson and B. LaNeel Tanner, The Book of Psalms, NICOT (Eerdmans: Grand
Rapids, 2014), 111n6.
9Tehillim is also the name given to the entire book in Hebrew.
10D. P. Hustad, “The Psalms as Worship Expressions: Personal and Congregational,” Review & Expositor 81
(1984), 407.
11J. A. Smith, “Which Psalms Were Sung in the Temple?” Music & Letters 71 (1990), 167.
12Pace Smith, “Which Psalms Were Sung in the Temple?” See further A. P. Ross, Recalling the Hope of Glory:
1.3. Which of the Psalms Were Sung in the Temple?
Although it is difficult to determine exactly how many of the psalms were used in temple worship, the historical books of the Old Testament show various psalms being employed at key junctures in pre-exilic Israelite history. For example, David’s song of deliverance in 2 Samuel 22:2–51 is virtually the same as Psalm 18, 1 Chronicles 16:8–36 contains Psalms 105:1–15, 96:1–13 and 106:47–48, and Psalm 132:8–10 appears in 2 Chronicles 6:41–42.13 As far as the post-exilic period is concerned, evidence
from the Mishnah, Tosefta and Talmuds confirms that many “were employed – wholly or in part – at annual festivals, on days of special distinction, at the additional sacrifices on Sabbaths, New Moon days and certain festivals, and as proper psalms for the days of the week.”14 These latter sources specifically
nominate only fourteen psalms out of the entire Psalter (Pss 24; 30; 48; 81; 82; 92–94; 113–118). This, however, is hardly grounds to conclude that they were the only ones sung, for a much larger number of psalms contain references to singing in the context of temple worship (e.g., Pss 7; 9; 18; 27; 30; 33; 47; 49; 57; 61; 66; 68; 71; 81; 87; 89; 92; 95; 96; 98; 105; 108; 118; 135; 137; 138; 149). Such references strongly suggest that “the psalms in which they are found were themselves sung in the Temple.”15
What is of particular interest, for our purposes, is that out of the lists of psalms above, thirteen are generally classified as laments (Pss 7; 9; 18; 27; 30; 57; 61; 71; 82; 89; 94; 115; 137). In other words, it is not only praise or thanksgiving psalms that were sung communally but the lament psalms also.16
In fact, when the evidence of the preceding sections is brought to bear, a strong case can be made for concluding forty-three of the lament psalms found in the Psalter “are likely to have been sung in the Temple.”17 Given the plethora of musical descriptions, directions and instructions that we’ve identified,
this is not really surprising.
In light of this evidence, the Psalter is rightly regarded as the “hymnbook” of the Second Temple and, no doubt, contains the First Temple’s “hymnbook” as well.
13For a more detailed treatment of the Old Testament material, both pre- and post-exilic, see G. J. Wenham,
Psalms as Torah: Reading Biblical Song Ethically (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012), 11–19.
14Smith, “Which Psalms Were Sung in the Temple?” 167–68. 15Ibid, 170.
16That lament was sung communally is also confirmed by The Mishnah. Moed Katan 3:9 says: “What is meant
by ‘Sing lamentations’? When one recites and all of the others respond after her, as it is said, ‘Teach your daughters wailing and a woman her fellow a lamentation’ (Jeremiah 9:19).” Of course, some forty-two of the lament psalms may legitimately be classified as ‘individual laments’. This, however, does not mean that they weren’t (or can’t be) sung communally. Not only are communal tragedies experienced individually, but often a communal lament is put into the mouth of an individual. Furthermore, often the experience of an individual (particularly if that individual is the king) is, in some sense, the experience of the community.
17Smith, “Which Psalms Were Sung in the Temple?” 173. By way of contrast, post-Christian Jewish liturgies
favour the more “positive” psalms. Consequently, the laments do not play a dominant role in contemporary syna- gogue worship. See W.L. Holladay, The Psalms through Three Thousand Years: Prayerbook of a Cloud of Witnesses (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 140ff.