Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MSS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 366 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

MSS . AND TExrs.—Before the publication of Swete's second edition and the edition of von Gebhardt, only five MSS., A, H, V, M, P (of which H represents the See also:

Copenhagen MS.) were known, and these were utilized to the full in the splendid edition of See also:Ryle and See also:James (sbaXµol Eoao s pros, See also:Psalms of the See also:Pharisees commonly called the Psalms of See also:Solomon, the See also:Text newly revised from all the MSS.. 1891), In Swete's edition (The Old Testament in See also:Greek,' 1894) there was given in addition to the above a See also:collation of the Vatican MS. R. Finally in 1895, von Gebhardt published from five MSS. his edition entitled'aaµot 10tol.a5 See also:ros, See also:Die Psalmen Salomos zum erstenmale mit Benutzung der Athoshandschriften and See also:des See also:Cod. Casanatensis herausgegeben. The five MSS. used by this last editor are C, H, J, L, R, of which C, T, L are exploited for the first See also:time and represent respectively the MSS. Casanatensis, Iberiticus and Laura-Kloster. He represents the See also:affinities of the MSS. in the following table, where Z stands for the archetype: z _ J R H L C V j M f' Thus H is the only MS. See also:common to this edition and that of Ryle and James; for Gebhardt regards the secondary MSS. V, M, P as not deserving See also:consideration. Notwithstanding there is a much finer See also:critical training for the student in the textual discussions and retroversions in the latter edition than in the former. TRAxsLATI0Ns.—See also:Wellhausen, Die Phariseer and die Sadducaer (1874), 131 sqq.

This See also:

translation is unfortunately based on the editio princeps of De la Cerda published in 1626. Pick's translation which appeared in the Presbyterian See also:Review for See also:October 1883, pp. 775-813, is based on the same text and is imperfect owing to a faulty knowledge of See also:English. Ryle and James (op. cit.). Kittel's translation (Kautzsch, Apokr. u. Pseudep. i. 1900, ii. I27 sqq.) was made from von Gebhardt's text. The See also:Original See also:Language.—All See also:modern scholars are practically agreed that the Psalms were written in See also:Hebrew. It is unnecessary to enter into this question here, but a point or two might be mentioned which See also:call for such a presupposition. (i.) First we find that, after the manner of the canonical Psalms, the musical See also:symbol btiu//aXµa (See also:min) is inserted in xvii. 31 and xviii. to, a fact which points to their use in the divine See also:worship in the See also:synagogue.

(ii) Next we find that a See also:

great number of passages cannot be understood unless by retroversion into. Hebrew, when the source of the See also:error becomes transparent. One such instance occurs in ii. 29, roil eiueiv rr)v inreprl4savlav roil bpa.rcovros iv h.rgsL . Here elrreiv, which is utterly meaningless, =1pHS a corruption of -op5 or 1'pn5 " to See also:change," " turn " (Wellhausen). Thus we arrive at the sense required, " To turn the See also:pride of the See also:dragon into dishonour. (iii.) Finally, there are several passages where the text exhibits the future tense, when it ought to give the past imperfect. This phenomenon can easily be explained as a false rendering of the Hebrew imperfect.' Date.—The date can be determined from references to See also:con-temporary events. Thus the See also:book opens with the alarms of See also:war (i. 2, viii. I), in the midst of a See also:period of great prosperity (i. 3, 4, viii.

7), but the prosperity is merely material, for from the See also:

king to the vilest of his subjects they are altogether sinful (xvii. 21, 22). The king, moreover, is no descendant of See also:David, but has usurped his See also:throne (xvii. 6–8). But See also:judgment is at See also:hand. " A mighty striker " has come from the ends of the See also:earth (viii. 16), who when the princes of the See also:land greeted him with words of welcome (viii. 18), seized the See also:city (viii. 21), See also:cast down its walls (ii. I), polluted its See also:altar (ii. 2), put its princes and counsellors to the See also:sword (viii. 23), and carried away its sons and daughters See also:captive to the See also:west (viii.

24, xvii. 14). But the dragon who conquered See also:

Jerusalem (ii. 29), and thought himself to be more than See also:man (ii. 32, 33), at last meets with shameful See also:death on the shores of See also:Egypt (ii. 3o, 31). The above allusions are easy to interpret. The usurping See also:kings who are not descended from David are the Maccabeans. The " mighty striker " is See also:Pompey. The princes who welcomed his approach are See also:Aristobulus II. and See also:Hyrcanus II. Pompey carried off princes and See also:people to the west, and finally perished on the See also:coast of Egypt in 48 B.c. Thus Ps. ii. was written soon after 48 B.C., while Ps. i., viii., xvii. fall between 63 and 48 B.C., for they presuppose Pompey's See also:capture of Jerusalem, but show no knowledge of his death.

Ps. v., vii., ix., xiii., xv. ' In addition to Ryle and James, Introd. pp. lxxvii. lxxxvii., see Perles, " Die Erklarung der See also:

Psalm. Sal." (See also:Oriental. Litteraturzeit., 1902, v. 7-I0).belong apparently to the same period, but iv. and xii. to an earlier one. On the whole Ryle and James are right in assigning 70—40 B.C. as the limits within which the psalms were written. Authorship.—The authors were Pharisees. They See also:divide their countrymen into two classes—" the righteous " (ii. 38–39, iii. 3–5, 7, 8), and" the sinners " (ii. 38, iii. 13, iv.

9) ; " the See also:

saints " (iii. lc)) and " the transgressors " (iv. I I). The former are the Pharisees; the latter the See also:Sadducees. The authors protest against the Asmonaean (i.e. the See also:Maccabees) for usurping the throne of David and laying violent hands on the high See also:priest-See also:hood (xvii. 5, 6, 8), and proclaim the coming of the See also:Messiah, the true son of David (xvii. 23-25), who is to set all things right and establish the supremacy of See also:Israel. The Messiah is to be pure from See also:sin (xvii. 41), purge Jerusalem from the defilement of sinners and of the Gentiles (xvii. 29, 30, 36), destroy the hostile nations and extend his righteous See also:rule over all the remaining peoples of the earth (xvii. 27, 31, 32, 34, 38).2 Ps. xvii., xviii. and i.–xvi. can hardly be assigned to the same authors. The hopes of the Messiah are confined to the former, and a somewhat different See also:eschatology underlies the two See also:works (see See also:Charles, Eschatology: Hebrew, Jewish and See also:Christian, 220-225). In addition to the literature mentioned above, also in Ryle and James's edition and Schiirer, Gesch. des fad.

Volkes, 3rd ed., iii. 15o sqq, see Ency. Bib. i. 241–245. (R. H.

End of Article: MSS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MPONGWE (PONGOS) 		[next]
MTSENSK (popularly Ainchensk)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries