Introduction
INTRODUCTORY.
( 1.) Moses, like Solon, was a poet as well as a lawgiver. He not only wrote history, law, precept, and prophecy, but embalmed them in inspired song. Thus the divine truth which was to be translated by Israel to all ages was not only fastened upon their understanding, reason and conscience, but was interwoven with emotion, passion, and imagination. Israel exhaled the first breath of national life in a glad burst of song. The fervour of their national and religious emotions was poured forth, in the desert, in solemn and triumphant chants whenever they struck their tents in the morning, or pitched them at evening. When in the morning the cloud rose heavenward from the Sacred Tent all Israel chanted,
Rise, JEHOVAH, and scattered be thine enemies,
And let the foes flee from before thy face,
and when at night it returned and rested, they sang,
Return, JEHOVAH to the ten thousand thousands of Israel .
The song which Moses taught all Israel at the close of his mission, Deuteronomy 32:0,) the lyric blessing of the tribes, (Deuteronomy 33:0,) and the ninetieth Psalm, “the prayer of Moses the man of God,” show the same grand poetic powers which are displayed in this chapter. David’s poetry is pre-eminent for its wonderful beauty and sweetness; it has a matchless spiritual pathos which unlocks all hearts; yet it is, as says Campbell, in joyous expression that the power of David’s genius is best seen. But Moses excels in solemn grandeur and majesty. The Psalm in which David touches the highest sublime caught its inspiration from the ancient poet-lawgiver, and opens with his morning chant of the desert: Psalms 68:0.
There are brief snatches of poetry throughout the book of Genesis. The blessing of Jacob is a prophetic ode; but this is the earliest lyric in literature. It seems, however, probable that there were poets of the sojourn who sang the praise of EL SHADDAI, GOD ALMIGHTY, in Egypt, whose hymns have never reached us; for this magnificent poem could hardly be the first flower of the lyric literature of the nation.
( 2.) The characteristics of Hebrew poetry will more properly receive attention in the Introduction to the Book of Psalms; and here we simply remark that, as Lowth has long ago shown, it is a waste of time and effort to attempt here the application of the rules of metre which have been drawn from the Grecian and Roman models. Rhyme, measure, regularity in accents, in number, and quantity, are not here to be found. Parallelism is the special characteristic of the form of Hebrew poetry. This consists simply in correspondences of sound or sense between successive lines, phrases, or words, so that the sentiments are reinforced by repetition, comparison, and contrast. Yet while the same sentiment is poured forth again and again, as in successive waves, there is great conciseness and vigour in the separate expressions. It is impossible to do justice to this conciseness in translation, although our Anglo-Saxon compares well with the Hebrew in this characteristic. No great poem can be adequately translated, since form is essential in poetry; but the Hebrew poetry appears at a special disadvantage in another language, since it is made up so largely of monosyllables and dissyllables, which explode like volcanic bursts or break like waves upon a rock. The sonorous gutturals and aspirates are broken into feeble fragments in translation, and the terse phrase or word, which strikes like a thunderbolt, is attenuated into a limping line. Every great poem must be read in the original language to be appreciated; and the poetry of Moses and David will amply repay any man of taste for the acquisition of Hebrew.
( 3.) The three criteria of Milton can be well applied to the Song of Moses. It is simple, sensuous, passionate: simple, for the words are transparent to the sentiments, which appeal to elemental and universal feelings; sensuous, for the imagery flashes the ideas to the soul through the senses; passionate, for every word is a flame. But, above all, religion is its inspiration. First and midst and last is JEHOVAH. Not Moses, not Israel, but JEHOVAH is the “hero of war.” Exodus 15:3. I will sing to Jehovah! is the proem; Sing to Jehovah! is the perpetual refrain; and the grand chorus bursts from the great host at last, JEHOVAH SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER!
This song may be analyzed into seven divisions: five stanzas or strains, a chorus, which with a slight change is also the proem or introductory strain, and the grand chorus. The men probably chanted the successive strains, Miriam and the women responding in the chorus with voice and timbrel, and all uniting in the grand chorus.
The proem gives the theme the glory of Jehovah in the destruction of the Egyptians. The five strains present the theme in five aspects, or reach it by five different paths of association: (1,) by extolling the might of Jehovah; (2,) the same in apostrophe; (3,) by triumphing over enemies; (4,) by triumphing over heathen gods; (5,) by prophesying future victories. Each of the first four strains closes by relating in different tropes and epithets the Red Sea overthrow, and the fifth terminates appropriately in the rest of Canaan. It will be noticed that the first strain is descriptive and in the third person; but, as the bard’s spirit rises, the second strain mounts into apostrophe, which is maintained to the end. Thus the ode rolls on in five successive waves, each returning in the refrain, and all rolling up together in the grand final chorus.
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