with the opening couplet of the poem, of which they form a corresponding division, so that they clearly constitute a part of the ode. The natural conclusion is, therefore, that they are metrical, precisely in the same degree as the portions preceding them.

The concluding chorus, as I have elsewhere said,* was taken up and sung alternately, the women responding to the men. The poem appears to have been divided into four parts, and at the end of each part Miriam and the women are supposed to have chanted the chorus, the male voices ceasing until they had finished.

To enumerate every beauty in this magnificent production would carry me beyond all reasonable bounds; but I trust sufficient has been said to prove that Moses was one of the greatest poets which the world has ever known, and only equalled by those who, like himself, were divinely inspired. The concurrent attestation of all great Hebrew scholars has been recorded that this is a composition of wonderful power and sublimity, and the earliest specimen of a regularly distributed ode.

See pp. 259 and 315.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Kennicott's version of the Thanksgiving Ode explained.

DR. KENNICOTT, in his admirable version of the thanksgiving song of Moses, has distributed it, as he imagines it to have been sung, immediately after the event which it commemorates. I shall give it here at length.

Moses.-Part the first.

I will sing to Jehovah, for he hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

My strength and my song is Jehovah ;

And he is become to me for salvation:

This is my God and I will celebrate him;

The God of my father, and I will exalt him.
Jehovah is mighty in battle!

Jehovah is his name.

Perhaps a Chorus

sung by the men.

Chorus, by Miriam and the women, perhaps sung

first in this place.

Oh! sing ye to Jehovah, for he hath triumphed gloriously!
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Moses.-Part the second.

Pharoah's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea;
And his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea ;

The depths have covered them, they went down ;

(They sank) to the bottom as a stone.

Thy right hand, Jehovah, is become glorious in power;
Thy right hand, Jehovah, dasheth in pieces the enemy.
And in the greatness of thine excellence thou overthrowest them

that rise against thee;

Thou sendest forth thy wrath, which consumeth them as stubble: Even at the blast of thy displeasure the waters are gathered together;

The floods stand upright as a heap;

Congealed are thy depths in the very heart of the sea.
Oh! sing ye to Jehovah, &c. (Chorus by the women.)

Moses.-Part the third.

The enemy said: 'I will pursue, I shall overtake;

I shall divide the spoil, my soul shall be satiated with them;

I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'

Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them;

They sank as lead in the mighty waters.

Who is like thee among the gods, O Jehovah?

Who is like thee, glorious in holiness!

Fearful in praises; performing wonders!

Thou stretchest out thy right hand, the earth swalloweth them! Thou in thy mercy leadest the people whom thou hast redeemed! Thou in thy strength guidest to the habitation of thy holiness! Oh! sing ye to Jehovah, &c. (Chorus by the women.)

Moses.-Part the fourth.

The nations have heard and are afraid;

Sorrow hath seized the inhabitants of Palestine.

Already are the dukes of Edom in consternation,

And the mighty men of Moab, trembling hath seized them;

All the inhabitants of Canaan do faint;

Fear and dread shall fall upon them;

Through the greatness of thine arm, they shall be still as a stone:

Till thy people, Jehovah, pass over (Jordan ;)

Till thy people pass over whom thou hast redeemed;

Thou shalt bring them and plant them in the mount of thine

inheritance:

The place for thy rest which thou, Jehovah, hast made;
The sanctuary, Jehovah, which thy hands have established.

Grand chorus by all.

Jehovah for ever and ever shall reign.

According to this division it will be seen that in the opening distich of the first part, the subject is proposed and the reason of the jubilant action of Moses and the Israelites stated. Then follows a strain of ardent exultation on the divine mercy and power, which terminates with the repetition of the proemial couplet as a chorus, with a slight alteration, by Miriam and the women. The whole is full of the highest poetic fervour.

The second part begins with a renewal of the subject, which is the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage and tyranny. The destruction of Pharoah, his nobles, his captains, and his host, is described in a manner amazingly solemn and imposing. The five first couplets are magnificent specimens of gradational parallelism. I know of no descriptive poetry which will bear a comparison with them out of the sacred volume. The closing line, as I have already observed, is incomparably beautiful. I do not think that the inversion, "congealed are thy depths," as Kennicott renders the passage, is so good as the common rendering, which is not only more simple, but at the same time unquestionably more natural—

And the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

The third part opens with the haughty confidence of Pharoah, who relying upon the number and discipline of his troops, declares his cruel determination to exterminate the fugitive Israelites. The divine power is sublimely displayed

as exercised upon the Egyptians, and his ineffable mercy, as extended to his chosen people. Throughout the whole of this part there is a strain of eloquent exultation, and it closes as before with a chorus by Miriam and the women.

The fourth part commences with a description of the effect produced upon the Canaanites by the approach of the armies of Israel to their country, heralded by miracles which proved the superintendence of an omnipotent supporter and guide. Then follows a prophetic representation of what is to result from the final deliverance of Jacob's seed from Egyptian bondage; the whole closing with a grand chorus. The parallelisms, which have been already noticed, in the latter part are manifest and eminently beautiful. Nothing can exceed in vivid colouring and vigorous force of description the effect produced among the nations of Canaan by the apprehended success of the strangers. It is not an easy matter to render the beauties of this noble ode obvious to every perception, because they are of that specific character not readily to be traced and apprehended except by those who have a true feeling for poetry, and can distinguish it wherever it is present by the force of their own taste and natural relish for peculiar excellencies.

As the character of this divine song is essentially different from the compositions of a similar description belonging to our own age and country, if often fails to awaken the enthusiasm of such as are judges of poetry rather by that convention of opinion which gives its bias and