Selah (Hastings' Dictionary)

This word occurs 71 times in the Psalter, 17 of these occurrences being in Book I., 30 in II., 20 in III., 4 in V. The majority of the psalms wlierein it appears are Elohistic, and all of them ascribed, in the titles, to David, Korah, Asaph or Ethan, except Pss. 66 and 67, the latter of which has ^aX/ti6s t^; AavdS in the LXX. In 16 psalms it is found once, in 15 twice, in 7 thrice, in 1 four times. It stands also three times in the psalm which is known as Hab 3.

In the so-called Psalms of Solomon Sidyf'aX/io is used twice (17" 18'"), but m, one of the eight MSS of which Swete has availed himself (The OT in Greek'', vol. iii.), omits it in both cases. Its usual position is at the end of a poem or of a strojjhe, the only instances of its occurrence in the middle of a verse being Ps 55" 57', Hab 3^ '.

These exceptions, however, are api)arent rather than real : the first passage is full of impassioned feeling, and the ScCa/t im- mediately follows a Divine title ; in the second the LXX has Jid^aX/ta at the close of tlie verse ; the other two are connected with loose quotations from Dt 33''', Ps 77"'-^'. It is universally agreed that $clah is a musical or liturgical sign of some kind. Nowhere has the word any grammatical connexion with the con- text.

Ps 9'° is not an exception, for Higgaion, Setah, are botli used interjoctionally, ' Resounding niu.sic I Up!' It is not found in the prophetical writings, and its reference to the temple music is evinced by the fact that 31 of the 39 jisalms con- taining it are ascribed in their titles in^'jf';, as is Hab 3 at the close. The derivation and precise significance of the note have been much disputed. (1) One sugges- tion is that we have in it simply the Heb. form of <ld\\€.

But the musical signs of tlie Psalter date from an earlier period than that of the Greek influence. Besicies, if the word had come from the tlreek, it is strange that no tradition to that efl'ect should have reached any of the Greek translators. (2) It has been taken as aji abbrevia- tion. For example, VC "I'V^ 3b=da capo, but 432 SELA-HAiBIAHLEKOTH SELEUCUS I. these abbreviations, however ajrreeable to the taste of later writers, are not biblical.

(3) It has been derived from a verb nho, supposed to be equivalent to nVei : the imperative would be n^9, with rr paragogic nj'p, in pause nJ>D. The inter- change of D and o is, however, rare in the Heb. of the UT, and the sense thus obtained, ' Pause ! ' does not suit many of the passages : as, for instance, those where it stands in the middle of a verse or would break the flow of thought (Ps 55" 67'- *, Hab S'-"), or at the end of a psalm (Ps 3. 24), where no direction to pause is needed.

(4) Several of the VSS translated it by words which mean ' for ever.' The Targ. has n^'^si), I'P^y^, '^O^i Kzhs, y^)si 'c'ri;^, etc. ; Aq. dei ; Tlieod. del ; Sexta Stairavrii, once eis t^Xos ; Quinta el! toi)s o/wxas ; Jerome, semper, in sempiterniim. (5) In all proba- bility it is connected with the verb h\^ = to lift up, to cast up. In this case the meaning may be (a) ' Lift up ! Loud !

' a direction to the orchestra, which had nitherto been playing a soft accompani- ment and is now to strike in with loud music, trumpets and cymbals, whilst the singer's voice was hushed. Additional force would thus be given to those parts of the psalm where it seemed appropriate. It will be noticed that Selah is not found at the beginning of a psalm, for instru- mental preludes were in all probability unknown, the instruments being always secondary to the voices.

Or (6) it may mean ' Lift up your bene- diction,' the reference being to a doxology ' sung after every psalm and section of a psalm which for any liturgical reason was separated from a section which followed' (Briggs, JBL, 1899, p. 142). The 3ia-4'zXu« of LXX, Theod., ftnd Symm. has received almost as many varying interpretations as the original word itself. 'Quidam diapsalma commutationem metn dixerunt esse ; alii pausationem spiritus ; nonnulli alterius sensus ex- ordium.

Sunt qui rhythmi distinctionem, et quia psalmi tunc teraporis juncta voce ad organum canebantur, cujusdam music® varietatis existimant sUentium' (Jer. ad Marcellam). It seems not unlikely that the true meaning is an interlude ' : Hesycliius explains the similarly formed word iietiiktct of the fiute-playing in the intenal between two choruses. B. Jacob's * Beitriige zu einer Einleitung in die Psalmen ' (ZATW, 1896, pp. 129-182) is a very full discussion of the word.

Denying the possibility of an etymological explanation, he reaches two main conclusions : (1) '"^^ ? signifies a pause, whether in the temple song or for the temple song ; (2) ' the meaning of 'D was purposely concealed to prevent the syna- gogues and perhaps also the churches from obtaining one of the privileges of the temple.' Briggs' article, quoted above, is marlied by great freshness in its discussion of the problem : see also under the word nVo in the Os^f. Beb. Lexicon. J.

Tayxor, SELA-HAMMAHLEKOTH (n\p\ntin y^p ; rirpaL i, liepiaBetaa ; Petra dividens ; ' the rock of di^^sion8 or escape,' RVm). — A rock or cliff in the wilder- ness of Maon, at which Saul ' returned from pur- suing after David ' (1 S 2S^). The ' rock of divisions' is the interpretation of the Jewish commentators {Midrash, Rashi), and is pronounced probable by Driver (Text of Sam. ad. loc); the 'rock of escapes' that of Gesenius (Thes. 485).

The great gorge of W&dy MalAki, which runs eastward be- tween Carmel and Maon, would be a suitable position, and the name may be a corruption of the Hebrew by the loss of a guttural (Conder, PEF Mem. iu. 314). C. W. Wilson.