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Bible Encyclopedias
Hymn
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or In the only places of the New Testament where this word occurs, it is connected with two others of very similar import. 'Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord' (; ). It has been conjectured that by 'psalms and hymns' the poetical compositions of the Old Testament are chiefly to be understood, and that the epithet 'spiritual,' here applied to 'songs,' is intended to mark those devout effusions which resulted from the spiritual gifts granted to the primitive church; yet in a production of the latter class is called 'a psalm.' Josephus, it may be remarked, uses the terms 'hymns' and 'songs,' in reference to the Psalms of David (Antiq. vii. 12. 3). Our information respecting the hymnology of the first Christians is extremely scanty; the most distinct notice we possess of it is that contained in Pliny's celebrated Epistle (Ep. x. 97): 'They sing a hymn to Christ as God.'
The hymn which our Lord sung with his disciples at the Last Supper is generally supposed to have been the latter part of the Hallel, or series of psalms which were sung by the Jews on the night of the Passover, comprehending Psalms 113-118; Psalms 113, 114 being sung before, and the rest after the Passover.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Hymn'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/h/hymn.html.
