the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Aijeleth Shahar
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Hebrew Aye'leth, hash-Shach'ar, איְֶּלֶת השְּׁחְרְ, hind of the dawn, in which signification the terms often occur separately; Sept. ἡ ἀντίληψις ἡ ἑωθινή, Vulg. susceptio matutina) occurs in the title of Psalms 22, and is apparently the name of some other poem os song, to the measure of which this ode was to be performed or chanted (Aben Ezra, in loc.; Bochart, Hieroz. 1, 888; Eichhorn, Proef. ad Jonesium, De Poesi Asiat. p. 323; Rosenmuller, De Wette, in loc.); like the similar terms, e.g. AL- TASCHITH (See AL-TASCHITH) (q.v.), which occur in the inscriptions of other Psalms (57, 58, 59, 75), after the manner of Syriac poets (Assemani, Bibl. Orient. 1, 80). The phrase, however, is not necessarily taken from the initial words of a song (as Aben Ezra maintains, comp. Proverbs 5:19), much less an amatory effusion (comp. the opening of a poem of Ibn Doreid, "O gazelle!"); but the title may be borrowed, according to Oriental custom, from some prominent expression or theme in it, like David's "Song of the Bow" (2 Samuel 1; comp. Gesenius, Comment. in Isaiah 22:1). It may in this case allude either to the hunting of the deer by the early daylight, as the most favorable time for the chase; or, as more agreeable to the Arabic similes (Schultens, ad Meidan. Proverbs p. 39), as well as rabbinical usage (Talmud. Hieros. Berakoth, 2, 30, 1. 30, 35, ed. Cracon.), it may refer to the rays of the rising sun under the metaphor of a stag's horns (comp. Schultens and De Sacy, ap. Haririum Cons. 32). The interpretation of Faber (in Harmar's Observ. 2, 172) as signifying the beginning of dawn, is less agreeable to the etymology. Some (as Hare in the Bibl. Brem. Class. 1, pt. 2) understand some instrument of music; and others (e.g. Kimchi and the Talmudists) the morning star. — Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 45. (See PSALMS).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Aijeleth Shahar'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/a/aijeleth-shahar.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
