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Bible Encyclopedias
Shushan-Eduth
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. Shushan' Eduth', ]עֵדוּת שִׁוּשִׁ ), an expression occurring in the phrase "To the chief musician upon Shushan-eduth," which is plainly a musical direction, whatever else may be obscure about it (Psalms 55, title). In Psalms 80 we have the fuller phrase SHOSHANNIM-EDUTH, of which Rodiger regards Shushaneduth as an abbreviation (Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 1385). As it now stands it denotes the lily of testimony, and possibly contains the first words of some psalm to the melody of which that to which it was prefixed was sung; and the preposition עִל, ‘al (A.V. "upon") would then signify "after, in the manner of," indicating to the conductor of the Temple choir the air which he was to follow. The Sept. and Vulg. appear to have read עִלאּמְשֻׁנַּי ם, for they render τοῖς ἀλλοιωθησομένοις and pro his qui immutabuntur respectively. In the Sept. עֶדוּת, eduth, becomes עוֹד, od, ἔτι. There does not appear to be much support for the view taken by some (as by Joel Bril) that Shushan- eduth is a musical instrument, so called from its resemblance to a lily in shape (Simonis), or from having lily-shaped ornaments upon it, or from its six (shesh) strings. Furst in consistency with his theory with respect to the titles of the Psalms, regards Shushaneduth as the name of one of the twenty-four divisions of singers appointed by David, so called after a bandmaster, Shushan, and having its headquarters at Eduth, which he conjecteres may be the same as Adithaim in Joshua 15:36 (Handwb. s.v.). As a conjecture this is certainly ingenious, but it has the disadvantage of introducing as many difficulties, as it removes. Simonis (Lex. s.v.) connects eduth with the Arabic ud, a lute, or kind of guitar played with a plectrum, and considers it, to be the melody produced by this instrument; so that in his view Shushan-eduth indicates that the lily-shaped cymbals were to be accompanied with playing on the lute. Gesenius proposes to render eduth a "revelation," and hence a psalm or song revealed; but there seems no reason why we should depart from the usual meaning as above given, and we may therefore regard the words in question as a fragment of an old psalm or melody, the same in character as Aijeleth Shahar and others, which contained a direction to the leader of the choir. (See PSALMS).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Shushan-Eduth'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/s/shushan-eduth.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
