143).
He says that it "was an ancient hymn in the Jewish Church." But this
does not necessarily imply that it formed any part of Jewish services.
Nor did Wheatley probably intend to assert that it did. In point of fact
no evidence of such use is forthcoming, though it certainly would not
have been surprising if the Song had been so used, at least among the
Hellenistic Jews. For as Rothstein says in Kautzsch's Apocrypha, like
Ps. cxxxvi. it is "offenbar antiphonisch aufzufassen" and
"litaneiartig."
Notwithstanding the previous neglect, as it would seem, of this Song in
Jewish worship, its use by Christians dates from an early period. So Bp.
Gray (_O.T.,_ p. 611) says, "It was sung in the service of the primitive
Church;" and Ball, "the instinct of the Church, which early adopted the
_Benedicite_ for liturgical use, was right" (p. 307). Yet after it had
come into high esteem with Christians its chances of Jewish acceptance
would of course be largely diminished.
EARLY.
The liturgical use however was generally confined to the Song proper,
commencing with v.
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