244 TH. BOOIJ First, there are interpretations based on hl[m as “step”, in plural “steps” as leading up to, e.g., an altar (Ezek 43,17), a throne (1 Kgs 10,19), or a gate (Ezek 40,26) 15. In both the Mishnah and the Tosephta tractate Sukkah tells about nocturnal festivities that took place in the temple court during Sukkoth, the Feast of Booths 16. There were torch dances then, and the Levites used to play on all sorts of instruments of music and to sing, standing on the half-circular steps which lead down from the court of the men to that of the women. The number of these steps, fifteen, is said to have corresponded to the number of the twl[m songs 17. Some take this to imply that these songs themselves are texts which the Levites used to sing on the steps (twl[m) 18. However, the tractate does not say so, nor does it claim that the name twl[mh ryv derives from the steps. In fact, because of their plaintive or pleading tone (Pss 120; 123; 130), or modest nature (Ps 131), some of the twl[m songs would be scarcely suitable for an exuberant celebration as took place, according to the rabbinical account, in the temple court. The local situation may also be taken into account. The common heading of the texts, considered in connection with their special nature, is likely to be of early date, if not original. The situation dealt with in Sukkah, however, is that of the Herodian temple. It is questionable whether the Jerusalem temple had the fifteen steps when the twl[m songs were given their name. It is not even certain that fifteen songs were counted at that time, as in the separate psalms the common title may be secondary and the present Psalm 127 seems to unite two different texts (vv. 1-2.3-5). Wilhelm Gesenius takes twl[m as “steps” in a figurative sense. In his view, the title originates from a figure of speech ß Cf. LXX: wdh twn anabaumwn, “song of the steps”; Jerome: canticum ∞ù ˜ ß ˜ 15 graduum ; Targum: amwhtd –yyqwsm l[ rmatad aryv, “song that was said on the steps of the depth”. M i s h n a h Sukkah 5,1-4; Tosephta Sukkah 4,1-9. See further H. 16 BORNHÄUSER, Sukka (Laubhüttenfest) (Die Mischna II.6; Berlin 1935) 137-149. Mishnah Sukkah 5,4; see also Middot 2,5. 17 Thus H. GRAETZ, “Die Halleluja- und Hallel-Psalmen”, MGWJ 28 18 (1879) 251; E. KÖNIG, Die Psalmen. Eingeleitet, übersetzt und erklärt (Gütersloh 1927) 18-19; H. HERKENNE, Das Buch der Psalmen. Übersetzt und erklärt (HS V/2; Bonn 1936) 14.