The Book of Psalms

The choice and flower of all things profitable in other books the
Psalms do both more briefly contain, and more movingly also express,
by reason of that poetical form wherewith they are written... What
is there necessary for man to know which the Psalms are not able to
teach? They are to beginners an easy and familiar introduction, a
mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge in such as are
entered before, a strong confirmation to the most perfect among others.
Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice, grave moderation, exact wisdom,
repentance unfeigned, unwearied patience, the mysteries of God, the
sufferings of Christ, the terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works
of Providence over this world, and the promised joys of that world
which is to come, all good necessarily to be either known or done or
had, this one celestial fountain yieldeth. Let there be any grief or
disease incident into the soul of man, any wound or sickness named,
for which there is not in this treasure-house a present comfortable
remedy at all times ready to be found.

R. HOOKER.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

LYRIC poetry is the most ancient kind of poetry, and Hebrew
poetry is mainly lyric. Neither epic nor dramatic poetry

flourished in ancient Israel. Some indeed of the historical
Psalms may be said to have an epic colouring, but they belong
to the class of didactic narrative: Job and the Song of Songs
may be called in a sense dramatic, but they do not appear to
have been intended for performance on the stage1. The only
independent branch of poetry in Israel was gnomic or pro-
verbial poetry, which in the hands of the 'Wise Men' attained
to a rich development, and must have exercised an important
influence on the education of the people.

The Old Testament is the religious history of Israel, and the
poetry preserved in the Book of Psalms is, as might be expected,
religious poetry. Secular poetry no doubt existed, but, with

1 See however Driver, Lit. of O.T., p. 444, for the view that the Song

may have been "designed to be acted, the different parts being personated
by different characters," or represented by "the varied voice and gesture
of a single reciter."

2 Such as the drinking songs referred to in Amos vi. 5 (R.V.);

Is. v. 12: harvest and vintage songs (Is. xvi. 10, 11; Jer. xlviii. 33):

parables (Judg. ix. 8 ff.). Solomon's thousand and five songs' were

probably of a secular character (1 Kings iv. 32). Poems like Exod. xv

and Judg. v are essentially religious. The Book of the Wars of Jehovah

(Num. xxi. 14), and the Book of Jashar, i.e. the Upright (Josh. x. 13;

2 Sam. i. 18), appear to have been collections of poems commemorating

remarkable episodes of national history, and the characters and exploits

of national heroes. In these no sharp line could be drawn between what

was secular and what was religious.

the exception of a few fragments preserved in the historical books1, it has not come down to us. The Psalter then is a collection of religious lyrics. Lyric poetry is defined as “that which directly expresses the individual emotions of the poet"; and religious lyric poetry is the expression of those emotions and feelings as they are stirred by the thought of God and directed God-wards. This is the common characteristic of the Psalms in all their manifold variety. Some are directly addressed to God, as petition or thanksgiving or praise: some are the communings of the soul with God, expressing its faith, its hope, its love, its needs, its fears, its aspirations, its joys, its triumphs: some celebrate the 'marvellous works' of God in nature and in history: some reflect upon the perplexing problems of life and their relation to the divine government of the world: but God is as it were the sun around which all revolves, and His light and heat illuminate and animate the whole.

The Psalms stand in an intimate relation to the whole of the Old Testament. They are the inspired response of the human heart to God's revelation of Himself, in Law and History and Prophecy and Philosophy.

The Psalmists celebrate the moral law as the guide of human conduct; they welcome the ordinances of worship and rejoice in the privilege of access to the presence of God in the Temple, as the crowning joy of life.

History supplies its lessons of God's goodness and man's ingratitude, thrown into the easily remembered form of didactic poetry. The recollection of the past is a warning for the present, the support of faith in the hour of trial, the ground of comfort in times of calamity.

The Psalms are closely connected with Prophecy. The term 'prophesying' is applied to the expression of religious fervour in chant and hymn (1 Sam. x. 10 ff.; xix. 20 ff.: 1 Chr. xxv. 1—3); and David's chief musicians, Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthun, are called 'seers' (1 Chr. xxv. 5; 2 Chr. xxix. 30; xxxv. 15). Sacred poetry often rises to prophetic foresight, or speaks with pro

1 E.g. Gen. iv. 23, 24; Num. xxi. 17, 18, 27-30; Judg. xv. 16; I Sam. xviii. 7.

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The Book of Psalms, Parte 3,Edizione 1895