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lojjue of prayer, wliicli continuts: to Ij-'. This ruturd of iiiU-rcession throws a liylit ajjon tlie inner life of the prophets, and tlieir intimate re- lations with Uod, whitli we liardly lind elsuwliere in OT. Tlie limits here set to intercession are an anticipation of 1 .In o'". And tlie persistence of the prophet, although rejected, is nevertheless an inspired persistence.
vii. Psaliii.i, Proverbs, Job. — Although the prayers in the Psalter exceed in amount and variety all other prayers in OT, yet they do not contribute to our studj' of the suhject so much as they would do if the circunist.ances and persons from which they jiroceeded were known to us. Althou^'h the title 'Prayers of David' is imjjlied in the subscription closing the second book (I's 72'-"), yet only one ps;iliii in these two books (Ps 17) is entitled 'a prayer.' And in the whole Psalter only live (including Ps 17) are so described. TchitHm (praises), not tcjjhilloth (prayers), is the recognized name of the book; but the latter would be almost as accurate a title as the former. Prayer in the P.saliiis will be considered uniler six heads. (1) Prayer is regarded in the Psalms as thu pouring out of the Iicart, 42^ 62" 102 (title) 142". Outside the Psalter, see 1 S 1"* and 7' coni- lared with La 2'". That which is poured out may e either the heart or its niusin" (-•;■, AV 'coni- jilaint'). In juayer the p.salniist does not so much go before God with hxed orderly petition, as simply to pour out his feelings and desires, what- ever they are, sweet or bitter, troubleil or peaceful. (2) As a consequence of this asi)ect, various moods are blended in pr.ayer. It passes from praise and commemoration to complaint, supplication, con- fession, despondency. Few psalms are entirely prayers in a strict sense. There is, however, another reason for the rapid transitions which occur. In some ca.ses the moment of a felt answer to prayer is marked in the P.salin itself by transi- tion to praise. Here we have an approach to the colloqui' in jirayer noticed in the cases of Abraham, Moses, and Jeremiah. In 143' an answer is dis- tinctly ex])ected ; .again in C"'" it is received, as also in SI-'-'-''. For strongly m.'irkcd transitions see 57""" 6!)™"". There is a sense that (Jod has heard, and that is equivalent to His granting the petition, cf. 1 Jn 5". Yet this answer sometimes fails, and psalms from which it is absent strike us p.s abnormal, e.g. Ps 8S. Here we come near what is frequent in Job, praj'er struggling in the dark- ness, without a reply. It is that 'shutting out' of prayer which is described in La 3*. (3) Mationdl and personnl pr.-ij'er, how far can they be distin- guished? .Some prjiyers in the Psalter are evi- dently national, e.;/. GO. 79. 80. But while 44 is no less evidently national, 'I' and 'me' occur in vv.' and ". Hence it is evident that the 1st pers. sing, is no proof that a psalm, e.g. 102, is personal. It may well be an expression of the complaint and needs of the nation. It may almost be said that the p.salniist never felt himself alone, but always connected his personal joys or griefs with those of the nation. Cheyne (OP 276) quotes a Rab- binic saying, ' In prayer a man should always unite himself with the community.' The question then will gcncr.illy be which of the two elements pre- dominati's, not which is exclusively present. (4) Material and externnl blessings are the principal tubjerts of priitjer in the Psftlms. Account must be taken, in considering this matter, of changes which have taken place in the meaning of words by the legitimate Hpiritualizing ellect of Christian use. 'Say unto my soul, 1 am thy salvation' (33') is a good instance of how a prayer for temporal deliverance has come to acquire the appearam^o of being a prayer for spiritual bless- ing. But although the Psalms are far more
largely occuiiied with temjioral and material than with spiritual needs, yet there are distinctly spiritual topics of prayer which lill a consideralile place in them. These are: (a) Communion with Uod, prayer for the intercourse of prayer, as in 63. (b) Forgiveness of sins, besougdit with the greatest earnestness in 51 for its own sake, but more frequently taking the form of prayer for that deliverance from sutt'cring and chastisement vhich was held to mark tlie forgiveness of sin (see art. SiM IN OT). (c) Ps ll'J stands on a dillerent footing. It contains much pr.aj'er for a knowledge of God's wUl. The pr.ajer for quicken- ing (' quicken ' occurs 11 times) seems distinctly to h.'ive a spiritual sense. The 'He' division, with its initial verbs in Hi]iliil, is almost entirely [irayer. The development of prayer in a spiritual direction has been carried some way in the Psalms, and prayer for external blessings has been cast in a loriu which will lend itself afterwards to spiritual interpretation. We must not, however, sujqiose that prayer of this kind dill'erenti.ates the P.salms from the prayers of all other religions. Prayer for spiritual and moral gifts is found elsewhere (Tjlor, Prim. Culture, vol. ii. pj). 373, 374). (5) V rgi ni:g of Prayer. There is a feeling that God must be induced to hear. This conies out in the anthro- pomorphic phrases which speak to Him as though He needed to be awakened, urged, or persuaded. We can scarcely suppose that this is, all of it, no more than a sacred irony. While NT put aside the thought of awakening Him, it retained that of pleading. On this subject see Ps 28' 44'-^, and in correction of these Ps 121 throughout. (6) Prayer of imprecation, for vengeance. This is botli frequent and urgent. It occurs in the highest strains of devotion, e.g. Ps 69--"^, as well as in psalms of a lower level, e.g. 59. It reaches its extreme point in 109. In this Psalm attempts have been made to explain it away, but here no separate dealing is possible with a concejition which enters into the tissue of so many p.salms. It is certainlj' remarkable that the phrase which above any expresses the absorption of^tlie p.salniist in prayer (' I am prayer,' 109*) should occur where it does. Various considerations maj' help us to bear with this feature, but one is sufficient here. The devout Israelite of that day believed deeply in God, was perhaps more closely conscious of llim than we are, and yet looked out on a world of treachery, cruelty, and lust. The vision which we have before us of a future retribution in another life was entirely shut out from him. If his sense of justii^e was not dead, how could he help crying out for some manifestation of Divine righteousness by way of retribution, even apart from human instinct for revenge? An inspiration which ran counter to such desires would have disturbed the veiy foundations of his faith, bee, further, art. Psalms, p. 160.