PSALMS, BOOK OF
PSALMS, BOOK OF
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Cronounced on tliose who refuse to inherit a le-ssing diller correspondingly. The prospect of a future life— to take one point only — alters the whole question of retribution and destiny. With- out any spirit of Pharisaism or consciousness of superior virtue — which would be grossly out of place — the Christian cannot use the language of the imprecatory psalms as it stands, but interprets it in its s]iirit by reserving his wTath for the evil in himself and others, and striving to blend with it something of his Saviour's yearning compassion for the evil-doer.
6. The problems of life opened up by the ques- tion of evil do not figure largely in the psalms. The suilering of the righteous, the apparent im- punity of the wicked, do not often disturb the psalmist's mind. The moods expressed are those of thankfulness for mercies bestowed, sorrow in trouble, present or impending, prayer for deliver- ance, help, and guidance, not the anxiety of doubt or the half -bitter, half -eager cry of the seeker after truth who would believe, but cannot. The spiritual wrestlings of Job and the incredulous scepticism of I^oheleth in his darker hours hardly find any echo in the Psalter. The psalmist's mental exercises are described as mere transient moods, trying enough while they lasted, but not seriously atlecting the foundations of his faith. The 73rd and the 77th psalms are the chief examples of this. The 3Sth, 88th, and other sorrowful p.-^alms describe trouble of outward life and of inward spirit, but not such as arises from intellectual doubt or the undermining of faith in God. It is interesting to notice the way in which relief comes, when the question has once been raised as to whether the ways of Providence are equal and success precisely proportioned to character. In the 77th psalm the rigliteous man, whoai)peared to be forgotten and forsaken by God, falls back upon history, and recalls the deliverances wrought out for God's chosen people in the past. He rebukes, therefore, himself for his ' inlirmity,' and renews his confidence in the 'right hand of the Most High.' Here there is no examination of the ' problem ' at all as such ; the theory that God re- wards the righteous and punishes the wicked, which is BO fiercely assailed in Job, is never questioned here. The writer of the 73rd psalm goes deeper. His perplexity arises rather from the prosperity of the wicked than the sufiering of the righteous, but the problem in both ca-ses is the same. His conclu- sion is emphatically announced at the beginning. ' Surely (^x), God is good to Israel and to men of clean heart.' The mode of deliverance is described in w.""". In the sanctuary light came. But it came chielly in the form of an emphatic re-state- ment of the prevailing theory of Providence, The wicked will be punished, all tlie more over- whelmingly because of delay in Judgment. This psalmist holds with tlie writer of Ps 92 that only the (lull and foolish fail to understand that if the workers of iniquity flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever.
Another kind of solution may seem to be sug- gested by vv."'-". The psalmist finds his own por- tion in the presence and favour of God, and this is so strongly expressed that it might seem as if he had attained, by a sublime reach of faith, the doctrine of immortality. A similar conclu.sion is sug- gested by Ps l(i, in which the same line of thought and religious experience is followed. Ps 17'° and 49" are also held to express in briefer phrase the expectation that the righteous will enjoy life in the presence of God beyond the grave. It is certam that this was not the prevailing view of the writers of the psalms. "The wliole ca.st of these devout utterances would have been altered if any such expectation had formed a part of their
working creed. The strain of the 6th, 30th, 39th, and SSth psalms is not the language of a passing mood. ' In death there is no remembrance ol thee ; in Slieol who sliall give thee thanks ? ' The 'dust' cannot praise God; in the 'grave,' in 'darkness,' in 'Abaddon,' in the 'land of forget- fulness,' God cannot be praised, because He can- not be known by 'shades,' men who have passed away from the hajipy light of life. The evidence of silence is equally strou'', thou<;h not so readily noticed. A blank is found in the creed of the psalmists, as of the OT writers generally, when life beyond the grave is in question. The exceptions in the psalms above referred to do not invalidate the rule. Translated with severe accurac-j- and closely restricted to their exact declarations, the passages 73-'' 17" and 49'* do not prove any clear anticipation of a future life. It may be otherwise with IG"'", but the more satis- factory way of treating all these passages is to consider tliem together. Thus handled, they show us the path by \Wiii:h the faithful servant of God was travelling upwards from amidst the twilight of a dispensation in which was no clear revelation of a future life. He could not believe that the pit of corruption or the shadowy half-existence of Shcol was to be the end of all for the friend of God. One who had set J" always before him, and desired none in heaven or earth in comparison with his God, could not be left in darkness and forgetful- ness, it must be that he should behold God's face in righteousness and be satisfied with His likeness. One who had God for his portion must have Him for ever. God was his God, and the psalmist auticipated the reasoning of the Saviour, ' He is not tlie God of the dead, but of the living.' Nevertheless, this was but a reach of faith. No revelation had been given, no doctrine could be tauglit, no complete assurance could be enjoyed. The hope was a bright, reassuring and not decep- tive gleam of sunshine. But it was a gleam only. It was enjoyed for a moment and the clouds gathered in again. Not the clouds of denial or despair, but the impenetrable veil of vapour which hid from the saints of the Old Covenant God's will concerning the future. It does not follow- that the psalmist's religion is of a low and feeble type because this element in it is for the most part missing. Its vigour is shown in the tenacity of his faith without the 'comfortable assurance ' of later days. The Christian, for whoni ' the resurrection of the dead and tlie life of the world to come' is an essential article of creed, may find a fuller meaning in the words of the psalmist than he himself dared to find in them, and wonder the more that he who knew so littU believed so nmch and conquered in so hard a battle upon comjiarativcly slender fare.