own person. INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS. precepts of religion in solemn, but for the most part simple, strains. Some are ENIGMATIC, delivering the doctrines of religion in enigmas contrived to strike the imagination forcibly, and yet easy to be understood. In all these the author delivers the whole matter in his But a very great, I believe the far greater, part are a sort of DRAMATIC ODES, consisting of dialogues between persons sustaining certain characters. In these dialogue psalms the persons are frequently the Psalmist himself, or the chorus of priests and Levites, or the leader of the Levitical band, opening the ode with a proem, declarative of the subject, and very often closing the whole with a solemn admonition drawn from what the other persons say. The other persons are JEHOVAH, sometimes as one, sometimes as another of the Three Persons; CHRIST in his incarnate state, sometimes before, sometimes after, his resurrection; the human soul of Christ as distinguished from the divine essence. Christ, in his incarnate state, is personated sometimes as a Priest, sometimes as a King, sometimes as a Conqueror. The resemblance is very remarkable between this Conqueror in the Book of Psalms, and the Warrior on the white horse in the Book of Revelation, who goes forth with a crown on his head, and a bow in his hand, conquering and to conquer. And the conquest in the Psalms is followed, like the conquest in the Revelation, by the marriage of the Conqueror. These are circumstances of similitude which, to any one versed in the prophetic style, prove beyond a doubt that the mystical Conqueror is the same Personage in both." There is an opinion relative to the construction of this book, which, though to myself it appear as fanciful as it is singular, yet deserves to be mentioned, especially as so great a man as Dr. Horsley supposes, that if it were kept in view, it would conduce much to a right understanding of the book. The whole collection of the Psalms forms a sort of HEROIC TRAGEDY. The redemption of man, and the destruction of Satan, is the PLOT. The PERSONS OF THE DRAMA are the Persons of the GODHEAD; Christ united to one of them: Satan, Judas, the apostate Jews, the heathen persecutors, the apostates of latter times. The ATTENDANTS: believers, unbelievers, angels. The SCENES: heaven, earth, hell. The TIME of the Action: from the Fall to the final overthrow of the apostate faction, and the general judgment. SECTION X.-ON THE PARTICULAR SUBJECT AND USE OF EACH PSALM. I have already given different tables relative to the division, chronological arrangement, and supposed authors and occasions on which they were composed. There have been some others made, in which they have been classed according to their subjects, and their uses for the godly and the Christian church. The most circumstantial that I have seen is that in the Quintuplex Psalterium, printed in 1508, already noticed in the beginning of this introduction. The following, from Bishop Horsley, may be probably of most general use: Services of the Festivals of the Jewish church. For the SABBATH, Ps. xix., civ., and cxviii. For the PASSOVER, Ps. lxxviii., cv., cxiv. For PENTECOST, Ps. cxi., cxxxv., cxxxvi. For the FEAST OF TRUMPETS, Ps. lxxxi. For the FEAST OF TABERNACLES, Ps. lxv., lxvii. A war song, Ps. cxlix. Thanksgiving for national deliverances, or successful war, Ps. xlviii., lxvi., lxxvi., cxv., cxxiv., cxxv., cxliv. Thanksgiving after a storm, hurricane, or earthquake, Ps. xxix., xlvi. Upon placing the ark in Solomon's temple, Ps. cxxxii. Prayers in seasons of national calamity, Ps. lxxxix. Prayers for help in war, Ps. xliv., lx., lxi. Thanksgiving for Hezekiah's recovery, Ps. xxx., cxvi. Prayers in the time of Manasseh's captivity, Ps. lxxix., lxxx. Thanksgiving for Manasseh's return, Ps. lxxxv. Prayers, lamentations, and confessions of the captives, Ps. lxxiv., lxxvii., cii., cvi., cxxxvii. Songs of triumph and thanksgivings of the returned captives, Ps. cvii., cxxvi., cxlvi., cxlvii. A king of Judah's inauguration vow, ci. Grand chorus for all the voices and all the instruments, Ps. cl. The blessedness of the righteous, and the final perdition of the opposite faction, Ps. i., xxxvi. xxxvii., cxii. The extermination of the religious faction, Ps. xiv., liii. True godliness described as distinct from the ritual, Ps. xv., I. The believer's scruples arising from the prosperity of the wicked, removed by revealed religion, and the consideration of their latter end, Ps. Ixxiii. The pleasures of devotion, Ps. Ixxxiv. Divine ænigmata; the subject the Redeemer's divinity, the immortality of the soul, and a future retribution, Ps. xlix. A mystical prayer of David in the character of the high-priest, Ps. xvi. Prayers of believers for protection against the atheistical conspiracy, Ps. iii., iv., x., xii., xiii., xvii., xliii., liv. cxx, cxxiii., cxl. The believer's penitential confessions and deprecations, Ps. vi., xxxii. xxxviii., xxxix., li. Believer's prayer for the promised redemption, Ps. cxxx., cxliii INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS. Believers lament their afflicted state in this short and evil life, and pray for the resurrection, xc. Prayers for grace and mercy, Ps. v., xxv., xxvi., cxxxi. Songs of triumph in prospect of the establishment of God's universal kingdom, Ps. xlvii., lxvii., xciii. A believer's general praises and thanksgivings, Ps. viii., xix., xxiii., ciii., cxix. A believer's thanksgiving for the final extirpation of iniquity, and the idolatrous religions and persecuting power, Ps. ix., xi., lii., lxvi. The church prays for preservation from corruptions, Ps. xxviii., cxli.; for deliverance from the persecution of her enemies, Ps. vii., latter part of xxvii., from ver. 7 to the end, and xxxi., lix.; for Messiah's deliverance and success, Ps. xx. The church gives thanks for Messiah's victory, Ps. xxi.; for her own final deliverance, Ps. xviii.; for the final extirpation of iniquity and idolatry, Ps. xcii. Messiah's prayers, Ps. xxii., xxxv., xli., lvi., lvii., lxi., lxii., lxiii., lxxxvi., lxxxviii.; in agony. When taken and deserted, Ps. cxlii.; thanksgivings, Ps. xl., cxvii., and cxviii., one Ps. cxxxviii; accusation of the impenitent Jews, his enemies, Ps. lv., lxiv., lxix.; prophetic malediction of the Jewish nation, Ps. cix.; exaltation, Ps. ii., xxiv., xlv., xcv., xcvi., xevii., xcviii., xcix., c., cx.; comforts of the afflicted Israelites with the promise of the final excision of the idolatrous faction, Ps. xciv.; exhorts to holiness and trust in God by the example of his own deliverance, Ps. xxxiv.; predicts the final judgment, Ps. lxxv. God promises the Messiah protection and glory, Ps. xci. God's just judgment foretold upon the unjust judges of our Lord, Ps. lviii., lxxxii. The reign of the king's son, Ps. lxxii. Salvation is of the Jews, Ps. lxxxvii. Of the Psalms, six are alphabetical, xxv., xxxiv., xxxvii., cxi., cxii., cxlv. Forty-five of the Psalms are called by the Masoretes Mizmor, iii., iv., v., vi., viii., ix., xii., Xiii., XV., xix., XX., xxi., xxii., xxiii., xxiv., xxix., xxxi., xxxviii., xxxix., xl., xli., xlvii., xlix., 1., li., lii., liii., liv., lv., lxxiii., lxxvii., lxxix., lxxx., lxxxii., lxxxiv., lxxxv., xcviii., c., ci, cix., cx., cxxxix., cxl., cxli., cxliii. Six are called Michtam, xvi., lvi., lvii., lviii., lix., lx. Thirteen are called Maschil, xxxii., xlii., xliv., xlv., lii., liii., liv., lv., lxxiv., lxxviii., xxxviii., lxxxix., cxlii. Seren are called Mizmor Shir, xxxi., lxv., lxvii., lxviii., lxxv., lxxvii., xcii. Fire are called Shir Mizmor, xlviii., lxvi., lxxxiii., lxxxviii., cviii. One is called Shir, xlvi. Four are called Tephillah, xvii., lxxxvi., xc., cii. One is called Tehillah, cxlv; one, Shiggaion, vii.; one, Lehazchir, lxx. Fifteen are called Shir Hammaaloth or Songs of Steps, cxx.--cxxxiv. SECTION XI.-ON THE GENERAL USE OF THE PSALMS IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. That our blessed Lord used the Book of Psalms as he did other books of Scripture, and quoted from it, we have already seen; this stamps it with the highest authority and that he and his disciples used it as a book of devotion, we learn from their singing the Hillel at his last supper, which we know was composed of Psalms cxiii., cxiv., cxv., cxvi., cxvii., and CXviii.; see Matt. xxvi. 30, and the notes there: and that they were used by the Christian church from the earliest times in devotional exercises, especially in praising God, we have the most ample proof. At first what was called singing was no more than a recitativo or solemn mode of reading or repeating, which in the Jewish church was accompanied by struments of music, of the nature of which we know nothing. The Christian religion which delights in simplicity, while it retained the Psalms as a book divinely inspired, and a book of devotion, omitted the instrumental music, which however, in after times, with other corruptions, crept into the church, and is continued in many places, with small benefit to the adly, and little edification to the multitude. What good their might have been derived rom it has been lost in consequence of the improper persons who generally compose what commonly called the choir of singers. Those whose peculiar office it is to direct and lead the singing in divine worship, should have clean hands and pure hearts. To see this part of public worship performed by unthinking if not profligate youths of both sexes, fills the serious with pain, and the ungodly with contempt. He who sings not with the spirit as well as the understanding, offers a sacrifice to God as acceptable as the dog's head and swine's blood would have been under the Mosaic law. I shall not enter into the question whether the Psalms of David, or hymns formed on New Testament subjects, be the most proper for Christian congregations; both I think may be profitably used. Nor will I take up the controversy relative to the adapting the Psalms to express an evangelical meaning in every place. I need only give my opinion, that I consider this a difficult, if not a dangerous, work. Where the Psalms evidently relate to the INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS. gospel dispensation, the matter is plain; there it is proper and necessary to give them their full direction and meaning; but to turn those in this way that evidently have no such reference, I consider a temerarious undertaking, and wholly unwarrantable. But the most difficult task is, throwing them into a modern poetic form, especially into metre; as in such cases many things are introduced for the sake of the poetry, and the final jingle, which were never spoken by the inspired penmen; and it is an awful thing to add to or detract from the word of God, either in poetry or prose. And how frequently this is done in most metrical Versions of the Psalms, need not be pointed out here. Perhaps one of the most faultless in this respect is an almost obsolete one in our own language, viz., that by Sternhold and Hopkins. Because of its uncouth form, this Version has been unjustly vilified, while others, by far its inferiors, have been as unreasonably extolled. The authors of this Version (for it has been taken directly from the Hebrew Text) have sacrificed every thing to the literal sense and meaning. The others, and especially that of Tate and Brady, which is no version from the original, sacrifice often the literal and true sense to sound and smoothness of numbers; in which, however, they are not always successful. I shall add only one word on the subject of this very ancient version. I can sing almost every Psalm in the Version of Sternhold and Hopkins as the Psalms of David; 1 can sing those of the New Version As the Psalms of Dr. Brady and Nahum Tate. Either let one equally literal, with a better versification, be made; or restore to the people that form of sound words of which they have too long been deprived. But, to serve the purposes of devotion, we want a better translation of the Psalms; a translation in which the hemistich, or Hebrew poetic form, shall be carefully preserved; and with a very few expletives (which should be distinguished by italics, or otherwise, in the printing, to bring the lines into those forms to which our versification or musical measures may extend), we might sing the whole, without singing any thing in sense or meaning which was not David's. Indeed a species of recitativo singing would be the most proper for these sacred odes; as it would answer much better the solemn purposes of devotion, than the great mass of those tunes which are commonly employed in church music, in which the style of singing is rarely adapted to the grand and melting compositions of the sweet singer of Israel. Let the plan be copied which is adopted from the Hebrew MSS. in Dr. Kennicott's edition; let them be translated line for line, as Dr. Lowth has done his Version of Isaiah; let a dignified recitativo music be adapted to the words; attend to metre, and be regardless of rhyme; and then the Psalms will be a mighty help to devotion, and truly religious people will sing with the spirit and the understanding also. Were a Version of this kind made and substituted for that most inaccurate Version in the Prayer-book, a stumbling-block would be taken out of the way of some sincere minds, who are pained to find, not only important differences, but even contradictions, between the psalms which they read in their authorized Version, and those which are used in the public service of the church. As many persons are greatly at a loss to account for the strange varieties between these two Versions (that in the Bible, and that in the Prayer-book), it may be necessary to give them some information on this head. Properly speaking, the Psalms in the Prayer-book, called the Reading Psalms, are rather a paraphrase than a version. It was never taken immediately from the Hebrew, with which it disagrees in places innumerable. In the main it follows the Septuagint and the Vulgate, but often differs from them, even where they differ from the Hebrew, and yet without following the latter. And there are many words, turns of thought, and varieties of mood, tense, and person in it which do not appear in any of the above. In the Prose Psalms in our authorized Version our translators have acted very conscientiously, as they have done in all other cases where they have added any thing, even the smallest particle, in order to fill up the sense, or accommodate the Hebrew idiom to that of the English; they have shown this by putting the expletive or supplied word in the italic letter. Thousands of such expletives, many of them utterly unnecessary, are found in the Prose Psalms in the Prayer-book; but they have no such distinguishing mark, and are all printed as if they were the words of the Holy Spirit! There are some things in this Version that are contradictory to what is found in the Hebrew text. I shall give one example. In Psalm cxxv. 3 we have the following words in the Hebrew text: van daw my xb 12 Open S by ki lo yanuach shebet haresha al goral hatstsaddikim, which is faithfully translated in our common Version, "For the rod of the wicked (wickedness marg.) shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous:" this is rendered in the Prose Psalms in the Prayer-book thus: "For the rod of the ungodly cometh not into the lot of the righteous." INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS. "This," say the objectors, "is neither Scripture nor truth. 1. It is not Scripture: the Hebrew is, as our authorized Version hath it: The rod of the wicked shall not rest.' But your Version saith, 'The rod of the ungodly cometh not.' 2. It is not truth, 'The rod of the wicked often cometh into the lot of the righteous;' but here is the difference: though it may come, and often doth come, into the lot of the righteous, yet God never permitteth it to rest there. Here therefore your Reading Psalms contradict both Scripture and fact.” It may be asked, From what source is this objectionable reading derived? It evidently cannot be derived from the Hebrew text, as the reader will at once perceive. It is not in the Vulgate, which reads, Quia non relinquet Dominus virgam peccatorum super sortem justorum. "For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the righteous." It is not in the Septuagint, Ότι ουκ αφήσει Κύριος την ῥαβδον των ἁμαρτωλων επι τον κληρον Twv dikatov, which is precisely the same as the Vulgate. Nor does this strange version receive any support from either the Chaldee, Syriac, Ethiopic, or Arabic. To attempt to vindicate such a translation will neither serve the interests of the church, nor those of Christianity, especially when we have one so very different and so very faithful put into the hands of the people by the authority of the church and the state. That in the Prayer-book should be immediately suppressed, and replaced by that in our authorised Version, that the people may not have a different Version put into their hands on the Lord's day, and in times of public devotion, from that which they find in their Bible; in consequence of which they are often confounded with discrepancies which it is out of their power to reconcile. It is passing strange that the rulers of the church have slumbered so long over a subject of such vast magnitude and importance. To be fully satisfied on this subject, I have collated this Prayer-book Version in many places with the Hebrew text, the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the old Itala or Antehieronymian, and the Oriental Versions in general; and find much cause of complaint against its general looseness, and frequent inaccuracy; and would give that advice to the rulers of our church, that the prophet did to the rulers of the Jewish church, on a subject in which the best interests of the people were concerned: "Go through, go through the gates; cast up, cast up the highway; take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people; lift up a standard for the people;" Isai. lvii. 14, lxii. 10. With respect to helps, I may say in general that I have occasionally consulted, 1. The Critici Sacri. 2. Venema; whom I should have been glad to have used more particularly, but his plan would have led me into such an extent of comment, as would have far surpassed my limits. 3. Rosenmüller's collections were of more use; but neither did his plan quadrate with mine. 4. Calmet afforded me most assistance, as he is, in almost all respects, the most judicious of all the commentators. 5. Could I have wholly agreed with the plan of the truly pious Bishop Horne, I might have enriched my work with many of those spiritual remarks with which his Commentary abounds. Where I differ from his plan will best appear in a preceding part of this introduction, to which I must refer the reader. 6. From the very learned Bishop Horsley I have borrowed several useful notes, particularly of a critical kind. 7. But the work which I think may be of most use to masters of families, and ministers in general, is that excellent and judicious one by Dr. Wm. Nicolson, formerly Bishop of Gloucester, with the quaint but expressive title, " DAVID'S HARP STRUNG AND TUNED; or an easy ANALYSIS of the whole Book of Psalms, cast into such method, that the sum of every psalm may quickly be collected and remembered." In many places I have introduced the whole of the analysis, with some corrections, leaving out the prayers at the end of each psalm; which, though very useful for the family or for the closet, could not properly have a place in a comment. This work was finished by the author, October 22, 1658. 8. From an old folio MS. on vellum in my own collection, I have extracted some curious notes and renderings. It contains the Vulgate, or more properly the Antehieronymian Version, with a translation after each verse in the ancient Scottish dialect, and after that a paraphrase in the same language. I have given the eighth psalm as it stands in this ancient MS., after my notes on that psalm. Most of my readers will find this at least an edifying curiosity. Extracts from it will appear in different parts of the work. I know nothing like the Book of Psalms it contains all the lengths, breadths, depths, and heights of the patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian dispensations. It is the most useful book in the Bible, and is every way worthy of the wisdom of God. Reader, may the Spirit of the ever-blessed God make this most singular, most excellent and most exalted of all his works a present and eternal blessing to thy soul!—Amen. 1927 ADAM CLARKE. Chronological Notes relative to the Psalms written by David, upon the supposition that they were all composed in a period of about forty-seven years. See the Introduction. Year from the Creation, 2942-2989.-Year before the birth of Christ, 1058-1011.-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 1062–1015.-Year since the Deluge, according to archbishop Usher, and the English Bible, 1286-1333.-Year from the destruction of Troy, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 123-170.-Year before the first Olympiad, 286-239.-Year before the building of Rome, 309–262.— Year of the Julian period, 3652-3699.-Year of the Dionysian period, 460–507. PSALM I. The blessedness of the righteous shown, in his avoiding every appearance of evil, 1. In his godly use of the law of the Lord, 2. This further pointed out under the metaphor of a good tree planted in a good well-watered soil, 3. The opposite state of the ungodly pointed out, under the metaphor of chaff driven away by the wind, 4. The miserable end of sinners, and the final happiness of the godly, 5, 6. a Luke xx. 42. Acts i. 20. b Prov. iv. 14, 15. NOTES ON PSALM I. Verse 1. Blessed is the man] This psalm has no title, and has been generally considered, but without especial reason, as a preface or introduction to the whole book. but he does evil. c Or, wicked. d Ps. xxvi. 4. Jer. xv. 17.- Le Ps. cxix. 35, 47, 92. the other in sinfulness. 1. The UNGODLY, ➡'yw¬ reshaim, from yw rasha, to be unjust; rendering to none his due; withholding from God, society, and himself, what belongs to each. Ungodly-he who has not God in him; who is without God in the world. The word "wx ashrey, which we translate blessed, miss the mark," "to pass over the prohibited limits," 2. SINNERS, O'Non chattaim, from on chata, "to is properly in the plural form, blessednesses; or may" to transgress." This man not only does no good, be considered as an exclamation produced by contemThe former was without God, but plating the state of the man who has taken God for his portion, Oh, the blessednesses of the man! And the The latter adds outward word whaish, is emphatic: THAT man; that one among a thousand who lives for the accomplishment of the end for which God created him. 1. God made man for happiness. 2. Every man feels a desire to be happy. 3. All human beings abhor misery. 4. Happiness is the grand object of pursuit among all men. 5. But so perverted is the human heart, that it seeks happiness where it cannot be found; and in things which are naturally and morally unfit to communicate it. 6. The true way of obtaining it is here laid down. That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly] There is a double CLIMAX in this verse, which it will be proper to note: transgression to the sinfulness of his heart. 3.SCORN- 2. Stand; 3. Sit: which mark three different degrees Observe, 1. The ungodly man-one uninfluenced by God. 2. The sinner-he who adds to ungodliness transgression. 3. The scornful-the deist, atheist, &c., 1. There are here three characters, each exceeding who make a mock of every thing sacred. The UN1928 |