§3. The third and fourth Psalms.-The prayerful hymn with which my first group opens is Ps. iii. The speaker is an individual, but his troubles are his people's, or those of the faithful and pious among them. Many Psalms are both individual and communal in one, for the writer uses his own sorrows and sufferings as the motive for a hymn which shall at once express his own feelings and yet (like a true lyric) be capable of wider application. Or, again, he speaks as a leader or member of his community, in whose aspirations and woes he shares. The period during which this Psalm was written was probably one of the many dark moments during the Persian domination, when faithful Israelites were so sorely oppressed both by traitors in their midst and by their Persian tyrants' (Cheyne).

Lord, how are they increased that trouble me!
Many are they that rise up against me.
Many there be who say of my soul,

There is no help for him in God.

But thou, O Lord, art a shield around me ;
My glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
I cry aloud unto the Lord,

And he heareth me out of his holy hill.

I laid me down and slept;

I have awaked; for the Lord sustaineth me.

I am not afraid of ten thousands of people,

That have set themselves against me round about.

Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God:

For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone;

Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked.

Help belongeth unto the Lord:

Thy blessing be upon thy people.

To a morning succeeds an evening hymn (iv). The Psalmist is confronted by weaklings in faith within his own community. They despond amid misfortune. The period is probably the same as before. But the Psalmist knows a higher joy than mere material prosperity-the assurance of divine protection, the conviction of God's lovingkindness.

Hear me when I call, O God of my right:

Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress;

'TRUST IN THE LORD'

Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

O ye sons of men, how long will ye be hard of heart?

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Wherefore will ye love vanity, and seek after falsehood? But know that the Lord hath shewn me marvellous lovingkindness,

The Lord heareth when I call unto him.

Tremble, and sin not:

Consider in your own heart upon your bed, and be still (?). Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,

And put your trust in the Lord.

There be many that say, 'Who will shew us prosperity?' Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put more gladness in my heart,

Than when their corn and new wine are increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:

For thou, Lord, alone makest me dwell in safety.

·

A Rabbinic commentary on the words, 'Consider in your own heart upon your bed,' says: God spake to Israel: I said to thee, When thou prayest, pray in the synagogue which is in thy town, or if thou canst not pray there, pray in thy field, and if thou canst not pray there, pray in thy house, and if thou canst not pray there, pray in thy bed, and if thou canst not pray there, "consider in thy heart."

§ 4. The fifth Psalm: A morning hymn.-The next Psalm (v) is once more a morning hymn. The enemies are Israelites: the writer is the spokesman of his party.

Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my sighing.

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God:
For unto thee do I pray.

My voice dost thou hear in the morning, O Lord;

In the morning I set in order my prayer unto thee, and look out.

For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: Evil may not dwell with thee.

Boasters may not stand in thy sight:

Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

Thou destroyest them that speak falsehood:

The Lord abhorreth the bloody and deceitful man.

But I, through the greatness of thy lovingkindness, can enter thine house,

And in the fear of thee I can worship toward thy holy temple.

Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies;

Make thy way level before my face.

For there is no truthfulness in their mouth;

Their inward part is ruin;

Their throat is an open sepulchre ;

They deceive with their tongue.

Hold them guilty, O God;

Let them fall by their own counsels;

Cast them down through the multitude of their transgressions; For they have rebelled against thee.

Then shall all those that take refuge in thee rejoice:

They shall ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them; They that love thy name will be joyful in thee.

For thou, Lord, blessest the righteous;

With favour as with a diadem dost thou crown him.

'Because of mine enemies.' Professor Wellhausen's note is, as usual, concise and instructive. Because they are God's enemies too, and his cause, as well as the petitioner's, is at stake. The godly man cannot claim deliverance because of his own merits; but, compared with the wicked man, he is, at all events, the one who inquires after God. And God cannot but show that such a one is more precious to him than a man who does not desire to know him. We have here a strongly marked contrast between two parties within the community, the godly and the wicked. The man who is praying, speaks in the name of the true Israel; hence my king: Jehovah is the King of Israel. Convinced that the wicked will not be allowed to continue to dwell with Jehovah, he looks forward with longing to the judgement which will sweep them away, and bring about the triumph of the godly in Zion.'

One cannot help wondering whether the party opposed to the Psalmist was indeed so wicked as he would make out. There have been few religious leaders, and fewer religious founders, who have not failed to understand the point of view of their adversaries. Many of them have indeed been spiritually or

'O LORD, HOW LONG?'

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morally superior to the great majority of their antagonists, but yet all their antagonists were certainly not that mass of corruption and hypocrisy which the leaders and founders, no doubt honestly enough, believed them to be. But none the less may we suppose that within their own party the lives of the Psalmists were noble and pure, and that their yearning for righteousness and their love of God were unfeigned and sincere.

The opening of the third paragraph of this Psalm is prettily expanded in Sir Philip Sidney's metrical version:

But I myself will to thy house address

With passport of thy graces manifold;
And in thy fear, knees of my heart will fold
Towards the temple of thy holiness.

Thou Lord, thou Lord, the Saviour of thine own,
Guide me, O in thy justice be my guide;
And make thy ways to me more plainly known,
For all I need, that with such foes do bide.'

§ 5. The sixth Psalm.-In the next Psalm (vi) the gloom deepens. The sickness is a metaphor for sorrows, and the speaker, one with his community, 'feels their sins and sufferings as his own.' Professor Cheyne supposes that this and kindred Psalms 'may refer either to the slavery into which the Jews were brought for seven years by Bagoses, or to that other outburst of Persian fury under Artaxerxes Ochus, when Jewish captives were carried away to Egypt, Babylonia, and even Hyrcania.'

O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger,

Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am sick;
O Lord, heal me; for my bones are confounded.
My soul also is sore confounded:

But thou, O Lord, how long?

Return, O Lord, deliver my soul:

Oh save me for thy lovingkindness' sake. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: In Sheol who shall give thee thanks?

I am weary with my groaning;

All the night make I my bed to swim;
I water my couch with my tears.

Mine eye is consumed because of sorrow:
It waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity;

For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication;

The Lord will receive my prayer.

All mine enemies shall be ashamed and sore confounded:
They shall be ashamed right suddenly.

'My bones are confounded.' This and similar expressions are metaphors for any kind of suffering.

The Lord hath heard.' 'The confidence now expressed does not contradict the lamentation which has been already uttered. Nor does it indicate a change in the state of affairs. He who sets forth his lamentation before God is already confident that help will be found in him' (Wellhausen).

"They shall be ashamed.' 'disconcerted,' 'disappointed.'

Ashamed' here, as frequently, means

§ 6. Psalms eleven, twelve, thirteen and seventeen.-The Psalmist speaks again (xi) as the leader or representative of his party— the strong in faith, who stay at their post and trust in God. A wise friend of mine, who sent me a suggested classification of the Psalter, put this Psalm with some thirty others under the heading, Psalms of Trust. But Psalms of Trust are also Psalms of Prayer, for only he can pray who trusts, and it is the trustful who pray.

In the Lord I take my refuge: how say ye then to me: 'Flee quickly like a bird.

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow,

They make ready their arrow upon the string,

That they may shoot in the darkness at the upright in

heart.

If the pillars be destroyed,

What can the righteous do?"

The Lord in his holy temple,

The Lord whose throne is in heaven,

His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

The Lord trieth the righteous:

But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
Upon the wicked he shall rain coals of fire and brimstone,
A burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.

For the Lord is righteous; he loveth righteousness;
The upright shall behold his face.