YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

THE RELIGION OF THE PSALMS

THE UNIVERSITY OP CHICAGO PBESS
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS

THE BASER AND TAYLOR COMPANY
NSW VOBK
THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON
THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-XAISHA
TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SKHDA1
THE MISSION BOOK COMPAHY
SHANHBAI

THE RELIGION OF
THE PSALMS

By
J. M. POWIS SMITH
Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature
in the University of Chicago

_»__  ^

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS

Copyright 1029 By
The University ox Chicago

All Rights Reserved

Published Much 1922

Composed and Printed By
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago, Illinois. U.S.A.

PREFACE
Books about the Psalms come and go;
the Psalms go on forever. They belong to
the permanent literature of the race.
They express felicitously and adequately
the great emotions of mankind. They
display a faith that passes knowledge,
an invincible confidence in the goodness of
God that survived successive shocks test
ing it to the uttermost. The genuine,
heartfelt religion of the Psalter has never
failed to kindle the spirit of the faithful.
The aim of this book is to bring out
the significance of the Psalms as indicative
of the religious and moral standards of
later Judaism. There is no attempt here
to find in the Psalms spiritual nourishment
for the life of today. The effort is rather
to present the meaning of the Psalms as it
lay in the minds of their authors and
earliest readers. Probably no book has
': suffered more from a conventionalized
interpretation than the Psalter. We need

vi Preface
frequently to return to the original source
of the stream of interpretation and start
afresh. No conventionalized Psalter can
ever have the virility and freshness of the
real Psalter.
It. is because of this desire to preserve
as much as possible the original atmos
phere of the Psalter that the form "Yah
weh" is used instead of "Lord." This is,
approximately at least, the original pro
nunciation of the name more commonly
known as "Jehovah." The latter form
has gathered to itself a connotation that
never attached to Yahweh and that inter
feres with any historical appreciation of
the Hebrew God.
In the quotations of poetical passages
from the Psalter and elsewhere, I have
oftet ventured to use translations of my
own. This has been done, not with the
thought that they are better than other
renderings, but with the desire to bring
the thoughts and aspirations of these
Hebrew poets before the reader's mind in
a somewhat new and unfamiliar dress.

Preface vii
Thus they may more successfully challenge
attention and secure respect and admi
ration. Some of the chapters of this book have
been used as lectures for general audiences.
The favorable reception accorded them
emboldens me to send them out to a larger
circle. May they contribute something
to the quickening of an intelligent interest
in the religious poetry of Israel.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Hymn Book oe the Second Temple i
II. The Sweet Singer op Israel .... 33
III. Suffering and Song  63
IV. The Psalms and Immortality ... 96
V. The Idea oe God in the Psalms . . . 129
Appendix. A List oe the Best Books for
the General Reader  159
Subject Index  163
Index oe Biblical Passages  165

THE HYMN BOOK OF THE SECOND
TEMPLE
'Every piece of literature must be inter
preted and estimated in the light of the
times and circumstances amid which it
came into being, and with reference to the
purpose that produced it. The Psalter
claims no exemption from the operation
of this rule. By reason of long-continued
use, attended by a wholly uncritical
attitude of mind, the Psalms have come to
acquire a conventional significance and a
timeless value. But if we would know
the Psalter as it really is and venerate it
for its worth's sake,. we must look into its
original purpose and use in order to recover
its original spirit. By such a search, the
Psalter loses nothing of its real value and
gains much in the way of intelligibility and
freshness. That the Psalter was the hymn book
of the Second Temple has long been

2 The Religion of the Psalms
recognized by scholars. The evidence of
such usage is convincing. /Psalms were sung
regularly in connection with the tamldh,
i.e., the daily burnt offering (Dan. 8: n ff.).
The musical annotations contained in so
many of the superscriptions are most
easily accounted for as mstructions for
the leaders of the temple choir. The
Books of Chronicles give a large place to
the "singers" in the temple ritual (I Chron.
9:4-34; 15:16-24), and speak positively
in several cases of the use of musical instru
ments and psalms in public worship. In
I Chron. 16:4-36, for example, reference
is made to arrangements for the musical
part of the services and Psalm 96 is given
in full as one of the songs sung. Parts of
Psalms 105 and 106 are associated with it.
Hymn books, however, fall out of use
unless they are kept up to date. The
history of our own hymnology is iUuminat-
ing at this point. We do not and cannot
sing the hymns our fathers sang, unless
they meet the needs of our own souls and
accord with the aesthetic and theological

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 3
standards of our day. Consequently the
old hymnals are continually revised. Some
hymns are entirely omitted as unsuitable
to our age, while others are modified in
such a way as to render them unobjection
able. No longer ago than 1818 a.d. a
hymn from the New Light movement
among Methodists, Baptists, and Presby
terians had these two lines:
I know not any sect or part,
But such as are New Lights in heart.
Nine years before that, a certain Mr.
Parkinson, feeling that the hymns of his
day were unendurably bad, issued a
"revised and improved" edition. One
of his refrains ran as follows:
Then be entreated now to stop,
For unless you warning take,
Ere you are aware you'll drop
Into the burning lake.
A Baptist hymnal published by Joshua
Smith in 1784 was capable of this:
The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green;
The trees of nature fruitless be,
Compared with Christ the Apple Tree.

4 The Religion of the Psalms
No less a hymn writer than Isaac Watts,
many of whose hymns we still delight to
use, issued a collection in the ye^ar 1707
from which the following gruesome bit
is taken: There the dark earth and gloomy shades
Shall clasp their naked body round,
And welcome their delicious limbs
With the cold kisses of the ground.
Pale death shall riot on their souls,
Their flesh shall noisome vermin eat,
The just shall in the morning rise
And find their tyrants at their feet.
But to banish this voice from the tombs
from our ears, we may listen to a stanza
from a seventeenth century hymnal, which
is supremely incongruous:
Ye monsters of the briny deep,
Your Maker's praises spout;
Up from the deep ye codlings peep,
And wag your tails about.
The process of revision and emendation
always goes on wherever religion is a
vital and growing experience. There is
no greater need in worship today than for

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 5
the appearance of hymn writers who shall
produce hymns that are in keeping with
the new social, religious, and theological
thought of our day. The Psalter shared
this experience of revision. Had it not
done so, it would have been an almost
unique exception in the religious literature
of the Hebrews. The whole Old Testa
ment was subjected to repeated revisions
in order to keep it abreast of the advan
cing religious thought of Israel. This is no
mere theory of critical scholarship, but is
attested by actual facts. One of the
clearest examples of this is furnished by a
comparison of the materials in Samuel
and Kings on the one hand with the
contents of the Books of Chronicles on
the other. It at once appears that the
Chronicler has made use of exactly the
same materials as were used in the older
work. Large sections of these two edi
tions of the ancient history run parallel,
being practically identical, verbatim et
literatim. But the Chronicler was not
content merely to repeat the work of his

6 The Religion of the Psalms
predecessors; he is concerned rather to
reinterpret the ancient history in such a
way as to make it convey the lessons that
he wished to inculcate in the minds of his
contemporaries. So he does not hesi
tate to supplement his predecessors' nar
rative, to modify it more or less to suit
his purpose, yea, even occasionally to
contradict it flatfooted. For example,
II Sam. 24:1 naively says that "the
anger of Yahweh was kindled against
Israel, and He moved David against them,
saying: Go, number Israel and Judah."
But obedience to this divine leading
brought a pestilence from Yahweh upon
Israel. The ethics of this procedure did
not satisfy the Chronicler; hence his
account of the same transaction reads,
"And Satan stood up against Israel and
moved David to number Israel" (I Chron.
21:1). The kings Asa and Jehoshaphat
of Judah are credited by the Books of
Kings with the removal of the high places
from Judah (I Kings 15:14; 22:43); the
Chronicler flatly denies to them this

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 7
achievement (II Chron. 14:5; 17:6). Cf.
also II Kings 12:21 with II Chron. 24:26,
noting that the Chronicler adds to the
names of the murderers of King Joash the
information that their mothers were respec
tively an Ammonitess and a Moabitess
and keeping in mind that Chronicles was
produced in the later period when a strong
influence was working against the marriage
of Jews with non- Jews.
/ It is quite evident from the facts in the
Psalter itself that the hands of editors were
long busied with the editing of the Psalms.
The Psalter in its present form constitutes
a collection of earlier and smaller psalters.'
We find such in groups of psalms assigned
to David, to Korah, and to Asaph, and in
the Songs of Ascents (Pss. 1 2 1 ff .) . These,
together with many anonymous psalms,
have been brought together and organized
into five books, viz., Book I containing
Psalms i-*|-; Book II including Psalms
42-72; Book III numbering Psalms 73-
89; Book IV stopping with Psalm 106;
and Book V closing the Psalter. Each of

8 The Religion of the Psalms
these books has been provided with a
closing doxology; see Pss. 41:1*; 72:18,
19; 89:51; 106:4^; and 150, which is
a doxology throughout and furnishes a
fitting close to the entire Psalter. Some
times this editorial work has gone too far,
as in the case of Psalms 42 and 43 which
are in reality but one psalm, as is shown
by the common refrain in 42:5, n and
43:5. Sometimes it was not thorough
enough as appears from the fact that some
materials are duplicated. Ps. 40:14-18
is identical with Psalm 70; Psalm 14 is
repeated as Psalm 53; the same sort of
repetition appears in Pss. 31:2-4 and
71:1-3, in 57:8-12 and 108:2-6, in
60:7-14 and 108:7-14.
Another type of editorial work upon the
Psalms is shown in the superscriptions
which they now carry. It is the conclu
sion of scholars in general that these head
ings were attached to their respective
psalms at a relatively late date in the
history of the Psalter. The wish to know
under what circumstances and by whom a

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple g
favorite song or hymn was written is a
very natural and common one. The
Jewish community was very solicitous
about these things. Where facts were
not at hand, they gave free play to their
imagination. In the Greek version of
the Psalms, which was made at a much
earlier time than that in which the oldest
of our existing manuscripts of the Hebrew
text was written, and was indeed the Bible
used throughout the Greek world in the
days of the early church, many of the
Psalms which have no superscription in
the Hebrew text are provided with head
ings. For example, in the Septuagint
David is credited with the authorship of
Psalms 33, 43, 67, 71, 91, 93-99, io4, and
137, which have no superscriptions in the
Hebrew Bible. In addition, the Septua
gint contains an extra psalm, No. 151,
and this too is assigned to David. Fur
ther, Haggai and Zechariah are made
responsible by the Greek translators for
Psalms 146-148. It is interesting and
illuminating to discover that one of these

io The Religion of the Psalms
"Davidic" psalms comes from the lips of
exiles who say,
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat,
Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion
[Psalm 137].
The reader can but wonder whether the
editors who attached the superscriptions
to the Psalms in the Hebrew text were
any more critically minded. We see the
process of creating authors and situations
for the Psalms in full swing in the Greek
translation, which was made before the
Canon was closed. How much further back
is the stream of tradition as represented in
the superscriptions to be traced, and were
the predecessors of the translators any
better informed than their successors?
These are questions to which no confident
answer can be given.
One bit of editorial work is worthy of
special notice. A close examination of the
Psalter reveals the fact that in certain
sections the Psalms are arranged in accord
ance with an organizing principle. That
is to say, Psalms 1-41 and 84-150 employ

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple n
the name Yahweh by preference and
almost to the exclusion of other designa
tions of the Deity; but Psalms 42-83 with
equal consistency exclude that name and
use the general term Elohim, meaning
God. This is, of course, not accidental.
Indeed the only difference between Psalms
14 and 53 is that the former uses Yahweh'
and the latter speaks of Elohim. These
two groups of psalms either come from
different theological centers, or have been
through the hands of different editors.
Perhaps the editor of the Elohim psalms
objected to the use of a proper name for
the Deity, realizing that it was a relic of
an earlier stage of thought in which gods
had to be differentiated one from another
and identified by special names just like
men. In any case, the different terms
employed for the Deity reflect different
theological interpretations or views of
God. The Psalms thus seem to have gone
through several hands and to have suffered
not a few things in the course of that

12 The Religion of the Psalms
history. It is a history that must have
covered some time. From the writing of
the individual songs by various individ
ual authors at different times and places,
through the gathering together of such
poems into little local collections in dif
ferent localities, followed by the pro
cess of amalgamating these various
collections into one general collection —
perhaps not all at one time, but by gradual
stages — with time allowed between the
successive forms of the growing Psalter
for the addition of superscriptions and the
touching up and pruning down of obsoles
cent elements in the Psalms — all this
demands an adequate period of time for
its accomplishment. At the end of such
a long-continued and unceasing revision,
the Psalms would not be the same as they
were at its beginning. What lies before us
in the Psalter is that which commended
itself to the judgment of the successive
editorial groups and so survived. It is
safe to say also that it was a "survival of
the fittest.",

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 13
We must, however, be careful in defin
ing the content of the word "fittest."
This definition must be made in the light
of our general proposition that the Psalter
was the hymn book of the Second Temple.
A hymn book in general use is never the
exponent of the advanced thought of
the age to which it belongs. If it were,
it would not find general acceptance. It
rather reflects the thought and aspiration
of the average man. It must make its
appeal to the common intelligence, faith,
and hope, if it is to succeed. It is not
until the new thought has been taken up
into the common consciousness that it
finds entry into the common hymn book.
The same thing holds true of the Psalter.
It is not the exponent of the newer think-*
ing in Judaism, but the repository of the
generally accepted ideas and attitudes of
the postexilic community. This is seen in
the thought of the Psalms upon the mean
ing of suffering.1 There is practically
no reflection of the influence of the great
1 See chap. iii.

14 The Religion of the Psalms
masterpiece of Hebrew thought upon that
subject, viz., the Book of Job. Nor is
there any recognition of the idea of vicari
ous suffering worked out by the author of
Isaiah, chapter 53. Both of these inter
pretations of suffering were current in the
period during which the Psalter was taking
shape; and yet, the Psalms hold fast to
the old views on this perplexing problem
and show no uncertainty or limitation in
their proclamation even though Job has
riddled them through and through. In
like manner no clear expression is given
to the thought of the responsibility of the
individual for his own acts before God.
This was an idea that did not find full
recognition until the time of Jeremiah
and Ezekiel in the early days of Exile.
It was too new and unfamiliar to get into
the select company of old and familiar
ideas constituting the goodly fellowship
of the Psalms. The same statements
hold good of the idea of life after death.1
It finds little, if any, recognition in the
1 See chap, iv,

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 15
Psalter, and the explanation is that it did
not bulk large in the Hebrew religious
consciousness until very late in the post-
exilic age. Naturally, therefore, it does
not find entry into the people's hymn book.
We need not, consequently, turn to the
Psalter with any expectation of finding
the latest stages in Hebrew religious
development on record. It is not a book
for the furtherance of progressive thought.
'It was a popular manual of devotion."
New thoughts are never popular. Think
ing is not a popular recreation; for the
majority it is a painful process. The
coming together of the congregation in
worship is not facilitated by exercises in
hard thinking. Fellowship is found rather
in common aspiration and need. To have
brought in the newest theological formulas
and philosophical questions into the songs
of the sanctuary would have been fatal
to the harmony of the worshipers. The
merit of the Psalter lies not so much in its
power of sheer thought as in the success
with which it expresses those sentiments

\y

1 6 The Religion of the Psalms
and attitudes of soul that are fundamental
in worship. These are so beautifully pro
portioned and so perfectly phrased that
they have, with some freedom in their
interpretation, satisfied the needs of wor
shiping congregations and pious indi
viduals through all the generations until
now* Just as we have no right to demand the
most aggressive thinking of the Psalmists,
so likewise we may not insist upon the
highest poetic achievement throughout.
Psalms and hymns for use in public
worship are beset by limitations of length
and form that preclude the possibility
of reaching the greatest heights of poetic
power. We do not find the masterpieces
of modern poetry in the hymnals of
the various peoples. Shakespeare, Milton,
Browning, Goethe, Schiller, Dante, and
their peers could not have found full
freedom for their great powers in the
writing of hymns.1
1 In support of this proposition, attention may be called
to a paragraph from an editorial in the London Mercury for
1920 (Vol.I,p. 261), by Mr. J. C. Squire, who is there passing

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 17
The greatest poetry of the Old Testa
ment is not found in the Book of Psalms.
A community hymnal cannot make large
demands upon the intelligence, the imagi
nation, or even the emotions of those who
use it. This is the price of its popularity.
From the point of view of poetry, pure

in review the literature published in iqio. He says, "The
fact remains that by the common consent of mankind,
lyrics alone — even the lyrics of a Heine, a Herrick, or a
Bums — will not give a man rank with the greatest poetic
artists. It may be that in Poe's sense a work of thousands
of lines, which maintains the highest level of poetry,
is impossible; that what Professor Quiller-Couch calls
'The Capital Difficulty of Verse' is insuperable; but this
does not invalidate the claim of the Iliad or Paradise
Lost to be considered greater than Lycidas or the songs of
Meleager. That they share in some measure the defects
of The Purple Island and Pharonnida does not prevent
The Fairy Queen and Faust being the greatest of their
respective authors' works. From a poet as from another
we want something beyond 'jewels five foot long,' the
loveliest impressions of the most beautiful particular
scenes, reflections of moods, verbal chamber music,
momentary vision, sensibility, song. By the common
consent of mankind, the greatest things in the world
are those works which, while full of beautiful details
and informed with the poetic spirit, are moulded to a
larger conception and attempt a larger picture of the
universe, of the destiny of man, or of the moving life of
the world."

1 8 The Religion of the Psalms
and simple, and wholly apart from religious
values, the best Hebrew poetry is in the
Book of Job and in such vivid and glowing
prophetic passages as are found, for
example, in the Book of Isaiah and in the
second chapter of Nahum. As a matter
of fact, some of the Psalms are, from the
point of view of poetry, mediocre in
quality. Take, by way of example, the
historical Psalms, such as 78, 105, 106,
and 136, particularly the last mentioned,
with its monotonously repetitious refrain.
Another group of psalms that do not mount
high in the poetic scale is made up of those
that subject themselves to alphabetic
structure. These are Psalms 9 and 10, in
which the initial letters of every other
verse in succession, beginning with the
second, constitute the Hebrew alphabet;
Psalm 37, in which a similar arrangement
is found, though it begins with verse 1;
Psalms 25, 34, and 145, in which only
one verse is allotted to each letter in turn;
Psalms in and 112, where each line in
turn begins with the next letter of the

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple ig
alphabet; and Psalm 119, the longest
psalm in the Psalter and the longest
chapter in the Bible, which is organized
in stanzas of eight lines each, all eight
beginning with the same letter of the
alphabet, and each successive stanza of
eight verses taking the next letter of the
alphabet in turn, as shown in the Revised
Version. Acrostic poetry is never of a
high order; an acrostic arrangement of
any sort is a fetter and most effectively
hobbles the gait of Pegasus.
The Psalms of Ascents, or so-called
Pilgrim Psalms, are among the best poems
of the Psalter. Note for example the
stir of movement and the vivid imagery
in Psalm 124:
If it were not that Yahweh was on our side,
Let Israel now say,
If it were not that Yahweh was on our side,
When men rose up against us;
Then they had swallowed us up alive,
When their anger burned against us;
Then the waters had engulfed us,
The torrent had passed over us;
Then had passed over us
The raging waters.

20 The Religion of the Psalms
Blessed be Yahweh Who did not give us
A prey to their teeth.
We were delivered, like a bird
From the snare of the fowlers;
The snare was shattered,
And we were delivered.
Our help is in the name of Yahweh,
The Maker of the heavens and earth.
The wonder of the Psalter is, not that
there is some poor poetry in it, but that
there is so little of that kind. The high
level that is almost uniformly maintained
challenges comparison with the hymn
books of the world. As a hymn book it has
notiing to fear on the side of its poetic
superiority. If we are right in describing the Psalter
as the "Hymn Book of the Second
Temple," we ought to find its function as
the mouthpiece of the aspirations and
praises of the Jewish community pretty
clearly revealed in the text of the Psalms
themselves. The worship in the Temple
was primarily not a matter of individuaT
and personal significance, but rather a

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 21
community function. The sacrifice and
the praise were offered mainly in behalf
of the people as a whole. The Temple
and its worship stood as the nation's
representative before Yahweh. The priests
were the community's intermediaries with
God. This community function is clearly
expressed in some of the psalms. See
Psalm 46, for example, where the use of
the first person plural in verses 1, 2, 7,
and n, and the fact that the inviolability
of Zion is the poet's theme, make this
clear. Or Psalm 129, in which Israel
is introduced as the speaker; and Psalm
74, in which the lamentable history of the
Jewish community is brought to God's
attention that he may be moved to bestir
himself in Israel's behalf; and Psalm 137,
in which the sentiments of the Jews in
exile are given voice; and Psalm 124 (see
pp. 19 and 20) , where the community thanks
God for past favors.
*T3ut in considering the Psalter as the
expression of the community's sentiments,

22 The Religion of the Psalms
we are straightway confronted by a prob
lem in interpretation. More than one
half of the Psalms seem on the face of
them to be intensely individualistic. They
are full of the pronouns I, my, and me.
Who is this ubiquitous individual? How
does he come to have so large a space
given to him in a congregational hymnal ?
Can it be that this "I" is the personified
community itself speaking? This latter
question has been affirmatively answered
by many interpreters. Some have carried
this interpretation so far as practically
to eliminate all individualistic elements
from the Psalter. This is one of the most
fundamental questions in the interpreta
tion of the Psalms, and well deserves a
little attention here.
The early Jewish commentators and
Christian interpreters agreed that the
"I" was the community. It was not
until relatively late in the history of
interpretation that an individualistic inter
pretation came to prevail. Calvin, tne
great Swiss reformer, had much to do with

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 23
bringing about the transfer of emphasis.
Early interpretation has some right to
be heard, since if there were any tradition
reaching back into the distant past, the
early interpreters would be likely to reflect
it. Then, too, as we have already indi
cated, the recognition of personal worth
and individual responsibility in the sight
of God was very slow to come to the fore
in Israel. It was one of the newer
thoughts in the early postexilic commu
nity and as such it would not be likely
to obtain the indorsement of the makers
of the community's hymnal. The older
thought of the nation as the center of
interest and the representative of Yahweh
in the world would be much more likely
to find a welcome in the sacred songs of
the Temple. Furthermore, the practice
of personification, such as is presupposed
by the identification of "I" with the com
munity, is very common in the Old Testa
ment. We at once recall such a phrase
as "the virgin daughter of Zion," used to
designate the Jewish community. The

24 The Religion of the Psalms
most notable case of the sort probably
is the application of the term "Servant
of Yahweh" in Isaiah, chapters 4°-55,
to the Jewish nation. There is, therefore,
nothing a priori to stand in the way of
the interpretation of the "I" of the
Psalms as indicating the Jewish com
munity as a whole, at least in some cases.
Now, it turns out that the "I" is actu
ally and definitely so interpreted as repre
sentative of Israel in some cases by the
language of the Psalms themselves. In
Psalm 1 02, the first eleven verses are
given over to a description of distress
and suffering that is most intimate and
personal in spirit and in phraseology;
yet immediately thereupon in verses 12 ff.
we read,
Thou wilt arise, Thou wilt have mercy on Zion;
For it is the time to favor her,
For the set time is come —
For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,
And her dust they favor.
And the nations shall fear the name of Yahweh,
And Kings of the earth Thy glory;
Because Yahweh has built up Zion, etc.

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 25
The whole interest of the Psalm is in 1
the future of Zion, and the long introduc- 1
tion detailing sufferings and sorrows is
much more in place if it is the experience
of Israel that is being related than it would
be if the poet's own personal reactions
were being put on record. Another case
in point is Psalm 118. In verse 2 we
are introduced to Israel as the speaker,
and in verses 3 and 4 it is made clear that
what we are to hear is community experi
ence and not the author's own personal
hopes and fears. When we pass on to
verses 10 ff . we read,
All the nations compass me about;
In the name of Yahweh, I will surely cut them off.
They compass me about, yea, they encompass me ;
In the name of Yahweh I will surely cut them off.
They compass me about like bees;1
In the name of Yahweh, I will surely cut them off.
Thou didst thrust hard at me, that I might fall;
But Yahweh helped me.
Yah is my strength and song,
And He has become my deliverance.
How inadequate any personal experi
ence is to such language as that, and how
xThe Hebrew has an extra line here which is a later
gloss; viz.: "They are quenched like the fire of thorns."

26 The Religion of the Psalms
perfectly it fits the undying hope of Juda
ism! A similar judgment holds good of
Psalm 124 (see pp. 19 and 20), where Israel is
cited as the speaker in verse 2. In Psalm
3, the same appropriateness of the lan
guage to the community is evident, and
in the last verse it is upon the people as a
whole that the blessing of Yahweh is
invoked. Still other psalms that may
safely be called community hymns are
Psalms 13, 14, 18 (note especially verses
27, 29, and 43 ff.), and 130 (note particu
larly the last two verses). It seems clear,
therefore, that some of the psalms are to
be thought of as breathing forth the senti
ments of the community life rather than
as records of the religious life of individual
Jewish saints. But this is not to grant
that all the Psalms were originally com
posed as national songs, ''We must now
turn to the evidence that the individual
is not without recognition in the Psalter.
- In this connection, it may. be noted that
the comparison of the Psalter with a hymn
book ought not to be carried too far. It

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 27
is by no means certain that all of the
Psalms were originally composed in the
expectation that they would be used as
part of the service of praise and prayer
in public worship. Such an inordinately
long psalm as 119 could surely not be sung
by even the most enduring of congrega
tions! The same difficulty, though in
less degree, applies to Psalm 73. Nor
were the Psalms sung by the entire congre
gation necessarily, but rather by trained
Temple choirs. Therefore, the necessity
of catering to the common mind would
not be quite so keenly felt, though public
opinion could not be completely ignored..
It is altogether probable that the ritual
of the Babylonian temples gave a great
impetus to Jewish ritual in general and to
psalm writing and singing in particular.
The Babylonians had a fully developed
hymnology of their own. Their psalms
were not lacking in individualistic strains.
Indeed the experiences of individuals
occupy a large place in Babylonian psal
mody. It is consequently more than

28 The Religion of the Psalms
probable that the Jews would follow their
Babylonian predecessors in recognizing
individual needs and thanksgivings in
their hymn book. Then, too, the rights
of individuals were clearly set forth long
before the close of the Psalter to new
additions. The Book of Job is an in
tensely individualistic piece of hterature
and it was in existence by the fourth
century B.C. The prophet Jeremiah
already in the seventh century had in
his own personal hfe made reHgion a very
personal and individual experience. Such
a life as his could not fail to leave a pro
found impress upon the rehgious con
sciousness of his people.
But it is when we come to think of the
authorship of the Psalms that we are
forced to give the individual his fuh
rights. These sacred songs were neces
sarily written by pious individuals. Liter
ary composition in the very nature of the
case is not a community exercise, but an
intensely personal and individuahstic ex
perience. As the Psalms were composed

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 29
by individuals, they must almost neces
sarily be to a large extent the reflection of
individual experience. Certainly some of
the Psalms almost preclude anything but
an individuahst interpretation. Take
Psalm 116 by way of illustration:
I love Yahweh because He hath heard
The voice of my supplications,
Because He has inclined His ear unto me;
Hence upon the name of Yahweh I will call.
The cords of death encircled me,
And the straits of Sheol found me.
Trouble and sorrow I find;
Hence upon the name of Yahweh I will call.
Oh, Yahweh, deliver my life!
Gracious is Yahweh and righteous,
And our God is merciful.
A keeper of the simple is Yahweh.
I was brought low and He saved me.
Return to thy resting place, O my soul,
For Yahweh has dealt generously with thee.
For thou hast delivered my life from death,
Mine eyes from tears,
And my feet from stumbling.
I will walk before Yahweh,
In the lands of the living. '

30 The Religion of the Psalms
I believe that I should speak:
I have been greatly humbled.
I said in my perturbation,
All mankind is treacherous.
How shall I requite to Yahweh
All His benefits to me ?
I will take the cup of deliverance;
And upon the name of Yahweh I will call.
My vows to Yahweh I will fulfil,
In the presence of all His people.
Precious in the eyes of Yahweh
Is the death of His saints.
Oh, Yahweh, verily I am Thy servant:
I am Thy servant, the son of Thine handmaid.
Thou hast loosed my bonds.
To Thee I will sacrifice the sacrifice of praise;
And upon the name of Yahweh I will call.
My vows to Yahweh I will fulfil,
In the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the house of Yahweh, t
In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.
These individuals who composed the
Psalms did not cease to be patriots when
they became poets. In the composition
of their hymns, they would naturally
express their religio-patriotic feehngs and
ideals in such a way as to be representa-

The Hymn Book of the Second Temple 31
five of the feelings of the pious community
as a whole. No man could write a satis
factory hymn for the community who did
not fuUy enter into the inmost recesses!*
of its reHgious and national enthusiasms. \
What was the ideal and hope of one typical
soul was common to all. What came
bursting forth as prayer and praise from
one loyal heart was quickly taken up by
others and passed from Hp to lip until it
became a national possession and pride.
The interests of the pious individual in
Judaism were so closely and inextricably
bound up with the interests of the com
munity as a whole that in many cases
it is practically impossible to distinguish/
between personal and community songs, j
*To many a Jew the welfare of Zion was of;
far greater importance than his own weU-
being. Such men showed by their heroism
in the Maccabaean War that death was
preferable in their eyes to disloyalty to the
ideals of Zion. ' When we read or sing the
Psalms, therefore, let us remember that
we are not only echoing the sentiments of

32 The Religion of the Psalms
poets and saints of postexiUc Judaism who
are otherwise unknown, but we are also
joining our hearts and voices in a chorus
of prayer and praise that has numbered
the Jews of that heroic age and of all suc
ceeding ages, and in turn has been taken
up and carried on in fuller volume and
with richer harmony by generation after
generation of Christian worshipers.1 The
"Hymn Book of the Second Temple"
has made for itself a permanent place in
the devotional literature of mankind.

II
THE SWEET SINGER OF ISRAEL
¦ The name of David is inseparably
associated with the Book of Psalms. The
common designation of the Psalter is "The
Psalms of David."' The natural reason
for this is, of course, the fact that
seventy-three of the one hundred and
fifty psalms in the Hebrew Psalter are by
their superscriptions assigned to David.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalms does
even better by David, assigning fourteen
more to him and adding a new one, viz.,
Psalm 151, which is also his. These
"Davidic" Psalms in quality constitute
the flower of the Psalter and make up
50 per cent of its contents. '
We propose here to examine this tradi
tion of "Davidic" authorship and to
estimate its validity. This is a problem of
first-class importance for the religion of
Israel; for if the tradition in question be
correct, the whole modern concepjtion_of
si

34 The Religion of the Psalms
the nature and the development of Hebrew
literature and reHgion is in need of radical
revision. If these Psalms are rightly
assigned to David, then there was no
progress in the history of Hebrew religion
from the time of David on. It was already
mature in the eleventh century b.c. But
this is in direct conflict with conclusions
seemingly weU estabHshed in other por
tions of the Hebrew Hterature. Hence
we must examine the Davidic tradition
to see upon what basis it rests and what
credence should be given it. We are
altogether within our rights when we
institute such an investigation. The Old
Testament is not exempt from any test that
may properly be applied to literature in
general. No less a defender of traditional
views of scripture than the late Professor
WilHam Henry Green, of Princeton Theo
logical Seminary, put himself squarely
on record to this effect in the foUowing
terms: No objection can be made to the demand that the
sacred writings should be subjected to the same

The Sweet Singer of Israel 35
critical tests as other literary productions of antiquity.
When were they written, and by whom? For
whom were they intended, and with what end in
view? These are questions that may fairly be
asked respecting the several books of the Bible,
as respecting other books, and the same criteria
that are applicable in the one case are applicable
likewise in the other. Every production of any
age bears the stamp of that age. It takes its shape
from influences then at work. It is part of the life
of the period, and can only be properly estimated
and understood from being viewed in its original
connections. Its language will be the language of
the time when it was produced. The subject, the
style of thought, the local and personal allusions, will
have relation to the circumstances of the period,
to which in fact the whole and every part of it must
have its adaptation, and which must have their right
ful place in determining its true explanation.
Inspiration has no tendency to obliterate those
distinctive qualities and characteristics which link
men to their own age. It is as true of Paul and
Isaiah as it is of Plato and Virgil, that their intel
lectual life and writings received a peculiar impress
from their surroundings. It is by the application
of this principle that literary forgeries are detected.
The attempt to palm off one's own production as the
work of one of a different age and subject to differ
ent conditions, is rarely successful. In spite of every
precaution, something will leak out to betray the fact
that the real circumstances of its origin are different
from those that are pretended. If now inspired

36 The Religion of the Psalms
writings, like others, are in all their Uterary aspects the
outgrowth of their own age, then the most thorough
scrutiny can but explain our faith in their real origin;
and if in any instance the view commonly entertained
of their origin or authorship is incorrect in any par
ticular, the critical study which detects the error, and
assigns each writing to its proper time and place, can
only conduce to its being better understood and
more accurately appreciated.1
We are stimulated to the exercise of the
right so freely granted by Professor Green
by various facts having a direct bearing
upon our problem. For example, we
know that the habit of assigning religious
writings to great men of the past was very
common in the later postexiUc period.
Solomon is made to have been the author
of more than one composition by later
editors, viz., the Psalms of Solomon, the
Odes of Solomon, and the Wisdom of
Solomon. No respectable scholar of any
school of interpretation accepts these
assignments to Solomon as valid. They
are unanimously recognized as the prod
uct of the Uterary activity of the late
1 William Henry Green, Moses and the Prophets, pp. 17,
18.

The Sweet Singer of Israel 37
inter-biblical period. Not only Solomon,
but Enoch, Adam, Noah, and the Patri
archs are all credited with literary achieve
ments by these later pseudepigraphic
writers. Can we be sure that this habit
of ascribing writings to great men of the
past did not begin tiU after the close
of the Old Testament Canon? That
would be a very unsafe conclusion; indeed
it would be in direct conflict with the facts
just cited, for the Canon was not closed
until long after the pseudepigraphic works
here referred to were pubhshe'd. May it
not be, then, that some of this pseudepi
graphic output found admission into the
Canon itself ? It is quite generally recog
nized that the Song of Solomon and the
Book of Ecclesiastes are from an age
centuries later than Solomon's day. When
we turn to the Psalter in the light of
these facts, we discover evidence that
ftuly warrants our inquiry. » Psalm 53 is
assigned to David, and yet in verse 6 it
presupposes the captivity of Israel. The
temple in Jerusalem was not yet buUt in

38 The Religion of the Psalms
David's reign and yet the "Davidic"
psalms repeatedly speak of it as though
it were already standing; see Pss. 27:4;
138:2; and 122./ How far editors could
go in this direction is iUustrated by the
fact that the Septuagint includes in its
extra fifteen "Davidic" psalms, the 137th,
which is manifestly a product of exilic
experience: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat,
Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
1 If David wrote the psalms credited to
him, he was a great poet and a profoundly
and intelligently rehgious man. We, there
fore, turn at once to these questions: Was
David a poet? And was he a saint? In
seeking answers^ we shall confine ourselves
to the oldest and best sources of informa
tion. That means that ,we shaU leave out
of account the materials in the Books of
Chronicles, because it is quite clear that
these two books were not written until
long after the Exile, that is, 700 years or
so after David's death. The materials in
Samuel and Kings regarding David have

The Sweet Singer of Israel 39
likewise, of course, undergone some modi
fication at the hands of editors; but the
original narratives are stiU easily recog
nizable through the later dress that has
been given them. There is in these older
sources quite unanimous testimony on the
subject of David's poetic abUity.' In
II Sam. 3 : 33 f . there is given the dirge that
David is said to have composed on the
occasion of Abner's death:
Should Abner die as a churl dieth ?
Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet
brought into fetters;
As a man falls before the children of iniquity,
So didst thou fall.
Greater evidence of his poetic power is
forthcoming in the dirge over Saul and
Jonathan in II Sam. 1 : 19-27:
Weep, O Judah, ....
Grieve, O Israel, over thy dead!
How are the mighty fallen!
Tell it not in Gath;
Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon;
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice;
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.

40 The Religion of the Psalms
Be thou withered, O Gilboa;
Let there be neither dew nor rain upon you,
O fields of death;
For there was rejected the shield of a warrior,
The shield of Saul,
The weapon of one anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain,
From the fat of warriors,
The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
And the sword of Saul returned not empty.
Saul and Jonathan, the beloved and the lovely,
In their life and in their death were not separated ;
They were swifter than eagles;
They were stronger than lions.
Ye daughters of Israel, weep for Saul,
Who clothed you with scarlet and fine linen,
Who put golden ornaments upon your clothing.
How are the mighty fallen, in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan, when thou didst die, I was overcome.
I am distressed for thee, O Jonathan, my brother!
Thou wast very dear to me;
Thy love to me was wonderful,
Beyond the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished.
There is no good reason for doubting
David's authorship of these elegies. We

The Sweet Singer of Israel 41
may add to this testimony, the tradition
represented in Amos 6:5, which associ
ates David's name with the use of musi
cal instruments, and that account of
his introduction to Saul which makes
his ability as a musician responsible for his
appearance at court. This points to his
having been on the same order as the
medieval bards and troubadours who com
posed, played the accompaniment to,
and sang their own baUads. 'When we
likewise recognize the fact that this tradi
tion of psalm authorship would hardly
have attached itself to the name of one
who had no poetical or musical ability
whatsoever, it seems quite safe to accept
the tradition that David was a poet and a
musician as fully established."
'We now turn to the consideration of
David's reUgious life and thought. That
he was a sincerely and deeply religious
man Ues beyond the peradventure of a
doubt. ' He took no important step with
out submitting the proposition to Yahweh
and awaiting His decision, which he sought

42 The Religion of the Psalms
by means of the oracle (I Sam. 23:2;
II Sam. 2:1). He showed himself in
sympathy with and obedient to the proph
ets of Yahweh, > viz., Gad and Nathan
(II Sam. 12:1-25; 24:i3, T4, J8)- He
displayed great zeal in his determination
to bring the ark of Yahweh into Jerusa
lem his capital city (II Sam. chap. 6).
One of the most convincing evidences of
the fineness and depth of his reUgious
instmcts is afforded by his demeanor near
the weU of Bethlehem. Finding himself in
the thick of battle in close proximity to
that weU whence he had obtained many a
refreshing drink as a lad, he spontaneously
expressed his longing for the cooling water,
saying, "Oh for a drink of water from the
weU of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!"
Immediately three of his heroic warriors
broke through the encircling lines of the
foe and at the risk of their Uves secured
the coveted water for their leader. But
David took it and "poured it out as a
drink-offering to Yahweh, saying, 'Far
be it from me, O Yahweh, that I should

The Sweet Singer of Israel 43
do this. ShaU I drink the blood of men
who went in jeopardy of their lives?'
And so he would not drink it" (II Sam.
23:153:.). No wonder that his men
almost worshiped him!
^But we must look further and learn
what was the content or nature of David's
reHgion. Was it the kind of reHgion that
must be credited to the writer of the psalms
ascribed to him ? Let us take up first the
ethical aspect of his life. The first thing
that leaps into view naturally is the Bath
sheba episode. This was something more
than an act of sexual lust, due to a power
ful but passing passion. In a sense that
was the smaUest part of his crime. This
tragedy also reveals a capacity for deceit
and duplicity that is beyond contempt,
and it came to full fruition in murder by
proxy such as that for which a Chicago
pohce captain was sent to the electric
chair a few years ago. Nor was this an
isolated case; deceit and treachery were
ever ready in his hands. He was driven
into flight by Saul who sought his Ufe.

44 The Religion of the Psalms
In his hasty escape he stopped at Nob
where there was a sanctuary, and attend
ant priesthood. Greeted hospitably by
the chief priest, David explained to him
that he was on a confidential mission in
behalf of King Saul and that the matter was
so urgent that he had had time to supply
himself with neither food nor weapons.
On the basis of this tissue of falsehood,
Abimelech provided him with what he
needed to send him on his way (I Sam.
21:2-10). When Saul heard of this kind
ness to his foe, he ordered the slaughter of
the entire priestly community. David,
upon hearing of this ghastly deed,
remarked, "I knew on that day, when
Doeg the Edomite was there, that he
would certainly teU Saul. I have brought
about the death of aU the members of thy
father's house" (I Sam. 22:20-22). But
his knowledge of Doeg's attitude did not
prevent him from going ahead with his
own program regardless of the outcome for
his priestly host. He treated his Philis
tine protectors in the same deceitful and

The Sweet Singer of Israel 45
heartless way. Achish, King of Gath,
welcomed him and gave him a place of
abode on the southern edge of the terri
tory of Gath. David used the advantage
of his position, remote from the king's
capital and adjacent to southern clans
that were friendly to PhUistia but hostile
to Judah, to make raids upon these neigh
boring viUages and destroy them, leaving
neither man, woman, nor chUd alive to
tell the tale. Everyone of these raids
was against the aUies of Achish, and
meant the weakening of PhiHstine power.
But when Achish would ask David after
one of his raids, "'Whither did you make
a raid today?' David said, 'Against the
south of Judah, and against the south of
the Jerahmeelites, and against the south
of the Kenites.' .... And Achish be
heved David, saying, 'He has made the
people Israel utterly to abhor him; and
so he wiU be my servant for ever.'" One
of the worst manifestations of this treach
erous and vengeful spirit is that recorded
in I Kings 2 : 5-9. Joab had been David's

46 The Religion of the Psalms
most loyal and efficient commander-in-
chief. He had been friend enough to
David to go contrary to his wishes when
to have obeyed them would have wrought
harm to the king and kingdom. But
Joab had violated the ethical code of those
days in his murder of Abner (II Sam.
3:27 f.) and again in his cowardly murder
of Amasa (II Sam. 20:8 f.). Because of
these things, which he had overlooked at
the time of their commission when Joab
was very useful to him, and because of
other things such as the killing of Absalom
(II Sam. i8:i4f.) which David had never
forgotten, he enjoins his son Solomon to
do away with the old warrior at the first
good opportunity, thus passing on to his
son that which he himself would have
rejoiced to do if he had only dared. Simi
larly in the case of Shimei, though he had
sworn to protect him when he might have
killed him and brought Uttle if any blame
upon himself, yet now upon his deathbed
he appoints Solomon his executioner.

The Sweet Singer of Israel 47
Verily, "the ruling passion strong in
death."1 'Another stain upon David's name, from
the point of view of later times, is the fact
that he was a polygamist. .In addition
to Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, Abigail the
Carmelitess, Michal the daughter of Saul,
Bathsheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite,
Maacah the daughter of Talmai King of
Geshur, Haggith the mother of Adonijah,
Abital the mother of Shephatiah, and
Eglah the mother of Ithream (II Sam.
3:2-4), aU of whom he married before
leaving Hebron, we read, "David took
him more concubines2 and wives out of
Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron.
'Many interpreters of I Kings 2:5-9 relieve David
of the stigma of this story by declaring this passage to be
of far later origin and not a. trustworthy record. But
the farther down this passage is brought in time the harder
is it to account for the origin of such a tale. The more
David became idealized the less and less likely is it that
tales of this sort should have been concocted about him
and put into the religious record. As a matter of fact
the things here narrated are entirely in keeping with the
David we learn to know in the oldest sources.
2 II Sam. 20:3 speaks of ten concubines.

48 The Religion of the Psalms
And there were yet sons and daughters
born to David. And these are the names
of those that were born to him in Jerusa
lem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan,
and Solomon, and Ibhar, and Elishua, and
Nepheg, and Japhia, and Elishama, and
Eliada, and EHphalet" (II Sam. 5:13-16).
It need hardly be said that David was
not whoUy without redeeming features
moraUy. The low standards of his age
must always be borne in mind. The way
in which he bound his personal foUowers
to him in deathless devotion argues con
vincingly for the possession of qualities on
David's part that marked him as a leader
among men. But when we have done
full justice to David's personal character,
it still remains to be asked whether or not
a man of such low ideals and attainments
as are revealed by the facts we have cited
could have written such lofty psalms as
many of those ascribed to him. Notice at
how many points Psakn 15, for example,
runs counter to the facts of David's own
Hfe:

The Sweet Singer of Israel 49
Yahweh, who may sojourn in Thy tent ?
Who may dwell in Thy holy hill ?
He who walks blamelessly and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart,
In whose tongue there is no deceit.
He does no injury to his friend,
Nor does he bear reproach against his neighbors.
The one doing evil is despised in his eyes,
But those who fear Yahweh he honors.
He swears to his own hurt and changes not.
He does not give out his money on interest;
Nor has he taken a bribe against the innocent.
He who does such things shall never be moved.
The situation does not improve when we
move over into the theological aspect of
David's reHgion. We begin with the
bringing up of the ark into Jerusalem
(H Sam. 6:12-23). Here David is at
great pains to do Yahweh honor. Nothing
irreverent or unseemly would be tolerated
for a moment. Yet David danced along
the highway in such a state of nudity and
abandon that his wife Michal observing
him from a window was scandalized.
Nor is there any reason to suppose that
Michal, after a somewhat exciting marital
career, was in any sense a prude. But

50 The Religion of the Psalms
David verily thought that he was pleasing
Yahweh. What sort of a conception of
God did he have ? /
We ask the same question when we read
the story of the famine in II Sam. 21 : 1-14.
We are there told that Saul had broken
the oath of Israel to the Gibeonites in that
he had slain some of them, though Israel
had sworn to preserve them alive. Yah
weh, seeing that Saul's crime was not
likely to be punished or that the blood of
the slain Gibeonites was not otherwise to
be avenged, sent a famine upon the land
of Israel for three long years, thus visiting
the crime of Saul upon the defenseless
and innocent people as a whole. What
a drastic vengeance! David thereupon
"sought the face of Yahweh" and learned
that it was "for Saul and for his bloody
house, because he put to death the Gibeon
ites." Upon taking up the matter with
the Gibeonites themselves, David is given
to understand that nothing less than the
death of some of Saul's descendants wiU
satisfy the demands of Gibeon. Accord-

The Sweet Singer of Israel 51
ingly, he hands over to the Gibeonites two
of the sons and five of the grandsons of
Saul. These are hung up under the
broad sky and the hot Syrian sun, and
Rizpah, heart-broken mother, is left guard
ing her dead from the ravenous birds and
beasts of prey. "And after that God
was entreated for the land." What bar
barous theology! '
^ An altogether similar conception of God
appears in the narrative regarding the
census taken by David (II Sam., chap. 24).
Yahweh was angry against Israel, the
occasion of the wrath not being given.
Therefore he "moved David" to number
Israel. After David had carried out this
divine impulse, he was stirred by remorse,
realizing that the thing he had done was
wrong. This wrong must be expiated.
Therefore the word of Yahweh comes
through the prophet Gad offering David
a choice of three punishments. These
punishments are all such as involve the
suffering of the people as a whole. David
chooses a three days' pestilence. Before

52 The Religion of the"- Psalms
the plague has run its fuU course, the
prophet orders David to build an altar on
the floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and there
sacrifice to Yahweh. David does as in
structed and once more "Yahweh was
entreated for the land and the plague was
stayed from Israel."
Another side of David's conception of
God is seen in the fact that whenever he is
in doubt as to the wise and right course of
procedure he seeks an oracle from Yahweh.
But an "oracle from Yahweh" is nothing
more nor less than the casting of lots. It
is as though the modern man were to lay
his difficulty before God and were then to
step out from under aU responsibUity for
the decision by flipping a coin. No seri
ously minded and genuinely religious man
would dream of such procedure today.
That the usual procedure did involve
placing alternatives before Yahweh and
taking his decision between them is clear
from such records as I Sam. 14:18!,
36-42; 23:4, 5, 9-13; II Sam. 2:1; 5:19,
22-24. In keeping with this naive idea

The Sweet Singer of Israel 53
of God is the fact that David's wife Michal
kept a teraphim in the house. When
Saul sent men to David's home to seize
him, Michal saved her husband's life by
letting him down through a window. She
then gained time for him to make his
escape by placing a teraphim in his bed
and leading the unsuspecting emissaries
to suppose that they were looking at
David lying sick abed. With this report
they returned to their master (I Sam.
I9:i2ff.). The teraphim was an object
of worship and from this narrative it is
quite apparent that it was an image in
human form. The identity of the image
we do not know; but whether an image
of Yahweh or of some other god than
Yahweh, the outcome is in neither case in
keeping with a high idea of God in David's
home. We need consider only one more side of
David's God-idea. This is presented to
our view in an incident recorded in I Sam.,
chap. 26. David was being chased by Saul
from piUar to post. One night after a

54 The Religion of the Psalms
careful reconnoitre he and Abishai visited
Saul's camp while he and his guard were
sleeping and carried away Saul's spear and
water jar. The next morning from a
neighboring hillside and at a safe distance
David taunted Saul's guards with their
negligence. Saul heard David's voice and
took up the conversation with him. After
disclaiming any evfl intent toward Saul,
David continues:
If it be Yahweh that has stirred thee up against
me, let him accept an offering ; but if it be the children
of men cursed be they before Yahweh; for they have
driven me out this day that I should not cleave unto
the inheritance of Yahweh, saying: "Go, serve other
gods." Now, therefore, let not my blood fall to
the earth away from the presence of Yahweh; etc.
It is quite conceivable in David's mind
that aU his present trouble and danger at
Saul's hand may be directly due to Yah
weh's inspiration. If such should be the
case, it is unreasonable that Yahweh
should not be willing to square accounts
upon the receipt of the proper offering.
If, however, it be not Yahweh, but' men

The Sweet Singer of Israel 55
who have instigated Saul, curses be upon
them from Yahweh. That is, Yahweh
may curse men for doing what he might
conceivably have done himself with per
fect propriety. But whoever may be at
the bottom of David's trouble, the result
is the same; he is being driven out from
Yahweh's land into a strange land wherein
he wiU be under the sway of other gods
and where he wUl die "away from the
presence of Yahweh." David's God then
is restrained within certain geographical
boundaries. That is to say, David shares
the ideas about Deity that were current
in his day. For that age and in that
part of the world, there were as many
gods as there were peoples. Each god
looked after his own people. Each people
worshiped its own god and freely acknowl
edged the right of other peoples to exercise
the same privilege for themselves. One
god was as real as another; but each was
limited to his own land and people. A good
iUustration of this is furnished in Judges,
chapter n. Jephthah is there represented

56 The Religion of the Psalms
as engaged in diplomatic correspondence
with the king of the Ammonites, the pur
pose of the negotiations being to persuade
Ammon to leave Israel in peaceful posses
sion of territory held since the days of the
first entry and conquest. In this corre
spondence Jephthah says:
Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his
border, but Sihon gathered all his people together,
and pitched in Jahaz and fought against Israel.
And Yahweh, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon
and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they
smote them; so Israel possessed all the land of the
Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. And they
possessed all the border of the Amorites from the
Amon even unto the Jabbok, and from the wilder
ness even unto the Jordan. So now Yahweh, the
God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from
before his people Israel and shouldest thou possess
them? Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh
thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever
Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us,
them will we possess.
' It is at once evident that this is not
monotheism, but a fuU-fledged polytheism."
Quot gentes tot dei. A paraUel case is
furnished by II Kings 17:25. The Assyri-

The Sweet Singer of Israel 57
ans captured Samaria and deported its
population in part. To take the places
vacated by the exiles, the Assyrian king
sent in* people from "Babylon, Cuthah,
Awah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and
placed them in the cities of Samaria 
And so it was that at the beginning of their
dweUing there, they feared not Yahweh;
therefore Yahweh sent Hons among them
which killed some of them. Wherefore
they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying,
'The nations which thou hast carried
away and placed in the cities of Samaria
know not the manner of the God of the
land; therefore he has sent Hons among
them, and behold, they slay them, because
they know not the manner of the God of
the land.' " Thereupon one of the captive
Hebrew priests was sent back home to
teach the newcomers "the manner of the
God of the land" and we are left to infer
that the Hons were thereby reduced to
gentleness. Of similar character is the
idea of God reflected in II Sam. 15:72.
Absalom is plotting to overthrow his

58 The Religion of the Psalms
father David. But he cannot carry out
his nefarious plot in Jerusalem right under
David's nose. So he invents an excuse
for leaving town. It runs as follows:
Absalom said to the King, "I pray thee,
let me go.and pay my vow which I have
vowed to Yahweh in Hebron. For thy
servant vowed a vow whUe I abode at
Geshur in Aram, saying, 'If Yahweh wiU
indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then
I wiU serve Yahweh.'" Why not serve
Yahweh in Jerusalem? Because the
Yahweh of Jerusalem was not the Yahweh
of Hebron. Somewhat as the Baal was
locahzed at different shrines and dissolved
into a multiphcity of Baals, or to descend
to modern times, even as the power of God
is thought of as manifesting itself at
different sacred spots or in connection
with various relics, so Yahweh was evi
dently localized at different shrines and the
local Yahwehs were more or less independ
ent one of another. A payment to Yah
weh at Jerusalem would not satisfy the
obligation to Yahweh at Hebron. l Could

The Sweet Singer of Israel 59
a man holding such views of God as these
have written such psalms as those which
carry David's name? Put alongside of
David's fear of being driven "away from
the presence of Yahweh" the language of
Psalm 139:
Whither shall I go from Thy spirit ?
Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence ?
If I ascend to the heavens, Thou art there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold Thou art there.
If I should take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there would Thy hand lead me,
And Thy right hand would hold me.
Or if I say: "Surely the darkness will cover me,"
Then the night becomes light about me.
Even the darkness is not too dark for Thee;
But the night shineth as the day;
The darkness is the same as the light.
This kind of incompatibility Ues not
merely in 'the realm of the emotions or
sensibiUties, but is involved in the strictly
inteUectual or rational processes of the
mind. We could as easUy think of a man
who had not gone beyond the multiphca-
tion tables in his mathematical training as
writing treatises on integral calculus or

60 The Religion of the Psalms
differential equations as to imagine the
David of the Books of Samuel writing the
seventy-three psalms assigned to him by
tradition. Nor could they have been
written in their present form for centuries
after David's day. For David was a
typical man of his age and fairly repre
sents the theological and religious thought
of his day.
To arrive at the foregoing conclusion is
not the same as to say either that David
wrote no psalms or that there are none of
his psalms in the Psalter. Since David
was as we have recognized both a poet and
a deeply reUgious man, and since a tra
dition of psalm writing has attached itself
to his name, the probabUity is that he
actuaUy did write some religious songs.
It would be strange if he had not done so.
And it may indeed be that some of his
psalms are actuaUy in the Psalter. But if
so, they have undergone so great a meta
morphosis that David himself would have
great difficulty in identifying his literary
offspring. This is due to the fact brought

The Sweet Singer of Israel 61
out in our first chapter. The necessity
of keeping a national hymn book in close
touch with the developing thought of the
people would work radical changes in the
content and spirit of David's songs as they
came down through the centuries. The
crude thinking of the historical David
would jar upon the finer feelings of his
descendants whose minds had been clari
fied by the observation of centuries of
history and whose fives had been moralized
by the work of the great prophets. Hence
it is little more than a waste of time to
attempt to discover the original Davidic
elements in the Psalter. Time and effort
are spent to far greater advantage in the
effort to understand and appreciate at their
fuU value the Psalms as they have come
to us. *The really important question
after aU, is not, Who wrote the Psalms ?
but, What are the meaning and value of
the Psalms themselves ?• Truth and value
are not dependent upon questions of origin,
but upon the degree of success with which
the Psalms have functioned in the religious

62 The Religion of the Psalms
experience of the past and wiU continue
to function in the experience of coming
generations. On the latter score the
Psalms have nothing to fear if they are
but rightly read and understood. They
are their own best witness.

Ill
SUFFERING AND SONG
The fact of human suffering, with the
problems arising therefrom, has chal
lenged the best thought of the race from
time immemorial. It has called forth
the finest products in the world's litera
ture. Sorrow is the theme of the great
tragedies that grip our souls. Comedy
has its place, but upon a lower level.
Paradise Lost is the outstanding poem of
English speech. The Book of Job has
been caUed the world's greatest book, and
its sole concern is with the problem of
suffering. This is the perennial and para
mount problem. AU others shrink into
insignificance before it. It ennobles what
ever it touches and Ufts the soul of man
to its loftiest heights.
What is true of Hterature in general,
is especially true of the Old Testament.
/It is the literature of suffering that
takes the leading place in the Hebrew
63

64 The Religion of the Psalms
Scriptures— the Book of Job, the servant
passages in Isaiah (chapters 4°~55) and the
Book of Psalms are the three great out
standing Hebrew discussions of the prob
lem of suffering. ' It is with the last of
these three that we are here concerned.
vf "*" We might weU say that suffering is the
I central theme of the Psalter — of the 150
' psalms of which it is composed, about 90
concern themselves more or less directly
with some aspect of this problem. Indeed
the first Psalm, which may properly be
thought of as the preface to the Psalter,
strikes the keynote of the whole book
and states the view of suffering that pre
vails throughout.
This interest in and emphasis upon the
thought of suffering is but a reflection of
the experience of the times in which most
of the psalms were written. ' The Psalter
was the hymn book of postexiUc Judaism;
and as such it must perforce enter into the
thoughts and problems of the people whose
religious needs it sought to express and to
satisfy. I But for that period the outstand-

Suffering and Song 65
ing problem was that forced upon their
minds by their repeated misfortunes.7
In 597 b.c. had occurred the first great de
portation of Jews to Babylon. This was
foUowed by another one in 586, at
which time the temple was destroyed and
the Jewish state brought to an end. The
discouragement and longing of Judaism
are feelingly expressed in Psalm 137:
By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept, •
When we remembered Zion.
Upon the willows in the midst thereof
We hanged up our harps.
For there they that lead us captive asked of us
words of song,
And our tormentors asked of us mirth —
"Sing us one of the Songs of Zion."
How can we sing Yahweh's song
In a foreign land ?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her cunning;
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
If I remember thee not,
If I set not Jerusalem
Above my chiefest joy.
With the appearance of Cyrus upon the
poUtical horizon, alert spirits among the

66 The Religion of the Psalms
exiles began to encourage their people
with hopes of deliverance and return.
Among these the writer of Isaiah, chapters
40-55, takes the leading place. He looks
forward to the final victory of Cyrus as
ushering in the golden age. He paints
glowing pictures of the glory of redeemed
Israel. By every possible device of ora
tory and poetry, he strives to kindle in
the hearts of his contemporaries the
same faith and hope that burn so brightly
in his own bosom. At last the great
anticipated day arrives. SmaU companies
of enthusiasts take up the return to Jerusa
lem. It is a day of great expectations.
But the event did not come up to the an
ticipations. The ruined temple did not rise
phoenix-like from its ashes. The demol
ished walls staid flat upon the ground in
spite of faith and prayer. The handful
of returning pilgrims found itself insig
nificant and poverty stricken. The hard
labors of the farmer in the fields yielded
small returns to meet the high cost of
Uving. This state of affairs is clearly

Suffering and Song 67
depicted in the words of Haggai speaking
about 520, just a few years after the return
had begun :
Ye have sown much, and brought in little;
Ye eat, but ye have not enough;
Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink;
Ye clothe you, but there is none warm;
And he that earneth wages eameth wages
For a bag with holes.
High hopes and lofty aspirations gave
place to indifference and materialism,
discouragement and despair, doubt and
gloom. Into such a situation came Haggai
and Zechariah with a fresh caU to idealism
and high endeavor. "Bund the temple,
it is the word of Yahweh of hosts; and in a
little while, I wiU shake the heavens and
the earth, and the sea and the dry land; and
I wiU shake aU nations, and the choicest
things of aU nations shaU come; and I
wiH fiU this house with glory." Haggai
and Zechariah were so confident of the
correctness of their solution of Israel's
problem that they did not hesitate to
announce the coming of the messianic age

68 The Religion of the Psalms
when the temple should be completed,
and they even went so far as to identify
Zerubbabel, the builder of the temple,
with the long-hoped-for Messiah.1 The
messianic boom of Zerubbabel coUapsed
with a crash and buried the hope of Israel
in its ruins.
Such experiences were aU too frequent
in later Judaism. The unquenchable
patriotism and high hope of Jewry broke
out in revolt against the tyranny of Arta
xerxes Ochus (358-337 b.c.) and brought
upon itself terrible reprisals. Alexander
the Great destroyed the former tyrants,
but whoUy fafled to satisfy the aspirations
of Judaism. The armies of Syria and
Egypt under the Seleucidae and the
Ptolemies, rivals for world dominion,
made the fields of Palestine their battle
ground, thus making the home of Israel
a veritable no-man's land. FinaUy the
madman Antiochus Epiphanes (175-
164 b.c.) played battledore and shuttle
cock with the fortunes of Judah. Never
'Hag. 2:23; Zech. 3:8;4:7-9;6:9-i3.

Suffering and Song 69
did a people suffer worse things for
their faith than the Jews of the Maccabean
struggle. The effect of this oft-repeated and long-
continued disappointment and suffering
upon the mind of the faithful is evident
from such a passage as Isa. 26:17-18:
Like as a woman with child that draweth near the
time of her delivery
Is in pain and crieth out in her pangs,
So have we been at Thy presence, O Yahweh;
We have been with child, we have been in pain,
We have as it were brought forth wind;
We have not wrought any dehverance in the earth;
Neither are the inhabitants of the world come to life.
Others were driven further in their dis
appointment and stood ready to repudiate
the righteousness of God. Witness Mai.
2:17: You have wearied Yahweh with your words,
Yet you say "Wherein have we wearied him?"
In that you are saying "Every one that doeth evil
Is good in the sight of Yahweh,
And he delights in them " —
Or, "Where is the God of Justice?"
Against such a background the Psalter
is to be interpreted. Amid such cross-

70 The Religion of the Psalms
currents of hope and despair, of doubt and
faith, it came into being and it found
acceptance. We might almost caU it a
Manual for Mourners. * NaturaUy then
the idea of suffering and the fact of sorrow
occupy a central place in its pages. The
writers and users of the Psalter Hved in
a world that had inherited a theory of
suffering/ The prophets had formulated
that theory with unmistakable clearness
and authority. It had become the ortho
dox doctrine of the day upon the subject
of suffering. Isaiah had formulated it
thus: If you be willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured with the sword.
Stated in commonplace terms, this
teaching is that prosperity is the reward
of piety and adversity is the punishment of
\J sin. Good people will always prosper;
v bad people will fall prey to trouble, mis
fortune, and death.*
This altogether too simple solution of
the problem of Hfe had already aroused

Suffering and Song 71
question.' The experiences of everyday
Hfe and the facts of common observation
had thrown doubt upon its validity.
Habakkuk had dared to chaUenge the
Almighty to show cause why in the light
of Hebrew history he should not be charged
with maladministration of the moral uni
verse. (' The author of Isaiah, chapters
40-55, had worked out in the Servant
Songs a new theory, viz., that the sufferings
of Israel were of vicarious significance and
function and were to work out for the
benefit of the, world at large. But more
than all, the Book of Job had attacked
the problem of suffering boldly and
frankly and had smashed the traditional
dogma beyond all possibility of restora
tion to its original form. ' But there is
nothing so hard to kill as dogmas; they
have a way of living long after they are
dead. That is the situation with the
doctrine of suffering in the Psalter. The
old orthodox theory still reigns supreme.
It greets us upon the first page of the
Psalter in fuU vigor:

72 The Religion of the Psalms
0, the happiness of the man who has not walked
in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stood in the way of sinners,
Nor sat in the seat of the scornful;
Whose delight is in the law of Yahweh,
And in His law doth he meditate day and night.
Such an one is like a tree planted by streams of
water,
That yieldeth its fruit in its season,
And its leaf does not wither;
Yea, everything that he does prospers.
Not so the wicked!
On the contrary, they are like chaff which the
wind drives away;
Therefore the wicked do not stand in the judg
ment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous —
For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked shall perish.
In similar strain does the poet of
Psalm ^28 sing:
Happy is everyone that fears Yahweh,
That walks in His ways.
When thou eatest the labor of thy hands,
Happy art thou and it is well with thee;
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine in the inmost
circles of thy house,
Thy children like olive plants around thy table.
Lo, thus indeed will the man be blessed,
That fears Yahweh.

Suffering and Song 73
This orthodoxy is scarcely questioned
in the Psalter. The legitimate function
of doubt, inquiry, and investigation finds
no recognition. This is, of course, natural,
in view of the purpose and function of the
Psalter in Judaism. We do not hymn
our doubts and our problems in the great
congregation. We come together to
strengthen one another by our common
enthusiasms and loyalties, not to disturb
and weaken by adding new troubles to those
already possessed. The Psalter was the
Jewish hymn book, not a treatise upon sys
tematic theology nor a handbook of ethics.
Let us then turn to a survey of the
reactions upon suffering on the part of the
orthodox and pious saints in Jewry who
found the religion of the Psalter adequate
to their intellectual and spiritual needs.
What attitudes toward the personal and
community disappointments, wrongs, and
tragedies are to be found in the Psalms?
/ Under the shadow of the accepted theory
that suffering always means punishment
for sin, whether conscious or unconscious,

74 The Religion of the Psalms
we should expect to find some psalms
expressive of a spirit of repentance. We
are suffering; therefore we have sinned;
hence it behooves us to repent that the
suffering may give place to joy. Such
psalms do appear; the most familiar one
probably is the 51st wherein some stricken
soul pours forth its sense of guUt and its
cry for cleansing and pardon./
Be gracious unto me, O God, in accordance
with thy mercy;
In accordance with the multitude of
Thy compassions blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin,
For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
Purge me with hyssop that I may be clean,
Wash me that I may be whiter than snow.
Hide thy face from my sin,
And blot out all mine iniquities;
Create in me a clean heart, 0 God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence;
And take not Thy holy spirit from me.
' Similar sentiments appear in Psalms 31
and 32 and elsewhere; but there is rela-

Suffering and Song 75
tively shght emphasis in the Psalter upon
penitence or upon the necessity of repent
ance. There is much more expression of
the feeling of discouragement. ' And what
more natural under the circumstances?
The Psalter was the hymn book of the
Jewish community. It voiced the hopes
and sorrows of the people as a whole 'to
quite as great an extent, at least, as it
gave utterance to the ideals of individuals.
And what ground was there for encourage
ment in the greater part of the period
during which the Psalter grew up and
came into general use ? It is a baffled and
downcast patriotism that speaks in such
lines as these from Psalm 60:'
O God, thou hast cast us off! Thou hast broken
us down;
Thou hast been angry; 0 restore us.
Thou hast made the land to shake,
Thou hast cleft it.
Heal the breaches thereof, for it is tottering.
Thou hast made Thy people to see hard things,
Thou hast made us to drink the wine of staggering.
O that He would bring me into the fortified city,
That He would lead me into Edom.
Hast not Thou, O God, cast us off ?
And Thou goest not forth with our hosts.

76 The Religion of the Psalms
> Conscious of the integrity of himself
and his people and resentful of malicious
charges not rightfuUy incurred, another
poet in Psalm 69 thus pictures the Jewish
state of mind:
Save me, O God;
For the waters are come in even unto the soul;
I am sunk in deep mire, where there is no foothold;
I am come into deep waters, and the flood over
whelms me.
I am weary of crying, my throat is parched,
Mine eyes fail, while I wait for my God.
They that hate me without cause are more than
the hairs of my head;
They that would cut me off, being my enemies
wrongfully, are many.
Should I restore that which I did not steal ?
Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach,
Confusion has covered my face.
. I am become a stranger unto my brethren,
And an alien unto my mother's children,
Because zeal for Thy house has eaten me up,
And the reproaches of them that reproach Thee
are fallen upon me.
And I wept with my soul fasting,
And that became unto me a reproach.
I made sackcloth also my garment,
And I became a byword unto them.
They that sit in the gate talk of me;
And I am the song of the drunkards.

Suffering and Song 77
i But the masterpiece among these elegies
is that which was Ufted into imperishable
glory as the vehicle for the cry of the
broken heart of the Man upon the Cross —
as the sorrowing, almost despairing, lament
of a weary and worn people it has never
been surpassed (Psalm 22): /
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me ?
Far from my Helper are the words of groaning.
My God, I cry in the day time and Thou dost
not answer,
And in the night there is no surcease for me.
Yet Thou art holy,
O Thou that dwellest in the praises of Israel;
In Thee our fathers trusted;
They trusted and Thou didst rescue them;
Unto Thee they cried and were delivered;
In Thee they trusted and were not ashamed.
But I am a worm and not a man;
A reproach of mankind and despised of people;
All who see me laugh me to scorn;
They open wide their mouths, they wag the head:
"Let him commit himself unto Yahweh! Let
Him rescue him;
Let Him deliver him, seeing He delights in him."
Let it not be supposed, however, that
the blasted hopes of Judaism expended
themselves merely in confession and lamen-

78 The Religion of the Psalms
tation. There was too much virility in
the Jewish soul to permit of such unmiti
gated weakness. Consequently this aspect
of their disappointment was supplemented
by a vigorous outpouring of wrath agamst
those who had been the agents of their
calamity. This spirit is given strong
utterance in many psalms, of which the
best (or shall I say the worst ?) examples
are the 55th, 69th, 83d, 109th, and
137th./" These are commonly known as
the Imprecatory Psalms.' A few stanzas
wiU caU them sharply to our memories:
Thou knowest my reproach,
And my shame is before all my oppressors;
Reproach has broken my heart,
And incurable is the hurt of my soul.
And I looked for a comforter, and there was none,
And for consolers, and I found none.
But they put poison in my food,
And made me drink vinegar for my thirst.
Let their table become a snare before them,
And a trap to them when unsuspecting;
Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see,
And make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out Thy fury upon them,
And may Thy hot anger overtake them.
Let their camp be devastated,

Suffering and Song 79
And may there be none dwelling in their tents;
For they harass him whom Thou hast smitten,
And unto the misery of those whom Thou hast
wounded they add.
Add guilt unto their guilt,
And let them not enter into Thy vindication;
May they be blotted out of the book of hfe,
And not be written among the righteous. [Ps. 69:20-29].
Lest that be not savage enough, let us
add one more passage:
They have laid upon me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
Set Thou a wicked man against him,
And let an adversary stand at his right hand.
When he goes to Court, let him come forth guilty,
And may his very prayer itself become a sin.
May his days be few,
And let another take his office;
May his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow;
May his children be vagabonds and beg,
And be ejected from their ruins;
May the creditor levy upon all that he has,
And may strangers plunder his hard earnings.
May there be none to shew him pity,
Nor any shewing favor to his fatherless children.
May his posterity be cut off,
And his name wiped out in one generation;
May the guilt ot his fathers be brought to Yahweh's
remembrance,

80 The Religion of the Psalms
And the sin of his mother not be wiped out.
Let them be before Yahweh continually,
That He may cut off memory of them from the
earth. [Ps. 109:6-17].
As we read these and similar passages
in cold blood, they shock our finer senti
ments. We shrink from such inhumanity.
For those holding the traditional concep
tion of Scripture these Imprecatory Psalms
constitute an almost insurmountable prob
lem, a crux interpretum. But to the
modern student such psalms are quite
inteUigible and not whoUy inexcusable.
The Hebrew poets of religion were after
aU men, and very human men at that.
Inspired men? Yes, certainly; but none
the less, yea, all the more on that account,
men. Inspiration does not dehumanize;
rather it raises humanity to its highest
power. This case is no exception to the
foregoing general principle. Anger is a
genuinely human characteristic, with le
gitimate as well as illegitimate functions.
The admirable thing about the wrath
of the Imprecatory Psalms is that it is in

Suffering and Song 81
the main right; perhaps, we might almost
say, from the point of view of the times
in which they were written, whoUy right.
The wonder is that Jewry, not only in
those days but down through all its his
tory, has so consistently confined its
savagery to literary expression, and with
rare exceptions has not sought to give it
reaUstic outlet even when full opportunity
for such vengeance lay to hand.
Let us not forget then that the psalmists
were men, and that the wrong and bru
tality of the treatment Judaism had to
undergo at the hands of her conquerors
and persecutors tried their humanity to
the utmost. We have had in our own day
closely analogous situations thrust upon
our attention. The German treatment of
the Belgian, French, and Serbian "occu
pied territory" with its population, and the
Turco-German treatment of the Armenians
are too well known to need elaboration.
Are we to suppose that under the adminis
tration of such inhuman and bestial con
querors, the Belgians, French, Armenians,

82 The Religion of the Psalms
and Serbians went about repeating," for
their own edification and that of their
murderers, the beautiful words of the
thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians ? That
was no time for meditations upon brotherly
love. AU through that period the lex
talionis was upon the statute books of
Israel. "An eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth" was the law of man and of
God. The Christian ideal, "Love thine
enemy," was not yet born.
Further, the orthodoxy of the day was
threatened; and do we not too well know
the wrath of an imperiled orthodoxy?
The righteous nation should prosper and"'
the wicked should come to grief. But
the situation as an actual fact was the
exact reverse of this during the greater
part of the exihc and postexiUc history.
The wonder is that Jewish orthodoxy
defied the facts of experience so obstinately
and so long. A drastic punishment of the
wicked foes of Israel was the imperative
demand of the situation as interpreted by
the great masses of the saints.

Suffering and Song 83
But such punishment was also the
demand of justice as well as of orthodoxy.
We must bear in mind that the favor of
God was by the Jew conceived of not along
exclusively and highly spiritual lines, but
rather in a very substantial and materi
alistic way. The people of God must
prosper economically and politically; all
who wrong them must be overthrown,
destroyed like Nineveh and Babylon.
Only so could the moral order of the Uni
verse be conserved. The character of
God was at stake. There were not
wanting those, as we have seen, who
were already charging him with indiffer
ence, yea, with impotence — God must
show himself God if he would hold the
hearts of his people. Thus it appears that
the whole fabric of Jewish religion was
bound up with this hope of retribution
upon the tyrannical nations. Conse
quently we need not wonder that the
words of Jewish poets upon this subject
were mtense and burning. This is stiU
more expHcable when we recall that there

84 The Religion of the Psalms
was no widespread or vital hope of a worth-
ful Hfe hereafter among the Jews. The
rewards and punishments of God must be
distributed in the world that now is. ' The
Jews did not comfort themselves in present
sufferings by anticipations of future com
pensating glory. It remained for later
Jewish thought to conceive of Dives and
Lazarus. But when the problem of
rewards and punishments is conceived
of in materialistic terms and is limited to
the present Hfe, it becomes correspond
ingly urgent and gives rise to passionate
hopes and desires. Then, too, we cannot
overlook the fact that the Jewish anger
against their oppressors and tormentors
was but the reverse side and the measure
of their passion for justice. We do our
civihzation smaU credit if we can sit by
unmoved at the spectacle of oppression
and violence whether at the expense of
ourselves or of others. Our sense of right
wiU inevitably react violently and effec
tively against injustice in proportion as
it is weU informed and rightly energized.

Suffering and Song 85
To gaze upon ruthless wrong with unruffled
spirit is the sign of a degenerate. It would
ill become us in the light of our recent ex
periences to fail to appreciate profoundly
the ideals and convictions of the men who
wrote and sang the Imprecatory Psalms.
x In treating the attitude of the psalmists
toward suffering, we cannot stop before
briefly noting the consolations that sus
tained them in the midst of trying times
and the compensations of spirit that
came to them as a direct contribution from
their hard experience. The outstanding
movement in postexiUc thought was mes
sianism. This was the community's escha-
tology of hope. Israel might be suffering
now, to be sure, but the day is near at
hand when she wUl see herself righted
before the world and her foes humiliated
in defeat and subjection. This period is
to be inaugurated by the enthronement
of a Messiah in Judah and from his throne
in Jerusalem he wiU rule the world. The
history of Judaism is the story of the rise
and faU of one messianic hope after

86 The Religion of the Psalms
another. Through this hope the com
munity triumphed over doubt and defeat.
Each new calamity was heralded as the
last. It was the final preparation for the
coming of the Great Day, whose clouds
and darkness would roll away, revealing
to the waiting world the splendid briUiance
of the messianic dawn.
The Psalter as the hymn book of the
exUic community could not escape the
influence of this undying hope. It sings in
the psalms, sometimes in plaintive strains,
sometimes in the terrible diapason of
wrath, and sometimes in an exultant
chorus of exuberant joy; in one form or
another it bursts forth on every page like a
fountain of pure water from the well spring
of life. Again and again this hope assumes
the form of fervent appeals to Yahweh to
reveal himself in punitive wrath against
the oppressors of his people. The great
90th Psalm cannot close without a cry to
Yahweh for relief:
Return, O Yahweh, how long ?
And let it repent Thee concerning thy servants.

Suffering and Song 87
O satisfy us in the morning with thy mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days wherein
Thou hast afflicted us,
In proportion to the years wherein we have seen
evil.
Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants,
And Thy glory unto their children.
And let the favour of Yahweh, our God, be
upon us,
And upon the work of our hands [Ps. 90: 14-18].
In more strident tones many psalms call
for judgment upon the wicked nations.
For example, the Imprecatory Psalms
which we have already considered and
several like them breathe out prayers for
fire and sword upon the wicked :
O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
Like stubble before the wind.
As the fire that burns the forest,
And as the flame that sets the mountains ablaze,
So pursue them with Thy tempest,
And affright them with Thy storm.
Fill their faces with shame,
That they may seek Thy name, O Yahweh.
Let them be ashamed and affrighted forever;
Yea, let them be confounded and perish;
That they may know that it is only Thou
Who are most high over all the earth
[Ps. 83:17-19; cf. 35:19-28].

88 The Religion of the Psalms
This cry for vengeance and vindication
often passes over into jubilation over a
judgment already come to pass. For
instance, Ps. 96 : 10-13 :
Say among the nations: "Yahweh reigneth,
The world also is established, it cannot be moved;
Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult;
Let the sea roar and its fulness;
Let the field rejoice and all that is therein;
Then let all the trees of the forest sing for joy
Before Yahweh, for he has come to judge the earth."
Such anticipation of a future event,
and treatment of a hope as an existing
fact, is a common feature of Hebrew
prophetic thought, and illustrates how
vivid and compelling the expectations of
Judaism were.
The most definitely messianic of the
psalms is the second. Its importance
is indicated by the fact that it has been
placed by the editors of the Psalter at the
very threshold of the community's hymnal.
It is an explicit recognition and indorse
ment of the messianic hope:
Yahweh said unto me: "Thou art my son;
This day have I begotten thee.

Suffering and Song 89
Ask of Me, and I will give thee the nations for
thine inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron,
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel."
Now, therefore, be wise, O ye Kings,
Be instructed ye judges of the earth,
Serve Yahweh in fear,
And rejoice tremblingly.
Kiss the Son lest He be angry and ye perish in
the way,
For His wrath is quickly kindled.
We shall, of course, recognize that the
messianic hope could not be expressed too
definitely and concretely in a songbook
intended for public use. The necessity
of outward respect for the ruling power of
the day would prevent too explicit exposi
tion of the content and program of the
great hope. The wonder, indeed, is that
the civU and military authorities per
mitted to go unchallenged as much as they
did in the way of threats of vengeance
upon and prayers for the destruction of
the oppressors of Israel.
Such hopes as these evince the persist
ence of an invincible and unshakable

90 The Religion of the Psalms
faith among the later Jews. A hope
expressing itself in one form was no sooner
dashed to the ground than it sprang up
again in another form. These poets and
dreamers were so sure of God and of his
love for Israel that they could not lose
hope. The bludgeonings of circumstance
did but make them cling more closely to
their God. He could not fail them nor
forsake them. Had he not rescued the
forefathers time and again when all seemed
lost? Would he not do as much for his
people today? Could he, indeed, afford
to do otherwise? For the sake of his
own name — his reputation among the
nations — he must intervene and save his
people from ruin. Nothing apparently
/could wrench these men of faith from
their allegiance to their fathers' God. It
---is the marvel of history. Nothing like it
on a national scale can be found elsewhere.
It is the revelation of a loyalty that pass
eth aU understanding. The great and
repeated disasters that befell Judah were
treated by these heroes of faith not as

Suffering and Song 91
stumbling-blocks but as stepping-stones.
They climbed upward upon them to a
profounder trust in God and a truer under
standing of him. With God aU things
are possible:
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore will we not fear though the earth do
move,
And though the mountains be moved into the
heart of the seas.
Though the waters thereof roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at the swelling
thereof [Ps. 46: 2-4].
Along with this national hope and faith,
and developing within it, there grew up a
more spiritual type of reHgion. The re
Hgion of Israel never lost its patriotic
quality. The religious hope of Judaism
was always and everywhere, both in and
out of the Psalter, largely concerned about
the glorification of Israel in the eyes of
the world. The faithful looked for a
Kingdom of God on earth which should
bring aU human kingdoms into subjection
to itself. But these hopes were always
deferred, and always renewed in brighter

92 The Religion of the Psalms
and more glowing colors. Yet in spite
of this, and indeed by reason of this long
continued disappointment, the religious
Hfe of Judaism became more truly spiritual.
It is notable that the great ethical and
reUgious contribution of the Semitic group
to the welfare of the race was made not
by the mighty and prosperous kingdoms
of Babylonia, Assyria, or Egypt, whose
gods were overwhelmed with sacrifices of
thanksgiving for their abundant gifts, but
by the disappointed, weak, and poverty-
stricken Hebrew who was stripped of aU
that he owned and became ultimately a
homeless wanderer upon the face of the
earth. Deprived of material goods he
sought the more earnestly after spiritual
blessings. Being forced to dispense with
the substantial goods that most men treas
ured highest, he discovered that these
things could be dispensed with, and that
life could go on and become more truly
rich notwithstanding. A successful and
prosperous Israel would probably have
left an impoverished world; but even as

Suffering and Song 93
Israel suffered at the hands of the world,
did she, in turn, pour into the world's
treasury the rich products of her increas
ingly spiritual experience. Failing of outer
glory, she shone supreme in the glory of
the spirit. Given no recognition by man,
she sought and attained communion with
God. She came to see for herself and to pro
claim to the world about her that feUow-
ship with God was the highest good, that
having him she could dispense with all else.
This loftiest height to which the soul
of the Psalmist attained is by some strange
chance preserved for our inspiration in a
psalm that is found, not in the Psalter,
but at the end of the book of Habakkuk.
It is both by outer form and by inner
spirit incontestably proved to be a psalm
in as full and complete a sense as any
psalm within the limits of the present
Psalter.1 This psalm is an apocalyptic
"This Psalm was originally no part of the message
of Habakkuk, the prophet, but was placed with it by some
later editor who saw how splendidly it supplemented the
teaching of the prophet. See the commentaries on
Habakkuk by Sir George Adam Smith and S. R. Driver.

94 The Religion of the Psalms
picture of the coming of Yahweh to judge
the nations of the earth. But it is as
though the Psalmist had checked himself
at the close of verse 16 and recaUed
that other men had frequently painted
such pictures and had looked forward
eagerly for their realization in actual
history, but had met with heartbreaking
disillusionment. With this possibility in
mind for his own case, he goes on in the
foUowing splendid strain:
Though the fig-tree do not flourish,
And there be no fruit on the vines;
Though the yield of the olive fail,
And the fields produce no food;
Though the flock be cut off from the fold,
And there be no ox in the stalls;
Yet in Yahweh I will exult,
I will rejoice in the God of my deliverance.
This is a recognition of the fact that
reHgion is its own reward. It is an
expression of the conviction that God is
his own best gift. In such words as those
which occur and recur throughout the
Psalter, there shines forth the truth that
inner joy is independent of outer fortune,

Suffering and- Song 95
that the gifts of God are the eternal pos
session of the soul.
To such heights of spiritual aspiration
were the saints of Judaism spurred on
by the untoward circumstances of their
earthly life. Such abiding satisfaction
did they find in meditation upon and
communion with God. Their thought of
God was in many respects naive and
inadequate for our fives. But their appre
ciation of God and their unswerving
devotion to him through thick and thin,
constitute a continual challenge to us
who have fallen upon better days and
who have an 'idea of God in many respects
immeasurably superior to theirs. If they
could sing such noble sentiments in the
midst of constant affliction, it iU becomes
us to be downcast when surrounded
by material wealth and power. Their
strength was in the realm of the spirit.
We, too, if true to our spiritual inheritance,
will prize the things that are priceless and
find our abiding satisfactions in those
things which the world can neither give
nor take away.

rv
THE PSALMS AND IMMORTALITY
We ask ourselves here what answer did
the psalmists give to the eternal ques
tion, "If a man die, does he live?"
What place did the thought of life after
death hold in the minds of the writers of
the Psalms? To what extent were their
buoyant faith and invincible hope based
upon a conviction that the wrongs of the
present Hfe would be righted in the future
Hfe? The Psalter represents the best
aspiration, the purest idealism of the
saintly in Judaism who held to the tra
ditional interpretations of life and walked
in the old paths without serious deviation
therefrom. The attitude of such men
toward the question of life after death is
unquestionably of interest to students of
the history of religion.
In order to get ourselves correctly
oriented in our approach to this question,
we must take a brief survey of the state of
96

The Psalms and Immortality 97
thought in Israel upon this subject prior
to the production of the Psalms. The
earliest Hebrew view on record regarded
man as constituted of " flesh " and " spirit."
CAt death man "gave up the ghost," i.e.,
the spirit. The spirit now persisted apart
from the body in a bodUess statej This
conception of death is represented clearly
in two instances. Some length of time
after Samuel's death, the witch of Endor is
said to have caUed up the spirit of Samuel
at Saul's behest (I Sam. 28:7-20). When
EUjah restored the widow's son to life it
is said that "the soul of the chUd came
back into him and he revived" (I Kings
17:17-24). Belief in the possibility and
actual occurrence of resurrection from
death is also attested by the story of
Elisha raising the farmer's son after he
had been dead for a day or two (II Kings
4:18-37), and by the tale of the coming
to life again of a man whose body was
unceremoniously dumped into Elisha's
tomb. Contact with the sacred bones of
the prophet overcame the effects of death

98 The Religion of the Psalms
and the man sprang to his feet (II Kings
i3:2of.). From these and other facts it is certain
that the ancient Hebrews, as a matter
of course, believed in the persistence of
personality after death. However, it is
equaUy clear that they had not yet arrived
at any thought of discrimination between
the good and the bad in the hereafter.
There were no ethical distinctions among
the shades. Nor is there any evidence
that there was any thought of the life
after death as being desirable or worth
while. AvDeath is never looked upon as any /
other than a calamity; it^is never viewed ^
as opening a door of hope? ^Furthermore,
it is practically certain that persistence of
personality after death had not yet ac
quired the phUosophical .dignity of being
regarded as eternal life. 7 Nobody had
yet reached so advanced a philosophical
conception as that of eternity. The
Hebrew word ('61dm), sometimes trans
lated by "eternity," or in adverbial
phrases "forever," is by no means to be

The Psalms and Immortality 99
given the idea of endless duration. Not
infrequently it is applied to the lifetime of
a man (e.g., Exod. 21:6; I Sam. 1:22) or
other limited periods,/\All that persistence
meant for that period of thought was that
as long as there was anybody living who
remembered the departed personality that
person was thought of as still alive? On
the other hand there was no thought that
ordinary men could by any means escape
this persistence after death. Extraordi
nary individuals, like Enoch and Elijah,
might escape death itself by being trans
ported to the heavens; but the common
man must go the way of all flesh and share
the common lot. Annihilation of person-
ahty never entered the ancient Hebrew
mind. That, too, was too abstract and
philosophical a conception for early
Hebrew thought.
During the period of the great Hebrew
prophets, this early attitude toward and
conception of Hfe after death continued
without essential change. This is shown
by a few statements coming from this

100 The Religion of the Psalms
period with reference to necromancy.
The prophets testify to its existence by
their denunciations of it. For example,
Isa. 8 : 19 f . :
When they say unto you "Seek unto the ghosts
and the familiar spirits, that chirp and moan; should
not a people seek unto its gods, on behalf of the
living unto the dead, for instruction and testimony ? "
— surely they speak after this fashion in which there is
no light."
Here the popular recourse to spirituahsm
is the cause of the prophet's expostula
tion. What he said about it then is
equaUy true of it today.
The great prophets of Israel's classical
'period made no contribution to the thought
/of life after death. They almost com
pletely ignored the subject. The explana
tion of this silence is not far to seek. The
interest of these prophets was not in the
welfare of the individual, but in that of
the state. They were ministers unto the
national Hfe, their concern for individuals
was altogether a secondary matter, and
that, too, only in so far as the conduct of
individuals was conceived of as affecting

The Psalms and Immortality 101
the welfare of the state. During the
prophetic period the existence of the state
was constantly in jeopardy, and the
whole energy of the prophets was directed
toward its conservation and deliverance.
During the recent world-war we saw
something of the same sort taking place in
our more influential pulpits. We heard
more discussion of current world-issues
from the pulpit during that five years than
most of us had heard from that source in
aU our previous experience. So the proph
ets had neither time nor inclination for
the discussion of personal problems, espe-
ciaUy such as were not immediately press
ing. All their hopes were centered in the
welfare and future of the state. An
interesting paraUel is afforded by the
case of Homer, with whom the thought of
the future life of individuals drops out of
sight, necromancy and its associations are
ruthlessly derided, and emphasis is laid
upon the group or national consciousness.
In Israel, messianism displaced immor
tality and kept it in the background.

102 The Religion of the Psalms
That the belief in the persistence of life
beyond the grave continued all through
the prophetic period in the consciousness
of the common people is evident from
Ezekiel's vision of the vaUey of dry bones
(chap. 37). It has been customary to
say that this is a vision of the national
resurrection of Israel which is to foUow
the Exile, and that it says nothing as to
the hope of the resurrection of individuals.
This interpretation, however, overlooks
an important fact. The purpose of the
narration of the vision is, of course, to
rekindle hope in the bosom of an almost
despairing people. The prophet assures
them that the after life of the apparently
dead nation wiU be greater and grander
than any stage of its history thus far has
been. He predicts a resurrection of na
tional Hfe and power. He Hlustrates this
by a parable or allegory in the form of a
vision of dry bones being clothed upon
with flesh and being infilled with the
spirit of life. That is to say, the prophet
uses the fact of the resurrection of indi-

The Psalms and Immortality 103
viduals to illustrate his hope and convic
tion as to the resurrection of the national
existence. No wise teacher, least of all
Ezekiel, ever sought to make a difficult
truth or unfamiliar idea clear by means
of stiU more difficult or unfamiliar illus
trative material. The true pedagogical
method involves progress from the known
to the unknown. It seeks to render the
way to the unfamiliar easy and attractive
by the use of analogies dealing with
familiar objects and experiences. The
prophets, especiaUy Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
are particularly apt in their use of such
methods. Consequently, if Ezekiel uses
the picture of a lot of dismembered skele
tons coming to life again in response to the
caU of Yahweh for the purpose of making
his prediction of national revivification
seem more real to his auditors, it may be
taken for granted that a belief in the
resurrection of individuals was the com
mon possession of Ezekiel's contempo
raries. It has been urged against this
conclusion with seeming force that in

104 The Religion of the Psalms
verse 3, where Yahweh asks, "Can these
bones Hve?" and the prophet answers,
"O Yahweh God, Thou knowest," the
answer indicated the prophet's disbelief
in such a possibility. That is true, how
ever, only to a certain degree. The
prophet is naturaUy cautious and non
committal under the circumstances. He
knows, ex hypothese, that he is talking
with Yahweh and that makes him careful
in his reply. But on the other hand, it
is to be considered that the prophet is
confronted by an extraordinary proposi
tion. He could easUy, perhaps, believe
in a far-off resurrection of the dead, even
as many people do today, and believe in it
intensely. But to be chaUenged to an
immediate demonstration of its possibility
on a large scale takes the wind out of him,
even as it would out of us to be asked to
go out to see the sleeping population of
the neighboring cemetery rise from their
tombs. Such a practical (or imprac
ticable) test of our theory might weU give
us pause, though no one would be war-

The Psalms and Immortality 105
ranted in charging us therefore with dis
belief in the possibUity of Hfe after death,
or even in the ultimate bodUy resurrection
of the dead, v
We see then that the Hebrew behef
in the persistence of personality did not
^perish during the prophetic period. We
turn now to a piece of literature from the
period following Ezekiel, viz., the Book of
Job. This great book was of contempo
rary origin with many of the psalms. It
wiU, therefore, give us insight into another
current of thought running parallel to that
of the psalmists. We shaU of course keep
in mind the fact that Job was the product
of the school of the sages in Judaism, the
nearest approach that Judaism, made to
the phUosophers of Greece. We may then
not be surprised if we are met here by
a somewhat cool and dispassionate, if
indeed not critical, attitude toward the
state after death. The prevaUing attitude
in Job may be represented by two passages,
viz., 10 : 18-22 and 14:7-22. In the former,
Job expostulates with Yahweh as foUows:

106 The Religion of the Psalms
Wherefore then hast Thou brought me forth out
of the womb ?
Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
I should have been as though I had not been;
I should have been carried from the womb to the
grave.
Are not my days few ? Cease then,
And let me alone, that I may take comfort a
little,
Before I go whence I shall not return,
Even to the land of darkness and of deep shadow,
A land of gloom and disorder,
And the light is like darkness.
Manifestly, the lot of the soul after
death is not an alluring one. In the sec
ond passage the outlook is, to say the least,
no brighter. In verses 7-12 the poet,
through the contrast afforded by the power
of a tree to spring up into new life after
having been once cut down, emphasizes
the hopelessness of man's lot:
But man dieth and lieth low;
Yea, man perisheth, and where is he ?
As the waters fail from the sea,
And the river is drained dry,
So man lieth down and riseth not;
Till the heavens be no more, they will
not awake,
Nor be roused out of their sleep.

The Psalms and Immortality 107
But contemplation of such a fate is
appalling to the writer and in revulsion
from it he longs for an opportunity to
meet his God after death.
Oh, that thou wouldst hide me in Shepl,
That thou wouldst keep me secret until
thy wrath be past,
That thou wouldst make an appointment
with me and remember me.
But such a hope is no sooner expressed
than its futUity is recognized and he
breaks out, "If a man die, is he alive ?"
To ask that question is to answer it.
The two terms death and Hfe are mutuaUy
exclusive. " If a man is dead is he living ?"
Certainly not. But the longing for a
chance after death is overwhelming and
the sufferer goes on to describe his eager
ness to respond to the divine caU for a post
mortem appointment. But once more he
brushes aside such an impossibility and
resumes his melancholy and hopeless strain.
Even as the forces of nature irresistibly
sweep everything before them,
So Thou destroyest the hope of man,
Thou prevailest forever against him and he passes;

\ V

108 The Religion of the Psalms
Thou changest his countenance and sendest him
away.
His sons come to honour, but he knows it not;
And they are brought low, but he regards them
not.
But his flesh suffers for him,
And his soul mourns for him.
There is but one passage in the Book of
Job that by any possibUity can be made
to reveal a hope of a worth-whUe existence
after death, and that is the famous and
famfiiar crux interpretum (19:25 f.).y The
text and meaning there, however, are so
doubtful and ambiguous that it is useless
to base any judgment upon these verses.
On the whole it may be said that the
attitude of Job elsewhere toward the
question of Hfe after death renders it
very unlikely that he finally formulated a
clear and definite hope and expressed it in
only one passage. If he had come to such
a briUiant and revolutionary change in his
thinking he surely would have heralded it
in unmistakable terms, especially as it
would have had such a vital effect upon
his interpretation of his own suffering.

The Psalms and Immortality 109
But see S. R. Driver and G. B. Gray, The
Book of Job (International Critical Com
mentary [192 1]), on Job 19:25 f., where
the position is taken that Job here thinks
of himself as restored to consciousness
for a little while after his death that he
may with his own eyes see God vindicating
his character before the world.
The view clearly present in Job that
there is nothing to be hoped for in the after
world is, of course, the old opinion stiU
persisting, though somewhat more philo
sophically developed. This same old view
finds clear expression also in the Psalter.
Death and Sheol are things to be dreaded
(Pss. 69 : 1 6 ; 30 : 4) . In death none think of
God or praise him (Pss. 6 : 5^0: 9; 115 : 17;
118:17; 119:175). God, 9 turn, in like
manner takes no thought of the dead
(Ps. 88:5-7, IO, 12 f.). Premature death
is the punishment of the wicked (Pss. 9 : 18;
31:18; 37:22, 28-35, 38)- "Thou, O
God, wilt bring them down into Sheol.
Men of blood shall not live out half their
days" (Ps. 55:24). On the other hand

no The Religion of the Psalms
length of days is the reward of the righteous
(Pss. 23:6; 91:16; 97:10; 103:5; 116:3,
15; 118:17). But finally all go down to
Sheol. Death is no respecter of persons
(Ps. 49: 6-13) r
O remember how short my time is;
For what vanity hast Thou created all the sons
of men!
What man is there that shall not see death ?
That shall deliver himself from the power of
the grave ? [Ps. 89 : 47 f .]
* In general the view of the Psalter is that
aU, good and bad alike, go down to Sheol;
that there is no moral discrimination in
the Hfe there; and that that life is hardly
worthy of the name — it is a bare and futUe
existence rdJ|kl of all that makes life
worth Hvin^^whUe this is true for the
Psalter as aV tm, it does not necessarily
hold good oPall the Psalms. For the
Psalter is from many minds and may
therefore reflect differing opinions upon
such a subject as this. We now turn,
therefore, to some passages that call for
special attention.

The Psalms and Immortality in'
First of all, we may dismiss with brief
notice a passage that is misrepresented by
the Authorized Version, viz. :
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; ]
Neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see !
corruption [Ps. 16:10].
It is sufficient to observe that in the
immediate context, both before and after,
the psalmist is rejoicing in the thought of
the divine protection that gives him
security so that he is made to "know the
path of life," i.e., is saved from death.
Then when we scrutinize the language of
verse io, we discover that a more accurate
translation fits the context perfectly, viz. :
'Thou wilt not abandon me to Sheol;
Nor wilt thou suffer Thy holy ojMLto see the pit. '
The picture is that of SM«eaching up
its greedy claws like a mSKus monster
clamoring for the speakers life. But
Yahweh intervenes and delivers his saint
from premature death. Similar repre
sentations appear in Pss. 30:3; 89:48;
86:13; 9:13; 33:19; S6:i3- Life and
death are under the control of God; the

112 The Religion of the Psalms
wicked are sent down to Sheol in hot
haste, but of the pious the good God says:
With long life will I satisfy him, .
And show him My deliverance [Ps. 91 : 16]. ^'
An exact paraUel to our passage is fur
nished by Ps. 30:4:
O Yahweh, Thou broughtest me up from Sheol;
Thou didst keep me alive that I should not go
down to the pit.
This is no rescue occurring after death;
it is rather an intervention just in time
to save from death, " Thou didst keep me
ahve." The next passage is not so easUy under
stood, viz., Ps. 17:13-15:
Arise O Yahweh, confront him, cast him down;
Deliver me from the wicked, by Thy sword;
From men, by Thy hand, O Yahweh;
From men of the world — may they have their
portion in life;
May their body be filled with Thy stores;
May their children be sated,
And may they leave the rest to their babes.
But I — I shall see Thy face in righteousness,
When Thou awakest I shall be satisfied with Thy
appearance.

The Psalms and Immortality 113
The text of this passage, especiaUy in
verse 14, is very uncertain and we have to
translate at a venture. At any rate, it is
clear that the speaker is calhng for Yahweh
to protect him agamst the ungodly. If
this rendering of verse 14 be in the right
direction, the language here is slightly
ironical. The " stores " of Yahweh are the
punishments he has on hand for the wicked.
In keeping with the general spirit of such
Imprecatory Psalms, the poet caUs for the
infliction of the wrathful punishments of
Yahweh upon the chUdren of the wicked
even to the third generation. But turn
ing from the fate of the sinner, the psalmist
briefly expresses his assurance of his own
triumphant vindication. " Righteousness "
here is used in the same sense as in
Isaiah, chapters 40-55, where it almost
uniformly means "vindication." Yahweh
is thought of as exercising his righteous
power and so bringing vindication to
Himself and His people in the sight of
the world. Our poet confidently looks
for this when Yahweh awakes from his

114 The Religion of the Psalms
period of inactivity and apparent slumber.
This representation is in keeping with his
summons to Yahweh to arise in verse 13.
The psalmists do not shrink from speaking
of Yahweh as indulging in a nap. Cf . 44 : 24,
Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Yahweh ?
Arouse Thyself, cast not off for ever.
Similar language appears in Pss. 35:23
and 59 : 6. There remain the vivid phrases
"see Thy face" and "satisfied with Thy
form (or appearance)." These are poetic
and figurative expressions and do not
contemplate an actual seeing of the divine
countenance or person. This appears at
once when we compare with our passage
such passages as 22:25:
For He has not despised nor abhorred the lowli
ness of the poor;
Neither has He hid His face from them;
But when they cried unto Him He heard.
And Ps. 44:26:
Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression ?
Cf . also for similar phraseology Pss. 10:11;
11:7. In similar fashion the law requires

The Psalms and Immortality 115
every male in Israel to go up to the sanctu
ary three times in the year "to see the
face of Yahweh" (Exod. 23 : 17). Indeed,
this same mode of expression appears in
Babylonian religious literature, where one
writer says to the goddess Ishtar, "I
beheld thy face." On seeing the face of
Ishtar, cf. Zimmern, Hymnen und Gebete,
I, 10, where Ishtar is besought thus:
"with thy shining face look at men
faithfuUy, at me!" It has been suggested
that the phraseology "see the face of
Yahweh" was due to influence of Baby
lonia where worship of the planets gave
rise to such terms. But the phrase is far
older in Israel than the period of Baby
lonian influence, e.g., Exod. 23 : 17. What
is meant by such expressions is, of course,
the gracious manifestation of Yahweh's
power in behalf of the speaker. While the
wicked are to suffer the penalty of their
sins at the wrathful hand of Yahweh, the
pious and saintly are to see His face
shining graciously upon them in the out
flowing of blessings. The word " likeness "

116 The Religion of the Psalms
or "form" adds nothing to what is implied
by "face." The "face" is indeed a part
of the "form" and both words are alike
used in a figurative sense of the divine
intervention in defense and vindication
of the oppressed saint. Indeed in Deut.
4 : 1 2, 1 5, it is distinctly impressed upon the
Israelites that they saw not Yahweh's
"form" on Sinai; and while in Numbers,
chap. 1 2, Yahweh says that Moses talks with
Him face to face and sees His "form"; yet
in that extraordinary passage Exod. 33 : 17-
23, Moses is warned that he may not see
the face of Yahweh and Hve. There, of
course, the word is used in its literal sense.
It goes without saying that no thinker
in postexuic Israel ever dreamt of actuaUy
seeing the person of Yahweh in this life,
at least, and our poet is evidently looking
for his vindication here on earth. It is
perfectly certain that the thought of the
entire Psalm up to verse 13 is concerned
with vindication at the hands of Yahweh
in the world that now is, and it is not likely
that there is any change in the scope of

The Psalms and Immortality 117
the thought in the last stanza. Even
if we accept the translation of the verb
"awake" which makes it apply to the
speaker rather than to Yahweh, it still
remains true that the awaking is not that
foUowing death. It is rather from the
present period of weakness and suffering
which seems to the sufferer like an evil
dream. Such sleep and awakening are
spoken of elsewhere in the Psalter, espe-
ciaUy in 30 : 5 ; 76:6 and 143 : 7, 8. A very
interesting parallel to our passage is
afforded by Ps. 73 : 20: "As a dream when
one awakes, O Lord, so when Thou awak
est, Thou wilt despise their likeness." One
of the clearest expositions of the point of
view of our poet in Psalm 17 is afforded
in Ps. 39:5-14. There the brevity of
human life is emphasized and in general
its futility. Man's only hope is in God
and that hope is interpreted as vindication
in the sight of the world. If a man does not
obtain this, what has he that is worth whUe ?
Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and give ear unto
my cry;
Keep not silence at my tears;

118 The Religion of the Psalms
For I am a stranger with Thee,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were,
Look away from me, that I may take comfort,
Before I go hence and be no more.
We turn from such depressing views
to seek a more cheerful outlook. Two
more passages invite consideration. The
first of these is Ps. 49:5-20. The text
here unfortunately is not always inteUigible
having suffered many things apparently at
the hands of transcribers. But with the
adoption of some "corrections" we may
attempt a translation:
Why should I fear when trouble comes,
When the malice of my persecutors surrounds me,
They who trust in their substance,
And boast of the bulk of their riches ?
But no man can buy himself off,
Nor give to God a ransom for himself;
For the redemption of his life is too costly,
And he comes to an end for ever and aye.
And would he live forever and not see the pit,
Surely he sees that wise men die;
Yea, fool and dolt perish;
And they leave their substance to others.
Their grave is their house forever,
Their habitation for generation after generation;
Though they have called lands by their own
names.

The Psalms and Immortality 119
Man abideth not in riches;
He is like the beasts that perish.
This is the way of those who are self-confident;
And the path of those who delight in their own
speech;
They are appointed like a flock to Sheol,
Death shepherds them,
(The upright shall rule over them in the morning)
And their form must dissolve away.
Sheol is their dwelling.
But God will rescue me;
i From the power of Sheol He will surely take me.
Fear not when a man becomes rich,
When the splendor of his house increases;
For when he dies he can take nothing,
/ His splendor does not go down after him.
Though while alive he congratulate himself,
(Men praise thee when thou doest well)
He will go to the generation of his fathers
Where they nevermore see light.
Man abideth not in riches,
He is like the beasts that perish.
The thought here is very clear. Why
worry over the prosperity and power of
the wicked? Do they not share in the
common lot of death ? And of what sig
nificance is a brief period of good fortune
agamst the background of the great

120 The Religion of the Psalms
human tragedy? Not only so, but the
wicked are snatched away prematurely
by Sheol; they do not live out half their
days. But God saves his saints from
such a dire fate. They come to their
grave in a good old age, "As a shock of
corn cometh in in its season." It is the
divine care of the good in this life that
concerns the poet. He has no vision nor
hope of life after death. This statement
holds good even if we follow the common
rendering of verse 15, which runs. "God
wiU redeem my soul from the power of
Sheol; He wiU take me." This leaves
the method and goal of the taking indefi
nite; but it remains true that Sheol is here
thought of as balked of its prey, just as in
Psalm 16, the speaker is convinced that
he wiU escape Sheol. How he does not
venture to predict. The closest parallel
to the phraseology is in the story of
Enoch (Gen. 5:24). "Enoch was not, for
God took him"; and the one passage is
just as indefinite and vague as the other.
But the rendering of Ps. 49:15 here

The Psalms and Immortality 121
adopted frees us from such vagueness
and at the same time restores the balance
of the verse, whUe calling for no change
except the transfer of a punctuation point.
There remains but one more passage
that caUs for treatment, to- wit, Ps. 73:22-
26. The writer has been setting forth
his former state of mind as he gazed upon
the blatant prosperity of the wicked.
He envied them and resented keenly his
own lot in comparison with theirs. But
he then came to realize that his state of
mind was unworthy of a child of God,
for the wicked stand in slippery places
and are suddenly hurled to utter ruin.
In the light of this fact, he chides himself,
saying: But I was brutish and knew nothing;
A very beast was I in thy presence.
For I am continually with Thee, '
Thou holdest my right hand.
Thou guidest me by Thy counsel.
These lines beautifully express the sense
of feUowship with God. They breathe
forth the spirit of trust and dependence

122 The Religion of the Psalms
that characterize the attitude of a Uttle
chUd toward its father. This intimate
feeling of inner communion between man
and God is the glory of the Psalter. It
is that which has made it supreme in
the devotional Hterature of humanity.
This is the heart and soul of true religion.
There foUows, however, immediately
upon these splendidly spiritual words, a
phrase which is an integral part of them
and must complete their thought and
bring it to a climax. Unfortunately we
cannot be sure of the meaning of this
phrase and stiU more we are in doubt as
to the soundness of the text. Passing
over the latter problem and taking the
text as it stands, the best treatment of the
grammar yields the foUowing rendering:
v" And afterward Thou wilt take me
gloriously." This is,- of course, open to
the charge of vagueness.\ AU that we can
say, supposing the translation and text to
be correct, is that the poet looks forward
to a glorious vindication at the hands of
God, and that, probably, this vindication

The Psalms and Immortality 123
is conceived of as awaiting him in a here
after. This conclusion is somewhat ven
turesome in view of the fact that this is
the only passage in the Psalter in which
the hope of a Hfe beyond the grave is
brought forward. This is strange, for if
the hope were present at aU, we should
expect it to occupy a relatively large
place. It would be whoUy out of the
question if the Psalter were the work of but
one or two men. No man who believed in
a worthful existence after death could
discuss the problem of suffering from as
many angles as appear in the Psalter
and faU to make use of his hope for the
future as a solvent. But the Psalter is
the product of many minds and it is, of
course, possible that the writer of Psalm
_73_is not represented by many songs in our
coUection, and that he alone of aU the
psahnists entertained some vague hope
of a glorious life to come.
/ However that may be, the fact remains
that there is practicaUy no thought of life
after death in the Psalter as a whole. If

124 The Religion of the Psalms
we were to let the balance of probability go
and were to read life after death into every
passage in the Psalter which would admit
of it, it would still be true that the allusions
to Hfe after death would be amazingly
few. But in this respect the Psalms do
not differ essentiaUy from the Old Testa
ment as a whole.f_ The Jews were appar
ently incapable of imagining Hfe as being
carried on anywhere except on earth.
Consequently, when they do think of life
after death, it is in terms of a resurrected
Hfe, the dead coming back again to Hfe
in the world. This was the characteristic
Jewish thing. ImnjortaHLy^was the prod
uct of Greek thought, and came to find
adoption in later Jewish and Christian
thought/} But even this resurrection life
plays but a smaU part in the Old Testa
ment, r There are but two passages in
which it clearly appears, viz., Isa. 26:19
and Dan. 12:23.
The reason for this is twofold. First
and most important is the fact that the
thought of existence after death lay out-

The Psalms and Immortality 125
side of the religion of Yahweh in early
times. ' It was a part of primitive Semitic
religion. When Yahwism came to Israel,
it found this instinctive repulsion to anni-
hflation already on the ground. AU that
the earlier exponents of the religion of
Yahweh sought to do with it was to keep
the people from abusing the belief in
existence after death by necromantic
practices. » It was not tiU relatively late
in Hebrew thought-history that the realm
of existence after death was taken over
and incorporated within the limits of the
reHgion of Yahweh itself ^ It was one of
the last primitive pagan elements to be
incorporated and purified.
1 In the second place, life after death did
not bulk large in the Hebrew Psalter
because the life that now is was so inter
esting, so enthralling. And particularly
so, when we recaU that the psalmists were,
like the prophets, primarily concerned
with the life of the community and not
with that of the individual. « Now the
community is self-perpetuating; it is

126 The Religion of the Psalms
immortal. Generation succeeds genera
tion world without end. The problem of
existence did not present itself so vividly
in the case of the group as such. And this
group-life was a matter of large moment to
the Psalmists. It absorbed their energies
and embodied their hopes. If the Jewish
people and the Jewish reHgion go on and
prosper the Psalmist is wiUing to disappear
from view. His highest hopes and aspira
tions are fulfilled. The individual feels
himself absorbed in the group and finds
his larger satisfaction in sharing the group
consciousness. /The noteworthy thing about the absence
of emphasis upon the future Hfe in the
Psalter is the fact that the lack of a vigor
ous and vital hope of a Hfe after death
did not paralyze the ethical or religious
interest in Israel. • To use a hackneyed
phrase, it did not "cut the nerve" of
religion. The reason for this lies in the
fact that the Hebrew insisted that reHgion
should pay its way as it went. He placed
no reliance upon deferred dividends. He

The Psalms and Immortality 127
felt that the values of religion were to be
realized by the individual in the present
world. But more than this, he went on
to define those values in spiritual terms.
While the best men in Israel never got
whoUy away from a somewhat materialis
tic valuation of religious good, yet they
did more and more emphasize the distinc
tively spiritual and ethical meaning of
life. Communion with God is the out
standing note of the religion of the
psalmists. With God at his side, the
Hebrew was able to face all his foes,
material and spiritual, and to triumph
in the realm of the spirit even when routed
on the field of battle. In no book of pious
meditation and lofty aspiration is the
sense of the actual presence of God in
human experience more vividly present
than in the Book of Psalms. These poets
walked and talked with God. They found
him a source of refuge when beaten back
by the advance of sorrow and disaster;
they sought new strength from him when
exhausted by the strain of watching and

128 The Religion of the Psalms
waiting for the fulfilment of deferred hopes;
they shared with him their joy when
fortune turned and light broke in upon
their darkness. Fellowship with God is
for the Hebrew the supreme good.
As the hart panteth after the water courses,
So panteth my soul after Thee, O God,
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God;
How long till I come and see the face of God ?
[Ps. 42:23].
Yahweh is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear ?
Yahweh is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid ? [Ps. 87:1].

u-

THE IDEA OF GOD IN THE
PSALMS
Let us remind ourselves again that the
Psalter was the hymn book of the Jewish
people as a whole. Consequently we shaU
not expect to find therein the thought of
experts on any subject. The ideas of
God that it contains wiU be, for the most
part certainly, those held by the plain
man. We shall see what aspects of the
conception of God really functioned in the
Hfe of the man on the street. We ought
not to expect to find the most exalted and
abstract or phflosophical conceptions of
God in the Jewish hymnal any more than
we do in our own. Some such ideas do
occasionally crop out, but they are not
the ideas that bulk large in the thought
and speech of the psalmists.
The wonder, indeed, is that the thought
of God in the Psalter is as noble and lofty
as it is. This wonder grows upon us as
129

130 The Religion of the Psalms
we learn more accurately and definitely
just how the average Jew thought about
God in the early postexiUc age. The
Jewish religious thought of that age, or
more particularly of the fifth century B.C.,
is vividly presented to us in the papyri
discovered in 1906-7 at Elephantine on
the NUe, and commonly known as the
Assouan papyri after the name of the town
lying on the river bank just across from the
island of Elephantine. These papyri con
tain private and public documents belong
ing to a colony of Jews located at this
point and serving as mercenaries in the
Persian army. These documents are of
various sorts, some being records of real
estate transactions and other business
deals, others having to do with religious
and social matters. They illustrate the
religion of the colony in a very informing
way. These Jews had a temple and priest
hood of their own devoted to the worship
of Yahweh and they spared no zeal or cost
in the equipment and upkeep of this
sanctuary with its staff. AU this is

The Idea of God in the Psalms 131
natural and as it should be. But upon
going through the papyri, we find that
other gods than Yahweh were likewise
recognized and held in high honor. Not
only so, but Yahweh himself actually
shares his gifts with two subordinate gods,
the one composite deity bearing the
name Anath-Bethel, and the other Asham-
Bethel. Indeed, in one case, Yahweh is
himself given a female consort, who is
known by the composite name Anath-
Yahweh. This at once reminds us of
such composite deities as Ashtar-Chemosh
of Moab and Atargatis of Phoenicia.
Yahweh's very temple and ritual seem to
have made room for some of these god
desses. When to these facts is added the
further item that the personal names of
the members of the Jewish colony contain
the names of nearly a dozen different gods
and goddesses as component elements, it is
at once clear that /the religion1 of these
1 For a more complete statement of the religion of the
Assouan colony, see my article "Jewish Religion in the
Fifth Century B.C.," American Journal of Semitic Lan
guages, July, 1917, pp. 322 fi.

132 The Religion of the Psalms
fifth-century Jews was practically a form
of polytheism in which Yahweh was
assigned the place of chief God. AU the
more wonderful is it then that from the
Jewish Psalter practicaUy every trace of
polytheistic thought has disappeared, and
that the thought of God is so presented
in the Psalms as that for the most part it
has ministered effectively and inspiringly
to the religious need of the Jewish and
Christian worlds alike all through the
succeeding centuries.
As indicative of the great advance
beyond a crass polytheism that some of the
psalms reflect, we may bring together those ("
passages from the Psalter that represent
Yahweh as the God of the Universe, the
only God. This view of God appears
in the ascription of omnipotence to Yah
weh. He is the Creator and ControUer of
the Universe:
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
And the expanse publishes the work of his hands.
Day unto day pours forth speech,
And night unto night declares knowledge.
There is no speech; nor are there words;

The Idea of God in the Psalms 133
Their voice is not heard.
Yet their voice has gone forth in all the earth,
Then-words to the end of the world. [Ps. 19:1-4].
Thoughts like these meet us frequently
in the Psalter.1 Yahweh is the Lord of the
thunder.2 He is the God of history, ruling
and overruling the thoughts and intents of
men from the beginning.3 He is the
source and the continual sustainer of all
life.4 He is the mighty, yea, the omnipo
tent God.5 But this unlimited power
is coupled with commensurate wisdom.
Yahweh is omniscient; he is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of men; while
his own ways are past finding out.6 He
is the inescapable, omnipresent God.7
'Pss. 8:4; 24:2; 33:6£f.; 74:13-17; 78:69; 89:10-
14; 90:21; 95:4^; 96:5; 100:3; 102:26; 107:235.;
115:15; 146:6; 147:8, 9, 16-18; 148:5-13; 121:2;
124:8; 134:3.
'Ps. 29:3 ff.
^Pss. 22:29; 24=r; 78:136; 105:12-44.
<Ps. 104:10-30.
I sPss. 135:6; 93:4; 77:17-20; 78:12-16.
6 Pss. 94:8-11; 145:3; M7:s; 139:1-6-
»Ps. 139:7 ft.

134 The Religion of the Psalms
Possessing these characteristics, it is
quite in keeping that Yahweh should
also be thought of as the timeless, the age
long, eternal God.1
O Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place through
all generations;
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever the earth and the world were formed,
Even from age to age thou art God.
Thou retumest man to dust,
And thou sayest, "Return, O sons of men.
For a thousand years in thine eyes
Are but as yesterday when it is past,
And as a watch in the night " [Ps. 90: 1-4].
A God like that is incomparable; he is
unique;2 he is, of course, the only God.3
Idols therefore are futile; they are worse
than useless; they represent non-existent
beings. It is hardly worth whUe to com
pare or contrast Yahweh with them:
All the gods of the nations are nonentities,
But Yahweh made the heavens [Ps. 96 : 5].
Our God is in the heavens,
He has done whatsoever he pleased.
Their images are silver and gold —
'Pss. 102:25-28; 105:8; 145:13; 146:10.
a Pss. 40:6; 113:5; 77:14; 86:8; 89:7,9.
sPs. 18:32.

The Idea of God in the Psalms 135
The work of men's hands.
Mouths have they, but they speak not.
Eyes have they, but they see not.
Ears have they, but they hear not.
Noses have they, but they smell not.
Hands have they, but they touch not.
Feet have they, but they walk not.
Like unto them shall be those who make them,
Whosoever trusteth in them [Ps. 115:3-8].'
One psalm seems on the face of it to
recognize the gods and therefore calls for
examination :
God stands in the divine assembly,
In the midst of the gods he judges:
"How long will you judge perversely,
And show favor toward the wicked ?
Execute justice for the poor and the fatherless;
Give the afflicted and destitute their rights;
Deliver the poor and the needy;
From the power of the wicked rescue them."
They know not, nor do they understand,
They walk in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth totter.
I said, "You are gods,
And all of you sons of the Most High;
Yet like men you shall die,
And like one of the princes you shall fall."
Arise, O God, judge the earth,
For thou shalt take possession of all the nations.
[Ps. 82:1-8]
'See also 96:4; 97:7; 135:5. iS-I8-

136 The Religion of the Psalms
It is at once evident that God is here,
represented as calling to account those
who have been responsible for the adminis
tration of justice upon the earth. In
dramatic fashion he caUs them together
and denounces them, threatening them
with death. Who are these judges ? They
are described as "gods" and as "sons of
Elyon" which means the same thing.
Yet "gods" do not "die." Indeed as
verse 7 says, their death will show them to
be mere mortals. The probable meaning
of all this is to be found in the fact that the
rulers of the ancient world, who had
exercised sway over Israel, were frequently
acclaimed as divine and given the title
and worship belonging to gods. The
psalmist then is speaking ironicaUy when
he talks of "gods," but with bitter serious
ness when he reminds these vain rulers
that they must share the common lot of
man and die.
The idols being ruled out of the uni
verse as nonentities, their place is given
to a body of angels who serve as the mes-

The Idea of God in the Psalms 137
sengers and agents of God in his dealings
with men. These angels are not promi
nent in the Psalms, being mentioned but
four times. In 103 : 20 f . they are spoken
of as Yahweh's messengers, ministers and
doers of his will, and they are thought of
as very numerous, being addressed as
"all his hosts." In 91:11 f. the pious
are assured of Yahweh's providential
care as mediated through his angels :
For he will give his angels charge concerning thee,
That they shall keep thee in all thy ways;
Upon their hands they shall bear thee up,
Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
The same care of the pious is exercised
by the "angel of Yahweh" in Ps. 34:8.
But the converse of that appears in
Ps. 35 : 5, 6, where the "angel of Yahweh"
is assigned the task of hurrying headlong
the wicked who are flying "like chaff
before the wind" and of pursuing hard
after them as they stumble in "dark
and sHppery" ways.
/Yahweh, who is exalted to the throne
of the universe by the psalmists, is of
course thereby made ruler over all the

138 The Religion of the Psalms
nations. He is the judge of all the earth.1
But in this capacity his main concern
,seems to be the punishment of the peoples
of the earth. There is no thought any
where in the Psalms of the love and tender
ness of Yahweh toward mankind at large J
such as we find in the Book of Jonah, for
example, and in some parts of Isa. 40-66.
The Psalter is a nationalistic hymnal and
its God is thoroughly loyal. For though
Yahweh is the only God, he is nevertheless
primarily thought of as Israel's God, and
his interests are naturally and inevitably
the interests of Israel. He is spoken of
as the "Shepherd of Israel,"2 the "God
of Jacob,"3 while Israel in turn is his son.4
He "loves the gates of Zion"5 and makes
Mount Zion his dwelUng-place.6 He is
true to his own people, keeping aU his
promises with them, and he is their sure
refuge from all their foes.7 But his inter-
'Pss. 7:9; 9:5,9,20; 96:10-13; 110:6.
aPs. 80:2. <ps. 27.
3 Ps. 94: 7. 5 Ps. 87: 2. 6 Ps. 74: 2.
'Pss. 3:4 s.; 4:9; 5:12, 13; 6:10; 18:31; 31:24;
37:40; 94:i4»22; m:5; 106:45; I2i:4-

The Idea of God in the Psalms 139
est in Israel does not prevent him from
inflicting severest punishment upon her
for her sins; he may even forsake and cast
off Israel forever.1 His wrath, however,
is reserved mainly for his enemies, viz.,
Israel's foes, whom he laughs to scorn2
and utterly destroys.
It is not among such transcendental
aspects of the divine nature as omnipo
tence, omniscience, omnipresence, univer
sality, and uniqueness that the psalmists
love to linger. They are much more
apt to present Yahweh to us as a very
Vhuman sort of God. He is intensely
personal in aU Hebrew literature and
nowhere more so than in the Psalter. He
is here presented to us as a great, indeed
an incomparably great, man. 'He is
credited with all the attributes of man.
The psalmists carry their personification
of God so far as not to shrink from assign
ing even human limitations to him. Of
course, personality itself is a Umitation,
'Pss. 74:1; 90:73.; 108:12; 106:40; 102:11.
"Pss. 143:11; 2:4; 5:"; 73:27; 94:23; 97:38-

140 The Religion of the Psalms
but they go far beyond that. He shares
some of the frailties of human personaUty,
and is presented in a thoroughly anthropo- *
morphic way. He has a face, with eyes,
ears, nose, and mouth.1 He has arms,
hands, and feet.2 He breathes, swallows,
and talks.3 He grows weary and may take
a nap.4 He becomes angry and executes
vengeance upon the wicked;5 but his
anger may quickly come and as quickly
go.6 On one occasion, indeed, Moses
actually turned back Yahweh's wrath.7
Appeals are constantly made to his pride;
he must intervene in his people's behalf
for the sake of his own name, i.e., his
reputation among men.8 He needs and is
'Pss. 80:4; 33:6, 18; 11:7; 34:i6f.; 17:5; 27:8;
30:8; 31:3; 14:3; 1:17; 32:8; 18:9,16; 102:3; 105:4;
143:7; 116:2; 119:125.
3 Pss. 32:4; 18:36; 20:7; 21:9; 80:18; 98:1; 138:7;
118:15, 16.
'Pss. 18:16; 33:6; 21:10; 102:3.
«Pss. 73:20; 78:65; 7:7; 35:23; 95:10.
s Pss. 18:48; 99:8; 137: 7 ff.; 2: 5, 12; 90:7!!.; 94: if.
6Ps. 30:6.
» Ps. 106: 23.
8Pss. 102:16; 143:11; 106:8; 109:21, 27; 115:2;
74:18, 22 f.; 79:9-13.

The Idea of God in the Psalms 141
provided with a home; sometimes his
dwelling-place is in the heavens and again
it is on earth, in the Templejit ; Jerusalem.1 '
He is credited with a great love of praise.
This characteristic appears in the name
of the Psalter which is "Praises." It is
shown by the great amount of praise that
is expressed in the Psalms. The last
five psalms, each beginning with "Halle
lujah," i.e., "praise ye Yahweh," are
notliing but ascriptions of praise from
first to last. This weakness is made use
of in a fine argumentative way by some of
the psalmists. Yahweh is not thought of
as being above considerations that affect
his own advantage; he is a God that
may be reasoned with. Loving approba
tion as he does, he naturaUy will not wish
to act in any way so as to diminish the
volume of his praise.2
Mine eye languishes by reason of affliction;
I have called upon thee, O Yahweh, every day,
' Pss. 102: 20 f.; 99: 1; 91:9; 123: 1; 115:3, 16; 135: 21.
"Pss. 115: 17 f.; 89:30-52; 40:10-12; 6:5,6; 10:1-
13; 3o=9. Io; 35=27 f-; 74:iof.; 83:19.

142 The Religion of the Psalms
I have spread forth my hands unto thee.
Wilt thou work wonders for the dead ?
Or will the shades arise and give thee thanks ?
Will thy mercy be declared in the grave ?
Or thy faithfulness in Abaddon ?
Will thy wonders be known in the dark ?
And thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness ?
[Ps. 88:ioff.].
Yahweh is so human as that he must
bind himself by an oath that he wiU not
forget nor fail to keep his promises.1 He
may change his mind and faU to carry out
an original intention, which procedure is
known as "repenting himself."2 He may
even meet like with like and outdo the
cunning man with his own subtlety:
With the pure thou showest thyself pure;
But with the crooked, thou dost deal tortuously. [Ps. 18:27].
We recognize at once that in such
representations as the foregoing, the psalm
ists are but attributing to Yahweh the
feelings and attitudes that are character
istic of men. This is what mankind has
done always and everywhere. We cannot
'Pss. 132; 95:11; 132:11; 105:9,10; 106:26; 110:4.
'Pss. 135:14; 90:13.

The Idea of God in the Psalms 143
think of anytliing or anybody in terms
outside of our own human experience.
We naturally consider ourselves as belong
ing to the highest order of Hfe, at least on
our own planet. Therefore in conceiving
of God we as a matter of course describe
him in terms of our own human experience.
If we were animals and were able to con
ceive of a god, we should describe him in
terms of animal life; if we were angels, in
terms of angeHc or divine Hfe. Conse
quently when the psalmists speak of the
noble and divine aspects of Yahweh, they
naturaUy do so in terms of those qualities
which they regard as ideal in human beings.
If Yahweh must be thought of in human
terms, it is natural that he should be repre
sented under the guise of those types of
men most highly honored by their feUows.
One favorite way of picturing him is as a
great king.1 With this function, he natu
raUy appears also as a judge,2 and that of
'Pss. 74:12; 22:29; 24:1; 84:4; 93:i; 95:3; 96:10;
97:1; 98:6; 99:1; 103:19,22; 123:1; 145:1-13; 146:10.
"Pss. 7:9; 9:5,9.20; 75:8; 82:1,8; 94:2; 96:10,13;
98:9; 110:6.

144 The Religion of the Psalms
aU the earth. In a world that was full of
wars and rumors of wars, it would be
strange if Yahweh were not thought of at
times in terms of nulitary efficiency.1
The surprising fact is that there is so
little of this sort of thing. Yahweh is a
mighty warrior, a strength and shield, the
destroyer of his foes, a mighty God, a rock
of defense, a high tower, a fortress, a
deHverer, a terrible and awful Being, and
the leader of innumerable hosts. In these
and related aspects of his character,
Yahweh is indeed a fearful and awe-
inspiring God:
My flesh shuddereth for fear of thee;
And I am afraid of thy judgments [Ps. 119:120].
Thou — terrible art thou;
And who can stand before thee ?
From the heavens thou didst announce judgment;
Earth feared and was quiet,
When God arose to judgment,
To deliver all the meek of the earth.
'Pss. 18:47; 19:15; 24:8-10; 31:4; 28:7; 33:20;
76:8-13; 77:17-20; 78:12-16; 88:1, 15; 84:12; 91:2;
94:22, 23; 95:1; 96:9; 97:3 ff-; 99:3; "5:9-11;
118:8,9; 1*4:7; 111:9.

The Idea of God in the Psalms 145
Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee;
The residue of wrath thou shalt gird upon thee.
Vow and pay unto Yahweh your God.
Let all who surround him bring gifts to the
terrible one.
He restrains the spirit of princes;
Terrible is he to the kings of the earth
[Ps. 76:8-13].
Closely allied to these terrifying and
awe-inspiring characteristics of Yahweh
is his hohness. Very Jittle : is_said of this
quality in the Psalter.1 That is because
holiness is a metaphysical concept per
taining to the essence of the divine being.
It ijLnot a moral quality; least of all is it a
human quality. Thus it does not play a
conspicuous r61e in the psalmists' thought.
Holiness is that which constitutes God
head — it is the very essence of deity.
It is that which distinguishes God from'
man. Just as humanity is the essence
of the human, so holiness is the essence of
the Divine. It lies beyond the range of
human experience as the exclusive char-
'Pss. 22:4; 97:12; 98:1; 99:3.5.9; i°3:i; w>8:8;
111:9.

146 The Religion of the Psalms
acteristic of another order of beings; it
may, therefore, be predicated of Yahweh,
but little attempt is made to expound the
content of the term or define its limits.
In this connection we may note also the
thought of Yahweh as able to discern the
thoughts and intents of the heart in a way
far transcending all human possibility.1
He likewise surpasses even the greatest of
kings in that aU his plans carry- through;
they do not fall short of completion.2
It is in more familiar terms, however,
that the psalmists prefer to speak of Yah
weh. Just those qualities that good men
covet for themselves are most frequently
predicated of Yahweh. He is a good and
upright God, who loves righteousness and
demands justice and himself exercises
the function of a just judge over all the
earth.3 By virtue of this characteristic,
he may be depended upon to reward the
'Pss. 7:10; 139:1-6.
"Ps. 33:10, II.
sPss. 11:7; 7:9; 9:5, 9, 20; 25:8; 85:15; 86:5;
92:16; 98:9; 103:6,17; 111:7,8; 112:4; "6:5.

The Idea of God in the Psalms 147
pious and faithful Jews.1 One of the
things without which access to his presence
is impossible to any man is the require
ment of a righteous Hfe.2 Yet his con
ceptions of righteousness and justice are
so far superior to those of man that none
can pass examination at his bar unscathed:
O Yahweh, hear my prayer; give ear to my
supplications;
In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy \
righteousness.
But enter not into judgment with thy servant,
For before thee can no man living be justified.
[Ps. 143:1,2].
On the one hand this righteousness of
God's gives Israel confidence. For if
Yahweh is just and righteous he must and
wiU vindicate the righteous on earth and
not permit the wicked to triumph over
them forever. His own reputation is at
stake. Therefore the psalmists look for
ward to a day when Yahweh's vindication
of justice wiU be displayed to Israel's
advantage and his own glory in the utter
downfall of all oppressors. In view of
'Pss. 40:5; 73:1; 15,4:4; 31:20; 37:4,22.
"Ps. 15:1, 2.

148 The Religion of the Psalms
some such manifestation of the divine
justice as this or in vivid anticipation of it,
one psalmist triumphantly celebrates the
event thus:
O sing unto Yahweh a new song,
For he has done marvelous things;
His right hand and his holy arm have wrought
deliverance for him.
Yahweh has made known his deliverance;
His righteousness has he revealed in the sight of
the nations.
He has remembered his mercy and his faithful
ness toward the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the deliver
ance of our God [Ps. 98 : 1-3].
On the other hand the righteousness of
God might weU plunge Israel in despair.
For if none can satisfy the demands of
the divine justice, what chance is there for
Israel ? But it is just here, at the crucial
point, that the large-hearted humanity of
Yahweh saves the day. He is not only a
just judge, he is much more — a tender,
merciful, and forgiving God.1
'Pss. 78=38f.; 85:3; 86:5, 15; 89:1, 15; 90:17;
98:3; 99:8; 100:5; 103:3, 4, n, 13, 14, 17; 106:1;
107:1,8,15,21,31,43; 108:5; 109:21,26; 111:4; 112:4;
115:1; 117:2; 116:5; "8:1-4,29; 119:68,77,124,156;
130:4.7; 136; 138:2,8; 145:9; 146:7-9-

The Idea of God in the Psalms 149
Yahweh is full of compassion and gracious,
Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide,
Nor will he keep his anger for ever.
He has not dealt with us after our sins,
Nor requited us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth,
So great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Like as a father has compassion upon his children
So has Yahweh compassion upon those who fear
him.
For he knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust [Ps. 103 : 6-14].'
It is this beneficent side of the divine'
character that the psalmists constantly
bring to mind. They are the songsters of
a needy people. God must be to them a
comfort, a helper in time of trouble, a
strength and stay. So he appears as
the deliverer of the poor and needy;2 a
shepherd caring solicitously for aU the
needs of his flock;3 the embodiment of
loving kindness and faithfulness;4 tenderly
'Cf. 145:8, 17; 147: «•
"Pss. 9:13; 10: 7 f.; 14:6; 22:25; 94:17-19-
3 Ps. 23.
••Pss. 36:6, 8, 11; 92:3; 100:5; 119:88,90,138.

150 The Religion of the Psalms
thoughtful of the sick and suffermg
saint, healing all his diseases;1 a covert
from the storm and a cooling shade in
the sweltering heat;2 a bountiful dis
penser of good things;3 and the pre
server of the lives of his saints.4 It is
this way of thinking about God that
makes possible the beautiful and pathetic
appeal with which Psalm 22 opens:
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ?
Why are the words of my cry far from my deliverer ?
My God, I cry by day; but Thou answerest not;
And by night, and I am not silent.
Yet Thou art holy,
0 Thou that dwellest in the praises of Israel;
In Thee our fathers trusted;
They trusted and Thou didst rescue them.
Unto Thee they cried and were delivered;
In Thee they trusted and were not ashamed.
But I am a worm, and not a man,
A reproach of men, and despised of people;
All that see me laugh me to scorn.
They open wide their mouths at me; they wag
their heads,
'Pss. 41:4; 103:3.
"Ps. 91:1-4.
3Ps. 116:12.
* Ps. 97: 10.

The Idea of God in the Psalms 151
(Saying) "Let him commit himself unto Yahweh,
that He may deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, inasmuch as He delights in
him."
But it was Thou that didst bring me forth from
the womb,
That didst make me to trust while I was at my
mother's breast.
Upon Thee was I cast from birth;
From my mother's womb Thou has been my God.
Do not be far from me when trouble is nigh, '.
When there is none to help [Ps. 22 : 1-11].
This sense of intimate fellowship and
communion with God inspires certain parts
of Psalm 73 :j'
But I am continually with Thee;
Thou holdest my right hand ;
Thouguidest me by Thy counsel;
And afterward Thou wilt take me gloriously.
Whom have 1 in the heavens ?
And in none but Thee have I pleasure on earth.
My flesh and my heart fail.
The rock of my heart and my portion forever is
God.
For, behold, those who are far from Thee shall
perish.
Thou destroyest every one that is disloyal to Thee.
But I — the nearness of God is my good;
I have put my confidence in the Lord Yahweh,
That I may tell of all Thy works [Ps. 73 : 23-28].

152 The Religion of the Psalms
Nothing is more characteristic of the
psalmists than their longing for and
appreciation of feUowship with God. This
is for them the highest good. This con
viction finds expression in various ways:
I have no good beyond Thee [Ps. 16: 2].
In Thy presence is fullness of joy [Ps. 16: 11].
I shall be satisfied with Thy form [Ps. 17:15].
I delight to do Thy will,
Thy law is within my heart [Ps. 40 : 8].
As the hart panteth after the water brooks
So panteth my soul after Thee, O God [Ps. 42 : 1].
He that dwelleth in the secrecy of the Almighty
[Ps. 91:1].
The nearness of God is my good [Ps. 73 : 28].
The beautiful imagery of the Shepherd
Psalm (23) reflects clearly the poet's
sense of feUowship with the Divine, and,
the strongest influence in the direction of
a belief in a worthful future life was the
force of the longing for a continuation in
a Hfe beyond the grave of that blessed
feUowship with God already experienced
in the life on earth.

The Idea of God in the Psalms 153
If feUowship with God was the summum
bonum of man, it follows as a matter of
course that estrangement from God was
the worst of aU calamities:
I am become like the slain that he in the grave
Whom Thou rememberest no more,
And they are cut off from Thy hand [Ps. 88 : 6 ff J.
This is the tragedy of death, that it cuts
eff the normal fellowship of the saint with
God. But that fellowship is by no means
guaranteed to any man even as long as he
Uves; it is his privilege only so long as he
complies with the conditions that make it
possible. Sin of aU sorts brings its punish
ment in many ways, not the least serious
of which is the loss of divine fellowship.
Hence there arise those psalms that express
a deep longing for forgiveness and a sincere
repentance and confession of wrong:
Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my
transgressions;
According to Thy mercy remember Thou me,
For Thy goodness' sake, O Yahweh,
For Thy name's sake, O Yahweh,
Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great [Ps. 25:7, n].'
'Similarly Pss. 25:18; 32:5; 51: iff.

154 The Religion of the Psalms
This forgiveness of sins is a blessed thing:
Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is pardoned.
Happy is the man to whom Yahweh does not
charge iniquity,
In whose spirit is no guile [Ps. 32:1, 2].
The penitent soul is accepted of Yahweh
and is admitted to his inmost favor:
Yahweh is nigh to them that are of a broken heart,
And such as are of a contrite spirit [Ps. 34:19].
The sense of sin in the Psalter is not
overwhelming. The soul is not crushed
by its weight. The element of confession
and repentance is not conspicuously pres
ent. There is nothing abnormal or in
any sense unnatural about the psalmists'
attitude toward God. They lament and
complain fluently of the hard lot of their
people and themselves, but they do not
undertake to hold themselves wholly
responsible for aU that has befallen them.
Their misfortunes are due not so much
to their own faults as to the malevolence
of their foes. However, they recognize
clearly that Israel cannot expect to enjoy

The Idea of God in the Psalms 155
the favor of God except as her people
conform to his demands and these demands
are primarily in the sphere of ethics.
* This attitude of intimate fellowship with
a divine person has been a permanent con
tribution of Hebrew reHgion to Christi
anity, and the popular use. of the Psalms
in Christian worship has done much to
make this conception of God permeate
the church. The God of the Psalter is in
a very real sense akin to us; he is touched
with the feeling of our infirmities and in
many, if not in all, points tempted like
as we are. The psalmists were not prais
ing and praying to an abstract, philo
sophical principle. They were not feeling
after a metaphysical notion or a mystical
something. Their God was force, wisdom,
and the like; but he was much more.
He represented these abstract principles
all embodied in a person and fused together
in a wonderful personality. This is another
way of saying that the God-idea of the
Psalms was not the product of philosophy
or of science, but of religion. The thought

156 The Religion of the Psalms
of God was not the product of the study or
the laboratory, but sprang warm and glow
ing from the hearts of practical men wrest
ling heroically with the problems of
everyday Hfe. Yahweh was not the God
of an esoteric group; he was the God of
the man on the street. This common
man made his idea of God in response to
the needs of his own soul. That accounts
in part for the popularity of the Psalter
and for the profound impression it has
made upon human experience. It has
helped us to believe in a good and gracious
God, whose heart is concerned for the
achievement and conservation of the
same great ethical and spiritual values that
are dear to the hearts of men. It has
helped us to keep aUve in our souls the
sense of our divine kinship. It has
brought the God of the Universe down into
the simple homes and loyal hearts of the
plain people.
From so genuinely human and inti
mately personal an idea of God it was but
a short step to the acceptance of Jesus

The Idea of God in the Psalms 157
as the actual Son of God. It is this
same sense of an intensely personal quality
in the Godhead that Browning's Saul so
vividly expresses: O Saul, it shall be
A Face like my Face that receives thee; a Man
like to me
Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever; a
hand like this hand
Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee:
See the Christ stand!

APPENDIX
BOOKS FOR THE GENERAL READER
A. R. Gordon, The Poets of the Old Testament. New
York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1912.
J. E. McFadyen, The Psalms in Modern Speech and
Rhythmical Form. Boston: The Pilgrim Press,
1916.
T. K. Cheyne, The Origin and Contents of the Psalter.
(The Bampton Lectures for 1889.) New York:
Whittaker, 1892.
S. R. Driver, The Parallel Psalter (containing the
Prayer Book Version and a new rendering by the
author). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1898.
G. B. Gray, Forms of Hebrew Poetry. New York:
/ Hodder & Stoughton, 1915.
\T. E. McFadyen, The Messages of the Psalmists.
New York: Scribner's, 1904.
'W. T. Davison, The Praises of Israel. London:
C. H. Kelley, 1898.
W. G. Jordan, Religion in Song, or Studies in the
Psalter. London: James Clarke & Co., 1920.
J. Wellhausen and H. H. Furness, The Book of
Psalms, A New English Translation. New York:
Dodd, Mead & Co., 1898.
W. T. Davison and T. W. Davtes, The Psalms.
(New Century Bible.) New York: Henry
Frowde, 1906.
G. B. Gray, A Critical Introduction to the Old Testa
ment, pp. 128-41. New York: Scribner's, 1913.
158

The Religion of the Psalms 159
W. Robertson Smith, art. "Psalms," Encyclopaedia
Biblica, Vol. III. New York: Macmillan, 1902,
W. T. Davison, art. "Psalms," Hastings' Dictionary
of the Bible, Vol. IV. New York: Scribner's,
1902.
F. C. Eiselen, The Psalms and Other Sacred Writings.
Their Origin, Contents, and Significance. New
York: Methodist Book Concern, 1918.
John P. Peters, The Psalms as Liturgies: Being
the Paddock Lectures for 1920. New York:
Macmillan, 1922.

INDEXES

SUBJECT INDEX

Acrostic psalms, 18 f.
Alexander the Great, 68
Alphabetic structure, 18 f.
Angels, 136 f.
Annihilation, 99, 125
Anthropomorphism, 140
Antiochus Epiphanes, 68
Arrangement of psalms,
iof.
Artaxerxes Ochus, 68
Assouan papyri, 130 f.
Babylonian religion, 115
Bathsheba, 43 f.
Book of Job, 63 f., 71, 105-9
Browning's Saul, 157
Canon of Old Testament,
37
Chronicles, Books of, 38
Communion with God, 95,
122, 127 f.
Community, hymnal of,
21 ff.
Community, hfe of, 125 f.
David, 33-61; census taken
by, 51 f.; poetic ability
of, 39 ff.; polygamy of,
47 f.; religion of, 41 ff.;
theology of, 49 f .
Davidic psalms, 60 f .
Discouragement, 75

Editors of Psalter, 7 ff .
Elephantine, 130
Emperor-worship, 136
Estrangement from God,
153
Eternity, 98 f .
Ezekiel, 103
Face of Yahweh, 114 f.
Faith 90-93
Fellowship with God, 152-
57
Forgiveness, 154
God: communion with,
95, 122, 127 f.; estrange
ment from, 153; eternity
of, 134; goodness of,
149 f.; holiness of, 145 f.;
in the Psalter, 129-57;
justice of, 147; love of,
138; omnipotence of,
132 f.; omniscience of,
133
Green, William Henry,
views of, 34 f .
Habakkuk, 71, 93 f.
Haggai, 67
History of Psalter, 12
Hymnbook, 1 ff., 26 ff., 64,
73, 86, 129
Hymnology, modem, 3 ff .

163

164 The Religion of the Psalms

"I" in the Psalter, 22 ft.
Idols, 134 f.
Immortality, 96-1 28; in
Greek thought, 124
Imprecatory psalms, 78-85,
87. "3
Individual: experience,
276.; responsibility of, 14
Inspiration, 80
Integrity, 76
Ishtar, 115
Jephthah, 55 f.
Jeremiah, 103
Justice, 83 f., 147
Lex talionis, 82
Life after dea th,i4 f ., 96-1 28
Maccabaean War, 31 f., 69
Manual: of devotion, 15;
for mourners, 70
Messianism, 85-90, 101
New thought, 15
Omnipotence, 132 f.
Omniscience, 133
Oracle of Yahweh, 52 f.
Orthodox view of suffering,
70 ff., 82
Personality, persistence of,
98
Personification, 139

Pilgrim Psalms, 19 f.
Poetry in the Old Testa
ment, 16 ff.
Polygamy, 47 f .
Polytheism, 56 ff., 131 f.
Praise, 141
Preface to Psalter, 64
Prophecy and immortality,
100 f.
Psalms of Ascents, 19 f.
Repentance in Psalter, 74-
77
Resurrection, 97, 102-4, 124
Revisions of Old Testa
ment, 5 f .
Righteousness, 113, 148 ?
Saul and David, 53 f .
Saul and the Gibeonites,
Sot
Servant Songs, 71
Sheol, no, in. 112, 120
Solomon, 36 f.
Suffering, 13, 63-95
Superscriptions of psalms,
8f-, 33, 38; m Septua
gint, 9 f., 33
Teraphim, 53
Thought of psalms, 13
Wicked, 119 ff.

INDEX OF BIBLICAL PASSAGES

Gen. 5 : 24 1 20

I Kings

2:5-9 45 f-, 47

Exod. 21:6 99

15:14 6

23:17 115

17:17-24 97
33:r7-23 "6
22:43 6
Num. chap. 12 116 f.
II Kings 4:18-37 97
12:21 1
Deut. 4:12, 15 116
i3:2of. 97 f.
Judg. chap, n 55
17:25 56L
I Chror
1. 9:4-34 2
I Sam. 1:22 99
15:16-24 2
16:4-36 2
14 : 18 f., 36-42
52
19:12 ff. 53
21:1 6
, 21:2-10 44
22:20-22 44
II Chron. 14:5 7
23:2 42
17:0 7
24:26 7
23:4,5,9-13 5
:2
chap. 26 53 f.
Job 10:
18-22 105 f.
28:7-20 97
14:
7-22 105 ff.
H Sam. 1:19-27 39 f
19:
25 f . 108 f .
2:1 42,52
Psalms
1-41 10, n
3=2-4 47
1 71 f., 147
3:271- 46
1:17 140
3 = 33 f- 39
2 88 f.
5:13-16 48
2:4 139
5:19, 22-24
S«
2:5, 12 140
chap. 6 42
3:4ff. 138
6:12-23 49
4 = 4 M7
12:1-25 42
4:9 138
i5 = 7ff- 57
5:11 139
i8:i4f. 46
5:12,13 138
20:3 47
6:5 109, 141
20:8 f. 46
6:6 141
21 : 1-4 50
6:10 138
23:15^- 43
7:7 140
chap. 24 51
7:9 138,143,146
24:1 6
7:10 146
24:13, 14, 18
4*
8:4 133
X65
166 The Religion of the Psalms
Psalms

9 18

Psalms 25 18

9:5,9,20 138,143,

25 = 7, " 153

146

25:8 146

9:13 111,149

25:18 153

9:18 109

27 138

10 18

27:1 128

10:1-13 141

27:4 38

10:7,8 149

27:8 140

10:11 114

28:7 144

11:7 114, 140, 146

29:3 s- 133

13 26

30:3 lrl

14 8, n

30:4 109, 112

14:3 140

30:5 117

14:6 149

30:6 140

15 48, 49

30:8 140

15:1,2 147

30:9 109

16 120

30:9, 10 141

16:2, n 152

31 74

16:10 in

31 : 2-4 8

17:5 140

31:3 140

17:13-15 H2f.

31:4 144

17:15 152

31:18 109

18:9, 16 140

31:20 147

18:27 142

31:24 138

18:31 138

32 74

18:32 134

32:1, 2 154

18:36 140

32:4 140

18:47 144

32:5 153

18:48 140

32:8 140

19:1-4 132 f.

33 9,

19:15 144

33:6ff. 133

20:7 140

33 : 6, 18 140

21:9, 10 140

33 : 10 f . 146

22 77

33:19 in

22:1-11 150 f.

33:20 144

22:4 145

34 18

22:25 114,149

34:8 137

22:29 133,143

34:i6f. 140

23 149, 152

34:19 154

23:6 no

35 = 5, 16 137

24:1 133,143

35:19-28 87

24:2 133

35:23 114,140

24:8-10 144

35:27 ft. 141

Index of Psalms 167

Psalms 36:6, 8, n 149

Psalms 72:18, 19 8

37 18

73 27

37:4, 22 147

73 : 1 147

37:22, 28-35, 38

73:20 117,140

109

73:22-26 121 ff.

37:40 138

73:23-28 150

39:5-14 117!

73-'27 139

40:5 147

73:28 152

40:6 134

74:1 139

40:8 152

74:2 138

40 : 10-1 2 141

74 : 10 f. 141

40:14-18 8

74:12 143

41:4 150

74:13-17 133

41:12 8 

74:18, 22 f. 140

42-83 n

75:8 143

42.1 152

76:6 117

42:5,11 8 1

76:8-13 144 f.

42:23 128 j

77:i4 134

43 9 0 /

77:17-20-133, 144

43:5 8,
44:24<-i-r4

78 18, 133

78:12-16 133,144

44:26 114

78:38f. 148

46:1, 2, 7, n 21

78:65 140

46:2-4 91

78:69 133

49:5-20 118 ff.

79-'9-i3 140

49:6-13 no

80:2 138

Si 74

80:4 140

51: iff. 153

80:18 140

53 8, n

82 135 f.

55 78

82:1,8 143

55 : 24 109

83 78

56:13 in

83:17-19 87

57:8-12 8

83 : 19 141

59:6 114

84-150 10, 11

60 75

84-'4 143

60:7-14 8

84:12 144

67 9

85:3 148

69 76, 78

85:15 146

69:16 109

86:5 146, 148

69:20-29 78 f.

86:8 134

70 8

86:13 111

71 9

86:15 148

71:1-3 8

87:2 138

1 68 The Religion of the Psalms

Psalms 88: i, 15 144

Psalms 96:9 144

88:5-7,10,12! 109

96:10 143

88:6 ff. 153

96:10-13 88,138,143

88:ioff. 141 f.

97:1 143

89:1,15 148

97:3ff. 139,144

89:7,9 134

97=7 135

89:10-14 133

97:10 no, 150

89:39-52 141

97:12 145

89:47 f. no, in

98:1 140,145

89:51 8

98:1-3 148

90:1-4 134

98:6 143

90:76. 139,140

98:9 143, 146

90:13 142

99:1 141,143

90:14-18 86 f.

99:3 144, 145

90:17 148

99 = 5,9 145

90:21 133

99:8 140, 148

91 9

100:3 133

91:1-4 150

100:5 148, 149

91 : 2 144

102 24, 25

91:9 141

102:3 140

91:11 f. 137

102:11 139

91:16 no, 112

102:16 140

92:3 149

102:201. 141

92:16 146

102 : 25-28 134

93-99 9

102 : 26 133

93=i 143

103:1 145

93:4 133

103:3 148, 150

94:1 f. 140

103:4 148

94:2 143

103:5 no

94=7 138

103:6-14 149

94:8-11 133

103:6, 17 146, 148

94:14,22 138

103:11,13,14 148

94:17-19 149

103:19, 22 143

94:22 f. 144

103:20! 137

94:23 139

104 9

9S:i 144

104:10-30 133

95:3,143

105 2, 18

95:4f- 133

105:4 140

95:10 140

105:8 134

95:11 142

105:9, 10 142

96 2

105:12-44 133

96:4 135

106 2, 18

96:5 133,134

106:1 148

Index of Psalms 169
Psalms 106:8 140 Psalms 118 25
106:23 140 118:1-4,29 148
106:26 142 118:8,9 144
106:40 139 118:15,16 140
106:45 138 118:17 109,110
106:47 8 119 I0) 21
107:1,8,15,21 148 119:68,77 148
107:232. 133 119:88,90,138 149
107:31,43 148 119:120 144
io8:2r6 8 119:124,156 148
108:5 148 119:125 140
108:7-14 8 119:175 109
108:8 145 i2I 7 '
108:12 139 121:2 133
109 78 121:4 138
109:6-17 79 f. ' 122 38
109:21,27 140,148 123:1 141,143
109:26 148 124 19, 20, 21, 26
110:4 142 124:8 133
110:6 138, 143 128 72

in 18

129 21

111:4 148 130 26
in:5 138 130:4,7 148
111:7, 8 146 132 142
111:9 i44f- 132:11 142
112 18 134:3 133
112:4 146,148 135:5,15-18 135
"3:S 134 135:6 133
114:7 144 135:14 142
ii5-'i 148 135:21 141
115:2 140 136 18,133,148
115:3-8 134L 137 9,10,21,38,
115:3, 16 141 65, 78
115:9-11 144 137:7 ff- 140
115:15 133 138:2 38, 148
115:17 109 138:7 140
115:17 f. 141 > 138:8 148
116 29, 30 139 59
116:2 140 139:1-6,75. 133,
116:3, 15 no 146
116:5 146, 148 143:1, 2 147
116:12 150 143:7 140
117:2 148 143:7,8 117

170 The Religion of the Psalms
Psalms 143:11 139,140 Isa. 26:17, 18 69
145 18 26:19 124
145:1-13 143 chaps 40-55 24, 64,
145 = 3 133 66 71,113,138
145:8,17 149 chap. 53 14
145 = 9 J48 Ezek. chap. 37 102 ff.
145:13 134 Dan. 8:11 ff. 2
^-f 9 12:23 124
146:6 133 ° ^
146:7-9 148 Nahum chap. 2 18
146:10 134,143 Hab. chap. 3 93!
147:5, 8, g, 16-18 TT , ,
i,V ' y' Hag. 1:6 67
66 2:2* 68
147:" 149 s
148:5-13 133 Zech. 3:8 68
150 8 4:7-9 68
Isa. 1:19,20 70 6:9-13 68
8:19, 20 100 Mai. 2:17 69

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