For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, Which lifteth up the waves: They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, And all their craft faileth them. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, And he bringeth them out of their distresses. He turneth the storm into a calm, So that the waves of the sea are stilled. Then are they glad because they are quiet; That he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh let these give thanks unto the Lord for his good ness, And for his wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt him in the congregation of the people, And praise him in the assembly of the elders. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, And watercourses into dry ground; A fruitful land into barrenness, For the wickedness of them that dwell therein. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, And dry ground into watercourses. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, That they may found a city for habitation; And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, Which may yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; And suffereth not their cattle to decrease. He poureth contempt upon nobles, And maketh them to wander astray in pathless deserts, So that they are diminished and brought low By the oppression of evil and sorrow. But he setteth the poor on high out of affliction, And maketh him families like a flock. The righteous see it, and rejoice: And all iniquity stoppeth its mouth. Whoso is wise, let him observe these things, Let him give heed to the lovingkindness of the Lord. 'THE DESIRED HAVEN' 605 They who sat in darkness.' It is disputed whether the darkness and the prison are meant literally or metaphorically. Probably the former. 'Sick men.' The sickness, if meant literally, is regarded (however strange it may seem to us) as the punishment of sin. Compare the speech of Elihu in Job (p. 182). They that go down.' The Jews are ceasing to be purely agriculturists. They are also traders. How grand is the description of the storm! The commentators aptly compare from Ovid (Tristia, i. 2): 'Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum ; Quantae diducto subsidunt aequore valles! But they mount up to the heaven' refers in the Psalm to the sailors, not to the waves. 'He turneth rivers.' Some think that this is a foretelling of what God will do, in the Messianic future, to Israel and to Israel's enemies. Others suppose that the hymn of praise for God's manifold deliverances is succeeded by specimens of God's equally manifold providential dealings with countries and nations (Cheyne). There are many imitations of earlier writers, such as the Second Isaiah. The closing verse gives the didactic stamp to the whole Psalm. How divine omnipotence is controlled and directed by justice and mercy-such seems to be its burden. § II. Psalms one hundred and eleven, and one hundred and twelve. My last two Psalms in this group hang closely together, but only the second could perhaps properly be called 'didactic.' The first is rather a hymn of praise. Yet they are, as Professor Cheyne calls them, 'twin Psalms,' identical in structure (both being alphabetic on the same method of two letters to a verse) and closely parallel in thought. The first (cxi) praises God for his goodness to Israel, the second (cxii) praises the righteous man whose character and actions reflect, so far as this is within man's power, the actions and character of God. But as God to this Psalmist is in no quite complete sense the equal Father of all, for the nations' are somewhat less to him than Israel, so God's worshipper is not conscious of any evil thought in wanting to 'see his desire' upon his enemies, even as they doubtless want to see their desire upon him. Yet within this limit justice and mercy are the twin virtues that distinguish alike the human nature and the divine. And the weakness which we have noted is capable of easy remedy. Let the national barriers fall, let it once be seen and realized that all men are God's children, that the divine spirit is in man as man, and not in man as Israelite or Gentile, and then it will also be realized that the highest law of the community as of the individual must be to return good for evil. I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart, To be studied of all that delight therein. His work is magnificent and glorious: And his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: He hath shewed his people the power of his works, They stand fast for ever and ever, And are done in faithfulness and uprightness. He sent deliverance unto his people: He hath commanded his covenant for ever: Holy and reverend is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: A good insight have all they that do his commandments: His praise endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered.' More literally, 'A memorial has he made for his wonderful works': i. e. 'He has made his deeds an everlasting monument of his omnipotence' (Wellhausen). 'He hath commanded his covenant for ever,' i. e. to endure for ever. 'At one time the heathen meant to abolish the Jewish ordinances, which they deemed absurd; the greater part of the Jews also doubted whether their Law was destined to hold good for ever. The Law appeared to be then in imminent danger. But it was firmly re-established through the deliverance (from the heathen) which Jehovah sent (by the Maccabees, 167 B.C.).' Wellhausen's note. 'A LIGHT IN DARKNESS' Happy is the man that feareth the Lord, That delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: The generation of the upright shall be blessed. Substance and riches shall be in his house: And his righteousness endureth for ever. As a light in darkness he dawneth unto the upright: 607 He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. (?) Well is it with the man who sheweth pity and lendeth, Who manageth his affairs with justice. (?) For he shall not be moved for ever: The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, He gnasheth with his teeth, and melteth away; "That delighteth greatly in his commandments. Such from the time of the Psalmist and up till now has been the Jewish conception of piety. The truly religious man fulfils the commandments of God not from compulsion, not from terror, but because he believes them to be good, ordered by Divine Goodness for beneficent ends, because he finds in them his purest satisfaction, his holiest delight. And it may be safely asserted that there have been in every generation from the time of the Psalmist a number of pious Jews whose lives answered to this ideal, who have greatly delighted in the commandments of God. And the ideal is still good and true. What God's commandments are we may interpret somewhat differently from the mediaeval Rabbi. They are not to us the commandments, be they moral, be they ritual, of a particular book. They are the moral law, which is indeed partly contained in a book, but which in its fullness is greater than any book-that moral ideal, law and aspiration in one, which is seen clearer, and realized more fully and purely, as humanity advances with painful and faltering steps in the path of progress and of enlightenment, but which exists, consummate and complete from eternity and to eternity, as the very being of God. CHAPTER IX THE PRAISE OF THE LAW § 1. The one hundred and nineteenth Psalm: 'Beati immaculati.-There are two Psalms in the Psalter which might reasonably be included in the 'didactic' group, but which from their special subject and character are perhaps justifiably treated in a chapter to themselves. They are devoted to the Law and sing its praises. The whole Psalter probably dates from a period when the Law was gradually becoming a dominant force in the religious life of Israel. The Psalter may indeed be regarded as the joint product of the Prophets and the Law. The Law is the constant condition on which the spiritual life of the Psalmist depends. But not many Psalms directly mention it; it is, as it were, taken for granted; the services of the Temple constitute a considerable proportion of its subject-matter, and without the Temple a large proportion of the Psalms would be unintelligible. Nor must we limit too precisely the meaning of the word Law or Torah, as used in the two Psalms which hymn its perfections. In the first place Torah has not lost its old meaning of 'teaching,' and it can be used to indicate the teaching of God as available and recorded in written words. And therefore, in the second place, Torah or Law need not necessarily be limited to the Pentateuch, but may include all sacred Scripture recognized and accepted as embodying the Divine Will. The Law is God's will as expressed in words. Of the two Psalms which form the present chapter one (cxix) is the longest in the Psalter. Eight successive verses begin with the same letter of the alphabet, so that, as there are in Hebrew twenty-two letters, there are in this Psalm no less than 176 verses. It is apparently the moral ordinances of the Law which the Psalmist sets himself to praise. These are the 'commandments,' the 'statutes,' the 'testimonies,' the 'judgements,' the 'words,' the 'ways,' which are mentioned in almost every verse. The writer frequently |