HYMNS OF ADORATION AND TRUST I. JEHOVAH'S MAJESTY AND GOODNESS REVEALED IN NATURE Pss. 8, 191-6, 29, 891, 2, 6-16, 104 II. HIS LOVING PROVISIONS FOR MAN II Sam. 2, Ps. 365-12, 65, 14412-15, 103, 139 III. THE ASSURANCE OF JEHOVAH'S PROTECTION Pss. 42, 43, 63, 271-6, 46, 3, 4, 11, 56, 16, 10212-22, 24-28, 23, 401-12, 62, 121, 130, 131, Hab. 3 HYMNS OF ADORATION AND TRUST I JEHOVAH'S MAJESTY AND GOODNESS REVEALED IN NATURE Ps. 8 § 91. Jehovah's Character as Revealed in Nature and Man, Ps. 8 1Jehovah, our Lord, How glorious is thy name in all the earth! Exor dium Thou hast spread thy splendor over the heavens. 2At the cry of babes and sucklingsb Thou hast established strength, because of thine enemies, "When I look on the heavens, the work of thy fingers, Or the son of man that thou visitest him? "For thou hast made him little less than divine,d Jeho vah's might in heaven and on earth His condescension to man And thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, "Thou givest him dominion over the works of thy hands, Hymns of Adoration and Trust.-The hymns of adoration and trust are, as a rule, earlier, less national, more personal, and more philosophical than the hymns of thanksgiving and praise. Also they are not so closely connected with special events in Israel's history. The date of the individual pss. is less certain and less important. These hymns as a whole constitute the noblest group in the Psalter. Most of them sprang from the period when the Jewish race was the victim of bitter persecution and injustice. Many of them still reflect the stress and anguish amidst which they were born. They present theology not in theory but in action and beget in turn a faith which is not static but kinetic and dynamic. § 91 This ps. bears the superscription, For the musical director. To be sung to a vintage song. Psalm of David. Its dependence upon Gen. 1 is obvious. Vs. 3, however, reveals familiarity with the account of creation in Gen. 2. Probably the author knew the book of Genesis in its present composite form. The ps. also has certain words and expressions not found in the O.T. except in the writings of the Persian and following periods. The peaceful atmosphere also strongly suggests the prosperous days immediately following the reforms of Nehemiah and Ezra. The ps. is a majestic evening hymn eminently appropriate for public worship. The three-beat measure is prevailingly used except in the first line of the refrain found at the beginning and end of the ps. a 81 The Heb. adds who. b82 I. e., in response to the cry of the weakest. 83 Heavens is, perhaps, but the explanation of a scribe, as the measure and sense are complete without it. Possibly the original read sun. d85 Lit., thou hast made him lack little of God. 86 Lit., putting all things under his feet. Man's Godgiven au thority over all crea tion Doxology Their silent but constant testimony Glorious movement of the sun "Sheep and oxen, all of them, Yea, and the beasts of the field, "The birds of the air and the fish, That dart through the paths of the sea. Jehovah, our Lord, How glorious is thy name in all the earth! § 92. The Silent Testimony of the Heavens to Jehovah's Might and Wisdom, Ps. 191-6 Ps. 19 'The heavens declare God's glory, And the firmament showeth his handiwork. Night by night they make known knowledge. "There is no speech nor words that are spoken, [Yet] their voiceh hath gone out in all the earth, Their words to the end of the world. He hath set in them a tent for the sun, "Which is like a bridegroom, going forth from his canopy.i He rejoiceth as a horse to run his course,i 188 Lit., fish of the sea. § 92 This ps. has the common title, For the music director, A Psalm of David. Here two distinct poems have been combined: the first, 1-6, in praise of God's glory as revealed in the heavens; the second, 7-14, in praise of the law. Cf. § 177. They were doubtless combined for liturgical use in order to bring these two witnesses of God's glory into suggestive combination and contrast. The first poem is clearly the older and prevailingly employs the four-beat, while the second ps. has the five-beat measure. The full appreciation of God as the Lord of the universe first finds expression in the exilic and post-exilic periods. The author clearly lived in the atmosphere which produced the majestic first chapter of Gen. The influence of certain of the noble Assyr. and Bab. hymns to Shamash, the sun-god, may also be recognized. Vss. 5, 6 have much in common with the ancient hymn: O Shamash! out of the horizon of the heavens thou issuest forth, The bolt of the bright heavens thou openest, The door of heaven thou dost open. O Shamash! over the world dost thou raise thy head; O Shamash! with the glory of heaven thou coverest the world. Equally majestic is the ascription to the setting sun: O sun-god in the midst of heaven at thy setting, May the gate of heaven approach thee, May the directing god, the messenger who loves thee, direct thy way. May the glory of thy divinity be established for thee. O Shamash! warrior hero, may thou be exalted! O lord of E-babbara, as thou marchest, may thy course be directed! O Shamash! judge of the world, director of its laws art thou. It has also been suggested that the original poem once described in a succeeding stanza the course of the moon across the starry heavens. This certainly is implied in 2. The later description of the law may well have been substituted for this stanza by the priestly editors who were zealous to remove all traces of the popular moon worship. 8192 Following a suggestion of Dr. A. A. Madsen in translating the Heb. idiom, lit., day to day, night to night, as the context absolutely demands, for it is the voiceless testimony not of day and night but of the starry heavens that has gone out in all the earth and in them that God has prepared a tent for the sun, 4. h194 Correcting the Heb. as the context demands. The current reading, line, is clearly based on a corrupt text. i195 Modern Jewish marriages still take place under a canopy. i195 Lit., a race. THE TESTIMONY OF THE HEAVENS And to the other end is his circuit, And nothing can be hid from his heat. $93. Jehovah's Power Revealed in the Thunder-Storm, Ps. 29 Ps. 29 1Ascribe glory and honor to Jehovah, ye gods,k Ascribe to Jehovah glory and strength. 2Ascribe to Jehovah the glory due his name; Worship ye, Jehovah in holy attire.! "The voice of Jehovah is on the waters, The God of glory thundereth. "The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars, Lebanon and Sirionm like the young of the wild ox. "The voice of Jehovah cleaveth the flaming fire; And in his temple everything saith, 'Glory'; 10 Jehovah sat enthroned upon the flood, And Jehovah will sit enthroned as king forever. § 93 This is one of the most poetic and powerful pss. in the Psalter. It opens with the command that the heavenly beings join in praising Jehovah's majesty and power. These divine attributes are then illustrated by the thunder-storm. Wagner, in his powerful opera, The Flying Dutchman, has produced something of the same effect. Here, without the accompaniment of music the Heb. poet has reproduced in mere words the effect of the storm. The ps. is written in the four-beat, except the second stanza, which describes the storm in the distance and is in the threebeat measure. This stanza vividly pictures the thunder-cloud as it hangs low over the Mediterranean and the reverberating peals of thunder. The second stanza portrays the storm as it sweeps over the heights of Lebanon and Hermon, breaking the proud cedars and making them skip like calves, while the forked lightning flashes, accompanied by the thunder, Jehovah's voice. Eastward the storm sweeps, until in the third stanza it is described as it rushes out across the Jordan into the wilderness east of the Jordan. Finally, the storm passes, and in the great calm that follows Jehovah is seen, as in Isaiah's vision, enthroned in his temple as he was at the beginning of creation on the great flood. The conclusion of this dramatic ps. is an assurance that Jehovah, the omnipotent, will strengthen and give peace to his people. The ps. began with a vision of Jehovah in heaven above and it ends with the divine King in the midst of his people. It began with a storm and ends in majestic stillness. The indications of date are few. Vs. 2 implies a well-developed priesthood. In 10 the priestly word for flood is employed, indicating that the ps. is probably post-exilic. Vss. 1, 2 are quoted with slight variations in Ps. 967-9a and I Chr. 1623-25, so that it must be earlier than the Gk. period. Its recognition of God's revelation through nature connects it closely with the poem of Job, and its date was probably the middle or latter part of the Persian period. k291 I. e., the sons of the gods which appear in the prologue to the book of Job. 1292 I. e., the garments of worshippers. m 296 Sirion was the Phoenician name of Mount Hermon. Cf. Dt. 39. 299 Supplying the voice of Jehovah that has fallen out of the Heb. Exor dium The thunder rever berating over the Mediterranean Over the mountains And the wilder. ness and forests Jehovah's ability to care for his people |