PSALMS
afflicted
subject
of
other
Psalms
written
in
the
first
person
an
individual,
or,
lilse
the
much
afflicted
subject
of
Ps
129,
Israel?
For
instance,
does
the
author
of
the
words,
'Thou
wilt
not
abandon
my
soul
to
Sheol,
nor
suffer
thy
holy
one
to
see
corruption'
(Ps
16i°),
express
the
conviction
that
he
himself
wiU
never
see
death
(for
it
is
this
and
not
resurrection
that
the
words
imply),
or
that
Israel
will
never
cease
to
be?
Does
the
author
of
Ps
51
make
confession
of
purely
personal
sins
(vv.i-«),
and
look
forward
as
an
individual
to
a
missionary
career
(v."),
or,
like
the
authors
of
La
II8-22,
Is
63'-6412,
does
he,
identifying
himself
with
his
people,
make
confession
of
national
sins?
It
is
impossible
either
to
discuss
this
fully
here,
or
to
attempt
to
determine
how
far
the
use
of
'
I
'
=
Israel
extends
beyond
Ps
129.
One
other
feature
of
the
Psalms
which
superficially
appear
to
describe
the
experiences
of
the
individual
may
be
noted:
many
of
them
break
off
into
perfectly
obvious
prayers
for
the
nation
(e.g.
Ps
25^
28"),
or
into
appeals
to
the
community
as
a
whole
to
participate
in
the
writer's
experience
or
aspirations
(cf.
e.g.
Ps
30*'-
32").
These
departures
from
the
apparently
individual
tenor
of
the
rest
of
the
Psalm
are
sometimes
treated
as
glosses;
and
they
may
be
such.
Not
all
of
these
Psalms
need
have
the
same
origin:
some
may
have
been
originally
written
as
national
confessions,
some,
originally
of
a
more
exclusively
individual
character,
may
have
been
fitted
for
use
by
the
community,
by
the
addition
of
liturgical
verses
and
the
elimination
of
what
was
too
limited
to
be
of
general
applicability.
Summary.
—
The
conclusion
to
be
drawn
even
from
this
brief
survey
of
the
origin
of
the
Psalter
and
the
character
of
the
Psalms
may
be
stated
thus:
—
The
Psalms
as
we
have
received
them
are
sa6red
poems
that
reflect
more
or
less
clearly
the
conditions
of
the
post-exilic
Jewish
community
and
express
its
varying
religious
feelings
and
aspirations;
in
origin
some
of
these
Psalms
may
go
back
to
the
pre-exilic
period,
some
may
originally
have
sprung
out
of
circumstances
peculiar
to
an
individual;
but
in
consequence
of
editing
by
the
successive
compilers
of
the
post-exilic
hymn-books
through
which
the
Psalms
have
come
down
to
us,
most
of
the
peculiarly
pre-exilic
or
individual
characteristics
which
may
have
distinguished
them
originally
have
been
largely
obliterated.
7.
Religious
value
and
influence
of
the
Psalter.
—
Probably
no
book
of
the
OT
has
exercised
a
more
pro-found
and
extensive
influence
over
succeeding
ages
than
the
Psalms.
Among
the
Jews,
indeed,
the
Law
has
received
a
more
persistent
and
greater
attention;
but
the
place
of
the
Psalms
in
the
history
of
the
Christian
Church
and
in
Christian
experience
is
typified
by
the
frequency
with
which
they
are
quoted
in
the
NT.
To
trace
this
influence,
or
to
illustrate
it
as
Mr.
Prothero
has
so
excellently
done
in
his
volume
entitled
The
Psalms
in
Human
Life,
falls
outside
the
scope
of
this
article.
All
that
can
be
attempted,
and
even
that
but
very
inadequately,
is
to
indicate
some
of
the
leading
religious
ideas,
some
of
the
striking
religious
qualities
of
the
Psalms.
And
in
doing
this
it
is
necessary
to
emphasize
clearly
the
fact
that
such
ideas
and
qualities
are
by
no
means
common
to
all
the
150
or
more
poems
which
were
written
by
an
indefinite
number
of
writers,
and
were
gathered
together
in
our
Psalter.
What
alone
is
aimed
at
here
is
to
draw
attention
to
some
of
the
qualities
that
are
at
least
frequently
present,
and
some
of
the
ideas
which
frequently
or
strikingly
appear
—
to
the
ideas
and
qualities
which
have
in
large
measure
been
the
cause
of
the
great
and
persistent
influence
which
the
Psalms
have
exercised.
(1)
The
Psalms
occupy
a
peculiar
position
in
the
OT
literature
in
consequence
of
their
character.
The
Law
codifies
the
customs
of
Israel
which
had
received
the
approval
of
Jahweh;
the
Historical
Narratives
relate
Jahweh's
dealings
with
Israel;
the
Prophets
deliver
Jahweh's
message
to
Israel,
and
in
the
Psalms
Israel
PSALMS
replies.
These
distinctions
are
of
course
broadly
drawn,
and
we
may
find,
for
example,
in
Jeremiah
(e.g.
20™)
'
contentions
'with
Jahweh
that
may
be
somewhat
closely
paralleled
in
the
Psalms;
or,
again,
the
facts
that
faced
the
author
of
the
Book
of
Job
are
discussed,
for
example,
in
Pss
37.
49.
73,
though
more
briefly,
and
in
the
case
of
Pss
37
and
49
less
penetratingly.
Yet
it
is
true
that
in
the
main
the
Psalter
contains
the
players
and
praises
of
Israel,
and
that
they
have
become
classical
and
stimulating
examples
for
later
generations.
(2)
But
if
in
the
Psalms
Israel
speaks
to
God,
it
speaks
as
one
who
has
been
taught
by
the
Prophets.
The
Prophets
stood
alone,
or
supported
by
but
a
small
company
of
disciples,
addressing
a
deaf
or
gainsaying
nation;
the
Psalmists
Identify
themselves
either
with
their
whole
people
or
at
least
with
a
numerous,
if
op-pressed,
community.
The
Prophets
upbraid
the
people
with
forgetting
Jahweh,
with
forsaking
Him
for
other
gods;
the
Psalmists
find
difficulty
in
accounting
for
the
calamities
that
have
come
upon
their
nation,
which
has
not
forgotten
God,
but
suffers
for
its
very
loyalty
to
Him
(e.g.
Ps
442"
[render
'If
we
had
forgotten,'
etc.]).
The
prophet
of
the
Exile
endeavours
to
awaken
Israel
to
its
destiny
as
a
missionary
nation
(Is
40-55;
cf.
art.
Sekvant
of
the
Lord);
the
Israel
of
many
of
the
Psalms
has
accepted
the
r61e
(e.g.
47.
51.
100).
But
a
full
discussion
of
the
manifold
influence
of
the
Prophets
on
the
Psalmists
is
impossible
here.
(3)
We
turn
now
to
the
Psalmists'
belief
in
God:
and
here
it
must
suffice
to
draw
attention
to
two
features
—
the
breadth
of
the
conception,
and
the
intensity
of
the
consciousness,
of
God.
The
early
belief
of
Israel
that
other
gods
besides
Jahweh
existed
has
left
traces
in
the
Psalter,
but
is
probably
nowhere
present
as
a
living
belief.
Some
of
the
Psalmists
use
phrases
that
origi-nally
sprang
from
a
belief
in
other
gods
(e.g.
77"
95'),
but
the
mere
use
of
such
phrases
proves
nothing
as
to
the
actual
belief
of
a
later
generation
that
may
continue
to
employ
them;
we
continue
to
use
them
ourselves;
and
often
the
Psalmists
refer
to
other
gods
only
in
order
to
emphasize
Jahweh's
supremacy
(89«-*
96<),
or
to
imitate
the
arguments
with
which
the
Deutero-Isaiah
had
ridiculed
the
gods
of
the
nations
out
of
existence
(e.g.
115.
135).
A
deeper
effect
of
the
earlier
belief
may
probably
be
seen
in
what
is
in
any
case
a
con-spicuous
and
permanently
influential
feature
of
the
Psalms
—
the
intimacy
of
the
consciousness
of
God.
In
Israel
the
monotheistic
idea
sprang,
not
from
an
abstraction
of
what
was
common
to
many
gods
previ-ously
or
still
worshipped,
but
from
the
expansion
of
the
thought
of
the
same
one
God
whom
alone
Israel
had
previously
worshipped.
While
Israel
believed
the
gods
of
other
nations
to
be
real
beings
set
over
against
Jahweh,
it
was
natural
for
them
to
feel
a
peculiarly
close
relation
to
Jahweh,
to
look
upon
Him
as
their
possession;
the
belief
in
other
gods
perished,
the
sense
of
Jahweh
as
a
close
and
intimate
Personality
survived
;
and
not
a
little
of
the
enduring
power
of
the
Psalms
is
due
to
the
vivid
apprehension
of
God
that
resulted.
Jahweh
is
the
'living
God'
as
opposed
to
the
unrealities
that
have
been
taken
by
other
peoples
as
gods.
Supreme
in
Nature
(Pss
8.
104.
93)
as
in
History
(and
such
He
is
to
many
at
least
of
the
Psalmists),
Jahweh
nevertheless
remembers
and
visits
man
(Ps
8);
He
abides
though
all
else
perishes
(e.g.
Pss
46.
102)
,
and
to
those
who
possess
Him
all
else
sinks
into
insigniflcance
(Ps
73™).
At
times,
indeed,
this
sense
of
possessing
Jahweh
obscures
for
the
Psalmists
the
full
meaning
of
Jahweh
as
the
one
and
only
God
of
the
whole
world
and
of
all
mankind.
Not
all
the
imprecatory
Psalms,
as
they
are
termed,
show
a
sense
of
the
universality
of
Jahweh's
relations.
But
in
others
the
universal
note
rings
clear
(see,
e.g.,
Pss
47.
65.
67.
100).
(4)
This
brings
us
to
another
feature
of
the
Psalms
which
has
contributed
to
the
influence
exercised
by
them
—
the
hope
that
is
in
them,
their
Messianic
outlook.
