THE KINGLY AND MESSIANIC PSALMS I PETITIONS FOR THE KING'S WELFARE AND SUCCESS Pss. 20, 21, 61, 72 § 34. A Prayer for Victory on the Eve of Battle, Ps. 20 Ps. 201May Jehovah answer thee in the day of stress, May the name of the God of Jacob protect thee. "May he grant thee thy heart's desire, May he bring to pass thine every plan. "We will shout with joy over thy deliverance, We will magnify the name of our God.d The Kingly Psalms of the Psalter.-The first group of kingly pss. consists of prayers or litanies apparently uttered when the king or ruler to which each refers was still living. They are without reasonable doubt the oldest group of pss. in the Psalter. Inasmuch as the king is the chief representative of the nation, the psalmists have incorporated in these pss. the noblest patriotic hopes of their age. In this group the national and material hopes which are frankly expressed, for example, in the early Balaam oracles, Nu. 237-10, 18-24, 243-9, 15-19, are combined with the nobler ethical ideals so clearly set forth by the great prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. Progress toward a more ethical and spiritual kingly ideal is clearly discernible when the pss. are arranged in their chronological order. 834 The aspirations expressed in this ps. are closely related to those found in the Balaam oracles. It is full of youthful vigor and energy. It is apparently a litany, chanted by the priestly singers in the temple courts while an offering was being presented by the king. The one addressed in the opening stanza is the king, who was probably present, surrounded by his warriors. Three reasons are urged why Jehovah should give deliverance and victory: the first is his character and unique relation to the people in behalf of whose king the prayer is uttered; the second is the rich sacrifice, including both cereal and whole burnt offerings, which the king had probably caused to be presented to his divine Lord while this litany was being sung; the third is the vow of the priestly singers that if Jehovah will grant deliverance they will repay him with the gift of song and praise. It is the naïve, childish conception of Jehovah and of religion which here confronts The confident joyousness of the pre-exilic period is everywhere in evidence. The absence of the detailed references to persons, found, e. g., in the song of Deborah and in David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, indicates that the litany was probably written to be used whenever the need for it arose. It may come from the days of Jehoshaphat or Amaziah or Uzziah or possibly Josiah. Its background is an hour of stress, when the self-sufficiency that characterized most of Judah's rulers was shaken; but its confident tone implies that it was written before the Assyrian and Babylonian armies had broken the strength of the Hebrews. In any case, it is one of the earliest pss. of the Psalter and is an excellent example of the pre-exilic royal hymn. us. a 203 Lit., accept as fat. b203 So Syr., Targ., and certain Heb. MSS. The standard Heb. text has the singular. 205 So Gk., Lat., Syr., and revised Heb. texts. Certain Gk, texts read rejoice in. d20% In the Heb. a scribe has practically repeated a at the end of 5, May Jehovah bring to pass thine every request, and inserted Jehovah in ". May Jehovah help the king in battle and grant him success Refrain by the chorus The assurance of Jehovah's an swer The refrain by the chorus Thanks to Jehovah for the blessings con ferred upon the king Refrain by the chorus His cause Jeho vah helps him "Now I know that he helpeth his anointed, But we call upon the name off our God. 'Jehovah hath delivered the king, He answereth us when we call upon him.h § 35. The God-Given Might of Israel's King, Ps. 21 Ps. 21 'In thy strength, O Jehovah, the king rejoiceth, "Thou hast granted him his heart's desire, And the request of his lips thou hast not denied; 'Life he asked of thee, thou gavest it to him, "Great is his glory through thy help, Honor and majesty thou bestowest upon him, Thou dost delight him with joy in thy presence. "For the king ever trusteth in the Lord, Through the kindness of the Most High he cannot be moved. "Thine hand will find all thy foes, Thy right hand will find' those who hate thee. "Thou wilt make them as a furnace of firem At the time of thine appearing. 207 Gk. and Syr., we are great, but the current Heb. reading, lit., make mention, remember, is more in harmony with the rest of the sentence. 1207 So Gk. Heb. adds Jehovah. 820 Gk. and Lat., answer us. h20 Lit., on the day of our calling. § 35 In structure and thought this ps. is closely related to 20. Its second vs. is an echo of 204. The same king evidently originally figured in both. The one ps. is perhaps a litany to be sung before battle and the other a Te Deum to be sung after the victory had been won. The allusions, however, in 21 are not to a definite event but are general. Not merely victory in war but the conferring of the blessings which every Heb. king desired are described in the opening stanza. The warlike note is much stronger in the second main stanza where the king is directly addressed, even as in the first stanza of 20. The ps. presents a noble though warlike kingly ideal. It is the portrait not of a tyrant but of a king who, true to the Hebrew ideal, ruled as the viceroy of Jehovah and the servant of the people. The ps. consists of two stanzas of twelve lines each followed by a refrain of two lines which was probably sung by the people in unison. 1211 Possibly this should (with Briggs, Pss., I, 183), here and throughout the ps., be translated victory. 1211 So Gk., Syr., and Lat. 214 Cf., for a similar request, I Sam. 1024, II Sam. 16, I Kgs. 125. 1218 Or, revising the text to avoid the repetition of the same verb, pierce through, or, shatter. m21 Or, revising the Heb. to bring it into closer harmony with the context, Thou will put them in a furnace of fire (so Briggs, Pss., I, 183). THE GOD-GIVEN MIGHT OF ISRAEL'S KING The Lord, in his anger, will swallow them, And the fire of his wrath will devour them. 10Their offspring thou wilt destroy from the earth, 12 For thou wilt put them to flight," And aim at their faces with thy bowstring. 13 Arise, O Jehovah, in thy strength, We will sing and praise thy might." § 36. Confidence in God's Protection of His People and King, Ps. 61 Refrain by the chorus Ps. 61 'Attend to my cry, O Jehovah, give heed to my prayer. "From the end of the earth I will call to thee, when my heart fainteth. Lead thou me to the rock that is higher than I,P For thou art a refuge for me, a strong tower from the presence of the enemy. 'I will be a guest in thy tent forever; I will take refuge under the cover of Assurthy wings. "For thou, O Jehovah, hast heard my vows; Thou hast granted the request of those who fear thy name. §36 Vs. 2 of this ps. suggests that the author was an exile; but the declaration that he will call upon Jehovah even from the ends of the earth may be but a superlative expression of his confidence that Jehovah is able to help him wherever he is. The figures of the rock, of the strong tower, and of being Jehovah's guest in his tent point to the earlier and simpler days rather than to the later. In Ps. 23 the psalmist looks forward to dwelling in Jehovah's temple rather than in his tent, as here. The vow was also a prominent pre-exilic institution. The reference to the king in 6-8 is alone satisfied by a pre-exilic setting, for he is a Hebrew ruler. Vs. implies that it was a collective ps. It was a prayer equally fitting for the individual or the community, although the reference to the king emphasized its public character. In the light of all the facts, it may, with 20 and 21, be assigned to a pre-exilic date. The days of Jeremiah and Josiah furnish a fitting background. The original reading, Jehovah, which was changed by a later editor to God, has been restored. P612 Gk., Lat., and Syr., On the rock mayest thou lift me up. But Heb., Syr., Old Lat., and Targ. read as above. 4615 Slightly correcting the Heb., which reads, heritage. 161 Again revising the obscure Heb. 617 So Syr., Lat., two Heb. MSS., and the demands of the context. ance And of king The reign of justice and peace Worldwide rule The deliver ance of the needy and afflicted § 37. Prayer That the King's Rule May Be Just, Beneficent, and Enduring, Ps. 72 'Grant the king thy justice, O Jehovah, "May the mountains bear peace to the people, 'May he vindicate the afflicted among the people, "May he fear thee" while the sun endureth, "May he descend like rain upon the mown grass, And abundant peace until the moon be no more. "May he rule from sea to sea, And from the river unto the ends of the earth. And his enemies lick the dust. 10 May the kings of Tarshish and the coast-lands bring a gift, "May all kings pay him homage, May all the nations serve him. 12 For he delivereth the needy who cry, And the afflicted who have no helper. $37 At least a century of remarkable moral and religious development apparently lies between this ps. and 20 and 21. Here the ideals of Am., Hos., and Is. are woven into a majestic royal ode. Like the laws in Dt. 1714-20, which define the duties of a Heb. ruler to his subjects, this ps. was evidently written in order to place before the king worthy ideals to guide him in his rule. It recalls the poem of the Egyptian prophet Ipuwer, who lived not long after 2000 B.C. After describing the overthrow of existing political and social evils, this Egyptian forerunner of the Heb. prophets declared that a just king would arise who would smite evil when he raises his arm against it. Josiah was the only king in Judah's later history who, even in part, realized the social ideals set forth in this wonderful ps. Of him Jeremiah declared, He executed law and justice; he judged the cause of the poor and needy (Jer. 2215, 16). Evidently Josiah's benign policy was in the mind of the psalmist. The description in 12-14 fits no other Heb. ruler so well-not even David. Ps. 72 is the poetic counterpart of the book of Dt., which comes from the same period. The poetry in 3-1 is the antithesis of that of the Prince of Peace pictured in the remainder of the ps. It voices Israel's narrow national prejudices and selfish ambitions. The immediate sequel of 1-7 is 12-15. In the light of these facts it is possible that 8-11 came from the hands of a later editor who missed the promise of world-wide dominion which is found in the primitive Balaam oracle and which seemed to him more important than the visions of justice and mercy that were to mark the rule of Jehovah's king. Little wonder that the Christian world has long regarded this ps. as messianic. It so far transcends anything realized by even the best of Israel's rulers that it points unmistakably to the future. It is a marvellous foreshadowing of the divine purpose to be realized in human society. It is by no means an exact portrait of Jesus, the Prince of Peace; but it nobly formulates certain of the social ideals which he strove to implant in the minds of his followers. 721 So Gk., Lat., and Syr. Heb., judgments. 72 Slightly correcting the Heb. and adding the verb implied by the context. 72 The Heb. adds and may he crush the oppressor. This is a later insertion, for it is not grammatically or logically connected with the context and is not metrically complete. 725 Following the Gk. Heb., may they fear thee. 1727 So certain MSS., Gk., Lat., and Syr. Heb., a righteous man, 72 Slightly correcting the corrupt Heb. |