THE DIVINE KEEPER 547 § 3. Psalm one hundred and twenty-one: 'Levavi oculos meos in montes.'-The second song (cxxi) can be its own interpreter. This famous religious lyric speaks to every heart. The hills are those of Jerusalem, above which 'the Lord dwelleth.' They are 'the boundaries of the horizon, the limit beyond which the eye cannot pierce.' A belief in the hurtful influence of the moon under certain conditions was widely spread throughout antiquity. A similar fancy still prevails in many places. The sun hurts the body; the moon the mind. I lift up mine eyes unto the hills: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: Doth neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, Nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep thee from all evil : He will keep thy soul. The Lord will keep thy going out and thy coming in I will give here, so that we may dwell a little longer on this lovely Psalm, the translation of it by Richard Rolle of Hampole. I quote from Mr. Bramley's edition. Rolle died in 1349. I liftid myn eghyn in hillis, whethen help cum till me. My help of the Lord, that made heven and erth. Gif he noght in styrynge thi fote, na slomyre he that kepis the. Lo he sall noght slomyre na he sall slepe, that kepis Israel. The Lord the kepis, the Lord thi hilynge on thi right hand. Be day the sunn sall noght bren the, na the mone be nyght. Lord kepis the fra all ill, Lord kepe thi saule. Lord kepe thin ingange and thin outgange, fra this now and in till warld. Rolle's version is a word-for-word rendering of the Vulgate, and hardly less so is Wycliffe's. I reiside myn ighen to the hillis, fro whannus help schal come to me. Myn help is of the Lord, that made hevene and erthe. The Lord gyve not thi foot in to moving, nether he nappe that kepith thee. Lo, he schal not nappe, nether slepe, that kepith Israel. The Lord kepith thee; the Lord is thi proteccioun above thi right hond. The sunne schal not brenne thee bi dai, nether the moone bi nyght. The Lord kepe thee fro al yvel; the Lord kepe thi soul. The Lord kepe thi goyng in and thi goyng out, fro this tyme now and into the world. Perhaps one of the most successful of the innumerable verse paraphrases of this Psalm is that recently published in the Jewish Year. Unto the hills I lift mine eyes, Whence comes my help, my help that lies Who made the heavens and earth to be. He guides thy foot o'er mountain steeps, He is thy rock, thy shield and stay, The moon at night ne'er troubles thee. The Lord will guard thy soul from sin, From this time forth eternally. § 4. Psalm one hundred and twenty-two.-In the next song (cxxii) the singer either represents himself as just entering the city, or he recalls the pilgrimage which is just over. In the second alternative the third line should be rendered, 'Our feet stood.' The Hebrew will bear either translation. 6 The meaning of the words which art built up as a city that is well compact together' (Cheyne's translation) is extremely doubtful. Professor Cheyne thinks it refers to the compactness of the city itself, shut in by its ravines and ramparts. According to Wellhausen it implies that Jerusalem must have been destroyed not long before. The opposite to a compact city would be a city inhabited as an open country, a town without walls.' The second stanza is an historic reminiscence. The 'thrones' are tribunals, Either the Davidic kings are referred to or princes of the royal house. The latter shared the judicial function with the king' (Cheyne). But other scholars translate the verbs by the present tense, and suppose that the 'tribes of the Lord are the Jews outside Jerusalem, scattered about Palestine or elsewhere in the dispersion.' The thrones of judgement would then be the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of justice. 'THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM' I was glad when they said unto me, Within thy gates, O Jerusalem; Thither the tribes went up, Even the tribes of the Lord, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: And prosperity within thy towers. Because of the house of the Lord our God I would seek thy good. 549 § 5. Psalm one hundred and twenty-three: 'Ad te levavi oculos meos.'-In the next Psalm the situation seems the same as in cxx. Unto thee I lift up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, And as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, Until that he have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us : Our soul is exceedingly filled With the mocking of those that are at ease, And with the contempt of the proud. 'The contempt of the proud' is the scorn which the proud feel for the singers. In the later Jewish liturgy the conception of God as a Master is often combined with the conception of him as a Father. Thus in the service for the New Year it is said: "This is the birthday of the world; thereon God brings all his creatures to judgement. We stand before thee as children or as servants: if as children, be thou merciful to us as a father hath pity upon his children; if as servants, our eyes are fixed on thee until thou art gracious unto us and bringest our judgement to the light.' § 6. Psalm one hundred and twenty-four: 'Nisi quia Dominus.'The particular occasion which is celebrated in the following song (cxxiv) is now unknown. Professor Wellhausen supposes that 'the era of freedom,' here commemorated, 'is that of the Maccabees.' If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,— Now may Israel say; If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, When men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up alive, When their wrath was kindled against us: Then the waters had overwhelmed us, The torrent had gone over our soul: Then the proud waters Had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, Who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. It is well worth while to read the spirited metrical version of this Psalm written by John Wedderburn on the basis of a German rendering by Hans Sachs. Except the Lord with us had stand, For lyke the welterand wallis brym, Like burnis that in spait fast rin, Thay had o'erthrawin us with slycht. And reft fra us our lyfe full rycht. THE BROKEN SNARE But loving to the Lord, allone, That gaif us nocht to be thair pray, Bot hes us fred full well thame fray, The net is brokin in pecis small, And we ar savit fra thair schame, Be in the Lord, and in his name, 551. (Schorit, threatened; wallis, waves; brym, fierce; burnis, streams; spait, flood; bulrand, roaring; loving, praise; anone, at once; fray, from; ferleis, wonders.) § 7. The one hundred and twenty-fifth Psalm.-Foreign domination and continued misfortune have made many Israelites abandon their faith or careless in its practice. The Psalmist trusts that these causes of ungodliness will not long endure. They that trust in the Lord Shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So the Lord is round about his people From henceforth even for ever. For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous, Lest they put forth their hands unto iniquity. Do good, O Lord, unto those that are good, And to them that are upright in their hearts. As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, The Lord shall cast them away with the workers of iniquity. (Peace be upon Israel.) The 'lot of the righteous' is the land of Israel. 'Do good, O Lord,' &c. This has been the prayer of the honest religious partisan of all ages and creeds. His enemies are ever described as those who 'turn aside unto their crooked ways.' But even for the truly evil as for the truly good, God surely works on a higher principle than the crudities of tit-for-tat. The wicked would be a greater puzzle to faith than the suffering good, if we had to believe that any of them would be utterly |