'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:

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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,
Until he see his desire upon his enemies.
He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor;
His righteousness endureth for ever;
His horn is exalted with glory.

The wicked see it, and is grieved;

He gnasheth with his teeth, and melteth away;
The desire of the wicked shall perish.

"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

THE LONGEST OF THE PSALMS

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identifies himself with Israel or with the pious in Israel; sometimes again more individual references are discernible. The date of the Psalm is tolerably clear and certain. For it contains obvious 'traces of that internal struggle of growing intensity' between the Hellenists and the strict followers of the Law which preceded the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes.

The religious value of the Psalm has been variously estimated. There is little connexion of thought or sequence of ideas. There is much repetition, and the elaborate mechanism of the acrostic gives a certain stiffness and artificiality to the whole. Yet fine thoughts shine through; and beneath a formal framework and ceaseless verbal iterations, which make one think that it would have been all the same to the writer whether the alphabet contained twenty letters or a hundred, there are sometimes discernible the eager passion and the spiritual rapture of a true religious believer.

Mr. Ker in his admirable book, The Psalms in History and Biography, from which I have frequently quoted already, observes that Psalm cxix 'might supply of itself endless incidents, from which only some can be given.

'Mr. Spurgeon quotes two from men of different temperament. In the midst of a London season, and in the stir and turmoil of a political crisis, 1819, William Wilberforce writes in his diary: "Walked from Hyde Park Corner repeating Psalm cxix in great comfort." And again John Ruskin in Fors Clavigera: "It is strange that of all the pieces of the Bible which my mother taught me, that which cost me most to learn, and which was to my child's mind most repulsive, Psalm cxix, has now become, of all, the most precious to me in its overflowing and glorious passion of love for the law of God."

"There is frequent reference to the Psalm in the diary of Henry Martyn: "Found some devotion in learning a part of Psalm cxix." "In the evening grew better by reading Psalm cxix, which generally brings me into a spiritual frame of mind." Again in a fretful frame; it was not till I learned some of Psalm cxix that I could return to a proper spirit."

'It drew to it the special admiration of Pascal, who, as his sister Madame Périer says, often spoke with such feeling about it "that he seemed transported," "qu'il paraissait hors de lui-même."'

The Four Friends justly say of this Psalm: 'If we would fathom the depth of meaning in the written Law of Israel, if we would measure the elevation of soul, the hope, the confidence even before princes and kings, which pious Jews derived from it, we must turn to this Psalm. Here is an epitome of all true

religion as conceived by the best spirits of the time. To such a loving study and meditation on the Law, the alphabetical arrangement is not inappropriate, and if the poem be necessarily somewhat cramped, it is nevertheless pervaded by the glow of love and abounds in spiritual life.'

.ALEPH א

Happy are they whose way is blameless,
Who walk in the law of the Lord.
Happy are they that keep his testimonies,
And that seek him with their whole heart;
Who do no iniquity:

And walk in his ways.

Thou hast ordained thy precepts,

That we should keep them diligently.

O that my ways were directed

To keep thy statutes!

Then shall I not be ashamed,

When I have respect unto all thy commandments.
I will give thanks unto thee with uprightness of heart,
When I shall have learned thy righteous ordinances.
I will keep thy statutes:

O forsake me not utterly.

.BETH ב

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way y?
By taking heed thereto according to thy word.
With my whole heart have I sought thee:

O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,

That I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord:

Teach me thy statutes.

With my lips have I declared

All the ordinances of thy mouth.
I rejoice in the way of thy testimonies,
Above all riches.

I will meditate in thy precepts,
And have respect unto thy ways.
I will delight myself in thy statutes:
I will not forget thy word.

'TEACH ME THY STATUTES'

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GIMEL.

Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live,

And keep thy word.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold

Wondrous things out of thy law.

I am a stranger in the earth:

Hide not thy commandments from me.

My soul is crushed with longing

For thine ordinances at all times.
Thou abhorrest the proud,

Who do err from thy commandments.
Remove from me reproach and contempt;
For I have kept thy testimonies.
Though princes sit and speak against me,
Thy servant museth on thy statutes.
Thy testimonies also are my delight,
And thy statutes my counsellors.

DALETH.

My soul cleaveth unto the dust:

Quicken thou me according to thy word.
I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me:
Teach me thy statutes.

Make me to understand the way of thy precepts:
So will I meditate on thy wondrous works.
My soul melteth for sorrow:

Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Remove from me the way of falsehood:

And be gracious unto me with thy law.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
Thine ordinances have I set before me.

I have stuck unto thy testimonies:
O Lord, put me not to shame.

In the way of thy commandments I take pleasure;
For thou dost enlarge my heart.

THE.

Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes;
And I will keep it as a reward. (?)

Give me understanding, and I will keep thy law;
Yea, I will observe it with my whole heart.