JUDA'S JEWELS A STUDY IN THE HEBREW LYRICS BY NOAH K. DAVIS, PH.D., LL.D. Professor in tfie University of Virginia NASHVILLE, TENN. PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH BARBEE & SMITH, AGENTS 1895 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1895, BY NOAH K. DAVIS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE THE chief aim of this work is to indicate some of the rhe- torical graces of the Hebrew lyrics. A large number are quoted in full, carefully annotated, and followed by a general exposition. Besides this endeavor to make clear the true meaning and force of the text, I have thought it needful, in order to its higher appreciation, to give the probable historical setting of each lyric, to depict vividly the scene, and thus to bring into relief the significance of many figurative expres- sions and their underlying sentiment. In the translation as well as in the interpretation I have had numerous helps, too many to be named, in standard com- mentaries and special treatises, English and foreign, the early and the later, even the latest. Ever ready to modify my views, I have neglected no available source of information ; yet the candid reader who is acquainted with.the voluminous literature of the subject will, nevertheless, accord to me a fair measure of independence. The renderings have been compared word by word with those of the Canterbury Revision. Being in hearty sympathy with its reverence for the classic diction of the Authorized Version, I have not deviated from one or the other except where it was impossible for me to adopt the phraseology of either. In appropriating the views or renderings of others I have not always been careful to give credit, hoping that the, (3) 4 PREFACE frequent credit given and this general acknowledgment will be deemed sufficient. Much pains has been taken to present to the eye not only the parallelism of the verses, but also the strophic structure of each lyric. Upon the strophic forms there "is as yet no gen- eral consensus, and I have been obliged, with little or no help, to venture on those presented, hoping that a bold essay in this direction may lead to approved and permanent results. The principles guiding me in the formal distribution are discussed in the seventh chapter. The work was begun and well-nigh completed with no thought of publication, but it is now issued in the hope of arousing more general attention to the unmatched excellence of this marvelous literature, and inducing a reverential study of its many graces. The subject is familiar to biblical scholars and ministers of religion, so that I hardly expect to interest them; but I am sure they will unite with me in the wish that laymen who love the Scriptures may find the little book, writ- ten by one of themselves, both interesting and useful. To Professor Collins Denny, of Vanderbilt University, I am gratefully indebted for kindly approval, for helpful criticism, and for the several valuable notes to which I have appended his name. NOAH K. DAVIS. University of Virginia. CONTENTS PAGE I. THE PLAIN 9 II. THE CAVERN 38 III. THE DESERT 76 IV. THE MOUNTAIN 1 19 V. THE VALLEY 159 VI. VERSES 212 VII. STANZAS 255 VIII. LYRICS 300 (5) David the son of Jesse The man who was raised on high The anointed of the God of Jacob The sweet psalmist of Israel (6) ANNOTATED CITATIONS PSALMS. PAGE II. Why do the nations rage ? 295 VII. O Lord, my God, in thee do I put my trust.. . 56 VIII. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name. 22 XV. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? 154 XIX. The heavens declare the glory of God 26 XXIII. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want... 18 XXIV. The earth is the Lord's.and the fullness thereof. 148 XXVII. The Lord is my light and my salvation 97 XXIX. Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty 35 XXXI. In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust 83 XXXIV. I will bless the Lord at all times 70 XXXIX. I said, I will take heed to my ways 182 XLII. As the hart panteth after the water brooks. . . 191 XLIII. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause 194 XLV. My heart overflows with a goodly theme 324 LI. Have mercy upon me, O God 165 LVII. Be merciful unto me, O God 93 LXVIII. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. . . 136 XC. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place 308 XCI. He thatdwelleth in the covert of the Most High. 345 XCV. O come, let us sing unto the Lord 285 CI. I will sing of mercy and judgment 125 C7) 8 CITATIONS PAGE CIV. Bless the Lord, O my soul 337 CXXX. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee 253 CXXX VII. By the rivers of Babylon 332 CXXXIX. O Lord, thou hast searched me . . 203 CXLII. I cried unto the Lord with my voice 66 CXLIII. Hear my prayer, O Lord 63 2 SAMUEL. I. Gazelleof Israel,slain on thine own mountains. 114 XXIII. The last words of David, the son of Jesse 208 (Other citations are not annotated?) JUDA'S JEWELS I.-THE PLAIN THE most ancient of all songs are sweetest and noblest of all. The first in time are the first in worth. Poetry is an art which accumulates, but does not progress ; or rather it is not an art, since its early, untutored, spontaneous efforts are its best. Centuries before Pindar, before Homer, there was a bard in Judah whose songs have ever since been singing by millions more and more, and will still be singing when all others are forgotten. He, the Adam of song, typical of mankind, touched the utmost verge of every possible human experi- ence; step by step he trod all paths of joy and sorrow ; one by one he traversed all avenues to honor and dishonor; and he wandered from boy- hood to old age, harp in hand, singing all the changeful way in tones that echoing hearts will never allow to die. That the ear may catch the divine perfection of this melody, the eye must see the songster where he stands. Let us then go (9) 10 JUDA 'S JE WELS along his way, and when he stops to sing we too will pause with listening eyes and ears. i. David, the son of Jesse, appears first as a shepherd boy on the plains east of Bethlehem. He is the youngest of eight brothers. Two elder sisters are also named, but his mother's name is nowhere given. The great prophet and judge, Samuel, comes to their home at Bethlehem to se- lect and anoint a new king over Israel. 1 The eld- est of the sons, the tall, handsome, and haughty Eliab, is rejected; and so successively the others. And Samuel said unto Jesse: " The Lord hath not chosen these. Are here all thy children?" David is sent for. He comes ; a handsome lad, of rather short stature, in contrast with Eliab, ^Saul, and Goliath; but his frame is compacted for both agility and strength. Thus he says of himself: It is God that girdeth me with strength. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet ; He teacheth my hands to war, And mine arms to bend the brazen bow. 2 His dress is probably a simple frock, leaving his neck and arms bare, girdled about the waist, and reaching his knees. His hair is auburn, his eyes 1 1 Samuel xvi. 'Psalm xviii. 32-34. Achilles is called ir<5<5af w/rfc. /?., i. 58. We are also reminded of the bow that Ulysses left at Utica. THE PLAIN 1 1 beautiful and bright, his complexion ruddy with the flush of youth and health. 1 "And the Lord said: Arise, anoint him, for this is he." So the symbolic oil is poured upon his head, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. We will presume that David returned for a time to the care of his sheep. His anointing, viewed merely as an objective fact, must have had a pow- erful effect in developing his character. We may doubt if he fully understood its import until long afterwards, 2 but not that the mystery was food for his wondering thought. His peaceful and solitary pursuit promoted reflection, and as he pondered his destiny the currents of his thought deepened their channels. Muse amid thy flocks awhile, At thy doom of greatness smile, Bold to bear God's heaviest load, Dimly guessing at the road. 8 When, moreover, we remember that the Spirit of the Lord was now upon him, it is evident that this was a great epoch in his mental history, and the true beginning of his wonderful career. Another fact must have made a deep mark on !See Stanley, Lectures on the Jewish Church, Lecture xxii. 2 Josephus says that Samuel whispered it in his ear. Ant., vi.8,i. 'Lyra Apostolica, Ivii. 1 2 JUDA '5 JE WRLS his character. By his father and brothers he was disdainfully consigned to a menial occupation, and it became the subject of taunt. 1 Endowed with a highly sensitive nature, he felt this keenly. But the exclusion from the family circle, the humil- iation, the mortification, however bitter to the lonely lad, became in his healthful mental organi- zation, and doubtless under the influence of the Spirit, a means of discipline and strength, of self- mastery. The sculptor has blunt chisels, which, under heavy blows, break off rude masses of mar- ble, but he also has sharp chisels, with which he perfects his work. David's mother no doubt was in sympathy with him. That there were strong points in her charac- ter may be surmised from Jesse's apparent weak- ness and the unquestionable powers of her chil- dren. Her youngest was naturally her darling, and so she called him, for the name "David" means " beloved." As a faithful mother she had in early years taught him many lessons of love and duty. Kneeling at her knees, with his palms to- gether and upraised, he had learned from her the name "Jehovah;" and when he was driven out to hard service and solitude, her tears softened him, her love went with him and animated him, and he *i Samuel xvii. 28. THE PLAIN 13 remembered and practiced the lessons of her piety. What matters it that we know not her name ? She, type of the virgin mother, is immortal in her son. 1 It seems to me we may often note in David's con- duct, even in late periods of his life, the unmis- takable marks of his mother's hand, especially in his generous, gentle, and kindly impulses; yet never does he name her, and only once refers to her. In an agony of prayer he cries, "Save the son of thine handmaid;" thus resting his plea on her desert. 2 But why this reticence ? In every true man's heart there are some things too sacred for ut- terance ; there is an inviolable inner shrine. A moth- er's name is never a light thing. A man of deep and fine feeling, as was this man, does not at anytime talk much about his mother, and when death adds its sanctity, how the heart shuts up on her name ! Another fact is worthy of note as making an im- press on David's character in his early youth. He was thrown into constant communion with nature. Her sweet and healthful influences, her gentle and stern aspects developed his strength, deepened his emotions, and peopled his fancy. The plains of Bethlehem, which for three thousand years have 1 The earlier rabbis attempt to establish the immaculate con- ception of David. z Psalm Ixxxvi. 16. Cf. verse 16 of Psalm cxvi., a post-exilic imitative composition. 14 JUDA \S JE WELS been sheep pastures, are remarkable for landscape beauty, a beauty that must have been far greater in David's day, when foliage was more abundant there than now. There he learned to love the sky, the mountain, the distant sea, the brawling brook, the green field, the perfumed flower. There he took his first lessons in that various language of nature with which his poetry abounds ; for To him who, in the love of nature, holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language ; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of beauty, and she glides Into his darker musings with a mild And healing sympathy that steals away Their sharpness ere he is aware. 1 But there were frowns in the landscape whose features were symbolic of his life. Before him, in the dim eastern distance where earth met sky, there lay in a deep valley of gloom the sea that was for all time the emblem of death and God's hate of sin. Nearer, stretching north and south, lay the haunted wilderness, which afterwards over- heard the great temptation, already occupied by ferocious beasts that came thence like emissa- ries of Satan to ravage the flocks, In the lower i Bryant, Thanatopsis. THE PLAIN 15 grounds were horrible pits of slime and springs of bitter, poisoned waters. Still nearer were abrupt precipices pierced with gloomy unknown caves, the refuge of crime. The edge of the cliffs was broken here and there by ravines leading from the plains above, deepening dangerously and filled with the shadow of death. But as yet his feet trod the green and sunny slope, and flowers bloomed on the pathway leading from the home of his birth. Let us remember that David was a poet and a musician born. Probably untaught, he cultivated for himself the native impulse to pour forth in song the overflow of his heart, beguiling his lonely and quiet hours with a harp which he invented, and, after a rude fashion, had made. 1 Thus he attuned both melody and harmony with verse. The fame of his harp went beyond Bethlehem, and reached the court at Gibeah. 2 He is sent for to play before the king. He goes afoot, like the mediaeval minstrel, his harp, muffled with lilies, hanging from his shoulders. Its sweet tones, drawn out by the native skill of a loving hand, soothe the dark hours of the fierce and gloomy king, and quiet the evil spirit that troubled him, 1 Amos vi. 5, They " that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David," 1 1 Samuel xvi. 18. 1 6 JUDA 'S JB WELS thus "lifting Saul's name out of sorrow, and weaving a spell to sustain him where song had re- stored him." 1 When David returned to his home we do not see that he was at all elated by this brilliant episode in his boy life. Still we must be- lieve that it quickened his thoughts like wine. He was not yet a man, but his manhood was rapidly developing. 2 2. Let us think of David now as returned from court to the plains, resuming his peaceful pursuits, tending the sheep, musing on nature, playing the harp, and singing his own songs out of a fresh, innocent, impulsive, boyish heart. Let us try to picture the scene : The sun is near me- ridian. Sunken in the deep blue of the oriental sky, he sheds from the center of the dome his golden glories down to the far horizon. The gay green fields respond. They sparkle and almost glow with brilliance. These sunlit pastures lie east- ward from Bethlehem on the table-land which just beyond breaks precipitously down to the 1 From Browning's Saul, the gem of his Dramatic Lyrics, and inferior to nothing he has written. 'There is an old and curious tradition that David was very small, but that after Samuel anointed him he grew rapidly, arid soon reached the stature of Saul. Hence Saul's armor fitted him when he was making ready to fight the giant. (See Bar- ing-Gould's O. T. Legends, p. 319.) THE PLAIN 17 valley of the Jordan and the sea. The watered meadows of this lower level are reached by deep ravines breaking through the cliff that overhangs the valfey. David leads his sheep from the pas- tures above into one of these to seek the meadows. The ravine is a narrow, dark, and gloomy valley. There are dangerous precipices to skirt, and steep descents to make. But he leads in the right paths, and guides with his shepherd's crook the silly sheep, watchful to catch and save the one whose feet may slide. They follow trustfully, and by the good shepherd's care reach and traverse the depths in safety, and very soon emerge from the dark shadow into the sunny meadows. Here he makes them lie down to rest in the cool grass, be- neath the tamarisk shade, nigh to the quiet stream hindered by rushes. He is seated on a rock, watchfully near, for the great wilderness is hard by, and once there came a lion out of the wood and seized a lamb of the flock. But David smote him, and slew him, and delivered the lamb. 1 Now he watches, that his sheep may feast and rest se- curely in the very presence of their enemies. David's mother, as I think, had taught him to offer habitually at set times praise and prayer to Jehovah. He made a rule. 2 It is this: i Samuel xvii. 34, 35. 2 Psalm Iv. 17. 2 1 8 JUDA 'S JE WELS Evening, morning, and at noon will I pray and cry aloud ; And he shall hear my voice. The midday season has now come. He thinks of the anointing, and of the generous king at whose court he was recently a guest, with perhaps a presage of danger; then of God's love, and bounty, and protecting care. He takes his harp in his hand to sing. Music and poetry are the wings of his devotion. Hear his noonday song: The LORD is my shepherd ; I shall not want. i He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul ; [name's sake. He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his ii Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow I will fear no evil ; [of death, For thou art with me ; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. NOTES. The first line announces the general subject. Shepherd applies more particularly to strophes i and 2; and I shall not want, to strophe 3. The psalm begins and ends with Jehovah (LORD), not elsewhere named. Strophe i. Jehovah refreshes and guides. leadeth ; in the East flocks are not driven, but led. the paths are straight, right, direct. for his name's sake, not for any desert of mine. Strophe a. Jehovah protects and comforts. the valley; re- THE PLAIN Ip III Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of Thou hast anointed my head with oil ; [mine enemies ; My cup runneth over. [of my life ; Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. A few general remarks upon this delicious lit- tle pastoral lyric before passing. It is the familiar Psalm xxiii., which we all got by heart when we were children, but I doubt if any of us have yet exhausted it. Observe the arrangement in parallel lines, and the distribution into three strophes or stanzas, each member Bunyan's allegorical expansion of this figure. The brevity of the second and third lines renders them emphatic. Omit art. The rod to defend; the staff to support. We have here the first direct expression of the religious idea of a shep- herd, which has taken so deep root in the heart of Christendom. For rod DeWitt puts scepter; Cheyne, club. Strophe j. The guest of Jehovah. A change of figure ; the transition is in the first line, which may be referred to the shep- herd protecting his sheep at pasture, or to what follows, the roj'al host making a feast. oil, the symbol of grace. cup, the symbol of joy. goodness and mercy are personified; the twin guardian angels, who will never forsake him during all this present life. But his aspirations rise higher; forever is a flash of light from the eternal world, a glimpse of immortality. Thus the song begins on earth, and ends in heaven. Faith awakens Hope, who, with the golden key of promise, unlocks and throws open the gates of everlasting bliss, and as the eye of Love gazes into its limitless expanse, her lips cry out forever. 20 JUDA VS JE WELS containing a complete thought, the whole being pre- ceded by an independent line giving the subject. This highly artistic form is almost wholly obscured in our common version, as usually printed, and in no arrangement that I have seen is it properly ex- hibited. The title is: A Psalm of David. 1 Its historical place has been disputed. Biblical critics very generally allow its Davidic authorship, but refer it in turn to almost every period of David's life. As these authorities differ so widely, we may think for ourselves. Its freshness and simplicity, the vivid figures from nature, its childlike faith, the absence of the warrior, the outlaw, and the king, and more, the entire absence of any conscious- ness of sinfulness all are good grounds for refer- ring it to David's youth. The chief reasons for assigning it to a later period are founded on the mention of his enemies and of the house of Jeho- vah. Let us observe that, beth [house] in early Semitic usage is any lodging place ; e. g. J3eth-el, Genesis xxviii. 19. Moreover, may not both be anticipations? The latter one is expressly future. We may add that the figure of the guest of a king (strophe 3) would readily suggest itself to one who had recently been actually entertained at court. But our historical view is not essential to its high- est beauties. It is a gem not needing a setting, or rather, a fixed star shining by its own light. titles prefixed to a majority, nearly three-fourths, of the psalms are very ancient; being found in the Septuagint Ver- sion, which dates from the third century, B.C. They are not, however, considered of equal authority with the text. The critics pronounce some of them incorrect. About this one, how- ever, there should be no doubt the psalm is David's. THE PLAIN 21 3. Let us now pursue our fancies. The noon- day devotions are over. The afternoon is pass- ing. David leads his flock up again to the higher ground, to a more secure place nearer Bethlehem. The sun sets, night is coming on, and the voice- less stars are looking down from heaven. David has gathered his sheep together on the spot where a thousand years afterwards shepherds were watch- ing their flocks by night and the starry angels came singing down from heaven, announcing the advent of the Good Shepherd, of whom David was the unconscious type. 1 The hour for his evening devotions is at hand. The calm but brilliant glories of an oriental night fill his soul with sweet solemnity. He has not yet lost the instinct of childish innocence that finds God in everything. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." So his heart bows before the manifest Presence, and his eyes drink the luster of his jewels; for night is God's crown. And when the full-orbed moon rises over the heights of Abarim and mounts the sky, he adores the Creator who has set his glory upon the heav- ens. He feels that it is given to him, though a mere babe in knowledge, to lift up a voice of per- 1 Lukeii. 8ff.; John x. 2 2 JUDA \S / WELS fected praise which shall confound those that deny the excellent name of the Lord of the heav- ens and the earth. Yet, he reflects, how insig- nificant am I ! But no ; for God made man in celes- tial mold, and appointed him to rule the world. Aroused by this inspiring thought, he touches his lyre, and night and the silent stars listen to his evening hymn: O LORD, our Lord, how excellent thy name in all the Who hast set thy glory upon the heavens. [earth ! i Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Hast thou established strength, Because of thine adversaries, That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. NOTES. The first distich is a proem, an overture involving the theme, and expressing the occasion of devotion. We omit is of the A. V. and R. V., as needless and a blemish. Strophe i. The first and fourth lines are antithetically paral- lel. There is a depreciating allusion of the singer to himself. Perhaps his exorcism of the evil spirit from Saul suggested the thought. But the best possible comment is found in the fol- lowing words: "And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected THE PLAIN 23 II When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained ; What is man that thou art mindful of him ? And the son of man, that thou visitest him ? in For thou hast made him but little lower than the angels, And crownest him with glory and honor ; Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of [thy hands. IV Thou hast put all under his feet ; All sheep and oxen, yea and the beasts of the field ; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent thy name in all the [earth ! praise?" (Matthew xxi. 15, 16.) The quotation of our Lord is made from the Septuagint. avenger, rather revenger, one who avenges himself; one violent and arrogant. Strophe 2. Note the marvelous beauty of the English diction here. Cf. Psalm cxliv. 3. Strophe j. Than the angels, rather, than deity. The whole strophe is an echo of Genesis i. 26, 28. Man is God's vicege- rent. See also Hebrews ii. 6, and i Corinthians xv. 27. Strophe 4 is an expansion of the last line of strophe 3. We omit things of the A. V. and R. V. sheep and oxen, the do- mestic animals, small and great. beasts of the field, wild ani- 24 JUDA S JE WELS This is the beautiful and profound Psalm viii. We should read it by moonlight. Spurgeon calls it "the song of the astronomer." Its subject is, Man's superior dignity as conferred by Jehovah. The title attributes it to David, and is indisputable. The historical occasion here indicated is, in gen- eral, that assigned to it by Nachtigal, Tholuck, Perowne, and other good critics; the reasons are similar to those given for the place of Psalm xxiii. The thought descends from the heavens to the earth, Christlike; and in the Epistle to the He- brews ii. 5-8, the psalm is applied to Christ's hu- miliation. Most interpreters regard it as Messi- anic; if so, its depths are immeasurable. If we study closely the parallel phrases, and the succession and relation of thoughts, the Psalm, after we have set apart the proem and epode, seems to fall naturally and clearly into four stro- phes of four lines each, excepting strophe 3, which has but three lines. Is there not a poetic reason for this exception? The first and last lines of this strophe are pretty closely parallel. The interme- diate one does not seem clearly synonymous. If there were a line parallel to this beginning the stro- phe, then it also would be a quatrain, having the alternate lines parallel. Now look at the sense: In strophe 2 the poet sinks into despondency at the humiliating thought of man's comparative in- significance. May we not suppose a pause, a mo- mals; always the meaning in Scripture of this phrase. what- soever, all unknown sea monsters. The leviathan? Job xli. The last line is an epode, and a repetition of the first. Thus the picture is set in a frame of praise. " The ends are wound together as a wreath." (Dclitzso..) Jehovah occurs only at the beginning and at the close, as in Psalm xxiii. THE PLAIN 25 merit's silent meditation in the very middle of the song, poetically expressed by the elision of a line? Then comes a sudden rebound of feeling, arous- ing the singer to highest exultation. Observe fur- ther that the illative for ('3) can make no proper connection in sense with what precedes. If we disregard the illation and force a connection, as is done in the versions of Conant, Cheyne, and De Witt, then the tone of depression continues, and sinks, in strophe 3, lower still; thus destroying one chief poetic beauty of the lyric, the sudden revulsion, besides leaving strophe 4 standing alone, almost meaningless. Let us rather conceive that for connects with the elided thought, which the mind of the reader easily and naturally supplies, something like this : Yet is there not essential and even higher dignity in man ? Surely there is, "for thou hast made him," etc. When the sculptors of Italy were called upon to restore the lost arm of the Apollo Belvidere they declined; but at last Montorsoli was persuaded, after long study, to undertake the task. It was the audacity of genius. But not even Milton would dare to write a line to take this vacant place. And indeed there is no mutilation here, but a poetical enthymeme, more effective and beautiful than any expression. 4. Our shepherd boy, we will now imagine, having finished his evening devotions, prepares for rest, saying: I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep ; For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. 1 1 Psalm iv. 8. 26 JUDA 'SJ WELS His young blood, his vigorous health, his duties arouse him in the early morning from his balmy, refreshing sleep in the pure air of the open plain, and his first thought is : I laid me down and slept ; I awaked ; for the Lord sustained me. 1 The moon and the stars are still shining, and re- mind him by their silent eloquence of the glory of the Creator, and by their westward movement that they thus speak to all who dwell under the canopy of the sky. But the glowing flush, rapidly spreading upward from the eastern hills, hastens him to his morning devotions. He tunes afresh his humble lyre, saying: My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord ; In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, And will look up. 2 He kneels on one knee, his face eastward, his eyes on the waning stars. He sweeps the sound- ing strings, and his morning song awakens the sleeping echoes and bids farewell to night. i The heavens declare the glory of God ; And the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night sheweth knowledge. 1 Psalm iii. 5. * Psalm v. 3. THE PLAIN 27 II There is no speech nor language, Where their voice cannot be heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. NOTES. Strophe i. Celestial objects are personified, and utter voices. firmament, expanse. Day unto day; a chain of tra- dition. Strophe 2. Theirs is not a language that cannot be heard i. e., understood (Moll, et /.). Hence it would be better to read Whereby instead of Where. Translated literally, the first distich gives: "No speech and no words without their voice heard." The passage has been very variously interpreted. Many, influ- enced perhaps by Where (supplied by the translators), interpret speech and language to be that of the various nations in different parts of the earth. So Conant: "W4pitever maybe the speech or language of the people." This is too prosaic for its highly figurative surroundings, the bold personifications. Moreover, it passes awkwardly from the utterances of the heavens to the literal speech of men, and then back again to the voices and words of nature. How much better that the lan- guage throughout be that of the subject, of nature. Others omit Where, as the Revised Version, which reads: "Their voice cannot be heard." Likewise we have what is equiv- alent in "There is neither speech nor language; but their voices are heard among them." (Prayer Book version.} So, also, Ewald. This cuts off all direct connection with what pre- cedes, and with what follows, and the passage becomes a paren- thetical explanation, very prosaic, trite, and superfluous, that the preceding statement is not literal but figurative. This view is intolerable. Cheyne accepts the latter interpretation, but re- jects the distich as a gloss. line, primarily a measuring line; 28 JUDA '.S JE WELS Night is turning into day. The curtains of the eastern heavens unfold, and joyously the greater light begins his appointed course : in In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, And his circuit unto the ends of it ; And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. He is reminded of something not unlike the sun, but higher and holier than he; something more animating and enlightening, more delightful and pure, more stable and true. And he sings: IV The la\v of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul ; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the [simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart ; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening [the eyes. hence, rule of conduct, precept, decree. (See Romans x. 18.) Strophe 3. Sunrise. tabernacle, tent. bridegroom, reminds us of Christ. strong man, hero (Delitzsch). his circuit, is from one horizon over to the other. Pagans worshiped the sun, but here he disappears in the greater light of God's law. THE PLAIN 29 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true, and righteous [altogether, v More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much [fine gold ; Sweeter also than honey and the drip of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned ; And in keeping of them there is great reward. But oh, who can keep them? David is not con- scious of overt sin, but the tight of God's holy law shining down into his heart reveals for by Strophe 4. A eulogy of the law. The writer of Psalm cxix. has expanded it into one hundred and seventy-six verses. re- storing, refreshing. simple, uneducated and docile. Bishop Patrick says: The law is the whole as given by Moses; testi- mony, the law relating to commemorative observances e. g. the passover; precepts, the statutes