The Psalms With Introductions And Critical Notes PDF Download

Excerpt from The Psalms With Introductions and Critical Notes This Psalm may be regarded as one of the most interesting in the whole Psalter. The spiritual life, illumined by only a partial revelation, is here presented to us in its inner conflicts. The various phases of the struggle, the misgivings expressed only to be repressed, the perplexity, the final re-assurance and self-reproof, are portrayed with almost dramatic reality. The difficult problem, which forms the subject of this Psalm, is that which meets us in Psalm xxxvii, and in the books of Job and Ecclesiastes (cf. also Mai. iii.13 sq.), viz. How is it that those who give themselves up to wickedness often seem to fare better than those who strive to serve God? The Law had nowhere distinctly promised a continued existence after death, however much it implied it; moreover it had promised temporal rewards and punishments, at any rate to the nation, if not to individuals. To the Israelite then, this problem was perhaps even more difficult than to the thinkers of other nations. While he had but a dim foresight of the world to come, he had a clear revelation of the justice of the Divine Rule. How was he to reconcile existing circumstances with his knowledge of Gods attributes.? In the Psalm before us the Poets peace of mind seems to have been restored by attending the public worship of the sanctuary. There, in company with the generation of Gods children, joining with them in the worship of Jehovah, and hearing the words of the Law, he became convinced that in the end (whenever that might be), under the government of Perfect Righteousness, goodness must prevail, and wickedness must perish. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.