The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1949-06-30

1
Psalms. This col DR.. Foreman
lection Of religious
the temple which was built whel
the Jewish exiles returned 4
Babylon. It was the hymn-book O
Herod's temple, and we know oul
Lord used and loved 1t. It IL in
deed the song-book Of the Bible.
was the only hymnal which thu
first Christians used, for some
time. Indeed the book Of Psalms 1!
probably the only hymn-book hon
ored and used by three separate
religions-Judaism, Mohammedan
ism and Christianity.
How 1t Grew
7 IKE all hynnals, this book Of
- Psalms grew by degrees. II
was not written all at one time or
by one person. David wrote some
OF the Psalms. how many we dc
not know. The "titles'' of the
Psalms were added by later He
brew editors, are no part of the
original Psalms. and are often In.
accurate.
II Is very likely that as much
~ q thousand years went BY
between the first Of the Psalms
to be written, and the last.
Every modern hymnal that n
any good Is in part . collection
Of the best Of the old hymnals.
So our book Of Psalms, as II
finally took shape, came from old
er collections. A glance through it
In the American standard version
will show that in its present form
It Is made up Of five smaller books,
ending with Psalms Al. 70. 80. LOG
and $50. Each book ends with a dox.
ology and book v ends with a mag.
nificent series Of them. Sometimes
the editors left in duplicates. Read.
Ing Psalm IA side by side with
Psalm SO will show that these two
are exactly the same, only using
different names for God. At least
one Of the Psalms Is made UP OF
clippings" from earlier Psalms:
thus Psalm 108 Is made up from
Psalm 57:7-l1 and Psalm 60:5-l2
The Psalms were cherished and
preserved generation after genera.
ton because Of their heart-appsal.
Our Psalm book has gone through
centuries Of sitting: many were
! dropped out and forgotten. but the
best were saved and sung: and
what we have II the cream Of The
; best Of the singers Of Israel.
| n'-u-ssas.S .
Mirror of Man
1OHN CALVIN called the Psalms
the mirror Of the SOUL" All thu
varied moods Of man-hope. des
pair, triumph. envy. doubt. aspira
ton. loneliness. hatred. fear. ir
.itation. patriotism. joy, bitterness
WEAKNESS, amazement. anguish
rapture-almost every emotion tina
can be felt toward God or mar
breathes somewhere or other II
these Psalms.
| Since not one Of the authors
Of the Psalms was . Christian.
Of course, we should not be
surprised 70 find. here and
there. expressions (for exam
ple) Of hatred which are out Of
harmony with the spirit and
| teaching Of Jesus. The won
der II that there II % little
Of that kind Of thing.
| For every Psalm in which tn
poet says something cruel or hate
bll (e. 6. Psalm 1879 or l09:6-l4)
there are scores that breathe
spirit Of gentleness and grace. Fo
! every note Of despair psalm SO
the only completely gloomy one l
/, The whole collection). there ar
many hallelujahs Of hope and glat
ness.
Message of God
IF the Psalms are so human. ho'
! can they be also Gods Word
Yet they are also. truly, messag
Of God. For they not only cast
divine light on the state Of man
heart, but they show what the Lii
Of man Is when God becomes rea
For God was real to each poet WI
contributed to this great book.
latter weeks this summer we sha
BE- looking at the Psalms from va
ious special angles. This week
will be helpful to sit quietly Wi
the three typical Psalms. 1. 81 ar
100, and as you ponder over eae
one In turn. ask yourself: VIII
does this show me about Goo
What does this show about lii
when it turns to God?
Copyright by the International Cou
ell of Religious Education on behalf
70 Protestant denominations Releas,
o. WNU Features.