No More Learning

6 Though they be wayfarers in the valley of tears,
they make of them a living fountain, even as the spring
rain covereth blessings. 7 They go from strength to
strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before
God. 8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer:
give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. 9 Behold, O
God our shield, and look upon the face of Thine
anointed. 10 For a day in Thy courts is better than
a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of
wickedness. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and
shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good
thing will He withhold from them that walk up-
rightly. 12 O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man
that trusteth in Thee.
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
LXXXIV. "T2
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
mote on The third verse of the Psalm describes the beautiful
iyyyiv or(iering of the life of birds, by which those tiny
creatures are given the power to make their nests
where they can hatch their eggs and rear their
young in safety.
These nests are, as it were, altars of praise to
God, showing the lovingkindness of His ordering of
the Laws of Nature.
This picture of bird life illustrates the thought ot
the verses that precede and follow it. As with the
birds, so it is with human beings; their safety is given
them by the lovingkindness of God. The soul of
man, longing for communion with God, is only
happy when it can dwell with God.
The Psalmist compares the tears of those who
trust in God to a spring of pure water, and to the
soft showers of rain in February covering "bless-
ings" (i. e. covering the early seeds, and helping
their growth).
In this country, where there is generally plenty of
PSALM LXXXV.
Zo tbe Cbief Ausictan. & ipsalm for tbe
sons of Tkoxnb.
Lord, Thou hast been favourable unto Thy land:
Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people,
Thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. 3 Thou
hast taken away all Thy wrath: Thou hast turned
Thyself from the fierceness of Thine anger. 4 Turn
us, O God of our salvation, and cause Thine anger
toward us to cease. 5 Wilt Thou be angry with us
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
rainfall, we can hardly understand the anxious mote on
watching for spring rain, and the thankfulness when Pf^Yiv
it comes, in the land of Palestine, where this song
was written, and where plenty of rain in the spring
means a good summer harvest.
The second half of the song expresses in varied
images the Psalmist's hope and trust in God.
I think this Psalm helps us to feel brave and trust-
ful in bearing disappointment. "I had rather be a
door-keeper (i. e. the humblest of workers) in the
house of my God, than dwell (as a rich man) in the
tents of wickedness. " "No good thing will He with-
hold from them that walk uprightly. " If we long
for a thing very much, we are sometimes tempted
to do what is wrong in order to get it. The Psalmist
warns us against this. Be true and honest always,
and try for what you want by fair and honourable
ways. If you fail you will keep your self-respect, and
feel that, however humble, you are still a faithful
door-keeper in the house of God.
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lxxxv. no
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
ps. for ever? wilt Thou draw out thine anger to all gene-
XXV. rations? 6 Wilt not Thou turn and revive us again:
that Thy people may rejoice in Thee? 7 Shew us
Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation.
8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for
He will speak peace unto His people, and to His
saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him;
that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and
truth are met together; righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. 11 Truth shall spring out
of the earth; and righteousness shall look down
from heaven. 12 Yea, the Lord shall give that
which is good; and our land shall yield her
increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before Him;
and shall set us in the way of His steps.
Hote on ^ often happens in Hebrew psalmody that the
pfi- same word is used in one verse and in the next for a
LXXXV. qUite different thought, the contrast serving both
to link and to divide the two ideas. The word
"turn " is used thus in the first, third, fourth, sixth,
and ninth verses of this Psalm. 1
"Thou hast turned the captivity of Jacob. . . .
Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of
Thine anger. Turn Thou us, O God (i. e. help us to
turn from evil to good), so will Thine anger towards
us be caused to cease. . . . Wilt not Thou turn and
revive us again? "
1 (the same root as the English "shove") conveys the
sense of the English words "turn" and "move," including the
emotional meaning of the latter word.
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
The Psalm opens with a song of thanksgiving -Mote on
(verses I, 2, 3), followed by a prayer for God's mercy t*s.
(verses 4, 5, 6, 7), which fills the soul of the Psalmist LXXXV-
with hope and the courage of trustfulness, expressed
in the next verse: "I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for He will speak peace unto His people
and to His saints: but let them not turn again to
folly. " The meaning of verse 9 is perhaps clearer if
we read the second half of the verse, "that fit's
glory may dwell in our land. " JION, truth, in verses
10 and 11 conveys the sense of both truth and
faithfulness.
The poem flows on in a series of images inspired
by the thought of the harmony of the goodness of
God, and the faith of mankind. The second part of
"5
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
mote on each verse is an echoing response to the first half.
LXXXV Thus, in verse 10, " Mercy [the Mercy of God] and
faithfulness [man's trust in God] are met together. "
Then comes the response: "Righteousness and
peace have kissed each other "--recalling Isaiah's
PSALM LXXXVI.
21 iprager of Davio.
Bow down Thine ear, 0 Lord, hear me: for I am
poor and needy. 2 Preserve my soul; for I am
holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant that
trusteth in Thee. 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord:
fori cry unto Thee all the day long. 4 Rejoice the soul
of Thy servant: for unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up
my soul. 5 For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to
forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that
call upon Thee. 6 Give ear, O Lord, unto my
prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee:
for Thou wilt answer me. 8 Among the gods there
is none like unto Thee, O Lord; neither are there
any works like unto Thy works. 9 All nations
whom Thou hast made shall come and worship
before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy name.
10 For Thou art great, and doest wondrous things:
Thou art God alone. 11 Teach me Thy way, O
Lord; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to
fear Thy name. 12 I will praise Thee, O Lord my
God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
words: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace who mote on
trusteth in Thee. " These four closing verses are fxxXV
grand and musical and peaceful, "like the sound of
a great Amen. "
LXXXVI. IS
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
IPs. name for evermore. 13 For great is Thy mercy
LXXXVI. towar(j me. and xhou hast delivered my soul from
the lowest depths. 14 O God, the proud are risen
against me, and the assemblies of violent men have
sought after my soul; and have not set Thee before
them. 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of
compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plen-
teous in mercy and truth. 16 O turn unto me,
and have mercy upon me; give Thy strength unto
Thy servant, and save the son of Thine handmaid.
17 Shew me a token for good; that they which hate
me may see it, and be ashamed: because Thou,
Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
mote on This prayer of David helps and comforts all who
f>s. read it in moments of trial and misery. David's
LXXXVI. absolute faith in the goodness and mercy of God,
and his deep feeling of God's mercy towards himself,
pervade every line of this Psalm.
They were the keynote of his religion, and led to
his vivid consciousness of the spirit that is within us,
and of its power of communion with God. The
fourth and eleventh verses of the Psalm give noble
utterance to this consciousness, and are prayers, not
for mere bodily safety, but for the safeguarding of
that spirit. "Rejoice the soul of Thy servant, for
unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. "
"Teach me Thy way, O Lord ; I will walk in Thy
truth: unite my heart to fear Thy name" (i. e. to
make the fear of Thee the one thought of my heart).
To fear does not mean to fear in the cowardly sense,
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
but to stand in awe of, to reverence, to honour; the ? Rote on
Even the bitter experience of the undeserved
enmity of man brings ' before David's mind by
contrast the thought of the never-failing goodness,
mercy, and justice of God, and inspires the humble
and trustful prayer of the last three verses.
In order to understand the full grandeur of the
thought expressed in verses 8, g, and io, we must
remember that in the days when David lived every
little nation had its own set of deities, idols, and
myths, and that none save Israel had the idea of the
One God, sole Creator and Ruler of the world, and
all that dwell therein, that grand thought and belief
which in every service in our ritual we pray may
become the universal faith of all mankind. "In that
day shall the Lord be One, and His name One. "
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fear that leads to love.
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
PSALM XC.
a Ipra^er ot Mioses, tbe /iftan of (C)00.
Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all
generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art
God. 3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and
sayest, Return, ye children of men. 4 For a thousand
years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is
past, and as a watch in the night. 5 Thou carriest
them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in
the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in
the evening it is cut down, and withereth. 7 For
we are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath
are we troubled. 8 Thou hast set our iniquities
before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy
countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away in
Thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
10 The days of our years are threescore years and
ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore
years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it
is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth
the power of Thine anger? even according to Thy
fear, so is Thy wrath. 12 So teach us to number our
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 13
Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent Thee
concerning Thy servants. 14 O satisfy us early with
Thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our
days. 15 Make us glad according to the days
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
XC. 2?
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
K>s. XC. wherein Thou hast afflicted us, and the years where-
in we have seen evil. 16 Let Thy work appear unto
Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children. 17
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon
us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon
us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.
flote on In the Book of Psalms this is the only one described
IPs. XC. as a Psalm of Moses. There are two other songs
of Moses in the Bible, the great song of thanks-
giving when Israel was saved out of the hands of the
Egyptians at the Red Sea, and Moses' song of fare-
well to the whole congregation of Israel before his
death.
In the first verse of the 90th Psalm the word ]tyO
means not merely " dwelling place," but "eversafe
refuge," and that meaning seems to add to the force
of the stately proclamation of the Eternity of God
in the next vecse.
In contrast to this, the third verse describes the
uncertainty of the life of man, which may be ended
at any moment by the will of God. "Thou turnest
man to dust," and Thou sayest, " Return, ye children
of men. " The same thought is carried on through
verses 4, 5, 6, in a series of poetical similes teeming
with beautiful imagery.
(Verse 4. ) Just as a night (though it seems so long
to one who is keeping watch through its hours) when
once it is passed becomes only a thought, like the
remembrance of yesterday, so are a thousand years
to the Eternal God.
(Verse 5. ) The years pass by like a thing carried
swiftly along by a torrent, and like the unreckdned
hours of sleep. Their growth is like the quick and
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
3>et invisible growth of the grass. This three-fold flote on
simile is expressed in Hebrew in a rapid phrase of P8. XC.
six words, *t>1V TST>>3 T&a ViT njtf DJnmt The
long English paraphrase, though beautiful, loses this
suggestive rapidity.
Verse 6 ends the series with a word picture of the
short span of plant life.
The next five verses deal with the relation of the
Israelites to God. To understand them we must
think of Moses as the great and inspired teacher;
far ahead in mind, in knowledge, and in character ot
his people--degraded and demoralized as they were
by generations of slavery and oppression. Moses
mournfully foresaw that his brethren would many
times revolt against the commands of God. The
words of the lament show how well he understood ?
the real meaning of the anger of God--not like
human anger, which is a wrathful desire for revenge,
but the Spirit of Divine Justice calling on man to
obey the law that teaches him the difference between
right and wrong, and to fear God lest in disregarding
God's laws he should do evil.
In this sense, mourning the ignorant minds and
rebellious spirit of the Israelites, Moses declares,
"Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our
hidden sins in the light of Thy countenance. All
our days are passed away in Thy wrath. "
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
te on Many centuries later the prophet Isaiah said,
? XC " Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day,
or shall a nation be born at once? " Just as seeds
must lie in the earth and be vivified by rain and
kindled by sunlight before they can grow into plants,
so human beings must be braced by individual effort
and elevated by collective responsibility before they
can grow into a nation. The same thought was in
the mind of Moses as he meditated on the stupendous
task that lay before his brethren of fitting them-
selves for their high mission by shaking off the
lowering influences of a harsh slavery, and, rising
to a full sense of the responsibility of each human
soul to God. He realized how little can be accom-
plished towards that great end in one brief gene-
ration. "We spend our years as a tale that is told. "
Even if a life be a long one and a strong one, the
work it can achieve is but small:--" For we are
soon cut off, and we fly away. Even as Thy fear
(the fear due to Thee), so is Thy wrath " (at human
disobedience to Divine Law). 1
Solomon, the wisest of all the kings of Israel, prayed
for wisdom for himself, but Moses, the noblest and
purest of all the heroes of Israel, prayed for wisdom
for his people. "Give Thy servant an understand-
ing heart, give me knowledge and wisdom," was the
prayer of Solomon. "Teach us to number our
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom,"
are the impressive words of the prayer of Moses.
The rapid and irrevocable flight of Time, the short
duration of even the longest of human lives to
1 Not only the rapidity but also the meaning of the terse
Hebrew phrase TJJ"|-Qy ^fWVJ! (" even as Thy fear so is
Thy wrath") are somewhat lost in the translation. The English
word "fear " brings the thought of cowardice, but the Hebrew
PINT has the added meaning of awe and reverence.
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
achieve any great work, the inevitable failures and tiote on
shortcomings of us all, depicted in the previous P8- XC.
verses, lend double force to the prayer, and bring
vividly to our minds the duty of never wasting time,
and of trying always to make the best use of our
lives.
The next verse (13) recalls the other great prayer
of Moses for the children of Israel when they stood
on the verge of the Promised Land. 1
Verses 14 and 15 help us to understand the
religious duty of cheerfulness. If we are very happy
in our childhood it puts a feeling in our hearts like
unfading sunshine, and helps us always to be brave
and cheerful, and to look on the best side of every-
thing all through life. Whenever trouble and sorrow
come to us we must always try to be brave and
cheerful. We must seek happiness by trusting to
the Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Goodness of God,
and by feeling sure that He will have mercy upon us
if we do our best to accept humbly and bear bravely
whatever trials and troubles come to us.
Verse 16 and the first half of verse 17 echo and
emphasize the same thought. If we trust in the
mercy and have faith in the Justice of God, His
work, and His glory, and His Blessedness will be
manifest to us. 3
The final prayer--" Establish Thou the work of
i "Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people
according to the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast
forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. " And the
Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.
(Numbers xiv. 19. )
5 The Hebrew word does not exactly correspond to
"beauty" as we use that word--in the sense of physical
beauty. At the time the Psalms were translated into English,
"beauty " meant something nearer to the Latin "beatitude,''
from which it is derived, and which means blessedness.
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
mote on our hands, O Lord, establish Thou it," is echoed by
ps. XC us all when we set about every task in life that
comes to our hands. The happiness of every human
being is dependent on work and effort. '' The wretch
concentred all on self," vainly aspires to happiness.
God has given us all that we have. What can we
give Him in gratitude? The fruit of our work and
the conduct of our lives. The primitive offerings of
our forefathers when they sacrificed the choicest of
the beasts they had reared in the homestead were
typical of the eternal attitude of all mankind to the
Creator. Our sacrifices, like the sacrifices of old,
PSALM XCI.
( The messenger of God speaks. ) "He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. "
2 {The soul of man speaks. ) "I will say of the
Lord, ' He is my refuge and my fortress: my God;
in Him will I trust. '"
3 (The messenger of God speaks. ) "Surely He shall
deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from
the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with
His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust:
His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou
shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for
the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence
that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall
at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but
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? THE CHILDREN'S PSALM-BOOK
must be without blemish; a pure life of honest, mote on
honourable effort to shed happiness and comfort on IPs, xc
our fellow-creatures, and to do to the very best of
our powers whatever work comes to our hand. "Both
young men and maidens, old men and children, let
them praise the name of the Lord," says one of the
Psalmists. Let us all, young and old, praise God by
the practical prayer of trying to make the best
possible use of all the powers of body and mind God
has given us to carry out our life's work. Then with
hopeful hearts we can pray in the words of Moses,
"O Lord, prosper Thou it. "
XCI. N2
127
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