MANY of the psalms were written by David. We are told so. We also find that other psalms were written by Asaph, the sons of Borah, Ethan the Ezrahite, and Moses.
David is emphatically called “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:11Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, (2 Samuel 23:1)); and surely no heart taught of God could sing of Israel, either as to her sorrows or blessings, and forget Israel’s king. Messiah’s sufferings therefore, and the glories which follow, are every here and there touched on. No doubt the Spirit of Christ energized the writers to set forth much concerning the remnant of Jews, who will be taught of God, and brought upon the scene after the church is gone. Inspired with Jewish hopes, and upright in heart, but fearing divine wrath, — finding themselves too in the midst of an apostate nation, surrounded by wicked Gentiles, and the terrible power of Satan let loose upon them, their afflictions will be very deep. We have, therefore, in the Psalms, besides the utterances of the remnant, sufferings of Jesus directly from God in atonement, on which all their blessings are securely founded, as Psalms 22; sufferings of Messiah by wicked hands, which bring judgment upon the people, as Psalms 69; and we find too that Jesus passed through sorrows in grace as will enable Him to sympathize with the faithful remnant by and by; “for in all their afflictions He was afflicted.” Parts of Psalms 102 and 89 show this.
Those who are acquainted with what Scripture teaches about “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” out of which he will be saved (Jeremiah 30:77Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7)), know something of the unparalleled suffering they must pass through until their Deliverer comes. The faithful putting their trust in Jehovah, relying on His faithfulness to accomplish His own promises, and their longings for deliverance, frequently occur; such as, “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when God bringeth back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.” They will hope for Messiah’s reign, the greater than Solomon, as set forth in Psalms 72; for they know that their blessings will be associated with the manifestation of His power and glory. “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion ... When the Lord shall build up Zion, He will appear in His glory.” (Psalms 102) “For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of His servants shall inherit it: and they that love His name shall dwell therein.” (Pe. 69:35, 36.)
That the Psalms treat of Israel, and not of the church of God (though there are many passages which believers now can take up for blessing and profit), has been lost sight of by many. The consequence has been much confusion as to interpretation, and necessarily loss of soul-blessing. Assuredly there are in this, as in every other inspired book, great principles of faith, and the expression of pious thoughts and feelings, which individual saints in all ages might take up; for whatever change in dispensation there may be, God is unchanged. We have in the Psalms many expressions of prayer, faith, and dependence, making God a refuge in trouble, as well as utterances of thankfulness, praise, and rejoicing. We do not, however, meet with what may be called proper and distinctive characteristics of Christianity, such as the spirit of sonship, worship in the holiest through the rent veil, the conscious indwelling of the Holy Ghost as the earnest of the inheritance, and the hope of being caught up “to meet the Lord in the air.” The reason is obvious, because the Holy Ghost is here writing about Israel, whose calling, hope, and experience are so different from ours.
As long as souls are in bondage, not clear as to deliverance from the world, the flesh, and the law, and unconscious of their new place, character of blessing, and relationship, as having redemption in Christ Jesus and through His precious blood, they naturally turn to the Psalms, and try to comfort themselves by the thought that others have been equally in bondage and misery as themselves. But as soon as they enjoy the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free, and realize their nearness to God, and acceptance in the Beloved, they go to the epistles and other parts of Scripture, because they instinctively feel that much in the Psalms, not being proper Christian experience, does not suit them. There are parts which a faithful follower of Christ could not adopt, such as calling for vengeance on enemies, worshipping afar off “at His footstool,” the longing of the righteous to “inherit the land,” &c. This can be easily understood as referring to Israel, a people having the expectation of earthly blessings in their own land, and taught righteously to exact “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Whereas the saints who compose the church of God are heavenly people, partakers of an heavenly calling, now seated and blessed in heavenly places in Christ, having the Holy Ghost dwelling in them, with liberty of access into the Holiest where Jesus is, and taught by Him to love our enemies, and meekly suffer for righteousness’ sake, while waiting for His return from heaven to catch us up to meet Him in the air. What a different experience of feeling and desire then such must have! As before noticed, some exercises might somewhat characterize both—such as God being our refuge, present help, strength, and source of blessing; for all are taught to walk by faith, and glory only in the Lord. This similarity and difference is noted by the apostle Peter in a quotation from Psalms 34:15,1615The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. 16The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. (Psalm 34:15‑16). In chapter 3:12 of his first epistle he quotes: “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” Here he stops, because this quotation is equally true of the saints composing the church as of those who compose Israel; but he omits the last clause— “to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth”— as not suited to us, though it is to Israel. Again, in the eighth of Romans, the Apostle Paul quotes from the forty-fourth Psalm, applying it to the path of the Christian now— “For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” (verse 22.) But here the quotation ends, for, instead of in the spirit of the Jewish remnant, in their time of trouble, crying out to God saying, “Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? why hidest Thou Thy face?” &c., the apostle, as becomes followers of Christ, accepts it—and adds, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Romans 8:36, 3736As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Romans 8:36‑37).) In Israel’s future (See Psalms 103:66The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. (Psalm 103:6)), God will execute righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. Now, however, we are taught to do well, suffer for it, and take it patiently (1 Peter 2:1414Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. (1 Peter 2:14)); and that if we suffer for righteousness’ sake we should count ourselves happy. Did God execute righteous judgment for Jesus in the days of His flesh when He was oppressed? Did He do so for the apostle Paul when faithfulness to God brought him, through wicked men’s oppression, into prison? Did He so act on John’s behalf when banished to desolate Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ? But when Israel comes upon the scene of divine favor and blessing, after the church has been caught up, they will then know that God favor’s their cause and blesses them, and will do so more than ever He did in the earth; for the hope of the meek among them is to “inherit the earth.”
We have, therefore, in the Psalms promises to the faithful to “dwell in the land,” and “inherit the earth.” We have also such texts as the Lord is against evil-doers, — “to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” “Such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of Him shall be cut off.” (37:22.) “Thou hast scattered us among the heathen.” (44:11.) “Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors.” (59:5.) “God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah.” (69:35.) “O God, why hast Thou cast us off forever? why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture?” (74:1.) “He shall cut off the spirit of princes; He is terrible to the kings of the earth.” (76:12.) “Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known Thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon Thy name. For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling-place.” (79:6, 7.) “Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera ... Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb.... O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flames setteth the mountains on fire; so persecute them with Thy tempest.” (83:9-18.) “Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land... I will early destroy all the wicked of the land.” (101:6, 8.) “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy on Zion.... So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Thy glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory.... This shall be written for the generation to come.... The children of Thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before Thee.” (102.) “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.” (107:2, 3.) “The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.” (135:4.) “He also exalteth the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him.” (148:14.)
How could any one who knows that he has passed from death unto life, is now seated in Christ in heavenly places, and called to follow Christ, who loved His enemies, prayed for His murderers, and died for the ungodly, adopt such language as we have just quoted? And yet a little spiritual discernment is enough to show how consistent such utterances will be for an upright Jew by and by.
The Psalms are divided into five books.
For the reasons we have given, is it not clear that the Psalms cannot now be used for the expression of Christian worship? The coming of the Son of God from heaven, the rent wail by His death, and the gift, indwelling and operations of the Holy Ghost, have necessarily altered the character of true worship. Our Lord declared the Father, and He said, “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.” (John 4:2323But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23).) No doubt when Christians lost the sense of their distinctive character as heavenly, and members of the body of Christ, that they gradually sank back more or less into the Jewish order of distance from God, and an earthly class of priesthood; thus lowering Christianity from heavenly to earthly characteristics.