Psalm 1
Do you remember that when David was a young shepherd he played the harp so skillfully that he was chosen to play soft music for King Saul? (1 Samuel 16:17-2317And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. 18Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. 19Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. 20And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. 21And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armorbearer. 22And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favor in my sight. 23And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. (1 Samuel 16:17‑23)). Later, when David was the king, he both played and sang in honor to God, and he also wrote the words of many of the songs which were used by all Israel in prayer and praise, about 3,000 years ago.
It was by the Holy Spirit that David knew the words to write (2 Samuel 23:22The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. (2 Samuel 23:2); Mark 12:3636For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Mark 12:36)). Other men of Israel also wrote songs, the names of all are not known, but these songs were carefully kept with the writings of Moses and the prophets, and now we have them in our Bible, called, “The Book of Psalms.” The word Psalm means praise and while many wonderful songs of praise were sung by the Israelites in the Psalms, none so high in praise as are sung now by those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, His marvelous love at Calvary’s cross, the wonders of His Person now in the glory, and the happy prospect of soon being forever with Himself.
You may think many of the Psalms do not seem like songs, for so many of them tell of trouble, of war, and of enemies, some are prayers; but in the troubles, help was asked of the Lord, and in every one there are words of praise to Him. In the Hebrew language the Psalms are a form of poetry, and could all be set to music.
David chose men of skill to train sinners and players, and even those to lead the music in the great temple to be built in Jerusalem. They had harps, flutes, cymbals, and other instruments; the music in that first temple must have been most beautiful, all with joy and in honor to God. Later, also, there were times of joyous singing in Jerusalem.
But we do not read in the New Testament of any grand singing in the temple: the leaders were then doing much wrong and there could not be such praise.
After the Jewish leaders refused Jesus to be the Messiah of Israel, those who believed in Him had no big temple, and harps or other instruments of music are not spoken of; but they still sang praises to God wherever they went, and tier. Psalms were used.
Boys and girls of many nations have memorized some of the psalms; we hope you will do so also. The first psalm is not hard to learn, notice how it begins:
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” The word blessed means “O, the happiness!” so how happy for everyone who loves the Lord not to take the advice of those who do not believe Him, nor go in their ways.
“His delight is in the law of the Lord.”
“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.”
One who believes God is cheered by His, words, as a fruit tree grows and is kept fresh by water.
“The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away!” The outside, thin cover of a kernel of grain is chaff, and so quickly blown away!
“The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
How many Psalms are there?
ML 06/23/1940