Psalm 19 - Day 290 (link to today's reading)
Scripture: Psalm 19 Commentary: C. S. Lewis wrote of Ps 19: “I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world” (Reflections on the Psalms, p. 56). Indeed, it is hard to disagree with such a judgment, for the psalm combines the most beautiful poetry with some of the most profound of biblical theology. And for those who think too easily of the Psalms merely as literature, it is wise to recall that they were also sung (as Ps 19 may have been sung, following the implications of the title verse) and that the music added still further to the beauty and profundity of the poetry. Though we do not know the forms and sounds of ancient Hebrew music, we may nevertheless grasp something of the power that music may add to words though listening to Ps 19 in the setting of Haydn’s Creation; the music is relatively modern, but the understanding expressed in that music is surely original and genuine. The psalmist moves in a climactic fashion from macrocosm to microcosm, from the universe and its glory to the individual in humility before God. But the climax lies in the microcosm, not in the heavenly roar of praise. For the heavens declare the glory of God, but the law declares the will of God for mankind, the creature. And though the vast firmament so high above us declares God’s praise, it is the Torah of God alone that reveals to mankind that he has a place in the universal scheme of things. It is not a place which gives ground for human boasting or declaration of human might over the cosmos: when the psalmist’s praise of God’s revelation in the Torah dawns upon him personally, it issues immediately in a prayer for forgiveness and acceptance. The key clause, as Lewis has pointed out, is in v 7: “there is none hidden from its (the sun’s) heat.” The clause marks the transition between the two parts of the psalm and at the same time links them intimately together. Just as the sun dominates the daytime sky, so too does Torah dominate human life. And as the sun can be both welcome, in giving warmth, and terrifying in its unrelenting heat, so too the Torah can be both life-imparting, but also scorching, testing, and purifying. But neither are dispensable. There could be no life on this planet without the sun; there can be no true human life without the revealed word of God in the Torah. Craigie, P. C. (1983). Psalms 1–50 (Vol. 19, pp. 183–184). Dallas: Word, Incorporated. Prayer: Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord! Comments are closed.
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