members of the sentence do not seem to express the same thought, but would, if some word were slightly altered. But perhaps, it might be true to say, that this repetition of the thought is most close when the deepest feelings are uttered, whether of sorrow, suffering, or of peace. It occurs alike in Ps. vi. xxii. xxiii. xxv. lxxxviii. lxxxix. xcii. xcvi., in the deep penitence of Ps. li., the trusting overwhelmed sorrow of Ps. cii., or the exulting joyousness of Ps. ciii., or Ps. cxlvii.-cl. But, besides this general law, verses or parts of verses are directly repeated in the Psalms and in Isaiah, as the expression of a continued abiding feeling, and a means of promoting it in those who use them. No one can have read Ps. xlii. 5. 11, and xliii. 5, without feeling how much is added by the three-fold repetition of the self-expostulation and firm resolve, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." And this because it is expressive of a truth, that the soul after having been lifted up to God, still sinks down again through its natural heaviness. Twice the Psalmist lifts it up out of oppressive heaviness; the third time amid rising hope. The tenderness of the Psalms, whereby God teaches us amid heavy disquiet to turn to Him, would have been much 9 C. ix. 12. 17. 21. x. 4. "For all this His anger is not turned away, but His Hand is stretched out still." diminished had not the same tender words been thrice repeated. So, again, in that affecting prayer for the Church, the Vine which God had planted and nourished, and then allowed to be wasted, all will have felt the threefold appeal to God, "Turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts, show the light of Thy Countenance, and we shall be whole," which is varied only in the titles given to God, expressive of increasing hope, "O God," "O God of hosts," "O Lord God of Hosts'." Yet the like repetition of joyous words, equally give vent to exulting joy, as in Ps. lxvii. 3. 5, "Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee;" and in the twofold, "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge 2." 66 Who has not felt, at least on the morning of the Ascension, that triumphant burst ?— "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors: It is the Lord strong and mighty, Even the Lord mighty in battle." And then, who has not followed upwards that repetition, as though he heard the echo of that first marvelling question and response, sounding from Heaven to Heaven, as our Lord ascended in our 1 Ps. lxxx. 3. 7. 19. 2 Ps. xlvi. 7. 11. Human Nature amid the admiration and awe of the Heavenly Hosts, to the Right Hand of the Father, until the wondrous tale of the condescension of our God had encircled the whole compass of spiritual being, now made one in Him,— "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors: Even the Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory." Again, another Ascension Psalm is surely the more triumphant, because it begins and ends with the same words of praise, "O Lord our Governor, how excellent is Thy Name in all the world." And an Easter Psalm (so much does this repetition occur in joyous Psalms) closes the two halves of prayer and of deliverance with the same verse, "Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth." In other cases the two verses correspond with one another; but there is some slight variation in the words, without impairing the effect of the whole. 5 The most systematic Psalm, however, of this sort, 3 Ps. viii. 1. 9. Ps. lvii. 6. 12. Ps. xlix. 12. 20 (where the variation is but of a single letter, " ") and Ps. xcix. 5. 9, where the first and last clause is the same, with a remarkable cadence, in the Hebrew. Again, in Ps. cxiv. 5. 6, the Apostrophe to the sea, the Jordan, the mountains, the hills, is much more emphatic, because exactly the same words are used as in ver. 3, 4. is Psalm cxxxvi.; but still not as an insulated case. It contains the very words of Ps. cxxxv. 4. 10-12, but separates them by its own peculiar "burden," "for His mercy endureth for ever." And none, probably, have heard that twenty-sevenfold hymn of praise, "for His mercy endureth for ever," brought out by music (with which the Psalms were sung in the temple-service), without feeling the force of a few simple words, repeating again and again, unvaryingly, the unvarying love of God. And these very words, which form its burden, "for His mercy endureth for ever," must have entered very deeply into all Hebrew Psalmody. They are the characteristic of the temple music which David appointed. They form the close of the Psalm delivered by David, when he brought back the ark; he chose the singers to "give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever"." When Solomon brought up the ark, it was "when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord"." It again was the praise when the fire came down to consume the burnt-offering; "they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying; For He is Jehosha good: for His mercy endureth for ever phat, going out to battle with the great multitude of the Ammonites, "appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever "." After the restoration from the captivity, "they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel'." All must have observed, how the Psalter, which began with the calm declaration of the blessedness of the man, who keepeth from evil and delighteth in the law of God, becomes more joyous at its close', until the last Psalm but one, begins with the sevenfold3, "Praise ye the Lord, Praise Him;" and the last with its twelvefold, "Praise ye the Lord, Praise Him," sounds like the endless song of the blessed, and our earthly Psalter dies away in the sound, "Let all spirit praise the Lord;" not flesh any longer, but "spirit," when we shall be made like unto His Glorious Body, and all shall be spiritual and filled with the fullness of God. But again, that twelvefold "Praise ye the Lord" must have dwelt on many hearts, who unknowingly speak against the repetition of the same words. This has been carried yet further by sacred music. 8 2 Chron. vii. 3. 1 Ezra iii. 11. 9 2 Chron. xx. 21. 2 Ps. cxliv.-cl. 3 See Bible Version. |