The pressure of this problem of Providence is supposed to have driven the Psalmists to pierce the veil and to descry beyond the grave a compensation for the inequalities of this life, and passages are frequently adduced to prove this (Ps. xvi. 10, 11; xvii. 15; xlix., 15; lxxiii. 23–26). The current belief of Israel embraced an existence after death, but only in the form of unconscious and shadowy life in the under world, Sheol, and this is most explicitly expressed in many of the Psalms (vi. 5; xxx. 9; xlix. 14; lxxxviii. 10–12). What then is the significance of the expressions which seem to point to something more? An accurate translation and a correct exegesis dispose of nearly all of these passages as in any sense explicit evidence for a definite belief in immortality; but there remains a witness of much greater value. It is through communion with God, and because of the significance with which it invests conscious life that the Psalmists are led to feel that their experience can never be interrupted by death. To those who know the reality of personal communion with God, this has more cogency than any other argument for immortality. The experience of communion throws a new value on personality and gives a deeper meaning to this life, and in face of this discovery death becomes nothing more than a passing shadow. While therefore the application of Ps. xvi. 10 to the resurrection of Christ is foreign to the methods of modern interpretation, that passage does show the real significance of the resurrection of Christ; for it is the person of Christ in communion with God that has brought life and immortality to light. The Psalmist shared this vital experience whether he was able to infer immortality of the soul from it or not.

But the glory of the Psalms is found in their realisation of the presence of God. This expresses itself in the vivid consciousness of a present and helpful Personality rather than in intellectual concepts or theological definitions. The transcendence of God receives full appreciation, but it is never in terms of spatial distance, but in an inward realisation of His moral excellence (Ps. xxxvi. 5–7). To the discerning soul the presence of God is inescapable and is absolutely omnipresent (Ps. cxxxix. 7–10). Right alongside of the recognition of the might of God and His holiness, there is found the sense of His fatherly pity, His gentleness, and His understanding of us (Ps. ciii. 13; xviii. 35).

It would be altogether mistaken to look in the Psalms for that conception of Nature which has become one of the greatest gains of modern culture. To the Psalmist Nature has no meaning apart from God, and it is merely the sphere of His activity. But the beginnings of a poetic delight in things is felt almost on every page (Ps. xxiii. 2; lv. 6; lxv. 8, 9; xciii. 3; cvii. 24; cx. 3b; cxxiv. 5; cxxx. 6; cxxxix. 18b); while the so-called Nature Psalms (viii., xix., xxix., lxv., xciii., civ., cxlviii.) yield a conception of creation and of the relation of God to the world that has not sufficiently shaped theology, and as a consequence has made it possible for us to think of a conflict between religion and science.

The consciousness of God as of a present living Personality is the great contribution of Hebrew religion, and of this the Psalms are the supreme expression. All conception of a merely unconscious, all-pervading essence is transcended by the intense experience of communion; He is "an ever present help in time of trouble."

The Hebrew Psalmist may be a child beside the Hindu sage or the Greek philosopher, but no one has ever sounded the human heart as he. The experience he has bequeathed to the world is that of a God who is infinite, mighty and all-present, and yet One who can be known in the experiences of temporal life and felt in the limitations of the human mind; One who shepherds and guides men, and who can take the place of human friend or nearest relative. This is in the direct line with Christ's consciousness of the Father. Without this we may have a mysticism that must perforce remain silent, or a philosophy that loses itself in the endeavour to reconcile the antinomies of thought, but without this we cannot have a religion that can satisfy the craving of the human heart for an infinite, holy, and helping Companion.

[THE RELIGION OF THE WISE]

In determining from internal evidence whether Job is later or earlier than Proverbs, the following comparisons should be examined:—

Job v. 17 and Prov. iii. 11.
" xi. 8 " " ix. 18.
" xv. 7 " " viii. 25.
" xviii. 5,6 } " { " xiii. 9.
" xxi. 17 } " { " xxiv. 20.
" xxii. 28 " " iv. 18.
" xxviii. 18 " " iii. 15; viii. 11.
" xxviii. 28 " " i. 7.

In these examples, it might be noted, it is the friends of Job who quote the Proverbs; except in Job xxi. 17, where Job questions the Proverb already quoted by Bildad, rather than quotes it with approval; and in the case of xxviii. 18, 28, the whole chapter is regarded by critics as suspicious, on the ground that the sentiments here expressed by Job are in contradiction to his general attitude. These passages would seem somewhat to confirm the idea that the Book of Job is intended to be a criticism of the theory of Providence found in Proverbs.

* * * * *

On the suggestion that Ecclesiastes owes its disjointed character to some disarrangement of the original sheets of the MS., Bickell proposes to read the book in the following order:—

(1) i. 1–ii. 11. (2) v. 9–vi. 7. (3) iii. 9–iv. 8. (4) ii. 12–iii. 8. (5) viii. 6–ix. 3. (6) ix. 11–x. 1. (7) vi. 8–vii. 22. (8) iv. 9–v. 8. (9) x. 16–xi. 6 (10) vii. 23–viii. 5. (11) x. 2–x. 15. (12) ix. 4–10. (13) xi. 7–xii. 8. Bickell would regard the Appendix, xii. 9–14, as a later addition.

Job v. 17 and Prov.iii. 11.
"xi. 8 " "ix. 18.
"xv. 7 " "viii. 25.
"xviii. 5,6}"{"xiii. 9.
"xxi. 17}"{"xxiv. 20.
"xxii. 28 " "iv. 18.
"xxviii. 18 " "iii. 15; viii. 11.
"xxviii. 28 " "i. 7.