They range all the way from the sublime in goodness to the sublime in wickedness and revenge.They contain the oldest and the most beautiful deions of nature of which we have been able to find a written record.Whatever truly religious people have ever felt or dreamed or prayed for is contained in many of those sublime lines which speak of hope and consolation.The Psalms cover almost the entire period of Jewish national life.Some were written during the days of the kingdom.Others date back only to the great exile.As time went on,they became a regular part of all religious celebrations.As such,they have been adopted by our Christian Church.They have inspired most of the great poets of later ages.They have been translated into every known tongue.They have been set to music by the greatest of our western composers.Their sombre dignity reveals itself even when we are ignorant of the language in which they are read.
Whatever the future of many of the historical and prophetic books of the Old Testament,the Psalms will survive as long as man believes that beauty (in whatever form or guise)is something holy and venerable.
The same cannot be said of Proverbs.
This is a book without any vision or passion.
It contains just what the name implies,the wise sayings of several generations of shrewd old men and old women.
Every nation,since the beginning of time,has possessed such a collection of proverbs.Our own republic,based solidly upon the common-sense of our independent pioneers,has given the world a large number of such proverbs.
The wisdom of Confucius,the great teacher of the Chinese,is almost entirely composed of such mildly tolerant observations upon the foolishness of man and upon the patience of the gods.And just as to-day,we ascribe the kindly sayings of two entire generations to Abraham Lincoln,so the Jews of the Persian period,remembering Solomon as the greatest of their national heroes,proclaimed him the author of all this homely wisdom.
As a matter of fact,most of the Proverbs were written four hundred years after the death of that great monarch.This,of course,is of very small importance.The Proverbs would be just as good if they had been collected only yesterday.They show us what the man in the street thought and they teach us more about the ancient Jewish point of view than a dozen historical or prophetic works.
The next Chapter,called Ecclesiastes,or “the Preacher,”is a purely religious volume.
It is a tired but a very human book.
It delves deeply into the problems of life and faith.
It reflects the weary and rather personal wisdom of the famous Jewish physician who is said to be its author.
What is the use,so he asks,of those seventy years of toil and anxiety,which represent the average human life?The end of all things is the grave.
The good die.
The wicked die.
They all die.
What does it all mean?The righteous suffer persecution.The ungodly gather riches.Is there no reason in this human misery?
“Vanity of vanities,all is vanity.”And so on for twelve whole Chapters.
The Jews,like all Oriental people,were a moody race.
They dwelt upon the highest peaks of joy or miserably they descended into a deepest abyss of gloom.
Their literature was their music.
When they were sad and despondent,they listened to Ecclesiastes—which has the despondent beauty of an Etude by Chopin.
When they were happy,they read the jubilant Psalms which are reflected so well in the opening chords of Haydn's “Ode to Creation.”
Man changes,but his soul remains the same.If we are wise,we too shall find much consolation in these books of poetry.What we suffer,others have suffered before us and still others will suffer in the years that are to come.
What has given new hope to those who died a thousand years ago may some day give fresh courage to those who are not yet born.
Man changes,but his grief and his pleasure remain as they were in the days of Abraham and Jacob.
The last one of the miscellaneous works of the Old Testament is a very curious book.It is called the Song of Songs.This does not mean that it is really a collection of songs.The repetition of the word is used to indicate a superlative of literary perfection.It means,“This is the most beautiful song of all songs,”just as we praise the happiest day of our lives as “the day of days.”
The Song of Songs is in reality a very old love poem.Of course,King Solomon (as seems almost inevitable in view of his tremendous reputation)is said to be the author.At any rate,he is the traditional hero of this great lyric of love.
The heroine is a shepherdess.
The King has seen her and has taken her away from her home in the village of Shunem.
He has given her an honoured place in his harem.
He tries to gain her favour.
But she,the simple Shulamite,remains faithful to her shepherd lover.She has been installed in a lovely apartment in the heart of the royal palace.But she thinks only of the happy days when she and her own man wandered across the hills and tended their flocks.
She repeats old bits of their conversation.At night,she dreams of the strength and comfort of his arms.Finally (as in all such stories)the true lovers are united and all ends happily.
The Song of Songs is not a religious book,but it is the first evidence of something new and very fine which had at last come into the world.
In the beginning of time,woman had been a beast of burden.
She belonged to the man who captured her.
She worked his fields.She looked after his cattle.She bore his children.She cooked for him.She made him comfortable.And in return,she received the morsels which fell from his table.
But all this is beginning to change.
Woman is coming into her own.
She is recognised as the equal of man.
She is his companion.
She inspires his love and she receives it.
Upon this firm foundation of mutual respect and affection,a new world was soon to be built.