Psalms

Light Unto my past.

I shall light a candle of understanding in Vine heart which shall not be

put out.

Light unto my path an exploration of the books of the Old Testament

from these books through the ages has come our concept of man born in the

image of God and made to have dominion over all things. The Bible

is the record of man's understanding of the role of the divine human life.

We know examined that record. When it was written. How it was

preserved and why it ranks first in our literature.

Light unto my path produced by radio station WAGA of the

University of Wisconsin under a grant from the National Educational Television and Radio

Center in cooperation with the National Association of educational broadcasters.

These programs are planned and prepared by Dr. Menachem Mansoor chairman of the

department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Professor

Mansoor.

It sounds from the Latin. Some of those are from the Greek

mass meaning to pull to play upon a string instrument

a sacred song or point. I'm reading of course from the dictionary

definition of the word Psalms and we begin with this to

take us back to the lonely hill side and the nameless singer of long ago

who first plucked his string and sang his song.

Who was he. A shepherd and Nomad. A fugitive in the hills.

And where was his home. Somewhere in the Near East. We cannot

see his face nor can we know his name. But we know his

sang in all these lands of the ancient Fertile Crescent and he

sang out of human necessity. There is something in the human spirit

which cries out in all ages and in all nations and cultures. A

cry which takes the form of song. We know there was a

song on the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris River when the

Babylonians enthroned their gods at the festival of the new year. We

also have their Him To The Moon Goddess Ishtar the beautiful

forerunner of Venus or Aphrodite.

This was sung about sixteen hundred B.C. praise the

goddess the most awesome of the goddesses let one revere the

mistress of the People's the greatest of the praise

Ishtar the most awesome of the goddesses let one revere the

queen of women the greatest of the G-G the

Goddess. With her there is counsel the fate of everything she

holds in her hand.

More ancient hymns have come to us from Egypt from the 14th

century B.C. when a strange Pharaoh mounted the throne and

established his god the sun god as supreme in

Egypt at daybreak.

Then arises on the horizon. When's our shyness as the

eighth time by day thou drivers to wave the darkness and give us dye

rays all the world. They do their work whatever

flies and the lights they live when thou hast risen for them

the ships are sailing north and south as well.

For every way is open at DI appearance the fish in the River Dart

before the eye face that I raise are in the midst of the great green

sea.

Language structure beauty all these poems from

Babylon Canaan and Egypt have these elements but the

Hebrew Psalms have one quality that makes an enormous difference. They are

man speaking to God with the voice of the heart. Other

nations sang eloquently but none equal the Hebrew language of the

heart the pure expression of man's deepest feeling.

It has been said David is the first of the poets of feeling

the king of lyricists never has the thought of a poet

risen so high and pure Never has the soul open before man and

God in language so tender so sympathetic and moving

all the secret cries of the human heart have found a voice through his life.

This is the opinion of the French poet and critic Lamartine member of the

French Academy in the nineteenth century. But

many many centuries before him the songs were recognized as a great

treasure among the biblical books. It led the way in making the bible one

of the cornerstones of literature in the world. When

Christianity emerged from Palestine and began to spread westward the

psalter was its hymn book and of all the Old Testament works.

Christianity is the greatest inspiration the early church who made

constant use of it. It was the first book which the

early church put into the hands of our young converts and primarily

religious teaching. And no man could be admitted to the highest order

of the clergy unless you knew the psalter by heart. It was used

for singing in the first assemblies for Christian worship and it has ever

continued to be used sometimes as the sole book of praise and

always as the best and most enduring of all.

Not only has the official church and its clergy use the sands since the beginning of

Christianity but also lay men in every walk of life

have felt a special devotion to this book of the Bible and its deep influence

on their personal lives. Soldiers explorers

statesmen and philosophers the Great of the earth and the humble have

found religious inspiration and personal strength in the reading of the Psalms.

It is perhaps correct to say that through Christianity the Psalms have become the

most influential book in all of world literature.

Of course it's deeply cherished in the faith from which it sprang and the

life and thought of the people of Israel. The Psalms have exerted a profound

influence through the ages. The Jewish prayer book the

first text for purely spiritual worship and the history of religion is

almost an echo of the book of sounds many sounds were

simply embodied in the service. To this day the regular synagogue

services consist largely of sounds or Psalm verses.

Praise the Lord Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise Him in

His mighty firmament praise him for his mighty deeds

praise him according to his exceeding greatness. Praise him with trumpet

sound. Praise him with lute and harp praise Him with timbrel and

dance. Praise him with strings and pipe praise Him with sounding

cymbals praise him with love clashing symbols let

everything that breathes Praise the Lord Praise the Lord.

This is the great theme of the Psalms sung out shouted

out cried with almost too much intensity. Praise the

Lord Ware and his sanctuary and his mighty firmament.

Praise the Lord. Why. Because of his mighty deeds and

ineffable majesty and how with trumpet

lute and harp strings and pipe with sounding

cymbals.

Let everything that breathe this praise the Lord. This is the great blazing

doxology of all time. So man's life is

rooted in praise in obedience first and foremost to the commandment

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God but man's

life is also a struggle against despair. He walks in

valleys as well as on the hilltops his stricken in darkness as

well as blasted in the light. His song of praise is sometimes choked

by grief his of billions to God diverted by evil

to man and his human need in daily living. This sounds speak in a tender

and vividly personal way here perhaps lies the their most

universal appeal in it is presented the anatomy

of all parts of the human soul in it as Highness is

our collected sunrise and sunset birth and death promise and

fulfillment. The whole drama of humanity.

How did this drama come to be written. One hundred of the total hundred

fifty sounds are ascribed to definite authors by far the

greatest contributor being David. Some are even related to

events of his life but undoubtedly David as the sweet singer

of Israel is on a par with the wisdom of Solomon and Moses Law.

He established the standard for music before the altar and his

traditions were loved by the people of Israel.

How did the Psalms enter the lives of these people. We can imagine them at work

in their vineyards upon the mountains of scenario. One of the three great

annual festivals draws near the voice of the watchman rings

out over the valley. Arise and let us go up to Zion

to the Lord our God and the people answer with a song.

We heard of it for us all. We found it in the fields of the world.

We will go into his tabernacle.

We will worship at his footstool.

Excited crowds thronged the highways going to Jerusalem for the festival.

They are glad of heart though it is a long journey difficult for the

older people. Exciting for the young. Over the rocky hill

sides they climb toward the holy city singing as they come.

At first perhaps a sort of voice begins.

I lift up my eyes from whence cometh my

help.

The words are familiar. The Pilgrims break forth in joyous

Ansar.

My health comes from the Lord who may have heard.

He will not let your foot be moved he who hears you will not

slumber. Behold he who keeps Israel will neither

slumber nor sleep.

Their words seem to grow out of the living experience of the pilgrims

out of their hot and dusty land out of their uncertainties and

dangers of their existence.

The whole earth is your keeper The Lord is your shade on your right

hand. The sun shall not smite you high day nor the

night the Lord will keep you from all evil. He

will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your

coming in from this time forth for more.

Now the pilgrims are in sight of the Eternal City Jerusalem.

It lies amid its circling hills the Crown City of years of

which the Temple is the central jewel. This is not Solomon's

temple for the Babylonians had destroyed that but by five hundred

and fifteen B.C. a second temple was built to be the dwelling place of God

and the bulwark of Jewish life.

Here the pious Pilgrim yearns to go to be confronted by the

presence of the Living God. Humble and exalted by the holy

splendor.

One thing I have asked of the Lord that will I seek after

that time in the house of the Lord all the days of my life

to be whole.

The beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple

entering the gates the pilgrims here and mighty and the

multitude keeping festival and singing as the procession starts

up the hill.

And the fullness thereof.

The world goes before he has fallen

upon the seas and established it on the earth

the minstrels a company with the lyre and the sound of melody.

The priests in their vestments come forward with trumpets and the Levites with

cymbals to praise the Lord and they sing

responsibly.

And all the people shout with a great shout the question

is asked Who shall we say of the Lord

and who shall stand in his holy place.

He who has clean hands I love you. Who does

not live up to his old Throughout his flaws and does not swear

deceitfully. He will receive a blessing from the Lord and the

nation from the God of His salvation. Such is the

generation of those who seek Him who seek the face of the

god to go their procession stands before the temple

gates to hear the challenge.

Who is the King of Glory. Lol strong and mighty.

The Lord might be an Idol Live up your head so case

I may be lifted up owing to the horrors that the King of Glory made

holy The Lord of hosts. He is looking glory.

The gates are open and the procession enters the temple walls.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord. All the lines serve the

Lord with gladness come into his presence which singing

knows the Lord his God.

It is He that made us and we are yours we are his

people and the sheep of his pastor.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise

give thanks to him bless his name for the Lord is

good.

It is said fans love him. Your Aura.

And his faithfulness to all generation silence

falls over the choirs over the multitude of pilgrims over the

city of the everlasting gods then a priest

exhorts the people to worship.

Come let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the

rock of our salvation. Let us come into His presence with

thanksgiving let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of

praise like the sea the roar and all that

the world and those who quietly let the floods clap their

hands sing for joy together before the Lord

for he comes to rule the earth. He will judge the world with

righteousness and the peoples with equity extol the

Lord our God. Worship at his footstool. Who is

he.

Oh also this is real life for all Also back from

lust all over all sleep on Bless the Lord.

You that fear the Lord bless us all.

Their worship service continues to worship us in the temple of

Jerusalem is the heart and soul of the life of Israel. A

devotional experience which seems almost incredible when we realize

it took place more than twenty four hundred years ago.

We think of those times as harsh primitive and insensitive by modern

cultural standards. But these were the feelings of those

shepherds programs as they stood in that temple so long ago.

I was glad when they said to me Let us go to the house of the Lord.

Our feet have been standing within your gates o Jerusalem

Jerusalem built as a city which is bound firmly together to which the

tribes go up the tribes of the Lord this was decreed for Israel

to give thanks to the name of the Lord their thrones for

judgment were set the thrones of the House of David.

In the memory of these people too is the bitter exile of

fierce and Babylon harsh years of separation from their native

land from the temple. From all that not rushed and strengthened their

spiritual life.

Yet that life endured and found expression even in the face of

all the offensive paganism around them by the waters of

Babylon there we sat down and wept when

we remembered Zion on the willows there we hung up

our lives for their our captors required of our

songs and our tormentors mirth

saying sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land

if I forget the old Jerusalem let my right and forget her

cunning let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.

If I do not remember you if I do not set

Jerusalem above my highest joy.

Our hypothetical story of a festival and the pilgrims worship

has perhaps indicated One great aspect of the Psalms the

expression of the devotional heart.

The actual worship of God in his temple. But this does

not at all suggest the wide range of emotions found in the

Psalms for each paragraph. Returning to his village

or to his flocks and the lonely hills to each man. This Psalm

spoke giving words to his own experience.

Truly God is good to the upright. To those who are pure in heart.

But as for me my feet had almost stumbled my steps had

well-nigh slipped for I was envious of the arrogant when I

saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they had no paying news. Their

bodies are sound and sleek. They are not in trouble

as other men are. They scoff and speak with malice

loftily they threaten oppression.

They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue struck us through the earth.

There are good people who turn and praise them and find no fault in them.

All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in

innocense for all day long. I have been

stricken and chastened every morning

but when I thought how to understand this it seemed to

me a wearisome task until I went into the

sanctuary of God. Then I perceived there

and truly thou didst set then many

slippery places and I'll just make them fall to

ruin.

And the sorry missed long ago on his barren patch of earth

beneath the lower circling stars of the eastern sky expressed man's

deepest understanding of himself and his dignity derived from

God.

When I look at the heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which the has to

stablished What is man that are mindful

of him and the Son of Man that are dust care for him.

Yet though has made him a little less than God and dust crowned him with

glory and honor that has given him dominion over the works of the

hands that has put all things under his feet.

Oh Lord our Lord how majestic is the name in all the

earth.

All the range of human feeling the kaleidoscope of life

itself is expressed in the Psalms. We cannot explore

them all on this sample here and there.

Whither shall I go from via spirit or whither shall life

flee from thy presence. If I ascend up into heaven

if I make my bed in hell behold dark if

I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea

then shall the hand lead me

before I had said in his heart There is no God.

Have those who work Evil know understanding who eat up my people as

they eat bread and do not call upon God. They they

are in great terror or.

Any terror was such as has not been as the heart longs for

flowing streams so long as my soul for the your god might

have been my food day and night while men say to me continually

Where is your god. As with a deadly wound in my body my

adversaries taunt me while they say to me continually Where

is your god.

There is a river whose streams make glad the City of God.

God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. The

nations rage the kingdoms taught her. He utters his

voice and the earth melts. The Lord of

hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge.

My God my God why hast thou forsaken me.

Why art thou so far from helping me. They parted

my garments among them and cast lots upon my vest sure

but be not far from me Oh Lord O

my strength haste the to help me.

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show is

his and the work day unto day. Utter it speech

and night and tonight show with knowledge the statutes

of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart more to

be desired are they than go. Yea that much fine

gold sweeter Also than honey and the honeycomb.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable

in by sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer.

We say these samplings are familiar these and many

more a living expression of spiritual life today as well

as in centuries past. Speaking for the heart of man in all

places and all times. Yet no sampling

of the sounds can encompass the book itself nor substitute

for sensitive reader. Reading the entire book for himself

we can only conclude with that song which is the most famous

even in the atomic age of this industrialized planet. Men

find in the twenty third Psalm. Man's highest aspiration.

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not one.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads

me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul. He lead with me in the

paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Here you go I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear

no evil for thou art with me.

Die rocked and I stand.

They comfort me now prepares to table before me

in the presence of mine enemies.

That wasn't just my head with oil my cup runneth

over Surely goodness and mercy shall

follow me all the days of my life. And I

shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Like unto my path. Radio programs exploring the old testaments.

The series is planned prepared and narrated by Dr Menachem Mansoor chairman of the

department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Script

writing by Jay Helen Stanley. Music by Dun vaguely. Production by Carl Schmidt.

Light unto my path is produced by radio station w h of the University of

Wisconsin under a grant from the National Educational Television and Radio Center

in cooperation with the National Association of educational broadcasters.

This is the NEA E.B. Radio Network.