The Psalms: With Notes, Critical, Explanatory, and Practical, Designed for Both Pastors and People (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Psalms: With Notes, Critical, Explanatory, and Practical, Designed for Both Pastors and People

Any just interpretation of the scriptures must assume that they were written so as to be readily understood by the average mind of their first readers. Especially must this be true of compositions prepared for the public worship of the sanctuary, to be sung or listened to by minds of the ordinary grade of culture, such as were the masses of the Hebrew worshiping congregations. It follows that these Psalms will become plain to us just so far as we are able to place ourselves in the circumstances of their authors and of the people of their age. To do this requires a good knowledge of their language; also a familiar acquaintance with their history and so far as possible, with the special history that belongs to each of these several Psalms-embraced under the questions of author; date; the occasion of its being writ ten - the facts to which it alludes; and the purpose or object had in view by the author. - These remarks will indicate the points to which special attention has been given in the preparation of these Notes. I have sought diligently to locate these several Psalms in history as one of the first and most important means of reproducing the circumstances under which they were written. A table in the Appendix presents very briefly the leading points of this external history of the Psalms. More extended discussions will be found introducing each Psalm. - I have also aimed in my Notes to represent the exact shades of thought expressed in the original Hebrew, especially when the received English version.

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