Psalms van Salomo

Die week wil ek 18 psalms van koning Salomo plaas. Daar is 18 oorlogs psalms wat hy geskryf het en dateer sowat 48 VC en geskied na aanleiding van Pompey se aksies in Palestina.

Wanneer die psalms bestudeer word besef mens dat dit nie net handel oor die fisiese oorlog wat deur Pompey gevoer word nie maar ook oor die daaglikse geestelike oorlog wat ons moet voer.

In die eerste en tweede hoofstuk sien ons net die gevaar en die verlorenheid van die situasie maar vanaf die derde hoofstuk en verdere hoofstukke begin ons te sien aan die slot van elke hoofstuk dat sy hoop en die van die regverdige op die Almagtige is wat die regverdige sal uitred te midde van die stryd.

Die sonde in ons dag is steeds dieselfde soos van ouds en net die tyd het verander maar die sondigheid van die mens is steeds dieselfde. Lees veral hoofstuk vier en die ooreenkomste is so tipies van die mens vandag.

Ek hoop julle geniet die Psalms net soveel soos ek dit weer geniet het en is dankbaar dat dit vir ons bewaar gebly het sodat ons onsself weer daaraan kan meet en besef dat ons sondig is en Vader se vergiffenis benodig sodat ons kan lewe.

THE PSALMS OF SOLOMON

THIS collection of eighteen war songs are the gift of an ancient Semitic writer. The original manuscript has perished but fortunately Greek translations have been preserved, and recently a Syriac version of the same songs has turned up and was published in English for the first time in 1909 by Dr. Rendel Harris.

The date of the writing may be established at the middle of the First Century B. C. because the theme of these songs is that of Pompey's actions in Palestine and his death in Egypt in 48 B. C.

These psalms had an important position and were widely circulated in the early Church. They are frequently referred to in the various Codexes and histories of the first few centuries of the Christian Era.

Later, they became lost through inexplicable reasons; and have only been recovered for our use after the lapse of many centuries.

Besides the literary value of the trumpet-like rhythm of these verses, we have here a chapter of stirring ancient history written by an eyewitness. Pompey comes out of the West. He uses battering-rams on the fortifications. His soldiers defile the altar. He is slain in Egypt after a fearful career. In the "righteous" of these psalms we see the Pharisees; in the "sinners" we see the Sadducees. It is an epic of a great people in the throes of a great crisis.

I

"They became insolent in their prosperity . . . ."

I cried unto the Lord when I was in distress,
  Unto God when sinners assailed.
Suddenly the alarm of war was heard before me;
  I said, He will hearken to me for I am full of righteousness.
I thought in my heart that I was full of righteousness,
  Because I was well off and had become rich in children.
Their wealth spread to the whole earth,
  And their glory unto the end of the earth.
They were exalted unto the stars;
  They said they would never fan.
But they became insolent in their prosperity,
  And they were without understanding,
Their sins were in secret,
  And even I had no knowledge of them.
Their transgressions went beyond those of the heathen before them;
  They utterly polluted the holy things of the Lord.

II.

The desecration of Jerusalem; captivity, murder, and raping. A psalm of utter despair.
When the sinner waxed proud, with a battering-ram he cast down fortified walls, p. 106
  And thou didst not restrain him.
Alien nations ascended Thine altar,
  They trampled it proudly with their sandals;
Because the sons of Jerusalem had defiled the holy things of the Lord,
  Had profaned with iniquities the offerings of God.
Therefore He said: Cast them far from Me;
    .       .       .       .       .       .

It was set at naught before God,
  It was utterly dishonoured;
The sons and the daughters were m grievous captivity,
  Sealed was their neck, branded was it among the nations.

According to their sins hath He done unto them,
  For He hath left them in the hands of them that prevailed.
He hath turned away His face from pitying them,
  Young and old and their children together;
For they had done evil one and all, in not hearkening.
  And the heavens were angry,
And the earth abhorred them;
  For no man upon it had done what they did,
And the earth recognized all
  Thy righteous judgements, O God.
They set the sons of Jerusalem to be mocked at in return for the harlots in her;
  Every wayfarer entered in in the full light of day.
They made mock with their transgressions, as they themselves were wont to do;
  In the full light of day they revealed their iniquities.
And the daughters of Jerusalem were defiled in accordance with Thy judgement,
  Because they had defiled themselves with unnatural intercourse.
I am pained in my bowels and my inward parts for these things.

And yet I will justify Thee, O God, in uprightness of heart,
  For in Thy judgements is Thy righteousness displayed, O God.
For Thou hast rendered to the sinners according to their deeds,
  Yea, according to their sins, which were very wicked.
Thou hast uncovered their sins, that Thy judgement might be manifest;
  Thou hast wiped out their memorial from the earth.
God is a righteous judge,
  And he is no respecter of persons.

For the nations reproached Jerusalem, trampling it down;
  Her beauty was dragged down from the throne of glory.
She girded on sackcloth instead of comely raiment,
  A rope was about her head instead of a crown.
She put off the glorious diadem which God had set upon her,
  In dishonour was her beauty cast upon the ground.

And I saw and entreated the Lord and said,
  Long enough, O Lord has Thine hand been heavy on Israel, in bringing the nations upon them.
For they have made sport unsparingly in wrath and fierce anger;
  And they will make an utter end, unless Thou, O Lord, rebuke them in Thy wrath.
For they have done. it not in zeal, but in lust of soul,
  Pouring out their wrath upon us with a view to rapine.
Delay not, O God, to recompense them on their heads,
  To turn the pride of the dragon into dishonour. p. 107
And I had not long to wait before God showed me the insolent one
  Slain on the mountains of Egypt,
  Esteemed of less account than the least, on land and sea;
His body, too, borne hither and thither on the billows with much insolence,
  With none to bury him, because He had rejected him with dishonour.

He reflected not that he was man,
  And reflected not on the latter end;
He said: I will be lord of land and sea;
  And he recognized not that it is God who is great,
  Mighty in His great strength.
He is king over the heavens,
  And judgeth kings and kingdoms.
It is He who setteth me up in glory,
  And bringeth down the proud to eternal destruction in dishonour,
  Because they knew Him not.

And now behold, ye princes of the earth, the judgement of the Lord,
  For a great king and righteous is He, judging all that is under heaven.
Bless God, ye that fear the Lord with wisdom,
  For the mercy of the Lord will ~e upon them that fear Him, m the Judgement;
So that He will distinguish between the righteous and the sinner,
  And recompense the sinners for ever according to their deeds;
And have mercy on the righteous, delivering him from the affliction of the sinner,
  And recompensing the sinner for what he bath done to the righteous.
For the Lord is good to them that call upon Him in patience,
  Doing according to His mercy to His pious ones,
  Establishing them at all times before Him in strength.

Blessed be the Lord for ever before His servants.

III.

Righteousness versus Sin.

Why sleepest thou, O my soul,
  And blessest not the Lord?
Sing a new song,
  Unto God who is worthy to be praised.
Sing and be wakeful against His awaking,
  For good is a psalm sung to God from a glad heart.

The righteous remember the Lord at all times,
  With thanksgiving and declaration of the righteousness of the Lord's judgements.
The righteous despiseth not the chastening of the Lord;
  His will is always before the Lord.
The righteous stumbleth and holdeth the Lord righteous:
  He falleth and looketh out for what God will do to him;
He seeketh out whence his deliverance will come.
  The steadfastness of the righteous is from God, their deliverer;
There lodgeth not in the house of the righteous sin upon sin.
  The righteous continually searcheth his house,
To remove utterly all iniquity done by him in error.
  He maketh atonement for sins of ignorance by fasting and afflicting his soul,
And the Lord counteth guiltless every pious man and his house. p. 108
  The sinner stumbleth and curseth his life
The day when he was begotten, and his mother's travail.
  He addeth sins to sins, while he liveth;
He falleth--verily grievous is his fall--and riseth no more.
  The destruction of the sinner is for ever,
And he shall not be remembered, when the righteous is visited.
  This is the portion of sinners for ever.

But they that fear the Lord shall rise to life eternal,
  And their life shall be in the light of the Lord, and shall come to an end no more.

IV.

A conversation of Solomon with the Men-pleasers.

Wherefore sittest thou, O profane man, in the council of the pious,
  Seeing that thy heart is far removed from the Lord,
  Provoking with transgressions the God of Israel?
Extravagant in speech, extravagant in outward seeming beyond all men,
  Is he that is severe of speech in condemning sinners in judgement.
And his hand is first upon him as though he acted in zeal,
  And yet he is himself guilty in respect of manifold sins and of wantonness.
His eyes are upon every woman without distinction;
  His tongue lieth when he maketh contract with an oath.
By night and in secret he sinneth as though unseen,
  With his eyes he talketh to every woman of evil compacts.
He is swift to enter every house with cheerfulness as though guileless.

Let God remove those that live in hypocrisy in the company of the pious,
  Even the life of such an one with corruption of his flesh and penury.
Let God reveal the deeds of the men-pleasers,
  The deeds of such an one with laughter and derision;
That the pious may count righteous the judgement of their God,
  When sinners are removed from before the righteous,
  Even the man-pleaser who uttereth law guilefully.
And their eyes are fixed upon any man's house that is still secure,
  That they may, like the Serpent, destroy the wisdom of . . . with words of transgressors,
His words are deceitful that he may accomplish his wicked desire.
 
He never ceaseth from scattering families as though they were orphans,
  Yea, he layeth waste a house on account of his lawless desire.
He deceiveth with words, saying, There is none that seeth, or judgeth.
He fills one house with lawlessness,
  And then his eyes are fixed upon the next house,
  To destroy it with words that give wing to desire.
Yet with all these his soul like Sheol, is not sated.

Let his portion, O Lord, be dishonoured before thee;
  Let him go forth groaning, and come home cursed.
Let his life be spent in anguish, and penury, and want, O Lord; p. 109
  Let his sleep be beset with pains and his awaking with perplexities.
Let sleep be withdrawn from his eyelids at night;
  Let him fail dishonourably in every work of his hands.
Let him come home empty-handed to his house,
  And his house be void of everything wherewith he could sate his appetite.
Let his old age be spent in childless loneliness until his removal by death.

Let the flesh of the men-pleasers be rent by wild beasts,
  And let the bones of the lawless lie dishonoured in the sight of the sun.
Let ravens peck out the eyes of the hypocrites.
For they have laid waste many houses of men, in dishonour,
  And scattered them in their lust;
And they have not remembered God,
  Nor feared God in all these things;
  But they have provoked God's anger and vexed Him.
May He remove them from off the earth,
  Because with deceit they beguiled the souls of the flawless.

Blessed are they that fear the Lord in their flawlessness;
  The Lord shall deliver them from guileful men and sinners,
  And deliver us from every stumbling-block of the lawless (men).
Let God destroy them that insolently work all unrighteousness,
  For a great and mighty judge is the Lord our God in righteousness.

Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon all them that love Thee.