The psalms of the holy prophet David and the meaning of reading them
To the pen of the glorious king of the Hebrews and holy prophet, the singer and glorifier of God, David, belongs the immortal work “The Psalms,” whose name comes from the Greek word “psalmos” — I sing, a song. So this name is of Greek origin.
The psaltery (the instrument of glorification and song) is the name of a stringed musical instrument. This instrument was David's inseparable companion. David, by God's inspiration, composed praise to the Lord and sang it on the harp. His voice was so striking and sweet that when an evil spirit came upon King Saul, he would listen to David's singing and become better — the evil spirit would withdraw from the king (1 Kings 16:23).
David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, tended his father's flock. He was distinguished neither by bodily stature nor by outward comeliness, but his courage and firm character are shown by the fact that more than once, alone, he killed such great beasts as the bear and the lion.
David was not frightened by the bodily strength and giant's build of the Philistine warrior. Against an enemy armed to the teeth he goes out to the field of battle with a sling. Trusting in God, he cruelly defeats his opponent and gains a brilliant victory.
From here begins David's rise in the eyes of the people, but this success made King Saul, out of envy, his mortal enemy. He flees the king's wrath; and though a convenient occasion presented itself to kill the king who had unjustly turned against him, he did not do it, because his nature is chivalrous and God-fearing.
Time passed, and King Saul is killed in one of the battles, after which David appears as king of Israel. Despite such glory he is sensitive in soul, patient and humble: “I am a worm, and not a man; a reproach of men, and scorn of the people” (Ps. 27:7), says this most glorious king. His wisdom and deep spiritual contemplation astonish the reader. There is no circumstance of life for which the psalm has no balm. It heartens the person in sorrow and despair and sheds on them a ray of hope; it warns the haughty and the proud and points them to their own helplessness; in the unbeliever it kindles faith in God. It teaches the hard-hearted pity for their neighbour; it shows us goodness as the only healer of evil; in the happy person it awakens a feeling of gratitude to God, and in the sinner repentance. The psalm is that medicine which heals every spiritual illness of a person, if we use it as we ought.
The psalm teaches us not only in plain words, but conveys its thought in many convincing ways. Its language may at first be unclear, but when we grow used to it, it is very simple and understandable to almost anyone. A child reads it with the simplicity of a fairy tale, and an old man with the wisdom of experience. The style of the psalm's narrative is terse and full of interest. It carries us now into the desert of Egypt, now into the promised land of Canaan. Its thought reaches now the lights of heaven, now the world of plants and animals. Now it goes deep into the soul of man, now it speaks of the nature of good and evil spirits. The chief subject of the psalm's song is God: without beginning, immortal, almighty, ruling all things, the Creator of all, true, a righteous judge, good, of great mercy, wise, dread, and loving mankind.
The more we look into the spiritual depth of the psalm, the clearer it becomes that its author cannot be a man alone. And so it is, for David writes the psalms by God's inspiration, which confirms to us that the psalm is the utterance of the Holy Spirit.
St John Chrysostom says: “Sooner will the sun be spent of its brightness than the psalm of its reading.” His too are the words: “Great is the profit of the teachings of the psalms, for all Holy Scripture is good and drives away demons, but not as the psalms do.” That is, in the mind of John Chrysostom, among the books of Holy Scripture the most profitable for the soul is the reading of the psalms.
In the words of St Basil the Great: “Not one of the other books glorifies God as the book of psalms does, for it is exceedingly profitable for the soul and cleanses the mind.” In his words too, the psalms curse the demons terribly and shake their devices. They are the strength of kings and nobles. They are the courage and boldness of warriors. So great a father as Basil enumerates: “Other labours too are very profitable — fasting, or bowings of the knee — but not as the reading of these psalms is.”
Many monks and nuns labour before God, many ascetics have withdrawn into the desert and left this world, but not one of them conceived of their labour without the psalms.
Blessed Augustine unfolds for us the soul-profiting pearls of the psalms. He says: the psalms are a garment of purity and joy, the giver of spiritual labour, the queller of wrath, the keeper of the commandment and the confirmation of the law, that which opens the heart to mercy and is a bridle on evil desires; humbling the proud and showing mercy to the humble, tirelessly glorifying God and a source of eternal wisdom, the interpreter of God's mysteries.
In church history we have many examples of this or that ascetic knowing the psalms by heart, while Mary of Egypt was taught the singing of the psalms by an angel of God during her time in the desert.
Many a sinner has heard the enchanting words of the psalm, has with God's help renounced their godless life and set out upon the service of God and labour according to His commandments.
