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Biblical blessings.
#8.
The blessedness of patience continuance.
pp. 38 - 40
The fourth book of the Psalms contains two blessing:--
"Blessed is the man whom Thou chasteneth, O Lord,
And teachest him out of Thy law;
That Thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity,
Until the pit be digged for the wicked" (Psa. 94: 12, 13).
"Blessed are they that keep judgment,
And he that doeth righteousness at all times" (Psa. 106: 3).
This book of the Psalms corresponds to the book of Numbers. Psa. 90: is a Psalm of
Moses; and the Rabbinical rule is that all succeeding Psalms, until a new author is
named, are from the same pen. Consequently 91: is also a Psalm of Moses; so that all
our Lord's quotations in the temptation in the wilderness were from the writings of
Moses. The succeeding Psalms, from 92: to 100:, must also be ascribed to Moses.
Psa. 90: deals with the wilderness experiences of those who, being twenty years old
and upward, perished during the forty years' wandering.
Psa. 91: gives the experience of those under twenty, who were preserved during the
forty years and led into the land of promise.
Psa. 92: is entitled, "A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day".
The theme of this fourth book of the Psalms is that of "rest"--rest lost and found,
rest desired, anticipated, celebrated, the rest that remaineth to the people of God.
Psa. 94: 13 speaks of "rest"; Psa. 95: 11 speaks of "rest". Psa. 106: rehearses the
history of the Exodus and Israel's subsequent departures from the Lord; and so balances
Psa. 90:
We are therefore prepared to find the blessings of this set of Psalms characterized by
chastening, adversity, and endurance. Turning to Psa. 94:, we note that the blessing
which we are to consider is set in a time of trouble.
The Psalm opens with a cry for vengeance, and speaks of God as the Judge of the
earth and the Rewarder of the proud. The proud seem to triumph and to say, in effect,
"The Lord shall not see". But such a conclusion is "brutish" and lacking in wisdom. He
that planted the ear and formed the eye must surely be able to hear and see. He Who
chastens the heathen knows full well the vanity of their thoughts.
It is in this setting that the beatitude of chastening is announced: "Blessed is the man
whom Thou chastenest, O Lord." Quite a number of scriptures come to mind that speak