Tiffany Burgi
NCU Box # 741
Craig Krueger
BIBL 232.01
24 April 2015
C. S. Lewis “Reflections on the Psalms”
C. S. Lewis seeks to help other amateurs understand the Psalms in his book Reflections on the Psalms. His purpose is not to examine the theology of the Psalms, for he argues that this is not their purpose; he does not even seek to sermonize them, for he argues that this is not their purpose either. The purpose of the Psalms then rests on the fact that they are poems meant to be sung in worship to God. They must be read as poems if they are to be properly understood in light of the authors’ intentions.
Lewis’ examination of the cursings—those Psalms that have a spirit of hatred or happiness in the failings of others then follows. He points to some of the most-difficult passages in Psalms to interpret. He calls these Psalms contemptible and devilish. Lewis believes these Psalms distort the truth of God, but God’s hatred for sin is yet shown somehow through them.
In chapter 5, Lewis discusses “the fair beauty of the Lord.” He argues that when the Jews discuss seeing the Lord or wanting to be with Him, they are describing being in the temple, the central aspect of their worship to God. The early Jews did not separate “beholding the Lord” and the act of worship itself. Though Gentile readers are unfamiliar with the temple and other Jewish elements of worship found in the Psalms, Christians can still glean from the Psalms’ God-centered emphasis and its pointing to the highest degree of joy found in God Himself alone.
Many people would of course rather have a Divine encyclopedia than a Divine anthology of human literature. The latter seems to be rather an "untidy and leaky vehicle," as C.S. Lewis puts it. We much prefer "something we could have tabulated and memorized and relied on like the multiplication table." But only because we wish the Bible were different, it does not mean that it is different. God does not necessarily share our opinion that a Divine encyclopedia would be best for us. As C.S. Lewis says: "There is one argument which we should beware of using for either position: God must have done what is best, this is best, therefore God has done this. For we are mortals and do not know what is best for us, and it is dangerous to prescribe what God must have done - especially when we cannot, for the life of us, see that He has after all done it."
Even Jesus, the Word that truly was perfect, does not measure up to some people's expectations of the Bible. He did not communicate a Divine encyclopedia to mankind. Jesus wrote no book. "We have only reported sayings, most of them uttered in answer to questions, shaped in some degree by their context." He preached and conversed rather than lectured, using
