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And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives (Matt. 26:30).
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me (Luke 24:42).
It is a simple truth, but one which is often forgotten or overlooked, that Jesus in His earthly ministry sang the very Psalms that speak so clearly of Him.
William David Ralston in his Talks on Psalmody in the Matthews Family (1877) reminds us of this truth.
When Jesus was here upon earth he sang these Scripture psalms. We find him speaking of them as the Book of Psalms, and we read that he, in company with his disciples engaged in singing, and we are driven to the conclusion, that the songs they sung were these psalms of David, because we have not the least evidence that any other sacred songs were then in existence. We know that the psalms were then sung in God's worship, and we have no evidence whatever, that any other sacred songs were sung, or were in existence. In Matth. xxvi. 30, we read, "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." Expositors of the Bible tell us that this hymn was a Jewish hallel which is a portion of the psalms, namely, the cxiii and cxviii inclusive. I am clearly convinced that if our blessed Savior sung any songs when here on earth, they were the psalms, and surely we ought to prize them, because he sang them. If they were good enough for him, ought they not to be good enough for us?
