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 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 
 
 BOOK or PSALMS. 
 
 REV. ANDREW A. BONAR, 
 
 AUTUOR OF THE MEMOIR OF THE REV, 1{. M. M'CHEYNE, ETC. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JAMES NISBET & CO., BERNERS STREET. 
 
KPINBUKOH : CRINTKI) BV JUHN GBEIG AXD i 
 
■■■,, A." AA JCJ * J -^ ^ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Few of the Books of Scripture are richer than the 
 Book of Psalms, that " Hymn-hook for all times," as 
 it has been called. " There/' says Luther, '^ you look 
 right down into the heart of saints, and behold all man- 
 ner of joys and joyous thoughts toward God and his 
 love springing lustily into life ! Again, you look into 
 the heart of saints as into death and hell ! How 
 gloomy and dark their mournful visions of God." An- 
 other has said, " The Psalms teach me to prize a 
 much tried life." And Tholuck (who gives these 
 quotations) remarks, " Songs which, like the Psalms, 
 have stood the test of three thousand years, contain a 
 germ for eternity." 
 
 The Psalms are for all ages alike — not more for 
 David than for us. Even as the cry, '' If is finished .'" 
 though first heard by the ear of John and the women 
 from Galilee, who stood at the cross, was not meant 
 for them more truly than for us ; so with the Psalms 
 
 The writers were prepared by God, through personal 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 and public circumstances, for breathing forth appro- 
 priately the mind of Him who used them. Irving, 
 in his preface to Hortie on the Psalms^ has spoken some 
 most valuable truths on this subject. He remarks 
 that the Psalms, like the prophetic writings, " arose hy 
 the suggestion of some condition of the Church, present 
 in the days of the prophets, as the particular case. 
 But passing beyond this in time, and passing beyond 
 it in aggravation of every circumstance, they give as 
 it were a consecutive glance of all the like cases and 
 kindred passages in the history of the Church, and 
 bring out the general law of God's providence and grace 
 in the present, and in all the future parallel cases." 
 The Psalmist, however, was not to be an automaton, 
 nor his readers mere lookers on or listeners to what 
 the automaton gives forth. '^ Therefore, God moulded 
 his man to his purpose, and cast him into the conditions 
 that suited his ends. And still he was a man, acted on 
 by course of nature, and manifest to the people as a 
 fellow-man, through whom, indeed, they heard soul- 
 stirring truths, uttered with ear-piercing words, but 
 suited to their case, and thrust in their way, and 
 spoken to their feelings, and pressed on their con- 
 sciences, and riveted there by the most mighty sanc- 
 tions of life and death, present and eternal." " And 
 asTHE Word which was in the beginnmg took not 
 voice, nor intelligence, but flesh, human flesh, and the 
 fulness of the Godhead was manifested bodily ; so 
 when that same Word came to the fathers by the pro- 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 phets, and discovered a part of his fulness, it was 
 through their flesh, or their humanity— that is, through 
 their present condition of spirit, and mind, and body, 
 and outward estate." 
 
 It was for this end that God led David the round of 
 all human conditions, that he might catch the spirit 
 proper to every one, and utter it according to the 
 truth. '' He allowed him not to curtail his being by 
 treading the round of one function ; but by a variety 
 of functions he cultivated his whole being, and filled 
 his soul with wisdom and feeling. He found him ob- 
 jects of every affection. He brought him up in the 
 sheep-pastures, that the groundwork of his character 
 might be laid through simple and universal forms of 
 feeling. He took him to the camp, that he might be 
 filled with nobleness of soul, and ideas of glory. He 
 placed him in the palace, that he might be filled with 
 ideas of majesty and sovereign might. He carried 
 him to the wilderness and placed him in solitudes, 
 thiit his soul might dwell alone in the sublime concep- 
 tion of God and his mighty works. And he kept him 
 there for long years, with only one step between him 
 and death, that he might be well schooled to trust and 
 depend upon the providence of God. And in none of 
 these various conditions and vocations of life did He 
 take from him His Holy Spirit. His trials were hut 
 the tuning of the instrument with loMcli the Spirit miglit 
 express the various melodies which He designed to utter 
 htj him for the consolation and edification. ofupirituAd men. 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 John the Baj)tist, having to be used for rough work, 
 
 was trained in the desert Every one hath 
 
 been disciplined hy the providence of God, as well as 
 furnished in the fountains of his being, for that particu- 
 lar work for which the Spirit of God designed him." 
 
 The literal and historical sense is in the highest de- 
 gree profitable ; as Calvin, and Venema, and Matthew 
 Henry, and others, have shewn. But our principle is, 
 that having once found the literal sense, the exact mean- 
 ing of the terms, and the primary application of the 
 Psalm, we are then to ask what the Holy Spirit in- 
 tended to teach in all ages by this formula. Bishop 
 Home speaks of such study as being like a traveller's 
 ascent to an eminence, " neither unfruitful nor un- 
 pleasant," whence he gets an extensive prospect lying 
 beyond, and stretching away to the far distance. 
 Bishop Horsley quotes 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, '' The /Spirit of 
 Jehovah sp>ake hy me, and His word was in my tongue" 
 — and adds, " If Da^dd be allowed to have had any 
 knowledge of the true subject of his own compositions, 
 that subject was nothing in his own life, but something 
 put into his mind by the Holy Spirit of God." This is 
 so far true ; but at the same time let us hold (as stated 
 above) that what the Spirit put into David's mind, or the 
 mind of any other writer, was done not abruptly, but in 
 connection with the Avriter's position. Even as our 
 Lord's sayings for all ages were not uttered at random 
 in any circumstances, but were always connected natu- 
 rally with some present passing event or incident. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 ''Jesus answered and said/' is true of them all: he 
 Strang his pearls on the thread of passing occurrences 
 or conversations. And even so is it with the Psalms. 
 They take their rise in things local and temporary, 
 but they pass onward from the present into the ages 
 to come. 
 
 Now, in the early ages, men full of the thoughts of 
 Christ could never read the Psalms without being re- 
 minded of their Lord. They probably had no system 
 or fixed theory as to all the Psalms referring to Christ ; 
 but still, unthinkingly we might say, they found their 
 thoughts wandering to their Lord, as the one Person 
 in whom these breathings, these praises, these desires, 
 these hopes, these deep feelings, found their only true 
 and full realization. Hence Augustine (Psa. Iviii.) said 
 to his hearers, as he expounded to them this book, 
 that " the voice of Christ and his Church was well- 
 nigh the only voice to be heard in the Psalms" — " Vix 
 est ut in Psahnis inveniamus vocem yiisi Christi et JEc- 
 desiae ;" and on another occasion (Psa. xliii.), " Every- 
 where diffused throughout is that man whose Head is 
 above, and whose members are below. We ought to 
 recognise his voice in all the Psalms, either waking up 
 the psaltery or uttering the deep groan — rejoicing in 
 hope, or heaving sighs over present realities." Ter- 
 tuUian (quoted by Home) says, '^ Omnes pocne Psalnd 
 Christi personam sustinent." 
 
 We set out with laying down no other principle of 
 interpretation in regard to the speakers in these sacred 
 
songs, than this one, — viz., we must consider this book 
 as " not of private interpretation,'' (2 Peter i. 20). Its ut- 
 terances did not originate with the authors themselves. 
 It is one of those writings which " holy men of God 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ;" and 
 therefore it is decidedly erroneous to suppose, that be- 
 cause David, or any other, was the author, that there- 
 fore nothing is spoken of, or sung, but matters in which 
 they were mainly or primarily concerned. '^ Not unto 
 tJiemselves, hut unto us they did minister," is true here 
 also, (1 Pet. i. 12). We cannot err far, therefore, if 
 with Amjrrauld we keep ^' our left eye on David, while 
 we have our right eye full on Christ." In some in- 
 stances, the Head exclusively speaks, or is spoken of ; 
 and in a few others the Members alone ; but generally, 
 the strain is such in feeling and matter, that the Head 
 and Members together can use the harp and utter the 
 song. And so important are these holy songs, that 
 nearly fifty of them are referred to in the New Testa- 
 ment, and applied to Christ. 
 
 Hengstenberg has evidently felt, in spite of his dread 
 of admitting Messiah into the Psalms too often, that 
 one individual was very generally present to the writer's 
 mind. He is constrained to admit that reference is 
 made to some ideal perfect one, or some ideal right- 
 eous one, who is the standard.* Unwittingly he thus 
 
 * Another German writer, Raehr, treats the Cherubim somewhat in the same 
 manner. He says thut the cherub is " the image of the creature in its highest 
 form — an ideal creature." What is this ideal of perfection in the creature, but 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 grants the fact, that none can read those songs of Zion 
 without being led to think upon some one individual 
 as the ever-recurring theme. And as the Scriptures 
 do not speak in the style of philosophy, we may safely 
 say, that the reference in all these cases is not to any 
 abstract ideal person, but to the real living One, in 
 whom all perfections meet, and against whom all the 
 plots and malice of hell have ever been directed — 
 Messiah, the Righteous One. 
 
 There is in almost every one of all these Psalms 
 something that fitted them for the use of the past 
 generations of the Church, and something that fits 
 them admirably for the use of the Church now ; while 
 also there is diffused throughout a hint for the future. 
 There is, we might say, a past, a present, and a future 
 element.* Few of them can be said to have no pro- 
 phetic reference, no reference to generations or events 
 yet to arise, — a circumstance that gives them a claim 
 upon the careful study of every one who searches into 
 the prophetic records, in addition to the manifold 
 other claims which they possess. 
 
 just the Redeemed Church ? And why are men reluctant to leave the abstrac- 
 tions of philosophy for the realities of revelation ? 
 
 * Dr AUix does not hesitate to apply them very specially to the Church in 
 these latter days. Thus he says of the first Psalm, " It containeth both the de- 
 scription of the happiness which the faithful Christians who apply themselves to 
 their duty shall enjoy, as also those who with patience wait for the promises 
 made unto them when Jesus Christ will come to reign upon the whole earth ; 
 and the misery of those who are of Antichrist's side, and who laugh at his 
 
The substance of these Notes (for they are no more 
 than notes) appeared originally in the '' Quarterly 
 Journal of Proi^liecy." They are meant to help those 
 who delight to search the Scriptures. There are also 
 gleanings from many fields here and there presented 
 to the reader ; for the Author has consulted writers on 
 the Psalms of all different shades of opinion, even 
 where he simply states the conclusion at which he has 
 arrived as to the true sense of the passage. 
 
CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 
 
 BOOK OF PSALMS, 
 
 PSALM I. 
 
 1 BLESSED is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. 
 Nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 
 
 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord ; — and in his law doth he medi- 
 
 tate day and night. 
 
 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 
 That bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; 
 
 His leaf also shall not wither; — and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 
 
 4 The ungodly are not so : but are like the chaiF which the wind driveth 
 
 away. 
 
 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. 
 Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 
 
 6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous : — but the way of the un- 
 
 godly shall perish. 
 
 The first sound of the harp of the sweet singer of Israel* 
 might well be thought strange in a world lying in wickedness. 
 It celebrates the present happiness of that man who has fellow- 
 ship with God, and no fellowship with the ungodly. Behold 
 the man ! his eye arrested, not by the things of earth, but 
 by what has been sent down from heaven — " the law of the 
 Lord/' He has found the " river of living water ;" he is like a 
 
 * David's name is prefixed to seventy-three Psalms ; but he is understood to 
 be the penman of thirtij others that bear no title. 
 
 A 
 
Historical 
 allusion. 
 
 2 PSALM 1. — THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE. 
 
 tree — like some palm or pomegranate-tree,* — laden with fruit, 
 or like that tree of life in Rev. xxii. 2, that yieldeth its fruit 
 every month, and yieldeth fruit of all variety. " Every bud of 
 it grows into a grain," says the Targunf, on the words " all 
 that he doeth shall prosper," taking n?i^^ as it is used in Gen. 
 vii. 11, 12. " He is the very contrast to the barren fig-tree, 
 withered by the curse," says a modern interpreter. 
 
 Perhaps this comparison to the tree and the streams should 
 carry us back to Eden, and suggest the state of man holy and 
 happy there. Redeemed man rises up again to Eden-blessed- 
 ness. Is it the fact of its occurrence in this Psalm, or is it 
 simply the expressiveness of the similitude, that has led to its 
 repetition in Jer. xvii. 8 ? 
 
 But, besides, we are carried back to Joshua by the language 
 used regarding the man's prosperity. Joshua's career was one 
 of uninterrupted prosperity, except in one single case, when he 
 forgot to consult the Lord ; and the Lord's words to him were 
 these : — 
 
 " This book of the laiu shall not depart out of thy mouth, 
 But thou shalt meditate therein day and nighty 
 
 That thou niayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; 
 For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, 
 And then thou shalt have good success." — (Josh. i. 8.) 
 
 Perhaps this reference to the days of Joshua made this 
 Psalm the more appropriate as an introduction to the whole 
 book. It connected these ancient daj^s with other generations. 
 It sang of the same Lord, acting toward all men on the same 
 principles. It sang of a race who had come to possess the 
 land of Canaan, who acted on the holy maxims that guided 
 Joshua when he took possession — a race of men guided by the 
 revealed will of Jehovah. 
 Propiietic The ungodly are not thus prosperous, — they are not as 
 
 " trees by the river side." They are as " chaff," ready to be 
 driven away in the day of wrath, and unable to resist the 
 slightest breath of Jehovah's displeasure (Dan. ii. 35 ; Matt. 
 
 * Stanley (Pal. and Sinai, p. 145) thinks the o?eanc?e»* referred to. It grows 
 common and abundant by river-sides in the East. But the oleander does not 
 bear fruit. 
 
PSALM I. — THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE. 3 
 
 iii. 12, the " day of decision"). Hence they cannot " stand." 
 Even as in Rev. vi. 17, the cry of the affrighted world — 
 kings, captains, rich men, mighty men, bond, free — is, " The 
 great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to 
 stand ?" For the " Lord knoweth the way of the righteous." 
 Our Lord may have referred to this passage in his memorable 
 expression so often used (Matt. vii. 23 ; Matt. xxv. 1 2 ; Luke 
 xiii. 27), " / 7iever knew you — / know you not." O the 
 happiness, then, of the godly ! happy now, and still happier 
 in that day which now hastens on, when the Husbandman 
 shall separate " the chaff " from the wheat, and the kingdoms 
 of earth be broken -in pieces " like the chaff of the summer 
 threshing-floor," and " the wind shall carry them away." O 
 the folly of those who " sit in the seat of the scorners," and ask 
 in these last days (2 Pet. iii. 3), " Where is the promise of his 
 coming ?" 
 
 We have noticed that our Lord seems to quote one of the used by cinist, 
 
 ^ the Head. 
 
 expressions of this Psalm ; and let us see how we may suppose 
 it all read by him in the days of his flesh. We know He read 
 it ; his delight was in the law of the Lord ; and often lias he 
 quoted the book of Psalms. As he read, it would be natural to 
 his human soul to appropriate the blessedness pronounced on 
 the godly ; for he knew and felt himself to be indeed The godly, 
 who " had not walked in the counsels of the ungodly, nor stood 
 in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful." He 
 felt himself able to say at all times, " Thy law is within my 
 heart ! " Was He not the true palm-tree ? Was He not the 
 true pomegranate-tree? Can we help thinking on Him as 
 alone realizing the description in this Psalm ? The members 
 of his mystical Body, in their measure, aim at this holy walk ; 
 but it is only in him that they see it perfectly exemplified. 
 " His leaf never luithered ;" " he did no sin, neither was guile 
 found in his mouth" (1 Peter, ii, 22) ; " he yielded his fruit in 
 its season," obeying his mother Mary, and being found about 
 his Father's business ; going up to the feast " when his hour 
 was come," and suffering, when the time appointed came ; 
 everything " in season." And " all he did prospered ;" he 
 finished the work given him to do (John xvii. 4), and because 
 
4 PSALM II. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE S CERTAINTY 
 
 of his completed work, " therefore God hath highly exalted 
 him," (Philip, ii. 8, 9). 
 
 We who are his members seek to realize all this in our 
 measure. We seek that ever3rthing in us should be to the 
 glory of God — heart, words, actions — all that may adorn the 
 gospel, as well as all that is directly holy. Having the im- 
 puted righteousness of this Saviour, we earnestly long to have 
 his holiness imparted too ; though conscious that He alone 
 comes up to the picture drawn here so beautifully. In either 
 view, we may inscribe as the title of this Psalm, 
 
 The blessed 'path of the Righteous One. 
 
 PSALM II. 
 
 1 WHY do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing ? 
 
 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, 
 Against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 
 
 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 
 
 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : — the Lord shall have them In 
 
 derision. 
 
 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore 
 
 displeasure. 
 
 6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 
 
 7 I will declare the decree : — the Lord hath said unto me, 
 Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee. 
 
 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, 
 And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
 
 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; 
 
 Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. 
 
 10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings : be insti-ucted, 3'e judges of the earth. 
 
 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 
 
 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, 
 
 And ye perish from the way, — when his wrath is kindled but a little. 
 Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. 
 
 We have a quotation from this Psalm in Acts xiii. 33, where 
 recent criticism reads, "As it is written in the _/irsi Psalm." 
 It is not unlikely that it had at one time been considered as 
 a second part of Psalm i., instead of standing as a separate 
 hymn of praise. But, at all events, it is an appropriate 
 
OF EXALTATION TO THE THRONE. 
 
 advance upon the preceding, inasmuch as it places before 
 us the Kighteous One in a new position. The view taken 
 of Messiah by the world and by Jehovah is the theme ; our 
 eye is fixed on the purpose of Jehovah, triumphantly ac- 
 complished in Messiah's glory, in spite of all opposition. Nor 
 let us forget the quotation of ver. 1, 2, in Acts iv. 23, which 
 countenances us in asserting that it speaks of the fierce 
 enmity of the world to the Righteous One from the period of 
 his First coming onward to his Second appearing. The nations, 
 or Gentiles (JI3''i^), have raged, and the tribes of Israel (D^b^^7j 
 have agreed in hostility to the Lord's Messiah, ever since the 
 day when Jew and Gentile met at Calvary to kill the Prince 
 of life ; and their rage is not evaporated, but shall be mani- 
 fested more fiercely still when the beast and the false prophet 
 lead on their hosts to Armageddon. It is quoted with refer- 
 ence to that day in Rev. ii. 27, xi. 18 ; and xix. 15, quotes 
 " the rod of iron," from ver. 9. 
 
 Perhaps the expression used so frequently in the epistles. Referred to i 
 "fear and trembling," is taken from ver. 11. It is used in 
 exhortations to servants (Ephes. vi. 5) regarding duty ; in 
 Philip, ii. 13, to all believers engaged in striving for holiness ; 
 while in 1 Corinth, ii. 3, Paul describes his state of mind in 
 his ministry at Corinth by these terms. May there not be a 
 reference in all these, and similar passages, to our Psalm ? It 
 is as if it had been said, Remember our instructions for serv- 
 ing our King Messiah, in prospect of his glorious coming and 
 kingdom — " Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trem- 
 bling." 
 
 Even the Jews are pretty nearly agreed that no other than 
 Messiah is the theme of the sweet singer of Israel here. 
 " Anointed" is considered as decisive — it is Messiah, Christ 
 By some readers, however, the introduction of Christ by the 
 name of " Son," in ver. 7, and then in ver. 12, (where the rarer 
 term "Q occurs, probably because poetical and lofty, as in 
 Prov. xxxi. 2,) has been thought abrupt. But, abrupt as it 
 may seem, there is no doubt hanging over the application. 
 Messiah is " my Son," and so exclusively pre-eminent in this, 
 that Jehovah, pointing to him, calls on all men to honour 
 
 Referred to in 
 the Gospel. 
 
PSALM II. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE S CERTAINTY 
 
 the Sou even as they honour the Father — " Kiss the Son." 
 Had not our Lord this very passage in his eye when he spoke 
 these words (John v. 23) : " The Father hath committed all 
 judgment to the Son, that all men should honour the Son 
 even as they honour the Father ?" And it is thus we can 
 understand how the term "Father," as applied to Godhead, 
 broke upon the ear of Israel without exciting surprise, when 
 J ohn the Baptist (John i. 18), spoke of the ''only begotten 
 Son who is in the bosom of the Father." Son and Father 
 are co-relative terms, and would be so understood by John. 
 
 Whether, with Hengstenberg and most other interpreters, 
 we render ver. 12, "A little while and his wrath shall be 
 kindled," or retain the common version, there is, no doubt, a 
 reference to this verse in Rev. vi. 16, 17 : " The wrath of the 
 Lamb, . . . and who shall be able to stand ? " And if the for- 
 mer rendering be adopted, as we believe it ought, then there 
 is a tacit reference to this passage in the New Testament ex- 
 pression, Rev. xxii. 7, " I come quickly." It is as if he said, 
 Come quickly to that Saviour for eternal life ; for lo ! he com- 
 eth quickly to deal with all who obey not the Gospel. Opposi- 
 tion ends in ruin ; submission brings a blessedness, the fulness 
 of which shall be known only on the day of wrath. 
 
 But let us examine the contents of this rich and lofty 
 Psalm. The plan of it is simple, but very grand. Messiah, 
 on the morning when he broke the bands of death, is con- 
 templating our world lying in wickedness. He beholds a 
 sea of raging hatred and hostility dashing its angry waves on 
 the throne of God and his anointed One.* He hears their 
 scornful words, " Let us break their bands asunder," and 
 marvels at their infatuation. For, lo ! in the heavens above, 
 Jehovah sits in long-suffering calmness, till their stubborn and 
 long-lasting enmity compels him to arise against them. He 
 "troubles them" (ver. 5) as he did the Egyptians at the Red 
 Sea, and referring to their j^haughty w^ords, declares (ver. 6) 
 " They on their part so speak, and I {\^t^) in spite of them, 
 have set my king in Zion." They may try to make Rome, or 
 
 * Wc might notice a reference to I Sam. ii. 10, the original source of 
 " anoinler/," if not of " khio," also in connexion with " anointed," 
 
OF EXALTATION TO THE THRONE. 7 
 
 any other city, their metropolis, and may set up a head to 
 themselves, but Jehovah will set up his King, and make Zion 
 — the platform of Jerusalem — his metropolis, as certainly as he 
 set David on the throne and made Zion his capital. From that 
 city of the greater than David has gone and shall again go forth 
 the law. Yes, says Messiah, I will proclaim Jehovah's resolu- 
 tion or decree ; He has said to me, "Thou art my Son." At 
 his resurrection (Rom. i. 3) he was saluted as " Son," because 
 appearing then in his own proper array ; no more hid in humi- 
 liation. He had been Son from eternity, but having dived 
 under our ocean of sin and misery, his sonship seemed ob- 
 scured till he emerged at his resurrection on the third day. 
 (Acts xiii. 33.) And even so again, when he appears in glory 
 at his coming, investing his own with their resurrection-dress 
 (their proper clothing as adopted sons), the long-unseen Son of 
 God shall be saluted as " My Son " by the Father as he places 
 him on his visible throne. At what time that manifestation 
 shall occur depends on his own request (ver. 8) — a request which 
 he shall prefer whenever his purposes are ripe — and then He 
 arises to shake terribly the earth. Does the reader not recog- 
 nise in ver. 10, the voice of the tender, long-suffering, compas- 
 sionate Saviour? It resembles his mode of expostulation in 
 Proverbs i. 23, in prospect of that " laugh" which is the ex- 
 treme opposite of pity, and which is referred to in Prov, i. 26, as 
 used by himself against his unyielding foes, even as it is here 
 by the Father. (Ver. 4.) Come, then, great and small, fall 
 upon his neck, and be reconciled now. Be well pleased with 
 him with whom the Father is well pleased ; " Kiss the Son," — 
 this is saving faith. For, " Yet a little while and his wrath 
 shall be kindled." (Ver. 1 2.) Behold, he comes quickly ! 
 Blessed are all they who put their trust in him. 
 
 It is not, then, to be forgotten that the time when Messiah 
 utters these strains is supposed to be the time of his resurrec- 
 tion. This seems to be declared to us in Acts xiii. 33. He had 
 felt the united assault of earth and hell, but had proved all to be 
 vain ; for He that sat in heaven had gloriously raised him from 
 the dead, and his enemies had sunk to the ground as dead men. 
 We might imagine this Psalm poured forth by him as he stood 
 
8 PSALM II. — THE CERTAINTY OF EXALTATION. 
 
 in Joseph's garden, beholding the empty sepulchre on the one 
 hand, and the glory at the right hand of the Father on the 
 other. It is thus we easily understand the words in ver. 7 : 
 " This day have I begotten thee ;" the Father declaring him 
 his " only begotten," by raising him from the dead, and doing 
 this as a pledge of his farther exaltation, — ^placing him (ver. 8) 
 in the position of Intercessor, ere he shall arise to return as 
 acknowledged Conqueror and King. 
 
 thTprecetog'*^ Glauciug back now upon Psalm i., in connection with this 
 more lofty and triumphant song, we see how appropriately the 
 book of Israel's sacred songs has begun. It has sketched to 
 us the calm, holy path of the righteous, and then the final re- 
 sults in the day of victory, when the Anointed shall have put 
 down all enemies, and the way of the ungodly shall have 
 perished. We shall meet with these topics continually recur- 
 ring in the course of the book ; it was good, then, to present an 
 epitome at the outset. 
 
 Glancing, also, at particular expressions in both psalms, we 
 see, at the beginning and end, links of connection with the pre- 
 ceding, in such expressions as ver. 1, "meditating a vain thing," 
 in contrast to the meditating on the law (Psa. i. 3), while " the 
 way of the ungodly shall perish," in Psalm i. 8, is brought to 
 mind when we read in ver. 12 of "their perishing from the 
 way." It carries our thoughts to Joshua xxiii. 16. as Psa. i. 3 
 did to Joshua i. 8. And does not the Baptist get his expression, 
 " chaff he shall burn with unquenchable fire" (Matt. iii. 12) by 
 joining Psa. i. 4, and ii. 12 ? 
 
 Used by Christ. Our Lord, whcu ou earth, might read this Psalm as his his- 
 tory, — the Righteous One, who ever meditated on the law of 
 the Lord, and kept aloof from the vain meditations of the hea- 
 then, opposed by men who could not submit to the restraints 
 of holiness, but in spite of all, exalted at length to honour. For 
 here we have Messiah, (the head of every one who seeks Jeho- 
 vah's face), exhibited in his majesty, and in full prospect of 
 final triumph. The subject of the whole may thus be said to 
 be the assertion of " the righteous One's claims to the throne." 
 Some one has proposed to entitle it rather, " The eternal de- 
 cree," in reference to ver. 6, of Avhich the Psalm might be 
 
PSALM III.— THE RIGHTEOUS ONE S SAFETY AMID FOES. 9 
 
 spoken of as the development. But inasmuch as the Eternal 
 decree forms only one topic, while the burden is Messiah him- 
 self directly, it is undoubtedly more exact and descriptive to 
 give as its title, 
 The certainty of the Righteous One's exaltation to the throne. 
 
 PSALM III. 
 
 A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. 
 
 1 Lord, how are they increased that trouble me ! many are they'that rise 
 
 up against me. 
 
 2 Many there be which say of ray soul, There is no help for him in God. 
 
 Selah. 
 
 3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me ; my glory, and the lifter up of 
 
 mine head. 
 
 4 I cried unto the Lord with my voice, — and he heard me out of his holy 
 
 hill. Selah. 
 
 5 I laid me down and slept ; — I awaked ; for the Lord sustained me. 
 
 6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, — that have set themselves 
 
 against me round about. 
 
 7 Arise, O Lord ; save me, O my God ! 
 
 For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek-bone : 
 Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 
 
 8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord : — thy blessing is upon thy people. 
 
 Selah. 
 
 There is strong evidence for the genuineness of the titles of the The title. 
 Psalms ; they occur in all the Hebrew Manuscripts.* This 
 Psalm was written by David, " when he fled from Absalom his 
 son." The Holy Ghost may have used these circumstances in 
 David's lot, as an appropriate occasion on which to dictate 
 such a hymn of hopeful confidence in the Lord. 
 
 The connection with Psalm ii., is natural, whether we look The connection 
 to David's case when he penned it, or to the more general cir- ceWng!^^'''' 
 cumstances referred to throughout. When the men of Israel 
 refused David as "King in Zion," (God's chosen type of a greater 
 King), it was natural for him to raise the cry to the Lord, 
 
 * There are only tJdrtij-three of the Psalms that have no title at nil, and these 
 are called by the Jews, " Orphan Psalms." 
 
A Psalm for 
 all ages. 
 
 1 PSALM III. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE'S SAFETY AMID FOES. 
 
 " Lord, how are they increased that trouble me." (Compare 
 
 2 Sam. XV. 12.) And not less natural is it to place this cry 
 next to the closing verses of Psalm ii., a Psalm wherein we 
 were told how men despised His call and plotted against Je- 
 hovah and his Christ. Hengstenberg has remarked : — " It is 
 certainly not to be regarded as an accident that Psalms the 
 third and fourth follow immediately the first and second. They, 
 as well as Psalm second, are occupied with a revolt against 
 the Lord's. Anointed. And when, in ver. 8, the enemy is 
 spoken of as ' smitten on the cheek-hone, and his teeth broken,' 
 there is the same tone of conscious safety, mingled with con- 
 tempt of their efforts, as in the ' laugh' of Psalm ii." 
 
 It is a Psalm that may be found as suitable and needful in 
 the latter days, as when David wrote it. When waves of sor- 
 row and calamity are dashing over the ship of the Church, it 
 may borrow from this Psalm that ground of hope which long 
 ago Jonah borrowed from it in his strange trial, " Salvation is 
 of the Lord," (Jonah ii. 9.) " Affliction and desertion are 
 two very different things, but often confounded by the world," 
 and confounded too " by the fearful imaginations of our own 
 desponding hearts, and the suggestions of our adversary." — 
 Home. 
 Head''^ *^^ This seems to be a morning hymn (ver. 5.) And so Horsley 
 
 hesitates not to call it " A prayer of Messiah, in the character 
 of a Priest, coming at an early hour to prepare the altar of 
 burnt-offering for the morning sacrifice." Every member of 
 Christ may use it ; and we can easily see how the Head him- 
 self could adopt it as his own. We feel as if sympathy were 
 more sure to us, when we know that the Lord Jesus himself 
 once was in circumstances when such a morning hymn ex- 
 pressed his state and feelings ; for now every believer can say, 
 " My Head once used this Psalm ; and while I use its strains, 
 his human heart will recall the day of his humiliation, when 
 himself was comforted thereby." 
 
 Who more truly than he could say of his foes, "How many !" 
 since it was " the world" that hated him. (John vii. 7.) On 
 the cross, did they not upbraid him with the taunt, " There is 
 no salvation for him in God,"' (ver. 2), when they cast in his 
 
PSALM III. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's SAFETY AMID FOES. 1 1 
 
 teeth, " If he will have him" (Matt, xxvii. 43) ; saying it not 
 only of him, but to him ? But (as in Psalm xxii.,) he cried 
 unceasingly in the Father's ear the more his foes reviled — " I 
 cry — he heareth." Often he retired to the Mount of Olives, 
 and either amid its olives or at Bethany, "lay down and slept," 
 after enduring the contradiction of sinners all day long ; yes, 
 even after such a day as that whereon they took up stones 
 to stone him. He foresaw the ruin of these foes, (ver. 7), 
 when the Lord should arise.* What a victory ! and all the 
 glory of it belonging to the Lord, and all the blessing to his 
 people ! (ver. 8.) 
 
 A believer can take up every clause, and sing it all in sym- 
 pathy with his Head ; hated by the same world that hated 
 him ; loved and kept by the same Father that lifted up his 
 head ; heard and answered and sustained as he was, and enter- 
 ing on with him final victory in the latter day. It was fitting 
 to put the arresting mark, " Sdah," at ver. 2, where the foes 
 are spoken of ; at ver. 4, where the cry and its answer are 
 declared ; and at ver. 8, where the final result appears. ^'Selah," 
 whatever be its etymology,-}- marks a proper place to pause and 
 ponder. (Hengstenberg.) Here each Selah stops us at a 
 scene in which there is spread before our eyes sufficient for the 
 time ; first, the host of foes, as far as eye can reach ; next, 
 the one suppliant crying into the ears of the Lord of hosts ; 
 and, lastly, that one suppliant's secure repose, certain of pre- 
 sent safety and future triumph. May we not, then, justly en- 
 title this Psalm, 
 
 The Righteous One's safety amid foes ? 
 
 Used by the 
 Members. 
 
 The three 
 Selahs, v. 2, 4, 8. 
 
 * The English Prayer-Book translation is, " Up, Lord, and help me ;" re- 
 minding us ot the sudden unexpected rise of the Guards at Waterloo, after 
 long and patient waiting for the seasonable moment. 
 
 t Gesenius' [Gramm. § 93,] thinks that in pj'pD the n_ is motion towards, 
 q. d. ad silentium ; and in that case the root is related to H /SS^j ^'^ ^*^ still. 
 
Keginoth. 
 
 12 PSALM IV. — THE GODLY ONE S CHIEF GOOD. 
 
 PSALM IV. 
 
 To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness . 
 Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress ; 
 Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer. 
 
 2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame ? 
 How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing ? Selah. 
 
 3 But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: 
 The Lord will hear when I call unto him. 
 
 4 Stand in awe and sin not : 
 
 Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. 
 
 5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, — and put your trust in the Lord. 
 
 6 There be many that say. Who will shew us any good ? 
 Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. 
 
 7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart. 
 
 More than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. 
 
 8 I will both lay me down in peace and sleep : 
 For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. 
 
 There is no solid reason for doubting the genuineness of those 
 titles, or inscriptions, that are prefixed to many of the Psalms. 
 They are as ancient as the text of the Psalms themselves. The 
 ancient versions prove that they are no modern addition. If, 
 then, we may put confidence in them, why is it that so fre- 
 quently these fragmentary marks are so obscure ? Every one 
 feels their obscurity ; for to this day no criticism has succeeded 
 in satisfactorily shewing the true sense of " On Neginoth," and 
 similar terms. Musical instruments are almost always re- 
 ferred to in these terms ; but these joyful instruments of holy 
 service have been lost in the ruin of Israel's temple. It is some- 
 what, however, for us to know that the times of the true David 
 and Solomon were typified, as to their manifold streams of joy, 
 by the " Neginoth," " Sheminith," and similar forms of the 
 harp and psaltery. 
 
 The Psalm before us, describing the chief good, was one sung 
 on Zion, in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple, on 
 the " Neginoth,'" some stringed instrument, played upon by the 
 stroke of the fingers, or of the musician's plectrum. Its theme 
 calls for a joyous instrument. 
 
PSALM IV — THE GODLY ONE'S CHIEF GOOD. 13 
 
 It is the first Psalm we have found inscribed, " To the Chief The chief 
 
 . musician. 
 
 Musician," and there is an interesting propriety in this benig 
 the first so inscribed. For, its subject being throughout Jehovah 
 as the chief good — Israel's true blessedness — what more fitting 
 than to give it to be sung in the midst of all the people by 
 Asaph, the leader of the sacred music in the days of David ? 
 (1 Chron. xvi. 5.)* May we not suppose that the " Chief 
 Musician" occupied a high place in the typical economy? 
 Was he not used by the Lord to represent to Israel Him who 
 is to lead the praise of the great congregation ? (Psalm xxii. 
 25.) When he sang such deeply melancholy Psalms as the 
 twenty-second was the scene not fitted to bring into the minds 
 of God's people the idea of the suffering Saviour, passing from 
 the unutterable groanings to the joy unspeakable ? 
 
 This Psalm takes a survey of earth's best enjoyments — ^the 
 sons of men revelling in the plenty of corn and wine, the The scope of 
 
 => r .; ^ ' _ the Psalm. 
 
 joy of harvest and of vintage. Their mirth is loud, theii 
 mockery of less mirthful ones than themselves is keen, vanity 
 is their pursuit, false joys their fascinations. To such a gay 
 multitude our Psalm represents One approaching who has 
 come from weeping in secret places. (Ver. 1 .) Entering their 
 circle, this Righteous One calls upon them to consider their 
 ways : " ye sons of men," is his cry, " how long will ye 
 turn my glory into shame ? How long will ye love vanity 
 and seek after lies ?"f When will you leave broken cis- 
 terns ? When will you turn from the golden calf back to 
 the God of Israel, your glory ? A pause ensues — " Selah" 
 marks it. It is the silence of one who waits for the effect of 
 his expostulation ; but there is no response, and he lifts up his 
 
 * There are fifty-three Psalms which hears this inscription, " To the Chief 
 Musician." The word HiiiQ never means " Conqueror," as some have wished 
 to render it. It means always " standing over," as a foreman, and is used 
 only of the arrangements made in regard to the Levites in their courses. (See 
 Hengstenherg, who confesses this by Hab. iii. 19.) 
 
 f It has been observed, that, for the sake of all ages, the psalmist is led by 
 the Holy Ghost to use temas such as "^?o>-y," a term which describes what- 
 ever man values ; " lies," which may include under it every degree and species 
 of deception ; and " vanity," expressive of all those earthly, unsatisfying objects 
 sought after by rich and poor. 
 
14 PSALM IV. — THE GODLY ONE'S CHIEF GOOD. 
 
 voice again, and leaves his testimony among them : " But know 
 the Lord hath set apart the godly for himself." The Lord 
 keeps the godly ; each such man is like the witnesses of Revela- 
 tion xi. 6 : " These have power to shut heaven, and to smite the 
 earth ;" for " The Lord heareth when I call upon him." Well 
 then may the sons of men give ear. " Stand in awe — consider 
 — flee to the atoning sacrifices appointed by the God of m.y 
 righteousness" (ver. 1). Having so done stay yourselves on 
 Him ; for I testify that the experience of all who have tried 
 this plan of happiness has been such that they can answer the 
 question, " Who can shew us any good ?" hj an upward look to 
 Jehovah, "Lord, lift thou on us the light of thy countenance ! " 
 Yes, (says the speaker to his God, to whom he had cast his 
 upward glance, and by whose look of love he seems riveted,) 
 no sooner did my prayer ascend than the answer came ; no 
 sooner did I look to Him than the sun broke through the dark 
 clouds. "Thou hast put more gladness in my heart than 
 in the time when their corn and wine abound. I lay me 
 down and sleep in peace; for thou, Lord, (giving me the 
 full portion of Israel dwelling in their land of corn and wine, 
 with its heavens dropping dew, Deut. xxxiii. 28,) mahest me to 
 dwell in safety, all alone !" 
 
 There is an undoubted allusion in the last verse, in the 
 niDi'? '^'^2b to the blessing of Moses in Deut. xxxiii. 28, where 
 Israel's final destiny is declared to be " dwelling "11^ ntOS, in 
 undisturbed security alone/' and needing none to help or bless 
 them but Jehovah. In this Psalm the godly one anticipates 
 that blessedness as yet to be his j)ortion, and so we see him fix- 
 ing his eye on the future, even while at j)resent his gladness 
 is greater far than all earth can yield. The vanity of the sons 
 of men is all the more clearly seen in the additional light of the 
 coming glory, 
 jj^ed by the ^^Q gau easily understand how any true child of God can 
 use these words — they so exactly delineate his state of feel- 
 ing both toward his God, and toward his fellow-men. But in 
 no lips could they be so appropriate as in His "who spake 
 as never man spake." Indeed, is there not throughout a 
 
PSALM IV. — THE GODLY ONE's CHIEF GOOD. 1 .5 
 
 tone like that of " Wisdom," in Proverbs i. and viii. ? The 
 party addressed is the " sons of men," as there ; and there 
 is the same expostulatory and anxious voice, " Hoiv long, ye 
 simple ones ? " (i. 22). "Hear, for I will speak of excellent 
 things," (viii. 6). We might imagine every syllable of this 
 precious Psalm used by our Master some evening, when about 
 to leave the Temple for the day, and retiring to his wonted 
 rest at Bethany, (ver. 8), after another fruitless expostulation 
 with the men of Israel. And we may read it still as the very 
 utterance of his heart, longing over man, and delighting in God. 
 But further, not only is this the utterance of the Head, it 
 is also the language of one of his members in full sympathy 
 with him in holy feeling. This is a Psalm with which the 
 righteous may make their dwellings resound, morning and 
 evening, as they cast a sad look over a world that rejects God's 
 grace. They may sing it while they cling more and more 
 every day to Jehovah, as their all-sufficient heritage, now and 
 in the age to come. They may sing it, too, in the happy con- 
 fidence of faith and hope, when the evening of this world's day 
 is coming, and may then fall asleep in the certainty of what 
 shall greet their eyes on the Resurrection morning — 
 Sleeping embosomed in his grace 
 'Till morning-shadows flee. 
 
 If, therefore, we were required to state the substance of this 
 Psalm in a few words, we should scarcely err in describing its 
 theme as 
 
 The Godly One's Chief Good. 
 
 PSALM V. 
 
 To the Chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of Davicl. 
 
 1 Give ear to my words, OLord ; consider my meditation. 
 
 2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God ; — for unto thee 
 
 will I pray. 
 
 3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord ; 
 
 In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. 
 
 4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness ; neither shall 
 
 evil dwell with thee. 
 
 5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight ; thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 
 
 Used by the 
 membcis. 
 
16 
 
 PSALM V. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE S THOUGHTS. 
 
 6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing : 
 
 The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. 
 
 7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy : 
 And iu thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. 
 
 8 Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies ; 
 Make thy way straight before my face. 
 
 9 For thei-e is no faithfulness in their mouth ; their inward part is very 
 
 wickedness ; 
 Their throat is an open sepulchre ; they flatter with their tongue. 
 
 10 Destroy thou them, O God ; let them fall by their own counsels ; 
 
 Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions ; — for they have re- 
 belled against thee. 
 
 11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice : 
 
 Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them : 
 Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. 
 
 12 For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous ; 
 
 With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield. 
 
 Proplietic re- 
 ference. 
 
 Apparent im- 
 precations on 
 foes. 
 
 Another song of the sweet singer of Israel, handed over to 
 the " Chief Musician," who was to fit it to be publicly sung 
 " on the NeMloth." This was some one of the many musical 
 instruments now unknown, lost to us ever since Israel hung 
 their harp on the willows, and had their joy turned into mourn- 
 ing * — though generally understood to be a wind instrument, 
 or pipe, of some sort. 
 
 There is in it a prophetic element toward the close. In ver. 
 10, 11, we have something that closely resembles the Apoca- 
 lyptic scene in Revelation xix. 1, 3, 4. The psalmist so fully 
 sympathises in the justice of the doom that is coming on the 
 obstinate and impenitent rebels against God, that he cries aloud, 
 " Destroy them, God !" or, more exactly, " Hold them 
 guilty, and treat them as such/' On the other hand, there 
 
 * The idea of Hengstenberg, that this and some others of the titles convey 
 a mystical meaning, or enigmatical sense, is quite fanciful. He renders this, 
 " On the lots," as being a Psalm that exhibits the different lots of righteous and 
 wicked. But is not the conduct and life of the two classes exhibited in it, 
 far more than the lot ? The objection that 7J^ is not used with stringed in- 
 struments, is a gratuitous assertion ; probably ^"^ is used, instead of ^y, be- 
 cause of some peculiarity in using the instrument. Tholuck remarks, somewhere, 
 that ancient performers were not able to play different tunes on the same in- 
 struments, but employed separate instruments for different tunes. 
 
WHILE GOING UP TO THE MORNING SACRIP^ICE. 1 7 
 
 arises at the same moment the shout of the righteous, acquies- 
 cing with entire satisfaction in their doom : " And let all those 
 that put their trust in thee, rejoice ! Let them ever shout for 
 joy !" This is their " Halehijah" over the rising smoke of tor- 
 ment — their " Glory and honour to the Lord our God." And 
 perhaps it is in this manner we are to understand, throughout 
 the Book of Psalms, all those portions where we find, apparently, 
 prayers that breathe revenge. They are never to be thought 
 of as anjrthing else than the breathed assent of righteous souls 
 to the justice of their God, who taketh vengeance on sin. When 
 taken as the words of Christ himself, they are no other than 
 an echo of the Intercessor's acquiescence at last in the sentence 
 on the barren fig-tree. It is as if he cried aloud, "Hew it down 
 now — I will intercede no longer — the doom is righteous, destroy 
 them, God ; cast them out in (or, for) the multitude of their 
 transgressions ! for they have rebelled against thee." And in 
 the same moment he may be supposed to invite his saints to 
 S3rmpathize in his decision ; just as in Revelation xviii. 20 : 
 " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and pro- 
 phets ! " In like manner, when one of Christ's members, in 
 entire sympathy with his head, views the barren fig-tree from 
 the same point of observation, and sees the glory of God con- 
 cerned in inflicting the blow, he too can cry, " Let the axe 
 smite ! " Had Abraham stood beside the angel who destroyed 
 Sodom, and seen how Jehovah's name required the ruin of these 
 impenitent rebels, he would have cried out, " Let the shower 
 descend — let the fire and brimstone come down !" not in any 
 spirit of revenge — not from want of tender love to souls — ^but 
 from intense earnestness of concern for the glory of his God. 
 
 "We consider this explanation to be the real key that opens 
 all the difficult passages in this book, where curses seem to be 
 called for on the head of the ungodly. They are no more than 
 a carrying out of Deut. xxvii. 15-26, — "Let all the people 
 say, Amen," and an entering into the Lord's holy abhorrence 
 of sin and delight in acts of justice expressed in the " Amen, 
 hallelujah," of Rev. xix. 3.* 
 
 * " Truth" says one, " is always a form of Charity ; or to speak more properly, 
 Truth is the soul of wliich Churity is hut the beautiful, graceful, and lovely 
 
 I! 
 
18 PSALM V. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's THOUGHTS 
 
 But let US read the whole Psalm. And we may notice that 
 here the words occur, for the first time, " My King and my God." 
 On this Augustine remarks, " Recte prirao ' Rex meus,' et 
 deinde Deiis meus,' secundum illud quod dictum est, 'Per me 
 itur ad Patrem/'' He that is peculiarly " King" to Israel is on 
 Israel's side, for 1 Sam. viii. 20 shews that the idea included 
 in this term is fighting for his subjects. The blue, (Exod. viii. 
 15), purple, and scarlet, at the gate of the Tabernacle, and on all 
 its veils, proclaimed, " This is the dwelling of Israel's Kmg, 
 as well as Israel's God." 
 
 We seem to see One going up to the Tabernacle early, in 
 prospect of the morning sacrifice. It is near the time ; the 
 priest is already at the altar, setting the wood in order, and 
 the Lamb is bound to the altar's horns ; the worshipper's eye 
 and heart are upward, — " Give ear to my words, O Lord, con- 
 sider my silent prayer" (ver. 1), a prayer made up of the " un- 
 utterable groanings" (Rom. viii. 26), and which can be heard, 
 as well as presented, while he stands amid the crowd that are 
 gathering in the courts. " My voice shalt thou hear in the 
 morning" (ver. 3), is the expression of a resolution habitually 
 to come before him early, — " My earliest cry shall always be 
 to thee ; in the morning will I direct my (spiritual) offering 
 unto thee, and will look up to that house of prayer where 
 stand the altar and the mercy-seat, and where God is revealed 
 in grace." The altar presents " God reconciling the world unto 
 himself, not imputing unto men their trespasses." Jehovah's 
 look of love is there ; his voice is love from its four horns ; 
 everything tells man of grace. 
 
 He is up early, securing the best hour of the day, " like a 
 diligent artificer," (Home). But how careless are those around 
 this worshipper ; some coming up to the altar to lull their con- 
 science asleep by the formality of a visit to the courts of God ; 
 others hurrying off to their earthly pursuits. This leads him 
 
 member. Charity, therefore, is not to be known by soft words and gentle ac- 
 tions, which are oftener the form of policy and courtesy ; but must be sought in 
 the principles of the heart, out of which our words, thoughts, and actions come 
 forth. Is it love to God by which we are moved ? Then it is charity, be its 
 form mildness, or zeal, or the stern inflictions of justice." 
 
 I 
 
"WHILE (;OIN(J UP TO THK MOliNlNG SACRIFICE. l!) 
 
 to meditate before God on the " world lying in wickedness" 
 (ver. 4-9), interposing his own resolute determination to be 
 rnilike that world (ver. 7) by the help of Jehovah (ver. 8). A 
 ''dwelling lulth God," which at the lowest means friendly in- 
 tercourse, is what his righteous soul relishes and revels in the 
 enjoyment of, and the want of this he reckons to be the misery 
 of the ungodly. (Ver 4.) This is the very spirit of the beloved 
 John (J John. iv. IG), — " He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in 
 God, and God in him ; " and the resemblance is all the closer 
 when we find ver. 7 speak of his coming " in the imultltude of 
 thytnercii," or "greatness of thy love," to worshij) in Jehovah's 
 " Holy Temple," And then the believer's soul prays to be led 
 by the pillar cloud of divine wisdom, knowing the snares of 
 his foes. 
 
 It is after this that he is brought into such deep sympathy 
 with the holy purposes and righteous sentences of Jehovah, in 
 whose love he dwells, as to cry, " Destroy them, God," (ver. 
 10). And we leave him singing with assured confidence, " For 
 thou, O Lord, wilt bless the righteous ; with favour thou wilt 
 compass him, as with a shield." 
 
 It is a Psalm which most certainly Messiah could use ; none 
 could ever use it so fully as He. Think of Him, some morning 
 leaving Bethany early that He may be in time for the morning- 
 sacrifice, and breathing forth this Psalm b}^ the way and as He 
 enters the Temple-courts. Every word of it becomes doubly 
 emphatic in his lips, down to the last verse, where we see Him 
 as " The Righteous One," encompassed with the Father's love 
 and well-pleasedness. But whether we read it as peculiarly 
 the utterance of Messiah, or as that of one of his members, we 
 may describe this Psalm as being 
 
 The Righteous One's thoughts of G<.d aud of man ivhile 
 going np to the morning sacrifice. 
 
20 PhALM VI. — THE C'OMFORTLFRS COUCH 
 
 PSALM VI. == 
 
 To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, — neither chasten me in thy hot 
 
 displeasure. 
 
 2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; fori am weak : O Lord, heal me ; for 
 
 my bones are vexed. 
 
 3 My soul is also sore vexed: — but thou, O Lord, how long? 
 
 4 Return, Lord, deliver my soul: — oh save me for thy mercies' sake ! 
 
 5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee : — in the grave who shall 
 
 give thee thanks ? 
 
 6 I am weary with my groaning ! 
 
 All the night make I my bed to swim ; — I water my couch with my tears. 
 
 7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; — it waxeth old because of all 
 
 mine enemies. 
 
 8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity ; for the Lord hath heard the 
 
 voice of my weeping. 
 
 9 The Lord hath heard my supplication ; — the Lord will receive my prayer. 
 10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed : 
 
 Let them return and be ashamed suddenly. 
 
 Hitherto, the harp of Judah, and the sacred instruments of 
 varied chords, have sounded httle concerning the Just One's 
 inward sorrows. But now the Psalmist points " the Chief 
 Musician" to the " Neginoth," mentioned in Psahn iv., and at 
 the same time to " Sheminith, ""f some eight-stringed instru- 
 ment, as if both together must be used for a theme so intensely 
 melancholy as these verses handle. 
 
 We mig t at once say to the reader, This is not David, it is 
 the Son of David ; the grief is too deep for any other, — 
 " Yon never fciw a vessel ofUlx sorroivy 
 
 * This Psalm, and Psalms xxxii, xx.xviii, li, cii, cxxx, cxl, and cxlii, seven in 
 all, form " the Penitential Psalms" — which in Popish days a penitent was taught 
 to use, as Naaman at Jordan, and the lepers at purification, used a sevenfold 
 washing or sprinkling. 
 
 f Augustine has a long passage in which he discusses the question, whether 
 there is any reference to the Last Day in the number '■'■eight ;" and is inclined 
 to think that the Eternal Day may be meant. Some recent critics find an 
 " octave"' in the word, and others " the eighth tune." This very obscui ity as to the 
 sense of such technical terms, confirms the proof of the indisputable antiquity of 
 the writing, like some of those names in I Chronicle.", for which we can find no 
 etvniology in written Hebrew. 
 
OF TUE RIGHTEOUS ONE. 2J 
 
 David may have been led by the Holy Ghost to write it when 
 in anguish of soul, as well as suffering of body ; through such 
 a bruised reed the Spirit of God may have breathed. But surely 
 he meant to tell of One greater than David, — " the Man of 
 sorroivs." Perhaps David had some seasons of anguish in his 
 wanderings in the wilderness of Judah that furnished a shadow 
 of the grief of Him who was to come, " bearing our griefs and 
 carrying our sorrows. " Awakened souls experience horror of 
 soul and alarming apprehensions of divine indignation, such 
 as this Psalm expresses. A clear sight of sin, while the face 
 of the Mediator is hid, produces this state of soul. Occasionally, 
 too, believers feel, from peculiar causes, glooms that may be ex- 
 pressed in the words of this Psalm more fitly than any other. 
 And particular clauses in it will express many of a believer's 
 frames, even as ver. 6. " Lord, how long?"-w&s Calvin's favour- 
 ite utterance. Still, it is chiefly of the true David that this 
 is^writteu. We may suppose every word used by Him in some 
 of those nights which He passed in desert places, or in the 
 garden of Gethsemane. 
 
 What cries are these ? " Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath.'' me itwd. 
 Is not this the same voice that cried, " Father, if it be possible, 
 remove this cup from me ?" Again : " Ha^ve mercy upon me, 
 Lord, for I am iveak." Is not this the same who said, " The 
 spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak ? " (Matt. xxvi. 
 34!.) We listen, and again He cries, " My soul is sore vexed." 
 Is it not the voice of Him who, as He entered the garden, 
 spoke with such affecting sadness to his disciples, " My soul is 
 exceeding sorrowful V (Matt. xxvi. 38.) Yes, He said, " even 
 unto death.'^ Andin this Psalm we hear Him tell some of his 
 forebodings of death. It seems to be the very hour referred to 
 in Heb. vi. 7, — the hour of " strong crying and tears to Him 
 who was able to save him from death." For here are his 
 strong reasonings with God, — " In death there is no remem- 
 brance of thee; in the grave, who shall give tJiee thanks?" 
 This expostulation undoubtedly is such as a member of Christ 
 could use ; for Hezekiah used it (Isa. xxxviii. 18), pleading that, 
 if taken away, he could do no more for the making known 
 God's name and glory among men. But how peculiarly forcibly 
 it becomes in the lips of Jesus ! If he be given over to death, 
 
22 PSALM VI. — THE ElGIiTEOUS ONE S COMFORTLESS COUCH. 
 
 i.e., left under its power, then neither He, nor any one of all 
 those whom the Father had given Him, can ever give praise. 
 
 The dark night becomes darker. It is midnight. " / am 
 weary with my groaning. Mine eye is consumed with grief. 
 It ivascea old, because of all mine ettemies." " The eye is the 
 mirror and gauge of soundness, not merely as respects the soul, 
 but the body also," says a well-known commentator. On his 
 brow, anguish had shed more snows (see John viii. 57,) than 
 threescore winters, in their natural course, might else have 
 sprinkled there ; for inconceivably stupendous must His view 
 of sin have been, and his sense of its loathsomeness, his dis- 
 covery of its hurt to God and man, and his horror under the 
 wrath due to it. But all at once there is a change. The 
 angel from heaven strengthens Him. (Luke xxii. 43.) He 
 is revived by the Father's promise, " I have glorified thee, and 
 will glorify thee again." He sees his foes " confounded and 
 terrified" by the look of that very countenance, which they 
 once could spit upon (ver. 10). 
 
 It is only at this one point that this Psalm presents anything 
 bearing on the prophetic future. But certainly it does at this 
 turn present us with a glimpse of the Seconds Coming of Him 
 whose First Coming was so full of woe. "The voice of the turtle 
 is heard again," says a German commentator ; and truly it is 
 so. For, at ver. 8, the Suffering One sees " the glory that is to 
 follow," and exclaims, " Depart from me ye ivorkers of ini- 
 quity," words which are employed by himself in Luke xiii. 27, 
 in describing the terms in which, as judge, He will address the 
 multitudes of the unsaved on the Great Day, when He has risen 
 up and has shut to the door. 
 
 Was it not designed that this ending should draw more at- 
 tention to the beginning ? Let the sinner now consider the 
 Suffering One, lest the sentence pass on him, "Depart." Come, 
 and see here what a price was paid for the soul's redemption ; 
 and if you have felt anguish of spirit under a sense of deserved 
 wrath, let it cease when you find the Man of sorrows present- 
 ing all his anguish as the atonement for your soul. Thus will 
 the reader use aright this most pathetic Psalm, in meditating 
 on whiVli he is shewn — 
 
 Th'- ennifnrtlcss cnuclt of the l\lr/}ifeoiis One. 
 
 J 
 
PSALM VII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's CRY. 23 
 
 PSALM VII. 
 
 Shiggaion of D ivid, wliich lie sang unto the Lord, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite. 
 
 1 Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust : 
 Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me : 
 
 2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none 
 
 to deliver. 
 
 3 Lord my God, if I have done this ; — if there be iniquity in my hands ; 
 
 4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me ; 
 (Yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy !) 
 
 5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it ; 
 Yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth,— and lay mine honour in 
 
 the dust. Selah. 
 
 6 Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, — lift up thyself because of the rage of mine 
 
 enemies : 
 And awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded. 
 
 7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about : 
 For their sakes therefore return thou on high. 
 
 8 The Lord shall judge the people ! Judge me, O Lord, 
 According to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in 
 
 me. 
 
 9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end ; — but establish the just ! 
 For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. 
 
 10 My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. 
 
 1 1 God judgeth the righteous, — and God is angry with the wicked every day. 
 
 12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword ; — he hath bent his bow, and made 
 
 it ready. 
 
 13 He hath also prepared for him the instraraents of deatli ; 
 He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. 
 
 14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, 
 And hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. 
 
 15 He made a pit, and digged it, — and is fallen into the ditch which he made. 
 IG His mischief shall return upon his own head. 
 
 And his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. 
 17 1 will praise the Lord according to his righteousness : 
 x\.ud will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high. 
 
 There is something like excitement in the style of this Psalm. Ti,e tone and 
 We do not find in it the calm, deep cries of one in anguish, 
 but rather, the earnest, almost indignant, appeals of one whose 
 righteous soul is vexed by a world's opposition. 
 
 " JeJwvah, my God, in thee have I put my trust ! 
 Save me from my itersecutors ! " (Yer. 1.) 
 
 It is the voice of one who betakes himself to Jehovah as his 
 
 tiile. 
 
24 PSALM VII.— THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's CRY 
 
 only Adullam-cave, and who makes his cave of refuge ring with 
 his vehement apjDeals. Horsley remarks there is in it com- 
 plaint, supplication, prediction, crimination, commination, and 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 liggaicn. " Shiggaion," though some have attempted to fix on it a re- 
 
 ference to the moral aspect of the world as depicted in this 
 Psalm, is in all probability to be taken as expressing the nature 
 of the composition. It conveys the idea of something erratic 
 (py^, to wander), in the style ; something not so calm as other 
 psalms ; and hence EwaJd suggests, that it might be rendered, 
 " a confused ode,^' a Dithyramb. This characteristic of excite- 
 ment in the style, and a kind of disorder in the sense, suits 
 Habakkuk iii. 1, the only other place where the word occurs. 
 
 wi Contents. But who was " Giish the Benjamite ? " None can give a de- 
 cided answer, though all turn their eye to Saul, and seem 
 nearly agreed that his calumnies against David gave occasion 
 for the writing of this Psalm. The Targum hesitates not to 
 say it is " Saul, the son of Kish." Hengstenberg concludes> 
 that Gush, the Ethiopian, is a name for Saul, because of his 
 dark, black hatred of David ; others refer the name to some 
 one of SauFs retinue who was as Ethiopian in heart as his 
 master. This last conjecture may be the truth ; for David had 
 a variety of foes. But at all events, the Holy Spirit made use 
 of some special attack of some one foe as his time for convey- 
 ing to his servant this song. He is a ''God who giveth songs 
 in the night," and he has by this means given to his Church a 
 song which every succeeding generation has felt appropriate in 
 a world lying in wickedness, and which was never more appro- 
 priate than in these latter days. 
 
 scd by cinist. The truo David, no doubt, took it up in the days of his flesh ; 
 and often may he have used it as part of his wondrous Liturgy, 
 when alone in the hills of Galilee. The cry in vei-. 9, — 
 ^' let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end ! 
 And establish the just ! 
 And the trier of the heart and reins be thou, God ! " 
 
 fcjUowed up by ver. 10, "My defence is in* God who saveth 
 
 * Literally, ''Mi/ shield /*• ujjon God," like Psalm Ixii. 8, " My salvation is 
 iipon dody The idea may be taken from the armour-bearer, ever ready at hand 
 
 to give the needed weapon to the warrior. 
 
FOR RIGHTEOUS RETRIBUTION. 25 
 
 giveth victory to) the upright in heart" may remind us of 
 Him who elsewhere longs for the day of God in the words, 
 " Till the day break and the shadows flee away, I will get me 
 to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense." 
 
 From ver. 1 to ver. 5, innocence is pleaded against those 
 who are adversaries "ivithout a cause." This feature of en- 
 mity, " without a cause," seems to have wounded the tender 
 heart of our David very deeply ; for in John xv. 25, we find him 
 quoting another Psalm where the same words occur, and where 
 the emphasis lies on " without a cause." The world has hated 
 him, because it hated the holiness that furnished no cause of 
 accusation ; and so has it hated his members because of what 
 resemblance they bear to their unblemished Head. The world's 
 enmity is ever directed against the only thing in the saints 
 which they are sure the Lord loves ; and so they can appeal 
 with their Head against " Those that without cause are our 
 adversaries." 
 
 After a Sclah-^i^wae (see Psalm iv.), the tone changes. 
 From ver. 6 onward, the future day of retribution comes into 
 view. What an importunate cry is raised in ver. 6, "Arise, 
 Lord, in thine anger" — put on that fierce wrath which con- 
 sumes all before it. " While thy foes are raging (as in Psalm 
 ii. 1), lift li'p thyself;" and all this because "Thou hast ap- 
 pointed a day in which thou wilt judge the world in righteous- 
 ness." Had not Paul at Athens (Acts xvii. 31), his eye on this 
 verse : " The judgment thou, hast ordained?" 
 
 In ver. 7, we see all the tribes (D''S^<7), gathered round the 
 Lord's tribunal ; and " over that congregation," or assembly, 
 the Lord takes his seat — as if they were all met there, waiting 
 the arrival of the Judge, who does at last appear, and walks up 
 to his seat in the view of all. Is there not a reference to the 
 long-expected arrival of one who had gone for a time to a far 
 country in the word " return ?" (Luke xix. 12.) 
 
 And now, ver. 8. " The Lord judges the nations," acting in 
 all the plenitude of the Judge's office — the office as held by 
 Othniel, and Ehud, and Gideon, and Samson. As to right and 
 wTong, he is what an ancient Roman was called, '^ Sco}>ulus 
 reoruni " — every guilty man makes shipwreck on that rock ; 
 
26 PSALM VII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's CRY. 
 
 but He is ruler, too, putting earth in order. And when the 
 Son of David used this prayer, he was impHcitly asking for 
 the day of his own glory — when the Father shall be the Judge 
 by committing all judgment to the Son. (John v. 22, 27.) 
 
 The remainder of this judgment-day Psalm presents us with 
 views of the fearful overthrow of the ungodly — all of them 
 doubly emphatic when understood as spoken by Him who had 
 seen the armoury of heaven, " no man having ascended up to 
 heaven, but He that came down from heaven," and who spake 
 what he did know, and testified what he had seen. Whether 
 we apply these verses to each individual sinner, or use them 
 of the great Antichrist — that special avoiMg, lawless one — the 
 description is so constructed as to apply in terrible grandeur. 
 We see Jehovah's daily anger (ver. 11), which is, in other 
 words, his daily hatred of sin, " Judging righteously, while 
 every day finding cause of anger." We hear him tell, that if 
 yonder sinner return not (ver. 12, " If a man turn not"), then 
 there is prepared for him the sword, as well as the bow, q. d., 
 there is the arrow from the bow aimed at his heart to lay him 
 low, like Goliath laid low by the pebble in his forehead, and 
 then the sword to complete the work of death. Let none 
 think of recovering from the wound ; for his instruments are 
 " instruments of death," and he " makes his arroivs burninf/" 
 (D^ip"?!) ; and he shoots his flaming shafts, burning with the 
 fire of Almighty wrath, into their hearts ! All this the sinner 
 has wrought for himself — all this Antichrist has wrought for 
 himself — it is the cup he has filled, and filled double. 
 
 " Beliold ! he travailed with misch 'cf, (']1J«{) 
 And hath conceived misery ! 0!2i^) 
 And hringeth forth fahehood !" (disappointment) — 
 He is precipitated into " the pit" from the height of his pros- 
 perity. How brief, yet how comprehensive, is this sketch of 
 his doom ! It is James i. 15 exhibited in each sinner's history, 
 and in the final end of " That Wicked" whom the Lord shall 
 destroy by the brightness of his coming. 
 
 Ver. 17, is the " Hallelujah, amen !" of Rev. xix. 1-4. And 
 is not the whole Psalm one which we mav well believe the. 
 
PSALM Vlll. — MANIFESTATION OF JEHOVAH S NAME. 27 
 
 Head of the Church often used, and which each member uses 
 still when in sympathy with the martyr-band (Rev. vi. ] 0) ? 
 In either view it is — 
 
 Tlie Rvjltteous One's cry for ri<jhteous retribution. 
 
 PSALM VIIL 
 
 To the cliief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 () Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! 
 ^^'ho hast set thy glory above the heavens. 
 
 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength 
 Because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the 
 
 avenger. 
 
 3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, 
 The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ; 
 
 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? — and the son of man, that 
 
 thou visitcst him ? 
 
 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. 
 And hast crowned him with glory and honour. 
 
 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; 
 Thou hast put all things under his feet : 
 
 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field ; 
 
 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, 
 
 And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 
 
 9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! 
 
 PsALM VII. closed with " The name of the Most High," and Tiie name. 
 this Psalm commences with it. Who can hesitate to say of 
 this song of Zion, that its subject is no other than "The Name 
 that is above every name ?" For Heb. ii. 6-9 has claimed it 
 for Jesus, and claimed it for him, too, in sjjeaking of his ex- 
 altation in the New Earth, " The world to come." Paul, in 
 1 Cor. XV. 24, refers a clause of it for fulfilment to the day of 
 the Advent : and it is interesting to find our Lord himself 
 quoting ver. 2 in reference to the hosannas that welcomed him 
 as Israel's King on that day when he proved his power over 
 man and over the creatures, riding on the ass amid the shouts 
 of thousands upon thousands. 
 
 It is not to us of much moment whether the original '^^^^ ''"<'• 
 l^sahiiist David knew distinctly the glorious liurden of his 
 
28 PSALM VIII. — MANIFESTATION OF JEHOVAH's NAME 
 
 song when the Holy Spirit taught his heart and harp to sing 
 it, and when he gave it over to " the chief musician" for 
 temple-use, to be sung or played " on Gittith." He may have 
 had as dim a view of its real reference, as we have of the 
 reference of the term " Gittith ;" yet that alters not the Holy 
 Spirit's meaning. "The most skilful of our critics can do no 
 more than give obscure suggestions as to what the title means ; 
 yet that alters not the certainty that the title " Gittith" had 
 its sure and definite meaning in the mind of Him who prefixed 
 it. Our position and that of the original receivers of the 
 Psalm is now reversed. Any singer of the Tabernacle could 
 have told us at once whether Gittith meant a " Gaihic air," 
 used by those that handled the harp at Gath, or whether it re- 
 ferred to the air of some vintage-song, or some joyous vintage- 
 instrument (from Di)) ; while yet they could not have told so 
 surely as a child among us who can put his finger on Heb. ii. 
 6, 7, 8, that here is the crown that fell from our heads seen on 
 the head of the Second Adam. 
 
 Led by Heb. ii. 6-9, we find in this Psalm the manifestation 
 of the Lord's name* in the dominion of the Second Adam, 
 when he reigns over a restored world. It has been -said that 
 this Psalm might be called " Genesis i. turned into a prayer ;" 
 but it is more truly " the Genesis i. of the new Earth." It cor- 
 responds to Isaiah xi. 6, 7, in the scene it exhibits. 
 
 It contains a general view of God's dealings with earth, 
 from Genesis to Revelation. He whose glory crowns the hea- 
 vens, chooses earth for a theatre whereon to display " His 
 name," — that is, his character, his very being, of which the 
 name is the manifestation. Amid the ruins of the fall, He 
 finds as sweet notes of praise ascending as from his angelic 
 choirs ; he finds he can confound his foes — all the seed of the 
 serpent, in hell and on earth (Psa. xliv. 1 6) — by hosannas from 
 "babes and sucklings." While "He sets his glory above the 
 heavens," He finds no less glory to His name on earth. Glo- 
 rious grace appears in choosing earth for the place of this 
 manifestation (ver. 1). Glorious grace appears again in his 
 
 * "Name is flie expression of his being, God existing secretly in himself is 
 nameless. M'oiifeslatloa and name are inseparable." — Hengxtenben/. 
 
 J 
 
IN THE DOMINION OF THE SON OF MAN. 29 
 
 working amid the feeblest of our feeble race, and in confound- 
 ing the enemy and avenger by this display (ver. 2). Glorious 
 grace is seen dealing with man, the worm (tJ^'^J^i, ''sorry 
 man"), whose dwelling and whose place in the scale of creation 
 seem so low when compared with the heavens by day, lighted 
 up by their blazing sun, or the moon and stars by night, in 
 their silent maiesty (ver. 4). Glorious grace lifts up man 
 from his inferiority to angels (ver. 5). Glorious grace gives 
 man exaltation above angels, in giving him a Head, to whom 
 that whole world is subject, and on whom it leans. All that 
 was lost in Adam is gathered up in this Head : " Thou madest 
 Him to have dominion — thou hast put all things under his 
 feet." It is a sight that, seen even from afar, raises in the pro- 
 phetic Psalmist adoring wonder and delight, so that like the 
 "Amen" in Rev. vii. 12, that both prefaces and concludes the 
 angelic song, he begins and ends with the rapturous exclama- 
 tion, — "Jehovah, our Lord,* how excellent is thy name in 
 
 ALL THE EARTH ! ' 
 
 One difficulty in the Psalm may be solved by attending to 
 the apostolic use of it in Heb. ii. It is the clause, " Thou hast 
 made him a little lower than the angels." In Exod. xxii. 28, 
 the Avord signifies "judges ;" and so it seems to have been used 
 for other beings who are high and noble, viz., angels. For Heb. 
 i. 6 again renders the word, " angels." Some, however, would 
 fain keep DTl'^i^J in the sense of " God," and explain it to this 
 effect : " Thou madest him want little of God," raising him to 
 a super-earthly dignity. But let it be noted, that these inter- 
 pretations are all inconsistent with Heb. ii. 6-9. That passage 
 quotes this clause as referring to our Lord's humiliation, not 
 to his exaltation ; " We see Jesus, who has been crowned 
 {knfavMiMim) with glory and honour because of his suffering 
 death, — we see this Jesus made a little lower than angels, in 
 
 * The English Prayer-book version has it " our Governor,'" a rendering that 
 suits well with the scope of the whole. Luther's " Herr nnser Herrscher," is 
 better than our " Lord our Lord," and than the similar rendering of the Vulgate 
 and Septuagint. The Hebrew has the two distinct appellations ^TIlThi n'HT' 
 And notice, too, " Hoiu e.rcellent" "1''^^J) 's the same word as Jer. xxx. 21, '• his 
 ^*^"'1^i noble one." 
 
80 PSALM VIII. — MANIFESTATION OF JEH<JVAH's NAME. 
 
 order to taste death fur every one." The " made lower' is 
 thus placed beyond doubt as ^igwifym^hiiiniUatidn ; the com- 
 parison being, not how little was between him and God, but 
 how there was a little between him and angels, and that little 
 on the side of apparent inferiority during the days of his humi- 
 liation — though only as a scaffolding for his after rising in our 
 nature far beyond every angel. 
 
 One other difficulty remains. At what point does the Psalm 
 leave off the subject of tnan in general, and begin to speak of 
 man's Head ? We think it is at the word " Tlcou visifest" 
 Out of this " visiting" emerges nothing less than man's exal- 
 tation in his Head ; and this sense of " visiting" seems referred 
 to in Luke i. 68. (See Duke of Manchester on Epistle to the 
 Hebrews.) 
 
 As the " manifesting" Jehovah's " name" was our Lord's un- 
 varying design in all his work at his first coming (John xvii. 
 6 and 26), so shall it still be his design at his second. Isaiah 
 XXX. 27, introduces that event by, '" Behold, the name of the 
 Lord cometh." To this, indeed, he may refer, when in John 
 xvii. 26, he says, that he not only " has" declared that " name," 
 but that he " will declare it." Have we not a link of connec- 
 tion here ? Our Psalm and that wondrous prayer in which he 
 looked onward to coming glory, both speak much of that 
 " Name." The dominion of the Second Adam shall carry on 
 this discovery to the praise of his glory ; and viewing the 
 Psalm as pointing to this, we may say, that it contains — 
 The maniffsfafion of Jehovah's name in the dominion of 
 the Son of ma7i. 
 
 PSALM IX. 
 
 To tliP Chief Musician upon Muth-labben, A Psalm of Pavid. 
 
 1 I wii.L praise thee, O Lord, with my whole hcjut ; 
 I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. 
 
 2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee : — I will sing prai.sc to thy name, tlmn 
 
 Most Higli. 
 
 3 When mine enemies arc turned Imck, — thoy shall fall and perish at tliy 
 
 ])rescnce. 
 
PSALM IX. — ANTICIPATING THE THRONE OF JUDGMENT. ol 
 
 4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause ; — thou sattest in tho 
 
 throne judging right. 
 
 5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, — thon hast destroyed the wicked, 
 Thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. 
 
 6 O thou enemj^, destructions are come to a perpetual end ! 
 
 And thou hast destroyed cities ; — their memorial is perished with tliem. 
 
 7 But the Lord shall endure forever: — he hath prepared his throne for 
 
 judgment. 
 
 8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness. 
 
 He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. 
 
 9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, — a refuge in times of 
 
 trouble. 
 
 10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee : 
 For thou. Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. 
 
 11 Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion : — declare among the 
 
 people his doings. 
 
 12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them : 
 He forgetteth not the cry of the humble. 
 
 13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord ; — consider my trouble which I suffer of 
 
 them that hate me, • 
 
 Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death : 
 
 14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion! 
 I will rejoice in thy salvation. 
 
 If) The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made : 
 In the net which they hid is their own foot taken. 
 
 16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he cxecuteth : 
 
 The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. 
 
 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, — and all the nations that forget God. 
 
 15 For the needy shall not always be forgotten : 
 
 The expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. 
 
 19 Arise, O Lord ; let not man prevail : — let the heathen be judged in thy 
 
 sight. 
 
 20 Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be 
 
 Ijut men. Selah. 
 
 The position of the Psalms in their relation to each other is rositmnnfti; 
 
 often remarkable. It is questioned whether the present ar- 
 rangement of them was the order in which they were given 
 forth to Israel, or whether some later compiler, perhaps Ezra, 
 was inspired to attend to this matter, as well as to other points 
 connected with the Canon. Without attempting to decide this 
 point, it is enough to remark that we have proof that the order 
 of the Psalms is as ancient as the completing of the canon ; 
 and if so, it seems obvious that the Holy Spirit wished this 
 book to come down to us in its present order. 
 
32 
 
 PSALM IX. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE ANTICIPATING 
 
 We make these remarks, in order to invite attention to the 
 fact, that as the eighth caught up the last line of the seventh, 
 this ninth Psalm opens with an apparent reference to the 
 eighth : — 
 
 " I will praise thee, Lord, with my ichole heart. 
 I will showfurtli all thy marvellous works. 
 
 I will be glad and rejoice in thee. (Comp. Song i. 4 ; Piev. xix. 7.) 
 I toill sing to thy name, thou Most High." (Ver. 1, 2.) 
 
 As if " The Name" so highly praised in the former Psalm, 
 were still ringing in the ear of the sweet singer of Israel. And 
 in ver. 10, he returns to it, celebrating their confidence who 
 " know" that " name," as if its fragrance still breathed in the 
 atmosphere around. 
 
 There is a considerable resemblance, in the commencement, 
 to the song in Isaiah xxv. 1-5. In both we have 'praise — 
 praise to his name — wonderful things— enemies, and na- 
 tions, and cities destroyed — and the Lord a refuge for the 
 needy, a refuge in times of trouble. The period in prophetic 
 history, before the view of the prophetic Spirit, is the same in 
 both cases ; the same scene of the final ruin of God's enemies, 
 and of Antichrist, is exhibited ; and the language of our Psalm, 
 like that of Isaiah xxv. 1-5, is that of the past, because the 
 future is to the Lord as sure as if already come and gone. 
 
 There is an approach to the alphabetic form in the verses of 
 this Psalm, but only in part. We shall have occasion to re- 
 mark on this point again in Psalm x. and elsewhere. 
 
 It may be in connection with the subject of the Psalm, that 
 it is inscribed "To the Chief Musician upon Muth-lahben." 
 None of the titles in this whole book is so obscure as this one. 
 There is a plausible conjecture that ri^u^V should be the point- 
 ing, in which case it might be connected with " the psalteries 
 on Alamolh," 1 Chron. xv. 20; and "Ben," of 1 Chron. xv. 
 18, be referred to in " Lab-hen ;" but then the omission of by is 
 unaccountable, were this sense intended. There has been an 
 attempt by Grotius, and others, to regard it as an anagram, 
 " b^i b)},'' on the death of Nabal, or, on the dying of the fool — 
 but this is wholly gratuitous. Probably the title refers to 
 something in the sacred music now unknown, the appropriate- 
 
THE SETTING UP OF THE THRONE OF JUDGMENT. 33 
 
 ness of which to the subject of this Psalm can be conjectured 
 only ; the word rf\D, death, occurring in it, suggests something 
 sombre and solemn. 
 
 From vers. 1-8, there is a sketch of what the Lord is to do The plan 
 when he rises up. " enemy," — as if like Hos. xiiL 14, look- 
 ing in the face of Satan, and all that follow him on earth, from 
 Saul down to the last Antichrist. " enemy, destructions are 
 at an end." The memory of the foe perishes, like the cities 
 which they destroy. In vers. 9-12, we hear what the Lord 
 has been, and is, and shall be to his own, onward to the day 
 when he remembers the cry of souls under the altar (Rev. vi. 
 10.) Then a cry, like that of the martyrs, arises, vers. 13, 14, 
 and the answer is given in vers. 15-17. After all which, 
 vers. 18-20, sing confidently, and pray boldly to him who is 
 to do such things on behalf of his saints. 
 
 The speaker may be any member of Christ's body in S3rmpa- Christ and his 
 thy with his Head ; but Christ himself could utter it as no ™ ™ ^^^' 
 other could. Hence Augustine, on ver. 13, asks, " Quare non 
 dixit, ' Miserere nostri, Domine V An quia unus interpellat 
 pro Sanctis qui primus pauper pro nobis factus est." Christ 
 on earth delighted to commend his Father's name, as ver. 10 
 does, and to assure disciples that with God there is no casting 
 out of one that has once come in. 
 
 But to all this every believer responds, and even in ver. 16, 
 every member of Christ may, in full sympathy with the feel- 
 ings of justice and holiness in our Head, enter into the awful 
 scene. They see the event as if it were already come : — 
 
 " Tlie Jieathen are sunk dotvn into the pit that tliey made ; 
 In the net which they hid is their own foot taken. 
 The Lord is knoion by the judgment he executeth ! 
 The ivicked is snared in the work of his own hands ! 
 Higgaion! Selah! 
 
 We hear a voice, as from the Holiest, uttering the words, Higgaion- 
 '' Higgaion," a call to deep reflection or solemn musing,* ^*^''^' 
 and ''Selah,'" a call to the Chief Musician to pause, that, the 
 
 * So in Buchanan's version in Latin metre : — 
 " O res pectoris altis 
 
 Condenda in penetralibus ! " 
 
34 PSALM IX. — ANTICIPATING THE THRONE OF JUDGMENT. 
 
 music ceasing, the worshippers might for a time meditate and 
 adore. With such silent awe, we may suppose, the hosts of 
 Israel stood for a time, gazing on the dead bodies of the Egyp- 
 tians, when morning light unveiled them floating on the wave, 
 or cast up as sea-weed on the shore. Not less than this shall 
 be the intensity of interest and awe felt by the saints, when 
 from their cloud they look down on the overwhelmed hosts of 
 Babylon. 
 
 In ver. 18 there is an interesting rendering of D'^I^S? -H^pri, 
 in the English Prayer-book version, " the patient abiding of 
 the poor." It reminds us of James v. 7, " Be patient, brethren, 
 unto the coming of the Lord." At the same time, the words 
 more properly express the earnest expectation of God's poor 
 ones, who are looking from their state of "oppression" and 
 " trouble" (ver. 9), for the coming of him whose " name they 
 know" (ver. 10), to be the Judge of a disordered world. Then 
 truly shall they sing: — 
 
 " The Lord is enthroned for ever. (lit. 7ias sat down, i.e., on 7ds throne.) 
 He has prepared his throne for judgment. 
 He judges the world in uprightness : 
 He ministers judgment to the people in uprightness^ (v. 7, 8). 
 
 Of this Psalm, then, we may say that in it we see — 
 The Righteous One avticipating the setting up of the throne 
 of judgment. 
 
 PSALM X. 
 
 1 Why standest thou afar off, O Lord ? — why hidest thon thyself in times 
 
 of trouble ? 
 
 2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor : 
 
 Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. 
 
 3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, 
 
 And blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. 
 
 4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God : 
 God is not in all his thoughts. 
 
 5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his 
 
 sight : 
 As for all his enemies he puffeth at them. 
 
PSALM X. — DETAIL OF EARTH'S WICKEDNESS. 35 
 
 G He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved :— for I shall never be in 
 adversity. 
 
 7 His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud : 
 Under his tongue is mischief and vanity. 
 
 8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages : 
 In the secret places doth he murder the innocent : 
 His eyes are privily set against the poor. 
 
 9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den : 
 
 He lieth in wait to catch the poor :— he doth catch the poor, when he 
 draweth him into his net. 
 
 10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his 
 
 strong ones. 
 
 11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten : he hideth his face ; he 
 
 will never see it. 
 
 12 Arise, O Lord ; O God, lift up thine hand : forget not the humble. 
 
 13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God ? 
 
 He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. 
 
 14 Thou hast seen it ; — for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it 
 
 with thy hand : 
 The poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the 
 fatherless. 
 
 15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man : 
 Seek out his wickedness till thou find none. 
 
 16 The Lord is King for ever and ever! the heathen are perished out of his 
 
 land. 
 
 17 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble : 
 
 Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear : 
 
 18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed. 
 That the man of the earth may no more oppress. 
 
 There is much that is prophetic in this Psalm towards its .p^^ prophetic 
 
 close — the gloom of the present turning the eye forward in element. 
 
 search of the coming day-spring. In ver. 16, faith is seen in 
 
 its strength, singing as if already in possession of anticipated 
 
 victory and deliverance, " llie Lord is king for ever and ever : 
 
 the heathen are 'perished out of his land !" Such confidence 
 
 and faith must appear to the world strange and unaccountable. 
 
 It is like what his fellow-citizens may be supposed to have felt 
 
 (if the story be true) toward that man of whom it is recorded, 
 
 that his powers of vision were so extraordinary, that he could 
 
 distinctly see the fleet of the Carthaginians entering the har- 
 
 i hour of Carthage, while he stood himself at Lilybseum, in Sicily . 
 A man seeing across an ocean and able to tell of objects so far 
 
 j off ! he could feast his vision on what others saw not. Even 
 
36 
 
 PSALM X, — DETAIL OF EARTH S WICKEDNESS IN 
 
 thus does faith now stand at its Lilybseiim and see the long- 
 tossed fleet entering safely the desired haven, enjoying the bliss 
 of that still distant day, as if it was already come. 
 
 It is a Psalm for "times of trouble" (ver. 1), like the preced- 
 ing, (ix. 9). In it we again hear the cry, "Arise," addressed 
 to the Lord, as in the preceding (ix. 20). Here, too, man is 
 felt as the oppressor (ver. 18), even as in Psa. ix. 19. So much 
 does it resemble the preceding, that the Septuagint have 
 reckoned it a continuation. There is, however, this obvious 
 difference, viz., while the ninth dwells much on the ruin of the 
 ungodly, this Psalm dwells much on their guilt. Both Psalms 
 also are in some measure alphabetic. (See Hengstenberg.) 
 Both, however, are alphabetic in a very irregular manner. 
 Perhaps it was intended by the fact of irregularity in the first 
 two instances of an alphabetic kind, to teach us not to lay too 
 much stress upon this kind of composition. God occasionally 
 employs all the various ways in which men are wont to express 
 their thoughts, and by which they are wont to aid the me- 
 mory in retaining them. 
 
 Three parties are presented to our view in succession. God 
 — the wicked — the righteous. Ood (ver. 1) is seen standing 
 afar off, covering his eyes from the painful sight (D v^^H, scil. 
 D^!l''y), being of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. The wicked 
 (vers. 2-1 ] ) is seen in all his ungodliness and unprincipled sel- 
 fishness, practising evil as if no eye regarded. The righteous 
 (vers. 12-14) calls God's attention to these scenes, and raises 
 the cry for his interposition. Then, at ver. 1 5, and onward, 
 the scene suddenly changes. God has come nigh ; " the arm 
 of the wicked, is broken." In the Hebrew, the first clause is a 
 prayer, " Break thou the arm of the wicked and evil man ; " 
 and the next seems to be the response to that prayer, q. d., 
 " Yes, it shall be broken.'* " And thou shalt seek out his 
 wickedness, and find none" His extirpation shall be com- 
 plete, (compare Jer. 1. 20). " The Lord is King." He has 
 heard the desire of the humble ; "he has judged the fatherless* 
 
 * Augustine gives one reason why saints are called fatherless: — '■' Pupillus ; 
 id est, is cui moritur pater hie mundus, per quem carnaliter genitus est ; et 
 am potest dicere, 'mundus mihi crucifixus est, ego mundo.'" 
 
ANTICIPATION OF EARTH's DELIVERANCE. 37 
 
 and the oppressed," i.e., he has acted to them as Othniel, and 
 Gideon, and Samson, and other judges of Israel did when 
 they brought down the foe, and set things to right in the land. 
 
 Our Master, in the days of his flesh, might see all that is Exempimea 
 here described verified before him. He saw the buyers and days."" ' 
 sellers making gain in the courts of the Temple, and probably 
 fulfilling there, Zech. xi. 5, " Blessed be the Lord ; for I am 
 rich," — even as it is said, ver. 3, '' And whosoever makes gain 
 blesses (God for it), and yet despise Jehovah.'" In the Saddu- 
 cees, he saw before him men of whom it might be said, 
 
 " ' I7iere is no God,' in all their thoughts." (ver. 4.) 
 Their ways were firm (ver. 5, Hengstenberg). They feared 
 no adversity, saying (as the Prayer-book version graphically 
 renders ver. 6), " Tush ! I shall never be cast down." The 
 Pharisees, and Scribes, and Elders furnished abundant exem- 
 plification of " mischief is under his tongue," (ver. 7,)— the 
 storehouse, or cellar, that seemed to lie under their tongue, 
 ever providing their lips with plans and suggestions of evil 
 Their lying in wait, as a lion in his covert, most vividly paints 
 the plots entered into against Christ, and against his disci- 
 ples afterwards. At the same time, "The servant is not 
 above the master," — the members of Christ have ever met 
 with the same treatment, and found the world lying in the 
 same wickedness. Any member of Christ can use this Psalm 
 who feels earth's unholiness and atheism, and who is at all 
 like Lot in Sodom, "his righteous soul vexed from day to 
 day by their unlawful deeds." It will be well fitted for those 
 who are on earth when Antichrist practises and prospers ere 
 his final overthrow. In short, it is so comprehensive, that whether 
 used by Christ or by his people, whether in the days of the,First 
 Advent, or in the days that precede and usher in the Second, 
 it may be said to be — 
 The Righteous One detailing earth's wickedness in antici- 
 pation of earth's deliverance. 
 
 Chiist'sClmrch 
 in all ages. 
 
38 PSALM XI. — FAITH UNDER APPARENT DISASTER. 
 
 PSALM XL 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 IN the Lord put I my trust : — how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to 
 
 your mouutain ? 
 
 2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon 
 
 the string, 
 That they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. 
 
 3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do ? 
 
 4 The Lord is in his holy temple ! the Lord's throne is in heaven : 
 His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. 
 
 5 The Lord trieth the righteous. 
 
 But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 
 
 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, — fire and brimstone, and an horrible 
 
 tempest : 
 This shall be the portion of their cup. 
 
 7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness ; his countenance doth be- 
 
 hold the upright. 
 
 The tone and The combatants at the Lake Thrasymene are said to have been 
 
 plan of tlie i • , i n- i • i • i i 
 
 Psalm. SO engrossed with the conflict, that neither party perceived the 
 
 convulsions of nature that shook the ground — 
 
 " An earthquake reeled unheedingly away, 
 None felt stern nature rocking at his feet." 
 
 From a nobler cause, it is thus with the soldiers of the Lamb. 
 ^ They believe, and, therefore, make no haste ; nay, they can 
 scarcely be said to feel earth's convulsions as other men, be- 
 cause their eager hope presses forward to the issue at the ad- 
 vent of the Lord. 
 
 " In the Lord I have put my trust : — how say ye to my soul, Flee, sparrows, 
 to your hill." (Sneeringly referring to Zion-hill. Eorsley) 
 
 They have taken up their position, and who shall ever drive 
 them from it ? They refer to a two-fold ground of alarm pre- 
 sented to their thoughts by the foe. 
 
 " For lo ! the wicked bend their bow, 
 They place their arroiv upon the string 
 To shoot privily at the upright in heart. 
 For (^3) the foimdations are destroyed! 
 The righteous, what can he do ? " 
 The enemy may thus array his terrors, as if the Lord's host 
 were a partridge on the mountains. (1 Sam. xxvi. 20.) There 
 
PSALM XI. — FAITH UNDER APPARENT DISASTER. 39 
 
 is a sneer at Mount Zion, in ver. 1 it has been suggested ; 
 but the words may as well mean, they have their secure resort, 
 their Zoar mountain (Gen. xix. 17), on which they shall stand 
 and see the rain of " snares, fire, and brimstone " on these men 
 of Sodom (ver. 6) ; their Judean mountain, where they shall 
 be safe when the abomination of desolation appears (Matt. xxiv. 
 16). It is this — the Lord himself. Though all the pillars of 
 social and religious order were destroyed, still — 
 " The Lord is in his holy temple ; 
 The Lord's throne is in heaven t " 
 
 The enemy has not reached up to this fortress ; he has not 
 shaken this sure defence.* On the other hand, the Lord is pre- 
 paring to make a sortie in behalf of his own. He is surveying, 
 in preparation for this burst of judgment. 
 
 " His eyes behold" — 
 Nay, more, he is in the position of one who contracts his eye- 
 brows and fixes his eyelids in order to discern accurately the 
 mark he aims at ; 
 
 " His eyelids try the children of men. 
 Tlie Lord tneth the righteous" 
 
 And the result is interposition in behalf of his own ; for in the 
 trial he discovers the difference between the principles of the 
 two hostile parties, and now makes it known : — 
 
 " The ivicked, and him tliat loveth violence, his soul hateih. 
 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone : 
 And an horrible tempest (a wrath-wind) shall be thepmiion of their cup.''' 
 
 All that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah shall be realized at 
 the Lord's appearing " in flaming fire," (2 Thess. i. 8). At the 
 very time, perhaps, when men imagine they have got the 
 righteous in their snares, the Lord comes and his net is spread 
 over them ; his " STiare" suddenly starts up (Luke xxi. 35) and 
 they are taken ; caught unexpectedly in a net whose meshes 
 they can never break ; seized by the hands of the living 
 God, and doomed to " the vengeance of eternal fire," as the 
 ^^ portion of their cup." It is the measured, just, and due 
 amount of wrath for their sins ; for it is called a cup-portion, 
 
 * " Shall the pillars be brangled," says Leighton somewhere, " because of the 
 swarms of flies upon tbcm ?" 
 
40 
 
 PSALM XI. — FAITH UNDER APPARENT DISASTER. 
 
 " Ne quid praeter modum atque mensuram, vel in ipsis pecca- 
 torum suppliciis per divinam providentiam fieri arbitremur." 
 (August.) All this proceeds from the rectitude of Jehovah's 
 character : — 
 
 " For righteous is the Lord ; he loveth righteousness ; 
 His countenance doth behold the upright.'" 
 His righteousness sees it meet thus to visit the ungodly with a 
 Sodom-doom ; and on the other hand, to look with favour on 
 his Abrahams at Mamre, and no longer " hide himself," as in 
 Psalm X, 4. It is somewhat remarkable that in ver. 7 the He- 
 brew uses the plural for " His countenance." Critics are con- 
 tent to call this use of iD'']3Z), " their countenance," by the 
 name pluralis majestatis; and to say that it may express perfec- 
 tion, or greatness, in Him of whom it is used. But if we admit 
 of a reference to the Trinity in Gen. i. 26, why not here ? The 
 countenance of the Godhead — Godhead in all its fulness — each 
 person of the Godhead — shall give a look of delighted approval. 
 " With a countenance full of paternal affection he beholds them 
 in the midst of their sorrows, until, admitted through mercy to 
 the glory from which he excludes the wicked, they behold that 
 countenance which has always beheld them." (Home.) 
 
 Our Lord might sicg this Psalm at Bethany on such occa- 
 sions as that mentioned in Luke xiii. 81, 32, when they came 
 and said, " Get thee out hence, for Herod will kill thee." And 
 he has left it for us, that we may use it, as no doubt David 
 used it when it was first given to the Church, in times of danger 
 and threatening. Dr AUix would apply it specially to the 
 Church after she fled into the wilderness ; comparing ver. 2, 
 with Rev. xiii. ] 4. It applies with almost equal fulness to all 
 these cases, and yet also to an individual believer's case when 
 tempted, like that good man who said, "Sirs, it is a great thing - 
 to believe that there is a God ! " It exhibits to us — 
 
 The Righteous One's faith under apparent disaster. 
 
PSALM XII. — THE LORD'S WORD SHALL NOT FAIL. 41 
 
 PSALM XII. 
 
 To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 HELP, Lord ; for the godly man ceaseth ; 
 
 For the faithful fail from among the children of men ! 
 
 2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour : 
 
 With flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. 
 
 3 The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh 
 
 proud things : 
 
 4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail ; our lips are our own ; 
 
 who is lord over us ? 
 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, 
 Now will I arise, saith the Lord ; 
 I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. 
 
 6 The words of the Lord are pure words : 
 
 As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 
 
 7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this gene- 
 
 ration for ever, 
 
 8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted. 
 
 A Psalm for all ages, as well as for David's time. Elijah could The Tuie. 
 sing it, Jeremiah could sing it, and never was there a time when 
 this Psalm was more appropriate than in our own day. Though 
 written by David, and handed over to his " Chief Musician," 
 and though the " Sheminith' s" now unknown strings were 
 touched by the fingers of a Levite whose heart could sigh in 
 sympathy with its strain of sad foreboding and present gloom, 
 it is, at the same time, quite a Psalm for the last days. The 
 Lord is called upon to arise, for the godly perish. You see a 
 little band gathered under the floating banner of their King, 
 who had promised to come to their help in due time. One after 
 another sinks down, wearied and worn, while the remaining 
 few, at each such occurrence, cry to their King — • 
 
 "Help, Lord!" (Ver. 1.) 
 This is the cry that ascends from the saints, as one after Tiie contents. 
 another of their number is successively gathered to the tomb ; 
 while , " I will arise," (ver. 4,) is the response that faintly 
 reaches their ear. 
 
 "Help, Lord !" is their cry as they witness the increase of 
 bold infidelity, (ver. 2), and hear such mutterings of boastful 
 pride as these : 
 
42 PSALM XII. — ASSURANCE THAT THE LORD's WORD, 
 
 " Ihrough our tongues loe are strong. 
 
 Our lips are with tis, {i. e-, are our help. — Hengstenberg.) 
 " }V7io is lord over us f (Ver. 2, 3.) 
 
 The power of human talent and the grandeur of man's intellect 
 are boasted of; while ver. 2, shews that these same persons 
 flatter each other into deceitful peace, and are living without 
 regard to the holy law of love. Meanwhile, the remnant who 
 sigh in secret to the Lord — a remnant hated and often in 
 danger (ver. 5) — are sustained by the sure word of promise. 
 They tell their hope and faith in ver. 6, when they describe 
 " Jehovah's words :" 
 
 " The ivords of the Lord are pure icords : 
 As silver tried in a /menace of earth* 
 Purified seven times J' 
 All He has spoken about the Woman's Seed from the be- 
 ginning'; all He has spoken of Him in whom all nations shall 
 be blessed ; all He has spoken of David and David's seed ; all 
 is sure, all shall come to pass. And so they sing, (ver. 7), 
 " Thou shalt keep them (i. e., thine own), and shalt preserve 
 them from this generation," — a generation so corrupt and evil 
 that one may say of it — 
 
 " The wicked walk on every side ; 
 Vileness is held in honour by the sons ofmen.^' 
 
 How descriptive of the latter days ! How like the times of 
 which Peter speaks, when men shall " speak great swelling 
 words of vanity," (2 Peter ii. 1 8), and shall boldly ask, " Where 
 is the promise of his coming ?" (iii. 4.) How descriptive, too, 
 of the consolation of the saints ; for Peter tells us that this 
 shall be their comfort, " The Lord is not slack concerning his 
 promise," (ver. 9) ; and " according to His promise" they shall 
 continue looking for the New Heavens and New Earth, (ver. 
 13). They know that the " words of the Lord are pure words." 
 They cannot fail. 
 
 Some of the features of this scene are to be found in all the 
 conflicts that have risen between the woman's seed and the 
 
 * The original is difficult. Hengstenberg's rendering gives additional force 
 to the comparison, — " the purijkd silver of a lord of earth" — the fine silver of 
 some prince. Such is God's promise ; no dross in it ; no exaggeration ; no deceit. 
 
THOUGH MOCKED AT, SHALL NOT FAIL. 43 
 
 serpent's. At the same time, the times of David when he was 
 a persecuted man, though anointed to the kingdom, were such 
 that they might be compared to the days that precede the com- 
 ing of the Son of man. The flatterers of Saul hated David's 
 person and David's principles ; and could not fail to try to cast 
 contempt on " the Lord's words" in regard to him and his seed. 
 Such, also, were the days of the true David, our Lord, when He 
 appeared in our world as the Lord's anointed. We can easily 
 see how the proud Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees, might 
 be characterised by vers. 2, 8 ; and not less how, on such an 
 occasion as the Baptist's death, Jesus could use ver. 1. Let 
 us follow the Baptist's disciples, who have just buried their 
 master. They walk along in silent sadness ; for a witness to 
 the truth has perished. They seek out Jesus (Matt. xiv. 1 2), 
 and tell Him all that the foes of God have done. Jesus hears 
 and sympathises ; and may we not imagine the whole company 
 of disciples, with the master as " chief musician," sitting down 
 in the solitary place (ver. 13), and making it echo with the 
 plaintive cry, — 
 
 "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth," c&c. 
 The Church's eye, anointed with eye-salve, has ever since 
 been able to discern in the world resemblances to the same 
 state of things ; and never more clearly than now. Hence 
 David, and David's Son, and the seed of David's Son, have 
 ever found the strain of this song fitted to express what the 
 world made them feel. Horsley entitles it, " Of free thinkers ; 
 their cunning, audacity, and final excision." But this is only 
 one aspect of it. It is rather, 
 The Righteous One's consoling assurance that the Lord's 
 word, though mocked at, shall not faU. 
 
 PSALM XIIL 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 How long wilt thou foi-get me, O Lord ? for ever ? 
 How long wilt thou hide thy face from me ? 
 
 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, — having sorrow in my heart 
 
 daily ? 
 How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me ? 
 
44 PSALM XIII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE'S, LORD, HOW LONG ? 
 
 3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God : lighten mine eyes, IcstT sleep 
 
 the sleep of death ; 
 
 4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him ; 
 And those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 
 
 6 But I have trusted in thy mercy ;— my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. 
 6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. 
 
 Here is what has been called " the Righteous One's pathetio 
 remonstrance." The darkness may be felt ; the time seems 
 long ; the night wears slowly away ; hope deferred is making 
 the heart sick ; hea\dness hangs on the eyelid of the watcher. 
 
 "Sow long, Lord, will thou forget me still ? 
 How long wilt thou hide thy face from me ? 
 Hoio long shall I lay up counsel in my soul — sorrow in my heart daily ? 
 
 (Storing up plans of relief which all end in sorrovF.) 
 How long shall the enemy exalt himself over me V' 
 
 When David wandered in Judea, and mused on the long- 
 deferred promise of the Throne of Israel, he might use these 
 words first of all. When he saw no sign of Saul's dominion 
 ending, and no appearance of the Seed of the Woman, he was 
 in such circumstances as fitted him to be the instrument of the 
 Holy Ghost in writing for all after-times words which might 
 utter the feelings of melancholy weariness. 
 
 The Son of David came in the fulness of time. Many a night 
 of darkness He passed through. Sometimes the very shades 
 of death bent over Him. " My soul is exceeding sorrowful 
 even unto death \" Could He not most fitly take up ver. 4, as 
 He carried his cross along the " Via Dolorosa ?" Who more 
 fitly than he might appeal, — 
 
 " Consider, hear me, O Lord my God {Eli ! Eli !) 
 Make mine eyes glisten with joy, 
 Lest I sleep in death ! 
 
 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him, 
 Lest those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved .'" 
 
 High Priests, Governors, Scribes, Pharisees, Herodians, Sad- 
 ducees, common priests and common people, were all on the eve 
 of shouting triumph if He rose not from the grave ; and a burst 
 of joy from hell would respond to their derision if He failed to 
 arise, and failed to shew himself King of kings. 
 
PSALM XIII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE'S, LORD, HOW LONG? 45 
 
 But not our Head only, every member of his body also, has 
 found cause oftentimes to utter such complaints and fears. A 
 believer in darkness — a believer under temptation — a believer 
 under the pressure of some continued trial — a believer spend- 
 ing wearisome nights, and lying awake on his couch, may find 
 appropriate language here wherein to express his feelings to God, 
 and all the more appropriate because it is associated with the 
 Saviour's darkness, and so assures us of his sjrmpathy. We 
 take up the harp which He used in Galilee and Gethsemane ; 
 and in touching its strings, do we not recall to our Head the re- 
 membrance of " the days of his flesh ?" 
 
 How glorious too, for the Church to join with her Head in 
 the prospects of ver. 5 : — 
 
 " But as for me C^2i^)) I have trusted in thy inercy,'''' £c. 
 
 Leaning on the Father's love amid these sorrowful appeals. 
 He was sure, and in him they are sure, of a day of glory dawn- 
 ing — joy coming in the morning. Verse 6th anticipates not 
 only His own resurrection, but the resurrection of the saints 
 also, and the glory of the kingdom : — 
 
 " I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath dealt hountifidhj witJi me." 
 Glory much more abounds — joy has set in instead of sorrow, 
 in full tide ; fruition more than realizing the most " ample 
 propositions that hope made" to the weary soul. And this is 
 the blessed issue of what Calvin would perhaps have called, 
 the " QuouSQUE DoMiNE," and which we may call. 
 The Righteous One's, Lord, how long ? 
 
 PSALM XIV. 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. 
 
 They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, — there is none that 
 doeth good. 
 
 2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men. 
 To see if there was any that did understand, and seek God. 
 
 3 They are all gone aside, they arc altogether become filthy : 
 There is none that doeth good, no, not one. 
 
46 
 
 PSALM XIV. — VIEW OF EARTH AND ITS PROSPECTS. 
 
 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge ? 
 
 Who eat up my people as they eat up bread, and call not upon the Lord. 
 
 5 There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the 
 
 righteous. 
 
 6 Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge. 
 
 7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion ! 
 When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, 
 Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. 
 
 As we read these verses, we seem to pass from gloom to deeper 
 gloom ; and when ver, 7 suggests a remedy, it is as if a " spark 
 of light had been struck out from solid darkness." David 
 wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, but we know 
 not when ; it may have been in his wilderness-days, when 
 Judah seemed nearly as indifferent to Jehovah as were the 
 realms of the Gentiles. The title " Upon Mahalath," as in 
 Psalm Ixxxviii., has been considered by Hengstenberg, to be 
 not a name for a musical instrument, but as meaning " Upon 
 the sickness," the moral sore and sickness described in the 
 Psalm. Perhaps the title of Psalm Ixxxviii. favours this view. 
 But after all, some special instrument, used for melancholy sub- 
 jects, may be meant, and Gesenius has found for it an Ethiopic 
 root signifying, "to sing." 
 
 Messiah is the speaker far more than David ; for though 
 David could call the sheep of the house of Israel " my people," 
 as being given him by the Lord, yet it is Messiah that is wont 
 to speak in this manner. He is the shepherd whose voice we 
 recognise here, saying, " They eat up my people." (ver. 4.) He 
 it is who describes our world's condition — Oh, how unlike the 
 heaven He had left ! But amid the flood. He descries the 
 waters receding. He sees the overthrow of the ungodly (ver, 
 5), and whence the grand deliverance is to come, (ver. 7.) De- 
 liverance is to appear on the walls of Zion. " Salvation is of 
 the Jews." (John iv. 22.) From Israel comes the Saviour, bom 
 at Bethlehem, but crucified, rising, ascending at Jerusalem. 
 Out of Israel too, comes life from the dead to the world, when 
 the Redeemer returns again ; for, " Behold, darkness shall cover 
 the earth, and gross darkness the people : but the Lord shall 
 arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And 
 
PSALM XIV. — VIEW OF EARTH AND ITS PROSPECTS. 47 
 
 the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the bright- 
 ness of thy rising," (Isaiah Ix. 2, S). 
 
 Let us, then, read this Psalm as our Lord's report regarding 
 the state in which earth and its multitudes are found. 
 
 (Ver. 1.) O Father, they are denying that thou hast any The contents, 
 being. The whole earth is replenished with fools, who say in 
 their heart, " There is no God." They are corrupt ; they are 
 doing abominable deeds ; there is none that doeth good. 
 
 (Ver. 2.) O sons of men, the cry of earth's wickedness came 
 up to heaven. The Lord looked down to see if there were any 
 that understood and sought after God. 
 
 (Ver. 3.) Alas ! it is altogether according to the cry. They 
 are all gone aside. They are altogether become filthy. There 
 I is none that doeth good : NO, not one. 
 
 j (Ver. 4.) Yet they see not their folly. Who has bewitched 
 i them ? Have they no knowledge, that they eat up my people, 
 i and call not on Jehovah ? 
 
 I (Ver. 5.) But their damnation slumbereth not. On the very 
 spot where their folly has been wrought I see them trembling. 
 " Terror overtakes them ; for God is among the generation of 
 the righteous." 
 
 (Ver. 6.) Where is now your mouth, wherewith ye said, 
 Who is the Lord that we should serve Him ? Is not this the 
 people whom ye despised ? (Jud. ix. 38.) Ye cast shame on 
 the counsel of the poor, because he made the Lord his refuge. 
 Ye scorned the policy of those who made the Lord their wis- 
 dom ; but the Lord has now laughed you to scorn. 
 
 (Ver. 7.) O let the day dawn and the shadows flee away ! 
 Come quickly, year of my redeemed ! (Isaiah Ixiii. 4.) 
 
 " Ld Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad, 
 At the Lord's bringing back the captivity of His people." 
 
 Let the time come when earth' shall hear Israel's shouts of joy 
 at the opening of their prison, at the termination of their exile, 
 at the restoration of their long-lost prosperity, at the return of 
 their Shepherd to dwell among them. For when earth shall 
 hear that shout of joy, it shall be a token that now at length 
 has the time arrived when the full accomplishment shall take 
 
48 PSALM XV. — THE DWELLER IN THE HOLY HILL. 
 
 place of that promise to Abraham, " In thy seed shall all na- 
 tions of the earth be blessed." 
 
 Thus does the true Righteous One survey the world lying in 
 wickedness, and turn his eye toward the dawn of day, every 
 member sympathizing with the Head. We may describe the 
 Psalm as being a setting forth of 
 
 The Righteous One's view of earth, and its 'prospects. 
 
 PSALM XV. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 LoHD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? who shall dwell in thy holy 
 
 hill ? 
 
 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, 
 And speaketh the truth in his heart. 
 
 3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, 
 Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. 
 
 4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned ; — but he honoureth them that 
 
 fear the Lord. 
 He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. 
 6 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against 
 the innocent. 
 He that doeth these things shall never be moved. 
 
 Holy. "We heard of a " righteous generation" in last Psalm, and here 
 is one of them as a representative of the whole. None can 
 be said to have fulfilled the conditions, or come up to the cha- 
 racter here sketched, excepting Christ, if we view the matter 
 in its strictness ; although every member of His body lays 
 claim to His imputed obedience, and exhibits a goodly speci- 
 men of the effect of this imputation in producing personal 
 holiness. We consider this Psalm as descriptive of our Head 
 in His personal holiness, and of his members as made holy by 
 Him. 
 
 It is one thing to state how holiness is attained, and quite 
 another to assert that perfect holiness is possessed. When you 
 describe a worshipper in the Holy Hill as one who is holy, you 
 do not on that account maintain that his holiness was self-de- 
 
PSALM XV. — THE DWELLER IN THE HOLY HILL. 49 
 
 rived, or that it was his prmiary qualification. Far less do 
 you assert that holiness of character stands in the place of the 
 blood that cleanses the conscience. There are several links in 
 the golden chain, and my pointing to one of these does in no 
 way interfere with my conviction of the necessity of the rest. 
 If I find it said of our Lord : — 
 
 "It is Christ that died ; 
 Yea, rather, that is I'isen again ! 
 Who is even at the right hand of God ! 
 Who also maketh intercession for us," 
 
 I may take up one feature of this Redeemer, and may say, " He 
 who saves us is One who is risen again ;" but by so saying I 
 do not deny, but rather necessarily include, the assertion, that 
 He died first of all. So also if I say, " He who is saved is one 
 who has holiness ;" I do not, by saying this, deny that the man 
 has first of all been made clean by the blood : on the contrary, 
 I imply that as a thing of course, necessarily preceding the 
 other. Again, if I say, " That Priest has washed his hands and 
 feet in the laver," I do not deny, but, on the contrary, neces- 
 sarily imply, that first of all he was at the Altar, and touched 
 the blood there. Or, once more, if I read 1 Tim. i, 5, — 
 
 " Now the end of the commandment is charity 
 Out of a pure heart, 
 And out of a good conscience, 
 And out of faith unfeigned," 
 
 I may fix on the middle clause and say, the love, or charity, 
 aimed at by the law, is the product of a " good conscience." 
 But do I, on account of that statement, at all deny that "faith 
 unfeigned" is needful in order to arrive at a good conscience ? 
 It is even thus with our Psalm, when received as stating what 
 belongs to the members of Christ. It tells of their "pure 
 heart ;" but then that pure heart came from " a good con- 
 science ;" and that good conscience was the effect of" unfeigned 
 faith" in the blood. 
 
 It is, however, only our Head that can fully realize the cha- 
 racter here given. " Holiness to the Lord" is on our High 
 Priest's mitre, while we, as inferior priests, go forward in his 
 
50 PSALM XV. — THE DWELLER IN THE HOLY HILL. 
 
 Tiie contents gteps, to dwcll in tliG Tabemacle.* The question is asked, ver. 
 1, " Who shall chvell ?" abide, be a guest for ever, in the palace 
 of our King and God ? Verse 2 tells the outward purity re- 
 quired, and the iniuard guilelessness. Verse 3, the purity of 
 ^vord ; verse 4, conpany ; verse 5, disinterested and self-denied 
 love to His neighbours ; ver. 5, uprightness, if He once promise 
 he will not " exchange" his promise for anything more conve- 
 nient to himself, and will not fail to shew the heart of a brother 
 in everyday transactions. These are signs of a renewed nature, 
 very rare in our world, and such as manifest the man to be, 
 " though in the world, yet not of the world ." In verse 4, we have 
 the key to the difference between such a one and the man of 
 earth, "He honoureth thera that fear the Lord ;" his heart lies 
 in the company of those who fear Jehovah ; and if so, then he 
 himseK prefers Jehovah's company to all besides. He is one 
 who has fellowship with God. 
 
 The holy hill, g^t we uiust uot fail to notice the " Tabernacle " and the 
 ''Holy Hill," where this man's dwelling shall be for ever. 
 The Tabernacle of Moses, which, in David's days, was pitched 
 on the slopes of Zion-hill, is the type of greater things. In 
 that figure we see God in the cloud of glory over the mercy- 
 seat, dwelling with men, and the Priest entering in on the 
 atonement-day, to His presence. All this was typical of what 
 is now before us in clearer light. The redeemed go in with 
 the blood of the Redeemer through the rent veil, (for the atone- 
 ment-day is " now") to Him who is in heaven. And when 
 the Lord returns, and the " Tabernacle of God is with men," — 
 when Christ, the true mercy-seat, is here — then shall we go 
 to that Tabernacle, and see Him, on that Holy Hill, where his 
 presence shall be manifested. (See this more at large in Psalm 
 xxiv.) But on that day none shall ascend that Hill^ or ap- 
 proach that Tabernacle, who are not " sanctified." On this 
 point Revelation xxi. 27 corresponds with our Psalm — into 
 
 * As Barclay puts it, with truth though not with poetic taste, — 
 " Now wlio is He ? Say if ye can 
 Who so shall gain the firm abode ? 
 Pilate shall say, ' Behold the Man ! ' 
 And John, ' Behold the Lamb of God !' " 
 
PSALM XVI. — Messiah's satisfaction with his lot. ol 
 
 New Jerusalem " there shall in no wise enter anything that 
 defileth or maketh a lie/' Over its gate is written, " Without 
 holiness no man shall see God." 
 
 Here, then, we have before lis a description of 
 The dweller in the Holy Hill of God. 
 
 PSALM XVI. 
 
 Michtam of Davdd. 
 
 1 Preserve me, God : for in thee do I put my trust. 
 
 2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord : 
 My goodness extendeth not to thee ; 
 
 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is 
 
 all my delight. 
 
 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god : 
 
 Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names 
 into my lips. 
 
 5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup : — thou main- 
 
 tainest my lot. 
 
 6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly 
 
 heritage. 
 
 7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel : 
 My reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 
 
 8 I have set the Lord always before me : 
 
 Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 
 
 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth : my flesh also shall 
 
 rest in hope. 
 
 10 For thou wilt not leaA'e my soul in hell ; 
 
 Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 
 
 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life : — in thy presence is fulness of joy ; 
 At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. 
 
 It is not sin alone that characterises our world. Misery goes ^^/'Jorpow'"^"'^' 
 hand in hand with sin. And hence, as the preceding Psalm 
 set before us One who was holy in the midst of a world lying 
 in wickedness, though breathing its air, walking on its high- 
 way, handling its objects, and conversing with its inhabitants, 
 so this Psalm exhibits One who is happy, truly happy, not- 
 withstanding a world of broken cisterns around him, and the 
 sighs borne to his ear on every breeze. This happy One is 
 
02 PSALM XVI. — MESSIAH S SATISFACTION WITH HIS LOT. 
 
 " tJie Man of Sorroivs" — no other than He ! For Peter, in 
 Acts ii. 31, declares, " David speaketh concerning Him !" 
 
 This happy One (followed in all ages by his chosen ones) 
 walks through many a varied scene, and at every step expresses 
 satisfaction and perfect contentment with the Father's arrange- 
 ments. In verses 1, 2, he tells, with complacent delight, into 
 whose hands it is he has committed his all : " Thou art my 
 Lord," — my soul has said this with all its strength. And 
 
 " Mj/ goodness is not over Thee ;" 
 whatever is good or blessed in my lot, makes no pretensions 
 to add anything to thy blessedness, to overshadow thee ; nor 
 do I allow the bliss I enjoy to supersede Him who blesses me.* 
 And does not every member of his body respond to all this ! 
 Who of them does not reply, " My Lord and my God ! thou 
 art the very bower of bliss under which I sit. We are blessed in 
 thee ; but thou needest not us to bless thee I" 
 
 Satisfied with his Father as God, and Lord, and Guardian, 
 he is equally so with the sphere within which he must move : 
 " Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." None on 
 earth, seem to Him so pleasant and " honourable" (D^'''7^<), 
 (see Psa. viii. 1) as the saints. And not less is He pleased with 
 his separation from all idols and all idolatry. (See ver. 3 and 4.) 
 And does not every member of his body respond, " Amen !" 
 gladly recognising their own company as the circle within which 
 is " all their delight." But how instructive and wonderfid it is 
 to find, in ver. 5, such entire contentedness with the Lord's 
 doings, and such a recognition of his will. For it was enemies 
 that brought him many a bitter draught to drink, the vinegar 
 and the gall, — it was " not an enemy," but worse far, a perfi- 
 dious friend, that plunged the dagger into his heart ; and yet 
 in all this he sees the Lord giving him his cup and portion. 
 Nor less remarkable is it to hear, in ver. 6, the Man of Sorrows 
 tell that his lines have fallen to him in pleasant places ! He 
 that had nowhere to lay his head, how happy is He ! What 
 
 * As for " goodness," see Psalm cvi. 6, and the equivalent ^iZC of Psalm 
 cxxviii. 5. In the "T!'»'py there may be reference to the sky over our head. 
 Such a passage as Psalm cviii. 5 is parallel ; " Great aljovc the heavens"— the 
 heavens not above thee, but thou over them. 
 
PSALM XVI. — Messiah's satisfaction with his lot. 53 
 
 a calm contentment sits upon bis pensive brow ! Earth and 
 hell are unable to destroy his blessed lot. He has (ver. 7) found 
 communion with his Father, when others sleep, — in the retired 
 valleys and hills of Galilee, on the Mount of Olives, in the 
 wilderness. The presence and care of his Father is a fund 
 of enjoyment in itself (Ver. 8.) All may be scattered and 
 leave him alone ; but yet he is not alone, for the Father is 
 with him. 
 
 Such joys as these still gladden every believer's soul, even 
 as they did refresh the " Author and Finisher of our Faith." 
 He drank of these brooks by the way, " therefore was his heart 
 glad." That he might endure to the end, and as man endure, 
 he tasted of needful draughts in his sore undertaking ; and his 
 draughts of refreshment were of the kind which we have seen 
 above. We, too, can taste the same, and we need the same. 
 Nor less do we need what follows in ver. 9, secure confidence in 
 prospect of death, and (ver. 10) the hope of blessed resurrec- 
 tion. Our Head laid his flesh in the Joseph's sepulchre, ex- 
 pecting the future result, a speedy resurrection. His soul was 
 not to be left long separate from his body — out of paradise it 
 was soon to come, and on the third day to rejoin its body ere 
 corruption could begin. But we, too, his members, are as sure 
 of a return of our souls from j)aradise to join our bodies on the 
 Resurrection Morn, when " this corruptible shall put on incor- 
 ruption." And thus to the Head and members shall their full 
 satisfaction be realized, and that for ever. He and they shall 
 tread the path of life, and enter into "fulness of joy, pleasures 
 for evermore," — the blessedness of the eternal kingdom. 
 
 Such are the riches of this Psalm that some have been led 
 to think the obscure title, " Michtam," has been prefixed to it 
 on account of its golden stores. For DJIS is used of the " gold 
 of Ophir," {e.g., Psa. xlv. 10), and DJlIlp might be a derivative 
 from that root. But as there is a group of five other Psalms 
 (viz., Ivi., Ivii., Iviii., lix., Ix.) that bear this title, whose subject 
 matter is various, but which all end in a tone of triumph, it 
 has been suggested that the Septuagint may be nearly right 
 in their 2rj5Xo7ga^/a, as if " A Psalm to be hung up or in- 
 scribed on a pillar to commemorate victory." It is, >uiwe\er, 
 
The tone. 
 
 51 PSALM XVII. — DISSATISFACTION WITH A PRESENT WORLD. 
 
 more like still that the term, " Michtam" (like " Maschil"), is a 
 musical term, whose real meaning and use we have lost, and 
 may recover only when the ransomed house of Israel return 
 home with songs. Meanwhile the subject-matter of this Psalm 
 itself is very clearly this — 
 
 The Righteous One's satisfaction with his lot. 
 
 PSALM XVIL 
 
 A Prayer of David. 
 
 1 Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, 
 
 Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. 
 
 2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence ; 
 Let thine eyes behold the things that arc equal. 
 
 3 Thou hast proved mine heart ; thou hast visited me in the night ; 
 Thou hast ti-ied me, and shalt find nothing ; 
 
 I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. 
 
 4 Concerning the works of men, 
 
 By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. 
 
 5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, — that my footsteps slip not. 
 
 6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God : 
 Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. 
 
 7 Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand. 
 Them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. 
 
 8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, 
 
 9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who com- 
 
 pass me about. 
 
 10 They are enclosed in their own fat : with their mouth they speak proudly. 
 
 11 They have now compassed us in our steps : 
 
 They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth ; 
 
 12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey. 
 
 And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. 
 ] 3 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down : 
 
 Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword : 
 
 14 From men which are thy hand, O Lord, 
 
 From men of the world, which have their portion in this life, 
 
 And whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure : 
 
 They are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. 
 
 15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness : 
 I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. 
 
 The same strain again — only here the sin and sorrow of the 
 Avorld are brought together, and the Righteous One is seen 
 
PSALM XVII. — DISSATISFACTION WITH A PRESENT WORLD, 55 
 
 lifting his eyes to heaven, as sure conqueror over both. Earth, 
 whether viewed from the top of Peor, or the field of Zophim, 
 is still the same fallen earth ; and not less gratefully does the 
 shout of the King of Jeshurum greet our ears, by whatever 
 cliff of Pisgah it may happen to be echoed back. It is called 
 A Prayer, for it consists of strong appeals to God. 
 
 While fully satisfied with his lot, the Righteous One tells 
 us how little reason there is to be satisfied with the world 
 wherein his lot was for a time cast. Dissatisfied with man's 
 judgment, he appeals to the Lord, and ver. 1 is equivalent to 
 those two words in his prayer (John xvii. 25), " righteous 
 Father." Before Him he spreads his cause, expecting (ver. 2, 3) 
 a reversal of the world's sentence. The Father " proved him 
 and could find nothing." Was it to this he referred in John 
 xiv. 30, when telling of Satan's attempt ? Mysterious trial ! 
 all-perfect righteousness ! Heaven and hell have tried it ; and 
 neither the holiness of God, nor the envy of Satan, could detect 
 a flaw. We find him appealing to the Father as to his heart 
 (ver. 3), as to his words (ver. 4), and as to his ways (ver. 5) 
 — sure of the verdict from the lips of Holiness itself. And, 
 united to Him, each believer may make the same appeal, with 
 the same success, while he is led also, in the very act of so 
 doing, to plant his steps in the footsteps of his all-perfect 
 Surety. In ver. 6, emphasis rests on / C^S) ; " I have called ;" 
 let others do the same. 
 
 Still dissatisfied with men, in ver. 6-8 He seems to unbosom 
 himself to the Father, fixing his eye on the marvellous love 
 shewn in redemption, "the tender mercies," or "bowels of 
 mercy," by reason of which the " Dayspring from on high hath 
 visited us," (Luke i. 78). 
 
 " Single out thy lovingkindness, fhou deliverer oftlwse that trust." 
 
 Saints are called "Trusters," (D^Din) and the prayer is, 
 " Set apart (Psalm iv. 3) for me some special mercy. Make 
 it appear in its singular brightness, O thou who deliverest me 
 who trust in Thee, and wilt deliver all others who simply trust 
 in Thee through me ! " We, too, may follow Him even into the 
 very secret of the Most High, when in ver. 8 he presses for- 
 ward and sits down under the wings of majesty and love — at 
 
56 PSALM XVII. — DISSATISFACTION WITH A PRESENT WORLD. 
 
 rest in the " God of Israel, under whose wings he has come to 
 trust.'" And here we may, with our Head, survey the turmoil 
 of human wickedness, beholding (verses 9-14) their assaults, 
 their snares, their lion-like anger, their conspiracies, and, in 
 ver. 14, their luxury and worldly ease. 
 
 " Ml/ soul deliver from the wicked, hy thy sword, 
 From men, by thy hand, Lord, 
 
 From men!''' (Perhaps, frail, dying men, if D"'Jni!3 be connected 
 with r)'!\t2 to die.) 
 
 " From the transitory world .'" 
 Grieved at such scenes, the Righteous One suddenly darts his 
 eye into the future, and anticipates resurrection-glory, — a glory 
 that shall cast human splendour into the shade, and leave the 
 Lord's people without one unsatisfied desire. Our Head sung, 
 in prospect of his resurrection, and we, his members, sing, in 
 prospect of ours, — 
 
 " But as for me I shall behold his face in righteousness." (Ver. 15.) 
 O righteous Father, O holy Father (John xvii.), I come to thee, 
 and, for ever dead unto sin, and escaped from the world's miry 
 clay, I shall stand before Thee who art righteous in the beauty 
 of pure righteousness. And my dissatisfactions shall be for- 
 gotten when entering on that enjoyment, — thou appearing in 
 glory to meet me, and I conformed to the glory that meets me 
 at my rising, 
 
 ^^ I shall he satisfied tvhen thy likeness awakes " — 
 This likeness is spoken of in Numb. xii. 8. It is the mani- 
 festation of God in his glory. The "glory of the Father" 
 (Rom. vi. 8) met Christ at the sepulchre, and He arose glo- 
 rious, soul and body. So shall it be with each of his members. 
 Christ our Life, the incarnate manifestation of the likeness of 
 God, shall appear in glory ; and we shall instantly be con- 
 formed to Him "seeing Him as He is" (J John iii. 2). The 
 appearing of that glory, in om: dark world, whence it has so 
 long been exiled, seems to be meant by the " awakening of His 
 likeness." Psalm Ixxiii. 20 speaks of it again, and attributes 
 to that event the eternal confusion of the worldlings who had 
 their portion and cup fidl for a season. 
 
 It was in the act of singing these Avords, as they stand in the 
 
PSALM XVIII. — MESSIAH SAVED AND GLORIFIED. 57 
 
 metrical version, that one of our Scottish martyrs, Alexander 
 Home, passed from the scaffold to glory. With a solemn eye 
 and glowing soul, he was able amid gathered thousands to ex- 
 press his rest and hope in these words, — 
 " But as for me I thine own face 
 In righteousness shall see ; 
 And with thy likeness when I wake 
 I satisfied shall be." 
 
 And who of all the saints would not join him ? Who would 
 not take up every clause of the whole Psalm ? Who would not 
 spnpathize in 
 The Righteous One's dissatisfaction ivith a pr-esent world? 
 
 PSALM XVIII. 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spalco unto the Lord the 
 words of tliis song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, 
 and from the hand of Saul : And he said, 
 
 1 I WILL love thee, O Lord, my strength. 
 
 2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer ; 
 My God, my sti-eugth, in whom I will trust ; 
 
 My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 
 
 3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised : 
 So shall I be saved from mine enemies. 
 
 4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made 
 
 me afraid. 
 
 5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about : the snares of death prevented me. 
 
 6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God : 
 
 He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even 
 into his ears. 
 
 7 Then the earth shook and trembled ; 
 
 The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he 
 was wroth. 
 
 8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, 
 
 And fire out of his mouth devoured : — coals were kindled by it. 
 
 9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down : and darkness was under 
 
 his feet. 
 
 10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly : yea, he did fly upon the wings 
 
 of the wind. 
 
 11 He made darkness his secret place ; 
 
 His pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. 
 
 12 At the brightness that was before iiim his thick clouds passed, — hail-stones 
 
 and coals of fire. 
 
58 PSALM XVIII. — MESSIAH SAVED AND GLORIFIED. 
 
 13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, 
 
 And the Highest gave his voice ; — hail-stones and coals of fire. 
 
 14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them ; 
 And he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. 
 
 15 Then the channels of water were seen, and the foundations of the world 
 
 were discovered 
 At thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. 
 
 16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. 
 
 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy. 
 
 And from them which hated me : for they were too strong for me. 
 
 18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity : — but the Lord was my stay. 
 
 19 He brought me forth also into a large place ; — he delivered me, because he 
 
 delighted me. 
 
 20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness ; 
 According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. 
 
 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed 
 
 from my God. 
 
 22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his 
 
 statutes from me. 
 
 23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. 
 
 24 Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, 
 According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. 
 
 25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful ; 
 With an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright ; 
 
 26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure ; 
 
 And with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. 
 
 27 For thou wilt save the afilicted people ; but wilt bring down high looks. 
 
 28 For thou wilt light my candle : the Lord my God -will enlighten my 
 
 darkness. 
 
 29 For by thee I have run through a troop ; and by my God have I leaped 
 
 over a wall. 
 
 30 As for God, his way is perfect : the word of the Lord is tried : 
 He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. 
 
 31 For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God ? 
 
 32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. 
 
 33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. 
 
 34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 
 
 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation : 
 
 And thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made 
 me great. 
 
 36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet'did not slip. 
 
 37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them : 
 Neither did I turn again till they were consumed. 
 
 38 I have Avounded them that they were not able to rise:— they are fallen 
 
 under my feet. 
 
 39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle : 
 Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against mc. 
 
PSALM XVIII, — MESSIAH SAVED AND GLORIFIED. 59 
 
 40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies ; 
 That I might destroy them that hate me. 
 
 41 They cried, but there was none to save them : — even unto the Lord, but 
 
 he answered them not. 
 
 42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind : 
 I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. 
 
 43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people -. 
 And thou hast made me the head of the heathen : 
 
 A people whom I have not known shall serve me. 
 
 44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me : 
 The strangers shall submit themselves unto me. 
 
 45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. 
 
 46 The Lord liveth ! and blessed be my rock ; and let the God of my salva- 
 
 tion be exalted. 
 
 47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me. 
 
 48 He delivereth me from mine enemies : 
 
 Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me . 
 Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 
 
 49 Therefore will I give thanks imto thee, Lord, among the heathen, 
 And sing praises unto thy name. 
 
 50 Greatdeliverancegiveth he to his king ; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, 
 To David, and to his seed for evermore. 
 
 This is a Psalm of " The Lord's Servant," a title given to one 
 called to specific services for God. It was given into the hands 
 of " The Chief Musician" on the day when the Lord had de- 
 livered from every foe. The circumstances were peculiar, and 
 so is the style of the song. Thus ver. 1, " / will love thee" is 
 expressed by the unusual word D^"^^?, which can be expressed 
 only by some such paraphrase as " My bowels yearn in love to 
 thee"* And then the next term, " My strength," ''pfri is rare 
 but very expressive, equivalent to, '' Thou who hast held me up 
 firm and fast." 
 
 It is meant for a greater than David, but David's circum- 
 stances furnished an appropriate occasion for giving to the 
 Church a song such as might suit Messiah, and all his members 
 too. David's circumstances, that made him suitable to be the 
 vehicle of this divine communication, have moulded the lan- 
 
 * Sternhold had no doubt felt that there was something veiy energetic in 
 the original, and so he has versified it thus, with considerable success : 
 " God, my strength and fortitude 
 Of force I must love thee ; 
 Thou art my castle and defence 
 In my necessity."' 
 
60 PSALM XVIII.— MESSIAH SAVED AND GLORIFIED. 
 
 guage ; but we are not to carry the allusion to liis history too far. 
 Some have supposed that there is reference in verses 7-15 to 
 some tempest that helped David's victory on some occasion ; but 
 we may be content with observing that the style is coloured by 
 David's experience. Thus, ver. 2 amplifies the ^p^H of ver. 1. 
 " The Lord is my )^^D :" my precipitous rock (like 1 Sam. 
 xxiii. 28), which foes find inaccessible. " My iTlliiD strong- 
 hold" amid such rocks ; like those of Engedi, 1 Sam. xxiii. 29. 
 " My deliverer," not leaving me simply to the defence of rocks, 
 but himself interposing with his loving arm. " My God! " 
 not deliverance only to me, but every thing, my all in all ! 
 " My l^ii," my firm, immoveable rock (Isa. xxvi. 4) who never 
 changes. " In Him will 1 trust" In such a one as this may 
 I not be satisfied? And when I go forth to the battle field, 
 this Jehovah is " My Shield ;" and by Him I win victory ; 
 " The horn of my Salvation !" And as I return to my encamp- 
 ment on yonder height, such as 1 Sam. xxvi. 1 3 used to be to 
 me, far above the reach of foes, I sing of Him as " My High 
 Place''' the height where I repose secure. 
 
 But the Psalm was meant for the Lord Jesus very specially. It 
 presents a singular history of some portions of our Lord's mighty 
 undertakings, all related in such a manner as that his mem- 
 bers (and David among the rest) might often use it for them- 
 selves. In Heb. ii. 1 3, Paul quotes verse 2 as our Lord's words : 
 " / will put my trust in him ;" to shew that Christ, as our 
 brother, leant on God, just as we ourselves would lean our 
 weakness on Almighty strength. And again, in Eom. xv. 9, 
 he quotes verse 49, "I will confess to thee among the Gentiles," 
 to shew Christ's deep interest in the world at large. So that 
 we have, by means of these two references, — one from the be- 
 ginning, the other from the close, — the whole Psalm marked 
 out (bracketed within these two quotations) as belonging to 
 Christ in a special and direct manner. 
 
 It is, then, our Brother who here sings. (Heb. ii. 13.) He 
 begins with telling his younger brethren what his Father ("His 
 Father and ours") did for him in the day of the sadness of his 
 heart. He is relating some of the hidden things, which are 
 nowhere (^Ise recorded, but which fit in to the time of Gethse- 
 
 J 
 
PSALM XVIII.— MESSIAH SAVED AND GLORIFIED. 61 
 
 mane sufferiug, and the three hours' darkness, and the earth- 
 quake, and the rending of the Temple veil, — things tliat took 
 place in the view of other spectators than man, when the "prince 
 of the air" was overthrown, and the Father, with his legions of 
 angels, came forward to deliver. 
 
 The mention of the " cherub" in verse 10 is not to be over- 
 looked : " He rode upon a cherub." Like a king or warrior, 
 the Lord is represented as going forth in his chariot ; but he 
 mounts, on that memorable day, a chariot whose coat of arms 
 is the cherub. He goes forth in his cherub-chariot, and this 
 is sufficient to shew the errand on which he is gone out : it is 
 redemption. For that symbol is the redemption-symbol. 
 Cherubim in paradise after the fall ; cherubim on the mercy- 
 seat, with their feet touching the blood, and their whole weight 
 on the ark ; cherubim on the veil that was rent ; — everywhere 
 cherub 1711 (the four living beings of Rev. iv.) represented the 
 Redeemed. How significant to the universe, when Jehovah 
 rose up with the symbol of man's redemption, to go forth to 
 the aid of man's Redeemer. 
 
 Let us begin, then. The true Sweet Singer of Israel, the 
 firstborn among many brethren, stands on the shore of his 
 Red Sea, and sings, in verses 1 and 2, the grace and glory 
 of his God. What a God he is : " My strength, my rock,* my 
 fortress," &c. Then comes the story of his awful conflict. He 
 traverses the field with us, and tells us of his cries that pierced 
 the heavens and the Father's heart (ver. 3-6), — a commen- 
 tary on Heb. v. 7. But from verse 7 to 15 what a scene of 
 terrific incidents is opened to view ! " The cords" of the hun- 
 ter " death" were enclosing him ; and the " torrents of Belial" 
 — floods swollen with all the mischief of hell and hellish men, 
 — were sweeping down upon him, when his cry began to be 
 noticed, and the Father rose up. Earth shook — smoke and 
 fire were seen by those same angels who were witnesses of the 
 smoke and fire on Sinai, attesting the majesty of the law ; and 
 the same heavens bowed that bowed when the Law was given, 
 
 * The clause, "God of my rock," in 2 Sam. xxii. 3, is properly " my rock- 
 God," i.e., my strong, rock-like, God. 
 
(52 PSALM XVIII. — MESSIAH SAVED AND GLORIFIED. 
 
 the same darkness attended this descent, for now the Law-ful- 
 iUler was about to present the law fulfilled. He came with the 
 c/(!,er^t6-symbol, inasmuch as there was now to be redemption 
 from the curse of the law. But there was no abatement of his 
 glory — no obscuring of his majesty ; on the contrary, there 
 was the same covering of darkness, as when the law was given, 
 and thereafter the same brightness shot forth. Hailstones, too, 
 as when He overcame his enemies at Bethhoron, attested the 
 presence of the same majesty and power : the same thunder 
 uttered its voice, the same lightning-an-ows flew abroad. It 
 was Israel's God in his majesty ; yes, the same that laid bare 
 the Red Sea's channel, (verses 14, 15), who then appeared in 
 still greater displays of majesty. It was a scene not witnessed 
 by mortal eyes, but, no doubt, "seen of angels." 
 
 At length the Redeemer was delivered. " He sent from 
 above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters" (Verses 
 1 6-18). In vain do the scribes and elders triumph, sealing the 
 sepulchre stone, and setting a watch ; in vain does Satan exult, 
 as if he had crushed the woman's seed. 
 
 " They prevented me, {i.e. got before me, as if between me and my re- 
 fuge,) in the day of my calamity.^' 
 
 But Jehovah came — resurrection followed, with all its con- 
 sequences. He stood in "a large place ;" and soon sat down 
 at the right hand of Majesty on high. And in that hour every 
 member of his body was virtually "raised with Him, and 
 made to sit with Him in the heavenly places," — in a large 
 room ! 
 
 And was all this done in conformity with law and righteous- 
 ness ? The law was honoured then, and is honoured and mag- 
 nified for ever, by all that the Redeemer wrought. Vers. 20- 
 26 declares it : 
 
 " Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness. 
 
 " According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me. 
 
 " Because I kept the ways of the Lord — 
 
 " All his judgments were before me, 
 
 " And I did not put away his statutes from me." 
 
 " Yea, I was npright before Nim" &c. 
 
 Henceforth, nothing hinders the application of his redemption- 
 
PSALM XVIII.— MESSIAH SAVED AND GLORIFIED. 63 
 
 work on the part of God ; and on man's part there is nothing 
 required but the poverty of spirit that is willing to receive a 
 gift. Pride, that caused the fall, hinders the rising again of 
 the fallen. 
 
 " For thou wilt save the people that are poor,'' ^ 
 " But ivill bring doion high looks" (ver. 27). 
 
 Our Brother, having brought us thus far in his history, tells 
 us once more of the Father's love to Him and his people, and 
 how fully the Father, who equipped Him for the former struggle, 
 has equipped him for whatever remains for him to do. (Verses 
 28-35). The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all 
 things into his hands. He seems suddenly to remind the Father 
 of this, (verses 35, 36), in preparation for what is coming, say- 
 ing,— 
 
 " Thy gentleness hath made me great." 
 
 Then follows the final assault (long deferred) upon his unyield- 
 ing enemies.* (Verses 37-42.) It is evidently the day of his 
 Second Coming ; for we hear the cry (v. 41), when " there is 
 none to save :" the Master has risen up and shut to the door. 
 Rocks and mountains cannot shelter foes, any more than could 
 the cave of Makkedah the five kings that fled to it. Our Joshua 
 calls them out, and puts his own foot upon their necks. (V. 40, 
 compared with Josh. x. 24). And then is earth subdued under 
 Him. (Ver. 43, 44, 45). Isaiah lii. 15 is fulfilled : nations 
 coming to Him, as did the Queen of Sheba, attracted by the 
 report of his grace and glory. 
 
 * The li^nD of V. 45, is the same word used in Ps. Ixvi. 3, and Ixxxi. 16. It 
 originally expressed '■'■feigned obedience," through fear or flattery ; the kind of 
 submission yielded by men to irresistible conquerors. But here we must un- 
 derstand the word to be accommodated to the circumstances of the case, and to 
 express the completeness of the homage rendered to Messiah, arising from the 
 feeling of his irresistible greatness. It is q. d. all the homage that was ever 
 given by subdued nations to their conquerors, shall be given to Messiah. The 
 feignedness of the submission is not to be considered. Just as in Isaiah viii. 13, 
 " Make Jehovah your dread, the object of your terror;'' (yipQ). The allu- 
 sion is to what idolators felt toward their horrid idols : but it is only an allu- 
 sion, q.d., let Jehovah be the object of your heart's reverence, — this is your 
 dread ! 
 
64< PSALM XVIII. — ^MESSIAH SAVED AND GLORIFIED. 
 
 The Lord alone is exalted in that day. The glory resounds 
 to Him (verses 46-48) ; and "nin''_"'n" is the watchword, or 
 congratulatory acclamation (1 Kings i. 25, 31), of all the earth 
 — " Jehovah liveth !" Jew and Gentile are seen in union ; 
 for the Deliverer (ver. 49-50) declares his celebration of Je- 
 hovah's name among the Gentiles, while he shews kindness 
 " to David and his seed for ever." 
 
 Well may we join with all the members of our Head, " made 
 more than conquerors" in Him, and enjoying our share in all 
 these triumphs along with Him, — well may we join in the ex- 
 clamation of ver. 50, 
 
 '' Thou ivlio makest great tlie salvations of his King ! " ' 
 The full, salvation-work wrought out by our appointed King, 
 is called " JTiJ^W ; " and these things are all done in the way of 
 might and majesty. 
 
 But now see how we too may sing all this ; even as David 
 could sing it, as well as David's son. We sing of our deliver- 
 ances, and remember all the while that the source of them 
 was God's rising up for us in all his power, invisible yet 
 awfully great. And then in ver. 20-27, we, like David, may 
 speak before the Lord of the righteousness we have got, and 
 of the purity He himself has bestowed. It is with our eye 
 on Christ's righteousness imputed, and Christ's Spirit im- 
 parted, that we so sing, humbly declaring what He has wrought 
 for us. As for ver. 28-86, they tell our experience to the 
 life ; and as for ver. 87-45, they tell, in our case, of the 
 day when we shall share with our Head, in bruising Satan 
 under our feet, and when Rev. iii. 9 shall be fulfilled. What 
 are we that we should be called upon to join in such a song ! 
 What are we, Lord, that thy Son should be our elder brother, 
 and work all this for us ! Enable us for evermore to love, 
 serve, glorify, and follow fully that Saviour who was saved when 
 he took our place ! And never may we sing this Psalm but 
 with burning love to Him, as we think of 
 
 The Righteous One saved and glorified. 
 
PSALM XIX. — THE TWOFOLD WITNESS. 65 
 
 PSALM XIX. 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament sheweth his 
 
 handywork. 
 
 2 Day unto day uttcreth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 
 
 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 
 
 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end 
 
 of the world. 
 In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 
 
 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. 
 And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 
 
 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the 
 
 ends of it : 
 And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 
 
 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul : 
 
 The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple : 
 
 8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: 
 
 The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes : 
 
 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever : 
 
 The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 
 
 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold : 
 Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 
 
 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned : and in keeping of them there 
 
 is great reward. 
 
 12 Who can understand his errors ? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 
 
 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins ; — let them not have 
 
 dominion over me : 
 Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great trans- 
 gression. 
 
 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart. 
 
 Be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. 
 
 Standing on the platform of earth, but looking away from 
 what in it is merely man's work, the eye of him that speaks 
 in this Psalm has rested first on the glorious heavens, and 
 then on the law that reveals Him who dwelleth in the hea- 
 vens. Law is here equivalent to Revelation ; it is ny\n ; that is, 
 what he teaches. 
 
 There will be a time when, under the seven-fold light of 
 the New Heavens that will stretch their canopy over a New 
 Earth, it may be said yet more emphatically than now, that 
 " without voice, or articulate sound/' 
 
 E 
 
G6 • PSALM XIX. — THE TWOFOLD WITNESS 
 
 " The heavens are teUinrf thefflory of God." 
 
 " Daij unto day pours out a gushing stream of speech,'' dc- 
 
 And then, too, shall we be better able to read that glorious law, 
 that tells of Jehovah, — for we shall see better then than we do 
 now how " perfect'^ it is, how " sure,'" never failing in threaten- 
 ing or promise, how "right" how really "eternal ;" better 
 than " gold ;" and what a future as well as present "reward" 
 there is in keeping it ! But why should we not even now 
 reach far into the understanding of all this ? His '"Law," i. e. 
 his revelation of his will (n"lin, teaching), is "perfect," or entire, 
 wanting nothing ; and so it can furnish the soul that needs to 
 be " restored" with what suits its case. His " testimony," i.e. 
 his witness, (with a tacit reference to the Tabernacle of Witness), 
 or declaration of what is really good and evil, sweet and bitter, is 
 " sure," worthy to be trusted as true, not being like the specula- 
 tions and systems of philosophy ; and so it is the very thing for 
 the man who is easily misled, and who hitherto has had no de- 
 cided principles, "the simple." His "statutes" (DmpS) are 
 always according to rectitude. These His special charges in spe- 
 cial circumstances (such as that at Sinai, not to touch the moun- 
 tain), are "right," being wisely accordant with circumstances; 
 and so, instead of being grievous, they become the occasion of 
 gladness. His commandment (HIliD), every single precept of the 
 whole Moral Law (Rom. vii. 12), is "pure," clear, fair, (n"12 
 Song vi. 9, 10), and so is a heart-cheering object, and would im- 
 part to the man who kept it (who dipt his rod in this honey, 1 
 Sam. xiv. 27), cheerfulness and vigour of mind, arising from 
 clearness of conscience and freedom from gnawing corruption. 
 {"Enlighten the eyes," means invigorate ; see Ezra ix. 8, &c.) 
 His "fear" is the solemn impression made by God's perfec- 
 tions on the soul, as on Jacob at Bethel. Instruction in regard 
 to this is in its nature " clean" (niiniO Levit. xiii. 1 7), there 
 is in it no defilement condemned by the law to be cast out, no 
 pollution, and therefore nothing that requires removal, " stand- 
 ing fast for ever." In a word, His "judgments," i. e. His 
 decisions as to our duty, and his modes of dealing or provi- 
 dential actings, following out his decisions, are all according 
 
TO THE JEHOVAH'S GLORY. " 67 
 
 to " truth," not capricious : firm principle guides them, " they 
 are thoroughly righteous." 
 
 There was once one in our world who used this Psalm, and 
 was guided by it to gaze on the glory of God, in the heavens 
 and in the law. Our Lord and Saviour loved his Father's 
 works and ivord. Often did He sit on the high mountains of 
 the land of Israel, or look abroad over its broad plains, and 
 then turn upward to the blue canopy over all, to adore his 
 Father. Often did He unrol "the volume of the Book,'^ or 
 sit listening to its words read in the synagogue. He saw evil 
 on every side ; his own holy soul was the only ark which 
 this deluge had not overtaken ; and, with this in full view. 
 He might often pray, " keep rae clear from secret faults" 
 (v. 12), as well as ''from presumptuous sin," in a world where 
 none are free from sin, and few care to know that they do sin ; 
 and thus shall I be found, 
 
 " Upright and innocent from transgression that abounds^* 
 
 We can easily imagine our Master thus using these two wit- 
 nesses to his Father's glory. Let us trace His steps ; let us 
 turn our eye from vanity to the contemplation of the glory of 
 God. 
 
 The two tuitnesses resemble and help each other. Hengs- 
 tenberg remarks that the law is from the same source as the 
 sun and firmament, and has, accordingly, many features of re- 
 semblance. In all probability, the special description of the 
 sun going forth as a bridegroom and warrior (ver. 5), with all 
 the images of cheerfulness and joy it is fitted to suggest, was 
 designed to hint to us a counterpart in the firmament of the 
 spiritual heavens, which are reflected in the law. Christ is 
 the Sun, the Bridegroom, the Warrior, whose words (" line"t 
 ver. 4), and going forth shall yet be from one end of the world to 
 
 * The words y^ ^^3 may be taken in the same sense of we find 2r\ il^pD) 
 Deut. iii. 19, or Proverbs xxviii. 20, /li^l^ 2.1. " abounding in blessings." Is 
 not this the sense of Psa. xxv. 11, ^?)n 21? 
 
 f " Line ;" compass of their territory; (Isaiah xxiv. 17), (Hengstenberg). 
 Paul seems to do no more than refer by way of aUnsion to this verse in 
 Komans x. 18. 
 
 The content?. 
 
68 PSALM XIX.— THE TWOFOLD WITNESS. 
 
 the other, and nothing be hid from His heat. Then shall 
 Romans x. 18 be more thoroughly accomplished. But even if 
 the two witnesses did not resemble each other, they do at least 
 help each other, and point to the same object ; and happy is 
 the man who is led thereby to the glory of God. For verily 
 there is a " great reward" (ver. ] 1 ), both in the act of keep- 
 ing His Revelation, and as the Lord's mark of approval /or owr 
 having kept it ; a present and a future " recompence ofreiuard," 
 such as Heb. x. 35 holds up before our view. Happy they who 
 are found "upright and innocent" (ver. 13), because "found in 
 Christ/" found "without spot and blameless" (2 Pet. iii. 14), 
 even in those last days when iniquity abounds. O, Jehovah, 
 accept this meditation, fulfil these prayers ! Thou art — 
 
 " My rock," never shifting from Thy promise ; 
 
 " 3i?/ Deliverer" from every evil work (ver. 14). 
 
 Thus sings this worshipper, perhaps at early dawn. But 
 now the sun is up — gone forth on his fiery race ; the altar's 
 smoke is ascending — busy men are abroad, each pursuing his 
 own calling, and he must join them. We seem to see him rise 
 up from his place of calm contemplation, and return to his 
 active duties for a season, quickened by what these two wit- 
 nesses for God have presented to his soul, leaving us to ponder 
 and apply, 
 
 The Righteous One's meditations on the twofold witness to 
 Jehovah's glory. 
 
 PSALM XX. 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalni of David. 
 
 1 The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ; the name of the God of Jacob 
 
 defend thee. 
 
 2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion. 
 
 3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah. 
 
 4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. 
 
 5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set 
 
 up our banners : 
 The Lord fulfil all thy petitions. 
 
 6 Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed ; 
 
 He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his 
 right hand. 
 
PSALM XX.-MESSIAH PBAYED FOR BY HIS WAITING PEOPLE. G9 
 
 7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses : 
 
 But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. 
 
 8 They are brought down and fallen : but we are risen, and stand upright. 
 
 9 Save, Lord : let the king hear us when we call. 
 
 What typical occurrence, or what event in Israel's history, 
 may have given the groundwork of this Psalm ? Luther calls it 
 a "battle-cry;" while others have imagined it appropriate to 
 such an occasion as that of the high priest going in to the 
 Holiest on the Day of Atonement, and reappearing to the joy 
 of all who waited without in anxious prayer. We think the 
 truth may be reached by finding some scene that may combine 
 the "battle-cry" and the priestly function, such as was once 
 presented in Numbers xxxi. 1-6, when the zealous priest Phi- 
 nehas was sent forth at the head of the armies of Israel to 
 battle. David may have been led to recal some such scene, as 
 he sang. 
 
 Full of zeal for his God, Phinehas, in his priestly attire, and 
 with priestly solemnity, — with " Holiness to the Lord" on his 
 mitre, — prepares for the conflict with Jehovah's and Israel's 
 most subtle foes. We may suppose him at the altar ere he 
 goes, presenting his offerings (ver. 3), and supplicating the 
 Holy One of Israel (ver. 4), amid a vast assemblage of the 
 camp, small and great, all sympathizing in his enterprise. 
 This done, he takes the holy instruments and the silver trum- 
 pets in his hand, and sets forth. There is now an interval of 
 suspense, — but soon tidmgs of victory come, and the priestly 
 leader reaj)pears, crowned with victory, leading captivity cap- 
 tive. The confidence expressed in ver. 5 is not vain, for vic- 
 tory, or " salvation," has been given. 
 
 Perhaps there were times when David was in such circum- 
 stance as these, and there are still times w^hen any member of 
 the Church may be, in some sense, so situated ; while " all 
 weep" with the one member that weeps, and then " all rejoice" 
 in the joy of the one. But still the chief reference is to David's 
 Son, our Lord. He is the Leader and the Priest, the true 
 Phinehas, going out against Midian. It is " the Anointed" 
 (ver. 5) that is principally the theme. 
 
 This Psalm is the prayer which the Church might be sup- 
 
70 PSALM XX. — MESSIAH PRAYED FOR, AND 
 
 posed offering up, had all the redeemed stood by the cross, 
 or in Gethsemane, in full consciousness of what was doing 
 there. Messiah, in reading these words, would know that He 
 had elsewhere the sympathy he longed for, when he said to the 
 three disciples, " Tarry ye here, and watch with me," (Matt. 
 xxvi. 88). It is thus a pleasant song of the sacred singer of 
 Israel, to set forth the feelings of the redeemed in their Head, 
 whether in his sufferings or in the glory that was to follow. In 
 ver. 1-4, they pray : — 
 
 " JehovaJi hear thee in the day of trouble, 
 
 " The name of(\. e., He who manifests himself by deeds to bej the God of 
 Jacob defend thee. 
 
 "Send thee help from the saiictuary" where his well-pleasedness is seen. 
 
 " And bless thee out ofZion" — not from Sinai, but from the place of peace- 
 ful acceptance, Zion. 
 
 The solemn " Selah "-pause comes in when " sacrifice'^ has 
 been spoken of, and then in verse 5, they exult at the suc- 
 cess which has crowned his undertaking ; and, observe, reader, 
 they speak now of Him as one that makes petitions — " The 
 Lord fulfil all thy petitions." Is not this recognising Him as 
 now specially employed in interceding ? applying His finished 
 work by pleading it for us ? It may, at the same time, re- 
 mind us of that other request, which the Intercessor is yet 
 to make, and to make which, speedily, the Church is often 
 urging him, verse 15, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the 
 heathen for thine inheritance." — (Psa. ii. 8.) In ver. 6-'8, 
 they exult again, " knowing whom they have believed" (2 
 Tim. i. 12), both as to what the Father has done for Him, 
 and what the Father will do. They reject all grounds of hope 
 not found in King Messiah ; express their souls' desire for 
 complete deliverance, when He shall appear at last, and answer, 
 by complete salvation (Heb. ix. 28), the continual cry of His 
 Church, " Come ! Lord Jesus !" Verse 9 teaches us to ex- 
 pect both present and future victories, by the arm of our King ; 
 and in hope of these further exploits, we look often upward 
 to the right hand of the Father, and cry, "Hosanna !" — 
 " Save, Lord !" or. Give victory, Jl^Hi^Sn 
 " Let the King (who sittefh there) hear us when tve call." 
 
PKAYED TO, BY HIS WAITING PEOPLE. 71 
 
 It is a Psalm differing in its aspects from most others, for 
 it presents to us, 
 Messiah prayed for, and prayed to, by his luaiting people. 
 
 PSALM XXL 
 
 To tlie chief Musician, a Psalm of David. 
 
 1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord ; 
 And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice ! 
 
 2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire, 
 
 And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 
 
 3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness : 
 Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 
 
 4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for 
 
 ever and ever. 
 
 5 His glory is great in thy salvation : honour and majesty hast thou laid 
 
 upon him. 
 
 6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever : 
 
 Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. 
 
 7 For the king trusteth in the Lord, 
 
 And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. 
 
 8 Thine hand sliall find out all thine enemies : 
 
 Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. 
 
 9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger : 
 
 The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour 
 them. 
 
 10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, 
 And their seed from among the children of men. 
 
 11 For they intended evil against thee : 
 
 They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to per- 
 form. 
 
 12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back : 
 
 When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the 
 face of them. 
 
 13 Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength ; so will we sing and praise 
 
 thy power. 
 
 We have entered on a series of Psalms that more directly 
 fix the eye on Messiah alone as their theme. This is the se- 1^^"^^"^^, 
 cond of the series. It takes up the theme of the former Psalm. 
 We are at once shewn the King Messiah, already triumphant 
 at the Father's right hand ; and yet, as King, to triumph more 
 ere all be done. 
 
 A scries 
 
 of PsilllllS 
 
 S to 
 Messiali 
 
The pla 
 
 72 PSALM XXI.— MESSIAH'S PRESENT JOY 
 
 David, now on the throne at Hebron, and soon to be on a 
 loftier throne at Jerusalem, might be the original of the typi- 
 cal scene ; but certainly he was not more than this. It is of 
 our King that the Holy Spirit speaks. 
 
 The plan is very simple. From ver. 1-7, we have Messiah's 
 exaltation after his suffering : then ver. 8-12, His future acts 
 when He rises up to sweep away his foes ; and ver. 1 3, the 
 cry of His own for that day, as their day of realised bliss : — 
 
 "Be exalted, Lord, in thy strength ! 
 So loill we sing and praise tliy power. ^'^ 
 
 He who was the "man of sorrows," and " whose flesh was 
 weak," now (ver. 1), "joys in thy strength, greatly rejoices." 
 And how sweet to us to hear verse 2, " Thou hast given Hi'm 
 His heart's desire,'' remembering, in connection with it, John 
 xi. 42, " I know that thou hearest me always ;" for it assures 
 us that He did not mistake the depth of the Father's love, or 
 err in His faith in the Father's kindness of purpose towards 
 Him. He knew what was in man, but he knew what was in God 
 also, and declares it to us, sealing it with the " SelaJt '-ipnuse of 
 solemn thought. The Father "came before Him with," or rather, 
 anticipated, outran, His desires ; for that is the meaning of 
 " For thou preventest Him with the blessings of thy goodness." 
 
 And in the " crown of pure gold," already set on His head, we 
 see this verified, inasmuch as it is not the crown which he is 
 to get at his appearing. The Father has at present given Him 
 the crown, mentioned in Heb. ii. 9, " Glory and honour," but it 
 is as an assurance and pledge of something more and better, the 
 "■many crowns," (Rev. xix. 12). 
 
 Let us often stay to rejoice that the man of sorrows is happy 
 now — "most blessed for ever!'" He feeds among the lilies. 
 Shall we not rejoice in the refreshment of our Head — in the 
 ointment poured on him — in the glory resting on his brow — 
 
 * One who paraphrases the Psalms (Barclay) has given this as the essence 
 of the one before us : — 
 
 " The battle fought, the victory won, — 
 The Church rejoicing in the spoil, 
 Gives glory to her Lord alone, 
 
 And hails Him home from all His toil." 
 
AND FUTURE VICTORY. 73 
 
 in the smile of the Father which his eye ever seeth ! Shall 
 the members not be glad when their Head is thus gladdened 
 and lifted up ? Shall such verses as ver. 5, 6, not form our 
 frequent themes of praise ? 
 
 In ver. 4, his prayers are referred to — those prayers that He 
 offered during the lonely nights, when He made the desert 
 places of Galilee echo to his moans and the voice of His cry— 
 such prayers as Heb, v, 7 tells of, and such as Psalm Ixxxviii. 
 10, 11, gives a sample of He asked deliverance from death 
 and the grave — and, lo ! He has now "Endless life" (Heb. vii. 
 16) in all its power. Verse 6 resembles in construction verse 9, 
 and so presents the contrast of meaning more forcibly. The 
 one is, " Thou hast set him blessings;" the other is, "Thou hast 
 set them like a furnace.'' 
 
 And here we see that "He is the author and finisher of faith ;" 
 for if his prayers and cries prove him to have had truly our 
 very humanity in sinless weakness, no less does ver. 7 shew 
 that his holy human soul fixed itself for support, like ivy twin- 
 ing round the tower, on the Father hj faith. In this He was 
 our pattern. 
 
 " The King trusted in the Lord.''' (Ver. 7.) 
 He is the true example of faith, surpassing all the "elders who 
 have obtained a good report ;" he is " captain and perfecter of 
 faith ;" he leads the van and he brings up the rear, in the ex- 
 amples of faith given on this world's theatre. (Heb. xii. 3.) 
 And the Father's love rests on Him for ever ; that love ("ten- 
 der mercy," ver. 7) of which he prayed in John xvii. 26, that 
 the same might ever be on us. 
 
 And now the scene changes ; for, lo ! he has risen up ! 
 
 " Thy hand finds out all thine enemies ; 
 
 " Yea, thy hand finds out all that hate thee ! 
 
 " T/iouputtest them in a furnace of fire," &c. (Ver. 8, 9.) 
 
 It is his rising up to judgment ! His foes hide in the caves 
 and rocks of earth, but he finds them out. It is the day which 
 burns as an oven (Malachi iv. 1) that has come at length. It 
 is the ^OSiny ; the time of liis livesencQ; the day of his appear- 
 ing ; " the day of his /ace" — that face before which heaven and 
 
74 PSALM XXI. — MESSIAH'S JOY AND VICTORY. 
 
 earth flee. His enemies flee, and they perish in their impo- 
 tence, his arrows striking them through, (Ver. 1 2). 
 " Theij formed a design loliicli they could not effect,'''' 
 
 is truly the history of man's attempts to thwart God, from the 
 day of Babel tower down to the day when Babylon and Anti- 
 christ perish together. And who would not have it so ? Who 
 will not join the Church in her song, " Rise high, O Lord, in 
 thy strength ?" — the song of 
 
 Messiah's present joy and future victory. 
 
 PSALM XXII. 
 
 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 
 
 Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of ray roaring ? 
 
 2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not ; 
 And in the night season, and am not silent. 
 
 3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel ! 
 
 4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. 
 
 5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered : they trusted in thee, and 
 
 were not confounded. 
 
 6 But I am a worm, and no man ; a reproach of men, and despised of the 
 
 people. 
 
 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn : 
 
 They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying", 
 
 8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him : 
 Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. 
 
 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb : 
 
 Thou didst make me hope when 1 was upon my mother's breasts. 
 
 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb : thou art my God from my 
 
 mother's belly. 
 
 11 Be not far from me ; for trouble is near ; for there is none to help. 
 
 12 Many bulls have compassed me : strong bulls of Bashan have beset me 
 
 round. 
 
 13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. 
 
 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint : 
 My heart is like wax ; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. 
 
 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd ; and my tongue cleaveth to my 
 
 jaws ; 
 And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. 
 
 16 For (logs have compassed me : the assembly of the wicked have inclosed 
 
 mc : 
 Thoy pierced my hands and my feet. 
 
PSALM XXII.— MESSIAH BEARING THE CROSS. 75 
 
 17 I may tell all my bones : they look and stare upon me, 
 
 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. 
 
 19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord : O my strength, haste thee to 
 
 help me. 
 
 20 Deliver my soul from the sword ; my darling from the power of the dog. 
 
 21 Save me from the lion's mouth : for thou hast heard me from the horns 
 
 of the unicorns. 
 
 22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren : 
 
 In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. 
 
 23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him ; 
 
 All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him ; and fear him, all ye the seed of 
 Israel. 
 
 24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted ; 
 Neither hath he hid his face from him ; but when he cried unto him, he 
 
 heard. 
 
 25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation : 
 I will pay my vows before them that fear him. 
 
 26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied : 
 
 They shall praise the Lord that seek him : your heart shall live for ever. 
 
 27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord : 
 And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. 
 
 28 For the kingdom is the Loi'd's : and he is the governor among the nations. 
 
 29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship : 
 All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him : 
 And none can keep alive his own soul. 
 
 30 A seed shall serve him ; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. 
 
 31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness 
 Unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this. 
 
 What a change ! Instead of the songs of victory, we hear the Jf u,Fs°PsLta 
 moaning of one in anguish. It is not the voice of those that 
 shout for the mastery, as were the preceding songs of Zion, but 
 the voice of one that cries in weakness. And yet this abrupt 
 transition is quite a natural one. We saw the warrior — we saw 
 the fruits for his victory — we saw the prospects of yet farther 
 glorious results from that victory. Now then we are brought to 
 the battle-Jield and shewn the battle itself — that battle which 
 virtually ended the conflict with Satan and all his allies. We 
 hear the din of that awful onset. Our David in " the irresistible 
 might of weakness'' is before us, crying in the crisis of conflict, 
 
 " Eli, Eli, lama sabactJiani .'" 
 the words uttered on Calvary, and preserved in every syllable 
 as they were used by the Saviour then. 
 
 Some have sought to mingle the believer's confidence with 
 
 Christ here 
 alone. 
 
The plan. 
 
 76 PSALM XXII. — MESSIAH BEARING THE CROSS, 
 
 Christ's in this Psalm. But it is too awful in its strain to 
 admit of this application, though we may learn from Christ's ex- 
 ample, as well as words, on the cross ; as Peter is fond of shew- 
 ing us in his first epistle. The words of verse 1st may indicate 
 that such cries were uttered more than once during the Re- 
 deemer's days of anguish. There were other seasons besides 
 the cross when the Father was near to lay on Him the weight 
 of the burden of guilt, and when, for a time, he left Him, for- 
 saken. These were seasons of the hottest trial ever known in 
 warfare, for it was warfare Avherein nothing could exhaust the 
 resources brought up against the champion, while also there 
 were divine supplies on his side. 
 
 The scheme of this Psalm is evident at a glance. There are 
 two parts in it ; the one from verse 1 to middle of verse 21 ; the 
 other from the middle of verse 21 to the end. The first part is 
 Messiah's sufferings ; the second is his entering into his glory. 
 His first coming is the theme of the one ; his glorious king- 
 dom, established fully at his second coming, is the theme of 
 the other ; and this is so very obvious, that we shall be very 
 brief in our remarks, leaving the reader to meditate for himself, 
 with the history of the Lord in the Evangelists* before him for 
 the first part, and his eye glancing through the Apocalyptic 
 visions for the second. 
 
 The title is strange : " On Aijeleth Shahar," — literally, 
 " The hind of the morning." This was probably some instru- 
 ment used for compositions of a peculiar cast, wherein joy gave 
 
 * This Psalm is quoted in Hebrews ii. 11, where verse 23 is the passage re- 
 ferred to. The ^' pierciuff of hands and feet," YGVue 17, may be considered as 
 referred to in such passages as Luke xxiv. 39, John xx. 27, when he carefully 
 shewed his hands and his feet. The attemjit of the modern Jews to translate 
 ^ni^3 "like a lion," admits of a very complete and satisfactory refutation. 
 Wlicther we adopt the Keri ^^>}3, or retain the Kctibh ^"IJO, the sense is 
 the same, only in the foimercase the literal rendering is, " Thei/ have pierced " 
 in the latter, it is to be understood participially, " They are ijiercing.'^ See an 
 article in No. IV. of Bibliotheca Sacra and Biblical Repository, 1852 (com- 
 bined series), where it is shewn that the Masora on Numbers xxiv. 9, plainly 
 states that the text read, " They pierced," and Jacob bon Haiim says it was so 
 " In nuiny copies." All the ancient versions, e.g., Septuagint and Syriac, and 
 such critics as Dc Wette, Winer, Uahr (in Tholnck's Lit. Anzeig. 1853), agree 
 in this rcndL-riiig. 
 
AND WEARING THE CROWN. 77 
 
 place to anguish, and then anguish to joy. The hind leaps 
 from height to depth, from valley to hill-top, rising up from its 
 quiet lair, where it had reposed till morning, when met by the 
 hunters' cry. That there was such an instrument used we 
 cannot tell — it is a mere conjecture ; at the same time it is 
 interesting to notice how truly the scene of the hind, roused 
 at morning from its rest (not to boimd at liberty like Naph- 
 tali in Gen. xlix. 21, but) to be chased by the hunters, corres- 
 ponds to the tale of persecution related here, when " dogs 
 encompass him about." 
 
 Without attempting to explore the riches, the unsearchable 
 riches, of these mournful cries, let us listen to a few of their sad 
 echoes. In verse 8, "But thou art holy, thou who inJiahitest 
 the praises of Israel," we have a declaration that Israel's Holy 
 One shall be praised more than ever for his holiness, because of 
 his impartial treatment of Him who cries, " Why hast thou for- 
 saken me?" Strange as it may seem, it shall turn out to be an 
 illustration of his holy character ; and if before this He in- 
 habited Israel's praises, much more hereafter. In verse 4, that 
 note, " Our fathers," (as in Psalm xl. 5) from such lips may 
 well touch our hearts. He is not ashamed, reader, to call 
 you and me his brethren ! He identifies himself with us ! Our 
 fathers are His fathers, that His Father may be ours. How 
 like Him who^ afterwards (ver. 22), calls us " -wi?/ brethren;" 
 and who on earth did say, after resurrection, " Go and tell Tny 
 brethren," (Matt, xxviii. 10). 
 
 We do not dwell on the ample field of remark opened to 
 us from verses 6-22. " The people," in verse 6, is specially 
 " IHs own" Israel. The taunt, ver. 8, is equivalent to He was 
 fond of saying " Roll on the Lord !" what Psalm xxxvii. 5 ex- 
 presses more fully. In verse 20, " My only one" is understood 
 to be the soul described as dear like an only son.* How 
 appropriate is the lips of Him who asked the memorable ques- 
 tion, in Matt, xvi, 26, 
 
 * The word is the fem. of TXV, used in Gen, xxii. 2 and elsewhere, for a 
 thing that is precious because the only one of its kind. Is there any thing 
 of this idea in Homer's fi>.ov rroo (Iliad iii. 31, &c.), his own dear heart ? 
 
78 PSALM XXII. — MESSIAH BEARING THE CROSS, 
 
 It is in verse 21 that the tide turns. The clause 
 " Thou hast heard me" 
 ought to be taken by itself. It is a cry of delight. It is like 
 Luke xxii. 43. The lamentation of ver. 2 is over now — He is 
 heard now ! And his being now heard is not a blessing to Him 
 alone ; he runs to bring his disciples word : — 
 
 " I will declare thy name to my brethren,'''' (ver. 22) ; 
 words characteristic to the full of Him who spoke, John xvii. 26, 
 and whose first resurrection-act was to send word to his disciples, 
 by the name " my brethren," and then to send them to all the 
 earth. His special love to Israel, too, is apparent, as when 
 He said, " to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem' — " Both 
 in Jerusalem and in all Judea." Here he calls to them, — 
 
 " Ye seed of Jacob, glorify Him — 
 For He has not abhorred the affliction of the po&r !" (V. 23, 24.) 
 
 He has not treated the poor sinner as an unclean thing to be 
 shrunk from (Levit. xi. 11), passing by on the other side. (Luke 
 X. 31.) All shall yet praise Him who makes their heart live for 
 ever by feeding them on this sacrifice (verse 26). Verse 28 
 shews us the Kingdom come, and Christ the Governor among 
 the nations ; at which time we find a feast partaken of by all 
 nations, and observed by sinners that were ready to perish : — 
 
 " All they that be fat (the rich) on the earth shall eat and worship. (V. 29.) 
 Before Him shall bow all that go down to dust, (the poor) 
 Andhe loJio could not keep alive his soul," (the most destitute of the poor). 
 
 The essence of the feast is indicated at verse 26, as consisting in 
 knowing and feeding upon Him who is our Paschal Lamb ; even 
 as in Isaiah xxv. 8, the feast of fat things is Christ Himself, 
 seen and known, eye to eye. The people of that millennial 
 time are " the seed" of ver. 30. If men do not at present serve 
 Him, yet their seed shall — there is a generation to rise who 
 shall so do. (" Hoc semen illi serviet," says Buchanan.) 
 ^'Posterity shall serve Him, 
 
 It shall be related of the Lord to the generation to come. 
 
 These shall go forth (on the theatre of the world) and declare his 
 righteoy.sn€ss 
 
 To a people then to be born. (Ps. cii. IS.) 
 
 For He has done it ! ' ' 
 
AND WEARING THE CROWN. 
 
 The Hebrew is very elliptical. It seems as if rfV^ were here 
 intentionally used in an absolute and indefinite way in order 
 to fix our thoughts on the thing being done. A finger points 
 to the scene, and a voice says TW'^ ! q. d. "He has 'performed !" 
 Here is deed, not word only. Here is fulfilment, not promise 
 only. The meek may eat and be filled ! For lo ! there is the 
 thing done ! performance of all that this Psalm describes, of all 
 that Jesus meant when he cried, ^' It is finished." In that 
 hour He saw his sufferings ended and his glory begun, and 
 could proclaim victory through suffering. What a song of Zion 
 is this ! Messiah at every step ! beginning with " Eh, Eli," 
 and ending with TsrsXiarai, " It is finished." 
 
 Messiah bearing the cross, and wearing the crown. 
 
 PSALM XXIII. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 
 
 2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside the 
 
 still waters. 
 
 3. He restoreth my soul : he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for 
 
 his name's sake. 
 
 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 
 
 fear no evil : 
 For thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 
 
 5. Thou preparesta table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou 
 
 anointest my head with oil ; my cup runneth over. 
 
 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life : And 
 
 I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. 
 
 After the conflict of the preceding Psalm, and its bright 
 glimpse of triumph, we might have thought that such an ode 
 as we afterwards find in Psalm xxiv. would have immediately 
 followed, leading us to survey the scenes of victory anticipated 
 by the sufferer. But, instead of this, we suddenly find ourselves 
 in the quiet peace of the quietest valley that imagination could 
 paint ; where is seen One walking by his shepherd's side sing- 
 ing,— 
 
€0 PSALM XXIII.— THE SHEPHERD'S LEADINGS. 
 
 " Jehovah is my shepherd ! 
 I shall not wanty* 
 
 The arrangement seems intentional ; the soothing after the 
 exciting, the stillness of the still waters after the fury of the 
 tempest, the calm of rural peace before the engrossing and 
 enrapturing scene of the Mighty One's dominion. It is like 
 the pause of Milton's angel, — 
 
 "As one who in his journey bates at noon, 
 Though bent on speed, so here the Archangel paused. 
 Between the world destroyed and world restored." 
 
 And, besides, it is most suitable that between the conflict 
 finished successfully in man's behalf and the glorious issues of 
 that conflict, as seen from the throne of dominion, there should 
 interpose a view of that state of soul toward the Father in 
 which the Head and his members pass through their wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 The Church has so exclusively (we might say) applied this 
 Psalm to herself, as almost to forget that her shepherd (" that 
 Great Shej^herd !") once needed it and was glad to use it. 
 The Lamb (now in the midst of the throne ready to lead us to 
 living fountains of water) was once led along by his Father. 
 He said to his disciples, " And yet I am not alone, for the Fa- 
 ther is with me," (John xvi. 32). Was not the burden of 
 his song : — " The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not lack," 
 (Ver. 1 ) ? When he said, on another occasion, (John x. 14, ] 5,) 
 " I know my sheep, and am known of mine, as the Father 
 knoweth me," was he not saying, " I lead you as my Father 
 leads me ?" But try every clause, and every syllable will be 
 found applicable not to David alone, butto David's Son, to the 
 
 * Perhaps these verses were never more poetically rendered into another 
 tongue than by Buchanan in his Latin version : — 
 
 " Sicut Pastor oveni, me Dominus regit ; 
 
 Nil deeiitpenitus mihi. 
 " Per campi viridis mitla pabula, 
 Quae veris teneri pingit anioenitas, 
 Nunc pascor placide, nunc satuiuni hitus 
 Fessus moUiter explico. 
 " Parcse rivus aquae leniter adstrepens 
 Membris restituit robora languidis; 
 Et blando recreat fomite spiritus, 
 Solis sub face tonida." 
 
PSALM XXIII. — THE SHEPHEKD's LEADINGS. 8 1 
 
 Church and to the Church's Head. If verse 1 smgs, " / shall 
 not ivant," it is just a continuance of the testimony of Moses, 
 Deut. ii. 7, " The Lord thy God — knoweth thy walking through 
 this great wilderness : these forty years the Lord thy God has 
 been with thee ; thou hast lacked nothing." Christ and his 
 Church together review their wilderness-days and praise the 
 Lord. The song of the Lamb is not less complete than that of 
 Moses. 
 
 The occasional retreat to the Sea of Galilee, and desert places, 
 and the Mount of Olives, furnished Christ with many such 
 seasons as verse 2 celebrates. " He niaketh rue to lie down 
 on pastures of tender grass." His saints know so well that it 
 is his wont to do this in their case, that the Song of Songs asks 
 not, " Dost thou make thy flock rest at noon V but only, 
 " Where ?" And as the Lord of the Ark of the covenant 
 (Numb. X. 33) sought out for Israel a place to rest, so did the 
 Father for his true Israel, — that Prince with God, — ^giving him 
 refreshing hours amid his sorrow ; as it is written, " He is at 
 my right hand, that I should not be moved : therefore did my 
 heart rejoice," (Acts ii. 25). 
 
 In temptation seasons, or after sore conflicts with man's 
 unbelief, the Lord " restored his soul" (ver. 3) ; that is, re- 
 vived it with cordials, even as he does his people after such 
 seasons, and after times of battle with their own unbelief. 
 And when in the hour of trouble and darkness he cried, " What 
 shall I say ?" the Father " led him, in paths of righteousness, 
 for his name's saJce," glorifying his own name in his Son, 
 as we read, John xii. 27. 
 
 It was not once only, (though it was specially as the Garden 
 and the Cross drew near,) that his soul was in " the valley of 
 death-shade," (ver. 4). But he passed all in safety ; even 
 when he came to that thick gloom of Calvary. And He who 
 led Him through will never leave one of his disciples to faint 
 there. The rod and staff* that slew the bear and the lion, made 
 David confident against Goliath ; so do we obtain confidence 
 
 * 1 Sam. xvii. 40 and 43, Micah vii. 14, These were for defence ; also for heat- 
 ing bushes when the sheep went astray, for killing serpents, and the like. 
 
 F 
 
82 rSALM XXIII — THE RHErilEED'S LEADINGS. 
 
 from knowing how our Shepherd has already fonnd a safe way- 
 through wolves and perils. 
 
 * In verse 5, the table, the oil, and the cup, might be illus- 
 trated in Christ's case by the day of his baptism, by the shining 
 forth of his glory, by such a miracle as that of Lazarus' resur- 
 rection, and by the light of the Transfiguration scene, as well 
 by the " meat to eat which the world knew not of," and the 
 " rejoicing in spirit" as he thought upon the Father's will — in 
 all which blessings the sheep still share from time to time, get- 
 ting occasional exaltations, and moments of "joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory." 
 
 Even those scenes of woe, the essence of whose anguish is 
 expressed by " Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani," did not make the 
 Master doubt that " goodness and mercy would follow him," 
 till he reached his home, his Father's house, with its many 
 mansions. And shall any member doubt of his persevering to 
 the end ? loved to the end with the love that first loved him, 
 till he becomes a guest for ever in his Father's house ? 
 
 What is the " House of the Lord," the true Bdhel, where the 
 ladder is set between earth and heaven ? The Tabernacle was 
 such in type. And of the antitype Christ spoke when, leaving 
 his few sheep in the wilderness and amid wolves, he said, " In 
 my Father 8 house are many inansions," (John xiv. 1, 2). 
 It is New Jerusalem ; and He is gone to the right hand of 
 the Father to gather in his elect, and then at length to raise 
 up their bodies in glory, that they may enter into the full en- 
 joyment of that House in the " kingdom prepared for the 
 blessed of his Father." Fear not, then, little flock, it is your 
 Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom — and if so, 
 you must be kept for it ; goodness and mercy must follow you 
 all the days of your life, bringing up the rear of the camp, 
 and leaving not a straggler to perish. It will be then that 
 every sheep of his pasture will full^^know and i;se the words of 
 this Psalm, which sets forth with inimitable simplicity, 
 The Righteous One's experience of the leadings of the 
 Shepherd. 
 
PSALM XXIV. — THE PATH TO GLORY. 83 
 
 PSALM XXIV. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 The eartli is the Lord's, and the fuhicss tliereof : the work!, and they 
 
 that dwell therein. 
 
 2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods 
 
 3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his 
 
 holy place ? 
 
 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart ; 
 
 "Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 
 6 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, 
 And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 
 
 6 This is the generation of them that seek him, 
 That seek thy face, Jacob. Selah. 
 
 7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ; 
 And the King of glory shall come in. 
 
 8 AVho is this King of glory ? 
 
 The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 
 
 9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; 
 And the King of glory shall come in. 
 
 10 Who is this King of glory ? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. 
 Selah. 
 
 This may have been written by David when the ark was 
 brought up to Zion. Every eye in the universe is looking on, 
 and every ear Ustening in heaven, earth, and under the earth. 
 The strain of this Psahn brings up to our thoughts. Reve- 
 lation V. 2, 3 ; for it is as if a voice proclaimed 
 " The eartli is the Lord's .'" 
 
 And then, " It is He, and no one else, tvlio founded it above the surro}ind- 
 ing seas.'^ 
 The claim of the Lord's dominion is made in hearing of the 
 universe ; and the proclamation challenges a denial. This is 
 done in verses 1, 2, and no one in heaven, or earth, or hell, is 
 found, who does not acquiesce in this declaration of Jehovah's 
 sovereignty. 
 
 Amid the universal attention of all beings, a voice asks the 
 
 question, 
 
 " Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? 
 And who shall stand in his lioly place f (Ver. 3.) 
 
 The import of the question is this. There is in that world a 
 tabernacle on Zlon, typical of God's prepared mansion for his 
 
84 - PSALM XXIY.— THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS 
 
 redeemed. Who shall enter and " stand" (that is, keep his 
 place) there, claiming as his proper home both that Tabernacle 
 and the better things of which it is the type ? 
 
 The voice states the character of the accepted one in verse 
 4, — " He thai hath clean hands ;" that is, he that washes in the 
 water of the laver after being at the altar. This, O men of Israel, 
 has been shewn to yon. Is not that every day exhibited in 
 your tabernacle ? No priest enters the holy ^?ac^ until he has 
 washed at the laver after being at the altar, (Exod. xxx. 1 9). 
 Or, to express it without a type, — 
 " He tlmt has ajnire heart, 
 Who Jias not lifted rip 7iis soul to vanity, 
 Nor sworn deceitfully ." (Yqw 4.) 
 He must be pure, free from charge of sin against God and 
 man. This is the man that receives '• the blessing," (Gen. xxvii. 
 36) ; this is the man that receives it, not as Jacob by stealth, 
 but as the award of " righteousness," being treated as righteous 
 by the " God of salvation." Messiah is this man. 
 
 But Israel knew the way to obtain this purity. His " holy 
 place" presented to him in type theprovision thatthe "God of sal- 
 vation" had revealed for a sinner. And so the voice pronounces, 
 (referring to a company who resemble The Man described), 
 " This is the generation oftliem that seek him : 
 That seek thy face, O Jacob." (Ver. 6). 
 
 The generation of those who seek Jehovah are such. And 
 this further praise is given them, viz., "Thediligent seekers of thy 
 face are Jacob," i. e., persons who have a claim to the name of the 
 pecuhar people — if we adopt the rendering of Hengstenberg. But, 
 retaining the common version, we understand the words in the 
 following way : — These whose hands are clean are the true 
 seekers of Jehovah : and they are taking the true way to get 
 Jacob's birthright and Jacob's blessing, — " They seek thy face, 
 Jacob : they do not seek Esau, with the fatness of earth, 
 but thee, Jacob, who hast got the blessing from the Lord."* 
 
 * In Prov. vii. 15, and xxix. 26, we have, " seeking the face of in the sense of 
 seeking the favour of, or shewing delight in. Their delight is not in Esau, who 
 got " the fatness of earth" (Gen. xxvii. 39) as his portion. And those writers 
 may be right who consider Jacob as a name for Messiah, to whom belong the 
 true birthright and blessing. 
 
TO THE THRONE OF GLORY. »0 
 
 If we understand it in reference to the possession of the blrth- 
 right and the blessing, that is, to the promise of Messiah and 
 the pre-eminence involved herein, we see a reason for introduc- 
 ing the name " Jacob." Properly and directly it is Christ only 
 who can advance the claim to be regarded as " pure," and in 
 all respects unspotted. It is Christ who in his own person is 
 accepted as such, and is proclaimed righteous. But all He does 
 and receives is in behalf of his people ; and hence the words, 
 " This is the generation of them that seek Him," q. d., Lo ! 
 here is a generation of such men. 
 
 There is a pause, intimated by " Selah" (ver. 6), not unlike 
 that in Prov. i., between verses 23 and 24 ; and the voice, hav- 
 ing before declared who may hope to enter the Lord's presence, 
 suddenly announces that their King is at hand ! The accepted 
 pure and righteous One is the King ! 
 " Li/i up your heads, ye gates ; 
 Alii be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ; 
 And the King of Glory shall come in.'' (Ver. 7.) 
 
 That name, " King of Glory,''* from whence is it derived? 
 Is it not from the cloud of gloi'y in the Holy of Holiest ? Is 
 He not thus designated as being the Antitype of that symbol 
 of the Divme presence ? And the doors are called "Everlast- 
 ing," because he who enters in at them is to keep for ever and 
 in everlasting freshness this palace and sanctuary which he 
 makes for himself in our Earth. " The beams of his house are 
 to be cedar, and the rafters fir," (Song i. 17) because the up- 
 holder of all is come. Earth is now to be his sanctuary and 
 palace — Earth full of his glory — Earth with New Jerusalem 
 come down from heaven. 
 
 It is the Lord himself, perhaps, who asks at the wondering 
 universe (just as the Elder asked at wondering John, Rev. vii. 
 1 3) concerning his Well-beloved, now brought into the world in 
 honour, and glory, and majesty, not as at his first coming, in 
 humiliation, 
 
 " Who is this King of Glory ? " (Ver. 8.) 
 
 * Dr AUix remarks, " If some Christians have applied it to Cin-ist's ascen- 
 sion, it was for want of considering- that it gives to Christ the title of Jehovah, 
 King of Glonj (1 Cor. ii. 8), and of being powerful in battle. These titles 
 suppose his enemies destroyed." (Rev. xix. 0.) 
 
86 rSALM XXV.— THE CONFIDENCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS 
 
 It is like Jeremiah xxx. 21, r\VD, " Who is this that has en- 
 gaged his heart to approach to me ? saith the Lord." And 
 the reply also is the Father's, who tells of his Son that he has 
 gained victories and overcome in battles, and so won the 
 Kingdom. But when the proclamation is repeated, and won- 
 dering onlookers half incredulous again put the question, " Who 
 is this King V the Father's reply is, — 
 
 " The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory.'' 
 
 thus jDroclaiming the oneness of our King with Jehovah, 
 before all creation. 
 
 " Selah" ends the Psalm — a solemn pavise ere the people 
 depart from the spot where they heard this lofty song. 
 
 It is a glorious hymn for the Church in all ages. Paul 
 writing to Corinth (1 Cor. x. 26), claims a believer's right to 
 the things of earth, on the ground that this Psalm claims for 
 God a right to it : " The earth is the Lord's and the fulness 
 thereof." Evidently Paul associated himself and his fellow- 
 saints with " The King of Glory," in whose train we also 
 expect to enter through the everlasting gates. The Psalm 
 describes our mode of joining the royal procession, and so 
 passing on to glory with the King. There is no Psalm which, 
 with such sublime and simple grandeur, describes — 
 
 The path of the Righteous to the throne of glory. 
 
 PSALM XXV. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1, 2. Unto thee, Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust iu thee ! 
 Let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. 
 
 3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed : 
 
 Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. 
 
 4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. 
 r> Lead me in thy truth, and teach me : 
 
 For thou art the God of my salvation ; on thee do I wait all the day. 
 
 6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses ; 
 For they have been ever of old. 
 
 7 Remembernot the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions : 
 According to tliy mercy remember thou me, for thy goodness sake, O Lord. 
 
IN THE LOUD S MERCIES. 87 
 
 8 Good and upright is the Lord : therefore will he teach sinners in tlie way. 
 
 9 The meek will he guide in judgment : and the meek will he teach Ins way. 
 
 10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth 
 Unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. 
 
 11 For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity ; for it is great. 
 
 12 What man is he that feareth the Lord ? Him shall he teach in the way that 
 
 he shall choose. 
 
 13 His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. 
 
 14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ; and he will shew them 
 
 his covenant. 
 
 15 I\Iine eyes are ever toward the Lord ; for he shall pluck my feet out of the 
 
 net. 
 
 16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me ; for I am desolate and 
 
 afflicted, 
 
 17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged : O bring thou me out of my dis- 
 
 tresses. 
 
 18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain ; and forgive all my sins. 
 
 19 Consider mine enemies ; for they are many ; and they hate me with cruel 
 
 hatred. 
 
 20 keep my soul, and deliver me ! let me not be ashamed ; for I put my trust 
 
 in thee. 
 
 21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve mc ; for I wait on thee. 
 
 22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. 
 
 The inquiry may have crossed the reader's mind, Why was 
 this Psalm placed next such a one as the 24th ? We almost 
 think we can answer that question ; and if our answer is right, 
 it gives us a key to the structure of the Psalm. We supj)ose 
 that the resemblance of verse 12 to the style of the closing verses 
 of Psalm xxiv. may account for the juxtaposition. The resem- 
 blance is much closer than appears at first sight. 
 
 As in Psalm xxiv. 8 (like Jer. xxx. 21) we had Messiah in- 
 troduced to our notice by the question, "T^D nt Vp, so in ver. 12 
 of this Psalm we find suddenly the question put, — 
 
 " WJio is this man ivlio feareth the Lord f" 
 
 Up to that verse, we may suppose the Psalmist speaks in 
 the name of a member of the Church, such as himself, amid 
 snares (ver. 15) and troubles (ver. 17) at a time when Israel, too, 
 was tried (ver. 22) — times when David was as a partridge on 
 the mountains. This member of the Church prays for deliver- 
 ance and guidance, appealing to the Lord's compassions. He 
 
88 PSALM XXV. — THE CONFIDENX'E OF THE RIGHTEOUS 
 
 feels sure that the Lord " luill guide ilte meek'' {i.e., those who 
 give up their will to His) " in judgment," i e., on the the high- 
 way where all is lawful and right. At verse 1 1 he utters the 
 appeal, "Pardon mine iniquity /or thy name's sa^e/' throwing 
 his burden down as too heavy for him to bear ; " For it is 
 great." At this point the scene changes. An answer is coming 
 to the petitioner. His eyes fix on the Perfect One, who seems 
 suddenly to come in sight. 
 
 " Who is this man that fearetli the Lord, 
 
 Whom he teachdli the loay that he shall choose ? 
 
 His soul lodgeih at ease, 
 
 And His seed shall inherit the earth." 
 
 What a blessed vision ! What a sweet sketch of Messiah 
 and his blessings ! Himself in his glorious rest, and his seed 
 filling the earth ! Instantly, in verse 14th, it is added that a 
 share in this bliss belongs to all who fear the Lord : — 
 " TJie secret of the Lord is toith them that fear him. 
 And he will shew them his covenant.'" 
 
 All the blessings of the covenant are yours ; the hidden trea- 
 sures of the Lord's friendship (" secret") are yours, O fearer 
 of Jehovah. Having seen and heard all this, the Psalmist ex- 
 claims, — 
 
 " Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord," 
 who provides such blessings, present and future, and thus makes 
 my soul dwell at ease, while I behold Him. And so he prays 
 again in full hope and confidence. When he reaches verse 20, 
 " Let me not he ashamed, for I put my trust in thee," we are 
 reminded of Coriolanus betaking himself to the hall of Attius 
 TuUus, and sitting as a helpless stranger there, claiming the 
 king's hospitality, though aware of his having deserved to die 
 at his hands. The Psalmist throws himself on the compassions 
 of an injured God with similar feelings ; "/ triist in Thee !" 
 
 It is to be noticed, that throughout the appeals of this Psalm 
 are far more to the compassion and mercy of the Lord than to 
 any other attribute. Only let his pity awake, and he has a 
 righteous channel down which to pour it. In Psalm xxvi., as 
 we shall see, it is different. But bere the general strain of all 
 the appeals is that of verses 5-8, 10, 11. 
 
IN THE lord's mercies. 89 
 
 It is the first fully Alphabetic Psalm ;* that is, the first in- An Aiiii.ar.etic 
 stance we have met with where every verse begins with a letter 
 of the Hebrew alphabet in succession. There seems nothing 
 peculiar in this sort of composition ; and as if to guard us against 
 the idea of any mystery in it, the regularity is twice broken in 
 upon in this Psalm, as in most of the others of the same struc- 
 ture. Nor are these irregularities the effect of careless tran- 
 scription ; for every MS. agrees in the readings, and the an- 
 cient versions shew that the text existed in its present state 
 from the earliest times. The only lesson which the use of the 
 Alj)liabetiG form may teach is this : that the Holy Spirit was 
 willing to throw his words into all the moulds of human 
 thought and speech ; and whatever ingenuity man may exhibit 
 in intellectual efforts, he should consecrate these to his Lord, 
 making him the "Alpha and Omega" of his pursuits.! 
 
 It is a Psalm, then, wherein the letters of the Hebrew alpha- 
 bet are made use of to help the memory and to vary the struc- 
 ture — all with the view of enabling the Church in every age 
 to do as the Psalmist does here, viz., confess and pray for pardon, 
 help, guidance, deliverance, with the eye on Him who is set 
 before us in verse 12, " This Man," the true pattern of the 
 fear of God, and the bestower of blessing from himself on all 
 that fear the Lord. And who would not say with the Church 
 in every land, and with the souls under the altar, as well as 
 with David here, — 
 
 ^^ Redeem Israel, God, from all his troubles .'" (Ver. 22.) 
 
 If the day when that prayer was first answered by David 
 being raised to the throne was glorious, what will be the day 
 when the true David ascends his throne and dwells at ease, 
 and his seed inherit the earth ? Let us learn to use the Psalm 
 if we would fully enter into 
 
 The confidence of the Righteous in the Lord's mercies. 
 
 * We met with partially alphabetic Psalms in Psalms ix. and x. 
 
 t Psalms XXV., xxxiv., xxxvii., cxi., cxii., exix., and cxlv., are all written in 
 this manner, — so that there are seven Alphabetic Psalms, thus exhibiting a full 
 specimen of this form of writing. Fry, Hoi'sley, and others insist on trying to 
 rectify the omitted letters in those cases where there is a deficiency, quite un- 
 warrantablv. 
 
90 PSALM XXVI. — THE confidp:nce of the righteous 
 
 PSALM XXVI. 
 
 A Psalm of David 
 
 1 Judge me, O Lord ; for I have walked in mine integrity : 
 I have trusted also in the Lord ; therefore I shall not slide. 
 
 2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me ; try my reins and my heart. 
 
 3 For thy lovingkiuduess is before mine eyes : and I have walked in thy 
 
 truth. 
 
 4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. 
 
 6 I have hated the congregation of evil doers ; and will not sit with the 
 wicked. 
 
 6 I will wash mine hands in innocency : so will I compass thine altar, O 
 
 Lord : 
 
 7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy 
 
 wondrous works. 
 
 8 Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place Avhere thine 
 
 honour dwelleth. 
 
 9 Gather not ray soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men : 
 
 10 In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes. 
 
 11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity : redeem me, and be merciful 
 
 unto me. 
 
 12 My foot standeth in an even place : in the congregations will I bless the 
 
 Lord. 
 
 The distinguishing peculiarity of this Psahii, in the tone of its 
 appeals, is, that it dwells so much on the righteousness of Jeho- 
 vah's character. Having in the preceding one dealt much with 
 his mercies, it was fitting in this one to trace the channel down 
 which these mercies flow to sinners. 
 
 Our Head himself speaks here as well as his members. We 
 may consider Him as teaching his members to take up his 
 words, and address them to the Father in his name. 
 
 "Judge me, Lord," &c., (Ver. ]). Who could so well 
 speak thus, as He who prayed that prayer and held that con- 
 verse in John xvii. — 
 
 " Examine me, Lord, and prove me ; 
 
 " My heart and reins have been tried" — as gold is tried, (Ver. 2). 
 John xvii. 4. 
 And who could so well say as Jesus, in verse 3, — 
 
 " Thy lovinglcindness is before mine eyes ; — (as Deut. vi. 8, frontlets.) 
 And I have walked in thy truth." 
 
 He fears not to invite this searching of heart and reins, for 
 
IN THE lord's righteousness. 91 
 
 lie knows the " lovin<jhladne>^s" of the Lord ; and he fears not 
 to be driven from any favourite path he is upon, for his desire 
 is to " walk habitually in his truth." " I love the Father," said 
 Jesus, (John xiv 31). "I come to bear witness to the truth," 
 (John xviii, 37). And we might thus go through the Psalm, 
 and shew its application to Him. But more particularly ob- 
 serve verses 6, 7, — 
 
 " / loiU -wasJb my hands in innocency {i.e., I will touch no unclean thing, 
 like Gen. xx. 5, Deut. xxi. 6) : 
 Iioill compass thine altar, O Lord; (as Jericho was compassed, Josh. vi. 3) 
 That I may 2mblish with the voice of thanksgiving ; 
 And tell all thy wondrously accomplished works." 
 
 The meaning is, that he will go round and round the altar, 
 looking at it, looking at the blood on its base, and the blood on 
 each of the four horns, towards north, south, east, and west, 
 and beholding the smoke of the fire, and thinking of the sacri- 
 ficial victim that has died there, — all in the way of joyful 
 thanks, for salvation provided for men ! It is a survey of 
 redemption-work, taken by- the Redeemer ; such a survey, as 
 every member of his body often takes after having felt the 
 power of free forgiveness, and while aiming at "innocency." 
 For the " coiii'passing" of the altar takes place after pardon : 
 it is made in order to view it leisurely. 
 
 Jesus loved the types, and that typical Temple, because 
 they shewed forth his work ; 
 
 " Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, 
 And the place where thine honour dwelleth" — (Ver. 8), 
 
 where his Glory dwelt, and where God was shewn as just, while 
 gi-acious. He hated the thought of sin ; and though " num- 
 bered with transgressors,'' abhorred their company as hell. 
 (Ver. 9, 1 0.) And is not this the feeling of every member of 
 his mystical body ? And do not all join in the resolution and 
 prayer of verse 11? 
 
 We consider verse 12 as anticipating the future. " The even 
 
 place,'" seems to be the place of security, where no farther 
 
 danger of falling shall occur ; though it may express also the 
 
 present sure standing of the soul in God's love. At all events, — 
 
 " In the couf/regaf ions will I bless the Lord " (ver. 12), — 
 
92 PSALM XXVII. — THE CONFIDENT ASSERTION OF THE 
 
 points farther than to the assemblies of God's people on earth. 
 However pleasant these may be, they are but types of better. 
 They are but shadows of those multitudes, " numbers without 
 number " in the kingdom, and their voice of praise but the 
 prelude to the anthems that shall arise from " blessed voices 
 uttering joy," when the Lord shall have gathered his great 
 multitude that no man can number. Till that day dawns, let 
 us use this Psalm, in order to enter fully into sympathy with 
 the appeals of the Righteous One and his members. It is, 
 throughout, a breathing forth of — 
 The confidence of the Righteous in the Lord's righteousness. 
 
 PSALM XXVIL 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 The Lord is my light and ray salvation ; whom shall I fcav ? 
 The Lord is the strength of my life ; of whom shall I be afraid ? 
 
 2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon mc to eat 
 
 up my flesh, 
 They stumbled and fell. 
 
 3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear : 
 Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 
 
 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; 
 That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, 
 To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. 
 
 5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his paviUon . 
 In the secret of his tableruacle shall he hide me ; 
 
 He shall set me upon a rock. 
 
 6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me : 
 Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; 
 
 I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. 
 
 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice : have mercy also upon me, and 
 
 answer me. 
 
 8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, 
 
 Lord, will I seek. 
 
 9 Hide not thy face far from me ; put not thy servant away in anger : 
 Thou hast been my help ; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my 
 
 salvation. 
 
 10 When my father and my mother forsake, then the Lord will take me up. 
 
 11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine 
 
 enemies. 
 
 12 Deliver me not over unto tlie will of mine enemies : 
 
 For false witnesses arc risen up against me, and such as brcatlic out crueltv. 
 
RIGHTEOUS AMID SURROUNDING FOES. 93 
 
 13 I had faintccl, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the 
 
 land of the living. 
 
 14 Wait on the Lord : be of good courage, 
 
 And he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. 
 
 Christ and hi 
 l)eO|)le. 
 
 The Righteous One does not walk without opposition. We 
 are led here to a field of conflict ; or rather to the height, 
 whence the Righteous One surveys the legions of foes that are 
 embattled against him ; and standing by his side, we hear his 
 song of confidence, and cry of dependence, as he looks up to 
 the Lord as his " light and salvation." Is it Christ that we 
 hear thus expressing what his soul felt ? or is it one of his own 
 who encounters the same foes ? It is both ; for David was 
 taught by the Spirit to write the blessed experience of the 
 Church and its Head. The Church's experience here is obvious. 
 Let us dwell a little on her Lord's. 
 
 Is this, then, "the light of the world" walking through Christ 
 darkness, and staying himself on his Father ? What an illus- 
 tration of his own words, in John xvi. 32, 33, " The hour cometh 
 when ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall 
 leave me alone ; and yet I am not alone, for the Father is with 
 me. In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be of good 
 cheer, I have overcome the world." And then, soon after, his 
 enemies " stumbled and fell," (Ver. 2). The band, with Judas 
 at their head, " went backwards and fell to the ground" (John 
 xviii. 6), as if in token of the future falling of all that come out 
 against him ; while Judas, their leader, stumbled over the cor- 
 ner-stone to his eternal ruin. So sure is this, that in verse 3 
 he appropriates to his own use, and the use of all the righteous, 
 the protecting hosts that Elisha saw round Dothan. (2 Kings 
 vi. 15.) Our Lord's words, "Thinkest thou not that I cannot 
 pray to my Father, and He will presently give more than 
 twelve legions of angels?" were at once a reference to the 
 guard of Elisha, and a breathing forth of the strong confidence 
 of this Psalm. 
 
 The words, " In this will I he confident," refer us back to The content 
 the faith of verse 1 , " I will be confident, that Jehovah is my 
 light, salvation, strength." 
 
 We have our Lord's style, so to speak, in verse -i, — " One chri^t. 
 tJmu/." He, who on earth pointed out the " one thing lack- 
 
94 PSALM XXVII. — THE COXFIDENT ASSERTION OF THE 
 
 mg," to the Ruler : and " the one thing needful/' to Martha, 
 declares what himself felt regarding that " one thing." To see 
 the Lord, in his temple where everything spoke of redemption, 
 — there to see the Father's " beauty," was the essence of his 
 soul's desire. This " beauty," Dy.5 is the Lord's well-pleased 
 look ; such a look as the Father gave, when his voice pro- 
 claimed, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." 
 It also means, all that makes God an object of affection and de- 
 light to a soul.* Nothing could be more desirable to Christ, 
 than this approving look of his Father, telling, as it did, his 
 love to the uttermost. And nothing to us sinners, can equal 
 this look of love ; it is the essence of heaven now, and heaven 
 for ever. It is the "one thing ; " for from this holy love pro- 
 ceed all other blessings. To catch glimpses of this "beauty" 
 in the temple was our Lord's aim ; he engaged in no other 
 pursuit on earth. Neither did David, this true disciple, amid 
 the glory of a kingdom. In the light of this Divine smile, the 
 soul is sure of deliverances manifold, deliverance from every 
 evil, and eternal gladness ; and can sing (ver. 7) even now, 
 as if full deliverance were come already. Real assurance of 
 salvation depends in our seeing the Father's " beauty," — 
 his reconciled countenance, his heart of love ; in seeing which, 
 the soul feels certain beyond measure, that his future state will 
 be well, for that love is too deep to change ; and so it " sings and 
 makes music to Jehovah." 
 
 But verse 8 has a tinge of sadness again. It is, in our Lord's 
 case, like John xii. 17, "Now is my soul troubled," after a sea- 
 son of peaceful rest. Never was there an experience so varied 
 and full as our Lord's in his human nature ; and never an ex- 
 perience which his saints so often turn to as their own. The 
 cry for help ascends ; and perhaps the broken words of verse 9 
 are intentional, being the difficult utterance of one in trouble 
 quoting words of hope, — 
 
 " My heart says to thee, Seek ije wijfacc.'" 
 My soul repeats to thee thine own call and encouragement. 
 
 * Luther understood it. " The beautiful services of the Lord " in the Taber- 
 nacle (Tholuck) ; the spiritual truths reflected in the mirror of that symbolic 
 worship. 
 
RIGHTEOUS AMID SURROUNDING FOES. 95 
 
 How often hast thou hidden us, " Seek my face V My heart 
 reminds thee of thine own words ; I will not let thee go. To 
 me, and to the sons of men, thou hast sent forth an invitation 
 to this effect, " Seek ye my face ;" therefore, my heart in all 
 its distress holds up to thee this call of thine. / will seek thy 
 face, and I will urge thee, " Hide not thy face," (ver. 9). 
 
 In verse 10, the harp sings of a lonely, friendless, orphan state. 
 " My father and mother have left me !" But forthwith faith 
 responds, " The Lord will take me in." (Josh. xx. 4, Judges 
 xix. 5.) Our Lord, no doubt, felt as man the desire for a 
 father's and a mother's sympathy and help. But in want of that 
 sympathy and help, he turns to what he finds in Jehovah ; for 
 the Lord has a, father's "heart," " Like as a father pitieth his 
 children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him," (Ps. ciii. 13) ; 
 and the mother s affections, too, " As one whom his mother 
 comforteth, so the Lord will comfort you," (Isa. Ixvi. 13). Our 
 Lord uses what is equivalent to "take me in," in Matt. xxv. 
 43. (Hengstenberg.) 
 
 A shrill note of the harp touches upon reproach and calumny, 
 in verses 13, 14, "false witnesses are risen up." In Matt. xxvi. 
 62, 63, these false witnesses come in against our Lord, before 
 the high priest ; and on that occasion, our Lord bursts forth 
 after long silence, with the declaration, " Hereafter ye shall see 
 the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming 
 in the clouds of heaven." Is this the train of thought on this 
 Psalm ? For verse 1 5 sets forth the hope of seeing what Zecha- 
 riah ix. 17 speaks of as yet future in a great measure, " His 
 goodness." 
 
 " The goodness of the Lord in tlie land of the living.'" 
 
 Our Lord was content, as real man, to sustain his soul by 
 faith and hope ; resting on what He knew of his Father, and 
 animating it in suffering and trouble, by the "hope set before 
 Him," (Heb. xii. 2). Is not this his testimony (and the tes- 
 timony of all his saints who have used this Psalm) to the ad- 
 vantages and blessedness of hope ? The words in the Hebrew 
 run thus — 
 
 " Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord." (Ver. 15.) 
 
 There is no " / had fainted." It is an imperfect sentence. 
 
96 PSALM XXVIII. — CONFIDENT ASSERTION OF SAFETY. 
 
 There is something to be supplied ; it is like our Lord's owu 
 words in Luke xix. 42, " If thou hadst known !" — a sentence 
 never ended, and all the more emijhatic and awfully significant 
 for this very reason. Here, also, there is the same significance. 
 It is "Who can tell, what heart of man can conceive, what might 
 have came on me, — unless 1 had believed to see the goodness 
 of the Lord !" Faith, and the " hope set before Him," carried 
 Him through his darkest hour. And hence, in verse 16, He 
 leaves for the Church in all ages the counsel of one who has 
 tried it himself, — " Wait on the Lord." Keep your eye 
 ever on the Lord, expecting the light to break and help to 
 come. 
 
 The Church, and the Church's head, can lay claim to every 
 clause of this blessed Psalm. That pledge of its truth in verse 
 5 has already in all ages been found faithfully performed. The 
 Lord has ever hid his own in evil days, finding an Oba- 
 diah to feed his prophets, or sending them to a Cherith, 
 whither his ravens shall carry provision. So that Augustine's 
 confidence is that of all saints, " Qui tantum pignus dedit pere- 
 grinanti, non deseret pervenientem." We may call it then, — 
 The Righteous Ones confident assertion of safety when lonely 
 amid surrounding foes. 
 
 PSALM XXVIIL 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock ; be not silent to me : 
 
 Lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. 
 
 2 Hear the voice of ray supplications, when I cry unto thee, 
 When I lift up my hands toward thy Holy Oracle. 
 
 3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, 
 Whicii speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. 
 
 4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of 
 
 their endeavours : 
 Give them after the work of their hands ; render to them their desert. 
 
 5 Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his 
 
 hands, 
 He shall destroy them, and not build them up. 
 
 6 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard tlie voice of my supplications. 
 
PSALM XXVIII. — THANKSGIVING OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 97 
 
 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield ; my heart trusted in him, and I 
 
 am helped : 
 Therefore my heart greatly rejoleeth ; and with my song will I praise him. 
 
 8 The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. 
 
 9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance : feed them also, and lift them 
 
 up for ever. 
 
 The cry at the commencement is the appeal heavenward of "^''^ ^vo^^"^ 
 one who anticipates, in the future (ver. 9), full salvation to 
 the Lord's people, and a time when their Shepherd shall feed 
 them in green pastures, and lift them up as his heritage to 
 their place of dignity and dominion. The secret persuasion 
 of this final issue pervades his song. If the preceding Psalm 
 took us up to a field of Zophim, whence we might espy the en- 
 camped legions, this Psalm shews us from the same height 
 these hosts of the ungodly shattered and dissipated, in answer 
 to the prayer of Him who makes intercession against them. 
 We may imagine the Psalmist, — whether David or David's 
 Son,* the Church's head, or any member of the Church — as- 
 cending an eminence, overlooking the tents of the ungodly, and 
 there listening to their mirth and witnessing their revelry ! He 
 is a Moses, crying to heaven against Amalek. It may be David, 
 who is the original "Anointed" of verse 8 ; but he is so as 
 uttering what the Lord and all his own might use in other days. 
 
 What intensity of earnest vehemence in verse 1 ! Not to be I'f'e ormi 
 heard, will be death ! it will be the black despair of those who 
 go down to the pit ! But his reasons for being heard are 
 powerful, — "/ lift up my hand toward thy Holy Oracle" (ver. 
 2). This is the Holy of Holies, where the Mercy-seat stood : for 
 the " oracle" is, in Hebrew, " 'T'4*!'" the spot where Jehovah 
 spoke to men, referring probably to his promise in Exodus xxv. 
 22, " There will I meet thee, and commune (TI131) with thee." 
 The supplicant refers God, in this brief way, to his own pro- 
 vision for sinful men, and his own promise of blessing when- 
 ever that provision should be used. If we take the words as 
 uttered by Christ, how interesting to find him pleading with 
 reference to the types of his own person and work, presenting 
 them to the Father for us ! If we use them as the words of 
 
 "Ipsius Mediatoris vox est, manu fortis, conflictu i)ass\onh.'"—A>iffiiMiiie. 
 
 G 
 
98 PSALM XXVIIl. — THANKSGIVING OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 
 
 David, or any saint, they still convey the same truth, namely, 
 that the strongest plea which can rise from earth to heaven is 
 drawn from the person and work of Jesus. No doubt, when 
 Daniel prayed " with his windows open in his chamber toward 
 Jerusalem" (Dan. vi. 10), he had his eye on "the Holy Oracle," 
 — on the person and work of Him who was set forth in Jeru- 
 salem in the significant types that were to be found in the Holy 
 of Holies, 
 
 In verse 3, the sympathy of the Righteous One in God's love 
 of holiness appears ; and in verse 4, his sympathy in God's 
 justice, even when his burning wrath descends. It is full ac- 
 quiescence that is expressed — nay, almost positive desire. But 
 it is only as the redeemed in Rev. xix. 1, 3, are enabled to shout 
 " Alleluia" over the lost ; or as the Redeemer (Luke xiii. 9), 
 in the parable of the Fig-tree, promised to cease at last from 
 intercession, and bid the axe take its swing. 
 
 Verse 5 is the answer whispered to the conscious heart of 
 those who pray ; which causes thanksgiving and rapturous tri- 
 umph in the Lord, reviving faith bestowing strength, (in verses 
 6, 7, 8)* and raising the anticipation of bright days approaching, 
 when full "salvation" comes out of Zion (verse 9), and there shall 
 be no more casting down. Every stream seems to flow onward 
 to the future day when joy shall no more be pent up within 
 narrow banks, but have unlimited scope — the people " saved" 
 — the " blessing" come — there being no more curse — the heirs 
 arrived at their inheritance, joint-heirs of Him who is " Heir 
 of all things" — the shepherd leading them to living fountains 
 — and reproach all fled away ! 
 
 We express the tone and substance of the Psalm if we de- 
 scribe it as — 
 The apj)eal and thanksgiving of the righteous as they view 
 the tents of the ungodly. 
 
 * In verse 7 it is literally, ^'- 1 will give praise to him from out of my song,'' — 
 as if it were a fountain. In verse 8, " The Lord is f/iezV strength." Thismode 
 of expression seems to be equivalent to " The strength of yonder ones," or, of 
 such as possess the character just described. So in Psalm cxv. 9-11. Isa. 
 xxxiii. 2. So also Psalm ix. 6 is to be explained, where, after addressing the 
 foe directly, the Psalmist turns to those Mho stand by and sings, " Their me- 
 morial is perished ;" /. e., the memorial of such men as these. 
 
PSALM XXIX. — ADORATION OF THE GOD OF GLORY. 99 
 
 PSALM XXIX. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. 
 
 2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name ; 
 Worship the Lord in the heauty of holiness. 
 
 3 The voice of tlie Lord is upon the waters : 
 
 The God of glory thundereth : the Lord is upon many \v:itt'rs. 
 
 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 
 
 5 The voice of the Lord breakcth the cedars ; yea, the LonI brcaketh the 
 
 cedars of Lebanon. 
 G He makcth them also to skip like a calf: Lebanon ami Sirion like a yming 
 unicorn. 
 
 7 The voice of the Lord dividcth the flames of fire. 
 
 8 The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness ; 
 The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 
 
 9 The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovcreth the 
 
 forests : 
 And in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. 
 
 10 The Lord sitteth upon the flood ; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. 
 
 11 The Lord will give strength unto his people ; the Lord will bless his people 
 
 with peace. 
 
 Our attention is called seven times to the " voice of Jehovah," c'"'*** ns\mn, 
 
 as well as his 
 
 uttering majesty. The psalm presents such adoration as the i"^°p'<' 
 Lord Jesus (himself " mighty God ") could present to the Fa- 
 ther, in the days of his flesh, when listening amid the hills 
 round Nazareth, or at the foot of Lebanon by the sources of 
 double-founted Jordan, to the voice of his Father's awful thun- 
 der. The redeemed, too, feel that such scenes furnish occasion 
 for adoring the majesty and omnipotence of Godhead. At the 
 same time, this seems to be more especially a Psalm of adora- me time. 
 tion for that great and notable Day of the Lord, when the 
 Lamb's song shall be sung. " Great and marvellous are thy 
 works, Lord God Almighty — for all nations shall come and 
 worship before thee ; for thy judgments are made manifest," 
 (Psalm XV. 9). It is, in this view, a Psalm to, rather than for, 
 our King. Dr Allix at once concludes, " This Psalm containeth 
 an exhortation to all the princes of the world to submit them- 
 selves to the Messiah's empire, after he shall have re-estab- 
 lished his people, and given as great proof of his vengeance on 
 
100 PSALM XX]X. — THE EIGHTEOUS ONE's ADOEATION 
 
 his enemies as He did in the time of tlie Flood," In this last 
 clause He alludes to verse 1 0, and to the true rendering of it, 
 (Hengstenberg, &c.) 
 
 " Tlie Lord at tlieDditge sat, ib^^'d? 2'ii}\ 
 
 " The Lord for ever sits, as Kiny." 
 
 We might, no doubt, apply every clause of it to the Lord's 
 display of his majesty in any tremendous thunder-storm. An 
 awe-struck spectator cries as the lightnings play and the thun- 
 der rolls ; " The God of Glory thundereth I" (ver. 5). " The 
 voice of Jehovah is breaking tlie cedars !" and as the crash is 
 heard, " The Lord has broken the cedars of Lebanon!" Tra- 
 vellers tell us of the solemnity and terrific force of storms in 
 the East. But the thunders of the Great Day shall most of 
 all call forth these strains to the Lord the King. Earth at 
 large, and the heavens, too, shall shake on that day, when 
 " the Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jeru- 
 salem," (Joel iii. 1 6) ; while Israel's land, from Lebanon on 
 the north to Kadesh on the south, shall be in the vortex of 
 that storm. Meanwhile, secure as Noah in his ark. He and 
 his redeemed witness the storm sweep along, beating down 
 the wicked ; and they burst into this song, (See Isaiah 
 XXX. 32):— 
 
 " Give unto (he Lord, ye sons of the might ij, {i.e., ye mighty ones in 
 
 heaven and earth), 
 " Give unto the Lord glory and strength." 
 " Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name." (Yer. 1, 2.) 
 
 Like the voice of much people in heaven heard by John 
 (Rev. xix. 1), saying, — 
 
 " Allehiiah ! 
 " Salvation and glory ! 
 " And honour and power ! 
 " Unto the Lord our God ! " 
 
 followed up by the call " Praise our God — small and great," 
 while the mviltitude who sing appear in their " fine linen, clean 
 and white," corresponding to the description here (verse 2), 
 
 " Worship the Lord in the heard ies of Holiness'' — 
 in holy attire, in sanctuary array, in the beautiful robes of the 
 
OF THE GOD OF GLORY. lOl 
 
 priesthood. And then, again, verse 9 seems to tell of Earth 
 filled with his glory. 
 
 '^ In his temple everything saitli ' Glury T " p^S its all — the all of the 
 temple.) 
 
 Happy they on whose side this Jehovah stands ! (ver. 11). 
 He can say to the soul as Jesus said to the sea in Mark iv. 
 39, " Peace." That this is the full reference of the Psalm, we 
 may fully believe ; and yet this reference by no means forbids 
 our using it as an appropriate song to the Lord when celebrat- 
 ing the majesty of his voice heard in the storms that sweep 
 over the land, from Lebanon on the north to Kadesh on the 
 south ; or that voice heard in the hearts of men, when He stirs 
 their conscience and speaks his message of grace. 
 
 It is the same Lord, and the same majesty, that is shewn 
 forth in scenes of nature, in the doings of grace, and in the Ti'ieefoui ap- 
 
 ' . . l)lication. 
 
 full outburst of glory. Our Lord, in the days of his flesh, 
 might use it in that threefold way, and we still do the same. 
 We celebrate his present bestowal of "strength" and of " peace," 
 in verse 1 1 , while still we wait for the completeness of both in 
 the day when we shall get the "grace that shall be brought us 
 at the Appearing of Jesus Christ." The Psalm is thus fitted for 
 manifold occasions, though most specially for the day of the 
 Lord, being throughout 
 
 ''• The Righteous Ones adoration of the God of Glory, in the 
 Day of His storm* 
 
 * Barclay's Paraphrase will give the reader some help in filling up the preg- 
 nant brevity of these magnificent verses. We give a part of it wherein he re- 
 fers to the events of the Cross, as much as to the events of the "Great Day," 
 making the idea of a storm only the colouring of the style. 
 
 Ver. 3. " Messiah's voice is in the cloud, 
 
 The God of gloiy thunders loud, 
 
 Messiah rides along the floods, 
 
 He treads upon the flying clouds. 
 Ver. 4. Messiah's voice is full of power, 
 
 His lightnings play when tempests lower 
 Ver. 5. Messiah's voice the cedars breaks, 
 
 While Lebanon's foundation quakes : 
 
 Messiah's voice removes the hills, 
 
 And all the plains with rivers fills. 
 Ver. 6. The voice of their expiring God 
 
 Shall make the rocks to start abroad ; 
 
J 02 PSALM XXX. — SONG OF THE RIGHTEOUS CONCERNING 
 
 PSALM XXX. 
 
 A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David. 
 
 1 I WILL extol thee, O Lord ; for thou hast lifted me up, 
 And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 
 
 2 O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 
 
 3 O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave : 
 Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the ]jii. 
 
 4 Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his. 
 
 And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 
 
 5 For his anger endureth but a moment : in his favour is life : 
 Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. 
 
 6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. 
 
 7 Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong : 
 Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. 
 
 8 I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. 
 
 9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit ? 
 Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? 
 
 10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me! Lord, be thou my helper ! 
 
 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: 
 
 Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness ; 
 
 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. 
 O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. 
 
 'A Psalm, a Song of the Dedication of the House; by 
 David." Such is the title in the Hebrew, referring to the 
 occasion whereon the writer of it was moved by the Holy 
 Ghost to take up his harp, and touch its plaintively-pleasant 
 strings. It is supposed that "The house of David ^^ jnesnis 
 that house,* or temple, which David wished to have built to 
 the Lord — an " house of cedar — an house for my name " (2 
 
 Mount Zion and Mount Sirion 
 
 Shall bound along with Lebanon. 
 Ver. 7. The flames of fire shall round him wreathe, 
 
 When He shall on the ether breathe. 
 Ver. 8, 9. Messiah's voice shall shake the earth, 
 
 And, lo I the graves shall groan in birth 
 
 Ten thousand thousand living sons 
 
 Shall be the issue of their groans. 
 Ver. 11. The peace of God, the Gospel sounds ; 
 
 The peace of God, the earth rebounds. 
 
 The Gospel everlasting shines 
 
 A light from God that ne'er declines. 
 
 This is the light Jehovah sends, 
 
 To bless the world's remotest ends." 
 * PIcngstenbcrg, Tholuck, Alexander, &c. 
 
THE NIGHT OB" WEEPING AND MORNING OF JOY. 103 
 
 Sam. vii. 7-1 3.) This house David was not allowed to build ; 
 but he was permitted to fix upon the place where it was after- 
 wards to be reared, and to dedicate that spot — doing which 
 might be called undoubtedly, " The dedication of the house." 
 The spot was Oman's threshing-floor on Mount Moriah. The 
 case is recorded in 1 Chron. xxi. 26, the Lord answering him 
 by fire from heaven, so that David exclaimed, " This is the 
 house of the Lord God ! " (1 Chron. xxi. 1.) The circum- 
 stances are altogether such as to furnish a fit occasion for a 
 psalm, whose strains are melancholy intermixed with the 
 gladsome and the bright. The plague that followed the sin 
 of numbering the people had brought the Psalmist low, to the 
 very gates of death, for the sword was suspended over his 
 head ; but the voice that uttered, " It is enough ! " lifted him 
 and his up again. The morning of that day rose in clouds 
 and portentous gloom, but its setting sun shed its sweetest 
 rays on Jerusalem from a sapphire sky, and left a forgiven 
 people and a forgiven king reposing in the restored favour of 
 Jehovah. 
 
 Our David could take up these strains, and adopt them as cinist using 
 his own. There was a time when his sacrifice was offered, 
 and the temple of his body accepted by the Father. He, too, 
 had been low, and had been lifted up (ver. 1) ; had cried, and 
 been healed (ver. 2) ; had been brought up from among the 
 dead (ver. 3). Who could call on men so well as He to sing to 
 Jehovah (ver. 4), and " celebrate the memorial of his holi- 
 ness " — that is, to celebrate whatever called that holiness to 
 mind, and kept it before men. Was it not holiness that shone 
 forth most brightly in all his suffering ? Was it not holiness 
 that shone through the darkness of Calvary ? " But thou art 
 holy ! " was not that the comforting thought that upheld him 
 on the cross ? If the Lord's sore judgment on Israel, when 
 70,000 were cut off for one sin, shewed David how holy the 
 Lord was, surely infinitely more did the outpoured fierceness 
 of wrath manifest it to our David, and to all who are his saints. 
 Yet, even as that wrath was not eternal, for the angel put up 
 his sword in its sheath, so that anger poured out on the true 
 David, " endured but a moment," and his resurrection morning 
 
 this psaln 
 
riie inenibers 
 ofClirist. 
 
 104- rSALM XXX. — SONG OF THE RIGHTEOUS CONCERNING 
 
 was all joy (ver. 5). And once past, it never returns. Estab- 
 lished on the Rock that never changes, He was able to say, 
 
 " Jm my prosperity, I sliall never he moved." 
 
 " Thuii, Lord, hast imparted strength to my mountain hy thy love," (vers. 
 
 0,7). 
 
 Once " Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled," and 
 my prayer then was the prayer of one who sought tliy glory even 
 under gloom, and who pleaded that " thy truth " was pledged 
 to deliver me. And thou didst deliver, with such a deliverance 
 as calls for everlasting praise, and for praise which never has 
 a break in it from this time and for evermore. 
 
 At the resurrection morning (we have said) Christ began to 
 enter into this joy, for it was then that the Father distinctly 
 said, " It is enough ! Stay now thy hand " — fulfilling the type 
 given in the angel's sword put up into its scabbard at the spot 
 where " The House " was dedicated. But no one of his mem- 
 bers, all of whom have been (ver. 2) healed, can fail to find in 
 this Psalm very much that suits their own experience.* They 
 have had their " moment of anger ; " when the Lord awoke 
 them, and made them know their guilt, and dropped on their 
 conscience a drop of wrath that might make them cry vehe- 
 mently for deliverance, though He meant soon to wipe it off. 
 Each of " his holy ones " has known this '' moment of anger," 
 followed by " life in his favour," from the hour when his anger 
 was turned away. From that time forth they have had their 
 " nl(jht of weeping " oftentimes, but never any more of anger. 
 They have had their sorrows, weeping has " lodged " in their 
 dwellings oftentimes, and they have walked through many a 
 howling wilderness ; but it was always followed by a " morning 
 of joy,^' some sweet beams of love and favour making them 
 feel night turning into day. And they are expecting very soon 
 their Resurrection-'morniiig, when unmingled joy cometh, 
 joy like that of their Lord's at his resurrection. It is then 
 that they will, m the highest sense, sit on their Rock of Ages 
 
 * David was " healed " at his restoration to health and strength, and in being 
 siived from the pestilence ; the Son of David at his resurrection. The soul is 
 healed at its repentance and conversion : the body will hereafter be healed 
 when it is repaired, beautified, and glorified. 
 
TPIE NIGHT OF WEEPING AND MORNING OF JOY. 105 
 
 and have their " nhoutincj for joy" at morning, singing such 
 a song as this : 
 
 " / [even I] am in peace ! I shall never be moved ! 
 " Lord, thou hast imparted strength to my mountaiu hy thy love ! [allud- 
 ing to Zion, the seat of royalty.] 
 " Once thou didst hide thy face, and 1 tvas troubled ; 
 " And I called unto thee, Lord, 
 " And I made sujiplication [in words like these] : 
 " What profit is there in my blood ? 
 " Shall the dust praise thee ? 
 
 " Would not thy faithfulness be honoured in saving the chief of sinners ? 
 " And now thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing ; 
 " Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me ivith gladness, 
 " In order that my glory* may sing praise unto thee, and not he silent." 
 
 And with one accord all the " holy ones" join in the con- 
 cluding burst of rapturous gratitude, the true David himself 
 leading the song — 
 
 " Lord, my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever !" 
 
 And thus comes to a blessed close this song of the righteous, 
 which we may call, perhaps not improperly, 
 The Song of the Righteous concerning the Night of Weeping 
 and the Morning of Jog, 
 
 PSALM XXXL 
 
 To the Chief Musician, A Psahn of David. 
 
 1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust ! 
 
 Let me never be ashamed : deliver me in thy righteousness. 
 
 2 Bow down thine ear to me ; deliver me speedily : 
 
 Be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. 
 
 3 For thou art ray rock and my fortress ; 
 
 Therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. 
 
 4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me : for thou art my 
 
 strengtli. 
 
 5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit : thou hast redeemed me, O Lord 
 
 God of truth. 
 
 6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities : but I trust in the Lord. 
 
 7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy : 
 
 For thou hast considered my trouble. Thou hast known my soul in ad- 
 versities ; 
 
 * Tlioliick, and many others, understand "my soul" by ''my glory." 
 
106 PSALM XXXI. — THE RIGHTEOUS, THOUGH FORLORN, 
 
 8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy : thou hast set my 
 
 feet in a large room. 
 
 9 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble : 
 
 Mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. 
 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing : 
 
 My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones arc consumed. 
 Ill was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my 
 neighbours. 
 And a fear to mine acquaintance : they that did see me without fled 
 from me. 
 
 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind : I am like a broken vessel. 
 
 13 For I have heai'd the slander of many : fear was on every side : 
 
 While they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away 
 my life. 
 
 14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord : I said, Thou art my God. 
 
 15 My times are in thy hand ! 
 
 Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute 
 me. 
 
 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant : save me for thy mercies' sake. 
 
 17 Let me not be ashamed, Lord ; for I have called upon thee : 
 Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 
 
 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence ; 
 
 Wliich speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the 
 righteous. 
 
 19 Uh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that 
 
 fear thee ; 
 Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of 
 men ! 
 
 20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man : 
 Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. 
 
 21 Blessed be the Lord ! for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in 
 
 a strong city. 
 
 22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off" from before thine eyes I 
 Nevertheless thou hcardest the voice of my supplications when 1 cried 
 
 unto thee. 
 
 23 O love the Lord, all ye his saints : 
 
 For the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardcth the proud 
 doer. 
 
 24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope 
 
 in the Lord. 
 
 Christ and iiis The Head and his members are here. The Head said (ver. 8), 
 
 nieiiibei's. . 
 
 in the hour when He gave up the ghost, " Into thy hands 1 
 commit my spirit !" And how often have his members taken 
 up his words, from the days of Stephen to Huss, and from the 
 days of Huss to this hour. 
 
SAFE IN THE HAND OF THE LIVING GOD. 107 
 
 Safety in the hands of the living God, and only there, is the Tiie theme, 
 theme of this plaintive Psalm ; safety in life as well as in death ; 
 safety from the enemies' snares, and from all adversity, from 
 giief and reproach, from calumny and contempt, from personal 
 despondency as well as from the pressure of outward adversity. 
 David needed his theme, the true David needed it yet more, 
 and his followers will not cease to need it till verse nineteenth 
 be realised in all its vastness. 
 
 " lioio great is thy goodness, icliich thoic hast laid up for them that fear 
 thee!" 
 
 They get at present (like Joseph's brethren) their ass-loads of 
 the fine wheat from this granary ; but they shall yet stand 
 amidst it, and " fear" (Isa. Ix. 8) because of the very immensity 
 of it. 
 
 In verse 6, there is an emphatic pronoun, l^ii, q. d. unlike si.cciai clauses. 
 those who regard lying vanities, /, for my part, trust in the 
 Lord. In verse 8, the " large room" seems to be God's un- 
 bounded love, wide like a plain that stretches fai- beyond our 
 ken. The complaint in verse 1 1 resembles Lament, iv. 15, where 
 the people are represented as treating exiled Israel as a leper, 
 " Depart ye, unclean ; depart, depart ; touch not \" and forc- 
 ing them to flee away ;* and verse 12 reminds us of Job on his 
 dunghill, inasmuch as the " broken vessel" is just a potsherd, 
 like what he took to scrape himself withal. But verse 22 con- 
 tains an expression which is worth dwelling upon, as it occurs Patsover-habte. 
 again in Psalm cxvi. 1 1. It is the expression, " In my haste, 
 "•TSn^i The words, HTSn^ occur in 2 Sam iv. 4, used of Mephi- 
 bosheth's nurse making haste to flee when she heard the evil 
 tidings of Jonathan slain on Gilboa. In Psalm xlviii. 6, the 
 verb is used of the gathered kings making haste to flee away ; 
 and in 1 Sam. xxiii. 26, of David making haste to get out of 
 Saul's way. It is never used of impatience, or heat of spirit, 
 or irritation, or excited temper ;\ it always refers to speedy 
 
 * Here Augustine has a note applicable to this hour : " Dice vobis, fratres 
 moi; incipe, quicunque me audit, vivere quomodo Christianus, et vide si non 
 tibi ohjiciatur et a Christianis, sed nomine, non vita, non moribus.'" 
 
 t Fry goes far wrong here, speaking of " Hurry of mind, and confusion ; and 
 a moment of despair ;" Hengstenberg gives it the sense of " rapid flight ;" 
 Alexander, " terror;" Horsley, "consternation;" Street, " affright." 
 
all 
 
 108 PSALM XXXI. — THE RIGHTEOUS, THOUGH FORLORN, 
 
 movement from one locality to another. But specially it is to be 
 noticed, the cognate word ]iTSrT is used regarding the haste in 
 which they were to eat the passover : thus Exod. xii Jl, "Ye 
 shall eat it in haste ;" Deut. xvi, 3, " Thou camest out of the 
 land in haste;" and Isa. lii. 12, foretelling the reverse of this, 
 " Ye shall not go forth in haste." From all this, we infer that 
 in the passage before us, the reference of the Psalmist is not to 
 anything else than passover-haste. His words are to this 
 effect : "" I said when I was like a passover-man, hastening out 
 of Egypt, i.e., when I felt my condition to be that of one who 
 must make haste to leave a people that had cast him out." Left 
 in this condition, I was ready to say, " 1 am cut off" (ver. 22), 
 even as Israel at the Eed Sea. We come to the same conclu- 
 sion, if we suppose the Psalmist refer to such circumstances of 
 danger, and almost of despair, as are referred to when the radi- 
 cal word is used in 1 Sam. xxiii. 26. 
 I'nipiietic In verses 17, 18, we hear the prayer of the Head and his 
 
 members for the overthrow of the ungodly, the language of 
 which, as well as the reference to the same in verse 20, reminds 
 us irresistibly of words that occur in the prophecy of Enoch, 
 In this Psalm (as Horsley suggests), the voice from the oracle 
 declares their doom to be, 
 
 " Tliey shall be motionless in hell ! 
 Let lying lips be put to silence, 
 Which speak grievous tilings, 
 Proudly and contemptuously, 
 Against Ihe righteous." 
 
 In Enoch's prophecy we find the foundation of his cry ; and 
 inasmuch as Enoch's prophecy was known in the Church in 
 David's time, would it not comfort the Lord's saints then, and 
 the Lord himself when He came ? — 
 
 " Behold, the Lord comcth with ten thousand of his saints, 
 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly 
 
 among them. 
 Of all their ungodly deeds, whicli they have ungodly committed. 
 And of all their hard speeches 
 Which ungodly sinners have sfpokeii against Him." (Judc 14.) 
 
 To this expected interposition, the response given is in verses 
 19, 20, "Oh how great is th;/ r/oodness /" wherein we are re- 
 
 Kiiocli's 
 l)roi)hecy 
 
SAFE IN THE HAND OF THE LIVING GOD. 109 
 
 minded of the Lord's granary of goodness, or love, and receive 
 a promise of being hid ''from the strife 0/ tongues." Verses 
 21, 22, contain the grateful acknowledgment — 
 
 " Blessed be the Lord I for he has sheicn ine marvellous love ! 
 " In a strong ciiy ;" (?". e., bringing me into his fortress). 
 
 This " strong city " is a contrast to the " hasty flight " of 
 verse 22, when he thought he must surely perish. 
 
 But again, in verse 23, the delivered one speaks ; " The Lord 
 keeps the D"'3^D^i faithfulnesses," i. e., his promises ; and then 
 makes reference to the " plentiful reward" of wrath on the 
 wicked at the Lord's Coming, even as verse 19 told of the 
 abundant reward of His own yet to come. In prospect of 
 that day, his saints are exhorted to persevere (ver. 24) ; and it 
 is in some measure with a reference to the glory coming that 
 they are called by the name, " Ye that hope in the Lord." 
 Both now, however in a present evil world, and in the hour 
 of death, and in the end when glory is revealed, the saints 
 are safe, even as was their Head. This is the burden of this 
 song of Zion — 
 
 The Righteous, though forlorn, safe and blest in the hand of 
 the living God. 
 
 PSALM XXXIL 
 
 A Psalm of David, Mascliil. 
 
 1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 
 
 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, 
 And in whose spirit there is no guile. 
 
 3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day 
 
 long. 
 
 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me : 
 
 My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 
 
 5 I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. 
 I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord ; 
 
 And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 
 
 6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou 
 
 mayest be found. 
 Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. 
 
 7 Thou art my hiding place ; thou shalt preseiwe me from trouble ; 
 Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Sciah. 
 
J 10 PSALM XXXII. — THE WAY OF FORGIVENESS 
 
 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go . 
 I will guide thee with mine eye. 
 
 9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding : 
 Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near 
 
 unto thee. 
 
 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked : 
 
 But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. 
 
 11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: 
 And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. 
 
 We cannot but agree with Ewald in thinking that the word in 
 the title, " Maschil," does not refer to any instrument, nor yet 
 is it used in the sense of " Didactic," but has reference to some- 
 thing artistic in the melody, something peculiarly calling for 
 the skill of the singer or player on the harp. It is undoubtedly 
 used in some such sense in Psalm xlvii. 8, b''2WD 'llDT-* Per- 
 haps a Psalm of pardoning mercy was set to some special 
 music, which it required forgiven ones to appreciate, like some 
 of our hymn tunes. 
 
 The mention of " transgression," " iniquity," " sin," recals 
 the name of the Lord proclaimed to Moses in the cleft of the 
 rock, " forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin," (Exod. xxxiv. 
 7). The "imputing" and '' non-imputing" was well under- 
 stood in David's day ; for we read (2 Sam. xix. 1 9), Shemei 
 confessing sin, and yet asking, " Let not my lord impute it." 
 
 We generally take up this Psalm as if it was for the mem- 
 bers of Christ alone ; but we should not forget that the Head 
 himself traversed the way of forgiveness. He stood for us, in 
 our room, in our very place. He stood as substitute, and all 
 the sins of all " that great multitude which no man can num- 
 ber" were upon him, laid ui^on him by imputation. So 
 dreadful was his position, so truly awful did it seem to him 
 to be reckoned a sinner, that even this, apart from the wrath 
 and curse, would have been sufficient to make him cry, " O, 
 blessed the man to whom the Lord doth not impute sin." He 
 was dumb for our sakes ; his bones wasted away ; he groaned 
 
 * See also in the Hebrew 2 Chron. xxx. 22, applied to the Levitical music. 
 If the word meant " A Didactic Poem," it is strange to find it omitted in the 
 case of such as Psa. cxix. and 1., and inserted in the title to such a poetic ode 
 as P>-a. xlv., wherein there is nothing didactic. 
 
TRAVEESED BY THE RIGHTEOUS. Ill 
 
 from day to day, and during the lonesome hours of midnight 
 was kept awake by our woe. His moisture (ver. 4), or vigour 
 of vitaHty, was changed, " through means of (see Hengsten- 
 berg) the drought of sumoner, i.e., from the excessive heat of 
 wrath, resembhng the most parching heats of summer's hottest 
 days, when the sun is fiercely shedding down his intolerable 
 rays on the arid earth. In this state He acknowledged our sin ; 
 it was only ours he had to acknowledge ; he spread it out be- 
 fore God on the cross ; he continued to do so till it was for- 
 given to him as our substitute. 
 
 Our head could use these words only in that one way. But 
 in a personal sense, from ^personal experience of wrath, from 
 a personal consciousness of our own sin, every member of His 
 cannot but use the Psalm as expressingwhat they have passed 
 through. Yes, they have each felt the silence, the waxing old, 
 the roaring, the drying up of moisture, and the spreading out 
 before the Lord of the whole sin and misery of their case ; and 
 each has also found the forgiveness. (Ver. 5.) 
 
 " Thou forgavest the iniquity of my s/«." Tiie plan. 
 
 Here is a pause. Here is " Selah." Stay and ponder. 
 
 " 071 tJiis accoiinf — (jn{<T bV)^ because Thou forgivest sin, — 
 " On tJiis account sliall every godly one pray vnto thee." 
 
 Forgiveness is so great a blessing that all else may follow. 
 If the Lord forgive our sin, what next may we not ask ? On 
 this account, then, His people pray. Our Head intercedes, be- 
 cause his offering of himself was accepted ; we pray, because 
 through Him we have already got pardon, and may get any 
 other real blessing. Yes, we may get such blessing, that " at 
 the time ^/(7 *") the floods of great waters," whensoever that 
 be — whether calamities personal and national, or the waves of 
 the fiery flood, parallel to that of Noah, that shall yet sweep 
 away the ungodly, — even then we shall be altogether safe. The 
 forgiven man is hidden, instructed, taught, guided by God's ten- 
 der care. (Ver. 7, 8.) A Selah occurs at verse 7. Solemn truth 
 has been spoken, which the worshipper may muse upon till it 
 
 * The b lit're is like the ^ in P.salm xxix. 10. 
 
1 1 2 PSALM XXXII. — THE WAY OF FORGIVENESS TRAVERSED. 
 
 .sink into liis heart ; and then a voice from heaven tells that His 
 eye is ever on them. — " And (says Home) next to the protecting 
 power of God's being, is the securing prospect of his eye." The 
 forgiven man is sanctified, yielding np his own will to the Lord's, 
 not like the " horse and mule that have no understanding/, 
 whose ornament is hit and bridle, because they will not come 
 near unless by force." Unhappy they who know not pardon ! 
 " Many sorroivs" are their portion ; while mercy compasses 
 the forgiven, so that "they are glad, they rejoice, they shout 
 for joy f" Already they anticipate the joy of the kingdom, 
 " glad and rejoice;" though it is when the kingdom comes 
 that they shall say emphatically to one another, feeling mercy 
 compassing them about, and no flood, nor drop of flood touch- 
 ing one of them, " Alleluia ! the Lord God Omnipotent reign- 
 eth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him !" 
 (Rev. xix. 7.) And even then they may use this song of Zion ; 
 for the Head and his members will often review, as is done here, 
 7he ivay of forgiveness traversed by the Righteous. 
 
 PSALM XXXIIL 
 
 1 Rejoice in the Lord, j e righteous : for pi-aise is comely for the upright. 
 
 2 Prai.se the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an in- 
 
 strument of ten strings. 
 
 3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. 
 
 4 For the word of the Lord is right : and all his works ai-e done in truth. 
 
 5 He loveth righteousness and judgment : the earth is full of the goodness 
 
 of the Lord. 
 
 6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made : 
 And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 
 
 7 He gathered the waters of the sea together as an heap : 
 He layeth up tlic depth in storehouses. 
 
 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord : let all the inhabitants of the world stand 
 
 in awe of him. 
 
 9 For he spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast. 
 18 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought; 
 
 He makcth the devices of the people of none effect. 
 
 11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thonghts of his heart to all 
 
 generations. 
 
 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord ; 
 
 And the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. 
 
FORGIVEN ONES ADORE THE LORD IN HIS WAYS. 1 1 3 
 
 13 The Lord looketh from heaven ; he beholdeth all the sons of men : 
 
 14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of 
 
 the earth. 
 
 15 He fashioneth their hearts alike ; he considereth all their works. 
 
 16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an host : 
 A mighty man is not delivered by much strength. 
 
 17 An horse is a vain thing for safety : neither shall he deliver any by his 
 
 great strength. 
 
 18 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that 
 
 hope in his mercy ; 
 
 19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. 
 
 20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord : he is our help and our shield. 
 
 21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy 
 
 name. 
 
 22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. 
 
 The last note of the former is the first note of this Psalm, 
 "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous!" The last Psalm had 
 much in it of the tone of confession and prayer : this is full of 
 praise ; for now the forgiven one is taking up his harp in 
 thankfulness : 
 
 " Give thanks to JeJiovah loitli the harp, 
 Make music to Him with an instrument often striiigs.'" 
 
 It is a very simple Psalm, yet full of the feelings which a 
 forgiven soul teems with. Never did any heart so abound in 
 those feelings as the heart of the Lord Jesus ; and his saints 
 learn from him. It is He who is to lead the praise in the great 
 congregation. (Psalm xxii. 22.) Let us see the topics taken 
 up in turn. 
 
 Verses 1-3 prepare us for song, shaking the strings of our 
 heart. And the call is for a " new song " — a redemption 
 melody. 
 
 Verses 4, 5, praise the Lord for his character. 
 
 Verses 6-9 praise the Lord for his creation-work, which 
 his providence still continues. 
 
 Verses 10, 11, praise the Lord for his counsels. 
 
 Verses 12-19 praise the Lord for nis care of his Church, 
 his chosen ones, who are saved by grace alone (ver. 16, 17), 
 and kept by grace (ver. 1 8, 1 9). 
 
 Verses 20-22 contains the response. As exhorted, " Rejoice 
 in the Lord," (ver. 1), — so we reply, "Our heart rejoiceth in 
 
1 1 4 PSALM XXXIV. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE S EXPERIENCE OF 
 
 Him." This will be the eternal response of the saints when 
 the salvation yet in reserve comes. Then their " luaiting " 
 (ver. 20), their Jacob-like waiting, is ended (Gen. xlix. 18) ; 
 then (as ver. 10, 11, as well as Psalm ii. 1, sing) the nations 
 have raged in vain ; and then, in the fullest sense, " Earth is 
 full of the goodness of the Lord," as Hosea ii. 21, 22, described 
 in part, and as the seraphim celebrate in Isaiah vi. 3. Then 
 shall it be full of the Lord's glory, when love, redeeming love, 
 the love of the God of Love, shall be felt by all the earth, the 
 Gift of Love himself being in the midst. It is thus a Psalm 
 wherein 
 Forgiven ones adore the Lord in his counsels and ways. 
 
 PSALM XXXIV. 
 
 A Psahn of Pavid, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech ; who drove hira away, 
 and he departed. 
 
 1 I will bless the Lord at all times : his praise shall continually be in my 
 
 mouth. 
 
 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord : the humble shall hear hereof, 
 
 and be glad. 
 
 3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. 
 
 4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 
 
 5 They looked unto him, and were lightened : and their faces were not 
 
 ashamed. 
 
 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all 
 
 his troubles. 
 
 7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and 
 
 delivereth them. 
 S O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in 
 
 him. 
 9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints : for there is no want to them that fear him. 
 
 10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: 
 
 But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. 
 
 1 1 Come, ye children, hearken unto me : I will teach you the fear of the Lord 
 
 12 What man is he that desireth life, 
 
 And loveth many days, that he may see good ? 
 
 13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. 
 
 14 Depart from evil, and do good ; seek peace, and pursue it. 
 
 15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto 
 
 their cry. 
 
 16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, 
 To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 
 
THE lord's love UNDER THE CROSS. 1 1 5 
 
 17 The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth him out of all 
 
 their troubles. 
 
 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart ; 
 And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 
 
 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous : but the Lord delivereth him out 
 
 of them all. 
 
 20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. 
 
 21 Evil shall slay the wicked ; and they that hate the righteous shall be 
 
 desolate. 
 
 22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants ; 
 
 And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. 
 
 The primitive Christians used to sing this Psalm at the cele- 
 bration of the Lord's Supper — most suitably. An able writer on 
 this Psalm has allowed himself to say rather rashly, " The title 
 given by the Jewish editors, like most of the other titles they have 
 thought proper to affix to the Psalms, has evidently no connec- 
 tion whatever with the subject." Now, we are not aware of a 
 single case wherein there is no connection to be traced between 
 the title and the contents of the Psalms ; and the fact that 
 occasionally this connection is not very obvious at first view, 
 seems to us to speak rather in favour of its genuineness than 
 against it. A mere inventor would have taken pains to pin 
 on to the composition something that would suggest itself easily 
 to the reader as a probable occasion. Here, at all events, there 
 is in the title just that combination of obscurity and proba- 
 bility that inclines us to assent at once to its genuineness — 
 even apart from the fact that we have no authority for reject- 
 ing it. It has frequently been observed, as a most beautiful 
 and appropriate circumstance in the life and experience of 
 David, the man of God, that the first notes of his harp should 
 give forth praises at the very time " when he changed his 
 behaviour (i.e., concealed his intellect, or disguised his reason) 
 before Abimelech,* who sent him away, and he departed." 
 Cast out again, homeless, friendless, helpless, David trudges 
 
 * Abimelech is the general title given to Philistine kings, like Pharaoh to 
 the Egyptian. Achish was the special name of the prince. In Archbishop 
 Parker's translation (1567), the title and argument are thus given — 
 " When David fled to Achish king, 
 The door of deatli he was full near ; 
 When saved, he this psalm did sing, 
 With all his friends in godly quire, 
 To God his Lord, to him so dear^ 
 Give thanks I will, give thanks I will. 
 For aye to God most gracious," &c. 
 
116 PSALM XXXIV. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE'S EXPERIENCE OF 
 
 along the highway of Philistia, with the world all before him, 
 where to choose his place of rest ; and though he knows not 
 where to lay his head, he journeys on, singing, " I will bless 
 the Lord ! I will bless Him at all times : His praise shall 
 continually be in my mouth/' Is he not recalling past expe- 
 rience as a source of encouragement, when he says, " I sought 
 the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my 
 fears?" (Ver. 4.) The word for '' They looked" (-IZa^nn) in 
 verse 5 is that used in Num. xxi. 9, when Israel looked to the 
 serpent of brass ; and in Zech. xii. 11, when they look on Him 
 whom they pierced.* And in verse 6, " This poor man cried," 
 is no other than himself; — I who am thus using my harp 
 to celebrate Him, — I who am an outcast, — this poor man 
 whom you see before you. In the same happy strain of faith 
 the whole psalm flows on, till verse 20 rises to the height of 
 confidence, — " He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is 
 broken,"-f- — while the ruin of all his foes is foreseen as sure, 
 " Evil shall slay the wicked." Could any circumstances afford 
 a more suitable occasion for such a psalm being given to the 
 Church ? Taking advantage of David's peculiar state and feel- 
 ings, the Holy Ghost gives to the Church a song that might 
 suit her Head, the true David when He came, and might 
 equally suit every member. Augustine writes : " Dicit Chris- 
 tus ; dicat et Christianus ; " because the Head and members 
 agree so truly in feeling and experience. 
 
 It is one of the alphabetic psalms, carefully arranged for the 
 memory easily to grasp ; and yet not so invariably regular as 
 to cause us to think there is any mystery in that form of com- 
 position. It is interesting to note that the name of Jehovah 
 occurs in each of the verses except three. 
 
 Our Lord might use it all. He could as truly say, " This 
 poor man cried," as David ; for He could point to Gethsemane, 
 and to many a night of " strong crying and tears," (Heb. v. 7). 
 Who more than He could tell of the ministering angel (ver. 7), 
 
 * In Isa. xlv. 22, the word is ;)^3 " Turn from other objeets and fix your eye 
 
 on me," as Ps. Ixix. 16, and lixod. xvi. 10. 
 
 t Some think this verse is referred to in John xiv. 3G, and so infer tliat John 
 understood tiic wliole psnlm of Christ throughout. 
 
THE LORD S LOVE UNDER THE CROSS. 1 17 
 
 siuce, after The Temptation, and at the season of the Garden 
 agony, He obtained such help ? And it was He who could 
 say, " Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father, and He 
 will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels V 
 Even (in ver. 11) the expression, " Te children," comes from 
 his lips more naturally than from any other, for He it is that 
 has spoken of all God's family as " My little children." 
 
 The speaker would fain draw us to the Lord by telling us 
 his own experience. We ought to connect verses 10, 11, 
 together. " O fear the Lord ; for with him is all that can satisfy 
 your soul. Come imto me, and I will teach jou the fear of 
 the Lord." Christ is he that utters to us the words of eternal 
 life by revealing the Father ; and his disciples follow in his 
 steps. Having taught us this "fear of Jehovah," — i. e., to 
 cry "Abba, Father," and yet also to realise him as Jehovah — 
 taught us, also, thereby what real life is, — he next points out 
 the results. He shews us, in verses 12, 13, 14, the holy issues 
 or effects of the fear of the Lord, — the lips, the life, the pur- 
 suit of the heart, all tending in a holy direction. After this all is 
 safety to them (ver. 15-21), while " the Lord's face is with evil 
 doers," as the Pillar Cloud was with Pharaoh, to destroy them. 
 
 The prophetic reference of this Psalm is in the close. There 
 the anointed eye of David, and the Son of David, and all the 
 seed of David, beholds the final end of these trials. The 
 righteous arrive in the kingdom, not one bone broken, — even 
 as Christ came down from the cross, not a bone of him broken, 
 to shew the inability of his foes really to injure him. They see 
 the wicked slain, and the haters of the Righteous One " pro- 
 nounced guilty" and made desolate. Is not this leading us up 
 to the throne whence the sentence goes forth, " Those mine 
 enemies bring hither and slay them before me ! Depart, ye 
 cursed ! " 
 
 The harp of David thus celebrates. 
 
 The Righteous One's experience of the Lord's love under 
 the cross* 
 
 * Dr Allix : — " This Psalm coutaiueth the praises which the Messias gives 
 to his Father for having delivered him out of all his sufferings." Horsley : 
 " Messiah exhorts to holiness and trust in God, by the example of his own 
 deliverance." 
 
 Prophetic 
 reference. 
 
118 PSALM XXXV. — THE UTTERANCE OF THE RIGHTEOIFS ONE 
 
 PSALM XXXV. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: 
 Fight against them that fight against me. 
 
 2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. 
 
 3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me : 
 Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. 
 
 4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul : 
 Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. 
 
 5 Let them be as chaff before the wind : and let the angel of the Lord 
 
 chase them. 
 
 6 Let their way be dark and slippery : and let the angel of the Lord perse- 
 
 cute them. 
 
 7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit. 
 Which without cause they have digged for my soul. 
 
 8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares ; 
 
 And let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruc- 
 tion let him fall. 
 
 9 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord : it shall rejoice in his salvation. 
 
 10 All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee ? 
 Which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him. 
 Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him ? 
 
 11 False witnesses did rise up ; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. 
 
 12 They rewarded me evil for good, to the spoiling of my soul. 
 
 13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth : 
 I humbled my soul with fasting ; 
 
 And my prayer returned into mine own bosom. 
 
 14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother : 
 1 bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother. 
 
 15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: 
 Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew 
 
 it not. 
 They did tear me, and ceased not : 
 
 16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their 
 
 teeth. 
 
 17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on ? 
 
 Rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. 
 
 18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation : I will praise thee 
 
 among much people. 
 
 19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me : 
 Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. 
 
 20 For they speak not peace : 
 
 But they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land. 
 
 21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, 
 And said, Aha! aha! our eye hath seen it. 
 
 22 This thou hastseen, Lord : keep not silence : Lord, be notfarfrom me. 
 
REGARDING THOSE THAT HATE HIM. 1 1 9 
 
 23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment! even unto my cause, my 
 
 God and my Lord ! 
 
 24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness ; 
 And let them not rejoice over me. 
 
 25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah ! so would we have it : 
 Let them not say, We have swallowed him up. 
 
 26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at 
 
 mine hurt : 
 Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves 
 against me. 
 
 27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause : 
 Yea, let them say continually. Let the Lord be magnified, 
 
 Which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant 
 
 28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the 
 
 day long. 
 
 There is this link of connection between this Psalm and the 
 preceding, that in both we find " tJie bones" referred to ; in the 
 former as " not broken" (ver. 20), in the latter as " rejoicing" 
 (ver. ] 6). In both, too, we find the angel of the Lord acting as 
 the Lord's instrument. In the former the angel acts to protect 
 and preserve (ver. 6), because the whole song is one of the 
 Lord's care ; but in the latter the angel acts in the way of 
 vengeance, as an instrument in inflicting the Lord's wrath (ver. 
 5, 6), because the burden of the Psalm is an awful intercession 
 against those who hate the righteous without cause. 
 
 Throughout this is an awful Psalm. Let us read it as the 
 words of the Lord Jesus, and what do we find ? We find Him 
 praying to the Father for help, and then consenting to the 
 doom of his relentless, impenitent foes ; yea, rather pronounc- 
 ing the doom with his own lips, even as when He shall say to 
 the barren fig-tree, " Cut it down," and to those on the left 
 hand, " Depart." It is in that spirit He says : — 
 
 " Let them be confounded. 
 Let tliem be turned hack. 
 Let tliem be as chaff, 
 
 Let t/ie angel of the Lord smite them down. 
 Let their way be dark. 
 Let the angel of the Lord cJiase them." (Ver. 4, 5, 6.) 
 
 This is their sentence, uttered by the lips of the Judge. It is 
 not the wish of one who is revengeful ; it is the utterance of 
 justice, compelled by the state of the parties to speak in stern 
 severity. Our Lord himself quotes verse 19, "the)/hctte me 
 
 The plan. 
 
120 PSALM XXXV. — THE UTTERANCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE 
 
 without a cause," in John xv. 25, on the last evening he spent 
 with his disciples before he suffered. For then he found 
 himself in the very situation so strikingly described in verses 
 1 1, ] 2 ; — false witnesses rising up, — men rewarding his whole 
 career of kindness by spoiling his soul. 
 
 What a deeply affecting picture do verses 13, 14, 15, give 
 of the Saviour's life for us. It may have been literally realised 
 at Nazareth ; Christ may have put on sackcloth when he 
 heard of some one in sickness, fasting for the dying man whose 
 soul he longed to save — none the less that the man was a foe. 
 Jesus acted as if the man had been " friend or brother ;" yea, 
 he felt such grief as men usually feel only when a beloved 
 " mother" dies. And so he felt for all this miserable world. 
 But now, says he, when the day of my calamity has come, 
 they do not sympathise with me : — 
 
 " They rejoice and gather together. 
 Tliey gather against me, tJce abjects I 
 Even those whom I knew not, tear me, and cease not. 
 Tlie vile, who mock for a cake (parasites), gnash their teeth at me." 
 (Ver. 15, 16.) 
 His cry ascends ; his pleadings up go before the righteous 
 Father, *' Lord, bring back my soul from desolations caused by 
 their ruinous plots. The vehement appeal (ver. 23), " My God, 
 and my Lord !" may have been in Thomas's thoughts on that 
 memorable occasion, John xx. 28. We have the answer in 
 verses 26, 27 :— 
 
 " They are ashamed ; they are clothed with shame." 
 This answer carries us forward to the day when they who re- 
 jected Him shall have as their portion " shame and everlasting 
 contempt ;" while they that favour his righteous cause — 
 
 " Shout for joy, and are glad ; 
 They cry continually. Let the Lord he magnified f 
 Whose pleasure is the prosperity of his servants." 
 
 Sence" ^^ ^°* ^^^^ *^^ " Hallelujah" of the glorified redeemed ? Is 
 
 not this their shout of joy, when sorrow and sighing flee away? 
 And, once more, is not this the sound of the Lamb's harp and 
 voice we hear, when amid this jubilee of bliss he says, — 
 " And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness, 
 Of thy praise, all the day long." 
 
REGARDING THOSE THAT HATE HIM. 1 21 
 
 Throughout the endless day of eternity the Lord Jesus shall 
 himself speak the Father's " praise," and shall put marked 
 emphasis on his "righteousness" — that righteousness which 
 shall have been exhibited both in the doom of those who hated 
 the offered Redeemer, and in the salvation of those who re- 
 ceived him. There is nothing in all this wherein his own 
 may not fully join, especially on that day when their views of 
 justice shall be far clearer and fuller than now. On that day 
 we shall be able to understand how Samuel could hew Agag 
 in pieces, and the godly hosts of Israel slay utterly in Canaan 
 man and woman and child, at God's command. We shall be 
 able, not only fully to agree in the doom, " Let them be con- 
 founded," &c., but even to sing, " Amen, Hallelujah," over the 
 smoke of torment. (Rev. xix. 1, 2.) We should in some mea- 
 sure now be able to use every verse of this Psalm in the spirit 
 in which the Judge spake it, we feeling ourselves his assessors 
 in judging the world, (i Cor. vi. 2.) We shall, at all events, 
 be able to use it on that day when what is written here shall 
 be all accomplished : — 
 
 The awful utterance of the Righteous One regarding those that 
 hate Him without a cause. 
 
 PSALM XXXVL 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord. 
 
 1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, 
 That there is no fear of God before his eyes. 
 
 2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to 
 
 be hateful. 
 
 3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit : he hath left off to be 
 
 wise, and to do good. 
 
 4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed ; 
 
 He setteth himself in a way that is not good ; he abhorreth not evil. 
 
 5 Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens ; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto 
 
 the clouds. 
 
 6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains ; thy judgments are a great 
 
 deep. 
 O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. 
 
 7 How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God ! 
 
 Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy 
 wings. 
 
122 PSALM XXXVI. — LOOKING UP TO THE GOD OF GRACE 
 
 8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house : 
 And thou shall make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. 
 
 9 For with thee is the fountain of life : in thy light shall we see light. 
 
 10 O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee ; 
 And thy righteousness to the upright in heart. 
 
 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the 
 
 wicked remove me. 
 
 12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen ! They are cast down, and shall 
 
 not be able to rise. 
 
 The title. He whom the Holy Ghost employs to write in these strains of 
 elevated thought and intense feeling, is one not ashamed of his 
 God. It is David ; and as in Psalm xviii. 1 , so here he de- 
 scribes himself as ''Servant of Jehovah." Perhaps it was 
 specially appropriate to use this designation in a Psalm that 
 shews us so fully the apostasy of men and a world in rebellion. 
 David glories in being " Servant" to Him whom men desert 
 and despise. 
 
 The plan. Like Balaam (Numb. xxiv. 3 □^^J^ speaking in the Lord's 
 
 name to Balak, so the Psalmist, in a kind of irony, represents 
 *' transgression" as uttering its oracle to the wicked. The first 
 verse reads thus : — 
 
 " Transgression utters its oracle to the wicked in my heart ! {i.e., my 
 heart thus apprehends their meaning,) 
 There is no fear of God before his eyes ! " — (Rengstenberg*) 
 
 And then he states seven features of the man who has no fear of 
 God. All this prepares the way for the contrast, Jehovah's 
 character and thoughts towards us, verses 5-9. Nor is he done 
 till he has shewn us the Fountain of life, surrounded by the re- 
 deemed, and then pointed to the ruin of the lost, " Yonder 
 are they fallen/' (ver. ] 2), — scenes that carry us forward to the 
 Great Day and its issues. 
 
 What a Psalm is this ! David, and David's Son, and every 
 member of the household of faith, must always have found it 
 congenial ; it is such a picture of earth, and such a glimpse 
 of Godhead-glory and grace. It suggests the deliverance of 
 all creation, " man and beast," and streams of bliss in reserve 
 
 * Tholuck renders it, "A divine oracle says from the depth of my heart, 
 concerning the wickedness of the ungodly" — adopting in substance the version 
 of Symmachus and Luther. All agree that QJ^J is very peculiar. 
 
FROM AMID A WORLD LYING IN WICKEDNESS. 123 
 
 for us. It abounds in allusions to Old Testament history — al- 
 lusions that make it more fragrant and savoury ; as when verse 
 7th sings of Jehovah's care of " man and beast," thereby 
 calling up before us the ark of Noah, and the rainbow that 
 spanned it after the flood ; or when verse 8 sings of " the river, ^' 
 as if to remind us of the streams that watered Paradise (" a 
 hver of thy pleasures" ]1V!) ; or when "the fountain" is spoken 
 of, as if to send our thoughts to Deut. xxx. 20, Israel's foun- 
 tain. It is such a song of Zion as can be appreciated only 
 by meditation deep and frequent — such solemn meditation as 
 will try to gaze up to those heavens (verse 5), wherein mercy 
 dwells ; penetrate those clouds in which faithfulness is hid ; 
 climb and explore the massy mountain-heights of justice {hills 
 of God, worthy of his greatness, glorious and immense) ; cast 
 the line into the fathomless deep of his judgments, {i.e., his 
 providential dealings) ; and feel drawn by that grace that leads 
 men to the shade of the Almighty wings, and then to the 
 rivers of pleasure which flow from the fountain of life. If 
 asked to describe what we see in this Psalm, we would say, 
 We see here 
 
 The Righteous One looking up to the God of grace from amid 
 a world lying in wickedness. 
 
 PSALM XXXVII. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, 
 
 Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 
 
 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green 
 
 herb. 
 
 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good ; 
 
 So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 
 
 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord ; and he shall give thee the desires of thine 
 
 heart. 
 
 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him ; 
 And he shall bring it to pass. 
 
 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment 
 
 as the noonday. 
 
 7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him : 
 
 Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, 
 Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. 
 
124 PSALM XXXVII.— THE HEART QUIETED BY DISCERNING 
 
 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath : fret not thyself in any wi.se to 
 
 do evil. 
 
 9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they 
 
 shall inherit the earth. 
 
 10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be : 
 
 Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. 
 
 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth ; 
 
 And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. 
 
 12 The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his 
 
 teeth. 
 
 13 The Lord shall laugh at him : for he seeth that his day is coming. 
 
 14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow. 
 
 To cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright con- 
 versation. 
 
 15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be 
 
 broken. 
 
 16 A little that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many 
 
 wicked. 
 
 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken : but the Lord upholdeth the 
 
 righteous, 
 
 18 The Lord knoweth the days of the upright ; and their inheritance shall be 
 
 for ever. 
 
 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time : and in the days of famine they 
 
 shall be satisfied. 
 
 20 But the wicked shall perish. 
 
 And the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs : 
 They shall consume ; into smoke shall they consume away. 
 
 21 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again : but the righteous sheweth 
 
 mercy, and giveth. 
 
 22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth ; 
 And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. 
 
 23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord : and he delighteth in 
 
 his way. 
 
 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down : 
 For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. 
 
 25 I have been young, and now am old ; 
 
 Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. 
 
 26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth ; and his seed is blessed. 
 
 27 Depart from evil, and do good ; and dwell for evermore. 
 
 28 For the lord loveth judgment, and foi'saketh not his saints. 
 
 They are preserved for ever : but the seed of the wicked shall be cut otlf. 
 
 29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. 
 
 30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talkcth of 
 
 judgment. 
 
 31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. 
 
 32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. 
 
 33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is 
 
 judged. 
 
BETWEEN THE GODLY AND THE WICKED. 125 
 
 34 Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit 
 
 the land. 
 When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. 
 
 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green 
 
 bay tree. 
 
 36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not ! yea, I sought him, but he could 
 
 not be found. 
 
 37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ! for the end of that man is 
 
 peace. 
 
 38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together : the end of the wicked 
 
 shall be cut off. 
 
 39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord : he is their strength in 
 
 the time of trouble. 
 
 40 And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them : 
 
 He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust 
 in him. 
 
 There are seven alphabetic Psalms, and this is one of them. ^|.^,cture!'' 
 It is a song of Zion, in which precious truths are stored up in 
 the memory by the aid of the alphabetic beginnings of each 
 verse. But, as usual, there occurs one irregularity (viz. y is 
 omitted), to prevent us, perhaps, attaching too great importance 
 to this form of structure. 
 
 The two-edged sword gleams bright here ; justice and mercy 
 ride together over the field of earth. It is a song suitable for 
 the Church and the Church's Head alike, and for every age of 
 the Church's history. And yet how exactly some verses suit 
 special scenes. Thus, verses 31, 82, is a full-length portrait of 
 the Just One — word, thought, deed j while Antichrist might 
 be said to have sat for his picture in verses 85, 36. " I saw 
 the wicked," &c. 
 
 Our Lord seems to quote this Psalm in Matt. v. 2 : " Blessed 
 are the meek — they shall inherit the earth." And in this 
 Psalm *' the little while" is spoken of, that " little while" of the 
 Church's patient waiting, now so well known to us : 
 
 " Yet a little icliile and the icicked shall not 6e." 
 
 " And the ineek shall inherit the earth." (Ver. 10, 11.) 
 
 Verses 37, 38, describe the final reward, *' The End," of the 
 perfect man, and the final doom, " the end," of transgressors, 
 on the Great Day, when He comes who has " His reward with 
 him." And so it closes with ascribing all victory to the Lord 
 alone. (Ver. 39, 40.) 
 
 Christ and liis 
 Church. 
 
126 PSALM XXXVII. — THE HEART QUIETED BY DISCERNING 
 
 The title is simply, " of David," and this much we may re- 
 mark regarding the penman's style in it, that in very many 
 portions his own history supplied striking exemplifications of 
 his doctrinal statements. 
 
 In verses 1-6 we have the Lord's treatment of His oivn. 
 He lets them be proved and tried, while the wicked prosper. 
 David's adversity in the day of Saul's authority, and Nahal's 
 history, might be referred to as illustrating these verses. 
 " Dwell in the Land" may send us to Gen, xxvi, 34, or to 1 Sam. 
 xxvli. 1, 2, by contrast. Notice how it is faith and hope 
 together that are recommended in verses 5, 6, and remark that 
 "judgment'^ may well be rendered " The decision of thy cause 
 in favour of the right," just as in Isaiah xlii. 3, 4 ; John xii. 
 31, and xvi. 11, it signifies the decision of the controversy 
 pending between God and us, against the great Accuser. 
 
 In verses 7-15 we have The Lord's treatment of his foes. 
 Instead of complaining of our burdens, and anxieties, and 
 cares, and fears, and instead of throwing them off in stoical 
 indifference, let us " roll them on the Lord" (as ver. 5), and 
 then "Wait — be silent" — q.d., standing still at the Red Sea, 
 till God opens the way. " The meek" are they who bow to God's 
 will ; they shall as surely " inherit the earth," as ever Israel 
 entered into possession of Canaan. This is a promise repeated 
 in verses 1 1 , 22, 29, 34, as if to reiterate, " that though you 
 have little of earth and earth's good things now, all shall yet 
 be yours, and the ungodly be gone for ever." 
 
 From verses 16-22 we have God's blessing on the substance 
 of the godly, and his curse on what belongs to the wicked. 
 This is seen in the godly enjoying sufficiency at all times, and 
 in their being able (ver. 21) to give to others also; whereas 
 the ungodly are blighted, yea so reduced (ver. 21) as to be 
 found " borrowing," and unable to repay. All this is a fore- 
 taste of the future day described in Matt. xxv. 34, 41, and to 
 which reference is made in these words, 
 
 " For the Lord's blessed ones shall inherit the earth, 
 And his cursed ones shall be ctit off." 
 
 In verses 23-26 we have contrasts that even now distin- 
 guish the lot of these two classes of men. The godly are 
 
BETWEEN THE GODLY AND THE WICKED. 1 27 
 
 directed ; lifted up when calamity has overtaken them (ver. 
 24) ; never forsaken (ver. 25). 
 
 " / have never seen the righteous forsaken (of God), 
 Nor (have I seen) his seed (forsaken) even when in greatest poverty ." 
 
 Nay, so far from this, the righteous is enabled to shew kind- 
 ness to others (ver. 26), and leaves blessing to his seed. " For 
 (says one) so far is charity from impoverishing, that what is 
 given away, like vapours emitted by the earth, returns in 
 showers of blessing." 
 
 From verses 27-33 we have an implied invitation to join 
 the godly, whom the Lord so cares for, in cherishing all that 
 is holy. Things are said which in their full sense are realised 
 only in the person of the Righteous One. 
 
 In verses 34-40 we arrive at the final issues of things. 
 Wait — that " wicked one" who is so " terrible" (V'lV), shall 
 soon disappear — that Saul, that foe of yours, that Antichrist, 
 the Church's foe ! And fail not to mark the perfect, " For to 
 the perfect there is an end," a,n r)'nni^. This "ri."'']nX" is 
 what Baalam speaks of in Numb, xxiii. 10, the end in the latter 
 day, the resurrection time. 
 
 And now let us revert to several expressions, in which we 
 find a marked likeness to our Lord's mode of speaking when on 
 earth. We noticed at verse 22, the resemblance to Matt. xxv. 
 34, 41, the " blessed" and the " cursed ;" but not less remark- 
 able is the five times repeated " inherit the earth" for our 
 Lord quotes it in Matt. v. 5, when promising still future bless- 
 ing. Add to these the " little while'' of verse 1 0, as used by 
 the Lord in John xvi. 16-19, and also " the end" as parallel 
 to our Lord's " end of the age" in Matt. xiii. 19. With all 
 these expressions before us, may we not say that the Master 
 himself is the chief speaker of this Psalm ? It is as pro- 
 perly the lips of David's Son that utter it, as it is the pen of 
 David that writes it. And this is the theme of it — 
 
 2he Righteous One quieting our heart by teaching us to 
 discern between the godly and the wicked. 
 
 Christ the 
 speaker 
 
128 PSALM XXXVIII. — THE LEPROSY OF SIN ABHORRED. 
 
 PSALM XXXVIIL 
 
 A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. 
 
 1 Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath : neither chasten me in thy hot dis- 
 
 pleasure. 
 
 2 For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. 
 
 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; 
 Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. 
 
 4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head : as an heavy burden, they are 
 
 too heavy for me. 
 
 5 My wounds stink and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. 
 
 6 I am troubled ; I am bowed down greatly ; I go mourning all the day long. 
 
 7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease : and there is no sound- 
 
 ness in my flesh. 
 
 8 I am feeble and sore broken : I have roared by reason of the disquietness 
 
 of my heart. 
 
 9 Lord, all my desire is before thee ; and my groaning is not hid from thee. 
 
 10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me : 
 
 As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. 
 
 11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore ; and my kinsmen 
 
 stand afar oif. 
 
 12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me : 
 And they that seek my heart speak mischievous things, 
 And imagine deceits all the day long. 
 
 13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not ; and I was as a dumb man that openeth 
 
 not his mouth. 
 
 14 Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no re- 
 
 proofs. 
 
 15 For in thee, O Lord, do I hope : thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. 
 
 16 For I said. Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over m.e : 
 When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. 
 
 17 For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. 
 
 18 For I will declare mine iniquity ; I will be sorry for my sin. 
 
 19 But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong : 
 And tbey that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. 
 
 20 They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries ; 
 Because I follow the thing that good is. 
 
 21 Forsake me not, O Lord : O my God, be not far from me. 
 
 22 Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation. 
 
 Here is " The inhabitant saying, I am sick" — David, and every 
 believer with him, and the Head of all believers, David's Son, 
 when he took his place in our world as The Inhabitant who was 
 to heal the sicknesses of others. One writer vehemently asserts, 
 " It is a prophetic prayer of Christ ; it has no personal refe- 
 
PSALM XXXVUI. — THE LEPROSY OF SIN AnilORRED 129 
 
 ence whatever to David" (Tucker) ; while one of the ancient 
 fathers is content with saying, " It would be hard not to apply 
 to Christ a Psalm that as graphically describes his passion as 
 if we were reading it out of the gospels. (Valde durum et 
 contrarium est, ut ille Psalmus non pertineat ad Christum ubi 
 habemus tam apertam passionem ejus tanquam ex Evan- 
 gelio recitetur." — Aug). We are content to notice that the 
 tone of the voice of him that speaks is none other than 
 that of the speaker in Psalm vi., as verse 1 in both is suffi- 
 cient to prove. Nor is it unlike Psalm xxii., as verses 21 and 
 22 will at once suggest (Psa. xxii. 29). The difficulty in the 
 way of supposing it used by the Lord Jesus, as descriptive of 
 his feelings and state, when he took on our guilt by imputa- 
 tion, is not at all greater than in some passages of Psalms 
 xl. and Ixix., which almost no one doubts to be his utterances. 
 There is some light cast on our Lord's feelings under the 
 imputation of our sins, if we consider verse 5 to be a statement 
 of his abhorrence of the sin he bears : " My wounds stink 
 and are corrupt" — i. e., there is inexpressible loathsomeness 
 in my festering wounds, those wounds which I have been 
 subjected to " hecause of my foolishness," viz., the folly im- 
 puted to me (as in Psa. Ixix. 5), the foolishness, the infatuation 
 and sins of my people. He was weary of wearing that poisoned 
 garment of our sins ; he was weary of having our leprosy ap- 
 pearing on his spotless person ; he was weary and woe-begone, 
 and longed for the time when he should " appear without sin," 
 (Heb. ix. 28). 
 
 It is thus that we can understand it to have been used by 
 Christ, and yet to be suitable at the same time, though in a 
 different manner, to Christ's redeemed ones, who feel their 
 personal corruption and guilt. And in either case the title is 
 appropriate, " To bring to remembrance" — just as in Psalm Ixx, 
 It speaks of God apparently forgetting the sufferer, so that 
 a cry ascends, equivalent to, " Lord, remember David and all 
 his afflictions." 
 
 What a cry is verse 1, "Lord, rebuke me not," &c., in the 
 lips of the Head, or of the members. It conveys a foreboding 
 apprehension of another wave of the wrath to come, ready to 
 
 I 
 
 The CDiitents 
 
ISO PSALM XXXVIII. — THE LEPROSY OF SIN ABHORRED. 
 
 break over the already bruised soul. " If it be possible, let 
 this cup pass I" What a groan is verse 2, " For thine arrows 
 stick fast in, or, sink into nie" — one of which arrows we saw 
 on the bow in Psalm vii. 1 2 — arrows that drink up the life- 
 blood. What an overwhelming sight verse 4 presents, " Mine 
 iniquities are gone over ray head," — like the tide rising while 
 he is within tide-mark. What convulsive agony is depicted in 
 verse 6, " 1 am racked uith pain, I am bowed down greatly. 
 Day hy day do I go in sadness." 
 
 How terrible in their very calmness are verses 9 and TO : 
 
 " Lord, all my desire is before thee, 
 And my groaning is not hid from thee. 
 My heart panteth, my strength faileth, — 
 The light of mine eyes — even that no longer remains to me ;" 
 
 for weeping and sorrow have dimmed the eye ; a state to which 
 His members have been at times reduced, as when that remark- 
 able disciple in the Highlands of Scotlanc? wept herself blind, 
 through sorrow for sin, after her awakening. And then the 
 gloomy cloud closes round Him, verse 1 1, " Lovers and friends 
 stand aloof, — sympathy there is none. Nor does his gloom 
 soon pass ; for verse 17 renews the sad complaint, 
 " / am ready to halt," i.e., to fall and be broken, 
 for the keeper of Israel has to appearance forgotten me, and 
 does not "keep my feet from sliding," (Psa. cxxi. 3). 
 
 The deliverance is foreseen in verse 21, " Haste to my help ;" 
 to save me from those who are to me like Satan (ver. 20) ; and 
 the fulness of it at last is implied and wrapt up in " ! Jehovah, 
 my salvation." If Jehovah is my salvation, then is He to 
 me what he was to Moses at the Red Sea (Exod. xv. 2), and 
 my triumph is sure and full. The Head and his members 
 have a salvation from Jehovah of wondrous extent — beginning 
 in the resurrection of the Head, and to be completed at the 
 resurrection of all the members. 
 
 Read, then, in either application, this Psalm describes 
 The Leprosy of sin abhorred by the righteous. 
 
PSALM XXXIX. — THE EIGHTEOUS ONE A PILGRIM. 
 
 PSALM XXXIX. 
 
 To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. 
 
 i I SAID, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue : 
 I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before mc. 
 
 2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good ; 
 And my sorrow was stirred. 
 
 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned : 
 Then spake I with my tongue. 
 
 4 Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, wluit it i.s ; 
 That I may know how frail I am. 
 
 5 Behold, thou hast made my da3's as an handbreath ; 
 And mine age is as nothing before thee : 
 
 Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Sclah. 
 
 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain show! surely they are disquieted in vain ! 
 He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. 
 
 7 And now, Lord, what wait I for ? my hope is in thee. 
 
 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions : make me not the I'eproach of the 
 
 foolish. 
 
 9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it. 
 
 10 Remove thy stroke away from me : I am consumed by the blow of thine 
 
 hand. 
 
 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, 
 Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth : 
 Surely every man is vanity. Selah. 
 
 12 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry ; hold not thy peace 
 
 at my tears : 
 For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 
 
 13 spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no 
 
 more. 
 
 In last Psalm, verses 18, 14, resemble the first verse here, 
 and on this account the two Psalms have been put side by 
 side. But besides, here is one whom we might call " Gershora," 
 for he is a stranger in a strange land, and he is the same sf)eaker 
 (whoever that was) as in the previous Psalm. For, if the one 
 Psalm spoke thus, "/ said, I am ready to halt" (ver. 16), 
 this begins with, " / said, 1 will tal'e heed to my ways;" and 
 if the one spoke of being " dumb with silence" (ver. 14), not 
 less does this in verse 2 ; and if the one said, verse 15, " In 
 thee do / hope" this also says, verse 7, " My hope is in thee." 
 The title does not tell us more than that there was a musical 
 chorus, in which, perhaps, "Jeduthun" may have been the name 
 
132 PSALM XXXIX. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE A PILGRIM. 
 
 of the presiding singer, to whose care it was committed. But 
 The contents, a glance at the contents shews a pilgrim-spirit, one journeying 
 through a world of vanity, and praying at every step to be 
 Christ and hia taught and kept in the will of God. Christ, when " learning 
 people. obedience" and identifying himself with us (as in ver. 12), could 
 
 use it, supplicating his Father in verse 4 ; sympathising with 
 our feeble frame in verse 5, " Thou hast given me some hand- 
 breadths as the length of my days : and my life is as non- 
 existence before thee ;" pronouncing the sentence of " Vanity 
 and Vexation" on all that this world presents, however good 
 and fair to the eye (ver. 6), and in verse 7 turning towards 
 Jehovah, as the only source of bliss. In verses 9, 1 0, not only 
 can every believer find his own experience, or what should be 
 his experience under trial, but the Lord Jesus also could have 
 used these words. On earth, he said, " Even so. Father, for so 
 it seemeth good in thy sight," praying at the same time, " If it 
 be possible, let this cup pass." The marred countenance of 
 the Son of Man, in which nothing of the " King in his beauty" 
 could be seen, may be described in the words of verse 11. Like 
 verse 5, this verse is followed by a " Selah," calling for silent 
 thought. But intermixed with all the pilgrim's melancholy 
 laments, do we not recognise his hope and expectation of 
 something better to come ? Is not " the vanity" of verse 6, 
 like that of Romans viii. 20, for it is followed up by verse 7, 
 " My hope is in thee." There is " Hope" for this world ! its 
 " vanity" may give place to reality of bliss. An Israelite, amid 
 Canaan's plenty, could feel this, as 1 Chron. xxix. 15 shews, 
 and as Levit. xxv. 33 had taught them to feel. And is not 
 verse 13 a Samson-like cry (Judges xvi. 28) to be carried 
 through the crisis of a final struggle ! The believer and his 
 Lord could find here a most suitable petition. Alexander 
 notices also how full of references to Job is this verse : thus 
 chap. vii. 1 9, xiv. 6, and x. 20, 21. But " Spare me that I 
 may he refreshed" is a prayer that all in him which sin 
 withered may be renovated, and his sad soul be refreshed with 
 Divine grace. The Psaimist thus describes Christ when on 
 earth, and at the same time every one of his family while 
 passing through this earth to the kingdom. It is, 
 
 Ihe Righteous One a Pilgrim and a Stranger. 
 
PSALxU XL. — MESSIAH OUR SACRIFICE AND SALVATION. 133 
 
 PSALM XL. 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 I WAITED patiently for the Lord ; and he inclined unto me, and heard 
 
 my cry. 
 
 2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, 
 And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 
 
 3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. 
 Many shall see it, and feai", and shall trust in the Lord. 
 
 4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, 
 
 And respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. 
 
 5 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, 
 And thy thoughts which are to us-M'ard : 
 
 They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee ! 
 
 If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. 
 
 6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire ; mine ears hast thou opened. 
 Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required : 
 
 7 Then said I, Lo, I come : in the volume of the book it is written of me, 
 
 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God : yea thy law is within my heart. 
 
 9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation : 
 Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. 
 
 10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart ; 
 I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation : 
 
 I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great 
 congregation. 
 
 11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord : 
 
 Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. 
 
 12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about : mine iniquities have 
 
 taken hold upon me, 
 So that I am not able to look up ; they are more than the hairs of mine 
 
 head : 
 Therefore my heart faileth me. 
 
 13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me : O Lord, make haste to help me. 
 
 14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together, that seek after my soul 
 
 to destroy it ; 
 Let them be driven backward and put to shame, that wish me evil. 
 
 15 Let them be desolate, for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, 
 
 Aha ! aha ! 
 
 16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. 
 
 Let such as love thy salvation say contimxally. The Lord be magnified. 
 
 17 But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me: 
 Thou art my help and my deliverer ; make no tarrying, O my God. 
 
 " / waited, I waited for Jehovah," I did nothing but wait, Christ in it. 
 (Alexander). Here is one who cries, " Lo ! I come to do thy 
 
13-i PSALM XL. — MESSIAH OUR SACRIFICE AND SALVATION. 
 
 will, God." We cannot fail to recognise Messiah here, even if 
 we had not had the aid of the writer of Hebrews x. 5-1 0. The 
 iniquities he speaks of in verse 1 2 are all ours* imputed to him. 
 He might say, " And I am a sinner in thy sight, although I 
 never sinned." Christ speaks throughout, so exclusively in- 
 deed, that the believer must here take up the words not as his 
 own experience (except wliere he can follow Christ to gather the 
 spoil), but as the experience of the Captain of Salvation, in 
 fighting that battle which has ended in everlasting triumph. 
 It is only by accommodation that even verses 1-3 can be used 
 by the believer in describing his own case. Christ is the 
 Joseph and Jeremiah of this pit. 
 
 Read verse 4, and meditate on what He who is the Word 
 suggests — " God's thoughts toward its !" The unnumbered 
 multitude of his thoughts of love to us ! The forests with their 
 countless leaves, the grass on every plain and mountain of earth 
 with its numberless blades, the sands on every shore of every 
 river and ocean, the waves of every sea and the drops of every 
 wave of every sea, the stars of heaven — none of these, nor all 
 combined, could afford an adequate idea of '■'His thoughts 
 toward us !" — " there is no cor)iparison to thee" — nothing 
 wherewith to help out a statement. And the depth of love in 
 every one of these thoughts ! Who can sit down and meditate 
 on Redemption's wonders ? Who would not be confounded ? 
 
 Now the whole Psalm has this as its theme. From verses 
 1 to 3, a summary of God's dealings toward the Saviour, end- 
 ing in the gathering of multitudes to Him as the Shiloh. 
 Verses 4 and 5, adoration of the purposes of God ; and from 
 verse 9 to the end, we are made to wdtness something of the 
 style in which these glorious purposes were carried on to fulfil- 
 ment, in the actual coming and suffering of the Saviour. See 
 him obeying ; see him proclaiming Jehovah's name in its 
 breadth and fulness, wherever he came, in the villages, towns, 
 cities, the synagogues, the temple, the open air assemblies, " I 
 have proclaimed righteousness, and I will not at any future 
 time restrain my lips." Hear in verse 12 his unutterable 
 groanings, when " sorrotvful unto death." Then hear him in 
 * " Noluit cnim loqui sci)Hrata.<!, qui nohiit esse separatus." — August. 
 
PSALM XL. — MESSIAH OUR SACRIFICE AND SALVATION. 135 
 
 verse 15 foretelling Israel's desolation, and that of others like 
 them, because of their rejection of Him ; while verse 16 pictures 
 to us present "joy and peace in believing," with the ultimate 
 result in the ages to come, in the joy of The Kingdom. It 
 would be endless were we to dwell on the rich and copious 
 suggestions afforded by almost every verse.* It is a manual of 
 the History of Redemption. It is 
 
 Messiah exhibited as our once-for-all Sacrifice, and all our 
 Salvation. 
 
 PSALM XLI. 
 
 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor : 
 
 The Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble. 
 
 2 The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive ; and he shall be blessed 
 
 upon the earth : 
 And thon wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. 
 
 3 The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: 
 Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. 
 
 4 I said, Lord, be merciful unto mc : heal my soul ; for I have sinned 
 
 against thee. 
 
 5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, when shall he die and his name perish ? 
 
 6 And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity ; 
 
 His heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad he telleth it. 
 
 7 All that hate me whisper together against me : against me do they devise 
 
 my hurt. 
 
 8 An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him : 
 And now that he lieth he shall rise up no more. 
 
 9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my 
 
 bread. 
 Hath lifted up his heel against me. 
 10 But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may 
 requite them. 
 
 * The much-disputed passage, verse 6, " Thou hast dug through my ears" or 
 " Thou hast prepared ears for me," is rendered from the Septuagint, " A body 
 hast thou prepared for me," in Heb. x. 5 ; because his taking our human nature 
 was the first and most direct step to his being made servant, like the man 
 ivliose ears were bored to the door-post. Possibly, too, there is reference to his 
 being a Priest prepared for his office, by having his ears tipt with blood, as 
 Lev. xiv. 14 ; Exod. xxix. 20. For the Hebrew is scarcely " bored," it is 
 rather " prepared." Alexander says, " The Septuagint version may have been 
 retained as suggesting that the Incarnation of the Son was a pre-requisite to his 
 obedience. 
 
(Jhrist. 
 
 136 PSALM XLI. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE 
 
 11 By this I know that thou favonrest me, because mine enemy doth not 
 triumph over me. 
 
 12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me be- 
 fore thy face for ever. 
 
 13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. 
 Amen, and Amen. 
 
 Quoted by The melancholy interest attached to this Psalm has made it 
 
 Christ -J 
 
 well-known in Zion. Our Lord quoted it as his own, on the 
 night when he was betrayed (see John xiii, ] 8, compared with 
 ver. 9), when he saw the traitor take his seat at the Passover 
 table with him, and sit down on his left hand, so near that he 
 could hand him the sop, and dip with him in the dish. The 
 strain, however, is such as suits his family as well as himself ; 
 they may use it in Him. 
 
 It is the Lord who says, " Blessed is he that acts wisely to- 
 ward the poor," ver. 1 ; the same who said " Blessed are the 
 Tnerciful !" and the same who on the day of his coming shall 
 say, " Come, ye blessed ; I was sick, and ye visited me." He 
 encourages us to do good works in his Name, especially to those 
 of the household of faith. What is written from verse 1 to 3 
 is a promise which Barzillai could have claimed ; and Ehed- 
 melech, who drew Jeremiah from the pit ; and Onesiphorus, 
 who oft refreshed Paul ; and the women of Galilee, Susannah 
 and others, who ministered to Christ of their substance ; and the 
 daughters of Jerusalem, who gave him sympathy as he bore 
 the cross, pitying his marred countenance. 
 
 Perhaps in verse 4 Christ may be understood as saying, " I, 
 even I, myself, did that to others, and do, therefore, claim the 
 blessing. But how differently my foes act toward me ! All 
 my miracles of kindness are forgotten, the memory of all my 
 thousand benefits is drowned in their malice ; they wish my 
 death, " When shall He die ;" and " his name perish ? " (Ver. 5.) 
 " If he comes to see me,'' {i.e, to play the spy on me), he goes 
 away, saying, « 
 
 " Some cursed filing cleaves io 7u7n." {Yer. 8, literally, " is svhlcnd 
 into him.") 
 
 But the issue shall disappoint them ; I shall not even r-nce 
 en-, and I shall soon stand at thy right hand ; 
 
UNPITIED IN HIS TIME OF NEED. 137 
 
 " Mine enemy is not to triumph over me : 
 And as for me, thou upholdest me in my integrity, 
 And settest me before thy face for ever. " (Ver. 12.) 
 
 lu this he anticipates the reward of his obedience unto death, 
 and " the glory that should follow," as we too may do. 
 
 In this prospect it is interesting to hear him say, " Blessed 
 be Jehovah, God of Israel," (ver. 13). The rejected and des- 
 pised One has not forgotten or given np the people who re- 
 jected him. He will be their King, " King of the Jews," 
 though they crucify him ; he intends grace and glory for them in 
 the latter day. " Rabbi, thou art "^he Son of God ; thou art the 
 King of Israel.'^ And that " Amen and Amen,^' how sweetly 
 it dropped from the lips of the Faithful Witness, who delighted 
 to preface his weighty sayings with " Verily," verily, Af^riv, 
 Afj^riv, and who fixes his mark to this blessed Psalm (resem- 
 bling what Paul does in some of his Epistles), as if to say, " The 
 signature of me, the Faithful Witness, with mine own hand." 
 
 The Righteous One unpitied in his time of need. 
 
 PSALM XLIL 
 
 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. 
 
 1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 
 
 OGod. 
 
 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God! When shall I come and 
 
 appear before God? 
 
 3 My tears have been my meat day and night, 
 
 While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God ? 
 
 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me : 
 
 For I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, 
 With the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. 
 
 5 Why art thou cast down, my soul ? and why art thou disquieted in me? 
 Hope thou in God : for I shall yet pi-aise him 
 
 For the help of his countenance. 
 
 6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me ! 
 
 Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Iler- 
 
 monites, 
 From the hill Mizar. 
 
 7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts ; 
 All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 
 
138 PSALM XLII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE IN WEARINESS. 
 
 8 Yet the Lord will command his loviiigkindness in the daytime, 
 And in the niglit his song shall be with me, 
 
 And my prayer unto the God of my life. 
 
 9 I will say unto God my rock, AVhy hast thou forgotten me V 
 Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy V 
 
 10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me ; 
 While they say daily unto me, Where is thy God ? 
 
 11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art thou disquieted within 
 
 me? 
 Hope thou in God : for I shall yet praise him. 
 Who is the health of my countenance, and my God. 
 
 The Jews begin Book II. with this Psalm. There is little 
 doubt that their fourfold division of the Book of Psalms is arbi- 
 trary, and was suggested by the single circumstance that 
 " Amen" happens to occur at the close of Ps. xl., Ixxii., Ixxxix., 
 and cvi., which are the closing Psalms of the different divisions. 
 The Mascldl has reference to the music. As for the sons of 
 Korah, descendants of the rebel Korah whose children, spared 
 by grace, took a conspicuous part in the Temple worship of 
 song, they were only the receivers, not the writers of the Psalm. 
 Probably the Levites who were with David (2 Sam, xv. 24) in- 
 clude the sons of Korah. 
 
 Here is the liart in the wilderness panting for the water 
 brooks which it had not got at. It stands on some bank that 
 hangs over (7^), the brook, — the water is not reached. Such 
 is the Psalmist's state of soul. " O that I might see the face 
 of God ! " is the force of verse 2 ; and verse 4 is the soul re- 
 sponding to itself, saying, in remembrance of past joys now 
 withheld, " Thereon will I think, and pour out my soul within 
 myself" 
 
 The Septuagint has translated this very nearly in the words 
 used in Matt. xxvi. 38, and John xii. 27. 
 
 " Wiij art thou {' Ts^iXu-rrog' Septuagint) wer^ sorroicfal, O my soul ? 
 And lohy art thou {ra^affgiig /xs) troubled within me f" 
 Our Lord, as well as every troubled and sorrowful one of 
 his people, could use this Psalm, when, as the true David, he 
 was driven out, not by a son, but by his Father for our sakes 
 — driven farther from heaven than Hermon or Jordan, or " the 
 Little Hill," are from Zion and the Tabernacle, hearing deeper 
 
LOOKING UPWARD FOR REFRESHMENT. 
 
 139 
 
 floods calling to one another, and mustering their waters, as at 
 the deluge the cataracts dashed upon the ark from above, 
 while bursting fountains heaved it up from below.'* Still, He 
 knew the issue : " For the joy set before Him he endured the 
 cross." He could sing in the gloom, "/ shall yet praise him, 
 the salvation of my countenance, and my God I" The mar- 
 ginal reading is, " His presence is salvation ;" but verse 11 is 
 against this. The meaning is, I shall praise Him as He who 
 shall change my marred form, and give me beauty ; who shall 
 change my humiliation into exaltation ; who shall in my case, 
 and then in the case of all my people, exchange the wilderness 
 and its parched sands for the kingdom and its rivers of pleasure. 
 The sorest pang of Christ, arising from reproach and scorn, 
 was that which he felt when they cast suspicion on the love 
 and faithfulness of his Father (ver. 10), " Where is thy God?" 
 In proportion as sanctification advances, his members feel this, 
 too, forgetting their own glory, and intent upon his. In the 
 primary use of the Psalm, this taunt would be felt by David 
 when his enemies insinuated that though God had anointed 
 him king, yet He could not bring him to his kingdom : or even 
 if "the sons of Korah"f wrote this Psalm, (as Hengsten- 
 berg thinks), there would be the same feeling in them in 
 regard to this taunt flung at that devoted leader, whose cause 
 they espoused, coming to him at Ziklag. (1 Chron. xii. 6.) 
 But the Holy Ghost founded on these circumstances a song 
 of Zion, which was meant fOr Zion's King, and all his princes 
 in their passage to the throne and kingdom. The Lord Jesus 
 might specially call it to mind, and sing it with his disciples 
 on that remarkable day when, at Ccesarea Philippi (Matt, xvi, 
 1 3), he asked what men were saying of him ? On that day, 
 
 Lynch's Narrative of Expedition to 
 of " deep unto deep — noise of tliy 
 
 * The various cataracts of Jordan (s 
 Jordan) might give origin to the figur 
 waterspouts." 
 
 t " The sons of Korah " have their name prefixed to fourteen Psal:i:s. 
 Herein is free sovereign grace ! The descendants of the rebel arc spared (Numb. 
 XX vi. 11), and honoured. We find them "porters" and " over the host of the 
 Lord," 1 Chron. ix. 19, for they were Levites of the family of Kohath. Some of 
 them came to David at Ziklag, 1 Chron. xii. 6, luid these may be specially the 
 '• sons of Korah "mentioned here, viz., Elkanah, Jesiah, Jaser, Joshobeani, and 
 Azarecl. Their after history, too, is interesting, grace still shining in it 
 throughout, in the days of the later kini^s. 
 
 The speaker. 
 
14-0 PSALM XLIII.— THE RIGHTEOUS ONE CLAIMING HIS RIGHT 
 
 Hermon was iu sight, and Jordan's double-fountain close be- 
 side him, and some '^ Little Hill " near them, some "Mizar,"* 
 that, by contrast, called up to mind the Hills of Zion. On 
 that day, it may be, the Head of the Church made special use 
 of this Psalm, and embalmed it in the hearts of his disciples, 
 who would never afterwards fail to sing it (even as we do), with 
 double refreshment in the thought that it had comforted the 
 Master, expressing, as it does, 
 
 The Righteous One in his weariness looking up to the Father 
 for refreshment. 
 
 PSALM XLIII. 
 
 1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation ! 
 
 O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man ! 
 
 2 For thou art the God of my strength : why dost thou cast me off? 
 
 Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 
 
 3 O send out thy light and thy truth : let them lead me ; 
 
 Let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. 
 
 4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy : 
 
 Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, God, my God. 
 
 5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art thou disquieted 
 
 within me? 
 Hope in God : for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my 
 countenance, and my God. 
 
 Many ancient and modern writers make this Psalm a part of 
 the former. They have failed to see that the strain is now 
 more gladsome and hopeful. The hart is now hounding on 
 to the water brooks. The psalmist is claiming his right to 
 refreshment, and anticipating it as at his very lips. The gloom 
 of "night" (xlii. 8) and of "mourning" (ver. 2) is to be ex- 
 changed for favour or " light " (ver. 3), and " truth," i. e., the 
 fulfilment of the promises made to him (Aben-Ezra) shall 
 
 * Tucker has made an interesting suggestion, though it will not bear exami- 
 nation : "I will remember thee concerning the land" (Q). God's past mercies 
 displayed there, at the miraculous passage of the river Jordan, and the getting 
 possession of the land even to Hermon ; and then " The Little Hill " would be 
 Zion itself, only gi-eat because the Tabernacle is there. The construction of 
 the Hebrew refuses to yield this sense. 
 
TO ENJOY FULL REFRESHMENT. 141 
 
 soon shew that he has not been " forgotten" (xHi. 9) ; and soon 
 his God shall be his jubilee-song, "joy of his joy," and the harp 
 shall celebrate the well pleased countenance of " Eloi, Eloi/' my 
 God, who once seemed to stand afar of 
 
 To Christ and to his members, the highest gladness (spoken of Christ and i.is 
 verse 4) comes from The altar, with its accepted sacrifice. 
 Christ risen, and Christ ascended, are pointed out therein ; and 
 it is in his resurrection and ascension that we see the sacrifice 
 accepted, and our hearts learn true joy. No doubt this same 
 source of joy is to be opened up to us more fully still when He 
 appears the second time " without sin " unto salvation, and all 
 enemies are put under him. He, too, shall rejoice afresh in that 
 day, drinking of the coolest of the longed-for water brooks. Let 
 us, meanwhile, read and sing this Psalm in happy confidence, as 
 The Righteous One's claiming his right to full refreshment. 
 
 PSALM XLIV. 
 
 To the chief Musician, for tlie sons of Korah. Maschil. 
 
 1 We have heard with our ears, God, our fathers have tokl us, 
 What work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. 
 
 2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them ; 
 How thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. 
 
 3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, 
 Neither did their own arm save them : 
 
 But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance. 
 Because thou hadst a favour unto them. 
 
 4 Thou art my King, God ! command deliverance for Jacob. 
 
 5 Through thee will we push down our enemies : 
 
 Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. 
 
 6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. 
 
 7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that 
 
 hated us. 
 
 8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah. 
 
 9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame ; and goest not forth with our 
 
 armies ! 
 
 10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy ; and they which hate spoil 
 
 for themselves 
 
 11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat ; 
 And hast scattered us among the heathen. 
 
 12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by 
 
 their price. 
 
142 PSALM XLIV. — THE CEY OF THE SLAUGHTERED 
 
 13 Thou makest us a reproacli to our neighbours, 
 
 A scorn and derision to tliem that are round about us. 
 
 14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head 
 
 among the people. 
 
 15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face halh 
 
 covered me ; 
 
 16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth ; by reason of the 
 
 enemy and avenger. 
 
 17 All this is come iipon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, 
 Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. 
 
 18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have ur steps declined from thy 
 
 way ; 
 
 19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons. 
 And covered us with the shadow of death. 
 
 20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a 
 
 strange God, 
 
 21 Shall not God search this out ? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. 
 
 22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long ; we are counted as sheep 
 
 for the slaughter. 
 
 23 Awake ! why sleepest thou, Lord ? Arise ! cast us not off for ever. 
 
 24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our op- 
 
 pression ? 
 
 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust : our belly cleaveth unto the earth. 
 2G Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake. 
 
 There is apparently a series commencing here and extending 
 to Psalm 1., wherein the Head is addressed, and the various 
 phenomena of his actings described, by the members of his body. 
 This Psalm, committed to " the Sons of Korah," is the cry of 
 David and any other true followers of the Lord, in times of 
 trial, when the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth. It is not so 
 much a national Psalm, as one for the Church Universal, inas- 
 much as verses 17-22, humbly protest (what Israel as a nation 
 could not) firm, unfaltering adherence to his name ; and in Kom. 
 viii. 36, are applied by Paul as expressive of the believer's state 
 in a persecuting world. The Maschil is a musical reference. 
 
 It is the cry, or appeal, of the slaughtered sheep to their 
 Shepherd. They begin by recalling to mind his great deeds in 
 behalf of his people coming out of Egypt. They lay all the 
 stress of that deliverance on Himself, on his holy arm alone. 
 (Ver. 2.) 
 
 "Tiiou (nril^j didst drive out the heathen,''' &c. 
 
 This " Thou" is emphatic, quite similar to the use of the 
 
SHEEP TO THE SHEPHERD. 143 
 
 pronoun in Ezekiel xxxvii. 3, " Thou (HjnSt), and none else, 
 knowest ;" and then verse 5, " I (''JN), and none else, will cause 
 the Spirit of life to enter into you." Or like the pronoun (Rev. 
 iv. 11), "For tlioii {(S\j), and none else, hast created all things." 
 Then in verse 5, there is an emphatic S^H, " God, thou art 
 he, my King." 
 
 Not less significant is that other monosyllable (ver. 9), — 
 " But (P|J^) tliou hast cast off." — 
 
 A A^eZa^-pause (ver. 8) had for a moment brought the harp 
 to silence ; and when its strings are touched again, it is to 
 breathe forth lamentation. It seems to reverse the case stated 
 in Leviticus xxvi. 44, where, after long tribulation, there is 
 hope of the removing of the calamity introduced by S]J«}\ which 
 the Jews have marked on this account as " a golden ^)^," 
 speaking as it does of a change to prosperity. All different 
 here ! The tide has ebbed, and no prospect of its coming in 
 appears ! We are sold for the most trifling sum, as if the 
 master were only anxious to get his sheep off his hand. (Yen 
 12.) We are a by-word (ver. 14), and are put to shame by 
 " the enemy and the avenger," whom thou couldest so easily 
 still. (Psa. viii. 2.) 
 
 And yet the sheep own no Shepherd but Jehovah. Their 
 protest is without reserve. 
 
 " Tliou Jiast broJcen us, (and laid us helpless,) in tliejilace of dragons, 
 And covered us with the sJiadoiv of death, 
 If tee have forgotten the name of our God — 
 Or (if) ive have stretched out our hands to a strange God" — 
 
 We are cut off from the society of our fellow-men, we are 
 thrust out into dens and caves, we flee to where serpents are 
 the only inhabitants, we are lingering on the brink of the grave. 
 Yet we can appeal " If we have forgotten !" This " If" is a 
 form of strong asseveration. It is the same form as our Lord 
 employs in Luke xix. 42, " If thou hadst known" — then would 
 blessing have come. It is like Exod. xxxii, 32, " Yet now, if 
 thou wilt forgive their sin." It is like Psa. xcv. 7, " To-day, 
 if ye will hear his voice" — then ye shall enter into rest. 
 
 Having made this protestation, they add, "Shall not God 
 search this out ?" Heknoweth all things ; He knoweth that 
 
144 PSALM XLV. — MESSIAH KING AND BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 we love Him ; He knoweth that " our belly is grovelling on 
 the earth," like the serpent. 
 
 " Awake, xchy steepest tliou, Lord ?" (Ver. 23.) 
 
 Hope dawns. Their God shall hear. He allows them to 
 awaken Him, and they in a manner cry through the curtains of 
 his Pavilion, " Up ! why sleepest thou ?" (Prayer Book version.) 
 The Banner of the Deliverer appears through the gloom. The 
 sleeping Saviour awakes at the cry of his disciples, and is about 
 to arise and still the storm " For his mercies' sake" (ver. 26), 
 — for the sake of the tender love he bears to them. In the 
 Latter Day we shall see, what is meant by this arising, in its 
 full glory. 
 
 Such is this Psalm — 
 
 The cry of the slaughtered sheep to the Shepherd. 
 
 PSALM XLV. 
 
 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of loves. 
 
 1 Mt heart is inditing a good matter : 
 
 I speak of the things which I have made touching The King ! 
 My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 
 
 2 Thou art fairer than the children of men ! grace is poured into thy lips ! 
 Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. 
 
 3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty, A\ith thy glory and thy 
 
 majesty. 
 
 4 And in thy majesty ride prosperously — because of truth and meekness and 
 
 righteousness ; 
 And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. 
 
 5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies : 
 Whereby the people fall under thee. 
 
 6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever ! The sceptre of thy kingdom is a 
 
 right sceptre. 
 
 7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: 
 
 Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above 
 thy fellows. 
 
 8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia. 
 Out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. 
 
 9 Kings' daughters were among thy honourable \von:.en : 
 Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. 
 
 10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; 
 Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; 
 
PSALM XLV. — MESSIAH, KING AND BRIDEGROOM. 145 
 
 11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty : 
 For he is thy Lord ; and worship thou him. 
 
 12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift ; 
 Even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour. 
 
 13 The king's daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of wrought gold : 
 
 14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework. 
 
 The virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 
 
 15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought : they shall enter into 
 
 the king's palace. 
 
 16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make 
 
 princes in all the earth. 
 
 17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations : 
 Therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. 
 
 The appeal made to tlie Shepherd, by the sheep led to the 
 slaughter, is heard. Here is what Hengstenberg would call 
 a " matter-of-fact reply." The Shepherd at the bleating of his 
 flock appears in glory to help them ; but appears in the character 
 of a Mighty Conqueror. The Lamb is the Lion of Judah. 
 
 The title given to this Psalm corresponds to its glowing 
 words and theme. " Upon Shoshannim," the lily- instrument, 
 some Temple instrument of music, peculiarly adapted for the 
 celebration of themes that were fresh and bright and beautiful. 
 "For the sons of Korah," and " To the Chief Musician" — 
 the services of the Chief Singer, and the help of the whole choir 
 of singers are put in requisition. It is also " Maschil," what 
 calls for skill in the musician as being the product of great 
 skill in the Singer of Israel who writes it, whether he were 
 David or Solomon, and whether or not the occasion of its 
 composition were the marriage- festi^dties of the royal Court. 
 And once more ; it is " A song of loves ;" or rather " of the Be • 
 loved" viz., the Bride. At least the word " /IIT'T" may mean 
 this. It is used in Jeremiah xii. 7, as a term for Israel while 
 Israel was God's Beloved (God's Spouse), and He the Husband ; 
 and so it corresponds to Jedidiah, " Beloved of Jehovah," just 
 as Shulamite does to Solomon. If so, it is a Song concerning 
 The Bride, as well as concerning Ihe King, the Bridegroom. 
 
 " My heart boils with goodly words. 
 My work is for the King ! 
 My tongue is the ]3en of a ready roriter ! " (Ver. 1). 
 
 Abrupt and fervent surely — the Holy Spirit thus using the 
 
 K 
 
146 PSALM XLV. — MESSIAH, KING AND BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 faculties and feelings of the human instrument to indicate the 
 exciting nature of the subject. 
 
 " Thou mi, beaidijied tvith beauty among the sons of men! " 
 The verb employed has an unusual form, and might be ren- 
 dered '' Beautiful, beautiful art thou," (Alexander). 
 
 " Grace is poured upon thy lips.'" 
 Everything that is attractive, everything that is graceful 
 in character and form, in feature and expression, is meant by 
 " grace." It is not what we usually call by that name ; it is 
 a term for what fits with the person and draws the eyes of others 
 to him. It is thus used (Prov. iv. 9), " She shall give to thy 
 head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver 
 to thee" — wisdom so clothing the person with moral beauty. 
 It is thus, too, in Psalm Ixxxiv. 11 — "The Lord will give 
 grace and glory" — the ornament of beauty, the crown of glory. 
 All this, in full perfection, is found in Messiah's person ; all 
 that is fitted to attract and fix the soul's gaze ; all that is beauti- 
 ful in excellence ; all that is drawing in holiness and majestic 
 worth. 
 
 Now comes verse 3, 
 
 " Warrior ! gird thy sivord upon thy thigh, (Horsley). 
 
 This is "The Mighty One" whom Isaiah (ix. 5) calls "The 
 Mighty God." He is the "1133 who goes forth to victory, and 
 yet acts in behalf of " meekness and truth and righteousness " 
 (see Rev. xix. 15), or more literally, "m hehalf of riieekiiess 
 and truth ;" the doing which in such a cause is " righteous- 
 ness." "On his thigh," we find a name in Rev. xix. 16 in 
 perfect keeping with the ")'l3^ here, " King of kings, Lord of 
 lords." 
 
 " Thine arroics are sharpened ! 
 The nations Jail iinder thee ! 
 They (thy arrows) are in the hearts of the King's enemies ! " 
 
 He reaches the Throne, and sits down, his enemies made his 
 footstool. Messiah, thus seated on the throne in visible ma- 
 jesty, is addressed in verses 6, 7, by the name " God ;' 
 
 " Thy Throne, God, is for ever and ever.''' 
 
 " Thy God hath anointed thee, God!" (Comp. Heb. i. 8,9, in the 
 Greek, and undoubtedly the true rendering of the Hebrew.) 
 
PSALM XLV. — MESSIAH, KING AND BRIDEGROOM. l-i? 
 
 Everything is ready for the Marriage : " myrrh and aloes and 
 cassia" (Song iii. 6) have been prepared for this day of Espousals, 
 brought out of "palaces of ivory" to help the joy, or in other 
 words, to complete the mirthful arrangements of this day of 
 heavenly gladness. 
 
 " Out of the ivory palace, the sound of the harp ('•2ID) inaketh thee glad,' ' 
 (taking >3Q to mean " stringed instruments." — Tholuck.) 
 
 The " King's daughters" who are in attendance "precious 
 ones," i.e., of high value, seem to be like the " daughter of 
 Jerusalem" in The Song ; and especially does this portion of 
 the Psalm remind us of Song vi. 8, 9, " The threescore queens, 
 fourscore concubines, and virgins without number." We sus- 
 pect that both in that Song and here also, these represent the 
 Angelic hosts. They are natives of that heavenly country — not, 
 like The Bride, brought into it from a far foreign land. Tfie 
 Bride, or Queen, is the redeemed Church, made up of Jew and 
 Gentile saints, the one Body of the redeemed who are referred 
 to in Hebrews xi. 39, 40. 
 
 In this view we find no difficulties left. " Be it," sings the 
 sweet singer, " Be it that thy princesses who fill thy court are 
 of highest rank, such as are Kings' daughters, yet pre-eminent 
 stands The Queen in gold of Ophir ! No rival to her ! She is 
 honoured, and worthy of honour, above all ! " 
 
 A pause follows. The Bride is addressed in prospect of this 
 day. It is, q.d., " Wilt thou not, since this is thy glorious 
 destiny, be willing to leave all former relationships ? Wilt 
 thou not, O daughter, be as Rebecca going to Isaac ? This 
 Mighty One is thy Lord ; be thou as Sarah to Abraham." 
 (Gen. xviii. 12 ; 1 Pet. iii. 5, 6.) 
 
 But the scene is not yet sufficiently set before us. The sweet 
 singer touches his harp again to a lofty strain, to describe the 
 splendour of dominion possessed by the Bride in right of the 
 Bridegroom. 
 
 " Tlie daughter of Tyre shall he there loith a gift. 
 The nch among the people (D^) sImII entreat thy favour." (Ver. 12.) 
 
 This tells of the Glorified Church, the Lamb's Wife, ruling over 
 a subdued world, in the millennial days. "T^/re" is taken as a 
 sample of Gentile nations, and is elsewhere referred to as acting 
 
] 48 PSALM XLV. — MESSIAH, KING AND BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 a part in these happy times (see Isa. xxiii. 18) ; while "the 
 rich among the Peoj)le" are the Jeius in their restored pros- 
 perity. The glorified Church reigns with Christ over the na- 
 tions upon earth. The glorified Church is with Christ on his 
 throne, wherever that may be, while he rules the people and 
 nations under the whole heaven, Gentile and Jew, Tyre and 
 The People. 
 
 " The virgins her coinj)anions" are, we think, the same as 
 verse 9 and as Song vi. 8, " virgins without number," namely, 
 the angelic hosts. These participate in the joy of this scene, 
 even as they sympathized with the birth of the Bridegroom at 
 Bethlehem. As for her she is all splendour, and "gold era- 
 broidery" is her vesture, i e., the richest and the rarest fabric 
 of creation. 
 
 And (not to dwell too long on verses that tempt us to linger 
 at every step), at last comes the final strain. The Queen, or 
 Bride, is addressed in verse 16. It is, like Genesis xxiv. 60 
 and Ruth iv. 11, the expression of a wish for the after fruit- 
 fulness of the Bride. The Glorified Chiu-ch, reigning with 
 Christ, is to see her prayers answered and her labours crowned, 
 in the blessings which shall be poured on Earth in those glad 
 millennial days. 
 
 " Instead of thy fathers," those who filled earth in thy former 
 days " shall be thy children.'" Earth shall have its new gene- 
 rations, generations of holy men, — " whom thou mayest make 
 princes in all the earth" — every one fit to be a prince, the 
 weakest among them as David, and the House of David as the 
 Angel of the Lord. 
 
 " So shall the nations j^rcdae thee for ever and ever ! " 
 This ends the loftiest Epithalamium ever sung. It is what 
 Milton would call 
 
 " The nnexpressive nuptial song, 
 In the blest kingdom meek of joy and love." 
 
 It is Earth taught by Heaven to sing heaven's infinite love to 
 man. It is a prelude to the New Song. Every clause in it is 
 melody, and every thought in it is sublimity ; but it is just 
 such as we might expect to be breathed forth when the theme 
 on hand was — 
 Messiah the Mighty One appearing as King and Bridegroom. 
 
PSALM XLVI. — THE MIGHTY ONE WITH THE RIGHTEOUS. 149 
 
 PSALM XLVI. 
 
 To the chief Musician. For the sons of Korah. A Song upon Alamoth 
 
 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 
 
 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, 
 
 And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ; 
 
 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, 
 
 Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. 
 
 4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, 
 The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. 
 
 5 God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved : 
 God shall help her, and that right early. 
 
 6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved : he uttered his voice, the 
 
 earth melted. 
 
 7 The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 
 
 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the 
 
 earth. 
 
 9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth ; 
 
 He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the 
 chariot in the fire. 
 
 10 Be still, iind know that I am God : 
 
 I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 
 
 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 
 
 Before the dawn of that day of the Bridegroom and the Bride, 
 the Marriage-feast, earth shall shake with commotions ; wars, 
 rumours of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilence, all combin- 
 ing to make men perplexed. But here we find the same 
 Mighty One giving strength to his own in these perilous times. 
 
 The title is peculiar, "on Alamoth," suggesting "a choir of 
 virgins, " as if this Virgin-choir were selected to sing a Psalm 
 that tells of perils and fears and alarms abounding, in order to 
 shew that even the feeble virgins may in that day sing without 
 dread because of " The Mighty One" on their side. They 
 and the " Sons of Korah" join in this lofty strain of confi- 
 dence. We all know how Luther used to sing this Psalm 
 in times of peril and alarm, and many have done the like in 
 all ages. 
 
 They sing of Jehovah " a very 2^resent help," or more lite- 
 rally, " He is found a help most truly," iW^i, being the same 
 word here as in 1 Sam. xiii. 16, "present with Saul ;" 2 Chron. 
 XXXV. 18, " Judah and Israel present," or found at their post ; 
 
150 PSALM XLVI. — THE MIGHTY ONE WITH THE RIGHTEOUS. 
 
 and 1 Sam. xxi. 8, "whatever is present" — is at hand. He 
 has proved himself to be a help at hand. 
 
 The river in verse 4 alludes to the Euphrates of Babylon, 
 and the Tigris of Assyria. Jerusalem has not such mighty 
 floods to boast of. Yet Jerusalem has a river too. She has her 
 " waters of Siloah," flowing softly from her Temple (Isa. viii. 
 6-8), which may be despised by men of might, yet are Jeru- 
 salem's glory. Her glory is, that Jehovah is in her Temple, 
 from beneath whose rock flows out Siloah ; and thus " A river 
 is there, that gladdens this city of God." Or, if this be not the 
 primary reference, the allusion is to this same Siloah when it 
 shall flow from the Temple (see Joel iii. 18 ; Isa. xxxiii. 21 ; 
 Ezek. xlvii. 1-16), and shall heal whatever it laves ; far excel- 
 ling the mighty waters of Euphrates and Hiddekel, which bear 
 the proud gallies of tyrants. 
 
 Victory shall come as soon as the Lord's set time arrives ; 
 " when morning appears," as at the Red Sea. (Exod. xiv. 
 27). The Lord himself shall invite men to see his victory : 
 " Come and see F' (ver. 8), and to hear Him proclaim his own 
 right to exaltation. At this announcement, his people shout 
 in reply, verses 7 and 11, each marked (like ver. 5) by the 
 " Selah." 
 
 " The Lord of hosts is idth us ! 
 The God of Jacob is our refuge /" 
 {Our 3J!tJ^D, more than HDHQ of verse 1.) 
 
 Thus setting forth 
 
 The Mighty One on the side of the righteous, amid earth's 
 sorest throes. 
 
 PSALM XLVIL 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. 
 
 1 O CLAP your hands, all ye people ! shout unto God with the voice of 
 
 triumph ! 
 
 2 For the Lord most high is terrible : lie is a great King over all the earth. 
 
 3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. 
 
 4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he 
 
 loved. Selah. 
 
 5 God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with tlie sound of a trumpet ! 
 
PSA. XLVII. — THE MIGHTY ONE ON THE THRONE OF EARTH. 151 
 
 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises : sing praises unto our King, sing praises. 
 
 7 For God is the King of all the earth : sing ye praises with understanding. 
 
 8 God reigneth over the heathen : God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. 
 
 9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the 
 
 God of Abraham : 
 For the shields of the earth belong unto God : he is greatly exalted. 
 
 Some have applied this Psalm to Christ's ascension ; but 
 it speaks of his Second Coming. The Mighty One is seated 
 peacefully on his throne. We are referred back to Psalm xlv. 
 9. His happy people stand around, exulting in his coronation, 
 as Israel (to use a feeble emblem) rejoiced till earth rang again, 
 when Athaliah, the usurper, was deposed, and the King of 
 David's line was manifested after his long concealment. Then 
 they clapt their hands (2 Kings xi. 12) to shew their rapturous 
 joy, as here all earth is invited to do ; for even woods and 
 trees and rivers are elsewhere represented as joining in this 
 ecstacy of bliss (Isa. Iv. 12) ; Psa. xcviii. 9), when our King 
 sets the New Earth in its regenerated order. 
 
 Verses 2, 3, 4, shew what the King has come to do, viz., to 
 choose the "excellency," or the excellent Land, "of Jacob." 
 Resting over this blissful scene, the Psalmist inserts his "Selah" 
 — a pause of meditation. But verse 5 breaks the thoughtful 
 silence with a shout to our Immanuel — for he it is who is cele- 
 brated as " God" — 
 
 " Sing praises to God ! 
 Si7ig j^yaises ! 
 Sing praises to our King ! 
 Sing praises ! 
 
 For God is King over all the earth ! 
 Sing praises with widerstanding . 
 God reigneth over the nations ! 
 God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness!" 
 
 Around our Incarnate God and King are gathered Israel's 
 princes — " princes of the Ood of Abraham" — Abraham's seed 
 now receiving in full the blessings promised to their father, 
 and all earth blest in him. Everywhere, " the shields of earth" 
 earth's princes, who once, like "the shields" mentioned in 
 Hosea iv. 18, instead of defending their people, robbed and 
 preyed on them, now gather round our God to receive authority 
 
 The pla 
 
152 PSALM XLVIII. — THE MIGHTY ONE BECOME 
 
 from bim and use it for him. He is King of kings. He is 
 Lord of lords. And this is the enthusiastic celebration of 
 The Mighty One on the throne of earth. 
 
 PSALM XLVIIL 
 
 A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. 
 
 1 GHEATis the Lord, and greatly to be praised 
 
 In the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. 
 
 2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, 
 On the sides of the north, the city of the great King. 
 
 3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge. 
 
 4 For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. 
 
 5 They saw it, and so they marvelled ; they were troubled, and hasted away. 
 
 6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail. 
 
 7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish, with an east wind. 
 
 8 As we have heard so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the 
 
 city of our God : 
 God will establish it for ever. Selah. 
 f) We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. 
 
 10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth : 
 Thy right band is full of righteousness. 
 
 11 Let mount Zion rejoice, 
 
 Let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments. 
 
 12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her : tell the towers thereof: 
 
 13 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces ; 
 That ye may tell it to the generation following. 
 
 14 For this God is our God for ever and ever : he will be our guide even unto 
 
 death. 
 
 jonnection. The subjoct of the Mighty One's history is still continued. 
 The Mighty One is king, has entered on his dominion, is seated 
 on his throne, is ruling in righteousness. But where is his 
 
 riic v'an. capital ? It is at Jerusalem. Here He manifests himself ; and 
 by the glory of his presence being shed over that " City of the 
 Great King," brighter than the light of seven days, yet far 
 more mellow and tranquillising than the sweetest hues of even- 
 ing, Jerusalem becomes 
 
 '" The joy oftlie whole earth. 
 
 (The joy) of the sides* of the north.'" (Jer. vi. 22.) 
 
 * " Sides," ^JH^T* utmost extremes. See especially Isa. xiv. f), where the 
 proud tyrant says, "I will sit on the mount of the congregation," i.e., Zion, 
 
THE GLORY OF JERUSALEM. 153 
 
 She has become the joy of earth, far and near, the source of 
 joy to earth's remotest bounds. Now is fulfilled Isaiah xxiv. 
 23. Now is Jerusalem made " beautiful for situation," or, set 
 aloft on its hills in beauty, in another sense than formerly. 
 Now is Zion exalted above the mountains, and obtains estab- 
 lished pre-eminence above the hills. 
 
 And if associations are needed to make any place completely 
 interesting, these are not wanting here. Such deeds have been 
 done here, that Sennacherib's overthrow is, in a manner, cast 
 into the shade. The gathered kings of earth came up, " they 
 passed" in all the pomp of battle, and the Lord scattered them ; 
 and writes here his " Veni, vidi, vici," to all nations. 
 " They saw ! 
 
 They marvelled ! 
 
 They xoere trouhled ! 
 
 They hasted away .'" (Ver. 5.) 
 It was as when an east wind hurls the ships of Tarshish on 
 the rocks. (Ver. 7.) It comprised in it all that is recorded as 
 wonderful in the achievements of former days ; present events 
 now come fully up to the measure of former good deeds, 
 
 ^^ As we have heard, so have we seen, 
 In the city of the Lord of hosts."" (Ver. 8.) 
 
 The solemn Selah-pause occurs here; and then we look out on 
 a peaceful scene, God known in all the earth. (Ver. 10.) 
 " Thou art praised wherever thy name is knoiun," or rather, 
 now at last thou art getting praise worthy of thy glorious 
 name. Zion is glad, Judah's tears are wiped away, while a 
 voice invites all men to come and survey the bulwarks of the 
 city of the Great Kiug, that they may tell it from age to age. 
 The bulwarks are strong, for the Lord's presence, Jehovah 
 Shammah, is the wall of fire, on whose battlements the happy 
 citizens walk in security, singing, 
 
 and then, " on the sides of the north," earth's widest bounds. Hengstenberg 
 objects to this construction of the verse, that we do not find in Hebrew this re- 
 sumption of a status constr. But Isa. xiv. 19 is a clear case, " the raiment 
 of the slain, of the pierced with the sword." So Job xxvi. 10, according to 
 Ewald; and Prov. xv. 26. Tholuck renders it; " A joy of the earth to the 
 remotest north." Thei-e is another explanation that makes, "Sides of the 
 north, the city of the Great King," to be descriptive of the town (afterwards 
 Acra) built on the ground north of Mount Zion. 
 
] 54 PSALM XLIX. — THE DIRGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS 
 
 " This God is our God for ever and ever ; 
 He is our guide even over death." (Tholuck, " even beyond death.") 
 
 The last clause is much misunderstood, It is not, " Our guide 
 unto death," for the words are niD b^ ^^^T})^^.y " shall lead us 
 over death." Surely it means, " It is He who leads over death 
 to resurrection" — over Jordan into Canaan. The 7^ is used 
 in Levit. xv. 25 for " beyond," in regard to time, and is not 
 this the sense here ? " Beyond the time of death ?" Till death 
 is to us over ? Till we have stood upon the grave of death ? 
 Yes : He it is who leads us on to this last victory ; he swallows 
 up death in victory, and leads us to trample on death. And 
 so viewed, we easily discern the beautiful link of thought that 
 joins this Psalm to that which follows. 
 Such is the celebration of 
 
 The Mighty One become the glory of Jerusalem. 
 
 PSALM XLIX. 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. 
 
 1 Hear this, all ye people ; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world : 
 
 2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together. 
 
 3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom ; and the meditation of my heart shall 
 
 he of understanding. 
 
 4 I will incline mine ear to a parable : I will open my dark saying upon the 
 
 harp. 
 
 5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, 
 
 When the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about ? 
 
 6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of 
 
 their riches ; 
 
 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a 
 
 ransom for him : 
 
 8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever :) 
 
 9 That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. 
 
 10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person 
 
 •perish. 
 And leave their wealth to others. 
 
 11 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, 
 And their dwelling places to all generations ; 
 
 They call their lands after their own names. 
 
 12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not : he is like the beasts that 
 
 perish. 
 
OVER THE UNREDEEMED. 155 
 
 13 This their way is their folly: yet tlicir posterity approve their sayings. 
 
 Selah. 
 
 14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave ; death shall feed on them ; 
 And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning : 
 And their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. 
 
 15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave : 
 For he shall receive me. Selah. 
 
 16 Be not thou afraid when one is made i-ich, when the glory of his house is 
 
 increased ; 
 
 17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away : his glory shall not de- 
 
 scend after him. 
 
 18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul : 
 
 And men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. 
 
 19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers ; they shall never see light. 
 
 20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that 
 
 perish. 
 
 The mighty one never rests till he has " led us over death" connection. 
 (xlviii. 14), to Resurrection-fulness of bliss in the kingdom. 
 Thrice happy they who shall enjoy it ! But who shall tell the 
 misery of those who are excluded from that bliss ? It is this 
 misery that is the theme of this Psalm. As sure as the eternal 
 felicity of the redeemed is the miserable doom of the unre- 
 deemed ; and this Psalm is the dirge over them. 
 
 The Redeemer himself speaks this " 'parable," this weighty xiie speaker. 
 discourse, which in its topics is to the world no better than an 
 unintelligible enigma — " a dark saying."" But nevertheless, 
 " these things which have been kept secret from the beginning" 
 (Matt. xiii. 38), are here laid open in their solemn grandeur, 
 in their awful importance, in their truth and certainty. Mes- 
 siah here speaks " wisdom" (JltopH) and " understanding" as 
 in Prov. i. 20, revealing the deep things of God to man. It is 
 Messiah who says (ver. 5), " Wherefore should I fear in the 
 days of evil, when iniquity at my heals doth compass m.e 
 about T' Messiah in our world of evil, pursued by sons of 
 Belial, who would fain trample on him, surrounded by the 
 troops of hell, breathing the atmosphere of this polluted world, 
 walking'amid its snares, is able to break through all unscathed, 
 and foretell impending ruin to every foe. 
 
 Man has no means of paying to God his ransom-money The plan 
 (Exod. xxi. 80), although he bring the most costly price earth 
 
156 PSALM XLIX. — DIRGE OVER THE UNREDEEMED. 
 
 can furnish. He " must let that alone for ever" {Prayer Booh 
 Version) ; he cannot come up to the amount demanded ; he 
 cannot give even what might be sufficient to redeem the life 
 from the grave. See how generations die, disappear, give place 
 to other generations, all equally the prey of corruption ; and 
 yet fools continue to hope for immortality for themselves. 
 Think of this infatuation ; pause, meditate ; the harp will be 
 silent for a time that you may ponder it — " Selah !" 
 
 But lift the veil ! Where are these sons of folly ? In the 
 gi'ave ; " Death leads them into his pastures," as his sheep 
 (Hengstenberg) ; and 
 
 " The righteous have dominion over them in themorning. 
 Their beauty consumes away ; 
 The grave is the dwelling for every one of them.'' (Ver. 14.) 
 
 The First Resurrection is described in these few strokes, the 
 Resurrection of the Just. They live and reign — have do- 
 minion — while " the rest of the dead live not again until the 
 thousand years are finished." (Rev. xx. 5.) And to stifle all 
 doubts in their birth, the Redeemer declares himself sure of 
 resurrection ; and if he, then they also, for he is the first fruits, 
 the pledge of theirs. 
 
 " Surely, C'!JKj God shall redeem my soul from the hand of the grave; 
 Foil' He shall redeem me." (Ver. 15.) 
 
 He shall receive me as Enoch was received, receive me up to 
 glorious rest. (See Gen. v. 24, the same word, n]p) Hear, 
 therefore, the sum of the whole matter. The ungodly shall 
 never see "the light" of that "morning" (ver. 14) ; yea, (ver. 
 20), " man in prosjpenty," even Antichrist in the flush of his 
 power, " is like the beasts ; he is to he rooted out,"" (Heng- 
 stenberg) — he has no lot or portion with the blessed. 
 
 In such strains the Redeemer himself utters this melancholy 
 Dirge oftlie Righteous over the unredeemed. 
 
PSALM L. — THE PRINCIPLES OF JUDGMENT. 157 
 
 PSALM L. 
 
 A Psalm of Asapli. 
 
 1 The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken. 
 
 And called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down 
 thereof. 
 
 2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. 
 
 3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: 
 
 A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round 
 about him. 
 
 4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may 
 
 judge his people. 
 
 5 Gather my saints together unto me ; those that have made a covenant 
 
 with me by sacrifice. 
 
 6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness : for God is judge him- 
 
 self. Selah. 
 
 7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak ; O Israel, and I will testify against 
 
 thee. 
 I am God, even thy God. 
 
 8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, 
 
 Or thy burnt oiferings, to have been continually before me. 
 
 9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. 
 
 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 
 
 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field 
 
 are mine. 
 
 12 If I were hungrj^ I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the 
 
 fulness thereof. 
 
 13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats ? 
 
 14 Offer unto God thanksgiving ; and pay thy vows unto the Most High ! 
 
 15 And call upon me in the day of trouble : 1 will deliver thee, and thou 
 
 shalt glorify me. 
 
 16 But unto the wicked God saith, 
 
 What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, 
 
 Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth ? 
 
 17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and easiest my words behind thee. 
 
 18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him. 
 And hast been partaker with adulterers. 
 
 19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. 
 
 20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother ; thou slanderest thine own 
 
 mother's son. 
 
 21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence ; 
 
 Thou though test that I was always such an one as thyself: 
 But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. 
 
 22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, 
 
 Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. 
 
plan 
 
 158 PSALM L. — THE PRINCIPLES OF JUDGMENT. 
 
 23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me : 
 
 And to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salva- 
 tion of God. 
 
 ''El, Elohim, Jehovah, has spoken/"* So reads the Hebrew. 
 Arrived at the end — having sung of the elect's cry, the response 
 to their cry in the Mighty One's appearing, the Mighty One's 
 protection, the throne on which he sits, the city where his 
 glory abides, and himself in the glory — having also sung that 
 melancholy dirge over those who have no portion in this lot of 
 Theme and the righteous — the Psalmist is led by the Spirit to strike his 
 harp to one other strain of a kindred nature. He here sets 
 forth the principles of judgment that guide the decision of the 
 King " who sits on the throne of his holiness," and reigns 
 from " out of Zion." 
 
 It is the day of Rom. i. 18. The heavens are not silent now ; 
 angels come with the God of heaven. The glory of the Lord, 
 and the gathering of the saints around him (see 2 Thess. ii. 4), 
 those who over the sacrifice have entered into covenant with 
 him, being celebrated in ver. 1-6, and the solemn *S'eZa/i-pause 
 having given us time to fix our eye upon the scene, the 
 Lord suddenly speaks, reasoning with men as to their wrong 
 ideas of the way of salvation (ver. 7-15). Then follows their 
 sinful practice (ver. 16-22). In ver. 22d the word Si is em- 
 phatic — " Consider this, I beseech you, ye who forget God," 
 Man treats God as if he were a being to be ministered unto, 
 instead of a gracious, sovereign benefactor. Man acts in the 
 view of God as if the holy God were such a one as himself. 
 But the end comes. None shall enter into glory, none be 
 shewn " the salvation of God," i. e., his glorious completed 
 redemption (such as Paul spoke of, Rom. xiii. 1 1, and Peter, 
 1 Pet. i. 5) at the Lord's Appearing, excepting the man who 
 " orders his conversation aright ; " that is, who regulates his 
 life by such rule as ver. 5 ; in other words, by gospel-rule 
 — who prepares his way according to the preparation revealed 
 to him by the Lord. The man who would so do must begin 
 
 * Coming to judge, he appears as in Rev. xix. with all his names. ^^ El," 
 the Mighty God ; " Elohim," God, the object of worship and fear ; " Jehovah," 
 he who has made himself known to Israel and his people, as having all being 
 and perfection. 
 
PSALM LI. — THE CRY OF THE BROKEN-HEARTED SINNER. 159 
 
 at the altar (ver. 5), and there "sacrifice," or, ^^ offer praise," 
 even as ver. 14 also declared. He must begin by owning 
 Jehovah's benefits to us sinners, responding to the song of the 
 angels at Bethlehem over a Saviour born, and answering to 
 the Saviour's cry, " It is finished " by his soul's glad acceptance 
 of that finished work. This is the " ordering of the conversa- 
 tion " — and to declare this is the object of this Psalm. It sets 
 forth, at the lips of the Righteous Judge himself. 
 The principles that shall guide the judgment of the Righteous 
 One at the gathering of the Saints. 
 
 PSALM LI. 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he 
 had gone in to Bath-sheba. 
 
 1 Have mercy upon me, God, accoi'ding to thy lovingkindnesses : 
 According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my trans- 
 gressions. 
 
 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 
 
 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions : and my sin is ever before me. 
 
 4 Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight : 
 That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when 
 
 thou judgest. 
 
 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 
 G Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts : 
 
 And in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 
 
 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be 
 
 whiter than snow. 
 
 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness ; that the bones which thou hast 
 
 broken may rejoice. 
 
 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 
 
 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within me. 
 
 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit 
 
 from me. 
 
 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ; and uphold me with thy Free 
 
 Spirit. 
 
 13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways ; and sinners shall be converted 
 
 unto thee. 
 
 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation : 
 And my tongue shall sing aloud of my righteousness. 
 
 15 O Lord, open thou my lips ; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 
 
 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice ; else would I give it : thou delightest not 
 
 in burnt offering. 
 
160 PSALM LI.— THE BROKEN-HEARTED SINNER's 
 
 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : 
 
 A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise 
 
 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion : build thou the walls of Jeru- 
 
 salem. 
 
 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, 
 With burnt offering and whole burnt offering : 
 
 Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. 
 
 ti!is psahii"" n*d "^^^ riches, the power," (says a well-known writer), the 
 subject of it glory of a kingdom, could neither present nor remove the tor- 
 rent of sin, which puts the monarch and the beggar upon a 
 level." No one has more keenly scrutinized his own backslid- 
 ings, and more bitterly lamented them, " laying bare the iron 
 ribs of misery," than David, in this Psalm. We saw a series 
 of considerable length concluded in Psalm 1. The Psalm be- 
 fore us stands in an isolated position. It is not part of any 
 series. It has a peculiarity that no previous Psalm has exhi- 
 bited, for it is written (and the Hebrew title authenticates the 
 fact) on occasion of David's adultery, and his detestable attempts 
 to hide his adultery by murder of the basest kind. Now, no 
 such circumstances as these could ever have in them aught 
 that corresponded in the remotest manner to any circumstances 
 in the life of the Surety, David's Son. On the contrary, so far 
 is this Psalm from being fitted to express the work of the Surety, 
 that it seems introduced at this point in order to lead us to 
 look back on the former songs of David, and to say of what was 
 set forth therein, " Surely this David, who here appears as a 
 leper all over, with a heart as vile as the worst action of his life, 
 cannot be the David of whom such glorious things were for- 
 merly spoken V Viewed in this light, the Psalm before us is 
 fitted, both by its title and its contents, to direct us in the other 
 Psalms to the true David, as He of whom the lofty things of 
 preceding Psalms were sung. 
 Tiie pum. Coming, as this Psalm does, close upon one which set the 
 
 principles of judgment before us, it is not uninteresting to ob- 
 serve that it falls into its place very appropriately. For here 
 we find a sinner — an individual sinner — realizing his position 
 at that bar, and consenting to the decisions of a tribunal 
 whereat nothing but justice has free course. The sinner ac- 
 knowledges in verse 4 that his sin is all his own, and done in 
 
CRY TO THE GOD OF GRACE. 161 
 
 direct opposition to the Holy One ; and he owns his folly be- 
 fore all the universe. 
 
 " That thou mayest be justified, in the matter of the law proclaimed by thee, 
 And be clear, in regard to the judgment pronounced by thee on the law- 
 breaker." 
 
 He finds nothing in the terms of the -law too strict, nor 
 aught in the penalty annexed too severe. The use of '^"^^^ 
 may be a reference to Exod. xx. 1, where the Ten Command- 
 ments are called DnH'in. 
 
 It is as if God had printed the diary of David, and, in order 
 to humble him, handed it to the " Chief musician," that all 
 Israel might know his bitter repentance, and might say, in 
 substance, what Augustine writes, (" I^on ergo cadencU ex- 
 eriiplum propositum est, sed si cecideris resurgendi. Tu hoc 
 amas in David, quod in se edit David V) " It is not an ex- 
 ample of falling into sin that is set before thee, but of rising 
 if thou hast fallen. Dost thou love in David that which David 
 hated in himself?" 
 
 1 . Deep groans for pardoning mercy, from the pit of pollu- 
 
 tion. (Ver. 1, 2.) 
 
 2. Confession of sin, and acknowledgment of the Lord's 
 
 righteous law. (Ver. 3, 4.) 
 
 3. An awful gaze upon the source of all actual sin. (Ver. 5.) 
 
 4. Deliverance from falsehood, folly, and guilt, must come 
 
 from God alone. (Ver. 6, 7.) " Purge me from sin with 
 hyssop," as the leper is purged, 
 
 5. The voice of a reconciled God heard again. (Ver. 8.) 
 
 Perhaps it was the idea of Resurrection that suggested 
 " hones rejoicing." 
 
 6. On the foundation of thorough forgiveness, prayer is made 
 
 for thorough and constant holiness. (Ver. 9, 10.) " Re- 
 new to me the gift of a fixed (P3ij spirit." 
 
 7. He seeks permanent holiness, as well as permanent fel- 
 
 lowship. (Ver. 1].) 
 
 8. The joy of full salvation (i. e., of both pardon and holiness) 
 
 is sought, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, the true 
 and natural equipment for future usefulness. (Ver. 12.) 
 " U'pholdme with the Spirit, who is generous" — princely. 
 
 L 
 
162 PSALM LI. — THE BROKEN-HEARTED SINNER'S 
 
 9. Efforts are to be made for the good of others. (Ver. 13.) 
 
 1 0. Sorrow for having, in days past, injured others is expressed. 
 
 (Ver. ]4, first clause.) 
 
 11. Closing strain of adoring gratitude. (The last clause of 
 
 verse 14, and 15, 16, 17.) 
 
 1 2. A closing prayer for the glory of God in the land and in 
 
 the earth. (Ver. 18, 19.) 
 This desire for God's glory, the unfailing mark of a soul in 
 communion with God, is expressed in terms that indicate hope 
 as well as faith. " Be favourable to Zion for thine own sake, 
 as a fruit of thy free-will," ''JJiiJ"!!!. This is the sense ; as if 
 he said, " I have given thee cause to forsake my kingdom and 
 people, and even to abandon Zion, where thine ark stands ; but 
 wilt thou not rather shew free grace ?" 
 
 " Build the walls of Jerusalem /" 
 
 Make thy people in Jerusalem strong against their foes ; 
 build up * this city which I took from the Jebusites and am 
 seeking to beautify, though my sin might provoke thee to give 
 it back to the Canaanite again. Make Zion and Jerusalem 
 strong in their bulwarks as thou wilt yet do in the latter day. 
 (Psalm xlviii. 11.) 
 
 " Then shall tJiou be pleased with sacrifices of righteoxisness." 
 
 In that spot where thy name has been blasphemed by me 
 thou shalt yet again be honoured, if instead of judgment thou 
 sendest us victory and peace. We shall testify of thee to all 
 lands by the " sacrifices according to just rule and measure " 
 (Levit. xix. 36), and by " bullocks," as our D''13 " calves of thank- 
 offering." (Hosea xiv. 3.) This city Jerusalem shall be a 
 place wherein atonement is proclaimed, and thy praises sung 
 by thy forgiven ones, whose contrite, broken hearts shall be a 
 dally thankoffering. (Ver. 17.) 
 
 This last result was specially attained under Solomon. But 
 in addition to what we have stated as the primary meaning, is 
 there not a look into the future ? Is not the strain to this ef- 
 fect : — Hasten Zion's final glory, and then shall there be no 
 
 * "Build" signifies here as in Mieah iii. 10; Prov. xxiv. 3; Josh. vi. 26; 
 2 Chron. viii. 2, fortifiiinfi and ornamenting. 
 
CRY TO THE GOD OF GRACE. 163 
 
 more scandals to give the enemy cause to blaspheme, no more 
 backslidings, no more falls ; then shalt thou be fully honoured 
 as the God of atonement and fully praised with the calves of 
 our lips. Hasten the day of Jerusalem's glory under the true 
 Solomon. 
 
 Such is this Psalm of David — 
 The broken-hearted sinner's cry to the God of grace. 
 
 PSALM LIL 
 
 To tlie chief Musician. RFascliil. A Psalm of David, wlien Doeg the Edomite came and told 
 Savil, and said unto him, David is come to tlie house of Ahiraelech. 
 
 1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? 
 Tlie goodness of God endureth continually. 
 
 2 Thy tongue deviseth mischief; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 
 
 3 Thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak right- 
 
 eousness. Selah. 
 
 4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. 
 
 5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever. 
 
 He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, 
 And root thee out of the land of the living, Selah. 
 
 6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him — 
 
 7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength ! 
 
 But trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in 
 his wickedness. 
 
 8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God : 
 I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. 
 
 9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it : 
 
 And I will wait on thy name ; for it is good before thy saints. 
 
 This Psalm was originally written when Doeg informed Saul ''"^ position, 
 against David. In arranging the Psalms it was natural to 
 place it after the last, inasmuch as the assaults which it de- 
 scribes would no doubt be repeated in some shape on the occa- 
 sion of David's fall, and even after his restoration to the full 
 sunshine of divine fellowship. The enemy of the Woman's 
 Seed has never in any age been at a loss for matter of calumny 
 and reproach, nor will he cease till the Lord come and he be 
 finally cast out. 
 
 In verse 1, "the 'mighty man" is I'ilD^ even as Nimrod is Tiie contents. 
 
164 PSALM LII.^ — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE'S HOPE. 
 
 called in Gen. x. 9, the very antithesis in character to "■^^3^"b^?," 
 " the miglity God," (Isaiah ix. 6,) who is to destroy him. 
 
 In verse 5, closed by the significant Selah, the true rendering 
 of the middle clause is, " He will pluck thee out of The Taber- 
 nacle;" not only referring us back to such cases as Korah, or 
 any rebels whom the Lord thrust out of the holy camp of Israel, 
 but pointing us onward to the time when " ihe Tabernacle of 
 Ood shall be tvifh men." On that day thou shalt have no place 
 among the blessed ones ; they shall see thee uprooted with 
 ease, and shall enjoy the " laugh" of Him who sitteth in the 
 heavens (Psalm ii. 4), and of Wisdom whom thou didst despise 
 (Prov. i. 26), but who then mocks at thy calamity. Men will 
 not then say of the Son of God (as they could say in the day 
 of his bumiUation), but shall say of his ruined foes, — 
 " Behold tJie man /" (Yer. 7.) 
 
 All along their history true Israelites could adopt and ap- 
 propriate the words of verse 8, but they shall sing it better 
 still on the day of Antichrist's final ruin, when they become 
 " The Olive tree" again. (Rom. xi. 17.) At the same time it 
 is David's Son, Christ himself, who best of all could sing this 
 Psalm, and best of all could appropriate these words : — 
 " I am a green olive tree in the house of God." (Ver. 8.) 
 
 He being indeed the true Israelite who " continued in God's 
 goodness" (Rom. xi. 17, 22), the tender love of his God ever being 
 as dew on his branches. He will, on the Day of his Appear- 
 ing, give the key-note of praise over foes overthrown for ever, 
 raising the " Hallelujah" of Rev. xix. 2, — "Because thou hast 
 done it." Nothing less than this result is what we look for and 
 expect ; and Christ along with us is looking for that display 
 of the Divine character, " ivaitmg for thy name," (a,s in Psalm 
 Ixxv. 1) when it shall be discovered in judgment acts. Thus 
 viewed, this Psalm may be entitled, 
 
 The hope of the Righteous One when everywhere spoJcen 
 against. 
 
PSALM LIII. — EARTH, AND THE VICTORY OF GOD's PEOPLE. 1G5 
 
 PSALM LIII. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Upon Mahalath. Maschil. A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. 
 
 Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity : there is none that 
 doeth good. 
 
 2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men. 
 
 To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 
 
 3 Every one of them is gone back ; they are altogether become filthy ; 
 There is none that doeth good, no, not one. 
 
 4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, 
 
 Who eat up my people as they eat bread ? They have not called upon God. 
 
 5 There were they in great fear, where no fear was : 
 
 For God has scattered the bones of him that eucampeth against thee . 
 Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them. 
 
 6 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion ! 
 When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, 
 Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. 
 
 The unknown instrument " Mahalath" (.derived from the 
 Ethiopic root " to sing"), is here fixed on as the one to be used 
 by " the chief Musician." And the music is to be selected 
 with care, for this Psalm is, like some others, one that has the 
 mark " Maschil." 
 
 The state of earth ought to be deeply felt by us. The world 
 lying in wickedness should occupy much of our thoughts. The 
 enormous guilt, the inconceivable pollution, the ineffably pro- 
 voking atheism of this fallen province of God's dominion, 
 might be a theme for our ceaseless meditation and mourning. 
 To impress it the more on us, therefore, this Psalm repeats 
 what has been already sung in Psalm xiv. It is the same 
 Psalm, with only a few words varied ; it is "line upon line, precept 
 upon precept ;" the harp's most melancholy, most dismal notes 
 again sounded in our ear. Not that the Lord would detain us 
 always or disproportionably long amid scenes of sadness, for 
 elsewhere he repeats in like manner that most triumphant me- 
 lody. Psalm Ix. 6-12; cviii. 6-13; but it is good to return 
 now and then to the open field on which we all were found, 
 cast out in loathsome degradation. 
 
 There is one variation of some interest. It is in verse 5. 
 The words of Psalm xiv. 5 are referred to, but altered to ex- 
 
 This Psalm ( 
 
 repetition; 
 
 why? 
 
 Compared with 
 Psulni xiv. 
 
1G6 PSALM LIII. — EARTH, AND THE VICTORY OF GOD's PEOPLE. 
 
 press much more of triumph and victory on the part of God's 
 despised ones ; for the two passages run thus : — 
 
 Psalm liii. 
 
 " Tliere were tlieij in great fear where no fear was, 
 For God has scattered the bones of the encamper against thee. 
 TIiou hast put them to shame ! 
 For God has despised them /" 
 
 Psalm xiv. 
 " There were they in great fear, 
 For God is in the generation of the righteous. 
 You slmmed the counsel of the poor, 
 Because the Lord is his refuge." 
 
 Besides substituting " Elohim' for Jehovah throughout, the 
 changes in the Psalm before us seems made on purpose to de- 
 clare emphatically the complete overthrow of the ungodly. 
 " Thou" is emphatic in verse 5, and like Isa. xxxvii. 22, the 
 verse expresses victory over the ungodly. The term employed 
 in verse 6 is to be noticed. In Psalm xiv. 6 it was, " O that 
 the salvation, nyili;^, were come ;" in this Psalm it is " salva- 
 tions," "niyii.*y' full, entire deliverance. On these grounds 
 they may be right who suggest that Psalm xiv. (which see), 
 may be read as the report of the Son of man regarding earth 
 at his First Coming, and Psalm liii. as his description of its 
 state and prospects at his Second.* There is here certainly more 
 said of the full victory ; so that while we gave Psalm xiv. the 
 title of " The Righteous One's view of earth and its prospects," 
 we are inclined to state as the contents of this — 
 Ihe Righteous One's view of earth, and the victory of Ood's 
 
 * Ryland says, " Psalm xiv. refers chiefly to God's enemies and their alarm ; 
 this Psalm to God's people and their interests. The former contemplates 
 judgments, the latter, deliverances. 
 
PSALM LIV. — HELP FOUND IN THE LORD'S NAME. 1 67 
 
 PSALM LIV. 
 
 To the chiel' Musician. On Neginotli. Mascliil. A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims came 
 and said unto Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us ? 
 
 1 Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy sti-ength. 
 
 2 Hear my prayer, O God ; give ear to the words of my mouth. 
 
 3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul : 
 They have not set God before them. Selah. 
 
 4 Behokl, God is mine helper : the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. 
 6 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies : cut them off in thy truth. 
 
 6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O Lord, for it 
 
 is good. 
 
 7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble : 
 
 And mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies. 
 
 The title is such as we have already met with, " On NeginotJt' 
 and " 3Iaschil ;" and the occasion when it was first written is 
 mentioned as the time when the men of Ziph informed against 
 David. 
 
 The burden of this Psalm is simply — to what quarter should 
 one look for help in the time of trouble ? Wholly to the Lord. 
 " Save me by thy name" (ver. ]), reminds us of John xvii. 11. 
 We are kept by the putting forth of God's perfections in our 
 behalf, truth, mercy, love, power, wisdom, holiness. Our Lord 
 was so kept by the Father, when he prayed in the words of verse 
 1, using them as his own, and giving his Church an instance 
 in himself of that safe keeping. The Selah-^OM^e of thoughtful- 
 ness in verse 3 is beautifully followed by " Behold''' of verse 4. 
 It is q. d., silent prayer followed by confidence of an answer. 
 
 It is in verses 6 and 7 that the future dawns on our view. 
 David, David's Son, and all who follow David's Son, may exult 
 in the prospect of that sacrifice of thankfulness to be offered. 
 When delivered out of all distress, we shall look with triumph 
 on our enemies ; for as Calvin remarks (quoted by Hengsten- 
 berg), " Only let the eye be pure, and we can piously and holily 
 refresh ourselves with the manifestations of God's justice." 
 That will be the time of the hallelujah in Rev. xix, 1— i, all re- 
 sulting from his name glorified, his name manifested as 
 " good." (Ver. 6.) 
 
 We have therefore in this short Psalm, 
 The Righteous One's help found in the Lord's name. 
 
168 PSALM LV. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's WEARY SOUL 
 
 PSALM LV. 
 
 To the cliief Musician. On Neglnotli, lla>cliil. A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Give ear to my prayer, O God ; and hide not thyself from my supplication. 
 
 2 Attend unto me, and hear me : I mourn in my complaint, and make a 
 
 noise ; 
 
 3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked : 
 For they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me. 
 
 4 My heart is sore pained within me : and the terrors of death are fallen 
 
 upon me. 
 
 5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath over- 
 
 whelmed me. 
 
 6 And I said. Oh that I had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away, 
 
 and be at rest. 
 
 7 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. 
 
 8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. 
 
 9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues : for I have seen violence and 
 
 strife in the city. 
 
 10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: 
 Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. 
 
 11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof : deceit and guile depart not from her 
 
 streets. 
 
 12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me ; then I could have borne it : 
 Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me ; 
 Then I would have hid myself from him : 
 
 13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance! 
 
 14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked into the house of God in 
 
 company. 
 
 15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell : 
 For wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them. 
 
 16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. 
 
 17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud : 
 And he shall hear my voice. 
 
 18 He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me : 
 For there were many with me. 
 
 19 God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. 
 Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. 
 
 20 He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him : 
 He hath broken his covenant. 
 
 21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his 
 
 heart. 
 
 His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. 
 12 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee : 
 
 He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. 
 2,3 But thou, O God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction : 
 
 Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. 
 
 But I will trust in thee. 
 
RESTING IN THE LORD. 169 
 
 The title is the same as that of some former Psalms, " on Ne- 1'"= tme 
 ginoth," " Maschil," and then " of David." We may read 
 these strains as expressing David's feelings in some peculiar 
 seasons of distress, and as the experience of Christ's Church in 'J"'ie membeis 
 
 ' ^ and their Hea 
 
 every age ; for we find much, very much, that accords alto- 
 gether with humanity in a state of intensely stirred emotion, . 
 and affection wounded to the quick. Yet still it is in Jesus, 
 the Man of Sorrows, that the Psalm finds its fullest illustration. 
 His was the soul that was stirred to its lowest depth by scenes 
 such as are described here. The quotation of Psa. xli. 9 by our 
 Lord, is almost equivalent to a quotation of verse 13, they are 
 so similar as to words. 
 
 It is the wickedness of the wicked that raises this mournful The feeiing 
 
 expressed. 
 
 cry, and makes him say, 
 
 " I mourn in mxj complaint ;" or, " give free course to my sorrow." (Ver. 2.) 
 
 It is not unlikely that our Lord, possessed as he was of true 
 humanity, might often give utterance to this expressive wish 
 (verse 6), " that I had wings as a dove," when seeing the 
 turtle-dove fly out from the olives of the Mount of Olives over 
 guilty Jerusalem, the city wherein He saw "violence and 
 strife" — " wickedness, deceit, and guile, never absent from her 
 streets." Either there, or standing on some of the hills around 
 Nazareth, He might witness the home-loving dove's swift 
 flight,* and hear its peace-suggesting note, and be led to this 
 utterance of strong feeling, not at all unfit for Him who so re- 
 joiced in the thought, " And now I am no more in the world ! 
 Now I come to thee, Holy Father," (John xyii, 11). He to 
 whom he was thought to bear so close a resemblance (Matt, 
 xvi. 14), the weeping prophet Jeremiah, gave utterance to his 
 wounded feeling in strains that naturally took a similar form, 
 " Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place," though 
 only that of the wayfaring man ! (ix. 2). But the melancholy 
 Psalmist here rises a degree beyond this — 
 
 " / would remain in the desert," (Ver. 7.) 
 And then there is the Selah-pavise, as there is in the middle of Seiah. 
 
 * Paxton says, the dove, when flying to its resort, never rests on trees or the 
 like, as other birds, but uses one wing till the other rests. 
 
The Invitation 
 to share in it. 
 
 170 PSALM LV. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's WEARY SOUL 
 
 verse 19, iudicatiug the calm, solemn state of soul lu which 
 these things were uttered. 
 
 The prayer in verse 9 reminds us of Babel, where the lan- 
 guage of earth was divided that pride might be humbled for 
 ever, and its aims irretrievably baffled ; while verse 1 5, " go 
 quick to hell," at once recalls the doom of Korah and his com- 
 pany, who rejected the true High Priest, and the Lord's King 
 in Jeshurun. Our Lord describes Israel in verse 13, " his own" 
 nation (John ill), though, especially, Judas, one of his trusted 
 ones who owned him as Master ; and " mine equal" sig- 
 nifies, " Thou who wert by my side on terms of equality, as if on 
 a level with me." He permits them to perish in unbelief, they 
 having rejected the true Priest and King. He no longer acts 
 the Intercessor's part towards such, but stands over them as a 
 Judge, pronouncing their doom. And then in verses 16, 17, 
 we hear him express his confidence of full deliverance. " The 
 twelve legions of angels," whom He might at any time have 
 called to his help, have arrived, or rather He sees them on 
 their way. 
 
 " For there are many ivith me. 
 
 God heareth and anstcereih, 
 
 Yea, He sits enthroned for ever !" Selah. (Ver. 19.) 
 
 It is a glance at future redress for every wrong, in the Day of 
 Vengance and the Year of the Redeemed. In prospect of this, 
 verse 22 invites us to cast our burden upon the Lord, whatever 
 that burden be, even if it be the crushing weight of persecu- 
 tion, and reproach, and treachery. The Lord will " provide" 
 as Joseph did. Gen. xlv. 11, and as 1 Kings iv. 7. " The godly 
 shall not be tossed about for ever ;" the Lord shall arise to hurl 
 the foe into " the pit of destruction" (" the lake of fire" of Rev. 
 XX. 1 5), in which Antichrist sinks for ever. 
 
 In the last verse there is something of an enthymeme ; for 
 while the clause, " TJce blood g and deceitful men shall not live 
 half their days" predicts and pour trays their doom, as cut off 
 by untimely judgment, the responsive clause, "And I luill 
 trust in thee," tells of no proper converse, no judgment in favour 
 of the godly. But it nevertheless contains in it the equivalent 
 to a declaration that his lot shall be the reverse of the bloody 
 
RESTIKG IN THE LOUD. 171 
 
 and deceitful. It is equivalent to saying, We go different 
 ways — they on the broad road, where ruin overtakes them 
 speedily, and I on the safe road of faith in thee, where I shall 
 soon meet with Him whom unseen I loved, and in whom I 
 believed, though as yet I saw him not. Does not, then, this 
 Psalm depict — 
 The Righteous One's weary soul resting in the certainty of 
 ivhat the Lord ivill do. 
 
 PSALM LVI. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Upon Jonath-elem-rechokim. Michtam of David, when the Philistines 
 toolc him in Gath. 
 
 1 Be merciful unto me, O God : for man would swallow me up ! 
 He fighting daily oppresseth me. 
 
 2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up : 
 
 For they be many that fight against me, U thou Most High. 
 
 3 Wliat time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 
 
 4 In God 1 will praise his word. 
 
 In God I have put my trust ; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. 
 6 Every day they wrest my words : all their thoughts are against me for 
 evil. 
 
 6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, 
 They mark my steps, when they wait for my soul. 
 
 7 Shall they escape by iniquity ? In thine anger cast down the people, O 
 
 God. 
 
 8 Thou tellest my wanderings : 
 
 Put thou my tears into thy bottle : are they not in thy book ? 
 
 9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back : this I know, 
 
 for God is for me. 
 
 10 In God will I praise his word : in the Lord will I praise his word. 
 
 11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can_do unto 
 
 me. 
 
 12 Thy vows are upon me, O God : I will render praise unto thee. 
 
 13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my 
 
 feet from falling. 
 That I may walk before God in the light of the living ? 
 
 The reason why fear gains ascendancy in a believing soul on 
 occasions of danger and trouble is sententiously expressed by 
 Augustine, " Magnltudinem mali vides, jiotesiatem tnedici 
 
J 72 PSALM LVI. — god's WOKD LEADING TO THE 
 
 non vides." " Thou seest the magnitude of the evil ; the 
 power of the physician thou dost not see." The faith which 
 penetrates the unseen reaches the case. This Psahn, in verses 
 1, 2, sets forth perils and evils in their magnitude, every day 
 felt, every day repeating their vigorous assaults ; but verses 
 3, 4, declare the remedy. 
 
 " In the day ofm.yfear, I will trust in thee." (Ver. 3.) 
 
 This is nothing less than the voice of the Master, of him 
 who said in John xiv. 1, 27, " Let not your heart be troubled, 
 believe in God ; " " Peace I give unto you ; not as the world 
 giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, 
 neither let it be afraid." 
 
 " God I will extol— his Word." (Ver. 4.) 
 
 I will rest my heart in God ; I will praise God (2 /JlJJ^j as in 
 Psalm xliv. 9, and as in verse 10 again) ; I will praise God with 
 a special reverence to "his Word" — his promises, which are 
 not like those of the world.* David might refer to the Lord's 
 special promise to him of the seed that was to come, — a pro- 
 mise that of course implied his preservation in order to its ac- 
 complishment. The Son of David had his eye on that same 
 promise in another of its aspects, its implied engagement to 
 supply strength and give victory. Every believing one, in 
 hours of darkness, reverts to that promise, saying to his soul, 
 " He that spared not his own Son, how shall he not with him 
 also freely give us all things V It is thus that the Lord " mag- 
 nijieslhis Word," making it felt to be the prominent and most 
 attractive to sinful men of all his ways of revealing himself. 
 (Psalm cxxxviii. 2.) 
 
 The world goes on, adding sin to sin. The world goes on, 
 seeking daily to overthrow God by overthrowing his people ; 
 even as it sought to overthrow God by overthrowing his Son. 
 (Verses 5, 6.) But 
 
 " Shall they escape by {y)J) iniquity ? " (Ver. 7.) 
 
 They have made a covenant with death and hell ; shall it 
 
 * Some j;ive this force to the ^, "I, in union with, or as one with God, 
 will praise;" in which latter case it is like Paul's, "/>i the Lord." 
 
ANTICIPATION OF FINAL REST. 173 
 
 stand ? No ; if they were to escape by their iniquity, by their 
 boldness in defying God, this would be a result wholly unlike 
 the past dealings of God. 
 
 " God, in anger, has brought doivn the nations " (ver. 7) ; 
 
 and will do so again on that day when their anger is hot 
 against hira. (Rev. xi. 18.) 
 
 On the other hand, He has never failed to take account of 
 the wanderings and tears of his own. Their I^X " wandering," 
 and his liki, '* bottle" (something far more expressive than the 
 Roman Lacrymatory urn), correspond so far, that every tear 
 shed by them in their wanderings is in that bottle of his ; as 
 if he had travelled along with them through their wilderness, 
 and never suffered one drop to reach the ground. His bottle 
 and his book of remembrance have preserved these precious 
 tears ; and if so, what good reason have we for exultation 
 (verses 9-11), and for reiterating 
 
 " God I will extol — the Word ! " * 
 
 I will praise Jehovah, and why ? that " Word," already re- 
 ferred to, verse 4, explains all. He has spoken, he has pro- 
 mised ; all shall go on well, and then shall come the glorious 
 
 issue — 
 
 " I shall loalk before God in the light of the living.'''' (Ver. 13.) 
 
 Which, while not necessarily confined to the future, yet surely christ in it. 
 carries us forward to New Jerusalem days, when he who is 
 "Life," and who by being so, is " the Light" oi man, shall 
 walk with his redeemed in the kingdom. He himself is the 
 grand example of this. His every tear was precious, his every 
 step was marked ; the book of remembrance has a record of 
 these so vast, and ample and full, that, were it published here, 
 " I suppose the world itself could not contain the volumes that 
 could be written." He arose on the third day, " walking in 
 the light of the living ;" no more a prisoner in the darkness of 
 the grave ; no more subjected to the gloom of his Father's 
 wrath ; no more walking through the dark valley where love 
 
 * Fry suggests, " God shall hv the theme of my praise; Bf huth spoken ;" 
 
1 74 PSALM LVI. — ANTICIPATION OF FINAL REST. 
 
 was withheld ; entering on the endless brightness of divine 
 favour at the right hand. A believer's course resembles His, 
 ending, too, in this unclouded noon of resurrection glory. " O 
 come that glorious morning (says Home), when the redeemed 
 shall sing eternal praise to the God of salvation, for having 
 delivered their souls from death, and feet from falling, that 
 they might walk before him in the land of the living." 
 
 One point we ha,ve not noticed. The title of this Psalm is 
 peculiar. It is " Michtam," in common with Psalm xvl (which 
 see) and many others ; but also it is " Upon Jonath-elem-recJw- 
 kim." Hengstenberg renders this " The silent dove among 
 strangers ; " which certainly well expresses the substance of 
 the Psalm, as being the breathing of One who returned not re- 
 viling for reviling, but moaned his sorrows in the ear of his 
 God. Still, since we have reason to believe that these titles all 
 refer to something in the music to which the Psalms were set, 
 especially when by, " Upon," is prefixed, we incline to think 
 that these words indicate somewhat of the instrument and the 
 tune ; no doubt, however, a tune and an instrument suited to 
 the subject, and used on occasions of melancholy interest, such 
 as " Dove among strangers" may suggest. In either view the 
 title corresponds to what we gather up as the substance of the 
 Psalm, written by inspiration, when David had put himself 
 into the hands of the Philistines, and was " sore afraid" 
 (1 Sam. xxi. 12), namely, 
 
 God's ivord enabling the Righteous One, amid his wander- 
 ings, to anticipate final rest. 
 
 PSALM LVIL 
 
 I'o the chief Musician. Al-taschith. Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul In the cave. 
 
 1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me : for my soul trusteth in 
 
 thee. 
 Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these ca- 
 lamities be overpast. 
 
 2 I will cry unto God most high ; unto God that performeth all things for 
 
 me. 
 
PSALM Lvii. — Jehovah's glory in deliverance. 175 
 
 3 He shall send from heaven, and save me 
 
 From the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. 
 God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. 
 
 4 My soul is among lions : and I lie even among them that are set on fire. 
 Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their 
 
 tongue a sharp sword. 
 6 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens ; let thy glory be above all 
 the earth. 
 
 6 They have prepared a net for my steps ; my soul is bowed down : 
 They have digged a pit before me, 
 
 Into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. 
 
 7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed ; I will sing and give praise. 
 
 8 Awake up, my glory ; awake, psaltery and harp : I myself will awake early. 
 
 9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people : I will sing unto thee among 
 
 the nations. 
 
 10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. 
 
 11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all 
 
 the earth. 
 
 We spoke of the title of last Psalm as peculiar, and as suitable The title. 
 to the theme handled. We may say the same of the title of 
 this Psalm, " Al-tascJiith," i. e., destroy not ; for it is suitable, 
 whether taken as a musical term or as indicating the spirit 
 breathed throughout. We do not, however, think that it is 
 taken from Deut. ix. 26, nor yet from 1 Sam. xxvi. 9* where 
 the sentiment occurs, addressed in the one case to God, in the 
 other to man. We suspect it is a musical term of some sort, 
 perhaps connected with the lofty ideas entertained regarding 
 the harp and its accompaniments, — the " jEre pereniiius," the 
 " indestructible," common to all nations as an epithet of poetic 
 and musical compositions. 
 
 Christ is the chief Speaker, entering into his own difficulties <"ii'i' t and 
 and those of his Church. The tone is such as we find in 
 John xii. 27, 28, " Father, save me ! Father, glorify thy 
 name ! " But his people can use every word of it also. Per- 
 haps the publican's prayer was drawn from the 1st verse, " 
 God, he merciful to me." (John v, 1.) The calamities, or 
 rather the " mischiefs " (DS^^t) of a malicious world and a ma- 
 licious hell are spoken of, but spoken of in order to fix our atten- 
 tion on the means of victory. The means of victory is (verse 2) 
 " God Most High," God " who accomplishes all things," in spite 
 
 * This is the view of several writers, and they suggest that it is an abbrevia- 
 tion siiDilar to " Dc prufnndis," or "Miserere!" 
 
176 PSALM LVIT. — JfJHOVAH's GLORY IN DELIVERANCE. 
 
 of foes ;* it is God, too, doing this with "mercy and truth," — the 
 attributes that are prominent in redemption, kindness to the guilty 
 in consistency with his adherence to everything his mouth has 
 uttered. " Selah," verse 3, gives peculiar force to the words, 
 " The devourer snoi^ts at me ! Selah." Stop, my soul, and 
 ponder ; for, lo ! God sends help. As for men, they are as 
 lions, in violence ; or if you refer to their secret ways, they 
 are equally to be distrusted; for their tongue scoffs at all 
 that is holy. (Verses 4, 6.) They have fallen into their own 
 pit — and another " Selah" calls us to ponder. But God, God 
 in his glory, let me ever be in his hands (verses 5, 7) ! My 
 heart is fixed, my glory (i.e., iny sold) bursts into song, " I 
 awake the morning dawn" to sing his praises. For full is 
 He of tender mercy that reaches above the heavens, as well 
 as of truth that stretches unto the clouds, — such mercy and 
 truth as was prayed for in verse 3, and which shine bright in 
 all his redemption -acts. The issue must be glory to himself, 
 infinite glory, glory above the heavens, glory above all the earth. 
 A flood of glory is to cover this earth above its highest moun- 
 tains, nay, to cover heaven, too, above its loftiest pinnacles. 
 The eye of the Psalmist is gazing on the ages to come in the 
 New Heavens and New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 
 David " in the cave," in the very presence of Saul, was taught 
 by the Holy Spirit thus to sing for his own use, and the use of 
 the Church, and the use of the Son of Man in the days of his flesh. 
 The Righteous One connecting his deliverance with Jehovah's 
 glory. 
 
 PSALM LVIII. 
 
 To the chief Musician, Al-taschith. Michtam of David. 
 
 1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation ? do ye judge uprightly, 
 
 O ye sons of men? 
 
 2 Yea in heart ye work wickedness ; ye weigh the violence of your hands 
 
 in the earth. 
 
 * The Targum curiously paraphrases this clause ; '• Who ordered the spider 
 that wrought the web on my account at the month of the cave ; " applying a 
 later historical fact, which, however, may have had its prototype in David's 
 history. 
 
PSALM LVIIT.-^THE UNGODLY REASONFD WITH. 177 
 
 .S The •wicked are estranged from the womb ; 
 
 Thoy go astray as soon as they be bom, speaking Ilea 
 •1 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent : 
 
 They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear ; 
 5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so 
 
 wisely, 
 fi Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: 
 
 Break out the teeth of the young lions, O Lord. 
 
 7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually ; 
 
 When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. 
 
 8 As a snail which melteth, let eveiy one of them pass away : 
 
 Like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 
 
 9 Before your pots can feel the thorns. 
 
 He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living and in his 
 virrath. 
 
 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: 
 He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. 
 
 11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: 
 Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth 
 
 Tholuck supposes that David was led to write this on occa- 
 sion of Joab murdering Abner. At any rate, it might suit that 
 event. The Righteous One reasons with the ungodly in pros- 
 pect of their doom. It is another " Al~taschith" and " Mich- The title. 
 tarn," as to its musical accompaniments. 
 
 A difficulty meets us in verse 1, some rendering the Hebrew 
 by a change in one letter, (viz., D vNJ foi chii;,) " Ye mighty ones, 
 do ye speak righteousness ?" others retaining DyU as a verb, 
 •'Is justice then silent?" (Deut. i. 16), or, "Are ye, then, in- 
 deed dumb, so that ye will not speak what is right ?" Horsley 
 puts it thus, " Are ye in earnest reflection when ye talk of 
 righteousness T' 
 
 It is addressed to " the sons of Tnen" (ver. 1), not to rulers The contcus. 
 only, though to rulers also, as being among the sons of men. 
 (See Psalm Ixxxii. 6.) 
 
 " The ioicked are alienated (from God.) from the womb ; 
 The speakers of falsehood have gone astray as soon as they are born." 
 (Ver. 3.) 
 
 They are of the " seed of the serpent;" and, like the adder, 
 they hide their ears in the dust, in order not to be charmed, 
 let the charmer chant however sweet and long. Men bury 
 their conscience in the things of earth, and shut out the allur- 
 
 M 
 
178 PSALM LVIII. — THE UNGODLY REASONED WITH 
 
 ing sound of the tidings of love to the guilty. Hence, judgment 
 comes. " Woe to thee, Chorazin" — Woe to thee, O earth, that 
 hast heard the offers of love as well as the demands of law. In 
 verses 6-9 the wrath is shewn under which the mighty melt 
 away " as a snail,"" suggesting (it has been thought) the idea 
 of the filthy trail or mark which their beastly pollutions used 
 to leave behind them. Their glory is no more than " an abor- 
 tion." It is at the coming of the Son of man that it overtakes 
 them. They are devising much and planning great schemes, 
 but " ere their pots can feel the blazing thorn," ere their de- 
 signs of ambition are reached, " he carries them away with a 
 tempest," — the green and the dry, the sodden and the raw 
 (liirr-iQD ^rT-i(2p), their finished and their unfinished works, and 
 themselves, too, with all their gratified and all their as yet un- 
 gratified desires. There are seven similitudes : the lion's teeth 
 broken ; the torrents running off; the bow snapping asunder ; the 
 snail wasting away ; the abortion that scarcely can oe said to 
 have had existence ; the pots that aever get time to feel the 
 heat ; the whirlwind that makes them its victim. 
 
 No doubt, at the sight of Sodom, Gomorrha Admah, and 
 Zeboim, destroyed, angels saw cause to rejoice and sing, " Hal- 
 lelujah." Wickedness was swept away ; earth was lightened 
 of a burden ; justice, the justice of God, was highly exalted ; 
 love to his other creatures was displayed in freeing them from 
 the neighbourhood of such hellish contaminations. On the 
 same principles, (entering, however, yet deeper into the mind 
 of the Father, and sympathizing to the full in his justice,) the 
 Lord Jesus himself and each one of his members shall cry 
 " Hallelujah" over Antichrist's ruined hosts. (Rev. xix. 3). 
 " TJie righteous sJmll rejoice when He seeth the vengeance, 
 He shall wash his feet in the blood of the ivicked." (Ver. 10.) 
 
 He shall be refreshed at the end of his journey (John xiii. 
 5 ; Luke vii. 44 ; Gen. xviii, 4), He shall wipe off all the dust 
 of the way, and end its weariness by entering into that strange, 
 that divine joy over sin destroyed, justice honoured, the law 
 magnified, vengeance taken for the insult done to Godhead, 
 the triumph of the Holy One over the unholy. It is not 
 merely the time when that joy begins, — it is also the occasion 
 and cause of that day's rapturous delight. 
 
IN PROSPECT OF THE DAY OF VENGEANCE. 179 
 
 But what follows now ? It is said, verse 11, D^^l "IpN^'l, 
 " And man shall say." Is not this the effect upon the world 
 at large in turning them to know their God, his law, his jus- 
 tice, his hatred of sin, his love to his own ? Now shall John 
 xvii. 23 be fulfilled. Seeing Christ and his bride, the Church, 
 triumphant and glorified, "The world shall know that the Father 
 sent him, and that the Father loved them as he loved Christ." 
 As they gaze on his and their enthroned glory, they shall con- 
 fess, " Verily there is a reward for the righteous !" and shall 
 bend their knee and say of Him who sitteth on the throne of his 
 glory, with his princes who truly decree justice (Isa. xxxii. 1), 
 " Verily, God judgeth the earth!" Its government has come 
 into the hands of the Just One and his saints ; there is a God, 
 there is a God who judges ! 
 
 O that the sons of men would hear in this their day ! 
 that every ear were opened to these words of 
 The Righteous One reasoning with the ungodly in prospect 
 of the day of vengeance. 
 
 PSALM LIX. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Al-taschith. Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the 
 house to kill him. 
 
 1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God ! 
 Defend me from them that rise up against me. 
 
 2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. 
 
 3 Foi-, lo, they lie in wait for my soul : the mighty are gathered against me ; 
 Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord. 
 
 4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault : awake to help me, 
 
 and behold ! 
 6 Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all 
 the heathen : 
 Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah. 
 
 6 They return at evening : they make a noise like a dog, and go round 
 
 about the city. 
 
 7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth : swords are in their lips : 
 For who, say they, doth hear ? 
 
 8 But thou, O Lord, shall laugh at them ; thou shalt have all the heathen 
 
 in derision. 
 
 9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee : for God is my defence. 
 
180 PSALM LIX.— APPEAL AGAINST APOSTATE ISRAEL 
 
 10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me : 
 God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies. 
 
 11 Slay them not, lest my people forget : scatter them by thy power. 
 And bring them down, O Lord our shield. 
 
 12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be 
 taken in their pride : 
 
 And for cursing and lying which they speak, 
 
 13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be : 
 And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob, unto the ends of the earth. 
 
 Selah. 
 
 14 And at evening let them return ; 
 And let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. 
 
 15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not 
 satisfied. 
 
 16 But I will sing of thy power ; yea, I vrill sing aloud of thy mercy in the 
 morning: 
 
 For thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. 
 
 17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing : for God is my defence, and the 
 God of my mercy. 
 
 " His own received Him not" The Sweet Singer of Israel 
 knew what it is to be cast off by those who should have been 
 his bosom friends ; and it was on one of those occasions, when 
 his father-in-law sent a band to take him, dead or alive, from 
 his own house (1 Sam. xix. 14), that David was taught by the 
 Holy Ghost to pour out his soul in these strains of strong ap- 
 peal to justice and to mercy. Perhaps it was at Ramah, when 
 resting in Samuel's dwelling for a time, that this Psalm was 
 written — a Psalm for David himself — a Psalm for David's Son, 
 when he too should be rejected of his own — a Psalm for all Ins 
 followers when they should, in after ages, feel that the disciple 
 is not greater than the Master. It is another " Al-taschith'^ 
 and " Michtam," such as we have seen, 
 ciirist an<i liis If a disciple, persecuted "for righteousness' sake,"" can con- 
 fidently use the language of verse 4, saying, " not for any par- 
 ticular crime in me, nor yet for general unholiness, but be- 
 cause I am thine ; without being able to fix on anything to 
 justify their hostility" — if a disciple can use this language, 
 much more the Master, And in this consciousness of being 
 hated solely for " righteousness' sake," the Head and his mem- 
 bers claim the help of Jehovah as being 
 
 1. " God of hosts,'' and therefore able ; 2. " 0*od of Israel," and there- 
 fore willing. (Ver. 5.) 
 
 members. 
 
TO THE LORD OF MIGHT AND MERCY. 181 
 
 It seems to be apostate Israel (Tlioluck says, "heathenish- 
 minded Israel") that is primarily described in verse 5 as " the 
 heathen," q. d„ these children of Abraham who are now chil- 
 dren of the devil — Israelites become Ooim ! (Comp. Isa. i. 10.) 
 They are in character and conduct like city dogs, prowling for 
 prey, feeding on the filth of the town, scouring its streets as if 
 to clear them of the godly. But Jehovah — ^he who in Psalm 
 ii. 4< was seen on the throne of his glory deriding the kings of 
 earth in their vain attempts — laughs at these impotent apos- 
 tates. In verse 7, the Psalmist complainingly utters, "For 
 who is there that hears ?" And then (verse 8) as one confident 
 in God, he exclaims, 
 
 "His strength r (Yes, this is our stronghold — the idea flashes hope 
 through the soul — 
 
 " Jelwvalis strength .'") — " I will ivait on thee.''' (Ver. 9.) 
 
 The " sin of their mouth" may be specially their declared re- 
 jection of Messiah's grace. Then, an intercession ascends, like 
 that of Elijah against Israel — a prayer that these blinded apos- 
 tates may be scattered, though not destroyed from the earth.* 
 The prayer of verse 1.3 — 
 
 " Consume them, in wrath consume them till they be no more" — 
 reminds us of 2 Thess. ii. 16, "Wrath has come on them to 
 the uttermost" (s/'s nXog). As a nation, as a kingdom, they are 
 " consuTned," but as a people they are " scattered," and men 
 to earth's end are taught of Jacob's God by their dooro. It is 
 a doom of retribution for their treatment of the righteous. A 
 solemn " Selah" follows, like that which in verse 5 closed the 
 prayer for divine interposition, that we may ponder the awful 
 judgment, Jacob driven to the ends of the earth ! (ver. 1 .3.) 
 Now they are as hungry dogs in another sense than when they 
 snarled at the godly — they prowl about the world for food. 
 (Verses 14, 15.) In spite of them, the Just One flourishes,, 
 singing of Jehovah, mighty and merciful, and looks forward to 
 a time when he shall sing louder still — a morning after a 
 
 * Not destroyed — that they may be a whetstone to others' faith — as the 
 Spartans (mentioned in Phitarch's Apothegms) refused to allow the destruction 
 of a neighbouring city which had often called forth their armies, saying, 
 " Destroy not the whetstone of our young men !" 
 
182 PSALM LIX — APPEAL AGAIJNST APOSTATE ISRAEL. 
 
 dark night, viz., the resurrection-morning, "Mane, transactis 
 tentationibus ; mane cum nox hujus saeculi transient ; mane 
 quando jam latronum insidias, et Diaboli et angelorum ejus, 
 non expavescimus ; WMne quando jam non ad lucernam Pro- 
 phetise ambulamus, sed ipsum Dei Verbum, tanquam Solem, 
 contemplamur," (Augustine). 
 
 In verse 1 1, the Righteous One seems to seethe sword hanging 
 over apostate Israel, as when it was suspended over Jerusalem 
 in the days of that pestilence that cut off 73,000 men of Israel. 
 Seeing this exterminating sword, he cries, '^ Slay them not!" 
 He asks a mitigation of their doom, even that which has been 
 granted — their dispersion instead of their extirpation. Let 
 them be as Cain, Gen. iv. 12 ; " make them wander." Still, he 
 fully agrees with the Lord as to their deserving wrath to the 
 uttermost, and expresses this entire agreement in the closing 
 verses. It is therefore a Psalm wherein the Head and mem- 
 bers present an appeal against apostate Israel, and then con- 
 sent to their long-enduring desolation, in prospect of mercy 
 breaking out of the gloom at last, " in the Morning." It is 
 The Righteous One's appeal against apostate Israel, to the 
 Lord's might and mercy. 
 
 PSALM LX. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Upon Shushan-eduth. Michtam of David, to teacli : when he stiove with 
 Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, when Joah returned, and smote of Edom in the 
 
 valley of salt twelve thousand. 
 
 1 O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, 
 Thou hast been displeased ; O turn thyself to us again. 
 
 2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble ; thou hast broken it : 
 Heal the breaches thereof ; for it shaketh. 
 
 3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things : 
 
 Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. 
 
 4 Thou hast given a banner to them that feared thee, 
 That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. 
 
 5 That thy beloved may be delivered ; save with thy right hand, and hear me. 
 
 6 God hath spoken in his holiness; 
 
 I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 
 
 7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine ; 
 
 Ephraim also is the strength of mine head ; Judah is my lawgiver ; 
 
PSALM LX. — Israel's restoration rejoiced in. 183 
 
 8 Moab is my washpot ; over Edora will I cast out my shoe : 
 Philistia, triumph thou because of me. 
 
 9 Who will bring me into the strong city ? who will lead me into Edom ? 
 
 10 Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? 
 
 And thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies? 
 
 11 Give us help from trouble : for vain is the help of man. 
 
 12 Through God we shall do valiantly : for he it is that shall tread down our 
 
 The speaker 
 and the title. 
 
 The Sweet Singer outlived the dismal days of Saul. Seated 
 firmly on his throne, he saw his armies go forth and return 
 crowned with victory. One of his victories, gained by Joab, 
 was over the king of Zobah, who, it appears, had engaged the 
 men of Mesopotamia (Aram-naharaim) to take his side. When 
 the trophies of victory from the river Euphrates (2 Sam. viii. 3) 
 were brought in, David's harp awoke, touched by the Spirit of 
 God. It sang of a happier day to come — happier than that 
 triumphant day of Israel in the birth-land of their father Abra- 
 ham — a day when Israel's breaches shall be for ever healed, and 
 Israel's strongest foes for ever subdued. 
 
 Sometimes it is the nation, sometimes it is the leader of the 
 nation, that sings. (See ver. 1, 5, 9.) It may be used by Is- 
 rael, or by Israel's Lord as one of themselves. But what is 
 "upon Shushan-eduth ? " It must be connected with "joy," 
 or with " lilies," {]^^U}), and may speak of some instrument such 
 as Psalm xlv. and Psalm Ixxx. refer to. But no writer has 
 come nearer certainty in regard to " Edutli" than that it may 
 allude to Israel as the nation that had the "Testimony" (/IH^), 
 or the Ark of Testimony. " To teach" — as if pointing back to 
 Moses' song, Deut. xxxi. 19, and indicating that this also is 
 such a national song as that. 
 
 The Psalm may be said to take up the preceding one's hope xiie pian 
 expressed at the close. The dispersion of Israel does not last 
 for ever. Though they have been broken, and though God has 
 put into their hand a cup of wrath that stuns them (Isa. li. 22), 
 yet they shall arise. Their's is not the malefactor's cup of 
 myrrh that deadens pain just as a prelude to death and utter 
 extinction. Though Israel be broken, and his land cleft 
 asunder a thousandfold more terribly than David's wars or 
 
184 PSALM Lx. — Israel's restoration rejoiced in. 
 
 any of the desolations of his time ever threatened, yet that de- 
 solation ends. (See verse 4.) 
 
 " Thou hast given a Banner to them that fear thee.'^ 
 
 Here is the voice of Israel ovs^ning Jehovah's gift of Messiali 
 to them. Messiah is the ensign or banner, Isaiah xi. 10. 
 " 2h be lifted up as an ensign, because of truth." 
 
 Holding up this banner* — in other words, owning God's 
 truth, or the fulfilment of his ancient promise to Adam, to 
 Abraham, to all the fathers — Israel may expect favour ; and 
 they find it. For suddenly, verse 5, Messiah appears, himself 
 urging their request, and at verse 6 he gets a favourable an- 
 swer ; " God speaks in holiness," (or, as Israel's Holy One,) and 
 grants the desire of him who asks. Shechem, on the west side 
 of Jordan, where Jacob's first altar was raised, and where he 
 bought the first parcel of ground (Gen. xxxiii. 18), and where 
 afterwards destruction threatened the whole feeble family be- 
 cause of Levi and Simeon's enormity, is now re-possessed in 
 peace. Succoth, on the east side of Jordan, where Jacob first 
 erected a dwelling (Gen. xxxiii. 17), and booths for cattle, as 
 one intending to remain, is next claimed permanently. The 
 country eastward beyond Jordan, under the name Oilead, where 
 stood the mountain famed for healing balm, emblematic of heal- 
 ing to Israel, and which was one of the first districts settled 
 and peopled by Israel, comes next, as well as westward Ma- 
 nasseh, on the opposite side ; thus shewing us the stretching of 
 the wing over the breadth of the land. Ephraim, full of power, 
 comes in as being to push the foe with his horns (Deut. xxxiii. 
 17), while Judah appears as " Lawgiver," or " Ruler," the tribe 
 of Messiah. The nations round submit ; Moab stands as a slave 
 at his master's foot ; Edom picks up the sandal cast down at 
 his feet by his lord (Hengst.) ;t and Philistia is compelled to 
 receive the king with triumphant shouts. 
 
 " Philistia, shout to mc Tlie conqueror /" 
 And whose power is it that accomplished all this? Who 
 is it that leads the conquering nation and its king to the 
 
 * Harmer says, that delivering a banner into the hands of a supjilicant, was 
 a sure pledge of protection in the East. 
 
 t Tholuck says, that the casting of the shoe is still an emblem of subjugation 
 in India and Abyssinia. 
 
PSALM LXI. — THE OUTCAST LOOKING FOR RESTORATION. 185 
 
 strong city ? even to Edom's strongholds, and to the battle- 
 field of Edom in the latter day ? (Isaiah Ixiii. 1 .) It is the 
 very God who once cast them off — the very God that scattered 
 them. Glory to the Lord of hosts, and to Him only ! Israel 
 and Israel's Leader rest on him, and so do valiantly — as Ba- 
 laam, pointing to Moab and Edom, long since foretold (Num. 
 xxiv. 18, 19). And thus the scene of Psalm lix. is happily re- 
 versed at length. 
 The Righteous One asks, and rejoices in, Israel's restoration. 
 
 PSALM LXI. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Upon Neginuh. A rsalni of \\\v\>\. 
 
 1 Hear my cry, O God ; attend unto my prayer. 
 
 2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is o\ cr- 
 
 whelmed : 
 Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 
 
 3 for ihou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. 
 
 4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever : I will trust in the covert uf thy 
 
 wings. Selah. 
 6 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows : 
 
 Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. 
 
 6 Thou wilt prolong the king's life : and his years as many generations. 
 
 7 He shall abide before God forever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may 
 
 preserve him. 
 
 8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may dail^^ perform my 
 
 vows. 
 
 " On Neginah," (like Neginoth, unknown), and " by David," 
 and perhaps sung at Mahanaim, (Tholuck). In this life, every 
 member of the Church has a varied lot — now at rest, then 
 troubled ; now hopeful, then fearful ; now a conqueror, then 
 a combatant. Seated as he is on the Rock of Ages, immove- 
 ably seated, he sees at one time a fair sky and a bright sun ; 
 then, the thick cloud spreads gloom over nature ; soon, the 
 beam struggles through again, but soon all is mist once more. 
 Such being the sure complexion of our sojourning here, we 
 rejoice to find sympathy therewith evinced by our God who 
 knoweth our frame, and evinced by the fact that he so often 
 turns in the Songs of Zion from one state of mind to another, 
 and from one aspect of our case to another. 
 
 The tone. 
 
186 PSALM LXI. — THE OUTCAST LOOKING FOR RESTORATION. 
 
 contents. Here is the Head and his members in a state of loneliness. 
 As if suggested by the case of dispersed Israel, language (in 
 verse 2) is adopted such as we find in Deut. xxx. 41 and Neh. 
 i. 9. Our Lord could use such a Psalm in the days of his hu- 
 miliation, looking to the Father, as in John xiv. 28, " the Rock 
 higher than 1," higher than the '}nan Christ Jesus, higher than 
 all his members. This Rock casts its shadow over those be- 
 neath it. The " Selah^' at verse 4 gives us time to look upon 
 the believing one's quiet repose under the wings of God, and 
 then we hear the calm acknowledgment of verse 5, which may 
 remind us of Psalm xxii. 25. The tone of the Song changes ; 
 all thereafter is hope, sure anticipation, a future of bliss realised 
 as already at hand. " He shall sit (on the throne) before God 
 for ever, (ver. 7). 
 
 Two things let us specially notice. " Mercy and truth" (ver. 
 7) are the attributives which preserve him. Now, " mercy and 
 truth" are the prominent features of Redemption-blessing; God 
 able to say, " Live," and yet to do this without retracting the 
 sentence, " Thou shalt die." Christ's pillar-cloud was " mercy 
 and truth ; " the Christian's pillar-cloud is the same. Christ, 
 by harmonising, magnified these perfections of Godhead ; the 
 Christian magnifies them by pointing the Father to them as 
 harmonised. Thus this prayer is answered, 
 
 " prepare mercy and truth ; 
 Let iliem preserve Mm /" 
 
 Perhaps the unusual word fp, " appoint," " prepare," may 
 have been chosen as suggesting a reference to manna, the wil- 
 derness-provision. Give a manna-like provision of mercy and 
 truth. This be our everlasting food while we dwell before God ! 
 
 Another thing worthy of brief notice is verse 6, "The King." 
 David's title was, "King," though a wanderer in Judah's 
 deserts ; David's Son, too, had the same name and title ; and 
 in the right of their Head, disciples of Christ claim kingship 
 under him, and look forwarc? with hope and expectation to the 
 days of his visible manifestation as King in the kingdom that 
 has no end. Here, then, we have 
 
 The Righteous One, luhen an outcast, looking for the day of 
 his Restoration. 
 
PSALM LXII. — THE THREATENED LOOKING TO THE ROCK. 187 
 
 PSALM LXII. 
 
 To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Truly my soul waiteth upon God : from him cometh my salvation. 
 
 2 He only is my rock and my salvation ; he is my defence; I shall not be 
 
 greatly moved. 
 
 3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man ? 
 
 Ye shall be slain all of you : as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a totter- 
 ing fence. 
 
 4 They only consult to cast him down from his excellency : 
 
 They delight in lies : they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwai-dly. 
 Selah. 
 
 5 My soul, wait thou only upon God ; for my expectation is from him. 
 
 6 He only is my rock and my salvation : he is my defence ; I shall not be 
 
 moved, 
 
 7 In God is my salvation and my glory : the rock of my strength, and my re- 
 
 fuge, is in God. 
 
 8 Trust in him at all times ; ye people, pour out your heart before him : 
 God is a refuge for us. Selah. 
 
 9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie : 
 To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. 
 
 10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery : 
 If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. 
 
 11 God hath spoken once ; twice have I heard this ; 
 That power belongeth unto God. 
 
 12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy : 
 
 For thou renderest to every man according to his work. 
 
 This Psalm has three parts, each beginning with "]NI, " truly ; " The connectinn. 
 verses 1, 4, 9. There was a " Roch" spoken of in Psalm Ixi. 2, 
 The God of Israel had long been known under that name, ever 
 since Jacob, and Moses, and Hannah, had appropriated the 
 Rock, with its many properties of shade, shelter, strength, so- 
 lidity, dignity, to give a people accustomed to level deserts and 
 sands an emblem of the Unchanging One to whom the helpless 
 may resort. This Rock is prominent throughout this Psalm. 
 At the commencement, the soul of the speaker is seen under 
 it as his shelter — he reposes in its shade, and on its strength. 
 
 ''Only upon God my soul reposeth!" (Horsley.) He is a The plan. 
 roch, while enemies are as an " inclining wall and a fence 
 that has had a shove" — on the verge of ruin. Thus he can 
 
 sing, 
 
 " TmJn in God 
 Mjl soul fakes rest,'' (Verses 1 and <").) 
 
1 88 PSALM LXII. — THE THREATENED LOOKING TO THE HOCK. 
 
 The plan. Foes aiicl bitter persecutors are around him, and this keeps 
 
 him very near the Refuge at all times. We have here the soul 
 of the Righteous One — Christ and his members — resorting to 
 Jehovah while iniquity surrounds them, and persecution tries 
 them. We hear them calling on Him, and stirring up one 
 another to do the like (ver. 8.), affixing the solemn, " Selah." 
 " Trust in him at all times, yepeojjle" (Qy, true Israel of God !) 
 
 ** Our estimate of man (it has been said) depends on our 
 estimate of God ;" and here God is felt to be most gloriously 
 great. The sons of-men (ver. 9) are a mere vapour ; their great- 
 ness, even when it shall flush up to the splendour of Antichrist's 
 dominion, is a mere mirage. The sentence against it is on the 
 way. Already you may hear God speaking ; it is no fancy. 
 Two things have been declared by our God, viz., that he will 
 bring down the proud, and that he has mercy for his own. 
 As out of Sinai, so out of the Rock, we hear a voice telling that 
 Jehovah is Ood Almighty, and yet Tnerciful too. 
 
 " One tiling God has spoken, 
 Two things there are which I have heard — 
 viz., That might is Ood's ; 
 
 And that mercy also is Jehovah's /" (Verses 11, 12.) 
 
 In this certainty we Icok for the Great Day of the Lord — the 
 day when a mismanaged world shall be set in order — a day 
 sure to come, and sure to satisfy us when it has come, 
 " Fur thou renderest to every man according to his icork." 
 
 Tiic title. When the choir of singers, at whose head was Jeduthun, sang 
 this Psalm together, the godly in Israel would feel their souls 
 raised to the very heights of confidence, sympathising with 
 The Righteous One, when threatened, looking to the Rock 
 for help. 
 
 PSALM LXIII. 
 
 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wildcnics;* of Ji 
 
 1 O God, tliou art my Goil ; etirly will I seek tlicc! 
 My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longctli for thee 
 In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ; 
 
PSALM LXIII. — WATER-SPRINGS FOUND IN GOD. 1 89 
 
 2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary, 
 
 3 Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 
 
 4 Thus vpill I bless thee while I live : I will lift up my hands in thy name. 
 
 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness ; 
 And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips : 
 
 6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the niglit 
 
 watches. 
 
 7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will 
 
 I rejoice. 
 
 8 My soul followeth hard after thee : thy right hand upholdeth me. 
 
 9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of 
 
 the earth. 
 
 10 They shall fall by the sword : they shall be a portion for foxes. 
 
 11 But the king shall rejoice in God ; every one that sweareth by him slinil 
 
 glory : 
 But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. 
 
 It may have been near the Dead Sea, on his way to the ford tuc titie. 
 of Jordan, that the Psalmist first sung this song. It is a Psalm 
 first heard by David's faithful ones in the wilderness of Judah ; 
 but truly a Psalm for every godly man who in the dry world- 
 wilderness can sing — " All my springs are in thee" — a Psalm 
 for David — a Psalm for David's Son — a Psalm for the Church 
 in every age — a Psalm for every member of the Church in the 
 weary land ! What assurance, what vehement desire, what The tueme 
 soul-filling dehght in God, in God alone — in God the only 
 fountain of living water amid a boundless wilderness ! Hope, 
 too, has its visions here ; for it sees the ungodly perish (verses 
 8, 9, 1 0), and the King on the throne surrounded by a com- 
 pany who swear allegiance to Jehovah. Hope sees for itself 
 what Isaiah Ixiv. ] 6 describes — every mouth " swearing by the 
 God of truth ;" and what Rev. xxi. 27 has foretold, the mouth 
 of " Zmrs^closed for ever — all who sought other gods, and trusted 
 to other saviours, gone for ever. And when we read all this as 
 spoken of Christ, how much does every verse become enhanced. 
 His thirst for God ! His vision of God ! His estimate of 
 God's loving-kindness ! His soul satisfied ! His mouth full 
 of praise ! His soul following hard after God ! 
 
 " God, thou art my El," mighty one. Thou art my omni- 
 potence. It is this God he still seeks. The ]3 of verse 2 and 
 of verse 4 is interesting. In verse 2 the force of it is this — 
 " No wonder that I so thirst for thee ; no wonder that my first 
 
1 90 PSALM LXIII. — WATER-SPRINGS FOUND IN GOD. 
 
 thoughts at morning are toward thee ; no wonder that my very 
 flesh longeth for thee ! Who would not, that has seen what I 
 have seen ? So have I gazed on thee in the sanctuary, seeing 
 thy power* and glory ! " The " so" is like 2 Peter i. 1 7, 
 " Such a voice ! " And then, if the past has been thus exqui- 
 sitely blessed, my prospects for the future are not less so. I 
 see illimitable bliss coming in as a tide ; " so will I bless Thee 
 while I have being I" (ver. 4.) Yes ; in ages to come, as well 
 as in many a happy moment on earth, my soul shall be satiated 
 as with marrow and fatness ! And when verse 7 shews us the 
 soul under the shadow of God's wings, rejoicing, we may say, 
 it is not only like as " the bird sheltered from the heat of the 
 sun amid the rich foliage sings its merry note," but it is the 
 soul reposing there as if entei'ing the cloud of glory, like Moses 
 and Elias. 
 
 O world ! come and see 
 
 The Righteous One finding water-springs in Ood. 
 
 PSALM LXIV. 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Hear my voice, God, in my prayer : preserve my life from fear of the 
 
 enemy. 
 
 2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked ; 
 From the insurrection of the workers of iniquity. 
 
 3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, 
 
 And bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words : 
 
 4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect : 
 Suddenly they do shoot at him, and fear not. 
 
 5 Tlicy encourage themselves in an evil matter .• 
 
 They commune of laying snares privily ; they say, Who shall see them ? 
 
 6 They search out iniquities ; they accomplish a diligent search : 
 Both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep. 
 
 7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be 
 
 wounded. 
 
 8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves. 
 All that see them shall flee away. 
 
 9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God ; 
 For they shall wisely consider of his doing. 
 
 10 The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him ; 
 j\nd all the upright in heart shall glory. 
 * " Thy power"— with special reference to the " Ark of his Strength" (2 
 Chron. vi. 41). So in Psalm Ixxviii. 61 — " Ms glory," is his Ark. 
 
PSALM LXIV. — THE DOOM OF THE UNGODLY ARCHERS. 191 
 
 It is a probable conjecture that David may have been led to 
 write this Psalm while still a youth at Saul's court, when there 
 discerning the arts and deceits of courtiers. We may illus- 
 trate it by referring to the case of Joseph and his many foes. 
 Here is the Righteous One, or " the Perfect" (ver. 4), set before 
 us — a name applicable to Christ in its fullest significancy, but 
 applied also to his members, as being " Perfect" in purpose 
 and in prospects, impartially aiming at the whole will of their 
 God in heart and life. But the world hates such, as his brethren 
 hated Joseph; the world )ays snares, and levels arrows of 
 malignity at them. " The archers have shot at them" — at our 
 Joseph and his seed. He says, verse 5, " They will tell about 
 hiding snares," and they think no eye is on them. 
 
 " Tliey search deep into iniquity" (to find out the most deadly device). 
 
 " We have got it ready ! Here is a tvell-matiired plan /" (This is their 
 shout over their deep-laid plot.) 
 
 "And close is each one, 
 And deep of heart." (Ver. 6.) 
 
 But there is another that is an Archer : " God has shot at 
 them." God has his bow, and his time is coming, (ver. 7). 
 " All their hard speeches," are to be brought into judgment at 
 the Lord's coming (Jude 15) ; and if they wounded others 
 sorely, sorely shall they in turn be wounded. Theirs shall be 
 a doom like Korah's (ver. 8), when all Israel fled at the cry 
 (Num. xvi. 34). 
 
 " He lias cast them down ! Their tongues come on themselves." (Ver. 8.) 
 All earth shall then discern the righteous ways of God. That 
 is the day of his Redeemed so often spoken of, so long expected 
 — the day when the Righteous shall " enter into the joy of their 
 Lord," and utteraloud their rejoicings and theirglorying in Him. 
 
 " TJie Righteous One shall be glad in the Lord, 
 And flee for refuge to none but to him; 
 And all the upright in heart shall boast themselves." (Ver. 6.) 
 
 May we not, then, describe this song of Zion as one in which 
 we find 
 Our Joseph and his seed foreseeing the doom of the archers 
 that have shot at them. 
 
The contents. 
 
 192 PSALM LXV. — BLESSING SHOWERED ON THE EARTH. 
 
 PSALM LXV. 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm and Song of David. 
 
 1 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion : and unto thee shall the vow- 
 
 be performed. 
 
 2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. 
 
 3 Iniquities prevail against me : as for our transgressions, thou shnlt purge 
 
 them away. 
 
 4 Blessed is the man that thou choosest. 
 
 And causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: 
 We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy 
 temple. 
 
 5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our 
 
 salvation, 
 Who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, 
 And of them that are afar off upon the sea : 
 
 6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded witli 
 
 power : 
 
 7 Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the 
 
 tumult of the people. 
 
 8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens : 
 Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. 
 
 9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it : 
 
 Thou greatly enriches it with the river of God, which is full of water : 
 Thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. 
 
 10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly : thou settlest the furrow 
 
 thereof: 
 Thou makest it soft with showers : thou blessest the springing thereof. 
 
 11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. 
 
 12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness : and the little hills rejoice 
 
 on every side. 
 
 13 The pastures are clothed with flocks ; the valleys also are covered over with 
 
 corn : 
 They shout for joy, they also sing. 
 
 " A psalm of David ; a true song," is the import of the title, 
 thus describing the tone that prevails throughout. Possibly 
 (as some think) it was composed at Passover time, when the 
 sheaf of first fruits of barley harvest used to be offered. 
 
 Every note in this song tells the feeling of a happy soul re- 
 viewing the past, and seeing mercy abounding then and now. 
 Messiah and his redeemed ones — the Lamb and his 144,000 — 
 might sing it on their Mount Zion, and we may sing it now. 
 The Head leads the choir, and this is the substance of the 
 song — 
 
PSALM LXV. — BLESSING SHOWERED ON EARTH. 193 
 
 " God, praise is thine ! " such praise as leaves the worship- The contents. 
 per " silent," because the theme is too great for his harp to 
 handle.* Now is the vow performed to thee ! " O Hearer of 
 Prayer, to thee (yes, even as far as to Thee, 1^). the Holiest 
 of all, all flesh are coming now." Our iniquities (iniquities 
 which have been imputed to our Head) once prevailed against 
 us (as Gen. vii. 24, T\'yX') like the waters of the deluge, sur- 
 mounting the highest hills ; but thou purgest them away, and 
 we sing, " Blessed is the man whom thou causest to approach 
 unto thee as a priest " (Num. xvi. 8). Aye, blessed, indeed, 
 for he shall dwell in thy courts, and there be satisfied with 
 good ; thy house, thy holy place, yielding him its heavenly 
 stores. When we cried to thee, terrible things (things of such 
 surpassing glory and majesty as spread awe around) were thine 
 answer. Thou wert God of salvation, displaying thy grace 
 in such a way as to draw the confidence of all ends of earth. 
 Creator, too, setting fast the mountains ! and God of provi- 
 dence, stilling the raging waves of the most tumultuous sea, 
 and by thy wonderful signs {"tokens^" PiSriy^) causing distant 
 lands, the lands of the setting and rising sun, the east and the 
 west, to fear and to rejoice. 
 
 And now let us sing together of the crowning act of all, dis- 
 playing grace, creation, and providence in one — thy dealings 
 with this Earth, which thou wilt renew into paradise. Once 
 we sang, " What is man that thou visitest him ? " and now we 
 sing, "Thou visitest his dwelling-place, and makest it teem seed.timeand 
 with plenty!" Yes, "Thou hast the earth under thy care, *'^^*' ^'^''"^^ 
 and waterest it." 
 
 • " The fountain of God has plenty of waters. (Heng.) 
 
 Thou preparest (Horsley, makest sure)</ieiV corn, for lo ' thus 
 hast thou prepared ! " (V. 9.) 
 What a table spread with abundance is that once barren earth ! 
 
 * " To thee belongeth silence-praise ; " praise without any tumult (Alexan- 
 der). It has been said, " The most intense feeling is the most calm, being con- 
 densed by repression." Aiid Hooker says of prayer, " The very silence which 
 our unworthiness putteth us unto doth itself make request for us, and that in 
 the confidence of his grace. Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking 
 upward, we speak and prevail " (v. 48, 4). Horslcy renders it, " Upon thoe is 
 the repose of prayer." 
 
 N 
 
Scenes in tlie 
 New Earth. 
 
 194) PSALM LXV. — BLESSING SHOWERED ON EARTH. 
 
 It is " thus (p as in Ps. Ixiii. 3) thou dealest as God, with infi- 
 nite liberality/' The soaking rain descends on her furrowed 
 fields. 
 
 " Tliou layest down its ploughed fields ; 
 Thou dost moisten it tvith shoivers ; 
 Thou, blesseth the springing thereof. 
 
 Thou hast crowned the year, so as to mal-e it a year of goodness ; 
 Thy chariot-wheels drop fatness. 
 
 They drop on the wilderness which has pastures noio (meadow-lands) ; 
 T'he hills are girded with gladness." 
 
 What a changed world ! And every season we see some- 
 thing of this exhibited. But the yearly return of spring and 
 summer after winter is an emblem of Earth's summer day, 
 when it shall be renewed. Then, even more than now, it shall 
 be sung, 
 
 " The pastures are clad ivith fades ; 
 The valleys are covered over with corn ! 
 They shout for joy ! they IreaJc out info song ! 
 
 Who does not seem, in reading this majestic Psalm, to hear 
 the very melody that issues from the happy people of that New 
 Earth ? Originally it may have been sung as a " Psalm of 
 David, a lively song," at a Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel's 
 happy land and prosperous tribes furnished a scene that naturally 
 suggested the future days of a renewed earth — earth's golden 
 age returned. It is, however, on a much higher key than this ; 
 it is a Song of the Lamb, while he leads his glorified ones to 
 fountains of living water, and shews them their old world pre- 
 senting at length a counterpart to heaven — all paradise again, 
 and better than paradise. Is it not then 
 
 Prayers exchanged for praises because of blessings 
 shoivered on Earth ? 
 
 PSALM LXVL 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Song or F.salm. 
 
 1 Make a jojfnl noise unto God, all ye lands : 
 
 2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. 
 
 3 Say unto God, How terrible art thon in thy works ! 
 
 Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves 
 \»nto thee. 
 
PSALM LXVI. — THE PRAYER-HEARING GOD BLESSED. 195 
 
 4 All ihc earth shall worship thee, 
 
 And shall sing unto thee ; they shall sing to thy name. Selah. 
 
 5 Come and see the works of God : he is terrible in his doing toward tlie 
 
 children of men. 
 
 6 He turned the sea into dry land : they went through the flood on foot : 
 There did we rejoice in him. 
 
 7 He ruleth by his power for ever ; his eyes behold the nations : 
 Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. 
 
 8 O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heai-d, 
 
 9 Which holdeth our soul in life, and suifcreth not our feet to be moved. 
 
 10 For thou, O God, has proved us : thou has tried us, as silver is tried. 
 
 11 Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. 
 
 12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads ; we went through fire and 
 
 through water : 
 But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. 
 
 13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings : I will pay thee my vows, 
 
 14 Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in 
 
 trouble. 
 
 15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fallings, with the incense of rams ; 
 I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. 
 
 16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done 
 
 for my soul. 
 
 17 1 cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. 
 
 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear mc : 
 
 19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my 
 
 prayer. 
 
 20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy 
 
 from me. 
 
 Another "liDp l''li^ (as Ixv. 1), at once a solemn Psalm, and The titie. 
 a lively Temple song. It is specially the song of Messiah and ^he pian. 
 the Church of Israel — a kind of Ked Sea song, sung, however, 
 in Canaan. 
 
 " Raise the shout of joy ! 
 A II the earth to God ! 
 Shew forth the glory of his name ! 
 Give glory (to him) as hispj'aise.'^ 
 
 Then, leading us to such scenes as were spoken of in Psalm 
 Ixv. 5 — 
 
 " Say unto God, Hoiv auful these loorks of thine .'" 
 There is a Bethel-solemnity in these scenes, though they bring 
 us to the very gate of heaven — 
 
 " All the earth shall worship Thee. 
 Tliey sing ! they sing thy name .'" .^elah. 
 
] 96 PSALM LXVl. — MESSIAH AND HIS RANSOMED ISRAEL 
 
 This Selah-ipsiuse divides the Psalm into portions at suitable 
 times, and intimates a change of scene or tone. Here, as 
 usual, it gives time for solemn thought ; and then an invita- 
 tation is given to men to " Come and see." As John i. 26, 27, 
 at Christ's First Coming, and Rev. vi. 3, 5, 7, in events lead- 
 ing on to his Second — 
 
 " Come and see the works of God I 
 
 Awful in his dealings to the sons of men." (Ver. 5.) 
 And when we have cast our eye back to Red Sea and Jordan 
 wonders, and have seen Him to be the same for ever, still sub- 
 duing the nations, another " Selah" gives us time to pause and 
 adore. But the harp is soon struck again (ver. 8), 
 
 " Bless our Ood, ye nations" (□"'D^, not as Psa. Ixii. 8.)* 
 
 The Jews are now inviting the Gentiles ; for the Jews are life 
 from the dead to the world. They tell how their God refined 
 them ; how He " laid pressure on their loins," the seat of 
 strength ; yet made their trials act as a furnace to take away 
 the dross. Even ^liNt " frail men" were made strong against 
 them ; yet Israel passed through desert and flood ; and, at 
 length, reached 
 
 " The wealthy place'' ^ (ver. 12) — affluence — refreshing. (H''^")). 
 
 Each of their number, as well as their Leader, thus invites the 
 Gentile nations ; and they do it by example, and not by word 
 only — 
 
 " / toill go into thine liouse with offenngs ; 
 I will perform my vows unto thee. 
 I will offer fat victims as hurnt-offerings, 
 
 Along with rams that have incense-savour. Selah. (Ver. 13, 14.) 
 Another pause — like Wisdom's in Prov. i. 23. And then 
 once more, voice and instrument together sound forth a cheer- 
 ful summons to draw near and listen to Messiah and the 
 Church of Israel — 
 
 " Come, hear, and I will teU, 
 All ye that fear God, 
 What he has done for me." (Ver. 16.) 
 
 He was (ver. ] 7) " Hearer of prayer" to me (Isa. Ixv. 2) ; for 
 * It may remind ns of Isa. xxiy. 13, " There shall he among the Xy^V, the 
 nations, the shaking of an olive-tree," — the Gentiles taking up what Israel lets 
 fall. 
 
PRAISING THE PllAYER-HEARING GOD. 197 
 
 no sooner did I call upon Him than he answered — turning 
 my prayer into praise. Had I sought to " lying vanities," or 
 had tried crooked paths, I should have failed in finding this 
 blessed result. But the God of Israel, the Holy One, was 
 honoured. 
 
 " Verily Ood hath heard., 
 He hath hearkened to the voice of my prayer." (Ver. 19.) 
 
 But the way to this blessedness is by a holy path, verse 18- 
 Messiah magnified the law ; and in Him, we who come to God 
 through his blood and righteousness do the same, and so shall 
 sing the same song, and bless the same God. 
 
 " He has not turned away my prarjer ! 
 He has not turned away his mercy from me .'" 
 
 A close equivalent to Rev. v, 8, where the golden vials, full of 
 saints' prayers, are held up by the saints, and owned by the 
 Hearer of Prayer on that day. Far from turning away my 
 prayer, lo ! he has done exceeding abundantly beyond all I 
 asked. Instead of turning away his mercy from me, lo ! He 
 has brought me to the Wealthy Place ! Such is the Song of 
 Messiah and his ransomed Israel praising the prayer- 
 hearing God. 
 
 PSALM LXVIL 
 
 To the chief Musician. On Neglnoth. A Psalm or Song. 
 
 1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us ; and cause his face to shine upon 
 
 us. Selah. 
 
 2 That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all 
 
 nations. 
 
 3 Let the people praise thee, O God ; let all the people praise thee. 
 
 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy ! 
 
 For thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon 
 earth. Kelah. 
 
 5 Let the people praise thee, O God ; let all the people praise thee. 
 
 6 Then shall the earth yield her increase ; and God, even our own God, 
 
 shall bless us. 
 
 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. 
 
 Once more the Jewish Church is prominent in this solenm 
 " Psalm,^' which is sung as a lively " Song," on Neginoth. 
 
198 PSA1.M Lxvii. — iskael's blessing prayed for 
 
 The contents. They pray for the outpouring of the full blessing which their 
 High Priest, Jesus, is to bestow by their means on all the earth. 
 The language of verse 1 refers us to Num. vi. 24, 25, and 
 very appropriately ; for the time is the Lord's Second Coming, 
 when, as true High Priest, he comes forth from the Holiest to 
 bless the people. The " Selah" at the end of verse 1 and verse 
 4 is, in both cases, very expressive, indicating, as it does, pauses 
 in the sense and feeling, as well as the music. 
 " God be merciful to lis 
 And bless us / 
 
 And cast the light of his countenance 
 (So as that it may be) with us." (!)3J^^^ See Ilengst.) 
 
 Bless us and guide us in thy way, (thy mode of dealing with thy 
 people), that by us thy way may be known on the earth, as fore- 
 told in Gen. xii. 8, and since those days, in Amos viii. 1 4 ; Isa, 
 Ix. 1, 2 ; Acts XV. 15-17 ; Rom. xi. 15, and many other places. 
 " The nations (D'^^V) shall praise thee, God; 
 The nations shall jiraise thee !" (Ver. 3.) 
 The peculiar people, Oyn, here anticipate with joy the time 
 when the D^by, the whole Gentile people, shall praise their God 
 and Saviour, and that through their means. 
 
 "Let the tribes (of earth, the D''Q><V who once raged against thee, Psa^ 
 ii. 1) rejoice and sing, 
 For thou judgest {i. e., rulest) the (0"^^) nations righteously , 
 And as for the tribes of earth {WB'i^b) thou guidest them" (Isa. Iviii. 
 11, Hengst.) 
 And again at the happy prospect they cry, " Hallelujah !" foi- 
 they repeat their song — 
 
 " The nations (D^p;i^) shall praise thee, God, 
 The nations shall praise thee! every one of them /" (Ver. 5.) 
 And now Earth, as well as Palestine, giveth its increase, for the 
 curse is away, and the blessing rests on it (Lev. xxvi. 4). Israel 
 rejoices in this communication of their blessing to all men — 
 " Earth giveth its increase! 
 God, our God, blesseth us ! 
 God blesseth us ! 
 And they fear Him ! 
 All ends nf the carih!" 
 
FOR THE SAKE OF EARTH AT LARGE. 199 
 
 Horsley says, this is " A hymn for the Feast of Tabernacles, 
 prophetic of a general conversion of the world to the worship 
 of God." Dr Allix entitles this Psalm, " A Prayer of the 
 Synagogue for the Second Coming of the Messias, when her 
 empire is to be extended over all nations, and the temporal 
 blessings which are promised to the Jews in several oracles 
 shall be conferred on them." But it is simpler, and perhaps 
 more correct to describe it thus — 
 Tlce Prayer of Israel for the blessing which Messiah ii< to 
 bestow on them, for the sake of earth at large. 
 
 PSALM LXVIII. 
 
 To tho chief .Musician. A Psalm or Song of David. 
 
 1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scuttcred : let them also that hate hiui 
 
 flee before him. 
 
 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away : 
 
 As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of 
 God. 
 
 3 But let the righteous be glad ; let them rejoice before God : 
 Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. 
 
 4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name : 
 
 Extol him that ridctii upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice be- 
 fore him. 
 
 5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his huly 
 
 habitation. 
 
 6 God setteth the solitary in families : he bringeth out those which are bound 
 
 with chains : 
 But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. 
 
 7 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, 
 When thou didst march through the wilderness. Selah. 
 
 8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God : 
 Even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 
 
 n Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, 
 
 Whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. 
 
 10 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein : 
 
 Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. 
 
 11 The Lord gave the word : great was tlie company of those that publislied it. 
 
 12 Kings of armies did flee apuce : and she that tarried at home divided the 
 
 spoil. 
 io Though ye have lien among the tlie pots, 
 
 Yet shall yc be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and lier fealhcvs 
 with yellow gold. 
 
200 PSALM LXVIII. — MESSIAH LEADING ISRAEL AND 
 
 14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. 
 
 15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan ; an high hill, as the hill of Bashan. 
 
 16 Why leap ye, ye high hills ? 
 
 This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in j 
 Yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. 
 
 17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : 
 The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. 
 
 18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive : 
 Thou hast received gifts for men ; 
 
 Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. 
 
 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, 
 Even the God of our salvation. Selah. 
 
 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation ; 
 
 And unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. 
 
 21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies. 
 
 And the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses. 
 
 22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, 
 
 I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea : 
 
 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies. 
 And the tongue of thy dogs in the same. 
 
 24 They have seen thy goings, God : even the goings of my God, my King, 
 
 in the sanctuary. 
 
 25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; 
 Among them were the damsels playing the timbrels. 
 
 26 Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of 
 
 Israel. 
 
 27 There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their 
 
 council ; 
 The princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. 
 
 28 Thy God hath commanded thy strength : 
 Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. 
 
 29 Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. 
 
 30 Eebuke the company of spearmen, 
 
 The multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people. 
 Till every one submit himself with pieces of silver. 
 Scatter thou the people that delight in war. 
 
 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt ; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands 
 
 unto God. 
 
 32 Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth ; O sing praise unto the Lord 
 
 Selah. 
 
 33 To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old ! 
 Lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. 
 
 34 Ascribe ye sti-ength unto God : 
 
 His excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. 
 
 35 O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places ! 
 
 The God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto liis )>copIc. 
 Blessed be God. 
 
THE CHURCH FKOM THE WILDERNESS TO llEST. 201 
 
 Another " Psalm and Song," by David, the sweet singer of Title and 
 Israel. As David's days of adversity furnished many occasions 
 for appropriate Psalms, which the Son of David and his Church 
 were afterwards to use in their times of trial, so the more pros- 
 perous season, when the Ark which had been removed in pro- 
 cession by David to Mount Zion, was and afterwards by Solomon 
 carried up to Moriah, seems to have provided a fit occasion for 
 this triumphant song. It has been called " The magnificent 
 march." Certainly it is throughout a tracing of the stately 
 steps of the Lord in his goings forth for His Church, from the 
 Wilderness onward to final rest. 
 
 The plan is as follows : — The vun. 
 
 Ver. ]-S. Prefatory strains, celebrating Jehovah as almighty 
 to scatter foes, almighty to make friends exult with joy. 
 Ver. 4-6. General characteristics of his ways — grace to the 
 
 helpless — to all that do not reject his help. 
 Ver. 7-9. His ways, with Israel in the Wilderness — glorious 
 
 majesty and gracious bounty. 
 Ver. 10-14. His ways, in bringing Israel into Canaan — the 
 
 irresistible might of a King in behalf of his own. 
 Ver. ] 5-1 7. His ways, in fixing his seat on Zion, the ark 
 
 being carried up thither — sovereignty. 
 Ver. 18-23. His ways, in the typical setting forth on Zion 
 of an ascended Saviour, the savour of life to his own, 
 though the savour of death to his rejecters. 
 Ver. 24-31. His ways, in the Ark removed afterwards to the 
 • temple on Moriah — Israel gathered round it (ver. 26, 27), 
 and the Gentiles flocking to Shiloh there (ver. 29, 31). 
 All this typical of the Lord's advent, as true Solomon. 
 Ver. 32-35. The closing doxology to the King of kings on 
 reviewing the whole, and seeing " the Kingdom Come." 
 Such seems to be the plan. It would carry us beyond our verse i 
 limits to go into full details, since almost every verse is rich and 
 laden with meaning. A few hints may be of use, however, on 
 some of the more difficult clauses. Some render verse 1 " God 
 shall arise," q. d., it shall always be thus, as they sang Num. 
 X. 35, and Judges v. 31. 
 
 In verse 4 the justified ones, singing before their justifier, Verfe4. 
 cry, " Make a iva.y for him that rideth tJivovijh the wilder- 
 
202 PSALM LXVIII. — MESSIAH LEADING ISRAEL AND 
 
 ness" {ry)2')V\ or plain ; the Angel of the Covenant that re- 
 deemed them from all evil. It is iheir King whom they thus 
 honour, and so they raise the cry, " Prepare the way /" as in 
 Isa. xl. 3, and as the Baptist did when he saw the King of the 
 kingdom at hand. His name " Jah" rT* expresses the fulness 
 of being and perfection ; and Horsley would fain add beauty 
 too. 
 
 In verse 5, Israel's helpless case in Egypt, Earth's helpless 
 case since the Fall, the sinner's state, " without strength," may 
 all be found here. The " widow's judge," implies his manag- 
 ing and ruling the affairs of such as have no other to inter- 
 pose, like as Gideon, or any judge of Israel, put in order 
 a disordered county, and bore the burden of its cares. And 
 does not Jas. i. 21 refer to this verse, for we have " the fa- 
 therless/' " the widow," and then the " holiness," of the God 
 we serve ? 
 
 In verse 8 the ratifying of the covenant at Sinai, in circum- 
 stances of awful grandeur, is the theme ; and verse 9 speaks 
 of the "rain of gifts" (Hengst.) that attended Israel all 
 through the Desert — manna, quails, water from the rock — 
 when God's heritage pitched their tents on the flinty and 
 scorched soil of that weary wilderness. 
 
 Then, in verse 10, the host of Israel " settle down on It" 
 i. e., the well-known, ever-in-view Land of Promise. The Lord 
 " gave the word" — (as in Psa. cv. 19) — as if at every step there 
 had been repeated, like Joshua vi. 16, " Shout, for the Lord has 
 given you the land !" and responding multitudes, even of the 
 women of Israel, proclaim the victory, and sing, as did Miriam 
 at the Eed Sea, 
 
 " Kings of armies flee I ihey flee ! 
 And she that tarries at home divides the spoil.'" (Ver. 12.) 
 
 So easily does Jehovah conquer ! And now, " Ye lie down 
 amid the borders, and are as doves;" or rather, they who were 
 " lying among the pots" are now like the dove that has washed 
 itself in the streams, and is basking in the sun whose bright 
 beams glance on its feathers with the sheen of silver and gold. 
 Yes, it was easy for Jehovah to scatter kings. " There was 
 snoiv on Zalmon." They fell before him as snow disappears 
 
THE CHURCH FROM THE WILDERNESS TO REST. 203 
 
 among the thick-wooded heights of Zahnon (Judg. ix. 48) in 
 the day of tempest. * 
 
 Israel now at rest, where is the A rk of the Covenant ? Not 
 on Bashan, i. e., the range of Antihbamis, though that was 
 a " hill of God," such a hill as reminded one of the power 
 of Him who setteth fast the hills by his might (Hengst.) — nor 
 yet on otlier lofty hills such as Tabor, Lebanon, or Carmel. 
 The more lowly Zion is selected, and thither the sovereign 
 Lord comes with all his hosts. There he resides, as in a pa- 
 vilion — in that Holy of Holies which combines the manifesta- 
 tion of justice and mercy at the mercy-seat — for "Sinai is in 
 the sanctuary''' (^"lp4 ""^PJ- He is as much present here as 
 when the law was given on Sinai. There, though unseen except 
 by the eye of faith, he reigns, more mighty in his angelic 
 heavenly hosts than ever was king with his chariots, so that 
 Israel need no more fear a Jabin with his nine hundred cha- 
 riots of iron (Judg. iv. 2). An anointed eye, (like his in 2 Kings 
 vi. 27,) might see these hosts in Israel's land at any moment, 
 under the rule of Israel's king. 
 
 Ascended to Zion, no more wandering from place to place, 
 the Ark is the centre of blessing to Israel — there worshippers 
 get gifts ; there daily benefits are dispensed. And in this was 
 typified the Saviour, no more a wanderer on earth from place 
 to place, seated at the Father's right hand, and showering 
 down his gifts on man — the antitype infinitely greater than the 
 type, and his gifts infinitely more spiritual and plentiful (Eph. 
 iii. 8). Here is (ver. 7) a " Selah," the mark of solemn thought ; 
 for herein is a great mystery of love (ver. ] 9). The words are 
 literally rendered, " Thou hast received gifts among men." 
 Here is a constr. proegn. for " received, and given out among 
 inen (Eph. iv. 18), even among the rebels." And then follows, 
 '^ At the tabernacling of J ah Elohim" (as ver. 16), that is, at 
 tlie time when he pitched his tabernacle. But, there is refe- 
 
 * Zalmon is mentioned rather than Hermon, or any other of that northern 
 range, because it is so nearly in the heart of the Land, and near Shechcm 
 (Josh. xxiv. 1), where some of the earliest gatherings of Israel took plaee. 
 Tholuck thinks the allusion to the snow is to its flakes falling on the ground. 
 So fell the ranks of the foe, and their silver ornaments glittered white as they 
 fell. 
 
204 PSALM LXVIII. — MESSIAH LEADING ISRAEL AND 
 
 rence 1 . To the type on Zion ; 2. To the days of his First 
 Coming ; 3. To the still future Tabernacling, Rev. xxi. 3. 
 
 But again let the harp sing of Him who is thus exalted, 
 mighty to save, and mighty to overcome his enemies. Jehovah 
 is " God of our salvation," and " Selah" calls onus to ponder. 
 Then it is repeated, 
 
 " The God (of Israel) is God to us, as to salvations. (/lij^^lQ^) 
 And to Jehovah belong the issues, as to the death" (r\)Qb)- (V^er. 21.) 
 
 He dashes his foes in pieces, cleaving their hairy scalp from 
 the head from which the helmet has been struck off. Yes, 
 says the Lord, 
 
 " I will turn him (the foe) back from Bashan, 
 I will turn him back from the depths of the sea.'' (Ver. 22.) 
 
 Though they were to make lofty Bashan their fortress, or hide 
 in the caverns of the deep. (See Amos vii. 3 ; Obad. 4.) 
 
 But all is not yet over. The Ark moves again ! It moves 
 to Moriah — to Solomon's temple. Then see the royal proces- 
 sion (ver. 24), and hear the songs of happy thousands under 
 the reign of that Prince of Peace — 
 
 " Bless ye God in the congregations, 
 TJie Lord (in the congregations that are), /rom the fountain of Israel." 
 There the gathered tribes are seen ; the south sends Benjamin, 
 once " their ruler," (as it sent Saul, 1 Sam. xiv. 7, and so be- 
 came the conquering tribe) and Judah, their prince, or perhaps 
 " their bulwark."* The north is represented by Zebulon and 
 Naphtali. Thus God has provided strength to them. And 
 Gentiles, too, are there (ver. 29). What a type of the latter 
 days, when the true Solomon, Prince of Peace, has come from 
 the Father's right hand to his own throne — from Zion to Moriah ! 
 Then, more fully than in the first Solomon's days, it will be 
 sung — 
 
 " He lias rebuked the Beast of the Eeed, 
 
 (The hippopotamus, who, like leviathan, is the type of Antichrist.) 
 The assembly of mighty ones (bulls, Psa. xxii. 12), 
 With cahes of the nations'' (Ver. 30.) 
 These mighty kings and their subjects — bulls and Jcalves — 
 with their leader, are rebuked and destroyed ; and along with 
 * I'arkhurst refers to Homer's " i^y.oc Xyaiorj," <is parallel. 
 
THE CHURCH FROM THE WILDERNESS TO REST. 205 
 
 these, the mammon-worshipper, " who crouches with pieces 
 of silver ;" or rather, 
 
 "He tJmt prostrates himself on pieces of silver." 
 The nations that delight in war are scattered, for it is the reion 
 of the Prince of Peace. Egypt sends princes to Zion, and 
 Ethiopia hastens to submit to God. And thus we are led on 
 to the closing strain — the shout of joy over earth now de- 
 livered and put under Jehovah's sway — 
 " Ye kingdoms ofeaiih, sing ye to God I 
 Chant ye to the Lord I 
 
 Who rideth in the heaven of ancient heaven.' (0^p '^12'^), 
 (i. e., Who claims as his domain the inmost recess of the eternal heaven.) 
 " Lo ! he uttereth a mighty voice when he .ipeaketh." (Ver. 33.) 
 He calls on the universe for praise in verse 34. But even in 
 that universal hallelujah there is prominence given to Israel — 
 " His majesty is over Israel" (ver. 84), as if Israel's land were 
 the spot of the universe where his manifested glory is to be 
 seen in its peculiar radiance — 
 
 " God of Israel ! thou are a terrible God from thy holy places !" 
 
 (Ver. 36.) 
 " Giving strength and might to the (peculiar) ^eqp?e / Blessed be God /" 
 Let every soul cry, " Blessed be God !" Let that be the heart- 
 cry of earth for evermore. And let it not fail to be ours, while 
 we trace in such a record as this, 
 
 Messiah's leadings of Israel and the Church from the Wil- 
 derness into final 
 
 PSALM LXIX. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Upon Shoshannim. A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Save me, O God ! for the waters are come in unto my soul. 
 
 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing : 
 
 I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 
 
 3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried : mine eyes fail while I wait 
 
 for my God. 
 
 4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head : 
 They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty : 
 Then I restored that which I took not away. 
 
 5 O God, thou knowest my foolishness ; and my sins are not hid from thee. 
 
 6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake : 
 Let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. 
 
206 PSALM Lxix. — Messiah's manifold sufferings 
 
 7 Because for thy sake I have boine reproach : shame hath covered my face. 
 
 8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's 
 
 children. 
 
 9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up ; 
 
 And the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. 
 10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. 
 Ill made sackcloth also my garment ; and I became a proverb to them. 
 
 12 They that sit in the gate speak against me ; and I was the song of the 
 
 drunkards. 
 
 13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time : 
 
 O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. 
 
 14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink : 
 
 Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. 
 
 15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up. 
 And let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. 
 
 16 Hear me, O Lord ; for thy loviugkindness is good : 
 
 Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. 
 
 17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me 
 
 speedily. 
 
 18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it : deliver me because of mine 
 
 enemies. 
 
 19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour : 
 Mine adversaries are all before thee. 
 
 20 Reproach hath broken my heart ; and I am full of heaviness : 
 And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none ; 
 And for comforters, but I found none. 
 
 21 They gave me also gall for my meat ; and in my thirst they gave me 
 
 vinegar to drink. 
 
 22 Let their table become a snare before them : 
 
 And that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. 
 
 23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not ; and make their loins con- 
 
 tinually to shake. 
 
 24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take 
 
 hold of them. 
 
 25 Let their habitation be desolate ; and let none dwell in their tents. 
 
 26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten ; 
 
 And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast woitnded 
 
 27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity : 
 
 And let them not come into thy righteousness. 
 
 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with 
 
 the righteous. 
 
 29 But I am poor and sorrowful : let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. 
 
 30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with 
 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 31 This also shall please the Lord better than an ox, or bullock that hath 
 
 horns and hoofs. 
 
 32 The humble shall see this, and be glad : and your heart shall live that 
 
 seek God. 
 
A SAVOUR OF LIFE AND OF DEATH. 207 
 
 33 For the Lord heareth the poor, and dcspisctli not his prisoners. 
 
 34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that 
 
 moveth therein. 
 
 35 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Jndah : 
 That they may dwell there, and have it in possession. 
 
 36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it : 
 And they that love his name shall dwell therein. 
 
 A deeply plaintive song. It is seven times quoted (and no The titu-. 
 other Psalm is so often quoted) in the New Testament as the 
 utterance of Messiah. Why it is said to be " On Shoshan- 
 nim" we cannot tell, till we know more of what that instru- 
 ment was. It seems to speak of joy ; and if so, it suits this 
 Psalm so far that in it sorrow ends in joy. 
 
 The plan of it is very simple. There are three parts. 
 
 I. From verse 1-21, Messiah's sufferings are related by him- Theconte 
 self. What an embodiment of "prodigious passion" in the 
 cry " Save me" (ver. 1), from the lips of the Saviour ! Under 
 the sea of wrath, sinking in the slime at the very bottom of this 
 prisoner's dungeon (see Jer. xxxviii. 6), Messiah's voice is heard 
 ascending to the Father. The " slime and mire" represent the 
 loathing he felt toward sin. He is weary with crying, for in his 
 true, real humanity he has all the experience of one in pain, 
 who, during the slow, heavy hours of darkness and suffering, 
 feels as if it were never to end. He is spent with calling 
 on his God ; he is unsympathised with, for foes are on every 
 side, and all this at the very time when he is not taking from 
 them, but restoring the blessings which they had forfeited. (Ver. 
 4.) As to the folly and the trespass imputed to him, he lays it 
 before God — 
 
 " Lord, tJiou knowest as to my folly" (ThM^b) 
 
 Thou knowest the history of the folly and sin laid to my charge, 
 and why I stand charged therewith. He appeals to him as 
 able to help, for he is " God of hosts," and proved to be willing, 
 for he is " God of Israel" (ver. 6). While it is out of love to 
 man that he suffers, it is also to glorify God (ver. 7), " for thy 
 sake." He " weeps away his soul with fasting" (ver. 1 0), for 
 the good of men, and yet they mock at him. He pours his 
 sorrows into the bosom of his God (ver. 13), at a time when 
 (perhaps in Nazareth) he was '' the song of the drunkard," i. e., 
 the iy\y^'^} satire (Ges,), as Job xxx. 9, Lam. iii. 14, 
 
208 PSALM Lxix. — Messiah's manifold sufferings. 
 
 " Tliey who sat in the gate talk at me ; 
 Aiidthe songs of drunkards (do the same)." 
 " As for me, I pray to thee, O Jehovah." 
 And then he adds (though the punctuation in our version gives 
 the sense differently), in a passage which Isaiah xlix. 8 seems 
 to refer to — 
 
 " O God, in an acceptable time {i. e., a time when thou art favourable), 
 In the multitude of thy mercy, in tJte truth of thy salvation, 
 Ansiver me ! " 
 
 Hear and answer me when thou seest fit, when thou art well- 
 pleased. Let there be a time of acceptance. Jehovah, in Isa. 
 xlix. 8, replies to this cry — " In an acceptable time I have 
 heard thee" — well pleased with thy work, I give thee all thy 
 desire. The cry at verses 14-16 is parallel to Heb. v. 7, and 
 the complaiut of want of sympathy (ver. 20) reminds us how 
 even his three favoured disciples fell asleep during his agony ; 
 for here he seeks comforters with the cross in view (ver. 21). 
 True, his whole life might be said to be a life in which he fed 
 on gall, and drank vinegar, grief and bitterness being the every- 
 day portion of the Man of Sorrows — still, the chief reference 
 is to his life's closing scene, the scene of Calvary. And hence, 
 immediately after this, the strain changes, and we find our- 
 selves in another scene. He has finished his work ; and they 
 who crucified Him have gone away unmoved. 
 
 II. From ver. 22-28, the theme is, how these sufferings of 
 Messiah become the "savour of death" to the unbelieving. 
 It resembles Prov, i. 22, 23. He gives them up, saying, " Let 
 their table become a snare to them," since they give the Be- 
 loved Son only gall and vinegar, " and for a recommence and 
 for a trap." — (So Mendelssohn apud Phillips, and many others ; 
 and so Rom. xL 9). Ruin overtakes them at unthought-of 
 moments, like 1 Kings xiii. 20, in the case of the disobedient 
 prophet ; and their " habitation is desolate," as Matt, xxiii. 88 
 emphatically threatens.* The cup of iniquity is filling up, drojD 
 by drop, and Messiah does not interfere, but on the contrary, 
 says to Him who records it in his book, " Add iniquity to 
 
 * It has been proposed to understand " their Table " as the altar (Mai. i. 7), 
 and then the sentence is, " Let the letter kill them, since they refuse the spirit 
 let their ceremonial institutions become a trap to them ! " Their " habitation" 
 is the word in 2 Chron. vi. 54, for the enclosures fenced off for the sons of Aaron. 
 
PSALM LXX. — STRONG CRY FOR SPKEDY HELP. 209 
 
 iniquity, and let them never be justified." Such is the " savour 
 of death." Instead of " Come to me I" it is now, " Let them 
 not come ! " 
 
 III. From ver. 29-36, the theme is, " the savour of life" 
 from Messiah's sufferings. Himself is delivered and glorified, 
 accepted of Jehovah as full type of, or fulfiller of every sacrifice 
 of clean animals, " ox, and horned bullock with cloven hoof," 
 (ver. 81). The sinner who ceases from self, " the humble," finds 
 herein his source of joy, his acceptance with God. Men every- 
 where over all the earth may thus be blessed in him ; and 
 heaven and earth rejoice over the consummation. Israel, who 
 once rejected him, shall then be his, proving that he can soften 
 the most hardened, and pardon the most guilty. Such, then, 
 is this Psalm — 
 
 Messiah's manifold sufferings a savour of death to the 
 Unbelieving, and of life to the Believing. 
 
 PSALM LXX. 
 
 To the chief Miisician. A Psalm of David, to bring to rcmemlirance. 
 
 1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me ; make haste to help me, Lord. 
 
 2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul : 
 
 Let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. 
 
 3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say. Aha ! aha ! 
 
 4 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee : 
 
 And let such as love thy salvation say continually. Let God be magnified. 
 
 5 But I am poor and needy : make haste unto me, O God : 
 Thou art my help and my deliverer ; O Lord, make no tarrying. 
 
 It has been said by some that this Psalm is a prayer upon the 
 ()9th. It may be so taken. The title seems to mean, a Psalm 
 " to put God in mind^' — Messiah himself being the chief of 
 God's Remembrancers. Compare this "T'DTH/ with Isa. Ixii. 6, 
 where they who pray unceasingly are called iviTV Jlhi Dppt^n- 
 The words are adopted from Psalm xl. 13. 
 
 We have in verse 1 , the cry ; in verses 2, 3, a reason for the 
 cry being heard, viz. the guilt of his foes ; in verse 4, another rea- 
 son for the same, viz. the benefit of those that love the Lord ; in 
 verse 5, a third reason, viz. his own claims on God for deliver- 
 
 o 
 
21 PSALM LXXI. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's 
 
 ance from this state of humiliation and sorrow. And thus the 
 cry rises up to heaven on the wings of three strong arguments 
 certain to be answered in " The Glory that was to follow," 
 implied in the " help." 
 
 It is such a Psalm as every member of the Church has often 
 had occasion to use, in sjrmpathy with David, and in which he 
 is sympathised with by the Son of David, whether asking pre- 
 sent help or hastening to the day of his Coming, which brings 
 full help and deliverance — " Tarry not ! " But still, it is most 
 of all Messiah whose voice is heard here. It might be called, 
 in reference to Heb. v, 7, 
 
 One of the Righteous One's strong cries for speedy help. 
 
 PSALM LXXI. 
 
 1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust : let me never be put to confusion. 
 
 2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape : 
 Incline thine ear unto me, and save me. 
 
 3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort : 
 Thou hast given commandment to save me ; for thou art my rock and my 
 
 fortress. 
 
 4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked. 
 Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 
 
 6 For thou art my hope, O Lord God : thou art my trust from my youth. 
 
 6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb : 
 Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels : 
 My praise shall be continually of thee. 
 
 7 I am as a wonder unto many ; but thou art my strong refuge. 
 
 8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise, and with thy honour all the day. 
 Cast me not off in the time of old age ; forsake me not when my strength 
 
 faileth. 
 
 10 For mine enemies speak against me ; 
 
 And they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, 
 
 11 Saying, God hath forsaken him : persecute and take him ; for there is none 
 
 to deliver him. 
 
 12 O God, be not far from me ! my God, make haste for my help. 
 
 13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul ; 
 Let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt. 
 
 14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. 
 
 15 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness 
 And thy salvation all the day ; 
 
 For I know not the numbers thereof. 
 
CONFIDENCE OF HOPE TO THE END. 21 1 
 
 1() 1 will go ill the strength of the Lord God: 
 
 I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. 
 
 17 O God, thou hast tanght me from my youth : 
 And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. 
 
 18 Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake mo not ; 
 Until 1 have shewed thy strength unto this generation, 
 
 And thy power to every one that is to come. 
 
 19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, 
 
 Who hast done great things. O God, who is like unto thee ! 
 
 20 Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me 
 
 again. 
 And shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 
 
 21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. 
 
 22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God : 
 Unto thee will I sing with the hai-p, O thou Holy One of Israel. 
 
 23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee ; 
 And my soul, which thou hast redeemed. 
 
 24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long : 
 
 For they arc confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my 
 hurt. 
 
 The Third Part of the Book of Psalms (according to the Jew- The tone and 
 
 . . . . .. ^''^ singer. 
 
 ish division) begins, not inappropriately, with a plaintive yet 
 pleasant song for the time of our sojourning here, embracing 
 both prospect and retrospect. Our Head could sing it too, 
 when in all our affliction he was afflicted. It will be asked, 
 however, how Christ could use such verses as verses 9 and 
 18, since these look forward apparently to the frailty of age. 
 The reply to this felt difficulty is, that these expressions are 
 used by him in sympathy with his members, and in his own 
 case denote the state equivalent to age. His old age was ere 
 he reached three-and-thirty years, as John viii. 57 is supposed 
 to imply ; for " worn-out men live fast." Barclay seems to give 
 the right sense in the following lines : — 
 
 " Grown old and weak with pain and grief 
 Before his years were half complete.* 
 
 Besides, the words signify, " Forsake me not from this time 
 
 * Parkhurst {apud Fry), remarks, that ]pT, " old age," rather expresses the 
 effect that age has on the body, than the time of life. Gesenius gives " de- 
 crepit, the chin hanging down," as the radical meaning, and compares it with 
 the Latin " senex" which is said to be an abbreviation of " seminex" half- 
 dead. In verse 18, also. n3''2J^ >s the head grown white 
 
 References I 
 old age. 
 
The plan. 
 
 212 PSALM LXXl. — THE KIGHTEOUS ONE'S 
 
 onward, even were I to live to grey hairs." This is a view that 
 conveys precious consolation to aged ones, who might be ready 
 to say that Christ could not altogether enter into their feehngs, 
 having never experienced the failing weakness of age, the de- 
 bility, the decay, the bodily infirmities so trying to the spirit. 
 But this Psalm shews us that in effect he did pass through 
 that stage of our sojourning, worn out and wasted in bodily 
 frame and feeling, by living so much in so short a time. The 
 aged members of his Church may find his sweet sympathy 
 breathed out in Isaiah xlvi, 3, 4 ; and here they may almost 
 see him learning the lesson in a human way, as he bends un- 
 der the weight of our frailties. For this reason, among others, 
 this jjsalm was specially prized by Robert Blair, one of our 
 godly forefathers. He used to call it " His psalm." 
 
 Such expressions as verse 6, " continually," verse 8, " all the 
 day," verse 1 5, " all the day," may be illustrated by Augus- 
 tine's comment : — " In prosperis, quia consolaris ; in adversis, 
 quia corrigis ; antequam essem, quia fecisti ; quum essem, quia 
 salutem dedisti : quum peccassem, quia ignovisti, quum con- 
 versus essem, quia adjuvisti : quum perseverassem, quia coro- 
 nasti." 
 
 The plan of the Psalm is interesting. We have, from verses 
 1-4, prayer; verses 5-8, motives for confidence; verses 9-13, 
 prayer ; verses 14-17, confidence expressed ; verse 18, prayer ; 
 verse 19 to end, confidence largely declared. 
 
 In verse 7, " wonder " is q. d., a monster, a prodigious sight. 
 
 We are to understand verse 16 a little differently from our 
 version. It may read thus (as Ixvi. 13) — 
 
 " / will go forward (thinking) iipon the mighty deeds of the Lord Je- 
 hovah. 
 I will celebrate thy righteousness (in working these mighty deeds) ; 
 Thee alone! " 
 
 Giving no glory to human skill and valour (Psalm xliv, 3), and 
 finding in Jehovah himself alone a sufficient theme for praise, 
 the Head and every member journeys on. His trust and theirs 
 look to the power, and wisdom, and love of him who guides the 
 vessel, not boasting of the frail vessel's strength to buffet the 
 billows of a tempest-lashed ocean. 
 
his company. 
 
 CONFIDENCE OF HOPE TO THE END. 213 
 
 There are precious glimpses given us of Messiah's childhood 
 in verses 5, 6, 17, when we listen to this Psalm as sung by his 
 lips. And then in the close, from verse 20 to 24, resurrection- 
 deliverance is the theme. The Head has enjoyed all that he 
 anticipated ; the members as surely will. Do we not see Messiah and 
 (verses 22-24) the ransomed company — the hundred and forty- 
 four thousand with the Lamb — on Mount Zion, and hear the 
 harpers harping with their harps in that day's unclouded bliss ? 
 
 " /, too (as well as angels), 2V'aise thee with the psaltery, 
 Thy truth, God ! 
 I chant thee with the harp, 
 
 Holy One of Israel ! ? 
 My lips rejoice when I sing of thee, 
 
 And my soul which thou hast redeemed. 
 Yea, my tongue (as well as that of angels) all the day speaketh of thy 
 
 righteousness (see verse 16) : 
 For put to shame, sunk in confusion, are they who sought my hurt ! " 
 
 Antichrist and all foes are for ever ruined ; Christ and his 
 Church triumph and reign. This is the anticipation that leads 
 to these closing strains of rapturous exultation. 
 
 We may refer to Hebrews iii. 6, as suggesting the substance 
 of the whole Psalm ; for what else is it than 
 
 The Righteous One's confidence of hope to the end ? 
 
 PSALM LXXII. 
 
 A Psalm for Solomon. 
 
 1 Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the 
 
 king's son. 
 
 2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judg- 
 
 ment. 
 
 3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by 
 
 righteousness. 
 
 4 He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the 
 
 needy, 
 And shall break in pieces the oppressor. 
 6 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all 
 
 generations. 
 6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass : as showers that 
 
 water the earth. 
 
21 4 PSALM LXXII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's HOPES 
 
 7 In his days shall the righteous flourish ; 
 
 And abundance of peace so long as the moon cndureth. 
 
 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the 
 
 ends of the earth. 
 
 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies 
 
 shall lick the dust. 
 
 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents : 
 The kings of Sheba and ISeba shall offer gifts. 
 
 11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. 
 
 12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth ; the poor also, and him 
 
 that hath no helper. 
 
 13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. 
 
 14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: 
 And precious shall their blood be in his sight. 
 
 15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba : 
 Prayer also shall be made for him continually ; and daily shall he be 
 
 praised. 
 
 16 There shall be an handful of com in the earth upon the top of the moun- 
 
 tains ; 
 The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon : 
 And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 
 
 17 His name shall endure for ever! his name shall be continued as long as 
 
 the sun : 
 And men shall be blessed in him : all nations shall call him blessed. 
 19 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous 
 things. 
 
 19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever : 
 
 And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen. 
 
 20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. 
 
 As 7 in all the other titles expresses the order, the title, 
 rtb7^7 i^ ^y many (such as Rosenmuller, Tholuck, Hengsten- 
 berg) rendered, "A Psalm of Solomon." But what then of 
 verse 20 ? It seems to leave just one alternative ; — the Psalm 
 is not David's directly (uttered, as some thmk, in connection 
 with 2 Sam. xxiii. 1-5), but it must be David's indirectly ; 
 dictated to Solomon, and given forth by Solomon, who re- 
 ceived it at David's lips for this end, and who says in the end, 
 that his father's prayer will all be completely answered when 
 this scene is realised. It would not ill suit the events of 1 
 Kings i., and it may be that the Holy Spirit gave this song to 
 David's harp, as he resigned it to Solomon along with his 
 crown, on occasion of his coronation in the valley of Gihon, so 
 
REALISED IN THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM. 215 
 
 near the Upper Pool where Isaiah afterwards stood foretelling 
 the birth of Immanuel, the true Solomon. 
 
 In verse 1 the subjects pray for their King, the Church for Thei.i 
 her Head, as in Psa. xx. They ask that their anointed King, 
 who is the Son of the King of kings,* may be sent forth to 
 govern them. They ask this by requesting that all regal 
 authority may be entrusted to him, and all regal qualifications 
 imparted. They are referring, in this request, to the Lord's 
 revealed will, to his decree given forth in Psa. ii. 6, 7, 8. " It is 
 as if they said, 
 
 " Put thy statute-book into the hands of Him who is our King ; 
 Clothe Him, thine oivn Son, with righteousness, that royal robe /" 
 
 At the same time, it may be the Psalmist himself praying — 
 David for Solomon, Messiah for himself And then follows the 
 glowing picture of anticipated blessedness, when this king be- 
 gins his reign of righteousness. Israel's poets and prophets 
 know of no golden age of which the very centre and life is not Mes- 
 siah, God incarnate. Restored paradise has streams ; Messiah 
 is their fountain-head. Restored paradise must have an Adam 
 that cannot fall, that its scenes may never suffer blight, nor its 
 bowers be invaded by the old serpent the devil. Dr Allix 
 rightly speaks of this Psalm being that of " The Church and 
 synagogue concerning the glorious kingdom of Messiah at his 
 Second Coming." How intensely tranquil, and yet intensely 
 glowing, are all the scenes ! If it be true that the mediaeval 
 hymn, " Dies irse, dies ilia," (a hymn of man's composition), 
 has exerted a solemnising and overawing influence upon thou- 
 sands in whose ears it has been sung, should not this glorious 
 burst of song leave its never-effaced impressions of noon-bright 
 hope, soon to be realised, on every saint who has a heart to feel ? 
 
 The hills and mountains (ver. 3) prominent in Israel's land, 
 the hills and mountains, too, of earth at large, generally so 
 barren, hills and mountains on which the feet of other messen- 
 gers have often stood (Isa. xl. 9), but never any messengers so 
 blest as those that visit them now — these hills and mountains 
 display the signs of peace, viz., abundant produce, " because 
 of righteousness" — because the Righteous One has come to 
 dwell in this New Earth. Antichrist and all oppressors are 
 
 * On Turkish coins, says Philipps, we find, " Sultan, son of the Sultan." 
 
216 PSALM LXXII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONES HOPES 
 
 overthrown (ver. 4) ; earth's thick-peopled regions fear Him, and 
 shall go on fearing him in peace, so long as smi and moon re- 
 main, that sun and moon which at creation's dawn were ap- 
 pointed to light up earth and guide men to keep holy festivals 
 to the Lord, (Gen. i. 14). The Lord Jesus is there. Like 
 " plenty-dropping showers" that reach the very roots of the 
 mown grass (ver. 6), so is He to the earth after it has been 
 shorn by the scythe of war, and every form of ruin and wrath. 
 He revives it, as summer's genial rains cause grass to spring up 
 in new vigour, clothing the soil with a richer and thicker mantle 
 of verdure than before — as Layard* tells us how in the season 
 of spring the dusty soil of Mesopotamia will change its aspect, 
 in one night the tame plains turning to a bright scarlet, or to 
 deepest blue through the burst of flowers, while the meadows put 
 on the emerald green of the most luxuriant pastures, causing 
 even the wild Bedouin, as he riots in the rich herbage and scented 
 air, to exclaim, " What delight has God given us equal to this ! " 
 The wealth of opposite nations, Sheba and Seba (Meroe and 
 Arabia), is consecrated to Him, as they bring "gifts" (ver. 
 1 0), or tribute, 2 Kings iii. 4. 
 
 " The simrt Sabeans and Panchaia's king 
 Shall cassia, myrrh, and sacred incense bring ; 
 All kings shall homage to The King afford ; 
 All nations shall receive him for their Lord.'' (Sandys.) 
 
 He is the true Job (see xxix. 12) who delivers the poor (ver. 
 12); " he looks with pity upon" (Fry), or " sympathises with" 
 (Horsley), the poor and needy (ver. 13). He redeems them 
 from Satan's craft and cruelty, from Satan as the serpent, and 
 Satan as the lion, " from deceit and from violence." 
 
 We agree with Keble's hint in his metrical version of this 
 book, that verse 1 5 refers to the well-known salutation offered 
 to kings, " O king, live for ever." It runs thus — 
 
 " Yes, let him live ! 
 And the gold of Sheba be given him ! 
 And let him, ^ray for every one continually. " 
 
 The pronoun of the third person 1 is used to express " every 
 one," viz., every one of his subjects. They adore him and 
 worsliip ; he intercedes and acts as mediator to them for ever. 
 * DiKCOveries in Nineveh an^ Bnhylon, pp. 273 and 301. 
 
REALISED IN THE GLORY OB^ THE KINGDOM. 217 
 
 And what sights of strange fertility and beauty shall be seen, 
 as indicated by verse 16 ! corn to the summit of the hills? 
 rustling like cedar boughs on Lebanon ; while Tke City, the 
 metropolis (Psa. Ixxxvii.), flourishes in population like the 
 numberless blades of grass, all holy, all praising their King, 
 presenting the spectacle of a model-city to the world. 
 
 And now is fulfilled to the utmost the promise made to 
 Abraham, " in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed" 
 (Gen. xxii. 18), so oft repeated ; for Messiah's name (ver. 17) 
 " produces posterity," i. e., renovates itself, acquiring fresh 
 vigour, "for ever" (Hengst.). All nations are blessed in him, 
 and all call him blessed. 
 
 Sing, then, as verses 18, 19, sing with heart and voice for 
 evermore — 
 
 " Blessed be Jehovah / 
 God (without a rival), God of Israel ! 
 Who alone (needing no help of any) doeth wondrous works. 
 And blessed be his glonous name for ever and ever ! 
 Yea, let the loJiole earth be filled with his glory I 
 Amen, and amen .'" 
 
 The prospect of this consummation fills the heart of the Sweet 
 Singer of Israel ; it leaves him nothing more to wish for. He 
 has reached the height and summit of desire and hope. Per- 
 haps the last words of verse 19 should be joined to verse 20, 
 and run thus — 
 
 The "Amen" of the whole Psalm falls on his ear from his own 
 
 harp strings, and he catches it up and repeats it thus — " Yea, 
 
 amen ! the prayers are ended of David the son of Jesse." 
 
 " So let it be ! Thy will on earth now done, 
 
 No more to seek has David, Jesse's son." 
 
 And thus it is that an individual's own peculiar desires shall 
 all be satisfied in that kingdom, satisfied because absorbed in 
 the flood of bliss. Who is there that ever takes up the for- 
 mer Psalm or the next, wearied, faint-hearted, and despond- 
 ing ? Look forward and see here 
 
 The Righteous One's hopes realised in the glory of the 
 kivgdom. 
 
218 PSALM Lxxiii. — Messiah's people almost offended. 
 
 PSALM LXXIII. 
 
 A Psalm of Asaph. 
 
 1 Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. 
 
 2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone ; my steps had well nigh slipped ; 
 
 3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked 
 
 4 For there are no bands in their death : but their strength is firm. 
 
 5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other 
 
 men. 
 
 6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain ; violence covereth them 
 
 as a garment. 
 
 7 Their eyes stand out with fatness : they have more than heart could wish. 
 
 8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression : they speak 
 
 loftily. 
 
 9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh 
 
 through the earth. 
 
 10 Therefore his people return hither : and waters of a full cup are wrung out 
 
 to them : 
 
 11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most 
 
 High? 
 
 12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world ! they increase in 
 
 riches. 
 
 13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in in- 
 
 nocency. 
 
 14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. 
 
 15 If I say, I will speak thus ; behold, I should offend against the generation 
 
 of thy children. 
 10 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me ; 
 
 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God ; then understood I their end. 
 
 18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places : thou castedst them down 
 
 into destruction. 
 
 19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! 
 They are utterly consumed with terrors. 
 
 20 As a dream when one awaketh ; 
 
 So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. 
 
 21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 
 
 22 So foolish was I, and ignorant : I was as a beast before thee. 
 
 23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hastholden me by my right 
 
 hand. 
 
 24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 
 
 25 Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I 
 
 desire beside thee. 
 2(5 My flesh and my heart faileth : 
 
 But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 
 
PSALM Lxxiii.— Messiah's people almost offended. 219 
 
 27 For, lo, they that arc far from thee shall perish : 
 
 Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 
 
 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God : 
 
 I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works. 
 
 A SORT of historical series begins here, relating to Israel's posi- 
 tion in the world (lxxiii.), to their temple (Ixxiv.), "their land 
 (Ixxv.), God's deeds therein (Ixxvi., Ixxvii.), God's dealings in 
 days past (Ixxviii.), Israel's desolation (Ixxix.), and prayer re- 
 garding the same (Ixxx.). 
 
 "A Psalm of Asaph;" perhaps one of those specially sang 
 by Hezekiah's appointment at the altar (2 Chron. xxix. 30) ; 
 and what more fit to be sung there when the ascending smoke 
 and poured-out blood declared in type Jehovah's unspeakable 
 gift, and so seemed to say, " Yes, God is good to Israel !" (2 
 Chron. v. 13.) 
 
 How well it follows the last Psalm ! As if Asaph had been 
 singing it, and thereupon had felt all his surmises and faithless 
 fears dissipated by the triumphant prospects held out there to 
 the people of Messiah. It is a Psalm, not about Messiah him- 
 self, but about " his people" (ver. 10), about "Israel" (ver. 1); 
 about the members, not the Head. It is uttered in the pre- 
 sence of the Head ; but it tells how its members have often 
 been nearly " offended in Him" (Luke vii. 23). Had Asaph 
 lived in Herod's day, such suspicious surmises as are expressed 
 in verses 3-9 might have been raised in his soul, by seeing 
 the Baptist first in the dungeon, and then in the tomb, while 
 Herod ruled and rioted in luxury. Horsley remarks on the 
 first word "fhi, "It expresses the state of mind of a person 
 meditating a difficult question, in which he is much interested 
 and can hardly come to a conclusion." 
 
 Verse 4 should be rendered — " There are no death-hands 
 to them" (Horsley) ; " they are never fettered with death" 
 (Hengst.), i. e., there are no death-bringing circumstances in 
 their lot. They escape the annoyances and reproaches whicli 
 God's people meet with (see 1 Cor. x. 13); their "pride' is 
 their " ornamental chain" (ver. 6), and (ver. 7) " the imagina- 
 tion of their hearts overflows" — that is, speaks out, or vents 
 itself ; 
 
 " TJiet^ upeak nf oppression from on high" (ver. 9) (Hengst.) ; 
 
 A new series. 
 
 Connection 
 and subject. 
 
220 PSALM LXXIII. — MESSIAH'S PEOPLE ALMOST OFFENDED. 
 
 as if they were out of reach of danger, aloft on their rock ; or 
 as old Sandys renders the line, " They speak like thunder from 
 the troubled sky." Hence, 
 
 " Eis peoxtle return hither'''' (ver. 10) ; 
 
 i. e., God's people return to the state of mind described in verse 
 2, or to this sight which causes the unbelieving surmises. To 
 quote Sandys again, as giving the right sense — 
 
 " The good not seldom, through their scandal, stray ^ 
 
 How like a desponding man's words is verse 1 2, '' Yet they 
 prosper /or ever," or more literally, " They are everlasting pros- 
 perers f" But now, the likelihood of giving occasion to others 
 to stumble crosses his mind ; and forthwith the same Spirit 
 who suggested that consideration, leads Asaph in his thoughts 
 (as some understand the words of verse 17) to the sanctuary. 
 Standing there, the very thought of the Holy One on his 
 Throne is enough to remind him of what must be the end of 
 these ungodly ones ; but more especially is the remembrance 
 that there is a resurrection day — a day when God will arise 
 and scatter these dreams of earthly felicity (ver. 20). 
 
 " O Lord, when tliou awakest, (see Psa, xvii. 15) thou wilt despise 
 their splendid show, 
 As one does a dream, when he awakes out of it ! " 
 
 Telling his grief and shame because of such unbelief, confess- 
 ing himself a beast* or brute, he yet returns to sing that, not- 
 withstanding all this, God has not forsaken him, and never 
 will — 
 
 " And I continually am with thee ! 
 And thou holdest me fast by my right hand."'\ (Ver. 23.) 
 
 I am in the wilderness, and thou art my guide, and wilt " re- 
 ceive me," as thou didst Enoch (Gen. v. 22, same word). The 
 Hebrew words are rather obscure, but this may be because of 
 
 * Barclay, in his zeal to prove that every Psalm is Christ's words directly, 
 falls into the strange error here of rendering J^i^H^ " « lamb," as if parallel 
 to Isaiah liii. 7. Hengstenberg has remarked, that niDHS implies, (like 
 other such phiral forms) the essence of the brute character. 
 
 t Might it not be rendered (neglecting the .-iccents), " And with (he hand thou 
 doat hold niy rifjht hand ?" 
 
rSALM LXXIII. — MESSIAH 'S PEOPLE ALMOST OFFENDED. 221 
 
 the ideas rushing through the mind of the Psahnist, so various 
 and so fast. They are literally rendered thus — 
 " Thou wilt lead me by thy counsel. 
 And afterwards^ g^ory ! Thou wilt receive me I " 
 Not unlike Psa. xlix. 1 6 — " God shall redeem my soul from the 
 grave" (equivalent to " afterwards glory !") " for he shall re- 
 ceive me." 
 
 Thus God is " the rock of my heart ;" my heart rests on Tiie siory. 
 him as on a solid basis. All foes, and all prosperous wicked 
 men, are from this point seen as ruined. No wonder. For 
 has glory come ? has the glory of the Jdngdom dawned on us ? 
 has the Lord himself welcomed us in ? has he given us a place 
 beside himself ? Then, from this height we look down and 
 see the impotency and ruin of Antichrist and all such opposers 
 of God, " who go a-whoring from thee." (Comp. Kev. xvii. 5, 
 '' mother of harlots.") Meanwhile we draw near to God, re- 
 enter paradise, enjoy our lost fellowship ; and our great em- 
 ployment is to praise Him, all clouds of providence being now 
 cleared away, and no more unbelief to hinder our " telling of 
 all his works." 
 
 The tone of this Psalm, especially of the latter part, is that 
 of James v. 7, 8 — " Be patient, brethren, unto the coming of 
 the Lord." The prevailing topic may be said to be, 
 le almost offended in Him." 
 
 PSALM LXXIV. 
 
 Maschil of Asapli. 
 
 1 God, why hast thou cast us off for ever ? 
 
 Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture ? 
 
 2 Kemember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old ; 
 The rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed ; 
 
 This Mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt ! 
 
 3 Lift up thy feet into the perpetual desolations i- 
 
 Even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. 
 
 4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations ; 
 They set up their ensigns for signs. 
 
 5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick 
 
 trees. 
 
222 PSALM LXXIV. — APPEAL OF THE SCATTERED HERITAGE 
 
 G But now they break down the carved work thereof ut once with axes and 
 hammei-s. 
 
 7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, 
 
 They have defiled by casting down the dwelling-place of thy name to the 
 ground. 
 
 8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together . 
 They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. 
 
 9 We see not our signs : there is no more any prophet : 
 Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. 
 
 10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach ? 
 Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? 
 
 11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand ? Pluck it out of 
 
 thy bosom ! 
 
 12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. 
 
 13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength : 
 
 Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. 
 
 14 Thou bi-eakest the heads of leviathan in pieces. 
 
 And gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. 
 
 15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty 
 
 rivers. 
 
 16 The day is thine, the night also is thine : thou hast prepared the light 
 
 and the sun. 
 
 17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth : thou hast made summer .nnd 
 
 winter. 
 
 18 llemember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, 
 And that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. 
 
 19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked : 
 Forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. 
 
 20 Have respect unto the covenant : 
 
 For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. 
 
 21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed : let the poor and needy praise 
 
 thy name. 
 
 22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause : 
 
 Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. 
 
 23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies : 
 
 The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseih continually. 
 
 The title. " MascMl" refers us to something (as elsewhere remarked) in 
 the mode of setting the Psahn to music, or playing it on the 
 harp, of which we know nothing. As in the last Psalm, so in this, 
 Asaph's name appears. Some, however, suppose this Asaph 
 to be a later individual of the same godly family. Patrick 
 adopts the idea that he may have been the Asaph who was 
 " the keeper of the king's forest " (Neh. ii. 8), and hence some 
 of the allusions to the cedar-trees and the like. It is arresting 
 
TO THE MIGHTY GOD OF ISRAEL. 223 
 
 to the fancy to set before us Asaph led to compose this melan- 
 choly hymn amid some of the lonely woods of his now desolate 
 Land ! But all we can say is, that it certainly is the composi- 
 tion of an Asaph long after the days of David, who perhaps 
 was one of the family mentioned in Ezra iii. 1 (for 2 Chron. 
 XX. 14 is too early), and so possibly the very "keeper of the 
 king's forests." 
 
 The desolation of Israel's land and people are spread before 
 the Lord. The Head of the Church, who wept over Jerusalem 
 on the Mount of Olives, and lamented their too sure ruin, 
 could use these strains, and pour them into the Father's ear. 
 Every Israelite's heart would thrill in singing such a solemn 
 melody. Every believer's soul should fully enter into the sor- 
 row for ancient Israel which is taught us here. 
 
 " The signs " of verse 4 and verse 9, are the holy emblems. 
 The significant pillars, " Boaz and Jachin," the brazen sea, the 
 altar, the lavers, mercy-seat with cherubims, candlestick, and 
 the like, all had disappeared. The standards of the enemy 
 appear in the sanctuary instead ! Oh how unlike (in signifi- 
 cance as in form) the vail that hid the ark because Jehovah 
 was there, and the ensigns of Babylon that too surely proved 
 that Jehovah had forsaken his heritage ! The "synagogues" 
 may mean places where the elders met to exhort and pray 
 with the people. (Tholuck.) 
 
 In verse 5 some render the line to this effect : — " The enemy 
 makes himself look like, and known as, one who lifts up the 
 axe on the trees," applying it to the same subject as verse 6. 
 But our version gives the better meaning. When the temple 
 was building, every man that cut down a cedar on Lebanon to 
 help in the glorious erection was reckoned famous ; whereas 
 now, men have become renowned by using " chisel and club" in 
 destroying the carved work and tracery of the sanctuary walls.* 
 
 Inverse 9, the " no prophet^' is like Lament, ii. 9. In verse 
 ] 1 we have " Pluck (it) out of thy bosom " — literally, n^3, 
 " finish — destroy." It is meant to express something far more 
 
 * Barclay expresses the idea in another form : — 
 " In former days of Jerubbaal, 
 
 An higli renown was truly won, 
 liy hewing down the groves so tall, 
 Where foul idolatry was shewn." (Judg. vii. 28 ) 
 
 Tlie tone 
 und plan 
 
224 PSALM Lxxiv. — appp:al of the scattered heritage. 
 
 terrible than "plucking the hand, out of the bosom;" it is a 
 cry for " destruction on foes ;" and, as HengstenLerg says, " the 
 annihilation proceeds from the bosom of God, when his right 
 hand is at the moment reposing." May we not add, " from that 
 bosom whence came his Son ! " just as the fire on Sodom was 
 " out of heaven, from God." This apjieal represents to our ima- 
 gination the suppliant gazing upward on the bosom of his King, 
 to see if that right hand begins to be plucked forth ! Thereafter, 
 reasons of confidence are rehearsed. No less than seve^i times is 
 the emphatic " r\r\i^" used, " the sevenfold thou" (Hengst), while 
 his deeds are set forth ; dividing the Red Sea, drying up the 
 " ever flowing river" (ver. ] 8), and the like ; and forthwith the 
 suppliant, as if thus anew invigorated to hope, urges his plea — 
 " Give not up thy turtle dove to the greedy host,'' (Phillips). (Ver. 19.) 
 Applicable to If this Psalm was written by a later Asaph, the verse 20, which 
 
 other times. "^ ■■• 
 
 speaks of the covenant in connection with earth's dark places, 
 might tacitly refer to such predictions as Isaiah Ix. 1-3. The 
 nations are said, in Rev. xi. 18, to be in the very condition 
 spoken of here at the close, when the Lord arises to judge 
 the earth, and to make the kingdoms become " The King- 
 dom of our God, and of his Christ." Israel's case will be 
 attended to that day ; Israel's wrongs will be avenged ; Israel's 
 sins forgiven ; Israel's sorrows relieved. That will be the day 
 when this wailing appeal shall find at the hands of Him who 
 hears the voice both of his own Son, our Head, and of the 
 members of his Son, a full acknowledgment of this 
 
 The appeal of the scattered heritage to the mighty God of 
 Israel. 
 
 PSALM LXXV. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Al-taschith. A Psalm or Song of Asaph. 
 
 1 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks : 
 For that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. 
 
 2 When I shall receive the congregation, I will judge uprightly. 
 
 3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the 
 
 pillars of it. Selah. 
 
 4 I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly! and to the wicked, Lift not up 
 
 the horn ! 
 
PSALM LXXV. — MESSIAH S RESPONSE TO HIS PEOPLK. 225 
 
 5 Lift not up your horn on high : speak not with a stiff neck. 
 
 6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from 
 
 the south. 
 
 7 But God is the judge : he putteth down one, and setteth up another. 
 
 8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red ; 
 It is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same : 
 
 But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, 
 and drink them. 
 
 9 But I will declare for ever ; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 
 10 All the homs of the wicked also will I cut off; 
 
 But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. 
 
 The same Asaph takes the harp again, at the bidding of xue titie 
 the Holy Ghost, to write an ode that, like many of David's 
 (see Psa. Ivii.), has been marked " Al-taschith," and called, "A 
 Song," lively in theme, and with life in every line. 
 
 '• We have praised thee, God ! we have praised thee ! 
 And (now at length) thy name is near, 
 Thy wondrous works are telling it.^'' 
 
 This is the delighted cry of Messiah's people, who see Him xi,e pian. 
 near at hand, and could join with Isaiah xxv. 9, " Lo ! this is 
 our God !" Their hosannahs are becoming hallelujahs. And 
 Messiah himself responds, as in Isaiah Ixiii. 1, 2, explaining 
 his ways. He refers to their words regarding ''his name 
 being now near," his long-hid discovery of his person and 
 promised deeds, " 1 will take a set time" (Heng.), or rather 
 thus : 
 
 " (It is so) for I noio get the appointed day I (Acts i. 7.) 
 I (>Jj^, unlike earth's usurpers), jttdge uprightly. 
 Eaiih and its inhabitants have melted away. 
 I am he who CDii^) have poised its pillars. Selah.'" (Ver. 2, 3.) 
 
 He has weighed the pillars and so knows, and has power to 
 order earth. After a pause, Messiah opens his lips to utter the 
 sentences of doom. He addresses the apostate nations, with 
 Antichrist at their head (ver. 4) — 
 
 " 7 say ("'inQJ^, the word has passed my lips) to the boastful, 
 Boast no more,''^ <&c. 
 
 No help will come to you from east or west, i. e., from land or 
 
 p 
 
226 PSALM LXXV. — MESSIAH'S RESPONSE TO HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 sea ; nay, nor from the wilderness (l^iap) shall any caravan 
 bring you ought to lift up your head ; 
 
 " For Ood is judging now /" (ver. 7). (As Psa. Ivii. 11, 
 
 And the processes of judgment are commenced, the reversal 
 of unrighteous sentences, and the pouring out of that terrible 
 "Cup" (ver. 8). John (Rev. xiv. 10) saw this cup, full of 
 " wine without mixture," i. e., without one drop of water to 
 alleviate its fierce poison ; but here it is "full of mixture," i.e., 
 of all strong ingredients, that make its taste more bitter, and 
 its wrathful poison more sure. This blood-red wine of ven- 
 geance is the measured-out portion of all earth's wicked, great 
 or small. 
 
 At verse 9, Messiah seems to wind up the proceedings by 
 indicating the general result. As in Psa. ii. 7, a full announce- 
 ment is made of these sentences in their hearing — 
 
 " And I C'Ji^, who am entitled so to do), declare tJiis a thing eternally 
 fixed r' 
 and then turning towards his blessed ones, inviting them to 
 join him in praise, he may be said to cry, " Hallelujah !" 
 " Let me sing (^1Sit^i) to tlie God ofJa^db ! 
 And I will cut off all the horns of the wicked'" (while my song 
 ascends). 
 
 As the final issue of the whole, lo ! 
 
 " The horns of the Righteous One are exalted /" 
 
 prophecy is fulfilled ; what Hannah sang of in 1 Sam. ii 10, 
 and so many others besides, is now come to pass ; for his 
 " name is near," his kingdom is come. And thus, referring all 
 the while to the beseeching prayer of Psalm Ixxiv., Asaph has 
 sung 
 
 Messiah's response to his "people luho are expecting His 
 Coming. 
 
PSALM LXXVI. — THE MIGHTY ONE TO BE FEARED. 227 
 
 PSALM LXXVI. 
 
 To the chief Musician. On Neginoth. A Psalm or Song of Asaph. 
 
 1 In Judah is God known : his name is great in Israel. 
 
 2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. 
 
 3 There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the 
 
 battle. Selah. 
 
 4 Thou art more glorions and excellent than the mountains of prey. 
 
 5 The stout-hearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep : 
 And none of the men of might have found their hands. 
 
 6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into 
 
 a dead sleep. 
 
 7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared : 
 
 And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry ? 
 
 8 Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven ; the earth feared, 
 
 and was still, 
 
 9 When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah. 
 
 10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee : the remainder of wrath shalt 
 
 thou restrain. 
 
 11 Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God : 
 
 Let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be 
 feared, 
 
 12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes : he is terrible to the kings of the 
 
 earth. 
 
 Milton celebrates " the inviolable saints," the holy hosts that The title. 
 guard the throne of God. But the family of saints on earth 
 may claim that title equally with them, being invincible and in- 
 violable in their King. Asaph sings of these " on Neginoth " (see 
 Psalm iv.), and uses the lively "song" for his triumphant 
 strains. 
 
 He looks back upon the past, when God made himself re- The pian. 
 nowned as Israel's God, dwelling on Zion, breaking there 
 (pt^tW, thitherward, like Ezekiel's " Jehovah-/S^amma7i," xlviii. 
 35, q. d., his eye and heart ever toward them) the " flashing 
 arrows of the bow," giving fame to Zion beyond all other hills 
 and kingdoms. All was done by the God of Jacob for his 
 people. The " Selah" (ver. 3) bids us pause to consider this, 
 as it does again verse 9. By him " the stout-hearted were 
 made a prey ; they slept deep their sleep ;" by him who could 
 give foes the same " rebuke" that he gave to the swelling 
 waters (Psalm civ. 7), causing the warrior and his war-chariot 
 
228 PSALM LXXVI. — THE MIGHTY ONE TO BE FEARED. 
 
 to be alike motionless and dead in the silent camp. Ah, it is 
 *' Thou" (pPii^) who art to be feared, Thou {nPii^) alone ! And 
 we might have noticed also, there is significance in using the 
 name " Salem," (ver. 2). It reminds us of the reign of Mel- 
 chizedeck, and hints at the slaughter of the kings, whom God's 
 Abrahams overcome. 
 
 And ever shall it be thus. Ever shall it be an unanswer- 
 able question, " Who shall stand before thee when thou art 
 angry V (verse 7), down to that great and terrible day when 
 all earth, at the sight of thy throne, shall ask, "Who shall be 
 able to stand V (Rev. vi. 17). And then shall verses 8, 9, be 
 fulfilled most emphatically — 
 
 " Out of heaven thou Tiast proclaimed judgment (]n, see Dan. vii. 10, 
 
 Earih fears, and is at rest ! (HtOp^') like Josh. xiv. 15, and Isa. 
 
 xiv. 7.) 
 Wlien God arises to judgment, 
 Saving all the meek of earth. Selah." 
 
 Is not this the day when the Saviour comes to reign ? — the 
 day when the results of things shall best be seen — the day 
 when every saint with anointed eye shall see that events all 
 tended to the glory of their God — the day when they shall 
 sing better far than now, 
 
 " Surely the wrath of man praiseth thee. 
 Thou girdest thyself with the remnant of wrath ; " 
 
 turning it to use, even every particle of it ? 
 
 Vow, then, and perform the vow, O Israel ! a people near 
 to Him (Num. ii. 2). Bring a gift to him that is the true 
 object of fear, to him who has cut off, as in a time of vintage 
 ("iiJll, as Rev. xiv. 18), the breath, the life, of princes; to him 
 who is terrible to earth's kings. If this Jehovah be for us, 
 who can be against us ? Let us even now sing this 
 
 Song to the Mighty One, who is the fear of Israel and of 
 Earth. 
 
PSALM LXXVII. — god's DOINGS REMEMBERED. 229 
 
 PSALM LXXVII. 
 
 To the chief Musician. ToJeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. 
 
 1 I CRIED unto God with my voice, 
 
 Even unto God with my voice ; and he gave ear unto me- 
 
 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord : 
 
 My sore ran in the night, and ceased not: ray soul refused to be com- 
 forted. 
 
 3 I remembered God, and was troubled : 
 
 I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. 
 
 4 Thou boldest mine eyes waking : I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 
 
 5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 
 
 6 I call to remerab>-ance my song in the night : 
 
 I commune with mine own heart : and my spirit made diligent search. 
 
 7 Will the Lord cast off for ever ? and will he be favourable no more ? 
 
 8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever ? doth his promise fail for evermore ? 
 
 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious ? hath he in anger shut up his tender 
 
 mercies ? Selah. 
 
 10 And I said. This is my infirmity. 
 
 But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. 
 
 11 I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy 
 
 wonders of old. 
 
 12 1 will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. 
 
 13 Thy way, God, is in the sanctuary ! Who is so great a God as our God ? 
 
 14 Thou art the God that doest wonders : thou hast declared thy strength 
 
 among the people. 
 
 15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and 
 
 Joseph. Selah. 
 
 16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee : they were afraid : 
 The depths also were troubled. 
 
 17 The clouds poured out water : the skies sent out a sound : 
 Thine arrows also went abroad. 
 
 18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven : the lightnings lightened the 
 
 world : 
 The earth trembled and shook. 
 
 19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters. 
 And thy footsteps are not known. 
 
 20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. 
 
 " For Jeduthun," the choir over which Jeduthun and Heman 
 presided (1 Chron. xvi. 42). They are to sing now a plaintive 
 psalm. Asaph's harp's strings are moaning to the chill night- 
 wind. Instead of triumphing in the Mighty One, whom all 
 must fear, Asaph is full of unkindly fears, fears arising from 
 clouds around his soul. Our Lord on earth had such changes 
 in his soul as we find in this Psalm. One day, under the 
 
230 PSALM LXXVIL— THE RIGHTEOUS ONE UNDER THE CLOUD 
 
 opened heavens at Jordan ; another, in the gloom of the howl- 
 ing wilderness ; one evening, ascending the Transfiguration- 
 hill ; another, entering Gethsemane. And so with every mem- 
 ber of his body. Not that the love of their God varies toward 
 them, and not that they themselves feel that love exhausted ; 
 but providences and trials of strange sort, and temptations 
 buffeting the soul, hide the sun by their dark mists. 
 
 We find, verses 1-4, The time of darkness pictured to us 
 most pensively and plaintively. " In the night my hand was 
 stretched out, and grew not numb, " (Alexander). And the 
 " Selah " in the midst of it, verse 3, seems to give us time to 
 observe the dismal plight of the soul. 
 
 In verses 5-9 we have reviembrance of former days, leading 
 to the profoundly melancholy question — " Has El (the Mighty 
 God) forgotten to be gracious." 
 
 " Hath he in anger shut the spring 
 Of his eternal love ? 
 
 And another "Selah" leaves us to pause and ponder. 
 
 At verse 10, The cause of this darkness. " This is my sick- 
 ness," (Jer. X. 19). My present circumstances of body, and 
 the oppressive providences around, have averted mine eye 
 from God's love. Tholuck renders it, " This affliction of mine 
 is a change of the right hand of the Most High ;" but we prefer 
 another view, viz., after having mournfully admitted " This is 
 my infirmity," the thought flashes in, " The years of the right 
 hand of the Most High I" Yes, let me recall what he has done ! 
 
 At verse 11, The light breaks — God is seen, still mighty to 
 save. Asaph is taught by " the years of the right hand of the 
 Most High," seeing " his way in the sanctuary ; " and in such 
 past ^'wonders" as Exod. xv. 11. He sees God redeeming "the 
 so^is of Jacob " from their Egypt exile, and doing it so as to re- 
 mind us of "Joseph "once separated from his brethren, but after- 
 wards the head of them all, (11-15). A " Selah" again bids 
 us ponder, and the Psalm closes by recounting some of his 
 wonders in providence. " God's way in the sanctuary" (ver. 
 13) suggests composing thoughts regarding his "Way iro the 
 Sea." (Ver. 19.) 
 
 There is a day coming when we shall, Avith Christ our Head, 
 sing of the Church's safe guidance to her rest, in such strains 
 
RECALLING TO MIND THE LORD'S FORMER DOINGS. 231 
 
 as these, remembering how often by the way we were ready to 
 ask, " Has God forgotten to be gracious ?" We are taught by 
 the harp of Asaph, in moments of despondency, to " remember 
 the days of old," and assure ourselves that the God of Israel 
 liveth — the God of the Passover-night, the God of the Red 
 Sea, the God of the Pillar-cloud, the God of Sinai, the God of 
 the wilderness, the God of Jordan, — the God, too, we may add, 
 of Calvary, and the God of Bethany, who chali lead us r.s he 
 led Israel, even when earth shakes again, till that day when he 
 comes to east some light on " his v/ay that w?.s in the Sea, and 
 his paths that were in the great waters, and his footsteps " 
 that were a mystery. Asaph has been the instrument of the 
 Holy Ghost to cheer us here, by bidding us look on this pic- 
 ture of 
 The Righteous One under the cloud recalling to mind the 
 Lord's former 
 
 PSALM LXXVIII. 
 
 Maschil of Asaph. 
 
 1 Give ear, O my people, to my law : incline your ears to the words of my 
 
 mouth. 
 
 2 I will open my mouth in a parable : I will utter dark sayings of old : 
 
 3 Which we have heard and knovv-n, and our fathers have told us. 
 
 4 We will not hide them from their children, 
 
 Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, 
 And his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. 
 
 5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, 
 When he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to 
 
 their children : 
 
 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which 
 
 should be born ; 
 Who should arise and declare them to their children : 
 
 7 That they might set their hope in God, 
 
 And not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments : 
 
 8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, 
 A generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not 
 
 stedfast with God. 
 
 9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, 
 Turned back in the day of battle. 
 
 10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law ; 
 
 11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. 
 
 12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, 
 In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 
 
232 PSALM LXXVIII. — MESSIAH SHEWING US 
 
 13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through ; 
 And he made the waters to stand as an heap. 
 
 14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a 
 
 light of fire. 
 
 15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the 
 
 great depths. 
 
 16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down 
 
 like rivers. 
 
 17 And they sinned yet more against him, by provoking the Most High in 
 
 the wilderness. 
 
 18 And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust. 
 
 19 Yea, they spake against God ; they said. Can God furnish a table in the 
 
 wilderness ? 
 
 20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams 
 
 overflowed ; 
 Can he give bread also ? can he provide flesh for his people? 
 
 21 Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth : 
 
 So a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against 
 Israel ; 
 
 22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation, 
 
 23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors 
 
 of heaven, 
 
 24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of 
 
 the corn of heaven. 
 24 Man did eat angels' food : he sent them meat to the full. 
 
 26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven : 
 And by his power he brought in the north wind. 
 
 27 He rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of 
 
 the sea : 
 
 28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. 
 
 29 So they did eat, and were well filled : for he gave them their own desire. 
 
 30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet 
 
 in their mouths, 
 
 31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, 
 And smote down the chosen men of Israel. 
 
 32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. 
 
 33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. 
 
 34 When he slew them, then they sought him : 
 And they returned and inquired early after God. 
 
 35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their 
 
 redeemer. 
 
 36 Nevertheless they did flatter with their mouth, 
 And they lied unto him with their tongues. 
 
 37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his 
 
 covenant. 
 
 38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed 
 
 them not : 
 Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his 
 wrath. 
 
THAT god's ways ARE NOT OUR WAYS. 233 
 
 39 For he remembered that they were but flesh ; 
 
 A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. 
 
 40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the 
 
 desert ! 
 
 41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of 
 
 Israel. 
 
 42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from 
 
 the enemy. 
 
 43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of 
 
 Zoan : 
 
 44 And had turned their rivers into blood ; and their floods, that they could 
 
 not drink. 
 
 45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them ; 
 
 And frogs, which destroyed them. 
 
 46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the 
 
 locust. 
 
 47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore- trees with frost. 
 
 48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunder- 
 
 bolts. 
 
 49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and 
 
 trouble. 
 By sending evil angels among them. 
 
 60 He made a way to his anger ; he spared not their soul from death, 
 But gave their life over to the pestilence : 
 
 61 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt ; 
 
 The chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham : 
 
 52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep. 
 And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 
 
 53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not : 
 But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 
 
 64 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, 
 
 Even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. 
 
 55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance 
 
 by line. 
 And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. 
 
 56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his tes- 
 
 timonies : 
 
 67 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers : 
 They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. 
 
 68 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, 
 And moved him to jealousy with their graven images. 
 
 69 When God heard this he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel : 
 
 60 So that he forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed 
 
 among men ; 
 
 61 And delivered his Strength into captivity, and his Glory into the enemy's 
 
 hand. 
 
 62 He gave his people over also unto the sword ; and was wroth with his in- 
 
 heritance. 
 
234 PSALM LXXVIII. — MESSIAH SHEWING US 
 
 63 The fire consumed their young men : and their maidens were not given 
 
 to marriage. 
 
 64 Their priests fell by the sword ; and their widows made no lamentation. 
 
 65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, 
 
 And like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of vnne. 
 
 66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder part : he put them to a perpetual 
 
 reproach, 
 
 67 Moreover, he refused the tabernacle of Joseph^ and chose not the tribe of 
 
 Ephraira : 
 
 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. 
 
 69 And he built his sanctuaiy like high palaces, 
 Like the earth which he hath established for ever. 
 
 70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds r 
 
 71 From following the ewes great with young 
 
 He brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. 
 
 72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart ; 
 And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. 
 
 " Maschil," referring to the music. " By Asaph," who wrote 
 Psalm Ixxiv. 
 
 See Jesus in the ship, teaching parables. Compare him 
 that day by the sea-side with the Singer here, whose words, 
 though neither new nor dark, are yet meant to convey hid- 
 den meanings. From verse 2, compared with Matt. xiii. 34, 
 35, we are led to conclude that Asaph here was directed 
 to foreshadow Messiah, the Prophet, disclosing the mind and 
 ways of God, where these were hidden from the gaze of the 
 common eye. There is throughout this Psalm a " concealed 
 background of instruction" (Hengst), intimated at verse 2, just 
 as Jesus, in speaking very obvious and plain things about the 
 seed and the sower, the leaven and the mustard-tree, meant all 
 the while to lead disciples to a " concealed background of in- 
 struction" — God's ways tovf ard man, and man s toward God. 
 
 We can easily believe that our Master, in using this Psalm, 
 would not hesitate to fisy, veice 3, " We have heard," identify- 
 ing himself ^A^th us ; for Le does so in Psalm xxii. 4, " Our 
 fathers," yours end mine ; and he does so in the Prayer he 
 taught us, " Our Fr.ther in heaven," mine and yours. On the 
 other hand, in raying, verse 4, " We will not hide them from 
 their children," is he not assuming the tone of Godhead ? for 
 it is the very same voice we hear in Gen. xviii. 19, " Shall I 
 hide from Abraham the thing that I do ?" 
 
 He brings before us most affectingly God's ways in contrast 
 
THAT god's ways ARE NOT OUR WAYS. 235 
 
 to man's ! Thus, verse 5, Ood's mercies to the infant nation. 
 Prophets, priests, Levites, Moses, the Tabernacle, all are implied 
 in " He set up a testimony in Israel ;" and all was meant to 
 make permanent among them the knowledge and love of the 
 glorious Jehovah. This was an act of grace ; for verse 8 recalls 
 the perverseness of their fathers, "stubborn, rebellious, not 
 right, not stedfast with God." Truly, His ways are not our 
 ways ; and soon that after generation shewed their fathers' cor- 
 ruption, refusing to face Anak (ver. 9 ; see Num. xiii. 33, and 
 xiv. 1-4), and to go whither God would. 
 
 But, again, His guiding mercies from, Egypt onward (ver. 
 17). How numerous ! every one how marvellous ! all so unde- 
 served, all so constant ! The Red Sea divided, the cloud, the 
 smitten rock ! Yet they provoked the Most High ! 
 
 Again, His un-upbraiding mercies (ver. 1 8-29). The history 
 of the manna shews this — instinct with wonders of Grace ! for 
 see how the everyday shower comes to a people most ungrate- 
 ful, and forgetful, and unbelieving ! " Bach man did eat," as 
 Exodus xvi. 16 ; each had his omer every day. 
 
 Again, His chastising mercies (ver. 30-33). He tries them 
 with fatherly chastenings, and for a time the wayward children 
 feel. But these, too, avail not. Shall he then leave them ? 
 No, he has more kindness in reserve for them. 
 
 Again, he sings of His long-suffering mercies (ver. 3-1-41). 
 Amid frowardness, hov/ very pitiful ! how tender ! how sym- 
 pathising ! 
 
 " For Tie remembered tlM tliey ivere bid flesh, 
 A wind that passeih away, and cometh not again. 
 And all this ivhile they insulted him." (" Set a mark on Israel's Holy 
 One." — Hengst.) 
 
 But to deepen the contrast, he sings of his judgments on 
 their foes (ver. 42-53) ; and then of Canaan-mercies to them- 
 selves, (ver. 54- 58) ; and of Canaan-chastisements, (ver. 58- 
 64). What a God ! What a people ! How glorious in grace 
 the One ! How low sunk in sin the other ! How low must 
 mercy condescend in helping such a people ! 
 
 But he has still another note to the praise of grace. His 
 mercies in the days of David (ver. 65 to the end), when the 
 
236 PSALM LXXIX. — CRY OF WIDOWED ZIOiSI 
 
 Lord arose, resolved to throw down every barrier to his love, 
 smiting foes, and erecting his tabernacle on its fixed seat at Je- 
 rusalem, and giving to his people David, the type of a better 
 David yet to come — 
 
 " And he built his sanctuary, like lofty palaces ; 
 Like the eaHh, he has established it for ever.'' (Ver. 69.) 
 
 This is ever to be a renowned spot, " morally gigantic " 
 (Hengst.), and not to be as Shiloh, forsaken for ever. There 
 are great things to come, awaiting that very spot. The type 
 of the scene in David's days is not yet realised in full. At 
 verse 70, the Singer has his eye on what Ezekiel (xxxiv. 23) 
 has foretold, — the David and the Tabernacle of that coming 
 day, when our " Beloved," led up from the Bethlehem manger 
 to the throne, shall feed Israel and Jacob, with upright heart 
 and skilful hand — dealing prudently, exalted, extolled, and 
 very high. Grace shall reach its zenith then. Our earth shall 
 bask under the hot noonday sun of grace, grace no more 
 thwarted and slighted, no more forgotten and denied, no more 
 disbelieved and hated. Come quickly, Faithful and True 
 Witness ! Come quickly, and be again among us, not King 
 only, not Priest only, but 
 Messiah, the Prophet, shewing us that God's ways are not 
 our ways. 
 
 PSALM LXXIX. 
 
 A Psalm of Asaph. 
 
 1 O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance ! 
 
 Thy holy temple have they defiled ; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. 
 
 2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the 
 
 fowls of the heaven, 
 The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. 
 
 3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem ; 
 And there was none to bury them. 
 
 4 Wc are become a reproach to our neighbours, 
 
 A scorn and derision to them that are round about us. 
 
 5 How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn 
 
 like fire ? 
 
TO THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE. 237 
 
 6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, 
 And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. 
 
 7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place. 
 
 8 O remember not against us former iniquities : 
 
 Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us : for we are brought very low. 
 
 9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: 
 And deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake 
 
 10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God ? 
 Let him be known among the heathen in our sight, 
 
 By the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed. 
 
 11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee ! 
 
 According to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are 
 appointed to die ; 
 
 12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom 
 Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. 
 
 13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever : 
 We will shew forth thy praise to all generations. 
 
 Another of the " Asaph-Psalms" — the cry, evidently, of 
 widowed Zion in the ear of the righteous Judge ; such a cry 
 as our Head (Luke xviii. 7) describes the Church at large as 
 raising in the Latter Days. It suits alike the Church in Israel 
 in Asaph's time, and the Church scattered over earth in these 
 Last Days, and not less will it suit Israel in the days of their 
 final tribulation, (Zech. xiv. 1, &c.). 
 
 It tells of martyrdom (1-3), with a remnant left behind, 
 appealing to the Lord with somewhat of the awful power we 
 feel to be in the cry of the souls under the altar (Rev. vi. 9) — 
 q. cl., " Pour out thy wrath on Antichrist (see 2 Thess. i. 8), 
 and on the nations that know thee not and that persecute thy 
 people, 
 
 " Even as they poured out the blood of thy servants." (Ver. 3.) 
 
 When they confess (ver. 8) "former iniquities," is not this in 
 the lips of Israel an acknowledgment of their forefathers' unbe- 
 lief, when Jerusalem rang with — " His blood be upon us and 
 upon our children V It includes this, no doubt, and their 
 idolatry, too, presenting the long-expected cry spoken of in 
 Lev. xxvi. 45, on hearing which the Lord shall arise, and as 
 " they are brought very low," shall fulfil Deut. xxxiii. 1 6,when 
 he seeth that their power is gone. "Let the avenging of thy 
 servant's blood be known," (ver. 10). 
 
238 PSAOI LXXIX CRY TO THE RIGHTEOUS JUDOR 
 
 When (ver. 11) we hear them plead, " Let the sighing of 
 the prisoner come before thee," we call to mind Manasseh in 
 his Ass}Tian dungeon. We seem to see Israel taking Manasseh 's 
 position, and obtaining Manasseh's wondrous pardon. Nor 
 are they like IManasseh only, but are, besides, " children of 
 death," TMy\t2r\ ""^Zl, that is, exposed to a continuing death ; 
 *0T r\iy\'i2r\ is more than n)12 just as " vex^uffig'^ is more than 
 " 6avarog" (see Beza on 2 Cor. iv. 10). And then there is " the 
 reproach" that lay upon them, the essence of which (like the 
 " reproach of Egypt," Josh. v. 9, Num. xiv. 1 3) had been, 
 " Is God able to accomplish his promises ? Where is their 
 Ood?" (Ver. 36.) 
 
 Melody from freed souls bursts on our ear at verse 1 3. The 
 old pastures, Sharon, Carmel, Bashan, are repossessed by the 
 long-lost sheep ; and this is the burden of the praise of these 
 ransomed of the Lord, returning to Zion with songs and ever- 
 lasting joy : 
 
 "And we are thy people, and sheep of thy pasture .' 
 We vill give thee praise for evermore ■' 
 We iriU record thy praise to all generations ! " 
 
 We, too, belonging to the Church at large, shall join in this 
 hallelujah, and take part in this eternal song to the faithful 
 Jehovah — that same incarnate Jehovah who once wept on the 
 Mount of Olives, over Jerusalem ready to become heaps. With 
 them, therefore, let us join in raising this 
 
 Cry of widowed Zion to the Righteous Judge. 
 
 PSALM LXXX. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Upon Shoshannim-Eduth. A rsalm of Asaph. 
 
 1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock ! 
 Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth ! 
 
 2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, 
 Stir up thy strength and come and save us. 
 
 3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine ; and we shall he saved. 
 
 4 O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of 
 
 thy people ? 
 
 5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears : and givest them tears to drink 
 
 in great measure. 
 
I'KAI„M f,XXX, — /KUAFJ/k fl.V.AH FO(!. UKKTOf! ATtON. 2''/.t 
 
 it Thou mnkcBf. uft n strife unto our riciKlil"»iirs : nnrl our rnf;rfiif;s ln.ti(/li 
 among themselves. 
 
 7 Turn ns again, O (iod of hosts, an^l ranse thy (lua to shine; and we shfill 
 
 bo saved. 
 
 8 TbotJ hast brought n vine ont of Kgypt : thon ha.st mai ont the heatlien, 
 
 and planted it. 
 
 9 Thf>n prcjmrcdst room before it, 
 
 And didst can.sc it Uj take deep root, and it filled the land. 
 
 10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, 
 
 And the boughs therc/>f were like the goodly cedars, 
 
 11 She sent out her boughs miU} 'Hie Hca, and her branches untoTlic Jiiver. 
 
 12 Why hast thon then brokf.n down her hedges, 
 
 Ho that all they whirh pnss by the way do fdrirk her? 
 
 13 The boar ont of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of rh»; h'ld 
 
 doth dcTonr it. 
 
 14 Ketum, we beseech thee, O God of hosts I 
 
 Look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine : 
 16 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, 
 And the branch that thon ma/lest strong for thyself. 
 
 16 It is burned with fire, it is cut do^n : they pfnish at the rebuke of thy 
 
 cofuntenance. 
 
 17 Let thy hand be upon the Man of thy right hand. 
 
 Upon the iSon of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. 
 
 18 8o will we not go back from thee: (jnicken us, and we will call opori thy 
 
 name. 
 
 19 Turn us again, O Lord (iod of hosts, cause thy face to shine ! and we shall 
 
 be saved. 
 
 Thk sun in the firmament ghonc chnuWem on the field fA Aii.«*- 
 t.eTlitz, where a conqueror of earth was gaining hi« renown ; 
 and that bright Kun was recogni.«<ed by the victors a« a fit ac- 
 companiment of what they reckonwl a day «o gicmcma in its 
 triumphs. It may have >>ef!m on this principle of .suiting the 
 external symlx>l to the, nature of t>ie theme on hanrl, that the 
 temple mu-Siicians HfAf-x^^AA for this P.ViJm an in.Htnim^mt calle^l 
 " Bh//fih/mnmi-e(hMh." In Psalm xlv. we have mention of 
 " ShxfsfMnrma," and in Psalm Ix, we have the " ShMafi/Wr 
 cxj/uth'' referring, as H^nnn fancy, to the 'jf/ij or the, l{l,y-hU;f/m, 
 that sliall overspread! the land, when the nation that alone jk>s- 
 sessed Go<rs " Tefdi/rnxmy" .should receive the answer of these 
 prayer.s. But more than this we cannot say.* 
 
 * It i» ft conceit of the Jews to mark the p in verse 1.?, TJTD *« th« miMU 
 letter of the Psalter, by suspending it above the line of the other letters. 
 
240 PSALM Lxxx. — Israel's pleas for restoration. 
 
 It is an Asaph-prayer again, full of pleas in Israel's behalf. 
 It is as if they had before them Isa. Ixiii. 31, " Then he re- 
 membered the days of old." They call to his mind the days 
 of Joseph, when (Gen. xlix. 24) the Lord miraculously fed them 
 in Egypt. And then the tabernacle- days, when first, since the 
 days of Eden, the Lord was known to dwell between the cheru- 
 bim, on the mercy-seat. They call to his mind wilderness- 
 times (ver. 2), when their march was gladdened by his presence, 
 " Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh" lookiig on the Pillar of 
 Glory as it rose before them, the guide and partner of their 
 way (see Num. x. 22-24). " O God, bring us back again ! 
 Cause thy face to shine ! and all shall be well again ! " 
 
 They appeal to his power, verse 4, " God of Hosts" (ver. 
 4 and 7), and to his love for his people (ver. 4). Why smokes 
 thine anger, rejecting the smoke of incense that speaks of 
 favour ? Instead of joyful feasts (ver. 5), we weep sore, and 
 foes divide our substance for spoil, instead of the safety our 
 fathers enjoyed in serving thee (Exodus xxxiv. 24). " O God 
 of Hosts, bring us back again ! Cause thy face to shine ! and 
 all shall be well!" 
 
 Again the harp sounds to a melancholy reminiscence of the 
 past. Memory recalls the time when Israel was the Lord's 
 Vine — an emblem of him who is the True Vine. Taken out 
 of Egypt, and made to spread (Isa. v. 2), it filled the land. 
 The hills of Judah on the south, the cedar region of Lebanon 
 on the north (ver. 1 1), the great Mediterranean sea on the west, 
 and the Euphrates on the far eastern border, were all wit- 
 nesses of the Vine's luxuriance. How desolate now ! " O 
 God of Hosts, come back, we pray ! Look down from heaven, 
 and see ! Visit this vine." 
 
 Some think that in verse 17 they are acknowledging Mes- 
 siah, calling him by the name, " Man of thy right hand," 
 " Branch made strong for thyself." The Chaldee Targum says, 
 this is " King Messiah." «Others^claim these names for Israel ; 
 for Israel is God's Benjamin, and God's strong rod wherewith 
 to rule the nations. -The words are in the original such as 
 surely point to Messiah ; for they are not, " son of thy right 
 hand," but "?|J^D^ MJ^^. " Man of thy right hand," and "son of 
 
I'SALM Lxxx.— Israel's pleas for fi^ll RESTORAiiOiV. 241 
 
 maw whom thou hast made strong for thyself," Dli^ ]2, ; iu 
 this resembling Psalm viii. 6. Even if the terms were appro- 
 priate to Israel as God's favoured people, still there would be 
 here simply an allusion to that fact, while the real possessor of 
 the name is Messiah, God's true Israel. And if so, then verse 
 1 7 is Israel, in the Latter Day, crying " Hosanna ! " to Christ, 
 and so entitled to what his words implicitly promised in Matt. 
 XX. 39 — " Thou shalt not see me henceforth till thou shalt 
 say. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." They 
 pray, " Appoint Him our captain — let thy hand be upon him, 
 designating him to his office, as Moses did Joshua," (Num. 
 xxvii. 23). And so they may claim to be gathered and blest 
 with a fuller blessing than their fathers, who, by the hand of 
 God upon them, were led up by Ezra (vii. 9), and Nehemiah 
 (ii. 18) ; for they claim as their leader Messiah, the true Ezra, 
 " Helper," and true Nehemiah, " the Lord's consolation." Is 
 not Psalm ex. 1 of itself sufficient to justify the name, "The 
 man of thy Right Hand ? " 
 
 " Jehovah, God of Hosts, bring us back ! 
 Cause thy countenaiice to shine on us ! 
 And we shall be saved," (jn^^WM ^^^^ response to ^^ Hosanna!" 
 
 May we not sympathise in these appeals ? May we not put 
 in our own case with theirs ? Appoint, Lord, Messiah to be 
 our captain, our soul's leader, and we individually shall be 
 saved ! We cry, " Hosanna ! " i<i H^lt^in, and thou wilt give a 
 response that shall make us shout back nfytt^lj. Yes, thy Church 
 in all the earth, Lord God of Hosts, with one consent joins in 
 presenting to thee, 
 
 Israel's pleas for full restoration. 
 
 PSALM LXXXL 
 
 To the chief Musician. Upon Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph 
 
 1 SiNO loud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of 
 
 Jacob. 
 
 2 Take a psaltn, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with tlie 
 
 psaltery. 
 
 Q 
 
24-2 PSALM LXXXI. — THE REDEEMER'S LAMENTATION OVER 
 
 3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, 
 
 In the time appointed, on our solemn feast-day. 
 
 4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. 
 
 5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the 
 
 land of Egypt : 
 Where I heard a language that I understood not. 
 
 6 I removed his shoulder from the burden ; 
 His hands were delivered from the pots. 
 
 7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee ; 
 I answered thee in the secret place of thunder ; 
 
 I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. 
 
 8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee : O Israel, if thou wilt 
 
 hearken unto me ! 
 
 9 There shall no strange god be in thee : neither shalt thou worship any 
 
 strange god. 
 
 10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt : 
 Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 
 
 11 But my people would not hearken to my voice : and Israel would none 
 
 of me. 
 
 12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust : and they walked in their 
 
 own counsels. 
 
 13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in 
 
 my ways ! 
 
 14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against 
 
 their adversaries. 
 
 15 The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him : 
 But their time should have endured for ever. 
 
 16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; 
 And with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. 
 
 Asaph is the writer of this Psalm. Whether or not it was 
 written (as some suppose) for Hezekiah's passover, we need not 
 stay to inquire (2 Chron. xxx. 2). It does not affect our view 
 of the mind of God — the heart, the bowels of compassion, 
 displayed in every line, — the breathing of tender love. The 
 Lord is ever well pleased with such a cry as the two preceding 
 Psalms sent up ; for his heart is toward his people ; and he 
 here tells how he has longed over them, even in their back- 
 slidings. It is " on Oittith," like Psalm viii. 
 
 In the first verses (1-3), is it the voice of Israel we hear ? 
 Is it not rather the voice of the Church's Head and Israel's, 
 identifying himself with us and them ? Is it not Messiah, the 
 lawgiver and redeemer of Israel ? To understand the speaker 
 throughout to be He, gives beautiful unity and force to the 
 
HIS people's rejection of grace. 2V.i 
 
 whole. It is He, we suppose, who summons them in these 
 lively, inviting strains : — 
 
 " Sing loud unto God our strength ! 
 Raise the shout of joy unto the God of Jacob ! 
 Take music (mQT voice and instrument), and bring the timbrel, 
 The pleasant harp aad the psaltery ! 
 Blow the horn in the month (i. e., Abib., Exodus xii. 1.) 
 On tliefull moon, on the day of our feast {i. e., the Passover), 
 For this is a statute for Israel, 
 
 A law in reference to (7 for the worship of. — Hengst.) the God of 
 Jacob." (1-4.) 
 
 Then mention is made of " Joseph," because the Passover- 
 reference calls back to mind the days of Egypt, when Joseph 
 was Israel's shepherd in Goshen ; and it is said that this feast 
 was ordained for a " testimony," viz., to the Lord's goodness 
 and sparing mercy. 
 
 " When he went out against the land of Egypt ;" (to destroy it by 
 
 plagues.) 
 " When I heard a language that I knew not ;" (not the tongue of Israel, 
 
 which is so well known to me, as one knows his friend.) 
 
 And having thus identified himself with Israel — the shepherd 
 with the flock — he speaks in his own name of what he wrought 
 for them. He took them from bondage,* at their going forth ; 
 and often did he reason with them, as at Sinai, when the 
 thunder's roar was heard from thick clouds that were the 
 curtains of his pavilion, and from the pillar-cloud — 
 
 " Oh ! hadsi thou heard my voice alone ! 
 When thunders rolled above thy head, 
 And lightnings flashed before thine eyes, 
 
 When I of thee a trial made. 
 Where, Meribah, thy waters rise !" (Barclay.) 
 
 There is " Selah," the pause for solemn thought, here. And 
 then the expostulation begins, tender, but earnest and search- 
 ing (8-12), till, after sa3dng verse 12, " Let them go on in their 
 own coU7isels" as Deut. xxix. 18, He seems to recall his words, 
 giving vent to that burst of impassioned feeling, verse 13 — 
 
 * The burden and " the pots," or clay-basket, are remarkably illustrated 
 (says Tholuck) by the Egyptian sculptures, which still shew Israelites carrying 
 the clay and tlw tiles. 
 
244 PSALM LXXXII. — MESSIAH THE TllUE JUDGE 
 
 " Oil, if my people would hearken to me ! 
 Would Israel walk in my ways !" 
 
 Revealing the very same Jesus whose words and tears, as he 
 beheld Jerusalem, are reorded in Luke xix. 43. It is the 
 same speaker that continues thus to tell what they have lost 
 by their waywardness — 
 
 " / would soon have subdued their enemies, 
 
 " Tlie liaters of Jehovah should have suhmitted unto him.'' 
 
 And, on the other hand, He (Jehovah) would have fed them 
 luith " kernelled wheat," — alludingto the rich old covenant pro- 
 mises, Deut. xxxii. 14, xxxiii, 14, All this (says Messiah), 
 Jehovah was ready to do. Yes, these covenant promises, every 
 one, even to the honey from the rock (Deut. xxxii, 13), I would 
 have given thee in all abundance, till thou hadst not a want 
 remaining.* 
 
 Thus from beginning to end, in this Psalm, we hear 
 The Redeeraer of Israel's tender lamentation over his people's 
 rejection of His grace. 
 
 PSALM LXXXTI. 
 
 A Psalm of Asaph. 
 
 1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty ; he judgcth among the 
 
 gods. 
 
 2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked ? 
 
 Selah. 
 
 3 Defend the poor and fatherless : do justice to the afflicted and needy. 
 
 4 Deliver the poor and needy : rid them out of the hand of the wicked. 
 
 5 They know not, neither will they understand ! they walk on in darkness ! 
 All tlie foundations of the earth are out of course. 
 
 6 I have said, Ye are gods ; and all of you are children of the Most High. 
 
 7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 
 
 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth ! for thou shalt inherit all nations. 
 
 Asaph's name is at Psalm 1., in which the solemn scenes and 
 expostulations of the Great Day are given ; and here, too, is 
 
 * The change of persons, "He" and "I," is quite natural, if Messiah is the 
 .speaker throughout. But, besides, we find such changes from the indirect to 
 the direct frequently, e.g., Exodus x.xiii. 25, and Isa. x. 12. 
 
OF A MISGOVERNKD WORLD. 245 
 
 his name, prefixed to tliis awfully authoritative rebuke and 
 warning — 
 
 We see, verse 1, the Judge surveying earth's rulers. The i.'an. 
 
 " God hath placed himself in the assemblij of the mighty.'' (Isa. iii. 13.) 
 " He judges in the midst of the gods,'' (*. e., earth's judges, Exodus xxii. 
 28, John X. 34.) 
 We hear his voice (ver, 2), and we recognise in it him who 
 speaks to us, " How long, ye simple ones," in Proverbs i. 26. 
 The " Selah" completes it, giving a solemn seal to the words. 
 
 We listen again (verses 3, 4) ; he is declaring the rules that 
 should guide them — rules on which the Judge himself has 
 ever acted — defending the poor ; interposing where no help of 
 man was on the side of the oppressed ; maintaining equity ; 
 doing acts of disinterested grace and favour. 
 
 We are told of the contempt poured upon Him (ver, 5), for 
 it is said, " They take no notice" (they disregard God and his 
 Christ), &c. ; and as a consequence, " The foundations of earth 
 hegin to totter," (comp. Isa. xxiv. 20) ; and we hear the voice 
 of the Great Judge (ver. 6) — 
 
 " I have said ! i^yt^, i. e., This is now your doom — I solemnly pro- 
 claim it) — 
 Ye are judges (bearing the name of God, as verse 2) ; 
 All of you are sons of the Most High /" 
 
 This is your great name, in which you rest secure. But 
 " Surely ye shall die, as other men have died ; 
 Ye shall fall, as other men of rank have fallen.'"*' 
 
 Your day is coming ! The saints are raising the loud cry of 
 verse 8, inviting Messiah, the true God, the Son of the Most 
 High (John x. 34), the Mighty One, the Judge and Ruler, to 
 arise and take his inheritance, for he is the "heir of all 
 things;" and to be the true Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Barak, 
 Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Samson, and Samuel, who will 
 judge, or govern and rule, a mismanaged earth. We sing this 
 song of Zion in his ears, urging him to come quickly ; and we 
 sing it to one another in joyful hope, while the foundations of 
 earth seem out of course, because here we find 
 
 Messiah the true Judge of a misgoverned world. 
 
 * " As other men," ,sec uote on rtjuhn Ix.wvii. 
 
246 PSALM LXXXIII. — THE PRAYER OF THE HIDDEN ONES 
 
 PSALM LXXXIII. 
 
 A Song or Psalm of Asapli. 
 
 1 Keep not thou silence, O God : hold not thy peace, and be not still, () 
 
 God. 
 
 2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have 
 
 lifted up the head. 
 
 3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against 
 
 thy hidden ones. 
 
 4 They have said. Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation ; 
 That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 
 
 ^ For they have consulted together with one consent : they are confederate 
 against thee : 
 
 6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites ; of Moab and the Ha- 
 
 garenes ; 
 
 7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek ; the Philistines with the inhabitants of 
 
 Tyre ; 
 
 8 Assur also is joined with them : they have holpen the children of Lot. 
 
 Selah. 
 
 9 Do unto them as to the Midianites ; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the 
 
 brook of Kison, 
 
 10 Which perished at En-dor : they became as dung for the earth. 
 
 11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb : 
 Yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: 
 
 12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. 
 
 13 O my God, make them like a wheel ! as the stubble before the wind ! 
 
 14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on 
 
 fire; 
 
 15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy 
 
 storm. 
 
 16 Fill their faces with shame ; that they may seek thy name, Lord. 
 
 17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to 
 
 shame, and perish : 
 
 18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, 
 
 Art the Most High over all the earth. 
 
 tiic'tim'^ ""'* ^ son(/ and psahn by Asaph ; lively, yet solemn ; for there 
 is in it both victory and vengeance. The appeal of last Psalm 
 to the Judge, by Asaph in the name of Messiah and his 
 people, is of the same spirit with this more lengthened and full 
 prayer by the same Asaph. The times are the same. What- 
 ever were the circumstances of the Psalmist that furnished an 
 appropriate season in the view of the Spirit of God for giving 
 it to the Church — whether such as those of Jehoshaphat's reign 
 
AGAINST THE CRAFTY COUNSEL OF MESSIAH'S FOES. 247 
 
 (2 Chron. xx. 14) or not — it seems probable that He who knew 
 men's hearts saw more than once this same hatred to Israel 
 taking the form of a combined conspiracy of all the nations 
 round. Even thus has it been more than once in regard to 
 Britain, the retreat of God's hidden ones ; and even thus, were 
 the vail lifted up, might it be found to be true at this hour of 
 the foes of Protestant truth. And yet more shall the Latter 
 Day bring to view a combination of kings and people against 
 the Lamb and his faithful few — a combination which shall 
 meet with extinction on the plains of Megiddo, most fully rea- 
 lising the prayer and anticipations of this Psalm, verses 9, 1 0, 
 ] L What a song for days when Antichrist shall be wondered 
 at by all the earth ! It is pervaded by a tone of astonishment 
 at the Lord's long-suffering. 
 
 From verses 1 to 8, where " Selah " introduces the pause, the 
 prayer ascends, spreading before the Lord like (Acts iv. 29) 
 the threatening aspect of his foes, who direct their malice 
 against " his hidden ones" (ver. 3) — that is, his people, not 
 unknown or obscure, but hid as his treasure. (See Psa. xxvii. 
 5.) They who were all jealous of each other, like Pilate and 
 Herod, are friends now — 
 
 " They consult from the heart with one accord " (ver. 5). 
 Tfiey rnahe a covevMnt against Thee ! " 
 
 A circle seems draAvn round Israel's land ; the hunters have 
 inclosed their prey — Edom and Ishmael on the south ; Moab 
 and the Hagarenes who dwelt near Gilead (1 Chron. iv. 18), 
 to the east, along with Gebal (i. e., Oebalene, which means 
 the mountainous region, from the Arabic Djebel, the district 
 whose capital wasPetra, or Sela), and Ammon, and old Amalek ; 
 and on the west Philistia and Tyre — all these call Assyria to 
 their aid, to pour down from the noiih his resistless bands ! 
 " The children of Lot," the nations who, because of the rela- 
 tionship of their ancestors, might have been expected to be- 
 fidend Israel, take the lead against Israel in this unbrotherly 
 covenant. 
 
 But faith sees this armada scattered, as surely as was that 
 of Spain on our shores. 
 
248 PSALM LXXXIV. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE ON HIS WAY 
 
 " Treat them as Midian ! 
 As Sisera ! as Jahiu ! 
 At the torrent ofKishon! 
 At Endor they ham perislied ! 
 They Mve become dung for the soil ! (Ver. 9, 10.) 
 
 All this, at the veiy time when they are saying, " We will take 
 possession of these habitations of God" (ver. 15), the cities 
 of Israel, protected by their God.* The Lord answers their 
 prayers — "Make them like a iv/ieei" that threshes the com 
 and beats the straw to pieces (Phillips), or like the thistle- 
 down in the whirl of the storm. 
 
 The end is like the issue of judgment so often declared by 
 Ezekiel, e. g. xxx. 26, xxxv. 1 5, xxxviii. 23, xxxix. 28. 
 
 " Men seek thy name, Jehovah ! (Ver. 16.) 
 And again — 
 
 " And they know that Thou — tluj name alone is Jelwvah ! 
 Most high over all the eaiih ! " 
 
 The Armageddon of the Last Days, ended by the Lord's ap- 
 pearing, when his feet stand on the Mount of Olives, and he 
 recapitulates (so to speak) all the victories of ancient days in 
 that one, shall result in the fame of the Lord being spread 
 over earth, and his one name acknowledged. What a glorious 
 answer to 
 
 The prayer of the Bidden Ones against the crafty counsel of 
 Messiah's foes. 
 
 PSALM LXXXIV. 
 
 To the chief Musician. Upon Gittith. A Psalm for the sons of Korah 
 
 1 How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of liosts ! 
 
 2 My soul longcth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord : 
 My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 
 
 3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, 
 
 And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, 
 Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. 
 
 4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house ! they will be still praising thee ! 
 
 Selah. 
 
 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee ; in whose heart are the ways 
 
 of them. 
 
 * Stanley (Palestine and Sinai, p. .S.Sfi), " pa.^tures of God," nr pasture-grounds. 
 
TO THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD. 249 
 
 6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well ; the rain also 
 
 filleth the pools. 
 
 7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth 
 
 before God. 
 
 8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: Give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. 
 
 9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. 
 
 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. 
 
 I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the 
 tents of wickedness. 
 
 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield : the Lord will give grace and glory. 
 No good thing will he withhold, from them that walk uprightly. 
 
 12 O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. 
 
 Tholuck has suggested that this Psahii may have been sung 
 at Mahanaim, during David's flight. But, at any rate, it is 
 for all times. We are now with the Lord's "hidden ones" in 
 their quiet land, where they wait on their God. We see here 
 their joys, their earthly heaven. They may see at a distance 
 "the tents of the wicked," as Balaam from his rocks saw 
 Israel's ; but they feel no envy, they desire nothing of the 
 luxuries there, they seek not the fame of being one of these 
 "men of renown." Like the first Psalm "on Glttith" that we 
 met with (Psa. viii.), this " Psalm of, or for, the sons of Ko- 
 rah,"* celebrates the excellencies of the Lord's name, for it 
 presents us with the pleasant sight of a company of worshippers 
 going up to the house of the Lord. 
 
 That pilgrimage of Israel, to the place where the Lord had 
 put his name, was significant of more than met the eye. It 
 told of other pilgrims who should in after ages travel through 
 the world with their heart toward the Lord, and their hope 
 fixed on seeing him revealed at the end of their pilgrimage in 
 another manner than they knew him by the way. It included, 
 too, the journey of him who, as Chief of Pilgrims, was to take 
 the same road, share the same hardships, feel the same long- 
 ings, hope for the same resting-place, and enter on the same 
 full enjoyment of the Father's grace and glory. 
 
 It is, then, the Just One and his members on their way to 
 Zion, " the city of the living God," that forms the essence of 
 the Psalm. 
 
 * The sons of Korah kept the gates of the tabernacle, 1 Chron. ix. 19. 
 Hence verse 10 is peculiarly natural in their lips. 
 
250 PSALM LXXXIV. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE ON HIS WAY 
 
 The plan. We liavG their setting forth, verse 1, 2. " Hovj beloved 
 
 (Jy^yy) are thy tabernacles," they say to the " Lord of Hosts," 
 in deeper feehng than Num. xxiv. 5, for they love the place 
 because they love the person. They speak to one another in 
 verse 2, " Longing, yea, even fainting has my soul felt for 
 the courts of the Lord." 
 
 " Ml/ heart and my flesh sing for joy 
 Toivard God, the Living One!" 
 
 We next find objects on the way attracting a moment's at- 
 tention, and furnishing help to their thoughts, verse 3. 
 
 " Truly* the sparrow reaches her home, 
 And the swallow her nest, 
 Where she has placed her young ! " 
 
 And who is this sparrow ? Is it not as Psalm xi. 2, a name for 
 the feeble homeless one ? Who is this swallow, a wanderer to 
 another clime, though here for a time ? It is the pilgrim him- 
 self (Hengst.). The pilgrim identifies himself with these birds 
 of the air, and perhaps thinks of his family while he sings of 
 the nest — 
 
 " Thy altars, Lord of Hosts (see Num. iv. 31, altar of sacrifice and 
 altar of incense.) 
 My King and my God ! " 
 
 The pilgrim-sparrow has found thine altars, Lord of Hosts ! 
 The stranger-swallow has found thine altars ! They could not 
 be a home for the birds, but they are so to him. There is the 
 home and the nest ! That atoning altar of sacrifice speaks 
 peace ! That golden altar of incense holds out acceptance 
 through the infinite merits of the sacrifice offered ; here is my 
 home, my nest ;j- for here is God, my God and my king, who 
 will care for me, defend me, be all in all to me. 
 
 The pilgrim (verse 4, which is followed by the "<Se?a7i"-pause), 
 seems to rest by the way — he is under some fig-tree, at some 
 
 * This is a common use of DJ, Job xviii. 5. "Yea (D^)), the light of the 
 wicked shall be put out." So Ps. xxv. 3, and elsewhere. 
 
 t Our English version misleads the reader. The Hebrew does not mean to 
 imply that birds built their nests at the altars : the thing was a moral impossi- 
 bility. The French is good — " Et moi quand verrai-Je ten nnteU ?" 
 
TO THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD. 25 1 
 
 well. He thinks of those who are never away from the Lord, 
 and covets their bhss. But he rises up, verses 5, 6, aiid jour- 
 neys on, comforted and strengthened by the thought that they 
 are already blessed whose " strength is in Thee" — and 
 
 " In whose heaHs are loays" 
 pilgrim-ways, the roads that are cast up for travelling. Blessed 
 it is to have the resolution to traverse these ways, instead of 
 slothfully abiding at home (Jer. xxxi. 21). They are willing 
 to endure hardship and inconvenience, taking what they fiud, 
 less or more. 
 
 " Passing through the valley of Baca* 
 Tliey make it a loell — 
 Yea, the pools which the rain has filled." 
 
 Little as there may be of water, that little suffices them on 
 their way. It is a well to them. They find only ''pools (which) 
 the early rain has (barely) covered " — but are content with the 
 supply by the way. It is as good and sufficient to them as if 
 showers of the heavy autumnal rains had filled the well. Pil- 
 grims forget the scanty supply at an Inn, when they have 
 abundance in view at the end. Israelites going up to the Pass- 
 over made light of deficient water, for their hearts were set on 
 reaching Jerusalem. Our Elder Brother, the leader of the pil- 
 grim-band, endured such hardships for the joy set before him 
 — aye, even endured to be " thirsty" on the cross under infinite 
 wrath — and in this he set us an example, as well as wrought 
 out salvation. 
 
 In verse 7 we see the arrival of the pilgrims at the_.,city. 
 
 In verses 8, 9, we hear their prayer when arrived — 
 " God, see our shield ! (the position of ]^J2 is peculiar) 
 Behold the face of thine Anointed /" 
 Israel's Priest was " shield and anointed" to the worshippers ; 
 Christ is all this in antitype. Christ himself could use this 
 prayer. Identifying himself with the pilgrim-band, they might 
 be supposed pointing to him and saying, " Our shield look 
 
 * Valley of tear-shrubs (Hengst), or mulberries. Valley of lamentation, 
 Jammer-thai, (Gesen.) — some sterile, gloomy spot, on the way to .Jerusalem, 
 like that near the barren knoll of Scopos, where Nob once stood. Others sup- 
 pose the spot where the mulberry-trees grew, 1 Chion. xiv. 15. 
 
252 PSALM LXXXV. — BRINGING BACK OF ISRAEL'S CAPTIVITY 
 
 upon, God ! " While he himself might be supposed second- 
 ing the plea by calling the Lord's attention to himself — "Be- 
 hold the face of thine Anointed One." 
 
 And now, verses 10, 12, you are made to hear the report of 
 the place given by those who reach it. Israelites would thus 
 commend God's holy place to their fellows ; but they who reach 
 the kingdom, of which all this was the shadow, what would 
 they not say of the glory, and beauty, and bliss, and peace ? 
 If a day in the Lord's typical courts was so satisfying, what 
 would be a day in the kingdom ? And if one day, what the 
 Eternal Day, — " dies sempiternus, cui non cedit hesternus, 
 quern non urget crastinus ?" (August.) 
 
 " For the Lord is a sun and shield ; 
 God giveth grace and glory ; 
 The Lord withholds no good 
 From them tliat walk uprightly.'" 
 
 The Lord is all brightness and no gloom, and all safety. He 
 gives " honour and glory," (see Prov. iv. 9, &c.). He leaves not 
 one unsatisfied wish. Not one in that kingdom but ever sings 
 (and O that all on earth heard it now !) — 
 
 " Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee /" 
 
 This is the heartfelt utterance of each one that has travelled 
 
 thither ; the testimony, ungrudging and unqualified, of 
 
 The Righteous One on his way to the city of the Living God. 
 
 PSALM LXXXV. 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah 
 
 1 Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land : 
 Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 
 
 2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all tlieir 
 
 sin. Selah. 
 
 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath : 
 
 Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. 
 
 4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. 
 .5 Wilt tliou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to 
 
 all generations? 
 6 Wilt thou not revive us again ! that thy pcoiile may rejoice in thee ? 
 
EXPECTED BY THE RIUHTEOUS. 253 
 
 7 Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. 
 
 8 1 will hear what God the Lord will speak : 
 
 For he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints : 
 But let them not turn again to folly. 
 
 9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him ; that glory may dwell in 
 
 our land. 
 
 10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed 
 
 each other. 
 
 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down 
 
 from heaven. 
 
 12 Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good ; and our land shall yield her 
 
 increase. 
 
 13 llighteousness shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps. 
 
 When Israel ceased to be pilgrims to the city of God, the Lord '"'le title. 
 made them in another sense pilgrims and strangers, " tribes of 
 the wandering foot and weary breast." The captivity of Baby- 
 lon was only a foretaste of centuries of exile and oppression. 
 But, on the other hand, the restoration under Ezra and Ne- 
 hemiah is, after all, but a foretaste of the final restoration of 
 that people, still beloved for their fathers' sakes. " The sons 
 of Korali" sang this song, perhaps first by Babel's streams, and 
 then at Jerusalem when the few thousands returned. 
 
 They pray for full deliverance, from verse 1 to 7. The The contents. 
 burden of it is ; " Lord, thou hast in other times been gracious, 
 thou didst in former days turn back Jacob's captivity ; thou 
 didst forgive his sins" — pausing in the midst of the review, 
 " Selah'^ — and then returning to their plea. 
 
 " Wilt thou not quicken ns again ? (give us life again.) 
 And thy people (no more scattered) shall rejoice in thee." (Ver. 6.) 
 
 And that " life" to them as a nation (Ol^njn) is what Paul re- 
 fers to as " life from the dead to the world," (Rom. ix. 1 5). 
 
 They get an answer, verse 8. The people as one body 
 (Hengst.) suddenly hear a voice from the Holy One. "Let me 
 hear what God the Lord speaketh !" It may be their pried, 
 as representative of the nation, that says, n^D^St "Let me 
 hear," in which case we might see Christ, their long-rejected 
 Priest, becoming their Intercessor, and bringing them the Lord's 
 message from the true Holy of Holies. The nation is waiting, 
 
254 PSALM LXXXV. — BRINGING BACK OF ISRAEL 's CAPTIVITY 
 
 and their representative says, " Let ine hear" — for it is worth 
 hearing, it is glorious news, 
 
 " For he speaks peace to Ms people /" 
 words like those of Jeremiah — " Thoughts of peace and not of 
 evil !" But, besides, he seems to tell of their being instru- 
 mental, as " life from the dead," in blessing the nations ; for 
 while he speaks peace, it is to Israel, but not to them only, 
 
 it is to 
 
 " His people, and to Ms saints. 
 And they shall turn no more to folly /" 
 
 The time of millennial blessedness has come. The time for 
 displaying grace to the full has come. Jew and Gentile shall 
 meet, like David and Araunah, at the altar on Moriah. 
 
 " Surely, ('^'^ as Psa. Ixxiii. 1) his salvation is near them that fear him, 
 So that glory tabernacles in our Landy 
 
 The salvation of Israel has come out of Zion. The Saviour 
 has come, the Redeemer, " the glory" in its fullest sense, anti- 
 type of the cloud of glory. And what a full display of divine 
 perfections now in the salvation of Jerusalem-sinners, Man- 
 nasseh-sinners, unbelieving souls ! * The Redeemer is there, 
 and hence " grace and truth" have met, for " mercy and truth" 
 here, are the "grace and truth" of John i. 17, of which Mes- 
 siah is the full vessel, the living fountain. " Righteousness 
 and peace" also — for here is the true Melchizedec, who is "first 
 king of righteousness, and then king of peace." The harmo- 
 nised perfections of the Holy One shine bright over Israel re- 
 stored ; these, guiltiest once of all unbelieving ones, illustrate in 
 their conversion every attribute which the cross has magnified. 
 They are received on principles of righteousness and truth, as well 
 as love and mercy, because received through Christ's atoning 
 sacrifice ; and then they reflect these attributes (as the sea does 
 the sky above it) in their life. " What were joined as attributes 
 in Christ, ought not as virtues to be separated in a Christian 
 who may learn to resemble his blessed Lord and Master by 
 
 * It is said in Romans xi. 31 — " At present they have not believed your 
 mercy {n'Trsidrjffav tw u/Asrsgw sXm) in order that they may be objects of mercy" 
 — monuments of what that very mercy can do. 
 
EXPECTED BY THE RIGHTEOUS. 255 
 
 observing that short but complete rule of life, Shew mercy and 
 speak truth ; do righteousness and follow 'peace." (Home.) 
 Restored and converted Israel walk in a singular land ! for 
 their heaven over them is righteousness, and the soil under 
 their feet yields truth. God's uabroken word is illustrated by 
 them in manifold ways, so that it is as if " Truth sprang up 
 like the flowers of their land" when the rains are over and 
 gone ; and then, all is done in righteousness, their sins being 
 forgiven through atoning blood ; so that, " righteousness" is 
 their canopy, " looking down from heaven."* " A carpet of 
 truth ! a canopy of righteousness !" 
 
 " Truly Jehovah giveth what is good ; (Exod. xxxiii. 19) 
 And our land yieldeth its increase.'^' 
 
 In verse 13 our attention is turned again to the magnifying 
 of his " righteousness ;" for now more than ever his character 
 is manifested as " rigJiteous" since it is the work of a law-ful- 
 filling Redeemer no longer rejected by Israel, but heartily 
 embraced, that has brought about these glorious changes on the 
 nation. 
 
 " Righteousness goeth before Him, 
 And sets His steps on the way." (Ver. 13.) 
 
 His steps are not straitened as he walks through Israel's land ; 
 righteousness itself, as a " royal harbinger," makes a way for 
 his footsteps. Such is 
 
 The bringing back of Israel's captivity expected by the 
 righteous. 
 
 * This " looking down," 5^pT£^^ rendered generally by TagaxuTrw in tlie 
 
 Greek, implies such a look as in 1 Pet. i. 12 angels give into the things of sal- 
 vation, and such a look as the disciples gave into the sepulchre. It is really 
 the Righteous One who is resting over them in complacent love, not as in 
 Psa. xiv. 2, and liii. 3, but fulfiUine: Psa. cii. 20. 
 
256 PSA. Lxxxr. — jehovah's character, the resting-place 
 
 PSALM LXXXVI. 
 
 A Prayer of David. 
 
 1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me ! for I am poor and needy. 
 
 2 Preserve my soul ; for I am holy : 
 
 O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. 
 
 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord : for I cry unto thee daily. 
 
 4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant : for unto thee, U Lord, do I lift up my soul. 
 
 5 For thou. Lord, art good, and ready to forgive. 
 
 And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. 
 G Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer ; and attend unto the voice of my sup- 
 plications. 
 
 7 lu the day of trouble I will call upon the : for thou wilt answer me. 
 
 8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord ; 
 Neither are there any works like unto thy works. 
 
 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come 
 And worship before thee, O Lord ; 
 
 And shall glorify thy name. 
 
 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. 
 
 11 Teach me thy way, O Lord ; I will walk in thy truth ! 
 Unite my heart to fear thy name. 
 
 12 1 will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart : 
 And I will glorify thy name for evermore. 
 
 13 For great is thy mercy toward me : and thou has delivered my soul from 
 
 the lowest hell. 
 
 14 O God, the proud are risen against me. 
 
 And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul ; 
 And have not set thee before them. 
 
 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious. 
 Long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. 
 
 16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me ; 
 
 Give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. 
 
 17 Shew me a token for good ; that they which hate me may see it, and be 
 
 ashamed : 
 Because thou. Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me. 
 
 There was much, very much, of God's peculiar character, his 
 glorious name, brought to view in the close of the last Psalm. 
 This may account for its being followed by another, " A 'prayer 
 of David" almost equally full of the character of Jehovah. 
 The key-note of this Psalm is Jehovah's name. 
 
 From verse 1 to 4, the worshipper states his case ; " poor, 
 needy," afifording an argument in our approach to Him of whom 
 we can say, " Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became 
 
FOR FAITH AND HOPE. 257 
 
 poor" (such was his grace !), " that we through his poverty 
 might become rich," (2 Cor. viii. 9). There is emphasis in verse 
 4 in the words, " for to THEE " — to no other, " do 1 lift up my 
 soul." But what, then, is the plea, verse 2, " Preserve my 
 soul, for / am holy V It is T'DH, and we can refer at once to 
 Psalm iv. 8, — " Know that the Lord has set apart him that is 
 T'CTT for himself." Is it a poor and needy member of Christ 
 that prays still ? that poor member is T'DFT ; he is a saint, he 
 is devoted to the Lord, and beloved by the Lord, and has that 
 of which Psa. iv. 3 has spoken. He is set apart for the 
 Lord; he is a temple- vessel ; the Lord will own the plea, 
 " Keep the temple-vessel from being profaned or broken." And 
 when the Lord Jesus so prayed, Jesus the true T'CTT, what 
 force was in the cry ! 
 
 At verse 5 the worshipper begins to tell us what he sees in 
 God — the God of love and grace — 
 
 " Thou, Lord, art good (love), and one whose very nature isforgivhuj, 
 Abundant in mercij (as Exod. xxxiv. 6) to all that call on thee." 
 
 It is this sight that draws forth the requests of verses 6, 7, and 
 then another look is directed to the Lord. 
 
 At verse 8 the Lord is seen as unparalleled in heart and hand ; 
 and the full heart of the Psalmist feels (ver. 9) that there is 
 enough there to encourage, not him alone, but whole nations, 
 to draw near and adore. It is a note from the song of Moses, 
 Exod. XV. 11. 
 
 Then at verse 10 he looks again towards the throne and Him 
 that sitteth thereon, and sees his greatness in Himself and his 
 great deeds, which leads to the prayer of verse 1 1 , for guidance 
 in his way. It is surely a matter of spiritual skill thus to look 
 first at the Lord, and then, with our soul bathed in his perfec- 
 tions, to pour forth our desires. " Keep my heart to the one 
 thing, to fear thy name !" (Tholuck.) 
 
 But at verses 1 2, 1 3, he recalls the past kindness of his God, 
 what he has done in his behalf already ; and thus he is en- 
 couraged to ask for what he needs now, surrounded as he is by 
 proud foes, (ver. 14). 
 
 Once more, at verse 15, he gazes on the blaze of divine love ; 
 
 R 
 
258 PSA. LXXXVI. — JEHOVAH'S CHARACTER THE RESTING PLACE. 
 
 and forthwith utters his request for his special needs, in verse 
 16. He quotes Exod. xxxiv. 7, and expects such favour as 
 Moses found. And then, gathering strong confidence from the 
 many views he has had of his God, the words of verses 16, 17, 
 are a closing petition, in which he refers to Exod. xxiii. 1 2, 
 "the son of thine handmaid" ("vema"), thy home-born slave, 
 and asks a sign (an DSik), a rainbow-like sign of wrath for ever 
 past (Gen. ix, 12), and mercy bending over him like a canopy. 
 Let us think of Jesus uttering verse 8 to his Father ; and 
 Jesus amid such foes as verse 14 speaks of ; of Jesus, " truly thy 
 servant," verse 1 6, and of Jesus asking a " sign for good." In His 
 case, the sign would be resurrection-victory ; this would be tlie 
 true " helping and comforting" for all other " Ebenezers" led on 
 to that final triumph. The ny''t^*in of verse 1 6, is the " hosan- 
 nah" of Psa. cxviii. 25, both alike answered by the king Mes- 
 siah riding forth in glorious triumph. And this shall be the 
 full " help and comfort," as well as the overflowing cup of 
 " salvation :" bestowed on each member, too ! In verse 9 
 there may be a glimpse, a passing glance, at the time of this 
 — when all nations shall come and worship. There was a time 
 Avhen Israel sang verse 8 at the Red Sea ; there has been a 
 time when the Church has sung it in view of the cross ; there 
 is a time at hand when Christ and every member of his shall 
 sing it before the throne, when all kingdoms troop together to 
 acknowledge and adore Jehovah's name, revealed in his acts of 
 redemption-grace. Here, then, is the theme of this Psalm — 
 The Righteous One, in his day of distress, resting his faith 
 and hope on the character of Jehovah. 
 
 PSALM LXXXVIL 
 
 A Psalm or Song for tlie sons of Korah. 
 
 1 His foundation is in the holy mountains. 
 
 2 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 
 
 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. 
 
 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me : 
 Behold Philistia, and Tyre, and Ethiopia ; this man was born there. 
 
PSALM LXXXVII. — THE GLORY OF THE PLACE. 259 
 
 5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her ; 
 And the highest himself shall establish her. 
 
 6 The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was 
 
 born there. Selah. 
 
 7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there. 
 All my springs are in thee ! 
 
 "A Psalm, a song, for the sons of Korah" — a title similar 
 to many former Psalms. "Kepletus Spiritu Sancto" (says 
 Augustine), " civis iste, et mnlta de amore et desiderio civi- 
 tatis hnjus volvens secum, tanquam plura intus se meditans 
 erupit in hoc. Multa secum in silentio de ilia civitate par- 
 turiens, damans ad Dominum erupit etiam in aures homimim, 
 ' Fundamenta ejus/ " &c. He supposes this citizen of Zion, 
 who sings of Zion, to be so rapt in soul, and filled with the 
 Spirit, that he abruptly exclaims, as if giving unwitting utter- 
 ance to his overflowing feelings — 
 
 " His foundations are on the holy hills !" 
 or as more exactly rendered — 
 
 " His founded city is upon the Iwly hills /" 
 
 We consider it a Psalm in which Jerusalem is celebrated as 
 " the city of the Great King,"" and this in reference in some 
 measure to the past, but in still fuller measure to the future, 
 when Isa. xxxiii. 20-24 shall be fulfilled. " Look upon Zion," 
 says Isaiah — and here is one looking on — like John, gazing on 
 New Jerusalem and examining its splendour. These moun- 
 tains, Moriah, Zion, Olivet, long famous in Israel, they are 
 adorned now with a city of which 
 
 " Glorious things are spoken^ 
 or as some render it — 
 
 " Glorious things in thee have been spoken." 
 The Lord loves it above all the other* dwellings of Jacob, or all 
 his other cities, even as was announced of old, Deut. xii. 5. 
 It is here he is to be for ever known as "Jehovah Sham- 
 mah," Ezek. xlviii. 35. And this is " a psalm, a song" of that 
 glorious time, 
 
 * Though " other" is omitted, this is the sense, as in Psa. cxxxviii. 2, 
 " Magnified thy word above all thy name," i. e., thine other manifestations of 
 thyself; so Psa. Ixxxii. 
 
260 PSALM LXXXVII. — THE GLORY OF THE PLACE WHERE 
 
 Let us keep " Jehovah Shammah" before us as the key-note 
 of the Psalm. The Psalmist says — 
 
 " / icill bring RaJiab and Babel to the remembrance of all my 
 acquaintance. 
 Behold Philistia, and Tyre, icith Ethiopia V 
 
 Having said this, the wondering narrator of Jerusalem's glory 
 abruptly breaks off, as if to intimate to us that it is mere 
 absurdity to speak of these in the same breath with Zion. As 
 the Persian poet (see Dr Clark) introduces one saying, " What 
 celebrity can Egypt or Syria, or any thing on earth or in the 
 sea, pretend to, when compared to Shiraz ? These are but 
 villages ; this alone is a city/' So the Psalmist here. Speak 
 of Egypt, proud Egypt pH*]), speak of Babylon, speak of 
 Philistia, speak of Tyre ! Speak of the far-off Ethiopia ! 
 Speak of these in comparison — no, never ! This is my boast 
 to those that know me — 
 
 " I was born there'' (Dli^) ^^ yonder city, on the holy hills ! 
 
 For ''this man" means no other than the speaker himself.* 
 He goes on in his rapturous excitement, to tell more of the 
 city's renown, in such a strain as this : Well may I glory in 
 being a citizen of Zion, for many shall be proud of their rela- 
 tion to it when the cities of the nations have long been for- 
 gotten, I boast of my connection therewith, and many shall 
 take up my boast. 
 
 " Of Zion it shall be said, 
 
 This man and that man was born in her. (ti;''^^') ]i}^Vi). 
 
 And the Most High shall establish Iter." (Ver. 5.) 
 Yes, says the Psalmist, it shall be thus ; and happy am I who 
 belong to that happy city ; for the Lord himself, and not men 
 alone, shall proclaim its pre-eminence, and give me my place 
 as one of its citizens. 
 
 " 2'he Lord shall record, when he enrolls the nations,-f 
 
 TJiis man (that is, I who sing) was born tliere." (Dli^)- 
 
 * That " This man" may be the speaker himself, see Psalm xxxiv. 6. It is, 
 q. d., I who am speaking thus, — as John ii. 19. 
 
 f In Num. i. 18, !)'1^T)^ " declared themselves to be born," is an expression 
 to be noted in connection with this Psalm. For here, as in Numbers i., the 
 Lord is represented as taking the census of his Israel. 
 
THE RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL BE MANIFESTED. 261 
 
 Happy nie ! who am to dwell in that city. Thrice happy me ! 
 Then, still speaking with all the abruptness of deep excite- 
 ment — 
 
 "And also singers, as well as players on imtrutnents," 
 shall be there, filling the city with praise and holy joy ; and 
 this shall be the burden of our everlasting song — 
 " All my springs (fountains) are in Tliee ! " 
 In thee, O Zion, where Jehovah Shammah for ever dwells ! in 
 thee I have found my rest, I have traced the streams of bliss 
 up to their fountain-head ! Such shall be Jerusalem redeemed, 
 restored, made the metropolis of a redeemed and restored 
 world, and the pattern or model of a holy capital to the nations. 
 It may be taken as sung by the Lord Jesus himself, who said, 
 " Salvation is of the Jews" (John iv. 22), not ashamed to call 
 himself one of us, and glorying in the city built by God his 
 Father — not in the world's glory which Satan shewed him on 
 the high mountain of temptation. In that case his " being 
 born there" refers to his, " This day I have begotten thee" — 
 his resurrection and glory. Or it may be taken up in the lips 
 of any pilgrim and stranger who is looking for the " City that 
 has foundations ;" the city which God has prepared and thinks 
 worthy of himself, to give to his weary ones for everlasting- 
 rest, and which they on their part receive with grateful wonder, 
 conscious that even if it had been a Cabul (1 Kings ix. 13), 
 they could not speak of having merited more. For the earthly 
 Jerusalem restored, and become the place of the manifesta- 
 tion of the Lord on his throne, will be to the " new Jerusa- 
 lem" as the outer courts leading to the inner shrine. Sing, 
 then, pilgrims, — sing, O Church of God, 
 
 The glory of the place tuhere the Righteous One shall be 
 manifested. 
 
 PSALM LXXXVIIL 
 
 A Song or Psalm (or the sons of Korah. To tho chief Musician. Upon Mahalath Leannoth. 
 Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. 
 
 1 O Lord God of inj' salvation, I have cricrt day and night heforc thee. 
 
 2 Let my prayer come before thee : incline thine ear unto my cry; 
 
262 PSALM LXXXVIII. — THE SORROWFUL DAYS AND 
 
 3 For my soul is full of troubles : and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 
 
 4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit : I am as a man that 
 
 hath no strength : 
 
 5 Free, among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, 
 
 Whom thou rememberest no more : and they are cut off from thy liand. 
 
 6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. 
 
 7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me. 
 
 And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. 
 
 8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me ; 
 Thou hast made me an abomination unto them : 
 
 I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. 
 
 9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction : 
 
 Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto 
 thee. 
 
 10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? 
 
 Shall the dead arise and praise thee ? Selah. 
 
 11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? 
 Or thy faithfulness in destruction ? 
 
 12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark ? 
 
 And thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness ? 
 
 13 But unto thee have I cried, O Lord ; and in the morning shall my prayer 
 
 prevent thee. 
 
 14 Lord, why castest thou off my soul ? why hidest thou thy face from me ? 
 
 15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up ! 
 Wliile I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. 
 
 16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me ; thy terrors have cut me off. 
 
 17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about 
 
 together. 
 
 18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into 
 
 darkness. 
 
 It has been said of some of our poets, that their living utter- 
 ance threw more feeling into particular phrases than those 
 phrases conveyed in themselves, and that consequently they 
 who knew the men saw far more meaning in their language 
 than strangers could. In reference to the same fact, it has 
 been said, " Who would part with a ring that contained a dead 
 friend's hair? and yet a jeweller will give for it only the value 
 of the gold." In many compositions of our deep-feeling poets, 
 there is " the hair of the dead friend in the gold." Their verses 
 are not to be weighed in the scale, and judged of, by mere style 
 and expression. To read them right, we should be able to 
 call up the person himself who wrote, and make the verse glow 
 with his impassioned feeling. 
 
NIGHTS OF THE MAN OF SORROWS. 263 
 
 If this can be said of mere human compositions, how much 
 more of such a Psalm as this before us? The language is 
 strangely and awfully saddening ; and yet, evidently he who 
 speaks is far more deeply sad than his words express, and filled 
 with submissive calmness, while he bends his soul under the 
 stonn. Heman, the grandchild of Samuel, was the instru- 
 ment of delivering it to the Church, perhaps on some occasion 
 when very singularly tried — nigh overwhelmed — but still, his 
 case was but the shadow of one who sank 
 
 Beneath a rougher sea, 
 
 And whelmed in deeper gulfs than he." 
 
 Heman is the person who, in 1 Chron. xv. 1 7, stands side by 
 side with Asaph, and with the Ethan, who writes the Psalm 
 that follows. Heman selected the most suitable instrument, no 
 doubt, for a piece so profoundly melancholy ; and this may be 
 meant by " Mahalatli," if derived from the root that signifies 
 " to sing," (see Gesenius). Hengstenberg translates it as the 
 noun that means " sickness, or distress," as in the title of 
 Psalm liii. We agree, however, with most interpreters in 
 supposing it an instrument of music, that same instrument 
 used in singing Psalm liii., where the world's disease and sore 
 sickness are sung of in strains so sad. That same instrument 
 is to be used in singing the sorrows of Him who bore the world's 
 sickness. And then "Leannoth" means, " in reference to afflic- 
 tion," such affliction as is described by that very term in verse 
 7 and verse 9. Some, indeed, join the term " Leannoth " to 
 " Mahalath" as if it had formed one compound name for the 
 instrument used by Heman. But even if this be so, the etymo- 
 logy would still point to something melancholy, something of 
 affliction, in the occasions on which it was to be used. 
 
 " We have in this Psalm the voice of our suffering Re- 
 deemer," says Home ; and the contents may be thus briefly 
 stated — 
 
 "1. The plaintive wailing of the suffering one, verses 1,2. 
 It strongly resembles Psa. xxii. J , 2. 
 
 2. His soul eosceeding sorrowful, even unto death, verses 3, 
 4, 5. The word "free," in our version, is ""t^EirT, properly de- 
 noting separation from others, and here rendered by Juniu.s 
 
264 PSALM LXXXVIII. — THE SORROWFUL DAYS AND 
 
 and Tremellius, " set aside from all intercourse and communi- 
 cation with men, having nothing in common with them, like 
 those who are afflicted with leprosy, and are sent away to se- 
 parate dwellings." They quote 2 Chron. xxvi. 21. 
 
 3. His feelings of hell, verses 6, 7. For he feels God's pri- 
 son, and the gloom of God's darkest wrath. And " Selah" 
 gives time to ponder, 
 
 4. His feelings of shame and helplessness, verse 8. " His 
 own receive him not." 
 
 5. The effects of soul-agony upon his body, verse 9. 
 
 6 His subTYiission to the Lord, verse 9. It is the very tone 
 of Gethsemane, " Nevertheless, not my will !" 
 
 7. The sustaining hope of resurrection, verses 10 (with a so- 
 lemn pause, ''Selah"), 11,12. The "land of forgetfulness" and 
 " the dark," express the unseen world, which, to those on this 
 side of the vail, is so unknown, and where those who enter it 
 are to us as if they had for ever been forgotten by those they 
 left behind. God's wonders shall be made known there. There 
 shall be victory gained over death and the grave : God's " lov- 
 ing-kindness" to man, and his '^ faithfulness," pledge him to 
 do this new thing in the universe. Messiah must return 
 from the abodes of the invisible state ; and in due time, He- 
 man, as well as all other members of the Messiah's body, must 
 return also. Yes, God's wonders shall be known at the grave's 
 mouth. God's righteousness, in giving what satisfied justice 
 in behalf of Messiah's members, has been manifested gloriously, 
 so that resurrection must follow, and the land of forgetfulness 
 must give up its dead. O morning of surpassing bliss, hasten 
 on ! Messiah has risen ; when shall all that are his arise ? Till 
 that day dawn, they must take up their Head's plaintive 
 expostulations, and remind their God in Heman's strains of 
 what he has yet to accomplish. 
 
 " Wilt thoii shew wonders to tlie dead,'''' o&c. 
 
 8. His perseverance in vehement prayer, verses 13, 14. 
 
 9. His loiig-continued and manifold woes, verses ] 5, 16, 1 7. 
 10. His loneliness of soul, verse 18. Hengstenberg renders 
 
 the last clause of this verse more literally — " The dark king- 
 dom of the dead is instead of all my companions." What un- 
 
NIGHTS OF THE MAN OF SORROWS. 265 
 
 utterable gloom ! completed by this last dark shade — all sym- 
 pathy from every quarter totally withdrawn ! Forlorn indeed ! 
 Sinking from gloom to gloom, from one deep to another, and 
 every billow sweeping over him, and wrath, like a tremendous 
 mountain, " leaning" or resting its weight on the crushed worm ! 
 Not even Psalm xxii. is more awfully solemnising, there being 
 in this deeply melancholy Psalm only one cheering glimpse 
 through the intense gloom, namely, that of resurrection hoped 
 for, but still at a distance. At such a price was salvation pur- 
 chased by Him who is the resurrection and the life. He himself 
 wrestled for life and resurrection in our name — and that price 
 so paid is the reason why to us salvation is free. And so we 
 hear in solemn joy the harp of Judah struck by Heman, to over- 
 awe our souls not with his own sorrows,* but with what Horsley 
 calls " The lamentation of Messiah," or yet more fully. 
 The sorrowful days and nights of the Man of Sorrows. 
 
 PSALM LXXXIX. 
 
 Maschil of Ethau the Ezrahite. 
 
 1 I WILL sing of the mercies of tlie Lord for ever ! 
 
 With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. 
 
 2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: 
 
 Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. 
 
 3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my 
 
 servant, 
 
 4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all genera- 
 
 tions. Selah. 
 
 5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord ! 
 Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. 
 
 6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord ? 
 
 Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord ! 
 
 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. 
 And to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. 
 
 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee ? 
 Or to thy faithfulness round about thee ? 
 
 * " Thy suffering Lord, believer, see, 
 
 And praise the heart that bled for thee. 
 
 The horrors of his hell-touched soul 
 
 From wounds of death hath made thee whole." — Barclay. 
 
266 PSALM LXXXIX. — THE FAITHFUL COVENANT 
 
 9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou 
 stillest them. 
 
 10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain ; 
 Thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. 
 
 11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine : 
 
 As for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. 
 
 12 The north and the south thou hast created them : 
 Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. 
 
 13 Thou hast a mighty arm : strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. 
 
 14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: 
 Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. 
 
 15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: 
 
 They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. 
 
 16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall 
 
 they be exalted. 
 
 17 For thou art the glory of their strength : and in thy favour our horn shall 
 
 be exalted. 
 
 18 For the Lord is our defence ; and the Holy One of Israel is our king. 
 
 19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one. 
 
 And saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty ; 
 I have exalted one chosen out of the people. 
 
 20 I have found David my servant ; with my holy oil have I anointed him : 
 
 21 With whom my hand shall be established : mine arm also shall strengthen 
 
 him. 
 
 22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict 
 
 him. 
 
 23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate 
 
 him. 
 
 24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with Him : 
 And in my name shall His horn be exalted. 
 
 25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. 
 
 26 He shall cry unto me. Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my 
 
 salvation. 
 
 27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. 
 
 28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand 
 
 fast with him. 
 
 29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of 
 
 heaven. 
 
 30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments ; 
 
 31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments ; 
 
 32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with 
 
 stripes. 
 
 33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from Him, 
 Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. 
 
 34 My covenant will I not break, not alter the thing that is gone out of my 
 
 lips. 
 
 35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. 
 
 36 His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. 
 
WITH MESSIAH AND HIS SEED. 267 
 
 37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, 
 And as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah. 
 
 38 But thou hast cast oif and abhgrred, thou hast been wroth with thino 
 
 anointed. 
 
 39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant : 
 Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. 
 
 40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges ; thou hast brought his strongholds 
 
 to ruin. 
 
 41 All that pass by the way spoil him : he is a reproach to his neighbours. 
 
 42 Thou hast set up the i-ight hand of his adversaries ; thou hast made all his 
 
 enemies to rejoice. 
 
 43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to 
 
 stand in the battle. 
 
 44 Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. 
 
 45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened : thou hast covered him with 
 
 shame. Selah. 
 
 46 How long. Lord ? wilt thou hide thyself for ever ? 
 Shall thy wrath burn like fire ? 
 
 47 Remember how short my time is : 
 Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain ? 
 
 48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death ? 
 
 Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave ? Selah. 
 
 49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swearest unto 
 
 David in thy truth ? 
 60 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants ; 
 
 How I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people ; 
 
 51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, 
 Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. 
 
 52 Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and Amen. 
 
 The title assigns this Psalm to " Ethan the Ezrahite," as the 
 last was by " Heman the Ezrahite." These were probably 
 called " Ezrahites," i. e., sons of Zerah, as a name of honour, 
 because of their skill in music. For, in 1 Chron. ii. 6, we find 
 the grandchildren of Judah bear these names, and in 1 Kings 
 iv. 31, they are spoken of as renowned for skill in song, being 
 " sons of Mahol, i.e., sons of the choir." Hence, in after times, 
 Levitical singers who were conspicuous in this department 
 were called " Ezrahites," q.cl, Handels or Mozarts. And this 
 is a " Maschil." 
 
 The subject here is followed out in progressive development. 
 He is to sing, verse 1, of the Lord's mercies and faithfulness ; 
 in other words, of " the sure mercies of David," spoken of by 
 Isaiah Iv. 4. He seems to be revolving in his thoughts the 
 
268 PSALM LXXXIX. — THE FAITHFUL COVENANT 
 
 Lord's words to David, 2 Sam. vii. 1 4-. Impressed with that 
 solemn covenant, he sings, verse 2 — 
 
 " / have said, Mercy shall he huilt up for ever .'" 
 
 Not as the tower of Babel, to be left unfinished, and then de- 
 stroyed, but built up heaven-ward, a grateful sight to God and 
 man — 
 
 " The heavens ! thy faithfulness thozi ivilt establish therein .'" 
 
 The Lord himself replies to this expression of faith in verses 
 8, 4, clearly referring to his word pledged to David in 2 Sam, 
 vii. When his voice has uttered its sealing testimony, there is 
 a solemn pause — " 8elah !" The Lord has spoken ! And then 
 silence is broken by rapturous praise, verse 5 — 
 
 " T7ie heavens shall praise thy tconderful doing ; 
 Thy faithfulness, also, in the congregation oftJte saints." 
 
 Unfallen angels, and the great congregation of redeemed men, 
 shall yet unite in praise to the God Avhose mercies have been 
 promised to David. Messiah's Second Coming will be the 
 special season for that praise, when his gathered elect, " the con- 
 gregation of the saints," survey the foundation of their blessed- 
 ness, and review the way by which he led them on. Every 
 time an assembly of saints now, in this time of ingathering, 
 unites in so celebrating the Lord, we have a tjipe of that com- 
 ing day ; especially when they so unite on the Sabbath of rest, 
 itself a type. And the strains that follow are a specimen to us 
 of what may be the topics of the Song of the Lamb. 
 
 Here are his praises. From verse 6 to verse 18, Ethan 
 sings of the Lord's incomparable glory and greatness, felt by 
 saints, as well as by angels, the sons of the mighty. He is 
 " God of Hosts," irresistible in might, and yet never once un- 
 loosening the girdle of faithfulness to his covenant. " Faith- 
 fulness is round about thee !" (ver. 8). It is God in Christ 
 whom Ethan praises ; it is he who at his coming again bears 
 the name, "Faithful and true" (Rev. xix. 11), and who has 
 " faithfulness as the girdle of his reins," (Isa. xi. 5). He is the 
 ruler of the stormy sea, and of proud Egypt ; the Creator of the 
 glorious heavens, and of the earth with its fulness ; the founder 
 
WITH MESSIAH AND HIS SEED. 2(i9 
 
 of Israel's land, who appointed Tabor and Hermon * to stand 
 in the midst of that land as witnesses of the Lord's doings. 
 This is Jehovah ; and he is at once righteous and loving — 
 
 " RigMeousness and judgment are the platform on which thy throne 
 stands, 
 Mercy and truth stand before thy presence." (Ver. 14.) 
 
 Happy they Avho know him ! who have heard and joined in 
 the "joyful sound," i. e., the shout of joy raised by Israel to 
 this king (Num. xxiii. 21), when they worship him at their 
 solemn feasts (Lev. xxv. 9). Happy people ! They walk in 
 his light ! They anticipate the day when the shout of joy 
 shall be raised at his Coming, and when they shall have no 
 other light to walk in than what beams from God and the 
 Lamb. So they go on from day to day — 
 " For our shield, it belongs to the Lord (^) ; 
 And our king he belongs to the Holy One of Israel." 
 (Our protector is himself protected by the Lord.) (Ver. 18.) 
 
 A fuller and plainer declaration, however, is given at verse 19 
 and onwards, of the source of all this rejoicing. Israel's shield 
 and king was the type of another whom Jehovah gives to Is- 
 rael and to earth — 
 
 " Thou spdkest in vision to thy holy ones," i. e., thy people. (Ver. 18.) 
 Thou revealedst to thy saints, by Nathan and others, thy pur- 
 pose to send Messiah in David's line ; and from 1 9 to 28, this 
 is sung of in lofty strains. He has made him the depositary 
 of help ; and he tells how he will uphold him, honour him, ex- 
 tend his kingdom, exalt his name to the highest. Nay (29-34), 
 he shall not be disappointed of his glory and promised bliss 
 even by his children's unfaithfulness ; for they even (35-37), 
 when unfaithful, must be brought back to him, that he may 
 want no joy. His truth is pledged to this, as surely as when 
 he made the rainbow " his witness in the heavens" to Noah. 
 
 A " Selah"-Y>siuse follows. that this scene were realised ! 
 O that all were come ! 
 
 But, alas, as yet these things are not arrived. We must 
 
 * This is surely better than to suppose the allusion to either side of Jordan. 
 Tabor on the west and Hermon on the north-east. 
 
270 PSALM LXXXIX — FAITHFUL COVENANT WITH MESSIAH. 
 
 hang on his faithfulness. For at present (vers. 38-45) deso- 
 lation and ominous disaster abound. Another " SdaK'-^sxise 
 follows ; the worshipper is mournfully pondering the scene, and 
 wondering what he shall do; and soon the Lord's lemembered 
 faithfulness draws forth prayer from his lips, the cry (ver, 46) — 
 
 " Hoio long, Lord " 
 
 accompanied by the plea that days are passing away, and that 
 the millions of earth are ever disappearing from the scene, 
 none able to resist the stroke — 
 
 " What mighty man liveth and seeth not death ? 
 Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave f Selah I" 
 (Yqt. 48.; 
 
 It may be that this verse (with its "lilJ "0) points to the longed- 
 for Messiah, as if saying — 
 
 "[JMiere is He that shall live and not die ? 
 That shall deliver his soul from the hand of the grave ? Selah !" 
 
 Another burst of impassioned desire follows this pensive pause, 
 verses 49-5], — an appeal to the Lord's love in former days, 
 enforced by the consideration that his name is reproached in 
 his servants, and by a touching reference to Moses, in Num. xi. 
 12, and the gracious answer he got when bidden " carry in his 
 bosom" that stiff-necked people — 
 
 " I bear the many nations in my bosom. 
 For thy Joes, O Lord, have reproached. 
 They have reproached th: footsteps of thy Messiah !" 
 
 They have been told of his Coming ; but he tarries, and they 
 scoff at this delay ; they cast it up to me. " The footsteps" 
 are explained by the Targum, and by Kinchi, to mean " the 
 tardiness of his steps,"* but by others as equivalent to the 
 whole movements or ways of Messiah. In either case the 
 taunt of the scoffers, 2 Peter iii. 4, and Malachi ii. 17, is in- 
 cluded — " Where is the promise of his coming ? Where is 
 the God of judgment?" 
 
 * M. Anton. Flaminius says, that it is by some understood of .'■coffers who 
 derided the Jews—" Quod ii Christum liberatorem expectarcnt, cujns vestigia 
 et pedes venientes nunquam visuri essent." 
 
PSALM XC. — man's sin AND FRAILTY. 271 
 
 But faith holds out, nay, realises the happy issue, (ver. 32) — 
 
 " Blessed he the Lord for ever I 
 Amen, and amen /" 
 Let it come, let it come ? (jivoiro, yivoiro ! Sept.) or rather, tes- 
 tifying its assurance that all this shall come, not one thing- 
 failing ; for the theme from beginning to end has been — 
 The faithful covenant with Messiah and his Seed. 
 
 PSALM XC. 
 
 A Prayer of Jloses, the man of God. 
 
 1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. 
 
 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the 
 
 earth and the world, 
 Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 
 
 3 Thou turnest man to destruction ; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. 
 
 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, 
 
 And as a watch in the night. 
 
 5 Thou earnest them away as with a flood ; they are as a sleep : 
 In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. 
 
 6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up ; 
 In the evening it is cut down, and withereth. 
 
 7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. 
 
 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. 
 
 Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 
 
 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : we spend our years as a 
 
 tale that is told. 
 
 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten ; 
 And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, 
 Yet is their strength labour and sorrow ; 
 
 For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 
 
 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is 
 
 thy wrath. 
 
 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 
 
 13 Return, O Lord ! how long ? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. 
 
 14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy ; that we may rejoice and be glad all 
 
 our days. 
 
 15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, 
 And the years wherein we have seen evil. 
 
 16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy gloiy unto their children. 
 
 17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us : 
 And establish thou the work of our hands upon us ; 
 Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. 
 
272 PSALM xc. — man's sin and frailty 
 
 Part 1 V. of the Book of Psalms, according to the Jewish divi- 
 sion, begins here. It is, however, unsuitable in this way to 
 separate the 90th from the 89th, inasmuch as the latter sets 
 forth the abiding faithfulness of God the Lord, while the for- 
 mer shews the need of that faithful covenant, because of man's 
 sin and frailty. Perhaps the reference in the close of Psa. 
 Ixxxix. to the words of Moses, in Num. xi. 12, may have in part 
 led to the position of this Psalm next to it. 
 
 The title, " The prayer of Moses, the man of God," is a title, 
 the genuineness of which we have no grounds for disputing, as 
 all manuscripts have it. Some diminish the interest of this 
 title by giving it a figurative turn, as if all that was meant was 
 that the Psalm is a proper prayer for one who, like Moses, is a 
 pilgrim in the world's wilderness. But it is far better to take 
 it as it stands — a real prayer and psalm of Moses, perhaps 
 written about the time of that awful event. Num. xi., or, in the 
 88th year of the desert-journey, when himself had so sinned 
 as to be forbidden to enter the land. Some even fix on Pis- 
 gah as the spot where he sang so pensively. 
 
 Moses, bemoaning the sentence gone forth on Israel, and al- 
 ready in prospect seeing the sands of the desert covering the 
 whitening bones of the thousands that had followed him, sings 
 of these three themes — 
 
 (a) From 1-10, Nothing found stable hut Jehovah. He is 
 ]iyD, not a tent in the desert, but a fixed abode (ver. 1) ; and 
 shall be so more gloriously still, (Home). 
 
 " Thou turnest them even to broJcenness, {i. e., crumbling down the mass 
 of dust) ; 
 And say est, Return, ye children of men,^^ {q. d., let the sentence re- 
 corded in Gen. iii. 19, take its course). 
 
 Man fades though his sentence of death be deferred, and 
 even if he were, like those before the flood, to live onward 
 to a thousand years. All this because of sin, — sin which God's 
 holy eye cannot overlook, for his countenance is spoken of (ver. 
 8) as liXD, a luminary. And then the shortened period of 
 seventy years ever tells of the limit to man. Our days pass 
 away as " a tale," or " ejaculation," or " sigh," or " thought ;" 
 
LEADING TO THE CRY FOR BETTER DAYS. 273 
 
 and if there be fourscore years, yet D2n^, that in which they 
 prided themselves (their Rahab), becomes toil and suffering. 
 (Hengst.) 
 
 (h) In verses 11, 12, he sings, Kothing able to stand before 
 the wrath of the Lord — 
 
 " Who knoios the poioer of thine anger, (Ezra viii. 22) 
 And thy wrath, up to the measure of thy fear ? 
 
 Who knows, or cares for, thy wrath in a manner suitable to 
 what is demanded by thy perfection, O to knoAV it so as to 
 be led thereby to wisdom — 
 
 " Cause us to hioiv (it), numbering our days ! 
 That we may bring our heart to wisdom.'" 
 
 (c) But in verses 13-17, he sings of The days of the Res- 
 titution of all things — days when " the Lord returns," that is, 
 " turns back from his wrath," and comforts his sen^ants — days, 
 when the dark night is past, and when " at morning" {lip'^2, 
 ver. 14) the Lord satiates his own, so that they are evermore 
 rejoicing — days like what Jesus speaks of, John xvi, 20-22, 
 that make anguish no more remembered — days when the 
 Lord's work appears in power, and his glory is unveiled — days, 
 when the " beauty (Dyj, see Psa. xxvii. 4,*) of the Lord," his 
 well-pleased look, rests on all his people, and on earth at 
 large. Of such days the times of David and Solomon were a 
 type, and the times of Immanuel on earth and his apostles 
 were so far a specimen. But the fulness is still a thing hoped 
 for, to be brought us at the Lord's appearing. 
 
 The meeker than Moses, Christ on earth, could use this Psalm ^Z^., ^^ ""«■ 
 in sympathy with us. As in Psa. cii. 3, 10, 11, he mourns 
 over sin, and the results of sin, which he by imputation was 
 made to share, so here he might speak as one of us throughout. 
 
 This very ancient Psalm, " The prayer of Moses, the man of 
 God," has for its burden 
 Man's sin and frailty leading to the cry for the better days. 
 
 * The Targum has here — " Let the sweetness of the garden of Eden be upon 
 
 Heafl. 
 
274 
 
 PSALM XCI.— MORE THAN ISRAEL S BLESSING 
 
 PSALM XCI. 
 
 1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High 
 Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 
 
 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress : 
 My God ; in him will I trust. 
 
 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the 
 
 noisome pestilence. 
 
 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust : 
 His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 
 
 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night ; 
 Nor for the arrow that flieth by day ; 
 
 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness : 
 Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 
 
 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand ; 
 But it shall not come nigh thee. 
 
 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the wicked. 
 
 9 Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even the Most High, 
 
 thy habitation ; 
 
 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy 
 
 dwelling. 
 
 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
 
 ways. 
 
 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a 
 
 stone. 
 
 13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder : 
 
 The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 
 
 14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him : 
 I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 
 
 15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him : 
 
 I will be with him in trouble ; I will deliver him, and honour him. 
 
 16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. 
 
 " Incarnate God ! the soul that knows 
 Thy name's mysterious power. 
 Shall dwell in undisturbed repose 
 And fear the trying hour." 
 
 The Messiah, of whom former Psalms have sung, and to whom 
 every sweet singer of Israel had regard, is here prominently 
 before us. In contrast to the utter failure of man in himself, 
 here is Messiah's safety in his God. Besides (in the wonted 
 manner of all these holy songs for the Church in all ages), 
 Messiah's seed are included, who, though as reeds in them- 
 selves, are as the cedars of God in their Head. 
 
BESTING ON MESSIAH AND HIS SEED. 275 
 
 The imagery is taken from Israel's history. Thus, verse 1 ai 
 speaks of " the Almighty," the " ShaddaV who spoke to Abra- 
 ham, Gen. xvii. 1 ; verse 5, the Passover night, and David's escape 
 from the pestilence ; and the same again, in another aspect, in 
 verses 6, 7, 8. Not to speak of the reference in verse 2 to the 
 Tabernacle and its Holy of Holies, verses 3, 4, allusion is made 
 to Jehovah as the eagle (Deut. xxxiii. 12) who bore up Israel. 
 Not less so verses 11-13, where the scorpions of the desert, 
 and the beasts of " the waste, howling wilderness" are in view, 
 as well as the flints and the pit-falls of the desert, needing an 
 angel-hand to do the service done by the angel of the covenant 
 in the Cloudy Pillar. Even verse ] 5 abounds in such refer- 
 ences ; the "calling" and "trouble" resemble Psa. Ixxxi. 7, 
 where Israel's distresses are the theme ; the " delivering," too, 
 and then the "glorifying" remind us of Israel made glorious 
 in the eyes of the nations ; while the " length of days" sends 
 us back to such promises as Deut. xi. 21. 
 
 The Psalm, then, may be viewed as gathering round Messiah 
 and his seed all the Lord's gracious and glorious interpositions 
 in behalf of his own from the beginning ; and all the Lord's 
 promises. It is Christ who realises verse 1 to the full, (as 
 Satan seems to have known when he used this Psalm in the 
 temptation, Luke iv. 10, 11) — 
 
 " He wlio sits in the covert of the Most Iligli 
 Shall spend the night {i. e., his darkest hours) under the shade of the 
 
 Almighty ; 
 Saying to Jehovah, ' He is my Refuge,'' £c" 
 
 Let US simply notice that "ip5< may very naturally be rendered 
 as the present part, " He sits, saying to Jehovah." Christ's 
 people, in their measure, may be thus described ; for does 
 not faith confidingly " sit in the covert of the Most High," 
 going in by the rent vail ? And in the measure they so do, in 
 the same measure they claim and they enjoy the blessings after- 
 wards set forth. It is interesting to notice in verse 6 the 121 
 and the 2tpp which Hosea xiii. 14 alludes to, when telling that 
 at the resurrection morn he will be plague and destruction to 
 death. The putrid plague-fever often comes on in the night 
 while the patient is asleep ; the solstitial disease seizes in 
 heat of harvest upon a man in open air, and cuts him off, per- 
 
 Christ and lii: 
 nienibers. 
 
276 PSALM XCI. — MORE THAN ISRAELIS BLESSING 
 
 haps ere evening. It is safety from perils like these that is 
 spoken of All these blessings are derived from and rest on 
 verse 1, the position of Him that claims them " under the 
 coveH of the Most High." Hence, verse 9 brings this pro- 
 minently into view again, and in the Hebrew the form of it is 
 peculiar. The speaker says, 
 
 " Because thou, Lord, aH my confidence /" 
 and forthwith a voice from heaven* seems to reply, " Yes, 
 
 " Tliou hast made the Most High thy habitation." (Psa. xc. 1.) 
 And that same voice utters the blessing onward to the end. It 
 is the Lord's own voice, for verse 14 has the words of Deut. 
 vii. 7 — 
 
 " Because he has set his love on me, 
 
 Iherefore tdll I deliver him. 
 
 I toill set him on high 
 
 Because he has hiown my name." 
 
 The tenor of the Psalm reminds us of John xvii., when the 
 Lord prays down his own privileges and blessings on his dis- 
 ciples. How like is this last clause to John xvii. 6-25, where 
 the Incarnate Son describes his disciples (ver. 14) by that 
 same feature, " They have known thee."' The " length of 
 days," in verse 15, con-esponds to Isa. liii. 10, "He shall 
 prolong his days," but tells here of resun-ection and eternal life 
 to Messiah's seed as well as to himself. 
 One thing still let us notice — 
 
 " / tvill shew him my salvation." 
 This salvation is the full redemption — all the glory purchased 
 by the Saviour as well as all the grace, " Salvation" is here 
 used as in Psa. 1. 23, in Rom. xiii. 11, 1 Thess. v. 8, Heb. ix. 
 18, 1 Peter i. 5, and many other passages. It tells of the day 
 that is yet to come, when Rev, xii. 10 shall be sung, and all 
 the unknown glory of the New Jerusalem and its King shall 
 burst on our view. " All these promises," says Bishop Horner, 
 " have already been made good to our gracious Head and Re- 
 presentative. Swift fly the intermediate years, and rise that 
 long-expected morning, when He who is gone to prepare a 
 
 * " A voice from heaven," remarks Tholuck, " seems to accompany the pro- 
 mise of God." 
 
RESTING ON MESSIAH AND HIS SEED. 277 
 
 place for us shall come again and take us to himself, that 
 where he is we may be also I" 
 
 Augustine speaks of this Psalm as, " Psalmus iste de quo 
 Dominum nostrum Jesus Christum tentator tentare ausus est." 
 And ^\ e may say of it, that it exhibits 
 More than Israel's blessings resting on Messiah and his seed. 
 
 PSALM XCII. 
 
 A Psalm or Song for the sabbath-day. 
 
 1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, 
 And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High : 
 
 2 To shew forth thy lovingliiuduess in the morning, and thy faithfulness 
 
 every night, 
 
 3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery. 
 Upon the harp, with a solemn sound. 
 
 4 For thou. Lord, hast made me glad through thy work : 
 I will triumph in the works of thy hands. 
 
 5 O Lord, how great are thy works ! and thy thoughts are very deep. 
 
 6 A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this. 
 
 7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity 
 
 do flourish ; 
 It is that they shall be destroyed for ever. 
 
 8 But thou,- Lord, art Most High for evermore. 
 
 9 For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish ; 
 All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 
 
 10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn : 
 I shall be anointed with fresh oil. 
 
 11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies. 
 
 And mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. 
 
 12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree : he shall grow like a cedar 
 
 in Lebanon. 
 
 13 Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts 
 
 of our God. 
 
 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourish- 
 
 ing; 
 
 15 To shew that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unright- 
 
 eousness in him. 
 
 When we have arrived at the eternal Sabbath, this " Song or 
 Psalm for the Sabbath-day " shall be enjoyed in full. In other 
 words, when the last words of Psalm xci. are accomplished, " / 
 will shew him my salvation," then shall this Psalm have its 
 most fitting place, sung, as it shall be, in the stillness and calm 
 
278 PSALM XCII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE'S SABBATH-SONG, 
 
 of the eternal day, when works are over — works of creation, 
 works of redemption, aye, and works of providence, too — when 
 Pharaohs are sunk in the deep, and when no sound but of psal- 
 tery and harp breaks upon Sabbatic quiet — sung, too, by the 
 Lord ofihe Sabbath, not only at the beginning of his " glorious 
 rest," but oftentimes, as the ages to come roll on — sung in 
 memory of the past ! Glorious, glorious anthem ! taken up by 
 every member of Christ, by every harper present in that con- 
 gregation of the saved, by every sweet singer of the new song ! 
 The Chaldee paraphrast ascribes the original to " the first man 
 Adam," forgetting that he could not refer to " ten-stringed 
 instruments," nor to "Lebanon." Jewish writers generally 
 refer it to Moses, in whose lips certainly the reference to the 
 "palm-tree," such as he might see at Elim, and to the "cedar 
 on Lebanon," and that goodly mountain he longed to see, would 
 be quite appropriate. It is handed down for the Church in all 
 time, whatever may have been the circumstances in which it 
 was first given, and whoever may have been the penman. 
 The tiienies of It is tuucd, we noticcd, to the strains of the eternal Sabbath.* 
 
 the Pbalni. ... . 
 
 But still, it is no less suitable for every Sabbath now, inasmuch 
 as every Sabbath speaks in type of the " rest remaining for the 
 people of God." A redeemed soul will sing it gladly as he 
 awakes on the Lord's day ; our day of rest on which Jesus 
 finished his work of resurrection, and which he seems, by his 
 own act, to have set apart as " The Lord's day."' The dawn 
 of day, after dark night, the dawn of day without toil be- 
 fore him, cannot but seem a sweet type, or emblem of the 
 Lord's " lovingkindness" appearing in salvation after a night 
 of sin ; while the bright day that follows, with its hours of en- 
 joyment and peace, presents as true an emblem and specimen 
 of the everlasting "faithfulness" that upholds his lot, fulfilling 
 all the promises that mercy gave. And hence, at morning 
 (perhaps over the morning lamb on the altar), " He shews forth 
 God's loviny -kindness," and at evenings, (Heb. /IvvS) (it may 
 be, over the evening lamb,) he praises the Lord for realising 
 all his expectations, proving himself a "faithful" God. He 
 uses every instrument of praise that tabernacle or temple could 
 
 * The Talmurl is quoted h\ some writers as entitling it, " For the future age, 
 all of which shall he Sabbatli." 
 
ANTICIPATING FINAL REST AND PROSPERITY. 279 
 
 furnish, aye, adding one to all the other instruments, namely, 
 ]i^iirT, " solemn heart-musing," to accompany the harp. For 
 this seems the only plain sense of f^'^SH v^. It is upon the 
 heart-strings, so to speak, as well as hm'p-stvings. 
 
 But what thoughts are these that call forth such emotions? 
 Verses 4, 5, 6, are the answer. The Most High's D^':'y9, Q''U^5?P- 
 n'll^nD, "works, deeds, thoughts" — his plans, and his plans ac- 
 complished, in creation, redemption, providence. The "brutish 
 ma7^," the carnal man, "a man-hrute'" (Alex.), understands 
 not these ; but the Lord's spiritual ones do, beholding his glory 
 in every act, and perceiving height, depth, length, and breadth 
 of love, as well as holiness, in them all. 
 
 One of these mysterious plans and mysterious works of God 
 has ever been his dealings with his foes. He lets them prosper 
 long. But the Sabbath (every Sabbath that leads us to the 
 sanctuary where we consider iheir latter end, and see persecu- 
 tors buried in their Red Sea), and especially the great Sabbath 
 that fulfils all, comes to remove the veil from this part of the 
 Lord's ways. The Lord is seen in the end all the more illus- 
 triously exalted ; 
 
 " But thou, Lord, art height (Di")Q)./w'' evermore ! " (Ver. 8.) 
 
 Thou art found exceedingly exalted, nay, placed on the pinnacle 
 of exaltation — height, or exaltation in the abstract ! 
 
 Another of God's wondrous ways has been the trials of his 
 own. But the Sabbath clears up these too. Indeed, every 
 Sabbath gives a specimen of this, when the godly worshipper 
 goes forth to the sanctuary, anticipating the refreshments of 
 the final rest, and saying as the day advances — 
 
 " But my liorn slialt thou exalt as the unicorn (or reem) ; 
 I am anointed with fresh oil." (Ver. 10.) 
 
 These anticipations, no doubt, are only foretastes of the enjoy- 
 ments and revelations of the eternal Sabbath; but they are 
 tokens of its bliss. That clause, "anointed lu'ith fresh oil,'^ 
 is peculiar, the word being '•/i ^3, a term used in Numbers and 
 Leviticus {e.g., ii. 4, 5), for "soaked in oil," copiously drenched 
 in oil. And this abundance of refreshment, this overflowing 
 of anointing oil, leads on the singer to other refreshings, as 
 plentiful and as desirable — 
 
280 PSALM XCII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's SABBATH-SONG, 
 
 " Tlie righteous shall flourish as the palm-tree* 
 He shall groxo like a cedar on Lebanon,''^ (his root fixed). 
 
 Is this the Lord Jesus? Is He the Righteous One ? It may- 
 be, he is referred to as the model Righteous One, the only true 
 full specimen of God's palms and cedars, though his mem- 
 bers in him come in for their share. Indeed, is not He the 
 true Adam, who takes up this Sabbath-song with all his 
 heart and soul ? On His resurrection morning, and on the 
 morning of the resurrection of his own, it suits him more than 
 any other. 
 
 If Sabbaths now are days of grace to men, what shall that 
 great Sabbath be ? what shall saints be then ! If now it 
 be said, 
 
 " They are planted in the house of the Lo7'd I 
 They flourish in the courts of our God!" (Ver. 13.) 
 
 how much more when the "house of God" is the "palace" of 
 the Great King ! — when the earthly courts are superseded by 
 the heavenly, even as Israel's typical courts were supplanted 
 by the spiritual. 
 
 In " old age" we expect such fearers of the Lord to be found 
 like Simeon and Anna ; but what shall be their growth after 
 ages on ages spent in the eternal Sabbath in the kingdom ! 
 "Fat and flourishing .'"fertile and vigorous, as those described 
 by Isaiah Ixv. 20. (Fry,) 
 
 All this — ruin to the enemies of God, everlasting blessedness 
 and increase to his own — shall prove the truth of what in all 
 ages had been sung, in confidence of faith, Ps. xxv. 8. It shall 
 " Sheic that the Lord is upright." (Ver. 15.) 
 
 It shall prove that Jehovah's ways, as well as his words, are 
 all on the side of holiness. It shall be permitted to each indi- 
 vidual soul in the kingdom to appropriate Him as his own — 
 
 * Jarchi says, " bearing abundant fruit," as the palm yields its precious 
 dates. Tholuck quotes from Schubert's Journey — " The open country wears a 
 sad aspect now ; the soil is rent and dissolves at every break of wind ; the green 
 of the meadows is almost entirely gone. The palm-tree alone preserves its 
 verdant roof of leaves in the drought and heat." Nor are we to forget the 
 growth of the tall palm, a growth that can be marked. In the case of the cedar, 
 its roots and its age, as well as its strength, are all to be considered. 
 
ANTICIPATING FINAL REST AND PROSPERITY. 281 
 
 " He is my rock" (as the Head said in Psa. Ixxxix. 26), " and 
 no unrighteousness is in Him." 
 
 Such is the close of this Sabbath-song, which has been en- 
 titled by Dr Allix, "A prophecy of the happiness of the Jews 
 in the great Sabbath of which Paul speaks in Hebrews iv.," 
 but which might better still be described as 
 
 The Righteous Ones Sabhath-song, anticipating fnal rest 
 and prosperity. 
 
 PSALM XCIII. 
 
 1 The Lord reigneth ! He is clothed with majesty ! 
 
 The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: 
 The world also is established, that it cannot be moved. 
 
 2 Thy throne is established of old : thou art from everlasting. 
 
 3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice ; 
 The floods lift up their waves. 
 
 4 The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, 
 Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. 
 
 6 Thy testimonies are very sure : holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, 
 for ever. 
 
 From the lips of unfallen Adam might have come the joyful The theme. 
 exclamation, " The Lord is King I" It was true then, yet 
 true no less when he looked on creation fallen, and himself and 
 his posterity I'uined. " God reigneth \" was the rainbow of 
 hope. So, also, in every age, God's people have called this 
 truth to remembrance, and have been of good cheer amid frown- 
 ing providences. But still, their King was invisible, and his 
 plan of government involved in obscurity. Our Psalm refers 
 to all this, but to more besides. 
 
 We have heard the Sabbath-song of the redeemed in the 
 day of " The Rest that remaineth." Now, the Eternal Sab- 
 bath is contemporaneous with the Kingdom. The saints glori- 
 fied shall enter on the enjoyment of the former in all its mani- 
 fold phases of positive rest ; the saints still on earth shall have 
 their share in the latter when it comes, reigned over by the 
 reigning saints, and by the King to whom these are kings (Rev. 
 i. 6). This is the theme of the Psalm before us. 
 
282 PSALM xciii. — Messiah's kingdom stii-ling 
 
 When the Lord by a prophet anointed Jehu king, we are 
 told how those around him blew the trumpet, saying, " Jehu 
 reigneth !" (2 Kings ix, 13, ^bD as here.) So the Lord's 
 anointed Messiah is proclaimed king by every voice and heart 
 in his dominions — 
 
 " The Lord is King /" 
 His robes are not mere show, nor is his strength merely the 
 power of armies attending him. 
 
 " He is clothed icith majesty ! 
 The Lord is clothed ! 
 He hath girded himsel/ icith might .'" 
 
 Nor is this all that is to furnish matter of wonder and delight 
 and praise. This enthronization of Jehovah in our nature has 
 intimate connection with our world's felicity. 
 
 " The loorld also is established ; 
 It does not totter T (See Psalm Ixxxiii. 5.) 
 
 That is, if we may be allowed to give a paraphrase of the 
 words, 
 
 " It is made stedfast now, after all its shakings ; 
 It rests from all its commotions, and totters no more."" 
 
 The throne of Jehovah (once seen in Exod. xxiv. 10 for a few 
 hours), is now stretched over earth, according to God's ancient 
 purpose, and as they look up to it, they sing, 
 " Thy throne was established of old, 
 Thou thyself art from eternity.''' 
 
 From the height of that immovable throne, the saints, in com- 
 pany with their King, look down on enemies made their foot- 
 stool. They sing of the past — how these foes gathered together 
 — " The floods, Lord, lifted, up their voice ;" but in a mo- 
 ment the universe was witness of their impotency — 
 
 " TIieLord is glorious in the lieight {iv h'^ieroTc, Lukeii. 14, 
 xix. 38), 
 More than the voice of majestic waters, 
 Than billows of the sea." 
 
 The Kingdom has come, the Kingdom so often prayed for, so 
 ardently desired, so long expected ; and its coming has realised 
 every hope. 
 
THE UPROAR OF THE NATIONS. 283 
 
 " Thy testimonies are most true." (Ver. 5). 
 
 Our Joshua (Josh, xxiii. ] 4), can call all to witness that not one 
 thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord God 
 spoke, (compare Rev. xxi. 5, and xxii 6). All the glorious 
 things spoken, and all his promises, have been verified, himself 
 being "faithful and true," (Rev. xix. 11). And the character- 
 istics of his happy government are unlike those that marked 
 all former dominions on earth. His palace, or " house," (see 
 Psa, xcii. 1 5), is not like the gay, loose courts of earthly kings 
 — holiness is there ; it is holiness only that would be suitable 
 there. And, it is added, 
 
 " Lord (all this shall remain) to eternity^ 
 
 The Septuagint translators felt there was such a real connec- connection 
 tion between this and the foregoing Psalm, that they entitle ceding i'»aini 
 it, " E/'s rriv riiii^av toZ (sa(3^arov ots xccTujzigTai r] jr\" " For the Sab- 
 bath-day, when the earth has been settled" — referring, evidently, 
 to the title of Psa. xcii., " A song for the Sabbath-day." But 
 we prefer describing it with a reference to Rev. xi. 15, as being 
 Messiah's hingdom stilling the uproar of the nations. 
 
 PSALM XCIV. 
 
 1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, 
 
 O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself! 
 
 2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth ! render a reward to the proud. 
 
 3 Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph ? 
 
 4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things ? 
 And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves ? 
 
 5 They break in pieces thy people, Lord, and afflict thine heritage. 
 
 6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. 
 
 7 Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob 
 
 regard it. 
 
 8 Understand, ye brutish among the people : and ye fools, when will ye be 
 
 wise ? 
 
 9 He tliat planted the ear, shall he not hear ? he that formed the eye, shall 
 
 he not see? 
 
 10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct ? 
 He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know ? 
 
 11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. 
 
284 PSALM XCIV. — THE CRY OF THE OPPRESSED CHURCH 
 
 12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out 
 
 of thy law ; 
 
 13 That thou majest give him rest from the days of adversity, 
 Until the pit be digged for the wicked. 
 
 14 For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his in- 
 
 heritance. 
 
 15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness : and all the upright in heart 
 
 shall follow it. 
 
 16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers ? 
 
 Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity ? 
 
 17 Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. 
 
 18 When I said, My foot slippeth ! thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. 
 
 19 In the multitude of my thoughts, within me thy comforts delight my soul. 
 
 20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth 
 
 mischief by a law ? 
 
 21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, 
 And condemn the innocent blood. 
 
 22 But the Lord is my defence ; and my God is the rock of my refuge. 
 
 23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity. 
 
 And shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God 
 shall cut them off. 
 
 vuh*the'^re"°" "^^^ Kingdom, then, and its King, have been anticipated, or 
 leding. rather realised as if already come. With this prospect before 
 
 them, the oppressed Church and its Head cry for vengeance 
 — joining the cry of Rev. vi, 10, from under the altar ; point- 
 ing the Judge to " The Day vengeance," Isa. Ixiii. 4 ; recall- 
 ing to his mind the words of the song of Moses, Deut. xxxii. 41. 
 I'hepian. The appeal is made in pointed heaven-penetrating cries, 
 
 verses 1, 2. Reasons for the appeal, strong and vehement, are 
 alleged, verses 3-7. The world is warned that the appeal is 
 lodged, verses 8-11.* This done, the Church and her Head 
 bless the Lord for those very dealings that call for vengeance, 
 these being instructive and sanctifying chastenings to his own, 
 though their enemies did not mean to help them to their crown. 
 They also bless the Lord for revealing the final issues, " teach- 
 ing them out of his law" i. e., advertising them in the pages 
 of his revealed Word of what is coming on, so that they 
 have peace amid the storm (ver. 12-14). "Judgment shall 
 
 * Bagster has a curious remark on the phrase " He that planted the ear." 
 The mechanism of the ear, like a root planted in the earth, is sunk deep into 
 the head, and concealed from view. 
 
AND HER HEAD FOR THE DAY OF VENGEANCE. 285 
 
 return to righteousness !" they exclaim : long has it seemed 
 otherwise ; judgment seemed to lodge in the streets, or stand afar 
 off. But in God's due time, the Judge comes (ver. 8), and judg- 
 ment goes home to the righteous — justice vindicates their cause. 
 From verse 16 to the end, we hear the same parties en- 
 couraging themselves to wait on for a season. When my soul 
 is bewildered by endless thoughts, when every human scheme 
 of relief seems vanity, my resort is to thyself, the God of all 
 consolation ! What streams for the thirsty are in thee. The 
 past, if it brought anxiety, has never failed to bring help, 
 while the future presents the prospect of the entire overthrow 
 of ungodliness — 
 
 " 7s (lie throne of iniquity confederate loitTi thee ? (Is it become thy 
 friend ? Ewald.) 
 Framing wickedness (or, misery, Ilengst.) by right of law I " 
 (Ver. 20.) 
 
 The question contains in itself its own answer ; and even 
 meanwhile there is a refuge — 
 
 " Jehovah shall be my high place, 
 And my God (shall be) my rock of shelter," 
 
 till he arises in the day of his wrath to cut them off for ever. 
 Thus, beginning with prayer,* the Psalm ends with prophecy ; 
 beginning with an earnest call, it ends with faith's confidence 
 of an answer, and sounds in our ear 
 The cry of the oppressed Church and her Head for the day 
 of vengeance. 
 
 PSALM XCV. 
 
 1 O COME, let us sing unto the Lord! Let us make a joyful noise to the rock 
 
 of our salvation ! 
 
 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, 
 And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 
 
 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 
 
 4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth : the strength of the hills is 
 
 his also. 
 
 * Augustine says, on verses 1, 2 — " Prophetia est prsedicentis, non audacia 
 jubentis." 
 
286 PSALM XCV. — THE FLOCK AND THE SHEPHERD TOGETHER 
 
 5 The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands formed the dry land. 
 
 6 O come, let us worship and bow down : let us kneel before the Lord our 
 
 maker. 
 
 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of 
 
 his hand. 
 
 8 To-day if ye will hear his voice ! harden not your heart, as in the provo- 
 
 cation. 
 And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness : 
 
 9 When your fathers tempted mc, proved me, and saw ray work. 
 
 10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, 
 
 And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not 
 known my ways : 
 
 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. 
 
 The connection " HoLY jov ill God, not discorcl iior dejection, appear in the 
 
 with the pre- "^ '' J > L 1- 
 
 ceding Psalm, old covenant as the fundamental sentiment of adoration." 
 Thus truly spoke Tholuck in regard to the gladsome calls that 
 begin so many of these Psalms. 
 
 The King and Kingdom, the Judge and the Judge's ven- 
 geance, are within sight, hastening on, almost at the door.* 
 With these solemn prospects influencing them, the flock and 
 the shepherd are now heard inviting men to enter the fold 
 while it is the day of grace. Augustine felt this connexion 
 when he wrote — " Venturus est ! prseveniamus faciem ejus in 
 confessione." 
 
 '' come, let us sing cheerfully to Jehovah (Deut. xxviii. 47), 
 Let us raise the peal of melody to the rock of our salvation ! 
 Let us come early before him (q.d., ere ever he calls), tcith praise ; 
 We icill raise the peal of melody in psalms to him.'' (Ver. 1, 2.) 
 
 He is great, and he is Sovereign over all (ver. 8) ; the deeps 
 and the heights are his (ver. 4) ; the sea and the land (ver, 5) ; 
 he is our Maker — and "Maker" is equivalent to God v}ho 
 made us all that we are in grace, as a nation and as individuals, 
 Deut. xxxii, 6 illustrates it. So in Psa, c, 2, and many other 
 places. Our God is a shepherd to us who glory in the blessed- 
 ness of being pastured by him, and defended as well as guided 
 by him (ver, 6, 7) — 
 
 " To-day, that ye would hear his voice!" 
 
 * Horsley connects Psa. xcv., xcvi., xcvii., xcviii., xcix., c, as an entire pro- 
 phetic poem, and calls it, "^ The introduction of the First-begotten into the 
 world."' 
 
INVITING MEN NOW TO ENTER THE FOLD. 287 
 
 This is the force of verse 7, ^j^DI^n D^^, like Exod. xxxii. 32, 
 " And now, O that thou wouldst forgive their sin ! " and like 
 Luke xix. 42, " that thou hadst known ! " It is an intensely 
 earnest call on those addressed to hearken to that voice, viz., 
 to the call of God ; while verse 8, in the same breath, entreats 
 them not to be as Israel at Meribah and Massah — " like 
 Merihali, like the day of Massah in the wilderness." Only 
 let us not fail to notice, that while it is the fiocJc who speak in 
 verses 1-7, it is the Shepherd who takes up their expostulat- 
 ing words, and urges them home himself at verse 8 to the end, 
 using the argument which by the Holy Ghost is addressed to 
 us also in Hebrews iii. 
 
 There is something very powerful in this expostulation, 
 when connected with the circumstances that give rise to it. 
 In themselves, the burst of adoring love, and the full outpour- 
 ing of affection in verses 1-7 are irresistibly persuasive ; but 
 when the voice of the Lord himself is heard (such a voice, 
 using terms of vehement entreaty !) we cannot imagine expos- 
 tulation carried further. Unbelief alone could resist this voice ; 
 blind, malignant unbelief alone could repel 
 
 The fiock and the Shepherd together inviting men noiv to 
 enter the fold. 
 
 PSALM XCVL 
 
 1 SING unto the Lord a new song ! Sing unto the Lord, all the earth ! 
 
 2 Sing unto the Lord, bless his name ; shew forth his salvation from day to 
 
 day. 
 
 3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. 
 
 4 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised : he is to be feared above 
 
 all gods. 
 
 5 For all the gods of the nations are idols : but the Lord made the heavens. 
 
 6 Honour and majesty are before him : strength and beauty are in his sanc- 
 
 tuary. 
 
 7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord 
 
 glory and strength. 
 
 8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name : bring an offering, and 
 
 come into his courts. 
 
 9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness : fear before him, all the 
 
 earth. 
 
 The voice of 
 Chi-ist. 
 
288 PSALM XCVI. — GLORY TO THE COMING ONE. 
 
 10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth : 
 
 The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved : 
 He shall judge the people righteously. 
 
 11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; 
 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. 
 
 12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: 
 
 13 Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord : 
 For He cometh ! for He cometh to judge the earth ! 
 
 He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with hia 
 truth. 
 
 ^heptv-ition Some say that wherever ''new song" occurs, it is a song to 
 Messiah directly, At any rate, He is always prominent, for 
 the manifestation of Godhead is in all such Psalms a prominent 
 theme. 
 
 The call of last Psalm came at a critical moment, namely, 
 in the interval between the cry for vengeance in Psa. xciv., 
 and the answer to that cry in Psa. xcvi For it is with the 
 Kingdom and the Coming King just at hand, that Psa. xcvi. is 
 sung. 
 
 it^oiigin. The first draught of this song appears in 1 Chron. xvi. That 
 
 scene was a type. There was joy because of rest to the land, and 
 rest to the ark of God in the midst of the land. And " If crea- 
 tion (says Home) be represented as rejoicing at the establish- 
 ment of the kingdom of grace, how much greater will be the joy 
 at the approach of the kingdom of glory, when, at the resurrec- 
 tion of all things, man, new-made, shall return to the days of 
 his youth, to begin an immortal spring, and be for ever young." 
 
 The theme. It is in harmouy with Rev. xiv, 7, and xix. 1-] 1. Creation 
 
 at its first birth had its joyful songs from the morning stars, 
 the sons of God (Job xxxviii. 7) ; shall not creation renewed 
 have its songs (Isa. Ixii. 10)? and shall not Earth itself sing its 
 own bliss ? It is not angels that are invited to sing, though 
 no doubt they will join ; it is a redeemed world — and the men 
 of that redeemed world are to be telling of the salvation 
 not for a few moments only, but from " day to day." In 
 telling the salvation, they are to tell chiefly the glory of 
 Him who has wrought it out(ver. 1-10) — his wonderful doings, 
 his greatness, his praise -worthiness, his fear, the nullity of 
 all other gods, the creator-skill of our God who made the 
 heavens — 
 
GLORY TO HIM WHO COMPTl'H. 289 
 
 " Glory and majesty are his inseparable attendants : 
 (Not mere transient displays, such as Esther i. 4 records.) 
 
 " Power and splendour are in his sanctuary.''' (Ver. G.) 
 
 (The originals of all kingly magnificence are in his palace.) 
 
 " Give unto Jehovah, ye families of the nations ; 
 Give unto Jehovah glory and power. 
 Give unto Jehovah the glory of his name ! 
 Bring a present* and come into his courts ! 
 Worship Jehovah in (real sanctuary splendour) the beauty 
 
 of holiness. 
 Tremble at his presence, all earth ! 
 Tell among the nations, Jehovah is king ! " 
 
 As a consequence, there is the reverse of Psa. Ixxxiii. 5. Yes, 
 tell this also to men, 
 
 " The world stands firm ; it totters no more ■' 
 He judges the people with uprightness ! " 
 
 On this announcement, there is a shout that makes the welkin 
 ring — a shout like that at Corinth, when " Soter, Soter ! " rang 
 through the air, and astonished birds as they flew, reeled, and 
 dropt their wings. It is earth rejoicing (Rev. xix. 5) that now 
 what was foretold in Rom. viii. 19-21 about the deliverance of 
 the whole creation is at last accomplished — 
 
 " For He cometh .' for He cometh ! 
 To judge the eaHh •' " 
 
 That is, to put earth in order, t to be its Gideon and Samson, 
 to be its ruler, to fulfil all that the Book of Judges delineates 
 of a judge's office. It is, as Hengstenberg says, " a gracious 
 judging," not a time of mere adjudication of causes or pro- 
 nouncing sentences — it is a day of jubilee. It is the happiest 
 day our world has ever seen. Who would not long for it ? 
 Who is there that does not pray for it? It is the day of the 
 Judge's glory, as well as of our world's freedom — the day when 
 
 * See 1 Sam. ix. 7, 1 Kings xiv ','. Allusion is made to the custoniiiry forms 
 of approach to the great. 
 
 t The Septuagint has given this title to this Psalm — " on 6 oizog uixodo- 
 jj^iiTO iMira rrjv af/jMoXo^siav!' We may suppose they meant their title to 
 be figurative. 
 
 T 
 
290 PSALM XCVII. — THE ADVENT OF MESSIAH, 
 
 " the judgment of this u-orld" (John xii. 81, and xvi. 11), 
 which his cross began and made sure, is completed by the total 
 suppression of Satan's reign, and the removal of the curse. 
 All this is anticipated here ; and so we entitle this Psalm 
 The glory due to Him who Cometh to judge the earth. 
 
 PSALM XCVIT. 
 
 1 The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; 
 Let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. 
 
 2 Clouds and darkness are round about him : 
 Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. 
 
 3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. 
 
 4 His lightnings enlightened the world : the earth saw, and trembled. 
 
 5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, 
 At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. 
 
 6 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory. 
 
 7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves 
 
 of idols. 
 Worship him, all ye gods ! 
 
 8 Zion heard, and was glad ; 
 
 And the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord. 
 
 9 For thou. Lord, art high above all the earth : 
 Thou art exalted far above all gods. 
 
 10 Ye that love the Lord, hate evil : 
 
 He preserveth the souls of his saints ; he delivereth them out of the hand 
 of the wicked. 
 
 11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. 
 
 12 Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance 
 
 of his holiness. 
 
 We advance a step further. In this Psalm, Messiah has come 
 in glory — he is not merely expected and anticipated. And 
 here the effects of his Coming, in the ruin of his foes and their 
 idols, are sung of In Heb. i. 6 there is a quotation of verse 7, 
 — " Worship Him all ye D'^nVi^/' gods, or angels, as in Psalm 
 viii, 5. In making that quotation, the sacred writer prefaces 
 it with a definite mark of time — *' When he bringeth his first- 
 begotten again into the world" — the time of his Second Ad- 
 vent — 
 
AND ITS RESULTS TO EARTH. 291 
 
 " Jelwvah reigneth .' Let the eartJi* dance for joy I (Horsley, 7^D) 
 Let the multitude of its regions rejoice." 
 The " basis of his throne" (comp. Psa. Ixxxix. 15) is formed 
 by "Righteousness and judgment," while "clouds" are its 
 curtains. And then is described the judgment upon idols, in 
 language borrowed from the Sinai-appearing of the Lord, (ver. 
 3, 4). When in verse 6 it is said, 
 
 " The heavens declare his righteousness," 
 the sense corresponds to Romans i. 18 ; it is equivalent to say- 
 ing that now the Lord from heaven, from his opened heavens, 
 rises up in favour of righteousness. From age to age the 
 heavens seemed silently to hear, as if almost indifferent to the 
 cry of sin ; but not so any longer. At verse 7 Angels are called 
 upon, "Ye gods,''(Heb. i. 6); and called upon to worship " Him" 
 who now appears, viz., Christ who now comes into the world 
 again, (Heb. i. 6). Angels who were present, and who adored 
 him at Bethlehem, at his first Coming, are again adoring. Is- 
 rael and earth at large rejoice, witnessing his " judgments," i.e., 
 his providential dealings. But specially his saints, who have 
 long prayed and waited, now find that they waited not in vain ; 
 and hence the exhortation inverse 10, and the promise in verse 
 1 1, a verse illustrated by Esther viii. 16 in one view of it — 
 
 " Light is sown for the righteous. ^^ 
 Into the furrows made by the plough of afiliction and temp- 
 tation, God casts the seeds of after-joy. Christ, "the Right- 
 eous One," is first partaker of this harvest of joy, as abun- 
 dant as were his tears, his woes, his sorrows — and joy is syno- 
 nymous with " light," because of light's cheerfulness, and be- 
 cause the rich flood of rays from the sun may be emblematic 
 of the gifts and blessings to be poured on the Righteous One 
 and his members. It is interesting to notice that an apparent 
 reference to the Head and members is contained in the change 
 of numbers in the clauses of verse 11 — 
 " Light is sown for the Righteous One, p**"!^ 
 And gladness for those tvho are upright in heart,'" (who keep to his 
 rule). 
 
 * Dathe makes yiSH) " the land," Palestine. 
 
 Christ and hii 
 members. 
 
292 PSALM XCVIII. — ISRAEL, AND EARTH AT LARGE. 
 
 All this blessedness, at the very hour judgment comes on idols 
 and idolaters, may well call forth the rejoicing with which our 
 Psalm begins and ends. And the " holiness" of verse 12 may 
 remind us that all this joy is the result of Jehovah having at 
 length introduced his own holiness into a fallen world. It is 
 a blessed song concerning 
 
 The Advent of Messiah, and its results to earth. 
 
 PSALM XCVIII. 
 
 A Psalm. 
 
 1 O SING unto the Lord a new song ! for he hath done marvellous things : 
 His right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. 
 
 2 The Lord hath made known his salvation : 
 
 His righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. 
 
 3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel : 
 All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 
 
 4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth : 
 Make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. 
 
 6 Sing unto Lord with the harp ; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. 
 
 6 With trumpets and sound of comet, make a joyful noise before the Lord, 
 
 the King. 
 
 7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell 
 
 therein. 
 
 8 Let the floods clap their hands : 
 
 Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord ; 
 
 9 For he cometh to judge the earth: 
 
 With righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. 
 
 Ryland (in " Psalms restored to Messiah,") thinks that as the 
 Jews held that Moses wrote Psalm xc. and onward to the xcviii., 
 it may be to this Psalm that Rev. xv. alludes, as " The Song of 
 Moses and the Lamb." This is improbable ; but the Psalm 
 suits that time. The kingdom and the King have arrived ; 
 the blessedness of that happy day has been celebrated. But 
 the harp cannot be silent yet ! Another song on the same 
 key ! Another sweet and solemn melody on the same theme ; 
 but with this special addition, the Lord's faithfulness to Israel. 
 Hengstenberg remarks that this Psalm is full of allusion to 
 Isaiah. At any rate, this Psalm and Isaiah, whichever was the 
 
BLESSED IN MESSIAH'S ADVENT. 29'S 
 
 earlier, answer to one another, as serapli to seraph, celebrat- 
 ing " wonders," " salvation with his right hand," " his holy 
 arm," " his righteousness revealed." And may not the clause 
 in verse 2, 
 
 " He hath remembered his mercy and truth," 
 
 be considered as equivalent to " full of grace and truth " in 
 John i. 1 7 ? That grace and truth is now to be revealed to 
 Israel in particular, for he who is the fountain of it is to dwell 
 among them — his throne stretched over Jerusalem as a rain- 
 bow spans the plain beneath, and his sceptre swayed over earth 
 to its utmost ends. 
 
 " Sing to Jehovah loith the harp ! 
 With the harp and voice of psaltery ! 
 
 With cornets and sound oflrumpet (as at the bringing up of the ark 
 to Zion, and as in 1 Kings i. 34, when Solomon was crowned). 
 Raise the peal of melody 
 Before the king, Jehovah !" 
 
 And as at the commencement of a reign in Israel, we read of 
 the shout, " Let the king live !" (2 Kings xi. 12, and ix. 3 3,) 
 " Jehu is king ! " and as they clapped the hand (2 Kings xi. 
 ] 2), as well as shouted and blew the trumpet (2 Kings ix. 1 3), 
 so we find all these recognitions of The King in this Psalm — 
 " The rivers clap their hands," and " the hills shout for joy," 
 for the king foretold in David's last words has at length come 
 (2 Sam. xxiii. 3), to rule over men in the fear of the Lord. 
 
 It is the only Psalm called simply "iblD, "Psalm," without Thetit:e 
 addition. Some say that the reason is, there are so many verses ^'^'^" ""^ 
 that have some form of the root "IDT, verses 1-8, &c. Hensf- 
 
 - T ' O 
 
 stenberg accounts for it by supposing it the lyrical accompani- 
 ment of the more directly prophetical preceding Psalm, and the 
 lyrical echo of the second part of Isaiah. It is at least interest- 
 ing to notice, that a song of Zion which so exults in the king's 
 arrival should be called pre-eminently, ")bTD ; as if the Psalm 
 of Psalms were that which celebrates 
 
 Israeh and Earth at large, blessed in Messiah's Advent. 
 
29-i PSALM XCIX. — MESSIAH RULING IN HOLINESS. 
 
 PSALM XCIX. 
 
 1 The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble : 
 
 He sitteth between the cherubim, let the earth be moved. 
 
 2 The Lord is great in Zion ; and he is high above all the people. 
 
 3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name ; for it is holy. 
 
 4 The king's strength also loveth judgment ; thou dost establish equity, 
 Thou exccutest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 
 
 5 Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool ; 
 For he is holy. 
 
 6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call 
 
 upon his name ; 
 They called upon the Lord, and he answered them. 
 
 7 He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: 
 
 They kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them. 
 
 8 Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God : thou wast a God that forgavest 
 
 them, 
 Though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. 
 
 9 Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill ; 
 For the Lord our God is holy. 
 
 The King and kingdom having come and been established, the 
 Psalmist sings of the principles of government. Holiness is 
 the rale. Jehovah is as holy as when he manifested himself 
 to Israel dwelling be'tween the cherubim. Or rather, the idea 
 seems to be that Jehovah, while fulfilling the type exhibited 
 in his dwelling between the cherubim by dwelling with men in 
 Zion, is nevertheless so holy that earth bows prostrate before 
 him, and the nations quake. 
 
 " They praise thy name I 
 Great and terrible, lioly is He ! 
 And * royal strength loveth judgynent .'" 
 
 This is their song, because he has established judgment in 
 Jacob. They call on others to join (ver. 5), bidding them fall 
 before " His footstool,^' i.e., his ark, where he gave his mani- 
 festation of himself to men who approach to worship. 
 " Heis holy " (ver. 5), 
 
 * Like " the iniffht of Gabriel fought" (Milton, P. L- vi. 355), " Crispi fa- 
 cunda senectus." (Juven. iv. 31). Others refer back to verse 3, " Let them 
 praise the stretigth of the King (who) loveth judgment." 
 
PSALM XCIX. — MESSIAH RULING IN HOLINESS. 295 
 
 This is one of their arguments ; another is, Moses and Aaron, 
 Israel's leaders in the wilderness, are there ; and Samuel, the 
 first of the judges in the land, is there. These men, and such 
 as these, used to call upon the Lord and get answers, during 
 their days of trial, he speaking from the pillar-cloud. 
 " They kept his testimonies " — 
 
 this is an abridged description of the obedient life of all these 
 saints — even as John xvii. 6, " They have kept My word," is 
 the Master's delineation of his disciples. 
 
 " He gave them a code of statutes," 
 
 refers to such a passage as Deut. xxxiii. 4, where the law is 
 
 reckoned among the prime blessings of Israel. Yes, it was 
 
 always thus ; Jehovah answered tliem, and forgave them, yet 
 
 was 
 
 "An avenging God because of their iniquities." 
 
 He is the same for ever. Just, sin-hating, righteous ! And 
 then a third time, as if to cause earth to respond to the song 
 of heaven (Isa. vi. 3, Rev. iv. 8), the Psalmist extols Jehovah's 
 hohness — 
 
 " Worship at the hill of his holiness, 
 For Jehovah our God is holy /" 
 
 It is throughout a Psalm proclaiming the untarnished perfec- 
 tions of the King, 
 
 Messiah ruling lu holiness. 
 
 PSALM C. 
 
 1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lauds. 
 
 2 Serve the Lord with gladness : come before his presence with singing. 
 
 3 Know ye that the Lord he is God : it is he that hath made us, and not we 
 
 ourselves ; 
 We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 
 
 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise : 
 Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 
 
 5 For the Lord is good ; his mercy is everlasting ; and his truth endureth to 
 
 all generations. 
 
 The Kmg and kingdom come, and holiness now swaying the 
 
296 PSALM C. — THANKSGIVING OF THE GREAT CONGREGATION. 
 
 sceptre of a happy world, behold the whole earth as one great 
 congregation uttering praise, and blessing, and thanksgiving, 
 led by Messiah, the Chief Musician ! 
 
 Its title is, " A 'psalm for thanksgiving." The word HTI/I, 
 the word used in Lev, vii. 12 for sacrifices of thanksgiving, 
 when thankful men brought to the Lord fine flour, and oil, 
 and wine, in token of their deep sense of blessings bestowed. 
 Here, then, is Earth's thankoffering day arrived — 
 
 " Raise the peal of melody to Jehovah ! 
 All the earth!" 
 
 They sing, in verse 2, of his redemption, not of creation-work. 
 They say, *' He made us," i. e., made us what we are, a people 
 to himself; as in Psa. xcv. 5, 1 Sam. xii. 6, and Deut. xxxii. 6. 
 It was not we that made ourselves his (comp. Ezek. xxix. 8). 
 
 " He (and not ourselves) made us 
 Bis people, and the flock lohom he feeds." (Ver. 3.) 
 
 And of this psalm for all nations, this thanksgiving for redemp- 
 tion, this utterance of every heart and lip on earth and in 
 heaven, this song of the whole family of God, of the glorified 
 from their place, and the saved nations on earth in theirs, the 
 burden is that old and well-known ascription to Jehovah — 
 
 " Jehovah is good — (1 John iv. 8, ' God is love).' 
 His mercy endurethfor ever," 
 
 sung at the altar long ago, 2 Chron. v. 13, and vii. 3, and 1 
 Chron. xvi. 34, Ezra iii. 11, and Jer. xxxiii. IJ. To this they 
 add — 
 
 " And his truth is from generation to generation." 
 
 He has fulfilled all he ever spoke ! He will continue for ever 
 fulfilling all he has begun to fulfil ! He who is " full of grace 
 and truth," is no doubt the leader of this song (Psa. xxii. 22), 
 though He be not mentioned specially ; and it is just such a 
 burst of rapturous delight and gratitude as will respond to 
 the invitation from the throne. Rev. xix. 5-7. We therefore 
 call it — 
 
 2'he heartfelt thanh-igiving of the Great Congregation led by 
 Messiah. 
 
PSALM CI. — RULES OF HOLY GOVERNMEMT. 21)7 
 
 PSALM CL 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 I WILL sing of mercy and judgment : unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. 
 
 2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come 
 
 unto me ? 
 I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 
 
 3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes : 
 
 I hate the work of them that turn aside ; it shall not cleave to me. 
 
 4 A froward heart shall depart from me : I will not know a wicked person. 
 
 5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut oft'. 
 Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. 
 
 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land. 
 That they may dwell with me : 
 
 He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. 
 
 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house : 
 He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 
 
 8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land ; 
 
 That I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. 
 
 We descend into the valley again. The Righteous One is before 
 us. proposing to himself the rules of rectitude that shall be ex- 
 hibited in his kingdom. We may suppose him pacing the valley 
 of Jehoshaphat, while still only on his way to the kingdom. The 
 Psalm that follows (cii.) lets us hear his complaints, and shews 
 us his comforts ; and the series proceeds, till we reach the end 
 of the cviii., where we rest under the banner of victory. 
 
 The first note of the Psalm guides us to Jehovah's true cha- 
 racter, the grace and yet the holiness of his blessed name. 
 " Mercy and judgment I icill suty .'" 
 
 This is Israel's " Arma virumque cano." Israel's theme of 
 praise is never man, but always Jehovah, It is " A Psalm of 
 David ;" and therefore let us take it as David's utterance 
 when anticipating the establishment of his throne in Jerusa- 
 lem — but as typical of David's Son, when he shall receive that 
 kingdom foretold in Isa. ix, 7, as well as now while he presides 
 over the Church, which is " His house," (Heb. iii. 6). 
 
 The whole Psalm may be used by a believer. When he re- 
 calls " that night to be remembered" in his history, his time 
 of escape from bondage, he will sing of " mercy and judgment," 
 and not less when he reviews the way God has led him since, 
 
 A new si'iies. 
 
298 PSALM CI. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE's 
 
 mingling chastisements with forbearance. And, then, his de- 
 sires and his resohitions as to the way he is to follow, resemble 
 what is here breathed out by his Head. Still, it is of Christ 
 that every clause speaks most fully. David could use it only 
 in the measure in which a believer can. 
 
 " The 'perfect way," in verse 2, reminds us of faithful Abra- 
 ham (Gen. XV. ]), whose seed, Christ, obeys what was then 
 enjoined ; nor less are we reminded by nbpti^J^, " / will deal 
 prudently," or " walk wisely," of David, in 1 Sam. xviii. ] 4, 
 15, exhibiting a type which was more than fulfilled by him of 
 whom Isaiah (liii. 1 3) has sung in lofty strains. If he asks, 
 like one wearying for a friend that seems to tarry, " When wilt 
 thou come unto me ?" it is no more than the language which 
 David would be inclined to use in his wanderings, and even at 
 Hebron, when still the kingdom was only half his own — " When 
 wilt thou give me my promised kingdom ? when wilt thou come 
 to one with that glory wherewith I am to come to my own ?" 
 
 He sees that day as if already come, and tells how he shall rule, 
 from verses 3-7. May we not say that the germs of the Book 
 of Proverbs are here — germs unfolded in the sunshine of Solo- 
 mon s reign ? There can be no doubt of the similarity in many 
 characteristic expressions (even such as using the word '•iiti^'^p, 
 ver. 5, occurring nowhere else again but Pro v. xxx. 10) ; and, 
 indeed, these verses sketched what that great book of practical 
 wisdom expands, the rules of holy living, by which every subject 
 of Christ's kingdom shall be guided — the principles of Divine 
 jurisprudence that shall be applied to the details of govern- 
 ment in every province and in every house. With truth to 
 which Absalom was a stranger, he could say, " Oh that I were 
 made judge in the land, that any man that hath any suit or 
 cause might come to me, and I would do him justice," (2 Sam. 
 XV. 4), Eising early and standing beside the way of the gate, 
 Absalom feigned to be eager for the interests of justice and 
 of his fellow-men, even as Antichrist can still pretend ; but 
 Christ shall sit on the throne of judgment for ever, the true 
 antitype of every faithful judge who, at morning, sat at the gate — 
 
 From morning lo morning will I destroy all the icicked of the land, 
 Cutting off from the city of the Lord all the workers of iniquity. 
 
RULES OF HOLY GOVERNMENT. 299 
 
 Terrible words ! the words of that same Jesus who, in expound- 
 ing on the Mount of Beatitudes the law which he came to 
 obey, declared his purpose to cast off all unholy pretenders to 
 his favour, " Ye that work iniquity, depart from me," (Matt. 
 vii. 23). And thus shall he sit on " the throne of David" (Isa. 
 ix. 7), to order it and to settle it, and to rule earth at large. 
 Then shall it be well known, that to " sing of mercy and 
 judgment" (ver. 1), was to sing of Christ ruling " his own 
 house." And thus the Psalm presents us with 
 
 The Righteous Ones rules of holy government. 
 
 PSALM CII. 
 
 A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the 
 Lord. 
 
 1 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. 
 
 2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble ; 
 
 Incline thine ear unto me : in the day when I call answer me speedily. 
 
 3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an 
 
 hearth. 
 
 4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass : so that I forget to eat my 
 
 bread. 
 
 5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. 
 
 6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness : I am like an owl of the desert. 
 
 7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. 
 
 8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day ; 
 
 And they that are mad against me are sworn against me. 
 
 9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, 
 
 10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath : for thou hast lifted me up, 
 
 and cast me down. 
 
 11 My days are like a shadow that declineth ; and I am withered like grass. 
 
 12 But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever ; 
 And thy remembrance unto all generations. 
 
 13 Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion, 
 
 For the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. 
 
 14 For thy servants take pleasure m her stones, and favour the dust thereof. 
 
 15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, 
 And all the kings of the earth thy glory. 
 
 16 When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. 
 
 17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. 
 
 18 This shall be written for the generation to come : 
 
 And the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. 
 
 19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary ; 
 From heaven did the Lord behold the earth ; 
 
300 PSALM cii. — Messiah's comi'Laint and comforts 
 
 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner ; to loose tliose that are appointed 
 
 to death ; 
 
 21 To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem ; 
 
 22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the 
 
 Lord. 
 
 23 He weakened my strength in the way ; he shortened my days. 
 
 24 I said, O my God, take rae not away in the midst of my days! 
 Thy years are throughout all generations : 
 
 25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth : and the heavens are 
 
 the work of thy hands. 
 
 26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure : yea, all of them shall wax old 
 
 like a garment ; 
 As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed : 
 
 27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. 
 
 28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be estab- 
 
 lished before thee. 
 
 The Greek lawgiver, Zaleucus, exemjDlified his own laws, even 
 in their sorest penalties, by bearing half of his son's justly-de- 
 served doom; and men read of the deed, and praise it. But our 
 Lawgiver, God over all, has cast into the shade every such act 
 of homage to law by the infinitude of suffering he in our nature 
 endured, to honour the law of heaven and save the doomed 
 transgressors. The twinkle of a taper bears more proportion 
 to the blaze of the ever-burning sun, than this one act of 
 Zaleucus, dictated by partiality for his own family, does to the 
 honour rendered to law and justice by our Divine Redeemer, 
 out of love to that holy law. In this Psalm we may see him, 
 of whom Psa. ci. sang, giving honour to those rules of rectitude 
 which there he proclaimed. For here we see the Righteous 
 One, the Lord Jesus, laying the foundation of his kingdom of 
 redeemed ones, by fully satisfying the demands of justice in 
 their room. 
 
 It is Christ, in the days of his humiliation, that is before us. 
 The title has been thus versified, 
 
 " This is the mourner s prayer when he is faint, 
 And to the Eternal Father breathes his plaint," (Keble). 
 The simplicity of the Hebrew is most expressive — " The prayer 
 of the needy one luhen he is overwhelmed, and poureth out 
 his complaint before the Lord." The "needy one" is Christ, 
 who, " though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that 
 we through his poverty might become rich." A believer, also, 
 
IN THE DAYS OF HIS HUMILfATION. 30 1 
 
 can take it up, for much of it expresses what the members may 
 often feel while taking the same view of the Father's face that 
 Christ sought. 
 
 His doleful complaint occupies from 1 to 1 1 verses, resem- 
 bling closely the deep pathos of Psa. xxii. Many of the allu- 
 sions add depth to the words, conveying the idea, that all that 
 was ever sorrowful in other men is to be found in this one " Man 
 of Sorrows." Hannah's and David's sorrow, that took away all 
 appetite for food (1 Sam. i. 7 ;* 2 Sam xii. 17), and even Saul's 
 blank horror (1 Sam. xxviii. 20), are to be found in him — 
 
 " Ml/ heart is smitten, and withered like grass, 
 So that Ihaveforcjotten to eat my bread" (Ver. 4.) 
 
 At such cost He purchased for believers on his name the pri- 
 vilege of " eating their meat with gladness and singleness of 
 heart, praising God," as exemplified in the men of Pentecost 
 (Acts ii. 46). He is like " the pelican of the wilderness'' 
 (sometimes seen at the Lake of Galilee, or by the shore of the 
 Waters of Merom,)when it has left its companions in their desert 
 resorts, and lingers alone, drooping and dying ; or like " the owl 
 in desolate places," sometimes haunting ruins, sometimes sitting 
 on some hollow tree forlorn, even at noon-day, as travellers have 
 observed in Palestine (see Narrative of Mission to the Jeius, 
 chap. V.) ; or, like some solitary sparrow, separated from the 
 happy company of its fellows, mournful on the house-top.f 
 He is like Job in the ashes, tears mingling with his drink, 
 cast away, or cast down low now, and yet once lifted high (vers. 
 9, 10), his days like the shadow. 
 
 But, as an angel strengthened him in Gethsemane, so the 
 thought of his Father's purposes supports him here. At verse 
 ] 2 he looks upward, as if he said, " But, Father ! I do not 
 
 * Daniel's, too, chap. x. 3. Some have supposed Daniel the writer of this 
 Psalm, the Holy Spirit using him in the days of the captivity, as a fit penman 
 for a subject that touched upon many circumstances like his own. 
 
 f Waterston, the naturalist, however, fixes on the " Passer solitarius," which 
 is known in Egypt and Syria, and in the south of Italy. This bird is like a 
 thrush in size, shape, habits, and has a sweet plaintive note ; but never asso- 
 ciates with others of its species, not even with its own mate, except in breeding 
 time. It is seen sitting solitary on house-tops, warbling, it may be, its plain- 
 tive song. 
 
 Tlie contents. 
 
302 PSALM CII. — MESSIAH'S COMPLAINT AND COMFORTS 
 
 distrust thee (comp. Psa. xxii. 3) ; thou art to me the same as 
 from all eternity ; thou art Jehovah ; 
 
 " Thy memorial is from generation to generation" (Ver. 13.) 
 
 That is, thy name manifested by deeds of love, and left on re- 
 cord for after ages, never changes. 
 
 " It is thou that shalt arise (QJlpJ^ ^n^<), and have mercy on Zion ; 
 For the time to favour her, the appointed time, cometh on'' (i^^ ''3, 
 comp. Psa. xcvi. 13). 
 
 At that time, " Thy servants have mercy upon OJ^n"|) the very- 
 dust of Zion ;" they feel sorrow for it. At that time shall in- 
 struments be found not less efficient than Nehemiah in his day 
 (see Neh. iii. 34, and iv. 4) to repair her wastes ; and at that 
 time the nations shall not hinder but help on the work, see- 
 ing the glory of the Lord. " For" — as if already beholding 
 it accomplished, the vision is so clear (vers. 17, 18) — 
 
 " For the Lord has huilded Zion I 
 And His Glory has been seen ! 
 He has regarded the prayer oftlie destitute. 
 And has not despised their prayer." (Comp. Psa. xxii. 24.) 
 
 He has heard the prayer of Zion's helpers, as well as the 
 prayer of Him who was emphatically " The Destitute One" — 
 the ")i?iyn, naked of all things, nowhere to lay his head ; like 
 (as the word means) the heath in the wilderness (Jer. xvii. 6), 
 like a bare solitary tree. This humiliation ends in exaltation ; 
 a future generation shall see it ; for the Lord's character is 
 known as helper of the miserable, manifesting his grace in 
 their deliverance ; and he has ever " looked down" (Deut. 
 xxvi. 15) on Israel with such feelings, delivering (as he did 
 Peter in after days) at times when men expected to see the 
 captive's end. He will look down (ver 20), 
 
 " To hear the groaning of the Prisoner (Christ), 
 To set at large the children of death" (Compare Isa. Ixi. 1 ; Christ's 
 members, and Israel among the rest.) 
 
 And this delivered company shall shew forth his praise on that 
 day when Messiah appears in his glory among the nations, 
 the Shiloh to whom, at length, all kindreds and people gather. 
 
IN THE DAYS OF HIS HUMILIATION. 303 
 
 Such is the bright prospect, the glorious vision ! From the 
 garden of Gethsemane, with the cup at his lips, Christ sees the 
 throne — glory, for a moment, bursting through the gloom. 
 But it passes away ; he feels himself still in the valley, and his 
 sense of weakness and woe returns. " SoiTowful unto death," 
 his soul cries — 
 
 " He has weakened my strength* in the way ; 
 He has shortened my days. 
 I say, my God ! 
 
 Take me not aioay in midst of my days." (Ver. 23, 24.) 
 Take me not away, let me not sink, ere my Mediatorial 
 work is accomplished. 
 
 It is here (compare Heb. i. 10-12) that the voice from the 
 Father addresses him. It is at this cry that the silence above 
 is broken. The Father speaks words of strength and hope. 
 
 " T7iy years are to all generations ! (U'^'yn "lilS; qd-, in the depth 
 of ages past, "generation of generations." Not as verse 12, 
 
 ITT -lip) 
 
 Of old thou hast laid the foundations of earth, 
 
 And the heavens were the work of thy hands,'' &c. (Ver. 24, 25.) 
 
 The Eternal Son cannot faint or fail. He must be conqueror. 
 He must pass safely up from this humiliation to the throne 
 whence he descended. Yes, it is his to create these heavens 
 and earth anew. 
 
 " These shall perish, hut tliou remainest — 
 These shall wear out as a garment." 
 
 And when they have been worn out, 
 
 " Thou shall change them as a vesture (splendid attire, Gesen.), 
 And they shall be changed'' (•IS'^/n^)- 
 
 The word for "change" implies in it (see Schultens on Prov. 
 xxxi. 8) something succeeding to another, ^pPT, (the root of 
 " Caliph/') having in it the radical idea of substitution. It is 
 used in Arabic in regard to plants, when they are changed, by a 
 new effloresence, at spring-time ; it is used by Job (xiv. 14) re- 
 garding his Eesurrection change ; it is used in Isa. ix. 9 — " We 
 
 * " His strength," iPliS is the true reading, (Hengst). Is it, " God has with- 
 drawn the help which he used to make me feel?" 
 
Christ's mem- 
 
 804) PSALM cii. — mkssiah's complaints and comforts. 
 
 will put cedars in the room of sycamores." If so, we see very 
 clearly the assurance contained in these words, that Christ 
 must not only suffer, but enter into his glory too. As cer- 
 tainly as in the beginning he was the glorious Creator of all 
 things, but was pleased to stoop to our world as a man of sor- 
 rows, so certainly he must once again create these fallen 
 heavens and earth anew — no more the Man of Sorrows, biit 
 manifested as the Eternal Son. 
 
 In that glory his children shall share — in that unchanging 
 bliss they " receive a kingdom that cannot be moved," (Heb. 
 xii. 28), They at present often drink of his cup ; they have 
 some of his sorrows ; for many an age their lot on earth has 
 been like his — sorrowful. But, at length, the day of his glory 
 dawns, and the " cliildren of his servants" shall no more be 
 strangers and wanderers ; but (liDti^'',) "shall continue," or pitch 
 their tents and be fixed. The children of Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob, " his servants," may be specially intended ; at least, 
 they are not forgotten. For now his saints enter on the posses- 
 sion of Earth, and the millennial race of Israelites inherit their 
 Land, reigned over by the Lord and his glorified saints. And 
 thus we understand this Psalm, beginning in woe, ending in 
 gladness. It is 
 
 iiah's complaint and comforts in the days of his 
 humiliation. 
 
 PSALM cm. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Bless the Lord, O my soul ! and all that is within me, bless his holy name ! 
 
 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits : 
 
 3 Who forgivcth all thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases ; 
 
 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; 
 
 Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies ; 
 6 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things ; so that thy youth is renewed 
 like the eagle's. 
 
 6 The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. 
 
 7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of 
 
 Israel. 
 
 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 
 
PSALM cm. SONG OF A REDEEMED ONE. 305 
 
 9 He will not always chide : neither will he keep his angenfor ever. 
 
 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins ; nor rewarded us according to 
 
 our iniquities. 
 
 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward 
 
 them that fear him. 
 
 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgres 
 
 sions from us. 
 
 13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear 
 
 him. 
 
 14 For he knoweth our frame ; he remembereth that we are dust. 
 
 15 As for man, his days are as grass : as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 
 
 16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone ; and the place thereof shall 
 
 know it no more. 
 ] 7 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them 
 that fear him, 
 And his righteousness unto children's children ; 
 
 18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his command- 
 
 ments to do them. 
 
 19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens ; and his kingdom 
 
 ruleth over all. 
 
 20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength. 
 
 That do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. 
 
 21 Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his 
 
 pleasure. 
 
 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. 
 Bless the Lord, O my soul. 
 
 How often have saints in Scotland sung this Psalm in days 
 when they celebrated the Lord's Supper I It is thereby spe- 
 cially known in our land. It is connected also with a remark- 
 able case in the days of John Knox. Elizabeth Adamson, 
 a woman who attended on his preaching " because he more 
 fully opened the fountain of God's mercies than others did," 
 was led to Christ and to rest, in hearing this Psalm, after en- 
 during such agony of soul that she said, concerning racking 
 pains of body, " A thousand years of this torment, and ten 
 times more joined, are not to be compared to a quarter of an 
 hour of my soul's trouble." She asked for this Psalm again 
 before departing : " It was in receiving it that my troubled 
 soul first tasted God's mercy, which is now sweeter to me than 
 if all the kingdoms of the earth were given me to possess." 
 
 Of this Psalm, when viewed as following the preceding, we 
 may say, Fruits of Messiah's work appear — glory to God, 
 
 u 
 
30G PSALM cm. SONG OF A REDEEMED ONE 
 
 goodwill to man. We might exclaim, Behold the Redeemer 
 and his gifts ! for it i.s the song of a redeemed one by the 
 Redeemer's side. Forgiveness is the chief and foremost of the 
 mercies celebrated. In tone it might be compared with 
 Mark ii. 5, 9. 
 The plan. ^ rpj^^ Gifts rcceived (ver. 1-5) are celebrated, not only 
 
 with the lips, but with the whole soul. God's Israel do not 
 now forget him when he has blessed them (Deut. vi. 12; viii. 
 11, 12), for the blessings are more than temporal, and the 
 diseases healed are more than bodily (Exod. xv. 26 ; Deut. 
 xxix. 23). The strength imparted, that makes them like the 
 soaring eagle, and to be imparted when the resurrection body 
 is bestowed, is a removal of the evils of sin. An usual word 
 is employed in verse 5, " Who hath satisfied TlJ) with good;" 
 rendered by some, "thy mouth;" by Hengstenberg, "thy 
 beauty," or ornament, i. c, thy soul ; by Gesenius and others, 
 " thine age ; " and by some, simply, " even thee." This full, 
 rich, overflowing burst of song has led to the use of a term as 
 rare as the tone of the song. The term " crowning" expresses 
 the bestowal of dignity as well as favour, and the reference to 
 the eagle is, q. d., makest me grow young again, and so to soar 
 like an eagle. 
 
 2, The Receivers of the Gifts (ver. 6, 7). — The oppressed, 
 the helpless, have been the receivers of his mercy. It is the 
 manner of Jehovah to give thus graciously. He is the Jeho- 
 vah who made known "his ways" to Moses (his principles of 
 action), and shewed his " works" to Israel, in the days of their 
 bondage. 
 
 3. The Giver, the fountain-head of these blessings (ver. 
 8-18). — He is that Jehovah whose name Moses heard (Exod. 
 xxxiv. 6) at the rock of Horeb — a name more plentiful in 
 streams for the thirsty souls, than the smitten rock of Horeb 
 for thirsty Israel. Here is the Fountain-head — "Merciful, 
 gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy." Here are seven 
 streams from that fountain-head : — a. Love uniipbraiding 
 (ver. 9) ; then, h, Love that blesses the undeserving (ver, 10) ; 
 c, Love infinite in extent (ver. 11) ; d, Love thoroughgoing in 
 its nature (ver. 12) ; e, Love very tender (ver. 13) ;/, Love that 
 
BY THE redeemer's SIDE. o()7 
 
 sympathizes witli us (ver. 14, 15, 16) ; Love that is undecay- 
 ing (ver. 17, 18). 
 
 4). The Kingdom of the Giver. — In verse 19 we see that 
 these many streams bear us on to the ocean — for we are led 
 first to the Throne in the heavens, then to the Kingdom that 
 ruleth over all the earth, 
 
 5. The closing burst of Praise to the Giver. — The morning 
 stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy, at 
 the sight of creation issuing from the Creator s hands. Much 
 more cause is there now for such another song ; ay, and a song 
 so much nobler as the theme is loftier. Angels must bear a 
 part, bi-inging all their strength to the work — this work of 
 praise. AllJehovah's hosts, all Jehovah's servants, all Jehovah's 
 creatures, inanimate as well as animate (Psa. civ. 4), in all 
 places of his dominion, must take up the thanksgiving, and 
 praise, and blessing. It is Rev. v. 13 anticipated. The man 
 that hears that song, shall he not be counted a blessed man ? 
 a thousand times blessed ? But the man himself shall cast his 
 crown of bliss at the feet of his Lord — " Bless the Lord, O my 
 soul ! " ending as he began this 
 
 Song of a redeemed, one by the Redeemer's side. 
 
 PSALM CIV. 
 
 1 Bless the Lord , O my soul ! 
 
 O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and 
 majesty. 
 
 2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment : 
 Who stretchest out the heavens like ii curtain : 
 
 3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters : 
 
 Who maketh the clouds his chariots : who walketh upon the wings of the 
 wind : 
 
 4 Who maketh his angels spirits ; his ministers a flaming fire : 
 
 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for 
 
 ever. 
 
 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment : the waters stood above 
 
 the mountains. 
 
 7 At thy rebuke they fled ; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. 
 
 8 They go by to the mountains ; they go down by the valleys. 
 Unto the place which thou hast founded for them. 
 
808 PSALM CIV. — THE GLORY OF THE LORD REVEALED 
 
 9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over ; 
 That they turn not again to cover the earth. 
 
 10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. 
 
 11 They give drink to every beast of the field : the wild asses quench their 
 
 thirst. 
 
 12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing 
 
 among the branches. 
 
 13 He watereth the hills from his chambers : the earth is satisfied with the 
 
 fruit of thy works. 
 
 14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of 
 
 man, 
 That he may bring forth food out of the earth, 
 
 15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to 
 
 shine, 
 And bread which strengtheneth man's heart. 
 
 16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which he 
 
 hath planted ; 
 
 17 Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir-trees are her 
 
 house. 
 
 18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats ; and the rocks for the 
 
 conies. 
 
 19 He appointed the moon for seasons : the sun knoweth his going down. 
 
 20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest 
 
 do creep forth. 
 
 21 The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. 
 
 22 The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in 
 
 their dens. 
 
 23 Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. 
 
 24 O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! 
 
 In wisdom hast thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches. 
 
 25 So is this great and wide sea. 
 
 Wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. 
 
 26 There go the ships : there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play 
 
 therein. 
 
 27 These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due 
 
 season. 
 
 28 That thou givest them they gather : thou openest thine hand, they are 
 
 filled with good. -^ 
 
 29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled : 
 
 Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. 
 
 30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created : and thou renewest the 
 
 face of the earth. 
 
 31 The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever : the Lord shall rejoice in 
 
 his works. 
 
 32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth : he toucheth the hills, and 
 
 they smoke. 
 
 33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live : I will sing praise to my God 
 
 while I have my being. 
 
IN EARTH CREATED AND EARTH RENEWED. o09 
 
 34 My nieclitatiou ot him shall be sweet : I will be glad in the Lord. 
 
 35 Let the siuners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no 
 
 more. 
 Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 The theme ilia 
 tiiiKuished fro 
 the preceding. 
 
 One of our poets has said — 
 
 " The song of woe 
 
 Is, after all, an earthly song." 
 
 It is not perpetuated in heaven, nor in the glorious kingdoin ; 
 for there praise, " from blest voices uttering joy," fills the 
 many mansions. Last Psalm shewed us this coming joy, aris- 
 ing from spiritual sources — the soul enjoying God, bathing in 
 his holy love, knowing him, obeying him, serving him, blessing 
 him, seeing him as he is, and for ever with him. This Psalm 
 calls our attention to the glory of our God displayed in the 
 Ttiaterial world already, and yet to be displayed in it more fully. 
 
 The key-note, "Bless the Lord, my sold!" is that on The tontenta. 
 which it is raised. The same redeemed soul that, with anointed 
 eyes, saw Jehovah in Redemption works, beholds him here in 
 Creation scenes — in the scenes of the old and new earth. With 
 the Book of Genesis (chap i.) in his hand, he surveys the first 
 day's handiwork (ver. 1, 2),* God's mantle of light, and some 
 folds of it thrown over the new-made earth. Unlike the array 
 of earthly monarchs, " glory and majesty' (symbolised by 
 light) are his robe, the skirts of which adorn the earth, which 
 is his footstool.-f- Then the second day's work (ver. 3-5) — " He 
 maketh his upper chambers with waters;" that is, the very 
 waters in the clouds are the beams on which the floor of the 
 upper chamber of his palace is laid. — He makes tvinds to act 
 for him as angels, and lightnings to do the office oi servants.l 
 
 * Not that the writer keeps close to historical arrangement ; for, as Augus- 
 tine says, on Psa. cv. — " Libera est laudatio a lege narrantis et texentis his- 
 toriam." 
 
 f The eastern upper chamber was for retirement and refreshment ; God is 
 spoken of as having such an Aliah, built up in bright isther on the slender 
 foundation of rainy clouds. (Tholuck.) 
 
 X In Heb. i. 7, the argument is, that angels are truly no more than the 
 mere handiwork of the Creator ; for he says that he uses winds for angels, 
 flames of fire for ministering ones, and vice versa. Thus angels are classed 
 with other common material agencies employed by God, and no higher. 
 
310 PSALM CIV. — THE GLORY OF THE LORD REVEALED 
 
 The third days work, wherein the platform of our earth was 
 cleared, is celebrated from verses 6 to 18 — " As for the deep, 
 thou coverest it 0) as with a garment" (see Hengstenberg), 
 Does not this mean that, on the third day, the Lord^rs^ shone 
 on the waters that covered earth, and stood above the hills, 
 then, the voice from The Glory commanded these waters to their 
 beds? And thus it was that springs began to flow among the 
 hills, and have flowed ever since, wild asses coming to drink, 
 birds among leafy trees, overhanging the brooks (pHy^, verse 
 12), uttering their cheerful notes, " living their life of music" 
 — the Lord condescending to care for every creature, yes, and 
 for every blade of grass, and for the olive that yields oil for 
 man, and for the vine, and the corn ; for the cedars, too, and 
 the pines or cypresses on Lebanon, where little birds and 
 stately storks alike find nestling ; while goats and jerboas sport 
 among the rocks below. Over this scene, the fourth day's 
 creation casts its beams (ver. 19-24). Sun and moon go 
 forth to regulate man and beast, by interchange of day and 
 night. And the ffth day's creation scene is not forgotten 
 (vers. 25, 26) — the wonders of the sea ; the living creatures of 
 the immense ocean. If man has found use for that ocean, and 
 has floated his ships upon it, in so doing he has discovered 
 some of the uses to which the Lord's treasures hid there for 
 him may be aj)plied ; at the same time, how feeble man's 
 work appears, when you observe that the Lord has constituted 
 these mighty waters the home and native abode of such mon- 
 sters as " LeviatJian whom thou hast made to take his pas- 
 time therein." As for the sixth day's work, it was introduced 
 at verses 21-23 — man and beast. As the Psalm is not histori- 
 cal, but a review of creation by one of the created ones who 
 inhabit that earth, hence it may be that man and beast were 
 introduced when singing of the uses of sun andinoon to us — 
 all the rather, because man's workmanship, " the ships," could 
 not be spoken of without previously introducing man himself 
 
 Providence is creation continued from hour to hour, from 
 age to age ; and of this, verses 27, 28, 29 sing, casting in the 
 thought of " creation subject to vanity" (ver. 29). 
 
 Every spring we have a specimen of the Creator's power, to 
 
IN EAKTPI CREATED AND EARTH RENEWED. 811 
 
 renew the earth. It may be, in part, to this annual renewal, 
 when winter is over and gone, that verse 30 refers. Even if it 
 be so, however, it contains, besides, the promise and prosj^ect 
 of earth's final renewal at the "Times of Restitution of all 
 things ; " for then only shall we know the meaning lodged in 
 
 the words, 
 
 " Thou makest 7iew the face of the eaiih.'" 
 
 If, at verse 24, the adoring exclamation spontaneously broke 
 from the beholder's lips, " O Lord ! how manifold are thy 
 works ! in wisdom thou hast made them all I" it shall yet 
 again burst from admiring witnesses of that New Creation. 
 And then shall that chorus be heard from heaven and earth 
 together ; 
 
 " The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever ! 
 'The Lord shall rejoice in his ivorks ! " (Ver. 31.) 
 
 They shall say of him in their songs — 
 
 " It is He who looked (tO"'3,(2rTj on earth and it trembled ! 
 He toucheth the mountains, and they smoke." 
 One shall cry to the other — 
 
 " While I live, I will sing to the Lord ; 
 During the whole period of my existence (eternity) I ivill praise my God. 
 Sweet, as it rests on him, shall my meditation be I 
 I (''3JJ^ though no one else should) will rejoice in the Lord." 
 
 At last has come that " New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- 
 ness ;" for "sinners are consumed (as in Num. xiv. 35), the 
 wicked are no more." Even in anticipation now we cannot 
 but join in the " Bless the Lord, O my soul I" and the " Hal- 
 lelujah''' that closes this celebration of the Lord's glory — 
 The glory of the Lord revealed in Earth created and Earth 
 renewed. 
 
 PSALM CV. 
 
 1 O GIVE thanks unto the Lord ; call upon his name : 
 Make known his deeds among the people. 
 
 2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him : talk ye of all his wondrous works. 
 
 3 Glory ye in his holy name : let the heart of them rejoice that seek the 
 
 Lord. 
 
312 PSALM CV. — THE LORD GLORIFIED IN 
 
 4 Seek the Lord, and his strength : seek his face evermore. 
 
 5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done ; 
 His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth ; 
 
 6 O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. 
 
 7 He is the Lord our God : his judgments are in all the earth. 
 
 8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, 
 
 The word which he commanded to a thousand generations. 
 
 9 Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, 
 
 10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an ever- 
 
 lasting covenant, 
 
 11 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your in- 
 
 heritance. 
 
 12 When there were but a few men in number ; yea, very few, and strangers 
 
 in it. 
 
 13 When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another 
 
 14 He suffered no man to do them wrong : yea, he reproved kings for their 
 
 sakes, 
 
 15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 
 
 16 Moreover he called for a famine upon the land : he brake the whole staff 
 
 of bread. 
 
 17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant : 
 
 18 Whose feet they hurt with fettei-s: he was laid in iron : 
 
 19 Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. 
 
 20 The king sent and loosed him ; even the ruler of the people, and let him 
 
 go free. 
 
 21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance : 
 
 22 To bind his princes at his pleasure ; and teach his senators wisdom. 
 
 23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 
 
 24 And he increased his people greatly ; and he made them stronger than 
 
 their enemies. 
 
 25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilely with his servants. 
 
 26 He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen. 
 
 27 They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. 
 
 28 He sent darkness, and made it dark ; and they rebelled not against his 
 
 word. 
 
 29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. 
 
 30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their 
 
 kings. 
 
 31 He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts. 
 
 32 He gave thejp hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. 
 
 33 He smote their vines also and their fig-trees ; and brake the trees of their 
 
 coasts. 
 
 34 He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without number. 
 
 35 And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their 
 
 ground. 
 
 36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. 
 
HIS REDEEMING ACTS TOWARD ISRAEL. 313 
 
 37 He brought them forth also with silver and gold : 
 
 And there was not one feeble person among their tribes. 
 
 38 Eifypt was glad when they departed : for the fear of them fell upon them. 
 
 39 He spread a cloud for a covering ; and fire to give light in tlie night. 
 
 40 The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the 
 
 bread of heaven. 
 
 41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out ; they ran in the dry 
 
 places like a river. 
 
 42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant. 
 
 43 And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness : 
 
 44 And gave them the lands of the heathen : and they inherited the labour 
 
 of the people ; 
 
 45 That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 The first fifteen verses were written at the bringing- up of the 
 Ark, 1 Chron. xvi. They tell that it is sovereign grace that 
 ruleth over all — it is a sovereign God. Out of a fallen world 
 he takes whom he pleases — individuals, families, nations. He 
 chose Israel long ago, that they might be the objects of grace, 
 and their land the theatre of its display. He will yet again re- 
 turn to Israel, when the days of his Kingdom of Glory draw 
 near ; and Israel shall have a full share — the very fullest and 
 richest — in his blessings, temporal and spiritual. In these 
 days shall this song be sung again — 
 
 " Ogive thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name ! 
 Make known among the Gentiles his ivorkinys," £c. 
 
 Inviting, in such strains (ver. 1-8), all Israel to tell of their 
 redeeming God among the nations ; " He, the Lord, is our 
 God" (ver. 7). They recount his benefits, from the days of 
 Abraham onward to their entering in peace upon possession 
 of Canaan — the type of the more blessed rest remaining for 
 them and us under the true Joshua. The Covenant (ver. 8, 9) 
 was the sure foundation of this favour manifested toward them ; 
 and that same Covenant (ver. 42) was the Lord's reason for 
 putting the cope-stone on the work. It is " grace, grace," 
 from beginning to end. And the repeated call on saints to 
 " make God's deeds known" breathe a missionary spirit, and 
 should be so felt by us who know the great deeds of Calvaiy 
 and Pentecost. Home, also, well remarks on verse 2, "Sing 
 — talk, — music and conversation are two things by which the 
 mind of man receiveth great good or a great deal of harm. 
 
 God's S' 
 reitfiity 
 
 The contents. 
 
314 PSALM CV. — THE LORD GLORIFIED IN 
 
 They who make Jehovah the subject of both will enjoy a heaven 
 on earth/' 
 
 1. The Psahn, then, selects incidents that may best touch the 
 heart. Thus Israel's insignificance, teven after becoming a na- 
 tion, and their weakness, and wanderings (vers. 12-15). They 
 went " from the kingdom," a land promised to them, (ni)7pDD) 
 " to a foreign people." 
 
 " From kingdom unto kingdom, 
 Sojourned a little band : 
 From, place to place compelled to stray — 
 Strangers in a strange land." (Barclay.) 
 
 Yet they are " anointed ;" the oil of him who set them apart 
 is on their head ; and therefore they are safe (ver. 15). He 
 has separated them for himself, and made them " his prophets" 
 — teachers of his will to other nations of earth. 
 
 2. Joseph's History is next selected as a theme ; for there 
 Jehovah is seen casting down and lifting up ; using, too, a 
 despised instrument to be a glorious deliverer. There is some- 
 thing graphic in the language of verse 16, "He called for 
 famine," representing it as his waiting servant, (Home). 
 Scarcely less so is the literal rendering of verse 17, " He sent a 
 man before them" — but hoAV ? To man's eye there appeared 
 no sending ; but it was to emerge from this, " Joseph was sold 
 for a servant." Here again is grace — grace flowing in un- 
 thought-of channels (vers. 1 6-2 -i). 
 
 3. Egyptian bondage follows, but only as introducing re- 
 demption — redemption by power, and redemption that pro- 
 claimed Jehovah's wrath on the rebellious (vers. 25, 26). We 
 see Jehovah removing from the rebellious resisters of his will 
 the blessing of light, the blessing of water for their thirst, the 
 blessing of domestic comfort, the blessing of fertilising rain, the 
 blessing of the increase yielded by the vine and fig, the grass 
 and grain, nay, the blessing of health and of life (27-36). On 
 the other hand, his blessing rests, in sovereign grace, on his 
 redeemed (vers. 37-43) — the blessing that is the reverse of 
 these inflictions on Egypt, besides strength, security from foes, 
 guidance, providential supply of food and water. 
 
 " He brought forth his people with rejoicing, 
 J J is elect with the song of joy." 
 
HIS REDEEMING ACTS TOWARD ISRAEL. 315 
 
 But all this — not for their sakes — only because of his holy co- 
 venant. " Grace, grace," pervades his ways ; and grace leads 
 them into possession of their inheritance (ver. 44) ; but leads 
 them thither to glorify their redeeming God, even as shall be 
 the case at their final return — 
 
 " For the sake of having his statutes observed, 
 And his laws preserved. 
 Hallelujah P' 
 
 Whether we consider the sweet singer here to be David, or 
 David's Son, who sat in the pillar-cloud over Israel's tents, 
 the theme is the same. 
 
 The Lord glorified in his redeeming acts toward Israel. 
 
 PSALM CVL 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord. give thanks imto the Lord. 
 For he is good : for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord ? who can shew furth all his 
 
 praise ? 
 
 3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at 
 
 all times. 
 
 4 Remember me, Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people : 
 O visit me with thy salvation ! 
 
 5 That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness 
 
 of thy nation, 
 That I may glory with thine inheritance. 
 
 6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed initjuity, we have 
 
 done wickedly. 
 
 7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; 
 They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; 
 But provoked him at the sea, even. at the Red Sea. 
 
 8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake. 
 That he might make his mighty power to be known. 
 
 9 He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up : 
 
 So he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. 
 
 10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them. 
 And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 
 
 11 And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. 
 
 12 Then believed they his words ; they sang his praise. 
 
 13 They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: 
 
 14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. 
 
 15 And he gave them their request ; but sent leanness into their soul. 
 
816 PSALM UVI. — THE LORD GLORIFIED IN 
 
 16 They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord. 
 
 17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of 
 
 Abiram ; 
 
 18 And a fire was kindled in their company ; the flame burned up the 
 
 wicked. 
 
 19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. 
 
 20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth 
 
 grass. 
 
 21 They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt, 
 
 22 \Yondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the lied Sea. 
 
 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, 
 
 Had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach. 
 To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them. 
 
 24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word : 
 
 25 But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the 
 
 Lord. 
 
 26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, 
 To overthrow them in the wilderness : 
 
 27 To overthrow their seed also among the nations, 
 And to scatter them in the lands. 
 
 28 They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the 
 
 dead. 
 
 29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions : and the plague 
 
 brake in upon them. 
 
 30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment : and so the plague was 
 
 stayed. 
 
 31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations 
 
 for evermore. 
 
 32 They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with 
 
 Moses for their sakes : 
 
 33 Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his 
 
 lips. 
 
 34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord com- 
 
 manded them : 
 
 35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. 
 
 36 And they served their idols : which were a snare unto them. 
 
 37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, 
 
 38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their 
 
 daughters. 
 Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan : 
 And the land was polluted with blood. 
 
 39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, 
 And went a whoring with their own inventions. 
 
 40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, 
 Insomucli that he abhorred his own inheritance. 
 
 41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen ; and they that liatod them 
 
 ruled over them. 
 
HIS LONGSUFFERING TO ISRAEL 317 
 
 12 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjec- 
 tion under their hand. 
 
 43 Many times did he deliver them ; but they provoked him with their 
 
 counsel, 
 And were brought low for their iniquity. 
 
 44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry : 
 
 45 And he remembered for them his covenant, 
 
 And repented according to the multitude of his mercies. 
 
 46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives 
 
 47 Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen. 
 To give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. 
 
 48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: 
 And let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 We are still traversing the same field We are still listening The th.^K 
 to the gracious acts of the Lord toward one nation of his ran- 
 somed — namely, Israel. It is another portion of their history 
 that is reviewed, but there is as much of grace, sovereign grace, 
 in this portion as in the first. And hence it opens, like the 
 former, with praise and adoring wonder — 
 
 " Hallelujah ! praise ye the Lord ! 
 For lie is good ! for his mercy is for ever. 
 Who can tell the mighty deeds of the Lord ? 
 Who can shew forth all his praise ?" 
 
 The only mode in which the creature can even attempt aright xi.e pian. 
 to shew forth his praise is, by continued and ever increasing 
 service — " Blessed are they that keep judgment, and they that 
 do righteousness at all times." So great has the Lord's favour 
 to his Israel been, that the sweet singer, whoever he be — 
 David, as in 1 Chron. xvi., or David's Lord, in his day — while 
 remembering that favour and singular love, exclaims (ver. 
 4, 5),— 
 
 " Remember me, Lord, tvith the favour o/ (shewn to) thy peojjle ! 
 
 Visit me with thy salvation ! (such as was wrought for them.^ 
 
 That I may see the good of thy chosen ones. 
 
 And may rejoice in the joy of thy nation,* 
 
 And glory with thine inheritance.'' 
 If the type afforded such matter for praise, what shall the an- 
 
 * Here the term >S^ is applied to Israel. It is only so used when Q^ has 
 preceded it, says Hengstenberg. It may also, in such cases, imply that God's 
 people (Qy) are, in themselves, no better than Q^i!l- I^"t "^S^ though they 
 be by nature, they are thine. 
 
318 PSALM CVI. — GOD GLORIFIED IN ISRAEL. 
 
 titype ? If that kingdom of Israel furnished such proofs of 
 Jehovah's love, what shall The Kingdom that is yet to come ? 
 
 To magnify the Lord's grace, confession is made of Israel's 
 sin — forgetfulness, ingratitude, selfishness (vers. 6-15) ; and 
 then of rebellion, idolatry, murmuring unbelief, lust, and lewd- 
 ness ; persevering unbelief, neglect of duty, conformity to the 
 heathen world (vers. 16-39). Scene upon scene is brought 
 before us in which Israel is seen defiled, polluted, stained to 
 the core with sin. Yet the Lord saved them, when they re- 
 turned from their ways (vers. 40-46), fulfilling the promise in 
 Lev. xxvi. 12, and answering the prayer (1 Kings viii. 47), left 
 for all ages. 
 
 Yes ; these scenes of grace toward the basest, most ungrate- 
 ful, most perverse, are for all ages, to lead them to the cry in 
 verse 47, — 
 
 " Save us, Lord, our God ! 
 And gather us from the Gentiles.'^ 
 
 Israel must raise that cry in these latter days. Israel will 
 raise it soon. Ere long, they shall take up the harp of David, 
 and Solomon, and Asaph, and Heman, and the sons of Korah, 
 and use all these songs ; and this among the rest — this among 
 the first. On that day, instead of " Amen" to the solemn 
 curse, as in Deut. xxvii. 15-26, the people shall, with one 
 accord, say " Amen" to the song of thanksgiving raised to Je- 
 hovah, who has gathered them fi'om the Gentiles. 
 
 " Blessed he Jehovah, God of Israel, 
 From everlasting and unto everlasting ! 
 And let all tlie people (Q^n) •''«.'/, Amen ! 
 Hallelujah ! " 
 Thus setting forth 
 
 The Lord glorified in his long-suffering to Israel, and in their 
 final gathering. 
 
PSALM C'VII. — SONG OF THE GATHERED ONES. 319 
 
 PSALM CVIL 
 
 1 O GIVE thanks unto the Lord, for he is good : for his mercy endureth for 
 
 ever. 
 
 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the 
 
 hand of the enemy ; 
 
 3 And gathered them out of the lands, 
 
 From the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. 
 
 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way ; they found no city to 
 
 dwell in. 
 
 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 
 
 6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out 
 
 of their distresses ; 
 
 7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of 
 
 habitation. 
 
 8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. 
 And for his wonderful works to the children of men ! 
 
 9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. 
 
 10 Such as sit in darkness and in shadow of death, being bound in affliction 
 
 and iron, 
 
 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, 
 And contemned the counsel of the Most High : 
 
 12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour ; 
 They fell down, and there was none to help. 
 
 13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out 
 
 of their distresses. 
 
 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake 
 
 their bands in sunder. 
 
 15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. 
 And for his wonderful works to the children of men ! 
 
 16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. 
 
 17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are 
 
 afflicted. 
 
 18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat ; and they draw near unto the 
 
 gates of death. 
 
 19 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of 
 
 their distresses. 
 
 20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their de- 
 
 struction. 
 
 21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. 
 And for his wonderful works to the children of men ! 
 
 22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works 
 
 with rejoicing. 
 
 23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters ; 
 
 24 These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. 
 
The connection. 
 
 320 PSALM evil. SONG OF THE GATHERED ONES. 
 
 25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the 
 
 waves thereof. 
 
 26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths : 
 Their soul is melted because of trouble. 
 
 27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their 
 
 wit's end. 
 
 28 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out 
 
 of their distresses. 
 
 29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
 
 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet ; so he bringeth them into their 
 
 desired haven. 
 
 31 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, 
 And for his wonderful works to the children of men! 
 
 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people. 
 And praise him in the assembly of the elders. 
 
 33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground ; 
 
 34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell 
 
 therein. 
 
 35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into 
 
 watersprings. 
 
 36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city 
 
 for habitation ; 
 
 37 And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of in- 
 
 crease. 
 
 38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly ; 
 And suffercth not their ccatle to decrease. 
 
 39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, 
 
 and sorrow. 
 
 40 He poureth contempt upon princes, 
 
 And causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. 
 
 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families 
 
 like a flock. 
 
 42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her 
 
 mouth. 
 
 43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, 
 
 Even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. 
 
 SCAKCELY has the ascending cry of the preceding Psalm ceased, 
 when the answer* comes. For here is all Israel gathered. 
 We say, all Israel ; for it is Israel peculiarly who form the 
 subject of it. At the same time, on the same principle that 
 
 * The Jewish Fifth division of the Psalms begins here, apparently for no 
 other reason than because Psa. cvi. ended with an Amen. Properly there is a 
 close connection between Psa. cv , cvi., and cvii., equivalent to Part I., Part IT., 
 Part III., of one and the same narrative. 
 
scenes. 
 
 PSALM CVII. — SONG OF THE GATHERED ONES. 321 
 
 leads us to admit every member of Christ's body to share in 
 David's hopes and faith, and in the Son of David's confidence 
 and victory, we find this a Psahn which every one of God's re- 
 deemed, in any age, can sympathise in, and can sing with re- 
 ference to themselves, 
 
 Henffstenberg thinks it suited peculiarly to a joyful, na- its typical and 
 
 o o r J J J ' emblematic 
 
 tional service of thanksgiving, such as that Feast of Tabernacles 
 in Ezra's day (chap, iii.), after the few bands of the dispersed 
 of Israel had returned to their land. If it would be appro- 
 priate in such circumstances, much more will it be so when all 
 Israel, from all lands of their dispersion, have returned home. 
 And thus it is that Dr Allix describes it — " A Hymn of the 
 Synagogue, gathered from its last dispersion " — applicable 
 to that day foretold by Isa. xi. 11, when the Lord recovers the 
 remnant of his people, the second time, " from Assyria, and 
 from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, 
 and from Shinar, and frorn Hamath, and from the isles of the 
 sea." Some have experience of their forefathers' trials in the 
 desert (ver. 4-7) ; some have come from the prison-house (ver. 
 1 0-1 4) ; some have been emaciated by sickness (ver. 1 7-20) ; 
 others have been all but swallowed up by the sea (ver. 23-30) ; 
 — all have been witnesses of the Lord's curse on their own 
 land and nation for sin, and now have become witnesses of the 
 blessing when sin is removed. A nation that has had, and 
 is to have, such experience is the fittest of all to form a type, or 
 be the pattern, of God's discovery of his ways in grace, to 
 men of every nation, and kindred, and tongue, whom he re- 
 deems. It is such manifestations as these that make " the 
 righteous see and rejoice;" it is such views of God's ways 
 that cause " all iniquity to stop her mouth" (ver. 42) ; and it 
 is thus that men discover Jehovah's thoughts that are higher 
 than our thoughts, 
 
 " Whoso is wise will consider these things, 
 And will understand the mercies (""nDn) of the Lord." 
 
 The kingdom will be the time and place for a thorough and 
 searching inquiry into the Lord's past ways. We try this in- 
 quiry now, and what we do succeed in discerning is most 
 profitable. But our eyes are dim. O for the time when Israel, 
 
 X 
 
322 PSALM evil. — SONG OF THANKS FROM GATHERED ISRAEL 
 
 and we beside them, shall look back on the Lord's ways, such 
 ways as are described here, and understand the Lord's character 
 and the Lord's loving-kindness ! From the heights of glory 
 we shall be able to look far down into the depths of grace. 
 
 Eut no wonder it closes thus, when we dwell upon its many 
 subjects of praise and thanksgiving. Its first words are abun- 
 dant in thought concerning Jehovah — " For he is good." Is 
 not this (as we saw in Psa. c.) the Old Testament version of 
 " God is love?" (1 John iv. 8.) And then, "For his mercy 
 endureth for ever." Is not this the gushing stream from the 
 fountain of Love ? — the never-failing stream, on whose banks 
 "the redeemed of the Lord" walk, "those whom he has re- 
 deemed from, the hand of the enemy" (Hengstenberg, " hand 
 of trouble," 1'^). Nor is the rich significance of these clauses 
 diminished by our knowing that they were, from time to time, 
 the burden of the altar-song. When the ark came to its rest- 
 ing-place (1 Chron. xvi. .34), they sang to the Lord — "For he is 
 good ; for his mercy endureth for ever !" In Solomon's tem- 
 ple, the singers and players on instruments were making the 
 resplendent walls of the newly-risen temple resound with these 
 very words, when the glory descended (2 Chron. v. 13) ; and 
 these were the words that burst from the lips of the awe- 
 struck and delighted worshippers, who saw the fire descend 
 on the altar (2 Chron. vii. 8). And in Ezra's days (iii. 11), 
 again, as soon as the altar rose, they sang to the Lord — " Be- 
 cause he is good ; for his m^ercy to Israel endureth for ever." 
 Our God is known to be " Love," by the side of the atoning 
 sacrifice. Jeremiah, (xxxiii. 11) too, shews how restored Israel 
 shall exult in this name. 
 
 Dwell next on the experience of his redeemed, "from east 
 and west," so far separate from each other ; and from " north,'^ 
 the most obscure quarter of earth, and from " the sea " (U^), the 
 tempest-tossed region. They have witnessed strange scenes, 
 and the love of God in them all. Think of the wanderers in 
 the desert (ver. 4) realising their fathers' history, and joining 
 to it Hagar and Ishmael's thirst and despondency — how they 
 were delivered after all, and led to the city, to Jerusalem (Tar- 
 gum and Hengstenberg) — the city where they found the habi- 
 tation of God, and where they were made to dwell. 
 
AND FROM THE REDEEMED. 323 
 
 " Let these praise the Lord for his goodness, 
 And for his tconderful doings to the sons of men ; 
 For he satisfieth the longing sold {P!pp\i}, going hither and thither 
 
 in vain), 
 AndfiUeth the hungry soid with good " (^ilO ; his own name, ver. 1.) 
 
 Think of another scene. Yonder is a prison-house (ver, 10), 
 and there you find transgressors, such as Manasseh or Zede- 
 kiah, brought low, because they despised the words of (7^) 
 the Mighty God, and left in the dungeon to consider their 
 ways. Their cry goes up to the mercy-seat — they are de- 
 livered ; they are blessed. 
 
 " Let them praise the Lord for his goodness," djc. 
 Think of another scene — the bed of sickness, " Fools afflicted 
 because of their course of transgression,'" (ver. 17). Hear the 
 groan, look on the languid eye, observe the sore anguish of these 
 death-stricken ones. But, like the man described in Job xxxiii. 
 19-23, to whom the Interpreter comes, these cry to the Lord 
 and find mercy. 
 
 And so is it with those tempest-tossed ones (ver. 22), who 
 for a time were like Jonah and the mariners that were with 
 him.* The Lord commandeth, and the stormy wind ariseth, 
 (ver. 25). 
 
 " Wliich, liftdh up His leaves;'' {i.e., Jehovah's waves Psa. xliii. 7 ; 
 Jonah ii. 3). 
 
 But what a calm when Jehovah hears their cry ! — like the sea 
 of Galilee that morning when The Master arose and rebuked 
 winds and waves with his " Peace ; be still." Was there need 
 then to exhort men to adore and praise ? Did they not cry 
 one to another, "What manner of man is this?" Even so 
 here ; when "their waves" (ver. 29) — i. e., the waves that tossed 
 them, sent out by God (ver. 25), and made terrible to them — 
 are lulled by him who hears their cry. 
 
 * " Me miserum ! quanti montes volvuutur aquarum ! 
 Jamjam tacturos sidera summa putes. 
 Quantse diducto subsidunt aquore valles ! 
 Jamjam tacturos Tartara regna putes. 
 Rector in incerto est, nee quod fugiatve, petatve 
 Invenit ! ambiguis ars stupet ipsa malis." 
 
 —Ovid, Eleff. I., ver. 28. 
 
324 PSALM evil. — SONG OF THE GATHKRED ONES. 
 
 " Let them praise the Lord fur his goodness," d-c. 
 Let them praise Him in the place where the Elders sit together — ■ 
 deliberating on the ways of God. 
 
 But now Israel, from all lands, meet on their proper soil — 
 Palestine. They see it had become waste and desolate, like 
 Sodom (Deut. xxix. 23), though once as the garden of Eden ; 
 and they own it is for " the wickedness of those that dwelt 
 there," (ver. 34). They remember how, when their fathers 
 emerged from the wilderness, they found it a land flowing with 
 milk and honey ; and how to them it was exchanging a desert 
 for water-springs — there they dwelt, built their cities, reared 
 Jerusalem, and there they multiplied (ver. 35-38). It was sin 
 that " dimiuished them," and " poured contempt on their 
 princes," (ver. 39, 40). God is good ; God is Love. God would 
 have blessed them for ever, nor ever once have broken a link 
 of the chain, but for sin. And now He has returned in free 
 love to them. 
 
 " He setteth the poor on high, 
 And maketh families to him, like a flock of sheep." (Ver. 41.) 
 
 Shall not gathered Israel bless the Lord ? and shall not all the 
 
 earth hear, and see, and learn ? 
 
 " The righteous shall see and rejoice, 
 And all iniquity stop her mouth. 
 Whoso is wise will consider these things, 
 And will understand the mercies of the Lord." 
 
 By such closing words are all men invited to come and join 
 the Lord's redeemed, in their blessings and in their joyful song, 
 helping them to raise to the Lord this 
 
 Song of thanks from gathered Israel and the redeemed. 
 
 PSALM CVIIL 
 
 A Song or Psalm of David. 
 
 1 O God, my heart is fixed ; 
 
 I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. 
 
 2 Awake, psaltery and harp : I myself will awake early. 
 
 3 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people : 
 
 And I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. 
 
 4 For thy mercy is great above the heavens : and thy truth reacheth unto 
 
 the clouds. 
 
PSALM CVIII. — MESSIAH RAISING THE SHOUT OF VICTORY. 325 
 
 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens : and thy glory above all the 
 
 earth. 
 
 6 That thy beloved may be delivered : save with thy right hand, and an- 
 
 swer me. 
 
 7 God hath spoken in his holiness! I will rejoice ; 
 
 I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 
 
 8 Gilead is mine ; Manasseh is mine ; 
 
 Ephraim also is the strength of mine head ; Judah is my lawgiver ; 
 
 9 Moab is my washpot ; over Edom will I cast out my shoe ; 
 Over Philistia will I triumph. 
 
 10 Who will bring me into the strong city ? who will lead me into Edom ? 
 
 11 Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, 
 
 go forth with our hosts ? 
 
 12 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 
 
 13 Through God we shall do valiantly : for he it is that shall tread down our 
 
 He has brought them to their desired haven ! The tone. 
 
 " God I my heart is fixed — 
 My heart is fixed." 
 
 No more tossed, no more wandering. 
 
 " I will siiig and give praise ; 
 Awake, my glory, awake ! " 
 
 A call to celebrate a greater victory than Deborah's (Judges 
 V. 12) — " Awake, my glory" — i. e., my tongue, the best member 
 I have for the purpose ; or, my heart (Hengstenberg), fitted to 
 be a harp that may sound thy name. 
 
 " Awake, psaltery and harp ! 
 I will aicake the morning ! " 
 
 For his mercy is great — that mercy sung of lately (Psa. cvii. 
 1, and ver. 43). It is "frow. above the heavens" (C)^?2^ ^^J^) ', 
 i. e., coming down on us, as do drops of a fertilizing shower. 
 Even as the " Peace on earth," of Luke ii. 14, was first " Peace 
 in heaven" (Luke xix. 38). 
 
 We have already had the words of this Psalm in two others Title and torm. 
 — viz., the Ivii. and Ix. But here the joyful and the trium- 
 phant portions of these two are joined in one, to form a lofty 
 melody (" A song, a psalm," like Psa. xxx. in the title), cele- 
 brating Israel's return and Messiah's triumph.* Messiah, and amuaints!'^'^'^ 
 
 * Ryland says, that in Psalm Ivii. and Ix. the words were prophetic and 
 consolatory; here they are rather eucharistic, and descriptive of what God 
 has prepared for his own. 
 
32^) PSA. CVllI. — MESSIAH KAISING THE SHOUT OF VICTORY. 
 
 all Israel along with him, and every saint " rejoicing with Jeru- 
 salem" (Isa. Ixv. 18), utter this Psalm. Messiah, as Leader, 
 speaks, in verse 9, in his own name (an intentional variation 
 from Psalm Ix. 8) — 
 
 " Moab I will use as a vessel in ivhich to icash my feet (when the journej 
 is over), 
 Over Edom I will cast my shoe (as one does to his servant), 
 Over Philistia I will raise the shout o/joi/." 
 
 Both in this Psalm and Psalm Ix., the words in verse 10 — 
 " Who shall lead me ?" — are in the present participle, Vli^ )D 
 — " Who is my leader V — thus admitting of application to the 
 past, while they may be prospective also ; like the expression 
 in Heb. xiii. 7, " Kemember Tuv riyov/xsvuv v/mSjv," your rulers. 
 The speaker asks — 
 
 " Who is he that leadeth me to the strong city 7 
 Who hath led me into Edom ? 
 Is it not thou, God, who hadst rejected us, 
 And didst not gofoiih with our armies ? " 
 
 Then, going forward in the Lord's name, and renouncing man's 
 strength, He and His enter on possession, saying — 
 
 " Through God we shall do valiantly ; 
 He it is that treads down our enemies." 
 
 " It is he that bruises Satan under our feet," may every saint 
 reply ; and, when Israel's day has come, every saint shall find 
 himself blessed in their blessing. And so shall the Church 
 join 
 Messiah, in behalf of restored Israel, raising the shout of 
 victory. 
 
 PSALM CIX. 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Hold not tliy peace, O God of my praise ! 
 
 2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened 
 
 against me : 
 They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 
 
 3 They have compassed mc about with words of hatred ; 
 And fought against mc without a cause. 
 
PSALM CIX. — JUDGMENT ON JUDAS AND JUDAS-LIKE MEN. 327 
 
 4 For my love they are my adversaries : but I give myself unto prayer. 
 
 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hated for my love. 
 
 6 Set thou a wicked man over him : and let Satan stand at his right hand. 
 
 7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned : and let his prayer be- 
 
 come sin. 
 
 8 Let his days be few ; and let another take his office. 
 
 9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. 
 
 10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg : 
 
 Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. 
 
 11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath ; and let the stranger spoil his 
 
 labour. 
 
 12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him : 
 
 Neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. 
 
 13 Let his posterity be cut off; 
 
 And in the generation following let their name be blotted out. 
 
 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord ; 
 And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. 
 
 15 Let them be before the Lord continually. 
 
 That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. 
 
 16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, 
 
 But persecuted the poor and needy man, that he miglit even slay the 
 broken in heart. 
 
 17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him : 
 
 As he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. 
 
 18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment. 
 
 So let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. 
 
 19 Let it be unto him as a garment which covereth him, 
 And for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. 
 
 20 Let this be a reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, 
 And of them that speak evil against my soul. 
 
 21 But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake : 
 Because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. 
 
 22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. 
 
 23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth : I am tossed up and down 
 
 as the locust. 
 
 24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. 
 
 25 I became also a reproach unto them : when they looked upon me they 
 
 shaked their heads. 
 
 26 Help me, O Lord my God : O save me according to thy mercy : 
 
 27 That they may know that this is thy hand ; that thou, Lord, hast done it. 
 
 28 Let them curse, but bless thou : 
 
 "When they arise, let them be ashamed ; but let thy servant rejoice. 
 
 29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame. 
 
 And let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. 
 
 30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth ; 
 Yea, I will praise him among the multitude. 
 
 31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, 
 To save him from those that condemn his soul. 
 
S28 PSALM cix. — Messiah's prayers and praises for 
 
 A series of four connected Psalms commences here, beginning 
 with Messiah in his low estate. It is an observation as old as 
 the days of the Fathers, that this Psalm presents to us " The 
 sufferings of Christ," and the Psalm that succeeds celebrates 
 " The glory that should follow." We here descend into the 
 Valley of Humiliation, that we may look up from thence to the 
 height of Exaltation. Christ is here enduring the contradic- 
 tion of sinners, and at last meeting with the traitor. " Etjtu, 
 Brute r is the tone of the complaint. The Fathers called it 
 " the Iscariotic Psalm," because so specially applied by Peter 
 (Acts i. 16-20) to Judas. We may consider Judas, at the 
 same time, as the virtual head of the Jewish nation in their 
 daring attempt to dethrone the Son of God. The doom pro- 
 nounced, and the reasons for it, apply to the Jews as a nation, 
 as well as to the leader of the band who took Jesus. In the 
 words of verse 1 , 
 
 "Hold not thy peace, God of my praise,'' 
 we hear the Saviour taking up Israel's manner of addressing 
 Jehovah ; for Moses uses it (Deut. x. 21) when expressing the 
 feeling that during all his wilderness journey he had proved 
 Jehovah sufficient for him under sorrow, fear, perplexity, suf- 
 fering, temptation, and so had ever found reason to praise him. 
 Jeremiah, the weeping Jeremiah, broken in spirit, and meeting 
 with treachery in the house of his friends, could call on Jeho- 
 vah by the same name (xvii. 14), " Thou art my praise f 
 The Lord Jesus identifies himself with his saints — " in all 
 points tempted like as we are." Yes, and if at one time he 
 looks up to the Father and says, " Thou art my praise ! " 
 thinking of blessings already received, no less does he at 
 another time, as one of us would do when needing more help, 
 speak thus of himself, " / am prayer," {vex. 4). 
 
 Christ speaks from verses 1-5 as one surrounded by foes, like 
 Shammah amid the Philistines in the field of lentiles (2 Sam. 
 xxiii. 12) ; then suddenly his eye falls on the leader of the 
 troop, the tallest and most prominent sinner of the many 
 thousands whom he guides to the prey. May we not say 
 that verse 6, so abruptly isolating some one enemy, pointing 
 the finger at him, and bidding the divine thunderbolt fall on 
 
JUDGMENT ON JUDAS AND JUDAS-LJKE MEN. 329 
 
 ins head, is like the Evangelist's " While he yet spake, lo ! 
 Judas, one of the twelve I" Even as Judas said to those he 
 led on, " That same is he, hold him fast ;" so the Son of man 
 says to the Father, "There is he/ let him die !" 
 
 We consider the terrific utterance of doom, from verse 6 to 
 verse 20, as no other than a copy (if we may so speak) of the 
 Father's sentence upon the traitor who sold the Beloved Son 
 for thirty pieces of silver. Christ declares it, and consents to 
 it — " Let it be even so \" 
 
 " Let the wicked one be set over him ; 
 And let Satan stand at his right hand." (Ver. 6.) 
 
 Again, — 
 
 " Let his children wandering, wander on, 
 Let them beg, and seek (food)//'om amo7ig the ruins of their own homes." 
 
 And then he says, — 
 
 " Let their sins be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the 
 memory of the sinner from the earth ; 
 Because he remembered not to sheto mercy (worse than Gen. xl. 23), 
 But persecuted the poor and needy One ; 
 The One that was broken-hearted even unto death .'" (Ver. IG.) 
 
 Our Master had this verse in substance on his lips at the very 
 hour when Judas was on his way to Gethsemane to betray him ; 
 for Matt. xxvi. 38 tells us that Jesus spake of being " sorrow- 
 ful UNTO DEATH " which is the form of the expression here, 
 " broken in heart unto death" H/TID/ 1ZD Hl^pp. (See on Psa. 
 Ixxix. 1 ] , for the force of HJl^Q.) 
 
 We must not pass verse 18 without remarking that there is 
 an allusion in its tone to Num. v. 21, 22, 24 — the unfaithful 
 wife. Her curse was to penetrate into her bowels ; " the water 
 that causeth the curse shall enter into her ;" and such a curse 
 comes on unfaithful Judas, who violates his engagement to 
 the Lord, and upon Israel at large also, who have departed 
 from him as a "wife treacherously departeth from her husband," 
 and have committed adultery against the Bridegroom. 
 
 After this manifestation of Jehovah's abliorrence of all Mes- 
 siah's foes, from Judas downward, the Saviour looks again to 
 the Father, committing all to him. 
 
330 PSALM CIX. — JUDGMENT ON JUDAS AND JUDAS-LIKE MEN 
 
 " And thuu, Jehuvah, mi my Lord .'" (Ver. 21.) 
 
 To us it is sweet consolation to be able to say, " My Beloved 
 is mine, and I am his !" Was it less so to the Son of man ? 
 
 " Ad for me, for thy name's sake /" 
 
 Father, glorify thy name ! Glorify thyself even in my con- 
 tinued suffering (ver. 22-25). For again he cries, 
 
 " For poor and needy am I {i^hti, even I whom thou hast ah-eady 
 helped), 
 And my JieaH is wounded within me. 
 Like the declining shadow I go away (night is near), 
 I am tossed to and fro as the locust" (the storm has begun). 
 
 Blasts from hell, and from earth, drive me about, as brisk winds 
 do the locusts, seeking to sweep me into the deep. 
 
 Once more (vers. 26-28) prayer arises from him who said 
 in verse 4, " / am jprayer ;" and after this, praise. For he 
 sees deliverance on its way, and ends with praise to the " Ood 
 of his praise" (ver. 1) as he began, adoring the grace of Jeho- 
 vah, who rescues the helpless one, standing at his right hand. 
 And in this " Salvation" is included glory and blessedness, 
 the glory and the blessedness of the kingdom. The harp is 
 soon to sing of this theme in louder notes ; and, therefore, it is 
 no more than indicated at the close. What a Psalm ! 
 MessiaJis prayers and praises for judgment on Judas and 
 Judas-like men. 
 
 PSALM ex. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 The Lord said unto my Lord, 
 
 Sit thou at my right baud, until I make thine enemies thy footstool 
 
 2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion : 
 Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 
 
 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy ]jo\ver ; 
 
 In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, 
 Thou hast the dew of thy youth. 
 
 4 The Lord hath sworn, and will not repeat, 
 
 Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec. 
 
PSALM ex.— THE RIGHT HAND AND THE FOOTSTOOL. 331 
 
 6 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his 
 wrath. 
 
 6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead 
 
 bodies ; 
 He shall wound the heads over many countries. 
 
 7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head. 
 
 " The right hand of the 'poor !" was heard in the closing lines ^^"1^;^"^' 
 of the last song — " the right hand of the Poor One," viz., the 
 Messiah on earth in his humiliation. But look up now ; this 
 " poor and needy One is exalted ! The Lord has " saved him." 
 We see no Judas now ; but we see Him whom Judas betrayed, 
 and whom Israel agreed in rejecting, exalted to the right hand 
 of God. 
 
 " Jehovah said to my Lord, ('•J'TJ^) 
 Sit at my right hand." 
 
 An oft-quoted passage — because it contains a memorable truth . * Quotati. 
 We find it quoted by Messiah himself to lead Israel to own 
 him as greater than David, Matt. xxii. 41. It is quoted in 
 Heb. i. 13, to prove him higher far than angels. It is brought 
 forward by Peter, Acts ii. 84, to shew him Lord as well as 
 Christ. It is referred to in Heb. x. 12, 13, as declaring that 
 Jesus has satisfactorily finished what he undertook to accom- 
 plish on earth, " The one sacrifice for ever," and is henceforth 
 on that seat of divine honour " expecting till his enemies be 
 made his footstool" — the day of his Second Coming. 
 
 In verse 1, We have the personal glory of the exalted Mes- Tiiepu 
 siah declared by the Father. He sits in highest honour (see 
 1 Kings ii. 19; Psa, xlv. 9) till the day arrive for still farther 
 honour, viz., the utter prostration of his foes, who shall be made 
 his footstool, alluding (Josh. x. 24) to the five kings. Then 
 the land shall have rest. 
 
 In verse 2, The Father's promise to him of the subjugation 
 of all his foes. The " rod" is HIOp, not a sceptre, but a rod of 
 chastisement, like that of Moses, used in bringing j udgment on 
 Egypt. 
 
 * Luther, in his " Familiar Sermons," uses the Hebrew words as a summary 
 of abundant consolation and a fit watchword for Christians, " Sheb limini" Sit 
 at my right hand. 
 
332 PSALM ex. — MESSIAH EXPECTING TILL 
 
 In verse 3, The promise of a people, loving, holy, spotless, 
 and more than man caa number. 
 
 In verse 4, His office as Royal Priest, specially exercised in 
 bringing this innumerable people to himself and then blessing 
 them. He is Melchizedec, but over a mighty kingdom, and 
 he intercedes for and blesses his Abrahams. 
 
 In verses 5, 6, Details are given of his leaving the right hand. 
 
 And verse 7 is a summary of his whole career. 
 
 But, we should notice, in verses 5, 6, how the prophetic tele- 
 scope is shifted. Hitherto (ver. 1-4) our eye had been fixed 
 on the Exalted Son, while David rehearsed in prophecy what 
 the Father would do for him "in the day of his power" — 
 that is, the day referred to. Rev. xi. 17, when he takes to 
 himself his great power and reigns, the day of his Second 
 Coming. But now, in verse 5, we are guided to the Father ; 
 for it is he who " shall send Jesus," (Acts iii. 20 ; 1 Tim. vi. 
 15). And it is with our eye on the Father that we are to 
 read verse 5. 
 
 " The Lord ('•J'Ti^ Chaldee, ' Shecinah') at thy right hand," (0 Jehovah). 
 See verse 1. 
 Or, perhaps, more correctly still, in the manner of adoring joy 
 and hope, 
 
 " The Lord (Adonai) is at thy right hand ! 
 Be has smitten thvngh kings in the days of his wrath ! 
 He vdll contend with the nations, 
 He hath smitten The Head of earth in all its extent ! " 
 
 This last clause, which speaks of a usui-per who claimed a 
 right to our world, is the contrast to verse 7, wherein His own 
 exaltation over earth is proclaimed by " lifting up the head" 
 (see Gen. xl. 1 3, 20, &c.). 
 
 " Of the brook in the way he shall drink : 
 Therefore shall he lift up the head." 
 
 We may now turn back to discuss some of the difficulties of 
 this magnificent triumphal song. We shall notice two — one 
 in the description of his army, verse 3 ; the other in the sum- 
 mary of his career, verse 7- 
 
 We read in verse 3, " Thy people shall he free-gifts to thee, 
 in the day of thy power" — themselves presenting themselves 
 
HIS ENEMIES BE MADE HIS FOOTSTOOL. 333 
 
 as living sacrifices. The allusion is probably to the many/ree- 
 will-offerings brought to Israel's altar, — all of which, as well 
 as their meat-offerings and drink-offerings, declared that God's 
 people were a people who gave up themselves to him, soul, 
 body, and spirit without reserve. And there was an old type 
 in Judges v. 2, Barak's army — like this great assembly from all 
 tribes, while those that were like Meroz perished with the foe. 
 This army, this host of the Lord, may be specially meant of 
 Israel as a nation, at Christ's Second Coming ; but if so, it is 
 Israel as afterwards the centre-point of union to the converted 
 nations of the whole earth. There may be reference, also, to 
 that other part of the Lord's host on that day, his glorified 
 saints " who attend upon him," and reign with him over these 
 nations of earth, and over the twelve tribes of Israel. But the 
 full reference is to all these multitudes together, gathered to 
 Shiloh at his Coming. These shall be arrayed as priests: fes- 
 tively adorned ; for, 
 
 " In the beauties of holiness," 
 is an expression taken from Exodus xix. 6 and xxviii. 4 (com- 
 pare Prov. xxxi. 25, rvij^b ITn). It is used frequently, and 
 always seems to refer us back to the dress of the priesthood, 
 or Levites ;* so that we are to understand Messiah's host as 
 then manifested to be " a nation of priests," to offer up earth's 
 
 praise and service. 
 
 " Old of the tvomb of the morning 
 Is the dew of thy youth." 
 
 Thy " youth-like soldiery are as dew for beauty" (Hengsten- 
 berg) ; some say also, in perpetual succession ; and we must 
 add, for number too. But, is there not this other idea— they 
 come suddenly as the dew appears, seen all at once under the 
 light of the new-risen Sun of Righteousness ? And may we 
 not adopt yet another from Hengstenberg, " all begotten from 
 above" — as Job xxxviii. 28 might lead us to remember ? The 
 metre version of Tate and Brady has thus expressed some of 
 these views : — 
 
 * 2 Chron. xx. 21 ought to be rendered, " He set singers .... according 
 to the beauty of holiness ; " i. e., he set them in the beautiful robes worn by 
 the tribe of Levi. (See Keil.) 
 
334) PSALM ex. — THE EIGHT HAND AND THE FOOTSTOOL. 
 
 " Shall all (redeemed from error's night) 
 Appear as numberless and bright 
 As crystal drops of morning dew ^ 
 
 But now let us briefly notice verse 7, " ^e shall drink of the 
 brook by the way." Ancients and moderns have all been at a loss 
 how to decide the true meaning. The idea, so common among 
 us, that the clause foretells Christ's sufferings, is very rarely 
 found among old interpreters.* The words were understood by 
 Junius and Tremellius long ago as meaning, " He shall steadily 
 press on to victory, as generals of energy act, who, in pursuing 
 routed foes, stay not to indulge themselves in meat or drink."-f- 
 Hengstenberg and others substantially approve of this view. 
 While a few hold that allusion may be made to Samson at 
 Ramath-Lehi (as if the words spoke of Christ having a secret 
 spring of refreshment when needful), most seem inclined to 
 take Gideon as the type that best expresses the idea. Pressing 
 on to victory, Messiah, like Gideon, " faint yet pursuing'^ as 
 he passed over Jordan, shall not desist till all is won. " He 
 shall not fail nor be discouraged till he has set judgment in the 
 earth." Perhaps the fidl idea is this : — His career was irre- 
 sistibly successful, like that of Gideon ; for he allowed nothing 
 to detain him, nor did he shrink in the enterprise from any 
 fatigue, nor did he stop to indulge the flesh. If we take it 
 thus, there is both the Humiliation and the Exaltation of the 
 Son of man contained in the words ; and Phil. ii. 8, 9 supplies 
 a commentary. 
 
 * It was current, however ; for Antonius riamiuius:, 1576, adopts it, and 
 commenting on the Latin, not the Hebrew term, says that the Psalmist has used 
 the word torrent, " ad significandum vim et magnitudinem gerumnarum." 
 Some wished to understand it of " drinking of the blood of the slaiti ;" others, 
 of his slaking his thirst as a poor pilgrim passing a brook. One saw in the 
 words the very brook Cedron, and another was inclined to think it might be 
 " the waters of truth and holiness." We think, nevertheless, that most readers 
 will agree that the probable meaning lies in a view of the passage much less 
 forced. 
 
 •f See also the oldest version of the metre Psalms : — 
 
 " Yea, he, through haste for to pursue his foe. 
 Shall drink the brook that runneth by the way." 
 And Amyrald, "He shall not give his foes even a moment to recover breath. 
 He himself shall just, as it were, lift his helmet and hastily drink of water from 
 the running brook." Tholuck, "He sliall combat without stoppage." 
 
PSALM CXI. — HALLKLUJAH FOR PAST BLESSINGS. 335 
 
 And thus the harp sings of David's Son and David's Lord. 
 May we not entitle the Psahn, 
 
 Messiah, at the Right Hand, expecting till his enemies he made 
 his footstool ? 
 
 PSALM CXL 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 I •will praise the Lord with my whole heart, 
 
 In the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. 
 
 2 The works of the Lord are great, 
 
 Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. 
 
 3 His work is honourable and glorious : 
 And his righteousness endureth for ever. 
 
 4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered : 
 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. 
 
 5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him. 
 He will ever be mindful of his covenant. 
 
 6 He hath shewed his people the power of his works. 
 That he may give them the heritage of the heathen. 
 
 7 The works of his hands are verity and judgment ; 
 All his commandments are sure. 
 
 8 They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. 
 
 9 He sent redemption unto his people . 
 
 He hath commanded his covenant for ever. 
 Holy and reverend is his name. 
 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom : 
 
 A good understanding have all they that do his commandments : 
 His praise endureth for ever. 
 
 An Alphabetic Psalm. It may be sung now, in the same 
 manner that it might be sung long ago in the temple ; but it 
 is fit also for that day described in Rev. xix. 1, 3, 4, the day of 
 many " Hallelujahs," such as this Psalm begins with and 
 reiterates. Messiah might sing it on earth and in the king- 
 dom, and so may each of his members. 
 
 The plan is simple. In verse 1 we hear of " The assembly (the 
 confidential meeting) of the upright,^' whether such assemblies 
 as meet now, or that great multitude that shall meet at the Great 
 Day in the kingdom, "The Congregation." In verse 2 we have 
 the theme of praise, Jehovah's works, which engages the atten- 
 tion of all in these meetings, " The ivories of Jehovah sought 
 
 Tlie contents. 
 
336 PSALM CXII.— HALLELUJAH FOR PAST BLESSINGS. 
 
 out according to all their wishes,'^ (Hengst.). They find " ma- 
 jesty and glory" therein ; they find (ver. 4) " He has erected 
 a memorial for his luonderful works," i. e., made them as cer- 
 tainly to be remembered as when men erect a memorial edifice. 
 At verse 7 the unchangeahleness of his ways is the leading 
 thought, occurring in verses 8 and 9 again. And then this 
 sweet song of Zion closes with (ver. 10) the solemn expression 
 of entire satisfaction in the Lord and his ways. 
 It is worth noticing that verse 10 sings, 
 
 " The beginning of wisdom is Jehovah's fear. ^' 
 
 Job had declared that truth to the sons of men in the earliest 
 ages, xxviii. 28. In after days, Solomon (Prov. i. 7) declared it 
 with all the authority of his unparalleled wisdom and greatness. 
 But here, Messiah and his members may be regarded as singing 
 it, not on earth only, but in the kingdom — in " The assembly 
 of the upright." They shall tell for ever of all true wisdom 
 being found in the Lord, Never till they knew Him did any 
 of them know ought that could satisfy ; but in knowing Him, 
 all found eternal life. Out of this Fountain of Wisdom they 
 drink for evermore. "Holy and fearful is his name!" 
 Herein lies wisdom — they that know that name (and Messiah 
 came to reveal it all) are for ever blessed. Such shall be 
 Ihe Hallelujah of Messiah and his metiibers in reviewing 
 the past. 
 
 PSALM CXIL 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, 
 That delighteth greatly in his commandraents. 
 
 2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth : 
 
 The generation of the upright shall be blessed. 
 
 3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house : 
 And his righteousness endureth for ever. 
 
 4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: 
 He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. 
 
 6 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth : he will guide his affairs with 
 discretion. 
 
PSALM CXII. — RECOMPENSE OF MESSIAH AND HIS SEED. 337 
 
 6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever : the righteous shall be in everlast- 
 
 ing remembrance. 
 
 7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings : his heart is fixed, trusting in the 
 
 Lord. 
 
 8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon 
 
 his enemies. 
 
 9 He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor ; 
 
 His righteousness endureth for ever ; his horn shall be exalted with honour. 
 10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved ; 
 
 He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away : the desire of the wicked 
 shall perish, 
 
 Another Alphabetic Psalm. The 111th celebrated the cha- Thedistinguish- 
 
 ■* _ ing theme. 
 
 racter and ways of the Lord ; this song celebrates the bless- 
 ings of those that are his, and speaks of the many points in 
 which God's people are like God. Like the last, it is a " Hal- 
 lelujah" song, fit to be sung by Messiah, and by each of his 
 members, here on earth and hereafter in the kingdom. It tells 
 of the reward of those that are the Lord's, while its description 
 of their character prevents any mistake as to the persons meant. 
 
 From verse 1 the features of character which mark the true The contents. 
 fearer of God are noticed, carrying us back to verse 10 of Psalm 
 cxi. It is Messiah who exhibits these in perfection ; he is 
 " mighty," Hi^J, far above that conqueror mentioned in Gen. 
 X. 8. 
 
 In verses 2, 3, the blessing, which follows this character as the 
 shadow does the substance, is spread before us ; and as a crown- 
 ing element of blessing, the clause, " To the upright ariseth 
 light in dai^hness," intimates that all the darkness of the up- 
 right, his trials, sorrows, temptations, will end in light. It is 
 a precious clause, applicable to Christ's day of sorrow, and ap- 
 plicable to each member's, telling us of present deliverances 
 prepared for the righteous, and of the grand deliverance when 
 " the light" of the Day of God appears (Mai. iv. 2). 
 
 In verses 4, 5, the features of likeness to God are spoken of. 
 Of these, Messiah is the great exemplar ; metxiful and gra- 
 cious (Exod. xxxiv. 6), and righteous. 
 
 " Hap2yy the man ! (Isa. iii. 10.) 
 He shewetli Javour and lendeih !" 
 
 Inverses 6-8, his sure, unchanging bliss is proclaimed. He 
 
 Y 
 
838 PSALM CXIII. — PRAISE TO HIM WHO 
 
 is " never moved ; " he is remembered by God for ever, as the 
 high priest had the names of Israel ever on his heart. No 
 tidings can overwhelm him ; he is fixed for ever. 
 
 In verse 9 his " cups of cold water " are spoken of. " He 
 gave to the poor ;" for as Christ did (Acts xx. 35), so each mem- 
 ber has ever counted it more blessed to give than to receive. 
 And this " righteousness," i. e., righteous conduct, is not for- 
 gotten ; it is recorded in the book of remembrance, (see ver. 3, 
 and 2 Cor. ix. 9). 
 
 In verses ]0, 11, his triumph is proclaimed. He is exalted ; 
 the wicked is for ever fallen. This is the day of Glory — the 
 time of rewards. How verily true of Christ the Head ! " His 
 horn exalted." 
 
 And thus every holy stream pours itself at last into the 
 ocean of glory, meeting it on the day when Messiah and his 
 members are glorified together. And this is the burden of 
 this Psalm which the righteous might often sing in their dwell- 
 ings in joyful anticipation — 
 
 The recompense of Messiah and his seed. 
 
 PSALM CXIII. 
 
 1 Pkaise ye the Lord. 
 
 Praise, ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. 
 
 2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. 
 
 3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's 
 
 name is to he praised. 
 
 4 The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. 
 6 Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, 
 
 6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the 
 
 earth ! 
 
 7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the 
 
 dunghill, 
 
 8 That he may set him with princes, even M'ith the princes of his people. 
 
 9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of 
 
 children. 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 The Jews have handed down the tradition, that this Psalm, 
 and those that follow on to the 118th, were all sung at the 
 
REDEEMS FROM THE LOWEST DEPTHS. 339 
 
 Passover ; and they are denominated " The Great HalleV 
 This tradition shews, at all events, that the ancient Jews per- 
 ceived in these six Psalms some link of close connection. They 
 all sing of God the Redeemer, in some aspect of his redeeming 
 character ; and this being so, while they suited the paschal 
 feast, we can see how appropriate they would be in the lips of 
 the Redeemer, in his Upper Room.* Thus — 
 
 In Psa. cxiii., he sang praise to Him who redeems from the 
 lowest depth. 
 
 In Psa. cxiv., he sang praise to Him who once redeemed 
 Israel, and shall redeem Israel again. 
 
 In Psa. cxv., he uttered a song — over earth's fallen idols — 
 to Him who blesses Israel and the world. 
 
 In Psa. cxvi., he sang his resurrection-song of thanksgiving 
 by anticipation. 
 
 In Psa. cxvii., he led the song of praise for the great congre- 
 gation. 
 
 In Psa. cxviii. (just before leaving the Upper Room to go to 
 Gethsemane), he poured forth the story of his suffering, con- 
 flict, triumph, and glorification. 
 
 Our Psalm, then, begins with a twice-repeated invitation to l^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 all God's servants to join in praise. It is sometimes true, that 
 for the soul, " solitude is best society ; " but in the matter of 
 praise, the reverse may be oftenest held. The society of kin- 
 dred souls is the best help to each individual soul ; every voice 
 in the great multitude touches the heart-fibres of yonder sweet 
 singer, as the wind does the ^Eolian harp. Hence it is that so 
 many Psalms begin with " Hallelujah ! " calling on others all 
 around to praise — not that the " harper harping with his harp" 
 means to delegate this blessed duty to others, but he seeks to 
 tune his own soul by hearing their voices ascend. The warmth 
 of their hearts fires his own. 
 
 The persons invited (ver. 1), to praise, are ''Jehovah's ser 
 vants;" all those (as Nehemiah i. 10 expands the wordg) 
 whom he has redeemed. The time (ver. 2) for praise is specially 
 
 * The term used in Matt. xxvi. 30, is \i(j.vri6a\7ic,^ the word used in Heb. ii. 
 12; and by the Sept. for XXT\T\ and ^Xy occasionally. 
 
340 PSALM CXIII. — PRAISE TO HIM WHO REDEEMS. 
 
 " henceforth," from the date of this redemption. The place 
 (ver. 3, 4) where it is to be celebrated is all the earth, not 
 Israel's land alone ; for all nations are to hear what Jehovah 
 has done on the theatre of that land. The object of praise 
 (ver. 5) is Jehovah, he to whom they sang at the Red Sea, 
 " Who is like unto thee?" (Exod. xv. 11.) 
 
 " Who is like to Jehovah our God ? 
 Ee who is exalted high, as to his dwelling (o h b-^riXoii Ttaroixuv. — Sept.) 
 He who stoopeth low as to his beholding ! (ra, rai'^rhva, stpo^oov. — Sept.) 
 In heaven, and in earth ! " (Ver. 5, 6.) 
 
 Then follows the special subject of celebration (ver. 7, 8, 9) 
 — what He does for the fallen. Hannah's song in 1 Sam. ii. 
 5, 6, 7, 8, seems kept in view, as well as God's own words to 
 David, 2 Sam. vii. 8, 9, all to furnish suitable language to ex- 
 press redemption-acts. And the long " barren woman " of 
 verse 9, while it reminds us of Sarah, Eebecca, Rachel, Ma- 
 noah's wife, Elizabeth, who all in the end were filled with joy, 
 may point to one and the same period of the world's history 
 for its full and final illustration, as does Isaiah liv. 1. Isaiah 
 seems expressly to alluds to this Psalm as receiving its ful- 
 filment to the full when Messiah's work of suffering (Isa. liii.) 
 issues in illimitable blessing to Israel and the world. The re- 
 demption celebrated includes glory as well as grace ; for we 
 have princes (ver. 8) spoken of, and these " sit" with them, be- 
 coming associates of the noble — thus highly exalted, though 
 once fit for the lowest hell. It is an expression parallel to 
 Hannah's " throne of glory " (2 Sam. ii. 8). And lo ! the once 
 barren one of the house " sits a joy ful mother of sons." Whether 
 we look upon the speaker as Christ praising the Father, or as 
 the Church of Christ, and every member of Christ praising 
 the Father because of Christ, the theme cannot be mistaken. 
 It is 
 
 Praise to Ilim who redeems from the lowest depth. 
 
PSALM CXIV. — PllAISE TO HIM WHO REDEEMED ISRAPX. 34-1 
 
 PSALM CXIV. 
 
 1 When Israel went out of E<;;ypt, the house of Jacob from a people of 
 
 strange language ; 
 
 2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. 
 
 3 The sea saw it, and fled : Jordan was driven back. 
 
 4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. 
 
 5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddcst ? thou Jordan, that thou 
 
 wast driven back ? 
 
 6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? 
 
 7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the 
 
 God of Jacob ; 
 
 8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain oi 
 
 waters. 
 
 Every tear dropt on the golden altar would appear golden, The to>ie. 
 because the gold shone through ; and common things presented 
 in sanctuary-vessels would become sacred. So it is with events 
 of history referred to in these songs of Zion. Even if they 
 were not wondrous in themselves, still they could not fail to 
 be felt as unlike all other events, because so exquisitely cele- 
 brated on the harp of Israel. 
 
 This Psalm sings of the past, and of the future too. The The contents 
 past extends from verse 1 to verse 6, the time 
 
 " Wlien Israel, of the Lord beloved, 
 Out of the land of bondage came.'''' 
 
 When we ^nd in verse 1, as in Psa. Ixxxi. 5, Egypt spoken 
 of as a land where the people were of a " strange tongue," it 
 likely that the reference is to their being a people who 
 Id not sjjeak of God, as Israel could ; even as Zepli. iii. 9 tells 
 of the " pure lip," viz., the lip that calls on the name of the 
 Lord. In verse 2, " Judah " (Sept. ihvhaia) is followed by a femi- 
 nine verb, both to shew that it was not the land, but the people, 
 and also to remind us of their helplessness at that time. It is, 
 q. d., the " daughter of my people." And in the same verse, 
 we hear of "His sanctuary," as in Psa. Ixxxvii. 1, without 
 naming the person, because the heart is full of him. God 
 dwelt in the camp, making the hearts of the people his " Holy 
 place," and taking the tribes as his Kingdom ; while the Red 
 Sea and Sinai testified of his presence and power. What a 
 
 seems 
 cou 
 
34)2 PSALM CXIV. — PRAISE TO HIM WHO REDEEMED ISRAEL. 
 
 privilege to have such a king ! What a blessedness to be 
 dwelt in by the Holy One. 
 
 There is a future time when the like shall occur again, and 
 the question be again asked, " What aileth thee, sea, that 
 thou fleest?" For (ver. 7, 8) the closing verses seem to be 
 parallel to Haggai ii. 6, and Heb. xii. 26, when all the earth 
 shall be moved at the presence of him whose presence so af- 
 fected Sinai, and the Red JSea, and Jordan. Augustine also — 
 " Ilia quoque miracula, cum in illo populo fierent, pr^sentia 
 quidem, sed non sine futurorum significatione, gerebantur." 
 And Dr Allix says — " Tis a meditation upon the coming out 
 of Egypt, and upon the several miracles which changed the 
 order of nature ; from whence the sacred author lifted up the 
 minds of his people to the thoughts of their redemption, when 
 the Messiah, appearing for their deliverance, will cause the 
 same changes in the world." See Micah vii. 15-17, Isa. xi. 
 15. And on that day they shall come forth from the crushing 
 dominion of a power that has trod Jerusalem under foot, 
 *' whose tongue thou shalt not understand, " (Deut. xxviii. 49). 
 
 Whether in the lips of Jesus at the passover table in the 
 upper room, when using this as part of the great Hallel, or 
 in the lips of any of his members, the song is one of 
 Praise to Him vjho has redeemed, and luill again redeem, 
 his Israel. 
 
 PSALM CXV. 
 
 1 Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. 
 
 But unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. 
 
 2 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? 
 
 3 But our God is in the heavens : he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. 
 
 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 
 
 5 They have mouths, but they speak not : eyes have they, but they see not : 
 
 6 They have ears, but they hear not : noses have they, but they smell not : 
 
 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk 
 
 not: 
 Neither speak they through their throat. 
 
 8 They that make them arc like unto them ; so is every one tiiat tni.stLth 
 
 in thcni. 
 
PSALM CXV. — THE PRAISE TO JEHOVAH. 343 
 
 9 O Israel, trust thou in the Lord ! He is their help and their shield. 
 
 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord ! He is their help and their shield. 
 
 11 Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord ! He is their help and their shield. 
 
 12 The Lord hath been mindful of us : he will bless us ; 
 
 He will bless the house of Israel ; he will bless the house of Aaron. 
 
 13 He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. 
 
 14 The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children. 
 
 15 Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth. 
 
 16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's : 
 But the earth hath he given to the children of men. 
 
 17 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. 
 
 18 But we will bless the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore. 
 Praise the Lord. , 
 
 The missionary, Adoniram Judson, was arrested in the midst 
 of ambitious schemes, and led to lay himself at the feet of his 
 Lord by the first verse of this Psalm, " Not U7ito us." 
 
 This " Not unto us " has reference to the undeserving cha- 
 racter of the recipients. Our God gives liberally ; and withal 
 he gives as none other gives ; for (as Milton sings) he gives, 
 " With his good upbraiding none." 
 
 It is this divine peculiarity in his giving that ought more than 
 all else to induce us to hasten to his throne with our thanks 
 and adoring praise. His " mercy and truth" (ver. 1) are the 
 Jachin and Boaz of the redemption-scheme ; his grace, or love, 
 or mercy, prompting the gift of his Son, and his truth, or ad- 
 herence to every word he ever spoke, to every law he ever 
 gave, to every attribute of his character, are the reigning mani- 
 festations of his name. In giving praise, therefore, should not 
 his redeemed continually refer to " mercy and truth" — to 
 " grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ ? " It is thus we 
 give him " glory in the highest." 
 
 But contrast Jehovah with any other god. Why should the 
 heathen say, "Where, pray, (htJ) is your God?" Take up 
 Moses' brief description in Deut. iv. 28, and expand it as is 
 done here. Idols of gold and silver have a mouth, but give 
 no counsel to their worshippers ; eyes, but see not the de- 
 votions nor the wants of those who serve them ; ears, but hear 
 not their cries of distress or songs of praise ; nostrils, but smell 
 not the fragrant incense presented to their images ; hands, but 
 the thunderbolt which they seem to hold (as Jupiter Tonans 
 
344 PSALM CXV. — THE PRAISE TO JEHOVAH. 
 
 in after days), is a brutum fulmen, they cannot launch it ; 
 feet, but they cannot move to help the fallen. Ah! they 
 cannot so much as whisper one syllable of response, or even 
 mutter in their throat ! And as man becomes like his god, 
 (witness Hindoo idolaters whose cruelty is just the reflec- 
 tion of the cruelty of their gods), so these gods of the hea- 
 then being " soul-less, the worshippers become soul-less them- 
 selves," (Tholuck). 
 
 Happy Israel ! trust in Jehovah — 
 
 " For to all such an aid he is, 
 A buckler and defence." (Oldest version.) 
 
 " Their help" means " the help of such as do so."* Some 
 understand it as if a chorus uttered these words in reply. In 
 either way the sense is clear. Israel at large ! house of Aaron ! 
 all fearers of God ! trust him alone ; for all of you can say 
 verse 12, 13. 
 
 In verses 14, 15, the latter-day blessing of Israel is referred 
 to. Their God whom they praised pronounces blessing, a 
 creation-like blessing (Gen. i. 28), upon them, by the mouth 
 of his High Priest, we may suppose ; and in that case, 
 how appropriately uttered by the Lord Jesus on the night 
 he was betrayed, while using these words at the passover 
 
 table : 
 
 " May Jehovah add to you (Deut. i. 11), 
 To you and to your children 1 
 May you be blessed of Jehovah, 
 Maker of heaven and earth .^" 
 
 It is like Melchizedec blessing Abraham in the name of the 
 Most High God, " possessor of heaven and earth." They who 
 receive the blessing respond in the closing words — 
 
 " As to the heavens — tJie heavens belong to Jehovah ! 
 And it is he thatgiveth earth to the children of men ! " 
 
 Ay, and it is he who will give earth, in its renovated beauty, 
 to the children of men. To him we owe all things. Should 
 he not be praised — praised on his own earth ? 
 
 * See note on Psalm xxviii. 7. 
 
PSALM CXVI. — THE REDEEMER'S RESURRECTION-SONG. 345 
 
 " It is they that are not dead who will praise Jehovah, 
 A nd not those that go down to silence (Isa. xxvi. 14) : 
 And as for us, let us bless Jehovah (112^ ^i^J^i^) 
 From henceforth and for ever / Hallelujah /" 
 
 What a fervent act of praise ! — a song, in defiance of idols. 
 Praise to Jehovah, the sovereign source of blessings 
 manifold to all that fear his name. 
 
 PSALM CXVI. 
 
 1 I LOVE the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications, 
 
 2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him 
 
 - as long as I live. 
 
 3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon 
 
 me : 
 I found trouble and sorrow. 
 
 4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord ; Lord, I beseech thee, deliver 
 
 my soul ! 
 
 5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous ; yea, our God is merciful. 
 
 6 The Lord preserveth the simple : I was brought low, and he helped me. 
 
 7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul ; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with 
 
 thee. 
 
 8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, 
 Mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 
 
 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 
 
 10 I believed, therefore have I spoken : I was greatly afiflicted : 
 
 11 I said in my haste, All men are liars. 
 
 12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me ? 
 
 13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. 
 
 14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. 
 
 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 
 
 16 O Lord, truly I am thy servant ; 
 
 I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid : thou hast loosed my 
 bonds. 
 
 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the 
 
 name of the Lord. 
 
 18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, 
 
 19 In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, Jerusalem. 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 If the greatest wonder that eye shall ever see, ear ever hear, The key-note 
 and the heart of man and angel ever conceive, is the sacrifice 
 of God manifest in the flesh, "Deity expended upon human 
 
346 PSALM CXVI. — THE REDEEMER'S 
 
 weal !" it need not seem strange to us that the harp of Zion 
 returns again and again and again to this theme. This is the 
 theme before us here, for this Psalm is Christ's resurrection- 
 song, sung by his own lips in the upper room at the passover, 
 in anticipation of the darkness of Gethsemane and Calvary 
 passing away into glory, 
 
 Paul, in 2 Cor. iv. 13, 14, furnishes the key-note — "We hav- 
 ing the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, / believed, 
 and therefore have 1 spoken (Psa. cxvi ] 7), we also believe, 
 and therefore speak." We, says Paul, go on with our testi- 
 mony as Jesus did, believing, as he did, that the Father will 
 raise us up at last in glory, though at present we " bear about 
 with us the dying (rrjv vsx^uaiv, the nnipH of Psalm cxvi. 15) 
 of the Lord Jesus." 
 
 It has been noticed by Hengstenberg (who beautifully speaks 
 of the speaker here as uttering " thanksgiving with the tear in 
 his eye"), that there is a resemblance to the tone of this Psalm 
 in Hezekiah's writing, when he had been sick, and was recovered 
 of his sickness (Isa. xxxviii,). It may be that Hezekiah's case 
 was meant to furnish a living type of the Saviour in some de- 
 tails. It is also most true that in a certain sense and measure, 
 every member of Christ can sing, "i love the Lord," and say it, 
 too, in the very style of the original writer. " I love ! because 
 the Lord has heard" — so transported with joy and love, "as 
 at first to express his affection without declaring its object, 
 thinking all the world must know who is the person intended 
 — like Mary Magdalene, John xx. 15," (Home). Still it is 
 the Master, rather than the disciples, who speaks here. The 
 Lord Jesus is the true Hezekiah, who alone can appropriate all 
 that is written here, having passed through sorer pangs, and 
 gotten a more real resurrection, than Hezekiah could celebrate 
 when he went up, on the third day, to the house of the Lord. 
 Christ ti.e It is Christ only who can say, in the full sense of the word, 
 
 the very first syllable of the Psalm ; for the words run in the 
 original thus, " I love ! because the Lord has heard my voice, 
 my supplications !" 
 
 " / love !" C^n^im, like isrr^yM, Rev. iii. 17. " I have so done, and 
 d.. 8.. still"). 
 
 speaker. 
 
RESURRECTION-SONG OF THANKSGIVING. 847 
 
 It is not, " I am well pleased that the Lord has heard ;" no, 
 it is far more. It is as if he pointed to Deut. vi. 5, " Thou 
 Shalt love the Lord "—ni^, HiH'' n^Hi^l exclaiming, " I have 
 done so, and ever will \" And then, as the proof of this love 
 (not as the cause, comp. Luke vii. 47), he adds, " For see, the 
 Lord has testified to my love by hearing my prayers." Yes ; 
 those tears and strong cries, to which reference is made, Heb, 
 v. 7, were proofs of his love to the Father ; and the Father's 
 hearing and helping was proof of his love to the Son. 
 
 " And I will call so long as I live.'" 
 Literally, "during my days," p^l, as in 2 Kings xx. 19, Isa. 
 xxxix. 8 (Hengst.) Is there not an implied reference to his 
 intercession ? and does not the phrase remind us of Rom. v. 1 8, 
 " saved by his life," and of Heb. vii, 16 ? 
 
 Israel might use these words at their paschal table, reckon- 
 ing Egyptian sorrows and bondage as a kind of tomb, and re- 
 calling the flight from Egypt, and the passage through the 
 Red Sea, when all human help had failed. It was like a re- 
 surrection — a passage up from the grave. Still, all was but 
 an imperfect shadow of God's Israel, his beloved Son. The 
 world was his Egypt, his place of bondage, his scene of suffer- 
 ing ; and, on the night he left this Egypt's tasks and bricks 
 for ever, all help of man failed him — not even a disciple 
 offered him sympathy. It was he, therefore — it was he alone 
 — who could so truly sing, as verse 11, 
 
 " I said in my haste" {i. e., while hastening from Egypt, like Israel on 
 
 the passover night), 
 " All men are liars ;" 
 for the term is altogether a passover-night one, ^311. It is not 
 trepidation of mind, it is not irritation, it is not alarm, it is not 
 tumult of soul, that the term indicates ; but it is the flight or 
 hasty escape of Israel on that memorable night. See this dis- 
 cussed in Psa. xxxi. 22. The old metre version of Tate and 
 
 Brady is right — 
 
 " For in mtj flight all hopes of aid 
 From faithless man were lost." 
 
 Christ and liia 
 
The contents. 
 
 348 PSALM ex VI. — THE REDEEMER'S 
 
 And so the Targum has ""ipiyD^, " in my fleeing." Bishop 
 Patrick and some others have noticed this to be the true sense.* 
 These remarks help us to the scope and j)lan of the psalm. 
 The Saviour begins (ver. 1-4) with the Lord and his benefits ; 
 then (ver. 5, 6) celebrates some attractive features of his cha- 
 racter, " Gracious is Jehovah," while still he is " righteous" 
 " and our God sheweth mercy," (Dn^Q.) ; and this he does 
 by " Keeping the simple," i. e., those whom Satan might easily 
 beguile. And now he gives a fuller history of his suffering 
 and deliverance (ver. 7), " I was brought low," and how the 
 Lord permitted not the enemy to triumph over him in the 
 awful hour of his tremendous woe ; "He helped me," (ver. 7, 8). 
 He seems to reveal to us some of the thoughts that upheld 
 him — some of "the joy set before him" that enabled him to 
 endure. They were such as these — paraphrasing the words a 
 little (verses 9, 10, 11)— 
 
 " / sJiall yet walk before Jehovah 
 In the lands {iy\1~\'i^'2) of the living,'''' {i. e., the regions of glory, not 
 
 the abodes of the dead). 
 " / have full confidence ! That is the reason why I Jiave so often declared 
 
 my resurrection^ 
 
 Not that I had no temptations to the contrary. I was more 
 afflicted than other men. 
 
 " ^ (''J^^) ^^^^ greatly afflicted." 
 Yes ; and forsaken too, so that 
 
 " I said, in my hastening away, 
 All men are liars." 
 
 All that is man disappoints expectation (ver. 8) ; ^O, as in 
 Jer. XV. 18. But now, taking up the drink-offering cup, and 
 pouring it on the altar as a thanksgiving-token-f- (ver. 12, to 
 the end), he looks up to the Lord, and expresses his entire 
 
 * Ilorsley gives " in ecstasy of despair," quite as far from the true meaning 
 as is Barclay's " agony to fulfil the law," and Bishop's Home's " hurry and tre- 
 pidation." But see Psa. xxxi 22. 
 
 f Uengstenberg maintains that commentators have no ground at all for 
 saying that there was a cup of thanksgiving at the passover supper. Mede has 
 suggested the alhit^ion to the driak-ofi'cring. 
 
RESURRECTION-SONG OF THANKSGIVING. 349 
 
 satisfaction in Him, uttering' thanks, praise, blessing, vows, 
 while looking forward to the results of all, in a people freed 
 and gathered into glory ; for this is contained in the oft-repeated 
 words, (equivalent to " Our gathering together in him," 2 
 Thess. ii. 1), 
 
 " In the presence of all his peopled 
 
 This is twice declared (ver. 1 4 and 1 8), in peculiar language — 
 
 " / mil pay my vows to the Lord, 
 Tea, I will in presence of all his people ; (or, in presence of— let me do 
 
 it — all his people.) 
 Precious fare theyj in the sight of the Lord ; 
 Even the death which belongs to his saints.^' (V^^D^^ nm^n) 
 
 This last line of the verse is quite peculiar. The word for 
 death is peculiar, corresponding, as we noticed before, to the 
 Greek vix^uaig (like nniQri in Psalm Ixxix. 11), while it cannot 
 be construed with ■lp\ " precious," because of the gender. We 
 may, therefore, connect the "precious" with "his people" (as 
 we find in Psa. Ixxii. 14, Isa. xlii 4), and may understand the 
 next clause as a declaration that even such suffering, such 
 death-like pangs, are no proof that Jehovah has forgotten his 
 people — "even in regard to their death-like suffering, they 
 are precious in his eyes."* Everything that concerns his 
 people is of interest to him, every hair of their head is num- 
 bered. With his eye on such a passage as this, well might 
 Paul rapturously exclaim — " All things are yours, the world, 
 life, death !" (1 Cor. iii. 22, 23.) Shall not all this bind me to 
 thee ? " I am thy servant." Who shall separate me from the 
 love of God ? Hallelujah. (Ver. 19.) Such is 
 
 The Redeemer's Resurrection-song of Thanksgiving. 
 
 • There is a simpler way of overcoming the difficulty. It is to take ■1p> 
 
 as the noun (neglecting the masoretic pointing), and punctuate it ")p">, " price, 
 
 honour, glory," as in Joh xxviii. 10, Dan. vii. 14. We might then render 
 the verse, — 
 
 " A precious thing in the sight of the Lord 
 Is the death which befalls his saints." 
 
Connection 
 
 850 PSALM CXVIL— CALL ON THE CONGREGATION FOR PRAISE. 
 
 PSALM CXVIL 
 
 1 O PRAISE the Lord, all ye nations ! Praise him, all ye people ! 
 
 2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us : and the truth of the Lord 
 endureth for ever. 
 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 with " The presence of all his people !" Our gathering together in 
 
 him ! This was heard in the close of the former Psalm. So 
 now we seem to be introduced for one brief moment into that 
 assembly where the Redeemer stands leading their praise. 
 What a Hallel ! from " all nations" and " all tribes" (D''D^l), 
 as in Rev. v. 9. 
 
 " Loud as the sound of seas, 
 Through multitudes that sing." 
 
 The plan. They celebrate, as in Psalm cxv. 1, and often at other 
 
 times, the mercy, the tender love of God which to usward is 
 TQJ, " mighty," prevailing as did the deluge-waters over the 
 mountain-tops (Gen, vii. 24, ')"1^^1), and also his truth, going 
 hand in hand with truth in man's redemption. 
 
 Paul quotes this short song in Rom. xv. 11 (this heavenly 
 catch which seraph might cry to seraph, or one redeemed to his 
 fellow), to remind us that the Ensign on Calvary was set up 
 for all nations. Gentiles as well as Jews. Let us, then, from 
 time to time, recall this song to mind, and therewith exhort 
 one another to praise. In so doing, we are using words which 
 the Master used in the upper room, and which he will use 
 again when " he drinks the new wine with us in the Father's 
 kingdom." For it is He specially who is the speaker in the 
 Gall on the Great Gongregation for praise. 
 
 PSALM CXVIIL 
 
 1 O «ivE thanks unto the Lord ! for he is good : because his mercy endur- 
 
 eth for ever. 
 
 2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 4 Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
PSALM cxviii. — Messiah's conflict and triumph. 351 
 
 5 I called upon the Lord in distress : the Lord answered me, and set me in 
 
 a large place. 
 
 6 The Lord is on my side ; I will not fear: what can man do unto me ? 
 
 7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me : 
 Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. 
 
 8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. 
 
 9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. 
 
 10 All nations compassed me about : but in the name of the Lord will I de- 
 
 stroy them. 
 
 11 They compassed me about ; yea, they compassed me about : 
 But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. 
 
 12 They compassed me about like bees ; they are quenched as the fire of 
 
 thorns : 
 For in the name of the Lord 1 will destroy them. 
 
 13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall : but the Lord helped me. 
 
 14 The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. 
 
 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous : 
 The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. 
 
 16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted : the right hand of the Lord doeth 
 
 valiantly. 
 
 17 1 shall not die, hut live, and declare the works of the Lord. 
 
 18 The Lord hath chastened me sore : but he hath not given me over unto 
 
 death. 
 
 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness : I will go into them, and I will 
 
 praise the Lord : 
 
 20 This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter. 
 
 21 I will praise thee : for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. 
 
 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the 
 
 corner. 
 
 23 This is the Lord's doing ; it is marvellous in our eyes. 
 
 24 This is the day which the Lord hath made ; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 
 
 25 Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord : O Lord, I beseech thee, send now 
 
 prosperity. 
 
 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord : 
 We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. 
 
 27 God is the Lord, which has shewed us light : 
 
 Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. 
 
 28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee : thou art my God, I will exalt 
 
 thee. 
 
 29 give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good : for his mercy endureth for 
 
 ever. 
 
 Luther wrote on his study-wall, "The 118th Psalm is my The tone. 
 Psalm, which I love. Without it, neither emperor nor king, 
 though wise and prudent, nor saints, could have helped me," 
 Tholuck). 
 
352 
 
 PSALM CXVIIL— MESSIAH S CONFLICT AND TRIUMPH. 
 
 Christ uses it. Still remembering that there is reason to believe that our 
 Lord used these Psalms, which formed the " Great Hallel/' on 
 the last night he sat with his disciples at the passover-supper, 
 and now specially remembering that this was the hymn they 
 must in that case have sung just before " He went to the Mount 
 of Olives," every verse will appear lighted up with peculiar 
 attractiveness. 
 
 " What pleasing seemed, for Him now pleases more." 
 
 The plan. The plan of it is as follows : — In verses 1-4, " Oh let Israel 
 
 say," &c., the Saviour is calling upon others to help him in 
 
 Christ in it. P^aise ; at verse 5 begins his thanksgiving narrative ; while 
 verses 6, 7, states a holy axiom, verified in his own case, and 
 left for the use of all his own, to this effect — 
 
 " Let Jehovah be with me ! I fear not. 
 What can man do to me ? 
 Let Jehovah he with me, among my helpers I 
 Then I will look in triumph on mine enemies."* 
 
 Believers. In all this, every member of Christ can join, even as in Rom. 
 viii. 31 we find Paul, and those in whose name he speaks, using 
 language equally bold. Nor is there need of other help (vers. 
 8, 9), for " human dust and royal clay" cannot add to the Lord's 
 strength. Proceeding in his narrative, from verses 10 to 13, 
 he tells the strength of his foes. The term used for their de- 
 struction (ver 10), p^"'^ijfj may have been chosen because it calls 
 up the idea that" these foes are all b)f2, " uncircumcised" 
 (Hengst.), and so he is the true David going forth against this 
 Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 36). 
 
 " In tJie name of the Lord (I go forth) I for I toill destroy them." 
 
 This seems the force of p, though some insert, " 1 swear that" 
 The figure of bees (ver. 1 2) sends our thoughts to the Amo- 
 rites, in Deut. i. 44 ; he chases and destroys them. Then, the 
 special foe (v. 18) that seems addressed, who is this ? He 
 speaks to some person, " Thou didst sore thrust :" is he speak- 
 ing to the host as one ? the army of all nations ? or is he 
 
 ^ Wyckliffe's spirited application of this verse to the monks who came to his 
 bedside, hoping that his sickness would end in speedy dissolution, was an ac- 
 commodation of the words ; but the incident may be used as emblematic. 
 
PSALM CXVIII. — MESSIAH'S CONFLICT AND TRIUMPH. 353 
 
 singling- out their chief? Were this last idea adopted, we 
 might suppose we saw the Serpent combating the Woman's 
 Seed, the " sore thrust" being the Serpent's bruising the heel 
 of the Saviour. 
 
 See next the victory won by Jehovah's aid alone (vers. 1 4-1 6). 
 As Moses, the leader of the host, sang in Exod. xv. 2, " The 
 Lord is my strength, my salvation," so does Jesus ; bvit at the 
 same time there are sharers in the victory. Hearken ! 
 
 " The voice of rejoicing and salvation in the tents of the righteous /" 
 And what do they sing : — 
 
 " Ihe right hand of the Lord hath done valiantly." 
 
 They sing this as at the Red Sea ; and three times they sing 
 of that right hand that has won an infinitely greater victory. 
 
 But next he refers to death, and his triumph over it (ver. 
 17, 18). The curse, " Thou shaft die," cannot now fall on me ; 
 it is past and gone ; it is exhausted : 
 
 '• I shall not die ; for I shall live /" 
 It is the voice of Jesus ; " I am the living one" (Rev. i. 1 8), 
 " and I was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore V And 
 as he added then, " And I have the keys of Hades and of 
 death," so here he adds (vers. 1 9, 20) — 
 
 " Open to me the gates of righteousness /" 
 — the gates of the holy temple above that shut out iniquity, and 
 admit only what is pure and righteous. The temple on earth 
 was typical of the better temple above. 
 
 " This is Jehovah's gate" (this " righteousness-gate") ; 
 " The righteous go in thereby." 
 
 He enters singing (ver. 21), " I will praise thee, for thou hast 
 heard me, and art become my salvation." Upon which the 
 shout of congratulation arises from " the righteous" who go in 
 after him. They it is who sing from verses 22 to 26, rejoicing 
 in " the stone" become the head, or main stone of the corner, 
 the corner-piece foundation-stone, bearing the weight of two 
 walls and uniting both — a beautiful figure of Christ reconciling 
 God and man, as well uniting all the saved in one. It is they, 
 too, who sing, " This is the day which the Lord Tnade," i. e., set 
 
 z 
 
So4 PSALM C:XVIII. — MESSIAHS CONFLICT AND TRIUMPH 
 
 apart, consecrated {TWV as in Deut. v. 15, nwy'?) — this day of 
 the Saviour's victory. And then another shout arises from 
 Israel, owning their King and Lord now risen and glorified — 
 
 " Tea, Lord, hosanna ! {i. e., give us a share in thy victory). 
 Yea, yea. Lord, send prosperity /" 
 
 Another shout from happy Israel ! — 
 
 " Blessed is he that cometh ! in the name of the Lord ! " 
 And looking, it would seem, on his attendants — " the right- 
 eous," of verse 20 — they shout again, 
 
 " We pronounce you blessed J^i is plural D3~), 
 You that are of the Lords house." 
 In such strains are set forth the triumphs of the Saviour, when 
 he had overcome death and the grave. When himself sung his 
 Psalm, would not his eye look onward, not to Resurrection 
 only, but to Ascension, too, when he entered "the gates of 
 righteousness" above — ^but not least to his Second Coming and 
 his passing in with his ransomed into the New Jerusalem, 
 when they together " enter in through the gates into the city," 
 (Rev. xxii. 14). The multitudes, who almost unwittingly (yet 
 prophetically, in the sense wherein Caiaphas spoke pi'ophe- 
 tically, John xi. 51) applied to him verse 26, were, after all, 
 presenting a type of the great and final triumph at which the 
 innumerable ransomed shall raise the cry, " Hosanna !" In that 
 day, Israel, looking on with opened eyes, shall join in blessing 
 him, and blessing all that are his, though they so long were the 
 builders who rejected that tried stone. And this last feature 
 of the scene leads us to notice verse 27, where Israel specially 
 look on Him and cry, 
 
 " Jehovah is God i}^i^ mighty one) ; aiid has shined ujwn us," (Exod. 
 siii. 21, Tit. ii. 11, Icrsipai/jj). 
 They see what had been hid from their eyes so long ; they 
 see Jesus of Nazareth to be the Saviour, their God, Jehovah. 
 In transports of grateful wonder, they exhort one another to 
 offer thanksgiving-offerings, hastening to the altar, 
 
 " Bind the sacrifce" (yn as Isa. xxis. 1, &c.) " with sfrovff cords ! " 
 
 " Let us away to the horns of the altar I " 
 
Christ with his 
 
 SHARED IN BY THK REDEEMKD. 355 
 
 The last line is peculiar ; for Jni^"1|^ TV, " to the horns," can 
 scarcely be connected with the verb to bind, in the sense of, 
 Hold fast the victim till you reach the horns of the altar. The 
 word TV is rather a particle of locality. In Lament, iii. 40 it 
 occurs thus : " Let us search and try our ways ; and let us re- 
 turn (let us go) to the Lord ! " And so we take it here. The 
 restored and grateful people are hastening to bring their offer- 
 ings of praise to their God and King, stimulating one another's 
 zeal ; " Sursum corda ! " to the altar ! to the altar ! whose 
 horns hold up to view the blood of sacrifice. 
 
 It seems to be the Redeemer himself, now surrounded by 
 this multitude of ransomed ones, in whom he sees of the tra- 
 vail of his soul and is satisfied, who closes the Psalm (in verses 
 28, 29) by a thanksgiving to his Father for these results, and 
 by an invitation (as at ver. 1) to all the universe to join in 
 praise to the God of love. In anticipation of these results, He, 
 in the days of his First Coming, sang it as his hymn while 
 rising from table to go to the garden of Gethsemane ; but at 
 his Second Coming, he will sing it with the tone of the more 
 than conqueror, having realized the whole. We may entitle 
 a Psalm that contains such stirring incidents, past and pros- 
 pective, 
 
 The Redeemer s Gonjiict, Trium'ph, and Glorification, shared 
 in by his Redeeraed. 
 
 PSALM CXIX. 
 
 A PILGRIM AND STRANGER, GUIDED, DAY AND NIGHT, HV THE LAW OF 
 
 THE Lord, till he reaches the city. 
 
 The alphabetic peculiarities of this Psalm are well known, Alphabetic 
 every part beginning with a new letter, and every line or verse p®*^'* '*"*'*■'■ 
 of that part beginning with the same, till all the letters of the 
 Hebrew alphabet have been exhausted. There may be some- 
 thing more than fancy in the remark, that Christ's name, " the 
 Alpha and Omega" — equivalent to declaring Him all that 
 which every letter of the alphabet could express — may have 
 had a reference to this peculiarity of this Psalm, — a Psalm in 
 
356 rsALM cxix. — the pilgrim guided by god's word. 
 
 which (with the exception of ver. 84 and 1 22, exceptions that 
 make the rule more marked) every verse speaks of God's reve- 
 lation of himself to man, under one or other of the twelve 
 terms, 1, law, 2. testimony, 8. way, 4. commandment, 5. pre- 
 cept, 6. judgment, 7. word, 8. truth, 9. righteousness, 9. faith- 
 fulness, 11. statute, 12. name. If so, it gives additional mean- 
 ing to that title of the Lord — he is not only first and last, but 
 all between ; he is all that revelation can express. 
 
 In Psalm xix. we tried to ascertain the different shades of 
 meaning in " Law," " Testimony," &c. These hold good here ; 
 only they are not to be considered as exclusive of one another. 
 But our translators have unfortunately introduced some con- 
 fusion into the terms employed in this Psalm, by rendering 
 the Hebrew □"'pH, '' Statutes," which term was not the one 
 used in rendering Dn^j5S), in Psalm xix. 8. In this Psalm, 
 therefore, " Statutes" mean the appointments of the ceremo- 
 nial law, q. d., the things prescribed to Israel by Jehovah's 
 decree through their pipnp " statute-giver."* On the other hand, 
 our translators render DH'IpE) by " Precepts," invariably in 
 this Psalm. This word (11|5S)) we saw in Psa. xix. 8, signi- 
 fies particular injunctions given in particular circumstances. 
 Of course, the lessons taught by these special injunctions and 
 appointments are included, as a chief part of the Psalmist's 
 meditation and delight. 
 
 But it is remarkable that a Psalm, which we might suppose 
 to belong to Christ, and to be his special utterance more than 
 most others, has, in its language, some difiiculties which have 
 deterred many from applying it to the Lord Jesus at all. We 
 think, however, the difficulties are such as admit of explanation. 
 They are these, viz., verses 67, 71, 75, and 176. The 67th is the 
 only really serious difficulty, for it seems to ascribe "going 
 astray" to the speaker — ^^^ always meaning delinquency of 
 some kind, it might be by inadvertency, yet still a deviation 
 from the standard of law. Fry and some others try to dispute 
 this, but have failed. How, then, are we to understand our Lord 
 using such a verse as this ? We propose the following solu- 
 
 * See Lcvit. xxvi. 46, " these are the statutes" CiJIin- The Prayer-book 
 version translates the word " ceremonies," in the Psahiis. 
 
PSALM CXIX— THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 357 
 
 tion : — He had said in verse Q6, "I have believed in thy com- 
 mandments" — " I have kept faithful to what thou hast said." 
 Then follows the statement of still firmer adherence to the 
 Lord's word. He says, " I did not need the sorrow and shame 
 of experienced error to drive me into thy ways. Without this 
 teaching, which so often, by its bitter regrets, leads wilful ones 
 to Thee, I have been enabled to hold fast thy words — ' Ere 
 ever I was afflicted, I kept thy word.' " 
 
 " I have not yet been afflicted, as one going astray, 
 And still I Imve kept thy word.'" 
 
 The common rendering of j;i^ ^31^, " I WENT astray," or " I WAS 
 going," cannot be defended ; it ought to be " I am going astray." 
 Our proposed rendering is parallel to •IIT'I — Ni2n D"}^3, in 
 Exod. i. 19, in regard to the construction of D^IO, and gives the 
 obvious and most natural sense of the whole clause. But then, 
 it may be asked. Is not the difficulty of verse 176 equally 
 great: "I have gone astray as a lost sheep?" Not so; for 
 here the term is ^JlW, in the signification of wandering like 
 one who has no home. It is Abraham's word in Genesis xx. 
 1 3, " God caused me to wander (D'^n^i^ '•ilJ^ ^)^0>?) ^'^^^ ^^y 
 father's house." It is most appropriate in the lips of him who 
 had left his heavenly home to be a stranger here, to be (as 
 Fry observes) " as a sheep whom no man taketh up" (Isa. xiii. 
 14). The word, indeed, seems to be the same as that which 
 has given the Arabic name El Tyh to part of the desert where 
 Israel wandered. And if this be so, then the difficulties of 
 verses 71, 75, are all that remain ; both of which are solved by 
 a reference to Hebrews v. 8, " Though he were a Son, yet learnt 
 he obedience by the things which he suffered." 
 
 We cannot but think that " the Songs of Degrees," all of which ^'^'^ i'"^"''^"- 
 have a pilgrim air about them, are appropriately prefaced by 
 this Psalm, breathing as it does the experience of a pilgrim, 
 with " a soft quiet melancholy" (Hengstenberg) in his tone, 
 met and comforted by the God of all consolation. If we adopt 
 the idea of the Psalm being a kind of manual for a pilgrim, 
 we are able to connect its different parts ; and we are able to 
 
Aleph. 
 
 358 PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 
 
 do SO whether we read it as the utterance of the Lord of pil- 
 grims, or of one of his band. 
 
 ALEPH. 
 
 1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. 
 
 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with tlie 
 
 whole heart. 
 
 3 They also do no iniquity : they walk in his ways. 
 
 4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. 
 
 5 O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes ! 
 
 6 Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy command- 
 
 ments. 
 
 7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, 
 When I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. 
 
 8 I will keep thy statutes : O forsake me not utterly. 
 
 (Ver. 1.) The pilgrim setting out. God's testimonies are his 
 staff. The Lord of pilgrims might utter verse 1, as he uttered 
 Matt. V. 3, 4, 5, "Blessed are the merciful!" Sin leads to 
 misery ; holiness leads to bliss, which is far more than joy. He 
 looks along the way, revolving in his soul what he should be 
 who would walk in paths of blessedness, till at verse 8 he lifts 
 his staff for the journey, saying — 
 
 " / icill observe thy statutes ! 
 Thou tvilt not forsake me utterly /" (See ver. 43, and comp. 
 1 Sam. xxvii. 1 with 2 Sam. vii. 15.) 
 
 r.ETH. 
 
 9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? 
 By taking heed thereto according to thy word. 
 
 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee : O let me not wander from thy 
 
 commandments. 
 
 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I miyht not sin against thee. 
 
 12 Blessed art thou, O Lord : teach me thy statutes. 
 
 13 With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. 
 
 14 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. 
 
 15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. 
 
 16 I will delight myself in thy statutes : I will not forget thy word. 
 
 The pilgrim fairly on the way. God's testimonies smooth 
 the journey. The Lord of pilgrims might be supposed arrest- 
 ing the attention of his followers by this question, verse 9, and 
 by its answer, corresponding as it does to John xvii. 7, and xv. 3. 
 He breathes a firm resolution to make the Word his guide — 
 
PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD*S WOUD. 359 
 
 " IViih my lips do I recount* 
 All the judgments of thy mouth" (as in ver. 7, thy dealings in provi- 
 dence, and the principles that guide them as set forth by thee). 
 
 GIMEL. 
 
 17 Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word. 
 
 18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. 
 
 19 I am a stranger in the earth : hide not thy commandments from me. 
 
 20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all 
 
 times. 
 
 21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy com- 
 
 mandments. 
 
 22 Remove from me reproach and contempt ; for I have kept thy testimonies. 
 
 23 Princes also did sit and speak against me : but thy servant did meditate 
 
 in thy statutes. 
 
 24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors. 
 
 The 'pilgrim seeing the prospect open upon his vieiu. He Gimei. 
 seeks discoveries on his path, in spite of external difficulties, 
 and prays, " Uncover Tuineei/es and I will look !" Then, as if 
 dazzled, he exclaims, " Wonders out of thy law !" His plea is, — 
 "■ I am, a stranger upon earth." (Ver. 19.) 
 
 This is not the country where I find my treasure and my home, 
 neither am I to be here long. He uses this as it is used in 1 
 Chron. xxix. ] 1, an argument which the Son of David, as well 
 as David in the name of any member of Christ, might use. 
 In seeking these discoveries, he looks backward to the days of 
 Pharaoh, verse 21. At verse 22, he remembers Israel's en- 
 trance into a large place when they crossed Jordan, " Roll 
 off from TUB the reproach ;" — as Joshua (ver. 9) speaks of it 
 being rolled away at Gilgal, when the Lord shewed his faith- 
 fulness in bringing Israel into her land, thereby silencing the 
 taunts of Egypt. And verse 23, "For thy servant Tnedi- 
 tates on thy statutes," reminds us of Joshua i. 6. " Let us 
 remember, (says Home,) that he who alone, in the strict 
 and unlimited sense of the words, could say, ' I have kept thy 
 testmnonieSy sustained the utmost degree of ' reproach and 
 
 * When we make the Scriptures the subject of our conversation, we glorify 
 God, we edify our neighbour, and we improve ourselves," (Home). But this 
 recounting what God's mouth has appointed to be, is also a matter of private 
 meditation and prayer. 
 
360 PSALM C'XIX. THE PiLGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WOUD. 
 
 contempt' for our sakes, and was patient under all, till God 're- 
 Tiioved' it from him by a glorious resurrection. There remain- 
 eth likewise a resurrection for the mystical body of Christ, and 
 then, Wisdom shall be justified of her children." 
 
 DALETH. 
 
 25 My soul cleaveth unto the dust : quicken thou me according to thy word. 
 
 26 I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me : teach me thy statutes. 
 
 27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts : so shall I talk of thy 
 
 wondrous works. 
 
 28 My soul melteth for heaviness : strengthen thou me according unto thy 
 
 word. 
 
 29 Remove from me the way of lying : and grant me thy law graciously. 
 
 30 I have chosen the way of truth : thy judgments have I laid before me. 
 
 31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies : O Lord, put me not to shame. 
 
 32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my 
 
 heart. 
 
 The pilgrim weary. The Lord of pilgrims was often weary 
 in spirit when he saw the world so cold, nay, so determinedly 
 inimical, to his Father. " 3Iy soul cleaveth to the dust," de- 
 clares the feeling of degradation and feebleness, like Psa. xxii. 
 16 ; even as verse 28 expresses sorrow, " My soul melteth away 
 for grief. ^' And still amid this weariness he cries, " Thy word," 
 (ver. 25) ; " Thy statutes," (ver. 26) ; " Thy precepts," " Thy 
 law," (ver. 29); "Thy testimonies," (ver. 31); these are my 
 
 resort. 
 
 " I run the way of thy commandments, (Ileb. xii. 1). 
 For thou enlargestmy heart.'' 
 
 His frames and feelings may vary, because his circumstances 
 vary, but his heart's desire and affection toward God and his 
 truth remain unvarying. 
 
 HE. 
 
 33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes ; and I shall keep it unto the 
 
 end. 
 
 34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law ; yea, I shall observe it 
 
 with my whole heart. 
 
 35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I 
 
 delight. 
 
 36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. 
 
 37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity ; and quicken thou nie in 
 
 thy way. 
 S8 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. 
 
 39 Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good. 
 
 40 Behold, I liave longed after thy precepts ; quicken me in thy righteousness. 
 
PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 361 
 
 The 'pilgrim stedfast in temptation. In spite of sights of 
 vanity, yea, in spite of all he saw on the hill of Temptation, 
 when the glory of the whole earth was shewn to him, the Mas- 
 ter passed on unmoved ; and so it is in measure with his dis- 
 ciples. It may be, this very resistance of evil (as in Joseph's 
 case) may bring them for a time into reproach ; or, it may be, 
 then- unlikeliness to the world may draw down on them its 
 malignant assaults ; but the end shall be well. None lose by 
 adhering to the Lord's testimony. 
 
 " Turn away my reproach ichich I fear, 
 For thy judgments are good." (Ver. 39.) 
 
 VAU. 
 
 41 Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation, accord- 
 
 ing to thy word. 
 
 42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me : for I trust 
 
 in thy word. 
 
 43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth ; for I have hoped 
 
 in thy judgments. 
 
 44 So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. 
 
 45 And I will walk at liberty : for I seek thy precepts. 
 
 46 I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. 
 
 47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. 
 
 48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved ; 
 And I will meditate in thy statutes. 
 
 The pilgrim assailed. Outward foes and unsympathising vau. 
 men are not easily dealt with ; hence the prayer to be enabled 
 to reply to assailing ones by words in season, getting courage 
 and utterance to confess his name ; 
 
 " Take not the word of truth utterly otit of my mouth, 
 For I have trusted in thy wwd." (Ver. 43.) 
 
 " Utterly," as in verse 8, and as in Isa. Ixiv. 8, and elsewhere 
 implies the belief, that it may seem right to the Lord to allow 
 some humiliation to be felt ; only (says the suppliant) let him 
 not wholly withdraw ! The father may teach some lesson by 
 allowing the child to stumble, but surely will not let him so fall 
 as to be injured. In verse 44 the Master alone could fully 
 
 assert — 
 
 " / keep thy law 
 Continually {1''Kin)fo>' ^ver and ever." 
 
Zain. 
 
 ,S62 PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUJDliD BY GOD 8 WORD. 
 
 That is, every day without interruption ; and this unbroken 
 service prolonged to eternity. 
 
 " And I loalk in a large place,'' (vcr. 45) 
 
 — ^finding his service freedom and joy. Perhaps verse 46 may 
 be illustrated by Matt. x. 18. 
 
 ZAIN. 
 
 49 Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused mo 
 
 to hope. 
 
 50 This is my comfort in my aflBiction : for thy word hath quickened me. 
 
 51 The proud have had me greatly in derision : yet have 1 not declined from 
 
 thy law. 
 
 52 1 remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself. 
 
 53 Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake thy 
 
 law. 
 
 54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. 
 
 55 I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy 
 
 law. 
 
 56 This I had, because I kept thy precepts. 
 
 The pilgrim under darkness, yet unmoved. Manifold dark 
 circumstances are the lot of Master and disciples here ; but the 
 word of promise, in some of its many forms, sustains. 
 
 " Eemember thy word to thy servant ;" or, for thy servant's benefit ; 
 " Because (lli^J^ 7^, - Sam. iii. 30 — Ilengstenberg) thou hast caused 
 me to hope." 
 
 God's pilgrims have a hope (Rom. v. 3, viii. 24, xii. 12, xv. 13), 
 that shall never put them to shame ; having once spoken, he 
 keeps his promise. As Newton sings — 
 
 " And can He have taught me to trust in His name, 
 And thus far have brought me to put me to shame ?" 
 
 In verse 52, the Lord of pilgrims might be supposed standing 
 near Capernaum, and Bethsaida, and Chorazin, lifting up his 
 eyes to heaven, thanking the Father who hides these things 
 from the wise and prudent, and reveals them unto babes ; or 
 amid his seventy, thanking the Father, and rejoicing because he 
 had seen Satan as lightning fall from heaven. He sees the 
 eternal purpose of the Lord. He sees the Lord himself, ruling 
 all events, and bring about a glorious issue, even the glory of 
 the kingdom. 
 
RSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 3()3 
 
 '^ I remembered tliy judgments from eternity ; (see ver. 13) 
 (I remembered) Jehovah, and comforted myself. 
 Horror seized me, 
 
 Because oftlie wicked who forsake thy law ; 
 Thy statutes were my songs" (Ver. 52, 53.) 
 
 One thing, whatever else befalls, he is sure of, namely, that 
 happen what may, he has cleaved to the Lord. 
 " I'his I have, 
 That I have kept thy statutes." (Ver. 56. The ^3 is like 6ti in 
 
 Rev. ii. 4.) 
 
 CHETH. 
 
 57 Thou art my portion, O Lord : I have said that I would keep thy words. 
 
 58 I entreated thy favour with my whole heart : be merciful unto me accord- 
 
 ing to thy word. 
 
 59 I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. 
 
 60 I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments, 
 
 61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me : but I have not forgotten thy 
 
 law. 
 
 62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy right- 
 
 eous judgments. 
 
 63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy 
 
 precepts. 
 
 64 The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy : teach me thy statutes. 
 
 The pilgriTii foUoiving on to know the Lord. He breathes cueth. 
 the desire, "Da mihi te, Dumine" — 
 
 " Keeping thy ways, I have said, 
 My portion is Jehovah." (Ver. 57.) 
 
 He values God's presence, (ver. 58) ; he compares his ways with 
 God's testimonies, (ver. 59) ; he never lingers in the perform- 
 ance, when he finds a commandment (ver. 60); amid the 
 bands of the wicked he adheres to the law, (ver. 61); at mid- 
 night (lit, ''half of the night" as Exod. xiii. 29, the time when 
 the Destroyer slew Egypt's first-bom — Hengstenberg) he 
 awakes to praise (ver. 62) ; he shares ("I^H) with the fearers 
 of God, whatever be their lot, (ver. 63). And it seems as if 
 he saw the future glory awaiting those that follow the Lord ; or 
 rather, he delights in the future revelation of the Lord's riches 
 of Love ; for he sings, in a tone that reminds us of Isa. vi. 3 — 
 
 " The earth isfrdl of thy m^rcy !" 
 But the view is one that overwhelms the soul ; it cannot take 
 
364 PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 
 
 iu the vision but in part ; and therefore he prays, " Teach )ue 
 thy statutes," that I may daily fathom more of the great deep. 
 
 TETH. 
 
 65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word. 
 
 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge : fori have believed thy com- 
 
 mandments. 
 
 67 Sefore I was afflicted I went astray : but now have I kept thy word. 
 
 68 Thou art good, and doest good ; teach me thy statutes. 
 
 69 The proud have forged a lie against me : but I will keep thy precepts with 
 
 my whole heart. 
 
 70 Their heart is as fat as grease ; but I delight in thy law. 
 
 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted ; that I might learn thy 
 
 statutes. 
 
 72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. 
 
 The pilgrim is satisfied in the service of God, and with his 
 dealings hitherto. 
 
 " Kindly hast thou dealt with thy servant, 
 Lord, according to thy ivoi'd." (Ver. 65.) 
 
 The Lord of pilgrims had never ought but good to say of his 
 Father ; neither have the followers of that Lord any fault to 
 find. " He never wronged me nor mine/' was the saying of a 
 Scottish saint, even when the bloody head of his martyred son 
 was held up to his view. So good, so infinitely satisfying to 
 the soul are the Lord's ways and the Lord's revelations of 
 himself, that the pilgrim says (ver. 67), " 1 kept thy words, 
 without being driven to them by afiliction." (See above, in 
 the introduction, p. 857.) He then (ver. 68) prays to be taught 
 more still, as he prayed in verse 66 for " discernment" (DS?^), 
 the faculty to see spiritual things clearly. When in verse 71 
 he expresses satisfaction in having been afflicted, it is because 
 by the hand of afiliction these grapes were pressed for the re- 
 freshing of his thirst ; thereby he experienced somewhat more 
 of the infinite adaptation of these statutes to a pilgrim's wants. 
 
 JOD. 
 
 73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me : 
 
 Give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments. 
 
 74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me ; because I have hoped 
 
 in thy word. 
 
 75 I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, 
 And that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. 
 
PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 365 
 
 76 Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort. 
 According to thy word unto thy servant. 
 
 77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live : for thy law is my 
 
 delight. 
 
 78 Let the proud be ashamed, for they dealt perversely with me without a 
 
 cause : 
 But I will meditate in thy precepts. 
 
 79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy 
 
 testimonies. 
 
 80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed. 
 
 The pilgrim speaks to the Lord about his future course. 
 He goes back to his creation — his being clay in the hands 
 of the potter. This is a reason for pleading to be led on 
 (ver. 73). Then, the joy it will give others is a reason, 
 verses 74 and 79. And complete soundness (ver. 80, D'^DD) 
 is the goal of his desires, that is, power to complete the work 
 given him to do, his heart impartial, sincere, thoroughly at one 
 with God. Every disciple breathes this desire — 
 '^ Let my Tieaii he perfect in thy precepts, 
 That I may not he ashamed." (Ver. 80.) 
 
 The desire is the same with that of the apostle in 1 John iv. 
 28, " Abide in Him, that we may have confidence, and not be 
 ashamed before Him at his coming," even as the assurance 
 breathed in the " 1 know " of verse 75 is like Rom, viii. 28, 
 and 1 John v. 1 8. 
 
 CAPH. 
 
 81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation : but I hope in thy word. 
 
 82 Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me ? 
 
 83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke ; yet do I not forget thy 
 
 statutes. 
 
 84 How many are the days of thy servant ? 
 
 When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me ? 
 
 85 The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law. 
 
 86 All thy commandments are faithful : they persecute me wrongfully ; help 
 
 thou me. 
 
 87 They had almost consumed me npon earth ; but I forsook not thy precepts. 
 
 88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy 
 
 mouth. 
 
 The pilgrim oppressed, draws strength from the thought of 
 future glory. The " salvation " of verse 81 is like Jacob's in 
 Gen. xlix. 18, the deliverance in prospect for all the Lord's 
 children — the glory to come — the kingdom. Trials send for- 
 
366 PSALM t'XIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GODS WORD. 
 
 ward our hopes to that time of peace. Our Lord, " for the joy 
 that was set before him, endured the cross" (Heb. xii. 3), hav- 
 ing respect to the reward and the rest ; and so his followers also, 
 expecting the fulfilment of his promises. 
 
 " My soul fainidh for thy salvation. 
 I loaitfor thy tvor-d.'" (Ver. 81.) 
 
 As the worshippers went up to Zion "fainting" (Psa, Ixxxiv. 
 2) for the courts of the Lord, that is, thirsting even to faint- 
 ness, even thus does the pilgrim for the Day of the Lord, 
 ''waiting" (as Kom. viii. 19) for the fulfilment of promises and 
 hopes. There is here, too, an amxa^ohoxia, for 
 
 " Mine eyes faint (!)73 as ver. 81)^0?' thy word, 
 Saying, When wilt thou comfort me V (Ver. 82.) 
 
 On that day, " the bottle in the smoke," the man of sorrows, 
 the pilgrim who has been subjected to humiliation and dis- 
 honour, shall appear as a diadem in the hand of the Lord. No 
 wonder, then, that again he cries — 
 
 " How many are the days of thy servants ? 
 WTien wilt thou execute judgment on my persecutors ?" 
 
 — the very prayer and appeal of the souls under the altar in 
 Rev. vi. 9. And the force of verse 85 seems to lie in a refer- 
 ence of the same kind, q. d., " The proud have digged pits for 
 me, but shall find themselves disappointed ; these pits are not 
 destined for me" — alluding to the Lord's judgment when his 
 " Law" shall assign each his portion, the persecutor and the 
 persecuted.* For his promises shall come to fulfilment ; they 
 are faithfulness itself 
 
 "All thy commandments are faithfulness ." (Ver. 86.) 
 
 LAMED. 
 
 89 For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. 
 
 90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations : thou hast established the earth, 
 
 and it abidcth. 
 
 91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances : for all are thy 
 
 servants. 
 
 92 Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine 
 
 affliction. 
 
 * Home remarks, the ^crw enacted punishment, Exod. xxi. 33, on the man 
 who left open a pit into which a beast accidentally fell ; much more here. 
 
I'SALM CXIS?. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GODS WOBD. SG? 
 
 93 I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thoti hast quickened me. 
 
 94 I am thine, save me ; for I have sought thy precepts. 
 
 95 The wicked have waited for me to destroy me : but I will consider thy 
 
 testimonies. 
 
 96 I have seen an end of all perfection ; but thy commandment is exceeding 
 
 broad. 
 
 The pilgrim meditates on the unfailing certainty of the 
 Law. The revelation of God in his word and ordinances is 
 just Himself presented to our view ; which being so, we find 
 his word like himself, sure and unfailing amid all changes. 
 
 " For ever is Jeliovah ! 
 Thy word isjixed in the heavens !" (above reach of change ) (Ver. 89.) 
 
 To this Law he ever resorts. In all else, he finds a limit ; 
 other guides go only a certain length with you ; other supports 
 are capable of bearing only a certain measure of burden ; but 
 the Lord's revelation has no such limit ; " it is exceeding 
 broad" — the contrast to mere human "perfection," the com- 
 pleteness to which man may reach. 
 
 MEM. 
 
 97 O how love I thy law ! It is my meditation all the day. 
 
 98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies : 
 For they are ever with me. 
 
 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers : for thy testimonies are 
 
 my meditation. 
 
 100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. 
 
 101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. 
 
 102 I have not departed for thy judgments : for thou hast taught me. 
 
 103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste ! yea, sweeter than honey to my 
 
 mouth ! 
 
 104 Through thy precepts I get understanding : therefore I hate every false 
 
 ■way. 
 
 The pilgriTn revels in the instructive properties of God's 
 law. " How I have loved thy law !" (ver. 97). The Law (see 
 Psa. xix.) is equivalent to God's revelation of himself, and his 
 will to man. His foes have a sort of wisdom, much craft, much 
 subtlety ; but as David, in 1 Sam. xviii. 30, was made wiser 
 than all his foes in conduct and in war, even so shall it be here. 
 " I'hy commandment shall make me wiser than mine enemies, 
 For it is mine for ever'' — my possession and portion for ever. (Ver. 98.) 
 Glancing at the future, he glories in the law as making him 
 wise, not only now, but for ever. " I have got (he says) what 
 
368 PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD'S WORD. 
 
 shall even in ages to come, in the kingdom, continue to teach 
 me." No earthly teachers (ver. 99), not even the elders* or 
 the aged (ver. 100), afford anything that equals this revelation 
 of God. No wonder ! for it is God's epistle to mankind offer- 
 ing reconciliation, peace, and union with himself in glory ! 
 
 NUN. 
 
 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. 
 
 106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous 
 
 judgments. 
 
 107 I am afflicted very much : quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word. 
 
 108 Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, 
 And teach me thy judgments. 
 
 10.Q My soul is continually in my hand : yet do I not forget thy law. 
 
 110 The wicked have laid a snare for me : yet I erred not from thy precepts. 
 
 111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the 
 
 rejoicing of my heart. 
 
 112 1 have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the 
 
 end. 
 
 The pilgrim proclaims God's law siifficient amid all dijffl- 
 culties. Yes, sufficient even in the darkest hour of the darkest 
 night of earth. It shall shed its light, like the Pillar Cloud, 
 on the pilgrim-path of those who travel in the Last Days, amid 
 the shades of the world's evening ; it has shed its light on the 
 gloomiest path ever trod by a saddened follower of the Lamb ; 
 it does at this hour shed light, the purest, and the sweetest, 
 into the souls of all who know the Lord. 
 
 "2% word is a lamp unto my feet, 
 And a light unto my pathy (Ver. 105.) 
 
 It has all sorts of light in it ; it is like what is said in 
 Rev. xxi. 23 ; it has sun light and temple-lamp light. It is 
 a " larti'p" — nay, the very " light" of day ! In this light, the 
 Lord of pilgrims walked ; and in this light each of his band 
 walks still, and purposes to walk, "for ever, continually, unto 
 the end," (ver. 112). The " e)icZ" contains in it a direct re- 
 ference to the reward ; for the word is 2jpy, a word used else- 
 where for wages or reward, e. g., Psa xix. 12, Prov. xxii. 14- 
 
 * Applying this passage to the Lord Jesus, Augustine says — "Agnosco 
 cum plane, qui super docentes se intellexit, quando cum esset duodecim an- 
 norum remansit puer Jesus in Hierusalem." 
 
PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WOKD. 869 
 
 The pilgrim has his eye on the blessed termination, and seems 
 to speak abruptly as he gazes — ^'Forever ! the end !" — the re- 
 warding close ! 
 
 SAMECH. 
 
 113 I hate vain thoughts : but thy law do I love. 
 
 114 Thou art my hiding-place and my shield : I hope in thy word. 
 
 115 Depart from me, ye evil-doers : for I will keep the commandments of 
 
 my God. 
 
 116 Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live : 
 And let me not be ashamed of my hope. 
 
 117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe! and I will have respect unto thy 
 
 statutes continually. 
 
 118 Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes : for their 
 
 deceit is falsehood. 
 
 119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross : therefore I 
 
 love thy testimonies. 
 
 120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee ; and I am afraid of thy judgments. 
 
 The pilgrim, teTnpted to a compromise, cleaves to the Law. samech 
 Water and oil cannot intermingle ; the word of God and the 
 ways of fallen men are equally irreconcilable. 
 " / hate thougJds." (D''3yp) 
 
 I hate mere opinions on matters of duty, and on points of divine 
 worship. I hate " waverings," say some, implying the uncer- 
 tainty of merely human thoughts on divine truth. 
 " But thy law have I loved " — (thy revelation of thyself and of thy will). 
 
 In verse 116, " ashamed of my hope" is, ashamed so as to 
 abandon my hope as one disappointed. At verse 118, the end 
 of all who adopt another rule than the law of God is hinted at ; 
 and then dwelt upon in verses 119, 120. " Their deceit {i. e., 
 the lie they trust in) leads to nothing" (Hengst.), or ends in 
 utter disappointment. It is a " spem meniita seges." The 
 wicked are put away as dross is flung out (ver. 1 ] 9), and this 
 with such accompaniments of terror, that the beholder, though 
 safe in that day within the cloud, exclaims — 
 
 " My flesh trembleth (horripilavit caro mea, Jerome) /oj-y^a?- of Thee ; 
 And I am afraid at thy judgments ! " 
 
 A IX. 
 
 121 I have done judgment and justice : leave me not to mine oppressors. 
 
 122 Be surety for thy servant for good : let not the proud oppress me. 
 
 A a 
 
370 PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD'S WORD. 
 
 123 Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteoitsness. 
 
 124 Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy 
 
 statutes. 
 
 125 I am thy servant ; give me understanding, that I may know thy testi- 
 
 monies. 
 
 126 It is time for thee, Lord, to work : for they have made void thy law. 
 
 127 Therefore I love thy commandments above gold ; yea, above fine gold. 
 
 128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right ; 
 And I hate every false way. 
 
 The pilgrim seeks to endure to the end. Do not leave me ! 
 Be surety for thy servant that it may be well with him ! It 
 is time for thee to work ! These appeals indicate a pilgrim 
 feeling himself beset with much that makes him wish that the 
 journey were done, besides the 123d verse — 
 
 " Mine eyes fail for tliy salvation ; (see ver. 81, 82) 
 Andfoi' the ivord which thou ivilt perform.^' (Ver. 123.) 
 
 It might seem as if the " therefore" p 7^ of verses 127, 128^ 
 declared that the sight of the reckless course of the ungodly 
 has increased the pilgrim's love to the Lord's ways ; but we 
 incline to another view. The 126th verse is literally, 
 
 " Iliere is a time for the Lord to work.^' (Ver. 126.) 
 Vengeance is not speedily executed ; for God is long-suffering. 
 The effect of this delay is to tempt the ungodly to "make void 
 the law." But the effect of the Lord's having a time, a fixed 
 time, for the performance of his promises and threatenings, is 
 very different in regard to his servants ; they are thereby in- 
 duced to persevere in shewing love to him. ''Therefore," on 
 this account, " I have persevered till now in loving thy com- 
 mandments, approving of every one of thy precepts, (' all thy 
 precepts, even all') and hating every false way." Yes, it is he 
 who says in his heart, " My Lord delayeth his coming," that 
 begins to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with 
 the drunken. 
 
 PE. 
 
 129 Thy testimonies are wonderful : therefore doth my soul keep them. 
 
 130 The entrance of thy words giveth light : it giveth understanding unto 
 
 the simple. 
 
 131 I opened my mouth and panted : for I longed for thy commandments. 
 
 132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto mc, 
 
 As thou usest to do unto those that love tliv name. 
 
PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD, 371 
 
 133 Order my steps in thy word : and let not any iniquity have dominion 
 
 over me. 
 
 134 Deliver me from the oppression of man : so will I keep thy precepts. 
 
 135 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant ; and teach me thy statutes, 
 
 136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law. 
 
 The 'pilgrim manifests increasing, as well as inteyise, delight 
 in the Law. It is a somewhat quaint, but at the same time 
 faithful, view of his state of mind that is given by one who 
 paraphrases verse 131 thus — 
 
 " With open moutJi I pant and run, like hart before the hounds, 
 Until my laioful prize hewon for which my spirit hounds. 
 Behold thou me, Lord my God, the master oftlie race ." 
 
 The Lord Jesus, the Son of David, could utter these words ; 
 and David, or any member of Christ, can find no better words 
 to express their soul's desire when getting a glimpse of " the 
 unsearchable riches." There is some difficulty, however, in 
 verse ISO, which is literally, 
 
 " The door oftliy words giveth light." 
 Some say, " The opening up of the true sense of thy word ;" 
 but this is not in the expression. The Lord's words are ap- 
 parently represented as the door (HJIS)) hy which we enter into 
 the chambers of his heart. The idea is this. You cannot 
 handle any saying of God in a true frame or spirit without find- 
 ing yourself in so doing at a door which may lead you far in to 
 the palace — to the innermost thoughts of God's heart toward 
 us. A door is opened to you every time you apprehend one 
 sentence or saying of the Lord's — "a door in heaven,"' shall 
 we say ?— a door like that of which John (Rev. iv. 1) speaks, 
 by which you are enabled, in the spirit, to pass farther in to 
 the secrets of God ? Only this is not a revelation of things 
 hidden from other saints — part of its blessedness is found in 
 its being the common privilege of all saints ; just as verse 132 
 has expressed it, "According to the manner* (Gen. xl. 13) to- 
 
 "TTpS^p^. The same expression occurs in verse 149, " Quicken me, O 
 Lord, 'TJjpSti;^^, according to thy manner." The sense would in this case be, 
 " Quicken, in answer to my cry ; for thou art wont to hear such cries." Per- 
 haps, also, verse 175 should be so understood. 
 
372 PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD'S WORD. 
 
 yard those that love thy name" — toward Abel, toward Enoch, 
 toward Abraham, toward Moses, toward us also who love " thy 
 name !" We may be able to say nothing else of ourselves but 
 this only, " We love thy name !" But this is enough. And 
 how real, how intense, is this love, since it draws forth the 
 heart in strains like verse 136 — 
 
 " Mine eyes run down as brooks of water, 
 Because of their not keeping thy laics I " 
 
 Their present wickedness, and their final doom, are both re- 
 ferred to. It is, " If thou hadst known, even thou !" (Luke 
 XX. 41.) 
 
 TZADDI. 
 
 137 Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thj' judgments. 
 
 138 Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very- 
 
 faithful. 
 
 139 My zeal hath consumed me, hecause mine enemies have forgotten thy 
 
 words. 
 
 140 Tliy word is veiy pure : therefore thy seiTant loveth it. 
 
 141 I am small and despised : yet do not I forget thy precepts. 
 
 142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the 
 
 truth. 
 
 143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me : yet thy commandments 
 
 are my delights. 
 
 144 The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting : give me understand- 
 
 ing, and I shall live. 
 
 2he pilgrim, adopts the tone of adoration. Getting nearer 
 his journey's end, it is natural for the man of God to praise 
 more than at the outset. At the close of their warfare, saints 
 are represented in Revelation (e. g., chap. xv. 4) as discerning the 
 Lord's righteousness and faiihfidness, " Just and true have 
 thy ways been, King of saints ! " They see this in his judg- 
 ments on the ungodly ; for it is not with them as is told of the 
 Emperor Mauritius, who uttered, in reference to his own suf- 
 ferings and his family at the hand of Phocas, " Righteous art 
 thou, Lord." And this is the utterance of verses 137, 138. 
 The more that enemies forget the Lord's word, the more he re- 
 members it. It is a word without dross, "pure," no defect in it.* 
 ■' Thy righteousness is righteousness for ever. 
 And thy law is truth." (Ver. 142.) 
 
 * Pure gold (says Home) is said to be so fixed that an ounce of it set in 
 the eye of a glass-furnace, for two months, did not lose a single grain. 
 
PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 373 
 
 Joshua (xxiii. 1 4) testified to Israel, and they said Amen to the 
 testimony, that not one good thing had failed of all that the 
 Lord had spoken. His word of promise and of threatening 
 cannot deceive, cannot disappoint, cannot come short of its de- 
 clarations. And this is once more repeated, verse 1 44 — 
 " Righteousness (p*TiJ) are tliy testimonies for ever ! 
 Cause me to understand this and I shall live." 
 Life eternal ! — the life of the redeemed in the everlasting king- 
 dom, when the Righteous One has triumphed, and expelled 
 ungodliness from earth ! 
 
 KOrH. 
 
 145 I cried with my whole heart ; hear me, O Lord ! I will keep thy statutes. 
 
 146 I cried unto thee ; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies. 
 
 147 I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried : I hoped in thy 
 
 word. 
 
 148 Mine eyes prevent the night-watches, that I might meditate in thy word. 
 
 149 Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness : 
 O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgment. 
 
 150 They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law. 
 
 151 Thou art near, O Lord; and thy commandments are truth. 
 
 152 Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded 
 
 them for ever. 
 
 The pilgrim protests that all his expectation is from the Kopi.. 
 Lord. Rising before daybreak, nay, even encroaching on the 
 night-watches (like Mark i. 35, and Luke vi. 12), the Lord of 
 pilgrims follows hard after God, going from strength to strength, 
 instead of abating in his zeal, as men often do in other pur- 
 suits, through length of time. 
 
 " / came before thee in the morning twilight." (Ver. 147.) 
 
 And all his true followers may be expected to resemble the 
 Lord in this hard pursuit, especially as they get nearer their 
 journey's end, and approach the Lord's dwelling-place. What 
 strength of comfort in verse 151 — 
 
 " Thou art near, Lord, 
 And all thy commandments are truth !" (cannot disappoint.) 
 
 There is an anomaly in verse 152, as to gender, if " Thou hast 
 founded them" (D"), is to be referred to " testimonies ;" but 
 probably it is meant to refer back to all the terms used in this 
 
37-i PSAT,M CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD'S WOED. 
 
 context, e.g., statutes (ver. 145), words (ver. 147), as well as 
 commandments and testimonies. And this is the sense. "Afore- 
 time" (Dljp before experience had given me palpable proofs), 
 
 " Aforetime I knew from out of thy testimonies (Ilengstenberg) 
 That tJiou hast founded these for ever." (Ver. 152.) 
 
 In the ages to come we shall still have God's words, and we shall 
 then look back and see how truthful our God was. The Lord 
 of pilgrims, who trod our path himself, will then lead us to 
 review the dealings of Jehovah, talking with us as he talked 
 with Moses and Elias about his own decease on the Transfigu- 
 ration Hill. 
 
 RESH. 
 
 153 Consider mine affliction, and deliver me : for I do not forget thy law. 
 
 154 Plead my cause, and deliver me : quicken me according to thy word. 
 
 155 Salvation is far from the wicked : for they seek not thy statutes. 
 
 156 Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord : quicken me according to thy 
 
 judgments. 
 
 157 Many are my persecutors and mine enemies ; yet do I not dechne from 
 
 thy testimonies. 
 
 158 I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy 
 
 word. 
 
 159 Consider how I love thy precepts ! quicken me, O Lord, according to thy 
 
 lovingkindness. 
 
 160 Thy word is true from the beginning : 
 
 And every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. 
 
 Continued opposition causes the pilgrim to pray for con- 
 tinued quickening. The end of the journey has as many 
 trials as the beginning ; we are to " hold fast the beginning of 
 our confidence stedfast to the end." Three times to cry for 
 " quicJcening'" arises here, viz., in verses 154, 156, 159 — an ap- 
 peal for more life — which we now may specially urge, since we 
 can hold up to the Lord his own words, " I am come that they 
 might have life, and have it more abundantly," (John x. 10). 
 
 One like Paul, whose sympathy was so entirely with his 
 Lord, might well use the words in 2 Tim. iv. 7, " I have fought 
 a good fight ;" but all pilgrims, and he too among the rest, would 
 gladly use to the last the appeal of verse 154, all the more 
 after a life-time experience of the trials by the way. 
 " Fiffhf rnyfght (Psa. xliv. 1, Ilengstenberg), 
 And redeem, mc." (>jbs:i) (Ver. 154.) 
 
PSALM CXIX.— THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 375 
 
 Be a Ooel to me ! Be to me what Job expected when he cried, 
 "I know that my (7^Jil^ Redeemer liveth, and that he shall 
 stand at the latter day upon the earth," (xix. 25). Mean- 
 while, 
 
 " Quicken me, according to thy word,'''' (ver. 154. Thy promises to thy 
 
 children who knock). 
 " Quicken me, according to thy J udgnients," (ver. 156. The pi'inciples of 
 
 thy dealing with us). 
 " I beheld transgressors, and loas sickened at those loho kept not thy word." 
 
 (Ver. 158.) 
 " Quicken me, according to thy lovingkindness,'" (ver. 159. The dictates 
 
 of thine own free love). 
 
 Why should not all of us rest on the Lord's word with increas- 
 ing confidence as our pilgrimage advances to its close, since 
 experience adds to the evidence of his faithfulness, 
 
 " The beginnng o/(ti>J^"l) thy loord is truth ; 
 And to eternity is every appointment of thy righ'eousness." 
 
 There is nothing but truth and certainty in thy holy word. 
 It may be rendered, " Truth is the sum of thy word," (Heng- 
 stenberg). At the same time, the Psalmist probably ex- 
 presses far more by that peculiar form, " iDiki, the head of thy 
 word." As n33 ]i}^l in Psa. cxviii. 22 is the " head, or chief, 
 of the corner," may not this expression be intended to desig- 
 nate " that original promise which is the ' head, or chief pro- 
 mise, of the whole word of God' — the promise of the Woman's 
 Seed ?" The faithful in Israel no doubt were ever reverting to 
 it. To them could it be otherwise than " the U}ikl, the head," 
 the chief utterance of the Word ? It is, therefore, mainly to 
 this that we suppose reference is made in this verse. The 
 Lord Jesus could use it of himself when on earth ; and each 
 one of his disciples could — but not less can we now, we who 
 can point back to the Woman's Seed having come, to the ful- 
 filment of that " head of the luord," and who may thus more 
 than ever confidently look forward to the fulfilment of what 
 remains, " every appointment of his righteousness," in the ages 
 to come, including the Day of the Lord, when all things shall 
 be set in order. 
 
376 PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 
 
 SCHIN. 
 
 161 Princes have persecuted mo without a cause : but my heart standeth in 
 
 awe of thy word. 
 
 162 I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. 
 
 163 I hate and abhor lying : but thy law do I love. 
 
 164 Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments. 
 
 165 Great peace have they which love thy law : 
 And nothing shall offend them. 
 
 166 Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments. 
 
 167 My soul hath kept thy testimonies ; and I love them exceedingly. 
 
 168 I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies : for all my ways are be- 
 
 fore thee. 
 
 The 'pilgrim is full of peace and praise. It is now specially 
 that praise seems to abound in the traveller ; that is, it is now 
 near his journey's end that it is poured forth, so as to be heard 
 by others. His Hosanna is changing into the Hallelujahs of 
 the heavenly citizens, 
 
 " Seven times a day have I praised thee." (Ver. 164.) 
 
 The pilgrim is an Isaac, one wlio meditates at even-tide, and 
 one who can call God his "fear ;" for verse 161 has inS), the 
 very word used twice in Gen. xxxi. 42, 53 of Isaac's God, "the 
 fear of Isaac." In thi? frame of solemn Bethel-like awe he ap- 
 proaches the end of his journey, and crosses the threshold of 
 the King's palace. This reverent awe has deepened on him, 
 the longer he has meditated on Jehovah's word. Very fitting 
 it is, now that he is near the end, to teU, and to leave it for 
 encouragement to those that come after, as a thing proved by 
 experience, 
 
 " Great peace is the portion of those that love thy law ; 
 There is no stumbling-block to them.'' (Ver. 165.) 
 
 " At peace (says one) with God, at peace with themselves, at 
 peace with all men ; and the whole creation at peace with 
 them." This peace enables them to wait patiently for the final 
 glory — in the kingdom of peace. 
 " ITiave waited for (see Ruth i. 13, in the Hebrew the same word, ")5^) 
 thy salvation, Lord." Ver. 166.) 
 
I 
 
 PSALM CXIX. — THE PILGRIM CUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 377 
 TAU. 
 
 169 Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord : give me understanding ac- 
 
 cording to thy word. 
 
 170 Let my supplication come before thee : deliver me according to thy word. 
 
 171 IMy lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes. 
 
 172 My tongue shall speak of thy word : for all thy commandments are 
 
 righteousness. 
 
 173 Let thine hand help me ; for I have chosen thy precepts. 
 
 174 I have longed for thy salvation, Lord ; and thy law is my delight. 
 
 175 Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee ; and let thy judgments help me. 
 
 176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep ; seek thy servant ; 
 For I do not forget thy commandments. 
 
 The pilgrim pours out prayer and ^^rctise, in a strong 
 cry, at the dose of his journey. Praise i.s uttered in the midst 
 of redoubled supplication; repeated praise in the verses 171, 
 172. 
 
 "My lips shall stream for/h with thy praise; (gush forth, as Ps. six. 1) 
 For thou wilt teach me thy statutes. ''' 
 
 " My tongue shall sing thy word, (responsively l^Pi) ; 
 For all thy commandments are righteousness.'" 
 Anticipating the employments, the discoveries, the enjoyments 
 of the Coming Rest and Kingdom, the Psalmist tells of the 
 hallelujahs that shall dwell upon his lips, gushing up from an 
 ever full and ever filling soul — a soul full of the Lord's grace 
 in the past, and ever filling Avith fresh manifestations ; for 
 " Thou wilt teach me" still, and I shall see with increasing 
 clearness that all thy commandments were holy, and just, and 
 good. 
 
 Help me, then, to the end ; for (ver. 1 74) 
 
 " / have pined Jor thy salvation,'" (''J^D^^n)• 
 
 This is (as we might expect at the close) the strongest expres- 
 sion of desire for Coming Glory that has yet been used. " Sal- 
 vation," as we noticed above, is the final deliverance, with all 
 the grace and glory that it brings. At verse 81, we find the 
 soul " thirsting," fainting in thirst for it ; at verse 1 23, the 
 earnest expectation made " the eye faint" for it ; at verse ] 66, 
 there was strong hope, and waiting ; but this verse rises to an 
 almost impatient longing — a " pining with desire" for the arri- 
 val of the blessed day. 
 
 Again, verse 175, there is the anticipation of praise, because 
 
378 PSALM CXIX.— THE PILGRIM GUIDED BY GOD's WORD. 
 
 of a happy arrival ; and a burst of prayer such as might well 
 sum up a lifetime's experience and desires. 
 
 " / have been a ivanderei; C^JT^jPi) ?'/>-'e a lost sheej).* 
 I have all my life found nowhere to lay my head, and no rest 
 to the sole of my foot. I have, like Hagar and Ishmael 
 (Vr\^> Gen. xxi. 14), wandered in the wilderness where there 
 was no water. I have, like Joseph (nSJD, Gen. xxxvii. 15), 
 wandered in search of my brethren, without home or friends. 
 I have, like Abraham, above all (-IS^Ori' Gen. xx. 13), left my 
 country and kindred, all my father's house, for the Lord's sake. 
 My life has been a wandering, like sheep lost, when the shep- 
 herd is away, or when the shepherd chooses to send them away 
 from his care (-l^iirT. Jer. 1. 6), " turning them loose on the 
 mountains, so that they go from mountain to hill, forgetting 
 their resting-place." 
 
 (But in all my wanderings and weariness, and sorrow) 
 " I have not forgotten thy commandments." 
 " Seek, then, thy servant" — i. e., do the part of a shepherd who 
 brings home his sheep to the fold ! It is a request that he would 
 do as Ezekiel (xxxiv. 16) foretells the Lord shall do on the day 
 when he gathers his scattered ones under the shade of the Plant 
 of Renown ; for here the word is I^jp.^, and there the word is 
 tt'p2^}. " 1 will seek that which was lost, and bring again that 
 which was driven away." Then shall Rev. vii. 15, 16, 17, be 
 realised ; for the Lamb in the midst shall be Sliepherd ever pre- 
 sent ; himself once a wanderer in our world's wastes, and now 
 feeding among the lilies, bringing home all his flock to where 
 they thirst no more, nor hunger, neither does the sun light on 
 them, nor any heat. 
 
 Amen ! Even so ! Come, Lord Jesus ! Surely this is the 
 heart's feeling of the Singer of this Psalm, 
 
 A pilgrim and stranger guided dag and night by the 
 Law of the Lord. 
 
 * David Dickson says on this verse, " I have gone astray — driven out in 
 tlie stormy and dark day; or by the hunting of the dogs chased out from the 
 rest of the flock." Banished from his native country and the fellowship of the 
 Church, as to bodily presence. Ilorne also notices that it may mean the 
 misery of "wnndcring as an exile in foreign lands." 
 
SONGS OF DEGREES. 379 
 
 SONGS OF DEGREES. 
 
 It may he helpful to a right understanding of the Psalms we 
 now approach, and may increase our interest in them, to be- 
 gin with a synoptical view of the fifteen which are clustered 
 together, and go by the name of " Songs of Degrees." The 
 progression of thought and subject thus becomes clear : — 
 
 The Pilgrim Train and its Leader — 
 
 Psa. cxx. — Weari/ tvith the strife cf tongues. (Comp. Psa. Ixxxi. 6.) 
 Psa. cxxi. — Commit themselves to Jehovah cdone, as they joui-ney 
 
 forth. 
 Psa. cxxii. — Sing of the City of Habitation, to which they journey. 
 Psa. cxxiii. — Cast an upioard look amid the contempt of those they 
 
 7neet with. 
 
 At a stage in their way which we might call Ehenezer — 
 
 Psa. exxiv. — Give praise for deliverance hitherto. 
 
 Psa. exxv. — Express confidence of leing hept faithful, through Je- 
 hovah's faithfulness, to the end. 
 
 Psa. cxxvi. — Sing of the joys Jehovah has given, and will give, to his 
 servants. 
 
 Psa. cxxvii. — Cease from carefulness, and ascribe the success to Je- 
 hovah. 
 
 Psa. cxxviii. — Pronounce blessing on all the fearers of God. 
 
 Psa. cxxix. — Eevieiv their past sufferings in hop)e. 
 
 Psa. cxxx. — Relate their earnest cry in trouble, and the rich result. 
 
 Psa. cxxxi. — Express their contentment tvith Jehovah's will. 
 
 Psa. cxxxii. — Remind Jehovah of pledges of favour to Zion, and are 
 answered. 
 
 Psa. cxxxiii. — Admire and sing of the unity of those met in the Holy 
 City, their habitatian. 
 
 Psa. cxxxiv. — Call for unceasing praise from all Jehovah's servants. 
 
 We adopt the idea of these fifteen Psalms being in some 
 sense the songs of those who went ujp to Jerusalem to worship. 
 They do not give us the inward experience of individuals only ; 
 they bear reference to Israel at large ; for even when, as in the 
 
380 PSALM CXX. — THE LORD's SERVANT WEARY 
 
 case of the ]30th and 131st, the strain has a personal aspect, 
 the closing verse sings of Israel.* 
 
 In the singular, tf?y^ frequently designates the going up to 
 a higher spot, e. g., the ascent of Bethhoron, the ascent of Lu- 
 hith, and in Ezra vii, 9, the going up from Babylon. In the 
 plural it is used for the steps of Solomon's throne, and in Eze- 
 kiel (xl. 26, 31, 34), for the steps of the temple-gates. The 
 use of ryhvj2 for the degrees or steps of a dial, has been fully 
 illustrated by recent discoveries in Assyria, which prove that 
 the sun-dial was a series of steps, or terraces, on which a pole 
 cast its shadow. It would appear, therefore, that the name 
 "Song of the Steps" is a poetical one, designating Psalms 
 which specially suited the circumstances of those who go up 
 to the Temple. 
 
 Hengstenberg remarks that they are grouped round the 1 27th, 
 which is Solomon s ; and we may add that that central " Song 
 of Degrees," or steps, has special reference to " The House," or 
 Temple. 
 
 PSALM CXX. 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me. 
 
 2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. 
 
 3 What shall be given unto thee ? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false 
 
 tongue ? 
 
 4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. 
 
 5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar ! 
 
 6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. 
 
 7 I am for peace : but when I speak, they are for war. 
 
 We could have imagined Hannah, the mother of Samuel, tak- 
 ing up this song in her lips when going up to the Feast at 
 
 * This feature of these fifteen Psalms is itself sufficient to set aside the idea 
 of a writer in the Jewish Chronicle, that they were specially for domestic use, and 
 get their name from the steps, or ascent to the house-top, where devout Jews 
 were wont to worship. Some have conjectured that the title "Degrees" may 
 refer to the musical instruments used in chaunting them. The common idea 
 that the name refers to the steps of the Temple, is that expressed in Parker's 
 old translation— " These fifteen Psalms next following be songs benamed of 
 steps and stairs, for that the choir on them did sing." 
 
WITH THE STRIFE OF TONGUES. 381 
 
 Shiloh. She carried her private sorrows to the Great Congre- Hope in sorrow. 
 
 gation, that in the midst of the many worshippers she might 
 
 find the special presence of Jehovah. The complaint, in her 
 
 case, was her adversary's tongue ; so, here it is the tongue — 
 
 " the false tongue." At the same time, it is " sore distress," 
 
 for the form rYl"^ is emphatic (ver. 1), just as in Psa. iii. 3, 
 
 TM1)?)U}\ is the emphatic form to signify complete deliverance. 
 
 We see a worshipper, who enjoys little peace in his own The plan. 
 country, coming up to the City of Peace, Salem, there to 
 realise peace at one of those feasts which exhibited such a 
 spectacle of united devotion. In the sanctuary, the pilgrim is 
 enabled to see the end of those who so hate the godly, that 
 they make war upon them. He sees 
 
 " The arroios of the Mighty One sharpened;" 
 as if anticipating the day of God, when he, the Mighty One, 
 sung of in Psa. xlv. 3, shall send forth his arrows — arrows of 
 fire — " glowing embers of genista fuel" — in other words, " The 
 flaming fire that takes vengeance on his foes," (2 Thess. i. 8). 
 
 Meanwhile, it is a saddening thought that as yet the days 
 of the Prince of peace have not come. But we may have his 
 sympathy, for once the Prince of peace felt thus himself, taber- 
 nacling among us, 
 
 " Woe's me ! for I tarry in Mesech ! 
 I pitch my tents with the tents of Kedar /" 
 
 As Isaiah i. 1 brands the apostate people and rulers of Jeru- 
 salem as " people of Sodom and rulers of Gomorrha," and as 
 Ezek xvi. 4 calls them " Amorites" and " Hittites," so does 
 the Psalmist speak of his harassing foe, as like the barbarous 
 men of Mesech in the obscure north (the Moschian mountains), 
 or near the Caspian Sea (see Ezek. xxxviii. 2), and the ever- 
 unsettled tribes of Kedar in the south. And so he sighs 
 
 " It is wearisome for my sold to dtcell with the hater of peace /" (Hengst.) 
 Literally, " Enough of this dwelling \" Is not this the very 
 feeling of the Church at this hour, in these days of never-end- 
 ing forms of lies and vanity that assail the truth ? They cry, 
 " O when shall the Prince of peace arrive ! And so felt the 
 Lord himself, when on earth, as we see in his teaching his fol- 
 
382 PSALM CXXI. — THE LORD's SERVANT 
 
 lowers the blessedness of being " peace-makers." Indeed, who 
 would sing this pilgrim-song so truly from the heart as " The 
 Master V It is a song for 
 
 The servant of the Lord weary ivifh the strife of tongues. 
 
 PSALM CXXI. 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 I WILL lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 
 
 2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. 
 
 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved : he that keepeth thee will not 
 
 slumbei-. 
 
 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 
 
 5 The Lord is thy keeper : the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. 
 C The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by right. 
 
 7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil : he shall preserve thy soul. 
 
 8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in 
 From this time forth, and even for evermore. 
 
 " A Song for the goings up !" {rrhv^b).* The pilgrim sings 
 it as he leaves his home to meet the Lord in the Great Con- 
 gregation at Jerusalem ; and the believer (like the Master) 
 sings it as he journeys through earth to the New Jerusalem. 
 Abraham (Gen. xxii. 4) " lifted up his eyes" and saw the hills 
 of Moriah on the third day. The worshipper sets forth with 
 the desire to fix his eyes at last on the hills where his trials are, 
 not, like Abraham's, to reach their crisis, but to end. 
 " I ivill lift. i(p mine eyes to the hills.'" (Ver. 1.) 
 This is his resolution ; his motive for leaving home and kin- 
 dred is to reach " the holy mountains," as they are called, Psa. 
 Ixxxvii. 1, — those hills that are the emblems of Jehovah's faith- 
 fulness, Psa. cxxv. 1, 2,— that spot where Jehovah is specially 
 present because of the Propitiation being there, (1 Kings viii. 
 42 ; Dan. vi. 10). 
 
 * This is the only time that this form of the expression occurs, and so it is 
 probably meant to signify something different from "Song of Degrees." It 
 may be, in poetical style, like ^ in "Psalm TTl"?," Ts-alm composed hy David, 
 
 q. d., a Psalm wliich tlie goings up to Jerusalem may be said to have com- 
 posed. 
 
COMMITTING HIMSELF TO JEHOVAH ALONE. 383 
 
 This, then, is his resolution. But there are perils by the 
 way, and so he asks — 
 
 " Whence sliall my help come ?" (^^^<Q, which Phillip and others re- 
 mark, is always interrogative.) 
 
 What a full answer is at once returned to his soul : " My help 
 is from (p^U from with, coming out from that depository of 
 help) Jeliovah, the Maker of heaven and earth." And then 
 he speaks to his soul, as the singer of Psa. ciii. does — " He will 
 not suffer my feet to totter ! Thy keeper is not one that 
 slumbers !" He is not like Baal, (1 Kings xviii. 27). 
 
 " Behold, lie never slumbers I 
 He never falls asleep, the Keeper of Israel (Num. vi. 24). 
 My keeper is Jehovah .'" — 
 
 that Jehovah in whom Israel is blessed (Num. vi. 24) by their 
 High Priest — whose blessing awaits the pilgrim who reaches 
 the city. He shall keep thee, making thy experience in thy 
 journey to become oft-times a type of the rest where " the 
 sun* shall not smite them nor any heat/' (Rev. vii. 16) — the 
 rest in the Kingdom, and the rest of which Israel shall partake 
 in the latter day, (Isa xlix. 1 0). Thus shalt thou be kept till 
 the glory comes, and thou " goest no more out," but art a pillar 
 in the temple of God, 
 
 " From henceforth and for ever .'" 
 
 * The Psalmist speaks of " the moon" smiting. He may mean all the nox- 
 ious influences of night, but still he refers most specially to the moon. The 
 force of this allusion may be understood by the following quotation from Wall- 
 stedt's City of the Caliphs : — " The glare of the moon in the Persian Gulf is 
 so baneful, and creates feelings so disagreeable, that at night a person may be 
 seen sheltering himself from those rays with the same care as he would in the 
 day from the heat of the sun. The effect of lunar rays in producing decom- 
 position of fish, and other animal substances, is known, though not yet ex- 
 plained ; all in the East and West Indies are familiar with the fact." Moon- 
 light specially injures the traveller's sight, as the coup-de-soleil endangers 
 his very life. Prof. Piazzi Smyth, at Teneriffe, lately ascertained that there 
 is some heat in moonbeams, for his thermometrical instruments were sensibly 
 aftected by the moon's rays. In these tropical climes, meat putrifies rapidly in 
 moonlight, and negroes, who do not hesitate to expose themselves to the sun, 
 muffle head and face from the moon, believing that it causes distortion of the 
 face and swelling. 
 
S84 PSALM CXXII —THE CITY TO WHICH HE JOURNEYS. 
 
 With such a song of faith, keeping in sight the faithfulness 
 and love of Him in whose law he delights, whose feasts he 
 keeps, in whose ways he walks, the Master and his disciples 
 no doubt often left the peaceful shores of the Lake of Galilee 
 to go up to Jerusalem to worship ; often realised, under some 
 fig-tree's seasonable shade, or some convenient cloud bringing 
 down the heat by its shadow the deliverance from the sun's 
 intolerable rays ; and found in all an emblem of their journey 
 through earth to the Kingdom whose capital is New Jerusa- 
 lem, and whose congregation is the Assembly of the first-born. 
 It is a song of 
 
 The Lord's servant, as he goes forth on his journey, commit- 
 ting himself to Jehovah alone. 
 
 PSALM CXXII. 
 
 A Song of degrees of David. 
 
 1 I WAS glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. 
 
 2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. 
 
 3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together : 
 
 4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of 
 
 Israel, 
 To give thanks unto the name of the Lord. 
 
 5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. 
 
 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ! they shall prosper that love thee. 
 
 7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. 
 
 8 For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be witliin 
 
 thee. 
 
 9 Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good. 
 
 The tlieme. " A PSALM of David." 
 
 Love and joy. Hope was the prevailing feature of the first Song of Degrees ; 
 faith characterised the second ; and surely love and joy abound 
 in this one which we now take up. The first verse strikes the 
 key-note — 
 
 " O 'twas a joyful sound to hear 
 Our friends devoutly say, 
 Up, Israel ! To your Temple haste ! 
 And keep your festal day."— (Ta«e and Brady.) 
 
 "/ have rejoiced," says the worshipper, "among (or, over 
 
 i 
 
PSALM CXXII. THE CTTY TO WHICH HE JOUI^NEYS. .385 
 
 those who say, Let us go to the house of the Lord!" David, 
 who wrote this song, had felt that joy fill his whole soul, because 
 of the love he bore to the Lord of the place. And lo ! instantly 
 the pilgrim-worshipper fancies himself arrived — he is already 
 standing at the gate in the early morning, waiting to enter, 
 along with those who said — " Let us go." 
 
 " Our feet are standing at thy gates, Jerusalem /" 
 
 The gates are thrown open, and they enter ; the city on 
 every side engaging their attention. They see in it a city, not 
 ruined by war, but built in its place — not like the straggling 
 dwellings of the villages, nor like the wide spaces of Babylon, 
 with gardens between, but with firm-built streets of stately 
 edifices. 
 
 " Jerusalem is builded as a city ! 
 (A city) tohich is bound together.'''' (Ver. 3.) 
 
 The very compactness of its streets suggesting the close union 
 of its inhabitants in brotherly love. 
 
 " (A city) where are* the tribes who go up, 
 The tribes of Jehovah." (Jah, as Psa. Ixviii. 4, &c.) 
 
 How pleasant to meet, not the Canaanite — not the uncir- 
 cumcised — but the tribes who, with one accord, worship the 
 Lord ; who go up to this city for that end. 
 
 " (A city where is) the testimony (given) to Israel, 
 That they might praise the name of the Lord.''' 
 
 " The Testimony" is by some considered to mean " The Law ;" 
 by others, more probably. The Ark, so often called " The Ark 
 of the Testimony ;" as we also find " The Tabernacle of Tes- 
 timony." We may perhaps best understand it as a reference 
 to all these together — they together setting forth Jehovah's 
 character, and will, and ways, to men. And there, in its gate- 
 ways, sit those who explain and enforce these laws and testi- 
 monies, according to the ancient promise in Deut. xvii. 8, 9 ; 
 and there, also, sit the king and his princes. 
 
 * The ^ here, and in verse .S, is, according to Hengstenberg, the old popu- 
 lar dialect of common life, as found in Deborah's song. If it be the popular 
 style, it is most suitably adopted in a song for the nation at large at its feasts. 
 
 Bb 
 
38() PSALM CXXII.— THE CITY TO WHICH HE JOURNEYS, 
 
 '' Fvr there (HD!^) «''<^ set (Ezck. xlviii. ^5). 
 Thrones for judgment, (^) 
 Thrones for the house cf David." O) 
 
 In all this, we may easily trace a type of our Jerusalem and 
 its privileges. With Christ our Head, as well as with David, 
 we look for another city that " hath foundations" — surely built, 
 and " that lieth foursquare," compactly built (Rev. xxi. 1 6) — a 
 city where we shall meet none but friends, our own friends and 
 friends of God, — a city where the Lord's testimony is fully 
 opened out, and his name praised, — a city at whose gates judg- 
 ment is fully given, and where " a King reigneth in righteous- 
 ness, and princes decree judgment," (Isa. xxxii, 1). 
 
 And if Israel's devout people did so pray for their Jerusa- 
 lem, verses 6, 7, 8, 9, how much more shall the pilgrims to- 
 ward that New Jerusalem "seek the better, that is, the heavenly 
 country." It is interesting to know that the expression, 
 USbp ^bi^p (ver. 6), generally means, " Salute ye," — q. d., 
 Greet ye Jerusalem with your good wishes reminds us of 
 some of the mediaeval hymns,* e. g. — 
 
 " Urbs in portu satis tuto, 
 De longinquo, te salute, 
 Te salute, te suspiro, 
 Te affecto, te require." 
 
 And these old hymns were borrowed from Augustine, who (in 
 his De Spirit, et Anim.) exclaims, " O civitas sancta, civitas 
 speciosa, de longinquo te saluto, ad te clamo, te requiro." All 
 of us, who follow the Lord, surely join in this ardent panting 
 for entrance into that city of which the other was but a type, 
 and of wliich we can say — 
 
 * And of Tasso's famons passage {Gierus. lib. iii. 3) — 
 
 " Ecco apparir Gierusalem si vede, 
 Ecco additar Gierusalem si scorge I 
 Ecco da niille voci unitamente, 
 Gierusalenime salutare si sente ! " 
 
 Horne mentions from De Thou, that Theodore Zuingerfelt this Psalm so ap- 
 propriate to one getting near glory, that he spent his last hours in versifying it 
 in Latin : for he could sing — 
 
 " I'er Chriili merit vm patet 
 Vitiv porta beatct." 
 
PSALM CXXIII. — THE UPWARD LOOK AMID CONTEMPT. 387 
 
 " They that love thee shall prosper ; 
 There shall he peace in thy bulwarks, 
 Prosperiiy in thy palaces." 
 
 Or take it, as some render the words ; '' Peace ■within thy ram- 
 parts! Repose within thy "palaces!" Love to our brethren, 
 whom we hope to meet there (ver. 8), and love to God who has 
 so loved us (ver. 9), must lead us to this earnest desire — " be- 
 cause of my brethren, and because the house of my God is 
 there." Thus, then, now concerning the Antit3rpe, as hereafter 
 of the type through which he looked to the Antitype, 
 The Lord's servant sings of the City of Habitation to which 
 he journeys. 
 
 PSALM CXXIIL 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. 
 
 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, 
 And as the ej'es of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress ; 
 
 So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, 
 Until that he have mercy upon us. 
 
 3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us : 
 For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. 
 
 4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, 
 And with the contempt of the proud. 
 
 If we have found hope, faith, joy, and love in these '' Songs of The 
 Degrees'" hitherto, we now find long-suffering patience. David 
 is said to have been the writer. The worshipper, whether 
 David, or David's greater Son, or any member of his body, 
 " lifts his eyes" upward to the Lord in the heavens. The same 
 Lord who, in Psa. cxxi. 1, is seen on Zion-hills, is here seen, 
 " in the heavens," because the contrast is intended to be made 
 between the Earth that persecutes, and the Majesty, overcano- 
 pying earth, which protects. 
 
 Scorn is felt, such as Nehemiah's case illustrates (Neh. ii. 
 1 9), or Hezekiah's case, in 2 Chron. xxx. 10, when that godly 
 king incited the tribes of Israel to join him in the passover 
 feast. It is the scorn of those ''at ease," U^^y^WT^, persons on 
 
 Patient 
 dependence. 
 
388 PSALM CXXIV. — SONO FOR DELIVF.EANCE 
 
 whom the Avorld smiles, and who say in their hearts, " Where 
 is the promise of his Coming?" like the nations of earth, in 
 Zech. i. 1 5, D^3:^^^*^T D^i^n. it is the contempt of " the proud " 
 U^'i\'"i^^, that class of scorners who shall be found abounding on 
 earth when " the day of the Lord" comes on " every one that 
 is (HNI^) proud," — the " boasters, lovers of pleasure," of 2 Tim. 
 iii. 2. The prayer for help has reference to the high priest's 
 blessing. Num. vi. 24. In Psa. cxxi. 3, 4, he lifted up his eyes 
 to the Lord, and sought that part of the blessing which con- 
 sists in safe keeping ; here, he asks, Ij^n, Be gracious ! Be 
 gracious ! (Num. vi. 24.) The Lord makes his face shine 
 upon the pilgrim ; and the grace that beams thence is the 
 antidote to the contempt of men. Yes, even now it is so ; 
 but if even now, what then when the lifted-up countenance 
 shall be " the grace that shall be brought us at the appear- 
 ing of Jesus Christ ?" Such is the reward of 
 
 The upward look of the Lord's servant amid contempt. 
 
 PSALM CXXIV. 
 
 A Song of degrees of David. 
 
 1 If it had not been the Lord who was ou our side, now may Israel saj- ; 
 
 2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up 
 
 against us : 
 
 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled 
 
 against us : 
 
 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul : 
 
 5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. 
 
 6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. 
 
 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers : 
 The snare is broken, and we are escaped. 
 
 8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and eartli. 
 
 The theme. Ebenezer ! Hitherto the Lord hath helped ! This seems to 
 
 Thankful be the tone of this song of David, sung at a stage of the way, 
 
 acknowiedg. ^^ ^^ ^ time, whcu the thought of past difficulties overcome, 
 
 and dangers escaped, was active and lively. Thankfulness 
 
 characterises it as much as hope, faith, joy, love, patience, 
 
 characterised the previous Psalms. 
 
VOLX^HSAFED AT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. 389 
 
 In the year 1582, it was sung on a remarkable occasion in 
 
 Edinburgh. An imprisoned minister, John Durie, had been 
 
 set free, and was met and welcomed on entering the town by 
 
 two hundred of his friends. The number increased till he 
 
 found himself in the midst of a company of two thousand, who 
 
 began to sing, as they moved up the long High Street, " Now 
 
 Israel 7nay say," &c. They sang in four parts with deep so- 
 
 lemnit}^ all joining in the well-known tune and Psalm. They 
 
 were much moved themselves, and so were all who heard ; and 
 
 one of the chief persecutors is said to have been more alarmed 
 
 at this sight and song than at anything he had seen in Scotland. 
 
 " Had it not been JeJiovah! He icasfor us, Oh (J^J) let Israel say ; 
 
 Had it not been Jehovah ! He who was for us, when men rose against us : 
 
 They had at that time made one morsel of us (Patrick), 
 
 When their wrath burnt against us." 
 
 We should have been dealt with by them as Korah and his 
 company were by the Lord, Num. xvi. 32. But the thunder- 
 bolt was not in our enemies' hand. We have got the help 
 we sought (Psa. cxxi and cxxiii.), and have escaped every snare. 
 Is not this a strain in which all saints can join by the way, at 
 every palm-tree station, at every resting-stage, at every refresh- 
 ing well, — a strain which the Lord of Pilgrims himself would 
 often raise ? And Oh ! how he and his company shall sing it 
 at the journey's end, when they who " were counted worthy to 
 escape all things, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 
 xxi. 36), lift up their voice in mighty thunderings — 
 
 " The snare is broken, and we are escaped ! 
 Our helj) has been in the name of Jehovah ! " 
 
 that Jehovah to whom belongs earth, as well as heaven. Such 
 is this Ebenezer song, 
 
 The song of the Lord's servant for deliuerance vouchsafed, at 
 every step of the way. 
 
390 PSA. CXXV. — FAITHFUL ADHERENCE TO THE FAITHFUL GOD. 
 
 PSALM CXXV. 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 They that trust iu the Lord shall be as mount Zion, 
 Which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. 
 
 2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, 
 
 So the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. 
 
 3 For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous ; 
 Lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. 
 
 4 Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright 
 
 in their hearts. 
 
 5 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, 
 
 The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity : 
 But peace shall be upon Israel. 
 
 Faithfulness under temptation is the grace that shines out 
 in this song. It is sung amid enemies, when they environ the 
 Lord's servant on every side. Two thoughts contribute mu- 
 tually to strengthen and confirm the determined and decided 
 adherence of the Psalmist to his Lord, viz., the thought of 
 Jehovah's faithfulness to him, and the thought of the short- 
 lived prosperity of foes. 
 
 " Tlieij that trust in Jehovah are like the hill of Zion, 
 It moves not ; 
 For ever it abides. 
 
 Jerusalem, the hills are round about lier ; 
 And (so) Jehovah is round about his people, 
 From henceforth, and unto eternity.'''' 
 
 In verse 3 the " lot of the righteous " is inheritance or 
 possession. The worshipper rejoices that never shall rod, or 
 sceptre, of the wicked, extend its influence to that happy spot, 
 the allotted portion, the Canaan-lot of the Lord's people ; and 
 thus the old temptation to idolatry, and other evils, shall be 
 for ever escaped. The language of verse 3 has a peculiarity 
 in it ; it is literally, " the rod of the Wicked One," thus fitting 
 the Psalm for the circumstances of the saints even in the lasc 
 days, when " that Wicked," V^y^ shall be revealed and then 
 destroyed. 
 
 In verse 5 the pilgrim seems to sing the unhappy end of 
 backshders, of those who once joined their company in going 
 
PSA. CXXV. — FAITHFUL ADHERENCE TO THE FAITHFUL GOD. 391 
 
 to the house of God. The Lord, it is said, " will let them go 
 with the workers of iniqiiitij (D!Dv')\ Hengstenberg), as if to 
 suggest to us, who know now of the great day's awful scenes, 
 the word of the Judge, " Depart !" and the description of the 
 result — " These shall go away into everlasting punishment." 
 He shall assign them their portion with the hypocrites, (Matt. 
 xxiv. 51). 
 
 How calm, how sweet the contrast to which our eyes are sud- 
 denly and abruptly turned ! It is the high priest pronouncing 
 what remained of his full blessing (Num. vi. 26). The Lord 
 lifts up his countenance upon them, and gives the word — 
 "Peace upon Israel !" Everything desirable is wrapt up in 
 this peace. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a 
 tabernacle that shall not be taken down, (Isa. xxxiii. 20). This 
 will be the " good" which the Lord will do to his Israel, when 
 he places him in his lot in the end of the days. And with his 
 soul full of thoughts like these, we need but wonder at 
 The Lord's servant's faithfal adherence to his faithful Ood. 
 
 PSALM CXXVL 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 When the Lord turned again the captivity of Ziou, we were like theiu 
 
 that dream. 
 
 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. 
 Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for 
 
 them. 
 
 3 The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. 
 
 4 Turn again our captivity, Lord, as the streams in the south. 
 
 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 
 
 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, 
 
 Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with liini. 
 
 Lord, to whom shall we go for the joy of final victory, but to 
 thee, who has been in all ages the source of Israel's joyful vic- 
 tories ? Jehovah has ever been the author of our blessings, of 
 blessings almost too great to be believed, and He will give us 
 " An autumn of joy for a seed-time of tears." 
 " We have bcfii like fhose that fJream." 
 
392 PSALM CXXVl. — PAST JOYS RECORDED, AND 
 
 On all such occasions, so great has been the blessing vouchsafed, 
 that our "mouth has been filled luith laughter." The word i^iVo^ 
 expresses the habit, or customary act, as does also ')"^Q^i^ q. d., 
 at such times A^) our mouth was filled with laughter, and the 
 old patriarch's words, Job viii. 21, were verified in us, and the 
 Gentiles were wont to say, 
 
 " The Lord has ivrougM mightily 
 In wha/, he has doiiefin' them." 
 
 It was thus in the valley of Elah, where Goliath fell, and 
 Philistia fled. It was thus at Baal-Perazim. It was thus 
 when one morning, after many nights of gloom, Jerusalem 
 arose at dawn of day, and found Sennacherib's thousands a camp 
 of the dead. And it has all along been the manner of our God. 
 
 " The Lord has wrought mightily 
 In ivhat he has done for us ; 
 And toe have been made glad /" 
 
 Ever do this till conflict is over ! Just as thou dost with 
 the streams of the south, year by year, so do with us — with all, 
 with each. And we are confident thou wilt ; we are sure that 
 we make no vain boast v.'hen we sing this Psalm as descriptive 
 of the experience of all thy pilgrims and worshippers. Home 
 beautifully says, " Thou sowest perhaps in tears, thou doest thy 
 duty amidst persecution and affliction, sickness, pain, and sor- 
 row ; thou labourest in the church, and no account is made of thy 
 labours, no profit seems likely to accrue from thee. Nay, thou 
 thyself must drop into the dust of death, and all the storms of 
 that winter must pass over thee. Yet the day is coming when 
 thou shalt reap in joy ; and plentiful shall be thy harvest. For 
 thus thy blessed Master ' went forth weeping,' a man of sor- 
 rows, bearing precious seed, and strewing it all around him, till 
 at length his own body was buried, like a grain of wheat, in the 
 furrow of the grave. But He arose and is now in heaven, whence 
 he shall ' doubtless come again rejoicing,' with the voice of the 
 archangel and the trump of God, ' bringing his sheaves with 
 Him.' Then shall every man receive the fruit of his works, and 
 have praise of God." Look, then, at this picture — 
 
FUTURE JOYS ANTICIPATED. 393 
 
 " He goes, and he goes weeping, 
 Bearing the basket of seed, (load of, Amos ix. 13) : 
 He comes, and he comes with singing, 
 Bearing his sheaves ! " 
 
 The worshipper, in all ages, has known the going forth to 
 serve the Lord in tears — the following him with the cross — the 
 scattering the seed in his field in sorrow and fear ; but as cer- 
 tainly shall he know the joy of harvest at his Lord's return. 
 The disciple is in this merely tracing the Master's path — 
 
 " So came Messiah, friend of men, 
 
 (A man of sorrows he), 
 To fight with grief, and tears, and pain. 
 
 That we might conquerors be. 
 Behold, he comes the Second time 
 
 To wipe away our tears, 
 And takes us up along with him 
 
 For everlasting years." — Barclay. 
 
 Our Lord, in his parable of the Sower, seems to unfold the 
 idea expressed here, so far as it bore on his service and labour 
 here. The other part, refen-ing to his Second Coming and 
 glory, was not dwelt upon there. Nevertheless, it is well for 
 us, in pondering the parable of the Sower, to revert to this 
 Psalm, and see the reward of him who goeth forth like the 
 master. We shall not serve less cheerfully by joining in this 
 Psalm — 
 
 The Lord's servant thankfully recording past joys, and anti- 
 cipating future. 
 
 PSALM CXXVIL 
 
 A Song of degrees for Solomon. 
 
 1 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it : 
 Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 
 
 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of 
 
 sorrows : 
 For so he giveth his beloved sleep. 
 
 8 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord ! and the fruit of the womb is his 
 
 reward. 
 4 As arrows arc in the hands of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. 
 6 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them : 
 
 They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the 
 
 gate. 
 
894; PSA. CXXVIl. — THE LORD's SERVANT CEASING FROM CARE, 
 
 jiie title. A SONG of the beloved ! — of him who toiled himself till all was 
 finished, and who now bids us enter into rest ! A song of him 
 who giveth his beloved ones sleep ! Taking it as a song from the 
 pen of Solomon, who was its author, Kimchi understands the 
 " Temple" by the " House" of verse ] , as " the City" is Jeru- 
 salem. The connection in that case with the former is the 
 thought of Jerusalem restored and rebuilt after the captivity 
 — " Unless the Lord build the city." 
 
 The theme. Here we find the worshippers exhibit that rare grace, free- 
 
 dom from care, arising from full confidence in Jehovah, 
 
 Freedom from Solomou, wlio saug afterward of " vanity" ( /^ri emptiness) in 
 all merely human pursuits, here sings of Nlli;, "nothingness," 
 the uselessness of mere human anxiety and care — uselessness 
 of it to the builders of the house, uselessness in the keeper of 
 the city — uselessness in you who rise up early, who defer your 
 resting till late, who eat bread of sorrows ! How like the 
 writer of Ecclesiastes is all this ! And then the other side of 
 the picture is presented, as in his " Song of Songs." 
 " On this icise (73) giveth he to Jiis beloved — sleep." 
 They may rest from care, and he will work ; it is " the 
 blessing of the Lord that maketh rich/' says this same Solo- 
 mon, " without the addition of 2i{'' — sorrow," such as verse 2 
 spoke of (Prov. x. 22). This is his manner with those who are 
 TT* like Solomon himself, who bore the name " Jedidiah" (2 
 Sam. xii. 25). " Sleep" is used for complete freedom from care> 
 and peace of mind. 
 
 Having laid down this principle, those who inhabit the city 
 and house are remembered, and the illustration follows in the 
 style of the Greater than Solomon, who asked, " Which of you 
 can add one cubit to his stature, one year to his life, by all his 
 thought ? " Who could, by care, secure a family like Jacob's 
 twelve sons ? 
 
 "Behold, sons are a heritage of the Lord's giving." (Gen. xxxiii. 5.) 
 " The fruit of the tvomb is the hire he gives.'" (Gen. xxx. 18.) 
 
 It is he that gives them, and it is he that makes them what 
 they are — that makes " sons begotten in youth " (Gen. xlix. 3) 
 to be like a warrior's arrows. 
 
AND EXPECTING PROSPERITY FROM THE LORD. 395 
 
 " Happy the man whose quiver he (Jehovah) hasjilled with these ; 
 They shall not be confounded when they speak with their enemies in the 
 gate." 
 
 They enjoy the blessing pronounced by Rebecca's friends, 
 (Gen. xxiv, 60). But it is the Lord that fills the quiver ; it is 
 not the forethought or anxiety of man. 
 
 Thus the pilgrim-band, and their Lord at the head of them ^'..^^j^^'^j^'^^- 
 (Matt. vi. 25-34), cast their cares on Jehovah. Even when they 
 see a lack of men to defend the cause of God — even when ready 
 to ask, " When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the 
 earth?" — they still depend on Him whose part it is to give 
 sons of youth. And he will do it gloriously. Zion shall see 
 Isa. Ixvi. 8 fulfilled — " a nation born at once ;" and earth shall 
 see the sons of Israel on the Lord's side, when " the weakest 
 of them shall be as David'' (Zech. xii. 8). And thus, whether 
 as to The Temple, or as to J erusalem, whether in regard to the 
 families of Israel, or as to who shall stand on the Lord's side in 
 evil days, he knows that the Lord, in the matter of salvation, 
 has " given his beloved sleep," and that this is his manner in 
 providence, too. 
 
 Horsley calls this Psalm, " A Psalm to be addressed by the 
 
 priest to the parents presenting the first-born ; " but though 
 
 that would no doubt be an appropriate time to use it, it is of 
 
 far wider significance. We see in it this sight, viz. — 
 
 2'he Lord's servant ceases from care, and expects 'prosperity 
 
 from the Lord. 
 
 PSALM CXXVIIL 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 Blessed is every one thar fcareth the Lord ; that walketh in his ways. 
 
 2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands : 
 Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. 
 
 3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house : 
 Thy children like olive-plants round about thy table. 
 
 4 Behold, that thus shall the man he blessed that feareth the Lord ! 
 
 5 The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion : 
 
 And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. 
 
 6 Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel. 
 
The Lord s 
 blessing. 
 
 396 PSA. C'XXVIII. — BLESSEDNESS OF THE FEARERS OF JEHOVAH. 
 
 Luther calls this, " A wedding-song for Christians." It may 
 be so used ; but it is more. Attention to every duty, and, 
 among the rest, attention to the Lord's ordinances and solemn 
 feasts, is the means of prosperity. As in last Psalm the wor- 
 shipper's words were to this effect, " Take no thought what ye 
 shall eat ; for which of you by taking thought can add to his 
 stature one cubit?" (Matt. vi. 27), so in this Psalm the wor- 
 shipper seems to sing, " Seek Jirst the kingdom of God and his 
 righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you," 
 (Matt. vi. 33). 
 
 " Blessed is exery fearer of the Lord ! 
 Every walker in his ways ! " 
 
 And then, to shew more personal sympathy with the man, the 
 Psalmist looks in his face and says, "For thou shalt eat the 
 labour of thy hands." Instead of the frown spoken of in Lev. 
 xxvi. 10, Deut. xxviii. 30-36, he shall surely eat what he la- 
 boured for ; his wife is like a vine by the house sides, yielding- 
 its clusters and its shade ; her children are not brambles, but 
 like the useful olive-tree that served " God and man" (Judges ix. 
 9), also surround the family-table with cheerful faces. 
 
 " Behold! (note it) For thus is the man wont to he blest whofeareth the 
 Lord. 
 Jehovah is wont to bless thee out of Z ion.'" (Ver. 4, 5.) 
 
 Then follows the imperative HNI'll, as if it were the very words 
 
 of the uttered benediction — 
 
 ^^ And (shall say), See thou the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life ; 
 Yea, see thy children's children." 
 
 And then the benediction uttered before at the close of Psalm 
 cxxv. closes all — " Peace upon Israel ! " In such strains the 
 well-satisfied worshipper encourages his fellows, rich or poor. 
 In such strains the Lord Jesus used to admonish his band of pil- 
 grim-like followers, telling them that not one of them that left 
 father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for his sake and 
 the gospel, but would receive a hundredfold even in this life," 
 (Matt. xix. 29 ; Luke xviii. SO). And when he added, " I71 
 the world to come life everlasting," explained as it had been 
 by his having just promised to the twelve a seat on the twelve 
 
rSA. CXXIX. — REVIEW OF PAST SUFFKIUNG, INSPIRING HOPE, ,S97 
 
 thrones, in the day of The Regeneration, was it not the equiva- 
 lent of the priestly benediction, " Peace upon Israel ? " That 
 shall be the issue of service now ; for thus 
 
 The Lord's servant pronounces the present and future 
 blessedness of the fearers of the Lord. 
 
 PSALM CXXIX. 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say : 
 
 2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth : yet they have not pre- 
 
 vailed against me. 
 
 3 The plowei's plowed upon my back : they made long their furrows. 
 
 4 The Lord is righteous ! he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. 
 
 5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. 
 
 6 Let them be as the grass upon the house tops, which withereth afore it 
 
 groweth up : 
 
 7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand ; nor he that bindeth sheaves 
 
 his bosom. 
 
 8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you : 
 We bless you in the name of the Lord. 
 
 Perseverance to the end is the burden of this song, inasmuch 
 as in it we hear the pilgrim at another stage of the way re- 
 cording deliverances and drawing from his past experience 
 good hope of final deliverance. It is like 2 Cor. i. 10, " He 
 delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom 
 we trust that he will yet deliver. 
 
 " Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, 
 Oh let Israel say! " (^iJ, I beseech you.) 
 
 Israel as a nation might refer to the time of their '' youth ;" 
 see Hosea xi. 1, Jer. ii. 1, and every man of Israel might do 
 the like. Every worshipper, and not least the Lord Jesus in 
 the days of his flesh, could take up this song. Abel, Enoch, 
 Noah, and all the elders, and not less the Church in its latter 
 days, when feeling the terrible blast of the enemy, might de- 
 scribe their experience by its verses ; all agreeing, too, in the 
 expectation of final victory. The Lord cuts asunder " the 
 cord" that fastens the oxen to the plough. 
 
 The ttieiiie 
 Perseveiance. 
 
398 
 
 PSALM CXXX. — THE CRY FROM THE DEPTHS, 
 
 " Ashamed and turned bach shall be all the haters of Z ion. (Ver. 5.) 
 They shall he like the grass on the house tops, 
 That icithereth ere it is plucked ii])." 
 
 Not as Job V. 26, the shock of corn in its season, but as 2 Kings 
 xix. 26, Sennacherib's doom, which is the doom of all God's 
 foes : " They are as the grass of the field, and as the green 
 herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted he- 
 fore it is grown up ! " Antichrist, like all before him, shall 
 thus perish. They are men working a vain work ; no Boaz 
 shall ever bless them with a prayer, nor shall even a casual 
 traveller. The Lord's foes perish unblest ; they perish with the 
 curse upon them, on that day when the Lord comes forth to 
 reward his own with the " Gome, ye blessed." With expecta- 
 tions like these 
 The Lord's servant reviews past sufferings in assured hope. 
 
 PSALM CXXX. 
 
 Pardon and 
 peace. 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 OoT of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. 
 
 2 Lord, hear my voice : let thine ears be attentive to the voice of ray sup- 
 
 plications. 
 
 3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand ? 
 
 4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. 
 
 6 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. 
 
 6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning : 
 I say, more than they that watch for the morning. 
 
 7 Let Israel hope in the Lord : 
 
 For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. 
 
 8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. 
 
 A NEW series begins here. Though Horsley suggests the oc- 
 casion of this Psalm to be " Upon bringing a sin-offering," 
 there is nothing to fix it specially to this occasion. The cos- 
 tume of it is taken from a Levite, says the Targum, waiting 
 for the first intimation of the hour of morniug sacrifice ; but it 
 may just as well be said to be taken from the case of any watch- 
 man on his watch-tower, wearying for the dawn of day. It 
 reminds us of Hab. ii. 2. 
 
AND ITS RESULT. 399 
 
 The worshipper relates his former earnest cry (ver. 1, 2) 
 from troubles and darkness that were to him like Jonah's deep 
 waters, or the water-deeps of Psa. Ixix. 1 4. The Lord of Pil- 
 grims, as well as each of his band, became familiar with such 
 deeps. He cried the cry of verse 1, feeling intense agony all 
 the while, under his load of imputed guilt, 
 
 " Iftlwu, Lord (Jah), loert to mark (Job x. 14, IG) iniquity, lolio, Lord, 
 coidd stand 1 " (Ver. 3.) 
 
 But he cried in expectation of being heard, being able to point 
 to satisfaction given to the law for tliat guilt. 
 
 "For ivitli tliee the forgiveness is" (nnvDn) — Se2)t., 6 iXasfj-og \6ti- 
 
 The forgiveness spoken of in the law of sacrifice, such as Lev. 
 iv. 20, 26, 31, verses 10, 13, and proclaimed at Horeb, Exod. 
 xxxiv. 9, and in the Temple, 1 Kings viii. 34, 36, 39. This 
 being so, the worshipper learns there ''the fear of the Lord" 
 and goes on his way, waiting for further light and teaching, 
 waiting for the opening out of the Lord's hid treasures from 
 day to day, waiting for these discoveries with intenser interest 
 than watchman wait for morning. With intense desire Israel 
 waited for Christ's coming in the flesh, and for the offering up 
 of the " one sacrifice for ever," that was to make the worship- 
 per " perfect as pertaining to the conscience." Yet still he sees 
 only a part ; he waits for more of " the Spirit of wisdom and 
 revelation in the knowledge of Him." And if the Lord's 
 Second Coming be the chief time for the unfolding of all that 
 the worshipper desires, then the waiting for that day is not one 
 of the least intense of his feelings. And so, " Israel, hope 
 thou in the Lord ;" for who knoweth the flood of mercies that 
 shall yet burst on them and on earth, when Jacob's redeeming 
 God (Gen. Ixviii. 17) brings "plenteous redemption," or, as it 
 is literally, "shall multiply to his people redemptions," as 
 he " multiplied pardons" (Isa. Iv. 6), at their first return to 
 him. To all of them he fulfils the name "Jesus," saving 
 from all transgressions. In such strains we find 
 The Lord's servant relating his earnest cry and its results. 
 
The theme. 
 Holiness. 
 
 400 PSALM CXXXr. — THE HEART CONTENTED WITH JEHOVAH. 
 
 PSALM CXXXI. 
 
 A Song of degrees of David. 
 
 1 Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty : 
 Neither do I exercise myself in great matters. 
 
 Or in things too high for me. 
 
 2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, 
 As a child that is weaned of his mother : 
 My soul is even as a weaned child. 
 
 3 Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. 
 
 Thine of the calm bosom of the Lake of Galilee that morning 
 after Christ had spoken peace to the tempest — think of that 
 glassy sea, resting in a morning without clouds under the ris- 
 ing sun. Was it not a fit and fair emblem of the soul of the 
 man whose name had once been " Legion/' whom Jesus that 
 morning met, and whose spiritual storms Jesus calmed by a 
 word ? Is that man's soul now not as peaceful and at rest as 
 that lake ? It is such a picture of repose we have here. In 
 the case of the Master, no previous storm had vexed it ; in the 
 case of the disciple, the tempest has preceded the peace. 
 
 It is the Master who can in full measure look up to his 
 Father and say — 
 
 " Lord, iny heart is not haughty, neither are mine eyes lofty ; 
 I ivalk not in great things, and matters too high for me." 
 
 He was willing on earth to be ignorant even of the day of his 
 own glory — his Second Coming — and, while grieving intensely 
 over Capernaum, and the other cities, was content to rest his 
 spirit in this one consideration, " Even so, Father ; for so it 
 seemed good in thy sight." 
 " Surely {i^^ D^^ like Isa. v. 9, &c.) I have smoothed and silenced my soid, 
 As a child weaned from its mother. My soul in me is as a iceaned child^ 
 Others say, 
 
 " As a iveaned child leans upon his mother,"' (iQi^ ^/S?,) '"'ithout any de- 
 sire to suck the breast as before. 
 
 Not of this world, loving the Father, Christ walked through 
 earth without a murmur, or suspicion, or doubt, as to his Fa- 
 ther's will — " Not my will, but thine be done." And his heart 
 
PSALM CXXXI. — A HEART CONTENTED WITH JEHOVAH. 401 
 
 overflowed toward man also (ver. 3) ; he pressed men to partake 
 of his joy in the Lord. Such was the Master. 
 
 His followers are only in some measure like him. It is 
 when they shall " see him as he is/' that they shall be able to 
 take up the Psalm in all its breadth. True, they receive the 
 kingdom of God "as a little child ;" they are " not of the world, 
 even as he is not of the world ;" they have accepted the pun- 
 ishment of their iniquity, and their once uncircumcised hearts 
 have been humbled. Still, they have only some measure of 
 this " mind that was in Him ;" but they are expecting the entire 
 likeness, on that day when Israel realizes what is written in Lev. 
 xxvi. 41, and hopes in the Lord, from henceforth and forever.'' 
 Thus the harp sings of 
 
 Jhe Lord's serva^it's co7itentment with Jehovah's will. 
 
 PSALM CXXXIL 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 LoKD, remember David, and all his afflictions : 
 
 2 How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of 
 
 Jacob ; 
 
 3 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up iiuo 
 
 my bed, 
 
 4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, 
 
 5 Until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God 
 
 of Jacob. 
 
 6 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. 
 
 7 We will go into his tabernacles : we will worship at bis footstool. 
 
 8 Arise, O Lord, into thy rest ; thou, and the ark of thy strength. 
 
 9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness ; and let thy saints shout 
 
 for joy. 
 
 10 For thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of thine anointed. 
 
 11 The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David ; he will not turn from it ; 
 Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. 
 
 12 If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach 
 
 them. 
 Their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. 
 
 13 For the Lord hath chosen Zion ; he hath desired it for his habitation. 
 
 14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell ; for I have desired it. 
 
 15 1 will abundantly bless her provision : I will satisfy her poor with bread. 
 
 16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation : and her saints shall shout 
 
 aloud for joy. 
 
 CC 
 
 Christ's 
 membei-s. 
 
402 PSALM CXXXII. — GOD PLEDGED TO BLESS ZION. 
 
 17 There will 1 make the horn of Diivid to bud : I have ordained a lamp for 
 
 mine anointed. 
 
 18 His enemies will I clothe with shame : but upon himself shall his crown 
 
 flourish. 
 
 Tiie tiieme. The pilgrim-worsliipper spreads before his God the pledges of 
 of God. ■ his favour to Zion, reminds him of pra3rers presented, and gets 
 a reply that leaves him in adoring silence. The anxiety David 
 felt about the Ark, and the Lord's care in general, is meant in 
 verse 1. ''Lord, remember i^) as to David all his trouble:" 
 all his efforts to establish thy sanctuary, and all he has under- 
 gone for thee, (or, in behalf of) even as 2 Chron. vi. 42, Solo- 
 mon prays — " Remember the mercies of David thy servant." 
 Remember David's solemn oath to the " Mighty One of Jacob" 
 (see Gen. xlix. 25) — the Blesser of Joseph with all blessings of 
 heaven, and earth, and the deep beneath. As the men of Israel 
 so resolutely pursued the evil-doers of Gibeah that they swore 
 (Judges XX. 8), " We will not any of lis go to his tent, neither 
 will any of us turn into his house," so did he swear, in fol- 
 lowing hard after the Lord's glory, when desiring to build the 
 Temple. 
 
 It seems as if the appeal altered its form at verse 6. The 
 worshippers refer to the past history of the Ark, when dwelling 
 at Shiloh ; for by " Ephratah," we do not understand Bethle- 
 hem,* the place where David spent his youth, but the district of 
 Ephraim.\ As a man of Mount Ephraim is called ""jnEli^, in 
 1 Sam. i. 1, so the district wovdd be rTJn"13i;iJ. The worship- 
 pers say, " We have heard the past history of the Ark at Shiloh 
 in Ephraim ; how the Lord ^warned Israel by judgments there 
 against all formality and all irreverence. We have found it at 
 Kirjath-jearim, where the Lord blessed those who made it wel- 
 come ; and so we have learnt to honour it." For, " fields jof the 
 wood," is agreed to be a name equivalent to " city of the woods," 
 i. 6-, Kirjath-jearim. 
 
 * It will not at all accord with the original, to find here an allusion to 
 Christ's journeying through the land — born at Ephratah, sitting on Jacob's 
 Well, &c. Nor, as Alexander would have it, " When in my youth I resided 
 at Bethlehem, I heard of the Ark's movements." 
 
 f So, J. H. Michaelis' Bible, note on 1 Sam xvii. 12, " Regio, Ephraia dici 
 videtur." And Tholuck says here that Sliiloh in Ephraim is meant. 
 
PSALM CXXXII. — GOD PLEDGED TO BLESS ZION. 403 
 
 " Let us come to his tabernacles (the IIolj and Most Holy), 
 Let us worship at Ids footstool (the Ark with its Mercy-seat, Lam. ii. 1). 
 Arise, Lord, (to go) to thy resting-place, 
 Thou and thy mighty Ark."" (2 Chron. vi. 41.) 
 
 Let US notice the prayer, verse 9, with the answer, verse 1 6. 
 The prayer asks in behalf of the priests " righteousness," i. e., 
 what shews forth God's righteous character ; the answer is, 
 " I will clothe her priests with salvation," i. e., with what shews 
 forth God's gracious character. Caring for the interests of 
 God, the worshipper finds his own interests fully cared for. 
 And now, after spreading the Lord's pledged word (verses 1 ] , 
 12), before him, the worshipper hears the Lord himself utter the 
 rejDly, q. d., " I will do all that has been sought." 
 
 " For the Lord hath chosen Zion. (Ver. 13.) 
 There will I make a horn bud up to David (one full of power, Messiah). 
 IJmve prepared C^J^yii^ as Exod.xxvii. 20) a lamp for mine anointed One." 
 
 In time of darkness, lo ! the lamp (like the burners on the 
 seven-branched lamp,) of mine Anointed shines ! Messiah 
 and his Church, the light of the world ! As yet this has been 
 fulfilled only in part ; the lamp is lighted ; the horn of David 
 has shot up ; but it is only in part that the last verse has been 
 accomplished. The Lord's Second Coming will accomplish all 
 to the full. 
 
 " His enemies will I clothe with shame, 
 But upon himself shall the crown fonrish.^' 
 
 It is thus the pilgrim- worshippers going up to the feasts re- 
 mind their Lord of the mercies he has given them reason to 
 expect. They imitate the heavenly worshippers in Rev. v. 8, 
 holding up their golden vials " full of incense," i. e., of prayers 
 as yet unanswered. When the type of the Ark at rest in Solo- 
 mon's Temple is fulfilled, all our prayers shall be answered. 
 Meanwhile let us often use such an appeal as this, an appeal in 
 which our Master could take part in the days of his flesh. It 
 is a Psalm wherein we hear, 
 
 The Lord's servant reminding Jehovah that he has pledged 
 himself to hlec<s Zion. 
 
404 PSALM CXXXIII. — ADMIRATION OF THE UNITY OF 
 
 PSALM CXXXIII. 
 
 A Song of degrees. Of David. 
 
 1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together 
 
 in unity ! 
 
 2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, 
 That ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard : 
 That went down to the skirts of his garments. 
 
 3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the moun- 
 
 tains of Zion : 
 For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. 
 
 The theme. " A JOYOUS and hearty Psalm (says one) on occasion of one of 
 Unity. the great feasts." A song for David's harp — one of the breath- 
 
 ings of that sweet singer of Israel. How gladly would the Son 
 of David sing it, full as it is of the love of brethren — the very 
 spirit of his "new commandment/' and fitted so well for the 
 use of even the Great Congregation at " our gathering together 
 in him." It is spoken by one looking on, and calling the at- 
 tention of others to the pleasant spectacle — 
 
 " Behold ! how good and how pUasayit 
 Tlie dwelling of brethren entirely as one .'" (irT* WX) 
 
 But the last clause may mean as D^ usually does, " also." How 
 pleasant to see them " together also," as well as in their tents or 
 separate abodes. Two comparisons are chosen to set forth the 
 excellency of such brotherly harmony ; one taken from the ta- 
 bernacle, the other from the Promised Land. The holy oil, for 
 the priests, was made of four sorts of the best spices, mixed 
 into one (Exod. xxxiv. 22) ; and thus compounded, its fra- 
 grance was felt by all in the sanctuary, breathing from the 
 high priest Aaron's head and garments — an emblem of the 
 unity of many tribes, unity called forth by the presence of one 
 High Priest, and emblem also of all that gratifies the senses and 
 strengthens the heart. One and the same oil sheds its sweet 
 odour from the head, the beard, and the skirts of the priestly 
 robes — 
 
 " Like tkeprecioiis oil on th-e head, 
 (Like oil) which descended on the heard — Aaron's heard, 
 (Like oil) which descended on the very border of his garments." 
 
THOSE WHO MEET IN THE HOLY CITY. 4<05 
 
 Or, changing the figure, 
 
 " Like the dew oj Hermon, (not the Hermon or Sirion of Deut. iii. 9, for 
 it is crowned with perpetual snow — but that Hermon which rises 
 from the plain of Jezreel) 
 (Like the dew) ivhich descended on the hills ofZioti." 
 
 The oil diffuses a like fragrance, whether it be on head, beard, 
 or garment that you find it ; the dew is alike reviving and 
 refreshing, whether it fall on Hermon* or on the hills of Zion ; 
 and so it is with the harmonious congregations of Israel, one 
 spirit breathes in them all, though some come from the extreme 
 parts of the land, and some from the more distinguished por- 
 tions ; some from the plain of Jezreel, others from the hills of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 It is " there" where such brotherly love is seen, in such as- 
 semblies as these, that the Lord commands the blessing. It will 
 be in the assembly of the first-born, gathered together into one, 
 at his Second Coming, that the blessing shall descend in all its 
 richness, even " life for evermore." And then shall the pilgrim 
 band, arrived at their holy city, with their Leader in the midst, 
 burst out into this wondering and delighted cry — " Behold !" 
 — a sight to which our eyes were strangers during all our pil- 
 grimage — " Behold ! Tnen dwelling together as brethren /" 
 w^ithout jar or discord, in entire love and unity ! In strains 
 like these shall we at last hear 
 
 The Lord's servant admiring the unity of those who meet in 
 the Holy City. 
 
 * Buchanan lias Latinised this Psalm very happily. After luginning with 
 " Nil caritate mutua fratrum, niliil 
 Jucundius Concordia." — 
 lu; says : — 
 
 " Non ros, tenella gemmulis aigenteis 
 Pingena Zioiiis gramiiia, 
 Aut verna diilci inebrians uligine 
 Heimonis iiitonsi juga." 
 
The theme. 
 
 Praise without 
 1-eas.ing, 
 
 406 PSALM CXXXIV. — A CALL FOR UNCEASING PRAISE. 
 
 PSALM CXXXIV. 
 
 A Song of degrees. 
 
 1 Behold, bless ye the Lord ! 
 
 All ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house ol' tlie 
 Lord. 
 
 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. 
 
 3 The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. - 
 
 This is the last of the "Songs of Degrees;" consisting of 
 praise and blessing, yea calling on us for never-ceasing praise. 
 The shutting of the Temple gates at night is by some (e. g., 
 Horsley) supposed to indicate the appropriate time for singing 
 this song. Hengstenberg assigns it to the time of the evening 
 sacrifice, and compares Psa. xcii. 2, denying that there was 
 any Levitical service during night. But 1 Chron. ix. 33 seems 
 to assert, very clearly, that there was a service of song by 
 night ; and other places hint the same. 
 
 There is animation at least in Barclay's paraphrase of this 
 most lively Psalm — 
 
 " O bless the Lord, his servants all. 
 Who watch within the Temple-wiiU, 
 And nightly praise him as ye stand 
 With lifted eye, and lifted hand ! 
 Clap, clap your hands, exult and sing. 
 In holiness of Christ your King I 
 Behold he hath redeemed you 
 To bless and praise him as ye do." 
 
 Benediction was most appropriate in closing this series of 
 " Psalms of Degrees." The worshipper calls upon those who 
 inhabit the sanctuary to be ever praising (ver. 1), and lifting 
 up their hands " towards his sanctuary," Psa. xxviii. 2 ; a call 
 in which Paul most heartily joins, 2 Tim. ii. 8. And then, in 
 verse 3, the priest pronounces a Melchizedec-blessing ; for it is 
 in the yery style of Melchizedec, Gen. xiv. 18, 19. And this 
 is the final blessing reserved for the Lord's weary Abrahams, 
 to be pronounced on them by the " Possessor of heaven and 
 earth," on the day of Christ ; in prospect of which, and in en- 
 joyment of all that Cometh even now from the same Lord, 
 
 The Lords servant calls for vnceasiiig praise to Jehovah. 
 
P8ALM CXXXV. — THE PECULIAR PEOPLE ADORING. 407 
 
 PSALM CXXXV. 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord ! Praise ye the name of the Lord ! 
 Praise him, O ye servants of the Lord. 
 
 2 Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the iiouse of our 
 
 God. 
 
 3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good: sing praises unto his name, for it 
 
 is pleasant. 
 
 4 For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar 
 
 treasure. 
 
 5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. 
 
 6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, 
 In the seas, and all deep places. 
 
 7 He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth ; 
 
 He maketh the lightnings for the rain: he bringeth the wind out of his 
 treasuries. 
 
 8 Who smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and beast. 
 
 9 Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, 
 Upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. 
 
 10 Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; 
 
 1 1 Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, 
 And all the kingdoms of Canaan : 
 
 12 And gave their land for an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people. 
 
 13 Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever; 
 
 And thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations. 
 
 14 For the Lord will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning 
 
 his servants. 
 
 15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 
 
 16 They have mouths, but they speak not ; eyes have they, but they see not ; 
 
 17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their 
 
 mouths. 
 
 18 They that make them are like unto them : so is every one that trustetb 
 
 in them. 
 
 19 Bless the Lord, O house of Israel : bless the Lord, O house of Aaron : 
 
 20 Bless the Lord, house of Levi : ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord. 
 
 21 Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 We have been descending the river, finding its banks very 
 varied, with sometimes shade, sometimes sunshine on its waters, 
 yet all along the incessant murmur of praise. The river is 
 now nearer its ocean, and hence the utterance of praise be- 
 comes louder, fuller, more distinct and direct than ever. In 
 this Psalm and the next, we have two very lofty bursts of song, 
 " Hallelujahs" from the lips of men on earth. The peculiar 
 
408 PSALM CXXXV. — THE PECULIAR PEOPLE ADORING 
 
 people, Israel, sing in the name of all God's people ; and no 
 doubt the Lord Jesus, when on earth, took up the song as 
 chief musician. 
 
 The first ground of praise is what the Lord is in himself 
 " Praise ye Jah (H''), 
 Praise ye the name of Jehovah (H'ln''), 
 Praise ye, ye servants of JelvovahP (Ver. 1.) 
 Ye who " stand" in the Lord's house ; that is, wait there to 
 serve him, as Deut. x. 8 ; Judges xx. 28. Then verse 3 — 
 " Praise ye Jah (n**), 
 For good is Jehovah (JTin^) / 
 Hymn ye to his name, 
 For it is pleasant (D^yj)" (Ver. 3.) 
 
 His name is "pleasant, it is D^^^ ; it has in it Qj^i, (Psa. xxvii. 
 4 ; Psa. xc. 17). It discovers to us the Lord's well-pleased- 
 ness ; it shews us the awful frown of the Judge changed into 
 the sweet smile of favour. Israel sees it thus — Israel, to whom 
 the altar and all its significant accompaniments belong. 
 
 The next ground of praise is the Lord's sovereignty, (verses 
 4-6,) choosing a people, shewing himself above all gods, doing 
 as pleaseth him ; and it is sweet for Israel to say as they sing, 
 that this Jehovah is theirs, as they are his HT^D, peculiar pro- 
 perty, his valuable jewels. 
 
 " And our Lm'd is above all gods." (Ver. 5.) 
 Then they praise him for creation-works, (ver. 7). He does 
 what he pleases. 
 
 " Bringing up vapours from the ends of earth ; 
 Making lightnings for rain ; 
 Bringing the loindfi'om his treasure-chambers." 
 
 But chiefly is he praised for works of 'providence and redemp- 
 tion, (ver. 8-12) ; smiting Egypt and great kings.* And all 
 this contrasts so broadly with all other gods, that no name 
 but Jehovah's shall be exalted, no one shall be named along 
 
 * " In regard to Sihon and Og, he smote them." The construction of verse 
 11 is peculiar, the verb y^T\ having had the accusative before, now employs 
 a preposition 7. 
 
THE EXCELLENCY OF THEIR SOVEREIGN GOD. 409 
 
 with him ; his " memorial," i. e., that by which he is known 
 and remembered, shall be for ever singular and peculiar. See 
 Exod. iii. 15. 
 
 ^' For Jehovah will act the part of a judge QT') to his people,'' i. e., 
 defend their rights. (Gen. xxx. 6 ; Jer. xxii. 16.) 
 And will repent (i. e., change his procedure) toward his servants ;" 
 
 reminding us of Deut. xxxii. 26, the utterance of the Lord's 
 name in that song of Moses. But as for idols, they have a 
 " mouth," but speak not to give advice ; " eyes," but see not 
 the circumstances, nor yet the gifts, of their devotees ; " ears," 
 but hear neither their praise nor prayer ; and as they have no 
 " breath in their nostrils" they cannot inhale the sweet and 
 fragrant incense offered to them. Their worshippers become 
 equally helpless and vain. Oh, then, Israel, bless thou Je- 
 hovah ! House of Israel, house of Aaron, house of Levi, fearers 
 of Jehovah everywhere, bless ye Jehovah ! 
 
 "From out of Zion let Jehovah he blessed {i.e., let the voice of praise 
 to him be heard from Zion), 
 (Jehovah) who dwells at Jerusalem. 
 Hallelujah /" 
 
 We may easily suppose Christ thus exhorting his own in the 
 days of his flesh, using this very Psalm ; aye, and at this clos- 
 ing verse, would he not feel peculiarly ? for he was Jehovah, 
 come to fulfil all types and shadows, being himself the Incar- 
 nate God inhabiting Jerusalem. And then he would look for- 
 ward to the future, when his throne shall be as a canopy over 
 Jerusalem, and when he shall in glory inhabit it as the city of 
 the Great King, while out from Zion issues forth such praise 
 as makes earth wonder — the joy of Jerusalem heard afar off. 
 We, too, may sing it with such thoughts, joining Israel and 
 Israel's King. It suits all the redeemed, inasmuch as it is 
 The peculiar people's song of praise, as they adore the excel- 
 lency of their sovereign God. 
 
410 PSALM eXXXVI. — PRAISE TO JEHOVAH, WHOSE MERCY- 
 PSALM CXXXVI. 
 
 1 O GIVE thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endurcth for 
 
 ever. 
 
 2 O give thanks unto the God of gods ; for his mercy endureth for ever, 
 
 3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 4 To him who alone doeth great wonders : for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens : for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 ^^ To him that stretched out the earth above the waters : for his mercy en- 
 dureth for ever. 
 
 7 To him that made great lights ; for his mercy endureth for ever : 
 
 8 The sun to rule by day : for his mercy endureth for ever : 
 
 9 The moon and stars to rule by night : for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 10 To him that smote Egypt in their first-born : for his mercy endureth for 
 
 ever: 
 
 1 1 And brought out Israel from among them : for his mercy endureth for ever : 
 
 12 With a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm : for his mercy endurt;tli 
 
 for ever. 
 
 13 To him which divided the Red Sea into parts : for his mercy endurcth for 
 
 ever : 
 
 14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth 
 
 for ever : 
 lo But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea: for his mercy en- 
 dureth for ever. 
 
 16 To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy en- 
 
 dureth for ever. 
 
 17 To him which smote great kings : for his mercy endureth for ever : 
 
 18 And slew famous kings : for his mercy endureth for ever : 
 
 19 Sihon king of the Amorites : for his mercy endureth for ever : 
 
 20 And Og the king of Bashan : for his mercy endurcth for ever : 
 
 21 And gave their land for an heritage : for his mercy endureth for ever : 
 
 22 Even an heritage unto Israel his servant : for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 23 Who redeemed us in our low estate : for his mercy endureth for ever : 
 
 24 And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureih forever. 
 
 25 Who giveth food to all flesh : for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven ! for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 The theme of last Psalm is taken up again ; but whereas the 
 glory of Jehovah was chiefly dwelt upon there, now it is his 
 love. The same acts display more than one illustrious perfec- 
 tion, and may therefore call forth variety of praise. 
 
 That " God is love" h iherperv^dmg view; or, in other words, 
 " God is good, and his mercy endureth forever" — the fountain 
 and the stream, the fountain sendcth forth its streams on our 
 
HAS BLESSED, AND WILL BLESS FOR EVER. 41 1 
 
 scorched and blighted world, streams that shall never be with- 
 drawn, and which are not like the brook Cedron, flowing only 
 now and then, but are perennial and perpetual. We refer back 
 to what was said on Psalm cvii. 1, in reference to this theme 
 and this view of Jehovah being taught at the altar : it was 
 taught there most specially, and is still taught by the blood of 
 Him who was the sacrifice. Indeed, we may say that it is 
 only when standing by His side that we can truly sing this 
 Psalm. He raises the tune ; he calls on us thus to sing — 
 
 "Praise ye OlSn) Jehovah;" 
 not as in Psa. cxxxv, 1, " Hallelujah," but varying the words, 
 " Be ye Judahs to the Lord ! " 
 
 Praise him for what he is, (ver 1-3). 
 
 Praise him for what he is able to do, (ver. 4). 
 
 Praise him for what he has done in creation, (ver. 5-9). 
 
 Praise him for what he did in redeeming Israel from bond- 
 age, (ver. 10-15). 
 
 Praise him for what he did in his providence toward them, 
 (ver. 16-22). 
 
 Praise him for his grace in times of calamity, (ver. 23, 24). 
 
 Praise him for his grace to the world at large, (ver. 25). 
 
 Praise him at the remembrance that this God is the God of 
 heaven, (ver. 26). 
 Is he " God of gods ?" (ver. 2.) Well may we praise him, and 
 be sure that the mercy which has issued forth from his throne, 
 like the crystal river of the Apocalypse, shall flow on for ever ; 
 for there is none higher than himself; no rival to mar his 
 plans, or interfere with his schemes. Yes, he is as Moses de- 
 scribed in Deut. x. 17, — so infinitely higher than any creature 
 that ever bore the name of " god," that they dared not be 
 named in his presence. 
 
 Is he " Lord of lords ?" (ver. 3) as Moses also said long ago 
 in Deut. x. 17. Then no principality in heaven, no power in 
 hell, no assumed lordship in earth, can at all resist him : his 
 mercy shall be impeded by none. It is the mercy of the " God 
 of gods and the Lord of lords I" What height, depth, length, 
 breadth, in his mercy ! And you may sing on the banks of 
 
41 2 PSALM CXXXVI. — PRAISE TO JEHOVAH, WHOSE MERCY 
 
 this river that fertilizes our desert world — " I am persuaded 
 that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
 depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate 
 us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," 
 (Rom. viii. 88, 39). 
 
 Does he " alone" do great wonders ? (ver. 4.) That means, 
 he does so by himself, unaided, needing nothing from others, 
 asking no help from his creatures. As the Nile from Nubia to 
 the Mediterranean rolls on 1300 miles in solitary grandeur, re- 
 ceiving not one tributary, but itself alone dispensing fertility 
 and fatness wherever it comes ; so our God " alone" does won- 
 ders. (See Deut. xxxii. 12, Psa. Ixxii. 18, &c.) No promp- 
 ter, no helper ; spontaneously he goes forth to work, and all he 
 works is worthy of God. Then we have no need of any other ; 
 we are independent of all others ; all our springs are in him. 
 
 Did he "make the heavens by his understanding ?" 
 (py\2r)\ (ver. 5) — not only the firmament, but the third 
 heavens, too, where all is felicity, where is the throne of glory. 
 Then, I infer, that if the mercy which visits earth is from the 
 same Jehovah who built that heaven and filled it with glory, 
 there must be in this m^ercy something of the same " under- 
 standing," or wisdom. It is wise, prudent mercy ; not rashly 
 given forth ; and it is the mercy of Him whose love has filled 
 that heaven with bliss. The same architect — the same skill 
 — the same love ! 
 
 It is he who " spread the earth above the waters" (ver. 6), 
 making a solid platform for man's abode. The Creator is he 
 who sheweth mercy on us. He was preparing a theatre for 
 the display of mercy. He was thinking thoughts of grace ere 
 ever man appeared, so that his love has a deep source, and 
 was issuing forth from its far back source all the time he was 
 forming our earth. 
 
 It is he who " inade the great lights," (ver. 7). Instead of 
 causing the light that was shot out from his presence, on the 
 three first days of creation, to serve our earth. He kindly pre- 
 pared the " Oreat Lights." That our comfort might be fully 
 attended to, two great orbs were so placed, or our earth so 
 
HAS BLESSED, AND WILL BLESS FOR EVER. 413 
 
 placed towards them, as that our habitation might thus be full 
 of cheerful light. Was he not remembering man ? O praise 
 him ! And think as you praise, " His mercy endures for 
 ever ! " 
 
 He made " the sun to rule hy day," (ver. 8). Though he 
 knew how our earth would abuse its mercies, and sinners em- 
 ploy the light in order to carry on schemes of wickedness, yet 
 still he made it thus, and left it thus after the fall, to shine on 
 the fields and dwellings even of the ungodly. Yea, and " the 
 moon and stars hy night" (ver, 9),* — the same that shone in 
 Paradise and Eden. He has not withdrawn them. " His 
 mercy endure th for ever !" 
 
 But again ; this is he who '^ smote Egypf s first-horn,''' (ver. 
 1 0). Remember his sovereign grace, when righteousness would 
 shew itself upon the guilty. There was mercy even then to 
 Israel — drops of that mercy that for ever endureth — at the 
 very time when judgment fell on others. Should not this give 
 emphasis to our praises? The dark background makes the 
 figures in the foreground more prominent. 
 
 He "hr ought out Israel from among them," (ver. ] 1). This 
 was mercy, separating them from all the evil and all the misery 
 there. Aye, and with " a strong hand" (ver. J 2) : for mercy 
 prompted him to exercise power against the mighty. What a 
 ground of encouragement in after ages to his own ! That same 
 " strong hand" ready at mercy's call to do such acts, and that 
 mercy enduring for ever ! 
 
 " He divided the Red Sea into parts," (ver. 13). Obstacles 
 are nothing to him whose " mercy endureth for ever." The 
 divided Red Sea is a " pawn of his purpose and power to de- 
 liver his Church" in all ages. He " made Israel pass through 
 the midst of it" (ver. 14), making the very bed of the sea their 
 highway of safety ; as he has often done since then, when the 
 very calamities of his own have become their blessings. 
 
 Did he "shake off" (-ly^) (ver. 1 5, as Exod. xiv. 27) Phai-aoh 
 
 * In this verse the expression " to rule " is JliVli^OD in the plural ; whereas 
 in Gen. i. 16 there is the repetition of pb^D'O- it is, q. d., their jurisdictions 
 over night : for the term seems properly to mean the post of a ruler, the office 
 he fills as a ruler. 
 
414' PSALM CXXXVI. — PRAISE TO JEHOVAH, WHOSE MERCY 
 
 and his host, as he did the locusts, into the Red Sea, and this 
 when they would have hung on Israel's rear, and clung to his 
 skirts ? This was mercy to his own, their foes overthrown ; 
 such mercy as shall awake hallelujahs when Antichrist is de- 
 stroyed, in the last days, (Rev. xix. 1, 2). 
 
 Did he ''make his people walk in the wilderness?" (ver. 
 16.) Such a floor ! such a pathway ! Yet who has not heard 
 of their safety and well-being there ? Now, this mercy shall 
 still act thus — for ever ! All through the desert, and till it is 
 done, his people shall be kept.* 
 
 Aye, but enemies again appear : " He smote great kings," 
 (ver. 1 7). Great as they were, it availed nothing ; they lost 
 their credit and prestige of greatness. And " noble kings," 
 too (ver. 18), were shorn of their pomp when they touched his 
 anointed. Such is his mercy — mercy that lasts still for us in 
 these last days. Yea, " Sihon, king of Annorites" (ver. 19), 
 like the goodly cedar (Amos ii. 9), and the first that opposed 
 their entrance into their land — ^lie fell ; an example to those 
 who might afterwards dare to oppose the Lord's people. And 
 when " Og, the king of Bashan" (ver. 20), took the field, a 
 giant, a new and more terrific foe, he too fell. And the mercy 
 that thus dealt with enemies so great, enemies so strong, one 
 after another, " endureth for ever." When Antichrist raises 
 up his hosts in the latter days, one after another — when the 
 great, the famous, the mighty, the noble, the gigantic men, 
 in' succession assail the Church, they shall perish. " For his 
 mercy endureth for ever." 
 
 But celebrate the Lord's praise again; for " he gave their land 
 for an inheritance," (ver. 21). His mercy to his own soon 
 comforted them for all their toils and conflicts, in a land flow- 
 
 * The Arabic interpolates, 
 
 " And made the waters flow from the .folid rock : 
 For his mercy endureth for ever." 
 This, however, is of no authority, and may have originally been the pious am- 
 plification of some reader who felt that these were but samples of God's many 
 doings. Like that devout soul who said to a friend that we might, in the 
 very spirit of this Psalm, give thanks for affliction, singing, 
 " To Him who withered our grounds ; 
 For his mercy endureth for ever." 
 
HAS BLESSED, AND WILL BLESS FOR EVEll. 415 
 
 iiig with milk and honey — a type of that inlieritance awaiting 
 liis saints now, after conflict is over. It was " an inheritance 
 to Israel, his servant," (ver. 22) ; to Israel who had served him, 
 and who would yet serve him Letter. Mercy gave this reward ; 
 it was not merit that won it ; and so it shall be to the end, 
 even in the case of the Lord's servants who labour most for 
 him. Israel and all the saints are debtors to mercy to the last. 
 
 He was the God " who remembered us when we were brought 
 low," (ver. 23). He did thus to Israel in times when sin 
 brought on chastisement, as in Judges ii., iii., iv., &c., or 
 2 Kings xiii. 4, xiv. 26, 27. In backsliding times he still kept 
 hold of us, not forgetting us when we forgot him. Oh what 
 mercy ! Like the mercy of Him whose love changes not ! 
 The river flowed on day and night, even when we came not to 
 draw ! "And redeemed us (broke us off) fro77i our enemies," 
 (ver. 24). Grace interposed for the helpless, the doubly help- 
 less ; and redeemed the backsliding ones from the very adver- 
 saries whom their sins raised up to chastise them. And thus 
 mercy will do in the latter day to Israel again ; and thus it is 
 ever doing for saints at this present time. 
 
 We might fancy that they who have so much to sing of in 
 regard to themselves, so much done for their own souls, would 
 have little care for others. We might fear that they would be 
 found selfish. But not so ; the love of God felt by a man 
 makes the man feel as God does towards men ; and as God's 
 love is ever going forth to others, so is the heart of the man of 
 God. We see how it is even as to patriotism — a man's intensest 
 patriotic feelings do not necessarily make him indifferent to 
 the good of other countries, but rather make him wish all 
 countries to be like his own ; so it is, much more certainly and 
 truly, with the Lord's people in their enjoyment of blessing. 
 Their heart expands toward others ; they would fain have all 
 men share in what they enjoy. They therefore cannot close 
 their song without having this other clause — Praise Him who is 
 
 " The giver of bread to alljiesh I" (Ver. 25.) 
 Not to Israel only does he give blessing. Israel had their 
 manna ; but, at the same time, the earth at large has its food. 
 So in spiritual things. Israel's God is he who giveth himself 
 
416 PSALM CXXXVII. — EXILED ISRAELIS TENDER ZEAL 
 
 as Bread of Life to the world. Perhaps at this point the 
 Psalmist's eye may be supposed to see Earth in its state of 
 blessedness, after Israel is for the last time redeemed from all 
 enemies, and become " life from the dead" to the world — when 
 Christ reigns and dispenses bread of life to the New Earth, 
 as widely as he gave common food — " the feast of fat things 
 to all nations," (Isa. xxv, 10) ; for his mercy will not rest till 
 this is accomplished. 
 
 " gwe praise (•ll'irT) to the God of heaven I " (Ver. 26.) 
 Whom having not seen we love, for his mercy endureth for 
 ever ; whom seated in heaven, we see not, but from whom all 
 these blessings come down to earth. It is Heaven that blesses 
 Earth, and shall not Earth send up its praise to Heaven. Oh, 
 that all men were Judahs — joining in this song to Jehovah — 
 Praise to Jehovah because of his mercy that has blessed, and 
 will bless, for ever ! 
 
 PSALM CXXXVIL 
 
 1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down ; yea, we wept, when we re- 
 
 membered Zion ! 
 
 2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 
 
 3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song ; 
 
 And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying. Sing us one of the 
 songs of Zion. 
 
 4 How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ? 
 
 5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 
 
 6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; 
 If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. 
 
 7 Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem ; 
 Who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. 
 
 8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed ; 
 
 Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 
 
 9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the 
 
 stones. 
 
 When a fitful gust of wind has blown aside for a time the sand 
 that hid an ancient tomb or monument, the traveller, aiTested 
 by the sight, may muse beside it, and feel himself borne back 
 into other days, sympathising with the mourning friends who 
 
FOR JERUSALEM AND JEHOVAH. 417 
 
 piled these monumental stones. But his deepest sympathy 
 can never equal, and scarcely can resemble with much near- 
 ness, that burst of grief with which the real mourners conse- 
 crated the spot. It is even thus with our Psalm. We feel it 
 to be a peculiar song of Zion, strangely beautiful, full of pathos, 
 and rising to sublimity ; but what would be the fresh emotions 
 of those who sang it first, and who dropped their tears into 
 these rivers of Babel ? No author's name is given ; but so 
 plaintive is it, that some have ascribed it to Jeremiah, the 
 weeping prophet, of whose Lamentations it has been said, 
 " Every word seems written with a tear, and every sound seems 
 the sob of a broken heart." 
 
 Tholuck says it is a Psalm by an exiled Levite, " A master 
 of song." Perhaps we expected to find some notice prefixed 
 of the instrument used when it was set to music, such as, 
 " On Gittith," — when first the sound of its commencing strain 
 broke on our ear — niin>'?y and D'^^l^f'^y, 
 " On the hanks of the rivers — 
 On the icillow-trees.'' 
 
 But the only instrument before the singer is the murmuring 
 streams of Babylon, with the wind moaning through the willows 
 on either bank. Whether wandering along by Euphrates, or 
 Tigris, or Ulai, or Chabor,* all of them " rivers of Babylon," 
 the exiles of Israel felt the burden of Jehovah's anger in their 
 state of estrangement from the land given to their fathers. We 
 have a series of most moving scenes presented to our view : — 
 
 1, The river's banks fringed with mourners, who sit there, 
 shaded by the willows. You see above their heads their harps 
 which they used in Judah, and perhaps in the temple of Jeru- 
 salem, some of those mentioned, 1 Chron. xv. 16 (Patrick), 
 carried with them as precious memorials of happier days. 
 
 2. You see some of their gay, heartless oppressors approach- 
 ing the weeping band, asking a song. Q. Curtius, in his his- 
 tory of Alexander the Great (vi. 2), tells us of the captive 
 
 * " In the midst thereof," in the midst of her (nDiD3.)) means in the midst 
 of the country. The four streams we have named, are four of these that Scrip- 
 ture speaks of in connection with the captives. Alas ! not four rivers uf 
 Paradise to them ! 
 
 Dd 
 
418 PSALM CXXXVII. — EXILED ISEAEL's TENDER ZEAL 
 
 woman from Persia being ordered to sing in the fashion of their 
 country (suo ritu canere), when, in the midst of the scene, the 
 king's eye caught the spectacle of a mourner on the ground, 
 sadder than all the rest, the wife of Hystaspis ; for the lordly 
 oppressors of Israel were then feeling the retribution of being 
 summoned to do as they had done to their captives. The wife 
 of Hystaspis, says the historian, struggled against those who 
 would fain have led her forward to the king, foremost among 
 the captive band with whose songs they sought to entertain 
 themselves ; even as here Israel, though fallen, replied in 
 princely dignity, to those who asked of them " words of the 
 song," some stanza, at least, out of some song of Zion (l^t^b) — 
 
 " How shall we sing Jehovah's song 
 On the soil of a stranger ? " (Ver. 4.) 
 
 3. You see their oppressors retire, and the exiles are alone 
 again, dropping their tears into the stream. They sing now, 
 the one to the other, and this is the burden — 
 
 " If Hose my memory of thee, Jerusalem,, 
 Jjet my right hand lose its memory ! 
 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth 
 If I do not remember thee — 
 If I do not lift up Jerusalem 
 On the top of my joy ! " (Ver. 5, G.) 
 
 They remember the past ; and they know it is foretold (Isa. 
 XXXV. 10) that one day they shall return to Zion with songs. 
 But, till that day arrives, they will continue to hang up their 
 harps. 
 
 4. You see them assume the attitude of appeal and prayer. 
 They call upon Jehovah to visit their oppressors. Edom is 
 first mentioned. Why is this ? We find the explanation in 
 Obad. 8-14, where Edom^s unbrotherly exultation over Israel's 
 day of calamity is described ; as it is also in Lam. iv. 21 . Ba- 
 bylon is next. The awful cry against this foe, the Antichrist 
 of that day, resembles Rev. xviii. 20, " Rejoice over her ! " 
 The emphasis is to be put on " thee," and in verse 9, " thy 
 children," in opposition to God's people and their children. 
 Happy the man who, instead of being an oppressor of God's 
 heritage, is the Lord's instrument in bringing low, even to the 
 foundation, the city that has fought against him, thus requiting 
 
FOR JERUSALEM AND JEHOVAH. 419 
 
 lier ill her own way ; yes, happy is that man even though in 
 executing the judgment he be sent to dash the children on 
 tlie rocks (children being reckoned one with their parents, as in 
 Achan's case, Josh. vii. 24), in pouring out the vial of wrath. 
 
 Could our Master sing this song? If he identified himself 
 with his people in Egypt, as we find him doing in Psa, Ixxxi. 
 5, why should he not sympathise in this strain also ? He 
 would use it when on earth. And his Church herself, a stranger 
 in a strange laud, can use it, not only in sympathising with 
 Israel's ruin, but in thinking of what has endeared Jerusalevi 
 to us. Calvary, Mount of Olives, Siloam, how fragrant are 
 ye with the Name that is above every name ! " If I forget 
 thee, Jerusalem ! " Can I forget where he walked so often, 
 where he spoke such gracious words, where he died ? Can I 
 forget that his feet shall stand on that " Mount of Olives, which 
 is before Jerusalem, on the east?" Can I forget that there 
 stood the Upper Room, and there fell the showers of Pentecost? 
 And can I not pray against Antichrist in using the names 
 of Edom and Babylon, the old foes of the Lord and his people ? 
 Yes, I fully sympathise in every verse of this sacred song, 
 for it is 
 
 Exiled Israel's tender zeal for Jerusalem and Jehovah. 
 
 PSALM CXXXVIIL 
 
 A Psalm of Daviil. 
 
 1 I WILL praise thee with my whole heart : before the gods will I sing praise 
 
 unto thee. 
 
 2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, 
 
 And praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth : 
 For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. 
 
 3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, 
 And strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. 
 
 4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the 
 
 words of thy mouth. 
 
 5 Yea, thy shall sing in the ways of the Lord : for great is the glory of the 
 
 Lord. 
 
 6 Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the I0WI3' : 
 But the proud he knoweth afar off. 
 
420 PSALM CXXXYIII. — HEARTFELT PRAISE FOR 
 
 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me : 
 
 Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemio.'!, 
 And thy right hand shall save me. 
 
 8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me : 
 
 Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever : forsake not the works of thine own 
 hands. 
 
 David's harp again sounds, from this Psahn onward to Psalm 
 cxlv., where praises of every kind, and probably proceeding 
 from various singers, close the Book. 
 
 The theme is the promise made to David (Psa. Ixxxix. 26, 
 and 2 Sam. vii. 28, which is in effect the same as Isa. Iv. 3), 
 " The sure mercies of David. It is the definite promise of a 
 Saviour who is to descend from David's loins, that furnishes 
 the subject. And is not this substantially the same as the 
 first 'promise, the great promise of a Deliverer, the promise of 
 the Seed of the woman ? Let one read over the seventh chapter 
 of 2 Samuel, as it came from David's full heart, and he has found 
 the key-note of the Psalm ; and then let us realise what was 
 wrapt up in the promise of a Saviour in its fulness, and we will 
 join in every clause of the Psalm. Our Master would feel all 
 at home in every verse. 
 
 In verses 1-3 he sings to this effect — No god, no pretended 
 god, in any country, or any age, ever gave utterance to such a 
 thought as I am now to sing of — " before the gods I will 
 sing," and I worship toward thy holy temple as I sing, prais- 
 ing thee for such a matchless display of mercy and trutli ! 
 (Comp. John i. 14.) 
 
 '•' For thou hast magnified, above all thy name, tliy loord, 
 In the day when I called, and thou didst ansirer 
 (When) thoti didst make me brave in my soul iciih might .'" (Ver. 2, 3.) 
 
 In that day when the Lord brought to him the word, or pro- 
 mise, of which he speaks (the word concerning the future Son), 
 he did an act of grace that might be said to cast into the shade 
 even all the other displays of grace God had given. " All thy 
 name" is used here as equivalent to " all that hitherto has 
 made thee known and famous in our eyes." This is the sense 
 of "name" in such places as 2 Sam. vii. 9, and 23, a passage 
 closely allied to this ; as also viii. 13, xxiii. 18. In short, 
 it is like as if one had said of Abishai (1 Chron. xi. 20), " You 
 had a name among the three, but that last exploit of yours 
 
Jehovah's great promise. 421 
 
 has i-aised you above all your previous name ;" or take Jer. 
 xxxii. 20 — " Thou hast made thee a name" by thy wonders m 
 Egypt, but this promise to David is " above all that name of 
 thine." 
 
 In verses 4, 5, he sings to this effect — No king ever heard 
 news like this that thou art making known. When they 
 liear it, 
 
 " They loill sing in the wai/s of the Lord ! " (Ver. 5.) 
 
 They ..will sing II " upon," as if to say they will enter on these 
 ways (Hengst.) ; or rather, at or over, because of hearing such 
 an account of Jehovah's dealings with men. 
 
 In verses 6, 7, he sings to this effect — Unparalleled grace ! 
 The Lofty One has stooped down to shew mercy to one so low 
 as I, to the family of Jesse — yea, to the fallen family of man — 
 
 " The Lord is exalted ; and (yet) he looks upon the mean ! 
 While the proud he knoweth afar ojf." (Comp. Luke i. 51, 52.) 
 
 This gracious Jehovah removes all my fears, whatever shall 
 betide ; for he will help me. And in the person of our Mas- 
 ter, he has given his saints a pledge of the fulfilment of verse 
 7, for the Master " walked in the midst of trouble," as did 
 the three youths in the fiery furnace, and yet was " revived" — 
 brought back to the enjoyment of favour and peace ; brought 
 back from the sepulchre to the " fulness of joy." 
 
 In verse 8 he sings to this effect — Lord, leave me not till thou 
 hast brought me into glory. Confidence of getting leads him 
 to ask boldly, as in 2 ISam. vii. 27, and what he asks is, that he 
 may be kept till glory come. For by " the works of thy hand" 
 is meant the undertaking God has commenced. Every saint has 
 this same confidence, remembering that it is written, " He that 
 hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of 
 Jesus Christ," (Phil, i. 6). Our Lord, the Son of David, as well 
 as David's Lord, would often, in the days of his flesh, use this 
 appeal, and sing in man's behalf this glorious Psalm ; and shall 
 we not take it up, now that " the Word" lias been fully de- 
 veloped, and developed in such astounding magnificence of 
 grace? It suits us as much as it did David, or any other ; 
 for it is 
 
 Ilea I'tf elf praue for Jeliovah's Great Proiiilac. 
 
422 PSALM CXXXIX. — SATISFACTION IN THINKING UPON 
 
 PSALM CXXXIX. 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 
 
 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my 
 
 thought afar oiF. 
 
 3 Thou conipassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all 
 
 my ways. 
 
 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it 
 
 altogether. 
 
 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 
 
 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ! it is high, I cannot attain unto it. 
 
 7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy pre- 
 
 sence ? 
 
 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, be- 
 
 hold, thou art there. 
 
 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of tlie 
 
 sea, 
 
 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 
 
 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me ! even the night shall be light 
 
 about me. 
 
 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee ; but the night shineth as the day : 
 The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 
 
 13 For thou hast possessed my reins : thou hast covered me in my mother's 
 
 womb. 
 
 14 I will praise thee ; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made! 
 Marvellous are thy works ; and that my soul knoweth right well. 
 
 1 5 My substance was not hid from thee, 
 
 When I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of 
 the earth. 
 
 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unpcrfect; 
 And in thy book all my members were written, 
 
 Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 
 
 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, God ! how great is the sum 
 
 of them ! 
 
 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. 
 When I awake, I am still with thee. 
 
 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, God : depart from me therefore, yo 
 
 bloody men. 
 
 20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take tliy name in 
 
 vain. 
 
 21 Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee ? 
 
 And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee ? 
 
 22 I hate them with perfect hatred : I count them mine enemies. 
 
 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart : try me, and know my thoughts : 
 
 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way ever- 
 
 lasting. 
 
THE ALL-KNOWING CREATOR AND JUD(;E. 423 
 
 " A Psalm of David," and no doubt often .suuo' by the " Son of The author 
 
 . . . T . , , "id speaker 
 
 David." For, rightly understood, there is not in it any thought 
 of desiring an escape from the Lord's happy presence in verses 
 7, 8 ; far from this, it is meant to express delight in tlie re- 
 membrance of Jehovah's omnipresence and omniscience. It is 
 not the utterance of the First Adam, slinking from sight be- 
 hind the trees of Eden ; but it is the utterance of the Second 
 Adam, dwelling in the blissful fellowship with God, which fel- 
 lowship he would not for all worlds ever lose. Think of it 
 as sung by David, and by Christ, and by all the family of 
 Christ. 
 
 The key-note, then, is delight in the Lord's presence. The Dittici.ities. 
 structure is very simple, and there are no difficulties in any 
 verses but 15, 16 ; to the understanding of which it is needful 
 to know that " lower parts of earth," is a proverbial expression 
 for secresy — what is hidden from view of man — as the paral- 
 lelism shews. The verses are to this purpose — " Thou hast at 
 thy disposal " 7ny reins," the seat of my heart, thoughts, and 
 feelings ; for — 
 
 " Ml/ substance ivas not hid from thee tvhen I teas made in secret, 
 When I was curiously wrought, hid from the view of all men. 
 Thine eyes saw when I was still unprepared {i. e., my unformed sub- 
 stance ; or, the unwound ball of the thread of life), 
 And in thy book all of them were written, (viz.) 
 The days which were still to be, and of which none then teas. " (Hengst.) 
 
 And because of this singular care of the Creating Hand, and 
 the skill displayed in the rare workmanship, verse 14 sings — 
 
 " I praise thee on this account, that I am fearfully distinguished ! 
 Marvellous are thy works ! Yes, my sold perceives it well !" 
 
 But now let us trace the thread of connection that runs through .1,,^ ,,,„„ 
 the whole Psalm. There is in verses ] -6, adoration of Jeho- 
 vah's omniscience. The Lord Jesus could sing it all ; even 
 verse 6, "too wonderful for me" (Prov. xxx. 18), was suitable 
 to him as man, in his humiliation-days, when he knew not the 
 day of his Second Coming, and when he stood on the shore and 
 adored the awful depth of his Fatliei''s counsels. The expres- 
 sion, '' Laiclst thy hand over me" (vV Jl^i^), denotes a kind, 
 friendly act ; not the act of one in anger, as when T* TV^ is 
 
424 PSALM CXXXIX. — SATISFACTION IN THINKING UPON 
 
 used, in such passages as Exod. xxiv. 11. The Psahnist is re- 
 joicing in the shadow of this Omuiscient One. " Thou hast 
 searched, and knowest me." 
 
 In verses 7-12, there is adoration of Jehovah's omnipresence. 
 If I had cause to flee from thee, whither could I go ? " If 1 
 scale heaven, or if I spread the grave" (Alexander), or if (ver. 1 ) 
 the thought occurs, " 1 will raise the wing of morning," travel- 
 ling swift as the light which travels 200,000 miles in a second, 
 all would be vain. Whither, then ? Not to Heaven, for that 
 is the very centre and seat of his manifested presence ; not to 
 Hell, i. e., sheol, or the grave, for the disembodied spirit is even 
 more than before in his felt presence ; not to any part of crea- 
 tion, for his providence is at work there in every sparrow that 
 lights on the ground. What a comforting thought to a believer ! 
 If God's eye is on me, then I am blessed, though I be obscure, 
 and though I suffer unheeded by man. He is with the prisoner 
 in the Inquisition, with the soldier, the sailor, the miner ; yes, 
 he is so truly with his saints, that wherever their dust may be 
 laid, he will find it, and gathering every particle from the dark 
 grave, will raise up therefrom a glorious body. And let us 
 note that verse 10 expresses the gracious leading of a father 
 and friend — " Thy hand would lead me," like verse 5 ; while 
 verse 11 is still more expressive of favour — 
 
 " If I sliould say, surely the darkness will crush me, (^i31ti^^) 
 2 '/ten night woidd be light about me." 
 
 Were I apprehensive of danger, some appalling evil ready to 
 crush me (^Iti^, as Job ix. 17, and as Gen. iii. 15) during the 
 darkness, the Omnipresent One would haste to my help. Is 
 there any reference to Satan's " hour and power of darkness" 
 involved in this use of the first word applied to his assaults on 
 the woman's Seed {^W) ? 
 
 In verses 13-18, there is adoration of Jehovah as owner 
 and Creator of men. " For thou (^n^i), and no other, possess- 
 est andhast the right to my most inmost parts ;" and then 
 he sings of the wonderful work of the heavenly Father, forming 
 the human frame, closing with that (?xclamation of amazed 
 delight — 
 
THK ALL-KNOWING CREATOR AND JUDGE. 425 
 
 '^ Holo precious are thy thoughts to me, God ! 
 I will count them ! — (but no) — nioi-e than sand they are many !" 
 
 lu this there is a resemblance to Psa. xl. 5, where we find Christ 
 identifying himself with his own, and wondering at his Father's 
 thoughts " to us ward." There, however, it is chiefly his 
 thoughts, or plans, about our redemption, while here it is more 
 specially about our creation. Unless, indeed, we suppose that 
 the glowing description of verses 14, 15, 16, may refer, not to 
 creation only, but also to the forming anew of the body after it 
 has lain in the dust, when it is to arise in honour, in glory, in 
 power, the very likeness of Christ's perfect human form. 
 
 In verses 19, 20, there is presented to us the omniscient and 
 omnipresent Creator as Judge. It is literally, " If thou 
 wouldst slay the wicked !" — an unfinished sentence, pointing 
 at the temble results. Though at present he bears long with 
 the ungodly, he hates their sin, and will destroy the sinner. 
 In this he glances at the great day when the Judge shall say, 
 " Depart." 
 
 In verses 21, 22, there is a. protestation art the part of the 
 Psalmist, against all who are foes to Jehovah whom he has 
 held up to our adoration. It reminds us of John xxi. 17. 
 
 In verses 23, 24, there is a prayer that this omniscient and 
 oDinipresent Creator woidd keep his worshipper for ever on 
 his side. Some render '* wicked way " (ver. 24), the way of an 
 idol (so Gesenius) ; but Hengstenberg seems right in rendering 
 it, " the way of paiyi ;" that leads to pain or trouble ; the con- 
 trast of the " everlasting way," (the " ancient paths' of Jere- 
 miah vi. 16), where a man finds rest to his soul. This is the 
 way that ushers a man into the kingdom, into the bliss of the 
 ages to come. It reminds us of Isaiah xxxv. 8, the holy way 
 in which those walk who enjoy the bliss of the Restored 
 Paradise. 
 
 Thus we see that this Psalm is one of joy and happy confi- 
 dence in God, abounding in views that enlarge the heart and 
 strengthen it. It expresses the worshippers happy remem- 
 brance of the omniscient and omnipresent God ; 
 
 Sutisfwfion in thinking upon the all-knowing Cre(d<ir 
 and, Judge. 
 
426 PSAI.M CXL. — THE RKJHTEOUS ONE AMID SNARES 
 
 PSALM CXL. 
 
 To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, preserve me from the violent man, 
 
 2 Which imagine mischiefs in their heart. Continually are they gatlieiuil 
 
 together for war : 
 
 3 They have sharjiened their tongues like a serpent ; 
 Adders' poison is under their lips. Sclah. 
 
 4 Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked ; 
 
 Preserve me from the violent man ; who have purposed to overthrow my 
 goings. 
 
 5 The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords ; 
 
 They have spread a net by the wayside ; they have set gins for me. Selah. 
 
 6 I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God : hear the voice of my supplica- 
 
 tions, O Lord. 
 
 7 God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head 
 
 in the day of battle. 
 
 8 Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked : 
 
 Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. Selah. 
 
 9 As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their 
 
 own lips cover them. 
 
 10 Let burning coals fall upon them : let them be cast into the fire, 
 Into deep pits, that they rise not up again. 
 
 11 Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: 
 Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. 
 
 12 I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right 
 
 of the poor. 
 
 13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name : 
 The upright shall dwell in thy presence. 
 
 The I'saimi.st. ANOTHER Psalm " of David," to be suugby all saints, even as 
 
 The plan. it was used by their Head, David's Son. In it we have (ver. 
 
 1-3) the picture of the wicked, with a "Selah," that bids us 
 
 pause over its dark colours. Then we have (ver. 4, 5) a view 
 
 of the snares spread by the ivicked, with another " Selah-" 
 
 pause. Thereafter, we see a soul in the attitude of faith (ver. 
 
 6-8). They are laying tlieir snares, but calm as Elisha be- 
 
 liolding the Syrian host assembling (2 Kings vi. 15), the stayed 
 
 .soul sings — 
 
 " I have said to tlie Lonl, My God art thou ,-" 
 
 And then he prays, putting a " ^elah' * at the close, tliat we 
 
 may again pause and survey the scene. 
 
 * We meet with Selah here for the first time since Psa. Ixxxix. From Psa. 
 xc. to Psa. cxl. no Selah occurs. Why omitted in these fifty, we cannot tell, 
 any more than why so often occurring in others. However, there are only 
 about forty Psalms in all in which it is used. 
 
EXPECTING THE RUIN OF HIS FOES. 427 
 
 In ver. 9-11 we have the certainty of the wicked's overthroiu. 
 It is spoken of as a thing to be realised as a matter of course. 
 It is a glance at the great day of the Lord, when he destroys 
 the Man of Sin, and all such foes. 
 
 " Coals of fire shall he throivn upon them ; 
 He will precipitate them into raging gulfs (7110*111^3) / 
 They shall rise iio more^ 
 And then we have (ver. 12, 13) the calmi assurance of bless- 
 ing to the righteous, introduced by an expression that sends 
 our thoughts away to Job's memorable utterance of his hope 
 that the Redeemer would appear on the earth at the latter 
 day, (xix. 25). "7 know," says the Psalmist — 
 " I know that Jehovah will execute 
 The judgment of the poor, the right of the needy.'' 
 
 And then in verse 13 the expression "TtNl, like that in Psa. 
 Ixxiii. 1, intimates that these are inferences drawn from previous 
 reflection. The issue shall be this, the righteous shall praise his 
 name, and dwell before his face for ever. They shall inherit 
 the promised kingdom, entering in with songs, and contuming 
 their songs for ever. Such is this song of the sweet singer of 
 Israel, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, setting forth 
 The Righteous One amid snares, confidently expecting the 
 ruin of the ungodly, and his oiun reivard. 
 
 PSALM CXLL 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 LoKD, I cry unto thee : make haste unto me ! give ear unto my voice when 
 
 I cry unto thee. 
 
 2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense ; 
 And the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. 
 
 3 Set a watch, Lord, before my mouth : keep the door of my lips. 
 
 4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men 
 
 that work iniquity : 
 And let me not eat of their dainties. 
 6 Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness : 
 
 And let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break 
 
 my head: 
 For yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. 
 
428 PSAOr ex LI. — PliAYKR TO 15 IC KEPT FllOM ANY EViL WOlilv 
 
 6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places, 
 They shall hear my words ; for they are sweet. 
 
 7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, 
 
 As when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. 
 
 8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord ! 
 In thee is my trust ; leave not my soul destitute. 
 
 9 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the 
 
 workers of iniquity. 
 10 Let the wicked full into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. 
 
 riietoneof A PsALM of Diivid, foi' the Church's Head and the Church'.s 
 members in every age. For may the members not cry, and 
 might not the Head cry, with as much urgency as verses ] , 2, 
 asking for as speedy an answer as that given to Daniel at the 
 hour of the evening sacrifice (ix. 19-21)? And should not 
 prayer and alms-giving go together, now as of old as in the 
 days of Cornelius (Acts x. 3) ? Here, the " lifting up of 
 hands" is, whatever our hands bring to God, by way of offer- 
 ing or service (see 2 Sam. xi. 8). The " incense" represented 
 the sweet savour arising from the blood on the altar's horns, 
 and from the atoning sacrifice in general. 
 
 The plan. In all agcs, heljp against temptation has been needed, as in 
 
 verses 3-5. Surely we need still to pray in this self-indulging 
 age, as verse 4, Let me not be ensnared by their prosperity, 
 
 " Let me not eat oftlieir dainties." 
 Nay, rather, instead of this self-indulgence, 
 " Let the righteous smite, it is mercy ; 
 M>j head refuses not the oil for the head." (Ilengst.) 
 
 This oil for the head is better to me than all that these guests 
 find at their festive board. Yes, and if tempted to avenge my- 
 self (Matt. XXV. 51), I will pray instead. The force of the clause 
 may be thus given — " For still while it continues, my prayer 
 shall ascend in the midst of their evil," (Hengst.). The 
 Church has m every age needed the help of hope, when her 
 persecutors were strong ; and this we have in verses 6, 7 — 
 " Iheir judges are overthrown in (precipitated on) the sides of the rock," 
 (2 Chron. xxv. 12 ; 2 Kings ix. 33, Jezebel rock). Selah. 
 they who were leaders of the oppressing crew are fallen ! 
 crushed ! dashed in pieces by the mighty hand of the Judge 
 of all ! And though now they refuse to listen to warning, yet 
 it is their interest so to do ; " Let them hear my words ;" for 
 
AND PRESERVED TO THE KINGDOM. 429 
 
 there is no terror in them, no bitterness if listened to now 
 (comp. Psa. ii. 12); " they are sweet/' 
 
 In verse 7, " Otir hones are scattered, like one ploughing 
 and clearing (making furrows in) the earth," has been sup- 
 posed to contain an allusion to Resurrection, as if the Psalm- 
 ist said. These persecutions are the precursors of a time when 
 the seed shall spring up. The Church never doubts, and never 
 in any age has doubted, that soon shall come her final escape 
 from all snares, "from the hands of the snare" (ver. 9) ; and 
 this we have in the closing verses, verses 8-10. They remind 
 us much of Paul's words in 2 Tim. iv. ] 8 — " And the Lord 
 shall preserve me from every evil work, and will preserve me to 
 his heavenly kingdom." Like Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron. xix. 12, 
 the Church fixes her eye on the Lord (ver. 8) whatever be her 
 case, imitating her Lord in the days of his flesh, when he, 
 too, used this Psalm, most emphatically praying, " Leave not 
 my soul hare''' ("^V^ ^^i), when about to pour out his soul 
 (m^n Isa. liii. 12. It is interesting to notice that the last 
 words of the Psalm are literally, 
 
 " Until that I pass over" 
 Go on overthrowing them till they are annihilated ; go on de- Prophetic 
 
 reference. 
 
 stroying them till thy people are safely in the kingdom — 
 
 over" into Canaan, as when the ark stood keeping back 
 Jordan's waters for them ; or as when Israel passed the Red 
 Sea and entered on the conquest of the land, for the expression 
 is the same as occurs in Exod. xv. 16. Augustine was wrong 
 in thinking the reference was to the Passover ; for that is ex- 
 pressed by a peculiar term, whereas this is the usual li^yi;^- 
 He has been followed by others, e.g., one who paraphrases the 
 clause thus — 
 
 " And let my saints escape with me ; 
 My blood their passover shall be." 
 
 But the allusion is to the passing into Canaan, and so re- 
 minds us more directly of the glory. Christ and his host of 
 ransomed ones march in triumph into possession of the king- 
 dom, while his and their enemies are falling on every side, like 
 snow falling on fire. The whole Psalm is 
 A prayer of the Head and his Memhers to he kept from every 
 evil work and preserved to the k'-ngdom. 
 
430 PSALM CXLII. — THE CAVE-THOUGHTS OF DAVID 
 
 PSALM CXLII. 
 
 Maschil of David. A Prayer when he was in the cave. 
 
 1 I CRIED unto the Lord with my voice; 
 
 With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. 
 
 2 I poured out my complaint before him ; I shewed before him my trouble. 
 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my patli. 
 In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. 
 
 4 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would 
 
 know me: 
 Refuge failed me ; no man cared for my soul. 
 
 5 I cried unto thee, O Lord ! 
 
 I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. 
 
 6 Attend unto my cry ; for I am brought very low : 
 
 Deliver me from my persecutors ; for they are stronger than I. 
 
 7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name : 
 
 The righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully 
 with me. 
 
 Maschil — "A prayer of David, %vhen he was the cave;"' 
 or, more closely adhering to the order of the original, "Maschil, 
 (i. e., as in Psa, xxxii., which see) of David, when he was in 
 the cave ; a prayer." The cave of AduUam echoed these holy 
 strains; and David's men, "the distressed, the debtors, the 
 bitter of soul," (1 Sam. xxii. 2,) heard, as did the prisoners in 
 Philippi when Paul and Silas sung, and were not only soothed 
 but sanctified, when the Holy Ghost used the same harp that 
 had calmed Saul's spirit, to cast out the evil that wrought in 
 that strange band. But is it not written for all ages ? David's 
 Son, and all that follow him, use it when " bitter in soul," or 
 in " distress." 
 
 Let us see how beautifully it utters our Master's heart as 
 " A prayer." 
 
 Verse 1 . The cry of the Son of David — " I cry unto Jeho- 
 vah, who has so often heard my voice ; I supplicate Je- 
 hovah with my voice." Is not this suitable in the lips of 
 him who was ever calling on his Father, and whose agony 
 drew forth all the more that filial cry, '' O my Father ! " 
 Verse 2. " / pour forth my complaint before him." Com- 
 pare the title of Psa. cii., and remember the Lord's words 
 in the garden, "Let this cup pass!" when reading "/ 
 shewed before him my distress." 
 
FOR ALL IN EXTREMITY. 431 
 
 Verse 3. " When my spirit is overwhelmed within me" 
 (compare again the title of Psa. cii.), and thou knewest 
 {iir\ijl emphatic, as if to say, I did not know, but thou 
 didst) my path, or the way ivhere I was going where they 
 hid a trap for me" How suitable in the mouth of him 
 who was " sore amazed'"' as he entered the garden ! 
 
 Verse 4. " Look on thy right hand, and behold" — an abrupt, 
 or broken cry ; look, and behold, and you will see only 
 this — "710 one knoweth me! refuge fails me! no one 
 concerns himself for my soul." Such language might 
 actually be used by our Lord Jesus to the Father, when 
 he saw even his disciples fleeing from him, as the band 
 drew near to take him in their snare ; or when he saw 
 them all asleep in that terrible hour. 
 
 Verse 5, " / have cried (and do still cry) to thee, Jehovah; 
 Thou art my portion (both now and hereafter) in the land 
 of the living." The Master returned to the Father for 
 sympathy, finding it only there. 
 
 Verse 6. Another cry pointed with the appeal, " For I am 
 brought very low." He needed an angel to strengthen 
 him, so low did he become — lower in every sense than 
 angels. His flesh was weak. 
 
 Verse 7. But here, as in Psa. xxii., the scene begins to 
 brighten. His disciples may sleep on and take their rest, 
 for he has accomplished his sufferings. He sees in pros- 
 pect the results, and prays, 
 
 " Bring my soul from being shut up ;" (as Joseph was, Gen. xxxix. 
 20, as Isa. xxiv. 22.) 
 ihat men may praise thy name. (Hengstenberg.) 
 
 And then in confidence of hope, seeing down the vista of 
 ages, his eye resting on the millions of his saved ones, 
 " The righteous shall form a citde dose round me; (^nPiy^lL 
 press closely in upon me ; Hengst.) 
 For thou shalt deal bountiftdly %oitJi me." 
 
 Is not this His anticipation of the great multitude, whom no prophetic 
 man can number, in his kingdom, round his throne, as in 
 Rev. vii. 9, where the redeemed stand nearer than angels, as 
 
 reference. 
 
432 PSALM CXLIII. — PRAISE FROM ONE WHO FEELS 
 
 if pressing in ? And, being one with our Head, each of us the 
 members may take up this song in our Adullam sojourn — for 
 the disciple is as the Master, in his degree. Arrived at last at 
 the Throne, disciples shall feel solitude no more, nor complain 
 of sympathy withheld, amid the great congregation. 
 
 Horsley entitles this Psahn, " A prayer of Messiah, when he 
 was taken and deserted." Let us call it, 
 The cave-thoughts of David, and of David's Son, for all in 
 extremity. 
 
 PSALM CXLIIL 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Hear my pi'ayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications : 
 In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. 
 
 2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant : 
 For in thy sight shall no man living be justified. 
 
 3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul ; he hath smitten my life down to 
 
 the ground : 
 He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. 
 
 4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me ; my heart within me is 
 
 desolate. 
 
 5 I remember the days of old ; I meditate on all thy works ; 
 I muse on the work of thy hands. 
 
 6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a 
 
 thirsty land. Selah. 
 
 7 Hear me, speedily, O Lord ! my spirit faileth : 
 
 Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 
 
 8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning ; for in thee do I trust ! 
 Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk ; for I lift up my soul 
 
 unto thee. 
 
 9 Deliver me, Lord, from mine enemies : I flee unto thee to hide me. 
 
 10 Teach me to do thy will ; for thou art my God: 
 
 Thy spirit is good ; lead me into the land of uprightness. 
 
 11 Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake: 
 
 For thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble. 
 
 12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, 
 
 And destroy all them that afflict my soul : for I am thy servant. 
 
 Tiie author David is Still the sweet singer here, his harp sounding in the 
 
 'u\&vZ\m^ wilderness of Judah, or, as in Psa. xlii., from some still more 
 
 remote retreat. Here, however, he alludes to no particular 
 
THE HEAT OF THE WEARY LAND. VS3 
 
 external privation — it is his soul's sadness tliat is the burden 
 of his song. Christ could use these utterances, feeling not his 
 bodily absence from heaven so much as the Father's hidden 
 face. And it suits the believer at times, when he mourns most 
 of all for the absence of any tokens of the Lord's special pre- 
 sence, in himself or the church around. 
 
 From verses 1 to 4 we have the strong appeal of one who 
 feels the darkness in which he is enveloped by the absence of 
 special tokens of God's love. Our Lord uses the argument of 
 God's " truth and righteousness," in seeking an answer ; and 
 so we, his members, appeal to these same perfections, in our 
 expostulations with our God, warranted by 1 John i. 9, " He 
 i>i faithful and just to forgive us." And then the deprecation 
 in verse 2, 
 
 " And enter not into judgment with thy servant,'" 
 
 is, in our Lord's lips, equivalent to " If it be possible, let this 
 cup pass from me ! " Do not argue the case with me (see Job 
 ix. 82, and xxii. 4, and xxxiv. 23), to shew me that there is 
 cause for all this darkness. I know there is a cause ; the cause 
 is the sin which I have undertaken to bear, " For before thee 
 shall no living one he justified" — not one of all descended 
 from Adam. (Compare '^Jl'bD here with Gen. iii. 20, when 
 Eve's posterity got that name after the Fall.) But my appeal 
 is to thy " truth and righteousness" which are engaged to 
 carry me through ; and my need of help is great. 
 
 " Fur the foe is pursuing (C]'7*^) my soul /" (Yer. 3.) 
 
 And then, as if overtaken in the pursuit, he cries, " He has 
 smitten my life to the ground ! He has made me stand in 
 deep darkness, like one eternally dead (Hengst) ; and my 
 spirit is overwhelmed (Psa. cii., title, and cxlii. 4) within me ; 
 any heart in the midst of me is desolate." 
 
 At verse 5, there is a gleam of light through the " dark- 
 ness ;" he recalls to mind God's love manifested to Israel in 
 former days. 
 
 At verse 6, there is a renewed appeal to the Lord's pity, 
 drawn from his state, resembling " a weary land" — (HSIi^ yMi 
 like Lsa. xxxii. 2) — a land where a traveller's strength is ex- 
 
 E e 
 
434 PSALM CXLIII. — PRAYER OF ONE IN THE WEARY LAND. 
 
 hausted by the rough roads and crooked paths, and the oppres- 
 sive heat of the sun's intolerable rays. It was thus our Surety 
 learned by experience to sympathise with us ; and thus it was 
 he became the " shadow of a great rock in a weary land/' He 
 here calls the Father to notice his self-emptying and humilia- 
 tion, while bearing wrath for our sins ; 
 
 " My soul is to thee (see Hebr.) as a weary land.''' 
 
 At verses 7 and 9 he seeks speedy relief ; and the clause, 
 " Make me to know the path I should walk in," is similar to 
 the " If it be possible" in his prayer in the garden. In the 
 case of one of his members, the words have of course a differ- 
 ent application, and yet one resembling his in the circum- 
 stance, that it is a petition for guidance under our personal 
 difficulties. 
 
 At verse 10 do we not hear, "Not my will, but thine be 
 done," mingled with the filial accents of confidence, "My God \" 
 
 But at verses 11, 12, the prospect opens out on future glory. 
 The Spirit, that same " loving," ov "good Spirit" who in- 
 structed Israel (Nehem. ix. 20), that same " eternal Spirit by 
 whom he offered himself without spot to God," shall lead him 
 forth from those scenes, and place him 
 
 " In the land of uprightness." 
 The land of plainness (l!)!i^"'D), a land where no wickedness of 
 men, and malice of Satan, vex the soul from day to day ; a 
 land where no rough paths and crooked turns lengthen out 
 the traveller's weary journey, (see ver. 5) ; but where all is like 
 the smooth pasture lands of Keuben (Deut. iii. 10, Josh. xiii. 
 9), a fit place for flocks to lie down. " Tliy Spirit" will do this 
 in his love, when "ony Spirit" (ver. 7), my overwhelmed human 
 soul, seemed ready to fail. Thou wilt be to me what thou wert 
 to David, in " bringing his soul out of all distress" (1 Kings 
 i. 29), and establishing him on his throne. All foes shall be 
 extirpated, (ITD'^r)). Is not this the kingdom come, and its 
 King exalted ! And is not this a song alike for the Head and 
 the mem))ers ? 
 
 A prayer of the Righteous One, when feeling the heat of the 
 iveary land. 
 
PSALM CXLIV. — A PRAYERFUL SONG. 4)35 
 
 PSALM CXLIV. 
 
 A Psalm of David. 
 
 1 Blessed be the Lord my strength, 
 
 Which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight : 
 
 2 My goodness and my fortress ; my high tower, and my deliverer; 
 
 My shield, and he in whom I trust ; who subdueth my people under me. 
 
 3 Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him ! 
 Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him ! 
 
 4 Man is like to vanity : his days are as a shadow that passeth away. 
 
 5 Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down : touch the mountains, and they 
 
 shall smoke. 
 
 6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them : shoot out thine arrows, and destroy 
 
 them. 
 
 7 Send thine hand from above ; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, 
 From the hand of strange children ; 
 
 8 Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of 
 
 falsehood. 
 
 9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God : 
 
 Upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto 
 thee. 
 
 10 It is he that givetli salvation unto kings: 
 
 Who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. 
 
 11 Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, 
 
 Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand ot 
 falsehood. 
 
 12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth ; 
 
 That our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude 
 of a palace : 
 
 13 That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store : 
 
 That our sheep may bring forth thousands, and ten thousands in our 
 streets : 
 
 14 That our oxen may be strong to labour ; that there be no breaking in, nor 
 
 going out ; 
 That there be no complaining in our streets. 
 
 15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case ! 
 Yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. 
 
 The Spirit of the Lord spake by David the words of this song 
 when the king felt his need of the King of kings to subdue 
 the turbulent and proud spirits who were ambitious of distinc- 
 tion (ver. 2), as well as to conquer the nations of idolaters 
 who hated God's anointed, (ver. 7-11). The Spirit leads him 
 back to the day when he sang Psa. xviii. (see ver. 1, 2), the 
 day when he was delivered from Saul and other foes ; and still 
 
 The allusions. 
 
436 PSALM CXLIV. — A PRAYERFUL SONG, ANTICIPATING 
 
 farther back to the quiet night when the strains of Psa. viii. 
 ascended to the ear of Jehovah, (see ver. 3) ; but he does not 
 fail also to lead him forward to a future day, when earth shall 
 witness its millennial scenes, among which not the least won- 
 derful and refreshing shall be Israel in all the restored plenty 
 of his last times, with the favour of Jehovah over all. In all 
 this, David was the type of Christ. 
 
 Jehovah's grace to tnan is the theme of verses 1,2; that 
 expression, " My goodness," nOH, may be understood as if de- 
 claring that all the kindness or nfiercy that is in God is made 
 over to his own people ; q.d., all in thee that is kind is my 
 property. 
 
 Man's unworthiness and littleness are the theme of verses 
 3, 4 — the contrast to the preceding verse. The Hebrew of 
 verse 4, " man is a vapour," reads suggestively pITV Uy^, re- 
 calling the disappointment of the first family on earth ; q. d., 
 all come of Adartx are as sure to disappoint, and to be disap- 
 pointed, in the fond hopes cherished concerning them, as Abel, 
 so short-lived, and untimely in his end. 
 
 God's strength laid hold upon by his own against foes is 
 the theme of verses 5-8. The God of Sinai is remembered in 
 verse 5 ; and the ease with which he can overwhelm his foes is 
 expressed, verse 6, " Lighten ivlfh lightning," and forthwith 
 they are scattered, {aoTs^a-^ov asr^aTriv. — Sept.). The " right hand 
 of falsehood," verse 8, expresses the violation of solemn oaths 
 and engagements, in ratifying which the right hand was lifted 
 up to heaven, (Gen. xiv. 22). Hence Tholuck renders it, 
 " Their oaths are perjuries." With majesty and might, with 
 lightning and fire like this, shall the Lord appear, when he 
 arises at last to the final conflict. 
 
 Praise and prayer, in prospect of victory, form the matter 
 of verses 9-11. And here "The New Song" is mentioned, 
 which " Neiv Song" is ever sung by one whose eye is on that 
 vail which was rent — looking either at the Saviour going in 
 with the sacrifice, or coming out tlie second time to bless. 
 
 The happy scene to he ivitnessed, when these desires are re- 
 sponded to, is the subject of verse 12, to the end. Do all this 
 for us, in answer to our prayer, so that, as a consequence of 
 this deliverance, 
 
THE PROSPERITY WHICH THE LORD BESTOWS. 437 
 
 " Our sons may be as plants (of the palm-tree, says the Targuni), 
 Vigorously slwoting up in their youth ; 
 Our daughters like corner-columns, 
 Polished like a palace ^ 
 
 Others take this last clause to contain an allusion to the costly 
 stones so carefully prepared for the building of the Temple : 
 " hewn for the building of the Temple." These are the choice 
 of men ! each one full of life and beauty, walking before the 
 Lord. 
 
 " Our granaries full, supplying one kind of food after another; " 
 like Egypt in Joseph's da;fs. It is a scene of plenty, as if 
 the curse were lifted off the soil. 
 
 " Our flocks increased to thousands, 
 Increased to thousands in our fields." {^\'\1^T^^ Job v. 10.) 
 
 Here are the pastures peopled with their appropriate tenants, 
 and a scene of peaceful plenty is set before us. And then follow 
 the yoked cattle, carrying their loads through the streets — a 
 token of busy commerce. 
 
 " No breach'" in the tribes, like Judges xxi. 15 ; or in individuals, like 
 
 Uzzah, 2 Sam. vi. 8. 
 " No going forth" to war. 
 " No cry'" like that in Isa. xxiv. 11, over disasters. 
 
 Happy days when these scenes are realised ! Happy people 
 who shall enjoy them. Men shall in that day exclaim with 
 Balaam, " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob ! " — or rather, 
 all shall then unite in tracing the blessing to its fountain-head, 
 " Blessed are the people whose God is Jehovah.'^ 
 
 Every member of Christ may take up this Psalm in behalt The .^peak^i- 
 of his own country and people — yea, in behalf of our common 
 humanity, praying for the day when all earth shall enjoy these 
 blessings, by enjoying Jehovah as their God. It is a prospect 
 that awaits the world when Christ returns ; and our expecta- 
 tion of such happiness in reserve for our world is kept alive by 
 a song like this, 
 
 A prayerful song of David, and David's Lord,, anticipating 
 the prosperity which Jehovah brings to his own. 
 
4)38 PSALM CXLV. — A PRAISE-HYMN CONCERNING 
 
 PSALM CXLV. 
 
 David's Psalm of praise. 
 
 1 I WILL extol thee, my God, O King! and I will bless thy name for ever 
 
 and evei\ 
 
 2 Every day will I bless thee ; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 
 
 3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised ; and his greatness is un- 
 
 searchable. 
 
 4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy ' 
 
 mighty acts. 
 
 5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous 
 
 works. 
 
 6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts : and I will declare 
 
 thy greatness. 
 
 7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness. 
 And shall sing of thy righteousness. 
 
 8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion ; 
 Slow to anger, and of great mercy. 
 
 9 The Lord is good to all : and his tender mercies are over all his works. 
 
 10 All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord ; and thy saints shall bless thee. 
 
 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power ; 
 
 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts. 
 And the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 
 
 13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
 
 And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. 
 
 14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed 
 
 down. 
 
 15 The eyes of all wait upon thee ; and thou givest them their meat in due 
 
 season. 
 
 16 Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. 
 
 17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. 
 
 18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon 
 
 him in truth. 
 
 19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him : 
 He also will hear their cry, and will save them. 
 
 20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him : 
 But all the wicked will he destroy. 
 
 21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord : 
 
 And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever. 
 
 Ai, i.abetic The well-known 45th Psalm sang of the King in his beauty : 
 
 structui-e. ° , ^ . r T l 1 
 
 this 145th is a hymn of praise concerning the reign of Jehovah, 
 and his kingdom. It is a Davidic and an alphabetic Psalm. 
 In regard to its alphabetic stnicture, it has one peculiarity, 
 viz., the "nun" is omitted ; the reason of which may be, that 
 
THE KINGDOM OF THE LORD. 439 
 
 (as we have seen in some other Psahns of this structure) by 
 means of that, or some other such omission, we might be kept 
 from putting stress on the mere form of the composition. 
 
 It is peculiar, also, in its title ; indeed, quite unique — " Of Tiie title. 
 David ; praise." The word is n^HJl. Some render this " a 
 hymn ;" others, such as Hengstenberg, ^' b. praise-song," differ- 
 ing in this from the Th^r\, the ^' prayer-song." It is prayer 
 turned into praise. Patrick remarks, that the term seemed so 
 peculiar and excellent that it was given from this Psalm to the 
 whole book, which is entitled by the Jews, the book of D^nri. 
 Bythner has this note on the word — " So called because it is 
 throughout nothing but the celebration of God ; so that the 
 ancient Jews used to say, that the man was already enjoying 
 the felicity of the age to come who daily recited it three times 
 with the mouth and heart," We are getting now beyond the 
 region of former themes ; all in the remaining Psalms is praise, 
 praise ; and this title is an appropriate introduction to the 
 closing group of praise-psalms. Nor is its burden less appro- 
 priate ; for, being a song of the kingdom, it ushers us into the 
 region of eternal praise. 
 
 It is a song for all saints. But we may say also. What a The speaker, 
 song in the lips of Christ for the Father's ear ! What a song 
 to soothe his own soul, when still " man of sorrows ! " For the 
 jDrospect is presented here of the kingdom made manifest, so 
 that all see the glory of the Lord. It is a Psalm that gathers The theme. 
 up much of the excellency of former Psalms ; and so truly is 
 the style of royalty and the manner of a kingdom in it, that 
 we find, in after days, the writer of the Book of Esther using 
 expressions regarding the king and kingdom of Media and 
 Persia, that bear a striking resemblance to the terms employed 
 by the Psalmist — only the one speaks of an earthly, and the 
 other of the heavenly throne. 
 
 1. The harp extols Jehovah for what He is, in verses 1-3, Ti,ppian. 
 " My God, King !" — rather, " My God, who art The King." 
 It is much more emphatic than Psa. v. 8, " My God, and my 
 King ;" here he is sung of as the only King. We are reminded 
 at once of Psa. xlv. 2, " My words concern the King." Of this 
 God and King the Psalmist sings, that he is unlike all idols. 
 
440 PSALM CXLV. — A PRAISE-HYMN CONCERNING 
 
 He is self-existent, and infinite, and so the greatness of any 
 of his perfections cannot be told. He is eternal and unchange- 
 able ; for he must be celebrated " For ever and ever." And 
 all this he is in his very being or essence, for he is " Jehovah." 
 All he does is so wisely done, that for all he is to be praised. 
 And his deeds display such power ! Righteous too, is He, and 
 yet abounding in love, kindness, and grace. 
 
 " Yes, let me bless (^D■)2^i'l) ^% name for ever and ever," (comp. 1 Pet. 
 
 i. 3, &c.)." """ 
 Every day will I bless tJiee (comp. Psa. xix. 2) ; 
 Yes, let me praise CrnbTM^') — q- d., let me Hallelujah) thy name for 
 
 ever and ever!" 
 Great is Jehovah; and OvTllJ) worthy to be praised !" (ver. 1-3.) 
 
 How many terms of adoration and honour ! Praise, praise, 
 is on his lips ; the harp-strings will utter nothing but praise ; 
 for " of his greatness there is no searching out," (comp. Job 
 V. 9). 
 
 2. The harp extols the deeds that shew Jehovah's name, in 
 verses 4-6, or what He is. 
 
 " Generation to generation shall commend his works. 
 Yea, they shall declare his mighty acts." (Ver. 4.) 
 
 Compare Psa. xix. 2, " day unto day" uttering the Lord's praise 
 in creation. But here it is both creation-works and redemp- 
 tion-wonders that are shewn ; for nill^^ cannot fail to remind 
 us of the acts of Him who overthrew Israel's foes, and of Him 
 whose name is liHJ, "Mighty One" (Psa. xlv. 3), and "Mighty 
 God," (Isa. ix. 6). His mighty acts, in establishing his kingdom 
 on earth upon the ruins of Antichrist's dominion, shall form 
 part of the theme. And that is the time when, in a special 
 sense, the next clause shall be understood, though it may ap- 
 ply in some degree to his creation-works : 
 
 " Of the majesty of glory (which is), thy beauty. 
 And of the chronicles of thy wondrous acts, let me speak." (Ver. 5.) 
 
 O how his beauty shall burst forth when the King appears with 
 his many crowns ! And if Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, amid 
 gorgeous splendour, suggested to his people to cry, " A god, 
 not a man ! " what shall creation feel at this sight ? The Lord's 
 
THE KINGDOM OF THE LORD. 441 
 
 beauty, liH (a word applied to creature-beauty in Hos. xiv. 6, 
 Zech. X. 8), is here emphatically exalted beyond comparison by 
 the addition of " the glory of thy beauty ;" aye, and " the ma- 
 jesty of the gloi^y." And then the "Chronicles 0^117) (rf t^^V 
 wondrous acts" is a term applied in 1 Chron. xxvii. 24, 1 Kings 
 xi. 41, to the acts of Solomon and David, the journals or re- 
 cords made of their deeds ; even as it is in Esther vi. 1, to the 
 king of Persia. The terms all bear reference to royalty and 
 government. Then he adds that in all these coming ages there 
 will be a company of those who delight to record the manifes- 
 tation of his name in his deeds. 
 
 " They shall speak of the overwhelming might (m^) of thy terrible acts," 
 (Ver. 6) 
 done in past days, such as Israel has delighted to tell to their 
 children (Psa. Ixxviii. 4), even such as He did at the Red Sea 
 (Exod. XV. 11, ^<■^^J, as here), and upon the cities of the plain, 
 as well as on the nations of Canaan. 
 
 "And thy greatness, I will recount it I " 
 Leave me to declare, or recount, the manifestations of his 
 " Greatness." While other men are uttering praise, the Psalmist 
 catches up the theme, as one which he must appropriate to 
 himself — that "greatness" spoken of in 1 Chron. xvii. 19, 
 when he sat before the Lord — that royal greatness which a 
 Persian king's wealth and magnificence would faintly shadow 
 forth (Esther i. 4, " excellency of his greatness") when taken as 
 an emblem. But it is chiefly here the display of his greatness 
 in acts of kindness that he is to shew. 
 
 3. The harp extols Jehovah's past manifestation of His 
 gracious character, in verses 7-9. The first words in verse 7 
 are, " They shall pour out (as from a gushing spring, Psa. xix. 
 2) the memory of thy great goodness ;" and perhaps we ought 
 to understand the clause as asserting that the Lord's " great 
 goodness" is itself the " "ID.," the thing to he remembered con- 
 cerning Him — His memorial, as in Exod. iii. 15, Psa. cii. 12. 
 And then there is allusion to Exod. xxxiv. 6, Numb. xiv. 8, in 
 
 verse 8. 
 
 " The Lord is gracious and merciful, 
 Slow to anger and abundant in goodness (IDrT)." 
 
442 PSALM CXLV. — A PRAISE-HYMN CONCERNING 
 
 The very words of Exod. iii. 4, though unfortunately altered 
 in our version ; and the more to be noticed, as verse 4, " Thy 
 goodness," is "?|HJD corresponding so exactly to Exod. xxxiii^ 1 9, 
 ^2113. The God who was thus gracious in the wilderness to his 
 people remains the same evermore. And this is He who at 
 Calvary, in his incarnate Son, manifested his gracious name. 
 We, in our day, turn to the sacrifice of Calvary, as best display- 
 ing his great goodness, his memorial, and we sing of " his right- 
 eousness'^ as shining there. 
 
 " The Lord is good to every one ; 
 And his j/earning bowels are over all 7iis works." (Ver. 9.) 
 
 He attends to individual souls, and yet also bends, like the 
 blue sky, over all his universe in mercy. His mercies, like the 
 rainbow, span the world. We see this at the rock of Horeb 
 (Exod. xxxiv.) ; but we see it best of all at Calvary. What 
 yearnings there ! — what love ! — what goodness ! And the 
 " whole creation" shall yet have a share in that mercy, when 
 the time spoken of in Rom. viii. 19-21 has arrived. 
 
 4. The harp extols Jehovah's kingdom in yerses 10-13. All 
 he has created, and all he has wrought in providence, has been 
 of such a character as to yield him a revenue of praise ; and 
 his saints act as his priests, presenting the praise. But this 
 will be peculiarly the case when the kingdom is manifested. 
 
 " Thetj shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, 
 And shall talk o/ (chronicle, as ver. 5) thy might (see ver. 4), 
 Making known to the sons of men thy mighty acts ; 
 And the glory of the majesty of thy kingdom" (Ver. 11, 12.) 
 
 The writer of Esther i. 4 says, " While he shewed them the 
 riches of the glory of his kingdom" — a kingdom which was to 
 last only a season. May we suppose that that writer, a man 
 of Israel, was led to use these terms, with this Psalm in his hand, 
 purposely in order to suggest by contrast the infinite difference 
 between that earthly monarch's splendour, and the glory of the 
 God of Israel? The Persian monarch's display lasted 180 
 days, and when its half-year was over, the splendour had 
 vanished ; whereas Jehovah's is (as Dan. iv. 31) 
 
 " A kingdom of all eternities — 
 
 " In every generation and gene^-ation." (Ver. 13.) 
 
THE KINGDOM OF THE LORD. 443 
 
 5. The harp extols the qualifications of Him who reigiieth 
 in verses 14-19, 
 
 " The Lord is an upholder to all that are falling, 
 And maketh all that are bowed down to stand upright." (Ver. 14.) 
 
 Those in distress and trouble are meant by the "falling," as 
 in Prov. xiii. 16, 17 ; and who the "bowed down" are, we see 
 by Psa. Ivii. 7, where the Psalmist's soul is nearly overwhelmed 
 by the thought of snares and foes shutting him in. Rejoice, O 
 saints ! though ye are feehng disaster and calamity, and are sore 
 distressed, your Lord is coming to put all things in order. He 
 is the uplifter of a fallen World ; he will not break the bruised 
 reed. The world shall soon hear no sigh, no murmur, no voice 
 of weeping ; for his unsuffering kingdom is at hand ! He has 
 provision for all (ver, 15, 16) ; he is more than was Joseph in 
 Goshen, to his own and to all creation. And he acts on the 
 holiest principles of administration (ver 17), while giving access 
 and audience to his subjects who seek his presence, (ver, 18). 
 Yes, he will satiate their weary souls, and leave not one wish 
 ungratified — not one craving, not one longing — " He will ac- 
 complish the desire of those that fear him," (ver. 19). 
 
 6. The harp sings the safe arrival in the kingdom (2 Tim. 
 iv. 18) of his saints, and the ruin of those who resist His king- 
 dom, in verse 20. There is a reference to the day of the Lord's 
 Coming, when his Israel reach the safe shore, and see the 
 Pharaohs that pursued them overwhelmed in the deep. When 
 he is spoken of as preserving the souls that love him, while 
 " destroying the wicked ones,"" the word for " destroy" is the 
 same (Tpt47>, the opposite of Ip'lt:^) as that in Deut. ii. 12, 21, 
 22, where we are told of the extirpation of various nations ; and 
 the same used in Isa. xiv. 23, of Babylon's ruin ; and the same 
 in Esther iii, 6, when Haman plotted to uproot Israel at one 
 blow. Antichrist shall be consumed and " destroyed" by the 
 brightness of the Lord's coming, and all that are on his side, 
 in that day when the King establishes his holy kingdom. On 
 the other hand, his saints shall be "preserved" (1 Tim. iv, 18), 
 not only from succeeding dangers, but from the grasp of death 
 itself, and brought by resurrection into his kingdom. 
 
 7. The harp invites all to join the sweet singer in praise 
 
444 PSALM CXLVI. — RAPTUROUS PRAISE IN CONTRASTING 
 
 to the Kin(j, (vex. 21). We saw that the Psahn began by j)re- 
 fixing the peculiar title, " Praise/' TDHPi, in order to excite at- 
 tention, and tune our hearts for its lively, joyful, thrilling 
 strains. And now it closes, uttering the same note — 
 '• My month shall speak thepraise (H'j'ni^) of the Lord," 
 
 the praise of Him who at the Red Sea was known as " terrible 
 in praises" {JTPlin), and who is known by Calvary, and by 
 scenes of judgment since then, and is to be known ere long in 
 scenes that will never be forgotten. " Let all flesh bless the 
 name of his holiness for ever ;" let them cry, in response to 
 the seraphim, " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts ; the 
 whole earth is full of his glory ! " for we are borne onward to 
 the millennial day by this Psalm, which is so plainly 
 A praise-hymn concerning the kingdom of the Lord, and 
 the Lord the King, 
 
 PSALM CXLVL 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord, O my soul ! 
 
 2 While I live I will praise the Lord : I will sing praises unto my God while 
 
 I have any being. 
 
 3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is 
 
 no help. 
 
 4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his 
 
 thoughts perish. 
 6 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the 
 Lord his God : 
 
 6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is : 
 
 7 Which keepeth truth for ever: which executeth judgment for the op- 
 
 pressed : 
 Which giveth food to the hungry. 
 
 8 The Lord looseth the prisoners : the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind : 
 The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down : the Lord loveth the 
 
 righteous : 
 
 9 The Lord preserveth the strangers : he relieveth the fatherless and 
 
 widow : 
 But the way of the wicked he turneth upside down, 
 10 The Lord shall reign for ever, 
 
 Even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
Psalm. 
 
 earth's great ones with JEHOVAH. 445 
 
 This is the beffinnins: of that closing series of Psahns which a Haiieiujah 
 has been called " Hallelujah Psalms." The Septuagint 
 ascribes this Psalm, and the three following, to the prophets 
 Haggai and Zechariah, but on what ground we know not. It 
 seems probable, however, that they are nearly right as to the 
 time of their composition ; for it is likely that as the day of 
 Christ's first coming approached nearer, the Holy Spirit did 
 indite songs of Zion that were fuller of triumph and praise 
 than any preceding ones, and so constructed them, too, that they 
 might be used afterwards in prospect of the day of his Second 
 Coming. In these latter Psalms, the tone is that of fieace at- 
 tained, and tribulation passed, for the most part. The Lord 
 Jesus himself, as well as his followers, could take up this Psalm. 
 Jehovah's peculiar character, in contrast to all earthly princes, 
 and benefactors, and friends, is the theme. 
 
 " I will praise Jehovah while I live ; 
 I will play to my God so long as I am." 
 
 Confide not in earth's nobles, earth's princely ones, who are 
 each of them but '' a son of man" (Dll^) returning to his 
 np"lJ^, dust ; 
 
 " For salvation is not in any one of them ; " 
 
 All their " thoughts," their schemes for good or for evil, pass 
 away. Blessed the man who has Jacob's God (7^^ the strong 
 one), " amid his help" (Psa. cxviii. 7, liv. 4) ; for he is Jehovah, 
 maker of heaven, earth, and sea ; and this Maker of heaven, 
 earth, and sea, is the same 
 
 " Who keepeth truth for ever I " 
 Whatever he has promised to the sons of men, he will perform. 
 Whatever he promised about " The Seed of the woman," he 
 will perform it. Whatever he has spoken to David of the 
 Son who was to sit on his throne, he will fulfil. Whatever he 
 has declared by his prophets regarding Israel, he will accom- 
 plish — " the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham," (Mic. 
 vii. 20). Yes, the truth shall assuredly be kept ; and there is 
 mercy too, there is love, there is grace in this truth. For 
 verses 7-9 describe the same Jehovah acting for men in ac- 
 cordance with his truth. We, in our day, read the Avords, and 
 
446 PSALM CXLVI. — JEHOVAH AND EARTH's GREAT ONES. 
 
 at every step we see their verification in the incarnate Son of 
 God ; even as Jesus, in singing those words when on earth, 
 would have reference to himself as the great illustration of each 
 clause (Luke xviii. 75 ; Matt. ix. 27), and as he may have 
 thought upon them when he gave that answer to John's disciples, 
 Matt. xi. 4, 5, q. d., all that characterises Jehovah has been done 
 by me. Did not Jesus relieve " all that were oppressed of the 
 devil" (Acts x. S8), as a sample of verse 7 ; and did he not 
 " give food to the hungry," (John vi.) ? Did Jesus not set free 
 " the prisoners,'" when he beheld the Bethesda man, bound for 
 thirty-eight years (John v.), and when he sent his angel to set 
 Peter free, (Acts xii.) ? How often did he " open the eyes of 
 the blind !" and the literally " bowed down" he made straight 
 (Lu'ce xiii. 16), as well as the spiritually laden (Matt. xi. 20) ; 
 and, in spite of their low condition, "he loved the righteous" — 
 for a fisherman of Galilee lay on his bosom ; his parables told 
 of a diseased Lazarus ; and there was a Lazarus of Bethany, in 
 whom he delighted. We know his care " of the stranger ;" 
 for we read of his words to the S3a-ophenician, and to the 
 Samaritan leper (Luke xvii. 16-19); while " i/ie widow" oi 
 Nain, and his tender words in John xiv. 18, tell how he " re- 
 stored" {^'y\V'*) to cheerfulness the orphan and the widow. His 
 Second Coming shall tell what his purging the temple inti- 
 mated (John ii, 15, Matt. xxi. 12), namely, how 
 " He overturneth the wmj of (lie wicked.'' 
 
 This is he who is " King" for ever ! This is " thy God, 
 Zion," who shall be thine to all generations. The mention of 
 such a King and God may well draw forth another " Halle- 
 lujah !" a " Hallelujah" such as we hear again in Rev. xix. ]-6, 
 when " the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." For " that great 
 voice of much people in heaven" fully accords in spirit, and 
 may be joined with the Psalm before us, uttering, as it does, 
 Rapturous praise, in contrasting all Earth's great ones with 
 Jehovah the King. 
 
PSA. CXLVII. — PRAISE FOR RESTORATION TO PROSPERITY. 44-7 
 
 PSALM CXLVII. 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord ! 
 For it is good to sing psalms unto our God ; 
 For it is pleasant ; and praise is comely. 
 
 2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem : he gathereth together the outcasts of 
 
 Israel. 
 
 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. 
 
 4 He telleth the number of the stars ; he calleth them all by their names. 
 
 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power : his understanding is infinite. 
 
 6 The Lord lifteth up the meek : he casteth the wicked down to the ground. 
 
 7 Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving ; sing praise upon the harp unto 
 
 our God : 
 
 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepai-eth rain for the earth, 
 Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. 
 
 9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. 
 
 10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse : he taketh not pleasure in 
 
 the legs of a man. 
 
 11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his 
 
 mercy. 
 
 12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem ! praise thy God, O Zion. 
 
 13 For he has strengthened the bars of thy gates ; he hath blessed thy chil- 
 
 dren within thee. 
 
 14 He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the 
 
 wheat, 
 16 He sendelh forth his commandment upon earth : his word runneth very 
 swiftly. 
 
 16 He giveth snow like wool : he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. 
 
 17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels : who can stand before his cold ? 
 
 18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them : 
 He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. 
 
 19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto 
 
 Israel. 
 
 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation : and as for his judgments, they 
 
 have not known them. 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 The God of Israel, what he has done, what he does, what he 
 can do— this is the " Hallelujah" note of his song. So glad- ""'*" ^'*"" 
 some is the theme, that in verse 1 we find a contribution for 
 it levied on Psa, xxxiii. 1, xcii. 1, and cxxxv. 3 ; each must fur- 
 nish their quota of testimony to the desirableness of giving 
 praise to such a God. 
 
 The theme is stated in verse 2, and then expatiated upon n.f- theme. 
 onwards to the end of verse 11, where the Septua,gint finish 
 
 Another Halle- 
 
448 rsALM cxLvii — Israel's praise to him who 
 
 the Psalm, casting the remaining verses into a Psahn by itself. 
 It is probably one of those songs of Zion which the Holy Ghost 
 gave to Israel under Nehemiah and Ezra, when the circum- 
 stances of that partial restoration furnished an appropriate oc- 
 casion for celebrating the joy of the still greater restoration in 
 the latter days, when Messiah should go up at the head of them. 
 Let us remark upon verse 4. It sets' forth the true great- 
 ness and grandeur of Israel's God, who can attend at once to 
 every wound of every broken-hearted one, and to the glorious 
 host of stars. This power of attending so carefully to what is 
 minute is peculiar to Jehovah. And he "counts" or deter- 
 mines the number of the stars, just as he does the dust of 
 Jacob (Num xxiii. 10) — assigning each his " name," according 
 to his quality, as Adam did to the creation in Paradise on a 
 limited scale, (Gen. ii. 20). His resources are inexhaustible, for 
 " His understanding is infinite," as well as his " power." 
 " Sing to Jehovah a responsive song^' i^\^Xl)- 
 
 like what we find in Nehem. xii. 27-43. For he, the God of 
 creation, feeds even the ravens (Luke xii. 24 may be Christ's 
 quotation of these words), disagreeable as these ravens often 
 seem to man ; and, judging not as man does, he delights in 
 his children's reverend faith, not in displays of warlike pomp 
 and military valour (ver. 10) — yes, in his children's godly fear, 
 and in their hope also. 
 
 " In the hopers for his mercg." 
 
 Prophetic Is not this equivalent to Jude 21, " who look for the mercy of 
 the Lord Jesus" at his coming ; and in 1 Pet. i. 1 3, " who hope 
 for the grace that is to be brought them at the appearing of 
 Jesus Christ." And it is at that day when (ver. 12-14) shall 
 be fully realised, Israel getting back again " the fat of wheat," 
 as Moses sang, (Deut. xxxii. 14). On that day they will re- 
 member how, long ago, they had appealed to Jehovah as able 
 to reverse their captivity, even as he changed night unto day, 
 winter into summer, the floods into dry land, (Psa. Ixxiv. 1 5-1 7). 
 He who commands and forthwith snow appears, and who sum- 
 mons the frost to serve him and then dissolves it (see ver. 
 15-18), he it is who reverses Israel's desolation, sending his 
 
REJOICETH OVER THEIR RESTORATION TO PROSPERITY. 449 
 
 word, relaxing their bonds, and causing rivers of milk and 
 honey to flow in their land, and themselves walk on the shady 
 banks. This is the God of Israel, who selected his people as 
 a peculiar people, in ages past, " declaring his word to Jacob, 
 his statutes and ordinances to IsraeV — the revealer of the 
 way of salvation, and the appointor of the types that fore- 
 shadowed better things, all which Israel enjoyed. He has 
 been sovereign from the first ; he will act in sovereignty to the 
 last. In times past, " He dealt not thus with any heathen 
 nation;" and to the end it will be seen that he has done for Israel, 
 in sovereign grace, more than he has done for all other peoples. 
 " Hallelujah," then ! Let a sovereign God be praised on earth 
 now, even as he shall be by the " voice of much people in 
 heaven" (Psa. xix. 1), who see him glorified in his mysterious 
 dealings and terrible judgments. Let us take up this calmly 
 triumphant song of 
 Israel's praise to the sovereign Jehovah, who blesseth and 
 rejoiceth over their nation restored to frosperity. 
 
 PSALM CXLVIIL 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord ! 
 
 Praise ye the Lord from the heavens : praise him in the heights. 
 
 2 Praise ye him, all his angels : praise ye him, all his hosts. 
 
 3 Praise ye him, sun and moon : praise him, all ye stars of light. 
 
 4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the 
 
 heavens. 
 
 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord ! 
 For he commanded, and they were created. 
 
 6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever : he hath nuule a decree 
 
 which shall not pass. 
 
 7 Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps : 
 
 8 Fire, and hail ; snow, and vapours ; stormy wind fulfilling his word : 
 y Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: 
 
 10 Beasts, and all cattle ; creeping things, and flying fowl : 
 
 1 1 Kings of the earth, and all people ; princes, and all judges of the earth : 
 
 12 Both young men, and maidens : old men and children : 
 
 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord ! 
 
 For his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven. 
 
 14 He also cxaltcth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints ; 
 Even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. 
 
 Praise yc the Lord. 
 
 Ff 
 
450 PSALM cxLviii. — Israel's adoration of him who has 
 
 itffpsai^"^' ^^^ Apociypha has borrowed from this Psahn the supposed 
 Tiie tone and ^°^S ^f the three Hebrew youths in the fiery furnace. It is 
 plan, Israel's uncontrollable burst of praise at the thought of him 
 
 who makes them " a people near to him ;" a priestly people 
 (see Levit. x. 3 ; Ezek. Ixii. 13 ; Deut. iv. 7 ; and Num. xvi. 
 5-9). How they rejoice before him in the latter day ; restored 
 from their wanderings ! One great deed of a benefactor excites 
 us to draw the attention of others to him, and inclines us to 
 dwell upon all that is in him ; and so it is here with Israel in this 
 " Hallelujah." They call for praise "■from the heavens ;" they 
 bid those " in the heights" give praise ; " all angels," of what- 
 ever rank, " all his hosts," with one accord. Sun at noon, 
 moon at midnight, stars so bright (the visible host of the sky, 
 as the angels are the invisible), " heaven of heavens," where 
 is the orbit of the planet and the path of the comet, and the 
 track of every star ; " waters above the heaven," or firmament,* 
 the clouds of the sky — unite ye in one song of praise ! Do ye 
 wonder at this summons ? Why should ye ? (Gen. i 7.) 
 
 " For he commanded and they were created,^' — 
 
 Yes, even angels ; for, as Augustine says, in Psa. Ixxi. 1 9, " Ne 
 putes hominem solum pertinere ad gratiam Dei. Quid erat 
 Angelus antequam fieret ? Quid est angelus, si deserat qui 
 creavit ?" Again, then, he takes up the call — and now it is 
 as if one from heaven looked down to earth and summoned 
 it to praise, as before it was one on earth looking upward to 
 heaven. " Praise ye Jehovah /rom the earth !" Ye sea-mon- 
 sters, ox great ivhales (Gen. i. 21), and ye floods wherein they 
 swim ; heat and cold, white snow and dark smoke (Gen. xix. 
 20 ; Psa. cxix. 83, Hengstenberg) ; strong ivind that, amid 
 apparent anarchy, dost his will; mountaAns, and more lowly 
 hills, diversifying the face of earth ; ye palms and pomegra- 
 nates, fruit-trees, ye firs and pines, " cedars of every kind ;" 
 wild beasts and tame ; reptiles ^wdfoiuls of every wing, whether 
 small as the wren, or majestic as the eagle — unite in one song 
 of praise ! All the more because ye, too, sliall be delivered 
 
 1- Th 
 third heaven 
 
 lis is the _/?)•.«< Aeai'ejis, the sky ; \\\q frcoiid is that just mentioned; the 
 :avens was ealled upon in verses 1, 2. 
 
MADE THEM A PEOPLE NEAR TO HIM. 451 
 
 from the bondage of corruption, and have your share in the 
 millennial liberty of the sons of God, (Rom. viii, 2 1 ). 
 
 As in creation, so here, man appears on the scene last of all, 
 just because chief of all. 
 
 " Kings of earth, mid all ye tribes, 
 Princes, and all earth's judges.'" 
 
 Young men, who are in your strength ; maide?is in your 
 beauty ; old men, with lips of age dropping wisdom ; children, 
 who can only lisp his name — all of you join, for there is no 
 name exalted but his alone. " His beauty is over earth and 
 heaven" — his beauty (lin, Psa. cxlv. 5), his splendour, sheds 
 its beams now over the earth as well as heaven. For the 
 times of refreshing are come. 
 
 And of all men, none should so extol him as his peculiar 
 people Israel. For, 
 
 " HeTiatli raised up a horn for his people. " 
 He has fulfilled the words of Zechariah, (Luke i. 69). Messiah 
 has come ; Messiah, with all the blessings purchased at his 
 first coming, is now made known to Israel, and has pushed 
 Israel's enemies off the field. And he who is this horn is 
 " the theme of praise" to the peculiar people, and to all 
 saints besides, wherever found, though none have more reason 
 than Israel to adore and love him who saves the chief of sin- 
 ners, and in sovereignty exalts the stiffnecked people to pre- 
 eminence among the nations, making them a people ii'lp " His 
 intimate friend,'" as Psa. xxxviii. 12 ; Ixxv. 2 ; Job xix. 14. 
 
 " Tlie theme of praise (as Dent. x. 21,'T[/l'j)nri KIH) '« all his saints. 
 To the children of Israd, a people near to him /"' 
 "Hallelujah I" 
 
 Surely the "great voice of much people in heaven, saying, 
 Hallelujah !" (Rev. xix. ]) will present an appropriate re- 
 sponse to the call in verses 1-6. And not less does their sum- 
 mons to men on earth (Rev. xix. 5, 6) accord with the call in 
 verses 7-13. Indeed, there is the very tone and energy of 
 heaven in this glorious burst of praise — 
 
 Israel's rapturous hurst of ad oration to Him u>ho makes them 
 a people near to him. 
 
452 PSALM CXLIX. — PRAISE TO ISRAEL S KING, 
 
 PSALM CXLIX. 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord ! 
 
 Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of 
 saints. 
 
 2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him : 
 
 Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 
 
 3 Let them praise his name in the dance : 
 
 Let them sing praises unto him with the trimbrel and harp. 
 
 4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people : he will beautify the meek 
 
 with salvation. 
 
 5 Let the saints be joyful in glory : let them sing aloud upon their beds. 
 
 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in 
 
 their hand ; 
 
 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishment upon the 
 
 people ; 
 
 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron ; 
 
 9 To execute upon them the judgment written : this honour have all his 
 
 saints. 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 Another Halle- This Hallelujoh Psalm begins somewhat in the strain with 
 ujah sam ^\^\q\^ ^\^q preceding one closed. In Psa. cxlviii. 14, not Israel 
 only, but " all saints/' were represented as giving honour to 
 him who had in sovereign grace redeemed his people ; and so 
 here, while Israel are called on as peculiarly indebted to Jeho- 
 vah, yet all saints are joined with them in the triumphant song. 
 
 " Sing to Jeliovah a new song ; 
 Let Ms praise he in the congregation of saints." (Psa. cxlviii. 14.) 
 
 Are we not carried away to the scene in Rev. v. 9, to the " new 
 song" to the Lamb who takes the book and opens its seals, and 
 claims possession of earth ? Let all saints accord in this great 
 hymn of triumph. Yet let Israel not fail to lift up their voice 
 above all others, for they have been peculiarly honoured, and 
 are above all others exalted. " Let Israel rejoice in him that 
 MADE HIM," i. €., made him what he is, as Deut. xxxii. 6 ; Isa, 
 Ivi 5.; Job XXXV. 10. "Let Zions children rejoice in their 
 King" who takes them under his special protection, and deigns 
 to be specially called " King of the Jews." 
 
 " Praise His name in the dance, 
 Play to Him with timbrel and harp ;" 
 
AS THE SUBDUER OF THE NATIONS. 453 
 
 as David before the ark (2 Sam. vi. 5, 1 4, 1 5), and as Jephthah's 
 daughter welcoming her sire, (Judges xi. 34). For the Lord 
 " gloriously helps the wretched" (sa}^ some), or better far, 
 "Beautifies the meek with salvation," i. c, with all the spoils 
 of that victory which he has achieved. 
 
 " Let Ms saints exult in joy /" — 
 
 No longer obscure, despised, the offscouring of all things, but 
 glorious in the glory of their King, let them joyfully exult. 
 And " on their couches" when resting from active work and 
 meditating on the Lord's ways (not as Psa. xxxvi. 14, nor 
 Psa. iv. 4 even ; but in loftier and happier themes) " let them 
 sing." 
 
 " High praises loudly sung, 
 The two-edged sword waved aloft /" 
 
 The " exaltings" or " extollings' seem to refer us to all pre- 
 vious psalms wherein worshippers have said — " I will extolihee, 
 O God," for the root is the same ; and here, " in their throat" 
 as it is in the Hebrew, is equivalent to speaking aloud, like 
 Isa. Iviii, 1 ; the very opposite of the heathen's dumb idols, 
 Psa. cxv. 7. And what is the " Two-EDGED sword ?" Is it not 
 the peculiar symbol of Messiah ? As Bunyan represents his 
 captains with their escutcheons — Captain Boanerges, with three 
 burning thunderbolts ; Captain Execution, with the axe lying 
 at the foot of the tree — so we may say that the escutcheon of 
 the King that cometh to avenge his Father's honour, is the 
 two-edged sword : for thus we find it in Rev. i. 16, ii. 12, as 
 well as Heb. iv. 12; and we may add Rev. xix. 15. It is 
 the Ehud-dagger (Judg. iii. 16) that slays the oppressor. The 
 time is come for this now. " The meek" (ver, 4) put on salva- 
 tion-strength ; and their King associates them with himself in 
 the battle. It is like Rev. ii. 26-27, and iii. 21 , even as " beau- 
 tifying with salvation" is like Rev. ii. 28. Some, indeed, con- 
 fine this to Israel, and compare Jer. Ii. 20, 21. But as we find 
 "all the saints'^ associated in the work, we prefer the view that 
 makes verses 6-9 to refer to "the saints judging the ivorld." 
 They are figuratively said to lift up the " two-edged sword," be- 
 cause they join with Messiah in inflicting the fourfold vengeance, 
 (Deut. xxxii. 41). At the same time, Israel in the flesh shall 
 
45-i PSALM CL. — A CALT, UPON THK UNIVERSE 
 
 be acting a part analogous to that of their King and his 
 heavenly hosts, (Ezek. xxxviii., Zech. xiv,). 
 
 What an echoing back of this song is Rev. xix. 1-6, with all 
 its '* Hallehtjahs !" Israel is the chief musician, or rather, 
 their King. Messiah himself leads the praise ; but it is for the 
 lips of the whole congregation of his redeemed — " lids honour 
 is to all his saints." Still, sovereign grace puts Israel promi- 
 nently forward ; so that we cannot fail to see in this Psalm, 
 Triumphant praise from Israel, because of their King and 
 all his saints subduing the nations. 
 
 PSALM CL. 
 
 1 Praise ye the Lord ! 
 Praise God in his sanctuary : 
 
 Praise him in the firmament of his power. 
 
 2 Praise him for his mighty acts : 
 
 Praise him according to his excellent greatness. 
 
 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet : 
 Praise him with the psaltery and harp. 
 
 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance : 
 
 Praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 
 
 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals : 
 
 Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. 
 
 6 Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. 
 Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 When men presume to dictate to the Spirit of God, how deep 
 their fall ; as we see in the apocryphal attempts at writing 
 books of scrij)ture to be added to the genuine word of God. 
 So it happens here, also ; for the Septuagint have not been 
 content to close the Book of Psalms with this most lofty and 
 sublime doxology, but have added a psalm about David's his- 
 tory — a tame piece of prose* that surprises every one by its in- 
 appropriateness in such a position. But the true close is the 
 1 50th Psalm, of which it may be said, that as the preceding 
 
 * It begins thus — 
 
 " I was little among my brethren, and tlic youngest in my lather's honse. 
 I fed the sheep of my father. My hands miirte the organ." 
 
 and ends with — 
 
 " I went forth to meet the uncircnmcised, and lie cursed me by his idols. 
 But I, drawing his own sword from liini, cut off hi,'* head, and took away reproach 
 from the children of Israel." 
 
TO TRAISE JEHOVAH. 
 
 455 
 
 one ushered us into the presence of the King, and placed us 
 with him in his kingdom, this leaves us in it, singing endless 
 " Hallelujahs." 
 
 Augustine ingeniously notices, that " Psalm 50th was one 
 oi repentance ; Psalm 100th" (/. e., in the Septuagint-reckoning 
 our 101st) "is about mercy and judgment ; but the 150th is 
 the praise of our God in his sanctuary ; for there we arrive at 
 life eternal and blessed." Hengstenberg remarks — " As the 
 life of the faithful, and the history of the Christ, so also the 
 Psalter, with all its cries from the depths, runs out in a Hal- 
 lelujah !" Dr Allix says of it — " It relateth to Messiah's 
 reign, when every thing that has breath, or was made by him, 
 shall be subjected to him." Horsley says of it — " A grand 
 chorus of all voices, and all instruments ! " 
 
 Patrick has a not uninteresting note on the many instru- 
 ments of music in Psalm cxlix., which we quote here. " The 
 ancient inhabitants of Etruria used the trumpet ; the Arca- 
 dians, the whistle ; the Sicilians, the pectid ; the Cretians, the 
 harp ; the Thracians, the cornet ; the Lacedemonians, the 
 pipe ; the Egyptians, the drum ; the Arabians, the cymbal." 
 (Clem. Psedag. ii. 4.) May we not say that in this Psalm's 
 enumeration of musical instruments, there is a reference to the 
 variety which exists among men in the mode of expressing joy, 
 and exciting to feeling ? All nations, come and praise ! Use 
 every energy, for praise ! Men in every variety of circum- 
 stances, men of every various mood, men of all capacities, come 
 and praise ! Each in his own way, sing " Hallelujah ! " And 
 in the words of another — " The Church composed of many 
 diiFerent members, all actuated, like the pipes of a well-tuned 
 instrument, by the same spirit, will become one great instru- 
 ment, sending forth the praises of God Most High." 
 
 " Praise ye H'' " — the peculiar name of God in covenant with Israel. 
 
 " Praise ye ^^ " — the name that implies dominion over all the eartli. 
 
 The instru- 
 ments of 
 music here. 
 
 I. Where shall His praise be uttered? In his sanctuary, ThepUn 
 where everything speaks o{ redemption ; and in the firma- 
 ment, which his might has spread forth between earth and 
 heaven, on the platform of creation. 
 
456 PSALM CL. — A CALL UPON THE UNIVERSE 
 
 II. Why ? Because of his deeds as the Mighty One* — those 
 beams of glory inexpressible ; and because of the " rnultitude 
 of His greatness" — that Source of all these beams, his own 
 nature in itself 
 
 III. Wherewith ? With every instrument — with trumpet, 
 psaltery, harp, soft timbrel, pipe, stringed instruments, and 
 wind-instruments ; with cymbals, softly played (V'Q'^ that 
 do not overpower the voice of the singer) ; and with cym- 
 bals of jubilee, (2 Sam. vi. 5). Not merely an instrument 
 of ten strings, as at other times, but ten distinct instruments 
 are called for ; and twelve times is the call uttered, " Praise 
 ye ! " ^7711. Twelve times ; so that each tribe is summoned, 
 and then all the universe besides, to use their voice. 
 
 " Let every thing that hath breath, praise Jehovah ! " 
 
 All creation is summoned to take part, and angels too ; lor 
 they have interest in our redemption scenes — since He is to 
 " reconcile all things to himself, whether they be things on 
 earth, or things in heaven," (Col. i. 20). 
 
 What magnificence and majesty in this close ! Praise 
 gathered in from every creature ; every instrument of joy, and 
 gladness, and triumph, and jubilee, summoned to sound loud 
 praise ; and every heart and voice engaged to help the choir. 
 " Every voice teems with praise ; every thought is about praise ; 
 every object awakens it ; every power uses itself for His ser- 
 vice " (Meditat. on Psalms). And no wonder, when we remem- 
 ber that we are ushered into the kingdom. " Tlie Levites have 
 changed their service now ; no longer have they burdens to 
 bear through the wilderness ; but they lift up new songs in the 
 house of the Lord. The heavens have changed their glory too ; 
 they have ended their laughter at the proud confederates 
 (Psalm ii. 8) ; and are now filled with joy and singing, and with 
 that glory which is to break forth from them, and be a covering 
 
 * The note, in the Version of Junius and Treniellius, on the 13th verse of 
 Psalm cxlviii., applies here also, a note wherein they say, " that the cause of 
 praise is both God's own great name, and also his doings to his Church:" 
 Ctijus resdtKtionem res omnes creatce expectant exerto cnpite, et anyeli ipsi 
 cupiimt introgpicere. Rom. viii. If) ; 1 Peter i 12. 
 
TO PKAISE JEHOVAH. 457 
 
 over all the dwellings of Zion, (Isa. iv). These are days of 
 heaven upon the earth ! The kingdom has come ; and the 
 will of the Blessed is done here as there. The mystic ladder 
 connects the upper and the lower Sanctuaries. Praise crowns 
 the scene. The vision passes from before us with the chanting 
 of all kinds of music. Man has taken the instrument of joy 
 into his hand ; but it is only to God's glory he strikes it. The 
 creature is happy ; God is glorified ; yes, praise, all praise ! 
 untiring, satisfying fruit of lips uttering the joy of creation, 
 and owning the glory of the Blessed One," (Medit. on the Psalms, 
 p. 195). 
 
 We close the Book with something of the feeling with which 
 we suppose John came away from hearing " the voice of much 
 people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah !" We seem to have been 
 brought within hearing of heavenly melody, from heavenly harps 
 and voices. Is not the closing verse taken up in Rev. v. 13 — 
 " And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and 
 under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are 
 in them, heard I saying. Blessing, and honour, and glory, 
 and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
 unto the Lamb for ever and ever ! " And again, in Rev. 
 xix. 6, 7, when the great multitude, with voice " as the voice of 
 many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings," cry, 
 " Hallelujah : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us 
 be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to him ; for the marriage 
 of the Lamb is come ! " 
 
 May my voice be raised in that mighty thunder of praise, 
 in the great congregation ! rapturously uniting with Israel, and 
 all the saints, in this grand chorus of the universe, this full- 
 toned 
 
 Call upon the imiverse at large to 'praise JeJiovah with heart, 
 and soul, and mind, and viight / 
 
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