The treasury of David, Volume 2 (of 6), Psalm 27-57 (part 4 of 5)

The treasury of David, Volume 2 (of 6), Psalm 27-57 (part 4 of 5)

Verse 6.—“Mine ears hast thou opened.” Readiness to hear, fixity of purpose, perfection of obedience, entireness of consecration.

Verses 6-8.—The Lord gives an ear to hear his word, a mouth to confess it, a heart to love it, and power to keep it.

Verse 7.—I. The time of Christ’s coming. “Then said I.” When types were exhausted, when prophecies looked for their fulfilment, when worldly wisdom had done its utmost, when the world was almost entirely united under one empire, when the time appointed by the Father had come. II. The design of his coming. “In the volume” was written—1. The constitution of his person. 2. His teaching. 3. The manner of his life. 4. The design of his death. 5. His resurrection and ascension. 6. The kingdom he would establish. III. The voluntariness of his coming, “Lo, I come.” Though sent by the Father, he came of his own accord. “Christ Jesus came into the world.” Men do not come into the world, they are sent into it. “Lo, I come,” denotes pre-existence, pre-determination, pre-operation.—George Rogers.

Verse 8.—“To do thy will, O God.” I. The will of God is seen in the fact of salvation. It has its origin in the will of God. II. The will of God is seen in the plan of salvation. All things have proceeded, are proceeding, and will proceed according to that plan. III. It is seen in the provision of salvation, in the appointment of his own Son to become the mediator, the atoning sacrifice, the law-fulfiller, the head of the church, that his plan required. IV. It is seen in the accomplishment of salvation.

Verse 9.—Referring to our Lord; a great preacher, a great subject, a great congregation, and his great faithfulness in the work.

Verse 10 (first clause).—I. The righteousness possessed by God. II. The righteousness prescribed by God. III. The righteousness provided by God.—James Frame.

Verse 10.—I. The preacher must reveal his whole message. II. He must not conceal any part. 1. Not of the righteousness of the law or the gospel. 2. Not of the lovingkindness of grace. 3. Not of any portion of the truth. 1. To omit is to conceal. 2. To entangle with human reasonings. 3. To cover with flowers of rhetoric. 4. To give a partial representation. 5. To put one truth in the place of another. 6. To give the letter without the spirit.—G. R.

Verse 10.—The great sin of concealing what we know of God.

Verse 11.—Enrichment and preservation sought. The true riches are from God, gifts of his sovereignty, fruits of his mercy, marked with his tenderness. The best preservations are divine love and faithfulness.

Verse 12.—Compare this with verse 5. The number of our sins, and the number of his thoughts of love.

Verse 12 (second clause).—I. The soul arrested—“taken hold.” II. The soul bewildered—“cannot look up.” III. The soul’s only refuge—prayer, ver. 13.

Verse 13.—I. The language of believing prayer—deliver me, help me; looking for deliverance and help to God only. II. Of earnest prayer—make haste to help me. III. Of submissive prayer—be pleased, O Lord, if according to thy good pleasure. IV. Of consistent prayer. Help me, which implies efforts for his own deliverance, putting his own shoulder to the wheel.

Verses 11-13.—As an instance of clerical ingenuity, it may be well to mention that Canon Wordsworth has a sermon from these verses upon “The duty of making responses in public prayer.”

Verse 14.—Honi soit qui mal y pense; or, the reward of malignity.

Verse 16 (last clause).—An every-day saying. Who can use it? What does it mean? Why should they say it? Why say it continually?

Verse 17.—The humble “But,” and the believing “Yet.” The little “I am,” and the great “Thou art.” The fitting prayer.

Verse 17.—“The Lord thinketh upon me.” Admire the condescension, and then consider that this is—I. A promised blessing. II. A practical blessing—he thinks upon us to supply, protect, direct, sanctify, etc. III. A precious blessing—kind thoughts, continual, greatly good. He thinks of us as his creatures with pity, as his children with love, as his friends with pleasure. IV. A present blessing—promises, providences, visitations of grace.

Verse 17.—I. The less we think of ourselves the more God will think upon us. II. The less we put trust in ourselves the more we may trust in God for help and deliverance. III. The less delay in prayer and active efforts the sooner God will appear for us.

Footnote 17:

Petitioning for or praying for.

Footnote 18:

A marginal note.

PSALM XLI.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. This title has frequently occurred before and serves to remind us of the value of the Psalm, seeing that it was committed to no mean songster; and also to inform us as to the author who has made his own experience the basis of a prophetic song, in which a far greater than David is set forth. How wide a range of experience David had! What power it gave him to edify future ages! And how full a type of our Lord did he become! What was bitterness to him has proved to be a fountain of unfailing sweetness to many generations of the faithful.

Jesus Christ betrayed of Judas Iscariot is evidently the great theme of this Psalm, but we think not exclusively. He is the antitype of David, and all his people are in their measure like him; hence words suitable to the Great Representative are most applicable to those who are in him. Such as receive a vile return for long kindness to others, may read this song with much comfort, for they will see that it is alas! too common for the best of men to be rewarded for their holy charity with cruelty and scorn; and when they have been humbled by falling into sin, advantage has been taken of their low estate, their good deeds have been forgotten, and the vilest spite has been vented upon them.

DIVISION.—The Psalmist in verses 1-3, describes the mercies which are promised to such as consider the poor, and this he uses as a preface to his own personal plea for succour: from verses 4-9 he states his own case, proceeds to prayer in verse 10, and closes with thanksgiving, verses 11-13.

EXPOSITION.

Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

2 The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou 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.

1. “Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” This is the third Psalm opening with a benediction, and there is a growth in it beyond the first two. To search the word of God comes first, pardoned sin is second, and now the forgiven sinner brings forth fruit unto God available for the good of others. The word used is as emphatic as in the former cases, and so is the blessing which follows it. The poor intended, are such as are poor in substance, weak in bodily strength, despised in repute, and desponding in spirit. These are mostly avoided and frequently scorned. The worldly proverb bequeathes the hindmost to one who has no mercy. The sick and the sorry are poor company, and the world deserts them as the Amalekite left his dying servant. Such as have been made partakers of divine grace receive a tenderer nature, and are not hardened against their own flesh and blood; they undertake the cause of the down trodden, and turn their minds seriously to the promotion of their welfare. They do not toss them a penny and go on their way, but enquire into their sorrows, sift out their cause, study the best ways for their relief, and practically come to their rescue; such as these have the mark of the divine favour plainly upon them, and are as surely the sheep of the Lord’s pasture as if they wore a brand upon their foreheads. They are not said to have considered the poor years ago, but they still do so. Stale benevolence, when boasted of, argues present churlishness. First and foremost, yea, far above all others put together in tender compassion for the needy is our Lord Jesus, who so remembered our low estate, that though he was rich, for our sakes he became poor. All his attributes were charged with the task of our uplifting. He weighed our case and came in the fulness of wisdom to execute the wonderful work of mercy by which we are redeemed from our destructions. Wretchedness excited his pity, misery moved his mercy, and thrice blessed is he both by his God and his saints for his attentive care and wise action towards us. He still considereth us; his mercy is always in the present tense, and so let our praises be.

“The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.” The compassionate lover of the poor thought of others and therefore God will think of him. God measures to us with our own bushel. Days of trouble come even to the most generous, and they have made the wisest provision for rainy days who have lent shelter to others when times were better with them. The promise is not that the generous saint shall have no trouble, but that he shall be preserved in it, and in due time brought out of it. How true was this of our Lord! never trouble deeper nor triumph brighter than his, and glory be to his name, he secures the ultimate victory of all his blood-bought ones. Would that they all were more like him in putting on bowels of compassion to the poor. Much blessedness they miss who stint their alms. The joy of doing good, the sweet reaction of another’s happiness, the approving smile of heaven upon the heart, if not upon the estate; all these the niggardly soul knows nothing of. Selfishness bears in itself a curse, it is a cancer in the heart; while liberality is happiness, and maketh fat the bones. In dark days we cannot rest upon the supposed merit of almsgiving, but still the music of memory brings with it no mean solace when it tells of widows and orphans whom we have succoured, and prisoners and sick folk to whom we have ministered.

2. “The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive.” His noblest life shall be immortal, and even his mortal life shall be sacredly guarded by the power of Jehovah. Jesus lived on till his hour came, nor could the devices of crafty Herod take away his life till the destined hour had struck; and even then no man took his life from him, but he laid it down of himself, to take it again. Here is the portion of all those who are made like their Lord, they bless and they shall be blessed, they preserve and shall be preserved, they watch over the lives of others and they themselves shall be precious in the sight of the Lord. The miser like the hog is of no use till he is dead—then let him die; the righteous like the ox is of service during life—then let him live. “And he shall be blessed upon the earth.” Prosperity shall attend him. His cruse of oil shall not be dried up because he fed the poor prophet. He shall cut from his roll of cloth and find it longer at both ends.

“There was a man, and some did count him mad, The more he gave away the more he had.”

If temporal gains be not given him, spirituals shall be doubled to him. His little shall be blessed, bread and water shall be a feast to him. The liberal are and must be blessed even here; they have a present as well as future portion. Our Lord’s real blessedness of heart in the joy that was set before him is a subject worthy of earnest thought, especially as it is the picture of the blessing which all liberal saints may look for. “And thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.” He helped the distressed, and now he shall find a champion in his God. What would not the good man’s enemies do to him if they had him at their disposal? Better be in a pit with vipers than be at the mercy of persecutors. This sentence sets before us a sweet negative, and yet it were not easy to have seen how it could be true of our Lord Jesus, did we not know that although he was exempted from much of blessing, being made a curse for us, yet even he was not altogether nor for ever left of God, but in due time was exalted above all his enemies.

3. “The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing.” The everlasting arms shall stay up his soul as friendly hands and downy pillows stay up the body of the sick. How tender and sympathising is this image; how near it brings our God to our infirmities and sicknesses! Whoever heard this of the old heathen Jove, or of the gods of India or China? This is language peculiar to the God of Israel; he it is who deigns to become nurse and attendant upon good men. If he smites with one hand he sustains with the other. Oh, it is blessed fainting when one falls upon the Lord’s own bosom, and is upborne thereby! Grace is the best of restoratives; divine love is the noblest stimulant for a languishing patient; it makes the soul strong as a giant, even when the aching bones are breaking through the skin. No physician like the Lord, no tonic like his promise, no wine like his love. “Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.” What, doth the Lord turn bedmaker to his sick children? Herein is love indeed. Who would not consider the poor if such be the promised reward? A bed soon grows hard when the body is weary with tossing to and fro upon it, but grace gives patience, and God’s smile gives peace, and the bed is made soft because the man’s heart is content; the pillows are downy because the head is peaceful. Note that the Lord will make all his bed, from head to foot. What considerate and indefatigable kindness! Our dear and ever blessed Lord Jesus, though in all respects an inheritor of this promise, for our sakes condescended to forego the blessing, and died on a cross and not upon a bed; yet, even there, he was after awhile upheld and cheered by the Lord his God, so that he died in triumph.

We must not imagine that the benediction pronounced in these three verses belongs to all who casually give money to the poor, or leave it in their wills, or contribute to societies. Such do well, or act from mere custom, as the case may be, but they are not here alluded to. The blessing is for those whose habit it is to love their neighbour as themselves, and who for Christ’s sake feed the hungry and clothe the naked. To imagine a man to be a saint who does not consider the poor as he has ability, is to conceive the fruitless fig tree to be acceptable; there will be sharp dealing with many professors on this point in the day when the King cometh in his glory.

4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: 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.

Here we have a controversy between the pleader and his God. He had been a tender friend to the poor, and yet in the hour of his need the promised assistance was not forthcoming. In our Lord’s case there was a dark and dreary night in which such arguments were well befitting himself and his condition.

4. “I said”—said it in earnest prayer—“Lord, be merciful unto me.” Prove now thy gracious dealings with my soul in adversity, since thou didst aforetime give me grace to act liberally in my prosperity. No appeal is made to justice; the petitioner but hints at the promised reward, but goes straightforward to lay his plea at the feet of mercy. How low was our Redeemer brought when such petitions could come from his reverend mouth, when his lips like lilies dropped such sweet smelling but bitter myrrh! “Heal my soul.” My time of languishing is come, now do as thou hast said, and strengthen me, especially in my soul. We ought to be far more earnest for the soul’s healing than for the body’s ease. We hear much of the cure of souls, but we often forget to care about it. “For I have sinned against thee.” Here was the root of sorrow. Sin and suffering are inevitable companions. Observe that by the Psalmist sin was felt to be mainly evil because directed against God. This is of the essence of true repentance. The immaculate Saviour could never have used such language as this unless there be here a reference to the sin which he took upon himself by imputation; and for our part we tremble to apply words so manifestly indicating personal rather than imputed sin. Applying the petition to David and other sinful believers, how strangely evangelical is the argument: heal me, not for I am innocent, but “I have sinned.” How contrary is this to all self-righteous pleading! How consonant with grace! How inconsistent with merit! Even the fact that the confessing penitent had remembered the poor, is but obliquely urged, but a direct appeal is made to mercy on the ground of great sin. O trembling reader, here is a divinely revealed precedent for thee, be not slow to follow it.

5. “Mine enemies speak evil of me.” It was their nature to do and speak evil; it was not possible that the child of God could escape them. The viper fastened on Paul’s hand: the better the man the more likely, and the more venomous the slander. Evil tongues are busy tongues, and never deal in truth. Jesus was traduced to the utmost, although no offence was in him. “When shall he die, and his name perish?” They could not be content till he was away. The world is not wide enough for evil men to live in while the righteous remain, yea, the bodily presence of the saints may be gone, but their memory is an offence to their foes. It was never merry England, say they, since men took to Psalm-singing. In the Master’s case, they cried, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, it is not fit that he should live.” If persecutors could have their way, the church should have but one neck, and that should be on the block. Thieves would fain blow out all candles. The lights of the world are not the delights of the world. Poor blind bats, they fly at the lamp, and try to dash it down; but the Lord liveth, and preserveth both the saints and their names.

6. “And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity.” His visits of sympathy are visitations of mockery. When the fox calls on the sick lamb his words are soft, but he licks his lips in hope of the carcass. It is wretched work to have spies haunting one’s bedchamber, calling in pretence of kindness, but with malice in their hearts. Hypocritical talk is always fulsome and sickening to honest men, but especially to the suffering saint. Our divine Lord had much of this from the false hearts that watched his words. “His heart gathereth iniquity to itself.” Like will to like. The bird makes its nest of feathers. Out of the sweetest flowers chemists can distil poison, and from the purest words and deeds malice can gather groundwork for calumnious report. It is perfectly marvellous how spite spins webs out of no materials whatever. It is no small trial to have base persons around you lying in wait for every word which they may pervert into evil. The Master whom we serve was constantly subject to this affliction. “When he goeth abroad, he telleth it.” He makes his lies, and then vends them in open market. He is no sooner out of the house than he outs with his lie, and this against a sick man whom he called to see as a friend—a sick man to whose incoherent and random speeches pity should be showed. Ah, black-hearted wretch! A devil’s cub indeed. How far abroad men will go to publish their slanders! They would fain placard the sky with their falsehoods. A little fault is made much of; a slip of the tongue is a libel, a mistake a crime, and if a word can bear two meanings the worse is always fathered upon it. Tell it in Gath, publish it in Askelon, that the daughters of the uncircumcised may triumph. It is base to strike a man when he is down, yet such is the meanness of mankind towards a Christian hero should he for awhile chance to be under a cloud.

7. “All that hate me whisper together against me.” The spy meets his comrades in conclave and sets them all a whispering. Why could they not speak out? Were they afraid of the sick warrior? Or were their designs so treacherous that they must needs be hatched in secresy? Mark the unanimity of the wicked—“all.” How heartily the dogs unite to hunt the stag! Would God we were half as united in holy labour as persecutors in their malicious projects, and were half as wise as they are crafty, for their whispering was craft as well as cowardice, the conspiracy must not be known till all is ready. “Against me do they devise my hurt.” They lay their heads together, and scheme and plot. So did Ahithophel and the rest of Absalom’s counsellors, so also did the chief priests and Pharisees. Evil men are good at devising; they are given to meditation, they are deep thinkers, but the mark they aim at is evermore the hurt of the faithful. Snakes in the grass are never there for a good end.

8. “An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him.” They whisper that some curse has fallen upon him, and is riveted to him. They insinuate that a foul secret stains his character, the ghost whereof haunts his house, and never can be laid. An air of mystery is cast around this doubly dark saying, as if to show how indistinct are the mutterings of malice. Even thus was our Lord accounted “smitten of God and afflicted.” His enemies conceived that God had forsaken him, and delivered him for ever into their hands. “And now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.” His sickness they hoped was mortal, and this was fine news for them. No more would the good man’s holiness chide their sin, they would now be free from the check of his godliness. Like the friars around Wickliffe’s bed, their prophesyings were more jubilant than accurate, but they were a sore scourge to the sick man. When the Lord smites his people with his rod of affliction for a small moment, their enemies expect to see them capitally executed, and prepare their jubilates to celebrate their funerals, but they are in too great a hurry, and have to alter their ditties and sing to another tune. Our Redeemer eminently foretokened this, for out of his lying in the grave he has gloriously risen. Vain the watch, the stone, the seal! Rising he pours confusion on his enemies.

9. “Yea.” Here is the climax of the sufferer’s woe, and he places before it the emphatic affirmation, as if he thought that such villany would scarcely be believed. “Mine own familiar friend.” “The man of my peace,” so runs the original, with whom I had no differences, with whom I was in league, who had aforetime ministered to my peace and comfort. This was Ahithophel to David, and Iscariot with our Lord. Judas was an apostle, admitted to the privacy of the Great Teacher, hearing his secret thoughts, and, as it were, allowed to read his very heart. “Et tu Brute?” said the expiring Cæsar. The kiss of the traitor wounded our Lord’s heart as much as the nail wounded his hand. “In whom I trusted.” Judas was the treasurer of the apostolic college. Where we place great confidence an unkind act is the more severely felt. “Which did eat of my bread.” Not only as a guest but as a dependant, a pensioner at my board. Judas dipped in the same dish with his Lord, and hence the more accursed was his treachery in his selling his Master for a slave’s price. “Hath lifted up his heel against me.” Not merely turned his back on me, but left me with a heavy kick such as a vicious horse might give. Hard is it to be spurned in our need by those who formerly fed at our table. It is noteworthy that the Redeemer applied only the last words of this verse to Judas, perhaps because, knowing his duplicity, he had never made a familiar friend of him in the fullest sense, and had not placed implicit trust in him. Infernal malice so planned it that every circumstance in Jesus’ death should add wormwood to it; and the betrayal was one of the bitterest drops of gall. We are indeed, wretched when our quondam friend becomes our relentless foe, when confidence is betrayed, when all the rites of hospitality are perverted, and ingratitude is the only return for kindness; yet in so deplorable a case we may cast ourselves upon the faithfulness of God, who, having delivered our Covenant Head, is in verity engaged to be the very present help of all for whom that covenant was made.

10 But thou O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.

10. “But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me.” How the hunted and affrighted soul turns to her God! How she seems to take breath with a “but, thou!” How she clings to the hope of mercy from God when every chance of pity from man is gone! “And raise me up.” Recover me from my sickness, give me to regain my position. Jesus was raised up from the grave; his descent was ended by an ascent. “That I may requite them.” This as it reads is a truly Old Testament sentence, and quite aside from the spirit of Christianity, yet we must remember that David was a person in magisterial office, and might without any personal revenge, desire to punish those who had insulted his authority and libelled his public character. Our great Apostle and High Priest had no personal animosities, but even he by his resurrection has requited the powers of evil, and avenged on death and hell all their base attacks upon his cause and person. Still the strained application of every sentence of this Psalm to Christ is not to our liking, and we prefer to call attention to the better spirit of the gospel beyond that of the old dispensation.

11 By this I know thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.

12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.

13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

11. We all are cheered by tokens for good, and the Psalmist felt it to be an auspicious omen, that after all his deep depression he was not utterly given over to his foe. “By this I know that thou favourest me.” Thou hast a special regard to me, I have the secret assurance of this in my heart, and, therefore, thine outward dealings do not dismay me, for I know that thou lovest me in them all. “Because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.” What if the believer has no triumph over his foes, he must be glad that they do not triumph over him. If we have not all we would we should praise God for all we have. Much there is in us over which the ungodly might exult, and if God’s mercy keeps the dogs’ mouths closed when they might be opened, we must give him our heartiest gratitude. What a wonder it is that when the devil enters the lists with a poor, erring, bedridden, deserted, slandered saint, and has a thousand evil tongues to aid him, yet he cannot win the day, but in the end slinks off without renown.

“The feeblest saint shall win the day Though death and hell obstruct his way.”

12. “And as for me,” despite them all and in the sight of them all, “thou upholdest me in mine integrity;” thy power enables me to rise above the reach of slander by living in purity and righteousness. Our innocence and consistency are the result of the divine upholding. We are like those glasses without feet, which can only be upright while they are held in the hand; we fall, and spill, and spoil all, if left to ourselves. The Lord should be praised every day if we are preserved from gross sin. When others sin they show us what we should do but for grace. “He to-day and I to-morrow,” was the exclamation of a holy man, whenever he saw another falling into sin. Our integrity is comparative as well as dependant, we must therefore be humbled while we are grateful. If we are clear of the faults alleged against us by our calumniators, we have nevertheless quite enough of actual blameworthiness to render it shameful for us to boast. “And settest me before thy face for ever.” He rejoiced that he lived under the divine surveillance; tended, cared for, and smiled upon by his Lord; and yet more, that it would be so world without end. To stand before an earthly monarch is considered to be a singular honour, but what must it be to be a perpetual courtier in the palace of the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible?

13. The Psalm ends with a doxology. “Blessed be the Lord,” i.e., let him be glorified. The blessing at the beginning from the mouth of God is returned from the mouth of his servant. We cannot add to the Lord’s blessedness, but we can pour out our grateful wishes, and these he accepts, as we receive little presents of flowers from children who love us. Jehovah is the personal name of our God. “God of Israel” is his covenant title, and shows his special relation to his elect people. “From everlasting and to everlasting.” The strongest way of expressing endless duration. We die, but the glory of God goes on and on without pause. “Amen and amen.” So let it surely, firmly, and eternally be. Thus the people joined in the Psalm by a double shout of holy affirmation; let us unite in it with all our hearts. This last verse may serve for the prayer of the universal church in all ages, but none can sing it so sweetly as those who have experienced as David did the faithfulness of God in times of extremity.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—The Syriac says, “It was a Psalm of David, when he appointed overseers to take care of the poor.”—Adam Clarke.

Whole Psalm.—A prophecy of Christ and the traitor Judas.—Eusebius of Cæsarea, quoted by J. M. Neale.

Verse 1.—“Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” Interpreters are generally of opinion that the exercise of kindness and compassion, manifested in taking care of the miserable, and helping them, is here commended. Those, however, who maintain that the Psalmist here commends the considerate candour of those who judge wisely and charitably of men in adversity, form a better judgment of his meaning. Indeed, the participle, מַשְׂכִּיל maskil, cannot be explained in any other way. At the same time it ought to be observed on what account it is that David declares those to be blessed who form a wise and prudent judgment concerning the afflictions by which God chastises his servants.... Doubtless it happened to him as it did to the holy patriarch Job, whom his friends reckoned to be one of the most wicked of men, when they saw God treating him with great severity. And certainly it is an error which is by far too common among men, to look upon those who are oppressed with afflictions as condemned and reprobate.... For the most part, indeed, we often speak rashly and indiscriminately concerning others, and, so to speak, plunge even into the lowest abyss those who labour under affliction. To restrain such a rash and unbridled spirit, David says, that they are blessed who do not suffer themselves, by speaking at random, to judge harshly of their neighbours; but discerning aright the afflictions by which they are visited, mitigate by the wisdom of the spirit, the severe and unjust judgments to which we naturally are so prone.—John Calvin.

Verse 1.—“Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” As Christ considered us in our state of poverty, so ought we most attentively to consider him in his; to consider what he suffered in his own person; to discern him suffering in his poor afflicted members; and to extend to them the mercy which he extended to us. He, who was “blessed” of Jehovah, and “delivered in the evil day” by a glorious resurrection, will “bless” and “deliver” in like manner, such as for his sake, love and relieve their brethren.—George Horne.

Verse 1.—“Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” Not the poor of the world in common, nor poor saints in particular but some single poor man; for the word is in the singular number, and designs our Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the last verse of the preceding Psalm, is said to be poor and needy.—John Gill.

Verse 1.—“Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” I call your attention to the way in which the Bible enjoins us to take up the care of the poor. It does not say in the text before us, Commiserate the poor; for, if it said no more than this, it would leave their necessities to be provided for by the random ebullitions of an impetuous and unreflecting sympathy. It provides them with a better security than the mere feeling of compassion—a feeling which, however useful to the purpose of excitement, must be controlled and regulated. Feeling is but a faint and fluctuating security. Fancy may mislead it. The sober realities of life may disgust it. Disappointment may extinguish it. Ingratitude may embitter it. Deceit, with its counterfeit representations, may allure it to the wrong object. At all events, Time is the little circle in which it in general expatiates. It needs the impression of sensible objects to sustain it; nor can it enter with zeal or with vivacity into the wants of the abstract and invisible soul. The Bible, then, instead of leaving the relief of the poor to the mere instinct of sympathy, makes it a subject for consideration—“Blessed is he that considereth the poor,” a grave and prosaic exercise, I do allow, and which makes no figure in those high-wrought descriptions, where the exquisite tale of benevolence is made up of all the sensibilities of tenderness on the one hand, and of all the ecstacies of gratitude on the other. The Bible rescues the cause from the mischief to which a heedless or unthinking sensibility would expose it. It brings it under the cognisance of a higher faculty—a faculty of steadier operation than to be weary in well-doing, and of sturdier endurance than to give it up in disgust. It calls you to consider the poor. It makes the virtue of relieving them a matter of computation, as well as of sentiment, and in so doing puts you beyond the reach of the various delusions, by which you are at one time led to prefer the indulgence of pity to the substantial interest of its object; at another, are led to retire chagrined and disappointed from the scene of duty, because you have not met with the gratitude or the honesty that you laid your account with; at another, are led to expend all your anxieties upon the accommodation of time, and to overlook eternity. It is the office of consideration to save you from all these fallacies. Under its tutorage attention to the wants of the poor ripens into principle....

It must be obvious to all of you, that it is not enough that you give money, and add your name to the contributions of charity. You must give it with judgment. You must give your time and your attention. You must descend to the trouble of examination. You must rise from the repose of contemplation, and make yourself acquainted with the object of your benevolent exercises.... To give money is not to do all the work and labour of benevolence. You must go to the poor man’s sick-bed. You must lend your hand to the work of assistance. This is true and unsophisticated goodness. It may be recorded in no earthly documents; but, if done under the influence of Christian principle, in a word, if done unto Jesus, it is written in the book of heaven, and will give a new lustre to that crown to which his disciples look forward in time, and will wear through eternity.—From a Sermon preached before the Society for Relief of the Destitute Sick, in St. Andrew’s Church, Edinburgh, by Thomas Chalmers, D.D. and LL.D. (1780-1847).

Verse 1.—“Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” A Piedmontese nobleman into whose company I fell, at Turin, told me the following story: “I was weary of life, and after a day such as few have known, and none would wish to remember, was hurrying along the street to the river, when I felt a sudden check, I turned and beheld a little boy, who had caught the skirt of my cloak in his anxiety to solicit my notice. His look and manner were irresistible. No less so was the lesson he had learnt—‘There are six of us, and we are dying for want of food.’ ‘Why should I not,’ said I to myself, ‘relieve this wretched family? I have the means, and it will not delay me many minutes. But what if it does?’ The scene of misery he conducted me to I cannot describe. I threw them my purse, and their burst of gratitude overcame me. It filled my eyes, it went as a cordial to my heart. ‘I will call again to-morrow,’ I cried. ‘Fool that I was to think of leaving a world where such pleasure was to be had, and so cheaply!’”—Samuel Rogers (1763-1855) in “Italy.”

Verse 1.—“He that considereth the poor:”—

An ardent spirit dwells with Christian love, The eagle’s vigour in the pitying dove. ’Tis not enough that we with sorrow sigh, That we the wants of pleading man supply, That we in sympathy with sufferers feel, Nor hear a grief without a wish to heal: Not these suffice—to sickness, pain, and woe, The Christian spirit loves with aid to go: Will not be sought, waits not for want to plead, But seeks the duty—nay, prevents the need; Her utmost aid to every ill applies, And plants relief for coming miseries.

George Crabbe, 1754-1832.

Verse 1.—How foolish are they that fear to lose their wealth by giving it, and fear not to lose themselves by keeping it! He that lays up his gold may be a good jailer, but he that lays it out is a good steward. Merchants traffic thither with a commodity where ’tis precious in regard of scarcity. We do not buy wines in England to carry them to France, spices in France to carry them to the Indies; so for labour and work, repentance and mortification, there is none of them in heaven, there is peace and glory, and the favour of God indeed. A merchant without his commodity hath but a sorry welcome. God will ask men that arrive at heaven’s gates, ubi opera? Rev. xxii. 12. His reward shall be according to our works. Thou hast riches here, and here be objects that need thy riches—the poor; in heaven there are riches enough but no poor, therefore, by faith in Christ make over to them thy moneys in this world, that by bill of exchange thou mayest receive it in the world to come; that only you carry with you which you send before you. Do good while it is in your power; relieve the oppressed, succour the fatherless, while your estates are your own; when you are dead your riches belong to others. One light carried before a man is more serviceable than twenty carried after him. In your compassion to the distressed, or for pious uses, let your hands be your executors, and your eyes your overseers.—Francis Raworth, Teacher to the Church at Shoreditch, in a Funeral Sermon, 1656.

Verses 1, 3.—It is a blessed thing to receive when a man hath need; but ’tis a more blessed thing to give than to receive. “Blessed (saith the prophet David) is he that considereth the poor.” What? to say, alas, poor man! the world is hard with him, I would there were a course taken to do him good? No, no; but so to consider him as to give; to give till the poor man be satisfied, to draw out one’s sheaf, ay, one’s very soul to the hungry. But what if troubles should come? were it not better to keep money by one? Money will not deliver one. It may be an occasion to endanger one, to bring one into, rather than help one out of trouble; but if a man be a merciful man, God will deliver him, either by himself, or by some other man or matter. Ay, but what if sickness come? Why, “the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing;” and, which is a great ease and kindness; God, as it were, himself “will make all his bed in his sickness.” Here poor people have the advantage: such must not say, Alas, I am a poor woman, what works of mercy can I do? for they are they who can best make the beds of sick folk, which we see is a great act of mercy in that it is said, that the Lord himself will make their bed in their sickness. And there are none so poor, but they may make the beds of the sick.—Richard Capel.

Verses 1, 5.—“He that considered.” “Mine enemies.” Strigelius has observed, there is a perpetual antithesis in this Psalm between the few who have a due regard to the poor in spirit, and the many who afflict or desert them.—W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 2.—“The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive.” It is worthy of remark, that benevolent persons, who “consider the poor,” and especially the sick poor; who search cellars, garrets, back lanes, and such abodes of misery, to find them out (even in the places where contagion keeps its seat), very seldom fall a prey to their own benevolence. The Lord, in an especial manner, keeps them alive, and preserves them; while many, who endeavour to keep far from the contagion, are assailed by it, and fall victims to it. God loves the merciful man.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 2.—“He shall be blessed upon the earth.” None of the godly man’s afflictions shall hinder or take away his begun blessedness, even in this world.—David Dickson.

Verse 3.—“Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.” Into what minuteness of exquisite and touching tenderness does the Lord condescend to enter! One feels almost as we may suppose Peter felt when the Saviour came to him, and would have washed his feet, “Lord! thou shalt never wash my feet;” thou shalt never make my bed. And yet, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me;” if the Lord make not our bed in our sickness, there is no peace nor comfort there. We have had David calling on God to bow down his ear, like a loving mother listening to catch the feeblest whisper of her child; and the image is full of the sweetest sympathy and condescension; but here the Lord, the great God of heaven, he that said when on earth, “I am among you as one that serveth,” does indeed take upon him the form, and is found in fashion as a servant, fulfilling all the loving and tender offices of an assiduous nurse.—Barton Bouchier.

Verse 3.—“Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.” The meaning rather is, “it is no longer a sick bed, for thou hast healed him of his disease.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 3.—When a good man is ill at ease, God promiseth to make all his bed in his sickness. Pillow, bolster, head, feet, sides, all his bed. Surely that God who made him knows so well his measure and temper as to make his bed to please him. Herein his art is excellent, not fitting the bed to the person, but the person to the bed; infusing patience into him. But, oh! how shall God make my bed, who have no bed of mine own to make. Thou fool, he can make thy not having a bed to be a bed unto thee. When Jacob slept on the ground, who would not have had his hard lodging, therewithal to have his heavenly dream?—Thomas Fuller.

Verse 3.—Sure that bed must need be soft which God will make.—T. Watson.

Verse 3.—We must not forget that Oriental beds needed not to be made in the same sense as our own. They were never more than mattresses or quilts thickly padded, and were turned when they became uncomfortable, and that is just the word here used.—C. H. S.

Verse 3.—When I visited one day, as he was dying, my beloved friend Benjamin Parsons, I said, “How are you to-day, Sir?” He said, “My head is resting very sweetly on three pillows—infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom.” Preaching in the Canterbury Hall, in Brighton, I mentioned this some time since; and many months after I was requested to call upon a poor but holy young woman, apparently dying. She said, “I felt I must see you before I died. I heard you tell the story of Benjamin Parsons and his three pillows; and when I went through a surgical operation, and it was very cruel, I was leaning my head on pillows, and as they were taking them away I said, ‘Mayn’t I keep them?’ The surgeon said, ‘No, my dear, we must take them away.’ ‘But,’ said I, ‘you can’t take away Benjamin Parsons’ three pillows. I can lay my head on infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom.’”—Paxton Hood, in “Dark Sayings on a Harp,” 1865.

Verses 3, 4.—What saith David from the very bottom of his heart, in his sickness? Not, take away this death only. No; but David being sick, first comforts himself with this promise, “The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness;” and then adds, “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me, and heal my soul;” that is, destroy my lusts, which are the diseases of my soul, Lord; and heal my soul, and renew life and communion with thee, which is the health and strength of my soul. Do not take this sickness and death only away; but this sin away, that hath dishonoured thee, hath separated between me and thee: “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.”—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 4.—“I said, Lord, be merciful.” Mercy, not justice! The extreme of mercy for the extreme of misery. Righteousness as filthy rags; a flesh in which dwelleth no good thing, on the one side; on the other, it is “neither herb nor mollifying plaster that restored” to health; “but thy word, O Lord, which healeth all things.” Wisd. xvi. 12.—Thomas Aquinas, quoted by J. M. Neale.

Verse 4.—God is the strength of a Christian’s heart, by healing and restoring him when the infused habits of grace fail, and sin grows strong and vigorous. A Christian never fails in the exercise of grace, but sin gives him a wound; and therefore David prayed, “Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned.” And what David prayed for, God promiseth to his people: “I will heal their backsliding.” Hosea xiv. 4. The weakness and decay of grace, brings a Christian presently to the falling sickness; and so it did David and Ephraim; ay, but God will be a physician to the soul in this case, and will heal their diseases; and so he did David’s falling sickness, for which he returned the tribute of praise. Psalm ciii. 3.—Samuel Blackerby.

Verse 4. (last clause).—Saul and Judas each said, “I have sinned;” but David says, “I have sinned against thee.”—William S. Plumer.

Verse 5.—“Mine enemies speak evil of me.” To speak is here used in the sense of to imprecate.—John Calvin.

Verse 5.—“His name.” It is the name, the character, and privileges of a true servant of God, that calls out the hatred of ungodly men, and they would gladly extirpate him from their sight.—W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 6.—“If he come to see me, he speaketh vanity:” many fair words, but none of them true.—David Dickson.

Verse 6.—I remember a pretty apologue that Bromiard tells:—A fowler, in a sharp frosty morning, having taken many little birds for which he had long watched, began to take up his nets, and nipping the birds on the head laid them down. A young thrush, espying the tears trickling down his cheeks by reason of the extreme cold, said to her mother, that certainly the man was very merciful and compassionate, who wept so bitterly over the calamity of the poor birds. But her mother told her more wisely, that she might better judge of the man’s disposition by his hand than by his eye; and if the hands do strike treacherously, he can never be admitted to friendship, who speaks fairly and weeps pitifully.—Jeremy Taylor.

Verse 6.—“His heart gathereth iniquity to itself.” 1. By adding sin to sin, in that he covers over his malice with such horrid hypocrisy. 2. By inventing or contriving all the several ways he can to ensnare me, or do me some mischief, thereby seeking to satisfy and please his corrupt lusts and affections; 3. (which I like best), by observing all he can in me, and drawing what he can from me, and so laying all up together in his mind, as the ground of his unjust surmises and censures concerning me.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 8.—“An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him.” An evil deed of Belial cleaveth fast to him. Grammarians maintain that the word Belial is compounded of בְּלִי, beli, and יָעַל, yaal, which signify “not to rise;” the expression, “thing of Belial” (for so it is literally in the Hebrew), I understand in this place as meaning an extraordinary and hateful crime which as we commonly say can never be expiated, and from which there is no possibility of escape; unless perhaps some would rather refer it to the affliction itself under which he laboured, as if his enemies had said that he was seized by some incurable malady.—John Calvin.

Verse 8.—“An evil disease,” etc. What is here meant by דְּבַר־בְּלִיַּעַל is matter of some difficulty. The ancient interpreters generally render it a perverse, or mischievous, or wicked word; the Chaldee, a perverse word; the Syriac, a word of iniquity; the LXX, λόγον παράνομον; the Latin, iniquum verbum, a wicked word; the Arabic, words contrary to the law. And so in all probability it is set to signify a great slander, or calumny—that as “men of Belial” are slanderous persons, so the speech of Belial shall signify a slanderous speech. And this is said to “cleave” to him on whom it is fastened, it being the nature of calumnies, when strongly affixed on any, to cleave fast, and leave some evil mark behind them.—Henry Hammond.

Verse 9.—“Yea, mine own familiar friend,” etc. The sufferings of the church, like those of her Redeemer, generally begin at home: her open enemies can do her no harm, until her pretended friends have delivered her into their hands; and, unnatural as it may seem, they who have waxed fat upon her bounty, are sometimes the first to “lift the heel” against her.—George Horne.

Verse 9.—“Mine own familiar friend.” He who, on visiting me, continually saluted me with the kiss of love and veneration, and the usual address; peace be to thee.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 9.—“Which did eat of my bread.” If the same sentiment prevailed among the Hebrews, which prevails at the present day among the Bedouin Arabs, of sacred regard to the person and property of one with whom they have eaten bread and salt, the language is very forcible. “Hath lifted up his heel:” a metaphor drawn from the horse, which attacks with its heel. This language may well have been used by our Saviour in John xiii. 18, in the way of rhetorical illustration or emphasis.—George R. Noyes, D.D.

Verse 9.—“Hath lifted up his heel against me.” In this phrase he seems to allude to a beast’s kicking at his master by whom he is fed, or the custom of men’s spurning at or trampling upon those that are cast down on the ground, in a way of despite and contempt.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 9.—“Hath lifted up his heel against me;” i.e., hath spurned me, hath kicked at me, as a vicious beast of burden does; hath insulted me in my misery.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 10.—“That I may requite them.” Either (1), kindness for injuries (as in Psalm xxxv. 13): it is the mark of a good and brave man to do good to all in his power, to hurt no one, even though provoked by wrong: or, (2), punishment for wrong-doing—that I may punish them; for am I not their magistrate, and the executioner of God’s justice!—Martin Geier.

Verse 10.—“That I may requite them.” David was not as one of the common people, but a king appointed by God and invested with authority, and it is not from an impulse of the flesh, but in virtue of the nature of his office, that he is led to denounce against his enemies the punishment which they had merited.—John Calvin.

Verse 11.—“By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me:” not because I have no enemies, or because I have no trouble which would overcome me. Therefore when he wrote down many troubles, he blotted it (as it were) with his pen again, as a merchant razeth his book when the debt is discharged; and instead of many troubles, he putteth in, the Lord delivereth. Because he forgiveth all sins, he is said to deliver from all troubles, to show that we have need of no Saviour, no helper, no comforter, but him.—Henry Smith.

Verse 11.—“By this I know that thou favourest me.” In this text we see two things. 1. How David assureth himself of God’s love towards him. 2. How thankful he is to God for assuring him of his love. The first he doth by two arguments; one is taken from his enemies, they were prevented of their expectation “Therefore thou lovest me.” The other is taken from his own estate, which was not one whit hurt, or impaired, but bettered by them.... Here the prophet speaketh of his knowledge, and telleth us that though he knew not all things, yet he knew that God loved him, and so long as he knoweth that, he careth not greatly for other matters, how the world goeth with him, etc. And, to say the truth, he need not, for he that is sure of that, is sure of all. God loveth all his creatures as a good God, and hateth nothing that he made, but he loveth his elect children with a more especial love than the rest, as a Father in Christ Jesus, and he that is sure that God doth so favour him, is sure, I say, of all. For to him whom God loveth, he will deny no good thing, no, not his own Son; and if he gave us his Son, because he loved us, how shall he not with him give us all things else?

When the child is persuaded that his father loveth him, he is bold to ask this and that of his father: so may we be bold to ask anything of God our heavenly Father that is good for us, when we be sure that he loveth us. As Mary and Martha put Christ in mind but of two things; the first was, that Christ loved their brother Lazarus; the second was, that Lazarus was sick; “He whom thou lovest is sick:” it was no need to tell him what he should do, for they knew he would do what might be done for him, because he loved him. So we may say to the Lord, when we are sure that he loveth us: Lord, he whom thou lovest wanteth this or that for his body or his soul. We need not then appoint him what to do, or when, or how; for look what he seeth most convenient for us, and for his own glory, he will surely do it. Therefore whatsoever David knoweth, he will be sure to know this; and whatsoever he is ignorant of, yet of this he will not be ignorant; to teach us that whatsoever we seek to make sure, this must first be made sure, or else nothing is sure. Peter bids us make our election sure; Job, when he saith, “I am sure that my Redeemer liveth,” teacheth us to make our redemption sure. And here David teacheth us to make God’s favour sure: now if we make that sure, then our election is sure, our redemption is sure, our vocation is sure, and our salvation is sure.—William Burton, 1602.

Verse 11.—“Because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.” When God doth deliver us from the hands of our enemies, or any trouble else, we may persuade ourselves thereby, he hath a favour unto us, as David did. But then it may be demanded, If God doth love his church, why doth he suffer his church to be troubled and molested with enemies? The reason is this, because by this means his love may be made more manifest in saving and delivering them. For as a sure friend is not known but in time of need, so God’s goodness and love is never so well perceived as it is in helping of us when we cannot help ourselves. As Adam’s fall did serve to manifest God’s justice and mercy, the one in punishing, the other in pardoning of sin, which otherwise we had never known: so the troubles of the church serve to manifest, first, our deserts by reason of our sins; secondly, our weakness and inability to help ourselves; and, thirdly, the lovingkindness of the Lord our God, in saving and defending, that so we might be truly thankful, and return all the praise and glory to God, and none to ourselves. So that the church of God may have enemies, and yet be still the beloved of God, as Lazarus was beloved of Christ, although he was sick; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, and therefore he correcteth them because he loveth them.—William Burton.

Verse 11.—God preserves his own, and bringeth their foes to nought: after Passion week comes Easter.—J. P. Lange’s Commentary.

Verse 12.—“Integrity.” This same integrity is like Noah’s ark, wherein he was preserved, when others perished, being without it. It is like the red thread, which the spies of Joshua gave to Rahab, it was a charter whereby she claimed her life when the rest were destroyed, which had not the like. So is this integrity of small reckoning, I confess, with the men of this world, which think that there is no other heaven but earth; but as Rahab’s thread was better to her than all her goods and substance when the sword came, so this is better to God’s children than all the world when death comes. If they have this within they care not, nay, they need not care what can come without. If Satan’s buffeting come, this is a helmet of proof; if Satan’s darts fly out, this is a shield to quench them; if floods of crosses come to carry us away, this is a boat to bear us up; if all the world cast mire and filth in our faces, we are never a whit the more deformed, but still beautiful for all that, for “the king’s daughter,” (saith Solomon, Psalm xlv. 13), that is, the church of Christ, “is all glorious within.”—William Burton.

Verse 12.—“Settest me before thy face for ever;” or hast confirmed or established me in thy presence; i.e., either under thine eye and special care, or to minister unto thee, not only in thy temple, but as a king over thy people, or in that land where thou art peculiarly present.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 13.—“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.” We are here taught, 1. To give glory to God, as “the Lord God of Israel,” a God in covenant with his people; that has done great and kind things for them, and has more and better in reserve. 2. To give him glory as an eternal God, that has both his being and his blessedness “from everlasting and to everlasting.” 3. To do this with great affection and fervour of spirit, intimated in a double seal set to it, “Amen, and Amen.” We say Amen to it, and let all others say Amen too.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 13.—“Amen and Amen.” As the Psalms were not written by one man, so neither do they form one book. The Psalter is, in fact, a Pentateuch, and the lines of demarcation, which divide the five books one from another, are clear and distinct enough. At the end of the 41st Psalm, of the 72nd, of the 89th, and of the 106th, we meet with the solemn Amen, single or redoubled, following on a doxology, which indicates that one book ends and that another is about to begin. A closer study of the Psalms shows that each book possesses characteristics of its own. Jehovah, (“the Lord”) for example, is prominent as the divine name in the first book, Elohim (“God”) in the second.—E. H. Plumptre, M.A., in “Biblical Studies,” 1870.

There is also another observable difference between the two books. In the first, all those Psalms which have any inscription at all are expressly assigned to David as their author, whereas in the second we find a whole series attributed to some of the Levitical singers.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

How ancient this division is cannot now be clearly ascertained. Jerome, in his epistle to Marcella, and Epiphanius speak of the Psalms as having been divided by the Hebrews into five books, but when this division was made they do not inform us. The forms of ascriptions of praise, added at the end of each of the five books, are in the Septuagint version, from which we may conclude that this distribution had been made before that version was executed. It was probably made by Ezra, after the return of the Jews from Babylon to their own country, and the establishment of the worship of God in the new temple, and it was perhaps made in imitation of a similar distribution of the books of Moses. In making this division of the Hebrew Psalter, regard appears to have been paid to the subject matter of the Psalms.—John Calvin.

These forty-one Psalms, it has been observed, forming the first book, relate chiefly to the ministry of Christ upon earth, preparing those who were looking for the consolation of Israel, for his appearing amongst them. Accordingly, the second book, commencing with Psalm xlii., may refer chiefly to the infant church of Christ.—W. Wilson, D.D.

May not the growth of the Book of Psalms be illustrated by the case of our Modern Hymn Books which in the course of years require first one appendix and then another, so as to incorporate the growing psalmody of the church? In this case the purely Davidic Psalms of the first division formed the nucleus to which other sacred songs were speedily added.—C. H. S.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1 (first clause).—The incidental blessings resulting from considering the pious poor. 1. We learn gratitude. 2. We see patience. 3. We often remark the triumphs of great grace. 4. We obtain light on Christian experience. 5. We have their prayers. 6. We feel the pleasure of beneficence. 7. We enter into communion with the lowly Saviour.

Verse 1.—The support of the Small-pox Hospitals recommended.—Bishop Squire, 1760. Scores of sermons of this kind have been preached from this text.

Verse 2.—“Blessed upon the earth.” What blessings of an earthly character godly character secures, and in general what it is to be blessed with regard to this life.

Verse 2 (second clause).—What it is to be delivered in trouble. From impatience, from despair, from sinful expedients, from violent attacks, from losing fellowship with God.

Verse 3.—Strength in weakness. Inward strength, divinely given, continuously sustained, enduring to the end, triumphant in death, glorifying to God, proving the reality of grace, winning others to the faith.

Verse 3 (last clause).—The heavenly bed-making.

Verse 4 (first clause).—A saying worth repeating: “I said.” It expresses penitence, humility, earnestness, faith, importunity, fear of God, etc.

Verse 4.—“Heal my soul.” I. The hereditary disease, breaking out in many disorders—open sin, unbelief, decline of grace, etc. II. Spiritual health struggling with it; shown in spiritual pain, desire, prayer, effort. III. The well-proved Physician. Has healed, and will, by his word, his blood, his Spirit, etc.

Verse 4.—“I have sinned against thee.” This confession is personal, plain, without pretence of excuse, comprehensive and intelligent, for it reveals the very heart of sin—“against thee.”

Verse 5.—What we may expect. What our enemies desire. What we may, therefore prize, i.e., the power of Christian life and name. What we should do—tell the Lord all in prayer. What good will then come of the evil.

Verse 6 (first clause).—The folly and sin of frivolous visits.

Verse 6 (second and third clauses).—Like to like, or the way in which character draws its like to itself. The same subject might be treated under the title of The Chiffonnier, or the rag-collector. What he gathers; where he puts it—in his “heart;” what he does with it; what he gets for it; and what will become of him.

Verses 7-12.—On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

Verse 9.—The treachery of Judas.

Verse 11.—Deliverance from temptation a token of divine favour.

Verse 12.—This text reveals the insignia of those whom grace has distinguished. 1. Their integrity is manifest. 2. Their character is divinely sustained. 3. They dwell in the favour of God. 4. Their position is stable and continuous. 5. Their eternal future is secure.

Verse 13.—I. The object of praise—Jehovah, the covenant God. II. The nature of the praise—without beginning or end. III. Our participation in the praise—“Amen and Amen.”

The ancient rabbins saw in the Five Books of the Psalter the image of the Five Books of the Law. This way of looking on the Psalms as a second Pentateuch, the echo of the first, passed over into the Christian church, and found favour with some early fathers. It has commended itself to the acceptance of good recent expositors, like Dr. Delitzsch, who calls the Psalter “the Congregation’s five-fold word to the Lord, even as the Thora (the Law) is the Lord’s five-fold word to the Congregation.” This may be mere fancy, but its existence from ancient times shows that the five-fold division attracted early notice.—William Binnie, D.D.

God presented Israel with the Law, a Pentateuch, and grateful Israel responded with a Psalter, a Pentateuch of praise, in acknowledgment of the divine gift.—J. L. K.

HERE ENDETH THE FIRST BOOK OF THE PSALMS.

PSALM XLII.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.—Dedicated to the Master of Music, this Psalm is worthy of his office; he who can sing best can have nothing better to sing. It is called Maschil, or an instructive ode; and full as it is of deep experimental expressions, it is eminently calculated to instruct those pilgrims whose road to heaven is of the same trying kind as David’s was. It is always edifying to listen to the experience of a thoroughly gracious and much afflicted saint.

That choice band of singers, the sons of Korah, are bidden to make this delightful Psalm one of their peculiars. They had been spared when their father and all his company, and all the children of his associates were swallowed up alive in their sin. (Num. xxvii. 11). They were the spared ones of sovereign grace. Preserved, we know not why, by the distinguishing favour of God, it may be surmised that after their remarkable election to mercy, they became so filled with gratitude that they addicted themselves to sacred music in order that their spared lives might be consecrated to the glory of God. At any rate, we who have been rescued as they were from going down into the pit, out of the mere good pleasure of Jehovah, can heartily join in this Psalm, and indeed all the songs which show forth the praises of our God and the pantings of our hearts after him. Although David is not mentioned as the author, this Psalm must be the offspring of his pen; it is so Davidic, it smells of the son of Jesse, it bears the marks of his style and experience in every letter. We could sooner doubt the authorship of the second part of Pilgrim’s Progress than question David’s title to be the composer of this Psalm.

SUBJECT.—It is the cry of a man far removed from the outward ordinances and worship of God, sighing for the long-loved house of his God; and at the same time it is the voice of a spiritual believer, under depressions, longing for the renewal of the divine presence, struggling with doubts and fears, but yet holding his ground by faith in the living God. Most of the Lord’s family have sailed on the sea which is here so graphically described. It is probable that David’s flight from Absolom may have been the occasion for composing this Maschil.

DIVISION.—The structure of the song directs us to consider it in two parts which end with the same refrain; 1-5 and then 6-11.

EXPOSITION.

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

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, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

1. “As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.” As after a long drought the poor fainting hind longs for the streams, or rather as the hunted hart instinctively seeks after the river to lave its smoking flanks and to escape the dogs, even so my weary, persecuted soul pants after the Lord my God. Debarred from public worship, David was heartsick. Ease he did not seek, honour he did not covet, but the enjoyment of communion with God was an urgent need of his soul; he viewed it not merely as the sweetest of all luxuries, but as an absolute necessity, like water to a stag. Like the parched traveller in the wilderness, whose skin bottle is empty, and who finds the wells dry, he must drink or die—he must have his God or faint. His soul, his very self, his deepest life, was insatiable for a sense of the divine presence. As the hart brays so his soul prays. Give him his God and he is as content as the poor deer which at length slakes its thirst and is perfectly happy; but deny him his Lord, and his heart heaves, his bosom palpitates, his whole frame is convulsed, like one who gasps for breath, or pants with long running. Dear reader, dost thou know what this is, by personally having felt the same? It is a sweet bitterness. The next best thing to living in the light of the Lord’s love is to be unhappy till we have it, and to pant hourly after it—hourly, did I say? thirst is a perpetual appetite, and not to be forgotten, and even thus continual is the heart’s longing after God. When it is as natural for us to long for God as for an animal to thirst, it is well with our souls, however painful our feelings. We may learn from this verse that the eagerness of our desires may be pleaded with God, and the more so, because there are special promises for the importunate and fervent.

2. “My soul.” All my nature, my inmost self. “Thirsteth.” Which is more than hungering; hunger you can palliate, but thirst is awful, insatiable, clamorous, deadly. O to have the most intense craving after the highest good! this is no questionable mark of grace. “For God.” Not merely for the temple and the ordinances, but for fellowship with God himself. None but spiritual men can sympathise with this thirst. “For the living God.” Because he lives, and gives to men the living water; therefore we, with greater eagerness, desire him. A dead God is a mere mockery; we loathe such a monstrous deity; but the ever-living God, the perennial fountain of life and light and love, is our soul’s desire. What are gold, honour, pleasure, but dead idols? May we never pant for these. “When shall I come and appear before God?” He who loves the Lord loves also the assemblies wherein his name is adored. Vain are all pretences to religion where the outward means of grace have no attraction. David was never so much at home as in the house of the Lord; he was not content with private worship; he did not forsake the place where saints assemble, as the manner of some is. See how pathetically he questions as to the prospect of his again uniting in the joyous gathering! How he repeats and reiterates his desire! After his God, his Elohim (his God to be worshipped, who had entered into covenant with him), he pined even as the drooping flowers for the dew, or the moaning turtle for her mate. It were well if all our resortings to public worship were viewed as appearances before God, it would then be a sure mark of grace to delight in them. Alas, how many appear before the minister, or their fellow men, and think that enough! “To see the face of God” is the nearer translation of the Hebrew; but the two ideas may be combined—he would see his God and be seen of him; this is worth thirsting after!

3.—“My tears have been my meat day and night.” Salt meats, but healthful to the soul. When a man comes to tears, constant tears, plenteous tears, tears that fill his cup and trencher, he is in earnest indeed. As the big tears stand in the stag’s eyes in her distress, so did the salt drops glitter in the eyes of David. His appetite was gone, his tears not only seasoned his meat, but became his only meat, he had no mind for other diet. Perhaps it was well for him that the heart could open the safety valves; there is a dry grief far more terrible than showery sorrows. His tears since they were shed because God was blasphemed, were “honourable dew,” drops of holy water, such as Jehovah putteth into his bottle. “While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” Cruel taunts come naturally from coward minds. Surely they might have left the mourner alone; he could weep no more than he did—it was a supererogation of malice to pump more tears from a heart which already overflowed. Note how incessant was their jeer, and how artfully they framed it! It cut the good man to the bone to have the faithfulness of his God impugned. They had better have thrust needles into his eyes than have darted insinuations against his God. Shimei may here be alluded to who after this fashion mocked David as he fled from Absalom. He roundly asserted that David was a bloody man, and that God was punishing him for supplanting Saul and his house; his wish was father to his thought. The wicked know that our worst misfortune would be to lose God’s favour, hence their diabolical malice leads them to declare that such is the case. Glory be to God, they lie in their throats, for our God is in the heavens, ay, and in the furnace too, succouring his people.

Verse 4.—“When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me.” When he harped upon his woes his heart melted into water and was poured out upon itself. God hidden, and foes raging, a pair of evils enough to bring down the stoutest heart! Yet why let reflections so gloomy engross us, since the result is of no value: merely to turn the soul on itself, to empty it from itself into itself is useless, how much better to pour out the heart before the Lord! The prisoner’s treadwheel might sooner land him in the skies than mere inward questioning raise us nearer to consolation. “For I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God.” Painful reflections were awakened by the memory of past joys; he had mingled in the pious throng, their numbers had helped to give him exhilaration and to awaken holy delight, their company had been a charm to him as with them he ascended the hill of Zion. Gently proceeding with holy ease, in comely procession, with frequent strains of song, he and the people of Jehovah had marched in reverent ranks up to the shrine of sacrifice, the dear abode of peace and holiness. Far away from such goodly company the holy man pictures the sacred scene and dwells upon the details of the pious march. “With the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.” The festive noise is in his ears, and the solemn dance before his eyes. Perhaps he alludes to the removal of the ark and to the glorious gatherings of the tribes on that grand national holy day and holiday. How changed his present place! For Zion, a wilderness; for the priests in white linen, soldiers in garments of war; for the song, the sneer of blasphemy; for the festivity, lamentation; for joy in the Lord, a mournful dirge over his absence.

“I sigh to think of happier days When thou, O God, wast nigh, When every heart was tuned to praise; And none more blest than I.”

When in a foreign land, amid the idolatries of Popery, we have felt just the same home-sickness for the house of the Lord which is here described; we have said “Ziona, Ziona, our holy and beautiful house, when shall I see thee again? Thou church of the living God, my mother, my home, when shall I hear thy Psalms and holy prayers, and once again behold the Lord in the midst of his people?” David appears to have had a peculiarly tender remembrance of the singing of the pilgrims, and assuredly it is the most delightful part of worship and that which comes nearest to the adoration of heaven. What a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the whole congregation by the theatrical prettinesses of a quartette, the refined niceties of a choir, or the blowing off of wind from inanimate bellows and pipes! We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it.

5. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” As though he were two men, the Psalmist talks to himself. His faith reasons with his fears, his hope argues with his sorrows. These present troubles, are they to last for ever? The rejoicings of my foes, are they more than empty talk? My absence, from the solemn feasts, is that a perpetual exile? Why this deep depression, this faithless fainting, this chicken-hearted melancholy? As Trapp says, “David chideth David out of the dumps;” and herein he is an example for all desponding ones. To search out the cause of our sorrow is often the best surgery for grief. Self-ignorance is not bliss; in this case it is misery. The mist of ignorance magnifies the causes of our alarm; a clearer view will make monsters dwindle into trifles. “Why art thou disquieted within me?” Why is my quiet gone? If I cannot keep a public Sabbath, yet wherefore do I deny my soul her indoor Sabbath? Why am I agitated like a troubled sea, and why do my thoughts make a noise like a tumultuous multitude? The causes are not enough to justify such utter yielding to despondency. Up, my heart! What aileth thee? Play the man, and thy castings down shall turn to liftings up, and thy disquietudes to calm. “Hope thou in God.” If every evil be let loose from Pandora’s box, yet is there hope at the bottom. This is the grace that swims, though the waves roar and be troubled. God is unchangeable, and therefore his grace is the ground for unshaken hope. If everything be dark, yet the day will come, and meanwhile hope carries stars in her eyes; her lamps are not dependent upon oil from without, her light is fed by secret visitations of God, which sustain the spirit. “For I shall yet praise him.” Yet will my sighs give place to songs, my mournful ditties shall be exchanged for triumphal pæans. A loss of the present sense of God’s love is not a loss of that love itself; the jewel is there, though it gleams not on our breast; hope knows her title good when she cannot read it clear; she expects the promised boon though present providence stands before her with empty hands. “For I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” Salvations come from the propitious face of God, and he will yet lift up his countenance upon us. Note well that the main hope and chief desire of David rest in the smile of God. His face is what he seeks and hopes to see, and this will recover his low spirits, this will put to scorn his laughing enemies, this will restore to him all the joys of those holy and happy days around which memory lingers. This is grand cheer. This verse, like the singing of Paul and Silas, looses chains and shakes prison walls. He who can use such heroic language in his gloomy hours will surely conquer. In the garden of hope grow the laurels for future victories, the roses of coming joy, the lilies of approaching peace.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, 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.

8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

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.

6. “O my God, my soul is cast down within me.” Here the song begins again upon the brass. So sweet an ending deserves that for the sake of a second hopeful close the Psalm should even begin again. Perhaps the Psalmist’s dejection continued, the spasm of despondency returned; well, then, he will down with his harp again, and try again its power upon himself, as in his younger days, he saw its influence upon Saul when the evil spirit came upon him. With God the song begins the second time more nearly than at first. The singer was also a little more tranquil. Outward expression of desire was gone; there was no visible panting; the sorrow was now all restrained within doors. Within or upon himself he was cast down; and, verily, it may well be so, while our thoughts look more within than upward. If self were to furnish comfort, we should have but poor provender. There is no solid foundation for comfort in such fickle frames as our heart is subject to. It is well to tell the Lord how we feel, and the more plain the confession the better: David talks like a sick child to its mother, and we should learn to imitate him. “Therefore will I remember thee.” ’Tis well to fly to our God. Here is terra firma. Blessed downcasting which drives us to so sure a rock of refuge as thee, O Lord! “From the hill Mizar.” He recalls his seasons of choice communion by the river and among the hills, and especially that dearest hour upon the little hill, where love spake her sweetest language and revealed her nearest fellowship. It is great wisdom to store up in memory our choice occasions of converse with heaven; we may want them another day, when the Lord is slow in bringing back his banished ones, and our soul is aching with fear. “His love in times past” has been a precious cordial to many a fainting one; like soft breath it has fanned the smoking flax into a flame, and bound up the bruised reed. Oh, never-to-be-forgotten valley of Achor, thou art a door of hope! Fair days, now gone, ye have left a light behind you which cheers our present gloom. Or does David mean that even where he was he would bethink him of his God; does he declare that, forgetful of time and place, he would count Jordan as sacred as Siloa, Hermon as holy as Zion, and even Mizar, that insignificant rising ground, as glorious as the mountains which are round about Jerusalem! Oh! it is a heavenly heart which can sing—

“To me remains nor place nor time; My country is in every clime; I can be calm and free from care On any shore, since God is there.

“Could I be cast where thou art not, That were indeed a dreadful lot, But regions none remote I call, Secure of finding God in all.”

7. “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts.” Thy severe dealings with me seem to excite all creation to attack me; heaven, and earth, and hell, call to each other, stirring each other up in dreadful conspiracy against my peace. As in a waterspout, the deeps above and below clasp hands, so it seemed to David that heaven and earth united to create a tempest around him. His woes were incessant and overwhelming. Billow followed billow, one sea echoed the roaring of another; bodily pain aroused mental fear, Satanic suggestions chimed in with mistrustful forebodings, outward tribulation thundered in awful harmony with inward anguish: his soul seemed drowned as in a universal deluge of trouble, over whose waves the providence of the Lord moved as a watery pillar, in dreadful majesty inspiring the utmost terror. As for the afflicted one he was like a lonely bark around which the fury of a storm is bursting, or a mariner floating on a mast, almost every moment submerged. “All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” David thought that every trouble in the world had met in him, but he exaggerated, for all the breaking waves of Jehovah have passed over none but the Lord Jesus; there are griefs to which he makes his children strangers for his love’s sake. Sorrow naturally states its case forcibly; the mercy is that the Lord after all hath not dealt with us according to our fears. Yet what a plight to be in! Atlantic rollers sweeping in ceaseless succession over one’s head, waterspouts coming nearer and nearer, and all the ocean in uproar around the weary swimmer; most of the heirs of heaven can realise the description, for they have experienced the like. This is a deep experience unknown to babes in grace, but common enough to such as do business on great waters of affliction: to such it is some comfort to remember that the waves and billows are the Lords, “thy waves and thy billows,” says David, they are all sent, and directed by him, and achieve his designs, and the child of God knowing this, is the more resigned.

8. “Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime.” Come what may there shall be “a certain secret something” to sweeten all. Lovingkindness is a noble life-belt in a rough sea. The day may darken into a strange and untimely midnight, but the love of God ordained of old to be the portion of the elect, shall be by sovereign decree meted out to them. No day shall ever dawn on an heir of grace and find him altogether forsaken of his Lord: the Lord reigneth, and as a sovereign he will with authority command mercy to be reserved for his chosen. “And in the night.” Both divisions of the day shall be illuminated with special love, and no stress of trial shall prevent it. Our God is God of the nights as well as the days; none shall find his Israel unprotected, be the hour what it may. “His song shall be with me.” Songs of praise for blessings received shall cheer the gloom of night. No music sweeter than this. The belief that we shall yet glorify the Lord for mercy given in extremity is a delightful stay to the soul. Affliction may put out our candle, but if it cannot silence our song we will soon light the candle again. “And my prayer unto the God of my life.” Prayer is yoked with praise. He who is the living God, is the God of our life, from him we derive it, with him in prayer and praise we spend it, to him we devote it, in him we shall perfect it. To be assured that our sighs and songs shall both have free access to our glorious Lord is to have reason for hope in the most deplorable condition.

9. “I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me.” Faith is allowed to enquire of her God the causes of his displeasure, and she is even permitted to expostulate with him and put him in mind of his promises, and ask why apparently they are not fulfilled. If the Lord be indeed our refuge, when we find no refuge, it is time to be raising the question, “Why is this?” Yet we must not let go our hold, the Lord must be “my” rock still; we must keep to him as our alone confidence, and never forego our interest in him. “Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” He who condescends to be pleaded with by Abraham, his friend, allows us to put to him the question that we may search out the causes of his severity towards us. Surely he can have no pleasure in seeing the faces of his servants stained and squalid with their tears; he can find no content in the harshness with which their foes assail them. He can never take pleasure in the tyranny with which Satan vexes them. Why then does he leave them to be mocked by his enemies and theirs? How can the strong God, who is as firm and abiding as a rock, be also as hard and unmoved as a rock towards those who trust in him? Such enquiries humbly pressed often afford relief to the soul. To know the reason for sorrow is in part to know how to escape it, or at least to endure it. Want of attentive consideration often makes adversity appear to be more mysterious and hopeless than it really is. It is a pitiable thing for any man to have a limb amputated, but when we know that the operation was needful to save life, we are glad to hear that it has been successfully performed; even thus as trial unfolds, the design of the Lord in sending it becomes far more easy to bear.

10. “As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me.” Cruel mockeries cut deeper than the flesh, they reach the soul as though a rapier were introduced between the ribs to prick the heart. If reproaches kill not, yet they are killing, the pain caused is excruciating. The tongue cuts to the bone, and its wounds are hard to cure. “While they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?” This is the unkindest cut of all, reflecting as it does both upon the Lord’s faithfulness and his servant’s character. Such was the malice of David’s foes, that having thought of the cruel question, they said it, said it daily, repeated it to him, and that for a length of time; surely the continual yapping of these curs at his heel was enough to madden him, and perhaps would have done so had he not resorted to prayer and made the persecutions of his enemies a plea with his Lord.

11. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” In the rehearsal of his sorrow, he finds after all no sufficient ground for being disquieted. Looked in the face, his fears were not so overwhelming as they seemed when shrouded in obscurity. “Hope thou in God.” Let the anchor still keep its hold. God is faithful, God is love, therefore there is room and reason for hope. “Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” This is the same hopeful expression as that contained in verse five, but the addition of “and my God” shows that the writer was growing in confidence, and was able defiantly to reply to the question, “Where is thy God?” Here, even here, he is, ready to deliver me. I am not ashamed to own him amid your sneers and taunts, for he will rescue me out of your hands. Thus faith closes the struggle, a victor in fact by anticipation, and in heart by firm reliance. The saddest countenance shall yet be made to shine, If there be a taking of God at his word and an expectation of his salvation.

“For yet I know I shall him praise Who graciously to me, The health is of my countenance, Yea, mine own God is he.”

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—“Sons of Korah.” Who were the sons of Korah? These opinions have more or less prevailed. One is that they sprang from some one of that name in the days of David. Mudge and others think that the sons of Korah were a society of musicians, founded or presided over by Korah. Others think that the sons of Korah were the surviving descendants of that miserable man who, together with two hundred and fifty of his adherents, who were princes, perished when “the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, together with Korah.” In Numbers xxvi. 11, we read: “Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.” They had taken the warning given, and had departed from the tents of these wicked men. Numbers xvi. 24, 26. It must be admitted that the name Korah and the patronymic Korahite are found in the Scriptures in a way that creates considerable doubt respecting the particular man from whom the Korahites are named. See 1 Chron. i. 35; ii. 43; vi. 22, 54; ix. 19; xxvi. 1; 2 Chron. xx. 19. Yet the more common belief is that they descended from him who perished for his gainsaying. This view is taken by Ainsworth with entire confidence, by Gill, and others. Korah, who perished, was a Levite. Whatever may have been their origin, it is clear the sons of Korah were a Levitical family of singers. Nothing, then, could be more appropriate than the dedication of a sacred song to these very people.—William S. Plumer.

Title.—“Sons of Korah.” The “Korah” whose “sons” are here spoken of, is the Levite who headed the insurrection against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Numbers xvi. We find his descendants existing as a powerful Levitical family in the time of David, at least, if they are to be identified, as is probable, with the Korahites mentioned in 1 Chron. xii. 6, who, like our own warlike bishops of former times, seem to have known how to doff the priestly vestment for the soldier’s armour, and whose hand could wield the sword as well as strike the harp. The Korahites were a part of the band who acknowledged David as their chief, at Ziklag; warriors “whose faces,” it is said, “were like the faces of lions, and who were (for speed) like gazelles upon the mountains.” According to 1 Chron. ix. 17-19, the Korahites were in David’s time, keepers of the threshold of the tabernacle; and still earlier, in the time of Moses, watchmen at the entrance of the camp of the Levites. In 1 Chron. xxvi. 1-19, we find two branches of this family associated with that of Merari, as guardians of the doors of the Temple. There is probably an allusion to this their office, in Psalm lxxxiv. 10. But the Korahites were also celebrated musicians and singers; see 1 Chron. vi. 16-33, where Heman, one of the three famous musicians of the time, is said to be a Korahite (comp. 1 Chron. xxv). The musical reputation of the family continued in the time of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 19), where we have the peculiar doubly plural form בְּנֵ הַקֶּרְחִים, “Sons of the Korahites.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Title.—“Sons of Korah.” Mediæval writers remark how here, as so often, it was the will of God to raise up saints where they could have been least looked for. Who should imagine that from the posterity of him who said, “Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Aaron,” should have risen those whose sweet Psalms would be the heritage of the church of God to the end of time?—J. M. Neale.

Verse 1.—“The hart panteth after the water brooks.” And here we have started up, and sent leaping over the plain another of Solomon’s favourites. What elegant creatures those gazelles are, and how gracefully they bound!... The sacred writers frequently mention gazelles under the various names of harts, roes, and hinds.... I have seen large flocks of these panting harts gather round the water-brooks in the great deserts of Central Syria, so subdued by thirst that you could approach quite near them before they fled.—W. M. Thomson.

Verse 1.—Little do the drunkards think that take so much pleasure in frequenting the houses of Bacchus that the godly take a great deal more, and have a great deal more joy in frequenting the houses of God. But ’tis a thing that God promised long ago by the prophet: “Them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” Isaiah lvi. 7. And methinks, I hear the willing people of God’s power, merrily calling one to another in the words of Micah iv. 2, “come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” How is a godly man ravished with “the beauty of holiness,” when he is at such meetings! How was holy David taken with being in the house of God at Jerusalem! insomuch, that if he were kept from it but a little while, his soul panted for it, and longed after it, and fainted for lack of it, as a thirsty hart would do for lack of water! “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” The poor disconsolate captives preferred it to the best place in their memory. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning” (Psalm cxxxvii. 5); nay, they preferred it to their chiefest joy: “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,” verse 6. There was no place in the world that David regarded or cared to be in in comparison of it. “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” (Psalm lxxxiv. 10), insomuch, that he could find it in his heart, nay, and would choose, if he might have his desire, to spend all his days in that house. Psalm xxvii. 4.—Zachary Bogan.

Verse 1.—The soul strongly desires acquaintance with God here in his ordinances. Chrysostom’s very rhetorical upon the text, and tells us how that David, like a lover in absence, must express his affections; as they have their dainty sighs, and passionate complaints, their loving exclamations, and sundry discoveries of affection; they can meet with never a tree, but in the bark of it they must engrave the name of their darling, Δεινὸς δ’ ὁ ἔρως ὥσπερ ὁ κιττὸς αὐτὸν ἐκ πάσης ἀναδῆσαι προφάσεως; ’twill twine upon every opportunity, as the Moralist speaks. And the true lovers of God, they are always thinking upon him, sighing for him, panting after him, talking of him, and (if ’twere possible) would engrave the name of the Lord Jesus upon the breasts of all the men in the world. Look upon David, now a banished man, and fled from the presence of Saul, and see how he behaves himself: not like Themistocles or Camillus, or some of those brave banished worthies. He does not complain of the ungratefulness of his country, the malice of his adversaries, and his own unhappy success. No, instead of murmuring, he falls a panting, and that only after his God. He is banished from the sanctuary, the palace of God’s nearest presence, and chiefest residence; he can’t enjoy the beauty of holiness, and all other places seem to him but as the tents of Kedar. He is banished from the temple, and he thinks himself banished from his God, as it is in the following words, “When shall I come and appear before God?” The whole stream of expositors run this way, that it is meant of his strong longing to visit the Temple, and those amiable courts of his God, with which his soul was so much taken.—Nathanael Culverwel’s “Panting Soul,” 1652.

Verse 1, 2, 3, are an illustration of the frequent use of the word Elohim in the second book of Psalms. We give Fry’s translation of the first three verses—

As the hart looketh for the springs of water, So my soul looketh for thee, O Elohim.

My soul is athirst for Elohim, for the living El: When shall I go and see the face of Elohim?

My tears have been my meat day and night, While they say to me continually, Where is thy Elohim?

Verse 2.—“My soul thirsteth for God,” etc. See that your heart rest not short of Christ in any duty. Let go your hold of no duty until you find something of Christ in it; and until you get not only an handful, but an armful (with old Simeon, Luke ii. 28); yea, a heartful of the blessed and beautiful babe of Bethlehem therein. Indeed you should have commerce with heaven, and communion with Christ in duty, which is therefore called the presence of God, or your appearing before him. Exodus xxiii. 17, and Psalm xlii. 2. Your duties then must be as a bridge to give you passage, or as a boat to carry you over into the bosom of Christ. Holy Mr. Bradford, Martyr, said he could not leave confession till he found his heart touched and broken for sin; nor supplication, till his heart was affected with the beauty of the blessings desired; nor thanksgiving, till his soul was quickened in return of praises; nor any duty, until his heart was brought into a duty frame, and something of Christ was found therein. Accordingly Bernard speaks, Nunquam abs te absque te recedam Domine: I will never depart (in duty) from thee without thee, Lord. Augustine said he loved not Tully’s elegant orations (as formerly) because he could not find Christ in them: nor doth a gracious soul love empty duties. Rhetorical flowers and flourishes, expressions without impressions in praying or preaching, are not true bread, but a tinkling cymbal to it, and it cannot be put off with the empty spoon of aëry notions, or lovely (that are not also lively) songs: if Christ talk with you in the way (of duty) your heart will burn within you. Luke xxiv. 16, 32.—Christopher Ness’s “Chrystal Mirrour,” 1679.

Verse 2.—“The living God.” There are three respects especially in which our God is said to be the “living God.” First, originally, because he only hath life in himself, and of himself, and all creatures have it from him. Secondly, operatively, because he is the only giver of life unto man. Our life, in the threefold extent and capacity of it, whether we take it for natural, or spiritual, or eternal, flows to us from God. Thirdly, God is said to be the “living God” by way of distinction, and in opposition to all false gods.—Thomas Horton.

Verse 2 (last clause).—A wicked man can never say in good earnest, “When shall I come and appear before God?” because he shall do so too soon, and before he would, as the devils that said Christ came “to torment them before their time.” Ask a thief and a malefactor whether he would willingly appear before the judge. No, I warrant you, not he; he had rather there were no judge at all to appear before. And so is it with worldly men in regard of God they desire rather to be hidden from him.—Thomas Horton.

Verse 2.—“Come and appear before God.” When any of us have been at church, and waited in the sanctuary, let us examine what did we go thither to see; a shadow of religion? An outside of Christian forms? A graceful orator? The figures and shapes of devotion? Surely then we might with as much wisdom, and more innocence, have gone to the wilderness “to see a reed shaken with the wind.” Can we say as the Greeks at the feast (John xii. 21), “We would see Jesus?” Or as Absalom (2 Sam. xiv. 32), “It is to little purpose I am come to Jerusalem if I may not see the King’s face.” To little purpose we go to church, or attend on ordinances, if we seek not, if we see not God there.—Isaac Watts, D.D., 1674-1748.

Verse 2.—If you attempt to put a little child off with toys and fine things, it will not be pleased long, it will cry for its mother’s breast; so, let a man come into the pulpit with pretty Latin and Greek sentences, and fine stories, these will not content a hungry soul, he must have the sincere milk of the word to feed upon.—Oliver Heywood.

Verse 2.—“When shall I come and appear before God?”—

While I am banish’d from thy house I mourn in secret, Lord; “When shall I come and pay my vows, And hear thy holy word?”

So while I dwell in bonds of clay, Methinks my soul shall groan. “When shall I wing my heavenly way And stand before thy throne?”

I love to see my Lord below, His church displays his grace; But upper worlds his glory know And view him face to face.

I love to worship at his feet, Though sin attack me there, But saints exalted near his seat Have no assaults to fear.

I’m pleased to meet him in his court, And taste his heavenly love, But still I think his visits short, Or I too soon remove.

He shines, and I am all delight, He hides and all is pain; When will he fix me in his sight, And ne’er depart again?

Isaac Watts, from his Sermons.

Verse 3.—“My tears have been my meat day and night.” The Psalmist could eat nothing because of his extreme grief.—John Gadsby.

Verse 3.—“They say unto me.” It is not only of me, but to me; they spake it to his very face, as those who were ready to justify it and make it good, that God had forsaken him. Backbiting argues more baseness, but open reproach carries more boldness, and shamelessness, and impudence in it; and this is that which David’s enemies were guilty of here in this place.—Thomas Horton.

Verse 3.—“Where is thy God?” God’s children are impatient, as far as they are men, of reproaches; but so far as they are Christian men, they are impatient of reproaches in religion; “Where is now thy God?” They were not such desperate Atheists as to think there was no God, to call in question whether there was a God or no, though, indeed, they were little better; but they rather reproach and upbraid him with his singularity, where is thy God? You are one of God’s darlings; you are one that thought nobody served God but you; you are one that will go alone—your God! So this is an ordinary reproach, an ordinary part for wicked men to cast at the best people, especially when they are in misery. What is become of your profession now? What is become of your forwardness and strictness now? What is become of your God that you bragged so of, and thought yourselves so happy in, as if he had been nobody’s God but yours? We may learn hence the disposition of wicked men. It is a character of a poisonful, cursed disposition to upbraid a man with his religion.

But what is the scope? The scope is worse than the words “where is thy God?” The scope is to shake his faith and his confidence in God, and this that is which touched him so nearly while they upbraided him. For the devil knows well enough that as long as God and the soul join together, it is in vain to trouble any man, therefore he labours to put jealousies, to accuse God to man, and man to God. He knows there is nothing in the world can stand against God. As long as we make God our confidence, all his enterprises are in vain. His scope is, therefore, to shake our affiance in God. “Where is thy God?” So he dealt with the head of the church, our blessed Saviour himself, when he came to tempt him. “If thou be the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread.” Matt. iv. 3. He comes with an “if,” he laboured to shake him in his Sonship. The devil, since he was divided from God himself eternally, is become a spirit of division; he labours to divide even God the Father from his own Son; “If thou be the Son of God?” So he labours to sever Christians from their head Christ. “Where is thy God?” There was his scope, to breed division if he could, between his heart and God, that he might call God into jealousy, as if he had not regarded him: thou hast taken a great deal of pains in serving thy God; thou seest how he regards thee now; “Where is thy God?”—Richard Sibbes.

Verse 3.—How powerfully do the scoffs and reproaches of the ungodly tend to shake the faith of a mind already dejected! How peculiarly afflictive to the soul that loves God, is the dishonour cast upon him by his enemies!—Henry March, in “Sabbaths at Home,” 1823.

Verse 3.—“Where is thy God?”

“Where is now thy God!” Oh, sorrow! Hourly thus to hear him say, Finding thus the longed-for morrow, Mournful as the dark to-day. Yet not thus my soul would languish, Would not thus be grieved and shamed, But for that severer anguish, When I hear the Lord defamed.

“Where is now thy God!” Oh, aid me, Lord of mercy, to reply— “He is HERE—though foes invade me, Know his outstretched arm is nigh.” Help me thus to be victorious, While the shield of faith I take; Lord, appear, and make thee glorious: Help me for thy honour’s sake.

Henry March.

Verse 4.—“When I remember these things,” etc. To a person in misery it is a great increase of misery to have been once happy; it was to David an occasion of new tears when he remembered his former joys. Time was, says the poor soul, when I thought of God with comfort, and when I thought of him as my own God; and to lose a God that I once enjoyed is the loss of all my losses, and of all my terrors the most terrible. Time was when I could go and pray to him, and ease myself in prayer; but now I have no boldness, no hope, no success in prayer. I cannot call him my Father any more. Time was when I could read the Bible and treasure up the promises, and survey the land of Canaan as my own inheritance; but now I dare not look into the Word lest I read my own condemnation there. The Sabbath was formerly to me as one of the days of heaven, but now it is also, as well as the rest, a sad and a mournful day. I formerly rejoiced in the name of Christ, “I sat under his shadow.” Cant. ii. 3. I was in his eyes as one that found favour; but now my soul is like the deserts of Arabia, I am scorched with burning heat. From how great a height have I fallen! How fair was I once for heaven and for salvation, and now am like to come short of it! I once was flourishing in the courts of the Lord, and now all my fruit is blasted and withered away: “his dew lay all night upon my branches,” but now I am like the mountains of Gilboa, no rain falls upon me. Had I never heard of heaven I could not have been so miserable as I now am: had I never known God, the loss of him had not been so terrible as now it is like to be. Job xxix. 2, 3.—Timothy Rogers.

Verse 4 (first clause).—The blessedness of even the remembrance of divine worship is so great, that it can save the soul from despair.—J. P. Lange’s Commentary.

Verse 4.—“I pour out my soul.” The very soul of prayer lies in the pouring out of the soul before God.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 4.—“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.” The gracious God is pleased to esteem it his glory to have many beggars thronging at the beautiful gate of his temple, for spiritual and corporal alms. What an honour is it to our great Landlord that multitudes of tenants flock together to his house to pay their rent of thanks and worship for their all which they hold of him! How loud and lovely is the noise of many golden trumpets! Good Lord, what an echo do they make in heaven’s ears! When many skilful musicians play in concert with well tuned and prepared instruments the music cannot but be ravishing to God himself.—George Swinnock.

Verse 4.—Do but consider David’s tears and grief for want of, and his fervent prayers for the fruition of, public ordinances even then, when he had opportunities for private performances; and surely thou wilt esteem the ministry of the Word no mean mercy. See his sorrow when he was driven from God’s sanctuary. “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.” “My soul is poured out;” that is, I am overwhelmed with grief, and ever ready to die when I compare my present condition with my former happiness in the fruition of religious assemblies. There is an elegancy in the phrase “poured out;” the word is applied to water, or any liquid thing, and in Scripture signifieth abundance. Joel ii. 28. My life is ready to be poured out as water upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, when I remember my former mercies, and consider my present misery.... The loss of his father, mother, wives, children, lands, liberty—nay, of his very life, would not have gone so near his heart as the loss of public ordinances. As his sorrow was great for the want, so was his suit most earnest for the enjoyment of them. How many a prayer doth he put up for the liberty of the tabernacle! Psalm xliii. 3, 4, and xxvii. 4, 8. It is the one thing, the principal thing which he begs of God.—Henry Smith.

Verse 4.—The bias of the soul is remarkably shown by the objects of regretful recollection.—Henry March.

Verse 4.—“With a multitude that kept holy day.”

Though private prayer be a brave design Yet public hath more promises, more love: And love’s a weight to hearts, to eyes a sign. We all are but cold suitors; let us move Where it is warmest. Leave thy six and seven; Pray with the most: for where most pray, is heaven.

George Herbert, in “The Temple.”

Verse 5.—See also on verse 11, and Psalm xliii. verse 5.

Verse 5.—“WHY art thou cast down, O my soul?” Athanasius counselled his friend, that when any trouble should fall upon him, he should fall presently to the reading of this Psalm; for there was a way, he thought, of curing by the like, as well as by the contrary: for ’tis observed indeed that when two instruments are tuned to the same unison, if you touch the strings of the one, the strings of the other will move too, though untouched, if placed at a convenient distance. That therefore you may try the same experiments upon yourselves, do but set your affections for a tune in the same key in which these words were spoken; if really you feel none, imagine some affliction laid upon you; when you have done so, that you may be the more fully moved, place your attention at a convenient distance, look narrowly on this holy prophet, observe how he retires himself, shuts out the world, calls his sad soul to as sad a reckoning: Quare tam tristis? O my soul! thou that wert infused to give me life; nay, says Philo the Jew, a spark, a beam of the divinity, thou, which shouldst be to this dark body of mine as the sun is to the earth, enlightening, quickening, cheering up my spirits; tell me, why art thou clouded? why art thou cast down?...

Think of this, ye that feel the heaviness of your soul; think of it, ye that do not, for ye may feel it. Know there is a sorrow “that worketh repentance not to be repented of.” Know again there is a sorrow “that worketh death.” Remember there were tears that got sinful Mary heaven; remember again, there were tears that got sinful Esau nothing. For as in martyrdom, it is not the sword, the boiling lead, or fire, not what we suffer, but why, that makes us martyrs; so in our sorrows, it is not how deep they wound, but why, that justifies them. Let every one, therefore, that hath a troubled heart, ask his soul the “Why:” “Why art thou cast down?” Is it not for thine own sins, or the sins of others? Take either of them, thine eyes will have a large field to water. Is it for that thou hast been a child of wrath, a servant of the devil? Is it for that thou art a candle set in the wind, blown at by several temptations? or is it for that thou wouldst be freed from them? “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!” Psalm cxx. 5. Art thou troubled as St. Augustine was, when he read that the way to heaven was narrow, the number small that travelled thither? Or hast thou put on St. Bernard’s resolution, who had made a compact with his soul, never to joy till he had heard his Saviour call him, “Come, ye blessed,” nor never to leave sorrowing till he had escaped the bitter sentence, “Go, ye cursed”? If any of these be the “Why,” the ground of thy sorrows, if such thoughts have cast thee down; know, that thy Saviour hath already blessed thee, for, “Blessed are they that mourn.” The angels are thy servants, they gather thy tears; God is thy treasurer, he lays them up in his bottle; the Holy Ghost is thy comforter, he will not leave thee. Fear not, then, to be thus “cast down,” fear not to be thus disquieted within thee.—Brian Duppa (Bishop), 1588-1662, in a Sermon entitled “The Soule’s Soliloquie.”

Verse 5.—“Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” Why, or what may be the reason, that this text is three times used in this Psalm and in the next? whereas you do not find two verses of the same length used in all the Book of Psalms besides, except in Psalm cvii., where is often repeated, “O that men would praise the Lord,” etc. Now, surely, the frequent mention of this text and words doth argue and note unto us the weightiness of the matter....

Wicked men oppressed David, and the devil tempted him; yet he chides his own heart and nothing else. David did not chide at Saul, nor chide at Absalom; but he chides and checks his own heart. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” Though the devil and wicked men, the one do tempt, the other do oppress as instruments of punishment for sin; yet we with David are to chide our own hearts.

Consider, what though in our translations the words are translated and rendered passively, “Why art thou cast down?” yet, in the original, they are rendered actively; we read it, “Why art thou cast down?” etc.; but in the original it is read, מַה־תִּשְׁתּוֹחֲחִי נַפְשִׁי וּמַה־תֶּהֱמִי עָלָי[19] “Why bowest (or pressest) thou down thyself, my soul? and why tumultest thou against me?” As Arias Montanus, Cur humiliasti te? Cur deprimes te anima mea? So Lorinus, Prov. xii. 25. And the words so read, they do intimate thus much, that God’s own people may be cast down too much for the sense of sin, and they are most active in their own down-casting. It is not God nor the devil that cast thee down; but Why dost thou cast thyself down? to create more trouble on thy self than either God doth inflict or the devil tempt thee to.—Christopher Love, in “The Dejected Soul’s Cure,” 1657.

Verse 5.—“Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” Consider but this, how much there is of God in the affliction. 1. Came it not without God’s privity? Why art thou troubled, then? Thy Father knowing of it would have stopped its course if it had been best for thee. 2. Came it not without his command? Why art thou troubled? It is the cup that thy Father hath given thee, and wilt thou not drink it? 3. Is it thy Father’s will that thou shouldest suffer, and shall it be thy humour to rebel? 4. Hath God done no more than he might do? Why dost thou murmur, as if he had done thee wrong? 5. Is it a piece of his wise acting? Why dost thou exalt thy foolish will above his infinite wisdom? 6. Is his way a way of mercy? Why does thy mutinous spirit stumble at it, as a rough way? 7. Is the thing good that is befallen thee? Why dost thou quarrel as if it were evil? 8. Is it less than men suffer, than his own people, yea, than his own Son hath suffered, and hast thou cause to complain? 9. Is it but thy merit? and less than that, too; and shall the living man complain for the punishment of his sin? 10. Is it in measure, ordered with care? (1) by the physician’s hand; and (2) a little draught, and (3) proportioned to thy strength; (4) measured out according to the proportion of strength and comfort he intends to measure thee out, to bear it withal? Why art thou cast down? Why art thou disquieted? Is the end and fruit of it but to make thee white, and purify thee? to purge thy sin past, and to prevent it for the time to come? and dost thou find a present fruit in it? Dost thou find that now thou art turned into a chalk-stone; thy groves and images—those corruptions which did attend thee while thou wert in prosperity, and which would attend thee if thou hadst these good things which thou wantest, and art disquieted for; and if those evils which thou feelest or fearest were far from thy sense and fear, would still attend thee—that those do not now stand up? Lift up thy head, Christian! say to thy soul, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?” Meditate what there is of God in the cause of thy disquietments.—John Collinge (1623-1690) in “A Cordial for a Fainting Soule,” 1652.

Verse 5.—“Why art thou disquieted?” more literally, tumultuated, a word frequently applied to the roaring and tumult and tossing of the sea. See Isaiah xvii. 12; Jer. v. 22; vi. 23; li. 55.—Henry March.

Verse 5.—“Hope thou in God.” I shall show what powerful influence hope hath on the Christian in affliction, and how. First, it stills and silenceth him under affliction. It keeps the king’s peace in the heart, which else would soon be in an uproar. A hopeless soul is clamorous: one while it chargeth God, another while it reviles his instruments. It cannot long rest, and no wonder, when hope is not there. Hope hath a rare art in stilling a froward spirit, when nothing else can; as the mother can make the crying child quiet by laying it to the breast, when the rod makes it cry worse. This way David took, and found it effectual; when his soul was unquiet by reason of his present affliction, he lays it to the breast of the promise: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God.” And here his soul sweetly sleeps, as the child with the breast in his mouth; and that this was his usual way, we may think by the frequent instances we find; thrice we find him taking this course in two Psalms, xlii. and xliii.... Secondly, this hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called “the rejoicing of hope,” Heb. iii. 6. And hope never affords more joy than in affliction. It is on a watery cloud that the sun paints those curious colours in the rainbow.... There are two graces, which Christ useth above any other, to fill the soul with joy—faith and hope, because these two fetch all their wine of joy without door. Faith tells the soul what Christ hath done for it, and so comforts it; hope revives the soul with the news of what Christ will do: both draw at one tap—Christ and his promise.—Condensed from William Gurnall.

Verse 5.—“Hope thou in God.” The word which is here rendered “hope” denotes that expectation which is founded on faith in God, and which leads the soul to wait upon him. The idea is beautifully expressed in Psalm xxxix. 7. “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.”—Henry March.

Verse 5.—“I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” When it may be said, “He whom God loveth is sick,” then it may be said, “This sickness is not unto death;” and though it be to the first death, yet not to the second. Who would think when Jonah was in the sea (Jonah iii.), that he would preach at Ninevah? Who would think when Nebuchadnezzar was in the forest (Dan. iv.), that he should reign again in Babel? Who would think when Joseph was banished of his brethren, that his brethren should seek unto him like his servants? Who would think when Job scraped his sores upon the dunghill, all his houses were burned, all his cattle stolen, and all his children dead, that he should be richer than ever he was? These are the acts of mercy which make the righteous sing, “The Lord hath triumphed valiantly.” Exodus 15-21.—Henry Smith.

Verse 5.—“I shall yet praise him.” David’s mind is upon the duty more than upon the mercy; upon the duty, as it is a matter of grace, more than upon the mercy, as it is a matter of sense. And, therefore, by a happy mistake, his tongue slips, as men are wont to do in such cases, and he puts one for the other; when he should say, I shall receive mercy from God, he says, “I shall give praise to him.”—Thomas Horton.

Verse 5.—He is the skilful physician, who at the same time that he evacuates the disease, doth also comfort and strengthen nature; and he the true Christian, that doth not content himself with a bare laying aside evil customs and practices, but labours to walk in the exercise of the contrary graces. Art thou discomposed with impatience, haunted with a discontented spirit under any affliction? Think it not enough to silence thy heart from quarrelling with God, but leave not till thou canst bring it sweetly to rely on God. Holy David drove it thus far; he did not only chide his soul for being disquieted, but he charges it to trust in God.—William Gurnall.

Verse 5.—There was one Alice Benden, who, among others, was imprisoned for religion in Canterbury Castle; but after awhile, by the bishop’s order, she was let down into a deep dungeon, where none of her friends could come at her. There she was fed with an halfpenny bread, and a farthing beer a day, neither would they allow her any more for her money. Her lodging was upon a little straw, between a pair of stocks and a stone wall. This made her grievously to bewail and lament her estate, reasoning with herself, why her Lord God did in so heavy a wise afflict her, and suffered her thus to be sequestered from the sweet society of her loving prison-fellows. In this extremity of misery, and in the midst of these dolorous mournings she continued, till on a night, repeating that of the Psalmist: “Why art thou so heavy, O my soul? and why art thou so cast down within me? Still trust in God,” etc.; and, God’s right hand can change all this, etc.; she received comfort in the midst of her sorrows, and so continued joyful to the time of her release.—Samuel Clarke’s “Mirrour.”

Verses 5, 11.—In case thou art at any time oppressed with sorrows, ask thy heart and soul that question which David did in the like case twice in one Psalm: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” and certainly the soul would return answer, My distress of sadness springs from my unbelief. You may know the disease by the cure, in the very next words, “O put thy trust in God; hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” All sorrow of heart springs principally from our unbelief, not from the greatness of other evils; I mean, destructive sorrow, for godly sorrow is a friend to godly joy. It is not so much the weight of the burthen, as the soreness of the back, that troubles the poor beast: so it is not so much the weight of outward evils, as the inward soreness of a galled conscience, not purified nor healed by faith, that vexeth and troubleth the poor creature.—Matthew Lawrence, in “The Use and Practice of Faith,” 1657.

Verses 5, 11.—As afflictions do proceed from ourselves, they may be called troubles, or perturbations; for the best man doth sometimes cause this bad liquor to boil out of his own bowels. David, not once, but often, hath cried out, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?” And show me the man that annoyeth and troubleth not himself in vain, because with patience he doth not tarry the Lord’s leisure? The foolish bird, who, being in a room whose door is locked, and the casements shut, beateth herself against the wall and windows, breaking her feathers and bruising her body, whereas, would she stay till the passages were by the keeper opened, she might depart, being not at all wounded; even so falleth it out with us: for when the Lord doth shut us up, and straiten our liberty for a time, we would fain make way for ourselves, having many devices in our hearts to break through the walls of his providence; whereas, if we would stay his leisure, depend on his promise, and submit ourselves to be disposed of by his hand, we might with more ease endure this prison, and with less hurt at the last be set at liberty. For God is in one mind, and who can change him? He will bring to pass that thing that he hath decreed upon us.—John Barlow’s Sermon, 1618.

Verses 5, 11.—If you would get assurance, spend more time in strengthening your evidences for heaven, than in questioning of them. It is the great fault of many Christians they will spend much time in questioning, and not in strengthening their comforts. They will reason themselves into unbelief, and say, Lord, why should I believe? Why should I take hold of a promise that am so unholy and so unmortified a creature? And so by this they reason themselves to such a pass that they dare not lay hold upon Christ, whereas it should be your work to reason yourselves into Christ as much as you can. Labour to strengthen your comforts, and reason thus, Why should I not believe in Christ? Thus David did. Psalm xlii. “Why art thou troubled, O my soul, and why art thou cast down within me?” Is not the mercy of God more than sin in the creature? Is not there free grace where there is guilt? Are not there pardoning mercies where condemnation is deserved? You should reason up your comforts rather than reason them down, and spend more time in strengthening than in questioning of them. You would count him a very unwise man that hath a lease of so much land, and he himself shall create scruples and doubts, and shall use no means to make his title good. And truly many Christians are as unwise for heaven. They have, as I may say, good bond and seal that God will bring them to heaven, and yet they will question and cavil themselves into unbelief. Beloved, this should not be, but you ought rather to strengthen your comforts than question them.—Christopher Love.

Verse 6.—“O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee.” “Because I am very low in spirit, am deeply sorrowful, therefore will I remember thee. I will remember how condescending thou art to thy ‘poor and afflicted people;’ how ready to receive them when deserted or cast out by men; how kind and patient to hear their complaint when they pour out the soul before thee. I will remember thy lovingkindness to me in seasons past; how thou hast looked on my distress, hast heard the voice of my supplications, hast delivered me from my trials, or helped me to bear their burden, strengthening me with strength in my soul. I will remember all that I have enjoyed of thy presence when waiting on thee in thy house, or when celebrating thy praises there in company with thy ‘saints, the excellent of the earth.’ I will remember what thou ART; how meet an object for the trust of a desolate being like myself! For though I am poor, thou art rich; though I am weak, thou art mighty; though I am miserable, thou art happy. I will remember that thou art my God. That thou hast manifested thyself to my soul, that thou hast enabled me to choose thee for my portion, that I have trusted in thee, and have never been confounded. I will remember that word of promise on which thou hast caused me to hope, to which thou hast ever been faithful throughout all the past, and will be, as I truly believe, even unto the end.” Oh, how happy, even in the midst of their unhappiness, are they, who in their trials, can thus take shelter in God!—Henry March.

Verse 6.—“MY God.” Astonishing expression! Who shall dare to say to the Creator of the ends of the earth, the Majesty in the heavens, “My God”? An exile, a wanderer, an outcast; a man forsaken, despised, reviled; a soul cast down and disquieted: he shall dare. By what right? Of covenant.—Henry March.

Verse 6.—“Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.” It is remarkable what course the Psalmist took to regain comfort; he would remember three experiments of his goodness—“the land of Jordan,” the land “of the Hermonites,” and “the hill Mizar.” First will I remember the land Jordan; that is, I will remember the great goodness of God in drying up the river Jordan, that so the tribes of Israel might pass over to the promised land: why, God that hath been good, will be good. Then, I will remember the land of the Hermonites; in that land were Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, were defeated; that you read of in Joshua xii. 1, 2. “Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto Mount Hermon.” Mizar, some think to be a little hill near Mount Sinai, where the law was given. I will remember God’s goodness, in giving a law to his people. Here David would call to remembrance the goodness of God of old, to regain to him comfort and quietness in his mind.—Christopher Love.

Verse 6.—“The Hermons,” or the peaks or ridges of Hermon, the plural being used either because of the two peaks of the mountain (Wilson, “Land of the Bible”), or as I think probably, of the whole range of its snowy hights.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 6.—“The Hermons,” i.e., as some suppose, Mount Hermon, and the other mountains upon that side of the river, just as Baalim means Baal, and other idols worshipped with him; or more probably Mount Hermon considered not as a single eminence, but a chain or range, like the Alps, the Alleghanies, etc.—J. A. Alexander.

Verse 6.—“From the hill.” He that has a rich life of past experience is thereby placed upon an eminence from which he may take a happy view of the path lying before him.—J. P. Lange’s Commentary.

Verse 7.—“Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts.” Here he has conjoined two awful and terrific phenomena of nature. It is a fact well ascertained by the evidence of travellers, that the falling of waterspouts is not uncommon on the coast of Judea. It should seem that they are occasioned by the congregating of great masses of cloud, whose waters concentrating to a point, pour themselves down in a tremendous column, accompanied with a roaring noise. Now, the image conceived in the mind of the Psalmist seems to be that of the rushing of this vast water-spout down into the sea, already agitated, and increasing the turbulence and disorder of its waves. An awful picture! Especially if there be added to it the ideas of a black tempestuous sky, and the deafening roar occasioned by the tumult. What would be the situation of a vessel in the midst of such a tempest, the deluge pouring down from above, and all around her the furious ocean heaving its tremendous surges—how ungovernable, how helpless, how next to impossible that she should escape foundering except by some almost miraculous interference. Yet to such a situation does David here compare the state of his soul when submersed, as it were, under a sea of afflictions; “all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” How pungent must his sense of grief have been to occasion him to make use of such a comparison, so strongly expressive of the utmost danger and terror!—Henry March.

Verse 7.—“Deep calleth unto deep,” etc. The abyss above calls on the abyss below, in the voice of the droppings of thy waterspouts.—Targum.

Verse 7.—“Deep calleth unto deep.” So let prayer unto prayer, and faith unto faith, and one grace to the exercise of another. If we cannot prevail with God it may be the first time, yet we may the second; or if not then, the third.—Thomas Horton.

Verse 7.—“Deep calleth unto deep.” What’s that? Why, it is expressed in the verse before: “O God,” says he, “my soul is cast down within me.” “Down,” that is deep into the jaws of distrust and fear. And, Lord, my soul in this depth of sorrow, calls for help to thy depth of mercy. For though I am sinking and am going down, yet not so low but that thy mercy is yet underneath me. Do, of thy compassions, open those everlasting arms, and catch him that has no help or stay in himself. For so it is with one that is falling into a well or a dungeon.—John Bunyan.

Verse 7.—Here the Psalmist feels the spirit of bondage, which is wrath and fear; and he prays for the joy of God’s salvation, and to be upheld by God’s free spirit, which is the Holy Spirit, the spirit of love and power. He complains of “deep calling unto deep.” A soul in the horrible pit hears little else but the calls of law and justice for vengeance, which are always answered again by the accusations of Satan and conscience. The storms of Sinai, like a water-spout at sea, threaten the earthen vessel with a deluge of wrath, which would soon drown it in destruction and perdition. These waves of real, and some imaginary, displeasure (no less terrible than real), rolling over the poor creature, are ready to send the bark to the bottom. This is the terrible way in which some fallen and backsliding souls are purged and reclaimed, and especially such as have brought public scandal upon the gospel, and church of Christ.—William Huntington (1744-1813) in “Contemplations of the God of Israel.”

Verse 7.—“Thy waterspouts,” Dr. Boothroyd translates צִנּוֹרֶיךָ, “thy cataracts.” In justification of which translation, he observes that the situation of David suggested this forcible image. He saw the torrents falling from the precipices, and heard them resounding, and as if calling to one another for assistance; so, says he, all thy waves, that is, afflictions and troubles, come upon me and overwhelm me.—John Morison.

Verse 7.—“Waterspouts.” Look at those clouds which hang like a heavy pall of sackcloth over the sea, along the western horizon. From them, on such windy days as these, are formed waterspouts, and I have already noticed several incipient “spouts” lengthening downward from their lower edge. These remarkable phenomena occur most frequently in spring, but I have also seen them in autumn. They are not accompanied with much rain; and between the dark stratum above and the sea, the sky is clear and bright. Here and there fragments of black vapour, shaped like long funnels, are drawn down from the clouds towards the sea, and are seen to be in violent agitation, whirling round on themselves as they are driven along by the wind. Directly beneath them the surface of the sea is also in commotion by a whirlwind, which travels on in concert with the spout above. I have often seen the two actually unite in mid air, and rush toward the mountains, writhing, and twisting, and bending, like a huge serpent, with its head in the clouds and its tail on the deep.

They make a loud noise, of course, and appear very frightful. “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me,” said David, when his soul was cast down within him. But, though formidable in appearance, they do very little injury. I have never heard of more than one instance in which they proved destructive even to boats, though the sailors are extremely afraid of them. As soon as they approach the shore, they dissolve and disappear. That kind of waterspout which bursts on the mountains, generally in the dry months of summer, does immense mischief. In a few minutes the wadies along its track are swollen into furious rivers, which sweep away grain, olives, raisins, and every other produce of the farmer. I have frequently known them to carry off and drown flocks of sheep and goats, and even cows, horses, and their owners also.—W. M. Thomson.

Verse 7.—“All thy waves and thy billows.”

Deep to deep incessant calling, Tossed by furious tempests’ roll, Endless waves and billows falling, Overwhelm my fainting soul. Yet I see a Power presiding Mid the tumult of the storm, Ever ruling, ever guiding, Love’s intentions to perform. Yes, mid sorrows most distressing, Faith contemplates thy design, Humbly bowing, and confessing All the waves and billows THINE.

Henry March.

Verse 7.—“All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.”

Wide o’er misfortune’s surging tide Billows succeeding billows spread; Should one, its fury spent, subside, Another lifts its boisterous head.

Æschylus in “The Seven Chiefs against Thebes.”

Verse 8.—“Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness.” His expression is remarkable; he does not say simply that the Lord will bestow, but, “command his lovingkindness.” As the gift bestowed is grace—free favour to the unworthy; so the manner of bestowing it is sovereign. It is given by decree; it is a royal donative. And if he commands the blessing, who shall hinder its reception?—Henry March.

Verse 8.—’Tis all one to a godly man, night or day. For what night can there be to him who hath God always with him, who is a sun to comfort him, as well as a shield to protect him (Ps. lxxxiv. 11); and the light of whose countenance, if it be but very little, is more comfortable than all things else whatsoever that the day can bring with it. He can say, “When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me” (Mic. vii. 8); and “the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” Ps. xviii. 28. To tell you the truth, I think the night is the merriest time that the godly man hath, and the saddest for the wicked man (who, though he make use of darkness to hide his sin, yet is he afraid, because of that very thing in which his safety consists). For if a man be merry in good company, he must needs be more merry when he enjoys it better, and there is less to disturb his mirth. So as it is with a godly man in the night, when the greatest part of his hindrances are removed, and he can “delight himself in the Almighty” without disturbance. Job. xxvii. 10. David says that the Lord would indeed “command his lovingkindness in the daytime,” but “in the night (says he) his song shall be with me”—“his song,” as I think, not of thanksgiving, but of joy and exultation, such as God uses to give at that time. Job. xxxv. 10. In the daytime the soul is so taken up with base employments, so distracted with variety of sensible objects, and so busied with work for the body, that either she hath no leisure at all to do her own work (such as this joy is as much as anything), or she cannot do it so well as she would, or so well as she could in the night, when she hath less to do. I doubt not but the worldly and carnal man, now that I am talking so much of night and sleep, will be ready to say that I do but dream, and to answer me as the fellow did the hunter, when he bade him hear “what heavenly music his dogs made.” For I know he counts the music and songs that we speak of, nothing but a frenzy, or a fancy at the least, such as mad and diseased people have in their brain, while they imagine it to be in the air. But, as Peter said of those upon whom the Holy Ghost fell, “These men are not drunk, as ye suppose;” so may I reply to such men, No such matter, the godly are not mad, as ye suppose, for their songs are not works of their own fancy, not made of their own head, but set for them by God himself, “who giveth songs in the night.” Job. xxxv. 10.—Zachary Bogan.

Verse 8.—“And my prayer unto the God of my life.” Here may be seen that David’s religion was a religion of prayer after deliverance, as well as before. The selfish who cry out in trouble will have done with their prayers, when the trouble is over. With David it was the very reverse. Deliverance from trouble would strengthen his confidence in God, embolden his addresses to him, and furnish him with new arguments.... There is great need of prayer after deliverance; for the time of deliverance is often a time of temptation, the soul being elated, and thrown off its guard. At such seasons much of the joy that is felt may be merely natural, as David’s would probably be when rescued from that corroding care which injures the body as well as distresses the soul. There is danger of mistaking; of supposing it to be all spiritual, and hence of imagining the soul to be in a higher state of grace than it really is, and so, of being imperceptibly drawn into a state of false security. There is then especial need of that prayer. “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” And with some peculiarly, who being of a sanguine constitution of mind, are in times of enjoyment, soon puffed up and brought into danger.—Henry March.

Verse 8 (last clause).—Your song and your prayer must be directed to God as “the God of your life.” You do not own him as God, except you own and adore him as your all sufficient good, and that “fulness which filleth all in all.” You detract from the glory of his Godhead, if you attribute not this to him; and if, accordingly, as one that cannot live without him, you do not seek union with him, and join yourself to him, and then rejoice and solace yourself in that blessed conjunction.—John Howe.

Verse 9.—“God my rock.” David was a fugitive, with little means of defence, and continually pursued by enemies who were powerful and numerous. The country in which he wandered was mountainous, and he often sought and found shelter on the tops of precipitous rocks, or in their natural hollows or excavated caves. Thus the idea of shelter and defence being associated in his mind with that of a rock, how natural that he should apply the term to God, and when seeking him as his refuge and helper, should address him by that appellation.... “Why hast thou forgotten me?” Not that he supposed he was literally forgotten of God, so as to be given up and abandoned by him; because he had still sufficient trust in his faithfulness to seek him for a refuge, and to hope in his mercy. His expression is to be regarded as the language of feeling, not of judgment. He felt, he seemed, as one forgotten by God. Those visits of love, those manifestations of favour with which he had formerly been indulged, and which then seemed to him to be so many tokens of the divine remembrance, were now withheld, now when, on account of his distress, they appeared so unspeakably more needful and desirable; whence it was that he felt as one forgotten.—Henry March.

Verse 10.—“Mine enemies.” It is strange that he should have enemies, that was so harmless a man that when they were sick and distressed, he prayed for them, and put on sackcloth for them, as it is, Psalm xxxv. This compassionate, sweet-natured man, yet, notwithstanding, you see he had enemies, and enemies that would discover themselves to reproach him, and that bitterly; in the bitterest manner, they reproach him in his religion. We may be armed by this observation against the scandal of opposition—that if we meet with enemies in the world, we should not be much offended at it; grieve we may, but wonder we need not. Was there ever any that did more good than our Saviour Christ? “He went about doing good.” Acts x. 38. He did never a miracle that was harmful (but only of the swine that were drowned in the sea, and that was their own fault), but he went about doing all the good he could; yet, notwithstanding, we see what malicious opposites he had. That that is true of the head must be true in the members. Therefore we should rejoice in our conformity to Christ, if it be in a good cause, that we find enemies and opposition. The devil is not made a Christian yet, and he will never be made good, for he is in termino, as we say, he is in his bounds, his nature is immovable; he is in hell in regard of his estate, though he be loose to do mischief. Now, until the devil be good, God’s children shall never want enemies; and he will never be good; therefore, though there were good kings and good governors over all the world, yet good men shall never want enemies as long as the devil is alive, as long as he hath anything to do in the world. Enemies, therefore, we must look for, and such enemies as will not conceal their malice neither; for that were something, if they would suffer their malice to boil and concoct in their own hearts, but that will not be, but “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.”—Richard Sibbes.

Verse 10.—“They say daily unto me.” Here’s their constancy and perseverance in this their carriage and language, it is daily, or all the day, כָּל־הַיּוֹם. It is not only for a fit and away, but it is their frequent and continual practice; it’s every, and it’s all the day; they begin in the morning, and they hold out still till night as unquiet persons use to do; and they begin the week with it, and so they continue till the end; he could never come into their company or near them, but he had such language from them.—Thomas Horton.

Verse 10.—“Where is thy God?” David might rather have said to them, Where are your eyes? where is your sight? for God is not only in heaven, but in me. Though David was shut out from the sanctuary, yet David’s soul was a sanctuary for God; for God is not tied to a sanctuary made with hands. God hath two sanctuaries, he hath two heavens—the heaven of heavens and a broken spirit. God dwelt in David as in his temple. God was with David and in him; and he was never more with him, nor never more in him than in his greatest afflictions. They wanted eyes, he wanted not God. Though sometimes God hide himself, not only from the world but from his own children, yet he is there; howsoever their sorrow is such that it dims their sight (as we see in Hagar), so that they cannot see him for the present, he sometimes looks in their face, as we see in Mary’s case. She could not see Christ distinctly, but thought him to be the gardener. There is a kind of concealment awhile in heavenly wisdom, yet notwithstanding, God is with his children always, and they know it by faith though not by feeling always.... Therefore, it was an ignorant question of them to ask, Where is thy God? It showed that they were ignorant of the passages of God’s dealing with his children, as indeed none are greater atheists than your scoffers. Where is thy God? as if God had been only a God of observation, to be observed outwardly in all his passages towards his children; whereas, as I said, he is a God hiding himself ofttimes; and he shows himself in contrary conditions most of all, most comfortably. His work is by contraries. But these carnal men were ignorant of the mysteries of religion, and the mysteries of divine providence towards God’s children. Therefore, their question savours of their disposition, Where is now thy God?—Richard Sibbes.

Verse 10.—“Where is thy God?” It is the deriding question which persecutors put to the saints in the time of their trials and troubles, Ubi Deus? “Where is now your God?” But they may return a bold and confident answer, Hic Deus, “Our God is here,” our God is nigh unto us, our God is round about us, our God is in the midst of us, our God has given us his promise “that he will never leave us nor forsake us.” Heb. xiii. 5. In every trouble, in every danger, in every death, the Lord will be sure to keep us company. God will bear his children company, not only whilst they are in a delightful paradise, but also when they are in a howling wilderness. Hosea ii. 14. When a company of poor Christians were going into banishment, one standing by to see them pass along said, that it was a very sad condition that those poor people were in, to be thus hurried from the society of men, and to be made companions of the beasts of the fields. True, said another, it were a sad condition indeed, if they were carried to a place where they should not find their God; but let them be of good cheer, for God goes along with them, and will exhibit the comforts of his presence whithersoever they go, his presence is infinite, and filleth all places. The Rabbins put Makom, which signifies place, among the names of God; Bythner brings them in expounding that text (Esther iv. 14), thus: “Deliverance shall arise from another place,” that is, from God. Now, they called God place, because he is in every place, filling heaven and earth with his presence.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 10.—Forest-flies, small as they are, drive the noble war-horse mad; therefore David says, “As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?”—Frederick William Robertson, 1851.

Verse 11.—Imitate here the example of David, instead of yielding to a vague grief; cite your soul; enquire of it the particular cause of your sorrow: different remedies will be requisite according to the different sources of your distress; and be careful that you trifle not with God, and your comfort, and your salvation, while you enquire of your soul, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” Be impartial, there is another and more solemn judgment to succeed: be persevering, like the Psalmist, return, again and again to the investigation: be prayerful; self-love, or the delusions of your heart, may otherwise deceive you. Pray then to God, to “search you, and see if there be any wicked way in you.”—Henry Kollock, D.D., in “Sermons,” etc. 1822.

Verse 11.—“Hope.” Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.—Samuel Smiles, LL.D.

Verse 11.—“God ... is the health of my countenance.” The health of David’s countenance was not in his countenance, but in his God, and this makes his faith silence his fears, and so peremptorily resolve upon it, that there is a time coming (how near soever he now lies to the grave’s mouth) when he “shall yet praise him.” The health and life of thy grace lie both of them, not in thy grace, saith faith, but in God, who is thy God, therefore I shall yet live and praise him. I do not wonder that the weak Christian is melancholy and sad, when he sees his sickly face in any other glass than this.—William Gurnall.

Verse 11.—“The health of my countenance.” The countenance is often a true index to the mind. In the present awakening in religion, nothing is more remarkable than the sad or joyous looks of those whom God has spiritually exercised. It is easy to see who are sad, and who happy. There is nothing new in this; the Psalmist says, “My soul is cast down within me.” Therefore had he a dejected countenance; but said he, “Send thy light and thy truth; let them lead me; then will I go unto God, my exceeding joy.... And he shall be the health of my countenance.” In his sorrow, the face of Jesus was marred more than any man’s, and his visage more than the sons of men. The martyr Stephen was so filled with the sight of Jesus, that in the midst of his persecutors, with death in prospect, he had a face which “shone as the face of an angel.” My friend, how is it with thee? Is thy countenance sad? or doth it shine with the joy of the Lord, telling the true tale of thy life and lot?—J. Denham Smith. 1860.

Verse 11.—Hast thou seen the sun shine forth in February, and the sky blue, and the hedgerows bursting into bud, and the primrose peeping beneath the bank, and the birds singing in the bushes? Thou hast thought that spring was already come in its beauty and sweet odours. But a few days, and the clouds returned, and the atmosphere was chilled, and the birds were mute, and snow was on the ground, and thou hast said that spring would never come. And thus sometimes the young convert finds his fears removed and the comforts of the gospel shed abroad in his heart, and praise and thanksgiving, and a new song put in his mouth. And he deems unadvisedly that his troubles are past for ever. But awhile, and his doubts return, and his comforts die away, and his light is taken from him, and his spirit is overwhelmed, and he is fain to conclude that salvation and all its blessings are not for him. But the spring, though late, shall break at last. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?”—H. G. Salter’s “Book of Illustrations,” 1840.

Verse 11.—His arguments and motives hereunto are impregnated with very great sense and strength; and urged upon himself as the just rate thereof. “Hope thou in God.” For he is 1. “God.” 2. “Thy God.” 3. “The health of thy countenance,” and 4. One whom thou shalt (certainly and for ever) praise as such. And 5. Do it yet, as lamentable and hopeless as thy case appears at present through seeming difficulties or unlikelihoods. God and ourselves well understood, deeply considered, and skilfully urged and improved, give gracious hearts the best encouragements and supports under the severest accidents of time. And they will very strangely animate our hopes in God under our sorest troubles and dejections. David had (1) confidence in God; and (2) reasons for it; and (3) skill and a heart to urge them. When he reviewed himself, he saw that his soul was gracious; and so he knew God valued it. It was bent for praising God; and so he knew that he should have an opportunity and cause to do it, through some signal favours from him. He had an interest in God; and he would neither lose it nor neglect it, and he had great experience of God’s former mercies, and he would not forget them. And when he thinks on God, then praises must be thought on too, and everything relating to it, and all the divine perfections, within the circumference of his knowledge, must have their fresh remembrances and powerful sense revived upon his own heart.—Matthew Sylvester (1636-1708), in “Morning Exercises.”

Verse 11.—The soul, when once greatly disturbed, is often not soon calmed, on account of infirmities and remaining corruptions.—Henry March.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—The longing heart and the panting hart compared.

Verses 1, 2.—Those who have enjoyed the presence of God in the public ordinances of religion will greatly desire, if deprived of them, to be favoured with them again.... Prevention from attending the public ordinances of God’s house may be made the means of great benefit to the soul. I. By renewing our relish for the provisions of the Lord’s house, which so soon and so often palls. II. By making us to prize the means of grace more highly. There is, through human degeneracy, a proneness to value things less, however excellent in themselves, because of their being common, or plentiful, or of easy attainment. III. By driving us more directly from God.—H. March.

Verses 1-3.—The home-sickness of the soul. What awakens it in the soul? To what is it directed, or does it point or tend? Wherewith can it be satisfied? By the bitter, but ofttimes wholesome food of tears.—J. P. Lange.

Verse 2.—I. What thirsts? “my soul.” II. For what? “for God.” III. In what way? “when shall I come.” Or, the cause, incentives, excellences, and privileges of spiritual thirst.

Verse 2 (last clause).—The true view of public worship.

Verse 2 (last clause).—Appearance before God here and hereafter.—Isaac Watts, D.D., Two Sermons.

Verse 3.—The believer’s Lent, and its salt meats. I. What causes the sorrow? II. What will remove it? III. What benefit will come of it?

Verses 3, 10.—The carriage of David’s enemies. I. The nature of it, and that was “reproach.” II. The expression of it, “They say unto me.” III. The constancy of it: “daily” or, all the day long. IV. The specification of it, in a scornful and opprobrious question: “Where is (now) thy God?”—Thomas Horton.

Verse 4.—I. It is common for the mind, in seasons of sorrow, to seek relief from the present in recollections of the past. II. In recollections of past enjoyments, those that relate to social worship will be peculiarly dear to the servant of God. III. Man is a social being, hence he derives help from united worship.—H. March.

Verse 4.—“I pour out my soul in me.” The uselessness of mistrustful introspection.

Verse 4.—“I had gone with the multitude,” etc. Company, if it be that which is good, is a very blessed and comfortable accommodation in sundry respects. I. It is an exercise of men’s faculties, and the powers and abilities of the mind. II. It is a fence against danger, and a preservative against sadness and various temptations. III. An opportunity of doing more good.—Thomas Horton.

Verse 4.—“I had gone,” etc. Sunny memories, their lessons of gratitude and hope.

Verse 4 (last clause).—Not Chaucer’s tales of the Canterbury pilgrims, but David’s tales of the Jerusalem pilgrims.

Verse 4.—“With the voice,” etc. Congregational singing defended, extolled, discriminated, and urged.

Verse 5.—Sorrow put to the question, or the Consolatory Catechism.

Verse 5.—The sweetness, safety, and rightness of hope in God. Good grip for the anchor.

Verse 5.—The music of the future, “I shall yet praise him.”

Verse 5.—“The help of his countenance,” or the sustaining power of God’s presence.

Verse 5.—“Why art thou cast down?” I. The mind, even of a holy man may be unduly cast down and disquieted. II. In cases of undue dejection and disquietude the proper remedy is to expostulate with the soul, and to direct it to the only true source of relief. III. Expostulation with the soul in times of distress, is then productive of its proper end, when it leads to an immediate application to God.—H. March.

Verse 5.—An emphasis of enquiry or examination; David calls himself to account for his present passion and trouble of mind. An emphasis of reproof or objurgation; David chides and rebukes himself for his present distemper. “Why art thou thus?”—Thomas Horton.

Verses 5 with 11, or help and health.

Verse 6.—“Remember thee.” The consolation derivable from thoughts of God.

Verse 6.—“Therefore will I remember thee.” There are two ways of understanding this; each of them instructive and profitable.... I. It may be considered as an expression of determined remembrance of God should he ever be found in such places and conditions. Believers can suppose the worst, and yet hope for the best. II. The language may be considered as an expression of encouragement derived from reflection. He had been in these situations and circumstances, and had experienced in them displays of divine providence and grace.—W. Jay.

Verse 6.—Ebenezers many, varied, remembered, helpful.

Verse 7.—“Deep calleth unto deep.” See Spurgeon’s Sermons, No. 865.

Verse 7.—“Deep calleth unto deep.” One evil inviting another. I. The variety of evils—one evil to another. II. The conjunction of evils—one evil with another. III. The connexion of evils, or dependence and mutual reference—one evil upon another.—T. Horton.

Verse 7.—The threefold depth which the saints and servants of God are subject to here in this life. I. The depth of temptation. II. The depth of desertion. III. The depth of affliction and human calamities.—T. Horton.

Verses 7, 8.—In seasons of affliction the servants of God will be distinguished from others by their ready perception and acknowledgment of the hand of God in their trials.—H. March.

Verse 8.—Daily mercy and nightly song; the mercies of sunshine and shade.

Verse 8 (last clause).—The blessed alternation between praise and prayer.

Verse 8.—“God of my life.” Author, sustainer, comforter, object, crown, consummation.

Verse 8.—“The God of my life.” There is a threefold life whereof we partake, and God is the God of each unto us. First, the life of nature; secondly, the life of grace; thirdly, the life of glory.—T. Horton.

Verse 9.—“God my rock.” Appellations of God, suited to circumstances.—H. March.

Verse 9.—“My rock.” See Keach in his metaphors.

Verse 9.—I. Why thou? II. Why I? III. Why he? It is a why to all three, To God, “Why hast thou forgotten me?” To David himself, “Why do I go mourning?” To David’s adversary, whoever he was, “Why does the enemy oppress me?”—T. Horton.

Verse 10.—The most grievous of taunts.

Verse 11.—“My God.” I. It’s a word of interest—“My God,” as in covenant with him. II. A word of compliance—“My God,” as submitting to him. III. A word of affection—“My God,” as taking delight and rejoicing in him.—T. Horton.

Verse 11.—A catechism, a consolation, a commendation.

Verse 11.—I. David’s experience of God. “He is the health, or help of my countenance.” II. His relation to God, and interest in him—“And my God.”—T. Horton.

Footnote 19:

Transcriber's Note: The words of this verse were printed in the wrong order, the transcribed text is a correction.

PSALM XLIII.

SUBJECT.—On account of the similarity of the structure of this Psalm to that of Psalm forty-two, it has been supposed to be a fragment wrongly separated from the preceding song; but it is always dangerous to allow these theories of error in Holy Scripture, and in this instance it would be very difficult to show just cause for such an admission. Why should the Psalm have been broken? Its similarity would have secured its unity had it ever been part and parcel of the forty-second. Is it not far more likely that some in their fancied wisdom united them wrongly in the few MSS. in which they are found as one? We believe the fact is that the style of the poetry was pleasant to the writer, and therefore in after life he wrote this supplemental hymn after the same manner. As an appendix it needed no title. David complains of his enemies, and asks the privilege of communion with God as his surest deliverance from them.

DIVISION.—The Psalmist cries to God in prayer, verses 1-3. Promises praise in the anticipation of an answer, verse 4, and chides himself for his despondency, verse 5.

EXPOSITION.

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.

1. “Judge me, O God.” Others are unable to understand my motives, and unwilling to give me a just verdict. My heart is clear as to its intent, and therefore I bring my case before thee, content that thou wilt impartially weigh my character, and right my wrongs. If thou wilt judge, thy acceptance of my conduct will be enough for me; I can laugh at human misrepresentation if my conscience knows that thou art on my side; thou art the only one I care for; and besides, thy verdict will not sleep, but thou wilt see practical justice done to thy slandered servant. “And plead my cause against an ungodly nation.” One such advocate as the Lord will more than suffice to answer a nation of brawling accusers. When people are ungodly no wonder that they are unjust: those who are not true to God himself cannot be expected to deal rightly with his people. Hating the King they will not love his subjects. Popular opinion weighs with many, but divine opinion is far more weighty with the gracious few. One good word from God outweighs ten thousand railing speeches of men. He bears a brazen shield before him whose reliance in all things is upon his God; the arrows of calumny fall harmlessly from such a buckler. “O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.” Deceit and injustice are boon companions: he who fawns will not fear to slander. From two such devils none can deliver us but God. His wisdom can outwit the craft of the vilest serpent, and his power can overmatch the most raging lion. Whether this was Doeg or Ahithophel is small matter, such double distilled villains are plentiful, and the only way of dealing with them is to refer the matter to the righteous Judge of all; if we try to fight them with their own weapons, we shall suffer more serious injury from ourselves than from them. O child of God, leave these thine enemies in better hands, remembering that vengeance belongeth not to thee, but to the Lord. Turn to him in prayer, crying, “O deliver me,” and ere long you shall publish abroad the remembrance of his salvation.

2. “For.”—Here is argument, which is the very sinew of prayer. If we reasoned more with the Lord we should have more victories in supplication. “Thou art the God of my strength.” All my strength belongs to thee—I will not, therefore, use it on my own behalf against my personal foes. All my strength comes from thee, I therefore seek help from thee, who art able to bestow it. All my strength is in thee, I leave therefore this task of combating my foes entirely in thy hands. Faith which leaves such things alone is wise faith. Note the assurance of David, “thou art,” not I hope and trust so, but I know it is so; we shall find confidence to be our consolation. “Why dost thou cast me off?” Why am I treated as if thou didst loathe me? Am I become an offence unto thee? There are many reasons why the Lord might cast us off, but no reason shall prevail to make him do so. He hath not cast off his people, though he for awhile treats them as cast-offs. Learn from this question that it is well to enquire into dark providences, but we must enquire of God, not of our own fears. He who is the author of a mysterious trial can best expound it to us.

“Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain.”

“Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” Why do I wander hither and thither like a restless spirit? Why wear I the weeds of sorrow on my body, and the lines of grief on my face? Oppression makes a wise man mad; why, Lord, am I called to endure so much of it for so long a time? Here again is a useful question, addressed to the right quarter. The answer will often be because we are saints, and must be made like our Head, and because such sorrow is chastening to the spirit, and yieldeth comfortable fruit. We are not to cross-question the Lord in peevishness, but we may ask of him in humility; God help us to observe the distinction so as not to sin through stress of sorrow.

3. “O send out thy light and thy truth.” The joy of thy presence and the faithfulness of thy heart; let both of these be manifest to me. Reveal my true character by thy light, and reward me according to thy truthful promise. As the sun darts forth his beams, so does the Lord send forth his favour and his faithfulness towards all his people; and as all nature rejoices in the sunshine, even so the saints triumph in the manifestation of the love and fidelity of their God, which, like the golden sunbeam, lights up even the darkest surroundings with delightful splendour. “Let them lead me.” Be these my star to guide me to my rest. Be these my Alpine guides to conduct me over mountains and precipices to the abodes of grace. “Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” First in thy mercy bring me to thine earthly courts, and end my weary exile, and then in due time admit me to thy celestial palace above. We seek not light to sin by, nor truth to be exalted by it, but that they may become our practical guides to the nearest communion with God: only such light and truth as are sent us from God will do this, common light is not strong enough to show the road to heaven, nor will mere moral or physical truths assist to the holy hill; but the light of the Holy Spirit, and the truth as it is in Jesus, these are elevating, sanctifying, perfecting; and hence their virtue in leading us to the glorious presence of God. It is beautiful to observe how David’s longing to be away from the oppression of man always leads him to sigh more intensely for communion with God.

4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O 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.

4. “Then will I go unto the altar of God.” If David might but be favoured with such a deliverance as would permit his return, it would not be his own house of heritage which would be his first resort, but to the altar of God his willing feet should conduct him. His whole heart would go as a sacrifice to the altar, he himself counting it his greatest happiness to be permitted to lie as a burnt offering wholly dedicated to the Lord. With what exultation should believers draw near unto Christ, who is the antitype of the altar! clearer light should give greater intensity of desire. “Unto God my exceeding joy.” It was not the altar as such that the Psalmist cared for, he was no believer in the heathenism of ritualism: his soul desired spiritual fellowship, fellowship with God himself in very deed. What are all the rites of worship unless the Lord be in them; what, indeed, but empty shells and dry husks? Note the holy rapture with which David regards his Lord! He is not his joy alone, but his exceeding joy; not the fountain of joy, the giver of joy, or the maintainer of joy, but that joy itself. The margin hath it, “The gladness of my joy,” i.e., the soul, the essence, the very bowels of my joy. To draw near to God, who is such a joy to us, may well be the object of our hungering and thirsting. “Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee.” His best music for his best love. When God fills us with joy we ought ever to pour it out at his feet in praise, and all the skill and talent we have should be laid under contribution to increase the divine revenue of glory. “O God, my God.” How he dwells upon the name which he loves so well! He already harps on it as though his harp music had begun. What sweeter sounds can music know than these four words? To have God in possession, and to know it by faith, is the heart’s heaven—a fulness of bliss lies therein.

5. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” If God be thine, why this dejection? If he uplifts thee, why art thou so near the ground? The dew of love is falling, O withering heart, revive. “And why art thou disquieted within me?” What cause is there to break the repose of thy heart? Wherefore indulge unreasonable sorrows, which benefit no one, fret thyself, and dishonour thy God? Why overburden thyself with forebodings? “Hope in God,” or “wait for God.” There is need of patience, but there is ground for hope. The Lord cannot but avenge his own elect. The heavenly Father will not stand by and see his children trampled on for ever; as surely as the sun is in the heavens, light must arise for the people of God, though for awhile they may walk in darkness. Why, then, should we not be encouraged, and lift up our head with comfortable hope? “For I shall yet praise him.” Times of complaint will soon end, and seasons of praise will begin. Come, my heart, look out of the window, borrow the telescopic glass, forecast a little, and sweeten thy chamber with sprigs of the sweet herb of hope. “Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” My God will clear the furrows from my brow, and the tear marks from my cheek; therefore will I lift up my head and smile in the face of the storm. The Psalm has a blessed ending, such as we would fain imitate when death puts an end to our mortal existence.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm is evidently a continuation or supplement to the preceding. In some MSS. of Kennicott and de Rossi’s, they are united, and make one Psalm.—George Phillips, B.D.

Verse 1.—“Judge me, O God, and plead my cause,” etc.—Believers may appeal to God’s justice, and plead God’s righteousness. I. Touching suffering wrongs of men. II. Touching sin in relation to God’s wrath. I. Touching suffering wrongs of men, believers may appeal upon these three grounds: 1. The injustice that men do to believers, is as well against God’s just nature, as against the believers’ ease. So their appeals to God are agreeable to God’s enmity against injustice; therefore, his enmity concurs with their appeals. Romans i. 18. 2. Justice in men is according to God’s nature, as well as for the believer’s welfare, and, therefore, the disposition and inclination of God’s nature concurs with their prayers for deliverance. Psalm xi. 7; Luke xxiii. 6, 7. 3. Such wrong God who do wrong his people (2 Chron. xiv. 11; Zech. ii. 8; Acts ix. 4, 5); so that in deliverance God vindicates himself as well as the believers. II. Touching sin in relation to God’s wrath, a true believer may plead God’s justice or righteousness on these three grounds: 1. Christ our Advocate or Attorney so pleads. John xvii. 24, etc. Now, the client may plead the same as the advocate, seeing it is in relation to the same party and the same issue. 2. Christ hath satisfied God’s justice, so that on Christ was laid all the sins of all believers. He was “wounded” for them. Now, God cannot in justice punish twice; therefore, seeing Christ was wounded, believers must be healed. Isaiah liii. 3. Believers have God’s righteousness imputed to them (2 Cor. v.); therefore, God must deal with believers as he will deal with his own righteousness.

Useful is this doctrine two ways. I. For terror to the enemies of believers. How many prevailing cries to the justice of God are against such enemies? 1. Their own sins cry. 2. Believers’ injuries cry. 3. Believers’ prayers cry. 4. Christ’s intercession cries over again their prayers and desires (Rev. vi. 9 compared with Rev. viii. 3). II. The second use is for comfort to believers, that as God’s mercy is for them, so is his justice to deliver them, not only from men, but from sin; and in and through Christ they may humbly plead justice as against sinners, so against sin; not only against the guilt but against the power, that seeing Christ died, sin should not live.—Condensed from Nathanael Homes, 1652.

Verse 1.—“Ungodly ... deceitful ... unjust.” There are ungodly men who, being destitute of religious principle, will not scruple to injure us, when they can thereby gratify their passions or advance their worldly interests. There are deceitful men who will put on the garb of friendship, and acquire our confidence and esteem, and then treacherously cheat us out of our property, or our reputation, or our peace. There are unjust men, who by fraud or by violence, would rob us of our dearest rights and most valuable possessions, and not only reduce our powers and opportunities of doing good, but even diminish our means of comfortable subsistence. And there are oppressors, who taking advantage of our weakness or dependence, and trampling alike on the maxims of equity and humanity, may exact from us unreasonable services, impose upon us heavy burdens and cruel restraints, and ply us with insults, and harrassments, and deprivations, from which we can make no escape, and for which we can find no redress.—Andrew Thomson, D.D., in “Lectures on Portions of the Psalms,” 1826.

Verse 2.—“Thou art the God of my strength.” The godly man hath from God a threefold strength, namely: natural, providential, and spiritual. I. Natural, Acts xvii. 28. This is twofold: of body, of mind. Of robustness, hardness, and agility of body; of wit, invention, and valour of mind. Now, these donations of corporal and mental natural endowments are God’s gifts. Psalm xviii. 43, 39.... II. Providential strength, which is threefold: 1. God’s donation of strengthening mercies. (1) Corporal: wine to make glad, and bread to strengthen. Psalm civ. 15. (2) Mental, common gifts; as Paul had a singular gift of language and single life; Apollos of elocution, argument, power of convincing. 2. Providential strength is God’s making way for his people to act and put forth their strength. Psalm lxxviii. 50. 3. Providential strength is God’s concurrence with our lawful human acting. Psalm xviii. 29.

III. The third sort of power is spiritual: God is the godly man’s spiritual power. 1 John ii. 14: “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong,” namely, with spiritual strength, for it follows, “The word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” This is the main strength of a godly man; as that text hints, namely, young men are naturally strong, but St. John takes no notice of that, but commends them for their spiritual strength. This spiritual strength is from the word of the Spirit, and from the Spirit of the word, that is, from the Spirit accompanying the word. 1. From the word of the Spirit, the word of God. Psalm cxix. 50: “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.” To be “quickened,” i.e., enlivened, is to be full of vigour and spirit and to act mightily, and to “comfort” is, as the word signifies, to make strong; for when a man is most cheerful with sobriety, he is most strong. St. John in that place fore-quoted, saith the young men to whom he wrote were strong because the word of God abode in them. For (Prov. xii. 25) “whereas sorrow in the heart of man maketh it stoop”—makes it sickly, weak, drooping—“a good word maketh it glad,” cheerful, strong, vigorous. And so if the word of a wise friend, how much more the word of God, with its many strengthening promises? Psalm xx. 2; cxix. 28. The word of God is the very mind and will of God, and power of God, and with the word God created the world, therefore, he that receives this word must needs receive a great deal of strength. Romans i. 16.

2. The Spirit of the word, the Holy Spirit that useth to accompany the word to them that receive it. By his Spirit God is in a believer (1 Cor. vi. 9; Eph. ii.); and this is the spirit of strength and power. Eph. iii. 16; 2 Tim. i. 7. As a powerful, active soul makes a vigorous body, so the Spirit in the soul makes the soul powerful and strong, being the soul of the soul of a believer. We read more than once or twice in the Scriptures, that when believers did any eminent act, it is said, the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they did so and so, i.e., the Spirit of God in them did then put forth its power to make them act powerfully.—Condensed from Nathanael Homes.

Verse 3.—“O send out thy light and thy truth.” Possibly there may be an allusion to the Urim and Thummim, as the symbol of light and truth.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 3.—“Light and Truth.” Delightful and all-comprehensive words. They contain all the salvation and all the desire of a believing, confiding soul. But it is only when thus combined—separated they are no longer a ground of trust and joy. For what would favour avail without faithfulness? It would be no more than the uncertain friendship of men, who smile to-day and reproach to-morrow; who make large promises, but do not perform them. Even the “light” which angels and glorified spirits enjoy in heaven would be insufficient to banish all fear and to fill them with satisfaction, were it not for their confidence in the “truth” of God. How much more, then, must this be the case with erring, sinful mortals on earth? When the humble spirit is bowed down under a sense of its utter unworthiness and innumerable weaknesses and defilements, its negligences, follies, and wanderings, what should save from despair but the confidence that he who has been merciful will also be faithful; that God is truth as well as light; that he hath said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee;” that he “cannot lie,” and that, therefore, “his mercy endureth for ever”? On the other hand, truth without light, faithfulness without grace, would be only the dreadful execution of terrible but just denunciations on the transgressors of the holy law. “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Adam ate, and in that day became the subject of sin and death. This was truth executing judgment. But light arose around the darkness; beams of mercy tempered the heavy cloud. The promise of the Great Deliverer was given; then faithfulness was enlisted on the side of grace, and became engaged for its bestowment; “mercy and truth met together; righteousness and peace kissed each other.” Since then, all humble and trusting souls have beheld them united, and have made their union the ground of their confidence and joy.—Henry March.

Verse 3.—“Thy tabernacles.” There were two tabernacles, one at Zion, where the ark stood, and another at Gibeon. 1 Chron. xvi. 37, 39. It is not to this fact that the Psalmist alludes, however, but to the circumstance, in all probability of the different parts of the tabernacle. There was, first the holiest of all, then the sanctuary, and then the tabernacle of the convocation. Heb. ix. 1-8.—John Morison.

Verse 4.—“Then will I go unto the altar of God.” Let us remember that the approach to God in the holy place is by means of the altar, whence eternally ascendeth the fragrance and the preciousness of the one whole, perfect burnt-offering, and where for ever and ever the divine holiness resteth and feedeth with its pure fire with infinite satisfaction, with inconceivable delight. Oh, what a holy, a divine, a wondrous place is this “altar of God!” That altar now means all the value and everlasting efficacy of the one offering of Christ unto God for us; and it is in the full power and blessedness thereof that we draw nigh to God. To this point, to this unspeakably blessed position, the light and the truth of God will attract the child of God. Toward this altar all the rays of the light of divine favour and grace, and of divine truth, and holiness, have from eternity converged; and from this point they shine forth toward and upon the soul and heart of the poor, far-off penitent, attracting him to that altar where he may meet his God. Let us then come to the altar of God; let us enter the cloud of holy incense that filleth the tabernacle of the Most High; let us realise how perfectly God is satisfied with that which Christ has done, with his obedience in dying to meet the claims of divine justice on the sinner, and to complete the perfect surrender of himself as our “exceeding joy,” even the gladness of our joy, the heart, essence, substance, and reality of our joy.—John Offord, 1868.

Verse 4.—“Then will I go unto the altar of God.” He would with cheerfulness run and offer up the sacrifices of thanksgiving to his gracious deliverer; he would take his own soul as the burnt-offering, and kindle and burn it up with the fire of a vigorous love and raised affections terminating upon God, the flames whereof should ascend to him alone.... “Unto God my exceeding joy,” or, as the Hebrew is more exactly translated, unto God the gladness of his joy—that which gave a relish to every other comfort, which was the soul and life of his pleasures, and could only make them real and lasting; it was God who raised his joy to fulness of satisfaction and contentment.—William Dunlop.

Verse 4.—“Then will I go ... unto God.” The expression of going to God implies SUBMISSION and FRIENDSHIP. I. Submission. I will go and pay my homage to him, as my Sovereign; I will go and hear what he says; I will go and receive his orders. II. Friendship. I will go and consult him, and converse with him as a friend; and be thankful that, in such a troublesome and ensnaring world, I have such a friend to advise with. 1. I will go and tell him my griefs; how greatly I am distressed with some particular disorder in my body, or with some disturbance in my family, or with some disappointment in my worldly circumstances, or (which is worse than all of them together) with a sad darkness in my soul. 2. I will go and tell him my joys, for even in this vale of tears “my heart is” sometimes “glad, and my glory rejoiceth.” 3. I will go and tell him of my sins. He knows them, indeed, already, but he shall hear them from me. 4. I will go and tell him my fears; how greatly I am distressed at times, when I perceive this or the other corruption so strong, which I thought had received its death wound ... how I tremble when I have by my folly provoked the Lord to leave me, for fear he will never return again, etc. 5. I will go and tell him my hopes, for some hope I have amidst all my discouragements.... I will go and tell him all this; I will unbosom and unburthen my whole heart to him; and if my necessities did not drive me to him, I should go to him from inclination.—Condensed from Samuel Lavington.

Verse 4.—“Unto God.” Believers are not satisfied in the use of religious duties, unless they arrive at God himself in those duties. We speak not here of that arrival at God himself which is by and after all duties, to a beatifical vision of God in glory, but we speak of that arrival at God himself which is to be had in duties, while we are in the exercise of duties; namely, to attain to God’s special presence in them, in an actual communion, communication and conversing with God, so that we are spiritually sensible he is with us therein. I say God’s special presence and actual communion, to distinguish it from that ordinary habitual presence and communion of God’s being with a believer at all times. John xiv. 16.—Nathanael Homes.

Verse 4.—“My exceeding joy.” The Psalmist might well call God his exceeding joy, for it infinitely exceeds all other joy in its nature, degree, and duration.—Samuel Lavington.

Verse 4.—“My exceeding joy.” As faith acquires more strength we come to think of God and address him in more endearing terms.—J. P. Lange.

Verse 4.—“Exceeding joy.” This can be said of no other joy. All other beauties have their boundaries, all other glories have their glooms. This is that illimitable sea, God.—E. Paxton Hood.

Verse 5.—“Why art thou cast down O my soul.” He comes to his former remedy; he had stilled his grief once before with the same meditation and upbraiding of his own soul, and chiding himself; but he comes to it here as a probatum est, as a tried remedy; he takes up his soul very short, “Why art thou so cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” You see how David’s passions here are interlaced with comforts, and his comforts with passions, till at last he gets the victory of his own heart. Beloved, neither sin nor grief for sin, are stilled and quieted at the first. You have some short-spirited Christians, if all be not quiet at the first, all is lost with them; but it is not so with a true Christian soul, with the best soul living. It was not so with David when he was in distemper; he checks himself, the distemper was not yet stilled; he checks himself again, then the distemper breaks out again; he checks himself again, and all little enough to bring his soul to a holy, blessed, quiet, temper, to that blessed tranquillity and rest that the soul should be in before it can enjoy its own happiness, and enjoy sweet communion with God. As you see in physic, perhaps one purge will not carry away the peccant humour, then a second must be added; perhaps that will not do it, then there must be a third; so when the soul hath been once checked, perhaps it will not do, we must fall to it again, go to God again. And then it may be there will be breaking out of the grief and malady again; we must to it again, and never give over, that is the right temper of a Christian.—Richard Sibbes.

Verse 5.—“Hope in God.” The more terrible the storm, the more necessary is the anchor. Heb. vi. 19.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 5.—“Hope in God.” The complete and perfect state of God’s children here is not in re, but in spe: as Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, so is not our hope. The worldling’s motto is, “a bird in the hand.” Give me to-day, say they, and take to-morrow whoso will. But the word of believers is, spero meliora—my hopes are better than my present possessions.—Elnathan Parr.

Verse 5.—The varied conflicts of the soul afford occasion for the exercise of the graces, and thus, through the divine wisdom and goodness, are made the means of eventual good.—Henry March.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—We apply to God—I. As our Judge: “Judge me.” II. As our Advocate: “Plead my cause.” III. As our Deliverer: “O deliver me.”

Verse 1.—Popular opinion outweighed by divine approbation.

Verse 1.—How the Lord pleads the cause of his people.

Verse 1.—Deceit and injustice twin vipers; their origin, their character, their folly, their end.

Verses 1, 2, 4, 5.—Five mys: 1. My cause—“plead it.” 2. My strength—“thou art.” 3. My joy—God is. 4. My soul—“why disquieted.” 5. My God.

Verse 2.—“The God of my strength.” From whom it is derived, to whom it is dedicated, in whom it resides, by whom it shall be perfected.

Verse 2 (first clause).—1. From thee it comes. 2. By thee it is sustained. 3. To thee it is dedicated. 4. By thee it will be perfected. 5. By thee it will be rewarded. Verse 2 (second clause).—I. The nature of apparent forsaking. Painful, protracted, perplexing. II. The cause of it. Secret sin to be laid bare, past sin chastised, graces tried, faith ultimately strengthened, etc. III. The best conduct under it. Appeal to God, confess, submit, pray, trust, etc.

Verse 2 (last clause).—The two “whys.” The questions themselves; the spirit in which they may be asked. The answers which may be given.

Verse 3.—“O send out thy light and thy truth.” I. What is truth? II. How truth is to be diffused. III. Why it should be diffused. IV. Who must be the main agent of it.—Varied from Dr. Bogue. 1800.

Verse 3.—The blessings desired; the guidance sought; the end longed for.

Verse 3.—Under what influence we should resort to divine worship.

Verse 4.—I. The good man’s duty—expressed by going to God. II. His blessedness—expressed by rejoicing in God.—Samuel Lavington.

Verse 4 (first clause).—When? “Then.” Where? “Altar of God.” Who? “I.” Why? “My exceeding joy.”

Verse 4 (second clause).—It is God alone who can be an exceeding joy to his creatures.—W. Dunlop’s Sermons.

Verse 4.—The joy of joy. The soul of soul joy.

Verse 4.—The great object of public worship, its bliss, and the praise resulting from attaining it.

Verse 4.—I. The medium of joy, the altar of God, or God in Christ Jesus. II. The springs of joy, or the attributes of God—mercy, justice, power, holiness, as seen in the atonement. III. The value of joy, as comfort, strength, etc.

Verse 4.—“God my exceeding joy.” A most rich and precious title.

Verse 4 (last clause).—Possession, praise, resolution.

Verse 5.—Discouragement’s recovery.—R. Sibbes’s Sermons.

Verse 5.—“I shall yet praise him.” I, even I; shall sooner or later, most assuredly; “yet,” despite troubles, foes, devils; “praise” with gratitude, confidence, exultation; “him” above all other helpers, though now afflicting me.

Verse 5.—“Health of my countenance,” removing that which mars it—sin, shame, fear, care, sorrow, weakness, etc.

PSALM XLIV

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.—The title is similar to the forty-second, and although this is no proof that it is by the same author it makes it highly probable. No other writer should be sought for to father any of the Psalms when David will suffice, and therefore we are loth to ascribe this sacred song to any but the great Psalmist, yet as we hardly know any period of his life which it would fairly describe, we feel compelled to look elsewhere. Some Israelitish patriot fallen on evil times, sings in mingled faith and sorrow, his country’s ancient glory and her present griefs, her traditions of former favour and her experience of pressing ills. By Christians it can best be understood if put into the mouth of the church when persecution is peculiarly severe. The last verses remind us of Milton’s famous lines on the Massacre of the Protestants among the mountains of Piedmont.

The song before us is fitted for the voices of the saved by grace, the sons of Korah, and is to them and to all others full of teaching, hence the title Maschil.

DIVISION.—From 1-3, the Lord’s mighty works for Israel are rehearsed, and in remembrance of them faith in the Lord is expressed 4-8. Then the notes of complaint are heard 9-16, the fidelity of the people to their God is avowed, 17-22, and the Lord is entreated to interpose, 23-26.

EXPOSITION.

We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told 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.

1. “We have heard with our ears, O God.” Thy mighty acts have been the subjects of common conversation; not alone in books have we read thy famous deeds, but in the ordinary talk of the people we have heard of them. Among the godly Israelites the biography of their nation was preserved by oral tradition, with great diligence and accuracy. This mode of preserving and transmitting history has its disadvantages, but it certainly produces a more vivid impression on the mind than any other; to hear with the ears affects us more sensitively than to read with the eyes; we ought to note this, and seize every possible opportunity of telling abroad the gospel of our Lord Jesus viva voce, since this is the most telling mode of communication. The expression, “heard with our ears,” may denote the pleasure with which they listened, the intensity of their interest, the personality of their hearing, and the lively remembrance they had of the romantic and soul-stirring narrative. Too many have ears but hear not; happy are they who, having ears, have learned to hear.

“Our fathers have told us.” They could not have had better informants. Schoolmasters are well enough, but godly fathers are, both by the order of nature and grace, the best instructors of their sons, nor can they delegate the sacred duty. It is to be feared that many children of professors could plead very little before God of what their fathers have told them. When fathers are tongue-tied religiously with their offspring, need they wonder if their children’s hearts remain sin-tied? Just as in all free nations men delight to gather around the hearth, and tell the deeds of valour of their sires “in the brave days of old,” so the people of God under the old dispensation made their families cheerful around the table, by rehearsing the wondrous doings of the Lord their God. Religious conversation need not be dull, and indeed it could not be if, as in this case, it dealt more with facts and less with opinions. “What work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.” They began with what their own eyes had witnessed, and then passed on to what were the traditions of their youth. Note that the main point of the history transmitted from father to son was the work of God; this is the core of history, and therefore no man can write history aright who is a stranger to the Lord’s work. It is delightful to see the footprints of the Lord on the sea of changing events, to behold him riding on the whirlwind of war, pestilence, and famine, and above all to see his unchanging care for his chosen people. Those who are taught to see God in history have learned a good lesson from their fathers, and no son of believing parents should be left in ignorance of so holy an art. A nation tutored as Israel was in a history so marvellous as their own, always had an available argument in pleading with God for aid in trouble, since he who never changes gives in every deed of grace a pledge of mercy yet to come. The traditions of our past experience are powerful pleas for present help.

2. “How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand.” The destruction of the Canaanites from the promised land is the work here brought to remembrance. A people numerous, warlike, gigantic and courageous, firmly established and strongly fortified, were driven out by a far feebler nation because the Lord was against them in the fight. It is clear from Scripture that God sent a plague (so that the land ate up the inhabitants thereof) and also a visitation of hornets against the Canaanites, and by other means dispirited them, so that the easy victories of Joshua were but the results of God’s having worked beforehand against the idolatrous nation. “And plantedst them.” The tribes of Israel were planted in the places formerly occupied by the heathen. Hivites and Jebusites were chased from their cities to make room for Ephraim and Judah. The Great Wonderworker tore up by the roots the oaks of Bashan, that he might plant instead thereof his own chosen “vineyard of red wine.” “How thou didst afflict the people.” With judgments and plagues the condemned nations were harassed, by fire and sword they were hunted to the death, till they were all expelled, and the enemies of Israel were banished far away. “And cast them out.” This most probably refers to Israel and should be read, “caused them to increase.” He who troubled his enemies smiled on his friends; he meted out vengeance to the ungodly nations, but he reserved of his mercy for the chosen tribes. How fair is mercy when she stands by the side of justice! Bright beams the star of grace amid the night of wrath! It is a solemn thought that the greatness of divine love has its counterpart in the greatness of his indignation. The weight of mercy bestowed on Israel is balanced by the tremendous vengeance which swept the thousands of Amorites and Hittites down to hell with the edge of the sword. Hell is as deep as heaven is high, and the flame of Tophet is as everlasting as the blaze of the celestial glory. God’s might, as shown in deeds both of mercy and justice, should be called to mind in troublous times as a stay to our fainting faith.

3. “For they got not the land in possession by their own sword.” Behold how the Lord alone was exalted in bringing his people to the land which floweth with milk and honey! He, in his distinguishing grace, had put a difference between Canaan and Israel, and therefore, by his own effectual power, he wrought for his chosen and against their adversaries. The tribes fought for their allotments, but their success was wholly due to the Lord who wrought with them. The warriors of Israel were not inactive, but their valour was secondary to that mysterious, divine working by which Jericho’s walls fell down, and the hearts of the heathen failed them for fear. The efforts of all the men-at-arms were employed, but as these would have been futile without divine succour, all the honour is ascribed unto the Lord. The passage may be viewed as a beautiful parable of the work of salvation; men are not saved without prayer, repentance, etc., but none of these save a man, salvation is altogether of the Lord. Canaan was not conquered without the armies of Israel, but equally true is it that it was not conquered by them; the Lord was the conqueror, and the people were but instruments in his hands. “Neither did their own arm save them.” They could not ascribe their memorable victories to themselves; he who made sun and moon stand still for them was worthy of all their praise. A negative is put both upon their weapons and themselves as if to show us how ready men are to ascribe success to second causes. “But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance.” The divine hand actively fought for them, the divine arm powerfully sustained them with more than human energy, and the divine smile inspired them with dauntless courage. Who could not win with such triple help, though earth, death, and hell should rise in war against him? What mattered the tallness of the sons of Anak, or the terror of their chariots of iron, they were as nothing when Jehovah arose for the avenging of Israel.

“Because thou hadst a favour unto them.” Here is the fountain from whence every stream of mercy flows. The Lord’s delight in his people, his peculiar affection, his distinguishing regard—this is the mainspring which moves every wheel of a gracious providence. Israel was a chosen nation, hence their victories and the scattering of their foes; believers are an elect people, hence their spiritual blessings and conquests. There was nothing in the people themselves to secure them success, the Lord’s favour alone did it, and it is ever so in our case, our hope of final glory must not rest on anything in ourselves, but on the free and sovereign favour of the Lord of Hosts.

4 Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances 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.

4. “Thou art my King, O God.” Knowing right well thy power and grace my heart is glad to own thee for her sovereign prince. Who among the mighty are so illustrious as thou art? To whom, then, should I yield my homage or turn for aid? God of my fathers in the olden time, thou art my soul’s monarch and liege Lord. “Command deliverances for Jacob.” To whom should a people look but to their king? he it is who, by virtue of his office, fights their battles for them. In the case of our King, how easy it is for him to scatter all our foes! O Lord, the King of kings, with what ease canst thou rescue thy people; a word of thine can do it, give but the command and thy persecuted people shall be free. Jacob’s long life was crowded with trials and deliverances, and his descendants are here called by his name, as if to typify the similarity of their experience to that of their great forefather. He who would win the blessings of Israel must share the sorrows of Jacob. This verse contains a personal declaration and an intercessory prayer; those can pray best who make most sure of their personal interest in God, and those who have the fullest assurance that the Lord is their God should be the foremost to plead for the rest of the tried family of the faithful.

5. “Through thee will we push down our enemies.” The fight was very close, bows were of no avail, and swords failed to be of service, it came to daggers drawing, and hand to hand wrestling, pushing and tugging. Jacob’s God was renewing in the seed of Jacob their father’s wrestling. And how fared it with faith then? Could she stand foot to foot with her foe and hold her own? Yea, verily, she came forth victorious from the encounter, for she is great at a close push, and overthrows all her adversaries, the Lord being her helper.

“Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.” The Lord’s name served instead of weapons, and enabled those who used it to leap on their foes and crush them with jubilant valour. In union and communion with God, saints work wonders; if God be for us, who can be against us? Mark well that all the conquests of these believers are said to be “through thee,” “through thy name:” never let us forget this, lest going a warfare at our own charges, we fail most ignominiously. Let us not, however, fall into the equally dangerous sin of distrust, for the Lord can make the weakest of us equal to any emergency. Though to-day we are timid and defenceless as sheep, he can by his power make us strong as the firstling of his bullock, and cause us to push as with the horns of unicorns, until those who rose up against us shall be so crushed and battered as never to rise again. Those who of themselves can scarcely keep their feet, but like little babes totter and fall, are by divine assistance made to overthrow their foes, and set their feet upon their necks. Read Christian’s fight with Apollyon, and see how

“The man so bravely played the man He made the fiend to fly.”

6. “For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.” Thy people Israel, under thy guidance, shouldered out the heathen, and gained their land, not by skill of weapons or prowess of arms, but by thy power alone; therefore will we renounce for ever all reliance upon outward confidences, of which other men make such boast, and we will cast ourselves upon the omnipotence of our God. Bows having been newly introduced by king Saul, were regarded as very formidable weapons in the early history of Israel, but they are here laid aside together with the all-conquering sword, in order that there may be room for faith in the living God. This verse, in the first person singular, may serve as the confession of faith of every believer renouncing his own righteousness and strength, and looking alone to the Lord Jesus. O for grace to stand to this self-renunciation, for, alas! our proud nature is all too apt to fix its trust on the puffed-up and supposititious power of the creature. Arm of flesh, how dare I trust thee? How dare I bring upon myself the curse of those who rely upon a man?

7. “But thou hast saved us from our enemies.” In ages past all our rescues have been due to thee, O God. Never hast thou failed us. Out of every danger thou hast brought us. “And hast put them to shame that hated us.” With the back of thy saving hand thou hast given them a cuff which has made them hide their faces; thou hast defeated them in such a manner as to make them ashamed of themselves to be overthrown by such puny adversaries as they thought the Israelites to be. The double action of God in blessing his people and confounding his enemies is evermore to be observed; Pharaoh is drowned, while Israel passes through the sea; Amalek is smitten, while the tribes rejoice; the heathen are chased from their abodes while the sons of Jacob rest beneath their vine and fig-tree.

8. “In God we boast all the day long.” We have abundant reason for doing so while we recount his mighty acts. What blessed boasting is this! it is the only sort of boasting that is bearable. All other manna bred worms and stank except that which was laid up before the Lord, and all other boasting is loathsome save this glorying in the Lord, which is laudable and pleasing. “And praise thy name for ever.” Praise should be perpetual. If there were no new acts of love, yet ought the Lord to be praised for what he has done for his people. High let the song be lifted up as we bring to remembrance the eternal love which chose us, predestinated us to be sons, redeemed us with a price, and then enriched us with all the fulness of God.

“Selah.”—A pause comes in fitly here, when we are about to descend from the highest to the lowest key. No longer are we to hear Miriam’s timbrel, but rather Rachel’s weeping.

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 us spoil for themselves.

11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and has scattered us among the heathen.

12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.

13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them 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 hath covered me,

16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.

9. “But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame.” Here the patriot bard begins to contrast the past glories of the nation’s history with its present sadness and distress; which he does not ascribe to the death of some human champion, or to the accidents of war, but solely and alone to the withdrawal of Israel’s God. It seemed to the mourner that Jehovah had grown weary of his people and put them away in abhorrence, as men lay aside leprous garments, loathing the sight of them. To show his displeasures he had made his people to be ridiculed by the heathen, whose easy victories over their largest armies covered Israel with disgrace. Alas! for a church and people when the Lord in the active energy of his Spirit withdraws from them, they want no greater shame or sorrow. He will not cast away his people finally and totally, but many a church has been left to defeat and disgrace on account of sin, and therefore all churches should be exceedingly watchful lest the like should happen to themselves. Poverty and distress bring no shame on a people, but the Lord’s absence takes from a church everything which can exalt and ennoble. “And goest not forth with our armies.” If the Lord be not the leader, of what avail are strong battalions? Vain are the combined efforts of the most zealous workers if God’s arm be not revealed. May none of us in our churches have to mourn over the ministry, the Sabbath school, the missionary work, the visiting, the street preaching, left to be carried out without the divine aid. If our great ally will not go with us our defeat is inevitable.

10. “Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy.” The humiliating consciousness that the Lord has left them soon makes men cowards. Flight closes the fight of those who have not the Lord in the van. “And they which hate us spoil for themselves.” After defeat and retreat, comes spoliation. The poor, vanquished nation paid a terrible penalty for being overcome; plunder and murder desolated the conquered land, and the invaders loaded themselves with every precious thing which they could carry away. In spiritual experience we know what it is to be despoiled by our enemies; doubts and fears rob us of our comforts, and terrible forebodings spoil us of our hopes; and all because the Lord, for wise purposes, sees fit to leave us to ourselves. Alas! for the deserted soul; no calamity can equal the sorrow of being left of God, though it be but for a small moment.

11. “Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat.” As sheep are slaughtered for food, so were the people slain in flocks, with ease, and frequency. Not with the dignity of sacrifice, but with the cruelty of the shambles, were they put to death. God appeared to give them up like sheep allotted to the butcher, to abandon them as the hireling abandons the flock to wolves. The plaint is bitterly eloquent. “And hast scattered us among the heathen.” Many were carried into captivity, far off from the public worship of the temple of God, to pine as exiles among idolaters. All this is ascribed to the Lord as being allowed by him, and even appointed by his decree. It is well to trace the hand of God in our sorrows, for it is surely there.

12. “Thou sellest thy people for nought.” As men sell merchandise to any one who cares to have it, so the Lord seemed to hand over his people to any nation who might choose to make war upon them. Meanwhile no good result was perceptible from all the miseries of Israel; so far as the Psalmist could discover, the Lord’s name received no honour from the sorrows of his people; they were given away to their foes as if they were so little valued as not to be worth the ordinary price of slaves, and the Lord did not care to gain by them so long as they did but suffer. The woe expressed in this line is as vinegar mingled with gall: the expression is worthy of the weeping prophet. “And dost not increase thy wealth by their price.” If Jehovah had been glorified by all this wretchedness it could have been borne patiently, but it was the reverse; the Lord’s name had, through the nation’s calamities, been despised by the insulting heathen, who counted the overthrow of Israel to be the defeat of Jehovah himself. It always lightens a believer’s trouble when he can see that God’s great name will be honoured thereby, but it is a grievous aggravation of misery when we appear to be tortured in vain. For our comfort let us rest satisfied that in reality the Lord is glorified, and when no revenue of glory is manifestly rendered to him, he none the less accomplishes his own secret purposes, of which the grand result will be revealed in due time. We do not suffer for nought, nor are our griefs without result.

13. “Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours.” Scorn is always an intensely bitter ingredient in the cup of the oppressed. The taunts and jeers of the victors pain the vanquished almost as much as their swords and spears. It was a mystery indeed that God should suffer his royal nation, his peculiar people, to be taunted by all who dwelt near them. “A scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.” The down-trodden people had become a common jest; “as base as Israel,” cried the cruel tongue of the tyrant: so ordinary had the scorn become that the neighbouring nations, though perhaps equally oppressed, borrowed the language of the conquerors, and joined in the common mockery. To be a derision to both strong and weak, superiors, equals, and inferiors, is hard to bear. The tooth of scoffing bites to the bone. The Psalmist sets forth the brutality of the enemy in many words, in order to move the pity of the Lord, to whose just anger he traced all the sorrows of his people; he used the very best of arguments, for the sufferings of his chosen touch the heart of God far more readily than any other reasonings. Blessed be his name, our great Advocate above knows how to avail himself of this powerful plea, and if we are at this hour enduring reproach for truth’s sake, he will urge it before the eternal throne; and shall not God avenge his own elect? A father will not long endure to see his children despitefully entreated; he may put up with it for a little, but his love will speedily arouse his anger, and then it will fare ill with the persecutor and reviler.

14 “Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.” The lamentation is here repeated. They had sunk so low that none did them reverence, but universally and publicly they were treated as infamous and despicable. Those who reviled others dragged in Israel’s name by the way as a garnish to their insults, and if perchance they saw one of the seed of Jacob in the street they used lewd gestures to annoy him. Those whose heads were emptiest wagged them at the separated people. They were the common butts of every fool’s arrow. Such has been the lot of the righteous in ages past, such is their portion in a measure now, such may be yet again their heritage in the worst sense. The world knows not its nobility, it has no eye for true excellence: it found a cross for the Master, and cannot be expected to award crowns to his disciples.

15. “My confusion is continually before me.” The poet makes himself the representative of his nation, and declares his own constant distress of soul. He is a man of ill-blood who is unconcerned for the sorrows of the church of which he is a member, or the nation of which he is a citizen; the better the heart the greater its sympathy. “And the shame of my face hath covered me.” One constant blush, like a crimson mantle, covered him both before God and man, he felt before God that the divine desertion was well deserved, and before man, that he and his people were despicable indeed now that heavenly help was gone. It is well for a nation when there still exists in it men who lay to heart its sin and shame. God will have pity on his chastened ones, and it is a pledge thereof when he sends us choice ministers, men of tenderness, who make the people’s case their own.

16. “For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth.” It seems that from mocking the people of God, the adversaries advanced to reviling God himself, they proceeded from persecution to the sin which is next of kin, namely blasphemy. “By reason of the enemy and avenger.” The enemy boasted of avenging the defeats of their forefathers; they took revenge for the ancient victories of Israel, by insulting over the now fallen people. Here was a sad plight for a nation to be placed in, but it was by no means a hopeless case, for the Lord who brought all this evil upon them could with equal ease release them from it. So long as Israel looked alone to her God, and not to her own arm, no foe could retain her beneath his foot; she must arise, for God was on her side.

17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.

18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our 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.

17. “All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee.” Here the Psalmist urges that Israel had not turned away from her allegiance to Jehovah. When in the midst of many griefs we can still cling to God in loving obedience, it must be well with us. True fidelity can endure rough usage. Those who follow God for what they get, will leave him when persecution is stirred up, but not so the sincere believer; he will not forget his God, even though the worst come to the worst. “Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.” No idol was set up, the ordained worship was not relinquished, God was still nationally acknowledged, and therefore the Psalmist is more earnest that the Lord should interpose. This and the succeeding verses are suitable for the lips of martyrs, indeed the entire Psalm might be called the martyr’s complaint. Not for sin but for righteousness did the saints suffer, not for falsehood but for truth, not for forsaking the Lord but for following hard after him. Sufferings of such a sort may be very terrible, but they are exceedingly honourable, and the comforts of the Lord shall sustain those who are accounted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake.

18. “Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way.” Heart and life were agreed, and both were true to the Lord’s way. Neither within nor without had the godly sufferers offended; they were not absolutely perfect, but they were sincerely free from all wilful transgression. It was a healthy sign for the nation that her prophet-poet could testify to her uprightness before God, both in heart and act; far oftener the case would have worn quite another colour, for the tribes were all too apt to set up other gods and forsake the rock of their salvation.

19. “Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons.” Though utterly crushed and rendered desolate and driven as it were to associate with creatures such as jackals, owls, serpents, which haunt deserted ruins, yet Israel remained faithful. To be true to a smiting God, even when the blows lay our joys in ruinous heaps, is to be such as the Lord delighteth in. Better to be broken by God than from God. Better to be in the place of dragons than of deceivers. “And covered us with the shadow of death.” The language is very strong. The nation is described as completely enveloped in the dense darkness of despair and death, covered up as though coffined in hopelessness. Yet the claim is made that they still remained mindful of their God, and a glorious plea it is. Better death than false of faith. Those who are true to God shall never find him false to them.

20. An appeal is now made to the omniscience of God; he is himself called in to bear witness that Israel had not set up another god. “If we have forgotten the name of our God.” This would be the first step in apostasy; men first forget the true, and then adore the false. “Or stretched out our hands to a strange god.” Stretching out the hands was the symbol of adoration or of entreaty in prayer; this they had not offered to any of the idols of the heathen.

21. “Shall not God search this out?” Could such idolatry be concealed from him? Would he not with holy indignation have detected unfaithfulness to itself, even had it been hidden in the heart and unrevealed in the life? “For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.” He is acquainted with the inner workings of the mind, and therefore this could not have escaped him. Not the heart only which is secret, but the secrets of the heart, which are secrets of the most secret thing, are as open to God as a book to a reader. The reasoning is that the Lord himself knew the people to be sincerely his followers, and therefore was not visiting them for sin; hence, then, affliction evidently came from quite another cause.

22. “Yea,” i.e., assuredly, certainly, “for thy sake,” not for our offences, but for obeying thee; the trials of these suppliants came upon them because they were loyal to their God. “Are we killed all the day long.” Persecution never ceased to hound them to the death, they had no respite and found no door of escape; and all in God’s behalf, because they would not forsake their covenant God and King. “We are counted as sheep for the slaughter;” as if we were only meant to be killed, and made on purpose to be victims; as if it were as easy and as innocent a thing to slay us as to slaughter sheep. In this and following verses we clearly hear the martyr’s cry. From Piedmont and Smithfield, from St. Bartholomew’s massacre and the dragoonades of Claverhouse, this appeal goes up to heaven, while the souls under the altar continue their solemn cry for vengeance. Not long shall the church plead in this fashion, her shame shall be recompensed, her triumph shall dawn.

23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.

24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.

26 Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.

23. “Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?” God sleepeth not, but the Psalmist puts it so, as if on no other theory he could explain the divine inaction. He would fain see the great Judge ending oppression and giving peace to the holy, therefore does he cry “Awake;” he cannot understand why the reign of tyranny and the oppression of virtue are permitted, and therefore he enquires, “Why sleepest thou?” Arise. This is all thou needest to do, one move of thine will save us. “Cast us not off for ever.” Long enough hast thou deserted us; the terrible effects of thine absence are destroying us; end thou our calamities, and let thine anger be appeased. In persecuting times men are apt to cry, Where is the God of Israel? At the thought of what the saints have endured from their haughty enemies, we join our voices in the great martyr cry, and sing with the bard of Paradise:—

“Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; Even those who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones. Forget not: in thy book record their groans Who were thy sheep.”

24. “Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our afflictions and our oppression?” Not petulantly, but piteously and enquiringly, we may question the Lord when his dealings are mysterious. We are permitted to order our case with arguments, and plead the right before the face of the august Majesty. Why, Lord, dost thou become oblivious of thy children’s woes? This question is far more easily asked than answered; it is hard, indeed, in the midst of persecution to see the reason why we are left to suffer so severely.

25. “For our soul is bowed down to the dust.” Our heart is low as low can be, as low as the dust beneath the soles of men’s feet. When the heart sinks, the man is down indeed. Heart-sorrow is the very heart of sorrow. “Our belly cleaveth unto the earth.” The man is prone upon the earth, and he is not only down, but fastened down on the earth and glued to it. It is misery, indeed, when the heart cannot escape from itself, is shut up in its own dejection, and bound with the cords of despondency. God’s saints may be thus abject, they may be not only in the dust, but on the dunghill with Job and Lazarus, but their day cometh, and their tide will turn, and they shall have a brave summer after their bitter winter.

26. “Arise for our help.” A short, but sweet and comprehensive prayer, much to the point, clear, simple, urgent, as all prayers should be. “And redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.” Here is the final plea. The favour is redemption, the plea is mercy; and this, too, in the case of faithful sufferers who had not forgotten their God. Mercy is always a safe plea, and never will any man find a better.

“Were I a martyr at the stake, I’d plead my Saviour’s name, Intreat a pardon for his sake, And urge no other claim.”

Here ends this memorable Psalm, but in heaven its power ends not, but brings down deliverance for the tried people of God.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—On a survey of this Psalm, it would seem not to admit of a doubt that the speakers are of the race of Israel; and yet expositors for the most part have found much difficulty in so understanding it, in this—the natural sense—so as even to be compelled to abandon it, owing to the impossibility of fixing on any period in the history of that people which would furnish an occasion for it, and verify its language. Thus, it cannot be referred to the times of the Babylonish captivity; for to this it is objected, and with reason, first, that verses 11 and 14 represent the speakers as “scattered among the nations,” and “a byword among the peoples,” whereas their exile was then confined to one country; and, secondly, that in verses 17-21 there is an assertion of faithful adherence to the worship of the true God, which he is called to witness as acquitting the sufferers of having brought the evil on themselves, while that captivity was a punishment of the nation for their apostasy, and especially for the grievous sin of idolatry. And the same objections lie to interpreting it with reference to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees; beside that, the history of the canon of Scripture is decisive against assigning so late a date to any of the Psalms. Still less can the times of David be looked to for the occasion, since, though religion was then pure, there was, on the other hand, no dispersion of the nation nor any calamity such as to warrant the lamentation, “Thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame.... Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat,” etc. Whence it appeared that there was no alternative but to consider the Psalm as exclusively the language of the Christian church, and, in her primitive days, as the period at once of her greatest purity and suffering.—William de Burgh.

Whole Psalm.—S. Ambrose observes, that in former Psalms we have seen a prophecy of Christ’s passion, resurrection, and ascension, and of the coming of the Holy Ghost, and that here we are taught that we ourselves must be ready to struggle and suffer, in order that these things may profit us. Human will must work together with divine grace.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 1.—“We have heard with our ears,” i.e., we have both heard and heeded it, with utmost attention and affection. It is not a pleonasmus, but an emphasis that is here used.—John Trapp.

Verse 1.—“Our fathers have told us.” Hear this, saith Basil, ye fathers that neglect to teach your children such things as may work his fear and love in them, and faith to rely upon and seek to him in all times of danger. They made their mouths, as it were, books, wherein the mighty deeds of the Lord might be read to his praise, and to the drawing of their children’s hearts unto him.—John Mayer.

Verse 1.—“What work thou didst.” Why only “work” in the singular, when such innumerable deliverances had been wrought by him, from the passage of the Red Sea to the destruction of the hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians? Because all these were but types of that one great work, that one stretching forth of the Lord’s hand, when Satan was vanquished, death destroyed, and the kingdom of heaven opened to all believers.—Ambrose.

Verse 1.—“What work thou didst.” While the songs of other nations sing of the heroism of their ancestors, the songs of Israel celebrate the works of God.—Augustus F. Tholuck.

Verse 1.—Three necessary requirements for learning well: 1. Intention and attention in him who learns, “we have heard with our ears.” 2. Authority in him that teaches, “our fathers have told us.” 3. Love between the teacher and the taught, “our fathers.”—Hugo (Cardinal), quoted in Neale’s Commentary.

Verses 1, 2, 4, 8.—Children are their parents’ heirs; it were unnatural for a father before he dies to bury up his treasure in the earth, where his children should not find or enjoy it; now the mercies of God are not the least part of his treasure, nor the least of his children’s inheritance, being both helps to their faith, matter for their praise, and spurs to their obedience. “Our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, how thou didst drive out the heathen,” etc. (ver. 1, 2); from this they ground their confidence; verse 4: “Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob;” and excite their thankfulness, verse 8: “In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever.” Indeed, as children are their parents’ heirs, so they become in justice liable to pay their parents’ debts; now the great debt which the saint at death stands charged with, is that which he owes to God for his mercies, and, therefore it is but reason he should tie his posterity to the payment thereof. Thus mayest thou be praising God in heaven and earth at the same time.—William Gurnall.

Verse 2.—

“Thou with thine hand, hast driven out heathen, And hast planted them; The nations thou hast broken down, But them thou hast engraffed.”

The two clauses of this verse stand in regular contrast. The first has the figure of rooting out one kind of tree, and planting another, as the Canaanites were rooted out of Palestine, and Israel was planted in their stead. (Compare Psalm lxxx. 8). The second figure is that of cutting off bad branches, and engrafting others in their place, in the same root, which is Palestine again.—Benjamin Weiss.

Verse 3.—“They got not the land in possession by their own sword.” The Lord’s part in a work is best seen when man’s part, and all that he as an instrument hath done, or could have done in it, is declared null; being considered as separate from God who moved the instruments, and did work by them what he pleased.—David Dickson.

Verse 3.—“Because thou hadst a favour unto them.” Free grace was the fundamental cause of all their felicity. God loved them because he loved them. Deut. vii. 7. He chose them of his love, and then loved them for his choice.—John Trapp.

Verse 3.—God’s love to Israel was free, unmerited, and amazing, and he gave them a land for which they did not labour, and cities which they built not, and vineyards and oliveyards which they planted not. Josh. xxiv. 13. In some cases neither sword nor bow were used, but hornets were the instruments of conquest. Josh. xxiv. 12. Since the fall of Adam all good things in the lot of any mere man are undeserved kindnesses.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 3 (last clause).—The prophet does not suppose any worthiness in the person of Abraham, nor imagine any desert in his posterity, on account of which God dealt so bountifully with them; but ascribes the whole to the good pleasure of God.... Nor does the Psalmist here treat of the general benevolence of God, which extends to the whole human race: but he discourses of the difference which exists between the elect and the rest of the world, and the cause of this difference is here referred to the mere good pleasure of God.—John Calvin.

Verse 4.—“My king;” apparently with a personal application to himself, the poet individually claiming his own place in the covenant between God and his people.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 4.—“Thou art my king, O God; command deliverances for Jacob.” If there were no creature, no instrument in the world to help, yet would you not be at a loss in time of need, for he that is on the throne could do it alone. He can do all that ever you need, without any means or instruments. His bare word is sufficient, all-sufficient, for it, whatever it be, how great, how difficult, how impossible soever it seems. Such a power there is even in the word of the great King. There needs no more to deliver you, to deliver his people anywhere, how deep soever plunged, but only the command of him that sits on the throne. If the gospel, the interests of Christ, in these parts of the world, and the dear concerns of our souls, and the souls of posterity, were all as dry bones, in a more forlorn, and hopeless condition than they are, he could make all live with a word. He that is our King, that sits upon the throne, can command life into that which seems as far from living as a dry bone. While he keeps the throne, it is a senseless heart that fails through distrust of his power, even when all visible power and help fail.—David Clarkson.

Verse 5.—“Through thee will we push down our enemies”: literally, “We will toss them in the air with our horn;” a metaphor taken from an ox or bull tossing the dogs into the air which attack him.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 6.—“I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.” By “bow” and “sword,” he meaneth all manner of weapons and warlike instruments whatsoever; and by “saving,” he meaneth delivering from dangers, speaking under the person of one (because all the faithful are but one body), in the name of all the rest.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 6.—“I will not trust in my bow,” etc. I will not trust in my own sword or bow, but in the sword of the Divine Warrior, and in the bow of the Divine Archer, whose arrows are sharp in the heart of his enemies, as described in the next (Psalm xlv. 3-5), which is connected by that imagery with this Psalm, as well as by its inner meaning.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 6.—The less confidence we have in ourselves or in anything beside God, the more evidence have we of the sincerity of our faith in God.—David Dickson.

Verses 6, 7.—The two verses correspond exactly to verse 3. As there, in reference to the past, the salvation was ascribed wholly to God, so here in reference to the future.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 11.—“Like sheep appointed for meat.” This very strongly and strikingly intimates the extent of the persecution and slaughter to which they were exposed; there being no creature in the world of which such vast numbers are constantly slaughtered as of sheep for the subsistence of man. The constancy of such slaughter is also mentioned in verse 22 as illustrating the continual oppression to which the Hebrews were subject.—Kitto’s Pictorial Bible.

Verse 11.—“Like sheep appointed for meat,” and not reserved for breeding or for wool.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 12.—“Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.” The sense is: Thou hast given thy people unto the power of their enemies without trouble, without causing the victory even to be dearly bought, as one who parts with a good for any price, which he despises and hates, desiring merely to get rid of it.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 12.—“Thou sellest thy people for nought,” etc. Referring to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, Eusebius says: “Many were sold for a small price; there were many to be sold, but few to buy.”

Verse 12.—“And dost not increase thy wealth by their price.” Thou hast not advanced thy honour and service thereby; for thy enemies do not serve thee more and better than thy people, nor yet so much.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 12 (last clause). Takest no money for them; literally, enhancest not the price of them, as a seller usually does to the buyer.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 14.—“Thou makest us a byword;” literally, for a similitude, מָשָׁל stands here, as in the original passage (Deut. xxviii. 37), in the common signification, similitude. The misery of Israel is so great, that people would figuratively call a miserable man a Jew, just as liars were called Cretans; wretched slaves, Sardians. So far are the people from being now “blessed of the Lord” in whom according to the promise, all the heathen are to be blessed.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 15.—“My confusion is continually before me.” When the visible church is visited with sad calamities, the true members thereof are partakers of the trouble, and sorrow, and shame of that condition.—David Dickson.

Verse 17.—Eusebius, narrating the cruelties inflicted upon the Christians by the Eastern tyrant, Maximinus, says: “He prevailed against all sorts of people, the Christians only excepted, who contemned death and despised his tyranny. The men endured burning, beheading, crucifying, ravenous devouring of beasts, drowning in the sea, maiming and broiling of the members, goring and digging out of the eyes, mangling of the whole body; moreover, famine and imprisonment; to be short, they suffered every kind of torment for the service of God rather than they would leave the worship of God, and embrace the adoration of idols. Women also, not inferior to men through the power of the word of God, put on a manly courage, whereof some suffered the torments with men, some attained unto the like masteries of virtue.”—From “The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus.”

Verse 17.—“Yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.” Although we cannot excuse ourselves from many other sins for which thou hast justly punished us, yet this we must say for ourselves, that through thy grace we have kept ourselves from apostasy and idolatry, notwithstanding all the examples and provocations, rewards proposed and promised, or punishments threatened to induce us thereunto; which we hope thou wilt graciously consider, and not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 17.—If any of you would abide by Jesus Christ in this storm, try how ye have covenanted with him, and how ye have closed the bargain with him, and upon what terms. But I trow there are many of you in this age that are like young wanton folk, that run fast together and marry, but never take any account how they will keep house, but presently go to poverty and beggary. I trow it falls out so with many of you that are professors in this generation. Ye take up your religion, and ye wot not how, and ye cannot give an account how ye came by it. I will tell you, sirs; ye will abide no longer by Christ than till a storm blow, and then ye will quit him and deny his cause. Ye have need to take heed to this, for it will ruin your souls in the end of the day. But I shall tell you, sirs, the right way of covenanting with God. It is when Christ and the believer meet. Our Lord gives him his laws, statutes, and commands, and he charges him not to quit a hoof of them. No; though he should be torn into a thousand pieces; and the right covenanter says, Amen.—Alexander Peden’s Sermon, 1682.

Verses 17-19.--Neither the persecuting hand of men, nor the chastising hand of God, relaxed ancient singular saints. Believers resemble the moon, which emerges from her eclipse by keeping her motion, and ceases not to shine because the dogs bark at her. Shall we cease to be professors because others will not cease to be persecutors?—William Secker.

Verses 17-19.—The church having reported her great troubles, speaks it as an argument of much sincerity towards God, and strength of grace received from him: “All this has come upon us” (that is, all these common calamities and afflictions), “yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;” as if she had said, These afflictions have been strong temptations upon us to cause us to decline from thy ways, but through grace we have kept our ground and remained constant in thy covenant, yea, “though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.” As many, yea, most of the saints have improved under the cross, so there have been some, who either through their present unbelief, or forgetfulness of “the exhortation which” (as the apostle saith, Heb. xii. 5), “speaketh unto them as unto children,” have had their faintings or declinings under it.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 18.—“Our heart is not turned back.” Serious piety has become a ludicrous subject with which the wanton wits of this atheistical world sport themselves; but behold the wisdom and goodness of God, exhibiting to the world undeniable testimonies of the truth of religion as often as the sincere professors thereof are brought to the test by afflictions from the hand of God, or persecutions from the hands of men. Lo! “here is the faith and patience of the saints;” here is their courage, meekness, and self-denial, shining as gold in the fire. They have the real proofs of it before their eyes. Instead of casting them into hell, and convincing them by eternal fire, he is pleased to cast his own people into the fire of affliction, that they who scoff at them may be convinced at an easier and cheaper rate. It is no new thing to see the enemies of religion brought over to embrace it by the constancy and faithfulness of the saints in their trials and sufferings for it. God grant that the atheism of this present generation do not occasion a more fiery trial to the people of God in it than they have yet suffered.—John Flavel.

Verse 18.—“Our heart.” The word לֵבָב or Greek καρδία, that is rendered “heart,” both in the Old and New Testament, doth signify the understanding, the mind, will, affections, conscience, the whole soul. “Our heart is not turned back.” Our understandings and minds are the same as they were in a summer’s day, though now we be in a winter’s storm; though now we be afflicted, tossed, broken, and persecuted, yet notwithstanding, “our heart is not turned back,” our mind, will, affections, and conscience, our whole soul, is the same now as before.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 19.—“Though thou hast sore broken us in place of dragons,” etc. Where men, comparable to dragons for their poison and cruelty, dwell particularly in Rome, and the Roman jurisdiction, both Pagan and Papal, the seat of Satan, the great red dragon, and of his wretched brood and offspring, the beast, to whom he has given his power; where the saints and followers of Christ have been sorely afflicted and persecuted, and yet have held fast the name of Christ, and not denied his faith. See Rev. ii. 13, and xii. 3. The wilderness is the habitation of dragons; and this is the name of the place where the church is said to be in the times of the Papacy, and where she is fed and preserved for a time, and times, and half-a-time. Rev. xii. 6, 14. “And covered us with the shadow of death.” As the former phrase denotes the cruelty of the enemies of Christ’s church and people, this their dismal afflictions and forlorn state and condition; and may have some respect to the darkness of Popery, when it was at the height, and the church of Christ was covered with it, there being very little appearances and breakings forth of gospel light anywhere.—John Gill.

Verse 19.—“Dragons.” The word rendered dragons—תַּנִּים, tannim—means either a great fish, a sea monster, a serpent, a dragon, or a crocodile. It may also mean a jackal, a fox, or a wolf. De Wette renders it here jackals. The idea in the passage is essentially the same, whichever interpretation of the word is adopted. The “place of dragons” would denote the place where such monsters are found, or where they had their abode: that is to say, in desolate places, wastes, deserts, old ruins, depopulated towns.—Albert Barnes.

Verse 20.—“Stretched out our hands to a strange god.” The stretching out the hand towards an object of devotion, or an holy place, was an ancient usage among the Jews and heathens both, and it continues in the East to this time, which continuance I do not remember to have seen remarked. That this attitude in prayer has continued among the Eastern people, appears by the following passage from Pitts, in his account of the religion and manners of the Mohammedans. Speaking of the Algerines throwing wax candles and pots of oil overboard, as a present to some marabbot (or Mohammedan saint), Pitts goes on, and says, “When this is done, they all together hold up their hands, begging the marabbot’s blessing, and a prosperous voyage.” In the same page he tells us, “the marabbots have generally a little neat room built over their graves, resembling in figure their mosques or churches, which is very nicely cleaned, and well looked after.” And in the succeeding page he tells us, “Many people there are who will scarce pass by any of them without lifting up their hand, and saying some short prayer.” In like manner, he tells us, that at quitting the Beat, or holy house at Mecca, to which they make devout pilgrimages, “they hold up their hands towards the Beat, making earnest petitions.”—Harmer’s “Observations.”

Verse 21.—“Shall not God search this out?” etc. Are there such variety of trials appointed to examine the sincerity of men’s graces? How great a vanity, then, is hypocrisy! and to how little purpose do men endeavour to conceal and hide it! We say, murder will out; and we may as confidently affirm, hypocrisy will out. When Rebekah had laid the plot to disguise her son Jacob, and by personating his brother, to get the blessing, Jacob thus objects against it: “My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing.” And if he should say, But what if my father detect the cheat? How, then, shall I look him in the face? How shall I escape a curse? After the same manner every upright soul scares itself from the way of hypocrisy. If I dissemble, and pretend to be what I am not, my Father will find me out. There is no darkness nor shadow of death that can conceal the hypocrite; but out it will come at last, let him use all the art he can to hide it.... If men’s works be not good, it is impossible they should be hid long. A gilded piece of brass may pass from hand to hand a little while, but the touchstone will discover the base metal; and if that does not, the fire will.—John Flavel.

Verse 21.—A godly man dares not sin secretly. He knows that God sees in secret. As God cannot be deceived by our subtlety, so he cannot be excluded by our secrecy.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 21.—In time of persecution for religion, nothing can counterbalance the terrors and allurements of the persecutors, and make a man steadfast in the cause of God, save the fear of God, and love to God settled in the heart; for the reason of the saints’ steadfastness in this Psalm, is because God would have searched out their sin if they had done otherwise, “for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”—David Dickson.

Verse 22.—“Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long,” etc. Leonard Schoener left, amongst other papers, the following admonition, to comfort all who were suffering for Christ’s name:—

“We pray thee, O eternal God, to bow down thy gracious ear. Lord of Sabaoth, thou Lord of hosts, hear our complaint, for great affliction and persecution have prevailed. Pride has entered thine inheritance, and many supposed to be Christians, have united themselves therewith, and have thus brought in the abomination of desolation. They waste and destroy the Christian sanctuary. They have trodden the same under foot, and the abomination of desolation is worshipped as God. They have troubled thy holy city, thrown down thy holy altar, and slain her servants when they could lay their hands upon them. And now that we as a little flock are left, they have driven us into all thy lands with contempt and reproach. We are scattered as sheep having no shepherd. We have been compelled to forsake house and home. We are as night ravens which abide in the rocks; our chambers are in holes and crags. They watch for us as fowls that fly in the air. We wander in the woods, they hunt us with dogs. They lead us away, seized and bound, as lambs that open not their mouths. They cry out against us as seditious persons and heretics. We are brought like sheep to the slaughter. Many sit oppressed, and in bonds which even decay their bodies. Some have sunk under their sufferings, and died without fault. Here is the patience of the saints in the earth. We must be tried by suffering here. The faithful have they hanged on trees, strangled, hewn in pieces, secretly and openly drowned. Not only men, but likewise women and maidens have borne witness to the truth, that Jesus Christ is the truth, the only way to eternal life. The world still rages, and rests not; it raves as if mad. They invent lies against us. They cease not their fires and murders. They make the world too narrow for us. O Lord, how long wilt thou be silent? How long wilt thou not judge the blood of thy saints? Let it come up before thy throne. How precious in thine eye is the blood of thy holy ones! Therefore have we comfort in all our need, a refuge in thee alone, and in none besides; but neither comfort, nor rest, nor peace on this earth. But he who hopeth in thee shall never be confounded. O Lord, there is no sorrow so great that can separate us from thee; therefore, without ceasing we call upon thee, through Christ thy Son our Lord, whom thou of thy free grace hast given us for our comfort. He hath prepared and made known to us the straight path, and the way to eternal life. Everlasting glory and triumph, honour and praise, be given unto thee, both now and to eternity, and let thy righteousness remain for ever. Let all the people bless thy holy name, through Christ the righteous Judge, who cometh to judge the whole world. Amen.”—From “A Martyrology of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists. Edited by E. B. Underhill.” 1850.

Verse 22.—“For thy sake are we killed.” It is mercy to us, that when God might punish us for our sins, he doth make our correction honourable, and our troubles to be for a good cause—“For thy sake,” etc.—David Dickson.

Verse 22.—“For thy sake.” This passage is cited by St. Paul, Rom. viii. 36, apparently from the LXX, an illustration of the fact that the church of God has in all ages been a persecuted church. But there is this remarkable difference between the tone of the Psalmist and the tone of the apostle: the former cannot understand the chastening, and complains that God’s heavy hand has been laid without cause upon his people; the latter can rejoice in persecutions also, and exclaim, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 22.—“Killed.” The word here used is not from קָטַל, but from הָרַג, which means to strangle: this is the rendering given in “Lange’s Biblewerk.”

Verse 23.—“Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?” and Psalm cxxi. 4, “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” If God at no time sleep, why doth the church call on him so often to awake? If he must be awakened from sleep, why doth the Psalmist say he never sleeps? Are not these places contradictory?

ANSWER: It is one thing what the afflicted church cries in the heat of her sufferings, another thing what the Spirit of truth speaks for the comfort of the saints. It is ordinary for the best of saints and martyrs, during the storm, to go to God as Peter did to Christ at sea (sleeping in the stern of the ship), with such importunity in prayer as if the Lord were no more sensible of their agony than Jonah was of the mariners’ misery, ready to perish in the turbulent ocean, and they cried out, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise! Saints are so familiar with God in prayer, as if they were at his bedside.

THE SOUL’S APPLICATION.—O thou never-slumbering Watchman of the house of Israel, carest not thou that we perish? Awake, awake! put on strength, gird thyself, O thou arm of God! I know thou art up, but what am I the better except thou help me up? I know thou sleepest not as man doth, but what advantage hath my soul by that, except thou show thyself, that I may know thou art waking? Oh, it is I that am asleep! Thou seemest to sleep only to awaken me. O that I could watch with thee one hour, as thou bidd’st me; I should soon perceive then thy vigilancy over me for ever.—William Streat in “The Dividing of the Hoof.” 1654.

Verse 23.—“Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?” etc. The weakness of our faith is open to the temptation of supposing that God regards not the situation of his people in the world; and the Spirit, who knows our infirmities, provides a petition suited to this trial, which expresses at the same time an expectation that God will arise to claim his people as his own.—W. Wilson.

Verse 25.—“For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.” We are as to body and soul, smitten and thrown down, glued as it were to the ground, so that we cannot raise ourselves up.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 25.—“For our soul is bowed down to the dust,” etc. The speech is metaphorical, expressing the depth of their misery, or the greatness of their sorrow and humiliation. 1. The depth of their misery, with the allusion to the case of a man overcome in battle, or mortally wounded, and tumbling in the dust, or to a man dead and laid in the earth; as, “Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” Psa. xxii. 15. Sure we are, the expression importeth the extremity of distress and danger, either as a man dead or near death. 2. The greatness of their sorrow and humiliation; and so the allusion is taken from a man prostrate and grovelling on the ground, which was their posture of humbling themselves before the Lord, or when any great calamity befell them. As when Herod Agrippa died, they put on sackcloth and lay upon the earth weeping.—Thomas Manton.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—The encouraging traditions of church history. The days of yore.

Verse 1.—The parents’ duty, and the children’s privilege.

Verse 1.—Family conversation, the most profitable subject for it.

Verse 1.—The true glory of the good old times.

Verse 2.—The contrast; or, the dealings of God with saints and sinners.

Verse 3.—Free grace exalted. I. In putting a negative upon human power. II. In manifestations of divine energy. III. In its secret source, “Because thou hadst a favour unto them.”

Verse 3.—I. The creature laid low. II. The Lord exalted. III. Discriminating grace revealed.

Verse 3 (last clause).—The eternal well-spring of all mercy.

Verse 4.-I. Divine royalty acknowledged. II. Royal interposition entreated. III. Divine covenant hinted at, “Jacob;” or, the loyal subject seeking royal aid for the royal seed.

Verse 4.—Personal allegiance, and pleading intercession.

Verse 4.—“My King.” This intends—I. My Ruler. II. My Honour. III. My Leader. IV. My Defender.

Verse 4.—The deliverances of Jacob, illustrated by his eventful life.

Verse 5.—Our enemies, in what ways we push them down, by what strength, and in what spirit.

Verse 5.—Our enemies, their activity, the closeness of their approach, the certainty of their overthrow, the secret of our strength.

Verse 6.—Relinquishment of outward trusts. “My bow” may miss its aim, may be broken, may be snatched away. “My sword” may snap, or grow blunt, or slip from my hold. We may not trust in our abilities, our experience, our shrewdness, our wealth, etc.

Verse 6.—Self-renunciation—the duty of saint and sinner.

Verse 7.—Accomplished salvation. How never achieved, “But.” By whom wrought, “thou.” When performed, “hast.” For whom, “us.” To what extent, “from our enemies.”

Verse 7.—Salvation completed, hell confounded, Christ exalted.

Verse 8.—Praise, its continuance—how to make it continual, how to manifest it perpetually, influence of its continuance, and reasons to compel us to abide in it.

Verse 9.—A lament for the declension of the church.

Verse 9.—In what sense God casts off his people, and why.

Verse 9 (last clause).—The greatest of all calamities for our churches.

Verse 12.—The human and divine estimate of the results of persecution.

Verse 12.—In answer to this complaint. I. God’s people lose nothing eventually by their privations. II. The wicked gain nothing by their triumphs. III. God loses none of his glory in his dealings with either.—G. Rogers.

Verse 13.—Trial of cruel mockings; our conduct under them, comfort in them, and crown from them.

Verse 14.—Unholy proverbs or godless bywords.

Verse 15.—Confessions of a penitent.

Verse 17.—The trial, truth, and triumph of the godly.

Verse 17.—The faithful soul holding fast his integrity.

Verse 17.—What it is to be false to our covenant with God.

Verse 18 (first clause).—When we may be sure that our heart has not apostatised.

Verse 18.—I. The position of the heart in religion—it comes first. II. The position of the outer moral life in religion—it follows the heart. III. Necessity of the agreement of the two. IV. The need that both should be faithful to God.

Verse 18.—Connection between the heart and the life, both in constancy and apostasy.

Verse 18.—God’s delight in the progress of the upright.—Thomas Brooks.

Upright hearts will hold on in the ways of God, and in the ways of well-doing, notwithstanding all afflictions, troubles, and discouragements, they meet withal.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 18.—“Thy ways.” The ways of God are—1, righteous ways; 2, blessed ways; 3, soul-refreshing ways; 4, transcendent ways—ways that transcend all other ways; 5, soul-strengthening ways; and 6, sometimes afflicted, perplexed, and persecuted ways.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 21.—Can he not? Will he not?

Verse 21.—A question and an assertion.

Verse 22.—I. Innocence in the midst of suffering, “sheep.” II. Honour in the midst of shame, “for thy sake.”—G. Rogers.

Verse 23.—The cry of a church in sad circumstances. The plaint of a deserted soul.

Verse 24.—Reasons for the withdrawal of divine comfort.

Verse 25.—The great need, the great prayer, the great plea.

Verse 26.—A fit prayer for souls under conviction, for saints under trial or persecution, and for the church under oppression or decay.

PSALM XLV.

TITLE.—The many titles of this Psalm mark its royalty, its deep and solemn import, and the delight which the writer had in it. To the Chief Musician upon Shoshannim. The most probable translation of this word is upon the lilies, and it is either a poetical title given to this noblest of songs after the Oriental manner, or it may relate to the tune to which it was set, or to the instrument which was meant to accompany it. We incline to the first theory, and if it be the true one, it is easy to see the fitness of borrowing a name for so beautiful, so pure, so choice, so matchless a poem from the golden lilies, whose bright array outshone the glory of Solomon. For the sons of Korah. Special singers are appointed for so divine a hymn. King Jesus deserves to be praised not with random, ranting ravings, but with the sweetest and most skilful music of the best trained choristers. The purest hearts in the spiritual temple are the most harmonious songsters in the ears of God; acceptable song is not a matter so much of tuneful voices as of sanctified affections, but in no case should we sing of Jesus with unprepared hearts. Maschil, an instructive ode, not an idle lay, or a romancing ballad, but a Psalm of holy teaching, didactic and doctrinal. This proves it is to be spiritually understood. Blessed are the people who know the meaning of its joyful sound. A Song of loves. Not a carnal, sentimental love song, but a celestial canticle of everlasting love fit for the tongues and ears of angels.

SUBJECT.—Some here see Solomon and Pharaoh’s daughter only—they are short-sighted; others see both Solomon and Christ—they are cross-eyed; well-focussed spiritual eyes see here Jesus only, or if Solomon be present at all, it must be like those hazy shadows of passers-by which cross the face of the camera, and therefore are dimly traceable upon a photographic landscape. “The King,” the God whose throne is for ever and ever, is no mere mortal and his everlasting dominion is not bounded by Lebanon and Egypt’s river. This is no wedding song of earthly nuptials, but an Epithalamium for the Heavenly Bridegroom and his elect spouse.

DIVISION.—Verse 1 is an announcement of intention, a preface to the song; verse 3 adores the matchless beauty of Messiah; and from 3-9, he is addressed in admiring ascriptions of praise. Verses 10, 11, 12, are spoken to the bride. The church is further spoken of in verses 13-15, and the Psalm closes with another address to the King, foretelling his eternal fame, 16-17.

EXPOSITION.

My 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.

1. “My heart.” There is no writing like that dictated by the heart. Heartless hymns are insults to heaven. “Is inditing a good matter.” A good heart will only be content with good thoughts. Where the fountain is good good streams will flow forth. The learned tell us that the word may be read overfloweth, or as others, boileth or bubbleth up, denoting the warmth of the writer’s love, the fulness of his heart, and the consequent richness and glow of his utterance, as though it were the ebullition of his inmost soul, when most full of affection. We have here no single cold expression; the writer is not one who frigidly studies the elegancies and proprieties of poetry, his stanzas are the natural outburst of his soul, comparable to the boiling jets of the geysers of Hecla. As the corn offered in sacrifice was parched in the pan, so is this tribute of love hot with sincere devotion. It is a sad thing when the heart is cold with a good matter, and worse when it is warm with a bad matter, but incomparably well when a warm heart and a good matter meet together. O that we may often offer to God an acceptable minchah, a sweet oblation fresh from the pan of hearts warmed with gratitude and admiration. “I speak of the things which I have made touching the King.” This song has “the King” for its only subject, and for the King’s honour alone was it composed, well might its writer call it a good matter. The Psalmist did not write carelessly; he calls his poem his works, or things which he had made. We are not to offer to the Lord that which cost us nothing. Good material deserves good workmanship. We should well digest in our heart’s affections and our mind’s meditations any discourse or poem in which we speak of one so great and glorious as our Royal Lord. As our version reads it, the Psalmist wrote experimentally things which he had made his own, and personally tasted and handled concerning the King. “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer,” not so much for rapidity, for there the tongue always has the preference, but for exactness, elaboration, deliberation, and skilfulness of expression. Seldom are the excited utterances of the mouth equal in real weight and accuracy to the verba scripta of a thoughtful accomplished penman; but here the writer, though filled with enthusiasm, speaks as correctly as a practised writer; his utterances therefore are no ephemeral sentences, but such as fall from men who sit down calmly to write for eternity. It is not always that the best of men are in such a key, and when they are they should not restrain the gush of their hallowed feelings. Such a condition of heart in a gifted mind creates that auspicious hour in which poetry pours forth her tuneful numbers to enrich the service of song in the house of the Lord.

2 Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

2. “Thou.” As though the King himself had suddenly appeared before him, the Psalmist lost in admiration of his person, turns from his preface to address his Lord. A loving heart has the power to realise its object. The eyes of a true heart see more than the eyes of the head. Moreover, Jesus reveals himself when we are pouring forth our affections towards him. It is usually the case that when we are ready Christ appears. If our heart is warm it is an index that the sun is shining, and when we enjoy his heat we shall soon behold his light. “Thou art fairer than the children of men.” In person, but especially in mind and character, the King of saints is peerless in beauty. The Hebrew word is doubled, “Beautiful, beautiful art thou,” Jesus is so emphatically lovely that words must be doubled, strained, yea, exhausted before he can be described. Among the children of men many have through grace been lovely in character, yet they have each had a flaw; but in Jesus we behold every feature of a perfect character in harmonious proportion. He is lovely everywhere, and from every point of view, but never more so than when we view him in conjugal union with his church; then love gives a ravishing flush of glory to his loveliness. “Grace is poured into thy lips.” Beauty and eloquence make a man majestic when they are united; they both dwell in perfection in the all fair, all eloquent Lord Jesus. Grace of person and grace of speech reach their highest point in him. Grace has in the most copious manner been poured upon Christ, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell, and now grace is in superabundance, poured forth from his lips to cheer and enrich his people. The testimony, the promises, the invitations, the consolations of our King pour forth from him in such volumes of meaning that we cannot but contrast those cataracts of grace with the speech of Moses which did but drop as the rain, and distil as the dew. Whoever in personal communion with the Wellbeloved has listened to his voice will feel that “never man spake like this man.” Well did the bride say of him, “his lips are like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.” One word from himself dissolved the heart of Saul of Tarsus, and turned him into an apostle, another word raised up John the Divine when fainting in the Isle of Patmos. Oftentimes a sentence from his lips has turned our own midnight into morning, our winter into spring. “Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.” Calvin reads it, “Because God hath blessed thee for ever.” Christ is blessed, blessed of God, blessed for ever, and this is to us one great reason for his beauty, and the source of the gracious words which proceed out of his lips. The rare endowments of the man Christ Jesus are given him of the Father, that by them his people may be blessed with all spiritual blessings in union with himself. But if we take our own translation, we read that the Father has blessed the Mediator as a reward for all his gracious labours; and right well does he deserve the recompense. Whom God blesses we should bless, and the more so because all his blessedness is communicated to us.

3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with 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 King’s daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

3. “Gird thy sword upon thy thigh.” Loving spirits jealous of the Redeemer’s glory long to see him putting forth his power to vindicate his own most holy cause. Why should the sword of the Spirit lie still, like a weapon hung up in an armoury; it is sharp and strong, both for cutting and piercing: O that the divine power of Jesus were put forth to use it against error. The words before us represent our great King as urged to arm himself for battle, by placing his sword where it is ready for use. Christ is the true champion of the church, others are but underlings who must borrow strength from him; the single arm of Immanuel is the sole hope of the faithful. Our prayer should be that of this verse. There is at this moment an apparent suspension of our Lord’s former power, we must by importunate prayer call him to the conflict, for like the Greeks without Achilles we are soon overcome by our enemies, and we are but dead men if Jesus be not in our midst. “O most mighty.” A title well deserved, and not given from empty courtesy like the serenities, excellencies, and highnesses of our fellow mortals—titles, which are but sops for vain glory. Jesus is the truest of heroes. Hero worship in his case alone is commendable. He is mighty to save, mighty in love. “With thy glory and thy majesty.” Let thy sword both win thee renown and dominion, or as it may mean, gird on with thy sword thy robes which indicate thy royal splendour. Love delights to see the Beloved arrayed as beseemeth his excellency; she weeps as she sees him in the garments of humiliation, she rejoices to behold him in the vestments of his exaltation. Our precious Christ can never be made too much of. Heaven itself is but just good enough for him. All the pomp that angels and archangels, and thrones, and dominions, and principalities, and powers can pour at his feet is too little for him. Only his own essential glory is such as fully answers to the desire of his people, who can never enough extol him.

4. “And in thy majesty ride prosperously.” The hero-monarch armed and apparelled is now entreated to ascend his triumphal car. Would to God that our Immanuel would come forth in the chariot of love to conquer our spiritual foes and seize by power the souls whom he has bought with blood. “Because of truth and meekness and righteousness.” These words may be rendered, “ride forth upon truth and meekness and righteousness”—three noble chargers to draw the war-chariot of the gospel. In the sense of our translation it is a most potent argument to urge with our Lord that the cause of the true, the humble and the good, calls for his advocacy. Truth will be ridiculed, meekness will be oppressed, and righteousness slain, unless the God, the Man in whom these precious things are incarnated, shall arise for their vindication. Our earnest petition ought ever to be that Jesus would lay his almighty arm to the work of grace lest the good cause languish and wickedness prevail. “And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.” Foreseeing the result of divine working, the Psalmist prophesies that the uplifted arm of Messiah will reveal to the King’s own eyes the terrible overthrow of his foes. Jesus needs no guide but his own right hand, no teacher but his own might; may he instruct us all in what he can perform, by achieving it speedily before our gladdened eyes.

5. “Thine arrows.” Our King is master of all weapons: he can strike those who are near and those afar off with equal force. “Are sharp.” Nothing that Jesus does is ill done, he uses no blunted shafts, no pointless darts. “In the heart of the King’s enemies.” Our Captain aims at men’s hearts rather than their heads, and he hits them too; point-blank are his shots, and they enter deep into the vital part of man’s nature. Whether for love or vengeance, Christ never misses aim, and when his arrows stick, they cause a smart not soon forgotten, a wound which only he can heal. Jesus’ arrows of conviction are sharp in the quiver of his word, and sharp when on the bow of his ministers, but they are most known to be so when they find a way into careless hearts. They are his arrows, he made them, he shoots them. He makes them sharp, and he makes them enter the heart. May none of us ever fall under the darts of his judgment, for none kill so surely as they. “Whereby the people fall under thee.” On either side the slain of the Lord are many when Jesus leads on the war. Nations tremble and turn to him when he shoots abroad his truth. Under his power and presence, men are stricken down as though pricked in the heart. There is no standing against the Son of God when his bow of might is in his hands. Terrible will be that hour when his bow shall be made quite naked, and bolts of devouring fire shall be hurled upon his adversaries: then shall princes fall and nations perish.

6. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” To whom can this be spoken but our Lord? The Psalmist cannot restrain his adoration. His enlightened eye sees in the royal Husband of the church, God, God to be adored, God reigning, God reigning everlastingly. Blessed sight! Blind are the eyes that cannot see God in Christ Jesus! We never appreciate the tender condescension of our King in becoming one flesh with his church, and placing her at his right hand, until we have fully rejoiced in his essential glory and deity. What a mercy for us that our Saviour is God, for who but a God could execute the work of salvation? What a glad thing it is that he reigns on a throne which will never pass away, for we need both sovereign grace and eternal love to secure our happiness. Could Jesus cease to reign we should cease to be blessed, and were he not God, and therefore eternal, this must be the case. No throne can endure for ever, but that on which God himself sitteth. “The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.” He is the lawful monarch of all things that be. His rule is founded in right, its law is right, its result is right. Our King is no usurper and no oppressor. Even when he shall break his enemies with a rod of iron, he will do no man wrong; his vengeance and his grace are both in conformity with justice. Hence we trust him without suspicion; he cannot err; no affliction is too severe, for he sends it; no judgment too harsh, for he ordains it. O blessed hands of Jesus! the reigning power is safe with you. All the just rejoice in the government of the King who reigns in righteousness.

7. “Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness.” Christ Jesus is not neutral in the great contest between right and wrong: as warmly as he loves the one he abhors the other. What qualifications for a sovereign! what grounds of confidence for a people! The whole of our Lord’s life on earth proved the truth of these words; his death to put away sin and bring in the reign of righteousness, sealed the fact beyond all question; his providence by which he rules from his mediatorial throne, when rightly understood, reveals the same; and his final assize will proclaim it before all worlds. We should imitate him both in his love and hate; they are both needful to complete a righteous character. “Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Jesus as Mediator owned God as his God, to whom, being found in fashion as a man, he became obedient. On account of our Lord’s perfect life he is now rewarded with superior joy. Others there are to whom grace has given a sacred fellowship with him, but by their universal consent and his own merit, he is prince among them, the gladdest of all because the cause of all their gladness. At Oriental feasts oil was poured on the heads of distinguished and very welcome guests; God himself anoints the man Christ Jesus, as he sits at the heavenly feasts, anoints him as a reward for his work, with higher and fuller joy than any else can know; thus is the Son of man honoured and rewarded for all his pains. Observe the indisputable testimony to Messiah’s Deity in verse six, and to his manhood in the present verse. Of whom could this be written but of Jesus of Nazareth? Our Christ is our Elohim. Jesus is God with us.

8. “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia.” The divine anointing causes fragrance to distil from the robes of the Mighty Hero. He is delightful to every sense, to the eye most fair, to the ear most gracious, to the spiritual nostril most sweet. The excellences of Jesus are all most precious, comparable to the rarest spices; they are most varied, and to be likened not to myrrh alone, but to all the perfumes blended in due proportion. The Father always finds a pleasure in him, in him he is well pleased; and all regenerated spirits rejoice in him, for he is made of God unto us, “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” Note that not only is Jesus most sweet, but even his garments are so; everything that he has to do with is perfumed by his person. “All” his garments are thus fragrant; not some of them, but all; we delight as much in his purple of dominion as in the white linen of his priesthood, his mantle as our prophet is as dear to us as his seamless coat as our friend. All his dress is fragrant with all sweetness. To attempt to spiritualise each spice here mentioned would be unprofitable, the evident sense is that all sweetnesses meet in Jesus, and are poured forth wherever he is present. “Out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.” The abode of Jesus now is imperial in splendour, ivory and gold but faintly image his royal seat; there is he made glad in the presence of the Father, and in the company of his saints. Oh, to behold him with his perfumed garments on! The very smell of him from afar ravishes our spirit, what must it be to be on the other side of the pearl gate, within the palace of ivory, amid those halls of Zion, “conjubilant with song,” where is the throne of David, and the abiding presence of the Prince! To think of his gladness, to know that he is full of joy, gives gladness at this moment to our souls. We poor exiles can sing in our banishment since our King, our Well-beloved, has come to his throne.

9. “Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women.” Our Lord’s courts lack not for courtiers, and those the fairest and noblest. Virgin souls are maids of honour to the court, the true lilies of heaven. The lowly and pure in heart are esteemed by the Lord Jesus as his most familiar friends, their place in his palace is not among the menials but near the throne. The day will come when those who are “kings’ daughters” literally will count it their greatest honour to serve the church, and, meanwhile every believing sister is spiritually a King’s daughter, a member of the royal family of heaven. “Upon thy right hand,” in the place of love, honour, and power, “did stand the queen in gold of Ophir:” the church shares her Lord’s honour and happiness, he sets her in the place of dignity, he clothes her with the best of the best. Gold is the richest of metals, and Ophir gold the purest known. Jesus bestows nothing inferior or of secondary value upon his beloved church. In imparted and imputed righteousness the church is divinely arrayed. Happy those who are members of a church so honoured, so beloved; unhappy those who persecute the beloved people, for as a husband will not endure that his wife should be insulted or maltreated, so neither will the heavenly Husband; he will speedily avenge his own elect. Mark, then, the solemn pomp of the verses we have read. The King is seen with rapture, he girds himself as a warrior, robes himself as a monarch, mounts his chariot, darts his arrows, and conquers his foes. Then he ascends his throne with his sceptre in his hand, fills the palace hall with perfume brought from his secret chambers, his retinue stand around him, and, fairest of all, his bride is at his right hand, with daughters of subject princes as her attendants. Faith is no stranger to this sight, and every time she looks she adores, she loves, she rejoices, she expects.

10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house;

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 entreat thy favour.

10. “Hearken, O daughter, and consider.” Ever is this the great duty of the church. Faith cometh by hearing, and confirmation by consideration. No precept can be more worthy of the attention of those who are honoured to be espoused unto Christ than that which follows. “And incline thine ear.” Lean forward that no syllable may be unheard. The whole faculties of the mind should be bent upon receiving holy teaching. “Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house.” To renounce the world is not easy, but it must be done by all who are affianced to the Great King, for a divided heart he cannot endure; it would be misery to the beloved one as well as dishonour to her Lord. Evil acquaintances, and even those who are but neutral, must be forsaken, they can confer no benefit, they must inflict injury. The house of our nativity is the house of sin—we were shapen in iniquity; the carnal mind is enmity against God, we must come forth of the house of fallen nature, for it is built in the City of Destruction. Not that natural ties are broken by grace, but ties of the sinful nature, bonds of graceless affinity. We have much to forget as well as to learn, and the unlearning is so difficult that only diligent hearing, and considering, and bending of the whole soul to it, can accomplish the work; and even these would be too feeble did not divine grace assist. Yet why should we remember the Egypt from which we came out? Are the leeks and the garlic, and the onions anything, when the iron bondage, and the slavish tasks, and the death-dealing Pharaoh of hell are remembered? We part with folly for wisdom; with bubbles for eternal joys; with deceit for truth; with misery for bliss; with idols for the living God. O that Christians were more mindful of the divine precept here recorded; but, alas! worldliness abounds; the church is defiled; and the glory of the Great King is veiled. Only when the whole church leads the separated life will the full splendour and power of Christianity shine forth upon the world.

11. “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.” Whole-hearted love is the duty and bliss of the marriage state in every case, but especially so in this lofty, mystic marriage. The church must forsake all others and cleave to Jesus only, or she will not please him nor enjoy the full manifestation of his love. What less can he ask, what less may she dare propose than to be wholly his? Jesus sees a beauty in his church, a beauty which he delights in most when it is not marred by worldliness. He has always been most near and precious to his saints when they have cheerfully taken up his cross and followed him without the camp. His Spirit is grieved when they mingle themselves among the people and learn their ways. No great and lasting revival of religion can be granted us till the professed lovers of Jesus prove their affection by coming out from an ungodly world, being separated, and touching not the unclean thing. “For he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.” He has royal rights still; his condescending grace does not lessen but rather enforce his authority. Our Saviour is also our Ruler. The husband is the head of the wife; the love he bears her does not lessen but strengthen her obligation to obey. The church must reverence Jesus, and bow before him in prostrate adoration; his tender union with her gives her liberty, but not license; it frees her from all other burdens, but places his easy yoke upon her neck. Who would wish it to be otherwise? The service of God is heaven in heaven, and perfectly carried out it is heaven upon earth. Jesus, thou art he whom thy church praises in her unceasing songs, and adores in her perpetual service. Teach us to be wholly thine. Bear with us, and work by thy Spirit in us till thy will is done by us on earth as it is in heaven.

12. “And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift.” When the church abounds in holiness, she shall know no lack of homage from the surrounding people. Her glory shall then impress and attract the heathen around, till they also unite in doing honour to the Lord. The power of missions abroad lies at home: a holy church will be a powerful church. Nor shall there be lack of treasure in her coffers when grace is in her heart; the free gifts of a willing people shall enable the workers for God to carry on their sacred enterprises without stint. Commerce shall send in its revenue to endow, not with forced levies and imperial taxes, but with willing gifts the church of the Great King. “Even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.” Not by pandering to their follies, but by testifying against their sins, shall the wealthy be won to the faith of Jesus. They shall come not to favour the church but to beg for her favour. She shall not be the hireling of the great, but as a queen shall she dispense her favours to the suppliant throng of the rich among the people. We go about to beg for Christ like beggars for alms, and many who should know better will make compromises and become reticent of unpopular truth to please the great ones of the earth; not so will the true bride of Christ degrade herself, when her sanctification is more deep and more visible; then will the hearts of men grow liberal, and offerings from afar, abundant and continual, shall be presented at the throne of the Pacific Prince.

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.

13. “The king’s daughter is all glorious within.” Within her secret chambers her glory is great. Though unseen of men her Lord sees her, and commends her. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” Or the passage may be understood as meaning within herself—her beauty is not outward only or mainly; the choicest of her charms are to be found in her heart, her secret character, her inward desires. Truth and wisdom in the hidden parts are what the Lord regards; mere skin-deep beauty is nothing in his eyes. The church is of royal extraction, of imperial dignity, for she is a king’s daughter; and she has been purified and renewed in nature, for she is glorious within. Note the word all. The Bridegroom was said to have all his garments perfumed, and now the bride is all glorious within—entireness and completeness are great points. There is no mixture of ill savour in Jesus, nor shall there be alloy of unholiness in his people, his church shall be presented without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. “Her clothing is of wrought gold.” Best material and best workmanship. How laboriously did our Lord work out the precious material of his righteousness into a vesture for his people! no embroidery of golden threads can equal that master-piece of holy art. Such clothing becomes one so honoured by relationship to the Great King. The Lord looks to it that nothing shall be wanting to the glory and beauty of his bride.

14. “She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework.” The day comes when the celestial marriage shall be openly celebrated, and these words describe the nuptial procession, wherein the queen is brought to her royal Husband attended by her handmaidens. In the latter-day glory, and in the consummation of all things, the glory of the bride, the Lamb’s wife, shall be seen by all the universe with admiration. While she was within doors, and her saints hidden ones, the church was glorious; what will be her splendour when she shall appear in the likeness of her Lord in the day of his manifestation? The finest embroidery is but a faint image of the perfection of the church when sanctified by the Spirit. This verse tells us of the ultimate rest of the church—the King’s own bosom; of the way she comes to it, she is brought by the power of sovereign grace; of the time when this is done—in the future, “she shall be,” it does not yet appear; of the state in which she shall come—clad in richest array, and attended by brightest spirits. “The virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.” Those who love and serve the church for her Lord’s sake shall share in her bliss “in that day.” In one sense they are a part of the church, but for the sake of the imagery they are represented as maids of honour; and, though the figure may seem incongruous, they are represented as brought to the King with the same loving familiarity as the bride, because the true servants of the church are of the church, and partake in all her happiness. Note that those who are admitted to everlasting communion with Christ, are pure in heart—virgins, pure in company—“her companions,” pure in walk—“that follow her.” Let none hope to be brought into heaven at last who are not purified now.

15. “With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought.” Joy becomes a marriage feast. What joy will that be which will be seen at the feasts of paradise when all the redeemed shall be brought home! Gladness in the saints themselves, and rejoicing from the angels shall make the halls of the New Jerusalem ring again with shoutings. “They shall enter into the King’s palace.” Their peaceful abodes shall be where Jesus the King reigns in state for ever. They shall not be shut out but shut in. Rights of free entrance into the holiest of all shall be accorded them. Brought by grace, they shall enter into glory. If there was joy in the bringing, what in the entering? What in the abiding? The glorified are not field labourers in the plains of heaven, but sons who dwell at home, princes of the blood, resident in the royal palace. Happy hour when we shall enjoy all this and forget the sorrows of time in the triumphs of eternity.

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.

16. “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children.” The ancient saints who stood as fathers in the service of the Great King have all passed away; but a spiritual seed is found to fill their places. The veterans depart, but volunteers fill up the vacant places. The line of grace never becomes extinct. As long as time shall last, the true apostolical succession will be maintained. “Whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.” Servants of Christ are kings. Where a man has preached successfully, and evangelised a tribe or nation, he gets to himself more than regal honours, and his name is like the name of the great men that be upon the earth. Jesus is the king-maker. Ambition of the noblest kind shall win her desire in the army of Christ; immortal crowns are distributed to his faithful soldiers. The whole earth shall yet be subdued for Christ, and honoured are they, who shall, through grace, have a share in the conquest—these shall reign with Christ at his coming.

17.—“I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations.” Jehovah by the prophet’s mouth promises to the Prince of Peace eternal fame as well as a continuous progeny. His name is his fame, his character, his person; these are dear to his people now—they never can forget them; and it shall be so as long as men exist. Names renowned in one generation have been unknown to the next era, but the laurels of Jesus shall ever be fresh, his renown ever new. God will see to this; his providence and his grace shall make it so. The fame of Messiah is not left to human guardianship; the Eternal guarantees it, and his promise never fails. All down the ages the memories of Gethsemane and Calvary shall glow with unextinguishable light; nor shall the lapse of time, the smoke of error, or the malice of hell be able to dim the glory of the Redeemer’s fame. “Therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.” They shall confess thee to be what thou art, and shall render to thee in perpetuity the homage due. Praise is due from every heart to him who loved us, and redeemed us by his blood; this praise will never be fully paid, but will be ever a standing and growing debt. His daily benefits enlarge our obligations, let them increase the number of our songs. Age to age reveals more of his love, let every year swell the volume of the music of earth and heaven, and let thunders of song roll up in full diapason to the throne of him that liveth, and was dead, and is alive for evermore, and hath the keys of hell and of death.

“Let him be crowned with majesty Who bowed his head to death, And be his honours sounded high By all things that have breath.”

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title. —“Upon Shoshannim,” or upon lilies. It will be remembered that lilies were an emblem of purity and loveliness, and were introduced as such in the building of Solomon’s temple (see 1 Kings vii. 19, 22, 26; 2 Chron. iv. 5); and the church is compared in the Canticles to a “lily among thorns.” Cant. ii. 2. The Psalms which bear this title, “upon lilies,” are the present, the sixty-ninth and the eightieth (cp. Ps. lx.); and all these contain prophecies of Christ and his church. The sixtieth is a parallel to the forty-fourth, and represents her supplicating appeal to God, and Christ’s victories. The sixty-ninth displays the victories gained by Christ through suffering. The eightieth is also parallel to the forty-fourth and sixtieth, a plaintive lament of the church in distress and a supplicating cry for deliverance. All these three Psalms are (if we may venture to use this expression) like the voice of the “lily among thorns.” That there is, therefore, some reference here to the spiritual meaning of the word שֹׁשַׁנִּים, or lilies, in this title, seems at least to be probable.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Title.—We think that Shoshannim signifies an instrument of six strings, or a song of rejoicing.—Augustin Calmet, 1672-1757.

Kitto, on the other hand, says that the word is so clearly lilies, that he is disinclined to go out of the way to bring in the Hebrew word for six.

Title.—“To the chief musician upon Shoshannim.” Some would have it that instruments whereon were many engravings of lilies, which are six-leaved flowers, are here meant. And, indeed, some interpreters, because of that derivation of the word, do thus translate it, upon Shoshannim, that is, upon lilies; and that either in reference to their wedding garlands, that were made much of lilies, or as intending by these lilies Christ and his church.—Arthur Jackson.

Title.—“A song.” The word שִׁיר, shir, the meaning of which (song), is unquestioned, is prefixed to many of the Psalms, three times simply and thirteen times in connection with Mizmor. There is no mark of peculiarity in their composition. The meaning of the word seems to be discriminated from Mizmor, as signifying a thing to be sung, with reference to its poetical structure.—John Jebb.

Whole Psalm.—The Psalter, which sets forth so much truth respecting the person and work of Christ—truth more precious than gold and sweeter than the honeycomb—is not silent respecting the bond subsisting between him and his people, THE MYSTICAL UNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE CHURCH. When a prince sets his affections on a woman of lowly rank, and takes her home to be his wife, the two are so united that her debts become his, his wealth and honours become hers. Now, that there is formed between Christ and the church, between Christ and every soul that will consent to receive him, a connection, of which the most intimate of all natural relations is the analogue and type, we have already found to be not only taught in the Psalms, but to be implied in the very structure of many of them. He takes his people’s sins upon him, and they receive the right to become the sons of God; the One Spirit of God wherewith he was baptised without measure, dwells in them according to the measure of the grace that is given them. I will only add further, that this union, besides being implied in so many places, is expressly set forth in one most glorious Psalm—the Nuptial Song of Christ and the Church—which has for its peculiar theme the home-bringing of Christ’s elect, that they may be joined to him in a union that shall survive the everlasting hills.—William Binnie, D.D.

Verse 1.—“My heart is inditing a good matter,” and then, “My tongue shall be like the pen of a ready writer.” Oh, then I shall go merrily on in his service, when I have matter prepared in my heart. And, indeed, as the mariner sees further new stars the further he sails, he loseth sight of the old ones and discovers new; so the growing Christian, the further he sails in religion he discovers new wants, new Scriptures affect him, new trials afflict him, new business he finds with God, and forgetting those things that are behind, he reacheth after those things that are before, and so finds every day new business with the Lord his God; and he that is busy trifles not; the more business the less distraction.—Richard Steele.

Verse 1.—“My heart is inditing a good matter.” רָחַשׁ (rakhash), boileth or bubbleth up; denotes the language of the heart full and ready for utterance.—Victorinus Bythner.

Verse 1.—“My heart is inditing a good matter.” Here you have the work of the Spirit of prophecy. By his operation the good “matter” is engendered in the Psalmist’s bosom, and now his heart is heaving and labouring under the load. It is just beginning to throw it up, like water from a fountain, that it may flow off in the channel of the tongue. Here, therefore, you have some insight given you of the manner of the operation of the Spirit in the heart of man. The Psalmist says his heart is doing what the Spirit is doing in his heart. The heart does it, indeed, but it is the Spirit’s working. The Psalmist took all the interest and pleasure in his subject that he could have done, if the Spirit had had nothing to do with it; for when the Spirit works, he works not only by the heart, but in the heart; he seizes upon all its affections, every fibre of it is bent to his will.—George Harpur, in “Christ in the Psalms,” 1862.

Verse 1.—“Good matter,” the goodspell, or gospel.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 1.—A similitude taken from the mincah, or meat-offering in the law, which was dressed in the frying-pan (Lev. vii. 9), and there boiled in oil, being made of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil (Lev. ii. 5), and afterwards was presented to the Lord by the priest, ver. 8. Here the matter of this Psalm is as the mincah or oblation, which with the oil, the grace of the Spirit, was boiled and prepared in the prophet’s heart, and now presented.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 1.—It is reported of Origen, saith Erasmus, that he was ever earnest, but most of all when he discoursed of Christ. Of Johannes Mollias, a Bononian, it is said, that whenever he spake of Jesus Christ, his eyes dropped, for he was fraught with a mighty fervency of God’s Holy Spirit; and like the Baptist, he was first a burning (boiling or bubbling), and then a shining light.—John Trapp.

Verse 1.—“Touching the king.” It does not all concern the king immediately, for much of it concerns the queen, and about one-half of it is directly addressed to her. But it relates to him inasmuch as it relates to his family. Christ ever identifies himself with his people; so that, whatever is done to them, is done to himself. Their interests are his.—George Harpur.

Verse 1.—“My tongue” shall be like the pen of one that takes minutes or writes shorthand: for I shall speak very briefly, and not in words at length, or so as to be understood in a literal sense, but in figures and emblems.—From “Holy David and his old English Translators cleared,” 1706. [Anon.]

Verse 1.—“The pen.” We call the prophets the penmen of Scripture, whereas they were but the pen.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips.” Thus he begins to set forth his beauty, wherein is the delightfulness of any person; so is it with the soul when God hath made known to man his own filthiness and uncomeliness through sin, and that only by Jesus sin is taken away; oh, how beautiful is this face, the first sight of him! Secondly, “Full of grace are thy lips:” here is the second commendation; which is, when Jesus hath opened his lips to us, from them he pours out grace into our soul, when he makes known the Father to us, and speaks peace to all that are far off and near; when he calls, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you:” and all this is because God hath blessed him for ever; we are assured he comes from God, and that he and his works are eternal, and therefore all his grace poured out upon us shall remain with us, and make us blessed for ever; for he is the Word of God, and he speaks the mind of God, for he speaks nothing but what he hath heard from the Father; and when he speaks to our souls with his Word, the Spirit is given, a certain testimony to our soul that we are the sons of God, and a pledge of our inheritance; for the Spirit and the Word cannot be separated.—Richard Coore, in “Christ set forth.”

Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer than the children of men,” etc. Nothing can be more beautiful than this abrupt way of discourse. The prophet sets out with a professed design to speak of the king. But as if in the moment he had so intended, the glorious Person of whom he was going to speak appeared to his view, he instantly leaves every other consideration to speak to him himself. And what a rapturous address he makes! He first describes the glories, the beauties, the astonishing loveliness, of his person. Though to a carnal eye there was no beauty to desire him, his visage was marred more than any man’s, and his form more than the sons of men, yet to an eye truly enlightened, he is the king in his beauty, fairer, as the glorious Mediator, the Head, the Bridegroom of his Church and people, than all the children of men. And, in the Father’s view, so greatly beloved, so truly glorious, that grace was poured into his lips. Reader, observe the expression; not simply grace put into his heart, for the holiness and purity of his person, but poured into his lips, that, like the honey, it might drop upon his people, and be for ever communicated to all his redeemed, in an endless perpetuity of all suited blessings here, and glory hereafter.—Robert Hawker, D.D.

Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer than the children of men.” Are you for beauty? That takes with most: for this none like Christ. For beauty and comeliness he infinitely surpasses both men and angels. We read of Moses, that he was exceeding fair; and of David, that he was ruddy, and of a beautiful countenance; and Josephus reports of the one of them, that all that saw him were amazed at and enamoured of his beauty. Oh, but what was their beauty to Christ’s? Were their beauty, and with theirs the beauty of men and angels put together, it would all be nothing to the beauty of Christ; not so much as the light of a farthing candle is to the light of the sun at noon-day.—Edward Pearse in “The Best Match,” 1673.

Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer,” etc. Fair he was (1) in his conception, conceived in purity, and a fair angel brought the news. Fair (2) in his nativity: ὡραῖος is the word in the Septuagint, tempustivus, in time, that is, all things are beautiful in their time, Eccl. iii. 11. And in the fulness of time it was that he was born, and a fair star pointed to him. Fair (3) in his childhood; he grew up in grace and favour, Luke ii. 52. The doctors were much taken with him. Fair (4) in his manhood; had he not been so, says S. Jerome, had there not been something admirable in his countenance and presence, some heavenly beauty, the apostles and the whole world (as the Pharisees themselves confess) would not so suddenly have gone after him. Fair (5) in his transfiguration, white as the light, or as the snow, his face glittering as the sun (Matt. xvii. 2), even to the ravishing the very soul of S. Peter, that “he knew not what he said,” could let his eyes dwell upon that face for ever, and never come down the mount again. Fair (6) in his passion. Nihil indecorum, no uncomeliness, in his nakedness; his very wounds, and the bloody prints of the whips and scourges drew an ecce from the mouth of Pilate: “Behold the man!” the sweetness of his countenance and carriage in the midst of filth and spittle, whips and buffets. His very comeliness upon the cross, and his giving up the ghost, made the centurion cry out, he “was the Son of God:” there appeared so sweet a majesty, so heavenly a lustre in him through that very darkness that encompassed him. Fair (7) in his resurrection; so subtle a beauty, that mortal eyes, even the eyes of his own disciples, were not able to see or apprehend it, but when he veiled it from them. Fair (8) in his ascension; made his disciples stand gazing after him so long (as if they never could look long enough upon him), till an angel is sent from heaven to rebuke them, to look home, Acts i. 2.—Mark Frank.

Verse 2.—O fair sun, and fair moon, and fair stars, and fair flowers, and fair roses, and fair lilies; but O ten thousand thousand times fairer Lord Jesus! Alas! I have wronged him in making the comparison this way. O black sun and moon! but O fair Lord Jesus! O black flowers, and black lilies, and roses! but O fair, fair, ever fair, Lord Jesus! O black heaven! but O fair Christ! O black angels! but O surpassingly fair Lord Jesus!—Samuel Rutherford.

Verse 2.—In one Christ we may contemplate and must confess all the beauty and loveliness both of heaven and earth; the beauty of heaven is God, the beauty of earth is man; the beauty of heaven and earth together is this God-man.—Edward Hyde, D.D., 1658.

Verse 2.—“Thou.” “I have a passion,” observed Count Zinzendorf in one of his discourses to the congregation at Herrnhut, “and it is He—He only.”

Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer.” Hebrew, Thou art double fairer; the Hebrew word is doubled, ad corroborandum, saith Kimchi.—John Trapp.

Verse 2.—“Grace is poured into thy lips.” This is said as if this grace were a gift, and not something inherent in our Lord himself. And is not this exactly what we learn from the histories of the evangelists? Before Jesus went forth to the work of his public mission, the Holy Ghost descended from heaven like a dove and lit upon him. The Spirit who imparts all its graces to the church of Christ imparted his graces to Christ himself. Not that the Son of God needed the anointing of the Spirit of God, but he suffered it to be so that he might be in all things like his brethren. If he was to be their example, he must show them wherein their great strength lay. They see in him the fruits of the Holy Ghost who is promised to themselves. All that Christ ever did as the Head and Representative of his people, he did by that very Spirit which is still resident in his church.—George Harpur.

Verse 2.—“Grace is poured into thy lips.” “Full of grace are thy lips.” Full of grace for the matter, and full of grace for the manner. I. For the matter, he delivered acceptable doctrine: “The law was given by Moses, but grace came by Jesus Christ.” John i. 17. Moses had harsh and hard words in his law; “Cursed is he that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them;” but Christ on the contrary speaks better things, the first words in his first sermon are, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. v. 3. He cometh unto his people, cum verbo gratiæ, cum osculo gratiæ, saith Augustine: his lips are full of grace, that is, pouring out gracious words abundantly. Matt. xi. 28; John iii. 16; Luke iv. 18. “His lips are like lilies dropping down myrrh” (Cant. v. 13); all that heard him wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, Luke iv. 22. II. For the manner, he taught not as the scribes; he spake so sweetly that the very catch-poll officers, astonished at his words, gave this testimony, “Never man spake like this man,” John vii. 46. He spake so graciously that the apostles forsook all things and followed him; at his call Andrew left his nets straightway, James and John their father without tarrying, Matthew from the receipt of custom, Zaccheus from the like worldly course, came hastily to receive him joyfully. Mark x. 28; Matt. iv. 20, 21; ix. 9; Luke xix. 6. Nay, beloved, he was so powerful an orator, that the very winds and waves obeyed his word. Mark iv. 39. It is reported in Holy Writ that all princes and people were desirous of hearing Solomon’s eloquence; the Queen of Sheba wondering at the same, cried out, “Happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom,” 1 Kings x. 8. Solomon is a type here, but Christ is the truth; and this showeth evidently that Christ is not a tyrant, but a mild prince, persuading obedience plausibly, not compelling his people violently; his sayings are his sceptre and his sword: his piercing exhortations are, as it were, his sharp arrows by which his followers are subdued unto him.

To conclude this argument, his fair words (as the Scripture speaks) “are as an honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones” (Prov. xvi. 24): “an honeycomb,” and what more toothsome? “sweetness to the soul and health to the bones;” and what, I pray, more wholesome? The good man’s soul is Christ’s own spouse, to which he speaks a great many ways graciously; sometimes correcting, and what stronger argument of love? for “whom he loveth he chasteneth” (Heb. xii. 6); sometimes instructing, and his gospel is able to make “the man of God perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. iii. 17); sometimes wooing in amorous terms, as in his love-song everywhere: “my beloved,” “my sister,” “my spouse,” “the fairest among women,” “my love,” “my dove,” etc.; sometimes promising, and that both the blessings of this life present (Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: etc., Isaiah xli. 10), and of that life which is to come. John xvii. 21, 24. But Christ’s excellent intercession every day to God the Father, appearing in the court of heaven, and as an advocate pleading for us, is yet fuller of grace; for if Caleb easily granted his daughter’s request, and bestowed on her “the springs above and the springs beneath” (Judges i. 15), how shall Almighty God (whose mercies are above all his works) deny the suits of such a Son in whom he is well pleased?—John Boys.

Verse 2.—“Grace is poured into thy lips.” The former clause noted his inward perfections; and this signifies his ability and readiness to communicate them to others.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 2 (second clause).—Never were there such words of love and sweetness spoken by any man as by him: never was there such a loving and tender heart as the heart of Jesus Christ: “Grace was poured into his lips.” Certainly never were there such words of love, sweetness, and tenderness spoken here upon this earth as those last words of his which were uttered a little before his sufferings, and are recorded in the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th chapters of John. Read over all the books of love and friendship that were ever written by any of the sons of men, they do all come far short of those melting strains of love that are there expressed. So sweet and amiable was the conversation of Jesus Christ, that it is reported of the apostle Peter in the Ecclesiastical History, that after Christ’s ascension he wept so abundantly, that he was always seen wiping his face from the tears; and being asked why he wept so, he answered, He could not choose but weep as often as he thought of that most sweet conversation of Jesus Christ.—John Row.

Verse 3.—“Gird thy sword upon thy thigh.” The sword, according to ancient custom was hung in a belt put round the shoulders, and reaching down to the thigh. It was suspended on the back part of the thigh, almost to the ground, but was not girded upon it; the horseman’s sword was fixed on the saddle by a girth. When David, in spirit invites the Redeemer of the church to gird his sword upon his thigh, and the spouse says of the valiant of Israel, “every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night” (Cant. iii. 8), they do not mean that the weapon was literally bound upon their thigh, but hung in the girdle on the back part of it; for this was the mode in which, by the universal testimony of ancient writers, the infantry wore their swords. It is still the practice in the East to wear swords in this manner, for Chardin informs us, that “the Eastern people wear their swords hanging down at length; and the Turks wear their swords on horseback, and on their thigh.” But in his poetical invitation to the Redeemer, to gird his sword upon his thigh, David manifestly points to some special occasion of solemn and official character; and a clear light is thrown upon his meaning by a custom to this day observed in the East. “When a Persian or an Ottoman prince ascends the throne,” says Mr. Morier, “he girds on his sabre. Mohammed Jaffer, for example, was proclaimed by the Khan, governor pro tempore, till the arrival of his brother, and was invested in this dignity by the girding of a sword upon his thigh, an honour which he accepted with a reluctance perhaps not wholly feigned.”—“This ceremony,” says Dr. Davey, giving an account of an Eastern coronation, “remained to be performed before the prince could be considered completely king—it was that of choosing a new name, and putting on the regal sword. The prince went in great state to the temple, where he presented offerings, and then, the sword having been girded on his thigh, the priest presented a pot of sandal-powder, in which the prince, who may now be called king, dipped his fingers.”

From these anecdotes, it is evident girding a sword on the thigh is part of the ceremony of royal inauguration; and that when the Psalmist addresses the Messiah, he refers to his receiving the honours and powers of the Lord of all.—G. Paxton’s Illustrations of Scripture.

Verse 3.—“Thy sword.” The word of God is compared to such a weapon, for the apostle informs us that it is quick, or living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and laying open the thoughts and intents of the heart. It must be observed, however, that this description of the word of God is applicable to it only when Christ girds it on, and employs it as his sword. Of what use is a sword, even though it be the sword of Goliath, while it lies still in its scabbard, or is grasped by the powerless hand of an infant? In those circumstances it can neither conquer nor defend, however well suited it might be to do both in the hand of a warrior. It is the same with the sword of the Spirit. While it lies still in its scabbard, or is wielded only by the infantile hand of Christ’s ministers, it is a powerless and useless weapon; a weapon at which the weakest sinner can laugh, and against which he can defend himself with the utmost ease. But not so when he who is the Most Mighty girds it on. Then it becomes a weapon of tremendous power, a weapon resistless as the bolt of heaven. “Is not my word like a fire, and a hammer, saith the Lord, which breaketh the rock in pieces?” It is indeed, for what can be more efficacious and irresistible than a weapon sharper than a two-edged sword, wielded by the arm of omnipotence? What must his sword be whose glance is lightning? Armed with this weapon, the Captain of our salvation cuts his way to the sinner with infinite ease, though surrounded by rocks and mountains, scatters his strongholds and refuges of lies, and with a mighty blow cleaves asunder his heart of adamant, and lays him prostrate and trembling at his feet. Since such are the effects of this weapon in the hand of Christ, it is with the utmost propriety that the Psalmist begins by requesting him to gird it on, and not suffer it to be inactive in its scabbard, or powerless in the feeble grasp of his ministers.—Edward Payson.

Verse 3.—“O most mighty.” Christ is almighty, and so able to make good all that he speaketh, and to make his word of precept, promise, and threatening effectual unto the errand for which it is sent.—David Dickson.

Verses 3, 4.—We may reflect with pleasure on the glorious cause in which Christ is engaged, and the holy war which he carries on, and in which he shall prosper. It is the cause of truth, of meekness, and righteousness. His gospel, his sword, which is the word of God, tends to rectify our errors by truth; to control our passions by that meekness which it promotes, and to regulate our lives by the laws of righteousness which it inculcates. Let us rejoice that this sacred cause has hitherto prospered, and shall prosper.—Job Orton, 1717-1783.

Verse 4.—“And in thy majesty ride prosperously,” etc. The wheels of Christ’s chariot, whereupon he rideth when he goeth to conquer and subdue new converts to his kingdom, are majesty, truth, meekness, righteousness, manifested in the preaching of his gospel; majesty, when the stately magnificence of his person and offices is declared; truth, when the certainty of all that he teacheth in Scripture is known; meekness, when his grace and mercy is offered to rebels; and righteousness, when justification by faith in his name is clearly set forth. Christ goeth no voyage in vain, he cometh not short of his intent and purpose, but doth the work for which he cometh, preaching the gospel; in his majesty, truth, meekness, and righteousness, he rideth prosperously.—David Dickson.

Verse 4.—“Ride prosperously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.” The literal translation would be, “Ride on the word of truth, and the meekness of righteousness,” and so the Syriac has it. If this rendering be adopted, the meaning will then be, that the great object of Christ’s gospel was to vindicate the cause of truth and righteousness in the world. Christ is said to ride on the word of truth, because the knowledge of the truth depends on the word—it is by the word that truth is made known. He is said to ride on the meekness or humility of righteousness, because meekness or humility is its distinguishing characteristic. The former relates to what man is to believe, the latter to how he is to live.—George Harpur.

Verse 4.—“Thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.” This expression seems only used to imply, either that by his power he should be enabled to do terrible things, because teaching enables men to do what they are taught, or that by his almighty power he should experimentally see what great and terrible things should be done by him.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 5.—“Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies.” In a still bolder metaphor the arrows which are discharged from the bow of Christ are the preachers of the gospel, especially the apostles and evangelists. “His sagittis” says S. Jerome, “totus orbis vulneratus et captus est.” Paul, the apostle, was an arrow of the Lord, discharged from his bow from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and from Illyricum to Spain, flying from east to west, and subduing Christ’s enemies beneath his feet.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 5.—While beseeching the Redeemer to ride forth prosperously, and predicting his success, he seems suddenly to have seen his prayers answered and his predictions fulfilled. He saw his all-conquering Prince gird on his resistless sword, array himself in glory and majesty, ascend the chariot of his gospel, display the banner of his cross, and ride forth, as on the wings of the wind, while the tremendous voice of a herald proclaimed before him: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” exalt the valleys, and level the hills; make the crooked ways straight, and the rough places plain; for, behold, the Lord God comes; he comes with a strong hand, his reward is with him, and his work before him. From the bright and fiery cloud which enveloped his chariot, and concealed it from mortal eyes, he saw sharp arrows of conviction shot forth on every side, deeply wounding the obdurate hearts of sinners, and prostrating them in crowds around his path, while his right hand extended raised them again, and healed the wounds which his arrows had made; and his omnipotent voice spoke peace to their despairing souls, and bade them follow in his train, and witness and share in his triumph. From the same bright cloud he saw the vengeful lightnings flashing thick and dreadful, to blast and consume everything that opposed his progress; he saw sin, and death, and hell, with all its legions, baffled, defeated, and flying in trembling consternation before him; he saw them overtaken, bound, and chained to his triumphant chariot wheels; while enraptured voices were heard from heaven exclaiming, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ.” Such was the scene which seems to have burst upon the ravished sight of the entranced prophet. Transported with the view, he exclaims, “Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.”—Edward Payson.

Verse 5.—“The king’s enemies,” is not simply an expression for “Thy enemies,” as some think, but rather implies that Christ’s kingship is the ground of their enmity; just as in the second Psalm their cry was, “Let us break their bands asunder.”—George Harpur.

Verse 6.—“Thy throne, O God.” The original word, is probably vocative, both in the Greek and in the Hebrew; and is so taken by modern Unitarians, who seek their refuge by explaining away θεός.—Henry Alford, D.D., on Heb. i. 8.

Verse 7.—“Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness.” Many a one loves righteousness, but would not be its champion; such a love is not Christ’s love. Many a one hates iniquity, not for its own sake, but for the sake of its consequences; such a hate is not Christ’s hate. To be like Christ we must love righteousness as he loved, and hate wickedness as he hated. To love and hate as he loves and hates is to be perfect as he is perfect. The perfection of this love and hate is moral perfection.—George Harpur.

Verse 7.—“Therefore.” Observe how usual it is to impute Christ’s exaltation to his merits. God blessed him for ever, as in the second verse of this Psalm (if such be the sense of that verse), because he was fairer than the children of men, and grace was poured into his lips. And so the apostle. God highly exalted him and gave him a name above every name, because he had humbled himself, and become obedient unto death. And here God anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows, because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity.—George Harpur.

Verse 7.—“Therefore.” He says not, “Wherefore he anointed thee in order to thy being God, or King, or Son, or Word;” for so he was before, and is for ever, as has been shown; but rather, “Since thou art God and King, therefore thou wast anointed, since none but thou couldst unite man to the Holy Ghost, thou the image of the Father, in which we were made in the beginning: for thine is even the Spirit.”—Athanasius.

Verse 7.—“Therefore God, thy God.” God was the God of Christ in covenant, that he might be our God in covenant; for in his transactions, whole Christ, Head and members, are to be considered (Gal. iii. 16; 1 Cor. xii. 12), the covenant being first transacted with the Head (who is given for a covenant to us, Isa. xlii. 6), and then with the members, with him in reference to us and for us. As God did not fail our surety, but supported him in his great conflict, when out of the depths he called unto him; so neither will he fail us in time of need. Heb. iv. 16; xiii. 5, 6.—William Troughton.

Verse 7.—“Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows;” i.e., enriched and filled thee in a singular and peculiar manner with the fulness of the Spirit, whereby thou art consecrated to thy office; and by reason whereof thou out-shinest and excellest all the saints who are thy “fellows,” or co-partners in these graces. So that in these words you have two parts, namely first, the saints’ dignity; and, secondly, Christ’s pre-eminency. First. The saints’ dignity, which consists in this, that they are Christ’s “fellows.” The Hebrew word מֵחֲבֵרֶךָ, is very full and copious, and is translated consorts, companions, co-partners, partakers; or, as ours reads it, “fellows;” i.e., such as are partakers with him in the anointing of the Spirit, who do in their measure receive the same Spirit, every Christian being anointed, modo sibi proportionato, with the same grace and dignified with the same titles. 1 John ii. 27; Rev. i. 6. Christ and the saints are in common one with another. Doth the Spirit of holiness dwell in him? So he doth in them too. Is Christ King and Priest? Why, so are they, too, by the grace of union with him. He hath made us kings and priests to God and his Father. This is the saints’ dignity, to be Christ’s fellows, consorts, or co-partners; so that look whatever grace or excellency is in Christ, it is not impropriated to himself, but they do share with him; for indeed he was filled with the fulness of the Spirit for their sakes and use. As the sun is filled with light not to shine to itself, but to others, so is Christ with grace; and therefore some translate the text not præ consortibus, above thy fellows, but propter consortes, for thy fellows;[20] making Christ the first receptacle of all grace, who first and immediately is filled from the fountain of the Godhead, but it is for his people who receive and derive from him according to their proportion. This is a great truth; and the dignity of the saints lies chiefly in the partnership with Christ, though our translation, “above thy fellows,” suits best both with the importance of the word and scope of the place. Secondly. But then, whatever dignity is ascribed herein to the saints, there is, and still must be, a pre-eminency acknowledged and ascribed to Christ: if they are anointed with the spirit of grace, much more abundantly is Christ: “God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”—John Flavel.

Verse 7.—“Oil of gladness.” For sweet-smelling oils were also used to beautify the face upon occasions of feasting and mirth. Ps. xxiii. 5; civ. 15; Isa. lxi. 3. And likewise this oil of consecration and infusion of the gifts of the Holy Ghost hath been the cause and foundation of Christ’s human nature’s obtaining of the everlasting joys and glory. Phil. ii. 9; Heb. xii. 2.—John Diodati.

Verse 7.—Behold, O ye Arians, and acknowledge even hence the truth. The Psalmist speaks of us all as fellows or partakers of the Lord, but were he one of things which come out of nothing, and of things generate, he himself had been one of those who partake. But since he hymned him as the eternal God, saying, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,” and has declared that all other things partake of him, what conclusion must we draw, but that he is distinct from generated things, and he only the Father’s veritable Word, Radiance, and Wisdom, which all things generate partake, being sanctified by him in Spirit? And, therefore, he is here “anointed,” not that he may become God, for he was so even before; nor that he may become king, for he had the kingdom eternally, existing as God’s image, as the sacred oracle shows; but in our behalf is this written, as before. For the Israelitish kings, upon their being anointed, then became kings, not being so before, as David, as Ezekias, as Josias, and the rest; but the Saviour, on the contrary, being God, and ever ruling in the Father’s kingdom, and being himself the dispenser of the Holy Ghost, nevertheless is here said to be anointed, that, as before, being said as man to be anointed with the Spirit, he might provide for us more, not only exaltation and resurrection, but the indwelling and intimacy of the Spirit.... And when he received the Spirit, we it was who, by him were made recipients of it. And, moreover, for this reason, not as Aaron, or David, or the rest, was he anointed with oil, but in another way, above all his fellows, “with the oil of gladness,” which he himself interprets to be the Spirit, saying by the prophet, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me;” as also the apostle has said, “How God anointed him with the Holy Ghost.”—Athanasius.

Verse 8.—“All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.” Although there is considerable obscurity overhanging these words, still the general idea of a supereminent fulness of anointing is quite apparent, combined, however, with the other idea that the anointing oil or ointment is of the most exquisite quality. Myrrh, and aloes, and cassia were celebrated for their peculiar fragrance, on which account they were used in compounding the choicest unguents. Myrrh and cassia are mentioned in Ex. xxx. 23, 24, as two of the spices of which the holy anointing oil was made up. All its ingredients were considered sacred. The Israelites were forbidden to pour it upon man’s flesh, or to attempt any imitation of it in their own perfumes. Ivory was in early times, as it still is, rare and costly, and it was highly esteemed as a material for household decoration, on which the finest workmanship and the most princely expenditure were displayed. In palaces of ivory, therefore, it was to be expected that, in correspondence with the magnificence of their structure that the costliness of their furniture, the ointment employed for anointing would be of the richest perfume, and in the greatest profusion. According to our version of the Psalm, the divine Saviour is thus represented as being anointed with oil of the very best kind, even oil taken from the ivory palaces; and also as receiving it in no ordinary measure. His anointing was not confined to a few ceremonial drops poured upon the head, but so abundant is it said to have been, that all his garments smelled of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia.

Bishop Horsley has proposed a change in the translation, by which means the idea of abundance is connected, not with the fragrance arising from the anointing, but with the anointing itself, which is a different and far more important thing. “Thy garments are all myrrh, aloes, and cassia, excelling the palaces of ivory, excelling those which delight thee.” This translation, which is strictly literal as well as poetical, is at the same time comparatively free from obscurity, and it visibly sets forth, under the most expressive imagery, the surpassing measure of that anointing which was conferred on our Lord above all his fellows. His garments are supposed not merely to have been all richly perfumed, or even thoroughly saturated with the oil of gladness, but to have consisted of the very articles which entered into the composition of the most precious and odoriferous unguent. “Thy garments are all myrrh, aloes, and cassia.” This is figurative language, but nothing could more emphatically exhibit how truly “the Spirit rested on Jesus, and abode with him” in all the plenitude of his heavenly gifts. That heavenly anointing constituted, as it were, his very dress, “excelling” in the quantity or measure of the anointing “the palaces of ivory;” because their furnitures, however highly scented, were not made of aromatic materials. The strength of the perfumes would evaporate, the fragrance would soon diminish; but permanent as well as plentiful fragrance is secured to him whose “garments are all myrrh, aloes, and cassia.” It is added, in the way of parallelism, “excelling those which delight in thee,” or those which make thee glad. To say that the persons here alluded to are the occupiers of the ivory palaces, might perhaps be objected to as fanciful; but palaces are the abodes of kings; and anointed kings, either literally, or typically, or spiritually, are the fellows of the Lord’s anointed One; and it does seem manifest that, as his anointing causes joy and gladness to all the parties concerned in it, so likewise there is an anointing of those who are honoured to be his fellows which causes joy and gladness to him. The persons who are in the one verse spoken of as giving delight to Christ, there is no reason to regard as any other than the persons spoken of in the former verse as his “fellows.” And if this is the case, then we have a comparison drawn betwixt the one and the other in the matter of their anointing, and to that of Christ a decided superiority is ascribed.—David Pitcairn, in “The Anointed Saviour,” 1846.

Verse 8.—“All thy garments smell of myrrh,” etc. These things are true in Jesus; by his garments is meant his righteousness; for it is written, He clothed himself with righteousness and zeal. And here the translator hath put in “smell,” which rather should have been are, for “his garments are of myrrh, and aloes and cassia,” that is, truly purging, cleansing, and making sound; for his righteousness, which is the righteousness of faith, maketh sound-hearted Christians; whereas, man’s righteousness, which is the righteousness of works, maketh filthy hypocrites. And by “ivory palaces,” is meant the true faith and fear of God; for ivory is solid and white, and palaces are king’s houses; and by Christ we are made kings, and our dwelling is in faith and fear of God; and this is the gladness and joy of our Lord Jesus, that he brings many sons and daughters unto God.—Richard Coore, 1683.

Verse 8.—“Out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.” Commentators have been more perplexed in explaining these words than any other part of the Psalm. Not to detain you with the various expositions that have been proposed, I will give you what I conceive to be the meaning of the passage. The word rendered “whereby,” is also the name of a region in Arabia Felix, namely, Minnæa, which, according to the geographer Strabo, “abounded in myrrh and frankincense.” Now, it is singular that, according to the historian, Diodorus Siculus, “the inhabitants of Arabia Felix had sumptuous houses, adorned with ivory and precious stones.” Putting these two things together, therefore, namely, that this region abounded in myrrh and frankincense, and that its inhabitants adorned their houses with ivory, we may, I conceive, find a clue to the Psalmist’s meaning. If we substitute “Minnæa” for “whereby,” the passage will run thus—

“Myrrh, aloes, and cassia, are all thy garments, From ivory palaces of Minnæa they have made thee glad.”

You recollect in the verse just going before, the oil with which Christ was said to be anointed, is called the oil of “gladness.” Accordingly, he is here said to be made glad (it is the same word in both places in the Hebrew), by the spices of which that oil is composed. Those spices are said to have been brought out of the most spicy region of the land of spices, and it is implied that they are the best spices of that spicy region. “Out of the ivory palaces,” says the Psalmist; not only houses, but palaces—the mansions of the great, where the best spices would naturally be kept—out of these have come the myrrh, aloes, and cassia, that have composed the oil of gladness whereby thou art made glad. God anointed Christ, when he set him on his everlasting throne, with the oil of gladness; and this anointing was so profuse, his garments were so overspread with it, that they seemed to be nothing but myrrh, aloes, and cassia. The spices, moreover, of which the anointing oil was composed were the best of their kind, brought, as they were, from the ivory palaces of Minnæa. Such appears to be the Psalmist’s meaning; and when thus understood, the passage becomes most beautifully expressive of the excellency and unmeasured supply of the gifts and graces of that Spirit with which Christ was anointed by his Father.—George Harpur.

Verse 8.—“The ivory palaces.” “The ivory courts.” Probably so called from the great quantity of ivory used in ornamenting and inlaying them; as the emperor Nero’s palace, mentioned by Suetonius, was named “aurea,” or “golden,” because “lita auro,” “overlaid with gold.” This method of ornamenting or inlaying rooms was very ancient among the Greeks. Homer, in the fourth book of the Odyssey, seems to mention it, as employed in Menelaus’s palace at Lacedæmon; and that the Romans sometimes ornamented their apartments in like manner, seems evident from Horace and Ovid. So in modern times, the winter apartment of the fair Fatima at Constantinople, has been described by an eye-witness as “wainscotted with inlaid work of mother-of-pearl, ivory of different colours, and olive wood.” Ivory is likewise employed at Aleppo, as Dr. Russell informs us, in the decoration of some of the more expensive apartments.—Richard Mant.

Verse 8.—“Ivory palaces.” Either edifices (1 Kings xxii. 39; Cant. vii. 14), or ivory coffers, and wardrobes, whence those garments were taken, and are kept.—Westminster Assembly’s Annotations.

Verse 8.—“Whereby they have made thee glad.” The best sense of the phrase—from which they rejoice thee—is had by making they refer to the king’s daughters mentioned in the next verse.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 8.—Gesenius and Delitzsch consider מִנִּי an abbreviated form of the plural מִנִּים (Ps. cl. 4), “strings,” or “stringed instruments,” and would render thus:—“Thee glad out of the ivory palaces stringed instruments have made.”—Dalman Hapstone. [With this rendering Ewald and Lange agree.—J. L. K.]

Verse 9.—“Kings’ daughters.” Albeit the Catholic church consisting of true converts or real saints be but the one and only true spouse of Christ, yet particular visible churches consisting of saints by calling, by obligation, by profession, and common estimation, their own or others, are many. The true church consisting of true converts (whose praise is of God, to whom only they are certainly known, and not of men), being but one, is compared to the queen; but the particular, whose collections and consociations are known to men, being many, are compared to ladies of honour who serve the queen.—David Dickson.

Verse 9.—“The queen.” It is written of Matilda, the empress, that she was the daughter of a king, the mother of a king, and the wife of a king.

_Ortu magna, viro major, sed maxima prole, Hic jacet Henrici filia, nupta, parens._

So David intimates in this hymn, that the church is the daughter of a King, at the 13th verse, “The king’s daughter is all glorious within;” and the mother of a king, at the 16th verse, “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth;” and the wife of a king, in this verse, “Upon thy right hand did stand the queen,” as being (I speak in the language of Canaan), spiritually the wedded and bedded wife to the king of glory.—John Boys.

Verse 10.—“Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house.” Three alls I expect you to part with, saith Christ. 1. All your sinful lusts, all the ways of the old Adam, our father’s house. Ever since Adam’s apostacy, God and man have parted houses. Ever since, our father’s house is a house of ill manners, a house of sin and wickedness. 2. All your worldly advantages. “If any man come unto me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” He that hath all these must be ready to part with all; they are joined not disjunctively but copulatively. 3. All self, self-will, self-righteousness, self-sufficiencies, self-confidences, and self-seekings.—Lewis Stuckley.

Verse 10.—“Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house.” If you see a bee leave a fair flower and stick upon another, you may conclude that she finds most honey-dew in that flower she most sticks upon: so here God’s people would never leave so many fair flowers in the world’s garden, had they not some other in which they find most sweetness. Christ hath his garden, into which he brings his beloved, and there she finds other manner of flowers than any the world hath, in which there is sweetness of a higher nature, even the honey-dew of the choice mercy and goodness and blessing of God himself: if God’s people do leave the full breasts of the world, it is because they have found the breasts of consolation from which they have sucked other manner of sweetness than the breasts of the world can afford.—Jeremiah Burroughs, in “Moses, his self-denyall.” 1649.

Verse 10.—“Forget.” If thou be on the mountain, have no love to look back to Sodom. If thou be in the ark, fly not back to the world, as the raven did. If thou be set on Canaan, forget the flesh-pots of Egypt. If marching against Midian, forget stooping to the waters of Harod. Judg. vii. If on the house-top, forget that is below thee. Mark xiii. 15. If thy hand be put to the plough, forget that is behind thee. Luke ix. 62. Themistocles desired rather to learn the art of forgetfulness than of memory. Philosophy is an art of remembering, divinity includes in it an art of forgetting. The first lesson that Socrates taught his scholars was, Remember; for he thought that knowledge was nothing else but a calling to remembrance of those things the mind knew ere it knew the body. But the first lesson that Christ teacheth his scholars is, Forget: “Forget thine own people;” “Repent” (Matt. iv. 17); first, “eschew evil,” 1 Peter iii. 11.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 11.—“So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.” This is a most sweet promise. For the Holy Spirit knoweth that this monster, Monk, sticks fast in our heart—that we want to be pure and without spot before God. Thus, under Popery, all my temptation was this. I used to say, “that I would willingly go to the sacrament if I were but worthy.” Thus we seek, naturally, a purity in ourselves; and we examine our whole life and want to find a purity in ourselves, that we might have no need of grace, but might be pronounced righteous upon the grounds of our own merit.... Thou wilt certainly never become righteous by thyself and thine own works.... The Holy Spirit saith, therefore, I will give thee wholesome counsel; and if thou wilt hear me, thou shalt become a virgin all fair. For, if thou wouldst be beautiful in the sight of God, so that all thy works should please him, and he should say, “Thy prayer pleaseth me; all that thou sayest, doest, and thinkest, pleaseth me!” proceed thou thus: “hear, see, and incline thine ear;” and thou shalt thus become all fair. When thou hast heard, hast seen, hast forgotten all thine own righteousness, all the law, all traditions, and all that monkery, and hast believed, then art thou fair; not in thine own beauty, but in the beauty of the King who has adorned thee with his Word; because he has brought unto thee thereby his righteousness, his holiness, truth, and fortitude, and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.... The Holy Spirit uses the most exalted language. “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty:” that is, thou wilt by this faith prevail upon him to do whatever thou desirest: so that, as one urged by the power of love, he will spontaneously follow thee, abide with thee, and take up his abode with thee. For wherever God has given his Word, there he does not leave his work which he has begun in thee; but he brings upon thee first the temptations of the world, the devil, and the flesh; that by them he may work upon thee. These are his embraces whereby he embraceth his spouse through impatiency of love.... The sum of the whole, therefore, is this: That our beauty does not consist in our own virtues, nor even in the gifts which we have received from God, by which we put forth virtues and do all those things which pertain unto the life of the law; but in this—our apprehending Christ and believing in him. Then it is that we are truly beautiful: and it is this beauty alone that Christ looks upon, and upon no other.—Martin Luther.

Verse 11.—In this Psalm Christ is set forth in all his royalty and majesty; yet he is said “greatly to desire or delight in the beauty” of his queen, that is, the graces of the saints; and that not with an ordinary delight, but he “greatly desires;” his desire is increased as her beauty is. For that is there brought in as a motive unto her to be more holy and conformed unto him, “to incline her ear, and forsake her father’s house.” “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.” Christ hath a beauty that pleaseth him as well as we have, though of another kind: and, therefore, ceaseth not till he hath got out every spot and wrinkle out of his spouse’s face, as the apostle speaks (Eph. v. 27), “so as to present her glorious unto himself,” that is, delightful and pleasing in his eye.—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 12.—“And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift.” The daughters of Tyre are the daughters of the Gentiles, the part standing for the whole. Tyre, a city bordering on this country where the prophecy was delivered, typified the nations that were to believe in Christ. Thence came that Canaanitish woman, who was at first called a dog; for that ye may know that she was from thence, the gospel speaks thus (Matt. xv. 21-28), “Jesus departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts,” with all the rest that is related there. She who at first, at the house of her “father,” and among her “own people,” was but a dog, who by coming to, and crying after that “King,” was made beautiful by believing in him, what did she obtain to hear? “O woman, great is thy faith.” The King has greatly desired thy beauty.—Augustine.

Verse 12.—“With a gift.” Those who sold their property, came with presents to entreat the face of this “queen,” and “laid what they brought at the apostles’ feet.” Warm then was love in the church.—Augustine.

Verse 12.—“The rich.” They are, indeed, rich in grace, whose graces are not hindered by riches, whose souls prosper when their bodies prosper, as the apostle John speaks in his third Epistle; or, who, as ’tis prophesied in this verse, being full of worldly blessings, are yet hungry and eager in their pursuit after Christ. “The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour,” saith the Psalmist; that is, either the favour of Christ himself, or the favour of the church, by reason of that spiritual excellence and inward glory which she hath received from Christ. Now, to see the rich bring their gifts, and, which is the thing chiefly aimed at here, giving up themselves to Christ, this is a rare sight, and a remarkable work of grace.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 13.—“The king’s daughter is all glorious within,” etc. When the children of God recollect their glorious and heavenly pedigree, they endeavour to excel others, both in the beautiful disposition of soul, and manner of life. “The king’s daughter,” that is, the daughter of the heavenly Father, who is also the bride of the king’s Son; every believing soul “is all glorious,” adorned with a holiness not only glorious to herself, but also to the Father and the Bridegroom, and is the beginning of a heavenly glory; and that chiefly “within,” not only when she appears abroad, and presents herself to the view of men, but also when she sits in the inner bed-chamber in the secret exercises of religion, in which she in private pleases the Father and the Bridegroom, who having a regard to the inward man, she above all endeavours to keep that pure and chaste. Her clothing is of “gold;” in comparison of which whatever excellency natural men were even possessed of, is but a shining vanity; nay, it was “wrought” gold, curiously beautified with various resemblances, which represents the perfections of God himself; and of different colours, on account of the different yet harmoniously corresponding graces of the Holy Spirit; or of needlework of the Phrygian embroiderers, or rather the work of the cunning workman, mentioned in Cant. vii. 1. Nor is the spouse only beautiful within, but also without; “holding forth the word of life,” Phil. ii. 16, she practises charity, glorifies Christ, edifies her neighbour, and in this manner she is brought unto the king, worthy to be presented to him. This is the only way by which we are to endeavour to obtain familiarity with him, and the sweetest intercourse of the chastest love, both on earth and in heaven.—Hermann Witsius. 1636-1708.

Verse 13.—“The king’s daughter is all glorious within.” The meaning is, either, (1.) that her chief glory consisted in this, that she was admitted to such a familiar privacy with the king; or, (2.) that when she sat in the inmost rooms of the king’s palace, she was there in her greatest glory, because those rooms were most gorgeously set forth with all kinds of bravery and glorious furniture; or, (3.) that she used to be gloriously attired, not only when she went abroad in public, but also when she stayed within, as being indeed adorned (which may be implied) only for the delight of the king, and not that others might gaze upon her; or, (4.)—which I like best—that the inward virtues and endowments of her mind were her greatest ornament and glory.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 13.—“All glorious within.” Saints must shine by the comeliness of Christ, as a gracious husband labours to change his spouse into his own image and likeness by kindnesses, precepts, and example, that he may take the more delight in her person; so does our spiritual Solomon change the hue of his Egyptian queen to deem of things and persons as her Lord and husband judges, and frames her spirit to delight in doing his will and pleasure, and take the highest solace in obedience, to enjoy a heavenly freedom, mixed with amiable and joyful reverence. He roots out of her heart all changeable affections and worldly fancies, and hankering longings after the fond fashions of Shechem, and all carnal inclinations to the daughters of Canaan’s lineage, and all the beggarly humours of the besotted world, and to pass by with a holy scorn all the pitiful pageantry of this perishing and fading life, and rise to a mean estimate of the baubles and trifles that enchant a carnal heart. At length she arrives to a noble and generous judgment, counting all but dung and dross that she may win Christ. As her prince of life was crucified by the world for her redemption, so she begins to be crucified to it in token of conformity to him, and at length becomes “all glorious within.”—Samuel Lee, in “The Triumph of Mercy,” 1676.

Verse 13.—“Within.” The ark was pitched within with the same pitch with which it was pitched without withal; such is the sincere man, within and without alike, inside and outside, all one. Yea, he is rather better than he shows, as the “king’s daughter,” whose outside might sometimes be sackcloth, yet was “all glorious within, and her inward garments of wrought gold.” Or as the temple, outwardly nothing but wood and stone to be seen, inwardly all rich and beautiful, especially the sanctum sanctorum (when the veil was drawn) was all gold. The very floor, as well as the roof, was overlaid with gold. 1 Kings vi. 30.—John Sheffield.

Verse 13.—“Her clothing is of wrought gold.” Some read it purled works, or closures of gold, enamelled gold, such as precious stones were set in, which were exceeding splendid and glorious; such were the clothes of service in the tabernacle, and the garments and robes of the high priest, which shadowed forth Christ’s righteousness. Exod. xxviii. 11-14; Exod. xxxix. 1-6.—William Troughton.

Verse 13.—About this time, Father La Combe was called to preach on some public occasion. The new doctrine, as it was termed, was not altogether a secret. Public curiosity had become excited. He chose for his text the passage in Psalm xlv. 13, “The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.” By the king he understood Christ; by the king’s daughter, the church. His doctrine was, whatever might be true in regard to men’s original depravity, that those who are truly given to Christ, and are in full harmony with him, are delivered from it: that is to say, are “all glorious within.” Like Christ, they love God with a love free from selfishness, with pure love. Like Christ, they are come to do the will of the Father. Christ is formed in them. They not only have faith in Christ, and faith in God through Christ, but, as the result of this faith, they have Christ’s disposition. They are now in a situation to say of themselves individually, in the language of the apostle Paul, “I live, and yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” He did not maintain that all Christians are necessarily the subjects of this advanced state of Christian experience, but endeavoured to show that this is a possible state; that, however intense human depravity may be, the grace of God has power to overcome it; that the example of Christ, the full and rich promises, and even the commands, give encouragement to effort, and confidence in ultimate victory.—From the “Life, Religious Opinions and Experiences of Madame de la Mothe Guyon.”

Verse 14.—“The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be brought unto thee.” The highest and most excellent Christian cannot say, I have no need of thee: the queen will not be without any of her true companions. As it is in the body natural, so it is in the church of Christ, or body mystical; all the members being fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love. Eph. iv. 16; Col. ii. 19.—William Troughton.

Verse 14.—“The virgins her companions that follow her.” These are members of the church, but the figure of a bridal train is employed to sustain the allegory. What a bright train the Royal Bride will have as she goes forth to meet the Bridegroom. Kings’ daughters will be there, for every crowned head on earth shall one day bow at the foot of the cross. The daughter of Tyre shall be there—Tyre, the ancient emporium of the nations—to show that the merchandise of the world shall be holiness to the Lord. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Jews and Gentiles will be there—representatives from all peoples, and tongues, and nations. They are “virgins.” They keep themselves unspotted from the world. They are weaned from its idols; they dread its contaminations. Their first care is to preserve the whiteness of their souls by daily washing in the blood of the Lamb.... They “follow” the royal Bride. They keep by her side in storm and sunshine. They follow her in the regeneration. They follow her in the search after her Beloved. Song iii. 2, 3. They follow her to the green pastures and the still waters. They follow her without the camp bearing his reproach. Like Ruth, they leave father and mother to follow her. Ruth i. 16. Like Caleb, they follow the Lord fully. When a crisis comes, and the question, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” involves heavy issues, and hollow-hearted professors fly away like swallows before the storm, they follow her. When persecution comes, and Christ’s faithful witnesses have to prophesy clothed in sackcloth, and perhaps to pass through a baptism of blood to the crown, they follow her: like Peden, when—the bloodhounds of persecution in full chase after him, and the lone moor his home—he thought of Richard Cameron gone to glory, and sighed, “Oh, to be with Richie!”—Duncan Macgregor, M.A., in “The Shepherd of Israel; or, Illustrations of the Inner Life,” 1869.

Verse 15.—“With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought.” No marriage was ever consummated with that triumphal solemnity as the marriage of Christ and believers shall be in heaven. Among the Jews the marriage house was called bethillulah—the house of praise; there was joy on all hands, but not like the joy that will be in heaven when believers, the spouse of Christ, shall be brought thither. God the Father will rejoice to behold the blessed accomplishment and consummation of that glorious design and project of his love. Jesus Christ the Bridegroom will rejoice to see the travail of his soul, the blessed birth and issue of all his bitter pangs and agonies. Isaiah liii. 11. The Holy Spirit will rejoice to see the complement and perfection of that sanctifying design which was committed to his hand (2 Cor. v. 5); to see those souls, whom he once found as rough stones, now to shine as the bright polished stones of the spiritual temple. Angels will rejoice; great was the joy when the foundation of this design was laid, in the incarnation of Christ (Luke ii. 13); great, therefore, must their joy be when the topstone is set up with shouting, crying, Grace, grace. The saints themselves shall rejoice unspeakably, when they shall enter into the king’s palace, and be for ever with the Lord. 1 Thess. iv. 17. Indeed, there will be joy on all hands, except among the devils and damned, who shall gnash their teeth with envy, at the everlasting advancement and glory of believers.—John Flavel.

Verse 15.—“They shall be brought.” Reader! do not fail to observe the manner of expression, the church is brought, she doth not come of herself. No, she must be convinced, converted, made willing. No one can come to Christ, except the Father, who hath sent Christ, draw him. John vi. 44.—Robert Hawker, D.D.

Verse 15.—“They shall enter into the king’s palace.” There are two rich palaces mentioned in this Psalm: the one an ivory palace (verse 8), whereby is signified the assemblies of the saints, and ordinances of divine worship, in which the Lord manifests himself graciously. Here the presence of the Lord is sweet and amiable. Cant. i. 8; Psalm lxxxiv. 2. The other “palace” is mentioned in this fifteenth verse, and it is a palace of glory, a palace more bright and splendid than the finest gold, glorious mansions. John xiv. 2.—William Troughton.

Verse 16.—“Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children.” O church of God, think not thyself abandoned then, because thou seest not Peter, nor seest Paul—seest not those through whom thou wast born. Out of thine own offspring has a body of “fathers” been raised up to thee.—Augustine.

Verse 16.—“Thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.” The new connexion is glorious to the King. Many were his glorious and royal ancestors down to Jesse, but now there are born to him, the Eternal King, sons as the dew from the womb of the morning (Ps. cx. 3), who shall, as princes, occupy the thrones of the world. So our Lord promised to his disciples, “Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt. xix. 28. And Paul says, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” 1 Cor. vi. 2.—Augustus F. Tholuck.

Verse 16.—“Princes in all the earth.” Others are but princes in their own dominion, but he will make you princes in all lands.... Such a kingdom you shall have, if you will come in to Christ, you shall have the liberty of kings, the abundance and plenty of kings, the power of kings, the victory of kings, and the glory of kings.—John Preston.

Verse 17.—“Therefore shall the people praise thee.” Christ’s espousing unto himself a church, and gathering more and more from age to age by his word and Spirit unto it, his converting souls and bringing them into the fellowship of his family, and giving unto them princely minds and affections, wherever they live, is a large matter of growing and everlasting glory unto his majesty; for in regard of this point, and what is said before in this Psalm, he addeth as the close of all, “Therefore shall the people praise thee.”—David Dickson.

Verse 17.—In the Hebrew text, which is here quoted, there is a particle added to the word ever, which in that case intendeth a proper everlastingness, without any period or end at all, and thereupon translated “for ever and ever.”—William Gouge, D.D. on Hebrews i. 8.

Verse 17 (last clause):—

“When morning gilds the skies, My heart awaking cries; May Jesus Christ be praised.

...

When sleep her balm denies, My silent spirit sighs; May Jesus Christ be praised.

...

In heaven’s eternal bliss, The loveliest strain is this; May Jesus Christ be praised.

...

To God the Word on high, The hosts of angels cry; May Jesus Christ be praised.

Let mortals, too, upraise Their voice in hymns of praise; May Jesus Christ be praised.

Let earth’s wide circle round, In joyful notes resound; May Jesus Christ be praised.

Let air, and sea, and sky, From depth to height reply; May Jesus Christ be praised.

Be this while life is mine, My canticle divine; May Jesus Christ be praised.

Be this the eternal song Through all the ages on; May Jesus Christ be praised.”

Translated by Edward Caswall, in “Poems,” 1861.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—In the preface, the prophet commends the subject he is to treat of, signifying, 1. That it is a good matter—good, as speaking of the Son of God, who is the chief good. 2. Good for us; for upon the marriage of Christ to his church depends our good.—Bishop Nicholson.

Verse 1.—Character read by heart-writing. I. The true lover of Christ is sincere—“my heart”. II. He is a man of emotion. III. A man of holy meditation. IV. A man of experience—“things I have made.” V. A man who bears witness for the Lord.

Verse 1.—Three things requisite for Christian teaching: I. That the matter be good; and concerning the best of all subjects, “touching the King.” II. That the language be fluent like the pen, etc. 1. Partly from nature. 2. Partly from cultivation. 3. Partly from the Spirit of God. III. That the heart be absorbed in it—“My heart is inditing.”—G. R.

Verse 2.—In what respects Jesus is fairer than the best of men.

Verse 2.—Jesus—his person, his gospel, his fulness of blessing.

Verse 2.—I. We may and ought to praise Christ. Angels do, God does, Scripture does, Old Testament saints and New, so should we. It is the work of heaven begun on earth. II. For what should we praise him? 1. For his beauty. Is wisdom beauty? Is righteousness? Is love? Is meekness? All are found in him supremely—

“All human beauties, all divine, In our Redeemer meet and shine.”

2. For his grace. Grace of God treasured up in him. 3. For his blessedness—of God and for ever.—G. R.

Verses 2-5.—In these verses the Lord Jesus is presented, I. As most amiable in himself. II. As the great favourite of heaven. III. As victorious over his enemies.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 3.—The captain’s presence desired by the soldier. It is our honour, our delight, our safety, our strength, our victory, our reward.

Verses 3-5.—Messiah’s victory predicted and desired.—E. Payson’s Sermon.

Verse 5.—I. Arrows of judicial wrath are sharp. II. Arrows of providential goodness are sharper still. III. Arrows of subduing grace are sharpest of all. The quiver of the Almighty is full of these arrows.—G. R.

Verse 5.—Arrows—what they are; whose they are; whom they strike; where they strike; what they do, and what follows.

Verse 6.—The God, the king, his throne, its duration, his sceptre. Let us worship, obey, trust, acquiesce, rejoice.

Verses 6, 7.—Empire, Eternity, Equity, Establishment, Exultation.

Verse 7.—“Thou hatest wickedness.” He hated it when it assailed him in his temptation, hated it in others, denounced it, died to slay it, will come to condemn it.

Verse 7.—Christ’s love and hate.

Verse 8.—Christ’s garments—his offices, his two natures, his ordinances, his honours, all are full of fragrance.

Verse 8.—“Whereby they have made thee glad.” We make Jesus glad by our love, our praise, our service, our gifts, our holiness, our fellowship with him.

Verse 8.—I. The odour of his garments, not of blood and battle, but of sweet perfume. II. The splendour of his palaces—ivory for rareness, purity, durability, etc. III. The source of his delight. 1. Himself, the sweet odour of his own graces. 2. His people, the savour of those who are saved. 3. His enemies, “even in them that perish.” 4. All holy happy creatures who unite to make him glad.—G. R.

Verse 10.—“Christ the best husband: or, an earnest invitation to young women to come and see Christ.”—George Whitefield’s “Sermon, Preached to a Society of Young Women, in Fetter Lane.”

Verses 9, 10.—I. The connections of the Bridegroom are to be remembered, those of the Bride to be forgotten.

Verse 11.—“So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.” Christ delighting in the Beauty of the Righteous.—Martin Luther. [Select Works, by H. Cole. I. 281.]

Verses 13-15.—I. The Bride’s new name—“The king’s daughter.” She is the king’s daughter for two reasons. 1. She is born of God; and 2. She is espoused to the Son of God. II. The Bride’s character—“All glorious within.” 1. Because Christ reigns on the throne of her heart. 2. Because she is the temple of the Holy Ghost. III. The Bride’s raiment—“wrought gold,” “needlework:” this is the righteousness of Christ; in other words, 1. His perfect obedience. 2. His atoning death. IV. The Bride’s companions—“Virgins that follow her.” V. The Bride’s home-going—“She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework.... With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace.” 1. She shall see the king in his beauty. 2. There will be an open declaration of his love to her before all worlds.—Duncan Macgregor, M.A.

Verse 14.—I. The presentation of the church to Christ. 1. When souls are first brought to him—“I have espoused you as,” etc. 2. When they come before him at death. 3. When the perfected church is presented to him—“That he might present it,” etc. II. The manner of presentation—1. “in raiment,” etc., such as he himself wrought out. 2. With all her followers. (1.) Their purity—“virgins.” (2.) Their fellowship—“companions.” (3.) Their succession—“that follow thee,” from one age to another until they are complete.—G. R.

Verse 17.—I. Christ is the Father’s delight. “I will make,” etc. II. He is the church’s theme—his name shall be remembered; and III. He is heaven’s glory, “Shall praise thee,” etc.—G. R.

Footnote 20:

Rivetus.

PSALM XLVI.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician.—He who could sing other Psalms so well was fitly entrusted with this noble ode. Trifles may be left to commoner songsters, but the most skilful musician in Israel must be charged with the due performance of this song, with the most harmonious voices and choicest music. For the Sons of Korah. One alone cannot fulfil the praise, there must be picked choristers under him, whose joyful privilege it shall be to celebrate the service of song in the house of the Lord. As to why the Sons of Korah were selected, see our remarks at the head of Psalm XLII. It may be well to add that they were a division of the Levites who took their turn in serving at the temple. All the works of holy service ought not to be monopolised by one order of talent, each company of believers should in due course enjoy the privilege. None ought to be without a share in the service of God.

A Song upon Alamoth. Which may denote that the music was to be pitched high for the treble or soprano voices of the Hebrew virgins. They went forth in their dances to sing the praises of David when he smote the Philistine, it was meet that they should make merry and be glad when the victories of Jehovah became their theme. We need to praise God upon virgin hearts, with souls chaste towards his fear, with lively and exalted expressions, and gladsome strains. Or the word Alamoth may refer to shrill-sounding instruments, as in 1 Chron. xv. 20, where we read that Zechariah, and Eliab, and Benaiah were to praise the Lord “with psalteries on Alamoth.” We are not always, in a slovenly manner, to fall into one key, but with intelligence are to modulate our praises and make them fittingly expressive of the occasion and the joy it creates in our souls. These old musical terms cannot be interpreted with certainty, but they are still useful because they show that care and skill should be used in our sacred music.

SUBJECT.—Happen what may, the Lord’s people are happy and secure, this is the doctrine of the Psalm, and it might, to help our memories, be called THE SONG OF HOLY CONFIDENCE, were it not that from the great reformers love to this soul-stirring hymn it will probably be best remembered as LUTHER’S PSALM.

DIVISION.—It is divided by inspired authority into three parts, each of which ends with Selah.

EXPOSITION.

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.

1. “God is our refuge and strength.” Not our armies, or our fortresses. Israel’s boast is in Jehovah, the only living and true God. Others vaunt their impregnable castles, placed on inaccessible rocks and secured with gates of iron, but God is a far better refuge from distress than all these: and when the time comes to carry the war into the enemy’s territories, the Lord stands his people in better stead than all the valour of legions or the boasted strength of chariot and horse. Soldiers of the cross, remember this, and count yourselves safe, and make yourselves strong in God. Forget not the personal possessive word “our;” make sure each one of your portion in God, that you may say, “He is my refuge and strength.” Neither forget the fact that God is our refuge just now, in the immediate present, as truly as when David penned the word. God alone is our all in all. All other refuges are refuges of lies, all other strength is weakness, for power belongeth unto God: but as God is all-sufficient, our defence and might are equal to all emergencies. “A very present help in trouble,” or in distresses he has so been found, he has been tried and proved by his people. He never withdraws himself from his afflicted. He is their help, truly, effectually, constantly; he is present or near them, close at their side and ready for their succour, and this is emphasised by the word “very” in our version, he is more present than friend or relative can be, yea, more nearly present than even the trouble itself. To all this comfortable truth is added the consideration that his assistance comes at the needed time. He is not as the swallows that leave us in the winter; he is a friend in need and a friend indeed. When it is very dark with us, let brave spirits say, “Come, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm.”

“A fortress firm, and steadfast rock, Is God in time of danger; A shield and sword in every shock, From foe well-known or stranger.”

2. “Therefore.” How fond the Psalmist is of therefores! his poetry is no poetic rapture without reason, it is as logical as a mathematical demonstration. The next words are a necessary inference from these. “Will not we fear.” With God on our side, how irrational would fear be! Where he is all power is, and all love, why therefore should we quail? “Though the earth be removed,” though the basis of all visible things should be so convulsed as to be entirely changed. “And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;” though the firmest of created objects should fall to headlong ruin, and be submerged in utter destruction. The two phrases set forth the most terrible commotions within the range of imagination, and include the overthrow of dynasties, the destruction of nations, the ruin of families, the persecutions of the church, the reign of heresy, and whatever else may at any time try the faith of believers. Let the worst come to the worst, the child of God should never give way to mistrust; since God remaineth faithful there can be no danger to his cause or people. When the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the heavens and the earth shall pass away in the last general conflagration, we shall serenely behold “the wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds,” for even then our refuge shall preserve us from all evil, our strength shall prepare us for all good.

3. “Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled.” When all things are excited to fury, and reveal their utmost power to disturb, faith smiles serenely. She is not afraid of noise, nor even of real force, she knows that the Lord stilleth the raging of the sea, and holdeth the waves in the hollow of his hand. “Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” Alps and Andes may tremble, but faith rests on a firmer basis, and is not to be moved by swelling seas. Evil may ferment, wrath may boil, and pride may foam, but the brave heart of holy confidence trembles not. Great men who are like mountains may quake for fear in times of great calamity, but the man whose trust is in God needs never be dismayed.

“Selah.” In the midst of such a hurly-burly the music may well come to a pause, both to give the singers breath, and ourselves time for meditation. We are in no hurry, but can sit us down and wait while earth dissolves, and mountains rock, and oceans roar. Ours is not the headlong rashness which passes for courage, we can calmly confront the danger, and meditate upon terror, dwelling on its separate items and united forces. The pause is not an exclamation of dismay, but merely a rest in music: we do not suspend our song in alarm, but retune our harps with deliberation amidst the tumult of the storm. It were well if all of us could say, “Selah,” under tempestuous trials, but alas! too often we speak in our haste, lay our trembling hands bewildered among the strings, strike the lyre with a rude crash, and mar the melody of our life-song.

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.

4. “There is a river.” Divine grace like a smoothly flowing, fertilising, full, and never-failing river, yields refreshment and consolation to believers. This is the river of the water of life, of which the church above as well as the church below partakes evermore. It is no boisterous ocean, but a placid stream, it is not stayed in its course by earthquakes or crumbling mountains, it follows its serene course without disturbance. Happy are they who know from their own experience that there is such a river of God. “The streams whereof” in their various influences, for they are many, “shall make glad the city of God,” by assuring the citizens that Zion’s Lord will unfailingly supply all their needs. The streams are not transient like Cherith, nor muddy like the Nile, nor furious like Kishon, nor treacherous like Job’s deceitful brooks, neither are their waters “naught” like those of Jericho, they are clear, cool, fresh, abundant, and gladdening. The great fear of an Eastern city in time of war was lest the water supply should be cut off during a siege; if that were secured the city could hold out against attacks for an indefinite period. In this verse, Jerusalem, which represents the church of God, is described as well supplied with water, to set forth the fact, that in seasons of trial all-sufficient grace will be given to enable us to endure unto the end. The church is like a well-ordered city, surrounded with mighty walls of truth and justice, garrisoned by omnipotence, fairly built and adorned by infinite wisdom: its burgesses the saints enjoy high privileges; they trade with far-off lands, they live in the smile of the King; and as a great river is the very making and mainstay of a town, so is the broad river of everlasting love and grace their joy and bliss. The church is peculiarly the “City of God,” of his designing, building, election, purchasing and indwelling. It is dedicated to his praise, and glorified by his presence. “The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.” This was the peculiar glory of Jerusalem, that the Lord within her walls had a place where he peculiarly revealed himself, and this is the choice privilege of the saints, concerning which we may cry with wonder, “Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” To be a temple for the Holy Ghost is the delightful portion of each saint, to be the living temple for the Lord our God is also the high honour of the church in her corporate capacity. Our God is here called by a worthy title, indicating his power, majesty, sublimity, and excellency; and it is worthy of note that under this character he dwells in the church. We have not a great God in nature, and a little God in grace; no, the church contains as clear and convincing a revelation of God as the works of nature, and even more amazing is the excellent glory which shines between the cherubim overshadowing that mercy-seat which is the centre and gathering place of the people of the living God. To have the Most High dwelling within her members, is to make the church on earth like the church in heaven.

5. “God is in the midst of her.” His help is therefore sure and near. Is she besieged, then he is himself besieged within her, and we may be certain that he will break forth upon his adversaries. How near is the Lord to the distresses of his saints, since he sojourns in their midst! Let us take heed that we do not grieve him; let us have such respect to him as Moses had when he felt the sand of Horeb’s desert to be holy, and put off his shoes from off his feet when the Lord spake from the burning bush. “She shall not be moved.” How can she be moved unless her enemies move her Lord also? His presence renders all hope of capturing and demolishing the city utterly ridiculous. The Lord is in the vessel, and she cannot, therefore, be wrecked. “God shall help her.” Within her he will furnish rich supplies, and outside her walls he will lay her foes in heaps like the armies of Sennacherib, when the angel went forth and smote them. “And that right early.” As soon as the first ray of light proclaims the coming day, at the turning of the morning God’s right arm shall be outstretched for his people. The Lord is up betimes. We are slow to meet him, but he is never tardy in helping us. Impatience complains of divine delays, but in very deed the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Man’s haste is often folly, but God’s apparent delays are ever wise; and, when rightly viewed, are no delays at all. To-day the bands of evil may environ the church of God, and threaten her with destruction; but ere long they shall pass away like the foam on the waters, and the noise of their tumult shall be silent in the grave. The darkest hour of the night is just before the turning of the morning; and then, even then, shall the Lord appear as the great ally of his church.

6. “The heathen raged.” The nations were in a furious uproar, they gathered against the city of the Lord like wolves ravenous for their prey; they foamed, and roared, and swelled like a tempestuous sea. “The kingdoms were moved.” A general confusion seized upon society; the fierce invaders convulsed their own dominions by draining the population to urge on the war, and they desolated other territories by their devastating march to Jerusalem. Crowns fell from royal heads, ancient thrones rocked like trees driven of the tempest, powerful empires fell like pines uprooted by the blast: everything was in disorder, and dismay seized on all who knew not the Lord. “He uttered his voice, the earth melted.” With no other instrumentality than a word the Lord ruled the storm. He gave forth a voice and stout hearts were dissolved, proud armies were annihilated, conquering powers were enfeebled. At first the confusion appeared to be worse confounded, when the element of divine power came into view; the very earth seemed turned to wax, the most solid and substantial of human things melted like the fat of rams upon the altar; but anon peace followed, the rage of man subsided, hearts capable of repentance relented, and the implacable were silenced. How mighty is a word from God! How mighty the Incarnate Word. O that such a word would come from the excellent glory even now to melt all hearts in love to Jesus, and to end for ever all the persecutions, wars, and rebellions of men!

7. “The Lord of hosts is with us.” This is the reason for all Zion’s security, and for the overthrow of her foes. The Lord rules the angels, the stars, the elements, and all the hosts of heaven; and the heaven of heavens are under his sway. The armies of men though they know it not are made to subserve his will. This Generalissimo of the forces of the land, and the Lord High Admiral of the seas, is on our side—our august ally; woe unto those who fight against him, for they shall fly like smoke before the wind when he gives the word to scatter them. “The God of Jacob is our refuge.” Immanuel is Jehovah of Hosts, and Jacob’s God is our high place of defence. When this glad verse is sung to music worthy of such a jubilate, well may the singers pause and the players wait awhile to retune their instruments; here, therefore, fitly stands that solemn, stately, peaceful note of rest, 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, and 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.

8. “Come, behold the works of the Lord.” The joyful citizens of Jerusalem are invited to go forth and view the remains of their enemies, that they may mark the prowess of Jehovah and the spoil which his right hand hath won for his people. It were well if we also carefully noted the providential dealings of our covenant God, and were quick to perceive his hand in the battles of his church. Whenever we read history it should be with this verse sounding in our ears. We should read the newspaper in the same spirit, to see how the Head of the Church rules the nations for his people’s good, as Joseph governed Egypt for the sake of Israel. “What desolations he hath made in the earth.” The destroyers he destroys, the desolators he desolates. How forcible is the verse at this date! The ruined cities of Assyria, Babylon, Petra, Bashan, Canaan, are our instructors, and in tables of stone record the doings of the Lord. In every place where his cause and crown have been disregarded ruin has surely followed; sin has been a blight on nations, and left their palaces to lie in heaps. In the days of the writer of this Psalm, there had probably occurred some memorable interposition of God against his Israel’s foes; and as he saw their overthrow, he called on his fellow citizens to come forth and attentively consider the terrible things in righteousness which had been wrought on their behalf. Dismantled castles and ruined abbeys in our own land stand as memorials of the Lord’s victories over oppression and superstition. May there soon be more of such desolations.

“Ye gloomy piles, ye tombs of living men, Ye sepulchres of womanhood, or worse; Ye refuges of lies, soon may ye fall, And ’mid your ruins may the owl, and bat, And dragon find congenial resting place.”

9. “He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” His voice quiets the tumult of war, and calls for the silence of peace. However remote and barbarous the tribe, he awes the people into rest. He crushes the great powers till they cannot provoke strife again; he gives his people profound repose. “He breaketh the bow,” the sender of swift-winged death he renders useless. “And cutteth the spear in sunder”—the lance of the mighty man he shivers. “He burneth the chariot in the fire”—the proud war-chariot with its death-dealing scythes he commits to the flames. All sorts of weapons he piles heaps on heaps, and utterly destroys them. So was it in Judea in the days of yore, so shall it be in all lands in eras yet to come. Blessed deed of the Prince of Peace! when shall it be literally performed? Already the spiritual foes of his people are despoiled of their power to destroy; but when shall the universal victory of peace be celebrated, and instruments of wholesale murder be consigned to ignominious destruction? How glorious will the ultimate victory of Jesus be in the day of his appearing, when every enemy shall lick the dust!

10. “Be still, and know that I am God.” Hold off your hands, ye enemies! Sit down and wait in patience, ye believers! Acknowledge that Jehovah is God, ye who feel the terrors of his wrath! Adore him, and him only, ye who partake in the protections of his grace. Since none can worthily proclaim his nature, let “expressive silence muse his praise.” The boasts of the ungodly and the timorous forebodings of the saints should certainly be hushed by a sight of what the Lord has done in past ages. “I will be exalted among the heathen.” They forget God, they worship idols, but Jehovah will yet be honoured by them. Reader, the prospects of missions are bright, bright as the promises of God. Let no man’s heart fail him; the solemn declarations of this verse must be fulfilled. “I will be exalted in the earth,” among all people, whatever may have been their wickedness or their degradation. Either by terror or love God will subdue all hearts to himself. The whole round earth shall yet reflect the light of his majesty. All the more because of the sin, and obstinacy, and pride of man shall God be glorified when grace reigns unto eternal life in all corners of the world.

11. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” It was meet to sing this twice over. It is a truth of which no believer wearies, it is a fact too often forgotten, it is a precious privilege which cannot be too often considered. Reader, is the Lord on thy side? Is Emmanuel, God with us, thy Redeemer? Is there a covenant between thee and God as between God and Jacob? If so, thrice happy art thou. Show thy joy in holy song, and in times of trouble play the man by still making music for thy God.

SELAH. Here as before, lift up the heart. Rest in contemplation after praise. Still keep the soul in tune. It is easier to sing a hymn of praise than to continue in the spirit of praise, but let it be our aim to maintain the uprising devotion of our grateful hearts, and so end our song as if we intended it to be continued.

SELAH bids the music rest, Pause in silence soft and blest; SELAH bids uplift the strain, Harps and voices tune again; SELAH ends the vocal praise, Still your hearts to God upraise.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—The LXX referring to the notion of the theme עָלַם, occultavit, render it ὑπὲρ τῶν κρυφίων, for the hidden; and the Latin, pro arcanis; and the rest of the ancient interpreters take the same course; the Chaldee referring it to Coreh, and those that were hidden, i.e., swallowed up, by the earth with him, whilst these sons of Coreh escaped; as if the mention of the sons of Coreh in the title, by whom this song was to be sung, referred the whole Psalm to that story. Accordingly, verse 2, when the Hebrew reads, “Though the earth be removed,” the paraphrase is, “When our fathers were changed from the earth.”—Henry Hammond.

Title.—The title is peculiar, “Upon 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 show that even the feeble virgins may in that day sing without dread, because of “The Mighty One” on their side.—Andrew A. Bonar.

Title.—“Upon Alamoth,” [To be sung] en soprano.—Armand de Mestral, quoted by Perowne.

Whole Psalm.—We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is with us, and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends his church and his word, against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the assaults of the world, the flesh and sin.—Martin Luther.

Whole Psalm.—Luther and his companions, with all their bold readiness for danger and death in the cause of truth, had times when their feelings were akin to those of a divine singer, who said, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” But in such hours the unflinching Reformer would cheerily say to his friend Melancthon, “Come, Philip, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm;” and they could sing it in Luther’s own characteristic version:—

A sure stronghold our God is He, A timely shield and weapon; Our help he’ll be, and set us free From every ill can happen.

...

And were the world with devils filled, All eager to devour us, Our souls to fear shall little yield, They cannot overpower us.

S. W. Christopher, in “Hymn Writers and their Hymns.”

Verse 1.—“God is our refuge and strength,” etc. It begins abruptly, but nobly; ye may trust in whom and in what ye please; but GOD (ELOHIM) is our refuge and strength. “A very present help.” A help found to be very powerful and effectual in straits and difficulties. The words are very emphatic: עֶזְרָה בְצָרוֹת נִמְצָא מְאֹד, ezrah betsaroth nimtsa meod, “He is found an exceeding, or superlative, help in difficulties.” Such we have found him, and therefore celebrate his praise.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 2.—“Though the earth be removed.” John Wesley preached in Hyde-park, on the occasion of the earthquake felt in London, March 8, 1750, and repeated these words. Charles Wesley composed Hymn 67, Wesley’s Collection, the following lines of which illustrate this verse:—

How happy then are we, Who build, O Lord, on thee! What can our foundation shock? Though the shatter’d earth remove, Stands our city on a rock, On the rock of heavenly love.

Verses 2, 3.—The earth thrown into a state of wild confusion, the mountains hurled into the mighty deep, the sea tossed into a tempest, and the everlasting hills drifting on its foaming billows, are the vivid images by which the divine judgments on wicked and persecuting nations are described in the language of the prophets.—John Morison.

Verses 2, 3, 5.—Palestine was frequently subject to earthquakes, as might have been expected from its physical character and situation; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that although all other parts of the land seem to have been occasionally the scene of those terrible convulsions, the capital was almost wholly free from them. Mount Moriah, or the hill of vision, was so called from its towering height, which made it a conspicuous object in the distance. It stands in the centre of a group of hills, which surround it in the form of an amphitheatre, and it was chiefly to this position, under the special blessing of God, that it stood firm and immovable amid the frequent earthquakes that agitated and ravaged the Holy Land.—Paxton’s Illustrations of Scripture.

Verse 3.—“Selah.” See “Treasury of David,” Vol. I., pp. 23, 26, 27; and Vol. II., pp. 224-227.

Verse 4.—“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” What is the river that makes glad the city of God? I answer, God himself is the river, as in the following verse, “God is in the midst of her.” 1. God the Father is the river: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Jer. ii. 13. 2. God the Son is the river, the fountain of salvation: “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” Zech. xiii. 1. 3. God the Spirit is the river: “He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John vii. 38; iv. 14. What are the streams of this river? Answer—the perfections of God, the fulness of Christ, the operations of the Spirit, and these running in the channel of the covenant of promise.—Ralph Erskine.

Verse 4.—“There is a river,” etc. This is that flood which Ezekiel beheld in vision, the waters that came down from the right side of the house, and rising first to the ancles—then as the prophet passed onward, to the knees—then to the loins—became afterwards a river that he could not pass over; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. Shall we see in this, with the angelic doctor, the river of grace which burst forth from Mount Calvary? streams branching off hither and thither, the pelagim of the Hebrew—“to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.” Job xxxviii. O “fountain of gardens,” “well of living waters,” “streams from Lebanon,” how do you, the “nether springs” of this world, bring to us something of the everlasting loveliness and peace of those “upper springs,” by which the beautiful flock now feed and lie down, none making them afraid! Or with S. Ambrose and S. Bernard, understand the verse of the “river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” And then the rivers of that flood shall indeed “make glad the city of God,” the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, where is the tree of life, that beareth twelve manner of fruits, and yieldeth her fruit every month; that country and that river of which the old liturgies say, “They who rest in the bosom of Abraham are in the tabernacles of joy and rest, in the dwellings of light, in the world of pleasure, in the church of the true Jerusalem, where there is no place for affliction, nor way of sadness, where there are no wars with the flesh, and no resistance to temptation, where sin is forgotten, and past danger is only remembered as a present pleasure.”—Thomas Aquinas, Ambrose, and Bernard, in Neale’s Commentary.

Verse 4.—“There is a river.” The river of God that flows from his throne. No enemy can cut off this stream from the church of Christ. Observe the reference to Isaiah xxxvi. 2; xxxvii. 25, compared with 2 Chron. xxxii. 2-4. These gently flowing, but full streams, are contrasted with the roaring waves of the sea.—T. C. Barth.

Verse 4.—“There is a river,” etc. The allusion is either to the river Kidron, which ran by Jerusalem, or to the waters of Shiloah, which by different courses and branches ran through the city of Jerusalem, and supplied the several parts of it with water, to the joy and comfort of its inhabitants. But the words are to be understood in a figurative sense, as applicable to gospel times; and this river either designs the gospel, the streams of which are its doctrines, which are living waters, that went out from Jerusalem, and which publish glad tidings of great joy to all sensible sinners; or the Spirit and his graces, which are compared to a well and rivers of living water, in the exercises of which the saints have much joy and peace; or else the Lord himself, who is the place of broad rivers and streams to his people, and is both their refreshment and protection; or rather his everlasting love to them is here intended.—John Gill.

Verse 4.—Compared with the waterless deserts around, Judæa and Jerusalem were well watered, and drought pressed more severely on the besiegers than the besieged. The allusion here is to the well-known rill and pool of Siloam. So in Isaiah viii. 6, the blessing of God’s protection is represented by the waters of Siloah, which go softly.—From “The Psalms Chronologically arranged. By Four Friends,” 1867.

Verse 4.—“The city.” The church of God is like a city, 1. Because a city is a place of security. 2. A place of society: what one wants another supplies; they have mutual fellowship. 3. A place of unity, that people may therein live in peace and concord. 4. A place of trade and traffic. Here is the market of free grace: “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” etc. Here is the pearl of great price exposed for sale. 5. A place of freedom, and liberty, freedom from the guilt of sin, wrath of God, curse of the law, present evil world, bondage to Satan, etc., etc. 6. A place of order and regularity; it hath its constitutions and ordinances. 7. A place of rest, and commodious to live in, and thus it is opposed to the wilderness. 8. A place of privileges. 9. A place of pomp and splendour; there is the king, the court, the throne. 10. A place of pleasure and beauty, Psalm xlviii. 2.—Ralph Erskine.

Verse 5.—“God is in the midst of her.” It is the real presence of Christ, and the supernatural power of his Spirit, which makes the church mighty to the conquest of souls. The church spreads because her “God is in the midst of her.” When at any time she has forgotten her dependence on the invisible intercession of her Head, and the gracious energy of his Spirit, she has found herself shorn of the locks of her great strength, and has become the laughing-stock of the Philistines.—William Binnie, D.D.

Verse 5.—“God is in the midst of her.” etc. The enemies of the church may toss her as waves but they shall not split her as rocks. She may be dipped in water as a feather, but shall not sink therein as lead. He that is a well of water within her to keep her from fainting, will also prove a wall of fire about her to preserve her from falling. Tried she may be, but destroyed she cannot be. Her foundation is the Rock of Ages, and her defence the everlasting Arms. It is only such fabrics as are bottomed upon the sand, that are overthrown by the wind. The adversaries of God’s people will push at them as far as their horns will go, but when they have scoured them by persecution, as tarnished vessels, then God will throw such wisps into the fire.—William Secker.

Verse 5.—When the Papists were in their ruff, and Melancthon began sometimes to fear lest the infant Reformation should be stifled in the birth, Luther was wont to comfort him with these words: “Si nos ruemus, ruet Christus una, scilicet ille regnator mundi, esto ruat, malo ego cum Christo ruere, quam cum Cæsare stare; that is, If we perish, Christ must fall too (he is in the midst of us), and if it must be so, be it so; I had rather perish with Christ, that great Ruler of the world, than prosper with Cæsar.”—John Collings.

Verse 5.—“And that right early.” Therefore, notice that all the great deliverances wrought in Holy Scriptures, were wrought so early, as to have been brought to pass in the middle of the night. So Gideon, with his pitchers and lamps against the Midianites; so Saul, when he went forth against Nahash, the Ammonite; so Joshua, when he went up to succour Gibeon; so Samson, when he carried off in triumph the gates of Gaza; so also the associate kings, under the guidance of Elisha, in their expedition against the Moabites, when they, according to God’s command, filled the wilderness with ditches, and then beheld their enemies drawn to their destruction, by the reflection of the rising sun upon the water.—Michael Ayguan.

Verse 5.—“Right early.” Rather, with the margin, when the morning appeareth. The restoration of the Jews will be one of the first things at the season of the second advent. It will be accomplished in the very dawning of that day, “when the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing on his wings.”—Samuel Horsley.

Verse 7.—“The Lord of hosts is with us.” There be three sorts of God’s special presence, all which may be justly accounted the church’s privilege. First, his glorious presence, or his presence testified by eminent glory, and the residence thereof. Thus God is said to be in heaven differentially, so as he is not anywhere else; and heaven is therefore called his throne or dwelling place (1 Kings viii. 39); as a king is nowhere so majestically as upon his throne, or in his chair of state; and this is so great a privilege of the church as that she comes not to enjoy it, until she be triumphant in heaven, and therefore is not the presence here intended. Secondly, his gracious presence or his presence testified by tokens of his grace and favour toward a people, whether visible, as in the temple where he chose to place his name, and wherein above all places he would be worshipped, in which respect he is said to dwell between the cherubim (2 Sam. vi. 2); or spiritual tokens of his grace, as assistance and acceptance in the duties of his worship, together with enjoyment and benefit of his ordinances. Thus he is present with his church and people in times of the gospel: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matt. xviii. 20. This kind of presence is a privilege of the church militant, that he will be with her in holy and spiritual administrations and ordinances; yet this is not the presence principally intended here. Thirdly, the providential presence, or his presence testified by acts of special providence, wherein the power, wisdom, or any other of God’s attributes are eminently put forth, either by way of assistance or defence for a people. Thus the Lord was present with Israel in the wilderness by the pillar of fire and of a cloud (Exod. xiii. 21): “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light.” And as this presence was intended for a guide, so was it also for a defence to his people against their enemies, and at which their enemies the Egyptians were troubled. Exodus xiv. 20. By this kind of presence the Lord is with his church militant, in reference to her external regiment, and more especially in her warfare, standing up for her and with her against her enemies; and this is the church’s privilege in these words, “The Lord of hosts is with us.”—John Strickland, B.D. (1601-1670), in a Sermon, entitled, “Immanuel,” 1644.

Verse 7.—“The God of Jacob.” If any shall ask me, Why then the God of Jacob more than the God of Isaac? Though it might suffice that the Spirit of God is pleased so to speak, yet Mr. Calvin gives this reason, the covenant of grace was more solemnly made and publicly ratified with Abraham and Jacob, than it was with Isaac, and therefore when he will be looked upon as a God in covenant with his people, he holds forth himself more frequently by the name of the God of Abraham, and the God of Jacob, than of the God of Isaac; albeit sometimes he is pleased to take upon him that style also.—John Strickland.

Verse 7.—“Our refuge.” Our refuge, or stronghold, where the church, as a ship in quiet haven, may anchor and ride safe; or it may be a metaphor from the dens or burrows, where weaponless creatures find shelter, when they are hunted and pursued by their enemies, as Prov. xxx. 26, “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.” They are safe in the rock if they can get thither, though never so weak in themselves. So the church, though pursued by bloody enemies, and though weak in herself, if yet she get under the wing of the God of Jacob, she may be fearless, for she is safe there. He is our refuge. It were to undervalue God, if we should fear the creatures, when he is with us. Antigonus, when he overheard his soldiers reckoning how many their enemies were, he steps in unto them suddenly, demanding, “And how many do you reckon me for?”—John Strickland.

Verse 8.—“Come, behold the works of the Lord.” Venito, videto. God looks that his works should be well observed, and especially when he hath wrought any great deliverance for his people. Of all things, he cannot abide to be forgotten.—John Trapp.

Verse 8.—“What desolations he hath made in the earth.” We are here first invited to a tragical sight. We are carried into the camera di morte, to see the ghastly visage of deaths and desolations all the world over; than which nothing can be more horrible and dreadful. You are called out to see piles of dead carcasses; to see whole basketfuls of heads, as was presented to Jehu: a woeful spectacle, but a necessary one. See, therefore what desolations the Lord hath wrought in all the earth. Desolations by wars: how many fields have been drenched with blood, and composted with carcasses; how many millions of men have been cut off in all ages by the edge of the sword! Desolations by famine; wherein men have been forced to make their bodies one another’s sepulchres, and mothers to devour their children of a span long. Desolations by plague and pestilence; which have swept away, as our story tells us, eight hundred thousand in one city. Desolations by inundations of waters; which have covered the faces of many regions, and rinsed the earth of her unclean inhabitants. Desolations by earthquakes, which have swallowed up whole cities, and those great and populous. Desolations wrought by the hand of his angels; as in Egypt; in the tents of the Assyrians, one hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night; in the camp of Israel, in David’s pestilence. Desolations wrought by the hand of men, in battles and massacres. Desolations by wild beasts; as in the colonies of Ashur planted in Samaria. Desolations by the swarms of obnoxious and noisome creatures; as in Egypt, and since in Africa: “He spoke the word, and the grasshoppers came, and caterpillars innumerable,” Ps. cv. 34. Insomuch as, in the consulship of M. Fulvius Flaccus, after the bloody wars of Africa, followed infinite numbers of locusts; which, after devouring of all herbs and fruit, were, by a sudden wind, hoised into the African Sea: infection followed upon their putrefaction, and thereupon a general mortality: in number, four-score thousand died: upon the sea-coast betwixt Carthage and Utica, above two-hundred thousand. Desolations every way, and by what variety of means soever; yet all wrought by the divine hand: “What desolations he hath wrought.” Whoever be the instrument, he is the Author.—Joseph Hall (Bishop).

Verse 8.—Doth not God make great desolations, when he makes that man that counted himself a most religious man, to confess himself not sufficient for one good thought? As it was with Paul, does he not make wars to cease when he turns the heart of a persecutor, earnestly to seek peace with God and man, yea, with his very enemies? Doth he not break the bow and all weapons of war asunder, and that in all the earth, when he proclaims peace to all that are far off and near, professor and profane, Jews and Gentiles?—Richard Coore.

Verse 8-10.—“Come, behold the works of the Lord.” What works? ruining works. “What desolations he hath made in the earth.” God made strange work in the world at that time. Those countries which before were as the garden of God, became like a desolate wilderness: who was able to bear this with patience? Yet the Spirit of God saith in the next words, it must be patiently borne. When God lets men strive and war with one another to a common confusion, yet no man may strive with God about it; and the reason given why no man may, is only this (which is indeed all the reason in the world), He is God. So it follows in the Psalm; “Be still, and know that I am God;” as if the Lord had said, Not a word, do not strive nor reply; whatever you see, hold your peace; know that I, being God, give no account of any of my matters.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 9.—He that destroyeth all the instruments of war doth surely make peace; and he that maketh war to cease, doth certainly make peace begin. Peace is made two ways; first, by taking up the differences and reconciling the spirits of men; secondly, by breaking the power and taking away all provisions of war from men. The Lord maketh peace by both these ways, or by either of them.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 9.—“He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.” When the Romans had, in their way of speaking, given peace to a nation, by extirpating the greatest part of the miserable inhabitants, they collected the arms of the vanquished, and setting them on fire, reduced them to ashes. A medal, struck by Vespasian, the Roman emperor, on finishing his wars in Italy, and other parts of the world, represents the goddess of peace holding an olive branch in one hand, and with a lighted torch in the other, setting fire to a heap of armour. The custom is thus alluded to by Virgil:—

_“O mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos! Qualis eram cum primam aciem Præneste sub ipsa Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos.”_

Æn. lib. iii. v. 1. 560.

“O that Jupiter would restore to me the years that are past! Such as I was, when under Præneste itself, I routed the foremost rank of the enemy, and victorious set fire to heaps of armour.”

The same practice, by the command of Jehovah, prevailed among the Jews; the first instance of it occurs in the book of Joshua, xi. 6. It is also celebrated in the songs of Zion, as the attendant of peace, and the proof of its continuance: “He maketh wars to cease,” etc.—Paxton’s Illustrations of Scripture.

Verse 9.—“He burneth the chariot in the fire.” By degrees the chariot came to be one of the recognised forces in war, and we find it mentioned throughout the books of Scriptures, not only in its literal sense, but as a metaphor which every one could understand. In the Psalms, for example, are several allusions to the war-chariot. “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.” Ps. xlvi. 9. Again: “At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep.” Ps. lxxvi. 6. And: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Ps. xx. 7. Now; the force of these passages cannot be properly appreciated unless we realise to ourselves the dread in which the war-chariot was held by the foot soldiers. Even cavalry were much feared; but the chariots were objects of almost superstitious fear, and the rushing sound of their wheels, the noise of the horses’ hoofs, and the shaking of the ground as the “prancing horses and jumping chariots” (Nah. iii. 2), thundered along, are repeatedly mentioned.—J. G. Wood.

Verse 10.—“Be still, and know that I am God.” The great works of God, wherein his sovereignty appeared, had been described in the foregoing verses. In the awful desolations that he made, and by delivering his people by terrible things, he showed his greatness and dominion. Herein he manifested his power and sovereignty, and so commands all to be still, and know that he is God. For, says he, “I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

In the words may be observed, 1. A duty described, to be still before God, and under the dispensations of his providence; which implies that we must be still as to words; not speaking against the sovereign dispensations of providence, or complaining of them; not darkening counsel by words without knowledge, or justifying ourselves and speaking great swelling words of vanity. We must be still as to actions and outward behaviour, so as not to oppose God in his dispensations; and as to the inward frame of our hearts, cultivating a calm and quiet submission of soul to the sovereign pleasure of God, whatever it may be.

2. We may observe the ground of this duty, namely the divinity of God. His being God is a sufficient reason why we should be still before him, in no wise murmuring, or objecting, or opposing, but calmly and humbly submitting to him.

3. How we must fulfill this duty of being still before God, namely, with a sense of his divinity, as seeing the ground of this duty, in that we “know” him to be God. Our submission is to be such as becomes rational creatures. God doth not require us to submit contrary to reason, but to submit as seeing the reason and ground of submission. Hence, the bare consideration that God is God may well be sufficient to still all objections and oppositions against the divine sovereign dispensations.—Jonathan Edwards.

Verse 10.—“Be still, and know that I am God.” This text of Scripture forbids quarrelling and murmuring against God. Now let me apply as I go along. There are very few, and these very well circumstanced, that find themselves in no hazard of quarrelling with God. I think almost that if angels were on earth, they would be in hazard of it. I will assure you, there are none that have corruption, but they have need to be afraid of this. But many give way to this quarrelling, and consider not the hazard thereof. Beware of it, for it is a dreadful thing to quarrel with God: who may say unto him, “What doest thou?” It is a good account of Aaron, that when God made fire to destroy his sons, he held his peace. Let us then, while we bear the yoke, “sit alone and keep silence, and put our mouths in the dust, if so be there may be hope.” Lam. iii. 28, 29. Ye know, the murmuring of the children of Israel cost them very dear. “Be still,” that is, beware of murmuring against me, saith the Lord. God gives not an account of his matters to any; because there may be many things ye cannot see through; and therefore ye may think it better to have wanted them, and much more, for the credit of God and the church. I say, God gives not an account of his matters to any. Beware, then, of drawing rash conclusions.—Richard Cameron’s Sermon preached July 18th, 1680, three days before he was killed at Airsmoss.

Verse 10.—“Be still and know that I am God.” Faith gives the soul a view of the great God. It teacheth the soul to set his almightiness against sin’s magnitude, and his infinitude against sin’s multitude; and so quencheth the temptation. The reason why the presumptuous sinner fears so little, and the despairing soul so much, is for want of knowing God as great; therefore, to cure them both, the serious consideration of God, under this notion, is propounded: “Be still, and know that I am God;” as if he had said, Know, O ye wicked, that I am God, who can avenge myself when I please upon you, and cease to provoke me by your sins to your own confusion; and again, know, ye trembling souls, that I am God; and therefore able to pardon the greatest sins, and cease to dishonour me by your unbelieving thoughts of me.—William Gurnall.

Verse 10.—“Be still, and know that I am the Lord.” Not everyone is a fit scholar for God’s school, but such as are purified according to the purification of the sanctuary. Carnal men are drowned in fleshly and worldly cares, and neither purged nor lifted up to receive the light of God, or else indisposed by prejudice or passion, that they cannot learn at all. We will never savingly know him, till our souls be free of these indispositions. Among all the elements the earth is fitted to receive seed of the sower; if he cast it into the fire, it burneth; if in the air, it withereth; if in the waters, it rotteth, the instability of that body is for producing monsters, because it closeth not straitly the seeds of fishes. Spirits of a fiery temper, or light in inconstancy, or moving as waters, are not for God’s lessons, but such as in stayed humility do rest under his hand. If waters be mixed with clay in their substance, or their surface be troubled with wind, they can neither receive nor render any image; such unstable spirits in the school of God, lose their time and endanger themselves.—William Struther.

Verse 10.—“Be still, and know,” etc. As you must come and see (verse 8), so come and hear what the Lord saith to those enemies of yours.—John Trapp.

Verse 11.—“The Lord of hosts is with us.” On Tuesday Mr. Wesley could with difficulty be understood, though he often attempted to speak. At last, with all the strength he had, he cried out, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Again, raising his hand, and waving it in triumph, he exclaimed with thrilling effect, “The best of all is, God is with us.” These words seem to express the leading feature of his whole life. God had been with him from early childhood; his providence had guided him through all the devious wanderings of human life; and now, when he was entering the “valley of the shadow of death,” the same hand sustained him.—From “Wesley and his Coadjutors.” By Rev W. C. Larrabee, A.M. Edited by Rev. B. F. Tefft, D.D. Cincinnati. 1851.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—The song of faith in troublous times. I. Our refuge. Our only, impregnable, accessible, delightful place of retreat is our God. II. Our strength. Our all-sufficient, unconquerable, honourable, and emboldening strength is our God. III. Our help. Ever near, sympathising, faithful, real, and potent is our God.

Verse 1.—“A very present help in trouble.” Religion never so valuable as in seasons of trouble, sickness, and death. God is present helping us to bear trouble, to improve it, and to survive it. Present by gracious communications and sweet manifestations; present most when he seems absent, restraining, overruling, and sanctifying trouble. Trust and wait.—James Smith.

Verse 2.—The reasons, advantages, and glory of holy courage.

Verses 2, 3.—I. The great and many causes for fear. 1. What might come—mountains, waters, etc., persecution, pestilence, etc. 2. What must come—afflictions, death, judgment. II. The great and one cause for not fearing. Fearlessness under such circumstances should be well grounded. God himself is our refuge, and we confiding in him are fearless.—G. Rogers.

Verse 4.—Glad tidings in sad times; or, the city of God in the times of trouble and confusion, watered with the river of consolation.—Ralph Erskine.

Verse 4.—What can this “river” be, but that blessed covenant to which David himself repaired in the time of trouble? ... And what are “the streams” of this river, but the outgoings and effects of this divine constitution? I. The blood of Jesus. II. The influences of the Holy Spirit. III. The doctrines and promises of the gospel. IV. The ordinances of religion. V. All the means of grace.—W. Jay.

Verse 4.—“Make glad the city of God.” There are four ways in which the streams of a river would gladden the citizens. I. The first regards prospect. II. The second regards traffic. III. The third regards fertility. IV. The fourth regards supply.—W. Jay.

Verse 4.—“City of God.” The church may be called “the city of God,” because, 1. He dwells in it (see verse 5). 2. He founded it and built it. 3. It derives all privileges and immunities from him. 4. He is the chief Ruler or Governor there. 5. It is his property. 6. He draws the rent of it.—Ralph Erskine.

Verses 4, 5.—To the church, Joy, Establishment, Deliverance.

Verse 6.—What man did and what God did.

Verse 8.—“Behold the works of the Lord.” I. They are worth beholding, for they are all like himself; well becoming his infinite power, wisdom, justice. II. Our eyes were given us for this very purpose—not for the beholding of vanity, not for the ensnaring or wounding of the soul; but for the use and honour of the Creator. III. The Lord delights to have his works beheld; he knows their excellency and perfection, and that the more they are seen and noted the more honour will accrue to the Maker of them. IV. None but we can do it; there is great reason then that we should carefully “behold,” etc. V. This shall be of great benefit to ourselves.—Bishop Hall.

Verse 8.—The desolations of the Lord, the consolation of his saints. I. A declaration of what has happened. II. A promise of what shall be achieved.—Spurgeon’s Sermons, No. 190.

Verse 9.—The Great Peacemaker, or the principles of the gospel our only hope, for the total abolition of war.

Verse 10.—“Be still, and know that I am God.” The sole consideration that God is God, sufficient to still all objections to his sovereignty.—Jonathan Edwards.

Verse 10.—“I am God.” 1. In that he is God, he is an absolutely and infinitely perfect being. 2. As he is God he is so great, that he is infinitely above all comprehension. 3. As he is God, all things are his own. 4. In that he is God, he is worthy to be sovereign over all things. 5. In that he is God, he will be sovereign, and will act as such. 6. In that he is God, he is able to avenge himself on those who oppose his sovereignty.—Jonathan Edwards.

PSALM XLVII.

TITLE.—To the chief Musician.—Many songs were dedicated to this leader of the chorus, but he was not overloaded thereby. God’s service is such delight that it cannot weary us; and that choicest part of it, the singing of his praises, is so pleasurable that we cannot have too much of it. Doubtless, the chief musician, as he was commissioned with so many sacred songs, felt that the more the merrier. A Psalm for the Sons of Korah. We cannot agree with those who think that the sons of Korah were the authors of these Psalms: they have all the indication of David’s authorship that one could expect to see. Our ear has grown accustomed to the ring of David’s compositions, and we are morally certain that we hear it in this Psalm. Every expert would detect here the autography of the Son of Jesse, or we are greatly mistaken. The sons of Korah sang these Psalms, but we believe they did not write them. Fit singers were they whose origin reminded them of sin, whose existence was a proof of sovereign grace, and whose name has a close connection with the name of Calvary.

SUBJECT.—Whether the immediate subject of this Psalm be the carrying up of the ark from the house of Obededom to Mount Zion, or the celebration of some memorable victory, it would be hard to decide. As even the doctors differ, who shall dogmatise? But it is very clear that both the present sovereignty of Jehovah, and the final victories of our Lord, are here fitly hymned, while his ascension, as the prophecy of them, is sweetly gloried in.

DIVISION.—In so short a Psalm, there is no need of any other division than that indicated by the musical pause at the end of verse 4.

EXPOSITION.

Clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

1. “O clap your hands.” The most natural and most enthusiastic tokens of exultation are to be used in view of the victories of the Lord, and his universal reign. Our joy in God may be demonstrative, and yet he will not censure it. “All ye people.” The joy is to extend to all nations; Israel may lead the van, but all the Gentiles are to follow in the march of triumph, for they have an equal share in that Kingdom where there is neither Greek nor Jew, but Christ is all and in all. Even now if they did but know it, it is the best hope of all nations that Jehovah ruleth over them. If they cannot all speak the same tongue, the symbolic language of the hands they can all use. All people will be ruled by the Lord in the latter days, and will exult in that rule; were they wise they would submit to it now, and rejoice to do so; yea, they would clap their hands in rapture at the thought. “Shout,” let your voices keep tune with your hands. “Unto God,” let him have all the honours of the day, and let them be loud, joyous, universal, and undivided. “With the voice of triumph,” with gladsome sounds, consonant with such splendid victories, so great a King, so excellent a rule, and such gladsome subjects. Many are human languages, and yet the nations may triumph as with one voice. Faith’s view of God’s government is full of transport. The prospect of the universal reign of the Prince of Peace is enough to make the tongue of the dumb sing; what will the reality be? Well might the poet of the seasons bid mountains and valleys raise their joyous hymn—

“For the GREAT SHEPHERD reigns, And his unsuffering kingdom yet will come.”

2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.

2. “For the Lord,” or JEHOVAH, the self-existent and only God; “Most high,” most great in power, lofty in dominion, eminent in wisdom, elevated in glory. “Is terrible,” none can resist his power or stand before his vengeance; yet as these terrors are wielded on the behalf of his subjects, they are fit reasons for rejoicing. Omnipotence, which is terrible to crush, is almighty to protect. At a grand review of the troops of a great prince, all his loyal subjects are filled with triumph, because their liege lord is so able to defend his own, and so much dreaded by his foes. “He is a great King over all the earth.” Not over Judea only, but even to the utmost isles his reign extends. Our God is no local deity, no petty ruler of a tribe; in infinite majesty he rules the mightiest realms as absolute arbiter of destiny, sole monarch of all lands, King of kings and Lord of lords. Not a hamlet or an islet is excluded from his dominion. How glorious will that era be when this is seen and known of all; when in the person of Jesus all flesh shall behold the glory of the Lord!

3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

3. “He,” with whom is infinite power, “shall subdue the people under us.” The battle is not ours but the Lord’s. He will take his own time, but he will certainly achieve victory for his church. Truth and righteousness shall through grace climb to the ascendant. We wage no doubtful warfare. Hearts the most rebellious, and wills the most stubborn, shall submit to all-conquering grace. All the Lord’s people, whether Jews or Gentiles, may clap their hands at this, for God’s victory will be theirs; but surely apostles, prophets, ministers, and those who suffer and labour most, may take the largest share in the joy. Idolatry, infidelity, superstition we shall yet tread upon, as men tread down the stones of the street. “And the nations under our feet.” The church of God shall be the greatest of monarchies, her victory shall be signal and decisive. Christ shall take to himself his great power and reign, and all the tribes of men shall own at once his glory and the glory of his people in him. How changed will be the position of affairs in coming ages! The people of God have been under the feet of men in long and cruel persecutions, and in daily contempt; but God will reverse the position, and the best in character shall be first in honour.

4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

While as yet we see not all things put under him, we are glad to put ourselves and our fortunes at his disposal. “He shall choose our inheritance for us.” We feel his reign to be so gracious that we even now ask to be in the fullest degree the subjects of it. We submit our will, our choice, our desire, wholly to him. Our heritage here and hereafter we leave to him, let him do with us as seemeth him good. “The excellency of Jacob whom he loved.” He gave his ancient people their portion, he will give us ours, and we ask nothing better; this is the most spiritual and real manner of clapping our hands because of his sovereignty, namely, to leave all our affairs in his hands, for then our hands are empty of all care for self, and free to be used in his honour. He was the boast and glory of Israel, he is and shall be ours. He loved his people and became their greatest glory; he loves us, and he shall be our exceeding joy. As for the latter days, we ask nothing better than to stand in our appointed lot, for if we have but a portion in our Lord Jesus, it is enough for our largest desires. Our beauty, our boast, our best treasure, lies in having such a God to trust in, such a God to love us.

Selah. Yes, pause, ye faithful songsters. Here is abundant room for holy meditation—

“Muse awhile, obedient thought, Lo, the theme’s with rapture fraught; See thy King, whose realm extends E’en to earth’s remotest ends! Gladly shall the nations own Him their Lord and God alone; Clap their hands with holy mirth, Hail him MONARCH OF THE EARTH. Come, my soul, before him bow, Gladdest of his subjects thou; Leave thy portion to his choice, In his sovereign will rejoice, This thy purest, deepest bliss, He is thine and thou art his.”

5 God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

5. “God is gone up with a shout.” Faith hears the people already shouting. The command of the first verse is here regarded as a fact. The fight is over, the conqueror ascends to his triumphal chariot, and rides up to the gates of the city which is made resplendent with the joy of his return. The words are fully applicable to the ascension of the Redeemer. We doubt not that angels and glorified spirits welcomed him with acclamations. He came not without song, shall we imagine that he returned in silence? “The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” Jesus is Jehovah. The joyful strain of the trumpet betokens the splendour of his triumph. It was meet to welcome one returning from the wars with martial music. Fresh from Bozrah, with his garments all red from the winepress, he ascended, leading captivity captive, and well might the clarion ring out the tidings of Immanuel’s victorious return.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.

6. “Sing praises.” What jubilation is here, when five times over the whole earth is called upon to sing to God! He is worthy, he is Creator, he is goodness itself Sing praises, keep on with the glad work. Never let the music pause. He never ceases to be good, let us never cease to be grateful. Strange that we should need so much urging to attend to so heavenly an exercise. “Sing praises unto our King.” Let him have all our praise; no one ought to have even a particle of it. Jesus shall have it all. Let his sovereignty be the fount of gladness. It is a sublime attribute, but full of bliss to the faithful. Let our homage be paid not in groans but in songs. He asks not slaves to grace his throne; he is no despot; singing is fit homage for a monarch so blessed and gracious. Let all hearts that own his sceptre sing and sing on for ever, for there is everlasting reason for thanksgiving while we dwell under the shadow of such a throne.

7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.

7. “For God is the King of all the earth.” The Jews of our Saviour’s time resented this truth, but had their hearts been right they would have rejoiced in it. They would have kept their God to themselves, and not even have allowed the Gentile dogs to eat the crumbs from under his table. Alas! how selfishness turns honey into wormwood. Jehovah is not the God of the Jews only, all the nations of the earth are, through the Messiah, yet to own him Lord. Meanwhile his providential throne governs all events beneath the sky. “Sing ye praises with understanding.” Sing a didactic Psalm. Sound doctrine praises God. Even under the economy of types and ceremonies, it is clear that the Lord had regard to the spirituality of worship, and would be praised thoughtfully, intelligently, and with deep appreciation of the reason for song. It is to be feared from the slovenly way in which some make a noise in singing, that they fancy any sound will do. On the other hand, from the great attention paid by some to the mere music, we feel sadly sure that the sense has no effect upon them. Is it not a sin to be tickling men’s ears with sounds when we profess to be adoring the Lord? What has a sensuous delight in organs, anthems, etc., to do with devotion? Do not men mistake physical effects for spiritual impulses? Do they not often offer to God strains far more calculated for human amusement than for divine acceptance? An understanding enlightened of the Holy Spirit is then and then only fully capable of offering worthy praise.

8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.

8. Now at this moment, over the most debased idolaters, God holds a secret rule; here is work for faith. How we ought to long for the day when this truth shall be changed in its aspect, and the rule now unrecognised shall be delighted in! The great truth that God reigneth in providence is the guarantee that in a gracious gospel sense his promise shall be fulfilled, and his kingdom shall come. “He sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.” Unmoved he occupies an undisputed throne, whose decrees, acts, and commands are holiness itself. What other throne is like this? Never was it stained with injustice, or defiled with sin. Neither is he who sits upon it dismayed, or in a dilemma. He sits in serenity, for he knows his own power, and sees that his purposes will not miscarry. Here is reason enough for holy song.

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.

9. “The princes of the people are gathered together.” The prophetic eye of the Psalmist sees the willing subjects of the great King assembled to celebrate his glory. Not only the poor and the men of low estate are there, but nobles bow their willing necks to his sway. “All kings shall bow down before him.” No people shall be unrepresented; their great men shall be good men, their royal ones regenerate ones. How august will be the parliament where the Lord Jesus shall open the court, and princes shall rise up to do him honour! “Even the people of the God of Abraham.” That same God, who was known only to here and there a patriarch like the father of the faithful, shall be adored by a seed as many as the stars of heaven. The covenant promise shall be fulfilled, “In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Shiloh shall come, and “to him shall the gathering of the people be.” Babel’s dispersion shall be obliterated by the gathering arm of the Great Shepherd King.

“For the shields of the earth belong unto God.” The insignia of pomp, the emblems of rank, the weapons of war, all must pay loyal homage to the King of all. Right honourables must honour Jesus, and majesties must own him to be far more majestic. Those who are earth’s protectors, the shields of the commonwealth, derive their might from him, and are his. All principalities and powers must be subject unto Jehovah and his Christ, for “He is greatly exalted.” In nature, in power, in character, in glory, there is none to compare with him. Oh, glorious vision of a coming era! Make haste, ye wheels of time! Meanwhile, ye saints, “Be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—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.—Andrew A. Bonar.

Verse 1.—“O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.” This should be done, 1. Cheerfully: “Clap your hands,” for this is a sign of inward joy, Nah. iii. 19. 2. Universally: “O clap your hands, all ye people.” 3. Vocally: “Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.” 4. Frequently: “Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises,” verse 6; and again “sing praises,” verse 7. It cannot be done too frequently. 5. Knowingly and discreetly: “Sing ye praises with understanding;” know the reason why ye are to praise him.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 1.—“O clap your hands,” etc. Such expressions of pious and devout affection as to some may seem indecent and imprudent, yet ought not to be hastily censured and condemned, much less ridiculed; because if they come from an upright heart, God will accept the strength of the affection, and excuse the weakness of the expressions of it.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 1.—“O clap your hands.” The voice of melody is not so much to be uttered with the tongue or with the hands; that is, it is our deeds not our words, by which God is here to be praised. Even as it was in him whose pattern we are to follow: “Jesus began both to do and to teach.”—J. M. Neale.

Verse 1.—“All ye people.” Peoples, in the plural. Here it is used to call both Jews and Gentiles—all nations.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 1.—“Shout unto God.” Jubilate Deo: in God, and concerning God, and in honour of God. He does not excite them to carnal joy.—Martin Geier.

Verse 2.—“For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great king over all the earth.” The church celebrates the ascension of Christ, because then he was “highly exalted;” then he became “terrible” to his enemies, all power in heaven and in earth being committed to him; and then he began to display the excellent majesty of his universal kingdom, to which he was then inaugurated, being crowned “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”—George Horne.

Verse 2.—“The Lord most high is terrible.” Christ is “terrible,” that is, fearful, or meet to be feared, not of his children only for their good, but of the wicked also for their punishment; “terrible” to the devil, as being stronger than he, casting out the prince of darkness by the finger of God. Luke xi. 22; John xii. 31. And therefore so soon as an unclean spirit saw Jesus, he cried out, “What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us?” Mark i. 24; or as other devils, Matt. viii. 29, “Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” for the devils in believing tremble. “Terrible” to hypocrites, and other impious agents of the devil, as having his fan in his hand to make clean his floor, and to gather his wheat into his garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matt. iii. 12. Or Christ is excelsus in potentia, terribilis in justitia; high in power, and fearful in justice: high in exalting the good, and terrible in humbling the bad.—John Boys.

Verse 3.—“He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.” The consequence of our Lord’s ascension was the going forth of the all-subduing Word, under the influence and direction of which the convinced and converted nations renounced their idols and their lusts, and bowed their willing necks to the yoke of Jesus. This is that great conquest, foreshowed by the victories of Joshua, David, and all the faithful heroes of old time, and foretold in language borrowed from their history.—George Horne.

Verse 3.—“He shall subdue the people under us,” etc., or he shall lead like sheep; or bring unto the fold; as divers render the word, by comparing Isa. v. 17; Micah ii. 12. He seems to speak of such a subjugation of them, as was for the good of the people subdued, because this is matter of rejoicing to them, verse 1; which is true both of these people whom David subdued, who thereby had opportunities, obligations, and encouragements to own and worship the true God, which was the only way to their true and lasting happiness; and especially of those Gentiles who were subdued to Christ by the preaching of the gospel. The Gentile converts were in some sort brought under the Jews, because they were subjected to Christ and to his apostles, and to the primitive church, which were Jews.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 3.—“And the nations under our feet.” By this manner of speech is meant, that the Gentiles should be scholars, and the Jews schoolmasters, as it were to them; for to sit under the feet, or at the feet, is used in Scripture for being a scholar, or learning, as Acts xxii. 3.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 4.—“He shall choose.” Futures are variously rendered; and accordingly the vulgar Latin, Syriac, and Arabic, render this word, He hath chosen.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 4.—“He shall choose our inheritance for us.” It is reported of a woman who, being sick, was asked whether she was willing to live or die; she answered, “Which God pleases.” But, said one, if God should refer it to you, which would you choose? “Truly,” replied she, “I would refer it to him again.” Thus that man obtains his will of God, whose will is subjected to God. We are not to be troubled that we have no more from God, but we are to be troubled that we do no more for God. Christians, if the Lord be well pleased with your persons, should not you be well pleased with your conditions? There is more reason that you should be pleased with them, than that he should be pleased with you. Believers should be like sheep, which change their pastures at the will of the shepherd; or like vessels in a house, which stand to be filled or emptied at the pleasure of their owner. He that sails upon the sea of this world in his own bottom, will sink at last into a bottomless ocean. Never were any their own carvers, but they were sure to cut their own fingers.—William Secker.

Verse 4.—“He shall choose our inheritance for us,” means that he who knows what is better for us than ourselves, hath chosen, that is, hath appointed, and that of his own good will and mercy towards us, our inheritance; not only things meet for this life as lands, and houses, and possessions, etc., but even all other things concerning the hope of a better life, to wit, a kingdom that cannot be shaken, an everlasting habitation, an inheritance which is immortal and undefiled, and fadeth not away, reserved for us in heaven.—John Boys.

Verse 4.—“The excellency (or glory) of Jacob whom he loved;” that is, even all those excellent things that he gave and promised to Jacob, wherein he might glory and rejoice. The faithful mean, that they had as great, both abundance and assurance of God’s grace and goodness, as ever Jacob had.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 4.—It may be thou art godly and poor. ’Tis well; but canst thou tell whether, if thou wert not poor, thou wouldst be godly? Surely God knows us better than we ourselves do, and therefore can best fit the estate to the person.—Giles Fletcher.

Verse 5.—“God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” It is worthy (as Origen suggests) that this mention of the “shout,” and the voice of the “trumpet,” serves to connect together past and future events in the history of the church and of the world, and carry our thoughts forward to Christ’s coming to judgment.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 5.—Thou hast great cause, O my soul, to praise him, and to rejoice before him, especially if thou considerest that Christ ascended not for himself, but also for thee: it is God in our nature that is gone up to heaven: whatever God acted on the person of Christ, that he did as in thy behalf, and he means to act the very same on thee. Christ as a public person ascended up to heaven; thy interest is in this very ascension of Jesus Christ; and therefore dost thou consider thy Head as soaring up? O let every member praise his name; let thy tongue (called thy glory), glory in this, and trumpet out his praise, that in respect of thy duty it may be verified: “Christ is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.”—Isaac Ambrose.

Verse 7.—“For God is the King of all the earth:” as if he had said, “Our King, said I? it is too little; he is King of all the earth.”—John Trapp.

Verse 7.—“Sing ye praises with understanding.” How may we make melody in our hearts to God in singing of Psalms? We must sing “with understanding.” We must not be guided by the time, but the words of the Psalm; we must mind the matter more than the music, and consider what we sing, as well as how we sing; the tune may affect the fancy, but it is the matter affects the heart, and that God principally eyes. The Psalmist adviseth us in this particular, and so doth the apostle (1 Cor. xiv. 15). Otherwise this sweet duty would be more the work of a chorister than of a Christian, and we should be more delighted in an anthem of the musician’s making, than in a Psalm of the Spirit’s making. A Lapide observes that in the text, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, the word understanding is maschil, משְׂכִּיל, profound judgment: we must sing wisely, if we will sing gratefully; we must relish what we sing. In a word, we must sing as we must pray; now the most rude petitioner will understand what he prays. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. If we do not understand what we sing, it argues carelessness of spirit, or hardness of heart; and this makes the service impertinent. Upon this the worthy Davenant cries out, “Adieu to the bellowing of the Papists, who sing in an unknown tongue.” God will not understand us in that service which we understand not ourselves. One of the first pieces of the creation was light, and this must break out in every duty.—John Wells (—1676), in “Morning Exercises.”

Verse 7.—“Sing ye praises with understanding,” sing an instructive song. Let sense and sound go together. Let your hearts and heads go with your voices. Understand what you sing, and feel what you understand.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 7.—“Sing ye praises with understanding;” because in the full light of the new dispensation, the darkness of the patriarchal ages, the seeing as through a glass of the Levitical law, are turned into the vision of full and very reality.—Hugo Victorinus.

Verse 7.—“Sing ye praises with understanding.” Mark this, thou who daily readest the Psalms, and yet dost not understand them.—Simon de Muis.

Verse 7.—“With understanding.” If they had sung “with understanding,” they had not adored stones. When a man sensible sang to a stone insensible, did he sing “with understanding”? But now, brethren, we see not with our eyes whom we adore, and yet correctly we adore. Much more is God commended to us, that with our eyes we see him not.—Augustine.

Verse 9.—“The princes of the people are gathered together.” I note from hence, 1. That it is not impossible for great men to be good men; for the heads of a country to be members of Christ; and for princes as well as the people to serve the God of Abraham. It is said by the prophet, “upon my peace came great bitterness;” “a thousand fall on the left hand, but ten thousand at the right hand” (Psalm xci. 7): ten perish in their prosperity, for one that falleth in adversity. Homo victus in paradiso, victor in stercore: Adam in the garden of pleasure was overcome by the subtil serpent, whereas Job on the dunghill of misery was more than a conqueror. Woodmen say that deer are more circumspect in fat pastures; so the godly fear most in a rich estate: nihil timendum video (saith one), timeo tamen.[21] It is a sweet prayer of our church in the Litany. “Good Lord, deliver us in all time of our wealth,” insinuating that our minds are not so wanton in want as in abundance: yet, as you see, such is Christ’s unspeakable goodness towards all sorts of men, in preventing them even with the riches of his mercy, that not only the mean people, but also the mighty princes among the heathen are joined unto the church of the God of Abraham.—John Boys.

Verse 9.—“Gathered together.” Christ’s gathering of the saints together unto him will be at his second coming, his coming to judgment, the general and final judgment. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.” 2 Thess. ii. 1.—James Scot (—1773), in “A Collection of Sermons,” 1774.

Verse 9.—“The people of the God of Abraham.” First, touching the God of Abraham, it is Christ, whose day Abraham desired to see, and in seeing whereof he did so much rejoice (John viii.); that is, not only the day of his birth, which he saw, as we learn by the oath which he caused his servant to take (Gen. xxiv.), but also the day of his passion, which he saw long ago, and rejoiced in seeing it, when he said to his son Isaac in the mount, “The Lord will provide a sacrifice.” Gen. xxii. 8. Secondly, “The people of the God of Abraham,” are his children and posterity: not only they that are the seed of Abraham, coming out of his loins, and are “the children of the flesh” (Rom. ix. 9); but “the children of the promise;” for if they that come out of Abraham’s loins were only his children, then the Hagarins, the Turks, and Ishmaelites should be the people of God; “But in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” They that lay hold of the promise by faith, “They that are of the faith, are the children of Abraham” (Gal. iii. 7), that have the same spirit of faith that Abraham had. As the apostle saith (Rom. ii. 28), “He is not a Jew that is one outwardly, but a Jew inwardly is the true Jew.” They that worship the Messias by believing in him with the faith of Abraham, they are Abraham’s children, and the people of Abraham’s God, which thing John Baptist affirmeth (Matt. iii.), “God can of stones raise up children to Abraham.” So the Gentiles, which worshipped stones, and therefore were “like unto them” (Psalm cxv.), were notwithstanding raised up to be children to Abraham.—Lancelot Andrews.

Verse 9.—“The shields of the earth belong unto God.” There we have the rulers of the earth set forth by a double relation; the one upward, they are scuta Deo, they belong to God; the other downward, they are scuta terræ, “the shields of the earth;” and both these noting two things, their dignity and their duty. They belong to God, it is their honour that he hath sealed them: they belong to God, it is their duty to be subject to him. They are “shields of the earth,” it is their honour that they are above others: they are “the shields of the earth,” it is their duty to protect others.—Edward Reynolds (Bishop).

Verse 9.—“The shields of the earth are God’s,” is understood by many as spoken of princes. I admit that this metaphor is of frequent occurrence in Scripture, nor does this sense seem to be unsuitable to the scope of the passage.... Yet the sense will be more simple if we explain the words thus: That, as it is God alone who defends and preserves the world, the high and supreme majesty which is sufficient for so exalted and difficult a work as the preservation of the world, is justly looked upon with admiration. The sacred writer expressly uses the word shields in the plural number, for, considering the various and almost innumerable dangers which unceasingly threaten every part of the world, the providence of God must necessarily interpose in many ways, and make use as it were, of many bucklers.—John Calvin.

Verse 9.—“The shields of the earth.” Magistrates are said to bear the sword, not to be swords; and they are said to be shields, not to bear shields, and all this to show that protection and preservation are more essential and intrinsical to their office than destruction and punishment are.—Joseph Caryl.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—Unusual and enthusiastic expressions of joy when justifiable and even desirable.

Verses 1-4.—Joy the true spirit of worship. 1. Joy in God’s character. 2. In his reign. 3. In the triumphs of his gospel. 4. In his favour to his saints.

Verse 2.—The terrors of the Lord viewed by faith as a subject of joy.

Verse 2 (second clause).—The universal reign of Christ as it is and is to be.

Verse 3.—The hope of victory to the church. What shall be subdued? By whose instrumentality? “Us.” By whose power? “He.” When it shall be accomplished? What is the token of it? The ascension, verse 5.

Verse 3.—I. The final triumph of the saints. All enemies subdued under them in earth and hell, within and without. 1. Gradually. 2. Completely. II. The power by which it is accomplished.—“He shall,” etc. 1. Not without means. 2. Not by means only. 3. But by appointed means made potent by divine energy.—G. R.

Verse 4.—This comprehends time and eternity. It is a matter of fact, of holy acquiescence, of desire, of thankfulness.

Verse 4.—I. God is willing to choose our inheritance for us in time and eternity. II. His choice is better than ours—“the excellency of Jacob.” III. He will leave us to the consequences of our own choice. IV. He will help us in obtaining that which he chooses for us.—G. R.

Verse 5.—The ascension. Its publicity, solemnity, triumph, joy. Who went up. Where he went up. To what he went up. For what purpose. With what result.

Verse 6.—The importance of holy song. The repetition rebukes our slackness, and implies that earnestness, frequency, delight, and universality should characterise the praises offered.

Verse 7 (last clause).—The Psalmody of the instructed, and instruction by Psalmody; praise should be both the fruit and the vehicle of teaching.

Verse 8 (last clause).—Divine sovereignty always connected with holiness.

Verse 8.—I. God has a throne of holiness, for which he is to be feared by all men. II. A throne of grace, for which he is to be loved by his redeemed. III. A throne of glory, for which he is to be praised by his whole creation.

Verse 9.—I. A shield is a merciful weapon, none more so. II. A shield is a venturous weapon, a kind of surety, which bears the blows and receives the injuries which were intended for another. III. A shield is a strong weapon, to repel the darts of wickedness and break them in pieces. IV. A shield is an honourable weapon, none more: taking away of shields was a sign of victory; preserving them a sign of glory. V. Remember, a shield must ever have an eye to guide it—you the shields, the law the eye.—Bishop Reynolds.

Footnote 21:

Seneca.

PSALM XLVIII.

TITLE.—A Song and Psalm for the Sons of Korah.—A song for joyfulness and a Psalm for reverence. Alas! every song is not a Psalm, for poets are not all heaven-born, and every Psalm is not a song, for in coming before God we have to utter mournful confessions as well as exulting praises. The Sons of Korah were happy in having so large a selection of song; the worship where such a variety of music was used could not become monotonous, but must have given scope for all the sacred passions of gracious souls.

SUBJECT AND DIVISIONS.—It would be idle dogmatically to attribute this song to any one event of Jewish history. Its author and date are unknown. It records the withdrawal of certain confederate kings from Jerusalem, their courage failing them before striking a blow. The mention of the ships of Tarshish may allow us to conjecture that the Psalm was written in connection with the overthrow of Ammon, Moab, and Edom in the reign of Jehoshaphat; and if the reader will turn to 2 Chron. xx., and note especially verses 19, 25, and 36, he will probably accept the suggestion. Verses 1, 2, 3, are in honour of the Lord and the city dedicated to his worship. From 4-8 the song records the confusion of Zion’s foes, ascribing all the praise to God; 9, 10, 11 extolling Zion, and avowing Jehovah to be her God for evermore.

EXPOSITION.

Great is 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.

1. “Great is the Lord.” How great Jehovah is essentially none can conceive; but we can all see that he is great in the deliverance of his people, great in their esteem who are delivered, and great in the hearts of those enemies whom he scatters by their own fears. Instead of the mad cry of Ephesus, “Great is Diana,” we bear the reasonable, demonstrable, self-evident testimony, “Great is Jehovah.” There is none great in the church but the Lord. Jesus is “the great Shepherd,” he is “a Saviour, and a great one,” our great God and Saviour, our great High Priest; his Father has divided him a portion with the great, and his name shall be great unto the ends of the earth. “And greatly to be praised.” According to his nature should his worship be; it cannot be too constant, too laudatory, too earnest, too reverential, too sublime. There is none like the Lord, and there should be no praises like his praises. “In the city of our God.” He is great there, and should be greatly praised there. If all the world beside renounced Jehovah’s worship, the chosen people in his favoured city should continue to adore him, for in their midst and on their behalf his glorious power has been so manifestly revealed. In the church the Lord is to be extolled though all the nations rage against him. Jerusalem was the peculiar abode of the God of Israel, the seat of the theocratic government, and the centre of prescribed worship, and even thus is the church the place of divine manifestation. “In the mountain of his holiness.” Where his holy temple, his holy priests, and his holy sacrifices might continually be seen. Zion was a mount, and as it was the most renowned part of the city, it is mentioned as a synonym for the city itself. The church of God is a mount for elevation and for conspicuousness, and it should be adorned with holiness, her sons being partakers of the holiness of God. Only by holy men can the Lord be fittingly praised, and they should be incessantly occupied with his worship.

2. “Beautiful for situation.” Jerusalem was so naturally, she was styled the Queen of the East; the church is so spiritually, being placed near God’s heart, within the mountains of his power, upon the hills of his faithfulness, in the centre of providential operations. The elevation of the church is her beauty. The more she is above the world the fairer she is. “The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion.” Jerusalem was the world’s star; whatever light lingered on earth was borrowed from the oracles preserved by Israel. An ardent Israelite would esteem the holy city as the eye of the nations, the most precious pearl of all lands. Certainly the church of God, though despised of men, is the true joy and hope of the world. “On the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” Either meaning that Jerusalem was in the northern extremity of Judah, or it may denote that part of the city which lay to the north of Mount Zion. It was the glory of Jerusalem to be God’s city, the place of his regal dwelling, and it is the joy of the church that God is in her midst. The great God is the great King of the church, and for her sake he rules all the nations. The people among whom the Lord deigns to dwell are privileged above all others; the lines have fallen unto them in pleasant places, and they have a goodly heritage. We who dwell in Great Britain in the sides of the north, have this for our chief glory, that the Lord is known in our land, and the abode of his love is among us.

3. “God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” We worship no unknown god. We know him as our refuge in distress, we delight in him as such, and run to him in every time of need. We know nothing else as our refuge. Though we are made kings, and our houses are palaces, yet we have no confidence in ourselves, but trust in the Lord Protector, whose well-known power is our bulwark.

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.

4. “The kings were assembled, they passed by together.” They came and they went. No sooner together than scattered. They came one way and fled twenty ways. Boastful the gathering hosts with their royal leaders, despairing the fugitive bands, with their astonished captains. They came like foam on the angry sea, like foam they melted away. This was so remarkable that the Psalmist puts in a note of exclamation, “Lo!” What! have they so suddenly fled! Even thus shall the haters of the church vanish from the field, Papists, Ritualists, Arians, Sceptics, they shall each have their day, and shall pass on to the limbo of forgetfulness.

5. “They saw it, and so they marvelled.” They came, they saw, but they did not conquer. There was no veni, vidi, vici for them. No sooner did they perceive that the Lord was in the Holy City, than they took to their heels. Before the Lord came to blows with them, they were faint-hearted, and beat a retreat. “They were troubled and hasted away.” The troublers were troubled. Their haste in coming was nothing to their hurry in going. Panic seized them, horses were not fleet enough; they would have borrowed the wings of the wind. They fled ignominiously, like children in a fright. Glory be to God, it shall be even thus with the foes of his church; when the Lord cometh to our help, our enemies shall be as nothing. Could they foresee their ignominious defeat, they would not advance to the attack.

6. “Fear took hold upon them there.” They were in Giant Despair’s grip. Where they hoped to triumph, there they quivered with dismay. They did not take the city, but fear took hold on them. “And pain, as of a woman in travail.” They were as much overcome as a woman whose fright causes premature delivery; or as full of pain as a poor mother in her pangs—a strong expression, commonly employed by Orientals to set forth the extremity of anguish. When the Lord arises for the help of his church, the proudest of his foes shall be as trembling women, and their dismay shall be but the beginning of eternal defeat.

7. “Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.” As easily as vessels are driven to shipwreck, dost thou overturn the most powerful adversaries; or it may mean the strength of some nations lies in their ships, whose wooden walls are soon broken; but our strength is in our God, and therefore, it fails not; or there may be another meaning, though thou art our defence, yet thou takest vengeance on our inventions, and while thou dost preserve us, yet our ships, our comforts, our earthly ambitions, are taken from us that we may look alone to thee. God is seen at sea, but he is equally present on land. Speculative heresies, pretending to bring us wealth from afar, are constantly assailing the church, but the breath of the Lord soon drives them to destruction. The church too often relies on the wisdom of men, and these human helps are soon shipwrecked; yet the church itself is safe beneath the care of her God and King.

8. “As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.” Our fathers’ stories are reproduced before our very eyes. We heard the promise, and we have seen the fulfilment. The records of Zion, wonderful as they are, are proved to be truthful, because present facts are in perfect harmony therewith. Note how the Lord is first spoken of as Lord of hosts, a name of power and sovereignty, and then as our God, a name of covenant relation and condescension. No wonder that since the Lord bears both titles, we find him dealing with us after the precedents of his lovingkindness, and the faithfulness of his promises. “God will establish it for ever.” The true church can never be disestablished. That which kings establish can last for time only, that which God establishes endures to all eternity. “Selah.” Here is a fit place to pause, viewing the past with admiration, and the future with confidence.

9 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 hand is full of righteousness.

11 Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

9. “We have thought.” Holy men are thoughtful men; they do not suffer God’s wonders to pass before their eyes and melt into forgetfulness, but they meditate deeply upon them. “Of thy lovingkindness, O God.” What a delightful subject! Devout minds never tire of so divine a theme. It is well to think of past lovingkindness in times of trial, and equally profitable to remember it in seasons of prosperity. Grateful memories sweeten sorrows and sober joys. “In the midst of thy temple.” Fit place for so devout a meditation. Where God is most seen he is best loved. The assembled saints constitute a living temple, and our deepest musings when so gathered together should have regard to the lovingkindness of the Lord, exhibited in the varied experiences of each of the living stones. Memories of mercy should be associated with continuance of praise. Hard by the table of shew-bread commemorating his bounty, should stand the altar of incense denoting our praise.

10. “According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth.” Great fame is due to his great name. The glory of Jehovah’s exploits overleaps the boundaries of earth; angels behold with wonder, and from every star delighted intelligences proclaim his fame beyond the ends of the earth. What if men are silent, yet the woods, and seas, and mountains, with all their countless tribes, and all the unseen spirits that walk them, are full of the divine praise. As in a shell we listen to the murmurs of the sea, so in the convolutions of creation we hear the praises of God. “Thy right hand is full of righteousness.” Thy sceptre and thy sword, thy government and thy vengeance, are altogether just. Thy hand is never empty, but full of energy, of bounty, and of equity. Neither saint nor sinner shall find the Lord to be an empty-handed God; he will in both cases deal out righteousness to the full: to the one, through Jesus, he will be just to forgive, to the other just to condemn.

11. “Let mount Zion rejoice.” As the first of the cities of Judah, and the main object of the enemies’ attack, let her lead the song. “Let the daughters of Judah be glad,” let the smaller towns join the chorus, for they join in the common victory. Let the women, who fare worst in the havoc of war, be among the gladdest of the glad, now that the spoilers have fled. All the church, and each individual member, should rejoice in the Lord, and magnify his name. “Because of thy judgments.” The righteous acts of the Lord are legitimate subjects for joyful praise. However it may appear on earth, yet in heaven the eternal ruin of the wicked will be the theme of adoring song. Rev. xix. 1, 3: “Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia, and her smoke rose up for ever and ever.” Justice which to our poor optics now seems severe, will then be perceived to be perfectly consistent with God’s name of love, and to be one of the brightest jewels of his crown.

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.

12. “Walk about Zion;” often beat her bounds, even as Israel marched around Jericho. With leisurely and careful inspection survey her. “And go round about her.” Encircle her again and again with loving perambulations. We cannot too frequently or too deeply consider the origin, privileges, history, security, and glory of the church. Some subjects deserve but a passing thought; this is worthy of the most patient consideration. “Tell the towers thereof.” See if any of them have crumbled, or have been demolished. Is the church of God what she was in doctrine, in strength and in beauty? Her foes counted her towers in envy first, and then in terror, let us count them with sacred exultation. The city of Lucerne, encircled by its ancient walls, adorned with a succession of towers, is a visible illustration of this figure; and as we have gone around it, and paused at each picturesque tower, we have realised the loving, lingering inspection which the metaphor implies.

13. “Mark ye well her bulwarks.” Consider most attentively how strong are her ramparts, how safely her inhabitants are entrenched behind successive lines of defence. The security of the people of God is not a doctrine to be kept in the background, it may be safely taught, and frequently pondered; only to base hearts will that glorious truth prove harmful; the sons of perdition make a stumbling stone even of the Lord Jesus himself, it is little wonder, that they pervert the truth of God concerning the final perseverance of the saints. We are not to turn away from inspecting Zion’s ramparts, because idlers skulk behind them. “Consider her palaces.” Examine with care the fair dwellings of the city. Let the royal promises which afford quiet resting places for believers be attentively inspected. See how sound are the defences, and how fair are the pleasaunces of “that ancient citie,” of which you are citizens. A man should be best acquainted with his own home; and the church is our dear and blest abode. Would to God professors were more considerate of the condition of the church; so far from telling the towers, some of them scarcely know what or where they are; they are too busy counting their money, and considering their ledgers. Freehold and copyhold, and leasehold, men measure to an inch, but heavenhold and gracehold are too often taken at peradventure, and neglected in sheer heedlessness. “That ye may tell it to the generation following.” An excellent reason for studious observation. We have received and we must transmit. We must be students that we may be teachers. The debt we owe to the past we must endeavour to repay by handing down the truth to the future.

14. “For this God is our God for ever and ever.” A good reason for preserving a record of all that he has wrought. Israel will not change her God so as to wish to forget, nor will the Lord change so as to make the past mere history. He will be the covenant God of his people world without end. There is no other God, we wish for no other, we would have no other even if other there were. There are some who are so ready to comfort the wicked, that for the sake of ending their punishment they weaken the force of language, and make “for ever and ever,” mean but a time; nevertheless, despite their interpretations we exult in the hope of an eternity of bliss, and to us “everlasting,” and “for ever and ever” mean what they say. “He will be our guide even unto death.” Throughout life, and to our dying couch, he will graciously conduct us, and even after death he will lead us to the living fountains of waters. We look to him for resurrection and eternal life. This consolation is clearly derivable from what has gone before; hitherto our foes have been scattered, and our bulwarks have defied attack, for God has been in our midst, therefore all possible assaults in the future shall be equally futile.

“The church has all her foes defied And laughed to scorn their rage; E’en thus for aye she shall abide Secure from age to age.”

Farewell, fear. Come hither, gratitude and faith, and sing right joyously.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—“A Song and Psalm.” Wherein both voice and instrument were used; the voice began first and the instrument after: and where the inscription is a Psalm and Song, there likely the instrument began and the voice followed.—John Richardson.

Whole Psalm.—According to Dr. Lightfoot, the constant and ordinary Psalm for the second day of the week was the forty-eighth.

Verse 1.—“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God,” etc. The prophet, being about to praise a certain edifice, commences by praising the architect, and says that in the holy city the wonderful skill and wisdom of God, who built it, is truly displayed. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;” and so he is, whether we look at his essence, his power, his wisdom, his justice, or his mercy, for all are infinite, everlasting, and incomprehensible; and thus, so much is God greatly to be praised, that all the angels, all men, even all his own works would not suffice thereto; but of all things revealed, there is no one thing can give us a greater idea of his greatness, or for which we should praise and thank him more, than the establishment of his church; and, therefore, the prophet adds, “in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness;” that is to say, “the greatness of God, and for which he deserves so much praise, is conspicuous in the foundation and construction of his church.”—Robert Bellarmine (Cardinal).

Verse 1.—“Great is the Lord.” Greater, Job xxxiii. 12. Greatest of all, Psalm xcv. 3. Greatness itself, Psalm cxlv. 3. A degree he is above the superlative.—John Trapp.

Verse 1.—“Mountain of his holiness.” The religion in it holy, the people in it a holy people.—William Nicholson.

Verse 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.” What is there, or was there, about Zion to justify the high eulogium of David? The situation is indeed eminently adapted to be the platform of a magnificent citadel. Rising high above the deep valley of Gihon and Hinnom, on the west and south, and the scarcely less deep one of the Cheesemongers on the east, it could only be assailed from the north-west; and then “on the sides of the north” it was magnificently beautiful, and fortified by walls, towers, and bulwarks, the wonder and terror of the nations: “For the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.” At the thought of it the royal Psalmist again bursts forth in triumph: “Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.” Alas! her towers have long since fallen to the ground, her bulwarks have been overthrown, her palaces have crumbled to dust, and we who now walk about Zion can tell no other story than this to the generation following.

There is another Zion, however, whose towers are still more glorious, and shall never be overthrown. “God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” And “this God is our God for ever and ever.” How often is this name synonymous with the church of the living God! and no other spot but one can divide with it the affection of his people—no other name but one can awaken such joyful hopes in the Christian’s heart. The temporal Zion is now in the dust, but the true Zion is rising and shaking herself from it, and putting on her beautiful garments to welcome her King when he comes to reign over the whole earth.—W. M. Thomson, D.D.

Verse 2.—When I stood that morning on the brow of Olivet, and looked down on the city crowning those battlemented heights, encircled by those deep and dark ravines, I involuntarily exclaimed, “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” And as I gazed, the red rays of the rising sun shed a halo round the top of the castle of David; then they tipped with gold each tapering minaret, and gilded each dome of mosque and church, and at length, bathed in one flood of ruddy light the terraced roofs of the city, and the grass and foliage, the cupolas, pavements, and colossal walls of the Haram. No human being could be disappointed who first saw Jerusalem from Olivet.—J. L. Porter.

Verse 2 (first clause).—Beautiful in climate, that is, Mount Zion is situated in a fair and lovely climate. This is the view taken by Montanus and Ainsworth. Bate and Parkhurst read, “Beautiful in extension, i.e., in the prospect which it extends to the eye.”—Editorial Note to Calvin in loc.

Verse 2.—“Beautiful for situation.” This earth is, by sin, covered with deformity, and therefore justly might that spot of ground, which was thus beautified with holiness, be called “the joy of the whole earth,” i.e., what the whole earth had reason to rejoice in, because God would thus in very deed dwell with man upon the earth.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 2.—“Beautiful for situation.”

—————— Fair Jerusalem The holy city, lifted high her towers, And higher yet the glorious temple rear’d Her pile, far off appearing like a mount Of alabaster, topt with golden spires.

John Milton in “Paradise Regained.”

Verse 2.—“On the sides of the north.” Jerusalem, that is the upper and best part of it, was built on the north side of Mount Zion.—Hadrian Reland, 1676—1718.

Verse 2.—Jerusalem lay to the north of Sion, and this circumstance is mentioned as a proof of Mount Zion’s greater security, for it was almost inaccessible on any other side except the north, and there it was defended by Jerusalem, which was very strong.—Samuel Burder.

Verse 2.—“The great King.” God is named the great King in opposition to the kings in verse 4.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 4.—They were many and powerful: kings and a plurality of them. They were confederate kings. “The kings were assembled.” Forces united are the most powerful. But all the endeavours of these confederate kings came to nothing. “They passed by together”—together they came, and together they vanished.—William Nicholson.

Verses 5, 6.—The potentates of the world saw the miracles of the apostles, the courage and constancy of the martyrs, and the daily increase of the church, notwithstanding all their persecutions; they beheld with astonishment the rapid progress of the faith through the Roman empire; they called upon their gods, but their gods could not help themselves; idolatry expired at the foot of the victorious cross.—George Horne.

Verse 6.—“Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.” Nothing is more unaccountable than panic. No man, no body of men can adequately guard against such terror. He who made the ears can easily make them to tingle. He who holds the winds in his fist, can easily make them whisper alarm, or roar dismay. This is especially to be expected when men so act as to have their own conscience against them. Job xv. 21. But God can at any time so forsake men as that they shall be unmanned, and play the fool exceedingly. Lev. xxvi. 36. Men have fought bravely several battles, and then played the coward.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 7.—“Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.” It is only by her Lord that the church gains “the true riches;” when she enters into traffick with the world, she takes the means of the world for her resources; and when she trusts in her wealth, in her political power, in earthly cunning, to make merchandise, the instruments she adopts come to nothing in her hands, and leave her helpless and poor.—From “A Plain Commentary on the Book of Psalms (The Prayer Book Version), chiefly founded on the Fathers,” 1859.

Verse 7.—“With an east wind,” which, in Judea, is a very violent and destructive wind. Kennicot renders the verse thus, “As the east wind dasheth in pieces the ships of Tharshish;” founding his conjecture upon the similarity in form of two Hebrew letters, signifying the one in, the other as.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 9.—“We have thought.” The Hebrew דּוּם and דָּבַם and דָּמְה belong all to the same signification, of quiet, rest, silence, patient expecting, thinking, considering, and must be determined to any of these senses by the context. And here that of expecting or patient waiting, with affiance in him, and without all distrust or repining at his delays, seems to be most proper for it. For coming to the sanctuary to pray for mercy, ’tis most agreeable to say we wait for it there, as in the place where he hath promised to afford it, in return to prayers.—Henry Hammond.

Verses 12, 13.—In a spiritual sense the towers and bulwarks of Sion are those doctrines of the true faith, which are the strength and glory of the church, which are to be maintained in their soundness and stability against the assaults of heretical teachers, so that they may be transmitted unimpaired to following generations.—Origen and Theodoret, quoted by Wordsworth.

Verse 13.—“Mark ye well her bulwarks.” Margin as in the Hebrew, “Set your heart to her bulwarks.” That is, pay close attention to them; make the investigation with care, not as one does whose heart is not in the thing, and who does it negligently. The word rendered “bulwarks,” חַיִל, khail—means properly, a host or army, and then a fortification or entrenchment, especially the ditch or trench, with the low wall or breastwork which surrounds it. 2 Sam. xx. 15; Isaiah xxvi. 1. (Gesenius, Lex.)—Albert Barnes.

Verse 13.—“Mark ye well:” set your heart, mind earnestly, set your affections on.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 13.—“Her bulwarks.” I. The designation and constitution of Jesus Christ to be King of the church, King of Zion, is the great bulwark of Zion. II. The second bulwark of Zion is the promises of God, which are innumerable. III. The watchful providence of God over the church. IV. Another bulwark is God’s special presence. God is in an especial manner present in his church. V. The last bulwark unto which all others may be reduced, is the covenant of God: “For this God is our God.”—John Owen.

Verse 14.—“This God is our God for ever and ever.” What a portion then is that of the believer! The landlord cannot say of his fields, these are mine, for ever and ever. The king cannot say of his crown, this is mine for ever and ever. These possessions shall soon change masters; these possessors shall soon mingle with the dust, and even the graves they shall occupy may not long be theirs; but it is the singular, the supreme happiness of every Christian to say, or to have a right to say, “This glorious God with all his divine perfections is my God, for ever and ever, and even death itself shall not separate me from his love.”—George Burder.

Verse 14.—“This God is our God.” The people of God are sometime represented as so taken with this apprehension of their peculiar relation to God, that they cannot be content to know, but they proclaim it; nor was it enough the present age should know, but they must have it told the following generation: “Let Mount Zion rejoice,” etc. Mark, “That ye may tell the generation following,” “For this is our God.” See their ostentation of him! This God; q.d., Behold what a God have we! view him well, and take notice how glorious a God he is. And as they glory in the greatness of the God to whom they were related, so they do in the eternity of the relation. “This God is our God for ever and ever.”—John Howe.

Verse 14.—God is not only a satisfying portion, filling every crevice of thy soul with the light of joy and comfort; and a sanctifying portion, elevating thy soul to its primitive and original perfection; and a universal portion; not health, or wealth, or friends, or honours, or liberty, or life, or house, or wife, or child, or pardon, or peace, or grace, or glory, or earth, or heaven, but all these, and infinitely more, but also he is an eternal portion. This God would be thy God “for ever and ever.” Oh, sweet word ever! thou art the crown of the saints’ crown, and the glory of their glory. Their portion is so full that they desire no more; they enjoy variety and plenty of delights above what they are able to ask or think, and want nothing but to have it fixed. May they but possess it in peace without interruption or cessation they will trample all kingdoms of the earth as dirt under their feet; and lo! thou art the welcome dove to bring this olive branch in thy mouth. “This God is our God for ever and ever.” All the arithmetical figures of days, and months, and years, and ages, are nothing to this infinite cipher ever, which, though it stand for nothing in the vulgar account, yet contains all our millions; yea, our millions and millions of millions are less than drops to this ocean ever.—George Swinnock.

Verse 14.—Some expositors have strangely found a difficulty in the last verse, deeming such a profession of personal faith an inappropriate termination for a national song. Even Dr. Delitzsch, a wise and devout interpreter, shares in this notion; going, indeed, so far as to throw out the surmise, that some word must have been lost from the Hebrew text. To me it seems that the verse, as it stands, is admirably in harmony with the song, and is its crowning beauty. When the Lord does great things for church or nation, he means that all the faithful, however humble their station, should take courage from it, should repose in him fresh confidence, and cling to him with a firmer hope, and say, “This God shall be our God for ever; he will guide us even unto death.”—William Binnie.

Verse 14.—“Unto death,” or as some explain it, at death, i.e., he will save us from it; others, over death, beyond it. But the most obvious explanation, and the one most agreeable to usage, is that which makes the phrase mean even to the end of life, or as long as we live. The idea of a future state, though not expressed, is not excluded.—J. A. Alexander.

Verse 14 (last clause).—The last clause is much misunderstood. It is not, “Our guide unto death,” for the words are יְנַהֲגֵנוּ עַל־מוּת, “shall lead us over death.” Surely it means, “It is he who leads over death to resurrection”—over Jordan to Canaan. The עַל 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.—Andrew A. Bonar.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

[All the suggestions under this Psalm, except those otherwise designated, are by our beloved friend, Rev. George Rogers, Tutor of The Pastor’s College.]

Verse 1.—I. What the church is to God. 1. His “city:” not a lawless rabble, but a well organised community. 2. A mountain of holiness, for the display of justifying righteousness, of sanctifying grace. II. What God is to the church. 1. Its inhabitant. It is his city, his mountain. There he is great. There was no room for the whole of God in Paradise, there is no room for him in his law, no room for him in the heaven of angels: in the church only is there room for all his perfections, for a triune Jehovah. Great everywhere, he is peculiarly great here. 2. The object of its praises. As he is greatest here, so are his praises, and through the universe on this account.

Verse 2.—I. Was the ancient Zion beautiful for situation? So is the New Testament church founded upon a rock, upon eternal purpose and grace. II. Was it the joy of the whole earth? So the New Testament church will become. III. Was it the special joy of the tribes of Israel that were almost entirely to the north of Jerusalem? So the church is to the saints. IV. Was it a royal as well as holy city? So is the church. “Yet have I set,” etc.

Verse 3.—I. God is a refuge in his church. The church is a city of refuge, but the refuge is not in its church, but its God. 1. For sinners from wrath. 2. For saints from trials and fears. II. God is there known as such, known to thousands, not known as such elsewhere. “They that know thy name,” etc.

Verses 4-7.—I. The opposition of worldly powers to the church. “The kings,” etc. II. The manner in which they are subdued—by their own fears; conscience has persecuted those who have persecuted the church of God. They who have seized the ark of God have been glad to return it with an offering. III. The completeness of their overthrow. As a fleet of ships of Tarshish, dispersed, broken and engulfed by the east wind.

Verse 8.—I. God has ever been to his people what he now is; the same “heard” as “seen.” II. He is now what he ever has been: the same “seen” as “heard.” III. He will ever be what he now is. “Will establish it for ever.”

Verse 9.—I. What are the lovingkindnesses of God? Pity to the wretched pardon to the penitent, help to the prayerful, comfort to the afflicted, etc. II. Where are they to be found? “In the midst of,” etc. 1. Here they are revealed. 2. Here they are dispensed. 3. Here they are sought. 4. Here they are enjoyed.

Verse 10.—As the name of God, so his praises are—I. Supreme. II. Unqualified. III. Universal. IV. Everlasting.

Verse 10.—“Thy right hand,” etc. I. The justice of omnipotence. II. Omnipotence controlled by justice. III. The omnipotence of justice.

Verse 11.—I. The subjects of his peoples’ joy. Not mercies merely, but judgments. II. Reasons: 1. Because they are holy—needful to the purity of moral government. 2. Just—needful to vindicate law. 3. Good—needful for the greatest amount of good.

Verse 12.—I. What is to be understood by the preservation and protection of the church? II. What is meant by searching into, and considering of, these causes and means of the church’s preservation? III. What are those causes and means of the church’s preservation, those towers and bulwarks which will not fail? IV. What reason is there why we should thus search into and consider these causes of the church’s preservation and protection? V. What is the testimony which we have to give concerning this matter to the ensuing generation?—John Owen’s Sermon.

Verse 14 (first clause).—This is the language of a proprietary in God: 1. Of an assured proprietary—“This God is our God.” 2. Of a permanent proprietary—“for ever and ever.” 3. Of an exulting proprietary.—W. Jay.

Verse 14.—I. The language of discrimination. This God. This God in Christ, in the church. II. The language of Faith—our God. III. Of Hope—“For ever and ever.” IV. Of Resignation—“He will be our guide,” etc.

PSALM XLIX.

TITLE.—To the chief Musician, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. This is precisely the same as on former occasions, and no remark is needed.

DIVISION.—The poet musician sings, to the accompaniment of his harp, the despicable character of those who trust in their wealth, and so he consoles the oppressed believer. The first four verses are a preface; from 5 to 12 all fear of great oppressors is removed by the remembrance of their end and their folly; 13 contains an expression of wonder at the perpetuity of folly; 14 and 15 contrast the ungodly and the righteous in their future; and from 16 to 20 the lesson from the whole is given in an admonitory form. Note the chorus in verses 12 and 20, and also the two Selahs.

EXPOSITION.

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 be of understanding.

4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

In these four verses the poet-prophet calls universal humanity to listen to his didactic hymn.

1. “Hear this, all ye people.” All men are concerned in the subject, it is of them, and therefore to them that the Psalmist would speak. It is not a topic which men delight to consider, and therefore he who would instruct them must press them to give ear. Where, as in this case, the theme claims to be wisdom and understanding, attention is very properly demanded; and when the style combines the sententiousness of the proverb with the sweetness of poesy, interest is readily excited. “Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.” “He that hath ears to hear let him hear.” Men dwelling in all climes are equally concerned in the subject, for the laws of providence are the same in all lands. It is wise for each one to feel I am a man, and therefore everything which concerns mortals has a personal interest to me. We must all appear before the judgment-seat, and therefore we all should give earnest heed to holy admonition which may help us to prepare for that dread event. He who refuses to receive instruction by the ear, will not be able to escape receiving destruction by it when the Judge shall say, “Depart, ye cursed.”

2. “Both low and high, rich and poor, together.” Sons of great men, and children of mean men, men of large estate, and ye who pine in poverty, ye are all bidden to hear the inspired minstrel as he touches his harp to a mournful but instructive lay. The low will be encouraged, the high will be warned, the rich will be sobered, the poor consoled, there will be a useful lesson for each if they are willing to learn it. Our preaching ought to have a voice for all classes, and all should have an ear for it. To suit our word to the rich alone is wicked sycophancy, and to aim only at pleasing the poor is to act the part of a demagogue. Truth may be so spoken as to command the ear of all, and wise men seek to learn that acceptable style. Rich and poor must soon meet together in the grave, they may well be content to meet together now. In the congregation of the dead all differences of rank will be obliterated, they ought not now to be obstructions to united instructions.

3. “My mouth shall speak of wisdom.” Inspired and therefore lifted beyond himself, the prophet is not praising his own attainments, but extolling the divine Spirit which spoke in him. He knew that the Spirit of truth and wisdom spoke through him. He who is not sure that his matter is good has no right to ask a hearing. “And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.” The same Spirit who made the ancient seers eloquent, also made them thoughtful. The help of the Holy Ghost was never meant to supersede the use of our own mental powers. The Holy Spirit does not make us speak as Balaam’s ass, which merely uttered sounds, but never meditated; but he first leads us to consider and reflect, and then he gives us the tongue of fire to speak with power.

4. “I will incline mine ear to a parable.” He who would have others hear, begins by hearing himself. As the minstrel leans his ear to his harp, so must the preacher give his whole soul to his ministry. The truth came to the Psalmist as a parable, and he endeavoured to unriddle it for popular use; he would not leave the truth in obscurity, but he listened to its voice till he so well understood it as to be able to interpret and translate it into the common language of the multitude. Still of necessity it would remain a problem, and a dark saying to the unenlightened many, but this would not be the songster’s fault, for, saith he, “I will open my dark saying upon the harp.” The writer was no mystic, delighting in deep and cloudy things, yet he was not afraid of the most profound topics; he tried to open the treasures of darkness, and to uplift pearls from the deep. To win attention he cast his proverbial philosophy into the form of song, and tuned his harp to the solemn tone of his subject. Let us gather round the minstrel of the King of kings, and hear the Psalm which erst was led by the chief musician, as the chorus of the sons of Korah lifted up their voices in the temple.

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.

5. “Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?” The man of God looks calmly forward to dark times when those evils which have dogged his heels shall gain a temporary advantage over him. Iniquitous men, here called in the abstract iniquity, lie in wait for the righteous, as serpents that aim at the heels of travellers: the iniquity of our heels is that evil which aims to trip us up or impede us. It was an old prophecy that the serpent should wound the heel of the woman’s seed, and the enemy of our souls is diligent to fulfil that premonition. In some dreary part of our road it may be that evil will wax stronger and bolder, and gaining upon us will openly assail us; those who followed at our heels like a pack of wolves, may perhaps overtake us, and compass us about. What then? Shall we yield to cowardice? Shall we be a prey to their teeth? God forbid. Nay, we will not even fear, for what are these foes? What indeed, but mortal men who shall perish and pass away? There can be no real ground of alarm to the faithful. Their enemies are too insignificant to be worthy of one thrill of fear. Doth not the Lord say to us, “I, even I, am he that comforteth thee: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?”

Scholars have given other renderings of this verse, but we prefer to keep to the authorised version when we can, and in this case we find in it precisely the same meaning which those would give to it who translate “my heels,” by the words, “my supplanters.”

6. What if the good man’s foes be among the great ones of the earth! yet he need not fear them. “They that trust in their wealth.” Poor fools, to be content with such a rotten confidence. When we set our rock in contrast with theirs, it would be folly to be afraid of them. Even though they are loud in their brags, we can afford to smile. What if they glory “and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches”? yet while we glory in our God we are not dismayed by their proud threatenings. Great strength, position, and estate, make wicked men very lofty in their own esteem, and tyrannical towards others; but the heir of heaven is not overawed by their dignity, nor cowed by their haughtiness. He sees the small value of riches, and the helplessness of their owners in the hour of death, and therefore he is not so mean as to be afraid of an ephemera, a moth, a bubble.

7. “None of them can by any means redeem his brother.” With all their riches, the whole of them put together could not rescue a comrade from the chill grasp of death. They boast of what they will do with us, let them see to themselves. Let them weigh their gold in the scales of death, and see how much they can buy therewith from the worm and the grave. The poor are their equals in this respect; let them love their friend ever so dearly, they cannot “give to God a reason for him.” A king’s ransom would be of no avail, a Monte Rosa of rubies, an America of silver, a world of gold, a sun of diamonds, would all be utterly contemned. O ye boasters, think not to terrify us with your worthless wealth, go ye and intimidate death before ye threaten men in whom is immortality and life.

8. “For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever.” Too great is the price, the purchase is hopeless. For ever must the attempt to redeem a soul with money remain a failure. Death comes and wealth cannot bribe him; hell follows, and no golden key can unlock its dungeons. Vain, then, are your threatenings, ye possessors of the yellow clay; your childish toys are despised by men who estimate the value of possessions by the shekel of the sanctuary.

9. No price could secure for any man “That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.” Mad are men now after gold, what would they be if it could buy the elixir of immortality? Gold is lavished out of the bag to cheat the worm of the poor body by embalming it, or enshrining it in a coffin of lead, but it is a miserable business, a very burlesque and comedy. As for the soul, it is too subtle a thing to be detained when it hears the divine command to soar through tracks unknown. Never, therefore, will we fear, those base nibblers at our heels, whose boasted treasure proves to be so powerless to save.

10. “For he seeth that wise men die.” Every one sees this. The proud, persecuting rich man cannot help seeing it. He cannot shut his eyes to the fact that wiser men than he are dying, and that he also, with all his craft, must die. “Likewise the fool and the brutish person perish.” Folly has no immunity from death. Off goes the jester’s cap, as well as the student’s gown. Jollity cannot laugh off the dying hour; death who visits the university, does not spare the tavern. Thoughtlessness and brutishness meet their end as surely as much care and wasting study. In fact, while the truly wise, so far as this world is concerned, die, the fool has a worse lot, for he perishes, is blotted out of remembrance, bewailed by none, remembered no more. “And leave their wealth to others.” Not a farthing can they carry with them. Whether heirs male of their own body, lawfully begotten, inherit their estates, or they remain unclaimed, it matters not, their hoardings are no longer theirs; friends may quarrel over their property, or strangers divide it as spoil, they cannot interfere. Ye boasters, hold ye your own, before ye dream of despoiling the sons of the living God. Keep shoes to your own feet in death’s dark pilgrimage, ere ye seek to bite our heels.

11. “Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations.” He is very foolish who is more a fool in his inmost thought than he dare be in his speech. Such rotten fruit, rotten at the core, are worldlings. Down deep in their hearts, though they dare not say so, they fancy that earthly goods are real and enduring. Foolish dreamers! The frequent dilapidations of their castles and manor-houses should teach them better, but still they cherish the delusion. They cannot tell the mirage from the true streams of water; they fancy rainbows to be stable, and clouds to be the everlasting hills. “They call their lands after their own names.” Common enough is this practice. His grounds are made to bear the groundling’s name, he might as well write it on the water. Men have even called countries by their own names, but what are they better for the idle compliment, even if men perpetuate their nomenclature?

12. “Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not.” He is but a lodger for the hour, and does not stay a night: even when he dwells in marble halls his notice to quit is written out. Eminence is evermore in imminence of peril. The hero of the hour lasts but for an hour. Sceptres fall from the paralysed hands which once grasped them, and coronets slip away from skulls when the life is departed. “He is like the beasts that perish.” He is not like the sheep which are preserved of the Great Shepherd, but like the hunted beast which is doomed to die. He lives a brutish life and dies a brutish death. Wallowing in riches, surfeited with pleasure, he is fatted for the slaughter, and dies like the ox in the shambles. Alas! that so noble a creature should use his life so unworthily, and end it so disgracefully. So far as this world is concerned, wherein does the death of many men differ from the death of a dog? They go down—

“To the vile dust from whence they sprung, Unwept, unhonour’d, and unsung.”

What room is there, then, for fear to the godly when such natural brute beasts assail them? Should they not in patience possess their souls?

We make a break here, because this stanza appears to be the refrain of the song, and as such is repeated in the twentieth verse.

13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.

13. Their vain confidences are not casual aberrations from the path of wisdom but their way, their usual and regular course; their whole life is regulated by such principles. Their life-path is essential folly. They are fools ingrain. From first to last brutishness is their characteristic, grovelling stupidity the leading trait of their conduct. “Yet their posterity approve their sayings.” Those who follow them in descent follow them in folly, quote their worldly maxims, and accept their mad career as the most prudent mode of life. Why do they not see by their fathers’ failure their fathers’ folly? No, the race transmits its weakness. Grace is not hereditary, but sordid worldliness goes from generation to generation. The race of fools never dies out. No need of missionaries to teach men to be earthworms, they crawl naturally to the dust. “Selah.” Well may the minstrel pause, and bid us muse upon the deep-seated madness of the sons of Adam. Take occasion, reader, to reflect upon thine own.

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.

14. “Like sheep they are laid in the grave.” As dumb, driven cattle, they are hurried to their doom, and are penned in within the gates of destruction. As sheep that go whither they are driven, and follow their leader without thought, so these men who have chosen to make this world their all, are urged on by their passions, till they find themselves at their journey’s end, that end the depths of Hades. Or if we keep to our own translation, we have the idea of their dying peaceably, and being buried in quiet, only that they may wake up to be ashamed at the last great day. “Death shall feed on them.” Death like a grim shepherd leads them on, and conducts them to the place of their eternal pasturage, where all is barrenness and misery. The righteous are led by the Good Shepherd, but the ungodly have death for their shepherd, and he drives them onward to hell. As the power of death rules them in this world, for they have not passed from death unto life, so the terrors of death shall devour them in the world to come. As grim giants, in old stories, are said to feed on men whom they entice to their caves, so death, the monster, feeds on the flesh and blood of the mighty. “The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.” The poor saints were once the tail, but at the day-break they shall be the head. Sinners rule till night-fall; their honours wither in the evening, and in the morning they find their position utterly reversed. The sweetest reflection to the upright is that “the morning” here intended begins an endless, changeless, day. What a vexation of spirit to the proud worldling, when the Judge of all the earth holds his morning session, to see the man whom he despised, exalted high in heaven, while he himself is cast away! “And their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.” Whatever of glory the ungodly had shall disappear in the tomb. Form and comeliness shall vanish from them, the worm shall make sad havoc of all their beauty. Even their last dwelling place, the grave, shall not be able to protect the relics committed to it; their bodies shall dissolve, no trace shall remain of all their strong limbs and lofty heads, no vestige of remaining beauty shall be discoverable. The beauty of the righteous is not yet revealed, it waits its manifestations; but all the beauty the wicked will ever have is in full bloom in this life; it will wither, fade, decay, rot, and utterly pass away. Who, then, would envy or fear the proud sinner?

15. “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.” Forth from that temporary resting-place we shall come in due time, quickened by divine energy. Like our risen Head we cannot be holden by the bands of the grave; redemption has emancipated us from the slavery of death. No redemption could man find in riches, but God has found it in the blood of his dear Son. Our Elder Brother has given to God a ransom, and we are the redeemed of the Lord: because of this redemption by price we shall assuredly be redeemed by power out of the hand of the last enemy. “For he shall receive me.” He shall take me out of the tomb, take me up to heaven. If it is not said of me as of Enoch, “He was not, for God took him,” yet shall I reach the same glorious state. My spirit God will receive, and my body shall sleep in Jesus till, being raised in his image, it shall also be received into glory. How infinitely superior is such a hope to anything which our oppressors can boast! Here is something which will bear meditation, and therefore again let us pause, at the bidding of the musician, who inserts a “Selah.”

16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend 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.

16. In these last verses the Psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives admonitory lessons which he has himself gathered from experience. “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich.” Let it not give thee any concern to see the godless prosper. Raise no questions as to divine justice; suffer no foreboding to cloud thy mind. Temporal prosperity is too small a matter to be worth fretting about; let the dogs have their bones, and the swine their draff. “When the glory of his house is increased.” Though the sinner and his family are in great esteem, and stand exceedingly high, never mind; all things will be righted in due time. Only those whose judgment is worthless will esteem men the more because their lands are broader; those who are highly estimated for such unreasonable reasons will find their level ere long, when truth and righteousness come to the fore.

17. “For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away.” He has but a leasehold of his acres, and death ends his tenure. Through the river of death man must pass naked. Not a rag of all his raiment, not a coin of all his treasure, not a jot of all his honour, can the dying worldling carry with him. Why then fret ourselves about so fleeting a prosperity? “His glory shall not descend after him.” As he goes down, down, down for ever, none of his honours or possessions will follow him. Patents of nobility are invalid in the sepulchre. His worship, his honour, his lordship, and his grace, will alike find their titles ridiculous in the tomb. Hell knows no aristocracy. Your dainty and delicate sinners shall find that eternal burnings have no respect for their affectations and refinements.

18. “Though while he lived he blessed his soul.” He pronounced himself happy. He had his good things in this life. His chief end and aim were to bless himself. He was charmed with the adulations of flatterers. “Men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.” The generality of men worship success, however it may be gained. The colour of the winning horse is no matter; it is the winner, and that is enough. “Take care of Number One,” is the world’s proverbial philosophy, and he who gives good heed to it is “a clever fellow,” “a fine man of business,” “a shrewd common-sense tradesman,” “a man with his head put on the right way.” Get money, and you will be “respectable,” “a substantial man,” and your house will be “an eminent firm in the city,” or “one of our best county families.” To do good wins fame in heaven, but to do good to yourself is the prudent thing among men of the world. Yet not a whisper of worldly congratulation can follow the departing millionaire; they say he died worth a mint of money, but what charm has that fact to the dull cold ear of death? The banker rots as fast as the shoe-black, and the peer becomes as putrid as the pauper. Alas! poor wealth, thou art but the rainbow colouring of the bubble, the tint which yellows the morning mist, but adds no substance to it.

19. “He shall go to the generation of his fathers.” Where the former generations lie, the present shall also slumber. The sires beckon to their sons to come to the land of forgetfulness. Mortal fathers beget not immortal children. As our ancestors have departed, so also must we. “They shall never see light.” To this upper region the dead worldling shall never return again to possess his estates, and enjoy his dignities. Among the dead he must lie in the thick darkness, where no joy or hope can come to him. Of all his treasures their remains not enough to furnish him one poor candle; the blaze of his glory is out for ever, and not a spark remains to cheer him. How then can we look with fear or envy upon a wretch doomed to such unhappiness?

20. The song ends with the refrain, “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.” Understanding differences men from animals, but if they will not follow the highest wisdom, and like beasts find their all in this life, then their end shall be as mean and dishonourable as that of beasts slain in the chase, or killed in the shambles. From the loftiest elevation of worldly honour to the uttermost depth of death is but a step. Saddest of all is the reflection, that though men are like beasts in all the degradation of perishing, yet not in the rest which animal perishing secures, for, alas! it is written, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.”

So ends the minstrel’s lay. Comforting as the theme is to the righteous, it is full of warning to the worldly. Hear ye it, O ye rich and poor. Give ear to it, ye nations of the earth.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—Strange it is that two Psalms so near together, as this and the forty-fifth should, and should alone imitate, or be the forerunners of, two works of David’s son; this Ecclesiastes, the former—the Canticles.—J. M. Neale.

Verse 2.—In this Psalm David, as it were, summons and divides mankind. In the first verse he summons: “Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.” In the second verse he divides: “Both low and high, rich and poor, together.” The word in the Hebrew for “high” is בְּנֵי אִישׁ, bene ish, sons of Ish, and the word for “low” is בְּנֵי אָדָם bene Adam, sons of Adam. If we should translate the text directly, according to the letter, the words must run, sons of men and sons of men; for, sons of Adam and sons of Ish are both translated sons of men. Yet when they are set together in a way of opposition, the one signifieth “low” and the other “high;” and so our translators render it according to the sense, not sons of men and sons of men, but “low” and “high.” Junius translates to this sense, though in more words, as well they who are born of mean men, as they who are born of honourable.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 4.—“I will incline mine ear to a parable,” i.e., I will diligently attend, that I may not sing anything ungracefully; a metaphor taken from musicians who bring their ear close to the harp, that they may ascertain the harmony of the sound.—Victorinus Bythner.

Verse 5.—“Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?” Those that are full of years are approaching the nearer to their happiness. They have finished their voyage, and now are in sight of the haven. Nature’s provision is spent, her stock is exhausted, and now the good man doth not so much descend as fall into the grave, and from thence he rises to heaven and eternal bliss. And shall he be disturbed at this? shall he be afraid to be made happy? If I mistake not, this is the meaning of the Psalmist’s words. They are generally interpreted concerning his ways in general, but they seem to me to refer particularly to the calamity which his old age was incident to: for “the days of evil” are old age, and are so called by the wise man (Eccl. xii. 1); and as the “heel” is the extreme part of the body, so it is here applied to the last part of man’s life, his declining age; and “iniquity” (as the word is sometimes used among the Hebrews) signifies here penal evil, and denotes the infirmities and decays of the concluding part of a man’s life. So that the true meaning of the Psalmist’s words, is this, I will not now in my last days be dejected with fear and trouble of mind, for I am coming towards my happiness, my declining years shall deliver me up to earth, and that shall consign me to everlasting life. This certainly is matter of joy rather than of fear. For this reason I account my last days to be the most eligible part of my whole life.—John Edwards, D.D. (1637—1716), in “Theologia Reformata.”

Verse 5.—“Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?” That is, when my sins or failings in what I have done, come to my remembrance, or are chastened upon me. Every man’s heel hath some iniquity: as we shall have some dirt cleaving to our heels while we walk in a dirty world, so there is some dirt, some defilement, upon all our actions, which we may call, the iniquity of our heel.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 5.—“When the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?” With Bishop Lowth, the celebrated Michaelis, Bishop Hare, and a host of other critics, I decidedly incline to the idea, that עֲקֵבַי, rendered “my heels” is to be regarded as the present participle of the verb עָקַב, to supplant, to act deceitfully, to deceive, to hold one by the heel, etc., etc. If this be correct then the proper translation will be:—

Wherefore should I fear in the days of adversity, The iniquity of my supplanters who surround me?

The Syriac and Arabic read, as does also Dr. Kennicott:—

Why should I fear in the evil day, When the iniquity of my enemies compasses me about?

John Morison.

Verses 5-9.

Why should I fear the evil hour, When ruthless foes in ambush lie, Who revel in their pride of power, And on their hoarded wealth rely?

A brother’s ransom who can pay, Or alter God’s eternal doom? What hand can wrest from death his prey, Its banquet from the rotting tomb?

From “The Psalter, or Psalms of David, in English verse. By a Member of the University of Cambridge.” [Benjamin Hall Kennedy, D.D.] 1860.

Verse 6.—“They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.” Here we have the rich man trusting and boasting; surely that is very confident trusting which issues itself into boasting! That man is ascended to the highest step of faith in God, who makes his boast of God; such faith have they in fine gold who boast in it.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 6.—“They that trust in their wealth.” “THE COVETOUS MAN’S SOLILOQUY.” Believe me, the times are hard and dangerous; charity is grown cold, and friends uncomfortable; an empty purse is full of sorrow, and hollow bags make a heavy heart. Poverty is a civil pestilence, which frights away both friends and kindred and leaves us to a “Lord have mercy upon us.” It is a sickness very catching and infectious, and more commonly abhorred than cured. The best antidote against it is Angelica and providence, and the best cordial is aurum potabile. Gold-taking fasting is an approved sovereign. Debts are ill humours, and turn at last to dangerous obstructions. Lending is a mere consumption of the radical humour, which, if consumed, brings a patient to nothing. Let others trust to courtiers’ promises, to friends’ performances, to princes’ favours; give me a toy called gold, give me a thing called money. O blessed Mammon, how extremely sweet is thy all-commanding presence to my thriving soul! In banishment thou art my dear companion; in captivity thou art my precious ransom; in trouble and vexation thou art my dainty rest; in sickness thou art my health; in grief my only joy; in all extremity my only trust. Virtue must veil to thee; nay, grace itself, not relished with thy sweetness, would even displease the righteous palates of the sons of men. Come, then, my soul, advise, contrive, project; go, compass sea and land; leave no exploit untried, no path untrod, no time unspent; afford thine eyes no sleep, thy head no rest; neglect thy ravenous belly, unclothe thy back; deceive, betray, swear, and forswear, to compass such a friend. If thou be base in birth, it will make thee honourable; if weak in power, it will make thee formidable. Are thy friends few? It will make them numerous. Is thy cause bad? It will gain thee advocates. True, wisdom is an excellent help, in case it bend this way; and learning is a genteel ornament, if not too chargeable: yet, by your leave, they are but estates for the term of life: but everlasting gold, if well advantaged, will not only bless thy days, but thy surviving children from generation to generation. Come, come, let others fill their brains with dear-bought wit, turn their pence into expenseful charity, and store their bosoms with unprofitable piety; let them lose all to save their imaginary consciences, and beggar themselves at home to be thought honest abroad: fill thou thy bags and barns, and lay up for many years, and take thy rest.—Francis Quarles, in “The Covetous Man’s Care.”

Verse 6.—The form of money agreeth well with the condition of it; for it is stamped round, because it is so apt to run from a man. Fire, thieves, waters, and infinite causes there are of consuming riches, and impoverishing their possessors, though they have even millions and mountains of gold; but suppose that contrary to their nature they stay by a man, yet cannot he stay by them, but must leave them in spite of his teeth, as the Psalmist saith (xlix. 17), “The rich man shall take away nothing when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow after him.” Thus death makes a violent divorce between the rich man and his goods, when it is said unto him, “Thou fool, this night shall they take away thy soul.” The rich man sleeps (saith Job very elegantly), and when he openeth his eyes there is nothing. It fares with a rich man at his death, as it doth with a sleeping man when he wakes out of his dream. A man that dreams of the finding or fruition of some rich booty is wonderful glad, yet when he awaketh he findeth nothing, but seeth it was only a dream, and he is sorry; so the rich man seemed in the time of his life to have somewhat, but at the day of his death all vanisheth like the idea of a dream, and it vexeth him.—J. D., in “The Threefold Resolutions,” 1608.

Verse 6.—Who knocks more boldly at heaven-gate to be let in than they whom Christ will reject as workers of iniquity? Oh, what delusion is this! Caligula never made himself more ridiculous than when he would be honoured as a god, while he lived more like a devil. Before you would have others take you for Christians, for God’s sake prove yourselves men and not beasts, as you do by your brutish lives. Talk not of your hopes of salvation so long as the marks of damnation are seen upon your flagitious lives. If the way to heaven were thus easy, I promise you the saints in all ages have been much overseen, to take so great pains in mortifying their lusts, in denying to satisfy their sensual appetite. To what purpose did they make so much waste of their sweat in their zealous serving God? and of their tears that they could serve him no better, if they might have gone to heaven as these men hope to do? That friar was far more sound in his judgment in this point, who, preaching at Rome one Lent, when some cardinals and many other great ones were present, began his sermon thus abruptly and ironically. Saint Peter was a fool, Saint Paul was a fool, and all the primitive Christians were fools; for they thought the way to heaven was by prayers and tears, watchings and fastings, severities of mortification, and denying the pomp and glory of this world; whereas you here in Rome spend your time in balls and masks, live in pomp, and pride, lust and luxury, and yet count yourselves good Christians, and hope to be saved; but at last you will prove the fools, and they will be found to have been the wise men.—William Gurnall’s Funeral Sermon for Lady Mary Vere, 1671.

Verses 6-10.—David speaks of some “that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.” Rich men can do great things, but here is a thing that they cannot do: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.” From what cannot a rich man redeem his brother? It is true of spiritual redemption; yea, that is furthest out of the rich man’s reach money will not do it: “We are not redeemed with corrupt things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God.” 1 Peter i. 18, 19. But the Psalmist speaks of a lower redemption, to which all the riches of man cannot reach: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:” “for the redemption of their soul (that is, of their person from the grave), is precious, and it ceaseth for ever.” And that he speaks of their redemption from the grave is more clearly expressed at the ninth verse: “That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.” Jesus Christ did not so redeem us that we should live for ever, and not see corruption. It was the privilege of Jesus Christ the Redeemer not to see corruption; but Jesus Christ hath not redeemed us that we should not see corruption. He hath redeemed us that we should live for ever in heaven, but he hath not redeemed us from corruption, that we should live for ever on earth, or not see corruption in the grave; for, as it is said in the tenth verse of the Psalm, we see “that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish and leave their wealth to others;” as if he had said, Neither the one nor the other sort of men could make this use or improvement of their wealth, to deliver themselves from going to the grave, for if they could they would have laid all out on that purchase; but they could not do it, therefore, “they leave their wealth to others.”—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 7.—“None of them can by any means redeem his brother,” etc. Some animals devoted to God could be redeemed at a price, but no price could be assigned to the ransom of a soul. That such a ransom was to be provided, the faith of the church had always anticipated: “He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” Psalm cxxx. 8.—W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 8.—“For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever.” In this judgment tears will not prevail, prayers will not be heard, promises will not be admitted, repentance will be too late, and as for riches, honourable titles, sceptres and diadems, these will profit much less, and the inquisition shall be so curious and diligent, that not one light thought, not one idle word (not repented of in thy life past) shall be forgotten, for truth itself hath said, not in jest, but in earnest, of every idle word which men have spoken, they shall give an account in the day of judgment. Oh, how many which now sin with great delight, yea, even with greediness (as if we served a god of wood or of stone which seeth nothing nor can do nothing) will be then astonished, ashamed, and silent. Then shall the days of thy mirth be ended, and thou shalt be overwhelmed with everlasting darkness, and in stead of thy pleasures thou shalt have everlasting torments.—Thomas Tymme.

Verse 8.—“For it cost more to redeem their souls: so that he must let that alone for ever.”—Prayer-book Version.

Verse 8.—“It ceaseth for ever.” That is, wealth for ever comes short of the power necessary to accomplish this. It has always been insufficient; it always will be. There is no hope that it ever will be sufficient, that by any increase in the amount, or by any change in the conditions of the bargain, property or riches can avail for this. The whole matter is perfectly hopeless as to the power of wealth in saving one human being from the grave. It must always fail in saving a man from death. The word rendered ceaseth—חָדַל, khadal, means to leave off, to desist, to fail. Gen. xi. 8; Ex. ix. 34; Isa. ii. 22.—Albert Barnes.

Verse 11.—“Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever.” This is the interpretation of our actions, when we do not make God our portion, but trust in the abundance of our riches; this is our “inward thought,” the saying of our heart, Ye are my god. We do in effect say, Thou art my confidence, my hope, and my joy, and will stand by me when all things cease and fail, and wilt not suffer me to want, or to be wrong, as long as thou lastest: these are the secret speeches of our hearts. Christians! many may (orator like), declaim against the vanity of the creature, and speak as basely of money as others do, and say, We know it is but a little refined earth; but their hearts close with it, they are loth to part with it for God’s sake, or upon God’s declared will. As he that speaketh good words of God, is not said to trust in God; so speaking bad words of worldly riches doth not exempt us from trusting them. There is a difference between declaiming as an orator, and acting like a Christian.—Thomas Manton.

Verse 11.—“Their inward thought.” If good thoughts be thy deep thoughts, if, as we say, the best at the bottom, thy thoughts are then right, and thou art righteous; for as the deep thoughts of worldlings are worldly thoughts, and the deep thoughts of wicked men are wicked thoughts, so the deep thoughts of good men are good thoughts. ’Tis a notable observation of the Holy Ghost’s concerning worldly men, that “their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever,” etc. Why? is there any thought that is not an inward thought? No, but the meaning is, though they have some floating thoughts of their mortality, and the vanity and transitoriness of all worldly things, swimming, as it were, on the top; yet they do not suffer such thoughts to sink into their hearts, or to go to the bottom; but the thoughts that lodge there are such as his, who is said by our Saviour to have thought within himself, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” Luke xii. 19. Note the phrase, “he thought within himself.” There are other kinds of thoughts that sometimes knock at the door of the worldling’s heart, nay, sometimes look in at his windows, as Paul’s sermon began to press in upon Felix his heart, and to set him a-trembling; but there are other thoughts within, which if they cannot keep good thoughts quite out, they will keep them off from making any due or deep impression upon the heart. Now, these thoughts that nestle themselves as it were at the very heart-roots, to keep others out from reaching thither, these deep thoughts are they which the Scriptures call the “inward thoughts,” according to that of the Psalmist (Psalm lxiv. 6), “The inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.”—Faithful Teat in “Right Thoughts the Righteous man’s Evidence,” 1666.

Verse 11.—“They call their lands after their own names.” God makes fools of them, for how few have you that go beyond the third generation? How few houses have you that the child or the grandchild can say, “This was my grandfather’s, and my great grandfather’s”? How few houses have you that those that are now in them can say, “My ancestor dwelt here, and these were his lands”? Go over a whole country, few can say so. Men when they build, together with building in the earth, they build castles in the air; they have conceits. Now I build for my child, and for my child’s child. God crosses them. Either they have no posterity, or by a thousand things that fall out in the world, it falls out otherwise. The time is short, and the fashion of this world passeth away; that is, the buildings pass away, the owning passeth away, all things here pass away; and, therefore, buy as if you possessed not, buy, so as we neglect not the best possession in heaven, and so possess these things, as being not possessed and commanded of them.—Richard Sibbes.

Verse 11.—Mr. A. was a wealthy farmer in Massachusetts, about sixty years of age, and it had been his ruling, and almost only passion in life to acquire property. His neighbour B. owned a small farm, which came too near the centre of A.’s extended domain, was quite a blot in his prospect, and destroyed the regularity of his lands, and on the whole it was really necessary, in his opinion, that he should add it to his other property. B. became embarrassed, and was sued; judgments were obtained, and executions issued. A. now thought he should obtain the land, but one execution after another was arranged, and finally the debt was paid off without selling the land. When A. heard of the payment of the last execution, which put an end to his hopes of obtaining the land, he exclaimed, “Well, B. is an old man, and cannot live long, and when he dies I can buy the lot.” B. was fifty-eight, A. was sixty! Reader, do you ever expect to die?—K. Arvine’s Cyclopædia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes.

Verse 11.—I have purchased, saith one, such lands, and I have got so good a title to them, that certainly they will remain mine and my heirs for ever; never considering how all things here below are subject to ebbings and flowings, to turns and vicissitudes every day.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 11.—The fleeting nature of all earthly possessions is well illustrated in the life of William Beckford, and the unenduring character of gorgeous fabrics in the ruin of his famous Babel, Fonthill Abbey. Byron sang of Beckford’s palace in Spain, in language most applicable to Fonthill:—

“There, too, thou Vathek! England’s wealthiest son— Once formed thy Paradise, as not aware When wanton wealth her mightiest deeds hath done, Meek Peace voluptuous lures was ever wont to shun. Here didst thou dwell; here schemes of pleasure plan, Beneath yon mountain’s ever beauteous brow. But now, as if a thing unblest by man, Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as thou! Here giant weeds a passage scarce allow, To halls deserted, portals gaping wide; Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how Vain are the pleasaunces on earth supplied, Swept into wrecks anon by Time’s ungentle tide!”

C. H. S.

Verses 11, 12.—“They call their GROUNDS after their names. But the GROUNDLING, in the midst of splendour, endureth not.” In verse 11, we have אֲדָמוֹת, “grounds.” In verse 12, it is אָדָם, “groundling,” with a designed iteration and play upon the word; for want of an attention to which the passage has not been fully understood.—John Mason Good.

Verse 12.—“Man being in honour abideth not.” The rabbins read it thus: “Adam being in honour, lodged not one night.” The Hebrew word for abide signifies “to stay or lodge all night.” Adam, then, it seems, did not take up one night’s lodging in Paradise.—Thomas Watson’s Body of Divinity.

Verse 13.—“This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings.” Master Baxter speaks very well of this in his “Saints’ Everlasting Rest,” which is a very choice book. The gentry teach their children to follow pleasure, and the commonalty their children to follow profit, and young ones are ready to follow old ones. “This their way is their folly.” The very heathen condemn this, and yet Christians mind it not. Crates the philosopher said, that if possibly he might, he would willingly mount to the highest place of the city, and there cry aloud in this manner, “What mean you, my masters, and whither run you headlong? carking and caring all that ever you can, to gather goods and make riches as you do, whiles in the meantime you make little or no reckoning at all of your children, unto whom you are to leave all your riches? Do not most care more for the wealth of their children’s outward man, than for the health of their inward man?”—J. Votier’s Survey of Effectual Calling, 1652.

Verse 13.—“This their way is their folly.” The folly of man seldom appears more than in being very busy about nothing, in making a great cry where there is little wool; like that empty fellow that showed himself to Alexander—having spent much time, and taken much pains at it beforehand—and boasted that he could throw a pea through a little hole, expecting a great reward; but the king gave him only a bushel of peas, for a recompense suitable to his diligent negligence, or his busy idleness. Things that are vain and empty are unworthy of our care and industry. The man that by hard labour and hazard of his life did climb up to the top of the steeple to set an egg on end, was deservedly the object of pity and laughter. We shall think him little better than mad that should make as great a fire for the roasting of an egg as for the roasting of an ox.—George Swinnock.

Verse 13.—“Their folly: yet their posterity approve.” Dr. Leifchild, in his “Remarkable Facts,” records the following incident, of a person of property, who had been accustomed regularly to attend his ministry, but who had always manifested a covetous disposition: “I was sent for to offer to him the consolation of religion as he lay upon his dying bed. What was my surprise, after having conversed and prayed with him, to find that he was unwilling to take my hand, muttering that he knew that he had not done what was right in reference to the support and furtherance of religion, but intended to amend in that respect. He then requested me to say what I thought would become of him. How could I reply, but by exhorting him to repent, and relinquishing all further thoughts of a worldly nature, to betake himself to the sacrifice and mediation of the Son of God for pardon, safety, and salvation in that world which he was to all appearance soon about to enter? He gazed at me with a look of disappointment. Upon a hint being given me to inquire into his thoughts at that moment, I questioned him very pointedly, and to my astonishment and horror, he reluctantly disclosed to me the fact that, while thus seemingly about to breathe his last, his hands were under the bed clothes grasping the keys of his cabinet and treasures, lest they should be taken from him! Soon after, he departed this life, and there was, alas! reason to fear that, together with his property, he had transmitted somewhat of his fatal passion to those who survived him. It was distressing to me to reflect that a hearer of mine should quit this world with his fingers stiffened in death around the keys of his treasures. How strong, how terrible, was the ruling passion in the death of this man!”

Verse 13.—“Selah.” See “Treasury of David,” Vol. I., pp. 23, 26, 27; and Vol. II., pp. 224-227.

Verse 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,” or as we put in the margin, “The grave being an habitation to every one of them, shall consume their beauty.” Some may object, Is not this true of godly men too? are not they thus handled by death and the grave? doth not death feed on them? and doth not the grave consume their beauty? I answer, Though it doth, yet it hath not to feed upon, nor consume them, as it feeds upon and consumes wicked men. For the Psalmist speaks here of death as it were triumphing over the wicked, whereas the godly triumph over death. For, first, he saith, The wicked are laid in the grave like sheep: they lived like wolves or lions, but they are laid in the grave like sheep. If it be asked, Why like sheep? I answer, not for the innocency of their lives, but for their impotency in death; as if it had been said, when once death took them in hand to lay them in the grave, they could make no more resistance than a sheep can against a lion or a wolf. And when death hath thus laid them in the grave, then secondly, saith the Psalmist, “Death shall feed on them,” as a lion doth upon a sheep, or any wild beast upon his prey, which is a further degree of death’s triumph over the wicked. And, thirdly, “Their beauty shall consume in the grave,” that is, all their bodily and natural beauty (and this is all the beauty which they have) shall consume in the grave, whereas the godly have a beauty (and they count it their only beauty) which the grave cannot consume, and that is the beauty of their graces, the beauty of holiness, the spiritual beauty of the inner man, yea, and the spiritual beauty of their outward holy actings shall not consume in the grave; for, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” Rev. xiv. 13.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 14.—“Death shall feed on them:” rather, “Death shall be their shepherd.” (Sept.) At the end of the foregoing Psalm, the Psalmist had said in the name of his people, that “God is our God, for ever and ever; he will lead us as a shepherd over death,” and here he takes up the same pastoral figure, and contrasts with their case the case of the proud and prosperous worldly men, who trust in their earthly riches and power. They will not be led in safety, under the pastoral care of God, over death. No; death itself will be their Shepherd, and the grave will be their sheep-fold; where they will be laid together like sheep in a pen. As Augustine says, “Death is the shepherd of the infidel. Life (i.e., Christ) is the Shepherd of the faithful.” “In inferno sunt oves quibus pastor Mors est; in cælo sunt oves quibus pastor Vita est.” And so Keble—

Even as a flock arrayed are they For the dark grave; Death guides their way, Death is their Shepherd now.

Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 14.—“In the morning,” that is, saith Dathe, in the time of judgment. He thinks there is here an allusion to the usual time of holding courts of justice, which was in the morning. See Psalms lxxiii. 14, and ci. 8; and Jer. xxi. 12.—Editorial note to Calvin in loc.

Verse 14.—“Their beauty shall consume in the grave.” And now if we do but consider a little of the tombs and sepulchres of princes and noblemen, whose glory and majesty we have seen when they lived here on earth, and do behold the horrible forms and shapes which they now have, shall we not cry out as men amazed, Is this that glory? Is this that highness and excellency? Whither now are the degrees of their waiting servants gone? Where are their ornaments and jewels? Where is their pomp, their delicacy and niceness? All these things are vanished away like the smoke, and there is now nothing left but dust, horror, and stink. The soul being dissolved, there lieth upon the ground not a human body, but a dead carcase without life, without sense, without strength, and so fearful to look upon, that the sight thereof may hardly be endured. To be sure, it is a little better (as touching the substance) than the body of a horse, or a dog, which lieth dead in the fields, and all that pass by stop their noses and make haste away, that they be not annoyed with the sight and stink thereof. Such is man’s body now become; yea, and though it were the body of a monarch, emperor, or a king. Where is that majesty, that excellency, that authority which he had aforetime when all men trembled to behold it, and might not come in presence thereof without all reverence and obeisance? what are all those things become? were they a dream or shadow? After those things the funeral is prepared, the which is all that men can carry with them, of all their riches and kingdom, and this also they should not have, if in their lifetime they did not appoint it for their dignity and honour. For the prophet David saith truly (verse 16), “Be not thou afraid though one be made rich, or, if the glory of his house be increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away with him, neither shall his pomp follow him.”—Thomas Tymme.

Verse 14.—When we look to a charnel-house, and take a view of the grave, what amazing and dismal scenes present themselves! How many great and important images appear! Distracting horrors strike our imagination, and hideous sounds of diseases, destruction, and death, with all their woful and black train, terrify us. Ah! the melancholy confused heap of the ruins of mankind, what a terrible carnage is made of the human race! and what a solemn and awful theatre of mortality, covered with the disordered remains of our fellow creatures, presents itself to our minds! There lie the bones of a proud monarch, who fancied himself a little god, mingled with the ashes of his poorest subjects! Death seized him in the height of his vanity, he was just returning from a conquest, and his haughty mind was swelled with his power and greatness, when one of these fatal arrows pierced his heart, and at once finished all his perishing thoughts and contrivances, then the dream of glory vanished, and all his empire was confined to the grave. Look how pale that victorious general appears, how dead, and cold, and lifeless these arms that were once accustomed to war; see if you can discern any difference betwixt his dust and that of the most despicable slave. Yonder, a numerous army, once fierce and resolute, whose conquests were rapid as lightning, and made all the nations to shake for fear of them, are now so weak that they lie a prey, exposed to the meanest animals, the loathsome worms, who crawl in triumph over them, and insult their decayed ruins. There a body that was so much doted on, and solicitously cared for, and the beauty and shape whereof were so foolishly admired, now noisome and rotten, nothing but vermin are now fond of it, so affecting a change hath death made upon it. Look, next to this, upon the inglorious ashes of a rich, covetous wretch, whose soul was glued to this world, and hugged itself in its treasures; with what mighty throes and convulsions did death tear him from this earth? How did his hands cling to his gold! with what vehement desires did he fasten on his silver, all of them weak and fruitless! Look now if riches saved him in that day, if you can perceive any of his useless treasures lying beside him in the grave, or if the glory of his house have descended after him! Yonder, an ambitious statesman, his rotten bones are scarce to be discerned: how did he applaud his artful schemes! how securely did he think them laid, and flattered himself with the hopes of an established greatness! but death stepped in, blew them all up at once; this grave is the whole result of his counsels. And lo, there, what horrid and suffocating stink ascends from these many hellish sacrifices of lust and impurity, who wasted their strength in debauch, and carried down with them nothing but the shame of beastly pleasures to the grave. But there is no end to the corpses, nor can we survey this terrible field of death’s conquests.—William Dunlop.

Verse 15 (last clause).—“For he shall take me.” This short half-verse is, as Böttcher remarks, the more weighty, from its very shortness. The same expression occurs again, lxxiii. 24, “Thou shalt take me,” the original of both being Gen. v. 24, where it is used of the translation of Enoch, “He was not, for God took him.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 17.—“For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away.” The form of money agrees well with the condition of it; it is stamped round, because it is so apt to run away. Could we be rich so long as we live, yet that were uncertain enough, for life itself is but a dream, a shadow, but a dream of a shadow. (Augustine.) Rich men are but like hailstones; they make a noise in the world, as the other rattle on the tiles of a house; down they fall, lie still, and melt away. So that if riches could stay by a man, yet he cannot stay by them. Spite of his teeth, he shall carry away nothing when he dies. Life and goods are both in a vessel, both cast away at once; yea, of the two, life hath the more likelihood of continuance. Let it fly never so fast away, riches have eagles’ wings, and will outfly it. There be thieves in the highways, that will take our moneys and spare our lives. In our penal laws, there be not so many ways to forfeit our lives as our goods. Rich Job lived to see himself poor to a proverb. How many in this city reputed rich, yet have broken for thousands! There are innumerable ways to be poor; a fire, a thief, a false servant, suretyship, trusting of bad customers, an unfaithful factor, a pirate, an unskilful pilot, hath brought rich men to poverty. One gale of wind is able to make merchants rich or beggars. Man’s life is like the banks of a river, his temporal estate is the stream: time will moulder away the banks, but the stream stays not for that, it glides away continually. Life is the tree, riches are the fruit, or rather the leaves; the leaves will fall, the fruit is plucked, and yet the tree stands. Some write of the pine tree, that if the bark be pulled off, it lasts long; being on, it rots. If the worldling’s bark were stripped off, he might perhaps live the longer, there is great hope he would live the better.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 17.—“He shall carry nothing away.” It is with us in this world, as it was in the Jewish fields and vineyards: pluck and eat they might what they would while they were there; but they might not pocket or put up ought to carry with them. Deut. xxiii. 24.—Thomas Gataker.

Verse 17.—“He shall carry nothing away.” “He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.” Job xx. 15.

Verse 17.—“Descends.” Death takes the sinner by the throat, and “hauls him down stairs to the grave.” The indulgence in any sinful propensity has this downward, deathly tendency. Every lust, whether for riches or honours, for gambling, wine, or women, leads the deluded, wretched votary step by step to the chambers of death. There is no hope in the dread prospect; trouble and anguish possess the spirit. Hast thou escaped, O my soul, from the net of the infernal fowler? Never forget that it is as a brand snatched from the burning. Oh to grace how great a debtor!—George Offor’s note in “The Works of John Bunyan.”

Verse 17.—

You will carry none of your riches, fool, to the waters of Acheron. You will be ferried over quite naked in the infernal boat.

Propertius.

Verse 18.—How foolish is it to account thyself a better man than another, only because thy dunghill is a little bigger than his! These things are not at all to be reckoned into the value and worth of a man: they are all without thee, and concern thee no more than fine clothes do the health or strength of the body. It is wealth indeed, that makes all the noise and bustle in the world, and challengeth all the respect and honour to itself; and the ignorant vulgar, whose eyes are dazzled with pomp and bravery, pay it with a stupid and astonished reverence. Yet know, that it is but thy silks and velvet, thy lands, or thy retinue and servants, they venerate, not thee: and if thou thinkest otherwise, thou art as justly ridiculous as that ass in the apologue that grew very gravely proud, and took state, when the people fell prostrate before him, adoring, not him, but the idol he carried.—Ezekiel Hopkins.

Verse 20.—“Like the beasts that perish.” My lords, it is no wonder at all, if men that affect beastly pleasures, and dote upon perishing honours, become “like the beasts that perish.” It is no miracle if he that lives like a beast dies like a beast. Take a man that hath lived like the fool in the gospel, and tell me, what hath this man done for his immortal soul more than a beast doth for its perishing soul? Soul, soul, cease from care, eat, drink, and take thine ease: this is the constant ditty of most men in honour: they have studied clothes and victuals, titles and offices, ways of gain and pleasure. Am I not yet at highest? They have, it may be, studied the black art of flattery and treachery; they understand the humour of the times, the compliances and dependences of this and the other statesman, the projects of divers princes abroad, and the main design here at home. Is this all? Why then, be it known unto you, that the men of this strain have made no better provision for their precious souls, than if they had the soul, the vanishing soul of a beast within them; and certainly, if we were to judge of the substance of men’s souls by their unworthy and sensual conversation, we might easily fall into that heresy, that dangerous dream of some who conceive that their souls are mortal.—Francis Cheynell, in a Sermon entitled, “The Man of Honour,” ... preached before the Lords of Parliament, 1645.

Verse 20.—“Like the beasts that perish.” Sin is both formaliter and effective vile. As it is so in itself, so it has made man vile. No creature so debased as man, being in this respect become viler than any creature. There is no such depravation in the nature of any creature, except in the diabolical nature. No creature ever razed God’s image out of its nature, but only man. There is no aversions to the will of God, no inclination to what offends him, in any creature on earth but man. Man, then, who was once the glory of the creation, is become the vilest of all creatures, for that is vilest which is most contrary to the infinite glory, but so is our nature, “Man being in honour, abideth not,” is now “like the beasts that perish;” nay, worse than they, if the greatest evil can make him worse. Man was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory, advanced to be lord and governor of all the works of his hands; and all creatures in this world were put under his feet. Psalm viii. 5, 6. But by this natural corruption he that was but a little lower than angels is now something below the beasts. He was to have dominion, but is made baser than those over whom he rules. They were put under his feet, but now he is as low as they. This is the sad issue of natural corruption.—David Clarkson.

Verse 20.—“Like the beasts.” Man is so much a beast, that he cannot know himself to be one till God teach him. And we never learn to be men till we have learned that we were beasts.... It is not said he is like this or that beast, but “he is like the beasts that perish.” Take any beast, or all beasts, the worst of beasts, he is the picture of them all, and he daily exemplifies the vilest of their qualities in his own.—Joseph Caryl.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 2.—I. The common needs of rich and poor men. II. The common privileges of rich and poor saints. III. Their common service. IV. Their common heaven.

Verse 3.—The deep things of God are intended, I. To exercise our minds to understand them. II. To try our faith by believing them—“incline” implies a submissive mind. III. To excite our joy as we grasp them—“upon the harp.” IV. To employ our faculties in explaining them to others.

Verse 5.—I. The effects of our sin remain, 1. In ourselves. 2. In others. II. In a time of conviction they “compass us about:” better to do so in this life, than to haunt us as ghosts for ever. III. When they are pardoned we have nothing to fear.—G. R.

Verse 7.—1. Implied. The soul needs redeeming. 2. Denied. Wealth, power, learning, none can redeem. 3. Supplied—a ransom by Jesus. 4. Applied—by the Spirit to our actual deliverance.

Verse 12 (last clause).—Wherein the ungodly are like beasts, and wherein different.

Verse 12.—Here is a twofold thwarting or crossing of the purposes of the ungodly worldling. I. The first is, he shall not be that which he ever wished to be: he shall not continue in honour. II. The other is this, he shall be that which he never desired to be: he shall be like the beasts that die. He shall miss of that which he sought for, and he shall have that which he looked not for.—S. Hieron.

Verse 14.—In proportion to the prosperity of the ungodly here, will be their misery hereafter: as sheep from the fat pasture led to the slaughter-house. II. In proportion to their luxury here, will be their corruption hereafter—“Death shall feed on them:” they have become well fed for death to feed on them. III. In proportion to their dignity here, will be their degradation hereafter—“The upright shall have,” etc. Oh, what a contrast between the rich man and Lazarus then! IV. In proportion to their beauty here, will be their deformity hereafter. “Art, thou become like one of us?”—G. R.

Verse 14.—Sheep, how far they image the wicked.

Verse 14.—“In the morning.” See the various Biblical prophecies of what will happen “in the morning.”

Verse 15.—1. Return to the dust I shall. 2. Redeem from the dust he will. 3. Receive into heaven he will. 4. Rejoice for ever I shall.

Verse 17.—The loaded and unloaded sinner.

Verse 20.—I. Men of spiritual understanding without worldly honour are higher than the angels of God in heaven. II. Men in worldly honour without the true wisdom are worse than the beasts that perish.—G. R.

PSALM L.

TITLE.—A Psalm of Asaph.—This is the first of the Psalms of Asaph, but whether it was the production of that eminent musician, or merely dedicated to him, we cannot tell. The titles of twelve Psalms bear his name, but it could not in all of them be meant to ascribe their authorship to him, for several of these Psalms are of too late a date to have been composed by the same writer as the others. There was an Asaph in David’s time, who was one of David’s chief musicians, and his family appear to have continued long after in their hereditary office of temple musicians. An Asaph is mentioned as a recorder or secretary in the days of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 18), and another was keeper of the royal forests under Artaxerxes. That Asaph did most certainly write some of the Psalms is clear from 2 Chron. xxix. 30, where it is recorded that the Levites were commanded to “sing praises unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer,” but that other Asaphic Psalms were not of his composition, but were only committed to his care as a musician, is equally certain from 1 Chron. xvi. 7, where David is said to have delivered a Psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. It matters little to us whether he wrote or sang, for poet and musician are near akin, and if one composes words and another sets them to music, they rejoice together before the Lord.

DIVISIONS.—The Lord is represented as summoning the whole earth to hear his declaration, 1-6; he then declares the nature of the worship which he accepts, 7-15, accuses the ungodly of breaches of the precepts of the second table, 16-21, and closes the court with a word of threatening, 22, and a direction of grace, 23.

EXPOSITION.

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 himself. Selah.

1. “The mighty God, even the Lord”—El, Elohim, Jehovah, three glorious names for the God of Israel. To render the address the more impressive, these august titles are mentioned, just as in royal decrees the names and dignities of monarchs are placed in the forefront. Here the true God is described as Almighty, as the only and perfect object of adoration and as the self-existent One, “Hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun until the going down thereof.” The dominion of Jehovah extends over the whole earth, and therefore to all mankind is his decree directed. The east and the west are bidden to hear the God who makes his sun to rise on every quarter of the globe. Shall the summons of the great King be despised? Will we dare provoke him to anger by slighting his call?

2. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.” The Lord is represented not only as speaking to the earth, but as coming forth to reveal the glory of his presence to an assembled universe. God of old dwelt in Zion among his chosen people, but here the beams of his splendour are described as shining forth upon all nations. The sun was spoken of in the first verse, but here is a far brighter sun. The majesty of God is most conspicuous among his own elect, but it is not confined to them; the church is not a dark lantern, but a candlestick. God shines not only in Zion, but out of her. She is made perfect in beauty by his indwelling and that beauty is seen by all observers when the Lord shines forth from her.

Observe how with trumpet voice and flaming ensign the infinite Jehovah summons the heavens and the earth to hearken to his word.

3. “Our God shall come.” The Psalmist speaks of himself and his brethren as standing in immediate anticipation of the appearing of the Lord upon the scene. “He comes,” they say, “our covenant God is coming;” they can hear his voice from afar, and perceive the splendour of his attending train. Even thus should we await the long-promised appearing of the Lord from heaven. “And shall not keep silence.” He comes to speak, to plead with his people, to accuse and judge the ungodly. He has been silent long in patience, but soon he will speak with power. What a moment of awe when the Omnipotent is expected to reveal himself! What will be the reverent joy and solemn expectation when the poetic scene of this Psalm becomes in the last great day an actual reality! “A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” Flame and hurricane are frequently described as the attendants of the divine appearance. “Our God is a consuming fire.” “At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.” Psalm xviii. 12. “He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.” “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God.” 2 Thes. i. 7, 8. Fire is the emblem of justice in action, and the tempest is a token of his overwhelming power. Who will not listen in solemn silence when such is the tribunal from which the judge pleads with heaven and earth?

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