Psalm 150

Psalm 150

PSALM 113

1–9 THE Jews have handed down the tradition, that this Psalm, and those that follow on to the 118th, were all sung at the Passover; and they are denominated "The Great Hallel." This tradition shews, at all events, that the ancient Jews perceived in these six Psalms some link of close connection. They all sing of God the Redeemer, in some aspect of his redeeming character; and this being so, while they suited the paschal feast, we can see how appropriate they would be in the lips of the Redeemer, in his Upper Room.* Thus—

In Psa. 113, he sang praise to Him who redeems from the lowest depth.

In Psa. 114, he sang praise to Him who once redeemed Israel, and shall redeem Israel again.

In Psa. 115, he uttered a song—over earth's fallen idols—to Him who blesses Israel and the world.

In Psa. 116, he sang his resurrection-song of thanksgiving by anticipation.

In Psa. 117, he led the song of praise for the great congregation.

In Psa. 118, (just before leaving the Upper Room to go to Gethsemane), he poured forth the story of his suffering, conflict, triumph, and glorification.

Our Psalm, then, begins with a twice-repeated invitation to all God's servants to join in praise. It is sometimes true, that for the soul, "solitude is best society;" but in the matter of praise, the reverse may be oftenest held. The society of kindred souls is the best help to each individual soul; every voice in the great multitude touches the heart-fibres of yonder sweet singer, as the wind does the Æolian harp. Hence it is that so many Psalms begin with "Hallelujah!" calling on others all around to praise—not that the "harper harping with his harp" means to delegate this blessed duty to others, but he seeks to tune his own soul by hearing their voices ascend. The warmth of their hearts fires his own.

The persons invited (ver. 1), to praise, are "Jehovah's servants;" all those (as Nehemiah 1:10 expands the words) whom he has redeemed. The time (ver. 2) for praise is specially "henceforth," from the date of this redemption. The place (ver. 3, 4) where it is to be celebrated is all the earth, not Israel's land alone; for all nations are to hear what Jehovah has done on the theatre of that land. The object of praise (ver. 5) is Jehovah, he to whom they sang at the Red Sea, "Who is like unto thee?" (Exod. 15:11)

"Who is like to Jehovah our God?

He who is exalted high, as to his dwelling (ὁ ἐν ὑψηλοις κατοικῶν.—Sept.)

He who stoopeth low as to his beholding! (τὰ ταιπέινκ ἐφορῶν.—Sept.)

In heaven, and in earth!" (Ver 5, 6)

Then follows the special subject of celebration (ver. 7, 8, 9)—what He does for the fallen. Hannah's song in 1 Sam. 2:5, 6, 7, 8 seems kept in view, as well as God's own words to David, 2 Sam. 7:8, 9, all to furnish suitable language to express redemption-acts. And the long "barren woman" of verse 9, while it reminds us of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Manoah's wife, Elizabeth, who all in the end were filled with joy, may point to one and the same period of the world's history for its full and final illustration, as does Isaiah 54:1. Isaiah seems expressly to allude to this Psalm as receiving its fulfilment to the full when Messiah's work of suffering (Isa. 53) issues in illimitable blessing to Israel and the world. The redemption celebrated includes glory as well as grace; for we have princes (ver. 8) spoken of, and these "sit" with them, becoming associates of the noble—thus highly exalted, though once fit for the lowest hell. It is an expression parallel to Hannah's "throne of glory," (2 Sam 2:8). And lo! the once barren one of the house "sits a joyful mother of sons." Whether we look upon the speaker as Christ praising the Father, or as the Church of Christ, and every member of Christ praising the Father because of Christ, the theme cannot be mistaken. It is

Praise to Him who redeems from the lowest depth.

PSALM 114

1–8 EVERY tear dropt on the golden altar would appear golden, because the gold shone through; and common things presented in sanctuary-vessels would become sacred. So it is with events of history referred to in these songs of Zion. Even if they were not wondrous in themselves, still they could not fail to be felt as unlike all other events, because so exquisitely celebrated on the harp of Israel.

This Psalm sings of the past, and of the future too. The past extends from verse 1 to verse 6, the time

"When Israel, of the Lord beloved,

Out of the land of bondage came."

When we find in verse 1, as in Psa. 81:5, Egypt spoken of as a land where the people were of a "strange tongue," it seems likely that the reference is to their being a people who could not speak of God, as Israel could; even as Zeph. 3:9 tells of the "pure lip," viz., the lip that calls on the name of the Lord. In verse 2, "Judah" (Sept. Ιὀυδὰια) is followed by a feminine verb, both to shew that it was not the land, but the people, and also to remind us of their helplessness at that time. It is, q. d., the "daughter of my people." And in the same verse, we hear of "His sanctuary," as in Psa. 87:1, without naming the person, because the heart is full of him. God dwelt in the camp, making the hearts of the people his "Holy place," and taking the tribes as his Kingdom; while the Red Sea and Sinai testified of his presence and power. What a privilege to have such a king! What a blessedness to be dwelt in by the Holy One.

There is a future time when the like shall occur again, and the question be again asked, "What aileth thee, O sea, that thou fleest?" For (ver. 7, 8) the closing verses seem to be parallel to Haggai 2:6, and Heb. 12:26, when all the earth shall be moved at the presence of him whose presence so affected Sinai, and the Red Sea, and Jordan. Augustine also—"Illa quoque miracula, cum in illo populo fierent, præsentia quidem, sed non sine futurorum significatione, gerebantur." And Dr Allix says—"'Tis a meditation upon the coming out of Egypt, and upon the several miracles which changed the order of nature; from whence the sacred author lifted up the minds of his people to the thoughts of their redemption, when the Messiah, appearing for their deliverance, will cause the same changes in the world," See Micah 7:15–17, Isa. 11:15. And on that day they shall come forth from the crushing dominion of a power that has trod Jerusalem under foot, "whose tongue thou shalt not understand," (Deut. 28:49).

Whether in the lips of Jesus at the passover table in the upper room, when using this as part of the great Hallel, or in the lips of any of his members, the song is one of

Praise to Him who has redeemed, and will again redeem, his Israel.

PSALM 115

1–18 THE missionary, Adoniram Judson, was arrested in the midst of ambitious schemes, and led to lay himself at the feet of his Lord by the first verse of this Psalm, "Not unto us."

This "Not unto us" has reference to the undeserving character of the recipients. Our God gives liberally; and withal he gives as none other gives; for (as Milton sings) he gives,

"With his good upbraiding none."

It is this divine peculiarity in his giving that ought more than all else to induce us to hasten to his throne with our thanks and adoring praise. His "mercy and truth" (ver. 1) are the Jachin and Boaz of the redemption-scheme; his grace, or love, or mercy, prompting the gift of his Son, and his truth, or adherence to every word he ever spoke, to every law he ever gave, to every attribute of his character, are the reigning manifestations of his name. In giving praise, therefore, should not his redeemed continually refer to "mercy and truth"—to "grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ?" It is thus we give him "glory in the highest."

But contrast Jehovah with any other god. Why should the heathen say, "Where, pray, (נָא) is your God?" Take up Moses' brief description in Deut. 4:28, and expand it as is done here. Idols of gold and silver have a mouth, but give no counsel to their worshippers; eyes, but see not the devotions nor the wants of those who serve them; ears, but hear not their cries of distress or songs of praise; nostrils, but smell not the fragrant incense presented to their images; hands, but the thunderbolt which they seem to hold (as Jupiter Tonans in after days), is a brutum fulmen, they cannot launch it; feet, but they cannot move to help the fallen. Ah! they cannot so much as whisper one syllable of response, or even mutter in their throat! And as man becomes like his god, (witness Hindoo idolaters whose cruelty is just the reflection of the cruelty of their gods), so these gods of the heathen being "soul-less, the worshippers become soul-less themselves," (Tholuck).

Happy Israel! trust in Jehovah—

"For to all such an aid he is,

A buckler and defence." (Oldest version)

"Their help" means "the help of such as do so."* Some understand it as if a chorus uttered these words in reply. In either way the sense is clear. Israel at large! house of Aaron! all fearers of God! trust him alone; for all of you can say verse 12, 13.

In verses 14, 15, the latter-day blessing of Israel is referred to. Their God whom they praised pronounces blessing, a creation-like blessing (Gen. 1:28), upon them, by the mouth of his High Priest, we may suppose; and in that case, how appropriately uttered by the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, while using these words at the passover table:

"May Jehovah add to you (Deut. 1:11),

To you and to your children!

May you be blessed of Jehovah,

Maker of heaven and earth!"

It is like Melchizedec blessing Abraham in the name of the Most High God, "possessor of heaven and earth." They who receive the blessing respond in the closing words—

"As to the heavens—the heavens belong to Jehovah!

And it is he that giveth earth to the children of men!"

Ay, and it is he who will give earth, in its renovated beauty, to the children of men. To him we owe all things. Should he not be praised—praised on his own earth?

"It is they that are not dead who will praise Jehovah,

And not those that go down to silence (Isa. 26:14):

And as for us, let us bless Jehovah (וַאֲנַחְנוּ נְבָרֵךְ)

From henceforth and for ever! Hallelujah!"

What a fervent act of praise!—a song, in defiance of idols.

Praise to Jehovah, the sovereign source of blessings manifold to all that fear his name.

PSALM 116

1–19 IF the greatest wonder that eye shall ever see, ear ever hear, and the heart of man and angel ever conceive, is the sacrifice of God manifest in the flesh, "Deity expended upon human weal!" it need not seem strange to us that the harp of Zion returns again and again and again to this theme. This is the theme before us here, for this Psalm is Christ's resurrection-song, sung by his own lips in the upper room at the passover, in anticipation of the darkness of Gethsemane and Calvary passing away into glory.

Paul, in 2 Cor. 4:13, 14, furnishes the key-note—"We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken (Psa. 116:17), we also believe, and therefore speak." We, says Paul, go on with our testimony as Jesus did, believing, as he did, that the Father will raise us up at last in glory, though at present we "bear about with us the dying (την νεκρωσιν, the הַמַּוְתָה of Psalm 116:15) of the Lord Jesus."

It has been noticed by Hengstenberg (who beautifully speaks of the speaker here as uttering "thanksgiving with the tear in his eye"), that there is a resemblance to the tone of this Psalm in Hezekiah's writing, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness (Isa. 38). It may be that Hezekiah's case was meant to furnish a living type of the Saviour in some details. It is also most true that in a certain sense and measure, every member of Christ can sing, "I love the Lord," and say it, too, in the very style of the original writer. "I love! because the Lord has heard"—so transported with joy and love, "as at first to express his affection without declaring its object, thinking all the world must know who is the person intended—like Mary Magdalene, John 20:15," (Horne). Still it is the Master, rather than the disciples, who speaks here. The Lord Jesus is the true Hezekiah, who alone can appropriate all that is written here, having passed through sorer pangs, and gotten a more real resurrection, than Hezekiah could celebrate when he went up, on the third day, to the house of the Lord.

It is Christ only who can say, in the full sense of the word, the very first syllable of the Psalm; for the words run in the original thus, "love! because the Lord has heard my voice, my supplications!"

"I love!" (אָהַבְתִי like, ἐστηκα, Rev. 3:17. "I have so done, and do so still")

It is not, "I am well pleased that the Lord has heard;" no, it is far more. It is as if he pointed to Deut. 6:5, "Thou shalt love the Lord"—וְאָהַבְתָ יְהוֹהָ אֵת, exclaiming, "I have done so, and ever will!" And then, as the proof of this love (not as the cause, comp. Luke 7:47), he adds, "For see, the Lord has testified to my love by hearing my prayers." Yes; those tears and strong cries, to which reference is made, Heb. 5:7, were proofs of his love to the Father; and the Father's hearing and helping was proof of his love to the Son.

"And I will call so long as I live."

Literally, "during my days," בְיָמיַ as in 2 Kings 20:19, Isa. 39:8 (Hengst.) Is there not an implied reference to his intercession? and does not the phrase remind us of Rom. 5:18, "saved by his life," and of Heb. 7:16?

Israel might use these words at their paschal table, reckoning Egyptian sorrows and bondage as a kind of tomb, and recalling the flight from Egypt, and the passage through the Red Sea, when all human help bad failed. It was like a resurrection—a passage up from the grave. Still, all was but an imperfect shadow of God's Israel, his beloved Son. The world was his Egypt, his place of bondage, his scene of suffering; and, on the night he left this Egypt's tasks and bricks for ever, all help of man failed him—not even a disciple offered him sympathy. It was he, therefore—it was he alone—who could so truly sing, as verse 11,

"I said in my haste" (i. e., while hastening from Egypt, like Israel on the passover night),

"All men are liars;"

for the term is altogether a passover-night one, חֳפְזִי. It is not trepidation of mind, it is not irritation, it is not alarm, it is not tumult of soul, that the term indicates; but it is the flight or hasty escape of Israel on that memorable night. See this discussed in Psa. 31:22. The old metre version of Tate and Brady is right—

"For in my flight all hopes of aid

From faithless man were lost."

And so the Targum has בְמֲערְקִי, "in my fleeing." Bishop Patrick and some others have noticed this to be the true sense.*

These remarks help us to the scope and plan of the psalm. The Saviour begins (ver. 1–4) with the Lord and his benefits; then (ver. 5, 6) celebrates some attractive features of his character, "Gracious is Jehovah," while still he is "righteous," "and our God sheweth mercy," (מֵרַחֵם); and this he does by "Keeping the simple," i. e, those whom Satan might easily beguile. And now he gives a fuller history of his suffering and deliverance (ver. 7), "I was brought low," and how the Lord permitted not the enemy to triumph over him in the awful hour of his tremendous woe; "He helped me," (ver. 7, 8). He seems to reveal to us some of the thoughts that upheld him—some of "the joy set before him" that enabled him to endure. They were such as these—paraphrasing the words a little (verses 9, 10, 11)—

"I shall yet walk before Jehovah

In the lands (בְאַרְצוֹת of the living," (i. e., the regions of glory, not the abodes of the dead).

"I have full confidence! That is the reason why I have so often declared my resurrection."

Not that I had no temptations to the contrary. I was more afflicted than other men.

"I (אֲנִי) was greatly afflicted."

Yes; and forsaken too, so that

"I said, in my hastening away,

All men are liars."

All that is man disappoints expectation (ver. 8); כֹזֹבֵ as in Jer. 15:18. But now, taking up the drink-offering cup, and pouring it on the altar as a thanksgiving-token† (ver. 12, to the end), he looks up to the Lord, and expresses his entire satisfaction in Him, uttering thanks, praise, blessing, vows, while looking forward to the results of all, in a people freed and gathered into glory; for this is contained in the oft-repeated words, (equivalent to "Our gathering together in him," 2 Thess. 2:1),

"In the presence of all his people."

This is twice declared (ver. 14 and 18), in peculiar language—

"I will pay my vows to the Lord,

Yea, I will in presence of all his people; (or, in presence of—let me d it—all his people.)

Precious (are they) in the sight of the Lord;

Even the death which belongs to his saints." (חַמַּוְתָה לַחֲסִידיָו)

This last line of the verse is quite peculiar. The word for death is peculiar, corresponding, as we noticed before, to the Greek νεκρωσις (like תְמָוְתָה in Psalm 79:11), while it cannot be construed with יָקרָ, "precious," because of the gender. We may, therefore, connect the "precious" with "his people" (as We find in Psa. 72:14, Isa. 42:4), and may understand the next clause as a declaration that even such suffering, such death-like pangs, are no proof that Jehovah has forgotten his people—"even in regard to their death-like suffering, they are precious in his eyes."* Everything that concerns his people is of interest to him, every hair of their head is numbered. With his eye on such a passage as this, well might Paul rapturously exclaim—"All things are yours, the world, life, death!" (1 Cor. 3:22, 23.) Shall not all this bind me to thee? "I am thy servant." Who shall separate me from the love of God? Hallelujah. (Ver. 19) Such is

The Redeemer's Resurrection-song of Thanksgiving.

PSALM 117

1–2 "THE presence of all his people!" Our gathering together in him! This was heard in the close of the former Psalm. So now we seem to be introduced for one brief moment into that assembly where the Redeemer stands leading their praise. What a Hallel! from "all nations" and "all tribes" (אֻמִּים), as in Rev. 5:9.

"Loud as the sound of seas,

Through multitudes that sing."

They celebrate, as in Psalm 115:1, and often at other times, the mercy, the tender love of God which to usward is גָבַר "mighty," prevailing as did the deluge-waters over the mountain-tops (Gen. 7:24, יגְבְרוּ), and also his truth, going hand in hand with truth in man's redemption.

Paul quotes this short song in Rom. 15:11 (this heavenly catch which seraph might cry to seraph, or one redeemed to his fellow), to remind us that the Ensign on Calvary was set up for all nations, Gentiles as well as Jews. Let us, then, from time to time, recall this song to mind, and therewith exhort one another to praise. In so doing, we are using words which the Master used in the upper room, and which he will use again when "he drinks the new wine with us in the Father's kingdom." For it is He specially who is the speaker in the

Call on the Great Congregation for praise.

PSALM 118

1–29 LUTHER wrote on his study-wall, "The 118th Psalm is my Psalm, which I love. Without it, neither emperor nor king, though wise and prudent, nor saints, could have helped me," Tholuck).

Still remembering that there is reason to believe that our Lord used these Psalms, which formed the "Great Hallel," on the last night he sat with his disciples at the passover-supper, and now specially remembering that this was the hymn they must in that case have sung just before "He went to the Mount of Olives," every verse will appear lighted up with peculiar attractiveness.

"What pleasing seemed, for Him now pleases more."

The plan of it is as follows:—In verses 1–4, "Oh let Israel say," &c., the Saviour is calling upon others to help him in praise; at verse 5 begins his thanksgiving narrative; while verses 6, 7, states a holy axiom, verified in his own case, and left for the use of all his own, to this effect—

"Let Jehovah be with me! I fear not.

What can man do to me?

Let Jehovah be with me, among my helpers!

Then I will look in triumph on mine enemies."*

In all this, every member of Christ can join, even as in Rom, 8:31 we find Paul, and those in whose name he speaks, using language equally bold. Nor is there need of other help (vers. 8, 9), for "human dust and royal clay" cannot add to the Lord's strength. Proceeding in his narrative, from verses 10 to 13, he tells the strength of his foes. The term used for their destruction (ver 10), אֲמִילָם, may have been chosen because it calls up the idea that these foes are all מוּל, "uncircumcised" (Hengst), and so he is the true David going forth against this Goliath (1 Sam. 17:36).

"In the name of the Lord (I go forth)! for I will destroy them."

This seems the force of כִי though some insert, "I swear that." The figure of bees (ver. 12) sends our thoughts to the Amorites, in Deut. 1:44; he chases and destroys them. Then, the special foe (v. 13) that seems addressed, who is this? He speaks to some person, "Thou didst sore thrust:" is he speaking to the host as one? the army of all nations? or is he singling out their chief? Were this last idea adopted, we might suppose we saw the Serpent combating the Woman's Seed, the "sore thrust" being the Serpent's bruising the heel of the Saviour.

See next the victory won by Jehovah's aid alone (vers. 14–16). As Moses, the leader of the host, sang in Exod. 15:2, "The Lord is my strength, my salvation," so does Jesus; but at the same time there are sharers in the victory. Hearken!

"The voice of rejoicing and salvation in the tents of the righteous!"

And what do they sing:—

"The right hand of the Lord hath done valiantly."

They sing this as at the Red Sea; and three times they sing of that right hand that has won an infinitely greater victory.

But next he refers to death, and his triumph over it (ver. 17, 18). The curse, "Thou shalt die," cannot now fall on me; it is past and gone; it is exhausted:

"I shall not die; for I shall live!"

It is the voice of Jesus; "I am the living one" (Rev. 1:18), "and I was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore!" And as he added then, "And I have the keys of Hades and of death," so here he adds (vers. 19, 20)—

"Open to me the gates of righteousness!"

—the gates of the holy temple above that shut out iniquity, and admit only what is pure and righteous. The temple on earth was typical of the better temple above.

"This is Jehovah's gate" (this "righteousness-gate");

"The righteous go in thereby."

He enters singing (ver. 21), "I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation." Upon which the shout of congratulation arises from "the righteous" who go in after him. They it is who sing from verses 22 to 26, rejoicing in "the stone" become the head, or main stone of the corner, the corner-piece foundation-stone, bearing the weight of two walls and uniting both—a beautiful figure of Christ reconciling God and man, as well uniting all the saved in one. It is they, too, who sing, "This is the day which the Lord made" i. e., set apart, consecrated (עָשֹהָ as in Deut. 5:15, לַעֲשׂוֹת)—this day of the Saviour's victory. And then another shout arises from Israel, owning their King and Lord now risen and glorified—

"Yea, Lord, hosanna! (i. e., give us a share in thy victory).

Yea, yea, Lord, send prosperity!"

Another shout from happy Israel!—

"Blessed is he that cometh! in the name of the Lord!"

And looking, it would seem, on his attendants—"the righteous," of verse 20—they shout again,

"We pronounce you blessed (it is plural ־כֶﬦ),

You that are of the Lord's house."

In such strains are set forth the triumphs of the Saviour, when he had overcome death and the grave. When himself sung his Psalm, would not his eye look onward, not to Resurrection only, but to Ascension, too, when he entered "the gates of righteousness" above—but not least to his Second Coming and his passing in with his ransomed into the New Jerusalem, when they together "enter in through the gates into the city," (Rev. 22:14). The multitudes, who almost unwittingly (yet prophetically, in the sense wherein Caiaphas spoke prophetically, John 11:51) applied to him verse 26, were, after all, presenting a type of the great and final triumph at which the innumerable ransomed shall raise the cry, "Hosanna!" In that day, Israel, looking on with opened eyes, shall join in blessing him, and blessing all that are his, though they so long were the builders who rejected that tried stone. And this last feature of the scene leads us to notice verse 27, where Israel specially look on Him and cry,

"Jehovah is God (אֵל mighty one); and has shined upon us," (Exod. 13:21, Tit. 2:11, ἐπεφανη).

They see what had been hid from their eyes so long; they see Jesus of Nazareth to be the Saviour, their God, Jehovah. In transports of grateful wonder, they exhort one another to offer thanksgiving-offerings, hastening to the altar,

"Bind the sacrifice" (חג as Isa. 29:1, &c.) "with strong cords!" (בַּעֲבֹתִים).

"Let us away to the horns of the altar!"

The last line is peculiar; for עַד קַרְנוֹת "to the horns," can scarcely be connected with the verb to bind, in the sense of, Hold fast the victim till you reach the horns of the altar. The word עַד is rather a particle of locality. In Lament, 3:40 it occurs thus: "Let us search and try our ways; and let us return (let us go) to the Lord!" And so we take it here. The restored and grateful people are hastening to bring their offerings of praise to their God and King, stimulating one another's zeal; "Sursum corda!" to the altar! to the altar! whose horns hold up to view the blood of sacrifice.

It seems to be the Redeemer himself, now surrounded by this multitude of ransomed ones, in whom he sees of the travail of his soul and is satisfied, who closes the Psalm (in verses 28, 29) by a thanksgiving to his Father for these results, and by an invitation (as at ver. 1) to all the universe to join in praise to the God of love. In anticipation of these results, He, in the days of his First Coming, sang it as his hymn while rising from table to go to the garden of Gethsemane; but at his Second Coming, he will sing it with the tone of the more than conqueror, having realized the whole. We may entitle a Psalm that contains such stirring incidents, past and prospective,

The Redeemer's Conflict, Triumph, and Glorification, shared in by his Redeemed.

PSALM 119

A PILGRIM AND STRANGER, GUIDED, DAY AND NIGHT, BY THE LAW OF THE LORD, TILL HE REACHES THE CITY.

THE alphabetic peculiarities of this Psalm are well known, every part beginning with a new letter, and every line or verse of that part beginning with the same, till all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet have been exhausted. There may be something more than fancy in the remark, that Christ's name, "the Alpha and Omega"—equivalent to declaring Him all that which every letter of the alphabet could express—may have had a reference to this peculiarity of this Psalm,—a Psalm in which (with the exception of ver. 84 and 122, exceptions that make the rule more marked) every verse speaks of God's revelation of himself to man, under one or other of the twelve terms, 1. law, 2. testimony, 3. way, 4. commandment, 5. precept, 6. judgment, 7. word, 8. truth, 9. righteousness, 9. faithfulness, 11. statute, 12. name. If so, it gives additional meaning to that title of the Lord—he is not only first and last, but all between; he is all that revelation can express.

In Psalm 19 we tried to ascertain the different shades of meaning in "Law," "Testimony," &c. These hold good here; only they are not to be considered as exclusive of one another. But our translators have unfortunately introduced some confusion into the terms employed in this Psalm, by rendering the Hebrew חֻקִּיﬦ, "Statutes," which term was not the one used in rendering פִקּוּדִים, in Psalm 19:8. In this Psalm, therefore, "Statutes" mean the appointments of the ceremonial law, q. d., the things prescribed to Israel by Jehovah's decree through their מְחֹקֵק "statute-giver."* On the other hand, our translators render פִקּוּדִיﬦ by "PRECEPTS," invariably in this Psalm. This word (פִקּוּד) we saw in Psa. 19:8, signifies particular injunctions given in particular circumstances. Of course, the lessons taught by these special injunctions and appointments are included, as a chief part of the Psalmist's meditation and delight.

But it is remarkable that a Psalm, which we might suppose to belong to Christ, and to be his special utterance more than most others, has, in its language, some difficulties which have deterred many from applying it to the Lord Jesus at all. We think, however, the difficulties are such as admit of explanation. They are these, viz., verses 67, 71, 75, and 176. The 67th is the only really serious difficulty, for it seems to ascribe "going astray" to the speaker—שׂגֵג always meaning delinquency of some kind, it might be by inadvertency, yet still a deviation from the standard of law. Fry and some others try to dispute this, but have failed. How, then, are we to understand our Lord using such a verse as this? We propose the following solution:—He had said in verse 66, "I have believed in thy commandments"—"I have kept faithful to what thou hast said." Then follows the statement of still firmer adherence to the Lord's word. He says, "I did not need the sorrow and shame of experienced error to drive me into thy ways. Without this teaching, which so often, by its bitter regrets, leads wilful ones to Thee, I have been enabled to hold fast thy words—'Ere ever I was afflicted, I kept thy word.' "

"I have not yet been afflicted, as one going astray,

And still I have kept thy word."

The common rendering of אֲנִי שׂגֵנ "I WENT astray," or "I WAS going," cannot be defended; it ought to be "I am going astray." Our proposed rendering is parallel to ויָלָדוּ—בְּטֶרֶם תָבוֹא, in Exod. 1:19, in regard to the construction of טֶרֶם, and gives the obvious and most natural sense of the whole clause. But then, it may be asked, Is not the difficulty of verse 176 equally great: "I have gone astray as a lost sheep?" Not so; for here the term is תָּעִיתִי in the signification of wandering like one who has no home. It is Abraham's word in Genesis 20:13, "God caused me to wander (הִתְעוּ אֹתִי אֱלֹהִים) from my father's house." It is most appropriate in the lips of him who had left his heavenly home to be a stranger here, to be (as Fry observes) "as a sheep whom no man taketh up" (Isa. 13:14). The word, indeed, seems to be the same as that which has given the Arabic name El Tyh to part of the desert where Israel wandered. And if this be so, then the difficulties of verses 71, 75, are all that remain; both of which are solved by a reference to Hebrews 5:8, "Though he were a Son, yet learnt he obedience by the things which he suffered."

We cannot but think that "the Songs of Degrees," all of which have a pilgrim air about them, are appropriately prefaced by this Psalm, breathing as it does the experience of a pilgrim, with "a soft quiet melancholy" (Hengstenberg) in his tone, met and comforted by the God of all consolation. If we adopt the idea of the Psalm being a kind of manual for a pilgrim, we are able to connect its different parts; and we are able to do so whether we read it as the utterance of the Lord of pilgrims, or of one of his band.

1–8 (Ver. 1) The pilgrim setting out. God's testimonies are his staff. The Lord of pilgrims might utter verse 1, as he uttered Matt. 5:3, 4, 5, "Blessed are the merciful!" Sin leads to misery; holiness leads to bliss, which is far more than joy. He looks along the way, revolving in his soul what he should be who would walk in paths of blessedness, till at verse 8 he lifts his staff for the journey, saying—

"I will observe thy statutes!

Thou wilt not forsake me utterly!" (See ver. 43; and comp. 1 Sam. 27:1 with 2 Sam. 7:15)

9–16 The pilgrim fairly on the way. God's testimonies smooth the journey. The Lord of pilgrims might be supposed arresting the attention of his followers by this question, verse 9, and by its answer, corresponding as if, does to John 17:7, and 15:3. He breathes a firm resolution to make the Word his guide—

"With my lips do I recount,*

All the judgments of thy mouth," (as in ver. 7, thy dealings in providence, and the principles that guide them as set forth by thee).

17–24 The pilgrim seeing the prospect open upon his view. He seeks discoveries on his path, in spite of external difficulties, and prays, "Uncover mine eyes and I will look!" Then, as if dazzled, he exclaims, "Wonders out of thy law!" His plea is,—

"I am a stranger upon earth." (Ver. 19.)

This is not the country where I find my treasure and my home, neither am I to be here long. He uses this as it is used in 1 Chron. 29:11, an argument which the Son of David, as well as David in the name of any member of Christ, might use. In seeking these discoveries, he looks backward to the days of Pharaoh, verse 21. At verse 22, he remembers Israel's entrance into a large place when they crossed Jordan, "Roll off from me the reproach;"—as Joshua (ver. 9) speaks of it being rolled away at Gilgal, when the Lord shewed his faithfulness in bringing Israel into her land, thereby silencing the taunts of Egypt. And verse 23, "For thy servant meditates on thy statutes," reminds us of Joshua 1:6. "Let us remember, (says Horne,) that he who alone, in the strict and unlimited sense of the words, could say, 'I have kept thy testimonies,' sustained the utmost degree of 'reproach and contempt' for our sakes, and was patient under all, till God 'removed' it from him by a glorious resurrection. There remaineth likewise a resurrection for the mystical body of Christ, and then, Wisdom shall be justified of her children."

25–32 The pilgrim weary. The Lord of pilgrims was often weary in spirit when he saw the world so cold, nay, so determinedly inimical, to his Father. "My soul cleaveth to the dust," declares the feeling of degradation and feebleness, like Psa. 22:16; even as verse 28 expresses sorrow, "My soul melteth away for grief." And still amid this weariness he cries, "Thy word" (ver. 25); "Thy statutes," (ver. 26); "Thy precepts," "Thy law," (ver. 29); "Thy testimonies," (ver. 31); these are my resort.

"I run the way of thy commandments, (Heb. 12:1).

For thou enlargest my heart."

His frames and feelings may vary, because his circumstances vary, but his heart's desire and affection toward God and his truth remain unvarying.

33–40 The pilgrim stedfast in temptation. In spite of sights of vanity, yea, in spite of all he saw on the hill of Temptation, when the glory of the whole earth was shewn to him, the Master passed on unmoved; and so it is in measure with his disciples. It may be, this very resistance of evil (as in Joseph's case) may bring them for a time into reproach; or, it may be, their unlikeliness to the world may draw down on them its malignant assaults; but the end shall be well. None lose by adhering to the Lord's testimony.

"Turn away my reproach which I fear,

For thy judgments are good." (Ver. 39.)

41–48 The pilgrim assailed. Outward foes and unsympathising men are not easily dealt with; hence the prayer to be enabled to reply to assailing ones by words in season, getting courage and utterance to confess his name;

"Take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,

For I have trusted in thy word." (Ver. 43.)

"Utterly," as in verse 8, and as in Isa. 64:8, and elsewhere implies the belief, that it may seem right to the Lord to allow some humiliation to be felt; only (says the suppliant) let him not wholly withdraw! The father may teach some lesson by allowing the child to stumble, but surely will not let him so fall as to be injured. In verse 44 the Master alone could fully assert—

"I keep thy law

Continually (תָמִיד) for ever and ever."

That is, every day without interruption; and this unbroken service prolonged to eternity.

"And I walk in a large place," (ver. 45)

—finding his service freedom and joy. Perhaps verse 46 may be illustrated by Matt. 10:18.

49–56 The pilgrim under darkness, yet unmoved. Manifold dark circumstances are the lot of Master and disciples here; but the word of promise, in some of its many forms, sustains.

"Remember thy word to thy servant;" or, for thy servant's benefit;

"Because (עָל אֲשֶׁר 2 Sam. 3:30—Hengstenberg) thou hast caused me to hope."

God's pilgrims have a hope (Rom. 5:3, 8:24, 12:12, 15:3), that shall never put them to shame; having once spoken, he keeps his promise. As Newton sings—

"And can He have taught me to trust in His name,

And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?"

In verse 52, the Lord of pilgrims might be supposed standing near Capernaum, and Bethsaida, and Chorazin, lifting up his eyes to heaven, thanking the Father who hides these things from the wise and prudent, and reveals them unto babes; or amid his seventy, thanking the Father, and rejoicing because he had seen Satan as lightning fall from heaven. He sees the eternal purpose of the Lord. He sees the Lord himself, ruling all events, and bring about a glorious issue, even the glory of the kingdom.

"I remembered thy judgments from eternity; (see ver. 13)

(I remembered) Jehovah, and comforted myself.

Horror seized me,

Because of the wicked who forsake thy law;

Thy statutes were my songs." (Ver. 52, 53.)

One thing, whatever else befalls, he is sure of, namely, that happen what may, he has cleaved to the Lord.

"This I have,

That I have kept thy statutes." (Ver. 56. The כַי is like ότι in Rev. 2:4.)

57–64 The pilgrim following on to know the Lord. He breathes the desire, "Da mihi te, Domine"—

"Keeping thy ways, I have said,

My portion is Jehovah." (Ver. 57.)

He values God's presence, (ver. 58); he compares his ways with God's testimonies, (ver. 59); he never lingers in the performance, when he finds a commandment (ver. 60); amid the bands of the wicked he adheres to the law, (ver. 61); at midnight (lit., "half of the night," as Exod. 12:29, the time when the Destroyer slew Egypt's first-born—Hengstenberg) he awakes to praise (ver. 62); he shares (חָבַר) with the fearers of God, whatever be their lot, (ver. 63). And it seems as if he saw the future glory awaiting those that follow the Lord; or rather, he delights in the future revelation of the Lord's riches of Love; for he sings, in a tone that reminds us of Isa. 6:3—

"The earth is full of thy mercy!"

But the view is one that overwhelms the soul; it cannot take in the vision but in part; and therefore he prays, "Teach me thy statutes," that I may daily fathom more of the great deep.

65–72 The pilgrim is satisfied in the service of God, and with his dealings hitherto.

"Kindly hast thou dealt with thy servant,

O Lord, according to thy word." (Ver. 65.)

The Lord of pilgrims had never ought but good to say of his Father; neither have the followers of that Lord any fault to find. "He never wronged me nor mine," was the saying of a Scottish saint, even when the bloody head of his martyred son was held up to his view. So good, so infinitely satisfying to the soul are the Lord's ways and the Lord's revelations of himself, that the pilgrim says (ver. 67), "I kept thy words, without being driven to them by affliction." (See above, in the introduction, p. 357.) He then (ver. 68) prays to be taught more still, as he prayed in verse 66 for "discernment" (טַעַﬦ), the faculty to see spiritual things clearly. When in verse 71 he expresses satisfaction in having been afflicted, it is because by the hand of affliction these grapes were pressed for the refreshing of his thirst; thereby he experienced somewhat more of the infinite adaptation of these statutes to a pilgrim's wants,

73–80 The pilgrim speaks to the Lord about his future course. He goes back to his creation—his being clay in the hands of the potter. This is a reason for pleading to be led on (ver. 73). Then, the joy it will give others is a reason, verses 74 and 79. And complete soundness (ver. 80, תָמים) is the goal of his desires, that is, power to complete the work given him to do, his heart impartial, sincere, thoroughly at one with God. Every disciple breathes this desire—

"et my heart he perfect in thy precepts,

That I may not be ashamed." (Ver. 80.)

The desire is the same with that of the apostle in 1 John 2:28, "Abide in Him, that we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at his coming," even as the assurance breathed in the "I know" of verse 75 is like Rom. 8:28, and 1 John 5:18.

81–88 The pilgrim oppressed draws strength from the thought of future glory. The "salvation" of verse 81 is like Jacob's in Gen. 49:18, the deliverance in prospect for all the Lord's children—the glory to come—the kingdom. Trials send forward our hopes to that time of peace. Our Lord, "for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross" (Heb. 12:3), having respect to the reward and the rest; and so his followers also, expecting the fulfilment of his promises.

"My soul fainteth for thy salvation.

I wait for thy word." (Ver. 81.)

As the worshippers went up to Zion "fainting" (Psa. 84:2) for the courts of the Lord, that is, thirsting even to faintness, even thus does the pilgrim for the Day of the Lord, "waiting" (as Rom. 8:19) for the fulfilment of promises and hopes. There is here, too, an αποκαροδοκια, for

"Mine eyes faint (כָּלוּ as ver. 81) for thy word,

Saying, When wilt thou comfort me?" (Ver. 82.)

On that day, "the bottle in the smoke," the man of sorrows, the pilgrim who has been subjected to humiliation and dishonour, shall appear as a diadem in the hand of the Lord. No wonder, then, that again he cries—

"How many are the days of thy servants?

When wilt thou execute judgment on my persecutors?"

—the very prayer and appeal of the souls under the altar in Rev. 6:9. And the force of verse 85 seems to lie in a reference of the same kind, q. d., "The proud have digged pits for me, but shall find themselves disappointed; these pits are not destined for me"—alluding to the Lord's judgment when his "Law" shall assign each his portion, the persecutor and the persecuted.* For his promises shall come to fulfilment; they are faithfulness itself.

"All thy commandments are faithfulness." (Ver. 86.)

89–96 The pilgrim meditates on the unfailing certainty of the Law. The revelation of God in his word and ordinances is just Himself presented to our view; which being so, we find his word like himself, sure and unfailing amid all changes.

"For ever is Jehovah!

Thy word is fixed in the heavens!" (above reach of change) (Ver. 89.)

To this Law he ever resorts. In all else, he finds a limit; other guides go only a certain length with you; other supports are capable of bearing only a certain measure of burden; but the Lord's revelation has no such limit; "it is exceeding broad"—the contrast to mere human "perfection," the completeness to which man may reach.

97–104 The pilgrim revels in the instructive properties of God's law. "How I have loved thy law!" (ver. 97). The Law (see Psa. 19) is equivalent to God's revelation of himself, and his will to man. His foes have a sort of wisdom, much craft, much subtlety; but as David, in 1 Sam. 18:30, was made wiser than all his foes in conduct and in war, even so shall it be here.

"Thy commandment shall make me wiser than mine enemies,

For it is mine for ever"—my possession and portion for ever. (Ver. 98.)

Glancing at the future, he glories in the law as making him wise, not only now, but for ever. "I have got (he says) what shall even in ages to come, in the kingdom, continue to teach me." No earthly teachers (ver. 99), not even the elders* or the aged (ver. 100), afford anything that equals this revelation of God. No wonder! for it is God's epistle to mankind offering reconciliation, peace, and union with himself in glory!

105–112 The pilgrim proclaims God's law sufficient amid all difficulties. Yes, sufficient even in the darkest hour of the darkest night of earth. It shall shed its light, like the Pillar Cloud, on the pilgrim-path of those who travel in the Last Days, amid the shades of the world's evening; it has shed its light on the gloomiest path ever trod by a saddened follower of the Lamb; it does at this hour shed light, the purest, and the sweetest, into the souls of all who know the Lord.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,

And a light unto my path?" (Ver. 105.)

It has all sorts of light in it; it is like what is said in Rev. 21:23; it has sun light and temple-lamp light. It is a "lamp"—nay, the very "light" of day! In this light, the Lord of pilgrims walked; and in this light each of his band walks still, and purposes to walk, "for ever, continually, unto the end," (ver. 112). The "end" contains in it a direct reference to the reward; for the word is עֵקֶב a word used elsewhere for wages or reward, e. g., Psa. 19:12, Prov. 22:14. The pilgrim has his eye on the blessed termination, and seems to speak abruptly as he gazes—"Forever! the end!"—the rewarding close!

113–120 The pilgrim, tempted to a compromise, cleaves to the Law. Water arid oil cannot intermingle; the word of God and the ways of fallen men are equally irreconcilable.

"I hate thoughts." (סְעֲפִים.)

I hate mere opinions on matters of duty, and on points of divine Worship, I hate "waverings," say some, implying the uncertainty of merely human thoughts on divine truth.

"But thy law have I loved"—(thy revelation of thyself and of thy will).

In verse 116, "ashamed of my hope" is, ashamed so as to abandon my hope as one disappointed. At verse 118, the end of all who adopt another rule than the law of God is hinted at; and then dwelt upon in verses 119, 120. "Their decent (i. e., the lie they trust in) leads to nothing" (Hengst.), or ends in utter disappointment. It is a "spem mentita seges." The wicked are put away as dross is flung out (ver. 119), and this with such accompaniments of terror, that the beholder, though safe in that day within the cloud, exclaims—

"My flesh trembleth (horripilavit caro mea, Jerome) for fear of Thee;

And I am afraid at thy judgments!"

121–128 The pilgrim seeks to endure to the end. Do not leave me! Be surety for thy servant that it may be well with him! It is time for thee to work! These appeals indicate a pilgrim feeling himself beset with much that makes him wish that the journey were done, besides the 123d verse—

"Mine eyes fail for thy salvation; (see ver. 81, 82)

And for the word which thou wiit perform." (Ver. 123.)

It might seem as if the "therefore" עַל כֵן of verses 127, 128, declared that the sight of the reckless course of the ungodly has increased the pilgrim's love to the Lord's ways; but we incline to another view. The 126th verse is literally,

"There is a time for the Lord to work." (Ver. 126.)

Vengeance is not speedily executed; for God is long-suffering. The effect of this delay is to tempt the ungodly to "make void the law." But the effect of the Lord's having a time, a fixed time, for the performance of his promises and threatenings, is very different in regard to his servants; they are thereby induced to persevere in shewing love to him. "Therefore," on this account, "I have persevered till now in loving thy commandments, approving of every one of thy precepts, ('all thy precepts, even all') and hating every false way." Yes, it is he who says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming," that begins to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken.

129–136 The pilgrim manifests increasing, as well as intense, delight in the Law. It is a somewhat quaint, but at the same time faithful, view of his state of mind that is given by one who paraphrases verse 131 thus—

"With open mouth I pant and run, like hart before the hounds,

Until my lawful prize be won for which my spirit bounds.

Behold thou me, O Lord my God, the master of the race—."

The Lord Jesus, the Son of David, could utter these words; and David, or any member of Christ, can find no better words to express their soul's desire when getting a glimpse of "the unsearchable riches." There is some difficulty, however, in verse 130, which is literally,

"The door of thy words giveth light.

Some say, "The opening up of the true sense of thy word;" but this is not in the expression. The Lord's words are apparently represented as the door (פֶתַח) by which we enter into the chambers of his heart. The idea is this. You cannot handle any saying of God in a true frame or spirit without finding yourself in so doing at a door which may lead you far in to the palace—to the innermost thoughts of God's heart toward us. A door is opened to you every time you apprehend one sentence or saying of the Lord's—"a door in heaven," shall we say?—a door like that of which John (Rev. 4:1) speaks, by which you are enabled, in the spirit, to pass farther in to the secrets of God? Only this is not a revelation of things hidden from other saints—part of its blessedness is found in its being the common privilege of all saints; just as verse 132 has expressed it, "According to the manner* (Gen. 40:13) to ward those that love thy name"—toward Abel, toward Enoch; toward Abraham, toward Moses, toward us also who love "thy name!" We may be able to say nothing else of ourselves but this only, "We love thy name!" But this is enough. And how real, how intense, is this love, since it draws forth the heart in strains like verse 136—

"Mine eyes run down as brooks of water,

Because of their not keeping thy laws!"

Their present wickedness, and their final doom, are both referred to. It is, "If thou hadst known, even thou!" (Luke 20:41)

137–144 The pilgrim adopts the tone of adoration. Getting nearer his journey's end, it is natural for the man of God to praise more than at the outset. At the close of their warfare, saints are represented in Revelation (e. g., chap. 15:4) as discerning the Lord's righteousness and faithfulness, "Just and true have thy ways been, O King of saints!" They see this in his judgments on the ungodly; for it is not with them as is told of the Emperor Mauritius, who uttered, in reference to his own sufferings and his family at the hand of Phocas, "Righteous art thou, O Lord." And this is the utterance, of verses 137, 138. The more that enemies forget the Lord's word, the more he remembers it. It is a word without dross, "pure," no defect in it.*

"Thy righteousness is righteousness for ever,

And thy law is truth." (Ver. 142.)

Joshua (23:14) testified to Israel, and they said Amen to the testimony, that not one good thing had failed of all that the Lord had spoken. His word of promise and of threatening cannot deceive, cannot disappoint, cannot come short of its declarations. And this is once more repeated, verse 144—

"Righteousness (צֶדֶק) are thy testimonies for ever!

Cause me to understand this and I shall live."

Life eternal!—the life of the redeemed in the everlasting kingdom, when the Righteous One has triumphed, and expelled ungodliness from earth!

145–152 The pilgrim protests that all his expectation is from the Lord, Rising before daybreak, nay, even encroaching on the night-watches (like Mark 1:35, and Luke 6:12), the Lord of pilgrims follows hard after God, going from strength to strength, instead of abating in his zeal, as men often do in other pursuits, through length of time.

"I came before thee in the morning twilight" (Ver. 147.)

And all his true followers may be expected to resemble the Lord in this hard pursuit, especially as they get nearer their journey's end, and approach the Lord's dwelling-place. What strength of comfort in verse 151—

"Thou art near, O Lord,

And all thy commandments are truth!" (cannot disappoint)

There is an anomaly in verse 152, as to gender, if "Thou hast founded them" (ָם), is to be referred to "testimonies;" but probably it is meant to refer back to all the terms used in this context, e.g., statutes (ver. 145), words (ver. 147), as well as commandments and testimonies. And this is the sense. "A foretime" (קֶדֶם before experience had given me palpable proofs),

"A foretime I knew from out of thy testimonies (Hengstenberg)

That thou hast founded these for ever." (Ver. 152.)

In the ages to come we shall still have God's words, and we shall then look back and see how truthful our God was. The Lord of pilgrims, who trod our path himself, will then lead us to review the dealings of Jehovah, talking with us as he talked with Moses and Elias about his own decease on the Transfiguration Hill.

153–160 Continued opposition causes the pilgrim to pray for continued quickening. The end of the journey has as many trials as the beginning; we are to "hold fast the beginning of our confidence stedfast to the end." Three times to cry for "quickening" arises here, viz., in verses 154, 156, 159—an appeal for more life—which we now may specially urge, since we can hold up to the Lord his own words, "I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly," (John 10:10).

One like Paul, whose sympathy was so entirely with his Lord, might well use the words in 2 Tim. 4:7, "I have fought a good fight;" but all pilgrims, and he too among the rest, would gladly use to the last the appeal of verse 154, all the more after a life-time experience of the trials by the way.

"Fight my fight (Psa. 44:1, Hengstenberg),

And redeem me." (גְאָלנֵיִ.) (Ver. 154.)

Be a Goel to me! Be to me what Job expected when he cried, "I know that my (גֹאֵל) Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth," (19:25). Meanwhile,

"Quicken me, according to thy word," (ver. 154. Thy promises to thy children who knock).

"Quicken me, according to thy judgments" (ver. 156. The principles of thy dealing with us).

"I beheld transgressors, and was sickened at those who kept not thy word." (Ver. 158.)

"Quicken me, according to thy lovingkindness," (ver. 159. The dictates of thine own free love).

Why should not all of us rest on the Lord's word with increasing confidence as our pilgrimage advances to its close, since experience adds to the evidence of his faithfulness,

"The begining of (רֹאשׁ) thy word is truth;

And to eternity is every appointment of thy righteousness."

There is nothing but truth and certainty in thy holy word. It may be rendered, "Truth is the sum of thy word," (Hengstenberg). At the same time, the Psalmist probably expresses far more by that peculiar form, "רֹאשׁ, the head of thy word." As רֹאשׁ פִנָּה in Psa. 118:22 is the "head, or chief, of the corner," may not this expression be intended to designate "that original promise which is the 'head, or chief promise, of the whole word of God'—the promise of the Woman's Seed?" The faithful in Israel no doubt were ever reverting to it. To them could it be otherwise than "the רֹאשׁ, the head," the chief utterance of the Word? It is, therefore, mainly to this that we suppose reference is made in this verse. The Lord Jesus could use it of himself when on earth; and each one of his disciples could—but not less can we now, we who can point back to the Woman's Seed having come, to the fulfilment of that "head of the word," and who may thus more than ever confidently look forward to the fulfilment of what remains, "every appointment of his righteousness," in the ages to come, including the Day of the Lord, when all things shall be set in order.

161–168 The pilgrim is full of peace and praise. It is now specially that praise seems to abound in the traveller; that is, it is now near his journey's end that it is poured forth, so as to be heard by others. His Hosanna is changing into the Hallelujahs of the heavenly citizens,

"Seven times a day have I praised thee." (Ver. 164.)

The pilgrim is an Isaac, one who meditates at even-tide, and one who can call God his "fear;" for verse 161 has פָחַד, the very word used twice in Gen. 31:42, 53 of Isaac's God, "the fear of Isaac." In this frame of solemn Bethel-like awe he approaches the end of his journey, and crosses the threshold of the King's palace. This reverent awe has deepened on him, the longer he has meditated on Jehovah's word. Very fitting it is, now that he is near the end, to tell, and to leave it for encouragement to those that come after, as a thing proved by experience,

"Great peace is the portion of those that love thy law;

There is no stumbling-block to them." (Ver. 165.)

"At peace (says one) with God, at peace with themselves, at peace with all men; and the whole creation at peace with them." This peace enables them to wait patiently for the final glory—in the kingdom of peace.

"I have waited for (see Ruth 1:13, in the Hebrew the same word, שַׂבַּר thy salvation, O Lord." Ver. 166.)

169–176 The pilgrim pours out prayer and praise, in a strong cry, at the close of his journey. Praise is uttered in the midst of redoubled supplication; repeated praise in the verses 171, 172.

"My lips shall stream forth with thy praise; (gush forth, as Ps. 19:1)

For thou wilt teach me thy statutes."

"My tongue shall sing thy word, (responsively תַּעַן);

For all thy commandments are righteousness."

Anticipating the employments, the discoveries, the enjoyments of the Coming Rest and Kingdom, the Psalmist tells of the hallelujahs that shall dwell upon his lips, gushing up from an ever full and ever filling soul—a soul full of the Lord's grace in the past, and ever filling with fresh manifestations; for "Thou wilt teach me" still, and I shall see with increasing clearness that all thy commandments were holy, and just, and good.

Help me, then, to the end; for (ver. 174.)

"I have pined for thy salvation," (תָּאַבְתִי).

This is (as we might expect at the close) the strongest expression of desire for Coming Glory that has yet been used. "Salvation" as we noticed above, is the final deliverance, with all the grace and glory that it brings. At verse 81, we find the soul "thirsting," fainting in thirst for it; at verse 123, the earnest expectation made "the eye faint" for it; at verse 166, there was strong hope, and waiting; but this verse rises to an almost impatient longing—a "pining with desire" for the arrival of the blessed day.

Again, verse 175, there is the anticipation of praise, because of a happy arrival; and a burst of prayer such as might well sum up a lifetime's experience and desires.

"I have been a wanderer, (תַּעִיתִי) like a lost sheep.*

I have all my life found nowhere to lay my head, and no rest to the sole of my foot. I have, like Hagar and Ishmael (תֵּתַע, Gen. 21:14), wandered in the wilderness where there was no water. I have, like Joseph (תֹעֵה, Gen. 37:15), wandered in search of my brethren, without home or friends. I have, like Abraham, above all (הְתִעוּ, Gen. 20:13), left my country and kindred, all my father's house, for the Lord's sake. My life has been a wandering, like sheep lost, when the shepherd is away, or when the shepherd chooses to send them away from his care (הִתְעוּ, Jer. 1:6), "turning them loose on the mountains, so that they go from mountain to hill, forgetting their resting-place."

(But in all my wanderings and weariness, and sorrow)

"I have not forgotten thy commandments."

"Seek, then, thy servant"—i. e., do the part of a shepherd who brings home his sheep to the fold! It is a request that he would do as Ezekiel (34:16) foretells the Lord shall do on the day when he gathers his scattered ones under the shade of the Plant of Renown; for here the word is בַּקֵשׁ, and there the word is אֲבַקֵּש "I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away." Then shall Rev. 7:15, 16, 17, be realised; for the Lamb in the midst shall be Shepherd ever present; himself once a wanderer in our world's wastes, and now feeding among the lilies, bringing home all his flock to where they thirst no more, nor hunger, neither does the sun light on them, nor any heat.

Amen! Even so! Come, Lord Jesus! Surely this is the heart's feeling of the Singer of this Psalm,

A pilgrim and stranger guided day and night by the Law of the Lord.

SONGS OF DEGREES

IT may be helpful to a right understanding of the Psalms we now approach, and may increase our interest in them, to begin with a synoptical view of the fifteen which are clustered together, and go by the name of "Songs of Degrees." The progression of thought and subject thus becomes clear:—

The Pilgrim Train and its Leader—

Psa. 120.—Weary with the strife of tongues. (Comp. Psa. 81:6.)

Psa. 121.—Commit themselves to Jehovah alone, as they journey forth.

Psa. 122.—Sing of the City of Habitation, to which they journey.

Psa. 123.—Cast an upward look amid the contempt of those they meet with.

At a stage in their way which we might call Ebenezer—

Psa. 124.—Give praise for deliverance hitherto.

Psa. 125.—Express confidence of being kept faithful, through Jehovah's faithfulness, to the end.

Psa. 126.—Sing of the joys Jehovah has given, and will give, to his servants.

Psa. 127.—Cease from carefulness, and ascribe the success to Jehovah.

Psa. 128.—Pronounce blessing on all the fearers of God.

Psa. 129.—Review their past sufferings in hope.

Psa. 130.—Relate their earnest cry in trouble, and the rich result.

Psa. 131.—Express their contentment with Jehovah's will.

Psa. 132.—Remind Jehovah of pledges of favour to Zion, and are answered.

Psa. 133.—Admire and sing of the unity of those met in the Holy City, their habitation.

Psa. 134.—Call for unceasing praise from all Jehovah's servants.

We adopt the idea of these fifteen Psalms being in some sense the songs of those who went up to Jerusalem to worship. They do not give us the inward experience of individuals only; they bear reference to Israel at large; for even when, as in the case of the 130th and 131st, the strain has a personal aspect, the closing verse sings of Israel.*

In the singular, מַעֲלהָ frequently designates the going up to a higher spot, e. g., the ascent of Bethhoron, the ascent of Luhith, and in Ezra 7:9, the going up from Babylon. In the plural it is used for the steps of Solomon's throne, and in Ezekiel (40:26, 31, 34), for the steps of the temple-gates. The use of מֲעַלוֹת for the degrees or steps of a dial, has been fully illustrated by recent discoveries in Assyria, which prove that the sun-dial was a series of steps, or terraces, on which a pole cast its shadow. It would appear, therefore, that the name "Song of the Steps" is a poetical one, designating Psalms which specially suited the circumstances of those who go up to the Temple.

Hengstenberg remarks that they are grouped round the 127th, which is Solomon's; and we may add that that central "Song of Degrees," or steps, has special reference to "The House," or Temple.

PSALM 120

1–7 WE could have imagined Hannah, the mother of Samuel, taking up this song in her lips when going up to the Feast at Shiloh. She carried her private sorrows to the Great Congregation, that in the midst of the many worshippers she might find the special presence of Jehovah. The complaint, in her case, was her adversary's tongue; so, here it is the tongue—"the false tongue." At the same time, it is "sore distress," for the form צָרָתָ is emphatic (ver. 1), just as in Psa. 3:3, יְשׁוּעָתָה is the emphatic form to signify complete deliverance.

We see a worshipper, who enjoys little peace in his own country, coming up to the City of Peace, Salem, there to realise peace at one of those feasts which exhibited such a spectacle of united devotion. In the sanctuary, the pilgrim is enabled to see the end of those who so hate the godly, that they make war upon them. He sees

"The arrows of the Mighty One sharpened;"

as if anticipating the day of God, when he, the Mighty One, sung of in Psa. 45:3, shall send forth his arrows—arrows of fire—"glowing embers of genista-fuel"—in other words, "The flaming fire that takes vengeance on his foes," (2 Thess. 1:8).

Meanwhile, it is a saddening thought that as yet the days of the Prince of peace have not come. But we may have his sympathy, for once the Prince of peace felt thus himself, tabernacling among us,

"Woe's me! for I tarry in Mesech!

I pitch my tents with the tents of Kedar!"

As Isaiah 1:10 brands the apostate people and rulers of Jerusalem as "people of Sodom and rulers of Gomorrha," and as Ezek. 16:4 calls them "Amorites" and "Hittites" so does the Psalmist speak of his harassing foe, as like the barbarous men of Mesech in the obscure north (the Moschian mountains), or near the Caspian Sea (see Ezek. 38:2), and the ever-unsettled tribes of Kedar in the south. And so he sighs

"It is wearisome for my sold to dwell with the hater of peace!" (Hengst.)

Literally, "Enough of this dwelling!" Is not this the very feeling of the Church at this hour, in these days of never-ending forms of lies and vanity that assail the truth? They cry, "O when shall the Prince of peace arrive! And so felt the Lord himself, when on earth, as we see in his teaching his followers lowers the blessedness of being "peace-makers." Indeed, who would sing this pilgrim-song so truly from the heart as "The Master?" It is a song for

The servant of the Lord weary with the strife of tongues.

PSALM 121

1–8 "A SONG FOR the goings up!" (לַמַּעֲלוֹת).* The pilgrim sings it as he leaves his home to meet the Lord in the Great Congregation at Jerusalem; and the believer (like the Master) sings it as he journeys through earth to the New Jerusalem. Abraham (Gen. 22:4) "lifted up his eyes" and saw the hills of Moriah on the third day. The worshipper sets forth with the desire to fix his eyes at last on the hills where his trials are, not, like Abraham's, to reach their crisis, but to end.

"I will lift up mine eyes to the hills." (Ver. 1)

This is his resolution; his motive for leaving home and kindred is to reach "the holy mountains," as they are called, Psa. 87:1,—those hills that are the emblems of Jehovah's faithfulness, Psa. 125:1, 2,—that spot where Jehovah is specially present because of the Propitiation being there, (1 Kings 8:42; Dan. 6:10).

This, then, is his resolution. But there are perils by the way, and so he asks—

"Whence shall my help come?" (מֵאַין, which Phillip and others remark, is always interrogative,)

What a full answer is at once returned to his soul: "My help is from (סֵעִמ from with, coming out from that depository of help) Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth." And then he speaks to his soul, as the singer of Psa. 103 does—"He will not suffer my feet to totter! Thy keeper is not one that slumbers!" He is not like Baal, (1 Kings 18:27).

"Behold, he never slumbers!

He never falls asleep, the Keeper of Israel (Num. 6:24)

My keeper is Jehovah!"—

that Jehovah in whom Israel is blessed (Num. 6:4) by their High Priest—whose blessing awaits the pilgrim who reaches the city. He shall keep thee, making thy experience in thy journey to become oft-times a type of the rest where "the sun* shall not smite them nor any heat," (Rev. 7:16)—the rest in the Kingdom, and the rest of which Israel shall partake in the latter day, (Isa 49:10). Thus shalt thou be kept till the glory comes, and thou "goest no more out," but art a pillar in the temple of God,

"From henceforth and for ever!"

With such a song of faith, keeping in sight the faithfulness and love of Him in whose law he delights, whose feasts he keeps, in whose ways he walks, the Master and his disciples no doubt often left the peaceful shores of the Lake of Galilee to go up to Jerusalem to worship; often realised, under some fig-tree's seasonable shade, or some convenient cloud bringing down the heat by its shadow the deliverance from the sun's intolerable rays; and found in all an emblem of their journey through earth to the Kingdom whose capital is New Jerusalem, and whose congregation is the Assembly of the first-born, It is a song of

The Lord's servant, as he goes forth on his journey, committing himself to Jehovah alone.

PSALM 122

1–9 "A PSALM of David."

Hope was the prevailing feature of the first Song of Degrees; faith characterised the second; and surely love and joy abound in this one which we now take up. The first verse strikes the key-note—

"O 'twas a joyful sound to hear

Our friends devoutly say,

Up, Israel! To your Temple haste!

And keep your festal day."—(Tate and Brady.)

"I have rejoiced," says the worshipper, "among (or, over those who say, Let us go to the house of the Lord!" David, who wrote this song, had felt that joy fill his whole soul, because of the love he bore to the Lord of the place. And lo! instantly the pilgrim-worshipper fancies himself arrived—he is already standing at the gate in the early morning, waiting to enter, along with those who said—"Let us go."

"Our feet are standing at thy gates, O Jerusalem!"

The gates are thrown open, and they enter; the city on every side engaging their attention. They see in it a city, not ruined by war, but built in its place—not like the straggling dwellings of the villages, nor like the wide spaces of Babylon, with gardens between, but with firm-built streets of stately edifices.

"Jerusalem is builded as a city!

(A city) which is bound together." (Ver. 3.)

The very compactness of its streets suggesting the close union of its inhabitants in brotherly love.

"(A city) where are* the tribes who go up,

The tribes of Jehovah." (Jah, as Psa. 68:4, &c.)

How pleasant to meet, not the Canaanite—not the uncircumcised—but the tribes who, with one accord, worship the Lord; who go up to this city for that end.

"(A city where is) the testimony (given) to Israel,

That they might praise the name of the Lord."

"The Testimony" is by some considered to mean "The Law;" by others, more probably, The Ark, so often called "The Ark of the Testimony;" as we also find "The Tabernacle of Testimony." We may perhaps best understand it as a reference to all these together—they together setting forth Jehovah's character, and will, and ways, to men. And there, in its gateways, sit those who explain and enforce these laws and testimonies, according to the ancient promise in Deut. 17:8, 9; and there, also, sit the king and his princes.

"For there (שַׁמָּה) are set (Ezek 48:35).

Thrones for judgment, (לְ)

Thrones for the house of David." (לְ)

In all this, we may easily trace a type of our Jerusalem and its privileges. With Christ our Head, as well as with David, we look for another city that "hath foundations"—surely built, and "that lieth foursquare," compactly built (Rev. 21:16)—a city where we shall meet none but friends, our own friends and friends of God,—a city where the Lord's testimony is fully opened out, and his name praised,—a city at whose gates judgment is fully given, and where "a King reigneth in righteousness, and princes decree judgment," (Isa. 32:1).

And if Israel's devout people did so pray for their Jerusalem, verses 6, 7, 8, 9, how much more shall the pilgrims toward that New Jerusalem "seek the better, that is, the heavenly country." It is interesting to know that the expression, שְׁאלוּ שָׁלוֹם (ver. 6), generally means, "Salute ye,"—q. d., Greet ye Jerusalem with your good wishes reminds us of some of the mediæval hymns,* e. g.—

"Urbs in portu satis unto,

De longinquo, te saluto,

Te saluto, te suspiro,

Te affecto, te require."

And these old hymns were borrowed from Augustine, who (in his De Spirit. et Anim) exclaims, "O civitas sancta, civitas speciosa, de longinquo te saluto, ad te clamo, te require." All of us, who follow the Lord, surely join in this ardent panting for entrance into that city of which the other was but a type, and of which we can say—

"They that love thee shall prosper;

There shall be peace in thy bulwarks,

Prosperity in thy palaces."

Or take it, as some render the words; "Peace within thy ram parts! Repose within thy palaces!" Love to our brethren, whom we hope to meet there (ver. 8), and love to God who has so loved us (ver. 9), must lead us to this earnest desire—"because of my brethren, and because the house of my God is there." Thus, then, now concerning the Antitype, as hereafter of the type through which he looked to the Antitype,

The Lord's servant sings of the City of Habitation to which he journeys.

PSALM 123

1–4 IF we have found hope, faith, joy, and love in these "Songs of Degrees" hitherto, we now find long-suffering patience. David is said to have been the writer. The worshipper, whether David, or David's greater Son, or any member of his body, "lifts his eyes" upward to the Lord in the heavens. The same Lord who, in Psa. 121:1, is seen on Zion-hills, is here seen, "in the heavens," because the contrast is intended to be made between the Earth that persecutes, and the Majesty, overcanopying earth, which protects.

Scorn is felt, such as Nehemiah's case illustrates (Neh. 2:19), or Hezekiah's case, in 2 Chron. 30:10, when that godly king incited the tribes of Israel to join him in the passover feast. It is the scorn of those "at ease," הַשַּׁאֵנַנִּים, persons on whom the world smiles, and who say in their hearts, "Where is the promise of his Coming?" like the nations of earth, in Zech. 1:15, הַגּוֹיִם הַשַּׁאֲנַנִּים. It is the contempt of "the proud" גְאֵיוֹנִים, that class of scorners who shall be found abounding on earth when "the day of the Lord" comes on "every one that is (גֵאָה) proud,"—the "boasters, lovers of pleasure," of 2 Tim. 3:2. The prayer for help has reference to the high priest's blessing, Num. 6:24 In Psa. 121:3, 4, he lifted up his eyes to the Lord, and sought that part of the blessing which consists in safe keeping; here, he asks, חָנֵּנוּ, Be gracious! Be gracious! (Num. 6:24) The Lord makes his face shine upon the pilgrim; and the grace that beams thence is the antidote to the contempt of men. Yes, even now it is so; but if even now, what then when the lifted-up countenance shall be "the grace that shall be brought us at the appearing of Jesus Christ?" Such is the reward of

The upward look of the Lord's servant amid contempt.

PSALM 124

1–8 EBENEZER! Hitherto the Lord hath helped! This seems to be the tone of this song of David, sung at a stage of the way, or at a time, when the thought of past difficulties overcome, and dangers escaped, was active and lively. Thankfulness characterises it as much as hope, faith, joy, love, patience, characterised the previous Psalms.

In the year 1582, it was sung on a remarkable occasion in Edinburgh. An imprisoned minister, John Durie, had been set free, and was met and welcomed on entering the town by two hundred of his friends. The number increased till he found himself in the midst of a company of two thousand, who began to sing, as they moved up the long High Street, "Now Israel may say," &c. They sang in four parts with deep solemnity, all joining in the well-known tune and Psalm. They were much moved themselves, and so were all who heard; and one of the chief persecutors is said to have been more alarmed at this sight and song than at anything he had seen in Scotland.

"Had it not been Jehovah! He was for its, Oh (נָא) let Israel say;

Had it not been Jehovah! He who was for us, when men rose against us:

They had at that time made one morsel of us (Patrick),

When their wrath burnt against us."

We should have been dealt with by them as Korah and his company were by the Lord, Num. 16:32. But the thunderbolt was not in our enemies' hand. We have got the help we sought (Psa. 121 and 123), and have escaped every snare. Is not this a strain in which all saints can join by the way, at every palm-tree station, at every resting-stage, at every refreshing well,—a strain which the Lord of Pilgrims himself would often raise? And Oh! how he and his company shall sing it at the journey's end, when they who "were counted worthy to escape all things, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:36), lift up their voice in mighty thunderings—

"The snare is broken, and we are escaped!

Our help has been in the name of Jehovah!"

that Jehovah to whom belongs earth, as well as heaven. Such is this Ebenezer song,

The song of the Lord's servant for deliverance vouchsafed at every step of the way.

PSALM 125

1–5 FAITHFULNESS under temptation is the grace that shines out in this song. It is sung amid enemies, when they environ the Lord's servant on every side. Two thoughts contribute mutually to strengthen and confirm the determined and decided adherence of the Psalmist to his Lord, viz., the thought of Jehovah's faithfulness to him, and the thought of the short-lived prosperity of foes.

"They that trust in Jehovah are like the hill of Zion,

It moves not;

For ever it abides.

Jerusalem, the hills are round about her;

And (so) Jehovah is round about his people,

From henceforth, and unto eternity."

In verse 3 the "lot of the righteous" is inheritance or possession. The worshipper rejoices that never shall rod, or sceptre, of the wicked, extend its influence to that happy spot, the allotted portion, the Canaan-lot of the Lord's people; and thus the old temptation to idolatry, and other evils, shall be for ever escaped. The language of verse 3 has a peculiarity in it; it is literally, "the rod of the Wicked One," thus fitting the Psalm for the circumstances of the saints even in the last days, when "that Wicked," הָרָשַׁע shall be revealed and then destroyed.

In verse 5 the pilgrim seems to sing the unhappy end of backsliders, of those who once joined their company in going to the house of God. The Lord, it is said, "will let them go with the workers of iniquity (יוֹלִיכֵם, Hengstenberg), as if to suggest to us, who know now of the great day's awful scenes, the word of the Judge, "Depart!" and the description of the result—"These shall go away into everlasting punishment." He shall assign them their portion with the hypocrites, (Matt. 24:51).

How calm, how sweet the contrast to which our eyes are suddenly and abruptly turned! It is the high priest pronouncing what remained of his full blessing (Num. 6:26). The Lord lifts up his countenance upon them, and gives the word—"Peace upon Israel!" Everything desirable is wrapt up in this peace. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, (Isa. 33:20). This will be the "good" which the Lord will do to his Israel, when he places him in his lot in the end of the days. And with his soul full of thoughts like these, we need but wonder at

The Lord's servant's faithful adherence to his faithful God.

PSALM 126

1–6 LORD, to whom shall we go for the joy of final victory, but to thee, who has been in all ages the source of Israel's joyful victories? Jehovah has ever been the author of our blessings, of blessings almost too great to be believed, and He will give us "An autumn of joy for a seed-time of tears."

"We have been like those that dream."

On all such occasions, so great has been the blessing vouchsafed, that our "mouth has been filled with laughter." The word ימָלִּאִ expresses the habit, or customary act, as does also יאֹמִרוּ, q. d., at such times (אָז) our mouth was filled with laughter, and the old patriarch's words, Job 8:21, were verified in us, and the Gentiles were wont to say,

"The Lord has wrought mightily

In what he has done for them."

It was thus in the valley of Elah, where Goliath fell, and Philistia fled. It was thus at Baal-Perazim. It was thus when one morning, after many nights of gloom, Jerusalem arose at dawn of day, and found Sennacherib's thousands a camp of the dead. And it has all along been the manner of our God.

"The Lord has wrought mightily

In what he has done for us;

And we have been made glad!"

Ever do this till conflict is over! Just as thou dost with the streams of the south, year by year, so do with us—with all, with each. And we are confident thou wilt; we are sure that we make no vain boast when we sing this Psalm as descriptive of the experience of all thy pilgrims and worshippers. Home beautifully says, "Thou sowest perhaps in tears, thou doest thy duty amidst persecution and affliction, sickness, pain, and sorrow; thou labourest in the church, and no account is made of thy labours, no profit seems likely to accrue from thee. Nay, thou thyself must drop into the dust of death, and all the storms of that winter must pass over thee. Yet the day is coming when thou shalt reap in joy; and plentiful shall be thy harvest. For thus thy blessed Master 'went forth weeping,' a man of sorrows, bearing precious seed, and strewing it all around him, till at length his own body was buried, like a grain of wheat, in the furrow of the grave. But He arose and is now in heaven, whence he shall 'doubtless come again rejoicing,' with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, 'bringing his sheaves with Him.' Then shall every man receive the fruit of his works, and have praise of God," Look, then, at this picture—

"He goes, and he goes weeping.

Bearing the basket of seed, (load of, Amos 9:13):

He comes, and he comes with singing,

Bearing his sheaves!"

The worshipper, in all ages, has known the going forth to serve the Lord in tears—the following him with the cross—the scattering the seed in his field in sorrow and fear; but as certainly shall he know the joy of harvest at his Lord's return. The disciple is in this merely tracing the Master's path—

"So came Messiah, friend of men,

(A man of sorrows he),

To fight with grief, and tears, and pain,

That we might conquerors be.

Behold, he comes the Second time

To wipe away our tears,

And takes us up along with him

For everlasting years."—BARCLAY.

Our Lord, in his parable of the Sower, seems to unfold the idea expressed here, so far as it bore on his service and labour here. The other part, referring to his Second Coming and glory, was not dwelt upon there. Nevertheless, it is well for us, in pondering the parable of the Sower, to revert to this Psalm, and see the reward of him who goeth forth like the master. We shall not serve less cheerfully by joining in this Psalm—

The Lord's servant thankful1y recording past joys, and anticipating future.

PSALM 127

1–5 A SONG of the beloved!—of him who toiled himself till all was finished, and who now bids us enter into rest! A song of him who giveth his beloved ones sleep! Taking it as a song from the pen of Solomon, who was its author, Kimchi understands the "Temple" by the "House" of verse 1, as "the City" is jerusalem. The connection in that case with the former is the thought of Jerusalem restored and rebuilt after the captivity—"Unless the Lord build the city."

Here we find the worshippers exhibit that rare grace, freedom from care, arising from full confidence in Jehovah. Solomon, who sang afterward of "vanity" (הֶבֶל emptiness) in all merely human pursuits, here sings of שָׁוֶא, "nothingness," the uselessness of mere human anxiety and care—uselessness of it to the builders of the house, uselessness in the keeper of the city—uselessness in you who rise up early, who defer your resting till late, who eat bread of sorrows! How like the writer of Ecclesiastes is all this! And then the other side of the picture is presented, as in his "Song of Songs."

"On this wise (כֵּן) giveth he to his beloved—sleep."

They may rest from care, and he will work; it is "the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich," says this same Solomon, "without the addition of צָבַ—sorrow," such as verse 2 spoke of (Prov. 10:22). This is his manner with those who are יְדיִד like Solomon himself, who bore the name "Jedidiah" (2 Sam. 12:25). "Sleep" is used for complete freedom from care, and peace of mind.

Having laid down this principle, those who inhabit the city and house are remembered, and the illustration follows in the style of the Greater than Solomon, who asked, "Which of you can add one cubit to his stature, one year to his life, by all his thought?" Who could, by care, secure a family like Jacob's twelve sons?

"Behold, sons are a heritage of the Lord's giving." (Gen. 33:5.)

"The fruit of the womb is the hire he gives." (Gen. 30:18.)

It is he that gives them, and it is he that makes them what they are—that makes "sons begotten in youth" (Gen. 49:3) to be like a warrior's arrows.

"Happy the man whose quiver he (Jehovah) has filled with these;

They shall not be confounded when they speak with their enemies in the gate."

They enjoy the blessing pronounced by Rebecca's friends, (Gen. 24:60). But it is the Lord that fills the quiver; it is not the forethought or anxiety of man.

Thus the pilgrim-band, and their Lord at the head of them (Matt. 6:25–34), cast their cares on Jehovah. Even when they see a lack of men to defend the cause of God—even when ready to ask, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"—they still depend on Him whose part it is to give sons of youth. And he will do it gloriously. Zion shall see Isa. 66:8 fulfilled—"a nation born at once;" and earth shall see the sons of Israel on the Lord's side, when "the weakest of them shall be as David" (Zech. 12:8). And thus, whether as to The Temple, or as to Jerusalem, whether in regard to the families of Israel, or as to who shall stand on the Lord's side in evil days, he knows that the Lord, in the matter of salvation, has "given his beloved sleep," and that this is his manner in providence, too.

Horsley calls this Psalm, "A Psalm to be addressed by the priest to the parents presenting the first-born;" but though that would no doubt be an appropriate time to use it, it is of far wider significance. We see in it this sight, viz.—

The Lord's servant ceases from care, and expects prosperity from the Lord.

PSALM 128

1–6 LUTHER calls this, "A wedding-song for Christians." It may be so used; but it is more. Attention to every duty, and, among the rest, attention to the Lord's ordinances and solemn feasts, is the means of prosperity. As in last Psalm the worshipper's words were to this effect, "Take no thought what ye shall eat; for which of you by taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?" (Matt. 6:27), so in this Psalm the worshipper seems to sing, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall he added unto you," (Matt. 6:33).

"Blessed is every fearer of the Lord!

Every walker in his ways!"

And then, to shew more personal sympathy with the man, the Psalmist looks in his face and says, "For thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands." Instead of the frown spoken of in Lev. 26:10, Deut. 28:30–36, he shall surely eat what he laboured for; his wife is like a vine by the house sides, yielding its clusters and its shade; her children are not brambles, but like the useful olive-tree that served "God and man" (Judges 9:9), also surround the family-table with cheerful faces.

"Behold! (note it) For thus is the man wont to be blest who feareth the Lord.

Jehovah is wont to bless thee out of Zion" (Ver. 4, 5.)

Then follows the imperative אֵה, as if it were the very words of the uttered benediction—

"And (shall say), See thou the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life;

Yea, see thy children's children."

And then the benediction uttered before at the close of Psalm 125 closes all—"Peace upon Israel!" In such strains the well-satisfied worshipper encourages his fellows, rich or poor. In such strains the Lord Jesus used to admonish his hand of pilgrim-like followers, telling them that not one of them that left father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for his sake and the gospel, but would receive a hundredfold even in this life," (Matt. 19:29; Luke 18:30). And when he added, "In the world to come life everlasting," explained as it had been by his having just promised to the twelve a seat on the twelve thrones, in the day of The Regeneration, was it not the equivalent of the priestly benediction, "Peace upon Israel?" That shall be the issue of service now; for thus

The Lord's servant pronounces the present and future blessedness of the fearers of the Lord.

PSALM 129

1–8 PERSEVERANCE to the end is the burden of this song, inasmuch as in it we hear the pilgrim at another stage of the way recording deliverances and drawing from his past experience good hope of final deliverance. It is like 2 Cor. 1:10, "He delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver.

"Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth,

Oh let Israel say!" (נָא, I beseech you.)

Israel as a nation might refer to the time of their "youth;" see Hosea 11:1, Jer. 2:1, and every man of Israel might do the like. Every worshipper, and not least the Lord Jesus in the days of his flesh, could take up this song. Abel, Enoch, Noah, and all the elders, and not less the Church in its latter days, when feeling the terrible blast of the enemy, might describe their experience by its verses; all agreeing, too, in the expectation of final victory. The Lord cuts asunder "the cord" that fastens the oxen to the plough.

"Ashamed and turned hack shall be all the haters of Zion. (Ver. 5.)

They shall be like the grass on the house tops,

That withereth ere it is plucked up."

Not as Job 5:26, the shock of corn in its season, but as 2 Kings 19:26, Sennacherib's doom, which is the doom of all God's foes: "They are as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it is grown up!" Antichrist, like all before him, shall thus perish. They are men working a vain work; no Boaz shall ever bless them with a prayer, nor shall even a casual traveller. The Lord's foes perish unblest; they perish with the curse upon them, on that day when the Lord comes forth to reward his own with the "Come, ye blessed." With expectations like these

The Lord's servant reviews past sufferings in assured hope.

PSALM 130

1–8 A NEW series begins here. Though Horsley suggests the occasion of this Psalm to be "Upon bringing a sin-offering," there is nothing to fix it specially to this occasion. The costume of it is taken from a Levite, says the Targum, waiting for the first intimation of the hour of morning sacrifice; but it may just as well be said to be taken from the case of any watchman on his watch-tower, wearying for the dawn of day. It reminds us of Hab. 2:2.

The worshipper relates his former earnest cry (ver. 1, 2) from troubles and darkness that were to him like Jonah's deep waters, or the water-deeps of Psa. 69:14. The Lord of Pilgrims, as well as each of his band, became familiar with such deeps. He cried the cry of verse 1, feeling intense agony all the while, under his load of imputed guilt,

"If thou, Lord (Jah), wert to mark (Job 10:14, 16) iniquity, who, Lord, could stand?" (Ver. 3.)

But he cried in expectation of being heard, being able to point to satisfaction given to the law for that guilt.

"For with thee the forgiveness is" (הָסְּלִיחָה)—Sept., ό ίλασμος ἐστι.

The forgiveness spoken of in the law of sacrifice, such as Lev. 4:20, 26, 31, verses 10, 13, and proclaimed at Horeb, Exod. 34:9, and in the Temple, 1 Kings 8:34, 36, 39. This being so, the worshipper learns there "the fear of the Lord," and goes on his way, waiting for further light and teaching, waiting for the opening out of the Lord's hid treasures from day to day, waiting for these discoveries with intenser interest than watchman wait for morning. With intense desire Israel waited for Christ's coming in the flesh, and for the offering up of the "one sacrifice for ever," that was to make the worshipper "perfect as pertaining to the conscience." Yet still he sees only a part; he waits for more of "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." And if the Lord's Second Coming be the chief time for the unfolding of all that the worshipper desires, then the waiting for that day is not one of the least intense of his feelings. And so, "O Israel, hope thou in the Lord;" for who knoweth the flood of mercies that shall yet burst on them and on earth, when Jacob's redeeming God (Gen. 48:17) brings "plenteous redemption," or, as it is literally, "shall multiply to his people redemptions," as he "multiplied pardons" (Isa. 55:6), at their first return to him. To all of them he fulfils the name "Jesus," saving from all transgressions. In such strains we find

The Lord's servant relating his earnest cry and its results.

PSALM 131

1–3 THINK of the calm bosom of the Lake of Galilee that morning after Christ had spoken peace to the tempest—think of that glassy sea, resting in a morning without clouds under the rising sun. Was it not a fit and fair emblem of the soul of the man whose name had once been "Legion," whom Jesus that morning met, and whose spiritual storms Jesus calmed by a word? Is that man's soul now not as peaceful and at rest as that lake? It is such a picture of repose we have here. In the case of the Master, no previous storm had vexed it; in the case of the disciple, the tempest has preceded the peace.

It is the Master who can in full measure look up to his Father and say—

"Lord, my heart is not haughty, neither are mine eyes lofty;

I walk not in great things, and matters too high for me."

He was willing on earth to be ignorant even of the day of his own glory—his Second Coming—and, while grieving intensely over Capernaum, and the other cities, was content to rest his spirit in this one consideration, "Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight."

"Surely (אִם לא like Isa. 5:9, &c.) I have smoothed and silenced my soul,

As a child weaned from its mother. My soul in me is as a weaned child."

Others say,

"As a weaned child leans upon his mother," (עָלַי אִמּוֹ,) without any desire to suck the breast as before.

Not of this world, loving the Father, Christ walked through earth without a murmur, or suspicion, or doubt, as to his Father's will—"Not my will, but thine be done." And his heart overflowed toward man also (ver. 3); he pressed men to partake of his joy in the Lord. Such was the Master.

His followers are only in some measure like him. It is when they shall "see him as he is," that they shall be able to take up the Psalm in all its breadth. True, they receive the kingdom of God "as a little child;" they are "not of the world, even as he is not of the world;" they have accepted the punishment of their iniquity, and their once uncircumcised hearts have been humbled. Still, they have only some measure of this "mind that was in Him;" but they are expecting the entire likeness, on that day when Israel realizes what is written in Lev. 26:41, and hopes in the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." Thus the harp sings of

The Lord's servant's contentment with Jehovah's will.

PSALM 132

1–18 THE pilgrim-worshipper spreads before his God the pledges of his favour to Zion, reminds him of prayers presented, and gets a reply that leaves him in adoring silence. The anxiety David felt about the Ark, and the Lord's care in general, is meant in verse 1. "Lord, remember (לְ) as to David all his trouble:" all his efforts to establish thy sanctuary, and all he has undergone for thee, (or, in behalf of) even as 2 Chron. 6:42, Solomon prays—"Remember the mercies of David thy servant." Remember David's solemn oath to the "Mighty One of Jacob" (see Gen. 49:25)—the Blesser of Joseph with all blessings of heaven, and earth, and the deep beneath. As the men of Israel so resolutely pursued the evil-doers of Gibeah that they swore (Judges 20:8), "We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will any of us turn into his house," so did he swear, in following hard after the Lord's glory, when desiring to build the Temple.

It seems as if the appeal altered its form at verse 6. The worshippers refer to the past history of the Ark, when dwelling at Shiloh; for by "Ephratah," we do not understand Bethlehem,* the place where David spent his youth, but the district of Ephraim.† As a man of Mount Ephraim is called אֶפְרָתִי in 1 Sam. 1:1, so the district would be אֶפְרָתָה. The worshippers say, "We have heard the past history of the Ark at Shiloh in Ephraim; how the Lord warned Israel by judgments there against all formality and all irreverence. We have found it at Kirjath-jearim, where the Lord blessed those who made it welcome; and so we have learnt to honour it." For, "fields of the wood," is agreed to be a name equivalent to "city of the woods," i. e., Kirjath-jearim.

"Let us come to his tabernacles (the Holy and Most Holy),

Let us worship at his footstool (the Ark with its Mercy-seat, Lam. 2:1).

Arise, O Lord, (to go) to thy resting-place,

Thou and thy mighty Ark." (2 Chron. 6:41.)

Let us notice the prayer, verse 9, with the answer, verse 16. The prayer asks in behalf of the priests "righteousness," i. e., what shews forth God's righteous character; the answer is, "I will clothe her priests with salvation," i. e., with what shews forth God's gracious character. Caring for the interests of God, the worshipper finds his own interests fully cared for. And now, after spreading the Lord's pledged word (verses 11, 12), before him, the worshipper hears the Lord himself utter the reply, q. d., "I will do all that has been sought."

"For the Lord hath chosen Zion. (Ver. 13.)

There will I make a horn bud up to David (one full of power, Messiah).

I have prepared (עָרַכתִי as Exod. 27:20) a lamp for mine anointed One."

In time of darkness, lo! the lamp (like the burners on the seven-branched lamp,) of mine Anointed shines! Messiah and his Church, the light of the world! As yet this has been fulfilled only in part; the lamp is lighted; the horn of David has shot up; but it is only in part that the last verse has been accomplished. The Lord's Second Coming will accomplish all to the full.

"His enemies will I clothe with shame,

But upon himself shall the crown flourish."

It is thus the pilgrim-worshippers going up to the feasts remind their Lord of the mercies he has given them reason to expect. They imitate the heavenly worshippers in Rev. 5:8, holding up their golden vials "full of incense," i. e., of prayers as yet unanswered. When the type of the Ark at rest in Solomon's Temple is fulfilled, all our prayers shall be answered. Meanwhile let us often use such an appeal as this, an appeal in which our Master could take part in the days of his flesh. It is a Psalm wherein we hear,

The Lord's servant reminding Jehovah that he has pledged himself to bless Zion.

PSALM 133

1–3 "A JOYOUS and hearty Psalm (says one) on occasion of one of the great feasts." A song for David's harp—one of the breathings of that sweet singer of Israel. How gladly would the Son of David sing it, fall as it is of the love of brethren—the very spirit of his "new commandment," and fitted so well for the use of even the Great Congregation at "our gathering together in him." It is spoken by one looking on, and calling the attention of others to the pleasant spectacle—

"Behold! how good and how pleasant

The dwelling of brethren entirely as one!" (גַם יָחַד)

But the last clause may mean as גַם usually does, "also." How pleasant to see them "together also," as well as in their tents or separate abodes. Two comparisons are chosen to set forth the excellency of such brotherly harmony; one taken from the tabernacle, the other from the Promised Land. The holy oil, for the priests, was made of four sorts of the best spices, mixed into one (Exod. 34:22); and thus compounded, its fragrance was felt by all in the sanctuary, breathing from the high priest Aaron's head and garments—an emblem of the unity of many tribes, unity called forth by the presence of one High Priest, and emblem also of all that gratifies the senses and strengthens the heart. One and the same oil sheds its sweet odour from the head, the beard, and the skirts of the priestly robes—

"Like the precious oil on the head,

(Like oil) which descended on the beard—Aaron's beard,

(Like oil) which descended on the very border of his garments."

Or, changing the figure,

"Like the dew of Hermon, (not the Hermon or Sirion of Deut. 3:9, for it is crowned with perpetual snow—but that Hermon which rises from the plain of Jezreel)

(Like the dew) which, descended on the hills Zion."

The oil diffuses a like fragrance, whether it be on head, beard, or garment that you find it; the dew is alike reviving and refreshing, whether it fall on Hermon* or on the hills of Zion; and so it is with the harmonious congregations of Israel, one spirit breathes in them all, though some come from the extreme parts of the land, and some from the more distinguished portions; some from the plain of Jezreel, others from the hills of Jerusalem.

It is "there" where such brotherly love is seen, in such assemblies as these, that the Lord commands the blessing. It will be in the assembly of the first-born, gathered together into one, at his Second Coming, that the blessing shall descend in all its richness, even "life for evermore." And then shall the pilgrim band, arrived at their holy city, with their Leader in the midst, burst out into this wondering and delighted cry—"Behold!"—a sight to which our eyes were strangers during all our pilgrimage—"Behold! men dwelling together as brethren!" without jar or discord, in entire love and unity! In strains like these shall we at last hear

The Lord's servant admiring the unity of those who meet in the Holy City.

PSALM 134

1–3 THIS is the last of the "Songs of Degrees;" consisting of praise and blessing, yea calling on us for never-ceasing praise. The shutting of the Temple gates at night is by some (e. g., Horsley) supposed to indicate the appropriate time for singing this song. Hengstenberg assigns it to the time of the evening sacrifice, and compares Psa. 92:2, denying that there was any Levitical service during night. But 1 Chron. 9:33 seems to assert, very clearly, that there was a service of song by night; and other places hint the same.

There is animation at least in Barclay's paraphrase of this most lively Psalm—

"O bless the Lord, his servants all,

Who watch within the Temple-wall,

And nightly praise him as ye stand

With lifted eye, and lifted hand!

Clap, clap your hands, exult and sing,

In holiness of Christ your King!

Behold he hath redeemed you

To bless and praise him as ye do."

Benediction was most appropriate in closing this series of "Psalms of Degrees." The worshipper calls upon those who inhabit the sanctuary to be ever praising (ver. 1), and lifting up their hands "towards his sanctuary," Psa. 28:2; a call in which Paul most heartily joins, 2 Tim. 2:8. And then, in verse 3, the priest pronounces a Melchizedec-blessing; for it is in the very style of Melchizedec, Gen. 14:18, 19. And this is the final blessing reserved for the Lord's weary Abrahams, to be pronounced on them by the "Possessor of heaven and earth," on the day of Christ; in prospect of which, and in enjoyment of all that cometh even now from the same Lord,

The Lord's servant calls for unceasing praise to Jehovah.

PSALM 135

1–21 WE have been descending the river, finding its banks very varied, with sometimes shade, sometimes sunshine on its waters, yet all along the incessant murmur of praise. The river is now nearer its ocean, and hence the utterance of praise becomes louder, fuller, more distinct and direct than ever. In this Psalm and the next, we have two very lofty bursts of song, "Hallelujahs" from the lips of men on earth. The peculiar people, Israel, sing in the name of all God's people; and no doubt the Lord Jesus, when on earth, took up the song as chief musician.

The first ground of praise is what the Lord is in himself.

"Praise ye Jah (יָהּ),

Praise ye the name of Jehovah (יְהָוֹה),

Praise ye, ye servants of Jehovah." (Ver. 1.)

Ye who "stand" in the Lord's house; that is, wait there to serve him, as Deut. 10:8; Judges 20:28. Then verse 3—

"Praise ye Jah (יָהּ),

For good is Jehovah (יָהָוֹה);

Hymn ye to his name,

For it is pleasant (נָעִים)." (Ver. 3.)

His name is pleasant, it is נָעַים; it has in it נֹעַם (Psa. 27:4; Psa. 90:17). It discovers to us the Lord's well-pleasedness; it shews us the awful frown of the Judge changed into the sweet smile of favour. Israel sees it thus—Israel, to whom the altar and all its significant accompaniments belong.

The next ground of praise is the Lord's sovereignty, (verses 4–6,) choosing a people, shewing himself above all gods, doing as pleaseth him; and it is sweet for Israel to say as they sing, that this Jehovah is theirs, as they are his סְגֻלַּה, peculiar property, his valuable jewels.

"And our Lord is above all gods." (Ver. 5)

Then they praise him for creation-works, (ver. 7). He does what he pleases.

"Bringing up vapours from the ends of earth;

Making lightnings for rain;

Bringing the wind from his treasure-chambers."

But chiefly is he praised for works of providence and redemption, (ver. 8–12); smiting Egypt and great kings.* And all this contrasts so broadly with all other gods, that no name but Jehovah's shall be exalted, no one shall be named along with him; his "memorial," i. e., that by which he is known and remembered, shall be for ever singular and peculiar. See Exod. 3:15.

"For Jehovah will act the part of a judge (ידָיִן) to his people," i. e., defend their rights. (Gen. 30:6; Jer. 22:16.)

And will repent (i. e., change his procedure) toward his servants;"

reminding us of Deut. 32:26, the utterance of the Lord's name in that song of Moses. But as for idols, they have a "mouth" but speak not to give advice; "eyes," but see not the circumstances, nor yet the gifts, of their devotees; "ears," but hear neither their praise nor prayer; and as they have no "breath in their nostrils," they cannot inhale the sweet and fragrant incense offered to them. Their worshippers become equally helpless and vain. Oh, then, Israel, bless thou Jehovah! House of Israel, house of Aaron, house of Levi, fearers of Jehovah everywhere, bless ye Jehovah!

"From out of Zion let Jehovah be blessed (i. e., let the voice of praise to him be heard from Zion),

(Jehovah) who dwells at Jerusalem.

Hallelujah!"

We may easily suppose Christ thus exhorting his own in the days of his flesh, using this very Psalm; aye, and at this closing verse, would he not feel peculiarly? for he was Jehovah, come to fulfil all types and shadows, being himself the Incarnate God inhabiting Jerusalem. And then he would look forward to the future, when his throne shall be as a canopy over Jerusalem, and when he shall in glory inhabit it as the city of the Great King, while out from Zion issues forth such praise as makes earth wonder—the joy of Jerusalem heard afar off. We, too, may sing it with such thoughts, joining Israel and Israel's King. It suits all the redeemed, inasmuch as it is

The peculiar people's song of praise, as they adore the excellency of their sovereign God.

PSALM 136

1–26 THE theme of last Psalm is taken up again; but whereas the glory of Jehovah was chiefly dwelt upon there, now it is his love. The same acts display more than one illustrious perfection, and may therefore call forth variety of praise.

That "God is love" is the pervading view; or, in other words, "God is good, and his mercy endureth for ever"—the fountain and the stream, the fountain sendeth forth its streams on our scorched and blighted world, streams that shall never be withdrawn, and which are not like the brook Cedron, flowing only now and then, but are perennial and perpetual. We refer back to what was said on Psalm 107:1, in reference to this theme and this view of Jehovah being taught at the altar: it was taught there most specially, and is still taught by the blood of Him who was the sacrifice. Indeed, we may say that it is only when standing by His side that we can truly sing this Psalm. He raises the tune; he calls on us thus to sing—

"Praise ye (הוֹדוּ) Jehovah;"

not as in Psa. 135:1, "Hallelujah" but varying the words, "Be ye Judahs to the Lord!"

Praise him for what he is, (ver 1–3).

Praise him for what he is able to do, (ver. 4).

Praise him for what he has done in creation, (ver. 5–9).

Praise him for what he did in redeeming Israel from bondage, (ver. 10–15).

Praise him for what he did in his providence toward them, (ver. 16–22).

Praise him for his grace in times of calamity, (ver. 23, 24).

Praise him for his grace to the world at large, (ver. 25).

Praise him at the remembrance that this God is the God of heaven, (ver. 26).

Is he "God of gods?" (ver. 2) Well may we praise him, and be sure that the mercy which has issued forth from his throne, like the crystal river of the Apocalypse, shall flow on for ever; for there is none higher than himself; no rival to mar his plans, or interfere with his schemes. Yes, he is as Moses described in Deut. 10:17,—so infinitely higher than any creature that ever bore the name of "god," that they dared not be named in his presence.

Is he "Lord of lords?" (ver. 3) as Moses also said long ago in Deut. 10:17. Then no principality in heaven, no power in hell, no assumed lordship in earth, can at all resist him: his mercy shall be impeded by none. It is the mercy of the "God of gods and the Lord of lords!" What height, depth, length, breadth, in his mercy! And you may sing on the banks of this river that fertilizes our desert world—"I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38, 39).

Does he "alone" do great wonders? (ver. 4) That means, he does so by himself, unaided, needing nothing from others, asking no help from his creatures. As the Nile from Nubia to the Mediterranean rolls on 1300 miles in solitary grandeur, receiving not one tributary, but itself alone dispensing fertility and fatness wherever it comes; so our God "alone" does wonders. (See Deut. 32:12, Psa. 72:18, &c.) No prompter, no helper; spontaneously he goes forth to work, and all he works is worthy of God. Then we have no need of any other; we are independent of all others; all our springs are in him.

Did he "make the heavens by his understanding?" (תְּבוּנָה) (ver. 5)—not only the firmament, but the third heavens, too, where all is felicity, where is the throne of glory. Then, I infer, that if the mercy which visits earth is from the same Jehovah who built that heaven and filled it with glory, there must be in this mercy something of the same "understanding," or wisdom. It is wise, prudent mercy; not rashly given forth; and it is the mercy of Him whose love has filled that heaven with bliss. The same architect—the same skill—the same love!

It is he who "spread the earth above the waters" (ver. 6), making a solid platform for man's abode. The Creator is he who sheweth mercy on us. He was preparing a theatre for the display of mercy. He was thinking thoughts of grace ere ever man appeared, so that his love has a deep source, and was issuing forth from its far back source all the time he was forming our earth.

It is he who "made the great lights," (ver. 7). Instead of causing the light that was shot out from his presence, on the three first days of creation, to serve our earth, He kindly prepared the "Great Lights." That our comfort might be fully attended to, two great orbs were so placed, or our earth so placed towards them, as that our habitation might thus be full of cheerful light. Was he not remembering man? O praise him! And think as you praise, "His mercy endures for ever!"

He made "the sun to rule by day," (ver. 8). Though he knew how our earth would abuse its mercies, and sinners employ the light in order to carry on schemes of wickedness, yet still he made it thus, and left it thus after the fall, to shine on the fields and dwellings even of the ungodly. Yea, and "the moon and stars by night" (ver. 9),*—the same that shone in Paradise and Eden. He has not withdrawn them. "His mercy endureth for ever!"

But again; this is he who "smote Egypt's first-born," (ver. 10). Remember his sovereign grace, when righteousness would shew itself upon the guilty. There was mercy even then to Israel—drops of that mercy that for ever endureth—at the very time when judgment fell on others. Should not this give emphasis to our praises? The dark background makes the figures in the foreground more prominent.

He "brought out Israel from among them," (ver. 11). This was mercy, separating them from all the evil and all the misery there. Aye, and with "a strong hand" (ver. 12): for mercy prompted him to exercise power against the mighty. What a ground of encouragement in after ages to his own! That same "strong hand" ready at mercy's call to do such acts, and that mercy enduring for ever!

"He divided the Red Sea into parts," (ver. 13). Obstacles are nothing to him whose "mercy endureth for ever." The divided Red Sea is a "pawn of his purpose and power to deliver his Church" in all ages. He "made Israel pass through the midst of it" (ver. 14), making the very bed of the sea their highway of safety; as he has often done since then, when the very calamities of his own have become their blessings.

Did he "shake off" (נִעֵר) (ver. 15, as Exod. 14:27) Pharaoh and his host, as he did the locusts, into the Red Sea, and this when they would have hung on Israel's rear, and clung to his skirts? This was mercy to his own, their foes overthrown; such mercy as shall awake hallelujahs when Antichrist is destroyed, in the last days, (Rev. 19:1, 2).

Did he "make his people walk in the wilderness?" (ver. 16) Such a floor! such a pathway! Yet who has not heard of their safety and well-being there? Now, this mercy shall still act thus—for ever! All through the desert, and till it is done, his people shall be kept.*

Aye, but enemies again appear: "He smote great kings" (ver. 17). Great as they were, it availed nothing; they lost their credit and prestige of greatness. And "noble kings," too (ver. 18), were shorn of their pomp when they touched his anointed. Such is his mercy—mercy that lasts still for us in these last days. Yea, "Sihon, king of Amorites" (ver. 19), like the goodly cedar (Amos 2:9), and the first that opposed their entrance into their land—he fell; an example to those who might afterwards dare to oppose the Lord's people. And when "Og, the king of Bashan" (ver. 20), took the field, a giant, a new and more terrific foe, he too fell. And the mercy that thus dealt with enemies so great, enemies so strong, one after another, "endureth for ever." When Antichrist raises up his hosts in the latter days, one after another—when the great, the famous, the mighty, the noble, the gigantic men, in succession assail the Church, they shall perish. "For his mercy endureth for ever."

But celebrate the Lord's praise again; for "he gave their land for an inheritance" (ver. 21). His mercy to his own soon comforted them for all their toils and conflicts, in a land flowing with milk and honey—a type of that inheritance awaiting his saints now, after conflict is over. It was "an inheritance to Israel, his servant," (ver. 22); to Israel who had served him, and who would yet serve him better. Mercy gave this reward; it was not merit that won it; and so it shall be to the end, even in the case of the Lord's servants who labour most for him. Israel and all the saints are debtors to mercy to the last.

He was the God "who remembered us when we were brought low," (ver. 23). He did thus to Israel in times when sin brought on chastisement, as in Judges 2, 3, 4, &c., or 2 Kings 13:4, 14:26, 27. In backsliding times he still kept hold of us, not forgetting us when we forgot him. Oh what mercy! Like the mercy of Him whose love changes not! The river flowed on day and night, even when we came not to draw! "And redeemed us (broke us off) from our enemies," (ver. 24). Grace interposed for the helpless, the doubly helpless; and redeemed the backsliding ones from the very adversaries whom their sins raised up to chastise them. And thus mercy will do in the latter day to Israel again; and thus it is ever doing for saints at this present time.

We might fancy that they who have so much to sing of in regard to themselves, so much done for their own souls, would have little care for others. We might fear that they would be found selfish. But not so; the love of God felt by a man makes the man feel as God does towards men; and as God's love is ever going forth to others, so is the heart of the man of God. We see how it is even as to patriotism—a man's intensest patriotic feelings do not necessarily make him indifferent to the good of other countries, but rather make him wish all countries to be like his own; so it is, much more certainly and truly, with the Lord's people in their enjoyment of blessing. Their heart expands toward others; they would fain have all men share in what they enjoy. They therefore cannot close their song without having this other clause—Praise Him who is

"The giver of bread to all flesh!" (Ver. 25)

Not to Israel only does he give blessing. Israel had their manna; but, at the same time, the earth at large has its food. So in spiritual things. Israel's God is he who giveth himself as Bread of Life to the world. Perhaps at this point the Psalmist's eye may be supposed to see Earth in its state of blessedness, after Israel is for the last time redeemed from all enemies, and become "life from the dead" to the world—when Christ reigns and dispenses bread of life to the New Earth, as widely as he gave common food—"the feast of fat things to all nations" (Isa. 25:10); for his mercy will not rest till this is accomplished.

"O give praise (הוֹדוּ) to the God of heaven!" (Ver. 26)

Whom having not seen we love, for his mercy endureth for ever; whom seated in heaven, we see not, but from whom all these blessings come down to earth. It is Heaven that blesses Earth, and shall not Earth send up its praise to Heaven. Oh, that all men were Judahs—joining in this song to Jehovah—

Praise to Jehovah because of his mercy that has blessed, and will bless, for ever!

PSALM 137

1–9 WHEN a fitful gust of wind has blown aside for a time the sand that hid an ancient tomb or monument, the traveller, arrested by the sight, may muse beside it, and feel himself borne back into other days, sympathising with the mourning friends who piled these monumental stones. But his deepest sympathy can never equal, and scarcely can resemble with much nearness, that burst of grief with which the real mourners consecrated the spot. It is even thus with our Psalm. We feel it to be a peculiar song of Zion, strangely beautiful, full of pathos, and rising to sublimity; but what would be the fresh emotions of those who sang it first, and who dropped their tears into these rivers of Babel? No author's name is given; but so plaintive is it, that some have ascribed it to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, of whose Lamentations it has been said, "Every word seems written with a tear, and every sound seems the sob of a broken heart."

Tholuck says it is a Psalm by an exiled Levite, "A master of song." Perhaps we expected to find some notice prefixed of the instrument used when it was set to music, such as, "On Gittith,"—when first the sound of its commencing strain broke on our ear—עַל נַהֲרוֹת and עַל עֲרָבִים,

"On the banks of the rivers—

On the willow-trees."

But the only instrument before the singer is the murmuring streams of Babylon, with the wind moaning through the willows on either bank. Whether wandering along by Euphrates, or Tigris, or Ulai, or Chabor,* all of them "rivers of Babylon" the exiles of Israel felt the burden of Jehovah's anger in their state of estrangement from the land given to their fathers. We have a series of most moving scenes presented to our view:—

1. The river's banks fringed with mourners, who sit there, shaded by the willows. You see above their heads their harps which they used in Judah, and perhaps in the temple of Jerusalem, some of those mentioned, 1 Chron. 15:16 (Patrick), carried with them as precious memorials of happier days.

2. You see some of their gay, heartless oppressors approaching the weeping band, asking a song. Q. Curtius, in his history of Alexander the Great (vi. 2), tells us of the captive woman from Persia being ordered to sing in the fashion of their country (suo ritu canere), when, in the midst of the scene, the king's eye caught the spectacle of a mourner on the ground, sadder than all the rest, the wife of Hystaspis; for the lordly oppressors of Israel were then feeling the retribution of being summoned to do as they had done to their captives. The wife of Hystaspis, says the historian, struggled against those who would fain have led her forward to the king, foremost among the captive band with whose songs they sought to entertain themselves; even as here Israel, though fallen, replied in princely dignity, to those who asked of them "words of the song," some stanza, at least, out of some song of Zion (מַשִׁיר)—

"How shall we sing Jehovah's song

On the soil of a stranger?" (Ver. 4)

3. You see their oppressors retire, and the exiles are alone again, dropping their tears into the stream. They sing now, the one to the other, and this is the burden—

"If I lose my memory of thee, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand lose its memory!

Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth

If I do not remember thee—

If I do not lift up Jerusalem

On the top of my joy!" (Ver. 5, 6)

They remember the past; and they know it is foretold (Isa. 35:10) that one day they shall return to Zion with songs. But, till that day arrives, they will continue to hang up their harps.

4. You see them assume the attitude of appeal and prayer. They call upon Jehovah to visit their oppressors. Edom is first mentioned. Why is this? We find the explanation in Obad. 8–14, where Edom's unbrotherly exultation over Israel's day of calamity is described; as it is also in Lam. 4:21. Babylon is next. The awful cry against this foe, the Antichrist of that day, resembles Rev. 18:20, "Rejoice over her!" The emphasis is to be put on "thee," and in verse 9, "thy children," in opposition to God's people and their children. Happy the man who, instead of being an oppressor of God's heritage, is the Lord's instrument in bringing low, even to the foundation, the city that has fought against him, thus requiting her in her own way; yes, happy is that man even though in executing the judgment he be sent to dash the children on the rocks (children being reckoned one with their parents, as in Achan's case, Josh. 7:24), in pouring out the vial of wrath.

Could our Master sing this song? If he identified himself with his people in Egypt, as we find him doing in Psa. 81:5, why should he not sympathise in this strain also? He would use it when on earth. And his Church herself, a stranger in a strange land, can use it, not only in sympathising with Israel's ruin, but in thinking of what has endeared Jerusalem to us. Calvary, Mount of Olives, Siloam, how fragrant are ye with the Name that is above every name! "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem!" Can I forget where he walked so often, where he spoke such gracious words, where he died? Can I forget that his feet shall stand on that "Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, on the east?" Can I forget that there stood the Upper Room, and there fell the showers of Pentecost? And can I not pray against Antichrist in using the names of Edom and Babylon, the old foes of the Lord and his people? Yes, I fully sympathise in every verse of this sacred song, for it is

Exiled Israel's tender zeal for Jerusalem and Jehovah.

PSALM 138

1–8 DAVID'S harp again sounds, from this Psalm onward to Psalm 145, where praises of every kind, and probably proceeding from various singers, close the Book.

The theme is the promise made to David (Psa. 89:26, and 2 Sam. 7:28, which is in effect the same as Isa. 55:3), "The sure mercies of David. It is the definite promise of a Saviour who is to descend from David's loins, that furnishes the subject. And is not this substantially the same as the first promise, the great promise of a Deliverer, the promise of the Seed of the woman? Let one read over the seventh chapter of 2 Samuel, as it came from David's full heart, and he has found the key-note of the Psalm; and then let us realise what was wrapt up in the promise of a Saviour in its fulness, and we will join in every clause of the Psalm. Our Master would feel all at home in every verse.

In verses 1–3 he sings to this effect—No god, no pretended god, in any country, or any age, ever gave utterance to such a thought as I am now to sing of—"before the gods I will sing" and I worship toward thy holy temple as I sing, praising thee for such a matchless display of mercy and truth (Comp. John 1:14)

"For thou hast magnified, above all thy name, thy word,

In the day when I called, and thou didst answer

(When) thou didst make me brave in my soul with might!" (Ver. 2, 3)

In that day when the Lord brought to him the word, or promise, of which he speaks (the word concerning the future Son), he did an act of grace that might be said to cast into the shade even all the other displays of grace God had given. "All thy name" is used here as equivalent to "all that hitherto has made thee known and famous in our eyes." This is the sense of "name" in such places as 2 Sam. 7:9, and 23, a passage closely allied to this; as also 8:13, 23:18. In short, it is like as if one had said of Abishai (1 Chron. 11:20), "You had a name among the three, but that last exploit of yours has raised you above all your previous name;" or take Jer. 32:20—"Thou hast made thee a name" by thy wonders in Egypt, but this promise to David is "above all that name of thine."

In verses 4, 5, he sings to this effect—No king ever heard news like this that thou art making known. When they hear it,

"They will sing in the ways of the Lord!" (Ver. 5.)

They will sing בְּ "upon" as if to say they will enter on these ways (Hengst.); or rather, at or over, because of hearing such an account of Jehovah's dealings with men.

In verses 6, 7, he sings to this effect—Unparalleled grace! The Lofty One has stooped down to shew mercy to one so low as I, to the family of Jesse—yea, to the fallen family of man—

"The Lord is exalted; and (yet) he looks upon the mean!

While the proud he knoweth afar off." (Comp. Luke 1:51, 52.)

This gracious Jehovah removes all my fears, whatever shall betide; for he will help me. And in the person of our Master, he has given his saints a pledge of the fulfilment of verse 7, for the Master "walked in the midst of trouble," as did the three youths in the fiery furnace, and yet was "revived"—brought back to the enjoyment of favour and peace; brought back from the sepulchre to the "fulness of joy."

In verse 8 he sings to this effect—Lord, leave me not till thou hast brought me into glory. Confidence of getting leads him to ask boldly, as in 2 Sam. 7:27, and what he asks is, that he may be kept till glory come. For by "the works of thy hand" is meant the undertaking God has commenced. Every saint has this same confidence, remembering that it is written, "He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ," (Phil. 1:6). Our Lord, the Son of David, as well as David's Lord, would often, in the days of his flesh, use this appeal, and sing in man's behalf this glorious Psalm; and shall we not take it up, now that "the Word" has been fully developed, and developed in such astounding magnificence of grace? It suits us as much as it did David, or any other; for it is

Heartfelt praise for Jehovah's Great Promise.

PSALM 139

1–24 "A PSALM of David," and no doubt often sung by the "Son of David." For, rightly understood, there is not in it any thought of desiring an escape from the Lord's happy presence in verses 7, 8; far from this, it is meant to express delight in the remembrance of Jehovah's omnipresence and omniscience. It is not the utterance of the First Adam, slinking from sight behind the trees of Eden; but it is the utterance of the Second Adam, dwelling in the blissful fellowship with God, which fellowship he would not for all worlds ever lose. Think of it as sung by David, and by Christ, and by all the family of Christ.

The key-note, then, is delight in the Lord's presence. The structure is very simple, and there are no difficulties in any verses but 15, 16; to the understanding of which it is needful to know that "lower parts of earth," is a proverbial expression for secresy—what is hidden from view of man—as the parallelism shews. The verses are to this purpose—"Thou hast at thy disposal "my reins," the seat of my heart, thoughts, and feelings; for—

"My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret,

When I was curiously wrought, hid from the view of all men.

Thine eyes saw when I was still unprepared (i. e., my unformed substance; or, the unwound ball of the thread of life),

And in thy book all of them were written, (viz.)

The days which were still to be, and of which none then was." (Hengst.)

And because of this singular care of the Creating Hand, and the skill displayed in the rare workmanship, verse 14 sings—

"I praise thee on this account, that I am fearfully distinguished!

Marvellous are thy works! Yes, my sold perceives it well!"

But now let us trace the thread of connection that runs through the whole Psalm. There is in verses 1–6, adoration of Jehovah's omniscience. The Lord Jesus could sing it all; even verse 6, "too wonderful for me" (Prov. 30:18), was suitable to him as man, in his humiliation-days, when he knew not the day of his Second Coming, and when he stood on the shore and adored the awful depth of his Father's counsels. The expression, "Laidst thy hand over me" (תָּשֶׁת עָלַי), denotes a kind, friendly act; not the act of one in anger, as when שָׁלח יָד is used, in such passages as Exod 24:11. The Psalmist is rejoicing in the shadow of this Omniscient One. "Thou hast searched, and knowest me."

In verses 7–12, there is adoration of Jehovah's omnipresence. If I had cause to flee from thee, whither could I go? "If I scale heaven, or if I spread the grave" (Alexander), or if (ver. 1) the thought occurs, "I will raise the wing of morning," travelling swift as the light which travels 200,000 miles in a second, all would be vain. Whither, then? Not to Heaven, for that is the very centre and seat of his manifested presence; not to Hell, i. e., sheol, or the grave, for the disembodied spirit is even more than before in his felt presence; not to any part of creation, for his providence is at work there in every sparrow that lights on the ground. What a comforting thought to a believer! If God's eye is on me, then I am blessed, though I be obscure, and though I suffer unheeded by man. He is with the prisoner in the Inquisition, with the soldier, the sailor, the miner; yes, he is so truly with his saints, that wherever their dust may be laid, he will find it, and gathering every particle from the dark grave, will raise up there from a glorious body. And let us note that verse 10 expresses the gracious leading of a father and friend—"Thy hand would lead me," like verse 5; while verse 11 is still more expressive of favour—

"If I should say, surely the darkness will crush me, (יְשׁוּפֵנִי)

Then night would he light about me."

Were I apprehensive of danger, some appalling evil ready to crush me (שׁוּף, as Job 9:17, and as Gen. 3:15) during the darkness, the Omnipresent One would haste to my help. Is there any reference to Satan's "hour and power of darkness" involved in this use of the first word applied to his assaults on the woman's Seed (שׁוּף)?

In verses 13–18, there is adoration of Jehovah as owner and Creator of men. "For thou (אַתָּה), and no other, possessed and hast the right to my most inmost parts;" and then he sings of the wonderful work of the heavenly Father, forming the human frame, closing with that exclamation of amazed delight—

"How precious are thy thoughts to me, O God!

I will count them!—(but no)—more than sand they are many!"

In this there is a resemblance to Psa. 40:5, where we find Christ identifying himself with his own, and wondering at his Father's thoughts "to usward." There, however, it is chiefly his thoughts, or plans, about our redemption, while here it is more specially about our creation. Unless, indeed, we suppose that the glowing description of verses 14, 15, 16, may refer, not to creation only, but also to the forming anew of the body after it has lain in the dust, when it is to arise in honour, in glory, in power, the very likeness of Christ's perfect human form.

In verses 19, 20, there is presented to us the omniscient and omnipresent Creator as Judge. It is literally, "If thou wouldst slay the wicked!"—an unfinished sentence, pointing at the terrible results. Though at present he bears long with the ungodly, he hates their sin, and will destroy the sinner. In this he glances at the great day when the Judge shall say, "Depart."

In verses 21, 22, there is a protestation on the part of the Psalmist, against all who are foes to Jehovah whom he has held up to our adoration. It reminds us of John 21:17.

In verses 23, 24, there is a prayer that this omniscient and omnipresent Creator would keep his worshipper for ever on his side. Some render "wicked way" (ver. 24), the way of an idol (so Gesenius); but Hengstenberg seems right in rendering it, "the way of pain;" that leads to pain or trouble; the contrast of the "everlasting way," (the "ancient paths" of Jeremiah 6:16), where a man finds rest to his soul. This is the way that ushers a man into the kingdom, into the bliss of the ages to come. It reminds us of Isaiah 35:8, the holy way in which those walk who enjoy the bliss of the Restored Paradise.

Thus we see that this Psalm is one of joy and happy confidence in God, abounding in views that enlarge the heart and strengthen it. It expresses the worshipper's happy remembrance of the omniscient and omnipresent God;

Satisfaction in thinking upon the all-knowing Creator and Judge.

PSALM 140

1–13 ANOTHER Psalm "of David," to be sung by all saints, even as It was used by their Head, David's Son. In it we have (ver. 1–3) the picture of the wicked, with a "Selah," that bids us pause over its dark colours. Then we have (ver. 4, 5) a view of the snares spread by the wicked, with another "Selah"-pause. Thereafter, we see a soul in the attitude of faith (ver. 6–8). They are laying their snares, but calm as Elisha beholding the Syrian host assembling (2 Kings 6:15), the stayed soul sings—

"I have said to the Lord, My God art thou;"

And then he prays, putting a "Selah"* at the close, that we may again pause and survey the scene.

In ver. 9–11 we have the certainty of the wicked's overthrow. It is spoken of as a thing to be realised as a matter of course. It is a glance at the great day of the Lord, when he destroys the Man of Sin, and all such foes.

"Coals of fire shall be thrown upon them;

He will precipitate them into raging gulfs (מַהֲרֹמוֹת);

They shall rise no more."

And then we have (ver. 12, 13) the calm assurance of blessing to the righteous, introduced by an expression that sends our thoughts away to Job's memorable utterance of his hope that the Redeemer would appear on the earth at the latter day, (19:25). "I know," says the Psalmist—

"I know that Jehovah will execute

The judgment of the poor, the right of the needy."

And then in verse 13 the expression אַךְ, like that in Psa. 73:1, intimates that these are inferences drawn from previous reflection. The issue shall be this, the righteous shall praise his name, and dwell before his face for ever. They shall inherit the promised kingdom, entering in with songs, and continuing their songs for ever. Such is this song of the sweet singer of Israel, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, setting forth

The Righteous One amid snares, confidently expecting the ruin of the ungodly, and his own reward.

PSALM 141

1–10 A PSALM of David, for the Church's Head and the Church's members in every age. For may the members not cry, and might not the Head cry, with as much urgency as verses 1, 2, asking for as speedy an answer as that given to Daniel at the hour of the evening sacrifice (9:19–21)? And should not prayer and alms-giving go together, now as of old as in the days of Cornelius (Acts 10:3)? Here, the "lifting up of hands," is, whatever our hands bring to God, by way of offering or service (see 2 Sam. 11:8). The "incense" represented the sweet savour arising from the blood on the altar's horns, and from the atoning sacrifice in general.

In all ages, help against temptation has been needed, as in verses 3–5. Surely we need still to pray in this self-indulging age, as verse 4, Let me not be ensnared by their prosperity,

"Let me not eat of their dainties."

Nay, rather, instead of this self-indulgence,

"Let the righteous smite, it is mercy;

My head refuses not the oil for the head." (Hengst.)

This oil for the head is better to me than all that these guests find at their festive board. Yes, and if tempted to avenge myself (Matt. 25:5–11), I will pray instead. The force of the clause may be thus given—"For still while it continues, my prayer shall ascend in the midst of their evil," (Hengst,). The Church has in every age needed the help of hope, when her persecutors were strong; and this we have in verses 6, 7—

"Their judges are overthrown in (precipitated on) the sides of the rock,"

(2 Chron. 25:12; 2 Kings 9:33, Jezebel rock). Selah.

they who were leaders of the oppressing crew are fallen! crushed! dashed in pieces by the mighty hand of the Judge of all! And though now they refuse to listen to warning, yet it is their interest so to do; "Let them hear my words;" for there is no terror in them, no bitterness if listened to now (comp. Psa. 2:12); "they are sweet."

In verse 7, "Our bones are scattered, like one ploughing and clearing (making furrows in) the earth," has been supposed to contain an allusion to Resurrection, as if the Psalmist said. These persecutions are the precursors of a time when the seed shall spring up. The Church never doubts, and never in any age has doubted, that soon shall come her final escape from all snares, "from the hands of the snare" (ver. 9); and this we have in the closing verses, verses 8–10. They remind us much of Paul's words in 2 Tim. 4:18—"And the Lord shall preserve me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom" Like Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron. 19:1–2, the Church fixes her eye on the Lord (ver. 8) whatever be her case, imitating her Lord in the days of his flesh, when he, too, used this Psalm, most emphatically praying, "Leave not my soul bare" (אַל תֵעַר), when about to pour out his soul (הֶעֱרָה Isa. 53:12. It is interesting to notice that the last words of the Psalm are literally,

"Until that I pass over."

Go on overthrowing them till they are annihilated; go on destroying them till thy people are safely in the kingdom—"passed over" into Canaan, as when the ark stood keeping back Jordan's waters for them; or as when Israel passed the Red Sea and entered on the conquest of the land, for the expression is the same as occurs in Exod. 15:16. Augustine was wrong in thinking the reference was to the Passover; for that is expressed by a peculiar term, whereas this is the usual אֶעֱבוֹר. He has been followed by others, e. g., one who paraphrases the clause thus—

"And let my saints escape with mep;

My blood their passover shall be."

But the allusion is to the passing into Canaan, and so reminds us more directly of the glory. Christ and his host of ransomed ones march in triumph into possession of the kingdom, while his and their enemies are falling on every side, like snow falling on fire. The whole Psalm is

A prayer of the Head and his Members to be kept from every evil work and preserved to the kingdom.

PSALM 142

1–7 Maschil—"A prayer of David, when he was in the cave;" or, more closely adhering to the order of the original, "Maschil, (i. e., as in Psa. 32, which see) of David, when he was in the cave; a prayer." The cave of Adullam echoed these holy strains; and David's men, "the distressed, the debtors, the bitter of soul," (1 Sam. 22:2,) heard, as did the prisoners in Philippi when Paul and Silas sung, and were not only soothed but sanctified, when the Holy Ghost used the same harp that had calmed Saul's spirit, to cast out the evil that wrought in that strange band. But is it not written for all ages? David's Son, and all that follow him, use it when "bitter in soul" or in "distress."

Let us see how beautifully it utters our Master's heart as "A prayer."

Verse 1. The cry of the Son of David—"I cry unto Jehovah, who has so often heard my voice; I supplicate Jehovah with my voice." Is not this suitable in the lips of him who was ever calling on his Father, and whose agony drew forth all the more that filial cry, "O my Father!"

Verse 2. "I pour forth my complaint before him." Compare the title of Psa. 102, and remember the Lord's words in the garden, "Let this cup pass!" when reading "I shewed before him my distress."

Verse 3. "When my spirit is overwhelmed within me" (compare again the title of Psa. 102), and thou knewest (אַתָּה emphatic, as if to say, I did not know, but thou didst) my path, or the way where I was going where they hid a trap for me." How suitable in the mouth of him who was "sore amazed" as he entered the garden!

Verse 4. "Look on thy right hand, and behold"—an abrupt, or broken cry; look, and behold, and you will see only this—"no one knoweth me! refuge fails me! no one concerns himself for my soul." Such language might actually be used by our Lord Jesus to the Father, when he saw even his disciples fleeing from him, as the band drew near to take him in their snare; or when he saw them all asleep in that terrible hour.

Verse 5. "I have cried (and do still cry) to thee, O Jehovah; Thou art my portion (both now and hereafter) in the land of the living." The Master returned to the Father for sympathy, finding it only there.

Verse 6. Another cry pointed with the appeal, "For I am brought very low." He needed an angel to strengthen him, so low did he become—lower in every sense than angels. His flesh was weak.

Verse 7. But here, as in Psa. 22, the scene begins to brighten. His disciples may sleep on and take their rest, for he has accomplished his sufferings. He sees in prospect the results, and prays,

"Bring my soul from being shut up;" (as Joseph was, Gen. 39:20, as Isa. 24:22)

That men may praise thy name. (Hengstenberg.)

And then in confidence of hope, seeing down the vista of ages, his eye resting on the millions of his saved ones,

"The righteous shall form a circle close round me; (בִּי יַכְתִּרוּ press closely in upon me; Hengst.)

For thou shall deal bountifully with me."

Is not this His anticipation of the great multitude, whom no man can number, in his kingdom, round his throne, as in Rev. 7:9, where the redeemed stand nearer than angels, as if pressing in? And, being one with our Head, each of us the members may take up this song in our Adullam sojourn—for the disciple is as the Master, in his degree. Arrived at last at the Throne, disciples shall feel solitude no more, nor complain of sympathy withheld, amid the great congregation.

Horsley entitles this Psalm, "A prayer of Messiah, when he was taken and deserted." Let us call it,

The cave-thoughts of David, and of David's Son, for all in extremity.

PSALM 143

1–12 David is still the sweet singer here, his harp sounding in the wilderness of Judah, or, as in Psa. 42, from some still more remote retreat. Here, however, he alludes to no particular external privation—it is his soul's sadness that is the burden of his song. Christ could use these utterances, feeling not his bodily absence from heaven so much as the Father's hidden face. And it suits the believer at times, when he mourns most of all for the absence of any tokens of the Lord's special presence, in himself or the church around.

From verses 1 to 4 we have the strong appeal of one who feels the darkness in which he is enveloped by the absence of special tokens of God's love. Our Lord uses the argument of God's "truth and righteousness," in seeking an answer; and so we, his members, appeal to these same perfections, in our expostulations with our God, warranted by 1 John 1:9, "He is faithful and just to forgive us." And then the deprecation in verse 2,

"And enter not into judgment with thy servant,"

is, in our Lord's lips, equivalent to "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" Do not argue the case with me (see Job 9:32, and 22:4, and 34:23), to shew me that there is cause for all this darkness. I know there is a cause; the cause is the sin which I have undertaken to bear, "For before thee shall no living one be justified"—not one of all descended from Adam. (Compare כֹל־חַי here with Gen. 3:20, when Eve's posterity got that name after the Fall.) But my appeal is to thy "truth and righteousness," which are engaged to carry me through; and my need of help is great.

"For the foe is pursuing (רֹדֵף) my soul!" (Ver. 3.)

And then, as if overtaken in the pursuit, he cries, "He has smitten my life to the ground! He has made me stand in deep darkness, like one eternally dead (Hengst); and my spirit is overwhelmed (Psa. 102, title, and 142:4) within me; my heart in the midst of me is desolate."

At verse 5, there is a gleam of light through the "darkness;" he recalls to mind God's love manifested to Israel in former days.

At verse 6, there is a renewed appeal to the Lord's pity, drawn from his state, resembling "a weary land"—(אֶרֶץ עֲיִפָה like Isa. 32:2)—a land where a traveller's strength is exhausted by the rough roads and crooked paths, and the oppressive heat of the sun's intolerable rays. It was thus our Surety learned by experience to sympathise with us; and thus it was he became the "shadow of a great rock in a weary land." He here calls the Father to notice his self-emptying and humiliation, while bearing wrath for our sins;

"My soul is to thee (see Hebr.) as a weary land."

At verses 7 and 9 he seeks speedy relief; and the clause, "Make me to know the path I should walk in" is similar to the "If it be possible" in his prayer in the garden. In the case of one of his members, the words have of course a different application, and yet one resembling his in the circumstance, that it is a petition for guidance under our personal difficulties.

At verse 10 do we not hear, "Not my will, but thine be done," mingled with the filial accents of confidence, "My God!"

But at verses 11, 12, the prospect opens out on future glory. The Spirit, that same "loving," or "good Spirit" who instructed Israel (Nehem. 9:20), that same "eternal Spirit by whom he offered himself without spot to God," shall lead him forth from those scenes, and place him

"In the land of uprightness."

The land of plainness (מִיֹשׁוּר), a land where no wickedness of men, and malice of Satan, vex the soul from day to day; a land where no rough paths and crooked turns lengthen out the traveller's weary journey, (see ver. 5); but where all is like the smooth pasture lands of Reuben (Deut. 3:10, Josh. 13:9), a fit place for flocks to lie down. "Thy Spirit" will do this in his love, when "my Spirit" (ver. 7), my overwhelmed human soul, seemed ready to fail. Thou wilt be to me what thou wert to David, in "bringing his soul out of all distress" (1 Kings 1:29), and establishing him on his throne. All foes shall be extirpated, (תַּצְמִית). Is not this the kingdom come, and its King exalted! And is not this a song alike for the Head and the members?

A prayer of the Righteous One, when feeling the heat of the weary land.

PSALM 144

1–15 THE Spirit of the Lord spake by David the words of this song, when the king felt his need of the King of kings to subdue the turbulent and proud spirits who were ambitious of distinction (ver. 2), as well as to conquer the nations of idolaters who hated God's anointed, (ver. 7–11). The Spirit leads him back to the day when he sang Psa. 18 (see ver. 1, 2), the day when he was delivered from Saul and other foes; and still farther back to the quiet night when the strains of Psa. 8 ascended to the ear of Jehovah, (see ver. 3); but he does not fail also to lead him forward to a future day, when earth shall witness its millennial scenes, among which not the least wonderful and refreshing shall be Israel in all the restored plenty of his last times, with the favour of Jehovah over all. In all this, David was the type of Christ.

Jehovah's grace to man is the theme of verses 1, 2; that expression, "My goodness," חַסְדִי, may be understood as if declaring that all the kindness or mercy that is in God is made over to his own people; q. d., all in thee that is kind is my property.

Man's unworthiness and littleness are the theme of verses 3, 4—the contrast to the preceding verse. The Hebrew of verse 4, "man is a vapour," reads suggestively אָדָם לַהֶבֶל, recalling the disappointment of the first family on earth; q. d., all come of Adam are as sure to disappoint, and to be disappointed, in the fond hopes cherished concerning them, as Abel, so short-lived, and untimely in his end.

God's strength laid hold upon by his own against foes is the theme of verses 5–8. The God of Sinai is remembered in verse 5; and the ease with which he can overwhelm his foes is expressed, verse 6, "Lighten with lightning," and forthwith they are scattered, (ἀστραψον ἀστραπην.—Sept.). The "right hand of falsehood," verse 8, expresses the violation of solemn oaths and engagements, in ratifying which the right hand was lifted up to heaven, (Gen. 14:22). Hence Tholuck renders it, "Their oaths are perjuries." With majesty and might, with lightning and fire like this, shall the Lord appear, when he arises at last to the final conflict.

Praise and prayer, in prospect of victory, form the matter of verses 9–11. And here "The New Song" is mentioned, which "New Song" is ever sung by one whose eye is on that vail which was rent—looking either at the Saviour going in with the sacrifice, or coming out the second time to bless.

The happy scene to be witnessed, when these desires are responded to, is the subject of verse 12, to the end. Do all this for us, in answer to our prayer, so that, as a consequence of this deliverance.

"Our sons may be as plants (of the palm-tree, says the Targum),

Vigorously shooting up in their youth;

Our daughters like corner-columns,

Polished like a palace."

Others take this last clause to contain an allusion to the costly stones so carefully prepared for the building of the Temple: "hewn for the building of the Temple." These are the choice of men! each one full of life and beauty, walking before the Lord.

"Our granaries full, supplying one kind of food after another;"

like Egypt in Joseph's days. It is a scene of plenty, as if the curse were lifted off the soil.

"Our flocks increased to thousands,

Increased to thousands in our fields." (חוּצוֹת, Job 5:10.)

Here are the pastures peopled with their appropriate tenants, and a scene of peaceful plenty is set before us. And then follow the yoked cattle, carrying their loads through the streets—a token of busy commerce.

"No breach" in the tribes, like Judges 21:15; or in individuals, like Uzzah, 2 Sam 6:8.

"No going forth" to war.

"No cry" like that in Isa. 24:11, over disasters.

Happy days when these scenes are realised! Happy people who shall enjoy them. Men shall in that day exclaim with Balaam, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob!"—or rather, all shall then unite in tracing the blessing to its fountain-head,

"Blessed are the people whose God is Jehovah."

Every member of Christ may take up this Psalm in behalf of his own country and people—yea, in behalf of our common humanity, praying for the day when all earth shall enjoy these blessings, by enjoying Jehovah as their God. It is a prospect that awaits the world when Christ returns; and our expectation of such happiness in reserve for our world is kept alive by a song like this,

A prayerful song of David, and David's Lord, anticipating the prosperity which Jehovah brings to his own.

PSALM 145

1–21 THE well-known 45th Psalm sang of the King in his beauty: this 145th is a hymn of praise concerning the reign of Jehovah, and his kingdom. It is a Davidic and an alphabetic Psalm. In regard to its alphabetic structure, it has one peculiarity, viz. the "nun" is omitted; the reason of which may be, that (as we have seen in some other Psalms of this structure) by means of that, or some other such omission, we might be kept from putting stress on the mere form of the composition.

It is peculiar, also, in its title; indeed, quite unique—"Of David; praise." The word is תְהִלָּה. Some render this "a hymn;" others, such as Hengstenberg, "a praise-song," differing in this from the תְפִלָּה), the "prayer-song." It is prayer turned into praise. Patrick remarks, that the term seemed so peculiar and excellent that it was given from this Psalm to the whole book, which is entitled by the Jews, the book of תְהִלִּים. Bythner has this note on the word—"So called because it is throughout nothing but the celebration of God; so that the ancient Jews used to say, that the man was already enjoying the felicity of the age to come who daily recited it three times with the mouth and heart." We are getting now beyond the region of former themes; all in the remaining Psalms is praise, praise; and this title is an appropriate introduction to the closing group of praise-psalms. Nor is its burden less appropriate; for, being a song of the kingdom, it ushers us into the region of eternal praise.

It is a song for all saints. But we may say also, What a song in the lips of Christ for the Father's ear! What a song to soothe his own soul, when still "man of sorrows!" For the prospect is presented here of the kingdom made manifest, so that all see the glory of the Lord. It is a Psalm that gathers up much of the excellency of former Psalms; and so truly is the style of royalty and the manner of a kingdom in it, that we find, in after days, the writer of the Book of Esther using expressions regarding the king and kingdom of Media and Persia, that bear a striking resemblance to the terms employed by the Psalmist—only the one speaks of an earthly, and the other of the heavenly throne.

1. The harp extols Jehovah for what He is, in verses 1–3, "My God, O King!"—rather, "My God, who art THE KING." It is much more emphatic than Psa. 5:3, "My God, and my King;" here he is sung of as the only King. We are reminded at once of Psa. 45:2, "My words concern the King." Of this God and King the Psalmist sings, that he is unlike all idols. He is self-existent, and infinite, and so the greatness of any of his perfections cannot be told. He is eternal and unchangeable; for he must be celebrated "For ever and ever." And all this he is in his very being or essence, for he is "Jehovah." All he does is so wisely done, that for all he is to be praised. And his deeds display such power! Righteous too, is He, and yet abounding in love, kindness, and grace.

"Yes, let me bless (וַאֲבָרְכָה) the name forever and ever," (comp. 1 Pet. 1:3, &c.).

Every day will I bless thee (comp. Psa. 19:2);

Yes, let me praise (וַאֲהַלְלָה—q. d., let me Hallelujah) thy name for ever and ever!"

Great is Jehovah; and (מְהֻלּל) worthy to be praised!" (ver. 1–3)

How many terms of adoration and honour! Praise, praise, is on his lips; the harp-strings will utter nothing but praise; for "of his greatness there is no searching out," (comp. Job 5:9).

2. The harp extols the deeds that shew Jehovah's name, in verses 4–6, or what He is.

"Generation to generation shall commend his works.

Yea, they shall declare his mighty acts." (Ver. 4)

Compare Psa. 19:2, "day unto day" uttering the Lord's praise in creation. But here it is both creation-works and redemption-wonders that are shewn; for גְבוּרוֹת cannot fail to remind us of the acts of Him who overthrew Israel's foes, and of Him whose name is גבּוֹר, "Mighty One" (Psa. 45:3), and "Mighty God," (Isa. 9:6). His mighty acts, in establishing his kingdom on earth upon the ruins of Antichrist's dominion, shall form part of the theme. And that is the time when, in a special sense, the next clause shall be understood, though it may apply in some degree to his creation-works:

"Of the majesty of glory (which is), thy beauty,

And of the chronicles of thy wondrous acts, let me speak." (Ver. 5.)

O how his beauty shall burst forth when the King appears with his many crowns! And if Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, amid gorgeous splendour, suggested to his people to cry, "A god, not a man!" what shall creation feel at this sight? The Lord's beauty, הוֹד (a word applied to creature-beauty in Hos. 14:6, Zech. 10:3), is here emphatically exalted beyond comparison by the addition of "the glory of thy beauty;" aye, and "the majesty of the glory." And then the "Chronicles (דִבְרֵי) of thy windrous acts" is a term applied in 1 Chron. 27:24, 1 Kings 11:41, to the acts of Solomon and David, the journals or records made of their deeds; even as it is in Esther 6:1, to the king of Persia. The terms all bear reference to royalty and government. Then he adds that in all these coming ages there will be a company of those who delight to record the manifestation of his name in his deeds.

"They shall speak of the overwhelming might (עֶזוּז) of thy terrible acts," (Ver. 6)

done in past days, such as Israel has delighted to tell to their children (Psa. 78:4), even such as He did at the Red Sea (Exod. 15:11, נוֹרָא, as here), and upon the cities of the plain, as well as on the nations of Canaan.

"And thy greatness, I will recount it!"

Leave me to declare, or recount, the manifestations of his "Greatness." While other men are uttering praise, the Psalmist catches up the theme, as one which he must appropriate to himself—that "greatness" spoken of in 1 Chron. 17:9, when he sat before the Lord—that royal greatness which a Persian king's wealth and magnificence would faintly shadow forth (Esther 1:4, "excellency of his greatness") when taken as an emblem. But it is chiefly here the display of his greatness in acts of kindness that he is to shew.

3. The harp extols Jehovah's past manifestation of His gracious character, in verses 7–9. The first words in verse 7 are, "They shall four out (as from a gushing spring, Psa 19:2) the memory of thy great goodness;" and perhaps we ought to understand the clause as asserting that the Lord's "great goodness" is itself the "ֶכֶר," the thing to be remembered concerning Him—His memorial, as in Exod. 3:15, Psa. 102:12. And then there is allusion to Exod. 34:6, Numb. 14:8, in verse 8.

"The Lord is gracious and merciful,

Slow to anger and abundant in goodness (חֶסֶד)."

The very words of Exod. 3:4, though unfortunately altered in our version; and the more to be noticed, as verse 4, "Thy goodness," is טוּבךָ corresponding so exactly to Exod. 33:19, טוּבִי The God who was thus gracious in the wilderness to his people remains the same evermore. And this is He who at Calvary, in his incarnate Son, manifested his gracious name. We, in our day, turn to the sacrifice of Calvary, as best displaying his great goodness, his memorial, and we sing of "his righteousness" as shining there.

"The Lord is good to every one;

And his yearning bowels are over all his works." (Ver. 9.)

He attends to individual souls, and yet also bends, like the blue sky, over all his universe in mercy. His mercies, like the rainbow, span the world. We see this at the rock of Horeb (Exod. 34); but we see it best of all at Calvary. What yearnings there!—what love!—what goodness! And the "whole creation" shall yet have a share in that mercy, when the time spoken of in Rom. 8:19–21 has arrived.

4. The harp extols Jehovah's kingdom in verses 10–13. All he has created, and all he has wrought in providence, has been of such a character as to yield him a revenue of praise; and his saints act as his priests, presenting the praise. But this will be peculiarly the case when the kingdom is manifested.

"They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom,

And shall talk of (chronicle, as ver. 5) thy might (see ver. 4),

Making known to the sons of men thy mighty acts;

And the glory of the majesty of thy kingdom." (Ver. 11, 12.)

The writer of Esther 1:4 says, "While he shewed them the riches of the glory of his kingdom"—a kingdom which was to last only a season. May we suppose that that writer, a man of Israel, was led to use these terms, with this Psalm in his hand, purposely in order to suggest by contrast the infinite difference between that earthly monarch's splendour, and the glory of the God of Israel? The Persian monarch's display lasted 180 days, and when its half-year was over, the splendour had vanished; whereas Jehovah's is (as Dan. 4:31)

"A kingdom of all eternities—

"In every generation and generation." (Ver. 13.)

5. The harp extols the qualifications of Him who reigneth in verses 14–19,

"The Lord is an upholder to all that are falling,

And maketh all that are bowed down to stand upright." (Ver. 14.)

Those in distress and trouble are meant by the "falling," as in Prov. 13:16, 17; and who the "bowed down" are, we see by Psa. 57:7, where the Psalmist's soul is nearly overwhelmed by the thought of snares and foes shutting him in. Rejoice, O saints! though ye are feeling disaster and calamity, and are sore distressed, your Lord is coming to put all things in order. He is the uplifter of a fallen World; he will not break the bruised reed. The world shall soon hear no sigh, no murmur, no voice of weeping; for his unsuffering kingdom is at hand! He has provision for all (ver. 15, 16); he is more than was Joseph in Goshen, to his own and to all creation. And he acts on the holiest principles of administration (ver 17), while giving access and audience to his subjects who seek his presence, (ver. 18). Yes, he will satiate their weary souls, and leave not one wish ungratified—not one craving, not one longing—"He will accomplish the desire of those that fear him," (ver. 19).

6. The harp sings the safe arrival in the kingdom (2 Tim. 4:18) of his saints, and the ruin of those who resist His kingdom, in verse 20. There is a reference to the day of the Lord's Coming, when his Israel reach the safe shore, and see the Pharaohs that pursued them overwhelmed in the deep. When he is spoken of as preserving the souls that love him, while "destroying the wicked ones," the word for "destroy" is the same (יַשְׁמִיד, the opposite of שׁוֹמֵר) as that in Deut. 2:12, 21, 22, where we are told of the extirpation of various nations; and the same used in Isa. 14:23, of Babylon's ruin; and the same in Esther 3:6, when Haman plotted to uproot Israel at one blow. Antichrist shall be consumed and "destroyed" by the brightness of the Lord's coming, and all that are on his side, in that day when the King establishes his holy kingdom. On the other hand, his saints shall be "preserved" (2 Tim. 4:18), not only from succeeding dangers, but from the grasp of death itself, and brought by resurrection into his kingdom.

7. The harp invites all to join the sweet singer in praise to the King, (ver. 21). We saw that the Psalm began by prefixing the peculiar title, "Praise," תְּהִלָּה), in order to excite attention, and tune our hearts for its lively, joyful, thrilling strains. And now it closes, uttering the same note—

"My mouth shall speak the praise (תְּהִלָּה) of the Lord,"

the praise of Him who at the Red Sea was known as "terrible in praises" (תְהִלּוֹת), and who is known by Calvary, and by scenes of judgment since then, and is to be known ere long in scenes that will never be forgotten. "Let all flesh bless the name of his holiness for ever;" let them cry, in response to the seraphim, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" for we are borne onward to the millennial day by this Psalm, which is so plainly

A praise-hymn concerning the kingdom of the Lord, and the Lord the King.

PSALM 146

1–10 THIS is the beginning of that closing series of Psalms which has been called "Hallelujah Psalms." The Septuagint ascribes this Psalm, and the three following, to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, but on what ground we know not. It seems probable, however, that they are nearly right as to the time of their composition; for it is likely that as the day of Christ's first coming approached nearer, the Holy Spirit did indite songs of Zion that were fuller of triumph and praise than any preceding ones, and so constructed them, too, that they might be used afterwards in prospect of the day of his Second Coming. In these latter Psalms, the tone is that of peace attained, and tribulation passed, for the most part. The Lord Jesus himself, as well as his followers, could take up this Psalm.

Jehovah's peculiar character, in contrast to all earthly princes, and benefactors, and friends, is the theme.

"I will praise Jehovah while I live;

I will play to my God so long as I am."

Confide not in earth's nobles, earth's princely ones, who are each of them but "a son of man" (אָדַם) returning to his אָדָמַה, dust;

"For salvation is not in any one of them;"

All their "thoughts," their schemes for good or for evil, pass away. Blessed the man who has Jacob's God (אֵל the strong one), "amid his help" (Psa. 118:7, 54:4); for he is Jehovah, maker of heaven, earth, and sea; and this Maker of heaven, earth, and sea, is the same

"Who keepeth truth for ever!"

Whatever he has promised to the sons of men, he will perform. Whatever he promised about "The Seed of the woman," he will perform it. Whatever he has spoken to David of the Son who was to sit on his throne, he will fulfil. Whatever he has declared by his prophets regarding Israel, he will accomplish—"the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham," (Mic. 7:20). Yes, the truth shall assuredly be kept; and there is mercy too, there is love, there is grace in this truth. For verses 7–9 describe the same Jehovah acting for men in accordance with his truth. We, in our day, read the words, and at every step we see their verification in the incarnate Son of God; even as Jesus, in singing those words when on earth, would have reference to himself as the great illustration of each clause (Luke 18:35; Matt. 9:27), and as he may have thought upon them when he gave that answer to John's disciples, Matt. 11:4, 5, q. d., all that characterises Jehovah has been done by me. Did not Jesus relieve "all that were oppressed of the devil" (Acts 10:38), as a sample of verse 7; and did he not "give food to the hungry," (John 6)? Did Jesus not set free "the prisoners" when he beheld the Bethesda man, bound for thirty-eight years (John 5), and when he sent his angel to set Pete free, (Acts 12)? How often did he "open the eyes of the blind!" and the literally "bowed down" he made straight (Luke 13:16), as well as the spiritually laden (Matt. 11:20); and, in spite of their low condition, "he loved the righteous"—for a fisherman of Galilee lay on his bosom; his parables told of a diseased Lazarus; and there was a Lazarus of Bethany, in whom he delighted. We know his care "of the stranger;" for we read of his words to the Syrophenician, and to the Samaritan leper (Luke 17:16–19); while "the widow" of Nain, and his tender words in John 14:18, tell how he "restored" (יְעוֹדֵד) to cheerfulness the orphan and the widow. His Second Coming shall tell what his purging the temple intimated (John 2:15, Matt. 21:12), namely, how

"He overturneth the way of the wicked."

This is he who is "King" for ever! This is "thy God, O Zion," who shall be thine to all generations. The mention of such a King and God may well draw forth another "Hallelujah!" a "Hallelujah" such as we hear again in Rev. 19:1–6, when "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." For "that great voice of much people in heaven" fully accords in spirit, and may be joined with the Psalm before us, uttering, as it does,

Rapturous praise, in contrasting all Earth's great ones with Jehovah the King.

PSALM 147

1–20 THE God of Israel, what he has done, what he does, what he can do—this is the "Hallelujah" note of his song. So gladsome is the theme, that in verse 1 we find a contribution for it levied on Psa. 33:1, 92:1, and 135:3; each must furnish their quota of testimony to the desirableness of giving praise to such a God.

The theme is stated in verse 2, and then expatiated upon onwards to the end of verse 11, where the Septuagint finish the Psalm, casting the remaining verses into a Psalm by itself. It is probably one of those songs of Zion which the Holy Ghost gave to Israel under Nehemiah and Ezra, when the circumstances of that partial restoration furnished an appropriate occasion for celebrating the joy of the still greater restoration in the latter days, when Messiah should go up at the head of them.

Let us remark upon verse 4. It sets forth the true greatness and grandeur of Israel's God, who can attend at once to every wound of every broken-hearted one, and to the glorious host of stars. This power of attending so carefully to what is minute is peculiar to Jehovah. And he "counts" or determines the number of the stars, just as he does the dust of Jacob (Num 23:10)—assigning each his "name," according to his quality, as Adam did to the creation in Paradise on a limited scale, (Gen. 2:20). His resources are inexhaustible, for "His understanding is infinite," as well as his "power."

"Sing to Jehovah a responsive song" (עֱנוּ).

like what we find in Nehem. 12:27–43. For he, the God of creation, feeds even the ravens (Luke 12:24 may be Christ's quotation of these words), disagreeable as these ravens often seem to man; and, judging not as man does, he delights in his children's reverend faith, not in displays of warlike pomp and military valour (ver. 10)—yes, in his children's godly fear, and in their hope also.

"In the hopers for his mercy."

Is not this equivalent to Jude 21, "who look for the mercy of the Lord Jesus" at his coming; and in 1 Pet. 1:13, "who hope for the grace that is to be brought them at the appearing of Jesus Christ." And it is at that day when (ver. 12–14) shall be fully realised, Israel getting back again "the fat of wheat," as Moses sang, (Deut. 32:14). On that day they will remember how, long ago, they had appealed to Jehovah as able to reverse their captivity, even as he changed night unto day, winter into summer, the floods into dry land, (Psa. 74:15–17). He who commands and forthwith snow appears, and who summons the frost to serve him and then dissolves it (see ver. 15–18), he it is who reverses Israel's desolation, sending his word, relaxing their bonds, and causing rivers of milk and honey to flow in their land, and themselves walk on the shady banks. This is the God of Israel, who selected his people as a peculiar people, in ages past, "declaring his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel"—the, revealer of the way of salvation, and the appointer of the types that foreshadowed better things, all which Israel enjoyed. He has been sovereign from the first; he will act in sovereignty to the last. In times past, "He dealt not thus with any heathen nation;" and to the end it will be seen that he has done for Israel, in sovereign grace, more than he has done for all other peoples. "Hallelujah," then! Let a sovereign God be praised on earth now, even as he shall be by the "voice of much people in heaven" (Psa. 19:1), who see him glorified in his mysterious dealings and terrible judgments. Let us take up this calmly triumphant song of

Israel's praise to the sovereign Jehovah, who blesseth and rejoiceth over their nation restored to prosperity.

PSALM 148

1–14 THE Apocrypha has borrowed from this Psalm the supposed song of the three Hebrew youths in the fiery furnace. It is Israel's uncontrollable burst of praise at the thought of him who makes them "a people near to him;" a priestly people (see Levit. 10:3; Ezek. 42:13; Deut. 4:7; and Num. 16:5–9). How they rejoice before him in the latter day; restored from their wanderings! One great deed of a benefactor excites us to draw the attention of others to him, and inclines us to dwell upon all that is in him; and so it is here with Israel in this "Hallelujah." They call for praise "from the heavens;" they bid those "in the heights" give praise; "all angels," of whatever rank, "all his hosts" with one accord. Sun at noon, moon at midnight, stars so bright (the visible host of the sky, as the angels are the invisible), "heaven of heavens," where is the orbit of the planet and the path of the comet, and the track of every star; "waters above the heaven," or firmament,* the clouds of the sky—unite ye in one song of praise! Do ye wonder at this summons? "Why should ye? (Gen. 1:7.)

"For he commanded and they were created,"—

Yes, even angels; for, as Augustine says, in Psa. 71:19, "Ne putes hominem solum pertinere ad gratiam Dei. Quid erat Angelus antequam fieret? Quid est angelus, si deserat qui creavit?" Again, then, he takes up the call—and now it is as if one from heaven looked down to earth and summoned it to praise, as before it was one on earth looking upward to heaven. "Praise ye Jehovah from the earth!" Ye sea-monsters, or great whales (Gen. 1:21), and ye floods wherein they swim; heat and cold, white snow and dark smoke (Gen. 19:20; Psa. 119:83, Hengstenberg); strong wind that, amid apparent anarchy, dost his will; mountains, and more lowly hills, diversifying the face of earth; ye palms and pomegranates, fruit-trees, ye firs and pines, "cedars of every kind;" wild beasts and tame; reptiles and fowls of every wing, whether small as the wren, or majestic as the eagle—unite in one song of praise! All the more because ye, too, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, and have your share in the millennial liberty of the sons of God, (Rom. 8:21).

As in creation, so here, man appears on the scene last of all, just because chief of all.

"Kings of earth, and all ye tribes,

Princes, and all earth's judges."

Young men, who are in your strength; maidens in your beauty; old men, with lips of age dropping wisdom; children, who can only lisp his name—all of you join, for there is no name exalted but his alone. "His beauty is over earth and heaven"—his beauty (הוֹד, Psa. 145:5), his splendour, sheds its beams now over the earth as well as heaven. For the times of refreshing are come.

And of all men, none should so extol him as his peculiar people Israel. For,

"He hath raised up a horn for his people."

He has fulfilled the words of Zechariah, (Luke 1:69). Messian has come; Messiah, with all the blessings purchased at his first coming, is now made known to Israel, and has pushed Israel's enemies off the field. And he who is this horn is "the theme of praise" to the peculiar people, and to all saints besides, wherever found, though none have more reason than Israel to adore and love him who saves the chief of sinners, and in sovereignty exalts the stiffnecked people to preeminence among the nations, making them a people to קְרֹבוֹ "His intimate friend" as Psa. 38:12; 75:2; Job 19:14.

"The theme of praise (as Deut. 10:21, הוּא תְהִלָּתְךָ) to all his saints.

To the children of Israel, a people near to him!"

"Hallelujah!"

Surely the "great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah!" (Rev. 19:1) will present an appropriate response to the call in verses 1–6. And not less does their summons to men on earth (Rev. 19:5, 6) accord with the call in verses 7–13. Indeed, there is the very tone and energy of heaven in this glorious burst of praise—

Israel's rapturous burst of adoration to Him who makes them a people near to him.

PSALM 149

1–9 THIS Hallelujah Psalm begins somewhat in the strain with which the preceding one closed. In Psa. 148:14, not Israel only, but "all saints" were represented as giving honour to him who had in sovereign grace redeemed his people; and so here, while Israel are called on as peculiarly indebted to Jehovah, yet all saints are joined with them in the triumphant song.

"Sing to Jehovah a new song;

Let his praise he in the congregation of saints." (Psa. 148:14.)

Are we not carried away to the scene in Rev. 5:9, to the "new song" to the Lamb who takes the book and opens its seals, and claims possession of earth? Let all saints accord in this great hymn of triumph. Yet let Israel not fail to lift up their voice above all others, for they have been peculiarly honoured, and are above all others exalted. "Let Israel rejoice in him that MADE HIM," i. e., made him what he is, as Deut. 32:6; Isa. 56:5; Job 35:10. "Let Zion's children rejoice in their King" who takes them under his special protection, and deigns to be specially called "King of the Jews."

"Praise His name in the dance,

Play to Him with timbrel and harp;"

as David before the ark (2 Sam. 6:5, 14, 15), and as Jephthah's daughter welcoming her sire, (Judges 11:34). For the Lord "gloriously helps the wretched" (say some), or better far, "Beautifies the meek with salvation," i. e., with all the spoils of that victory which he has achieved.

"Let his saints exult in joy!"—

No longer obscure, despised, the offscouring of all things, but glorious in the glory of their King, let them joyfully exult. And "on their couches," when resting from active work and meditating on the Lord's ways (not as Psa. 37:14, nor Psa. 4:4 even; but in loftier and happier themes) "let them sing."

"High praises loudly sung,

The two-edged sword waved aloft!"

The "exaltings" or "extollings" seem to refer us to all previous psalms therein worshippers have said—"I will extol thee, O God," for the root is the same; and here, "in their throat," as it is in the Hebrew, is equivalent to speaking aloud, like Isa. 48:1; the very opposite of the heathen's dumb idols, Psa. 115:7. And what is the "TWO-EDGED SWORD?" Is it not the peculiar symbol of Messiah? As Bunyan represents his captains with their escutcheons—Captain Boanerges, with three burning thunderbolts; Captain Execution, with the axe lying at the foot of the tree—so we may say that the escutcheon of the King that cometh to avenge his Father's honour, is the two-edged sword: for thus we find it in Rev. 1:16, 2:12, as well as Heb. 4:12; and we may add Rev. 19:15. It is the Ehud-dagger (Judg. 3:16) that slays the oppressor. The time is come for this now. "The meek" (ver. 4) put on salvation-strength; and their King associates them with himself in the battle. It is like Rev. 2:26–27, and 3:21, even as "beautifying with salvation" is like Rev. 2:28. Some, indeed, confine this to Israel, and compare Jer. 51:20, 21. But as we find "all the saints" associated in the work, we prefer the view that makes verses 6–9 to refer to "the saints judging the world." They are figuratively said to lift up the "two-edged sword" because they join with Messiah in inflicting the fourfold vengeance, (Deut. 32:41). At the same time, Israel in the flesh shall be acting a part analogous to that of their King and his heavenly hosts, (Ezek. 38, Zech. 14).

What an echoing back of this song is Rev. 19:1–6, with all its "Hallelujahs!" Israelis the chief musician, or rather, their King. Messiah himself leads the praise; but it is for the lips of the whole congregation of his redeemed—"This honour is to all his saints." Still, sovereign grace puts Israel prominently forward; so that we cannot fail to see in this Psalm,

Triumphant praise from Israel, because of their King and all his saints subduing the nations.

PSALM 150

1–6 WHEN men presume to dictate to the Spirit of God, how deep their fall; as we see in the apocryphal attempts at writing books of scripture to be added to the genuine word of God. So it happens here, also; for the Septuagint have not been content to close the Book of Psalms with this most lofty and sublime doxology, but have added a psalm about David's history—a tame piece of prose* that surprises every one by its in-appropriateness in such a position. But the true close is the 150th Psalm, of which it may be said, that as the preceding one ushered us into the presence of the King, and placed us with, him in his kingdom, this leaves us in it, singing endless "Hallelujahs."

Augustine ingeniously notices, that "Psalm 50th was one of repentance; Psalm 100th" (i. e., in the Septuagint-reckoning our 101st) "is about mercy and judgment; but the 150th is the praise of our God in his sanctuary; for there we arrive at life eternal and blessed." Hengstenberg remarks—"As the life of the faithful, and the history of the Christ, so also the Psalter, with all its cries from the depths, rims out in a Hallelujah!" Dr Allix says of it—"It relateth to Messiah's reign, when every thing that has breath, or was made by him, shall be subjected to him." Horsley says of it—"A grand chorus of all voices, and all instruments!"

Patrick has a not uninteresting note on the many instruments of music in Psalm 149, which we quote here. "The ancient inhabitants of Etruria used the trumpet; the Arcadians, the whistle; the Sicilians, the pectid; the Cretians, the harp; the Thracians, the cornet; the Lacedemonians, the pipe; the Egyptians, the drum; the Arabians, the cymbal." (Clem. Pædag. ii. 4) May we not say that in this Psalm's enumeration of musical instruments, there is a reference to the variety which exists among men in the mode of expressing joy, and exciting to feeling? All nations, come and praise! Use every energy, for praise! Men in every variety of circumstances, men of every various mood, men of all capacities, come and praise! Each in his own way, sing "Hallelujah!" And in the words of another—"The Church composed of many different members, all actuated, like the pipes of a well-tuned instrument, by the same spirit, will become one great instrument, sending forth the praises of God Most High."

"Praise ye יָה"—the peculiar name of God in covenant with Israel.

"Praise ye אֵל"—the name that implies dominion over all the earth.

I. Where shall His praise be uttered? In his sanctuary, where every thing speaks of redemption; and in the firmament, which his might has spread forth between earth and heaven, on the platform of creation.

II. Why? Because of his deeds as the Mighty One*—those beams of glory inexpressible; and because of the "multitude of His greatness"—that Source of all these beams, his own nature in itself.

III. Wherewith? With every instrument—with trumpet, psaltery, harp, soft timbrel, pipe, stringed instruments, and wind-instruments; with cymbals, softly played (שָׁמַע that do not overpower the voice of the singer); and with cymbals of jubilee, (2 Sam. 6:5). Not merely an instrument of ten strings, as at other times, but ten distinct instruments are called for; and twelve times is the call uttered, "Praise ye!" הְלִלוּ. Twelve times; so that each tribe is summoned, and then all the universe besides, to use their voice.

"Let every thing that hath breath, praise Jehovah!"

All creation is summoned to take part, and angels too; for they have interest in our redemption scenes—since He is to "reconcile all things to himself, whether they be things on earth, or things in heaven" (Col. 1:20).

What magnificence and majesty in this close! Praise gathered in from every creature; every instrument of joy, and gladness, and triumph, and jubilee, summoned to sound loud praise; and every heart and voice engaged to help the choir. "Every voice teems with praise; every thought is about praise; every object awakens it; every power uses itself for His service" (Meditat. on Psalms). And no wonder, when we remember that we are ushered into the kingdom. "The Levites have changed their service now; no longer have they burdens to bear through the wilderness; but they lift up new songs in the house of the Lord. The heavens have changed their glory too; they have ended their laughter at the proud confederates (Psalm 2:3); and are now filled with joy and singing, and with that glory which is to break forth from them, and be a covering over all the dwellings of Zion, (Isa. 4). These are days of heaven upon the earth! The kingdom has come; and the will of the Blessed is done here as there. The mystic ladder connects the upper and the lower Sanctuaries. Praise crowns the scene. The vision passes from before us with the chanting of all kinds of music. Man has taken the instrument of joy into his hand; but it is only to God's glory he strikes it. The creature is happy; God is glorified; yes, praise, all praise! untiring, satisfying fruit of lips uttering the joy of creation, and owning the glory of the Blessed One" (Medit. on the Psalms, p. 195).

We close the Book with something of the feeling with which we suppose John came away from hearing "the voice of much people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah!" We seem to have been brought within hearing of heavenly melody, from heavenly harps and voices. Is not the closing verse taken up in Rev. 5:13—"And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever!" And again, in Rev. 19:6, 7, when the great multitude, with voice "as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings," cry, "Hallelujah: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come!"

May my voice be raised in that mighty thunder of praise, in the great congregation! rapturously uniting with Israel, and all the saints, in this grand chorus of the universe, this full-toned

Call upon the universe at large to praise Jehovah with heart, and soul, and mind, and might!

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MONERGISM BOOKS

Christ and His Church in the Book of Psalms by Andrew Bonar, Copyright © 2020

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