16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. 17 O God, thou hast tanght me from my youth: And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. 18 Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; Until 1 have shewed thy strength unto this generation, And thy power to every one that is to come. 19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, Who hast done great things. O God, who is like unto thee! 20 Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, And shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. 23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; And my soul, which thou hast redeemed. 24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: For they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt. the singer. The Third Part of the Book of Psalms (according to the Jew- The tone and ish division) begins, not inappropriately, with a plaintive yet pleasant song for the time of our sojourning here, embracing both prospect and retrospect. Our Head could sing it too, when in all our affliction he was afflicted. It will be asked, however, how Christ could use such verses as verses 9 and 18, since these look forward apparently to the frailty of age. The reply to this felt difficulty is, that these expressions are used by him in sympathy with his members, and in his own case denote the state equivalent to age. His old age was ere he reached three-and-thirty years, as John viii. 57 is supposed to imply; for "worn-out men live fast.' Barclay seems to give the right sense in the following lines: “Grown old and weak with pain and grief Before his years were half complete.* Besides, the words signify, "Forsake me not from this time * Parkhurst (apud Fry), remarks, that pt, "old age," rather expresses the effect that age has on the body, than the time of life. Gesenius gives "decrepit, the chin hanging down," as the radical meaning, and compares it with the Latin " senex," which is said to be an abbreviation of "seminex," halfdead. In verse 18, also, is the head grown white. y References to old age. The plan. Verse Verse 16, onward, even were I to live to grey hairs." This is a view that conveys precious consolation to aged ones, who might be ready to say that Christ could not altogether enter into their feelings, having never experienced the failing weakness of age, the debility, the decay, the bodily infirmities so trying to the spirit. But this Psalm shews us that in effect he did pass through that stage of our sojourning, worn out and wasted in bodily frame and feeling, by living so much in so short a time. The aged members of his Church may find his sweet sympathy breathed out in Isaiah xlvi. 3, 4; and here they may almost see him learning the lesson in a human way, as he bends under the weight of our frailties. For this reason, among others, this psalm was specially prized by Robert Blair, one of our godly forefathers. He used to call it "His psalm.” Such expressions as verse 6, "continually," verse 8, "all the day,” verse 15, “all the day," may be illustrated by Augustine's comment :-"In prosperis, quia consolaris; in adversis, quia corrigis; antequam essem, quia fecisti; quum essem, quia salutem dedisti: quum peccâssem, quia ignovisti, quum conversus essem, quia adjuvisti: quum perseverâssem, quia coronâsti." The plan of the Psalm is interesting. We have, from verses 1-4, prayer; verses 5-8, motives for confidence; verses 9-13, prayer; verses 14-17, confidence expressed; verse 18, prayer; verse 19 to end, confidence largely declared. In verse 7, "wonder" is q. d, a monster, a prodigious sight. We are to understand verse 16 a little differently from our version. It may read thus (as lxvi. 13)— "I will go forward (thinking) upon the mighty deeds of the Lord Je- I will celebrate thy righteousness (in working these mighty deeds); Giving no glory to human skill and valour (Psalm xliv. 3), and Messiah and There are precious glimpses given us of Messiah's childhood Messiah. in verses 5, 6, 17, when we listen to this Psalm as sung by his lips. And then in the close, from verse 20 to 24, resurrectiondeliverance is the theme. The Head has enjoyed all that he anticipated; the members as surely will. Do we not see (verses 22-24) the ransomed company-the hundred and fortyfour thousand with the Lamb-on Mount Zion, and hear the harpers harping with their harps in that day's unclouded bliss? "I, toe (as well as angels), praise thee with the psaltery, Thy truth, O God! I chant thee with the harp, O Holy One of Israel! My lips rejoice when I sing of thee, And my soul which thou hast redeemed. Yea, my tongue (as well as that of angels) all the day speaketh of thy righteousness (see verse 16): For put to shame, sunk in confusion, are they who sought my hurt!” Antichrist and all foes are for ever ruined; Christ and his Church triumph and reign. This is the anticipation that leads to these closing strains of rapturous exultation. We may refer to Hebrews iii. 6, as suggesting the substance of the whole Psalm; for what else is it than The Righteous One's confidence of hope to the end? his company.. PSALM LXXIL A Psalm for Solomon. 1 GIVE the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. 2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judg ment. 3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. 4 He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, And shall break in pieces the oppressor. 5 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. The title. 7 In his days shall the righteous flourish ; And abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. 13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. And precious shall their blood be in his sight. 15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba : Prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised. 16 There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the moun tains ; The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 17 His name shall endure for ever! his name shall be continued as long as the sun : And men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. 19 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. 19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever: And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen. 20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. As in all the other titles expresses the order, the title, rib is by many (such as Rosenmuller, Tholuck, Hengstenberg) rendered, "A Psalm of Solomon." But what then of verse 20? It seems to leave just one alternative;—the Psalm is not David's directly (uttered, as some think, in connection with 2 Sam. xxiii. 1-5), but it must be David's indirectly; dictated to Solomon, and given forth by Solomon, who received it at David's lips for this end, and who says in the end, that his father's prayer will all be completely answered when this scene is realised. It would not ill suit the events of 1 Kings i., and it may be that the Holy Spirit gave this song to David's harp, as he resigned it to Solomon along with his crown, on occasion of his coronation in the valley of Gihon, so near the Upper Pool where Isaiah afterwards stood foretelling the birth of Immanuel, the true Solomon. In verse 1 the subjects pray for their King, the Church for The plan. her Head, as in Psa. xx. They ask that their anointed King, who is the Son of the King of kings,* may be sent forth to govern them. They ask this by requesting that all regal authority may be entrusted to him, and all regal qualifications imparted. They are referring, in this request, to the Lord's revealed will, to his decree given forth in Psa. ii. 6, 7, 8. It is as if they said, "Put thy statute-book into the hands of Him who is our King ; Clothe Him, thine own Son, with righteousness, that royal robe !” At the same time, it may be the Psalmist himself prayingDavid for Solomon, Messiah for himself. And then follows the glowing picture of anticipated blessedness, when this king begins his reign of righteousness. Israel's poets and prophets know of no golden age of which the very centre and life is not Messiah, God incarnate. Restored paradise has streams; Messiah is their fountain-head. Restored paradise must have an Adam that cannot fall, that its scenes may never suffer blight, nor its bowers be invaded by the old serpent the devil. Dr Allix rightly speaks of this Psalm being that of "The Church and synagogue concerning the glorious kingdom of Messiah at his Second Coming." How intensely tranquil, and yet intensely glowing, are all the scenes! If it be true that the mediaval hymn, "Dies ira, dies illa," (a hymn of man's composition), has exerted a solemnising and overawing influence upon thousands in whose ears it has been sung, sh uld not this glorious burst of song leave its never-effaced impressions of noon-bright hope, soon to be realised, on every saint who has a heart to feel? The hills and mountains (ver. 3) prominent in Israel's land, the hills and mountains, too, of earth at large, generally so barren, hills and mountains on which the feet of other messengers have often stood (Isa. xl. 9), but never any messengers so blest as those that visit them now-these hills and mountains display the signs of peace, viz., abundant produce, "because of righteousness"--because the Righteous One has come to dwell in this New Earth. Antichrist and all oppressors are * On Turkish coins, says Philipps, we find, "Sultan, son of the Sultan." |