He was the God "who remembered us when we were brought low" (ver. 23.) He did thus to Israel in times when sin brought on chastisement, as in Judges ii., iii., iv., &c., or 2 Kings xiii. 4, xiv. 26, 27. In backsliding times he still kept hold of us, not forgetting us when we forgot him. Oh what mercy! Like the mercy of Him whose love changes not! The river flowed on day and night, even when we came not to draw! "And redeemed us (broke us off) from our enernies (ver. 24.) Grace interposed for the helpless, the doubly helpless; and redeemed the backsliding ones from the very adversaries that were 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 favour of 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. Indeed, we see how 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 much more certainly and truly is it with the Lord's people in their enjoyment of blessing. Their heart expands toward others; they would fain have all share in what they enjoy. They therefore cannot close their song without having in it another clause-Praise Him who is "The giver of bread to all flesh!" (ver. 25.) They had their manna; Not to Israel only does he give blessing. but, at the same time, the earth at large had 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 reigneth and dispenses bread of life to the new earth, as widely as he gave common food-" the feast of fat things to all nations (Isa. xxv. 10), as Fry suggests; for his mercy will not rest till this is accomplished. “O give praise (7) 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 comes 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 CXXXVII. 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." Perhaps we expected to find some notice prefixed, such as at other psalms, of the instrument used when it was set to music, such as, "On Gittith," or on Sheminith," when first the sound broke on 66 But the only instrument before .עַל-עַרְבִים and עַל-נַהֲרוֹת-our ear 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 these mentioned, 1 Chron. xv. 16. (Patrick.) 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 women 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. The lordly oppressors of Israel were then feeling retribution, 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 these who asked of them some stanza, at least, of some one song of Zion (D)— *«In the midst thereof," in the midst of her, (naina) means in the midst of the country. The four streams we have named, are four of these that Scripture speaks of in connexion with the captives. Alas! not four rivers of Paradise to them! "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 lift up Jerusalem On the top of my joy!" (ver. 5, 6.) They remember the past; and they know it is foretold (Isa. xxxv. 10) that one day they shall return to Zion with songs; 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 also in Lam. iv. 21. Babylon is next. The awful cry -66 against this foe, the Antichrist of that day, resembles Rev. xviii. 20, Rejoice over her!" The emphasis is to be put on "thee," and, in ver. 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 regarding 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. vii. 24), in pouring out the vial of wrath. Could our Master sing this song? ? If he identified himself with his people in Egypt, as we find him doing in Ps. lxxxi. 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, before Jerusalem, on the east ? " 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 CXXXVIII. David's harp again sounds; from this psalm onward to Ps. cxlv., where praises of every kind, and probably proceeding from various singers, close the Book. The theme is the promise made to David (Ps. lxxxix. 26, and. 2 Sam. vii. 28, which is in effect the same as Isa. lv. 3), “The sure mercies of David." It is the definite promise of a Saviour, 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 keynote of the psalm; and let us only recall 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 ver. 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 i. 14.) "For thou hast magnified, above all thy name, thy word, In the day when I called, and thou didst answer 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. vii. 9, and 23, a passage closely allied to this; viii. 13, xxiii. 18. In short, it is like as if one had said of Abishai (1 Chron. xi. 20), "You had a name among the three, but that last exploit of yours has raised you above all your previous name; or take Jer. xxxii. 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 ver. 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.) 66 They will sing upon," as if to say they will enter on these ways (Hengst.); or rather, AT, because of hearing such an account of Jehovah's dealings with men. In ver. 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 i. 51, 52.) This gracious Jehovah removes all my fears, whatever shall betide; for he will help me. In ver. 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. vii. 27, and what he asks is, to 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 it is written, "He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. i. 6.) Our Lord, the son of David, as well as David's Lord, would often, in the days of his flesh, use this appeal, and sing in man's behalf this glorious psalm; and shall we not take it up, now that "the Word" 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 CXXXIX. "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 ver. 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 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 keynote, 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 pur pose 66 My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, And on 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, ver. 14 sings— "I praise thee on this account, that I am greatly distinguished ! Marvellous are thy works! Yes, my soul perceives it well!" But now let us trace the thread of connexion that runs through the whole psalm. There is in ver. 1–6, adoration of Jehovah's omniscience. The Lord Jesus could sing it all; even verse 5, "too wonderful for me" (Prov. xxx. 18), was suitable to him as man, in his humiliation |