Alphabetic, Christ along the highway of Philistia, with the world all before him, where to choose his place of rest; and though he knows not where to lay his head, he journeys on, singing, "I will bless the Lord! I will bless Him at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Is he not recalling past experience as a source of encouragement, when he says, "I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears?" (Ver. 4.) The word for "They looked" ('37) in verse 5 is that used in Num. xxi. 9, when Israel looked to the serpent of brass; and in Zech. xii. 11, when they look on Him whom they pierced.* And in verse 6, "This poor man cried," is no other than himself;I who am thus using my harp to celebrate Him,-I who am an outcast,this poor man whom you see before you. In the same happy strain of faith the whole psalm flows on, till verse 20 rises to the height of confidence," He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken,"+-while the ruin of all his foes is foreseen as sure, "Evil shall slay the wicked." Could any circumstances afford a more suitable occasion for such a psalm being given to the Church? Taking advantage of David's peculiar state and feelings, the Holy Ghost gives to the Church a song that might suit her Head, the true David when He came, and might equally suit every member. Augustine writes: "Dicit Christus; dicat et Christianus ; because the Head and members agree so truly in feeling and experience. It is one of the alphabetic psalms, carefully arranged for the memory easily to grasp; and yet not so invariably regular as to cause us to think there is any mystery in that form of composition. It is interesting to note that the name of Jehovah occurs in each of the verses except three. Our Lord might use it all. He could as truly say, "This poor man cried," as David; for He could point to Gethsemane, and to many a night of "strong crying and tears," (Heb. v. 7). Who more than He could tell of the ministering angel (ver. 7), * In Isa. xlv. 22, the word is "Turn from other objects and fix your eye on me," as Ps. lxix. 16, and Exod. xvi. 10. † Some think this verse is referred to in John xiv. 36, and so infer that John understood the whole psalm of Christ throughout. since, after The Temptation, and at the season of the Garden agony, He obtained such help? And it was He who could say, “Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father, and He will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" Even (in ver. 11) the expression, "Ye children," comes from his lips more naturally than from any other, for He it is that has spoken of all God's family as " My little children.” The speaker would fain draw us to the Lord by telling us his own experience. We ought to connect verses 10, 11, together. "O fear the Lord; for with him is all that can satisfy your soul. Come unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Christ is he that utters to us the words of eternal life by revealing the Father; and his disciples follow in his steps. Having taught us this "fear of Jehovah,"-i. e., to cry "Abba, Father," and yet also to realise him as Jehovahtaught us, also, thereby what real life is,--he next points out the results. He shews us, in verses 12, 13, 14, the holy issues or effects of the fear of the Lord,-the lips, the life, the pursuit of the heart, all tending in a holy direction. After this all is safety to them (ver. 15–21), while "the Lord's face is with evil doers," as the Pillar Cloud was with Pharaoh, to destroy them. Prophetic The prophetic reference of this Psalm is in the close. There the anointed eye of David, and the Son of David, and all the reference seed of David, beholds the final end of these trials. The righteous arrive in the kingdom, not one bone broken,--even as Christ came down from the cross, not a bone of him broken, to shew the inability of his foes really to injure him. They see the wicked slain, and the haters of the Righteous One "pronounced guilty" and made desolate. Is not this leading us up to the throne whence the sentence goes forth, "Those mine enemies bring hither and slay them before me! Depart, ye cursed!" The harp of David thus celebrates, The Righteous One's experience of the Lord's love under * Dr Allix: "This Psalm containeth the praises which the Messias gives to his Father for having delivered him out of all his sufferings." Horsley : "Messiah exhorts to holiness and trust in God, by the example of his own deliverance." PSALM XXXV. A Psalm of David. 1 PLEAD my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: Fight against them that fight against me. 2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. 3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me : Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. 4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. 5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them. 6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord perse cute them. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, Which without cause they have digged for my soul. 8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares ; And let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. 9 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation. 10 All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee? Which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him? 11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. 12 They rewarded me evil for good, to the spoiling of my soul. 13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth : I humbled my soul with fasting; And my prayer returned into mine own bosom. 14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother. 15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not. They did tear me, and ceased not: 16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. 17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? Rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. 18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people. 19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. 20 For they speak not peace : But they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land. 21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, And said, Aha! aha! our eye hath seen it. 22 This thou hast seen, O Lord: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me 23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment! even unto my cause, my God and my Lord! 24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness ; And let them not rejoice over me. 25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah! so would we have it : Let them not say, We have swallowed him up. 26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves 27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: Which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant 28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long. THERE is this link of connection between this Psalm and the Connection. preceding, that in both we find "the bones" referred to; in the former as "not broken" (ver. 20), in the latter as "rejoicing" (ver. 16). In both, too, we find the angel of the Lord acting as the Lord's instrument. In the former the angel acts to protect and preserve (ver. 6), because the whole song is one of the Lord's care; but in the latter the angel acts in the way of vengeance, as an instrument in inflicting the Lord's wrath (ver. 5, 6), because the burden of the Psalm is an awful intercession against those who hate the righteous without cause. Throughout this is an awful Psalm. Let us read it as the Christ in it. words of the Lord Jesus, and what do we find? We find Him praying to the Father for help, and then consenting to the doom of his relentless, impenitent foes; yea, rather pronouncing the doom with his own lips, even as when He shall say to the barren fig-tree, "Cut it down," and to those on the left The plan. hand, "Depart." It is in that spirit He says:— “Let them be confounded. Let them be turned back. Let them be as chaff, Let the angel of the Lord smite them down. Let their way be dark. Let the angel of the Lord chase them." (Ver. 4, 5, 6.) This is their sentence, uttered by the lips of the Judge. It is not the wish of one who is revengeful; it is the utterance of justice, compelled by the state of the parties to speak in stern severity. Our Lord himself quotes verse 19, "they hate me Prophetic reference. without a cause," in John xv. 25, on the last evening he spent with his disciples before he suffered. For then he found himself in the very situation so strikingly described in verses 11, 12;---false witnesses rising up,-men rewarding his whole career of kindness by spoiling his soul. What a deeply affecting picture do verses 13, 14, 15, give of the Saviour's life for us. It may have been literally realised at Nazareth; Christ may have put on sackcloth when he heard of some one in sickness, fasting for the dying man whose soul he longed to save-none the less that the man was a foe. Jesus acted as if the man had been "friend or brother;" yea, he felt such grief as men usually feel only when a beloved "mother" dies. And so he felt for all this miserable world. But now, says he, when the day of my calamity has come, they do not sympathise with me :— They rejoice and gather together. They gather against me, the abjects ! Even those whom I knew not, tear me, and cease not. The vile, who mack for a cake (parasites), gnash their teeth at me." (Ver. 15, 16.) His cry ascends; his pleadings up go before the righteous Father, "Lord, bring back my soul from desolations caused by their ruinous plots. The vehement appeal (ver. 23), "My God, and my Lord!" may have been in Thomas's thoughts on that memorable occasion, John xx. 28. We have the answer in verses 26, 27 :— They are ashamed; they are clothed with shame.” This answer carries us forward to the day when they who rejected Him shall have as their portion "shame and everlasting contempt;" while they that favour his righteous cause "Shout for joy, and are glad; They cry continually, Let the Lord be magnified! Whose pleasure is the prosperity of his servants." Is not this the "Hallelujah" of the glorified redeemed? Is not this their shout of joy, when sorrow and sighing flee away? And, once more, is not this the sound of the Lamb's harp and voice we hear, when amid this jubilee of bliss he says, "And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness, Of thy praise, all the day long." |