press much more of triumph and victory on the part of God's despised ones; for the two passages run thus :-- Psalm liii. “There were they in great fear where no fear was, For God has scattered the bones of the encamper against thee. For God has despised them !" Psalm xiv. "There were they in great fear, For God is in the generation of the righteous. You shamed the counsel of the poor, Because the Lord is his refuge." Besides substituting "Elohim" for Jehovah throughout, the changes in the Psalm before us seems made on purpose to declare emphatically the complete overthrow of the ungodly. "Thou" is emphatic in verse 5, and like Isa. xxxvii. 22, the verse expresses victory over the ungodly. The term employed in verse 6 is to be noticed. In Psalm xiv. 6 it was, O that the salvation, ny, were come;" in this Psalm it is “salvations,” “mir,” full, entire deliverance. full, entire deliverance. On these grounds they may be right who suggest that Psalm xiv. (which see), may be read as the report of the Son of man regarding earth at his First Coming, and Psalm liii. as his description of its state and prospects at his Second. There is here certainly more said of the full victory; so that while we gave Psalm xiv. the title of "The Righteous One's view of earth and its prospects,' we are inclined to state as the contents of this The Righteous One's view of earth, and the victory of God's people. *Ryland says, "Psalm xiv. refers chiefly to God's enemies and their alarm ; this Psalm to God's people and their interests. The former contemplates judgments, the latter, deliverances. PSALM LIV. To the chief Musician. On Neginoth. Maschil. A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims came and said unto Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us? 1 SAVE me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength. 2 Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. 3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: They have not set God before them. Selah. 4 Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. 5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth. 6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O Lord, for it is good. 7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: And mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies. THE title is such as we have already met with, " On Neginoth" The title. and "Maschil;" and the occasion when it was first written is mentioned as the time when the men of Ziph informed against David. The burden of this Psalm is simply-to what quarter should The contents. one look for help in the time of trouble? Wholly to the Lord. "Save me by thy name" (ver. 1), reminds us of John xvii. 11. We are kept by the putting forth of God's perfections in our behalf, truth, mercy, love, power, wisdom, holiness. Our Lord was so kept by the Father, when he prayed in the words of verse 1, using them as his own, and giving his Church an instance in himself of that safe keeping. The Selah-pause of thoughtfulness in verse 3 is beautifully followed by "Behold" of verse 4. It is q. d., silent prayer followed by confidence of an answer. It is in verses 6 and 7 that the future dawns on our view. David, David's Son, and all who follow David's Son, may exult in the prospect of that sacrifice of thankfulness to be offered. When delivered out of all distress, we shall look with triumph on our enemies; for as Calvin remarks (quoted by Hengstenberg), “Only let the eye be pure, and we can piously and holily refresh ourselves with the manifestations of God's justice.' That will be the time of the hallelujah in Rev. xix. 1–4, all resulting from his name glorified, his name manifested a "good." (Ver. 6.) We have therefore in this short Psalm, The Righteous One's help found in the Lord's name. PSALM LV. To the chief Musician. On Neginoth, Maschil. A Psalm of David. 1 GIVE car to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication. 2 Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise; 3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked : For they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me. 4 My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. 5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. 6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. 7 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. 8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. 9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city. 10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. 11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets. 12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it : Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; Then I would have hid myself from him: 13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance! 14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked into the house of God in company. 15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: For wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them. 16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. 17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I And he shall hear my voice. pray, and aloud: cry 18 He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: For there were many with me. 19 God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. 20 He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: He hath broken his covenant. 21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. 12 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. 23 But thou, O God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction : Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in thee. and their Head THE title is the same as that of some former Psalms, "on Ne- The title. ginoth," "Maschil," and then "of David." We may read these strains as expressing David's feelings in some peculiar seasons of distress, and as the experience of Christ's Church in The members, every age; for we find much, very much, that accords altogether with humanity in a state of intensely stirred emotion, and affection wounded to the quick. Yet still it is in Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, that the Psalm finds its fullest illustration. His was the soul that was stirred to its lowest depth by scenes such as are described here. The quotation of Psa. xli. 9 by our Lord, is almost equivalent to a quotation of verse 13, they are so similar as to words. expressed It is the wickedness of the wicked that raises this mournful The feeling cry, and makes him say, “I mourn in my complaint;" or, " give free course to my sorrow." (Ver. 2.) It is not unlikely that our Lord, possessed as he was of true humanity, might often give utterance to this expressive wish (verse 6), “O that I had wings as a dove," when seeing the turtle-dove fly out from the olives of the Mount of Olives over guilty Jerusalem, the city wherein He saw "violence and strife"-" wickedness, deceit, and guile, never absent from her streets." Either there, or standing on some of the hills around Nazareth, He might witness the home-loving dove's swift flight,* and hear its peace-suggesting note, and be led to this utterance of strong feeling, not at all unfit for Him who so rejoiced in the thought, "And now I am no more in the world! Now I come to thee, Holy Father," (John xvii. 11). He to whom he was thought to bear so close a resemblance (Matt. xvi. 14), the weeping prophet Jeremiah, gave utterance to his wounded feeling in strains that naturally took a similar form, “Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place," though only that of the wayfaring man! (ix. 2). But the melancholy Psalmist here rises a degree beyond this— "I would remain in the desert." (Ver. 7.) And then there is the Selah-pause, as there is in the middle of Selah. The judgment pronounced. The deliverance. to share in verse 19, indicating the calm, solemn state of soul in which these things were uttered. The prayer in verse 9 reminds us of Babel, where the language of earth was divided that pride might be humbled for ever, and its aims irretrievably baffled; while verse 15, “go quick to hell,” at once recalls the doom of Korah and his company, who rejected the true High Priest, and the Lord's King in Jeshurun. Our Lord describes Israel in verse 13, "his own" nation (John i. 11), though, especially, Judas, one of his trusted ones who owned him as Master; and "mine equal" signifies, "Thou who wert by my side on terms of equality, as if on a level with me." He permits them to perish in unbelief, they having rejected the true Priest and King. He no longer acts the Intercessor's part towards such, but stands over them as a Judge, pronouncing their doom. And then in verses 16, 17, we hear him express his confidence of full deliverance. "The twelve legions of angels," whom He might at any time have called to his help, have arrived, or rather He sees them on their way. "For there are many with me. God heareth and answereth, Yea, He sits enthroned for ever!" Selah. (Ver. 19.) The invitation It is a glance at future redress for every wrong, in the Day of Vengance and the Year of the Redeemed. In prospect of this, verse 22 invites us to cast our burden upon the Lord, whatever that burden be, even if it be the crushing weight of persecution, and reproach, and treachery. The Lord will “provide” as Joseph did, Gen. xlv. 11, and as 1 Kings iv. 7. “The godly shall not be tossed about for ever;" the Lord shall arise to hurl the foe into "the pit of destruction" ("the lake of fire" of Rev. xx. 15), in which Antichrist sinks for ever. In the last verse there is something of an enthymeme; for while the clause, “The bloody and deceitful men shall not live half their days" predicts and pourtrays their doom, as cut off by untimely judgment, the responsive clause, “And I will trust in thee," tells of no proper converse, no judgment in favour of the godly. But it nevertheless contains in it the equivalent to a declaration that his lot shall be the reverse of the bloody |