Christ the speaker. 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 resurrectionsong, 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. iv. 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 (Ps. cxvi. 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 (rav vexgwow, the n of Psalm cxvi. 15) of the Lord Jesus." T 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. xxxviii.). 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 xx. 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, "I love! because the Lord has heard my voice, my supplications !” “I love!” ("Ja, like oryxa, Rev. iii. 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. vi. 5, “Thou shalt love the Lord"-8, exclaiming, “ I have done so, and ever will!" And then, as the proof of this love (not as the cause, comp. Luke vii. 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. v. 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," ", as in 2 Kings xx. 19, Isa. xxxix. 8 (Hengst.) Is there not an implied reference to his intercession? and does not the phrase remind us of Rom. v. 18, "saved by his life," and of Heb. vii. 16? members. Israel might use these words at their paschal table, reckon- Christ and his ing 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 had 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 "All men are liars ;" for the term is altogether a passover-night one, E. 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. xxxi. 22. The old metre version of Tate and Brady is right "For in my flight all hopes of aid From faithless man were lost." The contents. And so the Targum has 7, "in my fleeing." Bishop 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," (D); 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 hin-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 (MiN 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 (N) was greatly afflicted." Yes; and forsaken too, so that "I said, in my hastening away, 1 All that is man disappoints expectation (ver. 8); as in Jer. xv. 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 * Horsley gives "in ecstasy of despair," quite as far from the true meaning as is Barclay's "agony to fulfil the law," and Bishop's Horne's "hurry and trepidation." But see P'sa. xxxi 22. Hengstenberg maintains that commentators have no ground at all for saying that there was a cup of thanksgiving at the passover supper. Mede has suggested the allusion to the drink-offering. 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. ii. 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." ( This last line of the verse is quite peculiar. T T nnan.) The word for death is peculiar, corresponding, as we noticed before, to the Greek vengwarg (like in Psalm lxxix. 11), while it cannot be construed with "precious," because of the gender. We may, therefore, connect the "precious" with "his people” (as we find in Psa. lxxii. 14, Isa. xlii. 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. iii. 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. * There is a simpler way of overcoming the difficulty. It is to take p as the noun (neglecting the masoretic pointing), and punctuate it ", "price, honour, glory," as in Job xxviii. 10, Dan. vii. 14. We might then render the verse, "A precious thing in the sight of the Lord Is the death which befalls his saints.” PSALM CXVII. 10 PRAISE the Lord, all ye nations! Praise him, all ye people! 2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord. Connection with "THE presence of all his people!" Our gathering together in the preceding. The plan. 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" (DAN), as in Rev. v. 9. "Loud as the sound of seas, Through multitudes that sing." They celebrate, as in Psalm cxv. 1, and often at other times, the mercy, the tender love of God which to usward is 12, “mighty,” prevailing as did the deluge-waters over the mountain-tops (Gen. vii. 24, 1777), and also his truth, going hand in hand with truth in man's redemption. Paul quotes this short song in Rom. xv. 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 Cull on the Great Congregation for praise, PSALM CXVIII. 1 0 GIVE thanks unto the Lord! for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 4 Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever. |