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Verse 3. "When my spirit is overwhelmed within me"
(compare again the title of Psa. cii.), and thou knewest
(AN emphatic, as if to say, I did not know, but thou
didst) my path, or the way where I was going where they
hid a trap for me." How suitable in the mouth of him
who was sore amazed” as he entered the garden!
Verse 4. "Look on thy right hand, and behold"-an abrupt,

or broken cry; look, and behold, and you will see only
this" no one knoweth me! refuge fails me! no one
concerns himself for my soul." Such language might
actually be used by our Lord Jesus to the Father, when
he saw even his disciples fleeing from him, as the band
drew near to take him in their snare; or when he saw
them all asleep in that terrible hour.

Verse 5. "I have cried (and do still cry) to thee, O Jehovah;
Thou art my portion (both now and hereafter) in the land
of the living." The Master returned to the Father for
sympathy, finding it only there.

Verse 6. Another cry pointed with the appeal, " For I am
brought very low." He needed an
low." He needed an angel to strengthen
him, so low did he become-lower in every sense than
angels. His flesh was weak.

Verse 7. But here, as in Psa. xxii., the scene begins to
brighten. His disciples may sleep on and take their rest,
for he has accomplished his sufferings. He sees in pros-
pect the results, and prays,

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Bring my soul from being shut up," (as Joseph was, Gen. xxxix.
20, as Isa. xxiv. 22.)

That men may praise thy name. (Hengstenberg.)

And then in confidence of hope, seeing down the vista of

ages, his eye resting on the millions of his saved ones,

“The righteous shall form a circle close round me; (na

press closely in upon me; Hengst.)

For thou shalt deal bountifully with me.”

reference.

Is not this His anticipation of the great multitude, whom no Prophetic man can number, in his kingdom, round his throne, as in Rev. vii. 9, where the redeemed stand nearer than angels, as

if pressing in? And, being one with our Head, each of us the members may take up this song in our Adullam sojourn-for the disciple is as the Master, in his degree. Arrived at last at the Throne, disciples shall feel solitude no more, nor complain of sympathy withheld, amid the great congregation.

Horsley entitles this Psalm, "A prayer of Messiah, when he was taken and deserted." Let us call it,

The cave-thoughts of David, and of David's Son, for all in extremity.

The author

and tone of the Psalm.

PSALM CXLIII.

A Psalm of David.

1 HEAR my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications:
In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant:

For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground:

He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. 4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate,

5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works;

I muse on the work of thy hands.

6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as thirsty land. Selah.

7 Hear me, speedily, O Lord! my spirit faileth

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Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust! Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

9 Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.

10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God:

Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

11 Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake:

For thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.

12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies,

And destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

David is still the sweet singer here, his harp sounding in tle wilderness of Judah, or, as in Psa. xlii., from some still more remote retreat. Here, however, he alludes to no particular

external privation-it is his soul's sadness that is the burden of his song. Christ could use these utterances, feeling not his bodily absence from heaven so much as the Father's hidden face. And it suits the believer at times, when he mourns most of all for the absence of any tokens of the Lord's special presence, in himself or the church around.

From verses 1 to 4 we have the strong appeal of one who The plasa, feels the darkness in which he is enveloped by the absence of special tokens of God's love. Our Lord uses the argument of God's “truth and righteousness," in seeking an answer; and so we, his members, appeal to these same perfections, in our expostulations with our God, warranted by 1 John i. 9, "He is faithful and just to forgive us." And then the deprecation in verse 2,

"And enter not into judgment with thy servant,"

is, in our Lord's lips, equivalent to "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" Do not argue the case with me (see Job ix. 32, and xxii. 4, and xxxiv. 23), to shew me that there is cause for all this darkness. I know there is a cause; the cause is the sin which I have undertaken to bear, "For before thee shall no living one be justified"-not one of all descended from Adam. (Compare here with Gen. iii. 20, when Eve's posterity got that name after the Fall.) But my appeal is to thy" truth and righteousness," which are engaged to carry me through; and my need of help is great.

“For the foe is pursuing (5) my soul !” (Ver. 3.)

And then, as if overtaken in the pursuit, he cries, "He has smitten my life to the ground! He has made me stand in deep darkness, like one eternally dead (Hengst); and my spirit is overwhelmed (Psa. cii., title, and cxlii. 4) within me; my heart in the midst of me is desolate."

At verse 5, there is a gleam of light through the "darkness;" he recalls to mind God's love manifested to Israel in former days.

At verse 6, there is a renewed appeal to the Lord's pity, drawn from his state, resembling "a weary land"— (757 178 like Isa. xxxii. 2)—a land where a traveller's strength is ex

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hausted by the rough roads and crooked paths, and the oppressive heat of the sun's intolerable rays. It was thus our Surety learned by experience to sympathise with us; and thus it was he became the "shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” He here calls the Father to notice his self-emptying and humiliation, while bearing wrath for our sins;

My soul is to thee (see Hebr.) as a weary land.”

At verses 7 and 9 he seeks speedy relief; and the clause, "Make me to know the path I should walk in," is similar to the "If it be possible" in his prayer in the garden. In the case of one of his members, the words have of course a different application, and yet one resembling his in the circumstance, that it is a petition for guidance under our personal difficulties.

At verse 10 do we not hear, "Not my will, but thine be done," mingled with the filial accents of confidence, "My God!"

But at verses 11, 12, the prospect opens out on future glory. The Spirit, that same "loving," or "good Spirit" who instructed Israel (Nehem. ix. 20), that same "eternal Spirit by whom he offered himself without spot to God," shall lead him forth from those scenes, and place him

“In the land of uprightness.”

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The land of plainness (), a land where no wickedness of men, and malice of Satan, vex the soul from day to day; a land where no rough paths and crooked turns lengthen out the traveller's weary journey, (see ver. 5); but where all is like the smooth pasture lands of Reuben (Deut. iii. 10, Josh. xiii. 9), a fit place for flocks to lie down. Thy Spirit" will do this in his love, when "my Spirit" (ver. 7), my overwhelmed human soul, seemed ready to fail. Thou wilt be to me what thou wert to David, in "bringing his soul out of all distress" (1 Kings i. 29), and establishing him on his throne. All foes shall be extirpated, (♫by♫). Is not this the kingdom come, and its King exalted! And is not this a song alike for the Head and the members?

A prayer of the Righteous One, when feeling the heat of the weary land.

PSALM CXLIV.

A Psalm of David.

1 BLESSED be the Lord my strength,

Which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

2 My goodness and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer;
My shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

3 Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him!

Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!

4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

5 Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.

7 Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, From the hand of strange children;

8 Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God:

Upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

10 It is he that giveth salvation unto kings:

Who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.

11 Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children,

Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falschood.

12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth;

That our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace :

13 That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store:

That our sheep may bring forth thousands, and ten thousands in our

streets:

14 That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor

going out;

That there be no complaining in our streets.

15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case!

Yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.

THE Spirit of the Lord spake by David the words of this song, The allusions when the king felt his need of the King of kings to subdue the turbulent and proud spirits who were ambitious of distinction (ver. 2), as well as to conquer the nations of idolaters who hated God's anointed, (ver. 7-11). The Spirit leads him back to the day when he sang Psa. xviii. (see ver. 1, 2), the day when he was delivered from Saul and other foes; and stil!

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