at every step we see their verification in the incarnate Son of God; even as Jesus, in singing those words when on earth, would have reference to himself as the great illustration of each clause (Luke xviii. 75; Matt. ix. 27), and as he may have thought upon them when he gave that answer to John's disciples, Matt. xi. 4, 5, q. d., all that characterises Jehovah has been done by me. Did not Jesus relieve "all that were oppressed of the devil” (Acts x. 38), as a sample of verse 7; and did he not "give food to the hungry," (John vi.)? Did Jesus not set free "the prisoners,” when he beheld the Bethesda man, bound for thirty-eight years (John v.), and when he sent his angel to set Pete free, (Acts xii.)? How often did he "open the eyes of the blind!” and the literally "bowed down” he made straight (Luke xiii. 16), as well as the spiritually laden (Matt. xi. 20); and, in spite of their low condition, "he loved the righteous"— for a fisherman of Galilee lay on his bosom; his parables told of a diseased Lazarus ; and there was a Lazarus of Bethany, in whom he delighted. We know his care "of the stranger;" for we read of his words to the Syrophenician, and to the Samaritan leper (Luke xvii. 16-19); while "the widow" of Nain, and his tender words in John xiv. 18, tell how he "restored” (TTiy”) to cheerfulness the orphan and the widow. His Second Coming shall tell what his purging the temple intimated (John ii, 15, Matt. xxi. 12), namely, how “He overturneth the way of the wicked.” This is he who is " "King" for ever! This is "thy God, O Zion," who shall be thine to all generations. The mention of such a King and God may well draw forth another "Hallelujah !” a “ Hallelujah" such as we hear again in Rev. xix. 1–6, when "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." For "that great voice of much people in heaven" fully accords in spirit, and may be joined with the Psalm before us, uttering, as it does, Rapturous praise, in contrasting all Earth's great ones with Jehovah the King. 1 PRAISE ye the Lord! PSALM CXLVIL For it is good to sing psalms unto our God; For it is pleasant and praise is comely. 2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He healeth the broken n heart, and bindeth up their wounds. 4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. 6 The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground. 7 Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, 9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. the legs of a man. 11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. 12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! praise thy God, O Zion. 13 For he has strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. 14 He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat, 15 He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. 16 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. 17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? 18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them : He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. 19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. So glad lujah Psalm. THE God of Israel, what he has done, what he does, what he Another Halle. can do--this is the "Hallelujah" note of his song. some is the theme, that in verse 1 we find a contribution for it levied on Psa. xxxiii. 1, xcii. 1, and cxxxv. 3; each must furnish their quota of testimony to the desirableness of giving praise to such a God. The theme is stated in verse 2, and then expatiated upon The theme. onwards to the end of verse 11, where the Septuagint finish Prophetic reference. the Psalm, casting the remaining verses into a Psalm by itself. It is probably one of those songs of Zion which the Holy Ghost. gave to Israel under Nehemiah and Ezra, when the circumstances of that partial restoration furnished an appropriate occasion for celebrating the joy of the still greater restoration in the latter days, when Messiah should go up at the head of them. Let us remark upon verse 4. It sets forth the true greatness and grandeur of Israel's God, who can attend at once to every wound of every broken-hearted one, and to the glorious. host of stars. This power of attending so carefully to what is minute is peculiar to Jehovah. And he "counts" or determines the number of the stars, just as he does the dust of Jacob (Num xxiii. 10)-assigning each his "name," according to his quality, as Adam did to the creation in Paradise on a limited scale, (Gen. ii. 20). His resources are inexhaustible, for "His understanding is infinite," as well as his "power." Sing to Jehovah a responsive song" (1999). like what we find in Nehem. xii. 27-43. For he, the God of creation, feeds even the ravens (Luke xii. 24 may be Christ's quotation of these words), disagreeable as these ravens often seem to man; and, judging not as man does, he delights in his children's reverend faith, not in displays of warlike pomp and military valour (ver. 10)—yes, in his children's godly fear, and in their hope also. "In the hopers for his mercy." Is not this equivalent to Jude 21, "who look for the mercy of the Lord Jesus" at his coming; and in 1 Pet. i. 13, "who hope for the grace that is to be brought them at the appearing of Jesus Christ." And it is at that day when (ver. 12-14) shall be fully realised, Israel getting back again "the fat of wheat,' as Moses sang, (Deut. xxxii. 14). On that day they will remember how, long ago, they had appealed to Jehovah as able to reverse their captivity, even as he changed night unto day, winter into summer, the floods into dry land, (Psa. lxxiv. 15–17). He who commands and forthwith snow appears, and who sumTM mons the frost to serve him and then dissolves it (see ver. 15-18), he it is who reverses Israel's desolation, sending his word, relaxing their bonds, and causing rivers of milk and honey to flow in their land, and themselves walk on the shady banks. This is the God of Israel, who selected his people as a peculiar people, in ages past, "declaring his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel"-the revealer of the way of salvation, and the appointer of the types that foreshadowed better things, all which Israel enjoyed. He has been sovereign from the first; he will act in sovereignty to the last. In times past, "He dealt not thus with any heathen nation;" and to the end it will be seen that he has done for Israel, in sovereign grace, more than he has done for all other peoples. Hallelujah,” then! Let a sovereign God be praised on earth now, even as he shall be by the "voice of much people in heaven" (Psa. xix. 1), who see him glorified in his mysterious dealings and terrible judgments. Let us take up this calmly triumphant song of 66 Israel's praise to the sovereign Jehovah, who blesseth and rejoiceth over their nation restored to prosperity. PSALM CXLVIII. 1 PRAISE ye the Lord! Fraise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. 2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. 3 Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. 4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded, and they were created. 6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass. 7 Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: 8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word: 9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: 10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: 11 Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth : 12 Both young men, and maidens: old men and children: 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord! For his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven. 14 He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; Even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord F f lujah Psalm. The tone and plan. Another Halle- THE Apocrypha has borrowed from this Psalm the supposed song of the three Hebrew youths in the fiery furnace. It is Israel's uncontrollable burst of praise at the thought of him who makes them "a people near to him;" a priestly people (see Levit. x. 3; Ezek. lxii. 13; Deut. iv. 77; and Num. xvi. 5-9). How they rejoice before him in the latter day; restored from their wanderings! One great deed of a benefactor excites us to draw the attention of others to him, and inclines us to dwell upon all that is in him; and so it is here with Israel in this "Hallelujah." They call for praise "from the heavens;" they bid those “in the heights" give praise; “all angels,” of whatever rank, "all his hosts," with one accord. Sun at noon, moon at midnight, stars so bright (the visible host of the sky, as the angels are the invisible), "heaven of heavens,” where is the orbit of the planet and the path of the comet, and the track of every star; "waters above the heaven," or firmament," the clouds of the sky-unite ye in one song of praise! Do ye wonder at this summons? Why should ye? (Gen. i 7.) "For he commanded and they were created," Yes, even angels; for, as Augustine says, in Psa. lxxi. 19, "Ne putes hominem solum pertinere ad gratiam Dei. Quid erat Angelus antequam fieret? Quid est angelus, si deserat qui creavit?" Again, then, he takes up the call--and now it is as if one from heaven looked down to earth and summoned it to praise, as before it was one on earth looking upward to heaven. "Praise ye Jehovah from the earth!" Ye sea-monsters, or great whales (Gen. i. 21), and ye floods wherein they swim; heat and cold, white snow and dark smoke (Gen. xix. 20; Psa. cxix. 83, Hengstenberg); strong wind that, amid apparent anarchy, dost his will; mountains, and more lowly hills, diversifying the face of earth; ye palms and pomegranates, fruit-trees, ye firs and pines, “cedars of every kind;" wild beasts and tame; reptiles and fowls of every wing, whether small as the wren, or majestic as the eagle-unite in one song of praise! All the more because ye, too, shall be delivered *This is the first heavens, the sky; the second is that just mentioned; the third heavens was called upon in verses 1, 2. |