from the bondage of corruption, and have your share in the millennial liberty of the sons of God, (Rom. viii. 21). As in creation, so here, man appears on the scene last of all, just because chief of all. 66 Young men, who are in your strength; maidens in your beauty ; old men, with lips of age dropping wisdom ; children, who can only lisp his name-all of you join, for there is no name exalted but his alone. His beauty is over earth and heaven"-his beauty (7, Psa. cxlv. 5), his splendour, sheds its beams now over the earth as well as heaven. times of refreshing are come. For the And of all men, none should so extol him as his peculiar people Israel. For, "He hath raised up a horn for his people." He has fulfilled the words of Zechariah, (Luke i. 69). Messian has come; Messiah, with all the blessings purchased at his first coming, is now made known to Israel, and has pushed Israel's enemies off the field. And he who is this horn is the theme of praise" to the peculiar people, and to all saints besides, wherever found, though none have more reason than Israel to adore and love him who saves the chief of sinners, and in sovereignty exalts the stiffnecked people to preeminence among the nations, making them a people ap "His intimate friend," as Psa. xxxviii. 12; lxxv. 2; Job xix. 14. T “The theme of praise (as Deut. x. 21,) to all his saints. To the children of Israel, a people near to him !" Surely the "great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah!" (Rev. xix. 1) will present an appropriate response to the call in verses 1-6. And not less does their summons to men on earth (Rev. xix. 5, 6) accord with the call in verses 7-13. Indeed, there is the very tone and energy of heaven in this glorious burst of praise Israel's rapturous burst of adoration to Him who makes them a people near to him. ujah Psalm. The connection. 1 PRAISE ye the Lord! PSALM CXLIX. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 3 Let them praise his name in the dance: Let them sing praises unto him with the trimbrel and harp. 4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishment upon the people; 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. Another Halle- THIS Hallelujah Psalm begins somewhat in the strain with which the preceding one closed. In Psa. cxlviii. 14, not Israel only, but "all saints," were represented as giving honour to him who had in sovereign grace redeemed his people; and so here, while Israel are called on as peculiarly indebted to Jehovah, yet all saints are joined with them in the triumphant song. "Sing to Jehovah a new song ; The theme. Let his praise be in the congregation of saints." (Psa. cxlviii. 14.) Are we not carried away to the scene in Rev. v. 9, to the “ new song" to the Lamb who takes the book and opens its seals, and claims possession of earth? Let all saints accord in this great hymn of triumph. Yet let Israel not fail to lift up their voice above all others, for they have been peculiarly honoured, and are above all others exalted. "Let Israel rejoice in him that MADE HIM," i. e., made him what he is, as Deut. xxxii 6; Isa. lvi 5.; Job xxxv. 10. "Let Zion's children rejoice in their King," who takes them under his special protection, and deigns. to be specially called "King of the Jews." "Praise His name in the dance, Play to Him with timbrel and harp ;” as David before the ark (2 Sam. vi. 5, 14, 15), and as Jephthah's daughter welcoming her sire, (Judges xi. 34). For the Lord "gloriously helps the wretched" (say some), or better far, "Beautifies the meek with salvation," i. e., with all the spoils of that victory which he has achieved. Let his saints exult in joy !”. No longer obscure, despised, the offscouring of all things, but glorious in the glory of their King, let them joyfully exult. And "on their couches," when resting from active work and meditating on the Lord's ways (not as Psa. xxxvi. 14, nor Psa. iv. 4 even ; but in loftier and happier themes) “let them sing." "High praises loudly sung, The two-edged sword waved aloft !” The "exaltings" or "extollings" seem to refer us to all previous psalms wherein worshippers have said-" I will extol thee, O God," for the root is the same; and here, “in their throat,” as it is in the Hebrew, is equivalent to speaking aloud, like Isa. lviii. 1; the very opposite of the heathen's dumb idols, Psa. cxv. 7. And what is the "TWO-EDGED SWORD?" Is it not the peculiar symbol of Messiah? As Bunyan represents his captains with their escutcheons-Captain Boanerges, with three burning thunderbolts; Captain Execution, with the axe lying at the foot of the tree-so we may say that the escutcheon of the King that cometh to avenge his Father's honour, is the two-edged sword: for thus we find it in Rev. i. 16, ii. 12, as well as Heb. iv. 12; and we may add Rev. xix. 15. It is the Ehud-dagger (Judg. iii. 16) that slays the oppressor. The time is come for this now. "The meek" (ver, 4) put on salvation-strength; and their King associates them with himself in the battle. It is like Rev. ii. 26-27, and iii. 21, even as "beautifying with salvation" is like Rev. ii. 28. Some, indeed, confine this to Israel, and compare Jer. li. 20, 21. But as we find all the saints" associated in the work, we prefer the view that makes verses 6-9 to refer to "the saints judging the world." They are figuratively said to lift up the "two-edged sword,” because they join with Messiah in inflicting the fourfold vengeance, (Deut. xxxii. 41). At the same time, Israel in the flesh shall 66 Prophetic reference. Psalm. be acting a part analogous to that of their King and his heavenly hosts, (Ezek. xxxviii., Zech. xiv.). What an echoing back of this song is Rev. xix. 1-6, with all its "Hallelujahs!" Israel is the chief musician, or rather, their King. Messiah himself leads the praise; but it is for the lips of the whole congregation of his redeemed-"This honour is to all his saints." Still, sovereign grace puts Israel prominently forward; so that we cannot fail to see in this Psalm, Triumphant praise from Israel, because of their King and all his saints subduing the nations. 1 PRAISE ye the Lord! PSALM CL. Praise God in his sanctuary: Praise him in the firmament of his power. 2 Praise him for his mighty acts: Praise him according to his excellent greatness. 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: Praise him with the psaltery and harp. 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: Praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. This the closing WHEN men presume to dictate to the Spirit of God, how deep their fall; as we see in the apocryphal attempts at writing books of scripture to be added to the genuine word of God. So it happens here, also; for the Septuagint have not been content to close the Book of Psalms with this most lofty and sublime doxology, but have added a psalm about David's history-a tame piece of prose* that surprises every one by its inappropriateness in such a position. But the true close is the 150th Psalm, of which it may be said, that as the preceding *It begins thus "I was little among my brethren, and the youngest in my father's house. I fed the sheep of my father. My hands made the organ.' and ends with- "I went forth to meet the uncircumcised, and he cursed me by his idols. But I, drawing his own sword from him, cut off his head, and took away reproach from the children of Israel." one ushered us into the presence of the King, and placed us with him in his kingdom, this leaves us in it, singing endless "Hallelujahs." Augustine ingeniously notices, that "Psalm 50th was one of repentance; Psalm 100th" (i. e., in the Septuagint-reckoning our 101st) “is about mercy and judgment; but the 150th is the praise of our God in his sanctuary; for there we arrive at life eternal and blessed." Hengstenberg remarks-"As the life of the faithful, and the history of the Christ, so also the Psalter, with all its cries from the depths, runs out in a Hallelujah!” Dr Allix says of it-"It relateth to Messiah's reign, when every thing that has breath, or was made by him, shall be subjected to him." Horsley says of it-"A grand. chorus of all voices, and all instruments!" "The Patrick has a not uninteresting note on the many instru- "Praise ye I. Where shall His praise be uttered? In his sanctuary, The plan. where every thing speaks of redemption; and in the firma ment, which his might has spread forth between earth and heaven, on the platform of creation. |