Yea, God the LORD doth cedars break That Lebanon doth bear. 6 He makes them like a calf to skip, And like to a young unicorn, The mountain Sirion. 7 God's voice divides the flames of fire; 8 The LORD doth make the wilderness Of Kadesh all to quake. 9 God's voice doth make the hinds to calve, It makes the forest bare: trees in a garden are the emblem of believers; cedars and oaks are the figure of great men in the mountains or kingdoms of the heathen world. His voice however can reach these both in the terrific, and in the saving sense. As cedars from Lebanon, or mount Libanus, were used in the materials of the temple; so God employs the great of this world to help forward his Church, and add to her glory. How soon was Saul humbled and converted by a voice and light from heaven! Acts ix. 1, 6. Verse 6. He maketh them also to skip like a calf &c. Sirion and Hermon are two names of the same mountain, and is coupled with the mountains of Zion, Ps. cxxxiii. 3. Thunder not only rends trees, but also shakes the mountains on which they grow; which is also accomplished in the mystical sense, See, Isa. xl. 4. 2 Cor. x. 5. Verse 7. The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. Of this the lightning, the terrific sword of the Lord, which no substance can withstand, is a proof. His word, which is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, when spoken by him, hath power to penetrate, melt, enlighten, and inflame human hearts. The spirit descended on the apostles in the form of divided flames of fire. Acts ii. 3. Heb. iv. 12. Verse 8. The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; &c. The wilderness adjacent to Sinai was called Kadesh, holiness or consecration, because of the Lord's descent on that mountain, and was terribly shaken on that solemn occasion. This was an emblem and pledge of the conversion of the heathen world, and of its subsequent dedication to God. As the Jews passed through the wilderness of Kadesh (Sec, Numb. xiii, 26.) in their way to Canaan; so Christians pass through the desert of this world in their way to heaven. The presence of God in the Church, as of old on the mount, will finally secure the consecration of the world to its Author. The wilderness (says Dr. Horne,) is yet once again to be shaken by the voice of God, and to be removed for ever, that paradise may succeed in its place.' Verse 9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, or the oaks to tremble, as Dr. H. renders this clause, after B. Lowth. Whatever terri And in his temple every one His glory doth declare. 10 The LORD sits on the floods; the LORD 11 The LORD will give his people strength, PSALM XXX. Ir this psalm was written by the heroic king of Israel, it is exceeding suitable to the case of the true David, and his faithful people in every age. His grateful acknowledgments for past deliverances, and fervent supplications for farther mercies, are here supposed to have been presented in the sanctuary; whither the pious in every age resort for similar purposes, and find themselves at home. 1 LORD, I will thee extol, for thou Hast lifted me on high, And over me thou to rejoice Mad'st not mine enemy. ་་་་་ fies in a high degree, may produce such an effect; but this rendering connects best with next clause-and discovereth the forests. As storms of thunder and lightning, which are often attended with hurricanes, strip the trees of their leaves and bark, and strew their branches on the ground; whence the recesses of forests are laid open, and beasts of prey driven thence; so mystical storms produce similar effects in the political and moral world, See 1 Cor. iv. 5. Heb. iv. 13. All these events should be declared and improved in his temple, or Church, to his glory. Verse 10. The LORD sitteth upon the flood: &c. The floods in every sense form a basis for his throne; and what he says to the watery element, will he one day repeat with equal authority to a wicked world-Peace! be still! and the latter shall hear his voice, and subside into a perfect and endless calm, to the glory of his grace. Verse 11. The LORD will give strength unto his people; &c. Let the reader look to the last verse of the preceding psalm, and the note will answer here. As Messiah is the Prince of peace; (Isa. ix. 6.) so we are taught to believe that he is the Jehovah who sitteth a King for ever, and will finally bless all his people or subjects with peace.-Let us then duly reverence Him whose power and majesty are described with such sublimity in this psalm; believing he will impart strength to overcome all our spiritual enemies, and bless us with never-ending peace. Amen! Notes on Psalm XXX.-Verses 1-3. The Psalmist here returns thanks to God, upon revisiting the sanctuary, as is supposed, after a hap 20 thou who art the LORD my God, With loud cries lifted up my voice, And thou hast healed me. 3 O LORD, my soul thou hast brought up, That I to pit should not go down, 40 ye that are his holy ones, And give unto him thanks, when ye 5 For but a moment lasts his wrath; 6 In my prosperity I said, That nothing shall me move. 7 O LORD, thou hast my mountain made py recovery from some threatening sickness. I will extol thee, O LORD, for thou hast lifted me up, Heb. drawn me out, representing himself as sinking in mire, or overwhelmed with waters. The word rendered grave, is the same that is so often translated hell. David in presenting grateful thanks to God in the sanctuary below, for his recovery from trouble, was a figure of our Lord doing the same when he ascended to the temple not made with hands. Verses 4, 5. Here the Psalmist, and in him our Lord, calls upon all believers to copy the example so set them, and to induce them to do so, draws a comparison between their present sufferings, and their future rewards. Dr. Horne renders the last clause of ver. 4. of his Holy One, every recollection of whom claims and also excites grateful acknowledgments. The first part of ver. 5. read without the supplement, is very emphatic; For his anger, a moment, that is, as contrasted with absolute duration. The same expressive brevity occurs in the last clause; weeping shall endure for the night: but joy in the morning. Why confine either clause to the righteous, or the present state, and not allow them to be general maxims of the Divine government? In verses 6, 7, he describeth his former prosperity, succeeded by affiction; and ascribes the first to God's favour, on which he presumed; But when that thou, O gracious God, Then quickly was my prosp'rous state 8. Wherefore unto the LORD my cry I to the LORD did send. 9 What profit is there in my blood, Shall unto thee the dust give praise? 10 Hear, LORD, have mercy; help me, LORD: 11 Thou turned hast my sadness To dancing; yea, my sackcloth loos'd, And girded me with gladness; the last to the suspension of the light of his countenance, which created him, and will every good man, trouble and distress.-This part of the recompence of sin our Lord endured. Verses 8, 9, 10. I cried unto thee, O LORD, &c. We have in these verses the supplications which David, and a greater than David, poured forth to God, in the time of his affliction, and was heard in regard of that which he feared, as appears from the following verses. The argument here used by both, What profit is, or shall there be in my blood when, or if I go down to the pit? is quite unanswerable on their scheme that make all those who go down to the pit of the second death, to remain there without end. We see in the next clause, that the grand end of man's existence is to praise or glorify God, and to declare his truth; and hence since this cannot be done in hell, any more than the body in the dust can employ its organs to any such purpose, we infer that both states must be limited, and succeeded by a corresponding resurrection. Verses 11, 12, represent the Psalmist as restored to such a happy state as leads him to celebrate his deliverance with joy, and to glorify his God and Saviour for that deliverance. Admitting the above conclusion, and viewing Christ here as speaking in the name of his whole mystical body, inclusive of himself the Head, how glorious and important do these things appear! Thus he will bring their soul from the grave, or hell, and keep them in existence till raised up from the pit, (ver. 3.) over and above the special salvation of the faithful.-Thus not only the righteous, who have a part in the first resurrection, but also the rest of mankind, will finally be enabled individually to say, in the language of David-Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou bast 12 That sing thy praise my glory may, O LORD my God, for evermore I will give thanks to thee. ....... PSALM XXXI. THIS psalm was written either when David was in great distress. or to preserve a sense of his deliverance from it on his mind, and express his gratitude for it. Our LORD uttered the 5th verse upon the cross, and hence the whole may be viewed as a prediction of what he was to endure, and of what his Father did for him in the day of his passion. It consists of prayers and praises, and of expressions of hopes and fears. 1 IN thee, O LORD, I put my trust, Sham'd let me never be; According to thy righteousness Do thou deliver me. 2 Bow down thine ear to me with speed, To save me, my strong rock be thou, 3 Because thou art my rock, and thee Therefore do thou me lead and guide, 4 And sith thou art my strength, therefore Which they in subtilty for me put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness. And is it not worthy of a Father, if in his power, so to order his paternal government, that his miserable offspring shall exchange beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness? Notes on Psalm XXXI. Verses 1-4. In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust, let me never be ashamed: &c. For the reason assigned above, we are led to view our Lord as the speaker throughout this whole Psalm, and David only as his type and representative. Every Christian may apply |