PSALM LXVII. 1 LORD, bless and pity us, Shine on us with thy face; : 2 That th' earth thy way, and nations all! 3. Let people praise thee, LORD; 5 Let people praise thee, LORD; let them Our God shall blessing send. 7. God shall us bless; men shall him fear Another of the same. Mr. Poole in his argument says This psalm contains a prayer for the church of Israel, as also for the Gentile world, whose conversion it prophetically describes;' and it is a prayer of faith that shall be answered in its full extent in due time. The prayer belongs to the true church large, and conveys good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all e While it foretels the conversion of all nations, with the jubilant joy tha shall result from that glorious event, it affords ample ground of faith to engage the prayer of hope, that the conversion of the Jews as a people shall be accompanied with the recovery of the Gentiles to Messiah, the great Shiloh to whom the gathering together of both shall be, when he shall be manifested fully to destroy the works of the Devil, and accom plish the salvation of all that he hath ransomed. 1 LORD, unto us be merciful, Do thou us also bless; And graciously cause shine on us Thy saving health be shown. 30 let the people praise thee, LORD; presented him to be; But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Let every one who hath the same experience adopt the conclusion of this Psalm, as the expression of his gratitude; Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Notes on Psalm LXVII. Verse 1. God be merciful unto us, &c. to relieve from all our miseries. This verse is thought to contain a predictive prayer for Messiah's advent in the flesh, and should be used by Christians in the faith of his future coming, and final triumphs. While the faithful peculiarly enjoy that consummation of his kingdom and glory, the sequel shews what an interest the rest of mankind have in that event. Verse 2. That thy way may be known upon earth, &c. When the Jews are restored, and Messiah shall, like the sun, cause his face to shine upon them, then will they be employed, as at the beginning of the gospel dispensation, to make his way known on earth, or to the rest of mankind; which will also be the subject of their most ardent prayers. Messiah's way is explained in last clause, as intending his saving health, or that salvation which the gospel reveals, and brings home to the hearts of men, as the ministration of the spirit. The original has it salvation, and comprehends the doctrine and power of the gospel, that rod of Christ's strength by which his enemies are made willing to submit to his authority, and by which he reigns in their midst or heart. Ps. cx. 2, 3. That salvation shall not only be declared among all nations, but made known to them, so as to bring them to worship before him, and glorify his name, Psal.. lxxxvi. 9. All flesh shall see his glory. Verse 3. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. The original is more literally rendered in some versions-All peoples shall celebrate thee, O God; all peoples shall celebrate thee, the term being twice in the plural. Shall not this prediction be yet realized? Mr. Poole remarks on Mat. xxii. 51, 32. He doth not say, I am the Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the God of. Now, wherever God stiles himself the God of any people, or person, it always signifies God as a bene 4 O let the nations be glad, For rightly thou shalt people judge, 5 Let people praise thee, LORD; let all 6 Then shall the earth yield her increase; God our God bless us shall. ་་ factor, and one that doth and will do good to such a people or person., It is a federal expression; as where he saith to Abraham, Gen. xvii. 7. I will be a God to thee and thy seed, that is, of thee and of thy seed. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.' Seeing he is called the God of all the families of Israel, and of all the kingdoms of the earth, and the God and Father of the spirits of all flesh, and that Abraham is constituted the father of all nations; the conclusion is plain and unavoidable, that they must all be finally blessed. See Rom, xiv. 7, 8. compared with Luke xx. 38. he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him, viz. in his purpose, as they shall one day in reality. These remarks furnish a key to this psalm, and to many other portions of Scripture. For Verse 4. 0 let the nations be glad, and sing for joy, &c. Let it not be forgotten, that the faithful are called only one nation, the righteous nation that keepeth the truth, and shall enter into the heavenly city in triumph, Isa. xxvi. 2. But here all nations, and all peoples, as repeated in ver. 5. are to be glad, and sing for joy; and in Rev. xxi. 24. they are said to walk in the light of the new Jerusalem, as distinct from it; which would be impossible if all nations that shall be turned into hell, are to remain there without end, Psal. ix. 17. Christ is to govern the nations upon earth, in consequence of having judged the people righteously. This plainly shews the blessed issue of his judging work, and to ascribe an opposite issue to it, is to deny his proper character as a Judge, of whom those in Israel were a figure. As Messiah's fulness was from the beginning, the fountain of life to the whole creation, so the life which is in him is to be the source of light, or purity and happiness of men, even every man that cometh into the world, John i. 4, 9. Verse 5. Let the people, &c. Here the chorus is repeated, and reduplicates the promise that all the peoples, or all mankind of all nations and ages, shall praise Jehovah as their God in covenant. See on verse 3d. Verse 6. Then shall the earth yield her increase, &c. A noted Latin commentary on the Book of Psalms, adds this note All nations shall be converted to God, and the elect shall abound in good works, and abundance of all things.' That the term increase denotes the rest of mankind, as distinguished from the true Israel, of whom the Jewish nation, called the first fruits, were a figure, appears from Jer. ii. 3. This is the full harvest, of which Christ is Lord, Mat. ix. 58. and the earth, or the rest of 7 God shall us bless; and of the earth The ends shall fear him all. <>.. · PSALM LXVIII. This sublime Psalm is generally supposed to have been written by David, when he removed the ark to mount Zion; upon which occasion it, the 24th, and perhaps some others, appear to have been sung by the priests, Levites and people in different parts, or divisions. An account of that solemnity we have, 2 Sam. vi. 1 Chron. xv. It begins with the words. which Moses commanded to be used when the ark was removed from one stage to another, and pursues this leading sentiment throughout, Numb.. x. 35. Such psalms were sung with peculiar solemnity at the dedication of Solomon's temple; and as these grand festivals were a shadow or outine of good things to come, they are so to be understood as to fore-shadow, most glorious future consummation in their true evangelical import. Having laid the ground work in the history of Israel's deliverance from their bondage in Egypt, the daily descent of the manna around their tents, the giving of the law, and the overthrow of the nations of Canaan, the Psalmist furnishes us with a key to the spiritual sense of these and the like things, so often referred to in the writings of the prophets. 1 LET God arise, and scattered Let all his en'mies be; And let all those that do him hate mankind, will yield to him this increase at length. This will greatly add to the happiness of the church, God even our God shall bless us.The 7th verse repeats the promise in the connection and latitude urged, God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him, or pay him religious homage; according to the grant made Messiah, Psal. ii. 8. Here is a proof of his Deity, included in the promise that not only the church, but also all the ends of the earth, or the rest of mankind, shall fear him. The same is promised, Isa. liv. 5. thine Husband-the God of the whole earth. shill he be called. So long as this the xxiid. Psalm, and 1 Tim. ii. make part o the sacred volume, all attempts to refute the doctrine of the Restoration, must prove ineffectual. To God be all the glory! Notes on Psalm LXVIII. Verse 1. Let God arise, &c. The beautiful and solemn appearance of the camp of Israel, whether at rest or in motion, excited the wonder and praise of Balaam, when viewing them from a hill in the neighbourhood. And how glorious will the appearance of 2 As smoke is driv'n, so drive thou them: As fire melts wax away, Before God's face let wicked men So perish and decay. 3 But let the righteous be glad : 4 To God sing, to his name sing praise; the true Israel be, when Messiah, their God, shall so arise, that all his and their enemies shall be scattered before them, as the shades of night are before the rising sun! When those that hate him shall also so fire before him, struck with the glory of his Divine majesty, that like Joseph's brethren, they cannot abide his presence, in what a noble sense will this prediction be then fulâlled! Verse 2. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away, or rather, thou shalt drive them away; as wax melteth before the fire, the wicked shall perish at the presence of God. Smoke bespeaks fire, both which are the emblem of wrath and misery. This imagery however, and what follows, carries with it a couched prediction of mercy, and the total extinction of whatever causes smoke. As the wind dissipates this, so the Holy Spirit, whose breath blows up the furnace, whence pillars of smoke arise, shall so refine the green fuel, as to leave nought behind but pure flame. Hence the wicked shall so perish at God's presence, acting as a consuming fire, that they shall cease to exist in that character, as Saul of Tarsus did, when the Lord appeared to him in a bright flame of fire from heaven. Though wax be of a firm and solid consistence, so as to resist the touch, yet when held before the fire it dissolves, becomes pliant, is purified and refined, and so fitted to assume the impression of the seal. From wax so refined candles are formed fit to appear even in royal palaces. And will not the presence of God's light and truth, so often compared to fire, produce such effects on the wicked, when he shall accomplish such portions of his word? Verse 5. But let the righteous be glad: &c. Some have supposed that the first six verses of this Psalm were sung, when the Ark was taken up on the shoulders of the Levites; as a figure of the government of the saints, by which the true Ark, Messiah, will be exhibited one day to the camp of mankind, when to him the gathering together of the people shall be. Then the righteous shall be glad at the procedure described in the two preceding verses, and its important effects; they shall rejoice before God, in whose presence they shall have the honour to minister, yea, they shall rejoice exceedingly. The Light of the world would finally prevail. Verse 4. Sing unto God, sing praises unto his name: &c. Messiah's saving name, the God and King of Israel, is worthy of the most devout |