they took counsel against the poor and were put to con fusion, because God despised them! Prayer for the restitution of Israel. O that salvation were given unto Israel out of Sion! when Jehovah turneth the captivity of His people, then shall Jacob rejoice and Israel shall be right glad. Ver. 10 (7). poor, i. e. the afflicted people of Israel. 10 (7) II (8) §§ 85-108. THE PILGRIM ODES. THE fifteen1 Psalms which begin with the 120th and end with the 134th appear to form a smaller Psalter by themselves. They are marked by the same title 'a song of the goings up",' which some have held to imply that they were marked by some peculiarity of an ascending rhythm, and others that they were sung on the steps of the Temple, but which their contents shew must have meant 'a song of the goings up from captivity. They are in fact the Pilgrim Odes of the Hebrew nation, the voice of the exile who 'lifts up his eyes unto the hills of his home3,' and 'calls unto Jehovah from the deep1' As the prosperity of other nations spreads their citizens over the world as colonists or conquerors, so adversity had dispersed the Israelites among all lands as slaves in the home of the stranger. Only those who were deported into Chaldea were numerous enough to maintain anything approaching to national unity, and it was to their lot that the worst persecution fell. The measure of their fidelity was the measure also of their suffering. Any attempt to adhere to the hallowed customs of their ancestors brought mockery on them in addition to oppression. The tenderer spirits had a religious horror of defiling themselves by any contact with the unclean, but now to eat 1 The 132nd Psalm must however be excepted, cp. § 123. The 14th, 87th, and 137th, might also be included. Cp. §§ 84, 99, 100. 2 Translated in the Authorised Version 'songs of degrees,' see Appendix B. (3). 3 § 86. cxxi. 1. 4 § 88. cxxx. I. with the heathen seemed as nothing in comparison with other and deeper degradations. Some of the faithful had to drain the cup of suffering to the dregs and end a life of disappointed hopes by imprisonment, dishonour and death, while the misery of their lot was enhanced by the sight of their faithless brethren who had adopted the customs of their conquerors and were now prospering in the world and had riches in possession. But though the community was thus outwardly destroyed, sparks of life were still smouldering within. The prophets, once the unwelcome censors of their prosperity, were now the comforters of their adversity. They had foretold the dispersion of a corrupted people and their threats of Divine vengeance had been fulfilled; they now foretold the resurrection of the purified nation from its ashes, and should not this also receive its fulfilment? Ezekiel could foresee the final victory of Israel, even when they were still under the iron hand of the king who had been the terror of Asia for half a century. The prophets had kept the fire of hope alive in their own hearts, and the occurrence of any favourable incident could not fail to rekindle it again in the hearts of the nation. Thus, when the rule of the Chaldeans became lighter under the weaker hands of Nebuchadnezzar's successors, a ‘remnant' begins to gather round a centre, their spiritual feelings are quickened by union, their trust in Jehovah revives, and they long to see His religion restored once more in the Holy City. As with these feelings in their hearts, they turned their eyes to Jerusalem when they prayed, so when they had more freedom to go where their hearts would lead them, and the deserted city was no longer guarded as at first, there were many who were ready to face the dangers of the desert if only they might revisit the scene of Jehovah's kingdom upon earth and the ruins of His temple. A Hebrew poet has enshrined the feelings of these pilgrims in the tender hymns which are collected in this series. The first of them seem to express the yearning hopes of the later period of captivity: the later ones2 of a time when 'the remnant' had already returned and the Temple-worship was once more established on Mount Sion. 1 §§ 85-89. cxx. cxxi. cxxiii. cxxx. cxxx1 2 §§ 90-108. THE Psalmist pictures the pilgrim passing through the desert from Babylon to his home in Palestine, beset by savage tribes1, who have no reverence for the sanctity of a treaty. The pilgrim When I am in trouble I call upon Jehovah, and He heareth me: deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from among lying lips, and from the deceitful tongue! beset by treacherous tribes What shall He give or do unto thee, thou false tongue, thou that art as sharp arrows of the mighty, and as hot burning coals! calleth upon God. I 2 3 Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell with Meshech, 4 and to have my habitation in the tents of Kedar! my soul hath long dwelt among them that are enemies unto peace: I labour for peace, but when I speak unto them thereof, they make them ready for battle. 5 6 Ver. 2. deliver my soul, i.e. save my life from the treachery of these Bedouin tribes. Ver. 3. give or do unto thee. Compare the formula of cursing, 'God do so to thee and more also.' I Sam. iii. 17. The arrows are often interpreted as the reward of the false tongue, but cp. $ 52. 1vii. 5, 'whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword,' and § 54. lix. 7, 'swords are in their lips,' where swords and arrows are the types of the tongue of a foe. Cp. also Jer. ix. 8. hot burning coals, in the Authorised Version, 'coals of juniper;' more correctly, of broom. Burchardt, the Syrian traveller, mentions that the root of the broom was used for fires in the desert, and retained its heat for a considerable time. The tongue is spoken of as a fire in James iii. 6. Ver. 4. Meshech and Kedar, two tribes mentioned as being far from Jerusalem, and on account of their remoteness considered types of barbarism. Meshech, the Moschi of Herodotus, a tribe in the extreme North (dwelling on the skirts of the Caucasus), and so contrasted with Kedar or Arabia (Is. xxi. 13, 16) on the South; as if they were the Scylla and Charybdis of a passage through the desert. Meshech appears as an ally of Magog, i.e. of the Scythian hordes, in Ezekiel xxxviii. 2. See Gen. x. 2. THE § 86. PSALM CXXL.* HE exile sighs for the hills of his home1: he sees no sign of help, yet with the name of the Creator, the Keeper of Israel, for his talisman2, he wins his way from doubt to trust, from inward conflict to peace. The metaphors here, as in the last Psalm, speak of the special dangers of the desert, heat of the burning sun by day3 and perils from lawless tribes by night. The exile yearning for help I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills; 'Oh, whence cometh my help? my help cometh from Jehovah, who hath made heaven and earth.' Will he suffer thy foot to be moved? and He that keepeth thee, shall He sleep? behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep! hath assurance that God watcheth over his journey. Jehovah Himself is thy keeper, Jehovah is a shelter upon thy right hand, so that the sun shall not burn thee by day, nor the moon by night: Jehovah shall preserve thee from all evil, yea, it is even He that shall keep thy soul; Jehovah shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth for evermore! I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ver. 1. hills, i. e. of Palestine. The exile is yearning for the mountains of Israel, cp. Nahum i. 15, and Ezek. vi. 3, xxxiv. 13, xxxvi. 4. whence cometh. The thought in these lines is 'I long for my native hills; Who will guide me to them? God.' Cp. § 3. xxiv. 8, 10. Vv. 3, 4. keepeth thee, i. e. as the sentinel of the nightly encampment. Ver. 5. shelter (or shade) against the rays of the sun. Compare abide under the shadow of the Almighty,' § 117. xci. 1, where the idea is expanded (1-14). Ver. 6. the moon. The idea of the baneful influence of the moon is common in the East. Ver. 8. going out-coming in. A common expression in the Bible for the whole daily life. 1 v. I. 2 vv. 2, 3, 4 * See Introduction, p. 221. 4 vv. 3, 4. § 87. PSALM CXXIII.* ASIGH of the exiles for their return: they are waiting in patience for the summons of the Almighty. The exile in patient longing awaiteth the summons to return. Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens ! I behold, even as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress: even so our eyes wait upon Jehovah our God, until He have mercy upon us. 2 Have mercy upon us, O Jehovah, have mercy upon us, for we are utterly despised; 3 our soul is filled with the scornful reproof of the wealthy, and with the despitefulness of the proud! 4 Ver. I. look unto the hand, i. e. as slaves wait for their master's hand to beckon them. The expression is especially appropriate in the mouth of one working among the slave-owners of Babylon. Ver. 4. wealthy, more exactly 'those that are at ease.' (A. V.) |