PSALM XXXI.

Exclusive of the Appendix, this Psalm has 22 verses, the signature of completeness. Including it, 24, the doubled signature of the people of the covenant. The Psalm culminates in Christ.

Verse 1. Let me not be ashamed for ever. The Psalmist is in the last extremity.

Not to help now

would be tantamount to not helping at all.

Verse 7. Thou hast known the distress of my soul. To know signifies here to sympathize with. Compare Job xxxv. 15, where T is also followed by ?.

-T

Verse 13. For I hear the slander of many :

I am a terror on all sides.

Compare Jer. xx. 3, 4.

Verse 22. I said in my hurried flight—

-in my hurried flight. The LXX. translate in my consternation (ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει μου). The Vulgate, in excessu mentis meæ. Jerome, in stupore meo. The allusion is to 1 Sam. xxii. 26.

PSALM XXXII.

This Psalm has 11 verses, half the number of the letters of the alphabet. The Psalmist is teaching his scholars. In conformity with this idea, the Psalm is called Maschil, a lesson; and in verse 8 direct reference is made to this title.

Verse 6. In a time when Thou mayest be found.

Heb. in a time of finding.

They assuredly shall not reach him. -assuredly-Heb. only. It is always so; it is never

otherwise.

Verse 8. I will instruct thee, and teach thee

The

way wherein thou should'st go :

I will give counsel

Over thee with mine eye.

The reference which

bears to be must not

be overlooked. The tender care of the counsellor is

expressed by the “ over ·” and the “with mine eye.” Verse 9. Because they will not come near thee. Since they do not render willing obedience, they must be compelled.

PSALM XXXIII.

This Psalm forms a pair with the preceding, the last verse of which forms an introduction to it. It has 22 verses, the signature of completeness. The Psalmist is teaching his scholars. It is the 33rd Psalm, and the number of verses in the two Psalms combined is 33. Verse 4. The word of Jehovah is upright:

And all his works are faithfulness.

The is the of essence. The relation of the two clauses is well expressed by Hengstenberg.

"He pro

mises nothing which He does not perform; and He does nothing which He has not promised."

PSALM XXXIV.

This is an alphabetical Psalm, and has 22 verses. The Vau distich is omitted, that the last verse may begin with a word commemorating Redemption. Compare last verse of Ps. xxv.

Verse 4. They look unto Him, and are brighten'd :

And their countenance may not blush.

Compare Isa. lx. 5. May not blush is stronger than doth not blush: is stronger than No5.

Verse 11. Come, children, hearken to me:

I will teach you the fear of Jehovah.

This verse completes the first half of the letters of the Psalm, the Vau distich being omitted. The Psalmist is teaching his scholars.

Verse 17. The righteous cry, and Jehovah hears.

So the Syriac, Chaldee, LXX., Vulgate, Bishop Lowth and Bishop Horsley. Both the metre and the context seem to require this reading.

PSALM XXXV.

The strophe-division of this Psalm is 10. 8. 10. "The middle strophe, surrounded on each side by two decades in which prayer predominates, is chiefly remarkable for an extended representation of the Psalmist's distress, and of the black ingratitude of his enemies, which calls aloud for the Divine retribution." (Heng

stenberg.) The Psalm culminates in Christ. Compare

verse 19. with John xv. 25.

Verse 7. Because they have causelessly hidden

Their pit-net

Their pit-net for me.

signifies a pit, and also destruction, or corruption. I have given it the latter meaning in Ps. xvi. 10, after the LXX. Compare Acts xiii. 35-37. The former meaning is, however, more suitable here. "As if David had said that they had dug a pit, and covered and hid its mouth with a net, that I might pass upon it and fall into it." (Kimchi.)

Verse 12. Bereavement of my soul.

They reward me evil for good:
Bereavement of my soul.

Bereavement is the accusative, and is in opposition with evil.

Verse 13. And my prayer returned to my bosom—

i. e. I prayed with my head bent down. This position was considered by the Jews to be an indication of great mental distress.

Verse 15. And now they rejoice at my halting:

And are gathered together.

The abjects whom I know not

Are gathered together against me :

They tear, and are not silent.

The abjects whom I know not—" who from their peculiarly low condition were shut out from the circle of mine acquaintance."

They tear. "The image is taken from a garment from which any one seeks to tear away a fragment."

By their not being silent is meant "their constantly raving against him with words and deeds." (Hengstenberg.)

Verse 16. The vile who mock for a cake.

" is not cake as a sort of dainty bit, but the common cake of the ashes, which in the East stands in the room of bread."

Verse 20. For they speak not peace. They are tale-bearers, and foment discord.

PSALM XXXVI.

The superscription of this Psalm is, "A Psalm of David, Jehovah's servant." This points to the dignity of the writer, and the importance of what he delivers. Compare 2. Sam. xxiii. 1, 2, and 2 Pet. i. 21. The title is to be reckoned as part of the Psalm itself. The Strophe-Division is 5. 5. 3.-10. 3.

Verse 1. "The oracle of transgression to me,

No fear of God is before his eyes.

"In the first member the Psalmist introduces the wicked as speaking. He would express the thought that the wicked listen to the suggestions of sin, as words of God. This thought he clothes in such a manner, that by an ironical imitation of the introductory words in the writings of the prophets, in particular Balaam's in Num. xxiv. 3, to which he also referred in 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, he makes the ungodly bring in a decree