PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 1
Alexander Maclaren, 1826-1910 · 116,814 words · 157 reading sections
Psalm Xvi.
With dramatic abruptness he points to the unnamed recreants from Jehovah. "Their griefs are many--they exchange (Jehovah) for another." Apparently, then, there was some tendency in Israel to idolatry, which gives energy to the psalmist's vehement vow that he will not offer their libations of blood, nor take the abhorre…
867 wordsSECTION 62Psalm Xvi.
The upshot of all is a firm resolve to make really his what is his. "I set Jehovah always before me"--since He is "always my lot." That effort of faith is the very life of devotion. We have any possession only while it is present to our thoughts. It is all one not to have a great estate and never to see it or think abo…
700 wordsSECTION 63Psalm Xvi.
The psalmist feels the glad certainty in all his complex nature, heart, soul, and flesh. All three have their portion in the joy which it brings. The foundation of the exultation of heart and soul and of the quiet rest of flesh is not so much the assurance that after death there will be life, and after the grave a resu…
504 wordsSECTION 64Psalm Xvii.
1 Hear a righteous cause, Jehovah, attend to my cry; Give ear to my prayer from no lips of guile. 2 From Thy face let my sentence go forth; Thine eyes behold rightly. 3 Thou provest my heart, searchest it by night, Triest me by fire: Thou findest not [anything]; Should I purpose evil, it shall not pass my mouth (…
881 wordsSECTION 65Psalm Xvii.
The general drift of vv. 3-5 is clear, but the precise meaning and connection are extremely obscure. Probably the text is faulty. It has been twisted in all sorts of ways, the Masoretic accents have been disregarded, the division of verses set aside, and still no proposed rendering of parts of vv. 3, 4, is wholly satis…
707 wordsSECTION 66Psalm Xvii.
The second part repeats the prayer for help, but bases it on the double ground of God's character and acts and of the suppliant's desperate straits; and of these two the former comes first in the prayer, though the latter has impelled to the prayer. Faith may be helped to self-consciousness by the sense of danger, but …
749 wordsSECTION 67Psalm Xvii.
The eye which steadily looks on God can look calmly at dangers. It is with no failure of faith that the poet's thoughts turn to his enemies. Fears that have become prayers are already more than half conquered. The psalmist would move God to help, not himself to despair, by recounting his perils. The enemy "spoil" him o…
1,030 wordsSECTION 68Psalm Xvii.
How different the contrasted conditions of the hunted psalmist and his enemies look when the light of such thoughts streams on them! The helpless victim towers above his persecutors, for his desires go up to Him who abides and saturates with His blessed fulness the heart that aspires to Him. Terrors vanish; foes are fo…
464 wordsSECTION 69Psalm Xviii.
1 Heartily do I love Thee, Jehovah, my strength! 2 Jehovah, my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation and my high tower! 3 I call upon Him who is to be praised, Jehovah; And from mine enemies am I saved. 4 The breakers of death ringed m…
657 wordsSECTION 70Psalm Xviii.
37 I pursued my enemies, and overtook them; And I did not turn till I had consumed them. 38 I shattered them, and they could not rise; They fell beneath my feet. 39 And Thou girdedst me with might for battle; Thou didst bring my assailants to their knees under me. 40 And my enemies Thou madest to turn their backs…
1,510 wordsSECTION 71Psalm Xviii.
The superb idealisation of past deliverances under the figure of a theophany is prepared for by a retrospect of dangers, which still palpitates with the memory of former fears. "A sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things," and a joy's crown of joy is remembering past perils. No better description of David…
824 wordsSECTION 72Psalm Xviii.
Thus kindled, God's wrath flashes into action, as is wonderfully painted in that great storm piece in vv. 9-15. The stages of a violent thunder tempest are painted with unsurpassable force and brevity. First we see the low clouds: far nearer the trembling earth than the hidden blue was, and seeming to press down with …
681 wordsSECTION 73Psalm Xviii.
The psalmist lays aside the figure in vv. 17, 18, and comes to the bare fact of his deliverance from enemies, and perhaps from one especially formidable ("my enemy," ver. 17). The prose of the whole would have been that he was in great danger and without means of averting it, but had a hair-breadth escape. But the outs…
915 wordsSECTION 74Psalm Xviii.
The psalmist's swift thought vibrates throughout this part of the song between his own experience and the general truths exemplified in it. He is too full of his own deliverance to be long silent about it, and, on the other hand, is continually reminded by it of the wide sweep of the beneficent laws which have been so …
743 wordsSECTION 75Psalm Xviii.
Many mythologies have told how the gods arm their champions, but the psalmist reaches a loftier height than these. He ventures to think of God as doing the humble office of bracing on his girdle, but the girdle is itself strength. God, whose own "way is perfect" (ver. 30), makes His servant's "way" in some measure like…
883 wordsSECTION 76Psalm Xviii.
Thus far the enemies seem to have been native foes rebelling against God's anointed or, if the reference to the Sauline persecution is held by, seeking to prevent his reaching his throne. But, in the concluding verses of this part (43-45), a transition is made to victory over "strangers," _i.e._ foreign nations. "The s…
738 wordsSECTION 77Psalm Xix.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, And the work of His hands the firmament makes known. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night shows knowledge. 3 There is no speech and no words; Not heard is their voice. 4 In all the earth their line goes forth, and in the end of the world their words; For th…
1,058 wordsSECTION 78Psalm Xix.
The scientific contemplation of nature is wholly absent from Scripture, and the picturesque is very rare. This psalmist knew nothing about solar spectra or stellar distances, but he heard a voice from out of the else waste heavens which sounded to him as if it named God. Comte ventured to say that the heavens declare t…
870 wordsSECTION 79Psalm Xix.
All this rapture of delight in the law contrasts with the impatience and dislike which some men entertain for it. To the disobedient that law spoils their coarse gratifications. It is as a prison in which life is wearisomely barred from delights; but they who dwell behind its fences know that these keep evils off, and …
634 wordsSECTION 80Psalm Xx.
1 Jehovah answer thee in the day of trouble, The name of the God of Jacob set thee on high; 2 Send thy help from the holy place, And from Zion hold thee up; 3 Remember all thy meal offerings, And thy burnt offerings may He find fat; Selah. 4 Give thee according to thy heart, And all thy counsel may He fulfil. 5…
731 wordsSECTION 81Psalm Xx.
One wish moved the sacrificing king and the praying people. Their common desire was victory, but the people are content to be obscure, and their loyal love so clings to their monarch and leader that they only wish the fulfilment of his wishes. This unity of feeling culminates in the closing petitions in ver. 6, where s…
947 wordsSECTION 82Psalm Xxi.
1 Jehovah, in Thy strength the king rejoices, And in Thy salvation how greatly he exults! 2 The desire of his heart Thou hast given to him, And the request of his lips Thou hast not refused. 3 For Thou meetest him with blessings of good; Thou settest on his head a crown of pure gold. 4 Life he asked from Thee; Th…
1,380 wordsSECTION 83Psalm Xxi.
The second part (vv. 8-12) is, by Hupfeld and others, taken as addressed to Jehovah; and that idea has much to recommend it, but it seems to go to wreck on the separate reference to Jehovah in ver. 9, on the harshness of applying "evil against thee" and "a mischievous device" (ver. 11) to Him, and on the absence of a s…
683 wordsSECTION 84Psalm Xxii.
1 My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? [Why art Thou] afar from my help, from the words of my roar? 2 My God, I cry to Thee by day, and Thou answerest not; And by night, but there is no rest for me. 3 Yet Thou art Holy, Throned upon the praises of Israel. 4 In Thee our fathers trusted; They trusted and Tho…
1,169 wordsSECTION 85Psalm Xxii.
To a reader who shares in this understanding of the psalm, it must be holy ground, to be trodden reverently and with thoughts adoringly fixed on Jesus. Cold analysis is out of place. And yet there is a distinct order even in the groans, and a manifest contrast in the two halves of the psalm (vv. 1-21 and 22-31). "Thou …
850 wordsSECTION 86Psalm Xxii.
The use of "Our" in reference to the fathers has been laid hold of as favouring the hypothesis that the speaker is the personified nation; but no individual member of a nation would speak of the common ancestors as "My fathers." That would mean his own family progenitors, whereas the psalmist means the Patriarchs and t…
851 wordsSECTION 87Psalm Xxii.
The closing verse of this strophe takes the complaint of ver. 1 and turns it into prayer. Faith does not rest with plaintively crying "Why art Thou so far?" but pleads "Be not far"; and makes the nearness of trouble and the absence of all other help its twofold pleas. So much the psalmist has already won by his communi…
732 wordsSECTION 88Psalm Xxii.
The picture of bodily sufferings has one more touch in "I can count all my bones." Emaciation would produce that effect. But so would crucifixion which extended the frame and threw the bones of the thorax into prominence. Then the sufferer turns his eyes once more to his enemies, and describes the stony gaze, protracte…
751 wordsSECTION 89Psalm Xxii.
In the first strophe (vv. 22-6) the delivered singer vows to make God's name known to His brethren. The epistle to the Hebrews quotes the vow as not only expressive of our Lord's true manhood, but as specifying its purpose. Jesus became man that men might learn to know God; and the knowledge of His name streams most br…
736 wordsSECTION 90Psalm Xxiii.
As universality in extent, so perpetuity in duration is anticipated for the story of the psalmist's deliverance and for the praise to God thence accruing. "A seed shall serve Him." That is one generation of obedient worshippers. "It shall be told of Jehovah unto the [next] generation." That is, a second, who shall rece…
1,063 wordsSECTION 91Psalm Xxiii.
Food and drink and rest refresh fainting powers, and this reinvigoration is meant by "restoring my soul" or life. But the midday or nightly rest is intended to fit for effort, and so a second little picture follows in ver. 3, presenting another aspect of the shepherd's care and of the sheep's course. Out again on to t…
871 wordsSECTION 92Psalm Xxiii.
In the last verse we seem to pass to pure anticipation. Memory melts into hope, and that brighter than the forecast which closed the first part. There the psalmist's trust simply refused to yield to fear, while keenly conscious of evil which might warrant it; but here he has risen higher, and the alchemy of his happy f…
429 wordsSECTION 93Psalm Xxiv.
1 Jehovah's is the earth, and what fills it, The world and the dwellers therein. 2 For He--upon the seas He founded it, And upon the floods established it. 3 Who may ascend into the hill of Jehovah, And who may stand in His holy place? 4 The clean-handed and pure-hearted, Who lifts not his desire to vanity, And…
1,060 wordsSECTION 94Psalm Xxiv.
In ver. 5 the possessor of such purity is represented as receiving "a blessing, even righteousness," from God, which is by many taken to mean beneficence on the part of God, "inasmuch as, according to the Hebrew religious view of the world, all good is regarded as reward from God's retributive righteousness, and conseq…
883 wordsSECTION 95Psalm Xxv.
1 (א) Unto Thee, Jehovah, I uplift my soul; [On Thee I wait all the day, O my God!]. 2 (ב) On Thee I hang: let me not be put to shame; Let not my enemies exult over me. 3 (ג) Yea, all who wait on Thee shall not be put to shame; Put to shame shall they be who faithlessly forsake Thee without cause. 4 (ד) Thy ways…
673 wordsSECTION 96Psalm Xxv.
The first prayer-section embraces the three standing needs: protection, guidance, and forgiveness. With these are intertwined their pleas according to the logic of faith--the suppliant's uplifted desires and God's eternal tenderness and manifested mercy. The order of mention of the needs proceeds from without inwards, …
950 wordsSECTION 97Psalm Xxv.
The contemplation of the Divine character prepares the way for the transition to the second group of seven verses, which are mainly meditation on that character and on God's dealings and the blessedness of those who fear Him (vv. 8-14). The thought of God beautifully draws the singer from himself. How deeply and loving…
890 wordsSECTION 98Psalm Xxv.
The third heptad of verses returns to simple petition, and that, with one exception (ver. 18 _b_), for deliverance from enemies. This recurrence, in increased intensity, of the consciousness of hostility is not usual, for the psalms which begin with it generally pray themselves out of it. "The peace which passeth under…
716 wordsSECTION 99Psalm Xxvi.
Like Psalm xxxiv., this concludes with a supplementary verse beginning with Pe, a letter already represented in the acrostic scheme. This may be a later addition, for liturgical purposes. 1 Judge me, Jehovah, for I--in my integrity do I walk, And in Jehovah do I trust unwavering. 2 Test me, Jehovah, and try me, My …
684 wordsSECTION 100Psalm Xxvi.
Such high and sweet communion cannot but breed profound distaste for the society of evil-doers. The eyes which have God's loving-kindness ever before them are endowed with penetrative clearness of vision into the true hollowness of most of the objects pursued by men, and with a terrible sagacity which detects hypocrisy…
676 wordsSECTION 101Psalm Xxvi.
Ver. 8 is closely connected with the two preceding, but is perhaps best united with the following verse, as being the ground of the prayer there. Hate of the congregation of evil-doers has love to God's house for its complement or foundation. The measure of attachment is that of detachment. The designations of the sanc…
643 wordsSECTION 102Psalm Xxvii.
1 Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? Jehovah is the fortress of my life; for whom should I tremble? 2 When evil-doers drew near against me, to devour my flesh, My oppressors and my foes, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though a host encamp against me, My heart fears not; Though war rises against …
689 wordsSECTION 103Psalm Xxvii.
The first half (vv. 1-6) is the exultant song of soaring faith. But even in it there sounds an undertone. The very refusal to be afraid glances sideways at outstanding causes for fear. The very names of Jehovah as "Light, Salvation," "the Stronghold of my life," imply darkness, danger, and besetting foes. The resolve t…
954 wordsSECTION 104Psalm Xxvii.
Such intimacy of communion brings security from external dangers. The guest has a claim for protection. And that is a subsidiary reason for the psalmist's desire as well as a ground of his confidence. Therefore the assurance of ver. 5 follows the longing of ver. 4. "A pavilion," as the Hebrew text reads, has been needl…
753 wordsSECTION 105Psalm Xxvii.
The prayer "Forsake me not" is based upon a remarkable ground in ver. 10: "For my father and my mother have forsaken me." That seems a singular plea for a mature man, who has a considerably varied experience of life behind him, to urge. It is generally explained as a proverbial expression, meaning no more than the freq…
686 wordsSECTION 106Psalm Xxviii.
1 Unto Thee, Jehovah, I cry; My Rock, be not deaf to me, Lest Thou be silent to me, And I become as those who go down to the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my supplications in my crying to Thee for help, In my lifting my hands to Thy holy shrine. 3 Drag me not away with wicked men, and with workers of iniquity, Speaki…
1,005 wordsSECTION 107Psalm Xxviii.
As in many psalms, the faith which prays passes at once into the faith which possesses. This man, when he "stood praying, believed that he had what he asked," and, so believing, had it. There was no change in circumstances, but he was changed. There is no fear of going down into the pit now, and the rabble of evil-doer…
366 wordsSECTION 108Psalm Xxix.
1 Give to Jehovah, ye sons of God, Give to Jehovah glory and strength. 2 Give to Jehovah the glory of His name; Bow down to Jehovah in holy attire. 3 The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders; Jehovah is on many waters. 4 The voice of Jehovah is with power; The voice of Jehovah is with …
946 wordsSECTION 109Psalm Xxix.
While the psalmist speaks the swift tempest has come down with a roar and a crash on the northern mountains, and Lebanon and "Sirion" (a Sidonian name for Hermon) reel, and the firm-boled, stately cedars are shivered. The structure of the verses already noticed, in which the second clause reduplicates, with some specia…
731 wordsSECTION 110Psalm Xxix.
But what of the effects down here? The concluding strophe (vv. 10, 11) tells. Its general sense is clear, though the first clause of ver. 10 is ambiguous. The source of the difficulty in rendering is twofold. The preposition may mean "for"--_i.e._, in order to bring about--or, according to some, "on," or "above," or "a…
381 wordsSECTION 111Psalm Xxx.
1 Thee will I exalt, Jehovah, for me hast Thou lifted up, And not made my foes rejoice over me. 2 Jehovah, my God, I cried loudly to Thee, and Thou healedst me. 3 Jehovah, Thou hast brought up from Sheol my soul; Thou hast revived me from among those who descend to the pit. 4 Make music to Jehovah, ye who are fav…
863 wordsSECTION 112Psalm Xxx.
True thankfulness is expansive, and joy craves for sympathy. So the psalmist invites other voices to join his song, since he is sure that others there are who have shared his experience. It has been but one instance of a universal law. He is not the only one whom Jehovah has treated with loving-kindness, and he would f…
734 wordsSECTION 113Psalm Xxx.
But the thrilling sense of recent deliverance runs in too strong a current to be long turned aside, even by the thought of others' praise; and the personal element recurs in ver. 6, and persists till the close. This latter part falls into three well-marked minor divisions: the confession of self-confidence, bred of eas…
879 wordsSECTION 114Psalm Xxxi.
With quick transition, corresponding to the swiftness of the answer to prayer, the closing pair of verses tells of the instantaneous change which that answer wrought. As in the earlier metaphor weeping was transformed into joy, here mourning is turned into dancing, and God's hand unties the cord which loosely bound the…
686 wordsSECTION 115Psalm Xxxi.
The swift transitions of feeling in this psalm may seem strange to colder natures whose lives run smoothly, but reveal a brother-soul to those who have known what it is to ride on the top of the wave and then to go down into its trough. What is peculiar to the psalm is not only the inclusion of the whole gamut of feeli…
1,181 wordsSECTION 116Psalm Xxxi.
Is it inconceivable that such sunny confidence should be suddenly clouded and followed, as in the third turn of thought (vv. 9-13), by plaintive absorption in the sad realities of present distress? The very remembrance of a brighter past may have sharpened the sense of present trouble. But it is to be noted that these …
686 wordsSECTION 117Psalm Xxxi.
Again the key changes, and the minor is modulated into confident petition. It is the test of true trust that it is deepened by the fullest recognition of dangers and enemies. The same facts may feed despair and be the fuel of faith. This man's eyes took in all surrounding evils, and these drove him to avert his gaze fr…
671 wordsSECTION 118Psalm Xxxi.
That assurance prepares the way for the noble burst of thanksgiving, as for accomplished deliverance, which ends the psalm, springing up in a joyous outpouring of melody, like a lark from a bare furrow. But there is no such change of tone as to warrant the supposition that these last verses (19-24) are either the psalm…
776 wordsSECTION 119Psalm Xxxii.
The whole closes with a summons to all whom Jehovah loves to love Him for His mercy's sake. The joyful singer longs for a chorus to join his single voice, as all devout hearts do. He generalises his own experience, as all who have for themselves experienced deliverance are entitled and bound to do, and discerns that in…
696 wordsSECTION 120Psalm Xxxii.
The psalmist begins abruptly with an exclamation (Oh, the blessedness, etc.). His new joy wells up irrepressibly. To think that he who had gone so far down in the mire, and had locked his lips in silence for so long, should find himself so blessed! Joy so exuberant cannot content itself with one statement of its ground…
754 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.