PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 2
Alexander Maclaren, 1826-1910 · 146,707 words · 199 reading sections
Fourth Series.
EDITED BY THE REV. SIR W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. _Editor of "The Expositor," etc._ _VOLUME II._ PSALMS XXXIX.-LXXXIX. HODDER AND STOUGHTON LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO The Expositor's Bible. _crown 8vo, Cloth, Price 7s. 6d. Each Vol._ First Series. Colossians. By the Rev. A. MACLAREN, D.D., D.Lit. St. Mar…
283 wordsSECTION 2Eighth Series.
The Psalms. By the Rev. A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. I. 1 and 2 Thessalonians. By Prof. JAMES DENNEY, D.D. The Book of Job. By the Rev. R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. Ephesians. By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A., D.D. The Gospel of St. John. By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. II. The Acts of the Apostles. By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol.…
260 wordsSECTION 3Psalm Xxxix.
BY ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D. _VOLUME II._ PSALMS XXXIX.-LXXXIX. HODDER AND STOUGHTON LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO _Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ 1 I said, I will guard my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will put a muzzle on my mouth So long as the wicked is before me. 2 I mad…
870 wordsSECTION 4Psalm Xxxix.
Does the psalm proceed to recount what its author said when he broke silence? It may appear so at first sight. On the other hand, the calm prayer which follows, beginning with ver. 4, is not of the character of the wild and whirling words which were suppressed for fear of sinning, nor does the fierce fire of which the …
697 wordsSECTION 5Psalm Xxxix.
The Selah at the end of ver. 4 does not here seem to mark a logical pause in thought nor to coincide with the strophe division, but emphasises by some long-drawn, sad notes the teaching of the words. The thought runs on unbroken, and ver. 6 is closely linked to ver. 5 by the repeated "surely" and "breath" as well as in…
791 wordsSECTION 6Psalm Xxxix.
The burden is still on the psalmist's shoulders. His sufferings are not ended, though his trust has taken the poison out of them. Therefore his renewed grasp of God leads at once to prayer for deliverance from his "transgressions," in which cry may be included both sins and their chastisement. "The fool" is the name of…
775 wordsSECTION 7Psalm Xxxix.
The second subdivision of this part (vv. 12, 13) reiterates the former with some difference of tone. There is a beautiful climax of earnestness in the psalmist's appeal to God. His prayer swells into crying, and that again melts into tears, which go straight to the great Father's heart. Weeping eyes are never turned to…
727 wordsSECTION 8Psalm Xl.
1 Waiting, I waited for Jehovah, And He bent to me and heard my [loud] cry. 2 And lifted me from the pit of destruction, From the mire of the bog, And set my feet on a rock-- Established my steps, 3 And put in my mouth a new song, Praise unto our God. Many shall see and fear, And trust in Jehovah. 4 Blessed i…
777 wordsSECTION 9Psalm Xl.
The attribution of the psalm to David rests solely on the superscription. The contents have no discernible points of connection with known circumstances in his or any other life. Jeremiah has been thought of as the author, on the strength of giving a prosaic literal meaning to the obviously poetical phrase "the pit of …
778 wordsSECTION 10Psalm Xl.
God's deliverance gives occasion for fresh praise. The psalmist has to add his voice to the great chorus, and this sense of being but one of a multitude, who have been blessed alike and therefore should bless alike, occasions the significant interchange in ver. 3 of "my" and "our," which needs no theory of the speaker …
689 wordsSECTION 11Psalm Xl.
Ver. 5 corresponds with ver. 4, in that it sets forth in similar generality the great deeds with which God is wont to answer man's trust. But the personality of the poet breaks very beautifully through the impersonal utterances at two points: once when he names Jehovah as "my God," thus claiming his separate share in t…
697 wordsSECTION 12Psalm Xl.
Vv. 7 and 8 are occupied with the response to God's requirements thus manifested by His gift of capacity to hear His voice. "Then said I." As soon as he had learned the meaning of his ears he found the right use of his tongue. The thankful heart was moved to swift acceptance of the known will of God. The clearest recog…
928 wordsSECTION 13Psalm Xl.
There is an undertone of such felt need even in the confidence of ver. 11; and it becomes dominant from ver. 12 to the end, but not so as to overpower the clear note of trust. The difference between the two parts of the psalm is great, but is not to be exaggerated as if it were contrariety. In the former part thanksgiv…
768 wordsSECTION 14Psalm Xli.
Very plaintively and touchingly does the low sigh of personal need follow this triumphant intercession for the company of the saints. Its triple elements blend in one believing aspiration, which is not impatience, though it pleads for swift help. "I am afflicted and needy"; there the psalmist turns his eye on his own s…
664 wordsSECTION 15Psalm Xli.
The combination of sickness and treachery is remarkable, especially if the former is taken literally, as the strongly marked details seem to require. The sick man is visited by an insincere sympathiser, who is all eyes to note symptoms of increasing weakness, and all tongue, as soon as he gets out of the sick-room, to …
742 wordsSECTION 16Psalm Xli.
The second and third strophes (vv. 4-9) are closely connected. In them the psalmist recounts his sorrows and pains, but first breathes a prayer for mercy, and bases it no longer on his mercifulness, but on his sin. Only a shallow experience will find contradiction here to either the former words, or to the later profes…
846 wordsSECTION 17Psalm Xli.
The last strophe (vv. 10-12) recurs to prayer, and soars to confidence born of communion. A hand stretched out in need and trust soon comes back filled with blessings. Therefore here the moment of true petition is the moment of realised answer. The prayer traverses the malicious hopes of enemies. They had said, "He wil…
351 wordsSECTION 18Psalm Xlii.
1 Like a hind which pants after the water-brooks, So pants, my soul after Thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been bread to me day and night, While they say to me all the day, Where is thy God? 4 This would I remember, and pour out m…
284 wordsSECTION 19Psalm Xliii.
1 Do me right, O God, and plead my plea against a loveless nation; From the man of fraud and mischief rescue me. 2 For Thou art God my stronghold; why hast Thou cast me off? Why must I wearily go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 3 Send out Thy light and Thy troth; let them lead me; Let them bring …
708 wordsSECTION 20Psalm Xliii.
The psalm falls into three parts, each closing with the same refrain. Longings and tears, remembrances of festal hours passed in the sanctuary melt the singer's soul, while taunting enemies hiss continual sarcasms at him as forsaken by his God. But his truer self silences these lamentations, and cheers the feebler "sou…
786 wordsSECTION 21Psalm Xliii.
This man's longing was intensified by his unwilling exile from the sanctuary, a special privation to a door-keeper of the Temple. His situation and mood closely resemble those in another Korachite psalm (lxxxiv.), in which, as here, the soul "faints for the courts of the Lord," and as here the panting hind, so there th…
1,059 wordsSECTION 22Psalm Xliii.
The twofold emotions of ver. 6 recur in vv. 7, 8, where we have first renewed despondency and then reaction into hope. The imagery of floods lifting up their voices, and cataracts sounding as they fall, and breaking waves rolling over the half-drowned psalmist has been supposed to be suggested by the scenery in which h…
813 wordsSECTION 23Psalm Xliii.
But the gloomier mood has shot its last bolt. Grief which finds no fresh words is beginning to dry up. The stage of mechanical repetition of complaints is not far from that of cessation of them. So the higher mood conquers at last, and breaks into a burst of joyous petition, which passes swiftly into realisation of the…
399 wordsSECTION 24Psalm Xliv.
1 O God, with our ears we have heard, Our fathers have told to us, The work Thou didst work in their days, In the days of yore. 2 Thou [with] Thy hand didst dispossess nations, and didst plant _them_, Didst afflict peoples and spread _them_ forth. 3 For not by their own sword did they possess the land, And thei…
723 wordsSECTION 25Psalm Xliv.
The first part (vv. 1-8) recalls the fact that shone so brightly in all the past, the continual exercise of Divine power giving victory to their weakness, and builds thereon a prayer that the same law of His providence might be fulfilled now. The bitter side of the retrospect forces itself into consciousness in the nex…
732 wordsSECTION 26Psalm Xliv.
The song drops in the second part (vv. 9-16) from these clear heights with lyric suddenness. The grim facts of defeat and consequent exposure to mocking laughter from enemies force themselves into sight, and seem utterly to contradict the preceding verses. But the first part speaks with the voice of faith, and the seco…
714 wordsSECTION 27Psalm Xliv.
The third part (vv. 17-22) brings closely together professions of righteousness, which sound strangely in Christian ears, and complaints of suffering, and closes with the assertion that these two are cause and effect. The sufferers are a nation of martyrs, and know themselves to be so. This tone is remarkable when the …
559 wordsSECTION 28Psalm Xlv.
1 My heart seethes [with] goodly speech: I speak my work (poem) to a king: My tongue is the pen of a swift scribe. 2 Thou art fair beyond the sons of men; Grace is poured on thy lips: Therefore God has blessed thee for ever. 3 Gird thy sword on thy thigh, O hero, Thy splendour and thy majesty. 4 [And [in] thy m…
916 wordsSECTION 29Psalm Xlv.
One reason for the failure of attempts at identification is that the language is a world too wide for the best and greatest of Jewish kings. Much in the psalm applies to a historical occasion, the marriage of some monarch; but there is much that as obviously goes beyond it. Either, then, the psalm is hyperbole, outstri…
1,149 wordsSECTION 30Psalm Xlv.
All the older versions take "God," in ver. 6 _a_, as a vocative, while most moderns seek another construction or text. "The sum of the matter is that the only natural rendering of the received text is that of the Versions, 'Thy throne, O God'" (Cheyne, _in loc._). Three renderings have been proposed, all of which are h…
741 wordsSECTION 31Psalm Xlv.
The king's love of righteousness leads to his being "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows." This anointing is not that of a coronation, but that of a feast. His "fellows" may either be other kings or his attendant companions at his marriage. The psalmist looks as deep into individual life as he has just …
843 wordsSECTION 32Psalm Xlv.
But whilst there is all this sweet commerce of love and giving, the bride is reminded that the king is her lord, and is to be reverenced as well as loved. There is here, no doubt, the influence of an archaic mode of regarding marriage and the wife's position. But it still is true that no woman finds all that her heart …
939 wordsSECTION 33Psalm Xlvi.
The closing verses are addressed, not to the bride, but to the king, and can only in a very modified way and partially be supposed to pass beyond the Jewish monarch and refer to the true King. Hopes that he might be blessed with fortunate issue of the marriage were quite in place in an epithalamion, and the delicacy of…
750 wordsSECTION 34Psalm Xlvi.
In the first strophe the psalmist paints chaos come again, by the familiar figures of a changed earth, tottering mountains sinking in the raging sea from which they rose at creation, and a wild ocean with thunderous dash appalling the ear and yeasty foam terrifying the eye, sweeping in triumphant insolence over all the…
736 wordsSECTION 35Psalm Xlvi.
Substantially the same thought is next stated in plain words: "God is in the midst of her." And therefore two things follow. One is unshaken stability, and another is help at the right time--"at the turn of the morning." "The Lord is in the midst of her"--that is a perennial fact. "The Lord shall help her"--that is the…
875 wordsSECTION 36Psalm Xlvii.
1 All ye peoples, clap [your] hands; Shout to God with joyful cry. 2 For Jehovah is most High [and] dread, A great King over all the earth. 3 He subdues peoples under us, And nations under our feet, 4 He chooses for us our inheritance, The pride of Jacob whom He loved. Selah. 5 God is gone up with a shout, Jeh…
762 wordsSECTION 37Psalm Xlvii.
The second strophe is distinguished from the first by the increased fervour of its calls to praise, by its still more exultant rush, and by its omission of reference to Jacob. It is wholly concerned with the peoples whom it invites to take up the song. As in the former strophe the singer showed to the peoples God worki…
766 wordsSECTION 38Psalm Xlviii.
1 Great is Jehovah, and much to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain. 2 Lovely in loftiness, a joy of all the earth, Is Mount Zion, the recesses of the north, the city of the great King. 3 God in her palaces Has made Himself known as a high tower. 4 For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They…
801 wordsSECTION 39Psalm Xlviii.
But the main thought of this first part is independent of such minute difficulties. It is that the one thing which made Zion-Jerusalem glorious was God's presence in it. It was beautiful in its elevation; it was safely isolated from invaders by precipitous ravines, inclosing the angle of the plateau on which it stood. …
712 wordsSECTION 40Psalm Xlviii.
But not only does the deliverance link the present with the past, but it flings a steady light into the future. "God shall establish her for ever." The city is truly "the eternal city," because God dwells in it. The psalmist was thinking of the duration of the actual Jerusalem, the imperfect embodiment of a great idea.…
842 wordsSECTION 41Psalm Xlix.
1 Hear this, all ye peoples; Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: 2 Both low-born and high-born, Rich and poor together. 3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; And the meditation of my heart shall utter understanding 4 I will bend my ear to a parable: I will open my riddle on the harp. 5 Why should I fear in the …
663 wordsSECTION 42Psalm Xlix.
The psalmist's consciousness that he speaks by Divine inspiration, and that his message imports all men, is grandly expressed in his introductory summons. The very name which he gives to the world suggests the latter thought; for it means--the world considered as fleeting. Since we dwell in so transitory an abode, it b…
1,196 wordsSECTION 43Psalm Xlix.
The "see" in ver. 10 is taken by many to have the same object as the "see" in ver. 9. "Yea, he shall see it." (So Hupfeld, Hitzig, Perowne, and others.) "The wise die" will then begin a new sentence. But the repetition is feeble, and breaks up the structure of ver. 10 undesirably. The fact stares the rich man in the fa…
955 wordsSECTION 44Psalm Xlix.
So far the picture is comparatively clear, but with the next clause difficulties begin. Does the "morning" mean only the end of the night of trouble, the beginning in this life of the "upright's" deliverance, or have we here an eschatological utterance? The whole of the rest of the verse has to do with the unseen world…
759 wordsSECTION 45Psalm Xlix.
The same pregnant phrase occurs again with the same emphasis in Psalm lxxiii. 24, "Thou shalt take me," and in both passages the psalmist is obviously quoting from the narrative of Enoch's translation. "God took him" (Gen. v. 24). He has fed his faith on that signal instance of the end of a life of communion with God, …
705 wordsSECTION 46Psalm L.
The refrain is slightly but significantly varied. Instead of "abides not," it reads "and has not understanding." The alteration in the Hebrew is very slight, the two verbs differing only by one letter, and the similarity in sound is no doubt the reason for the selection of the word. But the change brings out the limita…
857 wordsSECTION 47Psalm L.
The structure is clear and simple. There is, first, a magnificent description of God's coming to judgment and summoning heaven and earth to witness while He judges His people (vv. 1-6). The second part (vv. 7-15) proclaims the worthlessness of sacrifice; and the third (vv. 16-21) brands hypocrites who pollute God's sta…
812 wordsSECTION 48Psalm L.
But before the assize opens, the heavens, which had been summoned to behold, declare beforehand His righteousness, as manifested by the fact that He is about to judge His people. The Selah indicates that a long-drawn swell of music fills the expectant pause before the Judge speaks from His tribunal. The second part (v…
658 wordsSECTION 49Psalm L.
The third part of the psalm is still sterner in tone. It strikes at the other great corruption of worship by hypocrites. As has been often remarked, it condemns breaches of the second table of the law, just as the former part may be regarded as dealing with transgressions of the first. The eighth, seventh, and ninth co…
757 wordsSECTION 50Psalm Li.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness: According to the greatness of Thy compassions blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And from my sin make me clean. 3 For I, I know my transgressions: And my sin is before me continually. 4 Against Thee, Thee only, have I s…
852 wordsSECTION 51Psalm Li.
In vv. 1-9 the psalmist's cry is chiefly for pardon; in vv. 10-12 he prays chiefly for purity; in vv. 13-17 he vows grateful service. Vv. 18, 19, are probably a later addition. The psalm begins with at once grasping the character of God as the sole ground of hope. That character has been revealed in an infinite number…
927 wordsSECTION 52Psalm Li.
The petitions for cleansing are, in ver. 3, urged on the ground of the psalmist's consciousness of sin. Penitent confession is a condition of forgiveness. There is no need to take this verse as giving the reason why the psalmist offered his prayer, rather than as presenting a plea why it should be answered. Some commen…
683 wordsSECTION 53Psalm Li.
Vv. 5, 6, are marked as closely related by the "Behold" at the beginning of each. The psalmist passes from penitent contemplation and confession of his acts of sin to acknowledge his sinful nature, derived from sinful parents. "Original sin" is theological terminology for the same facts which science gathers together u…
864 wordsSECTION 54Psalm Li.
The second principal division begins with ver. 10, and is a prayer for purity, followed by vows of glad service. The prayer is contained in three verses (10-12), of which the first implores complete renewal of nature, the second beseeches that there may be no break between the suppliant and God, and the third asks for …
823 wordsSECTION 55Psalm Li.
The last member of the triad, in ver. 12, looks back to former petitions, and asks for restoration of the "joy of Thy salvation," which had lain like dew on this man before he fell. In this connection the supplication for joy follows on the other two, because the joy which it desires is the result of their being grante…
752 wordsSECTION 56Psalm Lii.
The psalmist's last words are immortal. "A heart broken and crushed, O God, Thou wilt not despise." But they derive still deeper beauty and pathos when it is observed that they are spoken after confession has been answered to his consciousness by pardon, and longing for purity by at least some bestowal of it. The "joy …
743 wordsSECTION 57Psalm Lii.
The abrupt question at the beginning reveals the psalmist's long-pent indignation. He has been silently brooding over the swollen arrogance and malicious lies of the tyrant, till he can restrain himself no longer, and out pours a fiery flood. Evil gloried in is worse than evil done. The word rendered in the A.V. and R.…
902 wordsSECTION 58Psalm Lii.
A swift turn of feeling carries the singer to rejoice in the contrast of his own lot. No uprooting does he fear. It may be questioned whether the words "in the house of God" refer to the psalmist or to the olive tree. Apparently there were trees in the Temple area (Psalm xcii. 13); but the parallel in the next clause, …
346 wordsSECTION 59Psalm Liii.[1]
1 The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They corrupt _and_ make abominable their _iniquity_; There is no one doing good. 2 _God_ looketh down from heaven upon the sons of men, To see if there is any having discernment seeking after God. 3 _Each of them_ is _turned aside_; together they are become putrid; T…
736 wordsSECTION 60Psalm Liv.
[1] Italics show variations from text of Psalm xiv. 1 O God, by Thy name save me, And by Thy might right me. 2 O God, hear my prayer; Give ear to the words of my mouth. 3 For strangers are risen up against me, And violent men seek my soul: They set not God before them. Selah. 4 Behold, God is a helper for me: …
680 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.