PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 2
Alexander Maclaren, 1826-1910 · 146,707 words · 199 reading sections
Psalm Liv.
"Strangers," in ver. 3, would most naturally mean foreigners, but not necessarily so. The meaning would naturally pass into that of enemies--men who, even though of the psalmist's own blood, behave to him in a hostile manner. The word, then, does not negative the tradition in the superscription; though the men of Ziph …
652 wordsSECTION 62Psalm Liv.
That petition is, like others in similar psalms, proper to the spiritual level of the Old Testament, and not to that of the New; and it is far more reverent, as well as accurate, to recognise fully the distinction than to try to slur it over. At the same time, it is not to be forgotten that the same lofty consciousness…
499 wordsSECTION 63Psalm Lv.
1 Give ear, O God, to my prayer; And hide not Thyself from my entreaty. 2 Attend unto me, and answer me: I am distracted as I muse, and must groan; 3 For the voice of [my] enemy, On account of the oppression of the wicked; For they fling down iniquity upon me, And in wrath they are hostile to me. 4 My heart wri…
676 wordsSECTION 64Psalm Lv.
The psalm may be regarded as divided into three parts, in each of which a different phase of agitated feeling predominates, but not exclusively. Strong excitement does not marshal emotions or their expression according to artistic proprieties of sequence, and this psalm is all ablaze with it. That vehemence of emotion …
881 wordsSECTION 65Psalm Lv.
The second part turns from subjective feelings to objective facts. A cry for help and a yearning for a safe solitude were natural results of the former; but when the psalmist's eye turns to his enemies, a flash of anger lights it, and, instead of the meek longings of the earlier verses, prayers for their destruction ar…
726 wordsSECTION 66Psalm Lv.
The third part of the psalm returns to gentler tones of devotion and trust. The great name of Jehovah appears here significantly. To that ever-living One, the Covenant God, will the psalmist cry, in assurance of answer. "Evening, and morning, and noon" designate the whole day by its three principal divisions, and mean,…
778 wordsSECTION 67Psalm Lv.
Then follows another reference to the traitorous friend, which, by its very abruptness, declares how deep is the wound he has inflicted. The psalmist does not stand alone. He classes with himself those who remained faithful to him. The traitor has not yet thrown off his mask, though the psalmist has penetrated his stil…
571 wordsSECTION 68Psalm Lvi.
1 Be gracious to me, O God; for man would swallow me up: All day the fighting oppresses me. 2 My liers-in-wait would swallow me up all the day: For many proudly fight against me. 3 [In] the day [when] I fear, I will trust in Thee. 4 In God do I praise His word: In God do I trust, I will not fear; What can flesh…
665 wordsSECTION 69Psalm Lvi.
One brief verse, the brevity of which gives it emphasis, tells of the singer's fears, and of how he silences them by the dead lift of effort by which he constrains himself to trust. It is a strangely shallow view which finds a contradiction in this utterance, which all hearts, that have ever won calmness in agitation a…
751 wordsSECTION 70Psalm Lvi.
Ver. 7 brings in a new element not found in the first part--namely, the prayer for the destruction of these unwearied watchers. Its first clause is obscure. If the present text is adhered to, the rendering of the clause as a question is best. A suggested textual correction has been largely adopted by recent commentator…
771 wordsSECTION 71Psalm Lvi.
The psalmist's exuberant confidence overflows the limits of his song, in a closing couple of verses which are outside its scheme. So sure is he of deliverance, that, as often in similar psalms, his thoughts are busied in preparing his sacrifice of thanks before the actual advent of the mercy for which it is to be offer…
430 wordsSECTION 72Psalm Lvii.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me; For in Thee has my soul taken refuge: And in the shadow of Thy wings will I take refuge, Until the [tempest of] destructions is gone by. 2 I will cry to God Most High; To God who accomplishes for me. 3 He will send from heaven, and save me; [For] He that would swall…
682 wordsSECTION 73Psalm Lvii.
The psalmist knows that a soul which trusts has a right to God's gracious dealings, and he is not afraid to urge his confidence as a plea with God. The boldness of the plea is not less indicative of the depth and purity of his religious experience than are the tender metaphors in which it is expressed. What truer or ri…
691 wordsSECTION 74Psalm Lvii.
The description of the psalmist's circumstances in ver. 4 presents considerable difficulty. The division of clauses, the force of the form of the verb rendered _I must lie down_, and the meaning and construction of the word rendered "those who breathe out fire," are all questionable. If the accents are adhered to, the …
932 wordsSECTION 75Psalm Lvii.
The psalmist has done with the enemies; they are at the bottom of the pit. In full confidence of triumph and deliverance, he breaks out into a grand burst of praise. "My heart is fixed," or "steadfast." Twice the psalmist repeats this, as he does other emphatic thoughts, in this psalm (_cp._ vv. 2, 4, 8, 9). What power…
447 wordsSECTION 76Psalm Lviii.
1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O ye gods? In uprightness do ye judge the sons of men? 2 Yea, in heart ye work iniquity; In the earth ye weigh out the violence of your hands. 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: Gone astray from birth are the speakers of lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpe…
748 wordsSECTION 77Psalm Lviii.
It is to be noted that the psalm says no more about the sins of unjust authorities, but passes on to describe the "wicked" generally. The transition may suggest that under unjust rulers all wrongdoers find impunity, and so multiply and worsen; or it may simply be that these former are now merged in the class to which t…
864 wordsSECTION 78Psalm Lviii.
The prayer for destruction is caught up again in ver. 8, in two daring figures which tremble on the verge of lowering the key of the whole; but by escaping that peril, produce the contrary effect, and heighten it. A slug leaves a shining track of slime as it creeps, which exudes from its soft body, and thus it seems to…
866 wordsSECTION 79Psalm Lix.
The last issue of God's judgments contemplated by the psalm warrants the joy of the righteous; for in these there is a demonstration to the world that there is "fruit" to the righteous, and that notwithstanding all bewilderments from the sight of prosperous wickedness and oppressed righteousness "there is a God who jud…
790 wordsSECTION 80Psalm Lix.
The former half of the first part begins and ends with petitions. Imbedded in these is a plaintive recounting of the machinations of the adversaries, which are, as it were, spread before God's eyes, accompanied with protestations of innocence. The prayers, which enclose, as in a circlet, this description of unprovoked …
696 wordsSECTION 81Psalm Lix.
The petition, grounded upon these names, is supposed by modern commentators to prove that the psalmist's enemies were heathens, which would, of course, destroy the Davidic authorship, and make the singer a personification of the nation. But against this is to be observed the description of the enemies in the last claus…
702 wordsSECTION 82Psalm Lix.
Ver. 9 is the refrain closing the first part. The reading of the Hebrew text, "His strength," must be given up, as unintelligible, and the slight alteration required for reading "my" instead of "his" adopted, as in the second instance of the refrain in ver. 17. The further alteration of text, however, by which "I will …
844 wordsSECTION 83Psalm Lix.
The second part of this division (ver. 14) begins with the same words as the corresponding part of the first division (ver. 6), so that there is a kind of refrain here. The futures in vv. 14, 15, may be either simple futures or optatives. In the latter case the petitions of the preceding verses would be continued here,…
477 wordsSECTION 84Psalm Lx.
1 O God, Thou hast cast us off, hast broken us, Hast been angry with us--restore us again. 2 Thou hast shaken the land, hast rent it-- Heal its breaches, for it trembles. 3 Thou hast made Thy people see hard things, Thou hast given them to drink reeling as wine. 4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, …
670 wordsSECTION 85Psalm Lx.
There is almost a tone of wonder in the designation of Israel as "Thy people," so sadly does the fate meted out to them contrast with their name. Stranger still and more anomalous is it, that, as ver. 3 _b_ laments, God's own hand has commended such a chalice to their lips as should fill them with infatuation. The cons…
798 wordsSECTION 86Psalm Lx.
Their defeat is foretold in contemptuous images. The basin for washing the feet was "a vessel unto dishonour"; and, in Israel's great house, no higher function for his ancestral enemy, when conquered, would be found. The meaning of casting the shoe upon or over Edom is doubtful. It may be a symbol for taking possession…
502 wordsSECTION 87Psalm Lxi.
1 Hear, O God, my shrill cry, Attend to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth I cry to Thee, when my heart is wrapped [in gloom]: Lead me on to a rock that is too high for me to [reach] 3 For Thou hast been a place of refuge for me, A tower of strength from the face of the foe. 4 Let me dwell a guest in Thy ten…
797 wordsSECTION 88Psalm Lxi.
The one desire of such a suppliant is for restoration of interrupted access to God. The psalmist embodies that yearning in its more outward form, but not without penetrating to the inner reality in both the parallel petitions which follow. In the first of these, (ver. 2 _b_) the thought is fuller than the condensed exp…
754 wordsSECTION 89Psalm Lxi.
Very naturally, then, follows the closing prayer in vv. 6, 7. The purely individual character of the rest of the psalm, which is resumed in the last verse, where the singer, speaking in the first person, represents his continual praise as the result of the answer to his petitions for the king, makes these petitions hop…
378 wordsSECTION 90Psalm Lxii.
1 Only upon God [waits] my soul [in] silence: From Him is my salvation. 2 Only He is my rock and my salvation, My high tower, I shall not be greatly moved. 3 How long will ye rush upon a man? [How long] will ye all of you break him down, Like a bulging wall, a tottering fence? 4 Only from his elevation do they c…
796 wordsSECTION 91Psalm Lxii.
The psalmist's silence finds voice, which does not break it, in saying over to himself what God is to him. His accumulation of epithets reminds us of Psalm xviii. 1, 2. Not only does his salvation come from God, but God Himself is the salvation which He sends forth like an angel. The recognition of God as his defence i…
678 wordsSECTION 92Psalm Lxii.
There may be deep meaning in the slight omission of "greatly" in the second refrain. Confidence has grown. The first hope was that the waiting heart should not be much shaken, that the tottering fence should not be quite thrown down; the second is that it shall not be shaken at all. An access of faith has poured into t…
738 wordsSECTION 93Psalm Lxii.
The natural conclusion from ver. 9 follows in the exhortation of ver. 10, which completes the positive presentation of the true object of trust (ver. 8) by the warning against false refuges. The introduction of "oppression" and "robbery" is singular, for it can scarcely be supposed that the assailants of the psalmist a…
485 wordsSECTION 94Psalm Lxiii.
1 O God, my God art Thou, I seek Thee earnestly, My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh pines for Thee, In a dry and weary land, without water. 2 So in the sanctuary have I gazed on Thee, To see Thy power and Thy glory. 3 For Thy loving-kindness is better than life, [Therefore] my lips shall praise Thee. 4 So will I…
668 wordsSECTION 95Psalm Lxiii.
Ver. 2 is difficult principally because the reference of the initial "So" is doubtful. By some it is connected with the first clause of ver. 1: "So"--_i.e._, as my God--"have I seen Thee." Others suppose a comparison to be made between the longing just expressed and former ones, and the sense to be, "With the same eage…
774 wordsSECTION 96Psalm Lxiii.
Thus the psalmist passes imperceptibly to the second strophe, in which the longing soul becomes the satisfied soul. The emblem of a feast is naturally suggested by the previous metaphor of thirst. The same conviction, which urged the psalmist forward in his search after God, now assures him of absolute satisfaction in …
808 wordsSECTION 97Psalm Lxiii.
Another beautiful reciprocity is suggested by the very order of the words in the two clauses of ver. 8. The first ends with "Thee"; the second begins with "Me." The mutual relation of God and the soul is here set forth. He who "cleaves after God" is upheld in his pursuit by God's hand. And not in his pursuit only, but …
477 wordsSECTION 98Psalm Lxiv.
1 Hear, O God, my voice in my complaint, From the fear of the enemy guard my life. 2 Hide me from the secret assembly of evil-doers, From the noisy crowd of workers of iniquity: 3 Who whet, like a sword, their tongue, [Who] aim [as] their arrow a bitter word, 4 To shoot in hiding-places [at] the upright: Suddenl…
653 wordsSECTION 99Psalm Lxiv.
The same ideas are enlarged on in the third verse-pair (5, 6) under a new metaphor. Instead of arrows flying in secret, we have now snares laid to catch unsuspecting prey. "They strengthen themselves [in] an evil plan" (lit. _word_) pictures mutual encouragement and fixed determination. They discuss the best way of ent…
603 wordsSECTION 100Psalm Lxv.
1 To Thee silence is praise, O God, in Zion, And to Thee shall the vow be paid. 2 O Thou hearer of prayer, To Thee all flesh comes. 3 Deeds of iniquity have been too strong for me: Our transgressions--Thou, Thou coverest them. 4 Blessed is he whom Thou choosest and bringest near, That he may dwell in Thy courts:…
1,153 wordsSECTION 101Psalm Lxv.
The strophe ends with an exclamation celebrating the blessedness of dwelling with God. That refers, no doubt, to Israel's prerogative of access to the Temple; but the inward and outward are blended, as in many places in the Psalter where dwelling in the house of the Lord is yearned for or rejoiced in. The universalism …
929 wordsSECTION 102Psalm Lxv.
God reveals Himself not only in the sanctities of His house, nor in His dread "signs" in nature and history, but in the yearly recurring harvest, which was waving, as yet unreaped, while the poet sang. The local colouring which regards rain as the chief factor in fertility and the special gift of God is noticeable. In …
608 wordsSECTION 103Psalm Lxvi.
1 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth, 2 Harp [unto] the glory of His name, Render glory [to Him by] His praise. 3 Say to God, How dread are Thy works! For the greatness of Thy strength shall Thy enemies feign [submission] to Thee. 4 All the earth shall bow down to Thee, and harp to Thee, They shall harp [to] T…
726 wordsSECTION 104Psalm Lxvi.
It is divided into five strophes, three of which are marked by Selah. That musical indication is wanting at the close of the third strophe (ver. 12), which is also the close of the first or choral part, and its absence may be connected with the transition to a single voice. A certain progress in thought is noticeable, …
692 wordsSECTION 105Psalm Lxvi.
The third strophe comes still closer to the particular deliverance underlying the psalm. Why should all "peoples" be called upon to praise God for it? The psalmist has learned that Israel's history is meant to teach the world what God is, and how blessed it is to dwell under His wing. No exclusiveness taints his enjoym…
684 wordsSECTION 106Psalm Lxvi.
The psalmist tells his experience of God's answers to his prayer in a very striking fashion. Ver. 17 says that he cried to God; and while his uttered voice was supplication, the song extolling God for the deliverance asked was, as it were, lying under his tongue, ready to break forth,--so sure was he that his cry would…
447 wordsSECTION 107Psalm Lxvii.
1 God be gracious to us, and bless us, And cause His face to shine among us; Selah. 2 That Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy salvation among all nations. 3 Let peoples give Thee thanks, O God, Let peoples, all of them, give Thee thanks. 4 Let tribes rejoice and shout aloud, For Thou wilt judge peoples in equi…
868 wordsSECTION 108Psalm Lxvii.
The central core of the psalm may either be taken as summons to the nations or as expression of desire for them. The depth of the longing or the stringency of the summons is wonderfully given by that fourfold repetition of the same words in vv. 3 and 5, with the emphatic "all of them" in the second clause of each. Not …
622 wordsSECTION 109Psalm Lxviii.
1 Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, And let them who hate Him flee before Him. 2 As smoke is whirled, whirl [them] away: As wax melts before fire, May the wicked perish before God! 3 But may the righteous rejoice [and] exult before God, And be mirthful in joy. 4 Sing to God, harp [to] His name: Throw…
687 wordsSECTION 110Psalm Lxviii.
This superb hymn is unsurpassed, if not unequalled, in grandeur, lyric fire, and sustained rush of triumphant praise. It celebrates a victory; but it is the victory of the God who enters as a conqueror into His sanctuary. To that entrance (vv. 15-18) all the preceding part of the psalm leads up; and from it all the sub…
750 wordsSECTION 111Psalm Lxviii.
God "arises" when He displays by some signal act His care for His people. That strong anthropomorphism sets forth the plain truth that there come crises in history, when causes, long silently working, suddenly produce their world-shaking effects. God has seemed to sit passive; but the heavens open, and all but blind ey…
1,147 wordsSECTION 112Psalm Lxviii.
The next strophe (vv. 11-14) is abrupt and disconnected, as if echoing the hurry of battle and the tumult of many voices on the field. The general drift is unmistakable, but the meaning of part is the despair of commentators. The whole scene of the conflict, flight, and division of the spoil is flashed before us in bri…
810 wordsSECTION 113Psalm Lxviii.
Ver. 14 is even harder than the preceding. What does "in it" refer to? Is the second clause metaphor, requiring to be eked out with "It is like as when"? If figure, what does it mean? One is inclined to say with Baethgen, at the end of his comment on the words, "After all this, I can only confess that I do not understa…
814 wordsSECTION 114Psalm Lxviii.
The "height" to which ver. 18 triumphantly proclaims that God has gone up, can only be Zion. To take it as meaning the heavenly sanctuary, as in Psalm vii. 7 it unquestionably does, is forbidden by the preceding verses. Thither the conquering God has ascended, as to His palace, leading a long procession of bound captiv…
858 wordsSECTION 115Psalm Lxviii.
It is but for a moment, and what follows is startlingly different. Israel's escape from death is secured by the destruction of the enemy, and in it the psalmist has joy. He pictures the hand that sustained him and his fellows so tenderly, shattering the heads of the rebellious. These are described as long-haired, an em…
886 wordsSECTION 116Psalm Lxviii.
A more important question is the reason for the selection of the four tribes named. The mention of Benjamin and Judah is natural; but why are Zebulun and Naphtali the only representatives of the other tribes? The defenders of a late date answer, as has been already noticed, Because in the late period when the psalm was…
1,006 wordsSECTION 117Psalm Lxviii.
One verse then tells what the result of that will be. "Great ones" shall come from the land of the beast of the reeds, and Ethiopia shall make haste to stretch out tribute-bearing hands to God. The vision of a world subjugated and loving its subjugation is rising before the poet. That is the end of the ways of God with…
285 wordsSECTION 118Psalm Lxix.
1 Save me, O God; For the waters have come in even to [my] soul. 2 I am sunk in the mud of an abyss, without standing-ground I am come into depths of waters, and a flood has overwhelmed me. 3 I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched, My eyes fail whilst I wait for my God. 4 More than the hairs of my head a…
695 wordsSECTION 119Psalm Lxix.
The Davidic authorship of this psalm is evidently untenable, if for no other reason, yet because of the state of things presupposed in ver. 35. The supposition that Jeremiah was the author has more in its favour than in the case of many of the modern attributions of psalms to him, even if, as seems most probable, the r…
960 wordsSECTION 120Psalm Lxix.
The same experience, in forms varying according to the spirit of the times, is realised still in all who have the mind of Christ in them. As long as the world is a world, it will have some contempt mingling with its constrained respect for goodness, some hostility, now expressed by light shafts of mockery and ridicule,…
695 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.