PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3
George Rawlinson [1812-1902] · 356,243 words · 377 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3 — Section 61
this earth-for our use (ver. 16). He has blessed us with material bounties with the nappy bonds of kindred and friendship, with the treasures that feed and :atisfy the mind, with all sacred privileges, II. ITS CONTINUANCE IN YEARS TO COME, "He will bless us," will .. increase JJ u~. The guarantees of this continuan…
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which the heathen bowed down. Hence the scathing sarcasm and concentrated con- tempt of these memorable verses, But has the day passed when men's "idols are silver and gold"? Is not that the exact description of ourselves as a nation? Do not we worship silver and gold? Would that we could but catch the cont-agion of th…
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them over against your sorrows, and see which are most numerous. (5) And think, too, of what our deservings have been. Then see if you can deny any more that God has been mindful of you. II. LET us LOOK ON THROUGH THE NEW YEAR, AND BE ASSURED THAT Goo WILL HELP us. 1. It is an argument drawn from what has gone before-…
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Ver. 4.-77ie inefficiency of idolatry. "The work of men's hands." Denunciation of the idolatry of the heathen is characteristic of the psalms of the restoration. With this passage may be compared such passages as Isa.. xliv. 9-20. In treating of idols it should be ·borne in mind that they are differently regarded by th…
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is the people who worship, so are the gods whom they create for worship. It is, indeed, the -rery essence of the idea of a God worthy to be worshipped, that he shall be revealed t.o man, n_ot created by him; that he shall b,e in the sphere of man's thoughts, and so apprehensible; but beyond the reach of man s thought…
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Ver. 12.-The certainty of the Divine benediction. "He will bless us." The repetition of the word " bless " adds great effect to this passage. The Lord has many blessings, each one worthy to be remembered-he blesses, and blesses, and blesses again. Where he has once bestowed his favour, he continues it, his blessing del…
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EXPOSITION. the writer declares hie love to God, and hill PSALM CXVI. resolution to call on him continually, on ac- A PSALM of thanksgiving on deliverance. count of his having been delivered from an from an imminent peril, placed in the mouth imminent peril. of an indivi<lual, but possibly intended for Ver. 1.-I love…
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to the worsliippere. Dut there is no cleo.r tion. I am thy servant, l\nd the son of thine evidence of o.ny such usage, except in con- ho.ndmaid (oomp. Pa. lx:uvi. 16). "Thine nection with the Po.esover, whioh cannot handmaid "-tile Ollurch; or, if the writer here be in question. Hengstenberg there- is Hezekiah, "thy…
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111dured at death which men fear; it is the departure from kindred and friends, the laying down of work and leaving a happy sphere of usefulness, the going away from so much that is fair and good, leaving tbe light and joy and hope that our soul has loved below. Even to him who is looking for so much that is better bey…
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Yers. 3, 4.-The experience <!I a deeply distressed soul. The psalm is the utterance of the glad gratitude of some devout Israelite on his deliverance from mortal sickness. But it is c~p~ble of many a.pJ.?lications. In the temple _serv!ce it was used as a psalm of thanksg1vmg for God's deliverance of Israel from thei…
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Ver. 12.-'Z'he inquiry of the grat~ful heart. Many ·are the blessed spirits tha~ worship God-penitence, faith, reverence, hope, and others. But none are more acceptable than the spirit of gratitude. It is that, spirit which speaks here in our text. The following verses contain the answer which the same spirit gives. Th…
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continue in it, with what sloth and slackness is it pursued I But the psalmist feels that no service he can render is too great; his one desire is to be confessed as the servant of the Lord. II. AND BIGHT BEASON ENDORSES THIS COMMENDATION. 1. We cannot escap6 se1-vice of some sort; some lord will have rule over us. Wh…
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Ver. 6.-Simple as opposed to guileful. "The Lord preserveth the simple." This is not the "simple" of the Book of Proverbs-the young, inexperienced, susceptible souls, who a.re only too easily led astray. "Simple" here rather means gentle, sincere, genuine, inoffensive, guileless, not ordering conduct by the subtlety…
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Ver. 7.-Rest toon and re-won. I. A problem to solve is given to every dependent moral creature, and to the human race. It is this: WHERE, IN WHAT, OR IN WHOM, wn.L YOU FIND YOUB REST? A husband finds rest in home. A thinker finds rest in truth. A worker finds rest in the products of his toil. Israel found rest in Canaa…
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by entering folly into the sonship which is based on affection. There is no fear ot love-rela~ions with Go?. Love may h~ve its fad_ed times. Other interests may seem to come m, and for a time push love aside, It will never consent to be pushed asido very !oug; it will soon say, " Return unto thy rest, 0 my soul I "-R. …
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Ver. 13.-The only retwrn God looks for. "I will take the cup of salvation." Visiting Miiller's Orphan House at Ashley Down, Bristol, some years ago, we were shown into a room where, ranged on a gallery, were some seventy or eighty infant orphans of from three to five years of age, fatherless, if not motheriess too. The…
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promises, or to accept what God offers. And yet that we find beginners in the Christian life, and even experienced Christians, often do, especially when what God provides is not just "according to their mind." Noto also how tho very freeness of God's gifts makes them unacceptable to human pride. We like to have things …
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Ver, 17.-Spirieual sacrifices, "Sacrifice of thanksgiving." Acceptable to God, the great Spirit, not as thanksgiving, which may be as much a formality as a sacrifice, but as the sign of the thankful, loving heart, which gives itself to God in the thanks- giving. The story of Cain and Abel, in the earliest age, stamps t…
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beautiful garments" of faith and zeal, and sending out their messeno-ers to the ends of the earth. lie sees the truth a_nd mercy of God printed in every known language on the globe; he sees the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New in the very oct of fulfilment; ~e has reason to say, with a heart full of hope and…
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Ver. 2.-Gorls merciful dealings with nations. The psalmist, no doubt, refers to the character of God's dealings with Israel, but he implies that they do but present a model of God's dealings with all nations; and he calls upon those nations to examine and see what God's dealings had been with them, so that they might f…
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Ver. 2.-Pr-aise. "Praise ye the Lord." It may be interesting to inquire what " praise" is; and what are the proper forms and features of human praise as offered to God. What praise does God reasonably demand? And what praise is man, at his best, able to offer? But those considerations may lead us into somewhat familiar…
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22), is not improbable, though it Mnnot be of view into the past; be 1s once more fenr- regarded as more than a reasonable hypo- less in the midst of foes" (Oheyne). I will thesis. not fear ( comp, Pas, xxiii, 4; xxvii. 1 ; Jvi. 4, etc.). What oan man do unto me 1 Mo.n The first eighteen verses are the song of is p…
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kindled among thorna, which blnzea up being now reached, admission to the interior with vast beat and noise, bot io a short is requested. The gates a.re called "the time dies down and disappears. For in the gates of righteousness," (l) as gates which l!l'ame of the Lord I will destroy them (see none but the righteous o…
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HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-21.-0pposition, deliverance, thanlcsgiving. The psalmist (or the nation) ir passing, or has just passed, through great distress. He (it) has been the object of malignant and determined attack; he has been surrounded by enemies, ancl been in peril of his life; he has then, as always, sought help fro…
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Ver. 17.-" I s'hall not die, but live." !. Tms PSALIII BAS DEEN WELL CALLED THE '' HYMN OF DELIVERANClE FROM EXILE," as the song of Moses was the "Hymn of Deliverance from Egypt." It is such a Te Deum as was possible when ns yet the gospel had not been revealed. The enemies of Israel had done their worst. They had c…
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had been chastened sore (ver. 18). There were those that helped them (ver. 7). They were beginning a new work (ver. 25). For a.II these reasons the psalm has been assigned to the events told of in Ezra iii. They had been in bitter exile, exposed to fierce persecution (see histories in Daniel), But at length the Persian…
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elage of humiliation and woe. The day of days in the life of Christ was the day of his resurrection." And to the first disciples especially, and to the believing Church sGill: 1. Th.1$ day has the foy ef deliverance from a great dread. 'l'hey thought they had but their Lord, and that the redemption of Israel was now…
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to the altar. Do we not find how our hearts would go off to the world again? What tendency to turn from Christ there is I The down-drag of the world the flesh and the devil are terrible indeed. Do we not find this in our prayers? How ~ur minds wander I how difficult to fix our attention I Sa.tan is ever busy with sugge…
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are not merely comfortable provisions, or business successes, but their selection for high and holy trusts and responsible services. , . II. Goo'~ FAMILY MERCIES APPEAR AS DIVINE OOBREOTIONB. This is very strikingly illustrated m the record of the" house of Aaron." We may even say that the visitations of Divine love…
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Vera. 8, 9.-The really better may not be the apparently better. It may tru~y be said that the object of the discipline aud experience of life is to deliver us from the fascination of what seems, and to get our conduct and relationships swayed and charactered 11nd toned by what is. This, iudeed, is presented in Eastern …
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and unreasoning sovereignty round God and his ways. But look at life as a. whole and it soon comes into view that this thing is working in with that, a.nd all are workin; ~gether for good, ~hrougb the controlling of him who i_s love and who loves. Only~ 1f we would see thmgs clearly, and apprehend them a.r1ght, we mus…
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to others as well as ourselves; and whose direct acts in relation to one are designed to inspire confidence in the others, and therefore must be made known. If our donor is the sovereign of the land, it is a right feeling that impels us to make lcno1.1111, her good- ness to us. ·when the prince was brought back from th…
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cowards, the Resurrection made them heroes. 3. H was a victory over death and the grave. He who rose has " the keys of Hades and of death." II. IN THE LORD'S DAY WE HAVE THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL GREAT DAYS, The day of creation here finds its consummation. Had not the Lord made this day we might think that God had made …
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EXPOSITION. whereby he has intimated his will to PSALM CXIX. man. 'l'ms is an "alphabetic psalm" or a more 2. 'EDvoTH, or 'EDOTH, "testimonies." stringent character than any other. It con• God's commands, considered as witnesses to sists of twenty-two stanzas, each of eight bis che.rncter, and e.s attesting his will.…
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respeot unto thy ways; or," consider them," oontempt. God's servnnts almost necessarily "reflect upon them." incur tile reproach e.nd oontempt of the Ver. 16.-1 will deli,rht myaeU ill. thy worldly, to whom their oonduot seems folly statutes (comp. vers, 24, 40, 47, 70, 77, etc.; or mndness. Christ himself wns "desp…
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commandments have I set before my eyes forgiveness with thee, that thou mayeet be ae rules to be observed constantly. feared"). Ver. 31.-1 have stuck unto thy te■tl• Ver. 39.-Turu away my reproach, whioh moniea; or, "oleaved" (ver. 25); i.e. kept I fear; i.e. "tum away from me the only firm and steadfast to them. The…
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ash&med; i.e. will not nllow shame to stop present one. "The house of my sojournings" my mouth. Tho writer is evidently not a is either this present world, where all men 1..-ing himself, probably not among the great a.re "strangers and pilgrims" (Heh. xi. 13), ones of tile earth (see vers. 51, 69, 78, 85, or perhaps s…
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are opposed to the entire tenor of' Scripture. 1 YoD. Teach me thy ate.totes (comp, urs. 12, ~6, 33, 68, 108, 124, 135). Ver. 73.-Thy hands have ma.de me and fashioned me (comp. Pss. c. 3; cxxxviii. 8; cxxllix. 14). The "fundamental pRssa.ge" t:) TETH. is Dent. xxxii. 6; but the present psalmist seems to follow Jo…
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1t11.tntes ; or, " perfect in thy stntutes "-in his servants t.o obee1ve and keep hie oom- the knowledge and in the pl'RCtice of them. mandments. That I be not &lhamed (see ver. 31) ~ LAMED. ::, CAPH. Ver. 89.-For ever, O Lord, thy Word is Ver. 81.-lll[y soul f11.inteth for thy 111.ln- settled in heaven. God's Wo…
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Ver. 98.-Thou through thy command- (comp. vers. 23, 28, 50, 51, 61, 71, 78, etc.). ments hast m11de me wiser than mine Spoken against by princes, reproached by enemies (comp. Deut. iv. 6, 8). 'I'ho know- the proud, persecuted without e. cause, the ledge of God's Law gives a wisdom o.nd an psalmist felt his" affliction"…
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best, attention is distracted, and energies refrain (comp. vers. 11, 26, 33, 64, GB, 108, w,•akencd. 135). Ver. ll6.-Uphold me according nnto thy Ver. 125.-I am thy servant; give me Word, that I may live; or, "nccording to understanding, that I may know thy testi- thy promise.." God's sustaining grace, monies. As thy …
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Word (comp. Pe. xl. 2). And let not any 67, 69. etc.). Yet thy commandments are iniquity (i.e. any wicked persons) have my delight. I am happy in the midst of dominion over me. 'l'he prayer is not for my troubles, for the j >y that I have in thy deliverance from internal corruption, but Worrl (see vere. 16, 35, 47, 77…
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-------- --------------------------- Ver. 152.-Concerning thy teetimoni<!s, I value of its several parts, the psalmist have known of old that thou hast founded found that the final sum wa.s 'truth' -pure, them for ever; rather, from thy f&timonies. absolute truth" (Kay). And every one of The study of God's commandment…
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HOMILETICS. THE difficulty of treating this "alphabetical psalm" by any arrangement of its subject-matter must be apparent. An attempt has been made to gather its lessons nround the more prominent doctrine in its successive sections, and to give a separate treatment of those subjects which cannot be so well included in…
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lines in which we a.re free to go e.s fe.r e.nd e.s fast e.s we please, then we are "at liberty." Liberty is only found in its perfection when, e.s in God, inclination is perfectly parallel with duty. God's statutes a.re not our bonds_; they are our songs (ver. 54). 6. Utterance (vers. 27, 43, 46). When the heart 1s en…
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Vers. 73-96.-Buman need and the Divine sufficiency. 'l'hese verses bring out- I. 'l'IIE OREAT1''ESS OF OUR HUMAN NEED. The psalmist lingers over: 1. 'l'he evils which we suffer from persecution. The proud "deal perversely with us" (ver. 78); "they had almost consumed me" (ver. 87); "they persecute me wrongly" (ver. …
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6. And Hs issue is a blessed fulfilment of the good man's hope (ver. 116). This practical wisdom rests upon- IV. A REVERENT PUnrosE OF HEART. (Vers. 106-115.) Enlightened by the Divine teaching, understanding what is the wise and what the foolish course, perceivina who are his friends and who his enemies, the disciple…
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Vers. 137-lG0.-Ea,-nestness. Much is said in this psalm a·oout seeking and serving "with the whole heart." This is, indeed, the secret of real success, of ultimate victory. Many will fail t-0 reach the goal and to wear the prize because they set out in II languid, half-hearted spirit, or because they started with no…
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Vers. 169--176.-God's salvation. These verses may bring before us the successive stages of salvation. I. SEEKING AFTER Gon. (Vers.169, 170, 174.) The heart "longs for salvation;" it "cries for deliverance;" it looks to God under a deep and strong sense of danger and of need. 'l'hen comes- 11. OuR CHOICE. (Ver. 173.) …
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supreme; our interest in his !!lercifol regard is surpa.ssinoly g1eat; and there cannot possibly be any engagement of the soul that demands such strenuousness, such concen- tration of powers, such fixedness and fulness of soul, as prayer, as devotion, as the seeking after God. II. Oua LIFE-SERVICE. (Vers. 4, 34.) The …
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Vers. 29, 30, 128, 163.-The fal,se way and the false word. The love of Divine truth cannot coexist with the tolerance of any kind of falsity; they are mutually exclusive. We have- • I. THE FALSE WAY AND THE FALSE WORD. 1. The false way. This may be the way of (1) religious error, involving the miserable falsities a…
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Hie one fear being lest he should prove unworthy, and be a~hamed (vers. 6, 7, 22, 31). If we were to look for one in whom the various coD.ditions of authorship meet, we should turn to the Book of Daniel; either he himself, or one of those three noble Hebrew youths his book tells of, might well have been the writer of t…
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through the written or spoken Word, but it may be also independently of either. It is that Word which, if not heard, no preaching or teaching of man is of any avail. 'l'hie is the \Vord we need to hear. VIII. " WAY." The road, the course, the path, along which God himself walks, and that in which he would have us walk…
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"Those holy flel<ls, Over whose sores walked tbose blessed feet." How many love to walk there likewise! But it is not many who can do this literally; }·et in the holy ways of love to God, and obedience and faith, in which he ever walked, we may walk if we will. 2. It is the way/or which we were designed. Nothing work.…
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Vers. 17-24.-The sours longing unto God's Word. Such seems to be the theme of this third section of this psalm. This longing is shown- I. IN nrs DESIRE FOR Goo's CRIEF MERCIES ONLY THAT RE MAY KEEP Goo's WORD. If most of us were called on to fill up this ver. 17 after the word "and," what should we insert? Most des…
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Ver. 26.-" Quicken thou me." I. THE DEPLORABLE CONDITION THAT CALLED FOR THE ANSWER TO THIS PRAYER. It was a very sad one; for consider: 1. W'hat it was that the psalmist confesses that his soul cleaved to. "'l'he dust." By this contemptuou,i phrase ho me!lns tho things of this world generally. And he is right in thus …
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God, but who, like Daniel and his companions, stuck unto God's testimonies, then hie history would justify the assertion here made. And there have been many such. II. TENACITY WILL ALWAYS BE TRIED, 1. It C-011,ld, not else be known. It micrht be professed, but could never be proved. Hence: 2. Owr Lord was wont to test…
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Yers. 33-40.-" Te~ch me, 0 Lord." The verses of this section contain, apparently, an enumeration of various facts which rendered it essential that the Lord should teach him, if ever he were to learn. As it has been said, the Dian who wrote this psalm knew t~o things-first, that there was something he must and would …
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Vers. 49-56.-" Songs in the night." The comfort of God in time of trial is the theme of this section. .As to these songs, we are told- I. GoD GIVES THEM. (Ver. 49.) 'l'he Word which it is prayed the Lord would remember is God's own Word ; and it is told what that Word has done-" caused me to hope." This God's Word eve…
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V, THEY BENDER THE PRACTICES OF THE PROUD POWERLESS TO DO US HARM, (Vere. 69, 70.) They woulld shrink from no falsehood to injure the godly, but they cannot separate him from the God in whom he trusts and delights. VI. THEY MAKE Goo AND IIIS WORD VERY PRECIOUS. (Ver. 72.) We say, "A friend in need is a frieod iodeed."…
1,037 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.