The following words, " Therefore thou shalt be feared," or " That thou mayest be feared," though in the original free from all ambi- guity, yet are so signally varied by interpreters, that it may not be amiss to take notice of it in our passage.
The Targum hath it, " That thou mayest be seen." This answers not the word, but it doth the sense of the place well enough. God in his displeasure is said to hide himself or his face : Isa. viii. 1 7, " The Lord hideth his face from the house of Jacob." By forgiveness we
382 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. [Ver. 4.
obtain again the light of his countenance. This dispels the darkness and clouds that are about him, and gives us a comfortable prospect of his face and favour. " There is forgiveness with him that he may be seen." Besides, there is but one letter different in the original words, and that which is usually changed for the other.
The LXX. render them, ''Ei/£;!ca rou dvo/narog ffou, — " For thy name's sake," or " thy own sake;" that is, freely, without any respect unto any thing in us. This also would admit of a fair and sound construc- tion, but that there is more than ordinary evidence of the places being corrupted : for the Vulgar Latin, v/hich, as to the Psalms, was translated out of the LXX., renders these words, " Propter legem tuam," — "For thy law's sake;" which makes it evident that that translator reads the words hr/ca tou v6/j,oj aou, and not dvofiarog, as now we read. Now, though this hath in itself no proper sense (for for- giveness is not bestowed for the law's sake), yet it discovers the ori- ginal of the whole mistake, "^"ji^, " the law," differs but in one letter from ^"^l^, " that thou mayest be feared ;" by a mistake whereof this ivoxa Tou v6/ji,ou, " for thy law's sake," crept into the text. Nor doth this any thing countenance the corrupt figment of the novelty of the Hebrew vowels and accents, as though this difference might arise from the LXX. using a copy that had none, — that is, before their invention, which might occasion mistakes and differences; for this difference is in a letter as well as in the vowels, and therefore there can be no colour for this conceit, unless we say also that they had copies of old with other consonants than those we now enjoy. Bellar- mine, in his exposition of this place, endeavours to give countenance unto the reading of the Vulgar Latin, " For thy law's sake;" affirming that by the law here, not the law of our obedience is intended, but the law or order of God's dealing with us, — that is, his mercy and faithfulness; — which is a mere new invention to countenance an old error, which any tolerable ingenuity would have confessed, rather than have justified by so sorry a pretence; for neither is that expres- sion or that word ever used in the sense here by him feigned, nor can it have any such signification.
Jerome renders these- words, " Ut sis terribilis," — "That thou mayest be dreadful or terrible;" doubtless not according to the in- tendment of the place. It is for the relieving of the soul, and not for the increasing of its dread and terror, that this observation is made, " There is forgiveness with thee."
But the words are clear, and their sense is obvious. ^."IJ'ii W?{, — " Therefore thou shalt be feared ;" or, " That thou mayest be feared."
By the " fear of the Lord," in the Old Testament, the whole wor- ship of God, moral and instituted, all the obedience which we owe unto him, both for matter and manner, is intended. Whatever we
Ver. 4.] THE WOEDS OF THE VERSE EXPLAINED. S83
are to perform unto God, being to be carried on and performed with reverence and godly fear, by a metonymy of the adjmict, that name is given to the whole. " That thou mayest be feared," then, is, " That thou mayest be served, worshipped ; that I, who am ready to faint and give over on the account of sin, may yet be encouraged unto, and yet continue in, that obedience which thou requirest at my hands:" and this appears to be the sense of the whole verse, as influenced by and from those foregoing: —
" Although, 0 Lord, no man can approach unto thee, stand before thee, or walk with thee, if thou shouldst mark their sins and follies according to the tenor of the law, nor could they serve so great and holy a God as thou art; yet because I know from thy revelation of it that there is also with thee, on the account of Jesus Christ the pro- pitiation, pardon and forgiveness, I am encouraged to continue with thee, waiting for thee, worshipping of thee, when, without this dis- covery, I should rather choose to have rocks and mountains fall upon me, to hide me from thy presence."
" But there is forgiveness with thee, and therefore thou shalt be feared."
The words being thus opened, we may take a full view in them of the state and condition of the soul expressed in this psalm; and that answering the experiences of all who have had any thing to do with God in and about the depths and entanglements of sin.