god's indignation against the wicked.
Ps. vii. 11 — 13. God judgeth the righteous; and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he unll tohet his sword ; he hath hent his how, and made it ready. He hath also prej^ared for him the instruments of death.
IN one psalm, David begins, " The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice :" in another, " The Lord reign- eth ; let the earth trembled" Either exhortation is suitable, according to the persons who are more especially addressed. The godly may well rejoice, that He, whom they serve, has all things at his
a Ps. xcvii. 1. and xcix. 1.
501.] god's indignation against the wicked. 29
command : and well may the ungodly tremble, that He whom they offend is able to vindicate the honour of his insulted Majesty. To the oppressors and op- pressed, this truth is of equal moment. The oppressed David, reflecting on it with dehght, said, " My de- fence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart^." But the oppressor may expect this Almighty Being to espouse the cause of his people, and to execute upon their enemies the vengeance they deserve.
In the words before us we see the conduct of God,
I. In his moral government here —
The righteous are the objects of his tender care —
[Tlie Jews were governed by judges for above four hundred years'^: and the term "judging" was used as importing govern- ment and protection. In this sense David uses it in another psalm, where he says, " O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy : for Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth '^." Now, there is not any benefit which the most wise or powerful monarch can bestow on his subjects, which God will not impart to his obedient people. Parti- cularly will he shield them fi'om every oppressor, and keep them safely under the shadow of his wings. His care of Abraham and the Patriarchs, in all their pilgrimages, and in all their perils, well illustrates this; as does more especially his constant and miraculous interposition on the behalf of David, amidst the bitter persecutions of the unrelenting Saul, The deliver- ances vouchsafed to God's saints of old are stiU continued to his Church and people ; though, from their being less visible, they are, for the most part, overlooked. But God is still " a wall of fire round about them®;" and " whosoever toucheth one of them toucheth the apple of his eye^."]
The wicked, on the contrary, are the objects of his
merited displeasure —
[He is not indifferent about the actions of men, as too many suppose. He marks the conduct of the wicked ; and " he is angry with them every day." Of course, we are not to suppose that God really feels those strong emotions which we call anger and wrath : such expressions are applied to him only in a figurative sense, in order to teach us what will be his dispensations towards us. But we do right to use the language of Scripture : and, in coirformity with that, I say, that he views
^ ver. 10. «= Acts xiii. 20. ^ Ps. Ixvii. 4.
e Zech. ii. 5. f Zech. ii. 8.