was cast at him ; and frequently did God in a visible manner interpose to keep him from falling into the hands of Saul. Once he was in the midst of Saul's army, and in the very same cave with Saul : and yet was preserved by God, so that neither Saul nor any of his soldiers could find it in their hearts to touch him. " David in his distress called upon the Lord ; and God heard him out of his holy temple," and delivered him'=.
These deliverances he achnoivledges with devoutest grati- tude.— Here the Psalmist, borne as it were on eagle's wings, soars into the highest region of poetic imagery : he calls to mind the wonders which God had wrought for Israel of old, and represents them as renewed in his own experience. The glorious manifestations of Jehovah on Mount Sinai were not more bright in his eyes'^, nor the passage of Israel through the Red Sea more wonderful*^, than were the displays of almighty power and love which he had seen in his behalf^. In these deliverances he further acknowledges the equity of God in having so vindicated his character from the undeserved calumnies by which his enemies had sought to justify their cruelty towards him^.
From the experiences of past mercies, he expresses his confi- dence in God under lohatever trials might yet await Mm. — It is delightful to see how careful he is to ascribe all the glory of his
preservation to that God who had delivered him^; and
the full persuasion that his victory would in due time be com- plete'. Then with profoundest gratitude he blesses and adores his heavenly Benefactor for all the mercies he has received ; recapitulating as it were, and giving us the substance of the whole, in the words of our text'^.
Were we to view the psalm only as an historical record, it would be very instructive : but it has a far higher sense : it is,]
2. Prophetical, as it relates to Christ —
[That it is a prophecy respecting Christ and his Gospel, we are assured by one whose testimony is decisive on the point. St. Paul, maintaining that Christ, though himself " a minister of the circumcision," was to have his Gospel preached to the Gentiles, and to establish his kingdom over the heathen world, expressly quotes the ivords immediately preceding our text, as prophetic of that event^. Here therefore we see \t proved, that David spake as a type of Christ ; and a clew is given us for a fuller understanding of the whole psalm.
Behold then in this psalm our adorable Redeemer: be- hold his conflicts ! He was indeed " a man of sorrows and
"= ver. 6. ^ ver. 7 — 14. ^ ver. 15.
fver. 16— 19. e ver. 21 — 27. h ver. 28— 42.
i ver. 43 — 45. ^ ver. 46 — 50. ^ Rom. xv. 9.