Ps. xx\'iii. 8, 9. The Lord is their stre?igth, and he is the savijig strength of his anointed. Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance : feed them also, and lift them up for ever!
IN the Psalms of David we observe many rapid transitions from the depth of sorrow to very exalted
joy. In the psalm before us, this is very remarkable; insomuch, that commentators are altogether at a loss to determine whether it was written under a state of deep affliction, out of which he anticipates a joyful issue, or after a deliverance from affliction, combining with his expressions of gratitude a retrospective view of his preceding trouble. Of these two explications, I much prefer the latter ; though I think even that far from satisfactory. I conceive that the sudden- ness of God's answers to prayer, and of the changes wrought thereby upon the feelings of his people, is here marked with very peculiar force and beauty. God has said, " Before they call, I will answer ; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear^:" and thus it was in this case. The Psalmist began in a state of extreme dejection ; but, in a moment, " his light rose in obscurity, and his darkness became as the noon-day''." The Psalmist elsewhere says, " Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing'':" and thus we see it here realized ; " Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications." Then, after returning thanks to his great Deliverer, he proclaims, to the honour of God, what he will be to all his believing people ; and he implores from God the same blessings in their behalf. Let us now consider,
I. His testimony for God —
He himself was " God's anointed." But of himself he had spoken in the preceding verse : " The Lord is my strength." Now, therefore, he speaks of God's peculiar people, even to the end of time. These all are partakers of the Spirit of Him who was " anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows'^." Even under the Jewish dispensation, his people were "a kingdom of priests^:" but, under the Christian dispensation, all the saints are " a royal priesthood V and have the privilege of being " made kings and
a Isai. Ixv. 24. ^ Isai. Iviii. 10. <= Ps. xxx. 11.
'I Ps. xlv. 7. « Exod. xix. 6. f 1 Pet. ii. 9.