Ver. 4.-" Coals of juniper." This verse, and Its connection with the preceding one, may be explained in two ways. Ver. 4 may describe the" deceitful tongue," likening it to the sharp arrow of a mighty man, or to the fierce coals of the broom, which long keep their beat. Or it may indicate the swift and sure and overwhelming judgments of God, which are sharp and piercing as an arrow, fierce and burning as a fire, "Wickedness sliall be returned on the bead of the wicked; for tho lying tongue is itself a sword or arrow (Pas. lli. 3; lvii. 5), and burns like a fire (see Ps. cxl. 10, 11).". Burckhardt found the Bedouin of Sinai burning the roots of the juniper (desert broom, rithm, ritem, or genista) into coal; and snye that they make the best charcoal, and throw out the most intense heat, and hold the heat for an almost indefinite time. L THE DECEITFUL TONGUE IS LIKE A.BROWS AND COALS, 'fbie exple.nation falls in with the general idea of the psalm. The writer complains that, loving pea.co him- self, he meets with nothing but hostility and treachery (see Pss. h.iv. 3; Iv. 21; !ix. 7). Both sharpened arrows arc used, which pierce deeply; and envenomed arrows, which leave a sting behind. Unkind words both pierce and sting. Similar ideas attach to the other ligure. Coale of fire burn at once, and give smarting pain at once, but they also leave misery and suffering behind; and so does slanderous speech. ll. TBE PUNISHMENT OF TlIE DECEITFUL TONGUE IS LIKE ARROWS AND COALS. On the whole, this idea is to be preferred. It is in the manner of the psalms to burst forth with an imprecation of God's judgments on the head of such treacherous and slanderous neighbours. Swift, sure, and sharp shall be the judgment of slanderers. Their punish- ment is comparable to an arrow keen in itself, and driven home with all the force with which a mighty man shoots it from bis bow of steel. The woes that come on the slanderer shall be like "coals of juniper," which are "quick in flaming, fierce in blazing, and long in burning." "It is bettor to be the victim of slander than to be the author of it. The shafts of calumny will miss the mark, but not so the arrows of God; the coals of malice will cool, but not the fire of justice.-R. T. Ver. 6.-Our uncomfortable surroundings. "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech I" These names Mesech and Kedar are not to be regarde<I as literally descriptive. 'l'hey poetically represent the very trying circumstances and associations in which at the time the psalmi~t was placed. '!'be Mesech are only known as a half-barbarous people living towards the north, on the mountains south of Caucasus (Ezek. xxxviii. 9, 15, 16). Kedar is a term representing the warrior-tribes of Arabia rar to the south-e:1st (Gen, xxv. 13; Isa. xxi. 17; Ezek. xxvii. 21). There can be littlo question that the names ore here used typically, because it was not wise to fix in a poem or psalm the actual names of the uncomfortable neighbours. I. \VE CANNOT HELP IIAVING UNCOMl'ORTAnLE SURROUNDINGS. It is only in a very email sense that a man can be said to choose hie own lot. He cannot choose bis parents, brothers and sisters, early home, schooling, and many other things. We speak of his makin,. his way in life, but Providence is always overruling things, and putting men in unexpected places. Most men have to say, in looking back over life," 1 never could have dreamed of bcin<> where I have been, or of doing what I have done." Our culture largely comes through our li:'e-ass:iciations, and we cannot help their sometimes being not ut all "accordinu to our mind." II. WE CANNOT HELP ;EELING oun UNCOMFORTABLE SURDOUNDINGS. It is indeed essential to discipline through them that we should feel them. 'l'he misery of trying, Wllovely, mischievous neighbours is but like the paiu of tho sur:;;.eon who would heal 154: THE DOOK OF PSALMS, [rs. CXXI, 1-8,
God wants us to feel, because ho wants to use the feeling. Indeed, keenness to feel may help him to do his gracious work. III. \VE OAN RELP BEING :MASTERED BY UNCOMFORTABLE BURROUNDINCJS. They cannot hurt us unless we allow them to. If feeling is allowed to rule the will, they are ~ure to master us. If the will be made to rule feeling, they cannot. Just what God's grace does for us is so to strengthen the will that nothing can unduly or unworthily iufluence us. IV. 'WE OAN WIN TIIE TRIUMPH OF THE GODLY LIFE EVEN AMIDST UNCOMFORT• ADLE SURROUNDINGS. \Ve can, on the principle of the psalmist, who, out of his distress, persisted in "looking up," crying unto God for help, singing "songs of ascent."-R, T.
Ver, 7.-The misery of the war-spirit to peace-lovers. "I am for peace," is literally, "I am peace." This is my very nature; so I instinctively revolt from all this slander and quarrelling and contention. Associating the passage with the restored exiles, it may be noticed that the one thing absolutely essential to their well-being was a state of quietness and peace. They had plenty to do. Jerusalem, its houses, walls, and temple, to rebuild. Civil and ecclesiastical order to re-establish, and a national character to gain. External peace, as well as internal peace, were absolutely essential to the complete reoccupation of their land. So we too often think that peace is the one condition on which our spiritual culture depends, and God shows us, as he showed the restored exiles, that, spite of the misery it may bring us, it is better for us to be in the midst of contentions, conflicts, and perils. But, like the psalmist, we may freely speak to God about this our trouble, and we need not change our spirit of peace-loving and peace-seeking under any external pressure. Distinguish between war and the war• spirit. It is the latter which the peace-loving man finds so trying. He can deal with actual war upon its merits, and he may be able to recognize its necessity and its beneficent mission; but the litigious, contentious, quarrelsome spirit, that is always inventing or manufacturing some occasion of difficulty, always disturbing the peace, is a painful distress to all peace-lovere. J. :MISERY COMES FROM EFFORTS TO KEEP THE PEACE BEING MISAPPREHENDED. The Prayer-book Version bas, "I labour for peace, but when I speak unto them thereof, they make ready to battle." Thinking he meant to start a fight. If. MISERY COMES FROM: EFFORTS TO KEEP THE PEA.OE BEING DEFEATED. \Ve never like to fail in things we set our hearts upon. Ill. :MISERY COMES FROM: THE MORAL ATMOSPHERE WHIOH THE WAR-Sl'IBIT E.S-GENDEDS. Nothing morally beautiful can flourish in that atmosphere. JV. MISERY COMES l'BOM: THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF DOING THE THINCJB WHIOH DEQUIRE PEACEFUL SURROUNDINGS, This is illustrated in the case of the restored exiles, who wanted to get on with their national reconstruction work,-R. T.