EXPOSITION. blessing, even life for evermore" (Ps. CllllxliL PSALM CXXI. 3). From whence cometh my help. Most THE preceding psalm is one of complaint; modern critics regard this clause as interro- tho present, one of comfort and consolation. gative, nnd transl11te," Whence is it that my help shall come?" Dut" the question is oulr, The pilgrim lifts up his eyes to the hills, a•ked to give more effect to the answer ' nn<l is satisfied that help is coming to him. (Cileyne). lie then proceeds to cheer himself with Ver. 2.-My help cometh from the Lord; a;:surances of God's sleepless care and pro- literally, my help is from the Lord. He tection. Metrically, the psalm falls into alone has both the power nud the will to assist mo. Which mads hee.ven e.nd ee.rth; four stanzas of four lines each. i.e. "which is omnipotent." Ver. 1.-I will lift up mine foyes unto the Ver. 3.-He will not suffer thy foot to hills. The "holy hills," that stand round be moved. The psalmist addresses himself auout Jerusalem, are intended (Pss. lxxxvii, with consolatory assurances. God will not l; cur. 2). There God Ind" promised his 11llow any evil to approaoil him, so as to do t>e. oxn.1-8,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 185
him hurt. He that keepeth thee will not of the moon's rays by night. This last bas ■lumber. God does not aloep-his vigilance sometimes been doubted, but the obsene.tion is unceasing (comp. lee.. xxvii. 3). of modern travellers seems to show the.t be.d Ver. 4.-Behold, he that keepeth Israel effects actually follow on sleeping in the shall neither slumber nor sleep. The assur- moonlight in hot countries (see Curzon'• ance rises from the particular to the general. 'Travels,' p. 36; Leopolt, • India Missions; It ia not one Isre.elite alone over whom God p. 7). will watch unceasingly, but the whole Ver. 7.-The Lord shall presene thee people of Israel. from all evil; or, "keep thee." The same Ver. 5.-The Lord is thy Keeper; the Lord vorb is used throughout. He shall preserve is thy she.de upon thy right hand. " Thy thy soul ; or, keep thy soul. she.de " means "thy protection." " thy Ver. 8.-The Lord shall preserve thy defence." Protection was especially needed going out aud thy coming in (comp. Dent. on the right hand, ns the side which no x.xviii. 6; 1 Sam. xxix. 6; 2 Sam. iii. 25 ; shield guarded. Latin writers oall the right 1 Kings iii. 7; 2 Kings xix. 27). The side " latus apertum." phrase is an equivalent of" The Lord shall Ver. 6.-The sun shall not smite thee by preserve thee in e.11 thy ways" (Pa. xci. 11). day, nor the moon by night. These were From this time forth, and even for evermore; the chief dan11:ers of travellers, whether i.e. so long as thou hast "goings out" and pilgrims or otners. Coup d8 soleil was "comiog-s in." But the phrase used rathor feared by day, and the deleterious influence implies that these will never cease.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-8.-God our Guide: a New Year's psalm. In whatever special circum- stances, or for whatever particular occasion, this psalm may have been written, it is certain that it is admirably suiLed to suggest New Year's thoughts to our minds. We shall best appreciate it if we consider- I. THE GREATNESS oF OUR NEED, We have sometimes to face the future, and then we confront : 1. Certainties; duties, difficulties, vexations, trillls, temptations, opportunities. 2. Uncertainties; possibly some very great joy, or some overwhelming sorrow, or some very sore perplexity, or even the last experience of death. II. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF BUMAN HELP. We nnturally and rightly look to our kio,dred 11nd to our friends for sympathy nnd succour. But: 1. 'Jhey do not remain with us; parents die; brothers and sisters are scattered far and wide; frionds become estranged. 2. '£hey cannot render us all the help we need. Our 1,ants go so for, 11nd strike so deep, th11t human sympathy does not avail; it falls short; we need more than it c11n bring. We must not only look around, but above, must "lift up our eyes to tbo hills, from whence cometh our help," for our "help cometh from the Lord" (vers. 1, 2). III. Oun HELP IN Goo. 1. With him is all power. He who "made heaven and earth" (ver. 2) can do anything, everything, for us. There can come no dilliculty, no ent11nglement, from which he cannot deliver us; there can come no sorrow in which he will not be able to snpport us. 2. We can count on the constancy of his care. He 'will not slumber," etc. (vers. 3, 4). Not for one smnll moment will he forget us; day and night we shall be the objects of his watchful love. 8. He will be present to defend us everywhere. He will be our Keeper, our Shade upon our right hand (var. 5). His gracious power will overshadow us at every step we tnke. We cannot think o, any place, however remote, or obscure, or humble, where ho will not be with his defending, delivering hand. 4. He will guard us from all forms of evil. Evil tnkcs many forms; it comes to us in every guise. Now it is prosperity, and now adversity; it may be an intoxicatina approval and adulation, or it may be a crushing deprecintion and desertion; it may b; a. strong and sudden assault on our in~egrity, o~ !t may be the more perilous approach of that which very gradually undermines or disintegrates. But whatever be its form our God can "keep" us true, pure, holy. Tho sun shall no, smite by day, nor the ~oon by night; "tho Lord will preserve us from all evil" (vers. 6, 7). 6. He will preserve us, ourselves; not only our home, our fort~ne, our credit, our reputation, but ourselves: "He shall preserv~ thy soul." He will "not 1uffer thy foot to be moved" (ver. 3); he will uphold us in the path of righteousness; 186 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, dXXI, 1-8,
and if we have to walk "in slippery places," yet his right hand will hold us, and our soul ....-ill not be_ stained with the sin which injures and defiles. 6. Re will attend us to the close of hfe (ver. 8). "This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death" (Ps. xlviii. 14). '