Vers.1-8.-Sztjfering and victory, "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth,• etc. The connection is shown thus- I. 'l'HE PSALMIST BA w THE REDEMPTIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GoD .AS SUPREME. (Ver. 4.) God's strength and justice surely prevail against all the devices of evil men. JI.· GOOD MEN PREVAIL WHEN TilEY USE THEIR SUFFERING AS CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE. Some of the greatest lessons of life are learned from our severest sutforiugs. " For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy," etc. ; "Our light nffiiction worketh out . . . while we look not at the things which are seen," etc. Ill. THE OPPOSITION OF ENEMIES CALLS FORTH THEIR GREATEST ENERGIES, This I\ law that operates in the physical, the intellectual, and the moral life. Stem a torrent, and you increase its force. An intellectual difficulty rouses us to the greatest endea- vour, and moral obstacles call forth our most triumphant strength, IV. THE UNRIGHTEOUS ARE ULTIMATELY DEFEAl'ED IN TREIB OPPOSITION TO THE GOOD CAUSE. (Vers. 6, 6.) They aro driven back, and made ashamed of their efforts and designs upon the righteous cause. The psalmist is not doubtful of the final issue of the conflict between good and evil. The evil will wither like grass on the house-tops. V, THE RIGHTEOUS WILL GATHER THE HARVEST OF THEIR LABOURS AMID THE BENE- DI0TIONS OF Goo .AND MAN, (Ver. 8.) No good seed thnt has been sown will foil of a harvest more or less abundant. God and man rejoice in all good work done, what- ever the extent of its conscq uences. "Well done, good and faithful servant;" "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the way of the wicked," whose "delight is in the Law of the Lord."-S, 246 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [ PS. OX.X:X, 1-8,
EXPOSITION. PSALM CXXX. thou me.yest be feared. Milton makes his Satan say, "Then fe.J awell hope, and, with cry or Israel in extreme distress- 'Tf!ll: hope, farewell fear I" (' Paradise Lost,' apparenlly a Captivity song. Ierael has cnnto i.). And ccrtninly the true fear of God, sinned and been punished; it now acknow- which Scripture requires in us-a. reverential, ledges its sins, and prays for mercy and for- l9ving fear-could not exist, unless we had e. confident hope in God's mercy and willing- giveness. Towards the end (vere. 7, 8) the ness to forgive us our trespasses, if we turn prayeL rises into confident hope. to him. Metrically, the psalm consists of fonr Ver. 5.-I we.it for the ,Lord, my soul doth stanzas, ea.eh of two verses. wait. "Waiting for the Lord" is patiently bearing our affliction, whatever it may be, Ver. 1.-0nt of the depths have I cried and confidently looking forward to deliver- unto thee, 0 Lord ( comp. Ps. lxix. 2, H; Isa. ance from it in God's good time. The ex- Ii. 10; Ezek. xxvii. 34). "The depths'' pression, " my soul doth wait," is stronger are the lowest abysses of calamity. They than "I we.it; " it implies heart-felt trust have not, however, separated Israel from and confidence. And in his word do I hope; God, bnt have rather brought him to God. i.e. his word of promise. Ver. 2.-Lord, hear my voice; i.e. "hear Ver. 6.-My soul waiteth for the Lord and grant my request; " or, as explained more than they that watch for the morning : in the next clanse, let thine ears be atten- I say, more than they that watoh for the tive to the voice of my supplications. morning; i.e. more eagerly, more anxiously, Ver. 3.-If thon, Lord, shonldest mark than even the night watchman, tired with iniquities. The Prayer-book pare.phrase his long vigil. Age.in the repetition adds gives the trne sense, "If thou, Lord, force. shouldest be eztreme to mark what is done Ver. 7.-Let Israel hope in the Lord; or, miss." If thou didst not "hide our trans- " 0 Israel, hope in the Lord;" i.e. continu~ gressions,'' and " cover up" he.If our sins- to hope, even though in the "depths " of then, 0 Lord, who shall stand 1 (comp. Ps. calamity (see ver. I). For with the Lord lxxvi 7, "Who may stand in thy sight there is mercy (see above, ver. 4, and the when once thou e.rt angry?"). comment ad loc. ). And with him is plenteons Ver. 4. -But there is forgiveness with redemption ( comp. Pa. cxi. 9). Enough and thee (comp. Exod. xxxiv. 7; 1 Kings viii. to spa.re for all (see Isa.. lv. I). 30, 34, 36, 39, etc.; Pss. xxv. 13; xxxii. I, Ver. 8.-And he shall redeem Israel from etc.; Dan. ix. 9; I John i 9, etc.). That all his sins (comp. Pee. xxv. 22; ciii. 8, 4).
HOMILETICS. Vera. 1-8.-Penitence and liope. We have the psalmist here ln- L THE DEPl'H OF SOME GREAT DISTRESS. It may be some severe loss he has sustained, and consequent loneliness of soul; or it may be some great disappointment of his hopes or defeat by the enemy; or it may be the persecution of those who reproach him for serious inconsistency; or it may be peril in which his cause or his life , is threatened; or it may be a sad sense of personal unworthiness. But, whatever it may I have been, it calls forth- II. .AJi .APPEAL TO Gon. When we are in any great distress, we look up to heaven; our appeal is instinctive; even the unbelieving and the profane cry to God "out of the depths." It may be inarticulate, with little or no foundaUon of intelligence; it may be nothing more than the outburst of a suffering spirit, making its appeal to Divine power nnd pity. But it is a relief even to the undevout. It usually and naturally takes the form of- lll. A HUMBLE CONFESSION OF SIN. 1. Somotimes the trouble is the direct nnd palpable consequence of sin, as when vice ends in sickness, or extravagance in straits, or crime in conviction. 2. Sometimes the sorrow is the painful and piercing conviction of moral guilt, of transgression against God, and condemnation by him-it may be the publican in the temple bowed down with a sense of sin. 3. Sometimes it is the deep and general conviction that all sorrow is ultimately due to sin, and that when we are in <1 very pitiful condition it is both proof and reminder that we havo sinned against. l'B, CXXX, 1-8.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 247