The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 12

Mnny of these private prayers bear marks of limit.ea kn, 1wledgo a.nd imperfect concep- tion, and are by no means to be taken as models for us. But no saiLt ever did or could in prayer rise o.bove the level of his own knowledge. SLill, they knew that God heard nnd answered, not according to their thoughts, but according to bis loving-kindness; hence they poured out their whole souls to God, whether in gladness or sadness. And so ruay we; and God will do exceeding abundantly for us above all that we ask 01· think. II. ANOTHER GROUP OF PSALMS CONSISTS OF THOSE WHICH ARE THE PRODUCTS OF ANOTHER FORM OF DIVINE INSPIRATION. These a.re not necessarily addresses to God; they a.re, for the most part, an in~pired and inspiriting rehearsal of the mighty acts of the Lord, and a call to the people of God to join in the song of praise. P,s. xxxiii., xlvi., xlviii., lxxviii., lxxxi., lxxxix., and many others, are illustrations of this. At tlw back of them all there is a revelation of God known, accepted, and enjoyed. An,l according to this great and glorious redemption are the people exhorted to join in songs of praise. There is, moreover, this distinction, for the most part, between the first group and the second-the first group reflects the passing moods of man; the second reflects the revealed character o.nd ways of God. The first gtoup is mostly for private use, as the moods of the soul may respond thereto; the second group is also for sanctuary song, and indicates the permanent theme of the believer's faith and hope, even " the salvation of God." With regard to tbe first group we may say, "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." As to the second, the motto might be, "The Lord hath made known bis salvation: therefore with our songs we will praise him." Under this bead may also be set those calmly nnd sweetly meditative psalms, such as Pss. xxiii., xxxii., in which God's revelation of his works and ways gives its own hue to the musin11:s of the saint. These are now the delight of believers, in public and iu private worship, as the expression of an experience which is renewe,l in regenerate hearts age after age. None of them could possibly be accounted for by the psychology of the natural man; they accord only with the pneumatology or the spiritual man. Ill. '£HE THIRD GROUP OF PS.ALMS CONSISTS OF THOSE IN WHICH THERE IS .A D!IlECT on INDU:ECT MESSI.ANIO REFERENCE AND FORECAST. Of these there are three kinds. 1. There are fhose directly and exclusively Messianic, such as Pas. ii., xiv., xlvii., lxxii., ex. Of all these, the second psalm is, perhaps, throughout, as much as any c,f the psalms, clearly and distinctly applicable to the Coming One, nnd to him only. For the purpose of seeing and showing this, it may well be carefully studied. Every verse, every phrase, every word, tells; in fact, even the glorious fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is scarcely more clearly Messianic than the second psalm. Even Professor Cheyne is compelled to admit its Messianic reference, and he tells us that lbn Ezm does so like- wise.1 And that some of the psalms apply to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord himself o.ssures us (Luke xxiv. 44). And in an age like this, when destructive criticism is so popular, it is needful for the believing student to be the more accurate, clear, and firm. 2. Some psalms point to the era rather than to the Person of the Messiah. Such are the fiftieth and the eighty-seventh psalms. 'l'hey are prophetic expositions of truths which pertain to the Messianic times, and receive their full elucidation from the developed expositions of the apostles and prophets of the New Testament; they cover the ground of the Messianic age. 3. Other psalms refer immediately to the writer himself, and have come to be regarded as Messianic because some of the words therein were quoted by the Lord Jesus Ghrist and adopted as his own. Such a one is the twenty-secon<l psalm, in which the writer bemoans his own sufferings aud (according to the LXX.) his own tro.nsgressious. But it is not possible to apply every verse of this psalm to the Lord Jesus. 9 He, however, being in all things made like unto his brethren, was "iu all points tempted like as we are;" hence the very groans of bis brethren fitted his own lips. He came to have fellowship with us in our sufferings that we might have iellowship with him in bis! Thus there is established a marvellously close sympathy between Jesus and bis saints, since bis temptations, sorrows, anJ. groans i-eserubleJ. 1 Cheyne on the Psalms, p. 4 (1888). Much of his exegesis is, however, extremely unsntisfnctory, being vitiated by a foregone psychologioul theory. • Sec tho exposition of Pa. xxii. 6 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, I, 1-6,