claimed in tho gntes." I will rejoioe in thy into hell; literally, shall b4 tui·irnd bac1,- salvation; or, ihai 1 may re}oice (Kny). wards to Sheo1, or Hades; i.e. shnll be re- Ver. 15.-The heathen are sunk down in moved from cnrth to tho pince of departed the pit thnt they made. It is uncertain spirits. Thero is no direot threat of retri- whether tbe m-iter here reverts to the judg- bution or punishment, beyond the, pmna ment already executed (vers. 3-6), or with danmi, or loss of all that is plensiua- o.nd the eye of fe.ith sees as past the judgment delightful in this lifo. And e.11 the n~tions which he confidently anticipates (vers. 19, that forget God; rather, even all the people 20). Whichever he intends, there ce.n be (Ko.y). "The wicked" o.ud "the people no doubt that he means it to be understood that forget God" are iii ,ntical. that the stratagems of the enemy brought Ver. 18.-For the ne-,dy shall not alwny nbout (or would bring about) their downfall. be forgotten. The poor nnd needy, the op- In the net whioh they hid is their own foot pressed nnd down-trc,dden (vers. 9, 12), taken. A second metnphOl', expressing the seem for a. time to be ft !gotten of God; but same idea 11s the preceding (comp. Pss. vii. even this seeming oblivion comes to nu end 15, 16; x. 2; xxxv. 8; cxli. 10). when judgment falls on the oppressors Ver.16.-The Lord is known bythejudg- (ver. I 7). The expeotation of the po"~ shall ment which he exeouteth; rather, tlie Lord not perish for ever, "The eKpeotl\tion of hath made Jiimsel,f known; lie e:,;ecutethjudg- the poor" is delivero.nce. It shall not ment (see the Revised Version; and comp. "perisll,'' or bo disappointed, " for ever," Ezck. xx. 9). The two clauses nre grnm- i.e. always. There shall be a. time when matically distinct, though no doubt closely their expectation shall have its nccomplish- connected in their mooning. God makes ment. himself known-mnnifests his chnracter, Ver. 19.-Ari.se, 0 Lord (comp. Ps. vii. by the judgmcnts which he executes, shows 6, and the comment ad Zoe.). Lot not man himself just, perhnps severe, certainly One prevail j or, let not weak man prevail. The who "will not at all acquit the wicked" word used for "man," eulish, carries wHh it (Nnh. i. 3). The wioked is snared in the the irlea of wonknoss. That "wenk mnn" work of his own hands. Some translate, should prernil over God is preposterous. "he snareth the wicked," or, "by snaring Let the heathen be judged in thy eight. If the wicked"-the special way in which God judged, then, as being wicked, condemned: manifests himself (see Kay, p. 31; 'Spenker's if condemned, then punished - defeated, Co=entary,' vol. iv. p. 190). Higgaion. ruined, brought to nought (see ver. 5). This word is found in three other places Ver. 20. -Put them in fear, 0 Lord; only, viz. Pss. xix. 14; xcii 3; and Lnm. iii. literally, set fear to them; i.e. "make GI. In the first it is translated "medita- them afraid,'' either by striking B panio tion," and hns clearly that meaning; in the terror into them, as into tile Syrinus when second it is supposed to mean "a gentle they had brought Se.maria. to tho last gasp strain;" in the third it seems best rendereu (2 Kings vii. G, 7), or by onUBing tl.icm by " musing" or "reflection." Here it calmly to review the situation, and to see stands by itself, as a sort of rubrical direc- how dangerous it wos to assail God's people tion, like the following word, "Selah." (2 Kings vi. 23). That the nations mny know Some suppose it a direction to the choir to themselvee to be but men. Me.y recognize, play a geutle strain of instrumental music i.e., their wee.knees; mo.y remember thnt ns an interlude; others regard it as enjoin• they are en6sh-mere weo.k, frail, sickly, iug upon the congregation a space of quiet perishing mortals. Selah, Here this word ~meditation" (see Hengstcnberg, ad loc.; occurs for the second time at the end of 11 and compare Professor Alexander's work, psalm (see above, Pa. iii. 8)-a position which • T!,e Psalms tr,mslated and eKplo.iued,' militates o.goinst the idea. of its signifying p. 45). Selah (see the comment on Ps. " a po.use," since there must always have jjj_ 2). - been e. pause at the end of every psalm. Ver. 17.-The wicked shall be turned
HOMILETICS. Ver. 10.-.An appeal to experience, and its record. "They that ]mow thy Name," oto, Truth is given us in Scripture, not as bare doctrine, but clothed in living experience; not as au anatomical preparation for intellect to dissect and ano.tomize, but as food to 1.ourish; nay, more-as a friend to talk with us. For the best renso°:-we o.ro not merely to bold it intellectually, but to live by it. Hence the whole Bible, ~rom end to rnd is full of human life and history. But, al:ove all, tho Book of Psalms 1s a text- Luok ;nd cncyclopre<lia of spiritual experience. '!'he text is an appeal to experienco, and a record of its tcstiruony, PB. IX, 1-20.) TUE BOOK OF PSALMS. 59