HOMILIES DY VARIOUS .AUTHORS. Vers.1-7.-7Vie victory offaith; or, rest amid storm. In each one of those psalms • which represent some historic experience, there is its own differential feature. This feature it is the work of the student and expositor to seize and to utilize. We do not know and have no means of knowing the specific incidents in the writer's life to which reference is here made,1 although, since David was the writer, we should find but little difficulty in fixing on some passages of his history to which the psalm might possibly apply. But although that might furnish some interesting points of history, it would add little or nothing to the value of the psalm. It is one which is far too much overlooked; since it yields us a powerful illustration of a faith which overcomes the world. Let us set to work and see if it be not so. I. HEBE IS A BELIEVER IN GoD EXPOSED TO PERIL FROM DESIGNING FOES. (Ver. 2.) Those who are upright in heart are hated by the wicked (cf. 1 John iii. 12, 13). Thid is not to be wondered at, for righteous men by their righteousness are n stnnding con• demnation of the ungodly (I:Ieb. xi. 7). The Lord Jesus was pre-eminently the object of hatred by the world (John vii. 7; xv. 18-24). In the time of the psalmist this hatred was expressed by plots for the destruction of God's servants (ver. 2).ll But, as if con- scious of wrong and of the meanness and wickedness of their aims, men sought the cover of darkness for their designs (see ver. 2, Revised Version). What a mercy there is One to whom the darkness and the light are both alike I II. HERE ARE WELL·.MEANING FRIENDS GIVING THEm ADVICE. (Ver. 1, 11 Flee as a bird," etc.) This is the counsel of timidity. '!'here may possibly be circumstances in which it may be right to take flight (see Matt. x. 23). .Although our Lord expected his disciples to be prepared, if need be, to lay down their lives for him, yet he did not wish them unnecessarily to expose themselves to danger. So thnt at time~, flight ruay be wise. Dut in the case of the psnlmist, the whole tenor of his psalm indic:i.tcs that it would not have been right, and that the counsels of his friends were those of timidity and even of cowardice. Note: 1, W• may any of us be exposed at some time or other to this temptation (1) to flee from the spot where we nre placed; (2) to quit the duly we have in hand, because of peril; or (3) to resort to some safe nook, and thus consult our own ease and safety, regardless of the work in hand. 2. Such temptation may be even harder to resist when it comes from friends than if it came from foes. So our Lord Jesus found it; he felt Peter's effort to dissnade him from the cross far more acutely than he did Sntan's (cf. Matt. xvi. 22, 23). Ill. THIS ILL·JUDGED ADVIGE MAY DE ENFOilCED WITH PLAtJSIDLE ARGUMENTS. (Vers.1, 3.) Thendvice begins with the word" flee" (ver. l), and ends with the close of the third verse. The arguments for flight are: 1. 'l'he secrecy of the designs of the wicked; since they work under cover of the darkness, it is best to bo entirely out of their reach. 2. 'l'he grievous consequences of their success (ver 3). If the men who nre the strength and glory of a state are removed, the righteous therein will be dis- mayed.3 This is a. more specious argument than the former: it is equivalent to, "If you care not to flee for your own sake, you owe it to others to guard yourself; for if 1 The introduction to this psalm in' The Cambri<lge Dible' is wise and helpful; so also aro the notes on the p mlm in both' The Cambridge lliblc' an<l the edition of tho' Psalter' by tho RT.S. • Rcl'ised Version, "in darkness;" LXX., "in a moonless night." See Faussct's 'St.11,lif's in tho Psalms,' lect. iv. p. 28. • Sec Fuerst, Bub t1erb. nir, 74 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. xr. 1-7.
you, as one of the supports of the state, are overthrown, w:aat will the righteous people do?" The wicked would rejoice, and would seize the occasion for the purposes of rapine and murder; but the righteous would be in sore dismr1y, IV. To SUCH ADVICE, FAITH HAS A READY ANSWER. (Vers. 4--6.) The various features of this answer may be summed up in one sentence, "The Lord reigneth I" '!'his is faith's rest and refuge in all times of trouble. Things are not left to the cross- purposes of man. 'l'here is a throne above all, and One sitting thereon. '.rbis fact bas a manifold bearing: l. On men generally. (1) God sees all (ver. 4). (2) God tests all (ver. 4). 2. On the righteous. (1) God tries bis people. He proves them to improve them (ver. 5). (2) He loves the righteous; i.e. he approves them, and, in the midst of all confusion, be smiles upon them. (3) He will crown them with honour at last (ver. 7, Revised Version). 3. On the wicked. (1) He bates them; i.e. be dis- approves their ways (ver. 5; Ps. i. 6). (2) The time will come when .that disapproval will be manifest (ver. 6). The terrible figures used iri this verse are probably drawn from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. What the dread reality may be, of which these words are symbols, God grant that we may never know I More fearful than any physical judgments is the adverse verdict of the Great Supreme (John iii.19). Note: It is all-important for a believer in God, in the midst of the greatest calamities, and of the most serious public disorder, so to maintain his calm serenity of soul, as to enable him thus to rest in what he knows of God and of his revealed mind and will. V. KNOWING ALL THIS CONCER~'ING Goo, THE PSALMIST IIAD ACTUALLY ANTICIPATED THE ADVICE OF HIS ADVISER~, though in another and a better way (ver. 1): "In the Lord put I my trust;" rather, "To the Lord I hcwe fled for refuge." I need no other. He is mine. He will guard me. I am at rest in him. I will therefore stay where I am, and keep in the path of duty. I can calmly look on the raging storm, and wait till it has passed by. "Weeping may endure for a. night, but joy cometh in the morning." Note: 1. The ma.n who trusts in God has already a Refuge of which the ungodly man knows nothing. 2. That trust in God gives him the victory over bis foes. 3. The God whom he trusts will be his Shield now, and his exceeding great Reward hereafter and for ever ! How much broader, deeper, and firmer should be our trust, now that we know God's love as revealed in Christ! "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ? " " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John v. 4, 5).-C.