The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 100

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-11.-" Once thine, ever thine:" the song of a saint, the wion of a seer. This psalm yields many texts for instructive discourse; but it is not on any of them that ,ve propose now to dwell, but on the psalm as a whole. It is one of the most cvan;::elical in all the five books of the Psalms. It opens with a prayer and a plea; but its main current is that of joy and praise. It is moreover repeatedly quoted in the New Testament, where, by the Apostles Peter and Paul, some of its words are declared to be those of David the prophet, and to have received fulfilment in Christ, and in him alone. We cannot, however, apply all the psalm to the Messiah. Some of it is evidently the expression of a private personal experience, and the utterance of a joyously devout saint, whose joy and devotion have both been inspired by a reve- lation of God to him; while other parts of it are the slill more elevated utterances of one who was borne along by the Holy Ghost, to tell of visions which he saw of One in whom his royal line should witness the culmination of its glory I The touching expressions in 2 Sam. xxiii. 3-5 will account for both the words _of the saint and the words of the seer which are here found. As the saint, David was inspired by revela- lation; as the seer, he was inspired for it. 1 And by making these two main divisions we shall, perhaps, best homiletically expound the psalm. J. WE l!AVE I!llRE THE SOKG OF .A BAIN'!' INSPIIlED DY REVELATION. Jn this light 'I.he contents of the psalm are very varied. We number them, not as following in <:xact logical or culmiuative order, but that we may call the student's and preacher's nttention thereto, one by one; observing that we follow the Ilovised Version, which is most excellent. llere is: 1 . .LI. prayer and a plea. (Ver.1.) Apparently he is in peril; what, we do not know; but, as is his wont, he makes his hiding-place in God; and Yery touching is the plea he puts in: "for in thee do I put my trust." Our God Jo,·cs to be trusted. The confidence which his people repose in him is in his sight of great price; and be will not-cannot disappoint them. 2. '1.'he psalmist lias taken Jel,ovah to be his own God. Jehovah-the eternal God-the God of Israel, was his cnrn sovereign Lord. And as he confided to Lim all hiH cares, so he yilllded to him ' On these two kinds of inspiration, eee Professor Cave's admirable Congregational Lecture, 1888, on • '.J:he Inspiration of the Old Testament;' and also Professor La.dd'11 ' What is t\ie Dible?' (1888), 1'8, XVI, 1-11,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 101