Vera. 1-6.-Grounds of the prayer for preservation. This psalm is golden in lot THE BOOK Olt' PSALMS, [l's. XVL 1-11.
thonght, feeling, and expression. The substance of it is comprised in the firRt verse: •· May God preserve him who has no other refuge iu which he ca.n hide but him I" 'l'he subject UJ? to the eud of the sixth verse may be called-Grounds of the prayer for preservation. I. HE H.1.s TAKEN Goo FOR HIS SUPREME Goon. (Ver. 2, "I said to Jehovah, Thou art my Lord; beside thee I have no good.") The "good" here in contrast with the "sorrows" in ver. 4. "Whom have I in heaven but thee," etc.? It is the answer of the soul to, "'l'hou sbalt have no other gods but me," "Thou, 0 Lord art my Portion, my Help, my Joy, my All in all." ' . II. IIE DEL:GHTS IN TIIE FELLowsHI_P OF ALL TII"E GOOD. (Ver. 3.) He trusts God m. c?rnpany with the ?est and noblest m the l:!.~d. If they trust aud serve, it is my prmlege also. That 1s one thought. Another 1s-I love the holy and the excellent who reflect most of God; not the worldly rich and great and powerful. The saints and only they are the excellent to him, even as they are to God. He is one with God in this-he is wholly on God's side; therefore, be says, save me from impending danger. III. HE ABHOlls APOSTATES AND THEIR IDOLS. (Ver. 4.) He will be loyal, and refuse all participation in the fellowship or the 1ites of the surrounding idolaters. Even the names of the false i;ods h~ refuses to take upon bis liJ?s, Philosophy, and luxury, and commerce, and wisdom m government, and the glones of conquest, combined to recommend the seductive idolatries of Philistia, Phamicia, Syria, Assyria, Egypt. Dut he regarded them all with righteous scorn. We have need of a strong and simple trust in God, and sympathy with the good, to be able to repudiate the idolatries that ever surround us-the worship of wealth, success, fashion. IV. HE POSSESSES ALL TRINGS IN Goo. (Vere. 5, 6.) The Lord is the Portion of mine inheritanc-an allusion to the division of the land among the tribes. And this was preserved to him by the protecting power of God. God was also his meat and drink (equivalent to" cup"). "The lines," etc.-in allusion to the ancient custom of marking out plots of land by measuring-lines. He had a goodly heritage. "What must not he possess who possesses the Possessor of all?" "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's, a.ad Christ is God's."-S.
Vcrs. 8-11.-T,lie confidence of the psalmist's faith in the future. The two main ideas of the writer are (1) a sense of Divine privilege in having God as his chief Good; and (2) a confiding, hopeful prayer for deliverance from death. Not, of course, from death altogether; he could not hope to be finally delivered from the grave. The prayer, therefore, must have been for deliverance from impending danger, from death that was then threatened at that time, and for being conducted into and preserved in" the path of life." The application which bas been made of the ninth aud tenth verses to Christ by Peter and Paul has led to a misunderstanding of the original sense. They say that the prayer was fulfilled ia Christ, and not in David ; that David did see corruption, and that Christ did not. But the best Hebrew scholars say that it ie a confident prayer, not to be given over to death, but to be preserved in the way of life. We must understand, of course, death at present; for it could not mean death alto- gether, nor deliverance from the grave after death. '!'he general subject of these verses, then, is-T,l1e confidence ef the psalmist's faith in the future, because he had chosen God as his chief Goad. L Trrn SENSE OF Gon's PRE~ENCE INSPIRES A FEELING OF SAFETY, (Ver. 8.) "Not in the moment of peril only, but at all times bas he his eye fixed upon God." "God in David's eyc·s is n0 abstraction, but a Person, real, living, aad walking at bis side," and able to protect him from danger. Have we such a senso of companionship with God? I shall not be moved-neither in character, nor in purpose, nor in worlc. II. HE REJOICED IN THE CONFIDENCE THAT Goo WOULD NO'r ALLOW HIM TO PEnISII. (Vers. 9, 10.) "Flesh" here, as al ways, means the living body-never means a corpse. "Shall rest in hope," equivalent to "shall dwell ia safety;" and must bo understood of this life. No 1;trese can be laid on the word "leave," which means "give over to." lie is expressing the confidence" that God will not leave him to perish, will not give 1,irn up to be the prey of the grave," which was the design oi his enemies. The lessons for us-that God's time is our time, and that he will not abandon us to our Pj)iritual enemies, but will afford us effectual protection, 1'3, XVII, 1-15,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 105
III. HE REJOICED TIIAT Goo WOULD MAKE KNOWN TO HIM THE WAY TO LlFF.. (Ver, 11.) Not only preserve him in life, but lead him on to that life whose joy i11 beholding the Divine face, and partaking of the everlasting pleasures which are at his right hand. 'l'he idea of immortality springs out of the sense of his relationship to God; for be could not think that such n. relationship could end with death. If we nre the sons of God, that is the strongest guarantee that we shall continue to partako of God's life, rich and manifold and everlasting. Christ sa.i.d, "Because I live, ye shall live also," This passage has its highest fulfilment when applied to the resurrection of Christ.-S.