The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 115

of ungodliness. The LXX. hnve x•lµa.pf,01 rebuilding Jerusalem wns frustmted. Coals livoµ(u. Strenms of ungodly men, the were kindled by it. The firo-balls e.bove myrmidons of Saul, cut him off from escape. spoken of are dcol0,1•ed to b11ve scorched nnd Ver, 5.-The sorrows of hell compassed burnt the workmen employed by Julinn me e.bout; li ternlly, the cords of Sheol, (Amm. Maro., xxiii. 1). or Hades. Death e.ud Hell are, both of Ver. 9.-He bowed the heavens alao, e.nd them, personified, e.nd made to join in the Cl\me down (comp. Pa. •cxliv. 5). In e. storm chase. The ensnaring nets are drawn the clouds do e.ctually descend, e.nd the nearer and nearer; at last the toils close in, whola heaven seems to bo bowed down to the last cast is made, and the prey is taken. earth. God is said to " come do1Tn" to The snares of death prevented me; or, came earth wbeuever be deliv<lrs the oppressed, t1pon me (Revised Version)-" t.ook ma by and takes vengeance on their oppressors ,surprise" (Kay). (see Exod. iii. 8; 2 Sam. xxii. 10; Ps. Ver. 6.-In my distress I called upon the cxliv. 5: Ise.. lxiv. I, 3, elo.). And dark- Lord, and cried unto my God. .At this ness we.s under his feet. .A deep de.rkness supreme moment, when he is entangled in commonly e.ccomp11nies both ee.rthquake the snares, and on the point of being sle.in, e.nd storm. When God 11ctually descended the psslmist represents himself e.s invoking on Mount Sinai, it we.s amid thunders and the ai<I of the Almighty. .As Hengsten- lightnings, and "e. thick cloud" (Exod. berg notes, " While the manifold distresses xix. 16), elsewhere called "thick darkness" o.re united in the beginning of the verse into (Deut. v. 22). one ,:;reat 'distress,' so the manifold Divine Ver. 10.-And he rode upon a cherub, e.nd hearings e.nd helps are united into e. single did :fiy. The imagery here transcends all ,;rand hearing and help "-and, we may experience, and scarcely admits of comment add, the m1mifold cries into one great cry. or explanation. God is represented as borne He hee.rd my voice out of his t6mple; i.e. through the heaveus, as he proceeds to exe- l1is tabernucl•', since the temple we.s not yet cute his purposes, by the higheet of his built ( comp. Pss. v. 7; xi. 4); or perhaps, creatures, the cherubim. Elsewhere (Pa. "out of heaven "(Cheyne). And my cry ce.me civ. 3) he sails through the sky supported before him, eren into his ee.rs (comp. Exod. on clouds. Yee., he did :fiy upon the wings ii. 23, where the same word is used for the of the wind; rather, he sped swiftly (Ke.y). u cry " of the children of Israel in Egypt). 'l'he verb uae<l ia different from that trans- Ver. 7.-Then the earth shoo): and trem• lated "did fly" in the preceding verse. lt bled; or, quailed and quaked (Kay, who is applied elsewhere espeeie.lly to the e11gle thus expresses the asson11nce of the Hebrew (Deut. xxviii. 49; J er. xlviii. 40; xlix. 22). vat-tig'a,h 'l!al-tir'ash). The psalmist must Ver. 11.-He me.de darkness his seoret not be understood literally. He does not place; i.e. ho hid himself e.mid clouds e.nd mean that the delivernnce came by earth- thick darkness. In executing his judg- quake, storm, e.nd thunder, but describes ments he did not allow himself to be seen. the discomfiture and dismay of bis opponents God's action is alw11ys secret nnd inscrnt- l,y e. series of highly poetico.l images. In abl"l. His pe.vilion round e.bout him were these he, no doubt, follows nature closely, dark we.tars and thick olouds of the skies. and probe.bly describes what he had seen, The original runs as follows : " He me.de heard, and felt. The foundations e.ko o! the darkness his secret pl11ce - hi1 pavilion hills moved e.nd were she.ken. In violent round about him-d11rk waters, thick clouds earthquakes, the earth seems to rock to its of the skies." The whole forms one sen- foundations; mountain rang-cs are some- tence, "his pavilion" being in e.pposition times actually eleve.ted to a height of several with "secret pl11ce," e.nd the Inst cle.use, fee(; rocka topple down ; and occasionally "dark waters, thick cloucls of the skies," there are earth-slips of enormous dimensions. being exegetic11l of the ''darkness" in the llecause he was wroth. God's anger against first clausa. God's "pavilion,'' or "tent" the psalmist's enemies prodnred the entire (;,::io), is mentioned again in Pee. x:.xvii. 5 disturbance which he is describing. and xxxi. 20. V Gr. 8.-There went up a smoke out of hia Ver. 12.-At the brightness th11t was nostrils. Emissions of smoke are a common before him his thick clouds pe.ssed. The feature of rnlcanic disturbances, with which "brightness" in ten dad is probably the.t of earthquakes e.re closely connected. Tho lightning. The "thick clouds" are riven LXX. give, instee.d of "out of his IJoelrils," e.nd parted asunder for the lightning to in his anger (iv op-yfi a~Tov), w~ich is be~ter, burst forth. Then come, e.lmost simul- since the Hebrew prefix :;i, "rn," certarnly taneously, hail stones and ooe.la of fire; i.e. ce.nnot mean "out of." And :fire out of his hail like the.t which fell in Egypt before the mouth devoured. Fire-balls are said to he.ve Exodus (ExoJ. ix. 22-3i), when "there accompanied some earthquakes, as cspeci- we.s hail, and fire mingled with the h11il" o,lly that one by which J1dian's design of (\'er. 24)~ fire wbich "ran along upon tile re. xvm. 1-50.] 'tllE BOOK OF PSALMS. 117