The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 117

psalm). And I did not put awayhia statutes nttributes whioh o.re oorrelative-in jusl from ms. The wickc,i e.re said to "ce.st proportion to their act.i," but not identical. God's commandmenls behind their back" God cannot "show himself frowBrd "-ha (1 Kings xiv. 9; Nch. ix. 26; Ps. l. 17; can only show himself opposed, o.nto.go- Ezek. xxiii. 35). David declares that he nistio, an adversary. Whnt the psalmist had nc,,-cr so acted; he had kept God's means to soy is thnt, if men oppose anrl statutes alwnys well before him, had borne thwart God, he in roturu will oppose ancl them in mind, and givcm heed to them. thwart them. But they will act in n. Ver. 23.-I was also upright before him perverse spirit, he in a spirit of justice (compare wlmt is said of David in 1 Kings and righteousness. xi. 4; xiv. 8; xv. 5). Like Job, he was Ver. 27.-l'or thou wilt save the afflioted "perfect and upright"-" oue that feared people; i.e. the oppressed and down-trodden, God, nnd eschewed evil" (Job i. 1). And who are assumed to be pious and Goel- I kept myself from mine iniquity ; i.e. fearing (comp. Pas. x. 12-14; xi. 2, etc.). "from the sin to wbicli I was especially But wilt bring down high looks (comp. tempted." (Kay compares the •u1r•picrraTos Ps. ci. 5 and Prov. vi. 17). The fact of aµap-rla of Heb. xii. 1.) But what sin "pride going before destruction, and a lhis was, we have no means of determining. haughty spirit before e. fall," was noticed All tl:at appears is that David bad an by the heathen of the e.ncient world, no inclination to some particular form of sin, less than by the " peculiar people," And against which he found it necessary to he both alike attributed the downfall of the continually upon his guard. proud to God. " Seest thou," says Hero<lotna, Ver. 2-l-Therefore ha.th the Lord re- "how God with his lightning smites e.lways oompe:i.sed me aocording to my righteous- the bigger animals, e.nd will not suffer ness, aooording to the cleanness of my them to wax insolent, while those of a hands in his eyesight. Having set forth lesser bulk chafe him not? How likewise tlie particulars of his righteousness (vers. his bolts ever fall on the liigbest houses and 21-23), the psalmist returns to his previous the tallest trees? So plaiuly does he love gcn~ral statement (ver. 20), and emphati- to bring down everything that exalts itself. cally reaffirms it. Thus m'ttimes a mighty host is discomfited by a few men, when God in his jealousy send11 Vera. 25-23.-A short didactic digression panic or storm from heaven, and they periali is here interposed, extending the principles in e. way unworthy of thorn. }'or God on which God has dealt with David and allows no one to have high thoughts but his enemies, to mankind generally (vers. himself" (vii. JO, § 5). But the heathen 25-27); o.ftcr which a return is made to seem to have imagined that God envied the proud ones, and therefore cast them God's special dealings with David (ver. down. 28). Ver. 25.-With the merciful thou wilt Vere. 28-45.-AB in the former narrative show thyself mercifuL The main principle section (vers. 4-24) David seems to have is tliat Go,! will act towards men as they had his earlier troubles in mind, so, in the act towards him. If they e.re kindly, present one, his troubles since he entered gro.cious, loving towards him-for this is upon the kingdom seem especially to engnge what the word chasid means-he will be kindly, gracious, loving towards them, and his thoughts. These consisted chiefly o( dee ,,,er.a, nB explaiued in vers. 26, 27. wars with foreign enemies, in which, while With s.n upright man thou wilt show he incurred many dangers, he was, upon the thyself upright ; or, a per/ect man (Revised whole, eminently successful. Version). 'l'he word is the same as that used in Pee. iv. 3; xii. 1 ; :x.xxi. 23; xxxii. Ver. 28.-For thou wilt light my candle; 6; :x.xxvii. 28, etc., and generally translated rather, my lamp-the word genemlly used "godly," or, in the plural, "saints." ot the lamps supported by the eeven-bro.nohe.-1 Ver. 26.-With the pure thou wilt show candelabrum of the tabernacle (see Exod. thyself pure; e.nd with the froward thou xxv. 37; xxxvii. 22, 2:J; xl. 25). David wilt show thyself froward; rather, thou wilt himself is called "the lamp of Israel" in eho1.1J thyself adverse. The same root is not 2 Sam. xxi. 17. The Lord my God will here used for the verb as for the adjective, as enlighten my darkness. The true lamp of is done in the three preceding clauses. The David, which "enlightenod his darkness," reason is well explained in the 'Speaker's wns "the light of God's countenance." Co1mnentary:' "In dealing with the good, While this shone npon him, his whole path <,od shows his o.pprovol by manifesting wns bright, ancl he himself, reflecting the ~lll'ihutes similar or identical in essence: Divino rays, was a lnmp to others. in dealing with the wicked, he exhibits Ver. 29,-For by thee I have run throu~  rs. xvrrr. 1-50.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. lrn