The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 140

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers.1-9.-Prayer for lsrael's king when going forth to battle: a national sermon, In this psalm, as indeed in the rest, there are most suggestive verse~, which might be elaborated into useful discourses.1 But in this division of the Commentary we refrain from dealing with isolated texts. We desire rather to show how the whole psalm may be used by the expositor of Scripture as the basis of a national sermon in a time of impending war, No doubt, as Mr. Spurgeon remarks, it has been used by court preachers and pressed into the service of unctuous and fulsome flattery. There is, however, another kind of abuse to which it has been subjected, even that of an extreme spiritualizing, in which the words are made to convey a meaning which there is no indication that they were ever intended to bear, No commentator seems to have set forth the bearing of the psalm more clearly and accurately than that prince of expositors, John Calvin. We have no clue, indeed, to the precise occasion on which the psalm was written ; but we can scarcely be wrong in regarding it as a prayer to bo said or sung in the sanctuary on behalf of the king when he was called forth to defend himself in battle against his enemies. And inasmuch as the kingship of David was a typo of that of the Lord Jesus Christ, the psalm may doubtless be regarded as the prayer of the Church of God for the triumph of the Saviour over all his foes. It is said, "Prayer also shall be made for him continually,'' and those words are being fulfilled in the ceaseless offering of the petition, "Thy kingdom come." At the same time, there is such deep and rich significance in the palm wheu set on the strictly historical basis, that to develop it from that point of view will occupy all the space at our command. Tho scenes here brought before us are these : 3 Israel's king is summoned to go forth to war ; sanctuary service is being held on his behalf; a prayer is composed, is set to music, and delivered to the precentor, to be said or sung ou the occasion; after sacrifices have been offered, and the signs of Divine acceptauce have been vouchsafed, the Levites, the singers, and the congregation join in theso words of supplication, Obviously, there is here assumed 3 a Divine revelation; tho aid of Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel, is invoked; he is called," Jehovah our God." The disclosures of God's grace in the wondrous history of their father Jacob are brought to mind. They, as a people, have been raised above reli11nce on chariots and horses alono. 'l'he Name of their God has lifted them up on high, "as in a fortress where no enemy can do harm, or on a rock at the foot of which the waves fret and dash themselves in impotent fury."' They know of two sanctuaries-one in Zion (ver. 2), the other "the heaven of God's holiness" (ver. 6); they kuow that God hcars/rom the latter, when his people gather in the former. Hence the pr&ycr is sent up from the sanctuary below to that above. We, as Christians, have all Israel's knowledge, and moro. '£he revelation the Hebrews had through Moses is surpassed by that in Christ. And although, as a 1 Forrest's edition of Dr. Forbes's • Studies on the Book of Psnlms' (1888), pp. 256, 257, and Dr. Maclo.ren's 'Life of David as reflected in thc Paahns,' conttiin hints worth uoting on this psalm. . . . • Seo Bishop Perowne's mterestrng arrnngemen t of the versos of this pscll111. • See our introductory homily on the several classes of psalma. • So Perowne.  142 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS. XX, 1-9.