The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 159

Let those saints of God who have to pass through seasons of prolonged mental anguish remember that, however severe the conflict may be, the Saviour has passed through one still more terrible than theirs. 2. J/ even the saint asks" why 1"even so did the Saviour. 'l'hc "why?" however, applies only to the opening words-to the hiding of God's face. There may be mystery therein, even when (as in the case of every saint) there are transgressions to be bemoaned. But our Saviour has an unfathomable woe, "yet without sin." The" why?" then, imperatively requires an answer. In the fire, at the faggot, and at the stake, martyrs have sung for joy. Why is it that at the moment of direst need the sinless Sufferer should have felt aught so dreadful as abandonment by God? Not that the abandonment was real. The Father never loved the Son more than when he hung bleeding on the cross. But our Saviour endured the sense of it. Why was this? He did not deserve it. But he had laden himself with our burden. '' 'l'he Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all." Nor do we know that we can put the pith and essence of the atonement in fewer words than these: (1) sin separates from God; (2) Jesus bore our sin; therefore (3) Jesus endured the sense of separation. We can understand that, coming as Man ir:to the midst of a sinful race, all the suffer- ing which a holy nature must endure in conflict with sinful men would be his. But the sense of desertion by God while doing his Father's will can only be accounted for by the amazing fact that " he sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins." 3. In passing through his manifold experience of sorrow, the Saviour learned to su_ffer with the saint, and was being made perfect as the Captain of salvation. (Heb. ii. 10; v. 2, 7, 8, 9.) Our Saviour was (1) to lead many sons unto glory; (2) to be One who could sympathize, soothe, and succour in every case of woe (Heb. ii. 18); (3) to be One who by his sympa- thetic power could inspire his hosts; and ( 4) to teach them that, as they were destined to follow him in his heavenly glory, they must not be surprised if they have first to follow him in the pathway of woe. "Tbe disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord." Objection: "But how can the sympathy of Jesus with me be perfect? He was without sin, and I am not. So the parallel fails." Good people who urge this objection forget that it is the presence of sin in each ofus which makes our sympathy with each other so imperfect. Because Jesus was without sin, he can draw tbe line exactly between defects that are due to infirmity and such as are traceable to sin. The second he forgives; tbe first he pities. Is not this the very perfection of sympathy1 Ill. 'J.'HE WORDS OF THE SAINT EMERGING FROM BIB GLOOM ARE APPROPRIATE TO THE SAVJOUR IN ms EXALTATION AND TRIUMPH. With the Saviour, as with the psalmist, the darkest night was the prelude t_o the brigb~ness of day.. 'l'he bri~htne~s which marks the last ten verses of the psalm 1s a decla.rnt1on that the kmgdom ol David shall be established for ever and ever, and that, though David may have to pass throuoh fire and flood, his kingdom shall a.bide through age after age j and thus we find the phraseology of these verses applied to the after-career of David's Son and David's Lord in Heb. ii. 11, 12. Whence five points invite attention. The Holy Ghost, inditiug the psalmist's words so that they forecast the issue of Messiah's sufferings as well as his own, shows us our Saviour (1) emerging from tbe conflict; (2) joining with his people in songs of rejoicing; (3~ declaring tb~ Father's ~a~e to. his "br~thre~; " (4) gathering home the severed tnbes of mankmd; (5) brrngmg m the v1ctonous kin"dom (vcrs. 21-31). It is not, it is not for nought that the Messiah endured all liis ~oe (Isa. Jiii. 11; Heh. xii. 1, 2; Phil. ii. 11). It behoved him to suffer, and then "to enter into his glory." And as with the Master, so with the servant. "If we suffer we shall also reiun with him." He hath said, " Where I am, there shall also my serva~t be." Following him in sharing his cross, we shall follow him in sharing his crown.-O. Vers. 1-31.-A. struggle from the gloom of adversity to peace and joy. - It was said among the heathen that a just man struggling with adversity was a sight worthy of the gods. Such a sight we have here. We see a truly_ just man struggli~g f~om the gloomiest depths of adversity upwards to the serene heights of peace and JOY m God, 'l'hree stages may be marked. I. THE WAIL OF DESERTION. (Vers.1-10.) Suffering is no ''strange thing." It comes sooner or later to all. Always, and especially in its severer forms, it is a mystery, PS, XXII, 1-31.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 161