Vers. 11-21.-Prayer in su_ffering. The persecuted exile continues to speak of bis sufferings, but seems to rise up out of the despair of the first verse into the faith implied in prayer. Much of the suffering here described, if not productive, "as at least typical, of the suffering of Christ. An argument is still going on in the sufferer's mind as to whether God had finally forsaken him or not. He has been trying in the first ten verses to argue down the feeling, but has not yet succeeded; and now he breaks out into prayer, driven by the urgency of the crisis into which he has come. I. THE ARGUMENT OF THE PRAYER. The general argument is stated in the eleventh verse. Trouble was near, and there was none to help; it bad come to the last extremity with him, and not to help now would be completely and finally to forsake. The particulars of the argument are : 1. The strength and fury o/ his perseC'U,tors. (Vers. 12, 13, 16.) They are compared to bulls and lions, the most formidable beasts a man can encounter. Further on his enemies are compared to wild dogs, that have enclosed and surrounded him. So that there is no escape except by the hand of God. 2. He has lost all strength of body and courage of heart. (Vers. 14-17.) He sees no human means of escaping death. Severe trials from man and the Divine desertion ( ver. 15) have "laid him in the dust of death." 3. 7'he last act of indignity, previous to his death, has been accomplished. (Ver. 18.) They strip him, and cast lots for his garments. So that this is a cry for deliverance, uttered in the very jaws of death itself. Of course, the psalm was written after the experiences it describes. IL THE PRAYER ITSELF. It was begun at the eleventh versf, and now again breaks forth with full power (vers. 19-21). 1. He cries to the Infinite Strength to make haste to l,elp him. This looks back to the second verse, ,vhere be complains, "Thou answerest me not;" and, if help is to come, it must come at once, for he is in the very article of death. 2. He is alone and unfriended among ruthless enemies. "My darling," equivalent to" my lovely person" (ver. 20), Utterly and solely dependent on God, as we shall be in dying. -3. The cry ends with an ewpression of assured confidence. (Ver. 21, "Thou hast answered me.") "Thou bast heard me." At last he sees deliverance •at hand, and knows that his prayer has been heard, and he has been delivered from death.-S. Vers. 22-31.-Consequences of deliverance. In this last part the sufferer depicts the happy consequences of his deliverance, which he anticipates in faith, and, lifted up in spirit above the present, beholds, as if it were already present. l. THE PSALMIST'S DELIVERANCE SHALL BE A CAUSE OF REJOICING TO ALL TSBAEL, (Vers. 22-26.) 1. Be will inspire the whole congregation with the tidings. We cannot and ought not to keep to ourselves the great fact of our salvation. "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord bath done for thee," etc. 2. Tf,e good tidings icere thut God had answered the cry of one who was in the very faws oJ death. (Ver. 24.) And if he had heard one, the unavoidable conclusion waa that he would hear all who cried to him. The psalmist's experience showed that God's mercy was universal; that was the suppressed premiss of this argument. If. 'J.'HE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S REDEEMING GRACE SHALL EXTEND TO llEATHEN NATIONS. (Vere. 27, 28.) This is to be rejoiced in. 1. Because the heathen have greater need if it than the Church. The Church (Israel) have already some knowledge of it; but the heathen are sunk in deeper sins ancl sorrows, and have no knowledge of God'• redeeming grace. 2. It is God's will that the heathen should know and receive his grace. He saves one man or one nation, iu order that they should make his work PS. XXIII, 1-6.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 163
known to other men and other nntions. He is to be made known as "the Governor among the nations." Ill. ALL CLASSES, WHETHER HAPPY OR MISERABLE, SHALL WELCOME THIS KNOW- LEDGE, (Ver. 29.) 1. The great spiritual feast will be enjoyed °h1J those who live in outward abundance. Eecause here is food for which even the satisfiecl are still hungry, which their plenty cannot supply. All guests are poor here, and God is rich for all. 2. It is a fountain of life to those ready to sink in death. They shall bow before and worship him. IV. Tm: PRESENT AGE BENDS FORWARD THE GLAD TIDINGS TO POSTERITY. (Vers. 30, 31.) See how God's work, beginning with a single individual, propa;:ates itself by its effects upJn the mind, spreading, first among those nearest to him; then, through them, to those remote, among the rich and poor, the livin~ and the dying; and on through the ages with ever-increasing power and influence.-8.