The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 218

~uch dedication sen·ice to return thanks for his recovery. This supposition is in itself reasonable, and, so rar as we can find, it is not inconsistent with any of the expressions m the psalm itself. We find herein an interesting blending of the psalmist's innur thoughts and of bis pleadings ,,vith God. We see from both, how the Old 'l'cst.ament saints were wont to think and pray concerning sickness and death; both in thou,.ht :md prayer we find here a decided reflection of the incompleteness of revelation under the Mosaic economy, and therefore, as Cl1ristiaus, privileged with fuller light and larger truth, we shall be greatly to blame if we look at either affliction or death as flO?mily as the psalmist did. At the same time, the varied stages of experience md1cated here are so very frequently pa~sed through, even now, that we may service- ably utilize this psalm for the purposes of studying the dealings of God with his saints in the olden time, and in the pre.sent time likewise. There are six stages of e:,;perienca i·ehearsrd at this dedication service. I. _FIRST STAGE: TRANQUILLITY. (Ver. 6.) "In me! tranquillitate" (Buxtorf and Calvm). There had been a time, prior to the experience of trouble here recorded, in which the writer had enjoyed comparative rest for a while. Some such interval of quiet is named in 2 Sam. vii. 1 (see also 2 Sam. xiii. 14, 15). And while he was calm and prosperous, he began to reckon securely on the future, He said, " I shall never be moved." We have no reason to think this was a sin[ul self-security, as one• expositor intimates; for in the text we are told that David attributed his ease to God's good gTace and favour. But, not unnaturally, he took it for granted that such quiet would last. God had made bis "mountain" of prosperity to stand so firmly that it did not then seem as if he would again be seriously disturbed. Note: There is not only a sinful self-security into which the ~aints may fall for a while, but there is also a thoughtless assumption which may fasten on us in times of ease, that things will remain calm and smooth. There is danger in this, however, if not sin. And it is more than likely that God will send us something to disturb our treacherous calm. Hence- 11 SECOND STAGE: TBOODLE, (Ver. 7, latter pa.rt.) 'l'he references in the psalm show us what this trouble was; we can scarcely question that it was some dangerous illness, in which his life was very seriously threatened (cf. vers. 2, 3, 8, 9). Aud he attributed this illness to, or at least he associated it with, the "hiding of God's face." There is no necessary connection between these two. If, indeed, spiritual pride and a careless walk have sullied our life, there will be a time of mental darkness and serious spiritual depression afterwards. And not only so; but there are some diseases in which equanimity is so perturbed that spiritual distress may attend on bodily weakness through unhingement of the nervous system; and, subjectively, the e[ect may be us if God's face were hidden. The connection of bodily suffering with mental gloom was not understood in David's time, nor indeed till very recently. In the lives of Brainerd and other saints of their day, it is clear that a morbid intro- spection led them to associate the depression caused by fluctuating bodily health with corresponding spiritual ill. But we ought now to understand better both the laws of health and the love of God. So far from bodily affliction being a sign of "the hiding of God's face," God himself is never nearer, and his love is never more tender, thau in our times of suffering and distress. A dear friend who was seriously ill said to the writer one day," Oh! I'm so weak, I cannot think, I cannot even pray I" \Ve replied, "Your little Ada was very ill some time ago, was she not?" "Very." "Was she not loo ill to speak to you?" "Yee." "Did you love her less because she could uot speak to you "t" "No I I thinlc I loved her more, if there was any difference." "Just so," was the reply. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitiet.h them that fear bim." \Ve must never associate trouble an,! sickness, pe1· se, with" the hidiug of God's face." 1 But David's trouble, and his views thereof, led to the- IIL THIRD STAGE: PllAYER. And the prayer was woeful indeed. He thought he was going down to the gra.v1J-to Sheol (Hebrew), to Ha.des (LXX.), i.e. to the dim and drear underworld of the depa.rted.1 There aro three views of the state immediately 1 In the second half of the fifth verse, weeping is personified, and represented by the fii;ure of a wanderer, who leaves, in the mormog, the lodging into which he had entered the preceding evening. After him, another guest arrives, viz,joy (Hengetenberg). 2 !"ice the rewarke of the prcaeut writer ou Rev. i. 18 in that volume of the 'l'ulpl& 1 CollllllcnLIH;r.' l'B. XXX, 1-12.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS.