The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 262

David and those who favoured his righteous cause might rejoice in God's salvation (ver. 9); that God would execute righteousness and judgm1mt (ver. 24); that he would not permit the malicious joy of the enemy to continue (vcrs. 19 25) • that the righteous might yet shout for joy at the triumph of their cause (ver. '27) .' and that with their joy David himself might blend bis own (ver. 28). Now, when ,;e thus set the whole psalm before us, and note how grievous is the case which was thus laid before God, and how varied are the forms of petition in which that is done, we cannot but feel amazed at the harsh estimate of David in which some of his critics have indulged. If D.1vid was too harsh in speaking of the wicked, his critics are afortiori far too harsh in their treatment of him. Let us therefore note- II. Tim CASE SHOULD DE FAIRLY ESTIMATED. Let us look at it: 1. Negatively. (1) The words of this psalm are not the words of God to man, but words of man to God: this is an all-important distinction to make in dealing with the Psalms. 1 (2) No man can, no man ever could, pray beyond the level of his own spiritual attainment. (3) Hence it is not necessary that we should attempt to justify every word in the pleading of an Old Testament saint, any more than we should attempt to do so in the prayers of God's people now. But it may be said, "David was a prophet." 'l'rue, and n·hen he professed to give out God's word to him, we accept such word implicitly. But that is not the case here. He is not praying as a prophet, but as a troubled saint. (4) This prayer, with the imprecations it contains, is by no means illustrative of the spirit of the Mosaic dispensation, but only of the degree to which a man who could pray like this, actually fell below the spirit of the dispensation under which be lived. Here we are compelled to differ sharply from Bishop Perowne and others who regard this psalm as indicative of the contrast between the morality of the Old Testament and New Testament dispensations. 'l'hough in the Scriptures, revelation is progressive, yet the morality enjoined in the Old Testament is precisely the same as that enjoined in the New. So our Lord teaches (Matt. xxii. 36-40; v. 17, 18). In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord tears off the wrappings with which "they of old time" had concealed the teachings of the Mosaic Law, and restores that Law to its pristine integrity and glo1y, on his own authority. But in the psalm before us we have not Old Testament morality as given by God, but Old Testament morality as far as attained by the writer. Many a modern representative of religion would sanction the cutting down of Zulus by the thousand in war. What should we say if any one declared that to be New Testament morality, when it was only that individual presenting his own view of it? So with this and other imprecatory psalms; they give us, not God's precept, but man's defective prayers. At the same time, while we do not justify these maledictions of David, we are bound in all fairness also to put the matter: 2. Positively. (l) Here is a case of extreme provocation. (2) David was a king. (3) .As such, be was not a merely private individual, but the representative of God's cause. ( 4) Hence his petitions are not those of personal vindictiveness; they are the passionate cries of one who yearns for God's vindication of the right. For we see at once the reason why, and the limit within which, he prays for vengeance on his enemies. (5) Whoever, owing to an inadequate study of the psalm, cherishes sympathy with David's enemies rather than with him, is grievou~ly unjust. But we can not only free the case from being any stumbling-block to faith, we may even turn it to good account. For- llL THE CASE MAY BE HELPFULLY UTILIZED. We gather from it: 1. How great is the mercy that wronged saints can look up to God as the Avenger of their cause (Luke xviii. 1-8) I 2. There is a very great difference between a private feeling of vindictiveness, and the indignation felt at a great public wrong. It would be wicked of us to cherish the first; it would be wicked of us not to cherish the second. 3. What- ever the case of wrong we have to lay before God, we may tell it to him just as we feel it. He is a loving Friend to whom we may unburden everything without any danger of being misunderstood. 4. If in our putting of the case before God, we say aoytiling wrong or wrongly, God will forgive what is wrong in our prayers, and will answer them in his own way, often doing" exceeding a~undantly above all we can ask or think." 5. Hence we may leave the method of vindicating the right nnd of shaming the wrong, entirely in the bands of God. Such expressiol!S as those in 1 See our first homily on the Pso.h:nJ!. PS, ll.XV. 1-28.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 271