Vers. 1-11.-ConfidenC<!i in God. The text of the whole psalm is in the first two verses. We are not to be discouraged in the service of God by the prosperity of the wicked; for it is more apparent than real, and is a short-lived prosperity. At the seventh verse the psalm takes a fresh start from the same key-note. L SILEKT TRUST IN Goo, WAITING FOR urn:, IS THE ONLY TRUE SOLUTION OF TilE DIFFICULTY. (Ver. 7.) Do not vai11ly argue the question; be silent to God, and he will speak by-and-by and explain the difficulties of his providence. II. ENVIOUS ANGER THAT THE WICKED ARE BETTER OFF THAN YOU IS SINFUL, (Ver. 8.) It is &n arraignment of God's providence, which is presumptuous, aud a discontent which is Ullgrateful, and an undervaluing of that inward prosperity which is the i,-eatest good of life. III. IT IB THE RIGHTEOUS WHO REALLY INHERIT THAT WHICH IS BEST IN THIS LIFE. (Vere. 9, 10.) The prosperity of evil-doers will soon come to an end; for it is unrio-hteous, and cannot last in the world of a righteous God. But the righteous have an i~ward life that turns outward things into gold; they feast royally at the table of God, as is said in the twenty-third psalm. IV. THE PBECEDING THOUGHT IB REPEATED WITil THE PROMISE OF AN ADONDANOE OF PEACE. (Ver. 11.) Our Lord repeats the former part of this verse in the Sermon on the Mount. "The meek-those who do not vainly strive and fret over the impos- sible or the inevitable-shall inherit the earth," And shall have peace of heart and mind, which the wicked have not.-S.
VerR. 12-20.-The righteous and the wicl,ed. The argument is continued and repeated in various forms, that the righteous is to hold fast his confidence in God, and not to be discouraged by the prosperity of the wicked. For- I. CoNSIDER THE EXPERlENCE OF THE WICKED. (Vera. 12-15, 20.) · 1. The impo- tenC<!i of the plots which they in their anger devise. (Vers. 12, 13.) The Lord shall laugh. "No weapon formed against him shall prosper." 2. The punishment of the wiclced is near and certain. (Vera. 13, 20.) " He seeth that his day is coming." 3. The weapons which they employ against the righteous shall recoil upon themselves. (Vers. 14, 15.) God overrules the contest between them. II. 'l'HE BLESSEDNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. (Vera. 16-19.) 1. A little with righeeous- fte81 is worth more than much with wiclcedne,s. (Ver. 16.) 2. The strength of the rightwus ill maintained and upheld by God. (Ver. J.°7.) While the'' arms ".-e~~iva- lent to tb.e "strength"-of the wicked soon break down. 3. Theyfu7,fil their divinely Ps. xxxvm. 1-22.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 297
appointed days, and their goods descend to their posterity. (Ver. 18.) They are secure, and all thingH work together for good. The Christian knows of an eternal inheritance. 4:. God will provide/or all their wants. (Ver. 19.) This we know more abundantly in Christ.-S.
Vera. 23, 24.-God orders the good life. "The steps of a good man," etc. I. GoD ORDERS THE LIFE OF A GOOD MAN, 1. By means of outward law. "His delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in. his Law doth he meditate day and night." " 8\lt what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh," etc. Christ is the outward law for the Christian. 2. By means of an inward influence. His Spirit exerting, directing, and ruling the thoughts, the desires, and the will, teaching him how to choose and how to walk. He " orders" consistently with our free<lom. II. GoD TAKES PLEASURE IN THE WAY OF GOOD MEN. 1. Because all h~ tDOrk is good. A good man's life is his production. All God's work is good, none evil. 2. Because he delights in the rectitude and welfare cf his children. As an earthly father delights in the true pro$perity of his children. III GOD GIVES EVERY HELP FOR THE RECOVERY OF THOSE WHO FALL. He upholds him, helps him to rise, by taking hold of his hanJ. 1. He promises abundant forgive- ness to the ,·epentant. "Let the wicked forsake his way," etc. The parable of the prodigal son. 2. He searches and tries and shows the evil way in men, and leads them to repentance. By the revealing work of his Spirit. "Like as a. father pitieth hi1 children," etc.-S. Ver. 37.-The perfect life. "Mark the perfect, and behold the upright: for the man c,f peace hath a future [ or, 'posterity']." In contrast to the wicked spoken of in the next verse (38). This whole psalm is a. record of human experience. J. THE STUDY OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN THE LIGHT OF HUMAN CHARACTER IS MOST INSTBUOTIVE. 1. Every man's life is in the main an embodiment either of the Law of God or of the law of self. Intellectual life, a life of knowledge or of ignorance, of wisdom or foolishness. But the moral life is the grandest, as exhibiting obedience or disobedience to the eternal la.we of God. 2. The moral life shows the consequences of living the one life or the other. The she.me and misery of the one, and the peace an<l blessedness of the other, Difference is life or death. II. WHAT THE STUDY OF THE RIOHTEOUS MAN'S LIFE REVEALS. 1. It brings him internal peace. And in the main outward peace; but if not, the peace of trust and rest in God. Peace in life e.nd peace in death. 2. He transmits righteousness to his posterity. (1) By the influence of his example e.nd teaching. His words and his character aro reproduced in his children ; he lives R!!:a.in in them, perhaps a hi~her life than he lived, according to the law of progress. May be exceptions. (2) By hereditary trans- mission. Mora.I a.swell e.s physical qualities descend to our children, e.nd to children's children. How grand a motive for a pure, noble, Christian life I Goodnees runs in the family blood.-S.
EXPOSITION. mo.chin11tions o.nd three.ta or enemies (vers. PSALM XXXVIIL 12, 19, 20). His body is smitten with THIS is the third of the penitontial psalms, disease, the flesh without soundness, the and is appropriately reoited by the Ohnrch bones full of aches, the loins agonized with on Ash Wednesday, Of all the penitential a sense of burning, the heo.rt po.lpitating, psalms it is the one which shows the deepest the strength and Bight failing (vors. S-10). mo.rks of utter prostration of bee.rt and And through e.11 there is the feeling that spirit nn<ler o. combination of tho severest the whole is the result of his own sin (vers. trfols, both mentnl and bodily. Tho mind S-5, 18). Still the writer is not reduced of the writer is re.eked by a. sense of God's to dospo.ir. He clings to God (vera. 1, 9, 15, displeasure (vers. 1, 2, eto.), by grief at the 21, 22). He accepts his sufferings o.s o. just desertion of friends (ver. 11), by fear of tho ohastis~nent. He confeeeos hie iniquity, 298 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PB. XX.XVlll. 1-22.