The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 336

Consequently, until further light is thrown on the subject, we adhere to the Maccabean period ne that which most nearly fufils the conditions to which reference is made. Another question is this-Is the Church's strong a.~sertion of national integrity to God justifiable? Some say, Yes (so Moll, Delitzsch). Some, No (so Perowne). But it is only fair to the writer to suppose him to refer simply to the occasion that drew forth the complaint; he cannot mean that all the nation had been always and uniformly faithful. His intention evidently is this-that there was at that time no defection from God on the part of the people to account for the specific persecution over which he mourns. And since this is the case, he feels he may appeal to God to fulfil his own promise, and to save them for his mercies' sake.1 We are not prepared to question the propriety of this. All depends on the spirit in which it was said. \Ve well remember that, in the late American War, a noted and eloquent abolitionist went so far as to maintain that the North must win, because God was God! At the same time, there is no doubt that the complaint, the appeal, and the whole tone of the psalm bear traces of a partial revelation, and consequently of an imperfectly deve- loped faith. We have but to pass over the line that divides the two dispensations, to plant ourselves in the middle of the firijt Christian century, and there we find tbat Christians were having, and were likely to have, a struggle as hard and fierce as that of the Hebrews of old. So much so that ono of their number adopts as his own tho most touching words in the wholo psalm, "For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." And yet there ie neither moan nor i;igh, no, not a tear; rather, a song of gladness, "In all these thin!(S we are more than conquerors through him that loved us!" (Rom. viii. 36, 37). Whence the contrast between the Hebrews' sigh and the Christians' song whi1st in the midst of persecution and death1 I. I.N THE HEBREW DISPENSATION' GOD SPAKE THROUGH PROPHETS; IN THE CHRISTIAN GoD BAB SPOKEN IN HIS SoN. (Heh. i. 1.) 'l'he great Transfiguration scene sets this forth in marvellous clearness. Moses and Elias vanish from sight, and the favoured 1hree are left with Jesus only; in him believers saw the incarnate Son of God, the Father's express Image, who brought with him, in peerless union, the tenderness and sympathy of the brother-man, with the majesty and might of the infinite and eternal God. Hence the figure in the background of Hebrew thought was vastly different from that in the background of Christian thought; the former commanded reverential heed, as a Messenger from heaven; the latter, unbounded love and entire consecration, as Saviour aud Lord of all I IJ, TIIE STORY OF THE REDEMPTION WITH WHICH lsRAEL'B NATIONAL UFE OPENED IS FAR OUTDONE BY THE HISTORY OF THE REDEMPTION DROUGHT IN BY JESUS CHRIST. It was with a.glow of. pride and thankfulness that the Hebrew singer recounted the deliverance from Egypt, and the entrance to Canaan's land (see also Pss. lxxviii., cv., cvi., cvii.). But how vastly is all this surpassed both in tenderness and in grandeur, by such words as these!-" He loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. ii. 20); 11 Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." 2 'l'be words fell with force and beauty on the ears of Old Testament saints, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom; Ethiopia and Seba for thee;" but how much greater the charm on Christian ears of the words, "He gave himself" (Isa. xliii. 3, 4; Gal. ii. 20) l "God, in the Person of his Son, H11e all his mightiest works outdone." III. THE REDREW Cmrac11, TERr.ITORIAL AND NATIONAL, HAS GIVEN PLACE TO THE CHURCH OF GoD, made up of men gathered from every nation, and kindreil, and people, and tongue. 'l'he Church's" land" now can never be invaded. We can never sigh, "'l'he heathen are come into thine inheritance." That is impossible. 'l'he entrance into Christ's Church is not decided by rites nor by birth, save by the new birth of the H,,ly Ghost. Neither features nor racial marks form auy sign of this now brotherhood. 1 "This ooneciousnese of [legal] righteoW1ness seems to most to indicate tbe Ml\cc11bel\n period" (Cheyne). But is an assertion of national fidelity the Bllme as ll "conscioueuellll of leg11l righteousness"? 1 Col, ii. 15. French, "sur cette croir,, 11  'l'HE BOOK OF PSALMS.