The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 359

like "ships of Tarshish with an oast wind" city of David, lay to the north of the temp lo (vcrs. 6, 7). The deliverance had been and a.butted on the city's northern wan: eelebrated by a thanksgiving sorvico held The city of the great King (oomp. ver. I, "the city of our God."). in the temple (vcr. 9). These details Ver. 3.-God is known in her pa.laoes for a nccord remarkably with the account given Refuge; or, fo her castles. The pa.laces of in 2 Chron. xx. 1-28 of an expedition the king and his chief nobles n.re, no doubt against Jerusalem, made by the l\Ioabites, intended. ' Ammonites, and children of Seir, in the reign Ver. 4.-l!'or lo, the kings were aBBembled; they pa.BBed by together. Some see in these of Jchoshaphat,whoadva.nced as faras Tekoa, "kings" Sennacherib's princes, who, acoord- whence Jerusalem is visible (Dclitzsch), i~g to,, him (Isa. x. 8), were "altogether but there quarrelled among themscl'l"cs, nnd krngs. But actual mon11rchs, each lea.ding began a. retreat, in the course of which th,cy l.Jis own army, seem rather to be intended. came to blows, and destroyed one another. Ver. 5.-They aa.w it, and so they mar- The imagery of "ships of Ta.rshish broken velled; they were troubled, and hasted away. The sight of the city, with its walls and by the cast wind" is naturally used nt this towers (vers. 12, 13), was enough for them period, when Jehoshapha.t's fleet of "ships -they recognized that the place wa.s too of Tarshish" (2 Kings x.xii. 48) wa.s, by n. strong to be attacked with any prospect of Dinne judgment, "broken at Ezion-geber." success ; " marvelled," or " were a.ma.zed " The psalm consists of two strophes, nearly (Cheyne), at its strength, and, being troubled in mind, hasted away. The unconneoted of equal length, divided at the end of ver. 8 verbs remind the commentators of Cmao.r's by the pa.use-mark, "Sela.h." fa.moue despatch, "Veni, vidi, vioL" Ver. 1.-Grea.t is the Lord, and greatly to Ver. 6.-l!'ear took hold upon them there, be praised ; rather, great is the Lord, and and pain, a.a of a woman in travail. This greatly is he praised. The psalmist speaks description is wholly ina.pplica.ble to the of what is, not of what ought to be. Je- de~tructioD: o_f Sennacherib'~ host, unper- hoshaphat had solemnly praised God for the ceived until 1t wa.s accomplished (2 Kings deliverance from the Moabites and Ammon- xi.x. 35), but is sufficiently in agreement ites, both in the valley of Bere.che.b, when with the na.rro.tive of 2 Chron. u. l-23. he ea.me npon the bodies of the slain (2 Ver. 7.-Thon breakest the ships of Tar- Chron. XL 26), and in the temple after his shish with an east wind. The literal ex- return to Jerusalem (2 Chron. xx. 28). In position is wholly out of place, since history the city of our God ( comp. Pas. xlvL 4; ci. does not speak of any co-operation of a fleet 8). In the moUiltain of his holiness. The with a land army in any a.ttAck upon Pales- "holy hill of Zion" (Pa. ii. 6), on which the tine. The expression must he used meta- temple and e. great pa.rt of the city stood. phorically of a great and violent destruction Ver. 2.-Bee.ntiful for situation; literally, wrought by the arm of God upon Israel's /or ele'Dation; Le. in respect of itH lofty foes. Still, the imagery would scarcely have position. "J ernsalem, above a.11 other great been used, unless there had been something capitals," says Professor Cheyne, "is a in the circumstances of the time to suggest mountain city." "It is a glorious burst," it, as there certainly we.a in J ebosha.pha.t's ~aye Ca.non Tristra.m, "a.a the traveller time, whose fleet of "ships of Tarshiah" rounds the shoulder of Mount Olivet, a.nd wa.a "broken" at Ezion-geber (2 Kings the Hara.m we.11 starts up before I.Jim from xxii. 48). The poet may have witnessed the the deep gorge of the Kedron, with its domes ea.ta.strophe. and crescents sparkling in the sunlight-a. Ver. 11.-As we have heard, so have wil royo.l city"(' Land of Isro.el,' pp. 111, 112). seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the The joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion city of our God j i.e. as we buve heard of (comp. Lam. ii. 15). The psalmist writes former deliverances of Jerusalem from the as e. devout Israelite. To him there is a.tta.cks of enemies; e.g. from Shisha.k (2 nothing in the world so lovely, nothing so Chronyxii. 2-12), from Zerah (2 Chron. gladdening, e.s Mount Zion a.nd the holy xiv. 9-13), so now we have seen with our city seated on it. He does not mean to sa.y own eyes a deliverance of the so.me favoured that all the earth felt as he did; though city, such as might be expected from the he ma.y have thought that, if men were wise, fact thnt she is "the city of the Lord of they would so feel. On the sides of the hosts, the city of our God." Having seen north. Professor Cheyne regards this clause with our own eyes J erusa.lem thus delivered, as n gloss which ha.a crept into the text. we come to the conclusion that God will Others give a mystical interpretation establish it for ever. founded on Isa. xiv. 15. But the simplest Ver. 9.-We have thought of thy loving- explanation seems t.Q be the be~t. Zion, the kindneBB, Q God, in ih, mi~t of tl!y templQ, rs. :xtvm, 1-14,] THE BOOK OF PSALMt5. 273