righteousness (sec the comment on ver. 2). doubt Saul richly rewarded him. And Doeg's crimes seem to ha¥e arisen out of a strengthened himself in his wiokedneBB ; or, mere 10¥0 of e¥il. in hiB substance (Cheyne). Ver. 4.-Thou lovest all devouring words. Ver. 8.-But I am like a green olive tree "Devouring words" are words that cause in the house of God, In conclusion, the ruin and destruction. 0 thou deoeitful psalmist coutrasts his own condition, as tongue! or (as in the margin), and the one of God's people, with that of Doeg, Mceitful tongue. wilich he had desoribed in vers. 7-9. Doeg Ver. 5.-God shall likewise destroy thee is nbont to be "plucked np" and II rooted for ever. As thy "devouring words" have out of the land of the living" (ver. 5); he been the destruction of many, so shall God, is like a flourishing green olive tree planted in return, "destroy thee" (literally, pull in the sanctuary, or "house of God." Doeg thee do1on) "for e,er "-destroy thee, i.e., is entirely without auy trust in the Almighty with a complete and final destruction. He ( ver. 7) ; he declares of himself, I trust &hall take thee away; rather, seize thee in the meroy of God for ever and ever. (Kay, Cheyne), and pluck thee out of thy It is questioned whether olive trees were dwelling-place; literally, out of thy tent at any time planted in the courts of either (comp. Job xviii. 14; 1 Kings xiL 16), the tabernacle or the temple; but it cer- .A.nd root thee out of the land of the living. tainly cannot be proved that they were not. Destroy thee, root and branch, e.s thou In the courts of Egyptian temples trees didst destroy the entire house of Ahimelech were abundant (Herod., iL 138; Wilkinson, (1 Sam. :=ii. 17-19). in the author's ' Herodotus,' vol. ii. p. 236), Ver. 6.-The righteous also sha.11 Bee, also probably in Phoonician temples (Perrot and fear. Every manifestation of the and Ohipiez, 'Histoire de l' .A.rt dans l' An- Divine power and justice produces in the tiquite,' vol. iii. p. 322). And to this day righteous man a feeling of awe. And shall there grow in the Haram area at J erusa.lem, laugh at him; literally, over him. This on the site of the Jewish temple, a number awe does not, however, prevent him from of magnificent cypresses, olive, and lemon indulging in something like derision of his trees. fallen enemy-or, at least, it did not under Ver. 9.-1 will praise thee for ever, the old covenant, when men bad not yet because thou hast done it. So Dr. Kay, been taught that they ought to "love" who explains the passage as meaning, their enemies. " because thou hast worked out this deliver- Ver. 7.-Lo, this is the man that made ance." The tense is " the preterite of pro- not God his strength. The root of Doeg's phetic certainty" (comp. Ps. !iv. 7). And 'Wickedness was want of trust in God, I will wait on thy Name; for it is good and consequent alienation from him. But before thy saints; rather, I will wait 011 thy trusted in the abundance of his riches. Name in the presence of thy saints, because it This led on to an excessive trust in riches, is good; or perhaps, if we adopt Hupfeld's e.nd greediness of gain. To obtain wealth emendation (i1!1}~ for il,~~). I will proclaim he became Saul's unscrupulous tool, the thy Name before th11 saint, that it is good. willing instrument of bis ornelty. No (so Cheyne).
HOMILETICS. Ver. 7.-The man on whom God's just judgment descends. " Lo, this Is the man," etc. The destruction of a human being, however depraved, the loss of a soul, howevtf guilty, is matter, not of triumph, but of lamentation. God bas no pleasure in the deatll of a sinner. But the overthrow of tyranny and injustice, the just punishment of high- handed crime, the downfall of God-defying and man-despising pride, is matter of satis- faction and thanksgiving. "There is such a thing as a righteous hatred, a righteous scorn. There is such a thing as a shout of righteous joy at the downfall of the tyrant and the oppressor; at the triumph of righteousness and truth over wrong and false- hood" (Perowne). See this expressed in the poems of Dyron and Southey on the downfall of Napoleon, This is the spirit of this psalm-not revenge or cruelty, but triumph in the vindication of righteousness. Here are three principal features in the portrait of the man on whom God's just judgment descends. Proud unbelief; covetous worldliness; obstinate, perverse impenitence, I. PROUD UNDELIEF. "Made not God his strength." This is a far deadlier sin than people are apt to think. It is practical denial of our dependence on him "whose our breath is; " " in w horn we Ii ve, and move, and have our being." It is the cutting oft~ l'S. Lil, 1-9,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 409
aa far as thought, affection, will, and conscience are concerned, of the tree from its root, the stream from its fountain. The Bible always regards unbelief as springing from man's moral nature; a defect of the heart. In our day it is looked at as intellectual, scientific; created into a philosophy under the name of agnosticism. 'l'he uni verse is supposed to be a riddle without a key; human ~pirits, orph:lns; human life, a wander- ing without an aim, a guide, a hope, a home. How is it that any feeling heart or thoughtful mind can accept this dark creed, and not be bowed down in constant sorrow by the horror and desolate misery of it? II. CoVETous WORLDLINESS. " Trusted in the abundance of his riches." The tnbeliever here described is not a speculative a,,<TDostic, but one who does "not like to retain God in his knowledge" (Rom. i. 28); because his whole heart is taken up with selfish greed (1 John ii. 15). III. OBSTINATE IMPENITENCE. "Strengthened himself in his wickedness." Makes his own will his law; turns a deaf ear to reproof, warning, Divine truth, mercy, love. What must be the end? What can it be? Do not let us deceive ourselves. The warnings of Christ's gospel are as faithful as its promises (Heh. x. 26, etc.; 2 Pet. iii. 9). The cross itself, the hope and refuge of repentant sinners, is God's chief witness against sin; and warning of the guilt, folly, danger, of persevering in unbelief, worldliness, and impenitence,