The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 2 — Section 86

ruinwards, and would rapidly have reached such sad ending, had they not been held ~ack by One rnig?ticr than they, ,ve cannot say for certain, though we may con- Jecture, whnt special ag<', persons, or events are alluded to. The psalm suite several such, and is capa1?le ?f many appl~cations. For o_ur own use of its teaohingR it is well that we a~e left Ill ignorance of its actual allus1ons, and cannot point to the specinl m·ents wlnch were before the psalmist's mind. 2. And such conditions are all too common. We see them in nations, Churches, families, individual souls, Evervthin" ~eems slipping away, all order and strength and well-being dissolving, It is as (c "th~ earth nn_d all_ the in?~bitants thereof were dissolved." It is so in things temporal, nnd so, too, m thrngs spmtual. 3. The causes that produce such conditions are manifold. Sometimes, in nations, it is war, or political strife, or, and this more commonly, moral corrnpLion. So it seems to have been in the condition contemplated by this psalm (see vers. 2, 4). And none can read the records of history, whether in the Dible or in other book~, but may trace this cause, sin, ever at its deadly work. If a nation, a Church, a city has fallen, we have not far to seek for what has brought it about. The philosophy of history is the tracing out the contrasted effects of righteousness and wrong. And in the dissolution told of here, the solvent t.hat brought it about was certainly sin. And so is it also in the like conditions that are found elsewhere. 4. But wherever found, they are ve1·y sad. The 11:roaning and travail of the whole creation, wLich were so audible and distressing to St, Panl, are the result of such conditions, and the sorrow would have been greater than he could have borne ha.d he not been "saved by hope "-the hope suggested by the latter half of our text, of help being laid on One that is mighty. For- II. Suen HELP rs FORTHCOMING. "I bear up the pillars of it." The ear~h is pictured a.s some vast temple supported on pillars, but which are on the point of giving way, and would were they not upheld by a mighty support. The meaning is plain -that there is One who holds back the ruin which is everywhere threatening, who will interpose and prevent it. Who is this Mighty One? It may be some monarch, statesman, prophet. God has raised up such-like Moses, David, our own Alfred the Great; like Nehem.ia.b, like William the Silent, and many more. The saying," I bear up," etc., is not arrogance, but the simple statement of the duty God has assigned him. The faith in God, and the courage which characterize such men, are evident in this psalm. But in the last resort it is God who is the real Up-bearer. It is he who' iuspires and qualifies his servants. III. SucH HELP, m.'DER sucH cmcu:MBTANCEB, IS wAITING FOR us. Seek it.-S. 0. Ver. 5.-The uplifted horn and the stiff neck. These are two formida.ble enemies of God an<l the soul. They are generally fonnd together, as in nature, so in the soul. They help one another in doing evil. They are metaphors derived from the tossing horn and the stnrdy neck of the fierce wild bull found in t.he forests of Palestine. They represent severally the haughty spirit,-that is the uplifted horn; and the stubborn will,-tbat is the stiff neck. Let us speak of- L THEm ORIGINS. 1. The haughty spirit. Many are its roots. The evil heart seeing the wicked prosper, worldly success, God's delay of judgment, ill example, and often the possession of a naturally strong will to which other men, as is usual, yield. 2. The stubborn wi1l. This partly natural, partly acquired, and ever fostered by the haughty spirit. Pride cherishes it, and encourages it always. II. TaEm EVIL WORK. God's Spirit, his Word, his ministers, his providence, Christ's love, plead, threaten, and warn in vain, and the man dies in his sins. III. TJIEIB DESTRUCTION. '!'his wrought by : 1. The final awful J°urlgment of God. 2. His providence. 3. His Spirit's power. They come in reverse order, But they are effectual, one or other of them. Which shall be so with us ?-S. C. Ver. 8.-The Lord's cup for us. Many will say that the cup told of in this verse ia the Lord's cup of wratb, as in Ps. xi. 6; Isa. li. 17-23, and frequently elsewhere. And if it were here i,aid that the whole cup told of in our text was to be drunk by the wicked, there could be no doubt as to what cap was meant. But it is only" the dregs 11 thereof that is said to be the1r portion, not the rich foaming draught that fills the _rest of the cup. No doubt there is the cup of God's wrath, bat there is also the cup PS, LXXV, 1-10,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 95