1poil;" i.e. from Jerus&lcm, where the to take vengcl\nce (oomp. Pss. iii. 7; vii, 6; spoils of the AssyriRns a.re lni<I up, and xliv. 26; lxviii. I, eto.). To save a.11 the "·here thou eittest o.ml rulest. (So Professor meek of the ea.rth. God's vengeanoes on Cheyne and Cnnon Cook.) the wicked a.re, in groat measure, for the Yer. 5.-The stout-hearted are spoiled. relief of the righteous. Sennaohcrib's dis- A" vivid description of the co.t,.etrophe" now comfiture relieved "the meok of the eo.rth," follows. The" •tnut-h!'arted," the o.ggres- i.e. not only Israel, but many othor down- eors, the great domin&ut rnoe, that bas trodden e.nd oppressed nations. 'l'he spoiled a.II the no.tions or the earth, and psa.lmidt's sympathies nre with nil tile fears no one (comp. lea. x. 12-14, "The victims of A.ssyrinn ambition. ■tout heart of thc King of Assyria."), is Ver. 10.-Surely the wra.th of man shall itself spoiled in turn. They have slept their praise the!!, The sentimeut is general, bu, sleep. They have slept., and, as they slept no doubt there is e. special refcrenco to the (2 Kings xix. 35), they found it indeed a. recent deliverance. The "wrath of me.a," sleop, even the sleep of death. And none i.e. man's wicked fury o.nd hostility of God of the men of might have found their hands. and his people, shall give occasion for great The mighty men, suddenly assaulted by the deeds on God's part-deeds which will grim destroyer, Death, oa.n make no resist- bring him praise and honour. The remainder ance ; they a.re pe.ra.lyzed ; they cannot even of wrath aha.it thou restrain. Either, "the move a hand. unexpended fury of thine enemies,tha.t which Ver. G.-.&.t thy rebuke, 0 God of 1aoob. they have not vented, thou wilt hold in The catastrophe has been God's doing; check, nnd prevent from doing mischief;" me.n has had no part in it (comp. 2 Kings or else," with thine own unexpended wrath xiL 28, 35). Both the chariot and the wilt thou gird thyself o.g11inet tile wicked, horse are cast into a dead Bleep. Metonymy as with a weapon." (So Ka.y, Cheyne, e.nd for the chnriot.cers and tl,e horsemen (comp. the Revised Version.) Isa. xliii. 17). Th<·se were tile two chief Ver. ll.-Vow, a.nd pa.y unto the Lord your arms of the mili ta.ry service with t.Lle God. The people of Isrnel are now addressed. Assyrinns. Under tile circumstances, they are sure to Ver. 7.-Thou, even thou, art to be fee.red. ha.ve ma.de vows to God in the time of their God is to be feared a.g well o.s loved. Only great trou hie, before tile deli vero.nce ea.me. "perfect love castetl1 out fea.r" (l John iv. Now, when the deliverance has come, lei 18), a.nd "perfect love " is not fLr mortals. them pay these vows. Let a.11 that be round And who may stand in thy sight when once about him bring presents unto him the.t ought thou art 8.I!.g'l"Y ! literally, from the time of to be fee.red; literally, unto the Terribl.e One. thine a11ger (comp. E:s:od. v. 23; Josh. xiv. 10). By "a.11 that are round a.bout him" the psalm- Ver. 8.-Thou didst call.Be judgment to be ist seems to mean, not Israel only, but those heu.rd from haa.v~ By the de~truction of other oppressed ones who had shared the Sennacherib's host, God spoke, as it were, benefit of the deliverance ( comp. ver. 9). -wit.h a voice of thunder, to the whole eo.rth. 'I'ha.t presents were brought by s01ue of these He delivered e. "judgment,". or e. "sen- is recorded by tile writer of Chronicles (':! tence" (Revised Versiun), which could not Chron. xnii. 23). be ignored. The earth fee.red, and we.s Ver. 12.-:e:e sha.ll cut off the spirit ol still All the world, i.e. all the Oriental princes. "The spirit" seems here to mean wor Id, fee.red. The o.tten tioo of the nations " tile life." God cuts off princes in their of W eotern .A.ew. generally wo.s attracted prime a.a a gardener cuts off bunches of (2 Chron. xx:xii. 23), and their minds were grapes (comp. Isa. xviii 5). He i.8 terrible affected with e. wholesome fear of Jehovah. to the kings of tha earth. Not "princes" The result wus that th.ey remained at rest only,-- c•,•lJ - but "kings" - c•:l',o -nleo and gave Israel rest. o.re cut off in their primo when God plea.sea. Ver. 9.-When God a.rose to judgment Sennacherib's untimely death (2 Kings xix. (see the preceding ver.es). God's "rising 11 37) followed not many year• e.fter the de- ia nn e.nthropomorplli.tmi, dre. wu from tile struction of his host, in which there mmst fact that mCil "ri.e up II whrn they proceeJ have been many "princes."
HOMILETICS. Ver. 10.-77ie wi1l of man and the will of God. "The wrath of man shall praise thee." Two great streams of spiritual force meet ou1· view, alike in the Bible and in human life and history, crossing one another every instant, as waves of light and waves of.sound, in closest vital relation, yet ea.eh holding its course unhindered-the will of man and the wm of God. When man waa creat.ed, not in the image of lower creatures PI!, LXXVI, 1-12.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 103