Ver, 3.-The Lord's hidden ones. "Those whom thou hast set apart and guarded as thine own peculiar possession." Tho~e whom thou hast undertaken in a special manner to protect, "Those whom God holds in the hollow of bis hand; those to whom he is a wall of fire round about them, that none may do them hurt; those to whom he says,' He that toncheth JOU toucheth the apple of mine eye.'" Confidence in the hiding of God is a familiar spirit to the saints of God. "Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me under the shadow of thy wings" (P,. xvii. 8); "In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of bis tabernacle shall he hide me" (Ps. xxvii. 5); "Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues" (Ps. xxx.i. 20); "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps. xci. 1); "Your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. iii. 3). This idea-that they are the Lord's hidden ones-ought to be still cherished by God's people as a source of abiding restfulness. I. THEY ARE "HIDDEN" IN RELATION TO OUTWARD FOES. This is the point presented in the text. It is illustrated historically. There is still a sense in which the Christian may be said to have outward foes. Agents of the evil one are ever at work resisting godly living and serving. It may be said that sometimes the foes reach the "hidden ones" and injure them; but from the high standing-ground of faith we can see this distinction. When God permits a seeming foe to reach his" hidden ones," it ceases to be a foe; it becomes God's angel on a ministry of blessing. That foe's work tnrns out to be a part of the Lord's "hiding.'' II. THEY ARE" HIDDEN .. IN RELATION TO AFFLICTIVE CIRCUMSTANCES. We might think they should be hidden from all troubles and sufferings; hidden so that no afflictions should reach them. But this would be quite to misapprehena the Lord's hidings. He hides in sorrow, not from sorrow. And that hiding is altogether the more important and precious. God's hiding of a man who is placed in afflictive circumstances is the sweet marvel of Divine love. Illustrated by God's hiding of suffering Job, III. 'l'HEY ARE "HIDDEN" IN RELATION TO PERSONAL FRAILTIES. The Lord's people carry into his "secret place" frailties of disposition and character. These may become evil forces, influencing Christian conduct and relations. So from the "unworthy self" God hides his people. Life gains a high sense of security when we can worthily realize the "Lord's hidings.''-R. T.
Vers. 8-11.-Pray~r based on experience and on MstonJ. "Do unto them as unto the Midianites.'' Prayers which apparently express a desire for revenge are often misunderstood. Deliverance from national enemies of necessity involns the discom- fiture and destruction of those enemies; and therefore a poet may ask for that dis- comfiture, not because he is thinking of the harm done to the enemy, but because he wants a figurative way of askiug for the deliverance and safety of his people. Revenge- ful utterances are often no more than poetical forms, which are quite misused wheu unduly pressed, And again, when we recall historical events, we are free from revengeful feeling, though the calamities of beaten foes may be specially prominent in our review. The prayer of the psalmist here is for a gracious Divine deliverance from these confederated foes that threaten Israel. He fortifies his prayer with persuasions drawn from the remembrance of God's previous deliverances, and he magnifies his 190 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PB, LXXXIII, 1-18,