Ver. 1.-.A God of venge,ances. Aglen, in Ellicott's 'Commentary,' proposes to render, "God of retributions, Jehovah, God of retributions, shine forth." The idea in the term "vengeances" would be better expressed by the term "avengements." God is thought of as the great Goel-Avenger of bis oppressed and afflicted people, and therefore the One to whom appeal should be made in any particular time of distress. The word "vengeance" includes the idea of heated personal feeling. The word "avengement" sets prominently family relations and duties. The Apostle St. Paul expresses this thought of God, when he commands that "no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the Avenger of all such" (1 Thess. iv. 6). The "avenger of blood" is a familiar figure in the Mosaic constitu- tion. But Moses only adopted and modified an original tribal institution. The main functions of the Hebrew Goel, Avenger, or Redeemer, were three. I. If any Hebrew had fallen into penury, and been compelled to pa.rt with his ancestral estate, the family avenger was bound to redeem it and restore it. 2. If any Hebrew had been taken captive, or had sold himself as a slave, the goel bad to buy him back, and set him free. 3. If any Hebrew had suffered wrong, or had been killed, the goel had to exact coCTpensation for the wrong, or to avenge the murder. It is evident that t~e psalmist Jived in a time when wickedness triumphed in high places. We may think of the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, when the condition of Jehovah's prophets and people seemed to be hopeless; they could only cry mightily to God, seeking his preservations and his deliverances. The psalmist had no confidence in the existing rulers, who should have been the avengers of all the poor, the wronged, and the distressed. He had con- fidence in God, of whom it can be said," Vengeauce is mine, I will repay." L MAN CANNOT AVENGE HIMSELF. 1. Because those who wrong him are often quite beyond his reach or control. 2. Because he has not at command the requisite forces. 3. Because he is not self-master enough to temper justice with mercy. 4. Because be cannot be strictly judicial, but is sure to spoil bis avengings by introducing personal feeling. 5. Because he is iu grave peril of injuring himself in bis avengings. II. MAN MAY RESTFULLY LET Goo AVENGE HIM. 1. Because his power is eufficieut. 2. His self-restraints are perfect. 3. His time is best. 4. His avengings prove to be blessings both for the wronged and for the wrong-doer.-R. 'f.
Ver. 2.-" The Judge of all the earth." The older Scriptures constantly set God forth as the o.ctual, living Judge, concmned now in his Divine magistracy, deciding causea. re. xorv. 1-23.J 'l'IIE BOOK OF PSALMS. 307
vin<lica.Ung the oppressed, punishing the wrong-doer. The idea of some one single judgment-day, i!1 the far future, when all earth-complications are to be put straigli t, and all rarth-evils a.re to be rectified, docs not appear to t:1ve been in the minds of Old Testament saints. It may be that the New Testament figure of the "judgment-seat of Christ" bas unduly limited the Christian idea of the present and ever-continuous judging of God, It may be that this present judging needs to be set more clearly before the Christian mind. Our notion of the Judge is of one who, at a fixed time, holds a grand assize; and this notion helps to shape our figure of a single final judg- ment. But the Israelite thought of~giag, magistracy, as the most important con- tinuous function of his king, which every faithful king would exercise daily, sitting in the gate to hear and decide all causes that might be presented, and so coming into constant judicial relation to the life of the people. Shifting God's judgment on to a future great assize should not be allowed to loosen our Christian sense of God's present rule as involving a present magistracy, and present punishments and rewards. Read life aright, and the signs of a present Divine magistracy will abundantly appear. I. GOD THE JUDGE IS DISTINGUISHING IN DIFFICUL'r CASES. Illustrate from the nisi prius courts. Constantly in life we find ourselves bewildered. We do not know what to think, or what to do, or where to go. We are in danger of being carried away by the merely attractive. If we will but wait, God will surely decide for us, and make the right/or us quite unquestionable. II. GOD THE JUDGE IS RECOGNIZING AND REWARDING THE RIGHTEOUS. We never have any doubt of this until we become impatient, and want the recognition at once. Because the Judge is also the Sanctifier, be may delay the reward which he decides to be due. But he is keen to notice everything that is good. III. GoD THE JUDGE IB THE PUNISHER OF ALL THE WICKED. We need never be deceived by the apparent prosperity of the unjust. It is part of their judgment. It is making them top-heavy in preparation for some irremediable fall.-R. T.