Ver. 3.-The law of Christian missions. The "heathen" of the Old Testament match the" Gentiles" of the New Testament. "Gentiles," as onr Lord used the term, means "those who do not know of God as the Father in heaven." And "heathen" means" those who do not know God as the One, the Spiritual, and the Holy." Bt1t in referring such an expression as this to missions, we are using for our purpose the language, not precisely discerning the psalmist's meaning. In desiring that God's glory should be declared among the heathen, the returned exile did not think of, or wish for, the conversion of the heathen to the faith and service of Jehovah. He only wanted everybody to know of his new liberty and dignity, and of the great things his God wns doing for him. It was as if Englishmen went everywhere to tell what great things God had done, and was doing, for England. Active effort to convert the world to Judaism has never been madft, and is not being made now. 'l'he truly missionary idea is introduced by Christianity. There is a sense in which the exclusiveness of the Jews was brokeu down by the Captivity. Jews were then sc,\ttered over the earth; but they were only silent missionaries wherever they went. They witnessed for Jehovah by what they were, rather than by what they said. Wherever they went they found a sort of belief in one God, clouded over by au active belief in many goda. 826 TRE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. XCVI. 1-19.
This is the charncterist.ic of all heathenism; and we too readily miss eeeing the idea ot one s,ipreme God, which is really the root-religious idea of man everywliere; the idea to T1·1,ich the hi1;her revelation makl's its appeal. The lnw of Christian missions, and missions in all ages, is this-If any man has a higher and better view of God than hie neigh hour, he is bound to tell it to his neighbour. I. THE JEW HAD A BETTER VIEW OF Gon THAN HIS N'EIGHBOURB, Take especially the Jew of the Restoration, to whom the primary truths concerning God seemed as if freshly re,·c~l,ed. ~e knew of three truths _t)iat ~re fundamental to right conceptions of God. 1. 1he unity of God. 2. The spmtuahty of God. 3. The holiness of God. Sbow that these were higher views of God than were entertained in either Babylon or among the neighbouring Samaritans, Ammonites, etc. What responsibility, then, rested on the Jew, specially to show that good doctrine bears good fruit? IL THE CmnSTIAN HAS A BETTER VIEW OF Gon THAN HIS NEIGHBOURS. He knows God in the face of Jesus, through the Sonship of Jesus as the l!'ather, as the Forgiver of sin, and as the Forgiver on the basis of one ever-acceptable e!lcrifice for sin.-R. T. Ver. 5.-The God of heaven. This seems to have been the Babylonian name for the God of the Jews. "Lord of heaven;" "King of heaven." It expresses the apprehen- sion gained by the Babylonians (see Nebuchadnezzar's acknowledgment, Dan. v. 37). It intimates that Jehovah, though an all-powerful God, was in no sense a local God, with a limited kingdom and ordinary earthly claims. To call God the "God of heaven" is at least making a beginning towards the realization of him as spiritual. I. Gons oF EARTH. Explain the strictly local and limited area of the kingdoms possessed by idol-gods. Bel belonged to Babylon; Ra to Egypt. There were "gods of the hills and gods of the valleys." There were distinct conceptions of, and representations of, Baal for each country and almost for each city. Jealous over their own particular divinity, no missionary idea found place in the ancient world. Nobody wanted to share his god with any one else. (A striking exception to this is found in the proselyting spirit of Jezebel.) Curiously, the god of the limited district was con- ceived as al!nighty within his limits. Even when the world-conquering idea took possession of nations, such as Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Grecia, Rome, in no case did propagating the religion become a primary inspiration. 'fhe conquerors freely left the conquered their local religion. So we can see the force with which the local limitations of the gods took possess10n of the ancient mind. JI. lion OF REA.TIN. Observe the strong contrast. Jehovah is unlocalized, ab01!6 earth, and doming all the e,a,,-th. It is impo;sible to express, not only the superiority, but also the essential differeru;e, of Jehovah in more brief and succinct terms. Down on earth, a multitnde of small spaces, each with a petty deity. Up above, ruling from rim to rim, the one eternal God. The all-hallowing dome is heaven. 'l'his was more strikingly apprehended when the prevailing idea was that earth was a flat surface, with the blue heaven fitting to it like the cover of a dish. Work out these points concerning the" God of heaven." 1. His forces are not exclusively material. He does control the material, but he commands the spiritual. 2. His forces are· working un• versally. We can thiuk of no sphere in which we may not find their operation. 3, His forces claim for him universal recognition. See how the Christiu.n revelation Las taken this figure for God, and glorified it.-R. T.
Ver. 8.-0.fferings associated with worship. Oriental custom demands that every person seeking an audience with a king shall offer him a present. An Eastern traveller writes "It is counted uncivil to visit in this :ountry without an offering in hand. All gr~at men expect it as a kind of tribute due to their character and authority, and look upon themselves as affronted, and indeed defrauded, when_ this compliment is omitted." For illW!tration, reference may be made to Saul, anx10us about a present for the man of God; to the gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, offered by the Magi to the infant Saviour; and to the Malagasy c11storn known as making "hasina." Offerings to the gods involve the heathen, oftentimes, in ruin, so exorbitant are the demands made by the priests. The psalmist is full of the idea of God ae the actual, present, though unseen, King of the nation, and he is thinkinr~ of the offering ae the acknowledgment of allegiance, the outward sign of loyalty. There is no idea of God's PEI. XCVI, 1-13.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS.