The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 2 — Section 305

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS .AUTHORS Ver. l.-Jehovah'11 victorie11. This psalm is almost an echo of Ps. xcvi., and, like that, tells of the triumphant issue of the Lord's great b<i.ttle. No doubt the psalmist had some special event in the history of God's people in his mind-some glorious victory given to them; but his words here bring to our thoughts God's spiritual victories, far larger and wider triumphs than any that Israel ever knew. Consider, therefore- !. THE VIOTORIES OF THE LORD WHICH THIS PSALM REMINDS us OF. 1. There is that of the past-for humanity generally, for the whole world. Mankind was in sore distress; and he had no help in himself, he had become the devil's prey. But how was this to be remedied? The Incarnation, the Atonement, the gift of the Holy Ghost, were the answer. And so now for every child of man who will avail himself of it, there is full salvation provided. The guilt of our sin, our corrupt nature, and the holy Law of God, were all against us; but in this great victory of the Lord, guilt was put away, man's evil nature subdued, and the Law honoured as it had never been or could be before. Well may we say with St. Paul, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 C°'. xv. 57). 2. There is that of the present-that which the individual believer rejoices in for himself. The sense of condemnation is gone, the power of siu is broken, the tyranny of the devil trampled on, the might of sorrow and care gone, the fear of death vauished, and eternal life won-that is the victory which is given now to many a believing soul, to every soul who will have it. 3. That of the future-that of the Church triumphan~, when every foe is vanquished, wbea all that have tried and troubled us is no more, and when we are presented "faultless before the presence 6f the Lord's glory with exceeding joy." II. WHAT IS IIERE SAID OF THEM. 1. They are marvellous. Are they not so? Thiak of what stood in the way of each. 2. They are all of God. " His right band, and his holy arm, bath," etc. How evident this is! Did ever any hear of a really saved soul saying aught else than this? And: 3. They are victories of believers. Not of mere compassion, still less of mere power, but it was" his holy arm" that triumphed. The law of righteousness and truth was maintained. 4. They demand a new song. And they have it, and will for evermore. Let us be in that choir.-S. C. Vera. 7-9.-Man's relation to the natural world. In a beautiful sermon on these verses by the late Rev. T. C. Finlayson, M.A., to which this homily is greatly indebted, he remarks, that when piety and poetry are married to each other, such a song e.s this is the offspring of their marriage; he notes also the unhappy rarity of this union. Where piety is, there, all too often, imagination is conspicuous by its absence, and such absence is regarded with much complacency, and as a thing desirable rather tha.u otherwise. On the other hand, where the gift of a rich imagination ha.s been bestowed, how sadly often it is divorced from a.II piety I But in this psalm, as in so many others, the two have been united, and the outcome is such an inspired burst of poetry as we have in these verses. In this exalted spiritual condition the soul sees its true relation to the natural world. The soul regards the world of nature- I. As ITS SERVANT. There is a tone of lordship and mastery iu these verses. The sea, the earth, the floods, and the hills are bidden to take their parts in the great anthem of praise. The psalmist seems to be issuing his orders to them, and they are as servants ready to obey. It is here as in Ps. viii. All things are put beneath him, he is lord of nil. Man has been placed on the earth, not merely to occupy, but to subdue and to rule over it. .As generation after generation passes away, this rulership becomes ever more complete. By patient study of tb,~ laws of the great Over-lord of 342 TIIE BOOK OF PSALMS. [t's. xovm. 1-9,