his people, he calls to his spouse, with, "Let me see thy face, let me hear
thy voice," etc., and assigneth her negligence herein as the cause of her
soul-sickness. The door of the tabernacle was not of any hard or debarring
matter, but a veil, which is easily penetrable. And whereas in the temple
none came near to worship, but only the high priest, others stood without in
the outer court. God's people are now a kingdom of priests, and are said to
worship in the temple, and at the altar. Revelation 11:1. "Let us
therefore draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith:" "let us
come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace
to help in time of need." Hebrews 10:22; 4:16.— Charles Bradbury's "Cabinet of Jewels," 1785.
Verse 6. Oh! how true is that saying, that "Faith is safe when in
danger, and in danger when secure; and prayer is fervent in straits, but in
joyful and prosperous circumstances, if not quite cold and dead, at least
lukewarm." Oh, happy straits, if they hinder the mind from flowing forth
upon earthly objects, and mingling itself with the mire; if they favour our
correspondence with heaven, and quicken our love to celestial objects,
without which, what we call life, may more properly deserve the name of
death!— Robert Leighton, D.D.
Verses 6, 7. The prayer of a single saint is sometimes followed with
wonderful effects; "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto
my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him,
even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also
of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth:" what then can a
thundering legion of such praying souls do? It was said of Luther, iste
vir potuit cum Deo quicquid voluit, That man could have of God what he
would; his enemies felt the weight of his prayers; and the church of God
reaped the benefits thereof. The Queen of Scots professed she was more
afraid of the prayers of Mr. Knox, than of an army of ten thousand men.
These were mighty wrestlers with God, howsoever contemned and vilified among
their enemies. There will a time come when God will hear the prayers of his
people who are continually crying in his ears, "How long, Lord, how long?"— John Flavel.
Verse 7. "Then the earth shook and trembled." The word (Heb.)
signifies, to move or shake violently: it is employed, also, to denote the
reeling and staggering of a drunken man. Jeremiah 25:16.— John Morison, in loc.
Verse 7. Let no appearing impossibilities make you question God's
accomplishment of any of his gracious words. Though you cannot see how the
thing can be done, 'tis enough if God hath said that he will do it. There
can be no obstructions to promised salvation which we need to fear. He who
is the God of this salvation and the Author of the promise will prepare his
own way for the doing of his own work, so that "every valley shall be
filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low." Luke 3:5.
Though the valleys be so deep that we cannot see the bottom, and the
mountains so high that we cannot see the tops of them, yet God knows how to
raise the one and level the other. Isaiah 63:1. "I that speak in
righteousness (or faithfulness) am mighty to save." If anything would keep
back the kingdom of Christ, it would be our infidelity; but he will come
though he should find no faith on the earth. See Romans 3:3. Cast not away
your confidence because he defers his performances. Though providences run
cross, though they move backwards and forwards, you have a sure and faithful
word to rely upon. Promises, though they be for a time seemingly delayed,
cannot be finally frustrated. Dare not to harbour such a thought within
yourselves as Psalm 77:8; "Doth his promise fail for evermore?" The being
of God may as well fail as the promise of God. That which does not come in
your time, will be hastened in his time, which is always the more convenient
season. Accuse him not of slowness who hath said, "I come quickly," that
is, he comes as soon as all things are ready and ripe for his appearance.
'Tis as true that "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise" (2 Peter
3:9), as that he is never guilty of breaking his promise. Wait, therefore,
how long soever he tarry; do not give over expecting: the heart of God is
not turned though his face be hid; and prayers are not flung back, though
they be not instantly answered.— Timothy Cruso.
Verses 7, 8. The volcanic phenomena of Palestine open a question of which
the data are, in a scientific point of view, too imperfect to be discussed;
but there is enough in the history and literature of the people to show that
there was an agency of this kind at work. The valley of the Jordan, both in
its desolation and vegetation, was one continued portent; and from its
crevices ramified even into the interior of Judea the startling appearances,
if not of the volcano, at least of the earthquake. Their historical effect
in the special theatres of their operation will appear as we proceed; but
their traces on the permanent feeling of the nation must be noticed here.
The writings of the psalmists and prophets abound with indications which
escape the eye of a superficial reader. Like the soil of their country,
they actually heave and labour with the fiery convulsions which glow beneath
their surface.— Arthur Penrhyn Stanley.
Verses 7-9. While Jesus hung on the cross, a preternatural "darkness
covered all the land;" and no sooner had he yielded up his spirit, than "the
vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top even to the bottom, and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened; and
many bodies of the saints that slept arose, and came out of the graves,
after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto
many."— John Brown.
Verses 7-9. In the night in which the Idumaeans lay before Jerusalem,
there arose a prodigious tempest and fierce winds, with most vehement rains,
frequent lightnings, and terrible thunderings, and great roarings of the
shaken earth; and it was manifest that the state of the universe was
disordered at the slaughter of men; so one might guess that these were signs
of no small calamity. . . . At the day of Pentecost, when the priests,
by night, went into the inner temple, according to their custom, to execute
their office, they said they perceived, first of all, a shake and a noise,
and after that a sudden voice, "Let us go hence." . . . A few days after
the feast of unleavened bread, a strange and almost incredible sight was
seen which would, I suppose, be taken for a mere fable, were it not related
by such as saw it, and did not the miseries which followed appear answerable
to the signs; for, before the sun set, were seen on high, in the air, all
over the country, chariots and armed regiments moving swiftly in the clouds,
and encompassing the city.— Flavius Josephus, 37-103.
Verse 8. "There went up a smoke out of his nostrils," (Heb. words). Or there ascended into his nose , as the words literally rendered, signify.
The ancients placed the seat of anger in the nose, or nostrils; because when
it grows warm and violent, it discovers itself, as it were, by a heated
vehement breath, that proceeds from them.— Samuel Chandler, D.D., F.R. and A.S.S., 1766.
Verses 8-19. David calls the full force of poetical imagery to aid, to
describe in a becoming manner the marvels of his deliverances. He means to
say that they were as manifest as the signs of heaven and earth, as sudden
and powerful as the phenomena in the kingdom of nature surprise terrified
mortals. Deliverance being his theme, he might have taken the figure from
the peaceable phenomena of the heavens. But since man heeds heaven more
in anger than in blessing, and regards God more when he descends on
earth in the storm than in the rainbow, David describes the blessed
condescension of God by the figure of a tempest. In order to thoroughly
appreciate the beauty and truthfulness of this figure, we should endeavour
to realise the full power of an Oriental storm, as it is described in Psalm
29. Solitary lightning precedes the discharge—this is meant by the
coals in verse 8: the clouds approach the mountain summits— the
heavens bow, as verse 9 has it; the storm shakes its pinions; enwrapped in
thick clouds as in a tent, God descends to the earth; hail (not unfrequently
attending Eastern storms) and lightning issue from the black clouds, through
the dissolving layers of which is seen the fiery splendour which hides the
Lord of nature. He speaks, and thunder is his voice; he shoots, and flashes
of lightning are his arrows. At his rebuke, and at the blast of his breath
the earth recedes—the sea foams up, and its beds are seen—the land
bursts, and the foundations of the world are discovered. And lo! an arm of
deliverance issues forth from the black clouds, and the destructive fire
grasps the wretched one who had cried out from the depths, pulls him forth,
and delivers him from all his enemies! Yes, the hand of the Lord has done
marvellous things in the life of David. But the eye of faith alone could
perceive in them all the hand of God. Thousands whose experiences of the
delivering hand of God are not less signal than those of David, stop short
at the powers of nature, and instead of bending the knee before the
All-merciful God, content themselves to express with cold hearts their
admiration of the changes of the destiny of man.— Augustus F. Tholuck, D.D., Ph.D. —1856.
Verse 9. "He bowed the heavens also, and came down." As in a tempest
the clouds come nearer to the earth, and from the mountains to the valleys,
so the psalmist adopts this figure peculiar to such occasions as described
God's near approach to judgment (Psalm 144:5, etc.; Hebrews 3:6); "and
darkness was under his feet." We have here the increase of the horrors of
the tempest, and its still nearer approach, but God is not yet revealed, it
is darkness under his feet. Thick darkness was the accompaniment of God's
descent on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 4:11): and it invests his
throne, to veil from us the overwhelming majesty of deity. Psalm 97:2. But
this darkness, while it hides his coming judgment, bespeaks sorrow and
anguish to the objects of his wrath. Luke 21:25, 26.— W. Wilson, in loc.
Verses 9-11:—
"He also bowed the heavens,
And thence he did descend;
And thickest clouds of darkness did
Under his feet attend.
And he upon a cherub rode,
And thereon he did fly;
Yea, on the swift wings of the wind,
His flight was from on high.
He darkness made his secret place;
About him for his tent
Dark waters were, and thickest clouds
Of the airy firmament."
Scotch Version, 1649.
Verses 9-12:—
"In his descent, bow'd heaven with earth did meet,
And gloomy darkness roll'd beneath his feet;
A golden winged cherub he bestrid,
And on the swiftly flying tempest rid.
He darkness made his secret cabinet;
Thick fogs and dropping clouds about him set;
The beams of his bright presence these expel,
Whence showers of burning coals and hailstones fell."
George Sandys, 1577-1643.
Verse 10. "Cherub." The Hebrew name hath affinity with Rechub, a
chariot, used in Psalm 104:3, almost in like sense as "cherub" is here;
and the cherubims are called a chariot, 1 Chronicles 28:18; and God's
angels are his chariots, Psalm 68:18, and they seem to be meant in this
place; for as angels are said to fly, Daniel 9:21; so the cherubims had
wings, Exodus 25:20, and are by the apostle called "cherubims of glory,"
Hebrews 9:5. In Psalm 80:2, God is said "to sit on the cherubims," as here,
to ride; and "a cherub" may be put for many, or all the cherubims, as
chariot for chariots, Psalm 68:18.— Henry Ainsworth.
Verse 10. "Cherubs." The "cherub" with the countenances of man, the
lion, the bull, and the eagle (combining in itself, as it were, the
intelligence, majesty, strength, and life of nature), was a symbol of the
powers of nature. When powerful elements, as in a storm, are serving God,
he is said to "ride on a cherub." — Augustus F. Tholuck.
Verse 10. "Cherub. "—