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strong as the conviction that God will not deny him the one prayer, the sole wish of his life, that he might spend his days in the Sanctuary1 and rejoice in the service of his God?

The second part is the prayer of a priest or a prophet apparently in homeless exile, not in peril on the battle-field, but exposed to the persecutions of his apostate countrymen3. The whole spirit of this part of the Psalm is less confident and hopeful; there are notes of deeper pathos, almost of despair, in it, which are quite remote from the feeling of the first part*.

While the spirit and imagery of the first part is Davidic, the second breathes a melancholy akin to that of Jeremiah, and probably expresses the sorrows of a martyr to the religious persecutions at the close of the monarchy.

I. Trust in God maketh the Psalmist fearless in peril;

Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? I Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom then shall

I be afraid?

when the wicked-even mine oppressors and my foes

came upon me to eat up my flesh,

they stumbled and fell!

2

though an host of men be laid against me, yet is not my heart afraid; 3 though there rise up war against me, yet have I trust withal.

II. he yearneth for the protection of God's House, which he hopeth soon to revisit in triumph.

One thing have I desired of Jehovah-this do I long for; 4 even to dwell in the House of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of Jehovah, and to joy in His Temple!

1

V. 4.

The fourth verse in its present form must have been written after the Temple was built; and on this ground the Psalm is here placed in the second period; but the spirit as well as the imagery of the whole of this part is Davidic.

2 vv. 8-14.

3 Cp. 3 with vv. 12, 13, 14.

4 Cp. vv. 10, II and v. 3.

for in the time of trouble He doth hide me in His tabernacle! 5 yea He sheltereth me in the shelter of His tent and setteth

me on a rock of stone!

and now shall He lift up mine head above mine enemies round 6 about me,

that I may offer offerings of joy in His tabernacle and sing 7 and speak praises to Jehovah !

I. A plaintive cry to God to abide with the Psalmist in his need,

Hearken unto my voice, O Jehovah, when I cry,

have mercy upon me and hear me:

my heart hath mused upon Thy word; seek ye My face!

Thy face, Jehovah, do I seek!

O hide not Thou Thy face from me,

nor cast Thy servant away in displeasure! Thou hast been my succour; put me not away,

neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!

when my father and my mother forsake me,

Jehovah taketh me up.

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IO

II

12

Ver. 5.

tabernacle. The same metaphor of the sheltering tent is used Is. iv. 6, 'There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and rain.' Is. xxv. 4, 'Thou hast been a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.' Cp. § 57. xxxi. 22.

For the rock (1) as a tower of strength against foes cp. § 12. xviii. 33 (note), and Proverbs xviii. 10: 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe;' while, as Leighton says, 'they who know not this refuge, when any danger arises fly and flutter they know not whither:' (2) as a symbol of a sure foothold, cp. § 72. xl. 2, 'He brought me also out of the horrible pit, out of the mire and clay, and set my feet upon the rock.' Ver. 9. Thy word, i. e. 'Seek ye My face.'

Ver. 12. when my father...forsake me. A frequent form of expression in the Prophets. Cp. Is. xlix. 15, 'Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget; yet will not I forget thee;' and Ixiii. 16, 'Doubtless Thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us and Isaac acknowledge us not.'

II. and save him from the snares of his persecutors.

Teach me Thy way, O Jehovah,

and lead me in a plain path,

13

because of them that lie in wait for me!

deliver me not over unto the will of mine adversaries,

14

for there are false witnesses risen up against me and such as breathe out cruelty.

III. God the only safety in peril.

Oh-if I had not believed verily to see the goodness of Jehovah 15 in the land of the living!

wait on Jehovah, be strong, and let thine heart take courage, yea, wait on Jehovah !

16

Ver. 13. a plain path, i.e. free from the dangers of ambuscade. Cp. Jer. xxxi. 9, 'I will cause them to walk in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble;' so § 57. xxxi. 5, 'Draw me out of the net that they have laid privily for me.'

Ver. 15. Oh...if I had not. The Bible Version supplies the omitted clause by 'I had fainted.' For similar expressions, cp. Luke xix. 42, 2 Sam. v. 8, 'Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites where the Bible Version supplies 'he shall be chief and captain.'

The abruptness of the transition from ver. 14 to ver. 15 will be explained if the last two verses are attached to the 1st part of the Psalm (ver. 7), to which indeed they seem to form a natural sequel.

THE

§ 25. PSALM XXIII.

HE mention of 'God's House' in this', as in the 27th Psalm3, requires that both alike, at least in their present shape, should be assigned to a period subsequent to the building of the Temple; but an almost universal feeling has connected this Psalm with the name of the shepherd-king of Israel.

Some have seen in it a thanksgiving for some signal deliverance from the danger of famine, and have even sought the special occasion in David's joy at the loyal help of Barzillai and his friends at Mahanaim, when he was 'weary and weakhanded' in his flight from Absalom, and his 'people were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness3.' But such

1 v. 6.

2 § 24 7. 4.

32 Sam. xvii. 2.

an allusion can only be looked upon as illustrating one side of the subject, and not as exhausting the full meaning of the Psalm.

Whatever may have been the occasion of this Psalm, there is but one recorded life with which we can associate it. It is not easy to disconnect it from the royal shepherd on the lonely hillsides of Judah, when, in the awful presence of Nature', he was 'learning the secret or invisible strength,' and there was 'growing in him a scorn of the strength which lies in bulk, and looks terrible to the eye" from the persecuted fugitive maintaining his independence against the selfish malice of a tyrant-from the king, whose name lived on in the hearts of his people, as the one prince who had governed them as the Vicegerent of Jehovah, who had looked upon his kingdom, 'not as a prize which he had won, but as a trust committed to him, a trust which he could only administer while he remembered that the Lord was his shepherd, and that he was the shepherd of every Israelite and every man in the earth".'

Should it appear to any that the indescribable tenderness expressed in this Psalm ought to be looked for from some gentler and more leaning spirit than that of David, it must be remembered that the last and highest perfection which the strong nature and indomitable will can reach is that of unselfish devotion and confiding repose in the protecting love of God, in which, as David had learned from the experience of a long life, lay the secret of true strength. And indeed it is no ordinary belief in God's protection which finds expression here; it is the tenderness of a warm and sympathetic heart, which amid the mysterious influences of Nature has realized the loving care of God by carrying out His purposes in caring for His creatures.

I. The loving care of God.

Jehovah is my shepherd; therefore can I lack nothing:
He maketh me to lie down in a green pasture,

and leadeth me beside the waters of comfort;

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He refresheth my soul,

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and bringeth me forth in the paths of righteousness

for His name's sake.

II.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 4 I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me;

Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table for me in the face of mine enemies;

5

Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup is full; Thylovingkindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, 6

and I will dwell in the House of Jehovah for ever.

Ver. 3. righteousness, i. e. blessedness, the fruit of righteousness. Cp. § 4. xxiv. 5, note. For the intimate connexion of righteousness and happiness, cp. Balaam's prayer, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his' (Numb. xxiii. 10). for His name's sake, that His name may be glorified for this proof of His faithfulness towards His servants. Ver. 4. valley of shadow of death, or 'of trouble,' i. e. 'a valley dark and gloomy as death.' For the dread with which the Hebrews regarded desolate scenery, cp. Hos. ii. 14, 15; Is. lxv. 10, where the name 'Achor' means valley of trouble.

Ver. 5. a table. God is spoken of as the host who entertains the suppliant in defiance of his pursuers, and makes him the favoured guest and constant inmate of His house. Cp. Job xxxvi. 16. anointed with oil, preparatory to a feast; cp. § 41. cxli. 6, note; § 132. civ. 15; Luke vii. 46.

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'HE development of the monarchy secured the nation from foreign attack, but produced new internal dangers. The struggles which remained for the faithful were, not against heathen enemies, but against the godless among their own people; hence the Psalms of this period are mostly personal, and depict the alternating joy and woe of individuals rather than of the nation. The 6th and 13th Psalms are records of the victory of faith in depressing sickness and of the triumph of a good conscience over calumny1. Like Job, the Psalmist is afflicted with sickness, which has prostrated his strength and threatens to cut short his career of service in God's cause by an un

1 vi. 9, 10; xiii. 5.

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