THE THIRD DIVISION OF THE BOOK

OF PSALMS.

PSALMS LXXIII.-LXXXIX.

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THIS third Book of the Psalms posed to have been compiled, like the preceding one, during the reign of Hezekiah, and under his directions. It comprehends seventeen Psalms or Hymns, of which eleven are the composition of the Psalmists of the name of Asaph, four are by the sons of Korah, one is entitled 'A Prayer of David,' and the last is 'An Instruction of Ethan the Ezrahite.' It is closed by the words

'Blessed be the Lord for evermore.
Amen, and Amen.'

The Psalms in this book differ much in their style and in their subjects. Some-as, for instance, the seventy-fifth and seventy-sixth-refer particularly to the danger which hung over Jerusalem at the time of the Assyrian invasion, or are expressions of hearty thanks for that marvellous deliverance from it which God granted to the prayers of Hezekiah and his people. The seventy-eighth and eighty-first appear to be festival Psalms, appointed, it is probable, to be used in the celebration of the Passover, and the Feast of Trumpets or of Pentecost. The Psalms in this book have generally a national character, and bear the marks of having been composed for the public service of the temple, either in times when

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the nation was in peril from its enemies, or in those seasons when the solemn rites of religion, the temple sacrifices, and the due observance of the Law of Moses were interfered with or proscribed by the idolatry and the tyranny of the kings of Judah.

During the reign of Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, not only was the worship of God in the temple neglected and despised, but altars of idols were erected in every city of Judah, and even within the hallowed precincts of the temple. The sanctuary itself, it would appear, was at that time not only despoiled of its riches and polluted, but it was also wantonly injured by fire and other means of destruction, while they who continued faithful to their God were persecuted. This Isaiah evidently implies, (Isa. lxiii. 8,) where he laments:

'The people of Thy holiness have possessed it but a little while :

Our adversaries have trodden down Thy sanctuary.'

And again, (lxiv. 11.)

'Our holy and our beautiful house,

Where our fathers praised Thee,

Is burned up with fire:

And all our pleasant things are laid waste.'

And this impiety and idolatry was also accompanied by war, and distress, and slaughter; for the speech of Hezekiah to the people, in his first attempt at a reformation and return to the worship of God, shews that they had suffered very severely. He said, 'For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. (2 Chron. xxix. 9.)

It is therefore to this period that these mournful Psalms, the seventy-fourth, the seventy-ninth, and the eightieth, are to be referred. Some have assigned them to the period of the captivity at Babylon ; and other modern commentators, with some show of argument, to the times of the Maccabees and the invasion of Jerusalem by Nicanor: but the desolations made by Ahaz, there is little doubt, gave occasion for their being made, while the Psalmist's mind did not rest merely in the contemplation of the present distress, but was carried by the Spirit of prophecy into futurity to see and to tell of those other desolations both of Nebuchadnezzar and of Antiochus which were coming upon Jerusalem, and of that last fearful and woeful destruction by the armies of Rome, which has left Jerusalem to be trodden down of the Gentiles even until now.

THE THIRD DIVISION.

Evening Prayer.

PSALM lxxiii. Quam bonus Israel!

1. TRULY God is loving unto Israel even unto such as are of a clean heart.

It is most certain and most true that our God is full of love and goodness to His people, that is, to them whose spirits are holy, and the thoughts of whose hearts are pure. This is indeed most true. 2. Nevertheless, my feet were almost gone : my treadings had well-nigh slipt.

3. And why? I was grieved at the wicked: I do also see the ungodly in such prosperity. Yet in us dim-sighted beings faith is needed, even that we may see clearly the lovingness of God to His own. We all are tempted, as Asaph was, to trust to sight; and while we so trust we are in great danger of straying from the truth; we are likely to fall into very fatal error. We see the wicked prospering, and faring, to all appearance, very happily; and that sight stirs up in us envy, and jealousy, and grief.

4. For they are in no peril of death but are lusty and strong.

5. They come in no misfortune like other folk neither are they plagued like other men.