avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will be merciful unto His land, and to His people.' 12. O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before Thee according to the greatness of Thy power, preserve Thou those that are appointed to die. : 13. And for the blasphemy wherewith our neighbours have blasphemed Thee reward Thou them, O Lord, seven-fold into their bosom. 14. So we, that are Thy people, and sheep of Thy pasture, shall give Thee thanks for ever and will alway be shewing forth Thy praise from generation to generation. As the saints in Judæa of old time prayed from the depths of an earthly prison, and trusted in their God even under the sentence of this world's death, knowing well that the power of their God could deliver them, and could requite the blasphemies of their enemies in full measure to those who strove to hinder their salvation; so, too, must we turn with groanings from the prison of our hardness of heart and carnal will, and implore to be delivered from that spiritual death which our enemies, that is, our own sins, have brought upon us. We should cry to Him to strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die.' And while we, who are, no less than Israel of old, God's people and the sheep of 6 His pasture, and who, no less than they, need to confess that we have erred and strayed from His ways like lost sheep,' acknowledge our sins and implore for pardon and restoration, we must not forget that higher duty of thanksgiving and ceaseless praise which forgiveness calls for, and which only they who are forgiven can perform. This mournful Psalm, which was written by Asaph, evidently refers to the same period of desolation and idolatry as the seventyfourth; that is to say, to the reign of Ahaz. Some commentators have endeavoured to assign the composition of these Psalms to the times of the Maccabees, and especially to the time of that cruel war which Bacchides carried on against Jerusalem, in which Judas Maccabæus was slain. It is true that verses 2 and 3 are quoted in 1 Maccabees vii. 17; but this is so far from shewing that this Psalm was composed at that time, that it rather proves, on the other hand, that the book in which it is found was already recognised as a portion of canonical scripture, and was considered to be prophetical of the misery and oppression of Israel. The Syriac translation of 1 Macc. vii. 16, is " according to the words which the prophet wrote," which is the usual way of citing a passage of Holy Scripture. Verses 6, 7 are repeated, word for word, by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. x. 25); and this would be an additional reason for assigning the Psalm to the earlier devastations of the temple, for it is usual for the prophets to repeat the words of a scripture older than their own, and not of that of their own time. PSALM 1XXX. Qui regis Israel. 1. HEAR, O Thou Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep shew Thyself also, Thou that sittest upon the cherubims. 2. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses stir up Thy strength, and come, and help us. 3. Turn us again, O God: shew the light of Thy countenance, and we shall be whole. He Who had once been the Shepherd of Israel, Who had led the children of Joseph and of his brethren into the pleasant pastures of the promised land, had left them. The ark of His covenant and the glory of His presence was still between the cherubim in the sanctuary of His temple, and He still was the Lord of all the powers of heaven and earth, but He no longer went with their armies and led them to battle. Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, the sons of Rachel, had gone to the war as the vanguard of the hosts of Israel, but the might and power of their Almighty King went no longer with them to help them, and to give them victory. He had given them up to Shalmanezer, king of the Assyrians, who had led them into a long captivity, for 'the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.' Therefore it was indeed needful that they that were left should pray for the grace of repentance, and for the return of the blessing of the light of His countenance which their misdeeds had forfeited, and in which alone they could be safe. 4. O Lord God of hosts: how long wilt Thou be angry with Thy people that prayeth? 5. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them plenteousness of tears to drink. 6. Thou hast made us a very strife unto our neighbours and our enemies laugh us to scorn. 7. Turn us again, Thou God of hosts: shew the light of Thy countenance, and we shall be whole. 6 That eternal God of angels and of men was indeed angry with His people for their idolatries and transgressions, and their prayers had well-nigh ceased to be of avail. The Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight.' He Who once gave them the bread of heaven, now filled them with the bread of sorrow; He Who had given them water from the rock, now gave them only their own tears to drink. Their nearer and smaller enemies, Ammon, and Moab, and Edom, renewed their contentions with them, and treated them with scorn. They only could hope in repentance, and the returning to them again of the God Whose blessing they had lost. 8. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt : Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. 9. Thou madest room for it and when it had taken root it filled the land. 10. The hills were covered with the shadow : of it and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedar-trees. Heb. The hills were covered with its shadow: The cedars of God with its branches. 11. She stretched out her branches unto the sea and her boughs unto the river. God, like a wise husbandman transplanting a choice vine, had brought the Church of Israel out of Egypt into the rich and fertile land of Canaan. He cast out the heathen dwellers as evil weeds, and planted it within His vineyard. It struck down its roots into the earth, and its branches and tendrils covered the sides of the mountains with their shade, and climbed up even above the lofty cedars of Lebanon. The blessing of Jacob was fulfilled'Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall.' From the mountains on the south to Lebanon on the north, from the river Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea did the power of Israel extend, while her Church abode in the fear and worship of her God in the days of David and of Solomon. 12. Why hast Thou then broken down her hedge that all they that go by pluck off her grapes? 13. The wild boar out of the wood doth root it up and the wild beasts of the field devour it. : 14. Turn Thee again, Thou God of hosts, look down from heaven behold, and visit this vine; 15. And the place of the vineyard that Thy F |