I PRAISE ye the LORD; For it is good to make melody1 to our God; For it is pleasant; and praise is comely. 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He will gather Israel's outcasts2; 4 He counts the number of the stars, 6 The LORD upholds the meek; He brings the wicked down to the ground. 7 Sing anthems to the LORD with thankfulness; Make melody to our God with the harp. 8 Who covers the heaven with clouds7; 1 All the Versions take "zammerah" as an infinitive. 2 Niddechey: see Deut. xxx. 1, 4: (which is, plainly, referred to in Neh. i. 9.) LXX. τὰς διασποράς. Symm. τοὺς ἐξωσμένους. Cp. 2 Sam. xiv. 13, 14; Jer. xxiii. 2, 3, 8, (and elsewhere frequently);-Ezek. xxxiv. 4, 16; Mic. iv. 6. Obs. In the ground-passage, Deut. xxx. 1, the LXX. renders the Hifl by διασκορπίσῃ. Cp. διεσκορπισμένα in St. John xi. 52. 3 Ha-rofe; Exod. xv. 26. 4 Prov. xv. 13. Cp. Neh. ii. 2. Not one of them, as it wanders through the wilderness of space, is overlooked by Him; "not one is missing" (Isai. xl. 26). Nor is one of the least of Israel's scattered flock lost from His sight. (Cp. Neh. ix. 23.) 6 Lit. "no number." "What a comfort for the Church in her labyrinthine perplexities! Her Lord is not only Almighty, but infinitely Wise. Her history, not less than the frame of the material Universe, is a mine of profound adaptation of means to ends." (From Delitzsch.) ▾ Dark and lowering, yet rich in blessing. Who prepares rain for the earth; Who makes the mountains to shoot forth grass. 9 He gives to the beast its food, To the young ravens, which cry. 10 Not in the might of the horse has He delight, Nor in the legs of the warrior takes He pleasure1o: 11 The Lord's pleasure is in them that fear Him, In them that wait for His mercy. 12 Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem, Praise Thy God, O Zion. 8 Beyond the reach of man's cultivation. "In the Himalaya a fine green sward is often seen at 14,600 feet" above the sea,-3000 feet above the limit of the "Region of Shrubs." (Balfour's Botany : § 1161.)-Cp. Mr. Ruskin, Mod. Painters. III. iv. 11.-The Rev. Hugh Macmillan remarks:- "Nowhere is the grass so green and vigorous as on the beautiful slopes of lawn-like pasture high up on the Alps... Not only in their power of growing without cultivation, but also in the peculiarities of their structure, the mountaingrasses proclaim the hand of God. Many of them are viviparous. -Instead of producing flowers and seeds, the young plants spring from them perfectly formed. They cling round the stem and form a kind of blossom. In this state they remain, till the parent stalk withers and falls prostrate on the ground, when they immediately strike root, and form independent grasses. This is a remarkable adaptation to circumstances: for it is manifest that, were seeds instead of living plants developed in the ears of the mountaingrasses, they would be useless in the stormy regions where they grow. They would be blown away to spots foreign to their nature and habits, and thus the species would perish." (Bible Teachings in Nature: p. 58.) 9 Which send up a harsh scream. Yet that is not disregarded by God. Much less (remarks Bp. Horne) will He fail to hear the prayer of His meek dove. (Cp. Job xxxviii. 41; St. Luke xii. 24.) 10 The strength of the cavalry steed or the thews of the infantry soldier, these are not what attract His notice.-Reliance on these had been Israel's sin: Isai. xxxi. 1. 13 For He has strengthened the bars of thy gates, With the fat of wheat He satisfies thee11 15 Who sends His bidding across earth; Most swiftly runs His word. 16 Who gives forth snow like wool12, Hoar-frost He scatters about as ashes. 17 That flings abroad His ice piecemeal; Before His cold who can stand? 18 He sends His word, and melts them: He makes His wind to blow; the waters run down13. 19 He declares His word1 to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel. 20 He has not done so to any nation; 11 Fulfilling lxxxi. 16. 12 "Even so the chilling dispensations of God's severe Providence come down on His Church; forming a mantle to preserve it from the more intense cold." (Dr. Pusey: Ms. notes.) Cp. Isai. lv. 10. 13 In that bleak winter of captivity the nation had been frostbound; but at length God's word (Isai. lv. 10, 11) came forth, His Spirit breathed upon the congealed mass, and the living streams flowed afresh. How mighty that gentle Breath! 14 So the Kethiv: which is unquestionably correct; and is supported by all the Versions. 15 The law of Israel's history was enunciated by Amos. iii. 2. "You only have I known out of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities." Israel stood on a higher level of privilege; and therefore of responsibility. They could not be like the rest of the nations ;-they must be better or worse, happier or more wretched, than they. All, indeed, were under God's moral government; but the heathen nations were not informed of the exact nature of their relation to God:-Israel was. Israel knew God's law;-they were made to know also His judicial sentence on them for violations of that Law;-and no less His judicial award of absolution to the sincerely penitent. To that wonderful series of Divine procedures the heathen were strangers. What a solemn thought-how full of warning-to Israel' CXLVIII.A 1 HALLELUYAH. Praise ye the LORD, from the heaven1, Praise Him in the heights2. 2 Praise Him, all ye His angels, Praise Him, all His host. 3 Praise Him, sun and moon, Praise Him, all ye stars of light. 4 Praise Him, heaven of heavens, And waters that are above the heaven. 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created. 6 And he established them for ever and ever; He gave forth a decree, and it shall not pass away1. 7 Praise the LORD, from the earth5, Ye sea-monsters and all ocean-depths; 8 Fire and hail; snow and vapour; ▲ Israel, brought near to God (v. 14), the "royal priesthood,” calls on heaven and earth to praise Him, whose majesty, while it transcends all (v. 13), has left its imprint on all. Redeemed man is thus presented as the "interpres naturæ," its prophet and mediator;-nay, as a being that has a right to call on all creatures in heaven and earth to join him in holy adoration. With v. 14, "to all His saints;" cp. cxlix. 5, 9. 1 The heavens are to lead the anthem ;-the earth (v. 7) responds. 2 Meromim; as in Job xvi. 19, xxv. 2, xxxi. 2. 3 Deut. x. 14; 1 Kgs. viii. 27. 4 LXX. kaì oй wapeλsúσeral. That this is the correct rendering is evident from Esther i. 19, ix. 27 (cp. v. 28; and also Job xiv. 5). Stormy wind, performing His word. Fruit-bearing trees and all cedars. 11 Kings of the earth, and all peoples, Old men along with children :- 13 Let them praise the name of the LORD; 14 And He has exalted a horn for His people; To Israel's sons, the people that is near Him. 6 LXX. (as at cvii. 25) πνеûμа каTaιyídos. Obs. A version quoted by St. Chrys. here has aveμos Tupŵvos. 7 This order of the words occurs only here and in Gen. ii. 4. 8 That have the privilege of drawing near to Him. Deut. iv. 7. I 1 HALLELUYAH. CXLIX. Sing to the Lord a new song, Chasidim occurs in the first, middle, and last verses of the Psalm; as it did in the last v. of the preceding Psalm. |