His praise in the congregation of saints. 2 Let Israel rejoice in his Maker1,

Let Zion's sons be joyful in their King2.

3 Let them praise His name in the dance,

With timbrel and harp let them make melody to

Him.

4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people,

He will beautify the meek with salvation3.

5 Let the saints exult in glory*,

Let them sing aloud on their beds. 6 High praises of God in their throat,

1 'Osayv-plural, as in Isai. liv. 5.-Now that they were brought back from Babylon, it was like a new creation. Cp. xcv. 6, c. 3. 2 Their true King. They were now willing to wait God's time for manifesting His kingdom. Cp. 1 Sam. xii. 12; Hos. xiii. 10.

3 This was the great lesson taught them by their deliverance out of captivity. God would make known His glory by helping those who waited meekly and patiently for His salvation.

This implies that the "two-edged sword" of v. 6 is no "carnal " weapon, and the " vengeance" of v. 7 not self-revenge.

Obs. In 2 Cor. x. 4, St. Paul says: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal;" and then in v. 6 declares himself ready "to revenge (exdikoai, cp. v. 7, Sept. ekdiknow) all disobedience." Remark, too, that he had prefaced his military allegory (in v. 1) with, "I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ."

In the hope of the "glory," which was promised to the Second Temple, (Hag. ii. 10). An irreversible "Ichabod" had been uttered over the material Ark; but God's Spirit was with them, and so "glory dwelt in their land," (cp. lxxxv. 9).

5 Not (as of old) weeping through the long night (vi. 6, lxxvii. 2-6);-for God now " gave them songs in the night (Job xxxv. 10). Cp. Isai. lvii. 1, 2.

Obs. The peculiar form osim used in v. 2 occurs also in Job xxxv. 10: "God my Maker (ósay).”

6 Cp. Isai. lviii. 1, “Cry with the throat, (E. V. marg.), spare not ; lift up thy voice like a trumpet."

And a two-edged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance on the nations, Rebukes on the peoples;

8 To bind their kings with chains,

And their nobles with iron fetters;

9 To execute on them the judgment written1o. A glory is it to all His saints11!

Halleluyah.

7 LXX. dioroμol. Cp. Hebr. iv. 12. 8 LXX. ékdíkŋow": see on v. 4. xix. 2.

But compare also Rev. vi. 10,

Obs. The last duty committed to Moses before he was "gathered to his fathers" (Numb. xxxi. 1-3) was to "inflict the vengeance of the Lord on Midian."

Ziqqim, as in Isai. xlv. 14.

10 Cp. Isai. lxv. 6, "Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence, until I have recompensed, yea, recompensed into their bosom;" (where the reference may be to Deut. xxxii. 40, 41).

11 The victories of their king (v. 2) reflect glory on all His faithful and devoted servants.

HALLELUYAH.

CL.

Praise ye God in His sanctuary,

Praise Him in the firmament of His strength.

2 Praise Him in His mighty acts:

Praise Him according to His abounding greatness.

3 Praise Him with blast of trumpet, Praise Him with lute and harp.

4 Praise Him with timbrel and dance, Praise Him with strings and pipe.

1 As He is in His earthly temple, "HOLY," (xcix. 3, 5, 9).

2 As He is in the broad expanse of Heaven, embracing the universe with His might. Holiness is His hidden depth; Power His outward manifestation.

5

Praise Him with clear-toned cymbals,

Praise Him3 with joyous-toned cymbals.

6 Let every thing that has breath praise the LORD: Halleluyah.

3 Ten times the call is given.

4 Lit. "the whole of breath,”—neshamah,—the word used in Gen. ii. 7. (In Isai. xlii. 5; Job xxxii. 8, xxxiii. 4 there is plainly a reference to Genesis.)

6 The First Three Books of the Psalter ended with "Amen and Amen," the firm expression of faith's reliance on God's truth. Book IV ended, "Amen, Halleluyah." Now faith has been lost in joyful realization. God's salvation has been completed. Henceforth there is only the ever-enduring anthem, Halleluyah

Appendir.

I.

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON CERTAIN PASSAGES.

On VIII, 3, 4.

These verses have often been entirely misapplied; as if their tendency were to crush man, and to make him feel his nothingness in the presence of the orbs of Heaven. The real drift of the Psalm is directly the reverse of this ;-to make us consider how wonderful the dignity is, which God has bestowed on man.

The immediate reference is to the condescending goodness of God at the time of man's original Creation. He who made the Universe, with its inexhaustible stores of grandeur and beauty, formed man of the dust of the ground, and then constituted him sovereign of this earth.

The sceptre had, indeed, soon fallen from his hands. It seemed as if God's loving designs had been frustrated by the malignity of the Enemy. But God had comforted the faithful with a promise of ultimate victory over the Evil One.

from his cruel enemy.

Indeed, the fact that God had made man His vicegerent, to rule the earth, of itself was a pledge of His future deliverance of man Would the All-Wise have made man as He did, with a full and clear foresight of his speedy fall, and of the misery that would issue from that fall, unless He had also predetermined a way for His recovery?

Did any one say?-"Oh, that is incredible :-the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the infinitely Pure and Glorious, cannot care for wretched, puny, man. Do not call on Him in your struggles with sin and misery. Do not dream that He,-the Absolute, the Transcendent, can concern Himself with your affairs." There was a ready answer ;-"He made man at first ;-made him in His own

likeness. He must, then, have meant man to fulfil a high destiny. That He should have so created him,-this is indeed marvellous, this is a source of never-ending amazement ;-but that, having created, He should interpose to recover him, and to restore him to more than his original dignity, (as He has promised to do), this is only in harmony with our ideas of the perfection of His Wisdom.

On XXXI. 21.

Under both the Law and the Gospel patient hope has been one principal element of Faith. Israel's dying words were; "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord." And Christians are described as "those who look for" Christ, and who "love His appearing." (Hebr. ix. 28; 2 Tim. iv. 8.)

[Prof. Cowell remarks (Ms. note):

"It is observable that even Philo, from his frigid intellectual stand-point, could not help being struck with this peculiarity of Scriptural piety (r. 324): Ανθρώπῳ γὰρ τῷ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν τί ἂν γένοιτο οἰκειότερον ἐλπίδος καὶ προσδοκίας κτήσεως ἀγαθῶν παρὰ τοῦ μόνου φιλοδώρου Θεοῦ; Τοῦτο ἐστιν, εἰ δεῖ τὸ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἡ μόνη κυρίως γένεσις ἀνθρώπων, ὡς τῶν μὴ ἐλπιζόντων ἐπὶ Θεὸν λογικῆς φύσεως οὐ μεμοιραμένων.”]

On XLV. 9.

As there are so many references in this Psalm to the Temple and its arrangements, it may deserve notice, that yeqaroth (“noble ladies") occurs elsewhere in only five other places; and in four of these, 1 Kgs. v. 31 (17 E.V.), vii. 9, 10, 11, it is used of the "costly stones" used in the foundation of Solomon's buildings.

On St Paul's application of Ps. LXVIII. 18.

The LXX. has ἔλαβες δόματα ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ. St. Paul has ἔδωκε δόματα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις,-a change which is amply justified by a comparison of the passages of the Book of Numbers referred to in the Note.

That the "gifts" were understood by St. Paul to be Men, is evident from Eph. iv. 11.

On the force of Zalafah in cxIx. 53.

Gesenius renders it, "æstus iræ:" and Fürst follows him: but see on xi. 6. Almost all the best commentators agree that the meaning is either "horror," or "deep grief." Thus Calvin; "Terror apprehendit me: v. hic duplicem sensum admittit; vel quod graviter vulneratus fuerit Propheta, legem Dei violari cernens ab impiis; vel quod eorum exitium exhorruerit. Nam quod alii