difficulty, perhaps, may be removed, by rendering these first three verses in the present time; Lord, thou art favourable to thy land, thou bringest back the captivity of thy people,' &c. that is, thou art the God whose property it is to do this, and to shew such mercy to thy people, who therefore call upon thee for the same. But, indeed, to us Christians, who now use the psalm, the difference is not material, since a part of our redemption is past, and a part of it is yet to come, for the hastening of which latter we daily pray." Speaking of the concluding verses of this psalm, Bishop Lowth observes, "How admirable is that celebrated personification of the divine attributes by the psalmist! How just, elegant, and splendid, does it appear, if applied only according to the literal sense, to the restoration of the Jewish nation from the Babylonish captivity! "but if interpreted as relating to that sublimer, more sacred, and mystical sense, which is not obscurely shadowed under the ostensible image, it is certainly uncommonly noble and elevated, mysterious and sublime. "Mercy and truth are met together: Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other." "These four divine attributes," says Bishop Horne (above referred to,) "parted at the fall of Adam, and met again at the (cross) of Christ. Mercy was ever inclined to save mau, and Peace could not be his enemy: but Truth exacted the perform ance of God's threat, The soul that sinneth, it shall die,' and Righteousness could not but give to every man his due. Jehovah must be true in all his ways, and righteous in all his works. Now, there is no religion upon earth, except the Christian, which can satisfy the demands of all these claimants, and restore an union between them; which can shew how God's word can be true, and his work just, and the sinner, notwithstanding, find mercy and obtain peace. "When Christ appeared in our nature, the promise was fulfilled, and Truth' sprang out of the 'earth.' And now Righteousness, looking down from heaven,' beheld in him every thing that she required-an undefiled birth, a holy life, an innocent death; a spirit and a mouth without guile, a soul and a body without sin. She saw, and was satisfied, and returned to earth. Thus all the four parties met again in perfect harmony. Truth ran to Mercy, and embraced her; Righteousness to Peace, and kissed her..... Those that are thus joined as attributes in Christ, says the same admirable writer, ought not, as virtues, to be separated in a Christian, who may learn how to resemble his blessed Lord and Master, by observing that short, but complete rule of life, comprehended in the few following wordsShew mercy and speak truth; do righteousness and follow peace." Mr. Merrick has ingeniously, and perhaps justly, turned the latter part of this psalm into a prayer for the conversion of the Jewish nation. NOTES. PSALM LXXXVI. Ver. 2. I am holy-Marg. “One whom thou favourest," a subject of thy grace. Ver.3. Of thy grace daily—Heb. “Every day," or "all the day.". Ibid. From the lowest hell- arg.." Grave;" "Thy quickening Spirit, Lord, impart, And wake to joy each grateful heart; While Israel's rescued tribes in thee, Their bliss and full salvation see!" shall come and worship before thee, O LORD; and shall glorify thy name. 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. 11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. 12 I will praise thee, O LORD my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. 13 For great is thy mercy toward me and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. 14 O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. 15 But thou, O LORD, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. 16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. [of Zion. they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me. (N) PSALM LXXXVII. A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah. HIS foundation is in the holy mountains. 2 The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. 5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. 6 The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. 7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my 17 Shew me a token for good; that springs are in thee. (O) PSALM LXXXVI. EXPOSITION. (N) A Prayer of David for divine mercy, founded on the experience of former deliverances.-The plea for mercy in the second verse of this psalm, has often been mistaken or abused through a mistake, as to the sense of the Hebrew words; "Preserve my soul, for I am holy:" whereas, the term may by no means be taken as a plea grounded on the psalmist's natural purity, or personal merits; but upon hi jhaving been already made a monument of special mercy, and a subject of divine grace. Naming the God of Israel with the gods of the heathen, he says they are not to be compared. "Among the gods, there are none like unto thee, O God; neither any works like unto thy works: for thou art God alone. For thou, O Jehovah, art a God full of compassion and gracious," &c. "Great is thy mercy, and my tongue Shall those sweet wonders tell; How by thy grace, my sinking soul Rose from the deeps of hell." Watts. PSALM LXXXVII. (0) The praise of Zion.- Some commentators consider this psalm as having been composed on occasion of laying the foundation of Solomon's temple; and it was probably written on that, or some similar, occasion. Bp. Horne remarks, "The psalmist, after having meditated on the strength, the beauty, and the glory of Jerusalem, being smitten with the love of the holy city, and imagining the thoughts of his hearers, or readers, to have been employed on the same subject, breaks forth at once in this abrupt manner: 'It is HIS foundation on the holy mountains!' By the holy mountains,' are meant those hills of Judea which Jehovah had chosen, and separated to himself from all others, whereon to construct the highly-favoured city and temple. As the dwellings of Jacob in the promised land were beloved by him more than the dwellings of other nations, so he loved the gates of Sion more NOTES. PSALM LXXXVII. Ver. 4. Rahab-That is, Egypt. So Ps. lxxxix. 11; Isa. li. 9.-Philistia, the country of the Philistines. Ethiopia, the land of Cush, which was in Arabia. Ver. 5. This and that man-Heb. "A man and a man;" or, one and another. Dr. Durell renders it, The man, even the man" "the man long promised and foretold; the Messiah. Ver. 7. As well the singers as players-Or dancers, shall be there; i. e. the whole chorus of joy and praise. Dr. Chandler renders it, “They shall sing like those that lead up the dance;" i. e. with joy and exultation. A prayer for] PSALM LXXXVIII. PSALMS. [deliverance from the grave. A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah. rahite. LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: 2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; 3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength : 5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. 6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. 8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee. 10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the. dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. 11 Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? 12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my 7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, prayer prevent thee. EXPOSITION. than all the dwellings of Jacob. Jerusalem was exalted and fortified by its situation, but much more so by the protection of the Almighty. What Jerusalem was, the christian church is; built' by God on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.' (Eph. ii. 20.) It is HIS foundation in the holy mountains;' she is beloved of God above the kingdoms and empires of the earth, which rise and fall only to fulfil the divine counsels concerning her. When those counsels shall be fulfilled, in the salvation of all believers, the world, which subsists only for their sake, will be at an end." The substance of what is said, as to the cities here named, seems to amount to this: that whereas they have all, in their turns, been famous for producing great and eminent men, Zion shall, in this respect, excel them all; and especially when He comes, whose" name is above every name," and whose glory shall give to Zion a preeminence, before which all other glories shall sink into insignificance, like the stars before the rising sun. The concluding sentiment, (which some suppose to be the chorus to the ode) " All my springs are in thee," may probably mean, in the English idiom," all my hopes are there;" or, as David expresses it in another case, "Herein is all my salvation, and all my desire!" (2 Sam. xxiii. 5.) NOTES. PSALM LXXXVIII. Title—Mahalath-leannoth. We have noticed the division of the Hebrew musical instruments into Neginoth, or stringed, and Nehiloth, or wind instruments: of these latter, some appear to have been called Mahaloth, which, if we may judge from the odes to which they were appropriated, this psalm and the 53d) was particularly adapted to plaintive and mournful subjects. The term leannoth evidently refers to au alternate performance, either in turn with other instruments, or with female mourners For Maschil, see title of Ps. xxxii. Ver. 4. As a man-Heb. (Geber) "A strong man without strength." Ver. 5. Free among the dead-Liberated from the cares and labours of this life. Job iii. 18, 19. Com pare Isa. liii. 8. Ver. 6. In the lowest pit-Alluding to the dungeons of the captives. Ver. 8. Shut up-Or rather, perhaps, shut down; namely, in the pit. Comp. Ps. Ixix. 14, 15. Ver. 13. Prevent thee-Come before the usual hour of morning prayer. See Mark i. 35. Ver. 15. Ready to die - Ainsworth, "Breathing out the ghost." See Matt. xxvii. 50.—I am distracted-Ainsworth, "Doubtfully troubled!” i, e. harassed with the most distressing feelings. [with David, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. 5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. 6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. 8 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? 9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. 10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. 11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. 12 The north and the south thou EXPOSITION. PSALM LXXXVIII. (P) The lamentation of Heman the Ezrahile. The author of this psalm is so distinguished, says Mr. Scott," according to the general opinion of learned men, as a descendant of Zerah, the son of Judah," and therefore a different person from Heman, the chief singer in the reign of David, who was a Levite. It is not certain either at what time, or on what occasion, the psalm was composed :" but it was undoubtedly in a time of much calamity and distress, both in the church, and in the writer's own experience. This ode, therefore, resembles Ezekiel's roll, which was "written within and without-lamentations, and mourning, and woe." (Ezek. ii. 9, 10.) The psalm was evidently composed either in deep captivity, or in a state of per sonal affliction, which the writer compares thereto; and in which the author considers himself as a dead man, with respect to all the hopes and comforts of the present life; and without that consolation, in reference to the future, which other good men have in like circumstances enjoyed. In this view the psalm has been, and we think justly, applied to him, who was eminently distinguished of sorrows," and "acquainted with" all the "griefs' to which man is subject; while at the same time, for our sakes, he submitted himself to that " fierce wrath which allowed no intermixture of comfort, such as we are permitted to enjoy. NOTES. PSALM LXXXIX. Ver. 1. To all generationsHeb. "To generation and generation." Ver. 2. In the very heavens-Ainsworth renders this both more literally and more elegantly; "The heavens, thou wilt establish thy faithfulness in them;" i. e. it shall be there recorded, so long as the heavens themselves endure. See ver. 5. Ver.6. Sons of the mighty-Or of the gods, (elim) as "Deep in our hearts let us record The dying sorrows of our Lord, When he complain'd in tears and blood, As one forsaken of his God." meaning the gods of the heathen. Ver. 7. Greatly to be feared a mau Watts. -"Daunting ter " rible," says Mr. Ainsworth; meaning, un object of awe and reverence, as in the following line. Ver. 10. Rahab-That is, Egypt. Ps. lxxxvii. 4; Ver. 12. Tubor and Hermon-Well known hills Isa. li. 9. in the east and west of Canaan. (and his seed] PSALMS. [for ever. hast created them: Tabor and Her- him; nor the son of wickedness afflict mon shall rejoice in thy name. 13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. 14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. 15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. 16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. 17 For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted. 18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king. 19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. 20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: 2 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. him. 23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. 24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him and in my name shall his horn be exalted. 25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. 26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. 27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. 28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. 29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. 30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; 31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; 32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity 22 The enemy shall not exact upon with stripes. (Q) PSALM LXXXIX. EXPOSITION. (Q) Ver. 1-32. God's covenant with David and his seed. -"Many learned men," says Mr. Scott, "are of opinion that this Psalm was written during the Babylonish captivity, when the family of David being entirely dethroned, the pro mises of God seemed to be made void : but if it were composed at so late a period, o account can possibly be given why it was ascribed to Ethan the Ezrahite." (See Kings iv. 31; 1 Chron. ii. 6.) "Indeed, it seems," adds that judicious commentaor," to contain internal evidence that it belongs to earlier times; for none of the deliverances vouchsafed to Judah, after the days of David, are mentioned in it: and the psalmist, in complaining of the degraded and deplorable condition of David's family, is silent as to any desolations of Jerusalem and the temple, and the captivity and dispersion of the people; which the psalms evidently relating to Nebuchadnezzar's devastations, particularly insist upon." Mr. Scott refers the psalm, therefore, to the reign of Rehoboam. "Ten of the tribes (he remarks) had revolted from him Jeroboam, the king placed over them, was his powerful adversary; and Shishak, king of Egypt, so en NOTES. Ver. 13. A mighty arm - Heb. "An arm with saght," i. e. clothed with might. Ver. 14. Habitation-Marg" Establishment." Ver. 18. The Lord is our defence-Heb. "Shield;" Marz. Our shield is of the Lord." Ver. 19. Thy holy one-The prophet Samuel, or Nathan, See Exposition. Ver. 22. Shall not pract upon him-Bp. Horne, "Deceive him." Nor the son of wickedness affict-Horne, "Subdue him." The allusion appears to us to be made to a cruel and unjust creditor, who exacts not only his just debt, but some exag gerated demand, with usurious interest, which was not permitted. Ver. 25. His hand in the sea, &c.-Meaning, that he should reign from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates So the Scythian ambassadors said to Alexander, "If the gods had given thee a body as great as thy mind, thou wouldest reach with one hand to the east, and with the other to the west."-Orient. Lit. No. 788. Ver. 31. If they break-Heb. “Profane;” i, e. violate. |
