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and imagine deceits all the day long. 13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.

14 Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.

15 For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O LORD my God. 16 For I said, Hear me, lest other wise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.

17 For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. 18 For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.

PSALM XXXVIII.

[faith in him.

19 But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

20 They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

21 Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.

22 Make haste to help me O LORD, my salvation. (Q)

PSALM XXXIX.

To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

SAID, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will

EXPOSITION.

(2) A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance-That is, a memorial of his sins, and of his sufferings under them. His afflictions appear to have been of two classes-bodily pain and sickness, and the desertion of his friends and relatives, who, instead of comforting, aggravated his afflictions. In David's history, indeed, we read nothing of his being confined with sickness; yet it is reasonable to believe this might often be the case, though perhaps for no long continuance, so as to interrupt the operations of his government. That he suffered much from disease may be inferred, not only from his frequent references to it in the book of Psalms, but from the singular fact of his extreme debility, and the extraordinary means used to keep life in him, for some time before his death, though he died at the age of seventy. (1 Kings i. 1-4.) In these afflictions, he constantly refers to sin as the cause of his sufferings; and it is true that all our sufferings originate in sin; yet his language in this psalm seems to refer particularly to his dreadful apostacy in the matter of Uriah, when he sent Joab to conduct the war with the Ammonites, while he stayed

at home to indulge in ease, and luxury, and crime.

Many have endeavoured to explain the psalmist's complaints of unsoundness and putridity in his flesh and in his bones figuratively, of his inward distress and spiritual conflicts; but we think it seems evident (as Mr. Scott observes,) that the writer was (also) visited with some dire malady, which affected his whole frame in the most distressing manner; and that he considered this as the chastisement of

God, for some particular sins of which his conscience accused him." What that particular malady might be with which he was afflicted, we presume not to determine; but from the symptoms mentioned, and particularly from his friends and neighbours keeping "aloof from his sore," we should think it must have closely resembled, either the leprosy of Job, or the pestilence of Hezekiah, either of which, connected with the agonies of conviction in his conscience, would be fully sufficient to account for his groans and agonies. But we totally object to the application of such language to our Redeemer, for reasons which we have already stated: nor do we find any application of it to him in the New Testament, by either evangelists or apostles.

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Ver. 10. Is gone from me-Heb. "Is not with me." His disease affected his sight. Ver.1. My sore-Heb. "Stroke," men-Marg. "Neighbours."

-My kins

Ver. 15 In thee do I hope-Marg. "Thee do I wait for."-Hear-Marg. "Answer." Ver. 17. Ready to halt- Marg. "For halting;" i. e. ready to sink down under my infirmities. Ver. 19. Lively. strong. Heb. "(Being) lively, are strong." Ver. 20. Because, &c. "What is good."

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PSALM XXXIX. Title- To Jeduthun. - See 1 Chron. xvi. 41.-xxv. 3.

Ver. 1. With a bridle-Heb, “Muzzle." It is pro

Contemplations]

PSALMS.

keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned then spake I with my tongue.

4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand breadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee; verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

7 And now, LORD, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions make me not the reproach of the foolish.

9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

PSALM XXXIX.

[on the frailty of life

10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.

12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. (R)

PSALM XL.

To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. I WAITED patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:

EXPOSITION.

(R) A Psalm of David, contemplating the frailty of human life.—“ The psalm begins abruptly, with the result of a meditation on the narrow, slippery, and dangerous paths of life; and more especially on the extreme difficulty of restraining the tongue amidst the continual temptations and provocations of the adversary." (Bp. Horne.) Meditation should terminate in devotion: and this ineditation led to the following excellent prayer-that the psalmist might be taught practically his own frailty, and the uncertain duration of the present life, which, compared to the life to come, is but as a shadow to the

substance; a shadow fleeting like that of the passing cloud upon the grass.

The life of man is then compared to "an image," exhibited to the mind in a vision, or in a dream: aud in no man is this vanity more striking than in the avaricious, who "heapeth up riches," and knoweth not who shall gather them. And even while this transitory life endures, how doth affliction "melt away" health, and beauty, and talent, and wealth, and every thing desirable in man!

"This life's a dream, an empty show;
But the bright world to which I go
Hath joys substantial and sincere:
When shall I wake, and find me there?" Watts.

NOTES-Psalm XXXIX. Con.

bable that the bridles of the ancients were made in the form of muzzles. See Note on Ps. xxxii. 9. Ver. 2. Stirred-Heb. " Troubled." Ver. 3. The fire burned.-See Jer. xx. 9. Ver. 4. How frail I am-Marg. "What time I have" i, e. as the Chialdee explains it, "How soon I shall cease to exist here."

Ver. 5, At his best state-Heb. "settled;" most permanent.

Ver. 6. In a vain shew - Heb. "An image;" phantasm, or appearance only.

Ver. 10. Blow--Heb. "Conflict," stroke?

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The great sacrifice]

PSALMS.

[for man's sin.

many shall see it, and fear, and shall thy truth from the great congregation. trust in the LORD.

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5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

7 Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me: 81 delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. 9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and

PSALM XL.

11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.

14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame, that wish me evil.

15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha!

16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified!

17 But I am poor and needy; yet the LORD thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God. (S)

EXPOSITION.

(S) A Psalm of David, relating partly to his own circumstances, and partly to Messiah-We agree with Dr. Kennicott in dividing this psalm into three parts, but not exactly in our application of them. The first part, comprising the first five verses, we consider as capable of a double application, expressing first the psalmist's deep

sufferings, during some of his persecutions from his enemies; and, in a typical sense, the sufferings of our Redeemer. The imagery seems taken from one of the horrible dungeons of the Asiatic tyrants. (Jer. xxxviii. 6-12.) Applied to our Saviour, it may typify the extreme sufferings which he endured; yet a pit of mire, with the sound of waters and waterfalls, seems not to agree with the

NOTES.

Ver. 6. Mine ears hast thou opened-Heb. "Dig ged," or carved; and it is with much diffidence the editor ventures to suggest, that cutting out, digging, or carving, is the radical idea of the root (karah) here used. It is very commonly used for digging pils, or wells; sometimes for carving sepulchres from a rock, Isa. xvi. 14; also for carving (or cutting up) beat for a feast, 2 Kings vi. 23. where, instead of prepared a great provision," we would read more literally, cut up a great cutting;" i. e. cat up many joints of meat amongst them; and in Job xli.6. Wilt thou part the Leviathan (or carve him out) among the merchants?" The same term is transferred back from the grottoes of the sepulchre, to the quarry of human nature; "Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hollow of the cave whence ye were digged," referring to Abraham and Sarah. Louth's Isa. li. 1, 2. In harmony with this imagery, a kindred Hebrew noun is used for birth, or ongi. Ezek. xvi. 3.-xxxi. 30. The writer of

these Notes is well aware that many interpreters consider this as an allusion to the Jewish law, Exod. xxi. 6. But the Hebrew word there used for boring, is radically different from this. Compare the above Exposition.

Ver. 7. In the volume-That is, roll. All the ancient books were in this form, as are all the sacred MSS of the Synagogues to this day.

Ver. 8. Within my heart-Heb. "In the midst of my bowels;" i. e. in my most inward parts.

Ver. 11. We have mentioned above Dr. Kennicott's discovery, that this psalm should end with the 10th verse. Thus much is certain, that the last five verses form the 70th psalm. Perhaps they might be originally connected, as distinct parts of the same poem; but a short psalm being wanted for some particular occasion, these verses might be separated for the purpose. This is a circumstance not uncommon in church music.

Ver. 12. My heart faileth-Heb. "Forsaketh me."

2

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quiet of the grave'; but would intimate (as indeed many of the ancients thought,) that our Lord's sufferings were not terminated with his parting breath.

The second part of the psalm, from ver. 5 to 10, appears to relate to the incarnation of the Messiah, and to that only. The purport of it is, that, seeing the insufficiency of all other sacrifices to take away sin, He presented himself as the great atoning sacrifice for human guilt. The language here used is peculiar, and requires explanation. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire:" not that the sacrifices of the law were unenjoined or disapproved; yet they were not the ultimate object of the divine command; but were appointed only as typical, and derived all their value in the sight of God, from being the appointed types of Messiah's more perfect sacrifice : when offered to supersede the moral duties they became abominable. (Isa. li. 8; Amos v. 21.)

"Mine ears hast thou opened." In the language of the Hebrews, and of poetry, to open the ears of any one is to secure his favourable attention, (Job xxxiii. 16.) Isaiah, speaking in the person of Messiah, says, "The LORD God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters," &c. (Isa. 1. 5, 6.) But neither in this instance, nor in any other, (we believe,) is the same original word used for opening the ears, as in the psalm before us, which we conceive signifies "carved,"

ог

"cut out," in the sense of forming. (See Notes.) As if the psalmist had said, Mine ears hast thou made, or prepared,

for the most exact and complete obedi ence." This will partly account for the ver sion given of this passage by the Septua gint, and in Hebrews x. 5. to which we shall there again advert.

When it is added, "Lo, I come!" these words, we conceive, express the effect of the Messiah's ears being thus prepared, namely, a ready and prompt obedience, and that in the accomplishment of preceding predictions: “In the volume (ur roll) of the book, it is written of me: I delight to do thy will," &c. the evidence of which appeared in preaching in "the great congregations" of the temple, the synagogue, and the public highways, till the speaker's lips were closed by violence and death.

The third part of the psalm comprehends from ver. 11 to the end; where, as the writer speaks of his sins laying hold upon him, and sinking him into despair, we return again to David. It appears to us, that the five intervening verses (6 to 10,) are a kind of parenthesis, though a most important one; and that the eleventh verse should be connected with the fifth: that declares the mercies of God to be innumerable; and this entreats that those mercies may neither be withheld or withdrawn from the petitioner, who is overwhelmed with sins and troubles, from which he prays to be delivered. The three following verses, (14 to 16,) which, in our version, are rendered imprecatory, are in the original simply future, and so rendered, not only by Bishops Horne and Horsley, but also by Dr. Boothroyd, who is not governed by the same system.

NOTES.

PSALM XLI. The poor-Marg. "Or weak, or sick." The Hebrew term is of extensive import, and includes every kind of affliction. In the time of trouble-Heb. "In the day of evil."

Ver. 3. Thou wilt make-Heb. Turn" all his bed.

Ver. 7. Devise my hurt-Heb. "Evil to me.'
Ver. 8. An evil disease-Heb." A thing of Belial,"

This term seems always to imply moral evil, and is analogous to that of blasphemy. Matt. xxvi. 65. Ver. 9. Mine own familiar friend-Heb. "The man of my peace."Hath lifted up-Heb." Magnified the heel."

Ver. 13. Blessed, &c. - This animated doxology closes the first book (or collection) of the psalms.

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Desire after]

PSALMS.

against me against me do they devise my hurt.

8 An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.

9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against

ше.

10 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.

Il By this I know that thou faFourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.

12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.

13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everJasting. Amen, and Amen. (T)

PSALM XLII.

To the chief Musician: Maschil: for the sons of Korah.

the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

PSALM XLI.

[communion with God.

2 My soul thirsteth for Gol, for the living God when shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy-day.

5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul! and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his counte

nance.

60 my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mi

zar.

7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts : all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

8 Yet, the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day-time, and in the night his song shall be with me,

EXPOSITION.

A Psalm of David. The blessedness of charity and the baseness of treachery.→→ The eulogy on true charity with which the psalm opeus, is of most extensive application. The poor, the weak, the sick, are all its objects, and those who display this kind and benevolent disposition, of which our Lord affords a perfect example, though they can have no pretensions to merit, have a promise of like sympathy and aid from the Lord himself in their afflictions. But it may be here asked, how then was

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compassionate Lord himself surrendered to his enemies? why was not he, the most compassionate of all men, delivered from them? The answer is easy-" He was delivered for our offences." (Rom. iv. 25.) Bishop Horne, and other Hutchinsonian

writers, apply the whole of this, as of the Psalms generally, to our Saviour; but as the psalmist here also confesses sin, and pleads for mercy, we cannot, for reasons given in our exposition of Psalms xxx. and xxxi., admit him to be here the speaker; but perhaps we might divide the psalin not improperly into two parts: in the first five verses, we may consider the writer as speaking in his own person, and in the remainder in the person of the Messiab, our Lord Jesus having himself applied (or accominodated) the ninth verse to the treachery of Judas. To lift up the heel against a person, is not only to desert him, or run away; but to turn the back and treat him with contempt. Judas did this, and probably never looked his master in the face after he betrayed him.

NOTES.

PSALM XLII. Title- Maschil. See Note to the title of Ps. xxxii. For the sons of KorakWe were choristers. 1 Chron, vi. 33, &c.

Ver. As the hart panteth-Heb. " brayeth." The Hebrew is feminine.

Ver.3. Tears have been my meat-That is, I have been a occupied in weeping, that I have neglected By acessary food. See Ps. lxxx. 6.

Ver. 4. These (things)-Or times, rather. Boothroyd.

Ver. 5 and 11. Why art thou cast down?-Heb. "Bowed down." I shall yet praise - Marg. "Give thanks" for the help of his countenance; Marg." His presence (or countenance) is salvation;" Heb. "salvations."

Ver.6. The hill Mizar-Marg. " The little bill;"

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