V. 8. Life is short indeed, and no sufferer needs to anticipate centuries of misery. If prosperity therefore is to come at all, it must come soon. Hence David indulges the hope, that the day of joy will dawn to him after his nights of sorrow. He depends not, after the manner of the worldlyminded, upon a caprice of the goddess of fortune or chance, but though in his depression he felt half inclined to forsake the Lord, he patiently returns to him, knowing that the destinies of man are lodged in his hand, to place his hope in Him. V. 9-12. His challenge of God is transmuted into prayer, the answer of which he means silently and trustfully to wait for. He acquaints God with his grief: he describes his beauty to have vanished by his stealthily consuming grief at the chastisement of God, like the beauty of a garment by the secret gnawing of a moth. This has taught him the frailty of man. V. 13. 14. He seeks by this representation also to move the heart of God to mercy. Man traverses life like a pilgrim and a stranger, making but a short stay: the law has enjoined kindness to strangers. It is said that "the Lord preserveth the strangers, he relieveth the fatherless and widow.”2 He asks whether he, a stranger of God on earth, may not hope for seasons of joy and refreshing. Though those who know that this life is a time of discipline and probation for the next, are not surprised that the draught of our earthly cup is mixed of bitter herbs only, still it is to be remembered that God knows the weakness of the human mind,-that we are dust and ashes,and that therefore it cannot be deemed a wrongful prayer to pray with David, that God would, by the infusion of a few sweet drops, render the bitter draught more palatable. "As all my fathers were," probably refers to the confessions of Abraham and Jacob. In similar terms David says (1 Chron. xxix. 14. 15), after the humble confession, that the costly material, which he had procured for the building of the Temple, was really the property of God, "For we are strangers before thee and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." PSALM XL. A Psalm like Psalm ix. simultaneously expressive of gratitude and complaint. Gratitude for deliverance is the leading sentiment; then follows the cry for help in view of impending dangers; and in verse 18 there ensues a final calm. The portion of the Psalm which begins with verse 14 occurs in Psalm lxx. in a separate form. Situations such as this Psalm presumes them, in which danger and persecution were still threatening after remarkable deliverances, constantly occurred in the life of David during this flight before Saul. He had scarcely retired from the town of Kejilah to the wilderness of Siph, before the Siphites send word to Saul: having afterwards escaped from Saul into the wilderness of Maon and fled to Engedi, Saul pursued him as far as there having in the wilderness of Siph escaped from Saul a second time, he is so depressed at the snares and persecutions which compassed him on every hand, that weary of the unceasing chase and flight, he says, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul shall despair of me to seek me any more in any coast in Israel, so shall I escape out of his hand."5 (1) Ex. xxii. 21; Lev. xix. 10. (2) Ps. cxlvi. 9. (3) Job x. 2. (4) Gen. xxiii. 4; xlvii. 9; Heb. xi. 13. (5) 1 Sam. xxvii. 1. With a solemn and grateful mind he praises the deliverance he has just experienced (v. 2-5): contemplating his manifold experience of the marvellous love of God, he ardently desires worthily to thank the Lord; and knowing that sacrifice of itself is not sufficient, he promises to render the sacrifice of himself, of his will, according to the requirements of the law, besides his cheerful testimony to the justice, goodness, and faithfulness of God in the congregation (v. 6-11). Now for the first time remembering the uncertain soil of the present, he sends up his fervent petitions (v. 13-17), and concludes with a calmed mind (v. 18). + 1 TO the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 2 I waited patiently for the LORD; And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 3 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, 4 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, 5 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, And thy thoughts which are to us-ward: 7 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; to me): Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 8 Then said I, Lo, I come:t In the volume of the book it is written of me, 9 I delight to do thy will, O my God: Yea, thy law is within my heart. 10 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. 11 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: אָז I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation. I.e. The inward ear; another figure is, The wakening of the ear (Isa. 1. 4). denotes here Succession in time (Jer. xxii. 15; Ps. lvi. 10). N is explained by Kimchi, by supplying, and that not in the Temple only, (Ps. lxv. 3; lxxi. 16; xcv. 6). Stier compares less happily N with Numb. xxii. 38, 2 Sam. xix. 21. 12 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually pre 13 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: 14 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. 15 Let them be ashamed and confounded together Let them be driven backward and put to shame 16 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame 17 Let all those that seek thee Rejoice and be glad in thee: Let such as love thy salvation Say continually, "The LORD be magnified." 18 But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinketh upon me: Thou art my help and my deliverer; serve me. V. 2-4. David describes his anguish and peril of life, by the figure of a man who, e.g. like Joseph or Jeremiah, having been thrown into a cistern, sinks deeper and deeper into the mire. When the Lord had stretched out his mighty hand to him, he felt like one who, delivered from such a perilous situation, has by some helping hand been set upon a rock. He projects to celebrate this new theme in new accents, and rejoices in the thought that his own experience should prove subservient to the piety of others. V. 5. Those who are strongly attached to appearances are prone rather to cling to the mighty ones on earth whom they see, than to God whom they do not see. But while "He giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not,' they are proud,-while He is faithful, they deal in lies. How much better to trust in God than in man! V.6-9. This one experience opens to David the wonders of Divine mercy in general. Who can vividly realize them, without feeling constrained to proclaim them to a blinded world, that pass them day after day without seeing or hearing them? David is thus constrained, but is none of those who consider that words alone can do it. He not only knows the insufficiency of human speech in these matters, but is equally conscious that gratitude. needs works as the concomitants of words. In his relation to God he is not satisfied with those works which suffice to the great mass of mankind. He has not forgotten the saying of Samuel, his fatherly friend, that “to obey is better than sacrifice;" nor received it on human authority, but the Spirit of God has confirmed it to his mind. Whatever name the different kinds of sacrifice may bear, he knows that they are the symbols of the self-sacrifice (1) Cf. ad. Ps. lxix. 3. (2) 1 Sam. xv. 22. of man. Man offers them with an obscure feeling that the sacrifice of his will is as yet incomplete. On that account David testifies before the Lord, that he has sacrificed his own will and adopted the Divine as his, and that the law of God is for him not only inscribed upon the tables of stone, but written upon his heart. But, it is asked, how can David say so, since he immediately after declares that "his iniquities are more than the hairs on his head"? The Spirit of God, we answer, had certainly put these sublime words into the mouth of David, which in their fullest sense, however, could only be uttered by the Son of God, who said, "I seek the will of my Father," and, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." Just at that moment, when he had soared aloft in prayer, the expression may have been true of David (for imperfect man may bring such sacrifices of self in his prayers); but in his life it was a truth of only gradual development. Christ, however, who became man to lay down his life for man by the perfect resignation of his will, could in the fullest sense say, "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me" (i.e. for sacrifice for he made a sacrifice to God of the life he lived in the body and of the body itself). V. 10. 11. Gratitude is to be an act; but who that experiences gratitude can repress the words? Though the wonders of Divine mercy cannot be numbered, should we not count as many as we are able? So David deems it his duty to preach to the godly, that the mercy of God which has yielded so much fruit to him, may likewise yield fruit to others. V. 12. 13. While speaking of the past love and faithfulness of God, he is reminded of the present and the immediate future before him, and feels how little he can spare the continuance of that love and faithfulness. He has formed lofty views of the duties of the godly, and expressed his heart's desire that his own will should be absorbed by that of God; but this only causes him to pass a more severe sentence on his past life, to recognize the hand of a just God in his sufferings however undeserved they might appear to human eyes, and to measure the number of his offences by the number of his sufferings. These expressions furnish the clue, why afflictions, which less conscientious men could have better borne than David, so completely prostrated him. V. 14-18. With a humble and contrite heart he now cries for help, and summoning his adversaries before the Divine judgment seat, enumerates the proofs of their inhuman disposition: they aim at his life, rejoice at his tears, and every new disaster which befals him. On the other hand, he infers from his past experiences the exultation to which his own deliverance would give rise among the children of God, confesses the Lord as his all-sufficient help, and prays, weakened by the endless chain of affliction, for the speedy forthcoming of that help. PSALM XLI. A Plaintive Psalm composed in sickness, which was attended by the haughtiness of enemies and the faithlessness of friends. It cannot well fall into the period of David's reign, because it is improbable that such potent adversaries should have surrounded the king, or if they had, he would no doubt from the sick-bed have concerted means to check their malice. It is therefore better to refer it to the period of his residence at the court of Saul. We know that he was there surrounded by crafty men, who in every way (1) Heb. x. 5. M sought to calumniate him with the king (v. 7). It is by no means improbable that his friends and associates dealt with him in a hostile manner, though there is no historic record to that effect. Psalm lxix. refers to similar circumstances (cf. verse 21). The Psalmist, conscious of his desertion, promises the reward of blessing to those who will espouse the cause of the afflicted in their time of calamity (v. 2-4): previous to presenting his petition to the Lord, he confesses his readiness to regard his disease as a well-merited chastisement (v. 5): he complains of the cunning of enemies, that his friends cannot be depended upon (v. 6—10), and prays for health for the purpose of punishing the faithless, and of knowing thereby that the Lord has not wholly cast him off (v. 11-13). 1 TO the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 2 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: The LORD will deliver him in the day of evil. 3 The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; And he shall be blessed upon the earth: And thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. 4 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: Thou wilt turn all his bed in his sickness. 5 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: Heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. 6 Mine enemies speak evil of me, "When shall he die, and his name perish?" 7 And if they come to see me, they speak vanity (or, "false Their heart gathereth iniquity, They go abroad and tell it. 8 All that hate me whisper together against me: Against me do they devise my hurt. hood"): 9 "An evil disease," say they, "cleaveth fast unto him: 10 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, Hath lifted up his heel against me. 11 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, And raise me up, that I may requite them. 12 By this I know that thou favourest me, That mine enemy shall not triumph over me. 13 But as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, And settest me before thy face for ever. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel From everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. V. 2 10. The kind of recompense, which the Psalmist expressed in verse 4, shows that he understands by the poor, one afflicted with disease. He |