see it best of all at Calvary. What yearnings there!-what love!what goodness! And the "whole creation" shall yet have a share in that mercy, when the time spoken of in Rom. viii. 19-21 has arrived. 4. The harp extols Jehovah's kingdom, in ver. 10–13. All he has created, and all he has wrought in providence, has been of such a character as to yield him a revenue of praise, and his saints act as his priests, presenting the praise. But this will be peculiarly the case when the kingdom is manifested. "They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, And shall talk of (chronicle, as ver. 5) thy might (see ver. And the glory of the majesty of thy kingdom." 4), The writer of Esther i. 4 says, "While he shewed them the riches of the glory of his kingdom "—a kingdom which was to last only a season -may we suppose that that writer, a man of Israel, purposely was led to use these terms, with this psalm in his hand, as if, by contrast, to suggest the infinite difference between that earthly monarch's splendour, and the glory of the God of Israel? The Persian monarch's display lasted 180 days, and when its half-year was over, the splendour had vanished; whereas Jehovah's is (as Dan. iv. 31) also "A kingdom of all eternities;" "In every generation and generation." 5. The harp extols the qualifications of Him who reigneth, in ver. 14-19. "The Lord is an upholder to all that are falling, And maketh all that are bowed down to stand upright." Those in distress and trouble are meant by the "falling," as in Prov. xlii. 16, 17; and who the "bowed down" are, we see by Ps. lvii. 7, where the psalmist's soul is nearly overwhelmed by the thought of snares and foes shutting him in. Rejoice, O saints! though ye are feeling disaster and calamity, and are sore distressed, your Lord is coming to put all things in order. The world shall soon hear no sigh, no murmur, no voice of weeping; for his unsuffering kingdom is at hand! He has provision for all (ver. 15 and 16); he is more than was Joseph in Goshen to his own, and to all creation. And he acts on the holiest principles of administration (ver. 17), while giving access and audience to his subjects who seek his presence (ver. 19). Yea, he will satiate their weary souls, and leave not one wish ungratified— not one craving, not one longing-"He will accomplish the desire of those that fear him." 6. The harp sings the ruin of those who resist His kingdom, in ver. 20. There is a reference to the day of the Lord's coming; for he is spoken of as preserving the souls that love him, while "destroying the wicked ones." The word for "destroy" is the same (T, the opposite of i) as that in Deut. ii. 12, 21, 22, where we are told of the extirpation of various nations; and the same used in Isa. xiv. 23, of Babylon's ruin; and the same in Esther iii. 6, when Haman plotted to uproot Israel at one blow. Antichrist shall be consumed and "destroyed" by the brightness of the Lord's coming; and all that are on his side, in that day when the King establishes his holy kingdom. 7. The harp invites all to join the sweet-singer in praise to the King (ver. 21). We saw that the psalm began by prefixing the peculiar title, "Praise," 2, in order to excite attention, and tune our hearts for its lively, joyful, thrilling strains. And now it closes, uttering the same note “ My mouth shall speak the praise () of the Lord,” the praise of Him who at the Red Sea was known as 'terrible in praises" (i), and who is known by Calvary and by Olivet scenes since then. "Let all flesh bless the name of his holiness for ever;" let them cry, in response to the seraphim, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" for we are borne onward to the millennial day by this psalm, which is so plainly A praise-hymn concerning the kingdom of the Lord, and the Lord the King. PSALM CXLVI. This is the beginning of that closing series of psalms which may be called "Hallelujah Psalms." The Septuagint ascribes this, and the three following, to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, but on what ground we know not. It seems probable, however, that as the day of Christ's first coming approached nearer, the Holy Spirit did indite songs of Zion that were fuller of triumph and praise than any preceding ones; and so constructed them, that they might be used afterwards in prospect of the day of his second coming. In these latter psalms, the tone is that of peace attained, and tribulation passed, for the most part. The Lord Jesus himself, as well as his followers, could take up this psalm. Jehovah's peculiar character, in contrast to all earthly princes, and benefactors, and friends, is the theme. "I will praise Jehovah while I live ; I will play to my God so long as I am.” Confide not in earth's nobles, earth's princely ones, who are each of them but " a son of man" (DN) returning to his TN, dust; "For salvation is not in any one of them; All their "thoughts," their schemes for good or for evil, pass away. Blessed the man who has Jacob's God (, the strong one), “amid his help" (Ps. cxviii. 7, liv. 4); for he is Jehovah, Maker of heaven, earth, and sea; and this Maker of heaven, earth, and sea is the same "Who keepeth truth for ever!" Whatever he has promised to the sons of men, he will perform. Whatever he promised about "the seed of the woman," he will perform it. Whatever he has spoken to David of the Son who was to sit on his throne, he will fulfil. Whatever he has declared by his prophets regarding Israel, he will accomplish-" the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham" (Mic. vii. 20). Yes, the truth shall assuredly be kept; and there is mercy too, there is love, there is grace in this truth. For ver. 7-9 describe the same Jehovah acting for men in accordance with his truth. We, in our day, read the words, and at every step we see the verification in the incarnate Son of God; even as Jesus, in singing these words when on earth, would have reference to himself as the great illustration of each clause. Did not Jesus relieve "all that were oppressed of the devil" (Acts x. 38), as a sample of ver. 7; and did he not "give food to the hungry" (John vi.)? Did Jesus not set free "the prisoners," when he healed the Bethesda man, bound for thirtyeight years (John v.), and when he sent his angel to set Peter free? (Acts xii.) How often did he " open the eyes of the blind"? and the literally "bowed down" he made straight (Luke xiii. 16), as well as the spiritually laden (Matt. xi. 20); and, in spite of their low condition, "he loved the righteous ; a fisherman of Galilee lay on his bosom; his parables told of a diseased Lazarus; and there was a Lazarus of Bethany, in whom he delighted. We know his care "of the stranger;" for we read of his words to the Syrophenician, and to the Samaritan leper (Luke xvii. 16–19); while "the widow" of Nain, and his tender words in John xiv. 18, tell how he "restored" (TT) to cheerfulness the orphan and the widow. His second coming shall tell how, as his purging the temple intimated (John ii. 15, Matt. xxi. 12), "He overturneth the way of the wicked." This is He who is "King" for ever! This is "thy God, O Zion!" who shall be thine to all generations. The mention of such a King and God may well draw forth another "Hallelujah"-a "Hallelujah" such as we hear again in Rev. xix. 1-6, when "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." For "that great voice of much people in heaven" fully accords in spirit, and may be joined with the psalm before us, uttering, as it does, Rapturous praise, in contrasting all earth's great ones with Jehovah the King. PSALM CXLVII. The God of Israel, what he has done, what he does, what he can dothis is the "Hallelujah" note of his song. So gladsome is the theme, that in ver. 1 we find a contribution laid on Ps. xxxiii. 1, xcii. 1, and cxxxv. 3, to furnish their quota of testimony to the desirableness of giving praise to such a God. The theme is stated in ver. 2, and then expatiated upon onwards to the end of ver. 11, where the Septuagint finish the psalm, casting the remaining verses into a psalm by itself. It is probably one of those songs of Zion which the Holy Ghost gave to Israel under Nehemiah and Ezra, when the circumstances of that partial restoration furnished an appropriate occasion for celebrating the joy of the still greater restoration in the latter days, when Messiah should go up at the head of them. Let us remark upon ver. 4. It sets forth the true greatness and grandeur of Israel's God, who can attend at once to every wound of every broken-hearted one, and to the glorious host of stars. This power of attending so carefully to what is minute, is peculiar to Jehovah. And he "counts" or determines the number of the stars, just as he does the dust of Jacob (Numb. xxiii. 10)—assigning each his " name," "according to his quality, as Adam did to the creation in Paradise on a limited scale (Gen. ii. 20). His resources are inexhaustible, for "his understanding is infinite," as well as his "power." "Sing to Jehovah a responsive song," (1) like what we find in Nehem. xii. 27-43. For he, the God of creation, feeds even the ravens (Luke xii. 24 may be Christ's quotation of these words), disagreeable as they often seem to man; and, judging not as man does, he delights in his children's reverend faith, not in displays of warlike pomp and military valour (ver. 10)—yes, in his children's godly fear, and in their hope also. "In the hopers for his mercy." the mercy" of the Is not this equivalent to Jude 21, "who look for Lord Jesus at his coming; and in 1 Pet. i. 13, "who hope for the grace that is to be brought them at the appearing of Jesus Christ? And it is at that day when ver. 12-14 shall be fully realised, Israel getting back again "the fat of wheat," as Moses sang (Deut. xxxii. 14). On that day they will remember how, long ago, they had appealed to Jehovah as able to reverse their captivity, even as he changed night into day, winter into summer, the floods into dry land (Ps. lxxiv. 15–17). He who commands and forthwith snow appears, and who summons the frost to serve him and then dissolves it (see ver. 15-18), He it is who reverses Israel's desolation, sending His word, relaxing their bonds, and causing rivers of milk and honey to flow in their land, and themselves walk on the shady banks. This is the God of Israel, who selected his people as a peculiar people, in ages past, "declaring his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel" the revealer of the way of salvation, and the appointer of the types that foreshadowed better things, all which Israel enjoyed. He has been sovereign from the first; he will act in sovereignty to the last. In times past, "he dealt not thus with any heathen nation;" and 66 to the end it will be seen he has done for Israel, in sovereign grace, more than he has done for all other peoples. Hallelujah," then! Let a sovereign God be praised on earth now, even as he shall be by the "voice of much people in heaven" (Ps. xix. 1), who see him glorified in his mysterious dealings and terrible judgments. Let us take up this calmly triumphant song of Praise to the sovereign Jehovah, who rejoiceth over Israel restored. PSALM CXLVIII. This is Israel's incontrollable burst of praise at the thought of Him who makes them "a people near to him;" a priestly people (see Levit. x. 3; Ezek. lxii. 13; Deut. iv. 7; and Numb. xvi. 5-9.) How they rejoice before Him in the latter day, restored from their wanderings! One great deed of a benefactor draws attention and inclines us to dwell upon all that is in him; and so it is here with Israel in this "hallelujah." They call for praise "from the heavens;" they bid those "in the heights" give praise; "all angels," of whatever rank, "all his hosts," with one accord. Sun at noon, moon at midnight, stars so bright, the visible host of the sky, as the angels are the invisible; "heaven of heavens," where is the orbit of the planet and the path of the comet, and the track of every star; "waters above the heaven," or firmament,* the clouds of the sky-unite ye in one song of praise! at this summons? Why should ye? (Gen. i. 7.) "For he commanded and they were created" Do ye wonder Yes, even angels, as Augustine asks, in Ps. lxxi. 19"Ne putes hominem solum pertinere ad gratiam Dei. Quid erat angelus antequam fieret? Quid est angelus, si deserat qui creavit ?" Again, then, he takes up the call-and now it is as if one from heaven looked down to earth and summoned it to praise, as before it was one on earth looking upward to heaven. "Praise ye Jehovah from the earth!" Ye great whales (Gen. i. 21), and ye floods wherein they swim; heat and cold, white snow and dark smoke (Gen. xix. 20; Ps. cxix. 83, Hengstenberg); strong wind that, amid apparent anarchy, dost his will; mountains, and more lowly hills, diversifying the face of earth; ye palms and pomegranates, fruit-trees, ye firs and pines, "cedars of every kind;" wild beasts and tame; reptiles and fowls of every wing, whether small as the wren, or majestic as the eagle-unite in one song of praise! All the more because ye, too, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, and have your share in the millennial liberty of the sons of God (Rom. viii. 21). *This is the first heavens, the sky; the second is that just mentioned; the third heavens was called upon in ver. 1, 2. |