TITLE. To the Chief Musician, a Psalm
or Song of David. We have already said enough upon this
title when dealing with Psalms 65 and 66. The present is
obviously a song to be sung at the removal of the ark; and in
all probability was rehearsed when David conducted it with holy
joy from the house of Obededom to the prepared place on Mount
Zion. It is a most soul stirring hymn. The first verses were
often the battle song of the Covenanters and Ironsides; and the
whole Psalm fitly pictures the way of the Lord Jesus among his
saints, and his ascent to glory. The Psalm is at once
surpassingly excellent and difficult. Its darkness in some
stanzas is utterly impenetrable. Well does a German critic speak
of it as a Titan very hard to master. Our slender scholarship
has utterly failed us and we have had to follow a surer Guide.
We trust our thoughts may not however prove unprofitable.
DIVISION. With the words of the first
two verses the ark is uplifted, and the procession begins to
move. In Ps 68:3-6, the godly in the assembly are exhorted to
commence their joyous songs, and arguments are adduced to help
their joy. Then the glorious march of Jehovah in the wilderness
is sung: Ps 68:7-10, and his victories in war are celebrated in
verses Ps 68:11-14. The joyous shouts are louder as Zion comes
in sight, and the ark is borne up the hill: Ps 68:15-19. On the
summit of the mount the priests sing a hymn concerning the
Lord's goodness and justice; the safety of his friends, and ruin
of his foes: Ps 68:20-23. Meanwhile the procession is described
as it winds up the hill: Ps 68:24-27. The poet anticipates a
time of wider conquest, Ps 68:28-31: and concludes with a noble
burst of song unto Jehovah.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Let God arise. In some such words
Moses spake when the cloud moved onward, and the ark was carried
forward. The ark would have been a poor leader if the Lord had
not been present with the symbol. Before we move, we should
always desire to see the Lord lead the way. The words suppose
the Lord to have been passive for awhile, suffering his enemies
to rage, but restraining his power. Israel beseeches him to
"arise, "as elsewhere to "awake, ""gird
on his sword, "and other similar expressions. We, also, may
thus importunately cry unto the Lord, that he would be pleased
to make bare his arm, and plead his own cause. Let his enemies
be scattered. Our glorious Captain of the vanguard clears the
way readily, however many may seek to obstruct it; he has but to
arise, and they flee, he has easily over thrown his foes in days
of yore, and will do so all through the ages to come. Sin,
death, and hell know the terror of his arm; their ranks are
broken at his approach. Our enemies are his enemies, and
in this is our confidence of victory. Let them also that hate
him flee before him. To hate the infinitely good God is
infamous, and the worst punishment is not too severe. Hatred of
God is impotent. His proudest foes can do him no injury. Alarmed
beyond measure, they shall flee before it comes to blows. Long
before the army of Israel can come into the fray, the haters of
God shall flee before HIM who is the champion of his chosen. He
comes, he sees, he conquers. How fitting a prayer is this for
the commencement of a revival! How it suggests the true mode of
conducting one:—the Lord leads the way, his people follow, the
enemies flee.
NEW TRANSLATION
In order that our readers may see the Psalm at a glance in a
good translation, we subjoin the version of FRANZ DELITZSCH;
recommending our ministerial brethren to procure the volumes of
his valuable Commentary on the Psalms, issued by the Messrs.
CLARK, of Edinburgh.
HYMN OF WAR AND VICTORY IN THE STYLE OF DEBORAH
2 LET Elohim arise, let His enemies be scattered,
And let those who hate Him flee before His face.
3 As smoke is driven away, do Thou drive them away;
As wax melteth before the fire,
Let the wicked perish before Elohim.
4 And let the righteous rejoice, let them exult before Elohim,
And let them be glad with joy.
5 Sing unto Elohim, harp His name,
Pave a highway for Him who rideth along through the steppes;
Jah is his name, and exult ye before Him.
6 A Father of the fatherless and an Advocate of the widows
Is Elohim in His holy habitation.
7 Elohim maketh a household for the solitary,
He leadeth forth prisoners into prosperity;
Yet the rebellious abide in a land of drought.
8 Elohim, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people,
When thou didst march along in the wilderness—Sela.
9 The earth shook,
The heavens also dropped before Elohim,
Yon Sinai before Elohim, the God of Israel.
10 With plentiful rain didst Thou, Elohim, water Thine
inheritance,
And when it was parched, THOU hast confirmed it.
11 Thy creatures have settled down therein,
Thou didst provide with Thy goodness for the poor, Elohim.
12 The Lord will sound forth the mandate;
Of the women who herald victory there is a great army.
13 The kings of hosts shall flee, shall flee,
And she that tarrieth at home, shall divide the spoil.
14 If ye encamp among the sheep folds,
The dove's wings are covered with silver
And her feathers with glistening gold.
15 When the Almighty scattereth kings therein,
It becometh snow white upon Zalmon.
16 A mountain of Elohim is the mountain of Bashan,
A mountain full of peaks is the mountain of Bashan.
17 Why look ye enviously, ye many peaked mountains,
Upon the mountain which Elohim hath chosen, to dwell thereon?
Yea, Jahve will dwell (there) for ever.
18 The war chariots of Elohim are myriads, a thousand
thousands,
The Lord is among them, it is a Sinai in holiness.
19 Thou hast ascended up to the height, Thou hast led
captives captive,
Thou hast received gifts among men,
Even from the rebellious, that Jah Elohim might dwell (there).
20 Blessed be the Lord:
Day by day doth He bear our burden,
He, God, is our salvation. (Sela.)
21 He, God, is to us a God for deeds of deliverance,
And Jahve the Lord hath ways of escape for death.
22 Yea, Elohim will smite the head of His enemie,
The hairy scalp of him who stalks along in his trespasses.
23 The Lord hath said: Out of Bashan will I bring back,
I will bring back out of the depths of the sea,
24 That thou mayest bathe thy foot in blood,
That the tongue of thy dogs may have its share of the enemy.
25 They behold Thy splendid procession, Elohim,
The splendid procession of my God, my King in holiness.
26 Before went the singers, behind the players on stringed
instruments,
In the midst of damsels striking timbrels.
27 In the choirs of the congregation bless ye Elohim,
The Lord, ye who are out of the fountain of Israel.
28 There is Benjamin the youngest, their ruler;
The princes of Judah—their motley band,
The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali,
29 Thy God hath commanded thy supreme power—
Uphold in power, Elohim, what Thou hast wrought for us!—
30 From Thy temple above Jerusalem
Let kings present offerings unto Thee.
31 Threaten the wild beast of the reed, the troops of bulls
with the calves of the people,
That they may prostrate themselves with ingots of silver!—
He hath scattered the peoples that delight in wars.
32 Magnates come out of Egypt,
Cush—quickly do his hands stretch out unto Elohim.
33 Ye kingdoms of the earth, sing unto Elohim,
Praising the Lord with stringed instruments—(Sela.)
34 To Him who rideth in the heaven of heavens of the primeval
time—
Lo, He made Himself heard with His voice, a mighty voice.
35 Ascribe ye might unto Elohim!
Over Israel is His majesty.
And His omnipotence in the heights of the heavens.
36 Terrible is Elohim out of thy sanctuaries;
"The God of Israel giveth might and abundant strength to
the people!"
Blessed be Elohim!
Verse 2. As smoke is driven away. Easily the
wind chases the smoke, completely it removes it, no trace is
left; so, Lord, do thou to the foes of thy people. They fume in
pride, they darken the sky with their malice, they mount higher
and higher in arrogance, they defile wherever they prevail.
Lord, let they breath, thy Spirit, thy Providence, make them to
vanish for ever from the march of thy people. Philosophic
scepticism is as flimsy and as foul as smoke; may the Lord
deliver his Church from the reek of it. As wax melteth before
the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Wax is hard when by itself, but put it to the fire, how soft it
is. Wicked men are haughty till they come into contact with the
Lord, and then they faint for fear; their hearts melt like wax
when they feel the power of his anger. Wax, also, burns and
passes away; the taper is utterly consumed by the flame: so
shall all the boastful power of the opposers of the gospel be as
a thing of nought. Rome, like the candles on her altars, shall
dissolve, and with equal certainty shall infidelity disappear.
Israel saw, in the ark, God on the mercyseat—power in
connection with propitiation—and they rejoiced in the
omnipotence of such a manifestation; this is even more clearly
the confidence of the New Testament church, for we see Jesus,
the appointed atonement, clothed with glory and majesty, and
before his advance all opposition melts like snow in the sun;
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. When he
comes by his Holy Spirit, conquest is the result; but when he
arises in person, his foes shall utterly perish.
Verse 3. But let the righteous be glad. The
presence of God on the throne of grace is an overflowing source
of delight to the godly; and let them not fail to drink of the
streams which are meant to make them glad. Let them rejoice
before God. The courtiers of the happy God should wear the
garments of gladness, for in his presence is fulness of joy.
That presence, which is the dread and death of the wicked, is
the desire and delight of the saints. Yea, let them exceedingly
rejoice. Let them dance with all their might, as David did, for
very joy. No bounds should be set to joy in the Lord.
"Again, I say, rejoice, "says the apostle, as if he
would have us add joy to joy without measure or pause. When God
is seen to shine propitious from above the mercyseat in the
person of our Immanuel, our hearts must needs leap within us
with exultation, if we are indeed among those made righteous in
his righteousness, and sanctified by his Spirit. Move on, O army
of the living God, with shouts of abounding triumph, for Jesus
leads the van.
Verse 4. Sing unto God, sing praises to his name.
To time and tune, with order and care, celebrate the character
and deeds of God, the God of his people. Do it again and again;
and let the praise, with resolution of heart, be all directed to
him. Sing not for ostentation, but devotion; not to be heard of
men, but of the Lord himself. Sing not to the congregation, but
"unto God," Extol him that rideth upon the heavens by
his name JAH. Remember his most great, incomprehensible, and
awful name; reflect upon his self existence and absolute
dominion, rise to the highest pitch of joyful reverence in
adoring him. Heaven beholds him riding on the clouds in storm,
and earth has seen him marching over its plains with majesty.
The Hebrew seems to be: "Cast up a highway for him who
marches through the wilderness, "in allusion to the
wanderings of the tribes in the desert. The marches of God were
in the waste howling wilderness. His eternal power and Godhead
were there displayed in his feeding, ruling, and protecting the
vast hosts which he had brought out of Egypt. The ark brought
all this to remembrance, and suggested it as a theme for song.
The name JAH is an abbreviation of the name Jehovah; it is not a
diminution of that name, but an intensified word, containing in
it the essence of the longer, august title. It only occurs here
in our version of Scripture, except in connection with other
words such as Hallelujah. And rejoice before him. In the
presence of him who marched so gloriously at the head of the
elect nation, it is most fitting that all his people should
display a holy delight. We ought to avoid dulness in our
worship. Our songs should be weighty with solemnity, but not
heavy with sadness. Angels are nearer the throne than we, but
their deepest awe is consonant with the purest bliss; our sense
of divine greatness must not minister terror but gladness to our
souls; we should rejoice before him. It should be our
wish and prayer, that in this wilderness world, a highway may be
prepared for the God of grace. "Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God,
"is the cry of gospel heralds, and we must all zealously
aim at obedience thereto; for where the God of the mercyseat
comes, blessings innumerable are given to the sons of men.
Verse 5. A father of the fatherless, and a judge of
the widows, is God in his holy habitation. In the wilderness
the people were like an orphan nation, but God was more than a
father to them. As the generation which came out of Egypt
gradually died away, there were many widows and fatherless ones
in the camp, but they suffered no want or wrong, for the
righteous laws and the just administrators whom God had
appointed, looked well to the interests of the needy. The
tabernacle was the Palace of Justice; the ark was the seat of
the great King. This was a great cause for joy to Israel, that
they were ruled by the ONE who would not suffer the poor and
needy to be oppressed. To this day and for ever, God is, and
will be, the peculiar guardian of the defenceless. He is the
President of Orphanages, the Protector of Widows. He is so
glorious that he rides on the heavens, but so compassionate that
he remembers the poor of the earth. How zealously ought his
church to cherish those who are here marked out as Jehovah's
especial charge. Does he not here in effect say, "Feed my
lambs"? Blessed duty, it shall be our privilege to make
this one of our life's dearest objects. The reader is warned
against misquoting this verse; it is generally altered into "the
husband of the widow, "but Scripture had better be left
as God gave it.
Verse 6. God setteth the solitary in families.
The people had been sundered and scattered over Egypt; family
ties had been disregarded, and affections crushed; but when the
people escaped from Pharaoh they came together again, and all
the fond associations of household life were restored. This was
a great joy. He bringeth out those which are bound with chains.
The most oppressed in Egypt were chained and imprisoned, but the
divine Emancipator brought them all forth into perfect liberty.
He who did this of old continues his gracious work. The solitary
heart, convinced of sin and made to pine alone, is admitted into
the family of the Firstborn; the fettered spirit is set free,
and its prison broken down, when sin is forgiven; and for all
this, God is to be greatly extolled, for he hath done it, and
magnified the glory of his grace. But the rebellious dwell in a
dry land. If any find the rule of Jehovah to be irksome, it is
because their rebellious spirits kick against his power. Israel
did not find the desert dry, for the smitten rock gave forth its
streams; but even in Canaan itself men were consumed with
famine, because they cast off their allegiance to their covenant
God. Even where God is revealed on the mercyseat, some men
persist in rebellion, and such need not wonder if they find no
peace, no comfort, no joy, even where all these abound. Justice
is the rule of the Lord's kingdom, and hence there is no
provision for the unjust to indulge their evil lustings: a
perfect earth, and even heaven itself, would be a dry land to
those who can only drink of the waters of sin. Of the most soul
satisfying of sacred ordinances these witless rebels cry,
"what a weariness it is!" and, under the most soul
sustaining ministry, they complain of "the foolishness of
preaching." When a man has a rebellious heart, he must of
necessity find all around him a dry land.
Verse 7. O God, when thou wentest forth before thy
people. What a sweetly suitable association,
"thou" and "thy people; "—thou before, and
thy people following! The Lord went before, and, therefore,
whether the Red Sea or burning sand lay in the way, it mattered
not; the pillar of cloud and fire always led them by a right
way. When thou didst march through the wilderness. He was the
Commander in chief of Israel, from whom they received all
orders, and the march was therefore his march. "His
stately step the region drear beheld." We may speak, if we
will, of the "wanderings of the children of Israel,
"but we must not think them purposeless strayings, they
were in reality a well arranged and well considered march.
SELAH. This seems an odd place for a musical pause or direction,
but it is better to break a sentence than spoil praise. The
sense is about to be superlatively grand, and, therefore, the selah
intimates the fact to the players and singers, that they may
with suitable solemnity perform their parts. It is never
untimely to remind a congregation that the worship of God should
be thoughtfully and heartily presented.
Verse 8. The earth shook. Beneath the sublime
tread the solid ground trembled. The heavens also dropped at the
presence of God, as if they bowed before their God, the clouds
descended, and "a few dark shower drops stole abroad."
Even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God. Moses tell
us, in Exodus 19, that "the whole mountain quaked
greatly." That hill, so lone and high, bowed before the
manifested God. The God of Israel. The one only living and true
God, whom Israel worshipped, and who had chosen that nation to
be his own above all the nations of the earth. The passage is so
sublime, that it would be difficult to find its equal. May the
reader's heart adore the God before whom the unconscious earth
and sky act as if they recognised their Maker and were moved
with a tremor of reverence.
Verse 9. Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain.
The march of God was not signalized solely by displays of
terror, for goodness and bounty were also made conspicuous. Such
rain as never fell before dropped on the desert sand, bread from
heaven and winged fowl fell all around the host; good gifts were
poured upon them, rivers leaped forth from rocks. The earth
shook with fear, and in reply, the Lord, as from a cornucopia,
shook out blessings upon it; so the original may be rendered.
Whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.
As at the end of each stage, when they halted, weary with the
march, they found such showers of good things awaiting them that
they were speedily refreshed. Their foot did not swell all those
forty years. When they were exhausted, God was not. When they
were weary, He was not. They were his chosen heritage, and,
therefore, although for their good he allowed them to be weary,
yet he watchfully tended them and tenderly considered their
distresses. In like manner, to this day, the elect of God in
this wilderness state are apt to become tired and faint, but
their ever loving Jehovah comes in with timely succours, cheers
the faint, strengthens the weak, and refreshes the hungry; so
that once again, when the silver trumpets sound, the church
militant advances with bold and firm step towards "the rest
which remaineth." By this faithfulness, the faith of God's
people is confirmed, and their hearts established; if fatigue
and want made them waver, the timely supply of grace stays them
again upon the eternal foundations.
Verse 10. Thy congregation hath dwelt therein.
In the wilderness itself, enclosed as in a wall of fire, thy
chosen church has found a home; or, rather, girdled by the
shower of free grace which fell all around the camp, thy flock
has rested. The congregation of the faithful find the Lord to be
their "dwelling place in all generations." Where there
were no dwellings of men, God was the dwelling of his people.
Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. Within
the guarded circle there was plenty for all; all were poor in
themselves, yet there were no beggars in all the camp, for
celestial fare was to be had for the gathering. We, too, still
dwell within the circling protection of the Most High, and find
goodness made ready for us: although poor and needy by nature,
we are enriched by grace; divine preparations in the decree, the
covenant, the atonement, providence, and the Spirit's work, have
made ready for us a fulness of the blessing of the Lord. Happy
people, though in the wilderness, for all things are ours, in
possessing the favour and presence of our God.
Verse 11. In the next verse we do not sing of
marching, but of battle and victory. The Lord gave the word. The
enemy was near, and the silver trumpet from the tabernacle door
was God's mouth to warn the camp: then was there hurrying to and
fro, and a general telling of the news; great was the company of
those that published it. The women ran from tent to tent and
roused their lords to battle. Ready as they always were to chant
the victory, they were equally swift to publish the fact that
the battle note had been sounded. The ten thousand maids of
Israel, like good handmaids of the Lord, aroused the sleepers,
called in the wanderers, and bade the valiant men to hasten to
the fray. O for the like zeal in the church of today, that, when
the gospel is published, both men and women may eagerly spread
the glad tidings of great joy.
Verse 12. Kings of armies did flee apace. The
lords of hosts fled before the Lord of Hosts. No sooner did the
ark advance than the enemy turned his back: even the princely
leaders stayed not, but took to flight. The rout was complete,
the retreat hurried and disorderly;—they "did flee, did
flee; "helter skelter, pell mell, as we say.
"Where are the kings of mighty hosts?
Fled far away, fled far and wide.
Their triumph and their trophied boasts
The damsels in their bowers divide."
And she that tarried at home divided the spoil. The women who
had published the war cry shared the booty. The feeblest in
Israel had a portion of the prey. Gallant warriors cast their
spoils at the feet of the women and bade them array themselves
in splendour, taking each one "a prey of divers colours, of
divers colours of needlework on both sides." When the Lord
gives success to his gospel, the very best of his saints are
made glad and feel themselves partakers in the blessing.
Verse 13. Though ye have lien among the pots.
Does he mean that the women at home, who had been meanly clad as
they performed their household work, would be so gorgeously
arrayed in the spoil, that they would be like doves of silver
wing and golden plumage? Or, would he say that Israel, which had
been begrimed in the brick kilns of Egypt, should come forth
lustrous and happy in triumph and liberty? Or, did the song
signify that the ark should be brought from its poor abode with
Obededom into a fairer dwelling place? It is a hard passage, a
nut for the learned to crack. If we knew all that was known when
this ancient hymn was composed, the allusion would no doubt
strike us as being beautifully appropriate, but as we do not, we
will let it rest among the unriddled things. Alexander reads it,
"When ye shall lie down between the borders, ye shall be
like the wings, "etc., which he considers to mean,
"when settled in peace, the land shall enjoy prosperity;
"but this version does not seem to us any more clear than
our authorized one. Of making many conjectures there is no end;
but the sense seems to be, that from the lowest condition the
Lord would lift up his people into joy, liberty, wealth, and
beauty. Their enemies may have called them squatters among the
pots—in allusion to their Egyptian slavery; they may have
jested at them as scullions of Pharaoh's kitchen; but the Lord
would avenge them and give them beauty for blackness, glory for
grime. Yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with
silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. The dove's
wing flashed light like silver, and anon gleams with the
radiance of "the pale, pure gold." The lovely,
changeable colours of the dove might well image the mild,
lustrous beauty of the nation, when arrayed in white holiday
attire, bedecked with their gems, jewels, and ornaments of gold.
God's saints have been in worse places than among the pots, but
now they soar aloft into the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Verse 14. When the almighty scattered kings in it,
it was white as snow in Salmon. The victory was due to the
Almighty arm alone; he scattered the haughty ones who came
against his people, and he did it as easily as snow is driven
from the bleak sides of Salmon. The word white appears to
be imported into the text, and by leaving it out the sense is
easy. A traveller informed the writer that on a raw and gusty
day, he saw the side of what he supposed to be Mount Salmon
suddenly swept bare by a gust of wind, so that the snow was
driven hither and thither into the air like the down of
thistles, or the spray of the sea: thus did the Omnipotent one
scatter all the potentates that defied Israel. If our authorized
version must stand, the conjectures that the bleached bones of
the enemy, or the royal mantles cast away in flight, whitened
the battle field, appear to be rather too far fetched for sacred
poetry. Another opinion is, that Salmon was covered with dark
forests, and appeared black, but presented quite another aspect
when the snow covered it, and that by this noteworthy change
from sombre shade to gleaming whiteness, the poet sets forth the
change from war to peace. Whatever may be the precise meaning,
it was intended to pourtray the glory and completeness of the
divine triumph over the greatest foes. In this let all believers
rejoice.
Verse 15. Here the priests on the summit of the chosen
hill begin to extol the Lord for his choice of Zion as his
dwelling place. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan, or
more accurately, "a hill of God is Bashan, "that is to
say, Bashan is an eminent mountain, far exceeding Zion in
height. According to the Hebrew custom, every great or
remarkable thing is thus designated. Where we talk of the
Devil's Dyke, the Devil's Ditch, the Devil's Punch Bowl, etc.,
the more commendable idiom of the Hebrews speaks of the hill of
God, the trees of the Lord, the river of God, etc. An high hill
as the hill of Bashan, or rather, "a mount of peaks is
Bashan." It does not appear that Zion is compared with
Bashan, but contrasted with it. Zion certainly was not a high
hill comparatively; and it is here conceded that Bashan is a
greater mount, but not so glorious, for the Lord in choosing
Zion had exalted it above the loftier hills. The loftiness of
nature is made as nothing before the Lord. He chooses as pleases
him, and, according to the counsel of his own will, he selects
Zion, and passes by the proud, uplifted peaks of Bashan; thus
doth he make the base things of this world, and things that are
despised, to become monuments of his grace and sovereignty.
Verse 16. Why leap ye, ye high hills? Why are
ye moved to envy? Envy as ye may, the Lord's choice is fixed.
Lift up yourselves, and even leap from your seats, ye cannot
reach the sublimity which Jehovah's presence has bestowed on the
little hill of Moriah. This is the hill which God desireth to
dwell in. Elohim makes Zion his abode, yea, Jehovah resides
there. Yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. Spiritually the
Lord abides eternally in Zion, his chosen church, and it was
Zion's glory to be typical thereof. What were Carmel and Sirion,
with all their height, compared to Zion, the joy of the whole
earth! God's election is a patent of nobility. They are choice
men whom God has chosen, and that place is superlatively
honoured which he honours with his presence.
Verse 17. The chariots of God are twenty thousand.
Other countries, which in the former verse were symbolically
referred to as "high hills, "gloried in their chariots
of war; but Zion, though far more lowly, was stronger than they,
for the omnipotence of God was to her as two myriads of
chariots. The Lord of Hosts could summon more forces into the
field than all the petty lords who boasted in their armies; his
horses of fire and chariots of fire would be more than a match
for their fiery steeds and flashing cars. The original is
grandly expressive: "the war chariots of Elohim are
myriads, a thousand thousands." The marginal reading of our
Bibles, even many thousands, is far more correct than the
rendering, even thousands of angels. It is not easy to
see where our venerable translators found these "angels,
"for they are not in the text; however, as it is a blessing
to entertain them unawares, we are glad to meet with them in
English, even though the Hebrew knows them not; and the more so
because it cannot be doubted that they constitute a right noble
squadron of the myriad hosts of God. We read in De 33:2, of the
Lord's coming "with ten thousands of saints, "or holy
ones, and in Heb 12:22, we find upon mount Zion "an
innumerable company of angels, "so that our worthy
translators putting the texts together, inferred the angels, and
the clause is so truthfully explanatory, that we have no fault
to find with it. The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the
holy place, or, "it is a Sinai in holiness." God
is in Zion as the Commander in chief of his countless hosts, and
where he is, there is holiness. The throne of grace on Zion is
as holy as the throne of justice on Sinai. The displays of his
glory may not be so terrible under the new covenant as under the
old; but they are even more marvellous if seen by the spiritual
eye. Sinai has no excellency of glory beyond Zion; but the
rather it pales its light of law before the noontide splendours
of Zion's grace and truth. How joyful was it to a pious Hebrew
to know that God was as truly with his people in the tabernacle
and temple as amid the terrors of the Mount of Horeb; but it is
even more heart cheering to us to be assured that the Lord
abides in his church, and has chosen it to be his rest for ever.
May we be zealous for the maintenance of holiness in the
spiritual house which God condescends to occupy; let a sense of
his presence consume, as with flames of fire, every false way.
The presence of God is the strength of the church; all power is
ours when God is ours. Twenty thousand chariots shall bear the
gospel to the ends of the earth; and myriads of agencies shall
work for its success. Providence is on our side, and it
"has servants everywhere." There is no room for a
shade of doubt or discouragement, but every reason for
exultation and confidence.
Verse 18. Thou hast ascended on high. The ark
was conducted to the summit of Zion; God himself took possession
of the high places of the earth, being extolled and very high.
The antitype of the ark, the Lord Jesus, has ascended into the
heavens with signal marks of triumph. To do battle with our
enemies, the Lord descended and left his throne; but now the
fight is finished, he returns to his glory; high above all
things is he now exalted. Thou hast led captivity captive. A
multitude of the sons of men are the willing captives of
Messiah's power. As great conquerors of old led whole nations
into captivity, so Jesus leads forth from the territory of his
foe a vast company as the trophies of his mighty grace. From the
gracious character of his reign it comes to pass that to be led
into captivity by him is for our captivity to cease, or to be
itself led captive; a glorious result indeed. The Lord Jesus
destroys his foes with their own weapons: he puts death to
death, entombs the grave, and leads captivity captive. Thou hast
received gifts for men, or, received gifts among men: they have
paid thee tribute, O mighty Conqueror, and shall in every age
continue to do so willingly, delighting in thy reign. Paul's
rendering is the gospel one: Jesus has "received gifts for
men, "of which he makes plentiful distribution, enriching
his church with the priceless fruits of his ascension, such as
apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and all their
varied endowments. In him, the man who received gifts for man,
we are endowed with priceless treasures, and moved with
gratitude, we return gifts to him, yea, we give him ourselves,
our all. Yea, for the rebellious also: these gifts the rebels
are permitted to share in; subdued by love, they are indulged
with the benefits peculiar to the chosen. The original runs,
"even the rebellious, "or, "even from the
rebellious, "of which the sense is that rebels become
captives to the Lord's power, and tributaries to his throne.
"Great King of grace my heart subdue,
I would be led in triumph too;
As willing captive to my Lord,
To own the conquests of his word."
That the Lord God might dwell among them. In the conquered
territory, Jah Elohim would dwell as Lord of all, blessing with
his condescending nearness those who were once his foes. When
Canaan was conquered, and the fort of Zion carried by storm,
then was there found a resting place for the ark of God; and so
when the weapons of victorious grace have overcome the hearts of
men, the Lord God, in all the glory of his name, makes them to
be his living temples. Moreover, the ascension of Jesus is the
reason for the descent of the Lord God, the Holy Spirit. Because
Jesus dwells with God, God dwells with men. Christ on high is
the reason for the Spirit below. It was expedient that the
Redeemer should rise, that the Comforter should come down.
Verse 19. Blessed be the Lord. At the mention
of the presence of God among men the singers utter an earnest
acclamation suggested by reverential love, and return blessings
to him who so plentifully blesses his people. Who daily loadeth
us with benefits. Our version contains a great and precious
truth, though probably not the doctrine intended here. God's
benefits are not few nor light, they are loads; neither are they
intermittent, but they come "daily; "nor are they
confined to one or two favourites, for all Israel can say, he
loadeth us with benefits. Delitzsch reads it, "He daily
bears our burden; "and Alexander, "Whoever lays a load
upon us, the Mighty God is our salvation." If he himself
burdens us with sorrow, he gives strength sufficient to sustain
it; and if others endeavour to oppress us, there is no cause for
fear, for the Lord will come to the rescue of his people. Happy
nation, to be subdued by a King whose yoke is easy, and who
secures his people from all fear of foreign burdens which their
foes might try to force upon them.
Even the God of our salvation. A name most full of glory to
him, and consolation to us. No matter how strong the enemy, we
shall be delivered out of his hands; for God himself, as King,
undertakes to save his people from all harm. What a glorious
stanza this is! It is dark only because of its excessive light.
A world of meaning is condensed into a few words. His yoke is
easy, and his burden is light, therefore blessed be the
Saviour's name for evermore. All hail! thou thrice blessed
Prince of Peace! All thy saved ones adore thee, and call thee
blessed. Selah. Well may the strings need tuning, they have
borne an unparalleled strain in this mighty song. Higher and yet
higher, ye men of music, lift up the strain. Dance before the
ark, ye maidens of Israel; bring forth the timbrel, and sing
unto the Lord who hath triumphed gloriously.
Verse 20. He that is our God is the God of
salvation. The Almighty who has entered into covenant with
us is the source of our safety, and the author of our
deliverances. As surely as he is our God he will save us. To be
his is to be safe. And unto God the Lord belong the issues
from death. He has ways and means of rescuing his children
from death: when they are at their wit's end, and see no way of
escape, he can find a door of deliverance for them. The gates of
the grave none can open but himself, we shall only pass into
them at his bidding; while on the heavenward side he has set
open the doors for all his people, and they shall enjoy
triumphant issues from death. Jesus, our God, will save his
people from their sins, and from all else besides, whether in
life or death.
Verse 21. But God shall wound the head of his
enemies. The Preserver is also the Destroyer. He smites his
foes on the crown of their pride. The seed of the woman crushes
the serpent's head. There is no defence against the Lord, he can
in a moment smite with utter destruction the lofty crests of his
haughty foes. And the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on
still in his trespasses. He may glory in his outward
appearance, and make his hair his pride, as Absalom did; but the
Lord's sword shall find him out, and pour out his soul.
Headstrong sinners will find that providence overcomes them
despite their strong heads. They who go on in sin will find
judgments come on them; and the adornment of their pride may be
made the instrument of their doom. He covers the head of his
servants, but he crushes the head of his foes. At the second
coming of the Lord Jesus, his enemies will find his judgments to
be beyond conception terrible.
Verse 22. This verse, by the insertion of the words, my
people, is made to bear the meaning which the translators
thought best; but, if their interpolated word is omitted, we
probably get nearer to the sense. The Lord said, I will bring
again from Bashan, I will bring again from the depths of the
sea. Though his foes should endeavour to escape, they should
not be able. Amos describes the Lord as saying, "Though
they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though
they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: and
though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search
and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight
in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and
he shall bite them." As there is no resisting Israel's God,
so is there no escape from him, neither the heights of Bashan
nor the depths of the great sea can shelter from his eye of
detection, and his hand of justice. The powers of evil may flee
to the utmost ends of the earth, but the Lord will arrest them,
and lead them back in chains to adorn his triumph.
Verse 23. That thy foot may be dipped in the blood
of thine enemies. Vengeance shall be awarded to the
oppressed people, and that most complete and terrible. And the
tongue of thy dogs in the same. So overwhelming should be the
defeat of the foe that dogs should lick their blood. Here
"the stern joy which warriors feel" expresses itself
in language most natural to the oriental ear. To us, except in a
spiritual sense, the verse sounds harshly; but read it with an
inner sense, and we also desire the utter and crushing defeat of
all evil, and that wrong and sin may be the objects of profound
contempt. Terrible is the God of Israel when he cometh forth as
a man of war, and dreadful is even the Christ of God when he
bares his arm to smite his enemies. Contemplate Revelation 19
and note the following:—"And I saw heaven opened, and
behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make
war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many
crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he
himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and
his name is called The Word of God... And I saw an angel
standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to
all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather
yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye
may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the
flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that
sit upon them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond,
both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the
earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against
him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast
was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles
before him, with which he deceived them that had the mark of the
beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast
alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the
remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the
horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls
were filled with their flesh."
Verse 24. They have seen thy goings, O God. In
the song the marchings of the Lord had been described; friends
and foes had seen his goings forth with the ark and his people.
We suppose that the procession was now climbing the hill, and
entering the enclosure where the tabernacle of the ark was
pitched; it was suitable at this moment to declare with song
that the tribes had seen the glorious progress of the Lord as he
led forth his people. Even the goings of my God, my King, in the
sanctuary. The splendid procession of the ark, which symbolised
the throne of the great King, was before the eyes of men and
angels as it ascended to the holy place; and the psalmist points
to it with exultation before he proceeds to describe it. All
nature and providence are, as it were, a procession attending
the great Lord, in his visitations of this lower globe. Winter
and summer, sun and moon, storm and calm, and all the varied
glories of nature swell the pomp of the King of kings, of whose
dominion there is no end.
Verse 25. The singers went before, the players on
instruments followed after. This was the order of the march,
and God is to be worshipped evermore with due decorum. First the
singers, and lastly the musicians, for the song must lead the
music, and not the music drown the singing. In the midst of the
vocal and instrumental band, or all around them, were the
maidens: among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. Some
have imagined that this order indicates the superiority of vocal
to instrumental music: but we need not go so far for arguments,
when the simplicity and spirituality of the gospel already teach
us that truth. The procession depicted in this sublime song was
one of joy, and every means was taken to express the delight of
the nation in the Lord their God.
Verse 26. Bless ye God in the congregations.
Let the assembled company magnify the God whose ark they
followed. United praise is like the mingled perfume which Aaron
made, it should all be presented unto God. He blesses us; let
him be blessed. Even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. A
parallel passage to that in Deborah's song: "They that are
delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing
water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the
Lord." The seat of the ark would be the fountain of
refreshing for all the tribes, and there they were to celebrate
his praises. "Drink, "says the old inscription,
"drink, weary traveller; drink and pray." We may alter
one word, and read it, drink and praise. If the Lord overflows
with grace, we should overflow with gratitude. Ezekiel saw an
ever growing stream flow from under the altar, and issue out
from under the threshold of the sanctuary, and wherever it
flowed it gave life: let as many as have quaffed this life
giving stream glorify "the fountain of Israel."
Verse 27. There is little Benjamin with their
ruler. The tribe was small, having been greatly reduced in
numbers, but it had the honour of including Zion within its
territory. "And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the
Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him
all the day long, and he shall dwell between his
shoulders." Little Benjamin had been Jacob's darling, and
now the tribe is made to march first in the procession, and to
dwell nearest to the holy place. The princes of Judah and their
council. Judah was a large and powerful tribe, not with one
governor, like Benjamin, but with many princes "and their
company, "for so the margin has it. "From thence is
the shepherd, the stone of Israel, "and the tribe was a
quarry of stones wherewith to build up the nations: some such
truth is hinted at in the Hebrew. The princes of Zebulun, and
the princes of Naphtali. Israel was there, as well as Judah;
there was no schism among the people. The north sent a
representative contingent as well as the south, and so the long
procession set forth the hearty loyalty of all the tribes to
their Lord and King. O happy day, when all believers shall be
one around the ark of the Lord; striving for nothing but the
glory of the God of grace. The prophet now puts into the mouth
of the assembly a song, foretelling the future conquests of
Jehovah.
Verse 28. Thy God hath commanded thy strength.
His decree had ordained the nation strong, and his arm had made
them so. As a commander in chief, the Lord made the valiant men
pass in battle array, and bade them be strong in the day of
conflict. This is a very rich though brief sentence, and,
whether applied to an individual believer, or to the whole
church, it is full of consolation. Strengthen, O God, that which
thou hast wrought for us. As all power comes from God at first,
so its continual maintenance is also of him. We who have life
should pray to have it more "abundantly; "if we have
strength we should seek to be still more established. We expect
God to bless his own work. He has never left any work unfinished
yet, and he never will. "When we were without strength, in
due time Christ died for the ungodly; "and now, being
reconciled to God, we may look to him to perfect that which
concerneth us, since he never forsakes the work of his own
hands.
Verse 29. Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall
kings bring presents unto thee. The palace of God, which
towered above Jerusalem, is prophesied as becoming a wonder to
all lands, and when it grew from the tabernacle of David to the
temple of Solomon, it was so. So splendid was that edifice that
the queen of far off Sheba came with her gifts; and many
neighbouring princes, overawed by the wealth and power therein
displayed, came with tribute to Israel's God. The church of God,
when truly spiritual, wins for her God the homage of the
nations. In the latter day glory this truth shall be far more
literally and largely verified.
Verse 30. Rebuke the company of spearmen; or, the
beasts of the reeds, as the margin more correctly renders
it. Speak to Egypt, let its growing power and jealousy be kept
in order, by a word from thee. Israel remembers her old enemy,
already plotting the mischief, which would break out under
Jeroboam, and begs for a rebuking word from her Omnipotent
Friend. Antichrist also, that great red dragon, needs the
effectual word of the Lord to rebuke its insolence. The
multitude of the bulls, the stronger foes; the proud,
headstrong, rampant, fat, and roaring bulls, which sought to
gore the chosen nation,—these also need the Lord's rebuke, and
they shall have it too. All Egypt's sacred bulls could not avail
against a "thus saith Jehovah." Popish bulls, and
imperial edicts have dashed against the Lord's church, but they
have not prevailed against her, and they never shall. With the
calves of the people. The poorer and baser sort are equally set
on mischief, but the divine voice can control them; multitudes
are as nothing to the Lord when he goes forth in power; whether
bulls or calves, they are but cattle for the shambles when
Omnipotence displays itself. The gospel, like the ark, has
nothing to fear from great or small; it is a stone upon which
every one that stumbleth shall be broken.
Till every one submit himself with pieces of silver. The Lord
is asked to subdue the enemies of Israel, till they rendered
tribute in silver ingots. Blessed is that rebuke, which does not
break but bend; for subjection to the Lord of hosts is liberty,
and tribute to him enriches him that pays it. The taxation of
sin is infinitely more exacting than the tribute of religion.
The little finger of lust is heavier than the loins of the law.
Pieces of silver given to God are replaced with pieces of gold.
Scatter thou the people that delight in war. So that,
notwithstanding the strong expression of Ps 68:23, God's people
were peace men, and only desired the crushing of oppressive
nations, that war might not occur again. Let the battles of
peace be as fierce as they will; heap coals of fire on the heads
of enemies, and slay their enmity thereby. That "they who
take the sword should perish by the sword, "is a just
regulation for the establishment of quiet in the earth. What
peace can there be, while blood thirsty tyrants and their
myrmidons are so many? Devoutly may we offer this prayer, and
with equal devotion, we may bless God that it is sure to be
answered, for "he breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in
sunder, he burneth the chariot in the fire."
Verse 31. Princes shall come out of Egypt. Old
foes shall be new friends. Solomon shall find a spouse in
Pharaoh's house. Christ shall gather a people from the realm of
sin. Great sinners shall yield themselves to the sceptre of
grace, and great men shall become good men, by coming to God.
Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Cush shall
hasten to present peace offerings. Sheba's queen shall come from
the far south. Candace's chamberlain shall ask of Him who was
led as a lamb to the slaughter. Abyssinia shall yet be
converted, and Africa become the willing seeker after grace,
eagerly desiring and embracing the Christ of God. Poor Ethiopia,
thy hands have been long manacled and hardened by cruel toil,
but millions of thy sons have in their bondage found the liberty
with which Christ made men free; and so thy cross, like the
cross of Simon of Cyrene, has been Christ's cross, and God has
been thy salvation. Hasten, O Lord, this day, when both the
civilization and the barbarism of the earth shall adore thee,
Egypt and Ethiopia blending with glad accord in thy worship!
Here is the confidence of thy saints, even thy promise; hasten
it in thine own time, good Lord.
Verse 32. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth.
Glorious shall that song be in which whole empires join. Happy
are men that God is one who is consistently the object of joyous
worship, for not such are the demons of the heathen. So sweet a
thing is song that it ought to be all the Lord's; a secular
concert seems almost a sacrilege, a licentious song is treason.
O sing praises unto the Lord. Again and again is God to be
magnified; we have too much sinning against God, but cannot have
too much singing to God. Selah. Well may we rest now that our
contemplations have reached the millennial glory. What heart
will refuse to be lifted up by such a prospect!
Verse 33. To him that rideth upon the heavens of
heavens, which were of old. Before, he was described in his
earthly manifestations, as marching through the desert; now, in
his celestial glory, as riding in the heavens of the primeval
ages. Long ere this heaven and earth were made, the loftier
abodes of the Deity stood fast; before men or angels were
created, the splendours of the Great King were as great as now,
and his triumphs as glorious. Our knowledge reaches but to a
small fragment of the life of God, whose "goings forth were
of old, even from everlasting." Well might the Jewish
church hymn the eternal God, and well may we join therewith the
adoration of the Great Firstborn:
"Ere sin was born, or Satan fell,
He led the host of morning stars.
Thy generation who can tell?
Or count the number of thy years?"
Lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. Was
there a thunderclap just then heard in heaven? Or, did the
poet's mind flash backward to the time when from the heaven of
heavens the voice of Jehovah broke the long silence and said,
"Light be, "and light was. To this hour, the voice of
God is power. This gospel, which utters and reveals his word, is
the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Our
voices are fitly called to praise him whose voice spoke us into
being, and gives us the effectual grace which secures our well
being.
Verse 34. Ascribe ye strength unto God. When
even his voice rends the rocks and uproots the cedars, what
cannot his hand do? His finger shakes the earth; who can
conceive the power of his arm? Let us never by our doubts or our
daring defiances appear to deny power unto God; on the contrary,
by yielding to him and trusting in him, let our hearts
acknowledge his might. When we are reconciled to God, his
omnipotence is an attribute of which we sing with delight. His
excellency is over Israel. The favoured nation is protracted by
his majesty; his greatness is to them goodness, his glory is
their defence. And his strength is in the clouds. He does not
confine his power to the sons of men, but makes it like a canopy
to cover the skies. Rain, snow, hail, and tempest are his
artillery; he rules all nature with awe inspiring majesty.
Nothing is so high as to be above him, or too low to be beneath
him; praise him, then, in the highest.
Verse 35. O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy
places. You inspire awe and fear. Thy saints obey with fear
and trembling, and thine enemies flee in dismay. From thy
threefold courts, and especially from the holy of holies, thy
majesty flashes forth and makes the sons of men prostrate
themselves in awe. The God of Israel is he that giveth strength
and power unto his people. In this thou, who art Israel's
God by covenant, art terrible to thy foes by making thy people
strong, so that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten
thousand to flight. All the power of Israel's warriors is
derived from the Lord, the fountain of all might. He is strong,
and makes strong: blessed are they who draw from his resources,
they shall renew their strength. While the self sufficient
faint, the All sufficient shall sustain the feeblest believer,
Blessed be God. A short but sweet conclusion. Let our souls say
Amen to it, and yet again, Amen.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. In this Psalm we have especial reason to
condemn or to admire the timidity, or the caution and delicacy,
of our translators, whichever it may be considered, for the
manner in which they have rendered the names of the Almighty.
They almost universally translate them "God" or
"Lord; "whereas, it has been observed that, almost all
the remarkable titles of the Deity are employed in describing
and praising the person addressed here. He is called "Elohim"
in Ps 68:2; "Adonai, "Ps 68:12; "Shaddai,
"Ps 68:15; "Jehovah, "Ps 68:17; "Jah,
"Ps 68:19; and "Al, "Ps 68:20. The Hebrew names
of God have, each of them, a distinct and peculiar meaning. No
one word will suffice for them all. The vague use of the terms
"God" and "Lord" in our translation can
never convey to the reader's mind the important ideas which the
original expression, if properly translated, would bear, and we
have lost a strong additional confirmation of the deity of
Messiah, by abandoning the testimony which the ascription to him
of God's peculiar titles would give to this great truth. R.
H. Ryland.
Whole Psalm. As 65 opened with a reference to the form
of blessing (Nu 6:24-26), so this with a reference to the prayer
used when the cloud pillar summoned the camp to commence a
march. There the presence (panim) of God shed
saving light on his people; here his enemies flee from it (mippanayv),
Ps 68:1... In the Jewish ritual the Psalm is used at Pentecost,
the Anniversary of the Giving of the Law, and the Feast of
Finished Harvest... The remarkable character of the Psalm is
indicated by the fact that there are no fewer than thirteen
words in it which are not found elsewhere. The Pentecostal Gift
of Tongues seems needed for its full exposition. William Kay.
Whole Psalm. By many critics esteemed the loftiest
effusion of David's lyrical muse. William Binnie.
Whole Psalm. To judge from the antiquity of its
language, the concise description, the thoroughly fresh,
forcible, and occasional artlessly ironical expression of its
poetry, we consider this poem as one of the most ancient
monuments of Hebrew poetry. Boettcher.
Whole Psalm. It must be confessed that in this Psalm
there are as many precipices, and as many labyrinths, as there
are verses, or even words. It has not inappropriately been
designated the cross of critics, the reproach of interpreters. Simon
de Muis.
Whole Psalm. The beginning of this Psalm clearly
intimates that the inspired psalmist had light given him to see
the march of Israel through the wilderness, the ark of the
covenant moving before the people to find a resting place. The
psalmist is filled with praise, when he is enabled to see that
God revealed his Fatherly love in the whole of that
movement—that his eye was upon the fatherless, the widow, the
solitary, and afflicted; but David is also carried by the Spirit
to the Mount of Olives, where he sees the ascending Lord; he
sees the triumphal chariots, with an innumerable company of
angels, and then beholds the Lord welcomed in glory as the
mighty Conqueror; and not only so, but as having received or
purchased gifts for men, even the rebellious (Ps 68:18),
"that the Lord God might dwell among them, "or within
them. "Wherefore, "the command of our Father is,
"come out from among them, and be ye separate, "etc.
(2Co 6:17-18). The doxology of God's people is, "Blessed be
the Lord, who daily loadeth us with his benefits." Our
blessed Master attends day by day to all our wants, and causes
his love to flow to us, because he is God our Salvation—Selah.
What comfort ought this to afford under every condition! for the
Lord Jesus goes before us through the desert. He is touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. The widow, the fatherless, the
desolate, are all the objects of his care and love. He has gone
before us to prepare our heavenly rest; the work is finished. He
now comes, day by day, to load us with blessings, and at the
last will carry us safely through death into life and glory. To
the Lord our Saviour belong the issues from death; then,
"Death, where is thy sting?" etc. Ridley H.
Herschell, in "Strength in Weakness. Meditations on some of
the Psalms in time of Trial, "1860.
Verse 1. Let God arise, etc. The moving ark
(See Nu 10:35-36) is a type of Jesus going forth to cast down
rebel foes. It is high joy to trace the Antitype's victorious
march. How mightily the Lord advanced! The strength of God was
in his arm. His sword was Deity. His darts were barbed with all
Jehovah's might. "He had on his vesture and on his thigh a
name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." Re 19:16.
His foes, indeed, strove mightily. It was no easy work to rescue
souls from Satan's grasp, or to lay low the prison house of
darkness. The enemy rushed on, clad in his fiercest armour, wild
in his keenest rage, wily in his deadliest crafts. He plied his
every temptation, as a terrific battery. But the true Ark never
quailed. The adversary licked the dust. Malignant passions
maddened in opposing breasts. The kings stood up; rulers took
counsel; all plots were laid; the ignominious death was planned
and executed. But still the Ark moved on. The cross gave aid,
not injury. The grave could not detain. Death could not
vanquish. The gates of hell fly open. The mighty conqueror
appears. And, as in Canaan, the ark ascended Zion's hill amid
triumphant shouts, so Jesus mounts on high. The heaven of
heavens receives him. The Father welcomes the all conquering
Saviour. Angelic hosts adore the glorious God man. The Rising
Prayer has full accomplishments, "Rise up, Lord, and let
thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee
before thee." And now, from glory's throne, he cheers his
humble followers in their desert march. Their toils, their
conflicts, and their fears are many. They ofttimes seem as a
poor worm beneath the crushing feet. But they survive, they
prosper, they lift up their head. As of old the ark was victory,
so Jesus is victory now. Yes, every child of faith shall surely
set a conquering foot upon the host of foes. Hear this, ye mad
opposers, and desist. Where are the nations who resisted Israel?
Where are the Pharaohs, the beleaguered kings, the Herods, the
chief priests, the Pilates? Share not their malice, lest you
share their end. Read in this word your near destruction,
"Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let
them that hate thee flee before thee." And, as the Rising
Prayer has never failed, so, too, the Resting Prayer now teems
with life. "Return, O Lord." Jesus is ready to fly
back. Israel's many thousands wait, but wait not in vain.
"Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and
will not tarry, "Heb 10:37. O joyful day, triumphant sight!
What ecstasy, what shouts, what glory! Salvation's Lord returns.
Welcome, welcome to him! Henry Law, in "`Christ is All.'
The Gospel of the Old Testament," 1858.
Verse 1. Arise. The mercifulness of God is seen
in his patience toward the wicked, implied in the word arise,
for he seemeth, as it were, to sleep (Ps 44:23), and not
to mark what is done amiss. The Lord is patient, and would have
none to perish, but would have all men to come to repentance. He
was longer in destroying one city (Jericho, Jos 6:4),
than in building the whole world; slow to wrath, and ready to
forgive, desiring not the death of a sinner, but rather he
should amend. He doth not arise to particular punishments, much
less to the general judgement, but after long suffering and
great goodness. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I,
"said our Lord, "have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye
would not." Mt 23:37. John Boys.
Verse 1. Let his enemies be scattered. You may,
if you please, take the words either as a prayer, or as a prophecy:
as a prayer that they may; or as a prophecy, that
they shall be scattered. Or, you may read it, Surgente
Domino, As soon as the Lord shall arise, his enemies shall be
scattered, and so make it a theological axiom: and so it is
a proposition aeternae veritatis, everlastingly true,
true in the first age of the world, and true in the last age of
the world, and will be true to the world's end. We may make it
our prayer, that they may be destroyed; and we may prophesy,
that they shall be destroyed. Summa votorum est, non ex
incerto poscentis, sed ex cognitione scientiaque sperantis,
saith Hilary. It is a prayer not proceeding from a doubting and
wavering heart, as if God did at sometimes deliver his church,
and at others fail and leave her to the will of her enemies; but
grounded upon certain knowledge and infallible assurance that he
will "arise, and not keep silence, " and avenge
himself of his enemy. For there is a kind of presage and
prophecy in prayer: if we pray as we should, he hath promised to
grant our request; which is a fairer assurance than any prophet
can give us. Let God arise, and God will arise, is
but the difference of a tense, and the Hebrews commonly use the
one for the other...
In this prayer or prophecy, or conclusion, you may, as in a
glass, behold the providence of God over his people, and the
destiny and fatal destruction of wicked men. Or, you may
conceive God sitting in heaven, and looking down upon the
children of men, and laughing to scorn all the designs of his
enemies; his exsurgat, his rising, as a tempest to
scatter them, and as a fire to melt them. And these two, exsurgat
and dissipabuntur, the rising of God and the destruction
of his enemies, divide the text, and present before our eyes two
parties or sides, as it were, in main opposition. Now, though
the exsurgat be before the dissipabuntur, God's
rising before the scattering, yet there must be some persons to
rouse God up and awake him before he will arise to destroy. We
will, therefore, as the very order of nature required, consider
first the persons which are noted out unto us by three several
appellations, as by so many marks and brands in their forehead.
They are,
1. Enemies;
2. Haters of God;
3. Wicked men.
But God, rising in this manner, is more especially
against the fact than the person, and against the person only
for the fact. We must, therefore, search and inquire after that;
and we find it wrapped up and secretly lurking in the dissipabuntur,
in their punishment; for scattering supposes a gathering
together, as corruption doth generation. That, then, which moved
God to rise is this: his enemies, they that hated him,
the wicked, were gathered together, and consulted against
God and his church, as we see it this day; and, seeing it, are
here met together to fall down before God in all humility, that
he may arise and scatter them. This is nunc opportunitatis,
the very time and appointed time for God to arise.
In which phrase is implied a kind of pause and deliberation, as
if God were not always up, and ready to execute judgment. And,
hereby, he manifests—
1. His patience to the wicked: he is not always up, as it
were, to destroy his enemies;
2. His justice, which cometh at length, though it come not so
soon as men in misery expect;
3. His mercy to his children: though for a while he seem to
sleep, and not to hearken to the voice of their complaints, yet,
at last, he rises up and helps them.
Lastly, we shall take notice of the effects, or end, of this
rising; and that is the destruction of his enemies, here drawn
out to our view, in four several expressions, as in so many
colours:—
1. Dissipabuntur, they shall be scattered;
2. Fugient, they shall fly;
3. Deficient, they shall vanish like smoke;
4. Liquefient, they shall be melted as wax; which all
meet and are concentrated in peribunt, they shall
perish at the presence of God. Anthony Farindon.
Note continued on See Psalms on "Job 42:10."
Verses 1-3. See Psalms on "Ps 68:1"
for further information.
Verse 3. But let the righteous be glad. The
wicked flee from the presence of God, since it inspires them
with terror; the righteous on the other hand rejoice in it,
because nothing delights them more than to think that God is
near them. John Calvin.
Verse 4. Extol him that rideth upon the heavens.
Or, as Symmachus, Jerome, Bishop Lowth, Merrick, and others
render, "Prepare the way for him who rideth through the
deserts": twbre aravoth; i.e., who rode through the
wilderness on the cherubim; alluding to the passage of the ark. "Comprehensive
Bible."
Verse 4. Rideth. Said, perhaps, with allusion
to the cherubim on which Jehovah was borne (Ps 18:10), God
himself being the Leader and Captain of his people, riding as it
were at their head as an earthly captain might lead his army,
riding on a war horse. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 4. Upon the heavens. The ancient versions
in general render the word twkrek super occasus, or occasum.
The desert or solitude is the proper and general
meaning of it, and there is no authority to render it by the
heavens, but that of the Rabbins, which, indeed, is little
or none; and of the Chaldee paraphrase which gives it twbrek
hyrqy hyorwk super thronam gloriae ejus in nono caelo who
sits upon the throne of his glory in the ninth heaven. The
psalmist here alludes, as I apprehend, to the passage of the
Israelites through the deserts in their way to the promised
land, and describes it in many of the principal circumstances of
it in the following verses; and God is said to ride, or be
carried through the deserts, as the ark of his presence was
carried through them, and accompanied the Israelites in all
their various stages during their continuance and pilgrimage in
them. Samuel Chandler.
Verse 4. God always goes at the head of his people
through the deserts of suffering and need; in the deserts of
trouble they find in him a true leader. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Verse 4. His name JAH. JAH, as the
concentration of Jehovah, is the more emphatic term (Stier).
It occurs for the first time in Ex 15:2. Frederic Fysh, in
"A Lyrical Literary Version of the Psalms," 1850.
Verse 5. A father of the fatherless. In a
spiritual sense, the orphans, whose father God is, says
Hilary, are those who have renounced their father the Devil, and
those to whom Christ, at his departure, sent another Comforter,
according to his promise—"I will not leave you
orphans." Lorinus.
Verse 5. Does not Jas 1:27 refer to this verse, for we
have the fatherless, the widow, and then the holiness,
of the God we serve? Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 5. God in his holy habitation. Albeit the
Lord be infinite and uncomprehended by any place, yet hath he
appointed a trysting place where his people shall find him by
his own ordinance, to wit, the assembly of his saints, his holy
temple shadowing forth Christ to be incarnate, who now is in
heaven, now is incarnate, and sitting at the right hand of God,
in whom dwells the Godhead; here, here is God to be found. David
Dickson.
Verse 6. God setteth the solitary in families.
It may be interpreted of the fruitfulness and increase of the
church with converts, under the gospel dispensation, even from
among the Gentiles, who were before solitary, or were alone,
without God and Christ, and aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel; but, being called and converted by the ministry of the
word, were brought into and placed in gospel churches, or
families... Gospel churches, like families, have a master over
them, who is Christ the Son and firstborn, of whom they are
named; where are saints of various ages, sizes, and standing;
some fathers, some young men, and some children; where are
provisions suitable for them, and stewards to give them their
portion of meat in due season, who are the ministers of the
word; and laws and rules, by which they are directed and
regulated, and everything is kept in good decorum. John Gill.
Verse 8. The God of Israel. Sinai was the seat
not only of God, but of the covenant God of the people of
Israel; from which the law was proclaimed, and the covenant
struck between God and his people. Hermann Venema.
Verse 9. The Thou in the Hebrew is emphatic: Thine
inheritance, even when it was wearied (i.e., worn out) thou
didst confirm; or, "fortify it." Thou who
alone couldest strengthen one worn out, didst so for thy people.
A. R. Fausset.
Verse 9. A liberal rain. The words translated a
liberal rain, read literally in the Hebrew a rain of
freenesses; and I agree with interpreters in thinking that
he alludes to the blessing as having come in the exercise of
free favour, and to God, as having of his own unprompted
goodness provided for all the wants of his people. Some read, a
desirable rain; others a rain flowing without violence,
or gentle; but neither of these renderings seems
eligible. Others read, a copious or plentiful rain;
but I have already stated what appears to me to be the
preferable sense. John Calvin.
Verse 9. A gracious rain; that is, of manna. Edmund
Law (1703-1787), quoted by Richard Warner in loc., 1828.
Verse 9. Rain. One fountain, says Cyril, waters
thy paradise, and the rain that falls upon all the world is the
same; it is white in the bloom of the hawthorn, red in the rose,
purple in the hyacinth, and diverse kinds, and all in all; yet
it itself is the same and of the same kind. . . . So also the
Holy Spirit, though he is one and the same and not divisible,
yet to every one he divideth grace according as he wills. Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse 9. A plentiful rain. Thy love has been as
a shower! The returns, but a dew drop, and that dew drop stained
with sin. James Harrington Evans, 1785-1849.
Verse 10. Thy congregation. The words are
choice and expressive. Addressing God, (the poet) intentionally
and emphatically calls the people of Israel Ktyx thy combined
congregation, in contrast to former divisions and various
dissensions, to signify, that the people was now welded
together, formed into one society, and united at the same time,
that it was well ordered, and constituted as the society of
God, wherein his laws flourished and were wont to be
observed. Hermann Venema.
Verse 10. Thy congregation. Or, Thy living
creatures, Ktyh, ta zwa, LXX animalia, Vulgate;
probably a reference to the immense number of quails which were
miraculously brought to the camp of the Israelites, and, in a
manner, dwelt around it. Note in the "Congregational
Bible."
Verse 10. Thy congregation. Or, Thy living
creatures. That desolate place, where only wild beasts
before could live, was now by those showers of manna (Ps 68:9)
enabled to sustain a multitude of other tamer living
creatures, even of men and all their flocks
and herds. Henry Hammond.
Verse 10. (first clause). Rather:—"As
for thy food (manna and quails), they dwelt in the midst of
it." Edmund Law.
Verse 10. (first clause). As to thy food,
they dwelt amidst it. The ambiguity of the word hyx has
occasioned various renderings of this line. Parkhurst considers
the radical sense of hyx is "to be vigorous, strong;
"hence the noun denotes force, a body of men (2Sa
23:13); and also that which gives strength, the means of
support, or food (Jud 6:4 17:10); and compare Ne 9:6. Our
translators took the term in the first sense; I take it in the
second, because the connection seems to require it, and because
(tyx) refers always to a body of men, as soldiers, as actually
engaged in some kind of warfare. Hence what is called the troop
of Philistines (2Sa 23:13) is called the camp of the
Philistines. 1Ch 11:15. And, lastly, because the common version
has no antecedent to which hk, in it, or amidst it,
can refer; but this version has one in the noun food. I
think there is then a reference not only to the manna, but to
the quails, which God brought in abundance around the camp. Ex
16:13 Nu 11:31. Thus he prepared in his goodness for the
poor. Benjamin Boothroyd.
Verse 10. Thou hast prepared in thine own sweetness
for the poor, O God. In thine own sweetness, not in his
sweetness. For the needy he is, for he hath been made weak, in
order that he may be made perfect: he hath acknowledged himself
indigent, that he may be replenished. Augustine.
Verse 11. The Lord gave the word: great was the
company of those that published it. You shall find, when the
enemies of the church are destroyed, that God hath many
preachers made that do teach his praises... The words in the
original are very significant, and do note two things. First,
the word which you read company, in the Hebrew it is
"army, "great was the army of preachers. An army of
preachers is a great matter; nay, it is a great matter to have
seven or eight good preachers in a great army; but to have a
whole army of preachers that it glorious. Secondly, it doth note
out the heartiness of this preaching army, for the word vpg,
soul, is to be understood as in that place of Ecclesiastes; it
is said there, "The words or book of the preacher,
"which, being in the feminine gender, doth suppose nephesh,
and as if he should say, as Vatablus hath it; the words or book
of him that hath a preaching soul or heart, or the words of a
preaching soul or heart. So here where it is said, great is the
army of preachers, the word being in the feminine gender, it is
as if he should say, great is the army of preaching souls, whose
very hearts within them shall preach of the Lord's works. Now,
my brethren, it is much to have a preaching army; but if this
army shall with heart and soul preach of God's praise, O that is
a blessed thing. Yet thus shall it be when the enemies of God
shall be destroyed. And, therefore, seeing God will not lose all
those sermons of his own praises, in due time the enemies of the
church shall be scattered. William Bridge, in "The True
Soldier's Conroy." 1640.
Verse 11. It is owing to the word, the appointment,
and power of God, that any persons are induced or enabled to
preach the gospel. John Newton (1725-1807), in
"Messiah."
Verses 11-12. This account of Israel's victories is
applicable to victories obtained by the exalted Redeemer, when
the enemies of man's salvation were vanquished by the
resurrection of Christ, and the heathen nations were compelled
to own his power; and this great victory was first notified by women
to the disciples. From "A Practical Illustration of the
Book of Psalms; by the Author of the Family Commentary on the
New Testament." (Mrs. Thompson.) 1826.
Verses 11-12. The Lord did give his word at his
ascension, and there were a multitude of them that published it,
and by this means kings of armies were put to flight: they
conquered by the word: there is not such another way to rout
kings and their armies. William Strong. 1654.
Verses 11-14.
The Lord giveth the word!
A great company of women announce the glad tidings!
Kings with their armies flee—they flee!
And those, who dwell within the house, divide the spoil!
Although they lie among the hearth stones,
They are become like a dove's wings overlaid with silver,
And like her pinions overlaid with yellow gold.
When the Almighty scattereth kings,
They glisten therein, as snow upon Salmon.
Those who dwell within the house—i.e., the women. They are
thus described in allusion to their retired habits of life, in
eastern countries. Lie among the hearth stones—i.e.,
are habitually employed in the lowest domestic offices and whose
ordinary dress, therefore, is mean and soiled. The hearth
stones—Hebrew rests (for boilers). They are become—by
being decked in the spoils of the enemy.—Glisten as snow—Hebrew
(each woman) is snowy: therein—i.e., in the spoils
distributed amongst them. French and Skinner's Translation
and Notes.
Verse 12. Kings of armies did flee apace. In
the Hebrew it is, they fled, they fled; fled is twice. Why so?
That is, they did flee very hastily, and they fled most
confusedly, they fled all ways; they fled, they fled, noting the
greatness of the flight. William Bridge.
Verse 12. The kings of hosts shall flee. The
"hosts" are the numerous well equipped armies which
the kings of the heathens lead forth to the battle against the
people of God. The unusual expression, "kings of hosts,
"sounds very much like an ironically disparaging antithesis
to the customary "Jahve of Hosts." Bottcher, quoted
by Delitzsch.
Verse 12. She that tarried at home. That is,
all the noncombatants, saith Kimchi. Or, the women also (those domi
portae) came forth to pillage. These days of the gospel do
abound with many godly matrons and holy virgins. And it is easy
to observe that the New Testament affords more store of good
women than the old. John Trapp.
Verse 12. Divided the spoil, not merely (as
Hupfeld) "receives her portion of the spoil, "but
rather, "distributes among her daughters and handmaidens,
etc., the share of the spoil" which her husband has brought
home. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 14. Salmon or Zalmon, properly Tsalmon,
Nwmlu a woody hill near Shechem (Jud 9:48). Whether it is this
that's referred to in Ps 69:14, is disputed. Some interpreters
take Nwmlu here in its etymological meaning of darkness, Mlu;
thus Luther renders the clause "so wird es helle wo es
dunkel ist, "thus it be bright where it is dark, and
understands it with a Messianic reference. Ewald adopts much the
same rendering. The majority, however, retain the name as a
proper name, but exhibit great variety in their explanation of
the passage. Hengstenberg thinks that the phrase, "it snows
on Tsalmon, "is equivalent to "there is brightness
where there was darkness, "the hill, originally dark with
wood, is now white with snow. De Dieu supposes a comparison:
Tsalmon is white with the bones of the slaughtered kings, as if
with snow. Some suppose that there is here a mere note of time:
it was winter, the snow was on Tsalmon (Herder); and this
Hupfeld adopts, with the explanation that the statement is made
derisively, with reference to those who tarried at home,
deterred by the winter's snow. He considers the passage (Ps
68:12-14) as a fragment of an ancient song, celebrating some of
the early conquests of Israel in Canaan, and deriding those,
who, from indolence or fear, shrank from the enterprise. He
translates thus:
"The kings of the armies, flee, flee,
And the housewife shares the spoil!
Will ye lie among the shippens?
Pigeons feathers decked with silver,
And their wings with yellow gold!
As the Almighty scattered kings therein,
It was snowing on Tsalmon."
—William Lindsay Alexander, in "A Cyclopaedia of
Biblical Literature." 1866.
Verse 14. The verb may be viewed as in the second
person—Thou, O God! didst make it fair and white as Mount
Salmon with snow. The reader may adopt either construction,
for the meaning is the same. It is evident that David insists
still upon the figure of the whiteness of silver, which he had
previously introduced. The country had, as it were, been
blackened or sullied by the hostile confusion into which it was
thrown, and he says that it had now recovered its fair
appearance, and resembled Salmon, which is well known to have
been ordinarily covered with snows. Others think that Salmon is
not the name of a place, but an appellative, meaning a dark
shade. I would retain the commonly received reading. At the
same time, I think that there may have been an allusion to the
etymology. It comes from the word Mlu, tselem, signifying
a shade, and Mount Salmon had been so called on account
of its blackness. This makes the comparison more striking; for
it intimates that as the snows whitened this black mountain, so
the country had resumed its former beauty, and put on an aspect
of joy, when God dispelled the darkness which had lain upon it
during the oppression of enemies. John Calvin.
Verse 14. It was as white as snow in Salmon.
That is, this thine inheritance, thy peculiar people, appeared
as bright and glorious in the sight of their neighbours, as the
snowy head of Salmon glistens by the reflection of the sunbeams.
Thomas Fenton.
Verse 14. White as snow in Salmon. The
expression here used seems to denote, that everything seemed as
bright and cheerful to the mind of God's people, as Salmon does
to their eyes, when glistening with snow. As snow is much less
common, and lies a much shorter time in Judaea than in England,
no wonder that it is much more admired; accordingly, the son of
Sirach speaks of it with a kind of rapture. "The eye will
be astonished at the beauty of its whiteness, and the heart
transported at the raining of it." Ecclus. 43:18 or 20. Samuel
Burder.
Verse 14. Salmon. Dean Stanley conjectures that
Salmon in another name for Mount Ebal; it was certainly near
Shechem (see Jud 9:48), but it is almost hopeless to expect to
identify it, for Mr. Mills, the industrious author of "Nablus
and the modern Samaritans, "could not find any one who knew
the name of Salmon, neither could he discover any traditions in
reference to it, or indeed any allusion to it in Samaritan
literature. The word signifies a shade, and may, perhaps,
popularly be accepted as identical with the name the "Black
Forest." C. H. S.
Verse 15. Hill of Bashan. The world's physical
greatness must yield to the church's spiritual grandeur. The
"hill of God" is here an emblem of the world
kingdoms, which (Ps 65:6) are great only by the grace of
God. A great hill reminds us of the creative power of
God. Hence, "the hill of Elohim" (the general name of
God as the Creator) stands in contrast to the hill
which (Ps 68:16) "the Lord" (Jehovah) will dwell in
for ever. It lay in the north, in the region east of Jordan, or
the land of Hermon, the kingdom of Og, the most formidable enemy
whom Israel encountered on their march to Canaan. "The hill
of Bashan is the high snow summit of Anti Lebanon, or Hermon,
the extreme limit of Bashan. There was a peculiar propriety,
from its position on the boundary between Judaea and the heathen
world, in employing it as a symbol of the world's might (Ps
68:22 42:6 89:12)" (Hengstenberg). The original name
of Hermon as Sion; i.e., lofty (De 4:48); allied in sound
to Zion, which suggested the contrast here between the world
hills and the Lord's hill. A. R. Fausset.
Verse 15-16.
"A mountain of God Mount Bashan is.
A mountain of peaks Mount Bashan is,
Why are ye piqued, ye peaked mountains?
At the mountain which God desires to dwell in?
Yea, Jehovah will dwell therein forever."
—Frederic Fysh's Version.
Verse 16. Why leap ye? As triumphing, and
making a show of your natural advantages over Sion. Or, to
insult over it, and compare and equalise yourselves in honour
with it; poetical kind of speeches. Others translate it, Why
gaze you, as though you were ravished with admiration? John
Diodati.
Verse 16. This is the hill which God desireth to
dwell in. This low, little, barren hill of Zion; and God's
election maketh the difference, as it did of Aaron's rod from
the rest, and doth still of the church from the rest of the
world. The Lamb Christ is on Mount Zion. Re 14:1. John Trapp.
Verse 17. The chariots of God. What are these
"chariots of God?" Come, we will not stand to mince
the matter, look but round about thee, and thou shalt see those innumerable
chariots and angels here spoken of; for so many creatures
as thou seest, so many angels and chariots of God thou seest;
they are all his host, they are all his chariots wherein he
rides; and, whether you see it or no, The Lord is among them,
as in Sinai, in the holy place. The glory of the Lord fills
them all (had we but our eyes open to see it so), and they are
all at his command, and there is not one creature but doth his
pleasure. Oh, brethren! how glorious and blessed a thing it is,
that looking round about us to behold and see, that look how
many creatures visible and invisible you see or
conceive in thy mind to be, for thy soul now to look on them as
so many fiery chariots and horsemen for its defence, protection,
and preservation! And, on the other hand, "How fearful a
thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, "who
hath all these chariots and horsemen at his command to execute
his will and vengeance on those that neglect, hate, and oppose
him. John Everard, in "Militia Caelestis, or the
Heavenly Host." 1653.
Verse 17.
"About his chariot numberless were poured
Cherubs, and seraph, potentates, and thrones,
And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots win
From the armoury of God, where stand of old Myriads."
—John Milton, in "Paradise Lost."
Verse 17. Twenty-thousand; rather, two
myriads, Mytbr singular wkr; for twbr only here in the dual,
the infinite number doubled. "Thousands of angels,
"literally, thousands of iteration; i.e., with
margin, many thousands (Bythner, Gesenius, &c.). Nagv
only here, from hgv, to repeat. The rendering of
angels was probably suggested by the reference to Sinai,
next clause (see De 33:2, where for saints read holy
ones; ) chariots bkr being used collectively for
those who rode in them, as often elsewhere. William de Burgh.
Verse 18. Thou hast ascended on high, etc. Some
think it refers to God's goings forth on behalf of his people
Israel, leading them forth to victory, taking their enemies
captive, and enriching them with the spoils. Suppose it be so,
we are warranted to consider it as mainly referring to Christ,
for so the apostle has applied it. Eph 4:8. The apostle not only
applies it to Christ, but proves it applicable. Thus he
reasons (Ps 68:9-10), "Now that he ascended, what is it but
that he also descended," etc. The captivity which he led
captive was our spiritual enemies who had led us
captive—Satan, death; and, having obtained the victory, he
proceeds to divide the spoils. Gifts to men—as David
made presents. And hence comes our ordinances, ministers, etc.
There was a glorious fulfilment immediately after his ascension,
in a rich profusion of gifts and graces to his church, like
David's presents. Here it is received; in Ephesians, gave.
He received that he might give; received the spoil that he might
distribute it. But, as I wish to appropriate the passage to the
work allotted me, the whole of that to which I would at this
time call your attention will be contained in two things:
1. The great blessings of the Christian ministry.
(a) Ministers are received for, and are given to,
you by Christ. As men, and as sinful men, ministers are as
nothing, and wish not to make anything of themselves; but, as
the gifts of Christ, it becomes you to make much of them. (1.)
If you love Christ, you will make much of your minister,
on account of his being his gift—a gift designed to
supply Christ's absence in a sort. He is gone
("ascended"), but he gives you his servants. By and by
you hope to be with him, but as yet you are as sheep in the
wilderness. He gives you a shepherd. (2.) If you fear God,
you will be afraid of treating your pastor amiss, seeing he is
the gift of Christ. God took it ill of Israel for despising
Moses. Nu 12:8. He is "my servant."
(b) Ministers are not only given to, but received for
you, of God the Father, as a covenant blessing, among the
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In this view,
consider that Christ received nothing at his Father's hand but
what cost him dear—cost him his life. Or, if the allusion be
to the dividing of the spoils, suppose we say, he received them
as a conqueror receives the spoils at the hand of the foe. Your
minister was one of those who, like yourselves, were brands
consuming in the fire. Christ took him from your enemies and
gives him to you. Make much of the gift on this account.
"This I received of the Amorite."
(c) Consider your unworthiness of such a blessing. You are men,
mere men, and what is more, rebellious men, who had
joined with Satan. And must you share the spoils? It is not
usual to divide the spoils amongst rebels... Men that put him to
death had these gifts given to them; and we should all have done
the same. Some of you, it is likely, have been vile and
abandoned characters and yet, etc...
(d) The end of it: That the Lord God might dwell among
them. "But will God, indeed, dwell with men?" God
had not dwelt with the world, nor in it, while sin bore the
rule; but Christ's mediation was for the bringing it about.
"Will God, indeed, dwell with men?" He will, and how?
It is by the means of ordinances and ministers. A church of
Christ is God's house; and where any one builds a house, it is a
token that he means to dwell there. What a blessing to a
village, a country, for God to build a house in it. It is by
this that we may hope for a blessing upon the means to the
conversion of our children and friends, and for the edification
of believers.
2. Point out some corresponding duties as answering to
these your privileges.
(a) Constant and diligent attendance at the house of God. If
the house of God be God's dwelling, let it be yours, your home.
If God gives you a pastor, do you thankfully receive and prize
him. He hath not dealt so with every village.
(b) Cheerfully contribute to his support. Christ has given
you freely, and you ought to give him freely. Consider it is not
as a gift, but as a debt, and not as done to him, but to Christ.
(c) Follow those things which make for peace, with which the
presence and blessing of God are connected.
(d) Shun those things that tend to provoke the Lord to
withdraw his gifts, and to cease to dwell among you. Andrew
Fuller's Sketch of a Sermon, addressed to the Church at Moulton,
on the Ordination of Mr. (since Doctor) Carey, August 1st, 1787.
Verse 18. But who is he of whom it is written, that he
ascended up on high? I confess that the sixty-eighth Psalm,
wherein these words are first written, is literally to be
understood, not of any triumph, for the slaughter of the host of
Sennacherib, which was done in the time of king Hezekiah (as the
Jews do most fabulously dream), when the very title of this
Psalm, that ascribes it unto David, doth sufficiently confute
this vanity; nor yet for any of the victories of David which he
obtained against his bordering enemies, the Ammonites, the
Moabites, the Idumaeans, and the Philistines (as some would have
it); but of that great and glorious pomp which was then done and
showed, when king David with great joy and triumph did bring the
ark of the covenant into the hill of Sion; and,
therefore, these words, Thou art gone up on high, so
dignify that the ark, which formerly had lain in an obscure
place, and was transported from one place to another, was now
ascended and seated in a most illustrious and conspicuous
place, even in the kingly palace; and these words. Thou hast
led captivity captive, do signify those enemies which
formerly had spoiled and wasted divers countries; but now, being
vanquished by king David, were led captive in this
triumph (for so it was the manner of those times, as Plutarch
doth excellently declare in the life of Paulus Amilius); and the
other words, thou hast received gifts for men, do signify
those spoils that were freely offered for conditions of peace,
and were triumphantly carried about in this pompous show, for
the greater solemnity of the same; and then (as the manner was
among the chieftains when they triumphed, Bellica laudatis
dona dedisse viris, to bestow warlike gifts upon worthy
men), gifts were bestowed on several men, in several manner, as
Sigonius sheweth. Yet I say that, mystically, this Psalm
is an epinikion, or a triumphal song, penned by king David upon
the foresight of Jesus Christ arising from the dead, and with
great joy and triumph ascending up into heaven, and
thence sending his Holy Spirit unto his apostles and disciples;
and having overcome all his enemies, collecting by the ministry
of his preachers, his churches and chosen people together, and
so guiding and defending them here in this life, until he doth
receive them into eternal glory. Griffith Williams. 1636.
Verse 18. Thou hast led captivity captive. The
expression is emphatic. He has conquered and triumphed over all
the powers which held us in captivity, so that captivity itself
is taken captive. The spirit and force of it is destroyed; and
his people, when released by him, and walking in his ways, have
no more to apprehend from those whose captives they were, than a
conqueror has to fear from a prisoner in chains. The energy of
the phrase is not unlike that of the apostle: "Death is
swallowed up in victory." John Newton.
Verse 18. Thou hast led captivity captive, etc.
The ancient prophecy of David is fulfilled here on the foot of
mount Olivet. To take "captivity captive, "signifies
that Christ conquered the allied principalities and powers, the
devil, sin, death, and hell; and that he deprived them of the
instruments wherewith they enslaved men. He not only silenced
the cannon on the spiritual Gibraltar, but he took rock,
fortifications, and all. He not only silenced the horrible and
destructive battlements of the powerful and compactly united
ghostly enemies, but he threw down the towers, razed the
castles, and took away the keys of the dungeons. He is the
Master henceforth, and for ever. He did, also, at the same time,
save his people. Where, O Jesus, is the army of which thou art
the Captain? "Here! all the names are written in pearls on
the breastplate which I wear as a high priest." He had no
sooner left the grave than he began to distribute his gifts, and
did so all along the road on his way to his Father's house; and,
especially after he entered the heaven of heavens, did he shower
down gifts unto men, as a mighty conqueror loaded with treasures
with which to enrich and adorn his followers and people. They
were gifts of mercy: gifts to the rebellious; to those who threw
down their arms at his feet in penitent submission, that the
Lord God may dwell among them. The apostle shows that a
portion of these gifts are gifts of ministry. Accordingly,
whenever God condescends to dwell among a people and in a
country, he gives that people and country this ministry. He
sends them his gospel in the mouths of faithful servants. He
establishes there his house; the board and the candlestick; and
then, in his Spirit, he dwells there and blesses his heritage. Christmas
Evans. 1766-1838.
Verse 18. The apostle (Eph 4:8) does not quote the
words of the Psalm literally, but according to the sense. The
phrase, Thou hast received gifts, as applied to Christ as
his glorification, could only be for the purpose of
distribution, and hence the apostle quotes them in this sense, He
gave gifts to men. This Hebrew phrase may be rendered
either, "Thou hast received gifts in the human nature,
"or, "Thou hast received gifts for the sake of
man" (see Ge 18:28 2Ki 14:6). The apostle uses the words in
the sense of the purpose for which the gifts were
received, and there is no contradiction between the psalmist and
the apostle. Thus, the difficulties of this quotation vanish
when we examine them closely, and the Old and New Testaments are
in complete harmony. Rosenmueller expounds Psalm 18, and never
mentions the name of Christ; and the neologists in general see
no Messiah in the Old Testament. To these, indeed, Eph 4:8, if
they had any modesty, would present a formidable obstacle. Paul
asserts the Psalm belongs to Christ, and they assert he is
mistaken, and that he has perverted (De Wette) and destroyed its
meaning. They assert that Lamarom, "on high,
"means the heights of Mount Zion, and Paul says it means
heaven. Which is right? (see the scriptural usage of the word,
Ps 7:7 18:16 93:4 102:19 Jer 25:30 Isa 37:23). These passages
connect the word with the heavenly mansions, and justify the
application of the apostle. William Graham, in "Lectures
on St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians."
Verse 18. No sooner is Christ inaugurated in his
throne, but he scatters his coin, and gives gifts. He gives
gifts, or the gift of gifts, the gift of the Holy Ghost.
"If thou knewest the gift of God, " said Christ to the
Samaritan woman (Joh 4:10): that gift was the water of life, and
that water of life was the Spirit, as John, who knew best his
mind, gave the interpretation, "This spake he of the
Spirit." Joh 7:39. O my soul, consider of this princely
gift of Christ! Such a gift was never before, but when God gave
his Son. "God so loved the world, that he gave his Son;
"and Christ so loved the world, that he gave his Spirit.
But, O my soul, consider especially to whom this Spirit was
given; the application of the gift is the very soul of thy
meditation: "unto us a Son is given, "saith the
prophet (Isa 9:6); and "unto us the Holy Ghost is given,
" saith the apostle (Ro 5:5); and yet above all consider
the reasons of this gift in reference to thyself. Was it not to
make thee a temple and receptacle of the Holy Ghost? Stand a
while on this! Admire, O my soul, at the condescending,
glorious, and unspeakable love of Christ in this! It was
infinite love to come down into our nature when he was
incarnate; but this is more, to come down into thy heart by his
Holy Spirit: he came near to us then, but as if that were not
near enough, he comes nearer now, for now he unites himself unto
thy person, now he comes and dwells in thy soul by his Holy
Spirit. Isaac Ambrose. 1592-1674.
Verse 18. Thou hast received gifts for men. The
glorious ascending of God from Mount Sinai, after the giving of
the law, was a representation of his "ascending up far
above all heavens, that he might fill all things, "as Eph
4:10. And, as God then "led captivity captive" in the
destruction of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who had long held his
people in captivity and under cruel bondage; so dealt the Lord
Christ now in the destruction and captivity of Satan and all his
powers (Col 2:15); only, whereas it is said in the Psalm that he
"received gifts for men, "here (Eph 4:8) it is said
that "he gave gifts to men, "wherein no small mystery
is couched; for, although Christ is God, and is so gloriously
represented in the Psalm, yet an intimation is given that he
should act what is here mentioned in a condition wherein he was
capable to receive from another, as he did in this matter. Ac
2:33. And so the phrase in the original doth more than
insinuate: Mdab twgtm txql "Thou hast received gifts in
Adam, "—in the man, of human nature. And signifies as
well to give as to receive, especially when
anything is received to be given. Christ received this gift in
the human nature to give it unto others. Now, to what end is
this glorious theatre, as it were, prepared, and all this
preparation made, all men being called to the preparation of it?
It was to set out the greatness of the gift he would bestow, and
the glory of the work which he would effect; and this was to
furnish the church with ministers, and ministers with gifts for
the discharge of their office and duty. And it will one day
appear that there is more glory, more excellency, in giving one
poor minister unto a congregation, by furnishing him with
spiritual gifts for the discharge of his duty, than in the
pompous instalment of a thousand popes, cardinals, or
metropolitans. The worst of men, in the observance of a few
outward rites and ceremonies, can do the latter; Christ only can
do the former, and that as he is ascended up on high to that
purpose. John Owen.
Verse 18. As the passage which we have now been
considering is applied by Paul in a more spiritual sense to
Christ (Eph 4:8), it may be necessary to show how this agrees
with the meaning and scope of the psalmist. It may be laid down
as an incontrovertible truth, that David, in reigning over God's
ancient people, shadowed forth the beginning of Christ's eternal
kingdom. This must appear evident to every one who remembers the
promise made to him of a never failing succession, and which
received its verification in the person of Christ. As God
illustrated his power in David, by exalting him with the view of
delivering his people, so has he magnified his name in his only
begotten Son. But let us consider more particularly how the
parallel holds. Christ, before he was exalted, emptied himself
of his glory, having not merely assumed the form of a servant,
but humbled himself to the death of the cross. To show how
exactly the figure was fulfilled, Paul notices, that what David
had foretold was accomplished in the person of Christ, by his
being cast down to the lowest parts of the earth in the reproach
and ignominy to which he was subjected, before he ascended to
the right hand of his Father. Ps 22:7. That in thinking upon the
ascension, we might not confine our views to the body of Christ,
our attention is called to the result and fruit of it, in his
subjecting heaven and earth to his government. Those who were
formerly his inveterate enemies he compelled to submission and
made tributary; this being the effect of the word of the Gospel,
to lead men to renounce their pride and their obstinacy, to
bring down every high thought which exalteth itself, and reduce
the senses and the affections of men to obedience unto Christ.
As to the devils and reprobate men who are instigated to
rebellion and revolt by obstinate malice, he holds them bound by
secret control, and prevents them from executing intended
destruction. So far the parallel is complete. Nor, when Paul
speaks of Christ having given gifts to men, is there any
real inconsistency with what is here stated, although he has
altered the words, having followed the Greek version in
accommodation to the unlearned reader. It was not himself that
God enriched with the spoils of the enemy, but his people; and
neither did Christ seek, or need to seek, his advancement, but
made his enemies tributary, that he might adorn his Church with
the spoil. From the close union subsisting between the head and
the members, to say that God manifest in the flesh received
gifts from the captives, is one and the same thing with saying
that he distributed them to his Church. What is said in the
close of the verse is no less applicable to Christ; that he
obtained his victories that as God he might dwell among us.
Although he departed, it was not that he might remove to a
distance from us, but, as Paul says, "that he might fill
all things." Eph 4:10. By his ascension to heaven, the
glory of his divinity has been only more illustriously
displayed; and, though no longer present with us in the flesh,
our souls receive spiritual nourishment from his body and blood,
and we find, notwithstanding distance of place, that his flesh
is meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed. John Calvin.
Verse 18. Thou hast received gifts for men.
Hebrew Mdak, in man; "in human nature", says
Dr. Adam Clarke, "and God, manifest in human flesh, dwells
among mortals." "The gifts which Jesus Christ
distributes to man he has received in man, in and
by virtue of his incarnation, and it is in consequence of
his being made man that it may be said, `the Lord God dwells
among them; 'for Jesus was called Immanuel, `God with us,
'in consequence of his incarnation." Editors note to
Calvin in loc.
Verse 18. Yea, for the rebellious also. I
feared, also, that this was the mark that the Lord did set on
Cain, even continual fear and trembling under the heavy load of
guilt that he had charged upon him for the blood of his brother
Abel. Thus did I wind and twine and shrink under the burden that
was upon me, which burden also did so oppress me, that I could
neither stand, nor go, nor lie, either at rest or quiet. Yet
that saying would sometimes come to my mind, He hath received
gifts for the rebellious. Ps 68:18. "The rebellious,
"thought I; why, surely, they are such as once were under
subjection to their prince, even those who, after they have
sworn subjection to his government, have taken up arms against
him; and this, thought I, is my very condition; once I loved
him, feared him, served him; but now I am a rebel; I have sold
him. I have said, let him go if he will; but yet he has gifts
for rebels, and then why not for me? John Bunyan, in
"Grace Abounding."
Verse 18. (last clause). Thou didst not regard
their former disobedience, but, even although seeing them
contradicting, thou didst continue to do them good, until thou
madest them thine own abode oikhthrion. Theodoret.
Verse 18. (last clause). The Chaldee has,
"Upon the rebellious, who become proselytes and return by
repentance, the shechinah of the glory of the Lord God dwelleth."
Verse 19. Blessed be the Lord, etc. I think the
sweet singer of Israel seems to raise his note to the emulation
of the choir of heaven in the melody of their Allelujahs;
yea, let me say, now that he sings above in that blessed consort
of glorious spirits, his ditty cannot be better than this that
he sang here upon earth, and wherein we are about to bear our
parts at this time. Prepare, I beseech you, both your ears for
David's song, and your hearts and tongues for your own. And
first, in this angelic strain your thoughts cannot but observe
the descant and the ground. The descant of gratulation, Blessed
be the Lord, wherein is both applause and excitation; an
applause given to God's goodness, and an excitation of others to
give that applause. The ground is a threefold respect. Of what
God is in himself, God and Lord; of what God is and doth
to us, which loadeth us daily with benefits; of what he
is both in himself and to us, the God of our salvation;
which last (like to some rich stone) is set off with a dark
foil: To God the Lord belong the issues from death. So,
in the first for his own sake, in the second for our sakes, in
the third for his own and ours; as God, as Lord, as a
benefactor; as a Saviour and deliverer. Blessed be the Lord.
It is not hard to observe that David's Allelujahs are
more that his Hosannas, his thanks more than his suits.
Ofttimes doth he praise God when he begs nothing; seldom ever
doth he beg that favour, for which he doth not raise up his soul
to an anticipation of thanks; neither is this any other than the
universal under song of all his heavenly ditties, Blessed be
the Lord. Praises (as our former translation hath it) is too
low; honour is more than praise; blessing is more than honour.
Neither is it for nothing that from this word Krb, to bless,
is derived Krb, the knee, which is bowed in blessing; and
the crier before Joseph proclaimed Abrech, calling
for the honour of the knee from all beholders. Ge 41:43. Every
slight, trivial acknowledgment of worth is a praise; blessing is
in a higher strain of gratitude, that carries the whole sway of
the heart with it in a kind of divine rapture. Praise is a
matter of compliment; blessing of devotion. The apostle's rule
is, that the less is blessed of the greater, Abraham of
the King of Salem, the prophet's charge is, that the greater
should be blessed of the less, yea, the greatest of the
least, God of man. This agrees well; blessing is an act that
will bear reciprocation; God blesseth man imperatively; man
blesseth God optatively. God blesseth man in the acts of mercy;
man blesseth God in the notions, in the expressions of thanks.
God blesses man when he makes him good and happy; man blesseth
God when he confesseth how good, how gracious, how glorious he
is; so as the blessing is wholly taken up in agnation,
(acknowledgment), in celebration: in the one we acknowledge the
bounty of God to us; in the other we magnify him vocally,
really, for that bounty. O see, then, what high account God
makes of the affections and actions that his poor, silly, earth
creeping creatures; that he gives us in them power to bless
himself, and takes it as an honour to be blessed of us. David
wonders that God should so vouchsafe to bless man; how much more
must we needs wonder at the mercy of God, that will vouchsafe to
be blessed by man, a worm, an atom, a nothing? Yet both, James
tells us, that with the tongue we bless God; and the
psalmist calls for it here as a service of dear acceptation, Blessed
be the Lord. Even we men live not (chameleon like) upon the
air of thanks, nor grow the fatter for praises; how much less
our Maker? O God, we know well that whatsoever men or angels do,
or do not, thou canst not but be infinitely blessed in thyself;
before ever any creature was, thou didst equally enjoy thy
blessed self from all eternity: what can this worthless, loose
film of flesh either add to or detract from thine infiniteness?
Yet thou, that humbleth thyself to behold the things that are
done in heaven and earth, humblest thyself also to accept
the weak breath of our praises, that are sent up to thee from
earth to heaven. How should this encourage the vows, the
endeavours of our hearty thankfulness, to see them graciously
taken? If men would take up with good words, with good desires,
and quit our bonds for thanks, who would be a debtor? With the
God of Mercy this cheap payment is current. If he, then, will
honour us so far as to be blessed of us, Oh let us honour him so
far as to bless him. Joseph Hall, in "A Sermon of Public
Thanksgiving for the Wonderful Mitigation of the late
Mortality." 1625.
Verse 19. Blessed be the Lord. It is not a
little remarkable to see the saints so burdened and overcharged
with the duty of singing his praise, that,
1. They are forced to come off with an excess of praise, and
offer to praise him and even leave it, as it were, as they found
it, and say no more, lest they should spill his praises; but, as
Re 5:12, "Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory and honour,
"though I be not worthy or able to give it to him.
2. That they speak broken language and half sentences in
their songs, when they are deeply loaden with the deep sense of
his love, as Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with
benefits; there is no more in the original but Blessed be
the Lord, that loadeth us. John Spalding, in "Synaxis
Sacra." 1703.
Verse 19. Who daily loadeth us with benefits.
Though some may have more than others, yet every one hath his
load, as much as he can carry. Every vessel cannot bear up with
the like sail, and therefore God, to keep us from oversetting,
puts on so much as will safest bring us to heaven, our desired
port. Ezekiel Hopkins.
Verse 19. Who daily loadeth us with benefits.
Such is man's self love that no inward worth can so attract his
praises as outward beneficence. While thou makest much of
thyself, every one shall speak well of thee; how much more while
thou makest much of them! Here God hath met with us also. Not to
perplex you with scanning the variety of senses wherewith I have
observed this Psalm, above all other of David's, to abound; see
here, I beseech you, a fourfold gradation of divine bounty.
First, here are benefits. The word is not expressed in
the original, but necessarily implied in the sense: for there
are but three loads whereof man is capable from God, favours,
precepts, punishments, the other two are out of the road of
gratulation. When we might therefore have expected judgments,
behold benefits. And those, secondly, not sparingly hand
fulled out to us, but dealt to us by the whole load: loaded
with benefits. Whom, thirdly, doth he load but us?
Not worthy and well deserving subjects, but us, Myrrwm, rebels.
And, lastly, this he doth, not at one dole and no more (as even
churls' rare feasts use to be plentiful), but Mwy Mwy
successively, unweariedly, perpetually. One favour were too
much, here are benefits; a sprinkling were too much, here
is a load; once were too oft, here is daily
enlarging, (largeness, bounty). Cast your eyes, therefore, a
little upon this threefold exaggeration of beneficence; the
measure, a load of benefits; the subject, unworthy us;
the time, daily. Who daily loadeth us with benefits.
Where shall we begin to survey this vast load of mercies? Were
it no more, but that he hath given us a world to live in, a life
to enjoy, air to breathe in, earth to tread on, fire to warm us,
water to cool and cleanse us, clothes to cover us, food to
nourish us, sleep to refresh us, houses to shelter us, variety
of creatures to serve and delight us; here were a just load. But
now, if we yet add to these, civility of breeding, dearness of
friends, competency of estate, degrees of honour, honesty or
dignity of vocation, favour of princes, success in employments,
domestic comforts, outward peace, good reputation, preservation
from dangers, rescue from evils; the load is well mended. If
yet, ye shall come closer, and add due proportion of body,
integrity of parts, perfection of senses, strength of nature,
mediocrity of health, sufficiency of appetite, vigour of
digestion, wholesome temper of seasons, freedom from cares; this
course must needs heighten it yet more. If still ye shall add to
these, the order, and power, and exercise of our inward
faculties, enriched with wisdom, art, learning, experience,
expressed by a handsome elocution, and shall now lay all these
together that concern estate, body, mind; how can the axle tree
of the soul but crack under the load of these favours? But, if
from what God hath done for us as men, we look to what he hath
done for us as Christians; that he enlivened us by his Spirit,
fed us by his word and sacraments, clothed us with his merits,
bought us with his blood, becoming vile to make us glorious, a
curse, to invest us with blessedness; in a word, that he hath
given himself to us, his Son for us; Oh the height, and
depth, and breadth of the rich mercies of our God! Oh the
boundless, topless, bottomless, load of divine benefits, whose
immensity reaches from the centre of this earth, to the
unlimited extent of the very imperial heavens! "Oh that
men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the
wonders that he hath done for the children of men." Joseph
Hall.
Verse 20. Our God is the God of salvation (that
is of deliverance, of outward deliverance); and unto God the
Lord belong the issues from death, or the goings out from
death; that is, God hath all ways that lead out from death in
his own keeping, he keepeth the key of the door that lets us out
from death. When a man is in the valley of the shadow of death,
where shall he issue out? Where shall he have a passage?
Nowhere, saith man, he shall not escape. But God keepeth all the
passages; when men think they have shut us up in the jaws of
death, he can open them, and deliver us. To him belong the
issues from death; it is an allusion to one that keepeth a
passage or a door: and God is a faithful keeper, and a friendly
keeper, who will open the door for the escape of his people,
when they cry unto him. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 20. And unto God the Lord belong the issues
from death. Buildings stand by the benefit of their
foundations that sustain them, support them; and of their
buttresses that comprehend them, embrace them; and of their
contignations (a framing together; from contigno, to join
together, or lay with beams and rafters), that knit and unite
them. The foundation suffers them not to sink; the buttresses
suffer them not to swerve; the contignation and knitting suffer
them not to cleave. The body of our building is in the former
part of this verse; it is this; He that is our God is the God of
salvation; ad salutes, of salvations, in the plural, so
it is in the original; the God that gives us spiritual and
temporal salvation too. But of this building, the foundation,
the buttresses, the contignation, are in this part of the verse,
which constitutes our text, and in the three diverse
acceptations of the words amongst our expositors, Unto God
the Lord belong the issues of death. For, first, the
foundation of this building (that our God is the God of all
salvation) is laid in this, That unto this God the Lord
belong the issues of death; that is, it is in his power to
give us an issue and deliverance, even then, when we are brought
to the jaws and teeth of death, and to the lips of that
whirlpool, the grave; and so, in this acceptation, this exitus
mortis, the issue of death, is liberatio a morte, a
deliverance from death; and this is the most obvious and most
ordinary acceptation of these words, and that upon which our
translation lays hold: the issues from death. And then,
secondly, the buttresses that comprehend and settle this
building: that, He that is our God is the God of salvation,
are thus raised; Unto God the Lord belong the issues of
death, that is, the disposition and manner of our death,
what kind of issue and transmigration we shall have out of this
world, whether prepared or sudden, whether violent or natural,
whether in our perfect senses or shaked or disordered by
sickness; there is (no) condemnation to be argued out of that,
no judgment to be made upon that; for howsoever they die, precious
in his sight is the death of his saints, and with him are
the issues of death, the ways of our departing out of this life
are in his hands; and so in this sense of the words, this exitus
mortis, the issue of death, is liberatio in morte, a
deliverance in death; not that God will deliver us from dying,
but that he will have a care of us in the hour of death, of what
kind soever our passage be; and this sense and acceptation of
the words, the natural frame and contexture doth well and
pregnantly administer unto us. And then, lastly, the
contignation and knitting of this building, that He that is our
God, is the God of all salvation, consists in this, Unto this
God the Lord belong the issues of death, that is, that this God
the Lord, having united and knit both natures in one, and being
God, having also come into this world, in our flesh, he could
have no other means to save us, he could have no other issue out
of this world, no return to his former glory, but by death. And
so in this sense, this exitus mortis, the issue of death,
is liberatio per mortem, a deliverance by death, by the
death of this God our Lord, Christ Jesus; and this, St.
Augustine's acceptation of the words, and those many and great
persons that have adhered to him. In all these three lines then,
we shall look upon these words, first as the God of power, the
Almighty Father, rescues his servants from the jaws of death;
and then, as the God of mercy, the glorious Son rescues us by
taking upon himself the issue of death; and then (between these
two), as the God of comfort, the Holy Ghost rescues us from all
discomfort, by his blessed impressions before; that what manner
of death soever be ordained for us, yet this exitus mortis
shall be introitus in vitam, our issue in death shall be
an entrance into everlasting life. And these three
considerations, our deliverance a morte, in morte, per
mortem, from death, in death, and by death, will abundantly
do all the offices of the foundation, of the buttresses, of the
contignation of this our building, that He that is our God is
the God of salvation, because Unto this God the Lord
belong the issues of death. John Donne.
Verse 20. The issues from death. That is, the
issue, or escape, from death, both in the resurrection and in
the various perils of our present life. Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse 20. Issue from death. The English version
cannot be sustained by the Hebrew; for l has never the force of from,
and, therefore, the expression, as Dr. Hammond observes, must
signify the several plagues and judgments inflicted by God on
impenitent enemies—such as drowning in the sea, killing by the
sword, etc.; which were the ways of punishing and destroying the
Egyptians and Canaanites. Thus the two members of the verse are
"antithetical" the first speaks of God as a deliverer,
and the second as a punisher; and in this respect the verse
corresponds with the preceding. George Phillips, in "The
Psalms... with a Critical, Exegetical, and Philological
Commentary." 1846.
Verse 21. The hairy scalp. That is, even the
most fearful enemies, that with their ghastly visage, deformed
with long hair, would strike a terror into the hearts of
beholders. Edward Leigh.
Verse 21. Hairy scalp. It was a practice among
some of the ancient inhabitants of Arabia to allow their hair to
grow luxuriantly on the top of the head, and to shave the
head in other parts. Francis Hare. 1740.
Verse 22. I will bring the enemy. Both the
preceding and following verse prove that this is the sense, and
not as many interpreters supply, my people. Bashan was east
of Judaea, and the sea on the west; so that the meaning
is, that God would bring his enemies from every quarter to be
slain by his people. Benjamin Boothroyd.
Verse 23. That thy foot may be dipped, etc. The
blood of thy enemies, shed in such abundance that thy dogs shall
lap and drink it, shall be the sea in which thou shalt pass, and
that red without a figure. And, proportionably shall be the
destruction on the enemies of Christ and Christians in the age
of the Messiah. Henry Hammond.
Verse 26-28. This Psalm was sung, it is probable, on
the removal of the ark into the City of David. Numbers 10. It
was now that the ark had rest, and the tribes assembled three
times a year at Jerusalem, the place that God had chosen. The
text is a lively description of their worship.
1. Offer a few remarks by way of expounding the passage.
(a) Israel had their lesser congregations in ordinary every
Sabbath day, and their national ones three times a year. Their
business in all was to bless God.
(b) This business was to be carried on by all Israel,
beginning at the fountain head, and proceeding through all its
streams. God had blessed Israel; let Israel bless God.
(c) All the tribes are supposed to be present; four are
mentioned in the name of the whole, as inhabiting the confines
of the land. Their union was a source of joy; they had been
divided by civil wars, but now they are met together.
(d) Those tribes which are named had each something
particular attending it. Little Benjamin (see Judges 21) had
nearly been a tribe lacking in Israel, but now appears with its
ruler. Judah had been at war with Benjamin: Saul was a Benjamite;
David was of Judah: yet they happily lost their antipathy in the
worship of God. Zebulun and Naphtali were distant tribes; yet
they were there! dark, too, yet there.
(e) The princes and the people were all together.
(f) They were supposed to be strong, but were reminded that
what they had of strength was of God's commanding. Their union
and success, as well as that degree of righteousness among them
which exalted the nation, was of God They are not so strong, but
that they need strengthening, and are directed to pray as well
as praise: Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought
for us.
2. Apply the subject. Two things are here exemplified,
namely—diligence and brotherly union; and three things
recommended, namely—united praise; united acknowledgment that,
for what they are, they are indebted to God; and united prayer
for future mercies. Each of these affords a rule for us.
(a) The worship of God must be attended with diligence.
There are the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali. They had to
travel about two hundred miles three times a year, thither and
back again; that is, twelve hundred in a year, twenty-four miles
a week. Those who neglect the worship of God for little
difficulties show that their heart is not in it, and when they
do attend cannot expect to profit: "they have snuffed at
it." Those whose hearts are in it often reap great
advantage. God blessed the Israelites in their journeys, as well
as when there (Ps 84:6): "The rain filleth the pools;
"and so the Christians. There is a peculiar promise to
those that seek him early.
(b) The worship of God must be attended to with brotherly
love. All the tribes must go up together. It is a kind law
that enjoins social worship; we need each other to
stimulate. "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt
his name together." God has made us so that we shall be
greatly influenced by each other, both to good and evil. It
greatly concerns us to cultivate such a spirit. To this end we
must cherish an affectionate behaviour in our common
intercourse—bear, forbear, and forgive; and, whatever
differences we may have, not suffer them to hinder our worship.
The tribes, as we have seen, had their differences; yet they
were there. When all Israel met at Hebron to anoint David king,
what should we have said if some had kept away because others
went?
(c) Our business, when assembled, must be to bless God
in our congregations; and a pleasant work this is. Israel had
reasons, and good reasons, and Christians more. Thank him for
his unspeakable gift; bless him for the means of grace, and the
hopes of glory. Bless him; he "healeth all thy diseases,
"etc. Psalm 103. This is an employment that fits for
heaven. The tears of a mourner in God's house were supposed to
defile his altar. We may mourn for sin; but a fretful
spirit, discontented and unthankful, defiles God's altar still.
(d) Another part of our business is to unite in acknowledging
that whatever we are, we owe it to God alone; "Thy God hath
commanded thy strength." We possess a degree of strength
both individually and socially. Art thou strong in faith, in
hope, in zeal? It is in him thou art strong. Are we strong as a
society? It is God that increaseth us with men like a flock; it
is he that keeps us in union, gives us success, etc.
(e) Another part of our business must be to unite in prayer
for future mercies. We are not so strong, either as individuals
or societies, but that there is room for increase; and this is
the proper object of prayer. God has wrought a great work for us
in regeneration. God has wrought much for us as a church in
giving us increase, respect, and room in the earth. Pray that
each may be increased; or, in the words of the text: Strengthen,
O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. Are there none
who are strangers to all this? Andrew Fuller.
Verse 27. Benjamin, Judah, Zebulun, Naphtali.
The two royal tribes,
1. That of Benjamin, from which the first king sprang;
2. That of Judah, from which the second; and the two learned
tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali. And we may note, that the kingdom
of the Messiah should at length be submitted to by all the
potentates and learned men in the world. Henry Hammond.
Verse 27. Benjamin, Judah, Zebulun, Naphtali.
The same tribes are prominent in the New Testament, as foremost
in the battle of the church against the world. Paul, the
"least" of the apostles (1Co 15:8-10), was by origin
Saul of Benjamin (Php 3:5). Christ, "the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, "James and John, the brothers, the other James,
Thaddaeus, and Simon, were from Judah, and the other apostles
were from Nephthalim and Zabulon, or Galilee (Mt 4:13). A. R.
Fausset.
Verse 27. Their ruler. The prince of
that tribe. The Greek version saith, in a trance; taking
the Hebrew Mdr to be of Mdr, though it be not found elsewhere in
this form; yet rare words but once used are sundry times found
in this and other Psalms. These things applied to Christ's times
and after are very mystical. Benjamin, the least, is put
here first; so in the heavenly Jerusalem, the first
foundation is a jasper (Re 21:19), which was the last
precious stone in Aaron's breastplate, on which Benjamin's
name was graven (Ex 28:10,20-21). In this tribe Paul
excelled as a prince of God, though one of the least of the
apostles (1Co 15:8-10), who was converted in a trance or ecstasy
(Ac 9:3-4, etc.); and in ecstasies he and other apostles saw the
mysteries of Christ's kingdom. Henry Ainsworth.
Verse 27. Their council; or, their stone,
the Messiah, that sprang from Judah, Ge 49:24 Ps 118:22. John
Gill.
Verse 27-28. There are all the twelve tribes of
Israel with their rulers present, to conduct the ark of God to
the hill, in which it pleaseth him to dwell; for, though all the
tribes are not mentioned, these which are named, include the
whole, since Zebulun and Naphtali are the most remote, and Judah
and Benjamin the nearest tribes to Zion. Benjamin was a dwindled
family through the signal depopulation of that tribe, from which
it never entirely recovered. Jud 20:43-48 1Ch 12:29. Edward
Garrard Marsh, in "The Book of Psalms translated into
English Verse... with Practical and Explanatory Notes."
1832.
Verse 28. Thy God hath commanded thy strength.
Singularly appropriate to the occasion for which they were
composed are these stimulating words. The ark of God had during
several years been kept in private houses. David had pitched a
tent for its reception, and intended providing a better shrine;
he would deposit the ark in the temporary sanctuary, and he
gathers thirty thousand chosen men of Israel, and with these and
with a multitude of the people he proceeds to the house in which
the ark had been kept. The people can render the service
of song, so "David and all the house of Israel played
before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood,
even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on
cornets, and on cymbals" (2Sa 6:5). The breach of Uzzah
delayed the restoration of the ark three months; but David
returned to the work, and with gladness, with burnt offerings
and peace offerings, with feasting, dancing, and the sound of a
trumpet, he brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its
place in the tabernacle he had pitched for it. David can
provide a sacred place for the ark of his God, and his "God
has commanded his strength." Thirty thousand chosen men can
attend on this occasion, and a multitude besides. Then, why
should they tarry at home? The occasion is worthy of their
presence, and their "God has commanded their
strength." There are sweet singers and skilful players in
Israel, and why should they be silent. The occasion calls for
praise, and their "God has commanded their strength."
There are cattle upon the thousand hills of Canaan, and shall no
sacrifice be brought? The occasion demands oblations, and
Israel's "God has commanded their strength." There is
a mountain in Canaan, beautiful for situation, and rich in
historic association. God's ark can be brought to this
mountain, and if it can be, it ought to be, for Israel's God has
commanded Israel's strength. There are twelve tribes in Israel
which may unite in bringing up God's ark, then let none hold
back, for their "God has commanded their strength." Thy
strength is thy best—all that is within thee; all that
thou canst do, and be, and become; and all that thou hast—the
two mites, if these be all, and the alabaster box of spikenard,
very costly, if this be thy possession... By that which God is
in himself, by that which God is to us, by law on the heart, and
by law oral and written, by the new kingdom of his love, and by
all his benefits, Thy God commands thy strength. He
speaks from the beginning, and from the end of time, from the
midst of chaos, and from the new heavens and new earth, from
Bethel and from Gethsemane, from Sinai and from Calvary, and he
saith to us all, "My son, give me thine heart, "
consecrate to me thy best, and devote to me thy strength. Samuel
Martin.
Verse 30. Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds.
This is our marginal version, which is the proper one. Most
modern critics consider that the lion is here intended, which
frequently makes its den among reeds or brush wood. Innumerable
lions wander about among the reeds and copses, on the borders of
the rivers of Mesopotamia. The river Jordan was infested with
them (Jer 4:7 49:19). Hence, the wild beasts of the reed may
signify the Syrian kings, who often contended with David. Benjamin
Boothroyd.
Verse 30. The idolatrous king of Egypt is here
enigmatically represented as dwelling, like the crocodile, among
the reeds of the Nile; and with him are introduced the bulls
and calves, who were the gods of the people of Egypt,
before whom they were ever dancing in their superstitious
revels. "Quell these insults upon thy majesty, nor put down
only the superstition of Egypt, but all their pomp of war also,
that the Gentiles may be converted unto thee, and the idols be
utterly abolished." Edward Garrard Marsh.
Verse 30. When the enemies of God rise up against his
church, it is time for the church to fall down to God, to
implore his aid against those enemies. Holy prayers are more
powerful than profane swords. Thomas Wall, in "A Comment
on the Times." 1657.
Verse 30. These words contain, first, a declaration of
God's enemies; secondly, an imprecation against those enemies.
The enemies are marshalled into four ranks.
1. A company of spearmen, or (as some translations read it)
the beast of the reeds.
2. The multitude of the bulls.
3. The calves of the people.
4. The men that delight in war.
The imprecation is also twofold; the first more gentle; it is
but rebuke the spearmen; and that with limitation too—till
they submit themselves with pieces of silver. For they that
will not, but delight in war, more severely deal with such:
Scatter them; Scatter the men that delight in war.... The
church of God never wanted enemies, never will. "There is
no peace to the wicked, "saith God: there shall be no peace
to the godly, say the wicked. The wicked shall have no peace
which God can give; the godly shall have no peace which the
wicked can take away. Thomas Wall.
Verse 30.
1. Scrupulosity.
2. Envy.
3. Ignorance.
4. Ambition or pride.
Upon which these four beasts in the text do act their enmity
against the church; scrupulosity sets forth unto us the beast of
the reeds; envy, the bulls; ignorance, the calves; and pride,
the men that delight in war. Thomas Wall.
This instance of spiritualising may act rather as a beacon
than as an example. The author was an able divine, but in this
sermon gives more play to his imagination than his common sense.
Verse 31. Ethiopia. It is a matter of fact,
familiar to the learned reader, that the names Ethiopia,
and "Ethiopians, " are frequently substituted
in our English version of the Old Testament, where the Hebrew
preserves the proper name, "Cush." And the name,
"Cush, "when so applied in Scripture, belongs
uniformly not to the African, but to the Asiatic, Ethiopia, or
Arabia. Charles Forster, in "The Historical Geography of
Arabia."
Verse 33. And that a mighty voice; or a
voice of strength; a strong and powerful voice, such as the
gospel is, when accompanied with the power and Spirit of God. It
is a soul shaking and awakening voice; it is a heart melting and
a heart breaking one; it is a quickening and an enlightening
voice; it quickens dead sinners, gives life unto them, and the
entrance of it gives light to dark minds; it is a soul charming
and alluring one; it draws to Christ, engages the affections to
him, and fills with unspeakable delight and pleasure. John
Gill.
Verse 33. To him that rideth upon the heavens of
heavens. He who manages the heavens, directing their course
and influence. He formed every orb, ascertained its motion,
proportioned its solid contents to the orbit in which it was to
revolve, and to the other bodies of the same system; and as an
able rider manages his horse, so does God the sun, moon,
planets, and all the host of heaven. W. Greenfield, in
Comprehensive Bible.
Verse 33. The praises of the church are sung to him,
who, after his sufferings here below, reascended to take
possession of his ancient throne, high above all heavens; who,
from thence, speaketh to the world by his glorious gospel,
mighty and powerful, as thunder, in its effects upon the hearts
of men (see Psalm 29 throughout). The power of Christ's voice,
when he was on earth, appeared by the effects which followed,
when he said, "Young man, arise:" "Lazarus, come
forth:" "Peace, be still; "and it will yet
further appear, when "all that are in the graves shall hear
the voice of the Son of man, and come forth." George
Horne.
Verse 34. His strength is in the clouds. This
refers to the phenomena of thunder and lightning; for all
nations have observed that the electric fluid is an irresistible
agent—destroying life, tearing towers and castles to pieces,
rending the strongest oaks, and cleaving the most solid rocks;
and the most enlightened nations have justly considered it as an
especial manifestation of the power and sovereignty of God. W.
Greenfield, in Comprehensive Bible.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verses 1-2.
First. The church of God ever had, and will have, enemies and
haters; for against these doth the psalmist arm himself and the
church with this prayer.
Secondly. The church's enemies are God's enemies; they that
hate the church, hate God. Thine enemies, them that hate
thee.
Thirdly. God sometimes seems to sleep or lie still, and let
these enemies and haters do what they will for a season, This,
also, is implied: he to whom we say, Arise is either
asleep or lies still.
Fourthly. There is a time when God will arise.
Fifthly. God's rising time is the enemies' scattering time,
his hater's flying time.
Sixthly. It is the duty of God's people to pray him up when
he seems to be down, and to exalt him in their praises when he
doth arise to their rescue and redemption; for these words are
both a prayer and a triumph as they are used both by Moses and
David. Thomas Case, in a Fast Sermon, preached before the House
of Commons, entitled, "God's Rising, his Enemies'
Scattering." 1644.
Verses 1-3. Prayer for the Second Advent. A. Macaul.
Verse 4.
1. The name that inspires the song: Jah.
(a) Self existent.
(b) Immutable.
(c) Eternal.
2. The song inspired by that name.
(a) Of exultation.
(b) Of confidence.
(c) Of joy. G. R.
Verse 5. The claims of widows and orphans upon the
church of God, from God's relation to them and his indwelling in
the church.
Verse 6. Comparison of churches to families. See
extract from Dr. Gill.
Verse 6.
1. Two curable evils: "solitary", "bound with
chains."
2. Two rich blessings: "set in families, ""bringeth
out."
3. One monster evil, and its miserable consequences.
Verses 7-8.
1. God has his seasons for delivering his people from their
troubles: When thou, etc.
2. His deliverance is complete: The earth shook, etc.;
all things gave way before him.
3. The deliverance is greater for the delay.
(a) It is so in itself.
(b) It is more prized: as in the case of Job, Abraham, Israel
at the Red Sea, Daniel, his three companions, etc. G. R.
Verses 7-9.
1. The presence of God in his church.
(a) His preeminence: "before."
(b) As covenant God of Israel.
(c) As active and making active.
(d) His rule within: they follow.
(e) His design without: marching for war.
2. The blessed consequences.
(a) The most stolid shake.
(b) The lofty bow.
(c) Difficulties removed: "Sinai."
(d) Blessings plenteous.
(e) Church revived.
Verse 9.
1. God's mercy compared to a shower.
(a) It is direct from heaven; not through priests.
(b) It is pure and unmixed.
(c) No one has a monopoly of it.
(d) There is no substitute for it.
(e) It is sovereignly dispensed, as to (1) time; (2) place;
(3) manner; and (4) measure.
(f) It works efficiently. Isa 55:10.
(g) Prayer can get it.
2. There are seasons when these showers fall.
(a) In the house of God.
(b) In the means of grace.
(c) In prayer.
(d) In affliction.
(e) When saints are weary (1) through working; (2) through
sickness; (3) through non success.
(f) By the Holy Spirit refreshing the heart.
3. These showers are meant to "confirm God's
people."
4. They are wanted now.
Verse 9.
1. The church is God's inheritance.
(a) Chosen.
(b) Purchased.
(c) Acquired.
2. Though his inheritance, at times it may be weary.
3. When weary, it will be refreshed by him. G. R.
Verse 10. (second clause). Special goodness,
for a special people, specially prepared.
Verse 10. (second clause). It is spoken in
reference to the poor, because,
1. They are the larger mass of mankind; and, whatever pride
may think, in the eye of reason, policy, and revelation, by far
the most important, useful, and necessary part.
2. They would be more peculiarly affected by deficiency.
3. To encourage those in humble and trying life to depend
upon him.
4. To enforce our attention to them from the divine example. W.
Jay.
Verse 11. The divinity of the gospel; the divers ways
and agents for its publication.
Verses 11-12.
1. The word given: "The Lord." etc.
2. The word proclaimed: "Great, "etc.
3. The word obeyed: "Kings, "etc. Thus it was in
Old Testament times, when to Joshua, to Gideon, to David, etc.,
the Lord gave the word, and it ran through the hosts, and
"kings of armies, "etc. Thus it was in apostolic
times, when the word of reconciliation was given. Thus it is
still, and will be more signally than ever hereafter. G. R.
Verse 12. (last clause). The church in
redemption as a spouse tarrying at home; her home duties; the
spoil of her Lord's glorious and finished work, and her dividing
it.
Verse 13.
1. The contrast.
(a) Instead of humiliation, exaltation.
(b) Instead of pollution, purity.
(c) Instead of inertness, activity.
(d) Instead of deformity, beauty.
2. Its application.
(a) To penitence and pardon.
(b) To depravity and regeneration.
(c) To affliction and recovery.
(d) To desertion and consolation.
(e) To death and glory. G. R.
Verse 14.
1. Where earth's greatest battles are fought.
"Scattered, ""in it, "i.e., in Zion.
"There brake he, "etc.
2. By whom? The Almighty.
3. When? In answer to his people's faith and prayer.
4. How?
(a) Without noise, gently: as the fall of snow.
(b) Without human aid: as untrodden snow.
(c) Without violence: "All bloodless lay the untrodden
snow." G. R.
Verse 15-16.
1. The superiority of the hill of Zion.
(a) In fertility, to the hill of Bashan; to earthly
pleasures.
(b) In glory, to other hills; to human heights of learning
and power.
2. The reason of that superiority.
(a) The place of God's choice.
(b) Of his delight
(c) Of his abode.
(d) Of his continuance for ever. G. R.
Verse 16.
1. The church the dwelling place of God.
(a) Elected of old.
(b) Favoured for ever.
(c) Affording rest, etc., as a home for God.
(d) Receiving honour, etc., for herself.
2. The church, therefore, envied by others.
(a) They feel their own greatness outdone.
(b) They leap with rage.
(c) They are unreasonable in so doing.
Verses 17-18.
1. The comparison between Zion and Sinai.
(a) The same Lord is there: "The Lord is among,
"etc.
(b) The same attendants: "The chariots," etc.
2. The contrast.
(a) God descended at Sinai, ascended from near Zion.
(b) Put a yoke upon them at Sinai, leads captivity captive at
Zion.
(c) At Sinai demanded obedience, in Zion bestows gifts.
(d) In Sinai spoke terror, in Zion receives gifts for the
rebellious.
(e) In Sinai appeared for a short season, in Zion dwells for
ever. G. R.
Verse 18.
1. Christ's ascension.
2. His victories.
3. The gifts he received for men; and
4. The great end for which he bestows them. John
Newton.
Verse 18. That the Lord God might dwell among them.
It is ground for devout wonder that God should dwell among men,
when we contemplate his immensity, loftiness, independence,
holiness, and sovereignty; yet he does so—
1. In the coming of Christ into the world.
2. In the residence of his Spirit in the heart.
3. In the presence of God in his churches.
—William Staughton, D.D. 1770-1829.
Verse 19.
1. The load of benefits.
2. The load of obligation.
3. The load of praise due in return.
Verse 19.
1. Salvation is not to be forgotten in the midst of daily
mercies.
2. Daily mercies are not to be forgotten in the enjoyment of
salvation. G. R.
Verse 20. Death in God's hand.
1. Escapes from it.
2. Entrances to it.
3. The exit out of it beyond.
4. The gate which, when closed, shuts us in it for ever.
Verse 20.
1. What God has been to his people.
(a) Their salvation.
(b) Their portion: "Our God."
2. What he will be: With them.
(a) Until death.
(b) In death.
(c) After death. G. R.
Verse 21. The power, pride, wisdom, and very life of
evil, to be conquered by God.
Verse 22.
1. Where his people may be driven.
2. The certainty of their return.
3. The reasons for being assured of this.
Verse 24. The allowable procession in the
sanctuary. The marshalled order of doctrine, the holy walk
of believers, the banners of joy, the music of devotions, the
shouts to the King.
Verse 25. (last clause). Work for holy women in
the church.
Verse 27.
1. The variety of song.
(a) The royal tribe of Benjamin in the time of Saul.
(b) The princely tribe of Judah, as David was prince regent
in the time of Saul.
(c) The literary tribe of Zebulun: "Out of Zebulun"
they that handle the pen of the writer.
(d) The eloquent tribe: "Naphtali giveth goodly
words."
2. The harmony of song. Let all unite in praising the Lord,
the fountain of Israel. "Ten thousand thousand are their
tongues, "etc. G. R.
Verse 30-31.
1. Hindrances to the progress of divine truth.
(a) Idolatry. Worship of the crocodile—beasts of the
reeds, (LXX)—of bulls and calves, as in Egypt.
(b) Covetousness.
(c) War.
2. The means for their removal. Prayer and the divine rebuke.
Scatter thou, etc.
3. The consequences of this removal; Ps 68:31.
Verse 35.
1. Consider God's jealousy towards his people for his
holiness in the three "holy places."
(a) In the outer court of profession.
(b) In the holy place of our priesthood.
(c) In the holy of holies with his Son.
2. Consider his terribleness to his foes, as inferred from
those "holy places."
Verse 35. Blessed be God. A brief, but very
suggestive text.