This is at once a solemn Psalm and a lively Temple song. It is especially the song of Messiah and the Church of Israel - a kind of Red Sea song, sung, however, in Canaan.
"Raise the shout of joy!
All the earth to God.
Show forth the glory of his name.
Give glory to him as his praise."
Then leading us to such scenes as were spoken in 65:5
"Say to God, how awful are these works of yours!"
There is a Bethel-solemnity in these scenes, though they bring us to the very gate of heaven -
"All the earth shall worship you.
They sing! They sing your name! Selah
This Selah-pause divides the Psalm into portions at suitable times, and intimates a change of scene or tone. Here, as usual, it gives time for solemn thought; and then an invitation is given to men to "Come and see."
As John 1:26,27, at Christ's First Coming, and Rev 6:3,4,5,7, in events leading on to his Second -
"Come and see the works of God!
Awful in his dealing to the sons of men." (v5)
And when we have cast our eye back to Red Sea and Jordan wonders, and have seen Him to be the same forever, still subduing the nations, another, "Selah" gives us time to pause and adore. But the harp is soon struck again (v8),
"Bless our God, you nations"
The Jews are now inviting the Gentiles; for the Jews are life from the dead to the world. They tell how their God refined them; how He "laid pressure on their loins," the seat of strength; yet made their trials act as a furnace to take away the dross.
Even "frail man" were made strong against them; yet Israel passed through desert and flood; and, at length, reached "The wealthy place" (v12) - affluence - refreshing.
Each of their number, as well as their Leader, thus invites the Gentile nations; and they do it by example, and not by word only -
"I will go to your house with offerings;
I will perform my vows to you.
I will offer fat victims as burnt-offerings.
With rams that have incense savour. Selah." v13,14
Another pause - like Wisdom's in Proverbs 1:23. And then once more, voice and instrument together sound forth a cheerful summons to draw near and listen to Messiah and the Church of Israel -
"Come, hear, and I will tell,
All you who fear God,
What he has done for me." (v16)
He was (v17), "Hearer of prayer" to me (Isaiah 65:2); for no sooner did I call upon Him than he answered - turning my prayer into praise. Had I sought to "lying vanities" or had tried crooked paths, I should have failed in finding this blessed result.
But the God of Israel, the Holy One, was honoured.
"Truly God has heard,
He has hearkened to the voice of my prayer." (v19)
But the way to this blessedness is by a holy path, v18. Messiah magnified the law; and in Him, we who come to God through his blood and righteousness do the same, and so shall sing the same song, and bless the same God.
"He has not turned away my prayer.
He has not turned away his mercy from me."
A close equivalent to Revelation 5:8, where golden vials, full of saints' prayers, are held up by the saints, and owned by the Hearer of Prayer on that day.
Far from turning away my prayer. He has done exceeding abundantly beyond all I asked. Instead of turning away his mercy from me, He has brought me to the Wealthy Place! Such is the Song of Messiah and his ransomed Israel praising the prayer-hearing God.
Monday, 20 January 2014
Friday, 17 January 2014
Psalm 65 - Prayers exchanged for praises because of blessings showered on Earth!
"A Psalm of David; a true song," is the import of the title, thus describing the tone that prevails throughout.
Possibly (as some thing) it was composed at Passover time, when the sheaf of first fruits of barley harvest used to be offered.
Every note in this song tells the feeling of a happy soul reviewing the past, and seeing mercy abounding then and now. Messiah and his redeemed ones - the Lamb and his 144,00 - might sing it on their Mount Zion, and we may sing it now.
The Head leads the choice, and this is the substance of the song - "O God, praise is thine!" such praise as leaves the worshipper "silent," because the theme is too great for his harp to handle.
"To you belongs silent-praise;" praise without any tumult (Alexander.) It was been said, "The most intense feeling is the most calm, being condensed by repression." And Hooker says of the prayer, "The very silence which our unworthiness puts us into does itself make request for us, and that in the confidence of his grace. Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail" (v48,4). Horsley renders it, "Upon you is the repose of prayer."
Now is the vow performed to you! "O Hearer of Prayer, to you (yes, even as far as to You), the Holiest of all, all flesh are coming now."
Our iniquities (iniquities which have been imputed to our Head) once prevailed against us (as Gen 7:24) like the waters of the deluge, surmounting the highest hills; but you purge them away, and we sing, "Blessed is the man whom you cause to approach to you as a priest" (Num 16:8). Yes, blessed indeed for he shall dwell in your courts, and there be satisfied with good; your house, your holy place yielding him its heavenly stores.
When we cried to you, terrible things (thing of such surpassing glory and majesty as spread awe around) were your answer.
You were God of salvation, displaying your grace in such a way as to draw the confidence of all ends of earth. Creator, too, setting fast the mountains! And God of providence, stilling the raging waves of the most tumultuous sea, and by your wonderful signs (tokens) causing distant lands, the lands of the setting and rising sun, the east and the west, to fear and to rejoice.
And now let us sing together of the crowning act of all, displaying grace, creation, and providence in one - your dealings with this Earth, which you will renew into paradise.
Once we sang, "What is man that you visited him?" and now we sing "You visit his dwelling place, and make it teem with plenty!" Yes, "You have the earth under your care, and water it."
"The fountain of God has plenty of waters" (Hengstenberg)
You prepare (Horsley, make sure) their corn, for you have prepared!" (v9)
What a table spread with abundance is that once barren earth! It is "thus you deal as God, with infinite liberality." The soaking rain descends on her furrowed fields.
"You lay down its ploughed fields;
You moisten it with showers;
You bless the springing up/
You have crowned the year, so as to make it a year of goodness;
Your chariot-wheels drop fatness.
They drop on the wilderness which has pastures now (meadow-lands);
The hills are girded with gladness."
What a changed world! And every season we see some thing of this exhibited. But the yearly return of spring and summer after winter is an emblem of Earth's summer day, when it shall be renewed. Then, even more than now, it shall be sung:
"The pastures are clad with flocks;
The valleys are covered over with corn.
They shout for job! they break out into song!"
Who does not seem, in reading this majestic Psalm, to hear the very melody that issues from the happy people of that New Earth? Originally it may have been sung as a "Psalm of David, a lively song," at a Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel's happy land and prosperous tribes furnished a scene that naturally suggested the future days of a renewed earth - earth's golden age returned.
It is, however, on a much higher key than this; it is a Song of the Lamb, while he leads his glorified ones to fountains of living water, and shows them their old world presenting at length a counterpart to heaven - all paradise again, and better than paradise.
Is it not then, Prayers exchanged for praises because of blessings showered on Earth!
Possibly (as some thing) it was composed at Passover time, when the sheaf of first fruits of barley harvest used to be offered.
Every note in this song tells the feeling of a happy soul reviewing the past, and seeing mercy abounding then and now. Messiah and his redeemed ones - the Lamb and his 144,00 - might sing it on their Mount Zion, and we may sing it now.
The Head leads the choice, and this is the substance of the song - "O God, praise is thine!" such praise as leaves the worshipper "silent," because the theme is too great for his harp to handle.
"To you belongs silent-praise;" praise without any tumult (Alexander.) It was been said, "The most intense feeling is the most calm, being condensed by repression." And Hooker says of the prayer, "The very silence which our unworthiness puts us into does itself make request for us, and that in the confidence of his grace. Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail" (v48,4). Horsley renders it, "Upon you is the repose of prayer."
Now is the vow performed to you! "O Hearer of Prayer, to you (yes, even as far as to You), the Holiest of all, all flesh are coming now."
Our iniquities (iniquities which have been imputed to our Head) once prevailed against us (as Gen 7:24) like the waters of the deluge, surmounting the highest hills; but you purge them away, and we sing, "Blessed is the man whom you cause to approach to you as a priest" (Num 16:8). Yes, blessed indeed for he shall dwell in your courts, and there be satisfied with good; your house, your holy place yielding him its heavenly stores.
When we cried to you, terrible things (thing of such surpassing glory and majesty as spread awe around) were your answer.
You were God of salvation, displaying your grace in such a way as to draw the confidence of all ends of earth. Creator, too, setting fast the mountains! And God of providence, stilling the raging waves of the most tumultuous sea, and by your wonderful signs (tokens) causing distant lands, the lands of the setting and rising sun, the east and the west, to fear and to rejoice.
And now let us sing together of the crowning act of all, displaying grace, creation, and providence in one - your dealings with this Earth, which you will renew into paradise.
Once we sang, "What is man that you visited him?" and now we sing "You visit his dwelling place, and make it teem with plenty!" Yes, "You have the earth under your care, and water it."
"The fountain of God has plenty of waters" (Hengstenberg)
You prepare (Horsley, make sure) their corn, for you have prepared!" (v9)
What a table spread with abundance is that once barren earth! It is "thus you deal as God, with infinite liberality." The soaking rain descends on her furrowed fields.
"You lay down its ploughed fields;
You moisten it with showers;
You bless the springing up/
You have crowned the year, so as to make it a year of goodness;
Your chariot-wheels drop fatness.
They drop on the wilderness which has pastures now (meadow-lands);
The hills are girded with gladness."
What a changed world! And every season we see some thing of this exhibited. But the yearly return of spring and summer after winter is an emblem of Earth's summer day, when it shall be renewed. Then, even more than now, it shall be sung:
"The pastures are clad with flocks;
The valleys are covered over with corn.
They shout for job! they break out into song!"
Who does not seem, in reading this majestic Psalm, to hear the very melody that issues from the happy people of that New Earth? Originally it may have been sung as a "Psalm of David, a lively song," at a Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel's happy land and prosperous tribes furnished a scene that naturally suggested the future days of a renewed earth - earth's golden age returned.
It is, however, on a much higher key than this; it is a Song of the Lamb, while he leads his glorified ones to fountains of living water, and shows them their old world presenting at length a counterpart to heaven - all paradise again, and better than paradise.
Is it not then, Prayers exchanged for praises because of blessings showered on Earth!
Thursday, 16 January 2014
Psalm 64 - Our Joseph and his seed foreseeing the doom of the archers that have shot at them.
It is a probably conjecture that David may have been led to write this Psalm while still a youth at Saul's court, when there discerning the arts and deceits of courtiers.
We may illustrate it by referring to the case of Joseph and his many foes.
Here is the Righteous One, or "the Perfect" (v4), set before us - a name applicable to Christ in its fullest significance but applied also to his members, as being "Perfect" in purpose and in prospects, impartially aiming at the whole will of their God in heart and life.
But the world hates such, as his brothers hated Joseph; the world lays snares, and levels arrows of malignity at them.
"The arches have shot at them" - at our Joseph and his seed.
He says, v5, "They will tell about hiding snares," and they think no eye is on them.
"They search deep into iniquity" (to find out the most deadly device)
"We ahve got it ready! Here is a well-matured plan! (this is their shout over their deep-laid plot)
"And close is each one,
And deep of heart." (v6)
But there is another that is an Archer: "God has shot at them."
God has his bow, and his time is coming (v7). "All their hard speeches," are to be brought into judgement at the Lord's coming (Jude 15); and if they wounded others sorely, sorely shall they in turn be wounded. Theirs shall be a doom like Korah's (v8), when all Israel fled at the cry (Num 16:34).
"He has cast them down, tehir tongues come on themselves." (v8)
All earth shall then discern the righteous ways of God. That is the day of his Redeemed so often spoken of, so long expected - the day when the Righteous shall "enter into the joy of their Lord" and utter aloud their rejoicings and their glorying in Him.
"The Righteous One shall be glad in the Lord,
And flee for refuge to none but him;
And all the upright in heart shall boast themselves." (v6)
May we not, then describe this song of Zion as one in which we find Our Joseph and his seed foreseeing the doom of the archers that have shot at them.
We may illustrate it by referring to the case of Joseph and his many foes.
Here is the Righteous One, or "the Perfect" (v4), set before us - a name applicable to Christ in its fullest significance but applied also to his members, as being "Perfect" in purpose and in prospects, impartially aiming at the whole will of their God in heart and life.
But the world hates such, as his brothers hated Joseph; the world lays snares, and levels arrows of malignity at them.
"The arches have shot at them" - at our Joseph and his seed.
He says, v5, "They will tell about hiding snares," and they think no eye is on them.
"They search deep into iniquity" (to find out the most deadly device)
"We ahve got it ready! Here is a well-matured plan! (this is their shout over their deep-laid plot)
"And close is each one,
And deep of heart." (v6)
But there is another that is an Archer: "God has shot at them."
God has his bow, and his time is coming (v7). "All their hard speeches," are to be brought into judgement at the Lord's coming (Jude 15); and if they wounded others sorely, sorely shall they in turn be wounded. Theirs shall be a doom like Korah's (v8), when all Israel fled at the cry (Num 16:34).
"He has cast them down, tehir tongues come on themselves." (v8)
All earth shall then discern the righteous ways of God. That is the day of his Redeemed so often spoken of, so long expected - the day when the Righteous shall "enter into the joy of their Lord" and utter aloud their rejoicings and their glorying in Him.
"The Righteous One shall be glad in the Lord,
And flee for refuge to none but him;
And all the upright in heart shall boast themselves." (v6)
May we not, then describe this song of Zion as one in which we find Our Joseph and his seed foreseeing the doom of the archers that have shot at them.
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Psalm 63 - The Righteous One finding water-springs in God.
It may have been near the Dead Sea, on his way to the ford of Jordan, that the Psalmist first sang this song. It is a Psalm first heard by David's faithful ones in the wilderness of Judah; but truly a Psalm for every godly man who in the dry world-wilderness can sing - "All my springs are in you" - a Psalm for David - a Psalm for David's Son - a Psalm for the Church in every age - a Psalm for every member of the Church in the weary land!
What assurance, what vehement desire, what soul-filling delight in God, in God alone - in God the only fountain of the living water amid a boundness wilderness! Hope, too, has its visions here; for it sees the ungodly perish (v8,9,10), and the King on the throne surrounded by a company who swear allegiance to the LORD.
Hope sees for itself what Isaiah 65:16 describes - every mouth "swearing by the God of truth;" and what Revelation 21:27 has foretold, the mouth of "liars" closed forever - all who sought others gods, and trusted to other saviours, gone forever.
And when we read all this as spoken of Christ, how much does every verse become enhanced.
His thirst for God!
His vision of God!
His estimate of God's loving-kindness!
Hos soul satisfied!
His mouth full of praise!
His soul following hard after God!
"O God, you are my God," mighty one. You are my omnipotence. It is this God he still seeks. In verse 2 we see:
"No wonder that I thirst for you; no wonder that my first thoughts in the morning are toward you; no wonder than my very flesh longs for you! Who would not, that has seen what I have seen? So have I gazed on you in the sanctuary, seeing such power and glory!"
The "so" is like 2 Peter 1:18, "Such a voice!" And then if the past has been exquitely blessed, my prospects for the future are no less so. I see illimitable bliss coming in as a tide; "so will I bless You while I have being!" (v4)
Yes; in ages to come, as well as in many a happy moment on earth, my soul shall be satiated as with marrow and fatness!
When verse 7 shows us the soul under the shadow of God's wings, rejoicing, we may say, it is not only like as "the bird sheltered from teh heart of the sun amid the rich foliage sings its merry note," but it is the soul resting there as if entering the cloud of glory, like Moses and Elijah.
O world! Come and see The Righteous One finding water-springs in God.
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Psalm 62 - The Righteous one, when threatened, looking to the Rock for help.
This Psalm has three parts, each begins with "truly;" verses 1,4,9.
There was a "Rock" spoken of in Psalm 61:2. The God of Israel had long been known under than name, ever since Jacob, and Moses, and Hannah, had appropriated the Rock, with its many propertises of shade, shelter, strength, solidity, dignity, to give a people accustomed to level deserts and sands an emlem of the Unchanging One to whom the helpless may hold.
This Rock is prominent through this Psalm. At the commencement, the soul of the speaker is seen under it as his shelter - he rests in its shade, and on its strength.
"Only upon God my soul rests." (Horsley) He is a rock, while enemies are as an inclining wall and a fence that has had a shove - on the verge of ruin. Thus he can snig, "Truly in God, my soul takes rest." (v1,6)
Foes and bitter persecutors are around him, and this keeps him very near the Refuge at all times. We ahve here the soul of the Righteous One - Christ and his members - resorting to the LORD while iniquity surrounds them, and persecution tries them.
We hear them calling on Him, and stirring up one another to do the same (v8), affixing the solemn ("Selah",
"Trust in him at all imes, you people." (true Israel of God)
"Our estimate of man (it has been said) depends on our estimate of God;" and here God is felt to be most gloriously great. The sons of men (v9) are a mere vapour; their greantness, even when it shall flush up the splendour of Antichrist's dominion, is a mere mirages.
The sentence against it is on the way. Already you may hear God speaking; it is no fancy. Two things have been declared by our God. That he will bring down the proud and that he has mercy on his own.
As from Sinai, so from the Rock, we hear a voice telling that the LORD is God Almighty, and yet merciful too.
"One thing God has spoken,
Two things there are which I have heard -
That might is God's;
And that mercy also is the LORD's!" (v11,12)
In this certainty we looked for the Great Day of the Lord - the day when a mismanaged world shall be set in order - a day sure to come, and sure to satisfy us when it has come,
"For you render to each man according to his work."
When the choir of singers, at whose head was Jeduthun, sang this Psalm together, the godly in Israel would feel their souls raised to the very heights of confidence, sympathising with The Righteous one, when threatened, looking to the Rock for help.
There was a "Rock" spoken of in Psalm 61:2. The God of Israel had long been known under than name, ever since Jacob, and Moses, and Hannah, had appropriated the Rock, with its many propertises of shade, shelter, strength, solidity, dignity, to give a people accustomed to level deserts and sands an emlem of the Unchanging One to whom the helpless may hold.
This Rock is prominent through this Psalm. At the commencement, the soul of the speaker is seen under it as his shelter - he rests in its shade, and on its strength.
"Only upon God my soul rests." (Horsley) He is a rock, while enemies are as an inclining wall and a fence that has had a shove - on the verge of ruin. Thus he can snig, "Truly in God, my soul takes rest." (v1,6)
Foes and bitter persecutors are around him, and this keeps him very near the Refuge at all times. We ahve here the soul of the Righteous One - Christ and his members - resorting to the LORD while iniquity surrounds them, and persecution tries them.
We hear them calling on Him, and stirring up one another to do the same (v8), affixing the solemn ("Selah",
"Trust in him at all imes, you people." (true Israel of God)
"Our estimate of man (it has been said) depends on our estimate of God;" and here God is felt to be most gloriously great. The sons of men (v9) are a mere vapour; their greantness, even when it shall flush up the splendour of Antichrist's dominion, is a mere mirages.
The sentence against it is on the way. Already you may hear God speaking; it is no fancy. Two things have been declared by our God. That he will bring down the proud and that he has mercy on his own.
As from Sinai, so from the Rock, we hear a voice telling that the LORD is God Almighty, and yet merciful too.
"One thing God has spoken,
Two things there are which I have heard -
That might is God's;
And that mercy also is the LORD's!" (v11,12)
In this certainty we looked for the Great Day of the Lord - the day when a mismanaged world shall be set in order - a day sure to come, and sure to satisfy us when it has come,
"For you render to each man according to his work."
When the choir of singers, at whose head was Jeduthun, sang this Psalm together, the godly in Israel would feel their souls raised to the very heights of confidence, sympathising with The Righteous one, when threatened, looking to the Rock for help.
Monday, 13 January 2014
Psalm 61 - The Righteous One, when an outcast, looking for the day of his Restoration.
On Neginah (like Neginoth, unknown), and "by David," and perhaps sung at Mahanaim, (Tholuck). In this life, every member of the Church has varied lot - now at rest, then troubled; now hopeful, then fearful; now a conqueror, then a combatant.
Seated as he is on the Rock of Ages, immovably seated, he sees at one time a fair sky and a bright sun; then, the thick cloud spreads gloom over nature; soon, the beam struggles through again, but soon all is mist once more.
Such being the sure complexion of our sojourning here, we rejoice to find sympathy evidenced by our God who knows our frame, and evidenced by the fact that he so often turns in the Songs of Zion from one state of mind to another, and from aspect of our case to another.
Here is the Head and his members in a state of loneliness. As if suggested by the case of dispersed Israel, language (in verse 2) is adopted such as we find in Deut 30:41 and Neh 1:9.
Our Lord could use such a Psalm in the days of his humiliation, looking to the Father, as in John 14:28 "the Rock higher than I," higher than the man Christ Jesus, higher than all his members. This Rock casts its shadow over those beneath it.
The "Selah" at verse 4 gives us time to look upon the believing one's quiet repose under the wings of God, and then we hear the calm acknowledgement of verse 5, which may remind us of Psalm 22:25. The tone of the Song changes; everything after is hope, sure anticipation, a future of bliss realised as already at hand.
"He shall sit (on the throne) before God for ever," verse 7.
Let us especially notice "Mercy and truth" (v7) are the attributes which preserve him. Now, "mercy and truth" are the prominent features of Redemption-blessing; God saying "Live,"and yet to do this without retracting the sentence, "You shall die."
Christ's pillar-cloud was "mercy and truth;" the Christian's pillar-clouds is the same.
Christ, by harmonising, magnified these perfections of Godhead; the Christian magnifies them by pointing the Father to them as harmonised. So this prayer is answered: "O prepare mercy and truth; let them preserve him!"
Perhaps the unusual word, "appoint," "prepare," may have been chosen to suggest a reference to manna, the wilderness-provision.
Give a manna-like provision of mercy and truth. This is our everlasting food while we dwell before God!
Another thing worthy of brief notice is verse 6, "The King."
David's title was "King" though a wanderer in Judah's deserts; David's Son, too, had the same name and title; and in the right of their Head, disciples of Christ claim kingship under him, and look forward with hope and expectation to the days of his visible manifestation as King in the kingdom that has no end.
Here, then, we have The Righteous One, when an outcast, looking for the day of his Restoration.
Seated as he is on the Rock of Ages, immovably seated, he sees at one time a fair sky and a bright sun; then, the thick cloud spreads gloom over nature; soon, the beam struggles through again, but soon all is mist once more.
Such being the sure complexion of our sojourning here, we rejoice to find sympathy evidenced by our God who knows our frame, and evidenced by the fact that he so often turns in the Songs of Zion from one state of mind to another, and from aspect of our case to another.
Here is the Head and his members in a state of loneliness. As if suggested by the case of dispersed Israel, language (in verse 2) is adopted such as we find in Deut 30:41 and Neh 1:9.
Our Lord could use such a Psalm in the days of his humiliation, looking to the Father, as in John 14:28 "the Rock higher than I," higher than the man Christ Jesus, higher than all his members. This Rock casts its shadow over those beneath it.
The "Selah" at verse 4 gives us time to look upon the believing one's quiet repose under the wings of God, and then we hear the calm acknowledgement of verse 5, which may remind us of Psalm 22:25. The tone of the Song changes; everything after is hope, sure anticipation, a future of bliss realised as already at hand.
"He shall sit (on the throne) before God for ever," verse 7.
Let us especially notice "Mercy and truth" (v7) are the attributes which preserve him. Now, "mercy and truth" are the prominent features of Redemption-blessing; God saying "Live,"and yet to do this without retracting the sentence, "You shall die."
Christ's pillar-cloud was "mercy and truth;" the Christian's pillar-clouds is the same.
Christ, by harmonising, magnified these perfections of Godhead; the Christian magnifies them by pointing the Father to them as harmonised. So this prayer is answered: "O prepare mercy and truth; let them preserve him!"
Perhaps the unusual word, "appoint," "prepare," may have been chosen to suggest a reference to manna, the wilderness-provision.
Give a manna-like provision of mercy and truth. This is our everlasting food while we dwell before God!
Another thing worthy of brief notice is verse 6, "The King."
David's title was "King" though a wanderer in Judah's deserts; David's Son, too, had the same name and title; and in the right of their Head, disciples of Christ claim kingship under him, and look forward with hope and expectation to the days of his visible manifestation as King in the kingdom that has no end.
Here, then, we have The Righteous One, when an outcast, looking for the day of his Restoration.
Friday, 10 January 2014
Psalm 60 - The Righteous One asks and rejoices in, Israel's restoration.
The Sweet Singer outlived the dismal days of Saul. Seated firmly on his throne, he saw his armies go forth adn return crowned with victory.
One of his victories, gained by Joab, was over the king of Zobah, who it appers had engaged the men of Mesopotamia (Aram-naharaim) to take his side. When the trophies of victory from the river Euphrates (2 Sam 8:3) were brought in, David's harp awoke, touched by the Spirit of God.
It sang of a happier day to come - happier than that triumphant day of Israel in the birth-land of their father Abraham - a day when Israel's breaches shall be for ever healed, and Israel's strongest foes for ever subdued. Sometimes it is the nation, sometimes it is the leader of the nation, that sings (See v1,5,9.)
It may be used by Israel, or by Israel's Lord as one of themselves. But what is "upon Shushan-eduth"? It must be connected with "joy" or "lilies" and may speak of an instriument as in Psalm 45 and 80. No writer has come near certainty of "eduth" than that it may allude to Israel as the nation that had the "Testimony" or the Ark of Testimony.
"To teach" - as if pointing back to Moses' song, Deut 31:19, and indicating that thsi also is such a National Song.
The Psalm may be said to take up the hope of the precedinng one. The dispersion of Israel does not last for ever. Though they have been broken, though God has put into their hands the cup of wrath than stuns them (Isaiah 51:22), yet they shall arise.
Their's is not the malefctor's cup of myrrh that deadens pain just as a prelude to death and utter extinction. Though Israel be broken, and his land cleft apart a thousandfold more terribly than David's wars or any of the desolations of his time ever threatended, yet that desolation ends (v4).
"You have given a Banner to those who fear you."
Here is the voice of Israel owning the LORD's gift of Messiah to them.
Messiah is the ensign or banner, Isaiah 11:10.
"To be lifted up as an ensign, because of truth"
Holding up this banner - in other words, owning God's truth, or the fulfillment of his ancient promise to Adam, to Abraham, to all the fathers - Israel may expect favour; and they find it.
For suddenly, verse 5, Messiah appears, himself urging their request, and at verse 6 he gets a favourable answer; "God speaks in holiness," (or, as Israel's Holy One,) and grants the desire of him who asks.
Shechem, on the west side of Jordan, where Jacob's first altar was raised, and where ie bought the first parcel of ground (Gen 33:18), and where afterwards destruction threatened the whole feeble family because of Levi and Simeon's enormity, is now re-possessed in peace.
Succoth, on the east side of Jordan, where Jacob first erected a dwelling (Gen 33:17) and booths for cattle, as one intending to remain, is next claimed permanently.
The country eastward beyond Jordan, under the name Gilead, where stood the mounatin famed for healing balm, emblematic of healing to Israel, comes next, as well as westward Mannaseh, on the opposite side; thus showing us the stretching of the wing over the breadth of the land.
Ephraim, full of power, comes in as being to push the foe with his horns (Deut 33:17), while Judah appears as "Lawgiver" or "Ruler", the tribe of Messiah.
The nations round submit; Moab stands as a slave at his master's foot; Edom picks up the sandal cast down at his feet by his lord (Hengstenberg); and Philistia is compelled to receive the king with triumphant shouts.
"Philistia, shout to me The Conqueror!"
And whose power is it that accomplished all this? Who is it that leads the conquering nation and its king to the strong city? Even to Edom's strongholds, and to the battlefield of Edom in the latter day? (Isaiah 58:1) It is the very God who once cast them off - the very God who scattered them. Glory to the Lord of hosts, and to Him only! Israel and Israel's Leader rest on him, and so do valiantly - as Balaam, pointing to Moab and Edom, long since foretold (Numbers 24:18,19).
And thus the scene of Psalm 59 is happily reversed at length.
The Righteous One asks and rejoices in, Israel's restoration.
One of his victories, gained by Joab, was over the king of Zobah, who it appers had engaged the men of Mesopotamia (Aram-naharaim) to take his side. When the trophies of victory from the river Euphrates (2 Sam 8:3) were brought in, David's harp awoke, touched by the Spirit of God.
It sang of a happier day to come - happier than that triumphant day of Israel in the birth-land of their father Abraham - a day when Israel's breaches shall be for ever healed, and Israel's strongest foes for ever subdued. Sometimes it is the nation, sometimes it is the leader of the nation, that sings (See v1,5,9.)
It may be used by Israel, or by Israel's Lord as one of themselves. But what is "upon Shushan-eduth"? It must be connected with "joy" or "lilies" and may speak of an instriument as in Psalm 45 and 80. No writer has come near certainty of "eduth" than that it may allude to Israel as the nation that had the "Testimony" or the Ark of Testimony.
"To teach" - as if pointing back to Moses' song, Deut 31:19, and indicating that thsi also is such a National Song.
The Psalm may be said to take up the hope of the precedinng one. The dispersion of Israel does not last for ever. Though they have been broken, though God has put into their hands the cup of wrath than stuns them (Isaiah 51:22), yet they shall arise.
Their's is not the malefctor's cup of myrrh that deadens pain just as a prelude to death and utter extinction. Though Israel be broken, and his land cleft apart a thousandfold more terribly than David's wars or any of the desolations of his time ever threatended, yet that desolation ends (v4).
"You have given a Banner to those who fear you."
Here is the voice of Israel owning the LORD's gift of Messiah to them.
Messiah is the ensign or banner, Isaiah 11:10.
"To be lifted up as an ensign, because of truth"
Holding up this banner - in other words, owning God's truth, or the fulfillment of his ancient promise to Adam, to Abraham, to all the fathers - Israel may expect favour; and they find it.
For suddenly, verse 5, Messiah appears, himself urging their request, and at verse 6 he gets a favourable answer; "God speaks in holiness," (or, as Israel's Holy One,) and grants the desire of him who asks.
Shechem, on the west side of Jordan, where Jacob's first altar was raised, and where ie bought the first parcel of ground (Gen 33:18), and where afterwards destruction threatened the whole feeble family because of Levi and Simeon's enormity, is now re-possessed in peace.
Succoth, on the east side of Jordan, where Jacob first erected a dwelling (Gen 33:17) and booths for cattle, as one intending to remain, is next claimed permanently.
The country eastward beyond Jordan, under the name Gilead, where stood the mounatin famed for healing balm, emblematic of healing to Israel, comes next, as well as westward Mannaseh, on the opposite side; thus showing us the stretching of the wing over the breadth of the land.
Ephraim, full of power, comes in as being to push the foe with his horns (Deut 33:17), while Judah appears as "Lawgiver" or "Ruler", the tribe of Messiah.
The nations round submit; Moab stands as a slave at his master's foot; Edom picks up the sandal cast down at his feet by his lord (Hengstenberg); and Philistia is compelled to receive the king with triumphant shouts.
"Philistia, shout to me The Conqueror!"
And whose power is it that accomplished all this? Who is it that leads the conquering nation and its king to the strong city? Even to Edom's strongholds, and to the battlefield of Edom in the latter day? (Isaiah 58:1) It is the very God who once cast them off - the very God who scattered them. Glory to the Lord of hosts, and to Him only! Israel and Israel's Leader rest on him, and so do valiantly - as Balaam, pointing to Moab and Edom, long since foretold (Numbers 24:18,19).
And thus the scene of Psalm 59 is happily reversed at length.
The Righteous One asks and rejoices in, Israel's restoration.
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