Shun strange gods. PSALMS LXXXI. 9-16. LXXXII. 1-6. i Exod. 20. 3, 5. k Deut. 32. 12. Isa. 43. 12. 1 Exod. 20. 2. m Ps. 37. 3, 4. John 15. 7. n Exod. 32. 1. Deut. 32. 15, 18. o Acts 7. 42. & 14. 16. Rom. 1. 24, 26. Or, to the hard ness of their hearts, or imaginations. p Deut. 5. 29. & 10. 12, 13. & 32. 29. Isa. 48. 18. q Ps. 18. 45. Rom. 1. 30. || Or, yielded feigned obedience, Ps. 18. 44. & 66. 3. + Heb. lied. r Deut. 32. 13, 14. Ps. 147. 14. t Heb. with the fat of wheat. s Job 29. 6. Or, for Asaph. a 2 Chron. 19. 6. Eccles. 5. 8. b Exod. 21. 6. & 22. 28. c Deut. 1. 17. 2 Chron. 19. 7. Prov. 18. 5. + Heb. Judge. d Jer. 22. 3. e Job 29. 12. Prov. 24. 11. f Micah 3. 1. g Ps. 11. 3. & 75. 3. ↑ Heb. moved. h Exod. 22. 9, 28. k 9 i There shall no strange god be in thee; Neither shalt thou worship any strange god. Do justly. 10 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: P Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, 14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, And turned my hand against their adversaries. 15 The haters of the LORD should have || † submitted themselves unto him: But their time should have endured for ever. 16 He should have fed them also † with the finest of the wheat: And with honey' out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. 13. Oh that my people had hearkened] Rather, Oh that my people were hearkening] As God says by Moses, Deut. x. 12, Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me;" and cp. Deut. xxxii. 29. God is ever uttering these words-even to this day-to the scattered tribes of Israel. had walked] Or, would walk. 14. I should soon have subdued] I should soon subdue their enemies, and turn mine hand against their adversaries; and so to the end of the Psalm. In this Psalm, God is ever stretching out His arms of fatherly love to His ancient people. 16. He should have fed them] Rather, He, Who fed their fathers, would now feed Israel. There is a reference here to the Song of Moses in Deut. xxxii. 13, 14. These blessings, as is there observed, are realized in all their fulness in Christ. He is the "Living Bread" (John vi. 33), and He is the Rock from which the honey flows of divine truth (S. Athanasius). “Quàm multi Domino cibantur, non solum ex adipe frumenti, sed etiam de Petrâ melle, de sapientiâ Christi! quàm multi delectantur verbo Ejus, et cognitione Sacramentorum Ejus! Hoc est mel de Petrâ. Petra autem erat Christus" (1 Cor. x. 4. S. Augustine). Ps. LXXXII.] The Psalmist, having declared in the foregoing Psalm the necessity of faith and obedience to God in the discharge of religious duties, as a requisite for God's favour and protection, now speaks of the indispensable obligation of civil justice, especially in all those who are invested by God with public offices among His people. On the connexion of this Psalm with the Feast of Tabernacles, see the Prelim. Note to the foregoing Psalm. 1. of the mighty] Rather, of God. The congregation of God is the commonwealth of Israel (Num. xxvii. 17. 31. Josh. xxii. 16). There God is invisibly enthroned, and every thing is to be done in His Name, and in obedience to His law. с And they that hate thee have lifted up the head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, And consulted against thy hidden ones. 4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5 For they have consulted together with one † consent : They are confederate against thee: 6f The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites ; Of Moab, and the Hagarenes; 7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; The Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; xxii. 28). Ye are My deputies, and as far as ye act in accordance with My will and word, obedience is due to you as to God (cp. Rom. xiii. 1—3). Our Lord refers to these words in John x. 34 (where He calls this Psalm a part of the Law), and says, " If he call them (i. e. those earthly rulers) "gods, to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture" (of which this Psalm is a part) "cannot be broken" (or dissolved); "say ye of Him, Whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world" (and Who is the Word of God Himself), "Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?" Evidently our Lord here claimed to be superior to all men, even to the Kings of God's own people. It is an argument à fortiori; and the sense in which it was understood by the Jews, is evident by their endeavours to destroy Him, as speaking blasphemy (x. 39); which they certainly would not have done, if His claim had been that of an earthly king, which, indeed, they invited Him to be (John vi. 15); and His divine truth and power were evinced by His escape through the midst of them. Cp. viii. 59. 7. like men] Like a common man (Heb. Adam). Rulers are God's representatives, while they conform to God's law; but if they swerve from it, they become common men. " And fall like one of the princes] Princes and magistrates are first in honour, if they rule rightly; but if not, they will be first in shame and punishment. "Mighty men shall be mightily tormented (Wisd. vi. 6. Cp. 1 Pet. iv. 17). The Psalmist foresees the future judgment which God will execute on all. “Arise, O God, judge the earth; for Thou shalt inherit all nations." All nations are Thine inheritance. Thou gavest a special inheritance to Israel; but all lands are Thy Canaan; and all will be judged by Him Who is "King of kings and Lord of lords." Ps. LXXXIII.] This Psalm is connected with the foregoing by an identity of conclusion. In the former the Psalmist implores God to "arise and judge the earth; for Thou shalt inherit all nations" (v. 8); and his prayer at the close of the present is: "Let Thine enemies be confounded, O Lord, that men may know that Thou, Whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth" (v. 18). In both Psalms the supremacy of the God of Israel, Jehovah, not only over Israel, but over all nations, is the dominant idea; and this truth is applied in the present Psalm for the purpose of inspiring Or, for Asaph. a Ps. 28. 1. & 35. 22. & 109. 1. b Ps. 2. 1. Acts 4. 25. c Ps. 81. 15. d Ps. 27. 5. & 31. 20. e See Esth. 3.6, 9. ↑ Heb. heart. f See 2 Chron. 20. 1, 10, 11. And Israel with comfort and hope, and with faith and trust, that The particular occasion which produced this Psalm appears to have been the powerful combination of Moab and Ammon (the children of Lot, v. 8) against Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. See above, on 2 Chron. xx. 1. 10. 22,-a chapter which ought to be read carefully in connexion with this Psalm. In confirmation of this opinion it may be observed, that this is one of the Psalms of Asaph (that is, of his poetical and prophetical school); and in 2 Chron. xx. 13 we read that in the critical time when Judah was alarmed by the innumerable host of conspiring enemies, the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation came upon Jahaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph. Perhaps he composed this Psalm at that time. In a spiritual and prophetic sense, this Psalm may be referred to the times of the gathering together of the enemies of Christ and His Church in the last days, and to their total discomfiture, as foretold in the Apocalypse (Rev. xx. 8, 9). See S. Augustine here. 3. thy hidden ones] Those who take shelter under the covering of thy wings (xxvii. 5; xxxi. 20; xci. 1). 4. That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance] Such was the design of the confederate enemies of Judah in the days of King Jehoshaphat (see 2 Chron, xx. 6-12); and the remembrance of the miraculous blasting of that conspiracy by the God of Israel, would inspire the people with hope of His favour in all times of national distress, such as that of the captivity, when it seemed as if "the name of Israel would be no more had in remembrance." Hence probably the insertion of this Psalm in this place, in connexion with that season of sorrow. 5. against thee] Not only against us. Cp. Acts ix. 4: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" 6. Edom] See above, on 2 Chron. xx. 2, where it is probable that for Aram (Syria), we should read Edom. Moab] See 2 Chron. xx. 1. 7. Gebal Literally, mountain; here the mountainous region of Edom, extending from the southern shore of the Dead Sea to Petra is intended (Gesen. 155). May all adore Thee PSALMS LXXXIII. 8—18. LXXXIV. 1, 2. + Heb. they have been an arm to the children of Lot. g Num. 31. 7. Judg. 7. 22. h Judg. 4. 15, 24. & 5. 21. i 2 Kings 9. 37. Zeph. 1. 17. k Judg. 7. 25. 1 Judg. 8. 12, 21. m Isa. 17. 13, 14 n Ps. 35. 5. o Deut. 32. 22. p Job 9. 17. q Ps. 35. 4, 26. r Ps. 59. 13. s Exod. 6. 3. t Ps. 92. S. Ps. 8, titie. || Or, of. a Ps. 27. 4. b Ps. 42. 1, 2. & 63. 1. & 73. 26. & 119. 20. 18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, To the chief Musician * upon Gittith, A Psalm || for the sons of Korah. 1 HOW amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 2 b My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: 10. En-dor] See on Judg. v. 21. Cp. Josh. xvii. 11, where Endor is placed next to Taanach and Megiddo, the scene of the battle (Judg. v. 19). 11. Oreb and-Zeeb] The princes of Midian, taken prisoners by Gideon, and slain. See Judg. vii. 25. Zebah-Zalmunna] Kings of Midian, also taken by Gideon, and slain. See Judg. viii. 5-21. 12. The houses of God] The homesteads, dwellings surrounded by pastures (Heb. neöth: see on lxxiv. 20; and Gesen. 524. Cp. xxiii. 2; lxv. 12, where the word is rendered pastures), belonging not to man, but to God, Who is the Lord of the soil of Israel, and of which Israel was the occupying tenant, and where they were only like "strangers and sojourners" with God. See Lev. xxv. 23. Deut. xxxii. 43. 2 Chron. vii. 20. 13. like a wheel] Heb. galgal. Here it means what is rolled round in a whirlwind (see v. 15), like chaff or dust; as Isaiah, using the same word, expresses it: "They shall be chased like a rolling thing before the whirlwind " (Isa. 14. As the fire burneth a wood] Cp. Isa. x. 16—19. the flame setteth the mountains on fire] So powerful is it. See Deut. xxxii. 22. 16, 18. That they may seek thy name-know that thou-art the most high over all the earth] Cp. lix. 13. The final cause of all God's judgments, and specially of Israel's dispersion and future restoration, was the manifestation of God's Truth, Justice, Love, and Glory to all nations; in a word, the manifestation of the great doctrine, that He, "Whose name alone is JEHOVAH " (the God of Israel), "is the Most High over all the earth.” Cp. Rom. xi. 32. Ps. LXXXIV.] This Psalm is connected with the foregoing. In that Psalm, the end of all God's providential dealings with Israel and all nations, was declared to be, that all people should adore the Lord God of Israel. The present Psalm displays the privileges of that knowledge and worship. In the former Psalm God was displayed in His power and justice. He is here exhibited in His gracious mercy and love; so that the soul yearns with intense longing for His presence in His Sanctuary. The twelve Psalms ascribed to the school of Asaph (Ps. 50, and 73-83) were brought to a close in the former Psalm; and now we pass to a series of Psalms assigned to another Levitical family, which was closely connected with The sparrow hath found PSALMS LXXXIV. 3-5. an house in Thy courts. 3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. с Blessed are they that dwell in thy house : They will be still praising thee. Selah. 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; In whose heart are the ways of them. c Ps. 65. 4. the offices of the Sanctuary, the sons of Korah. See above, on 1 Chron. ix. 19. It is remarkable that the family of Asaph was associated with the sons of Korah in the great national deliverance under Jehoshaphat, which gave occasion to the foregoing Psalm. "Jahaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph," was inspired by the Lord to stir up the courage of the King and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (2 Chron. xx. 14-17). And then the Levites of the sons of Korah, or, "children of the Korhites," stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high (see 2 Chron. xx. 19); and now in like manner we see that the Psalms of the family of Asaph are followed by Psalms of the sons of Korah (Ps. 84, 85. 87, 88). The group of Psalms which are ascribed to the school of Asaph has its own peculiar characteristics (see on Ps. 50, Prelim. Note; cp. Ps. 73-83); and the Psalms which are due to the sons of Korah have their special features also. The former served to comfort and encourage Israel, by remembrance of God's marvellous goodness to their fathers; the latter quickened the love of Israel for the house of David, and for the Sanctuary of God at Jerusalem, as the national centre of unity. It has already been remarked as an interesting and fortunate circumstance, that the descendants of Korah, who had made himself notorious in the wilderness for his arrogant and schismatical insurrection against the Priesthood of God (Num. xvi.), were afterwards admitted to hold a place, not only as 'door-keepers in the house of God" (see v. 10; and 1 Chron. ix. 19; xxvi. 12-19), but also among the singers in the Temple, and among the composers of Psalms for the liturgical use of the people of God in the Sanctuary; and that those Psalms,-which are characterized by humility, and loyalty, and by deep affection for the public service of His House,-have been adopted into the public worship of the Universal Church of Christ. The present Psalm was written by one of the sons of Korah, when banished from the privileges of attendance in the Sanctuary; probably in company with David. when driven by Absalom from Jerusalem. See v. 9: "Behold, God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed." The sons of Korah were partners of David's exile, and of his sufferings, and sympathized with the King in his sorrow for his separation from the Sanctuary, and in his intense longing to be restored to it (see above, Ps. 3. 42, 43, and 63; cp. Prelim. Note to the next Psalm), and stimulated his desire to be brought back to Jerusalem, which is declared by him in 2 Sam. xix. 11. This feeling is expressed in the first two verses of the Psalm: "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." This Psalm finds a proper place among those which were designed to minister comfort to Israel and Judah in their dispersion, and to excite their zeal for return to their own country, and for the restoration of the Temple. Such Psalms as these doubtless quickened the energies of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, Ezra and Nehemiah. Cp. above, Ezra i.-iii. In later days, in our own land, we have seen a similar union of the Altar and Throne, in the loyal attachment of such pious, holy, and learned men as Jeremy Taylor, Henry Hammond, and Robert Sanderson, and other royal chaplains, to the English Monarchy in the person of King Charles I., in his sorrows and sufferings in the days of the Great Rebellion, and in their communion with him in holy offices, and in the faithful services rendered to their Sovereign by interpreting his feelings to his people. In that unhappy time, when the Monarchy and Priesthood were in banishment, one of those faithful and loyal sons of Korah, Dr. Jeremy Taylor (who, in genius, piety, and loyalty, bore a strong resemblance to David's companion), thus expressed his own feelings, when he thought of the past joys of our Sion, and the former loveliness of the Sanctuary :-"I will deny leave to my own affections to ease themselves by complaining of others. I shall only crave leave that I may remember Jerusalem, and call to mind the pleasures of the Temple, the order of her services, the beauty of her buildings, the sweetness of her songs, the decency of her ministrations, the assiduity and economy of her Priests and Levites, the daily sacrifice, and that eternal fire of devotion, that went not out by day nor night, these were the pleasures of our peace; and there is a remnant of felicity in the very memory of these spiritual delights, which we then enjoyed as antepasts of heaven, and consignations to an immortality of joys. And it may be so again, when it shall please God, Who hath the hearts of all princes in His hand, and turneth them as the rivers of waters; and when men will consider the invaluable loss that is consequent, and the danger of sin that is appendant to the destroying such forms of discipline and devotion in which God was purely worshipped, and the Church was edified, and the people instructed to great degrees of piety, knowledge, and devotion" (Bp. Taylor, Polem. Discourses: Apology for Authorized and Set Forms of Liturgy, vol. vii. p. 285). 3. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars] Not the Altar of God, in the Tabernacle, as some have imagined; see on lii. 8. But the Psalmist describes his own soul, as fluttering in restless anxiety, and as longing for the shelter of the Sanctuary, where she may be in peace and safety from the storms of this world, as a bird longs for her nest. By a beautiful poetical figure, he, as it were, transforms his soul into a bird, finding its home in God's house. An English poet, in a well-known sonnet, says,— "Man's life is like a sparrow, mighty king!" David, in his flittings, had likened himself to a partridge, hunted in the mountain (1 Sam. xxvi. 20). He exclaims (xi. 1), How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain ?" And in the time of distress he wished for "the wings of a dove," in order that he might flee away, and be at rest" (Ps. lv. 6); like a dove hastening to her window (Isa. lx. 8). In Ps. lxxiv. 19, he speaks of "the soul of Thy turtle dove;" and in Ps. cii. 7, the desolate and afflicted spirit describes itself "as a sparrow alone upon the house top;" and in Ps. cxxiv. 7, the soul is compared to a bird that has escaped from the net of the fowler. And in a similar strain David says, by the voice of the sons of Korah, that his soul longs for the refreshing grace of God's house, as "the hart panteth for the waterbrooks" (Ps. xlii. 1, 2); and by a figurative transformation, similar to that in the verse before us, he describes himself as a green olive-tree planted in the house of God. See Ps. lii. 8. The sparrow (says Athanasius here) "is the human soul, pursued by the fowler;" and he compares Ps. cxxiv. 7: "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler ;" and Didymus says, "Thy altar is our nest, to which we resort for peace." The words of the Psalmist here are well paraphrased by Le Blanc: Ego, Domine, passer tuus domum tuam desidero, quæ mihi sint domus et nidus, in quo ponam omnes cogitationes meas, affectiones, operationes, sensus; sic altaria in nostris ecclesiis sunt nidus et domus sanctarum animarum." As to the birds here mentioned, the tsippor, any small bird, particularly the sparrow; and derór, the swallow (so called from its gyrations), see Gesen. 716. 209. 5. In whose heart are the ways of them] Rather, in whose heart are the highways, literally, the highways cast up (Heb. mesilloth, from salal, to cast up; see on lxviii. 4). The sense is, "In whose heart are highways cast up for God." Cp. Isa. xl. 3: "Make straight in the desert a highway;" xlix. 11: My highways shall be exalted;" and lxii. 10, and Jer. xxxi. 21: "Set thine heart toward the highway;" or, so as to be a highway (for God). The devout worshipper prepares high roads for God in his own heart, he casts down the hills of pride, and 66 made into a well. The valley of Baca Or, of mulberry trees make him a well, &c. d 2 Sam. 5. 22, 23. + Heb. covereth. Or, from com pany to company. e Prov. 4. 18. 2 Cor. 3. 18. f Deut. 16. 16. Zech. 14. 16. g Gen. 15. 1. ver. 11. + Heb. I would choose rather to sit at the threshold. h Isa 60. 19. i Gen. 15. 1. ver. 9. Ps. 115. 9, 10, 11. & 119. 114. Prov. 2. 7. k Ps. 34. 9, 10. 1 Ps. 2. 12. PSALMS LXXXIV. 6—12. LXXXV. 1. 6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; 7 They go from strength to strength, Every one of them in Zion 'appeareth before God. 8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: Give ear, O God of Jacob. 9 Behold, O God our shield, Selah. And look upon the face of thine anointed. 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. h 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: The LORD will give grace and glory: *No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, 'Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Ps. 42, title. || Or, of. PSALM LXXXV. * To the chief Musician, A Psalm || for the sons of Korah. Or, well pleased, LORD, thou hast been || favourable unto thy land: Ps. 77. 7. a Ezra. 1. 11. & 2.1. Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Ps. 14. 7. Jer. 30. 18. & 31. 23. Ezek. 39. 25. Joel 3. 1. raises the valleys of worldliness, and makes the crooked straight, and the rough places smooth there. Cp. Isa. li. 7. Such a person, though banished from the courts of the Lord's house, feels the comfort of God's presence even in the wilderness. Cp. above, on lxiii. 1-6. On the use of the word "the way," in the New Testament, as an equivalent for the true faith, see Acts ix. 2; xxii. 4; xxiv. 22. 6. the valley of Baca] The vale of weeping (Sept.). Cp. the names Allon-bachuth (Gen. xxxv. 8), and Bochim (in Judg. ii. 1. 5). To the pious soul, the Valley of Baca, or Weeping, becomes a Valley of Beracah, or Blessing (see 2 Chron. xx. 26), as the Valley of Achor became a door of hope (in Hos. ii. 15). May it not be conjectured that the Valley of Baca, or of weeping here mentioned, refers to the weeping of all the country with a loud voice, and to the weeping of David, and the people with him, when he was driven from Jerusalem by his son (see 2 Sam. xv. 23. 30, where the verb bacah is used), and to the weeping of David over Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 33; xix. 1, where the verb bacah is used)? The Psalmist comforts King David and the people, with the hope that their tears will be wiped away by the hand of God, and their sorrow be turned into joy. David could hardly himself utter words of consolation at such a time. The sons of Korah are his comforters. In a spiritual sense, this mortal life of ours is a vale of tears. We are pilgrims who are travelling through it, and make ways for God in our own hearts, and find wells of spiritual joy (Athanasius, Eusebius) : O God of Jacob; who wrestled in prayer, and prevailed with 9. of thine anointed] See Prelim. Note to the Psalm. Observe the moral here. Korah, the Levite, had aspired to the Priesthood, and had fallen, like Lucifer, by pride, and was destroyed by fire. But the descendants of Korah, to whom this Psalm is due, were content with their own station in God's service, and had learnt to value their own Levitical privileges, and were not ambitious of a higher place, as their ancestor had been, who envied the prerogative of Aaron and his sons, and perished by their presumption. They had rather hold the lowest place in God's house, than dwell at large in the tents of wickedness. They profited by the warnings of the wilderness; and they seem to refer here to the words which Moses spake on that terrible day, when he said, "Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men" (Num. xvi. 26). Compare the words of Ps. cvi. 18, concerning Korah: "A fire was kindled in their company, the flame burned up the wicked." forefathers had fallen by pride; they remembered the warning, and were exalted by lowliness. See above, Prelim. Note. They were not merely door-keepers, and singers, and helpers of the Priests in the service of the Sanctuary, but were inspired by the Holy Ghost, and were enabled by Him to write such Psalms as the present, which have sounded in the worship of God for nearly 3000 years, and will sound in the Universal Church, even to the end of time. Such is the reward of humility. Their Ps. LXXXV.] It has been supposed by some that this Psalm was written at the time of the return of the Jews from Babylon; an opinion derived from the first words of the Psalm; Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob." But this inference is question |