The Lord's might. f Ps. 65. 1. & 89. 9. Heb. to length of days. f PSALMS XCIII. 4, 5. XCIV. 1-14. The wicked confounded. 4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. 5 Thy testimonies are very sure: Holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, † for ever. + Heb. God of revenges. a Deut. 32. 35. Nahum 1. 2. + Heb. shine forth, Ps. 80. 1. b Ps. 7. 6. c Gen. 18. 25. d Job 20. 5. e Ps. 31. 18. Jude 15. f Ps. 10. 11, 13. & 59. 7. g Ps. 73. 22. & 92.6. h Exod. 4. 11. Prov. 20. 12. i Job 35 11. Isa. 28. 26. k 1 Cor. 3. 20. 1 Job 5. 17. Prov. 3. 11. 1 Cor. 11. 32. Heb. 12. 5, &c. 12 That they are vanity. 'Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, 13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, m 1 Sam. 12. 22. 14 m For the LORD will not cast off his people, Rom. 11. 1, 2. He will one day be seen to tread the swelling waves of all human pride and earthly power, and make their tumultuous billows to be a pavement to His feet. 5. thine house] The royal palace of the Holy One. Here is another reference to the Temple, now risen from its ruins, under Zerubbabel and Jeshua. See above, xcii. 13. Ps. XCIV.] The foregoing Psalm was used in the Hebrew ritual, in the Temple, on Friday, the day of Christ's Passion, when He triumphed and reigned by the Cross. (See Prelim. Note.) A remarkable coincidence; and no less noticeable is it, that the present Psalm was used in the same ritual on Wednesday, the day when the Chief Priests covenanted with Judas for His Betrayal. See Sept.; and Delitzsch, p. 34. It was also appointed in that ritual to be sung on the fourth and fifth days of the Feast of Tabernacles; and the 92nd Psalm was sung on the second day of that festival. See Prelim. Note. In the 92nd Psalm the Psalmist has expressed his admira tion of the thoughts, the mysterious designs and contrivances of God (Heb. machasheboth: see xcii. 5). In the present Psalm he repeats the same word (v. 11), and says, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts, the contrivances, of man, that they are vanity." In no instance was this contrast ever more clearly manifested than in the Betrayal of Christ. In a primary sense, this was very applicable to the course of events which produced this Psalm. The great empire of Babylon had "broken in pieces God's people," and afflicted His heritage (v. 5), and for a time Babylon had triumphed in her pride (vv. 2-4). But at length the God of vengeance arose. He had not cast off His people, and had not forsaken His inheritance (v. 14), but was chastening them in love, and teaching them, that He might give them rest from the days of adversity (vv. 12, 13). He raised up Cyrus, whom He had appointed to be the deliverer of Israel (Ezra i. 1), and by his arms He rendered a reward to the proud (v. 2), and overthrew Babylon, and restored His people by his means. Wilt Thou connive at sin? PSALMS XCIV. 15-23. XCV. 1, 2. O come, let us sing. 15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: 16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? 17 Unless the LORD had been my help, My soul had almost dwelt in silence. 18 When I said, My foot slippeth; Thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. 19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul. 20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, Which frameth mischief by a law? 21They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, And condemn the innocent blood. 22 But the LORD is my defence; And my God is the rock of my refuge. 23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, And shall cut them off in their own wickedness; Yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off. + Heb. shall be after it. n Ps. 124. 1, 2. I Or, quickly. o Ps. 38. 16. p Amos 6. 3. q Ps. 58. 2. r Matt. 27. 1. u Ps. 7. 16. Prov. 2. 22. & 5. 22. 15. judgment shall return unto righteousness] From which it had seemed to be separated. Judgment returned to righteousness, when Israel returned from Babylon to Jerusalem; and in a still fuller sense, when Christ arose from the dead. 20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee] Wilt Thou, O God, connive at its decrees? No; though it forges injustice with the formalities of law (cp. Ps. lviii. 1, as the Chief Priests did in their Sanhedrim, before which Christ was arraigned): "The Lord our God will bring their own iniquity upon their own head, and cut them off in their own wickedness, because they gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood" (v. 21). The guilt of Christ's Betrayal and Crucifixion recoiled on the head of the rulers of Jerusalem, and was the cause of the ruin of their city. See on John xi. 47, 48. The sin of Babylon, in her cruel usage of her Hebrew captives, to which the Psalmist here refers, brought God's vengeance upon her (Ps. cxxxvii. 8). Ps. XCV.] There is a solemn tone of warning in this Psalm, which perhaps may be the reason why it has no superscription. "This Psalm has no title in the Hebrew, and fitly, for it can hardly be called a song, or hymn, or Psalm; inasmuch as, though it invites the Hebrew people to sing unto the Lord, yet it threatens them with God's anger, and concludes with a denunciation of woe" (Eusebius). This Psalm is twice quoted in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as a warning to the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem, in the writer's day, that they should not faulter in the faith, and despise God's promises, as their forefathers had done in the wilderness, lest they should fail of entering into His rest; see Heb. iii. 7, where v. 7 of this Psalm is introduced with the words, "As the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice," and see Heb. iv. 7, where it is said, "Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day." It has been inferred by some from these words, that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews But it seems not ascribes this Psalm to David. It may be so. It is not entitled in the Hebrew, a Psalm of David, but it is so called in the Sept. Whether this Psalm was written by David or no, the Psalm is introduced in this place as an exhortation to Israel to join the pilgrim train which returned under Zerubbabel and Jeshua, in praising God for His mercies, in His Temple now rebuilt. The reference to the history of Israel in the Wilderness was a warning to those who had had their own Exodus in the return from Babylon. For them that history had acquired new life, and was full of instruction to themselves. Its Massahs and Meribahs (v. 8) were solemn beacons to them. It seemed to say to them, "Let us not be like our forefathers, who thought scorn of that pleasant land, and whose carcases fell in the wilderness. Let us not harden our hearts to-day, lest God swear in His wrath to us, as He sware to them, that we shall not enter into His rest; but let us hasten on our way to Sion, and to the courts of our God, and shout joyously to Him." It is a fortunate circumstance, that three Psalms appointed for weekly use in the Hebrew ritual in the Temple (Psalms 92, 93, 94), are followed by a Psalm (the present Psalm) which is sung daily in our Church, and which was the great invitatory Psalm of the ancient western Liturgies. The admonitions and encouragements of those foregoing Psalms may be coupled with the exhortations and warnings of the present Psalm, and may stimulate us in our goings into the courts of the house or our God, and in our onward course to our heavenly Canaan, and to the everlasting "rest which remaineth to the people of God" in the heavenly Sion. 2. Let us come before his presence] Let us not wait to be summoned, but let us anticipate Him by our praise. The He f Ps. 79. 13. & 80. 1. & 100. 3. g Heb. 3. 7, 15. & 4. 7. h Exod. 17. 2, 7. Num. 14. 22, &c. & 20. 13. Deut. 6. 16. + Heb. contention. i Ps. 78. 18, 40, 56. 1 Cor 10. 9. k Num. 14. 22. 1 Heb. 3. 10, 17. m Num. 14. 23, 28, 30. Heb. 3. 11, 18. & 4. 3, 5. + Heb. if they enter into my rest. с And a great King above all gods. 4+ In his hand are the deep places of the earth: || The strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: And his hands formed the dry land. 5 + t 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: e Let us kneel before the LORD our maker; 7 For he is our God; And 'we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. brew kadam is equivalent to the Greek poávw, the Latin præoccupo. See cxix. 148. Gesen. 723. 3. a great King above all gods] Particularly above all the gods of Egypt, in the time of their forefathers; and above all the gods of Babylon, in the days of those who returned from the captivity. Cp. xcvi. 5. 4. The strength of the hills] Rather, the height of the hills (Gesen. 859). His power reaches from the loftiest summits of the mountains to the lowest depths of earth, and embraces the liquid expanse of the sea as well as the solid continents of land (v. 5). 5. The sea is his, and he made it] The declaration, to be published among the heathen, is, that the God of Israel is not a mere local deity, whose power is limited to a particular nation, as the gods of the heathen were believed to be, even by their own worshippers; but that He is the Creator and Lord of the Universe. 7. To-day] This to-day is the time now present to the hearer, when the voice is sounding in his ears-while it is called to-day (Heb. iii. 13), and is opposed to the to-morrow, to which he is prone to defer his obedience, and when it may be too late to attempt to obey. if ye will hear his voice] If ye will hearken to His voice, then it will be well with you (Hengst.). Or it may be rendered as a complete sentence in itself, "Oh! that ye would hearken to His voice! (Delitzsch. Cp. lxxxi. 8. Gesen. 56). 8. Harden not your heart-wilderness] Literally, Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness. See Exod. xvii. 2. 7. 9. my work] My doing. Heb. poal. See xcii. 4. Cp. Num. xiv. 22. 34. 10. Forty years long was I grieved] I was angered, so as to turn from them with loathing and indignation. Compare cxix. 158; cxxxix. 21. Ezek. vi. 9; xx. 43. their feet in the wilderness forty years, and shall fail, after all, of arriving at home, and shall not enter into My rest, which will not be their rest, because they wander from Me, and from My ways, which a man must walk in, with his whole heart, if he would attain My rest. Observe the solemn words in the mouth of God-They tempted Me, and proved Me,-My work, My ways, My anger, My rest. Ps. XCVI.] This Psalm is entitled in the Sept., "a Hymn of David; when the Temple was rebuilt after the Captivity," and this appears to be a true description of it; for the substance of it is found in 1 Chron. xvi. 23-33, where it is described as having been delivered by David into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to thank the Lord when the Ark was brought up to Zion. David's Psalm here receives a new name, and is called a new song (sir chadash), because new mercies of God were now to be celebrated; mercies greater than David had ever received, even when he brought the Ark to Zion. They who now sang the old song which had thus become a new song, identified themselves with David, and identified him with themselves. And thus the song became an expression of praise and thanksgiving for the mercies of five centuries; and it may be taken up as the utterance of Christendom praising God for bringing the nations of the world to the Zion of His Church, and is rightly called "a Missionary Hymn for all Ages" (Hengst., Kay, Delitzsch); and this is the sense in which it is explained by S. Ambrose, S. Chrysostom, S. Jerome, and S. Augustine, who says, "in toto Psalmo agitur de regno Christi per totum orbem propagando." It is an appeal to all nations of the earth to join in an universal "Te Deum." This Psalm is appointed in the Sarum use and Latin use, for Christmas Day, and for the festivals of the Circumcision, Epiphany, and Trinity Sunday. See also Prelim. Note to the following Psalm. It is carefully to be noted, that the Person whose glorious Advent and judicial Majesty is celebrated in this group of k 10 Say among the heathen that * the LORD reigneth : The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: 'He shall judge the people righteously. b Ps. 145. 3. c Ps. 18. 3. d Ps. 95. 3. e See Jer. 10. 11, 12. f Ps. 115. 15. Isa. 42. 5. g Ps. 29. 2. h Ps. 29. 1, 2. + Heb. of his name. i Ps. 29. 2. & 110. 3. Or, in the glorious sanctuary. k Ps. 93. 1. & 97. 1. Rev. 11. 15. & 19. 6. 1 ver. 13. Ps. 67. 4. & 98 9. Their Psalms, 96-99, is described as no other than JEHOVAH. language is, "The LORD (Jehovah) reigneth," "The LORD cometh to judge the earth." He Who is contemplated in these prophecies as coming into the world, He Who is to be feared as judging the world, is a Divine Person, the Lord Jehovah. That Person is Christ. 3. Declare his glory among the heathen] The spirit of missionary zeal and enterprise which breathes in this Psalm, dictated originally by David (see Prelim. Note), and adopted by the Israel of the restoration after the Captivity; and the desire for the communication of the knowledge of God's truth, power, and glory to all Nations, stands in striking contrast to the unhappy indifference which has already been noted in Solomon in this respect, and affords a lesson to Christian nations, especially to wealthy commercial nations. See above, Prelim. Note to 1 Kings xi. 5. the gods of the nations are idols] Their Elohim are elilim. See 1 Chron. xvi. 26. The word elilim occurs in two places in the Psalms, here and xcvii. 7. It is used most frequently by Isaiah, and properly signifies nothings, as St. Paul says, idol is nothing" (1 Cor. viii. 4). "an 6. in his sanctuary] David's word place (1 Chron. xvi. 27), is here altered to sanctuary; for the Temple had now been built. See also what follows. 8. come into his courts] In David's original Psalm (1 Chron. xvi. 29) the words are, "Come before Him." But now the old song has become a new one (see Prelim. Note) by the restoration of the Temple, which in David's time had not been built; and now the words are, "Come into his courts." VOL. IV. PART II.-153 9. the beauty of holiness] See on 2 Chron. xx. 21. 10. Say among the heathen] See above on xcv. 6. the LORD reigneth] Some Christian hand added here in ancient times a gloss, àñò тoû şúλov, from the wood; i. e. of the cross, because Christ's royalty began with His Passion, and the cross was His royal throne (see on xciii. 1); and this gloss was supposed by some of the Fathers (as Justin, Tertullian, Augustine) to be a genuine portion of the sacred text here; but it is not found in any ancient version. However, it serves the purpose of showing that in sub-apostolic times, even before Justin Martyr and Tertullian, this Psalm was expounded as a prophecy of Christ's kingdom, and of the submission of the Gentiles to Him, and so is entitled in the Syriac Version. There may perhaps have been in the mind of the gloss-writer a reference to the wood of Kirjath-jearim (see on v. 12), or to the Ark itself, brought to Zion in its course of victory. Cp. below. on cxxxii. 6, "We heard of it in Ephratah; we found it in the fields of the wood." 12. the trees of the wood] Which had rejoiced in the presence of the Lord at Kirjath-jearim, the city of woods (Josh. xix. 17. 1 Sam. vii. 1, 2. 1 Chron. xiii. 5); and now all the trees of the wood in all lands are invited to rejoice in the chorus of praise, celebrating with joyful acclaim the Coming of the LORD. Cp. Isa. xliv. 23; lv. 12. 13. the LORD cometh to judge the earth] In this new song they take up the words of Enoch, the seventh from Adam (Jude 14), who preached of the Coming of the LORD to judge the World. X The Lord reigneth. PSALMS XCVII. Let all nations praise Him. a Ps. 96. 10. Heb. many, or, great isles. b Isa. 60. 9. c 1 Kings 8. 12. Ps. 18. 11. d Ps. 89. 14. Or, establish ment. e Ps. 18. 8. & 50. 3. Dan. 7. 10. Hab. 3. 5. f Exod. 19. 18. Ps. 77. 18. & 104. 32. g Judg. 5. 5. Micah 1. 4. Nahum 1. 5. h Ps. 19. 1. & 50. 6. i Exod. 20. 4. Lev. 26. 1. Deut. 5. 8. & 27. 15. k Heb. 1. 6. 1 Ps. 83. 18. m Exod. 18. 11. Ps. 95. 3. & 96. 4. n Ps. 34. 14. & 37. 27. & 101. 3. Amos 5. 15. Rom. 12. 9. o Ps. 31. 23. & 37. 28. & 145. 20. Prov. 2. 8. p Ps. 37. 39, 40. Dan. 3. 28. & 6. 22, 27. q Job 22. 28. Ps. 112. 4. Prov. 4. 18. r Ps. 33. 1. s Ps. 30. 4. Or, to the memorial. Clouds and darkness are round about him. Righteousness and judgment are the || habitation of his throne. Ps. XCVII.] The present Psalm is connected with the preceding by a similarity of subject-the manifestation of God's righteousness and glory to the whole World. It reaches forward to the first Advent of Christ, and thence to the consummation of all things. God's judgments were revealed in the overthrow of the proud empire of Babylon, and in the restoration of His people to Zion; and these events, which gave occasion to this Psalm, were like heralds and precursors of that future consummation. This and the two next Psalms are appointed in the Gregorian and Sarum use for Christmas Day; and they are appointed for the Circumcision in the Latin use, as are the first two of the three in the Sarum use; and the 97th and 98th are also appointed for Trinity Sunday in the Latin use. 1. the multitude of isles] Not isles merely, but all maritime countries, especially among the Gentiles. See Gen. x. 5; the isles of the Gentiles; and Ps. lxxii. 10; and Esther x. 1. The word rendered isles occurs in the prophetical Books, especially in the writings of the Evangelical prophet Isaiah. See Isa. xlii. 4: "The isles shall wait for His law ;" and xlix. 1; li. 5; lx. 9; lxvi. 19. Zeph. ii. 11. paraphrased by the word angels in Sept., and in the Epistle to the Hebrews (i. 6), which teaches us to regard this Psalm as a prophecy of the Advent of Christ, Who is "the brightness of His Father's glory, and express image of His Person." These words have been introduced into the Sept. Version of Deut. xxxii. 43, where the Alexandrine MS. has "sons of God;" the Vatican MS. has "angels of God." 11. Light is sown for the righteous] Light is sown for the righteous, even in darkness (see cxii. 4), a beautiful expression. The seeds of light are sown in a dark soil; they lie concealed for a time, as seeds lie buried in the earth in winter, but at length they spring up, as the Psalmist says, "Unto the upright there springeth up light in the darkness" (cxii. 4); and thus "They that sow in tears, reap in joy" (Ps. cxxvi. 5). May there not be an allusion here to the name of Zerubbabel (which means, sown at Babel), the Leader of the captivity from Babylon in their return to Jerusalem? He was the seed of David, sown in the darkness of the exile of Israel at Babel; but he sprung up, and flourished in Zion (v. 8). See on Ezra ii. 2. So Christ, the Light of the World, was sown in darkness; but, after His Resurrection from the Dead, His Gospel illumined the World with the glory of the Ever-blessed Trinity. The consideration of these two truths seems to have suggested the use of this Psalm by the Church:-first, on Christmas Day; and, secondly, on Trinity Sunday. |