The godly man

b Ps. 26. 4.

Jer. 15. 17.

c Ps. 119. 35, 47, 92.

d Josh. 1. 8.

Ps. 119. 1, 97.

e Jer. 17. 8.

Ezek 47. 12.

↑ Heb. fade.

f Gen. 39. 3, 23. Ps. 128. 2.

Isa. 3. 10.

g Job 21. 18.

Ps. 35. 5.

Isa. 17. 13. & 29.5.

Hos. 13. 3.

h Ps. 37. 18.

Nahum 1. 7. John 10. 14.

2 Tim. 2. 19.

a Ps. 46. 6. Acts 4. 25, 26. Or, tumultuously assemble.

+ Heb. meditate.

and ungodly compared.

e

away.

bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, says Theodoret, who quotes John iv. 14; vii. 37. Isa. xliii. 19. "Bibe Christum" (says S. Ambrose) "ut bibas Sermones Ejus; sermo ejus est Testamentum Vetus, Sermo Ejus Testamentum est Novum. Bibitur Scriptura divina.”

Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (v. 3), or rather, he shall prosper in whatsoever he doeth (Josh. i. 8).

Therefore the Lord is said to know (that is, to approve and love) his way (v. 6): for the Lord knoweth them that are His (Nahum i. 7. 2 Tim. ii. 19. See on 1 Sam. ii. 12. Acts xv. 18). They have Christ, Who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John xiv. 6); but the " way of the wicked shall perish."

ON THE MANIFOLD SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PSALMS. These remarks on the first Psalm may be fitly followed by some observations on the manifold significance of the Psalms, and on the mode adopted by the ancient Church for displaying that significance to the minds of the faithful.

This may be exemplified by the treatment which the first Psalin has received in some Western Liturgies. In them the first Psalm is appointed to be used on various occasions; e. g. in the ordinary Sunday Services; at the Commemoration of Martyrs; on Passion-Sunday, and Easter Day.

As to the first, the daily duty of the Christian, as set forth in this Psalm, was commended to their religious meditation by the Antiphon, "Serve the Lord in fear." As to the second, this same Psalm was made to declare the true character of the Christian Martyr by means of the Antiphon, "His delight was in the Law of the Lord." On Passion-Sunday this Psalm was made to speak of Christ, as He who walked not in the counsel of the ungodly, and Who, when hanging on the Cross, was like the tree, who brings forth his fruit in due season, and whose leaf will not wither. At Easter the Antiphon is, "I am that I am, and My counsel is not with the wicked, but in the law of the Lord is my delight. Alleluia." This is a general observation, which the reader may apply to other Psalms; and he will find his pains amply rewarded by the study of the ancient Liturgies, as illustrating the Christian significance of the Psalms by means of the Antiphons annexed to them in the religious services of great festivals of the Christian year. Cp. Dr. Neale on the Psalms, pp. 47-54; and Archdeacon Freeman, Principles of Divine Service, pp. 120. 332.

These Antiphons are grounded on ancient expositions of the Psalms, as may be seen in the passages collected from Origen, S. Basil, S. Chrysostom, and others in the valuable Greek Catena, published by Corderius (3 vols. folio, Antwerp, 1643), and from the extant expositions of Latin Fathers, especially S. Hilary, S. Ambrose, and S. Augustine.

Ps. II. After the description in the former Psalm of the holiness and blessedness of the righteous, and after a declaration of their future reward, and an intimation at its close, of the future punishment of the wicked ("the way of the ungodly shall

perish"), the Psalmist proceeds to contrast with the present life and future felicity of the just, the disobedience and confusion of the unrighteous.

His eyesight is illumined with spiritual light, and he beholds the gathering together of tumultuous crowds; and with an ear quickened with spiritual life, he hears their clamorous shouts, like the roar of a stormy sea, raging against heaven.

In a sudden transport of surprise, and ecstasy of indignation, he asks. "Why do the heathen rage, and the peoples (plural) imagine a vain thing? or rather, why do they meditate vanity? The same word is used in the original here, as is rendered meditate in v. 2 of the foregoing Psalm; and thus the connexion of the two Psalms is marked, and the contrast between the righteous and the ungodly is displayed more clearly. The former meditate on the law of the Lord day and night; the latter meditate vanity.

The Psalmist David (for the Psalm is ascribed to him in Acts iv. 25) foresees the breaking forth of ungodliness in open Antichristianism. "The Kings of the earth," opposed to the Kingdom of Heaven, set themselves up in insurrection, and princes conspire against Jehovah Himself, and against His Messiah or Christ. This prophecy, as St. Peter declares, was partly accomplished at Christ's death. See Acts iv. 25, 26; and so S. Clement, Ep. c. 36; S. Irenæus, iii. 12, iv. 38; S. Hippolytus, pp. 67. 128; S. Hilary, and all the Catholic Fathers; and therefore the Church has connected this Psalm with the Paschal Season, by appointing it as a Proper Psalm for the great festival of the Resurrection, and it is connected with our Lord's triumph and its glorious consequences to the world, by the Antiphon in the Western Liturgies:

"Postulavi Patrem, Alleluia; Dedit mihi gentes, Alleluia; Hæreditatem, Alleluia."

At Christ's Passion, the Heathen World, represented by the imperial Power of Rome, combined with the rulers and people of Israel against God and His Messiah; "We will not have this man to reign over us," was their language (Luke xix. 14). "We have no King but Cæsar" (John xix. 15), was the language of God's own people.

Let us break asunder the bands of the law of God and Christ, and cast away their cords from us. This was the thought of their hearts, and the utterance of their lips (Origen, Ambrose).

For the Pentecostal counterpart of this antichristian declaration, see below, on Ps. cxlix. 8.

The Psalmist passes, by a noble transition, from the outrage of earthly power rebelling against Christ, to a view of the calm majesty of the Lord, sitting upon His heavenly throne and looking down upon them. "He that sitteth in heaven laugheth them to scorn." The wicked "sit in the seat of the scornful," in the Sanhedrim gathered at the house of Caiaphas, and condemn the Lord of life. They set Him at naught, and mock Him, as

Insurrection

against Christ.

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together,

Herod and his men of war did; they deliver Him to be crucified, as Pilate did, sitting on his judgment seat. But "the Lord sitteth in heaven, and hath them in derision." It is observable, that the Septuagint here uses the same word (ÈKμVKтNρí(w) as is used in the Gospels to express their mockery of Christ Himself (Luke xvi. 14; xxiii. 35). The LORD will mock at them who mock at Christ.

The Psalm reports His Divine Words: "Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure" (v. 5). Rage, if you will, against Christ, yet have I set, I have firmly established (anointed, Symmachus, Gesenius, Ewald; but not Hengstenberg, Hitzig, Delitzsch, Kay, Perowne, and the other sense is preferable)-My King, the King of My choice, the Messiah, upon Zion, My holy hill; literally, the hill of My holiness, as David was set as King upon Mount Zion after that he had taken it from the Jebusites (2 Sam. vi. 7—10), and thither he brought up the Ark (2 Sam. vi. 16).

ZION AND JERUSALEM.

This being the first place in the Psalter where the word Zion occurs, the reader's attention may be invited to the distinction between Zion and Jerusalem. Zion was the fortified hill, the "strong hold" which David took (2 Sam. v. 7), and gave its name to "the city of David" (1 Kings viii. 1). There was his royal palace, and near it was the dwelling of the Lord (ix. 11; 1. 2; lxxvi. 2; xcix. 2). Its loftiness and strength, that of a mountain which cannot be removed (cxxv. 1), its kingly and sacred character, made it to be the heart and centre of Jerusalem, and of the religion and polity of Israel, the source and wellspring of all its hopes, and joys, and blessings; and as Jerusalein was the heart and centre of all the hopes of mankind, so Zion is described as "the joy of the whole earth" (xlviii. 2). And therefore in the Apocalypse, "Mount Sion" is the place on which Christ is revealed as standing in kingly glory with His saints, who sing the new song before the Throne (Rev. xiv. 1-3).

But Jerusalem has a wider meaning in the Psalms. We hear of its walls and gates. It is the city of the faithful who are grouped together around Mount Sion, the fortress, the palace, the temple of the Great King, the heart and centre of Jerusalem; and therefore we have such expressions as these in the Psalms-"Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem (cxxxv. 21). Hence we may understand the prophetic and evangelical phrase which represents Jerusalem as the daughter of Zion (Zech. ix. 9. Matt. xxi. 5). David was established as King on the hill of Sion, after a long struggle, and Christ triumphed by His sufferings, and went up in glory to the heavenly Sion (see Rev. xiv. 1), where He is enthroned at God's right hand.

And now, by another sublime transition, Christ Himself is revealed, and we hear His words, "I will declare the decree; Jehovah hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee; first by eternal Generation (see Heb. i. 5. Augustine, Pfeiffer, p. 193), and next by Resurrection from the dead, as St. Paul explains the words (see on Acts xiii. 33. Rom. i. 3, 4), and therefore Christ is called the first begotten from the dead (Col. i. 18. Rev. i. 5): and this Psalm is appointed by the Church, as already observed, to be used on the festival of His Resurrection, and all the Ancient Expositors refer it to Him. See Origen, Hilary, Chrysostom, and Augustine here.

Thus it is declared that Christ will triumph over all rebellion; and not only so, but the rebellion of earthly powers will redound to His greater glory, and to the confusion of His enemies. The conversion of the Gentile world was to be even a consequence of that rebellion. Not till after Christ had been crucified and raised from the dead, did the edict go forth for the subjugation of the heathen to Him.

Adam was laid asleep, and Eve was formed from his side. So Christ sleeps on the Cross, His side is pierced, and the Church is born from it. Not till Isaac had suffered in will on Moriah, do we hear any thing of his future wife, Rebecca; but as soon as Isaac had offered himself, then she appears (see on Gen. xxii. 20). So, after that the Divine Isaac had given Himself to death, His bride was espoused to Him from the Mesopotamia of heathendom. He purchased the Universal Church with His own blood (Acts xx. 28). Then it was, but not till then, that He said to the Apostles, "All power is given unto Me; Go and teach all nations" (Matt. xxviii. 18, 19); and the conversion of the heathen is due not only to the sufferings which He endured at the hands of the heathen, but to His prayers for them. Ask of Me (says the Father to Christ), and I will give Thee the

heathen for Thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy possession, кαтάoxeow, in the Septuagint, the same word as is used to describe the inheritance of Canaan conquered by Joshua, the type of Jesus (Acts vii. 45).

These words are addressed by Jehovah to Christ as Son of Man; for as Son of God He had all dominion from the beginning, but as Man He was exalted and rewarded in the Nature in which He had suffered, and received the world as His kingdom (Theodoret). See below, on Matt. xxviii. 18. Phil. ii. 9.

Then, by another poetical movement, the Psalmist, having spoken of the divine love to the heathen, addresses the Messiah, and in language which reminds us again of the Apocalypse (Rev. ii. 27), he reveals His wrath against all who, after these manifestations of mercy and power, presume to resist Christ. Thou shalt break them in pieces (the Sept. has wouaveis; perhaps it read tireem, from raah; and so Rev. ii. 26. Cp. Hengstenberg here) with a rod of iron: Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel; so mighty art Thou, and so frail and feeble are they.

These words are wholly or partially repeated no less than three times in the Apocalypse (Rev. ii. 27; xii. 5; xix. 15. Thrupp, p. 41).

The moral which the royal Psalmist draws is this, that all earthly power is to be consecrated to Christ, Be wise now therefore, O ye kings." As Augustine says (Epist. 93, ad Vincentium), Kings and Judges of the earth, that is, all civil rulers, are bound to serve Christ, not only as men, by living holy lives, but as kings and judges, that is, by using their royal and judicial authority in framing laws for the maintenance of His truth, and for the promotion of His glory. The highest earthly Potentates must serve Christ with fear; they must rejoice before Him, and in Him, but with trembling.

The conclusion in v. 12, is "Kiss the Son." The original words (nashsheku bar) are rendered kiss the Son, by the Syriac Version, and by S. Jerome, in his commentary, though afterwards, in his translation of the Psalter, he adopted another rendering, namely, adorate purè (with Aquila and Symmachus : see his Apol. ad Rufinum, i. p. 373). In the Vulg. it is apprehendite disciplinam; and so Targum, and Sept., and Arabic, and Ethiopic.

There seems little doubt that the right rendering of the verb nashak here is to kiss, in the sense of doing homage to. Cp. 2 Sam. xv. 5. 1 Kings xix. 18. Job xxxi. 27. Hosea xiii. 2; and the note on Gen. xli. 40, where the typical analogy, in this respect, between Joseph and Christ in this Psalm, is noticed. The meaning assigned to it in the Vulgate, "lay hold of," is without any authority in the Hebrew Scriptures. Cp. Pfeiffer, p. 293. The difficulty lies in defining the sense of the word bar. Gesenius says (p. 138), that it is in frequent use in Chaldee for son (whence Barnabas, Bartholomew, Bartimæus, &c.). It is found in the sense of son, in Prov. xxxi. 2; and in Ezra v. 1,2; vi. 4; and four times in Daniel iii. 25; v. 22. 31; vii. 13: in the first of which places it is applied to the Son of God, and in the last to the Son of man. This is remarkable; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the Psalmist may have designedly chosen a less common form (bar instead of ben, which may also have been avoided on account of the word pen in the Hebrew, which follows next), to distinguish the Son, absolutely, namely, CHRIST, Who had been already introduced (in v. 7) by Jehovah Himself, "Yet have I set My Son." What could be a more natural consequence than to add, "Kiss the Son?"

The other rendering of bar by purè, or chosen (a rendering adopted by Kimchi), is not very apposite (Gesen. 138); and to take it as an adverb, purely, is without any parallel instance in the Hebrew Scriptures. Nor can more be said in behalf of the rendering of others (as Ewald), "take counsel," or "embrace piety" (Hitzig). "Bar nusquam significat doctrinam, nusquam adverbialiter sumitur" (Pfeiffer, 293).

On the whole it seems best to adhere to the rendering of our Authorized Version, "Kiss the Son," and of our Prayer Book Version, which follows here the authority of S. Jerome (who says, in his Breviarium in Psalterium, "In Hebræo legitur Nascu bar, i. e. adorate filium, apertissima de Christo prophetia"), and differs here, as in other important places, from the Roman Vulgate, which seems to be grounded on an erroneous reading (nash-shegu for nash-sheku).

Our authorized rendering is that of several Hebrew expositors, Abenezra, Maimonides, Mendelssohn, and of Rosenmüller, De Wette, Gesenius, Winer, Hengstenberg, Delitzsch,

and, hesitatingly, Perowne. Cp. Archdeacon Rose, Replies to Essays and Reviews, p. 98.

This, then, is the final exhortation,-Kiss the Son; adore Christ, lest ye perish in the way,-the way which ye have chosen for yourselves, in opposition to His way, which is the only right way, and therefore is called the way (Acts ix. 2; xix. 9; xxii. 4; xxiv. 22. Cp. lxxxi. 13). For soon is His anger kindled. Here again is an anticipation of the Apocalypse: "Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. vi. 16); but He desires to be merciful: and therefore the Psalm ends with Blessing, as the former had begun. These two Psalms are coupled together as a pair by that word" Blessed," as they are by the words, the way of the ungodly shall perish (in i. 6); and ye perish in the way (ii. 12). And well may this be so; for this Psalm revealed two names of Him, to whom all Israel looked for blessing, viz. the Name MESSIAH, in v. 2, and the Name Son of GOD, v. 7; and it is evident from the concluding words of this Psalm that the Messiah is spoken of as a Divine Person. If the Jews had understood this Psalm aright, and had not supposed that the Messiah was to be only a Man (see above, on Deut. xiii. 1), and not also God, they would not have incurred the curse, and have perished in their own self-chosen way, but have walked in His way, and have inherited the blessing, as some of them did, like Nathanael, "the Israelite indeed," who said, "Rabbi. Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel" (John i. 49); and they would have joined with heart and voice in hosannas of adoration to Him: "Blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the Name of the Lord" (John xii. 13).

Ps. III.] In the two foregoing Psalms, which form a pair, we

David's sufferings.

have seen a Vision of Judgment. The obedience and future reward of the godly; the rebellion and confusion of all unrighteous and antichristian Powers, however strong, have been displayed; and the extension of Christ's kingdom and its final establishment in glory.

We now have another pair of Psalms, which are joined to the foregoing. The first Psalm began with the word "Blessed,” the second Psalm ended with "Blessed," and the present Psalm closes with the words "Thy Blessing is on Thy people." In the foregoing Psalm God said that He would set His King upon His holy hill (v. 6), and now in the present Psalm, the King declares that God has heard him out of His holy hill (v. 4). And this Psalm is also joined to the 4th Psalm. They are coupled together, as the first two are, by certain words which we may venture to call catchwords. Observe here, in v. 5, I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me; and compare the words in the following Psalm (v. 8), I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. The present Psalın is an Evening Hymn, the next a Morning Hymn They may be regarded as specimens of the daily prayers of David, in his troubles and trials.

The present Psalm is entitled a Psalm of David (in Hebrew, le David, literally, to David; i. e. inspired into David, or dictated to David by the Holy Ghost; cp. xlv. title) during his flight from his son Absalom. The word rendered Psalm is mizmor, from zamar, to pluck (Gesen. 248). The original meaning of the word is not clear, as applied to a musical composition; but it seems to signify, "to sing with an instrumental accompaniment" (psallo, from ydw, to touch); and it may be derived from the act of plucking the strings of a harp with the fingers.

This Psalm was composed in a season of bitter suffering, when, in his old age, David was driven from his own capital city, Jerusalem, by his own people, and by his own beloved and rebellious son, Absalom; and when he crossed the Brook Kedron, and went up the mount of Olives barefoot, and wept as he went up.

David was then a signal type of CHRIST, in His agony and sufferings. See the Prelim. Note to 2 Sam. xv., and on 2 Sam. xv. 30; and Hammond here.

Here is a proof that the Psalms of David are not arranged chronologically. This Psalm belongs to the latest period of his life, a period long subsequent to that with which another Psalm, which is placed soon after it (viz., the seventh) is connected.

The arrangement of the Psalms is not an external one of time, but it is an inner one of thought and spirit; it is regu. lated by a prophetic anticipation of the history of Christ, and is pre-adjusted to it.

Not only are the Psalms inspired, but the order, in which they are placed, was regulated by the guidance of the Holy Ghost. S. Jerome says truly, "Psalmi in persona Christi loquuntur;" and no less truly S. Augustine (in Ps. 150): "Ordo Psalmorum mihi magni sacramenti videtur continere secretum."

David was a figure of Christ; to adopt the strong words of Origen here, "David is Christ;" that is, Christ speaks in him. David in his victories has been displayed to us in the two former Psalms, and we were raised from a view of them to a contemnplation of CHRIST, enthroned as King of kings. We now descend into the lowlands of earthly sufferings through which David passed, and through which Christ passed to glory; and through which the Church of Christ must pass, and through which every Christian must pass, in order to attain the blessedness which has been revealed in the former Psalm. As S.

Jerome says here, Potest hic Psalmus et ad David, et ad Christum, et per Eum ad omnes sanctos pertinere." Accordingly, the present Psalm is appointed in the Gregorian use for Good Friday.

It is worthy of remark, that in the present Psalm, and in all the four following Psalms, we have an expression of the personal feelings of David; the inspired representative of Christ, and of the suffering members of the Church of God in all ages. In every one of these five Psalms, we have frequent recurrence of the personal pronouns I and me, and of the possessive pronoun my. "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me; many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in his God." This is the tone of these five Psalms in succession. They are plaintive utterances of David, of Christ, of the Church Militant, and of every faithful soul in it. But, let us observe, that as these strains of suffering start from a promise of blessing in the first pair of Psalms, so they rise to a vision of glory in the octave, "O Lord, our Governor, how excellent is Thy name in all the world who hast set Thy glory above the heavens!" (Ps. 8).

But to return. David, driven from his city by Absalom, and weeping on Mount Olivet, was eminently a type of Christ in His sufferings; and that period in his life seems therefore to have been selected here as a striking specimen of his afflictions, and as a very significant figure of Christ and His Church, and of every afflicted soul in it. The collocation of this Psalm (which describes the rebellion of Absalom against David) immediately next after the Psalm which describes the insurrection of the World against Christ, David's Divine Antitype, serves to bring out in a clear view this figura

His trust in God.

b 2 Sam. 16. 8. Ps. 71. 11.

c Gen. 15. 1.

Ps. 28. 7. &

119. 114.

[ Or, about.

d Ps. 27. 6.

e Ps. 34. 4.
f Ps. 2. 6. &
43. 3. & 99. 9.
g Lev. 26. 6.

Ps. 4. 8.
Prov. 3. 24.

h Ps. 27. 3.

tive relation of David to Christ. And this is further displayed by the verbal resemblances in these two Psalms. Compare the words "rise up against me" in v. 1, and "thousands of people who set themselves against me" in v. 6, with the words in Ps. ii. 2, The Kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord, and against His Anointed; and compare the words, His holy hill, in v. 4, with the words in Ps. ii. 6, Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill.

We shall see that this first Book of the Psalter ends with a reference to a still more painful crisis of suffering, viz., the insurrection of his son Adonijah, leagued with Joab and Abiathar, against David in his old age on his sick bed (see Ps. 41). And the second Book of the Psalter begins with the same period in David's life as the present (see on Ps. 42, at the beginning).

Those insurrections against David, the Anointed of God, the King and the Father, were, in his history, what the Agony and Crucifixion of Christ is in the Gospel. They were his Gethsemane and Calvary; but they were succeeded by victory and triumph. Hence the prominence of their position in the Psalter. They have a prophetic meaning.

The present Psalm opens with a view of David's sorrows at the time when his people and his son were joined in insurrection against him, and supposed him to be cast off by God. The curses which he then endured from Shimei express that feeling (see 2 Sam. xvi. 8). He has no access to the Tabernacle, he has sent the Ark of God back to Jerusalem (2 Sam. xv. 24-29). But he feels God's spiritual presence: "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill," the holy hill mentioned in the foregoing Psalm (ii. 6). It is related, that when David, in his flight from Absalom, came to the top of the Mount of Olives, he worshipped God (2 Sam. xv. 32).

4.] The word SELAH is here introduced for the first time in the Psalter. It has been well called the "Sursum Corda" of the Hebrew ritual. It is probably derived from salal, to lift up, and denotes an elevation of the heart, and of the voice to God. It occurs in thirty-nine Psalms. Once in Psalms 7. 20. 21. 44. 47, 48. 50. 54. 60, 61. 75. 81, 82, 83. 85. 143. Twice in Psalms 4. 9. 24. 39. 49. 52. 55. 57. 59. 62. 67. 76. 84. 87, 88. Thrice in Psalms 3. 32. 46. 66. 68. 77. 140. Four times in Psalm 89. It never occurs at the end of a Psalm, except in Psalms which are coupled on to the following ones, as Psalms 3. 24. 46, which were festival hymns succeeded by others (see Dr. Kay, p. 331, 332, and Delitzsch, p. 22, who regards it as marking a transition from piano to forte). It is represented in Sept. by "diapsalma."

It is observable that Selah, the musical note of elevation, which occurs first here, is connected in this place with a triple raising up. "Thou, O Lord, art the lifter up of my head. I cried unto the Lord, I lifted up my voice. I laid me down to sleep, and rose up again, for the Lord sustained me."

5. I laid me down and slept] Probably at Mahanaim, where he was hospitably entertained by Barzillai and others. See 2 Sam. xvii. 27.

In a spiritual sense these words are applied by Theodoret and S. Augustine here and in his De Civ. Dei, xvii. 18, and by many others, to CHRIST sleeping on the Cross, and awaking from the dead, for the Lord sustained Him (ep. on Gen. xlix. 9); and the interpretation is expressed in Western Liturgies, in the Easter Antiphon, where Christ says:

'Ego dormivi, et somnum accepi, et surrexi . . . .
Alleluia."

David's enemies are compared, on account of their savage cruelty, to wild beasts; but God breaks their teeth (v. 7), and they are unable to devour their prey. Cp. lviii. 6.

and, hesitatingly, Perowne. Cp. Archdeacon Rose, Replies to Essays and Reviews, p. 98.

This, then, is the final exhortation,-Kiss the Son; adore Christ, lest ye perish in the way,-the way which ye have chosen for yourselves, in opposition to His way, which is the only right way, and therefore is called the way (Acts ix. 2; xix. 9; xxii. 4; xxiv. 22. Cp. lxxxi. 13). For soon is His anger kindled. Here again is an anticipation of the Apocalypse: Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. vi. 16); but He desires to be merciful: and therefore the Psalm ends with Blessing, as the former had begun. These two Psalms are coupled together as a pair by that word" Blessed," as they are by the words, the way of the ungodly shall perish (in i. 6); and ye perish in the way (ii. 12). And well may this be so; for this Psalm revealed two names of Him, to whom all Israel looked for blessing, viz. the Name MESSIAH, in v. 2, and the Name Son of GOD, v. 7; and it is evident from the concluding words of this Psalm that the Messiah is spoken of as a Divine Person. If the Jews had understood this Psalm aright, and had not supposed that the Messiah was to be only a Man (see above, on Deut. xiii. 1), and not also God, they would not have incurred the curse, and have perished in their own self-chosen way, but have walked in His way, and have inherited the blessing, as some of them did, like Nathanael, "the Israelite indeed," who said, "Rabbi. Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel" (John i. 49); and they would have joined with heart and voice in hosannas of adoration to Him: "Blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the Name of the Lord" (John xii. 13).

Ps. III.] In the two foregoing Psalms, which form a pair, we

David's sufferings.

have seen a Vision of Judgment. The obedience and future reward of the godly; the rebellion and confusion of all unrighteous and antichristian Powers, however strong, have been displayed; and the extension of Christ's kingdom and its final establishment in glory.

We now have another pair of Psalms, which are joined to the foregoing. The first Psalm began with the word " Blessed," the second Psalm ended with " Blessed," and the present Psalm closes with the words "Thy Blessing is on Thy people." In the foregoing Psalm God said that He would set His King upon His holy hill (v. 6), and now in the present Psalm, the King declares that God has heard him out of His holy hill (v. 4). And this Psalm is also joined to the 4th Psalm. They are coupled together, as the first two are, by certain words which we may venture to call catchwords. Observe here, in v. 5, I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me; and compare the words in the following Psalm (v. 8), I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. The present Psalm is an Evening Hymn, the next a Morning Hymn They may be regarded as specimens of the daily prayers of David, in his troubles and trials.

The present Psalm is entitled a Psalm of David (in Hebrew, le David, literally, to David; i. e. inspired into David, or dictated to David by the Holy Ghost; cp. xlv. title) during his flight from his son Absalom. The word rendered Psalm is mizmor, from zamar, to pluck (Gesen. 248). The original meaning of the word is not clear, as applied to a musical composition; but it seems to signify, "to sing with an instrumental accompaniment" (psallo, from 4άw, to touch); and it may be derived from the act of plucking the strings of a harp with the fingers.