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posed after David had been delivered from all his enemies. That it was not written, however, till near the close of his life, when his conflicts were over, is no proof that the deliverances which it commemorates were not such as he represents them, any more than the fact that his deliverance from Saul took place many years before the Psalm was written, proves that his description of it is figurative instead of literal. Neither he nor the other writers to whom we have referred, seem to have suspected that there are any obstacles in the language itself to the supposition that it is tropical; and were led, perhaps, in a measure to regard it as such, by a feeling that it was too extraordinary to be probable that God had interposed in such a manner to rescue the Psalmist from danger.

The question whether it is figurative or not, and, especially, whether it is to be regarded as figurative simply on account of the nature of the interposition which it ascribes to God, is one of great moment; as if the mere fact that it was a visible appearance in the clouds, with lightnings, thunders, and hail, irrespective of the language in which it is described, is to be taken as a proof that it is figurative, it will result that all the other similar manifestations which are narrated or predicted in the Scriptures must also be regarded as merely tropical; as to our first

parents in Eden, to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses on Mount Horeb, to the Israelites at Sinai, to Joshua, to Isaiah, Elijah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John, and no evidence whatever be left that he has ever revealed himself to the senses of any of our race. All those and other narratives of the personal revelation of himself are converted into myths or fictions. And if his visible presence was the mere work of the prophet's fancy, the communications he is represented to have made must naturally be regarded as imaginary also. If it is maintained that God did not in fact manifest himself to their senses, how can it be held that that which is related by the prophets to have been heard by them in his visible presence, is to be regarded as any the less the work of their imaginations? The question whether God has in fact made any such communications to men as the Scriptures represent, may thus fairly be considered as turning on the question whether the visible revelations of himself which they record, like that described (Ps. xviii.), were real, or the mere product of the prophet's fancy.

The question, however, whether the description of David's deliverance is figurative or not, is not to be determined by the nature of the interposition by which it is represented to have been accomplished, but by the language in which it is depicted. I

propose, therefore, to try it by that test, and to show that that which it describes was a reality, not a fiction. In order to this I will point out the several figures that occur in the Psalm, and explain them by their laws.

1, 2. Metonymies. "To the chief musician, by David the servant of Jehovah, who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song, in the day Jehovah freed him from the hand of all his foes, and from the hand of Saul," v. 1. The hand of his foes is used here by metonymy for their power which was exerted by their hand, and the hand of Saul, for his power. The denomination of David the servant of Jehovah, indicates that he sustained a peculiar relation to him and filled an important office towards his chosen people, and may be considered as implying that that sacred and extraordinary relation was the occasion of God's interposing in the majestic manner he celebrates, to rescue him from the enemies that were conspiring against his life. It was as the predestined monarch of Israel and progenitor of the Messiah that God descended in a whirlwind to deliver him from the grasp of his foes, and it is as such that he celebrates that wonderful act. That his extrication from the hand of Saul is mentioned, in addition to his deliverance from his other enemies, is probably because it was that extri

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3. Metonymy of the effect for the cause. said, I will love thee, Jehovah, my strength," v. 2. Strength is here put for the source or giver of strength. The effect of God's extraordinary dealings was to fill his heart with love, and to impress him with the feeling that he should continue to cherish it.

4, 5. Metaphors in the use of rock and fortress. "Jehovah is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer," v. 2. This imagery is suggested by the nature of the protection he had enjoyed. Had he been celebrating a preservation from pestilence or famine, it would have been unsuited to the species of danger from which he was shielded; but it is appropriate in the highest degree to indicate his preservation from the armed foes who had sought to take his life. God had been to him, what an inaccessible rock and an impregnable fortress are to one whom they protect from the approach of his. foes. What an emphatic description of the perfect safety he had enjoyed, while apparently exposed to the greatest perils!

6, 7, 8, 9. Metaphors in the use of rock, and shield, horn, and high place. "My God is my rock; I will trust in him; my shield, and the horn

of my salvation, my height," or high place, v. 2. The word here translated rock is used to denote, not an impregnable barrier, but an unchangeable support. The Psalmist had experienced God's unvarying faithfulness, through the vicissitudes of a long life; and trusted in him as unalterable in his attributes and purposes. He had been to him as a shield, also, that intercepted all the weapons that were aimed at him; and as a horn like that of a powerful animal by which assailants are repelled; and as a height or elevated place, in which, after having escaped his enemies, he had reposed in safety. A horn of salvation, is a horn that saves, by the repulse of an antagonist. The relation in which God is exhibited as a defender and deliverer in these several figures, varies according to the object that is used for exemplification; as an inaccessible cliff, an impregnable fortress, a rock that cannot be undermined, a shield that intercepts the arrows that are shot, and the blows that are aimed at him who holds it, a horn that rebuts and drives back assailants, and a lofty height which yields him a safe station after the battle is over. What a towering sense these images bespeak of the agency of God in his protection, and of the absolute security he had enjoyed at the periods of his greatest seeming hazard! He ascribes his deliverance wholly to God.

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