Psalm 60

A prayer for the coming of the kingdom of Christ, which shall have no end.

1 Hear, O God, my supplication: be attentive to my prayer,

2 To thee have I cried from the ends of the earth; when my heart was in anguish, thou hast exalted me on a rock. Thou hast conducted me;

3 For thou hast been my hope; a tower of strength against the face of the enemy.

4 In thy tabernacle I shall dwell for ever: I shall be protected under the covert of thy wings. Ee aa

5 For thou, my God, hast heard my prayer: thou hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name.

6 Thou wilt add days to the days of the king; his years even to generation and generation.

7 He abideth for ever in the sight of God: his mercy and truth who shall search?

8 So will I sing a psalm to thy name for ever and ever: that I may pay my vows from day to day.

EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM,

1 “ Hear, O God, my supplication: be attentive to my prayer.”

A very brief preface, because it is the prayer of a just man or a Christian people, asking to be heard by God; not to turn away from them, but to take a considerate view of their case. The Hebrew for ‘* supplication” conveys the idea of its being not an ordinary one put up in silence, but an ardent, loudly expressed appeal to God ; and, therefore, more likely to arrest his attention. A cold prayer, coming fiom the lips alone, will hardly penetrate the clouds, much less the heaven of heavens.

2 ** To thee have I cried from the ends of the earth ; when my heart was in anguish, thou hast exalted me on a rock. Thou hast conducted me ;”

Dayid was never an exile in ‘ The ends of the earth,” nor were the children of Israel; and, therefore, he must speak here in the person of the Church, which has spread over the whole world, to its very extremities, according to Psalm ii., ‘‘ Ask of me, and I will give thee the gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.” He therefore says, I (the Church) having been propagated to the ends of the earth, from those extremeties of the earth, through the voice of all my members, “* Have cried to thee” with a loud and earnest voice. The words, ‘‘ Hnds of the earth,” seem also to convey an idea of the distance between him who asks and him from whom he expects. God, to whom the aj p2al’is made, is in heave), and he who asks it in “* Zhe ends of the earth;” and hence he should needs cry aloud. The same idea is conveyed in the expression, “* rom the depths have I cried to thee, O Lord.” He should have a loud voice who, from the depths, expects that God, who sits aloft in the highest heavens, nay, even on the Cherubim,

should hear him; in other words, the person who, cognizant of his own nothingness, when compared to the divine perfections, yet presumes to commune with God in prayer. “When my heart was mm anguish thou hast exalted me ona rock.” He assigns a reason for appealing to God with such confidence, becanse he found the divine assistance never withheld from him when in trouble. ‘ When,” on various other occasions, “‘my heart was in anguish,” by reason of various temptations that beset me, you heard me when I cried to you, and “ exalted me on a rock;” the safest possible place I could be lodged in, afterwards called “ tower of strength.” That lofty rock is Christ; and any one that will raise himself up to him in contemplation, considering how much he suffered for us, and what an end he had, will easily conquer, and despise the whole world beside.

3 “ For thou hast been my hope ; a tower of strength against the face of the enemy.”

He explains the expression, “ Thou hast exalted me on a rock,” by the words, “ Thow hast conducted

e;” became my guide when I fled from the enemy, who assailed me with temptation. “ Lor thow hast b:en my hope;” your escort and guidance consisted in inspiring me with hope, which not only upheld me, but made me bear everything with the greatest courage. And thus, you became ‘‘ a tower of strength ayainst the face of the enemy ;? for he who trusts in God, and reflects on the sufferings of Christ, to what glory he came on his resurrection, that he is our head, trom looking on whom we are to learn what we have to suffer on earth, and what we have a right to expect and desire in heaven; he undoubtedly stands on a highly fortified tower, where he can not only avoid the weapons of the enemy, but even hurl weapons at them,

4 “In thy tabernacle I shall dwell for ever: 1 shall be protected under the covert of thy wings.”

He now tells us that, by the stronghold in the preceding verse, he does not mean the kingdom of heaven, But the resting-place of the Dileein here below 5 such is the force of the word in the Hebrew ; and he says, I will take up my lodging in “ that tower of strength; and in the meantime, while there, ‘* Z shall be protected under the covert of thy wings,” as the hen protects her chickens from the birds of prey.

5 “ For thou, my God, hast heard my prayer: thou hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name.”

His confidence arises fromthe fact that, at all times, ‘* Thou, my God, hast heard my prayer ;” and that because, “ Thow hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name ;” made me one of your heirs, your children. For, if God has an everlasting inheritance for his children that fear him, will he not protect them on their journey thereto? What father ever despised or deserted his deserving children? ‘ And if God be for us, who ws against us?’ We are absolutely

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

sure and certain of the eternal inheritance in heaven, and God’s protection in this world, if we truly fear him.

6 “ Thou wilt add days to the days of the king ; his years even to generation and generation.”

The Prophet, bearing in mind that the inheritance of the saints is life everlasting, now informs us that this inheritance, so promised to the Church, should commence with its head ; and, therefore, says, ‘‘ Thou wilt add days to the days ofthe king ;’ you will multiply the days of Christ our king without end, “ even to generation and generation ; to the day ofeternity, which, though designated as a day, is equivalent to generation and generation, to ages of ages, and times of times without end. ‘That the expression means eternity is evident from Psalm cxviii., where he says, “ For ever, O Lord, thy word standeth firm in heaven. Thy truth unto all generations.” Which is similar to the expression in Psalm cxxxiv., “ Thy name, O Lord, is for ever; thy memorial, O Lord, unto all generations.’ ” From which we clearly see that the Psalm is not applicable to David as king, but to Christ as king; for David did not live more than seventy years, nor did the sovercignty remain in his family. The eternity, then, of both king and kingdom, foretold in the Scriptures, is accomplished in Christ alone, for * There will be no end of his kingdom,” Lukei. ‘* And he, rising from the dead, shall dieno more. Death shall have no more dominion over him.” Rom. vi.

7 ‘** He abideth for ever in the sight of God: his mercy and truth who shall search 2”

Christ, the head of the Church, “ abideth for ever in the sight of God” for us; the Apostle testifies it was for such purpose he “* entered ento heaven atself, that he may appear now in the presence of God for us.” Instead of ‘ abzdeth,” the Hebrew word has “‘ he sitteth;” to shew that he sits as a Judge, instead of standing as a servant. ‘‘ Hs mercy and truth who shall search?” His mercy, in redeeming fallen man; and his truth, by virtue of which he has kept and will adhere to his promises. ‘‘ Who shall search them,” for they are a great abyss; and, as the Apostle to the Ephesians says, “ The charity of Christ surpasseth knowledge ;” is beyond our comprehension.

8 “ So will I sing a psalm to thy name for ever and ever: that I may pay my vows from day to day.”

As God’s mercy has becn poured upon me in abundance, and his truth is so certain that I have no need of inquiring into it, “Z will sing a psalm to thy name Jor ever and ever;” I will praise you, my God, not only here on earth, but for ever, with loud canticles and shouts of praise in heaven; that by doing so “I may pay my vows” of thanksgiving “ from day to day,” all the days of my life, to the day that will not be succeeded by night.

oe

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.