Psalm 76

The faithful have recourse to God in trouble of mind, with confidence in his mercy and power.

1 Icried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice; and he gave ear to me.

2 In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands /ifted up to him in the night: and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be comforted:

3 [remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised: and my spirit swooned away.

4 My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.

5 I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal years.

6 And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised, and I swept my spirit.

7 Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more favourable again?

8 Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to generation ?

9 Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up his mercies ?

10 And I said; Now have I begun: this is the change of the right hand of the Most High.

11 I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning.

12 And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy inventions.

13 Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like our God?

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou hast made thy power known among the nations :

15 With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and of Joseph.

16 The waters saw thee, O God: the waters saw thee: and they were afraid: and the depths were troubled,

17 Great was the noise of the waters: the .*

clouds sent out a sound. For thy arrows pass; 19.. The voice of thy thunder in a wheel.

Thy lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled.

20 Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy foot-steps shall not be known.

21 Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.

1 “TJ cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice; and he gave ear to me,”

The effusions of soul of a holy person expressing how heavily the delay and the dangers of his pilgrimage here below bear on him, For he says, “ / cried with my voice;” not through a message, nor through my friends, nor even with my tongue, but with my voice ; with the whole power of my body, I cried to God. He says he cried to the Lord, and to God, because he saw no created being or thing could confer on him what he wanted; and therefore, without applying to any one he appeals directly to God himself. He says, ‘‘ I cried,” because seeing himself in a strange country, far removed from God, he required to speak with a loud and.an impassioned voice, to transmit it from the abyss in which he lay to the elevation on which God was placed ; “‘ and he gave ear to me;” his prayer then was heard.

2 '* In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him ,in the night: and I was not deceived, My soul refused to be comforted :”

He tells here why and how he sought and found God. “Jn the day of my trouble I sought. God.” During my lifetime, which, according to Job, is “a warfare;” that is, according to St. Paul, a constant “ wrestling with our vices and concupiscence, as well as with the principalities and powers of the air;”? hence, he exclaims, “ Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ “ With my hands to him in the night.’ In the night of this life I stretched out my hands to him, seeking to grasp and hold him ; and I was not deceived.” ‘This life does not deserve the name of day, but of night ; “* Kor we walk by faith, and not by sight,” 2 Cor. v.; and we, therefore, require the light of Scripture, ‘¢ shining like a lamp in a dark place.” In the night time we succeed better by groping with our hands, than by searching with our eyes; hence, the Apostle says, that men were created “that they should seck God; if happily they may feel after him, or find him.” Now, to seek God with one’s hands in the night, means-nothing more than to seek God in this dark exile of ours, by good works, by observance of the commandments, and by holiness of life ; and it often happens that they who seek God in such manner will attain the object ‘of their wishes, a thing they could never accomplish by reading and study ; for, the testimony of a good conscience, patience in sufferings, frequent victories over temptation, cause the soul to feel a certain di-

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

vine and interior sweetness, that is a sort of testimony to its being a child of God. “ My soul refused to be comforted.” As he was not deceived in his search for God, his soul refused all ‘human consolation, knowing how empty it was. “ Jdy soul refused to be comforted.” Though the pleasures of the world surrounded me, I could not enjoy them, knowing what consequent sorrow they always entailed.

3 “IT remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised: and my spirit swooned away.”

However, that I should not be without comfort in some shape, “ J remembered God,” who deceives nobody, in whom alone that solid joy, that no one can deprive us of, isto be found. “And Iwas delighted.” ~ Here is the great secret of God’s wisdom, that in this our exile, the recollection of God delights us more than the carnal pleasures around us ; and, if the recollection of God delight us so much in the midst of the carnal allurements about us, how much more will not the actual presence of God delights us, when those allurements of the flesh shall have passed away? § And was exercised, and my spirit passed away.” After calling God to mind, and the pleasure I derived from doing so, I turned to meditation, and talked over with myself the miseries of our exile, and the joys of heaven, untill fainted away in my desires for it.

4“ My eyes prevented the watches; I was troubled, and I spoke not.”

He explains the meaning of the expression, “ F was exercised,” .by saying, ‘* My eyes prevented the watches;” that is, I rose at night for meditation, before the military watches turned out for guard. We have a similar phrase in Psalm cxviil., ** Afy eyes to - thee have prevented the morning; that I might meditate on thy words.” ‘* I was troubled, and J spoke not;” he was terribly confused from meditating on the dangers of this life, but did not attempt to say one word, knowing that the judgments of God, however occult, are always most just.

5 “I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal years.”

Such was the subject of my meditation when I got up before the watch ; ‘ the days of old;” the days of this life, from the beginning to the end; and * the eternal years” of futurity, that do not pass away, but remain fixed and permanent ; thus, he thought not only of the things of the present day, that presently grow old and perish, but also of what we shall be doing and engaged in for the years of eternity, that always remain in the same state, Reflections worthy

of occupying one in meditation during the whole night,

6‘ And I meditated in the night with my own heart : and I was exercised, and I swept my spirit.”

The same idea vepeated and inculcated. I spent, . he says, long nights turning the thing in my mind, “and I was exercised” in my thoughts and my re--_ flections, “and I swept my spirit.” I put my mind . through and fro, as if Lwere sweeping it witha broom, .

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS,

Like the Woman in the Gospel, who swept the whole house diligently in search ofthe lost piece of money; so he seaiched his spirit, and brushed it up, as with a broom, in search of the hidden truth.

7 “Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never ‘be more favourable again?

8 “Or will he cut off fas mercy for ever, from generation to generation?

9 “ Or will Gad forget to shew mercy? or will he in hus anger shut up las mercies ?”

Here is the subject of his meditation, and the cause of his agitation during the night. Looking at the countless number of sinners, with scarcely one to be found doing good, he said to himself, Will God consign all men to eternal perdition? Where, then, is his infinite mercy? But from such interrogatory, he draws the very contrary conclusion, asserting that the time for the redemption of mankind would come, when not only the remnants. of the Jews, but even the multitude of the gentiles, would be saved. He says, therefore, ‘* W2ll God then cast off for ever?” Will God cast off for ever from his mercy, and leave in their blindness and their infidelity, such a multitude of the human race ? in other words, he will not cast them off, but he will visit them in his own time. ‘‘ Or

will he never be more favourable again?” that means,,.

will he not add his mercy to his anger, so that he may begin to look with more favour on. those whom he seems now so. to hate. He says he will be pacified, for in the next verse he has, ‘ Or will’ he cut off hes mercy for ever, from generation to-generation?” Will he withdraw his mercy from man for ever? he will not. ‘Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up.his mercies?’ He will not forget, nor shut up his mercy, for it is easier for God to repress his anger than his mercy ; and, therefore, however justly he may be angry with sinners, in his anger he will not withhold his mercy, but will pour it out to.mitigate his anger.

10 “And I said: Now have I begun : this is the change of the-right hand of the Most High.”

The prophet having both foreseen and foretold the redemption of man, he says that he began thereon to draw his breath after the grief and sorrow that previously held him captive. ‘ And I said, now have E begun ;” begun to breathe, when by meditation and watchings, I ascertained that God’s mercy would be poured out on the human race. ‘ This is the change of the: right hand of the Most High;” the change which I foresee and foretell, that of God’s anger into merey, of man’s wickedness to holiness, of his captivity to redemption, of everlasting punishment to eternal glory, is a wonderful change, that no one, but Christ, who is the right hand of the Most High, could accomplish, for it was he appeased the Father's anger, by turning it to mercy; it was he that justified the wicked, redeemed the captive, and glorified the wicked ; and, what is more wonderful, the right hand of the "Most High effected this Ghange, by changing himself to a certain extent, for his right hand

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was weakened, in order to strengthen us ; and “ when he was in the Jform of God he took the form of a servant.”

11 “I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning.

12 “And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy inventions.”

The prophet now breathing in the hope of a future redemption, says he will ‘call to mind the wonderful works of the Lord, and proceeds to relate some of them, saying, Hitherto I called to mind some of the wonderful things the Lord did in Egypt for our fathers, but now, O Lord, I will call up all your wonderful works from the beginning of the world, * and L will meditate on all your works,” your works of justice and mercy, of power and wisdom, of nature and grace; ‘Sand will be employed in your invenlions ;” turning over in my mind, with profound admiration, the secret counsels and wonderful designs struck out by your wisdom for the salvation of the human race.

13.“ Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great. God like our God 2”

He now begins to praise those wonderful works of God, on which he was accustomed to reflect, saying first in general, that the works of God are holy, great, and admirable ; that is, that they are done with holiness, power, and wisdom, he himself being holy, omnipotent, and wise. ‘* Thy way, O God, ts in the holy place;” your action or your works, which may be looked upon as your way to us, are all done in holiness, for you do nothing but what is right and just; “ Who ts the great God like our God?” not only are our God and his way holy,. but he is also. great, and great are his works...

14.‘ Thou art the God that doest w onders. Thou hast made thy power known amon DM nations 2

You are not only holy and great in your works, but they. are also wonderful, by reason of the depth of wisdom displayed in thent. ‘© Thou hast made. thy power known among the nations.” He. now descends to a special, great, and wonderful work of God, the deliverance of his people from Egypt, and. says he has made known his power, not only to the people of Egypt, but to all the oflier nations that heard of the plagues of Egypt.

15 “With thy.arm thou hast redeemed thy people. the children of Jacob and of Joseph.”

By your own power and strength, for you need no help from any one, you have delivered your people, the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph. Joseph and his father are named, because the people of Israel consisted of thirteen tribes, eleven of whom sprung from eleven sons of Jacob, and two, that of Ephraim, and Manasses, from the sons of J oseph, In a spiritual sense, God ‘ made his power. known” to all nations, when he delivered them, from the power of the devil, ‘2th the arm,” meaning. Christ, ofwhom Tsaias says, “The arm at the Lord, fo whom is it evealed ae

St. Augustine says that in God’s people two families are to be found, the children of Jacob and the children of Joseph, who are the Jews, and the converted gentiles. By the children of Jacob we understand the carnal Israelites; by the chilvren of Joseph, they who are regenerated in Christ. Joseph, sold by his brethren through envy, humbled every where at first, but ultimately exalted, represents Christ, who, through the envy of the Jews, was cast out of the synagogue, sold and humbled, but in the end, through his resurrection and ascension, was so exalted as to fulfil what is written of him in Psalm Ixxi., “ All the kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him.”

16 ‘‘ The waters saw thee, O God: the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled.”

~He now describes the separation of the waters of the Red Sea, when God delivered his people from the slavery of Pharao, and he does it in a poetical manner, investing the water with fear and trembling, as if they felt such at the presence of God, as he says also in Psalm exiti., “ The sea saw and fled.” ‘ The waters saw thee, O God, the waters sew thee.” The waters of the Red Sea, at thy command, were dried up as if they had seen thy majesty, and ran away in fear and reverence, “ and the depths were troubled.” Tt was not only on the surface, but in the very lowest bottom, that the waters, affrighted at your presence, disappeared.

17 “ Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound. For thy arrou's pass ;?

Having described God’s wonderful doings in the separation of the waters of the Red Sea, he now speaks of the return of the waters, and the storm to destroy the Egyptians, which, too, was a wonderful work. ‘* Great was the noise of the waters.” Great confusion and roaring of the waters succeeded, when, at God’s command, the waters that stood up like two walls, while God’s people were passing through, fell in with a tremendous crash, to drown and suffocate the Egyptians, as also when “ thy arrows pass,” your lightning shot like arrows at them.

18 “ The voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightae enlightened the world; the earth shook and trem-

ed.

The voice of your thunder rattled in the wheels of Pharao’s chariots, and upset them, ‘“ Thy lightnings enlightened the world.” The prophet adds, that stch vengeance inflicted on Pharao was made known not only to the Jews then present, but even, like lightning in heaven, was made known to the whole world, and caused great fear and commotion among the nations far removed, the truth of which we read in Josue iii., where Racab says, “ We heard that the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea at your approach, and we were very much afraid.” —“ Thy lightnings enlightened the world;” your lightnings, signs, and miracles, enlightened not only the Jews and Egyptians then and there, but the whole world heard of them, they were known far and near ; and,

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

therefore, ‘the earth shook and trembled;” its tohabitants were frightened and alarmed, and began to fear the people of Israel.

19 “ Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy foot-steps shall not be known.”

He now plainly describes the passage of the children of Israel, under God’s guidance, through a new and unusual path, through the middle of the sea, without wetting their feet. ‘ Thy way ts in the sea;”” you have discovered a new and unheard-of way through the sea for your people; “ and thy paths tir many waters; made a path for the same people through the deep sea; ‘ and thy footsteps shall not be known; you have brought your people through that passage in the sea in so wonderful a manner

-that nobody could ever discover a trace of saic

passage.

20 ‘* Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

The object of all the wonderful works of God in Egypt and the Red Sea was to free his people, and introduce them to the Jand of promise, which he did ~ through Moses and Aaron, the first pastors of the synagogue. “ Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep ;” brought the people, as you would so many sheep, through the desert, into the land of promise, as it were, to the richest pastures, with the greatest ease, the greatest love, and untiring providence, “dy the hand of Moses and Aaron;” under the guidance and authority of Moses and Aaron, tivo most excellent leaders.

Psalm 77

Gods great benefits to the people of Israel, notwithstand ing their ingratitude.

1 Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from the beginning.

3 How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

4 They have not been hidden from their children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done.

5 And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children:

6 That another generation might know them. The children that should be born, and should rise up, and declare them to their children ;

7 That they may put their hope in God, and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments.

8 That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright; and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have turned back in the day of battle.

10 They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.

11 And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them.

12 Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.

13 He divided the sea, and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.

14 And he conducted them with a cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire.

15 He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.

16. He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers.

17 And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the Most High to wrath in the place without water.

18 And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.

19 And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ?

20 Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?

21 Therefore the Lord heard, and was anory: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.

22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.

23 And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.

24 And had rained down manna upon

• them to eat, and had given them the bread .

of heaven.

25 Man ate the bread of angels: them provisions in abundance.

26 He removed the south-wind from heaven; and by his power brought in the southwane wind.

27 And he rained upon them flesh as dust; and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.

he sent

28 And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions.

29 So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire:

30 They were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their meat was in their mouth:

31 And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, an brought down the chosen men of Israel.

32 Inall these things they sinned still: and they believed not for his wondrous works.

83 And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.

34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to han early in the morning.

35 And they venenberdd that God was their helper; and the Most High God their redeemer.

386 And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him.

37 But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his coyvenant.

38 But he is merciful, and ‘will forgive their sins; and will not destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger; and did not kindle all his wrath.

39 And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that goeth and returneth not.

40 How often did they provoke him in the desert; and move him to wrath in the place without water ?

41 And they turned back and tempted God; and grieved the Holy One of Israel.

42 'They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hana of him that afflicted them:

43 How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of ‘T’anis.

44 And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might not drink.

45 He sent amongst them divers sorts of flies, which devoured: them; and frogs which deve oyed them.

46 And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust.

47 And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry-trees with hoar frost.

48 And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire.

49 And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.

50 He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls from death; and their cattle he shut up in death.

51 And he killed all the first-born in the land of Egypt: the first-fruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.

52 And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them im the wilderness like a flock.

53 And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: and the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line of distribution,

55 And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.

56 Yet they tempted, and provoked the Most High God: and they kept not his testimonies,

_ 57 And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: evenlike their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow. f

08 They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to jealousy with their graven things.

59 God heard, and despised them: and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing.

60 And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he dwelt among men,

61 And he delivered their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.

_ 62 And he shut up his people under the ‘sword: and he despised his inheritance.

63 Fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not lamented.

64 Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.

65 And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine,

66 And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach.

67 And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph; and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

68 But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.

69 And he built his sanctuary as of wnicorns, in the land which he founded for ever.

70 And he chose his servant David, and

took him from the flocks of sheep: he brought

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

him from following the ewes great witli young,

71 To feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.

72 And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them by the skilfulness of his hands.

EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.

1 ‘+ Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.”

David, being about to exhort the people, in rather a long discourse, endeavours, at the outset, to arrest their attention by saying he is going to speak on matters of utility and importance. “ Attend to my law ;” to my precepts, which, like good and most wi-e laws, will direct you to happiness... And he repeats the same at greater length when he says, ‘ zneline your ears;” and what he expressed at first by the words, “‘ my law,” he now expresses by the words, “to the words of my mouth;” thereby insinuating that when he mentioned the law, he did not mean the law of Moses, though often called simply the law, but his own words, with which he meant to instruct and to exhort his people; in which sense Christ himself uses the term when he said, John xv., “ But that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their law, they have hated me without cause.” To incline the ear, when applied to the people, means to hear with humility and obedience, but, when applied to God, means to hear with clemency and mercy. Some will have this Psalm spoken in the person of God, others, of Christ; but verse iil, “and own fathers have told us,” shews that David speaks in his own person, and no other.

2 I will. open my mouth in parables: I will uiter propositions from the beginning.”

The reason why David asks that what he says may be listened to with attention and humility is, that he is about to enter on difficult and obscure matters, that require attention and humility. By parables is understood here proverbs or similes that are usually short and figurative. Propositions mean cnigmas that are most obscure, for such is the meaning of the word in Hebrew, as is clear from that passage in the book of Judges, where Samson’s enigma, ‘Sout of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” is called an enigma, and in Greek a problem. There are many proverbs and enigmas in this Psalm, as we shall see hereafter; but the one particularly alluded to here seems to be the kingdom: of Christ, of which Dayid’s kingdom is the figure; and the Church, of which Mount Sion. is the figure. The words, “ from the beginning,” looking at the text.of the Psalm, would seem to apply to the date of the liberation of the people from the captivity of Egypt, when the people of Israel began to. assume the form of a republic, and to: be

subject to laws and judges; and verse v., “and he sel up a testimony in Jacob; and made a law in Israe,” fayours that view 3; but St. Matthew, chap. xili., in quoting this passage, says that “ the beginning” vefers to the beginning of the world; for he says, “ That the word might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: I will open my mouth zn parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.” The meaning, then, is, I will lay before you ideas that were hidden, and like so many enigmas, from the beginning of the world; for, though the mysteries of Christ were at all times foretold and foreshadowed, still they were veiled, and openly revealed to very few. St. Paul, writing of them, says, Ephes. iii., “* Zo me, the least of all the saints, is given this grace to preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all men what is the dispensation of the mystery which hath been hidden from eternity in God who created all things.”

3 “ How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

_ 4 “* They have not been hidden from their children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done.”

Being about to write a history of matters that had within them mysteries hidden from the beginning of

the world, he tells us he got the history of these.

from the fathers, who got them from their ancestors ; I will, he says, utter propositions from the beginning. “ What great things we have heard and known,” because “our fathers have told us,’ both by their writings and word of mouth, for they did not wish them “to be hidden from their children” they were to leave after them “in another generation;” and what they had to tell was God’s praises and virtues ; that is, his wonderful power and his wonderful works, for which he deserves the highest meed of praise. “ They have not been hidden.” St. Matthew says, “*T will utter things hidden,” which would seem like a contradiction, but it is not, for the things that were done were not hidden from the children of those who related them, though their mystical signification was.

5 “And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children :

6 ** That another generation might know them. The children that should be born, and should rise up, and declare them to their children ;”

He now begins to relate the things done by God, as he heard from the fathers, and he places first the fact of God’s having given the people of Israel the law and the commandments through Moses, and haying ordered that law to be given by the parents to their children, and so to be handed down to posterity. The law of God is called a “ testimony,” because it testifies God’s will'to man, as we have explained at length in Psalm xviii, ‘* Sedting up a@ testimony in

Jacob;” that is, God gave his law to the ehildren of Jacob, who was also called Israel. ‘The expression, “how great things he commanded,” means no more than what he commanded, according to the Hebrew, from which we gather that “the aw” does not simply mean here, the decalogue, but all the commands, both moral, ceremonial, and judicial in the five books of Moses.

7 ‘* That they may put their hope in God, and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments.

8 “ That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright ; and whose spirit was not faith- Sul to God.”

He now explains why God gave the law to his people, and ordered the parents to teach it to their children, and the children to hand it down to their posterity. To make them put no trust in false gods, or the idols of the gentiles, but to trust alone in the true God, who gave them a holy law from heaven, accompanied by great signs and prodigies; and also that they should not forget God’s wonderful doings in delivering them from the bondage of Pharao; furthermore, that they should anxiously seek to know, and studiously put into practice, God’s wishes; and, finally, that they should not imitate the ingratitude and the infidelity of their fathers, who, after all the favours conferred on them through Moses, proved most ungrateful. For, while they were in Egypt, they could hardly be brought to trust Moses, and after having left Egypt, they several times rebelled against Moses and against God; were for ever murmuring, and (what is much worse) adoring the golden calf. ‘A generation that set not their heart aright,” did not keep their heart firmly directed to God, but rather regarded other help. ‘* Whose spirit was not faith-

ful to God,’ for it often fell away from faith and obedience.

9 “ The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow : they have turned back in the day of baitle.”

Many suppose that some unsuccessful battle of the tribe of Ephraim is alluded to here ; now,jthere is no trace of any such battle in Holy Writ, nor is it probable that the prophet, in giving a general description of the vices of the people, miraculously brought out of Egypt, and freed from slavery, would digress to an isolated fact such as this. It is, therefore, much more probable that he explains, by a sort of simile, how inconstant the Hebrews were in their faith and their obedience to God, making the meaning of the passage to be “the sons of Ephraim;” that is, the Israelites were like soldiers who began to fight. with the enemy, and at once turned their backs and fled ; so the Israelites, in the desert, more than once promised God they would obey him, and observe his commandments, and in a minute they would change their minds, think of returning to Egypt, and murmur against Moses and against God. David specifies -

the sons, that is, the tribe of Ephraim, by it meaning the whole assembly of the Israelites ; for, next to Juda, the tribe of Epbraim was most numerous and powerful, and thus a rival of Juda; and in the Scripture Epbraim is generally censured, while Juda is praised; and thus the calamities of the whole people were attributed to Ephraim rather than to any of the other tribes, and in the end of this very Psalm, he says, “And chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the trite of Juda.” See Osee the prophet.

10 ‘* They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.

11 ‘And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them.

12 “Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.”

He now explains what he had figuratively expressed, that the children of Ephraim, the Israelites, were turned back ; for when they undertcok to obey God, they did not keep the compact, nor did they observe the law of God; and they at once forgot God’s kindness to them, and the wonderful works he did for them in Egypt, which had been related to them by their fathers. The field of Tanis means Egypt, of which Tanis was the royal residence, to shew that the wonderful things dune by Moses were not done in a nock or corner, but in a most public place, up to the king’s palace.

13 “ He divided the sea, and brought them through : and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.

14 “ And he conducted them with a cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire.

15 “ He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.

16 “‘ He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers.

17 ‘And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the Most High to wrath in the place without water.”

Having touched upon the wonderful things that were done in Hgypt before Pharao ; he now describes the other miracles that were performed in the departure of the Israelites, viz., the separation of the waters of the Red Sea, to afford them a dry passage through it; and, then, after their departure from Egypt, the miracles that were performed in the desert, viz., the pillar of cloud to precede, and shew them the way by day, and the pillar of fire by night; and the abundance of water drawn from the rock to slake their thirst, And he adds, that, notwithstanding all those miracles, the incredulous people again provoked God to anger, when they found themselves without water in the desert, which had to be struck a second time for them from the rock ; for the first supply of water was given them the year before, as we read in Num. xvii., while mention is made of the second in Num. xx. “ He made the waters to stand as in a vessel; means, that God made the waters of the sea to stand up at both sides, as perpendicularly as if they were shut up in a vessel, while the ch Idren

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

of Israel were passing through. “ And gave them to drink as out of the great deep;” means, that when the rock was struck, as great a quantity of water issued from it as if the rock had been tuned into a deep lake or a great ocean of water.

18 “ And they tempted God in thetr hearts, by asking meat for their desires.

19° “And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ?

20 ‘Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people ?

21 * Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.

22 ** Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.

23 ‘And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.

24 ‘And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven.

25 ** Man ate the bread of Angels: he sent them provisions in. abundance. A

26 ‘+ He removed the south-wind from heaven; and by his power brought in the south-west wind.

27 “And he rained upon them flesh as dust ; and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.

28 ‘And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions.

29 “So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them thetr desire :”

The prophet unites the miracles of the bread from heaven and the water from the rock; they being types of Christ’s passion, and of the Eucharist, as the Lord himself explains in John vi., and the Apostle in 1 Cor. x. Water from a rock, is the same as bringing wisdom from folly ; for wisdom is no less opposed to folly than is a rcck, a hard and solid substance, to water, which is a fluid. The mystery of the crucifixion is wisdom, it is the rock which was struck ; a folly to the gentiles, and a. scandal to the Jews; but the height of wisdom to the faithful, as. ‘ St. Paul writes, 1 Cor. i., “ For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God; it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.” Now the real bread from heaven wasenot the manna that fell from the sky, but the flesh of Christ that comes from the heaven of heavens, and gives life to the world. The manna, however, was a type of this true bread, and the prophet had that in view when he said, in the beginning of the Psalm, that he was about to speak in parables and propositions. Now to explain the passage. Having alluded to the miracle of the water brought from the rock and the infidelity of the people, he comes to the miracle of the bread and the meat, another ineredulity of theirs. We must bear in mind that the Israelites got meat in a miraculous manner twice; once along with manna, Exodus xvi., and a second time without any manna, Numbers xi. ; and that they got the meat and manna previous to the water from the rock, and the meat alone subsequent to the water.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

David, however, unites both miracles, and thus renders the matter somewhat confused; but, bearing what we said in mind, it will be easily understood. “And they tempted God in their hearts.” They wished to try if God was really omnipotent and was concerned for his people ; and, therefore, “ they asked meat for their desires;” bread and meat they were longing for, as we read in Exodus xvi. and Num. xi. “« And they spoke al of God,” doubting whether he could give them to eat as well as he gave them to drink in the desert ; this alludes to the second time they murmured, for the first murmur was previous to striking water from the rock. ‘ Therefore the Lord heard” their murmurs, proceeding from their incredulity, ‘and was angry;” so that he sent fire into their camp, and destroyed numbers of them. Yet, he wished to convince an unfaithful people, and to prove his power ; and, therefore, ‘he commanded the ciouds from above, ana had opened the doors of heaven. And had rained down manna upon them to eat; and had given them the bread of heaven. Man eat the bread of Angels.” ‘This refers to the first time they murmured, for they got the manna before they got the water. The mannais calicd bread from heaven, having fallen from thence; and it is called the bread of Angels, being made and produced by them. The word manna is derived from two Hebrew words, that mean, ‘* What is it ?” which the Jews said when first they saw it.

30 ‘ They were not defrauded of that which they craved, As yet their meat was in their mouth :

31 ‘And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.

32 “ In ail these things they sinned still: and they believed not for his wondrous works.

33 “And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste. j

34 ‘When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning.

35 ‘And they remembered that God was their helper: and the Most High God their redeemer.

36 “And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him.

37 ‘+ But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant.”

The prophet goes on to shew in these verses that God, to satisfy the Jews, shewed his great power by great miracles; still, that he did not let their contnmacy and infidelity go unpunished ; and, that the Jews were brought to faith and to obedience, both by the miracles and the punishments inflicted on them; but still, without that perseverance, or that sincerity of heart that God required. “ As yet their meat was in their mouth.” They had scarcely finished the quails, “ and the wrath of God came upon them,” and destroyed such a number of them, that-the place got the name of “ The graves of lust.” The Scripture Coes not tell us how God destroyed them, but, it is likely, through some disease arising from gluttony. And the Lord singled out ‘‘ the fat ones,” and “ the

chosen men of Israel ;” those most devoted to pleasure, they who exulted in their youth and their strength ; “and brought down,” laid them so prostrate by disease, that they could not possibly escape. All this came upon them by reason of their infidelity, for they did not believe that the quails were sent by providence, but came by chance. They were, therefore, punished so quickly, that “their days were consumed in vanity,” and “their years in haste;’ for they passed away like a shadow or like smoke, without a trace after them. But they, “ when he slew them,” when they were scourged by God, and put to death by him, “ they returned” to their senses, and asked God’s help, and that “early in the morning;” as soon as ever they felt the scourge they came to implore God’s mercy, converted, but through fear; and their conversion was feigned, for ‘weth their mouth” they called to mind God’s previous goodness ; but while they so professed their devotion to him, they lied in their heart ; “‘ for their heart was not right with him, nor were they counted faithful in his covenant.” Would that we Christians would not imitate this inconsistency of the Jews. How many among us, when in danger of death, promise God and his saints to amend our lives, and the moment they recover resume their old habits? But God will not be mocked ; and such people will not escape his judgments.

88 “ But he ts merciful, and will forgive their sins ; and will not destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger ; and did not kindle all his wrath.

39 ‘‘And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that goeth and returneth not.

40 ** How often did they provoke him in the desert ; and move him to wrath in the place without water ?

41 ‘And they turned back and tempted God; and grieved the Holy One of Israel.

42 “ They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them :”

The prophet now compares God’s goodness with man’s wickedness, and says, that though God scourged his people, he did not forget his mercy; and, therefore, that he did not chastise them as heavily as their sins deserved, for he had mercy on them, and did not utterly destroy them. They ccrtainly deserved utter extermination, but, through the mercy of God, some were spared; as, in fact, of those that left Egypt, two, Josue and Caleb, survived, types of the elect, who will be saved; for, as the Apostle says, ‘‘ God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew, but there ts a remnan saved, according to the election of grace.” This verse, then, does not contradict the dispersion of the Jews that we daily see, for the promise was fulfilled in the Apostles, who were Jews; and, so far from being dispersed, have gather ed together a great multitude of people, elect in God, a fact foretold by Osee, chap. i., and explained by 1 St. Peter ii., where he says, ‘‘ Who in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” The prophet goes on

cand says, “ And many a time did he turn away his vanger ;” for he forgave a great share of the punishment due to their sins, and thus turned away his anger ; because he * did not kindle all his wrath,” as he may justly have done. “ And he rememberect that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not.” In addition to his motives for mercy, man’s infirm nature, weakened by the fall of our first parents, mortal and subject to concupiscence, presented itself. For he knows what we are made of; “‘that they are flesh,” carnal, weak, and feeble ; and that we are “@ wind that goeth and returneth not ;” that is, that our life is a passing one—passing from boyhood to youth, without ever coming back to boyhood ; passing from youth to old age, without ever returning to youth, but quickly ending in death. Thus, it is ike the flowers and other perishable things, and not like the sun, moon and stars that revolve in their orbits, and are always the same by reason of their being solid and eternal. By the word ‘* wind” we are to understand that spirit or breath of life that quickens and enlivens us, which in its progress grows weaker, and is frail and changeable; and that such is the life of man, the prophet proves in the following verse, “ How often did they provoke him in the desert ? and move him to wrath in the place without water?” by their want of purpose, promising faith and obedience at one time, and, in a moment after, by heaping obloquy on him, and by rebellion ; for, “ they turned back” from all their faithful promises, ‘‘ and tempted God,” to try if he were truly omnipotent; and thus “ grieved” God, who is ‘‘ the Holy One of Israel.” The God of Israel is called ‘‘ the Holy One,” not only by David, but by Isaias, in various places; for God alone is truly holy, that is, pure and inviolate; while the gods of the gentiles are unclean demons. Finally, such was the fickleness and folly of the Jews so brought by God out of Egypt, that they at once forgot the countless and most wonderful signs and prodigies that God wrought in their favour while he was bringing them out from the bondage of Egypt.

43 “ How-he wrought his signsin Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis.

44 “And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might not drink.

45 ‘* He sent amongst them divers sorts of flies, which devoured them: and frogs which destroyed them.

46 “And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust.

47 “And he destroyed their vineyards with hatl, and their mulberry-trees with hoar frost.

48 “And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire.

49 “And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignaon :. indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent y evil angels.

50 ‘* He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls from death ; and their cattle he shut up m death,

51 “And he killed all the first-born in the land of Egypt: the first-fruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

52 And he took away his own people as sheep; and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 ‘And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: and the sea overwhelmed their enemies.”

Having said, in verse 42, that the Jews forgot all the miracles God wrought in their favour, when he was bringing them out of the land of Egypt, he now describes, in the above verses, how God aftlicted Pharao, until he ultimately overwhelmed him and his whole army in the sea, all of which is to be found in Exodus, from chaps. vii. to xiv. Now, David does not record all the miracles, he merely gives the principal ones, and that in a different order from that in which they happened. “ They remembered not,” meaning the Jews in the wilderness, “ his hand,” the power of the Lord that delivered them from Pharao in his persecution. ‘ How he wrought his signs in Egypt.” They did not remember the wonderful miracles, signs of his power, that he wrought in Egypt, especially those he did in the fairest part of it, Tanis, nigh the royal residence. “And he turned,” - for he turned ‘their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might not drink,” Exod., chap. vii. By the rivers of Egypt we understand the branches of the Nile that flow through it ; by their showers we are not to understand the rain that falls, which seldom happens in Egypt, but the water itself, and it is not unusual with David to repeat the same idea, and thus, what he calls their rivers im the first part of the verse, he calls showers in the second. ‘“ He sent among them divers sort of flues which devoured them, and frogs which destroyed them,” Exod., chap. viii. He goes on to enumerate the principal scourges inflicted on the Egyptians ; and, finally, to include any he may have omitted, as, in fact, he did, he says in verse 49, “‘ And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.” Touching, in the latter part of it, on the most grievous of all the plagues, the slaughter of the first-born by the destroying angel. From this, we infer, that the plagues of Egypt, especially the slaughter of the first-born, was effected through the agency of the fallen angels, who. cannot injure us, but as far as God will suffer them, they being his ministers, The holy Angels even may be called evil angels, from the punishments they inflict when God so employs them. The impure demons may also be called evil angels, they being so in reality, and hostile to man, and God employs both; for, through the former he punished the Sodomites, by fire from heaven ; and through the latter, with similar. fire, he chastised Job. “He made a way for a path to his anger.” A beautiful figure. It means, God’s anger prompting him to revenge, was restrained by his merey, urging him not to destroy them entirely, but at length he set aside his mercy, and “made a way for a path to his anger,” and he did not spare them, for he killed all the first-born of men and beasts, which were the first fruits of their labour ; that is, of the Egyptians, for men generally labour in

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

FéAting their children and their cattle, but the first of their labour is directed to their first-born, which thus get the appellation of the first fruits of ici labout, “Jn the tabernacle of Cham;” means, in Eeypt, which was so called after Migraine the son of Cham, the son of Noe, he having been the first to inhabit and possess Egypt. « And he took away his own people like sheep.’ Upon the slaughter of the first-born of Hgeypt, Pharao allowed the . Jews to go away, and then God brought them into the desert of Arabia. “And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not ;” they went out with great confidence, “and the sea overwhelmed their enemies;” tho last ‘plague inflicted on the Egyptians, and the end of the eaptivity of the children of Israel.

O4 “And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary-: the mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the gentiles before them: and dy lot divided :to:them theirtand by a line of distribution.

55 “‘And he made the tribes ef Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.

56 “ Yet they tempted, and provoked the Most High ‘God: and they kept not his testimonies.

57 ‘“‘And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.

58 ‘* They provoked him to anger on their hills: moved him to jealousy with their graven things.”

The prophet now passes to the facts related in the books of Josue and Judges, and shews that the Jews awere brought by God into the land of promise, which he calls ‘the mountain of his sanctuary,” because it ‘was a mountainy country, and one which God had sanctified and dedicated to himself to be worshipped there by his people; he also calls it “the mountain which his right hand had purchased,” because God caused the Israelites under Josue, to conquer the old Gnhabitants who were most devoted to idolatry, and to banish them by the aid of most signal miracles. He adds, however, that the Jews so introduced by God into the land of promise, proved to be not a whit better than their fathers who had perished in the desert, for they too “tempted and provoked the Most High God,” by abandoning his worship, and by the service of idols. The expression, “ They were turned aside as a crooked bow,’ means that they were like a bow out of shape, sending the arrows where they should not be sent; for the Jews promised to observe God’s commandments, and apparently direeted their arrows to the worship of the true God, while they were, meanwhile, offering sacrifices to false gods; which the prophet expresses in plain language, when he says, “* They provoked him to anger on their hills; and moved him to jealousy with their graven things;” for it was on lofty hills, especially wooded ones, that they erected altars to their idols, and sacrificed thereon to them.

59 ‘ God heard, and despised them: and he reduced Israel exceedingly as wt were to nothing.

60 ‘And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, lis ta= Dernacle where he dwelt among men.

and

61 ‘+And he delivered their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.

62 “And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his inheritance.

63 ‘* Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not lamented.

64 “* Their priests fell by the sword : and their widows did not mourn,”

The prophet now enters into the vengeance inflicted by God on the sins of his people, making special mention of the time when the Philistines routed the Jewish army, and carried the Ark of the Lord away with them, after having slain the priests who were in charge of it, 1 Kings iv. “ God heard,” or rather he knew the sins of his people crying unto heaven, ‘‘ and despised them,” as an useless people, and deserving of death; “and he reduced Israel exceedingly,” humbled them to nothing, allowing their enemies to triumph over them. ‘ And he put away the tabernacle of Silo.” He rejected the tabernacle containing the Ark, which was then in Silo, in which tabernacle, God, to a certain extent ‘ dwelt among men;” because from thence he gave his answers to men. “And he delivered their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the hands of the enemy ;” he allowed that people that he had chosen for his inheritance, as his own and favoured people, to be surrounded and circumvented by the swords of the enemy. “ Ire consumed their young men;” the fire of war, or the fire of God’s anger destroyed the flower of them, for such are always the young ; ‘‘ and their maidens were not lamented,” because there was nobody left to deplore them. ‘“ Their priests fell by the sword,’ Ophni and Phinees the sons of Heli, who are specially named among the dead; “ and their widows did not mourn,” for all were oceupied in their own private and peculiar losses.

65 ‘And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been sur feited with wine:

66 ‘And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach.

67 ‘And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph ; chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

68 ‘* But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.

69 “And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he founded for ever.

70 ‘‘And he chose his servant David, and took him

and

from the flocks of sheep: he brought him from following

the ewes great with young,

71 “* To feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.

72 “And he fed them in the innocence of his heart and conducted them by the skilfuiness of his hands.”

In this, the latter part of the Psalm, David shews that God was pleased at his people being punished as they weve, inasmuch as their sins called for such punishment; but that he was not pleased with the pride and malice of the Philistines, who so afilicted them; and, therefore, that he signally punished the: Philistines, as we read in the same book of Kings, chap. v. God often uses the wickedness of some to

punish others, and then punishes the wicked for doing so, not looking to the good effected through them, but to the malicious motives that prompted them, in whica he had no share. He then goes on to say that God would not have the tabernacle any longer in Silo, a city of the tribe of Ephraim, nor that the supreme power should be in the tribe of Joseph; but that he wished the tabernacle to be placed on mount Sion, and that the supreme rule should belong to the tribe of Juda, from which tribe he had chosen David to be king over his people; a prophecy regarding Christ and his Church, as we said in the beginning of the Psalm. For, as St. Augustine well remarks, God did not reject Joseph, and select Juda by reason of their personal merits; had he done so, he would have chosen Joseph, who excelled very much, whether one regards his chastity, his patience, his wisdom, his prudence, or his love of his enemies ; but he chose Juda on account of David, and David on account of Christ, and he destroyed the synagogue to build up the Church. To come now to the explanation of the text. ‘And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep.” The Philistines had overpowered the Jews, not by their own strength, nor by reason of want of strength on the part of the Lord, but because he slept, and slept, too, “‘ like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine;” wine makes one sleep. But when he was awaked from that sleep, he made a grand display of his power against the Philistines. God is said, figuratively, to sleep when he does not seem to notice the evil doings of the wicked ; and he is said to sleep “like one surfeited with wine,” when he deals with the most grievous sinners as if he were in a profound sleep, and was insensible to the grievous injuries offered him, such as the taking away of the Ark. “ And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts.” THe afflicted them with a most painful disease, that of the emerods in their private parts; ‘he put them to an everlasting reproach;”? for God, in his wisdom, caused them to make golden emerods, and hang them on the Ark, to their own everlasting shame, to hand down the disease with which God had afflicted them. “ And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph ;” he would not have the tabernacle in which was kept the Ark, to remain any longer in Silo, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph ; ‘and chose not the tribe of Kphraim;” when about to establish a sovereignty in his people, he did not choose a king from Ephraim, the most numerous and powerful of the tribes, “* But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.” He chose the tribe of Juda, from which his rulers were to be selected, and mount Sion on which to place his tabernacle, and afierwards his temple, to hold his Ark, and to offer his sacrifices therein. ‘* And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns in the land which he founded for ever ;” God built on mount Sion, or

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

in Jerusalem, which is to exist for ever, his sanctuary,

as firm a3 the horn of an unicorn. Here is the prin-

ciple, or parable, or, rather, enigma, which the pro-

phet promised in the beginning of the Psalm; for the sanctuary of the Old Testament was not as firm

as the horn of an unicorn, only inasmuch as it was

the type of the sanctuary of the New Testament ;

nor was mount Sion or Jerusalem founded for ever,

(‘or it was soon after destroyed,) only inasmuch as it

was the type of the Church of Christ, ‘* against

which the gates of hell shall not prevail,” and whose worship and sacraments will suffer no change to the en'l of the world. ‘* And he chose his servant David, and took him from the flocks of sheep; he brought him from following the ewes great with young.” He passes over the reign of Saul, for it was to be a short

time, and, in a manner, extorted from God by the

clamours of the people; but he mentions the king-

dom of David, who was a type of Christ, and which,

through the pure will of God, was to last for ever.

He, therefore, ‘‘ chose his servant David” from an

humble position, for fear he should attribute his ele-

vation to any merits of his own; “he took him from

the flocks of sheep;” from being a shepherd, as he

really was, “to feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance;” from feeding sheep, took him to

feed men; for he placed him over the kingdom of Israel and of Jacob, his people and his inheritance.

“ And he fed them in the innocence of his heart; and

conducted them by the skilfulness of his hands.” The

event proved the sounduess of God’s judgment, for

David fed and governed God’s people in the inno-

cence of his heart, and the wisdom of his acts. In

the innocence of his heart, because, with a pure and

immaculate heart, he never sought his own glory,

but that of God ; not his own benefit, but that of the people ; he was more anxious to serve than to rule ; he fed the sheep, not as his own, but as belonging to his Master, as a servant, and not as an heir. In his. wisdom, or, as he expresses it, ‘in the skilfulness of his hands,” he guided the people; because, whatever he did, he did it on due reflection, not rashly, not without taking counsel, or inconsiderately. All which perfections, however applicable they may be to David, are, absolutely speaking, to be found completely in Christ alone. Had David been so perfect in them, he would not have been so severely con-

demned for coveting the wife of another, for the commission of murder and adultery, for wantonly making a census of the people; for condemuing Mephiboseth, and giving his property to the fal-e informer, without any manner of trial. Christ, though, was truly innocent in heart, and wise in his works, ‘‘ for he cominitted no sin, nor was there guile found in his mouth ;” and he alone could boldly say, ‘* Which of you shall convince me of sin ?”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.