Psalm 121

The desire and hope of the just for the coming of the kingdom-of God, and the peace of his church.

1 I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.

2 Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem,

3 Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.

4 For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord; the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.

5 Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David.

6 Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem; and abundance for them that love thee.

7 Let peace be in thy strength: and abundance in thy towers.

8 For the sake of my brethren and of my neighbours, I spoke peace of thee.

9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for thee.

EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.

1 “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.”

Such is the language of God’s people, expressive of their joy on hearing the welcome news of their return to their country. Jeremias was the person to announce that, after seventy years, there would be an end to the captivity, and that the city and the temple would be rebuilt. Daniel, Aggeus, and Zacharias, who lived at the time the captivity was ended, foretold it more clearly ; and they, therefore, created much joy among the people, when, on the completion of the seventy years, they said, “We shall go into the house of the Lord;” that is to say, we shall return to our country, where we shall get to see mount Sion and the site of the house of the Lord ; and then, when we shall have rebuilt the temple, we will again ‘‘ go into the house of the Lord.” Christ, however, was the bearer of a far and away more happy message when he announced, “Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ;” and when he said more clearly, ‘‘ Jn my Father’s house there are many mansions, If not, I would have told you; because I go to prepare a place for you. AndifI shall go and prepare a place for you I will — come again, and will take you to myself, that where Zam you also may be.” Such news fills with unspeakable joy those who have learned the value “‘ of

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

going into the house of the Lord;” and to hold in that house, not the position “of a stranger or a Soreigner, but of a fellow-citizen with the saints and a domestic of Gods.” That must be well known to any one reflecting seriously on the saying of

David, “ They shall be inebriated with the plenty of

thy house; and in another Psalm, “ We shall be filled with the good things of thy house;” as also on that saying of the Apostle, “* That you may know what ts the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” Such is the man who, from his heart, desires to go into the house of the Lord; and, therefore, from his heart sings, “‘ J rejoiced at the things that were said to me. We shall go into the house of the Lord.” Now, “ the sensual man perceiveth not the things that are of the spirit of God,” and, therefore, on the approach of death, or the termination of his exile and pilgrimage, instead of rejoicing, is troubled and laments, and justly, because, as he did not choose during his life time ‘* to despose in his heart to ascend by steps,” he cannot possibly expect to go up to the house of the Lord on high, but rather fears to go down to the prison of the damned, there to be punished for ever.

2 “ Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.”

He tells us why the Jews were so overjoyed at the idea of their return to their country, and he says it arose from their remembrance of the time previous to the captivity, when they saw Jerusalem in her extent and in her splendour; for many who had been carried off captives in their youth could have remembered Jerusalem as she then was; and in 1 Esdras iii. we read, that many returned from the captivity who had seen the city and the temple, These men, therefore, say, ‘‘ Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem;” that is to say, because we recollected the time when we stood in your courts or in your gates, as it is more clearly expressed in the Hebrew. He names the courts or the gates, being, as it were, the vestibules of the city, rather than the public buildings or the streets, because it was at the gates that business wasmostly transacted ; it was there that the citizens mostly assembled, as we may infer from that verse in Proverbs, ‘‘ Her husband ts honourable in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of theland,” It also appears, from 2 Kings xviii., that the gates of Jerusalem were not plain, ordinary gates, but that they were double gates, with a considerable space between them, which, perhaps, is

here called ‘‘ thy courts.” Thus we readin 2 Kings xxiv., “ And David sat between the two gates.”” And again, Jeremias xxxix., ‘¢ And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the middle gate ;” and, certainly, no small space was necessary to accommodate all those princes with their retinue. But how can we Christians say, ‘* Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem,” when we were.neyer in

her courts? Well, we have been in her courts, otherwise we would not be now exiles and pilgrims, nor would Christ have redeemed us from captivity had we not been torn from our country and captives in a foreign land. We have been, then, in the courts of the heavenly Jerusalem, when, through our father Adam, we had possession of paradise, that was the gate of the paradise above; and the state of innocence then and there was the gate and the court to the state of glory; and that, perhaps, was the reason why the Holy Spirit made David write ‘in the courts,” instead of the streets of Jerusalem, that we may understand that the Psalm treats of the celestial, and not the earthly Jerusalem. “* We have (therefore) rejoiced at the things that were said of thee,” when they said, * we shall go into the house of the Lord,” because we remembered the time when “our feet were standing’ in paradise, and, consequently, in the courts of the paradise above ; and, from the idea we got of happivess in the place below, we can guess at the happiness that awaits us above. And though this great place in question is sometimes called the house of the Lord, sometimes

‘the city of Jerusalem, still it is all one and the same

place; for our heavenly country is one time called a kingdom, sometimes a city, and at other times a house. It is a kingdom by reason of the multitude aad the variety of its inhabitants, as St. John observes, Apoc. vii., “ J¢ 7s @ great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues.” It is a city by reason of the friendship and fellowship that exist between the saints and the blessed; for, however great their number may be, they know, recognise, and love each other as so many fellow-citizens; and, finally, it isa house by reason of the elect having only one father, one inheritance, in which they are all brethren, under the one Father, God.

3 ‘ Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.”

The prophet now, in the person of the pilgrims hastening to Jerusalem, begins to enumerate its praises, with a view of thereby stirring himself up to make greater haste in his ascent to it. He praises it, first, by reason of the supreme peace enjoyed by all its inhabitants, who were so united in the love of each other that they held all their property in common. ‘ Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem ;” that same Jerusalem whose buildings have so increased, and are daily increasing, that it has now become a city ‘‘ which ts compact together ;”’ which is enjoyed and shared in common by all. Referring the passage to a future state it is much more beautiful and more sublime, for the heavenly Jerusalem is truly built up as a city; not that it is, strictly speaking, a city, nor that there were stones used in the building; still, it is built up as a city so long as the living stones, dressed by a consummate workman,

and, after being actually squared and fitted, are

placed on the building of the celestial habitation ; from which it follows, that they who understand it not only bear all manner of persecutions with equanimity, but they even rejoice and glory in their tribulations, being perfectly sensible that it is in such manner they are squared and fitted for being built into and raised upon the heavenly habitation, One of these living stones, St. James, thus admonishes us, “ My brethren, count it great joy when you shall fall into divers temptations.” Again, in our heavenly country, we shall have the real community of property ; for, in the earthly Jerusalem such community of property was more a matter of fact than a matter of right, and arose from the mutual love of the inhabitants for each other; the same held for a time, in the infancy of the Church, as we read in the Acts, ‘* Neither did any of them say, that of the things which he possessed, any thing was his own, but all things were common to them; which still holds among those religious orders that observe the spirit of their institute. But in the heavenly Jerusalem there is complete community of property, the one God being all unto all; that is, the one and the same God being the honour, the riches, and the delight of all those who dwell in his house; and that most happy and most supreme abundance is really always the same, subject to no diminution or alteration whatever.

4 “ For thither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord ; the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.”

The second subject of praise in Jerusalem is the number of its inhabitants ; aud this verse has a connexion with the second verse, because he now assigns a reason for having said, or rather, for having put in the mouth of God’s people, ‘‘ Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem;” for, though they were not all citizens of Jerusalem, but inhabitants of different cities, still they all came up to Jerusalem three times in every year. He, therefore, says, ‘¢ Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem; for thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord;” that is, a great many tribes; such repetitions, in the Hebrew, being indicative of multitude ; and thus, a great multitude assembled in Jerusalem, “‘ the testemony of Israel to praise the name of the Lord;” explaining the cause of such an assemblage in Jerusalem. It was according to ‘‘ the testimony,” that is, the law that obliged all Israel to visit the temple of the Lord at stated times, it being the only temple in the land of promise; and there “ pradse the name of the Lord,” in acts of thanksgiving and praise. From another point of view, which we consider was more intended by the Holy Ghost, the meaning is, A reason is assigned for having said, ‘‘ Jerusalem which is built as a city;” because it was built as a city, by reason of “the tribes that go up there;’ that is, the holy souls from all tribes and nations, who go up to be built into the spiritual structures, that St. Peter writes of in his first epistle, chap. ii. Now, those blessed souls have gone up to that heavenly Jerusa-

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

lem, ‘to praise the name of the Lord;’ for that is their whole occupation there, to the exclusion of every other business. . Hence, in Psalm lxxxiii., we have, ‘“‘ Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee for ever and ever ;” and Tobias, speaking of the heavenly Jerusalem, has, “And Alleluia shall be sung in tts streets ;” and such is “ the testimony,” that is, the command, “to Israel,” that is, to the soul enjoying the beatific vision, that it should never desist from praise, inasmuch as it never ceases to love,

5 ‘¢ Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David.”

The third matter for praise in Jerusalem is its being the seat of government, and having a royal palace in it; and the word “ because” would seem to connect this verse with the preceding ; for it looks like assigning a reason why God wished to have a temple, which the people were bound to visit three times a year, in Jerusalem, in consequence of being the residence of royalty, and the metropolis of the kingdom. He, therefore, says, ‘* Because there,” in Jerusalem, “seats have sat in judgment,” seats of kings in succession, whose business it was to judge thepeople, ‘‘ have sat,” have been firmly settled and fixed, not like that of Saul’s, which was for awhile in Gabaa of Benjamin, and made no great stay there either; nor, like that of the judges who preceded the kings, who never had any certain fixed place for * sitting,” or delivering judgment, while the kings of the family of David sat permanently in Jerusalem ; and he, therefore, adds, ‘‘ seats upon the house of David;” that is, the seat of royalty founded on the family of David, met with rest and stability; for God said to David, 2 Kings vii., ‘‘ And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face; and thy throne shall be firm for ever.” From the expression, ‘‘ seats upon the house of David,” we are not to infer that they sat in judgment on the family of David alone; for they had authority over the whole family of Jacob, that is, over the twelve tribes of Israel; but they are called seats upon the house of David, because all the kings of God’s people sprung from the family of David. All this is much more applicable to Christ and the heavenly Jerusalem, Because, lest the Jews may imagine that the words of the Psalm apply to that earthly Jerusalem, and not to the celestial Jerusalem, of which it was a figure, God permitted the seat of government to be removed from Jerusalem, and, furthermore, Jerusalem itself to be destroyed, The promise, then, applies to the Jerusalem above, and to Christ, according to. the prophecy of Isaias, chap. ix. ; of Daniel, chap. ix.; and of the Angel to the Virgin, Luke i., ‘‘ The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Facob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” In the strictest acceptance, then, of the words have “the seats sat in judgment” in the heayenly Jerusa-

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

salem; because Christ’s throne and the thrones of those who reign with him have been established most firmly in heaven; and because those very saints who reign and judge with Christ are a throne for God; for ‘the soul of the just is the seat of wisdom ;” and those seats really sit in judgment, according to the promise of our Lord, “ You that have followed me shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And those seats are upon the house of David, because all the power of the saints, royal as well as judiciary, is derived from Christ, who is called the son of David in the Gospel, and who got the seat ef David his father, and who will reign for ever in the house of Jacob, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end.

6 “ Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem ; and abundance for them that love thee.”

The prophet now exhorts the exiles, on their return from their captivity, to salute, even from afar, the city of Jerusalem, praying for peace and abundance on it, two things that contribute. principally to the happiness of cities; for peace, without abundance, is only a firm hold of misery ; and abundance, without peace, amounts to doubtful and uncertain happiness ; but when both are combined, the city needs nothing necessary for its happiness. He, therefore, says, ‘‘ Pray for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem.” Pray ye to God for true and solid peace for your country, and for “ abundance,” not only for the city of Jerusalem, but also ‘to them that love thee,” you holy city.

7 * Let peace be in thy strengtth: and abundance in thy towers.”

He dictates the very words in which those who pray for peace and abundance to Jerusalem are to salute her. When you salute her say ye, ‘‘ Let peace be in thy strength, and abundance in thy towers ;” that is to say, may your walls be always secure and fortified, thereby ensuring perfect peace and quiet to all who dwell within them ; ‘and abundance in thy towers;” no lack of meat or drink in your public buildings and private houses. Now, the two last verses, in reference to the heavenly Jerusalem, though they imply prayers for peace and abundance, still they do not mean to insinuate that there can ever possibly be a want of either there, when we read in Psalm cxlvii., “ Who hath placed peace in thy bor. ders; and filleth thee with the fat corn?” they, therefore, merely express the pious affection we cherish for the blessings of the Jerusalem above, just as we have in the Apocalypse, ‘‘ Salvation to our God who sttieth on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

PSALM CXXII. A prayer m affliction, with confidence in God.

1 To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven. —

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, as the eyes of the hand-maid are on the hands of her mistress: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.

3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us; for we are greatly filled with contempt.

4 For our soul is greatly filled: we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.

EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.

1 “ To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven.”

The prophet, speaking at one time in the person of a pilgrim, and at another time in his own, as being a pilgrim indeed, says, that whatever difficulties he was placed in he had: recourse to. no. one for help but to God alone; because he alone dwells in the highest heavens, whence he beholds and rules all things under him ; and because it is from him all our evils come for the purpose of chastising us; and, therefore, that it is idle for us to have recourse to any one else, for no one can take us out of God’s hands.

2 ‘* Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, as the eyes of the hand-maid are on the hands of her mistress,: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.”

He tells us why.he raised his eyes to God. It was to look upon God. scourging him ; in the hope that his wretched appearance may move God to mercy, and cause him to desist from scourging him, He illustrates it by the example of the servants, who, when flogged by their masters, look with a sorrowful countenance on the hand that flogs them, hoping by their looks to move their masters to pity. He applies the simile to maid, as well as to men, servants; for they, too, are pilgrims, and are scourged as, they prosecute their pilgrimage. These scourges consist not only of open persecutions and public calamities, but also of secret temptations that daily torment the soul; as also of those fears, scrrows, perplexities, and other troubles, from which no one in this life is exempt; and, therefore, the Psalm does not fix stated times for us to raise our eyes to God, but says it must be done incessantly, ‘ wntil he have mercy on us,” which will not be accomplished until we shall have arrived at our country ; for then “* God will crown us with mercy and compassion, when he shall have healed all cur diseases, and satisfied our desires with good things,” Psalm cii.

3 ‘‘ Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us ; for we ure greatly filled with contempt.”

Not content with having implored God’s merey, by fixing his eyes on God, the prophet now, with the voice of his heart and his body, cries out, and redoubles the shout, as he prays for himself and fellow-

pilgrims, saying, “ Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy.” And, truly, any one that attentively considers, and properly reflects on the next sentence, “< for we are greatly filled with contempt,” will see at once that such is the extent of our misery that we should never cease our cries to that effect. Because man, created to God’s image, placed over all created things by him, very often even adopted by him as a son, and predestined to enjoy the kingdom of heaven, is so despised in this our pilgrimage, not only by men and demons, and so constantly annoyed, not only by the aforesaid, but even by animals, even to the minutest of them, and even by the very elements, that the prophet could say with the greatest truth, not only that we are despised, but that we are “ greatly filled with contempt.” For what is there that does not look down upon man, even on the just and the holy, in this valley of tears? However, the contempt principally meant by the prophet here is that which the just suffer from the unjust, and the good from the bad; because most true and universal _ is that expression of the Apostle, “ And all who live piously in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;”? as well as those words of the Lord, “ If you had been of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” This is easily understood ; for good and evil, being essentially opposed to each other, they cannot possibly be at peace. And, as the just are patient and mild, and have learned of their Master to turn the other cheek to him who strikes on one, and thus to make no resistance to injuries, they are, in consequence, proudly despised, harassed, and ridiculed by the wicked. =~

4“ For our soul is greatly filled: we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud,”

In this last verse David informs us that the aforesaid scorn and contempt for the poor and humble pilgrims proceeds from the wealthy and the proud. The prophet says, “ Our souls are greatly filled ;” which is but a repetition of a previous sentence. “ For we are greatly filled with contempt.” However, in this passage he says it is the soul that is so filled, contempt being more applicable to the soul; for they who have no soul may be, and are, subject to pain, but not to contempt, The word “ filled” signifies, in the Hebrew, filled to repletion, which adds great force to the expression ; because if they who are filled to repletion, instead of deriving any pleasure from more food, are pained and overburdened by it, however rare and good it may be, how would the case be with those who may chance ta be overdosed with bad food, such as contempt and reproaches. The next sentence, “ We are a reproach to the rich, and a contempt to the proud,” signify the same, reproach and contempt being synonymous, as are the rich and the proud. All proud people are inflated, and are, therefore, rich; but it is in wind, and not in any solid good, that is to say, they

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS,

abound in high notions and extravagant opinion of themselves. Should they enjoy the riches of this world, they look upon them as their own, never reflecting for a moment, that they will have “ to render’an account of them.” Should they be in high position and power, they attribute the whole to themselves, never thinking for a moment, that they were placed in such positions in order to be useful to and to serve others, that they will have to render a most strict account for such favours; and that when they got them, they got nothing but a load and ~ a burden ; in which they are just as absurd as would be the stick in a man’s hand that would boast of carrying the person that owned it. Should they excel in talent and learning, they form most exaggerated notions of their abilities, and attribute to themselves what they only got from God. Finally, should they not have those riches, dignities, and honours, and, on the other hand, should they be scourged and punished, they look upon themselves as aggrieved, blaspheme and murmur against God, and all in consequence of their being full, or rather, overcharged with the wind of self-conceit and opinion, But the time will come when such reproach and contempt will revert on themselves, when, on the day of judgment, they will cry out, as we read in Wisdom, “ These are they, whom we had sometime in derision, and jor a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold, how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All these things are passed away like a shadow.”

PSALM OXXIII.

The church giveth glory to God for her deliverance from the hands of her enemies.”

1 If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say:

2 If it had not been that the Lord was with us, when men rose up against us,

3 Perhaps they had swallowed us up alive. When their fury was enkindled against us,

4 Perhaps the water had swallowed us up.

5 Qur soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.

6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul hath been delivered, as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we are delivered.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth,

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.

1“ Tfit had not been that the Lord was with us, let Fsrael now say:

2“ [fit had not been that the Lord was with us, when men rose up against us,

3 “* Perhaps they had swallowed us up alive. their fury was enkindled against us,

4 “ Perhaps the water had swallowed us up.”

Such abrupt and unfinished expressions in the beginning of the Psalm indicate the great joy and exultation that will not suffer the speaker to ‘finish his sentences. The multitude of the saints, then, delivered from great temptations, exclaim, “J/it had not been that the Lord was with us’ we never could have escaped. Before he finishes the sentence, however, he invites all the people of Israel to unite with him in his tribute of thanks and praise; and again repeats, ‘ [fit had not been that the Lord was with us’ — Perhaps they would have swallowed us up alive.” Here is what would have happened us! had not the Lord been with us and lent us his powerful assistance, “‘ when men rose up against us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive.” When our persecutors rose up against us, we were nearly in as much danger of being destroyed by them, as we would of being swallowed up alive by the sea if thrown into it, The persecutors of the just are styled ‘ men,” by reason of their being guided by nothing but that reason they have from corrupt nature; for man’s reason, since the corruption of nature, has no taste for anything divine, spiritual, or elevated, and has no other object in view beyond the upholding and increasing its own temporal happiness: of such the Apostle says, ‘‘ Yor, whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal and walk according to man?” and a little further on, ‘ Are you not men?” from which it appears carnal and to be a man to walk according to the flesh, and to walk according to man to be one andthe same. The word “perhaps” requires some explanation. It svould seem to imply that the grace of God had no part in their delivery, or that their destruction was possible. There is no room for fear on that head, for the word “perhaps” does not imply that we could resist the enemy in their charge withont the aid of his auxiliary grace, but that it was possible we may not be swallowed up alive, because, perhaps, the fury of the enemy did not carry them so far. But as there was danger that the enemy might have carried their cruelty so far, he adds, “* [fit had not been that the Lord was with us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive.” The expression, “‘ they had swallowed us up alive,” is taken from a sea or a river that swallows up everything that falls into it, for there are no beasts, no matter how fierce and cruel they may be, that swallow people up alive ; they generally tear and mangle them first, and the next sentence, that expresses the same idea in other terms, as often occurs in the Psalms, requires such interpretation, for thus it runs, ‘‘ when their fury

When

was enkindled against us, perhaps the water had swallowed us up;’ that is to say, as the water would have swallowed us up, so would the rage of our enemies, like a mass of water, have overwhelmed us.

5 ‘* Our soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.”

He follows up the simile, comparing the persecution of his enemies to a deep and rapid torrent, impassable without very great help. Any one reflecting on the persecutions of the martyrs by the pagans and heretics, and the temptations of the demons in regard of the holy anchorites and confessors, can compare them to nothing else but to a violent ‘ torrent ;” and though many holy confessors breasted the torrent with success, still an immense number have been carried away by its fury. The prophet, then, speaking in the person of the beatified, says, “ Our soul hath passed through a torrent” of persecution, for though the flesh succumbed, and yielded to the rage of the persecutor, still the soul has gloriously * nassed through;” however, ‘if it had not been that the Lord was with us,’ “perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable,” had got into a torrent too deep to expect getting out of it.

6 “* Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth.

7 ** Our soul hath been delivered, as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers, The snare is broken, and we are delivered,”

For the better understanding and the further illustration of God’s goodness, the prophet now proposes another simile, He compares persecutions, or temptations to the snare of the fowler, and says, we should return thanks to and bless God for not suffering us to become a prey to the teeth of our enenies, that is to say, that he protected us from being taken, killed, and devoured; and he tells us how that was effected when he says, ‘‘ Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers.” No doubt, our soul fell into persecution and temptation, as would a sparrow, or any other bird, when they are seduced into the snare set by the fowlers ; but still it was loosed and delivered from the temptation before the tempter got hold of it to kill it; like a bird caught in a snare, but enlarged before the fowler arrived to take it, kill it, and eat it. That was effected by ‘the snare being broken, and thus . we are delivered.” God having, by his grace, repressed the temptation before the soul either denied the faith or consented to sin in any other respect, just as the snare that held the bird would be broken, on which the bird flies off, and thus disappoints the fowler of his prey.

8 ‘* Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth,”

IIe concludes by praising God, humbly acknowledging that such a victory and such deliverance from those dangerous temptations should be ascribed not to himself, but to the help he got from Almighty

God, a manifest proof of whose omnipotence is, that he made ‘ the heaven and earth.” Referring to the two verses previous to this one, we can hardly dismiss them or the Psalm without observing on the manner in which God is wont to rescue his servants from grievous temptation, which is barely touched upon in the expression, ‘‘ The snare is broken.” The snare usually breaks, when the bird, frightened by some noise, or seeing some more dainty food, makes a violent plunge, and thus breaks the snare. For when the bird is satisfied with the bait in the snare, and has no consciousness of being caught in the snare, it makes no effort to fly away, and thus waits quietly until the fowler comes, catches it, and kills it. So it is with man in temptation; for when God’s grace begins to move him, or when he gets alarmed by the noise of hell or of God’s judgments, he begins to reflect that the troubles of this world are irksome enough, but that the torments of the next, along with being everlasting, are far and away more irksome and more grievous; or that, sweet as the present life may be, sweet as its pleasures may be, sweet as its riches may be, that they will bear no comparison with the sweet rewards of the life to come, he gets inflamed with the love of such rewards, and with the fear of hell, from which he acquires a great accession of strength, so that, by one vigorous effort of a firm resolution of never offending God again, he breaks the snare of temptation, flies off on being delivered, and joyfully chants, ‘* Our help is the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” What persecution can subdue, what torments can conquer such reflections ?

PSALM CXXIV. The just are always under G'od’s protection.

1 They that trust in the Lord shall be ag mount Sion; he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth

2 In Jerusalem, Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth now and for ever.

3 For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the just; that the just may not stretch forth their hands to iniquity.

4 Do good, O Lord, to those that are good, and to the upright of heart.

5 But such as turn aside into bonds, the Lord shall lead out with the workers of iniquity: peace upon Israel.

EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM. 1 “ They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion : he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth”

The prophet commences by laying down a general and most certain promise, and repeats it twice, to

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.

confirm the truth of it. He says, “ They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion.” Allthey who truly confide and trust in the Lord will be as unmoved and as secure, no matter how great the storm, as mount Sion, which is immoveable, not only by reason of its being a mountain, but by reason also of its being sacred and most dear to God. He repeats it, and at the same time explains it, when he adds, “77 shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem,” which last phrase corresponds with the first - part of the first sentence, for “ shall be as a mountain” is but a different mode of expressing what is - conveyed, ‘‘He shall not be moved for ever,” and ‘‘ he that dwelleth in Jerusalem” expresses, ** They that trust in the Lord.” Because they who dwell in thought and hope in the heavenly Jerusalem are the very ones that trust in the Lord; for thus such trust and confidence is explained in Psalm xc., “* He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.”

2 * In Jerusalem. Mountains are round about it: se the Lord is round about his people from henceforth now and for ever.”

He proves his assertion as to mount Sion being a strong and secure place, and that those who trust in the Lord are much moreso. The reason is, that Sion has “ mountains round about it” like a wall, but they who trust in the Lord have the Almighty himself round about them ; and while the mountains that surround Sion may fall or be levelled, God is round about his people, “ henceforth now and for ever.” The meaning, then, of these verses is, that all who trust in the Lord ought to feel quite secure, because he protects them from all evil; for though they may sometimes be temporarily afilicted, it is all for their own good; and if God should at any time deprive them of riches, or health, or the like, he gives them something better in lien thereof, perhaps patience and consolation, with a view to merit life everlasting. The trust spoken of here is not to be confounded with vain presumption, it is the trust that springs from a sincere faith, a pure heart, a good conscience, _ and fervent love.

3 “ For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the just; that the just may not stretch Jorth their hands to iniquity.” ;

He explains a little more clearly how it is that God protects those who confide in his help. For, says he, if God sometimes, for bis own just reasons, suffers the wicked to lord it over the just, he will not suffer them to do so for any length of time, for fear the just may despair and turn to the same wickedness ; and he, therefore, says, “or the Lord will not leave the rod of the sinners upon the lot of the just.” God will leave the rod, meaning the sceptre, the emblem of power, to the sinners for a while, ‘ upon the lot of the just,” on the inheritance, or the portion and lot of the just, but be will not leave them such power long, ‘‘ that the just may not stretch forth their

COMMENTARY ON

hands to iniquity,” for fear the just, on seeing the happiness of the wicked so continuous, appearing likely to have no termination, may not persevere in justice.

4 “* Do good, O Lord, to those that are good, and to the upright of heart.”

Having said there was danger of the just taking scandal at the prolonged power of the wicked, he turns to God, and prays to him “to do good to those that are good,” by delivering them as quickly as possible from the power of the wicked; or at least, by giving them a copious supply of interior patience and consolation ; and, at the same time, he tells and admonishes us that the truly good are they who are ‘upright of heart,” they who are not scandalized at God’s judgments, but take the most favourable view of every thing God does, no matter how long he may suffer the wicked to have every thing their own way. They are the upright of heart who conform their heart, that is, their judgment and their will, to that most upright rule of the will and judgment of God, even though they understand not why God does this or that, or why he suffers it to be done ; and of such people another Psalm says, “‘ How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!” They submit to God in every thing ; God is pleasing to them, and they are to God, just as a straight rod: laid on a straight line agrees and coincides with it accurately ; while a crooked rod will not agree or lie fair any where buat in a crooked place.

5 “* But such as turn aside into bonds, the Lord shall Jead out with the workers of iniquity : peace upon Israel.”

Having prayed all manuer of good on the upright of heart, the prophet now issues a terrible threat against those who “ urn aside” from such uprightness of heart to a crooked path, who, in persecution or tribulation, lose all patience, or who deny the faith, or complain and murmur against God, and says that they, with the “ workers of iniquity,” that is, with the persecutors and the wicked, shall “be led out” for judgment, because, as St. James has it, “* Now, whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one, és become guilty of all.” And then, ultimately, on the separation of all the bad from the good, there will be everlasting ‘‘ peace upon Israel,” that is, on God’s people. The word “ bonds” has puzzled many, and hence many explanations of it. I look upon it as being put in opposition to the straight path, so much lauded by the prophet; and when he says, 6 turn, aside into bonds,” be alludes to those who follow the crooked: way indicated by a rope twisted into eoils or bonds, which is the onlyinterpretation thats harmonizes with the rest of thep.aqm,

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