Psalms 107 - 150
(Fifth book)
Next, the last book, into which the psalms are not merely
divisible but actually divided, supposes the people of God once more in the
land, for the display of God's purpose and ways in Messiah's kingdom, and
spiritually fitted for it, for they will be characterised by His law written on
their hearts. It ends with nothing but praises. How could it be otherwise when
Rev. 11: 15 is fulfilled? The first psalm has no title.
Psalm
107
Give ye thanks to Jehovah," etc. Israel affords the great
object-lesson of man's folly and distress in the land and out of it, as on the
sea; crying to Jehovah and heard in His unfailing mercy; at last delivered from
the enemy and gathered out of the lands on every side (not a few Jews from
Babylon merely) to enjoy the kingdom. It is in no way the church blessed with
Christ in the heavenly places, though the church may well profit from all, and
enjoy the truth and the mercy here described.
Psalm 108
"A song, a psalm of David." This Psalm
consists of the latter halves of Ps. 57 and Ps. 60 with variations. The
deliverance, though really of God, is not yet complete; but this is looked for
with assurance.
Psalm 109
"To
the chief musician, of David, a psalm." The Psalm is applied authoritatively to
Judas; but it clearly includes the wicked like him, treacherous to the Messiah
in the past, and especially in the future to those who have His spirit.
In the following we have the glorious answer of Jehovah on behalf of the
despised Messiah, who will have the children in all freshness, if their fathers
rejected Him.
Psalm 110
"A
psalm of David." None but Messiah, Jesus, was ever called to sit at Jehovah's
right hand; and He, because He was David's Lord as well as his son, the great
Melchizedek withal as even now seen by faith. But His glory as Head to the
church His body is in no way here revealed. The mystery was great. But we are
here clearly told what He will do, not for His friends, but against His foes.
The smitten head over a great country appears to be either the king of the
north, or Gog. Christ shines out from heaven to destroy Antichrist, etc. But
here the rod of His might is sent out of Zion, to deal first with the king of
the north; as finally with his great patron, the Lord of all the Russias, who
will have made that king strong, and then falls himself for ever.
The
next three psalms are plainly a trilogy in suited succession, following up that
which set out the exaltation of Messiah on high and the coming day of His Power
out Of Zion. The first two of the three are acrostics, but all are the praises
of Jah (Hallelu-jah) for the deliverance of His people by Messiah.
Psalm 111
"Praise ye Jah." Jehovah's
works, not here creation but on behalf of His people, are celebrated: great in
themselves; powerful in their effects; permanent in result. flow different are
man's! Wise is the fear of Him; and His praise abiding.
Psalm
112
"Praise ye Jah." Next to the intervention of Jehovah comes
the character, as well as the blessing under His government, of the man that
fears Him. It is not the Christian even now blessed in heavenly places,
enjoying full favour, yet suffering on earth, and waiting for Him who will have
us with Himself in the Father's house; but the anticipative sketch of the
righteous Israelite in the kingdom.
Psalm
113
"Praise ye Jah." Here the scope is manifestly wider. Israel
may be Jehovah's earthly centre, but His name shall be praised from east to
west, from that day and evermore. Who is like to Him, and to Him as thus
displayed in His ways with His poor loved one, no longer in the dust but
exalted, no longer barren but the glad mother of sons? Hallelujah!
Psalm 114
It is not only Jehovah's
glory above the heavens, yet stooping to look on the lowliest here below, as
proved already in Israel. The sea, the river, the mountains, and the hills, the
earth, all teach from before Him, Who will be to Jacob all He was of old and
more. His power in goodness is unfailing.
Psalm 115
Then the wonders of Jehovah will no
longer puff Israel up. They will need no humiliation more, being truly humble
in that day. Jehovah's name is all henceforth; and His "mercy" takes
precedence, instead of boasting in "truth" because peculiarly theirs. This does
but increase their loathing of idols, so long their snare. But if they forgot
Jehovah, He remembered them; and that day is a day of blessing for Israel's
house and for Aaron's, and for fearers of Jehovah, the small and the great. But
it is for the living on earth, though heaven and earth shall be in ]harmonious
blessing and for evermore. Children of God are we now called, and such we are;
His sons, with the Spirit of God, crying, Abba, Father; and we look up to
heaven as our home because it is Christ's, having the cross meanwhile on earth.
Here are we shown a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we all shall be
changed. Even now are we, Christians, "heavenly," and we shall put on the image
of the Heavenly at His coming.
Psalm
116
Here we see the loving-kindness of Jehovah (Who is therefore
loved) in delivering the simple ones, the righteous remnant from under the
shadow of death that oppressed them. But the truth of this habitually applies
to the suffering Christian (2 Cor. 4), and not merely at a special time or
Jacob's hour, when be is to be delivered out of it. The "haste" is not carnal
precipitancy, but of such alarm as would make one hurry away at once. Comfort
comes, but Jehovah is trusted in faith, which is better still. The end is
praise of Jah.
Psalm 117
It is
a little psalm out of a large heart. Grace enjoyed goes out toward others, yea
to all. So shall Israel then sing. What a contrast with their narrowness of
old! So Jehovah's mercy and truth will work in that day to His praise on earth.
We see how beautifully these three psalms ending in Hallelujah follow Ps. 114
(Jehovah's intervention as when He brought Israel out of Egypt through the
desert), which is preceded by the three psalms beginning with Hallelujah, as
the last of these indeed both begins and ends.
Psalm 118
It is the end of the age which will
vindicate the God of Israel. Till then appearances are adverse to His name and
His people; and faith alone gains the victory unseen, which then will be
manifest to every eye. All men may oppose meanwhile, and never more than at the
close; Satan too may deceive and destroy as far as he can; and God may chastise
right sorely but for good: Christ knew all this exceptionally, and much more
than is here in view. But the end is blessing and glory, not for us only on
high as we know from elsewhere, but for those who will enjoy the kingdom on
earth, when it is no longer man's but Jehovah's day. What a blank must be in
the outlook of all Christians, who leave out such a scene for the glory of the
once humbled but now exalted Man! Then He shall sit on His own throne, as
distinct from the Father's, before the eternal state. It is the age to come, on
which almost all prophecy converges.
Psalm
119
This psalm is not more remarkable in its structure than in
its moral beauty the expression of the law written on Israel's heart,
after God's intervention to restore them to the land, yet before their complete
deliverance. Each section consists of eight verses marked successively by each
letter of the Hebrew alphabet in due order, all dwelling on the virtues of
divine revelation as made known to the chosen people: law, testimonies, ways,
precepts, statutes, commandments, and word generally.
Aleph. All here
is introductory and general: the return after wandering and sorrowful
experience; Jehovah's law or doctrine written within under the new covenant.
Beth. Here is the washing of water by the word, God purifying the heart by
faith, in moral death to natural energy just where it might be strongest.
Gimel. Jehovah's goodness is asked according to and in His word, the delight
and guide of the Israel of God, whosoever might despise.
Daleth. The heart
prefers abasement from and with God to ease without Him, but looks for
enlargement to do His will with alacrity.
He. The need of Jehovah's
teaching, in order to obey and be kept, is here spread before Him.
Vau.
The taste of the grace of Jehovah, of His salvation as here expressed, is next
craved for courage and fidelity.
Zain. "The word" is owned as hope and
comfort in the midst of pride and ungodliness;" the name gives motive to obey.
Cheth. Here the heart rises to Jehovah Himself; so that wicked men's hands
were powerless to make the law forgotten, or His mercy unseen everywhere.
Teth. It is a soul profiting by affliction, and confiding all the more in
Jehovah, to learn His statutes, better than thousands of gold and silver.
Yod. Jehovah is looked to as a faithful Creator, and those that fear Him
counted on. As He afflicted for good, so would He show loving-kindness.
Caph. Here the prayer is instant, as the iniquity grows apace, and weakness is
realised in the severest trial. It is not the hope of the Christian, who like
Christ are to go on high; but deliverance, as Israel expect and shall have, by
judgments executed manifestly on the enemy.
Lamed. The stability of
Jehovah is seen on high., His purpose emanates thence infallibly, but
establishes earth too, the universe being His servant. Then its moral power is
owned, and by it the conviction that the soul is His, attending in the midst of
malice to His testimonies, and in the sense of total failure feeling the
all-embracing value of what expresses His mind.
Mem. Here it is love of
Jehovah's law, leading to meditation, and with blessed results in wisdom and
moral ways.
Nun. In this stanza the light of the word for himself is
acknowledged, and its judgments for wickedness.
Samech. Wavering and
evil-doing are deprecated as heartily as Jehovah's law is loved. But the need
of being sustained is expressed, as on the other hand Jehovah's summary
dealings with the deceitful and wicked; for indeed He is to be feared.
Ain. Hence he looks for Jehovah to act, not only on His servant's behalf but in
vindication of His law.
Pe. The intrinsic and real efficacy of Jehovah's
revelation is here expressed, with the spiritual desire created by it.
Tzade. Here the righteousness of Jehovah's judgments and testimonies
predominates, which he forgot not, if others did.
Koph. Dependence is the
great resource in the evil day, and indeed always, with confidence in Jehovah,
but according to His word.
Resh. If persecutors are more felt, so are
Jehovah's judgments on behalf of faithfulness as well as life in power.
Schin. This stanza goes farther: awe at Jehovah's word, yet joy in what He
says. Fruit of loving the expression of divine authority, praise rises fully,
and peace without stumbling. Obedience is deepened by having all our ways out
before Him.
Tau. It is the worthy end of a psalm most instructive in
experience for the individual and the nation: a brief summary.
The
next group is clearly defined, the fifteen psalms of degrees or the goings up.
That of (or by) Solomon occupies the central place, two on either side are
expressly of David, as others perhaps such as Ps. 132 where it is not said.
Some conjecture a late date for most, or all, because they are supposed
suitable to be sting during the return from Babylon. The truth is that they
look onward to the restoration of Israel in the latter day and are thus truly
prophetic; the language, as the hope, is far beyond anything realised in the
post-exilic return.
Psalm 120
"A song of the ascents." It is the situation amid threatening foes north and
south, from whom deliverance is sought. There was "the liar," the Antichrist,
on one side; on the other, the hordes of the great external enemy. The last
days are unmistakable here.
Psalm
121
"A song of the ascents." Jehovah now at length is Israel's
help, and keeper, Who slumbers not nor sleeps, in all circumstances and for
ever.
Psalm 122
"A song of the
ascents: of David." Here is the joy of worship in the place where Jehovah's
eyes rest continually.
Psalm
123
"A song of the ascents." It is the remnant of Israel staying
no more, like the proud and ungodly mass, on him that smote them, but on
Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and this in truth.
Psalm 124
"A song of the ascents: of David."
This is the outburst of Israel's praise when just delivered from that which
seemed, to all but faith, the overwhelming power of man bent on their
destruction.
Psalm 125
"A song
of the ascents." Here is expressed the peaceable fruit of righteousness for
those exercised by the supreme trials of that day.
Psalm 126
A song of the ascents." The return of
Zion becomes the pledge and cry for the return of Israel, and the blessed Sower
in sorrow shall yet reap in joy.
Psalm
127
"A song of the ascents: of Solomon." All of blessing turns
on Jehovah, on Jehovah-Jesus. When Israel welcomes and depends on Him what
fruitful showers! "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children" as in Ps. 45:
so here. Solomon had an earnest and might well sing in the Spirit; yet his was
not the rest of God, but vanity of vanities.
Psalm 128
"A song of the ascents." It is
millennial blessedness on earth, when Christ reigns and blesses out of Zion. To
interpret it of heaven or the church is to deny the kingdom yet to be restored
to Israel.
Psalm 129
"A song
of the ascents." It is a psalm of painful and touching interest as to Israel's
enemies, whose will was in their sufferings, however deserved. They hated Zion
which Jehovah chose and loved; and their desolations were as cruel as
fruitless, being in vain to destroy, as the end will show in that day.
Psalm 130
"A song of the ascents." It
is the new ground of divine mercy, and so of forgiveness for the generation to
come.
Psalm 131
"A song of the
ascents: of David." This is the moral accompaniment of faith in mercy. Hope in
Jehovah supplants self-confidence or looking elsewhere.
Psalm
132
"A song of the ascents." The Anointed is here, typified by
David and Solomon, to reign as surely as He suffered. His rest in Zion has yet
to be accomplished. It is not the Father's throne, any more than headship of
Christ's body, but the kingdom by and by, where and when the answers of grace
exceed the desires of faith.
Psalm
133
"A song of the ascents." There is unity of blessing in that
Hermon's dew will fall on Zion.
Psalm
134
"A song of the ascents." It is no longer Sinai, the mountain
of the people's responsibility, but Zion, the seat of royal grace, after the
fleshly king's ruin also. Under the true King and the faithful Priest praise
unceasing rises, even in the nights. How should it be otherwise when Christ
establishes the blessing on the overthrow of the enemy?
Now follow a
few psalms less closely connected, though the second may be regarded as an
answer to the first. The third stands comparatively isolated, yet in its
evidently right place. The fourth, instead of (like it) recalling the shame and
sorrow of the Babylonish captivity, is an avowed thanksgiving to Jehovah, not
only for His word, but for His everlasting loving-kindness. These are all
judicial, and apply during the crisis which marks the incoming of the new age,
The fifth or last expresses the deeper work of self-judgment before the
inescapable presence of Jehovah; yet it looks the more for His slaying the
wicked (the judgment of the quick and of the dead), while baring the heart now
in order to be thoroughly proved and led in the way everlasting. The last two
are Davidical, as are the seven that succeed.
Psalm 135
"Praise ye Jah." It is instructive to
compare ver. 13 with Ex. 3 and 14 with Deut. 32. The psalm anticipates the
proximate accomplishment of both to Jah's praise.
Psalm 136
"Give thanks to Jehovah." Very
impressive is this answering song of thanks, with a refrain so suited then to
Israel. He Who is pleased to dwell at Jerusalem in that day is the "God of the
heavens," not merely of the earth (Gen. 14: 19).
Psalm 137
Very different were Babylon and Edom,
yet both the enemies of Zion, one to humble her for her sins, the other hating
her for divine favour, alike to suffer before Zion's joy, who must sorrow till
then and not sing.
Psalm 138
"Of David." It is Jehovah's faithfulness to His sayings, His mercy in this
respect which Israel proved experimentally, and all kings of the earth
celebrate in that day. What a change from this day of delusion and infidelity,
to which the Jew contributes so largely!
Psalm 139
"To the chief musician: a psalm of
David." The execution of external judgment, when Christ takes the world-kingdom
(Rev. 11.), does not hinder the inner work for the faithful Jew, who here tells
out his confidence in the heart-searching of Jehovah. This recalls not only His
own omnipresence and omniscience, as the, faithful Creator, but His thoughts
about us. For truly His complacency is in men, not angels: the Christ was to be
man, though Son of the Highest. Therefore as a godly Jew he heartily goes with
the vengeance to fall on the wicked, while he desires yet more God's searching
of himself lest any grievous way should be found in him.
From the deep
searching, yea God's searching, of the heart in the last psalm, we turn to a
group of five, rising from a cry for full deliverance by executed judgment to
anticipated thanksgiving in Ps. 145, a millennial strain, followed by varied
and ceaseless praises to the end of the book.
Psalm 140
"To the chief musician: a psalm of
David." Probably the "evil man," if defined, seems to be Antichrist; the "man
of violence" rather the external enemy, the Assyrian. Proud or high ones here
are ungodly Israelites.
Psalm 141
"A psalm of David." This is pursued for the soul's profit that
all said and done may be to and in the favour of Jehovah, apart from the
dainties of evil doers, and accepting rebuke from the righteous; so that, when
judgment falls, some may hear and live.
Psalm
142
"An instruction of David when he was in the cave: a
prayer." Here is a didactic word, a prayer too. Wickedness in power casts the
righteous on Jehovah alone. How often precious, and proved by how many! Yet,
while originally David's faith, it will apply fully in the future crisis of
Israel.
Psalm 143
"A psalm of
David." The following is deeper still: not only none else save Jehovah, but
self-abandoned. No righteousness can stand judgment, but here is the
righteousness of God by faith. Confidence is in grace. So the godly Jew will
feel and say in that day.
Psalm 144
This psalm blesses Jehovah in confidence and bright
expectation. Why should man (Adam) son of enosh, weak and faint, stay
blessing through divine judgment? For so Israel always expects, whatever
the mercy also. The Christian stands in grace and looks into heaven, to which
he belongs as in Christ. This psalm looks for judgment, not the gospel.
Psalm 145
"Praise of David."
Here comes "Praise" or the new song purposed in Ps. 144, an alphabetic
construction, omitting Nun (the Hebrew N).
The final praises of Jah in
five strains close the book. It may be noticed that creation and Israel here
and elsewhere in the O.T. answer to the new creation and the church in the N.T.
The Septuagint attributes the first three to Haggai and Zechariah, 147 being
divided.
Psalm 146
"Praise ye
Jah." The praise of Jah, Jehovah, Jacob's God, is urged, in contrast with men,
not only as maker of heaven, earth, the sea, and all in them, but as the sure
moral Governor, only to be proved and displayed perfectly in that day when Zion
is the earthly centre.
Psalm
147
"Praise ye Jah." Incomparably greater things are before
Israel than the work of Nehemiah for the returned remnant, though to speak of
this may have given occasion to their glorious hope, inseparable from the
Messiah and the kingdom and all Israel then to be saved. Then indeed it will be
Jehovah building Jerusalem and gathering Israel's outcasts far beyond the
little provisional mercy to the Jews from Babylon. And He is competent Who
makes the world, yea the universe, delights most of all in the lowly that fear
Him, and shows Jacob His word, Israel His judgments; for He thus owned no other
nation.
Psalm 148
"Praise ye
Jah." Here praise is called for from the heaven, and every one and thing
connected, the praise of Jehovah's name; so from the earth and all below,
rising up to the kings and all peoples, of every age, sex, and degree, to
praise His name set in His people, His holy or godly ones, beyond question
Israel's sons. The church reigns with Him Who reigns over all the rest, the
universe.
Psalm 149
is "Praise
ye Jah." It is expressly a new song for Israel, no longer enemies as touching
the gospel, no longer only beloved for the fathers' sake, but a congregation of
pious ones, Zion's sons rejoicing in their King. Their position is judicial on
earth; but we who believe, without seeing Christ, have our joy in His heavenly
grace and glory.
Psalm 150
"Praise ye Jah." Thus fitly ends this inspired collection of psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, in a grand chorus of praise on this long travailing but
soon to be delivered and rejoicing earth, when the world-kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ is come.