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The contents.

Here is the Head and his members in a state of loneliness. As if suggested by the case of dispersed Israel, language (in verse 2) is adopted such as we find in Deut. xxx. 41 and Neh. i. 9. Our Lord could use such a Psalm in the days of his humiliation, looking to the Father, as in John xiv. 28, "the Rock higher than I," higher than the man Christ Jesus, higher than all his members. This Rock casts its shadow over those beneath it. The “Selah” at verse 4 gives us time to look upon the believing one's quiet repose under the wings of God, and then we hear the calm acknowledgment of verse 5, which may remind us of Psalm xxii. 25. The tone of the Song changes; all thereafter is hope, sure anticipation, a future of bliss realised as already at hand. He shall sit (on the throne) before God

for ever, (ver. 7).

Two things let us specially notice. "Mercy and truth" (ver. 7) are the attributives which preserve him. Now, “mercy and truth” are the prominent features of Redemption-blessing; God able to say, “Live," and yet to do this without retracting the sentence, "Thou shalt die." Christ's pillar-cloud was "mercy and truth;" the Christian's pillar-cloud is the same. Christ, by harmonising, magnified these perfections of Godhead; the Christian magnifies them by pointing the Father to them as harmonised. Thus this prayer is answered,

"O prepare mercy and truth;

Let them preserve him !”

Perhaps the unusual word 2, "appoint," "prepare," may have been chosen as suggesting a reference to manna, the wilderness-provision. Give a manna-like provision of mercy and truth. This be our everlasting food while we dwell before God!

Another thing worthy of brief notice is verse 6, "The King." David's title was, "King," though a wanderer in Judah's deserts; David's Son, too, had the same name and title; and in the right of their Head, disciples of Christ claim kingship under him, and look forward with hope and expectation to the days of his visible manifestation as King in the kingdom that has no end. Here, then, we have

The Righteous One, when an outcast, looking for the day of his Restoration.

PSALM LXII

To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1 TRULY my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.

2 He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?

Ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

4 They only consult to cast him down from his excellency:

They delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.
Selah.

5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.

Selah.

9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery :

If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this;

That power belongeth unto God.

12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy:

For thou renderest to every man according to his work.

The connection.

THIS Psalm has three parts, each beginning with TN, "truly; verses 1, 4, 9. There was a "Rock" spoken of in Psalm lxi. 2. The God of Israel had long been known under that name, ever since Jacob, and Moses, and Hannah, had appropriated the Rock, with its many properties of shade, shelter, strength, solidity, dignity, to give a people accustomed to level deserts and sands an emblem of the Unchanging One to whom the helpless may resort. This Rock is prominent throughout this Psalm. At the commencement, the soul of the speaker is seen under it as his shelter-he reposes in its shade, and on its strength. "Only upon God my soul reposeth!" (Horsley.) He is a The plan. rock, while enemies are as an "inclining wall and a fence that has had a shove”—on the verge of ruin. Thus he can

sing,

“Truly in God

My soul takes rest." (Verses 1 and 6.)

The plan.

The title.

Foes and bitter persecutors are around him, and this keeps him very near the Refuge at all times. We have here the soul of the Righteous One-Christ and his members-resorting to Jehovah while iniquity surrounds them, and persecution tries them. We hear them calling on Him, and stirring up one another to do the like (ver. 8.), affixing the solemn, Selah."

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“ Trust in him at all times, ye people," (y, true Israel of God !)

"Our estimate of man (it has been said) depends on our estimate of God ;" and here God is felt to be most gloriously great. The sons of men (ver 9) are a mere vapour; their greatness, even when it shall flush up to the splendour of Antichrist's dominion, is a mere mirage. The sentence against it is on the way. Already you may hear God speaking; it is no fancy. Two things have been declared by our God, viz., that he will bring down the proud, and that he has mercy for his own. As out of Sinai, so out of the Rock, we hear a voice telling that Jehovah is God Almighty, and yet merciful too.

"One thing God has spoken,

Two things there are which I have heard

viz., That might is God's;

And that mercy also is Jehovah's!" (Verses 11, 12.)

In this certainty we look for the Great Day of the Lord—the day when a mismanaged world shall be set in order--a day sure to come, and sure to satisfy us when it has come,

"For thou renderest to every man according to his work." When the choir of singers, at whose head was Jeduthun, sang this Psalm together, the godly in Israel would feel their souls raised to the very heights of confidence, sympathising with The Righteous One, when threatened, looking to the Rock for help.

PSALM LXIII

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

10 Gon, thou art my God; early will I seek thee!
My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee
In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is:

2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 3 Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;

And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.

9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

10 They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

11 But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall

glory:

But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

and plan.

It may have been near the Dead Sea, on his way to the ford The title, of Jordan, that the Psalmist first sung this song. It is a Psalm first heard by David's faithful ones in the wilderness of Judah ; but truly a Psalm for every godly man who in the dry worldwilderness can sing "All my springs are in thee”-a Psalm for David-a Psalm for David's Son-a Psalm for the Church in every age-a Psalm for every member of the Church in the weary land! What assurance, what vehement desire, what The theme soul-filling delight in God, in God alone-in God the only fountain of living water amid a boundless wilderness! Hope, too, has its visions here; for it sees the ungodly perish (verses 8, 9, 10), and the King on the throne surrounded by a company who swear allegiance to Jehovah. Hope sees for itself what Isaiah lxiv. 16 describes-every mouth "swearing by the God of truth;" and what Rev. xxi. 27 has foretold, the mouth of "liars"closed for ever-all who sought other gods, and trusted to other saviours, gone for ever. And when we read all this as spoken of Christ, how much does every verse become enhanced. His thirst for God! His vision of God! His estimate of God's loving-kindness! His soul satisfied! His mouth full of praise! His soul following hard after God!

"O God, thou art my El," mighty one. Thou art my omnipotence. It is this God he still seeks. The of verse 2 and of verse 4 is interesting. In verse 2 the force of it is this"No wonder that I so thirst for thee; no wonder that my first

*

thoughts at morning are toward thee; no wonder that my very flesh longeth for thee! Who would not, that has seen what I have seen? So have I gazed on thee in the sanctuary, seeing thy power and glory!" The "so" is like 2 Peter i. 17, "Such a voice!" And then, if the past has been thus exquisitely blessed, my prospects for the future are not less so. I see illimitable bliss coming in as a tide; tide; "so will I bless Thee while I have being !" (ver. 4.) Yes; in ages to come, as well earth, my soul shall be satiated

as in many a happy moment on as with marrow and fatness! And when verse 7 shews us the soul under the shadow of God's wings, rejoicing, we may say, it is not only like as "the bird sheltered from the heat of the sun amid the rich foliage sings its merry note," but it is the soul reposing there as if entering the cloud of glory, like Moses and Elias.

O world! come and see

The Righteous One finding water-springs in God.

PSALM LXIV.

To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 HEAR my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the

enemy.

2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked;

From the insurrection of the workers of iniquity.

3 Who whet their tongue like a sword,

And bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect :

Suddenly they do shoot at him, and fear not.

5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter:

They commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?

6 They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search :

Both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.

7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.

8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves:

All that see them shall flee away.

9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God;

For they shall wisely consider of his doing.

10 The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him;

And all the upright in heart shall glory.

* ( Thy power"—with special reference to the "Ark of his Strength” (2 Chron. vi. 41). So in Psalm lxxviii. 61-“ his glory,” is his Ark.

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