PSALM XII To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. 1 HELP, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; For the faithful fail from among the children of men! 2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour : With flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. 3 The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: 4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. 6 The words of the Lord are pure words: As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this gene ration for ever. 8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted. A PSALM for all ages, as well as for David's time. Elijah could The Title sing it, Jeremiah could sing it, and never was there a time when this Psalm was more appropriate than in our own day. Though written by David, and handed over to his "Chief Musician," and though the "Sheminith's" now unknown strings were touched by the fingers of a Levite whose heart could sigh in sympathy with its strain of sad foreboding and present gloom, it is, at the same time, quite a Psalm for the last days. The Lord is called upon to arise, for the godly perish. You see a little band gathered under the floating banner of their King, who had promised to come to their help in due time. One after another sinks down, wearied and worn, while the remaining few, at each such occurrence, cry to their King- "Help, Lord!" (Ver. 1.) This is the cry that ascends from the saints, as one after The Contents. another of their number is successively gathered to the tomb; while, "I will arise," (ver. 4,) is the response that faintly reaches their ear. Help, Lord!" is their cry as they witness the increase of bold infidelity, (ver. 2), and hear such mutterings of boastful pride as these: The future. David's time. “Through our tongues we are strong. Our lips are with us, (i. e., are our help.-Hengstenberg.) "Who is lord over us?" (Ver. 2, 3.) The power of human talent and the grandeur of man's intellect are boasted of; while ver. 2, shews that these same persons flatter each other into deceitful peace, and are living without regard to the holy law of love. Meanwhile, the remnant who sigh in secret to the Lord-a remnant hated and often in danger (ver. 5)-are sustained by the sure word of promise. They tell their hope and faith in ver. 6, when they describe "Jehovah's words:" "The words of the Lord are pure words: As silver tried in a furnace of earth,* All He has spoken about the Woman's Seed from the beginning; all He has spoken of Him in whom all nations shall be blessed; all He has spoken of David and David's seed; all is sure, all shall come to pass. And so they sing, (ver. 7), "Thou shalt keep them (i. e., thine own), and shalt preserve them from this generation,"-a generation so corrupt and evil that one may say of it— "The wicked walk on every side; Vileness is held in honour by the sons of men." How descriptive of the latter days! How like the times of which Peter speaks, when men shall "speak great swelling words of vanity," (2 Peter ii. 18), and shall boldly ask, "Where is the promise of his coming?" (iii. 4.) How descriptive, too, of the consolation of the saints; for Peter tells us that this shall be their comfort, "The Lord is not slack concerning hist promise,” (ver. 9); and "according to His promise" they shall continue looking for the New Heavens and New Earth, (ver. 13). They know that the "words of the Lord are pure words." They cannot fail. Some of the features of this scene are to be found in all the conflicts that have risen between the woman's seed and the * The original is difficult. Hengstenberg's rendering gives additional force to the comparison,—“ the purified silver of a lord of earth"-the fine silver of some prince. Such is God's promise; no dross in it ; no exaggeration ; no deceit. serpent's. At the same time, the times of David when he was a persecuted man, though anointed to the kingdom, were such that they might be compared to the days that precede the coming of the Son of man. The flatterers of Saul hated David's person and David's principles; and could not fail to try to cast contempt on "the Lord's words" in regard to him and his seed. Such, also, were the days of the true David, our Lord, when He appeared in our world as the Lord's anointed. We can easily Christ's time. see how the proud Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees, might be characterised by vers. 2, 3; and not less how, on such an occasion as the Baptist's death, Jesus could use ver. 1. Let us follow the Baptist's disciples, who have just buried their master. They walk along in silent sadness; for a witness to the truth has perished. They seek out Jesus (Matt. xiv. 12), and tell Him all that the foes of God have done. Jesus hears and sympathises; and may we not imagine the whole company of disciples, with the master as "chief musician," sitting down in the solitary place (ver. 13), and making it echo with the plaintive cry, "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth," &c. The Church's eye, anointed with eye-salve, has ever since Our time. been able to discern in the world resemblances to the same state of things; and never more clearly than now. Hence David, and David's Son, and the seed of David's Son, have ever found the strain of this song fitted to express what the world made them feel. Horsley entitles it, "Of free thinkers; their cunning, audacity, and final excision." But this is only one aspect of it. It is rather, The Righteous One's consoling assurance that the Lord's word, though mocked at, shall not fuil. PSALM XIII. To the chief Musician, A Psalm of Davið. 1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,-having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? The tone. David. Christ. 3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death ; 4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him ; And those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 5 But I have trusted in thy mercy;-my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. HERE is what has been called "the Righteous One's pathetic How long shall I lay up counsel in my soul—sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall the enemy exalt himself over me?” When David wandered in Judea, and mused on the longdeferred promise of the Throne of Israel, he might use these words first of all. When he saw no sign of Saul's dominion ending, and no appearance of the Seed of the Woman, he was in such circumstances as fitted him to be the instrument of the Holy Ghost in writing for all after-times words which might utter the feelings of melancholy weariness. The Son of David came in the fulness of time. Many a night of darkness He passed through. Sometimes the very shades. of death bent over Him. My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death!" Could He not most fitly take up ver. 4, as He carried his cross along the "Via Dolorosa?" Who more fitly than he might appeal, "Consider, hear me, O Lord my God (Eli! Eli !) Lest I sleep in death ! Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him, Lest those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved !" High Priests, Governors, Scribes, Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, common priests and common people, were all on the eve of shouting triumph if He rose not from the grave; and a burst of joy from hell would respond to their derision if He failed to arise, and failed to shew himself King of kings. bers. But not our Head only, every member of his body also, has Christ's memfound cause oftentimes to utter such complaints and fears. A believer in darkness-a believer under temptation-a believer under the pressure of some continued trial-a believer spending wearisome nights, and lying awake on his couch, may find appropriate language here wherein to express his feelings to God, and all the more appropriate because it is associated with the Saviour's darkness, and so assures us of his sympathy. We take up the harp which He used in Galilee and Gethsemane; and in touching its strings, do we not recall to our Head the remembrance of "the days of his flesh ?" How glorious too, for the Church to join with her Head in the prospects of ver. 5 : “But as for me ("N") I have trusted in thy mercy," &c. Leaning on the Father's love amid these sorrowful appeals, He was sure, and in him they are sure, of a day of glory dawning-joy coming in the morning. Verse 6th anticipates not only His own resurrection, but the resurrection of the saints also, and the glory of the kingdom “I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath dealt bountifully with me.” Glory much more abounds-joy has set in instead of sorrow, in full tide; fruition more than realizing the most "ample propositions that hope made" to the weary soul. And this is the blessed issue of what Calvin would perhaps have called, the "QUOUSQUE DOMINE," and which we may call, The Righteous One's, Lord, how long? PSALM XIV. To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 1 THE fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works,there is none that doeth good. 2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there was any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: There is none that doeth good, no, not one. |