the whole is mystic. Some have thought, and among these the excellent Bishop Horne, that the sick person is the believer's soul: The disease,—Adam's sin, and the consequent corruption of our nature, and the misery of our condition: The enemies,-Satan and his friends, and the atheistical faction. Many parts of the psalm, however, have so striking a reference to the case of our Lord in the days of his flesh, that I cannot but think the whole belongs to him, and that he (the humanity of Christ) is the sick persecuted suppliant. If the sickness may typify generally his humiliation, as I think it may, and the heat which rages in the sick man's loins, the fiery trial of wrath which he endured in the garden of Gethsemane, when his distress, though principally mental, discovered itself in dreadful symptoms in his body; if this interpretation of the sickness be admitted, there is not a sentence nor a word in the whole of this extraordinary composition which is not applicable to our Lord as man, with more strictness and propriety than to any other person. 1 OJehovah, rebuke me not in-the-effervescence-ofthine-anger, Chastise me not in the heat-of-thy-displeasure. 2 Truly thine arrows are sunk-deep into me, And thy hand is laid-hard upon me. 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine indignation; No quiet in my bones, by reason of my * sin. 4 Truly my * iniquities mount above my head, Like a heavy burthen, they are too heavy for me. 5 The wounds, † which I suffer by reason of my * folly, Stink; they run with corruption. [A] 6 I am distorted ‡; I am bowed down exceedingly; I go melancholy [B] all the day. 7 For my loins are filled with a parching heat, And there is no soundness in my flesh. My sin. My iniquities. My folly." His because he had made himself answerable. + Is. LIII, 6. Writhed with pain. 8 I am enfeebled and worn-down to-the-extreme, I howl for the anguish of my heart. 9 O Lord, all my desire is before thee, And my groaning from thee is not concealed. 10 My heart palpitates; my strength forsakes me; And the light of mine eyes; Nay, they themselves are lost to me. [C] 11 My friends and my companions Come into my presence, and stop short, [D] 12 And they that seek my life are laying snares; And they that seek my hurt threaten mischiefs, And discourse of stratagems the whole day. 13 But I, like a deaf man, hear not; [E] [I am] as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. 14 I am become as one that heareth not, In whose mouth are no reproofs. * *No reproofs," rather, with Bishop Horne, "no alterca G 15 For upon thee, O Jehovah, I rest-my-hope, Thou shalt answer * O Lord God. my 16 For I said †, lest they rejoice over me; When my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me: 17 Truly I am-ready to make a false-step, ‡ And my torment ever is before me. ❝tions." Our Lord made no defence when he was accused before Pilate, no apology-no answer to the false witnesses. * i. e. Thou shalt answer the threats and reproaches of my enemies. Trusting to this, I make no answer for myself. He assigns the reason of his silence, and his appearing to take no notice of the threats of his enemies. In this manner Abp. Secker understood the text. This is part of what he said, that is, of his reason with himself for making no reply, and taking no measures of his own against his enemies. The humanity of Christ (if Christ is the speaker in this Psalm) utters this; "when his soul was exceeding sorrowful "unto death;" when he prayed "that the cup might pass from "him," Matth. XXVI, 38-42. Mark, XIV. 33-36; when his agony was so intense, that "an angel appeared to him strengthening him," Luke, XXII, 40—46. At this season, he says, "I am "ready to make a false step," under an apprehension, as it should 18 Truly, I set my iniquity in open view, I am in consternation for my sin. * 19 And mine enemies are in vigour. They are strong, And increased in numbert, who hate me wrong fully. 20 They who requite evil for good Are-set-against-me, because good is my pursuit. 21 Desert me not, O Jehovah, My God, withdraw not far from me; seem, that his fortitude might fail. His repeated and anxious exhortation to the apostles, at that particular time, to "watch and pray lest they should enter into temptation," may seem to indicate that he felt the power of temptation strongly at that time in himself. And the temptation of that season was presented to his fear. * i. e. I set in my own view the weight of guilt imputed to me, of which I am to bear the punishment. + See Abp. Secker in Merrick's Annotations. G 2 |