THE SECOND DAY. Morning Prayer. PSALM IX. THIS Psalm, like the foregoing one, is sometimes declared to have been written to celebrate the defeat of Goliath, and the consequent subjection of his countrymen. But, from an expression which occurs in the eleventh verse (see also ver. 14), whereby God is said to be already dwelling in Sion, it seems plain, that the assertion cannot be correct, since the ark was not removed from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem until several years after those events. We must, therefore, consider the Psalm to contain rather a thanksgiving for some signal advantage gained over a neighbouring nation, and an earnest entreaty that the Israelites, (who appear again to suffer oppression and trouble from the heathen,) may experience a similar instance of divine favor, by the complete overthrow of their remaining enemies. David, in this case, is to be understood, as speaking in the name of his nation. İsai. 43. 21. Heb. 13. 15. Hab. 3. 17, 18. 2 Chron. 20. 12. Rev. 20. 11. Isai. 33. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 23. Deut. 9. 14. I Will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will speak of all thy marvellous works. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee; yea, my songs will I make of thy name, O thou most Highest. 3 While mine enemies are driven back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. 4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou art set in the throne, that judgest right. 5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, and destroyed the ungodly; thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. 2 Most Highest. This phrase is peculiar to the old translation of the Psalms, and would seem to be singularly appropriate, as applied to Jehovah, who is higher than the highest among created beings. 3. While mine enemies, &c. The present verse, probably, formed the subject of David's song of joy. Whensoever my enemies shall hereafter be repulsed in their fierce attacks upon me, Thy angry countenance alone, not my own strength or valor, will cause them, as on the late occasion, to "fall and perish" in their flight. Psalm xLiv. 7, 8. 4 In the throne, &c. The office of delivering righteous judgments is poetically transferred by the Psalmist, from Him, who sat on the tribunal of justice, to that tribunal itself. Psalm xxiv. 7. See on Psalm cxix. 82. 60 thou enemy, destructions are come to a Ex. 14. 13. perpetual end, even as the cities which thou Nah. 1. 9, 13. hast destroyed; their memorial is perished with them. Matt. 25. 31, &c. 2 Pet. 3. 8. 7 But the Lord shall endure for ever: he hath also prepared his seat [throne] for judgment; 8 For he shall judge the world in righteous-Gen. 18. 25. ness, and minister true judgment unto the people. 9 The Lord also will be a defence for the oppressed, even a refuge in due time of trouble. 10 And they, that know thy name, will put their trust in thee; for thou, Lord, hast never failed them that seek thee. Acts 17. 31. Ps. 108. 12, 13. 2 Cor. 1. 9, 10. 11 O praise the Lord, which dwelleth in Sion; Jer. 51. 36 shew the people of his doings; 12 For, when he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them, and forgetteth not the complaint of the poor [afflicted]. 13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord: consider the trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou, that liftest me up from the gates of death; John 17. 26. Gen. 9. 5. Isai. 26. 21. Neh. 9. 32. 60 thou enemy, &c. We have now a change of number (see on Psalm v. 9), unless some chief man from among his national foes is addressed. Thy power of desolating our country has, at length, come to an end, and that, as completely and as irrevocably, as the cities destroyed by thee have perished; yea, even the very memory of the ruin, which thou hast occasioned us, may almost be considered to be equally extinct, and to have disappeared with the traces of it. 10 And they that know. All, who are acquainted with the righteousness of thy judicial decrees, and who perceive, that thou art both a powerful defence and a secure refuge in time of trouble. 11 O praise the Lord, &c. After a general description of the divine attributes of justice and mercy, David refers to the exercise of them in the recent treatment of his own countrymen. For he commands the Israelites to proclaim aloud, "in psalms and hymns," the goodness of Jehovah, and also to declare (see on Psalm xxxviii. 12.) to all the surrounding nations, what a mighty and ready help their God is to them that seek him. 12 Them. Such as know his name, and, therefore, trust in him. Ver. 10. -Thou that liftest, &c. 13 Consider. See on Psalm xxxviii. 17.Thou, who hast ever shown thyself willing and solicitous to preserve my existence; and who hast often vouchsafed to rescue me, when in the most imminent danger of going down into the grave. The sepulchres of the Jews, at least, of the higher orders amongst them, were excavated in the rocks, and had narrow entrances, called doors, Matt. 21. 5. Luke 1. 47. Ps. 94. 23. Prov. 5. 22. Ex. 7. 5: 14. 31, Job 8. 13, &c. Prov. 23. 18. Joel 3. 12. Zeph. 3. 8. Deut. 2. 25. Acts 12. 22, 23. 14 That I may shew all thy praises within the ports of the daughter of Sion; I will rejoice in thy salvation. 15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit, that they made; in the same net, which they hid privily, is their foot taken. 16 The Lord is known to execute judgment: the ungodly is trapped in the work of his own hands. 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people [nations] that forget God. 18 For the poor shall not alway be forgotten; the patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for ever. 19 Up, Lord, and let not man have the upper hand; let the heathen be judged in thy sight. 20 Put them in fear, O Lord, that the heathen may know themselves to be but men. PSALM X. THE Composition of this Psalm has been assigned to the period of the Babylonish captivity. There is in it, for the most part, a mixture of supplication and complaint, caused by the perse which it was usual to close by rolling large stones against them. Job xxxviii. 17. Matt. xxvii. 60. The present and the following verse are supposed to contain “ the complaint of the poor," to which David had just referred. 66 14 Within the ports, &c. Within the gates (see on Psalm xxxviii. 17.) or walls of Jerusalem, since cities, (though always with respect to their inhabitants,) were styled in the Hebrew language daughters. Psalm XLV. 13: xcvii. 8. 15 The heathen, &c. David may here be regarded, either as celebrating the advantages already obtained over his enemies, or as triumphing in the conviction, that his subjects will again be delivered by God.- -Pit. See on Psalm vii. 16. 17 The wicked, &c. A terrific denunciation of punishment, first, against the persons, and then, doubtless, when they had entered into the invisible region of spirits (see on Psalm xvi. 11), against the souls, of those heathens, who, heeding not the witness which Jehovah has given of himself to the whole world, obstinately addicted themselves to the worship of idols, and persecuted his true servants: they would not be permitted to "live out half their days" here, and would be consigned to everlasting misery hereafter. 18 The poor-the meek. These epithets are applied to the entire nation of the Israelites, now, apparently, attacked by some deadly enemy. 19 Be judged, &c. Receive their sentence of condemnation from thy judgment-seat. cutions of some powerful enemy, (perhaps, of Belshazzar,) who, throwing off all fear of God and regard for man, employed both force and deceit to accomplish his cruel purposes. The Psalmist concludes with celebrating Jehovah's might, manifested, as it undoubtedly would be, by the speedy deliverance of his afflicted people, and by the complete destruction of their wicked oppressor. WHY HY standest thou so far off, O Lord, and Jer. 14. 8. hidest thy face in the needful time of Mark 15. 34. trouble? 2 The ungodly, for his own lust, doth persecute the poor; let them be taken in the crafty wiliness that they have imagined. 3 For the ungodly hath made boast of his own heart's desire, and speaketh good of the covetous, whom God abhorreth. 4 The ungodly is so proud, that he careth not for God; neither is God in all his thoughts. 5 His ways are alway grievous: thy judgments are far above out of his sight, and, therefore, defieth he all his enemies. 2 Ex. 9. 17, &c. Prov. 28. 4. Jer. 35. 10. 6 For he hath said in his heart, Tush, I shall Isai. 56. 12. never be cast down, there shall no harm [ad-Rev. 18. 7. versity] happen unto me. 7 His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and Job 20. 12. fraud: under his tongue is ungodliness and Prov. 26. 24, &c. vanity [iniquity]. 2 For his own lust. From mere wantonness to gratify his own insolent pride. The poor. See on Psalm Lxxii. 2. 3. Hath made boast, &c. Has not hesitated openly to pride himself on being possessed of uncontrolled power, so that he can bring to perfection whatever iniquitous desire rises in his heart.The covetous. The love of money is declared to be "idolatry," Col. iii. 5, and "the root of all evil," 1 Tim. vi. 10. By the covetous man, therefore, would seem to be intended a person desperately wicked, one given over “to work all uncleanness with greediness" (Ephes. iv. 19), particularly, so far as regards illegal and oppressive exactions. Psalm cxix. 36. 5. His ways, &c. His course of life (see on Psalm i. 1), is ever marked by pollution, and is, consequently, offensive to God, as well as injurious to man. -Thy judgments, &c. He either forgets or disregards the interpositions of thy power and majesty in human affairs. We have here a clear allusion to the remoteness of Jehovah's dwelling-place from the earth. Psalm cxiii. 5. 7 Cursing. See on Psalm Lix. 12.- -Under his tongue. The figure employed by the Psalmist is taken from " the poison of asps," which, though really placed at the bottom of their deadly fangs, may have Hab. 3. 14.. Matt. 14. 9. Jer. 5. 26. Acts 23. 21. Amos 5. 11, 12. Luke 22. 47, 48. Job 22. 13. Mic. 5. 9. Luke 11. 51. 1 Thess. 4.8. Jer. 16. 17. 8 He sitteth lurking in the thievish corners of the streets, and privily in his lurking dens doth he murder the innocent; his eyes are set against the poor. 9 For he lieth waiting [in wait] secretly, even as a lion lurketh he in his den, that he may ravish the poor. 10 He doth ravish [catch] the poor, when he getteth him into his net. 11 He falleth down [croucheth] and humbleth himself, that the congregation of the poor may fall into the hands of his captains. 12 He hath said in his heart, Tush, God hath forgotten; he hideth away his face, and he will never see it. 13 Arise, O Lord God, and lift up thine hand; forget not the poor [afflicted]. 14 Wherefore should the wicked blaspheme God, while he doth say in his heart, Tush, thou, God, carest not for it? 15 Surely thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest ungodliness and wrong, anciently been regarded, as deposited somewhere "under their lips," or even in a bag actually beneath their tongue. Psalm xiv. 5: cxL. 3. 8 He sitteth lurking, &c. "The ungodly" is here compared to a robber, as, in the next verse, to a lion; and, in both cases, he is supposed to be meditating the destruction of the weak and helpless, watching diligently their footsteps, whilst he himself lies concealed from sight in his hiding-place or den. 11 He falleth down, &c. The lion, as is well known, stoops down and contracts himself, in order to make a more powerful spring on his prey. Gen. XLIX. 9. But, from the occurrence, in the previous verse, of the word "net," which scarcely seems, even in a figurative sense, able to be applied to a lion's den, a different image is now probably introduced. For the destroyer may be said, in the prosecution of his cruel schemes, to endeavor, like a fowler, to avoid observation by crouching close to the ground. The victims, however, which he seeks, are only seized by him, being then delivered over to "his captains" to be put to death. The phrase," to humble himself," for to stoop down very low, should, perhaps, be added to the list of words, which will be found in the note on Psalm xxxviii. 17. 12 God hath forgotten, &c. The present miserable condition of the Jews demonstrates, that Jehovah, their God, has entirely forgotten them, nor will turn his eyes to watch the manner in which I treat them. 13 Lift up thine hand. For the purpose of smiting the oppressor. Psalm xxi. 8. Isai. ix. 12. 15 Thou beholdest. Thou art accustomed to behold and to notice. ver 12. |