61. I. AS TO WORDS: "SELAH"

The first Selah (between verses 2 and 3) contrasts what the many said of David:

"There is no help for him in God,"

with what David could say to the LORD:

"But Thou, O Jehovah, art a shield for me."

Here the "many" are thus put into contrast with the one: and, while the many knew the Divine being only as "God" (the creator),¹ David knew Him as "Jehovah," his Covenant God, the God to Whom he stood in a covenant relation.²

The second Selah (between verses 4 and 5) marks and connects the cause and effect. It is a practical exhibition of the truth afterwards revealed in Phil. iv. 6, 7.

"Let your requests be made known unto God,

And

God's peace . . . shall keep your heart and mind."

This is what David experienced, practically, in that terrible night, in his flight from Jerusalem:

"I cried unto God with my voice,

And He heard me out of His holy hill.

Selah

I laid me down and slept; I awaked:

For Jehovah sustained me."

The third Selah (between the two Psalms iii. and iv.) connects not merely the two verses (Ps. iii. 8 and iv. 1), but the two Psalms, as such. It tells us that Ps. iv. relates to the same time, and to the same circumstances in David's life: and gives us further details as to what the cry and the prayer was that is referred to in Ps. iii.

Having thus got the key to the usage of the word Selah, which is of far greater importance than its Etymology or Lexical meaning, we can apply it to all its other occurrences.

It is, in fact, another example of our third Canon (page 227 above), where the Biblical usage of words is

¹ The first occurrence of the word "God," in Gen. I. 1, shows that this is the essence of its meaning.

² This is shown by the first occurrence of Jehovah, in Gen. II. 4, at the commencement of the section (or Tolchik), "the generations of the heavens and the earth," when God (as Jehovah Elohim) comes into Covenant relation with Adam, whom He had created.

considered as being essential to their correct interpretation.¹

4. "Jerusalem."—The first occurrence of the word "Jerusalem" is in Judg. i. 7, 8. And in one sentence the whole subsequent history of centuries is condensed.

"The children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire."

This is in strange contrast with its name:—The Vision of Peace! But it is in accordance with its history.

It has been a history of sieges. Some twenty-seven times has it been besieged, three times has the city, and twice its temple, been destroyed by fire.²

But it is yet to be the centre and symbol of peace. Peace shall be the eternal character and blessedness of Jerusalem, in spite of her past history, as foreshadowed in the first occurrence of the name. (See Ps. cxxii. 6–8; cxxv. 5; cxxviii. 6. Isa. xxxii. 17; liv. 12; lx. 17; lxvi. 12. Hag. ii. 9.)

5. Numbers.—The Spiritual Significance of numbers is seen in their first occurrence.

One is associated with Deity (Gen. i. 3, 4). "God is light" (1 John i. 5).

Two is associated with Separation and Division (Gen. i. 6–8), though afterwards it is associated with union in testimony (Deut. xvii. 6. Rev. xi. 3).

Three is associated with resurrection in Gen. i. 9, when the earth rises up out of and above the waters; and fruit arises out of the earth.

Four is associated with the earth when (Gen. i. 14–19) the Sun and Moon were established as light-holders, to "give light upon the Earth."

Five is associated with grace, in the gift of life, in the creation of living creatures; and in the production of life out of the waters of the great deep.

Six is associated with the creation of Man (Gen. i. 26–31). Man was created on the sixth day; and hence six

¹ For further examination and study of all the Selahs the reader may consult Part II, of the work on The Psalm Tilles, by the same author and publisher.

² See Number in Scripture, by the same author and publisher, pp. 23–240.

i. AS TO WORDS: NUMBERS is man's "Hall-mark"; and, with its multiples, is stamped upon all that characterizes man as falling short of God; or in opposition to or defiance of God.

Goliath was 6 cubits high; his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron; and he had 6 pieces of armour enumerated.

Nebuchadnezzar was similarly marked. His image was 60 cubits high, and 6 cubits wide, while 6 instruments of music called for its universal worship.

The Beast is marked by the threefold combination of 606 (Rev. xiii).

Seven is associated with Divine Blessing and Rest (Gen. ii. 1-3), and is thus the mark of the Spirit of God as "the author and giver of life," and blessing, and rest. Hence it is that this number is so frequent in Scripture, as being the "Hall mark" of the Spirit's authorship of "the Word of life."

Eight is a new first and, like the Number Three, is associated with newness, especially in resurrection, which took place on "the first day of the week." It first occurs in Gen. v. 4 in the number of the years of Adam, the end of the first man. "The second man" began his resurrection life on the eighth day. Hence the association of the number with resurrection.

Nine occurs first in Lev. xxv. 22, and is used of the end of full time. Inasmuch as the fulness of time issues in judgment for good or evil, so nine becomes the symbol or hall-mark of all that stands connected with judgment.

Ten is the great cardinal number, completing one order and commencing a new one. Hence it is used of ordinal perfection, and is so used in its first occurrence in Gen. xxiv. 55.

Twelve is associated with service, rule, and Government. "Twelve years they served" (Gen. xiv. 4). Henceforth we find 12 and its multiples connected with Government both in heaven and on earth. It is the factor in the heavenly Signs, Constellations, and Measurements. It is the factor in all earthly enumerations that have to do with government.¹

Thirteen first occurs in Gen. xiv. 4 also, "Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer and the thirteenth year they

¹ See Number in Scripture, p. 253.

rebelled." So that ever after, in Scripture, the Number 18, and every multiple of it, is associated with rebellion, apostasy, and disintegration. It is universally a number of evil omen: but those who go back for the origin of anything never go back far enough. They go back, in their own imagination, to the Twelve Apostles and our Lord as making 13; but the first occurrence of the number takes us back to the Divine usage of the Word, Gen. xiv. 4.

6. The Divine Names and Titles are determined in the same way by their first occurrence.

God (Gen. i. 1). "In the beginning God created." Hence whenever we meet with the name of God we may always associate with it the thought of the Creator, and its appropriate use by His creatures (see p. 309).

LORD or Jehovah (Gen. ii. 4) first occurs as the special title used in the first of the Eleven Toledōth or "Generations." It is the Creator standing in Covenant relation, and in communication with those whom He had created.

Most High, or Elyon, occurs first in Gen. xiv. 18, and is associated with God as being "the possessor of Heaven and Earth." This is the essence of the meaning wherever we afterwards find it; and this will give the Scope of the passage in which we find it.