Psalms 68

1. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; Let them also that hate him flee before him. 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: As wax melteth before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them ex- ult before God: Yea, let them rejoice with gladness. 4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: Cast up a high way for him that rideth through the deserts; His name is JAH; and exult ye before him. 5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, Is God in his holy habitation. 6 God setteth the solitary in families: He bringeth out the prisoners into prosperity: But the rebellious dwell in a parched land. 7 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, When thou didst march through the wilder- ness; 8 The earth trembled, [Selah The heavens also dropped at the presence of God: Ecen yon Sinai trembled at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 9 Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, Thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. 10 Thy congregation dwelt therein: Thou, O God, didst prepare of thy goodness for the poor. 11 The Lord giveth the word: The women that publish the tidings are a great host. 12 Kings of armies flee, they flee: And she that tarrieth at home divideth the spoil. 13 Will ye lie among the sheepfolds, As the wings of a dove covered with silver, And her pinions with yellow gold? 14 When the Almighty scattered kings therein, It was as when it snoweth in Zalmon. 15 A mountain of God is the mountain of Ba- shan; An high mountain is the mountain of Ba- shan. 16 Why look ye askance, ye high mountains, At the mountain which God hath desired for his abode? Yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. 17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands upon thousands: The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the sanctuary. 18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led thy captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts among men, Yea, among the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell with them. 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burden, Even the God who is our salvation. [Selah 20 God is unto us a God of deliverances; And unto JEROVAN the Lord belong the is- sues from death. 21 But God shall smite through the head of his enemies, The hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his guiltiness. 22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring them again from the depths of the sea: 23 That thou mayest dip thy foot in blood, That the tongue of thy dogs may have its portion from thine enemies. 24 They have seen thy goings, O God, Even the goings of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 25 The singers went before, the minstrels fol- lowed after, In the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels. 26 Bless ye God in the congregations, Even the Lord, ye that are of the fountain of Israel. 27 There is little Benjamin their ruler, The princes of Judah and their council, The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28. Thy God hath commanded thy strength : Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.29 Because of thy temple at Jerusalem Kings shall bring presents unto thee.30 Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, The multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples, Trampling under foot the pieces of silver ; He hath scattered the peoples that delight in war.31 Princes shall come out of Egypt ; Ethiopia shall haste to stretch out her hands unto God.

32. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth ; O sing praises unto the Lord ; [Selah33 To him that rideth upon the heaven of heav- ens, which are of old ; Lo, he uttereth his voice, and that a mighty voice.34 Ascribe ye strength unto God : His excellency is over Israel, And his strength is in the skies.35 O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places : The God of Israel, he giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.

THE subject of this grand hymn is the entry of God into His sanctuary on Zion. This is described under figures borrowed from the triumph of an earthly conqueror, who, after having vanquished his enemies, and taken possession of their country, marches in solemn procession at the head of his troops to occupy the city which he has selected as his capital and the seat of empire. God is represented first as advancing at the head of the Israelites through the desert ; then as leading them victoriously into Canaan ; and finally as fixing His royal abode on Zion, whence He reigns in the majesty of universal dominion, acknowledged and feared by all the nations of the earth. Such is, briefly, an outline of the Psalm.

The methods of interpreting it, however, are various. The Fathers, and most of the older theologians, hold the Psalm to be Messianic. By many of them the Psalm is regarded as a direct prophecy of Christ and His kingdom, and devoid altogether of any reference to events occurring at the time it was written. Others more reasonably maintain a first reference to the historical circumstances of the time, and then apply the Psalm, either in whole or in part, typically to Christ. But even among those who contend that the Psalm is to be explained in the first instance by a reference to the circumstances under which it was composed, there is the greatest difference of opinion both as to the occasion for which, and the period at which, the Psalm was written. One set of critics sees in it every evidence of antiquity and originality ; another sees in it every mark of a late age, and a great absence of originality. All, however, combine in praising its vigor, its life, its splendor ; all recognize in it the work of a poet of no ordinary genius. P.

There is a wide difference of opinion among critics as to the time and occasion of the sixty-eighth

Psalm. But all agree that it is the grandest of these sacred odes. In its description of the wonderful achievements of Jehovah, as King and Protector of Israel, there is an intermingling of epic stateliness and grandeur with lyric simplicity and elegance. It is greatly enriched by frequent allusion to more ancient songs commemorative of signal deliverances. It is the most elaborate and artistic of the Psalms, but incomparably bold, rugged and abrupt in its style and transitions. The last mentioned features are decidedly in favor of assigning it to a very early date. In its extensive sweep it covers the whole history of Israel, from its birth as a nation under the sovereign rule of Jehovah, till His final triumph over all the kingdoms of the earth in the reign of the Messiah. “The fundamental thought is as clear as the arrangement and rhythmical organization—namely, the celebration of an entrance of God into His sanctuary after a victory, and His rule over the earth, extending itself from thence.” (Moll.) The central historic fact with which the song of triumph is connected is probably the close of the wars recorded in 2 Sam. 10, 11 against the Ammonites, and the immense gathering of mercenary Syrian soldiers from beyond the Euphrates, whose aid they had purchased against the armies of David. (See v. 30 and 2 Sam. 10 : 6, 15-19.) The ark, representing the Divine Majesty (Psalm 78 : 61), had been carried before the host of Israel, and after a decisive victory is now borne back to Zion in a festal procession. De Witt.

This Psalm is usually considered the most glowing and powerful in the whole collection. It is remarkable for its boldness and energy, its wealth of historic allusion, its rapid movement, its brilliant imagery, its sustained elevation, its far-reaching outlook, its lofty devotion and triumphant faith. It is a triumphal song upon the occasion of some brilliant victory. Its salient points are the entrance of God as conqueror into His sanctuary on Zion, and the extension of His dominion thence over all the earth. T. W. C.

It is a Psalm in the style of Deborah, stalking along upon the highest summit of hymnic feeling and delineation; Binnie characterizes it beautifully as “a magnificent triumphal anthem sparkling with gems from the earlier Scriptures”—all that is most glorious in the literature of the days of old is concentrated in it: the signal words of Moses, his blessing, the prophecies of Balaam, the Book of Deuteronomy, Hannah’s song, re-echo here; but in addition to this the language is so bold and so peculiar, that we meet with no fewer than thirteen words that do not occur anywhere else. D.

It has been observed that almost all the remarkable titles of the Deity are employed in describing and praising the person addressed here. He is called “Elohim” in v. 2; “Adonai,” v. 12; “Shaddai,” v. 15; “Jehovah,” v. 17; “Jah,” v. 19; and “Al,” v. 20. The Hebrew names of God have, each of them, a distinct and peculiar meaning. No one word will suffice for them all. The vague use of the terms “God” and “Lord” in our translation can never convey to the reader’s mind the ideas which the original expressions, if properly translated, would bear. R. H. Ryland.

The general structure of the Psalm, notwithstanding the difficulties which beset many portions of it, is clear and well defined. It consists of the following divisions: 1. An introduction which, with true lyric animation, sets before us the victorious march of God, the deliverances He has accomplished for His people, and the loud exultation to which they are called in consequence (vs. 1-6). 2. Then follows a glance at the former history—the journey of Israel through the wilderness, under the immediate guidance and care of God (vs. 7-10); the triumphant occupation of the land of Canaan, and the flight of the hostile kings (vs. 11-14); the choice of Zion as the abode of God, and His solemn entry into it (vs. 15-18). 3. The Psalmist, contemplating the glorious results of this abode of God in Zion, calls upon all Israel to praise Him, chiefly because He will punish all the enemies of His people (vs. 19-23). 4. The next strophe reverts to a description of the triumphal procession (vs. 24-27). 5. The hope is expressed that all the nations of the world shall acknowledge and submit themselves to Jehovah who dwelleth in Zion (vs. 28-31). 6. The Psalm closes with a summons to all the kingdoms of the earth to praise God (vs. 32-35).

1. The Psalm opens with a reference to the watchword (Num. 10: 35), with which the ark was wont to set forward during the journeys in the wilderness. “Rise up, O Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thy face.” “I cannot doubt,” says Calvin, “that Moses dictated this form of prayer for all ages, in order that the faithful, relying on the ark of the covenant as the visible symbol of God’s presence, might rest sure that they would be safe.” P.—The first verse is copied from the watchword of Israel when on the march through the wilderness (Num. 10: 35), but with a significant change. What was there expressed as a wish is here stated as a fact of certain occurrence. This is in condensed form the theme of the whole Psalm, as it is a fact verified in all human history. T. W. C.

2. The figures here employed occur elsewhere. They describe forcibly the real weakness, the easy and instantaneous overthrow, of the strongest earthly power when arrayed against God. P.

2,3. The truth is emphasized by the familiar Scripture figures of smoke driven by the wind (Hos. 13: 3), and wax melted by the fire (Psalm 97: 5; Micah 1: 4). But the presence of God before which the wicked flee in dismay and confusion is just that which kindles the exultant joy of the righteous. T. W. C.

The righteous. Here, Israel as a nation regarded in its ideal character, and as placed in contrast with its heathen oppressors, “the wicked.”

4. Cast up a highway; the figure being borrowed from the custom of Eastern monarchs, who sent heralds and pioneers before them to make all the necessary preparations—to remove obstructions, etc., along the route which they intended to follow. Great military roads were mostly the work of the Romans, and were almost unknown before the Persian and Grecian periods. P.—The God of Israel is thought of as marching at the head of His people through the Arabian desert; before whom, therefore, as before other kings in like circumstances, a highway should be cast up; mountains levelled; valleys filled; the crooked made straight and the rough smooth—for His march. C.

“Sing unto God, sing praises to His name; cast up a way for Him that is riding through the wilderness.” Who is He that is riding through the wilderness, that we should pay Him this respect? “He,” says the Psalmist, “who cannot be described.” “His name is Jah.” His name and His nature are involved in the name and nature of the Godhead. Jehovah, the Self-existent One. He who led the armies of Israel through the wilderness, when they first came up from Egypt was Christ. He who brought the captives home from Babylon was Christ. Christ, therefore, is intended here, under the image of one riding through the wilderness, not upon the heavens, at the head of the returning captives. “His name is Jah;” Christ’s name is Jehovah. Horsley.—He that is marching along has the salvation of His people as His aim; “Jah is His name, therefore exult ye before Him.” His essential name is Jah, the attestation of Himself whereby He makes Himself knowable and namable, consists in this, that He is the God of salvation who in the might of free grace pervades and overrules all history. This name is for His people a fountain of exultation. D.

By the attribution and performance of praise unto Him, doth He account His name, His power, His wisdom, and justice, and Himself to be exalted thereby. What else do these expressions in Scripture imply wherein it is asserted, that by this high duty of praise the high Jehovah is exalted, His sublime perfection is extolled and lifted up? How high must be that duty that adds height to the high God, that magnifies the great God, and glorifies the God of glory! S. Fairclough.

5. The lofty One who is enthroned in the heaven of glory, rules in history here below and takes an interest in the most lowly, following His own with rich help in all the circumstances and relationships of their life. He takes the place of a father to the orphans. He successfully advocates the cause of the widow. D.—The character and attributes of God, and His gracious dealings with His people, are now alleged as the reason why He should be praised. The “fatherless” and the “widows” are mentioned as examples of those who most need succor and protection. As Arndt says: “The meaning of the Holy Ghost is, that God the Lord is a gracious, friendly God and King, whose first, highest, and principal work it is to give most attention to those persons who ought to be most pitied, because they are helpless and comfortless. Great potentates in the world do not act thus; they respect the noblest and richest in the land, the men who may adorn their court, and strengthen their power and authority. But the highest glory of God is to compassionate the miserable.” God is both the loving Father and the righteous Judge; and the several classes of the lonely, the destitute, the oppressed, the captives, are mentioned as so many instances of those who have experienced both His care and His righteousness, in order that from these the conclusion may be drawn in all similar cases. P.

It is a beautiful view of the character of the eternal Parent of all His creatures that He fills all the parental relations. “A Father of the fatherless.” And His beloved Son well caught in this, as in everything, His Father’s mind: “I will not leave you orphans.” There are fatherless ones much worse than the fatherless, and there are widows of a far deeper sorrow than the bereaved. There is the man that walks this earth and yet has no relationship with heaven. There are women who are widows even in their own inner life. J. V.

6. Elohim is one who brings solitary or isolated ones to dwell in the house. House, i.e., family-bond, domestic circle, is the antithesis of solitary or recluse. D.—In setting the family at the fountain-head of human history, God only insured a representation of Himself which should be perpetual and indestructible. The familiar walls of home made with hands might fall away, but the work of the Divine Builder still remained. The best work of that Builder was silent and invisible, and it was through the homes that God was leading us to Him. These Divine ingredients were the chief things about home, and without the experience of relations with God a person was homeless, even in a palace. S. E. Herrick.

Home, that briefest word of our good old Saxon tongue—there lies in it the wealth of all language, of all affection, of all virtuous joy, of all pure memories, of all innocent hopes; the prattle of the infant, the gleeful laugh of childhood, the song of the maiden, the cheerful labor, the merry pastime, the sweet repose of evening when toil is ended, the united meal, the household stories, music, and diversions, the various ages, interests, and plans revolving about one centre, and that centre love. Whose eye does not moisten with unbidden tears at the thought of home? These four letters are the chord of human happiness for every gamut; whenever the scale of life begins, these letters are its perfect consonance. “God setteth the solitary in families.” This was His institution at the beginning, and He ordained it to be perpetual. J. P. T.

The home is the instrument of a double education. Its function is to develop the Divine image in parent and in child. As the first step to the fulfilment of His purpose in restoring man to His own image, God set “the solitary in families,” He laid the foundation of the home as the fundamental human institution, the foundation of all true order, the spring of all true development in human society. Out of the home State and Church were to grow; by the home they were both to be established. And so God took the dual head of the first human home, the father and mother, and made them as gods to their children, and He set them there to study the pain and the burden of the godhead as well as the power and the joy. This was the only way by which man could gain the knowledge of the mind and heart of God. J. B. Brown.

Measure what home love is worth to society. Estimate the healing, comforting, purifying, elevating influence which is ever flowing forth from this fountain, and you will understand the sacred ministry of the home to the higher culture of mankind. It is a mighty restraint of evil passions. It is the centrifugal force which continually widens the orbit of life, and bears us into the light of distant suns. In the home every unselfish endeavor to lift and bear the burdens of the dear ones around fills the very atmosphere with music of light and joy. Ibid.

It is at home that the blessedness of the parental relationship is learned, and the mind is turned to the great Father. It is at home that love is cultivated, and the heart is opened to Him whose name is Love. It is at home that self-restraint is practised, and that those passions which excite to rebellion against God are held in check. It is at home that intense desires for the welfare of those dependent on us are awakened, and that the need of Divine help is so strongly felt as to demand expression in prayer. In a word, home is the very nursery of religion. J. C. Harrison.

If we desire a model home we must be willing to work for it—with brain and heart as well as hands. Children should receive their first lessons in usefulness around the family hearth. If more time and labor were expended to make homes—homes worthy of the name—the wrong-doings of sons and daughters would not so often plant unhappiness and discontent in their parents’ declining years. The mother of a family should always be found at home to welcome husband and children when they return from the cares and lessons of the day. Everything seems dreary and cheerless when mother is away. There are no smiles and loving words of welcome; no one to inquire about the successes and failures of the work undertaken. The remembrance of a loving word or smile will often gladden the whole day. A mother’s tact will do much toward inventing ways and means to interest the little flock growing up around her, but to have a real home the father must contribute his part toward making the house in which his family dwells more than a mere shelter from the summer’s heat and the winter’s cold. His leisure hours belong to his wife and children, and no matter how monotonous the home life may be, it is his duty to help and share the burdens and cares of the one he has promised to love, cherish, and protect. Young people must have recreation of some kind. It is natural and necessary, and needs much thought and care in the selection thereof on behalf of their elders. Anon.

The most effective religious influence you exert upon your sons and daughters comes from the example you set before them. Your character streams into your children; it enters through their eyes and through their ears every hour. How quick they are to imitate! No photographic plate is more sensitive to the images which lodge there. Your irritations irritate them; your dissimulations make them tricky and deceitful; your malicious gossip sets “their teeth on edge.” If you talk “money-money,” they will conclude that the chief end of life is to get rich. If you prefer the playhouse to prayer-meeting, they will become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. If you set a decanter on your table, your boys will sip their first wine glasses there. If you give your child a dollar for the place of amusement, and only a dime for the contribution-box, you teach them that self-indulgence is ten times more important than Christian benevolence. If you live for the world, your children may die in worldliness and be lost forever. Not more surely do you provide the clothes for their bodies, than you weave the habits of their lives and the mind-garments that they will be wearing after you are dead. As clothes are made stitch by stitch, so you weave their character by numberless little things and by your unconscious influence. The Christian or unchristian atmosphere of every house is created by the parents. T. L. Cuyler.

Friendships in the family require most gentle care and cultivation. We must win each other’s love within home-doors just as we win the love of those outside—by the sweet ministries and graces of affection. We must prove ourselves worthy of being loved by those who are nearest; they will not truly love us unless we do, merely because we are of the same household. We must show ourselves unselfish, thoughtful, gentle, helpful. Home friendships must be formed as all friendships are formed—by the patient knitting of soul to soul and the slow growing of life into life. Then we must retain home-friends after winning just as we retain other friends—by a thousand little winning expressions in all our intercourse. We cannot depend upon relationship to keep us loved and loving. We must live for each other. We must give as well as receive. We must be watchful of our acts and words. . . . The sweetest, best, happiest, and most perfect earthly home is but a dim picture of the love and gladness of the home in heaven. Heaven is like a holy home, only infinitely sweeter, truer, and better. Home has been called “heaven’s fallen sister.” If in the imperfect homes of this world we find so much gladness in the ties that bind heart to heart and knit life to life, may we not be confident that in the perfect home of our heavenly Father all this gladness will be infinitely deepened and enriched? Love will not be different in heaven; it will be wondrously purified and exalted, but earthly love will live on through death into eternity. J. R. M.

No two words have a more vital importance than Christianity and Home. Underneath the foundations of both Church and State lies the household; it is older also than either of them. There is no such school of Bible-religion in the land as a happy, God-fearing home. No church is effective for restraint from evil and for growth in all Christian graces as “the church in the house.” There stands the domestic altar. There is felt the influence that moulds character from the cradle to the judgment-seat; such a home on earth is the surest preparation for the home eternal in the heavens. Of this “church in the house” the parents are the God-ordained pastors. T. L. C.

The Church has always been the strength of the home. The Jews, among ancients, and the Christians since, have been the home-makers; their civilization the outgrowth of the domestic relation. Under pagan Rome the family was so broken up that special laws were passed offering favors to those who reared families.

The Socialistic Congress at Geneva, in 1869, enacted “the abolition of marriage, so far as it is a political, religious, judicial, or civil institution.” The ultimate proposition of atheism is that all children shall be cared for by the State. On the other hand, religion nurses all the domestic affections. Belief in the Fatherhood of God strengthens and sanctifies the filial regard. The love of God, the higher agape, deepens the affection of husband and wife, of brother and sister. The eternal hope tightens the grasp with which we hold one another in the deathless embrace, for such “love can never lose its own.” And the family is the feeder of the Church. Most converts are from Christian homes. The parent the best pastor, as originally the father was the household priest. Anon. (Read Psalms 127, 128)

7. O God, in Thy going out before Thy people, in Thy marching through the wilderness, Selah.** The sentence is completed in the next verse, being here divided by a pause of solemn and admiring recollection. The general description of the foregoing verses is now confirmed and illustrated by a reference to the exodus from Egypt and the journey through the wilderness. Before Thy people, in the pillar of cloud, as their guide and their commander, Thy marching, literally, Thy stepping, treading, or more exactly still, Thy step or tread. 8. The earth shook, nay, the heavens dropped, this Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Dropped, discharged drops, rained. The first clause is descriptive of the grand and terrible phenomena attending the theophany at Sinai. (See Ex. 19: 16-18.) A.—The Scripture alone can supply ideas answerable to the majesty of this subject. In the Scripture, wherever God is represented as appearing or speaking, everything terrible in nature is called up to heighten the awe and solemnity of the Divine presence. The Psalms and the prophetic books are crowded with instances of this kind. “The earth shook” (says the Psalmist), “the heavens also dropped at the presence of the Lord.” Burke.

The proper theme of the Psalm now opens with allusions to the great triumphal march of God at the head of His people through the wilderness, and in their occupation of Canaan. The reference is first to the terrors of the theophany on Sinai, and the glorious majesty of God as there seen. P.—The description fixes upon Sinai as the central point of all the revelations of God during the Mosaic time of redemption, as the place most glorious of them all. The grand phenomena which declared the nearness of God were distributed over the whole journey through the wilderness; they concentrated themselves most gloriously at the giving of the law on Sinai. The earth trembled throughout the wide circuit of the vast granite mountain range, and the heavens dropped, inasmuch as dark thunder-clouds, pierced by incessant lightnings, rested upon Sinai. There, as the primary passages describe it, Jehovah met His people; He came from the east, His people from the west; there they met, and causing the earth to quake, and breaking through the heavens, He gave them a pledge of the omnipotence which was henceforth to defend and guide them. D.

9. A rain of free gifts Thou pourest down, O God; Thine inheritance, and (that) exhausted, Thou dost confirm (or strengthen) it. The first clause probably refers to the abundant and refreshing gifts (of which rain is a natural and common emblem) bestowed upon the people in the wilderness, including manna, quails, and water. A.—“Thou didst confirm Thine inheritance, when it was weary.” As at the end of each stage, when they halted, weary with the march, they found such showers of good things awaiting them that they were speedily refreshed. When they were exhausted, God was not. When they were weary, He was not. They were His chosen heritage, and, therefore, although for their good He allowed them to be weary, yet He watchfully tended them and tenderly considered their distresses. In like manner, to this day, the elect of God in this wilderness state are apt to become tired and faint, but their ever-loving Jehovah comes in with timely succors, cheers the faint, strengthens the weak, and refreshes the hungry. By this faithfulness the faith of God’s people is confirmed and their hearts established; if fatigue and want make them waver, the timely supply of grace stays them again upon the eternal foundations. S.

10. Prepare of Thy goodness for the poor. The industrious poor man is assured that God will bless his honest endeavors; and while he is sure of God’s benediction, he thinks his poor estate rich. No man is so happy as to have all things; and none so miserable as not to have some. He knows he hath some, and that of the best riches; therefore resolveth to enjoy them, and want the rest with content. He that hath this contentation of heart, be he never so poor, is very rich. T. Adams.

11. The sacred poet now passes to the actual occupation of the Holy Land. The Lord (Adonai) giveth (the) word. The noun “word” (which is found only in poetry) is used in 77 : 8, of the “word of promise;” in Hab. 3 : 9, apparently of the “word of power,” or “word of victory.” Perhaps both meanings may be combined here. It is in virtue of God’s word of promise that Israel takes possession of Canaan; it is by His word of power that the enemies of Israel are discomfited. “God speaks—and the victory is won.” P.—Singing women celebrated the deliverance of Israel from Pharaoh’s host, their emancipation from Jabin’s power by the overthrow of Sisera, the victory of Jephthah over the Ammonites, and the victorious duel of David with Goliath; on this occasion also God’s decisive word will go forth, and of the women that tell the good tidings, like Miriam and Deborah, there will be a great host. V. 12 describes the theme of the triumphant exultation. D.

The Lord did give His Word at His ascension, and there were a multitude of them that published it, and by this means kings of armies were put to flight; they conquered by the Word; there is not such another way to rout kings and their armies. W. Strong.—The Bible is our constitution and our bill of rights, as well as the code of moral and spiritual law. The man who imbibes its principles will never be a slave to superstition, to ecclesiastical pretenders, to civil tyrants, to his own evil passions. The Bible makes a man a free man physically, spiritually, mentally, morally and in his civil status. The intolerance, uncharity, persecution, and other evil traits which crop out of ecclesiastical organizations are all directly contrary to the teaching, example, and spirit of our Lord and Master. . . . The Bible is chiefly valued for spiritual guidance, and for the knowledge it gives us of our future destiny and condition. But it has a lower, which is yet the highest earthly value. The Bible is a great political factor. It is the armory in which men equip themselves for the defence of their civil and religious liberties. Its standard of human rights and of manhood is higher than men ever wrought out for themselves. It sets aside all claim to dominance over man by any authority less than his Creator. The Bible does this as the Word of God. Try to tear that book to pieces and you are trying to destroy the eternal charter of human liberty. . . . Yes, this Bible has been blessed by God Almighty. It carries a blessing, like the ark of the covenant, to the home and heart, where it is reverently received. It promotes intelligence, higher education, freedom of thought, good citizenship, everything desirable in the heart, the home, the nation. It works, not as a charm, signed and sealed by some earthly official; but with the blessing of the Almighty Spirit it enlarges, purifies, enriches and guides through the earthly life to the everlasting habitations. Interior.

The marvellous unity, the infinite variety, the matchless sublimity, the inimitable pathos, the power over souls, of this unique and incomparable book; its holy law, against which fight men’s subtlest and most inveterate lusts, its attractiveness for all classes, for all centuries, in all lands; the magnificent ideals presented by it; the invisible but unwasting power which goes everywhere with it to uplift society, to ennoble civilization, as well as to bless persons and households—all these things and others leave us no more in doubt as to whether the Bible came from God through man, or from man himself in his uncertain inquiring wit, than we are in doubt whether light was braided in human workshops, or the ocean was poured from a million tin-cups. The Bible silently, by its progress on the earth, defies the world to make another equal or superior to it. R. S. S.

Admissions of Leading Sceptics of France, England and America.

It was not with art and apparatus that the Gospel extended itself throughout the world, and that its ravishing beauty impenetrated men’s hearts. This Divine book, the only book indispensable for the Christian, only needs to be meditated upon to carry into the soul the love of its Author, and the desire to fulfil His precepts. Never has virtue spoken a language so delightful. Never has the profoundest wisdom expressed itself at once with so much of energy, and with so much of simplicity. One cannot quit the reading without feeling himself better than before. I confess to you that the majesty of the Scriptures amazes me, the holiness of the Gospel speaks to my heart! See the books of the philosophers, with all their pomp, how petty they are beside this! Can it be that a book at once so sublime and so simple has been the work of man? Can it be that He whose history it presents was Himself only a man? Rousseau.

The pagan moralists lack life and color, and even the noble Stoic, Marcus Antoninus, is too high and refined for an ordinary child. Take the Bible as a whole; make the severest deductions which fair criticism can dictate for shortcomings and positive errors; eliminate all that it is not desirable for children to occupy themselves with; and there still remains in this old literature a vast residuum of moral beauty and grandeur. And then consider the great historical fact that for three centuries this book has been woven into the life of all that is best and noblest in English history; that it is written in the noblest and purest English, and abounds in exquisite beauties of mere literary form; and that it forbids the veriest hind who never left his village to be ignorant of the existence of other countries and other civilizations, and of a great past, stretching back to the furthest limits of the oldest nations in the world. By the study of what other book could children be so much humanized, and made to feel that each figure in that vast historical procession fills, like themselves, but a momentary space in the interval between two eternities, and earns the blessings or the curses of all time, according to its effort to do good and hate evil, even as they also are earning their payment for their work? Huxley.

View it in what light we may, the Bible is a very surprising phenomenon. This collection of books has taken such a hold on the world as has no other. In all the temples of Christendom is its voice lifted up, week by week. The sun never sets on its gleaming page. It goes equally to the cottage of the plain man and the palace of the king. It is woven into the literature of the scholar, and it colors the talk of the street. It blesses us when we are born; gives names to half Christendom; rejoices with us; has sympathy for our mourning; tempers our grief to finer issues. It lifts man above himself; our best of uttered prayers are in its storied speech, wherewith our fathers and the patriarchs prayed. The timid man, about awaking from this dream of life, looks through the glass of Scripture, and his eye grows bright; he does not fear to stand alone, to tread the way unknown and distant, to take the death-angel by the hand, and bid farewell to wife, and babes, and home. Some thousand famous writers come up in this century, to be forgotten in the next. But the silver cord of the Bible is not loosed, nor its golden bowl broken, as Time chronicles his tens of centuries passed by. It is only a heart that can speak, deep and true, to a heart; a mind to a mind; a soul to a soul; wisdom to the wise, and religion to the pious. There must then be in the Bible mind, heart, and soul, wisdom and religion. Were it otherwise, how could millions find it their lawgiver, friend, and prophet? Some of the greatest of human institutions seem built on the Bible; such things will not stand on heaps of chaff, but on mountains of rock. Theodore Parker.

12. This and the next two verses wear the air of being a fragment of one of those ancient battle-songs, sung by the women after the defeat of the foe. The fact that they have thus been torn from their original context accounts for the great obscurity which hangs over them. It is, indeed, almost hopeless now to understand the allusions.

She that tarrieth at home; the mistress of the household, so called as keeping house, while her husband goes forth to battle; an expression peculiarly in conformity with Eastern customs. Divideth the spoil, “distributes among her daughters and handmaidens the share of the spoil” which her husband has brought home. Hence the mother of Sisera is represented as anticipating the share of the spoil which would fall to her lot (Jud. 5 : 30). P

13. The lying between the sheepfolds is an emblem of prosperous peace, which points back to the song of Deborah (Jud. 5 : 16). Such a time is now also before Israel, a time of peaceful prosperity increased by rich spoil. Everything shall gleam and glitter with silver and gold. Israel is God’s turtle-dove (74 : 19). Therefore the new condition of prosperity is compared with the play of colors of a dove basking in the rays of the sun. Its wings are then as if overlaid with silver. D.—Nearly all see, in the dove and the glittering of her wings in the sunshine, an emblem of prosperity and peace, though some suppose that the allusion is to the bright armor of the warriors, glittering in the sunshine. According to Hengstenberg, the Israelites, to whom the address is directed, are described figuratively as the wings of the doves, or they are like doves whose wings glitter with silver and gold. The allusion is to the play of colors on the wings of the dove in sunshine. This denotes the peaceful, and, at the same time, splendid condition enjoyed by Israel, in the lap of prosperity. The same idea is carried out in the second figure (v. 14), that of the snow, an image of the bright gleam of heaven which fell on the darkened land on the prosperous termination of the war; when the Lord scatters kings, the light of prosperity illuminates the darkness of the land, just as dark Zalmon becomes white when covered with snow. Zalmon is a hill mentioned in Jud. 9 : 48, situated in the neighborhood of Shechem, and covered with a thick wood, so that, as Luther says, “it might be called in German a Schwartzwald, or dark forest, the dark or black mountain.” This, on the whole, is preferable to any of the other interpretations. It has the merit of simplicity, and it yields a fairly satisfactory sense. P.

15. A mount of God (is) Mount Bashan, a mount of peaks (or ridges) is Mount Bashan. The first phrase means a mountain showing forth the creative power of God by its vastness. Mount Bashan, not a single eminence, but the lofty range of Antilibanus, also called Hermon, and by other races, Sion and Sirion. The last two names would be apt to suggest, by a fortuitous resemblance, that of the holy hill of Zion.

A mount of peaks or ridges, i.e., not a detached mountain, but a chain with many lofty summits, forming the northern boundary of Bashan. At the same time, the expressions of this verse would necessarily suggest the idea of great states or kingdoms, of which mountains are the standing symbols. A.

The immediate reference to the mountain range of Bashan confirms the conjecture that the poem is to be connected with the war between Israel and the various Syrian nations from beyond the Euphrates, recorded in 2 Sam. 10 : 15, 19. The battle was fought at Helam, near the Euphrates, belonging to the half tribe of Manasseh, to which Bashan had been assigned as part of its territory. The lofty mountain range of Bashan was therefore in sight of the army on its homeward march. It is called “a mountain of God,” as conspicuous among the works of God. The personification of these great mountains as full of envy, when the triumphant host passed them by, and went by preference to the little hill of Zion, is superb. De Witt.—He makes the mountains of Bashan an emblem of the hostile powers east of the Jordan. These stand over against the people of God as the mighty mountains of Bashan, which rise in precipitous and at the top only slightly flattened peaks, stand over against lowly undulating Zion. D.

Bashan is the high snow-summit of Hermon, the extreme limit of Bashan. The world’s physical greatness must yield to the Church’s spiritual grandeur. The “mountain of God” is here an emblem of the world-kingdoms, which are great only by the grace of God. A great hill reminds us of the creative power of God. Hence, “the hill of Elohim” (the general name of God as the Creator) stands in contrast to the hill which (v. 16) “the Lord” (Jehovah) will dwell in forever. Fausse.

16. The end of all this manifestation of God’s power on behalf of His chosen, of all these splendid victories, is the occupation of the Holy Land. He has given it to His people, that He may abide and reign in the midst of them. He has chosen, not the lofty range of Bashan, but the more lowly Zion for His seat; and to this new sanctuary He comes from Sinai, attended by “an innumerable company of angels.” P.—Not only Elohim has chosen it as His seat, but it will also continue to be so forever; Jehovah will continue to dwell in it forever. Grace is superior to nature and the Church to the world, however powerful and majestic this seems; Zion maintains its honor over against the mountains of Bashan. D.

17. In solemn triumph, like a victor who leads trains of captives and spoils in long array, God enters His sanctuary in Zion. P.—The last words of the verse are obscure, but seem most probably to mean that the same glorious theophany which once took place on Sinai is now renewed on Zion, with particular reference, as some imagine, to the presence of the ark and the tables of stone in the one case as a perpetual memorial, and even a perpetual renewal, of the legislation in the other. This fine poetical identification of the two mountains hallowed by God’s presence may have been in the mind of the apostle when he drew that sublime contrast or parallel between them (Heb. 12 : 18-24). Under the law, Sinai was renewed in Zion. Under the Gospel, Zion superseded Sinai. A.

The chariots of God are twenty thousand. Other countries, which in the former verse were symbolically referred to as “high hills,” gloried in their chariots of war; but Zion, though far more lowly, was stronger than they, for the omnipotence of God was to her as myriads of chariots. The Lord of hosts could summon more forces into the field than all who boasted in their armies; His horses of fire and chariots of fire would be more than a match for their fiery steeds and flashing cars. The original is grandly expressive: “The war chariots of Elohim are myriads, a thousand thousands.” S.

18. Thou hast gone up to the high place; Thou hast captured a captivity; Thou hast taken gifts among mankind, and (even among) rebels, (so as) to dwell (here), Lord, God! In order to establish Zion as His earthly dwelling-place, God has encountered all opposing powers, vanquished them, and forced them to pay tribute, even the stoutest and most stubborn. The sign of the conquest being finished is the conqueror’s return to his throne, whether upon earth or in heaven. Captured a captivity, i.e., taken captive a multitude of enemies. The gifts meant are the forced gifts of the conquered. Among men, i.e., while present among them as their conqueror, and by implication from them. Even rebels, even the most rebellious, are compelled to submit. In other words, the conquest is complete. According to the military figures here used, it would seem to be implied that the gifts thus extorted by the conqueror are distributed among his followers. To receive gifts, on the one hand, and bestow gifts, on the other, are correlative ideas and expressions, so that Paul, in applying this description of a theocratic triumph to the conquests of our Saviour, substitutes one of these expressions for the other (Eph. 4 : 9). He also, in his comment on the passage, justly represents the ascension there described as necessarily implying a previous descent. In other words, victory presupposes conflict. A.

This Psalm typifies the conquests of the Church under her Divine Leader, Christ. He, indeed, “who was with the Church in the wilderness” (Acts 7 : 38), is the Lord described in this ideal ascension. Hence Paul (Eph. 4 : 8) applies this language to describe His real ascension, when, having conquered sin, death, and hell, the Lord of glory triumphantly entered heaven, attended by throngs of adoring angels, to sit on the throne and wield the sceptre of an eternal dominion. The phrase, received gifts for (or literally, among men, is by Paul, “gave gifts to men.” Both describe the acts of a conqueror who receives and distributes spoils. The Psalmist uses “receiving,” as evincing the success; Paul, “gave,” as the act of the conqueror who, having subdued his enemies, proceeds to reward his friends. The special application of the passage by Paul was in proof of Christ’s exaltation. What the Old Testament represents of His descending and ascending corresponds with His history. He who descended is the same who has ascended. As then ascension was an element of His triumph, so is it now; and He who in His humiliation must be recognized as our vicarious sacrifice and the High-priest of our profession, must also be adored as Head of His Church and Author of all her spiritual benefits. Fauset.

Paul interprets in the light and in the sense of the historical fulfilment. For the ascension of Elohim is in historical fulfilment none other than the ascension of Christ; this latter was, as the Psalm describes it, a triumphal procession (Col. 2 : 15); and what the Victor has gained over the powers of darkness and of death, He has gained not for His own enrichment, but for behoof of men; they are gifts which He now distributes among men, and which turn out to the advantage even of those who have gone astray. So the apostle takes the words, turning “received” into “gave.” The gifts are the charismata coming down from the Exalted One upon the Church—a bestowal of blessing which stands in a causal connection with His victory; for as Victor He is also the possessor of the blessing, His gifts are, as it were, the spoils of the victory gained by Him over sin, death, and Satan. The apostle is all the more justified in giving this interpretation, as Elohim is celebrated in what follows as the

Lord, who brings forth even from death. In the historical fulfilment this praise belongs to Him who, as Theodoret remarks, has opened the prison-house of death, which for us had no exit, and burst the brazen gates and crushed the iron bolts—viz., to Jesus Christ, who now has the keys of death and of Hades. D.

The resurrection of Christ is the basis of all that we have and hope and love in Christ, but especially have we in it the surety of the hope of eternal life, because thereby all fear of death has been banished, and future blessedness and life have become a reality in Christ Jesus. He is our Head, and we through faith are members of His body. And since our Head has overcome sin and death and Satan, we partake of the triumph and the victory. For He has conquered our enemies for us and not for Himself. The victory is ours, as is also the triumph. When a ruler or a general conquers the enemies of a kingdom, he indeed triumphs, but the fruits and glories of the victory belong to the whole country and to all the citizens. Therefore all Christians triumph with Christ in His glorious resurrection. Gossner.

Thou hast led captivity captive. The ancient prophecy of David is fulfilled on the foot of Mount Olivet. There Christ conquered the allied principalities and powers, the devil, sin, death, and hell, and deprived them of the instruments wherewith they enslaved men. C. Evans.—He led those captive who had led us captives, and who if He had not interposed would have held us captive forever. Nay, He led captivity itself captive, having quite broken the power of sin and Satan. As He was the Death of death, so He was the Captivity of captivity (Hos. 13 : 14). This speaks the complete victory which Jesus Christ obtained over our spiritual enemies; it was such, that through Him we also are more than conquerors—that is, triumphers. H.—What a representation for well-assured belief! all my spiritual foes overcome, disarmed, exposed, so that I have no more to do than to set forth the victory of Christ and share in its joy! Van O.

Thou hast received gifts for men; He gave gifts to men, so the apostle reads it (Eph. 4 : 8). For He received that He might give; on His head the anointing of the Spirit was poured, that from Him it might descend to the skirts of His garments. And He gave what He had received; having received power to give eternal life, He bestows it upon as many as were given Him (John 17 : 2). H.—No sooner is Christ inaugurated in His throne, but He scatters His gifts. He gives the gift of gifts, the gift of the

Holy Ghost. “If thou knewest the gift of God,” said Christ to the Samaritan woman. That gift was the water of life, and that water of life was the Spirit, as John, who knew best His mind, gave the interpretation, “This spake He of the Spirit.” Such a gift was never before but when God gave His Son. “God so loved the world that He gave His Son;” and Christ so loved the world that He gave His Spirit. But consider especially to whom this Spirit was given. “Unto us a Son is given,” said the prophet (Isa. 9 : 6); and “unto us the Holy Ghost is given,” said the apostle (Rom. 5 : 5); and yet above all consider the reasons of this gift in reference to thyself. Was it not to make thee a temple and receptacle of the Holy Ghost? Admire the condescending, glorious, unspeakable love of Christ in this! It was infinite love to come down into our nature when He was incarnate; but this is more, to come down into thy heart by His Holy Spirit; He came near to us then, but as if that were not near enough, He comes nearer now, for now He unites Himself unto thy person, now He comes and dwells in thy soul by His Holy Spirit. Isaac Ambrose.

Of itself the departure of our risen Lord would neither have permanently illuminated the reflections of the Church nor quickened the graces of its separate members. But He left this earth in His bodily form, to return as a Quickening Spirit, in force and virtue, before He comes to judgment. He ascended up on high to obtain gifts for men; and having received of the Father, as the bounteous firstfruits of His opening and omnipotent intercession, the promise of the Holy Ghost, He shed upon the earth those wondrous gifts which the first Christians saw and heard. H. P. L.—The work of men’s deliverance, which Christ began while He was on earth, He carries on and completes from heaven. He “received gifts for men”—the manifold gifts of the Holy Ghost. He who gave once gives always. These are gifts for men; and as long as there are men needing these gifts, they will not cease. And that will be always, even to the end of the world. In a world of sorrow such as ours, when will the office of a Comforter cease? In a world of sin such as ours, when will the office of a Sanctifier be out of date? Trench.

Who can adequately describe the magnificence of the benefits dealt out by the exalted Saviour, and the munificence with which He distributes these to all who approach His throne of grace with empty hands but earnest hearts? With all spiritual blessings from heaven we are blessed in Christ, and what has already rejoiced millions is still in the future appointed for millions more; yea, the greater the necessity, the richer the fulfilment here promised. Van O.—He came from the infinite to the finite that He might conduct God’s children up through the finite into the infinite forever. He leads them up with the voice of mercy on His lips, with the memory of suffering in His heart; and the front ranks of His innumerable army raise their song, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, be glory forever.” Ker.

The rebellious. This completes the picture of the triumph. All—even those nations which hold out the longest in their stubborn resistance, and refuse to submit themselves to the Great Victor—must finally acknowledge His sway. All shall be united in one kingdom, and God the Lord shall reign in the midst of them. This is the great prophetic idea which recurs so often in the writings of Psalmists and prophets. God is the King of all the earth; and, in spite of all opposition, His kingdom shall be set up, and on the throne of that kingdom His Son, His Anointed (the Messiah, the Christ), shall reign. Hence it is that Paul (Eph. 4: 9) applies this verse to the resurrection and triumphant ascension of Christ. The apostle sees in the literal Old Testament fact a higher spiritual significance. The ascent of the ark, in which God was present, into Zion, prefigured the ascent of Christ into heaven. As God came down to fight for His people, so Christ had descended to this earth for the salvation of men. As on the return of the ark the captives and the spoil appeared in the procession, so on the return of Christ in triumph to heaven (Col. 2: 15) He led captive sin, and death, and hell, and all evil powers. As God had taken tribute among men, which He, however, as the victorious monarch of Israel, had given to Israel, so Christ also had taken gifts among men (in His human nature and through His work on earth) which He now, as ascended Lord, gave to men. The apostle sees that when a king takes, he takes to give, and therefore substitutes the one word for the other, without at all putting the one word as the translation of the other. He seizes the idea, and represents it in its true fulfilment. P.

Among the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them; that He might set up a church in a rebellious world, in which He would dwell by His Word and ordinances, as of old in the sanctuary; that He might set up His throne and Christ might dwell in the hearts of particular persons that had been rebellious,

The gracious intention of Christ’s undertaking was to rear up the tabernacle of God among men, that He might dwell with them, and they might themselves be living temples to His praise (Ezek. 37: 27). H.

“And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” His last appearance was with hands extended in benediction. His last words were blessings. He came from heaven bringing gifts to men. His entire life ministry was a constant benefaction. And now, as He leaves the world that scorned the gifts and crucified the Giver, His parting words are intoned with love—His hands extended in benediction. Shall we not believe that from His home in the heavens our ascended Lord is still sending His priceless gifts to men, and over our lives His hands are still extended in blessing? And shall not this faith move us to deeper love to Him, and firmer loyalty to His cause? E. K. Young.

The innermost chamber of the Divine Presence is open now, and sinful men have access, with confidence by the faith of Him, wherever He has gone before. Right into the secret of God’s pavilion we can go, now and here, knowledge and faith treading the path which Jesus has opened, and coming to the Father by Him. Right into the blaze of the glory we shall go hereafter; for He has gone to prepare a place for us, and when He overcame the sharpness of death, He opened the gate of heaven to all believers. A. M.—Every believer may say, Christ did not only die and rise again, but He ascended into heaven to take possession thereof for me, to prepare a place for me. He standeth there in the second part of His suretyship to bring me safe thither, and to present me in a glorious manner, “not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.” He is therefore exercising His priestly office for me, pleading the perfection of His own righteousness and the virtue of His blood. He is there ready to answer the accusations of the law, the devil, and sin for me. Bunyan.

Christ’s consolation to His disciples in the parting hour was, “I go to prepare a place for you.” How much was included in these words we shall never know till we, like Him, see of the travail of His soul, and like Him are satisfied. But we can dimly see that, on the one hand, His death, and, on the other hand, His entrance into that holiest of all, make ready for us the many mansions of the Father’s house. He was crucified for our offences, He was raised again for our justification. He is passed through the heavens to stand our forerunner in the presence of God; and by all these mighty acts He prepares the heavenly places for us. As the sun behind a cloud, which hides it from us, is still pouring out its rays on far-off lands, so He, veiled in dark sunset clouds of Calvary, sent the energy of His passion and cross into the unseen world and made it possible that we should enter there. “When Thou didst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the gates of the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” As one who precedes a mighty host, provides and prepares rest for their weariness, and food for their hunger, in some city on their line of march, and having made all things ready, is at the gates to welcome their travel-stained ranks when they arrive, and guide them to their repose; so He has gone before, our forerunner, to order all things for us there. It may be that unless Christ were in heaven, our Brother as well as our Lord, it were no place for mortals. Be that as it may, this we know, that the Father prepares a place for us by the eternal counsel of His love, and by the all-sufficient work of Christ, by whom we have access to the Father. A. M.

Let us not lose out of our conception of the glorified Christ this truth, that He is actually human still. His body is changed, glorified, as our bodies shall be changed, glorified in our resurrection; yet it is still the same body which He had on the earth. His humanity was carried up to heaven. As he never for a moment ceased to be God while here on the earth in lowly flesh, so He has never for a moment ceased to be man since ascending into the heavenly places. The Godhead and the humanity are forever inseparable. The tender compassion of the Jesus of the Gospels was not lost when He went up out of our sight and was exalted to the throne. Our King has a human heart, with human affections, sympathies, and feelings. Our Lord, to whom we pray, on whose arm we lean in weakness, to whose mercy we flee when we have sinned, to whom we turn for help in weakness and comfort in sorrow, is our Brother, with a nature like ours. How near it brings Him to us to think of Him as really human still, in His eternal glory! How it exalts our thought of the dignity of humanity to remember that one of our race is on the throne of thrones! J. R. M.

The ascension is the completion of the resurrection. It corresponds to the supernatural birth, and the evangelist whose record of the nativity is the fullest is also he who principally tells us of the humanity, which had been born in Bethlehem, being taken up to the throne of God. The ascension witnesses to the completeness of His sacrifice, to its acceptance by the Father, to the presence within the veil of our all-powerful intercessor, to the elevation to supreme authority of the Man who is our Brother. The eternal Word ascended where He had been from before the beginning, but the manhood is new to the throne of the universe. Where He is, there shall also His servants be; and as He is, so shall they too become. Even now we may, in a very real sense, live with Christ in heavenly places; and if we believe that He has gone up on high, we too should “set our affections” and thoughts “on things above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.” For where our “treasure” is, there should and shall our “hearts” be also. The disciples showed us how we should think of the ascension when they worshipped Him, thus declared Him to be the Son of God, and then turned all the more joyfully to their homely tasks, and drowned the pain of parting in the flood of joy which poured over their spirits. They made all life worship, every place a temple, and every act and word adoration. Thus joyfully, and with unceasing thankfulness and praise making music in life and lip, should those pass the brief hours of earthly sojourning, whose lives are hid with Christ in God. Where He is, is their home. It becomes them to live here as pilgrims and sojourners. A. M.

19. The description of the great triumphal procession is here suddenly broken off with an ascription of praise to God as the protector and avenger of His people, and is not again resumed till v. 24. Beareth our burden. The majesty of God and the tenderness of God are thus ever associated in Holy Scripture. The same God who came once in awful glory to Sinai, and who now, accompanied by myriads of angels, enters into His sanctuary in Zion, is the God who bears the burden which is too heavy for us; or, perhaps, “who bears us,” i.e., carries us, as a shepherd when he finds the lost sheep lays it upon his shoulder. P.

He daily beareth our burdens; or, as the Hebrew has it, “day by day beareth.” It means that He so knits Himself with us as that all which touches us touches Him; that He takes a share in all our pressing duties, and feels the reflection from all our sorrows and pains. There is something deeper than sympathy in that great Heart, which gathers into itself all hearts, and in that great Being whose being underlies all our beings, and is the root from which we all live and grow. In simple though profound verity, God has that which is most truly represented to man by calling it a fellow-feeling with our infirmities and sorrows. . . . People talk much rubbish about the “stern Old Testament Deity.” Is there anything sweeter, greater, more heart-compelling and heart-softening than such a thought as this—a God that carries men’s loads? How all the majesty bows itself and declares itself enlisted on our side when we think that “He that sitteth on the circle of the heavens” is the God that “daily beareth our burdens”! And this is the tone of the Old Testament throughout. A. M.

20. “The issues of death”—the goings forth from under His power. It is God’s prerogative to bring His people up from the perils and power of death when He will—which is said here with special reference to the imminent perils of natural destruction from which God had preserved His people. C.—The ways of our departing out of this life are in His hands; and so in this sense of the words, the issue of death is a deliverance in death; not that God will deliver us from dying, but that He will have a care of us in the hour of death, of what kind soever our passage be. Donne.

21. The reverse of the previous truth; God will take terrible vengeance on His enemies.

22. I will bring again. No object is supplied, but it is evident from the context that the enemies of Israel are meant. God will bring these back, wherever they may have fled in the hope of safety, and give them up to the vengeance of Israel. From Bashan in the east, and from the sea in the west, from the heights of the mountains, and from the depths of the sea (one or both of these antitheses may be designed), they shall be brought back (Amos 9: 1-3). P.—Even if these foes of Israel have hidden themselves in the most remote places, God will fetch them back and make His people the executioners of His righteousness upon them. Over against the hiding in the forests of mountainous Bashan there stands the hiding in the abyss of the sea—the impossible being assumed as possible—as being the deepest place in which they can hide. D.

24,25. The picture of the triumphal procession to the sanctuary is now resumed (from v. 17). P.—The “goings” of God here thought of are those in which he went forth at the head of the hosts of Israel, and by His providential agencies smote and subdued their enemies. Then he went forth from His sanctuary; these goings forth were fitly celebrated in the sanctuary after the victory was won.

We have the grand procession here in view; the singers leading the train; the instrumental performers next; and all these in the midst of damsels playing the timbrel. This seems to be precisely what the Hebrew words mean. C.—Israel’s festival of victory is regarded as a triumphal procession of God Himself, of the King, who reigns in holiness and who has now subjugated and humbled the profane, unholy world. D.

27. Representatives of all the tribes supposed to be there, i.e., in the triumphal march. They seem to be selected, partly with reference to their local habitation, as the northern and southern extremities of Israel; partly because the most remarkable exploits, from the time of Moses to the time of David, were performed by these tribes. A.—Benjamin the youngest, their ruler. This recognizes Saul, the first king of Israel, as belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, and the location of the sanctuary within its borders. Judah follows, the tribe to which the sceptre of Israel had been permanently attached by the prophecy of Jacob in Gen. 49: 10, confirmed by the promise to David in 2 Sam. 7: 12-16. Zebulon and Naphtali had possession on the northern boundary of the kingdom, and are mentioned in the song of Deborah as having distinguished themselves by their valor in the early history of the nation. De Witt.

“Benjamin, Judah, Zebulon, Naphtali.” The same tribes are prominent in the New Testament, as foremost in the battle of the Church against the world. Paul, the “least” of the apostles, was by origin Saul of Benjamin. Christ, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” James and John, the brothers, the other James. Thaddeus, and Simon, were from Judah, and the other apostles were from Napthalim and Zabulon, or Galilee. Fausset.

28-35. The Psalmist now turns in prayer to that God who has ascended into His holy habitation, beseeching Him thence to manifest His power in the subjugation of all enemies; he beholds the nations bringing tribute to Him as to their sovereign; and finally calls upon them to join in loud praise and worship of Him who rules in heaven, and who is the God of Israel. P.

30. In v. 29 the voluntary submission of foreign powers is described. Here the prayer is that God would compel to submission those who oppose themselves. The beast of the reed, evidently a symbolical description of Egypt. Either the crocodile is meant, or the hippopotamus. Probably the former, as the latter does not occur as a symbol of Egypt. Egypt is selected as an example of the nations of the world, being at this time, no doubt, the leading power. The general sense is sufficiently clear. The Psalmist anticipates the entire subjection of all the princes and nations of the earth to the God who has now seated Himself on His throne in Zion. P.

Egypt appears here as the greatest and most dreaded world-power; Elohim is to set limits to the haughty ones that exalt themselves above Israel and Israel’s God. Bulls are an emblem of the kings, and “calves” of the peoples over whom the kings rule; with the one emblem there is associated the idea of defiant self-confidence, with the other that of well-to-do security. D.—The last clause is not a prayer, but a prophecy, built on history: Thou hast scattered the war-loving nation, and Thou wilt yet again. C.

31. Egypt and Ethiopia are mentioned as examples of the most wealthy and powerful nations, who will bring their treasures and pour out their gifts before God. P.—They shall come out of Egypt to Jerusalem, as promised above (v. 29), to bring thither their offerings to the true God. So Isaiah (19: 21, 22). Ethiopia shall hasten her hands toward God; literally, make them run. Lifting up the hands to God is with the Psalmist an act of worship, yet probably in this connection involving the presentation of her gifts to the God of Israel. C.

32. The remaining verses of the Psalm are, in fact, prophetic. Standing in the midst of that future glory, which he anticipates so vividly that it seems already to be present, the Psalmist calls upon all the kingdoms of the world to praise God, whose glory is in heaven, but who has also chosen Zion, there to dwell, and to manifest His glory, as He manifests it in heaven. P.

32-36. To Him who is presented as riding in triumph through His ancient heavens and proclaiming His presence—to Him who, in nature, and still more in the wonders of His spiritual government, out of His holy place (Psalm 43: 3), is terrible, who rules His Church and by His Church rules the world in righteousness—let all nations and kingdoms give honor and power and dominion evermore. Fausset.

33. To Him that rideth upon the heaven of heavens. Before, He was described in His earthly manifestations as marching through the desert; now, in His celestial glory, as riding in the heavens of the primeval ages. Long ere this heaven and earth were made, the loftier abodes of the Deity stood fast; before men or angels were created, the splendors of the Great King were as great as now, and His triumphs as glorious. S.

33,34. Here the writer seems to hear an audible response from the skies, and hence his exclamation at the roar of the thunder, “Lo, He uttereth,” etc. Then he demands that all ascribe strength unto God, assigning as the reason the nature and extent of the Divine power. It is revealed in the protection of the chosen people, while at the same time it has its seat in the skies and so extends throughout the universe. T. W. C.

35. From Thy sanctuaries. So (110: 2) “Jehovah shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion,” as the seat of God’s dominion, as the centre from which He exercises His power. P.—The taking up of all the kingdoms of the world into the kingdom of God, the great theme of the Apocalypse, is also at bottom the theme of this Psalm. The first half closed with Jehovah’s triumphant ascension; the second closes with the results of His victory and triumph, results which embrace the Gentile world. D.

Giveth strength to His people. The Lord is the fountain of all might. He is strong and makes strong; blessed are they who draw from His resources, they shall renew their strength. While the self-sufficient faint, the All sufficient shall sustain the feeblest believer. “Blessed be God.” A short but sweet conclusion. Let our souls say Amen to it; and yet again, Amen. S.

The whole Psalm is full of devotion. Its author, the sweet singer of Israel, never soared on so lofty a wing as in these stirring strains, but here, as elsewhere in the Scripture, the human element does not exclude the Divine, nor earth displace heaven, but the glory is always ascribed to the Most High. There is no praise of angels or men, but the poet’s genius reverently falls at the feet of his Maker, and ever and ever gives to Him the praise due to His name. The most glowing, the most spirited, the most powerful hymn in the whole Psalter is at the same time the one most alive with faith and consecration. T. W. C.