Psalms 101

Subdivision 3. (Psalms 101:1-8; Psalms 102:1-28; Psalms 103:1-22; Psalms 104:1-35; Psalms 105:1-45; Psalms 106:1-48.)Salvation in its innermost realization. The third subdivision shows us now the salvation of the earth in its innermost reality; and here necessarily we return; therefore, to Christ, to see how truly its blessing is dependent upon this Second Man; and to find how deep and full it is as based upon His atoning work, and upon the glory of His Person in which Godhead and manhood are inseparably and eternally united together. The revelation of this mystery is given us in the hundred and second psalm, and in the most deeply instructive manner, as the answer of God to One humbled and cut off under the wrath of God upon sin; and which addresses Him -this humbled Man -as Creator and Lord of all. Dying, He is yet the Unchangeable, Jehovah Himself; and all things are in His hand. The claim that He has to the earth is thus every way perfect; and He is the One whom we have seen as Jehovah, taking possession of it. Thus the praise that flows out now is to Jehovah as Creator and Redeemer alike, the God of Israel, whose Presence with them has been the one glory of their history hitherto, and who has now shown Himself supreme in grace and power above all their sin. These things we must not indeed expect to have told out to us in the clear language of the New Testament. We are dealing with prophetic scriptures which need for their very first rule of interpretation what Peter assures us applies to all prophecy, that they are none of them interpretable by themselves, but must be taken in communion with the whole mind of the Spirit, as given in the Word. Thus we must put these psalms together, just as we would put together the sentences of a book to find the full meaning, perhaps of any. And we must, above all, bring in the New Testament as the proper key to all deeper understanding of the Old. So read, however, there is to be gained a full and clear appreciation of the precious and pervasive meaning running through the whole, which gained is its own evidence. The spiritual picture, flooded with the warm light of heaven, no fortuitous running together of incoherent lines could possibly have achieved. And it is the picture of One well-known, who must have been present and well-known to the mind of Him who drew it with such perfect fidelity.

Psalms 101:1-8

The King of righteousness. A psalm of David. We have, first of all, the utterances of a King; and who if He be what His words convey to us, is such an One as the world yet waits for and must have for blessing: a strong hand of power which will not fail to accomplish its salvation; -power that will act in unswerving righteousness, and yet in tenderest consideration of frailty and of need: power with heart behind it; a “rod of iron,” but in the hands of a Shepherd, the true Shepherd of the sheep: a rod that smiths down evil, and yet only smites to save. Prophet and priest and king make up One -the “Anointed”: Messiah of Israel, and Gentile Christ alike. None of these can avail without the other. Prophet and priest have come, but not yet the full deliverance. Each has done his necessary work, and made ready the way for the King; but the King must come, that the full meaning of all may be apparent, and the end be reached. The Prophet must reveal, and bring in God as Light where all has been darkness, that God known may bring men’s hearts back to Himself. The Priest must open the way to God, that they may in fact be able to draw near to Him. After all this, nothing remains but that power in the hand of the King should intervene, and put away in fact sin and its consequences from among men; and perfect blessing. But for all this prophet, priest and king must be united in One who is Himself the bond which shall bind the universe together, God and man in one Person; who for man shall be God to reveal Him; who for God shall be Man to bring man nigh; who in the union of both shall combine absolute power with tender, sympathetic knowledge of man’s need, and so be the true King after God’s heart -for God and man; the David, the “Beloved.”

1. The present psalm only begins to tell this tale, and in a way abrupt enough, if it did not suppose the ear of a disciple, already instructed by what has been said elsewhere. It is the utterance of David, and expresses the mind of a King of Israel, filled with zeal for that divine Throne which the throne in Israel represented. He is thus a worshiper, and “loving-kindness and judgment” are the theme of a “song.” He sings to Jehovah, as one intimate with Him; inviting His coming to him; and with a confidence too great for one merely of the children of men, not only of the integrity of his heart, but of his practical wisdom for “a perfect way”: in holiness which can permit no approach of evil. It is the voice surely of Him who with perfect lowliness and the keenest apprehension of evil in every form, could say in the presence of His enemies seeking how they might condemn Him, “Which of you convicteth Me of sin?” “Loving-kindness and judgment” are with Him parts of but one song. Love and light, -grace and truth -are with Him as the two equal eyes which hold but one image. His heart “sings” of them -singing to Him in whom it finds them as their Source and Original. Here is One in whose hands power may be safely put: the prophetic picture of Him in whose hands it will in fact be put: to whom He has “given authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.”
2. We see Him now accordingly in the execution of this judgment. First of all, His principle and purpose to tolerate no evil; then the application of this to the back-biter, and to the proud who walks in his self-estimation apart from other men. But His eyes are upon the faithful in the land for good, and He draws them to Him; opening His house and heart, and gladly giving them places of confidence in which to serve a perfect Master in the way of the perfectness He loves. The vice of the weak, which is deceit, is not tolerated any more than that of the bolder or the stronger. Wickedness of all kinds must be rooted out of the land, and all vain-doers cut off from the city of Jehovah. Here is emphasized the spirit of the theocratic Ruler: the name of Jehovah must be hallowed in the place which He has chosen for Himself in grace among men.