be clouded, when he strikes terrors into our conscience on account of our sins, or withdraws the outward marks of his favour. 2. That they may know thy way upon the earth. Here we have a clear prophecy of that extension of the grace of God by which the Gentiles were united into one body with the posterity of Abraham. The Psalmist prays for some conspicuous proof of favour to be shown his chosen people, which might attract the Gentiles to seek participation in the same blessed hope. By the way of God is meant his covenant, which is the source or spring of salvation, and by which he discovered himself in the character of a Father to his ancient people, and afterwards more clearly under the Gospel, when the Spirit of adoption was shed abroad in greater abundance.2 Accordingly, we find Christ himself saying, (John xvii. 3,) "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God," &c. 3. Let the people praise thee, O God! Having spoken of all nations participating in the saving knowledge of God, he next tells us that they would proclaim his goodness, and exhorts them to the exercise of gratitude. The repetition used clearly shows of itself that he alludes to an event of a new and unprecedented kind. Had the allusion been to some such manifestation of his favour as he ordinarily made to the Jews, we would not have looked for the same vehemency of expression. First he says, Let the people praise thee; then he adds, Let all the people praise thee. Afterwards he repeats the exclamation once more. But he appropriately makes mention, between, of rejoicing, and the occasion there was for it, since it is impossible that we can 1 "A fin que par la clarté d'icelle les Gentils soyent amenez à la participation de la mesme esperance.”—Fr. The petition here offered is, that the Gospel, God's way,' might be universally spread;-a prayer that is not yet accomplished, but is in progress towards completion. The mention of nations and peoples, all of them, intimates, that the time which is the object of supplication is the time when God will no longer be the God of the Jews, but of the Gentiles also."-Walford. COMMENTARY UPON PSALM LXVII. 2. That they may know thy way upon the earth, thy salvation among all nations. 3. Let the people praise thee, O God! let all the people praise thee. 4. Let the nations be glad, and shout for joy; for he shall judge the people righteously, and thou shalt govern the nations upon earth. Selah. 5. Let the people praise thee, O God! let all the people praise thee. 6. The earth has given its increase; and God, even our own God, will bless us. 7. God shall bless us,' and all ends of the earth shall fear him. 1. God be merciful unto us, and bless us. tains a prediction of Christ's kingdom, under which the whole The psalm conworld was to be adopted into a privileged relationship with God; but the Psalmist begins by praying for the Divine blessing, particularly upon the Jews. They were the first-born, (Exod. iv. 22,) and the blessing was to terminate upon them first, and then go out to all the surrounding nations. I have used the imperative mood throughout the psalm, as other translators have done, although the future tense, which is that employed in the Hebrew, would suit sufficiently well, and the passage might be understood as encouraging the minds of the Lord's people to trust in the continuance and increase of the Divine favour. The words, however, are generally construed in the form of a prayer, and I merely threw out this as a suggestion. Speaking, as the Psalmist does, of those who belonged to the Church of God, and not of those who were without, it is noticeable that yet he traces all the blessings they received to God's free favour; and from this we may learn, that so long as we are here, we owe our happiness, our success, and prosperity, entirely to the same cause. This being the case, how shall any think to anticipate his goodness by merits of their own? The light of God's countenance may refer either to the sense of his love shed abroad in our hearts, or to the actual manifestation of it without, as, on the other hand, his face may be said to God, even our own God, will bless us, God shall bless us. There is here again clearly an allusion to the formula of blessing in Numbers vi. 24-26, where the name of God is, as here, repeated three times in succession. be clouded, when he strikes terrors into our conscience on account of our sins, or withdraws the outward marks of his favour. 2. That they may know thy way upon the earth. Here we have a clear prophecy of that extension of the grace of God by which the Gentiles were united into one body with the posterity of Abraham. The Psalmist prays for some conspicuous proof of favour to be shown his chosen people, which might attract the Gentiles to seek participation in the same blessed hope. By the way of God is meant his covenant, which is the source or spring of salvation, and by which he discovered himself in the character of a Father to his ancient people, and afterwards more clearly under the Gospel, when the Spirit of adoption was shed abroad in greater abundance.2 Accordingly, we find Christ himself saying, (John xvii. 3,) "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God," &c. 3. Let the people praise thee, O God! Having spoken of all nations participating in the saving knowledge of God, he next tells us that they would proclaim his goodness, and exhorts them to the exercise of gratitude. The repetition used clearly shows of itself that he alludes to an event of a new and unprecedented kind. Had the allusion been to some such manifestation of his favour as he ordinarily made to the Jews, we would not have looked for the same vehemency of expression. First he says, Let the people praise thee; then he adds, Let all the people praise thee. Afterwards he repeats the exclamation once more. But he appropriately makes mention, between, of rejoicing, and the occasion there was for it, since it is impossible that we can 1 "A fin que par la clarté d'icelle les Gentils soyent amenez à la participation de la mesme esperance."-Fr. The petition here offered is, that the Gospel, God's way,' might be universally spread ;-a prayer that is not yet accomplished, but is in progress towards completion. The mention of nations and peoples, all of them, intimates, that the time which is the object of supplication is the time when God will no longer be the God of the Jews, but of the Gentiles also."-Walford. COMMENTARY UPON PSALM LXVIII. praise God aright, unless our minds be tranquil and cheerful; unless, as persons reconciled to God, we are animated with the hope of salvation, and "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding," reign in our hearts, (Philipp. iv. 7.) The cause assigned for joy plainly in itself points to the event of the calling of the Gentiles. The reference is not to that government of God which is general in its nature, but to that special and spiritual jurisdiction which he exercises over the Church, in which he cannot properly be said to govern any but such as he has gathered under his sway by the doctrine of his law. The word righteousness is inserted in commendation of his government. Language almost identical is used by Isaiah and Micah when they speak of the times in which the word of salvation would be diffused throughout all the earth, (Isa. xi. 4; Micah iv. 3.) 6. The earth has given its increase. Mention having been made of the principal act of the Divine favour, notice is next taken of the temporal blessings which he confers upon his children, that they may have everything necessary to complete their happiness. And here it is to be remembered, that every benefit which God bestowed upon his ancient people was, as it were, a light held out before the eyes of the world, to attract the attention of the nations to him. From this the Psalmist argues, that should God liberally supply the wants of his people, the consequence would be, to increase the fear of his name, since all ends of the earth would, by what they saw of his fatherly regard to his own, submit themselves with greater cheerfulness to his government. PSALM LXVIII. In this psalm it was David's design to celebrate the victories which, through the blessing of God, he had gained over his enemies; but, 1 As to the time and occasion of the composition of this psalm, the majority of interpreters refer it to the translation of the ark from the house of in the opening verses, he commends the power and goodness of God generally, as seen in the government of the world at large. From this he passes to the consideration of what God had done in redeeming his chosen people, and of the continued proofs of fatherly care which he had manifested to the posterity of Abraham. He then proceeds to the subject which he had more particularly in view, prosecuting it at length, and in terms of the most exalted description; praising the signal display of Divine power which he, and the whole nation with him, had experienced. Now that he had been made king, he infers that the Church was brought to a settled condition, and that God, who seemed to have departed, would now at length erect his throne, as it were, in the midst of it, and reign. In this it would evidently appear, that he designed, typically, to represent the glory of God afterwards to be manifested in Christ. To the chief musician. A psalm or song of David. 1. God shall arise: his enemies shall be scattered; and they who hate him shall flee before him. 2. As smoke is driven away, thou shalt drive them away; as Obed-Edom to Mount Zion, and with this every part of it would, no doubt, harmonize. But other critics, as Drs Geddes, Boothroyd, and Morrison, think (and Calvin's opinion seems to be the same) that it was penned after some great victory; probably after David's signal victory over the Ammonites and Syrians, when the ark was brought back in triumph to Jerusalem, (1 Chron. xix. 10-19.) That the ark accompanied the army in those wars we learn from the words of Uriah to David, in 2 Sam. xi. 11, compared with ch. xii. 31. As every thing under that dispensation was typical or prophetical, it is very natural to regard the triumphant manner in which the ark ascended the holy mountain, as an emblem of the far more triumphant and glorious ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ (of whom the ark, and the tabernacle, and the temple itself, were all figures) to the highest heavens, after he had overcome his own and his people's enemies; and in this application the 18th verse of this psalm is quoted by the Apostle Paul, (Eph. iv. 8, 9.) This inspired composition, though highly sublime and beautiful, is universally acknowledged by critics to be of very difficult interpretation. Dr Adam Clarke pronounces it "the most difficult psalm in the whole Psalter;" and, after quoting the words of Simon de Muis,-who observes, that "it may not be improperly termed the torture of critics, and the reproach of commentators," he says, "There are customs here referred to, which I do not fully understand: there are words whose meaning I cannot, to my own satisfaction, ascertain; and allusions which are to me inexplicable. Yet of the composition itself I have the highest opinion:— it is sublime beyond all comparison;-it is constructed with an art truly admirable;-it possesses all the dignity of the sacred language;-none but David could have composed it; and, at this lapse of time, it would require no small influence of the Spirit that was upon him to give its true interpretation." |