8. In righteousness to judge the world, 9 GOD also will a refuge be For those that are oppress'd; 10 And they that know thy name, in thee For thou hast not forsaken them 11 O sing ye praises to the Lord And all the nations among ferior sense of inflicting punishment, that not being the primary object and ultimate end of appointing judges in Israel. Verses 9, 10. Plainly include the full sense of judging; for are none oppressed and in trouble but the elect, or faithful? As the end of punishment is that men may seek JEHOVAH's name, and know that he is the most High over all the earth (Psal. lxxxiii. 16, 18.); so David here says—And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; that is, they who are divinely taught his revealed character, merciful nature, and are led to learn and see the one Mediator, in whom his name is, shall believe in him, to their salvation. To encourage us to do so, we are told that he hath not forsaken them that seek him, to whom he says, as to the disciples; Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world, or the age of their service in all generations. The unsearchable riches of CHRIST are to be preached among the nations, to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which hath been hid in GoD from the beginning of the world, to the intent also that by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, might be known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, Eph. iii. 8. &c. It may admit of a question how far the holy angels may be intended, as they are doubtless much more enlightened than the Church can be supposed to be under this dispensation. Not of them surely did Paul say to the Church-Know ye not that we shall judge angels? 1 Cor. vi. 3. Verse 11. Sing praises to the LORD &c. GOD hath fixed his special residence in Zion, Jewish and Christian, and is there to be praised in the assemblies of his people. The injunction to declare among the people his doings is allowed to respect the Heathen nations, as Poole expresses it, "that they also may be brought to the knowlege and worship of the true GOD." The same command binds Christians to all their present laudable exertions to evangelize the nations; and what is now commanded as a duty, will one day become the subject of an universal song, See Ephes. iii. 10. 12 When he enquireth after blood, The humble folk he not forgets 13 Lord, pity me; behold the grief Ev'n thou, who from the gates of death 14 That I, in Sion's daughters' gates, 15 The Heathen are sunk in the pit Which they themselves prepar'd; Verse 12. When he maketh inquisition &c. The Lord remembreth the humble that seek him, in the use of appointed means, by making inquisition for the blood of his saints, so often wantonly shed by persecutors, as requested, Rev. vi. 10. and remembers these so as to punish them, or their seed that walk in their steps, by giving them blood to drink, having found them worthy of such retribution. The term being in the plural, bloods, includes the injury done to precious souls. The blood also of the armies of the earth, by which mystical mountains are melted, shall be required of these nations that delight in war. How much more then shall inquisition be made for Christ's blood! Verse 13. Have mercy upon me, O LORD, &c. If our Lord himself may, here and elsewhere in this book, be supposed to supplicate mercy; can the sons of men have any room to plead merit before God? The gates of death, to which he had been brought by the hatred of his enemies may intend some great distress or danger from which, he gratefully owns his God had delivered him. This was fully verified in our Lord's resurrection from the dead. Verse 14. That I may show orth &c. Here the gates of the daughter of Zion, which lead to happiness, are contrasted with the gates of death or misery. In the assembly of God's people he purposes to render thanks and praise for his goodness, and to express his joy in his salvation; as Hezekiah afterwards did, when brought back from the gates of death. When our Lord, of whom David, Hezekiah, and other pious kings in Israel were a figure, rose triumphant from the dead, he did so in the Zion above, and also by his people in the Christian church. All the faithful will do so also in due time. Verses 15, 16. The heathen &c. See Ps. vii. 15, 16. The LORD is known, or hath made himself known, by the judgment which he executeth on the wicked, of whatever nation they be, or famous among his enemies." And in the net which they have hid 16 The LORD is by the judgment known Wherewith themselves are caught. And all the nations that forget 18 For they that needy are shall not The expectation of the poor He adds Higgaion; a note of attention, intimating that such procedure deserves serious, deep, and frequent meditation or consideration, as the ́ word signifies. And will not this be his grand end in the judgment mentioned next verse? Verse 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell, &c. Do not all nations, in their collective capacity, forget Gon, Jews and Christians not excepted? Since then all the nations that forget God shall be turned into hell, if to remain there without end, how shall they all be blessed in Abraham, and in his Seed Christ? how shall he inherit them all, as promised Ps. lxxxii. 8? and how shall all the nations that God hath made come before him and glorify his name, as foretold, Ps. lxxxvi. 9? Does CHRIST inherit any thing in hell? or do the wicked in that place come before him to worship, and there glorify his name? Before the advocates for their endless confinement and misery there, boast of the evidence on their side, and condemn the opposite doctrine and its advocates, let them reconcile these ' things to their system, and no longer set the word of God at variance, to the grief and stumbling of many. Verse 18. For the needy shall not always be forgotten, &c. The connection evidently leads us to view the subjects of future misery as more › immediately intended; and since they are the poor and needy in the most emphatic sense, who would maintain that they shall be always forgotten of GOD? that their expectation shall perish for ever, when that phrase is enployed to denote always, as in the first clause? Guilty creatures in misery naturally hope for relief from the Father of their Spirits, till despair, which is not of him, overpowers that native principle. That the poor and needy of God's people have a particular interest in the promise, which was fulfilled to the glorious Head, is no reason to exclude the other sense, and confine it to them. 19 Arise, LORD, let not man prevail; Judge Heathen in thy sight: 20 That they may know themselves but men, PSALM X. THE LXX join this psalm to the preceding, but in the original it is a separate one. Though David may here complain of his own malicious enemies, especially those of his own people, whose wicked and deceitful practices he describes; yet as he was a type of Messiah, and of his Church, in whose experience the same things are exemplified, the psalm is viewed as predictive of her persecution from the spirit of Antichrist in the world. Private Christians can easily apply the contents to their own case, when oppresed by the violent attacks of power, wealth and cunning. After expostulating with the Lord, he characterises the spirit of Antichrist by several distinguishing marks, such as hatred of the poor, or faithful, v. 2; complacency in his own schemes, and in those who are like minded, v. 3; infidelity and forgetfulness of God, v. 4; profligacy, pride and carnal security, 5, 6; profaneness and perjury, 7; craftiness and treachery in accomplishing his wicked devices, 8, 10; security and presumption, 11. In verses 12-15. we have earnest prayer for deliverance from that malignant spirit; and the psalm concludes with expressing the joy of faith in tribulation. 1 WHEREFORE is it that thou, O LORD, Dost stand from us afar? And wherefore hidest thou thyself Verse 19. Arise, O LORD, &c. Arise to judge the heathen or the rations, as in last clause. Man would prevail, if permitted to accomplish these wicked purposes that run counter to the Almighty's designs. Verse 20. Put them in fear, &c. This prayer was worthy of David, and of his Lord, as originating from compassion. Hence says a Commentator on this verse-" Mercy is necessitated to begin her work with an infliction of judgment." That the nations may know themselves to be but men, Heb. Weak and miserable, and mortal men; the most precious branch of knowlege, next to that of God himself, to which it leads. LET Christians meditate on the contents of this psalm, weigh them in the balance of the sanctuary, intermix faith and prayer, and improve the whole to the glory of Gon, the benefit of their neighbour, and their own salvation. 2 The wicked in his loftiness In these devices they have fram'd 3 The wicked of his heart's desire And in the counsels of his heart 5 His ways they always grievous are; He puffeth with despight. 6 Within his heart he thus hath said, And no adversity at all Shall ever come to me. Verse 1. Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? &c. This accor our Lord's complaint, Ps. xxii. 1. uttered by him on the cross. Verse 2. Let them, or they shall be taken in the devices that th imagined. This was verified in the Jews, and will in all Christ mies, and those of his people. Verse 3. The latter clause of this verse is rendered on margi: covetous blesseth himself, he abhorreth the LORD; which marks a spirit in direct opposition to the Spirit of God, who teaches th more blessed to give than to receive. Verse 4. last clause--All his imaginations are, There is no G being the language of his desire, fostered by impiety, The neg prayer to Gon argues pride, and to banish him from our thought direct road to practical atheism. Verse 5. His ways are always grievous, or corrupt; &c. A practice will ever correspond to his principles; and he who does lieve the threatened judgments, cannot be supposed to stand in their execution. Verse 6. He hath said in his heart, &c. Presumption is the o of prosperity; and divine patience, instead of leading to rep |