and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.

make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no

Psalm 71.

I IN thee, O LORD, do put my trust let me never be put to confusion.

2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

WRITER: Most likely David.
In his latter years (vers. 9, 18).
OCCASION: Unknown.
CHARACTER: Practical.
PRINCIPAL USE: For time of
trouble.

The thing that strikes one in the psalm is the practised way in which (as if in accordance with a long-established habit) the trouble is taken to God. The most unnatural of proceedings. See vers. I, 3, 5, 6, 7, &c.

2. "Thy righteousness": "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right ?"

3. God a rock and fortress. Meditate on this. "Commandment to save me." In another version

5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.

6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

7 I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.

8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.

10 For mine enemies speak

against me: and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,

II Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

12 O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.

13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.

14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

15 My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.

16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.

17 O God, thou hast taught

and

me from my youth: hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

18 Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!

20 Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

talking, shows by his life that God is a reality and a power to him, is doing this. The best way to influence the rising generation, i.e., them that are "to come."

20. "Depths of the earth": it must be figurative. A person coming up out of a mine for the first time would realise it; still more, one shut up in it, but hoping to escape. David had often been in such a mine.

22-24. If these various expressions are weighed they will give a very forcible idea of the psalmist's inner life.

23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.

24 My tongue also shall

Psalm 72.

A Psalm for Solomon,

I GIVE the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.

2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.

3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by right

eousness.

4 He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save

WRITER: David.

See ver. 20, which is said to be, with the two previous verses, the doxology that closes the Second Book of Psalms according to Jewish arrangement (Ps. xlii. to Ps. lxxii.) But it is much more likely that vers. 18-20 are the ending of the psalm itself.

OCCASION: See title.

CHARACTER: Prophetic.

To understand this psalm we must observe 2 Sam. vii. 11-16, together with the quotation from that passage in Heb. i. 5, which makes it so plain that Christ is intended in the promise to David. So deeply was this ingrained in the Jewish mind that they called the Christ "the son of David."

1. From this verse all the rest of

talk of thy righteousness all the day long for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.

5 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.

6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.

7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.

66

the psalm (to ver. 18) flows. "Give the king," &c., and then all these blessings shall follow. There are about thirty shalls in the psalm. Thy judgments," "thy righteousness," that is, judgments and righteousness like thine. Observe how righteousness is the foundation of both Divine and human authority. 2. "Thy poor": note this.

3. Compare Isa. xxxii. 15-17. The effect of righteousness is peace. "Mountains": either because they were commonly the unsafest places, or to denote universality.

4. This is what the religion of God is doing, and shall do.

5. "Surely the Lord's Anointed is before Him" here. It could hardly be said that Solomon was feared " as long as the sun and

moon endure."

8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.

10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

II Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.

12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.

14 He shall redeem their

soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.

15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.

16 There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun : and men shall be blessed in him all nations shall call him blessed.

18 Blessed be the LORD

14-17. In reference to the Gospel kingdom, see parable of Mustard Seed, &c. Observe here "grass," an emblem, not of passing away (as in James i. 10; 1 Pet. i. 24), but of thriving. "They of the city": whether of Solomon's city or of the heavenly Jerusalem. The time of Solomon was the only period when Israel flourished; as he might always have done (1 Kings iv. 20, with Ps. lxxxi. 13, 14). So, the children of Zion now ought to be much happier and more fruitful than they are.

17. "Blessed in him" : Abraham's seed (Gen. xii. 3). Moreover, the general way of influence; which all may follow in some little

measure.

God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.

19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let

the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. 20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

WRITER: Asaph.

He lived in the time of David, and was his chief musician (1 Chron. xvi. 7). He also wrote psalms (2 Chron. xxix. 30).

OCCASION: Unknown.
CHARACTER: Practical.
PRINCIPAL USE: For time of
doubting.

This psalm goes against two favourite notions of sceptics: (1) that in Old Testament times temporal rewards and prosperity were everything; and (2) that the Almighty is too great to take notice of our little affairs. It is, in fact, the doctrine of Ps. xxxvii. in a more personal and practical form.

as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain ; violence covereth them as a garment.

7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

1. The firm and rational conclusion struggled back to. Ever hold it fast.

3. The difficulty; only it must be remembered that the character of the "wicked" spoken of is fully described (vers. 6, 8, 9). Does not apply to all.

4. Which is it? deliverance from conflicts and oppressions ("bands") in death, or from death itself? i.e., having a sort of charmed life.

6. "As a chain": most likely for display, something manifest and conspicuous; or can it be as a mark of bondage?

9. What a description of "big talk"!