c Isa. 59. 19. Mal. 1. 11.

d Ps. 97. 9. & 99. 2.

e Ps. 8. 1.

f Ps. 89. 6.

+ Heb. exalteth

himself to dwell.

g Ps. 11. 4. &

138.6.

Isa. 57. 15.

h1 Sam. 2. 8.

Ps. 107. 41.

i Job 36. 7.

k 1 Sam. 2. 5.

Ps. 68. 6.

Isa. 54. 1.

Gal. 4. 27.

+ Heb. to dwell

in an house.

с

i

3. From the rising of the sun] Here is a prophecy of the extension of God's kingdom to all nations (cp. Mal. i. 11), which was an immediate consequence of Christ's Resurrection (Matt. xxviii. 7. 18, 19. Mark xvi. 9. 15).

9. a joyful mother of children] Literally, of the children, which the Psalmist beholds as already born to the Church by the first Resurrection, or new birth of the soul; and as candidates for the second birth of the Resurrection to life eternal in heaven. See on John v. 25; and Rev. xx. 5.

It is re

Ps. CXIV.] The return of the Hebrew people from Babylon was like a national Resurrection from the dead. presented as such by the Prophet Ezekiel, in the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. See Ezek. xxxvii. Therefore, retrospectively, it is connected with the Resurrection of the Israel of old from the bondage of Egypt, and prospectively with the Resurrection of the Israel of God from the thraldom of Sin and Death by the Resurrection of Christ. Israel had its Exodus from Egypt under Moses; it had its Exodus from Babylon under Jeshua and Zerubbabel, to which period of Hebrew history this portion of the Psalter belongs. Mankind had its Exodus in Christ risen, and will have its Exodus in Christ's Coming, at the General Resurrection of the Great Day; and that Exodus will be followed by its Entrance into the heavenly Canaan, and by its going up to the heavenly Zion.

The Hebrew Church, at its return from captivity, recognized some of these historical and doctrinal analogies; and the English Church teaches us to recognize them by connecting this Psalm (in which the Israelites who returned from Babylon celebrated the Exodus from Egypt) with Christ's Resurrection, and by appointing it to be used on the festival of Easter Day. Compare notes above, on Exod. xii.-xiv., chapters appointed to be read in the Church at that season.

The Septuagint begins the present Psalm with the words, At the Exodus of Israel" (cp. above, cv. 38. Heb. x. 22, in the Greek); and when Christ conversed with Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration, "He spoke of His own Exodus which He would accomplish at Jerusalem." See on Luke ix. 31. The Syriac Version well entitles this Psalm, "A Thanksgiving for the Passage of the Red Sea under Moses;" and to us Christians (as S. Athanasius and others observe) it represents

the deliverance which has been effected for us (who were formerly a barbarous nation) and for all Gentiles, who are now made a new people, a spiritual race, to God the Father, by God the Son, Who became incarnate for us, and has redeemed us by His own Blood, and has cleansed us from sin by His Spirit.

In this view, this Psalm has acquired an additional interest for us, as being prophetic of our own Exodus in Christ from the Egyptian bondage of sin and Satan; and its value is enhanced by the fact that this very Psalm was probably sung by our Blessed Lord Himself, and His Apostles, at the Paschal Supper, just before His own Exodus (see Ps. 113, Prelim. Note); and the Church has marked these characteristics by singing this Psalm, for at least 1000 years, in a special tone, called "Tonus Peregrinus," or "pilgrim tone," the ninth Gregorian tone,-or, as it is called by some, “the eighth tone irregular," which is asserted by some writers on Church music to be derived from the liturgical use of the Hebrew Church. See "The Parish Choir," vol. i. p. 85.

2. Judah was his sanctuary] Rather, Judah became His Sanctuary. The Red Sea was the Baptismal Font of Israel. Israel was separated from the world, and was consecrated to God as His peculiar people by Baptism in the Red Sea (1 Cor. x. 2), and by the covenant with God at Sinai; see on Exod. xix. 6: "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation;" and on v. 8, there. So we become temples of God by our Baptism into the Death of Christ (1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19. 2 Cor. vi. 16), and are made a "chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that we should show forth the praises of Him, Who hath called us out of darkness (worse than of Egypt) "into His marvellous light” (1 Pet. ii. 9. Rev. i. 6; v. 10).

3. Jordan was driven back] Jordan was turned backward (Sept., Vulg.). This is a very accurate description; see above, on Josh. iii. 13-16. The waters of Jordan flowed back many miles toward "the city called Adam." The typical significance of that wonderful event, and its relation to the Christian Dispensation, have been already pointed out in the notes on that passage.

The Psalmist here combines in one verse two events which were separated from one another by an interval of forty years.

Not unto us, O Lord.

a

a See Isa. 48. 11.
Ezek. 36. 32.

b Ps. 42. 3, 10.

& 79. 10.
Joel 2. 17.

c 1 Chron. 16. 26.

Ps. 135. 6.

Dan. 4. 35.

d Deut. 4. 28.
Ps. 135. 15, 16, 17.
Jer. 10. 3, &c.

This is very instructive. In God's will and design the en-
trance into Canaan by the passage of Jordan was to have taken
place almost immediately after the passage of the Red Sea.
The forty years' Wandering was not due to God's command, but
to man's sin, rebelling against God's command. See on Deut.
i. 2. During those forty years the Israelites were excommu-
nicated, and, in His view, had no historical existence as a nation;
see above, on Num. xv. 2; and on Num. xxxiii. 20. Therefore
the Psalmist passes in one breath, in this verse, from the Exodus
of Israel out of Egypt, the type of Satan's kingdom, to their
Entrance, or Eisodus (if we may use the word), into Canaan,
the figure of heaven; and (if we may invent another word,
which is much needed) their Exodus and Eisodus are connected
in the Psalmist's mind with their return, or Anodus, from
Babylon to Jerusalem. The same is true in the Christian life.
If we remain true to God, our Baptismal Exodus is our hea-
venly Eisodus. They are joined together in one sentence of
blessing. It is also our triumphant Anodus.

6. Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams] Compare
xxix. 6: "He maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon
and Sirion like a young unicorn ;" and on the physical phenomena
at the giving of the Law on Sinai, see Exod. xix. 18.
lxviii. 8.

Ps.

8. The flint into a fountain of waters] Exod. xvii. 6.
Num. xx. 11,-a figure of God's mercies to the Church
Universal, quenching her thirst at the living waters, flowing
from the smitten Rock, in the wilderness of her earthly pil-
grimage. As St. Paul suggests (1 Cor. x. 4): "They drank
of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was
Christ."

Ps. CXV.] The foregoing Psalm proclaimed God's mercies to
Israel at the Exodus. See vv. 1 and 2. In the present Psalm
Israel is reminded that those mercies were due to the free
grace of God. Therefore, this Psalm opens with the words,
"Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the
praise;" and Israel is exhorted to praise God for the con-

tinuation of those mercies to the nation, even after the Cap-
tivity. See vv. 9. 12. The Anodus, or return from Babylon,
renewed the national thankfulness for the Exodus from Egypt.
They had a double Exodus to celebrate; and this double
Exodus, from Egypt and from Babylon, was a precursor of our
Exodus in Christ, which is a spiritual Anodus and Eisodus to
us; and therefore the Church of England uses the foregoing
Psalm as an expression of her own joy at Easter.

In the Sept., Vulg., Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic Version
this Psalm is joined to the preceding one.

1. give glory] For our deliverance from Egypt and from
Babylon, and much more for our redemption from the bondage
of Sin and Satan by Christ.

4. Their idols are silver and gold] Their idols, literally,
images formed by labour (Gesen. 646). Observe how the
Israel of the return from the captivity in Babylon, had ad-
vanced in spiritual progress beyond the Israel who had come
forth from Egypt. The Israel of the Exodus from Egypt fell
into idolatry in the wilderness, even at Sinai itself: "They
made a calf at Horeb" (cvi. 19); and the Israel which entered
Canaan under Joshua, lapsed into the worship of the false gods
of that country, till at length it was scattered abroad for its
idolatries. But the Israel which returned from Babylon never
fell back into idolatry. "Their idols are silver and gold,"
was the song of their lips, and of their heart. The furnace of
their captivity had purified them (cp. Wisd. xiii. 10-19; and
the Epistle of Jeremy, Baruch vi.); and the vigorous adminis-
tration of Ezra and Nehemiah in restraining the mixed mar-
riages with their heathen neighbours, rescued them from the
danger of idolatrous pollution (see above, on Ezra ix. 2; and
Neh. xiii. 1-8. 23); in this respect almost the whole Nation
became a people of Maccabees. Cp. 2 Mac. v.-vii.

The practical inference to Christendom, after its Exodus
in Christ, is that which is conveyed by St. Paul (1 Cor. x. 14).
"Wherefore, flee from idolatry ;" and by St. John, at the close
of his first Epistle, "Little children, keep yourselves from
idols."

Trust in the Lord only.

a 1 Chron. 16. 8, 34.

Ps. 106. 1. &

107. 1. & 136. 1.

b See Ps. 115.

9, &c.

c Ps. 120. 1.

+ Heb. out of

distress.

d Ps. 18. 19.

e Ps. 27. 1. &

56. 4, 11. &

146. 5.

Isa. 51. 12.

Heb. 13. 6.

+ Heb. for me.

f Ps. 54. 4.

g Ps. 59. 10.

h Ps. 40. 4. & 62. 8, 9.

Jer. 17. 5, 7.

i Ps. 146. 3.

Ps. CXVII.] The Thanksgiving of Jerusalem, in the foregoing Psalm, is echoed from all corners of the earth in the present. Nehemiah said, speaking of the sons of Israel, at the Dedication of the walls of the city, "The joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off" (Neh. xii. 43), St. Paul takes up the strain, and regards this Psalm as a prophecy of the conversion of the heathen, and as a prelude of the universal chorus of all nations, praising One God and Father of all in His dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ (Rom. xv. 8-11).

Ps. CXVIII.] In the last Psalm but one, the Temple is spoken of as rebuilt (see cxvi. 19), and as the place of resort for devout worshippers pouring out their praises to God. The present Psalm appears to carry us back to the Day of Dedication of that Temple under Zerubbabel and Jeshua, encouraged by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, B.C. 515. See Ezra vi. 14-22.

When the foundation of the Second Temple was laid by Zerubbabel, "the Priests and Levites were to praise the Lord, and to give thanks unto the Lord, because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward the house of Israel" (Ezra iii. 11); and this strain was adopted from the hymn of David when he brought up the Ark to Zion (1 Chron. xvi. 34), and was probably repeated at the Dedication of the Second Temple, for which the present Psalm seems to have been composed. It will be observed, that this Psalm is composed in an interlocutory and antistrophical form. From v. 1-4, we have the third personal pronoun, "Let Israel say, let them say." But from v. 5 to v. 21, we have the first personal and possessive pronoun I and my; evidently showing that this portion of the Psalm was sung by the same body of persons, summed up, as it were, under their leader, into one;

In v. 23, the pronouns are changed into us and our.
In v. 25 the first person recurs.

The first portion of this Psalm was probably chanted by the choir moving in a festal procession toward Mount Moriah. Perhaps v.5, which says, "I called upon the Lord in distress" (literally, out of the narrow gorge), "and the Lord answered

me on the open plain "-which describes the deliverance of Israel from their captivity,-may have been sung as they defiled from a narrow ravine into the plain; and when they arrived at the gate of the Temple, then they broke forth in full chorus into the words, "Open to me the gates of righteousness" (v. 19).

To the Christian reader this Psalm has acquired fresh beauty on account of its connexion with the triumphal progress of Christ Himself, the Lord of the Temple, the Son of David, the King of Zion, riding on a colt the foal of an ass, down the slopes of the Mount of Olives, and coming to the gates of the City and of the Temple at Jerusalem, amid the hosannas of the people, strewing His way with the branches of the palm-trees which grew by the side of the road, and adopting the words of this Psalm in their enthusiastic invocations of Him on Palm Sunday. See vv. 25, 26, and compare on Matt. xxi. 9.

That this Psalm is a prophecy of that triumphal entry on the Sunday before His Passion, we know from His authority (see v. 22, compared with Matt. xxi. 42); and that it stretches forth in its divine significance to the following first day of the week, viz., to the Day of the Lord's Resurrection, thenceforward to be called "the Lord's Day," is evident from vv. 22. 24. 27; and the Western Church has confirmed this opinion, by appointing this Psalm to be used on the weekly Festival of the Lord's Resurrection. The Church of England fitly uses it on Easter Day.

The pronouns in the singular number (I and my) which are used through a large portion of this Psalm, facilitate the application to Christ, personifying the whole body of the faithful, as their Representative and Leader (as Zerubbabel was to the returning Israelites), and as their perfect Example.

5. in distress] Literally, from the straitness; from the nar row gorge I called upon JAH, and JAH answered me in the open plain, where He set me.

6. I will not fear] Words put by the Christian Apostle into the mouth of the faithful in their distress (Heb. xiii. 6).

7. shall I see my desire upon them that hate me] Rather, I shall look calmly upon them. See on liv. 7.

9. Than to put confidence in princes] The rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem was not finished in the reign of Cyrus, who