16. They pierced my hands and my feet] The word here rendered they pierced, is caari; and in most extant Hebrew MSS. the reading is punctuated so as to signify " as a lion." Two MSS. (Kennicott, 39; De Rossi, 337) are cited as having caaru, "they pierced." And so the Sept. renders the word; and so Syriac, Arabic, and Vulg., and the Ethiopic (the Chaldee Targum has both readings); and the Masora Magna, on Numb. xxxiv. 9, and the Masora Parva, say that the word is not to be rendered as a lion. S. Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (§ 104), quotes the reading they pierced, and no exception is taken by the interlocutor to that rendering.

Some have supposed that caari is the true reading, not however in the sense of as a lion, but with a vocalization so modified as to become a nominative plural participle construct, and to signify piercing; and this seems on the whole the most probable view. That the Messiah was to be pierced, is foretold by Isaiah (liii. 5. Cp. Zech. xii. 10), and that our Lord's hands and feet were pierced is evident from Luke xxiv. 40. John xx. 25.

On this question, see the various authorities cited in the elaborate article of Pfeiffer (Dubia, p. 305), who accepts the reading caari in the sense of piercing (De Rossi's Collations; Delitzsch, p. 193; Phillips, Perowne, 107; Dr. Kay, 42. 326; Thrupp, 133.

With regard to the allegation, that these words could not have been written by David, as being inapplicable to him, see on lxix. 2. That very inapplicability proves that a greater than David is here.

20. Deliver my soul from the sword] These words of Christ on the Cross, speaking here by the mouth of David, seem to be echoed by those of Simeon to the Blessed Virgin at the Presentation, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also," as well as through the soul of thy Son (Luke ii. 35), where the same word, poupaía, is used for sword, as in the Septuagint here. Cp. Origen here.

My darling] Heb. yechidah. This is a remarkable word: it is the feminine of yachid, which signifies an only son (from yachad, to join: Gesen. 345), and it is rendered here μovoyevns by Sept., and unica by Vulg.

It is a memorable fact, that the masculine yachid occurs three times in one chapter of the historical books of the Old Testament, and in no other part of them; and that chapter is Genesis xxii., which relates the sacrifice of Isaac, the only begotten son, whom his father loved, the type of CHRIST crucified. See Gen. xxii. 2: "Take now thy son, thine only son (yachid), whom thou lovest ;" and in v. 12, 66 Thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me;" and in v. 16. It is also a remarkable circumstance, that the feminine word yechidah, which is the word used here, occurs only once in the historical books of the Old Testament; and that passage is the

history of the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter (Judg. xi. 34), "she was his only daughter;" on which it has been already observed that she was in several most interesting and beautiful respects a type of the pure human soul of Christ, offering itself a willing sacrifice on the cross. See above, note on Judges xi. 40, pp. 128-130.

In the Psalms this word is used in another place which foretells the Passion of Christ: "Rescue my soul from their calamities" (destructions), "my darling from the lions" (XXIV. 17; see there vv. 11. 15, 16). My darling is explained by the parallelism in both these place as meaning my soul (Heb. nephesh; Gr. ux), which is mine as being that which I possess, and which I willingly lay down, as Christ says: "No man taketh My life (or soul, vxv) from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John x. 17, 18). And that soul might well be called yechidah; that is, an only child, and a daughter, on account of its dearness to God. (See John i. 14. 18; iii. 16. 18. 1 John iv. 9). The feminine gender bespeaks intensity of tender feeling and dearness. Cp. note on 1 Thess. ii. 7; and on Ps. xvii. 8; and the exquisitely pathetic and tender words in Nathan's parable, "It did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter" (2 Sam. xii. 3).

21. Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns] Thou hast heard me, so as to deliver me from the horns of the wild oxen. He had before spoken of his proud, wealthy, and carnal enemies as fat bulls of Bashan (v. 12); he now describes them as wild oxen, buffaloes; on which, see above, Job xxxix. 9. Cp. below, xxix. 6; xcii. 10.

22. I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee] He says, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren; this was literally fulfilled in Christ (as S. Jerome remarks), when He said to Mary Magdalene, on the morning of the Resurrection, Go unto my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father, and My God, and your God" (John xx. 17); and when He said to the women, Go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me" (Matt. xxviii. 10).

But it had a still wider fulfilment. Christ arose from the dead, and became the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. viii. 29. 1 Cor. xv. 20. Col. i. 18. Rev. i. 5). This is the blessed fruit and glorious reward of Christ's Death and Passion. He speaks as before (says Theodoret), and calls all who believe in Him His brethren. St. Paul explains the words, teaching us to regard them as uttered by Christ, "the Captain of our salvation, made perfect through sufferings," and to see here Jesus crowned with glory and honour for the suffering of death;" and as, by the free gift and grace of God, "tasting death for every man, and thus bringing many sons to glory"

D

;

(Heb. ii. 9-12), and as purchasing an universal Church, formed of Gentiles as well as of Jews, by His blood (Acts xx. 28). As is expressed here (vv. 27, 28), "All the ends of the earth shall remember themselves, and be turned unto the Lord, and all kindreds of nations shall worship before Thee."

This change of bitter and intense sorrow to rapturous and jubilant praise, may serve to explain the circumstances which at first may have surprised us, that we find this Psalmi, the 22nd (a Psalm appointed for Good Friday), as an octave following two successive octaves (viz.), the 8th Psalm and the 15th, which the Church has associated with the Festival of Christ's glorious Ascension into heaven. This collocation is perfectly rational. Its principle may be expressed in our Lord's own language, upon the night before His Passion, "Now is the Son of Man glorified" (John xiii. 31); and in St. Paul's words, "For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God" (Heb. xii. 2). The glories of Ascension Day ought ever to be blended in our thoughts with the sorrows of Good Friday; and in this Psalm they meet together, and, as it were, greet one another with a sisterly embrace and loving kiss.

23. all ye the seed of Israel] All ye, who, being born again, become Israelites indeed, and see God by faith (S. Jerome). See below, on xxiv. 6.

24. of the afflicted] Heb. ani. This word is specially identified in the Psalms with Christ, Who in all our afflictions was afflicted. See on xxxiv. 6; xxxv. 10; xl. 17; Ixix. 29. See also Zech. ix. 9, where it is rendered lowly.

25. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation] Or rather, "My praise springs forth from Thee." Thou art its source. Cp. Ps. cxviii. 23.

26. The meek shall eat and be satisfied] Blessed are the meek, for they shall feed on Him Who is the Bread of Life (Eusebius).

27. All the ends of the earth shall remember] All nations in all quarters of the world shall remember themselves and their Father's home, like the returning Prodigal, the type of the heathen world coming back to God (see Luke xv. 17—20), and like the healed demoniac, coming and sitting down at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind (Mark v. 15. Luke viii. 35). 28. the kingdom is the LORD's] This is an Evangelical prophecy. The Kingdom of Satan has passed away. The Kingdom of Christ has come. By His Ascension into heaven, all things are put under His feet. Satan fell from heaven by pride; Christ ascended above the heaven of heavens by humility (S. Jerome).

h Heb. 5. 7.

i Ps. 35. 18. &

40. 9, 10. & 111. 1.

k Ps. 66. 13. &

116. 14.

Eccles. 5. 4.

1 Lev. 7. 11, 12, 15, 16.

Ps. 69. 32.
Isa. 65. 13.
m John 6. 51.

n Ps. 2. 8. & 72. 11. & 86. 9. & 98. 3.

Isa. 49. 6.

o Ps. 96. 7.

p Ps. 47. 8. Obad. 21. Zech. 14. 9. Matt. 6. 13. q Ps. 45. 12.

r Isa. 26. 19. Phil. 2. 10.

s Ps. 87. 6.

t Ps. 78. 6. &

$6.9. & 102. 18. Isa. 60. 3.

See Rom. 3. 21, 22.

29. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship] They who boast their earthly abundance, and pamper themselves with this world's dainties, and are inclosed in their own fat (xvii. 10); they who are compared to bulls of Bashan in v. 12, must come and seek their food at Christ's table of Scriptures and Sacraments, if they would be fat and flourishing (Ps. xcii. 14); fat indeed, and not having leanness of soul;" they must seek for food there where He makes a spiritual "feast of fat things" (Isa. xxv. 6), and He "will satiate them with marrow and fatness" (Ps. lxiii. 5). They must worship Him (see lxxii. 11). None can keep alive his own soul. Christ alone can do that.

30. A seed shall serve him] A never-failing seed, born to Him by the regenerating waters of Baptism (says Theodoret), shall worship Him; no Powers of Earth or Hell shall prevail against His Church (Matt. xvi. 18); it shall be accounted, or numbered, to the Lord (see lxxxvii. 6. 2 Chron. ii. 16) for a generation— appertaining to Him, not to earthly kings, and living by His life. The language of this Psalm, passing from accents of sorrow to strains of joy, may be compared with that of the divine prediction of Isaiah (liii.) (also appointed for Good Friday), in which, after a description of the sufferings of the Messiah, the prophet proceeds to speak of the glorious fruits of His Passion in the purchase of the Universal Church by the blood of the Cross: He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days; He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied."

31. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness] For, as Isaiah there says, "By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities" (Isa. liii. 11); and "the righteousness of God is manifested in Him, even the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ, Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. iii. 21-26).

It is certain that what is spoken in this Psalm (says Theodoret) has not been verified in David himself, nor in any of his posterity, except in the Lord Jesus Christ. He, and He only, Who is God, the Eternal Word, and Who was made flesh, of the Seed of David, has filled the earth and sea with divine knowledge of the truth, and has turned men from false worship, to adore the only true God.

"The Lord is my shepherd."

His tender love and care.

a Isa. 40. 11.

Jer. 23. 4.

Ezek. 34. 11, 12, 23.

John 10. 11.

1 Pet. 2. 25.

Rev. 7. 17.

b Phil. 4. 19.

c Ezek. 34. 14.

Heb. pastures of tender grass. d Rev. 7. 17.

Heb. waters of

quietness.

e Ps. 5. 8. &

31. 3.

Prov. 8. 20.

f Job 3. 5. &

10. 21, 22. &

24. 17.

Ps. 44. 19.
g Ps. 3. 6. &

27. 1. & 118. 6.

h Isa. 43. 2.

i Ps. 104. 15.

+ Heb. makest

fat.

k Ps. 92. 10.

+ Heb. to length of days.

e

k

Ps. XXIII.] The present Psalm is a natural sequel to the foregoing, in which the Good Shepherd has been described as giving His life for the sheep (John x. 11). This Psalm is the voice of the Church, praising Christ (S. Jerome). It is the song of the heathen exulting with joy, because the Lord Himself leads them to green pastures; and it describes the mystical banquet which He Himself provides for them (Origen, Athanasius, and Theodoret).

We here see Him, as described by Isaiah, feeding His flock like a Shepherd, gathering the lambs with His arm, and carrying them in His bosom, and gently leading those that are with young (Isa. xl. 11), and as laying the lost sheep upon His shoulders rejoicing (Luke xv. 5).

He Who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and, as a sheep before her shearers, was dumb (Isa. liii. 7), He Who in the foregoing Psalm was represented as slain like a lamb, is now displayed as the Shepherd of the sheep, and is represented as leading His sheep beside the still waters; as it is said in the Apocalypse, taking up the twofold imagery of the Psalm, "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water" (Rev. vii. 17). The spotless Lamb is also the Good Shepherd. Christ has been slain as the Lamb, and has passed through the valley of the shadow of death, and has been raised from the grave; therefore, as the Shepherd, He is able to guide His sheep through the same dark valley, and to cheer them with His voice, and to comfort them with His pastoral rod and staff, the rod of correction, as well as the staff of support. Each have their uses for the believer,-" Erudiunt consolando, non affligunt mortificando" (S. Jerome, Isidore).

In the foregoing Psalm Christ has been described as Very Man, giving His soul to death; in the present Psalm He is displayed as the LORD JEHOVAH, as all ancient Expositors agree. "In hoc psalmo Ecclesia loquitur Christo" (says S. Augustine). Dominus Jesus Christus meus Pastor est, et nihil mihi deerit." Christ is expressly called the LORD in the next Psalm (xxiv. 8. 10. See also xx. 9).

In the foregoing Psalm we saw His Passion; here we see its fruits. In the foregoing Psalm it was said, "The meek shall eat, and be satisfied (v. 26). All shall eat and worship (v. 29)." The present Psalm (say Athanasius and Theodoret) is sung by the Universal Church, rejoicing in the consciousness that Christ is her Shepherd and feeds her. In the former Psalm, there was a promise that the ends of the earth should turn to the Lord, and that the fat should eat (vv. 27-29). Here we see the promise fulfilled; here the Cross itself becomes, as it were, a pastoral rod and staff, which comfort the

faithful; here we see the table spread, and the head of the guest anointed with oil, and the cup of blessing running over (v. 5.) What a striking contrast is this to the cup of Gethsemane, and yet it was a fruit of that cup! and we see the faithful soul dwelling in the house of the Lord for ever (v. 6).

Hence the ancient interpreters (Origen, and Athanasius, in Catenâ, p. 418; S. Ambrose, De Sacramentis, V. 3; De Elia, c. 10; S. Chrysostom, and S. Basil, and Theodoret here, and others) see in this Psalm a prophetical picture of the means of grace and spiritual unction, especially the Holy Sacraments. The description of the Passion of Christ prepares the way for the mention of the Sacraments, which represent that Death, and derive all their virtue from it, and flow, as it were, from His pierced side. They impart to the faithful soul all the benefits of that Death, and are spread before the eyes of the faithful in that spiritual table, which God hath prepared for them in His Church, which is His House (1 Cor. xi. 22). That spiritual Table is spread in the presence of her enemies, who look on with envy, and would gladly hurt her and them (see below, on Rev. vi. 6), and who, by their presence and power, make her to feel more intensely the blessings of the Sacraments, and to resort to them with more eager cravings of spiritual hunger, and to be more thankful to Him Who instituted them.

And further (as Origen suggests), the eye of faith sees here that future heavenly Table, which will be spread by Christ Himself for all His faithful disciples, and of which He speaks when He says, "I appoint unto you a kingdom, that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom" (Luke xxii. 29).

David, the shepherd of Bethlehem, could speak from personal experience of what the Shepherd feels for his sheep. He had led his flock through the dark defiles of the rocky fastnesses of Judah, which presented an image of the gloomy valley of the shadow of death; and he experienced in his exile the loving care of hospitable friends, like Barzillai, who spread for him a table in the wilderness, when he fled from Absalom his son (2 Sam. xvii. 27-29), and his eyes were raised upward from them and their affectionate care, to a loving contemplation of his home and Father in heaven.

6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life] Observe the words, "all the days." The farewell words of Christ, the good Shepherd, to His flock, which He has purchased with His own blood, were, Lo, I am with you all the days" (máσas тàs hμépas, which are the same words as those of the Septuagint here), "even to the end of the world" (Matt. xxviii. 20).

g

Ps. XXIV.] The present is the fourth of the Proper Psalms appointed by the Church of England for the Festival of the Ascension.

As

This Psalm is a sequel to the two foregoing. The Passion of Christ and its blessed fruits to the Church were the subject of those two Psalms; we now rise to the glory of His Ascension, which is here described with even more glorious fulness than in those other Psalms (the second, the eighth, the fifteenth, the twenty-first) which have already celebrated that event. Athanasius says, "the present Psalm reveals to us the Ascension of Christ, and the reception of the Nations of the earth, who receive His Gospel, into His heavenly habitation." foregoing Passion Psalm, the 22nd, ended with the promise of "a seed" which would serve Christ, and be accounted to the Lord for a generation. And now, in the present Psalm, we see the promise fulfilled: "This is the generation of them that seek him." See below, on v. 6, and on xxv. 13.

The

The foregoing Psalm ended with the words, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." The present Psalm asks Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? (v. 3).

The hill of the Lord is the heavenly Sion, of which the Apostle speaks, Heb. xii. 22. (Theodoret. S. Jerome); and he who desires to ascend thither, must learn the lessons which are here taught (Theodoret). This is a continuation of the "Catechism of heaven," of which we have seen the former portion in Psalm 15, another Psalm for Ascension Day.

This Psalm is inscribed in the Sept. and Vulg. as a Psalm for the first day of the week, and was so used in the Hebrew Ritual (see Lightfoot, i. 922), and it is very suitable for the first day, the day on which the light of Creation, of Redemption, and of Sanctification dawned on the world. Accordingly it is appointed in the Sarum and Roman use for Trinity Sunday.

This Psalm, it is probable, was composed by David when he brought up the Ark to Jerusalem; an event which, as has been already observed, was typical and prophetic of the Ascension of the Divine David to the heavenly Jerusalem, and of His carrying up the Ark of His Church thither. See above, Prelim. Note to 2 Sam. vi.

The preceding Psalm ended with an expression of hope, to "dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.' But how is this to be? The Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel, is not a mere local and national deity, like the gods of the heathen, but He is the Creator of all things. Therefore the Psalmist fixes his eyes on the sacred record contained in the first two chapters of Genesis, which declare the Jehovah of Israel to be also the Elohim of the Universe, and to have formed the Earth out of the Waters. And since the might and majesty of the Lord are so great, since the Universe is His work, what must the house be, to which He specially vouchsafes His presence? and who can hope to ascend thither? Who can aspire to the hill of Zion, where the Ark of God is enshrined? Who can hope to be admitted to the purity and glory of that heavenly Jerusalem, which is symbolized by the earthly city? That question had been already asked (xv. 1), and is repeated here. Hopes of VOL. IV. PART II.-33

a Exod. 9. 29. & 19. 5.

Deut.
Job 41. 11.

10. 14.

Ps. 50. 12.

1 Cor. 10. 26, 28.

b Gen. 1. 9.

Job 38. 6.

Ps 104. 5. &

136. 6.

2 Pet. 3. 5.

c Ps. 15. 1.

d Isa. 33. 15, 16.

+ Heb. The clean

of hands.

e Job 17. 9.

1 Tim. 2. 8.

f Matt. 5. 8.

g Ps. 15. 4.

h Ps. 27. 8. &

105. 4.

Or, O God of Jacob.

i Isa. 26. 2.

blessing involve the duty of self-examination: He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, he-and he only-can hope to dwell in that Holy Place, with the Holy One. See Rev. xxi. 2. 27; and cp. Heb. xii. 14.

This question finds its answer in Christ. He alone was qualified by spotless purity to ascend to the Hill of the Lord. And it is by the Ascension of their Head, that the members are enabled to ascend. They must resemble Him in holiness, in order that they may partake of His glory. They shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of their salvation.

1. The Earth is the Lord's] It is Christ's by Creation (v. 2. John i. 1, 2), and it is His by Resurrection (Matt. xxviii. 18), and by His glorious Ascension into heaven, where He is enthroned King of the world in His Human Nature. This Psalm takes up the language of the first Ascension-Psalm (Ps. 8).

The appointment of this Psalm for use on Trinity Sunday suggests an invitation to meditate on the consecration of the whole world into a Temple of Christ, by Baptism into the Name of the Ever-Blessed Trinity.

6. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob] Or rather, they that seek thy face-they are the true Jacob. This Psalm takes up the word of the foregoing Passion Psalm (xxii. 23), "All ye seed of Jacob, glorify Him: fear Him, all ye seed of Israel;" and he now describes them. The reference is to the narrative of Genesis, where the Patriarch Jacob is described as seeing God's face, at the place thence called Peniel, and there receiving the new name Israel; and there receiving also "a blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." See on Gen. xxxii. 28-30.

They who cleanse their hearts and hands, as Jacob did, from sins of fraud and vanity, they who put away all idols as he did, they are admitted to the true Peniel, they are the true Jacob; see Num. xxiii. 7. Deut. xxxii. 9. Ps. xliv. 4; xlvii. 4, where the word Jacob is used collectively as here; particularly Isa. xliv. 1. 5: "Yet now hear, O Jacob, My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen. Fear not, O Jacob, My servant. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob;" cp. Isaiah xlv. 6. They are "the Israel of God," as St. Paul calls them. See Rom. ix. 6. Gal. vi. 16.

As was before observed, this Psalm repeats the words of the Passion Psalm (xxii. 30), where "a generation" is promised to Christ: it is now born.

7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates] When David uttered these words with prophetic inspiration, and when he beheld the Ark of the Lord's presence going up, and passing through the gates of the hill of Zion to the Sanctuary prepared for it; when he saw that same Ark going up thither, which had led the people of Israel to victory from Mount Sinai through the wilderness, and across the river Jordan, whose waters fled at its presence, and had brought them into Canaan; and at the power

F

of which, when it had compassed the city seven days, the walls of Jericho fell down, and before which the gods of Philistia fell prostrate on the ground-when David meditated on this triumphal progress of the ARK of God, a march continued for more than four centuries, from Sinai to Sion-surely, he may be supposed to have been transported by the Spirit in a heavenly rapture, and to have beheld the glorious consummation which was foreshadowed by all these triumphs; namely, the victory of the Lord Christ, whom he salutes as LORD of HOSTS (on which see note 1 Sam. i. 3; ii. 10), over all the powers of Satan, and His triumphal ascent into His capital city, the heavenly city, and the exaltation of the ARK of His Church, in which His presence and power dwell. What else mean those emphatic words, twice repented, "Ye everlasting doors?" But whatever may be said of the personal consciousness of David himself, in whom the Holy Spirit spake, we can have little doubt that the Holy Spirit, Who spake by him, had a view of Christ's Ascension in dictating this Psalm, and that He intended us, who have the light of the Gospel, to see here a prophecy of it. This is the opinion of the ancient Expositors, as S. Athanasius, S. Jerome, S. Gregory Nyssen, S. Chrysostom, S. Leo. To quote one among many, Theodoret, "In the twenty-second Psalm we beheld Christ suffering; we now see Him ascending into heaven, and we hear the choirs of angels singing, Lift up your heads, O ye gates-those gates which were never before lifted up to receive man within them, but are now opened to all, through Christ, Very Man as well as Very God, Who has passed through them at the Ascension." And the Church has declared her judgment in this sense, by appointing this Psalm for the use of the faithful on the Festival of the Ascension.

This Psalm is recited in the Synagogue, at the carrying back of the volume of the Law, the written Word of God, into its shrine; we see here the return of Christ Himself-the Giver of the Law, the Living WORD-into His heavenly shrine, the true Holy of Holies (see Heb. ix. 11, 12), and we behold Him ascending "where He was before" (John. vi. 62).

Ps. XXV.] This is the third of the alphabetical Psalms. See above, on Ps. 9. There is a remarkable analogy between this Psalm and Ps. 34: in both the letter vau is omitted in the acrostic series; they correspond with each other in the commencement of the stanzas which begin with mem ("What man is he?") and ayin (“Mine eyes are toward the Lord"); in both pe is repeated after thav, and with it each of the Psalms ends; and in both, that last stanza begins with the same word, signifying redeem. Both the first two lines of this Psalm begin with aleph, the first line being like a general introduction or motto to the whole; and in the second line beth is put off to the second word.

In order that the spirit of the Psalm may not be sacrificed to its alphabetical structure, and in order to excite attention by anomalies, and to bring out more forcibly the key-note of the Psalm, the kaph is omitted in v. 18 (where it might have been expected); and we have a double resh in vv. 18, 19, corresponding to the double aleph at the beginning of

the Psalm. The double aleph brings out the assertion that the soul is looking up to God; the double resh brings out the prayer, that God will look down on the soul. Cp. Threpp here, and see Prelim. Note to Ps. 145.

The present Psalm holds an important place in the history of Christian ritual. The sixth verse, beginning "Reminiscere," gave the name to "Reminiscere Sunday," the second Sunday in Lent; the twelfth verse beginning with "Oculi," gave the name to the third Sunday in Lent.

This Psalm was inserted by Luther into his Office to be used at Deathbeds after the reception of the Holy Communion. This is the first of a series of Psalms which contain a confession of sin and prayers for forgiveness. Repentance and remission of sins is their theme. And it is also worthy of notice that this Psalm has two octaves in succession, viz. the 32nd Psalm ("Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered"), and the 39th (v. 8, "Deliver me from all mine offences, and make me not a rebuke to the foolish"), which are penitential utterances of spiritual contrition. It is submitted for the reader's consideration, whether the reason of this arrangement may not be found in the fact that the foregoing Psalms foretold the Passion, Resurrection, and Priesthood of Christ, and the gift of the Spirit, and the institution of the means of grace in the Church and the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. See the remarks on Psalms 19-24. Christ's Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension must precede, in order that Repentance and Remission of sins may follow.

The explanation of this arrangement may be seen in our Lord's words to His assembled Apostles after the Resurrection: "All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me." And He said unto them, "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that Repentance and Remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke xxiv. 44-47). See also the speech of St. Peter at Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost, when, after appealing to the prophetic testimony of the Psalms to the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ, the Apostle says, Repent,

66

and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 22-40). These passages of the New Testament afford the best commentary on the order in which these Psalms are placed.

We cannot distinctly define what may have been the degree of clearness of David's personal consciousness as to the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice and heavenly intercession in the work of Remission of Sins, but we may confidently affirm that the Holy Spirit, Who spake by David, and Who guided those who arranged the Psalms and completed the Canon of Holy Scripture, teaches us to regard the doctrine of Repentance and Remission as a corollary to the doctrine of Christ's Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, and that He instructs us in these doctrines, not only by the Psalms severally, but by the order in which they are arranged. The order of the Psalms is, as it