The Second Book

Psa. 42 commences the second book, which gives us more outward, more historical thoughts, while still maintaining, the expression of the sentiments of the Spirit of Christ, whether in the remnant or in Himself. But although these sentiments are expressed in this division of the Psalms, it is more characterized by the history of the Jewish remnant, in the latter days. The language of Psa. 1 in this book gives the date. The remnant is scattered', no longer going with the multitude that kept holyday. It is the heaviest part of the distress-- the time that the wicked are in power-the great tribulation. In measure, Jesus took this place representatively (John 10:40, or rather 11:54). As to the remnant, the effect of being thus scattered, and of the temporary triumphs of the wicked, is to make them feel a more urgent need of God himself. At the same time, they are cast down on account of the success of the wicked, and reproaches now addressed to them on that account; while they say unto them, "Where is now your God?" Still they have faith.
Psa. 42 expresses the feelings of the righteous at this cruel taunt, with respect to the heathen, the enemies who oppress them-Psalm, 43, with respect to the Jews. These two Psalms give the position which forms the basis of this book. The righteous man remembers God from the land of Jordan. All God's waves and billows are gone over him. But the help of Jehovah's countenance will yet be the subject of their praises, and the health of the countenance of the just, whose God He Himself will be. We come now to the details.
In Psa. 44, the remnant call upon God, reminding Him of all that they had heard of His deliverances in former days; all that God had then done for his people. For, say they, it was not by their own sword they conquered, nor did their own arm save them, but because " Thou hadst a favor unto them." Now, the remnant had not forsaken the covenant, although they were " sore broken in the place of dragons." They cry to God, imploring Him to manifest Himself, and no longer to forget their affliction, but to arise and deliver them for His mercy's sake. Two points here characterize the remnant-their practical fidelity to God through faith, and their being triumphed over by the heathen for a time. It appears to me also, that the remnant being thus driven out, have a position here more thoroughly their own, more entirely with God, apart from the wicked, however painful the position may be.
Psa. 45 introduces the Messiah in power. This Psalm, so easily understood, is very important with respect to the character of God's intervention on behalf of Israel. It is God; but it is Messiah as King. The prophets testify continually that it is Jehovah who will appear in power for the deliverance of His people. Compare Isa. 66, Zech. 9:1-8, 12-16; 10:3; 12:7, 8; 14:3, 4. But Zech. 9:9, and even 14:4, with this Psalm, show us that if it is Jehovah, it is also the man Christ. Compare Dan. 7:22, Mic. 5:1-5. Compare also Titus 2:12,13, for the Church.
We may also remark, that that which is celebrated here is not the repentance of Israel, but their deliverance, their outward deliverance by power, on the ground-established in Psa. 44-of the remnant's faithfulness to the covenant. It is very touching to see the divine glory of the Lord celebrated at the same time that-coming down to His faithfulness as man-the saints are acknowledged as His " fellows," when He is anointed with the oil of gladness as chief over them. But further remarks on this subject belong rather to the Epistle to the Hebrews. We will only quote the remarkable verse in Zechariah, the inverse of that referred to in the Psalm. When He is presented as the man smitten of Jehovah He is named His fellow. Celebrated as God, the saints are acknowledged His fellows in His divine joy as man. Smitten as man, He is Himself the fellow of Jehovah. Read Zech. 13:5, " For man has possessed me (as a slave) from my youth; "-His relation with man; ver. 6, His relation with the Jews; ver. 7, with Jehovah.
We will return to our Psalm. The daughter, the queen in gold of Ophir, is, I doubt not, the earthly Jerusalem viewed as restored by grace. Those who accompany her are the other cities of Judah, according to the type in common use by the prophets. She has now children who are glorious enough to eclipse the memory of her fathers.
Psa. 46 As the result of the introduction of the Messiah, the remnant acknowledge God, the God of Jacob, as their refuge and their salvation; and therefore, there is nothing to fear, though the earth be removed. The Lord re-establishes His relationship with His people. The city of God is owned. The river of God makes it glad. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved, the Lord uttered His voice, the earth melted. He is exalted in all the earth, He is the refuge of His people. The kind of deliverance is as in the preceding Psalm.
Psa. 46 sung the intervention of God in favor of His people at the moment they are re-established. Psalm 47 celebrates, with a song of triumph, the effect of the Lord's presence in the midst of His people. It calls upon all the nations to rejoice because the throne of Jehovah is set up over all the earth-Jehovah, who has chosen an inheritance for His people (the remnant) and who subdues the nations under their feet. God is the King of all the earth, He reigns over the heathen, sitting on the throne of His holiness, and the princes of the people are gathered together to the people of the God of Abraham, for power belongeth unto Him.
In Psa. 48 Jehovah is established in Zion, the mountain of His holiness, the joy of the whole earth; the city of the great King is there, on the sides of the north. The kings were assembled, but fear took hold upon them; and that which the remnant had heard (Psa. 44:1) with their ears, they now behold, with songs of triumph, in the city of their God. If when afar from the holy place (Psa. 42) they had sighed for the moment when they should appear before God, they now think of His loving kindness in the midst of His temple. God is their God forever. He is known in praise, according to the name which faith trusted Him in. We may remark that the thought of death remains, but only as the term to which hope extends. God will be their guide until then. The leading idea in this Psalm is Zion, the dwelling-place of the great King, and consequently, his unchangeable security. Compare Zech. 12, Isa. 31, Mic. 4:11-13. In Psa. 46 this is acknowledged by faith, and here the event accomplished is celebrated in peace in the temple. This last Psalm leads to the idea that Gog is the same as the Assyrian; a question which has long been a difficulty to me. The Psalms that we have now been considering, form one of those little books which, by their connection one with another, help much in understanding the Psalms, and which add also much to their beauty.
Psa. 49 is a sort of moral reflection upon all this. All the glory of man without understanding is but vanity. Be appearances what they may, he is like the beasts that perish. They will die-for the redemption of the soul from the power of death is the question-and all this outward show will perish. But God redeems the souls. of those that trust in Him, and receives them., Men will praise Him who doeth well unto himself; he blesseth his soul, and lie will perish. Observe here, that it is no longer resurrection which is the desire of the righteous, but that God will deliver his life. He saves life.
In Psa. 50 the public judgment of God when He appears in Zion is announced, especially the judgment of His people. But at the same time it will be a session of Jehovah, at which heavens and earth shall assist. He likewise gathers his saints together who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice. These are still, I think, the earthly remnant. And now it is not merely the intervention of His Providence, which requires spirituality to discern. God Himself is Judge. The heavens, declare His righteousness. He comes Himself (ver. 3). The judgment of His people, from ver. 7, presents no difficulty, being announced prophetically (comp. ver. 3). There is an exhortation in ver. 22 to consider this. A part of the opening of the Psalm is more enigmatical. The earthly people are the object of the judgment; the saints, or the godly, gathered together (ver. 5) are those of this people. But the heavens being brought in,. the declaration of righteousness that proceeds from thence, must have a special character. It is not the judgment-that is carried on upon earth with respect to the conduct of the people. It appears to me, although the' Psalm only brings in the heavens, that it is the manifestation of Christ (who is in the heavens) which shows forth His righteousness. The Church herself will be there as a witness, for it will be seen in her that wherever there has been faith in God and in His Christ, blessing has not failed. If there was the appearance of His people being forgotten, the heavens will bear testimony that it was not His faithfulness that failed.
Psa. 51 gives us the effect of Israel's consciousness of their position with respect to their rejection of Christ. This operation of the Spirit in the heart of the remnant sets them in the enjoyment of that peace which flows from the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah. It is the fulfillment of Zech. 11, and of the day of affliction, the tenth day of the seventh month. The judgment of sin is much deeper, more spiritual, and more real, in God's presence. His mercy more absolutely the source of all joy and of all hope. When the people are cleansed from the guilt of that precious blood which Israel shed (a sin which lies with all its weight upon the consciences of the remnant, when they behold Him who was pierced), then their prayer (verse 11) that the Spirit may not be taken from them is a cry of anguish from those who, being brought back to God, and enjoying by faith the assurance of God's faithfulness to deliver Israel according to the promise, are nevertheless alarmed lest the enormous guilt of the nation, in rejecting the Messiah, should destroy the possibility of blessing. We constantly find in the Scripture history and experience of Israel this difference between the faith that counts upon deliverance from the enemy and the oppressor, and that which realizes pardon and acceptance on God's part, leading to all the blessings that flow from His favor. Faith, which placed the Ark in Zion, had not yet built an altar on the threshing-floor of Oman. This is the reason that we find a prayer for blessing, even while acknowledging deliverance already accomplished. Indeed, the act of power that puts Christ in connection with the Jews at the destruction of Antichrist, has not yet established the rights of the Messiah, and of Israel with Him, over the earth, although it has laid the foundation for it.
Psa. 52 applies particularly, I think, to the " mighty man" who will oppress the Jews in the last days-an enemy from within, rather than those from without. That is to say, the little horn, or head of the last empire. Unless it may be still more in connection with the. Jews, and apply to an Antichrist more immediately linked with them.
Psa. 53 is, as we know, nearly a repetition of Psa. 14; but there is a difference. Psa. 14 gives the aspect of what Jehovah is for His people, at least for the righteous. Psa. 53 relates to that which He is against His enemies. This is the reason why the Spirit uses the name of Jehovah in Psa. 14, which is the name of relationship with Israel, and that of Elohim in Psa. 53 (compare verses 4 and 5 of the latter Psalm, with verses 5 and 6 of Psa. 14) Those who fear in Psa. 53:5, appear to me to be the unfaithful Jews (see Isa. 33.14, and the following verses, and also 8:12, 10:24). In Psa. 14:5,6, they oppress and despise the Jews, scoffing at them, because, in spite of everything, they put their trust in Jehovah.
In Psa. 54 we have the two characters of the enemies of the righteous-strangers (unless, with the keri, we read "the proud") and oppressors. But the name of God is their refuge; they commit themselves unto God-Jehovah-and they see their desire upon their enemies.
Psa. 55 gives a terrible description of the state of Jerusalem, where the power of death, and of Him who has the power of death (compare Rev. 12:13, 15, 17), and of those who have made a covenant with Him, bears heavily on the righteous. Treachery is that which the righteous especially complain of in this Psalm; but it appears to me, that this reproach is more particularly addressed to the Jews who professed to walk with them, and not to Antichrist himself, although it is possible he may have acted in the same way. Judas, we know, was the especial means by which the Lord went through the same experience. The remnant had been driven out by the power of evil; they here express their feelings respecting it, for it is rather the language of those who have left the city, than of those (the remnant of the seed) who may be still more exposed to the persecution. It is the moment when the thorough treachery of those who join Antichrist is brought to light, and iniquity fully unveiled to the eyes, of the righteous. Meanwhile, Jehovah is a refuge. That which especially characterizes the Spirit of Christ in the Psalms is, that the name of Jehovah is His refuge-He will have none other, and therefore will wait for Him, whatever the result may be.
From Psa. 42 to 55, the Spirit gives either the history (prophetically) of the position and re-establishment of those who were driven out by the great tribulation, or the exercise of faith in general, with regard to this position. From Psa. 55 we have rather the painful sentiments which the position itself produces. Faith, however, is maintained at the same time.
In Psa. 56, the enemy is ready to swallow up the righteous. God and His word are the ground of their confidence. God had delivered them from death, and they trust in. Him to preserve them, that they may walk before Him in the light of the living. It will be seen that from Psa. 1, the name of Jehovah is no longer used. It is God who is in question. The soul casts itself upon what God is in Himself as God, apart from the established relationship with Israel, amongst whom the enemy reigns in power. The righteous trust, in a more abstract and absolute manner, in that which God is in Himself. It is indeed Jehovah in verse 1, Psa. 1, but these cases have in view the future manifestation, as also in 51:15; 54:6; 55:16.
In Psa. 57 the terrible condition, of the righteous during these calamities, is again presented to God. The thought of what He is, strengthens the heart. The Lord shall be praised among the peoples and the nations, for His mercy is great. His glory shall yet be manifested above the heavens and over all the earth. All hope is lost of help on earth, and faith would not even seek it there. For in whom could it be found? But this gives occasion for a higher faith. " He shall send from Heaven." Difficulties cause faith to seek God in the height, from whence they will be surmounted, and thus they make His glory to be appreciated.
In Psa. 58, the iniquity of the Jews (whom, nevertheless, the Spirit addresses by a title which sets them before God, according to their nature and their responsibility) is presented in this aspect-that instruction and the calls of grace are useless, and that judgment must come. The triumph which this shall give to him will be a testimony that there is a God who judges in the earth, and a reward for the righteous. This very distinctly characterizes the bearing of the Psalms in general.
In Psa. 59 the heathen prowl about Jerusalem, like dogs that are not satisfied. But Jehovah, the God of Israel, and none other, is the strength of His people. Nevertheless, the righteous here express their own confidence, rather than their sense of the iniquity around them. Christ in person speaks prophetically as king. We find the same confidence again in Psa. 60. The remnant speak as the people of God, but as rejected and scattered. The sense of being His people, makes them feel more keenly the hardship of their condition; but also enables them to refer it to God, and to reckon on His power. God has given a banner to those that honor Him, that the truth may be maintained. God thus executing His judgments in the world, His people cry for deliverance. God's answer asserts His rights, and points out Edom in particular as the strong city, with respect to which God will succor His people. Christ speaks here in person, it seems to me, as the head of Israel (verse 9). The fact of being driven out, gives much more distinctly and simply the consciousness of being God's people; and places them outwardly beyond the relationship of Israel, but inwardly more in the relations of faith. Thus, as being without, they are more entirely with God.
Psa. 61 Christ here presents Himself again in person as king. He who was the first to be rejected, can show Himself again with the rejected people. It is a natural position in which to meet with them again (as in the case of the man who was born blind). Observe also how this connects the life of our precious Lord with the history of His people in the last days, when this poor remnant will also be rejected of man. Only here He enters into it in spirit, so that it is by faith that the remnant are to enjoy it. We feel this to be proper. But what a complete provision it is for faith! In this Psalm, then, Jesus enters in spirit into the condition of the remnant. He is naturally their Head. I have already remarked that in the Psalms in which He speaks more personally, there is more calmness, the intercourse is on surer ground with God, as founded on a well known relationship. We find it so here. But this does not prevent His entering in heart thoroughly into the most painful circumstances, or His feeling them; quite the contrary, He feels them all the more deeply. Who has ever felt our sins as Jesus felt them? I am not speaking of His having borne them on the Cross, but of His having felt them before God. But He enters into these circumstances with God. He cries unto Him from the ends of the earth. He feels what it is to be away from the enjoyment of His happy intercourse with God, which is found in His Temple. As man, He seeks for Himself and for His people, a rock higher than Himself. He walks in dependance, and His trust in God is not disappointed. He sees and celebrates the joy in which He shall dwell before God forever, and perform the vows He had made in this day of His distress. What a day will that be, in which the Lord shall do this-His heart being satisfied with God's answer in favor of His people. It is still God here, and not Jehovah, because the people are still without.
In Psa. 62, we have the open profession of a principle which I have already pointed out. The righteous, verse 5, seek no other deliverance than that of God. The connection is very strongly marked here between the life of Christ on earth, and the position of the remnant with respect to the iniquity of the last days. Personally, it was during the life of Christ that verse 4 was fulfilled; and, for the time, His enemies succeeded outwardly-to their own ruin. But this generation will not pass away till all is fulfilled. The spirit of the wicked at the end will be exactly the same as that described in verse 4. They will absolutely reject the true Christ. In verse 8, the Messiah encourages the remnant, identifying Himself with them. Man is but vanity. Power belongeth unto God (see Matt. 17;24-27). Christ shows Himself to be God, in knowledge and in power; knowing all that takes place, and commanding Creation. Peter promptly replies that he is a good Jew, ready to pay the didrachma of the temple. Christ, who had just been displaying His glory on the Mount, shows by a comparison, not that He was free Himself, but that the children were free. "Nevertheless, He saith, lest we should offend them, go, etc.,... that take and give unto them, for me and thee." What grace, what relations with such a Savior, with such a heart!
Psa. 63 rises a little higher. The principle and the position are the same. But the opposition here between the actual condition and the joy which the faithful derive from the presence of God, is more strongly marked by distance from the presence and glory of God. The dry and thirsty land is put in contrast with the enjoyment of God, but with this enjoyment in the manifestation of His power and glory in the Sanctuary. The consequence is, that the assurance afforded by this knowledge of God, makes the dry and thirsty land, which is like death to man, a place of blessing; because God's loving kindness is better than life. If this has been really tasted, it is never enjoyed so much as when there is nothing else.
We understand here, in what Sanctuary Christ had enjoyed the presence and the glory of God, and why in this dry and thirsty land, where no water is, His life was such, that (although it was a continual death) He could pray that His joy might be fulfilled in His disciples. Now this joy-the joy of the Son of Man who was in Heaven-is our own proper joy; only in Him it arose from what He was Himself; He, who had seen the glory of God, being in it. As to us, it is in Him that we have seen it, and it is in Him that we enjoy it. For the Jewish remnant it will doubtless be in another manner. Nevertheless, it will be the favor of God, and that is always better than life. There is joy in communion with His loving-kindness, and there is also His help. Observe that in both cases it is from having enjoyed it that the joy and confidence flow. The circumstances are the same. They sought the king's life to destroy it. The remnant will suffer under similar iniquity. But their enemies, who are the king's enemies, shall be judged. Confidence abounds here, but being in connection with Israel, it is expressed with reference to the judgment of their enemies.
In all these Psalms, the relations of the soul of the righteous are more immediately with God. This Psalm merits a detailed examination.
Psa. 64 especially displays the rancor of the wicked against the righteous, seeking to injure them with bitter words and calumny - those counsels of iniquity, where the means are arrayed for casting discredit upon him who seeks to serve God. This is one peculiar form of trial of those who are faithful witnesses for the Lord, and especially were the trials of Jesus. Alas! it is not the Jews only who make diligent search for iniquity, in order to bring a reproach upon faithfulness, and make it even afraid to come forward in testimony. But God has His arrows if the enemy have theirs, and judgment is at hand. They must commit their case to God.
Psa. 65 contains a touching appeal to God; He has only to intervene, praise waits for Him, and even unto Him shall all flesh come. This appeal is most beautiful, and shows thoroughly prepared hearts, the fruit of those exercises which the Psalms have laid before us. Nevertheless, there is the confession, that their sins were the hindrance. But God would take them away; they acknowledge it is grace. The elect shall enjoy the blessing. The happiness and the abundance of His house will satisfy the hearts of those whom He brings into it. They apply this blessing to themselves by faith. Christ is pre-eminently the Elect; but all the great moral principles of their being brought into favor, and into the enjoyment of blessing, are developed here. The terrible intervention of God in judgment is the means-of Him on whom the earth and the sea depend, and whose goodness fills the earth with blessing. For them He is the God of salvation, in answer to their cry. The great principles upon which the relations of Israel with. God are re-established, are here laid down in a remarkable manner, with their results.
Psa. 66 rehearses very distinctly, and with thanksgivings, this intervention of God in favor of His people; alluding to their coming out of Egypt, to their sufferings at the end, and the deliverance wrought by Jehovah, as well as the worship rendered afterward, according to the vows which they made in their distress. They know that God could not accept iniquity, but that He had accepted the remnant. The faithful render thanks to God, who has heard their prayer.
Psa. 67 goes farther, setting Israel as the center of blessing to all the earth, which shall be blessed when Israel is blessed.
Psa. 68 furnishes a striking instance of Israel's re-establishment in the enjoyment of their former relations with God; but, at the same time, through means that secure it to them forever. Means which give their enjoyment of it a glory that nothing else could have imparted. The first verse recalls that manifestation of God's presence in the wilderness, which was their glory and their security. They are the same words that Moses uttered when the Ark set forward. Here they ask God that His enemies may be scattered, and that the righteous may rejoice before Him; for in the last days they are always distinguished from the rest. They acknowledge Him as riding upon the heavens by His name Jah, a God who is a Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows-who setteth the solitary in families-who giveth liberty to the captives, but judgeth the froward. This is what He is in the eyes of His people, now that the Spirit of Christ has given them understanding-what He will be to them in the last days. The Spirit recalls the glory of Sinai, the blessing of the hand of a God who blesses the poor. The congregation of Jehovah had dwelt there.
Nevertheless, this only introduces the power with which He works in these last days, scattering all that oppose Him, and establishing his throne above all, whatever their pretensions or their confidence may be. The host of heaven is His host. Having thus celebrated the power of Jehovah, this Psalm shows Him to us as the Christ, ascended up on high, to receive gifts for men, and even for the rebellious (i.e. Israel; consequently, the Apostle does not quote this part of the text), that the Lord God might dwell among them, thus again taking up His abode in the midst of Israel. This introduction of the Lord is very remarkable in connection with the blessing of Israel. The expression " for men," or " in the man," leaves it open for all men, and the Lord has brought every believer into this grace. But in this Psalm the subject is treated with respect to Israel's blessing, as the whole Psalm unquestionably proves. But God is here a God of salvation to Israel, and not of judgment and chastisement. The 30th verse refers to the powers whom God has humbled before Israel. The " beasts of the reeds" (margin) may, perhaps, be in allusion to the former character of Egypt; at any rate, it refers to some powerful enemy of Israel in the last days, of whom the crocodile or the hippopotamus might be a type. Verse 34 shows us the power and the glory hovering over Israel, and protecting them as the object of God's care on the earth.
In Psa. 69, as is the case in all the books of the Psalms, we find the Lord entering into all the depth of the sufferings through which His people are to pass, and anticipating them, taking them up at their source. Nevertheless, this Psalm has not the same character as Psa. 22. Moreover, this remark is true with respect to each one of the Psalms that describe our precious Lord's sufferings. Each has its own peculiar character. The subject here is not His being forsaken of God, but the extremity to which He is reduced by the enmity of men, and especially of the Jews, God making Him no answer. But while acknowledging all the sins of the people, and this was His righteousness (it was thus He acted at the time of John's baptism), He is here, and He presents Himself here as the righteous man who has borne reproach for God's sake. Eaten up with zeal for the house of God, He had been exposed to all the hatred of those who profaned it, who, being regardless of God, were unwilling that any testimony should be given to bring out their iniquity. But He prays, according to His perfect faithfulness, that this may not be a stumbling-block to those who wait upon Jehovah (for blessed is every one who is not offended in Him), so that we have the faithful Savior here especially exposed to the fierce hatred of the people, and left to the full suffering of this position, not being sheltered from it by God. But He commits Himself to God. In all the details it will be found that the insults and the hard-heartedness of man are "the subject, and that amongst His own people; a terrible testimony. It is not (in addition to this) the being actually forsaken of God as something between Him and God; so that man's malice is but the occasion of that far deeper suffering. If He complains here that He has to wait for God, it is that He is left without alleviation to the pitiless malice of men, i.e. of the Jews. From verse 22 to 28, we have the judgment of the nation, on account of their conduct to Him. But He, the head, and model, and consoler of the little remnant, shall be set up on high-poor and sorrowful as He may now be-to praise the name of His God, and thus to be a source of consolation and joy to the humble and meek. For Jehovah heareth the poor: He calls the prisoners among His people His prisoners. The heavens and the earth shall praise Him when God delivers Zion, and causes His servants and those that love His name to dwell therein. Compare (for the remnant) Isa. 65;66, from verse 12 of 65. I have merely pointed out the principle of the Psalm. The reader cannot too much study its details, that he may learn Jesus for himself, and also the position that He took on behalf of the Jewish remnant. The 5th verse is the only one that presents any difficulty. It does not appear to me that bearing the sins of His people in expiation is the meaning here, but rather the manner in which-identifying Himself with the remnant- He confesses sin, as a righteous man in Israel ought to confess it. He did the same thing before at John's baptism. In how many and various aspects the Psalms set Christ before us I One understands the comfort it will be to the remnant to have been thus preceded by the Lord in this painful rejection by the people.
Psa. 70 again presents the Messiah in rejection. But this rejection was the touchstone (verse 2, 3), and that which brought down judgment on those who were guilty of it. In verses 4, we have the intercession of Christ for all those who fear God in Israel. He does not here put Himself forward as the object of their thoughts, but Jehovah Himself. However wretched the state of Israel may be, He prays that all those who seek Jehovah may always have reason to praise Elohim. As to Himself, He is poor and needy, but He trusts in the Lord. His perfect faith could wait for God's appointed time although longing for, and deeply feeling the need of, deliverance. But at least, may those that fear the Lord rejoice and be glad in Him. Observe, here, with respect to the remnant, that although the intervention is that of the Messiah, and its efficacy is by virtue of His name, yet it is not for those who know His name that He intercedes, but for those that seek Jehovah. This makes us understand the position of the remnant. Grace towards them has the Messiah's work for its basis; but as yet they know neither its meaning nor its efficacy. They are delivered according to the relations of Israel with Jehovah.
In Psa. 71 the remnant take the position of Israel, and acknowledging the faithfulness of God from the beginning, celebrate it as a spring of gladness that fills their heart, and, leaning on God alone, desire, now, to be witnesses for His faithfulness to the end of their history, counting upon the blessed and glorious results which their God will accomplish, He with whom none can be compared. The 12th and 13th verses connect this Psalm with the preceding one. We may suppose that the rebellion of Absalom or of Adonijah was its occasion. Observe to what a degree the Spirit of God quickened the sensibility of David's soul, so as to make him understand the moral bearing of that which was going on in the heart of his enemies, and not merely certain outward actions; thus making him in spirit the vessel of Christ's sentiments • although, frequently, these sentiments are the rather called out by the state of the remnant in whom the Spirit of Christ produces them. But sometimes they rise to the height of Christ Himself.
In Psa. 72, under the character of Solomon, we have the Millennial glory of the true Son of David. At the end of the Chronicles, we find this identification of the royalty of David and of Solomon, in whom this royalty had its glory strikingly presented. The Beloved and the Prince of Peace are its two essential characters. This Psalm concludes the second book.