day comes when the celestial marriage shall be openly celebrated, and
these words describe the nuptial procession, wherein the queen is
brought to her royal Husband attended by her handmaidens. In the
latter-day glory, and in the consummation of all things, the glory of
the bride, the Lamb’s wife, shall be seen by all the universe with
admiration. While she was within doors, and her saints hidden ones, the
church was glorious; what will be her splendour when she shall appear in
the likeness of her Lord in the day of his manifestation? The finest
embroidery is but a faint image of the perfection of the church when
sanctified by the Spirit. This verse tells us of the ultimate rest of
the church—the King’s own bosom; of the way she comes to it, she is
_brought_ by the power of sovereign grace; of the time when this is
done—in the future, “_she shall be_,” it does not yet appear; of the
state in which she shall come—clad in richest array, and attended by
brightest spirits. “_The virgins her companions that follow her shall be
brought unto thee._” Those who love and serve the church for her Lord’s
sake shall share in her bliss “in that day.” In one sense they are a
part of the church, but for the sake of the imagery they are represented
as maids of honour; and, though the figure may seem incongruous, they
are represented as brought to the King with the same loving familiarity
as the bride, because the true servants of the church are of the church,
and partake in all her happiness. Note that those who are admitted to
everlasting communion with Christ, are pure in heart—_virgins_, pure in
company—“_her companions_,” pure in walk—“_that follow her_.” Let none
hope to be brought into heaven at last who are not purified now.
15. “_With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought._” Joy becomes a
marriage feast. What joy will that be which will be seen at the feasts
of paradise when all the redeemed shall be brought home! Gladness in the
saints themselves, and rejoicing from the angels shall make the halls of
the New Jerusalem ring again with shoutings. “_They shall enter into the
King’s palace._” Their peaceful abodes shall be where Jesus the King
reigns in state for ever. They shall not be shut out but shut in. Rights
of free entrance into the holiest of all shall be accorded them. Brought
by grace, they shall enter into glory. If there was joy in the bringing,
what in the entering? What in the abiding? The glorified are not field
labourers in the plains of heaven, but sons who dwell at home, princes
of the blood, resident in the royal palace. Happy hour when we shall
enjoy all this and forget the sorrows of time in the triumphs of
eternity.
16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest
make princes in all the earth.
17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
16. “_Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children._” The ancient saints
who stood as fathers in the service of the Great King have all passed
away; but a spiritual seed is found to fill their places. The veterans
depart, but volunteers fill up the vacant places. The line of grace
never becomes extinct. As long as time shall last, the true apostolical
succession will be maintained. “_Whom thou mayest make princes in all
the earth._” Servants of Christ are kings. Where a man has preached
successfully, and evangelised a tribe or nation, he gets to himself more
than regal honours, and his name is like the name of the great men that
be upon the earth. Jesus is the king-maker. Ambition of the noblest kind
shall win her desire in the army of Christ; immortal crowns are
distributed to his faithful soldiers. The whole earth shall yet be
subdued for Christ, and honoured are they, who shall, through grace,
have a share in the conquest—these shall reign with Christ at his
coming.
17.—“_I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations._”
Jehovah by the prophet’s mouth promises to the Prince of Peace eternal
fame as well as a continuous progeny. His name is his fame, his
character, his person; these are dear to his people now—they never can
forget them; and it shall be so as long as men exist. Names renowned in
one generation have been unknown to the next era, but the laurels of
Jesus shall ever be fresh, his renown ever new. God will see to this;
his providence and his grace shall make it so. The fame of Messiah is
not left to human guardianship; the Eternal guarantees it, and his
promise never fails. All down the ages the memories of Gethsemane and
Calvary shall glow with unextinguishable light; nor shall the lapse of
time, the smoke of error, or the malice of hell be able to dim the glory
of the Redeemer’s fame. “_Therefore shall the people praise thee for
ever and ever._” They shall confess thee to be what thou art, and shall
render to thee in perpetuity the homage due. Praise is due from every
heart to him who loved us, and redeemed us by his blood; this praise
will never be fully paid, but will be ever a standing and growing debt.
His daily benefits enlarge our obligations, let them increase the number
of our songs. Age to age reveals more of his love, let every year swell
the volume of the music of earth and heaven, and let thunders of song
roll up in full diapason to the throne of him that liveth, and was dead,
and is alive for evermore, and hath the keys of hell and of death.
“Let him be crowned with majesty
Who bowed his head to death,
And be his honours sounded high
By all things that have breath.”
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
_Title._ —“_Upon Shoshannim_,” or upon _lilies_. It will be remembered
that lilies were an emblem of purity and loveliness, and were introduced
as such in the building of Solomon’s temple (see 1 Kings vii. 19, 22,
26; 2 Chron. iv. 5); and the church is compared in the Canticles to a
“lily among thorns.” Cant. ii. 2. The Psalms which bear this title,
“upon lilies,” are the present, the sixty-ninth and the eightieth (cp.
Ps. lx.); and all these contain prophecies of Christ and his church. The
sixtieth is a parallel to the forty-fourth, and represents her
supplicating appeal to God, and Christ’s victories. The sixty-ninth
displays the victories gained by Christ through suffering. The eightieth
is also parallel to the forty-fourth and sixtieth, a plaintive lament of
the church in distress and a supplicating cry for deliverance. All these
three Psalms are (if we may venture to use this expression) like the
voice of the “lily among thorns.” That there is, therefore, some
reference here to the spiritual meaning of the word שֹׁשַׁנִּים, or
_lilies_, in this title, seems at least to be probable.—_Christopher
Wordsworth._
_Title._—We think that _Shoshannim_ signifies an instrument of six
strings, or a song of rejoicing.—_Augustin Calmet, 1672-1757._
Kitto, on the other hand, says that the word is so clearly _lilies_,
that he is disinclined to go out of the way to bring in the Hebrew word
for six.
_Title.—“To the chief musician upon Shoshannim.”_ Some would have it
that instruments whereon were many engravings of lilies, which are
six-leaved flowers, are here meant. And, indeed, some interpreters,
because of that derivation of the word, do thus translate it, _upon
Shoshannim_, that is, _upon lilies_; and that either in reference to
their wedding garlands, that were made much of lilies, or as intending
by these lilies Christ and his church.—_Arthur Jackson._
_Title.—“A song.”_ The word שִׁיר, _shir_, the meaning of which
(_song_), is unquestioned, is prefixed to many of the Psalms, three
times simply and thirteen times in connection with _Mizmor_. There is no
mark of peculiarity in their composition. The meaning of the word seems
to be discriminated from _Mizmor_, as signifying a thing to be sung,
with reference to its poetical structure.—_John Jebb._
_Whole Psalm._—The Psalter, which sets forth so much truth respecting
the person and work of Christ—truth more precious than gold and sweeter
than the honeycomb—is not silent respecting the bond subsisting between
him and his people, THE MYSTICAL UNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE CHURCH.
When a prince sets his affections on a woman of lowly rank, and takes
her home to be his wife, the two are so united that her debts become
his, his wealth and honours become hers. Now, that there is formed
between Christ and the church, between Christ and every soul that will
consent to receive him, a connection, of which the most intimate of all
natural relations is the analogue and type, we have already found to be
not only taught in the Psalms, but to be implied in the very structure
of many of them. He takes his people’s sins upon him, and they receive
the right to become the sons of God; the One Spirit of God wherewith he
was baptised without measure, dwells in them according to the measure of
the grace that is given them. I will only add further, that this union,
besides being implied in so many places, is expressly set forth in one
most glorious Psalm—the Nuptial Song of Christ and the Church—which has
for its peculiar theme the home-bringing of Christ’s elect, that they
may be joined to him in a union that shall survive the everlasting
hills.—_William Binnie, D.D._
_Verse 1.—“My heart is inditing a good matter,”_ and then, “_My tongue
shall be like the pen of a ready writer._” Oh, then I shall go merrily
on in his service, when I have matter prepared in my heart. And, indeed,
as the mariner sees further new stars the further he sails, he loseth
sight of the old ones and discovers new; so the growing Christian, the
further he sails in religion he discovers new wants, new Scriptures
affect him, new trials afflict him, new business he finds with God, and
forgetting those things that are behind, he reacheth after those things
that are before, and so finds every day new business with the Lord his
God; and he that is busy trifles not; the more business the less
distraction.—_Richard Steele._
_Verse 1.—“My heart is inditing a good matter.”_ רָחַשׁ (_rakhash_),
_boileth_ or _bubbleth up_; denotes the language of the heart full and
ready for utterance.—_Victorinus Bythner._
_Verse 1.—“My heart is inditing a good matter.”_ Here you have the work
of the Spirit of prophecy. By his operation the good “matter” is
engendered in the Psalmist’s bosom, and now his heart is heaving and
labouring under the load. It is just beginning to throw it up, like
water from a fountain, that it may flow off in the channel of the
tongue. Here, therefore, you have some insight given you of the manner
of the operation of the Spirit in the heart of man. The Psalmist says
his heart is doing what the Spirit is doing in his heart. The heart does
it, indeed, but it is the Spirit’s working. The Psalmist took all the
interest and pleasure in his subject that he could have done, if the
Spirit had had nothing to do with it; for when the Spirit works, he
works not only by the heart, but in the heart; he seizes upon all its
affections, every fibre of it is bent to his will.—_George Harpur, in
“Christ in the Psalms,” 1862._
_Verse 1.—“Good matter,”_ the goodspell, or _gospel_.—_Christopher
Wordsworth._
_Verse 1._—A similitude taken from the _mincah_, or _meat-offering_ in
the law, which was dressed in the frying-pan (Lev. vii. 9), and there
boiled in oil, being made of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil
(Lev. ii. 5), and afterwards was presented to the Lord by the priest,
ver. 8. Here the matter of this Psalm is as the _mincah_ or oblation,
which with the oil, the grace of the Spirit, was boiled and prepared in
the prophet’s heart, and now presented.—_Henry Ainsworth._
_Verse 1._—It is reported of Origen, saith Erasmus, that he was ever
earnest, but most of all when he discoursed of Christ. Of Johannes
Mollias, a Bononian, it is said, that whenever he spake of Jesus Christ,
his eyes dropped, for he was fraught with a mighty fervency of God’s
Holy Spirit; and like the Baptist, he was first a burning (boiling or
bubbling), and then a shining light.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 1.—“Touching the king.”_ It does not all concern the king
immediately, for much of it concerns the queen, and about one-half of it
is directly addressed to her. But it relates to him inasmuch as it
relates to his family. Christ ever identifies himself with his people;
so that, whatever is done to them, is done to himself. Their interests
are his.—_George Harpur._
_Verse 1.—“My tongue”_ shall be like the pen of one that takes minutes
or writes shorthand: for I shall speak very briefly, and not in words at
length, or so as to be understood in a literal sense, but in figures and
emblems.—_From “Holy David and his old English Translators cleared,”
1706. [Anon.]_
_Verse 1.—“The pen.”_ We call the prophets the _penmen_ of Scripture,
whereas they were but the _pen_.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured
into thy lips.”_ Thus he begins to set forth his beauty, wherein is the
delightfulness of any person; so is it with the soul when God hath made
known to man his own filthiness and uncomeliness through sin, and that
only by Jesus sin is taken away; oh, how beautiful is this face, the
first sight of him! Secondly, “_Full of grace are thy lips_:” here is
the second commendation; which is, when Jesus hath opened his lips to
us, from them he pours out grace into our soul, when he makes known the
Father to us, and speaks peace to all that are far off and near; when he
calls, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
refresh you:” and all this is because God hath blessed him for ever; we
are assured he comes from God, and that he and his works are eternal,
and therefore all his grace poured out upon us shall remain with us, and
make us blessed for ever; for he is the Word of God, and he speaks the
mind of God, for he speaks nothing but what he hath heard from the
Father; and when he speaks to our souls with his Word, the Spirit is
given, a certain testimony to our soul that we are the sons of God, and
a pledge of our inheritance; for the Spirit and the Word cannot be
separated.—_Richard Coore, in “Christ set forth.”_
_Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer than the children of men,”_ etc. Nothing can
be more beautiful than this abrupt way of discourse. The prophet sets
out with a professed design to speak of the king. But as if in the
moment he had so intended, the glorious _Person_ of whom he was going to
speak appeared to his view, he instantly leaves every other
consideration to speak to him himself. And what a rapturous address he
makes! He first describes the glories, the beauties, the astonishing
loveliness, of his _person_. Though to a carnal eye there was no beauty
to desire him, his visage was marred more than any man’s, and his form
more than the sons of men, yet to an eye truly enlightened, he is the
king in his beauty, fairer, as the glorious _Mediator_, the Head, the
Bridegroom of his Church and people, than all the children of men. And,
in the Father’s view, so greatly beloved, so truly glorious, that _grace
was poured into his lips_. Reader, observe the expression; not simply
grace put into his heart, for the holiness and purity of his person, but
poured into his lips, that, like the honey, it might drop upon his
people, and be for ever communicated to all his redeemed, in an endless
perpetuity of all suited blessings here, and glory hereafter.—_Robert
Hawker, D.D._
_Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer than the children of men.”_ Are you for
_beauty_? That takes with most: for this none like Christ. For beauty
and comeliness he infinitely surpasses both men and angels. We read of
Moses, that he was exceeding fair; and of David, that he was ruddy, and
of a beautiful countenance; and Josephus reports of the one of them,
that all that saw him were amazed at and enamoured of his beauty. Oh,
but what was their beauty to Christ’s? Were their beauty, and with
theirs the beauty of men and angels put together, it would all be
nothing to the beauty of Christ; not so much as the light of a farthing
candle is to the light of the sun at noon-day.—_Edward Pearse in “The
Best Match,” 1673._
_Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer,”_ etc. Fair he was (1) in his _conception_,
conceived in purity, and a fair angel brought the news. Fair (2) in his
_nativity_: ὡραῖος is the word in the Septuagint, _tempustivus, in
time_, that is, all things are beautiful in their time, Eccl. iii. 11.
And _in the fulness of time_ it was that he was born, and a fair star
pointed to him. Fair (3) in his _childhood_; he grew up in grace and
favour, Luke ii. 52. The doctors were much taken with him. Fair (4) in
his _manhood_; had he not been so, says S. Jerome, had there not been
something admirable in his countenance and presence, some heavenly
beauty, the apostles and the whole world (as the Pharisees themselves
confess) would not so suddenly have gone after him. Fair (5) in his
_transfiguration_, white as the light, or as the snow, his face
glittering as the sun (Matt. xvii. 2), even to the ravishing the very
soul of S. Peter, that “he knew not what he said,” could let his eyes
dwell upon that face for ever, and never come down the mount again. Fair
(6) in his _passion_. _Nihil indecorum_, no uncomeliness, in his
nakedness; his very wounds, and the bloody prints of the whips and
scourges drew an _ecce_ from the mouth of Pilate: “Behold the man!” the
sweetness of his countenance and carriage in the midst of filth and
spittle, whips and buffets. His very comeliness upon the cross, and his
giving up the ghost, made the centurion cry out, he “_was the Son of
God_:” there appeared so sweet a majesty, so heavenly a lustre in him
through that very darkness that encompassed him. Fair (7) in his
_resurrection_; so subtle a beauty, that mortal eyes, even the eyes of
his own disciples, were not able to see or apprehend it, but when he
veiled it from them. Fair (8) in his _ascension_; made his disciples
stand gazing after him so long (as if they never could look long enough
upon him), till an angel is sent from heaven to rebuke them, to look
home, Acts i. 2.—_Mark Frank._
_Verse 2._—O fair sun, and fair moon, and fair stars, and fair flowers,
and fair roses, and fair lilies; but O ten thousand thousand times
fairer Lord Jesus! Alas! I have wronged him in making the comparison
this way. O black sun and moon! but O fair Lord Jesus! O black flowers,
and black lilies, and roses! but O fair, fair, ever fair, Lord Jesus! O
black heaven! but O fair Christ! O black angels! but O surpassingly fair
Lord Jesus!—_Samuel Rutherford._
_Verse 2._—In one Christ we may contemplate and must confess all the
beauty and loveliness both of heaven and earth; the beauty of heaven is
God, the beauty of earth is man; the beauty of heaven and earth together
is this God-man.—_Edward Hyde, D.D., 1658._
_Verse 2.—“Thou.”_ “I have a passion,” observed Count Zinzendorf in one
of his discourses to the congregation at Herrnhut, “and it is He—He
only.”
_Verse 2.—“Thou art fairer.”_ Hebrew, Thou art _double fairer_; the
Hebrew word is doubled, _ad corroborandum_, saith Kimchi.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 2.—“Grace is poured into thy lips.”_ This is said as if this
grace were a gift, and not something inherent in our Lord himself. And
is not this exactly what we learn from the histories of the evangelists?
Before Jesus went forth to the work of his public mission, the Holy
Ghost descended from heaven like a dove and lit upon him. The Spirit who
imparts all its graces to the church of Christ imparted his graces to
Christ himself. Not that the Son of God needed the anointing of the
Spirit of God, but he suffered it to be so that he might be in all
things like his brethren. If he was to be their example, he must show
them wherein their great strength lay. They see in him the fruits of the
Holy Ghost who is promised to themselves. All that Christ ever did as
the Head and Representative of his people, he did by that very Spirit
which is still resident in his church.—_George Harpur._
_Verse 2.—“Grace is poured into thy lips.”_ “_Full of grace are thy
lips._” Full of grace for the _matter_, and full of grace for the
_manner_. I. For the _matter_, he delivered acceptable doctrine: “The
law was given by Moses, but grace came by Jesus Christ.” John i. 17.
Moses had harsh and hard words in his law; “Cursed is he that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them;”
but Christ on the contrary speaks better things, the first words in his
first sermon are, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.” Matt. v. 3. He cometh unto his people, _cum verbo
gratiæ, cum osculo gratiæ_, saith Augustine: his lips are _full of
grace_, that is, pouring out gracious words abundantly. Matt. xi. 28;
John iii. 16; Luke iv. 18. “His lips are like lilies dropping down
myrrh” (Cant. v. 13); all that heard him wondered at the gracious words
which proceeded out of his mouth, Luke iv. 22. II. For the _manner_, he
taught not as the scribes; he spake so sweetly that the very catch-poll
officers, astonished at his words, gave this testimony, “Never man spake
like this man,” John vii. 46. He spake so graciously that the apostles
forsook all things and followed him; at his call Andrew left his nets
straightway, James and John their father without tarrying, Matthew from
the receipt of custom, Zaccheus from the like worldly course, came
hastily to receive him joyfully. Mark x. 28; Matt. iv. 20, 21; ix. 9;
Luke xix. 6. Nay, beloved, he was so powerful an orator, that the very
winds and waves obeyed his word. Mark iv. 39. It is reported in Holy
Writ that all princes and people were desirous of hearing Solomon’s
eloquence; the Queen of Sheba wondering at the same, cried out, “Happy
are these thy servants which stand continually before thee, and that
hear thy wisdom,” 1 Kings x. 8. Solomon is a type here, but Christ is
the truth; and this showeth evidently that Christ is not a tyrant, but a
mild prince, persuading obedience plausibly, not compelling his people
violently; his sayings are his _sceptre_ and his sword: his piercing
exhortations are, as it were, his _sharp arrows_ by which his followers
are subdued unto him.
To conclude this argument, his fair words (as the Scripture speaks) “are
as an honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones” (Prov.
xvi. 24): “an honeycomb,” and what more toothsome? “sweetness to the
soul and health to the bones;” and what, I pray, more wholesome? The
good man’s soul is Christ’s own spouse, to which he speaks a great many
ways graciously; sometimes correcting, and what stronger argument of
love? for “whom he loveth he chasteneth” (Heb. xii. 6); sometimes
instructing, and his gospel is able to make “the man of God perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. iii. 17); sometimes
wooing in amorous terms, as in his love-song everywhere: “my beloved,”
“my sister,” “my spouse,” “the fairest among women,” “my love,” “my
dove,” etc.; sometimes promising, and that both the blessings of this
life present (Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I
am thy God: etc., Isaiah xli. 10), and of that life which is to come.
John xvii. 21, 24. But Christ’s excellent intercession every day to God
the Father, appearing in the court of heaven, and as an advocate
pleading for us, is yet fuller of grace; for if Caleb easily granted his
daughter’s request, and bestowed on her “the springs above and the
springs beneath” (Judges i. 15), how shall Almighty God (whose mercies
are above all his works) deny the suits of such a Son in whom he is well
pleased?—_John Boys._
_Verse 2.—“Grace is poured into thy lips.”_ The former clause noted his
inward perfections; and this signifies his ability and readiness to
communicate them to others.—_Matthew Pool._