Jerusalem are invited to go forth and view the remains of their enemies,
that they may mark the prowess of Jehovah and the spoil which his right
hand hath won for his people. It were well if we also carefully noted
the providential dealings of our covenant God, and were quick to
perceive his hand in the battles of his church. Whenever we read history
it should be with this verse sounding in our ears. We should read the
newspaper in the same spirit, to see how the Head of the Church rules
the nations for his people’s good, as Joseph governed Egypt for the sake
of Israel. “_What desolations he hath made in the earth._” The
destroyers he destroys, the desolators he desolates. How forcible is the
verse at this date! The ruined cities of Assyria, Babylon, Petra,
Bashan, Canaan, are our instructors, and in tables of stone record the
doings of the Lord. In every place where his cause and crown have been
disregarded ruin has surely followed; sin has been a blight on nations,
and left their palaces to lie in heaps. In the days of the writer of
this Psalm, there had probably occurred some memorable interposition of
God against his Israel’s foes; and as he saw their overthrow, he called
on his fellow citizens to come forth and attentively consider the
terrible things in righteousness which had been wrought on their behalf.
Dismantled castles and ruined abbeys in our own land stand as memorials
of the Lord’s victories over oppression and superstition. May there soon
be more of such desolations.
“Ye gloomy piles, ye tombs of living men,
Ye sepulchres of womanhood, or worse;
Ye refuges of lies, soon may ye fall,
And ’mid your ruins may the owl, and bat,
And dragon find congenial resting place.”
9. “_He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth._” His voice
quiets the tumult of war, and calls for the silence of peace. However
remote and barbarous the tribe, he awes the people into rest. He crushes
the great powers till they cannot provoke strife again; he gives his
people profound repose. “_He breaketh the bow_,” the sender of
swift-winged death he renders useless. “_And cutteth the spear in
sunder_”—the lance of the mighty man he shivers. “_He burneth the
chariot in the fire_”—the proud war-chariot with its death-dealing
scythes he commits to the flames. All sorts of weapons he piles heaps on
heaps, and utterly destroys them. So was it in Judea in the days of
yore, so shall it be in all lands in eras yet to come. Blessed deed of
the Prince of Peace! when shall it be literally performed? Already the
spiritual foes of his people are despoiled of their power to destroy;
but when shall the universal victory of peace be celebrated, and
instruments of wholesale murder be consigned to ignominious destruction?
How glorious will the ultimate victory of Jesus be in the day of his
appearing, when every enemy shall lick the dust!
10. “_Be still, and know that I am God._” Hold off your hands, ye
enemies! Sit down and wait in patience, ye believers! Acknowledge that
Jehovah is God, ye who feel the terrors of his wrath! Adore him, and him
only, ye who partake in the protections of his grace. Since none can
worthily proclaim his nature, let “expressive silence muse his praise.”
The boasts of the ungodly and the timorous forebodings of the saints
should certainly be hushed by a sight of what the Lord has done in past
ages. “_I will be exalted among the heathen._” They forget God, they
worship idols, but Jehovah will yet be honoured by them. Reader, the
prospects of missions are bright, bright as the promises of God. Let no
man’s heart fail him; the solemn declarations of this verse must be
fulfilled. “_I will be exalted in the earth_,” among all people,
whatever may have been their wickedness or their degradation. Either by
terror or love God will subdue all hearts to himself. The whole round
earth shall yet reflect the light of his majesty. All the more because
of the sin, and obstinacy, and pride of man shall God be glorified when
grace reigns unto eternal life in all corners of the world.
11. “_The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge._” It
was meet to sing this twice over. It is a truth of which no believer
wearies, it is a fact too often forgotten, it is a precious privilege
which cannot be too often considered. Reader, is the Lord on thy side?
Is Emmanuel, God with us, thy Redeemer? Is there a covenant between thee
and God as between God and Jacob? If so, thrice happy art thou. Show thy
joy in holy song, and in times of trouble play the man by still making
music for thy God.
SELAH. Here as before, lift up the heart. Rest in contemplation after
praise. Still keep the soul in tune. It is easier to sing a hymn of
praise than to continue in the spirit of praise, but let it be our aim
to maintain the uprising devotion of our grateful hearts, and so end our
song as if we intended it to be continued.
SELAH bids the music rest, Pause in silence soft and blest; SELAH
bids uplift the strain, Harps and voices tune again; SELAH ends the
vocal praise, Still your hearts to God upraise.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
_Title._—The LXX referring to the notion of the theme עָלַם,
_occultavit_, render it ὑπὲρ τῶν κρυφίων, _for the hidden_; and the
Latin, _pro arcanis_; and the rest of the ancient interpreters take the
same course; the Chaldee referring it to _Coreh_, and those that were
_hidden_, _i.e._, _swallowed up_, by the earth with him, whilst these
_sons of Coreh_ escaped; as if the mention of the _sons of Coreh_ in the
title, by whom this song was to be sung, referred the whole Psalm to
that story. Accordingly, verse 2, when the Hebrew reads, “_Though the
earth be removed_,” the paraphrase is, “_When our fathers were changed
from the earth._”—_Henry Hammond._
_Title._—The title is peculiar, “_Upon Alamoth_,” suggesting “_a choir
of virgins_,” as if this virgin-choir were selected to sing a Psalm that
tells of perils and fears and alarms abounding, in order to show that
even the feeble virgins may in that day sing without dread, because of
“_The Mighty One_” on their side.—_Andrew A. Bonar._
_Title.—“Upon Alamoth,”_ [To be sung] _en soprano_.—_Armand de Mestral,
quoted by Perowne._
_Whole Psalm._—We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is
with us, and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends his
church and his word, against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of
hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the
assaults of the world, the flesh and sin.—_Martin Luther._
_Whole Psalm._—Luther and his companions, with all their bold readiness
for danger and death in the cause of truth, had times when their
feelings were akin to those of a divine singer, who said, “Why art thou
cast down, O my soul?” But in such hours the unflinching Reformer would
cheerily say to his friend Melancthon, “Come, Philip, let us sing the
forty-sixth Psalm;” and they could sing it in Luther’s own
characteristic version:—
A sure stronghold our God is He,
A timely shield and weapon;
Our help he’ll be, and set us free
From every ill can happen.
...
And were the world with devils filled,
All eager to devour us,
Our souls to fear shall little yield,
They cannot overpower us.
_S. W. Christopher, in “Hymn Writers and their Hymns.”_
_Verse 1.—“God is our refuge and strength,”_ etc. It begins abruptly,
but nobly; ye may trust in whom and in what ye please; but GOD (ELOHIM)
_is our refuge and strength_. “_A very present help._” A help found to
be very powerful and effectual in straits and difficulties. The words
are very emphatic: עֶזְרָה בְצָרוֹת נִמְצָא מְאֹד, _ezrah betsaroth
nimtsa meod_, “He is found an exceeding, or superlative, help in
difficulties.” Such we have found him, and therefore celebrate his
praise.—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 2.—“Though the earth be removed.”_ John Wesley preached in
Hyde-park, on the occasion of the earthquake felt in London, March 8,
1750, and repeated these words. Charles Wesley composed Hymn 67,
Wesley’s Collection, the following lines of which illustrate this
verse:—
How happy then are we,
Who build, O Lord, on thee!
What can our foundation shock?
Though the shatter’d earth remove,
Stands our city on a rock,
On the rock of heavenly love.
_Verses 2, 3._—The earth thrown into a state of wild confusion, the
mountains hurled into the mighty deep, the sea tossed into a tempest,
and the everlasting hills drifting on its foaming billows, are the vivid
images by which the divine judgments on wicked and persecuting nations
are described in the language of the prophets.—_John Morison._
_Verses 2, 3, 5._—Palestine was frequently subject to earthquakes, as
might have been expected from its physical character and situation; and
it is a remarkable circumstance, that although all other parts of the
land seem to have been occasionally the scene of those terrible
convulsions, the capital was almost wholly free from them. Mount Moriah,
or the hill of vision, was so called from its towering height, which
made it a conspicuous object in the distance. It stands in the centre of
a group of hills, which surround it in the form of an amphitheatre, and
it was chiefly to this position, under the special blessing of God, that
it stood firm and immovable amid the frequent earthquakes that agitated
and ravaged the Holy Land.—_Paxton’s Illustrations of Scripture._
_Verse 3.—“Selah.”_ See “Treasury of David,” Vol. I., pp. 23, 26, 27;
and Vol. II., pp. 224-227.
_Verse 4.—“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the
city of God.”_ What is the _river_ that makes glad the city of God? I
answer, God himself is the river, as in the following verse, “_God is in
the midst of her._” 1. God the _Father_ is the river: “For my people
have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living
waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
water.” Jer. ii. 13. 2. God the _Son_ is the river, the fountain of
salvation: “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of
David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”
Zech. xiii. 1. 3. God the _Spirit_ is the river: “He that believeth on
me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water.” “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him
a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John vii. 38; iv.
14. What are the _streams_ of this river? Answer—the _perfections_ of
God, the _fulness_ of Christ, the _operations_ of the Spirit, and these
running in the _channel_ of the _covenant of promise_.—_Ralph Erskine._
_Verse 4.—“There is a river,”_ etc. This is that flood which Ezekiel
beheld in vision, the waters that came down from the right side of the
house, and rising first to the ancles—then as the prophet passed onward,
to the knees—then to the loins—became afterwards a river that he could
not pass over; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river
that could not be passed over. Shall we see in this, with the angelic
doctor, the river of grace which burst forth from Mount Calvary? streams
branching off hither and thither, the _pelagim_ of the Hebrew—“to
satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the
tender herb to spring forth.” Job xxxviii. O “fountain of gardens,”
“well of living waters,” “streams from Lebanon,” how do you, the “nether
springs” of this world, bring to us something of the everlasting
loveliness and peace of those “upper springs,” by which the beautiful
flock now feed and lie down, none making them afraid! Or with S. Ambrose
and S. Bernard, understand the verse of the “river of water of life,
clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
And then the rivers of that flood shall indeed “_make glad the city of
God_,” the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, where is
the tree of life, that beareth twelve manner of fruits, and yieldeth her
fruit every month; that country and that river of which the old
liturgies say, “They who rest in the bosom of Abraham are in the
tabernacles of joy and rest, in the dwellings of light, in the world of
pleasure, in the church of the true Jerusalem, where there is no place
for affliction, nor way of sadness, where there are no wars with the
flesh, and no resistance to temptation, where sin is forgotten, and past
danger is only remembered as a present pleasure.”—_Thomas Aquinas,
Ambrose, and Bernard, in Neale’s Commentary._
_Verse 4.—“There is a river.”_ The river of God that flows from his
throne. No enemy can cut off this stream from the church of Christ.
Observe the reference to Isaiah xxxvi. 2; xxxvii. 25, compared with 2
Chron. xxxii. 2-4. These gently flowing, but full streams, are
contrasted with the roaring waves of the sea.—_T. C. Barth._
_Verse 4.—“There is a river,”_ etc. The allusion is either to the river
Kidron, which ran by Jerusalem, or to the waters of Shiloah, which by
different courses and branches ran through the city of Jerusalem, and
supplied the several parts of it with water, to the joy and comfort of
its inhabitants. But the words are to be understood in a figurative
sense, as applicable to gospel times; and this river either designs the
gospel, the streams of which are its doctrines, which are living waters,
that went out from Jerusalem, and which publish glad tidings of great
joy to all sensible sinners; or the Spirit and his graces, which are
compared to a well and rivers of living water, in the exercises of which
the saints have much joy and peace; or else the Lord himself, who is the
place of broad rivers and streams to his people, and is both their
refreshment and protection; or rather his everlasting love to them is
here intended.—_John Gill._
_Verse 4._—Compared with the waterless deserts around, Judæa and
Jerusalem were well watered, and drought pressed more severely on the
besiegers than the besieged. The allusion here is to the well-known rill
and pool of Siloam. So in Isaiah viii. 6, the blessing of God’s
protection is represented by the waters of Siloah, which go
softly.—_From “The Psalms Chronologically arranged. By Four Friends,”
1867._
_Verse 4.—“The city.”_ The church of God is like a city, 1. Because a
city is a place of _security_. 2. A place of _society_: what one wants
another supplies; they have mutual fellowship. 3. A place of _unity_,
that people may therein live in peace and concord. 4. A place of _trade_
and _traffic_. Here is the market of free grace: “Ho, every one that
thirsteth,” etc. Here is the _pearl of great price_ exposed for sale. 5.
A place of _freedom_, and _liberty_, freedom from the guilt of sin,
wrath of God, curse of the law, present evil world, bondage to Satan,
etc., etc. 6. A place of _order_ and _regularity_; it hath its
constitutions and ordinances. 7. A place of _rest_, and commodious to
live in, and thus it is opposed to the wilderness. 8. A place of
_privileges_. 9. A place of _pomp_ and _splendour_; there is the king,
the court, the throne. 10. A place of _pleasure_ and _beauty_, Psalm
xlviii. 2.—_Ralph Erskine._
_Verse 5.—“God is in the midst of her.”_ It is the real presence of
Christ, and the supernatural power of his Spirit, which makes the church
mighty to the conquest of souls. The church spreads because her “_God is
in the midst of her._” When at any time she has forgotten her dependence
on the invisible intercession of her Head, and the gracious energy of
his Spirit, she has found herself shorn of the locks of her great
strength, and has become the laughing-stock of the Philistines.—_William
Binnie, D.D._
_Verse 5.—“God is in the midst of her.”_ etc. The enemies of the church
may toss her as waves but they shall not split her as rocks. She may be
dipped in water as a _feather_, but shall not sink therein as _lead_. He
that is a well of water within her to keep her from fainting, will also
prove a wall of fire about her to preserve her from falling. _Tried_ she
may be, but _destroyed_ she cannot be. Her foundation is the Rock of
Ages, and her defence the everlasting Arms. It is only such fabrics as
are bottomed upon the _sand_, that are overthrown by the _wind_. The
adversaries of God’s people will push at them as far as their horns will
go, but when they have scoured them by persecution, as tarnished
vessels, then God will throw such wisps into the fire.—_William Secker._
_Verse 5._—When the Papists were in their ruff, and Melancthon began
sometimes to fear lest the infant Reformation should be stifled in the
birth, Luther was wont to comfort him with these words: “_Si nos ruemus,
ruet Christus una, scilicet ille regnator mundi, esto ruat, malo ego cum
Christo ruere, quam cum Cæsare stare_; that is, If we perish, Christ
must fall too (he is in the midst of us), and if it must be so, be it
so; I had rather perish with Christ, that great Ruler of the world, than
prosper with Cæsar.”—_John Collings._
_Verse 5.—“And that right early.”_ Therefore, notice that all the great
deliverances wrought in Holy Scriptures, were wrought _so early_, as to
have been brought to pass in the middle of the night. So Gideon, with
his pitchers and lamps against the Midianites; so Saul, when he went
forth against Nahash, the Ammonite; so Joshua, when he went up to
succour Gibeon; so Samson, when he carried off in triumph the gates of
Gaza; so also the associate kings, under the guidance of Elisha, in
their expedition against the Moabites, when they, according to God’s
command, filled the wilderness with ditches, and then beheld their
enemies drawn to their destruction, by the reflection of the rising sun
upon the water.—_Michael Ayguan._
_Verse 5.—“Right early.”_ Rather, with the margin, _when the morning
appeareth_. The restoration of the Jews will be one of the first things
at the season of the second advent. It will be accomplished in the very
dawning of that day, “when the Sun of Righteousness will rise with
healing on his wings.”—_Samuel Horsley._
_Verse 7.—“The Lord of hosts is with us.”_ There be three sorts of God’s
special presence, all which may be justly accounted the church’s
privilege. First, his _glorious_ presence, or his presence testified by
eminent glory, and the residence thereof. Thus God is said to be in
heaven differentially, so as he is not anywhere else; and heaven is
therefore called his throne or dwelling place (1 Kings viii. 39); as a
king is nowhere so majestically as upon his throne, or in his chair of
state; and this is so great a privilege of the church as that she comes
not to enjoy it, until she be triumphant in heaven, and therefore is not
the presence here intended. Secondly, his _gracious_ presence or his
presence testified by tokens of his grace and favour toward a people,
whether visible, as in the temple where he chose to place his name, and
wherein above all places he would be worshipped, in which respect he is
said to dwell between the cherubim (2 Sam. vi. 2); or spiritual tokens
of his grace, as assistance and acceptance in the duties of his worship,
together with enjoyment and benefit of his ordinances. Thus he is
present with his church and people in times of the gospel: “Where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them.” Matt. xviii. 20. This kind of presence is a privilege of the
church militant, that he will be with her in holy and spiritual
administrations and ordinances; yet this is not the presence principally
intended here. Thirdly, the _providential_ presence, or his presence
testified by acts of special providence, wherein the power, wisdom, or
any other of God’s attributes are eminently put forth, either by way of
assistance or defence for a people. Thus the Lord was present with
Israel in the wilderness by the pillar of fire and of a cloud (Exod.
xiii. 21): “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud,
to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them
light.” And as this presence was intended for a guide, so was it also
for a defence to his people against their enemies, and at which their
enemies the Egyptians were troubled. Exodus xiv. 20. By this kind of
presence the Lord is with his church militant, in reference to her
external regiment, and more especially in her warfare, standing up for
her and with her against her enemies; and this is the church’s privilege
in these words, “_The Lord of hosts is with us._”—_John Strickland, B.D.
(1601-1670), in a Sermon, entitled, “Immanuel,” 1644._
_Verse 7.—“The God of Jacob.”_ If any shall ask me, Why then the God of
Jacob more than the God of Isaac? Though it might suffice that the
Spirit of God is pleased so to speak, yet Mr. Calvin gives this reason,
the covenant of grace was more solemnly made and publicly ratified with
Abraham and Jacob, than it was with Isaac, and therefore when he will be
looked upon as a God in covenant with his people, he holds forth himself
more frequently by the name of the God of Abraham, and the God of Jacob,
than of the God of Isaac; albeit sometimes he is pleased to take upon
him that style also.—_John Strickland._
_Verse 7.—“Our refuge.”_ Our refuge, or stronghold, where the church, as
a ship in quiet haven, may anchor and ride safe; or it may be a metaphor
from the dens or burrows, where weaponless creatures find shelter, when
they are hunted and pursued by their enemies, as Prov. xxx. 26, “_The
conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks._”
They are safe in the rock if they can get thither, though never so weak
in themselves. So the church, though pursued by bloody enemies, and
though weak in herself, if yet she get under the wing of the God of
Jacob, she may be fearless, for she is safe there. _He is our refuge._
It were to undervalue God, if we should fear the creatures, when he is
with us. Antigonus, when he overheard his soldiers reckoning how many
their enemies were, he steps in unto them suddenly, demanding, “And how
many do you reckon me for?”—_John Strickland._
_Verse 8.—“Come, behold the works of the Lord.”_ _Venito, videto._ God
looks that his works should be well observed, and especially when he
hath wrought any great deliverance for his people. Of all things, he
cannot abide to be forgotten.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 8.—“What desolations he hath made in the earth.”_ We are here
first invited to a tragical sight. We are carried into the _camera di
morte_, to see the ghastly visage of deaths and desolations all the
world over; than which nothing can be more horrible and dreadful. You
are called out to see piles of dead carcasses; to see whole basketfuls
of heads, as was presented to Jehu: a woeful spectacle, but a necessary
one. _See_, therefore _what desolations the Lord hath wrought in all the
earth_. Desolations by wars: how many fields have been drenched with
blood, and composted with carcasses; how many millions of men have been
cut off in all ages by the edge of the sword! Desolations by famine;
wherein men have been forced to make their bodies one another’s
sepulchres, and mothers to devour their children of a span long.
Desolations by plague and pestilence; which have swept away, as our
story tells us, eight hundred thousand in one city. Desolations by
inundations of waters; which have covered the faces of many regions, and
rinsed the earth of her unclean inhabitants. Desolations by earthquakes,
which have swallowed up whole cities, and those great and populous.
Desolations wrought by the hand of his angels; as in Egypt; in the tents
of the Assyrians, one hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night; in
the camp of Israel, in David’s pestilence. Desolations wrought by the
hand of men, in battles and massacres. Desolations by wild beasts; as in
the colonies of Ashur planted in Samaria. Desolations by the swarms of
obnoxious and noisome creatures; as in Egypt, and since in Africa: “He
spoke the word, and the grasshoppers came, and caterpillars
innumerable,” Ps. cv. 34. Insomuch as, in the consulship of M. Fulvius
Flaccus, after the bloody wars of Africa, followed infinite numbers of
locusts; which, after devouring of all herbs and fruit, were, by a
sudden wind, hoised into the African Sea: infection followed upon their
putrefaction, and thereupon a general mortality: in number, four-score
thousand died: upon the sea-coast betwixt Carthage and Utica, above
two-hundred thousand. Desolations every way, and by what variety of
means soever; yet all wrought by the divine hand: “_What desolations he
hath wrought._” Whoever be the instrument, he is the Author.—_Joseph
Hall (Bishop)._
_Verse 8._—Doth not God make great desolations, when he makes that man
that counted himself a most religious man, to confess himself not
sufficient for one good thought? As it was with Paul, does he not make
wars to cease when he turns the heart of a persecutor, earnestly to seek
peace with God and man, yea, with his very enemies? Doth he not break
the bow and all weapons of war asunder, and that in all the earth, when
he proclaims peace to all that are far off and near, professor and
profane, Jews and Gentiles?—_Richard Coore._