'The meek shall eat and be satisfied.'--PSALM xxii. 26.
'The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering for thanksgiving shall
be offered in the day of his oblation.' Such was the law for Israel. And
the custom of sacrificial feasts, which it embodies, was common to many
lands. To such a custom my text alludes; for the Psalmist has just been
speaking of 'paying his vows' (that is, sacrifices which he had vowed in
the time of his trouble), and to partake of these he invites the meek.
The sacrificial dress is only a covering for high and spiritual
thoughts. In some way or other the singer of this psalm anticipates that
his experiences shall be the nourishment and gladness of a wide circle;
and if we observe that in the context that circle is supposed to include
the whole world, and that one of the results of partaking of this
sacrificial feast is 'your heart shall live for ever,' we may well say
with the Ethiopian eunuch, 'Of whom speaketh the Psalmist thus?'
The early part of the psalm answers the question. Jesus Christ laid His
hand on this wonderful psalm of desolation, despair, and deliverance
when on the Cross He took its first words as expressing His emotion
then: 'My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Whatever may be our
views as to its authorship, and as to the connection between the
Psalmist's utterances and his own personal experiences, none to whom
that voice that rang through the darkness on Calvary is the voice of the
Son of God, can hesitate as to who it is whose very griefs and sorrows
are thus the spiritual food that gives life to the whole world.
From this, the true point of view, then, from which to look at the whole
of this wonderful psalm, I desire to deal with the words of my text now.