'Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and
my feet from falling. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of
the living.'--PSALM cxvi. 8, 9.
This is a quotation from an earlier psalm, with variations which are
interesting, whether we suppose that the Psalmist was quoting from
memory and made them unconsciously, or whether, as is more probable, he
did so, deliberately and for a purpose. The variations are these. The
words in the original psalm (lvi.) according to the Revised Version,
read, 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death; hast Thou not delivered
my feet from falling?' The writer of this psalm felt that that did not
say all, so he put in another clause: 'Thou hast delivered my soul from
death, _mine eyes from tears_, and my feet from falling.' It is not
enough to keep a man alive and upright. God will wipe away his tears;
and will often keep him from shedding them.
Then the original psalm goes on: 'Thou hast delivered ... my feet from
falling, that I may walk before God,' but the later Psalmist goes a step
further than his original. The first singer had seen what it is always a
blessing to see--what God meant by all the varieties of His providences,
viz. that the recipient might walk as in His presence; but the later
poet not only discerns, but accords with, God's purpose, yields himself
to the divine intention, and instead of simply saying 'That was what God
meant,' he says, 'That is what I am going to do--I will walk before the
Lord.' There is still another variation which, however, does not alter
the sense. The original psalm says, 'in the light of the living'; the
other uses another word, a little more intelligible, perhaps, to an
ordinary reader, and says, 'in the land of the living.'
Now, noting these significant variations, I would draw attention to this
expression of the Psalmist's acceptance of the divine purpose, and the
vision that it gave him of his future. It is hard to say whether he
means 'I will walk' or 'I shall walk'; whether he is expressing a hope
or giving utterance to a fixed resolve. I think there is an element of
both in the words. At all events, I find in them three things: a sure
anticipation, a firm resolve, and a far-reaching hope.