curse for their portion; and this portion, when they his own salvation. B. C. 1042. 26 Help me, O LORD my God: A. M. 2962. O save me according to thy mer cy: 27 That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. 28 Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. 29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. * Job xxxvii. 7.- 2 Samuel xvi. 11, 12.- - Isa. lxv. 14. a Psa. xxxv. 26; cxxxii. 18. upon earth when he had no certain place where to lay his head. Or, 2d, Into the grave, as this phrase frequently signifies; like the shadow when it declineth-Toward the evening, when, the sun setting, it vanisheth instantly and irrecoverably. I am tossed up and down as a locust-Which of itself is unstable, continually leaping and moving from place to place, and is easily driven away with every wind. So am I exposed to perpetual and successive changes within myself, and to a thousand violences and mischiefs from other persons and things. Verses 24, 25. My knees are weak through fasting-Either through forced fasting for want of food, when he was persecuted, or for want of appetite when he was sick, or through voluntary fasting, which the frequency and long continuance of his sufferings induced him to use. I became also a re||proach unto them-Instead of that pity, which either religion or humanity should have taught them to exercise toward a person in extreme misery, they loaded me with reproaches and scorns. They shaked their heads-By way of contempt and derision. In all this David was a type of Christ, who, in his humiliation, was thus wounded, thus weakened, thus reproached, and at whom they thus shook their heads, saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. He was also a type of the church, which is often afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted. Verses 26-29. Help me, O Lord my God-But my hope is, that thou, my God, wilt seasonably interpose for my relief, and save me-Out of my troubles; according to thy mercy-That tender mercy which is wont to extend itself to those who have nothing else to depend upon. That they may know Ver. 21, 22. But do thou for me, O God-Namely, what I desire, which he expresses in the next clause, saying, Deliver thou me-Or, he means, Do thou act for me; be not silent or still, but stir up thyself to work on my behalf; for thy name's sake-For the glory of thy faithfulness, which is highly concerned in giving me the deliverance which thou hast pro-that this is thy hand-Being convinced of the emimised me; because thy mercy is good-That is, gracious, and ready to do good to all, but especially to those that love and fear thee. For I am poor and needy-And therefore a very proper object for thy pity and help. And my heart is wounded within me -I am wounded not slightly, but even to the very heart, with soul-piercing sorrows. Verse 23. I am gone, &c.—Hebrew, non, neehlacheti, I am made to go, either, 1st, From place to place; which was David's case when he was persecuted by Saul and by Absalom, and Christ's case | nence, singularity, and strangeness of the work. Let קמו ויבשו The Messiah sits at the PSALM CX. right hand of God. A. M. 2962. 30 I will greatly praise the LORD 31 For he shall stand at the right A. M. 2962 with my mouth; yea, I will praise || hand of the poor, to save him from him among the multitude. those that condemn his soul. B. C. 1042. || 7 B. C. 1042. cx. 5; cxxi. 5.- - Heb. from the judges of his soul. b Psa. xxxv. 18; cxi. 1. Psa. xvi. 8; lxxiii. 23; ly, have taken active measures against me; they shall be ashamed-Disappointed of their wicked hopes and designs against me, and covered with their own confusion as with a mantle-For that unexpected destruction which they have brought upon them-lated; for he shall stand at the right hand of the selves. Observe, reader, if God bless us, we need poor-Nigh to him, as a present help; as his pa not care who curseth us; for how can they curse tron and advocate, to plead his cause against, and dewhom God hath not cursed? Nay, whom he hath fend him from, his adversary, who stood in that place blessed? Num. xxiii. 28. Men's curses are impo- to accuse him, and procure his condemnation and tent, God's blessings are omnipotent. And those destruction; to save him from those that condemn whom men unjustly curse, may in faith expect and his soul-That pass a sentence of death upon him. pray for God's blessing, his special blessing. When God was David's protector in his sufferings, and was the Pharisees cast out the poor man for confessing present also with the Lord Jesus in his; stood at his Christ, Christ found him, John ix. 35. When men, right hand, so that he was not moved, Psa. xvi. 8; without cause, say all the ill they can of us, and wish saved his soul from those that pretended to be the all the ills they can to us, we may with comfort lift judges of it, and received it into his own hands. up our hearts to God in this petition: Let them curse, Let all those that suffer according to the will of but bless thou. God, commit the keeping of their souls to him, Verses 30, 31. I will greatly praise the Lord-in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator, 1 Pet. For that deliverance which I confidently expect; || iv. 19. PSALM CX. It is universally agreed that this Psalm was composed by David; and it seems to be almost as universally agreed that he speaks not of himself at all in it, but directly of the Messiah. This is the more remarkable, because in most, if not all the other Psalms, where he prophesies of Christ, there is an obvious meaning, if not throughout the Psalm, yet in several parts of it, which relates to some particular occasion, some passage or other, in David's history; and those Psalms are to be understood of Christ in a secondary sense, though not less evident, and sometimes more so than the first. But this Psalm is wholly to be understood of Christ only; as is abundantly evident, both from the express testimony of the New Testament, Acts ii. 34; 1 Cor. xv. 25; Heb. i. 13, and x. 13; and from the consent of the ancient Hebrew doctors. Indeed, that the ancient Jews understood this Psalm thus, and that it was the known and received sense of it in our Saviour's time, appears from what passed between him and the Pharisees, Matt. xxii. 42, &c. We may, therefore, be fully per suaded with Bishop Patrick, that "this Psalm is a very plain prediction of Christ's divinity, his royal dignity, his priest hood, and his victories and triumphs," all which the psalmist sets forth with great clearness and sublimity of thought and expression. Indeed, if we consider this Psalm," says a judicious writer, "as every one should, not only as a prophecy, but a pathetic poem, we cannot fail of being charmed, as much with the elegance of the composition, as we are satisfied with the truth of the predictions which it contains. Verse 1, Our Lord is seated at the right hand of God, as a place of the greatest dignity that can be conceived; as the partner of his throne and power. Verse 2, He is invested with his authority, by having the sceptre of his power, and a universal and supreme command, even over his enemies, delivered to him. In consequence of this, verse 3, he receives the homage of his subjects, the free-will-offerings of his faithful people, who are as numerous as the drops of the morning dew which overspread the earth. Verse 4, The sacerdotal is added to the regal office. Verses 5, 6, The psalmist returns to describe the exercise of his supreme and sovereign authority. Verse 7, He gives a reason why he was exalted to so much honour, namely, as a reward for that most astonishing act of his humiliation, which is expressed very poetically by his drinking of the brook in the way." A. M. 2962. B. C. 1042. A Psalm of David. THE HE LORD said unto my Lord, a Matt. xxii. 44; Mark xii. 36; Luke xx. 42; Acts ii. 34; NOTES ON PSALM CX. Verse 1. The Lord said unto my Lord- DN 17, neum Jehovah ladoni, the saying, or decree, that is, I record the saying or decree of Jehovah to my Lord, that is, to his Son, the Messiah, B. C. 1042. until I make thine enemies thy foot- A. M. 2962. stool. 2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength 1 Cor. xv. 25; Heb. i. 13; 1 Pet. iii. 22; Psa. xlv. 6, 7. whom I acknowledge as my Lord and God. This decree, made in eternity, was in due time published, and was actually executed when God raised up Christ from the dead, and brought him into his heavenly mansion. David designedly calls the Messiah his He receives the PSALM CX. homage of his subjects. A. M. 2962. out of Zion: rule thou in the midst || thy power, in the beauties of holiness A. M. 2962. of thine enemies. 1 from the womb of the morning : 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thou hast the dew of thy youth. B. C. 1042. b b Judges v. 2.- Le Psa. xcvi. 9. B. C. 1042. 1 Or, more than the womb of the morning thou shalt have, &c. Lord, to admonish the whole church, that although || 2 Cor. x. 4; 2 Thess. ii. 8. Hence this gospel is he was his son according to the human nature, yet called the word of the kingdom, Matt. xiii. 19; and he had a higher nature, and was also his Lord, as the power of God, Rom. i. 16. David, having spoken being by nature God blessed for ever, and conse- of the Messiah, verse 1, in this verse addresses his quently Lord of all things, as he is called Acts. x. speech to him. Out of Zion-From Jerusalem, 36; and by office, as he was God-man, the Lord and which is frequently understood by the name of King of the whole church, and of all the world, for | Zion. Here the kingdom of the Messiah was to be the church's sake. And this was said to prevent first established, according to the predictions of the that offence which the Holy Ghost foresaw the Jews prophets, and from hence the rod of his strength, and others would be ready to take at the meanness the gospel word, was to be sent forth into all the of Christ's appearance in the flesh. The Hebrew parts and kingdoms of the world, to bring in the word 8, adon, is one of God's titles, signifying his Gentiles, which also the prophets had foretold, as power and authority over all things, and therefore is Isa. ii. 3, and in divers of the foregoing Psalms, as most fitly given to the Messiah, to whom God had has been already frequently observed and proved. delegated all his power in the universe, Matt. xxviii.|| Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies-Or, Thou 18. Sit thou at my right hand-Thou who hast for || shalt rule, the imperative being put for the future, so many years been veiled with infirm and mortal as is often the case elsewhere. Christ rules partly flesh, despised, rejected, and trampled upon by men, by his grace, converting some, and setting up his and persecuted unto death; do thou now take to thy-kingdom in their hearts, that kingdom which is self thy great and just power. Thou hast done thy work upon earth, now take thy rest, and the possession of that sovereign kingdom and glory, which by right belongs to thee; do thou rule with me, with an authority and honour far above all creatures, in earth or heaven. So this phrase is expounded in other places: see Luke xxii. 69; 1 Cor. xv. 25; Heb. i. 3, and viii. 1, and x. 12, 13; Eph. i. 20, &c. It is a figurative expression, taken from the custom of earthly monarchs, who placed those persons on their Verse 3. Thy people-Thy subjects; shall be willright hands to whom they would show the greatest ing-Hebrew, na, nedaboth, willingnesses, that honour, or whom they designed to advance to the is, most willing, as such plural words frequently greatest power and authority: see 1 Kings ii. 19. It signify, or shall be free-will-offerings, as the word here signifies the dominion which Jesus Christ, after || properly means; by which he may intend to intihis death, received from the Father, as the Messiah. mate the difference between the worship of the Old Thus he says of himself, Rev. iii. 21, I overcame, Testament and that of the New. They shall offer and am set down with my Father on his throne. and present unto thee, as their King and Lord, not Until I make thine enemies-Until, by my almighty oxen, or sheep, or goats, as thy people did under power, communicated to thee, as Mediator, I make the law, but themselves, their souls and bodies, as those that crucified thee, (converting some and de- living sacrifices, Rom. xii. 1, and as free-will-offerstroying others,) and the idolatrous heathen, subject-ings, giving up themselves to thee, to live to thee, ing them to thy gospel, as also the power of sin and Satan in men's hearts, and, at last, death itself, thy footstool-Thy slaves and vassals. This expression, thy footstool, which denotes an entire subdual of enemies, alludes to the custom of eastern nations, to tread upon the necks of the kings whom they had conquered, and so make them, as it were, their footstool. righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; and partly by his powerful providence, whereby he defends his church and people, and subdues and punishes all their adversaries; in the midst of whom he is here said to rule, to signify that, though they should do what in them lay to oppose his kingdom, they should not be able to hinder the erection and establishment of it, but should bring ruin upon themselves by opposing it. and die to thee. The sense is, Thou shalt have friends and subjects, as well as enemies, and thy subjects shall not yield thee a false and feigned obedience, as those who are subjects to, or conquered by earthly princes frequently do, but shall most willingly and readily obey all thy commands, without any dispute, delay, or reservation. And they shall not need to be pressed to thy service, but Verse 2. The Lord shall send-Or, send forth,|| shall voluntarily enlist themselves, and fight under the rod of thy strength-Thy strong or powerful thy banner against all thy enemies. In the day of rod: that is, thy sceptre or kingly power, Isa. x. 24; thy power-When thou shalt take into thy hands Jer. xlviii. 17. But then, as the kingdom of Christ the rod of thy strength, and set up thy kingdom in is not carnal, or of this world, John xviii. 36, but the world, exerting thy mighty power in the preachspiritual; so this rod or sceptre is nothing else but ing of thy word, and winning souls to thyself by it. his word or gospel, published by himself, or by his In the beauties of holiness-Adorned with the beauapostles and ministers, and accompanied with his tiful and glorious robes of righteousness and true Spirit, by which the Messiah set up and established holiness, wherewith all new men, or true Christians, his kingdom: see Isa. ii. 3, and xi. 4; Mic. iv. 2; || are clothed, Eph. iv. 24; Rev. xix. 8, 14; and with The kingdom and B. C. 1042. A. M. 2962. d 4 The LORD hath sworn, and will || 6 He shall judge among the heathen, A. M. 2962. B. C. 1042. not repent, Thou art a priest for he shall fill the places with the dead ever after the order of Melchisedek. bodies: he shall wound the heads over many countries. 5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. d Num. xxiii. 19.—e Heb. v. 6; vi. 20; vii. 17, 21; Zech. vi. 13. Psa. xvi. 8. - Psa. ii. 5, 12; Rom. ii. 5; Rev. various gifts and graces of God's Spirit, which are beautiful in the eyes of God, and of all good men. From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth-That is, thy offspring (the members of the Christian Church) shall be more numerous than the drops of the morning dew. Or, as Bishop Reynolds expresses it, "Thy children shall be born in as great abundance unto thee as the dew which falleth from the womb of the morning." To the same purpose Bishop Lowth, in his tenth Lecture: "The dew of thy progeny is more abundant than the dew which proceeds from the womb of the morning." Verse 4. The Lord hath sworn-He did not swear in constituting the Aaronical priesthood, Heb. vii. 21, but did here, that it might appear to all mankind that this priesthood was made irrevocable, which that of Aaron was not. Thou art a priestAs well as a king. Those offices, which were divided before between two families, are both united and invested in thee, both being absolutely necessary for the establishment of thy kingdom, which is of a nature totally different from the kingdoms of this world, being spiritual and heavenly, and therefore requires such a king as is also a minister of holy things. For ever-Not to be interrupted or translated to another person, as the priesthood of Aaron was upon the death of the priest, but to be continued to thee for ever. After the order of Melchisedek-Or, after the manner, &c.; that is, so as he was a priest and also a king, and both without any successor and without end, in the sense intended, Heb. vii. 3. 7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: * therefore shall he lift up the head. xi. 18. Psalm lxviii. 21; Habakkuk iii. 13.- Or, great. Judg. vii. 5, 6.- Isa. liii. 12. to be their lawgiver and judge, and shall condemn and punish those that reject his salvation, and disobey his laws, rendering indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish unto all that refuse to obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, Rom. ii. 8,9. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies-Of his enemies, or of those powers whom he shall strike through in the day of his wrath; and he shall wound the heads-The principals, or rulers, over, or of, many countries-That is, the Roman emperors themselves, who shall then rule over the greatest part of the world, or all those princes who oppose him. The reader will easily discern that the psalmist here describes the exercise of Christ's regal power and supreme dominion; his conquest over sin and sinners, and over all the opposition of the powers of darkness, in metaphorical expres sions, taken from earthly conquests; and that this, and the like passages, are not to be understood literally and grossly, but figuratively and spiritually, according to the nature of Christ's kingdom. Verse 7. He shall drink of the brook in the way— That is, says Houbigant, the brook Cedron, I suppose; David pointing out the passion of our Lord, by a continuance of the metaphor wherewith he began. Jesus was exalted because of his sufferings; therefore did he lift up his head, Heb. xii. 2. This is the more general interpretation of the verse. It expresses, says Poole, "the humiliation and passion of the Messiah, to prevent a great mistake which might arise in men's minds concerning him, from the great successes and victories here ascribed to him, which might induce them to think that he should be exempted from all sufferings, and be crowned with constant and perpetual triumphs. To confute this notion, he signifies here that the Messiah should have a large portion of afflictions while he was in the way or course of his life, before he should come to his end or rest, and to the honour of sitting at his Father's right hand." Thus St. Paul, who may be considered as giving a comment on these words, observes, that being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, &c., Phil. ii. 8, 9. Waters in Scripture very frequently signify sufferings; and to drink of them signifies to feel or bear these sufferings. There are some, however, who give the verse a different meaning, and suppose that by drinking of the brook in the way, is meant the suc cour and supply of almighty grace: or, the influ Verse 6. He shall judge among the heathen-ences of the Holy Spirit, frequently represented Shall demonstrate himself to all the heathen world under the emblem of water, as Isa. xii. 3, and lv. 1; Verse 5. The Lord at thy right hand-This, it seems, is to be understood of the Messiah, instated in his regal power at the right hand of his Father; and not of the Father himself, as his helper and defender, as the phrase is used Psa. xvi. 8, and in some other places. Thus, this is an apostrophe to God the Father concerning his Son. This sense of the clause agrees best with the following verses; for it is evident that it is the same person who strikes through kings, and judges among the heathen, and fills the places, &c. Shall strike through kings That is, shall break in pieces the greatest powers upon earth, who shall provoke his displeasure, by an obstinate opposition to his authority, and the establishment of his gospel. In the day of his || wrath-In the day of battle, when he shall contend with them, and pour forth the floods of his wrath upon them. || God for his works. John vii. 38, 39. Thus Mr. Hervey: "If it be asked, || in the heavenly Zion, is all power in heaven and how the Redeemer shall be enabled to execute the earth; to be employed for the protection of his subvarious and important offices foretold in the former jects, and the destruction of his enemies, verse 2. part of this Psalm, the prophet replies, He shall The laws of his kingdom are the laws of the gosdrink of the brook in the way. He shall not be pel; which were to be published from Jerusalem: left barely to his human nature, which must una- they who freely offered themselves to publish his voidably sink, but through the whole administration laws, and gather subjects into his kingdom, were the of his mediatorial kingdom, and his incarnate state, apostles, and first preachers of his word; who, in a shall be supported with omnipotent succours. He few years, being invested with power from on high, shall drink of the brook of almighty power: he spread his gospel over the world, and gathered into shall be continually supported by the influence of || his kingdom multitudes of subjects out of every nathe Holy Spirit, and therefore shall he lift up his || tion under heaven, verse 3. At the same time that head. By these means shall he be rendered equal Jesus was seated on his throne as King, he was made to his prodigious task, superior to all opposition,|| High-Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, to intercede successful in whatever he undertakes, and greatly for his people, and be their advocate with the Fatriumphant over all his enemies."-Hervey's Med., ||ther, verse 4. The sceptre was given him as well vol. i. p. 129. Upon the whole, we have in this Psalm as clear a prophecy of the Messiah, and of the offices which he should sustain, as perhaps we can find, in so few words, in any part of the Old Testament, and a prophecy absolutely incapable of any other application. | Now this prophecy was completely fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, when he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sat down on the right hand of his Father; from thenceforth expecting till his enemies should be made his footstool; that is, "till Satan, the prince of this world, should be confined to the bottomless pit; till all the persecuting powers of it should be destroyed, and till death and the grave should be no more, verse 1. The kingdom, to which he was advanced, is a spiritual kingdom: the sceptre, with which he was presented for the destruction of his enemies, as the protection of his subjects. When, therefore, the potentates of the earth opposed his gospel, and persecuted its publishers, he destroyed them with the breath of his mouth; first, by pouring out his wrath on Judea, in the excision of its inhabitants, and the subversion of its state; and afterward, by executing his vengeance on the persecuting powers of the heathen world, as they rose up to oppose the advancement of his kingdom, verses 5, 6; Rev. xix. 11-21. When Jesus set out on his warfare against the enemies of our salvation, he drank deep of the cup of sorrow and suffering; but, in reward for his humiliation, he is highly exalted to the throne of equal glory, at the right hand of God, that all should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" see Green, on the Prayer of Habakkuk. PSALM CXI. This Psalm, which Bishop Patrick supposes to be a kind of epitome of the 105th and 106th Psalms, is composed alphabetically, each sentence beginning with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. It and several of the following Psalms seem to have been written for the service of the church in their solemn feasts. The psalmist here praises God for his works, 1-9. Recommends the fear of God, 10. A. M. 2962. B. C. 1042. I will PRAISE ye the LORD. 'Heb. Hallelujah. NOTES ON PSALM CXI. Verses 1, 2. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart-I will make my acknowledgments to him, and give him thanks for the displays which he hath made of his wisdom, power, and goodness in his wonderful works, and that not only with my lips, and with some slight affections of my mind, but with all my heart and soul: in the assembly, &c.-Hebrew, 117, besod, in the secret, or private society, as Bishop Patrick interprets it, of the upright-Or righteous; "of those good men with whom I am more particularly acquainted," and in the congregation-The public congregation of the people of Israel. The works of the Lord are great-Very 2 a Psa. xxxv. 18; lxxxix. 5; cvii. 32; cix. 30; cxlix. 1. magnificent. They are like himself; there is nothing in them that is mean or trifling. They are the products of infinite wisdom and power, which we must acknowledge upon the first view of them, before we come to inquire into them more particularly. They astonish and strike us with awe the moment we behold them. Every one of them, whether in the natural or spiritual system, is marvellous. "Nothing cometh from the hands of the Divine Artist but what is excellent and perfect in its kind, adapted with infinite skill to its proper place, and fitted for its intended use." Sought out of all them that take pleasure therein-Of all who take delight in observing and considering them: such highly value and |