The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 1: Psalms I.-XXXVIII.Maclaren, Alexander
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 1: Psalms I.-XXXVIII.
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. Psalms -- Commentaries
In the second part the solitary soul translates its experience into
exhortations for all, and woos men to follow on the same path, by
setting forth in rich variety the joys of pardon. The exhortation
first dwells on the positive blessings associated with penitence (vv.
6, 7), and next on the degradation and sorrow involved in obstinate
hard-heartedness (vv. 8-10). The natural impulse of him who has known
both is to beseech others to share his happy experience, and the
psalmist's course of thought obeys that impulse, for the future "shall
pray" (R.V.) is better regarded as hortatory "let ... pray." "Because
of this" does not express the contents of the petitions, but their
reason. The manifestation of God as infinitely ready to forgive should
hearten to prayer; and, since God's beloved need forgiveness day by
day, even though they may not have fallen into such gross sin as this
psalmist, there is no incongruity in the exhortation being addressed
to them. "He that is washed" still needs that feet fouled in muddy
ways should be cleansed. Every time of seeking by such prayer is a
"time of finding"; but the phrase implies that there is a time of not
finding, and, in its very graciousness, is heavy with warning against
delay. With forgiveness comes security. The penitent, praying,
pardoned man is set as on a rock islet in the midst of floods, whether
these be conceived of as temptation to sin or as calamities. The
hortatory tone is broken in ver. 7 by the recurrence of the personal
element, since the singer's heart was too full for silence; but there
is no real interruption, for the joyous utterance of one's own faith
is often the most winning persuasive, and a devout man can scarcely
hold out to others the sweetness of finding God without at the same
time tasting what he offers. Unless he does, his words will ring
unreal. "Thou art a shelter for me" (same word as in xxvii. 5, xxxi.
20), is the utterance of trust; and the emphasis is on "my." To hide
in God is to be "preserved from trouble," not in the sense of being
exempt, but in that of not being overwhelmed, as the beautiful last
clause of v. 7 shows, in which "shouts of deliverance" from trouble
which had pressed are represented by a bold, but not harsh, metaphor
as ringing the psalmist round. The air is filled with jubilant voices,
the echoes of his own. The word rendered "songs" or preferably
"shouts" is unusual, and its consonants repeat the last three of the
preceding word ("shalt preserve me"). These peculiarities have led to
the suggestion that we have in it a "dittograph." If so, the remaining
words of the last clause would read, "Thou wilt compass me about with
deliverance," which would be a perfectly appropriate expression. But
probably the similarity of letters is a play upon words, of which we
have another example in the preceding clause where the consonants of
the word for "trouble," reappear in their order in the verb "wilt
preserve." The shout of joy is caught up by the Selah.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account