The Hart and the Water-Brooks: a practical exposition of the forty-second Psalm.Macduff, John R. (John Ross)
Religion
The Hart and the Water-Brooks: a practical exposition of the forty-second Psalm.
Macduff, John R. (John Ross)
Bible. Psalms, XLII -- Commentaries
[64] Psalm lvi. 13.
The saints of God, in every age, have delighted to dwell on these
memorable spots and experiences in their past pilgrimage. _Abraham_
had _his_ "hill Mizar" between Bethel and Hai. "_There,_" we read,
"_he builded an altar, and called upon the name of the Lord._"[65] On
his return from Egypt he retraced his steps to the _same_ locality.
Why? Because it was doubly hallowed to him now, with these former
experiences of God's presence and love. It is specially noted that "he
went on his journeys from the south _even to Bethel_, unto the place
where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;
_unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first_:
and THERE he called on the name of the Lord."[66]
_Jacob's_ "Mizar" would doubtless be his ladder-steps at Bethel, where
the fugitive wanderer was gladdened with a vision of angels, and the
voice of a reconciled God. _Moses_ would think of _his_ "Mizar" either
in connexion with the burning bush or the cleft of the rock, or the
Mount of Prayer at Rephidim. _Isaiah's_ "Mizar" would be the vision of
the Seraphim, when his faithlessness was rebuked, and confidence in
God restored. _Jeremiah_ tells us specially of _his_--some memorable
spot where he had a peculiar manifestation of God's presence and
grace. "_The Lord hath appeared of_ OLD _unto me, saying, Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness
have I drawn thee._"[67]
[65] Gen. xii. 8.
[66] Gen. xiii. 1-4.
[67] Jer. xxxi. 3.
Or shall we look to the New Testament? The _Roman Centurion_ would
remember as his Mizar-height, the spot at Capernaum where mingled
Omnipotence and Love uttered the healing word. The _Magdalene_ would
remember as hers, the Pharisee's banquet-hall, where she bathed the
feet of her Lord with a flood of penitential tears. The _Maniac of
Gadara_ would recall as his, the heights around Tiberias, where the
demon-throng were expelled, and where he sat calm and peaceful at the
feet of the Great Restorer. The _Woman of Samaria_ would remember as
hers, the well of Sychar, where her Pilgrim Lord led her from the
earthly to the eternal fountain. _Peter_ would remember as his, the
early morn, and the solitary figure on Gennesaret's shore. The
_Sisters of Lazarus_, go where they might, would recall as their
hallowed memorial-spot, the home and the graveyard of _Bethany_. _Paul
of Tarsus_ would ever remember as his, the burning plain near
Damascus, where a light, brighter than the mid-day sun, brought him
helpless to the ground, and a voice of mingled severity and gentleness
changed the persecutor into a believer--the lion into a lamb. _John_,
the beloved disciple, as he trod the solitary isle of his banishment,
or with the trembling footsteps of age lingered in his last home at
Ephesus--John would recall as the most sacred and hallowed "_Mizar_"
of all, the gentle bosom on which he leant at supper!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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