By J.G. Bellet
Psalm 141
This Psalm very suitably follows the preceding. For it is the prayer of the Remnant to be kept from all fellowship in word or deed with those apostates, for whose wickedness, in word and deed, judgment (as they had there desired and anticipated) was to come upon them. And they desired to be kept from all such wickedness, even though at the cost of being smitten by the rebukes and admonitions of the godly. Then, as to the enemy, they refuse to take vengeance themselves, (as David, 1 Sam. 24: 6, and as Jesus, Matt. 26: 51, 52,) but leave their wrongs in the hand, and to the vindication, of God the Lord.
Verse 6 may remind us of 1 Sam. 24 and 26; for there the judges or heads of the people were as in stony places, and might have been broken and overthrown; but, instead of that, they heard David's words of peace.
And rather remarkable, as in connection with ver. 5, David, in the intervening chapter (25) had been reproved by the words of the righteous Abigail, which had proved an excellent oil for his head, anointing him as with a spirit of wisdom and of the fear of the Lord, to turn him away from the counsel of his heart. (1 Sam. 25: 30-34)
But all this time David was the martyr; he and his company had the sentence of death in them, that they should not trust in themselves, but in Him who raiseth the dead. But the Spirit of Christ looks beyond the sorrows of David here; for David's people were not then slaughtered, as some of the Israel in the latter day will be. (See Ps. 79) So that this Psalm is still the breathing of the Spirit of Christ in sympathy with them. Though it may (like all others, in a large sense, we may say) be used by any saint, when his circumstances and state of soul suggest it; as words given to Moses (Deut. 31: 6, 8) and to Joshua (Joshua 1: 5) may "boldly," in the holy boldness of faith, be received and adopted by any of us. (Heb. 13: 5, 6)
And how does ver. 4 warn our souls that the evil ones against whom the Spirit of the Lord here cries in the righteous, have their "dainties," their beguiling subtle temptations, to ensnare, if it were possible, even the elect.
Psalm 142
This Psalm, in its conceptions, appears to have been likewise the cry of David in the day of his desertion. The visits of Jonathan (1 Sam. 20, 23) were very happy pledges to his soul that in due season the righteous (as this Psalm speaks, ver. 7) would compass him about. It might have also been the musing of the soul of Jesus in such an hour as that of Gethsemane, when He was calling to mind the overwhelming of His spirit, and foretasting the subsequent desertion of His disciples. (Matt. 26: 42, 56) In its application, too, as I have noticed above, it may well suit the soul of any saint tried in such a way; as St. Paul might have found an utterance for his heart here, in the circumstances of 2 Tim. 4: 16, 17.
But still more exactly is it the language of the Israel of God, on entering into the sense of that condition in which they are to be, just on the eve of their deliverance. For then the Lord will take knowledge of them as deserted and friendless, with no eye to pity, no hand to save, but His own (Deut. 32: 36; Isa. 59: 16); and in this condition, He Himself will awake for them. And in this affecting little Psalm, they understand and are in sympathy with this; they are feeling that state of things which the Lord thus, in other scriptures, is said to see and relieve. And I may observe another sympathy like this in Ps. 140; for their language in ver. 8 is according to the thoughts of the Lord Himself in Deut. 32: 27. This may be noticed by our souls with great interest--the Spirit forming experiences in the saints in company with the mind of God.
Psalm 143
The cry in this Psalm seems naturally to follow the preceding one; for there the suppliant was deserted of his friends; here he finds himself, consequently, in the midst of enemies. Both in its conception and application I read it as I did the last.
"The land," where this afflicted one is now toiling in so much conscious grief and enmity of the wicked, he calls a "thirsty land;" but the land he looks for he calls by two beautiful titles--"the land of the living," and "the land of uprightness." (Ps. 142: 5; Ps. 143: 6, 10) These are happy, honourable titles of God's place and kingdom in Judea, as it will be by and by. In divine reckoning, righteousness (uprightness) and life are always found together, as are sin and death. "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law."
But this Psalm suggests, that while they are suffering for righteousness' sake in the latter day, Israel will be learning their own ways, and that before God they are but poor sinners. While they cry for deliverance and vindication against man, they confess sin to God, desiring to be led of His Spirit, without whom nothing is holy. The land of uprightness, as well as the land of the living, they seek,--to be kept in God's paths of righteousness, as well as to be led out of their present place of death into the kingdom of the living God.
This is blessed preparation for the kingdom to which they are now hastening--suffering for righteousness' sake, and yet learning their worthlessness as sinners. And this is the path of each saint, humbled before God, broken-hearted by reason of conscious short-coming, standing in the full liberty of Christ, and walking among men in suffering righteousness.
Psalm 144
This Psalm follows, I may say, in the train of the previous one; for at the close of that the suppliant had sought the destruction of the enemy, and here he speaks as being assured that God would be his strength, his shield, and his victory, in the battle. He, therefore, desires the day of conflict, anticipating victory. And beyond that, he anticipates its fruit and joy in the kingdom, all human prosperity, children and wealth and settled peace, and the common verdict of the whole world, that "happy is that people whose God is the Lord." (See Deut. 33: 29)
The suppliant (Christ, no doubt, in sympathy with the remnant) contemplates God as making Himself to him all that he can need or desire (verses 1, 2); and immediately upon this he marvels that it should be so (v. 3). And this surprise is expressed in the same language as in Psalm 8, only there it is the sense of the divine greatness,--here it is the sense of the human vanity that awakens this surprise that God should take such counsels of grace and glory about us.
In all this we again find Israel learning divine lessons about themselves, as we observed in the previous Psalm. They own that they are less than the least of all God's mercies, wondering, as it were, that they should be His objects at all.
The spirit of Psalm 18 is much breathed here. And that is strikingly the language of the true David in the great Jewish deliverance of the latter day leading to the kingdom. (See also v. 5, and Isa. 64: 1) So here the suppliant knows that this desired deliverance will lead directly into the joy of the days of Messiah or the kingdom (11-15). As the creation knows that her deliverance from present bondage to corruption will be into glorious liberty; and as the saints can and do sing, "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." (Rom. 8: 21, 30) For when the blessed God makes a way of escape for sinners or captives, in His love He will carry them into more than liberty.
Psalm 145
Quite in order, this Psalm prepares thanksgiving for the victory and the peace anticipated in the preceding Psalm. And this introduces the praises of the kingdom, which occupy the Prophet's harp from thenceforward to the end. The first verse is very significant of this. "I will extol thee, my God, O King "it is God as King that the prophet's heart now peculiarly or exclusively celebrates. This gives strong and decisive character to this Psalm as being millennial, or touching the kingdom. The Lord was as "a man of war" in the preceding Psalm, but here, the war being over, He is a "king." The Jewish millennial people had been just pronounced to be happy (Ps. 144: 15), and here they utter their happiness. As it were, others had said, "the Lord has done great things for them;" and they now reply, "the Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad."
Praise and song express this gladness. And so does their conversation; for they speak of His glory and talk of His power. (ver. 11) In sadness, disciples once talked of the things which had happened at Jerusalem (Luke 24), but now her people help each other's joy, as they walk and talk together. And converse tunes the heart to praise, and then rapture breaks in on the even flow of their ever cheered and happy spirits. As in the progress of the Book of Revelation the family in heaven are at times heard in their rapture, in the swelling of their joy beyond its orderly current. (See Rev. 5, 7, 11: 12, 14, 15, 19)
The materials for this unceasing praise are also largely prepared,--His mighty acts--the glorious honour of His majesty--His greatness, goodness, and righteousness--His upholding of the weak--His fulfilling of the desire of the needy--His preserving of them that love Him--His vengeance on the wicked--these are among the themes of praise which will engage the joys and songs of the coming kingdom. One generation is to rehearse them to another. And the Lord Himself is the leader of this praise, according to what He had vowed in His distress. (Ps. 22: 22) Jesus--the saints or Jewish people--the sons of men or all flesh--the works of creation--all join in their way and measure. The saints, as it were, take it from the lips of the Lord and teach it to the nations, and one generation teaches it to another.
For now, the character or generation of the Jewish people has changed. It has hitherto been "perverse and crooked" (Deut. 32) "stubborn and rebellious." (Ps. 78) But the final generation will be a new creation--a people formed by God to show forth His praise. (Ps. 22: 30, Ps. 102: 18; Isa. 43: 21) The first generation has not yet passed away. (Matt. 24: 34) Israel is still perverse; but the Lord will have a seed in Israel that shall be accounted to Him "for a generation." And such Psalms as this let us see and hear some of their happy enjoyments. (See Ps. 12)
NOTE.--Verse 1. Christ is surely the "King." (See Ps. 45: 1) David here owns Him as his "God," and in Ps. 110 he owns Him as his "Lord" See John 20: 28.
