Psalm CVIII

A Song or Psalm of David.

1 O God, my heart is fixed;

I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.

2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

3 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people:

And I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

4 For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto

the clouds.

5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the

earth.

6 That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.

7 God hath spoken in his holiness! I will rejoice;

I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.

8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;

Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;

9 Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; Over Philistia will I triumph.

11 Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God,

go forth with our hosts?

13 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our

He has brought them to their desired haven! The tone.

“0 God I my heart is fixed — My heart is fixed.”

No more tossed, no more wandering.

“I will sing and give praise;
Awake, my glory, awake!”

A call to celebrate a greater victory than Deborah’s (Judges V. 12) — “Awake, my glory” — i. e., my tongue, the best member I have for the purpose; or, my heart (Hengstenberg), fitted to be a harp that may sound thy name.

“Awake, psaltery and harp!
I will aicake the morning!”

For his mercy is great — that mercy sung of lately (Psa. cvii. 1, and ver. 43). It is “frow. above the heavens” (C)^?2^ J) ‘, i. e., coming down on us, as do drops of a fertilizing shower. Even as the “Peace on earth,” of Luke ii. 14, was first “Peace in heaven” (Luke xix. 38).

We have already had the words of this Psalm in two others Title and form. — viz., the lvii. and Ix. But here the joyful and the triumphant portions of these two are joined in one, to form a lofty melody (” A song, a psalm,” like Psa. xxx. in the title), celebrating Israel’s return and Messiah’s triumph.* Messiah, and amuaints!’^’^’^

* Ryland says, that in Psalm lvii. and Ix. the words were prophetic and consolatory; here they are rather eucharistic, and descriptive of what God has prepared for his own.

32^) PSA. CVllI. — MESSIAH KAISING THE SHOUT OF VICTORY.

all Israel along with him, and every saint “rejoicing with Jerusalem” (Isa. lxv. 18), utter this Psalm. Messiah, as Leader, speaks, in verse 9, in his own name (an intentional variation from Psalm Ix. 8) —

“Moab I will use as a vessel in which to icash my feet (when the journej is over), Over Edom I will cast my shoe (as one does to his servant), Over Philistia I will raise the shout o/joi/.”

Both in this Psalm and Psalm Ix., the words in verse 10 — “Who shall lead me?” — are in the present participle, Vli )D — “Who is my leader V — thus admitting of application to the past, while they may be prospective also; like the expression in Heb. xiii. 7, “Kemember Tuv riyov/xsvuv v/mSjv,” your rulers. The speaker asks —

“Who is he that leadeth me to the strong city 7
Who hath led me into Edom?
Is it not thou, 0 God, who hadst rejected us,
And didst not gofoiih with our armies?”

Then, going forward in the Lord’s name, and renouncing man’s strength, He and His enter on possession, saying —

“Through God we shall do valiantly;
He it is that treads down our enemies.”

“It is he that bruises Satan under our feet,” may every saint reply; and, when Israel’s day has come, every saint shall find himself blessed in their blessing. And so shall the Church join Messiah, in behalf of restored Israel, raising the shout of victory.