Psalm XII
To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.
1 HELP, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth;
For the faithful fail from among the children of men!
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour:
With flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3 The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh
proud things:
4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own;
who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
6 The words of the Lord are pure words:
As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever,
8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
A Psalm for all ages, as well as for David’s time. Elijah could The Tuie. sing it, Jeremiah could sing it, and never was there a time when this Psalm was more appropriate than in our own day. Though written by David, and handed over to his “Chief Musician,” and though the “Sheminith’ s” now unknown strings were touched by the fingers of a Levite whose heart could sigh in sympathy with its strain of sad foreboding and present gloom, it is, at the same time, quite a Psalm for the last days. The Lord is called upon to arise, for the godly perish. You see a little band gathered under the floating banner of their King, who had promised to come to their help in due time. One after another sinks down, wearied and worn, while the remaining few, at each such occurrence, cry to their King —
“Help, Lord!” (Ver. 1.) This is the cry that ascends from the saints, as one after The contents. another of their number is successively gathered to the tomb; while, “I will arise,” (ver. 4,) is the response that faintly reaches their ear.
“Help, Lord!” is their cry as they witness the increase of bold infidelity, (ver. 2), and hear such mutterings of boastful pride as these:
42 PSALM XII. — ASSURANCE THAT THE LORD’s WORD,
“Ihrough our tongues loe are strong.
Our lips are with tis, {i. e-, are our help. — Hengstenberg.)” yV7io is lord over us f (Ver. 2, 3.)
The power of human talent and the grandeur of man’s intellect are boasted of; while ver. 2, shews that these same persons flatter each other into deceitful peace, and are living without regard to the holy law of love. Meanwhile, the remnant who sigh in secret to the Lord — a remnant hated and often in danger (ver. 5) — are sustained by the sure word of promise. They tell their hope and faith in ver. 6, when they describe “Jehovah’s words:”
“The words of the Lord are pure icords: As silver tried in a /menace of earth* Purified seven times J’ All He has spoken about the Woman’s Seed from the beginning’; all He has spoken of Him in whom all nations shall be blessed; all He has spoken of David and David’s seed; all is sure, all shall come to pass. And so they sing, (ver. 7), “Thou shalt keep them (i. e., thine own), and shalt preserve them from this generation,” — a generation so corrupt and evil that one may say of it —
“The wicked walk on every side;
Vileness is held in honour by the sons ofmen.^’
How descriptive of the latter days! How like the times of which Peter speaks, when men shall “speak great swelling words of vanity,” (2 Peter ii. 1 8), and shall boldly ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (iii. 4.) How descriptive, too, of the consolation of the saints; for Peter tells us that this shall be their comfort, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,” (ver. 9); and “according to His promise” they shall continue looking for the New Heavens and New Earth, (ver. 13). They know that the “words of the Lord are pure words.” They cannot fail.
Some of the features of this scene are to be found in all the conflicts that have risen between the woman’s seed and the
* The original is difficult. Hengstenberg’s rendering gives additional force to the comparison, — “the purijkd silver of a lord of earth” — the fine silver of some prince. Such is God’s promise; no dross in it; no exaggeration; no deceit.
serpent’s. At the same time, the times of David when he was a persecuted man, though anointed to the kingdom, were such that they might be compared to the days that precede the coming of the Son of man. The flatterers of Saul hated David’s person and David’s principles; and could not fail to try to cast contempt on “the Lord’s words” in regard to him and his seed. Such, also, were the days of the true David, our Lord, when He appeared in our world as the Lord’s anointed. We can easily see how the proud Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees, might be characterised by vers. 2, 8; and not less how, on such an occasion as the Baptist’s death, Jesus could use ver. 1. Let us follow the Baptist’s disciples, who have just buried their master. They walk along in silent sadness; for a witness to the truth has perished. They seek out Jesus (Matt. xiv. 1 2), and tell Him all that the foes of God have done. Jesus hears and sympathises; and may we not imagine the whole company of disciples, with the master as “chief musician,” sitting down in the solitary place (ver. 13), and making it echo with the plaintive cry, —
“Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth,” c&c. The Church’s eye, anointed with eye-salve, has ever since been able to discern in the world resemblances to the same state of things; and never more clearly than now. Hence David, and David’s Son, and the seed of David’s Son, have ever found the strain of this song fitted to express what the world made them feel. Horsley entitles it, “Of free thinkers; their cunning, audacity, and final excision.” But this is only one aspect of it. It is rather, The Righteous One’s consoling assurance that the Lord’s word, though mocked at, shall not faU.