Psalm XV

1 LoHD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy

hill?

2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, And speaketh the truth in his heart.

3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; — but he honoureth them that

fear the Lord.
He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
6 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against
the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

Holy. “We heard of a “righteous generation” in last Psalm, and here is one of them as a representative of the whole. None can be said to have fulfilled the conditions, or come up to the character here sketched, excepting Christ, if we view the matter in its strictness; although every member of His body lays claim to His imputed obedience, and exhibits a goodly specimen of the effect of this imputation in producing personal holiness. We consider this Psalm as descriptive of our Head in His personal holiness, and of his members as made holy by Him.

It is one thing to state how holiness is attained, and quite another to assert that perfect holiness is possessed. When you describe a worshipper in the Holy Hill as one who is holy, you do not on that account maintain that his holiness was self-derived, or that it was his prmiary qualification. Far less do you assert that holiness of character stands in the place of the blood that cleanses the conscience. There are several links in the golden chain, and my pointing to one of these does in no way interfere with my conviction of the necessity of the rest. If I find it said of our Lord: —

“It is Christ that died;
Yea, rather, that is I’isen again!
Who is even at the right hand of God!
Who also maketh intercession for us,”

I may take up one feature of this Redeemer, and may say, “He who saves us is One who is risen again;” but by so saying I do not deny, but rather necessarily include, the assertion, that He died first of all. So also if I say, “He who is saved is one who has holiness;” I do not, by saying this, deny that the man has first of all been made clean by the blood: on the contrary, I imply that as a thing of course, necessarily preceding the other. Again, if I say, “That Priest has washed his hands and feet in the laver,” I do not deny, but, on the contrary, necessarily imply, that first of all he was at the Altar, and touched the blood there. Or, once more, if I read 1 Tim. i, 5, —

“Now the end of the commandment is charity
Out of a pure heart,
And out of a good conscience,
And out of faith unfeigned,”

I may fix on the middle clause and say, the love, or charity, aimed at by the law, is the product of a “good conscience.” But do I, on account of that statement, at all deny that “faith unfeigned” is needful in order to arrive at a good conscience? It is even thus with our Psalm, when received as stating what belongs to the members of Christ. It tells of their “pure heart;” but then that pure heart came from “a good conscience;” and that good conscience was the effect of” unfeigned faith” in the blood.

It is, however, only our Head that can fully realize the character here given. “Holiness to the Lord” is on our High Priest’s mitre, while we, as inferior priests, go forward in his

The contents gteps, to dwell in tliG Tabemacle.* The question is asked, ver. 1, “Who shall chvell?” abide, be a guest for ever, in the palace of our King and God? Verse 2 tells the outward purity required, and the iniuard guilelessness. Verse 3, the purity of word; verse 4, conpany; verse 5, disinterested and self-denied love to His neighbours; ver. 5, uprightness, if He once promise he will not “exchange” his promise for anything more convenient to himself, and will not fail to shew the heart of a brother in everyday transactions. These are signs of a renewed nature, very rare in our world, and such as manifest the man to be, “though in the world, yet not of the world.” In verse 4, we have the key to the difference between such a one and the man of earth, “He honoureth thera that fear the Lord;” his heart lies in the company of those who fear Jehovah; and if so, then he himseK prefers Jehovah’s company to all besides. He is one who has fellowship with God.

The holy hill, gt we uiust not fail to notice the “Tabernacle “and the ‘’Holy Hill,” where this man’s dwelling shall be for ever. The Tabernacle of Moses, which, in David’s days, was pitched on the slopes of Zion-hill, is the type of greater things. In that figure we see God in the cloud of glory over the mercy-seat, dwelling with men, and the Priest entering in on the atonement-day, to His presence. All this was typical of what is now before us in clearer light. The redeemed go in with the blood of the Redeemer through the rent veil, (for the atonement-day is “now”) to Him who is in heaven. And when the Lord returns, and the “Tabernacle of God is with men,” — when Christ, the true mercy-seat, is here — then shall we go to that Tabernacle, and see Him, on that Holy Hill, where his presence shall be manifested. (See this more at large in Psalm xxiv.) But on that day none shall ascend that Hill or approach that Tabernacle, who are not “sanctified.” On this point Revelation xxi. 27 corresponds with our Psalm — into

* As Barclay puts it, with truth though not with poetic taste, — “Now who is He? Say if ye can
Who so shall gain the firm abode?
Pilate shall say, ‘Behold the Man! ’
And John, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’”

PSALM XVI. — Messiah’s satisfaction with his lot. ol

New Jerusalem “there shall in no wise enter anything that defileth or maketh a lie,” Over its gate is written, “Without holiness no man shall see God.”

Here, then, we have before lis a description of
The dweller in the Holy Hill of God.