Psalm XVII
A Prayer of David.
1 Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry,
Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;
Let thine eyes behold the things that arc equal.
3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; Thou hast ti-ied me, and shalt find nothing;
I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4 Concerning the works of men,
By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, — that my footsteps slip not.
6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
7 Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand. Them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps:
They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey.
And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. ] 3 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down:
Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
14 From men which are thy hand, O Lord,
From men of the world, which have their portion in this life,
And whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure:
They are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
The same strain again — only here the sin and sorrow of the world are brought together, and the Righteous One is seen lifting his eyes to heaven, as sure conqueror over both. Earth, whether viewed from the top of Peor, or the field of Zophim, is still the same fallen earth; and not less gratefully does the shout of the King of Jeshurum greet our ears, by whatever cliff of Pisgah it may happen to be echoed back. It is called A Prayer, for it consists of strong appeals to God.
While fully satisfied with his lot, the Righteous One tells us how little reason there is to be satisfied with the world wherein his lot was for a time cast. Dissatisfied with man’s judgment, he appeals to the Lord, and ver. 1 is equivalent to those two words in his prayer (John xvii. 25), “0 righteous Father.” Before Him he spreads his cause, expecting (ver. 2, 3) a reversal of the world’s sentence. The Father “proved him and could find nothing.” Was it to this he referred in John xiv. 30, when telling of Satan’s attempt? Mysterious trial! all-perfect righteousness! Heaven and hell have tried it; and neither the holiness of God, nor the envy of Satan, could detect a flaw. We find him appealing to the Father as to his heart (ver. 3), as to his words (ver. 4), and as to his ways (ver. 5) — sure of the verdict from the lips of Holiness itself. And, united to Him, each believer may make the same appeal, with the same success, while he is led also, in the very act of so doing, to plant his steps in the footsteps of his all-perfect Surety. In ver. 6, emphasis rests on / C^S); “I have called;” let others do the same.
Still dissatisfied with men, in ver. 6-8 He seems to unbosom himself to the Father, fixing his eye on the marvellous love shewn in redemption, “the tender mercies,” or “bowels of mercy,” by reason of which the “Dayspring from on high hath visited us,” (Luke i. 78).
“Single out thy lovingkindness, thou deliverer oftlwse that trust.”
Saints are called “Trusters,” (D^Din) and the prayer is, “Set apart (Psalm iv. 3) for me some special mercy. Make it appear in its singular brightness, O thou who deliverest me who trust in Thee, and wilt deliver all others who simply trust in Thee through me!” We, too, may follow Him even into the very secret of the Most High, when in ver. 8 he presses forward and sits down under the wings of majesty and love — at rest in the “God of Israel, under whose wings he has come to trust.’” And here we may, with our Head, survey the turmoil of human wickedness, beholding (verses 9-14) their assaults, their snares, their lion-like anger, their conspiracies, and, in ver. 14, their luxury and worldly ease.
“Ml, soul deliver from the wicked, by thy sword,
From men, by thy hand, 0 Lord,
From men!’’’ (Perhaps, frail, dying men, if D”’Jni!3 be connected with r)’!lt2 to die.)
“From the transitory world.’” Grieved at such scenes, the Righteous One suddenly darts his eye into the future, and anticipates resurrection-glory, — a glory that shall cast human splendour into the shade, and leave the Lord’s people without one unsatisfied desire. Our Head sung, in prospect of his resurrection, and we, his members, sing, in prospect of ours, —
“But as for me I shall behold his face in righteousness.” (Ver. 15.) O righteous Father, O holy Father (John xvii.), I come to thee, and, for ever dead unto sin, and escaped from the world’s miry clay, I shall stand before Thee who art righteous in the beauty of pure righteousness. And my dissatisfactions shall be forgotten when entering on that enjoyment, — thou appearing in glory to meet me, and I conformed to the glory that meets me at my rising,
I shall he satisfied tvhen thy likeness awakes “— This likeness is spoken of in Numb. xii. 8. It is the manifestation of God in his glory. The “glory of the Father” (Rom. vi. 8) met Christ at the sepulchre, and He arose glorious, soul and body. So shall it be with each of his members. Christ our Life, the incarnate manifestation of the likeness of God, shall appear in glory; and we shall instantly be conformed to Him “seeing Him as He is” (J John iii. 2). The appearing of that glory, in om: dark world, whence it has so long been exiled, seems to be meant by the “awakening of His likeness.” Psalm lxxiii. 20 speaks of it again, and attributes to that event the eternal confusion of the worldlings who had their portion and cup fidl for a season.
It was in the act of singing these words, as they stand in the metrical version, that one of our Scottish martyrs, Alexander Home, passed from the scaffold to glory. With a solemn eye and glowing soul, he was able amid gathered thousands to express his rest and hope in these words, — “But as for me I thine own face In righteousness shall see; And with thy likeness when I wake I satisfied shall be.”
And who of all the saints would not join him? Who would not take up every clause of the whole Psalm? Who would not spnpathize in The Righteous One’s dissatisfaction with a pr-esent world?