Psalm XX

To the chief Musician, A Psalni of David.

1 The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob

defend thee.

2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion.

3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah.

4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.

5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set

up our banners:
The Lord fulfil all thy petitions.

6 Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed;

He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.

7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses:

But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

9 Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call.

What typical occurrence, or what event in Israel’s history, may have given the groundwork of this Psalm? Luther calls it a “battle-cry;” while others have imagined it appropriate to such an occasion as that of the high priest going in to the Holiest on the Day of Atonement, and reappearing to the joy of all who waited without in anxious prayer. We think the truth may be reached by finding some scene that may combine the “battle-cry” and the priestly function, such as was once presented in Numbers xxxi. 1-6, when the zealous priest Phinehas was sent forth at the head of the armies of Israel to battle. David may have been led to recal some such scene, as he sang.

Full of zeal for his God, Phinehas, in his priestly attire, and with priestly solemnity, — with “Holiness to the Lord” on his mitre, — prepares for the conflict with Jehovah’s and Israel’s most subtle foes. We may suppose him at the altar ere he goes, presenting his offerings (ver. 3), and supplicating the Holy One of Israel (ver. 4), amid a vast assemblage of the camp, small and great, all sympathizing in his enterprise. This done, he takes the holy instruments and the silver trumpets in his hand, and sets forth. There is now an interval of suspense, — but soon tidmgs of victory come, and the priestly leader reaj)pears, crowned with victory, leading captivity captive. The confidence expressed in ver. 5 is not vain, for victory, or “salvation,” has been given.

Perhaps there were times when David was in such circumstance as these, and there are still times when any member of the Church may be, in some sense, so situated; while “all weep” with the one member that weeps, and then “all rejoice” in the joy of the one. But still the chief reference is to David’s Son, our Lord. He is the Leader and the Priest, the true Phinehas, going out against Midian. It is “the Anointed” (ver. 5) that is principally the theme.

This Psalm is the prayer which the Church might be supposed offering up, had all the redeemed stood by the cross, or in Gethsemane, in full consciousness of what was doing there. Messiah, in reading these words, would know that He had elsewhere the sympathy he longed for, when he said to the three disciples, “Tarry ye here, and watch with me,” (Matt. xxvi. 88). It is thus a pleasant song of the sacred singer of Israel, to set forth the feelings of the redeemed in their Head, whether in his sufferings or in the glory that was to follow. In ver. 1-4, they pray: —

“JehovaJi hear thee in the day of trouble,

“The name of(. e., He who manifests himself by deeds to bej the God of Jacob defend thee.

“Send thee help from the sanctuary” where his well-pleasedness is seen.

“And bless thee out ofZion” — not from Sinai, but from the place of peaceful acceptance, Zion.

The solemn “Selah “-pause comes in when” sacrifice’^ has been spoken of, and then in verse 5, they exult at the success which has crowned his undertaking; and, observe, reader, they speak now of Him as one that makes petitions — “The Lord fulfil all thy petitions.” Is not this recognising Him as now specially employed in interceding? applying His finished work by pleading it for us? It may, at the same time, remind us of that other request, which the Intercessor is yet to make, and to make which, speedily, the Church is often urging him, verse 15, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.” — (Psa. ii. 8.) In ver. 6-’8, they exult again, “knowing whom they have believed” (2 Tim. i. 12), both as to what the Father has done for Him, and what the Father will do. They reject all grounds of hope not found in King Messiah; express their souls’ desire for complete deliverance, when He shall appear at last, and answer, by complete salvation (Heb. ix. 28), the continual cry of His Church, “Come! Lord Jesus!” Verse 9 teaches us to expect both present and future victories, by the arm of our King; and in hope of these further exploits, we look often upward to the right hand of the Father, and cry, “Hosanna!” — “Save, Lord!” or. Give victory, Jl^Hi^Sn “Let the King (who sittefh there) hear us when tve call.”

It is a Psalm differing in its aspects from most others, for it presents to us, Messiah prayed for, and prayed to, by his luaiting people.