Psalm XXVII

1 The Lord is my light and ray salvation; whom shall I fcav? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon mc to eat

up my flesh,
They stumbled and fell.

3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his paviUon. In the secret of his tableruacle shall he hide me;

He shall set me upon a rock.

6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;

I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and

answer me.

8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face,

Lord, will I seek.

9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: Thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my

salvation.

10 When my father and my mother forsake, then the Lord will take me up.

11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine

enemies.

12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies:

For false witnesses arc risen up against me, and such as brcatlic out crueltv.

13 I had faintccl, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the

land of the living.

14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage,

And he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.

Christ and hi
l)eO|)le.

The Righteous One does not walk without opposition. We are led here to a field of conflict; or rather to the height, whence the Righteous One surveys the legions of foes that are embattled against him; and standing by his side, we hear his song of confidence, and cry of dependence, as he looks up to the Lord as his “light and salvation.” Is it Christ that we hear thus expressing what his soul felt? or is it one of his own who encounters the same foes? It is both; for David was taught by the Spirit to write the blessed experience of the Church and its Head. The Church’s experience here is obvious. Let us dwell a little on her Lord’s.

Is this, then, “the light of the world” walking through Christ darkness, and staying himself on his Father? What an illustration of his own words, in John xvi. 32, 33, “The hour cometh when ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And then, soon after, his enemies “stumbled and fell,” (Ver. 2). The band, with Judas at their head, “went backwards and fell to the ground” (John xviii. 6), as if in token of the future falling of all that come out against him; while Judas, their leader, stumbled over the corner-stone to his eternal ruin. So sure is this, that in verse 3 he appropriates to his own use, and the use of all the righteous, the protecting hosts that Elisha saw round Dothan. (2 Kings vi. 15.) Our Lord’s words, “Thinkest thou not that I cannot pray to my Father, and He will presently give more than twelve legions of angels?” were at once a reference to the guard of Elisha, and a breathing forth of the strong confidence of this Psalm.

The words, “In this will I he confident,” refer us back to The content the faith of verse 1, “I will be confident, that Jehovah is my light, salvation, strength.”

We have our Lord’s style, so to speak, in verse -i, — “One chrit. tJmu/.” He, who on earth pointed out the “one thing lackmg,” to the Ruler: and “the one thing needful,” to Martha, declares what himself felt regarding that “one thing.” To see the Lord, in his temple where everything spoke of redemption, — there to see the Father’s “beauty,” was the essence of his soul’s desire. This “beauty,” Dy.5 is the Lord’s well-pleased look; such a look as the Father gave, when his voice proclaimed, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” It also means, all that makes God an object of affection and delight to a soul.* Nothing could be more desirable to Christ, than this approving look of his Father, telling, as it did, his love to the uttermost. And nothing to us sinners, can equal this look of love; it is the essence of heaven now, and heaven for ever. It is the “one thing;” for from this holy love proceed all other blessings. To catch glimpses of this “beauty” in the temple was our Lord’s aim; he engaged in no other pursuit on earth. Neither did David, this true disciple, amid the glory of a kingdom. In the light of this Divine smile, the soul is sure of deliverances manifold, deliverance from every evil, and eternal gladness; and can sing (ver. 7) even now, as if full deliverance were come already. Real assurance of salvation depends in our seeing the Father’s “beauty,” — his reconciled countenance, his heart of love; in seeing which, the soul feels certain beyond measure, that his future state will be well, for that love is too deep to change; and so it “sings and makes music to Jehovah.”

But verse 8 has a tinge of sadness again. It is, in our Lord’s case, like John xii. 17, “Now is my soul troubled,” after a season of peaceful rest. Never was there an experience so varied and full as our Lord’s in his human nature; and never an experience which his saints so often turn to as their own. The cry for help ascends; and perhaps the broken words of verse 9 are intentional, being the difficult utterance of one in trouble quoting words of hope, —

“My heart says to thee, Seek ije wijfacc.’” My soul repeats to thee thine own call and encouragement.

* Luther understood it. “The beautiful services of the Lord” in the Tabernacle (Tholuck); the spiritual truths reflected in the mirror of that symbolic worship.

How often hast thou hidden us, “Seek my face V My heart reminds thee of thine own words; I will not let thee go. To me, and to the sons of men, thou hast sent forth an invitation to this effect, “Seek ye my face;” therefore, my heart in all its distress holds up to thee this call of thine. / will seek thy face, and I will urge thee, “Hide not thy face,” (ver. 9).

In verse 10, the harp sings of a lonely, friendless, orphan state. “My father and mother have left me!” But forthwith faith responds, “The Lord will take me in.” (Josh. xx. 4, Judges xix. 5.) Our Lord, no doubt, felt as man the desire for a father’s and a mother’s sympathy and help. But in want of that sympathy and help, he turns to what he finds in Jehovah; for the Lord has a, father’s “heart,” “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him,” (Ps. ciii. 13); and the mother s affections, too, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so the Lord will comfort you,” (Isa. lxvi. 13). Our Lord uses what is equivalent to “take me in,” in Matt. xxv. 43. (Hengstenberg.)

A shrill note of the harp touches upon reproach and calumny, in verses 13, 14, “false witnesses are risen up.” In Matt. xxvi. 62, 63, these false witnesses come in against our Lord, before the high priest; and on that occasion, our Lord bursts forth after long silence, with the declaration, “Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Is this the train of thought on this Psalm? For verse 1 5 sets forth the hope of seeing what Zechariah ix. 17 speaks of as yet future in a great measure, “His goodness.”

“The goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’”

Our Lord was content, as real man, to sustain his soul by faith and hope; resting on what He knew of his Father, and animating it in suffering and trouble, by the “hope set before Him,” (Heb. xii. 2). Is not this his testimony (and the testimony of all his saints who have used this Psalm) to the advantages and blessedness of hope? The words in the Hebrew run thus —

“Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord.” (Ver. 15.)

There is no “/ had fainted.” It is an imperfect sentence.

There is something to be supplied; it is like our Lord’s owu words in Luke xix. 42, “If thou hadst known!” — a sentence never ended, and all the more emijhatic and awfully significant for this very reason. Here, also, there is the same significance. It is “Who can tell, what heart of man can conceive, what might have came on me, — unless 1 had believed to see the goodness of the Lord!” Faith, and the “hope set before Him,” carried Him through his darkest hour. And hence, in verse 16, He leaves for the Church in all ages the counsel of one who has tried it himself, — “Wait on the Lord.” Keep your eye ever on the Lord, expecting the light to break and help to come.

The Church, and the Church’s head, can lay claim to every clause of this blessed Psalm. That pledge of its truth in verse 5 has already in all ages been found faithfully performed. The Lord has ever hid his own in evil days, finding an Obadiah to feed his prophets, or sending them to a Cherith, whither his ravens shall carry provision. So that Augustine’s confidence is that of all saints, “Qui tantum pignus dedit peregrinanti, non deseret pervenientem.” We may call it then, — The Righteous Ones confident assertion of safety when lonely amid surrounding foes.