Psalm XLVI

To the chief Musician. For the sons of Korah. A Song upon Alamoth

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the

earth melted.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the

earth.

9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;

He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, iind know that I am God:

I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Before the dawn of that day of the Bridegroom and the Bride, the Marriage-feast, earth shall shake with commotions; wars, rumours of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilence, all combining to make men perplexed. But here we find the same Mighty One giving strength to his own in these perilous times.

The title is peculiar, “on Alamoth,” suggesting “a choir of virgins,” as if this Virgin-choir were selected to sing a Psalm that tells of perils and fears and alarms abounding, in order to shew that even the feeble virgins may in that day sing without dread because of “The Mighty One” on their side. They and the “Sons of Korah” join in this lofty strain of confidence. We all know how Luther used to sing this Psalm in times of peril and alarm, and many have done the like in all ages.

They sing of Jehovah “a very 2^resent help,” or more literally, “He is found a help most truly,” iW^i, being the same word here as in 1 Sam. xiii. 16, “present with Saul;” 2 Chron. XXXV. 18, “Judah and Israel present,” or found at their post; and 1 Sam. xxi. 8, “whatever is present” — is at hand. He has proved himself to be a help at hand.

The river in verse 4 alludes to the Euphrates of Babylon, and the Tigris of Assyria. Jerusalem has not such mighty floods to boast of. Yet Jerusalem has a river too. She has her “waters of Siloah,” flowing softly from her Temple (Isa. viii. 6-8), which may be despised by men of might, yet are Jerusalem’s glory. Her glory is, that Jehovah is in her Temple, from beneath whose rock flows out Siloah; and thus “A river is there, that gladdens this city of God.” Or, if this be not the primary reference, the allusion is to this same Siloah when it shall flow from the Temple (see Joel iii. 18; Isa. xxxiii. 21; Ezek. xlvii. 1-16), and shall heal whatever it laves; far excelling the mighty waters of Euphrates and Hiddekel, which bear the proud gallies of tyrants.

Victory shall come as soon as the Lord’s set time arrives; “when morning appears,” as at the Red Sea. (Exod. xiv. 27). The Lord himself shall invite men to see his victory: “Come and see F’ (ver. 8), and to hear Him proclaim his own right to exaltation. At this announcement, his people shout in reply, verses 7 and 11, each marked (like ver. 5) by the “Selah.”

“The Lord of hosts is idth us!
The God of Jacob is our refuge /”
{Our 3J!tJ^D, more than HDHQ of verse 1.)

Thus setting forth

The Mighty One on the side of the righteous, amid earth’s sorest throes.