Psalm LXV
To the chief Musician. A Psalm and Song of David.
1 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vowbe performed.
2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
3 Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shnlt purge
them away.
4 Blessed is the man that thou choosest.
And causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our
salvation, Who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of them that are afar off upon the sea:
6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with
power:
7 Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the
tumult of the people.
8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it:
Thou greatly enriches it with the river of God, which is full of water: Thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.
10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrow
thereof: Thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.
11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice
on every side.
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with
corn:
They shout for joy, they also sing.
“A psalm of David; a true song,” is the import of the title, thus describing the tone that prevails throughout. Possibly (as some think) it was composed at Passover time, when the sheaf of first fruits of barley harvest used to be offered.
Every note in this song tells the feeling of a happy soul reviewing the past, and seeing mercy abounding then and now. Messiah and his redeemed ones — the Lamb and his 144,000 — might sing it on their Mount Zion, and we may sing it now. The Head leads the choir, and this is the substance of the song — “0 God, praise is thine!” such praise as leaves the worship- The contents. per “silent,” because the theme is too great for his harp to handle.* Now is the vow performed to thee! “O Hearer of Prayer, to thee (yes, even as far as to Thee, 1^). the Holiest of all, all flesh are coming now.” Our iniquities (iniquities which have been imputed to our Head) once prevailed against us (as Gen. vii. 24, T’yX’) like the waters of the deluge, surmounting the highest hills; but thou purgest them away, and we sing, “Blessed is the man whom thou causest to approach unto thee as a priest” (Num. xvi. 8). Aye, blessed, indeed, for he shall dwell in thy courts, and there be satisfied with good; thy house, thy holy place, yielding him its heavenly stores. When we cried to thee, terrible things (things of such surpassing glory and majesty as spread awe around) were thine answer. Thou wert God of salvation, displaying thy grace in such a way as to draw the confidence of all ends of earth. Creator, too, setting fast the mountains! and God of providence, stilling the raging waves of the most tumultuous sea, and by thy wonderful signs {“tokens” PiSriy) causing distant lands, the lands of the setting and rising sun, the east and the west, to fear and to rejoice.
And now let us sing together of the crowning act of all, displaying grace, creation, and providence in one — thy dealings with this Earth, which thou wilt renew into paradise. Once we sang, “What is man that thou visitest him? “and now we sing, “Thou visitest his dwelling-place, and makest it teem seed.timeand with plenty!” Yes, “Thou hast the earth under thy care, *’^^*’ ^’^’’“^^ and waterest it.”
•” The fountain of God has plenty of waters. (Heng.)
Thou preparest (Horsley, makest sure)</ieiV corn, for lo ’ thus hast thou prepared!” (V. 9.) What a table spread with abundance is that once barren earth!
* “To thee belongeth silence-praise;” praise without any tumult (Alexander). It has been said, “The most intense feeling is the most calm, being condensed by repression.” And Hooker says of prayer, “The very silence which our unworthiness putteth us unto doth itself make request for us, and that in the confidence of his grace. Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail” (v. 48, 4). Horsley renders it, “Upon thoe is the repose of prayer.”
Scenes in the
New Earth.
194) PSALM LXV. — BLESSING SHOWERED ON EARTH.
It is “thus (p as in Ps. lxiii. 3) thou dealest as God, with infinite liberality,” The soaking rain descends on her furrowed fields.
“Thou layest down its ploughed fields;
Thou dost moisten it tvith showers;
Thou, blesseth the springing thereof.
Thou hast crowned the year, so as to mal-e it a year of goodness; Thy chariot-wheels drop fatness.
They drop on the wilderness which has pastures noio (meadow-lands); T’he hills are girded with gladness.”
What a changed world! And every season we see something of this exhibited. But the yearly return of spring and summer after winter is an emblem of Earth’s summer day, when it shall be renewed. Then, even more than now, it shall be sung,
“The pastures are clad with fades;
The valleys are covered over with corn!
They shout for joy! they IreaJc out into song!
Who does not seem, in reading this majestic Psalm, to hear the very melody that issues from the happy people of that New Earth? Originally it may have been sung as a “Psalm of David, a lively song,” at a Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel’s happy land and prosperous tribes furnished a scene that naturally suggested the future days of a renewed earth — earth’s golden age returned. It is, however, on a much higher key than this; it is a Song of the Lamb, while he leads his glorified ones to fountains of living water, and shews them their old world presenting at length a counterpart to heaven — all paradise again, and better than paradise. Is it not then
Prayers exchanged for praises because of blessings
shoivered on Earth?