Psalm XCIV

1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth,

O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself!

2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth! render a reward to the proud.

3 Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things?
And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?

5 They break in pieces thy people, 0 Lord, and afflict thine heritage.

6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

7 Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob

regard it.

8 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be

wise?

9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall

he not see?

10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?

11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out

of thy law;

13 That thou majest give him rest from the days of adversity, Until the pit be digged for the wicked.

14 For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart

shall follow it.

16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?

Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

17 Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

18 When I said, My foot slippeth! thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.

19 In the multitude of my thoughts, within me thy comforts delight my soul.

20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth

mischief by a law?

21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, And condemn the innocent blood.

22 But the Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.

23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity.

And shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.

vuh*the’^re“°” “^^^ Kingdom, then, and its King, have been anticipated, or leding. rather realised as if already come. With this prospect before

them, the oppressed Church and its Head cry for vengeance — joining the cry of Rev. vi, 10, from under the altar; pointing the Judge to “The Day vengeance,” Isa. lxiii. 4; recalling to his mind the words of the song of Moses, Deut. xxxii. 41. I’hepian. The appeal is made in pointed heaven-penetrating cries,

verses 1, 2. Reasons for the appeal, strong and vehement, are alleged, verses 3-7. The world is warned that the appeal is lodged, verses 8-11.* This done, the Church and her Head bless the Lord for those very dealings that call for vengeance, these being instructive and sanctifying chastenings to his own, though their enemies did not mean to help them to their crown. They also bless the Lord for revealing the final issues, “teaching them out of his law” i. e., advertising them in the pages of his revealed Word of what is coming on, so that they have peace amid the storm (ver. 12-14). “Judgment shall

* Bagster has a curious remark on the phrase “He that planted the ear.” The mechanism of the ear, like a root planted in the earth, is sunk deep into the head, and concealed from view.

return to righteousness!” they exclaim: long has it seemed otherwise; judgment seemed to lodge in the streets, or stand afar off. But in God’s due time, the Judge comes (ver. 8), and judgment goes home to the righteous — justice vindicates their cause. From verse 16 to the end, we hear the same parties encouraging themselves to wait on for a season. When my soul is bewildered by endless thoughts, when every human scheme of relief seems vanity, my resort is to thyself, the God of all consolation! What streams for the thirsty are in thee. The past, if it brought anxiety, has never failed to bring help, while the future presents the prospect of the entire overthrow of ungodliness —

“7s (lie throne of iniquity confederate loitTi thee? (Is it become thy friend? Ewald.) Framing wickedness (or, misery, Ilengst.) by right of law I” (Ver. 20.)

The question contains in itself its own answer; and even meanwhile there is a refuge —

“Jehovah shall be my high place,
And my God (shall be) my rock of shelter,”

till he arises in the day of his wrath to cut them off for ever. Thus, beginning with prayer,* the Psalm ends with prophecy; beginning with an earnest call, it ends with faith’s confidence of an answer, and sounds in our ear The cry of the oppressed Church and her Head for the day of vengeance.