A. C. 444 to 433.

47 And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the That is, set porters, every day his portion: and they sanctified holy Num. xviii. things unto the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them unto the children of Aaron.

apart.

26.

+ Heb. there was read.

↑ Heb. ears.

3, 4.

NEHEMIAH XIII. 1-4.

1 On that day + they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written,

r Deut. xxiii. that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;

5. Josh. xxiv,

9.

2 Because they met not the children of Israel with bread Num. xxii. and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.

About 444.

t Prov. iv. 14.

3 Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

PSALM 138.

1 The happiness of the godly. 4 The unhappiness of the ungodly. 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of

38 Psalms the first, and the hundred and nineteenth, are placed here as having most probably been written, about this time, by Ezra on his completion of the Bible. Calmet, Horne, and Gray, unite in referring the first Psalm either to David or Ezra; and it is generally supposed to have been composed by the latter as a preface to the book of Psalms, when he collected them into one volume. The contents of this Psalm are peculiarly applicable to this period of the Jewish history, when after an elapse of so many years the Scriptures were again restored to the Jews in a more complete form than any they had previously received.

The hundred and nineteenth Psalm is placed in this section from the internal evidence, that it was written by Ezra, rather than by David. It begins in the same manner as the first Psalm, and it is written on the same subject. It seems to have been drawn up princpially with the view of impressing upon the minds of the Jewish youth the importance and necessity of devoting themselves to the study of the whole word of God. Every division of it expresses the excellency of the law; and resolutions to walk therein under every circumstance of life. At the time of editing the Scriptures, and of reading them to the people, it must have been a principal object with Ezra to endeavour to direct the attention of the Jews, particularly of the younger part, to the study of the law, and the perpetuation of the benefits he had conferred by his labours on the nation. A manual of this kind, therefore, might have been expected from the great reformer; and as there is no particular period in the life of David on which we can fix, which seems to require a similar composition, it is more probable that this Psalm was written by Ezra, rather than by the king of Israel.

It may be observed, also, that the plan upon which it is composed appears to have been of more frequent use in the latter, than in the former ages of the

the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth A. C. About in the seat of the scornful.

Hebrew language. The several divisions of the hundred and nineteenth Psalm are arranged in the order of the Hebrew alphabet, and all the distichs in each division begin with the same letter, after which the whole division is named. There are but twelve of the acrostic, or alphabetical poems in the Old Testament; these are Psalms xxv. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxi. cxii. cxix. cxlv. Prov. xxxi. 10-31. Lamentations i. ii. iii. iv. Of all these, only Psalm xxxiv. on the authority of the Hebrew title, and cxlv. on internal evidence, can be certainly attributed to David. If this manner of writing had been usual at that earlier period, succeeding writers, it may be presumed, would have sometimes adopted it. We find, however, no traces of it in Isaiah, Ezekiel, or any of the minor prophets, until the time of Jeremiah, whose Lamentations having been composed on this plan, seems to have first familiarized it to the people, as Psalms xxv. xxxvii. cxi. and cxii. were written after the time of that prophet; and Prov. xxxi. 10-31. having been added to that book at an uncertain period, may, perhaps, have been added by Ezra himself. Of all these alphabetical poems, three only are perfectly so, Psalms cxi. cxii. and Lament. iii. all of which are to be referred to the latter ages of the purity of the Jewish language. It is more probable, therefore, that the hundred and nineteenth Psalm was written at a later, than at an earlier period of the Jewish Church, that is, that it was written by Ezra, rather than by David; and, if written by Ezra, that it was composed about the time when by editing the Scriptures he wished to direct the attention of the younger people to their constant perusal and study.

The number of Psalms which are throughout more eminently and directly prophetical of the Messiah is indeed comparatively small but the passages of particular Psalms which are predictive of him in various ways are very numerous, no part of the Old Testament being cited in the New so frequently as this book. That those Psalms which were composed by David himself were prophetic, we have David's own authority; "which," Bp. Horsley remarks, "may be allowed to overpower a host of modern expositors. For thus king David, at the close of his life, describes himself and his sacred songs; David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet Psalmist of Israel, said, the Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and his word was in my tongue,' (2 Sam. xxiii. 1, 2.) It was the word, therefore, of Jehovah's Spirit which was uttered by David's tongue. But, it should seem, the Spirit of Jehovah would not be wanting to enable a mere man to make complaint of his own enemies, to describe his own sufferings just as he felt them, and his own escapes just as they happened. But the Spirit of Jehovah described, by David's utterance, what was known to that Spirit only, and that Spirit only could describe. So that, if David be allowed to have had any knowledge of the true subjects of his own compositions, it was nothing in his own life, but something put into his mind by the Holy Spirit of God; and the misapplication of the Psalms to the literal David has done more mischief, than the misapplication of any other parts of the Scriptures, among those who profess the belief of the Christian religion."

441.

* Or, wicked.

The Psalms present every possible variety of Hebrew poetry. They may all, indeed, be termed poems of the lyric kind; that is, adapted to music, but with VOL. II.

3 N

A. C. About 444.

a Josh. i. 18.

Ps. cxix. 1.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; " and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

great variety in the style of composition. Thus some are simply odes, giving a narrative of facts, either of public history, or of private life, in beautiful and figurative language. Others, again, are ethic or didactic, "delivering grave maxims of life, or the precepts of religion, in solemn, but for the most part simple strains." To this class we may refer the hundred and nineteenth, and the other alphabetical psalms, which are so called because the initial letters of each line or stanza followed the order of the alphabet. Nearly one-seventh part of the Psalms are elegiac, or pathetic compositions on mournful subjects. Some are enigmatic, delivering the doctrines of religion in enigmata, sentences contrived to strike the imagination forcibly, and yet easy to be understood; while a few may be referred to the class of idyls, or short pastoral poems. But the greater part, according to Bishop Horsley, is a sort of dramatic ode, consisting of dialogues between certain persons sustaining certain characters. ** In these dialogue-psalms the persons are frequently the Psalmist himself, or the chorus of priests and Levites, or the leader of the Levitical band, opening the ode with a proem declarative of the subject, and very often closing the whole with a solemn admonition drawn from what the other persons say. The other persons are, Jehovah, sometimes as one, sometimes as another of the three persons; Christ in his incarnate state, sometimes before, sometimes after his resurrection; the human soul of Christ, as distinguished from the divine essence. Christ, in his incarnate state, is personated sometimes as a priest, sometimes as a king, sometimes as a conqueror; and, in those Psalms in which he is introduced as a conqueror, the resemblance is very remarkable between this conqueror in the book of Psalms, and the warrior on the white horse in the book of Revelations, who goes forth with a crown on his head and a bow in his hand, conquering and to conquer. And the conquest in the Psalms is followed, like the conquest in the Revelations, by the marriage of the conqueror. These are circumstances of similitude, which, to any one versed in the prophetic style, prove beyond a doubt that the mystical conqueror is the same personage in both."

In praise of the Psalms, all the fathers of the church are unanimously eloquent. Athanasius styles them an epitome of the whole Scriptures; Basil, a compendium of all theology; Luther, a little Bible, and the summary of the Old Testament; and Melancthon, the most elegant writing in the whole world. How highly the Psalter was valued subsequently to the Reformation, we may easily conceive by the very numerous editions of it which were executed in the infancy of printing, and by the number of commentators who have undertaken to illustrate its sacred pages. Carpzov, who wrote a century ago, enumerates upwards of one hundred and sixty; and, of the subsequent modern expositors of this book, it would perhaps be difficult to procure a correct account. "The Psalms," as Bishop Horne, their best interpreter in our language has remarked, with equal piety and beauty, "are an epitome of the Bible, adapted to the purposes of devotion. They treat occasionally of the creation and formation of the world; the dispensations of Providence, and the economy of grace; the transactions of the patriarchs; the exodus of the children of Israel; their journey through the wilderness, and settlement in Canaan; their law, priest

X

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of A.C. About water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf

hood, and ritual; the exploits of their great men, wrought through faith;
their sins and captivities; their repentances and restorations; the sufferings
and victories of David; the peaceful and happy reign of Solomon; the advent
of Messiah, with its effects and consequences; his incarnation, birth, life, pas-
sion, death, resurrection, ascension, kingdom, and priesthood; the effusion of
the Spirit; the conversion of the nations; the rejection of the Jews; the esta-
blishment, increase, and perpetuity of the Christian church; the end of the
world; the general judgment; the condemnation of the wicked, and the final
triumph of the righteous with their Lord and King. These are the subjects
here presented to our meditations. We are instructed how to conceive of them
aright, and to express the different affections, which, when so conceived of,
they must excite in our minds. They are, for this purpose, adorned with the
figures, and set off with all the graces of poetry; and poetry itself is designed
yet farther to be recommended by the charms of music, thus consecrated to the
service of God; that so delight may prepare the way for improvement, and
pleasure become the handmaid of wisdom, while every turbulent passion is
calmed by sacred melody, and the evil spirit is still dispossessed by the harp of
the son of Jesse. This little volume, like the paradise of Eden, affords us in
perfection, though in miniature, every thing that groweth elsewhere, "every tree
that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ;" and, above all, what was
there lost, but is here restored-the tree of life in the midst of the garden. That
which we read, as matter of speculation, in the other Scriptures, is reduced to
practice, when we recite it in the Psalms; in those repentance and faith are de-
scribed; but in these they are acted: by a perusal of the former, we learn how
others served God, but, by using the latter, we serve him ourselves.
"What
is there necessary for a man to know," says the pious and judicious Hooker,
"which the Psalms are not able to teach? They are to beginners an easy and
familiar introduction, a mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge in
such as are entered before, a strong confirmation to the most perfect among
others. Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice, grave moderation, exact wis-
dom, repentance unfeigned, unwearied patience, the mysteries of God, the suffer-
ings of Christ, the terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Provi-
dence over this world, and the promised joys of that world which is to come, all
good necessarily to be either known, or done, or had, this one celestial fountain
yieldeth. Let there be any grief or disease incident unto the soul of man, any
wound or sickness named, for which there is not, in this treasure-house, a pre-
sent comfortable remedy at all times ready to be found."

Many of the Psalms, which bear the royal prophet's name, were composed on
occasion of remarkable circumstances in his life, his dangers, his afflictions, his
deliverances." But of those which relate to the public history of the natural
Israel, there are few in which the fortunes of the mystical Israel are not adum-
brated; and of those which allude to the life of David, there are none in which
the Son of David is not the principal and immediate subject. David's com
plaints against his enemies are Messiah's complaints, first of the unbelieving
Jews, then of the heathen persecutors, and of the apostate faction in later
ages.
David's afflictions are Messiah's sufferings. David's penitential suppli-

444.

x Jer. xvii. 9

A.C. About also shall not* wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall pros

444.

* Heb. fade.

per.

David's

cations are Messiah's, under the burden of the imputed guilt of man.
songs of triumph and thanksgiving are Messiah's songs of triumph and thank-
giving, for his victory over sin, and death, and hell. In a word, there is not a
page of this book of Psalms, in which the pious reader will not find his Saviour,
if he reads with a view of finding him."

And it

In the language of this divine book, therefore, the prayers and praises of the church have been offered up to the throne of grace, from age to age. appears to have been the manual of the Son of God, in the days of his flesh; who, at the conclusion of his last supper, is generally supposed, and that upon good grounds, to have sung an hymn taken from it; who pronounced, on the cross, the beginning of the twenty-second Psalm, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" and expired, with a part of the thirty-first Psalm in his mouth, "Into thy hands I commend my spirit." Thus He, who had not the Spirit by measure, in whom were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and who spake as never man spake, yet chose to conclude his life, to solace himself in the greatest agony, and at last to breathe out his soul, in the Psalmist's form of words, rather than his own. "No tongue of man or angel," as Dr. Hammond justly observes, can convey an higher idea of any book, and of their felicity who use it aright."

Having now inserted the whole number of the Psalms in their respective places, I add the following common but very useful Table; the Psalms are classed according to their several subjects, and adapted to the purposes of private devotion.

I. Prayers.

1. Prayers for pardon of sin, Psal. vi. xxv. xxxviii. li. cxxx. penitential, vi. xxxii. xxxviii. li. cii. cxxx. cxliii.

Psalms styled

2. Prayers, composed when the Psalmist was deprived of an opportunity of the public exercise of religion, Psal. xlii. xliii. lxiii. lxxxiv.

3. Prayers, in which the Psalmist seems extremely dejected, though not totally deprived of consolation, under his afflictions, Psal. xiii. xxii. lxix. lxxvi. Ixxxviii. cxliii.

4. Prayers, in which the Psalmist asks help of God, in consideration of his own integrity, and the uprightness of his cause, Psal. vii, xvii. xxvi. xxxv.

5. Prayers, expressing the firmest trust and confidence in God under affictions, Psal. iii. xvi. xxvii. xxxi. liv. lvi. lvii. lxi. lxii. lxxi. lxxxvi.

6. Prayers composed when the people of God were under affliction or persecution, Psal. xliv. lx. lxxiv. lxxix. lxxx. lxxxiii. lxxxix, xciv. cii. cxxiii. cxxxvii. 7. The following are likewise prayers in time of trouble and affliction, Psal. iv. v. xi. xxviii. xli. lv. lix. lxiv. lxx. cix. cxx. cxl. cxli. cxlii.

8. Prayers of intercession, Psal. xx. lxvii. cxxii. cxxxii. cxliv.

II. Psalms of thanksgiving.

1. Thanksgivings for mercies vouchsafed to particular persons, Psal. ix. xvi xxii. xxx. xxxiv. xl. lxxv. ciii. cviii. cxvi. exviii. cxxxviii. exliv.

2. Thanksgivings for mercies vouchsafed to the Israelites in general, Psal xlvi. xlviii. lxv. lxvi. lxviii. lxxvi. lxxxi. lxxxv. xcviii, ev, cxxiv, exxvi. cxxix. exxxv. cxxxvi, cxlix.