and we are forced to suppose that it must refer to the word habitation in the foregoing sentence, although there it reads. habitations, in the plural number. But the principal difficulty lies in the word Ephratha, because the Ark of the Covenant was never placed there. If the reference be to past time, Shiloh should have been the place mentioned; but as it is plain the Psalmist speaks of its new residence, the question returns, why Ephratha and not Zion is specified? Some would get rid of the difficulty by resorting to a frivolous conceit, That the place had two names, and that the plat of ground which was shown to David (2 Sam. xxiv. 18; 1 Chron. xxi. 18) was called Ephratha, because it was fertile, on which account Jerome styles it xapropoрiav, and yet is not very consistent with himself, for in another place, when he gets into his allegories, he most absurdly interprets it to mean frenzy. I have no doubt whatever that the word comes from, parah, which means to bear fruit; just as Bethlehem, which is situated in the same quarter, was called for its fruitfulness "the house of bread." But any conjecture founded upon the mere name of the place is necessarily unsatisfactory, and we must seek some more probable explanation. I might begin by mentioning one which is not without force. A rumour had spread that the Ark of the Covenant was to be deposited in Ephratha, which was the place of David's nativity,' and we may suppose at least that his native soil would seem to many the most appropriate locality for the Ark and Sanctuary. We can easily underRosenmüller thinks this opinion-which is the one adopted by Calvinthe more probable; and no doubt at first sight the most obvious meaning is, that the pronoun it refers to the spot which David had discovered as a suitable place on which to erect the house of God. Walford, indeed, objects that "this cannot be intended, because the site of the Temple was neither at Ephratah, nor in the fields of the wood, or of Jaar;" and he gives at some length an ingenious explanation of this difficult passage, extracted chiefly from the German writer Tilingius. This objection, it will be perceived, is removed by one of the expositions suggested by Calvin, which supposes that the allusion is first to a report of Ephratha being the place where the Temple was to be built; and next to the certain information which the people of Israel afterwards obtained that Jerusalem was the spot which God himself had selected. Whether this however is the correct explanation of the verse, it is not so easy to determine.

1 Bethlehem, the place of David's nativity, is called Ephratha in Gen.

XXXV. 19.

bition will soon lose themselves in a labyrinth of perplexity. We see how God confounds the proud and boasted enterprises of the children of this world. They run the full course of their wild career, they turn the earth upside down at their pleasure, and put forth their hand in every direction; they are filled with complacency at the thought of their own talents and industry, and, in a moment, when all their plans have been fully formed, they are entirely overthrown, because there is no solidity in them. There are two different forms which the presumption of those takes who will not submit to be humble followers of God, but must needs run before him. Some rush forward with a reckless precipitancy, and seem as if they would build to the skies; others do not so openly exhibit the inordinateness of their desires, are slower in their movements, and cautiously calcu late upon the future, and yet their presumption appears no less from the very fact, that, with a total oversight of God, as if heaven and earth were subject to them, they pass their decree as to what shall be done by them some ten or twenty years hereafter. These build, as it were, in the deep sea. But never shall it come to the surface, however extended may be the term of their lives; while those who, like David, submit themselves to God, keeping in their own sphere, moderate in their desires, will enjoy a life of tranquillity and

assurance.

2. If I have not set, and quieted my soul like one that is weaned from his mother,—My soul is over me as a weaned child. 3. Israel shall hope in Jehovah from henceforth, and for ever.

2. If I have not set, &c. He here employs a figure which appropriately explains what he meant, and likens himself to a weaned child; by which is intended, that he dismissed. all the anxieties which disquiet the man of ambition, and was willing to be satisfied with small things. This assertion, which some might be inclined to disbelieve, he makes with an oath, expressed in that particular form of which I have elsewhere taken notice, in which the imprecation is not directly brought forward, but left to be understood, to teach

us caution in the use of God's name. As to the words, to set his soul like a child, is as if he had said, that he would frame it into such a likeness. And this with the view, as he declares, of composing himself to silence. For 17, domamtee, is formed from D7, dum, and has the active sense of reducing to silence. The quiet of soul he alludes to is opposed to those tumultuous desires by which many cause disquietude to themselves, and are the means of throwing the world into agitation. The figure of childhood is elsewhere used in another sense, to convey reprehension. (Is. xxviii. 9.) "Whom shall I teach knowledge? them that are weaned from the milk? and drawn from the breasts?" where the Prophet censures the people for their slowness of apprehension, and being as incapable of profiting by instruction as infants. In the passage now before us, what is recommended is that simplicity of which Christ spake, (Matt. xviii. 3,)" Unless ye become like this little child, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God." The vain desires with which men are carried away, originate in their seeking to be wise and careful above what is necessary. David adds accordingly, my soul over me is quieted, not as expressing the language of self-confidence, but speaking as if his soul lay sweetly and peacefully on his bosom, undisturbed by inordinate desires. He contrasts the wayward and tumultuous agitation which prevails in those of a discontented spirit, with the peace which reigns in the man

1 66

D. A formula of swearing which may be translated surely or indeed. I have surely so disposed and disciplined my soul as to remove it from any longing after great things, from any ambitious tendencies." -Phillips.

"Of all explanations the best is that of considering the comparison to consist between the humbleness and simplicity of the Psalmist's mind, and that of a little child, in whom there does not exist a sufficient consciousness to create an ambition for any worldly object. The comparison is not with pɔ, a suckling; for it has a longing after the mother's breast, and, therefore, such a comparison would not be appropriate. The same, indeed, may be said of a child who has only just been weaned; for, in that stage, how often does it cry and mourn after that of which it has been deprived, and the possession of which was just before its chief pleasure? We therefore conclude, that the comparison is intended to be with a child who has been weaned a sufficient time to have forgotten its infantile nutriment, and who is not conscious of any particular desires or cravings, and quietly resigns itself to its mother's care and training."—Phillips.

From the verse with

who abides in the calling of the Lord. which the Psalm closes, we see the reason why David asserted his having undertaken nothing in the spirit of a carnal ambition. He calls upon Israel to hope in the Lord, words which must have been abrupt had it not deeply concerned the common safety of the Church, to know that he sat upon the throne of the kingdom by Divine appointment, in which case the faithful would be certain of the bestowment of the promised blessing. Our hope is of the right kind when we cherish humble and sober views of ourselves, and neither wish nor attempt anything without the leading and approbation of God.

PSALM CXXXII.

The writer of this Psalm, whoever he may have been,' here, in the name of all the faithful, puts God in remembrance of his promise, that he would never suffer his house or kingdom to fail, but support and defend both.

¶ A Song of Degrees.

1. O Jehovah! remember David, and all his affliction:

2. Who sware to Jehovah, vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob.

1 Lightfoot ascribes this Psalm to David, and supposes it to have been composed on the second removal of the Ark from the house of Obed-edom. (1 Chron. xv. 4, &c.) But the mention of David's name in the tenth verse in the third person, and the terms there employed, militate against his being the Author. Others ascribe it to Solomon, who, they think, wrote it about the time of the removing of the Ark into the Temple, which he had built for it. (2 Chron. v. 2, &c.) Others are of opinion, that it was composed by Solomon for the solemn services that were celebrated at the dedication of the Temple. "The whole tenor of this Psalm," says Jebb," is an exact epitome of the Dedication Prayer of Solomon. (2 Chron. vi.) The topics are the same-the building the house of the Lord the promise to David-the inhabitation of the Almighty;-and the concluding sentences of the Dedication, are identical with those expressions of the Psalm in verses 8, 9, 10. There can, therefore, be little question that this Psalm was composed by Solomon."-Jebb's Literal

3. If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house, if I shall go up upon the cover of my couch,1

4. If I give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids,

5. Until I find a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob

3

1. O Jehovah! remember David. Interpreters are not agreed respecting the penman of this Psalm, though there is little doubt that it was either David or Solomon. At the solemn dedication of the Temple, when Solomon prayed, several verses are mentioned in the sacred history as having been quoted by him, from which we may infer that the Psalm was sufficiently well known to the people, or that Solomon applied a few words of it for an occasion in reference to which he had written the whole Psalm. The name of David is prominently mentioned, because it was to him that the continuance of the kingdom and Temple was promised, and though dead, this could not affect the truthfulness of God's word. The Church could very properly pray in the manner which is here done, that God would perform what he had

Translation of the Book of Psalms, &c., vol. ii. p. 303. As this forms one of the "Songs of Degrees," those who conceive that these Psalms were so called because sung by the Jews about the time of their return from Babylon, conclude that Ezra selected this ancient song to be sung at the dedication of the second Temple.

1 The expression of going up to one's bed may be illustrated by what Dr. Shaw says of the Moorish houses in Barbary. Having observed that their chambers are spacious, of the same length with the square court, in the sides of which they are built, he adds, "At one end of each chamber there is a little gallery raised three, four, or five feet above the floor, with a balustrade in the front of it, with a few steps likewise leading up to it. Here they place their beds; a situation frequently alluded to in the Holy Scriptures." The language of the text is no doubt hyperbolical, as Calvin observes, being intended to express David's great anxiety to have a house built for the worship of God.

2. We have here the plural put by enallage for the singular."-Phillips.

apy, abir Yaacob, the Mighty One of Jacob. By this expression, which occurs both here and in the 2d verse, the Psalmist evidently has a reference to the Patriarch's own words which he employed in his blessing to Joseph, where God is emphatically so designated. (Gen. xlix. 24.) From this Hebrew name 728, abir, and 7, cabir, which is synonymous, probably came the Cabiri, or the great gods of the Grecians, and the Abiry of the Druids. See Thes. Antiq. Roman. tom. v. p. 760; Bryant's Myth. vol. ii. p. 473; and Cooke's Patriarchal and Druidical Religion.