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27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. 28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?

32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. 33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places.

34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.

36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.

37 I have pursued mine enemies,

[deliverance.

and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.

39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.

41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.

42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall

serve me.

44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.

45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. 46 The LORD liveth; and blessed

EXPOSITION.

measure of it. Thus, under the new dispensation, salvation, as to its cause, is of grace alone, (Ephes. ii. 8.) yet will the rewards of grace be distributed to every man according to his works." (Matt. xvi. 27.)

It does not, therefore, appear to us necessary to exclude David's personal experience from this psalm: at the same time we have no objection to its application, in a

secondary view, to the Messiah: and, indeed, St. Peter seems to allude to the 4th verse, when he speaks of his resurrection from the dead, (Acts ii. 24.) and to him, certainly, some of the expressions apply more literally and fully, for he knew no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." (1 Pet. ii. 22.) The last verse but oue is also quoted by St. Paul, in reference to the calling of the Gentiles. (Rom. xv. 9.)

NOTES-Psalm XVIII. Con.

Ver. 26. Shew thyself froward-Marg. "wrestle;" i. e. contend. See Lev. xxvi. 27, 28.

Ver. 28. My candle-Marg. "Lamp." On this verse, the Chaldee paraphrast thus enlarges: "Because thou shalt enlighten the lamp of Israel, which is put out in the captivity, for thou art the Author of the light of Israel; the Lord my God shall lead me out of darkness into light, and shall make me see the consolation of the age which shall come to the just." Ver. 29. I have run (Marg. "broken") through a troop.

Ver. 33. Like hinds' feet.-Agility was a great qualification with the ancient warriors. 2 Sam. i. 23; Í Chron. xii. 8. So among the Greeks Achilles was called "swift-footed," &c. See Orient. Customs, No. 935.

Ver. 34. Bon of steel-Ainsworth and Horsley, "Brass," or copper. See Note on Job xx. 24.

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Ver. 35. Thy gentleness hath made me greatMar." With thy meekness thou hast multiplied me." Boothroyd, "Thy condescension maketh me great," which we prefer, as meekness cannot be applied to Deity.

Ver. 39. Subdued-Heb. " cansed to bow." Ver. 40. The necks of mine enemies-See Josh. x. 24; Jer. xxvii. 12.

Ver. 41. As soon, &c.-Heb. "At the hearing of the ear." The strangers-Heb. "The sons of the stranger." (So ver. 45.)- Shall submit themselves-Marg. "Yield feigned obedience." Heb. "Lie unto me." Submission does not always imply conversion: "they shall fade away," &c. ver. 4).

Ver. 48. Violent man-Heb. Man of violence." Ver. 49. Give thanks - Marg. "Confess." So Rom. xv. 9.

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TVer. 25-50. The equity of divine prince, and the merciful deliverance of those who trust in God.-These maxims evidently accord with those of our Lord in his sermon on the mount, (Matt. v. 3, &c.) "The merciful shall obtain mercy; the pure in heart shall see God." He will save the meek, the poor, and the distressed; but with the froward and perverse he will Contend; and the high-spirited and proud be will bring down. The psalmist, however, expresses his confidence in God, who, as he had delivered, he trusted in him that be would still deliver: and in this part of the psalm some verses also occur which sem peculiarly appropriate to the Mesab. David might indeed say, when he became master of the surrounding nations, Thou hast made me head of the heathen cations; a people whom I have not known (that is, foreigners) shall submit themselves unto me:" but it appertains, in a far more exalted and extensive sense, to our divine Redeemer, to whom, as we have seen (Ps. ii. 8.) it was said, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine Laheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."

Christ being indeed the substance of the Old Testament as well as of the New, while we are warranted in believing that David, in most of his psalms, had respect to his own circumstances and experience, we are no less justified by apostolical authority in conceiving, that by the Spirit of inspiration be had frequent views of the future glory

of his great antitype; and this is the more natural, as it appears the Hebrews always felt a peculiar interest in the fate of their posterity, and no one more than the patriarch David, who, at the same time that he looked to the coming of Messiah as the consummation of all his wishes in futurity, looked to him also as the medium of his personal salvation.

The last verse, in which both appear included, is thus beautifully paraphrased by Bishop Horne: "Great deliverance giveth he unto his king," to king David, in saving him from Saul, and his other temporal enc mies, and seating him on the earthly throne of Israel; to King Messiah, in rescuing him from death and the grave, and exalting him to an heavenly throne, as Head of the church: " and showeth mercy to his anointed;" i. e. outwardly, and in a figure, with oil (David); and to him who was anointed inwardly, and in truth, with the Holy Ghost and with power (Christ): "to David, and to his seed for evermore ;' to the literal David, and to his royal progeny,“ of whom, according to the flesh, Christ came;" and to Christ himself, the spiritual David, the beloved of God, with all those who through faith become his children, the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life.

NOTES.

PALM XIX. Ver. 2. Day unto day-Or, “After so mato is used for after, Exod. xvi. 1.11. in Heb.

Te. 3. Where their voice, &c-Heb. "Withont there is heard." Bishop Horsley renders this verse," There is no speech, no words: no voice of them is beard: yet their sound goeth." Ver. 4. Their fine-Marg. "Their rule or direc

e.

"To David and his royal seed

Thy grace for ever shall extend; Thy love to saints, in Christ their head, Knows not a limit, nor an end." Watts.

tion." The allusion is to a measuring line. by which inheritances were divided. But the LXX render it sound, and so it is quoted by the apostle, (Rom. x. 18.) implying the intelligible nature of that instruction which the works of nature everywhere give to man, as to the being and perfections of his Creator,

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