Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; 27 But thou art the same; And thy years shall have no end. 28 The children of thy servants shall continue; And their seed shall be established before thee. PSALMS OF THE RETURN. PSALMS LXXXV., CXXV., AND CXXVI. RETURN OF THOSE UNDER ZERUBBABEL. THE interesting story of the return of the exiles to their native land is told in "Ezra." Zerubbabel, their leader, was a descendant of their ancient kings, of the house of David. The numbers which returned were about fifty thousand. The joyful caravan set forth, bearing the sacred vessels of the temple, which Cyrus had restored. Of the events of their journey we have no accounts. It seems to have been unimpeded by any untoward occurrence. Yet the way was long, and lay through a desert country. We can hardly suppose the whole of the exiles to have moved in a body. They were probably arriving from time to time, leaving ground for anxiety in the mind of their psalmist, which accounts for the change of tone, in Ps. lxxxv. at the fourth verse, from exultation to earnest intercession, and a similar change in Ps. cxxvi. ver. 4. 1 PSALM LXXXV. LORD, thou hast been favorable unto thy land; 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath; 4 Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. Restore us, O God of our salvation ! And cause thine anger towards us to cease. 5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? 6 Wilt thou not revive us again, That thy people may rejoice in thee? 7 Show us thy mercy, O Lord! 8 And grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, For he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints; Only let them not turn again to folly. 9 Yea, his aid is nigh them that fear him, Righteousness and peace shall kiss each other. 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 Yea, the Lord will give prosperity, And our land shall yield her increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before him, 1 PSALM CXXV. THEY that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, Which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. 2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So the Lord is round about his people, 3 For the sceptre of the wicked shall not remain over the inheritance of the righteous,. Lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. 4 Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, And to them that are upright in their hearts. 5 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity; WHEN the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like them that dream. Ps. lxxxv.- Ver. 13. "Righteousness," &c. "Righteousness shall walk before every one, and direct his steps in the right way." Such is the version of Symmachus. H. Ps. cxxv.- Ver. 3. "For the sceptre," &c. ; i. e. foreign dominion shall not continue over the land of Palestine, lest the true believers be tempted to imitate the idolatrous practices of their heathen rulers. Ver. 5. "Crooked ways," i. e. of the heathen oppressors. N. 11 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing; Then said they among the heathen, "The Lord hath done great things for them." 3 Yea, the Lord hath done great things for us, Whereof we are glad. 4 Bring back our captives, O Lord! As the streams in the South. 5 They that sow in tears Shall reap in joy. 6 He that goeth forth weeping, and beareth precious seed, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Ver. 4. "As the streams in the South." The streams in hot countries dry up in the summer months, but return after the periodical rains. The land of Palestine, deprived of its inhabitants during the captivity, might be compared to one of the Southern deserts, forsaken by its streams; and the return of the exiles in crowds to their native land might be compared to torrents of water returning in the season of rain. N.-It may also be an allusion to the annual overflow of the Nile; or to the tides of the Red Sea. The latter would naturally be more impressive to the Hebrews, from the fact that the Red Sea was the only tide-water known to them, the Mediterranean having no tides. Ver. 5 and 6. 66 'They that sow in tears," &c. This beautiful allegory represents the small band of returning exiles in the character of husbandmen, going forth in an unpropitious season, to scatter the grain they can ill spare from their present needs; but who shall return again, when harvest comes, and gather in an abundant crop. PSALMS CXXVII., CXXVIII., AND CXLIV. FOUNDATION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE. THESE psalms have a common character. The first two begin with the lesson that without the blessing of God nothing prospers, but with it every thing; and the third, with several verses, expressive of gratitude and exultation, which seem to have been borrowed from earlier psalms, particularly the eighteenth, and adapted to this occasion. After these several prefaces, all three psalms make a sudden transition to a subject which is peculiar to them, the happiness of a well-ordered family, with its one wife and mother, and circle of children round the table. Here nothing savors of polygamy, that institution of early Hebrew times, but which seems to have fallen gradually into disuse, so that in the New Testament there is no indication of its being common among the Jews at the time of our Saviour's coming. To show that this subject, and others connected with the family relation, occupied the minds of the leaders of the people, at the time of the return, the language of the contemporary prophets Zechariah and Malachi may be cited. See Zech. viii. 4 and 5; Mal. ii. 14 and 15. "On the arrival of the exiles in their native land," says Milman, "the first object was to restore the worship of God. The altar was set up, the feasts reëstablished, and the first stone of the new temple laid, among the joyful acclamations of the multitude, but the tears of the ancient men, that had seen the first house,' who, 6 |