consecrated to thy majesty, by laying it level with the ground.

:

Ver. 8. They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together they have burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land.] Nor did all this give a stop unto their fury; but they rather grew the more outrageous: for, designing quite to destroy our religion, both in this and in future generations, they left not so much as one place, wherein we might meet to say our prayers, or hear the law throughout the land.

Ver. 9. We see not our signs, there is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.] And, which is the saddest thing of all, thou seemest to have left us too; and we see no token of thy divine presence with us: so far we are from beholding any miraculous works, as our fathers did, for our deliverance, that there is not so much as a prophet to be found to give us any advice, or speak a word of comfort to us; not a man among us, that can tell when these calamities will have an end.

Ver. 10. O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?] What a reproach is this, O God? which hath quite tired our patience and made us cry unto thee to make haste to avenge thyself of these insulting enemies stop their blasphemous mouths, O God; and let them not say any more, as they have done too long, that thou are not able to deliver us.

Ver. 11. Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.] For we are confounded, and know not what to say, while thou thus withdrawest thy powerful presence from us; that mighty power which was wont to do such wonders for us: exert it again, we beseech thee, and stretch it out for the destruction of those, who have spoken of it so contemptuously.

Ver. 12. For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.] Why should I despair of it? since the great God, whom they deride, hath many ages ago undertaken the government and protection of us; working for us such deliverances in this land, which now lies waste, as astonished all the

Ver. 14. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest bim to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.] Pharaoh, that fierce tyrant, as terrible as the vastest whales, thou didst utterly destroy there; with all his stern captains and commanders; whom the sea spewed up, (Exod. xix. 30.), to find their tombs in the bellies of the wild beasts and birds, which people the neighbouring wilderness.

Ver. 15. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.] Where, when our fathers wanted drink, thou madest water to gush out of a rock, (Exod. xvii. 6. Num. xx. 9.), which

followed them in a full stream, till they came to the borders of Canaan: and then thou driedst up the waters of Jordan, at a time when they ran violently, and (as if many rivers had been joined in one) it overflowed all its banks, Josh. iii. 15. 17.

Ver. 16. The day is thine, the night also is thine : thou hast prepared the light and the sun.] And still there are such instances of thy power, which the whole world, if they would but mind, have always before their eyes. For as thou didst sometimes change the dry land into a river, and a river into dry land; so thou dost continually change the day into night, and the night into day having settled the moon to govern the one, and the sun to govern the other, in their turns.

Ver. 17. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.] By thy Almighty wisdom also it is, that the motion of the sun not only makes the days and nights, but the different climates of the earth, and the seasons of the year; which are sometimes hot, and sometimes cold; sometimes flourishing, as we see in the summer, with all manner of fruit; and sometimes stripped, as we see in the winter, of all its ornaments, that afterward it may be the more fruitful.

Ver. 18. Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.] And we sure have endured a very tedious winter; wherein all things have looked most ruefully. May it please thee now to return, like the sun, unto us, and let thy enemies know thou hast not forgotten how they have reproached thee, O Lord! (whom they ought to have honoured as the mighty Creator of all things), but will vindicate thy glory, by punishing those insolent people, who, foolishly puffed up with their victories, have despised and derided thy omnipotent majesty.

Ver. 19. O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the multitude of the wicked; forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.] Deliver, we beseech thee, thy church, which, like a turtle-dove, can do nothing but meekly mourn, and make her silent complaints unto thee, from those violent men, who, like birds of prey, seek utterly to destroy her: let them not take away its life and being; but, though we be at present deserted by thee, yet hear our cries, and at last relieve a poor helpless company, who flee unto thee, and depend upon thee alone for safety.

Ver. 20. Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.] Though we are unworthy to be regarded by thee, yet have regard unto thy own promises; wherein thou hast engaged thy self unto our fathers, to give to them and their posterity the land of Canaan : which is so far from being now inhabited by thy people, that every blind corner of it is a den of thieves and murderers; who have filled it with rapine and cruelty.

Ver. 21. O let not the oppressed return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise thy name.] O let not thy poor afflicted servant, who implores thy aid against these barbarous oppressors, be denied his suit; and go away ashamed, to see himself disappointed of his

hope; but let him, and all the rest of thy miserable

people, who were never in greater need of thy help, be restored to praise thy goodness in their ancient possessions; from whence they have been thus long banished.

Ver. 21. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.] Appear, O God, in our behalf; and thereby vindicate thyself from reproach: let me again beseech thee, to shew that thou art not unmindful of all the scoffs, which prosperous fools belch out against thee every day.

Ver. 23. Forget not the voice of thine enemies; the tumult of those that rise up against thee, increaseth continually. It is time to punish all the insulting language of thy enemies; for the insolent brags and furious threats of those that oppose thee, increase still more and more, and rise up to a greater height of audacious impiety.

PSALM LXXV.

Ver. 1. UNTO thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks; for that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare.] Unto thee, O God, the righteous Judge, who art the sole author of this great deliverance, do I and all my people give most solemn thanks: nor can we ever thank thee enough, but we must again and again renew our acknowledgements unto thee; whose Almighty power is still ready at hand, we clearly see by the wonders thou hast done, to succour all those who gratefully commemorate thy benefits.

Ver. 2. When I shall receive the congregation, I will judge uprightly.] And I will not content myself with these verbal praises alone; but as soon as I shall meet with a fit opportunity, and we can have our solemn assemblies again (which by this invasion have been interrupted, 2 Chron. xxxii. 1.); 1 will perfect the reformation which I have begun; and see that equal justice be done to all my people; as well as that they be preserved in thy true religion.

Ver. 3. The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved; I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.]

of Asaph.

THE ARGUMENT.I take this psalm to have been made by Asaph the seer, mentioned 2 Chron. xxxix. 30. (see Psal. Ixxiii.); after the great deli verance which, by the strange destruction of Sen. nacherib's army, God gave the good king Hezekiah. For whose use Asaph composed this psalm, and delivered it to the chief master of music in the tabernacle; that he might therein make his public profession of his obligations to Almighty God, and his resolution to serve him, and to depend upon him as he advises all men else to do, if they would not be undone; or if they hoped for any good, of which he is the sole and absolute dis

penser.

If Al-taschith be more than a note, that this psalm was to be sung like to the 57th, and those that follow; it may signify as much as, thou shalt not, or wilt not destroy; and be applied either to Sennacherib, who, the prophet told them, should not accomplish his design of destroying them, as he had done other nations, (2 Kings, xix. 17. 2 Chron. xxvii. 14.), or to God, who had not given him commission, as he pretended, to destroy Jerusalem, (2 Kings, xviii. 25.), but would defend it, (2 Kings, xix. 34.), and not suffer it to be laid desolate. Symmachus gives a more spiritual sense of the word, and calls this a triumphal song concerning immortality. Because it contains, as Theodoret explains it, a prediction of the righteous judgement of God in the destruction of the wicked, and rewarding the lovers of virtue: which should admonish us, not to suffer any godly thoughts we have in our mind to perish, but to preserve them whole and entire, that we may inherit immortality.

sion; while their hearts melted with fear of an utter desolation but as then I supported their spirits, and encouraged the great men and officers to do their duty, (2 Chron. xxxii. 6. 7. 8.), so I will hereafter establish such magistrates and judges, as shall bring all into better order.

Ver. 4. I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly; and to the wicked, Lift not up the born.] I have told them my mind already, and do still solemnly proclaim and declare, that I will proceed with the utmost severity against the contemners of thy laws; and therefore I advise them not to be so madly rude and insolent: for the proudest of them all shall know, that it is safest for them to be more modest, than to glory, as they do, in their impiety; or to boast of the power they have to be injurious to their neighbours.

Ver. 5. Lift not up your born on high: speak not with a stiff neck.] Do not vaunt of this, I once more advise you, nor bear yourselves high, as if you would out-brave heaven itself; be not refractory and stubborn, nor arrogantly say, that you will have your way, and that none shall curb you.

Ver. 6. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.] For which way soever you turn yourselves, whether to the east, or to the west, or to the mountainous desarts that lic on the north and south of us; in vain do ye think to escape the righteous judgement of God.

Ver. 7. But God is the Judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another.] Who being the Sovereign Lord and Governor of the world, easily lays those low that proudly exalt themselves against his authority; and lifts up those that humbly submit themselves unto

him.

ed of the earth shall ring them out, and drink them.]

For he never wants power to inflict the most dreadful punishments; which (like an intoxicating wine, full of stupifying ingredients, that loosens the very joints, and takes away all a man's strength to resist), never fail to have their effect: and the godly may taste of them, nay, suffer sorely for a time; but the heaviest and most grievous punishments (like the dregs at the bottom of such wine) shall fall to the share of all the wicked of the land; who shall be forced to endure the utmost expressions of the divine vengeance upon their sins.

Ver. 9. But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.] And this I, who am his minister to execute his judgements, will not cease to declare, as long as I live, that none may pretend ignorance for their excuse; and I will sing praises unto God, (who delivered Jacob from all evil), not only for his late miraculous preservation of us, by his vengeance on Sennacherib, (whom he hath made an example of his wrath to all proud contemners of him), but for making me the instrument of so happy a reformation.

Ver. 3. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.] For this is my resolution, not merely, as I said, to praise him, but to pull down the haughty spirit, and cut short all the power of the wicked, that they shall not be able to do such mischief as they desire; and to raise the righteous into such authority, that they shall not fear what their most insolent enemies can do unto them.

PSALM LXXVI.

To the chief musician on Neginoth. A Psalm or Song of Asaph.

THE ARGUMENT.-It is visible to every eye, that the psalmist here commemorates some notable victory over very powerful enemies, whereby God delivered (when it was in great danger) the whole country, particularly Jerusalem; which is called here Salem, ver. 2. by an usual form of speech among the Hebrews, who are wont, in names of places, to cut off the former part; instead of AbelSittim, saying only Sittim; and Nimrim, for Beth-Nimrim; Lechi, for Ramath-Lechi; Sheba, for Beer-Sheba, and many such like; as Bochartus hath shewn in the second book of his Phaleg, chap. 25. and in the first part of his work concerning the animals named in scripture, book 2. chap. 25.

And there is as little reason to doubt, that the particular deliverance here aimed at is that from Sennacherib's army; which Asaph the seer, mentioned 2 Chron. xxix. 30. (see Psal. lxxiii.), was not content to celebrate in the former hymn, which he made for the use of the king, but added this also for his own use, and all other pious persons; who he hoped would join in it, especially when it was

sung in the temple, as he directed the master of the music, after the same manner as Psal. iv. Some of the Greeks seem to have perceived something of this; for, though there be no such title in the ancient Hexaplus of Origen, yet, in after times, Theodoret tells us, he found in some copics this inscription, which still continues, An Ode against the Assyrian, which Apollinarius follows.

Of a Psalm-Song, see Psal. lxvii.

Ver. 1.

IN Judab is God known; his name is great

in Israel.] God hath so illustriously demonstrated himself among us (in this unexpected and terrible execution) to be the Sovereign Ruler and Judge of the world, that he must shut his eyes that doth not see it: His power, and all his other glorious perfections, which are conspicuous every where, are in no country so magnified as they are in Israel. Ver. 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion.] Our enemies themselves, who reviled him, (2 Chron. xxxii. 17. 19.) and despised Jerusalem, (ib. ver. 10.), are now sure convinced, that there this mighty Lord maketh his abode; in the top of that mountain where he hath chosen to fix his dwelling-place.

Ver. 3. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selab.] Before the walls of which he hath slain, with an invisible dart, the fiery archers, (who have not shot so much as one arrow into it, 2 Kings, xix. 32.), and made the shields, and swords, and the rest of their military; preparations, altogether useless and unprofitable.

Ver. 4. Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.] Whereby thou, O Zion, art become more glorious than all the mountains, where the fiercest beasts of prey, or the most desperate robbers have their resort; who never made such slaughters.

Yer. 5. The stout-hearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands.] For they, whose courage made them fear no danger, but confidently promised themselves the spoils of Jerusalem, are given unto us for a spoil: they lay down to sleep, but never awaked, (2 Kings, xix. 35.); not a man among the most mighty of them was able to strike a stroke, or do any thing to defend himself against that hand which cut them off.

Ver. 6. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep.] But the most experienced horseman, as well as they that rode in chariots, sunk down dead, at the sudden check, the severe rebuke, which they received from thee, O God of Jacob, whom they reproached, 2 Kings, xix. 22. 23.

Ver. 7. Thou, even thou, art to be feared; and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?] Thou, and none but thou, art to be dreaded and what king is he that is able, for so short a time as a moment, to resist thy power? which in an instant can destroy all those who incur thy heavy displeasure.

Ver. 8. Thou didst cause judgement to be heard from

heaven; the earth feared, and was still.] We have an example of it before our eyes; for when we made our solemn appeal to thee, (2 Kings, xix. 3. 4. 15. 16.), thou wast pleased to pronounce a sentence of condemnation from heaven upon our enemies; which struck such a terror into those that survived, that they who before were full of rage, and made a tumultuous noise, (ver. 27. 28.), were as still as lambs; and durst not stir a foot, but only to return from whence they came, ver. 28. 36.

Ver. 9. When God arose to judgement, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.] They were afraid to continue their attempts against us, when God, who had long suffered their insolence, sent an angel to chastise it, and to do execution upon them; and thereby delivered the helpless people of this land, who had patiently borne their horrible oppression.

Ver. 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.] Which may well be a warning to all fell tyrants, not to be so fierce and outrageous, which will only present thee with a fairer opportunity to glorify thyself, and raise thy praise to a greater height; as thou hast now done, by suppressing the Assyrians' fury; who, if they have any reliques of wrath, which may boil up again in their hearts; thou shalt chain it up, and

not suffer it to break forth to our further disturbance.

Ver. 11. Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God; let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.] And let this excite you all, who are thus marvellously delivered, to make more liberal promises of grateful sacrifices, as well as to perform those which you have already vowed, to the great Lord, your most gracious God; who so far excels all others, that the nations round about us, who hear this fame of this, shall reproach you (if you be forgetful of his benefits) by the presents which they shall make to him, (2 Chron. xxxii. 23.), who ought to be feared by all his friends, and is most terrible to his enemies.

Ver. 12. He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.] For he can easily, with a sudden stroke, not only take down the proud stomach, but take away the life of the fiercest captains and commanders, (2 Chron. xxxii. 21.), yea, make the greatest monarchs (who keep the world in awe) quake and tremble at his dreadful executions.

PSALM LXXVII.

To the chief musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of
Asaph.

THE ARGUMENT.-A psalm composed by Asaph, sent by him to that song-master, who was over the children of Jeduthun; in which I imagined at first sight, that he represented the sad condition of Hezekiah, and the motions of his heart towards God in his sickness, 2 Chron. xxxii. 24. Isa. xxxviii. 1.. But, upon farther consideration, it appears from the latter part of it, that he bewails the calamity of all the nation; either when Sennacherib over

ran the country; or else in the captivity of Babylon. If we refer it to the latter, then it was not Asaph the seer, whom I mentioned before, Psal. lxxiii. that made this psalm, but some other in after-times, (see Psal. Ixxiv.), who laments the long continuance of their captivity, which looked like an utter forsaking by God; but he comforts himself at last with the remembrance of what God had done formerly for them, when he delivered them out of the Egyptian bondage.

Ver. 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the LORD; my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.] I have not negligently discharged this duty; but as the distress is great wherein we are, so I have restlessly implored help from the Lord: in the night, when men are wont to bury their troubles in sleep, I have with unwearied diligence spread out my hands unto him, (in token that all my dependance is upon his power alone), resolving to admit of no consolation, till I obtained a gracious answer from him.

Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.] I remembered, indeed, how kind God had been unto us in former times; but this only gave me the greater trouble, when I compared it with our present miseries; and the more I mused on it, the more my spirit was disturbed, and miserably afflicted.

Ver. 4. Thou boldest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.] Insomuch that I could not close my eyes, to take a wink of sleep; nor open my mouth (such was my perturbation and astonishment) to express the heaviness of my grief.

Ver. 5. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.] All that I could do, was to recount thy merciful providences over our forefathers in times. past; and ponder seriously what wonders thou didst for them many ages agone.

Ver. 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night; I commune with mine own heart, and my.spirit made diligent search.] I called to mind all the songs I had indited, to celebrate the memory of those ancient benefits; and spent whole nights in silent meditations, and diligent inquiries, which I revolved to and fro in my mind, why he who had taken such care of our ancestors had so long rejected us.

Ver. 7. Will the LORD cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?] Will the Lord, thought I, abandon us for ever? Is he so incensed against us, that he will never be reconciled, nor intend to shew us any more favour?

Ver. 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?] Is his infinite mercy,

which is the fountain of all his benefits, quite exhausted? and will he never hereafter speak a word of comfort to us?

Ver. 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.] Hath God, whose property it is to shew mercy, quite laid aside all thoughts of exercising his clemency towards us? or have we so highly provoked him to anger, that he hath no regard at all unto our miseries?

Ver. 10. And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.] But having thus complained, and said within myself, This is the thing which sorely afflicts me, to see such alterations in the proceedings of the Most High, that the same hand which formerly protected us, now severely scourges us;

Ver. 11. I will remember the works of the LORD; surely I will remember thy wonders of old.] I presently considered, that there might be a change again; and resolved to comfort myself with the remembrance of the former works of the Lord; and to go back as far as the miracle thou didst for us, (in bringing us up out of the land of Egypt), when our deserts were as small as in these days.

Ver. 12. I will meditate also of all thy works, and talk of thy doings.] Of all the ensuing wonders I will think, rather than on our present miseries: I will not omit one of them; but, instead of these complaints, make them the constant subject of my discourse.

Ver. 13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? From which I cannot but conclude, that the method of thy providence, O God, is not only perfectly holy and just, but quite out of our reach; nor is thy power inferior: but as thou dost not proceed in the common way of our thoughts, so none can resist what thy incomparable majesty thinks fit to effect.

Ver. 14. Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou bast declared thy strength among the people.] For thou art the mighty God, who canst do miracles as easily as the most ordinary works; and hast made all the world sensible, that thy power exceeds both the strength and opinion of all other creatures.

Ver. 15. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selab.] Having delivered thy people, descended from Jacob, and miraculously preserved by Joseph from the Egyptian bondage, by a long series of stupendous judgements upon Pharaoh and his servants, Exod. vi. 6. Deut. vi. 21. 22. vii. 8.;

Ver. 16. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid, the depths also were troubled.] Which were followed presently with a greater. wonder, when the waters of the Red Sea felt thy power, O God; they felt thy power to the very bottom of them, which so disturbed them, that they retreated, as if they had been affrighted at thy presence, and left a plain way for thy people to march through upon dry ground;

Ver. 17. The clouds poured out water, the skies sent out a sound; thine arrows also went abroad.] But returned again upon the Egyptians, (who pursued after VOL. III.

us), accompanied with a terrible storm of rain, and thunder, and hailstones, which flew about their ears, and brake the very wheels of their chariots, Exod. xiv. 24 25.

Ver. 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven ; lightnings lightened the world, the earth trembled and shook.] The noise of this thunder filled all the air thereabout; and so did the lightning that flashed in their faces; which, together with a dreadful earthquake, made the very inhabitants of Canaan tremble, Josh. ii. 10. II.

Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.] We might well say, then, that thy way is quite out of our reach, (ver. 13.), who madest a passage through the sea, a broad path through the boisterous waters; which, as none ever trod before or after, so they cannot trace the footsteps, which the waters have overflown and obliterated, Exod. xiv. 26. 27.

Ver. 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the band of Moses and Aaron.] Nor did thy care of thy people end there, but by the ministry of thy servants, Moses and Aaron, thou didst conduct them with the same tenderness that a good shepherd doth his sheep, through a horrid wilderness; in which thou feddest them, till they came to Canaan. [And thither the same power can, and the same goodness will, I hope, restore us; though now we seem neglected by thee, as our fathers were, for a time, in the land of Egypt.]

PSALM LXXVIII.
Maschil of Asaph.

THE ARGUMENT.-When God gave his law to the Israelites, he commanded them not only to be careful to study it themselves, but to inculcate it upon. their children, (as the psalmist here remembers, ver. 5.), that they might propagate the knowledge of it to all future generations, Deut. iv. 9. vi. 7. 8. &c. xi. 18. 19. &c. And particularly to instruct them in their reason of the feasts; which were appointed for the commemoration of several benefits, which he would not have forgotten, Exod. xiii. 8. 14. In prosecution of which end, as Theodoret well observes, this psalm was indited by the prophetical grace, (as his words are); that they and all their posterity might preserve in mind the wonderful works of God. An epitome of which (for the help of their memory) he here presents them withal; from the time of their coming out of Egypt, till David's promotion to the throne. Where this narration concluding, it makes it probable this psalm was composed by that Asaph, so often mentioned as one of the principal singers in those days; who, setting before the people's eyes, as in a table, the benefits their fathers had receiv ed, with their shameful ingratitude, and the punishments inflicted upon them for it, teaches and instructs them who succeeded, (for which reason some will have it called Maschil, see Psal. xxxii.),