SOLITUDE I. ENCOURAGING ACKNOWLEDGMENT (1). Past Deliverance. Plea. II. EARNEST APPEAL (2 ). Jehovah Addressed. Prayer. III. ENERGETIC APOSTROPHE (3-4). Adversary Addressed. Prediction. Question (3). Answer (4). IV. EXCEPTIONAL AFFLICTION (5-7). Present Distress. Plaint. SUPERSCRIPT.-A Song of the Degrees (or, Ascents). PRIMARY A-ssocIATION.-See previous page. The anonymous writer is probably Hezekiah, in which case the fulminations of Rabshakeh may be referred to in 2-3. 2 Kings xviii. 19-35; xix. 8ff. PROJ?freTJC ANTlCIPATION,-Seems to portray the experiences of
THE WAYS OF GOD RB CALLED the godly renmant in. the last days opposed and oppressed by their great adversary Antichrist. Quite possibly the view is retrospective, Israel recapitulating in the happier titnes to follow, their past experiences preceding the advent of Messiah. The reference to Meshech and Kedar are very significant from this prophetic standpoint (see verse notes). PERSONAL APPLICATION.-Past answers encourage further appeals (1-2). "God does not always cash His notes at sight, but if not He pays large interest upon them." Many men and nations are lovers of war, but God's people should always be lovers of peace. Saints of God are sometimes found in most unlikely dwelling-places. False tongues may be more dangerous than armed foes. God often makes the pnnishment fit the crime. VERSE NOTES "d· " . · d" all d £ K. 1stress = straits; cne = c e ; c . 2 rngs xiv. 3-4, I4-I9. 3. Br. " ... He give ... what shall He add ... " 4. Answer to 3. Retribution suits the offence. "juniper," see marg. Arabs still prepare the finest charcoal from the broom. Glowing coals symbolise divine judgments, cxl. ro; c£ Rev. viii. 5; "mighty"= Mighty One. 5. "Meschech," name of barbarous tribes which then inhabited the highlands to the east of Cilicia and in later days retreated northwards to the neighbourhood of the Black Sea and beyond. In prophecy= Muscovy i.e. Russia; see Gen. x. 2. "Kedar," one of the great Bedouin tribes of the Arabian desert; c£ Gen. xxv. I3 with xvi. r2. Kedar is a general rabbinic name for Arabia. Primarily, the psalmist does not mean that he was actually living among these widely separated peoples, but applies the names typically as we do "Huns" and "Vandals," to indicate a cruel and merciless character. It is quite possible however that among the armies besieging Jerusalem there were numbers of these barbarous foes. For long centuries the Jews have suffered at the hands of Arabs and Muscovite peoples more perhaps than from any others, hence the prophetic significance. 6. "My soul hath," i.e. I have. 7. Lit. "I am peace," i.e. one characterised by peaceableness.• For similar verbal construction, see cix. 4; "peace," c£ Hezekiah's desire, Jsa. xxxviii. 17; "war," c£ 2 Chron. xxxii. 2 margin.
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