I. VOW OF PRAISE TO JEHOVAH (1-2). 1. Present Praise (1). 2. Prospective Praise (2 ). II. VANITY OF TRUST IN MAN (3-4). Human Insufficiency. I. His ll!lPotence (3 ). 2. His. Impermanence (4). III. VALUE OF TRUST IN JEHOVAH (5-10). Divine All-sufficiency. I. Pronouncement concerning the godly (5). "Happy." 2. Particulars concemingJehovah (6-ro). (i) Power and Providence in Holy Activity(½). (ii) Presence and Perpetuity of His Kingdom (ro). ''HALLELUJAH.'' PRIMARY AssocIATION.-Introductory to the group. The LXX attributes authorship of this psalm and the next to Haggai and Zechariah, as also do certain other versions. See introductory. notes above. PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION._-See above. Power is recognised as the basic requirement of all government, and it will not be lacking in the millennium. PERSONAL APPLICATION.-The fust requisite for trust is the assurance of power in the one trusted, but power needs unchanging faithfulness in its exercise, -and is still unworthy of trust unless it works in righteousness with beneficence. Grace makes a prince (Israel) out of a prevaricator (Jacob), a saint out of a supplanter (5). Contrast the faithlessness and impotence of man with the faithfulness and omnipotence of God (6 ff.). Ponder the eleven activities of God
(four participles and seven brief sentences) in grace and government (6-9). Note title "Jehovah" emphasised five times (number of grace) in these same verses. A man 111ust be not merely affiicted but reckoned among the "righteous" to secure the promised help ofJehovah (8c). Note the seven affiictions which God alleviates (7-9). VERSE NOTES Ii "I ill aim ak I d smg praises, more t. w ps . . . or, m c me o y. 3. See Ezra iv, for the change of nund in the Medo-Persian kings owing to Samaritan slanders; c£ Ps. cxviii. 8-9; lit." ... son of adam, he has no salvation (to give)."· Man as son of Adam the earth-born inherits the feebleness and fleeting ness which deprive him 9f the power to help. th " H b " d ah" · h cc d " ( b) 4. ear , e . a am connects wit a am 5. This last of the twenty-five "beatitudes" in the Psalter presents a beautiful anp. comprehensive ideal of the godly life. 6. C£ Neh. ix. 6; "truth"= troth. 7 ff. May be taken poth literally and spiritually. Note that these divine works were manifested also in Christ's miracles at His first advent; (c) cc prisoners " or, captives. 8. Blindness is a frequent figure for moral and spiritual ignorance, and of helplessness in general. 9. These are typical cases of need; hr. " ... He turneth aside," i.e. so that it leads elsewhere than the wicked (lit. lawless) intend, namely to destruction; or, cc • • •. He thwarts." Book Five. VI. The Worship of God Rendered in Universal Harmony: cxlvi.-cl. 2. Praise National: cxlvii.
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