I. HIS ABUNDANT PROTECTION (1-3). UNFAILING HELP. 1. The Protector Extolled (1). 2. The Peace Experienced (2-3 ). Selah. II. HIS ABIDING PRESENCE (4-7). UNSHAKABLE HABITATION. 1. The Generous Provision (4). 2. The Gracious Presence (5a). 3. The Glad Prospect (sbc). 4. The Glorious Proof (6). REFRAIN (7). Selah. III. ms ACKNOWLEDGED PRE-EMINENCE (8-II ). UNIVERSAL EXALTATION. 1. The Power Exhibited (8-9). "In the earth." 2. The Person Exalted (10). "In the earth." REFRAIN (rr). Selah. SUPERSCRIPT.-A Song. SUBSCRIPT.-For the Chief Musician.
DELIVERA!iCE OF THE EXILED REMNANT PRIMARY AssocIATION.-Historical occasion of this psalm most likely was the great deliverance of the capital from the army of Sennacherib in the reign of Hezekiah, 701 B.c. See 2 Kings xviii.-xix. Pss. lxxv. and lxxvi. seen1 to refer to the same event. The writer was evidently an eye-witness of the stirring events portrayed. There are many coincidences of language and thought with the prophecies of Isaiah. The poet may have been the prophet himself or even Hezekiah. If the psalm be viewed in its dramatic form, the following interesting introversion appears: i. 'Israel's Colloquy among themselves (1-7). ii. Israel's Call to the Gentile peoples (8-9). iii. God's Call to the Gentile peoples (10). iv. Israel's Colloquy among themselves (n) . . PROPHETIC ANTICIPATàON.-Pss. xlvi.-xlviii. are triumphal songs describing in progressive fonu events to take place at the return of God's anointed King (Isa. xxiv. 23), whose glorious person has already been seen in xlv. Ps. xlvi. refers to Armageddon and Messiah's triumph; xlvii., the coronation scene to follow; xlviii., the establishment of Messiah's kingdom on Mt. Zion. Our present psalm shows the Refuge of the Rescued Remnant; (á) their Con fidence amid mighty devastations and q.esolations (1-3); (b) their ·Consolation in rest and retrospection (4-7); (c) their Contemplation of Messiah's triµmph and testimony (8-n). Verses 2-3 depict Tribulation terrors with the whole worla in convulsion, government overthrown, lawlessness and apostasy rampant, Revâ viii. 8, etc. Mountains in Scripture symbolise empires raised on high: PERSONAL APPLICATI0N.-Here is special comfort for days of war and calamity. Read the psalm again and again. It was Luther's fãvourite one on which he based his fa111ous hymn, "A mighty stronghold is our God." Our God in time of trouble is tried and true (1). Confession inspires confidence and courage (1-3). Vivifying streams of the Spirit ever flow from the presence of God. In Him is the secret·source· and the sufficient supply (4). All the redeemed have recourse to this river now. In God is our all suffi ciency as well as abiding shelter, ample provision as well as assured protection (1-4). The divine presence is ever a pledge of protection (5). To Christians also, God is a God of might and a God of mercies, a great God and a gracious God (7). Let us avail ourselves of our
ANALYTtCAt S'i'UDlES tN Tl1E PSALMS "High Retreat" (7). The dawn of deliverance succeeds the night of distress (5). "God is the God of all Jacobs that He may make then1 all Israels" (7). The Lord Jesus will one day make war against war (9); c£ Zech. xiv. 3-4; Joel iii. Note, (a) His Works seen; (b) Wars ended; (c) Weapons destroyed (8--9). Men need to be taught the folly of resisting God (10). Even Christians sometimes find "Be still" a hard lesson to learn. VERSE NOTES I. C£ similar language, Joel iii. 16; ctr. Isa. xxviii. 14-17; xxx. 1-3; "very present," i.e. immediately at hand, soon found. 2. The reasoning of faith; c£ xxiii. 4; Job xxxiv. 29. 3. "Selah" emphasises the contrast between the raging of the enemy like a flood, and the working of God against the enemy, silent and secret like the rock hewn watercourse which ministered to the rieeds of the besieged. God's purposes hidd d " 6 are en; roar, s. .w. u:ans. rage , 4. "river ," i.e. the silent-flowing stream in Hezekiah's secret channel; c£ 2 Kings xx. 20; 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 4, II, 30. It is contrasted with the raging of the Assyrian hosts (3); c£ also Isa. viii. 6 ff. Rock-cut conduits formed part of the defences of the ancient city ofJebus, affording a secret water supply which, com bined with the precipitous approach, made the citadel well-nigh impregnable. "Gutter," 2 Sam. v. 8 refers to such a channel. During the siege of Jerusalem, Hezekiah availed himself of an older conduit system and "mpdified it to suit his own purposes. This and other channels have been discovered within the last seventy years. Br. "the rivulets (or, watercourses) thereof. .. " Prophetically refers to an actual river with a symbolic meaning, Joel iii. 18; Zech. xiv. 18; Ezek. xlvii. 1-12; Rev. xxii. "City of God,"= Zion; only the mother city remained, Isa. xxxvi. r. (b) hr. "the holy Ęwę-glace of the Most High.'_'. ,, 5. (b) . .. at the early dawn, lit. at the tum of the morrung ;c£ Isa. xxxvn. 36; also Exod. xiv. 27; Isa. xvii. 14; prophetically, see Isa. lxvi. 24; Rev. xix. 19-21, etc. 6. "raged," c£ ii. 1; and the cry of the Edomites, cxxxvii. 7. In Heb., seven words describe the whole power of the oppressors, and seven words their complete overthrow. 7. Zion"s watchword is "Immanuel," Isa. vii. 14; viii. 8, ro; 2 Chron. xxxii. 7-8. "Jehovah of Hosts" = God as ruler of all the heavenly powers, the supreme Sovereign of the universe; title occurs frequently in Isaiah; see also 2 Kings vi.15-17; "refuge," see marg., s.H.w., ix. 9; xviii. 2; xlviii. 3; Isa. xxxiii. 16; "God of Jacob" occurs about twenty-two times in Scripture, see Ps. xx. 1, note. Despite constant failure and distrust, God was still his refuge. In the life of the patriarch may be traced the fitful history of the nation. "Sdah" connects faith in the promise ( 7) with fulfilment of the promise (8-9 ). 8-9. Never yet has there been a point of time in the world 's history to which these words could possibly apply in a literal sense.
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