I. THE PLAINT (r-3). RUIN BY ENEMY NATIONS. r. Descent upon the Land (ra). 2. Desecration of the Temple (rb ). 3. Destruction of the City (re). 4. Decimation of the People (2-3). "Thy Servants .. . Thy Saints." II. THE POIGNANCY (4). REPROACH o:e NEIGHBOURING PEOPLES. The Record. III. THE PRAYER (5--9). REFUGE OF A CHASTENED REMNANT. r. Expostulation (5). "How long?" 2. Supplication (6-7). For Vengeance upon the Nations. 3. Intercession (8--9). For Deliverance of the People. "Thy pity." 4. Expostulation (roa). "Wherefore?" 5. Supplication (rob). For Vengeance upon the Nations. 6. Intercession (n). For Deliverance of the People. "Thy power."
IV. THE POIGNANCY (12). REPROACH OF NEIGHBOURING PEOPLES. The Requital. V.THE PRAISE (13). RENDITION BY GRATEFUL ISRAEL. 1. Relation Claimed (13a). "Thy People-Thy Sheep." 2. Resolution Formed (13bc). · (a) Thanksgiving (13b). (b) Testimony (13c). SUPERSCRIPT.-A Psalm of (or, for) Asaph . . SUBSCRIPT.-For the Chief Musician; upon Shoshannim Eduth ( = Lilies of Testimony). PRIMARY AssocrATION.-See notes to Ps. lxxiv. The subscript indicates the "testimony" as relating to the Feast of Second Passover, Num. ix. 5-14; c£ 2 Chron. xxix. 25-35, xxx. 23. PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION.-See Ps. lxxiv. Note relation between cause and effect. PERSONAL APPLICATION.-The psalm is simple in character and the meaning plain. When our own "world" seems to lie in ruins God is still our refuge and prayer our true reso¤rce. Sometimes the Lord has to bring His people very low before He can lift them up (8). Wlien brought low we should look very high (8). If we fully trust God, He will keep us not only from sinning but from sinking. Sooner or later God will avenge the blood of His servants (10). All sin must be judged and the agents of chastisement are sometimes the greater sinners, c£ Hab. i. VERSE NOTES I. What the nation had itself defiled, God gives up to defilement, Ezk. v. I I ; xxiii. 38; xxiv. 21; "heaps"= in ruins. 2. Indicates a remorseless slaughter aggravated by the disgrace of unburied bodies; "servants . . . saints," the use of these titles urges relationship not merit, c£ I. 5 ; "saints" = favoured ones. 5. Br." . . . be angry perr.etually?" (b) "(How long) shall ... " 6. "pour out"= s.H.w. 'shed," (3); verse quotedJer. x. 25. 8. Context shows that innocence is not claimed for his own generation. 9. Lit. "for the sake of the glory of Thy Name"; (b) "forgive"= make atonement for; Heb. kaphar, to cover. IO. (c) i.e. do not defer it to some future generation. cc .th fr " preserve or, w1 ancient versions, set ee. 12. i.e. such as· Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, etc., who rejoiced in Israel's discomfiture, c£ Ezk. xxv. 13. "We" (emph.).
ANALYTICAL S·TUDIES IN THE PSALMS
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