himself; great in his power in cutting down the race; great in the expressions of his displeasure.

12. So teach us to number our days. Literally, "To number our days make us know, and we will bring a heart of wisdom." The prayer is, that God would instruct us to estimate our days aright:-their number; the rapidity with which they pass away; the liability to be cut down; the certainty that they must soon come to an end; their bearing on the future state of being. That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Marg., "Cause to come." We will bring, or cause to come, a heart of wisdom. By taking a just account of life, that we may bring to it a heart truly wise, or act wisely in view of these facts. The prayer is, that God would enable us to form such an estimate of life, that we shall be truly wise; that we may be able to act as if we saw the whole of life, or as we should do if we saw its end. God sees the end-the time, the manner, the circumstances in which life will close; and although he has wisely hidden that from us, yet he can enable us to act as if we saw it for ourselves; to have the same objects before us, and to make as much of life, as if we saw when and how it would close. If any one knew when, and where, and how he was to die, it might be presumed that this would exert an important influence on him in forming his plans, and on his general manner of life. The prayer is, that God would enable us to act as if we had such a view.

13. Return, O LORD. Come back to thy people; show mercy by sparing them. It would seem probable from this that the psalm was composed in

14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

a time of pestilence, or raging sickness, which threatened to sweep all the people away-a supposition by no means improbable, as such times occurred in the days of Moses, and in the rebellions of the people when he was leading them to the promised land. How long? How long shall this continue? How long shall thy wrath rage? How long shall the people still fall under thy hand? This question is often asked in the Psalms. Ps. iv. 2; vi. 3; xiii. 1, 2; xxxv. 17; lxxix. 5, et al. ¶ And let it repent thee. That is, Withdraw thy judgments, and be merciful, as if thou didst repent. God cannot literally repent, in the sense that he is sorry for what he has done, but he may act as if he repented; that is, he may withdraw his judgments; he may arrest what has been begun; he may show mercy where it seemed that he would only show wrath. ¶ Concerning thy servants. In respect to thy people. Deal with them in mercy and not in wrath.

14. O satisfy us early with thy mercy. Literally, "In the morning;" as soon as the day dawns. Perhaps there is an allusion here to their affliction, represented as night; and the prayer is, that the morning-the morning of mercy and joy-might again dawn upon them. That we

may rejoice and be glad all our days. All the remainder of our lives. That the memory of thy gracious interposition may go with us to the grave.

15.. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us. Let the one correspond with the other. Let our occasions of joy be measured by the sorrows which have come upon us. As our sufferings have been great, so let our joys and

triumphs be. T And the years

Affliction

wherein we have seen evil. and sorrow. They have been continued through many wearisome years; so let the years of peace and joy be many also.

16. Let thy work appear unto thy servants. That is, thy gracious work of interposition. Let us see thy power displayed in removing these calamities, and in restoring to us the days of health and prosperity. T And thy glory unto their children. The manifestation of thy character; the display of thy goodness, of thy power, and thy grace. Let this spreading and wasting evil be checked and removed, so that our children may live, and may have occasion to celebrate thy goodness, and to record the wonders of thy love.

or

17. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us. The word translated beauty-, noam -means properly pleasantness; then, beauty, splendour; then grace favour. The Septuagint renders it here, λaμmрórns, splendour; and so the Latin Vulgate. The wish is clearly that all that there is, in the Divine character, which is beautiful, -which is fitted to win the hearts of men to admiration, gratitude, and love, might be so manifested to them, or that they might so see the excellency of his character, and that his dealings with them might be such, as to keep the beauty, the loveliness, of that character constantly before them. ¶ And establish thou the work of our hands upon us. What we are endeavouring to do. Enable us to carry out our plans, and to accomplish our purposes. ¶ Yea, the Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. The repetition of the prayer here is emphatic. It indicates an intense desire that God would enable them

to carry out their plans. If this was written by Moses, we may suppose that it is expressive of an earnest desire that they might reach the promised land; that they might not all be cut down and perish by the way; that the great object of their march through the wilderness might be accomplished; and that they might be permanently established in the land to which they were going. At the same time it is a prayer which it is proper to offer at any time, that God would enable us to carry out our purposes, and that we may be permanently established in his favour.

PSALM XCI.

The author of this psalm, and the occasion on which it was composed, are alike unknown. The psalm has no title; and there are no internal marks by which we can ascertain when, or by whom, it was written. It is very general in its application, and may have been composed with no particular reference to any event occurring at the time, as it is evident that it had no special reference. to the circumstances of the writer. Though it follows a psalm composed by Moses, yet there is no reason to suppose that it was written by him, nor is there any particular resemblance to that psalm.

From some things in the psalm, as vers. 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, it would appear to be not improbable that the psalm was composed with reference to some individual who was exposed to temptation, or to danger, either from secret enemies or from pestilence, and that it was intended. to assure such an one that there was nothing to be feared if he put his trust in God. There is no evidence that it was designed to refer particularly to the Saviour. It is, indeed, applied to him by Satan in the temptation in the wilderness (Matt. iv. 6); but there is, in that case, no such recognition of its applicability to himself on the part of the Saviour as to justify us in the conclusion that it originally referred to him.

HE

PSALM XCI.

1 abide under the shadow " of the

m Ps. xxvii. 5.

Its quotation by the tempter is no proof that this was the original reference of the psalm, and the quotation made is one which could be applied to him in the same way as any general promise in the Old Testament made to those who trusted in God might have been.

The most remarkable thing in the structure of the psalm is the frequent change of persons, leading some to suppose that it may have been composed with a view to its being sung by choirs in alternate responses, and Michaelis has suggested that there were probably two such choirs; the one-as in vers. 1, 2celebrating the praises of those who trusted in God; the other-as in vers. 3 to 8-exciting and encouraging the people to put their trust in God, and suggesting reasons why they should do it. Such a thing is, undoubtedly, possible; but the evidence that this was the intention of the author of the psalm is not clear.

Tholuck has divided the psalm, on the supposition that it was thus intended to be sung by alternate choirs, into portions arranged with that view:-ver. 1, the choir; ver. 2, the response; vers. 3-8, the choir; ver. 9, the response; vers. 10-13, the choir; vers. 14-16, the response. This, however, is quite arbitrary, as it cannot be demonstrated to have been the original design.

This arrangement, however, suggests a good division of the psalm :

I. The general statement of the safety of those who put their trust in God,

ver. 1.

II. A responsive declaration of the author of the psalm, that he would make the Lord his refuge, and the Most High his habitation, ver. 2.

III. A statement of the security or benefit of doing this, vers. 3-8.

re

1 lodge.

n Ps. lvii. 1.

thus put their trust in him, and confide in him, vers. 14–16.

This mode of division meets substantially all the changes of persons in the psalm, or arranges the different portions of it into parts belonging to the different speakers in the psalm. There is reason to believe that this was the line of thought in the mind of the psalmist, though it is not clear that this was designed to be so used in public responses in singing.

It is

The

1. He that dwelleth. Every one that so dwells. The proposition is universal, and is designed to embrace all who are in this condition. true of one; it is true of all. word rendered dwelleth here is a participle from the verb to sit, and here means sitting: literally, "sitting in the secret place," etc. The idea is that of calm repose; of resting; of sitting down,—as down, as one does in his dwelling. T In the secret place. On the meaning of this see Notes on Ps. xxvii. 5. Comp. Ps. xxxi. 20; xxxii. 7. Abiding where God abides. The idea is that of having one's home or residence in the most holy place in the tabernacle or the temple, and of sitting with him in that sacred place. T Of the Most High. Of God, represented as exalted above all; over all the universe. T Shall abide. Marg., as in Heb., lodge. That is his home, his resting-place,—where he lodges, or passes the night. He takes up his lodging there; he makes it his home. Under the shadow of ¶ the Almighty. Under his protection, as if under his wings. Comp. Notes on Ps. xvii. 8. This is a general statement, and is designed as an introduction to the whole psalm, or as expressing what the psalm is intended to illustrate, the blessedness of the man who thus dwells with God; who makes him his friend; who makes the home of God his home.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day,

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the p Ps. cxxi. 5, 6.

the defensive armour here referred to, because it surrounds, and thus protects a person. It may apply to a coat of mail.

5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night. That which usually causes aların at night a sudden attack; an unexpected incursion of enemies; sudden disease coming on by night; or the pestilence which seems to love night, and to "walk in darkness." Any one of these things seems to be aggravated by night and darkness; and hence we most dread them then. We cannot see their approach; we cannot measure their outlines; we know not the extent of the danger, or what may be the calamity. Nor for the arrow that flieth by day. Whether shot from the bow of God-as pestilence and disease; or from the hand of man in battle. The idea is, that he that trusts in God will be calm. Comp. Notes on Ps. lvi. 3.

6. Nor for the pestilence. The plague or pestilence was common in Oriental countries. That walketh in darkness. Not that it particularly comes in the night, but that it seems to creep along as if in the night; that is, where one cannot mark its progress, or anticipate when or whom it will strike. The laws of its movements are unknown, and it comes upon men as an enemy that suddenly attacks us in the night. Nor for the destruction. The word here used-p, keteb-means properly a cutting off, a destruction, as a destroying storm, Isa. xxviii. 2; and then, contagious pestilence, Deut. xxxii. 24. It may be applied here to anything that sweeps away men-whether storm, war, pestilence, or famine. That wasteth at noonday. It lays waste, or produces desolation, at noon; that

destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

is, visibly, openly. The meaning is, that whenever, or in whatever form, calamity comes which sweeps away the race,-whether at midnight or at noon,-whether in the form of pestilence, war, or famine, he who trusts in God need not-will not be afraid. He will feel either that he will be preserved from its ravages, or that if he is cut off he has nothing to fear. He is a friend of God, and he has a hope of a better life. In death, and in the future world, there is nothing of which he should be afraid. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, strangely enough, "Nor

of mischance and the demon of noonday."

7. A thousand shall fall at thy side. Though a thousand should fall at thy side, or close to thee. This alludes to the manner in which the pestilence often moves among men. T And ten thousand at thy right hand. Comp. Ps. iii. 6. The word myriad would better represent the exact idea in the original, as the Hebrew word is different from that which is translated "a thousand." It is put here for any large number. No matter how many fall around thee, on the right hand and the left, you will have nothing to fear. But it shall not come nigh thee. You will be safe. You may feel assured of the Divine protection. Your mind may be calm through a sense of such guardianship, and your very calmness will conduce to your safety.

This refers, as remarked above, to a general law in regard to the judgments of God. It is true that others, beside the dissipated, vicious, and debased, may be the victims; but the great law is that temperance, soberness, virtue, cleanliness, and that regard to comfort and health to which religion and virtue