Psalms 75 commentary

We often pray for mercy, when in pursuit of it; and shall we only once or twice give thanks, when we obtain it? God shows that he is nigh to us in what we call upon him for. Public trusts are to be managed uprightly. This may well be applied to Christ and his government. Man's sin threatened to destroy the whole creation; but Christ saved the world from utter ruin. He who is made of God to us wisdom, bids us be wise. To the proud, daring sinners he says, Boast not of your power, persist not in contempt. All the present hopes and future happiness of the human race spring from the Son of God.

No second causes will raise men to preferment without the First Cause. It comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. He mentions not the north; the same word that signifies the north, signifies the secret place; and from the secret of God's counsel it does come. From God alone all must receive their doom. There are mixtures of mercy and grace in the cup of affliction, when it is put into the hands of God's people; mixtures of the curse, when it is put into the hands of the wicked. God's people have their share in common calamities, but the dregs of the cup are for the wicked. The exaltation of the Son of David will be the subject of the saints' everlasting praises. Then let sinners submit to the King of righteousness, and let believers rejoice in and obey him.

PSALM 75

It affords matter of rejoicing and thanksgiving to the whole Church, to reflect that the world is governed exclusively according to the will of God, and that she herself is sustained by his grace and power alone. Encouraged by this consideration, she triumphs over the proud despisers of God, who, by their infatuated presumption, are driven headlong into all manner of excess.

To the chief musician. Destroy not. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

Psalm 75:1-7

1. We will praise thee, O God! we will praise thee: and “C’est, car.” — Fr. marg. “That is, for.” thy name is near: they will declare [or recount “Par ainsi on racontera.” — Fr. “Therefore they will recount.” ] thy wondrous works. 2. When I shall have taken the congregation, “Quand j’auray prins assignation.” — Fr. “When I shall have received the appointment.” “Ou, assemble la congregation.” — Fr. marg “Or, assembled the congregation.” I will judge righteously. “C’est, je remettray les choses en leur estat.” — Fr. marg. “That is, I will restore things to order.” 3. The earth is dissolved, and all its inhabitants: I will establish “Mais j’affermiray.” — Fr. “But I will support or sustain.” the pillars of it. 4. I said to the fools, Act not foolishly: and to the ungodly, Lift not up the horn. 5. Lift not up your horn on high; and speak not with a stiff neck. 6. For exaltations come neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the wilderness. “C’est, du Midi.” — Fr. marg. “That is, from the South.” 7. For God is judge: “C’est, gouverne le monde.” — Fr. marg. “That is, governs the world.” he bringeth low, and he setteth up.

1. We will praise thee, O God! With respect to the inscription of this psalm, I have sufficiently spoken when explaining the 57th psalm. As to the author of it, this is a point, in the determination of which, I am not inclined to give myself much trouble. Whoever he was, whether David or some other prophet, he breaks forth at the very commencement into the language of joy and thanksgiving: We will praise thee, O God! we will praise thee. The repetition serves the more forcibly to express his strong affection and his ardent zeal in singing the praises of God. The verbs in the Hebrew are in the past tense; but the subject of the psalm requires that they should be translated into the future; which may be done in perfect consistency with the idiom of the Hebrew language. The inspired writer, however, may declare that God had been praised among his people for the benefits which he had bestowed in the times of old, the design being thereby to induce God to persevere in acting in the same manner, that thus continuing like himself, he might from time to time afford his people new matter for celebrating his praises. The change of the person in the concluding part of the verse has led some interpreters to supply the relative pronoun אשר, asher, who, as if the reading were, O Lord! we will praise thee; and thy name is near to those who declare thy wondrous works This is the reading adopted by Hammond; but instead of making it out by supplying the pronoun אשר, asher, as is done by some, he renders, ספרו, sipperu, as a participle plural in the sense of the dative case. “Thy name is near, ספרו, sipperu, to them that declare thy wondrous works.” He supports this view from the Chaldee, and from the translation of the learned Castellio. But the prophet, I have no doubt, puts the verb they will declare, indefinitely, that is to say, without determining the person; “C’est a dire, sans determiner personne.” — Fr. and he has used the copula and instead of the causal participle for, as is frequently done. His meaning, then, may be brought out very appropriately th We will praise thee, O God! for thy name is near; and, therefore, thy wondrous works shall be declared. He, no doubt, means that the same persons whom he said would celebrate the praise of God, would be the publishers of his wonderful works. And, certainly, God, in displaying his power, opens the mouths of his servants to recount his works. In short, the design is to intimate that there is just ground for praising God, who shows himself to be at hand to afford succor to his people. The name of God, as is well known, is taken for his power; and his presence, or nearness, is judged of by the assistance which he grants to his people in the time of their need.

PSALM 75

Psa 75:1-10. Al-taschith--(See on Psa 57:1, title). In impending danger, the Psalmist, anticipating relief in view of God's righteous government, takes courage and renders praise.

1. God's name or perfections are set forth by His wondrous works.

2-3. These verses express the purpose of God to administer a just government, and in a time of anarchy that He sustains the nation. Some apply the words to the Psalmist.

receive the congregation--literally, "take a set time" (Psa 102:13; Ho 2:3), or an assembly at a set time--that is, for judging.

4-8. Here the writer speaks in view of God's declaration, warning the wicked.

Lift ... up the horn--to exalt power, here, of the wicked himself--that is, to be arrogant or self-elated.

9-10. Contrasted is the lot of the pious who will praise God, and, acting under His direction, will destroy the power of the wicked, and exalt that of the righteous.

Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks - Thou canst not forget thy people. The numerous manifestations of thy providence and mercy show that thou art not far off, but near: this

Thy wondrous works declare - These words would make a proper conclusion to the preceding Psalm, which seems to end very abruptly. The second verse is the commencement of the Divine answer to the prayer of Asaph.

When I shall receive the congregation - When the proper time is come that the congregation, my people of Israel, should be brought out of captivity, and received back into favor, I shall not only enlarge them, but punish their enemies. They shall be cut off and cast out, and become a more miserable people than those whom they now insult. I will destroy them as a nation, so that they shall never more be numbered among the empires of the earth.

The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved - They all depend on me; and whenever I withdraw the power by which they exist and live, they are immediately dissolved.

I bear up the pillars of it - By the word of my power all things are upheld, and without me nothing can subsist. Those who consider this Psalm to have been written by David before he was anointed king over All Israel, understand the words thus: "All is at present in a state of confusion; violence and injustice reign: but when 'I shall receive the whole congregation,' when all the tribes shall acknowledge me as king, I will reorganize the whole constitution. It is true that the land and all its inhabitants are dissolved - unsettled and unconnected by the bands of civil interest. The whole system is disorganized: 'I bear up the pillars of it;' the expectation of the chief people is placed upon me; and it is the hope they have of my coming speedily to the throne of all Israel that prevents them from breaking out into actual rebellion."

I said unto the fools - I have given the idolatrous Chaldeans sufficient warning to abandon their idols, and worship the true God; but they would not. I have also charged the wicked, to whom for a season I have delivered you because of your transgressions, not to lift up their horn - not to use their power to oppress and destroy. They have, notwithstanding, abused their power in the persecutions with which they have afflicted you. For all these things they shall shortly be brought to an awful account. On the term horn, see the note on Luk 1:69.

Speak not with a stiff neck - Mr. Bruce has observed that the Abyssinian kings have a horn on their diadem; and that the keeping it erect, or in a projecting form, makes them appear as if they had a stiff neck; and refers to this passage for the antiquity of the usage, and the appearance also.

For promotion cometh neither from the east, etc. - As if the Lord had said, speaking to the Babylonians, None of all the surrounding powers shall be able to help you; none shall pluck you out of my hand. I am the Judge: I will pull you down, and set my afflicted people up, Psa 75:7.

Calmet has observed that the Babylonians had Media, Armenia, and Mesopotamia on the East; and thence came Darius the Mede: that it had Arabia, Phoenicia, and Egypt on the West; thence came Cyrus, who overthrew the empire of the Chaldeans. And by the mountains of the desert, מדבר הרים midbar harim, which we translate South, Persia, may be meant; which government was established on the ruins of the Babylonish empire. No help came from any of those powers to the sinful Babylonians; they were obliged to drink the cup of the red wine of God's judgment, even to the very dregs. They were to receive no other punishment; this one was to annihilate them as a people for ever.

It is full of mixture - Alluding to that mingled potion of stupefying drugs given to criminals to drink previously to their execution. See a parallel passage to this, Jer 25:15-26.

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob - These are the words of the psalmist, who magnifies the Lord for the promise of deliverance from their enemies.

All the horns of the wicked - All their power and influence, will I cut off; and will exalt and extend the power of the righteous. The psalmist is said to do these things, because he is as the mouth of God to denounce them. All was punctually fulfilled: the wicked - the Babylonians, were all cut off; the righteous - the Jews, called so from the holy covenant, which required righteousness, were delivered and exalted.

Thy name - Thy self; art present with us, and ready to help.

Receive - The whole congregation, all the tribes.

Dissolved - Or, destroyed; by intestine divisions and wars. I hear - I support it, by maintaining religion and justice, by setting up good magistrates, and encouraging good ministers, and good men, who are indeed the pillars of a nation.

I said - I charged them. Deal not - Desist from your practices. Lift not up - Do not carry yourselves scornfully and maliciously.

Lift not - A metaphor from untamed oxen, which will not bow their heads to receive the yoke. Stiff neck - With pride and contempt.

For - God is here compared to the master of a feast, who then used to distribute portions of meat and drink to the several guests. A cup - Of vengeance. Red - Such as the best wine of Judea was. Mixture - The wine is mingled not with water, but with strengthening and intoxicating ingredients. Dregs - The worst and most dreadful part of those tribulations. Shall wring - This dreadful draught was brought upon them by their own choice and wickedness.

Declare - The praises of God.

Horns - Their honour and power, which they made an instrument of mischief. Will - When I shall be advanced to the throne. But - Good men shall be encouraged and promoted.

1 UNto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee, do we give thanks, for that thy name is near , thy wondrous works declare.

I in my own, and in my Peoples name.

(i. e.) Thy self; or thy Power.

I[illegible: 1+ letters] present with us, and most ready to help us, when we Cry unto thee, as this Phrase is taken; Psal. 34. 19▪ and 145. 18. Thou art not departed from us; thou dost not now stand a[illegible: 1+ letters]ar off, as once thou didst, Psal. 10. 1.

Wrought on my behalf, and for the good of thy People.

2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly .

To wit, the whole Congregation, or Body of thy People, to wit, all the Tribes; which are now distracted and disordered by a Civil War, which is a great hinderance to the Administration of Justice. Or, when I shall receive or obtain the appointment, (i. e.) What God hath appointed and promised to me, to wit, the full and firm Possession of the Kingdom: Or, the time, or place appointed by God for that work. Some make these and the following passages, the Words of God concerning his Church, or People. Which seems not probable; Partly, because he speaks of God in the third Person, a[illegible: 1+ letters] one distinct from him that speaks these Words, v. 7, 8. and Partly, because it is Evident, that one and the same Person speaks from hence to the end of the Psalm, and the ninth Verse cannot be spoken by God.

I will not use my Power Tyrannically and Wickedly, as Saul did, and as most other Princes do; but Holily and Righteously for the good of my People.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1+ letters]hen I shall take a set [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters]o Gr.

3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved , I bear up the pillars of it , Selah.

Or melted, consumed or destroyed; Partly, by the ill Government of Saul and Ishbosheth, and the great Officers of State and War under them; and Partly, by intestine Divisions and Wars.

Howsoever I am traduced by mine Enemies as the great disturber of the Land, I must do my self this Right to affirm that under God, I do support and Establish it, by maintaining Religion and Justice, and by setting up good Magistrates, and encouraging good Ministers, and good Men, which are indeed the Pillars of a Nation.

Marginal references: Psal: 60. [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ 3. & 82. 5.

4 I said unto the fools , Deal not foolishly ; and to the wicked, Li[illegible: 1+ letters]t not up the horn .

With Authority and Command; I charged them.

(i. e.) The wicked, as that is explained in the next Clause.

Desist from your impious and injurious Practises, which shall not now go unpunished, as they have done.

Do not carry your selves either, Arrogantly boasting of your own strength, or scornfully and maliciously towards me, or others of God's People.

5 Lift not up your horn on high , speak not with a stiff neck .

A Metaphor from untamed and Stiff necked oxen, which will not bow their Heads to receive the yoke, but lift up their Heads and Horns to avoid it. Or, against the High, (i. e.) Against God, who is mentioned under this same Title, Psal. 56. 2. though there it be rendred, most High.

To wit, against me and my Government.

With Pride and Contempt of my Person, and with Rebellion against God's Will declared concerning my Advancement, of which you are not ignorant▪ See 2 Sam. 3. 17, 18.

6. For promotion cometh, neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south .

For though you Envy and oppose my Advancement, because I was but a poor Shepherd, and of a mean Family, yet you ought to know and consider; what is notorious and visible in the World, that the Dignities and Scepters of the World, are not always disposed according to humane Expectations, and Probabilities; but by God's Soveraign Will and Providence, as it follows. It is true, m[illegible: 1+ letters]n that expect Preferment, have their Eyes fixed upon the great Persons of the World, who are thought to have the Disposition of them in their Hands, and according to their several Inclinations or Interests; some look East-ward, others West-ward, and others South-ward, expecting assistance from some of these Quarters; but all in Vain.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

7 But God is the judge , he putteth down one, and setteth up another .

To wit, the righteous Judge, and supreme Lord and Governour of all the Kingdoms of the World, giving them to whomesoever he pleaseth.

It is he who hath rejected Saul and his Family, and put me in his stead? And who art thou that disputest with God, and resistest his declared Will?

Marginal references: 1 Sam. 2. 7.

8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup , and the wine is red , it is full of mixture , and he poureth out of the same : but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth , shall wring them out , and drink them.

This Verse is added; Either, 1. As a Reason or Confirmation of the assertion, v. 7. and to shew that God in removing one King to make way for another, did not proceed in a way of absolute Soveraignty, which yet he might have done, but in a way of Justice and Equity. Or, 2. As another Argument to inforce his Advice given, v. 4, 5. which he had now pressed by one Argument, v. 6, 7.

God is here Compared to the Master of a Feast, who then used to distribute Portions of Meats or Drinks, to the several Guests as he thought fit.

A Cup in Scripture, is sometimes taken in a good Sence, for God's Blessings, as Psal. 16. 5. and 23. 5. and sometimes, and more frequently in a bad Sence, for Gods Vengeance and Judgments, as Psal. 11. 6. Isa. 51. 22. Ier. 49. 12. Mat. 20. 2[illegible: 1+ letters], &c. And so it is here understood, as the following Words shew

Such as the best Wine of Iudea was, Deut. 32. 14. Prov. 23. 31. and so strong and heady, and intoxic[illegible: 1+ letters]ing. Or, is Troubled; as the Word more properly signifies, and is rendred by divers. Which may note its Newness, when it is in Fermentation, not yet cleared nor settled, and so more intoxicating. So he expresseth the Power and fierceness of God's wrath and Judgments.

The Wine is mingled not with water, as was usual in those hot Countries, Prov. 9. 5. but with Spices, as Ca[illegible: 1+ letters]t. 8. 2. Or rather, strengthning and intoxicating Ingredients, which Drunkards used, Isa. 5. 21.

To wit, to the Children of men, promiscuously to good and bad. Whereby he removes the Scandal, which his Enemies might take from those Troubles which God saw fit to inflict upon David and his followers.

The worst and most dreadful part of those Tribulations.

Or, of the Land, to wit, of Canaan, of which he spake v. 3.

Which Expression may imply either, that they shall be forced to squeeze out the worst for their own drinking; Or, that this dreadful draught was prepared for them, and brought upon them by their own choice and Wickedness.

9 But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

To wit, this great and glorious work of God, or the Praises due unto God for it, as the next Words imply.

10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off ; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted .

Their Honour and Power, which they made an Instrument of mischief to oppress good Men. A Metaphor from horned and mischievous Beasts.

When I shall be advanced to the Throne, and have Power and Authority to do what now I can onely desire and pray for.

Good men shall be encouraged and promoted, and intrusted with the management of all publick Affairs, which will be a great Blessing to all my People.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters]ech. 1. 20. [illegible: 1+ letters]1.

The Nearness of the Judge with the Cup of Wrath

That for which Ps 74 prays: Arise, Jahve, plead Thine own cause (Psa 74:22.), Psa 75:1-10 beholds; the judgment of God upon the proud sinners becomes a source of praise and of a triumphant spirit to the psalmist. The prophetic picture stands upon a lyrical groundwork of gold; it emerges out of the depth of feeling, and it is drawn back again into it. The inscription: To the Precentor, (after the measure:) Destroy not (vid., on Psa 57:1), a Psalm by Asaph, a Song, is fully borne out. The Sela shows that the Psalm, as מזמור שׁיר says, is appointed to be sung with musical accompaniment; and to the לאסף corresponds its thoroughly Asaphic character, which calls Ps 50 to mind with especial force. But from this Psalm Psa 75:1-10 differs, however, in this particular, viz., that a more clearly defined situation of affairs manifests itself through the hope of the judicial interposition of God which is expressed in it with prophetic certainty. According to appearances it is the time of the judgment of the nations in the person of Assyria; not, however, the time immediately following the great catastrophe, but prior to this, when Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the shattering of the Assyrian power against Jerusalem had gone forth, just as Hengstenberg also regards this Psalm as the lyrical companion of the prophecies which Isaiah uttered in the presence of the ruin which threatened from Assyria, and as a testimony to the living faith with which the church at that time received the word of God. Hitzig, however, assigns both Psa 75:1-10 and Psa 76:1-12 to Judas Maccabaeus, who celebrates the victory over Apollonius in the one, and the victory over Seron in the other: “we may imagine that he utters the words of Ps 75:11 whilst he brandishes the captured sword of the fallen Apollonius.” But the probability that it refers to the Assyrian period is at least equally balanced with the probability that it refers to the Maccabaean (vid., Psa 75:7; Psa 76:5-7); and if the time of Hezekiah were to be given up, then we might sooner go back to the time of Jehoshaphat, for both songs are too original to appear as echoes and not much rather as models of the later prophecy. The only influence that is noticeable in Psa 75:1-10 is that of the Song of Hannah.

Psa 75:1-5

The church in anticipation gives thanks for the judicial revelation of its God, the near approach of which He Himself asserts to it. The connection with ו in וקרוב שׁמך presents a difficulty. Neither here nor anywhere else is it to be supposed that ו is synonymous with כּי; but at any rate even כי might stand instead of it. For Hupfeld’s attempt to explain it: and “near is Thy name” Thy wonders have declared; and Hitzig's: and Thou whose Name is near, they declare Thy wondrous works - are past remedy. Such a personification of wonders does not belong to the spirit of Hebrew poetry, and such a relative clause lies altogether beyond the bounds of syntax. If we would, however, take וקרוב שׁמך, after Psa 50:23, as a result of the thanksgiving (Campensis), then that for which thanks are rendered would remain undefined; neither will it do to take קרוב as referring to the being inwardly present (Hengstenberg), since this, according to Jer 12:2 (cf. Deu 30:14), would require some addition, which should give to the nearness this reference to the mouth or to the heart. Thus, therefore, nothing remains for us but to connect the nearness of the Name of God as an outward fact with the earnest giving of thanks. The church has received the promise of an approaching judicial, redemptive revelation of God, and now says, “We give Thee thanks, we give thanks and near is Thy Name;” it welcomes the future act of God with heartfelt thanksgiving, all those who belong to it declare beforehand the wonders of God. Such was really the position of matters when in Hezekiah’s time the oppression of the Assyrians had reached its highest point - Isaiah’s promises of a miraculous divine deliverance were at that time before them, and the believing ones saluted beforehand, with thanksgiving, the “coming Name of Jahve” (Isa 30:27). The כּי which was to be expected after הודינו (cf. e.g., Psa 100:4.) does not follow until Psa 75:3. God Himself undertakes the confirmation of the forthcoming thanksgiving and praise by a direct announcement of the help that is hailed and near at hand (Psa 85:10). It is not to be rendered, “when I shall seize,” etc., for Psa 75:3 has not the structure of an apodosis. כּי is confirmatory, and whatever interpretation we may give to it, the words of the church suddenly change into the words of God. מועד in the language of prophecy, more especially of the apocalyptic character, is a standing expression fore the appointed time of the final judgment (vid., on Hab 2:3). When this moment or juncture in the lapse of time shall have arrived, then God will seize or take possession of it (לקח in the unweakened original sense of taking hold of with energy, cf. Psa 18:17; Gen 2:15): He Himself will then interpose and hold judgment according to the strictly observed rule of right (מישׁרים, adverbial accusative, cf. במישׁרים, Psa 9:9, and frequently). If it even should come to pass that the earth and all its inhabitants are melting away (cf. Isa 14:31; Exo 15:15; Jos 2:9), i.e., under the pressure of injustice (as is to be inferred from Psa 75:3), are disheartened, scattered asunder, and are as it were in the act of dissolution, then He (the absolute I, אנכי) will restrain this melting away: He setteth in their places the pillars, i.e., the internal shafts (Job 9:6), of the earth, or without any figure: He again asserts the laws which lie at the foundation of its stability. תכּנתּי is a mood of certainty, and Psa 75:4 is a circumstantial clause placed first, after the manner of the Latin ablative absolute. Hitzig appropriately compares Pro 29:9; Isa 23:15 may also be understood according to this bearing of the case.

The utterance of God is also continued after the Sela. It is not the people of God who turn to the enemies with the language of warning on the ground of the divine promise (Hengstenberg); the poet would then have said אמרנוּ, or must at least have said על־כּן אמרתּי. God Himself speaks, and His words are not yet peremptorily condemning, as in Psa 50:16., cf. Psa 46:11, but admonitory and threatening, because it is not He who has already appeared for the final judgment who speaks, but He who announces His appearing. With אמרתּי He tells the braggarts who are captivated with the madness of supposed greatness, and the evil-doers who lift up the horn or the head,The head is called in Sanscrit çiras, in Zend çaranh, = κάρα; the horn in Sanscrit, çringa, i.e., (according to Burnlouf, Etudes, p. 19) that which proceeds from and projects out of the head (çiras), Zend çrva = κέρας, קרן (ḳarn). hat He will have once for all said to them, and what they are to suffer to be said to them for the short space of time till the judgment. The poet, if we have assigned the right date to the Psalm, has Rabshakeh and his colleagues before his mind, cf. Isa 37:23. The ל, as in that passage, and like אל in Zec 2:4 (vid., Köhler), has the idea of a hostile tendency. אל rules also over Psa 75:6: “speak not insolence with a raised neck.” It is not to be construed עתק בצוּאר, with a stiff neck. Parallel passages like Psa 31:19; Psa 94:4, and more especially the primary passage 1Sa 5:3, show that עתק is an object-notion, and that בצוּאר by itself (with which, too, the accentuation harmonizes, since Munach here is the vicarius of a distinctive), according to Job 15:26, has the sense of τραχηλιῶτες or ὑπεραυχοῦντες.

Psa 75:6-8

The church here takes up the words of God, again beginning with the כּי of Psa 75:3 (cf. the כּי in 1Sa 2:3). A passage of the Midrash says הרים חוץ מזה כל הרים שׁבמקרא (everywhere where harim is found in Scripture it signifies harim, mountains, with the exception of this passage), and accordingly it is explained by Rashi, Kimchi, Alshêch, and others, that man, whithersoever he may turn, cannot by strength and skill attain great exaltation and prosperity.E.g., Bamidbar Rabba ch. xxii.; whereas according to Berêshı̂th Rabba ch. lii. הרים is equivalent to דּרום.

Thus it is according to the reading ממּדבּר, although Kimchi maintains that it can also be so explained with the reading ממּדבּר, by pointing to מרמס (Isa 10:6) and the like. It is, however, difficult to see why, in order to express the idea “from anywhere,” three quarters of the heavens should be used and the north left out. These three quarters of the heavens which are said to represent the earthly sources of power (Hupfeld), are a frame without the picture, and the thought, “from no side (viz., of the earth) cometh promotion” - in itself whimsical in expression - offers a wrong confirmation for the dissuasive that has gone before. That, however, which the church longs for is first of all not promotion, but redemption. On the other hand, the lxx, Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate render: a deserto montium (desertis montibus); and even Aben-Ezra rightly takes it as a Palestinian designation of the south, when he supplements the aposiopesis by means of מי שׁיושׁיעם (more biblically יבע עזרנוּ, cf. Psa 121:1.). The fact that the north is not mentioned at all shows that it is a northern power which arrogantly, even to blasphemy, threatens the small Israelitish nation with destruction, and against which it looks for help neither from the east and west, nor from the reed-staff of Egypt (Isa 36:6) beyond the desert of the mountains of Arabia Petraea, but from Jahve alone, according to the watchword of Isaiah: שׁפטנוּ ה (Isa 33:22). The negative thought is left unfinished, the discourse hurrying on to the opposite affirmative thought. The close connection of the two thoughts is strikingly expressed by the rhymes הרים and ידים. The כּי of Psa 75:8 gives the confirmation of the negation from the opposite, that which is denied; the כּי of Psa 75:9 confirms this confirmation. If it were to be rendered, “and the wine foams,” it would then have been היּין; מסך, which is undoubtedly accusative, also shows that yayin is also not considered as anything else: and it (the cup) foams (חמר like Arab. 'chtmr, to ferment, effervesce) with wine, is full of mixture. According to the ancient usage of the language, which is also followed by the Arabic, this is wine mixed with water in distinction from merum, Arabic chamr memzûg'e. Wine was mixed with water not merely to dilute it, but also to make it more pleasant; hence מסך signifies directly as much as to pour out (vid., Hitzig on Isa 5:22).  It is therefore unnecessary to understand spiced wine (Talmudic קונדיטון, conditum), since the collateral idea of weakening is also not necessarily associated with the admixture of water. מזּה refers to כּוס, which is used as masculine, as in Jer 25:15; the word is feminine elsewhere, and changes its gender even here in שׁמריה (cf. Eze 23:34). In the fut. consec. ויּגּר the historical signification of the consecutive is softened down, as is frequently the case. אך affirms the whole assertion that follows. The dregs of the cup - a dira necessitas - all the wicked of the earth shall be compelled to sip (Isa 51:17), to drink out: they shall not be allowed to drink and make a pause, but, compelled by Jahve, who has appeared as Judge, they shall be obliged to drink it out with involuntary eagerness even to the very last (Eze 23:34). We have here the primary passage of a figure, which has been already hinted at in Psa 60:5, and is filled in on a more and more magnificent and terrible scale in the prophets. Whilst Obadiah (Oba 1:16, cf. Job 21:20) contents himself with a mere outline sketch, it is found again, in manifold applications, in Isaiah, Habakkuk, and Ezekiel, and most frequently in Jeremiah (Jer 25:27., Jer 48:26; Jer 49:12), where in Psa 25:15. it is embodied into a symbolical act. Jahve’s cup of intoxication (inasmuch as חמה and חמר, the burning of anger and intoxicating, fiery wine, are put on an equality) is the judgment of wrath which is meted out to sinners and given them to endure to the end.

Psa 75:9-10

The poet now turns back thankfully and cheerfully from the prophetically presented future to his own actual present. With ואני he contrasts himself as a member of the now still oppressed church with its proud oppressors: he will be a perpetual herald of the ever memorable deed of redemption. לעולם, says he, for, when he gives himself up so entirely to God the Redeemer, for him there is no dying. If he is a member of the ecclesia pressa, then he will also be a member of the ecclesia triumphans; for ει ̓ ὑπομένομεν, καὶ συμβασιλεύσομεν (2Ti 2:12). In the certainty of this συμβασιλεύειν, and in the strength of God, which is even now mighty in the weak one, he measures himself in v. 11 by the standard of what he expresses in Psa 75:8 as God’s own work. On the figure compare Deu 33:17; Lam 2:3, and more especially the four horns in the second vision of Zechariah, Zec 2:1. Zec 1:18.. The plural is both קרנות and קרני, because horns that do not consist of horn are meant. Horns are powers for offence and defence. The spiritual horns maintain the sovereignty over the natural. The Psalm closes as subjectively as it began. The prophetic picture is set in a lyric frame.

The Magistrate's Resolution.

1 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. 2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. 3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah. 4 I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: 5 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.

In these verses,

I. The psalmist gives to God the praise of his advancement to honour and power, and the other great things he had done for him and for his people Israel (v. 1): Unto thee, O God! do we give thanks for all the favours thou hast bestowed upon us; and again, unto thee do we give thanks; for our thanksgivings must be often repeated. Did not we often pray for mercy when we were in pursuit of it; and shall we think it will suffice once or twice to give thanks when we have obtained it? Not only I do give thanks, but we do, and I and all my friends. If we share with others in their mercies, we must join with them in their praises. "Unto thee, O God! the author of our mercies (and we will not give that glory to the instruments which is due to thee only), we give thanks; for that thy name is near (that the complete accomplishment of thy promise made to David is not far off) thy wondrous works, which thou hast already done for him, declare." Note, 1. There are many works which God does for his people that may truly be called wondrous works, out of the common course of providence and quite beyond our expectation. 2. These wondrous works declare the nearness of his name; they show that he himself is at hand, nigh to us in what we call upon him for, and that he is about to do some great things for his people, in pursuance of his purpose and promise. 3. When God's wondrous works declare the nearness of his name it is our duty to give him thanks, again and again to give him thanks.

II. He lays himself under an obligation to use his power well, pursuant to the great trust reposed in him (v. 2): When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. Here he takes it for granted that God would, in due time, perfect that which concerned him, that though the congregation was very slow in gathering to him, and great opposition was made to it, yet, at length, he should receive it; for what God has spoken in his holiness he will perform by his wisdom and power. Being thus in expectation of the mercy, he promises to make conscience of his duty: "When I am a judge I will judge, and judge uprightly; not as those that went before me, who either neglected judgment or, which was worse, perverted it, either did no good with their power or did hurt." Note, 1. Those that are advanced to posts of honour must remember they are posts of service, and must set themselves with diligence and application of mind to do the work to which they are called. He does not say, "When I shall receive the congregation I will take my ease, and take state upon me, and leave the public business to others;" but, "I will mind it myself." 2. Public trusts are to be managed with great integrity; those that judge must judge uprightly, according to the rules of justice, without respect of persons.

III. He promises himself that his government would be a public blessing to Israel, v. 3. The present state of the kingdom was very bad: The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved; and no marvel, when the former reign was so dissolute that all went to wrack and ruin. There was a general corruption of manners, for want of putting the laws in execution against vice and profaneness. They were divided one from another for want of centering, as they ought to have done, in the government God had appointed. They were all to pieces, two against three and three against two, crumbled into factions and parties, which was likely to issue in their ruin; but I bear up the pillars of it. Even in Saul's time David did what he could for the public welfare; but he hoped that when he had himself received the congregation he should do much more, and should not only prevent the public ruin, but recover the public strength and beauty. Now, 1. See the mischief of parties; they melt and dissolve a land and the inhabitants of it. 2. See how much one head frequently holds up. The fabric would have sunk if David had not held up the pillars of it. This may well be applied to Christ and his government. The world and all the inhabitants of it were dissolved by sin; man's apostasy threatened the destruction of the whole creation. But Christ bore up the pillars of it; he saved the whole world from utter ruin by saving his people from their sins, and into his hand the administration of the kingdom of Providence is committed, for he upholds all things by the word of his power, Heb. i. 3.

IV. He checks those that opposed his government, that were against his accession to it and obstructed the administration of it, striving to keep up that vice and profaneness which he had made it his business to suppress (v. 4, 5): I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly. He had said so to them in Saul's time. When he had not power to restrain them, yet he had wisdom and grace to reprove them, and to give them good counsel; though they bore themselves high, upon the favour of that unhappy prince, he cautioned them not to be too presumptuous. Or, rather, he does now say so to them. As soon as he came to the crown he issued out a proclamation against vice and profaneness, and here we have the contents of it. 1. To the simple sneaking sinners, the fools in Israel, that corrupted themselves, to them he said, "Deal not foolishly; do not act so directly contrary both to your reason and to your interest as you do while you walk contrary to the laws God has given to Israel and the promises he has made to David." Christ, the son of David, gives us this counsel, issues out this edict, Deal not foolishly. He who is made of God to us wisdom bids us be wise for ourselves, and not make fools of ourselves. 2. To the proud daring sinners, the wicked, that set God himself at defiance, he says, "Lift not up the horn; boast not of your power and prerogatives; persist not in your contumacy and contempt of the government set over you; lift not up your horn on high, as though you could have what you will and do what you will; speak not with a stiff neck, in which is an iron sinew, that will never bend to the will of God in the government; for those that will not bend shall break; those whose necks are stiffened are so to their own destruction." This is Christ's word of command in his gospel, that every mountain will be brought low before him, Isa. xl. 4. Let not the anti-christian power, with its heads and horns, lift up itself against him, for it shall certainly be broken to pieces; what is said with a stiff neck must be unsaid again with a broken heart, or we are undone. Pharaoh said with a stiff neck, Who is the Lord? But God made him know to his cost.

God's Government of the World.

6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. 8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. 9 But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

In these verses we have two great doctrines laid down and two good inferences drawn from them, for the confirmation of what he had before said.

I. Here are two great truths laid down concerning God's government of the world, which we ought to mix faith with, both pertinent to the occasion:—

1. That from God alone kings receive their power (v. 6, 7), and therefore to God alone David would give the praise of his advancement; having his power from God he would use it for him, and therefore those were fools that lifted up the horn against him. We see strange revolutions in states and kingdoms, and are surprised at the sudden disgrace of some and elevation of others; we are all full of such changes, when they happen; but here we are directed to look at the author of them, and are taught where the original of power is, and whence promotion comes. Whence comes preferment to kingdoms, to the sovereignty of them? And whence come preferments in kingdoms, to places of power and trust in them? The former depends not upon the will of the people, nor the latter on the will of the prince, but both on the will of God, who has all hearts in his hands; to him therefore those must look who are in pursuit of preferment, and then they begin aright. We are here told, (1.) Negatively, which way we are not to look for the fountain of power: Promotion comes not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert, that is, neither from the desert on the north of Jerusalem nor from that on the south; so that the fair gale of preferment is not to be expected to blow from any point of the compass, but only from above, directly thence. Men cannot gain promotion either by the wisdom or wealth of the children of the east, nor by the numerous forces of the isles of the Gentiles, that lay westward, nor those of Egypt or Arabia, that lay south; no concurring smiles of second causes will raise men to preferment without the first cause. The learned bishop Lloyd (Serm. in loc.) gives this gloss upon it: "All men took the original of power to be from heaven, but from whom there many knew not; the eastern nations, who were generally given to astrology, took it to come from their stars, especially the sun, their god. No, says David, it comes neither from the east nor from the west, neither from the rising nor from the setting of such a planet, or such a constellation, nor from the south, nor from the exaltation of the sun or any star in the mid-heaven." He mentions not the north, because none supposed it to come thence; or because the same word that signifies the north signifies the secret place, and from the secret of God's counsel it does come, or from the oracle in Zion, which lay on the north side of Jerusalem. Note, No wind is so good as to blow promotion, but as he directs who has the winds in his fists. (2.) Positively: God is the judge, the governor or umpire. When parties contend for the prize, he puts down one and sets up another as he sees fit, so as to serve his own purposes and bring to pass his own counsels. Herein he acts by prerogative, and is not accountable to us for any of these matters; nor is it any damage, danger, or disgrace that he, who is infinitely wise, holy, and good, has an arbitrary and despotic power to set up and put down whom, and when, and how he pleases. This is a good reason why magistrates should rule for God as those that must give account to him, because it is by him that kings reign.

2. That from God alone all must receive their doom (v. 8): In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, which he puts into the hands of the children of men, a cup of providence, mixed up (as he thinks fit) of many ingredients, a cup of affliction. The sufferings of Christ are called a cup, Matt. xx. 22; John xviii. 11. The judgments of God upon sinners are the cup of the Lord's right hand, Hab. ii. 16. The wine is red, denoting the wrath of God, which is infused into the judgments executed on sinners, and is the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery. It is read as fire, red as blood, for it burns, it kills. It is full of mixture, prepared in wisdom, so as to answer the end. There are mixtures of mercy and grace in the cup of affliction when it is put into the hands of God's own people, mixtures of the curse when it is put into the hands of the wicked; it is wine mingled with gall. These vials, (1.) Are poured out upon all; see Rev. xv. 7; xvi. 1; where we read of the angels pouring out the vials of God's wrath upon the earth. Some drops of this wrath may light on good people; when God's judgments are abroad, they have their share in common calamities; but, (2.) The dregs of the cup are reserved for the wicked. The calamity itself is but the vehicle into which the wrath and curse is infused, the top of which has little of the infusion; but the sediment is pure wrath, and that shall fall to the share of sinners; they have the dregs of the cup now in the terrors of conscience, and hereafter in the torments of hell. They shall wring them out, that not a drop of the wrath may be left behind, and they shall drink them, for the curse shall enter into their bowels like water and like oil into their bones. The cup of the Lord's indignation will be to them a cup of trembling, everlasting trembling, Rev. xiv. 10. The wicked man's cup, while he prospers in the world, is full of mixture, but the worst is at the bottom. The wicked are reserved unto the day of judgment.

II. Here are two good practical inferences drawn from these great truths, and they are the same purposes of duty that he began the psalm with. This being so, 1. He will praise God, and give him glory, for the power to which he has advanced him (v. 9): I will declare for ever that which thy wondrous works declare, v. 1. He will praise God for his elevation, not only at first, while the mercy was fresh, but for ever, so long as he lives. The exaltation of the Son of David will be the subject of the saints' everlasting praises. He will give glory to God, not only as his God, but as the God of Jacob, knowing it was for Jacob his servant's sake, and because he loved his people Israel, that he made him king over them. 2. He will use the power with which he is entrusted for the great ends for which it was put into his hands, v. 10, as before, v. 2, 4. According to the duty of the higher powers, (1.) He resolves to be a terror to evildoers, to humble their pride and break their power: "Though not all the heads, yet all the horns, of the wicked will I cut off, with which they push their poor neighbours; I will disable them to do mischief." Thus God promises to raise up carpenters who should fray the horns of the Gentiles that had scattered Judah and Israel, Zech. i. 18-21. (2.) He resolves to be a protection and praise to those that do well: The horns of the righteous shall be exalted; they shall be preferred and be put into places of power; and those that are good, and have hearts to do good, shall not want ability and opportunity for it. This agrees with David's resolutions, Ps. ci. 3, &c. Herein David was a type of Christ, who with the breath of his mouth shall slay the wicked, but shall exalt with honour the horn of the righteous, Ps. cxii. 9.

PSAL. LXXV.

To the Master of the Musicke, Corrupt not: a Psalme of Asaph, a Song.

WE confesse to thee, O God, we confesse, & neere is thy name; they tell thy wondrous works. When I shal receive the appointment, I will judge righteousnesses. Dissolved is the earth and all the inhabitants thereof; I have set sure the pillars therof Selah. I said to the vain-glorious fools, be not vain-gloriously foolish; and to the wicked, lift not up the horne. Lift not up your horne to on high, nor speake with a stiffe neck.

For not from the East, or from the West, neither from the desart commeth promotion.

But God is the judge, he abaseth one, and exalteth another. For a cup is in the hand of Iehovah, and the wine is red, it is full of mixture, and hee powreth out of the same; but the dregs thereof wring out and drinke shall all the wicked of the earth. And I will shew for ever, will sing Psalme to the God of Iakob. And will hew off all the hornes of the wicked; the hornes of the just man shall be advanced.

Annotations. COrrupt not] or, Destroy not; see Psal. 57. 1. The Chaldee addeth, in the time when David said, destroy not the people. of Asaph] or to Asaph; in Chaldee, by the hand of Asaph: see Psal. 50. 1. Vers. 2. and neere is] to wit, neere in our mouths and hearts to celebrate it. Thus Gods word is said to be neere, Rom. 10. 8. and, thou art neere in their mouth, Ier. 12. 2. In this sense the Greeke also explaineth it, and wee will call on thy name. they tell] that is, I and others with me: so the Greeke saith, I will tell. Vers. 3. receive the appointment] or, take the appointed thing, (or time, as the Chaldee translateth it;) that is, the office appointed and promised. They seeme to be the words of the Psalmist (as appeareth more plainly by vers. 10. and 11.) in person of Christ, to whom the kingdome of Israel was appointed in due time; whom David was a figure of, in taking and administring the kingdome when it was distracted with troubles. See 2 Sam. 3. 17. 19. and 5. 1, 2, 3. righteousnesses] that is, most righteously. Vers. 4. dissolved] or melted, that is, faint with troubles, feares, &c. as Ios. 2. 9. set sure] or, will fitly fasten, artificially stablish, as by line and measure, that they fall not. Pillars] the mountaines, which may also meane Governours; for great personages are likened to Pillars, Gal. 2 9. Vers. 5. the horne] the signe of power and glorie, Ps. 112. 9. and 89. 18. 25. Lu. 1. 69. In 1 Chr. 25. 5. mention is made of prophesies, to lift up the horne. Vers. 6. to on high] that is, aloft, or against the high God. with a stiffe necke] like untamed oxen shaking off the yoke of obedience. Or, speake not a hard thing (as Psal. 31. 19.) with a necke stretched out, that is, arrogantly, or with one necke, that is, with joynt force: as heart, in Psal. 83. 6. is for one heart. Vers. 7. the desart] that is, the South or North: for desarts were on both ends of the land of Canaan. promotion] or exaltation; or, as the Greeke translateth, desart of the mountaines, that is, the mountainy desart, meaning that preferment or deliverance comes not from any of the nations round about. The Hebrew Harim is ambiguous, signifying both exaltation, and mountaines. The Chaldee maketh this paraphrase, For there is none besides me, from East to West from the North the place of the desart, or from the South the place of the mountaines. Ver. 8. abaseth one] Hebr. this man. another] Hebr. this man. It may also be read, He (this God) abaseth, and he advanceth. Vers. 9. a cup] to measure out afflictions; as Psa. 11. 6. a similitude often used: see Hab. 2. 16. Ezr. 23. 31, 32. Ier. 25. 28. The Chaldee saith, a cup of curse. wine] that is, wrath or indignation, as is expressed, Ier. 25. 15. Iob 21. 20. Revel. 14. 10. red] or thicke, troubled, muddie, noting fierce indignation. The Greeke turneth it, acratou, more, meaning strong wine, not allaied. So in Revel. 14. 10. where mere, or pure wine, meaneth great afflictions. The Greeke there is taken frō this Psalme. of mixture] that is, of liquor mixed, ready to be drunke: as wisdome is said to have mixed her wine, Prov. 9 2. that is, tempered it ready. So Rev. 14 10. The Chaldee addeth, mixture of bitternesse. he powreth out] to wit, unto his owne people, afflicting them, as is expressed, Ier. 25. 17, 18, 28 29. the dregs] the most grievous afflictions; as Esai. 51. 17. 22. wring out] or sucke up, that is, feele, and be affected with it. So Ezek. 23. 34. Esa. 51. 17. Vers. 10. will shew] to wit, this worke of God his mercy, and judgement. The Chaldee explaineth it, will shew thy miracles. hornes of the wicked] their power, dominion, and pride, whereby they afflict and scatter Gods people, Ier. 48. 25. Lam. 2. 3. Zach. 1. 21. Rev. 17. 12, 13. as by hornes of the just man, is meant his power, dominion, glory, Psal. 132. 17. and 92. 11. and 148. 14. 1 Sam. 2. 10. So the Chaldee openeth it, And I will humble all kingdomes, the high strength of the wicked.

PSAL. LXXV

TO the chief Muſician Al-taſchith] That is, Deſtroy not; The Chaldee paraphraſeth, In the time when David ſaid, Deſtroy not the people. The Pſalm ſeemeth to have been made either by Aſaph in Davids name, or by David himſelf (and by him committed to Aſaph) at ſuch time as the difference depending betwixt him and Ishoſheth, many were ſlain on both ſides: This drew from David an Al-taſchith, not long before he was anointed King over all Iſrael, 2 Sam. 5.1, &c.

Verſ. 1. Unto thee O God, do we give thanks] Heb. Wee celebrate thee, O God, we celebrate thee; viz. both for mercies and croſſes ſanctified; for theſe alſo are to be reckoned upon the ſcore of Gods favours.

For that thy Name is near] Nomen, id eſt numen, Thy Name, that is, thy ſelf are near, ad liberandum invocantem, as Aben-Ezra expoundeth it, to deliver thoſe that call upon thee.

Verſ. 2. When I ſhall receive the Congregation] i. e. The government of all the twelve Tribes, as I beleeve I ſhall do ſhortly, according to Gods promiſe to mee by Samuel.

I will judge uprightly] That a man is in truth, that he is his own particular place and ſtation; that he is really, that he is relatively.

Verſ. 3. The earth, and all the inhabitants thereof are diſſolved] Both Church and Common-wealth here are utterly out of order; I ſhall indeavour mine utmoſt to ſet all to rights, and ſo to preſerve the World from ruine, which ſubſiſteth by and for the ſake of Gods Iſrael. Abſ que ſtationibus non ſtaret mundus.

I bear up the pillars of it] Semen ſanctum ſtatumen terrae, Iſa. 6.13. The holy ſeed upholdeth the State. David did (as Lucan ſaith of Cato) toti genitum ſe credere mundo. Jeſus Chriſt much more; he is the true Atlas, upholding all things by the word of his power, Heb. 1.3.

Verſ. 4. I ſaid unto the fools, deal not fooliſhly] Boaſt not your ſelves ſo proudly and petulantly, but ſubmit to Gods decree, and my government; how much more to Chriſts?

Lift not up the horn] Metaphor a à tauris cornupetis.

Verſ. 5. Lift not up your horn on high] Againſt the High God; ſo Tremellius rendreth it.

Speak not with a ſtiff neck] Some render it with an old neck, let old things paſs, and now ſpeak with a new and humble throat. Hard words and ſtout ſpeeches uttered from a mind vehemently moved out of its plate (as the word here uſed, importeth) ſhall be one day dearly anſwered for, Jud. 15.

Verſ. 6. For Promotion commeth neither from the Eaſt] Dignitatis nullum eſt [illegible: 2 letters] porium. Ambitioniſts uſe to look this way and that way how to advance themſelves, but all in vain. Hiſpanic Monarchia Cathalica debetur divinitus, ſod in Utopia, ſaith One,

Nor from the South] Where the warm ſunſhine is.

Verſ. 7. But God is the Judge] He ſitteth at the ſtern, and ordereth all human affairs, according to the good pleaſure of his will.

He putteth down one, and ſetteth up another] As we ſeen in Saul, and David, in the four great Monarchies, in Bajaz[illegible: 1 letter]t and Tamerlan; beſides many others. Vertue exalteth the meaneſt, when villany tumbleth down the mightieſt. Agathocles the ſon of a Potter became King of Sicily. Valentinian the ſon of a Rope-maker became Emperour of Rome. Justinus was firſt a Swineheard, then an heardſman,Anno. Chr. 518. then a Carpenter, a ſouldier, and after all, an Emperour. If Alexander, to ſhew his greatneſſe, advanced Abdilominus from a poor Gardiner, to be King in Sidon, What cannot the Lord do? Tamerlan having overcome Bajazet, asked him whether ever he had given God thanks for making him ſo great an Emperour? who confeſſed ingenuouſly he never thought of it; To whom Tamerian replyed, [illegible: 1 span]. that it was no wonder ſo ungratefull a man ſhould be made a ſpectacle of miſery. For you, ſaid he, being blind of one eye, and I lame of a leg, was there any worth in us, why God ſhould ſet us over two great Empires of Turks and Tartars, to command many more worthy than our ſelves?

Verſ. 8. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup] A cup of affliction, whereof all muſt drink more or leſſe. The Chaldee calleth it a cup of curſe; Affliction is in it ſelf a fruit of ſin, and a peece of the curſe.Prov. 23.31, 32.

And the wine is red] And ſo more powerfull, and peircing. That is an affliction, and grievous, that God maketh to be ſo.

It is full of mixture] i. e. Ready prepared, as Prov. 9.2. Rev. 14.10. [illegible: 1 word] arc[illegible: 1 letter]aticu[illegible: 1 letter]. or mingled with ſpices to make the wine more hot and inebriating.

And he poureth out of the ſame] The Saints ſip of the top only, they drink illud ſolum quod eſt ſuavius & limpidus, the ſweeter and clearer part of Gods cup. Excellently Mr. Bradford Martyr, in a certain letter of his, Drink, ſaith he, of Gods cup willingly, and at the firſt when it is fulleſt, peradventure if we linger,Act. & Mou[illegible: 1 letter]. fol. 1487. we drink at length of the dregs with the wicked, if at the beginning we drink not with Gods Children.

But the dregs thereof] The full vialls of divine vengeance.

All the wicked of the earth ſhall wring them out and drink them] They ſhall drink them every drop, yea though it be eternity to the bottom. This ſhall be worſe to them than was that ladle-full of ſcalding lead poured down the throat of a dr[illegible: 1 letter]nken man, by the command of a Turkiſh Baſhaw.

Verſ. 9. But I will declare for ever] viz. Gods great goodneſs in mine advancement to the Kingdome, and the reſt of thoſe wonderful works, verſ. 1.

I will ſing praiſes, &c.] This thankfull man was worth his weight in the gold of Ophir.

Verſ. 10. All the hornes of the Wicked alſo will I cut off] By promiſing the due adminiſtration of vindictive and remunerative Juſtice, hee ſeeks to inſinuate into the peoples affections, who, after Iſhboſheths death, came in to make him King.

But the horns of the Righteous ſhall be exalted] Dignity ſhall wait upon deſert, which ſhall cauſe it again to be waited upon by reſpect. Thus it ſhould be in the Courts of all Princes. In Cyrus his Court, though a man ſhould ſeek or chu[illegible: 1 letter]e blindfold, he could not miſſe of a good man, ſaith Xenophon. [illegible: 1 letter]yropaed. [illegible: 1 letter]. 8.

Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks. Not to ourselves, for we were helpless, but to Elohim who heard our cry, and replied to the taunt of our foes. Never let us neglect thanksgiving, or we may fear that another time our prayers will remain unanswered. As the smiling flowers gratefully reflect in their lovely colours the various constituents of the solar ray, so should gratitude spring up in our hearts after the smiles of God's providence. Unto thee do we give thanks. We should praise God again and again. Stinted gratitude is ingratitude. For infinite goodness there should be measureless thanks. Faith promises redoubled praise for greatly needed and signal deliverances. For that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. God is at hand to answer and do wonders —adore we then the present Deity. We sing not of a hidden God, who sleeps and leaves the church to her fate, but of one who ever in our darkest days is most near, a very present help in trouble. "Near is his name." Baal is on a journey, but Jehovah dwells in his church. Glory be unto the Lord, whose perpetual deeds of grace and majesty are the sure tokens of his being with us always, even unto the ends of the world.

When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. This is generally believed to be the voice of God, who will, when he accepts his people, mount his judgment seat and avenge their cause in righteousness. It is rendered by some, "I will take a set time; "and by others, "I will seize the moment."

"God never is before his time,

He is never too late."

He determines the period of interposition, and when that arrives swift are his blows and sure are his deliverances. God sends no delegated judge, but sits himself upon the throne. O Lord, let thy set time come for grace. Tarry no longer, but for the truth and the throne of Jesus be thou speedily at work. Let the appointed assize come, O Jesus, and sit thou on thy throne to judge the world in equity.

The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved. When anarchy is abroad, and tyrants are in power, everything is unloosed, dissolution threatens all things, the solid mountains of government melt as wax; but even then the Lord upholds and sustains the right. I bear up the pillars of it. Hence, there is no real cause for fear. While the pillars stand, and stand they must for God upholds them, the house will brave out the storm. In the day of the Lord's appearing a general melting will take place, but in that day our covenant God will be the sure support of our confidence.

"How can I sink with such a prop

As my eternal God,

Who bears the earth's huge pillars up,

And spreads the heavens abroad."

Selah. Here may the music pause while the sublime vision passes before our view; a world dissolved and an immutable God uplifting all his people above the terrible commotion.

I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly. The Lord bids the boasters boast not, and commands the mad oppressors to stay their folly. How calm is he, how quiet are his words, yet how divine the rebuke. If the wicked were not insane, they would even now hear in their consciences the still small voice bidding them cease from evil, and forbear their pride. And to the wicked, Lift not up the horn. He bids the ungodly stay their haughtiness. The horn was the emblem of boastful power; only the foolish, like wild and savage beasts, will lift it high; but they assail heaven itself with it, as if they would gore the Almighty himself. In dignified majesty he rebukes the inane glories of the wicked, who beyond measure exalt themselves in the day of their fancied power.

Lift not up your horn on high. For their abounding pride there is a double rebuke. A word from God soon abases the lofty. Would to God that all proud men would obey the word here given them; for, if they do not, he will take effectual means to secure obedience, and then woe will come upon them, such as shall break their horns and roll their glory in the mire for ever. Speak not with a stiff neck. Impudence before God is madness. The outstretched neck of insolent pride is sure to provoke his axe. Those who carry their heads high shall find that they will be lifted yet higher, as Haman was upon the gallows which he had prepared for the righteous man. Silence, thou silly boaster! Silence! or God will answer thee. Who art thou, thou worm, that thou shouldest arrogantly object against thy Maker's laws and cavil at his truth? Be hushed, thou vainglorious prater, or vengeance shall silence thee to thine eternal confusion.

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. There is a God, and a providence, and things happen not by chance. Though deliverance be hopeless from all points of the compass, yet God can work it for his people; and though judgment come neither from the rising or the setting of the sun, nor from the wilderness of mountains, yet come it will, for the Lord reigneth. Men forget that all things are ordained in heaven; they see but the human force, and the carnal passion, but the unseen Lord is more real far than these. He is at work behind and within the cloud. The foolish dream that he is not, but he is near even now, and on the way to bring in his hand that cup of spiced wine of vengeance, one draught of which shall stagger all his foes.

But God is the judge. Even now he is actually judging. His seat is not vacant; his authority is not abdicated; the Lord reigneth evermore. He putteth down one, and setteth up another. Empires rise and fall at his bidding. A dungeon here, and there a throne, his will assigns. Assyria yields to Babylon, and Babylon to the Medes. Kings are but puppets in his hand; they serve his purpose when they rise and when they fall. A certain author has issued a work called "Historic Ninepins, "(Timbs), a fit name of scorn for all the great ones of the earth. God only is; all power belongs to him; all else is shadow, coming and going, unsubstantial, misty, dream like.

For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup. The punishment of the wicked is prepared, God himself holds it in readiness; he has collected and concocted woes most dread, and in the chalice of his wrath he holds it. They scoffed his feast of love; they shall be dragged to his table of justice, and made to drink their due deserts. And the wine is red. The retribution is terrible, it is blood for blood, foaming vengeance for foaming malice. The very colour of divine wrath is terrible; what must the taste be? It is full of mixture. Spices of anger, justice, and incensed mercy are there. Their misdeeds, their blasphemies, their persecutions have strengthened the liquor as with potent drugs;

"Mingled, strong, and mantling high;

Behold the wrath divine."

Ten thousand woes are burning in the depths of that fiery cup, which to the brim is filled with indignation. And he poureth out of the same. The full cup must be quaffed, the wicked cannot refuse the terrible draught, for God himself pours it out for them and into them. Vain are their cries and entreaties. They could once defy him, but that hour is over, and the time to requite them if fully come. But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. Even to the bitter end must wrath proceed. They must drink on and on for ever, even to the bottom where lie the lees of deep damnation; these they must suck up, and still must they drain the cup. Oh the anguish and the heart break of the day of wrath! Mark well, it is for all the wicked; all hell for all the ungodly; the dregs for the dregs; bitters for the bitter; wrath for the heirs of wrath. Righteousness is conspicuous, but over all terror spreads a tenfold night, cheerless, without a star. Oh happy they who drink the cup of godly sorrow, and the cup of salvation: these, though now despised, will then be envied by the very men who trod them under foot.

But I will declare for ever. Thus will the saints occupy themselves with rehearsing Jehovah's praises, while their foes are drunken with the wine of wrath. They shall chant while the others roar in anguish, and justly so, for the former Psalm informed us that such had been the case on earth, —"thine enemies roar in the sanctuary, " —the place where the chosen praised the Lord. I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. The covenant God, who delivered Jacob from a thousand afflictions, our soul shall magnify. He has kept his covenant which he made with the patriarch, and has redeemed his seed, therefore will we spread abroad his fame world without end.

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off. Power and liberty being restored to Israel, she begins again to execute justice, by abasing the godless who had gloried in the reign of oppression. Their power and pomp are to be smitten down. Men wore horns in those days as a part of their state, and these, both literally and figuratively, were to be lopped off; fir since God abhors the proud, his church will not tolerate them any longer. But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. In a rightly ordered society, good men are counted great men, virtue confers true rank, and grace is more esteemed than gold. Being saved from unrighteous domination, the chief among the chosen people here promises to rectify the errors which had crept into the commonwealth, and after the example of the Lord himself, to abase the haughty and elevate the humble. This memorable ode may be sung in times of great depression, when prayer has performed her errand at the mercyseat, and when faith is watching for speedy deliverance. It is a song of the second advent, CONCERNING THE NEARNESS OF THE JUDGE WITH THE CUP OF WRATH.

The unceasing thanksgiving of the church, her grand cause for adoration: the nearness of her God, and the evident proof thereof in the displays of his power.

1. Do we give thanks?

2. We do give thanks.

3. What thanks do we give.?

4. When do we give thanks?

5. Let us give thanks again.

Good resolutions commendable, how they should be made, strengthened, and performed.

The Lord the stay of his people under the worst circumstances.

Teacheth us that no disorder or confusion should hinder us from doing that which God requireth of us; nay, rather, the more things are out of order the more readily should we labour to redress them. Thomas Wilcocks.

1. Who spoke to them? I.

2. Who were they? Fools, wicked.

3. What did you say?

4. What was the good of it? Or, Rebuke of sin, a duty.

The unhallowed trio: —wickedness, folly, pride.

Arguments against pride in heart, appearance, and speech.

Verses 6-7. The changes of providence not the tricks of fortune.

God acts as a judge and not arbitrarily in his providential arrangements.

In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, etc.

1. As to matter of preparation, consider it so, and thus it is in the hand of the Lord.

2. By way of qualification: it is he that tempers it; it was full of mixture.

3. By way of distribution, as giving to every one his share and portion in it. Thomas Horton.

The cup of wrath. Where it is, what it is, how full it is, who brings it, who must drink it.

Full of mixture. Wrath of God, remorse, memory of lost joy, fear of future, recriminations, despair, shame, etc., all these are ingredients of the mingled cup.

(last clause).

1. "The dregs" of the cup: the wrath of wrath, the gall of bitterness.

2. The dregs of the people: "all wicked."

Our life work: to declare and to sing.