Notes on the History Behind the Psalms

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PSALMS 138−145 (INCLUSIVE).

 

Here follow eight Psalms of David expressing varied experiences. They begin and end with Praise. Did the Levites keep them to bring them forth after the Captivity was over?

 

Were they like the prayers “offered up with much incense” during the half-hour’s silence in heaven? (Rev. 8.1).

 

Were they the representative experiences of the many-sided man, recounted as gathering up the trials and deliverances of many of the Lord’s children after they had all reached their Home? We may find in them “a Pilgrim’s Progress” which is well worthy of study. First (Ps. 138), A rapid glance at the work to be accomplished. Then (Ps. 139), the birth of the “new man” (Ps. 140). The conflict with the “old man” (a) in the more open opposition, (Ps. 141) (b) In the more subtle temptations, (Ps. 142) The fear of death, (Ps. 143) The fear of being rejected at the last, (Ps. 144) The sight of the fulness of Christ to meet all our needs (Ps. 144). The triumphant Praise!

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PSALM 138

 

“Which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it”

 

When God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” He had “counted the cost,” even the life and death of His “only-begotten Son,” Who “gave himself a ransom for us.” But now “having begun a good work in us, he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1.6). “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands.”

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PSALM 139

 

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.”

 

The subject of Psalm 139 is the Creation of the First and of the “Last Adam.” When our Lord “commended his spirit” into the hands of His Father, He laid down the soul of the first Adam. When He arose again from the “lowest part of the earth”^[36] it was as a “new man,” the “last Adam” (1 Cor. 15.45); the “head over all things to the church, which is his body, the ful­ness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1.22,23).

 

The Psalm describes the gradual growth of this body, which—like the stones of Solomon’s Temple—“was made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building ” (1 Kings 6.7). We have here the certainty that “in thy book all my members were written”: and “by the greatness of his power” “not one faileth” (Isa. 40.26).

 

When those in glory recount these mercies, will they not do as was done of old, “And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hun­dreds, came near unto Moses; and they said unto Moses, thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us. We have therefore brought an oblation unto the Lord” (Numb. 31.48,49).

 

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^[36] Cf. Eph. 4.9, “descended into the lower parts of the earth.”

 

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PSALM 140

 

“O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?”

 

When we consider the place of this Psalm next to one containing the history of the forma­tion of the “second Adam,” the “new man,” the redeemed soul, we are reminded of the many difficulties and hindrances, and snares and temptations which surround the children of God all through their earthly pilgrimage.

 

“In the third chapter of the Epistle to the Romans there is a quotation put together from six different passages of the Old Testament to prove the corruption of man. One of them is from Psalm 140.3. It is somewhat remarkable when we look them up in detail, to find that one or two of them are fragments of the prayers of the Psalmist against his foes. ‘Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, preserve me from the wicked man. They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent; adder’s poison is under their lips.’ But who are the evil man’ and the ‘violent man’? By St. Paul's application of the words, they are seen to be every man, and therefore amongst others, a man’s own self; he who prays thus prays against himself no less than against his enemies: and who is a Christian man’s worst enemy but himself?”—C.H.W.

 

It is the Old Testament version of the conflict described in Romans 6 and 7. From within and from without the “enemy comes in like a flood,” but as of old the “Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him” (Isa. 59.19). These deliverances must be recalled and celebrated in the Home above!

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PSALM 141

 

“So fight I, not as one that beateth the air.”

 

Psalm 141 continues to depict the conflict of the “Second Adam,” but it is now the inner and more persistent forms of sin that are spoken of: sins of the tongue, sins of the heart, and the snares of the tempter.

 

But the writer had “escaped”—“passed over” (margin) as he requested; and it only remained to tell of his deliverance.

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PSALM 142

 

“Maschil of David; a prayer when he was in the cave.”

 

“The fear of death is fallen upon me.”

 

Psalm 142 recalls some of our Lord’s own words about Himself: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matt. 26.38); “Now is my soul troubled” (John 12.27); “Jesus was troubled in spirit” (John 12.21). These words are like “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me” (ver. 3). “The sor­rows of death compassed him” (Ps. 116.3). We seem to be listening to our Lord’s own experience of the Tomb.

 

It was (like the grave of Lazarus) a cave, and “a stone lay upon it.” “It was not possible that he should be holden of death” (Acts 2.24), and even here He claims God as His “portion in the land of the living” (ver. 5). But “ forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2.14,15). This deliverance must also be set forth in the great assembly “where there is no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21.4). 

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PSALM 143

 

“I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul"

 

Psalm 143 seems to belong to the close of David’s life, when he can recall “the days of old.” “His soul is in darkness; his spirit over­whelmed within him.” His prayer is that God will not “enter into judgment with his servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” He is distressed that God hides His face from him.

 

Like Christian in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” when he comes to the river of death, “a great darkness and horror fell upon him, so that he could not see before him.” “Here also he was much in the troublesome thoughts of the sins that he had committed both since and before he began to be a pilgrim.”

 

Some light comes to David, for he says in the last verse, “I am thy servant”; and God does not forsake His servants, as he had reason to know. But it is not until the next Psalm that the method of deliverance is before him in its fulness. 

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PSALM 144

 

“Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."

 

Out of weakness David is made strong, for he begins, “Blessed be the Lord my strength.” God is to him all that he is not in himself, “my goodness, my fortress, my high tower, and my deliverer: my shield, and he in whom I trust.” All that he needs is provided for him in God; and his words in the Psalm recall many like deliverances given to him in times past. He just touches on them now, in order to give thanks again and again, and to sing a “new song” to his Deliverer. It is the Old Testament version of the right of the “great multi­tude which no man could number to stand before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” They had “come out of the great tribulation, and had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them” (Rev. 7.9,14,15).

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PSALM 145

 

“He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord.” David’s thanks and praise culminate in his “Psalm of Praise,” for “the enemy was after that as still as stone, until they were gone over.” The reality of this experience is known in this world to many Christians who—sometimes from physical causes; sometimes perhaps from an im­perfect apprehension of God’s plan of Redemp­tion—“write bitter things against themselves.” The final preservation of God’s children appears many times in these Psalms. The life may have seemed like a spark amid an ocean of troubles, yet it is not quenched; like a bird actually in the snare of the fowler, yet “the snare is broken,” and the deliverance comes!

 

That these experiences and deliverances find a place in the Fifth Book of the Psalter, will surely be a matter of praise to many.

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PSALMS 146-150 THE HALLELUJAH CHORUS.

 

Psalm 146: Praise to Jehovah in His per­sonal relation to man.

 

Psalm 147: Praise in His rebuilding of Jerusalem (“He hath prepared for them a city”) and gathering in the outcasts.

 

Psalm 148: Praise from all creation and from “a people near unto him.”

 

Psalm 149: Praise from the risen saints, who shall judge His people.

 

Psalm 150: “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.”

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PSALM 146

 

The Hallelujah Chorus begins with praise to Jehovah in His personal relations to the soul of the Psalmist:—To the oppressed:—the Hungry: —the Prisoner:—the Blind:—the Bowed down: —the Righteous:—the Stranger, the Fatherless and the Widow.

 

He “shall reign for ever” in “Zion unto all generations.”

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PSALM 147

 

The next note of praise is for the building of Jerusalem, and the gathering together the out­casts of Israel. God’s care for the outcast is found all through Scripture. The first time that we hear of the “Angel of the Lord,” He comes to seek Hagar in the wilderness when she fled from the face of her mistress Sarai (Gen. 16.7); and again, when she and Ishmael were cast out from the house of Abraham, the Angel of God called to her out of heaven and told her what to do (Gen. 21.17, 19). It was promised in the last covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, that “ If any of them be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee ” (Deut. 30.3). He “devises means that his banished be not expelled from him” (2 Sam. 14.14), but called back—from Egypt (Isa. 27.12); and from the four corners of the earth (Isa. 11.12). And others besides must be gathered (Isa. 56.8).^[37]

 

In Isaiah 16.3,4, Moab is ordered to shelter the outcast and not to betray them.

 

When we come to the New Testament the teaching is quite as plain. Besides the example of our Lord in seeking the blind man who was cast out by the Pharisees (John 9.34, 35), and His words that “He came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19.10), we have His parables in St. Luke 15 of the Lost Sheep; the Lost Piece of Money; the Prodigal Son; also in Luke 14.21,23, when His guests are fetched from the “streets and lanes of the city” first and then from “the highways and hedges.” And just before the fall of Babylon in Revela­tion, an angel flies through heaven to preach the everlasting Gospel “to every nation and kindred, and tongue, and people,” if any will be induced to fear God and give glory to Him (Rev. 14.6,7).

 

Verse 4. “He telleth the number of the stars.” (Cf Isa. 40.26; 2 Sam. 17.22, “not one faileth”; Dan. 12.3.)

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^[37] See also Ezek. 34.11,12,16; Micah 4.6,7; Zeph. 3.19.

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PSALM 148

 

The praise is from all Creation.

First from the heavens: then from the earth.

 

We are reminded of the songs of heaven which are heard on earth on Mount Zion in Rev. 14.1-5. They are taken up by the Redeemed, the Sealed of God out of all the Tribes of Israel (cf. Isa. 35.10). Songs poured over^[38] their heads, when “they overtake joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away”!

 

Verse 14. “ The children of Israel; a people near unto him.” Israel had once fallen away from his position as “Priest of the Lord.” “Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hos. 4.6), but here we see them restored, for God had raised up “an horn of salvation” for them (Luke 1.69), and brought them to be “a people near unto him” (Eph. 2.13), who “declare his name to kings of the earth and all people; princes and all judges of the earth.” (Cf. Isa. 61.6.)

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^[38] Dr. West’s translation.

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PSALM 149

 

A Song is called in Scripture “a new Song” when it is sung under fresh circumstances. Per­haps the new circumstances here may refer to the Leader of the Song of Praise. In Ps. 22.22—a Psalm which is always applied to Christ —He says, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee,” and the words are taken up in Heb. 2.12, “In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” Now the Kingdom has come. He has gone forth who is “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords” (Rev. 19.16), and He will beautify the meek with salvation.

 

Verse 5. “Let them sing aloud ‘above’ their beds.”

 

This refers to resurrection. What follows is of the time when “judgment shall be given to the saints of the most High,” “and the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” “Know ye not,” says St. Paul, “that we shall judge angels?” “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou has put all things in subjection under his feet” (Ps. 8.6; Dan. 7.22,27; 1 Cor. 6.2).

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PSALM 150

 

“Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” “Hallelujah"

 

“The Five Books of the Psalter rise gradually from Amen by itself through Amen coupled with Hallelujah, to Hallelujah alone as here.

 

“Faith has given place to sight, and promises to accomplished facts; and so we have an antici­pation of the time when the ‘great multitude’ shall say, ‘Alleluia! for the Lord God omni­potent reigneth’ (Rev. 19.6).”^[39]

 

The many notes of Praise in the Fifth Book of the Psalter cannot attain their full measure until we reach the Heavenly Jerusalem. But we have treated the book as a retrospect of the way the Lord led each traveller in the wilder­ness—our Lord Himself in the Hallel telling of His “temptations”; and the experiences and deliverances of many others are recounted. But there are also many anticipations far above what we can realise here, of the “life for evermore” of the brethren who “dwell together in unity” (Ps. 133), the “pleasures for evermore” of His presence (Ps. 16), when we “awake up after his likeness” in the Heavenly Jerusalem.^[40] “These pleasures” are of a special sort; they are plea­sures of speech, of social and familiar intercourse with friends. This word “pleasures” always has to do with conversation in the language of the Old Testament Scriptures; and it points to the endless store of converse and intercourse, when all who are gone over Jordan shall be able to look back together, and to remember all the way that the Lord led them—and to hear all the way that He went Himself—these “ forty years in the wilderness to humble them, and to prove them”; feeding them with they knew not what, but with the very “corn of heaven” as it turned out to be; even every order and Appointment that proceeded out of the mouth of God to do them good at the latter end.    

 

Every possible variety of experience in the history of the multitude that no man can number, and all the untold experiences of our blessed Lord Himself make up the materials for that converse; experience to which the most fascinating concep­tions of human life that man has ever imagined will be as nothing.

 

When all the company for whom the right hand of God is the appointed place—the sheep of His right hand—the disciples of His training are together; there will be pleasures of converse concerning His leading—“pleasures for ever­more”—and they will give thanks to Him who “led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy endureth for ever.”

 

 

THE END

 

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^[39]“When ye Pray,” by Dr. C. H, Waller.

^[40] The last clause of Ps. 16.11 is not cited on the day of Pente­cost, Acts 2.28. They are “pleasures for eternity.”

 

NotesBehindPsalmsWaller.pdf