THE value of the Psalms has been acknowledged by the Church of God in every age. That their full prophetic meaning has not always been perceived, even by those who gathered largely from them of those endless consolations that are given us in Christ, may easily be allowed. But the genuine believer has not failed at all times to appreciate, in some degree, their wondrous adaptation to the varied spiritual necessities of the generation of God's children, while accomplishing their day of faith and patience here below.
It is well known to all, that very many of the Psalms were written by the pen, and are to a certain extent expressive of the actual experiences, of the son of Jesse. By using thus the personal emotions of His chosen instrument, as the vehicle of His own Divine utterance, the Spirit of Christ has shaped His gracious speech in perfect sympathy with all varieties of spiritual feeling in His people.
Whether in heaviness through manifold temptations, or moving, in tranquil peace and settlement of soul, along the smoother passages of pilgrim life; while watching, circumspectly and with prayer, against insidious snares of evil in a world which lieth in the wicked one; or, when filled with gladness and a more abundant flow of thanksgiving and praise, because of some worthier perception of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, the partaker of the heavenly calling cannot look vainly in the Psalms for fitting language to express the secret of his soul.
That the strong personal tone which distinguishes in general the songs of David (as well as some others not attributed to him) should have endeared that class of Psalms in a peculiar manner to the Christian, is both natural and just. For in widely different states of spiritual growth and experience, as well as of personal relation to external circumstances, many of God's children have discovered there a grateful and exact response to the existing spirit of their minds.
But full as they are of comfort and refreshment to the Christian, when pondered thus with an immediate reference to his own estate, it was not for this purpose only that the Holy Ghost composed the Psalms. Like all the rest of Scripture, they were written, not for consolation only, but also for instruction. We must, therefore, regard them in this, their higher character and far wider scope, as a portion of declared prophetic testimony, if we would gather from them all the blessing which, by the gracious and all-wise provision of the Father of lights, they were intended to convey to our souls.
Nor should these things be ever separated in our minds as things distinct essentially, or mutually incompatible. For true knowledge is the very source of life and peace. And if we confess that Jesus is THE TRUTH, and that all Scripture is "the word of Christ," we may assure ourselves that every progressive step which, by the grace of God, we are allowed to make, in searching what the Spirit wrote of Him, will be a positive addition to our joy. For He is the one Object of the Holy Ghost, who is not the Author only, but the sole effectual Expounder also, of the word of God. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. As it respects' the Psalms, the Lord's own words command our expectation of peculiar blessing, when we read them with a wise desire to discern Him there. The testimony of the apostles, to the same effect, is well known to the Christian reader.
For the profitable study of prophetic Scripture, it is needful that the inquirer be personally established in the grace of God; and assuredly to know the Shepherd of their souls is the calling and distinctive blessing of the sheep which are His own. It is the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, who makes them thus acquainted with their portion and their joy. But His gracious office does not end in the establishment of individual faith upon the Rock of life; He is the Teacher also of the children, in the mysteries of God. It is, indeed, a mournful fact, that partly through the evil working of the heart of unbelief, and not a little by means of time-honored but erroneous traditional teaching, it happens often that the confidence and joy which should belong to the believer, from his birth in Christ, is but faintly apprehended even by fathers in the faith.
But it is manifest that while the Christian remains, in the practical experience of his soul, below the level of God's finished truth, he carries with him an effectual hindrance to his happy progress in that knowledge which we are exhorted to add to our faith. For while ignorant of God's true peace, he will be searching Scripture in the uneasy temper of a mind in doubt, instead of in a glad and thankful consciousness of the unmeasured opulence of grace. He will be seeking relief for an uncured disease, instead of delighting in the pastures of salvation, which invite the feet of those who, through the knowledge of the Son of God, already are made free indeed.
Himself will be, in short, his object, more than God. For until our souls are settled in the love of God, we seek for Christ as for a treasure not yet found, instead of in His light advancing in the wisdom which is hidden from the world-joying in God by Him, and daily making increase in that knowledge which puffs no man up by its possession, though its gain be better far than much fine gold.
The true blessedness of the believer is to know the God who has begotten him for endless life, and ordained him for glory as a vessel of elective mercy. That we shall know as we are known, is a promised consummation of that grace which our souls already taste in Jesus, by the faith of Him; and the natural progress of the quickened soul is to be growing onward still toward that end. There is a wisdom which, by the God of grace, has been appointed as His children's portion and their glory.
He has renewed them for that knowledge by the quickening power of the word. Confessing now with boldness, as their only confidence and joy, the name of Him in whom are hidden all the treasures both of wisdom and knowledge, their calling is to learn, in measure even here, the glory of that Name; not only as the pledge of their own safety, but as an exposition of the counsels of the everlasting God. The Spirit has been sent by Him to guide us into all the truth. As a seal and witness He is given to the children, for their better knowledge of the Father and His gifts. Taking the things of Him who is appointed Heir of all things, He shows them to the destined sharers of His joy. That they may have a worthy estimate of their own standing, as true worshippers of the Father and joint-heirs with Christ; and that, amid the strife of tongues, and in full view of the astounding phenomena of human evil, they should keep their steadfastness, as men having a true knowledge of the times, are chief objects of the teaching of the Holy Ghost.
The importance of this subject is such as to occasion in my mind some feeling of regret that the limited space allotted to this Introduction affords no opportunity for its fuller treatment. I could have wished to draw the attention of the Christian reader to some examples from the apostolic Epistles, in illustration of what has just been said. How, when writing to the Ephesians, the prisoner of Jesus Christ consults the furtherance of his brethren's joy, by endeavoring to lead them to a fuller knowledge of the hope of their calling, and to instruct them in the mystery of Christ; and how he elsewhere warns them of another mystery, which it concerned them much to know, is not forgotten by the well taught Christian. Reference to these things will occur not infrequently in the following Notes. It is time now to state explicitly the light in which the Psalms are there contemplated, with reference more especially to their prophetic interpretation.
The Spirit of truth, who is the alone revealer of Jesus, declares to us the fullness of His glory, according to the manifold titles which are given Him as the supreme Object of Divine counsel. As the Teacher of the children, He not only, therefore, addresses them through the ministry of the apostles and prophets of the New Testament, but unlocks for them besides the ancient treasures of prophetic testimony, which spake before both of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glories which should follow. The scribes of the kingdom are instructed in things new and old. That the Psalms contain an important part of the Messianic prophecies has been recognized at all times in the Church. David, the “found” and "chosen" of Jehovah, is an acknowledged type of Christ. What he spake in song he uttered as a prophet. His language therefore, which, in the wisdom of God, was molded according to the changeful experience of his own eventful life, both as a persecuted outcast and as the possessor of the throne of Israel, bore always, as its ultimate burden, the Spirit's testimony to Messiah.
But while He who is the Root as well as Offspring of David has ever been of more account with the discerning reader of such Psalms than their immediate subject, and they who love the Savior have many times found increase of their joy when tracing there the passage of the King of glory, through the dark course of His appointed travail to His triumphant entrance at the everlasting gates, much more than this remains. For the sure word of prophecy not only comprehends within its compass the humiliation of the Son of God, and His resumption in heaven of the glory which for a season He had laid aside; the results of His finished work, both as they respect the present calling of the Church and the yet future dispensation of the fullness of times, in its effects upon the earth and its inhabitants, are both clearly predicted and copiously described in the ancient testimonies of the Spirit, and with much distinctness in the Psalms.
It is a mercy of God, second only in its magnitude to the recovery and general diffusion of saving doctrine by means of the Reformation, that in our later times there has been restored in some measure to the Church of God a sounder understanding respecting the "things to come," which form so large and important a branch of the Comforter's instruction to the saints.
The doctrine of the second advent of the Lord, not for the final judgment, but for the accomplishment both of the promises and threatenings which attach peculiarly to the existing dispensation of Divine long-suffering, though only partially acknowledged yet, is daily forcing itself more convincingly on the attention of believers. But, as was to be anticipated, the revival of long-neglected truth has been watched with hatred and alarm by the Deceiver, who well knows the burden of destruction which it bears towards himself. By every means he seeks to discredit a doctrine of such practical importance to the Church, and to degrade it in the minds of Christians to the level of a speculative question-a doubtful disputation, where opinion may range widely, but with which real faith has small concern. Nor has anything more powerfully conduced to this than the readiness with which rash minds have ventured on predictions wholly unauthorized by Scripture, and instead of rightly dividing the word of truth, have confounded together things which differ from each other in a wide and very marked degree.
But God, who is greater than His adversary, will prevail, not only to accomplish all His counsel in its season, but likewise to secure, to those who stick unto His testimonies, a lamp of guidance through the darkest intricacies of the evil day. By recalling to His children's minds His own unshaken and irrevocable purposes concerning Israel, He gives them a clue to guide their faith unerringly past all the fallacious plausibilities of human policy into the prospective glory of that "world to come" of which the Spirit speaks. It is now to very many Christians no longer a forgotten truth, that Jesus died, not only for the ransom of His heavenly bride, that the once hidden mystery of God might be made known, but likewise for the nation whose He is according to the flesh.
It is further acknowledged, that the several titles of "Son of Adam," "Son of David," and "King of Israel," were bestowed on the Incarnate WORD, not only to be humbled and disallowed, because the Scripture must be so fulfilled, but likewise, by the testimony of the same Spirit, to be hereafter glorified and universally confessed, in the very world which was the scene and instrument of His dishonor. To many of those who joy to see Jesus crowned with glory and honor on the Father's throne, it is an additional anticipation of delight that presently He will be manifested on His own throne also, to vindicate incontrovertibly His rights as "Governor among the nations," and "Prince of the kings of the earth." His “brethren," whose calling is to share the throne of that dominion, are surely interested in these things.
When one these truths (the proofs of which are easily to be collected from the New Testament) are apprehended in the Christian's mind, the earlier prophetic testimony, and indeed the ancient Scripture generally, assumes for his mind another and far fairer aspect. Instead of devoting mental ingenuity to the worse than unprofitable task of trying to reconcile the testimonies and predictions, of which Israel and the nations are the subjects, to the Church, which is distinct from both, the hearts of those who note the order of God's testimonies become enlarged by meditating on the depth of the riches of His wisdom and knowledge, who has preserved in Scripture a sure record of His purpose towards the natural objects of His promise; while, in the present interval of Israel's dispersion, He gathers at His will another people, who shall praise Him, not in the quiet resting-places of Immanuel's land, but in the mansions of the Father's house in heaven.
No reader of the Psalms is unaware that, in addition to their richly varied reflection of individual emotion, they contain an abundant expression of the collective desires and experiences of the people of Jehovah. The faithful are contemplated in their fellowship both of sorrow and of joy. Common hopes are uttered, and there is a frequent deprecation of common danger and distress. But it is apparent that, both in the tone and spirit of thanksgiving and prayer, as well as in the local and national references which everywhere abound, we have before us something materially unlike the characteristic language of the Spirit of adoption. It is, in fact, to the voice not of Christian but of Jewish faith that we seem to listen in the class of Psalms just mentioned.
Under the varied circumstances of persecution, for the truth's sake, in their native land; of judicial dispersion, through the countries, for the national transgression; and, finally, of triumphant resettlement, in full enjoyment of blessings both spiritual and temporal, in the heritage of Jacob, the natural children of Jehovah's Covenant are presented to us in the Psalms. It is a common feature, in many of the Messianic Psalms, that a change of number from singular to plural, and vice versâ, is observed. The gracious identity of Messiah with His people, who stand in their Redeemer only before God, may account for this. Frequently too, as will be noticed in the following pages, particular expressions, which apply in truth to Jesus only, occur in Psalms the general subject of which is widely different.
That at the close of this present dispensation of long-suffering, a Jewish remnant will be found, who, with remembrance of the ancient and as yet unrealized promises of national, blessing, will turn with urgent supplication to Jehovah, is plain from several passages in the other prophets.
That this remnant are frequently contemplated in the sympathetic language of the Spirit in the Psalms has been assumed in the following Notes; and my endeavor has been to open faithfully the meaning of the numerous Psalms in which their fortunes seem prophetically portrayed. In a word, national Jewish prophecies have been interpreted with a primary and especial reference to their proper subjects. It is, indeed, but seldom that practical application has been entirely omitted; generally speaking, that has been with me a leading and unceasing aim. But I have felt throughout the progress of my labor, that the object of supreme importance in such a work as the present should be to endeavor truly to convey to an inquiring reader the genuine meaning of the Holy Ghost. "And who is sufficient for these things?" May He who searches the hearts acquit the writer of arrogancy and vain conceit. I will not extend further these preliminary remarks; but subjoin merely what may be regarded as a general statement of the contents of this remarkable portion of God's word. I consider that the Psalms contain,
1. A full and varied expression of the grace of the Lord Jesus, in their prophetic description of the spotless Person and sufferings of the Man of Sorrows.
An unfolding of His special relation to Israel as the rejected Messiah of Jehovah.
A rich and varied celebration of His glories, whether in the majesty of original Divinity, or as the appointed receiver of all headship and power both in heaven and on earth. In particular, the glory of His coming kingdom, as the God of the whole earth, is very fully and strikingly described.
In connection with the specific titles of Messiah as King of Israel and Ruler of the nations, there are descriptive testimonies, partly historical and partly prophetic, with respect both to Israel and the world at large. Especially the remnant which, preserved through all the vicissitudes of the national history, will form the nucleus of Jacob's promised increase in the land of his inheritance, seems very constantly before the eye of the Spirit in these prophecies.
Lastly, and as it respects their practical application, the Psalms are to the believer whose desires are towards the will of God a source inexhaustible of counsel, of comfort, and of blessing. The voice of the true Leader of the children speaks wisdom in them all, for the attentive ear.