Psalms 75:1-10
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 receivea 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.
6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.b
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.
Title. Al-taschith: do not suffer me to perish. The style indicates that this was a psalm of David, when the courtiers of Saul had pronounced him guilty of high treason for aiming at the throne. He accuses them of dealing foolishly, wickedly, and with a stiff neck, against an innocent man; and of doing it basely to flatter Saul, and obtain promotion. A true portrait of a court-faction. For promotion cometh not from the east, nor west, nor south, but from the Lord, the ultimate judge of men.
Psalms 75:3. The earth, the land of Israel, and all its inhabitants are dissolved. The government is without energy, the people without spirit, and the army without strength. I bear up the pillars of it. The hope and stay of Israel is in me, by virtue of the anointing of Samuel.
Psalms 75:5. Lift not up your horn. See on Job 15:15: their horn was soon laid in the dust.
Psalms 75:8. A cup the dregs thereof shall the wicked drink. They drank these dregs on Gilboa; the men who sought David's life paid for the crime by their own lives. The Lord denied them courage in the day of battle.
REFLECTIONS.
How sweet in trouble to be revived with a living hope. David saw in the Spirit that the political clouds which hovered over the land would all clear up in sunshine. What can be more consolatory to the saints than thus to wait for the righteousness of God?
David, on seeing this, formed the noblest of resolutions, that when he should receive the regal charge of the congregation, and be the shepherd of the sheep, he would judge with equity. He augured happy days, to see the sanctuary full of glory, the land full of righteousness, and the people blessed with peace and bread. Princes should always aim at the happiness of the people. The emperor Probus, who, after many wars, gave peace to the Roman empire, said that after a short time, soldiers would not be necessary; brevi milites necessarios non futuros.
But while David, the Lord's anointed, and the hope of the nation rested on the promises for elevation, he saw the horn of the wicked laid low; and besmeared with dust and blood. While the cup of regal bliss was preparing for him, as in Psalms 23:5, he saw the red cup, mixed with dregs prepared for his enemies. They were drenched with it on Gilboa; defeated by the Philistines, and pursued with reckless slaughter; roaring with anguish and despair, and falling on their own swords. Their tongues could now speak no more against David; their feet could no more hunt him as a partridge on the mountains. Rejoice then, oh my soul, for thus will the Lord preserve all them that love him.