PSALM XCIV _An appeal to God against oppressors_, 1-7. _Expostulations with the workers of iniquity_, 8-11. _God's merciful dealings with his followers_, 12-15; _and their confidence in him_, 16-19. _The punishment of the wicked foretold_, 20-23. NOTES ON PSALM XCIV This Psalm has no _title_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:2. _LIFT UP THYSELF_] Exert thy power. _RENDER A REWARD TO THE PROUD._] To the Babylonians, who oppress and insult us.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:3. _HOW LONG SHALL THE WICKED TRIUMPH?_] The wicked are often in prosperity; and this only shows us of how little worth riches are in the sight of God, when he bestows them on the most contemptible of mortals. But their time and prosperity have their _bounds_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:4. _THEY UTTER_ AND _SPEAK_] יביאו _yabbiu_, their hearts _get full_ of pride and insolence; and then, from the abundance of such vile hearts, the mouth _speaks_; and the speech is of _hard_ _things, threatenings_ which they are determined to execute, _boastings_ of their power, auth... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:5. _THEY BREAK IN PIECES THY PEOPLE_] This was true of the Babylonians. Nehuchadnezzar slew many; carried the rest into captivity; ruined Jerusalem; overturned the temple; sacked, pillaged, and destroyed all the country.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:6. _THEY SLAY THE WIDOW_] Nebuchadnezzar carried on his wars with great cruelty. He carried fire and sword every where; spared neither _age, sex_, nor _condition_. The _widow_, the _orphan_, and the _stranger_, persons in the most desolate condition of life, were not distinguished fr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:7. _THE LORD SHALL NOT SEE_] This was either the language of _infidelity_ or _insult_. Indeed, what could the Babylonians know of the true God? They might consider him as the God of a _district_ or _province_, who knew nothing and did nothing out of his own territories.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:8. _UNDERSTAND, YE BRUTISH_] These are the same expressions as in Psalms 92:6, on which see the note. Psalms 92:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:9. _HE THAT PLANTED THE EAR, SHALL HE NOT HEAR?_] This is allowed to be an unanswerable mode of argumentation. Whatever is found of excellence in the _creature_, must be derived from the _Creator_, and exist in him in the plenitude of infinite excellence. God, says St. _Jerome_, is a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:10. _HE THAT CHASTISETH THE HEATHEN, SHALL NOT HE CORRECT?_] YOU, who are heathens, and heathens of the most abandoned kind. _HE THAT TEACHETH MAN KNOWLEDGE_] We here supply _shall not he_ _know_? But this is not acknowledged by the _original_, nor by any of the _Versions_. Indeed i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:12. _BLESSED_ IS _THE MAN WHOM THOU CHASTENEST_] תיסרנו _teyasserennu_, whom thou _instructest; and teachest him out of thy_ _law_. _Two_ points here are worthy of our most serious regard: 1. God gives _knowledge_ to man: gives him _understanding_ and _reason_. 2. He gives him a _r... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:13. _THAT THOU MAYEST GIVE HIM REST_] He whom God instructs is made wise unto salvation; and he who is thus taught has rest in his soul, and peace and confidence in adversity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:14. _THE LORD WILL NOT CAST OFF HIS PEOPLE_] Though they are now suffering under a grievous and oppressive captivity, yet the Lord hath not utterly cast them off. They are his inheritance, and he will again restore them to their own land.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:15. _BUT JUDGMENT SHALL RETURN UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS_] If we read יושב _yosheb, shall sit_, for ישוב _yashub, shall return_, which is only placing the ו _vau_ before the ש _shin_ instead of after it, we have the following sense: _Until the just one shall_ _sit in judgment, and after hi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:16. _WHO WILL RISE UP FOR ME_] Who is he that shall be the deliverer of thy people? Who will come to our assistance against these wicked Babylonians?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:17. _UNLESS THE LORD_ HAD BEEN _MY HELP_] Had not God in a strange manner supported us while under his chastising hand, we had been utterly cut off. _MY SOUL HAD ALMOST DWELT IN SILENCE._] The _Vulgate_ has _in_ _inferno_, in _hell_ or the _infernal world_; the _Septuagint_, τω αδη,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:18. _WHEN I SAID, MY FOOT SLIPPETH_] When I found myself so weak and my enemy so strong, that I got _first_ off my guard, and then off my _centre_ of _gravity_, and my fall appeared inevitable, - _THY MERCY, O LORD, HELD ME UP._] יסעדני _yisadeni, propped me_. It is a metaphor taken... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:19. _IN THE MULTITUDE OF MY THOUGHTS_] Of my griefs, (_dolorum_, Vulgate;) my sorrows, (οδυνων, Septuagint.) According to the multitude of my trials and distresses, have been the consolations which thou hast afforded me. Or, While I have been deeply _meditating_ on thy wondrous grace... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:20. _SHALL THE THRONE OF INIQUITY_] No wicked king, judge, or magistrate shall ever stand in thy presence. No countenance shall such have from thy grace or providence. _WHICH FRAMETH MISCHIEF_] Devise, plan, and execute, as if they acted by a positive law, and were strictly enjoined... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:21. _THEY GATHER THEMSELVES TOGETHER_] In every thing that is _evil_, they are in _unity_. The devil, his angels, and his children, all join and draw together when they have for their object the destruction of the works of the Lord. But this was particularly the case with respect to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:22. _THE ROCK OF MY REFUGE._] Alluding to those natural fortifications among rocks, which are frequent in the land of Judea.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 94:23. _SHALL CUT THEM OFF_] This is repeated, to show that the destruction of the Babylonians was fixed and indubitable: and in reference to the Jews, the persecutors and murderers of our Lord and his apostles, it was not less so. _Babylon_ is totally destroyed; not even a _vestige_ of... [ Continue Reading ]