TITLE. There is no title to this Psalm, neither is any
author's name mentioned. It is THE LONGEST PSALM, and this is a
sufficiently distinctive name for it. It equals in bulk twenty-two psalms of the
average length of the Songs of Degrees. Nor is it long only; for it equally
excels in breadth of thought, depth of meaning, and height of fervour. It is
like the celestial city which lieth four square, and the height and the breadth
of it are equal. Many superficial readers have imagined that it harps upon one
string, and abounds in pious repetitions and redundancies; but this arises from
the shallowness of the reader's own mind: those who have studied this divine
hymn, and carefully noted each line of it, are amazed at the variety and
profundity of the thought. Using only a few words, the writer has produced
permutations and combinations of meaning which display his holy familiarity with
his subject, and the sanctified ingenuity of his mind. He never repeats himself;
for if the same sentiment recurs it is placed in a fresh connection, and so
exhibits another interesting shade of meaning. The more one studies it the
fresher it becomes. As those who drink the Nile water like it better every time
they take a draught, so does this Psalm become the more full and fascinating the
oftener you turn to it. It contains no idle word; the grapes of this cluster are
almost to bursting full with the new wine of the kingdom. The more you look into
this mirror of a gracious heart the more you will see in it. Placid on the
surface as the sea of glass before the eternal throne, it yet contains within
its depths an ocean of fire, and those who devoutly gaze into it shall not only
see the brightness, but feel the glow of the sacred flame. It is loaded with
holy sense, and is as weighty as it is bulky. Again and again have we cried
while studying it, "Oh the depths!" Yet these depths are hidden beneath an
apparent simplicity, as Augustine has well and wisely said, and this makes the
exposition all the more difficult. Its obscurity is hidden beneath a veil of
light, and hence only those discover it who are in thorough earnest, not only to
look on the word, but, like the angels, to look into it.
The Psalm is alphabetical. Eight stanzas commence with one
letter, and then another eight with the next letter, and so the whole Psalm
proceeds by octonaries quite through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew
alphabet. Besides which, there are multitudes of appositions of sense, and
others of those structural formalities with which the oriental mind is pleased,
-- formalities very similar to those in which our older poets indulged. The Holy
Spirit thus deigned to speak to men in forms which were attractive to the
attention and helpful to the memory. He is often plain or elegant in his manner,
but he does not disdain to be quaint or formal if thereby his design of
instruction can be the more surely reached. He does not despise even contracted
and artificial modes of speech, if by their use he can fix his teaching upon the
mind. Isaac Taylor has worthily set forth the lesson of this fact: -- "In the
strictest sense this composition is conditioned;nevertheless in the
highest sense is it an utterance of spiritual life; and in thus finding these
seemingly opposed elements, intimated commingled as they are throughout this
Psalm, a lesson full of meaning is silently conveyed lo those who shall receive
it-- that the conveyance of the things of God to the human spirit is in no way
damaged or impeded, much less is it deflected or ciliated by its subjugation to
loose modes of utterance which most of all bespeak their adaptation to the
infancy and the childlike capacity of the recipient."
AUTHOR. The fashion among modern writers is, as far as
possible, to take ever? Psalm from David. As the critics of this school are
usually unsound in doctrine and unspiritual in tone, we gravitate in the
opposite direction, from a natural suspicion of everything which comes from so
unsatisfactory a quarter. We believe that David wrote this Psalm. It is Davidic
in tone and expression, and it tallies with David's experience in many
interesting points. In our youth our teacher called it "David's pocket book",
and we incline to the opinion then expressed that here we have the royal diary
written at various times throughout a long life. No, we cannot give up this
Psalm to the enemy. "This is David's spoil". After long reading an author one
gets to know his style, and a measure of discernment is acquired by which his
composition is detected even if his name be concealed; we feel a kind of
critical certainty that the hand of David is in this thing, yea, that it is
altogether his own.
SUBJECT. The one theme is the word of the Lord. The
Psalmist sets his subject in many lights, and treats of it in divers ways, but
he seldom omits to mention the word of the Lord in each verse under some one or
other of the many names by which he knows it; and even if the name be not there,
the subject is still heartily pursued in every stanza. He who wrote this
wonderful song was saturated with those books of Scripture which he possessed.
Andrew Bonar tells of a simple Christian in a farmhouse who had meditated
the Bible through three times. This is precisely what this Psalmist had done, --
he had gone past reading into meditation. Like Luther, David had shaken every
fruit tree in God's garden, and gathered golden fruit therefrom. "The most,
"says Martin Boos, "read their Bibles like cows that stand in the thick grass,
and trample under their feet the finest flowers and herbs." It is to be feared
that we too often do the like. This is a miserable way of treating the pages of
inspiration. May the Lord prevent us from repeating that sin while reading this
priceless Psalm.
There is an evident growth in the subject matter. The earlier
verses are of such a character as to lend themselves to the hypothesis that the
author was a young man, while many of the later passages could only have
suggested themselves to age and wisdom. In every portion, however, it is the
fruit of deep experience, careful observation, and earnest meditation. If David
did not write in there must have lived another believer of exactly the same
order of mind as David, and he must have addicted himself to Psalmody with equal
ardour, and have been an equally hearty lover of Holy Writ.
Our best improvement of this sacred composition will come
through getting our minds into intense sympathy with its subject. In order to
this, we might do well to commit it to memory. Philip Henry's daughter wrote in
her diary, "I have of late taken some pains to learn by heart Psalm 119, and
have made some progress therein." She was a sensible, godly woman. Having done
this, we should consider the fulness, certainty, clearness, and sweetness of the
word of God, since by such reflections we are likely to be stirred up to a warm
affection for it. What favoured beings are those to whom the Eternal God has
written a letter in his own hand and style. What ardour of devotion, what
diligence of composition can produce a worthy eulogium for the divine
testimonies? If ever one such has fallen from the pen of man it is this 119th
Psalm, which might well be called the holy soul's soliloquy before an open
Bible.
This sacred ode is a little Bible, the Scriptures condensed, a
mass of Bibline, Holy Writ rewritten in holy emotions and actions. Blessed are
they who can read and understand these saintly aphorisms; they shall find golden
apples in this true Hesperides, and come to reckon that this Psalm, like the
whole Scripture which it praises, is a pearl island, or, better still, a garden
of sweet flowers.