Charles H. Spurgeon

TITLE. The Syriac says, "It was a Psalm of David, when he appointed overseers to take care of the poor." Adam Clarke.

Whole Psalm. A prophecy of Christ and the traitor Judas. Eusebius of Caesarea, quoted by J. M. Neale.

Verse 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor. Interpreters are generally of opinion that the exercise of kindness and compassion, manifested in taking care of the miserable, and helping them, is here commended. Those, however, who maintain that the psalmist here commends the considerate candour of those who judge wisely and charitably of men in adversity, form a better judgment of his meaning. Indeed, the participle, (lksm), maskil, cannot be explained in any other way. At the same time it ought to be observed on what account it is that David declares those to be blessed who form a wise and prudent judgment concerning the afflictions by which God chastises his servants...Doubtless it happened to him as it did to the holy patriarch Job, whom his friends reckoned to be one of most wicked of men, when they saw God treating him with great severity. And certainly it is an error which is by far too common among men, to look upon those who are oppressed with afflictions as condemned and reprobate...For the most part, indeed, we often speak rashly and indiscriminately concerning others, and, so to speak, plunge even into the lowest abyss those who labour under affliction. To restrain such a rash and unbridled spirit, David says, that they are blessed who do not suffer themselves, by speaking at random, to judge harshly of their neighbours; but discerning aright the afflictions by which they are visited, mitigate, by the wisdom of the spirit, the severe and unjust judgments to which we naturally are so prone. John Calvin.

Verse 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor. As Christ considered us in our state of poverty, so ought we most attentively to consider him in his; to consider what he suffered in his own person; to discern him suffering in his poor afflicted members; and to extend to them the mercy which he extended to us. He, who was "blessed" of Jehovah, and "delivered in the evil day" by a glorious resurrection, will "bless" and "deliver" in like manner, such as for his sake, love and relieve their brethren. George Horne.

Verse 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor. Not the poor of the world in common, nor poor saints in particular, but some single poor man; for the word is in the singular number, and designs our Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the last verse of the preceding Psalm, is said to be poor and needy. John Gill.

Verse 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor. I call your attention to the way in which the Bible enjoins us to take up the care of the poor. It does not say in the text before us, Commiserate the poor; for, if it said no more than this, it would leave their necessities to be provided for by the random ebullitions of an impetuous and unreflecting sympathy. It provided them with a better security than the mere feeling of compassion—a feeling which, however useful to the purpose of excitement, must be controlled and regulated. Feeling is but a faint and fluctuating security. Fancy may mislead it. The sober realities of life may disgust it. Disappointment may extinguish it. Ingratitude may embitter it. Deceit, with its counterfeit representations, may allure it to the wrong object. At all events, Time is the little circle in which it in general expatiates. It needs the impression of sensible objects to sustain it; nor can it enter with zeal or with vivacity into the wants of the abstract and invisible soul. The Bible, then, instead of leaving the relief of the poor to the mere instinct of sympathy, makes it a subject for consideration—"Blessed is he that considereth the poor, "a grave and prosaic exercise, I do allow, and which makes no figure in those high wrought descriptions, where the exquisite tale of benevolence is made up of all the sensibilities of tenderness on the one hand, and of all the ecstasies of gratitude on the other. The Bible rescues the cause from the mischief to which a heedless or unthinking sensibility would expose it. It brings it under the cognisance of a higher faculty—a faculty of sturdier operation than to be weary in well doing, and of sturdier endurance than to give it up in disgust. It calls you to consider the poor. It makes the virtue of relieving them a matter of computation, as well as of sentiment, and in so doing puts you beyond the reach of the various delusions, by which you are at one time led to prefer the indulgence of pity to the substantial interest of its object; at another, are led to retire chagrined and disappointed from the scene of duty, because you have not met with the gratitude or the honesty that you laid your account with; at another, are led to expend all your anxieties upon the accommodation of time, and to overlook eternity. It is the office of consideration to save you from all these fallacies. Under its tutorage attention to the wants of the poor ripens into principle...

It must be obvious to all of you, that it is not enough that you give money, and add your name to the contributions of charity. You must give it with judgment. You must give your time and your attention. You must descend to the trouble of examination. You must rise from the repose of contemplation, and make yourself acquainted with the object of your benevolent exercises...To give money is not to do all the work and labour of benevolence. You must go to the poor man's sick bed. You must lend your hand to the work of assistance. This is true and unsophisticated goodness. It may be recorded in no earthly documents; but, if done under the influence of Christian principle, in a word, if done unto Jesus, it is written in the book of heaven, and will give a new lustre to that crown to which his disciples look forward in time, and will wear through eternity. From a Sermon preached before the Society for Relief of the Destitute Sick, in St. Andrew's Church, Edinburgh, by Thomas Chalmers, D.D. and L.L.D. (1780-1847.)

Verse 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor. A Piedmontese nobleman into whose company I fell, at Turin, told me the following story: "I was weary of life, and after a day such as few have known, and none would wish to remember, was hurrying along the street to the river, when I felt a sudden check, I turned and beheld a little boy, who had caught the skirt of my cloak in his anxiety to solicit my notice. His look and manner were irresistible. No less so was the lesson he had learnt—`There are six of us, and we are dying for want of food.' `Why should I not, 'said I, to myself, `relieve this wretched family? I have the means, and it will not delay me many minutes. But what if it does?' The scene of misery he conducted me to I cannot describe. I threw them my purse, and their burst of gratitude overcame me. It filled my eyes, it went as a cordial to my heart. `I will call again tomorrow, 'I cried. `Fool that I was to think of leaving a world where such pleasure was to be had, and so cheaply!'" Samuel Rogers (1763-1855) in "Italy."

Verse 1. He that considereth the poor:

An ardent spirit dwells with Christian love,
The eagle's vigour in the pitying dove.
It is not enough that we with sorrow sigh,
That we the wants of pleading man supply,
That we in sympathy with sufferers feel,
Nor hear a grief without a wish to heal:
Not these suffice—to sickness, pain, and woe,
The Christian spirit loves with aid to go:
Will not be sought, waits not for want to plead,
But seeks the duty—nay, prevents the need;
Her utmost aid to every ill applies,
And plants relief for coming miseries.
—George Crabbe, 1754-1832.

Verse 1. How foolish are they that fear to lose their wealth by giving it, and fear not to lose themselves by keeping it! He that lays up his gold may be a good jailer, but he that lays it out is a good steward. Merchants traffic thither with a commodity where it is precious in regard of scarcity. We do not buy wines in England to carry them to France, spices in France to carry them to the Indies; so for labour and work, repentance and mortification, there is none of them in heaven, there is peace and glory, and the favour of God indeed. A merchant without his commodity hath but a sorry welcome. God will ask men that arrive at heaven's gates, ubi opera? Re 22:12. His reward shall be according to our works. Thou hast riches here, and here be objects that need thy riches—the poor; in heaven there are riches enough but no poor, therefore, by faith in Christ make over to them thy moneys in this world, that by bill of exchange thou mayest receive it in the world to come; that only you carry with you which you send before you. Do good while it is in your power; relieve the oppressed, succour the fatherless, while your estates are your own; when you are dead your riches belong to others. One light carried before a man is more serviceable than twenty carried after him. In your compassion to the distressed, or for pious uses, let your hands be your executors, and your eyes your overseers. Francis Raworth, Teacher to the Church at Shore-ditch, in a Funeral Sermon, 1656.

Verses 1, 3. It is a blessed thing to receive when a man hath need; but it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive. Blessed (saith the prophet David) is he that considereth the poor. What? to say, alas, poor man! the world is hard with him, I would there were a course taken to do him good? No, no; but to so consider him as to give; to give till the poor man be satisfied, to draw out one's sheaf, aye, one's very soul to the hungry. But what if troubles should come? were it not better to keep money by one? Money will not deliver one. It may be an occasion to endanger one, to bring one into, rather than help one out of trouble; but if a man be a merciful man, God will deliver him, either by himself, or by some other man or matter. Aye, but what if sickness come? Why, the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; and, which is a great ease and kindness; God, as it were, himself will make all his bed in his sickness. Here poor people have the advantage: such must not say, Alas, I am a poor woman, what work of mercy can I do? for they are they who best can make the beds of sick folk, which we see is a great act of mercy, in that it is said, that the Lord himself will make their bed in their sickness. And there are none so poor, but they may make the beds of the sick. Richard Capel.

Verses 1, 5. He that considereth. Mine enemies. Strigelius has observed, there is a perpetual antithesis in this Psalm between the few who have a due regard to the poor in spirit, and the many who afflict or desert them. W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 2. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive. It is worthy of remark, that benevolent persons, who "consider the poor, "and especially the sick poor; who search cellars, garrets, back lanes, and such abodes of misery, to find them out (even in the places where contagion keeps its seat), very seldom fall a prey to their own benevolence. The Lord, in an especial manner, keeps them alive, and preserves them; while many, who endeavour to keep far from the contagion, are assailed by it, and fall victims to it. God loves the merciful man. Adam Clarke.

Verse 2. He shall be blessed upon the earth. None of the godly man's afflictions shall hinder or take away his begun blessedness, even in this world. David Dickson.

Verse 3. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. Into what minuteness of exquisite and touching tenderness does the Lord condescend to enter! One feels almost as we may suppose Peter felt when the Saviour came to him and would have washed his feet, "Lord! thou shalt never wash my feet; "thou shalt never make my bed. And yet, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me; "if the Lord make not our bed in our sickness, there is no peace nor comfort there. We have had David calling on God to bow down his ear, like a loving mother listening to catch the feeblest whisper of her child; and the image is full of the sweetest sympathy and condescension; but here the Lord, the great God of heaven, he that said when on earth, "I am among you as one that serveth, "does indeed take upon him the form, and is found in fashion as a servant, fulfilling all the loving and tender offices of an assiduous nurse. Barton Bouchier.

Verse 3. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. The meaning rather is, "it is no longer a sick bed, for thou hast healed him of his disease." J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 3. When a good man is ill at ease, God promises to make all his bed in his sickness. Pillow, bolster, head, feet, sides, all his bed. Surely that God who made him knows so well his measure and temper as to make his bed to please him. Herein his art is excellent, not fitting the bed to the person, but the person to the bed; infusing patience into him. But, oh! how shall God make my bed, who have no bed of mine own to make. Thou fool, he can make thy not having a bed to be a bed unto thee. When Jacob slept on the ground, who would not have had his hard lodging, therewithal to have his heavenly dream? Thomas Fuller.

Verse 3. Sure that bed must need be soft which God will make. T. Watson.

Verse 3. We must not forget that Oriental beds needed not to be made in the same sense as our own. They were never more than mattresses or quilts thickly padded, and were turned when they became uncomfortable, and that is just the word here used. C. H. S.

Verse 3. When I visited one day, as he was dying, my beloved friend Benjamin Parsons, I said, "How are you today, Sir?" He said, "My head is resting very sweetly on three pillows—infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom." Preaching in the Canterbury Hall, in Brighton, I mentioned this some time since; and many months after I was requested to call upon a poor but holy young woman, apparently dying. She said, "I felt I must see you before I died." I heard you tell the story of Benjamin Parsons and his three pillows; and when I went through a surgical operation, and it was very cruel, I was leaning my head on pillows, and as they were taking them away I said, "May I keep them?" The surgeon said, "No, my dear, we must take them away." "But, "said I, "you cannot take away Benjamin Parsons three pillows. I can lay my head on infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom." Paxton Hood, in "Dark Sayings on a Harp, "1865.

Verses 3-4. What saith David from the very bottom of his heart, in his sickness? Not, take away this death only. No; but David being sick, first comforts himself with this promise, The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness; and then adds, I said, Lord, be merciful unto me, and heal my soul; that is, destroy my lusts, which are the diseases of my soul, Lord; and heal my soul, and renew life and communion with thee, which is the health and strength of my soul. Do not take this sickness and death only away; but this sin away, that hath dishonoured thee, hath separated between me and thee: Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 4. I said, Lord, be merciful. Mercy, not justice! The extreme of mercy for the extreme of misery. Righteousness as filthy rags; a flesh in which dwelleth no good thing, on the one side; on the other, it is "neither herb nor mollifying plaster that restored" to health; "but thy word, O Lord, which healeth all things." Wisdom 16:12. Thomas Aquinas, quoted by J. M. Neale.

Verse 4. God is the strength of a Christian's heart, by healing and restoring him when the infused habits of grace fail, and sin grows strong and vigorous. A Christian never fails in the exercise of grace, but sin gives him a wound; and therefore David prayed, Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned. And what David prayed for, God promises to his people: "I will heal their backsliding." Ho 14:4. The weakness and decay of grace, brings a Christian presently to the falling sickness; and so it did in David and Ephraim; aye, but God will be a physician to the soul in this case, and will heal their diseases; and so he did David's falling sickness, for which he returned the tribute of praise. Ps 103:3. Samuel Blackerby.

Verse 4. (last clause). Saul and Judas each said, "I have sinned; "but David says," I have sinned against thee." William S. Plumer.

Verses 1, 5. He that considereth. Mine enemies. Strigelius has observed, there is a perpetual antithesis in this Psalm between the few who have a due regard to the poor in spirit, and the many who afflict or desert them. W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 5. Mine enemies speak evil of me. To speak is here used in the sense of to imprecate. John Calvin.

Verse 5. His name. It is the name, the character, and privileges of a true servant of God, that calls out the hatred of ungodly men, and they would gladly extirpate him from their sight. W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 6. If he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: many fair words, but none of them true. David Dickson.

Verse 6. I remember a pretty apologue that Bromiard tells:—A fowler, in a sharp, frosty morning, having taken many little birds for which he had long watched, began to take up his nets, and nipping the birds on the head laid them down. A young thrush, espying the tears trickling down his cheek by reason of the extreme cold, said to her mother, that certainly the man was very merciful and compassionate, who wept so bitterly over the calamity of the poor birds. But her mother told her more wisely, that she might better judge of the man's disposition by his hand than by his eye; and if the hands do strike treacherously, he can never be admitted to friendship, who speaks fairly and weeps pitifully. Jeremy Taylor.

Verse 6. His heart gathereth iniquity to itself.

1. By adding sin to sin, in that he covers over his malice with such horrid hypocrisy.

2. By inventing or contriving all the several ways he can to ensnare me, or do me some mischief, thereby seeking to satisfy and please his corrupt lusts and affections;

3. (Which I like best), by observing all he can in me, and drawing what he can from me, and so laying all up together in his mind, as the ground of his unjust surmises and censures concerning me. Arthur Jackson.

Verse 8. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him. An evil deed of Belial cleaveth fast to him. Grammarians maintain that the word Belial is compounded of (ylb), beli, and (ley), yaal, which signify "not to rise" the expression, "thing of Belial" (for so it is literally in the Hebrew), I understand in this place as meaning an extraordinary and hateful crime which as we commonly say can never be expiated, and from which there is no possibility of escape; unless perhaps some would rather refer it to the affliction itself under which he laboured, as if his enemies had said that he was seized by some incurable malady. John Calvin.

Verse 8. An evil disease, etc. What is here meant by (leylb-rkd) is matter of some difficulty. The ancient interpreters generally render it a perverse or mischievous, or wicked word; the Chaldee, a perverse word; the Syriac, a word of iniquity; the LXX logon paranomon; the Latin, iniquum verbum, a wicked word; the Arabic, words contrary to the law. And so in all probability it is set to signify a great slander, or calumny—that as "men of Belial" are slanderous persons, so the speech of Belial shall signify a slanderous speech. And this is said to "cleave" to him on whom it is fastened, it being the nature of calumnies, when strongly affixed on any, to cleave fast, and leave some evil mark behind them. Henry Hammond.

Verse 9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, etc. The sufferings of the church, like those of her Redeemer, generally begin at home: her open enemies can do her no harm, until her pretended friends have delivered her into their hands; and, unnatural as it may seem, they who have waxed fat upon her bounty, are sometimes the first to lift the heel against her. George Horne.

Verse 9. Mine own familiar friend. He who, on visiting me, continually saluted me with the kiss of love and veneration, and the usual address: peace be to thee. Hermann Venema.

Verse 9. Which did eat of my beard. If the same sentiment prevailed among the Hebrews, which prevails at the present day among the Bedouin Arabs, of sacred regard to the person and property of one with whom they have eaten bread and salt, the language is very forcible. Hath lifted up his heel: a metaphor drawn from the horse, which attacks with its heel. This language may well have been used by our Saviour, in Joh 13:18, in the way of rhetorical illustration or emphasis. George R. Noyes, D.D.

Verse 9. Hath lifted up his heel against me. In this phrase he seems to allude to a beast's kicking at his master by whom he is fed, or the custom of men's spurning at or trampling upon those that are cast down on the ground, in a way of despite and contempt. Arthur Jackson.

Verse 9. Hath lifted up his heel against me; i.e., hath spurned me, hath kicked at me, as a vicious beast of burden does; hath insulted me in my misery. Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 10. That I may requite them. Either (1), kindness for injuries (as in Ps 35:13): it is the mark of a good and brave man to do good to all in his power, to hurt no one, even though provoked by wrong: or, (2), punishment for wrong doing—that I may punish them; for am I not their magistrate, and the executioner of God's justice! Martin Geier.

Verse 10. That I may requite them. David was not as one of the common people, but a king appointed by God and invested with authority, and it is not from an impulse of the flesh, but in virtue of the nature of his office, that he is led to denounce against his enemies the punishment which they had merited. John Calvin.

Verse 11. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me: not because I have no enemies, or because I have no trouble which would overcome me. Therefore when he wrote down many troubles, he blotted it (as it were) with his pen again, as a merchant razes his book when the debt is discharged; and instead of many troubles, he putteth in, the Lord delivereth. Because he forgiveth all sins, he is said to deliver from all troubles, to show that we have need of no Saviour, no helper, no comforter, but him. Henry Smith.

Verse 11. By this I know that thou favourest me. In this text we see two things. 1. How David assures himself of God's love towards him. 2. How thankful he is to God for assuring him of his love. The first he doth by two arguments; one is taken from his enemies, they were prevented of their expectation—"Therefore thou lovest me." The other is taken from his own estate, which was not one whit hurt, or impaired, but bettered by them...Here the prophet speaketh of his knowledge, and telleth us that though he knew not all things, yet he knew that God loved him, and so long as he knoweth that, he careth not greatly for other matters, how the world goeth with him, etc. And, to say the truth, he need not, for he that is sure of that, is sure of all. God loveth all his creatures as a good God, and hateth nothing that he made, but he loveth his elect children with a more especial love than the rest, as a Father in Christ Jesus, and he that is sure that God doth so favour him, is sure, I say, of all. For to him whom God loveth, he will deny no good thing, no, not his own Son; and if he gave us his Son, because he loved us, how shall he not with him give us all things else?

When the child is persuaded that his father loveth him, he is bold to ask this and that of his father: so may we be bold to ask anything of God our heavenly Father that is good for us, when we be sure that he loveth us. As Mary and Martha put Christ in mind but of two things; the first was, that Christ loved their brother Lazarus; the second was, that Lazarus was sick; "He whom thou lovest is sick:" it was no need to tell him what he should do, for they knew he would do what might be done for him, because he loved him. So we may say to the Lord, when we are sure that he loveth us: Lord, he whom thou lovest wanteth this or that for his body or his soul. We need not then appoint him what to do, or when, or how; for look what he seeth most convenient for us, and for his own glory, he will surely do it. Therefore whatsoever David knoweth, he will be sure to know this; and whatsoever he is ignorant of, yet of this he will not be ignorant; to teach is that whatsoever we seek to make sure, this must first be made sure, or else nothing is sure. Peter bids us make our election sure; Job, when he saith, "I am sure that my Redeemer liveth, "teacheth us to make our redemption sure. And here David teacheth us to make God's favour sure: now if we make that sure, then our election is sure, our redemption is sure, our vocation is sure, and our salvation is sure. William Barton, 1602.

Verse 11. Because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. When God doth deliver us from the hands of our enemies, or any trouble else, we may persuade ourselves thereby, he hath a favour unto us, as David did. But then it may be demanded, If God doth love his church, why doth he suffer his church to be troubled and molested with enemies? The reason is this, because by this means his love may be made more manifest in saving and delivering them. For as a sure friend is not known but in time of need, so God's goodness and love is never so well perceived as it is in helping of us when we cannot help ourselves. As Adam's fall did serve to manifest God's justice and mercy, the one in punishing, the other is pardoning of sin, which otherwise we had never known: so the troubles of the church serve to manifest, first, our deserts by reason of our sins; secondly, our weakness and inability to help ourselves; and, thirdly, the lovingkindness of the Lord our God, in saving and defending, that so we might be truly thankful, and return all the praise and glory to God, and none to ourselves. So that the church of God may have enemies, and yet be still the beloved of God, as Lazarus was beloved of Christ, although he was sick; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, and therefore he correcteth them because he loveth them. William Burton.

Verse 11. God preserves his own, and bringeth their foes to nought: after Passion week comes Easter. J. P. Lange's Commentary.

Verse 12. Integrity. This same integrity is like Noah's ark, wherein he was preserved, when others perished, being without it. It is like the red thread, which the spies of Joshua gave to Rahab, it was a charter whereby she claimed her life when the rest were destroyed, which had not the like. So is this integrity of small reckoning, I confess, with the men of this world, which think that there is no other heaven but earth; but as Rahab's thread was better to her than all her goods and substance when the sword came, so this is better to God's children than all the world when death comes. If they have this within they care not, nay, they need not care what can come without. If Satan's buffeting come, this is a helmet of proof; if Satan's darts fly out, this is a shield to quench them; if floods of crosses come to carry us away, this is a boat to bear us up; if all the world cast mire and filth in our faces, we are never a whit the more deformed, but still beautiful for all that, for "the king's daughter, "(saith Solomon, Ps 45:13), that is, the church of Christ, "is all glorious within." William Burton.

Verse 12. Settest me before thy face for ever; or hast confirmed or established me in thy presence; i.e, either under thine eye and special care, or to minister to thee, not only in thy temple, but as a king over thy people, or in that land where thou art peculiarly present. Matthew Poole.

Verse 13. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. We are here taught, 1. To give glory to God, as the Lord God of Israel, a God in covenant with his people; that has done great and kind things for them, and has more and better in reserve. 2. To give him glory as an eternal God, that has both his being and his blessedness from everlasting and to everlasting. 3. To do this with great affection and fervour of spirit, intimated in a double seal set to it, Amen, and Amen. We say Amen to it, and let all others say Amen too. Matthew Henry.

Verse 13. Amen and Amen. As the Psalms were not written by one man, so neither do they form one book. The Psalter is, in fact, a Pentateuch, and the lines of demarcation, which divide the five books one from another, are clear and distinct enough. At the end of the 41st Psalm, of the 72nd, of the 89th, and of the 106th, we meet with the solemn, Amen, single or redoubled, following on a doxology, which indicates that one book ends and that another is about to begin. A closer study of the Psalms shows that each book possesses characteristics of its own. Jehovah ("the Lord") for example, is prominent as the divine name in the first book, Elohim ("God") in the second. E. H. Plumptre, M.A., in "Biblical Studies, "1870.

Verse 13. There is also another observable difference between the two books. In the first, all those Psalms which have any inscription at all are expressly assigned to David as their author, whereas in the second we find a whole series attributed to some of the Levitical singers. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 13. How ancient the division is cannot now be clearly ascertained. Jerome, in his epistle to Marcella, and Epiphanius speak of the Psalms as having been divided by the Hebrews into five books, but when this division was made they do not inform us. The forms of ascription of praise, added at the end of each of the five books, are in the Septuagint version, from which we may conclude that this distribution had been made before that version was executed. It was probably made by Ezra, after the return of the Jews from Babylon to their own country, and the establishment of the worship of God in the new temple, and it was perhaps made in imitation of a similar distribution of the books of Moses. In making this division of the Hebrew Psalter, regard appears to have been paid to the subject matter of the Psalms. John Calvin.

Verse 13. These forty-one Psalms, it has been observed, forming the first book, relate chiefly to the ministry of Christ upon earth, preparing those who were looking for the consolation of Israel, for his appearing amongst them. Accordingly, the second book, commencing with Psalm 42, may refer chiefly to the infant church of Christ. W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 13. May not the growth of the Book of Psalms be illustrated by the case of our Modern Hymn Books which in the course of years require first one appendix and then another, so as to incorporate the growing psalmody of the church? In this case the purely Davidic Psalms of the first division formed the nucleus to which other sacred songs were speedily added. C. H. S.

Verse 1. (first clause). The incidental blessings resulting from considering the pious poor.

1. We learn gratitude.

2. We see patience.

3. We often remark the triumphs of great grace.

4. We obtain light on Christian experience.

5. We have their prayers.

6. We feel the pleasure of beneficence.

7. We enter into communion with the lowly Saviour.

Verse 1. The support of the Small pox Hospitals recommended. Bishop Squire, 1760. Scores of sermons of this kind have been preached from this text.

Verse 2. Blessed upon the earth. What blessings of an earthly character godly character secures, and in general what it is to be blessed with regard to this life.

Verse 2. (second clause). What it is to be delivered in trouble. From impatience, from despair, from sinful expedients, from violent attacks, from losing fellowship with God.

Verse 3. Strength in weakness. Inward strength, divinely given, continuously sustained, enduring to the end, triumphant in death, glorifying to God, proving the reality of grace, winning others to the faith.

Verse 3. (last clause). The heavenly bed making.

Verse 4. (first clause). A saying worth repeating: I said. It expresses penitence, humility, earnestness, faith, importunity, fear of God, etc.

Verse 4. Heal my soul.

1. The hereditary disease, breaking out in many disorders—open sin, unbelief, decline of grace, etc.

2. Spiritual health struggling with it; shown in spiritual pain, desire, prayer, effort.

3. The well proved Physician. Has healed, and will, by his word, his blood, his Spirit, &c.

Verse 4. I have sinned against thee. This confession is personal, plain, without pretence of excuse, comprehensive and intelligent, for it reveals the very heart of sin—"against thee."

Verse 5. What we may expect. What our enemies desire. What we may therefore prize, i.e., the power of Christian life and name. What we should do—tell the Lord all in prayer. What good will then come of the evil.

Verse 6. (first clause). The folly and sin of frivolous visits.

Verse 6. (second and third clauses). Like to like, or the way in which character draws its like to itself. The same subject might be treated under the title of The Chiffonnier, or the rag collector. What he gathers; where he puts it—in his heart; what he does with it; what he gets for it; and what will become of him.

Verses 7-12. On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

Verse 9. The treachery of Judas.

Verse 11. Deliverance from temptation a token of divine favour.

Verse 12. This text reveals the insignia of those whom grace has distinguished.

1. Their integrity is manifest.

2. Their character is divinely sustained.

3. They dwell in the favour of God.

4. Their position is stable and continues.

5. Their eternal future is secure.

Verse 13.

1. The object of praise—Jehovah, the covenant God.

2. The nature of the praise—without beginning or end.

3. Our participation in the praise—"Amen and Amen."

The ancient rabbins saw in the Five Books of the Psalter the image of the Five Books of the Law. This way of looking on the Psalms as a second Pentateuch, the echo of the first, passed over into the Christian church, and found favour with some early fathers. It has commended itself to the acceptance of good recent expositors, like Dr. Delitzsch, who calls the Psalter "the congregation's five fold word to the Lord, even as the Thora (the Law) is the Lord's five fold word to the Congregation." This mat be mere fancy, but its existence from ancient times shows that the five fold division attracted early notice. William Binnie, D.D.

God presented Israel with the Law, a Pentateuch, and grateful Israel responded with a Psalter, a Pentateuch of praise. F.L.K.

God presented Israel with the Law, a Pentateuch, and grateful Israel responded with s Psalter, a Pentateuch of praise, in acknowledgment of the divine gift. J. L. K.