Bible Commentaries

A PSALM OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENT

‘God is the Judge.’

Psalms 75:7

This psalm celebrates God’s judgment in history, especially on the heathen. It has been thought to refer to the overthrow of Sennacherib.

I. First, we have the national voice giving thanks for the judgment about to fall.—His Name is near, He is not afar off. ‘A present help is He.’

II. The Almighty’s voice is heard proclaiming His intention to bear up the world though the pillars thereof are dissolved and bow to their fall.—Oh! do not lose heart. At the supreme moment, when the solid framework of society and of the world seems on the point of dissolution, a strong hand is thrust out to grasp the tottering pillars, and stay their fall.

III. The Psalmist’s voice takes up the strain.—The proud Assyrian had placed his throne in the northern hills, attributing his power to his sun-god. But no, his power originates in nothing short of God. Not the orient, nor meridian, nor occidental rays of the sun give him his power. All is due to God, Who uses him for a little while for the testing and chastisement of his people. And when the Divine purpose is fulfilled, He will cause him to drink of the cup of His wrath.

Let us learn to detect the movement of the Divine Providence in the turbulent course of human government, and believe that the end will be the cutting off of the boast of the wicked and the exaltation of the righteous.

Illustration

‘Here is an eternal truth with which we would not part: God must hate sin and be forever sin’s enemy. Because He is the Lord of love, therefore must He be a consuming fire to evil; God is against evil, but for us; if, then, we sin He must be against us; in sinning we identify ourselves with evil, therefore we must endure the consuming fire. In this soft age in which we live it is good to fall back on the first principles of everlasting truth. We have come to think that education may be maintained by mere laws of love instead of discipline, and that public punishment may be abolished. When you have once got rid of the idea of public punishment, then by degrees you will also get rid of the idea of sin; where is it written in the Word of God that the sword of His minister is to be borne in vain? In this world of groaning and of anguish, tell us where it is that the law which links suffering to sin has ceased to act?’