Bible Commentaries

CONTENTS

Here are some very striking arguments in favor of the blessedness of waiting on the Lord. The state of such as serve God is described, and their happiness insisted upon.

A Psalm, or Song, for the Sabbath-day.

From the title of this Psalm, it should seem more than probable that it was composed for the public service of the temple on the sabbath-day. But whether this was the case or not, it is now marked by the Holy Ghost as suitable for the Lord's-day service, and may, under his teaching, be happily made use of either in private or public. Every sabbath day is, or ought to be, a thanksgiving day. And as it is the Lord's day, and an emblem of the Lord's rest, believers ought, with particular reference to Christ, to enjoy both the Lord and his day. And, Reader, do observe, that though it be called a Psalm, or Song, for the Sabbath, yet is it not confined to that day; for the hymn saith, it is blessed to show forth the loving-kindness of the Lord in the morning, and his faithfulness every night. And as we have no psaltery nor harp suited to the Old Testament dispensation, I would say, Lord let the ten strings of my instrument be the whole chords of my heart. Tune the whole to praise thee, to love thee, to celebrate thy goodness, and out of the abundance of my heart may my lips to glorify thee!

What work, I would ask my soul, hath the Lord made me glad through? Oh! what innumerable subjects may I find for gratitude and joy through the whole kingdoms of his word, his providence, and his grace? And, my soul, wilt thou not chiefly praise him, and shall not thy sabbath-day song, and thy every-day song, be of his work of grace upon thy heart? Dost thou not cry out here, O Lord! how great are thy works!

How strikingly do these verses represent the state of the ungodly and unregenerate! What can they know, or what can they discover? Jesus, with all his beauty, glory, fulness, suitableness, and all-sufficiency, is nothing in their eyes, neither is there any loveliness that they should desire him. My soul! mark the properties of discriminating grace!

I beg the Reader to mark the wonderful speaker here introduced. Who but the blessed Jesus could talk of the horn of his exaltation, or of the rich anointings which were poured out upon him without measure? Luke 1:69; John 3:34.

Here again we must look out for the ever blessed Jesus. Of whom but that righteous One could the Prophet speak? Surely he is as the palm-tree of Engedi, and the tree of life in the paradise of God. Revelation 22:2.

After what the preceding verse said of Jesus, the characters of his people are here beautifully introduced. They are called trees of righteousness, of the Lord's right-hand planting. And from being branches of their living Head, they bring forth fruit unto God. Isaiah 61:3.

How very lovely and blessed doth this Sabbath Psalm, or Song, end? For what is the whole of it; nay, what is the whole purport of redemption? Is it not to show forth the faithfulness, the covenant faithfulness, truth, love, mercy, grace, and everlasting kindness of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; to manifest that he is the Rock, and that his work is perfect? He hath blessed, and he doth bless, and he ever will bless, the Church in Jesus. Here he glorifies his holy name. And here he fully proves that there is no unrighteousness in him. Amen.

REFLECTIONS

SEE, my soul, what a gracious provision the Holy Ghost hath made for thee to sing thy song on the sabbath-day! Never, surely, wilt thou be at a loss for a hymn of praise to carol aloud the blessedness of the sabbath, as long as this Psalm riseth to thy view. Behold! what a glorious subject it openeth, in the celebration of Jehovah's faithfulness. Think what fatherly love thy God and Father in Christ Jesus manifested towards the church, and towards thee, and every individual member of Christ's mystical body, when giving his dear Son as the glorious Head of the Church, the very ordinance, the word, the sabbath, and the rest, in grace here, and glory hereafter! And think what a sabbath Jesus is himself, and what a rest to every weary soul! My soul! wilt thou not flourish under this Palm-tree of thy Lord, and spread abroad under his gracious shade and his fruitful blessings? And think how beneficent is the Holy Ghost in all his quickening influences and gracious teachings, to lead thee on the sabbaths to the ordinances of Jesus, and there to shed abroad the love of God in thine heart, and direct thee into the patient waiting for Jesus Christ. Hail! holy, holy, holy, undivided Three in One, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! May every sabbath which showeth forth thy faithfulness find my soul resting more and more upon the Lord our righteousness, and testifying my earnest waiting for that everlasting sabbath of rest which is above, and which remaineth for the people of God!