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Psalm CXXIV.—God the Deliverer:

A Pilgrim Song of David.

1. But for the Lord who was on our side,
(Oh let Israel say it!)

2. But for the Lord who was on our side
When man rose up against us.

3. Then alive they had swallowed us up,
When their wrath was kindled against us.

4. Then the waters had overwhelmed us,
The stream had passed over our soul.

5. Then had passed over our soul
The waters, the proud waters.

6. Blessed be the Lord!
Who hath not given us a prey to their teeth.

7. Our soul is escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowler;
The snare is broken, and we are escaped.

8. Our help is in the name of the Lord
Who made heaven and earth.

This Psalm was written by David, yet not of and for himself alone, but of and for all Israel, in that and in every after age. Such troubles and such deliverances are found among God's people in all times.

1. "But for the Lord!" He was the one and only succour left, and found able and ready in the day of their calamity. "Let Israel say it!" It is known by them, let it also be expressed in words. The utterance of it will at once be giving God his due, enable them better to appreciate his goodness, and prepare them to receive further favors.

2. "But for the Lord!" A repetition according to the style of the pilgrims' psalms, called for too by the weight of the sentiment. It is the key-note of this psalm of deliverance, will bear to be told twice, and should ever be kept in the memory of the Israel of God. "When man rose up." Man: i.e., men at large, a large and strong combination of the power of the world under the prince of this world, so that none were left to help or befriend the people of God. This fits in with "But for the Lord." The totality of men being against them, but for the Lord they should have been altogether unaided. The rising up is a standing up to battle, with the purpose not to sit down or return to their place till they have made others fall.

3. "Then alive." This might be understood of those against whom the fury of the enemy was directed: while they were still alive they were swallowed by the devourer, as the voracious monsters of the deep page 12 swallow down the small fry on which they feed. But, on the whole, it seems fully as natural and in keeping with original, to refer the alive to the enemies, and to take it as descriptive of their liveliness, activity, and power to hear down the people of God. They are lively, crackling, raging like the fire, when their wrath is kindled; and, like the fire, they swallow up and destroy all that comes within their reach. By comparison to the fire is represented the rage of the enemy.

4. "The waters." Both water and fire are needed to represent the adversaries of the church: they are brought through fire and through water to their wealthy place. As fire the rage, so water expresses the overwhelming number of the enemy. The waters had inundated, or overwhelmed as a flood or spate (almost the Hebrew word), that makes a clean sweep, drowning the living creature and destroying what springs out of the earth. That swollen torrent had passed over the soul, and left it a dead thing on the muddy bank. Not so great as the mighty deep is the swollen stream, yet quite sufficient to make an utter end of helpless men exposed to its fury.

5. "Proud waters," foaming and seething. The word employed here is almost the same as our Saxon seethe, and may probably be one of those roots which the Eastern and Western languages possess in common. Here the word may be taken in its primary meaning of seething and foaming, as the waters of a torrent; not, however, to the exclusion of its secondary meaning of proud, as applying to the haughty, overbearing demeanour of those from whom God delivers. These were like the wild raging elements, and could be controlled by no power short of God's.

6. The next comparison of the enemy to a wild beast, represents to us their cruel and bloodthirsty spirit. This cruelty he advances to speak of with a "Blessed be God!" an expression in advance of those he has hitherto employed. He is rising to greater confidence and joy as he proceeds, speaking of the deliverances of God. Before, he had only breath to say, "But for the Lord:" now he has time and composure to bless and praise him. This progress of confidence, this rising from prayer to praise, may be observed in almost any of the psalms. "Hath not given us a prey." God did not by leaving His people hand them over to their cruel enemies that were watching to devour. They howled around in vain; the Lord stoou between; and their greedy, cruel teeth were disappointed of their prey.

7. "Soul like a bird." A comparison more than once used in Scripture, aptly expressing the timidity and agility of a living man in running for his life. The danger is very imminent. They are now caught page 13 in the snare! The hand of the fowler has almost taken them and crushed out their life as some detested vermin. But, all at once, asunder goes the snare; a way of escape is opened, and without loss of time taken advantage of. Far from an uncommon experience is this, among the people of God, in earlier and later times. God does it that He may magnify His mercy. The hour of their extremity is His opportunity: He with the trial makes a way of escape. The life of David presents many such breakings of the snare and escaping of the bird; and so does the history of Scotland, and other countries in which persecution had free way. The great fowler is Satan himself; but under him are many indeed, with not a little of his skill and craft. The enemy is compared to a fowler, because of the cunning and skill he employs against the Israel of God.

What of all this varied description of danger and deliverance? Was one occasion or many in the eye of the Psalmist when he wrote these words? A little research and ingenuity might find incidents in the history of Israel or David agreeing to each of these deliverances. One enemy like the fire; another like the swollen torrent; a third like a wild beast; a fourth like a skilful fowler;—and the power and wisdom of God just such as to counteract the enemy. They who study closely will, no doubt, be able to produce many individual illustrations of these comparisons. We would at present adduce, as illustrating the whole psalm, the deliverence of Israel out of Egypt, which it is not at all unlikely the writer of the psalm had before his mind, and which was so familiar to the people.

1. We know that the anger of Pharaoh was kindled, and burnt like a fire against Moses and his people. Egypt itself is spoken of as a furnace to them; and at the time of going out the furnace was seven times heated. Pharaoh was like a tongue of fire that shot out from the furnace, if possible to envelope and destroy the people that seemed ready to effect an escape. His mind was to seize and quite destroy as the devouring flame.

2. When the people had got within the mountains adjoining the Red Sea, with the host of Egypt following hard behind, there was nothing which they more resembled than someone in a valley, liable to be overtaken and swept away by some formidable inundation ready to carry away all before it. But He who delivered from the hot wrath of Pharaoh rescued also from the multitude of his host. It came as a swollen stream, to cover and carry away all before it; but there was a place prepared where itself might be covered and lost; and the people of God saw its destruction instead of their own.

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3. Again the position of Israel at the Red Sea might fitly be described as that of a creature ready to be leaped upon and torn by a wild beast. They could hear his roar. They knew his rage and cruelty;—they trembled in every limb, they had no power to escape; they are feeble through terror. He almost has them in his teeth. But God just here interposed; God gives them not up a prey to his teeth—the trembling creature escapes from its destroyer.

4. Once more the position of Israel had a striking resemblance to that of a bird taken in a snare. They had come into a place where they were completely enclosed, all that remains is that the fowler come near and lay his hand upon them, to keep them as captives, or destroy as he may please. How possibly can they escape? A break is made in the net, and that, too, at the point which seemed strongest and most complete. An opening is made through the Red Sea, and they escape from the fowler, already pleasing himself with the thought of having accomplished his object and got the reward of his skill.

The varied description by which this psalm sets forth the dangers and deliverances of the Church, will make it all the more extensively useful among the people of God. Whether their enemy resemble the fire, the water, the wild beast, or the fowler,—here is their encouragement. From the variety here presented, they also learn that nothing can come up in their experience which God will not be ready to meet and overcome. "He will deliver them in six troubles; yea in seven He will not forsake them.

8. The Psalm closes as the CXXI., only that here mention is made of the Fame of the Lord. The name of God is just the nature of God, His character as expressed or outspoken by His acts of mercy and power. Our help and comfort is in the acts and manifestations of Him who made heaven and earth. As broad as the earth, as high as the heaven, as varied and as great as all the powers at work in earth or heaven?, is the help of the Lord. Ho is everywhere, and can do everything for His people.

A.

Rev. Dr. George Johnston, of Nicholson street U. P. Church, Edinburgh, died on 18th August, aged 70 years.

At the Second Anniversary of the Edinburgh Good Templars held in September, the Chairman stated that since the commencement of the movement in Edinburgh, two years ago, 49 lodges had been constituted, and 4000 members received in Edinburgh and Leith. Of these 4000 members there were at least 1000 bona-fide reclaimed drunkards. The membership for Scotland amounted to between 70,000 and 80,000.