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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 77:1

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To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice, [even] unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

1. “Aloud unto God let me cry,

Yea, aloud unto God, and he will give ear to me.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1 3. The Psalmist relates how, under the pressure of calamity, he could find no consolation even in prayer.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I cried unto God with my voice – That is, he cried or prayed audibly. It was not mere mental prayer. See the notes at Psa 3:4.

Even unto God with my voice – The repetition here is emphatic. The idea is that it was an earnest or fervent cry. Compare the notes at 2Co 12:8.

And he gave ear unto me – See Psa 5:1, note; Psa 17:6, note.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 77:1-20

I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me.

The faculty of human thought

The whole psalm may be used to illustrate the faculty of human thought. Throughout the whole the author speaks of remembering, considering, musing, making diligent search, meditating, etc, etc.

I. It is a power that can inflame the soul with longings for God (Psa 77:1-2). By thought this man brought the Eternal into his soul, even in the stillness and darkness of night. It presented Him as an Object to whom he appealed in his distress, and from whom he received relief.

II. It has power to fill the soul with mingled emotions.

1. Here is sadness (Psa 77:2-10). The writer says, his soul refused to be comforted, he was troubled, overwhelmed, so troubled that he could neither sleep nor speak, so troubled that he cries out, Will God cast off for ever? and will He be favourable no more? What sinful man can think upon God without being troubled with remorse and troubled with forebodings? Thought can lash the soul into a tempest, can kindle it into a hell.

2. Here is joy (Psa 77:10-20). And I said, this is my infirmity; or rather, my hope.

(1) The joy of gratitude. I remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. Thoughts upon the past mercies of God have a power to kindle the soul into raptures of gratitude.

(2) Joy of adoration. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary; or, Thy way is holy. The holiness of God is suited to inspire us with holy rapture.

(3) Joy of trustfulness. Thou art the God that doest wonders. The psalmist remembers what God had done in conducting the children of Israel through the Red Sea into the promised land; and this inspired and exalted him with new hope. Thus, thought can fill the soul either with sadness or with joy. It createst the weather within–cloudy or sunny, stormy or calm; the seasons within–spring, summer, autumn, or winter. What a wonderful faculty is this with which Heaven has endowed us, this faculty of thought.

III. It is a power over which man has a personal control. The psalmist speaks of himself as directing his own thoughts. I sought, I remembered, I considered. This power over thought is the dignity of our nature, and is that which invests us with responsibility. Man has no direct power over any faculty but this. He has no immediate control over his feelings or faiths. He could no more awaken love or produce repentance by a direct effort, than he could create a world. He can think or not think–think upon this subject or that, in this aspect or another, consecutively or desultorily, profoundly or superficially. This he can do; and herein is his freedom. (Homilist.)

Gods ear open to the cry of the needy

A cheque without a signature at the bottom is nothing but a worthless piece of paper. The stroke of a pen confers on it all its value. The prayer of a poor child of Adam is a feeble thing in itself, but once endorsed by the hand of the Lord Jesus, it availeth much. There was an officer in the city of Rome who was appointed to have his doors always open, in order to receive any Roman citizen who applied to him for help. Just so the ear of the Lord Jesus is ever open to the cry of all who want mercy and grace. It is His office to help them. (J. C. Ryle.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

PSALM LXXVII

The psalmist’s ardent prayer to God in the tine of distress,

1-4.

The means he used to excite his confidence, 5-12.

God’s wonderful works in behalf of his people, 13-20.

NOTES ON PSALM LXXVII

The title, “To the chief Musician, (or conqueror,) to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.” On this title we may observe that both Asaph and Jeduthun were celebrated singers in the time of David, and no doubt were masters or leaders of bands which long after their times were called by their names. Hence Psalms composed during and after the captivity have these names prefixed to them. But there is reason to believe also, that there was a person of the name of Asaph in the captivity at Babylon. The author must be considered as speaking in the persons of the captive Israelites, It may however be adapted to the case of any individual in spiritual distress through strong temptation, or from a sense of the Divine displeasure in consequence of backsliding.

Verse 1. I cried unto God] The repetition here marks the earnestness of the psalmist’s soul; and the word voice shows that the Psalm was not the issue of private meditation, but of deep mental trouble, which forced him to speak his griefs aloud.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This verse seems to contain the sum of the whole Psalm, consisting of two parts, to wit, his earnest cry to God in his deep distress; and Gods gracious return to his prayers, by supporting him under them, and giving him assurance of a good issue out of them; of both which he speaks more distinctly and particularly, of the first from Psa 77:2-10, of the latter thence to the end.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. expresses the purport of thePsalm.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

I cried unto God with my voice,…. Which is to be understood of prayer, and that vocal, and which is importunate and fervent, being made in distress; see Ps 3:4, or “my voice was unto God” h, “and I cried”; it was directed to him, and expressed in a very loud and clamorous way:

even unto God with my voice; or “my voice was unto God”; which is repeated to show that he prayed again and again, with great eagerness and earnestness, his case being a very afflicted one:

and he gave ear unto me; his prayer was not without success; God is a God hearing and answering prayer, according to his promise, Ps 50:15.

h “vox mea ad Deum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, “fertur”, Junius Tremellius “erat”, Cocceius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The poet is resolved to pray without intermission, and he prays; fore his soul is comfortless and sorely tempted by the vast distance between the former days and the present times. According to the pointing, appears to be meant to be imperative after the form , which occurs instead of and , cf. Psa 94:1; Isa 43:8; Jer 17:18, and the mode of writing , Psa 142:5, 2Ki 8:6, and frequently; therefore et audi = ut audias (cf. 2Sa 21:3). But such an isolated form of address is not to be tolerated; has been regarded as perf. consec. in the sense of ut audiat, although this modification of into in connection with the appearing of the Waw consec. cannot be supported in any other instance (Ew. 234, e), and Kimchi on this account tries to persuade himself to that which is impossible, viz., that in respect of sound stands for . The preterites in Psa 77:3 express that which has commenced and which will go on. The poet labours in his present time of affliction to press forward to the Lord, who has withdrawn from him; his hand is diffused, i.e., stretched out (not: poured out, for the radical meaning of , as the Syriac shows, is protrahere), in the night-time without wearying and leaving off; it is fixedly and stedfastly ( , as it is expressed in Exo 17:12) stretched out towards heaven. His soul is comfortless, and all comfort up to the present rebounds as it were from it (cf. Gen 37:35; Jer 31:15). If he remembers God, who was once near to him, then he is compelled to groan (cf. Psa 55:18, Psa 55:3; and on the cohortative form of a Lamed He verb, cf. Ges. 75, 6), because He has hidden Himself from him; if he muses, in order to find Him again, then his spirit veils itself, i.e., it sinks into night and feebleness ( as in Psa 107:5; Psa 142:4; Psa 143:4). Each of the two members of Psa 77:4 are protasis and apodosis; concerning this emotional kind of structure of a sentence, vid., Ewald, 357, b.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Prevailing Melancholy; Mournful Supplications.

To the chief musician, to Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.

1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. 3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. 4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. 7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? 8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. 10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

We have here the lively portraiture of a good man under prevailing melancholy, fallen into and sinking in that horrible pit and that miry clay, but struggling to get out. Drooping saints, that are of a sorrowful spirit, may here as in a glass see their own faces. The conflict which the psalmist had with his griefs and fears seems to have been over when he penned this record of it; for he says (v. 1), I cried unto God, and he gave ear unto me, which, while the struggle lasted, he had not the comfortable sense of, as he had afterwards; but he inserts it in the beginning of his narrative as an intimation that his trouble did not end in despair; for God heard him, and, at length, he knew that he heard him. Observe,

I. His melancholy prayers. Being afflicted, he prayed (Jam. v. 13), and, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly (v. 1): My voice was unto God, and I cried, even with my voice unto God. He was full of complaints, loud complaints, but he directed them to God, and turned them all into prayers, vocal prayers, very earnest and importunate. Thus he gave vent to his grief and gained some ease; and thus he took the right way in order to relief (v. 2): In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. Note, Days of trouble must be days of prayer, days of inward trouble especially, when God seems to have withdrawn from us; we must seek him and seek till we find him. In the day of his trouble he did not seek for the diversion of business or recreation, to shake off his trouble that way, but he sought God, and his favour and grace. Those that are under trouble of mind must not think to drink it away, or laugh it away, but must pray it away. My hand was stretched out in the night and ceased not; so Dr. Hammond reads the following words, as speaking the incessant importunity of his prayers. Compare Psa 143:5; Psa 143:6.

II. His melancholy grief. Grief may then be called melancholy indeed, 1. When it admits of no intermission; such was his: My sore, or wound, ran in the night, and bled inwardly, and it ceased not, no, not in the time appointed for rest and sleep. 2. When it admits of no consolation; and that also as his case: My soul refused to be comforted; he had no mind to hearken to those that would be his comforters. As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that sings songs to a heavy heart, Prov. xxv. 20. Nor had he any mind to think of those things that would be his comforts; he put them far from him, as one that indulged himself in sorrow. Those that are in sorrow, upon any account, do not only prejudice themselves, but affront God, if they refuse to be comforted.

III. His melancholy musings. He pored so much upon the trouble, whatever it was, personal or public, that, 1. The methods that should have relieved him did but increase his grief, v. 3. (1.) One would have thought that the remembrance of God would comfort him, but it did not: I remembered God and was troubled, as poor Job (ch. xxiii. 15); I am troubled at his presence; when I consider I am afraid of him. When he remembered God his thoughts fastened only upon his justice, and wrath, and dreadful majesty, and thus God himself became a terror to him. (2.) One would have thought that pouring out his soul before God would give him ease, but it did not; he complained, and yet his spirit was overwhelmed, and sank under the load. 2. The means of his present relief were denied him, v. 4. He could not enjoy sleep, which, if it be quiet and refreshing, is a parenthesis to our griefs and cares: “Thou holdest my eyes waking with thy terrors, which make me full of tossings to and fro until the dawning of the day.” He could not speak, by reason of the disorder of his thoughts, the tumult of his spirits, and the confusion his mind was in: He kept silence even from good while his heart was hot within him; he was ready to burst like a new bottle (Job xxxii. 19), and yet so troubled that he could not speak and refresh himself. Grief never preys so much upon the spirits as when it is thus smothered and pent up.

IV. His melancholy reflections (Psa 77:5; Psa 77:6): “I have considered the days of old, and compared them with the present days; and our former prosperity does but aggravate our present calamities: for we see not the wonders that our fathers told us off.” Melancholy people are apt to pore altogether upon the days of old and the years of ancient times, and to magnify them, for the justifying of their own uneasiness and discontent at the present posture of affairs. But say not thou that the former days were better than these, because it is more than thou knowest whether they were or no, Eccl. vii. 10. Neither let the remembrance of the comforts we have lost make us unthankful for those that are left, or impatient under our crosses. Particularly, he called to remembrance his song in the night, the comforts with which he had supported himself in his former sorrows and entertained himself in his former solitude. These songs he remembered, and tried if he could not sing them over again; but he was out of tune for them, and the remembrance of them did but pour out his soul in him, Ps. xliii. 4. See Job xxxv. 10.

V. His melancholy fears and apprehensions: “I communed with my own heart, v. 6. Come, my soul, what will be the issue of these things? What can I think of them and what can I expect they will come to at last? I made diligent search into the causes of my trouble, enquiring wherefore God contended with me and what would be the consequences of it. And thus I began to reason, Will the Lord cast off for ever, as he does for the present? He is not now favourable; and will he be favourable no more? His mercy is now gone; and is it clean gone for ever? His promise now fails; and does it fail for evermore? God is not now gracious; but has he forgotten to be gracious? His tender mercies have been withheld, perhaps in wisdom; but are they shut up, shut up in anger?” v. 7-9. This is the language of a disconsolate deserted soul, walking in darkness and having no light, a case not uncommon even with those that fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servant, Isa. l. 10. He may here be looked upon, 1. As groaning under a sore trouble. God hid his face from him, and withdrew the usual tokens of his favour. Note, Spiritual trouble is of all trouble most grievous to a gracious soul; nothing wounds and pierces it like the apprehensions of God’s being angry, the suspending of his favour and the superseding of his promise; this wounds the spirit; and who can bear that? 2. As grappling with a strong temptation. Note, God’s own people, in a cloudy and dark day, may be tempted to make desperate conclusions about their own spiritual state and the condition of God’s church and kingdom in the world, and, as to both, to give up all for gone. We may be tempted to think that God has abandoned us and cast us off, that the covenant of grace fails us, and that the tender mercy of our God shall be for ever withheld from us. But we must not give way to such suggestions as these. If fear and melancholy ask such peevish questions, let faith answer them from the Scripture: Will the Lord cast off for ever? God forbid, Rom. xi. 1. No; the Lord will not cast off his people, Ps. xciv. 14. Will he be favourable no more? Yes, he will; for, though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion, Lam. iii. 32. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? No; his mercy endures for ever; as it is from everlasting, it is to everlasting, Ps. ciii. 17. Doth his promise fail for evermore? No; it is impossible for God to lie, Heb. vi. 18. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? No; he cannot deny himself, and his own name which he hath proclaimed gracious and merciful, Exod. xxxiv. 6. Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? No; they are new every morning (Lam. iii. 23); and therefore, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?Hos 11:8; Hos 11:9. Thus was he going on with his dark and dismal apprehensions when, on a sudden, he first checked himself with that word, Selah, “Stop there; go no further; let us hear no more of these unbelieving surmises;” and he then chid himself (v. 10): I said, This is my infirmity. He is soon aware that it is not well said, and therefore, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? I said, This is my affliction” (so some understand it); “This is the calamity that falls to my lot and I must make the best of it; every one has his affliction, his trouble in the flesh; and this is mine, the cross I must take up.” Or, rather, “This is my sin; it is my iniquity, the plague of my own heart.” These doubts and fears proceed from the want and weakness of faith and the corruption of a distempered mind. note, (1.) We all know that concerning ourselves of which we must say, “This is our infirmity, a sin that most easily besets us.” (2.) Despondency of spirit, and distrust of God, under affliction, are too often the infirmities of good people, and, as such, are to be reflected upon by us with sorrow and shame, as by the psalmist here: This is my infirmity. When at any time it is working in us we must thus suppress the rising of it, and not suffer the evil spirit to speak. We must argue down the insurrections of unbelief, as the psalmist here: But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. He had been considering the years of ancient times (v. 5), the blessings formerly enjoyed, the remembrance of which did only add to his grief; but now he considered them as the years of the right hand of the Most High, that those blessings of ancient times came from the Ancient of days, from the power and sovereign disposal of his right hand who is over all, God, blessed for ever, and this satisfied him; for may not the Most High with his right hand make what changes he pleases?

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Psalms 77

A Count Your Blessings Psalm

This Psalm expressed the distress and sorrow of a humble man, humbled before God, invoking His special intervention to help him. From his humble position, he came to count his blessings, and to be thereby lifted from despond.

Scripture v. 1-20:

Verses 1-3 relate Asaph’s complaint when God had deserted him or given him over to chastening. Asaph’s recall of past deliverance God had given to His people only aggravated his pain of the moment. Yet, He cried to God with his voice, cried out vocally, audibly, and the Lord gave ear (heed) to him, v.1. He added “in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord,” as related Psa 50:15; Isa 26:9. He reached out his hand, stretched out his hand to God in the night, without ceasing, with a soul that would not be comforted, v.2. Then v.3 adds that he “remembered God and was troubled,” because, like Job, he complained against God, and his “spirit was overwhelmed, Selah.” His powers of meditation simply failed him, knowing not how he should pray “as he ought,” as expressed by Paul, Rom 8:26-27; Luk 18:1.

Verses 4-6 relate how, after a boisterous outcry for help, he deliberated over past deliverance of his people, he then was brought to numbness, so that his eyes were held awake, and he said, ” I am so troubled that I cannot speak,” he could not give his spirit vent, in words or tears, any further. He added, “I have considered (reflected on) the days of old … the years of ancient times,” as related Deu 32:7; Psa 143:5; Isa 51:9.
Verse 6 relates his remembrance of his “song in the night,” former hours of joy and thanksgiving, that aggravated the pain of his present comfortlessness. He then communed with his own heart, and his spirit searched it diligently, whether or not he was now in the faith-will of God, 2Co 13:5.

Verses 7, 8 relate six soul searching questions that sprang from

Asaph’s soul that sleepless night, when his prayers did not seem to avail anything, Jas 4:3.

1) Will the Lord cast off forever? O, no, Psa 37:23; Joh 10:27-29.

2) Will he be favorable no more? O, yes, He will, Heb 13:5; Rom 8:28; Rom 8:32. ,

3) Is his mercy clean gone forever? O, no, La 3:22; Mat 5:7.

4) Does his promise fail for evermore? O, no, Rom 4:21; Php_1:6; Jer 29:10.

5) Has God forgotten to be gracious? Surely not, Isa 49:15; Rom 5:20; Jas 4:6; 1Pe 5:5.

6) Has He in anger shut up (forever) His tender mercies? Certainly not, Act 17:28; Jas 1:17.

God is still “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth,” to those who receive and obey Him, Exo 34:6; Psa 103:8; Isa 63:11-15. See also His mercy withheld, Isa 27:11; Jon 2:4; Luk 16:25. Note sure fulfillment of promises, tho delayed, Rom 9:6; Heb 10:36-37. He has pledged, and will not forget, to be gracious to His own, Isa 49:15.

Verse 10 relates Asaph’s resolve to recognize God’s will in his moment of infirmity, his affliction hours of Divine appointment, and profit from it, as God willed it, Heb 12:5-12; See also Job 42:3; Psa 31:22; Jer 10:19; La 3:18-23; Dan 9:7; Mar 9:24. Then he resolved to profit from reflection on the mighty right hand of God, that had sent judgment for sin, and blessings and deliverance, on his people in the past; and remembering such, he determined to profit by it, 1Co 10:11.

Verses 11, 12 resolve “I will remember the works of the Lord, thy wonders of old,” adding, “I will meditate (digest) also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings, Psa 1:2. Holy resolves always lead to blessings and separated service, Joh 7:17; Jas 1:22; It was true of the prodigal, Luke 15; and of Paul, Act 9:5-21; 2Ti 4:7-8. Even as our Lord did, Joh 5:30; Joh 17:4.

Verse 13 witness “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary (revealed there). Who is so great a God as our God?” Psa 73:17. It was revealed to Hezekiah there, 2Ki 20:5; 2Ch 32:26. Isaiah had a vision of and call from Him there, and obeyed, Isa 6:1-10. And God promised Solomon this His eyes would always be open to and focused upon His sanctuary and His ears would listen to prayers made there, 2Ch 7:12-16; Heb 10:24-25; Eph 3:21.

Verse 14, 15 declare that the Elohim, true God is the one who repeatedly does wonders and has declared (made known) his strength “among the people,” of both Israel and the heathen round about. Asaph added that this true God had redeemed his people by his arm (of strength), even the sons of Jacob and Joseph, from Egypt, and preserved them by promise, for more than 500 years, at that time, Exo 9:16; Exo 15:14; Exo 6:6; Psa 78:67; Psa 80:1. “Selah,” meaning meditate in tranquility, and think on this God, gain nourishment for the soul; depend on Him for your redemption, and He will not fail you, Pro 3:3-5; Joh 6:37.

Verses 16-18 relate how God had controlled the thunder, lightning, clouds, rain, and waters of the earth and sea for liberation and redemption security of His people. The sound of thunder and arrows (of lightning) were mandated and controlled by the Lord, still are, Exo 14:21; Jos 3:15-16; Hab 3:9-10; Hab 3:15. In majesty the waters and the wind and the sea tremble before and obey the word of the Lord. Shall man presume to do less? Psa 83:13; Eze 10:13.

Verses 19, 20 conclude that God has His way in the sea and in the great waters, as in the. Red Sea, Nah 1:3; Hab 3:15; Exo 14:26-28; Even so, God’s ways are “past finding out,” Rom 11:33. It is further concluded “Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron,” Isa 63:11; Hos 12:13; Mic 6:4; Act 7:35-36.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. My voice came to God, and I cried. This is not a mere complaint, as some interpreters explain it, denoting the surprise which the people of God felt in finding that he who hitherto had been accustomed to grant their requests shut his ears to them, and was called upon in vain. It appears more probable that the prophet either speaks of the present feeling of his mind, or else calls to remembrance how he had experienced that God was inclined and ready to hear his prayers. There can be no doubt that he describes the greatness of the sorrow with which he was afflicted; and, in nay opinion, he denotes a continued act both by the past and the future tenses of the verbs. In the first place, he declares that he did not foolishly rend the air with his cries, like many who pour forth bitter cries without measure and at random under their sorrows; but that he addressed his speech to God when necessity constrained him to cry. The copula and, which is joined to the verb cried, should be resolved into the adverb of time when, in this way, When I cried my voice came to God At the same time, he also shows, that although he had been constrained often to reiterate his cries, he had not given over persevering in prayer. What is added immediately after is intended for the confirmation of his faith: And he heard me. The copula and, as in many other places, is here put instead of the causal adverb for. The meaning is, that he encouraged himself to cry to God, from the consideration that it was God’s usual manner to show his favor and mercy towards him.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

INTRODUCTION

Superscription.To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, a Psalm of Asaph. Jeduthun was one of the leaders of sacred music in Davids time (1Ch. 16:41-42; 2Ch. 5:12). One of the twenty-four musical choirs left by David bore the honorary title Jeduthun or Jedithun, perhaps from him, as its founder (1 Chronicles 25)

A Psalm of Asaph. See Introduction to Psalms 74.

Occasion.It is not known, nor have we any means of determining upon what occasion the Psalm was written. But, Perowne has well said concerning it, Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others, under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. The Psalm is eminently fitted to teach us how we may obtain comfort and peace even in the severest distresses.

Homiletically the Psalm sets before us, First: The good mans trouble and Deliverer, Psa. 77:1-3. Second: The thoughts and inquiries of a godly soul in distress, Psa. 77:4-9. Third: The godly soul rising superior to trouble by the devout contemplation of the works and ways of God, Psa. 77:10-20.

THE GOOD MANS TROUBLE AND DELIVERER

(Psa. 77:1-3.)

I. The Good mans trouble. All men have some measure of acquaintance with trouble. It is not given to us to travel through life under unclouded skies, favoured by refreshing breezes, amid enchanting scenery, with delightful companionships, and upon a pleasant and easy road. There are times when we have to walk in loneliness and sorrow, with weary limbs, and bleeding feet, and aching heart, beneath darkened skies, and amid pelting storms. The good man has no exemption from lifes sorrows and trials. He is exposed to physical trials. Bodily pains and diseases visit and try the true-born child of God as well as the wicked. He suffers from social trials also. He has disappointments and losses in business, he is pained by the inconstancy and duplicity of those whom he regarded as true, he suffers by reason of the afflictions and sorrows of those who are dear to him, and he is sometimes stricken with anguish by the invasions of death into the home or social circle. He also experiences religious trials. His own imperfections and sins are a source of grief to him. The contrast between the ideal and the actual in his own life is great and painful. He has seasons of dark doubt, and sad misgiving, and distressful hiding of the face of God from him. Of such experiences the poet sings in this Psalm. The compassions and favours, the mercies and faithfulnesses of God seemed to be all cut off from him. God himself seemed to have forsaken him, cast him off. The intensity of his trouble is seen in that

1. It was continuous. In the day he sought the Lord by reason of it, and at night his hand was unweariedly outstretched in prayers for deliverance. His grief knew no intermission. His soul obtained no rest either by night or by day.

2. His soul accepted no consolation,refused to be comforted. Some consolations seemed inadequate to his need. Others seemed too precious for one who was so unworthy in his own sight. And so the wounded heart refused the balm which would have healed it.

3. The remembrance of God was painful. We do not wonder that the remembrance of God is painful to the wicked. But that the godly man should find it painful to direct his thoughts to God is indeed strange. Meditation on God should fill the soul of the good man with holiest music. Very sore must have been the trial of the Psalmist when he was troubled at the recollection of God.

4. Meditation increased grief. I meditated and my spirit was overwhelmed. Reflection brought no relief to his soul, but seemed to sink him deeper in the abyss of trouble. A very sad state he was in. He is in deep waters, the waves and billows go over him, and he is unable to obtain relief or rest.

All things have rest: why should we toil alone?
We only toil, who are the first of things,
And make perpetual moan;
Still from one sorrow to another thrown:
Nor ever fold our wings,
And cease from wanderings,
Nor steep our brows in slumbers holy balm.

Tennyson.

These sore trials of godly men by the grace of God are often the means of richest blessings to the soul. As the darkness of night brings out the glory of the starry heavens, so in affliction and trouble some most precious truths shine forth with the greatest brilliance.

Thou canst not tell

How rich a dowry sorrow gives the soul,
How firm a faith and eagle-sight of God.

Alford.

II. The Good mans Deliverer. In his trouble the Psalmist betook himself to the throne of grace, he had recourse to God. When trouble drives us nearer to God it is already a blessing to us.

1. His application to God involved faith.

(1) In the accessibility of God. The Psalmist felt that he could approach unto God, and speak to Him in prayer. Trouble cannot drive us into any region where He is not. From the deepest abyss of distress the moan of suffering, the cry of penitence, or the prayer for help, will reach the ear and touch the heart of God.

(2) In the sufficiency of God to help those who seek unto Him. The Psalmist would not have cried to God had he not believed in His power to help him. Our God is all-sufficient. There are no sorrows that defy His consolations. There are no wounds which the balm of Gilead cannot heal.

(3) In the goodness of God. Notwithstanding his declaration that he remembered God and was troubled, the Psalmist must have believed in Gods kindness and willingness to help him, or he would not have carried his burden to His throne. Though He seems to hide His face from us, yet He is ever gracious and kind. His name and nature are love. When trouble thus leads us to draw closer to God, and to cast out burden upon Him, it has not visited us in vain.

2. His application to God was persevering and earnest. I cried unto God with my voice, unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my hand is stretched out at night unwearied. The repetition of the first verse is emphatic, presenting the idea of earnest and fervent supplication. The hand stretched out at night unwearied in prayer, indicates how importunate and persevering were his supplications. Hearty, fervent, importunate prayers are acceptable to God. Cold, heartless, formal prayers He does not regard. Let the Psalmists example be imitated by troubled hearts.

3. His application to God did not lead to immediate relief. He says that God gave ear unto him; but he seems to have obtained no immediate respite from his troubles. The Divine answer to our supplications is sometimes the continuance of those very trials or afflictions from which we have prayed to be delivered. The answer to the apostle Pauls prayer was not the removal of the thorn from the flesh quivering with agony, but, My grace is sufficient for thee. The withholding or delaying of that for which we have so importunately pleaded may be the true and gracious answer to our prayers. The blessing may be delayed that our faith and patience may thereby be increased, and that when it comes to us it may come richer and fuller. Or that for which we have asked may be withheld, because Infinite Wisdom sees that to us it would not be a blessing. Thus it is that the earnest, importunate prayers of good men are not always answered at once, and sometimes are not answered at all by granting the thing desired. Yet they are always helpful to the soul, and bring down blessings into the soul from God.

CONCLUSION.

1. Learn the sacred uses of trouble. These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work, &c. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, &c.

The tears we shed are not in vain;

Nor worthless is the heavy strife;

If, like the buried seed of grain,

They rise to renovated life.

It is through tears our spirits grow;

Tis in the tempest souls expand,

If it but teaches us to go

To Him who holds it in His hand.

Oh, welcome, then, the stormy blast!

Oh, welcome, then, the oceans roar!

Ye only drive more sure and fast

Our trembling bark to Heavens bright shore.T.C. Upham.

2. Learn the grand resource in trouble. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. . He is all-sufficient. . He is ever available. . He is ever gracious. From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

PRAYER IN TROUBLE

(Psa. 77:1-2.)

We have here

I. Something common to all men. The day of trouble. Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. With so much of sin in the world sorrow and trouble are inevitable.

II. A commendable example for all men. I cried unto God, I sought the Lord.

1. Earnestly. I cried with my voice, unto God with my voice.

2. Perseveringly. My hand is stretched out at night unwearied. In the day and in the night he sought the Lord. Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, &c.

III. A Divine auditor of all men. He gave ear unto me. Into the ear of God the cries of humanity are ever entering. Graciously He attends to the feeblest whisper of His people.

IV. A great mistake of some men. My soul refused to be comforted. Surely the Psalmist erred in this. God has graciously arranged our life and circumstances so that healing may come to the wounded spirit in many ways. Through the aspects and voices of nature, through the contemplation of His Providence, through His holy Word. To refuse His consolation is,

1. Ungrateful to Him.

2. Injurious to ourselves.

V. An experience which may happen to all men. To pray earnestly and importunately without any immediate reply was the lot of the poet, and may be the lot of all men. Let us learn the lessons of such an experience.

1. Calmly trust Him.

2. Perseveringly pray to Him.

3. Patiently wait for Him.

RECOLLECTIONS OF GOD PAINFUL TO THE WICKED

(Psa. 77:3.)

I remembered God and was troubled.
Why is the remembrance of God pleasant to some of us and painful to others? Why is it sometimes pleasant, and at other times painful, to the same individual?

I. Briefly state what we mean by remembering God. We certainly mean something more than a transient recollection of the word God, or of any other name by which He is known. By remembering God, the Psalmist meant recollecting those ideas which the term God is used by the inspired writers to signify. An eternal, self-existent, infinitely wise, just, and good Being, &c.

II. Inquire why the recollection of such a being should ever be painful; or, why any of Gods creatures should be troubled at the remembrance of Him. There is nothing in the Divine character and government which necessarily renders the remembrance of God productive of painful emotions. The remembrance of God is always delightful to holy angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. The constant presence of God constitutes their heaven. The recollection, also, of His existence, character, and government, is usually, though not always, highly pleasing to all good men. If any are troubled by the remembrance of God, the cause must exist solely in themselves. Nothing but sin can ever render the remembrance of God painful to any of His creatures. If our hearts or consciences condemn us, it is impossible to remember Him without being troubled. It will then be painful to remember that He is our Creator and Benefactor; for the remembrance will be attended with a consciousness of base ingratitude. Painful to think of Him as Lawgiver; for such thoughts will remind us that we have broken His law. So also as to His holiness, omniscience, omnipresence, power, &c.

Nor is this all. Every sinner loves sin. The only happiness with which he is acquainted, consists in gratifying either the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eye, or the pride of life. But all these are contrary to the will of God. He forbids the sinner to pursue them; He commands him to deny himself, &c. He threatens all who do not comply with everlasting punishment.
The more clearly the wicked perceive Gods character and their own, the more light is thrown into their consciences, the more mercies, privileges, and opportunities they have enjoyed and abused, so much the more they will be troubled by a remembrance of God.
APPLICATION.

1. This subject affords a rule by which we may try ourselves, and which will assist us much in discovering our real characters; for the moral character of every intelligent creature corresponds with his habitual views and feelings respecting God.

2. How wretched is the situation of impenitent sinners; of those, who cannot remember God without being troubled. They cannot enjoy real happiness in this life, for the world cannot afford it, and they dare not look up for it to heaven. How much more wretched must their situation be at death and in eternity!

3. How great are our obligations to God for the gospel of Christ! Were it not for this, the remembrance, and still more the presence of God, would have occasioned nothing but pure, unmingled wretchedness to any human being.
4. Is sin alone the cause which renders the remembrance of God painful? Then let all who have embraced the terms of reconciliation offered by the gospel, all who desire to remember God without being troubled, beware of sin. Swear an eternal war with sin; not only swear, but maintain it.Edward Payson, D.D., abridged.

THE THOUGHTS AND INQUIRIES OF A GODLY SOUL IN TROUBLE

(Psa. 77:4-9)

In our previous section we had to do with the Psalmists trouble and his application to God by reason thereof. We have now to do with his mental condition as affected by his troubles.

I. The thoughts of a godly soul in trouble. In the mental exercises of the Psalmist we notice

1. Reflection on the past doings of God. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient tisme. In his distress the Psalmist considered the former dealings of God with mankind, with a view of obtaining relief from his present troubles and light in his present perplexities. To us it seems that a study of the Divine working in human history is calculated to inspire the student with confidence in God, in the wisdom, righteousness, and goodness of His rule. Yet the Psalmist seems to have obtained no help from his consideration of the ancient doings of God. The state of his own soul spread a black pall over everything.

2. Recollection of times of trouble in his own life, which were also times of song. I call to remembrance my song in the night. In the Bible night is frequently used figuratively, to represent ignorance, sin, suffering, distress, death. Here it is used as the emblem of distress and trouble. Where is God, my Maker, who giveth songs in the night? The poet calls to mind former seasons of affliction and sorrow, in which he realised Divine comforts, and was enabled to sing in the darkness. Yet he seems to find no comfort for his present sorrow. He can discover no star to relieve his present darkness. From the recollection of experiences so precious and helpful as Gods mercies to him in former troubles he is unable to draw any consolation. A godly mans condition is deplorable indeed when such experiences afford no help and hope.

3. Communion with his own heart. I communed with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search. He had recalled past experiences of his own, he had reflected and reasoned upon the work of God in human history, now he will consult his own heart. He has tried to get help by the exercise of his intellect, and has failed to do so, now he will seek help by the exercise of his better feelings. The secret, silent teachings of the heart are often our best and safest guide. The heart is the centre of the spiritual, thinking, and conceptional life (Fuersts Lex.); and man can commune with his heart, can contemplate his own spiritual nature and faculties, can examine his own spiritual condition, can speak to his soul and be spoken to by his soul. Thus the poet communes with his own heart. But no help does he receive. The trouble seems to have obtained the complete mastery of his entire nature. Intellect and heart are alike subdued by it. Human history and his own experience are alike darkened by it. The soul which is swayed by grief sees all things shrouded in gloom and sadness. To each of us nature wears the colour of our spirit. This truth is finely expressed in Hamlet. I have of late lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercise: and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave oer-hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me, than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me, nor woman neither. In a somewhat similar plight was the Psalmist. Trouble had so completely mastered him that he could find neither comfort, help, nor hope anywhere.

II. The inquiries of a godly soul in trouble.

The Psalmist makes several inquiries, which may be classified thus. He inquires

1. As to Gods mindfulness of His people. Will the Lord cast off for ever? &c. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? &c. God seemed to have forgotten to be gracious in His dealings with His servant, and to have so far overlooked him as to lead to the inquiry, Will the Lord cast off for ever? It is a sore aggravation of a believers trials when the Lord seems to be unmindful of him in his time of need. How severe was the smart of the sisters of Bethany, when several days passed, and their Friend and Lord came not near to them, although they had sent to tell Him of their trouble!

2. As to Gods unchangeableness. In past times He had been to His people a God of mercy and grace, supporting and defending them. Has He changed in this respect? Is it possible that God can change? The thought is too painful for us. What misery and desolation would supervene if God, the supremely Good, could change! were to change, and be other than He is! The Psalmist seems to have tasted of this misery as he urged his pain-inspired inquiries.

3. As to Gods faithfulness. Doth His promise fail for evermore? Shall the promise which was made to, and good for, one generation, fail to the next generation? Is not the word of Jehovah reliable? The troubled soul seems to find repose nowhere. To him nothing appears firm and true, but sin, labour, and suffering. The shadows presented themselves as the only realities.

These inquiries of the troubled Psalmist reveal the depth and intensity of his sufferings. It is extremely painful to doubt ones own salvation; but who shall depict the anguish of doubt as to the truth and faithfulness, the righteousness and goodness of God? These inquiries present a hopeful symptom of the spiritual condition of the Psalmist. It is a wise thing thus to put unbelief through the catechism. Each one of the questions is a dart aimed at the very heart of despair.

III. Let us offer a few Suggestions to a godly soul in trouble. In his thoughts and inquiries the troubled poet seems much amazed and bewildered. Certain facts were painfully real to him which sorely tried his faith in God, and in His relation to His people. Good men are often tried in like manner. But let us remember

1. That there is something radically abnormal in the present state of human society. It is not natural that under the government of an almighty, wise, and good Being, there should be so much of suffering, and that sometimes the best of men should be the greatest of sufferers. Suffering is here because sin is here. Find suffering and you find sin, either literally or consequentially. Sin is the unnatural, the abnormal thing. God made man upright He is not responsible for sin. He is rather the great Antagonist of all evil.

2. That even godly men need discipline. An educational process is going forward in this life. This world is a great moral school, man is the learner, and suffering is one of the teachers. In the case of the good man suffering is not punitive, but disciplinary, educational. While there are defect and imperfection in us, we need the discipline of the Divine school.

3. That suffering is often the occasion of richest blessing. To a true-hearted man doubt as to any of the great spiritual verities is a painful thing. But such a man doubt almost (if not quite) always conducts to a calmer faith.

Time tells his tale by shadows, and by clouds
The wind records its progress, by dark doubts
The spirit swiftening on its heavenward course.Bailey.

Tennyson has described such a doubter.

He fought his doubts and gathered strength.
He would not make his judgment blind;
He faced the spectres of the mind,
And laid them: thus he came at length
To find a stronger faith his own;
And Power was with him in the night,
Which makes the darkness and the light,
And dwells not in the light alone.

The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. And those of His followers in this world who are most like Him are able to say, We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, &c.

Glory to God,to God, he saith;
Knowledge by suffring entereth,
And life is perfected by death.

THE GODLY SOUL RISING SUPERIOR TO TROUBLE BY THE DEVOUT CONTEMPLATION OF THE WORKS AND WAYS OF GOD

(Psa. 77:10-20.)

The mind and heart of the poet are growing calm. His agitation and distress are yielding to the exercise of reason and the power of faith. He is able to reflect to some purpose now.

I. The troubled souls consideration of the works and ways of God. I will remember the works of the Lord, &c.

1. Recollection of the works and ways of God. How wonderful is the faculty of memory! How great is its conservative power! Memory has been defined as the treasure house of the mind, wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved. Cicero spoke of it as the thesaurus omnium rerum. By means of it nothing in life is lost.

What wealth in memorys firm record,
Which, should it perish, could this world recall,
In colours freshoriginally bright
From the dark shadows of oerwhelming years.Young.

Memory makes the fleeting present abiding and everlasting. How wonderful is its reproductive power! A very small circumstance will unlock and throw wide open its chamber doors; and words and deeds, scenes and circumstances, unthought of for many years, appear with startling vividness before us.

Slight withal may be the things which bring
Back on the heart the weight which it would fling
Aside for ever; it may be a sound
A tone of musicsummers eveor spring
A flowerthe windthe oceanwhich shall wound,
Striking th electric chain wherewith were darkly bound;
And how and why we know not, nor can trace
Home to its cloud this lightning of the mind,
But feel the shock renewd, nor can efface
The blight and blackening which it leaves behind.Byron.

The Psalmist calls into exercise this wondrous power, for the relief of his troubled soul. He summons forth from the treasury of memory some of the ancient doings of God. The marvellous works which He had wrought on behalf of His people in former days he makes to live before him. Probably he also called to mind former deeds and ways of God in relation to his own individual life.

2. Reflection on the works and ways of God. I will meditate also of all Thy work. Recollection would not have profited the Psalmist unless he had meditated upon the things which he recollected. Thought, meditation, enables us to realise the facts of history, science, philosophy, and theology, and to appropriate to ourselves their lessons. If I should be asked, said Dr. Bates, what I think are the best means and ways to advance the faculties, to make the ordinances fruitful, to increase grace, to enlarge our comfort, and produce holiness, I should answer, meditation, meditation, meditation. The Psalmist acted wisely in following up his recollection by meditation.

3. Speech concerning the works and ways of God. Talk of Thy doings. With the Psalmist recollection and reflection preceded speech. Much of our talk is utterly worthless, because the talkers are not thinkers. It is especially important in relation to religious subjects that meditation should precede speech. The Psalmist did not reserve to himself the results of his meditation, but declared them to others. Others were benefited by reason of his recollection and reflection.

II. The troubled souls conclusions on the works and ways of God. Placing them in the order in which we find them, the conclusions of the Psalmist on the works and ways of God are, that they are characterised by holiness (Psa. 77:13), strength (Psa. 77:14), beneficence (Psa. 77:15; Psa. 77:20), majesty (Psa. 77:16-18), and mystery (Psa. 77:19). Let us consider them, slightly altering their order.

1. Gods works and ways reveal His strength. Thou art the God that doest wonders; Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people. God had made known His great power in crushing the enemies of His people, and delivering them from all their afflictions. No one can meditate upon the works of God in nature, or upon His ways in Providence, without being impressed with His Almightiness. Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand. The Almightiness of God should be a warning to evildoers. Hast thou an arm like God? The Almightiness of God should be an encouragement to His people. His strong arm is pledged to succour and defend you. He is mighty to save.

2. Gods works and ways reveal His majesty. In Psa. 77:16-18 the Psalmist mentions some of the mighty works of God in a very poetical manner. The imagery is both sublime and effective; and gives a deep impression, not only of the might of God in these transactions, but also of His majesty. If the majesty of God is so impressive that the earth and the sea are represented as greatly moved thereat, shall man remain unmoved at the contemplation thereof! Is there nothing in the wondrous works and ways of God to awaken the admiration and reverence of men?

3. Gods works and ways reveal His holiness. O God, in holiness is Thy way. His way is often mysterious; and can never be comprehended by us, yet is it ever right and pure. The troubled Psalmist when he calmly considered the dealings of God with men, not in the present, in which only a very small fragment is visible, but in ancient time, was convinced that they were all in holiness. Trembling and troubled heart, and sorely perplexed with insoluble enigmas, look away and look calmly to His glorious deeds of ancient date, and thou, too, shalt conclude, Thy way, O God, is in holiness.

4. Gods works and ways reveal His beneficence. The manifestation of power and majesty is not sufficient to awaken trust and hope in us, or to afford any encouragement to the despondent and sorrowing heart. Being conscious of sin and ill-desert it is calculated to awaken anxiety and even dread. We fear lest the glorious majesty should consume us, and the great might should smite and destroy us. The revelation of the Divine holiness tends to make manifest the awful contrast between us and God in this respect, by showing the exceeding sinfulness of our hearts and lives. The troubled heart needs to know more of God than this before it can obtain comfort or rest. The Psalmist saw the Divine power and majesty working beneficently. The mighty arm of God was displayed in smiting down the wicked oppressor, and delivering the oppressed people. Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. He saw Omnipotence gently and patiently leading His people through the wilderness. God is as great in mercy as He is in majesty. He is infinite in pity as well as in power. He is gracious as He is great. He is as tender as He is terrible. Here, then, may the troubled heart find peace.

5. Gods works and ways are mysterious. The Psalmist had ascertained and declared certain characteristics of the works and ways of God. Might, majesty, holiness, and beneficence he had discovered therein. Yet there was much that remained obscure and mysterious. Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known. There are certain topics upon which the Most High maintains an inviolable reserve. There are certain regions into which the eye of the most earnest inquirer has never penetrated. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God. Moreover, Gods way is so vast that we are able to perceive only a very small portion of it. His purposes and methods are so comprehensive and profound that we can understand them only very partially. But this mystery was by no means painful to the Psalmist. He speaks of it calmly and trustfully; and then speaks of Gods gracious guidance of His people through the wilderness. So also to us mysteries should not be an occasion of unbelief or sorrow, but of patient trust and hope. They should also teach us lessons of humility and reverence. Our own ignorance and inability to comprehend the ways of God should humble us. We are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow. While the reserve of a Being of such holiness and benevolence should be regarded by us with reverence. Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. Mysteries! what are they but worlds at night time speeding on with swift wing to the all-revealing brightness of morning!

SPIRITUAL INFIRMITIES

(Psa. 77:10.)

I said, This is my infirmity.
When a good man is made sensible of any evil in his heart or life, he is ready to acknowledge it, and take shame to himself on account of it. I said, This is my infirmity. No doubt but the Psalmist had often said it to himself: and such soliloquies are very becoming and may be very useful. He said it also to God, in a way of humble confession. I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid, &c. Probably he might say it to his intimate friends, whose piety and sympathy he had often witnessed; for we are commanded to confess our faults one to another, and to pray one for another.

I. Inquire into the nature of that infirmity. By considering the context we may conclude that it consisted in something like the following

1. A proneness to live too much on frames and feelings. This is common among Christians, and hinders their establishment and growth in grace. Those who live on spiritual frames will be like Reuben; unstable as water, they shall not excel. At one time they are raised to a full assurance of faith, saying, My mountain stands strong, I shall never be moved; and at another they are sinking into the depths of despondency, and saying, Will the Lord cast off for ever, and will He be favourable no more?

2. Forgetfulness of past mercies is another evil to which good men are subject, and the natural consequence of this is unthankfulness.

3. Distrust with respect to future appearances. When faith was in exercise David could say, The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? &c. (Psa. 27:1-3). But here the Psalmist speaks as one that was utterly forsaken. Will the Lord cast off for ever? &c. (Psa. 77:7-9).

4. Refusing to be comforted in time of distress (Psa. 77:2). Moses told the children of Israel that the Lord would bring them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and give them the land which He had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; but they hearkened not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

5. Giving vent to distrustful thoughts in unbecoming language too frequently accompanies despondency.

II. The reasons why God suffers such infirmities to attend His people in this life.

1. To promote humility and self-abasement. As creatures, our insignificance should make us humble; but as sinners we have reason to be still more so.

2. To excite watchfulness. Those who are liable to so many miscarriages ought certainly to be upon their guard. If nothing else will preserve the Christian from carnal security, yet the danger to which he is exposed should have that effect. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.

3. To increase our sympathy and compassion towards others. We are made to know the heart of a stranger by being strangers ourselves. If others are overcome by temptation, we may be so too. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, &c. (Gal. 6:1-2).

4. To show the necessity of a frequent application to Christ, our spiritual Physician. If we had no infirmities, we should not want healing. They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. The value of the remedy is known by them that feel the disease, and the need of a Saviour by those who see themselves to be lost. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

5. To render heaven the more desirable. The Psalmist is now free from all his infirmities, and so will every saint be when he gets to glory. The conflicts we now have with the enemy, and the evils of our own hearts, will give a delightful relish to our happiness hereafter, and heighten the triumphs of the final victory (Psa. 17:15; 2Co. 5:1-4).

III. Conclude with a few observations.

1. The best of saints have their infirmities.

2. There is some particular infirmity which every man may call his own. I kept myself, said David, from mine iniquity; that is, from the sin which most easily beset him.

3. It becomes us well to know our particular infirmity, that we may guard against it; for to be without defence is the way to be overcome without resistance.

4. Having discovered what is our easily besetting sin, let us bewail it before God, and seek for help against it.B e.

RECOLLECTION, REFLECTION, AND DECLARATION

(Psa. 77:11-12.)

The Psalmist in his trouble seeks relief by recollecting the wondrous works of God, and reflecting and speaking thereon.

I. Recollection. I will remember, &c. The powers of memory are twofold. They are the power of retention, and the power of reproduction. By virtue of the former, memory is the storehouse of past scenes, circumstances, events, words, deeds. By virtue of the latter we are enabled to reproduce and relive the past. Memory may be regarded in several aspects.

1. As a source of pain. Tennyson has beautifully and truthfully said,

A sorrows crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.
Remembrance wakes with all her busy train,
Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain.Goldsmith

Will no remorse, will no decay,

O Memory! soothe thee into peace!

When life is ebbing fast away,

Will not thy hungry vultures cease!

Ah, no! as weeds from fading free,
Noxious and rank, yet verdantly
Twine round a ruind tower;
So to the heart, untamed, will cling
The memory of an evil thing,

In lifes departing hour:

Green is the weed when grey the wall
And thistles rise while turrets fall.

Heraud.

2. As a source of pleasure. A memory without blot or contamination, said Charlotte Bront, must be an exquisite treasure,an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment.

The joys I have possessd are ever mine;
Out of thy reach, behind eternity,
Hid in the sacred treasure of the past,
But blessd remembrance brings them hourly back.Dryden.

3. As an aid to faith. So the Psalmist uses it in this case. Observe,

(1) Gods works are wonders. What marvellous things He is ever accomplishing in the material world! What wonders He wrought on behalf of His ancient people! How wonderful are His doings now in the experience of His people,in their conversion, spiritual education, sanctification, and glorification! Truly, the bright glories of His grace, beyond His other wonders shine.

(2) Gods wondrous works should be remembered. Not to remember them would indicate great insensateness of mind. He who does not remember them overlooks the most glorious of records; and cannot be held guiltless of ingratitude.

(3) Gods wondrous works remembered are calculated to inspire confidence. They reveal a Being who is supremely trustworthy.

II. Reflection. I will meditate, &c. By means of reflection we are enabled to realise the facts recalled by memory, to perceive their significance and applications; and the emotions which naturally spring from the facts remembered are excited by reflection. Recollection is of little worth comparatively, unless accompanied and followed by meditation. It was by the exercise of both these faculties that the troubled heart of the poet grew calm and victorious.

III. Declaration. I will talk of Thy doings. A good man, having passed through experiences similar to those of the Psalmist, should talk of Gods doings. After his trouble, recollection, and meditation, his talk would be

1. Intelligent. He would not utter crude or rash statements concerning God.

2. Trust-inspiring. His own faith would grow stronger as he recounted to others, &c. The faith of those who heard him would also grow as they thought of his conflict, and how he won the victory.

CONCLUSION.Here is an example well worthy our imitation. Recollect, meditate, and then speak.

THE WAYS OF GOD

(Psa. 77:19.)

I. Gods ways are vast in their extent. In the sea. His ways are related

1. To all agespast, present, future.

2. To all worlds.

3. To all events.

II. Gods ways are profound in their meaning. In the great waters. Not in streams or rivers, but in the immeasurable, unfathomable ocean. His ways are too deep to sound with mortal lines.

III. Gods ways are mysterious in their aspect. Thy footsteps are not known, cannot be always traced. They are not always known; or they are not known in all things; yea, they are not altogether known in anything.

The acknowledgment of mystery, says Dr. Huntington, the frank confession that our being is folded all about with the unknowable, our light fringed on every side with darkness, our little globe swimming in an ocean of unfathomable designs, but God guiding it on and caring for every passenger soulthis is an end of the trying of our faith.

GOD LEADING HIS PEOPLE

(Psa. 77:20.)

I. The Leader of the good. Thou. The Leader possesses

1. Unlimited power, for the protection and support of His people.

2. Perfect intelligence. He knows His people individually and thoroughly. He is perfectly acquainted with the way along which they travel to their destination.

3. Solicitous regard for each member of the flock. He tenderly cares for every one, and for all.

II. The instruments by which they are led. By the hand of Moses and Aaron. He still guides instrumentally. How?

1. By His Providence, pointing out our way by the indications of circumstances and current events.

2. By His Word, with its Thou shalt, and Thou shalt not.

3. By His Spirit influencing our spirits.

4. By the counsel of His servants. The wise and good are here to direct us.

III. The manner in which they are led. Like a flock. We have here three ideas.

1. Particularity. The Eastern shepherds have a particular knowledge of each sheep, of its peculiarities, &c. And a name for each sheep. (See illus. in The Land and the Book, by Dr. Thomson.) He calleth his own sheep by name. I am the good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine.

2. Unity. Though the distinctness and individuality of each one is preserved, yet they are not separated. They constitute a flock. One flock under one Shepherd.

3. Leading as contradistinguished from driving. The Eastern shepherd goes before his flock, and so leads them. And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him; for they know His voice. Dr. Bushnell briefly, yet clearly and suggestively, states the ideaHe does not drive them on before as a herd of unwilling disciples, but goes before Himself, leading them into paths that He has trod, and dangers He has met, and sacrifices He has borne Himself, calling them after Him, and to be only followers.

Jesus still lead on
Till our rest be won;

And although the way be cheerless.
We will follow, calm and fearless:

Guide us by Thy hand
To our Fatherland.

Zinsendorf.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Psalms 77

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

Comfort in Distress Obtained by the Study of a Song,

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psa. 77:1-3, Introductoryshewing, by quotation of Language and Statement of Fact, that the Psalmist has been Inconsolable. Stanza II., Psa. 77:4-9, In like manner, the Psalmist pursues his Study, rising to an Intense Spirit-Search (indented). Stanza III., Psa. 77:10-15, A second study, conducting to a Satisfying Conclusion (indented): God is Holy, Incomparable, Redeeming. Stanza IV., Psa. 77:16-19, The String-Song itself, on which the Study has been based (divisible into four sub-stanzastristichs). Stanza V., Psa. 77:20, Conclusion: The Flock is under the Care of a Divine Shepherd (implied).

(Lm.) By AsaphPsalm.

With my voice unto God let me cry:

with my voice unto God, and he will give ear to me.

In my day of distress after Adonai I sought,

mine eye poured out and became not slack:[55]

[55] As in Lam. 3:49; and so Dr. deems probable. M.T.: my hand by night was outstretched, and grew not numb.

my soul refused to be consoled:

Let me remember God though I moan,

let me soliloquise though my spirit swoon.

I anticipated the night-watches with mine eyes,[56]

[56] So, nearly, Br. (w. Vul. and some cod, of Sep.).

I was disturbed and could not speak:

I pondered on days out of aforetime:

The years of by-gone ages let me recall,

My string-song in the night is near my heart,[57]

[57] Or: mindso that I can easily recall it.

let me soliloquise that my spirit may make diligent search.[58]

[58] N.B.: this spirit-search begins with the next line.

To the ages will Adonai reject?

and not again grant acceptance any more?

Hath his kindness perpetually ceased?

is speech ended to generation and generation?

Hath GOD forgotten to be gracious?

or shut up in anger his compassions?

And I said[59]Now have I made a beginning:

[59] Renewing his soliloquy.

this changing of the right-hand of the Most High![60]

[60] So after Sep. Other renderings: This is my sicknesssorrowcross. Also: The years of thy r-h, instead of changing.

I will commemorate the doings of Yah,

yea let me recall out of aforetime thy wonders;[61]

[61] So (pl.) (w. Aram., Sep., Syr., Vul.)Gn.

And talk to myself of all thy works,

and of thy deeds let me soliloquise:

O God! in holiness is thy way[62]

[62] Anticipating Psa. 77:19 a.

who is a great GOD like unto Elohim?

Thou art the GOD that did a wonderful thing,

thou madest known among the peoples thy might:

Thou redeemedst with thine own arm[63] thy people,

[63] So Sep. M.T.: w. an arm.

the sons of Jacob and Joseph.[64]

[64] So far, appar., the spirit-searching soliloquy. Now comes the string-songconfident, joyous: in tristichs which mark it off as a song in itself. The whole stanza [Psa. 77:10-15] is an overture to the following hymn of praise of God the Redeemer out of EgyptDel.

Waters saw thee[65] O God!

[65] In the cloud, as thou camest up to the sea.

waters saw thee they were in birth-throes,[66]

[66] About to bring forth a nation of freed-men.

yea perturbed were the deeps.

Clouds poured down waters,

skies uttered a voice;

yea thine arrows flew hither and thither.

The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind,

thy[67] lightnings illumined the world,

[67] So it shd. be (w. Sep., Syr., Vul.)Gn.

perturbed and in commotion was the earth.

In the sea was thy way,[68]

[68] In the sea thou didst tread with thy horsesBr., after Hab. 3:15.

and thy path[69] in the mighty waters;

[69] So to be read. Some cod. (w. 5 ear, pr. edns.) both write and read: path (Sing.)Gn.

and thy footprints could not be known.

(Nm.)

Thou didst lead like a flock thy people,

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 77

I cry to the Lord; I call and call on Him. Oh, that He would listen.
2 I am in deep trouble and I need His help so badly. All night long I pray, lifting my hands to heaven, pleading. There can be no joy for me until He acts.
3 I think of God and moan, overwhelmed with longing for His help.
4 I cannot sleep until You act, I am too distressed even to pray!
5 I keep thinking of the good old days of the past, long since ended.
6 Then my nights were filled with joyous songs. I search my soul and meditate upon the difference now.
7 Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will He never again be favorable?
8 Is His lovingkindness gone forever? Has His promise failed?
9 Has He forgotten to be kind to one so undeserving? Has He slammed the door in anger on His love?
10 And I said: This is my fate, that the blessings of God have changed to hate.[70]

[70] Literally, that the right hand of the Most High has changed.

11 I recall the many miracles He did for me so long ago.
12 Those wonderful deeds are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about them.

13 O God, Your ways are holy. Where is there any other as mighty as You?
14 You are the God of miracles and wonders? You still demonstrate Your awesome power.

15 You have redeemed us who are the sons of Jacob and of Joseph by Your might.
16 When the Red Sea saw You, how it feared! It trembled to its depths!
17 The clouds poured down their rain, the thunder rolled and crackled in the sky. Your lightning flashed.
18 There was thunder in the whirlwind; the lightning lighted up the world! The earth trembled and shook.
19 Your road led by a pathway through the seaa pathway no one knew was there.
20 You led Your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

EXPOSITION

This is emphatically a psalm of moods and tenses, so delicately expressed in the Hebrew that only clumsily and by the aid of quotation-marks can they be represented in English, and then not without risk of overdoing. The key to the psalm lies in this: That memories which ultimately yield consolation, when first recalled aggravate present sorrow. The right hand of the Most High: this is what, after diligent search, stays and consoles the psalmists minda hand put forth with redeeming efficacy in the doings that gave the nation birth. But the first apprehension concerning it is, the contrast between its former activity and its present supineness: a contrast so painful that the psalmist, though resolved on the contemplation, anticipates that it will cause him to moan in anguish, even to the extent of causing his spirit to swoonto be enshrouded in mental darkness, to be able to think no more.

A day of anguish seems to have culminated in a night of agony. The outspoken petitions with which his prayers had been begun, not without hope of being heard, falter on his lips, and he can no longer prayhe can only ponder; but those apparently long-lost days culled out of aforetime are his theme, and he is determined, at whatever cost, to recall them. Fortunately, there comes back to his mind a string-song of his, embalming memories of those ancient redeeming days. He does not start singing that song forthwith. No! he is too gloomily critical for that; but he will recall ithe will study ithe will soliloquise on that as a text, talking aloud to himself as the manner of study then was. He can at least ask questionshis spirit shall make diligent search. And then the questions follow. They are so framed as to indicate that the psalmists mind is in process of recovering its balance. The answer suggested, without being expressed, isSurely not! He cannot have rejected for ever! His kindness cannot have perpetually ceased! He may have changed his dealings; but surely He himself remains unchanged!

He takes breath. He feels he has made a beginning. Encouraged, he follows it up, He looks in the face the conception which like a spectre had projected itself before him. This changing of the right hand of the Most High! he seems to say, let me examine it more closely! And this he does, by thinking of its doings, its wonders, its works, its deeds. He is fortified to think out these topics, because he already sees that a change of dealings by God, does not necessitate the admission of a changed God! It is true (we may admit in passing) that the Hebrew word shnoth may be rendered by the word years as well as by the word changing; but since the recalling of the years of the right hand of the Most High seems to bring with it, as an undertone, the change made between those ancient days of activity and the present days of inactivity, we may continue to let our thoughts run on the thread of the Septuagint rendering.

To resume, then. The study of the string-song is renewed to such good effect, that, whereas the previous stanza culminated in questions, this one rises to conclusions, confidently addressed to God himself, conclusions indicating a rest of spirit in them on the part of the psalmist. The very first word set after the Divine name in these conclusions is reassuring: O God in holiness is thy waywhether in manifest mercy or not. Again, it is what God is which leads on to what he has done; and what he is remains for renewed manifestation. Moreover, what was it that God did? Was it not to reveal himself to the nations around, and that, as redeeming for Himself a peoplethe people for whom the present petitioner is pleading? Clearly, this is logically the conclusion of the soliloquyof the study! It is all reflective thus far. And it is a great gain to recognise this conclusiveness here, inasmuch as the apparent abruptness of the formal conclusion is thereby explained.

In fact, the four tristichs which now follow, so far from being out of place or a mere afterthought, are the very forethought of the whole psalm: at least from the moment when the favourite old string-song came up to the surface of the poets memory. Happy is it for men in a storm, to recall the charm of the still sunlit waters through which they have passed; who have something better than dead selves to help them to survive the stress of present trouble. This psalmist Asaph had improved an earlier and more auspicious time for song-making and song-singing and song-memorising; and now his song comes back to him in his night of agony, and he knows it well enough to hold it before his minds eye while he ponders and reasons and questions and summarises and concludes. And then he gives the string-song itselfaltogether and compact, and of a sufficiently peculiar formal structure, aswithout the aid of quotation marks or altered type, of which, of course, he was innocentto make it recognisable by us after a long lapse of ages.

The Song speaks for itself. It is too boldly and elementally poetical to need detailed comment. Only in its final triplet (Psa. 77:19) does it betray as much subjectivity as to amount to a symbolical undertone. In the sea was thy wayas how often it is! And thy path in the mighty waterstoo mighty for us to control! And thy footprints could not be knownand so it ever is, something withheld, something unknown. The. work remains: the Worker disappears. Whenwherehow will he next reveal his right-hand! O Asaph! wait: wait until the Assyrian draws nearer, and thou shalt see!

After the four triplets of the string-song, comes a coupletonlyin conclusion. How little it says, and yet how much: it seems to say everything needing to be added. Under the Divine Shepherds care, it starts the flock on its journey to its home. That flock is in itself a moving appeal to its Divine Redeemer.

With respect to the origin of this psalm, it may be added: That while, so far as direct evidence is concernedit remains obscure what kind of national affliction it is which impels him [the singer] to betake himself in flight from the God who is at present hidden to the God who was made manifest in olden times (Del.); yet the earlier period of the Assyrian invasion probably afforded more than one conjuncture during which prophecy was silent, and it appeared to the strained hearts of the faithful that an end had come to prophetic speech, and God had forgotten to show favour. It is certainly shown by the comfort sought in the revelations of power and grace made in connection with the earlier history of his people, that it was an affliction shared in common with the whole of the nation. The place of this psalm, and the indications afforded by several of its companions, point in this direction.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

It is always a help to attempt to understand the historical circumstances of the psalmwhat is it here?

In the many prayers for help, do you feel the petitioner had a specific type of help in mind? Was it physical or spiritual?

Where is this mans faith? Read Psa. 77:3-4. Isnt this an admission of defeat?Discuss.

Discuss the best use of past pleasant memories.

Should we ever thinkfeelbelievethat God has rejected us? Discuss.

Under two or three circumstances we can almost expect a negative, discouraged, exaggerated response. Name at least two and discuss.

What possible miracles were in the mind of the psalmist?

The holiness of God is such a basic beliefwhy?

The deliverance from bondage is an oft recurring theme. Should not this be also true of us? Discuss.

10.

God leads through men. Read Psa. 77:20. Is this true now? Discuss.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) I cried . . .Better, following the Hebrew literally,

My voice to Godand let me cry;
My voice to Godand He hears me.
The Authorised Version has followed the LXX. and Vulg. in neglecting the striking changes in mood running through this psalm. Soliloquy and narrative alternate as the poets mood impels himnow to give vent to his feelings in sobs and cries, now to analyse and describe them.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. I cried unto God “My distresses were great, and I had none but God to go to.” Hammond.

He gave ear unto me The rabbinical construction takes the verb as a peculiar form of the imperative, ( hear thou me,) which suits better the feelings of the psalmist as not having yet received the answer to prayer. The complaint goes on to Psa 77:9, and the subsequent part of the psalm describes only the triumph of faith, not the formal fulfilment of his request. Compare Hab 3:17-19

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psalms 77

Introduction – Psalms 77-80 are from Asaph and are traditionally called the Shepherd Psalms because they describe God as a Shepherd and His people as sheep.

Characteristics – One of the structural features of Hebrew poetry is called intensification. (Other features are parallelism, chiasmus, acrostic and inclusio). There is a clear presence of intensification within Psalms 77, in which the author declares his conflict (Psa 77:1), intensifies this theme with rising action that reaches a climax (Psa 77:2-9), then resolves the conflict by remembering the Lord’s delivering power to reaffirm his faith in God (Psa 77:10-15), with particular focus upon the great event of God delivering the children of Israel through the Red Sea (Psa 77:16-20).

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Tribulation and Comfort of the Righteous.

To the chief musician, to Jeduthun, at that time in charge of the Temple music, a psalm of Asaph, the psalm picturing the relief experienced by believers in the midst of affliction, by calling to mind God’s former and wonderful acts of deliverance.

v. 1. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, in importunate supplication; and He gave ear unto me, in a gracious answer and act of deliverance.

v. 2. In the day of my trouble, at the time when affliction beset him strongly, I sought the Lord, the All-powerful; my sore ran in the night and ceased not, rather, my hand is stretched out in the night, without being relaxed, he does not draw it back, he does not cease from crying to the Lord; my soul refused to be comforted, so thoroughly had his affliction discouraged him.

v. 3. I remembered God and was troubled, groaning at the thought that Jehovah, once his Helper, had now apparently forsaken him; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed, so overcome that he could no longer think clearly. Selah.

v. 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking, holding the lids of his eyes open, depriving him of sleep on account of the misery which he felt; I am so troubled that I cannot speak, he is speechless from the excessive amount of his affliction. But his meditation now turns to the past.

v. 5. I have considered the days of old, of ages long past, the years of ancient times, when the manifestations of God’s power and mercy were so numerous.

v. 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night, when a feeling of happy gratitude caused him to use even the night season for anthems of praise; I commune with mine own heart, meditating in the seclusion of his inmost soul, making comparisons with the past happiness and the present misery; and my spirit made diligent search, trying to become clear in his own mind regarding the ways of the Lord. A summary of his meditation is now given.

v. 7. Will the Lord cast off forever? Can it be possible that He will utterly forsake the afflicted? And will He be favorable no more, never again showing His good pleasure in the afflicted soul trusting in Him?

v. 8. Is His mercy clean gone forever Has He for gotten all His merciful promises? Doth His promise fail forevermore? Surely such a course would not harmonize with the outstanding attributes of His essence.

v. 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious, to look upon His children with kind favor? Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah. Note how closely these meditations agree with those in the experience of every believer. The psalmist now shakes off all feelings of doubt.

v. 10. And I said, This is my infirmity, the suffering which was his lot in life; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High, when the almighty power of Jehovah sustained him.

v. 11. I will remember the works of the Lord, with praise and thanksgiving; surely I will remember Thy wonders of old, for there are miracles of God in the life of every believer, just as there are in the history of the Church.

v. 12. I will meditate also of all Thy work, pondering upon them most carefully, and talk of Thy doings, by which God revealed His divine attributes to men.

v. 13. Thy way, O God, is in the Sanctuary, literally, “in holiness”; everything that He does accords with the holiness of His essence. Who is so great a God as our God? His perfections place Him above all so-called gods and idols of the heathen.

v. 14. Thou art the God that doest wonders, continually performing miracles of kindness and mercy; thou hast declared Thy strength among the people, revealing among the nations of the world His almighty power.

v. 15. Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people, His uplifted, almighty arm providing deliverance to Israel, the sons of Jacob and Joseph, the latter being especially mentioned as bearers of the right of the firstborn. Selah.

v. 16. The waters saw Thee, O God; the waters saw Thee, namely, when He made ready to cleave the waters of the Red Sea; they were afraid; the depths also were troubled, being filled with awe and trembling before the power of the Creator, Exo 14:21.

v. 17. The clouds poured out water, during a mighty thunderstorm revealing Jehovah’s power; the skies sent out a sound, the entire firmament sounding; Thine arrows also went abroad, the lightnings being pictured as active and aggressive.

v. 18. The voice of Thy thunder was in the heaven, or “in the whirlwind”; the lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled and shook. The entire passage seems to be an elaborate picture. of the mighty phenomena preceding and accompanying the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, all the powers of nature being used in the service of Jehovah, in the revelation of His incomparable majesty.

v. 19. Thy way is in the sea and Thy path in the great waters, the trackless deep being obliged to offer Him a road, and Thy footsteps are not known, the full mysteries of His omnipotence and providence being beyond the comprehension of men.

v. 20. Thou leddest Thy people like a flock, His hand both protecting and guiding them, by the hand of Moses and Aaron, His representatives before the children of Israel, Exo 14:29-31. All believers may rest assured that the God of Israel, Jehovah, will lead them, individually and collectively, through all the tribulations of this present time to everlasting salvation.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THIS psalm is the lament and expostulation with God of some afflicted person, perhaps Asaph, who speaks as the mouthpiece of his countrymen, complaining of Israel’s apparent desertion by God (Psa 77:1-9), but thence rising into a higher strain of hope and confidence, based on a recollection of Jehovah’s past mercies (Psa 77:10-20). The particular occasion which called forth the psalm cannot be determined. The psalm consists of six stanzas of three verses each, to which is appended one of two verses only. The pause mark, “selah,” occurs at the end of the first, the third, and the fifth stanzas.

Psa 77:1

I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice. The repetition marks the intensity of the appeal, “with my voice”that the appellant is not content with mere silent prayer. And he gave ear unto me; rather, “that he may hearken unto me” (Cheyne), or “and do thou hearken unto me” (Hengstenberg, Kay).

Psa 77:2

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord (comp. Gen 35:3; Hab 3:16). My sore ran in the night; rather, my band was stretched out in the night (Cook, Cheyne, Revised Version); comp. Psa 28:2. And ceased not. He continued in prayer all through the night. My soul refused to be comforted (comp. Gen 37:35; Jer 31:15). He was like Jacob when he lost Joseph, or like Rachel weeping for her children.

Psa 77:3

I remembered God, and was troubled. The tenses used are present rather than past; they mark continuance; they describe the condition in which the writer remained for days or weeks. He thought of God, but the thought troubled him. It was God who had brought the calamity, whatever it was, upon his people. Seemingly, he had “cast them off”he had “forgotten to be gracious” (see Psa 77:7-9). I complained; rather, I muse or meditate (Hengstenberg, Kay, Cheyne). And my spirit was overwhelmed; or, waxeth faint, as in the Prayer book Version.

Psa 77:4

Thou holdest mine eyes waking; literally, thou boldest the watches of mine eyes; i.e. preventedst me from obtaining any sleep. I am so troubled that I cannot speak; literally, I was perplexed and did not speak. The perplexity was probably caused by an inability to understand God’s ways. Why had he afflicted his people? Was the affliction always to continue? Was Israel cast off?

Psa 77:5

I have considered; rather, I considered. In my perplexity, when I could no longer speak, I betook myself to meditation. I considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. He called to mind, i.e; God’s doings in the past (comp. Psa 77:14-19).

Psa 77:6

I call to remembrance my song in the night. He bethought himself of the songs of thanksgiving which he used to sing to God in the night (comp. Job 35:10) on account of mercies received; but this did not comfort him. “Nessun maggior dolore che ricordarsi di tempo felice nella miseria.” I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search; or, “and I diligently searched out my spirit” (Cheyne). The results of the searchings out seem to be given in Psa 77:7-10.

Psa 77:7

Will the Lord cast off forever? The psalmist asked himself in the night such questions as these: Is it really to be supposed that God will cast off his people forever? And will he be favourable (or, gracious) no more? Surely such desertion is incredible.

Psa 77:8

Is his mercy clean gone forever? The mercy which he has so long shown towards Israel (comp. Psa 78:1-72.). Doth his promise fail forevermore? The promise which he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would be with their seed forever (Gen 17:7-13; Gen 26:24; Gen 35:11, Gen 35:12).

Psa 77:9

Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Can God, who forgets nothing and no one (Isa 49:15), have forgotten his own nature, which is to be “merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness” (Exo 34:6)? Assuredly not. The higher nature in the psalmist, as Professor Cheyne observes, expostulates with the lower one. Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Has he shut them up, “as in a closed hand” (Kay, Canon Cook)? (comp. Deu 15:7).

Psa 77:10

And I said, This is my infirmity; i.e. “the fault is not in God, but in myself”in my own weakness and want of faith. But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. There is no “I will remember” in the original, which expresses the thought of the writer imperfectly; but some such phrase must of necessity be supplied. The words are retained in the Revised Version and by Professor Cheyne. The remembrance of God’s mercies during the many years that are past is that which best sustains us in a time of severe trouble.

Psa 77:11

I will remember the works of the Lord. The same thought is carried on and expressed more clearly in the present and the ensuing verse. Then a special remembrance is made of one particular mercythe deliverance from Egypt (Psa 77:13-20). Surely I will remember thy wonders of old (comp. Exo 15:11).

Psa 77:12

I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings; rather, as in the Revised Version, and muse on thy doings (comp. Psa 77:3).

Psa 77:13

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary; rather, in holiness. God’s “way”his conduct, his proceedingshowever strange and mysterious it may seem to us, is always holy, i.e. just and right (comp. Gen 18:25; Job 8:3). Who is so great a God as our God? God is both good and great; just in himself, and able to execute justice.

Psa 77:14

Thou art the God that doest wonders. The gods of the heathen could do nothing. They were weakness, vanity, nothingness. Jehovah alone was powerful. tie could work, and could “work wonders.” This clause prepares the way for the magnificent description of the deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea, which occupies Psa 77:16-19. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people; rather, among the peoplesi.e. in the sight of many heathen nations (comp. Exo 15:14-16).

Psa 77:15

Thou hast with thine arm (i.e. with thy mighty strength) redeemed thy people. The deliverance from Egypt is constantly called a “redemption” (Exo 6:6; Exo 15:13; Deu 7:8; Deu 9:26, etc.; 2Sa 7:23; 1Ch 17:21, etc.). It is brought forward here “as the greatest and most wonderful of all the works of God, and hence as containing the strongest pledge of future deliverance” (Hengstenberg). The sons of Jacob and Joseph. A new designation of the people of Israel, and one which elsewhere occurs only in Oba 1:18. Professor Cheyne suggests that it is a geographical divisionby Jacob southern Israel, and by Joseph northern Israel, being intended (comp. Hos 12:2; Amo 5:6, Amo 5:15; Amo 6:6).

Psa 77:16

The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee. Professor Cheyne regards this and the three following verses as not belonging properly to this psalm, but a “fragment of another,” accidentally transferred to this place. But most commentators see in the passage a most essential portion of the poem. It is the thought of the deliverance from Egypt that especially sustains and comforts the psalmist in his extreme distress. The passage is prepared for by Psa 77:11 and Psa 77:14, and is exegetical of Psa 77:15. They were afraid. They shrank from the sight of God, and made a way for his people to pass over. The depths also were troubled. The very abysses trembled with fear, and moved themselves, leaving the bottom of the sea dry (see Exo 14:29).

Psa 77:17

The clouds poured out water. The description here becomes more poetical than historical, unless, indeed, we may suppose that the writer possessed, besides what is said in Exodus, some traditional account of the passage. The skies sent out a sound; or, “uttered a voice”the voice of the thunder, beyond a doubt (compare next verse). Thine arrows also went abroad; i.e. lightnings darted hither and thither (see Psa 18:14; 2Sa 22:15).

Psa 77:18

The voice of thy thunder was in the heavens; rather, in the whirlwind (Kay, Cheyne, Revised Version). A storm of wind usually accompanies thunder and lightning. This the author, with poetical exaggeration, heightens into a “whirlwind” (comp. Psa 83:13; Isa 17:13). The lightnings lightened the world. More hyperbole. Not only did they “go abroad” (Psa 77:17), darting hither and thither, but their intense brightness illuminated the whole earth. The earth trembled and shook. Through the reverberation of air, the earth seems to shake in a heavy thunderstorm.

Psa 77:19

Thy way is in the sea; rather, was in the sea. Thou wentest, i.e; in person before thy people in their passage across the dry bed of the Red Sea; truly there, though invisible (comp. Exo 15:13; Psa 78:52, Psa 78:53; Psa 106:9; Isa 63:13). And thy path in the great waters; literally, thy paths. So the Revised Version. And thy footsteps are not known; rather, were not. No one perceived thy presence, much less discerned thy footsteps. As in external nature and in the human heart, God worked secretly.

Psa 77:20

Thou leddest thy people like a flock (comp. Isa 63:11; Psa 78:52). By the hand of Moses and Aaron. God was the true Leader. Moses and Aaron were but his instruments. Moses at one time refused to lead any more, unless God would pledge himself to go up with him (see Exo 33:12-16).

HOMILETICS

Psa 77:7-9

The temptation and the refuge.

“Will the Lord cast off?” Here is a soul passing through the very valley of the shadow of death, yet coming out again into the sunshine of God’s loving kindness and truth. As Christian, in Bunyan’s allegory, could not distinguish the whisperings of evil spirits from his own thoughts, so the bitter questions the psalmist records here as almost overturning his faith, may well have been temptations of the evil one. Whatever their source, there could be but one antidote, one refuge. From his dark thoughts and tormenting doubts of God he turns to the actual facts of God’s past dealings, and stays his fainting faith on God’s eternal faithfulness.

I. THE TEMPTATION. Perhaps the severest trial to which a believer can be exposed is the temptation to entertain hard, unthankful, unbelieving thoughts of God. This is like cutting off the anchor in the tempest.

1. This temptation may spring from heavy affliction; unusual in nature or duration, and so aggravated by contrast; or unlooked for, like a bolt out of a clear sky; or just what we have prayed to be spared and laboured to avoid.

2. Or from remembrance of special sins. Conscience wakes, as if refreshed with sleep. We lose sight of the cross, and see only the Law we have broken and the judgment we are on our way to meet.

3. Or from mental depression; spiritual darkness; the sense of desertion, and loss of all the joy of God’s salvation and comfort of promises. Often this has its secret source in bodily weakness or disease, but is none the less hard to bear, and needs spiritual as well as bodily remedies.

II. THE REFUGE AND DELIVERANCE FROM THIS AWFUL TEMPTATION.

1. In the conviction that the source of our trouble is in our own weakness, not in any failure of God’s loving kindness. “I said, This is my infirmity.”

2. In calling to mind God‘s past mercies. This psalm opens with a note of faith (Psa 77:1). Literally, “My voice [is] unto God, and I will cry; my voice [was] unto God, and he gave ear to me.” Then Psa 77:2-4 record Asaph’s sleepless, weary trouble. This thought, that his trouble came from God, instead of a consolation, seemed an aggravation of his woe. Then he began to think of God’s past goodnesshis own past joy in God. Can God change or prove unfaithful? Impossible! Only my own weak, faithless heart can suggest such a thought. If such a time of trial assails any of us, let us remember:

(1) The history of God’s dealings with his people, in the days recorded in Scripture and in after times.

(2) Our own experience of prayers heard, sins pardoned, troubles turned into blessings, deliverances beyond hope, grace and goodness above all we asked or thought (2Ti 2:11-13). Trials come from our Father, for we need them. But the temptation to doubt his love and truth comes from the enemy. Do not sit down in the shadow of your grief. Open the windows of your soul towards Jerusalem. Take to you the whole armour of God; but above all, the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:16, Eph 6:17). Remember: God does not forget (Isa 49:14-16; 2Ti 2:13). Jesus our Saviour changes not (Heb 13:8).

Psa 77:19

The profound mystery which surrounds all thoughts of God.

“Thy way is in the sea,” etc. A new word has been added of late to the English languagea brace of new words, as dismal in meaning, as uncouth in sound”agnostic,” “agnosticism.” The fact is not new (1Co 1:21). An agnostic is one who believes it impossible to know that one central, supreme, primary truth, apart from which all knowledge is vanity. Nature, science, conscience, love, like sides of an immense pyramid, slope upward; but the summit is in cloud. Reason pierces the cloud, and cries, “God is there!” Faith soars into the light which thick darkness veils, and proclaims, “God is love!” But the agnostic reckons Faith unscientific, Reason going beyond her province; doubts if there be anything but cloud. So when Moses went up into the thick darkness where God was, the people, who thought the flesh pots of Egypt much more real than the voice from Sinai, said, “As for this Moses, we know not what is become of him.” Christianity and agnosticism are so irreconcilably opposed, that sympathy on the part of a Christian towards an agnostic seems difficult. Yet you cannot understand any one with whom you have no sympathy; and when you neither sympathize nor understand, you have little chance of doing good. Agnosticism contains a kernel of Christian truth, and therefore presents a point of contrast for Christian sympathy, viz. the profound mystery which surrounds all our thoughts of God, setting strait limits to our knowledge, baffling all attempts of human reason to pass those limits (Job 11:7; 1Ti 6:16).

I. THE MYSTERY OF CREATION. Our senses show us the surface of universe phenomenon; the harmonious working of the mighty machine; the endless flow, through birth, growth, decay, of the river of life. But where is the moving power, the fountain, the loom in which this wondrous web is being woven, and the hand which weaves? Science pierces below the surface; shows everywhere unchanging law, faultless adjustment, interchangeable forces, rules of number, measure, weight, mutual attraction and fitness. But we cannot stop short in these. “Evolution” is supposed to explain it all. But what explains evolution? As Mr. Spencer has rightly observed, we should rather call the process of nature “involution,” because at each step and stage something new and surprising comes in. Process is not cause. When, e.g; a number of primary atoms enter into combination, not at haphazard, but in fixed. proportions of number and weight, and a new substance, with wholly new properties, is producedwhence came these properties? Had the atoms continued apart, they would have had no existence to all eternity. Why do the atoms attract and cleave to one another? Whence their violent movement? Where are those laws of number, weight, proportion, which cannot exist in the atoms, yet which every atom so absolutely obeys? To talk of laws is no explanation; it is the very existence of laws we want explained. Science can give no reply to these or ten thousand such questions. The Bible gathers up all lesser mysteries in the one primaeval mystery with which its first sentence sets us face to facenot to reason or comprehend, but to worship: “In the beginning, God created.”

II. THE MYSTERY OF PROVIDENCE. By “providence” we understand the Creator’s wise, merciful, universal, sovereign control over all his works, especially human life and the welfare of his children. We often compare nature, or human life, to a web incessantly weaving; but this is a very feeble image. Instead of parallel threads, crossed at right angles by another set of parallel threads, we see countless millions of independent lines of natural force and of human will crossing at every conceivable angle every moment with incalculable speed. Yet the pattern of God’s purpose is being woven. “No man liveth to himself.” Sometimes in concert, often in discord, mostly in ignorance or disregard, we are influencing one another, depending on one another. Yet “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” Daily experience confirms the Bible teaching, that in what is to our eyes this inconceivable tangle of will, chance, and law, every thread lies under God’s eye, obeys his will. Illust.: History of Joseph (cf. Gen 15:13; Gen 42:36; Gen 45:7, Gen 45:8). Miracles are not more wonderful than providence (special reference here to the passage of the Red Sea). No sharp line between them in Scripture. No reason to think “natural laws” broken in one case or other, any more than man breaks natural laws when he drives his trains through mountains, makes iron float on the ocean, compels wind, water, steam, lightning, to work his engines (see Psa 119:89; Dan 4:35).

III. THE MYSTERY OF GOD‘S DEALINGS WITH OUR RACE AND WITH INDIVIDUALS. Scripture shows one line of Divine purpose from beginning to end of world. History shows all the most energetic progressive races brought into contact with the Bible and the Church of God. But why the slow progress of the gospel; the huge stagnating masses of heathendom; the late birth of science; the obstinate prevalence of war, tyranny, slavery? If we say (rightly) sin is at the bottom of all, this only runs up all other mysteries into the deepest and darkest. Compared with all this, what we call “mysteries” in our daily life seem simple, especially with the key of promise (Heb 12:5-10). Yet how dark they often are!

IV. Above, beneath, around, behind, all these mysteries is THAT OF WHICH WE SCARCELY DARE SPEAKTHE MYSTERY OF GOD HIMSELFhis eternity, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, righteousness, love (Psa 139:6). This is a lesson, not of unbelief, but of faith. A God whom we could comprehend, in whom we found no unfathomable depth of mystery, would be no more the God of the Bible than of nature. Yet “we know what we worship” (Joh 4:22). The cloud covers the mount, but the path is open. “We draw near” (Exo 20:21; Isa 45:15; Heb 10:19, Heb 10:22). See how from this awful view of Divine mystery the psalmist passeslike a change in music from a stormy minor to a cheerful major, and restful close: “Thou leddest,” etc. We know all we need to know. Not a question concerning God, on which our welfare practically turns, but the Bible has a clear, full answer (Joh 1:18; Joh 17:3; 1Jn 4:16).

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Psa 77:1-20

From darkness to dawn.

So may this psalm be described. We have the night of weeping followed by the morning, if not of joy, yet of peace. It is a portraiture to which the experience of myriads of souls has answered and will answer. Hence, for the help of all such, the psalm has been given. We know not who the writer was, nor when, nor the special reason why, the psalm was written. We only know that it is the utterance of a heart that had been sorely troubled, but to whom light and peace came again. We are shown the darkness, the paling of that darkness, and the dawn.

I. THE DARKNESS.

1. It was very dark. There was great trouble. He tells of it in Psa 77:2, Psa 77:3, Psa 77:4. And prayer seemed no good, notwithstanding it was very earnest, hence spoken aloud (Psa 77:1) and prolonged all the night through (Psa 77:2 : “My hand in the night hath been stretched out [the hand of entreaty and prayer] and ceased not”). Nevertheless, no comfort came.

2. His grief seems to have prompted distrust. As Jacob (Gen 37:35) about Joseph, and David about his child (2Sa 12:17) and about Absalom (2Sa 18:1-33.), so here there was what there should not have beenthe refusing to be comforted.

3. But this made the darkness yet deeper. He could not remember God (Psa 77:3). He could not realize his presence and help; he could only sigh in distress. He could not commune with his own heart, but his spirit was too overwhelmed. He would sleep, but could not. He would speak to God, but his trouble was too great. The distressed soul, as it often does, utterly broke down. But a breakdown like that brings speedily the help of God. He will never leave his people in a strait like that, blessed be his Name! And so we see

II. THE PALING OF THE DARKNESS. Those who ascend high mountains to witness the glory of the dawn are told of its advent by the paling of the darkness. And spiritually, we see this here. God sends the thoughts of his servant back to “the days of old” (Psa 77:5), and to the bright joyous periods which were like a “song,” and their sweet memories came back and talked to him, and set his spirit in “diligent search,” so that he was compelled to come to the conclusion that all his dark and dreadful thoughts about the Lord’s casting off forever, and being favourable no more (see Psa 77:7, Psa 77:8, Psa 77:9), were all impossible of belief, mere nightmares of the soul, altogether false and untrue. Then in Psa 77:10 he comes to see how he has been led to think such sad thoughts. “Then I said, This is my sorrow, that the right hand of the Highest hath changed.” Yes, God’s providence had changed, but not his heart. Before we pass on, let us askWhy does God let his servants suffer such eclipse of all joy as is recorded here? Partly by way of reproof. The psalmist “refused to be comforted.” We often do when, would we only say, “I will trust,” then we should find that we should “not be afraid.” It is the letting in of doubt and unbelief that works such harm. Or, if not for reproof, then for the sake of others, that when we find them in darkness, we may be able to tell them how God helped us.

III. THE DAWN. This came through his remembrance of, and meditation on:

1. The deeds, so wondrous, of the Lord (Psa 77:11, Psa 77:12).

2. What God himself wasso holy and so great (Psa 77:13).

3. The recollection of God’s special act of redemption (Psa 77:15-19).

4. The shepherd care of God.S.C.

Psa 77:13

God’s way in the sanctuary.

This verse is capable of different renderings. We take the one here given, as in the main true, and rich in sacred suggestion. God’s way is in the sanctuary because

I. IT IS SEES THERE. The character, mind, and heart of God are revealed there. His holiness, that nothing unclean may approach him; yet also his mercy and compassion, as seen in the forgiveness through sacrifice proclaimed there; the worship he delights in and demands; the surrender of the self to him, symbolized by the shedding of the blood of the sacrifices, for “the blood is the life.” So must the heart, the will, the real self, of the worshipper be presented to God; the transforming power of the Holy Spirit which he will give to us who thus come in full sin render to him, for the fire which consumed the sacrifice was no man-enkindled flame, but came down from heaven, and set forth how the blessed Holy Spirit of God would take hold of our poor dead fleshly nature, and transform it and uplift it heavenward, Godward, as did the fire the sacrifice. Thus was God’s way of saving sinful men set forth and shown.

II. LEADS THERE. All his dealings with us are to lead us to his own presence, to bring us back to himself. We have got away into the far country, poor sinful ones that we are, and God’s way with us is all to lead us to turn and say, “I will arise and go to my Father, and will say,” etc.

III. IS LIKE WHAT IS THEREholy, just, and good. God can ask, “Are not my ways holy?” They are in harmony with the spirit of the sanctuary. He is holy in all his ways. One rendering of the text is, “O God, thy way is holy.” The records of history, of experience, of conscience, all assert the righteousness and holiness of God.

IV. IS UNDERSTOOD THERE. (Cf. Psa 73:17.) There we get light sufficient, and, better still, the acquiescent, submissive mind, that learns to rest in the Lord and wait patiently lee him (cf. Hannah, 1Sa 1:13; Luk 18:10). Ah! how often has the wearied, much tried child of God found in the holy sanctuary that there have come such messages from God to his soul, through prayer, or psalm, or hymn, or God-inspired word, that he has gone down to his home comforted!

V. IS TRANSFIGURED THERE. It may have been a terribly hard, difficult, rough way; the man’s lot in life may be heavily burdened with care, but “in the sanctuary,” as he waits upon God and pours out his soul before the Lord, lo, these very trials and cares become transfigured and changed in fashion, so that they become as wings on which his soul mounts up nearer to God than ever he had attained to before, and he comes to confess, “It was good for me that I was afflicted.”

CONCLUSION. Then do we know the way of the sanctuary? Would we enter there? The path leads by the altar. The soul that would enter in and know the blessedness of the sanctuary of God, must come along that path; the path of lowly penitence and trust and heart surrender, so that on him may come the blessed fire of the Holy Spirit, bringing him into the presence of God.S.C.

Psa 77:19

The mysteries of Providence.

“We know not, Israel knew not, by what precise means their deliverance from the hosts of Pharaoh was wrought; we know not by what precise track through the gulf the passage was effected. We know not, and we need not know; the obscurity, the mystery here, as elsewhere, was part of the lesson All that we see distinctly is that through this dark and terrible night, with the enemy pressing close behind, and the driving sea on either side, he led his people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Stanley). And that great event of the Exodus, the mercy and mystery of which were so alike conspicuous, has often been taken as the symbol of those manifold and often mysterious dealings of God with his people in which we can do nothing but believe and trust that, through these deep waters and by these unknown ways, he will bring us out into a full deliverance from all that oppresses us. And for those who trust him this is assuredly what he will do. But the mind cannot keep, and, indeed, it need not, from reverently asking why God’s providence is often so full of mystery as well as of pain to men? Calamities frightful in their nature, desolations terrible and widespread, so that human life at times becomes like the prophet’s scroll, which was full, both within and without, of mourning, lamentation, and woe. What is to be said of these things? Certainly they are instrumental in much that is good.

HUMAN LIFE OWES MORE TO ITS PAINS THAN TO ITS PLEASURES.

1. How would faith be educated and developed but for the demands made upon it by the trials of life? Trust in God is an absolute essential to the strength, the joy, the power, and the permanence of the Christian life. There must, then, be occasions and demands for its exercise, and the trials of life supply them.

2. What a spur to invention earthly calamities are! Perhaps there is no one single safeguard against such calamities in which we now rejoice, but owed its existence to their occurrence, and the pressure they put upon men to discover such safeguard. Is there a lighthouse anywhere along our coasts but where some gallant ship has, for want of it, gone down with many precious lives?

3. What power there is in life‘s sorrows to bind together hearts that otherwise would have remained apart! There is a blessed uniting power in sorrow.

4. The calamities of life, when death seems to reign in terrible power, serve to startle the conscience of sinful men, and, as it were, force them to think of God and things eternal (Isa 26:9).

5. They strengthen the argument for the future life. The justice and goodness of God could not be maintained, if “in this life only we have hope.”

6. The good man is by them drawn nearer to God, and hides the more closely within the blessed shelter of God’s never-failing love.

7. They serve as revelations of character to the self-deceived, and show such how far other than they have thought they really are.

8. They teach us to sympathize with the sorrowful. Even Christ learned through the things that he suffered.

9. Suffering is the way to life. “Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.”

10. They show, what men are apt to forget, that “here we have no continuing city.“S.C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Psa 77:1

Complaining to God.

“I will cry unto God with my voice, and may he give ear unto me!” No historical associations can be fixed for this psalm. It is the psalm of one deeply interested in the welfare of Israel, who takes as a burden on his own heart the depressed condition of the nation, and gloomily regards it as a sign of the withdrawal of God’s favour. The trouble of the writer is not persona], but relative; and with its moods may be compared the prayers of Daniel (9) and of Nehemiah (1). It is well that there should always be persons who take the burdens of their nation on their own hearts; recognize the Divine relation to national condition; and put their feeling and desire into intercessory prayer. Under some phases of Christianity there is danger of religion becoming too strictly personaltoo little concerned with corporate and national life. This psalm is characteristically a psalm of complaint; it is the utterance of a man in sore perplexity and distress, who can only see the dark side even of Divine dealings. Was he right or wrong? May we say he was both right and wrong?

I. ON THE FACE OF IT, COMPLAINING MUST BE WRONG. It is usually the utterance of the discontented mind. A man complains when he imagines himself to be neglected or ill used. At the bottom of complaining generally lies an overweening sense of our own importancethe idea that we deserve better than we get. This, in part, may have affected the psalmist. Not concerning himself, but concerning the favoured nation. He complains because he thinks the nation deserved better at the hands of God than it was receiving. He was jealous for his people. Fancied desert is the root out of which complainings spring. But what desert can man or nation have before God, that can form ground of reproach? And whoever makes much of his “deserts” must be reminded of his “ill deserts.” “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” Complaining of God must be wrong; because it shows

(1) no proper understanding of ourselves;

(2) no worthy apprehension of his wisdom and goodness.

Even in the strangest experiences, submission, not complaint, is the becoming thing.

II. ON FURTHER CONSIDERATION, WE MAY SAY, COMPLAINING IS RIGHT. As a sign of confidence in God, it is right; but then it will be complaining to God, not of him. Openness before God means that we speak freely to him just what is in our thought and heart, Relief comes to us only when, in such ways, we can make full and free expression of our confidence, and tell God what we do think and feel, even though we know it is wrong to think and feel it. Reserve is the bane of friendship. There must be no reserve with God. And the very best way in which to become ashamed of our complainings is to speak them out before God. The infinite patience and gentleness towards us seems to search us through and through.R.T.

Psa 77:2

The mission of mental depressions.

“My hand in the night season was stretched out, and ceased not.” The figure is of the hand stretched out in prayer till it was unnerved by weariness, and yet refused to rest. The cause of lying awake at night is usually mental anxiety and distress; burdens on the mind rather than pains in the body. We begin to think worryfully, and so banish sleep. The text, therefore, presents a season of mental depression; and the occasion of it is found in the anxious condition of the nation. Illust. by the times of Hezekiah. Times of mental depression are not necessarily wrong. They are the natural response of the mind to physical conditions and outward circumstances. They mean “sensitiveness,” “quickness to respond;” and these differ in different individuals. Some are easily made despondent; they can always see, or think they see, black clouds gathering in the sky. Some are unduly hopeful, and fail to respond when circumstances do call for anxiety. We make the mistake of failing to recognize Divine working through the anxieties of the mind, as well as through the pains of the body, and the distress of the circumstances. We deceive ourselves by thinking these mental trials are in no sense sent; we make them ourselves, and so we fail to associate God with them, and lose what would be our best comfort and relief. The truth is, that God is even more freely working through our mental depressions, because they are immaterialthey belong to the innermost of us, to the sphere in which God’s grace is most unhindered.

I. MENTAL DEPRESSIONS KEEP US CONVINCED OF THE SPIRITUAL. Suppose we took all things easily; never troubled over them; never brooded;how easily the “material” would gain the mastery! We know there is another world than the world of sense; there is a world of thought and feeling. How intense and real this world is we are made to know when depression prevents sleep, and even breaks down health. And so we come to apprehend the reality of the “spiritual.”

II. MENTAL DEPRESSIONS CONVINCE OF THE SERIOUSNESS OF OUR MORAL CONFLICT. Conceive that the struggle for character only concerned circumstances and relations, and then what an unimportant struggle it would seem to be! “But we wrestle, not with flesh and blood only, but with the rulers of spiritual darkness.” Add mental conflict, and virtue becomes a sublime achievement, a transcendent victory, won at an awful cost.

III. MENTAL DEPRESSIONS MAY BE OVERRULED SO AS TO GIVE NOBLER VIEWS OF GOD. Illustrate by the psalm (Psa 77:10-20). The law of rebound applies. Compare such a case as that of the poet Cowper, whose songs of trust were the cries of one who was often in despair. The question isDo we yield to mental depressions, or do we resist them, and so let God work his work of grace through them?R.T.

Psa 77:4

Occupations for sleepless nights.

Comparing Psa 77:3, we find that, lying awake, the psalmist had “remembered God,” or, more precisely, had “thought upon God.” It is true that the thought had only brought him trouble, but the occupation was good, whatever it brought him. Comp. Psa 4:4, “Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still;” Psa 63:6, “When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.” As the cause of less of sleep is generally a physical condition, and often brain disease of some kind, men usually at such times take sombre, dreary, and distressing views. They are never so ready to “write bitter things against themselves as when they lie awake at night.” It is well to see clearly that the views taken at such times are almost always untrue and unworthy, and can seldom be hopefully made the guide of conduct or the basis of important decisions. And proper correction of gloomy night views should be made when sunshine brings light and cheer into our souls once more.

I. MOST PEOPLE, WHEN THEY LIE AWAKE, WORRY OVER THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES. And that is a very hopeless occupation. Only dark, depressing, anxious sides of things are likely to come to view in night seasons. It will be found that the fretting things are usually the things selected for thinking over. And, usually, it is imagination that is active, fashioning woes in the near future, and presenting all the issues that are unfolding as disastrous. It would be a lesson never to be forgotten by any man, if he could be told the fears he fashioned in the night seasons that never came to pass.

II. MANY PEOPLE, WHEN THEY LIE AWAKE, THINK OVER THEIR SINS. And that is even a more hopeless occupation. A man wants light in which to see his sins truly. Brooding over the “things we have done which we should not have done, and the things left undone which we should have done,” is sure to become morbid work. Souls do even get a kind of dreadful satisfaction in making themselves out to be as wicked as possible. And night estimates of sin are very seldom true ones. Besides, this going over of past sins is absolutely wrong, for it is dishonouring God by the untrustfulness which wilt not fully receive the truth, that all those sins are pardoned and put forever away. If God no longer “remembers” them, it must be wrong for us to do so.

III. WISE PEOPLE, WHEN THEY LIE AWAKE SET THEIR THOUGHTS ON GOD. And that is the proper and hopeful occupation.

1. Even our circumstances seem to gain new shapings, settings, and relations, and become altogether more hopeful, when we can associate God with them.

2. Even our sins can be calmly reviewed, when we can see how God has dealt with them, and what he has done for us through sanctifying to us our very experience of them.R.T.

Psa 77:6

The cheer of hallowed memories.

“I call to remembrance my song in the night.” This expression recalls the appeal of Elihu (Job 35:10), “But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?” But the mood of the psalmist here is peculiar. To him the memories of past joys do but intensify present distress. “When I remember how near God once was, the present seems more bitter, and the thought brings increase of sadness.” Some, however, render this clause, “I will give my mind to my song in the night; I will muse with my heart while my spirit makes search;” and understand the psalmist to mean, that he resolves to compose the present poem that very night.

I. ALL MEN HAVE PRECIOUS AND CHERISHED MEMORIES. However sad and anxious and burdened later life may become, every man’s early lifechildhood, youth, young manhoodis more or less pleasant to look back on. Partly because of what it actually was, partly because of the sunshine which the spirit of youth put on it, and partly because memory keeps the pleasant, and easily drops the painful. Then there are memories of events that have happened. And, for the Christian man, memories of special times of Divine guidance, rescue, restoration. And for many, dearest memories of sanctified human love. The term, “song in the night,” suggests special memories of ways in which our hearts were kept trustful and cheerful, even in times of darkest trouble and most painful distress. With the waves and billows going over us, we yet could sing in our souls, “Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the night his song shall be with me.”

II. THE PLEASANTNESS OR PAINFULNESS OF OUR MEMORIES DEPENDS ON OUR OWN CONDITIONS OF MIND AND FEELING. The memories never change. They are always full of God and of his grace. We change our relation to them, and make them depressing or inspiriting according to our moods. According to bodily states, anxious circumstances, or mental and spiritual conditions, we read our past. So the cause for anxiety is that “singleness,” clearness of vision, which enables us to see the past as it was, and read aright its relation to the present. So often when memories depress us, we need to see that the fault lies in our way of recalling them; and we should say, “This is my infirmity.”

III. IF OUR MEMORIES TELL US WE WERE ONCE GLAD IN GOD, THEY REMIND US THAT WE MAY WISELY BE GLAD IN GOD STILL. For “he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” No matter what may seem to be the present, it is the sphere of the same Divine love and care.R.T.

Psa 77:8

Possible exhaustion of God’s mercies.

So fully was the thought of God woven into the whole life and relations of a pious Jew, that to him the unbearable distress was the lost sense of God’s presence and interest. We have two striking instances of this. The supreme point of David’s distress, when fleeing from his son Absalom, lay in thishis enemies taunted him with the lost favour of God, saying, “Where is now thy God?” And Isaiah closes his magnificent fortieth chapter with this sublime appeal, “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” Imagined change in God’s relation, and the failure of God’s mercy, are the supreme woes to all Godfearing men still.

I. THE CHRISTIAN‘S GREAT TROUBLES ARE DOUBTS ABOUT GOD, NOT AFFLICTIONS SENT BY GOD. The distinction between these two is thisdoubts are inward, afflictions are outward. It is not a very great thing for the soul to master mere circumstancesespecially since God never permits them to be overwhelming. The great thing is for the soul to master itself. When our circumstances start doubts, then we get humbled and broken. It is doubt, suspicion, fear, that really crushes our spirits, and forces tears. Our doubtings usually concern:

1. God’s Personality. Like David, we cry for assurance that God is a “living God;” not a vain idol; not an abstraction of science; not the vague “eternal that makes for righteousness.”

2. God’s relationship. He may be God, but is he my God?

3. God’s faithfulness. For God ever sets out promises for faith to grasp; and what can faith do if God does not keep his promises?

4. God’s actual present nearness. “Where is now thy God?” “Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer might not pass through.”

II. THE STING OF DOUBTING TIMES IS THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN. Illustrate from the case of David, who lost the sense of God, lost his hope in God, filled his soul with questionings and fears, when he had stepped aside from the ways of righteousness and good self-restraint. Sin clouds the mind with doubts.

III. NEITHER AFFLICTIONS, NOR DOUBTS, NOR CONSCIOUS SIN DO MAKE GOD‘S MERCIES FAIL. Precisely in those scenes Divine mercies most abound. Things, and conditions of mind and feeling, may affect our vision of him; they cannot affect him. We may project our shadows over him, and then find we can only see the shadows. God is not moved to change by our change. “He abideth faithful.”

“His mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.”

Ask, “Is his mercy clean gone forever?” and you cannot want any answer. To state the question is to be ashamed of the doubting that suggested it.R.T.

Psa 77:10

A supreme mental distress.

“That the right hand of the Highest hath changed.” It is as if the psalmist were saying, “All this that I have been asking myself, and saddening myself with asking, seems impossible, and yet it is this very possibility of change in God toward me which so sorely perplexes and distresses me.” “This is my sorrow, the changing of the right hand of the Most High.” Do we not all feel that, if God be changed, then indeed the “whole foundation rocks”? We build our hopes on this”He abideth the same, and his years are throughout all generations.” As the psalmist gradually comes to a better mind, he feels that his sorrow was really his infirmity, and in some sense his shame. No man can expect to be free from experience of mental distress; the question isShall we give way to it, or shall we resist it? Here, in this psalm, we may find two things.

I. A MANA GOOD MANDISPOSED TO TAKE DESPONDENT VIEWS. And there is always a self-strand in the spirit of the despondent. They keep too much in the self-sphere, looking within rather than “off unto Jesus.” This man took despondent views:

1. Of life generally. We call those who put this tone on their reading of life pessimistsmen who can always see the “dark sides,” and make “dark sides” when there are none to see. It is partly a nervous, anxious disposition, and may often be wisely dealt with as disease, whose cure may be found in abundance of God’s sweet sunshine, and the good cheer of pleasant human friendship.

2. Of their present circumstances. Some people always wear “smoked spectacles,” and so nothing is bright to their view.

3. Of God‘s dealings with them. They think so much more of the things, than of the love and wisdom that devise, arrange, and adapt them. Things are always variable; the love and the wisdom are always the same. The sea down below is always heaving and tossing; the heavens up above are always steadfast. There is variety in God‘s working, but no variety in him.

II. A MANA GOOD MANWHO SETS HIMSELF TO FIND A REMEDY FOR HIS DESPONDENCY. He resists the disposition to doubt, and will not let it get the mastery over him. He sets himself upon thinking well over two things.

1. His own frailty. He suspects that what he seems to see may be in himself. It may be like the tiny insect in the astronomer’s telescope, that seemed to show a huge creature eating up the moon. It is well always to suspect imperfection in our vision when doubts distress.

2. God’s power and purpose. If he cannot see these in his own small sphere, he can see them in the large spheres of the history of God’s Church. This is absolutely certainGod works for ends of blessing, and God is able to accomplish that which he purposes.R.T.

Psa 77:11, Psa 77:12

A remedy for troubled hearts.

“But I will celebrate the deeds of Jah.” With Psa 77:11 the change in the prophet’s feeling actually begins. “Hitherto he has looked too much within, has sought too much to read the mystery of God’s dealings by the light of his own experience merely. Hence the despondency when he contrasts the gloomy present with the far brighter and happier past. He cannot believe that God has indeed forgotten to be gracious, that he has indeed changed his very nature; but that he may be reassured and satisfied on this point, his eye must take a wider range than that of his own narrow experience.” The remedy for troubled hearts so often is thisget out of your limited, narrow spheres; take larger, wider, more comprehensive views. Begin to consider the “God of the whole earth;” cease to keep God in the small sphere of your own personal interests. See the unchanging purpose that through the ages runs. For our help towards gaining the larger views of God, the records are left us of his dealings with men in the early ages of the world, and from them this comes out clearly and stronglyGod is, everywhere and always, the Redeemer, Deliverer, Restorer, Saviour; always “putting things right again;” always working towards the highest ends of blessing for the creatures he has made. If we can get the conviction of this large truth into our souls, we are easily lifted up above the perplexities of our particular lot. If our “puzzle piece” does seem to be oddly shaped, it fits into the great scheme, which, when completed, will plainly be seen to have accomplished the highest possible benediction for humanity.

I. IT COMFORTS US TO REMEMBER GOD‘S DEEDS AS A WHOLE. Take any biography given in the Old Testament. We could find in it single perplexing things; e.g. Joseph cast into the pit; David hunted over the mountains. But read the lives as a whole, and God’s purpose of grace comes fully to view. So read incidents of history, and you will be perplexed; read the history, and all becomes clear. Read the struggles of an age, and you may find no meaning; read the dealings of God with the race, and much is made plain.

II. IT COMFORTS US TO SET GOD‘S DEALINGS ONE OVER AGAINST ANOTHER. Nothing stands alone. Everything is prepared for, related to something else, and having its characteristic influences and results. Things match, and the matching often provides the explanation.

III. IT COMFORTS US TO SET GOD‘S DEEDS IN RELATION TO OUR HIGHER NECESSITIES. Not comfortableness, but our higher moral welfare, is the end God has in view. It is often a new view of our circumstances to read them in this light.R.T.

Psa 77:13

The holiness of Divine dealings.

“O God, thy way is holy! Who is [so] great a God as [our] God?” Comp. Exo 15:11, “Who is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” For “in the sanctuary” there is the various rendering “in holiness.” It is evident that the term “holy,” as applied to God, must include much more than it does when applied to men. We must try to find what was especially in the psalmist’s mind, and so what he put, as his meaning, into this word. He began thinking of God’s ways with his people Israel, especially in the rescue from Egypt, and deliverance at the Red Sea. This recalled the song of Moses, and the striking contrast between the gods of the heathen and the God of Israel. The first thing that arrests attention whenever that contrast is made is that the God of Israel has character, and puts character into his works; but the idol gods cannot be said to have any character. This the psalmist expresses by saying, “O God, thy way is holy;” or, “Thy doings bear a character, they have an aim and purpose, and that is a moral aim.” We may take suggestions of a division from the passage in Exodus which presents three points in which Jehovah is unapproachableholiness, awefulness, and miraculous power.

I. GOD IS “GLORIOUS IN HOLINESS;” that is, in character. We may read the story of God’s dealings in either of two ways.

1. We may study it in order to find out what God is in himself.

2. We may bring our knowledge of what God is in himself to help us in explaining the meaning and mystery of his dealings. This latter is the higher work. When we are fully satisfied with the character of God, we begin to trace purposes of holiness and love in all his doings. We see that God’s way is right, because he is right. If he is holy, we can trust him, if we cannot trace his way.

II. GOD IS “FEARFUL IN PRAISES.” The proper object of the pro foundest awe, even to those who approach him with praise and thanksgiving. They who are duly impressed with the Divine holiness never permit any growth of knowledge, any acquaintance with God’s ways, to nourish undue familiarities with his sacred Name. Think what we may of God’s dealings, we must keep in our souls due reverence for God himself. No awe can attach to the gods of man’s creation. It is the unique response of man to adequate impressions of the Divine holiness.

III. GOD “DOETH WONDERS.” “Both through nature, and on occasions overruling nature, accomplishing the most astonishing results,” which are seen to be most astonishing when viewed in the moral issues which they accomplish.R.T.

Psa 77:19

God’s unknown ways.

“Thy footsteps were not known;” that is, they were not known or understood beforehand. They were not, they could not have been, anticipated. It is said that “the unexpected is the thing that happens.” And so it is in connection with the ways of God. Man can but seldom find out the Almighty intent. God’s “ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts.” The life of a godly man is full of the “surprises of grace;” and so he is taught lessons of trust. Recall the scene on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. Observe that such were the hopeless features of the situation, that a way of rescue never came to the minds of any of the leaders. They must “stand still, and see the salvation of God;” and to the surprise of every one, his way proved to be “in the sea, and his path in the great waters.” Of God’s ways with his people, three things may be said.

I. EXPERIENCE CANNOT SUGGEST THEM. We fall back on our experience to guide our conduct under new circumstances. What happened before will explain what is happening now. But the sphere of human experiences is strictly limited. Men never do things that somebody has not done before them. “There has no temptation taken us but such as is common to man.” But God is under no limitation to the circle of human experiences. He does, he is constantly doing, new things. Life forevery one of us is like the story of the children of Israel, full of Divine surprises, and we are never “straitened in God.” Illustrations may be taken from Old Testament history, in which God delivered his people in ways which experience could not have suggested.

II. THOUGHT CANNOT ANTICIPATE THEM. “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” In a similar way, show how man’s thought is limited by man’s limited knowledge. No man has compassed the entire circle of Divine possibilities. The man who knows most must say, “These are parts of his ways.” So man has not the material for deciding what God will be sure to do in any given case.

III. TRUST CAN ALWAYS WAIT FOR THEM, sure that God will unfold them in the best times and in the best ways. God’s people are as safe as Israel at the Red Sea. God’s unknown way for them will be revealed to them in good time.R.T.

Psa 77:20

God the Shepherd of his people.

“Thou leddest thy people like a flock.” Vaihinger gives a keynote in his sentence, “The minstrel lets his harp drop, and reclines in fulness of faith on God’s love.” In the psalm depressing circumstances awaken depressing thoughts; they even make the psalmist think hard things about God. He found relief in turning his thoughts away from himself and his own condition, and dwelling on the larger theme of God’s ways of dealing with his people through all the generations. After going over them awhile, he lightens upon a new and satisfying idea of God with which he may close his meditations. God is really the Shepherd of his people. Read his work aright, and you cannot fail to recognize that it is just shepherding. He leads as a shepherd leads his flock. The shepherd figure is familiar to Scripture readers; but our Western associations cannot fill the term with its best meanings and suggestions. In mountain districts, or on broad moorlands and plains, we get more suitable impressions of the perils of sheep, and of the exclusive devotion of the shepherd to their care.

I. GOD AS SHEPHERD FOR THE NEEDS OF HIS PEOPLE. Shepherding involves competency of knowledge of the district, so as to provide pasture and water. Apply to the provisions made for Israel when journeying through the wildernessmanna, water, meat. These represent our common everyday needs, which truly come by the Shepherd’s providing, arranging, and controlling. But a flock has special needs, such as arise from sickness, weather, time of lambs, etc. And so the striking figure is given us of God, “He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd; he shall gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that give suck.” Shepherding, thenflock leadinginvolves that our “God doth provide.” “My God shall supply all your needs.”

II. GOD AS SHEPHERD FOR THE CHANGES OF HIS PEOPLE. This point is specially Eastern. Flocks necessarily kept moving, changing the pasture grounds, because of failing food and need of adjustment to different seasons. In mountain lands the cattle are taken to the higher grounds for the summer months, and brought down into the valleys again before winter sets in. Some of the changes in the circumstances of God’s people are made by his providence. There never was an age of greater restlessness and changeableness than this in which we live. Some of the changes come through our own wills and wilfulness; and these changes try the Shepherd. Within the Shepherd’s will the sheep have their own willfreedom, in many ways, to follow their own inclination. So we have a large liberty, a measure of free will; but it has always to he kept within the Shepherd’s lines. Man’s free will must be kept well within God’s will. On this side special dealing is sometimes found necessary for the sheep and for God’s people. The Shepherd may require to be even rough in his restrainings and restorings.

III. GOD AS SHEPHERD FOR THE DANGERS OF HIS PEOPLE. Illustrate from Eastern flocks: day dangerssuch as crossing rivers, broken limbs, sudden floods down the wadies, etc.; night dangersneed of finding sheep cotes, gathering brushwood to top the hurriedly raised wall of the fold, watching against wild animals and robbers. But the sheep are not aware of, or fail to estimate, their dangers. All the burden of watching depends on the shepherd. So the dangers of God’s people come from

(1) what they are;

(2) where they are;

(3) the relation between what they are and where they are.

Their Shepherd knows precisely both them and their circumstances. The faithfulness of our Shepherd only meets with fitting response in our submission and obedience. If God is still leading his people as a flock, two things may be impressed on us.

1. Able to lead is God’s attribute.

2. Willing to be led is his people’s attitude.R.T.

HOMILIES BY C. SHORT

Psa 77:1-15

Refuge in God’s unchangeableness.

Occasion of the psalm uncertain. “The poet flees from the sorrowful present away into the memory of the years of olden times, and consoles himself especially with the deliverance out of Egypt. But it remains obscure what kind of affliction it is which drives him to find refuge from the God now hidden in the God who was formerly manifest.”

I. HE PERSEVERES IN PRAYER, THOUGH HE HAS NO SENSE OF THE PRESENCE OR MERCY OF GOD. (Psa 77:1-3.)

II. WHEN HE CAN NO LONGER PRAY, HE FALLS BACK IN THOUGHT UPON THE MEMORIES OF THE PAST. (Psa 77:4-6.)

III. IF GOD HAS FORSAKEN HIM, IT IS SOMETHING INCONSISTENT WITH HIS NATURE AND COVENANT. (Psa 77:7-9.) His promises cannot fail; his mercy, which is from everlasting, cannot be blotted out from his nature. Psa 77:10 is of doubtful interpretation.

IV. HE WILL CONQUER HIS DOUBTS BY REMEMBERING GOD‘S WONDERS WROUGHT FOR HIS PEOPLE OF OLD. (Psa 77:10-15.) Because God must be unchangeable. God redeemed his people from their afflictions in Egypt; therefore he will redeem them from their present affliction.S.

Psa 77:3

Sick bed promises.

“I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.” “Conversion during trouble difficult and unsatisfactory.” Most men forget God while they are free from trouble; some remember him in trouble, and the remembrance brings an increase of trouble. Salvation, conversion, on a sick bed (death bed) difficult and doubtful.

I. IT IS DIFFICULT.

1. The mind is sometimes oppressed with such fears as to prevent the exercise of faith and love. Prospect of immediate death, and the sudden light cast upon the memory.

2. The enfeebled state of the mind and the pains of the body hinder us from receiving any spiritual impressions.

3. The greatness of the change requires all the powers of health. Painter and astronomer in a storm.

II. THE REALITY OF IT IS DOUBTFUL.

1. The want of experience to prove its soundness. Temptation, etc.

2. The suddenness of it, without striking a blow.

3. The mind may have been deeply impressed without being changed.

In prospect of eternity, remembered sins would impress. Faith, love, hope, necessary to change the mind.

Address two classes.

1. Those who have not fulfilled their sick bed promises.

2. Those who are trusting to a future sick bed conversion.S.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Psalms 77.

The Psalmist sheweth what fierce combat he had with diffidence; and the victory which he had by the consideration of God’s great and gracious works.

To the chief musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.

Title. lamnatseach al ieduthun leasaph mizmor.] Whoever was the author of this psalm, he was manifestly under a great dejection of mind when he penned it. He speaks of himself as deserted of God, and given up to be a prey to the sorrows of his own disturbed and tormented heart, see Psa 77:2-3. What the particular grief was which gave rise to this mournful complaint, does not appear; but, whatever it was, the sting of it lay in this, that the Psalmist apprehended himself to be forsaken of God, and, without doubt, this is of all afflictions the most insupportable; a grief which no medicine can reach, which all the powers of reason cannot assist: for the soul refuses to be comforted: that the Psalmist speaks of the sorrows of a religious well-disposed heart, is manifest from the description that he gives of his conduct and behaviour under his distress. He was sorely troubled; but in the day of his trouble he sought the Lord. He was afflicted, but in his affliction he remembered God, Psa 77:3. Whatever doubts he entertained as to his own condition, and the favour of God towards him, yet of the being, the power, and wisdom of God, he never doubted: this faith, which in his utmost extremity he held fast, proved to be his sheet-anchor, and saved him from the shipwreck, which the storms and tempests raised in his own breast seemed to threaten. See Bishop Sherlock’s Discourses, vol. 2: p. 229 and the note on the last verse.

Psa 77:1. I cried, &c. My voice was unto God, and I cried: my voice was unto God, &c.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psalms 77

To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun A Psalm of Asaph

2I cried unto God with my voice,

Even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

3In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:

My sore ran in the night and ceased not:
My soul refused to be comforted.

4I remembered God, and was troubled:

I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

5Thou holdest mine eyes waking:

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

6I have considered the days of old,

The years of ancient times.

7I call to remembrance my song in the night:

I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

8Will the Lord cast off forever?

And will he be favorable no more?

9Is his mercy clean gone forever?

Doth his promise fail for evermore?

10Hath God forgotten to be gracious?

Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

11And I said, This is my infirmity:

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

12I will remember the works of the Lord:

Surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

13I will meditate also of all thy work,

And talk of thy doings.

14Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:

Who is so great a God as our God?

15Thou art the God that doest wonders:

Thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

16Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

17The waters saw thee, O God,

The waters saw thee; they were afraid:
The depths also were troubled.

18The clouds poured out water:

The skies sent out a sound:
Thine arrows also went abroad.

19The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven:

The lightnings lightened the world:
The earth trembled and shook.

20Thy way is in the sea,

And thy path in the great waters,
And thy footsteps are not known.

21Thou leddest thy people like a flock

By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.On the superscription compare Introd., 12, No. 6 In three strophes, of which the first and third end with Selah, we hare presented to us a prayer of one in deep distress. It begins with the earnest declaration that he is sighing and crying to God unceasingly (Psa 77:2-4), and, after recounting his sad reminiscences of happy days that were past (Psa 77:5-7) it lets us hear his anxious question (Psa 77:8-10), whether Gods mercy had forever forsaken him. In three strophes, of which the second ends with Selah, a growing calmness is exhibited. The Psalmist first finds consolation in reflecting upon Gods controlling hand in this affliction as well as in His former deeds (Psa 77:11-13) and then extols (Psa 77:14-16) God the Holy and Almighty One, as the Deliverer of His people even until now, and finally gives a poetical picture of the deliverance from Egypt, (Psa 77:17-20). A concluding verse (21) represents this Divine guidance of the people under an image frequent in the Asaph-Psalms, in such a manner that it excites an expectation of its continuance, and yet the thought which is presented is here developed no further. There is no sufficient ground, however, for the conjecture that the Psalm is incomplete (Tholuck), or that we have it in a mutilated form (Rosenmueller, Olshausen) or that it forms a part of Psalms 80. (Pareau, Instit. interpr., Vet. Test., p. 330). Such an abrupt termination can be explained on the ground of a poetical purpose (De Wette), nor is it without other example in the Bible (Hupfeld). The attaching of the verse to the lyrical strophe, Psa 77:17 ff., which itself varies from the regular rhythmical structure, is unexpected. The contents of the passage resemble Psa 97:4, but especially Psalms 114., and Hab 3:10 f. It is doubtful which of these passages should be regarded as the earliest. With reference to Psa 97:4, at all events, the resemblances are quite general, and therefore only casual (Philippson), but in the case of the other two passages the whole manner of expression declares the opposite. According to Hupfeld, a comparison favors the supposition that the one before us is the latest. We need not however assume that a later addition was made to the Psalm (Kster) perhaps by the Psalmist himself (Hupfeld). Neither have we sufficient reason to refer the whole Psalm to the age of the Syrian oppression (Venema, Olshausen) and to bring it into special connection with 1Ma 3:38 (Hitzig). The period of the Babylonian exile might be thought of (Ewald and most). Since, however, the destruction of the temple is not mentioned, and strong evidence can be adduced to show that the prophecy of Habakkuk presupposes this Psalm (Delitzsch, Hengst., Caspari); it appears also admissible to bring the latter into connection with the destruction of the Ten Tribes. More definite indications fail us. Even the mention of Joseph along with Jacob, Psa 77:16 b, might be due to the recollection of the deliverance of the people in Egypt (Targ., Calvin, Geier, and others). But it is still more natural to assume that Ephraim, the tribe second in importance (Psa 78:67) and the kingdom of Israel (Psa 80:2; Psa 81:6) are alluded to. Nothing more definite aids us to discover the affliction which is here bewailed, which, though experienced personally, and expressed as that of an individual, clearly represents a national calamity. [Dr. Moll seems undecided as to which of the passages above discussed has the priority in composition. If the Psalm can be shown to have been prior to the prophecy, we have a limit on one side, for it is generally acknowledged that Habakkuk wrote in the days of Josiah. For a full presentation of this side of the question, see Delitzschs Comm. on Hab., pp. 118125, or the extracts made therefrom in his Comm. on Psalms, and in that of Hengstenberg. He uses two arguments which appear to most to be satisfactory. 1. That the acknowledged principle of Hab. in the structure of the 3d chapter was to imitate the Psalms, and that the presumption is therefore in favor of his being here the imitator and not the originator. 2. That it is improbable that the Psalmist would have described a past deliverance in language borrowed from the prophetic description of a deliverance yet to come. The arguments of Hupfeld on the other side are mainly based on his own subjective taste, and proceed chiefly upon the assumption that those of the corresponding expressions which are more natural and correct as to conception and diction are the earlier. This, therefore, assumes that the Psalmist in copying changed for the worse. Is it not at least as likely that the prophet, in imitating, altered for the better? Alexander favors the position of Delitzsch. Perowne feels that there is some force in Hupfelds arguments, and is therefore undecided. If the Psalm is the earlier it is therefore not later than the reign of Josiah. It is naturally brought into connection with the perplexing and harassing thoughts that filled the minds of the pious at that time in the contemplation both of the present and of the future.Perowne and Barnes regard the speaker as recording his own personal experience. Alexander regards the Church as speaking through the Psalmist. The view of Dr. Moll, as above, mediates between these, and is most probably the correct one. For the feelings are all personal, while the recollections of the past, which are contrasted with the present, are all of national blessings.J. F. M.]

Psa 77:3-4. My hand is stretched out in the night. [E. V., My sore ran in the night]. This expression [Heb. ] usually employed of water (2Sa 14:14) and of tears (Lam 3:49) is here transferred to the hand. [German hingegossen. The two ideas cannot be rendered into English by one word, as is done here by Dr. Moll.J. F. M.] But this mode of expression is not chosen because the hand is bedewed by tears (old expositors in Geier), or because it lies exhausted and powerless, and as an image of the decay that consumes the whole body (Hengst.); but, as the sequel shows, to describe the constant turning to God as an unchangeable inclination of the soul amid the ebb and flow of the tides of feeling. [The Rabbins understood to mean the stroke of the hand, and therefore the wound, but did not connect it immediately with the verb. Our translators obtained the meaning sore from this, and construed directly with . Hence, My sore ran in the night. The next verb primarily means to be cold, next to be numb, stiff, still, to cease. The true rendering is: My hand was stretched forth in the night and was not still. Delitzsch: The Psalmist toils in the time of his trouble to force his way to God, who has withdrawn Himself as though wishing to know nothing of him; his hand is stretched forth in the night time, without being relaxed, it is unbent, does not fall back while directed heavenward.J. F. M.] The prterites also in Psa 77:3, which many of the old translators have transferred to the whole strophe, express what is long since begun and still continues. The translation: eye, instead of: hand (Targ.) is not due to another text, but to a false effort at explanation. [Psa 77:4, should be translated, not as in our version, but: I remember God and groan. I think and my spirit is overwhelmed.J. F. M.]

The eyelids, Psa 77:5, are here described as guards, or still better as shields. The translation: night-watches (Hengst., Hupfeld) cannot be proved either by the similar word, Psa 63:7, nor by Lam 2:19. [Hengst. and Hupf. assume that is for . Alexander differs from both views, and retains the view that it is a participle, giving it the passive sense: my eyes kept, that is, kept fast. But to take it in the active sense, as is done in E. V., and thought possible by Perowne, is incorrect.J. F. M.]

Psa 77:11; Psa 77:17. This is my infirmity.Others translate (with the Targ.): my entreaty is this. But the meaning: suffering, or more strictly: disease, wound, is rendered certain by Jer 10:19. In the next sentence expositors differ very greatly. But there should really only be hesitation between the translation: changing, or: years. In favor of the latter it may be urged that already in Psa 77:6 this explanation is indisputably to be given to the same word-form, and that the following thought is a more natural sequel to it. Then the assurance that Gods hand, and not the wickedness and power of men, had brought this season of humiliation (1Pe 5:6), inflicts, indeed, a wound in the heart. Yet it suggests also the comforting thought that everything is ordered duly and rightly, and therefore the sufferer, though still unrelieved, can win hope from the recollection of Gods former acts of help and deeds of mercy. And he gains it the more fully, the more willingly he humbles himself under the hand of such a God, and resigns himself to His holy will. If the translation: changing (Sept. and most of the ancient versions) is preferred, then it must be observed that the active sense: the hand of God can change everything (Luther) is linguistically not admissible, but only the passive, that the hand of God has been changed (Maurer, Hupfeld, Hitzig). But even then it is difficult to connect with what follows: and the thought itself is unintelligible and ambiguous. Then, the explanation that the supposition of a change in Gods actions and government is only a delusion, and that the Psalmist acknowledges this fancy to have been his former infirmity, is only gained by importing it into the words of the text. [Perowne translates: This is my sorrow, that the right hand of the Highest hath changed. Hengstenberg, with whom Alexander mainly agrees, explains by saying that the years are years of suffering inflicted by the hand of God, and so agrees with the explanation given above. The words in italics in E. V. are to be omitted. In Psa 77:17 instead of: they were afraid, render: they trembled.J. F. M.]

Psa 77:19. In the whirlwind.[E. V., In the heavens]. The rendering: wheel (the ancient versions and Isaaki) is here so much the less applicable, as galgal does not denote the form of the wheel when at rest, but its whirling motion. The rendering: sphra, arch of heaven (most of the older translators after Kimchi) is therefore unsuitable. We must consequently understand either the whirlwind accompanying the under-storm (most of the moderns since J. D. Michaelis) or the rolling of the thunder (Aben Ezra, Maurer), and not introduce the idea of the wheels of Jehovahs chariot (Rosenmueller, Hupfeld), but that of the rapid succession of thunder peals (Hengst., Bttcher). [Perowne translates: in the rolling, and explains it of Gods chariot, or of the whirlwind, though in his critical note he denies that the latter meaning can be supported. Alexander approves of the rendering whirlwind, and, in opposition to Hengstenberg, refers to Isa 17:13 as showing that that idea may be deduced from it.J. F. M.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. There are times when the recollection of Gods former help, does not alleviate the pangs of present suffering, but only increases them. We experience, then, not only deep anguish, sleepless nights, disquieting thoughts, which toss us to and fro, but among the blows and shocks, which make us at one time shriek out, at another lose our breath, so that we cannot speak, scruples will arise, which grow into temptations, and, by the contrast of former and present circumstances, experiences, and feelings, doubt is excited as to our state of grace, and we hesitate as to the attitude of God towards us. Deliverance from such anxieties and dangers is effected by an unceasing wrestling or struggling on our way to God through all barriers, by prayer, and even with sighs and groans. Then we must not merely call to mind the hand of God, which rules in all events, but also resign ourselves truly to it in humble self-surrender, and ground our hope anew also upon the actual deeds of His might and grace, which have established and preserved the Church.
2. And thus lamentation is soon exchanged for a song of praise. The pious soul thinks no longer of itself and of its transient suffering, but of Gods eternal glory. The evidences of that shine out before him with comforting power from the history of revelation and redemption, even if Gods footsteps are not presented visibly to him as He marches through the world. And God is, and remains, even when through the instrumentality of human servants, the safe and trustworthy Leader of His people to the promised goal. Yes! He not only leads them through the sea and the desert, He tends them, too, as the Shepherd of His flock.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Those who are under suffering like to think about themselves, and brood over their situation. It were better for them to meditate upon Gods doings.The events of history not only awaken recollections, they excite also hopes.Gods ruling in the affairs of the world we should not merely recognize and admit, we should also be willing to be subject to it ourselves.Remain thou with the flock of God, and then He will never fail thee in need.God is and remains Comforter, Leader, and Provider for His Church and each of her members.Gods ways conduct surely to the goal, but all do not recognize them, nor all walk in them.We must toil after God until we find Him, and after we have found Him we must not leave Him.To surrender ourselves into Gods hands is the surest means of being lifted above even the deepest sorrows.God has means and ways enough to help His people, but they are usually other than men expect.By praising and extolling the glory of God, we soonest forget our earthly suffering and personal affliction.

Luther: If God were to be present with His help just when we think He should, all would be wrong. Let us learn that. well. And therefore this Psalm will show God to us, and teach us His way of helping, namely, that we are not to despair of God when it goes ill with us, but just then expect help most certainly, and not trust our own thoughts.

Starke: It is a glorious attribute of faith that it does not cease in prayer and supplication till God at last causes His gracious countenance to shine, and appears with His comfort and help.Gather for thyself in good days a treasure of the comforting words of Scripture; times of drought are coming when no comfort holds.Trust nothing but Gods mercy, and thou wilt certainly never be betrayed by false consolation.It is better for the heart to pray without the mouth than the mouth without the heart.In tribulation much is learned, and more in an hour than at other times in many years, for then is experienced in deed and in truth all that Gods word says.God is Lord of nature; therefore can He create help when the help of nature fails.Those who fill ecclesiastical and civil positions should cultivate brotherly unity after the example of Moses and Aaron, and then the discharge of their duties will be so much the more blessed.Frisch: Let Gods word and the glorious and marvellous redemption of His children therein recorded be precious to thee, and then thou wilt be better contented with what He ordains for thee. Thou wilt ever discover more of God, how wonderful He is in His ways, holy in His works, unsearchable in His wisdom, immovable in His righteousness, and inexhaustible in His mercy.Rieger: It is the crowning excellence of all Gods ways that He so unites the revealed and the concealed together as at once to strengthen and to exercise our faith.Richter (Hausbibel): Here learn how the thought of faith, that Jehovah is, in all changes, the same unchangeable God to-day as He was in the most remote ages and events, when He proved Himself to be the inscrutable Saviour of His people, can calm and bless a soul which grieves over Israels troubles, and is tempted in utter darkness.Tholuck: Shall God, to whose nature it belongs to be gracious, and faithfully to keep His promises, make an exception in my case? Impossible.Diedrich: Our God must ever remain our support, even if we had only His deeds in the past to contemplate with delight. He will, however, again manifest His glory when He beholds us seeking consolation in Him.Taube: Sleepless, helpless, speechless, comfortless, this is a clear and true picture of the condition of our poor hearts, when God closes the veil, and we are left alone abandoned to ourselves.The obscurity and darkness are not in Gods heart, words, and ways, but upon our eyes and hearts.

[Barnes: Even in shallow waters, when one wades through them, the path closes at once, and the way cannot be traced, but Gods ways are like those of one who should move over a great oceanover a boundless seawhere none could hope to follow Him.J. F. M.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The church is here evidently under exercises. Some mighty foes come against her, and her resource can only be found in her God. The Psalmist thus speaks of his confidence, confesses that God’s ways are dark and mysterious, but a happy end shall be to all his appointments.

To the chief musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.

Psa 77:1

I venture here, as in many former instances, to believe that, under the spirit of prophecy, the man of God is particularly describing His cries and supplications, who, in the days of his flesh, we know, offered them up, and, though a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Heb 5:7-8 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Portal of a New Period: A New Year’s Sermon

Psa 77:10

The New Year admonishes with a triple exhortation. It bids us think of three tenses and of a threefold progression. We are bidden to reflect on the good old time, to give thanks for the new and better time, and to work for the future time, the best of all.

I. Think of the days of old and of the wonders of the Most High. Gratitude demands such meditation. But such thankfulness for the mercies of the past does not involve discouragement of the conditions of the present. Where should we be today if the philosophy of the old pessimists were true? Noble souls of the older times were ever apt to work mournfully on the world of their own day. Bernard of Clairvaux looks back wistfully to the olden time ‘when the Apostles cast their nets to catch men, not as we do, to gain gold and silver’. And all sections have thus looked back aspiring to regain the purity of the old days of Christendom.

II. Think devoutly on all the goodness of the grace of God manifested from the days of the Apostles down to the days of your youth, but give thanks for the new, better time which God accords to us. In many an aspect is this indeed the better time. Today men have begun to realize that Christianity, rightly understood, is the noblest socialism, that is to say, it is the fellowship of love. Men now begin at last to comprehend that humanity is a whole, a corporate unity, a body, and that the unruly, the destitute, yes, even the criminals are members sick and sad members indeed, but nevertheless members needing care and protection.

III. Thank God for the better, brought about by the grace of Christ, but let us lift up our eyes and our hearts to greet the better time that is still to come. The past, that panorama in which progress and retrogression are alike portrayed, reveals that as the doctrines and teachings of the Divine Man have spread so mankind has been the better, the brighter, the purer, the more humane and thoughtful. It is the sign of the times it is the happy portent for the future. Work for the future, the best time! It still remains for us to struggle towards that best and to conquer it for our successors, for this better present age is deformed by blots that are dark and saddening. Truly something better than present conditions must be achieved, and let each of us resolve, by word and example, to bring about the desired confirmation. For each individual life great tasks are in prospect.

Paul von Zimmerman, Homiletic Review, 1909, vol. LXII. p. 64.

Reference. LXXVII. 10. S. Cox, Expositions (3rd Series), p. 152.

The Spell of Christ

Psa 77:10-11

The Gospels in their narrative simplicity do not as a rule pause to analyse motives, still less to debate and comment upon the fascinations and qualities of Him whom they present. The simple but vivid brevity of the notices will compel from us the thought necessary to interpret them: and in pressing past the excited and thronging multitudes to see how hearts were truly won, we shall be saved from fancying that the main and central strength of the Gospel then lay in anything but what it lies in now.

I. Among the causes of that strength we shall be both right and reverent if we assign a chief place to what, in other case, we call personal influence, or the ascendancy of character. At the outset there is record of it usually expressed: ‘Jesus increased in favour with man’. With His ministry this became a more definite attraction. The bidding to John and James, to Andrew and Peter, to Philip, to Matthew, to leave all and follow Him implies for its success a strong spell of personal influence, to which the eager, impulsive offers to follow Him whithersoever He went bear a voluntary witness.

II. From the personal influence of a preacher we turn naturally to the influence of His message. In Him the word and the character were not only harmonious: they were one in their effect. Surely nothing was more unique alike in Christ and His teaching than the truth, adequacy, and tenderness of His treatment of sin. In every epistle of the Apostles, in every word of their preaching, and in the convictions of the believers, there appears that intense and vivid conception of the contrast between good and evil, which almost invented for itself a new vocabulary in such words as ‘sin’ and ‘holiness’.

III. It is sometimes alleged that the prominence thus given to sin is an artificial and conventional thing. To such a challenge Christian teaching can, I think, give no answer but a direct contradiction, and an appeal to fact, as such fact, inward and moral, can be interpreted by the sincere and humble-hearted, and by them alone. The motto of the school of Christ is written by the Master Himself across its portal: ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear’.

Bishop Talbot, Oxford University Sermons, p. 16.

The Sanctuary of God

Psa 77:13

The sanctuary is the place in which God is known and His truth honoured and spoken.

I. The Enthroned Bible. There is in Paris an old picture which represents an early Christian assembly, and above it a throne, but on that throne is seated neither king nor bishop. There rests simply an open Bible. In the sanctuary the Word of God is enthroned the Word written, the Word spoken. In the sanctuary God’s nature, character, and creative power are made known.

II. God’s Way of Creation. We hear a great deal about the discoveries of modern science; but the first verse of the Bible, the Book of the sanctuary, outweighs them all. The favourite theory of the day, though it is getting some hard knocks from some of your scientific men, is the theory of evolution; but that theory affirms not the cause, but simply the method of creation. The creative power remains the same whether by a direct act or by the slower process of evolution or development. Of course we are speaking of theistic evolution, for there is an atheistic form which would get life out of matter, instinct out of life, mind out of instinct, and free will out of necessity. There are atheistic evolutionists who will swallow all theories, anything but the sublime declaration of the sanctuary, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’.

III. God’s Way of Providence. By providence is meant His affectionate care over all that He has made. The universe is a cradle, and the hand of the Father the Mother God rocks it and all things here are to serve His children. He has placed all things under laws, and these laws are cruel only to those who are too ignorant or too careless to obey them. You say these laws are immutable, that they roll along relentlessly. But we should remember that these laws are also controllable. Who is the wise man? Why the man who subjugates these laws not by violating them, but by harvesting them and using them.

IV. The Indwelling Spirit. There is also the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The holy man must be followed by the Holy Ghost. He is the great revealer. He is within our hearts directing the current of our thoughts towards the pure, the spiritual, the heavenly. He so pure yet seeing our impurity dwelling within, moulding and fashioning that He may behold in us His fruits of purity and love. Thus we have in the sanctuary God’s way made known as the Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. The Church exists to promote man’s welfare everywhere. It is the way of the highest instruction, it is the way of consolation.

Hugh Johnston, Christian World Pulpit, No. 1868, p. 120.

Reference. LXXVII. 13. H. Melvill, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 297.

The Highway in the Sea

Psa 77:19

Doubtless when the Psalmist penned our text his first thought was the crossing of the Red Sea. He was seeking to revive his drooping heart by recalling the saving power of God in Israel’s past. Thy way is the sea were there not glimpses in that of truths which the Exodus never could exhaust? So did the writer feel so must we all feel and it is on some of these suggestions that I wish to speak.

I. First, then, think of the sea as an object of dread. There were two places above all others dreaded by the Jews. The one was the desert and the other was the sea. The desert for it was across the desert that these armies came which besieged Jerusalem and pillaged it. And the sea because it was full of storm and treachery in Jewish eyes; it was the hungry, cruel, insatiable deep. Now comes the voice of the great Jewish singer and says to the people, ‘God’s way is in the sea’. In the very sphere and element they dread is the path and purpose of divinity. I think we should all do well to learn that lesson God’s way is in the very thing we dread. We love the energy and glow of life; but we dread the silence of death and the cold grave but the way of the Lord of heaven is in the sea.

II. Again, the sea is the abiding home of mystery. There is a twofold mystery about the sea illimitable distance and unfathomed depths. Do you think it is profitless and idle dreaming to see in that a parable of life? The commonest life in the heart of the common crowd is more mysterious than any ocean, and it is its distance and its depths that make it so. It is not the achievements of man which are mysterious: it is the things which man never can achieve, and which he yet longs and hopes and hungers for, through century after century of failure. It is the reach of it through death into eternity that encircles with mystery the life of man.

III. Once more, the sea is the element of restlessness. We are not here to be satisfied and rounded. We are here to strive and yearn and toil and pray for things that are too large for threescore years. And in that distressing and yet Divine unrest there is the way and ordering of God. God’s way is never in the stagnant pool; His way is ever in the restless sea.

IV. Lastly, I would have you note this about the sea; it is the meeting-place of all the waters. It is not in the things that isolate and part us that the way of God is preeminently seen; it is the things that draw us heart to heart; it is in the meeting-place of all the waters. In our sorrows and joys, our hopes and aspirations we are blended like the waters in the sea. And it is there, where we mingle in a common brotherhood, that the seeing eye will find the way of God.

G. H. Morrison, The Unlighted Lustre, p. 83.

The Secrecy of God

Psa 77:19

Men tell us that there are few more impressive sights than that of a burial at sea. It is even more solemn and arresting than the last rites beside an earthly grave. There is the ceasing of the throbbing engines; the gathering of the hushed crowd upon the deck. There is the simple service; the lifting of the body; and then the plunge into the deep. And it is this element of silent secrecy, this hiding in unfathomable depths, which thrills and solemnizes and subdues. Something like that was in the poet’s mind when he said of God, ‘Thy way is in the sea’. Mingling with all his other thoughts was this, that God has His unfathomable secrets.

I. Note first some of the spheres in which the Divine secrecy is notable, and we shall think, to begin with, of God’s gifts.

1. Think, for example, of the gift of love. In the darkest spot of earth some love is found. There is no man so brutal and so base but some one loves him and thrills at his approach. And yet how silent and how secret love is, hiding itself away from human eye, chary of uttering its depths in language, and speaking in a momentary glance. It is so always with the love of God. God’s love is here, bedewing every thorn, shining on every hedge around the home. And yet how secret and hidden it all is how meaningless to blind or holden eyes till Christ has come, and showed His wounded side, and led us to the glory of the cross.

2. The same thing also is true of the gift of life. Life is the one impenetrable secret. We have it, and we thank God for it to-night, and yet the wisest knows not what it is.

3. Then once again this element of secrecy is evident in the providence of life. Not with the sound of bell does God arrive, when the feet are at the turning of the ways. Over the silent sea the boat approaches, with some one in it predestined to be ours; but the oars are muffled and we hear it not, as it comes from the haven of the far away. Decked with the broidery of common moments, the moments which are not common reach us. Wearing the aspect of our usual hours, our great hours of destiny arrive.

4. Note the element of secrecy in God’s approaching to the soul in grace.

II. The secrecy of God is meant to be a spur to drive us on.

1. There are things that we are better not to hear, and God has the gracious strength to keep a secret. How often have we said in conversation, ‘Ah, how I wish you had never told me that!’ We can never look with the same eyes again since that one word was whispered in our ear. And we put it from us, and it comes again, and it rises from the dead when we least wish it; and we are meaner, and we are ashamed, just because some one could not keep a secret. There are times when there is strength in speech. There are times when there is strength in silence.

2. The secrecy of God should give us hope. There is hope for the world, and there is hope for men when we can say ‘God’s footsteps are not known’.

3. The secrecy of God is meant by God to keep us faithful. It is the pattern for our common life. It is given to help us on our daily round. Rarely are we summoned to great deeds. To many of us they never come at all. We are not beckoned along the shining road to anything that might arrest the world. We make our journey by a quiet way, with crosses that are very commonplace, with duties that are ordinary duties, nnlustred by any sparkle as of dew. There are blessings in a life like that. When a man is famous his footsteps are well known. He is not the nearer God on that account. From the tiniest violet up to Jesus Christ God moves in quiet and unobtrusive paths. And if it is thus He lavishes His beauty, and makes His infinite sacrifice of love, we can be very near Him in our calling.

G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 45.

References. LXXVII. 19. A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions, p. 340. C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 116. LXXVII. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 172. LXXVII I. 5-7. H. M. Butler, Harrow School Sermons (2nd Series), p. 238.

Memory, Hope, and Effort (a New Year’s Sermon)

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Troubled By Thoughts of God

Psa 77:3
All great doctrines seem to be proved by consciousness and by experience, rather than by mere texts, and certainly rather than by mental expertness and enterprise. If called upon to prove the immortality of the soul we should not think of referring to any book for a proof of it. Whatever belongs to man is best proved by man himself; man on all such subjects is himself the book. If there are external declarations of man’s immortality, they must find an answer in the man himself, or they will be but so many starting-points of wordy and angry controversy. When, therefore, challenged to produce a text which asserts the immortality of the soul, we produce the soul itself. Why this discontent with time? Why this restlessness in the face, and even in the possession, of all the treasures which earth can afford? Why this thirst which rivers cannot slake? Why this hunger that eats up all the fatlings of the earth and all the banquets of time, and then is as keen and unappeased as if nothing had been devoured? It is in that dissatisfaction with time, sense, earth, space, and all that is comprehended under the word “finiteness,” that I find my proof, because my “consciousness” of immortality. You can argue down a text, but you have to argue down yourself before you can dismiss, as the supreme thought of your mind, your spiritual dignity and your kinship with God. This much illustratively. The immediate subject is not the immortality, but the apostacy of man. Why should there be any theological warfare about a Fall? We do not need a text to prove it; a text may confirm it, but the proof, in the deeper sense of that term, is at the very core of the heart. We know, we feel, we cannot argue, we need not inquire in ourselves is the tragical and sublime demonstration. It is just here that the whole Church has been in danger of getting wrong. It has been referring to a book outside man, rather than to a book written in the very heart of man. I have not to be told that I am fallen; I know it; I am but revealed to myself. Revelation in all such matters is but a mirror held up to the heart’s own vision, and in so far as the heart sees itself in revelation is revelation confirmed in its inspiration and authority. You cannot get hold of the whole world by anything that is written in a book, if there be not in the heart to which the book addresses itself confirmatory and unanswerable evidence. Were I now to make a business of fashioning the most complete and trenchant phrases which the English language would enable me to construct in proof of human depravity, you might escape my argument and my appeal. It is easy to get out of words, however intricate the network, however complete the entanglement. The mind swiftly cuts its way out of all this metaphysical twine and cordage, and rejoices in a freedom sometimes roughly, but always certainly, secured. But you cannot escape from your own consciousness. How our hearts condemn us! When a man says, “Thinking of God gives me trouble,” we find in that confession the doctrine which he would never allow to be proved by subtle argument or Scriptural quotation. That a creature can be afraid of its Creator, that a child on remembering its parent can be troubled these are ironies and contradictions which we cannot for a moment tolerate without explanation. That is unnaturalness, that is irrationalism with completeness and appalling emphasis. Find a child who says, “I remembered my father, and was troubled,” and such an assertion carries with it one of two things either something is wrong with the child, or something is wrong with the parent. There is wrong somewhere. Carry this illustration to its ultimate point in religious thinking, “I remembered God, and was troubled.” Then there is something wrong in God, or something wrong in man. That there is something wrong in God we resent as a blasphemy; the wrong, therefore, is in us, and in that wrong we find the proof that we have not only stumbled and halted here and there, but have fallen, and are before God depraved and helpless.
This appeal gives strength to the Christian preacher; he is not standing upon so many sharp stones of technicality and theological phrase; his Bible is the human heart, his evidence is human life, his illustrations are in human experience. Where, then, is the Bible? It occupies the position of revealing a man to himself, and of proceeding upon a basis of facts. Revelation does not create an airy world, it reveals the world to itself exactly as it is. That is inspiration. Do not fret yourselves with difficult and recondite inquiries about inspiration; find it in the fact that the Bible has anticipated all history, outrun all competitors in pursuit of the destiny of the race, has answered all inquiries, covered all ground, and is waiting our progress that it may advance still further and allure us on by the persuasion of light to other advances and broader conquests. Any book that told a white man he was black would not be regarded as a revelation, but as a lie. When the Bible tells us that we are by nature the children of wrath, we are not to fly off into metaphysical self-defences, but to come unto such a text as this: “I remembered God, and was troubled,” and there we find a fact which cannot be accounted for on any other hypothesis than that man and God have broken asunder at some point the one from the other. If all great Biblical doctrines which involve human experience could be treated in this way, should liberate religious thinking from fanaticism and superstition and bigotry, and should find in the human heart the echo of the divine voice, and in human experience the best commentary ever written upon Biblical history and doctrine.
“I remembered God, and was troubled;” not intellectually, that must always be the case. Asaph is not speaking of intellectual engimas; his knife, as we have already seen in his psalm, had cut infinitely deeper than any merely intellectual riddle can ever go. Sir William Hamilton said that if God could be understood he would not be God. Certainly not. If the finite can grasp the infinite it is no longer finite. To be God is to be unknowable, incomprehensible, vaster than the mind seeking to know. Who can find out the Almighty unto perfection? Who can by searching find out God? No man hath seen God at any time. God is great, and we know him not. Other subjects deliver themselves up to our inquiry and solicitude, but we make no progress in our penetration of the One Mystery. What we suppose to be progress in that direction is not an outward advance, but an inward chastening and humbling; even the creation of the childlike spirit and the pure heart. Intellectually we make no advance towards God. In every other direction we seem to be climbing high and running far, but towards God, intellectually, we have not advanced one iota. Morally we have; thanks to moral cleansing, to the purification of the heart, to the chastening of the spirit, and to its higher education in spiritual sympathy and in spiritual prayer, we have come nearer God. But the mind has always been kept in its right place searching, never finding, asking questions of the wind and having its questions carried away, but no reply brought back.
Asaph, then, is not talking about intellectual trouble, he is talking about moral distress. Intellect and Conscience take a very different course in this great matter. Intellect clamorously demands satisfaction; Conscience secretly fears the word of judgment, and would often keep intellect back and ask it to be quiet, and not to knock so loudly upon doors which may open and cause a Presence to appear that would affright the inquirer. Intellect says, Where is God? Conscience desires that the question may never be answered. Wrong always fears Right. We may take that as part of the common law of the universe. Guilt does not want to be discovered by being brought into visible contrast with Innocence. Guilt is bold in its own den, quite heroic indeed, when goading and leading its own vile kin to some blacker outrage; but the moment it sees Purity, it blinks and retires like an owl in sudden sunlight. “Conscience makes cowards of us all.” No bad man can think of God and be comfortable. It is the one thought which he is anxious to avoid. Spare him that, and his wickedness will become his happiness.
Look a little closer into the matter. This moral dread of God is the highest tribute that can be paid to the Almighty; when it is felt by the evildoer, such dread is itself a kind of worship. When we publicly say, “Let us worship God,” many join in that act who are not nominally included in it. When a bad man thinks he has found a darkness so dense that surely even God’s eye cannot pierce it, that sevenfold night is itself a kind of altar at which Guilt offers its reluctant homage to Holiness. When you want to do some bad deed in secret, in the very act of avoiding God you unconsciously worship him! Why fear the law? Why fear the noontide of light? Why not rejoice in the whitening east, and wait till the whole firmament gleams with ineffable splendour, in order to go forth and work out all the purpose of your life? It is because some things must not see the light. We love darkness rather than light only because our deeds are evil. How should the bad man know that the night is the black church in which he worships the God he fears. Thus God maketh the wrath of man to praise him; thus hell itself is a kind of annex of heaven; thus believing and trembling devils offer a negative worship, where they have refused a positive allegiance. The fact that bad men are troubled when they think about God, that they fear God and would expel him from their thoughts, should stimulate good men the more emphatically and constantly to proclaim the existence of God. Tell the tyrant that there is no God, and he throws down his whip of cords that he may take up a scourge of scorpions. Tell the base and cruel man that there is no White Throne, no Judge, no hereafter, no responsibility in a word, no God, and he redoubles his baseness, and adds a keener accent to his; cruelty, and rejoices with a wilder glee in the agony of his victims. Tell the sufferer that there is no God, and he ceases to be a martyr, and is only a murdered man. Tell him that God and the angels are waiting for his liberated spirit, and he feels nor stoning, nor fire, nor sword, nor saw, for his spirit is already in the light. When you proclaim atheism, you are not proclaiming a merely metaphysical theory which men may hold or not hold apart from moral consequences. When you declare atheism, you say practically to the tyrant, “You have nothing to fear, strength wins, the race is to the swift, take what you can, there is no law hereafter, you see everything, carry out your own will.” Any theory that would say that to man, knowing man to be what he is the savagest of beasts is a vile theory, is a licentious theory, a diabolical theory. Do not treat atheism as one answer, amongst many, to the problem of the universe. Atheism has a moral side, and on that moral side it says that “you are only limited by social considerations. Science is Providence, the Magistrate is God, the prison is hell, you see everything, there is nothing more beyond the visual line.” We know, of course, that we may be referred to sundry suggestions about social prudence, and personal preservation, and the fear of society, and the dread of public contempt, but we feel that all these suggestions placed side by side with the great thought that life is a probation and there is a judgment to come, cease to demand or deserve respect, and call down our most vehement denunciation and contempt.
This dislike of God is the true secret of aversion to divine things. If the Church were a lyceum in which we could discuss upon equal terms, we might come now and then to talk things over and exchange notions. If the Bible were one volume of five hundred of equal authority we might now and then condescend to look into it, and to compare it with other volumes and pass an opinion upon it and so conclude the case. But God has revealed in the Bible and embodied in Christ means righteousness, holiness, truth in the inward parts, sincerity in the soul, right balances, right measures; it is a moral word. It involves a moral claim, it applies a moral law. We need not wonder that men should have sometimes felt inclined to give up certain theological conceptions; it would be a fortune to some men if they could give up God, they could steal more they could steal with both hands. They could lie more eloquently. Now there is an ugly halt in their lying, it drags and pitches to and fro, here and there; but if they could get rid of God, they could lie with oily fluency; they could smile at the man whom they were deceiving by their falsehoods; but the consciousness that God sees, hears, and will at last judge, has at least a deterrent effect upon such audacity. If you, therefore, ask of me great charity in relation to atheists, and to say to them, “Of course you are honest doubters, intellectual inquirers, you are groping in the dark, and I hope you will one day find the light,” I decline the opportunity to show the base charity. God, to me, is not a metaphysical quantity, he is not part of some philosophical conception and argument, he is Law, Righteousness, Justice! When the bad man has his foot upon me I can cry to the watching One to bear me witness and to take my part, and I can refer my case to his arbitrament and leave my vengeance with him. Understand, therefore, that whilst loving charity, and welcoming the sweet-faced, bright-eyed angel always, and standing in her presence with uncovered head, and hailing her as heaven’s chiefest beauty, I cannot, in her name, say to the atheist, “You are as good as any other man.” I distrust the man, and hate his doctrine. Did not bad people sometimes come round Jesus Christ? Yes, they sometimes came intellectually to him, but not sympathetically. Did not bad people often come to Christ? Yes, penitently when not intellectually. They came because they could cry in his presence, and they were not ashamed to let him see their tears. They never cried in the presence of the priest, they never shed tears under the gaze of the haughty Pharisee; but, somehow, Christ gives to the very worst of us a chance of crying, and such tears seem to cleanse the very beast. We are at least the lighter in spirit after such penitential tears. If you want to know Christ’s relation to evildoers, hear what the devils said. When they saw him, they cried out, “Art thou come to trouble us before the time? What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus, Son of God?” The light that struck them, shot them through and through, punctured them as with spears and arrows, and hell cried with pain. But as for bad people like ourselves we could go quite up to him and stand at least behind him, and touch the hem of his garment, and if he caught us, it were heaven upon heaven, for if the touch healed us, the look would give us immortality. Oh, thou worst of men, poor, shattered one, come penitently hard, intellectual man, Christ has nothing to say to thee, he will treat thee as a conjuring-loving Herod, and will not do any miracle in thy sight. But oh, prodigal heart, wayward, wilful wilful sinning man, come and say to Christ, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and he will perform the sublimest of his miracles the giving of a new heart!
Note

Psalms of Asaph. The Psalms of Asaph (whatever be the exact meaning of the title) have certainly marked characteristics of their own. They use the general name Elohim , instead of the deeper and more awful name Jehovah. They dwell especially (see Psa 77:15 ; Psa 81:5 ; Psa 80:1 ) on “Joseph” and Israel, as distinct from Judah, and in the last case on “Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasses,” the tribes of the western camp in the wilderness, close to which the Gershonite Levites pitched (see Num 2:18-24 ; Num 3:23 ); and in Psa 78:67-68 on the transference of the supremacy from Ephraim to Judah. They seem to have a meditative and thoughtful cast; as in Psa 73 , putting before us the great problem of God’s moral government, which forms the subject of the Book of Job; and in the grand Psa 50 , urging the true spirituality of sacrifice and of covenant with God. They have frequently a national character, of lamentation in Psa 74 , Psa 79 , Psa 80 , of triumph in Psa 75 , Psa 76 , Psa 81 . One is the first great historical psalm (Psa 78 ), surveying the story of Israel from the Exodus to the choice of David. Similarly Psa 83 , in prayer against a confederacy of enemies, chronicles God’s deliverance from Sisera and from Midian in the ancient days of Gideon. Another is a grave didactic admonition (Psa 82 ) to the judges of Israel. If they have not the depth and vigour of the Psalms of David, they suit well the grave authoritative character of the chief of the Levites and “the seer.” Bishop Barry.
Prayer

Almighty God, thou hast led the blind by a way that they know not, but thou hast led them to peace and security and joy. All men are blind with regard to the future; it is as if we had no vision at all; we may not boast of to-morrow, because we know not what one day may bring forth. We know the history of the day that is gone, but what is coming in the morning not the wisest man can tell. Thou keepest to-morrow in thine own hand; but this we know, that we shall be led and upheld and comforted; our perplexity shall be relieved, the crooked places shall be made straight, the rough places plain, and even the valleys shall be exalted; a new song will be in our mouth at the close of the day; if we have to sing of judgment we shall also have to sing of mercy, for thy way towards us is one of judgment and of love. If thou dost criticise us, it is that we may be amended; if thou dost smite us and wound us, it is that we may be healed with an immortal healing. Help us to believe this; deliver us from the folly of thinking that life is chance, a game of fortune, a conjuror’s trick; give us to feel that life is a divine philosophy, a wondrous plan, having relation in the individual to all other individuals, so that we are a commonwealth, a brotherhood, one great family, part of us in heaven, part on earth, but still claiming the same Father, walking by the same law, and looking forward to the same glorious destiny. Wherein we have been frivolous and foolish, the Lord pity us, for we are often the sport of the wind, and are driven before it like dry leaves; wherein we have said, This shall be as we wish it, the Lord pardon us, for our conceit is often profane. Enable us henceforward to have no will but thine, never to consult ourselves except in the spirit of the sanctuary; then shall wisdom be given to us, the eternal lamp, the glory from on high, and at nighttime we shall walk in splendour, and the light of the noontide shall be sevenfold. We have taken our life into our own hand, and we are ashamed of the issue; whenever we have given ourselves to thee for government, inspiration, direction, comfort, healing, behold at eventime we have been filled with a new and rapturous gladness. Pity us wherein our lives are hard; the gates are many, and the keys are lost; the roads are steep, and the wind is bleak, and the clouds are lull of threatening, and there is no voice of music in the air, the Lord help us in that day of sevenfold gloom; when the house is bare, empty, silent, the loved ones all out, or gone, or dead, when we hear nothing but the awful stillness, the Lord cause us to hear his own going in that wilderness; and wherein the future is troubled, without certainty of sign or token, so that we know not whether to go to the right hand or to the left, help us to stand still like men who are expecting a voice from heaven. This we are enabled to say, because we have been with Jesus and learned of him. Until we knew him we knew nothing of this prayer; we were always seeking for solutions of the enigma of life, and always thinking we had found them; sometimes we cast ourselves into the darkness of despair, and said, Let come what will come, it can bring with, it nothing but death and annihilation; but now we have seen the Cross, we have communed with the Son of God, we have known somewhat of the mystery of his priesthood; we see the Father above all things, ruling, reigning, governing, shaping, and directing all life; so we are happy, yea, glad, we are strong, and our security is so complete that we have perfect peace. Praised be the Triune God for this ineffable joy! Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

PSALMS

XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XV
PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE

The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).
The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]
The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .
Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.
The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).
Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.
The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .
The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.
The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:
Mercy and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.
Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.
The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).
The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.
The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.
There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.
QUESTIONS

1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?
2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?
3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?
4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?
5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?
6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?
7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?
8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?
9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?
10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?
11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?
12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.
13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?
14. What is their application to Judah at this time?
15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?
16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?
17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?
18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?
19. Explain Psa 85:10 .
20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .
21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?
22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.
23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.
24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XV
PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE

The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).
The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]
The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .
Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.
The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).
Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.
The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .
The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.
The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:
Mercy and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.
Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.
The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).
The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.
The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.
There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.
QUESTIONS

1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?
2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?
3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?
4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?
5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?
6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?
7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?
8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?
9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?
10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?
11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?
12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.
13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?
14. What is their application to Judah at this time?
15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?
16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?
17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?
18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?
19. Explain Psa 85:10 .
20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .
21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?
22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.
23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.
24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 77:1 To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice, [even] unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
A Psalm of Asaph ] Or, for Asaph; David’s melancholy psalm some call it, made by him when he was in grievous affliction and desertion. Out of which he seeketh to wind by earnest prayer, by deep meditation upon God’s former favours and unchangeable nature; and, lastly, by calling to mind God’s wondrous works of old, both in proving and in preserving his Church and chosen.

Ver. 1. I cried unto God with my voice, &c. ] I prayed instantly and constantly, and sped accordingly. No faithful prayer is ineffectual.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Here it is “To the chief musician, on Jeduthun, a psalm of Asaph.”
The second of these psalms is all inward dealing suited to that day of distress when God will have heart-searching in His ancient people before their complete deliverance. The remembrance of the past may produce anguish in the present but gives hope for the future. God’s way is in the sanctuary as well as in the sea; and faith lays hold of both. For the christian it is the settled favour and everlasting deliverance in Christ, dead, risen, and ascended, that we rest on. But the Israelite, if he looks on His way in the sanctuary, enjoys the wonders of His arm; if he turn as a man to His way in the sea, he has to acknowledge that His footsteps are not known.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 77:1-6
1My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud;
My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.
2In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness;
My soul refused to be comforted.
3When I remember God, then I am disturbed;
When I sigh, then my spirit grows faint. Selah.
4You have held my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5I have considered the days of old,
The years of long ago.
6I will remember my song in the night;
I will meditate with my heart,
And my spirit ponders:
Psa 77:1 My voice rises to God This phrase with no verb is repeated twice for emphasis. The psalmist has prayed often and intensely but with no peace/result! He trusts YHWH but longs for Him to act as He has in the past on behalf of the covenant people.
I will cry aloud This verb (BDB 858, KB 1042, Qal cohortative) is used often in the exodus and wilderness wandering period (cf. Exo 14:10; Exo 14:15; Exo 17:4; Num 12:13; Num 20:16; Deu 26:7). It is possible that the description of Psa 77:16-19 refers to this same period. There was no silent prayer in the ancient world. Reading and prayer were spoken aloud!
He will hear me This is both affirmation and request! The rest of this strophe (Psa 77:1-6) expresses the psalmist’s distress at the apparent silence of YHWH.
Psa 77:2 In the day of my trouble This is a recurrent phrase in the Psalms (cf. Psa 50:15; Psa 86:7; slightly different phrasing but the same concept in Psa 91:15; Psa 107:6; Psa 107:15).
The use of day denotes a period of time, not a specific 24 hour period. See Special Topic: Day (yom) .
In the night my hand was stretched out Notice that in the day of line 1 is parallel to in the night of line 2. This was a way of expressing constant (i.e., without weariness), around-the-clock prayer (i.e., hand stretched out).
Jewish prayer posture was usually
1. standing
2. hands raised
3. eyes open, lifted to heaven
The verb (BDB 620, KB 669, Niphal perfect) is literally poured out. NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 27, thinks that two aspects of prayer are combined in this verse (cf. Lam 2:19).
1. pouring one’s heart out to God in prayer
2. lifting/stretching one’s hands out to God in prayer
My soul refused to be comforted YHWH seemed not to hear and act so the psalmist continued to pray! This is theologically parallel to Habakkuk (i.e., Hab 2:1).
Psa 77:3 This is a series of three Qal cohortatives. The psalmist could not find peace in prayer. It seemed YHWH’s actions in the past (cf. Psa 77:5) on the covenant people’s behalf had changed (cf. Psa 77:10 b).
Selah See note at Psa 3:2. Notice it appears at the end of Psa 77:3; Psa 77:9; Psa 77:15. The NJB and NKJV see its use as closing separate strophes.
Psa 77:4 a This line of poetry is confusing. The psalmist wants to quit praying but YHWH causes (BDB 28, KB 31, Qal perfect) him to keep on. It is possible to interpret this as God allowing him to remain awake so that he can continue to pray. It seems that Psa 77:4-6 serves as an introduction to the six questions of Psa 77:7-9 with the possible shocking conclusion of Psa 77:10!
This first strophe describes the psalmist’s acts in detail (as does Psa 77:11-12). This is a record of the psalmist’s theological struggle for more information about God and His will and way for the covenant people. The psalmist sees the obvious disconnect between the past and the present. He cannot understand why!
Psa 77:6 I will remember. . .I will meditate. . .ponder These are three verbs which describe the psalmist’s mental actions (cf. Psa 143:5) from despair (Psa 77:1-5) and doubt (Psa 77:7-10). It is not until Psa 77:11-20 that he regains his sense of trust in YHWH’s character and actions on Israel’s behalf.
Notice three verbs (two the same) reappear in Psa 77:11-12. Faith takes time and thought! The trustworthiness of revelation and personal experience merge into settled conviction.
song in the night Because of Psa 42:8 this phrase may be an allusion to YHWH’s gracious actions which turn into night-time praises (both conscious and unconscious). The psalmist knew days and nights of praise and peace but his current experience was very different.
The UBS Text Project gives three possibilities to the term NASB translates song (BDB 618).
1. music – (MT, NASB)
2. murmur/meditate – (LXX, Peshitta, NJB)
3. sorrow – (NEB)
my spirit ponders The verb is literally searches (BDB 344, KB 341, Piel imperfect with waw). It is masculine and spirit (BDB 924) is feminine. Therefore, it could refer to
1. the psalmist himself
2. God searching him (cf. Psa 139:1; Psa 139:23)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

To the chief Musician. See App-64.
to Jeduthun. See App-65.
Title. A Psalm. Hebrew. mizmor. App-65.
of Asaph = for Asaph. The sixth of the twelve Asaph Psalms. App-63.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
He gave ear. Inf. = “to give ear”. Therefore supply Ellipsis (App-6): “He [condescended] to give ear”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 77:1-20
Psa 77:1-20 :
I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me ( Psa 77:1 ).
Now notice in the seventy-seventh psalm how the first part of it is centered around I. You might find it beneficial to underline every time he refers to my or I. The whole first part centers around I. “I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice. And He gave ear unto me.”
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? ( Psa 77:2-9 )
When my attention is always on myself, I do lose that consciousness of God and it does seem that I am apart from Him.
And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings ( Psa 77:10-12 ).
And now he gets turned around in verse Psa 77:12 , as he begins now to refer to God, “Thy work and Thy doings.” And thus, the psalm ends in a brighter note than it begins, because now the emphasis is taken off of me and put upon God.
How many times they say prayer changes things, and I believe this, but how many times prayer changes me and changes my attitudes. While I’m in prayer, God is working and changing my heart and my attitude.
We had a friend in Huntington Beach who was an alcoholic. And the family was always in an uproar. He would get to drinking and just everything would break lose. And there were always the threats of divorce and threats of everything. So one night, the doorbell rang. I went to the door, and here he stood. And he said, “I need help. My wife is going to leave me. My family doesn’t love me. And I just had a big fight, tore the phone off of the wall and all. And I need help. I need God. But there is no one who will pray me through.” Well, I didn’t know what he meant to pray him through, what he was trying to pray through. He said, “No one will just pray with me long enough.” And so I accepted that as a challenge. So I said, “Let’s go over to the church.” We were living right next door to it at the time. And I said, “I will pray with you just as long as you need prayer.”
So he went over, we went over together, actually, and of course he smelled like a brewery itself. And we knelt down and he began to pray. I knelt beside him and I began to pray. But I was listening to his prayer. And it was, “Oh God, You know how they haven’t been treating me right. You know, Lord, how they are so mean to me, and they don’t understand me.” It was just, “Lord, You know them and how bad they have been,” and so forth. And he went on for an hour telling the Lord how bad the family was and how mistreated he was and how unfortunate and everything. And after an hour I noticed there came a change in the prayer. “God, my life is really messed up. Lord, I haven’t been serving You. I know I should serve You. God, I am sorry that I haven’t been serving You, and I have failed You, God. And I repent, Lord, and I am sorry.” And I thought, “All right, now we are getting somewhere.” We finally have prayed through, and I found out what his praying through all of the garbage that he had in his heart towards the family. Now he began to deal with the issues of his own heart. And after about an hour of praying this way, then his prayers changed again, and they were sort of, “Oh Lord, I thank You for Your help. Lord, I thank You that You love me. Lord, I thank You. Father, thank You.” And then pretty soon he was sleeping.
So I went back to the office and got a blanket and I covered him and I went home. And when I got home, my wife said, “Well, how did it go?” And I said, “Well, I don’t know for sure, but I left him sleeping in the Lord.” And I relayed to her how there was an obvious change in the whole tone of his prayer which sounded good. Next morning I went over to the church and he was already gone, so I still didn’t know how it went. But that evening at five o’clock, the doorbell rang again, and there he was spruced up suit, looking great, and he says, “What time does church start this evening anyhow?” God did a real work, a change in his life. But it was when he got his eyes off of himself and onto God that God began to work.
And that is always true. We need to get our eyes off of ourselves, off of our situation, off of our problem. We are so self-centered. And it’s usually reflected so much in our prayers, “I, I, I, I, I, me, me, me.” But when we can get our eyes off of ourselves and begin to focus on God, that is when God can really work.
Before I was born, my cousin died of spinal meningitis, who lived just two blocks away from my family in Ventura, or from where my family was building their new home. And my sister evidently was exposed by her cousin, and she too had spinal meningitis, and for all apparent signals had died. She had gone into convulsions, her eyes rolled back in her head, her jaw locked, she ceased breathing. My mother had been a lifelong Baptist. But on the way to the Baptist church, she was passing by a Pentecostal church where she used to sometimes stop in and enjoy their services and didn’t make it always to the Baptist church, because it was two blocks further up the street. And when she saw her little daughter lying there in that rigid position, she knew it was too late for doctors to help, and she went running up the street to this Pentecostal church, because she knew that they knew how to really pray. The parsonage was next door to the church and she went up and rapped on the door, and when the minister came, she held her daughter. She was hysterical and she said, “My baby, my baby. I need God to heal my baby.” And so she laid my sister’s stiff body on the floor and as she was just really hysterically crying out to the Lord, the pastor, Dr. Mitzner, said to her, “Young lady, get your eyes off of your baby and get your eyes on Jesus, and just begin to worship Jesus and praise the Lord.”
My father had come in from the pool hall, where he spent most of his time. And when my mother wasn’t there… they were living in a hotel while their home was being built, the Fasno Hotel there in Ventura. He said to some people in the lobby, “Have you seen my wife?” And a nurse said, “Yes, Mr. Smith. Your little girl, I think, is dead, and she went running up the street I think to the church.” And so my dad took off for the church, intending to beat up on the minister and grab his daughter and get her to some competent help. But when he saw her lying there, he realized that she was beyond man’s help, and he just fell down on his knees and began to cry out to God. The pastor kept encouraging my mother, “Get your eyes off of your little girl. Get your eyes on the Lord.” And she began to turn her eyes upon the Lord. She began to worship the Lord and she said, “Lord, if You will just give me my little girl back again, I will give my life to You. I will serve You the rest of my life. I will minister; I will do anything You ask me to do, God. I’ll be Your servant the rest of my life, but give me my daughter back.” And with that, my sister regained consciousness, was instantly healed completely. They took her home, and she was just laughing and just completely well.
Two months later, I was born in the Big Sisters Hospital in Ventura. When the doctors came in and told my mother, “You have a baby boy,” she closed her eyes and said, “Lord, I will fulfill my vow to You through my son.” My dad went down the hallway of the hospital saying, “Praise the Lord. It’s a boy!” And so I grew up in a godly environment.
But the importance of getting your eyes off of yourself and on the Lord. How it changes the whole situation. I’ll tell you, you get your eyes on yourself and your surrounding circumstances and you can go down fast. There is no quicker way to sink than to get your eyes on the waves and on your surrounding circumstances, upon yourself. But you get your eyes upon the Lord and you can walk on water.
So the psalmist began, eyes on himself. “I, I, me, my, me, I, I.” But then he turns in the middle of the psalm and now the attention is towards the Lord. And thus, the psalm ends in a note of victory.
Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron ( Psa 77:14-20 ).
So turning the situation around. Get your eyes off of yourself and get your eyes on the Lord, and you’ll come in to the victory. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

This Psalm is headed To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, He was one of the great singers; there is opportunity given in the Psalms for each of the sinners to take his turn.; it does not do for any of us to be idle in reference to the praise of God. It is called, A Psalm of Asaph. His Psalms have usually a dark tinge about them; he was a meditative man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; but also a man of strong faith, and of an exulting spirit. You need to do business in great waters to understand Asaph; he is one who does not wade, but he gets into waters to swim in.
Thus he begins:
Psa 77:1. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
The use of the voice in prayer is not essential; but usually, when men grow earnest, they use the voice as well as the mind. It was because of the intensity of his prayer that the psalmist felt compelled to cry, not to use stilted, stately language, but the natural cry of pain: I cried unto God with my voice. You will find it very helpful in private prayer to use the voice; many of us do. Some have not the opportunity of doing so; but if you can be unheard of men, and can use your voice, you will find it helpful. Twice says the psalmist, I cried unto God with my voice.
Psa 77:2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:
This is the best place to go in the day of your trouble.
Psa 77:2. My sore ran in the night,
A better rendering would be, My hand was stretched out in the night. The psalmist continued to pray.
Psa 77:2. And ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.
Rightly so, if the comfort came from man, if the comfort were doubtful and ineffectual; wrongly so, when right comfort was presented to him, comfort from God. I am afraid that, in the time of our trouble, we often increase it by being unwilling to be comforted.
Psa 77:3. I remembered God, and was troubled:
What! trouble even from remembering God? Then this is trouble indeed.
And yet this has been the experience of the saints of God many a time:
I remembered God, his holiness, his justice, my offenses against him, and was troubled.
Psa 77:3. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
Turned over, overwhelmed; without comfort, or hope of comfort.
Psa 77:3. Selah.
Screw up the harp-strings; they have gone flat through such hard striking.
These deep notes have put the strings out of order. The man in his grief cannot sing well; and he had need to say Selah. Sursum corda. Lift up the heart; prepare yourself again for song.
Psa 77:4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Yet he was speaking; but it did not seem to him like speaking. It was rather an inarticulate wail than the language of a man.
Psa 77:5. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
A little holy history is good reading for a heavy heart. You will often stumble on a record of Gods providential dealings, or a paragraph concerning his wonderful love, that will cheer your heart. Yet it did not cheer the heart of the psalmist just then.
Psa 77:6. I call to remembrance my song in the night:
How I used to sing like the nightingale, with the thorn at my breast, I call that to remembrance. But we cannot always sing old songs. Old experiences may have but little fire in their ashes, though often in their ashes live their wonted fires.
Psa 77:6. I commune with mine own, heart:
A very proper thing to do; but not much comfort generally comes of it. It is like stirring water that is already muddy; the more you stir it, the more muddy it becomes.
Psa 77:6. And my spirit made diligent search.
When a man can deal with himself like this, his trouble will not last long. God save me from a dumb sorrow, sorrow that cannot think, and cannot judge, and cannot weigh itself!
Now listen to the psalmists questions. Does doubt question your faith? Then let faith question your doubts. Here is a catechism for a desponding heart. I commend it to you who are in trouble. Put your soul through its paces, ask these questions.
Psa 77:7. Will the Lord cast off for ever?
Has he ever done so? He may seem to cast off for a little while; but Will the Lord cast off for ever?
Psa 77:7. And will he be favourable no more?
It is a long lane that has no turning. The Lord may take down the rod; but will he always use it? Will he always chide?
Psa 77:8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever?
If his favor is gone, yet is his mercy gone? Does not the Psalm say, His mercy endureth for ever? If I cannot claim favor as a saint, may I not hope for mercy as a sinner? Is his mercy clean gone for ever?
Psa 77:8. Doth his promise fail for evermore?
Oh, what a question that is! Gods promise may tarry, but it never fails; and if it seem to fail for the time being, will it fail for evermore?
Psa 77:9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
What hot shots these are for unbelief! I warrant you that, however deep your unbelief may be tonight, if, by earnest prayer, with the help of the Holy Spirit, you ply it with these questions, it will have to yield.
Psa 77:9. Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
Can it be so? Was it ever so to any of Gods people? Now comes Selah again. Turn those screws once more; put the harp-strings might again. We shall have sweeter music from this time.
Psa 77:10. And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
But I will remember is added by the translator. Surely it was to the psalmist an infirmity to be thus in trouble; he called it Benoni, son of sorrow; but it was not infirmity to God; he called it Benjamin, son of the right hand. There is a sort of parallel between Asaph and the woman who named her child Benoni. Certainly it is a great infirmity, it is a sin, to doubt God, and to be cast down, and troubled.
Psa 77:11. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
Think of what God has done for his people, how he has delivered them, how he has lifted them from the dunghill, and set them among the princes, even among the princes of his people. Think of his wonders of grace, and be no more discouraged.
Psa 77:12. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
Those who talk ought to meditate; otherwise they grind wind. Those who meditate will talk; otherwise the miller grinds only for himself.
Psa 77:13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:
Or, in holiness. Gods way is always a holy way, a righteous way.
Psa 77:13. Who is so great a God as our God?
When we think of the greatness of God, if we simply dwell upon his power, we make a mistake. The greatness of God lies mainly in his moral attributes, in his completeness, his wholeness, his holiness.
Psa 77:14-15. Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
Selah again. In looking back, the psalmist has remembered the history of the whole nation. He thinks of what God did for his ancient people; indeed, he is on the verge of a great song; well may he tune the strings again. He has in thought gone back to the Red Sea. He is standing like Miriam, by the waters that devoured the foes of Israel, and he must sing as she did. In a high poetic strain he writes:
Psa 77:16. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
At the very sight of God the sea began to flee, to lay bare its depths. The floods stood upright as an heap, in their fear and dread of the presence of God, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
Psa 77:17. The clouds poured out water:
The floods above answered the floods below; and came to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.
Psa 77:17-18. The skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.
There was a great storm; thunder and lightning gathered about the sea.
When God spoke, the waters rolled back, and swallowed up all the chivalry of Egypt. Heaven and earth joined in battle against Gods foes; not only did the sea flee, but there appears to have been also an earthquake.
Psa 77:19. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
Not foreknown. Who could have foretold that God would lead his people through the sea? His footsteps are not now to be found. Gods ways we cannot guess; and even when we have seen them, we cannot understand them. Child of God, does the sea roll before you tonight? Are you in extreme distress? Are you crying as the psalmist did? With your voice do you cry unto God? Then expect deliverance from him.
Psa 77:20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Moses and Aaron did not lead them; God led his people, like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Here the Psalm breaks off with great abruptness. Had it been a human composition, it would have been rounded off with great discretion; but God knows best where to stop. I sometimes wish brethren would do the same in their prayers; they need not keep on till they have worn us out; they may break off short if they like. So may we in our sermons; perhaps they would be better remembered if the second half was never spoken.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 77:1-3
THE PROBLEM OF HANDLING DOUBT IN DIFFICULT TIMES
The big factor in this psalm is the problem of doubt. It appears to us that Dummelow’s analysis of this psalm is as good as any. And from that understanding of it, it is not hard to figure out why the psalmist is almost overcome with doubt.
“Here we have the psalmist’s experience of personal perplexity and darkness, caused by the contemplation of Israel’s national distress. It may be dated approximately in the time of the exile: (1) Psa 77:1-3 describe the psalmist’s trouble, in which prayer has brought no comfort. (2) Psa 77:4-9 tell how his remembrance of a brighter past suggests that perhaps God has now cast off his people forever. (3) In Psa 77:10-20, he turns for comfort to the story of God’s wondrous works of old, such as (a) the deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Psa 77:15); (b) the marvelous miracle of the Red Sea crossing (Psa 77:16-19); and (c) God’s guidance of Israel through the wilderness experiences (Psa 77:20).
The terrible doubt and sorrow that depressed God’s faithful remnant among the notoriously apostate people of Israel in the period ending in their Babylonian captivity must indeed have reached epic proportions. The reprobate nation fully deserved to be cut off forever, and their godless kingdom cried out to heaven for its destruction.
Of course, God did what God had to do. He liquidated the kingdom and sent the residue of it to Babylon, where, through generations of hardship, the righteous remnant were given the privilege of re-focusing their love, not upon an earthly state, but upon the godly lives required in those who really desired to be a part of God’s “chosen people.”
It was no slackening of God’s love for his people that brought about the traumatic experience of the exile. It was required by the gross wickedness of the vast majority of racial Israel. It was impossible for the righteous minority to understand why things were everywhere turning into unqualified disaster and destruction for national Israel, hence, the terrible doubt of the psalmist expressed here.
Some scholars understand this psalm as a “national lament, and others think of it as the lament of an individual; but the simple truth seems to be that it is indeed the lament of an individual brought about by the terrible fate of the kingdom which was in the process of being providentially destroyed.
Psa 77:1-3
DESCRIPTION OF THE PSALMIST’S CONDITION
“I will cry unto God with my voice,
Even unto God with my voice; and he will give ear unto me.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:
My hand was stretched out in the night, and slacked not;
My soul refused to be comforted.
I remember God, and am disquieted:
I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed.
(Selah)”
One may feel nothing but sympathetic concern for all of God’s children who suffered the incredible agony of living through all of the sorrows that fell upon national Israel during those days leading up to the captivity. It was indeed a time of darkness and doubt for all of them.
“I sought the Lord” (Psa 77:2) … “My soul refused to be comforted” (Psa 77:2) … “I remember God … am disquieted … and my spirit is overwhelmed” (Psa 77:3). The trouble was due to the cessation of God’s blessings upon national Israel in the manner that he had once so gloriously done. The impossibility was not with God; it was with Israel; their sins and rebellion against the Lord had finally reached a climax beyond which God was determined to “cut them off.” The precious saints who still loved the Lord still prayed for the beloved nation; but God could no longer answer such prayers. Given the lack of understanding on the part of the saints, and the rapidly worsening conditions afflicting the nation, and their doubt is easily understood.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 77:1. A person usually cries with his voice, but the expression means that David used his voice in a strong cry for mercy. God heard and granted the prayer.
Psa 77:2. The general life of David was one of devotion to God. In view of that it was consistent for him to call upon Him when in trouble. My sore is rendered “my hand” in the margin which is correct. The statement of David meant he held out his hand in supplication all night because of his sore trials.
Psa 77:3. Remembering God did not cause David to be troubled. When he was troubled and his spirit was overwhelmed, then he remembered God and prayed unto him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

This is a song of the healing of sorrow. It opens with the declaration of determination to cry to God, and then proceeds to explain the reason of this determination. Verse Psa 77:10 is the pivot on which the whole psalm turns, from a description of an experience of darkness and sorrow to one of gladness and praise. The first part tells of sorrow overwhelming the soul. The second gives a song which is the outcome of a vision that has robbed sorrow of its sting. In the first part, a great infirmity overshadows the sky, and there is no song. In the second, a great song pours itself out, and sorrow is forgotten. The difference is that between a man brooding over trouble and a man seeing high above it the enthroned God. In the first half, self is predominant. In the second, God is seen in His glory. A very simple method with the psalm makes this perfectly clear. In verses Psa 77:1-9 the first personal pronoun occurs twenty-two times, and there are eleven references to God by name, title, and pronoun. In the second, there are only three personal references and twenty-four mentions of God.
The message of the psalm is that to brood on sorrow is to be broken and disheartened, while to see God is to sing on the darkest day. Once we come to know that our years are of His right hand, there is light everywhere, and the song ascends.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Doth His Promise Fail?
Psa 77:1-10
There is a strong resemblance between this psalm and Hab 3:1-19. It may be divided at the Selahs. The psalmists anguish, Psa 77:1-3. It is well to give expression to grief. Do not lock it in your breast. Even in the thick darkness reach out your hands toward God. Your finger-tips will find themselves touched by the divine response. Refuse to be comforted by Christian work, or by the diversions of society and business, or by the exercise of a strong will. Open the wound to God; He will heal it and wipe away your tears.
The contrast between past and present, Psa 77:4-9. In the scarcity of his comfort, David was glad to live on his old stores, as are bees in winter. He specially recalled his song in the night, which is probably the equivalent of that glorying in tribulation of which the New Testament is full. Let us answer those questions of the psalmist: Will the Lord cast off? No; Rom 11:1. Will He be favorable? Yes; Lam 3:32. Is His mercy clean gone? No; Psa 103:17. Doth his promise fail? No; Heb 6:18. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? No; Exo 34:6. Hath He shut up his mercies? No; Lam 3:22-23. He is Jehovah, and changes not.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 77:3
There are two points of view under which we wish to present this subject: the strangeness of such an experience and some of the reasons that may account for it.
I. The strangeness of such an experience-that a man should remember God and yet be troubled. For consider: (1) that such an experience is against all that is made known to us of the nature of God. From the very first, revelation has had one purpose, and could have only one: to present God in such a light that His sinful creatures should come and find rest in Him. (2) It becomes strange when we reflect not only on the nature of God, but on His promises. They are so universal, so free, so full, that they seem fitted to meet every want and satisfy every yearning of the human soul. That the heart of a man who hears these words and believes that they come from the lips of God should be troubled at remembering Him must seem very strange. (3) It must appear strange further when we consider that trouble at the thought of God is declared to be against the experience of all sincere seekers. There is a history of cases reaching all through the Bible, and the burden of them is, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” The appeal of all ages has been, “O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.” (4) Such an experience is against all that we can reasonably believe of the nature of the soul of man. If one theory be true about man’s soul, it is this: that out of God no full, satisfying end can be found for it. The soul is greater than the whole world, and the greater cannot be blessed of the less.
II. Consider some of the reasons that may be given for such an experience as this. (1) The first reason is that many men do not make God the object of sufficient thought. (2) Another reason why many are troubled at the thought of God is that they are seeking Him with a wrong view of the way of access. (3) A third reason is that they are seeking Him with some reserved thought of sin. (4) A fourth reason is that they have a mistaken view of God’s manner of dealing with us in this world.
It is in the experience of the Divine life that doubts melt away or can be held in quiet expectancy of a solution, and that we approach gradually to the calm of those that rest beneath the altar. The thought of God that for a while brings trouble shall be made the source of hope, the pledge that all with you and with His universe shall be ordered to a happy end; and even here amid the trouble and struggle of earth, He can put into the mouth some notes of the praise of heaven.
J. Ker, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 305.
References: Psa 77:2.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 853; J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 237; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Sermons in Country Churches, 1st series, p. 228. Psa 77:3.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 25; Parker, Old Testament Outlines, p. 122, and Christian Chronicle, Sept. 20th, 1883. Psa 77:5.-C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons chiefly Practical, p. 353.
Psa 77:7-10
The moral to be drawn from this Psalm is that in all troubles and adversities it is our own fault if we have not a light to guide and cheer us, and that the true remedy against despondency is to look back upon the love of God pledged to us and His mercy shown to us in former days.
I. As soon as David looks his desponding thoughts in the face, he sees their absurdity; and he sees, too, that all his painful feelings have arisen, not from the absence of God’s protecting care, but from his own weakness and foolishness. “I said, It is mine own infirmity.”
II. If the Psalmist allowed his mind a range wider than his own personal experience, and considered the past evidences of the presence of God with His Church, the conclusion would be the same. If God were with His Church, and David a member of it, he had sufficient to make distrust a fault and despondency a sin.
III. Each one of us in the ordinary progress both of his temporal and spiritual life may find much that is worthy of his imitation in the conduct of David as expressed in the text. In all the roughnesses of the road which we have to pass over, we may, after first acknowledging our own infirmity, repose our minds on the thought of God’s mercies to us in days gone by.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 2nd series, p. 66.
Reference: Psa 77:9.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1843.
Psa 77:10
There are three kinds of speaking in this Psalm: speaking to God, speaking to our fellows, and speaking to one’s self.
I. To how many of our thoughts, and feelings, and spiritual utterances may we apply these words: “This is my infirmity”! Of hard thoughts of God, of dark views of His providence, of distrustful feelings towards God, and often of corresponding thoughts, and views, and feelings towards men, we may say, “This is my infirmity.” And the weakness of the body, faults in the spirit, and Satanic influence are the fountains and the causes of these utterances. The Psalmist resolves, as an antidote to despondency and fear, to bring the past and the present, recollections and existing consciousness, the day of his trouble and years of joyousness, the right hand of the Most High and his enemies and troubles-he resolves to bring them into comparison, to bring them together. “I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
II. These words, “the right hand of the Most High,” represent the power of God as manifested in all sovereignty and sufficiency on behalf of those who trust in Him. (1) God works. Power is continually going out of Him. (2) God works perfectly. His work is right-hand work. (3) He works as the Most High. He fills the above as well as the beneath. There is One higher than the Law: the Lawgiver.
III. Notice two or three brief exhortations springing from this subject. (1) Commune with your own heart; talk to yourself. (2) Give memory its full share of work in your religious life. (3) Avoid contracted views. Look at today, but look at the years. Look at second causes, and agents, and means; but ever consider the right hand of the Most High.
S. Martin, Penny Pulpit, No. 878.
References: Psa 77:10.-S. Cox, Expositions, 3rd series, p. 152. Psa 77:11, Psa 77:14-15, Psa 77:19, Psa 77:20.-G. Forbes, The Voice of God in the Psalms, p. 251. Psa 77:13.-H. Melvill, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 297.
Psa 77:19
There must be mystery in religion-a religion which lies between the finite and the Infinite. Take away mystery, and we should tear out a page of evidence. But there is more hiddenness about the providence of God than there is about the grace of God. He has revealed much more clearly what He does and what He wills about our souls than about our bodies. This is the reason, perhaps, why faith finds it so much harder work to trust for time than it does for eternity, and why there are so many who have no fear for their salvation, and yet who are hourly anxious about their daily wants.
I. The distinction between the degree of the mystery of providence and grace underlies the text. There is a climax and an anticlimax. (1) Observe “way,” “path,” “footsteps.” The way is greater than the path; the way is broad: the path is necessarily narrow, as in the familiar verse, “In all thy ways”-i.e., in all thy great things-“acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy little things,” thy “paths;” while “footsteps” are smaller still than paths-little isolated marks lying here and there along the path. So it runs down-way, path, footsteps. (2) Now see the ascending scale. “Thy way is in the sea”-the sea classically is always shallow water-“Thy path in the great waters,” which lie far out, more unfathomable than the shallows of the shore; while the “footsteps” are altogether out of sight, something beyond the sea and beyond the great waters, utterly out of reach: they “are not known.”
II. As respects God’s hidden ways, there are one or two things which we ought to consider. (1) God never meant you to understand them. We are to seek the solution of hard problems, and the quelling of our fears, and the answer to our doubts, not in the events themselves, but in the character of God, not in the book of present history, but in the volume of the Scriptures. (2) Faith has its helps. As we live on, many things which were once fearful, involved, and hard come out kind, simple, and plain; we see, if not all, yet some, of the reasons: and we are satisfied where we were once most dissatisfied. The past stands sponsor for the future.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 7th series, p. 124.
In the history of Israel we find not merely an impressive symbol, but a great practical truth, the truth, namely, that those who follow God follow a Leader whose footsteps are not known; that, in other words, he who accepts the service of God accepts with it much which he cannot understand. Mystery is bound up with God’s revelation and dealing with the human race.
I. We are not to conclude that because there is a mystery in God’s dealings they are therefore without a plan. We are to remember that the confusion is in us, and not in God’s work; that God’s counsel is not darkened because we are blind.
II. We are not to conclude that this mystery of providence is the outgrowth of unkindness.
III. The Psalmist has evidently reached very satisfactory conclusions on this subject. The secret of his confidence is revealed in the thirteenth verse, in the words, “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary,” or “Thy way is in holiness.” No matter how strange the way if it be a way of holiness!
IV. “Thou leddest Thy people.” The true philosophy of life is summed up here, in simply following God.
M. R. Vincent, Gates into the Psalm Country, p. 181.
References: Psa 77:19.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 132. Psa 77:19, Psa 77:20.-A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions, p. 340; C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 116. Psa 78:3, Psa 78:4.-J. T. Stannard, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii.,p. 136. Psa 78:5-7.-H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 238. Psa 78:9.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 696; S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, 1st series, p. 9. Psa 78:10.-J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 305; J. Baines, Sermons, p. 113.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Psalm 77
The Distressed Saint and His Comfort
1. The distress (Psa 77:1-10)
2. The comfort (Psa 77:11-20)
This Psalm shows the distress of the saint in deepest exercise of soul. He earnestly seeks the Lord and never leaves off. my hand was stretched out in the night, and failed not (literal translation of Psa 77:2). He moaned and complained and his spirit was overwhelmed. Then in still greater distress he asks, Will the Lord cast off forever?–Is His mercy come to an end forever?–Hath God forgotten to be gracious? The comfort comes to him as he thinks of Gods past dealings, as he remembers His work of old. He realizeth Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, who is so great a God as our God? He remembers how God redeemed His people Israel in the past, and this being His way as a holy God, the God of the Sanctuary, He will redeem again and manifest His power. One can easily see how this Psalm also is Israelitish and finds its application in the last days.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Jeduthun
(See Scofield “Psa 39:1”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

A Psalm: This Psalm is allowed by the best judges to have been written during the Babylonian captivity.
of Asaph: or, for Asaph, Psa 50:1, *title
I cried: Psa 3:4, Psa 34:6, Psa 55:16, Psa 55:17, Psa 142:1-3
gave: Psa 116:1, Psa 116:2
Reciprocal: 1Ch 6:39 – Asaph 1Ch 25:2 – Asaph 2Ch 35:15 – according Neh 9:4 – cried Job 5:8 – seek Job 16:6 – my grief Psa 9:9 – in times Psa 28:1 – Unto Psa 30:8 – unto Psa 34:4 – sought Psa 86:7 – General Psa 138:3 – In the day Son 5:8 – I am Isa 26:16 – in trouble Jon 2:4 – I said Rom 8:26 – with
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

God’s way in the sea and in the sanctuary.
To the chief musician “to Jeduthun” a psalm of Asaph.
The last psalm of the series gives us that character of the divine government which causes it to be so fruitful of exercise to the soul of man. Even for the Christian, in this respect, clouds and darkness are about Him still the revolving wheel of the world, with all its remorselessness of change for the fleeting generations, is yet God’s chariot wheel, as indeed the Preacher sees it, only to the increase of his perplexity and the height of the wheel -so high as to be dreadful, in Ezekiel’s vision, -hides with its mystery Him who sits above it. This is what this fifth psalm here presents: God’s footsteps in the sea, and there unknown, with the difficulty for faith engendered by it; -a difficulty pressing for solution, or at least some answer and which is here answered, measurably at
least. It could not yet have the settlement which Christianity has given to it, nor can there be settlement, even with this, which shall leave us with no more exercise of this kind. Faith must still reckon with the unseen, in some sense, as Asaph did; and the psalm will have its use still for every pilgrim. Comforting it is, too, to note that it is for Jeduthun, i.e. “the worshiper,” and that it is,
notably also, a sanctuary-psalm. If God’s way is in the sea, His steps unknown, it is no less in the sanctuary also, in the holiness which must be His, and it is from what is known of Him -changeless as He is in nature, -that what is unknown must be determined.
The psalm; as it is a fifth, so it has five parts, the first three of which are taken up with the problem and its solution, while the last two expand the general thought of it, as we have seen.
1. In the first part we have the occasion of the question, but with the preliminary assurance that the psalmist’s cry to God has been answered: “My voice is unto God, and I cry: my voice is unto God, and He hath given ear to me.” He then points out how the question which was troubling had risen for him. External difficulty it was that (as commonly) produced the inward perplexity. We are apt to take with calmness enough the difficulties of others, until these become our own: as Eliphaz said to Job, “it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.” So here: “in the day of my strait I sought the Lord” -not Jehovah, but the Almighty Ruler of all: my hand was stretched out in the night and slacked not: my soul refused comfort.” The remembrance of God also only made the distress more poignant, for here it was that doubt was assailing him: “I remembered God, and I moaned; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.” We have not as yet, however, the special character of this distress made known.
2. In the second section we realize more the nature of the conflict, as having to do with questions which, as Ecclesiastes has it, “God has given to the sons of men to be exercised with.” “Thou hast held mine eyelids open,” he says: “I am so agitated that I cannot speak.” He is occupied with the history of man, with “the days of old, -the years of ancient times” -God’s dealings with men are exercising him; and from these he turns to review his own experience. He remembers his “music in the night,” but he is not disposed to music now. He is busy, communing with his own heart, and his spirit making diligent search. But with all this, at present, rest is not attained.
3. The next section brings us however to the interpretation of it all. We find the riddle and its solution also. We see clearly that it is a question which. Israel is above all concerned with, and which a latter-day remnant would certainly be exercised about; while the answer concerns His people at all times, it being the assertion of the faithfulness of God to His own Name, for which He ever acts, and in which they find their resource and refuge.
The question is “Will the Lord cast off forever? and will He show favor no more?” Here the “Lord” is not “Jehovah;” nor is the covenant-Name mentioned until after this question is answered. Covenant they cannot plead: the answer has to come from what God is in Himself, not from relationship, which is the very thing in question. But the “Lord” (Adonai). He in whose hand all power is, has in effect cast off when that power no more acts in their behalf. Will He cast off, then, “forever” (leolamim; “for the ages”)? “and will He show favor no more?” There was no doubt, at least, of what He had been to them. Could it be, then, that He would act in opposition to this? A temporary “forsaking” would not be opposition: for chastening means present interest and future blessing; and was this, then, chastening, or renunciation of the favor that He once had shown?
In his next two questions the psalmist weighs his evidences. The divine loving-kindness, can that be at an end -exhausted? is the fountain of love dried up? This is of course an impossibility; and he is arguing that it is an impossibility. And yet in application to themselves, how many are tempted to believe it! How many admit the suggestion of some sin possibly unpardonable to him who sincerely turns to God about it, and would find his refuge in the blood of Christ! But no: there stands as the complete denial of this the unfailing word of divine inspiration: “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin.” Here is no limit, and who shall make one? Whatever may be true as to unpardonable sin, it cannot mean that any such can be to one who has recourse to the blood of Christ; or that He will cast out, for any cause whatever, any one who in the day of present grace shall come to Him (1Jn 1:7; Joh 6:37).
But this brings us to the second question of the psalmist: “has His word failed for all generations?” Here, too, is an impossibility; but let us see what it implies. It is “His word” that is in question, not “His promise”; and this makes it much more weighty. God has been pleased to give us His word, and this indeed is “loving-kindness” to do so, and the parallelism of the verse is complete. He has written Himself out on the page of Scripture, -given us to see His heart, His mind: it may be in His dealings with this or that person, in His announcement as to this or that event. All this rests (as to its blessing to me) upon the immutability of His nature, the assurance that I shall find Him for myself the self-same God that He has been to others. Were He changeful, capricious, limited, I could argue nothing, find comfort in nothing: -for all generations His word would be practically gone. Were His “loving-kindness” anything but the infinite fount of blessing that it is, no declarations of it for another would help me, no words of other times would avail me now. But blessed be God, this cannot be. He is Himself, always Himself, no attribute at strife with another in His changeless and perfect nature. How I can rejoice, then, that Abraham’s God is mine; and what unfailing assurance any one that will, may gather from His word!
Here then is the point of the argument: it is God Himself in whom we can trust, and that, whatever the present circumstances. “Has the Mighty One (El) forgotten to be gracious? Must any circumstances whatever be allowed to argue infirmity in Him? “Has He shut up (contracted) in anger His compassions?” No, be assured. His very anger is the effect of love itself: cast yourself upon His love, this anger will not harm you; His chastening shall but purify and bless.
And thus we come to a point: shall we argue infirmity in Him or in ourselves? Here there can be no question, and the trouble is ended: “And I said, This is my infirmity” -“my malady,” it might be rendered: “there are years of the right hand of the Most High;” -an inadequate statement, which is all the more effective. “God has had years of experience,” he says to himself: and that so feebly represents the truth, and yet in that enfeebled form; so forbids doubt, that immediately he is master of himself again, and can only praise Him.
4. Back he can go now at once to Scripture, to those old experiences of God, now once more so available for him. “I will make mention of the works of Jah,” he says: “for I remember Thy wonders of old; and I will meditate on all Thy work, and talk of Thy doings.” “Jah,” the contracted form of Jehovah, speaks in the most energetic, decisive way of the One who is, as if He were the only reality. And so, in a true sense, He is: for “in Him we live and move and have our being,” and He governs absolutely where most his authority seems set aside. Had we eyes purged from all films, where would we find a thing which might not be a text from which to descant upon the “works of Jehovah?” and with what blessing to our own souls, as well as to the souls of others. Even the “wonders of old” are but as it were the visible signs and tokens of a manner of work which everywhere has the stamp of the same Author. Indeed that is what gives them their main charm and interest. Oh for eyes without a film! we shall have them: but do not let us be so satisfied with that assurance as to put away from us the present opportunity of learning such glorious things.
But he goes on: “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary” -not simply, I think, “in holiness,” though that be the main thought. But the sanctuary suggests more than this, -suggests already even, what the next section more develops, the hidden character of His ways, which are yet not hidden of His will, for He is ever seeking to make them known, but of necessity, by reason of men’s estrangement from Him. The sanctuary, thank God, does not to us, as to Israel, so much speak of this: for it is what characterizes Christianity that the veil of it is rent from top to bottom; and we have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Heb 10:19). Blessed it is to know this! but beyond measure blessed to draw really near because we know it! Practically still the measure of our knowledge must depend upon that purging of the eyes, of which we have been speaking. The light shines, and here is our responsibility, and here is our privilege. What we see is a question to be answered, each one for himself.
But it is in holiness God’s way is, and “the knowledge of the Holy is understanding”: therefore we enter into His mind as His mind enters into us. And then indeed shall we realize: “who is the mighty one (El) so great as God?” And if He be thus necessarily hidden by. His own perfection, yet is He not outside the knowledge of men everywhere: for “Thou art the Mighty One that doeth wonders: Thou hast made known Thy strength among the peoples.” And here especially in Israel -through His relationship to these -He is made known, and in the grace which this declares: “with Thine arm hast Thou redeemed Thy people, the sons of Jacob and of Joseph.”
5. Here the fifth section opens, and we find in the way in which God manifested Himself as with His people and for their deliverance, how the powers of nature in which He so much hides Himself, are nevertheless perfectly at His disposal, and work in behalf of those with whom He is. The psalmist is drawing the picture manifestly of the deliverance at the Red Sea, although of the convulsions of nature described, the history gives no account. The moral drawn from it is of the widest application.
“The waters saw Thee, O God; the waters saw Thee, they were afraid; the depths also trembled.” Nature owned His power, while men doubted the Arm upon which they leaned, or else defied it, after abundant experience. But not only did nature tremble and give place, but the elements yielded themselves to His will: “the clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound; Thine arrows also went abroad.” But there was that which has ever to man been more like the manifestation of God, and which Scripture recognizes in this way: “The voice of Thy thunder was in the whirlwind; the earth trembled and quaked.”
And now comes the moral of God’s clothing Himself in these nature-forms “Thy way is in the sea, and Thy paths in the great waters; and Thy footsteps are not known.” True as that may be, yet this “way” is with His people and in their behalf: “Thou leddest Thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Thus in the dark as in the light He is the same; and in the dark, we can yet trust Him.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 77:1. I cried unto God, &c. This verse seems to contain the sum of the whole Psalm, consisting of two parts, namely, his earnest cry to God in his deep distress, and Gods gracious answer to his prayers, by supporting him under his troubles, and giving him assurance of a good issue out of them; of both which he speaks distinctly and particularly as he proceeds in the Psalm.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Title. To the chief musician, to Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph. There is an uncertainty, whether Jeduthun were a master of music, or whether the name designate an instrument, or some air or term of music. The thirty ninth psalm by David, bears also the name of Jeduthun.
Psa 77:1-2. I cried unto GodIn the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night. There is no mention of any sore in the original. The literal reading is My hand was stretched out in the night [in prayer] and ceased not. I cried, I prayed, but no answer; the morning broke, but no ray of light to my fainting mind; the sun rose on the earth, but no sun of righteousness shone on me. Oh what sighs, what tears, what labouring thought: what profound researches of the mind! My spirit made diligent search: Psa 77:6.
Psa 77:7. Will the Lord cast off for ever? Is his mercy clean gone? Must I groan and sigh in darkness all my days? Am I cast off for my sins, and doomed to perish at last? Are all my prayers sent back empty? Are all the intercessions of the saints on my account disregarded?
Psa 77:10. I said, this is my infirmity, to distrust and doubt. I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High, when he rode on the cloud; when he divided the sea, and drove asunder the nations. The God who once delivered his people, can yet deliver me.
What was this case of Asaph? Answer, a nervous gloom, a milder species of melancholy, superinduced by some grief of heart, and which preyed on the mind. If otherwise, it might be great heaviness through manifold temptations.
What are the best remedies? Answer, the kindest treatment that circumstances will allow. A temperate diet, and cooling medicines, attended with air and exercise. Especially let the good man be undisturbed in prayer, for that eases the heart of all its grief. Let him be prompted always to remember the years of the Most High, looking at the brightest traits of providence and grace, and accustomed to dwell on the promises of God. I mention kind treatment, because those nuances and discouragements fall on persons of fine sense and exquisite feelings with the greater severity. A young gentlemen of a catholic family, being sorely buffeted, though able to attend his professional duties, fell for two months under great depression, and uttered his heart in the following lines.
Ah, who can tell my souls distress? Who can conceive my wretched plight? All day by hell how sore opprest, By dreams and visions of the night!
While on the bed my body lay, Ere balmy sleep had closed my eyes; Anon, my soul a hunted prey, Sees hosts of hellish hounds arise.
Alas, my soul was sore opprest, While ghostly foes their malice spent; No hope of ease, no thought of rest, Nor earth, nor grave a prospect lent.
In ruins laid, my soul sweat blood, In agonies of dire despair; I cried aloud, my God, my God, My dearest Saviour, hear my prayer.
But yet my soul disdains to flee, Or hide from Satans furious blast; I claim the promised victory, To vanquish all my foes at last.
Psa 77:13. Thy way, oh God, is in the sanctuary. Thy counsel is deep and high; thou redeemest thy people, and confoundest all thy foes. Zion has but to trust, and await the openings of thy righteousness. On the ground of covenanted mercy, the sons of Jacob have claims on their fathers God.
Psa 77:16. After the word selah, Psa 77:15, a forte, or enlivened chorus of music struck up; for the true sublime and beautiful with which this psalm closes required vivacity. The waters saw thee, oh God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid; the depths were troubled. In like manner, or in his own gracious way, the Lord will yet arise to succour the tempted, and wipe away the tears from Zion in the day of her oppression.
REFLECTIONS.
Good men should not think their case singular, when they are oppressed with trouble and melancholy. Asaphs was indeed a mournful case; he had wearisome days, restless nights, weeping eyes, and a comfortless soul. He was tempted to make a desperate conclusion about his own state, and the mercy and faithfulness of God. Those who are in such afflicted circumstances, should recollect what others have endured, and draw no rash conclusions about their real characters. Let them remember that despondency of spirit and distrust of God is an infirmity, and therefore endeavour to suppress it.
Such afflicted persons should give themselves to prayer. In the day of my trouble, says the psalmist, I sought the Lord; and the gospel rule is, if any be afflicted, let them pray; not seek for business and recreation to divert their minds, though they are useful in their places, but continue in prayer. Let them not think, as Mr. HENRY expresses it, to drink away, or laugh away, their melancholy apprehensions, but pray them away. Let them not cease their petitions, though they may for a long time be discouraged, and have very little hope of success: at length God will incline his ear, and their souls shall be comforted.
Those who are afflicted should think of Gods works; his works of wonder for his people, and his works of kindness for themselves. Let them recollect what God has done, both for their bodies and souls in time past, as an encouragement to trust in him, and to hope that he will not forsake them. It seems that Asaph did not find relief in this thought, therefore he set himself to consider what God had done for his people of old, and then he found relief. This shows the usefulness of scripture history; and of how much importance it is that we make it familiar to our minds, and meditate upon it. It shows also that we should apply those histories to our own case. What God hath wrought for the church, may and ought to be improved for the comfort of particular believers. Though Gods way be in the sea, and his path in the deep waters, let us trust him when we cannot trace him, and follow him, though we know not whither he leads us; and we shall find that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as fear him, and keep his covenant and his statutes.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

LXXVII. Israels Present Distress and Past Glory.
Psa 77:1-3. The present distress.
Psa 77:1. with my voice: i.e. with a loud voice.
Psa 77:4-15. Past glory.
Psa 77:4. Perhaps we should translate, Mine eyelids are held fast, i.e. so that they cannot close in sleep.
Psa 77:6. The first words ought to stand at the end of Psa 77:5, The years of ancient time I call to remembrance.my song: inappropriate; we need some such word as I mused.
Psa 77:10 b. Render, This is my affliction that the right hand of the Most High is changed (cf. mg.). Of course Gods right hand had not really lost its power; but that power was no longer displayed to His people.
Psa 77:13. holiness (mg.): Gods presence with His people and in their wanderings sanctified all the way they went. See especially Isa 63:9 ff.
Psa 77:16-19. Here we have the fragment of another poem. It describes a theophany and has no connexion with its context.
Psa 77:20 belongs or may belong to Psalms 77.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 77
Confidence in God in the day of distress.
(vv. 1-3) In deep distress as to the low condition of God’s people, the psalmist cried to God. In the day of trouble the godly man still looked to God and stretched out his hand to the Lord in the night (JND). He remembered God, though for a time he found no rest for his soul, as apparently God was silent. Thus his spirit was overwhelmed.
(vv. 4-6) The following three verses reveal the cause of the pressure upon his spirit. He was seeking to find some solution for his exercise in the experience of others in the days of old. Then, passing from the experiences of others he made diligent examination of his own experiences; only to find that self-occupation brought no relief.
(vv. 7-9) At length the psalmist recognized that the low condition of God’s people was the result of their own failure. He saw that they were undergoing the chastening of the Lord. But, he asks, will the Lord because of their failure, cast them off for ever? Can it be possible that God will be favourable no more? Has the failure of His people withered up the mercy of God? Will God fail to carry out His promises because His people have sinned? Can the breakdown of man alter the grace of God, or shut up his tender mercies? The psalmist raises these suggestions only to dismiss them as untenable.
(vv. 10-12) The realization that it is impossible for the sin of God’s people to be greater than the grace of God comes as balm to the troubled soul of the psalmist. He sees that the suggestion that it is possible for God’s people to be cast off arises from the weakness of his mind that has judged of God’s ways towards His people by the way they have acted towards Him. Hence he arrests these thoughts and, instead of recalling his own experiences and the years of ancient times, he now remembers the years of the right hand of the most High, the works of the Lord, and His wonders of old. He says, I will meditate also upon all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
(vv. 13-15) Furthermore, he discovers that whatever affliction the people of God may be passing through on earth because of their failure, God has a way which can only be known in the sanctuary. When perplexed by the prosperity of the wicked, the soul found the answer to its difficulties in the sanctuary (Psa 73:17). So, when puzzled by God’s apparent silence while His people are in trial, he again finds an answer to his exercises in the sanctuary. There he learns that God has a settled way that governs His acts; that God is great and does wonders. In accordance with His way God makes known His strength among the peoples in order to redeem His own.
(vv. 16-20) The closing verses present these actings of God on behalf of His people, proving the truth of the lessons learned in the sanctuary. God’s ways at the Red Sea declared His strength among the peoples and showed how He redeemed His people from the power of the enemy, and led them through the wilderness like a flock.
Thus in spite of all the power of the enemy, and the trials of the wilderness, God has a way that He is taking with His own in this world in perfect accord with His way that is settled in the sanctuary. In the midst of all the confusion and scattering among the people of God, His people may not always be able to trace His footsteps, nonetheless faith knows that God has a way that He is taking for His own glory, and His people’s blessing. Thus faith is encouraged to trust God in the darkest day as in the brightest.
The principles of the psalm can surely be applied with much comfort in any day of rush and confusion among the people of God. In the presence of much failure the devil might seek to tempt the believer to think that God is indifferent to the trials of His people, and has cast them off. Nevertheless faith knows that no amount of failure can thwart the purposes of God’s grace. Moreover in the presence of God we learn that God has a way in accordance with which He is acting for His own glory and the blessing of His people. We are encouraged to know that however great the confusion, yet God has a way through it all – a path through the wilderness – by which to lead His flock. Good then for us to stretch out our hands to Him, even though at times we may have to do so in the dark.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

77:1 [To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.] I cried unto God with my {a} voice, [even] unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
(a) The prophet teaches us by his example to flee to God for help in our necessities.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 77
Asaph described himself as tossing and turning on his bed, unable to sleep, in this individual lament psalm. He found that meditating on God’s deliverance of His people in the Exodus brought him comfort. This led him to ask God to manifest His power for His people again.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Asaph’s problem 77:1-9
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Some unspecified distress resulted in the psalmist’s insomnia. In his restless condition he cried out to God, but he received no relief (cf. Heb 5:7).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 77:1-20
THE occasion of the profound sadness of the first part of this psalm may be inferred from the thoughts which brighten it into hope in the second. These were the memories of past national deliverance. It is natural to suppose that present national disasters were the causes of the sorrow which enveloped the psalmists spirit and suggested questions of despair, only saved from being blasphemous because they were so wistful. But it by no means follows that the singer is simply the personified nation. The piercing tone of individual grief is too clear, especially in the introductory verses, to allow of that hypothesis. Rather, the psalmist has taken into his heart the troubles of his people. Public calamity has become personal pain. What dark epoch has left its marks in this psalm remains uncertain. If Delitzschs contention that Hab 3:1-19 is in part drawn from it were indubitably established, the attribution of the psalm to the times of Josiah would be plausible; but there is, at least, room for doubt whether there has been borrowing, and if so, which is original and which echo. The calamities of the Exile in their severity and duration would give reasonable ground for the psalmists doubts whether God had not cast off His people forever. No brief or partial eclipse of His favour would supply adequate occasion for these.
The psalm falls into two parts, in the former of which (Psa 77:1-9) deepest gloom wraps the singers spirit, while in the latter (Psa 77:10-20) the clouds break. Each of these parts fall into three strophes, usually of three verses; but in the concluding strophe, consisting of five, Selah stands at the end of the first and third, and is not present at the end of the second, because it is more closely connected with the third than with the first. In like manner the first strophe of the second part (Psa 77:10-12) has no Selah, but the second has (Psa 77:13-15); the closing strophe (Psa 77:16-20) being thus parted off.
The psalmists agitation colours his language, which fluctuates in the first six verses between expressions of resolve or desire (Psa 77:1, Psa 77:3, Psa 77:6) and simple statement of fact (Psa 77:2, Psa 77:4, Psa 77:5). He has prayed long and earnestly, and nothing has been laid in answer on his outstretched palm. Therefore his cry has died down into a sigh. He fain would lift his voice to God, but dark thoughts make him dumb for supplication, and eloquent only in self-pitying monologue. A man must have waded through like depths to understand this pathetic bewilderment of spirit. They who glide smoothly over a sunlit surface of sea little know the terrors of sinking with choked lungs, into the abyss. A little experience will go further than much learning in penetrating the meaning of these moanings of lamed faith. They begin with an elliptical phrase, which, in its fragmentary character, reveals the psalmists discomposure. “My voice to God” evidently needs some such completion as is supplied above; and the form of the following verb (“cry”) suggests that the supplied one should express wish or effort. The repetition of the phrase in Psa 77:1 b strengthens the impression of agitation. The last words of that clause may be a petition, “give ear,” but are probably better taken as above. The psalmist would fain cry to God, that he may be heard. He has cried, as he goes on to tell in calmer mood in Psa 77:2, and has apparently not been heard. He describes his unintermitted supplications by a strong metaphor. The word rendered “stretched out” is literally poured out as water, and is applied to weeping eyes. {Lam 3:49} The Targum substitutes eye for hand here. but that is commentary, not translation. The clause which we render “without ceasing” is literally “and grew not stiff.” That word, too, is used of tears, and derivatives from it are found in the passage just referred to in Lamentations (“intermission”), and in Lam 2:18 (“rest”). It carries on the metaphor of a stream, the flow of which is unchecked. The application of this metaphor to the hand is harsh, but the meaning is plain-that all night long the psalmist extended his hand in the attitude of prayer, as if open to receive Gods gift. His voice “rose like a fountain night and day”; but brought no comfort to his soul; and he bewails himself in the words which tell of Jacobs despair when he heard that Joseph was dead. So rooted and inconsolable does he think his sorrows. The thought of God has changed its nature, as if the sun were to become a source of darkness. When he looks up, he can only sigh; when he looks within, his spirit is clothed or veiled-i.e., wrapped in melancholy.
In the next strophe of three verses (Psa 77:4-6) the psalmist plunges yet deeper into gloom, and unfolds more clearly its occasion. Sorrow, like a beast of prey, devours at night; and every sad heart knows how eyelids, however wearied, refuse to close upon as wearied eyes, which gaze wide opened into the blackness and see dreadful things there. This man felt as if Gods finger was pushing up his lids and forcing him to stare out into the night. Buffeted, as if laid on an anvil and battered with the shocks of doom, he cannot speak; he can only moan, as he is doing. Prayer seems to be impossible. But to say, “I cannot pray; would that I could!” is surely prayer, which will reach its destination, though the sender knows it not. The psalmist had found no ease in remembering God. He finds as little in remembering a brighter past. That he should have turned to history in seeking for consolation implies that his affliction was national in its sweep, however intensely personal in its pressure. This retrospective meditation on the great deeds of old is characteristic of the Asaph psalms. It ministers in them to many moods, as memory always does. In this psalm we have it feeding two directly opposite emotions. It may be the nurse of bitter Despair or of bright-eyed Hope. When the thought of God occasions but sighs, the remembrance of His acts can only make the present more doleful. The heavy spirit finds reasons for heaviness in Gods past and in its own.
The psalmist in his sleepless vigils remembers other wakeful times, when his song filled the night with music and “awoke the dawn.” Psa 77:6 is parallel with Psa 77:3. The three key words, remember, muse, spirit recur. There, musing ended in wrapping the spirit in deeper gloom. Here, it stings that spirit to activity in questionings, which the next strophe flings out in vehement number and startling plainness. It is better to be pricked to even such interrogations by affliction than to be made torpid by it. All depends on the temper in which they are asked. If that is right, answers which will scatter gloom are not far off.
The comparison of present national evils with former happiness naturally suggests such questions. Obviously, the casting off spoken of in Psa 77:7 is that of the nation, and hence its mention confirms the view that the psalmist is suffering under public calamities. All the questions mean substantially one thing-has God changed? They are not, as some questions are, the strongest mode of asserting their negative; nor are they, like others, a more than half assertion of their affirmative; but they are what they purport to be – the anxious interrogations of an afflicted man, who would fain be sure that God is the same as ever, but is staggered by the dismal contrast of Now and Then. He faces with trembling the terrible possibilities, and, however his language may seem to regard failure of resources or fickleness of purpose or limitations in long suffering as conceivable in God, his doubts are better put into plain speech than lying diffused and darkening, like poisonous mists, in his heart. A thought, be it good or bad, can be dealt with when it is made articulate. Formulating vague conceptions is like cutting a channel in a bog for the water to run. One gets it together in manageable shape, and the soil is drained. So the end of the despondent half of the psalm is marked by the bringing to distinct speech of the suspicions which floated in the singers mind and made him miserable. The Selah bids us dwell on the questions, so as to realise their gravity and prepare ourselves for their answer.
The second part begins in Psa 77:10 with an obscure and much-commented on verse, of which two explanations are possible, depending mainly on the meanings of the two words “sickness” and “years.” The former word may mean “my wounding” or “my sickness.” The latter is by many commentators taken to be an infinitive verb, with the signification to be changed, and, by others to be a plural noun meaning “years, ” as in Psa 77:6. Neglecting some minor differences, we may say that those who understand the word to mean being changed explain the whole thus: “This is my wound (misery, sorrow), that the right hand of the Most High has changed.” So the old versions, and Hupfeld, Perowne, and Baethgen. But the use of the word in Psa 77:6 for “years creates a strong presumption that its sense is the same here. As to the other word, its force is best seen by reference to a closely parallel passage in Jer 10:19 -“I said, Truly this is my grief (margin, sickness), and I must bear it”; where the word for grief, though not the same as in the psalm, is cognate. The most probable meaning, then, for the expression here is, “This my affliction is sent from God, and I must bear it with resignation.” Then follows an elevating thought expressed in its simplest form like an exclamation, “the years, ” etc., -i.e., “I will remember (comp. Psa 77:6) the time when the right hand of Jehovah had the preeminence” (Cheyne, in loc.). Delitzsch leaves the ellipsis unfilled, and takes the whole to mean that the psalmist says to himself that the affliction allotted will only last for the time which the mighty hand of God has determined. The rendering adopted above avoids the awkwardness of using the same word in two different senses in the same context, yields an appropriate meaning, especially in view of the continual references to remembering, and begins the new strophe with a new note of hopefulness, whereas the other renderings prolong the minor key of the first part into the second. It is therefore to be preferred. The revolution in feeling is abrupt. All is sunny and bright in the last half. What makes the change? The recognition of two great truths: first, that the calamity is laid on Israel, and on the psalmist as a member of the nation, by God, and has not come because of that impossible change in Him which the bitter questions had suggested; and, second, the unchangeable eternity of Gods delivering power. That second truth comes to him as with a flash, and the broken words of Psa 77:10 b hail the sudden rising of the new star.
The remainder of the psalm holds fast by that thought of the great deeds of God in the past. It is a signal example of how the same facts remembered may depress or gladden, according to the point of view from which they are regarded. We can elect whether memory shall nourish despondency or gladness. Yet the alternative is not altogether a matter of choice; for the only people to whom “remembering happier things” need not be “a sorrows crown of sorrow” are those who see God in the past, and so are sure that every joy that was and is not shall yet again be, in more thrilling and lasting form. If He shines out on us from the east that we have left behind, His brightness will paint the western sky towards which we travel. Beneath confidence in the perpetuity of past blessings lies confidence in the eternity of God. The “years of the right hand of the Most High” answer all questions as to His change of purpose or of disposition, and supply the only firm foundation for calm assurance of the future. Memory supplies the colours with which Hope paints her truest pictures. That which hath been is that which shall be may be the utterance of the blase man of the world, or of the devout man who trusts in the living God, and therefore knows that
“There shall never be one lost good!
What was shall live as before.”
The strophe in Psa 77:13-15 fixes on the one great redeeming act of the Exodus as the pledge of future deeds of a like kind, as need requires. The language is deeply tinged with reminiscences of Exo 15:1-27. “In holiness” (not “in the sanctuary”), the question “Who is so great a God?” the epithet “Who doest wonders,” all come from Exo 15:11. “[Thine] arm” in the psalm recalls “By the greatness of Thine arm” in Exodus (Psa 77:16), and the psalmists “redeemed Thy people” reproduces “the people which Thou hast redeemed”. {Exo 15:13} The separate mention of “sons of Joseph” can scarcely be accounted for if the psalm is prior to the division of the kingdoms. But the purpose of the designation is doubtful. It may express the psalmists protest against the division as a breach of ancient national unity or his longings for reunion.
The final strophe differs from the others in structure. It contains five verses instead of three, and the verses are (with the exception of the last) composed of three clauses each instead of two. Some commentators have supposed that Psa 77:16-19 are an addition to the original psalm, and think that they do not cohere well with the preceding. This view denies that there is any allusion in the closing verses to the passage of the Red Sea, and takes the whole as simply a description of a theophany, like that in Psa 18:1-50. But surely the writhing of the waters as if in pangs at the sight of Gods such an allusion. Psa 77:19, too, is best understood as referring to the path through the sea, whose waters returned and covered Gods footprints from human eyes. Unless there is such a reference in Psa 77:16-19, the connection with the preceding and with Psa 77:20 is no doubt loose. But that is not so much a reason for denying the right of these verses to a place in the psalm as for recognising the reference. Why should a mere description of a theophany, which had nothing to do with the psalmists theme, have been tacked on to it? No doubt, the thunders, lightnings, and storm so grandly described here are unmentioned in Exodus; and, quite possibly, may be simply poetic heightening of the scene, intended to suggest how majestic was the intervention which freed Israel. Some commentators, indeed, have claimed the picture as giving additional facts concerning the passage of the Red Sea. Dean Stanley, for example, has worked these points into his vivid description; but that carries literalism too far.
The picture in the psalm is most striking. The continuous short clauses crash and flash like the thunders and lightnings. That energetic metaphor of the waters writhing as if panic struck is more violent than Western taste approves, but its emotional vigour as a rendering of the fact is unmistakable. “Thine arrows went to and fro” is a very imperfect transcript of the Hebrew, which suggests the swift zigzag of the fierce flashes. In Psa 77:18 the last word offers some difficulty. It literally means a wheel, and is apparently best rendered as above, the thunder being poetically conceived of as the sound of the rolling wheels of Gods chariot. There are several coincidences between Psa 77:16-19 of the psalm and Hab 3:10-15 : namely, the expression “writhed in pain,” applied in Habakkuk to the mountains; the word rendered “overflowing” (A.V.) or “tempest” (R.V.) in Hab 3:10, cognate with the verb in Psa 77:17 of the psalm, and there rendered “poured out”; the designation of lightnings as Gods arrows. Delitzsch strongly maintains the priority of the psalm; Hupfeld as strongly that of the prophet.
The last verse returns to the two-claused structure of the earlier part. It comes in lovely contrast with the majestic and terrible picture preceding, like the wonderful setting forth of the purpose of the other theophany in Psa 18:1-50, which was for no higher end than to draw one poor man from the mighty waters. All this pomp of Divine appearance, with lightnings, thunders, a heaving earth, a shrinking sea, had for its end the leading the people of God to their land, as a shepherd does his flock. The image is again an echo of Exo 15:13. The thing intended is not merely the passage of the Red Sea but the whole process of guidance begun there amid the darkness. Such a close is too abrupt to please some commentators. But what more was needful or possible to be said, in a retrospect of Gods past acts, for the solace of a dark present? It was more than enough to scatter fears and flash radiance into the gloom which had wrapped the psalmist. He need search no further. He has found what he sought; and so he hushes his song and gazes in silence on the all-sufficient answer which memory has brought to all his questions and doubts. Nothing could more completely express the living, ever-present worth of the ancient deeds of God than the “abruptness” with which this psalm ceases rather than ends.
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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