PSALM CII _The complaint and miserable state of the poor captives_, 1-11; _the expectation of deliverance_, 12-14; _the conversion of the heathen_, 15-18; _the termination of the captivity_, 19-22; _the great frailty of man_, 23, 24; _the unchangeableness of God_, 25-27; _the permanence of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:3. _MY DAYS ARE CONSUMED LIKE SMOKE_] He represents himself (for the psalmist speaks in the name of the people) under the notion of a _pile of combustible matter_, placed upon a _fire_, which soon consumes it; part flying away in _smoke_, and the residue lying on the hearth in the f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:4. _MY HEART IS SMITTEN, AND WITHERED LIKE GRASS_] The metaphor here is taken from grass cut down in the meadow. It is first _smitten_ with the _scythe_, and then _withered_ by the _sun_. Thus the Jews were smitten with the judgments of God; and they are now withered under the fire... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:6. _I AM LIKE A PELICAN OF THE WILDERNESS_] It may be the _pelican_ or the _bittern_. The original, קאת _kaath_, is mentioned Leviticus 11:18, and is there described. See the note. Leviticus 11:18. _OWL OF THE DESERT._] כוש _cos_, some species of _owl_; probably the night raven. Se... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:7. _AS A SPARROW ALONE_] צפור _tsippor_, seems to be often used for any small bird, such as the _swallow, sparrow_, or the like. _Bochart_ supposes the _screech owl_ is intended.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:8. _THEY THAT ARE MAD AGAINST ME ARE SWORN AGAINST ME._] The Chaldeans are determined to destroy us; and they have bound themselves _by oath_ to do it. See a similar case related Acts 23:12, where a number of Jews had bound themselves by an _oath_ neither to eat nor drink till they... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:9. _I HAVE EATEN ASHES LIKE BREAD_] Fearful of what they might do, we all humbled ourselves before thee, and sought thy protection; well knowing that, unless we were supernaturally assisted, we must all have perished; our enemies having sworn our destruction.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:10. _FOR THOU HAST LIFTED ME UP, AND CAST ME DOWN._] Thou hast lifted me on high, that thou Lightest dash me down with the _greater force_. We were _exalted_ in thy _favour_ beyond any people, and now thou hast made us the _lowest_ and most _abject_ of the children of men.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:11. _MY DAYS_ ARE _LIKE A SHADOW THAT DECLINETH_] Or rather, _My days decline like the shadow_. I have passed my _meridian_, and the sun of my prosperity is about to set for ever. There may be here an allusion to the declination of the sun towards the south, which, by shortening the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:12. _BUT THOU, O LORD, SHALT ENDURE FOR EVER_] Our life is a shadow; we can scarcely be called _beings_ when compared with thee, for thou art _eternal_. Have mercy upon us, _creatures of a day_, and thy kindness shall be a _memorial_ in all our _generations_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:13. _THOU SHALT ARISE_, AND _HAVE MERCY UPON ZION_] While he is humbled at the footstool of mercy, and earnestly praying for mercy, an answer of peace is given; he is assured, not only that they _shall be delivered_, but that the time of deliverance is _at_ _hand_. The _set time_-th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:14. _THY SERVANTS TAKE PLEASURE IN HER STONES_] Though Jerusalem was at this time in a heap of ruins, yet even her rubbish was sacred in the eyes of the pious; for this had been _the_ _city of the great King_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:15. _SO THE HEATHEN SHALL FEAR THE NAME OF THE LORD_] It is granted that after the edict of Cyrus to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, which was about _four hundred and ninety_ years before Christ, the name of the true God was more generally known among the heathen; and the translatin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:16. _WHEN THE LORD SHALL BUILD UP ZION_] It is such a difficult thing, so wholly improbable, so far out of the reach of human power, that when God does it, he must manifest his power and glory in a most extraordinary manner.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:17. _THE PRAYER OF THE DESTITUTE_] הערער _haarar_ of him who is laid in utter ruin, who is entirely wasted.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:18. _THE PEOPLE WHICH SHALL BE CREATED_] "The Gentiles, who shall be brought to the knowledge of salvation by Christ," as the _Syriac_ states in its inscription to this Psalm: how often the conversion of the soul to God is represented as a _new creation_, no reader of the New Testa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:19. _FOR HE HATH LOOKED DOWN_] This, with the three following verses, seems to me to contain a glorious prophecy of the incarnation of Christ, and the gathering in of the Jews and the Gentiles to him. _The Lord looks down from heaven_, and sees the whole earth groaning and travailin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:20. _TO HEAR THE GROANING_] By sin, all the inhabitants of the earth are _miserable_. They have broken the Divine laws, are under the arrest of judgment, and all cast into _prison_. They have been tried, _found guilty_, and _appointed to die_; they _groan_ under their chains, are al... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:21. _TO DECLARE THE NAME OF THE LORD_] To publish that Messenger of the Covenant in whom the name of the Lord is, that Messiah in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt; and to commence at _Jerusalem_, that the first offers of mercy might be made to the Jews, from whom the word of re... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:22. _WHEN THE PEOPLE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER_] When all the _Gentiles_ are enlightened, and the kings of the earth brought to pay homage to the King of kings.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:23. _HE WEAKENED MY STRENGTH IN THE WAY_] We are brought so low in our captivity by oppression, by every species of hard usage, and by death, that there is now no hope of our restoration by any efforts of our own.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:24. _I SAID, O MY GOD_] This and the following verses seem to be the _form of prayer_ which the captives used previously to their deliverance. _THY YEARS_ ARE _THROUGHOUT ALL GENERATIONS._] This was a frequent argument used to induce God to hear prayer. We are _frail_ and _perishin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:25. _OF OLD HAST THOU LAID THE FOUNDATION_] None taught of God ever imagined the world to have been _eternal_. _Of old_, לפנים lephanim, before there were any _faces_ or _appearances_, thou didst lay the foundations of the earth. It was created by thee; it did not grow by _accretion... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:26. _THEY SHALL PERISH_] Nothing can be eternal _a parte_ _ante_, or _a parte post_, but thyself. Even that which thou hast created, because not necessarily _eternal_, must be perishable; necessary _duration_ belongs to God only; and it is by his will and energy alone that universal... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:27. _BUT THOU_ ART _THE SAME_] ואתה הוא _veattah HU, but_ _thou art HE_, that is, _The ETERNAL_; and, consequently, he who only has _immortality_. _THY YEARS SHALL HAVE NO END._] לא יתמו _lo yittammu_, "they shall not be completed." Every thing has its revolution-its conception, g... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 102:28. _THE CHILDREN OF THY SERVANTS SHALL CONTINUE_] Thy _Church_ shall be permanent, because founded _on thee_; it shall live throughout all the revolutions of time. And as thy followers are made _partakers of the Divine nature_, they shall live in _union_ _with God_ in the other wor... [ Continue Reading ]