Psalms 25:1

_UNTO THEE, O LORD, DO I LIFT UP MY SOUL._ Psalms 25:1.-Prayer for deliverance from enemies, grounded on God's faithfulness to His trusting people (Psalms 25:1); appeal to God to remember not sins, but His own mercies (Psalms 25:6); the spirit required in those to whom God grants guidance and mercy-namely, meekness and observance of His covenant (Psalms 25:8); as David has not kept it, he cries to Yahweh for His own name's sake to forgive his great iniquity (Psalms 25:11); Yahweh blesses those who fear Him, and reveals to them His covenant ...

1._Unto thee, O Jehovah! etc _The Psalmist declares at the very outset, that he is not driven hither and thither, after the manner of the ungodly, but that he directs all his desires and prayers to God alone. Nothing is more inconsistent with true and sincere prayer to God, than to waver and gaze about as the heathen do, for some help from the world; and at the same time to forsake God, or not to betake ourselves directly to his guardianship and protection. Those who imagine that David here declares that he had devoted himself entirely to God, as if he had offered up himself in sacrifice, do not properly understand the import of the passage. The meaning rather is, that in order to strengthen the hope of obtaining his request, he declares, what is of the greatest importance in prayer, that he had his hope fixed in God, and that he was not ensnared by the allurements of the world, or preve...

1-7 In worshipping God, we must lift up our souls to him. It is certain that none who, by a believing attendance, wait on God, and, by a believing hope, wait for him, shall be ashamed of it. The most advanced believer both needs and desires to be taught of God. If we sincerely desire to know our duty, with resolution to do it, we may be sure that God will direct us in it. The psalmist is earnest for the pardon of his sins. When God pardons sin, he is said to remember it no more, which denotes full remission. It is God's goodness, and not ours, his mercy, and not our merit, that must be our plea for the pardon of sin, and all the good we need. This plea we must rely upon, feeling our own unworthiness, and satisfied of the riches of God's mercy and grace. How boundless is that mercy which covers for ever the sins and follies of a youth spent without God and without hope! Blessed be the Lor...

PSALM XXV _The psalmist, in great distress, calls upon God frequently_, 1-5; _prays for pardon with the strong confidence of being heard_, 6-11; _shows the blessedness of the righteous_, 12-14; _again earnestly implores the Divine mercy; and prays for the_ _restoration of Israel_, 15-22. NOTES ON PSALM XXV This Psalm seems to refer to the case of the captives in Babylon, who complain of oppression from their enemies, and earnestly beg the help and mercy of God. It is the first of those called acrostic Psalms, i.e., Psalms each line of which begins with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet in the

UNTO THEE, O LORD, DO I LIFT UP MY SOUL - In meditation; in gratitude; in praise. The idea is, that the thoughts are lifted up from earth and earthly subjects to God. This is the beginning of the meditation; this gives character, perhaps, to the psalm. The state of mind is that of one who turns cheerfully away from earthly themes, and opens his mind to more lofty and hallowed influences. The mind begins with God; and, beginning with this, the current of thought is allowed to flow on, gathering up such ideas as would come in under this general purpose. Opening the mind to this influence, thoughts would flow in upon the soul embracing a wide range, and perhaps not very closely connected among themselves, but all of which would be fitted to raise the heart to God in meditation, thankfulness, and praise....

EXPOSITION THIS is the second of the "alphabetic psalms." It is not so irregular as Psalms 9:1; but still is defective in some respects, the letters _beth _and _vav _being omitted in their proper place, _resh _being substituted for _koph_, and a second _he _being addled at the end. Some of these variations may be accidental, but others would seem to have been intentional, being found also in Psalms 34:1. The psalm consists of a number of prayers, reflections, and pious ejaculations, not drawn up in any systematic order, and not very clearly connected by any single line of thought. The separate portions have, however, in many cases much beauty; and it is observed that "some of the most precious spiritual treasures of the Church have been drawn

UNTO THEE, O LORD, DO I LIFT UP MY SOUL. Either "in prayer", as the Chaldee paraphrase adds s; and denotes sincere, affectionate, hearty prayer to God, a drawing nigh to him with a true heart: for unless the heart is lifted up, the lifting up of the eyes or hands in prayer is of no avail; see Lamentations 3:41; or by way of offering to the Lord, as some Jewish writers t interpret it; David not only presented his body in public worship, but his soul also as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which was his reasonable service; or else as a "depositum", which he committed into the hands of God, to be under his care and protection; and then the sense is the same with Psalms 31:5 u; the phrase is sometimes used to express earnest and vehement desire after anything;...

Psalms 25:1. _Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul._ It is down; and I would fain lift it up; yet I am powerless to do so if I am left to myself. When the soul cleaves to the earth, who but God can lift it up? Yet it must be our desire and object to seek to lift up our soul unto God. Psalms 25:2. _O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me._ Whatever happens to me, I trust in thee. Down goes the anchor; that ship will never drift far out to sea. «O my God, I trust in thee.» Can you say that, dear friends? Then, if you are in the dark, you are as safe as if you were in the light, for still this anchor holds: «O my God, I trust in thee.» «Let not mine enemies triumph over me.» They will do so, if they can get me back into the w

PSALM 25-39 The fifteen Psalms which follow give the deep soul exercise of the godly. All fifteen, except the thirty-third, are marked as Psalms of David. Much of it expresses undoubtedly his own individual experience during the days of his suffering and at other occasions. Prophetically these Psalms give again the experience of the godly remnant of Israel in the time of trouble, preceding the coming of the King. We also can trace in these experiences much which concerns our Lord in His earthly life, when as the Holy One He lived that perfect life of obedience and trust, suffering too among the ungodly. But great caution is needed in the application of these Psalms to our Lord. Here we find expressions which could never be true of Him, who knew no sin. For instance some have applied Psalms 38:7: “for my loins are filled with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my flesh” to t...

XXV. An acrostic poem composed of religious maxims and prayers which have little or no connexion with each other. The text is imperfect, for in Psalms 25:18 f. the letter Q is omitted and R is repeated twice. PSALMS 25:9. In post-exilic times the pious Jews were usually poor. Hence the favourite virtue of the good Jews was submission to God, gentleness, resignation; such are the persons here called meek. See Psalms 62 for the estimate of riches in later times. Psalms 25:11. for it is great: and so too hard for me. Psalms 25:14. The secret of Yahweh is His purpose of exalting the meek....