the Master of Musick to be sung as the VIII Psalm upon Gittith in the beginning of it upon the Feast of Trumpets And he introduces God Himself before whom they were summoned as I said by these Trumpets to appear instructing them in the end of this Solemnity and complaining of their forgetfulness of his benefits in giving them so great a deliverance out of the Egyptian slavery and of their hard heartedness in preferring their own Inventions and the miseries they brought thereby upon themselves before his Counsels and the happiness He intended for them Which happiness is expressed in the last Verse by satisfying them with honey out of the rock concerning which the learned may consult Bochartus de Sacris Animal Part. II. L. IV. c. 12. 1. SIng aloud unto God our strength make a joyfull noise unto the God of Jacob 1. SIng praises aloud unto God to whose mighty power alone we owe the Deliverance which we now Commemorate shout with the voice of triumph in honour of Him who was so good unto your Forefathers 2. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel the pleasant harp with the psaltery 2. Offer to Him your chearfull Hymns and to compleat the melody and express the greatness of your joy let some with Timbrils others with the pleasant Harp and others with the Psaltery celebrate the memory of his mercies 3. Blow up the trumpet in the new-moon in the time appointed on our solemn feast-day 3. And let the Priests especially X. Numb 8. take care to blow with the Trumpets at this sacred Solemnity on the first day of the seventh month the principal New Moon in the year that all the people may call to mind the Trump of God XIX Exod. 16 19. which our Fathers heard at his dreadfull appearance on Mount Sinai to give his Law unto them 4. For this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob. 4. For thus hath the Lord decreed in that Law where the God of our Father Jacob requires this service of us XXIII Lev. 24 c. 5. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I understood not 5. This He appointed unto the Children of Joseph as well as the rest of the Tribes of Israel for a perpetual memorial of his benefits when He going out over all the Land of Egypt XI Exod. 4. XII 23 29. and destroying all their First-born forced them to let us depart into the Wilderness where we heard to our great astonishment for we were never before acquainted with it the voice of God 6. I removed his shoulder from the burthen his hands were delivered from the pots 6. Who considering with Himself what a title He had to our service having taken off the heavy burthens which the Egyptians laid upon our backs and rid our hands of those sordid and dirty Imployments wherein they made us labour 7. Thou calledst in trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the secret place of thunder I proved thee at the waters of Meribah Selah 7. Admonished us to this effect saying You cryed to me by reason of your cruel servitude under Pharaoh's Task-masters II. Exodus 23. and I delivered you out of it III. 8. and again answered your prayers when you cried unto me in a new distress at the red Sea XIV Exod. 10 13. but confounded the Egyptians with Thunder and Lightning out of the cloudy Pillar XIV Exo. 24 25. LXXVII Psalm 18. After all which I might well expect you should depend upon me but presently found you full of distrust and infidelity at the waters of strife XVII Exod. 7. where I gave you a new proof of my power 8. Hear O my people and I will testifie unto thee O Israel if thou wilt hearken unto me 8. Of which if you will still enjoy the benefit then give ear O my people and I will solemnly declare my will and give a severe charge unto you O ye Israelites if you resolve to be obedient to my admonitions 9. There shall no strange god be in thee neither shalt thou worship any strange god 9. Then this is the principal thing upon which all the rest depends you shall not suffer any other Gods to be acknowledged among you but onely me XX. Exod. 3. 23. nor shall you worship the Gods of other Nations XXIII Exod. 13 24 32. 10. I am the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt open thy mouth wide and I will fill it 10. For I and I alone am the living Lord the eternal God who gave a Being to all things and who am your peculiar Benefactour having brought you out of the Egyptian Bondage XIX Exod. 4. XX. 2. And if you will be faithfull and obedient to me inlarge your desires as far as you please and I will satisfie them for all the world is mine XIX Exod. 5. XXIII 25. 11. But my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me 11. But notwithstanding their seeming compliance with Him and the fair promises they made Him XIX Exod. 8. XX. 19. XXIV 3 7. He presently complained XXXII Exod. 7 8 9. as I hear Him still do at this day my people would not be obedient to me and Israel would not rest contented with me a-alone 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust and they walked in their own counsels 12. So provoked by their long stubborness I took no further care of them but left them to do as they pleased saying let them follow their own inventions 13. O that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my ways 13. But it had been better for them to have adhered to me who out of my tender affection to their good still wished even when they were so refractory that my people Israel had been so wise as to have followed my directions and been led by my advice and not their own foolish imaginations 14. I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries 14. Then I should in a short time have quelled all their enemies and by one Victory after another have quite destroyed those adversaries which since I brought them into Canaan have often miserably afflicted and oppressed them II. Judg. 2 3 14 15 19 20. III. 1 c. IV. 2. 15. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever 15. All that maligned their prosperity and set themselves against the design of the Lord to make them victorious over their enemies should have been so daunted that they should have dissembled their inward hatred and been forced at least to a counterfeit submission but his people should have seen blessed days and injoyed a substantial and durable happiness without any interruption 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of
doest wonders thou hast declared thy strength among the people 14. For Thou art the mighty God who canst doe miracles as easily as the most ordinary works and hast made all the world sensible that thy power exceeds both the strength and the opinion of all Creatures 15. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the sons of Jacob and Joseph Selah 15. Having delivered thy people descended from Jacob and miraculously preserved by Joseph from the Egyptian bondage by a long series of stupendious judgments upon Pharaoh and his Servants VI. Exod. 6. VI. Deut. 21 22. VII 8. 16. The waters saw thee O God the waters saw thee they were afraid the depths also were troubled 16. Which were followed presently with a greater wonder when the waters of the Red Sea felt thy Power O God They felt thy power to the very bottom of them which so disturbed them that they retreated as if they had been affrighted at thy presence and left a plain way for thy people to march through upon dry ground 17. The clouds poured out water the skies sent out a sound thine arrows also went abroad 17. But returned again upon the Egyptians who pursued after us accompanied with a terrible storm of rain and thunder and hailstones which flew about their ears and brake the very Wheels of their Chariots XIV Exod. 24 25. 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven the lightnings lightned the world the earth trembled and shook 18. The noise of this thunder filled all the air thereabout and so did the lightning that flashed in their faces which together with a dreadfull Earthquake made the very inhabitants of Canaan tremble II. Josh 10 11. 19. Thy way is in the sea and thy path in the great waters and thy foot-steps are not known 19. We might well say then that thy way is quite out of our reach Ver. 13. who madest a passage through the Sea a broad path through the boisterous waters which as none ever trod before or after so they cannot trace the footsteps which the waters have overflown and obliterated XIV Exod. 26 27. 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron 20. Nor did thy care over thy people end there but by the ministry of thy servants Moses and Aaron Thou didst conduct them with the same tenderness that a good Shepherd doth his Sheep through a horrid Wilderness in which Thou feddest them till they came to Canaan And thither the same Power can and the same Goodness will I hope restore us though now we seem neglected by Thee as our Fathers were for a time in the Land of Egypt PSALM LXXVIII Maschil of Asaph ARGUMENT When God gave his Law to the Israelites He commanded them not onely to be carefull to study it themselves but to inculcate it upon their Children as the Psalmist here remembers Ver. 5. that they might propagate the knowledge of it to all future generations IV. Deut. 9. VI. 7 8 c XI 18 19 c And particularly to instruct them in the reason of their Feasts which were appointed for the commemoration of several benefits which he would not have forgotten XIII Exod. 8 14. In prosecution of which end as Theodoret well observes this Psalm was indited by the Prophetical grace as his words are that they and all their posterity might preserve in mind the wonderfull works of God An Epitome of which for the help of their memory He here presents them withall from the time of their coming out of Egypt till David's promotion to the Throne Where this Narration concluding it makes it probable this Psalm was composed by that Asaph so often mentioned as one of the principal Singers in those days who setting before the peoples eyes as in a Table the benefits their Fathers had received with their shamefull ingratitude and the punishments inflicted upon them for it teaches and instructs them who succeeded for which reason some will have it called Maschil see Psal XXXII to learn greater gratitude and fidelity to their Benefactour for fear they should incur his higher displeasure if they did not beware by such sad Examples 1. GIve ear O my people to my law incline your ears to the words of my mouth 1. ATtend reverently O my Country-men for whom I have a particular affection unto the Admonition which now I intend to give you listen diligently I beseech you to the following instruction 2. I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old 2. It is no vulgar lesson which I would have you learn nor will I be sparing in my instruction but I will abundantly inform you in the most remarkable passages of God's Providence in former times which are more worthy your knowledge then the skill of resolving the darkest Riddles 3. Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us 3. And I will not report uncertain or doubtfull things to you or things done in another Nation But such as are of unquestionable credit which you have heard and know to be recorded in your holy Books and our Forefathers who were eye-witnesses of them have faithfully registred and transmitted unto us 4. We will not hide them from their children shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD and his strength and his wonderfull works that he hath done 4. Who will not be so treacherous as to lose the memory of them in our days but diligently propagate them to posterity endeavouring that all future generations may understand how much the Lord deserves to be praised for the mighty and stupendious works which He hath done in former Ages 5. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children 5. And indeed when God gave us the Law He strictly charged our Forefathers and made a particular injunction about it which He frequently repeated Deut. IV. VI. XI see the Argument that they should be carefull to leave the knowledge of these things as a sacred legacy or inheritance unto their Children 6. That the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children 6. In order to the conveying them by their hands to the next generation who were then unborn who should be taught also when they were grown up to deliver them with the same diligence to their descendants and so preserve the memory of them to all succeeding generations 7. That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments 7. To the end that they might learn by such wonderfull instances of his powerfull goodness to adhere unto Him and confide in Him alone and by the constant commemoration of his benefits be provoked religiously to observe his Precepts 8. And might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation a generation
strength and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted 17. For they owe not their conquests to their own valour or forces though never so great but it is Thou who givest illustrious Victories to the smallest Armies And therefore by thy favour we hope that our Empire which is now broken shall be raised again to its former splendour 18. For the LORD is our defence and the holy One of Israel is our King 18. For the Lord is still our Protectour though our Prince be taken and made unable to defend us He whom Israel adores and acknowledges infinitely to transcend all other Beings is our King and Governour 19. Then thou spakest in vision to the holy One and saidest I have laid help upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen out of the people 19. Who then didst reveal thy mind in a Vision to the holy Prophet Samuel 1 Sam. XVI 1. when the Philistines defied Israel and grew terrible to them XVII 10 11 24. saying I have provided myself a valiant Champion 1 Sam. XVI 18. to be your deliverer 2 Sam. III. 18. I have designed a person of singular worth from among the common people 1 Sam. XVI 11. to be promoted to the Kingdom 20. I have found David my servant with my holy oil have I anointed him 20. I have observed David 1 Sam. XVI 1. and find him a man that will faithfully serve me Go and anoint him with the holy Oil for I intend him for the Governour of my people 21. With whom my hand shall be established mine arm also shall strengthen him 21. With whom I will always be powerfully present for his assistance 1 Sam. XVII 45 c. and never desert him as I did Saul XVIII 12 24 28. But my mighty power shall extraordinarily strengthen him in all his enterprises 1 Sam. XXX 6. 2 Sam. VIII 6 14. 22. The enemy shall not exact upon him nor the son of wickedness afflict him 22. The subtilest of his enemies shall not be able to circumvent him nor the most malicious how powerfull soever oppress him 23. And I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him 23. But after all their vain attempts I will not onely protect him from their crafty violence but subdue all his adversaries under him and destroy those that hate him 2 Sam. VII 9. 24. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him and in my name shall his born be exalted 24. He shall ever find me not onely faithfull in my promise to him but kind above his expectation and by my powerfull assistance and his confidence in it his authority shall be highly exalted 1 Chron. XIV 17. 2 Sam. VII 9. VIII 13. 25. I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers 25. On one hand he shall conquer the Philistines and those that live upon the coast of the Sea 2 Sam. VIII 1. and on the other hand the Syrians as far as Tigris and Euphrates 2 Sam. VIII 9 c. X. 16 19. 26. He shall cry unto me Thou art my father my God and the rock of my salvation 26. For he shall intirely depend on me in all his distresses and fly to me for succour as a Child to his Parent saying with more then usual love and confidence Thou art my Father as well as my omnipotent God from whom alone I expect protection and deliverance 27. Also I will make him my first-born higher then the kings of the earth 27. Which I will never fail to afford him till I raise him to the prime dignity among all those whom I call my Sons and set him so high above all other Kings in the world that he shall be a most eminent Type of my Son Christ the King of kings and the Lord of lords 28. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my covenant shall stand fast with him 28. Nothing shall alter these kind intentions toward him but I will always have a love for him and faithfully perform my Covenant with him 29. His seed also will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the days of heaven 29. Which is that his Family shall never be extinct but notwithstanding the changes which all things are subject unto here below have the royal power continued in it as long as the heavens endure 2 Sam. VII 16 28 29. I. Luke 32 33. 30. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments 30. If his Successours indeed shall depart from the Law which I have given you by my Servant Moses and not judge my people righteously 31. If they break my statutes and keep not my commandments 31. If they prophanely neglect or corrupt my Religion and observe not the rest of the Rules of life which I have enjoined them 32. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes 32. Then will I execute the threatnings which are in my Law XXVI Levit. upon them and punish their transgressions with sore diseases and their Idolatries with several plagues 2 Sam. VII 14. 33. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail 33. But I will not so chastise them as never more to doe good to his Family 2 Sam. VII 25. but will still have a kindness for it and faithfully keep my promise with it 1 King XI 34 36. XV. 4. 2 King VIII 19 c. 34. My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips 34. I will not violate the Covenant I have made with David 2 Chron. XXI 7. nor retract the promise which I have solemnly passed to his Family 35. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David 35. For I have unalterably sworn by my own incommunicable excellencies that I will as soon cease to be what I am as deceive him 36. His seed shall endure for ever and his throne as the sun before me 36. His Family as I said Verse 29. shall never be quite extinct but always remain in my favour and hold the royal dignity as long as the Sun shineth 37. It shall be established for ever as the moon and as a faithfull witness in heaven Selah 37. The Moon may as well fall from her Orb as his Authority fall to the ground and rise no more Let that be a witness of my fidelity when you look upon it XXXIII Jer. 20 21. and conclude that after all the changes and eclipses his Kingdom may suffer it shall stand as fast as that and all the rest of the heavenly bodies 38. But thou hast cast off and abhorred thou hast been wroth with thine anointed 38. But all these promises alas so sacredly confirmed and oft repeated have not secured it from a dismal subversion For Thou hast rejected with the greatest contempt and indignation our Sovereign one of the posterity of David and
means dost restore my strength and makest my youth and freshness return like the Eagles O that I may with fresh delight and joy be still praising Thee and be lifted up to heaven as they are when they have renewed their plumes in more vigorous love and affectionate desires and indeavours to imploy all my renewed strength in thy faithfull service 6. The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed 6. Nor am I alone obliged to my gracious Lord for his singular favour to me but blessed be his name He relieves all those who suffer wrong and doth justice upon their oppressours who are too mighty for them 7. He made known his ways unto Moses his acts unto the children of Israel 7. Moses and the rest of our Forefathers are witnesses of this whom the Lord delivered in a stupendious manner out of the house of bondage 8. The LORD is mercifull and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy 8. And by other methods of his Providence towards them and dealings with them declared how bountifull his blessed nature is and how ready to forgive forbearing long when men deserve to be punished and soon releasing them from their pain when they heartily repent of their folly 9. He will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever 9. He doth not love blessed be his Name to be always chastising us for our faults And when He doth chastise us He neither loves to prolong our miseries nor to inflict them proportionable to our deserts 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities 10. No Blessed be his holy Name there is mercy even in our punishments our sufferings are never so great as our sins but we might justly suffer a great deal more then we do for our faults 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him 11. And were we never so obedient there is not a greater disproportion between the vast circumference of the heavens and this little spot of earth then there is between his mercies towards us and our small services 12. As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us 12. To those mercies alone it is to be ascribed that we are not bemoaning our selves under innumerable miseries but He hath quite taken away his wrath from us and adored be his goodness perfectly remitted the punishment due to our manifold offences 13. Like as a father pitieth his children so the LORD pitieth them that fear him 13. O what bowels of mercy are these No father can be more indulgent and tender-hearted to his returning children then the Lord blessed be his Name is to those who so reform by his chastisements as to fear hereafter to offend Him 14. For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust 14. He easily relents and takes compassion on them considering how frail he hath made them and how soon of themselves they will moulder into the dust out of which He took them 15. As for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth 15. For what is man that the Almighty should contend with him He looks fresh and fair but alas is as feeble as the grass and as a flower in the field whose beauty is far greater then its strength 16. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more 16. Many accidents snatch him away even in his prime Just as the biting wind to which the field flowers are exposed blasts them on a sudden and they spring up no more in the place that was adorned with them 17. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children 17. O how much doth this magnifie the wonderfull mercy of our God! who designs to be everlastingly kind blessed be his Goodness to such short-liv'd creatures as we are rewarding the faithfull services of a few years with eternal life to our selves and with many blessings to our posterity in future generations 18. To such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to doe them 18. There is no doubt of this which hath been verified in those who have sincerely kept their faith with Him and not onely promised but constantly performed the obedience they owed Him 19. The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all 19. For none can hinder Thee O most mighty Lord from being as kind as Thou pleasest who art the universal Monarch the blessed and onely Potentate to whom not onely the greatest men on earth but the highest powers in heaven are subject 20. Bless the LORD ye his angels that excell in strength that doe his commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word 20. Let the Angels therefore who know his greatness power and gracious Providence better then I bless his holy Name Let those mighty ones whose strength surpasses all the powers on earth and yet never dispute his sacred commands give praise unto Him with all their might and with the same chearfulness wherewith they obey his word 21. Bless ye the LORD all ye his hosts ye ministers of his that doe his pleasure 21. Let the whole company of heaven all the several hosts of those glorious creatures who have been imployed by His Majesty so many ways for our good and understand how much we are beholden to his love speak good of his Name and bless his Mercy both to themselves and unto us 22. Bless the LORD all his works in all places of his dominion bless the LORD O my soul 22. Yea let every creature throughout the wide world proclaim as well as it is able the loving kindness of the Lord let none of them be silent but all with one consent bless his holy Name And thou O my soul be sure thou never forget to make one O fail not to bear thy part in this joyfull quire that daily sing his praise PSALM CIV ARGUMENT The foregoing and the following Psalm being certainly composed by David the Greeks and from them several other ancient interpreters have ascribed this also to the same Authour For which they had this further reason that it begins as Aben Ezra observes just as the foregoing Psalm ends and celebrates the mighty power and goodness of God in the fabrick of the world as the CIII doth his benefits to himself and to the rest of the children of men As for the occasion of it we may look upon it as a probable opinion that when David thought of building a House for the Divine Service and God sent Nathan to forbid him 2 Sam. VII 5. he fell not long after into the contemplation of the Majesty of God who having built this great world as his Temple needed none of his erecting though He