these figures, and accomplished the great redemption, thus foreshadowed of old. The Israel of God hath been rescued from the oppression of Satan, and brought out of the house of spiritual bondage. In the waters of baptism the old man of sin is buried, and we arise triumphant, to sing the praises of God our Saviour, who from thenceforth supports and conducts us in our passage through the world, strengthening us in the day of battle against every enemy that opposeth us, until we enter the heavenly Canaan, promised to the fathers of our faith, and dwell for ever in the possession of peace! When we consider how God has thus "remembered us in our low estate," and thus "redeemed us from our enemies," can we be weary of repeating, "For his mercy endureth for ever?"" 25. Who giveth food to all flesh for his mercy endureth for ever. 26. O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever. The same bounty, which in the natural world provideth proper nutriment for every creature, hath also provided for the spirits of all flesh the bread of eternal life. In either sense, Jehovah "openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness." Be, therefore, his praise as universal and lasting as his mercy! PSALM CXXXVII. ARGUMENT. The Israelites, captives in Babylon, 1, 2, describe their woful estate; and, 3, 4, the insults of their masters. 5, 6, They declare their inviolable affection for Jerusalem, 7, pray that God would remember the behaviour of Edom; and, 8, 9, predict the destruction of Babylon. The Psalm admits of a beautiful and useful application to the state of Christians in this world, and their expected deliverance out of it. 1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. What an inexpressible pathos is there in these few words! How do they at once transport us to Babylon, and place before our eyes the mournful situation of the Israelitish captives! Driven from their native country, stripped of every comfort and convenience, in a strange land, among idolaters, wearied and broken-hearted, they sit in silence by those hostile waters. Then the pleasant banks of Jordan present themselves to their imaginations; the towers of Salem rise to view; and the sad remembrance of much-loved Zion causes tears to run down their cheeks: "By the waters of Babylon we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion!" Besides the use which may be made of this Psalm by any Church, when, literally, in a state of captivity, there is a sense in which it may be used by us all. For Zion is, in Scripture, the standing type of heaven, as Babylon is the grand figure of the world, the seat of confusion, the oppressor and persecutor of the people of God. In these, or the like terms, we may, therefore, suppose a sinner to bemoan himself upon the earth-O Lord, I am an Israelite, exiled by my sins from thy holy city, and left to mourn in this Babylon, the land of my captivity. Here I dwell in sorrow, by these transient waters, musing on the restless and unstable nature of earthly pleasures, which pass swiftly by me, and are soon gone for ever. Yet for these, alas! I have exchanged the permanent joys of Zion, and parted with the felicity of thy chosen. Wherefore my heart is pained within me, and the remembrance of my folly will not let me rest night or day. O Zion, thou holy and beautiful city, the temple of the Lamb, the habitation of the blessed, the seat of delight, the land of the living, when shall I behold thee? When shall I enter thy gates with thanksgiving, and thy courts with praise? The hope of a return to thee is my only comfort in this vale of tears, where I am and will be a mourner, till my captivity be brought back, and my sorrow be turned into joy. 2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. The additional circumstance, which the Divine painter hath here thrown into his piece, is, to the last degree, just and striking. It was not enough to represent the Hebrew captives weeping, on the banks of the Euphrates, at the remembrance of Zion, but, upon looking up, we behold their harps unstrung, and pendent on the willows that grew there. The sincere penitent, like them, hath bidden adieu to mirth; his soul refuseth to be comforted with the comforts of Babylon; nor can he sing any more, till pardon and restoration shall have enabled him to sing, in the temple, a song of praise and thanksgiving. 3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4. How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land1? The Babylonians are introduced as insulting over the Israelites, and scoffing at their faith and worship, not without a tacit reflection on their God, who could not protect his favoured people against their enemies. "Now sing us one of your songs of Zion; now let us hear you sound the 1 Many singers were carried captives: Ezra ii. 41. These would of course take their instruments with them, and be insulted, as here. Their songs were sacred, and unfit to be sung before idolaters. But the words, "How shall we sing," &c. are not an answer given to them, but the free utterance afterwards of the feelings of the Jews among themselves. - ANONYMOUS NOTES IN MERRICK'S ANNOTATIONS. praises of that God, of whom ye boasted, that He dwelt among you in the temple which we have laid waste, and burnt with fire.' Thus the faithful have been, and thus they will be, insulted by infidels in the day of their calamity. And "how," indeed, "can they sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" How can they tune their voices to festive and eucharistic strains, when God, by punishing them for their sins, calleth to mourning and weeping? But then, Israel in Babylon foresaw a day of redemption; and so doth the Church in the world; a day when she shall triumph, and her enemies shall lick the dust. No circumstances, therefore, should make us forget her, and the promises concerning her. 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 6. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. The whole nation may be supposed in these words to declare, as one man, that neither the afflictions nor the allurements of Babylon should efface from their minds the remembrance of Jerusalem, or prevent their looking forward to her future glorious restoration. If any temptation should induce them to employ their tongues and their hands in the service of Babel rather than in that of Zion, they wish to lose the use of the former and the skill of the latter. The thoughts and affections of true penitents, both in prosperity and adversity, are fixed upon their heavenly country and city; they had rather be deprived of their powers and faculties, than of the will to use them aright; and the hope of glory, hereafter to be revealed in the Church, is the flower and crown of their joy. 7. Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundations thereof. The people of God beseech Him to take their cause in hand, and to avenge them on their adversaries, particularly on the Edomites, who though their brethren according to the flesh, being descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob, yet in the day of Jerusalem's affliction, when the Chaldeans came against it, were aiding and encouraging those pagans to destroy it utterly. Edom is charged with this unnatural behaviour, and threatened for it, by God Himself, in the prophecy of Obadiah, ver. 10, &c. "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger: neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction -for the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee, thy reward shall return upon thine own head -but upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions." It may be observed that the Jews afterwards acted the same part towards the Christian Church, which the Edomites had acted toward them, encouraging and stirring up the Gentiles to persecute and destroy it from off the face of the earth. And God " remembered" them for the Christians' sakes, as they prayed Him to "remember Edom" for their sakes. |