22 June

Bible In 365 Days                              

Psalms 46-50

Psalm 46

Comment on this great song of confidence seems almost unnecessary so powerfully has it taken hold on the heart of humanity, and so perfectly does it set forth the experience of trusting souls in all ages and in tumultuous times.

The system of the song is worth noting. It is divided into three parts. The first (Psalms 46: 1-3) is the challenge of confidence. The second (Psalms 46: 4-7) tells the secret of confidence. The third (Psalms 46: 8-11) declares the vindication of confidence.

The challenge announces confidence in God as refuge and strength and very present help, and defies fear even in the midst of the wildest upheavals. In days when tempests shake loose all solid things and the restless waters roar and surge till mountains shake, the soul is confident. The secret of the confidence is the consciousness of the nearness of God. He is a river of gladness in the midst of the city. What matters the tumult around? The vindication of confidence is found in observing God's activity in all surrounding things from this place of safety and strength within the city. The twice repeated refrain (Psalms 46: 7-11) is full of beauty as it reveals the twofold conception of God, which is the deepest note in the music. He is the King of all hosts. He is the God of the individual. Scholars believe, and with every reason, that the refrain should also occur between verses 3 and 4. This certainly perfects the literary form and adds to the beauty of the psalm.

Psalm 47

This is a song of the sovereignty of God. In the Hebrew ceremonial it was pre-eminently the song of the New Year, being repeated seven times ere the sounding of the trumpets which announce the feast.

It opens with an appeal to the peoples to unite in His adoration as the one supreme Ruler. The singer has a true sense of the real mission of the chosen as the appointed rulers of the peoples. Their song is called for, and therefore it is plain that their subjugation is looked on as beneficent to them as well as to Israel. The appeal is renewed to praise the uplifted and enthroned King. A prophetic vision of the ultimate recognition of the Throne of God concludes the psalm.

It has a wide outlook. Not the one nation only, but all the princes are seen submissive to His rule and so become the people of the God of Abraham. This is the true note of rejoicing. Not merely is the safety of the one city the cause of gladness, but the gathering together under the one all-beneficent reign of God of all the peoples. This is rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, far more spacious and perfect than any satisfaction in personal deliverance or safety. If our joy is to be all it ought to be, we must have this largest outlook on the purposes of God.

Psalm 48

In Psalms 46: 1-11the dominant note was of confidence, because of the government of God in the midst of His people. This is a song describing the experience resulting from such government. It is the anthem of a city's deliverance from an alliance of hostile kings. The beauty and glory of the city remain, notwithstanding the foes attack. The intervention of God was of such a nature that the attack failed ere it positively began.

The kings assembled themselves, They passed by together.

They were seized with weakness and fear, and fled. So God had delivered, and the deliverance is a reason for new confidence that the city will be established forever. The singer urges the inhabitants to examine well the city, that the wonder of its preservation may fill the heart with praise, and be the foundation for faith in all the years to come.

We may seem to have lost something in the reading of this psalm, because we cannot place it historically with any certainty. Yet it is so due to a constantly recurring experience of the saints that it is in constant use. Threatening perils massed against us suddenly waver and pass away, smitten by unseen hands, and deliverance comes when we had seen nothing but destruction. Verily great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised as the God of deliverance.

Psalm 49

This is the song of a principle, and the psalmist commences by calling peoples of all castes and classes to give attention. It denies the power of material wealth, and a5rms that of uprightness. There are two things which wealth cannot do. It can neither help a man to escape death, nor can it ensure the life of the one possessing it. The passion of the heart for immortality is manifest in the building of houses and the naming of the land. It is all useless. Man is no more able to secure personal immortality thus than are the beasts which perish. Yet there is a mastery over Sheol and death. It is found in uprightness. The declaration, "The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning," is very difficult to explain if it does not contain the light of hope beyond the grave. The morning is certainly something beyond Sheol and death, and the hope of the upright is in God's deliverance from Sheol. The teaching of the song is simple, and sublime, present, and perpetual.

Psalm 50

The singer addresses himself in the name of God to the whole earth, that it may hear and learn an important lesson. The call is made in the first verse. The final appeal is in Psalms 50: 22-23.

The lesson is that forgetfulness of God issues in gravest peril, while the remembrance which worships ensures the blessing of salvation. Between the call to attention and the final appeal the psalmist sings of the relation between God and His own (Psalms 50: 2-15), and then of the attitude of God to the wicked. As for the former, they are to be the medium of His praise. God shone forth out of Zion. To do this the saints are to be gathered to Him, that, through them He may be manifested in power and righteousness. Their gathering is not because of any sacrifice they can bring of things already belonging to God, but wholly on the basis of praise and trust. The wicked can have no part in such manifestation of God, and therein lie their chief sin and failure.

This is a thought of most searching power. Our most heinous sin is not the act of wrong done, but the fact that such wrong incapacitates us from fulfilling our highest function of glorifying God, and showing forth His praise.