Bible Commentary

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 105:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Psalm 105:1-45 IT is a reasonable conjecture that the Hallelujah at the end of Psalm 104:1-35 , where it is superfluous, properly belongs to this psalm, which would then be assimilated to Psalm 106:1-48 , which is obviously a companion psalm. Both are retrospective and didactic; but Psalm 105:1-45 deals entirely with God’s unfailing faithfulness to Israel, while Psalm 106:1-48 sets forth the sad contrast presented by Israel’s continual faithlessness to God. Each theme is made more impressive by being pursued separately, and then set over against the other. The long series of God’s mercies massed together here confronts the dark uniformity of Israel’s unworthy requital, of them there. Half of the sky is pure blue and radiant sunshine; half is piled with unbroken clouds. Nothing drives home the consciousness of sin so surely as contemplation of God’s loving acts. Probably this psalm, like others of similar contents, is of late date. The habit of historical retrospect for religious purposes is likely to belong to times remote from the events recorded. Psalm 105:1-15 are found in 1 Chronicles 16:1-43 as part of the hymn at David’s setting up of the Ark on Zion. But that hymn is unmistakably a compilation from extant psalms, and cannot be taken as decidedly the Davidic authorship of the psalm. Psalm 105:1-6 are a ringing summons to extol and contemplate God’s great deeds for Israel. They are full of exultation, and, in their reiterated short clauses, are like the joyful cries of a herald bringing good tidings to Zion. There is a beautiful progress of thought in these verses. They begin with the call to thank and praise Jehovah and to proclaim His doings among the people. That recognition of Israel’s office as the world’s evangelist does not require the supposition that the nation was dispersed in captivity, but simply shows that the singer understood the reason for the long series of mercies heaped on it. It is significant that God’s "deeds" are Israel’s message to the world. By such deeds His "name" is spoken. What God has done is the best revelation of what God is. His messengers are not to speak their own thoughts about Him, but to tell the story of His acts and let these speak for Him. Revelation is not a set of propositions, but a history of Divine facts. The foundation of audible praise and proclamation is contemplation. Therefore the exhortation in Psalm 105:2 b follows, which means not merely "speak," but may be translated, as in margin of the Revised Version, "meditate," and is probably best rendered so as to combine both ideas, "musingly speak." Let not the words be mere words, but feel the great deeds which you proclaim. In like manner, Psalm 105:3 calls upon the heralds to "glory" for themselves in the name of Jehovah, and to make efforts to possess Him more fully and to rejoice in finding Him. Aspiration after clearer and closer knowledge and experience of God should ever underlie glad pealing forth of His name. If it does not, eloquent tongues will fall silent, and Israel’s proclamation will be cold and powerless. To seek Jehovah is to find His strength investing our feebleness. To turn our faces towards His in devout desire is to have our faces made bright by reflected light. And one chief way of seeking Jehovah is the remembrance of His merciful wonders of old, "He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered," { Psalm 111:4 } and His design in them is that men should have solid basis for their hopes, and be thereby encouraged to seek Him, as well as be taught what He is Thus the psalmist reaches his main theme, which is to build a memorial of these deeds for an everlasting possession. The "wonders" referred to in Psalm 105:5 are chiefly those wrought in Egypt, as the subsequent verses show. Psalm 105:6 contains, in the names given to Israel, the reason for their obeying the preceding summonses. Their hereditary relation to God gives them the material, and imposes on them the obligation and the honour of being "secretaries of God’s praise." In Psalm 105:6 a "His servant" may be intended to designate the nation, as it often does in Isaiah 40:1-31 ; Isaiah 41:1-29 ; Isaiah 42:1-25 ; Isaiah 43:1-28 ; Isaiah 44:1-28 ; Isaiah 45:1-25 ; Isaiah 46:1-13 . "His chosen ones" in Psalm 105:6 b would then be an exact parallel; but the recurrence of the expression in Psalm 105:42 , with the individual reference, makes that reference more probable here. The fundamental fact underlying all Israel’s experience of God’s care is His own loving will, which, self-moved, entered into covenant obligations, so that thereafter His mercies are ensured by His veracity, no less than by His kindness. Hence the psalm begins its proper theme by hymning the faithfulness of God to His oath, and painting the insignificance of the beginnings of the nation, as showing that the ground of God’s covenant relation was laid in Himself, not in them. Israel’s consciousness of holding a special relation to God never obscured, in the, minds of psalmists and prophets, the twin truth that all the earth waited on Him, and was the theatre of His manifestations. Baser souls might hug themselves on their prerogative. The nobler spirits ever confessed that it laid on them duties to the world, and that God had not left Himself without witness in any land. These two truths have often been rent asunder, both in Israel and in Christendom, but each needs the other for its full comprehension. "Jehovah is our God" may become the war cry of bitter hostility to them that are without, or of contempt, which is quite as irreligious. "In all the earth are His judgments" may lead to a vague theism, incredulous of special revelation. He who is most truly penetrated with the first will be most joyfully ready to proclaim the second of these sister thoughts, and will neither shut up all God’s mercies within the circle of revelation, nor lose sight of His clearest utterances while looking on His more diffused and less perfect ones. The obligations under which God has come to Israel are represented as a covenant, a word and an oath. In all the general idea of explicit declaration of Divine purpose, which henceforth becomes binding on God by reason of His faithfulness, is contained; but the conception of a covenant implies mutual obligation, failure to discharge which on one side relieves the other contracting party from his promise, while that of a word simply includes the notion of articulate utterance, and that of an oath adds the thought of a solemn sanction and a pledge given. God swears by Himself-that is, His own character is the guarantee of His promise. These various designations are thus heaped together, in order to heighten the thought of the firmness of His promise. It stands "forever," "to a thousand generations"; if is an "everlasting covenant." The psalmist triumphs, as it were, in the manifold repetition of it. Each of the fathers of the nation had it confirmed to himself, -Abraham; Isaac when, ready to flee from the land in famine, he had renewed to him { Genesis 26:3 } the oath which he had first heard as he stood, trembling but unharmed, by the rude altar where the ram lay in his stead; { Genesis 22:16 } Jacob as he lay beneath the stars of Bethel. With Jacob (Israel) the singer passes from the individuals to the nation, as is shown by the alternation of "thee" and "you" in Psalm 105:11 . The lowly condition of the recipients of the promise not only exalts the love which chose them, but the power which preserved them and fulfilled it. And if, as may be the case, the psalm is exilic or post-exilic, its picture of ancient days is like a mirror, reflecting present depression and bidding the downcast be of good cheer. He who made a strong nation out of that little horde of wanderers must have been moved by His own heart, not by anything in them; and what He did long ago He can do today. God’s past is the prophecy of God’s future. Literally rendered, Psalm 105:12 a runs "Whilst they were men of number," i.e., easily numbered. { Genesis 34:30 , where Jacob uses the same phrase} "Very few" in b is literally "like a little," and may either apply to number or to worth. It is used in the latter sense, in reference to "the heart of the wicked," in Proverbs 10:20 , and may have the same meaning here. That little band of wanderers, who went about as sojourners among the kinglets of Canaan and Philistia, with occasional visits to Egypt, seemed very vulnerable; but God was, as He had promised to the first of them at a moment of extreme peril, their "shield," and in their lives there were instances of strange protection afforded them, which curbed kings, as in the case of Abram in Egypt { Genesis 12:1-20 } and Gerar, { Genesis 20:1-18 } and of Isaac in the latter place. { Genesis 26:1-35 } The patriarchs were not, technically speaking, "anointed," but they had that of which anointing was but a symbol. They were Divinely set apart and endowed for their tasks, and, as consecrated to God’s service, their persons were inviolable. In a very profound sense all God’s servants are thus anointed, and are "immortal till their work is done." "Prophets" in the narrower sense of the word the patriarchs were not, but Abraham is called so by God in one of the places already referred to. { Genesis 20:7 } Prior to prophetic utterance is prophetic inspiration: and these men received Divine communications, and were, in a special degree, possessed of the counsels of Heaven. The designation is equivalent to Abraham’s name of the "friend of God." Thus both titles, which guaranteed a charmed, invulnerable life to their bearers, go deep into the permanent privileges of God-trusting souls. All such "have an anointing from the Holy One," and receive whispers from His lips. They are all under the aegis of His protection, and for their sakes kings of many a dynasty and age have been rebuked. In Psalm 105:16-22 the history of Joseph is poetically and summarily treated, as a link in the chain of providences which brought about the fulfilment of the Covenant. Possibly the singer is thinking about a captive Israel in the present, while speaking about a captive Joseph in the past. In God’s dealings humiliation and affliction are often, he thinks, the precursors of glory and triumph. Calamities prepare the way for prosperity. So it was in that old time; and so it is still. In this resume of the history of Joseph, the points signalised are God’s direct agency in the whole-the errand on which Joseph was sent ("before them") as a forerunner to "prepare a place for them," the severity of his sufferings, the trial of his faith by the contrast which his condition presented to what God had promised, and his final exaltation. The description of Joseph’s imprisonment adds some dark touches to the account in Genesis, whether these are due to poetic idealising or to tradition. In Psalm 105:18 b some would translate "Iron came over his soul." So Delitzsch, following the Vulgate (" Ferrum pertransiit animam ejus "), and the picturesque Prayer Book Version, "The iron entered into his soul." But the original is against this, as the word for iron is masculine and the verb is feminine, agreeing with the feminine noun soul. The clause is simply a parallel to the preceding. "His soul" is best taken as mere periphrasis for he, though it may be used emphatically to suggest that "his soul entered, whole and entire, in its resolve to obey God, into the cruel torture" (Kay). The meaning is conveyed by the free rendering above. Psalm 105:19 is also ambiguous, from the uncertainty as to whose word is intended in a. It may be either God’s or Joseph’s. The latter is the more probable, as there appears to be an intentional contrast between "His word," in a, -and "the promise of Jehovah" in b. If this explanation is adopted, a choice is still possible between Joseph’s interpretation of his fellow prisoners’ dreams, the fulfilment of which led to his liberation, and his earlier word recounting his own dreams, which led to his being sold by his brethren. In any case, the thought of the verse is a great and ever true one, that God’s promise, while it remains unfulfilled, and seems contradicted by present facts, serves as a test of the genuineness and firmness of a man’s reliance on Him and it. That promise is by the psalmist almost personified, as putting Joseph to the test. Such testing is the deepest meaning of all afflictions. Fire will burn off a thin plating of silver from a copper coin and reveal the base metal beneath, but it will only brighten into a glow the one which is all silver. There is a ring of triumph in the singer’s voice as he tells of the honour and power heaped on the captive, and of how the king and many nations "sent," as the mightier King in heaven had done ( Psalm 105:20 and Psalm 105:17 ), and not only liberated but exalted him, giving him, whose soul had been bound in fetters, power to "bind princes according to his soul," and to instruct and command the elders of Egypt. Psalm 105:23-27 carry on the story to the next step in the evolution of God’s purposes. The long years of the sojourn in Egypt are summarily dealt with, as they are in the narrative in Genesis and Exodus, and the salient points of its close alone are touched-the numerical growth of the people, the consequent hostility of the Egyptians, and the mission of Moses and Aaron. The direct ascription to God of all the incidents mentioned is to be noted. The psalmist sees only one hand moving, and has no hesitation in tracing to God the turning of the Egyptians’ hearts to hatred. Many commentators, both old and new, try to weaken the expression, by the explanation that the hatred was "indirectly the work of God, inasmuch as He lent increasing might to the people" (Delitzsch). But the psalmist means much more than this, just as Exodus does in attributing the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart to God. Psalm 105:27 , according to the existing text, breaks the series of verses beginning with a singular verb of which God is the subject, which stretch with only one other interruption from Psalm 105:24 to Psalm 105:37 . It seems most probable, therefore, that the LXX is right in reading He instead of They. The change is but the omission of one letter, and the error supposed is a frequent one. The word literally means set or planted, and did is an explanation rather than a rendering. The whole expression is remarkable. Literally, we should translate "He" (or "They") "set among them words" (or "matters") "of His signs"; but this would be unintelligible, and we must have recourse to reproduction of the meaning rather than of the words. If "words of His signs" is not merely pleonastic, it may be rendered as by Kay, "His long record of signs," or as by Cheyne, "His varied signs." But it is better to take the expression as suggesting that the miracles were indeed words, as being declarations of God’s will and commands to let His people go. The phrase in Psalm 105:5 , "the judgments of His mouth," would then be roughly parallel. God’s deeds are words. His signs have tongues. "He speaks and it is done"; but also, "He does and it is spoken." The expression, however, may be like Psalm 65:4 , where the same form of phrase is applied to sins, and where it seems to mean "deeds of iniquity." It would then mean here "His works which were signs." The following enumeration of the "signs" does not follow the order in Exodus, but begins with the ninth plague, perhaps because of its severity, and then in the main adheres to the original sequence, though it inverts the order of the third and fourth plagues (flies and gnats or mosquitoes, not "lice") and omits the fifth and sixth. The reason for this divergence is far from clear, but it may be noted that the first two in the psalmist’s order attack the elements; the next three. (frogs, flies, gnats) have to do with animal life; and the next two (hail and locusts), which embrace both these categories, are considered chiefly as affecting vegetable products. The emphasis is laid in all on God’s direct act. He sends darkness, He turns the waters into blood, and so on. The only other point needing notice in these verses is the statement in Psalm 105:28 b. "They rebelled not against His word," which obviously is true only in reference to Moses and Aaron, who shrank not from their perilous embassage. The tenth plague is briefly told for the psalm is hurrying on to the triumphant climax of the Exodus, when, enriched with silver and gold, the tribes went forth, strong for their desert march, and Egypt rejoiced to see the last of them, "for they said, We be all dead men". { Exodus 12:33 } There may be a veiled hope in this exultant picture of the Exodus, that present oppression will end in like manner. The wilderness sojourn is so treated in Psalm 105:39 sqq. as to bring into sight only the leading instances, sung in many psalms, of God’s protection, without one disturbing reference to the sins and failures which darkened the forty years. These are spread out at length, without flattery or minimising, in the next psalm; but here the theme is God’s wonders. Therefore, the pillar of cloud which guided, covered, and illumined the camp, the miracles which provided food and water, are touched on in Psalm 105:39-41 , and then the psalmist gathers up the lessons which he would teach in three great thoughts. The reason for God’s merciful dealings with His people is His remembrance of His covenant, and of, His servant Abraham, whose faith made a claim on God, for the fulfilment which would vindicate it. That covenant: has been amply fulfilled, for Israel came forth with ringing songs, and took possession of lands which they had not tilled, and houses which they had not built. The purpose of covenant and fulfilment is that the nation, thus admitted into special relations with God, should by His mercies be drawn to keep His commandments, and in obedience find rest and closer fellowship with its God. The psalmist had learned that God gives before He demands or commands, and that "Love," springing from grateful reception of His benefits, "is the fulfilling of the Law." He anticipates the full Christian exhortation, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Make known His deeds among the people. Psalm 105:1 God in Jewish history, an object of worship Homilist. I. GRATITUDE FOR HIS MERCY is demanded. 1. The greatness of His favours. 2. The disinterestedness of His motives. II. THE CELEBRATION OF HIS WORKS is demanded (ver. 2). 1. Publicly. 2. Rapturously. III. DELIGHT IN HIM is demanded (ver. 3). If a noble son rejoices in his father because of the nobility of his character, the greatness of his influence, the superiority of his attainments, natural and acquired, the greatness of his resources, how much more should a true man delight in the Infinite Father, the Fountain of all goodness. IV. PURSUIT OF HIM is demanded (ver. 4). 1. For this we were made. 2. This alone is our happiness. V. THE REMEMBRANCE OF HIM is demanded (ver. 5). There are here two subjects for memory. 1. God's wonderful works for man. 2. God's wonderful utterances to man.God has spoken to humanity many things, many times, in many lands — wonderful thought! These words should be remembered by all men. ( Homilist. ) Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Psalm 105:3 Christian joy Bp. M. Villiers. I. WHO ARE TO REJOICE? Only those who seek the Lord. When are you to seek? Now. Where are you to seek? In His Word, His promises, His ordinances. Remember, the real seeking of God is when you are drawn by the Holy Ghost. II. THE GROUNDS UPON WHICH BELIEVERS WHO THUS SEEK, AND YET HAVE NOT ALTOGETHER FOUND, CHRISTIAN JOY AND REST, MAY UNDOUBTEDLY REJOICE. Not only is there the certainty of success in the event, but that success implies eternal life. III. WHY WE ARE BOUND TO MAKE IT A MATTER OF CONSCIENCE THAT WE SHOULD REJOICE IN THE LORD. 1. The honour of God Himself is concerned in it. 2. The extension of the Redeemer's Kingdom requires it. 3. Your own personal usefulness, strength, and power to resist evil, is concerned ( Nehemiah 8:10 ). IV. BUT THERE ARE HINDRANCES TO THIS JOY. 1. The great hindrance is, unbelief in the real provisions made in the Gospel of Christ. What is the first idea which crosses the mind of the sinner when he is told that he will have perfect joy? The first idea that arises in his heart is, the news is too good to be true. What is that? It leads to nothing more nor less than that there is unbelief in the promises of the Father. Too good to be true! What does St. John think of this? He who believes this makes God a liar! Too good to be true! It was the very news He was sent to proclaim; it was the good tidings of salvation, and nothing short of salvation, Christ published. Beware, then, of unbelief, for it is a hindrance to all joy. 2. Again, you cannot have joy and indulge in your own sins. Joy in the Lord and joy in the devil cannot go on together. If you love your sin, you hate God. ( Bp. M. Villiers. ) Seek the Lord and His strength: seek His face evermore. Psalm 105:4-6 Public recognition of God W. Needham, B. D. I. After glorious success abroad, and in the most desirable affluence and security at home, it is the duty both of prince and people to have then a particular regard to the public worship of God established amongst them, and to attend it with a religious and devout disposition of soul. This the Holy Spirit demands from us by the pen of David, requiring us to exhort and encourage one another in our public assemblies for the worship of God; to "Seek the Lord and His strength." II. A solemn commemoration of God's particular mercies to a nation He has chosen so to bless by distinguishing favours is a proper subject for such religious and acceptable service: "Remember His marvellous works," etc . III. In all such public acts of worship, we are each of us to consider ourselves in our public capacity and national relation, as being closely united to our sovereign, to our superiors, equals, and inferiors, who are our contemporaries, yes, and with our ancestors and posterity too, so as to sustain but one single person in all God's providential dealings with us. We are not in these holy and solemn gratulations to contract our minds, nor confine our prospect to the present personal satisfactions and benefits we reap from such exercises of our faith, and gratitude, and adoration; but we are to enlarge our thoughts, and extend our view backward and forward, whilst we celebrate the praises of God, the common Lord, Deliverer, Benefactor, and Father of us all. Thus the psalmist carries the thoughts of the then worshippers of God, in his new tabernacle, to a contemplation of His lovingkindness which had been ever of old, even as far backward as to the ages of Abraham and Jacob. Do this, "O ye seed of Abraham His servant," etc. ( W. Needham, B. D. ) The face of God W. B. Pope, D. D. This hymn is the first recorded strain of the psalmody of public worship. On the day when the ark was brought to its tent in the city of David, "David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord." It was sung in the presence of this sacred object, which was the ancient symbol of the presence of God. To those who heard it that day our text explained what the ark meant. "Seek the manifestation of your God, who shines upon you from over its mercy-seat. Magnify and seek His awful power, of which you are reminded by this ark of His strength. And constantly meet Him around this central depository of the covenant between your God and His congregation." The ancient symbol is gone, being done away in Christ. Those days have come concerning which Jeremiah predicted, "They shall say no more, the ark of the covenant of the Lord." We must remember every one of these memorials; for, though they are gone, they eternally teach their lessons. The Epistle to the Hebrews shows us this. It takes us into the old temple to teach us the mysteries of the new. I. THE GOD WHOM WE WORSHIP BIDS US SEEK HIS FACE. The word is one which runs through the entire Scripture as a most attractive figure. But it is more than a figure, and suggests to our thought a most blessed reality. First, we cannot help perceiving that by such a phrase as this we are taught to approach a personal Being, supreme over all His creatures, and eternally separated from them by His essence, yet having something in Himself that is common to them and to Him. He is an individual Spirit to whom our spirits may draw near. He asks us as persons to come to Him a Person. His ways indeed are not as our ways; His thoughts are not as our thoughts: but only because they are higher and nobler than ours. There is a sense in which the same things are true in us and in Him. The Bible does not use the abstract term personality or person with reference to the Deity; but it everywhere means this. God can say Thou to me, and I can say Thou to Him. No language could more touchingly declare this than "Seek His face," which is literally, "Visit ye your God! The face is the expression of our individual self. Now, there are two great errors under which the world has groaned in all ages, which are swept away by this simple testimony. A certain philosophy has always found it impossible to understand how the Infinite Essence can be distinct from the creature. Almost from the dawn of religious thought a system has been constructed, called Pantheism, which makes everything God and God everything: without a personal Face towards the creature; for He and the creature, or what we call the creature, are one. He is not a Person Himself, though He gives birth to millions of personalities, which appear for a little while, and then vanish back into His bosom, the infinite abyss of being. How glorious is the religion of the Bible in contrast! In Him we live, and move, and have our being; "but only as "His offspring," who are children invited to seek their Father, and live in Him. An opposite error, or the same error under another form, has multiplied the universal Creator and Upholder of the universe into ten thousand manifestations: "gods many and lords many." This has always been a kind of compromise between Pantheism and the doctrine of a Supreme First Cause. It gropes after one great being behind all the rest, but makes almost every force in nature a lesser god bringing that great abstraction near. The Christian worship is an eternal protest against these most destructive errors. We have inherited from Moses and the prophets the doctrine that there is one God. This is the foundation of all the devotions of this house. We visit every time we come up to it a Personal God, one Supreme Being, who summons us to His presence. He is afar off: filling and transcending all space, so that the heaven beyond the visible heavens cannot contain Him. But He is also nigh at hand: He is in all the infinity of His being present in every place, and in all His Godhead present here. Yet, though we approach one God, whose name is One, there is a Trinity of sacred Persons in that unity. And the term we consider veiled a mystery which is now fully manifested. The face of God is the Incarnate Redeemer, and its manifestation is by the Holy Ghost. This was veiled and typified by the ark of the covenant, a covenant not for Israel only, but for all flesh. The term itself implies a mediator. Now Moses was not that mediator, nor was Aaron. It was the Son of God made man in the fulness of time. It pleased God to set forth that truth under types and shadows while the ancient temple remained. Approaching from without none could behold the place of the ark without sweeping the altar of sacrifice. Their inseparable union signified that God dwelt among His people only because the great sacrifice had opened the way to Him: had enabled Him to return to man and man to return to Him. The ancient secret is fully revealed now. Our Lord Himself expressly tells us, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." The Person of Jesus through whom we approach is the very face of God to whom we approach. "God," says St. Paul, "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The whole system of mediation is now fully disclosed. But it was in virtue from the beginning. The face of God made man was marred for the suffering of death for us. It then became resplendent in glory, and is now the very outbeaming of the reconciled Godhead. But that sacred face is withdrawn: we could not now behold it and live. A glimpse of it has a few times been seen as it were to assure us of its glorification. We worship God in the Spirit while we rejoice and are glad in the face of Jesus. We approach not Christ in the flesh: His Person is glorified, and we must seek it and find it by the Holy Ghost. This revelation is to all and to each. We come up together to see the face of our God, but every one of us must enjoy the privilege in order to this common enjoyment. Then seek now your privilege; lift up your heart for your own blessing. "Cause Thy face to shine upon us and we shall be saved." We proclaim in the name of God, "He pardometh and absolveth all them that truly-repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel." II. From the face to the strength of God the transition is easy: THE LIGHT OF HIS COUNTENANCE IS THE STRENGTH OF GOD IN THE SOUL. The ark, however, was called emphatically the ark of His strength, and the people were called to visit it for two reasons: to acknowledge the glory of the Divine power in their midst, and to seek its manifestations within themselves. Our supreme business in this house, and in all worship, is to extol the Divine name: the noblest employment of those who have seen the Divine face in reconciliation. The strength of God is the assemblage of His perfections, of which omnipotent power was the representative. This was the attribute that came nearest to the ancient people, and of it the ark was a constant remembrancer. Jehovah was called "the Strength of Israel." It was His Right Hand that had delivered them from the beginning. They extolled His power especially, while they also remembered His wisdom, fidelity, and other perfections which were behind. "Give unto the Lord glory and strength: give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name." In all their worship, the glory of God was the uppermost sentiment. The ark, so awfully shut in and dwelling in such unapproachable light, kept that evermore before them. The glory due unto the Supreme the ancient worshippers offered as worthily as we can offer it. But there is a sense in which they did not so perfectly offer it, because His being was not fully known. The Three-one Deity had not been revealed. That secret was kept back, though it could scarcely be hid. Although the "Holy, Holy, Holy!" is not surpassed even in the New Testament, yet this was the Name by which Jehovah was not known to the fathers. To us the Triune name and the Triune perfections are one in the glorious works of the Redeeming God. And when we hear the words, "Declare the wonders that He hath wrought," of what do they remind us? The ark told the Israelites a marvellous story; it had witnessed all their triumphs and all their disgraces; it was the will of God that with it should be attached the thought of His mighty interpositions. We have no visible symbol; but of what does our house of prayer remind us, what does that table silently commemorate, what is the burden of this hymn book, what is the high subject of the New Testament? We have that to remember and extol which dwarfs the Jewish annals to utter insignificance. But we cannot more effectually adore the strength of our God than by seeking its manifestation. He does not only wait in His holy Temple for our tribute, as if He had only to receive and we to give. Whoso offereth Him praise glorifieth Him, but equally he that honours his God by seeking and trusting in His power. The ark was a perpetual token that there was a reserve of strength in the God of Israel at the people's service. In the New Testament the word is, "Where two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst of them." There is no limit to the power of the Spirit in the assemblies of His people who pray. His strength is everything here; we must only seek it in the consciousness of our utter impotence. The only power in our assemblies is the power of the Lord. The ark was a perpetual remembrancer of that. It humbled the people by reminding them that when God was not with them they fled before their enemies; that it was only when He was with them that they conquered. We have no symbol to remind us, nor do we need it. God Himself speaks and bids us remember that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. "Without Me," said the Lord, "ye can do nothing." But God is here in His strength. The ark was the pledge that the ancient God of the people was with them. His name was still, while they trusted in Him, the Strength of Israel. The measure of His strength among His people is "the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead," the "exceeding greatness of His power." The standard to us is, "According to your faith be it unto you." Then we must seek it in prayer for the carrying on of the work of salvation in our midst. There is a power in this place for the conversion of every sinner that ever enters it. Our common supplication must plead for it, our common faith must expect it, and we shall then have the desire of our heart. Enlarging our view we should remember that we belong to the catholic temple of the Church. If you study our psalm you will see how it embraces the heathen throughout. "Fear before Him all the earth." "Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength." This is prophetically to them. To us it is, "Declare His glory among the heathen; His marvellous works" of redemption and grace "among all nations." This we do by our missions abroad, and we do it by our prayers at home. This house which we have dedicated to God must never forget that He is the God of the whole earth. Once more I must remind you that the strength of God which is sought in His ordinances is altogether a personal energy within the individual soul. There is indeed a common manifestation, a shedding forth of Divine influence, which sometimes overpowers the whole congregation, and surprises those who neither sought it nor expected it. But every one after all must lay hold on the strength of God for himself. The promise is of a Divine power put forth in the inmost secret of our nature. Hear the apostle's prayer that "He would grant us according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." But this is according to our own personal faith. So St. Paul says, "I can do all through Christ which strengtheneth me." Our righteousness He is as a free gift; but our strength He is through our own faculties. Seek it then and find it in your inmost spirit. Let it be your constant exercise everywhere to make the Divine omnipotence your own. Strength to do and strength to suffer, strength to resist and strength to overcome, strength to command mountains out of the way, and strength to uproot the long-standing tree of sin: all is yours. If your religion has been scanty and feeble it is simply and solely your own fault. III. We must not forget THE EMPHATIC MANNER IN WHICH THE EXPRESSION "EVERMORE" IS ADDED, BOTH AS EXHORTATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT. The actual assemblies we must delight to visit, and be found in our place continually. Here, as in everything else, we have great advantages over the people of the ancient covenant. They came up only by their representatives three times a year, and on certain other set occasions. During the intervals they could only "remember Zion." We have constantly recurring opportunities. Every Christian sabbath we are invited to assemble; and on certain evenings in the week we may join the congregation in the services which are held around the invisible altar and ark. There are some special occasions when the members of Christ's discipleship gather around the table of the Lord; if I may so speak, nearer than usual to the ark, and its mercy-seat, and its glorious face. Never be absent then, unless the Lord Himself keep you away. Seek His face and seek His strength continually. But this last word reminds me that there is a sense in which the true Christian is never absent from the house of the Lord, "Whose house are we." We are not commanded to come up at set times to obtain a glimpse of His face, have our sins forgiven, gain a renewal of strength, and then go away for an interval of absence. We dwell in His house. We live and move and have our being in the mystical temple. The word of the text seems to say, "Seek Him here, but seek Him continually," in our private devotions, in the midst of our duties, in our family worship, and everywhere. This "evermore" echoes in eternity. It is not necessary that we should determine how far the Hebrews understood the reach and meaning of this Word. Whatever they believed, or hoped, or felt in presentiment, we have the full revelation that our worshipping assemblies are earnests of an everlasting fellowship of more perfect worship in the house above. There is an eternal temple awaiting us where we shall not need to seek the face nor to seek the strength of our God. Both shall have been found in their utmost blessedness, to be lost no more for ever. The countenance of God in Christ shall be the eternal joy of the redeemed. Meanwhile the commandment is to seek His face for ever. Count time and all its opportunities of seeking the Lord as given for one sole purpose, the preparation for that eternal fellowship. ( W. B. Pope, D. D. ) He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth . Psalm 105:7-15 God in Jewish history, working for His people Homilist. I. HIS ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY (ver. 9). The selection of Abraham to distinguished privileges is only an example of what has been going on in the history of men in all times. All men are not alike endowed, nor alike distinguished in privilege. Some have more health, more beauty, more talent, more enjoyments, than others. Shall any find fault with this? "Who art thou that repliest against God?" We should, however, always remember that God's sovereignty is not arbitrary power, not capricious impulse, but is evermore the free expression of His heart, and that heart is love. II. HIS INVIOLABLE FAITHFULNESS (ver. 8). Men fail to fulfil their promises from one of three reasons — either because they were insincere when they made the promise, or because they subsequently changed their minds, or because difficulties occurred which they never anticipated. None of these reasons can be ascribed to God. III. HIS TERRITORIAL PROPRIETORSHIP (ver. 11). Let all landowners remember that the acres they call their own are only borrowed property, they are only tenants at will, or rather stewards, responsible for the use they make of every foot of ground. IV. HIS COMPASSIONATE SUPERINTENDENCE. He watched over them. 1. When they were few (ver. 12). How He watched over Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, only three! We lose individuals in the mass. To Him the individual is the object of interest, the individual is His offspring, representative, fountain of immeasurable influence. "Unto that man will I look." 2. When they were wandering strangers (ver. 13). Though unknown, ignored, it may be despised, the few wandered amongst ten thousand strangers, His eye was upon them, and His sympathies were with them. 3. When they were threatened (vers. 14, 15). ( Homilist. ) Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm. Psalm 105:15 The inviolable Messiahs and prophets A. Maclaren, D.D. I. EVERY CHRISTIAN IS A MESSIAH. Jesus was the Christ, the Messias, because that Divine Spirit dwelt in Him without measure. And if we are Christians in the real sense of the word, then, however imperfectly, yet really, and by God's grace increasingly, there is such a union between us and our Saviour as that into us there does flow the anointing of His Spirit. And, there being a community of life derived from the Source of Life, it is no presumption to say that every Christian man is a Christ. II. EVERY CHRISTIAN IS A PROPHET. The word is connected with a root which means "to boil, or bubble, like a fountain." It expresses, not so much the theme of the utterance as its nature. The welling up, from a full heart, of God's thoughts and God's truth, that is prophecy. The patriarchs were prophets, in the sense of being bearers of a Divine Word, breathed into them by that anointing Spirit, that it may be uttered forth by them. That sort of prophetic inspiration belongs to all Christians. Every one who has been anointed will be thus gifted. A silent Christian is an anomaly, a contradiction in terms, as much as black light, or dark stars. If Christ is in you He will come out of you. If your hearts are full the crystal treasure will flow over the brim. III. EVERY CHRISTIAN, IN HIS DOUBLE CAPACITY OF ANOINTED AND PROPHET, IS WATCHED OVER BY GOD. There is no real harm in so-called evil. That is the interpretation that Christianity gives to such words as this of my text, not because it is forced to weaken them by the obstinate facts of life, but because it has learnt to strengthen them by the understanding of what is harm and what is good; what is gain and what is loss. ( A. Maclaren, D.D. ) Until the time that His word came: the word of the Lord tried him . Psalm 105:19 God's promised tests A. Maclaren, D.D. There is a contrast drawn between two "words," "his" ( i.e. , Joseph's) and God's. Joseph's word, which delayed its coming, or fulfilment, was either his boyish narrative of the dreams that foreshadowed his exaltation, or, less probably, his words to his fellow-prisoners in the interpretation of their dreams. In either case the point to which our attention is directed, is the period when that word came to be fulfilled, and what nay text says is that during that long season of unfulfilled hope, the "word of God," which was revealed in Joseph's dream, and was the ground on which his own "word" rested — did what? Encouraged, heartened, strengthened him? No, that unfulfilled promise might encourage or discourage him; but the psalmist fixes our thoughts on another effect which, whether it encouraged or discouraged, it certainly had, namely, that it tested him, and found out what stuff he was made of, and whether there was staying power enough in him to hold on, in unconquerable faith, to a promise made long since, communicated by no more reliable method than a dream, and of the fulfilment of which not the faintest sign had, for all these weary years, appeared. It proved the depth and vitality of his faith, and his ability to see things that are not as though they were. Will this man be able continually through years of poverty and imprisonment to keep his eye on the light beyond, to see his star through clouds? We do not know how long his Egyptian bondage had lasted, nor how long before that his endurance of the active ill-will of his surly brothers had gone on. But at all events his chrysalis stage was very long, and one would not have wondered if he had said to himself, down in that desert pit or in that Egyptian dungeon, "Ah, yes, they were dreams, and only dreams," or if he had, as so many of us do, turned his back on his youthful visions, and gained the sad power of being able to smile at his old hopes and ambitions. Cherish your youthful dreams. They are often the prophecies of capacities and possibilities, signs of what God means you to make yourselves. The trivial, short-lived anticipations which do not look beyond the end of next week are far less operative in making strong and noble characters than are those, of whatever kind they may be otherwise, which look far ahead and need years for their realization. It is a blessing to have the mark far, far away, because that means that the arm that pulls the bow must draw more strongly, and the eye that sees the goal must gaze more intently. Be thankful for the promise that cannot be fulfilled in this world, because it lifts us above the low levels, and makes us feel already as if we were endowed with immortality. The Word will test our patience, and it will test our willingness, though we be heirs of the Kingdom, to do humble tasks. Because Joseph was sure that God's long-lingering word would be fulfilled, he did not mind though he had to be the lackey of his brothers, the Midianites' chattel, Potiphar's slave, Pharaoh's prisoner, and a servant of servants in his dungeon. So with us, the measure of our willing acceptance of our present tasks, burdens, humiliations, and limitations is the measure of our firm faith in the promise that tarries. It was for Joseph's sake that the slow years were multiplied between the first gleam of his future and the full sunshine of his exaltation. And it is for our sakes that God in like manner protracts the period of anticipation and non-fulfilment. "If the vision tarry, wait for it." Is not the delaying of the blessing a means of increase of the blessing? And shall not we be sure that however long "He that shall come" may seem to tarry ere He comes, when He has come they who have waited for His coming more than they that watch for the morning and have sometimes been ready to cry out: "Hath the Lord forgotten? Doth His promise fail for evermore?" will be ashamed of their impatient moments and will humbly and thankfully exclaim: "He came at the very right time and did not tarry." ( A. Maclaren, D.D. ) Joseph: a sermon to young men A. H. Vine. Joseph's was a monumental and magnificent life, not so much because of the great station and good fortune that he won as because of the coherence and completeness of his career, character, and work being wielded together, and crowned with the fitting close. It was a sunbright, victorious life! Yet a life of public action and manifold dangers and responsibilities, through which no mere cleverness could have carried him successfully. Nothing but right-mindedness, together with capacity, could ever have borne him onward to so great and just renown. That right-mindedness was truth, honour, faith, love. I. THE DREAMS OF HIS YOUTH. Possibly we find it difficult entirely to sympathize with this part of the record, because we have a not unreasonable objection to precocious children and their egotism. But, notwithstanding this general prejudice, we should remember that genius is wont to be precocious and self-conscious. Moreover, in this child of .genius egotism had no unpleasant expression. His narratives are far too artless and ingenuous to be charged with conceit. We must also recognize that his dreams arose from the growing consciousness of power, and were apprehensions of that immense capacity which he afterwards displayed. Oh, a few more dreams will not hurt our young people to-day — such dreams — dreams of honourable success, of usefulness, of widening influence! It is not surprising that young people in their first endeavours to realize themselves should make some mistakes — that they should carry themselves awkwardly, and fail in self-measurement. But after all, better this, a thousand times, than that they should not be at all aware of the day of nature's visitation, nor imagine glorious possibilities from being alive, and more and more alive every day. II. THE DISCIPLINE. OF LIFE. If Joseph had nourished a too luxuriant imagination, time and circumstance soon clipped the tendrils. There is something as touching, as dramatic, in his being so suddenly "dropped out of the bright world" into the dark pit in the desert, and then hurried away into a slavery that might have been worse than death — cut off at a stroke from the care of his father, from the patriarchal home with its princely privileges, and reduced, politically, below the status of a man. Here was a fate overwhelming enough to bring a young fellow to despair, or to a degradation worse than that! But there was in him that quality of moral fibre which is braced and not weakened by lonely adversity. He has virtue, and he has faith, and these united shall prevail, so that there shall be nothing more admirable in all biography than the patience, cheerfulness, and fidelity with which he fulfils his lot. Adversity is a ladder, up or down, as we will. You can, so to speak, do what you like with your troubles, or let them do what they like with you; so that they shall either be stepping stones, upon which you shall rise to a clearer, graver view of God and life; or they shall be stones of stumbling and rocks of offence to cast you down to that limbo where the craven and futile whimper their lives away. But some of you are thinking that it was hard that Joseph should have to suffer for refusing to do wrong. I would counsel you to be very slow in saying that anything is hard, if you mean as a matter of providential treatment. A little faith and patience, and God will take care of it all. III. THE MAN THAT EMERGED. Joseph came forth from prison with faith in God unimpaired, with the old sweetness of temper, and clearness and fixity of moral equilibrium. He is "not ashamed to stand before kings," and there is the unerring accent of modesty and faith in his words: "It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." But I desire especially to point out the essential Christianity of the man, whom the word of the Lord had tried, so that he was made manifest to his generation as a pre-Christian Christian. That forgiveness of his brethren, so frank and free, without a thought behind, so foreign to every ancient code of obligation, shows him at a glance possessed by the spirit of Christ. Again in his large humanity he became an earthly Providence, and an expositor of the philanthropy of God our Saviour, not only nourishing his own family, and those brothers who plotted his ruin; but bearing the burdens of all the people, and with such benevolence and sympathy that, in the great language of that time, he was called "the Saviour of the world." Finally, in his faith he saw something of Christ's day. Loyal to his family and race, he was loyal also to the ancestral hope; and in his final charge showed clearly enough that his soul had her last anchorage there. "By faith he gave commandment concerning his bones;" and when, long centuries after, his people departed out of Egypt, they carried with them these dumb tokens of their great ancestor's faith in the covenant of promise. This was a great life — pure, gracious, wise, imperial. All was on the grand scale; but all the goodliness thereof grew out of the virtues of his youth. "The child was father of the man" in reverence, a

105:1-7 Our devotion is here stirred up, that we may stir up ourselves to praise God. Seek his strength; that is, his grace; the strength of his Spirit to work in us that which is good, which we cannot do but by strength derived from him, for which he will be sought. Seek to have his favour to eternity, therefore continue seeking it while living in this world; for he will not only be found, but he will reward those that diligently seek him. 105:8-23 Let us remember the Redeemer's marvellous works, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth. Though true Christians are few number, strangers and pilgrims upon earth, yet a far better inheritance than Canaan is made sure to them by the covenant of God; and if we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit, none can do us any harm. Afflictions are among our mercies. They prove our faith and love, they humble our pride, they wean us from the world, and quicken our prayers. Bread is the staff which supports life; when that staff is broken, the body fails and sinks to the earth. The word of God is the staff of spiritual life, the food and support of the soul: the sorest judgment is a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. Such a famine was sore in all lands when Christ appeared in the flesh; whose coming, and the blessed effect of it, are shadowed forth in the history of Joseph. At the appointed time Christ was exalted as Mediator; all the treasures of grace and salvation are at his disposal, perishing sinners come to him, and are relieved by him. 105:24-45 As the believer commonly thrives best in his soul when under the cross; so the church also flourishes most in true holiness, and increases in number, while under persecution. Yet instruments shall be raised up for their deliverance, and plagues may be expected by persecutors. And see the special care God took of his people in the wilderness. All the benefits bestowed on Israel as a nation, were shadows of spiritual blessings with which we are blessed in Christ Jesus. Having redeemed us with his blood, restored our souls to holiness, and set us at liberty from Satan's bondage, he guides and guards us all the way. He satisfies our souls with the bread of heaven, and the water of life from the Rock of salvation, and will bring us safely to heaven. He redeems his servants from all iniquity, and purifies them unto himself, to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works.