It is our land that is devastated, but O Jehovah, it is also thy land. It is most wise to plead the Lord's union of interest with ourselves, to lash our little boat as it were close to his great barque, and experience a sacred community in the tossings of the storm. The psalmist speaks of Canaan as the Lord's land, for he chose it for his people, conveyed it to them by covenant, conquered it by his power, and dwelt in it in mercy it was meet therefore that he should smile upon a land so peculiarly his own. Sweeter still is that dear name of "Our Father, "with which Christians have learned to commence their prayers. It is wise to dwell upon that view of the divine character which arouses the sweetest memories of his love. The self existent, all sufficient JEHOVAH is addressed: by that name he revealed himself to Moses when his people were in bondage, by that name he is here pleaded with. LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land. In Ps 85:1-4 the poet sings of the Lord's former mercies and begs him to remember his people from Ps 85:5-7 he pleads the cause of afflicted Israel and then, having listened to the sacred oracle in Ps 85:8, he publishes joyfully the tidings of future good, Ps 85:9-13. The presence of Jesus the Saviour reconciles earth and heaven, and secures to us the golden age, the balmy days of universal peace.ĭIVISION. Our own belief is that David penned this national hymn when the land was oppressed by the Philistines, and in the spirit of prophecy he foretold the peaceful years of his own reign and the repose of the rule of Solomon, the psalm having all along an inner sense of which Jesus and his salvation are the key. The first verse in speaking of "the land" proves that the author was not an exile. The present psalm has of course been referred to the Captivity, the critics could not resist the temptation to do that, though, for our part we see no need to do so: it is true a captivity is mentioned in Ps 85:1, but that does not necessitate the nation's having been carried away into exile, since Job's captivity was turned, and yet he had never left his native land: moreover, the text speaks of the captivity of Jacob as brought back, but had it referred to the Babylonian emigration, it would have spoken of Judah for Jacob or Israel, as such, did not return. The charms of a new theory also operate greatly upon writers who would have nothing at all to say if they did not invent a novel hypothesis, and twist the language of the psalm in order to justify it. It is remarkable that, as a rule, the more sceptical a writer is, the more resolute is he to have done with David while the purely evangelic annotators are for the most part content to leave the royal poet in the chair of authorship. Certain interpreters appear to grudge the psalmist David the authorship of any of the psalms, and refer the sacred songs by wholesale to the times of Hezekiah, Josiah, the Captivity, and the Maccabees. We believe that David wrote it, but many question that assertion. It is the prayer of a patriot for his afflicted country, in which he pleads the Lord's former mercies, and by faith foresees brighter days. In the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God. Yet it may not be out of place to quote Ne 12:46. There is no need to repeat our observations upon a title which is of so frequent occurrence the reader is referred to notes placed in the headings of preceding psalms. To the Chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
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