EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—Aijeleth Shahar. The title of the twenty-second Psalm is Aijeleth Shahar—the morning hart. The whole Psalm refers to Christ, containing much that cannot be applied to another: parting his garments, casting lots for his vesture, etc. He is described as a kindly, meek and beautiful hart, started by the huntsmen at the dawn of the day. Herod began hunting him down as soon as he appeared. Poverty, the hatred of men, and the temptation of Satan, joined in the pursuit. There always was some “dog,” or “bull,” or “unicorn,” ready to attack him. After his first sermon the huntsmen gathered about him, but he was too fleet of foot, and escaped. The church had long seen the Messiah “like a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains,” had “heard the voice of her Beloved,” and had cried out, “Behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills;” sometimes he was even seen with the dawn of the day, in the neighbourhood of the temple, and beside the enclosures of the vineyards. The church requested to see him “on the mountains of Bether,” and upon “the mountains of spices.” The former probably signifying the place of his sufferings, and the latter the sublime acclivities of light, glory, and honour, where the “hart” shall be hunted no more. But in the afternoon, the huntsmen who had been following the “young roe” from early day-break, had succeeded in driving him to the mountains of Bether. Christ found Calvary a craggy, jagged, and fearful hill—“a mountain of division.” Here he was driven by the huntsmen to the edges of the awful precipices yawning destruction from below, while he was surrounded and held at bay by all the beasts of prey and monsters of the infernal forest. The “unicorn,” and the “bulls of Bashan,” gored him with their horns; the great “lion” roared at him; and the “dog” fastened himself upon him. But he foiled them all. In his own time he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. He was buried in a new grave; and his assailants reckoned upon complete victory. They had not considered that he was a “morning hart.” Surely enough, at the appointed time, did he escape from the hunter’s net, and stand forth on the mountains of Israel ALIVE, and never, NEVER to die again. Now he is with Mary in the garden, giving evidence of his own resurrection; in a moment he is at Emmaus, encouraging the too timid and bewildered disciples. Nor does it cost him any trouble to go thence to Galilee to his friends, and again to the Mount of Olives, “on the mountains of spices,” carrying with him the day-dawn, robed in life and beauty for evermore.—Christmas Evans, 1766-1838.

Title.—It will be very readily admitted that the hind is a very appropriate emblem of the suffering and persecuted righteous man who meets us in this Psalm.... That the hind may be a figurative expression significant of suffering innocence, is put beyond a doubt by the fact, that the wicked and the persecutors in this Psalm, whose peculiar physiognomy is marked by emblems drawn from the brute creation, are designed by the terms dogs, lions, bulls, etc.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Title.—“The hind.” Much extraordinary symbolism has by old authors been conjured up and clustered around the hind. According to their curious natural history, there exists a deadly enmity between the deer and the serpent, and the deer by its warm breath draws serpents out of their holes in order to devour them. The old grammarians derived Elaphas, or hart, from elaunein tous opheis, that is, of driving away serpents. Even the burning a portion of the deer’s horns was said to drive away all snakes. If a snake had escaped the hart after being drawn out by the hart by its breath, it was said to be more vehemently poisonous than before. The timidity of the deer was ascribed to the great size of its heart, in which they thought was a bone shaped like a cross.—Condensed from Wood’s “Bible Animals,” by C. H. S.

Whole Psalm.—This is a kind of gem among the Psalms, and is peculiarly excellent and remarkable. It contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of Christ, when agonizing in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine wrath and death which surpass all human thought and comprehension. I know not whether any Psalm throughout the whole book contains matter more weighty, or from which the hearts of the godly can so truly perceive those sighs and groans, inexpressible by man, which their Lord and Head, Jesus Christ, uttered when conflicting for us in the midst of death, and in the midst of the pains and terrors of hell. Wherefore this Psalm ought to be most highly prized by all who have any acquaintance with temptations of faith and spiritual conflicts.—Martin Luther.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm, as it sets out the sufferings of Christ to the full, so also his three great offices. His sufferings are copiously described from the beginning of the Psalm to verse 22. The prophetical office of Christ, from verse 22 to verse 25. That which is foretold about his vows (verse 25), hath respect to his priestly function. In the rest of the Psalm the kingly office of Christ is set forth.—William Gouge, D.D. (1575-1653), in “A Commentary on the whole Epistle to the Hebrews.”[14]

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm seems to be less a prophecy than a history.—Cassiodorus.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm must be expounded, word for word, entire and in every respect, of Christ only; without any allegory, trope, or anagoge.—Bakius, quoted by F. Delitzsch, D.D., on Hebrews, ii. 12.

Whole Psalm.—A prophecy of the passion of Christ, and of the vocation of the Gentiles.—Eusebius of Cæsarea.

Verse 1.—“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” We contrast this with John xvi. 32, “I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” That these words in David were not withstanding the words of Christ, there is no true believer ignorant; yet how cross our Lord’s words in John! Answer:—It is one thing to speak out of present sense of misery, another thing to be confident of a never-separated Deity. The condition of Christ in respect of his human state (not the divine), is in all outward appearances, like ours; we conceive the saints’ condition very lamentable at times, as if God were for ever gone. And Christ (to teach us to cry after God the Father, like children after the mother, whose very stepping but at the door, ofttimes makes the babe believe, and so saith that his father is gone for ever), presents in his own sufferings how much he is sensible of ours in that case. As for his divine nature, he and his Father can never sunder in that, and so at no time is he alone, but the Father is always with him.—William Streat, in “The Dividing of the Hoof,” 1654.

Verse 1.—“My God, my God,” etc. There is a tradition that our Lord, hanging on the cross, began, as we know from the gospel, this Psalm; and repeating it and those that follow gave up his most blessed spirit when he came to the fifth verse of the thirty-first Psalm. However that may be, by taking these first words on his lips he stamped the Psalm as belonging to himself.—Ludolph, the Carthusian (circa. 1350), in J. M. Neale’s Commentary.

Verse 1.—“My God, my God,” etc. It was so sharp, so heavy an affliction to Christ’s soul, that it caused him who was meek under all other sufferings as a lamb, to roar under this like a lion. For so much those words of Christ signify, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” It comes from a root that signifies to howl or roar as a lion, and rather signifies the noise made by a wild beast than the voice of a man. And it is as much as if Christ had said, O my God, no words can express my anguish, I will not speak, but roar, howl out my complaints. Pour it out in volleys of groans. I roar as a lion. It’s no small matter will make that majestic creature to roar. And sure so great a spirit as Christ’s would not have roared under a slight burden.

Did God really forsake Jesus Christ upon the cross? then from the desertion of Christ singular consolation springs up to the people of God; yea, manifold consolation. Principally it’s a support in these two respects, as it is preventive of your final desertion and a comfortable pattern to you in your present sad desertions. 1. Christ’s desertion is preventive of your final desertion. Because he was forsaken for a time you shall not be forsaken for ever. For he was forsaken for you. It is every way as much for the dear Son of God, the darling delight of his soul, to be forsaken of God for a time, as if such a poor inconsiderable thing as thou art shouldst be cast off to eternity. Now, this being equivalent and borne in thy room, must needs give thee the highest security in the world that God will never finally withdraw from thee. 2. Moreover, this sad desertion of Christ becomes a comfortable pattern to poor deserted souls in divers respects; and the proper business of such souls, at such times, is to eye it believingly. Though God deserted Christ, yet at the same time he powerfully supported him. His omnipotent arms were under him, though his pleased face was hid from him. He had not indeed his smiles, but he had his supportations. So, Christian, just so shall it be with thee. Thy God may turn away his face, he will not pluck away his arm. When one asked of holy Mr. Baines how the case stood with his soul, he answered, “Supports I have, though suavities I want.” Our Father in this deals with us as we ourselves sometimes do with a child that is stubborn and rebellious. We turn him out of doors and bid him begone out of our sight, and there he sighs and weeps; but however for the humbling of him, we will not presently take him into house and favour; yet we order, at least permit the servants to carry him meat and drink: here is fatherly care and support, though no former smiles or manifested delights.... Though God forsook Christ, yet at that time he could justify God. So you read, “O my God (saith he), I cry in the day time; but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent; but thou art holy.” Is not thy spirit according to thy measure, framed like Christ’s in this; canst thou not say, even when he writes bitter things against thee, he is a holy, faithful and good God for all this! I am deserted but not wronged. There is not one drop of injustice in all the sea of my sorrows. Though he condemned me I must and will justify him: this also is Christ-like.—John Flavel.

Verse 1.—“My God, my God.” The repetition is expressive of fervent desire—“My God,” in an especial sense, as in his words after the resurrection to Mary Magdalene, “I ascend unto my God, and your God;” “My God,” not as the Son of God only, but in that nature which he hath assumed, as the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased; who is loved of the Father and who loveth the Father more than the whole universe. It is observed that this expression, “My God,” is three times repeated.—Dionysius, quoted by Isaac Williams.

Verse 1.—“My God.” It was possible for Christ by faith to know that he was beloved of God, and he did know that he was beloved of God, when yet as to sense and feeling he tasted of God’s wrath. Faith and the want of sense are not inconsistent; there may be no present sense of God’s love, nay, there may be a present sense of his wrath, and yet there may be faith at the same time.—John Row’s “Emmanuel,” 1680.

Verse 1.—This word, “My God,” takes in more than all the philosophers in the world could draw out of it.—Alexander Wedderburn, 1701.

Verse 1.—That there is something of a singular force, meaning, and feeling in these words is manifest from this—the evangelists have studiously given us this verse in the very words of the Hebrew, in order to show their emphatic force. And moreover I do not remember any one other place in the Scriptures where we have this repetition, Eli, Eli.—Martin Luther.

Verse 1.—“Why?” Not the “why” of impatience or despair, not the sinful questioning of one whose heart rebels against his chastening, but rather the cry of a lost child who cannot understand why his father has left him, and who longs to see his father’s face again.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 1.—“My roaring.” שָׁאַג seems primarily to denote the roaring of a lion; but, as applied to intelligent beings, it is generally expressive of profound mental anguish poured forth in audible and even vehement strains. Psalm xxxviii. 9; xxxiii. 3; Job iii. 24. Thus did the suffering Messiah pour forth strong crying and tears, to him that was able to save him from death. Heb. v. 7.—John Morison.