Expositions of Holy Scripture

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Expositions of Holy Scripture (Psalms)

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture
by Alexander Maclaren (#4 in our series by Alexander Maclaren)
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Title: Expositions of Holy Scripture
Author: Alexander Maclaren
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7925] [This file was first posted on May 31, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE ***

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EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE
PSALMS
by
ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D.

VOLUME I: PSALMS I to XLIX
CONTENTS
BLESSEDNESS AND PRAISE (Psalm i. 1, 2; cl. 6)
A STAIRCASE OF THREE STEPS (Psalm v. 11, 12)
ONE SAYING FROM THREE MEN (Psalm x. 6; xvi. 8; xxx. 6)
MAN'S TRUE TREASURE IN GOD (Psalm xvi. 5, 6)
GOD WITH US, AND WE WITH GOD (Psalm xvi. 8, 11)
THE TWO AWAKINGS (Psalm xvii. 15; lxxiii. 20)
SECRET FAULTS (Psalm xix. 12)
OPEN SINS (Psalm xix. 13)
FEASTING ON THE SACRIFICE (Psalm xxii. 26)
THE SHEPHERD KING OF ISRAEL (Psalm xxiii. 1-6)
A GREAT QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER (Psalm xxiv. 3)
THE GOD WHO DWELLS WITH MEN (Psalm xxiv. 7-10)
GUIDANCE IN JUDGMENT (Psalm xxv. 8, 9)
A PRAYER FOR PARDON AND ITS PLEA (Psalm xxv. 11)
GOD'S GUESTS (Psalm xxvii. 4)
'SEEK YE'--'I WILL SEEK' (Psalm xxvii. 8, 9)
THE TWO GUESTS (Psalm xxx. 5)
'BE ... FOR THOU ART' (Psalm xxxi. 2, 3, R.V.)
'INTO THY HANDS' (Psalm xxxi. 5)
GOODNESS WROUGHT AND GOODNESS LAID UP (Psalm xxxi. 19)
HID IN LIGHT (Psalm xxxi. 20)
A THREEFOLD THOUGHT OF SIN AND FORGIVENESS (Psalm xxxii. 1, 2)
THE ENCAMPING ANGEL (Psalm xxxiv. 7)
STRUGGLING AND SEEKING (Psalm xxxiv. 10)
NO CONDEMNATION (Psalm xxxiv. 22)
SKY, EARTH, AND SEA: A PARABLE OF GOD (Psalm xxxvi. 5-7)
WHAT MEN FIND BENEATH THE WINGS OF GOD (Psalm xxxvi. 8, 9)
THE SECRET OF TRANQUILLITY (Psalm xxxvii. 4, 5, 7)
THE BITTERNESS AND BLESSEDNESS OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE (Psalm xxxix. 6, 12)
TWO INNUMERABLE SERIES (Psalm xl. 5, 12)
THIRSTING FOR GOD (Psalm xlii. 2)
THE PSALMIST'S REMONSTRANCE WITH HIS SOUL (Psalm xliii. 5)
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY (Psalm xlv. 2-7, R.V.)
THE PORTRAIT OF THE BRIDE (Psalm xlv. 10-15, R.V.)
THE CITY AND RIVER OF GOD (Psalm xlvi. 4-7)
THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF JACOB (Psalm xlvi. 11)
A SONG OF DELIVERANCE (Psalm xlviii. 1-14)
TWO SHEPHERDS AND TWO FLOCKS (Psalm xlix. 14; Rev. vii. 17)

BLESSEDNESS AND PRAISE
'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord.' --PSALM i. 1, 2.
'Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.'--PSALM cl. 6.
The Psalter is the echo in devout hearts of the other portions of divine revelation. There are in it, indeed, further disclosures of God's mind and purposes, but its especial characteristic is--the reflection of the light of God from brightened faces and believing hearts. As we hold it to be inspired, we cannot simply say that it is man's response to God's voice. But if the rest of Scripture may be called the speech of the Spirit of God to men, this book is the answer of the Spirit of God in men.
These two verses which I venture to lay side by side present in a very remarkable way this characteristic. It is not by accident that they stand where they do, the first and last verses of the whole collection, enclosing all, as it were, within a golden ring, and bending round to meet each other. They are the summing up of the whole purpose and issue of God's revelation to men.
The first and second psalms echo the two main portions of the old revelation--the Law and the Prophets. The first of them is taken up with the celebration of the blessedness and fruitful, stable being of the man who loves the Law of the Lord, as contrasted with the rootless and barren life of the ungodly, who is like the chaff. The second is occupied with the contemplation of the divine 'decree' by which the coming King is set in God's 'holy hill