was the glory of our fathers and pre-eminantly distinguished for its worship of the one true God, its gift of the law of knowledge, and of the prophets, and many other things described, Rom. ii. and ix. And then, the very thick hair represents the splendid order of priests and Levites at the head and in the highest place of the synagogue, abounding in, overflowing with, and boasting of their riches and luxuries: concerning whom, Isaiah iii. 17 and 24, And the Lord will make bald the head of the daughters of Zion: and instead of hair there shall be baldness:' that is, instead of their splendid priesthood. And again Psalm lxviii. 21, "But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his wickedness."

And Absalom's hanging suspended from an oak by his hair between the heaven and the earth, to be killed in that situation, signifies, that the priests hung by their carnal opinions, and did not attain unto, nor understand either the heavenly or earthly things of the law. And the hair being shorn and sold to women, signifies that those priests being separated in spirit from the head of the synagogue, gave themselves up wholly to their own lusts and pleasures. And yet pleasures are no ornament to any one: though it serves as an ornament and allurement unto many, that so many among the rulers are addicted to, and sold under pleasures.

And, (which makes more directly still to the point,) Absalom aimed at the kingdom and the inheritance, against his father David; and drove him from the city, using the counsel of Ahithophel, who afterwards hanged himself in his own house. So did the people of Israel against Christ." This (said they) is the heir, come let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.” Mark xii. 7. And so also, John xi. 48, " If we let him thus alone all men will believe on him." And they used for this end the counsel and help of Judas, who, in the same manner as Ahithophel did, armed himself with bands of men and coadjutors. And he also, like Ahithophel, descending into the house of his own conscience, and being filled with despair, hanged himself. For the name

Ahithophel signifies, Brother of folly' and this is what David alluded to 2 Sam. xv. 31, when he said, "O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." As if he had said, make him appear thereby to be a fool, and an infatuated man indeed.

And David's going out bare-footed and with his head covered, signifies, Christ's being led out to Golgotha, who also literally went out bare-footed and having his head covered with a crown of thorns and with blood. But, allegorically, the head, signified the divinity hidden under infirmity; and the bare feet, the humanity left alone to itself. The returning into the city after the slaying of Absalom, is the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and his victory over the people of the synagogue. For it was then that they were smitten upon the cheek-bone, and their teeth broken in pieces; (as this same psalmist sings;) for they could no more devour Christ, because he died no more, and death had no more dominion over him.-David saith therefore in this Psalm,

me?

Verse 1.-Lord, why are they increased that trouble many are they that rise up against me.

The scope of this Psalm is nearly the same as that of the preceding, and the subject similar. For the psalmist begins here also, by complaining of the vain presumption of the adversaries of Christ, and concludes with a tmphing consolation; saying, "For thou hast smitten," &c. And "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord," &c. Excepting that, he here treats of the matter more briefly, and of the patience of the sufferer more fully. For there are three things that the most severely try a sufferer,—solitude, impotency, and despair: which the three opposite things of the adversaries increase and strengthen,-multitude, power, and confidence.

It refers to his own solitude and the multitude of his enemies, where he says, "O Lord, why are they increased that trouble me?" For if it were otherwise, and he were not solitary and left alone, how could he suffer? How could he be tried, how could he be

touched, if he were supported with a greater or even an equal number of defenders contending for him? as the devil saw in the case of Job, and said, "Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?" chap. i. 9, 10.

It refers to his own impotency and the power of his enemies when he says, "Many are they that rise up against me." For he would not have suffered even though left alone, if he had not been weak and helpless himself, and oppressed with more powerful enemies. For thus, Samson, though alone, could suffer no hurt from the Philistines whom he destroyed so often. Wherefore it is to be observed as a general rule, that his suffering is nothing who has a means of returning the injury he receives and of revenging it, and who has the power of resisting so as to prevent himself from being oppressed. For the two things that concur to make a sufferer, are, an inability either to revenge or to resist.

And again, it is more terrible to rise up against a person, than simply to distress him. Even as also it is more terrible to be helpless, than to be alone; and also more terrible for the enemy to be powerful and invincible, than for them to be many. And therefore it is, that Christ saith, they "rise up against me," they are excited, strengthened, and banded together against me; they are too strong for me; they by strength prevail over me; and I, being too weak for them, totter, fall, and am laid utterly prostrate. For this their superior might, and his own bereft state, are signified by the words "rise up against me." As it was expressed also in the former Psalm, "The kings of the earth stood up," for that signifies the same power. But that which follows, most deeply and exceedingly heightens this state of desertion.

Verse 2.-Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in his God. Selah.

Christ certainly heard these words while hanging on the cross, "He trusted in God, let him deliver him now

if he will have him." Matt. xxvii. 43: according to that which was foretold, Psalm xxii. 7, 8. "All they that see me, laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." And certainly this boasting confidence, this laughing to scorn, this derision, this insulting mockery, which are the triumphal song and laudative encomium of the adversaries over an enemy when vanquished and brought to utter despair, are the most bitter and extreme of all tribulation. For to have fallen and entirely yielded to many and powerful enemies, is then the most dreadful when the hope of rising again, though in God himself, is denied: as it is written Psalm xli. 5 and 8, "Mine enemies speak evil of me," saying, "Now that he sleepeth shall he ever rise up again?' And we know that Christ was in this state of despair: not that he himself despaired, but he was despaired of by all, even by his own disciples: that is, he was considered in their hearts as dead, and they had no hope of his rising again as it is written Psalm lxix. 20, 'I looked for comforters, but found none.' Nay, for consolation they had nothing but desperation with the most bitter derision; which is diabolical.

In the Hebrew the expression is simply "in God," without the pronoun his, which seems to me to give clearness and force to the expression. As if he had

They say of me, that I am not only deserted and pressed by all creatures, but that even God, who is present with all things, preserves all things, and protects al things, forsakes me as the only thing out of the whole universe that he does not preserve. Which kind of temptation Job seems also to have tasted where he says, "Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee?" chap. vi. 20. For there is no temptation, no not of the whole world together, nor of all hell combined in one, equal unto that wherein God stands contrary to a man: which temptation Jeremiah prays against, chap. xvii. 17, “Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil :". and concerning which also the Sixth Psalm following

saith, "O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger:" and we find the same petitions throughout the whole Psaltry. This temptation is wholly unsupportable, and is truly hell itself as it is said in the same Sixth Psalm, "For in death there is no remembrance of thee," &c. In a word, if you have never experienced it, you can never form any idea of it whatever.

And observe also, the modesty, yea, the peculiar state of mind of him who is under this temptation. He says, interrogatively, "Why are they increased?" wherein he desires to prove himself innocent, and to show that he suffers undeservedly. And yet he does not dare to accuse them and to address them with the appellation of unrighteous and sinners; but using an ambiguous expression he says, "why are they increased that trouble me?" But at the conclusion, after his victory, he firmly and with confidence calls them sinners and ungodly, saying, "Thou hast smitten all those that are mine enemies without a cause: (as our text has it :) thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.' For, while he is under the hand of these implacably raging ones, he alone is the sinner, and all others are righteous; and while they are all, according to the will of God, fighting together against him, nothing is heard but this unutterable groan, in which, being imperceptibly aided by the spirit, he inquires and says, "why do so many of them rise up against me, one person?" And David also himself in this part of his history, labouring, under the same feelings, says, 2 Sam. xv. 26, " But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee: behold here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him." O great self-denial, to choose a God even when contrary to him! &c.

At the end of this verse we have the Hebrew word SELA which, as it will often occur again, we will now speak upon once for all.

CONCERNING THE HEBREW WORD "SELA."

It is not at this day clearly known what this word signifies, or what its true meaning is. The seventy translators have rendered it by the Greek word διαψαλμα: