Psalms 18:29-45
EXPOSITION
Verse 29-45. Some repetitions are not vain repetitions. Second thoughts upon God's mercy should be and often are the best. Like wines on the lees our gratitude grows stronger and sweeter as we meditate upon divine goodness. The verses which we have now to consider are the ripe fruit of a thankful spirit; they are apples of gold as to matter, and they are placed in baskets of silver as to their language. They describe the believer's victorious career and his enemies' confusion.
Verse 29. For by thee have I run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. Whether we meet the foe in the open field or leap upon them while they lurk behind the battlements of a city, we shall by God's grace defeat them in either case; if they hem us in with living legions, or environ us with stone walls, we shall with equal certainty obtain our liberty. Such feats we have already performed, hewing our way at a run through hosts of difficulties, and scaling impossibilities at a leap. God's warriors may expect to have a taste of every form of fighting, and must by the power of faith determine to quit themselves like men; but it behooves them to be very careful to lay all their laurels at Jehovah's feet, each one of them saying, "by my God" have I wrought this valiant deed. Our spolia optima, the trophies of our conflicts, we hereby dedicate to the God of Battles, and ascribe to him all glory and strength.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 29. By thee have I run through a troop, etc. David ascribes his victories to God, declaring that, under his conduct, he had broken through the wedges or phalanxes of his enemies, and had taken by storm their fortified cities. Thus we see that, although he was a valiant warrior, and skilled in arms, he arrogates nothing to himself. John Calvin.
Verse 29. By my God have I leaped over a wall; or, "taken a fort." Henry Hammond.
Verse 29. Leaped over a wall. This probably refers to his having taken some remarkable town by scaling the ramparts. John Kitto, in "The Pictorial Bible."
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 29. Believing exploits recounted. Variety, difficulty in themselves, ease in performance, completeness, impunity, and dependence upon divine working. EXPOSITION
Verse 29-45. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:29" for further information.
Verse 30. As for God, his way is perfect. Far past all fault and error are God's dealings with his people; all his actions are resplendent with justice, truth, tenderness, mercy, and holiness. Every way of God is complete in itself, and all his ways put together are matchless in harmony and goodness. Is it not very consolatory to believe that he who has begun to bless us will perfect his work, for all his ways are "perfect." Nor must the divine "word" be without its song of praise.
The word of the Lord is tried, like silver refined in the furnace. The doctrines are glorious, the precepts are pure, the promises are faithful, and the whole revelation is superlatively full of grace and truth. David had tried it, thousands have tried it, we have tried it, and it has never failed. It was meet that when way and word had been extolled, the Lord himself should be magnified; hence it is added,
He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. No armour of proof or shield of brass so well secures the warrior as the covenant God of Israel protects his warring people. He himself is the buckler of trustful ones; what a thought is this! What peace may every trusting soul enjoy!
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
None.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 30. God's way, word, and warfare. EXPOSITION
Verse 31. Having mentioned his God, the psalmist's heart burns, and his words sparkle; he challenges heaven and earth to find another being worthy of adoration or trust in comparison with Jehovah. His God, as Matthew Henry says, is a None such. The idols of the heathen he scorns to mention, snuffing them all out as mere nothings when Deity is spoken of.
Who is God save the Lord? Who else creates, sustains, foresees, and overrules? Who but he is perfect in every attribute, and glorious in every act? To whom but Jehovah should creatures bow? Who else can claim their service and their love?
Who is a rock save our God? Where can lasting hopes be fixed? Where can the soul find rest? Where is stability to be found? Where is strength to be discovered? Surely in the Lord Jehovah alone can we find rest and refuge.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 31. For who is God save the Lord? Here first in the Psalms, occurs the name Eloah, rendered God. It occurs more than fifty times in the Scriptures, but only four times in the Psalms. It is the singular of Elohim. Many have supposed that this name specially refers to God as an object of religious worship. That idea may well be prominent in this place. William S. Plumer
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 31. A challenge.
EXPOSITION
Verse 32. Surveying all the armour in which he fought and conquered, the joyful victor praises the Lord for every part of the panoply. The girdle of his loins earns the first stanza:
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. Girt about the loins with power from heaven, the warrior was filled with vigour, far above all created might; and, whereas, without this wondrous belt he would have been feeble and effeminate, with relaxed energies and scattered forces, he felt himself, when braced with the girdle of truth, to be compact in purpose, courageous in daring, and concentrated in power; so that his course was a complete success, so undisturbed by disastrous defeat as to be called "perfect." Have we been made more than conquerors over sin, and has our life hitherto been such as becometh the gospel? Then let us ascribe all the glory to him who girt us with his own inexhaustible strength, that we might be unconquered in battle and unwearied in pilgrimage.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 32. It is God that girdeth me with strength. One of the few articles of Eastern dress which I wore in the East, was the girdle, which was of great use as a support to the body in the long and weary camel rides through the Desert. The support and strengthening I received in this way, gave me a clearer idea than I had before of the meaning of the psalmist. John Anderson, in "Bible Light from Bible Lands," 1856.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 32-34. Trying positions, gracious adaptations, graceful accomplishments, secure abidings, grateful acknowledgment. EXPOSITION
Verse 33. The conqueror's feet had been shod by a divine hand, and the next note must, therefore, refer to them.
He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. Pursuing his foes the warrior had been swift of foot as a young roe, but, instead of taking pleasure in the legs of a man, he ascribes the boon of swiftness to the Lord alone. When our thoughts are nimble, and our spirits rapid, like the chariots of Amminadib, let us not forget that our best Beloved's hand has given us the choice favour. Climbing into impregnable fortresses, David had been preserved from slipping, and made to stand where scarce the wild goat can find a footing; herein was preserving mercy manifested. We, too, have had our high places of honour, service, temptation, and danger, but hitherto we have been kept from falling. Bring hither the harp, and let us emulate the psalmist's joyful thanksgiving; had we fallen, our wailings must have been terrible; since we have stood, let our gratitude be fervent.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 33. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places: that is, he doth give swiftness and speed to his church; as Augustine interprets it, transcendendo spinosa, et umbrosa implacamenta hujus saeculi, passing lightly through the thorny and shady incumbrances of this world. "He will make me walk upon my high places." David saith, "He setteth me upon high places." For, consider David, as he then was, when he composed this Psalm, it was at the time when God had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. For then God set his feet on high places, setting his kingdom, and establishing him in the place of Saul. Edward Marbury.
Verse 33. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: twlyak ylgr hwfm. Celerity of motion was considered as one of the qualities of an ancient hero. Achilles is celebrated for being podas wkus· Virgil's Nisus is hyperbolically described, Et ventis et fulminis ocior alis; and the men of God, who came to David, "Men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler," are said to have had "faces like the faces of lions," and to have been "as swift as the roes upon the mountains." 1 Chronicles 12:8. Asahel is described as "light of foot as a wild roe" (2 Samuel 2:18); and Saul seems called the roe (in the English translation, "the beauty) of Israel." 2Sa 1:19. It has been said that the legs of the hind are straighter than those of the buck, and that she is swifter than he is; but there is no sufficient proof of this. Gataker gives the true account of it when he says, "The female formula is often used for the species." This is not uncommon in Hebrew. The female ass obviously stands for the ass species. Genesis 12:16 Job 1:3 42:12. Some (at the head of whom is Bochart, Hierozoicon, P.I.L. 2 c 17), have supposed the reference to be to the peculiar hardness of the hoof of the roe, which enables it to walk firmly, without danger of falling, on the roughest and rockiest places. Virgil calls the hind aeri- pedem, brass footed. Others suppose the reference to be to its agility and celerity. There is nothing to prevent our supposing that there is reference to both these distinguishing qualities of the hind's feet. John Brown.
Verse 33. He maketh my feet like hinds feet, etc. He maketh me able to stand on the sides of mountains and rocks, which were anciently used as fastnesses in time of war. The feet of the sheep, the goat, and the hart are particularly adapted to standing in such places. Mr. Merrick has here very appositely cited the following passage from Xenophon; Lib. de Venatione: Episkupein dei econta tus kunas tas men en oredi edtwdas lafouz See also Psalms 104:18, where the same property of standing on the rocks and steep cliffs, is attributed to the wild goat. Stephen Street, M.A., in loc., 1790.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 32-34. Trying positions, gracious adaptations, graceful accomplishments, secure abidings, grateful acknowledgment. EXPOSITION
Verse 34. He teacheth my hands to war. Martial prowess and skill in the use of weapons are gratefully acknowledged to be the result of divine teaching; no sacrifice is offered at the shrine of self in praise of natural dexterity, or acquired skilfulness; but, regarding all warlike prowess as a gift of heavenly favour, thankfulness is presented to the Giver. The Holy Spirit is the great Drillmaster of heavenly soldiers.
So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. A bow of brass is probably meant, and these bows could scarcely be bent by the arms alone, the archer had to gain the assistance of his foot; it was, therefore, a great feat of strength to bend the bow, so far as even to snap it in halves. This was meant of the enemies' bow, which he not only snatched from his grasp, but rendered useless by breaking it in pieces. Jesus not only destroyed the fiery suggestions of Satan, but he broke his arguments with which he shot them, by using Holy Scripture against him; by the same means we may win a like triumph, breaking the bow and cutting the spear in sunder by the sharp edge of revealed truth. Probably David had by nature a vigorous bodily frame; but it is even more likely that, like Samson, he was at times clothed with more than common strength; at any rate, he ascribes the honour of his feats entirely to his God. Let us never wickedly rob the Lord of his due, but faithfully give unto him the glory which is due unto his name.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 34. He teacheth my hands to war, etc. To him I owe all that military skill, or strength, or courage, which I have. My strength is sufficient, not only to bend a bow of steel, but to break it. Matthew Poole.
Verse 34. Steel. The word so rendered in the authorised version, properly means "copper" (tfwxn) It is doubtful if the Hebrews were acquainted with the process of hardening iron into steel, for though the "northern iron" of Jeremiah 15:12, has been supposed by some to be steel, this is by no means certain; it may have only been a superior sort of iron. William Lindsay Alexander, in "Kitto's Cyclopaedia."
Verse 34. The drawing of a mighty bow was a mark of great slaughter and skill.
"So the great master drew the mighty bow, And drew with ease. One hand aloft displayed The bending horns, and one the string essayed." Alexander Pope, 1688-1744 Translation of Homer.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 32-34. Trying positions, gracious adaptations, graceful accomplishments, secure abidings, grateful acknowledgment. EXPOSITION
Verse 35. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation. Above all we must take the shield of faith, for nothing else can quench Satan's fiery darts; this shield is of celestial workmanship, and is in all cases a direct gift from God himself; it is the channel, the sign, the guarantee, and the earnest of perfect salvation.
Thy right hand hath holden me up. Secret support is administered to us by the preserving grace of God, and at the same time Providence kindly yields us manifest aid. We are such babes that we cannot stand alone; but when the Lord's right hand upholds us, we are like brazen pillars which cannot be moved.
Thy gentleness hath made me great. There are several readings of this sentence. The word is capable of being translated, "thy goodness hath made me great." David saw much of benevolence in God's action towards him, and he gratefully ascribed all his greatness not to his own goodness, but to the goodness of God. "Thy providence" is another reading, which is indeed nothing more than goodness in action. Goodness is the bud of which providence is the flower; or goodness is the seed of which providence is the harvest. Some render it, "thy help," which is but another word for providence; providence being the firm ally of the saints, aiding them in the service of their Lord. Certain learned annotators tell us that the text means, "thy humility hath made me great." "Thy condescension" may, perhaps, serve as a comprehensive reading, combining the ideas which we have already mentioned, as well as that of humility. It is God's making himself little which is the cause of our being made great. We are so little that If God should manifest his greatness without condescension, we should be trampled under his feet; but God, who must stoop to view the skies and bow to see what angels do, looks to the lowly and contrite, and makes them great. While these are the translations which have been given to the adopted text of the original, we find that there are other readings altogether; as for instance, the Septuagint, which reads, "thy discipline" -- thy fatherly correction -- "hath made me great;" while the Chaldee paraphrase reads, "thy word hath increased me." Still the idea is the same. David ascribes all his own greatness to the condescending goodness and graciousness of his Father in heaven. Let us all feel this sentiment in our own hearts, and confess that whatever of goodness or greatness God may have put upon us, we must cast our crowns at his feet and cry, "thy gentleness hath made me great."
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
None.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 35. The shield of thy salvation. What is it? Faith. Whence it comes? "Thou hast given." What it secures? "Salvation." Who have received it?
Verse 35. See Spurgeon's Sermons, No. 683. "Divine Gentleness Acknowledged." EXPOSITION
Verse 36. Thou hast enlarged my steps. A smooth pathway leading to spacious possessions and camping grounds had been opened up for him. Instead of threading the narrow mountain paths, and hiding in the cracks and corners of caverns, he was able to traverse the plains and dwell under his own vine and fig tree. It is no small mercy to be brought into full Christian liberty and enlargement, but it is a greater favour still to be enabled to walk worthily in such liberty, not being permitted to slip with our feet. To stand upon the rocks of affliction is the result of gracious upholding, but that aid is quite as much needed in the luxurious plains of prosperity.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
None.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 36. Divine benevolence in the arranging of our lot. EXPOSITION
Verse 37. The preservation of the saints bodes ill for their adversaries. The Amalekites thought themselves clear away with their booty, but when David's God guided him in the pursuit, they were soon overtaken and cut in pieces. When God is with us sins and sorrows flee, and all forms of evil are consumed before the power of grace. What a noble picture this and the following verses present to us of the victories of our glorious Lord Jesus!
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 37-38
Oh, I have seen the day, When with a single word, God helping me to say, "My trust is in the Lord;" My soul has quelled a thousand foes, Fearless of all that could oppose. William Cowper, 1731-1800. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
None. EXPOSITION
Verse 38. The destruction of our spiritual enemies is complete. We may exult over sin, death, and hell, as disarmed and disabled for us by our conquering Lord; may he graciously give them a like defeat within us.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 37-38: See Psalms on "Psalms 18:37" for further information.
Verse 38. I have wounded them, etc. Greater is he that is in us than he that is against us, and God shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly. Romans 15:20. W. Wilson
Verse 38-40. Though passion possess our bodies, let "patience possess our souls." The law of our profession binds us to a warfare; patiendo vincimus, our troubles shall end, our victory is eternal. Hear David's triumph, I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies, etc. They have wounds for their wounds; and the treaders down of the poor are trodden down by the poor. The Lord will subdue those to us that would have subdued us to themselves; and though for a short time they rode over our heads, yet now at last we shall everlastingly tread upon their necks. Lo, then, the reward of humble patience and confident hope! Thomas Adams.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
None. EXPOSITION
Verse 29-45. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:29" for further information.
Verse 39-40. It is impossible to be too frequent in the duty of ascribing all our victories to the God of our salvation. It is true that we have to wrestle with our spiritual antagonists, but the triumph is far more the Lord's than ours. We must not boast like the ambitious votaries of vainglory, but we may exult as the willing and believing instruments in the Lord's hands of accomplishing his great designs.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 38-40. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:38" for further information.
Verse 39. To be well girt was to be well armed in the Greek and Latin idioms, as well as in the Hebrew. Alexander Geddes, L.L.D., 1737- 1802.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 39. The Red Cross Knight armed for the fray. EXPOSITION
Verse 29-45. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:29" for further information.
Verse 39-40. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:39" for further information.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 38-40. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:38" for further information.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
None. EXPOSITION
Verse 29-45. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:29" for further information.
Verse 41. They cried, but there was none to save them; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. Prayer is so notable a weapon that even the wicked will take to it to in their fits of desperation. Bad men have appealed to God against God's own servants, but all in vain; the kingdom of heaven is not divided, and God never succours his foes at the expense of his friends. There are prayers to God which are no better than blasphemy, which bring no comfortable reply, but rather provoke the Lord to greater wrath. Shall I ask a man to wound or slay his own child to gratify my malice? Would he not resent the insult against his humanity? How much less will Jehovah regard the cruel desires of the enemies of the church, who dare to offer their prayers for its destruction, calling its existence schism, and its doctrine heresy!
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 41. They shall cry, but there shall be none to help them, etc. Sad examples enough there are of the truth of this prophecy. Of Esau it is written that he "found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." Hebrews 12:17. Of Antiochus, though he vowed in his last illness, "that also he would become a Jew himself, and go through all the world that was inhabited, and declare the power of God, yet," continues the historian, "for all this his pains would not cease, for the just judgment of God was come upon him." 2 9:17-18 (Apocrypha). But most appropriately to this passage, it is written of Saul, "When he enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." 1 Samuel 28:6. And therefore, the prophet warns us: "Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains" (Jeremiah 13:16): as Saul's feet, indeed stumbled on the dark mountains of Gilboa. "Even unto the Lord shall they cry:" but not, as it has been well remarked, by a Mediator: and so, crying to him in their own name, and by their own merits, they cry in vain. John Lorinus (1569- 1634), and Remigus (900), quoted by J.M. Neale.
Verse 41. Even unto the Lord. As nature prompts men in an extremity to look up for help; but because it is but the prayer of the flesh for ease, and not of the Spirit for grace, and a good use of calamities, and not but in extreme despair of help elsewhere, therefore God hears them not. In Samuel it is, "They looked, but there was none to save them," q.e.d.,If they could have made any other shift, God should never have heard of them. John Trapp.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 41. Unavailing prayers -- on earth and in hell. EXPOSITION
Verse 42. The defeat of the nations who fought with King David was so utter and complete that they were like powders pounded in a mortar; their power was broken into fragments and they became as weak as dust before the wind, and as mean as the mire of the roads. Thus powerless and base are the enemies of God now become through the victory of the Son of David upon the cross. Arise, O my soul, and meet thine enemies, for they have sustained a deadly blow, and will fall before thy bold advance.
"Hell and my sins resist my course, But hell and sin are vanquished foes My Jesus nailed them to his cross, And sung the triumph when he rose." EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 42. I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets, or rather "of the streets." In the East, all household refuse and filth is cast forth into the streets, where all of it that is at all edible is soon cleared away by birds and dogs, and all that is not is speedily dried up by the sun. To cast forth any one, therefore, as the dirt of the streets, is a strong image of contempt and rejection. John Kitto.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 42. The sure overthrow, final shame, and ruin of evil. EXPOSITION
Verse 43. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people. Internal strife is very hard to deal with. A civil war is war in its most miserable form; it is a subject for warmest gratitude when concord rules within. Our poet praises Jehovah for the union and peace which smiled in his dominions, and if we have peace in the three kingdoms of our spirit, soul, and body, we are in duty bound to give Jehovah a song. Unity in a church should assuredly excite like gratitude.
Thou hast made me the head of the heathen; a people whom I have not known shall serve me. The neighbouring nations yielded to the sway of Judah's prince. Oh, when shall all lands adore King Jesus, and serve him with holy joy? Surely there is far more of Jesus than of David here. Missionaries may derive rich encouragement from the positive declaration that heathen lands shall own the Headship of the Crucified.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 43-44. If these words can be explained literally of David, they apply much more naturally to Jesus Christ, who has been delivered from the strivings of the Jewish people; when, after the terrible opposition he met with on their part, to the establishment of the gospel, he was made the head of the Gentiles who were a strange people, and whom he had not formerly acknowledged as his, but who nevertheless obeyed him with astonishing readiness as soon as they heard his voice. Louis Isaac le Maistre de Sacy, 1613-1684.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 43. (last clause). Our natural and sinful distance from Christ, no bar to grace. EXPOSITION
Verse 44. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. Thus readily did the once struggling captain become a far renowned victor, and thus easy shall be our triumphs. We prefer, however, to speak of Jesus. In many cases the gospel is speedily received by hearts apparently unprepared for it. Those who have never heard the gospel before, have been charmed by its first message, and yielded obedience to it; while others, alas! who are accustomed to its joyful sound, are rather hardened than softened by its teachings. The grace of God sometimes runs like fire among the stubble, and a nation is born in a day. "Love at first sight" is no uncommon thing when Jesus is the wooer. He can write Caesar's message without boasting, Veni, vidi, vici; his gospel is in some cases no sooner heard than believed. What inducements to spread abroad the doctrine of the cross!
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 43-44. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:43" for further information.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 44. Rapid advances of the gospel in some places, slow progress in others. Solemn considerations. EXPOSITION
Verse 29-45. See Psalms on "Psalms 18:29" for further information.
Verse 45. The strangers shall fade away. Like sear leaves or blasted trees our foes and Christ's foes shall find no sap and stamina remaining in them. Those who are strangers to Jesus are strangers to all lasting happiness; those must soon fade who refuse to be watered from the river of life.
And be afraid out of their close places. Out of their mountain fastnesses the heathen crept in fear to own allegiance to Israel's king, and even so, from the castles of self confidence and the dens of carnal security, poor sinners come bending before the Saviour, Christ the Lord. Our sins which have entrenched themselves in our flesh and blood as in impregnable forts, shall yet be driven forth by the sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit, and we shall serve the Lord in singleness of heart. Thus with remembrance of conquests in the past, and with glad anticipations of victories yet to come, the sweet singer closes the description, and returns to exercise of more direct adoration of his gracious God.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 45. The first clause is comparatively easy. The strangers shall fade away -- "shall gradually wither and disappear;" but the second clause is very difficult, They shall be afraid out of their close places. One Jewish scholar interprets it, "They shall fear for the prisons in which I will throw them and keep them confined." (Jarchi). Another, "They shall tremble in their castles to which they have betaken themselves for fear of me." Another (Aben-ezra), "They shall surrender themselves from their fortresses." The general meaning is plain enough. The class referred to are represented as reduced to a state of complete helpless subjugation. As to the event referred to, if we keep to the rendering of our translators the meaning may be, "The Pagans, retired now generally to villages and remote places, shall gradually dwindle away, and fearfully anticipate the complete extinction of their religion." This exactly accords with history. If with some interpreters we read, "The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid because of their prisons," then the meaning may be, "that they who only feigned submission, when persecution for the word should arise should openly apostatise." This, too, would be found consonant with fact. The first of these interpretations seems the more probable. John Brown.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
None.
Copyright information for
TDavid