The psalms which
probably belong to the period of Absalom's rebellion correspond well with the
impression of his spirit gathered from the historical books. Confidence in God,
submission to His will, are strongly expressed in them, and we may almost
discern a progress in the former respect as the rebellion grows. They flame
brighter and brighter in the deepening darkness. From the lowest abyss the
stars are seen most clearly. He is far more buoyant when he is an exile once
more in the wilderness, and when the masks of plot and trickery are fallen, and
the danger stands clear before him. Like some good ship issuing from the
shelter of the pier heads, the first blow of the waves throws her over on her
side and makes her quiver like a living thing recoiling from a terror, but she
rises above the tossing surges and keeps her course. We may allocate with a
fair amount of likelihood the following psalms to this period—iii.; iv.; xxv.
(?); xxviii. (?); lviii. (?); lxi.; lxii.; lxiii.; cix. (?); cxliii.
The first two of these
form a pair; they are a morning and an evening hymn. The little band are
encamped on their road to Mahanaim, with no roof but the stars, and no walls
but the arm of God. In the former the discrowned king sings, as he rises from
his nightly bivouac. He pours out first his plaint of the foes, who are
described as "many," and as saying that, "There is no help for
him in God," words which fully correspond to the formidable dimensions of
the revolt, and to the belief which actuated the conspirators, and had appeared
as possible even to himself, that his sin had turned away the aid of heaven from
his cause. To such utterances of malice and confident hatred he opposes the
conviction which had again filled his soul, that even in the midst of real
peril and the shock of battle Jehovah is his "shield." With bowed and
covered head he had fled from Jerusalem, but "Thou art the lifter up of
mine head." He was an exile from the tabernacle on Zion, and he had sent
back the ark to its rest; but though he has to cry to God from beyond Jordan,
He answers "from His holy hill."He and his men camped amidst dangers,
but one unslumbering Helper mounted guard over their undefended slumbers.
"I laid me down and slept" there among the echoes of the hills.
"I awaked, for Jehovah sustained me;" and another night has passed
without the sudden shout of the rebels breaking the silence, or the gleam of
their swords in the starlight. The experience of protection thus far heartens
him to front even the threatening circle of his foes around him, whom it is his
pain to think of as "the people" of God, and yet as his foes. And then
he betakes himself in renewed energy of faith to his one weapon of prayer, and
even before the battle sees the victory, and the Divine power fracturing the
jaws and breaking the teeth of the wild beasts who hunt him. But his last
thought is not of retribution nor of fear; for himself he rises to the height
of serene trust, "Salvation is of the Lord;" and for his foes and for
all the nation that had risen against him his thoughts are worthy of a true
king, freed from all personal animosity, and his words are a prayer conceived
in the spirit of Him whose dying breath was intercession for His rebellious
subjects who crucified their King, "Thy blessing be upon Thy people."
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