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  THE HART
  AND
  THE WATER-BROOKS;

  A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF
  THE FORTY-SECOND PSALM.

  BY THE
  REV. JOHN R. MACDUFF,
  AUTHOR OF "MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES," "MEMORIES OF GENNESARET,"
  "WORDS Of JESUS," ETC. ETC.

  "The portion of God's Word that is specially precious to me, more so
  than I am able to express, is Psalm forty-second."--HARRINGTON
  EVANS' LIFE, p. 399.

  "What a precious, soul-comforting Psalm is that forty-second!"--LIFE
  OF CAPTAIN HAMMOND, p. 289.

  LONDON:
  JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
  M.DCCC.LX.




  EDINBURGH:
  PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY,
  PAUL'S WORK.




THE FORTY-SECOND PSALM.

¶ _To the Chief Musician_, MASCHIL, _for the Sons of Korah._


  1  As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,--so panteth my soul
           after thee, O God.

  2  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:--when shall I come
           and appear before God?

  3  My tears have been my meat day and night,
     While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

  4  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me:
     For I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house
           of God,
     With the voice of joy and praise,--with a multitude that kept
           holy day.

  5  Why art thou cast down, O my soul?--and why art thou disquieted
           in me?
     Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him
     For the help of his countenance [or, His presence is salvation].

  6  O my God, my soul is cast down within me:
     Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of
           the Hermonites,
     From the hill Mizar.

  7  Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts;
     All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

  8  Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time,
     And in the night his song shall be with me,
     And my prayer unto the God of my life.

  9  I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me?
     Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

  10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me;
     While they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

  11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul?--and why art thou disquieted
           within me?
     Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him,
     Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.[1]

  [1] The title of the Psalm (משכיל MASCHIL--_instruction_,) is
  the same as that of other twelve. Some have referred the word
  merely to the music--indicating the tune to which the Psalms were
  set,--demanding of the sons of Korah, and "the chief musician,"
  (the conductors of temple-song,) some melody specially adapted to
  the sentiments they contain. Others, with greater probability,
  take it as indicative of their _design_;--that while expressive of
  personal feeling and experience, they were intended for the
  "instruction" and comfort of the Church in all ages. Hence the
  term given to them of _didactic_.

  Though his name is not mentioned, there is little doubt that
  David, and not the sons of Korah, as some have supposed, was the
  author of this Psalm. The reader is referred to _Hengstenberg_ for
  a statement of the internal grounds, in the Psalm itself, to
  favour this conclusion. "To me," says Calvin, "it appears more
  probable that the sons of Korah are here mentioned because this
  Psalm was committed as a precious treasure to be preserved by
  them;--as we know that out of the number of the singers some were
  chosen and appointed to be keepers of the Psalms. That there is no
  mention made of David's name, does not in itself involve any
  difficulty, since we see the same omission in other Psalms, of
  which there is, notwithstanding, the strongest grounds for
  concluding that he was author."

  According to an arbitrary division by the Jews of their Psalter
  into five parts, supposed to have been made by Ezra after the
  return from Babylon, the Forty-second Psalm forms the commencement
  of the second book. Regarding its structure, we may remark, that
  it is divided into two portions or _strophes_, each of these
  closing with a refrain in verses 5 and 11.

The following is an excellent poetical paraphrase of the Psalm, by
Bishop Lowth:--

    "As pants the wearied hart for cooling springs,
      That sinks exhausted in the summer's chase;
    So pants my longing soul, great King of kings!
      So thirsts to reach Thy sacred dwelling-place.

    "On briny tears my famish'd soul hath fed,
      While taunting foes deride my deep despair;
    'Say, where is now thy Great Deliverer fled,
      Thy mighty God, deserted wanderer, where?'

    "Oft dwell my thoughts on those thrice happy days,
      When to Thy fane I led the willing throng;
    Our mirth was worship, all our pleasure praise,
      And festal joys still closed with sacred song.

    "Why throb, my heart? why sink, my saddening soul,
      Why droop to earth, with various foes oppress'd?
    My years shall yet in blissful circles roll,
      And peace be yet an inmate of this breast.

    "By Jordan's banks with devious steps I stray,
      O'er Hermon's rugged rocks and deserts dear:
    E'en there Thy hand shall guide my lonely way,
      There Thy remembrance shall my spirit cheer.

    "In rapid floods the vernal torrents roll,
      Harsh sounding cataracts responsive roar;
    Thine angry billows overwhelm my soul,
      And dash my shatter'd bark from shore to shore.

    "Yet Thy sure mercies ever in my sight,
      My heart shall gladden through the tedious day;
    And'midst the dark and gloomy shades of night,
      To Thee I'll fondly tune the grateful lay.

    "Rock of my hope! great Solace of my heart!
      Why, why desert the offspring of Thy care,
    While taunting foes thus point th' invidious dart,
      'Where is thy God, abandon'd wanderer, where?'

    "Why faint, my soul? why doubt Jehovah's aid?
      Thy God the God of mercy still shall prove;
    Within His courts thy thanks shall yet be paid,
      Unquestion'd be His pity and His love."




INTRODUCTORY.


                                         PAGE

  I. THE SCENE OF THE PSALM,                2

  II. THE GENERAL SCOPE OF THE PSALM,      10

  III. A PECULIAR EXPERIENCE,              24




CONTENTS OF THE PSALM.


  I. THE HART PANTING,                     36

  II. THE HART WOUNDED,                    46

  III. THE LIVING GOD,                     60

  IV. THE TAUNT,                           78

  V. THE TAUNT,                            90

  VI. SABBATH MEMORIES,                   102

  VII. HOPE,                              122

  VIII. THE HILL MIZAR,                   141

  IX. THE CLIMAX,                         166

  X. LESSONS,                             180

  XI. FAITH AND PRAYER,                   192

  XII. THE QUIET HAVEN,                   212




I.

The Scene of the Psalm.


    "Where is thy favour'd haunt, Eternal Voice,
        The region of Thy choice,
    Where, undisturb'd by sin and earth, the soul
        Owns Thine entire control?
    'Tis on the mountain's summit dark and high,
        Where storms are hurrying by:
    'Tis'mid the strong foundations of the earth,
        Where torrents have their birth.
    No sounds of worldly toil ascending there
        Mar the full burst of prayer;
    Lone nature feels that she may freely breathe,
        And round us and beneath
    Are heard her sacred tones: the fitful sweep
        Of winds across the steep,
    The dashing waters where the air is still,
        From many a torrent rill--.
    Such sounds as make deep silence in the heart
        For thought to do her part."

"The spot was so attractive to me, as well as the view of the
surrounding country so charming, that I had great difficulty in
tearing myself away from it. In the foreground, at my feet, was the
Jordan flowing through its woods of tamarisks. On the other side rose
gently the plain of Beisan surmounted by the high _tell_ of that name.
In the distance were the mountains of Gilboa--the whole stretch of
which is seen, even as far as ancient Jezreel."--_Van de Velde's
Travels in Syria and Palestine_, vol. ii. p. 355.


I.

THE SCENE OF THE PSALM.

All recent explorers of Palestine speak in glowing terms of that
"solemn eastern background," with its mellow tints of blue and purple,
rising conspicuous, as if a wall built by giants, from the deep gorge
or valley of the Jordan. This mountain range, and especially the hills
of Gilead, with their rugged ravines and forests of sycamore and
terebinth, are full of blended memories of joy and sadness. From one
of these <DW72>s, the Father of the Faithful obtained his first view of
his children's heritage. On another, the Angels of God--the two bright
celestial bands--greeted Jacob on his return from his sojourn in
Syria.[2] From another, trains of wailing captives on their way to
Babylon, must oft and again have taken through their tears their last
look of "the mountains round about Jerusalem." Nigh the same spot, the
footsteps of our blessed Redeemer Himself lingered, when death was
hovering over the couch of the friend He loved at Bethany. Martha and
Mary, from their Village-home, must have lifted their eyes to these
same "hills," from whence they knew, in the extremity of their
anguish, their "help" alone could come. While, at a later period, the
same spot was rendered illustrious as the locality of _Pella_, the
mountain fortress and asylum whither their Lord had admonished His
followers to flee, when the Imperial Eagles of Rome were gathered by
Titus around the devoted city.[3]

  [2] Gen. xxxii. 1.

  [3] See Mr Stanley's chapter, in his "Sinai and Palestine," on
  "Peræa and the Trans-Jordanic Tribes," in which these different
  references are graphically grouped together. "The Peræan hills are
  the 'Pisgah' of the earlier history: to the later history they
  occupy the pathetic relation that has been immortalised in the
  name of 'the long ridge,' from which the first and last view of
  Granada is obtained. They are the 'Last Sigh' of the Israelite
  exile."--(P. 328.)

This "land beyond the Jordan" still further derives an imperishable
interest from being the exile-retreat of the sweet Singer of Israel in
the most pathetic period of his chequered life and reign. There is no
more touching episode in all Hebrew history than the recorded flight
of David from his capital on the occasion of the rebellion of Absalom
and the defection of his people. Passing, barefoot and weeping,
across the brook Kedron, and thence by the fords of Jericho, he sped
northwards with his faithful adherents, and found a temporary shelter
amid these remote fastnessess.

Minds of a peculiar temperament have often found it a