The words that form the title of this series of articles occur at the close of a very remarkable Psalm; remarkable in that it insists upon Israel’s peculiar earthly mission among the nations, to whom they will extend the privilege of citizenship of Israel, a sentiment far removed from the narrower exclusiveness of Jewish interpretation. Two lines of teaching regarding Israel’s place in the earth are found in the scriptures, but they must be conceived of as parallels, not divergent or antagonistic. One emphasizes Israel’s unique position among the nations of the earth; the other that the Divine purpose is the blessing of all nations through Israel. Speaking of the exclusiveness that marked the false interpretation of the divine will for Israel, Perowne says:
“It was pervaded by a jealous exclusiveness which was remarkable even among the nations of antiquity, and which derived its force and sanction from the precepts of its religion. The Jews were constantly reminded that they were a separate people, distinct, and intended to be distinct, from all others . . . . . The Jewish church was not a missionary church. So far as the Jews looked upon the world around them, it was with feelings of antipathy, and with the hope, which was never quenched in the midst of the most terrible reverses, that finally they, as the chosen race, should subdue their enemies far and wide, and that, by the grace of Heaven. one sitting on David’s throne would be king of the world.”
While, alas, this is only too true, there are abundant evidences in the Prophets that the wider purpose of Israel’s call was understood, and never allowed to sink out of sight. The initial promise made to Abraham combines both aspects of the truth. God promised that He would make of him a great nation; that He would bless him and make his name great. But He also promised that he should be a blessing; that in him all families of the earth should be blessed (Gen. xii. 1-3).
The prophet Isaiah not only saw that in a future day “the mountain of the Lord’s house would be established in the top of the mountains”, but that “all nations should flow unto it”. The nations will voluntarily go up to the house of the God of Jacob, for there the nations will be taught the ways of the Lord, and Zion shall become the centre from which shall radiate the word of the Lord (Isa. ii. 2, 3). In the glorious day that is coming “there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek” (Isa. xi. 10).
Some of these nations are specified, and the fact that such old enemies as Egypt and Assyria are included in this great brotherhood of nations is an evidence of grace indeed:
“In that day shall Israel be third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance” (Isa. xix. 24,25).
The growing fear of war, the increasing terror of modern weapons, the shrinkage of space by reason of wireless and air transport, the sudden worthlessness of frontiers as defences, are driving the nations of the earth to seek some means of bringing about international unity. This will ultimately lead to the rise of Babylon, and the advent of the last and greatest of the world’s dictators. But what the nations vainly seek to establish by policy and through fear, God intends to bring about by grace. Rome attempted some such uniting of the nations when it extended to them the rights of citizenship of that Empire; Greek philosophy groped amid the shadows after universal citizenship, and by its system of proselytizing even Judaism made some attempt to attain this end.
In Psalm lxxxvi., which immediately precedes the one under review, Davie foresees the conversion of the nations, saying:
“All nations whom Thou hast made, shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy name” (Psa. lxxxvi. 9).
Coming to the Psalm from which the title of these articles is taken, and which has started this line of thought, we observe the following features. The opening superscription, “A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah”, is balanced by the closing subscription, “A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth”. The key to these Psalm titles was discovered by Dr. J. W. Thirtle while examining two independent Psalms, namely the one in Isa. xxxviii. 9-20, and that in Hab. iii. In each of these the relationship of Title and Subscription is clear. The complete Psalm is as follows
(1) The super-scription or title proper.
(2) The body of the Psalm itself.
(3) The sub-scription.
This subject forms the material of Appendices 64 and 65 of The Companion Bible, in which great work all the Psalms are set out in conformity with this pattern.
The words Mahalath Leannoth, therefore, instead of being part of Psalm lxxxviii., form the sub-scription of Psalm lxxxvii. Mahalath means “The great dancing”, for this is how Aquila translates the word in his revision of the Septuagint. Leannoth means “shouting”, or “great shouting”.
“We have only to read the Psalm in the light of I Sam. vi. 14, 15 to see the obvious connection with David’s bringing the Ark to Zion. In verse 2 of the Psalm there is a distinct allusion to the other places where the Ark had found a temporary dwelling. Shiloh (I Sam. i. 3; ii. 14; iii. 21; Psa. lxxviii. 60); Bethshemesh (I Sam. vi. 13); Kirjath-jearim (I Sam. vii. 1); Gibeah (II Sam. vi. 3, 4); the house of Obededom (II Sam. vi. 10-12). But none of these was the dwelling place Jehovah had chosen. Hence, Zion is celebrated as ‘the Mount Zion which He loved’ (Companion Bible, Appendix 65 x.).”
The association of the removal of the Ark with “dancing” is established by II Sam. vi. 14.
Many commentators see in Psalm lxxxvii. a reference to the days of Hezekiah, when it was said of him “that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from henceforth” (II Chron. xxxii. 23). Yet again, it has been assigned to the fulfillment of the promise that the Lord would return unto Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem (Zech. viii. 3), when the temple was once again built and when Zerubbabel was installed as prince of the house of Judah. There is no reason to limit the Psalm to any one particular period of rejoicing, so long as the rejoicing is definitely associated with the choice of Zion.
Where the A.V. reads, “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know Me”, the R.V. reads “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon as among them that know Me”. This is in keeping with the prophecy of Isaiah: “And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day” (Isa. xix. 21). Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia are addressed by the Lord as entering into the glorious privilege of citizenship, “This man was born there”. The glorious things that are spoken of Zion, the city of God, include this all-embracive blessing of the nations. It will be the highest dignity that any can attain, to be able to say, “I was born there”.
The “bringing forth of children” is a figure of frequent use in the prophets, and as it is physically impossible for all the nations specified to be born in Zion, its meaning must be extended to cover the privilege of inclusion by citizenship:
“Shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children . . . . . I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream” (Isa. lxvi. 8-12).
The time of this travail is immediately before the second coming of the Lord, “The bringing of sorrows” (Matt. xxiv. 8). These “sorrows” are not unto death, but pregnant with life, for the word odin is translated “travail” in I Thess. v. 3, and means “birth pains”, even as the verb odino is translated in Gal. iv. 19 “To travail in birth”. The prophetic day to which this looks is called in Matt. xix. 28, “The regeneration”, the time of rebirth for Israel and the nations. It is to this blessed fact that thought is directed in Psalm lxxxvii. Primarily therefore the exultant cry, “All my springs are in Thee”, refers to Zion, the mother of all the nations, together with Israel, who shall enter in to the kingdom of that day.
Having seen this, we are at liberty to extend the passage to cover the greater and more glorious truth that the believer to-day, as at all times, can look up to the Lord and exclaim, “All my springs are in THEE”. It is this aspect of truth that we hope to develop in the subsequent articles of this series.
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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 33, page 39).
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