Charles Spurgeon

The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

“O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance. It is the cry of amazement at sacrilegious intrusion; as if the poet were struck with horror. The stranger pollutes thine hallowed courts with his tread.”

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,

“"Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee." If thou must smite look further afield; spare thy children and strike thy foes.”

Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

“"Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel." Hear thou the bleatings of thy suffering flock. The name is full of tenderness, and hence is selected by the troubled psalmist: broken hearts delight in names of grace.”

Restore us, O God, and cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.

“"Turn us again, O God." It is not so much said, "turn our captivity, "but "turn us." All will come right if we are right. The best turn is not that of circumstances but of character.”

You make us contend with our neighbors; our enemies mock us.

“"Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours." Always jealous and malicious, Edom and Moab exulted over Israel's troubles, and then fell to disputing about their share of the spoil.”

The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.

“"The hills were covered with the shadow of it." Israel dwelt up the mountains' summits, cultivating every foot of soil. The nation multiplied and became so great that other lands felt its influence, or were shadowed by it.”

The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.

“The boar out of the wood doth waste it. Such creatures are famous for rending and devouring vines. Babylon, like a beast from the marshes of the Euphrates, came up and wasted Judah and Israel.”

Let Your hand be upon the man at Your right hand, on the son of man You have raised up for Yourself.

“Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand. Let thy power rest on thy true Benjamin, son of thy right hand; give a commission to some chosen man by whom thou wilt deliver. Honour him, save us, and glorify thyself.”

Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name.

“So will not we go back from thee. Under the leadership of one whom God had chosen the nation would be kept faithful, grace would work gratitude, and so cement them to their allegiance.”

Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts; cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.

“Turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts. Here we have another advance in the title and the incommunicable name of Jehovah, the I AM is introduced. Faith's day grows brighter as the hours roll on; and her prayers grow more full and mighty.”

Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

“Take a psalm. Select a sacred song, and then raise it with your hearty voices. And bring hither the timbrel. Beat on your tambourines, ye damsels, let the sound be loud and inspiriting. "Sound the trumpets, beat the drums."”

Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

“Blow up the trumpet in the new moon. Announce the sacred month, the beginning of months, when the Lord brought his people out of the house of bondage. Clear and shrill let the summons be which calls all Israel to adore the Redeeming Lord.”

For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

“For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. It was a precept binding upon all the tribes that a sacred season should be set apart to commemorate the Lord's mercy; and truly it was but the Lord's due…”

He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language:

“This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony. The nation is called Joseph, because in Egypt it would probably be known and spoken of as Joseph's family, and indeed Joseph was the foster father of the people.”

“I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

“I removed his shoulder from the burden. Israel was the drudge and slave of Egypt, but God gave him liberty. It was by God alone that the nation was set free.”

There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god.

“There shall no strange god be in thee. No alien god is to be tolerated in Israel's tents. Neither shalt thou worship any strange god. Where false gods are, their worship is sure to follow.”

I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

“SOME have considered that our text contains an allusion to a singular custom of showing favor which has been occasionally adopted by Eastern monarchs.”

I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

“I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thus did Jehovah usually introduce himself to his people. The great deliverance out of Egypt was that claim upon his people's allegiance which he most usually pleaded.”

But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.

“But my people would not hearken to my voice. His warnings were rejected, his promises forgotten, his precepts disregarded. Though the divine voice proposed nothing but good to them, and that upon an unparalleled scale of liberality, yet they turned aside.”

So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

“So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust. No punishment is more just or more severe than this.”

If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,

“O that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! The condescending love of God expresses itself in painful regrets for Israel's sin and punishment. Such were the laments of Jesus over Jerusalem.”

how soon I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes!

“I should soon have subdued their enemies. As he did in Egypt overthrow Pharaoh, so would he have baffled every enemy. And turned my hand against their adversaries.”

Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.

“The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him. Though the submission would have been false and flattering, yet the enemies of Israel would have been so humiliated that they would have hastened to make terms with the favoured tribes.”

But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

“He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat. Famine would have been an unknown word, they would have been fed on the best of the best food, and have had abundance of it as their every day diet.”

I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’

“I have said, ye are gods. The greatest honour was thus put upon them; they were delegated gods, clothed for a while with a little of that authority by which the Lord judges among the sons of men.”