d, is most
natural; the abruptness of it is artistic and impressive; the difference
of style and measure gives emphasis to the contrast. There is also an
obvious connection between the two parts, inasmuch as the law is
described by epithets, which in part hint at its being a brighter sun,
enlightening the eyes.

[C] "Psalms chronologically arranged"--following Ewald.

The Word which declares the will of the Lord is better than the heavens
which tell His glory. The abundance of synonyms for that word show how
familiar to his thoughts it was. To him it is "the law," "the
testimonies" by which God witnesses of Himself and of man: "the
statutes," the fixed settled ordinances; that which teaches "the fear of
God," the "judgments" or utterances of His mind on human conduct. They
are "perfect, firm, right, clean, pure,"--like that spotless
sun--"eternal, true." "They quicken, make wise, enlighten," even as the
light of the lower world. His heart prizes them "more than gold," of
which in his simple life he knew so little; more than "the honey," which
he had often seen dropping from "the comb" in the pastures of the
wilderness.

And then the twofold contemplation rises into the loftier region of
prayer. He feels that there are dark depths in his soul, gloomier pits
than any into which the noontide sun shines. He speaks as one who is
conscious of dormant evils, which life has not yet evolved, and his
prayer is more directed towards the future than the past, and is thus
very unlike the tone of the later psalms, that wail out penitence and
plead for pardon. "Errors," or weaknesses,--"faults" unknown to
himself,--"high-handed sins,"[D]--such is the climax of the evils from
which he prays for deliverance. He knows himself "Thy servant" (2 Sam.
vii. 5, 8; Psa. lxxviii. 70)--an epithet which may refer to his
consecration to God's work by Samuel's anointing. He needs not only a
God who sets His glory in the heavens, nor even one whose will is made
known, but one who will touch his spirit,--not merely a Maker, but a
pardoning God; and his faith reaches its highest point as his song
closes with the sacred name of the covenant Jehovah, repeated for the
seventh time, and invoked in one final aspiration of a trustful heart,
as "my Rock, and my Redeemer."

[D] The form of the word would make "reckless men" a more natural
translation; but probably the context requires a third, more aggravated
sort of sin.

The eighth psalm is a companio