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Those of us who know our calling and election, and something of the "secret place of
the Most High", need nothing more during life's pilgrimage, than the shadow of His
hand, to preserve us until traveling days are done.
"The Eternal God is thy Refuge."
#9. "The name of the God of Jacob defend thee" (Psa. 20: 1).
pp. 189, 190
The word "defence" is one that has been much in use in recent times, and assurances
have been given from time to time as to the adequacy, the readiness, and the quality of
the nation's defences. So too, in Scripture, we find that not only is God the Refuge of
His people, but He is also their Defence.
In Psalm 7: 10, where we read: "My defence is of God", the Psalmist uses the word
magen, "a shield", but in most passages in the Psalms the word is misgab, "a high place".
It is to this that the Psalmist refers when he says: "The name of the God of Jacob defend
thee" (Psa. 20: 1). The verb here, which supplies us with the noun misgab, is sagab,
and this must be included in our study if we are to appreciate the nature of the "defence"
that we may find in the Lord.
The primary meaning of sagab is "to lift up", then "to be exalted", "to be placed on
high", "to be lofty". In Psalm 148: 13 we read: "His name is excellent" (or more
literally, "His name is most high") while in Isa. 2: 11 sagab is used of the Lord, Who
shall "alone be exalted in that day". Other occurrences are in Psalms 139: & 69:
and, more familiarly, in Psalm 91::
"It is high, I cannot attain to it" (Psa. 139: 6).
"O God, set me up on high" (Psa. 69: 29).
"I will set him on high because He hath known My Name" (Psa.91: 14).
The word misgab, which actually appears in the A.V. of Jer. 48: 1, is used by
David in II Sam. 22:, when he says of the Lord:
"The Lord is my rock: in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my
salvation, my high tower and my refuge, my Saviour" (II Sam. 22: 3).
It was this word, translated "refuge", that came before us in Psalm 46: 7 and 11.
Out of his experience "in the cave", David write the Psalm we considered in our last
article. Out of another experience belonging to the same period he wrote Psalm 59:, the
superscription of which reads, referring to I Sam. 19: 11: "When Saul sent and they
watched the house to kill him." The Psalm opens with the words: