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will radiate God's light and truth to the whole world through the mediation of saved and
restored Israel.
Aijeleth Hash-Shahar (The Day-Dawn).
This title occurs once only and belongs rightly to Psa. 21: as a subscription. The
margin gives as its meaning, the hind of the morning. This is a common Eastern poetical
expression for the dawning of the day. The figure is that of the rays of the rising sun
shooting up above the horizon like horns before the sun actually appears, just as the horns
of a deer might be seen above the rising ground before his body comes into view. It
denotes therefore the rays of the sun, the first beams of light mounting up as is frequently
seen in pictures of the sun rising. The Psalm title means the day-dawn, a lovely picture
of the beginning of Messiah's reign, when the night and darkness of man's dominion will
be abolished, and the light of the One Who declared Himself to be the light of the world
will spread over the whole earth at His second coming. Psa. 21: deals outwardly with
David and his sovereignty, but it is prophetic of David's greater Son.
David uses the same beautiful poetic description of Messiah's kingdom in
II.Sam.23:. 1-5:
"And He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning
without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain"
(verse 4),
and the glories of the Lord's earthly kingdom are graphically described in Psa. 72:, at
the end of which we read "the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended" (verse 20).
This does not mean that this Psalm was David's last prayer. It is rather that when the
glorious prophecy of Psa. 72: is fulfilled, all David's prayers will be consummated
and all his hopes wonderfully realized.
No.3.
pp. 86 - 91
Al-Taschith (Destroy not).
The Psalms to which this title is properly attached are four: 56:, 57:, 58: and
74: Al-Taschith means `destroy not' and these Psalms are a special appeal for mercy
and justice at a time of crisis.
In the wilderness the Lord had threatened to destroy the whole nation of Israel and
make another nation of Moses (Exod. 32: 10). Moses' reply is summed up in
Deuteronomy 9: 25 and 26 "I prayed unto the Lord and said, O Lord God, destroy not
Thy people and Thine inheritance . . . . .". These Psalms are a similar petition, bearing in
mind the promise recorded in Deut. 4: 30, 31: