This psalm is a piteous declaration of the unhappy lot of him who is surrounded by the false, the treacherous, and the cruel. They of Mesech - the Moschi of Herodotus (see Exposition) - dwelt where now the horribly bloodthirsty Kurds have their habitation, who of late years have horrified all Christendom by their barbarous atrocities inflicted on the Christian Armenians. Amid men of such sort the psalmist is complaining that he has to dwell (ver. 5). It is a tale of treachery and cruelty that he portrays or rather suggests to us in this psalm. Concerning all such men of lying lips, we learn -

I. THEY ARE THE DISTRESS OF THE GODLY. How many a faithful missionary, amid similar hordes, has felt his heart die down in hopeless despair as he witnesses their horrid cruelty and deceit! We at home forget too much this special trial of the missionary. Nothing but the abundant supply of the Spirit of all grace can possibly sustain him amid such sad and revolting circumstances. If he gets used to them, and so indifferent to them, he can no longer be a true missionary; nor either if he fears them or yields to despair about them. And in less unusual form, God's servants may yet have to say, "My soul is among lions" (Psalm 57:4). Many a God-fearing working man amid a crowd of godless mates, many a Christian servant-girl amid companions who have no love for God, many a young disciple of Christ in school or office, - these and others like them know by sad experience the treachery and cruelty of the ungodly.

II. THE AWFUL AND OVERWHELMING WRATH OF GOD AWAITS THESE PERSECUTORS. (Vers. 3, 4; see Exposition for meaning.) The false and lying tongue is often likened to fire, fire of hell, to sword and sharp arrow, and now here it is declared that what such tongue hath sown, that shall it also reap (cf. Psalm 57:4; Psalm 64:3; Psalm 55:21; Psalm 59:7; James 3:6; and especially Psalm 140:9, 10). Sometimes even in this world we see the Divine vengeance poured out on those who have played the part of bloody and deceitful men towards the people of God. In the persecuting ages it was not unusual nor unnatural for the persecuted ones to point out, as proofs of the Divine wrath, the fearful deaths which overtook many of their persecutors. True it is today that he who blesses the servants of God is blessed, and he who curses them is cursed.

III. IT MAY NEVERTHELESS BE APPOINTED FOR GOD'S PEOPLE TO DWELL AMID SUCH SURROUNDINGS. The great missionary command involved the possibility of such sojourn. If we are to go into all the world, we must expect to meet with what the world has to offer. And, in God's providence, we often have to go and dwell amid, not the friends but the foes of God. The soldier in the field, the sailor, the boy at school. It may be God's will for us. But -

IV. THEM ENMITY MAY OFTEN SEEM TO BE EXCITED BY THAT WHICH SHOULD MAKE IT ASHAMED. (Ver. 7.) Not all at once will the Spirit of peace prevail.

V. BUT NOTHING CAN ROB THE BELIEVING SOUL OF ITS BLESSED RELIEF AND REFUGE IN GOD. (Ver. 1.) The first verse relates what really follows on the facts told of in the other verses. Call upon, cry unto the Lord, and he will ever help. - S.C.

A watch that cannot be depended upon is of very little use. It may have a beautiful gold case, it may be sparkling with jewels, but yet it will be of no service to me as a watch unless I can depend on what it tells me about the time. And so one of the things by which we judge of the real value and worth of men or women, of boys or girls, is this — Are they truthful? Do they mean what they say? Are they really what they seem to be? If so, then they are like a watch that keeps good time. But one of the effects of sin on our hearts has been to take away from them the love of the truth, and to incline them to lying.

I. THE DISGRACE WHICH ATTENDS LYING.

1. It should make little difference to us what wicked men consider to be disgraceful. But if anything will bring shame and disgrace to us, in the opinion of God and of good men, then we should be very careful not to do that thing, whatever it may be. But there is nothing that will do this sooner than lying (Proverbs 6:17; Proverbs 12:22).

2. It is always disgraceful to follow the example of a very wicked person. But we know that Satan is the most wicked person in this world, or in any other. He is "the father of lies" (John 8:44). When we tell lies, we prove ourselves to be the children of Satan. And there cannot be a greater disgrace in the world than to be closely related to such a person, and to have it proved that he is our father. But liars are not only the children of Satan; they are his servants also (Acts 5:8). Lying is Satan's work. And when we engage in lying, we let our hearts become Satan's workshop.

3. In some parts of India, if any person is proved to be a liar, he receives the penalty of the law, which requires that his mouth be sewed up. The offender has his hands tied behind him. He is led out to a post in a public place, to which he is tied, and one of the officers of the government, appointed for that purpose, sews up his lips with a needle and thread. Then he is allowed to go. And every one who sees his closed lips, and the blood flowing from them, can say to himself, "There goes a liar!" What a disgrace that sewed-up mouth would be to a man! David tells us that "the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped" (Psalm 63:11); Solomon tells us that "a lying tongue is but for a moment" (Proverbs 12:19); and in another place David says that "lying lips shall be put to silence" (Psalm 31:18). We are not told how God will do this; but we may be very sure it will be in some way that will fasten shame and disgrace on those who have not prayed earnestly, as David did, in the language of our text, "Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips."

II. THE INJURY THAT IT DOES.

1. The first sin ever committed in our world was a lie. It was in the Garden of Eden. Satan was tempting Eve to break God's commandment. He did it by telling her a lie, and getting her to believe it. And now it is impossible for anybody to count up all the injury that has been done by that sin. That one sin was like poisoning a fountain, and then all the water that flows from it is poisoned too.

2. And when we tell a lie now, we never can tell where the injury that springs from it will stop. It is just like loosening a great rock at the top of a mountain, and letting it go rolling and plunging down the side of the mountain. Nobody can tell how far it will go, nor how much injury it will do before it stops rolling. Telling a lie is like letting a wild beast out of a cage. You can never tell how many people that animal will wound or kill before he is caught again. Telling a lie is like dropping sparks in powder. It is sure to make an explosion, and no one can tell beforehand how much harm that will do. Telling a lie is like going out from the plain beaten path into a tangled wood. You can never tell how long it will take you, or how much you must suffer, before you get back again.

III. THE PUNISHMENT THAT FOLLOWS IT (Proverbs 19:9; Revelation 21:27, 28). But it is not only after death that punishment follows lying. The Bible shows Us how God often punishes people for lying even in this life. There we see Gehazi telling a lie, and the very same day on which he told it brought the punishment. And then we read about Ananias and Sapphira. They agreed together to tell a deliberate, dreadful lie; and they were both struck dead with that lie upon their lips.

(R. Newton, D. D.)