Though I have chosen, for tide, The Psalm of Psalms, other phrases may occur to the ingenious. Mr. Meyer has entitled his sweet and tender comment The Shepherd Psalm, and Dr. John Stoughton called his The Song of Christ’s Flock. A good tide by an anonymous author is The Shepherd King; and an attractive one might be The Psalm of our Childhood.

When occupied with any portion of Scripture, I like to have at hand two commentaries — a thoroughly scientific one, to make clear what exactly the author said and intended, and a more devotional or homiletical one, to suggest applications. For the Psalms, the couple I have thus used most have been Hupfeld and Spurgeon.

Hupfeld is not only the best commentary on the Psalms known to me, but the best commentary I have ever used on any part of Scripture. In fact, it taught me what exegesis is. It is rationalistic; but it is easy to discount this; and nothing can surpass its learning and knowledge, its literary appreciation and intellectual grasp. Unfortunately it has not been translated; but much of the essence of it has been transferred to Perowne. Those who prefer what is more recent may turn to Kirkpatrick’s three volumes, to be had bound in one, or Briggs’ two volumes in the International Commentary.

As for Spurgeon’s Treasury of David, the bulky volumes and miscellaneous contents will repel scholarly readers. Yet Spurgeon has far more learning than he gets credit for; he seldom misses the drift of a psalm; and in his heaps of accumulations there is many a remark or illustration that can be made to shine like a gem in a discourse. Maclaren’s three volumes on the Psalms in the Expositor’s Bible are among the best of his expository writings.