here, where security and peace are the main ideas. As some fugitives
from the storm of war sit in security behind the battlements of a
fortress, and scarcely hear the din of conflict in the open field below,
the heart, which has taken refuge by trust in God, is kept in peace so
deep that it passes description, and the singer is fain to give a notion
of its completeness by calling it 'peace, peace.' The mind which trusts
is steadied thereby, as light things lashed to a firm stay are kept
steadfast, however the ship toss. The only way to get and keep fixedness
of temper and spirit amid change and earthquake is to hold on to God,
and then we may be stable with stability derived from the foundations of
His throne to which we cling.

Therefore the song breaks into triumphant fervour of summons to all who
hear it, to 'trust in Jab Jehovah for ever,' Such settled, perpetual
trust is the only attitude corresponding to His mighty name, and to the
realities found in His character. He is the 'Bock of Ages' the grand
figure which Moses learned beneath the cliffs of Sinai and wove into his
last song, and which tells us of the unchanging strength that makes a
sure hiding-place for all generations, and the ample space which will
hold all the souls of men, and be for a shadow from the heat, a covert
from the tempest, a shelter from the foe, and a home for the homeless,
with many a springing fountain in its clefts.

The great act of judgment which the song celebrates is now (vs. 5, 6)
brought into contrast with the blessed picture of the city, and by the
introductory 'for' is stated as the reason for eternal trust. The
language, as it were, leaps and dances in jubilation, heaping together
brief emotional and synonymous clauses. So low is the once proud city
brought, that the feet of the poor tread it down. These 'poor' and
'needy' are the true Israel, the suffering saints, who had known how