The treasury of David, Volume 2 (of 6), Psalm 27-57 (part 3 of 5)

The treasury of David, Volume 2 (of 6), Psalm 27-57 (part 3 of 5)

5. “They looked unto him, and were lightened.” The Psalmist avows that his case was not at all peculiar, it was matched in the lives of all the faithful; they too, each one of them on looking to their Lord were brightened up, their faces began to shine, their spirits were uplifted. What a means of blessing one look at the Lord may be! There is life, light, liberty, love, everything in fact, in a look at the crucified One. Never did a sore heart look in vain to the good Physician; never a dying soul turned its darkening eye to the brazen serpent to find its virtue gone. “And their faces were not ashamed.” Their faces were covered with joy but not with blushes. He who trusts in God has no need to be ashamed of his confidence, time and eternity will both justify his reliance.

6. “This poor man cried.” Here he returns to his own case. He was poor indeed, and so utterly friendless that his life was in great jeopardy; but he cried in his heart to the protector of his people and found relief. His prayer was a cry, for brevity and bitterness, for earnestness and simplicity, for artlessness and grief; it was a poor man’s cry, but it was none the less powerful with heaven, for “the Lord heard him,” and to be heard of God is to be delivered; and so it is added the Lord “saved him out of all his troubles.” At once and altogether David was clean rid of all his woes. The Lord sweeps our griefs away as men destroy a hive of hornets, or as the winds clear away the mists. Prayer can clear us of troubles as easily as the Lord made a riddance of the frogs and flies of Egypt when Moses entreated him. This verse is the Psalmist’s own personal testimony: he being dead yet speaketh. Let the afflicted reader take heart and be of good courage.

7. “The angel of the Lord.” The covenant angel, the Lord Jesus, at the head of all the bands of heaven, surrounds with his army the dwellings of the saints. Like hosts entrenched so are the ministering spirits encamped around the Lord’s chosen, to serve and succour, to defend and console them. “Encampeth round about them that fear him.” On every side the watch is kept by warriors of sleepless eyes, and the Captain of the host is one whose prowess none can resist. “And delivereth them.” We little know how many providential deliverances we owe to those unseen hands which are charged to bear us up lest we dash our foot against a stone.

8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

8. “O taste and see.” Make a trial, an inward, experimental trial of the goodness of God. You cannot see except by tasting for yourself; but if you taste you shall see, for this, like Jonathan’s honey, enlightens the eyes. “That the Lord is good.” You can only know this really and personally by experience. There is the banquet with its oxen and fatlings; its fat things full of marrow, and wines on the lees well refined; but their sweetness will be all unknown to you except you make the blessings of grace your own, by a living, inward, vital participation in them. “Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” Faith is the soul’s taste; they who test the Lord by their confidence always find him good, and they become themselves blessed. The second clause of the verse, is the argument in support of the exhortation contained in the first sentence.

9. “O fear the Lord, ye his saints.” Pay to him humble childlike reverence, walk in his laws, have respect to his will, tremble to offend him, hasten to serve him. Fear not the wrath of men, neither be tempted to sin through the virulence of their threats; fear God and fear nothing else. “For there is no want to them that fear him.” Jehovah will not allow his faithful servants to starve. He may not give luxuries, but the promise binds him to supply necessaries, and he will not run back from his word. Many whims and wishes may remain ungratified, but real wants the Lord will supply. The fear of the Lord or true piety is not only the duty of those who avow themselves to be saints, that is, persons set apart and consecrated for holy duties, but it is also their path of safety and comfort. Godliness hath the promise of the life which now is. If we were to die like dogs, and there were no hereafter, yet were it well for our own happiness’ sake to fear the Lord. Men seek a patron and hope to prosper; he prospers surely who hath the Lord of Hosts to be his friend and defender.

10. “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger.” They are fierce, cunning, strong, in all the vigour of youth, and yet they sometimes howl in their ravenous hunger, and even so crafty, designing, and oppressing men, with all their sagacity and unscrupulousness, often come to want; yet simple-minded believers, who dare not act as the greedy lions of earth, are fed with food convenient for them. To trust God is better policy than the craftiest politicians can teach or practise. “But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” No really good thing shall be denied to those whose first and main end in life is to seek the Lord. Men may call them fools, but the Lord will prove them wise. They shall win where the world’s wiseacres lose their all, and God shall have the glory of it.

11 Come ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?

13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

11. “Come, ye children.” Though a warrior and a king, the Psalmist was not ashamed to teach children. Teachers of youth belong to the true peerage; their work is honourable, and their reward shall be glorious. Perhaps the boys and girls of Gath had made sport of David in his seeming madness, and if so, he here aims by teaching the rising race to undo the mischief which he had done aforetime. Children are the most hopeful persons to teach—wise men who wish to propagate their principles take care to win the ear of the young. “Hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” So far as they can be taught by word of mouth, or learned by the hearing of the ear, we are to communicate the faith and fear of God, inculcating upon the rising generation the principles and practices of piety. This verse may be the address of every Sabbath School teacher to his class, of every parent to his children. It is not without instruction in the art of teaching. We should be winning and attractive to the youngsters, bidding them “come,” and not repelling them with harsh terms. We must get them away, apart from toys and sports, and try to occupy their minds with better pursuits; for we cannot well teach them while their minds are full of other things. We must drive at the main point always, and keep the fear of the Lord ever uppermost in our teachings, and in so doing we may discreetly cast our own personality into the scale by narrating our own experiences and convictions.

12. Life spent in happiness is the desire of all, and he who can give the young a receipt for leading a happy life deserves to be popular among them. Mere existence is not life; the art of living, truly, really, and joyfully living, it is not given to all men to know. To teach men how to live and how to die, is the aim of all useful religious instruction. The rewards of virtue are the baits with which the young are to be drawn to morality. While we teach piety to God we should also dwell much upon morality towards man.

13. “Keep thy tongue from evil.” Guard with careful diligence that dangerous member, the tongue, lest it utter evil, for that evil will recoil upon thee, and mar the enjoyment of thy life. Men cannot spit forth poison without feeling some of the venom burning their own flesh. “And thy lips from speaking guile.” Deceit must be very earnestly avoided by the man who desires happiness. A crafty schemer lives like a spy in the enemy’s camp, in constant fear of exposure and execution. Clean and honest conversation, by keeping the conscience at ease, promotes happiness, but lying and wicked talk stuffs our pillow with thorns, and makes life a constant whirl of fear and shame. David had tried the tortuous policy, but he here denounces it, and begs others as they would live long and well to avoid with care the doubtful devices of guile.

14. “Depart from evil.” Go away from it. Not merely take your hands off, but yourself off. Live not near the pest-house. Avoid the lion’s lair, leave the viper’s nest. Set a distance between yourself and temptation. “And do good.” Be practical, active, energetic, persevering in good. Positive virtue promotes negative virtue; he who does good is sure to avoid evil. “Seek peace.” Not merely prefer it, but with zeal and care endeavour to promote it. Peace with God, with thine own heart, with thy fellow man, search after this as the merchantman after a precious pearl. Nothing can more effectually promote our own happiness than peace; strife awakens passions which eat into the heart with corroding power. Anger is murder to one’s own self, as well as to its objects. “And pursue it.” Hunt after it, chase it with eager desire. It may soon be lost, indeed, nothing is harder to retain, but do your best, and if enmity should arise let it be no fault of yours. Follow after peace when it shuns you; be resolved not to be of a contentious spirit. The peace which you thus promote will be returned into your own bosom, and be a perennial spring of comfort to you.

15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

16 The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

21 Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.

22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

15. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.” He observes them with approval and tender consideration; they are so dear to him that he cannot take his eyes off them; he watches each one of them as carefully and intently as if there were only that one creature in the universe. “His ears are open unto their cry.” His eyes and ears are thus both turned by the Lord towards his saints; his whole mind is occupied about them: if slighted by all others they are not neglected by him. Their cry he hears at once, even as a mother is sure to hear her sick babe; the cry may be broken, plaintive, unhappy, feeble, unbelieving, yet the Father’s quick ear catches each note of lament or appeal, and he is not slow to answer his children’s voice.

16. “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” God is not indifferent to the deeds of sinners, but he sets his face against them, as we say, being determined that they shall have no countenance and support, but shall be thwarted and defeated. He is determinately resolved that the ungodly shall not prosper; he sets himself with all his might to overthrow them. “To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” He will stamp out their fires, their honour shall be turned into shame, their names forgotten or accursed. Utter destruction shall be the lot of all the ungodly.

17. “The righteous cry.” Like Israel In Egypt, they cry out under the heavy yoke of oppression, both of sin, temptation, care and grief. “And the Lord heareth;” he is like the night-watchman, who no sooner hears the alarm-bell than he flies to relieve those who need him. “And delivereth them out of all their troubles.” No net of trouble can so hold us that the Lord cannot free us. Our afflictions may be numerous and complicated, but prayer can set us free from them all, for the Lord will show himself strong on our behalf.

18. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” Near in friendship to accept and console. Broken hearts think God far away, when he is really most near to them; their eyes are holden so that they see not their best friend. Indeed, he is with them, and in them, but they know it not. They run hither and thither, seeking peace in their own works, or in experiences, or in proposals and resolutions, whereas the Lord is nigh them, and the simple act of faith will reveal him. “And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” What a blessed token for good is a repentant, mourning heart! Just when the sinner condemns himself, the Lord graciously absolves him. If we chasten our own spirits the Lord will spare us. He never breaks with the rod of judgment those who are already sore with the rod of conviction. Salvation is linked with contrition.

19. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” Thus are they made like Jesus their covenant Head. Scripture does not flatter us like the story books with the idea that goodness will secure us from trouble; on the contrary, we are again and again warned to expect tribulation while we are in this body. Our afflictions come from all points of the compass, and are as many and as tormenting as the mosquitoes of the tropics. It is the earthly portion of the elect to find thorns and briers growing in their pathway, yea, to lie down among them, finding their rest broken and disturbed by sorrow. BUT, blessed but, how it takes the sting out of the previous sentence! “But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” Through troops of ills Jehovah shall lead his redeemed scatheless and triumphant. There is an end to the believer’s affliction, and a joyful end too. None of his trials can hurt so much as a hair of his head, neither can the furnace hold him for a moment after the Lord bids him come forth of it. Hard would be the lot of the righteous if this promise, like a bundle of camphire, were not bound up in it, but this sweetens all. The same Lord who sends the afflictions will also recall them when his design is accomplished, but he will never allow the fiercest of them to rend and devour his beloved.

20. “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.” David had come off with kicks and cuffs, but no broken bones. No substantial injury occurs to the saints. Eternity will heal all their wounds. Their real self is safe; they may have flesh-wounds, but no part of the essential fabric of their being shall be broken. This verse may refer to frequent providential protections vouchsafed to the saints; but as good men have had broken limbs as well as others, it cannot absolutely be applied to bodily preservations; but must, it seems to me, be spiritually applied to great injuries of soul, which are for ever prevented by divine love. Not a bone of the mystical body of Christ shall be broken, even as his corporeal frame was preserved intact. Divine love watches over every believer as it did over Jesus; no fatal injury shall happen to us, we shall neither be halt nor maimed in the kingdom, but shall be presented after life’s trials are over without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, being preserved in Christ Jesus, and kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

21. “Evil shall slay the wicked.” Their adversities shall be killing; they are not medicine, but poison. Ungodly men only need rope enough and they will hang themselves; their own iniquities shall be their punishment. Hell itself is but evil fully developed, torturing those in whom it dwells. Oh! happy they who have fled to Jesus to find refuge from their former sins, such, and such only will escape. “And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.” They hated the best of company, and they shall have none; they shall be forsaken, despoiled, wretched, despairing. God makes the viper poison itself. What desolation of heart do the damned feel, and how richly have they deserved it!

22. “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants.”—with price and with power, with blood and with water. All providential helps are a part of the redemption by power, hence the Lord is said still to redeem. All thus ransomed belong to him who bought them—this is the law of justice and the verdict of gratitude. Joyfully will we serve him who so graciously purchases us with his blood, and delivers us by his power. “And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Faith is the mark of the ransomed, and wherever it is seen, though in the least and meanest of the saints, it ensures eternal salvation. Believer, thou shalt never be deserted, forsaken, given up to ruin. God, even thy God is thy guardian and friend, and bliss is thine.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—Abimelech was king of Gath, the same with Achish, 1 Sam. xxi. 20: who either had two names, or this of Abimelech, as it should seem, was a common name to all the kings of the Philistines (see Gen. xx. 2; xxvi. 8); as Pharaoh was to the Egyptian kings and Cæsar to the Roman emperors: the name signifies a father-king, or my father-king, or a royal father; as kings should be the fathers of their country: before him David changed his behaviour, his taste, sense, or reason: he imitated a madman.—John Gill.

Whole Psalm.—(This Psalm is alphabetical). The Alphabetical Psalms, the psalmi abcedarii, as the Latin fathers called them, are nine in number; and I cannot help thinking it is a pity that, except in the single instance of the hundred and nineteenth, no hint of their existence should have been suffered to appear in our authorised version. I will not take it upon me to affirm, with Ewald, that no version is faithful in which the acrostic is suppressed; but I do think that the existence of such a remarkable style of composition ought to be indicated in one way or another, and that some useful purposes are served by its being actually reproduced in the translation. No doubt there are difficulties in the way. The Hebrew Alphabet differs widely from any of those now employed in Europe. Besides differences of a more fundamental kind, the Hebrew has only twenty-two letters for our twenty-six; and of the twenty-two a considerable number have no fellows in ours. An exact reproduction of a Hebrew acrostic in an English version is therefore impossible.—William Binnie, D.D.

Whole Psalm.—Mr. Hapstone has endeavoured to imitate the alphabetical character of this Psalm in his metrical version. The letter answering to F is wanting, and the last stanza begins with the letter answering to R. One verse of his translation may suffice—

“=A=t all times bless Jehovah’s name will I; His praise shall in my mouth be constantly: =B=oast in Jehovah shall my soul henceforth; Hear it, ye meek ones, and exult with mirth.”

Verse 1.—“I will bless the Lord at all times.” Mr. Bradford, martyr, speaking of Queen Mary, at whose cruel mercy he then lay, said, If the queen be pleased to release me, I will thank her; if she will imprison me, I will thank her; if she will burn me, I will thank her, etc. So saith a believing soul: Let God do with me what he will, I will be thankful.—Samuel Clarke’s “Mirrour.”

Verse 1.—Should the whole frame of nature be unhinged, and all outward friends and supporters prove false and deceitful, our worldly hopes and schemes be disappointed, and possessions torn from us, and the floods of sickness, poverty and disgrace overwhelm our soul with an impetuous tide of trouble; the sincere lover of God, finding that none of these affects his portion and the object of his panting desires, retires from them all to God his refuge and hiding place, and there feels his Saviour incomparably better, and more than equivalent to what the whole of the universe can ever offer, or rob him of; and his tender mercies, unexhausted fulness, and great faithfulness, yield him consolation and rest; and enable him, what time he is afraid, to put his trust in him. Thus we find the holy Psalmist expressing himself: “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”—William Dunlop.

Verse 1.—S. Basil tells us that the praise of God, once rightly impressed as a seal on the mind, though it may not always be carried out into action, yet in real truth causes us perpetually to praise God.—J. M. Neale’s Commentary.

Verse 2.—“My soul shall make her boast in the Lord.” Not like the boasting of the Pharisee, so hateful in the eyes of God, so offensive in the ears of the humble; for the humble can hear this boasting and be glad, which they would never do if it were not conformable to the rules of humility. Can any boasting be greater than to say, “I can do all things”? Yet in this boasting there is humility when I add, “In him that strengtheneth me.” For though God likes not of boasting, yet he likes of this boasting, which arrogates nothing to ourselves, but ascribes all to him.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verses 2-6.—There is somewhat very striking and pleasing in the sudden transitions, and the change of persons, that is observable in these few verses. “My soul shall boast;” “The humble shall hear;” “I sought the Lord;” “They looked to him;” “This poor man cried.” There is a force and elegance in the very unconnection of the expressions, which, had they been more closely tied by the proper particles, would have been in a great measure lost. Things thus separated from each other, and yet accelerated, discover, as Longinus observes, the earnestness and the vehemency of the inward working of the mind; and though it may seem to interrupt, or disturb the sentence, yet quickens and enforces it.—Samuel Chandler, D.D.

Verse 3.—Venema remarks that after the affair with Achish, we are told in 1 Samuel xxii. 1, “His brethren, and all his father’s house went down to the cave Adullam unto him,” and these, together with those who were in debt, and discontented with Saul’s government, formed a band of four hundred men. To these his friends and comrades, he relates the story of his escape, and bids them with united hearts and voices extol the Lord.—C. H. S.

Verse 4.—“I sought the Lord, and he heard me.” God expects to hear from you before you can expect to hear from him. If you restrain prayer, it is no wonder the mercy promised is retained. Meditation is like the lawyer’s studying the case in order to his pleading at the bar: when, therefore, thou hast viewed the promise, and affected thy heart with the riches of it, then fly thee to the throne of grace, and spread it before the Lord.—William Gurnall.

Verse 4.—“He delivered me from all my fears.” To have delivered me from all my troubles had been a great favour, but a far greater to deliver me from all my fears; for where that would but have freed me from present evil, this secures me from evil to come; that now I enjoy not only tranquility, but security, a privilege only of the godly. The wicked may be free from trouble, but can they be free from fear? No; God knows, though they be not in trouble like other men, yet they live in more fear than other men. Guiltiness of mind, or mind of the world, never suffers them to be secure: though they be free sometimes from the fit of an ague, yet they are never without a grudging; and (if I may use the expression of poets) though they feel not always the whip of Tysiphone, yet they feel always her terrors; and, seeing the Lord hath done this for me, hath delivered me from all my fears, have I not cause, just cause, to magnify him, and exalt his name?—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 5.—“They looked unto him.” The more we can think upon our Lord, and the less upon ourselves, the better. Looking to him, as he is seated upon the right hand of the throne of God, will keep our heads, and especially our hearts, steady when going through the deep waters of affliction. Often have I thought of this when crossing the water opposite the old place of Langholm. I found, when I looked down on the water, I got dizzy; I therefore fixed my eyes upon a steady object on the other side, and got comfortably through.—David Smith, 1792-1867.

Verse 6.—“This poor man cried.” The reasons of crying are, 1. Want cannot blush. The pinching necessity of the saints is not tied to the law of modesty. Hunger cannot be ashamed. “I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise,” saith David (Ps. lv. 2); and Hezekiah, “Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove” (Isa. xxxviii. 14). “I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation” (Job. xxx. 28). 2. Though God hear prayer, only as prayer offered in Christ, not because very fervent; yet fervour is a heavenly ingredient in prayer. An arrow drawn with full strength hath a speedier issue; therefore, the prayers of the saints are expressed by crying in Scripture. “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not” (Ps. xxii. 2). “At noon, will I pray, and cry aloud” (Ps. lv. 17). “In my distress I cried to the Lord” (Ps. xviii. 6). “Unto thee have I cried, O Lord” (Ps. lxxxviii. 13). “Out of the depths have I cried” (Ps. cxxx. 1). “Out of the belly of hell cried I” (Jonah ii. 2). “Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock” (Ps. xxviii. 1). Yea, it goeth to somewhat more than crying: “I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard” (Job xix. 7). “Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer” (Lam. iii. 8). He who may teach us all to pray, sweet Jesus, “In the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” (Heb. v. 7); he prayed with war shouts. 3. And these prayers are so prevalent, that God answereth them: “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his fears” (Ps. xxxiv. 6). “My cry came before him, even into his ears” (Ps. xviii. 6). The cry addeth wings to the prayer, as a speedy post sent to court upon life and death: “Our fathers cried unto thee, and were delivered” (Ps. xxii. 5). “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth” (Ps. xxxiv. 17).—Samuel Rutherford.

Verse 7.—“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” I will not rub the questions, whether these angels can contract themselves, and whether they can subsist in a point, and so stand together the better in so great a number, neither will I trouble myself to examine whether they are in such-and-such a place in their substance, or only in their virtue and operation. But this the godly man may assure himself of, that whensoever he shall want their help, in spite of doors, and locks, and bars, he may have it in a moment’s warning. For there is no impediment, either for want of power because they are spirits, or from want of good will, both because it is their duty, and because they bear an affection in him; not only rejoicing at his first conversion (Luke xv. 10), but, I dare confidently affirm, always disposed with abundance of cheerfulness to do anything for him. I cannot let pass some words I remember of Origen’s to this purpose, as I have them from his interpreter. He brings in the angels speaking after this manner:—“If he (meaning the Son of God) went down, and went down into a body, and was clothed with flesh, and endured its infirmities and died for men, what do we stand still for? Come, let’s all down from heaven together.”—Zachary Bogan.

Verse 7.—“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.” This is the first time that, in the Psalter, we read of the ministrations of angels. But many fathers rather take this passage of the “Angel of the Great Counsel,” and gloriously to him it applies.—J. M. Neale.

Verse 7.—“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,” etc. By whom may be meant, either the uncreated Angel, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of God’s presence, and of the covenant, the Captain of salvation, the Leader and Commander of the people; and whose salvation is as walls and bulwarks about them, or as an army surrounding them; or a created angel may be intended even a single one, which is sufficient to guard a multitude of saints, since one could destroy at once such a vast number of enemies, as in 2 Kings xix. 35; or one may be put for more, since they are an innumerable company that are on the side of the Lord’s people, and to whom they are joined; and these may be said to encamp about them, because they are an host or army (see Gen. xxxii. 1, 2; Luke ii. 13); and are the guardians of the saints, that stand up for them and protect them, as well as minister to them.—John Gill.

Verse 7.—“The angel of the Lord” is represented in his twofold character in this pair of Psalms, as an angel of mercy, and also as an angel of judgment. Psalm xxxv. 6. This pair of Psalms (the thirty fourth and thirty-fifth), may in this respect be compared with the twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where the angel of the Lord is displayed as encamping about St. Peter, and delivering him, and also as smiting the persecutor, Herod Agrippa.—Christopher Wordsworth, D.D.

Verse 7.—“Round about.” In illustration of this it may be observed, that according to D’Arvieux, it is the practice of the Arabs to pitch their tents in a circular form; the prince being in the middle, and the Arabs about him, but so as to leave a respectful distance between them. And Thevenot, describing a Turkish encampment near Cairo, having particularly noticed the spaciousness, decorations, and conveniences of the Bashaw’s tent, or pavilion, adds, “Round the pale of his tent, within a pistol shot, were above two hundred tents, pitched in such a manner that the doors of them all looked towards the Bashaw’s tent; and it ever is so, that they may have their eye always upon their master’s lodging, and be in readiness to assist him if he be attacked.”—Richard Mant.

Verse 8.—“O taste and see that the Lord is good.” Our senses help our understandings; we cannot by the most rational discourse perceive what the sweetness of honey is; taste it and you shall perceive it. “His fruit was sweet to my taste.” Dwell in the light of the Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with his love. Get out the marrow and the fatness that thy portion yields thee. Let fools learn by beholding thy face how dim their blazes are to the brightness of thy day.—Richard Alleine, in “Heaven Opened,” 1665.

Verse 8.—“O taste and see,” etc. It is not enough for thee to see it afar off, and not have it, as Dives did; or to have it in thee, and not to taste it, as Samson’s lion had great store of honey in him, but tasted no sweetness of it; but thou must as well have it as see it, and as well taste it as have it. “O taste and see,” says he, “how sweet the Lord is;” for so indeed Christ giveth his church not only a sight but also “a taste” of his sweetness. A sight is where he saith thus: “We will rise up early, and go into the vineyard, and see whether the vine have budded forth the small grapes, and whether the pomegranates flourish;” there is a sight of the vine. A taste is where he says thus, “I will bring thee into the wine cellar, and cause thee to drink spiced wine, and new wine of the pomegranates;” there is a taste of the wine. The church not only goes into the vineyard and sees the wine, but also goes into the wine cellar, and tastes the wine.—Thomas Playfere.

Verse 8.—“Taste and see.” There are some things, especially in the depths of the religious life, which can only be understood by being experienced, and which even then are incapable of being adequately embodied in words. “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” The enjoyment must come before the illumination; or rather the enjoyment is the illumination. There are things that must be loved before we can know them to be worthy of our love; things to be believed before we can understand them to be worthy of belief. And even after this—after we are conscious of a distinct apprehension of some spiritual truth, we can only, perhaps, answer, if required to explain it, in the words of the philosopher to whom the question was put, “What is God?” “I know, if I am not asked.”—Thomas Binney’s “Sermons,” 1869.

Verse 8.—“Taste and see.” Be unwilling that all the good gifts of God should be swallowed without taste or maliciously forgotten, but use your palate, know them, and consider them.—D. H. Mollerus.

Verse 8.—Heaven and earth are replete with the goodness of God. We omit to open our mouths and eyes, on which account the Psalmist desires us to “taste” and “see.”—Augustus F. Tholuck.

Verse 8.—The “taste and see” invite, as it were, to a sumptuous feast, which has long been ready; to a rich sight openly exposed to view. The imperatives are in reality not hortatory but persuasive.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 8.—All that the believer can attain of spiritual consolation in this life is but a taste.—David Dickson.

Verse 8:—

O taste the Lord, and see how sweet He is, The man that trusts in him lives still in bliss.

Sir John Davies, 1569-1626.

Verses 8, 9, 10.—All these verses are beautiful representations of the fulness, suitableness, completeness, and all-sufficiency of God in Christ to answer all the wants of his people. And is there not a vast elegance in the comparison taken from the hunger and rapacity of the lion, even the impetuousness of the young lion, to that of the patience and silent waiting of the faithful believer? A life of faith will find food in everything, because it is all founded in Christ. The young lions may, and will lack, because nothing will supply their voracious appetites but that which is carnal.—Robert Hawker.

Verse 10.—“The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger.” The old lions will have it for them, if it be to be had. “But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” As they would feel no evil thing within, so they shall want no good thing without. He that freely opens the upper, will never wholly close the nether springs. There shall be no silver lacking in Benjamin’s sack, while Joseph has it to throw in. Grace is not such a beggarly visitant, as will not pay its own way. When the best of beings is adored, the best of blessings are enjoyed.—William Secker.

Verse 10.—People are apt to fancy that a wild beast’s life must be happy—in a brute’s sense—and that the carnivorous and graminivorous creatures which have never come under the dominion of mankind are better off than the domesticated quadrupeds which buy their quieter and safer lives at the price of ministering to the luxuries or necessities of their human lords. But the contrary is the case: the career of a flesh-eating animal must be wretched, even from the tiger’s or leopard’s point of view. They must often suffer pangs of long-continued hunger, and when they find and kill food they frequently have to wage desperate war for the enjoyment of their victim. The cry of almost every wild beast is so melancholy and forlorn, that it impresses the traveller with sadness more even than with fear. If the opportunity occurs for watching them in the chase, they are seen to sneak and sniff about, far less like “kings of the forest,” than poor, dejected, starving wretches, desperate upon the subject of their next meal. They suffer horribly from diseases induced by foul diet and long abstinence; and very few are found without scars in their hide—the tokens of terrible combats. If they live to old age their lot is piteous: their teeth are worn down, their claws are blunt, and in this state numbers of them perish by starvation. Not one half of the wild animals die a natural death; and their life, so far as it can be observed, is a series of stern privations, with desperate and bloody fights among themselves.—Clipping from “Daily Telegraph.”

Verse 10.—“They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” There shall be no want to such, and such shall want no good thing: so that he must be such an one to whom the promise is made; and he must also be sure that it is good for him which is promised. But oftentimes it is not good for a man to abound with earthly blessings; as strong drink is not good for weak brains. Yea, if anything be wanting to a good man, he may be sure it is not good for him; and then better that he doth want it, than that he did enjoy it; and what wise man will complain of the want of that, which if he had, would prove more hurtful than gainful to him? As a sword to a madman, a knife to a child, drink to them that have a fever or the dropsy. “No good thing will God withhold,” etc., and therefore, not wants themselves, which to many are also good, yea, very good things, as I could reckon up many. Want sanctified is a notable means to bring to repentance, to work in us amendment of life, it stirs up prayer, it weans from the love of the world, it keeps us always prepared for the spiritual combat, discovers whether we be true believers or hypocrites, prevents greater evils of sin and punishment to come; it makes us humble, conformable to Christ our Head, increaseth our faith, our joy, and thankfulness, our spiritual wisdom, and likewise our patience, as I have largely shown in another treatise.—Richard Young, in the “Poor’s Advocate,” 1653.

Verse 10.—I remember as I came through the country, that there was a poor widow woman, whose husband fell at Bothwell: the bloody soldiers came to plunder her house, telling her they would take all she had. “We will leave thee nothing,” said they, “either to put in thee, or on thee.” “I care not,” said she, “I will not want as long as God is in the heavens.” That was a believer indeed.—Alexander Peden’s Sermon, 1682.

Verse 10.—Take a survey of heaven and earth and all things therein, and whatsoever upon sure ground appears good, ask it confidently of Christ; his love will not deny it. If it were good for you that there were no sin, no devil, no affliction, no destruction, the love of Christ would instantly abolish these. Nay, if the possession of all the kingdoms of the world were absolutely good for any saint, the love of Christ would instantly crown him monarch of them.—David Clarkson.

Verse 10 (last clause).—Part of his last afternoon was spent by Columba in transcribing the Psalms of David. Having come to that passage in the thirty-fourth Psalm, where it is said, “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing,” he said, “I have come to the end of a page, and I will stop here, for the following verse, ‘Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord,’ will better suit my successor to transcribe than me. I will leave it, therefore, to Baithen.” As usual, the bell was rung at midnight for prayers. Columba was the first to hasten to church. On entering it soon after, Dermid found him on his knees in prayer, but evidently dying. Raising him up in his arms, he supported his head on his bosom. The brethren now entered. When they saw Columba in this dying condition they wept aloud. Columba heard them. He opened his eyes and attempted to speak, but his voice failed. He lifted up his hands as if to bless them, immediately after which he breathed out his spirit. His countenance retained in death the expression it wore in life, so that it seemed as if he had only fallen asleep.—“Story of Columba and his Successors,” in the Christian Treasury for 1848.

Verse 11.—“Come, ye children.” Venema in substance remarks that David in addressing his friends in the cave, called them his sons or children, because he was about to be their teacher, and they his disciples; and again, because they were young men in the flower of their age, and as sons, would be the builders up of his house; and still more, because as their leader to whose discipline and command they were subject, he had a right to address them as his children.—C. H. S.

Verse 11.—“Come ye children,” etc. You know your earthly parents, ay, but labour to know your heavenly. You know the fathers of your flesh, ay, but strive to know the Father of your spirits. You are expert in may be in Horace’s Odes, Virgil’s Eclogues, Cicero’s Orations; oh! but strive to get understanding in David’s Psalms, Solomon’s Proverbs, and the other plain books of Holy Writ. Manna was to be gathered in the morning. The orient pearl is generated of the morning dew; aurora musis amica, the morning is a friend to the muses. O “remember thy Creator,” know him in the morning of thy childhood. When God had created the heavens and the earth, the first thing he did was to adorn the world with light, and separate it from the darkness. Happy is that child on whom the light of saving knowledge begins to dawn early. God, in the law, required the first-born, and the first-fruits, so he doth still our first days, to be offered to him. They are wisdom’s words, “They that seek me early shall find me.” Prov. viii. 17. Where a rabbin observeth a נ is added to the verb more than usual, which in numbering goeth for fifty. With this note, that early seeking hath not only twenty, or thirty, but fifty, nay, indeed, an hundred fold recompense attending on it.—Nathanael Hardy.

Verse 11.—“Come, ye children.” David in this latter part of the Psalm undertakes to teach children; though a man of war and anointed to be king, he did not think it below him: though now he had his head so full of cares, and his hands of business, yet he could find heart and time to give good counsel to young people from his own experience.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 11.—Observe I. What he expects from them, “Hearken unto me,” leave your play, lay by your toys, and hear what I have to say to you; not only give me the hearing, but observe and obey me. II. What he undertakes to teach them, “The fear of the Lord,” inclusive of all the duties of religion. David was a famous musician, a statesman, a soldier, but he doth not say to his children, I will teach you to play upon the harp, or to handle the sword or spear, or draw the bow, or I will teach you the maxims of state policy, but I will teach you the fear of the Lord, which is better than all arts and sciences, better than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices. That is it which we should be solicitous both to learn ourselves, and to teach our children.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 11.—“I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” I shall introduce the translation and paraphrase from my old Psalter; and the rather because I believe there is a reference to that very improper and unholy method of teaching youth the system of heathen mythology before they are taught one sound lesson of true divinity, till at last their minds are imbued with heathenism, and the vicious conduct of gods, goddesses, and heroes (here very properly called tyrants), becomes the model of their own; and they are as heathenish without as they are heathenish within.

Trans. “Cummes sones lere me: dred of Lard I sal you lere.”

Par. “Cummes, with trauth and luf: sones, qwam I gette in haly lere: heres me. With eres of hert. I sal lere you, noght the fabyls of poetes; na the storys of tyrauntz; bot the dred of oure Larde, that wyl bring you til the felaghschippe of aungels; and thar in is lyfe.” I need not paraphrase this paraphrase, as it is plain enough.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 11.—“The fear of the Lord.” The Master of Sentences dwells, from this verse, on the four kinds of fear: mundane, servile, initial, filial. Mundane, when we fear to commit sin, simply lest we should lose some worldly advantage or incur some worldly inconvenience. Servile, when we fear to commit sin, simply because of hell torments due to it. Initial, when we fear to commit it lest we should lose the happiness of heaven. Filial, when we fear, only and entirely because we dread to offend that God whom we love with all our hearts. “I will teach.” Whence notice, that this fear is not a thing to be learnt all at once; it needs careful study and a good master. S. Chrysostom compares the Psalmist’s school here with the resort of heathen students to the academy; and S. Ephraem, referring to this passage, calls the fear of God itself the school of the mind. “As if he proclaimed,” says S. Lawrence Justiniani, “I will teach you, not the courses of the stars, not the nature of things, not the secrets of the heavens, but the fear of the Lord. The knowledge of such matters, without fear, puffs up; but the fear of the Lord, without any such knowledge, can save.” “Here,” says Cassiodorus, “is not fear to be feared, but to be loved. Human fear is full of bitterness; divine fear of sweetness: the one drives to slavery, the other allures to liberty; the one dreads the prison of Gehenna, the other opens the kingdom of heaven.”—J. M. Neale.

Verse 11.—“The fear of the Lord.” Let this, therefore, good children, be your principal care and study; for what shall it avail you to be cunning in Tully, Virgil, Homer, and other profane writers, if you be unskilful in God’s book? to have learned Greek and Latin, if you learn not withal the language of Canaan? to have your speech agreeable to the rules of Priscian, of Lily, if your lives and courses be not consonant to the rules and laws of Christianity? to have knowledge of the creatures when you are ignorant of the Creator? to have learned that whereby you may live a while here, and neglect that whereby you may live eternally hereafter? Learn to fear God, to serve God, and then God will bless you; for “He will bless them that fear him, both small and great.” Ps. cxv. 13.—Thomas Gataker’s “David’s Instructor,” 1637.

Verse 12.—It is no great matter to live long, or always, but to live happily. That loyal prayer, “Let the king live” (in every language) imports a prosperous state. When the Psalmist saith, “Who is the man that would see life?” he explaineth himself presently after by “good days.” Vivere among the Latins is sometimes as much as valere, to live is as much as to be well; and upon this account it is that as, on the one hand, the Scripture calls the state of the damned an eternal death, because their life is only a continuance in misery; so on the other hand the state of the blessed is an eternal life, because it is a perpetual abode in felicity.—Nathanael Hardy.

Verse 12.—The benefit of life is not in the length, but in the use of it. He sometimes lives the least that lives the longest.—Seneca.

Verse 13.—“Keep thy tongue from evil,” etc. Ficinus, after his tracts, De sanitate tuenda, of keeping good health; and another, of recovering health; and a third, of prolonging life; because all will not do, wisely addeth a fourth, of laying hold on eternal life; which cannot be done but by mortifying this earthly member, a loose and lewd tongue. “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned,” saith the Judge himself. Matt. xii. 37. Compare Gen. xlix. 21 with Deut. xxxiii. 23, and it will appear that good words ingratiate with God and man.—John Trapp.

Verse 13.—“And thy lips from speaking guile.” Perhaps David, in warning us that we speak no guile, reflects upon his own sin in changing his behaviour. They that truly repent of what they have done amiss, will warn others to take heed of doing likewise.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 14.—“Depart from evil,” etc. This denotes that evil is near to men; it keeps close to them, and should be declined and shunned: and it regards all sorts of evil; evil men and their evil company; evil things, evil words and works, and all appearance of evil; and the fear of the Lord shows itself in a hatred of it, and a departure from it. Prov. viii. 13; xvi. 6.—John Gill.

Verse 14.—“Depart from evil.” The other precepts are the duty of works, and they are four, where the precepts of words were but two; because we must be more in works than in words; and they are all affirmative, for it is against the nature of a work to be in the negative; for so working should be no better than idleness: the two former are general, as general as good and evil; that if we meet with anything that is evil, our part is to depart, for there is no demuring upon evil.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 14.—“Do good.” Negative goodness is not sufficient to entitle us to heaven. There are some in the world whose religion runs all upon negatives; they are not drunkards, they are not swearers, and for this they do bless themselves. See how the Pharisee vapours (Luke xviii. 11), “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,” etc. Alas! the not being scandalous will no more make a Christian than a cypher will make a sum. We are bid, not only to cease from evil, but to do good. It will be a poor plea at last—Lord, I kept myself from being spotted with gross sin: I did no hurt. But what good is there in thee? It is not enough for the servant of the vineyard that he doth no hurt there, he doth not break the trees, or destroy the hedges; if he doth not work in the vineyard he loseth his pay. It is not enough for us to say at the last day, we have done no hurt, we have lived in no gross sin; but what good have we done in the vineyard? Where is the grace we have gotten? If we cannot show this, we shall lose our pay, and miss of salvation.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 14.—“Seek peace, and pursue it.” Yea, do well, and thou shalt not need to pursue it; peace will find thee without seeking. Augustine says, Fiat justitia, et habebis pacem—Live righteously, and live peaceably. Quietness shall find out righteousness wheresoever he lodgeth. But she abhorreth the house of evil. Peace will not dine where grace hath not first broken her fast. Let us embrace godliness, and “the peace of God, that passeth all understanding, shall preserve our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.” Phil. iv. 7.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 14.—“Seek peace and pursue it.” The most desirable things are not the easiest to be obtained. What is more lovely to the imagination than the tranquillity of peace? But this great blessing does not voluntarily present itself: it must be sought. Even when sought it often eludes the grasp: it flies away, and must be pursued. 1. The man of a peaceable carriage must be cautious not to give offence when needless, or, when it may innocently be spared. 2. Another part of the peaceable man’s character is, not to take offence; especially in small matters, which are hardly worth a wise man’s notice. 3. If any needless offence has been either given or taken, we must endeavour to put a stop to it as soon as may be. If a difference is already begun, stifle it in the birth, and suffer it not to proceed farther.—Condensed from Dr. Waterland’s Sermon, in J. R. Pitman’s Course of Sermons on the Psalms, 1846.

Verse 15.—“His ears are open unto their cry.” The word “open” is not in the original, but the meaning is that the ear of God is propense, and in a leaning kind of posture, towards the cries of the righteous; the word may here be taken emphatically, as many times in Scripture it is, for some worthy, choice, and excellent strain of righteousness. Those who are worthy and righteous indeed, the ear of God, I say, is propense, and leans and hangs towards them and their prayers, according to that of Cant. ii. 14, “Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice.” There is a kind of naturalness and pleasantness between the ear of God and the prayers and petitions, and cries of such a righteous man. John xv. 7.—John Goodwin.

Verse 15.—“His ears are open unto their cry.” Hebrew, “Are to their cry,” or as St. Peter hath it, “His ears are into their prayers” (1 Peter iii. 12); to show that though their prayers are so faint and feeble that they cannot enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, yet that he will bow down and incline his ears unto, nay, into their prayers, their breathings. Lam. iii. 56.—John Trapp.

Verses 15-17.—“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” Strangers may howl, and we take little notice what they ail—it is a venture whether we relieve them or no; but if our children cry, being in great distress, we hasten to their help. Our relation to God may well strengthen our hope that our desires shall be heard. He that can cry, Abba, Father, may be confident of the success of his suit, and that God wilt deal with him as a son.—George Swinnock.

Verse 18.—“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” God is nigh unto them (with reverence be it spoken), God takes so much complacency in the company of such, that he cannot endure to have them far from him; he must have them always nigh to him, always under his eyes; as for these “broken” ones, he will be sure not to leave them long, nor to go far from them, but will be ready at hand to set their bones, to bind up their wounds to keep them from festering. It may be he may put them to much pain before he brings the cure to perfection, but it is to prevent future aches. He is a foolish cruel chirurgeon, who, for fear of putting his patient to some pain, never searcheth the wound, but skins it over presently; and a wise man will not think him unmerciful that puts him to exquisite pain, so he make a thorough cure of it. Thus God doth by his patients sometimes, when the nature of their distemper calls for it. But, however, he will be sure not to be out of the way when they want him most. It is possible they may look upon themselves as forgotten by God, they may not know their Physician when he is by them, and they may take their Friend for an enemy; they may think God far off when he is near; but when their eyes are opened and their distemper is pretty well worn off, they will, with shame and thankfulness, acknowledge their error; nay, they do from their souls confess, that they do not deserve the least look of kindness from God, but to be counted strangers and enemies; but God will let them know that he loves to act like himself, that is, like a God of love, mercy, and goodness; and that they are the persons that he hath set his heart upon; he will have them in his bosom, never leave them nor forsake them; and though these contrite ones many times look upon themselves as lost, yet God will save them, and they shall sing a song of thankfulness amongst his delivered ones.—James Janeway.

Verse 18.—“The Lord is nigh unto them,” etc. Consider the ADVANTAGES of this broken heart; as I. A broken heart is acceptable and well pleasing to God, “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalm li. 17. II. It makes up many defects in your service and duties, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.” Psalm li. 17. III. It makes the soul a fit receptacle for God to dwell in, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah lvii. 15. IV. It brings God near to men, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalm xxxiv. 18. And V. It lays you open to Christ’s sweet healing, “I will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.” Ezek. xxxiv. 16. And, oh, who would not be broken that they may find Christ’s soft hand healing them, and find the proof of that sweet word, “For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.” Jer. xxx. 17. Yea, VI. It puts you in the right road to heaven, where all your wounds and bruises will be cured; for there is a tree (Rev. xxii. 2) the leaves whereof are for the healing of the nations; there is no complaining there of wounds or bruises, but all are perfectly healed.—John Spalding, in “Synaxis Sacra, or a Collection of Sermons,” etc., 1703.

Verse 18.—“The Lord is nigh unto them,” etc. We are apt to overlook men, in proportion as they are humbled beneath us; God regards them in that proportion. Vessels of honour are made of that clay which is “broken” into the smallest parts. George Horne.

Verse 18.—“Broken heart ... contrite spirit.” Oh, this is the misery of all miseries which ministers have most cause to complain of, that men are not fitted enough for Jesus Christ, they are not lost enough in themselves for a Saviour. “In thee the fatherless findeth mercy.” Hosea xiv. 3. Were we more hopeless, helpless, and fatherless, we should find more mercy from the hand of Jesus Christ. O that God would awaken and shake some sin-sleeping soul this day! O that this doctrine thus opened might be as a thunderbolt to let some of you see the inside of yourselves! O poor sinner, thou hast an unsupportable burden of sin and guilt lying on thy soul, ready to press thee down to hell, and yet thou feelest it not; thou hast the wrath of God hanging over thy head by the twined thread of a short life, which it may be thou mayest not be free from one year, nay, perhaps not one month, but thou seest it not; if thou didst but see it, then thou wouldest cry out as he did in Bosworth field, “A horse! a horse! a kingdom for a horse!” So thou wouldest cry out, None but Christ! nothing but Christ! ten thousand worlds for Christ! James Nalton, 1664.

Verse 18.—“A contrite spirit.” דַּכְּאֵי־רוּחַ, dakkeey ruach, “the beaten-out spirit.” In both words the hammer is necessarily implied; in breaking to pieces the ore first, and then plating out the metal when it has been separated from the ore. This will call to the reader’s remembrance Jer. xxiii. 29, “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord: and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” The breaking to shivers, and beating out are metaphorical expressions: so are the hammer and the rock. What the large hammer struck on a rock by a powerful hand would do, so does the word of the Lord when struck on the sinner’s heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. The broken heart, and the contrite spirit, are two essential characteristics of true repentance.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 19.—“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,” etc. Be our troubles many in number, strange in nature, heavy in measure; yet God’s mercies are more numerous, his wisdom more wondrous, his power more miraculous; he will deliver us out of all.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 19.—“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,” etc. When David did behold his trouble, like the host of the Aramites (2 Kings vi. 16), he looked back unto God like Elisha, and spied one with him stronger than all against him. Therefore, respecting his afflictions he crieth, “Many are the troubles of the righteous;” respecting the promise he sayeth, “The Lord delivereth him out of all.” Thus, by his own foot, David measureth the condition of the righteous, and saith, “Many are the troubles of the righteous;” and then, by his own cure, he showeth how they should be healed by saying, “The Lord will deliver him out of them all.”... The lawyer can deliver his client but from strife, the physician can deliver his patient but from sickness, the master can deliver his servant but from bondage, but the Lord delivereth us from all. As when Moses came to deliver the Israelites, he would not leave a hoof behind him, so when the Lord cometh to deliver the righteous he will not leave a trouble behind him. He who saith, “I put away all thine iniquities,” will also say, “I put away all thine infirmities.”—Henry Smith.

Verse 20.—“He keepeth all his bones,” which were very many. Perhaps (saith Abenezra here), David had been scourged by the Philistines, but his bones were not broken, nor were our Saviour’s. John xix. 36.—John Trapp.

Verse 20.—“All his bones.” Muis observes, “It says not his body, for this he permits to be afflicted; but it signifies that the evils of the godly are light, and scarcely penetrate to the bone;” but Geier observes, “This is too subtle, rather the bone reminds us of the essential parts of the body, by whose injury the whole frame is endangered. It is a proverbial form of speech like that in Matt. x. 30, ‘The very hairs of your head are all numbered,’ expressing the remarkable defence afforded to the righteous.” Genebrard, says, “The bones are put by synecdoche for all the members.”—From Poli Synopsis.

Verse 20.—The passover lamb, of which not a bone was broken, prefigured Jesus as one, “not a bone of whose body should be broken;” and yet, at the same time it prefigured the complete keeping and safety of Christ’s body, the church; as it is written, “He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken.”—Andrew A. Bonar’s Commentary on Leviticus.

Verse 20.—Christ’s bones were in themselves breakable, but could not actually be broken by all the violence in the world, because God had fore-decreed, a bone of him shall not be broken. So we confess God’s children mortal; but all the power of devil or man may not, must not, cannot, kill them before their conversion, according to God’s election of them to life, which must be fully accomplished.—Thomas Fuller.

Verse 20.—Observe as a point of resemblance between this and the following Psalm, the mention of the bones here and in Psalm xxxv. 10.—C. Wordsworth.

Verse 21.—“Evil.” Afflictions though in the plural, prove not ruinous to the righteous, for the Lord delivers him out of them all, whereas evil in the singular slays the wicked, to signify the difference of God’s economy towards righteous and wicked men. The former is permitted to fall into many pressures, the latter is not so frequently exercised with them, yet the many that befall the one do no hurt, but work good for him, whereas the fewer that befall the wicked, or perhaps the one singular affliction of his life is the utter ruin of him.—Henry Hammond.

Verse 21:—

Conscience’ self the culprit tortures, gnawing him with pangs unknown; For that now amendment’s season is for ever past and gone, And that late repentance findeth pardon none for all her moan.

S. Peter Damiano, 988-1072.

Verse 21.—“Shall be desolate.” In the margin it is, shall be guilty. And this is the proper meaning of the original word, יֶאְשָׁמו. They are guilty, and liable to punishment. Thus the word is frequently rendered in our version (see Levit. iv. 13, 22); and generally includes in it the idea of guilt, and the punishment incurred by it.—Samuel Chandler, D.D.

Verse 22.—The promises of God to his church, and his threatenings of sin recorded in the living book of his word, are not antiquate; no age shall ever superannuate them, or put them out of full force and virtue. What if good persons and good causes do suffer oppression? The poet is a divine in that case—

_Informes hiemes reducit Jupiter; idem Summovet. Non si male nunc, et olim Sic erit._

After foul weather comes fair; though it be ill with us now, it will not be always. What if enemies of religion and moths of commonwealth do flourish and prosper, and have all things at will, let it not trouble David and Job; both of them saw as fair a sunshine shut up in a dark cloud, and a world of foul weather following.—Edward Marbury.

Verse 22.—Satan cannot tempt longer than God shall give him leave; and he will never suffer thee to be tempted above measure, but will give a good issue unto the temptation. Thou art called to fight under the banner of Christ Jesus, and in the name of the Lord thou shalt be enabled to do valiantly and overcome. If Satan continue his assaults, “God’s grace is sufficient for thee.” 2 Cor. xii. 9. If thy strength be clean gone, God’s power shall be magnified the more in thee, and he hath brought thee low that thou mayest not trust in thyself, but in the living Lord, and that the whole praise of the victory might be ascribed unto him. If thy strength did remain, it was not to be leaned unto; and now it is decayed and gone, there is no cause of fear for the Lord will be thy stay. In the most difficult assaults and tedious encounters, we are exhorted to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Be of good courage, and God will grant thee an easy, a joyful victory. Satan’s drift in tempting is to turmoil, dishearten, and perplex with fears, and drive into despair; and if thou take heart to rest quietly upon God’s grace, and fly unto his name, thou shalt put him to flight, thou hast already got the day. Wait but awhile, and these dark mists and terrible storms shall be dispersed. By these temptations the Lord hath taught thee to see thy weakness, and the malice of Satan; to deny thine own wisdom and prize his favour, lightly to esteem all things here below, and highly to value mercy reaching to the pardon of sin, and heavenly communion, and fellowship with God. And if this bitter potion hath wrought so kindly for thy spiritual good, why shouldst thou be dismayed? Trust in the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thee. “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.”—John Ball.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—Firm resolution, serious difficulties in carrying it out, helps for its performance, excellent consequences of so doing.

Six questions.—Who? “I.” What? “Will bless.” Whom? “The Lord.” When? “At all times.” How? Why?

Verse 1.—Direction for making a heaven below.

Verse 2.—The commendable boaster and his gratified audience.

We may boast of the Lord, in himself, his manifestations of himself, his relationship to us, our interest in him, our expectations from him, etc.

The duty of believers to relate their experience for the benefit of others.

Verse 3.—Invitation to united praise.

Verse 3.—Magnifying—or making great the work of God, a noble exercise.

Verse 4.—Confessions of a ransomed soul. Simple, honouring to God, exclude merit, and encourage others to seek also.

Verse 4.—Four stages, “fears,” “sought,” “heard,” “delivered.”

Verse 5.—The power of a faith-look.

Verse 6.—I. The poor man’s heritage, “troubles.” II. The poor mans friend. III. The poor man’s cry. IV. The poor man’s salvation.

Verse 6.—The poor man’s wealth.

The position of prayer in the economy of grace, or the natural history of mercy in the soul.

Verse 7.—Castra angelorum, salvatio bonorum.

Verse 7.—The ministry of angels.

In what sense Jesus is “The angel of the Lord.”

Verse 8.—Experience the only true test of religious truth.

Verse 8.—Taste. The sanctified palate, the recherché provision, the gratified verdict, the celestial host.

Verse 9.—The blest estate of a God-fearing man.

Verse 9.—Fear expelling fear. Similia similibus curantur.

Verse 10.—Lions lacking, but the children satisfied. See “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” No. 65. I. Description of a true Christian, “seek the Lord.” II. The promise set forth by a contrast. III. The promise fulfilled.

Verse 10.—What is a good thing?

Verse 11.—A royal teacher, his youthful disciples, his mode of instruction, “Come;” his choice subject.

Verse 11.—Sunday-school work.

Verses 12, 13, 14.—How to make the best of both worlds.

Verse 13.—Sins of the tongue—their mischief, their cause, and their cure.

Verse 14 (first clause).—The relation between the negative and positive virtues.

Verse 14 (second clause).—The royal hunt. The game, the difficulties of the chase, the hunters, their methods, and their rewards.

Verse 15.—Our observant God. Eyes and ears both set on us.

Verse 16.—The evil man checkmated in life, and forgotten in death.

Verse 17.—Afflictions and their threefold blessing. I. They make us pray. II. They bring us the Lord’s hearing ear. III. They afford room for joyful experience of deliverance.

Verse 18.—The nearness of God to broken hearts, and the certainty of their salvation.

Verse 19.—Black and white, or bane and antidote.

Special people, special trials, special deliverances, special faith as a duty.

Verse 20.—The real safety of a believer when in great perils. His soul, his spiritual life, his faith, hope, love, etc.; his interest in Jesus, his adoption, justification, these all kept.

Verse 21.—Wickedness, its own executioner, illustrated by scriptural cases, by history, by the lost in hell. Lessons from the solemn fact.

The forlorn condition of a man of malicious spirit.

Verses 21, 22.—Who shall and who shall not be desolate.

Verse 22.—Redemption in its various meanings; faith in its universal preservation; the Lord in his unrivalled glory in the work of grace.

PSALM XXXV.

TITLE.—A Psalm of David.—Here is all we know concerning this Psalm, but internal evidence seems to fix the date of its composition in those troublous times when Saul hunted David over hill and dale, and when those who fawned upon the cruel king, slandered the innocent object of his wrath, or it may be referred to the unquiet days of frequent insurrections in David’s old age. The whole Psalm is the appeal to heaven of a bold heart and a clear conscience, irritated beyond measure by oppression and malice. Beyond a doubt David’s Lord may be seen here by the spiritual eye.

DIVISIONS.—The most natural mode of dividing this Psalm is to note its triple character. Its complaint, prayer, and promise of praise are repeated with remarkable parallelism three times, even as our Lord in the Garden prayed three times using the same words. The first portion occupies from verse 1 to 10, the second from 11 to 18, and the last from 19 to the close: each section ending with a note of grateful song.

EXPOSITION.

Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.

2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.

3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.

5 Let them be as chaff before the wind; and let the angel of the LORD chase them.

6 Let their way be dark and slippery; and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.

7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.

8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.

9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.

10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?

1. “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me.” Plead against those who plead against me; strive with my strivers; contend with my contenders. If they urge their suit in the law-court, Lord, meet them there, and beat them at their own weapons. Every saint of God shall have this privilege: the accuser of the brethren shall be met by the Advocate of the saints. “Fight against them that fight against me.” If my adversaries try force as well as fraud, be a match for them; oppose thy strength to their strength. Jesus does this for all his beloved—for them he is both intercessor and champion; whatever aid they need they shall receive from him, and in whatever manner they are assaulted they shall be effectually defended. Let us not fail to leave our case into the Lord’s hand. Vain is the help of man, but ever effectual is the interposition of heaven. What is here asked for as a boon, may be regarded as a promise, to all the saints; in judgment they shall have a divine advocate, in warfare a divine protection.

2 “Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.” In vivid metaphor the Lord is pictured as coming forth armed for battle, and interposing himself between his servant and his enemies. The greater and lesser protections of providence may be here intended by the two defensive weapons, and by the Lord’s standing up is meant his active and zealous preservation of his servant in the perilous hour. This poetic imagery shows how the Psalmist realised the existence and power of God; and thought of him as a real and actual personage, truly working for his afflicted.

3. “Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me.” Before the enemy comes to close quarters the Lord can push them off as with a long spear. To stave off trouble is no mean act of lovingkindness. As when some valiant warrior with his lance blocks up a defile, and keeps back a host until his weaker brethren have made good their escape, so does the Lord often hold the believer’s foes at bay until the good man has taken breath, or clean fled from his foes. He often gives the foes of Zion some other work to do, and so gives rest to his church. What a glorious idea is this of Jehovah blocking the way of persecutors, holding them at the pike’s end, and giving time for the hunted saint to elude their pursuit! “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” Besides holding off the enemy the Lord can also calm the mind of his servant by express assurance from his own mouth, that he is, and shall be, safe under the Almighty wing. An inward persuasion of security in God is of all things the most precious in the furnace of persecution. One word from the Lord quiets all our fears.

4. “Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul.” There is nothing malicious here, the slandered man simply craves for justice, and the petition is natural and justifiable. Guided by God’s good spirit the Psalmist foretells the everlasting confusion of all the haters of the righteous. Shameful disappointment shall be the portion of the enemies of the gospel, nor would the most tender-hearted Christian have it otherwise: viewing sinners as men, we love them and seek their good, but regarding them as enemies of God, we cannot think of them with anything but detestation, and a loyal desire for the confusion of their devices. No loyal subject can wish well to rebels. Squeamish sentimentality may object to the strong language here used, but in their hearts all good men wish confusion to mischief-makers.

5. “Let them be as chaff before the wind.” They were swift enough to attack, let them be as swift to flee. Let their own fears and the alarms of their consciences unman them so that the least breeze of trouble shall carry them hither and thither. Ungodly men are worthless in character, and light in their behaviour, being destitute of solidity and fixedness; it is but just that those who make themselves chaff should be treated as such. When this imprecation is fulfilled in graceless men, they will find it an awful thing to be for ever without rest, without peace of mind, or stay of soul, hurried from fear to fear, and from misery to misery. “And let the angel of the Lord chase them.” Fallen angels shall haunt them, good angels shall afflict them. To be pursued by avenging spirits will be the lot of those who delight in persecution. Observe the whole scene as the Psalmist sketches it: the furious foe is first held at bay, then turned back, then driven to headlong flight, and chased by fiery messengers from whom there is no escape, while his pathway becomes dark and dangerous, and his destruction overwhelming.

6. “Let their way be dark and slippery.” What terrors are gathered here! No light, no foothold, and a fierce avenger at their heels! What a doom is appointed for the enemies of God! They may rage and rave to-day, but how altered will be their plight ere long! “And let the angel of the Lord persecute them.” He will follow them hot-foot, as we say, never turning aside, but like a trusty pursuivant serving the writ of vengeance upon them, and arresting them in the name of unflinching justice. Woe, woe, woe, unto those who touch the people of God; their destruction is both swift and sure.

7. In this verse the Psalmist brings forward the gravamen of his charge against the servants of the devil. “For without cause”—without my having injured, assailed, or provoked them; out of their own spontaneous malice “have they hid for me their net in a pit,” even as men hunt for their game with cunning and deception. Innocent persons have often been ruined by traps set for them, into which they have fallen as guilelessly as beasts which stumble into concealed pits, and are taken as in a net. It is no little thing to be able to feel that the enmity which assails us is undeserved—uncaused by any wilful offence on our part. Twice does David assert in one verse that his adversaries plotted against him “without cause.” Net-making and pit-digging require time and labour, and both of these the wicked will expend cheerfully if they may but overthrow the people of God. Fair warfare belongs to honourable men, but the assailants of God’s church prefer mean, ungenerous schemes, and so prove their nature and their origin. We must all of us be on our guard, for gins and pitfalls are still the favourite weapons of the powers of evil.

8. “Let destruction come upon him at unawares.” This tremendous imprecation is frequently fulfilled. God’s judgments are often sudden and signal. Death enters the persecutor’s house without pausing to knock at the door. The thunderbolt of judgment leaps from its hiding-place, and in one crash the wicked are broken for ever. “And let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.” There is a lex talionis with God which often works most wonderfully. Men set traps and catch their own fingers. They throw up stones, and they fall upon their own heads. How often Satan outwits himself, and burns his fingers with his own coals! This will doubtless be one of the aggravations of hell, that men will torment themselves with what were once the fond devices of their rebellious minds. They curse and are cursed; they kick the pricks and tear themselves; they pour forth floods of fire, and it burns them within and without.

9. “And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord.” Thus rescued, David ascribes all the honour to the Judge of the right; to his own valorous arm he offers no sacrifice of boasting. He turns away from his adversaries to his God, and finds a deep unbroken joy in Jehovah, and in that joy his spirit revels. “It shall rejoice in his salvation.” We do not triumph in the destruction of others, but in the salvation given to us of God. Prayer heard should always suggest praise. It were well if we were more demonstrative in our holy rejoicings. We rob God by suppressing grateful emotions.

10. As if the tongue were not enough to bless God with, David makes every limb vocal—“All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?” His whole anatomy he would make resonant with gratitude. Those bones which were to have been broken by my enemies shall now praise God; every one of them shall bring its tribute, ascribing unrivalled excellence to Jehovah the Saviour of his people. Even if worn to skin and bone, yet my very skeleton shall magnify the Lord, “which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him.” God is the champion, the true knight-errant of all oppressed ones. Where there is so much condescension, justice, kindness, power, and compassion, the loftiest songs should be rendered. Come, dear reader, have you not been delivered from sin, Satan, and death, and will not you bless the Redeemer? You were poor and weak, but in due time Christ sought you, and set you free. O magnify the Lord to-day, and speak well of his name.

11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.

12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.

13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother.

15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:

16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.

17 LORD, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.

18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.

11. “False witnesses did rise up.” This is the old device of the ungodly, and we must not wonder if it be used against us as against our Master. To please Saul, there were always men to be found mean enough to impeach David. “They laid to my charge things that I knew not.” He had not even a thought of sedition; he was loyal even to excess; yet they accused him of conspiring against the Lord’s anointed. He was not only innocent, but ignorant of the fault alleged. It is well when our hands are so clean that no trace of dirt is upon them.

12. “They rewarded me evil for good.” This is devilish; but men have learned the lesson well of the old Destroyer, and practise it most perfectly. “To the spoiling of my soul.” They robbed him of comfort, and even would have taken his life had it not been for special rescues from the hand of God. The wicked would strip the righteous naked to their very soul: they know no pity. There are only such limits to human malice as God himself may see fit to place.

13. “But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.” David had been a man of sympathy; he had mourned when Saul was in ill health, putting on the weeds of sorrow for him as though he were a near and dear friend. His heart went into mourning for his sick master. “I humbled my soul with fasting.” He prayed for his enemy, and made the sick man’s case his own, pleading and confessing as if his own personal sin had brought on the evil. This showed a noble spirit in David, and greatly aggravated the baseness of those who now so cruelly persecuted him. “And my prayer returned into mine own bosom.” Prayer is never lost: if it bless not those for whom intercession is made, it shall bless the intercessors. Clouds do not always descend in showers upon the same spot from which the vapours ascended, but they come down somewhere; and even so do supplications in some place or other yield their showers of mercy. If our dove find no rest for the sole of her foot among our enemies, it shall fly into our bosoms and bring an olive branch of peace in its mouth. How sharp is the contrast all through this Psalm between the righteous and his enemies! We must be earnest to keep the line of demarcation broad and clear.

14. “I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother:” I waited on him assiduously, comforted him affectionately, and sympathised with him deeply. This may refer to those days when David played on the harp, and chased away the evil spirit from Saul. “I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.” He bowed his head as mourners do. The strongest natural grief was such as he felt when they were in trouble. The mother usually wins the deepest love, and her loss is most keenly felt: such was David’s grief. How few professors in these days have such bowels of compassion; and yet under the gospel there should be far more tender love than under the law. Had we more hearty love to manhood, and care for its innumerable ills, we might be far more useful; certainly we should be infinitely more Christ-like. “He prayeth best that loveth best.”

15. “But in mine adversity they rejoiced.” In my halting they were delighted. My lameness was sport to them. Danger was near, and they sang songs over my expected defeat. How glad are the wicked to see a good man limp! “Now,” say they, “he will meet with his downfall.” “And gathered themselves together,” like kites and vultures around a dying sheep. They found a common joy in my ruin, and a recreation in my sorrow, and therefore met together to keep the feast. They laid their heads together to devise, and their tongues to deceive. “Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me.” Those who deserved horsewhipping, fellows the soles of whose feet were needing the bastinado, came together to plot, and held hole and corner meetings. Like curs around a sick lion, the mean wretches taunted and insulted one whose name had been their terror. The very cripples hobbled out to join the malicious crew. How unanimous are the powers of evil; how heartily do men serve the devil; and none decline his service because they are not endowed with great abilities! “I knew it not.” It was all done behind my back. What a fluster the world may be in, and the cause of it all may not even know that he has given offence. “They did tear me, and ceased not.” It is such dainty work to tear to pieces a good man’s character, that when slanderers have their hand in they are loath to leave off. A pack of dogs tearing their prey is nothing compared with a set of malicious gossips mauling the reputation of a worthy man. That lovers of the gospel are not at this time rent and torn as in the old days of Mary, is to be attributed to the providence of God rather than to the gentleness of men.

16. “With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.” Like professional buffoons who grin around the banquet to make sport, so they made a business of jeering at the good man; not, however, out of mirth, but from violent, insatiable hatred. Like cake-scoffers, or men who will jeer for a bit of bread, these hireling miscreants persecuted David in order to get a bellyful for themselves from Saul’s table: having moreover an inward grudge against the son of Jesse because he was a better man than themselves.

Very forcibly might our Lord have used the words of these verses! Let us not forget to see the Despised and Rejected of men here painted to the life. Calvary and the ribald crew around the cross seem brought before our eyes.

17. “Lord, how long wilt thou look on?” Why be a mere spectator? Why so neglectful of thy servant? Art thou indifferent? Carest thou not that we perish? We may thus reason with the Lord. He permits us this familiarity. There is a time for our salvation, but to our impatience it often seems to be very slow in coming; yet wisdom has ordained the hour, and nothing shall delay it. “Rescue my soul from their destructions.” From their many devices; their multiplied assaults, be pleased to set me free. “My darling,” my lovely, only, precious soul, do thou rescue “from the lions.” His enemies were fierce, cunning, and strong as young lions; God only could deliver him from their jaws, to God he therefore addresses himself.

18. “I will give thee thanks in the great congregation.” Notable deliverances must be recorded, and their fame emblazoned. All the saints should be informed of the Lord’s goodness. The theme is worthy of the largest assembly; the experience of a believer is a subject fit for an assembled universe to hear of. Most men publish their griefs, good men should proclaim their mercies. “I will praise thee among much people.” Among friends and foes will I glorify the God of my salvation. Praise—personal praise, public praise, perpetual praise—should be the daily revenue of the King of heaven. Thus, for the second time, David’s prayer ends in praise, as indeed all prayer should.

19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.

20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.

21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.

22 This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O LORD, be not far from me.

23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my LORD.

24 Judge me, O LORD, my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.

25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.

26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.

27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.

19. He earnestly prays that as they have no cause for their enmity, they may have no cause for triumph either in his folly, sin, or overthrow. “Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.” The winking of the eye was the low-bred sign of congratulation at the ruin of their victim, and it may also have been one of their scornful gestures as they gazed upon him whom they despised. To cause hatred is the mark of the wicked, to suffer it causelessly is the lot of the righteous. God is the natural Protector of all who are wronged, and he is the enemy of all oppressors.

20. “For they speak not peace.” They love it not; how can they speak it? They are such troublers themselves that they cannot judge others to be peaceable. Out of the mouth comes what is in the heart. Riotous men charge others with sedition. “They devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.” David would fain have been an orderly citizen, but they laboured to make him a rebel. He could do nothing aright, all his dealings were misrepresented. This is an old trick of the enemy to brand good men with S.S. on their cheeks, as sowers of sedition, though they have ever been a harmless race, like sheep among wolves. When mischief is meant, mischief is soon made. Unscrupulous partisans could even charge Jesus with seeking to overturn Cæsar, much more will they thus accuse his household. At this very hour, those who stand up for the crown rights of King Jesus are called enemies of the church, favourers of Popery, friends of Atheists, levellers, red republicans, and it were hard to say what besides. Billingsgate and Babylon are in league.

21. “Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me.” As if they would swallow him. Uttering great lies which needed wide mouths. They set no bounds to their infamous charges, but poured out wholesale abuse, trusting that if all did not stick, some of it would. “And said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.” Glad to find out a fault or a misfortune, or to swear they had seen evil where there was none. Malice has but one eye; it is blind to all virtue in its enemy. Eyes can generally see what hearts wish. A man with a mote in his eye sees a spot in the sun. How like a man is to an ass when he brays over another’s misfortunes! how like to a devil when he laughs a hyæna-laugh over a good man’s slips! Malice is folly, and when it holds a festival its tones and gestures far exceed all the freaks and mummeries of the Lord of misrule.

22. “This thou hast seen, O Lord.” Here is comfort. Our heavenly Father knows all our sorrow. Omniscience is the saint’s candle which never goes out. A father will not long endure to see his child abused. Shall not God avenge his own elect? “Keep not silence.” Rebuke thine enemies and mine, O Lord. A word will do it. Clear my character, comfort my heart. “O Lord, be not far from me.” Walk the furnace with me. Stand in the pillory at my side. The sweet presence of God is the divine cordial of the persecuted; his painful absence would be their deepest misery.

23. “Stir up thyself.” Be upon thy mettle. Prove that thou art no indifferent witness to all this infamy. “Awake to my judgment.” Take the sceptre and summon the great assize; vindicate justice, avenge oppression. Do not tarry as men do who sleep. “Even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.” He claims a nearness to his God, he holds him with both hands; he leaves his case with the righteous Judge. He begs that the suit may be brought on, heard, tried, and verdict given. Well is it for a man when his conscience is so clear that he dares to make such an appeal.

24. The appeal is here repeated; the plaintiff feels that the joy of his accusers will be shortlived as soon as impartial justice rules. The oppressors’ wrong, the proud man’s contumely, the fool’s grimace—all, all will cease when the righteous Lord sits down upon the judgment seat.

25. “Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.” Disappoint them of their prey when their mouths are ready to swallow it. Saints are too dear a morsel for the powers of evil; God will not give his sheep over to the wolfish jaws of the persecutors. Just when they are tuning their pipes to celebrate their victory, they shall be made to laugh on the other side of their mouths. They are all too sure, and too boastful; they reckon without their host: little do they dream of the end which will be put to their scheming. Their bird shall be flown, and they themselves shall be in the trap. The prayer of this text is a promise. Even before the lips of the wicked can frame a speech of exultation, they shall be disappointed; their heart-speech shall be forestalled, their wishes frustrated, their knavish tricks exposed.

26. Here is the eternal result of all the laborious and crafty devices of the Lord’s enemies. God will make little of them, though they “magnified themselves;” he will shame them for shaming his people, bring them to confusion for making confusion, pull off their fine apparel and give them a beggarly suit of dishonour, and turn all their rejoicing into weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Truly, the saints can afford to wait.

27. “Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause.” Even those who could not render him active aid, but in their hearts favoured him, David would have the Lord reward most abundantly. Men of tender heart set great store by the good wishes and prayers of the Lord’s people. Jesus also prizes those whose hearts are with his cause. The day is coming when shouts of victory shall be raised by all who are on Christ’s side, for the battle will turn, and the foes of truth shall be routed. “Yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified.” He would have their gladness contributory to the divine glory; they are not to shout to David’s praise, but for the honour of Jehovah. Such acclamations may fitly be continued throughout time and eternity. “Which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” They recognised David as the Lord’s servant, and saw with pleasure the Lord’s favour to him. We can have no nobler title than “servant of God,” and no greater reward than for our Master to delight in our prosperity. What true prosperity may be we are not always best able to judge. We must leave that in Jesus’ hand; he will not fail to rule all things for our highest good.

“For by his saints it stands confessed, That what he does is always best.”

28. Unceasing praise is here vowed to the just and gracious God. From morning till evening the grateful tongue would talk and sing, and glorify the Lord. O for such a resolve carried out by us all!

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—Bonar entitles this Psalm, “The awful utterance of the Righteous One regarding those that hate him without cause;” and he makes the following remarks thereupon:—“Throughout the endless day of eternity the Lord Jesus shall himself speak the Father’s ‘praise,’ and shall put marked emphasis on his ‘righteousness’—that righteousness which shall have been exhibited, both in the doom of those who hated the offered Redeemer, and in the salvation of those who received him. There is nothing in all this wherein his own may not fully join, especially on that day when their views of justice shall be far clearer and fuller than now. On that day we shall be able to understand how Samuel could hew Agag in pieces, and the godly hosts of Israel slay utterly in Canaan man and woman and child, at God’s command. We shall be able, not only fully to agree in the doom, ‘Let them be confounded,’ etc., but even to sing, ‘Amen, Hallelujah,’ over the smoke of torment. Rev. xix. 1, 2. We should in some measure now be able to use every verse of this Psalm in the spirit in which the Judge speaks it, we feeling ourselves his assessors in judging the world. 1 Cor. vi. 2. We shall, at all events, be able to use it on that day when what is written here shall be all accomplished.”—Andrew A. Bonar.

Verse 1.—“Plead my cause, O God, with them that strive with me.” 1. Doth the world condemn thee for thy zeal in the service of God? Reproachfully scorn thee for thy care to maintain good works? not blush to traduce thee with imputations of preciseness, conceited singularity, pharisaical hypocrisy? Oh but if thy conscience condemn thee not all this while, if that be rectified by the sacred word of God, if thou aim at his glory in pursuing thine own salvation, and side not with the disturbers of the church, go on, good Christian, in the practice of piety, discourage not thyself in thy laudable endeavours, but recount with comfort that the Lord is thy judge (1 Cor. iv. 4), with a scio cui crediderim, “I know whom I have believed.” 2 Tim. i. 12. 2. Art thou wrongfully adjudged in the erroneous courts of men? are truth and righteousness gone aside from their proper places? Is equity neglected, and poverty overlaid? Well, have patience awhile, cheer up thy fainting spirits, there is a God that beholdeth the innocency of thy cause, unto whom thou hast liberty to make thy last appeal: “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.” Or, 3. Art thou otherwise injured by the hands of malicious men? and doth a penurious estate disable thee to sue for amends? Doth a Nimrod oppress thee? A Laban defraud thee? A covetous landlord gripe thee? Well, yet take not the matter into thine own hands by attempting unlawful courses; presume not to be judge in thine own cause, for default of a present redress; but often remember what the apostle taught his Thessalonians: “It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you.”—Isaac Craven’s Sermon at Paul’s Cross, 1630.

Verse 1.—“Plead,” etc. More literally, litigate, O Lord, with them that litigate against me, contend against them that contend with me; i.e., avenge me of mine adversaries.—Daniel Cresswell, D.D., F.R.S., in “The Psalms of David according to the Book of Common Prayer: with Critical and Explanatory Notes,” 1843.

Verse 2.—“Shield and buckler.” The word rendered “shield” is in the Hebrew text מָגְן, magen, which was a short buckler intended merely for defence. The word rendered “buckler” is צִנָּה tsinnah; it was double the weight of the magen, and was carried by the infantry; the magen, being lighter and more manageable, was used by the cavalry. The tsinnah answered to the scutum, and the magento the clypeus, among the Romans. The word tsinnah, means that kind of shield from the middle of which there arose a large boss, surmounted by a dagger, and which was highly useful both as a defensive and an offensive weapon in ancient warfare.—James Anderson, note to Calvin in loc.

Verse 3.—“Draw out the spear, and stop the way.” The spear in the days of Saul and David was a favourite weapon. (See 1 Chron. xi.). A valiant man bravely defending a narrow pass might simply with his lance keep back a pursuing host, and give time for his friends to escape. Very remarkable were the feats of valour of this sort performed in Oriental warfare. David would have his God become his heroic defender, making his enemies pause.—C. H. S.

Verse 3.—“Draw out;” or, as the Hebrew phrase is, empty, that is unsheath the like is of the sword. Exod. xv. 9; Levit. xxvi. 33.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 3.—“Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” Observe, 1. That salvation may be made sure to a man. David would never pray for that which could not be. Nor would Peter charge us with a duty which stood not in possibility to be performed. 2 Peter i. 10. “Make your election sure.” And to stop the bawling throats of all cavilling adversaries, Paul directly proves it: “Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Cor. xiii. 5. We may then know that Christ is in us. If Christ be in us, we are in Christ; if we be in Christ, we cannot be condemned, for (Rom. viii. 1) “There is no damnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” But I leave this point that it may be sure, as granted; and come to ourselves that we may make it sure. The Papists deny this, and teach the contrary, that salvation cannot be made sure; much good do it them, with their sorry and heartless doctrine! If they make that impossible to any which God hath made easy for many, “into their secret let not my soul come.” Gen. xlix. 6. Observe, 2. That the best saints have desired to make their salvation sure. David that knew it, yet entreats to know it more. “I know thou favourest me” (Psalm xli. 11); yet here still, dic animæ, “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” A man can never be too sure of his going to heaven.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 3.—“Say unto my soul.” God may speak with his own voice; and thus he gave assurance to Abraham, “Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Gen. xv. 1. If God speak comfort, let hell roar horror. 2. He may speak by his works: actual mercies to us demonstrate that we are in his favour, and shall not be condemned. “By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.” 3. He may speak by his Son. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt. xi. 28. 4. He may speak by his Scripture; this is God’s epistle to us, and his letters patent, wherein are granted to us all the privileges of salvation. A universal si quis; “Whosoever believes, and is baptised, shall be saved.” 5. He may speak by his ministers, to whom he hath given “the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Cor. v. 19. 6. He doth speak this by his Spirit: he “sendeth forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” Gal. iv. 6. By all these voices God says to his elect, “I am your salvation.”... “My.” There is no vexation to the vexation of the soul; so no consolation to the consolation of the soul.... Let this teach us to make much of this “My.” Luther says there is great divinity in pronouns. The assurance that God will save some is a faith incident to devils. The very reprobates may believe that there is a book of election; but God never told them that their names were written there. The hungry beggar at the feast-house gate smells good cheer, but the master doth not say, “This is provided for thee.” It is small comfort to the harbourless wretch to pass through a goodly city, and see many glorious buildings, when he cannot say, Hæc mea domus, I have a place here. The beauty of that excellent city Jerusalem, built with sapphires, emeralds, chrysolites, and such precious stones, the foundation and walls whereof are perfect gold (Rev. xxi.), affords a soul no comfort, unless he can say, Mea civitas, I have a mansion in it. The all-sufficient merits of Christ do thee no good, unless, tua pars et portio, he be thy Saviour. Happy soul that can say with the Psalmist, “O Lord, thou art my portion!” Let us all have oil in our lamps, lest if we be then to buy, beg, or borrow, we be shut out of doors like the fools, not worthy of entrance. Pray, “Lord, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” ... Who? What? To whom? When? WHO? The Lord! To the Lord David prays. He hath made a good choice, for there is salvation in none other. “Thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.” Hosea xiii. 9. The world fails, the flesh fails, the devil kills. Only the Lord saves. WHAT? Salvation. A special good thing; every man’s desire. I will give thee a lordship, saith God to Esau. I will give thee a kingdom, saith God to Saul. I will give thee an apostleship, saith God to Judas. But, I will be thy salvation, he says to David, and to none but saints. To WHOM? “My salvation.” Not others only, but “thine.” A man and a Christian are two creatures. He may be a man that hath reason and outward blessings; he is only a Christian that hath faith, and part in the salvation of Christ. God is plentiful salvation, but it is not ordinary to find a cui—to whom. Much of heaven is lost for lack of a hand to apprehend it. WHEN? In the present, “I am.” Sum, non sufficit quod ero. It is comfort to Israel in captivity that God says, Ero tua redemptio, I will redeem thee; but the assurance that quiets the conscience is this, “I am thy salvation.” As God said to Abraham, “Fear not, I am with thee.” Deferred hope faints the heart. Whatsoever God forbears to assure us of, oh, pray we him not to delay this, “Lord, say to our souls, I am your salvation.”—Condensed from Thomas Adams.

Verse 4.—“Let them be confounded and put to shame.” Here David beginneth his imprecations, which yet, saith Theodoret, he doth not utter as cursing, but as prophesying rather. If we shall at any time take upon us thus to imprecate (as we may in some cases), we must see to it, first, that our cause be good; secondly, that we do it not out of private revenge, but merely for the glory of God; thirdly, that we utter not a syllable this way, but by the guidance of God’s good Spirit.—John Trapp.

Verses 4-8, 26.—How are we to account for such prayers for vengeance? We find them chiefly in four Psalms, the seventh, thirty-fifth, sixty-ninth, and one hundred and ninth, and the imprecations in these form a terrible climax. In the last no less than thirty anathemas have been counted. Are these the mere outbursts of passionate and unsanctified feeling, or are they the legitimate expression of a righteous indignation? Are they to be excused as being animated by the “spirit of Elias?” a spirit not unholy indeed, but far removed from the meekness and gentleness of Christ; or are they the stereotyped forms in which the spirit of devotion may utter itself? Are they Jewish only, or may they be Christian also? An uninstructed fastidiousness, it is well known, has made many persons recoil from reading these Psalms at all. Many have found their lips falter when they have been called to join in using them in the congregation, and have either uttered them with bated breath and doubting heart, or have interpreted them in a sense widely at variance with the letter. Some have tried to reconcile them with a more enlightened conscience, by regarding such words not as the expression of a wish, but as the utterance of a prediction; the Hebrew optative, which is distinct enough from the simple future, absolutely forbids this expedient. Others again would see in them expressions which may lawfully be used in the soul’s wrestling against spiritual enemies. And finally, some would defend them as utterances of righteous zeal for God’s honour, and remind us that if we do not sympathise with such zeal, it may be not because our religion is more pure, but because our hearts are colder.

Now the real source of the difficulty lies in our not observing and bearing in mind the essential difference between the Old Testament and the New. The older dispensation was in every sense a sterner one than the new. The spirit of Elias, though not an evil spirit, was not the spirit of Christ. “The Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Luke ix. 56. And through him his disciples are made partakers of the same spirit. But this was not the spirit of the older economy. The Jewish nation had been trained in a sterner school. It had been steeled and hardened by the discipline which had pledged it to a war of extermination with idolaters; and however necessary such a discipline might be, it would not tend to foster the gentler virtues; it is conceivable how even a righteous man, under it, feeling it to be his bounden duty to root out evil wherever he saw it, and identifying, as he did, his own enemies with the enemies of Jehovah, might use language which to us appears unnecessarily vindictive. To men so trained and taught, what we call “religious toleration,” was a thing not only wrong, but absolutely inconceivable.

It may be quite true that we find revenge forbidden as directly in the Old Testament as in the New, as, for instance, in Lev. xix. 18, “Thou shalt not avenge,” etc., though even there there is a limitation, “against the children of thy people.” And it may be no less true that we find instances of imprecation in the New; as when St. Paul says (2 Tim. iv. 14), “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works,” or when he exclaims (Acts xxiii. 3), “God will smite thee, thou whited wall;” or, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.” But even these expressions are very different from the varied, deliberate, carefully-constructed, detailed anathemas of the Psalms. And our Lord’s denunciations, to which Hengstenberg refers, are in no way parallel. They are not curses upon individuals, but in fact solemn utterances of the great truth, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” But after all, whatever may be said of particular passages, the general tone which runs through the two covenants, is unquestionably different. To deny this is not to honour Moses, but to dishonour Christ. Matt. v. 43; xix. 8. On the other hand, we must not forget that these imprecations are not the passionate longing for personal revenge. The singer undoubtedly sees in his enemies the enemies of God and his church. They that are not with him are against God. And because the zeal of God’s house even consumes him, he prays that all the doers of iniquity may be rooted out. The indignation therefore is righteous, though it may appear to us wrongly directed, or excessive in its utterance.

Once more, the very fact that a dark cloud hid God’s judgment in the world to come from the view of the Old Testament saints, may be alleged in excuse of this their desire to see him take vengeance on his enemies here. How deeply the problem of God’s righteousness exercised their minds, is abundantly evident from numerous places in the Psalms. They longed to see that righteousness manifested. It could be manifested, they thought, only in the evident exaltation of the righteous, and the evident destruction of the wicked here. Hence, with their eye always fixed on temporal recompense, they could even wish and pray for the destruction of the ungodly. The awful things of the world to come were to a great extent hid from their eyes. Could they have seen these, then surely their prayer would have been not, “Let the angel of the Lord persecute them,” “Blot them out of thy book;” but rather with him who hung upon the cross; “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verses 4, 8, 26.—David was about as devoid of vindictiveness as any public character who can well be named. His conduct in relation to Saul, from first to last displayed a singularly noble spirit, far removed from anything like the lust of vengeance; and the meekness with which he endured the bitter reproaches of Shimei, bore witness to the same spirit after his accession to the throne.

When David’s whole career is intelligently and fairly reviewed, it leaves on the mind the impression of a man possessed of as meek and placable a temper as was ever associated with so great strength of will, and such strong passions. Even in the heats of sudden resentment, he was not apt to be hurried into deeds of revenge. Such being the case, it would certainly have been a strange and unaccountable thing if he had shown himself less the master of his own spirit in poems composed in seasons of retirement and communion with God, especially since these very poems express a keen sense of the heinousness of the sin that has been laid to his charge. He can affirm regarding his implacable enemies, “As for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.” Psalm xxxv. 13, 14. “O Lord, my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; if I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy): let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth.” Psalm vii. 3-5. Surely one ought to think twice before putting on the imprecations an interpretation which would make them utterly incongruous with these appeals, uttered almost in the same breath.—William Binnie, D.D.

Verse 5.—“As chaff.” Literally, “As the thistledown.”—John Morison.

Verse 6.—“Let their way be dark and slippery.” A horrible way! Darkness alone who feareth not? A slippery way alone who avoids not? In a dark and slippery way, how shalt thou go? where set foot? These two ills are the great punishments of men: darkness, ignorance; a slippery way, luxury. “Let their way be darkness and slipping; and let the angel of the Lord persecute them,” that they be not able to stand. For anyone in a dark and slippery way, when he seeth that if he move his foot he will fall, and there is no light before his feet, haply resolving to wait until light come; but here is the angel of the Lord persecuting them.—Augustine.

Verse 6.—“Slippery.” Margin, as in Heb., slipperiness. This is a circumstance which adds increased terror to the image. It is not only a dark road, but a road made slippery by rains; a road where they are in danger every moment of sliding down a precipice where they will be destroyed.—Albert Barnes.

Verse 7.—“They hid for me their net in a pit.” As if David had said that they had dug a pit, and covered and hid its mouth with a net, that I might pass upon it and fall into it.—Kimchi.

Verse 8.—“Let destruction come upon him at unawares.” Or a storm, such as is caused in the Eastern countries by a south wind, very sudden, violent, and destructive.—John Gill.

Verse 8.—“Let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.” By giving Ahithophel rope enough, the Lord preserved David from perishing. Who will not admire that Goliath should be slain with his own sword, and that proud Haman should hold Mordecai’s stirrup, and be the herald of his honour? The wicked shall be undone by their own doings; all the arrows that they shoot at the righteous shall fall upon their own pates. Maxentius built a false bridge to drown Constantine, but was drowned himself. Henry the Third of France was stabbed in the very same chamber where he had helped to contrive the cruel massacre of the French Protestants. And his brother, Charles the Ninth, who delighted in the blood of the saints, had blood given him to drink, for he was worthy. It is usual with God to take persecutors in the snares and pits that they have laid for his people, as many thousands in this nation have experienced; and though Rome and her confederates are this day a-laying of snares and traps and a-digging of pits for the righteous, who will rather burn than bow to their Baal, yet do but wait and weep, and weep and wait a little, and you shall see that the Lord will take them in the very snares and pits that they have laid and digged for his people.—Condensed from Thomas Brooks.

Verse 8.—“Let his net that he hath hid catch himself.” Thou fool, who opposest thy counsels to those of the Most High. He who devises evil for another, falls at last into his own pit, and the most cunning finds himself caught by what he had prepared for another. But virtue without guile, erect like the lofty palm, rises with greater vigour when it is oppressed.—Pietro Metastasio, 1698-1782.

Verse 9.—“And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord,” etc. While some ascribe to fortune, and others to their own skill, the praise of their deliverance from danger, and few, if any, yield the whole praise of it to God, David here declares that he will not forget the favour which God had bestowed upon him. My soul, says he, shall rejoice, not in a deliverance of the author of which it is ignorant, but in the salvation of God. To place the matter in a still stronger light, he assigns to his very bones the office of declaring the divine glory. As if not content that his tongue should be employed in this, he applies all the members of his body to the work of setting forth the praises of God. The style of speaking which he employs is hyperbolical, but in this way he shows unfeignedly that his love to God was so strong that he desired to spend his sinews and bones in declaring the reality and truth of his devotion.—John Calvin.

Verse 10.—“All my bones,” etc. These words contain the most vivid description of the highest delight which by the whole soul and body should be experienced and openly manifested. He mentions his soul (verse 9) and all his bones as about to take part in the joy, to indicate that he most heartily and with his whole body was about to rejoice, and that the joy which he would manifest would not be of an ordinary character, but of the highest order, so that each several bone should sing forth the praises of God.—Hermon Venema, 1697-1787.

Verse 10.—“All my bones.” In the Scriptures emotions are generally ascribed to the viscera, the bones are usually regarded as passive; in this place and Psalm li. 8, and in these two places only, exulting joy is attributed to the bones. Ordinary experience shows us that the intestines have sympathy with our passionate excitements, but we have no consciousness of the bones becoming sympathetically sensitive. The expression therefore is highly poetical, and indicates that the joy intended would be far beyond ordinary and common delight; it would be so profound that even the most callous part of the human frame would partake of it. Doubtless the poetry has a basis of truth in it, for though we may not perceive it, there is most assuredly a true and real sympathy with our mental states in every particle of bone and muscle, as well as in those tender organs which are more apparently affected.—C. H. S. Thoughts suggested by a passage in “Biblical Psychology,” by Franz Delitzsch.

Verse 10.—“All my bones.” That is, whatsoever strength and vigour is in me it shall be spent in celebrating thy praises. Or, although I have nothing left me but skin and bones, so poor am I grown, yet I will not be wanting to the work.—John Trapp.

Verse 10.—My bones are riving through my skin, and yet all my bones are praising him. “I said, I am cast out of thy sight, but I will look again towards thy holy temple.”—Thomas Halyburton, 1674-1711.

Verse 11.—“They laid to my charge things that I knew not.” You will say, Why does God permit wicked people to lay to the charge of the godly such things as they are clear of: God if he pleased could prevent it, and stop the mouths of the wicked, that they should not be able to speak against his children? Answer—As all things work for the best to them that love God, so this works for the good of God’s people. God doth permit it for the good of his people, and thus he frustrates the hopes of the wicked: they intend evil against the godly, and God disposes of it for good. As Joseph said to his brethren, “You intended evil against me, and God disposed of it for good;” so we may say to such as falsely slander God’s people, You intended evil against the people of God, but God disposes of it for good. There is a fivefold good that God brings out of it to his people. First, God doth by this means humble them, and brings them to examine what is amiss: so that though they be clear of that crime laid to their charge, yet they will then examine whether there be nothing else amiss betwixt God and them; they will search their hearts, and walk more humbly, and cleave more close to the Lord. Secondly, God doth by this means bring them oftener upon their knees, to seek unto him, to plead their cause, and to clear their innocency. How oft did the prophet speak unto God when the wicked did falsely accuse him; how did he make his moan at the throne of grace unto God, beseeching him to plead his cause, and to keep him close in his way, that the wicked might not rejoice at his downfall! So when God’s people see that it is that which the wicked would have, that which is their joy, to see the godly fall into such and such a sin; then the godly will pray more earnestly with David, Lord, lead me in a right path because of my observers; then they will be earnest with God to keep them from falling into that sin that the wicked desire they might fall into; and this is a second good that comes of it. Thirdly, God doth use the reproach of the wicked as a preventing medicine against that crime which the wicked lay to their charge. The godly have unrenewed nature as well as renewed, and if God should leave them never so little to themselves, they are not their own keepers, they might fall into that sin which the wicked lay to their charge: and every godly man and woman may say when they are falsely accused, It is God’s mercy that I did not fall into that sin that lay to my charge. God doth use wicked people’s tongues as a warning against such a sin, that when they see how the wicked joy at a brat of their own hatching, then they consider, if the wicked thus joy without a cause, what would they do if they had just cause? Well, by the help of God this shall be a warning to me for ever to watch against that sin: for the time to come I will pray more against that particular sin than I have done, and watch more against that sin than I have done; through God’s help they shall never have occasion to rejoice over me in that kind. Truly, I verily believe many a child of God can say by experience, I never should have prayed and watched against such a sin so much, had not God used the tongues of the wicked as preventing physic: I knew not my own heart, but that I might have fallen into such and such a sin had not God by this means hedged up my way with thorns; and this is the third good comes of it. Fourthly, God doth by this means exercise the graces of his people by letting them undergo bad report as well as good report: he tries whether they will cleave close to him in all conditions, as Psalm xliv. 15-17. Fifthly, God doth by this means teach them how to judge of others when they are falsely accused. For the time to come they will not receive a false report against their neighbour; they will know the truth of a thing before they believe it, and they know how to comfort others in the like condition; and thus God disposes of it for good, and thus God makes the wicked the servant of his people in that very thing which the wicked think to wrong them most in; for he uses the wicked as the rod and wisp, to scour off the rust of their graces and to correct their security; and when the rod hath done its office then it is thrown into the fire: and thus you see how God disposes of the wicked’s false accusations of his people for good.—Zephaniah Smyth’s Sermon, “The Malignant’s Plot,” 1647.

Verse 12.—“They rewarded me evil for good.” For the good David did in killing Goliath, and slaying his ten thousands of the Philistines, and thereby saving his king and country, Saul and his courtiers envied him, and sought to slay him: so our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the good he did to the Jews, by healing their bodies of diseases, and preaching the gospel to them for the benefit of their souls, was rewarded with reproaches and persecutions, and at last with the shameful death of the cross; and in like manner are his people used, but this is an evil that shall not go unpunished; see Prov. xvii. 13.—John Gill.

Verse 12.—“To the spoiling of my soul.” They robbed not his body of goods but his soul of consolation. They bereaved his soul (that is the word), like a widow who loses her children in whom she delighted and found succour. They were not content with injuring his estate, but they were for ruining the man himself by their undeserved malice, they attacked him in name and reputation, which were as dear to him as his sons and daughters, or even as his soul. It is evermore an injury to the soul to be attacked with slander, it puts a man into a warring attitude, endangers his peace of mind, imperils his enjoyment of quiet contemplation, and tends to interrupt his communion with God. Thus the spiritual nature is despoiled and suffers bereavement.—C. H. S.

Verse 13.—“My prayer returned into, or was directed to, my bosom.” Of the many interpretations that are given of this passage, that appears to me the most probable which derives it from the posture of the worshipper; who standing with his head inclined downward toward his bosom, turned away his attention from all external objects, and uttered his mournful and earnest requests, as if they were directed to his own bosom. Such a posture of devotion is in use both among Jews and Mohammedans.—Koehler in Repertor. Lit. Orient.; and Reland de Relig. Mohammedica, quoted by Walford in loc.

Verse 13 (last clause).—We may read it thus: Let my prayer return into my bosom; that is, I wished no worse to them than to myself: let me receive of God such good as I prayed for them. See Psalm lxxix. 12.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 14.—“For his mother.” On account of the plurality of wives in an Eastern household, the sons are usually far more attached to their mother than their father. Their father they share with a numerous band of half-brothers, who are envious of them, or of whom they are jealous, but their mother is all their own, with her they are brought up in childhood; she takes their part in youth, in the numerous battles of the harem; and on their part when they are grown up, they love her intensely, and hence their mourning at her decease is of the bitterest kind.—C. H. S.

Verse 14.—“His mother.” Mahomet was once asked what relation had the strongest claim upon our affection and respect; when he instantly replied, “The mother, the mother, the mother.”

Verse 14 (last clause).—Bewaileth his mother: mourneth at her funeral. In this case the affections are most strong. Therefore the priests were permitted to mourn for such. Levit. xxi. 1, 2, 3.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 15.—“But in mine adversity they rejoiced,” etc.—Do not glory in your neighbour’s ruins. The fire-fly leaps and dances in the fire, and so do many wicked men rejoice in the sufferings of others. Such as rejoice in the sufferings of others are sick of the devil’s disease; but from that disease the Lord deliver all your souls. ’Tis sad to insult over those whom God hath humbled; ’tis high wickedness to triumph over those to whom God hath given a cup of astonishment to drink. Such as make the desolations of their neighbours to be the matter either of their secret repast, or open exultation, such may fear that the very dregs of divine wrath are reserved for them. ’Tis bad playing upon the harp because others have been put to hang their harps upon the willows. We must not pray with him in the tragedy, but it may rain calamities; nor with Clemens’ Gnostic, Give me calamities that I may glory in them. There cannot be a greater evidence of a wicked heart, than for a man to be merry because others are in misery. “He that is glad at calamities (that is, at the calamities of others) shall not be unpunished.” Prov. xvii. 5. If God be God, such as congratulate our miseries instead of condoling them, shall be sure to be punished with the worst of punishments; for such do not only sin against the law of grace, but also against the very law of nature; the law of nature teaching men to sympathise with those that are in misery, and not to rejoice over them because of their miseries. O, sirs, do not make others’ mourning your music, do not make others’ tears your wine; as you would not be made drunk at last with the wine of astonishment.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 15.—“But in mine adversity they rejoiced,” etc. Marvellous prophecy of the cross! second only, if indeed second, to that in the twenty-second Psalm. Still closer to the history if we take the Vulgate: the scourges were gathered together upon me. Even so, O Lord Jesus, the ploughers ploughed upon thy back, and made long furrows: precious furrows for us, where are sown patience for the present life, and glory in the next; where are sown hope that maketh not ashamed, and love that many waters cannot quench. “The very abjects.” Even those worst of abjects, who said, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are;” who had set the poor sinner before the Lord, with their “Moses in the law commanded that such should be stoned.” “Making mouths at me.” And is it not wonderful that, well knowing the prophecy, yet the chief priests and scribes should have so fulfilled it, as that it should be written concerning them. “They that passed by mocked him, wagging their heads”?—Lewis de Grenada, 1504-1588.

Verse 15.—“In mine adversity they rejoiced.” Now, as men often relent at seeing the misfortunes of their enemies, so that they cease to hate or persecute those who are already miserably wretched, it was an evidence of the very cruel and fierce spirit by which David’s former friends were actuated against him, when, upon seeing him cast down and afflicted, they were rather by this incited furiously and insolently to assail him.—John Calvin.

Verse 15.—“The abjects.” The very abjects (Prayer Book Version). The Hebrew word Nechim, thus translated, comes from a verb signifying to be smitten. Hence, in the Septuagint it is rendered scourges. But it may also be rendered, with Jerome, smiters, and may mean smitten with the tongue. Com. Jer. xviii. 18. Another of its meanings is, according to Buxtorf, the wry-legged, the lame; and so it is used in 2 Sam. iv. 4; ix. 3; whence the epithet of Necho was given to one of the Pharaohs who halted in his gait. Our translators seem to have understood the word in this last sense, as a term of contempt.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 15.—David, having showed how compassionate he was to his enemies in their affliction (verse 14), he presently shows (verse 15), how incompassionate, or barbarously cruel rather, his enemies were to him in his. “Abjects” are vile persons, men smitten in their estates and credits; yea, often as slaves or ill servants smitten with cudgels or whips. So a learned translator renders the Psalm, The smitten gathered against me; that is, vile men who deserve to be beaten and cudgelled.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 16.—“With hypocritical mockers in feasts.” Some cannot be merry, but it must be with Scripture; if they want a little diversion, the saints must be the subject of their discourse! they can vent their profane jests upon the word of God; this is their pastime over their cups upon the ale-bench. How ready they are with their contumelious reflections; they have learnt their father’s dialect, they are accusers of the brethren, their speech bewrays them to be Hellians. You know that in ordinary, we can tell what countryman a person is by his speech, every country having almost a peculiar idiom; so it is here, these scoffers at religion by speaking the language of hell, let us understand whence they are. They have, it may be, a little wit, which they set off with a sort of an air in rhetorical raillery, and oh, how quick and sharp when they are upon this subject! These scoffing Ishmaelites are seated in the devil’s chair, somewhat above their brethren in iniquity, as most deserving the place; and there is less ground to hope that such persons will be savingly wrought upon who arrive to such a height in sin as to make a mock of it, and to sport with holiness, than of others. Persons are got a great way towards hell when they mock at what is serious, and that with delight. This the Lord will visit for in his due time; for he knows who they are that so dishonour him by reproaching them that are his.—Oliver Heywood.

Verse 16.—“Hypocritical mockers in feasts.” בְּחַנְפֵי ל׳ מ׳. Very difficult. The word מָעוֹג, in Kings xvii. 12, the only other passage where it occurs, means “a cake.” Hence ל׳ מ׳ is interpreted by Gesenius and other to mean, hangers-on at the tables of the rich (lit. “cake-mockers”) whose business it was, by witticisms and buffoonery to make entertainment for the guests, and who got their dinner in return, like the Gr. ψωμοκόλακες, κνισοκόλακες, and the Mediæv. Lat. buccellarii. Then the words would mean, “Amongst the profanest.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne. [Would not our word loafers be somewhat analogous to these cake-eaters of antiquity!]—C. H. S.

Verse 16.—“Hypocritical mockers.” David aggravates the sin of those jeering companions who made him their table-talk, and could not taste their cheer except seasoned with some salt jest quibbled out at him, with this, that they were “hypocritical mockers;” they did it slily, and wrapped up their scoffs, it is like in such language as might make some think, who did not well observe them, that they applauded him. There is a way of commending which some have learned to use when they mean to cast the greatest scorn upon those they hate bitterly, and these hypocritical mockers deserve the chair to be given them from all other scorners.—William Gurnall.

Verse 16.—“Mockers in feasts.” If it were known at a feast that there was any one present or absent, whom the host disliked, it was customary for the guests to “make fun of them,” and use sarcastic language respecting them. These are the “hypocritical mockers in feasts.”—John Gadsby.

Verse 17.—Satan no sooner spies our wanderings, but he presently runs with a complaint to God, filing bills against us in the star-chamber of heaven, where the matter would go hard with us, but for the Great Lord Chancellor of peace, our Advocate Jesus Christ. As God keeps all our tears in a bottle, and registereth the very groans of our holy passion in a book, so Satan keeps a record of our sins, and solicits justice against us. Were God like man, subject to passions, or incensible by the suggestions of the common barrator, woe were us. But he will hear one son of truth before ten thousand fathers of lying. No matter what the plaintiff libelleth, when the judge acquitteth. We have forfeited our estates by treason, and the busy devil begs us; but there is one that steps in, and pleads a former grant, and that both by promise and purchase. “Lord, rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.” Lord Jesus, challenge thine own; let not Satan enter upon by force or fraud, what thou hast bought with thine own blood.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 17.—“My darling.” In Poole’s Synopsis the critics explain this name for the soul, as my only one, my solitary one, desolate, deserted, and destitute of human hope. Such is the soul under sore affliction. See Ps. xxii. 21. “From the lions.” Daniel in the den was literally where David was spiritually. Shut in among fierce, cruel, and angry creatures, and himself defenceless, having no weapon but prayer, no helper but the Lord. The people of God may be exposed to the lions of hell, and their roarings may grievously affright them; but the soul which is their “darling” is also God’s dear one, and therefore they shall be rescued.—C. H. S.

Verse 19.—“Wink with the eye.” Showing pleasure in their eyes because of my evil.—Francis Vatablus, 1545.

Verse 19.—“Wink the eye.” This was a sign which malicious persons made to each other when the object of their malice was gained, scornfully twisting their eyes together. The Hebrew word here has no sufficiently expressive substitute in English.—Benjamin Weiss.

Verse 21.—“Our eye hath seen.” Eye for eyes, unless we would say that all the wicked are so conjoined, that they may seem to have but one eye, heart, head.—John Trapp.

Verse 21.—Yet, O ye saints, divulge not these things to wicked men; whisper them softly one to another, with fear and trembling, lest some profane wretch or other overhear you, and take that for encouragement that was only meant for caution. What is more common than for the vilest sinners to plead for their excuse, or warrant rather, the foul miscarriages of God’s dearest saints? Thus the drunkard looks upon holy Noah as a pot-companion, whereby he discovers his nakedness in a worse sense than ever Cham did; and thus the unclean sensualist quotes David, and calls him in to be the patron of his debauchery. Certainly, if there be any grief that can overcast the perfect joys of the saints in heaven, it is that their names and examples should, to the great dishonour of God, be produced by wicked and sinful men, to countenance their grossest sins and wickednesses. But let such know, that God hath set up these in his church to be monuments of his mercy, to declare to humble and penitent sinners how great sins he can pardon; yet if any hereupon imbolden themselves in sin, instead of being set up as monuments of mercy, God will set them up as pillars of salt.—Ezekiel Hopkins (Bishop).

Verse 21.—He who rejoices in another’s fall rejoices in the devil’s victory.—Ambrose, quoted in Nichol’s Proverbs.

Verses 21, 22:—

They gape and drawe their mouthes in scorneful wise, And crie, fie, fie, wee sawe it with our eyes. But thou their deed, (O Lord!) dost also see; Then bee not silent soe, nor farr from mee.

Sir John Davies.

Verse 23.—“My God and my Lord.” The cry of Thomas when he saw the wounds of Jesus. If he did not count our Lord to be divine, neither does David here ascribe Deity to Jehovah, for there is no difference except in the order of the words and the tongue in which they were spoken, the meaning is identical. What words they are, with their two eyes seeing Jehovah in two aspects yet as one, grasping him with two hands in the double “my” to one heart, for the word is but one, bowing before him on both knees to worship him in lowliest reverence. Well might Nouet, in his exposition of the words as used by Thomas, exclaim, “Oh, sweet word, I will say it all my life long; I will say it in the hour of death; I will say it in eternity.”—C. H. S.

Verse 24.—“O Lord my God.” O Jehovah my God; here is another precious word. He takes Jehovah to be his God, in opposition to those who make idols, or riches, or their own lusts their god. He claims a full possession of all that is in the great I AM. Even though he views him as a judge he lays the hand of faith upon his God, and flinches not even before the blaze of his righteousness. It is a noble word, a grand utterance of faith; he who can pronounce that word “my” from his inmost soul in such a connection may well laugh to scorn all his enemies.—C. H. S.

Verse 25.—“Let them not say we have swallowed him up.” And even if they could, like Jonah’s whale, they would soon be sickened of their feast. A living child of God were more easily swallowed than digested by the malice of hell.—C. H. S.

Verse 27.—See how the hearts of the saints have been drawn out against their persecutors. Prayers are the arms that in times of persecution the saints have still had recourse to. The Romans being in great distress were put so hard to it, that they were fain to take the weapons out of the temples of their gods to fight with their enemies, and so they overcame them: so when the people of God have been hard put to it by reason of afflictions and persecutions, the weapons that they have fled to have been prayers and tears, and with these they have overcome their persecutors.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 28.—“My tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.” See now I have made a discourse something longer; ye are wearied. Who endureth to praise God all the day long? I will suggest a remedy whereby thou mayest praise God all the day long if thou wilt. Whatever thou dost, do well, and thou hast praised God. When thou singest a hymn, thou praisest God, but what doth thy tongue, unless thy heart also praise him? Hast thou ceased from singing hymns, and departed that thou mayest refresh thyself? Be not drunken, and thou hast praised God. Dost thou go away to sleep? Rise not to do evil, and thou hast praised God. Dost thou transact business? Do no wrong, and thou hast praised God. Dost thou till thy field? Raise not strife, and thou hast praised God. In the innocency of thy works prepare thyself to praise God all the day long.—Augustine.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—Jesus our Advocate and Champion; our friend in the courts of heaven and the battles of earth.

Verse 2.—Jesus armed as the defender of the faithful.

Verse 3.—Enemies kept at arm’s length. How the Lord does this, and the blessedness of it to us

Verse 3 (last clause).—Full assurance. An assurance positive, personal, spiritual, present, divine, complete, coming by a word from God.

Verse 3 (last clause).—Heaven made sure.—Thomas Adams’ Sermon.

Verse 4.—The everlasting confusion of the devil.

Verse 6.—The horrible pilgrimage of the ungodly.

Verse 6.—The trinity of dangers in the pathway of the wicked, their way dark with ignorance, and slippery with temptation, while behind them is the avenger.

Verse 8.—Destruction at unawares, an awful topic.

Verse 9.—Joy in God and in his salvation.

Verse 10.—A matchless God, and his matchless grace—these are the themes. An experienced heart, thoroughly quickened—this is the songster; and from this cometh matchless music.

The music of a shattered harp.

Verse 11.—The meanness, cruelty, sinfulness, and commonness of slander.

Verse 12.—How a soul may be robbed.

Verse 13.—Christian sympathy even for the froward.

Verse 13 (last clause).—Personal benefit of intercessory prayer.

Verses 13, 14.—Compassion to the sick.—C. Simeon.

Verse 15.—The shameful conspiracy of men against our Lord Jesus at his passion.

Verse 17.—The limit of divine endurance.

Verse 18.—The duty, blessedness, and seasonableness of public praise.

Verse 22.—Omniscience pleaded, a word sought for, presence requested, action entreated, affiance urged as a claim.

Verse 25.—The ungodly man’s delight, and the righteous man’s refuge.

Verse 26.—The convict dress of the wicked—“clothed with shame,” etc.

Verse 27 (last clause).—What is that prosperity in which the Lord hath pleasure?

Verse 28.—A blessed theme, a fitting tongue, an endless speech.

PSALM XXXVI.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician.—He who had the leadership of the Temple services was charged with the use of this song in public worship. What is everybody’s business is never done. It was well to have one person specially to attend to the service of song in the house of the Lord. Of David the servant of the Lord. This would seem to indicate that the Psalm peculiarly befits one who esteems it an honour to be called Jehovah’s servant. It is THE SONG OF HAPPY SERVICE; such a one as all may join in who bear the easy yoke of Jesus. The wicked are contrasted with the righteous, and the great Lord of devout men is heartily extolled; thus obedience to so good a Master is indirectly insisted on, and rebellion against him is plainly condemned.

DIVISIONS.—From 1 to 4 David describes the rebellious: in 5 to 9 he extols the various attributes of the Lord; in 10 and 11 he addresses the Lord in prayer, and in the last verse his faith sees in vision the overthrow of all the workers of iniquity.

EXPOSITION.

The transgressions of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

1. “The transgression of the wicked.” His daring and wanton sin; his breaking the bounds of law and justice. “Saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.” Men’s sins have a voice to godly ears. They are the outer index of an inner evil. It is clear that men who dare to sin constantly and presumptuously cannot respect the great Judge of all. Despite the professions of unrighteous men, when we see their unhallowed actions our heart is driven to the conclusion that they have no religion whatever. Unholiness is clear evidence of ungodliness. Wickedness is the fruit of an atheistic root. This may be made clear to the candid head by cogent reasoning, but it is clear already and intuitively to the pious heart. If God be everywhere, and I fear him, how can I dare to break his laws in his very presence? He must be a desperate traitor who will rebel in the monarch’s own halls. Whatever theoretical opinions bad men may avow, they can only be classed with atheists, since they are such practically. Those eyes which have no fear of God before them now, shall have the terrors of hell before them for ever.

2. “For.” Here is the argument to prove the proposition laid down in the former verse. David here runs over the process of reasoning by which he had become convinced that wicked men have no proper idea of God or respect for him. God-fearing men see their sins and bewail them, where the reverse is the case we may be sure there is no fear of God. “He flattereth himself in his own eyes.” He counts himself a fine fellow, worthy of great respect. He quiets his conscience, and so deceives his own judgment as to reckon himself a pattern of excellence; if not for morality, yet for having sense enough not to be enslaved by rules which are bonds to others. He is the free-thinker, the man of strong mind, the hater of cant, the philosopher; and the servants of God are, in his esteem, mean-spirited and narrow-minded. Of all flatteries this is the most absurd and dangerous. Even the silliest bird will not set traps for itself; the most pettifogging attorney will not cheat himself. To smoothe over one’s own conduct to one’s conscience (which is the meaning of the Hebrew) is to smooth one’s own path to hell. The descent to eternal ruin is easy enough, without making a glissade of it, as self-flatterers do. “Until his iniquity be found to be hateful.” At length he is found out and detested, despite his self-conceit. Rottenness smells sooner or later too strong to be concealed. There is a time when the leprosy cannot be hidden. At last the old house can no longer be propped up, and falls about the tenant’s ears: so there is a limit to a man’s self-gratulation; he is found out amid general scorn, and can no longer keep up the farce which he played so well. If this happen not in this life, the hand of death will let light in upon the covered character, and expose the sinner to shame and contempt.

The self-flattering process plainly proves the atheism of sinners, since the bare reflection that God sees them would render such self-flatteries extremely difficult, if not impossible. Belief in God, like light reveals, and then our sin and evil are perceived; but wicked men are in the dark, for they cannot see what is so clearly within them and around them that it stares them in the face.

3. “The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit.” This pair of hell dogs generally hunt together, and what one does not catch the other will; if iniquity cannot win by oppression, deceit will gain by chicanery. When the heart is so corrupt as to flatter itself, the tongue follows suit. The open sepulchre of the throat reveals the foulness of the inner nature. God-fearing men make a conscience of their words, and if they sin through infirmity they do not invent excuses, or go about to boast of their wickedness: but because wicked men think little of evil and artful speeches, we may be clear that God rules not in their souls. The original by declaring that the words of the wicked are falsehood and deceit is peculiarly strong; as if they were not only false in quality, but actual falseness itself. “He hath left off to be wise, and to do good.” From the good way he has altogether gone aside. Men who fear God proceed from strength to strength in the right path, but godless men soon forsake what little good they once knew. How could men apostatise if they had respect unto the supreme Judge? Is it not because they grow more and more forgetful of God, that in due season they relinquish even that hypocritical reverence of him which in former days they maintained in order to flatter their souls?

4. “He deviseth mischief upon his bed.” His place of rest becomes the place for plotting. His bed is a hot-bed for poisonous weeds. God-fearing men meditate upon God and his service; but when men turn all their thoughts and inventive faculties towards evil, their godlessness is proved to a demonstration. He hath the devil for his bed-fellow who lies abed and schemes how to sin. God is far from him. “He setteth himself in a way that is not good.” When he gets up he resolutely and persistently pursues the mischief which he planned. The worst of ways he prefers for his walking, for he has taught his heart to love filthiness, having accustomed himself to revel in it in imagination. “He abhorreth not evil.” So far from having a contempt and abhorrence for evil, he even rejoices in it, and patronises it. He never hates a wrong thing because it is wrong, but he meditates on it, defends it, and practises it.

What a portrait of a graceless man these few verses afford us! His jauntiness of conscience, his licentiousness of speech, his intentness upon wrong-doing, his deliberate and continued preference of iniquity, and withal his atheistical heart, are all photographed to the life. Lord, save us from being such.

5 Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.

7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

From the baseness of the wicked the Psalmist turns his contemplation to the glory of God. Contrasts are impressive.

5. “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens.” Like the ethereal blue, it encompasses the whole earth, smiling upon universal nature, acting as a canopy for all the creatures of earth, surmounting the loftiest peaks of human provocations, and rising high above the mists of mortal transgression. Clear sky is evermore above, and mercy calmly smiles above the din and smoke of this poor world. Darkness and clouds are but of earth’s lower atmosphere: the heavens are evermore serene, and bright with innumerable stars. Divine mercy abides in its vastness of expanse, and matchless patience, all unaltered by the rebellions of man. When we can measure the heavens, then shall we bound the mercy of the Lord. Towards his own servants especially, in the salvation of the Lord Jesus, he has displayed grace higher than the heaven of heavens, and wider than the universe. O that the atheist could but see this, how earnestly would he long to become a servant of Jehovah! “Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.” Far, far above all comprehension is the truth and faithfulness of God. He never fails, nor forgets, nor falters, nor forfeits his word. Afflictions are like clouds, but the divine truthfulness is all around them. While we are under the cloud we are in the region of God’s faithfulness; when we mount above it we shall not need such an assurance. To every word of threat, or promise, prophecy or covenant, the Lord has exactly adhered, for he is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.

6. “Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.” Firm and unmoved, lofty and sublime. As winds and hurricanes shake not an Alp, so the righteousness of God is never in any degree affected by circumstances; he is always just. Who can bribe the Judge of all the earth, or who can, by threatening, compel him to pervert judgment? Not even to save his elect would the Lord suffer his righteousness to be set aside. No awe inspired by mountain scenery can equal that which fills the soul when it beholds the Son of God slain as a victim to vindicate the justice of the Inflexible Lawgiver. Right across the path of every unholy man who dreams of heaven stand the towering Andes of divine righteousness, which no unregenerate sinner can ever climb. Among great mountains lie slumbering avalanches, and there the young lightnings try their callow wings until the storm rushes down amain from the awful peaks; so against the great day of the Lord’s wrath the Lord has laid up in the mountains of his righteousness dreadful ammunition of war with which to overwhelm his adversaries. “Thy judgments are a great deep.” God’s dealings with men are not to be fathomed by every boaster who demands to see a why for every wherefore. The Lord is not to be questioned by us as to why this and why that. He has reasons, but he does not choose to submit them to our foolish consideration. Far and wide, terrible and irresistible like the ocean are the providential dispensations of God: at one time they appear as peaceful as the unrippled sea of glass; at another tossed with tempest and whirlwind, but evermore most glorious and full of mystery. Who shall discover the springs of the sea? He who shall do this may hope to comprehend the providence of the Eternal.

“Undiscovered sea! Into thy dark, unknown, mysterious caves, And secret haunts unfathomably deep, Beneath all visible retired, none went And came again to tell the wonders there.”

Yet as the deep mirrors the sky, so the mercy of the Lord is to be seen reflected in all the arrangements of his government on earth, and over the profound depth the covenant rainbow casts its arch of comfort, for the Lord is faithful in all that he doeth.

“O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.” All the myriads of creatures, rational and irrational, are fed by Jehovah’s hand. The countless beasts, the innumerable birds, the inconceivable abundance of fishes, the all but infinite armies of insects, all owe their continuance in life to the unceasing outgoings of the divine power. What a view of God this presents to us! What a debased creature must he be who sees no trace of such a God, and feels no awe of him!

7. “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God.” Here we enter into the Holy of Holies. Benevolence, and mercy, and justice, are everywhere, but the excellence of that mercy only those have known whose faith has lifted the veil and passed into the brighter presence of the Lord; these behold the excellency of the Lord’s mercy. The word translated excellent may be rendered “precious;” no gem or pearl can ever equal in value a sense of the Lord’s love. This is such a brilliant as angels wear. Kings’ regalia are a beggarly collection of worthless pebbles when compared with the tender mercy of Jehovah. David could not estimate it, and therefore, after putting a note of admiration, he left our hearts and imagination, and, better still, our experience, to fill up the rest. He writes how excellent! because he cannot tell us the half of it. “Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” The best of reasons for the best of courses. The figure is very beautiful. The Lord overshadows his people as a hen protects her brood, or as an eagle covers its young; and we as the little ones run under the blessed shelter and feel at rest. To cower down under the wings of God is so sweet. Although the enemy be far too strong for us, we have no fear, for we nestle under the Lord’s wing. O that more of Adam’s race knew the excellency of the heavenly shelter! It made Jesus weep to see how they refused it: our tears may well lament the same evil.

8. “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house.” Those who learn to put their trust in God shall be received into his house, and shall share in the provision laid up therein. The dwelling-place of the Lord is not confined to any place, and hence reside where we may, we may regard our dwelling, if we be believers, as one room in the Lord’s great house; and we shall, both in providence and grace, find a soul-contenting store supplied to us as the result of living by faith in nearness to the Lord. If we regard the assembly of the saints as being peculiarly the house of God, believers shall, indeed, find in sacred worship the richest spiritual food. Happy is the soul that can drink in the sumptuous dainties of the gospel—nothing can so completely fill the soul. “And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.” As they have the fruits of Eden to feed on, so shall they have the river of Paradise to drink from. God’s everlasting love bears to us a constant and ample comfort, of which grace makes us to drink by faith, and then our pleasure is of the richest kind. The Lord not only brings us to this river, but makes us drink: herein we see the condescension of divine love. Heaven will, in the fullest sense, fulfil these words; but they who trust in the Lord enjoy the antepast even here. The happiness given to the faithful is that of God himself; purified spirits joy with the same joy as the Lord himself. “That my joy may be in you, that your joy may be full.”

9. “For with thee is the fountain of life.” This verse is made of simple words, but like the first chapter of John’s Gospel, it is very deep. From the Lord, as from an independent self-sufficient spring, all creature life proceeds, by him it is sustained, through him alone can it be perfected. Life is in the creature, but the fountain of it is only in the Creator. Of spiritual life, this is true in the most emphatic sense; “it is the Spirit that quickeneth,” “and we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God.” “In thy light shall we see light.” Light is the glory of life. Life in the dark is misery, and rather death than life. The Lord alone can give natural, intellectual, and spiritual life; he alone can make life bright and lustrous. In spiritual things the knowledge of God sheds a light on all other subjects. We need no candle to see the sun, we see it by its own radiance, and then see everything else by the same lustre. We never see Jesus by the light of self, but self in the light of Jesus. No inward intelligence of ours leads us to receive the Spirit’s light, but the rather, it often helps to quench the sacred beam; purely and only by his own illumination, the Holy Ghost lights up the dark recesses of our heart’s ungodliness. Vain are they who look to learning and human wit, one ray from the throne of God is better than the noonday splendour of created wisdom. Lord, give me the sun, and let those who will delight in the wax candles of superstition and the phosphorescence of corrupt philosophy. Faith derives both light and life from God, and hence she neither dies nor darkens.

10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

10. “O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee.” We ask no more than a continuance of the past mercy. Lord, extend this grace of thine to all the days of all who have been taught to know thy faithful love, thy tenderness, thine immutability and omnipotence. As they have been taught of the Lord to know the Lord, so go on to instruct them and perfect them. This prayer is the heart of the believer asking precisely that which the heart of his God is prepared to grant. It is well when the petition is but the reflection of the promise. “And thy righteousness to the upright in heart.” As thou hast never failed the righteous, so abide thou in the same manner their defender and avenger. The worst thing to be feared by the man of God is to be forsaken of heaven, hence this prayer; but the fear is groundless, hence the peace which faith brings to us. Learn from this verse, that although a continuance of mercy is guaranteed in the covenant, we are yet to make it a matter of prayer. For this good thing will the Lord be enquired of.

11. “Let not the foot of pride come against me.” The general prayer is here turned into a particular and personal one for himself. Pride is the devil’s sin. Good men may well be afraid of proud men, for the serpent’s seed will never cease to bite the heel of the godly. Fain would proud scoffers spurn the saints or trample them under foot: against their malice prayer lifts up her voice. No foot shall come upon us, no hand shall prevail against us, while Jehovah is on our side. “Let not the hand of the wicked remove me.” Suffer me not to be driven about as a fugitive, nor torn from my place like an uprooted tree. Violence with both hand and foot, with means fair and means foul, strove to overthrow the Psalmist, but he resorts to his great Patron, and sings a song of triumph in anticipation of the defeat of his foes.

12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.

12. “There are the workers of iniquity fallen.” Faith sees them scattered on the plain. There! before our very eyes sin, death, and hell, lie prostrate. Behold the vanquished foes! “They are cast down.” Providence and grace have dashed them from their vantage ground. Jesus has already thrown all the foes of his people upon their faces, and in due time all sinners shall find it so. “And shall not be able to rise.” The defeat of the ungodly and of the powers of evil is final, total, irretrievable. Glory be to God, however high the powers of darkness may carry it at this present, the time hastens on when God shall defend the right, and give to evil such a fall as shall for ever crush the hopes of hell; while those who trust in the Lord shall eternally praise him and rejoice in his holy name.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—“To the Chief Musician,” has given rise to many conjectures. In the Septuagint the Hebrew word is translated, εἰς τὸ τέλος, to the end; a meaning so utterly vague as to defy all reasonable conjecture.... The meaning of the term appears to be this: the Psalms in which it occurs were given in charge by their inspired authors to the Chief Musician overseeing some specific band of music, whether harps, psalteries, or wind instruments.—John Jebb, A. M., in “A Literal Translation of the Book of Psalms,” 1846.

Title.—“The servant of the Lord.” David only uses this title here and in Psalm eighteen. In both he describes the dealings of God both with the righteous and the wicked, and it is most fit that at the very outset he should take his place with the servants of the Lord.—C. H. S.

Whole Psalm.—First part.—A character of a wicked man (verse 1). 1. He calls evil good (verse 2). 2. He continues in it. 3. He is an hypocrite (verse 3). 4. He is obstinate. 5. He is studious in wickedness (verse 4). Second part.—God’s patience and mercy (verses 5, 6). 1. To all, even all creatures. 2. But particularly to his people, which he admires. Upon which the faithful (1) trust, (2) are satisfied (verses 7, 8). The Third part.—He prays that this effect may light, 1. On God’s people (verse 10). 2. On himself (verse 11). 3. His acclamation upon it (verse 12).—William Nicholson (Bishop), 1662.

Verse 1.—In this Psalm we have a description of sin, especially as it appears in those who have openly broken God’s bands. The introduction is very striking; “The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.” How could the “transgression of the wicked” speak within the heart of him who in the inscription of the Psalm declares himself to be the servant of JEHOVAH? These words are generally understood as signifying that the outward conduct of the sinner, as often as he thought of it, naturally suggested this conclusion to his mind, that he was destitute of all fear of God. But they may perhaps admit of another meaning, equally agreeable to the literal reading; wickedness, saith of the wicked, within my heart, etc. According to this view, the Psalmist meant that notwithstanding the external pretences of the wicked, and all their attempts to cover their iniquity, he was certain that they had no real sense of the presence of God, that they secretly renounced his authority. How was he assured of this? By a comparison of their conduct with the dictates of the heart. He could not indeed look into their hearts, but he could look into his own, and there he found corruption, so strong, that were it not for the fear of God that was implanted within him, he would be as bad as they.—John Jamieson.

Verse 1.—It is not the imperfection or shortcoming in the fear of God, but the being destitute of it altogether, that proveth a wicked man: “There is no fear of God before his eyes.”—David Dickson.

Verse 1 (last clause).—“Not having the fear of God before his eyes,” has become inwoven into proceedings in criminal courts. When a man has no fear of God, he is prepared for any crime.

Total depravity is not too strong a term to describe human wickedness. The sinner has “no fear of God.” Where that is wanting, how can there be any piety? And if there is no piety, there must be total want of right affections, and that is the very essence of depravity.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 1.—Durst any mock God with flourishes and formalities in religion, if they feared him? Durst any provoke God to his face by real and open wickednesses, if they feared him? Durst any sin with the judgments of God fresh bleeding before their eyes, if they feared the Lord and his wrath? Durst they sin with heaps of precious mercy before their eyes, if they feared the Lord and his goodness? Durst any flatter either others or themselves with hopes of impunity in their sin, if they feared the Lord and his truth? Durst any slight their own promises, professions, protestations, oaths, or design the entangling of others by them, rather than the binding of themselves, did they fear the Lord and his faithfulness, even the Lord who keepeth covenant and promise for ever? All these and many more transgressions of the wicked (all these ways of transgression are found among the wicked, it were well if none of them were found among those who have a name of godliness; I say, all these transgressions of the wicked) say, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 1.—The wicked man has no regard to the oracles of God: he has one in his own heart, which dictates nothing but rebellion.—Zachary Mudge.

Verse 2.—“For he flattereth himself in his own eyes.” The matter which this self-flattery especially concerns is sin, as appears from the following clause. He deceives himself as to its nature and consequences, its evil and aggravations, and he continues to do so “until his iniquity be found to be hateful;” till it be fully discovered, and appear in its magnitude and atrocious circumstances both to himself and others, by some awful divine judgment, such as that mentioned in the last verse of the Psalm: “There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.” He adduces this self-deceit and continuance in it, as illustrating the truth of that judgment he had formed of the state of such a person: “There is no fear of God before his eyes: for he flattereth himself in his own eyes.” And surely the proof is incontrovertible. For a man under the bondage of sin would never flatter himself in his own eyes, were it not that God is not before them. The reason why he thinks so well of himself is, that God is not in all his thoughts. He hath cast off all fear about himself because he hath no fear of God.—John Jamieson.

Verse 2.—“He flattereth himself.” 1. Some flatter themselves with a secret hope, that there is no such thing as another world. 2. Some flatter themselves that death is a great way off, and that they shall hereafter have much opportunity to seek salvation. 3. Some flatter themselves that they lead moral and orderly lives and therefore think that they shall not be damned. 4. Some make the advantages under which they live an occasion of self-flattery. They flatter themselves that they live in a place where the gospel is powerfully preached, and among a religious people, where many have been converted; and they think it will be much easier for them to be saved on that account. 5. Some flatter themselves with their own intentions. They intend to give themselves liberty for a while longer, and then to reform. 6. There are some who flatter themselves that they do, and have done, a great deal for their salvation, and therefore hope they shall obtain it; when indeed they neither do what they ought to do, nor what they might do even in their present state of unregeneracy; nor are they in any likely way to be converted. 7. Some hope by their strivings to obtain salvation of themselves. They have a secret imagination that they shall, by degrees, work in themselves sorrow and repentance of sin, and love towards God and Jesus Christ. Their striving is not so much an earnest seeking to God, as a striving to do themselves that which is the work of God. 8. Some sinners flatter themselves that they are already converted. They sit down and rest in a false hope, persuading themselves that all their sins are pardoned; that God loves them; that they shall go to heaven when they die; and that they need trouble themselves no more. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Rev. iii. 17.—Condensed from Jonathan Edwards.

Verse 2.—“In his own eyes.” He had not God before his eyes in holy awe, therefore he puts himself there in unholy admiration. He who makes little of God makes much of himself. They who forget adoration fall into adulation. The eyes must see something, and if they admire not God they will flatter self.—C. H. S.

Verse 2.—“Until his iniquity be found to be hateful;” that is, until he finds by experience that it is a more dreadful thing to sin against God, and break his holy commands, than he imagined.—Jonathan Edwards.

Verse 2.—“Hateful.” Odious to himself, to others, and to God.—Gilbert Genebrard, 1537-1597.

Verse 3.—“He hath left off.” That little light he once had, he hath lost, and cast off such good practices as once in hypocrisy he performed; neither will he learn to do better.—John Trapp.

Verse 3 (last clause).—Apostacy from God is really an undoing of all the good which we have done. ’Tis a wicked repentance quite contrary to the grace of repentance; as that is a repentance from dead works, so this is a repentance from works of a better sort: “He hath left off to be wise, and to do good.” ’Tis a perversion to evil after a seeming conversion from it.—Timothy Cruso.

Verses 3, 4:—

Yet did he spare his sleep, and hear the clock Number the midnight watches, on his bed Devising mischief more; and early rose. And made most hellish meals of good men’s names. From door to door you might have seen him speed, Or placed amid a group of gaping fools. Peace fled the neighbourhood in which he made His haunts; and, like a moral pestilence, Before his breath the healthy shoots and blooms Of social joy and happiness decayed. Fools only in his company were seen, And those forsaken of God, and to themselves Given up. The prudent shunned him and his house As one who had a deadly moral plague.

Robert Pollock, 1799-1827.

Verse 4.—“He deviseth mischief upon his bed.” As the man that feareth God communeth with his heart upon his bed, that he may not sin, no, not in his heart; so the man that feareth not God, deviseth how he may plot and perform sin willingly.—David Dickson.

Verse 4.—“Upon his bed.” Most diligently does Ayguan follow up the scriptural expressions concerning a bed and tell us that there are six different beds of wickedness—that of luxury, that of avarice, of ambition, of greediness, of torpor, and of cruelty, and he illustrates them all by examples from Scripture.—J. M. Neale.

Verse 4.—“He setteth himself in a way that is not good.” To wait to sin is to sin deliberately, yea, to wait to sin resolvedly. That sin is exceedingly sinfully committed which we set and prepare ourselves to commit. David, describing a wicked man, saith, “He setteth himself in a way that is not good;” that is, in an evil way: he doth not only fall into sin (that may be the case of a good man), but he takes or chooseth an evil way, and then sets or settles himself in it, resolving not to leave it, no, nor to be beaten out of it. Sin may be said to wait for a godly man, that is, Satan waits and watches his season to tempt him unto sin; but a godly man doth not wait nor watch to sin. It is bad enough to be overtaken with sin, or with a fault (as the apostle speaks, Gal. vi. 1); but to be taken with sin, and so to wait for a season to take our fill of it, is as bad as bad can be.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 4.—“He setteth himself in a way that is not good.” Proud sinners have strongest conceit that they go right, at least in the way of their choice. Satan blindeth them so, that they mistake both the end and the way: in their count they are running to heaven, when they are posting to hell: he serveth them kindly with fresh post-horses. Sometimes he mounteth them on drunkenness, and when they have run a stage on that beastliness, he can mount them on lechery. Again, he can refresh them with avarice; and if they be weary of that slow jade, he setteth them on lofty ambition, and to make them more spirity he can horse them on restless contention. Every one seeth not Satan’s enquiry: there is no complexion or disposition, but he hath a fit horse for it, and that of itself. Every man’s predominant is a beast of Satan’s saddling and providing to carry men to hell. The way is one, the post-master is one, he is to be found at every stage, mounting his gallants, their horses are all of one kind though not of one colour. Happy is the man whom God dismounteth in that evil way, and more happy is he who taketh with that stay, and turneth his course to heaven.—William Struther.

Verse 4.—“He abhorreth not,” i.e., is far enough from rejecting any instrument, however sinful, for attaining his purposes.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 5.—“Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens.” David considering the thoughts and deeds of impious men, and the mercy of God towards them, utters this exclamation. When men sin so impudently, who does not admire the divine longsuffering!—Sebastian Munster, 1489-1552.

Verses 5-7.—This Psalm doth fitly set forth unto us the estate and condition of these times, wherein wickedness increaseth: and so in the former part of the Psalm is a discovery of wickedness, verse 3. And what should we do when there is such wickedness in the earth? In the fifth verse, “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.” God is gathering up all goodness, mercy, and peace from man to himself; and though there is cruelty, mischief, and wickedness in the world, in the earth, yet there is mercy, truth, and faithfulness in the clouds; and it’s good that wisdom, goodness, truth, and righteousness leave the world, and cleave to God, that so we may follow it; and that what goodness, mercy, truth, and faithfulness we formerly enjoyed in man, we may enjoy in God. And when wickedness increaseth, righteousness increaseth likewise: “Thy righteousness is like the great mountains:” when the world tears and breaks itself in pieces, then is the righteousness of God a great mountain. “Thy judgments are a great deep;” when the whole world is become one sea of confusion, then are the judgments of the Lord a great deep, where not only man, but beasts may rest safely. “Thou preservest man and beast.” And though this time is a time of growing and spreading wickedness in man, yet it is a time of sweetest admiration and love in God; and when men that sin do cry out, O woful man! they that enjoy God, cry out, O happy man! And though men that live in the earth cry out, O miserable! what times are here? men that live in heaven cry out, “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!” The Lord makes all things naked and bare, that we only may have him to be our safety.—William Sedgwick (1609-1668), in “The Excellency of the love of God,” a sermon in a vol., entitled “Some flashes of Lightnings of the Son of Man,” 1648.

Verses 5-9:—

Thy mercie Lord doth to the HEAUENS extend, Thy faithfullnes doth to the CLOUDES assend; Thy justice stedfast as a MOUNTAINE is, Thy JUDGEMENTS deepe as is the great Abisse; Thy noble mercies saue all liueinge thinges, The sonnes of men creepe underneath thy winges: With thy great plenty they are fedd at will, And of thy pleasure’s streame they drinke their fill; For euen the well of life remaines with thee, And in thy glorious light wee light shall see.

Sir John Davies.

Verse 6.—“Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.” Lit. mountains of God, which men have not planted, and which men cannot move.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 6.—“Thy judgments are a great deep.” Men’s sins are a great deep, and Satan’s ways are called a depth; but God’s judgments, his ways in the wheels, are the greatest deep of all, they are unsearchable.—William Greenhill.

Verse 7.—“How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!” etc. The expressions here which denote the abundance of divine blessings upon the righteous man seem to be taken from the temple, from whence they were to issue. Under the covert of the temple, the wings of the cherubim, they were to be sheltered. The richness of the sacrifices, the streams of oil, wine, odours, etc., and the light of the golden candlestick, are all plainly referred to.—Samuel Burder.

Verse 7.—“Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” The word signifies to fly, to betake one’s self to a place of safety: as the chickens in danger to be seized on, fly under the wings of the hen. “Under whose wings thou art come to trust.” Ruth ii. 12. The helpless bird pursued by the kite, in danger to be devoured, runs under the shadow of the dam. Thus it is with a sinner at the first working of faith, he apprehends himself pursued by wrath and judgment; he knows if they seize on him he must perish without remedy. Oh, the sad condition of such a soul! Oh, but he sees Christ spreading his wings ready to secure perishing sinners; he hears him inviting in the gospel to come under his shadow! Oh, how sweet is that voice to him (however, while senseless he rejected it)! He hears, obeys, and runs to Christ for shelter, and so he is safe. “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.”—David Clarkson.

Verse 7.—“Thy wings” A common figure in the Psalms, taken more immediately, in my opinion, from the wings of the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat which covered the ark; but more remotely from birds, which defend their young from the solar rays by overshadowing them with their wings.—Francis Hare (Bishop), 1740.

Verse 7:—

In lonesome cell, guarded and strong I lie, Bound by Christ’s love, his truth to testify, Though walls be thick, the door no hand unclose, God is my strength, my solace, and repose.

In a letter of Jeroninus Segerson, written in the prison at Antwerp to his wife, named Lysken, who likewise lay a prisoner there, 1551.

Verse 8.—“They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house: and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.” Mark, first, the excellency of the provision, “fatness of thy house,” the “river of thy pleasures.” The fattest is esteemed the fairest and the most excellent food; therefore the saint was enjoined to offer the fat in sacrifice under the law. As God expects the best from us, so he gives the best to us. This made David, when he had feasted so curiously, to sing so cheerfully. Fatness here is the top, the cream of all spiritual delicacies. “My soul is filled as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.” Psalm lxiii. 5. But, though God keeps so noble a house to satisfy his people’s hunger, what special care doth he take to quench their thirst! “Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures.” Oh, he drinks to them, and they pledge him in his own cup! Hath the child, then, any cause, when his Father keeps so rare and costly a table, to leave such dainties and go a-begging up and down the country for scraps and fragments? Oh, how much do these disgrace their Parent’s provision, and their own discretion! But mark, reader, secondly, the plenty as well as the excellency of this provision. Here is fatness in the abstract, a “river of pleasure;” and so much as that they who enjoy it shall be satisfied, and abundantly satisfied. A river is overflowing and ever flowing; it communicates its water and yet is never empty. It is fed with springs and fountains, and therefore it is no wonder if it always be full. They that are at such a well need not complain of want; but here are not only rivers and fatness, but of God’s people it is said, “they shall be abundantly satisfied.” In the original it is inebriated. They shall have not only a sufficiency, but a redundancy of spiritual delights. The vessels of their souls shall be filled to the brim out of that river whose streams make glad the city of God. Surely, then, they who may have bread in such abundance, enough and to spare, in their Father’s house, made of the kidneys of the wheat, of the finest flour, need not hanker after the world’s homely fare. Our heavenly Father doth not keep so starveling a house that the world’s scraps should go down with us.-George Swinnock.

Verse 8.—“They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house.” I once heard a father tell, that when he removed his family to a new residence where the accommodation was much more ample, the substance much more rich and varied than that to which they had previously been accustomed, his youngest son, yet a lisping infant, ran round every room and scanned every article with ecstacy, calling out in childish wonder at every new sight, “Is this ours, father? and is this ours?” The child did not say “yours;” and I observed that the father while he told the story was not offended with the freedom. You could read in his glistening eye that the infant’s confidence in appropriating as his own all that his father had, was an important element in his satisfaction.

Such, I suppose, will be the surprise, and joy, and appropriating confidence with which the child of our Father’s family will count all his own when he is removed from the comparatively mean condition of things present, and enters the infinite of things to come. When the glories of heaven burst upon his view, he does not stand at a distance like a stranger saying, O God, these are thine. He bounds forward to touch and taste every provision which those blessed mansions contain, exclaiming as he looks in the Father’s face, Father, this and this is ours! The dear child is glad of all the Father’s riches, and the Father is gladder of his dear child.—William Arnot.

Verse 8.—“The fatness of thy house.” If there is an allusion to the temple, as Hupfield thinks, “fatness” would = “fat sacrifices,” and men would be regarded as the priests in the house, after the analogy of Jer. xxxi. 14.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 8.—“The fatness of thy house.” Fat was regarded among the Jews, as among all other nations of antiquity, as the richest part of animals, and therefore became synonymous with the first, the best, the prime of anything.—Christian D. Ginsburg, LL.D., in Kitto’s Cyclopedia.

Verse 8.—“Of thy house.” This is emphatic, and means that which thou hast prepared for thine own household, thine own faithful domestics. Here is intended not the good things prepared for all men, but for the household retainers of God.—John Piscator, 1546-1626, and D. H. Mollerus.

Verse 8.—“Pleasures.” Delights, the same word as is translated “Eden” in Genesis, only it is here in the plural number.—Dalman Hapstone, M. A.

Verse 8.—And, saith one of the fathers, do you ask me what heaven is? Saith one, When I meet you there I will tell you. The world to come, say the Rabbins, is the world where all is well. I have read of one that would willingly swim through a sea of brimstone to get to heaven, for there, and only there, is perfection of happiness. What are the silks of Persia, the spices of Egypt, the gold of Ophir and the treasures of both Indies, to the glory of another world? Augustine tells us that one day, when he was about to write something upon the eighth verse of the thirty-sixth Psalm, “Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures,” and being almost swallowed up with the contemplation of heavenly joys, one called unto him very loud by his name; and, enquiring who it was, he answered, I am Jerome, with whom in my lifetime thou hadst so much conference concerning doubts in Scripture, and am now best experienced to resolve thee of any doubts concerning the joys of heaven; but only let me first ask thee this question—Art thou able to put the whole earth, and all the waters of the sea, into a little pot? Canst thou measure the waters in thy fist, and mete out heaven with thy span, or weigh the mountains in scales, or the hills in a balance? If not, no more is it possible that thy understanding should comprehend the least of the joys of heaven; and certainly the least of the joys of heaven are inconceivable and unexpressible.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 9.—“For with thee is the fountain of life.”—These are some of the most wonderful words in the Old Testament. Their fulness of meaning no commentary can ever exhaust. They are, in fact, the kernel and the anticipation of much of the profoundest teaching of S. John.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 9.—“In thy light shall we see light.” The object and matter of our eternal happiness is called “light.” It will not be a dazzling and confounding light as was the brightness of Moses’ face at his coming down from the mount; the people could not behold him: it will not be an astonishing light, as that in the mount at our Lord’s transfiguration; the disciples fell to the ground, their weak eyes could not behold those glimpses of glory that shined through the vail of flesh. But the light in our heaven of happiness will be a strengthening and comforting light; it will strengthen and confirm the eyes of our understanding to behold it. Then shall we be enabled as the young eagles, to behold the Sun of Righteousness in his brightness and glory. It was said by the Lord to Moses, “None can see my face and live.” Exodus xxxiii. 20. That glorious sight which Daniel saw took strength from him. Dan. x. 8. The object being without him, drew out all his spirits to behold and admire it and so weakened him; but in heaven our God, whom we shall see and know, will be within us to strengthen us; then shall we live because we see his face. It will be also a comforting light, like the light of the morning to the wearied watchman, who longed after it in the night-time.—William Colvill.

Verse 9.—“In thy light shall we see light.” ’Tis but a kind of dim twilight comparatively, which we enjoy here in this world. While we are hid in this prison-house we can see but little; but our Father’s house above is full of light: “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun,” etc. Matt. xiii. 43. If the Day-star be risen in your hearts, live in the pleasant and cheerful expectation of perfect day. For we can ascend but a little way into the mysteries of the kingdom, as long as we are upon the footstool; and we shall know vastly and inconceivably more in the first moment after we come to heaven, than we are capable of attaining here throughout all our days.—Timothy Cruso.

Verse 9.—“In thy light shall we see light.” The light of nature is like a spark, the light of the gospel a lamp, the light of grace a star, but the light of glory the sun itself. The higher our ascent the greater our light; God dwelleth “in the light which no man can approach unto.” 1 Tim. vi. 16—no man, while he carries mortality and sin about him; but when those two corrupt and uncapable qualities shall be put off, then shall we be brought to that light. We are now glad of the sun and stars over our heads, to give us light: what light and delight shall that be when these are under our feet! That light must needs go as far beyond their light as they now go beyond us. But alas! they are only able to discourse of that light, that do enjoy it, to whom that eternal day is risen; not we that live in the humble shade of mortality and natural dimness. I leave it therefore to your meditations: it is a glorious light which we do well often to consider, considering to admire, admiring to love, loving to desire, desiring to seek, and finding to enjoy for ever.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 9.—“In thy light shall we see light.” There is a great boast of light in the world, and there is some ground for it in natural things; but, as of old the world by wisdom knew not God, so of late. If ever we know God, it must be through the medium of his word. This I take to be the meaning of the passage. The term light in the last clause means the true knowledge of God; and, in the first, the true medium of attaining it, namely, divine revelation. The sum seems to amount to this: the word of God is the grand medium by which we can attain a true and saving knowledge of God. What the sun and stars are to the regions of matter, that revelation is to the mental region. Gen. i. 13, 17....

There are many things of which you may entertain no doubt, concerning which there may be no manner of dispute; yet, make a point of seeing them in God’s light. Many content themselves with seeing them in the light in which great and good men have placed them; but, although angels, they are not the true light: they all view things partially. If what they say be true, yet, if we receive it merely on their representation, our faith will stand in the wisdom of men, and not in the power of God. 1 Cor. ii. 5. That knowledge or faith which has not God’s word for its ground will not stand the day of trial.—Andrew Fuller.

Verse 9.—In this communion of God what can we want? Why, God shall be all and in all unto us; he shall be beauty for the eye, music for the ear, honey for the taste, the full content and satisfaction of our desires, and that immediately from himself. True it is God is all in all in this world, “In him we live, and move, and have our being;” but here he works by means of secondary causes; here he gives wine to make the heart glad, and oil, etc.; but there all intervening means between God and us is removed: “with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light;” not in the light of the sun, or the light of a candle; there is no need of them (Rev. xxii. 5); but “in thy light,” the light of God himself; yea, the whole life of glory, together with all the concomitants of it, flows from him as the sole and original fountain of it. Oh, how sweet must that happiness be that is so derived!—Edmund Pinchbeck, B.D., in “The Fountain of Life:” a Funeral Sermon, 1652.

Verse 9.—Whatsoever can be found in the creature, even when God blesseth the use thereof to his own children, is but a drop from the ocean, is but a little water out of the well, in comparison of what a believer will see and feel to be in God reconciled through Christ, for, “with thee is the fountain of life.”—David Dickson.

Verse 10.—“Continue thy lovingkindness.” When God beginneth once to let out mercy to his servants, he stints not presently, but proceeds.... When Rachel had her first son, she called his name Joseph, which signifieth adding, or increase; for she said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.” Gen. xxx. 24. Now God hath begun to show kindness, he shall not only give me this, but he shall give me another son also. When the Lord hath bestowed one mercy on you, you may name it Joseph, increase, addition, for God will bestow another upon you. Abraham had many mercies from God, one after another; and Moses, a multitude of mercies; he converseth with God face to face; he heareth God speak; he hath God’s presence to go along with him; yea, he seeth all God’s goodness and glory to pass before him. When mercies come forth, God will not presently shut the door of mercy again. “Continue thy lovingkindness.” The Hebrew is, draw forth, or draw out thy lovingkindness: a metaphor either taken from vessels of wine, which being set abroach once, yield not only one cup, but many cups; so when God setteth abroach the wine of his mercy, he will not fill your cup once, but twice and seven times; or, taken from a mother, who hath her breasts full of milk, draws them out for her child, not once, but often; the child shall have the breast many times in the day, and many times in the night, so when God beginneth to show mercy to you, he will draw out his breasts of consolation, and will bestow mercy after mercy upon you; or, from a line which is extended, for so God being in a way of mercy, will extend the line of mercy, and measure out mercy after mercy for you.—William Greenhill.

Verse 10.—The true mark of a godly man standeth in the conjunction of faith in God with sincere study of obedience to him, for, He is the man that knoweth God, and is upright in heart.—David Dickson.

Verse 11.—“Foot” ... “Hand.” Both foot and hand are named because both used in waging war.—Simeon de Muis.

Verse 12.—“There are the workers of iniquity fallen.” This is said as if the Psalmist pointed, when he said it, to a particular place with his finger; and the same mode of expression occurs in Psalm xiv. 5; or, it may be rendered, then (i.e., when the just are satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house, being rewarded for sincerely worshipping thee in it), shall they fall, all that work wickedness; they shall be cast down, and shall not be able to rise, as is the case with persons who have been thrown with violence upon the hard ground.—Daniel Cresswell.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—What is the fear of God? How does it operate? What is the effect of its absence? What should we learn from seeing such evil results?

Or the atheism underlying transgression.

Verse 2.—The arts, motives, assistances, results, and punishments of self-flattery, and the discovery which concludes it.

Verse 2.—Self-flatteries.—Jonathan Edward’s Sermon.

Verse 2.—On the deceitfulness of the heart, with regard to the commission of sin.—Two Sermons, in Jamieson’s “Sermons on the Heart.”

Verse 3.—Bad words. Two out of many kinds.

Verse 3 (second clause).—The relation between true wisdom and practical goodness.

Verse 4.—Diligence in doing evil, a mark of deep depravity.—W. S. Plumer.

Verse 4.—The abuse of retirement to wicked purposes, a sure characteristic of an habitual sinner.—N. Marshall.

Verse 4.—The sinner on his bed, in his conduct, in his heart; add to this, in his death, and in his doom.

Verse 4 (second clause).—Ways which are not good.

Verse 4 (last clause).—Neutrality condemned.

Verses 5, 6.—Four glorious similes of the mercy, faithfulness, and providence of God. The preacher has here a wealth of poetic imagery never surpassed.

Verse 6.—God’s word and works mysterious.—C. Simeon.

Verse 6 (second clause).—God’s judgments are—I. Often unfathomable—we cannot discover the foundation or cause, and spring of them. II. They are safe sailing. Ships never strike on rocks out in the great deeps. III. They conceal great treasure. IV. They work much good—the great deep, though ignorance thinks it to be all waste, a salt and barren wilderness, is one of the greatest blessings to this round world. V. They become a highway of communion with God. The sea is to-day the great highway of the world.

Verse 6 (last clause).—Kindness of God to the lower animals, as well as man.

Verses 7, 8.—Admiration! Confidence! Expectation! Realisation!

Verse 7.—The object, reasons, nature, and experience of faith.

Verse 8 (first clause).—The provisions of the Lord’s house. What they are, their excellence and abundance, and for whom provided.

Verse 8 (second clause).—The heavenly Hiddekel—Its source, its flood, the happy drinkers, how they came to drink.

Verse 9 (first clause).—LIFE, natural, mental, spiritual, proceeds from God, is sustained, restored, purified, and perfected by him. In him it dwells with permanency, from him it flows freely, with freshness, abundance, and purity; to him it should be consecrated.

Verse 9 (second clause).—LIGHT, what it is to see it. Divine light, what it is; how it is the medium by which we see other light. The experience here described, and the duty here hinted at.

Verse 10.—I. The character of the righteous—he knows God, and is upright in heart. II. His privilege—lovingkindness and righteousness. III. His prayer, continue, etc.

Verse 10.—The need of daily supplies of grace.

Verse 12.—A view of the overthrow of evil powers, principles, and men.

PSALM XXXVII.

TITLE.—Of David.—There is but this word to denote the authorship; whether it was a song or a meditation we are not told. It was written by David in his old age (verse 25), and is the more valuable as the record of so varied an experience.

SUBJECT.—The great riddle of the prosperity of the wicked and the affliction of the righteous, which has perplexed so many, is here dealt with in the light of the future; and fretfulness and repining are most impressively forbidden. It is a Psalm in which the Lord hushes most sweetly the too common repinings of his people, and calms their minds as to his present dealings with his own chosen flock, and the wolves by whom they are surrounded. It contains eight great precepts, is twice illustrated by autobiographical statements, and abounds in remarkable contrasts.

DIVISION.—The Psalm can scarcely be divided into considerable sections. It resembles a chapter of the book of Proverbs, most of the verses being complete in themselves. It is an alphabetical Psalm: in somewhat broken order, the first letters of the verses follow the Hebrew alphabet. This may have been not only a poetical invention, but a help to memory. The reader is requested to read the Psalm through without comment before he turns to our exposition.

EXPOSITION.

Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

1. The Psalm opens with the first precept. It is alas! too common for believers in their hours of adversity to think themselves harshly dealt with when they see persons utterly destitute of religion and honesty, rejoicing in abundant prosperity. Much needed is the command, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers.” To fret is to worry, to have the heart-burn, to fume, to become vexed. Nature is very apt to kindle a fire of jealousy when it sees law-breakers riding on horses, and obedient subjects walking in the mire: it is a lesson learned only in the school of grace, when one comes to view the most paradoxical providences with the devout complacency of one who is sure that the Lord is righteous in all his acts. It seems hard to carnal judgments that the best meat should go to the dogs, while loving children pine for want of it. “Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.” The same advice under another shape. When one is poor, despised, and in deep trial, our old Adam naturally becomes envious of the rich and great; and when we are conscious that we have been more righteous than they, the devil is sure to be at hand with blasphemous reasonings. Stormy weather may curdle even the cream of humanity. Evil men instead of being envied, are to be viewed with horror and aversion; yet their loaded tables, and gilded trappings, are too apt to fascinate our poor half-opened eyes. Who envies the fat bullock the ribbons and garlands which decorate him as he is led to the shambles? Yet the case is a parallel one; for ungodly rich men are but as beasts fattened for the slaughter.

2. “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass.” The scythe of death is sharpening. Green grows the grass, but quick comes the scythe. The destruction of the ungodly will be speedy, sudden, sure, overwhelming, irretrievable. The grass cannot resist or escape the mower. “And wither as the green herb.” The beauty of the herb dries up at once in the heat of the sun, and so all the glory of the wicked shall disappear at the hour of death. Death kills the ungodly man like grass, and wrath withers him like hay; he dies, and his name rots. How complete an end is made of the man whose boasts had no end! Is it worth while to waste ourselves in fretting about the insect of an hour, an ephemera which in the same day is born and dies? Within believers there is a living and incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth for ever; why should they envy mere flesh, and the glory of it, which are but as grass, and the flower thereof?

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily shalt be fed.

3. “Trust in the Lord.” Here is the second precept, and one appropriate to the occasion. Faith cures fretting. Sight is cross-eyed, and views things only as they seem, hence her envy; faith has clearer optics to behold things as they really are, hence her peace. “And do good.” True faith is actively obedient. Doing good is a fine remedy for fretting. There is a joy in holy activity which drives away the rust of discontent. “So shalt thou dwell in the land.” In “the land” which floweth with milk and honey; the Canaan of the covenant. Thou shalt not wander in the wilderness of murmuring, but abide in the promised land of content and rest. “We which have believed do enter into rest.” Very much of our outward depends upon the inward; where there is heaven in the heart there will be heaven in the house. “And verily thou shalt be fed,” or shepherded. To integrity and faith necessaries are guaranteed. The good shepherd will exercise his pastoral care over all believers. In truth they shall be fed, and fed on truth. The promise of God shall be their perpetual banquet; they shall neither lack in spirituals nor in temporals. Some read this as an exhortation, “Feed on truth;” certainly this is good cheer, and banishes for ever the hungry heart-burnings of envy.

4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

4. There is an ascent in this third precept. He who was first bidden not to fret, was then commanded actively to trust, and now is told with holy desire to delight in God. “Delight thyself also in the Lord.” Make Jehovah the joy and rejoicing of thy spirit. Bad men delight in carnal objects; do not envy them if they are allowed to take their fill in such vain idols; look thou to thy better delight, and fill thyself to the full with thy sublimer portion. In a certain sense imitate the wicked; they delight in their portion—take care to delight in yours, and so far from envying you will pity them. There is no room for fretting if we remember that God is ours, but there is every incentive to sacred enjoyment of the most elevated and ecstatic kind. Every name, attribute, word, or deed of Jehovah, should be delightful to us, and in meditating thereon our soul should be as glad as is the epicure who feeds delicately with a profound relish for his dainties. “And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” A pleasant duty is here rewarded with another pleasure. Men who delight in God desire or ask for nothing but what will please God; hence it is safe to give them carte blanche. Their will is subdued to God’s will, and now they may have what they will. Our innermost desires are here meant, not our casual wishes; there are many things which nature might desire which grace would never permit us to ask for; these deep, prayerful, asking desires are those to which the promise is made.

5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

5. “Commit thy way unto the Lord.” Roll the whole burden of life upon the Lord. Leave with Jehovah not thy present fretfulness merely, but all thy cares; in fact, submit the whole tenor of thy way to him. Cast away anxiety, resign thy will, submit thy judgment, leave all with the God of all. What a medicine is this for expelling envy! What a high attainment does this fourth precept indicate! How blessed must he be who lives every day in obedience to it! “Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Our destiny shall be joyfully accomplished if we confidently entrust all to our Lord. We may serenely sing—

“Thy way, not mine, O Lord, However dark it be; O lead me by thine own right hand. Choose out the path for me. Smooth let it be or rough, It will be still the best; Winding or straight, it matters not, It leads me to thy rest.

I dare not choose my lot, I would not if I might; But choose Thou for me, O my God. So shall I walk aright.

Take thou my cup, and it With joy or sorrow fill; As ever best to thee may seem, Choose thou my good and ill.”

The ploughman sows and harrows, and then leaves the harvest to God. What can he do else? He cannot cover the heavens with clouds, or command the rain, or bring forth the sun or create the dew. He does well to leave the whole matter with God; and so to all of us it is truest wisdom, having obediently trusted in God, to leave results in his hands, and expect a blessed issue.

6. “And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.” In the matter of personal reputation we may especially be content to be quiet, and leave our vindication with the Judge of all the earth. The more we fret in this case, the worse for us. Our strength is to sit still. The Lord will clear the slandered. If we look to his honour, he will see to ours. It is wonderful how, when faith learns to endure calumny with composure, the filth does not defile her, but falls off like snow-balls from a wall of granite. Even in the worst cases, where a good name is for awhile darkened, Providence will send a clearing like the dawning light, which shall increase until the man once censured shall be universally admired. “And thy judgment as the noonday.” No shade of reproach shall remain. The man shall be in his meridian of splendour. The darkness of his sorrow and his ill-repute shall both flee away.

7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

7. “Rest in the Lord.” This fifth is a most divine precept, and requires much grace to carry it out. To hush the spirit, to be silent before the Lord, to wait in holy patience the time for clearing up the difficulties of Providence—this is what every gracious heart should aim at. “Aaron held his peace:” “I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.” A silent tongue in many cases not only shows a wise head, but a holy heart. “And wait patiently for him.” Time is nothing to him; let it be nothing to thee. God is worth waiting for. “He never is before his time, he never is too late.” In a story we wait for the end to clear up the plot; we ought not to prejudge the great drama of life, but stay till the closing scene, and see to what a finis the whole arrives. “Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.” There is no good, but much evil, in worrying your heart about the present success of graceless plotters: be not enticed into premature judgments—they dishonour God, they weary yourself. Determine, let the wicked succeed as they may, that you will treat the matter with indifference, and never allow a question to be raised as to the righteousness and goodness of the Lord. What if wicked devices succeed and your own plans are defeated! there is more of the love of God in your defeats than in the successes of the wicked.

8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

9 For evil doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

8. “Cease from anger and forsake wrath.” Especially anger against the arrangements of Providence, and jealousies of the temporary pleasures of those who are so soon to be banished from all comfort. Anger anywhere is madness, here it is aggravated insanity. Yet since anger will try to keep us company, we must resolvedly forsake it. “Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.” By no reasonings and under no circumstances be led into such a course. Fretfulness lies upon the verge of great sin. Many who have indulged a murmuring disposition have at last come to sin, in order to gain their fancied rights. Beware of carping at others, study to be yourself found in the right way; and as you would dread outward sin, tremble at inward repining.

9. “For evil doers shall be cut off.” Their death shall be a penal judgment; not a gentle removal to a better state, but an execution in which the axe of justice shall be used. “But those that wait upon the Lord”—those who in patient faith expect their portion in another life—“they shall inherit the earth.” Even in this life they have the most of real enjoyment, and in the ages to come theirs shall be the glory and the triumph. Passion, according to Bunyan’s parable, has his good things first, and they are soon over; Patience has his good things last, and they last for ever.

10. “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be.” When bad men reach to greatness, the judgments of God frequently sweep them away; their riches melt, their powers decay, their happiness turns to wretchedness; they themselves cease any longer to be numbered with the living. The shortness of life makes us see that the glitter of the wicked great is not true gold. O wherefore, tried believer, dost thou envy one who in a little while will lie lower than the dust? “Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” His house shall be empty, his chair of office vacant, his estate without an owner; he shall be utterly blotted out, perhaps cut off by his own debauchery, or brought to a deathbed of penury by his own extravagance. Gone like a passing cloud—forgotten as a dream—where are his boastings and hectorings, and where the pomp which made poor mortals think the sinner blest?

11. “But the meek shall inherit the earth.” Above all others they shall enjoy life. Even if they suffer, their consolations shall overtop their tribulations. By inheriting the land is meant obtaining covenant privileges and the salvation of God. Such as are truly humble shall take their lot with the rest of the heirs of grace, to whom all good things come by a sacred birthright. “And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Peace they love and peace they shall have. If they find not abundance of gold, abundance of peace will serve their turn far better. Others find joy in strife, and thence arises their misery in due time, but peace leads on to peace, and the more a man loves it the more shall it come to him. In the halcyon period of the latter days, when universal peace shall make glad the earth, the full prophetic meaning of words like these will be made plain.

12 The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

13 The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.

15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

Here is the portrait of a proud oppressor armed to the teeth.

12. “The wicked plotteth against the just.” Why can he not let the good man alone? Because there is enmity between the serpent’s seed and the seed of the woman. Why not attack him fairly? Why plot and scheme? Because it is according to the serpent’s nature to be very subtle. Plain sailing does not suit those who are on board of “The Apollyon.” “And gnasheth upon him with his teeth.” The wicked show by their gestures what they would do if they could; if they cannot gnaw they will gnash: if they may not bite they will at least bark. This is precisely what the graceless world did with “that just One,” the Prince of Peace. Yet he took no vengeance upon them, but like a silent lamb received injuries in patience.

13. “The Lord shall laugh at him.” The godly man needs not trouble himself, but leave well-deserved vengeance to be dealt out by the Lord, who will utterly deride the malice of the good man’s enemies. Let the proud scorner gnash his teeth and foam at the mouth; he has one to deal with who will look down upon him and his ravings with serene contempt. “For he seeth that his day is coming.” The evil man does not see how close his destruction is upon his heels; he boasts of crushing others when the foot of justice is already uplifted to trample him as the mire of the streets. Sinners, in the hand of an angry God, and yet plotting against his children! Poor souls, thus to run upon the point of Jehovah’s spear.

14. “The wicked have drawn out the sword.” They hold their weapon out of its sheath, and watch for a time to use it. “And have bent their bow.” One weapon is not enough, they carry another ready for action. They carry so strong a bow that they have trodden upon it to bend it—they will lose nothing for want of force or readiness. “To cast down the poor and needy.” These are their game, the objects of their accursed malice. These cowards attack not their equals, but seek out those excellent ones who, from the gentleness of their spirits and the poverty of their estates, are not able to defend themselves. Note how our meek and lowly Lord was beset by cruel foes, armed with all manner of weapons to slay him. “And to slay such as be of upright conversation.” Nothing short of the overthrow and death of the just will content the wicked. The sincere and straightforward are hated by the crafty schemers who delight in unrighteousness. See, then, the enemies of the godly doubly armed, and learn how true were our Lord’s words, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

15. “Their sword shall enter into their own heart.” Like Haman they shall be hanged upon the gallows built by themselves for Mordecai. Hundreds of times has this been the case. Saul, who sought to slay David, fell on his own sword; and the bow, his favourite weapon, the use of which he taught the children of Israel, was not able to deliver him on Gilboa. “And their bows shall be broken.” Their inventions of evil shall be rendered useless. Malice outwits itself. It drinks the poisoned cup which it mixed for another, and burns itself in the fire which it kindled for its neighbour. Why need we fret at the prosperity of the wicked when they are so industriously ruining themselves while they fancy they are injuring the saints?

The next nine verses mainly describe the character and blessedness of the godly, and the light is brought out with a few black touches descriptive of the wicked and their doom.

16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.

18 The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.

19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

21 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

16. “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” This is a fine proverb. The little of one good man is contrasted with the riches of many wicked, and so the expression is rendered the more forcible. There is more happiness in the godly dinner of herbs than in the stalled ox of profane rioters. In the original there is an allusion to the noise of a multitude, as if to hint at the turmoil and hurly-burly of riotous wealth, and to contrast it with the quiet of the humbler portion of the godly. We would sooner hunger with John than feast with Herod; better feed on scant fare with the prophets in Obadiah’s cave than riot with the priests of Baal. A man’s happiness consists not in the heaps of gold which he has in store. Content finds multum in parvo, while for a wicked heart the whole world is too little.

17. “For the arms of the wicked shall be broken.” Their power to do mischief shall be effectually taken away, for the arms which they lifted up against God shall be crushed even to the bone. God often makes implacable men incapable men. What is a more contemptible sight than toothless malice, armless malevolence! “But the Lord upholdeth the righteous.” Their cause and course shall be safe, for they are in good keeping. The sword of two edges smites the wicked and defends the just.

18. “The Lord knoweth the days of the upright.” His foreknowledge made him laugh at the proud, but in the case of the upright he sees a brighter future, and treats them as heirs of salvation. Ever is this our comfort, that all events are known to our God, and that nothing in our future can take him at unawares. No arrow can pierce us by accident, no dagger smite us by stealth; neither in time nor in eternity can any unforeseen ill occur to us. Futurity shall be but a continual development of the good things which the Lord has laid up in store for us. “And their inheritance shall be for ever.” Their inheritance fades not away. It is entailed, so that none can deprive them of it, and preserved, so that none shall destroy it. Eternity is the peculiar attribute of the believer’s portion: what they have on earth is safe enough, but what they shall have in heaven is theirs without end.

19. “They shall not be ashamed in the evil time.” Calamities will come, but deliverances will come also. As the righteous never reckoned upon immunity from trouble, they will not be disappointed when they are called to take their share of it, but the rather they will cast themselves anew upon their God, and prove again his faithfulness and love. God is not a friend in the sunshine only, he is a friend indeed and a friend in need. “And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.” Their barrel of meal and cruse of oil shall last out the day of distress, and if ravens do not bring them bread and meat, the supply of their needs shall come in some other way, for their bread shall be given them. Our Lord stayed himself upon this when he hungered in the wilderness, and by faith he repelled the tempter; we too may be enabled not to fret ourselves in any wise to do evil by the same consideration. If God’s providence is our inheritance, we need not worry about the price of wheat. Mildew, and smut, and bent, are all in the Lord’s hands. Unbelief cannot save a single ear from being blasted, but faith, if it do not preserve the crop, can do what is better, namely, preserve our joy in the Lord.

20. “But the wicked shall perish.” Whatever phantom light may mock their present their future is black with dark, substantial night. Judgment has been given against them, they are but reserved for execution. Let them flaunt their scarlet and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day; the sword of Damocles is above their heads, and if their wits were a little more awake, their mirth would turn to misery. “The enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs.” As the sacrificial fat was all consumed upon the altar, so shall the ungodly utterly vanish from the place of their honour and pride. How can it be otherwise? If the stubble dares to contend with the flame, to what end can it hope to come? “They shall consume.” As dry wood, as heaps of leaves, as burning coals, they shall soon be gone, and gone altogether, for “into smoke shall they consume away.” Sic transit gloria mundi. A puff is the end of all their puffing. There fuming ends in smoke. They made themselves fat, and perished in their own grease. Consumers of the good they tried to be, and consumed they shall be.

21. “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again.” Partly because he will not, but mainly because he cannot. Want follows upon waste, and debt remains undischarged. Often are the wicked thus impoverished in this life. Their wanton extravagance brings them down to the usurer’s door and to the bankrupt’s suit. “But the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.” Mercy has given to him, and therefore he gives in mercy. He is generous and prosperous. He is not a borrower, but a giver. So far as the good man can do it, he lends an ear to the requests of need, and instead of being impoverished by what he imparts, he grows richer, and is able to do more. He does not give to encourage idleness, but in real mercy, which supposes real need. The text suggests to us how much better it generally is to give than to lend. Generally, lending comes to giving in the end, and it is as well to anticipate the fact, and by a little liberality forestall the inevitable. If these two sentences describe the wicked and the righteous, the writer of these lines has reason to know that in and about the city of London the wicked are very numerous.

22. “For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth.” God’s benediction is true wealth after all. True happiness, such as the covenant secures to all the chosen of heaven, lies wrapped up in the divine favour. “And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.” His frown is death; nay, more, ’tis hell.

23. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” All his course of life is graciously ordained, and in lovingkindness all is fixed, settled, and maintained. No reckless fate, no fickle chance rules us; our every step is the subject of divine decree. “He delighteth in his way.” As parents are pleased with the tottering footsteps of their babes. All that concerns a saint is interesting to his heavenly Father. God loves to view the holy strivings of a soul pressing forward to the skies. In the trials and the joys of the faithful, Jesus has fellowship with them, and delights to be their sympathising companion.

24. “Though he fall.” Disasters and reverses may lay him low; he may, like Job, be stripped of everything; like Joseph, be put in prison; like Jonah, be cast into the deep. “He shall not be utterly cast down.” He shall not be altogether prostrate. He shall be brought on his knees, but not on his face; or, if laid prone for a moment he shall be up again ere long. No saint shall fall finally or fatally. Sorrow may bring us to the earth, and death may bring us to the grave, but lower we cannot sink, and out of the lowest of all we shall arise to the highest of all. “For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.” Condescendingly, with his own hand, God upholds his saints; he does not leave them to mere delegated agency, he affords personal assistance. Even in our falls the Lord gives a measure of sustaining. Where grace does not keep from going down, it shall save from keeping down. Job had double wealth at last, Joseph reigned over Egypt, Jonah was safely landed. It is not that the saints are strong, or wise, or meritorious, that therefore they rise after every fall, but because God is their helper, and therefore none can prevail against them.

25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

25. This was David’s observation, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” It is not my observation just as it stands, for I have relieved the children of undoubtedly good men, who have appealed to me as common mendicants. But this does not cast a doubt upon the observation of David. He lived under a dispensation more outward, and more of this world than the present rule of personal faith. Never are the righteous forsaken; that is a rule without exception. Seldom indeed do their seed beg bread; and although it does occasionally occur, through dissipation, idleness, or some such causes on the part of their sons, yet doubtless it is so rare a thing that there are many alive who never saw it. Go into the union house and see how few are the children of godly parents; enter the gaol and see how much rarer still is the case. Poor ministers’ sons often become rich. I am not old, but I have seen the families of the poor godly become rich, and have seen the Lord reward the faithfulness of the father in the success of the son, so that I have often thought that the best way to endow one’s seed with wealth is to become poor for Christ’s sake. In the Indian mission of the “Baptist Missionary Society,” this is abundantly illustrated.

26. “He is ever merciful, and lendeth.” The righteous are constantly under generous impulses; they do not prosper through parsimony, but through bounty. Like the bounteous giver of all good, of whom they are the beloved sons, they delight in doing good. How stingy, covetous professors can hope for salvation is a marvel to those who read such verses as this in the Bible. “And his seed is blessed.” God pays back with interest in the next generation. Where the children of the righteous are not godly, there must be some reason for it in parental neglect, or some other guilty cause. The friend of the father is the friend of the family. The God of Abraham is the God of Isaac and of Jacob.

27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

28 For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.

Here we have the seventh precept, which takes a negative and positive form, and is the quintessence of the entire Psalm.

27. “Depart from evil, and do good.” We must not envy the doers of evil, but depart altogether from their spirit and example. As Lot left Sodom without casting a look behind, so must we leave sin. No truce or parley is to be held with sin, we must turn away from it without hesitation, and set ourselves practically to work in the opposite direction. He who neglects to do good will soon fall into evil. “And dwell for evermore.” Obtain an abiding and quiet inheritance. Shortlived are the gains and pleasures of evil, but eternal are the rewards of grace.

28. “For the Lord loveth judgment.” The awarding of honour to whom honour is due is God’s delight, especially when the upright man has been traduced by his fellow men. It must be a divine pleasure to right wrongs, and to defeat the machinations, of the unjust. The great Arbiter of human destinies is sure to deal out righteous measure both to rich and poor, to good and evil, for such judgment is his delight. “And forsaketh not his saints.” This would not be right, and, therefore, shall never be done. God is as faithful to the objects of his love as he is just towards all mankind. “They are preserved for ever.” By covenant engagements their security is fixed, and by suretyship fulfilments that safety is accomplished; come what may, the saints are preserved in Christ Jesus, and because he lives, they shall live also. A king will not lose his jewels, nor will Jehovah lose his people. As the manna in the golden pot, which else had melted, was preserved in the ark of the covenant beneath the mercy-seat, so shall the faithful be preserved in the covenant by the power of Jesus their propitiation. “But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” Like the house of Jeroboam and Ahab, of which not a dog was left. Honour and wealth ill-gotten seldom reach the third generation; the curse grows ripe before many years have passed, and falls upon the evil house. Among the legacies of wicked men the surest entail is a judgment on their family.

29. “The righteous shall inherit the land.” As heirs with Jesus Christ, the Canaan above, which is the antitype of “the land,” shall be theirs with all covenant blessing. “And dwell therein for ever.” Tenures differ, but none can match the holding which believers have of heaven. Paradise is theirs for ever by inheritance, and they shall live for ever to enjoy it. Who would not be a saint on such terms? Who would fret concerning the fleeting treasures of the godless?

30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.

31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.

33 The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

30. “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom.” Where the whole Psalm is dedicated to a description of the different fates of the just and the wicked, it was meet to give a test by which they could be known. A man’s tongue is no ill index of his character. The mouth betrays the heart. Good men, as a rule, speak that which is to edifying, sound speech, religious conversation, consistent with the divine illumination which they have received. Righteousness is wisdom in action, hence all good men are practically wise men, and well may the speech be wise. “His tongue talketh of judgment.” He advocates justice, gives an honest verdict on things and men, and he foretells that God’s judgments will come upon the wicked, as in the former days. His talk is neither foolish nor ribald, neither vapid nor profane. Our conversation is of far more consequence than some men imagine.

31. “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.” The best thing in the best place, producing the best results. Well might the man’s talk be so admirable when his heart was so well stored. To love holiness, to have the motives and desires sanctified, to be in one’s inmost nature obedient to the Lord—this is the surest method of making the whole run of our life efficient for its great ends, and even for securing the details of it, our steps from any serious mistake. To keep the even tenor of one’s way, in such times as these, is given only to those whose hearts are sound towards God, who can, as in the text, call God their God. Policy slips and trips, it twists and tacks, and after all is worsted in the long run, but sincerity plods on its plain pathway and reaches the goal.

32. “The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.” If it were not for the laws of the land, we should soon see a massacre of the righteous. Jesus was watched by his enemies, who were thirsting for his blood: his disciples must not look for favour where their Master found hatred and death.

33. “The Lord will not leave him in his hand.” God often appears to deliver his servants, and when he does not do so in this life as to their bodies, he gives their souls such joy and peace that they triumphantly rise beyond their tormentor’s power. We may be in the enemy’s hand for awhile, as Job was, but we cannot be left there. “Nor condemn him when he is judged.” Time shall reverse the verdict of haste, or else eternity shall clear away the condemnation of time. In due season just men will be justified. Temporary injustices are tolerated, in the order of Providence, for purposes most wise; but the bitter shall not always be called sweet, not light for ever be traduced as darkness; the right shall appear in due season; the fictitious and pretentious shall be unmasked, and the real and true shall be revealed. If we have done faithfully, we may appeal from the petty sessions of society to the solemn assize of the great day.

34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD; he is their strength in the time of trouble.

40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

34. “Wait on the Lord.” We have here the eighth precept, and it is a lofty eminence to attain to. Tarry the Lord’s leisure. Wait in obedience as a servant, in hope as an heir, in expectation as a believer. This little word “wait” is easy to say, but hard to carry out, yet faith must do it. “And keep his way.” Continue in the narrow path; let no haste for riches or ease cause unholy action. Let your motto be, “On, on, on,” Never flag, or dream of turning aside. “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” “And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land.” Thou shalt have all of earthly good which is really good, and of heavenly good there shall be no stint. Exaltation shall be the lot of the excellent. “When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.” A sight how terrible and how instructive! What a rebuke for fretfulness! what an incentive to gratitude! My soul, be still, as thou foreseest the end, the awful end of the Lord’s enemies.

35. A second time David turns to his diary, and this time in poetic imagery tells us of what he had observed. It were well if we too took notes of divine providences. “I have seen the wicked in great power.” The man was terrible to others, ruling with much authority, and carrying things with a high hand, a Cæsar in might, a Crœsus in wealth. “And spreading himself like a green bay tree.” Adding house to house and field to field, rising higher and higher in the state. He seemed to be ever verdant like a laurel, he grew as a tree in its own native soil, from which it had never been transplanted. No particular tree is here meant, a spreading beech or a wide expanding oak may serve us to realise the picture; it is a thing of earth, whose roots are in the clay; its honours are fading leaves; and though its shadow dwarfs the plants which are condemned to pine beneath it, yet it is itself a dying thing, as the feller’s axe shall prove. In the noble tree, which claims to be king of the forest, behold the grandeur of the ungodly to-day; wait awhile and wonder at the change, as the timber is carried away, and the very root torn from the ground.

36. “Yet he passed away.” Tree and man both gone, the son of man as surely as the child of the forest. What clean sweeps death makes! “And lo, he was not.” To the surprise of all men the great man was gone, his estates sold, his business bankrupt, his house alienated, his name forgotten, and all in a few months! “Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” Moved by curiosity, if we enquire for the ungodly, they have left no trace; like birds of ill omen none desire to remember them. Some of the humblest of the godly are immortalised, their names are imperishably fragrant in the church, while of the ablest of infidels and blasphemers hardly their names are remembered beyond a few years. Men who were in everybody’s mouths but yesterday are forgotten to-morrow, for only virtue is immortal.

37. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright.” After having watched with surprise the downfall of the wicked, give your attention to the sincerely godly man, and observe the blessed contrast. Good men are men of mark, and are worth our study. Upright men are marvels of grace, and worth beholding. “For the end of that man is peace.” The man of peace has an end of peace. Peace without end comes in the end to the man of God. His way may be rough, but it leads home. With believers it may rain in the morning, thunder at midday, and pour in torrents in the afternoon, but it must clear up ere the sun goes down. War may last till our last hour, but then we shall hear the last of it.

38. “But the transgressors shall be destroyed together.” A common ruin awaits those who joined in common rebellion. “The end of the wicked shall be cut off.” Their time shall be shortened, their happiness shall be ended, their hopes for ever blasted, their execution hastened on. Their present is shortened by their sins; they shall not live out half their days. They have no future worth having, while the righteous count their future as their true heritage.

39. “But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord.” Sound doctrine this. The very marrow of the gospel of free grace. By salvation is meant deliverance of every kind; not only the salvation which finally lands us in glory, but all the minor rescues of the way; these are all to be ascribed unto the Lord, and to him alone. Let him have glory from those to whom he grants salvation. “He is their strength in the time of trouble.” While trouble overthrows the wicked, it only drives the righteous to their strong Helper, who rejoices to uphold them.

40. “And the Lord shall help them.” In all future time Jehovah will stand up for his chosen. Our Great Ally will bring up his forces in the heat of the battle. “He shall deliver them from the wicked.” As he rescued Daniel from the lions, so will he preserve his beloved from their enemies; they need not therefore fret, nor be discouraged. “And save them, because they trust in him.” Faith shall ensure the safety of the elect. It is the mark of the sheep by which they shall be separated from the goats. Not their merit, but their believing, shall distinguish them. Who would not try the walk of faith? Whoever truly believes in God will be no longer fretful against the apparent irregularities of this present life, but will rest assured that what is mysterious is nevertheless just, and what seems hard, is, beyond a doubt ordered in mercy. So the Psalm ends with a note which is the death-knell of the unhallowed disquietude with which the Psalm commenced. Happy they who can thus sing themselves out of ill frames into gracious conditions.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—The righteous are preserved in Christ with a special preservation and in a peculiar safety. In the thirty-seventh Psalm this point is excellently and at large handled, both by direct proof, and by answer to all the usual objections against their safety. That they shall be preserved is affirmed, verses 3, 17, 23, 25, 32. The objections answered are many.

Objection 1.—Wicked men flourish.

Solution.—A righteous man should never grieve at that, for “they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” Verse 2.

Object. 2.—Righteous men are in distress.

Sol.—Verse 6.—The night of their adversity will be turned into the light of prosperity; and as surely as they can believe when it is night that it shall be day, so surely may they be persuaded when crosses are upon them, that comfort and deliverance shall come.

Object. 3.—But there are great plots laid against the righteous, and they are pursued with great malice, and their intended ruin is come almost to the very issue.

Sol.—Verses 12-15.—The Lord sees all the plots of wicked men, and laughs at their spiteful and foolish malice; while they are busy to destroy the righteous, and hope to have a day against them, “The Lord seeth that their own day is coming upon them, even a day of destruction, a day of great judgment and eternal misery;” their bow shall be broken, and the sword that they have drawn shall enter into their own heart.

Object. 4.—But the just have but small means.

Sol.—Verses 16, 17.—“A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.”

Object. 5.—Heavy times are like to befall them.

Sol.—Verse 19.—“They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall have enough.”

Object. 6.—But the wicked wax fatter and fatter, and they prevail in vexing the righteous.

Sol.—Verse 20.—Indeed the wicked are fat, but it is but “the fat of lambs,” their prosperity shall soon melt; and as they be like smoke in vexing the godly, so shall they be like smoke in vanishing away.

Object. 7.—But the righteous do fall.

Sol.—Verse 24.—Though he do fall, yet he falls not finally, nor totally, for he “is not utterly cast down;” and besides, there is an upholding providence of God in all the falls of the righteous.

Object. 8.—We see some wicked men that do not so fall into adversity, but rather are in prosperity to their dying days.

Sol.—Verse 28.—Though they do, yet “their seed shall be cut off.”

Object. 9.—But some wicked men are strong yet, and in their seed spread also.

Sol.—Verses 35, 36.—Note also that these “spreading bay-trees” many times “soon pass away;” and they and their houses are sometimes “utterly cut off.”

Object. 10.—But upright men are under many and long crosses.

Sol.—Verse 37.—Yet, “his end is peace.”

Object. 11.—But nobody stands for the godly when they come into question.

Sol.—Verses 39, 40.—“Their salvation is of the Lord;” he is their strength, he will help them and deliver them, etc.

But if we would be thus delivered, observe: 1. That we must not unthankfully fret at God’s providence (verse 1). 2. We must “trust in the Lord and do good” (verse 3). 3. We must “delight ourselves in the Lord,” and not place our contentment on earthly things (verse 4). 4. We must “commit our ways to God” (verse 5). 5. We must get patience and humble affections (verses 7-11). 6. We must be of upright conversation (verse 14). 7. We must be merciful (verses 25, 26). 8. We must “speak righteous things,” and get “the law into our hearts” (verses 30, 31). 9. We must “keep our way,” and “wait on God,” and not use ill means.—Nicholas Byfield.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm may well be styled, The good man’s cordial in bad times: a sovereign plaister for the plague of discontent: or, a choice antidote against the poison of impatience—Nathanael Hardy, in a Funeral Sermon, 1649.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm very much reminds one in its construction of the sententious and pithy conciseness of the Book of Proverbs. It does not contain any prayer, nor any direct allusion to David’s own circumstances of persecution or distress. It is rather the utterance of sound practical wisdom and godliness from the lips of experience and age, such as we might suppose an elder of the church, or a father of a family, to let fall as he sat with his household gathered around him, and listening to his earnest and affectionate admonition.—Barton Bouchier.

Whole Psalm.—The present Psalm is one of the alphabetical Psalms, it is called “Providentiæ speculum,” by Tertullian; “Potio contra murmur,” by Isidore; “Vestis piorum,” by Luther.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 1.—“Fret,” or, inflame not, burn not thyself with anger or grief.—John Diodati.

Verse 1.—“Neither be thou envious,” etc. Queen Elizabeth envied the milk-maid when she was in prison; but if she had known what a glorious reign she should have had afterwards for forty-four years, she would not have envied her. And as little needeth a godly man, though in misery, to envy a wicked man in the ruff of all his prosperity and jollity, considering what he hath in hand, much more what he hath in hope.—John Trapp.

Verse 1.—Would it not be accounted folly in a man that is heir to many thousands per annum that he should envy a stage-player, clothed in the habit of a king, and yet not heir to one foot of land? who, though he have the form, respect, and apparel of a king or nobleman, yet he is, at the same time, a very beggar, and worth nothing? Thus, wicked men, though they are arrayed gorgeously, and fare deliciously, wanting nothing, and having more than heart can wish, yet they are but only possessors: the godly Christian is the heir. What good doth all their prosperity do them? It does but hasten their ruin, not their reward. The ox that is the labouring ox is the longer lived than the ox that is put into the pasture; the very putting of him there doth but hasten his slaughter; and when God puts the wicked men into fat pastures, into places of honour and power, it is but to hasten their ruin. Let no man, therefore, fret himself because of evil doers, nor be envious at the prosperity of the wicked; for the candle of the wicked shall be put into everlasting darkness; they shall soon be cut off, and wither as a green herb.—Ludovic de Carbone, quoted by John Spencer.

Verse 2.—“Cut down like the grass,” with a scythe, and even at one blow.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 2.—“Wither.” O bitter word, which will make the ears of them that hear it to tingle! O sentence intolerable, which depriveth sinners of all good things, and bringeth them to all woe! The Lord sometime accursed the fig tree, and immediately, not only the leaves, but also the body and root were wholly withered: even so, that fearful curse of the last day shall be no less effectual; for on whomsoever it falleth it shall so scorch them, and shall so make them destitute of God’s grace, that they shall never more be able to do, to speak, think, or to hope for any good thing.—Thomas Tymme.

Verse 2.—“Green herb.” We cannot gather riper fruit of patience from any tree than is found upon the low shrubs of man’s short life; for if that fretting canker of envy at the prosperity of the wicked have overrun thy mind, a malady from which the saints have no shelter to be freed, out of this apothecary’s shop take antidote; either thy time is short to behold it, or theirs shorter to enjoy it: “they are set in slippery places, and are suddenly destroyed,” Psalm lxxiii. 18; “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave,” Job xxi. 13; “They shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”—Edmund Layfield’s Sermon, entitled “The Mappe of Man’s Mortality and Vanity,” 1630.

Verse 2.—Sometimes the wicked, like the green herb, wither in their spring, they fall in their rise, they perish in the beginnings of their mischievous designs; but if they do come to a full growth, they grow but to harvest, the fit season of their cutting off.—Robert Mossom.

Verse 3.—Note well the double precept “trust” and “do.” This is the true order, the two must go together, the one produces, the other proves; the promise is to both.—C. H. S.

Verse 3.—“So shalt thou dwell in the land,” etc. Thou shalt have a settlement, a quiet settlement, and a maintenance, a comfortable maintenance: “Verily thou shalt be fed;” some read it, Thou shalt be fed by faith, as the just are said to live by faith, and it is good living, good feeding upon the promises. “Verily thou shalt be fed,” as Elijah in the famine, with what is needful for thee. God himself is a shepherd, a feeder to all those that trust in him, Psalm xxiii. 1.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 3.—“So shalt thou dwell in the land,” etc. The land of Canaan was considered as the sum of earthly, and the type of heavenly felicity: to be provided for in the Lord’s land, and there to dwell under his protection, near his ordinances, and among his people, was all that the genuine Israelite could desire.—Thomas Scott (1747-1821) in loc.

Verse 3.—“Thou shalt be fed.” A manner of speech taken from cattle feeding securely, under the conduct and keeping of a good shepherd.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 3.—“Thou shalt be fed.” Fed in plenty.—Thomas Secker (Archbishop), 1768.

Verse 3.—Fed in security.—John Parkhurst.

Verse 4.—Note thy part and God’s part. Do thou “delight,” and he will “give.” C. H. S.

Verse 4.—How much grace and love breathes in these words, “Delight thyself also in the Lord!” Trust in him was recommended before, and now, this being added also, how plain is it that your ease and rest is the thing designed! Is it fit to receive so much kindness with neglect? Again, he delights in you: I speak to such of whom this may be supposed. And it is indefinitely said, “His delights were with the sons of men,” Prov. viii. 31. Think what he is, and what you are; and at once, both wonder and yield. And what else have you to delight in? what thing will you name that shall supply the place of GOD, or be to you in the stead of him? Moreover, who should delight in him but you—his friends, his sons, those of his own house? Think what life and vigour it will infuse into you, and that “the joy of the Lord will be your strength,” Nehem. viii. 10. How pleasantly will you hold on your course, and discharge all other duties of this your present state! You must serve him. Dare you think of throwing off his yoke? How desirable is it then to take delight in him whom I must serve; which only makes that service acceptable to him, and easy to myself! Further, this is a pleasure none can rob you of; a joy that cannot be taken from you. Other objects of your delight are vanishing daily. Neither men nor devils can ever hinder you delighting in God, if your hearts be so inclined. And were you never brought to take pleasure in any person or thing to which you had a former aversion? One that had wronged you might yet possibly win you by after kindness. Give a reason why you should be more difficult towards the blessed God that never wronged you, and whose way towards you hath constantly imported so much good will!

And consider that your condition on earth is such as exposes you to many sufferings and hardships, which, by your not delighting in him, you can never be sure to avoid (for they are things common to men), but which, by your delighting in him, you may be easily able to endure. Besides all this, seriously consider that you must die. You can make no shift to avoid that. How easily tolerable and pleasant will it be to think, then, of going to him with whom you have lived in a delightful communion before! And how dreadful to appear before him to whom your own heart shall accuse you to have been (against all his importunities and allurements) a disaffected stranger!—John Howe’s “Treatise of Delight in God.”

Verse 4.—We have in the former part extended the meaning of the words “Delight thyself in the Lord,” beyond what they seem at first sight literally to signify; so as not to understand them merely as requiring that very single act of delight to be immediately and directly terminated on God himself; but to take them as comprehending all the sum of all holy and religious converse with God, i.e., as it is delightful or as it is seasoned (intermingled, and as it were besprinkled) with delight; and upon the same account, of all our other converse, so far as it is influenced by religion. And I doubt not, to such as shall attentively have considered what hath been said, it will be thought very reasonable to take them in that latitude; whereof the very letter of the text (as may be alleged for further justification hereof) is most fitly capable. For the particle which we read in the Lord, hath not that signification alone, but signifies also with or by, or besides, or before, or in presence of, as if it had been said, “Come and sit down with God, retire thyself to him, and solace thyself in the delights which are to be found in his presence and converse, in walking with him, and transacting thy course as before him, and in his sight.” As a man may be said to delight himself with a friend that puts himself under his roof, and, besides personal converse with himself, freely enjoys the pleasure of all the entertainments, accomodations, and provisions which he is freely willing to communicate with him, and hath the satisfaction which a sober person would take in observing the rules and order of a well-governed house.—John Howe.

Verse 4.—“He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” It shall be unto thee even as thou wilt. It is said of Luther that he could have what he would of Almighty God. What may not a favourite, who hath the royalty of his prince’s care, obtain of him?—John Trapp.

Verse 4.—“The desires of thine heart.” All the desires of this spiritual seed are of the nature of this seed, namely, substantial, and shall meet with substance. All the desires of natural man, even after God, after Christ, after righteousness, shall burn and perish with him (for they are not the truth, nor do they come from the truth, nor can they reach to the truth;) but all the desires of this spirit shall live with the Spirit of God, in rest and satisfaction for ever.—John Pennington, 1656.

Verse 4.—The desires of God and the desires of the righteous, agree in one; they are of one mind in their desires.—John Bunyan.

Verse 5.—“Commit thy way unto the Lord,” etc. When we bear the burden of our own affairs ourselves, and are chastised with anxiety and want of success, and with envying the ungodly who prosper better than we do, the best remedy is first to do our duty, as we are enabled in the use of the means, then cast the care of the success over on God, as the ploughman doth when he hath harrowed his land; and let the burden of it rest on God, and let us not take it off him again, but put our mind to rest, resolved to take the harvest in good part, as he shall send it.—David Dickson.

Verse 5.—“Commit thy way unto the Lord,” is rendered by the Vulgate, Revela viam Domino, reveal thy way; and by St. Ambrose, understood of revealing our sins to God. Indeed, since is it impossible to cover, why should we not discover, our sins? Conceal not that which God knoweth already, and would have thee to make known. It is a very ill office to be the devil’s secretary. Oh, break thy league with Satan by revealing his secrets, thy sins, to God.—Nathaniel Hardy.

Verse 5.—“Commit thy way unto.” Marg. and Heb., Roll thy way upon—as one who lays upon the shoulder of one stronger than himself a burden which he is not able to bear.—William De Burgh, D.D., in “A Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Dublin: 1860.”

Verse 5.—Note the double again, “Commit” and “trust.”—C. H. S.

Verse 5.—“He shall bring it to pass.” When a hard piece of work is put into the hand of an apprentice for the first assay of his skill, the beholders are justly afraid of a miscarriage in his young and unexperienced hand; but when the worker is an old master of craft, none are afraid but his cunning hand can act again what so oft it hath wrought to the contentment of all the beholders. Were our God a novice in the great art of governing the world, and of the church in the bosom thereof; had he to this day never given any proof of his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, in turning about the most terrible accidents to the welfare and joy of his saints; we might indeed be amazed whenever we feel ourselves sinking in the dangers wherein the practices of our enemies oft do plunge us over head and ears; but the Lord having given in times past so many documents of his uncontroverted skill and most certain will to bring about all human affairs, as to his own glory, so to the real good of all that love him, it would be in us an impious and unexcusable uncharitableness to suspect the end of any work which he hath begun.—Robert Baylie’s Sermon before the House of Commons, 1643.

Verses 5, 7:—

To God thy way commending, Trust him whose arm of might, The heavenly circles bending, Guides every star aright: The winds, and clouds, and lightning, By his sure hand are led; And he will, dark shades brightening, Show thee what path to tread.

Although to make God falter, The powers of hell combine, One jot they cannot alter Of his all-wise design: All projects and volition Of his eternal mind, Despite all opposition, Their due fulfilment find.

No more, then, droop and languish, Thou sorrow-stricken soul; E’en from the depths of anguish, Whose billows o’er thee roll, Thy Father’s hand shall draw thee; In hope and patience stay, And joy will soon shed o’er thee An ever brightening ray.

All faithless murmurs leaving, Bid them a last good night, No more thy vexed soul grieving, Because things seem not right: Wisely his sceptre wielding, God sits in regal state, No power to mortals yielding, Events to regulate.

Trust with a faith untiring In thine Omniscient King, And thou shalt see admiring What he to light will bring. Of all thy griefs, the reason Shall at the last appear; Why now denied a season, Will shine in letters clear.

Then raise thine eyes to heaven, Thou who canst trust his frown; Thence shall thy meed be given, The chaplet and the crown; Thy God the palm victorious In thy right hand shall plant. Whilst thou, in accents glorious, Melodious hymns shall chant.

Paul Gerhard (1606-1676), translated by Frances Elizabeth Cox, in “Hymns from the German,” 1864.

Verse 6.—“He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,” etc. If thou shouldst be accused as a man of evil designs, let not that trouble thee neither: for though thy fame may be obscured for a time by calumnies and slanders, as the sun is by mists and clouds, yet as that scatters them all at last, so shall thy integrity appear, and shine as bright as the sun at noonday.—Symon Patrick.

Verse 7.—“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” There are two words in the original, which express the privilege and the duty of resting on Christ: one implies such a state of acquiescence, as silences and clamours of conscience, and composes the perturbation of the spirit; the other signifies the refreshment and repose of a weary pilgrim, when he arrives at the end of his journey, and is settled for life in a secure, commodious, plentiful habitation.—James Hervey.

Verse 7.—“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” Take the case of one who, with a load above his strength, has been toiling some steep and broken path, when suddenly he finds it lifted off and transferred to another whose strength he knows to be more than equal to the task, and in whose sympathy he can securely trust. What would his feeling be but one of perfect rest, and calm reliance, and joyous freedom, as they went on their way together? And such is the blessedness of rolling our care upon the Lord—in weakness we are resting on superior strength, in perplexity and doubt we are resting on superior wisdom, in all times of trial and hard service we can stay ourselves on the assurance of his perfect sympathy. The literal meaning of the word “rest,” is “be silent” towards the Lord. With the eye fixed on him let all unbelieving thoughts be stilled, such thoughts as rise and rankle in the querulous spirit when it sees only its troubles, and not God in them, when the mists of earth hide from its sight the eternal stars of heaven. Then like Jacob, it may say morosely, “All these things are against me;” or, like Elijah, despondently, “It is enough, now, O Lord, take away my life;” or, like Jonah, fretfully, “I do well to be angry.” In regard to all such dark and unbelieving suggestions, the heart is to keep silence, to be still and know that he is God; silent as to murmuring, but not silent as to prayer, for in that holy meditative stillness the heart turns to commune with him. What is “resting in God,” but the instinctive movement and upward glance of the spirit to him; the confiding all one’s griefs and fears to him, and feeling strengthened, patient, hopeful in the act of doing so! It implies a willingness that he should choose for us, a conviction that the ordering of all that concerns us is safer in his hands than in our own.

A few practical remarks:—1. Our “resting patiently” in the Lord applies only to the trials which he sends, not to the troubles which even Christians often make for themselves. There is a difference in the burdens that come in the way of duty, and those that come through our wandering into other ways. We can roll the one upon the Lord, but with the other our punishment may be to be left to bear them long, and to be bruised in bearing them. 2. The duty here enjoined is to be carried through all our life. We all admit that patient waiting is needed for the great trials of life, but may not acknowledge so readily that it is needed as much for little, daily, commonplace vexations. But these are as much a test of Christian principle as the other. 3. This resting in God is a criterion of a man’s spiritual state. It needs a special faculty of discernment, a new sense to be opened in the soul, before our fallen nature can understand or desire it.—James D. Burns, M.A.

Verse 7 (first clause).—“Hold thee still” (so it may be translated). And this is the hardest precept that is given to man; insomuch that the most difficult precept of action sinks into nothing when compared with this command to inaction.—Jerome.

Verse 7 (first clause).—The Hebrew word rendered silent is דּוֹמ, dom, from which the English word dumb appears to be derived. The silence here enjoined is opposed to murmuring or complaining.—James Anderson, in Calvin’s Commentary.

Verse 7.—Note again the twin duties, “rest” and “wait.”

Verse 7.—“Bringeth wicked devices to pass.” Observe the opposition between this and God’s bringing to pass, in verse five. The ground for grief is that the ungodly appear to achieve their end, the reason for comfort is that our end shall be achieved also, and that in the best manner by God himself.—C. H. S.

Verse 8.—“Forsake wrath;” which is anger wrought up to a greater degree; and the rather to be shunned and avoided, as being very disagreeable to the character of a good man. “Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil;” evil may be done by fretting at the prosperity of wicked men, or by imitating them, doing as they do, in hope of being prosperous as they are.—John Gill.

Verse 9.—“They shall inherit the earth.” He means that they shall live in such a manner as that the blessing of God shall follow them, even to the grave.—John Calvin.

Verse 10.—“Thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” To wit because he shall be grubbed up by the roots.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 10.—“His place ... shall not be.” The very land he occupied as a home, and the title to which was unimpeachable, is no longer “his place.” It has passed into other hands. Nothing of all he had on earth is his. He is as poor as the most miserable object that subsisted on alms.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 10.—The peacock, a glorious fowl, when he beholds that comely fan and circle which he maketh of the beautiful feathers of his tail, he rejoiceth, he setteth, and beholdeth every part thereof: but when he looketh on his feet which he perceiveth to be black and foul, he by-and-by, with great misliking, vaileth his top-gallant, and seemeth to sorrow. In like manner, a great many know by experience, that when they see themselves to abound in riches and honours, they glory and are deeply conceited of themselves; they praise their fortune, and admire themselves; they make plots, and appoint much for themselves to perform in many years to come. This year, they say, we will bear this office, and the next year that: afterward we shall have the rule of such a province; then we will build a palace in such a city, whereunto we will adjoin such gardens of pleasure, and such vineyards: and thus they make a very large reckoning aforehand, who if they did but once behold their feet, if they did but think upon the shortness of their life, so transitory and unconstant; how soon would they let fall their proud feathers, forsake their arrogancy, and change their purpose, their minds, their lives, and their manners.—Thomas Tymme.

Verse 11.—“The meek shall inherit the earth.” In the meantime, they, and they only, possess the present earth, as they go toward the kingdom of heaven, by being humble, and cheerful, and content with what their good God has allotted them. They have no turbulent, repining, vexatious thoughts that they deserve better; nor are vexed when they see others possessed of more honour, or more riches, than their wise God has allotted for their share. But they possess what they have with a meek and contented quietness: such a quietness as makes their very dreams pleasing, both to God and themselves.—Izaak Walton (1593-1683), in “The Complete Angler.”

Verse 11.—“The meek.” What is thy Beloved more than any other beloved? It is spoken to the spouse. So what is meekness more than any other virtues? We may say, here is synecdoche speciei, one particular taken for the general, one virtue for all the rest. Or the effect is put for the cause; because meekness is one of the principal and chiefest parts of holiness. But if you will give me leave to conjecture, the Holy Ghost may seem in this promise at once to show the condition of the church, and to comfort her; and because being laid hard at on every side, she stands in need of this virtue more than any other, to fit and fashion the reward to the virtue, to cherish and exalt it in us with the promise of something beyond our expectation, even the inheritance of the earth. And indeed what fitter reward can there be of meekness? What more fit and just than that they who have been made the anvil for injuries to beat on, who have been viri perpessitii, as Seneca speaks of Socrates, men of great sufferance, who have suffered not only their goods to be torn from them by oppression and wrong, but their reputations to be wounded with the sharp razor of detraction, and have withstood the shock of all spectantibus similes, with the patience of a looker on, should be raised and comforted with a promise of that which their meekness gave up to the spoil; and that by the providence of God which loves to thwart the practice of the world, they should be made heirs even of those possessions which the hand of violence hath snatched from them.—Anthony Farindon, B.D., 1596-1658.

Verse 11.—Not the hot stirring spirits who bustle for the world shall have it, but the meek, who are thrust up and down from corner to corner, and hardly suffered to remain anywhere quietly in it. This earth, which they seem most deprived of, they only shall have and enjoy. When the Lord hath made it worth the having, then none shall have it but they. “They shall inherit the earth.” The earth is the Lord’s; these are the children of the Lord, and they shall inherit his earth. When the Lord taketh it into his own possession and enjoyment, they shall succeed him in the possession and enjoyment of it. It is their right, and shall descend unto them by right, by inheritance. It is the Lord’s right, and by the Lord shall descend to them as their right. They cannot yet have it, for the Lord hath it not yet; but when the Lord hath it, it shall fairly descend to them. This accursed earth they shall never have, but when it is taken into the hands of the Lord, and blessed by the Lord, then it shall be theirs, then it shall be inherited by the children of blessing.—John Pennington.

Verse 11.—“And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Surely when the glory of the Lord covers the earth, and all the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Prince of Peace, and the wicked one is rooted out, we may well expect peace in rich abundance.—W. Wilson.

Verses 12, 13.—Note how the gesture of the wicked in gnashing their teeth is returned to them in the Lord’s scornful laughter at their devices. Their plotting, too, is countermined by that winding up of all plots, which the Lord knoweth, though they are wilfully ignorant of it.—C. H. S.

Verse 13.—“The Lord shall laugh at him,” etc. He seems to provide very coldly for our consolation under sorrow, for he represents God as merely laughing. But if God values highly our salvation, why does he not set himself to resist the fury of our enemies, and vigorously oppose them? We know that this, as has been said in Psalm ii. 4, is a proper trial of our patience when God does not come forth at once, armed for the discomfiture of the ungodly, but connives for a time, and withholds his hand. Lest the flesh should still murmur and complain, demanding why God should only laugh at the wicked, and not rather take vengeance upon them, the reason is added, that he sees the day of their destruction at hand. “For he seeth that his day is coming.”—John Calvin.

Verse 13.—“For he seeth that his day is coming:” He laughs at such poor worms, who make themselves so great upon the earth, and act so loftily in their impotence seeing it must so soon be over with them.—Berleb. Bible, quoted by E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 13.—“For he seeth that his day is coming.” His dismal day, his death’s day, which will also be his doom’s day.—John Trapp.

Verses 14, 15.—The tongue is a “sword” and a “bow,” which shooteth its arrows, even bitter words, against the humble and upright, Jesus and his disciples. But these are not the only weapons that have been drawn against them. How the malice of the Jews returned upon their own heads no one is ignorant, though few lay it to heart, and consider them as set forth for an example.—George Horne.

Verses 14, 15.—When the wicked are most near to do a mischief to the Lord’s people, then is a mischief most near unto them.—David Dickson.

Verse 16.—“A little that a righteous man hath,” etc. To wit, 1. Because the wicked do often enrich themselves by unjust means, and so have much vexation and trouble with them, and likewise thereby do treasure up wrath against the day of wrath; whereas the righteous with a little, well gotten, have much peace of conscience, with hope of heaven hereafter. 2. Because the righteous use theirs well, and are the better for them; whereas the wicked abuse their many ways, and are in many respects the worse for them. 3. Because the righteous enjoy what they have from hand to mouth as the gifts of God, and the pledges of his fatherly love and care over them, and so it is to them as manna from heaven, and hereby they enjoy much sweet comfort, and are fully satisfied with what they have; whereas the wicked have none of this joy nor satisfaction by their wealth. 4. Because God by his blessing doth usually make that the righteous enjoy to be more effectual for their good than is the abundance of the wicked. A little coarse fare makes them more healthful and strong than the wicked are with all their plenty. And, 5. Because the wicked enjoyeth not his wealth long, as the righteous man doth; and this indeed agrees best with the following words.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 16.—Strangers to Christ have the use of outward mercies, but cannot be properly said to have the enjoyment; they seem to be masters of them, but indeed they are servants to them; possessors as to outward use, but slaves as to their inward affections; they serve them while they seem to dispose of them; they do not dominari, but servire—have not the command of, but are enslaved. Nor is their use truly comfortable; they may fancy comfort, but their comfort is but a fancy; it flows from another fountain than can be digged in earth; true, solid comfort is the portion of those only who have the righteousness of Christ for their portion. These may look upon every temporal enjoyment as a token of everlasting love, as a pledge and earnest of eternal glory; and both these, because they may receive them as the purchase of the blood and righteousness of Christ; ay, here is the well-spring of comfort, the fountain of that comfort which is better than life. Oh, what comfort is it to taste the sweetness of Christ’s love in every enjoyment! When we can say, “Christ loved me, and gave himself for me, that I might enjoy these blessings,” oh, how will this raise the value of every common mercy! Christ’s righteousness which was performed, the highest expression of his love, purchased this for me! Upon this account is that of the Psalmist true, “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” He that hath but food and raiment hath in this respect more than he that hath the Turkish empire, or the gold of the Indies. He hath more ground of comfort in his little than they in all.—David Clarkson.

Verse 16.—If thine estate were but little, yet it would be perfumed with love and that lump of sugar in thy cup would make the liquor sweet, be it never so small. As the waters which flow from the hills of some of the islands of Molucca taste of the cinnamon and cloves which grow there, so should thy gift, though it were but water, taste of the goodwill and special grace of the Giver. Thy “little,” with the fear of the Lord, would be “better than the riches of many wicked men.” As a little ring with a very costly diamond in it is far more worth than many great ones without it, so thy estate, though it were but a penny, should be joined with the precious jewel of that love which is better than life, and enjoyed by special promise, and thereby be infinitely more worth than the thousands and millions of others bestowed merely from common bounty, and enjoyed only by a general providence.—George Swinnock.

Verse 16.—’Tis as possible for a wicked man to fill his body with air and his chest with grace, as his mind with wealth. ’Tis with them as with a ship; it may be overladen with silver and gold, even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides to hold ten times more. So here, a covetous wretch, though he have enough to sink him, yet he shall never have enough to satisfy him. So that the conclusion which the Psalmist delivers is most worthy to be observed: “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked;” he doth not say of how many, because let us think of never so many, yea, of all of them, the righteous man’s little is better in very many respects than all their greatest treasures heaped together. The King of Spain although the greatest prince in Christendom by far, having his empire so far extended, that he may truly say, that the sun ever shines upon his dominions, yet gives this for his motto, Totus non sufficit orbis, The whole world is not sufficient. God by Solomon tells us that “In the house of the righteous is much treasure” (Prov. xv. 6), although many times there is scarce a good bed to lie, or a seat to sit on. The time will certainly come, when the richest wicked men that ever lived will see clearly that their account would have been much narrower, and consequently their condition to all eternity less miserable, if they had been so poor as to have begged their bread from door to door all their lives long. ’Tis with the blessings of this life as ’tis with perfumed gloves; when they are richly perfumed their perfume is much more valuable than the leather of which they are made: so, not so much earthly blessings considered in themselves, as their being perfumed with the sweet love of God in Christ, is that which maketh them blessings indeed, truly deserving the name they bear. Now all the blessings of those who have made Mary’s choice are all thus perfumed; all the barley bread they eat, be it never so coarse; all the clothes they wear, be they never so mean; with all their other temporal blessings, they proceed from the same sweet love of God, wherewith he was moved to bestow Jesus Christ upon them for salvation. Rom. viii. 32.—John Glascock’s Sermon, entitled “Mary’s Choice,” 1659.

Verses 16, 17.—A little blest is better than a great deal curst; a little blest is better than a world enjoyed; a pound blest is better than a thousand curst; a black crust blest is better than a feast curst; the gleanings blest are better than the whole harvest curst; a drop of mercy blest is better than a sea of mercy curst; Lazarus’ crumbs blest was better than Dives’ delicates curst; Jacob’s little blest unto him was better than Esau’s great estate that was curst unto him. ’Tis always better to have scraps with a blessing, than to have manna and quails with a curse; a thin table with a blessing is always better than a full table with a snare; a threadbare coat with a blessing is better than a purple robe curst; a hole, a cave, a den, a barn, a chimney-corner with a blessing, is better than stately palaces with a curse; a woollen cap blest is better than a golden crown curst; and it may be that emperor understood as much, that said of his crown, when he looked on it with tears: “If you knew the cares that are under this crown you would never stoop to take it up.” And therefore, why should not a Christian be contented with a little, seeing his little shall be blest unto him? Isaac tills the ground and sows his seed, and God blesses him with an hundredfold; and Cain tills the ground and sows his seed, but the earth is cursed to him and commanded not to yield to him his strength. Oh, therefore never let a Christian murmur because he hath but little, but rather let him be still a-blessing of that God that hath blest his little, and doth bless his little, and that will bless his little to him.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 17.—“For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but he upholdeth (or underprops) the righteous.” By “the arms of the wicked,” you are to understand their strength, their valour, their power, their wit, their wealth, their abundance, which is all the arms they have to support and bear up themselves in the world with. Now, these arms shall be broken, and when they are broken, then, even then, will God uphold the righteous, that is, God will be a continual overflowing fountain of good to his righteous ones; so that they shall never want, though all the springs of the wicked are dried up round about them.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 18.—“The Lord knoweth the days of the upright.” Depositeth their days, lays them up in safety for them: for such is the original idea of ירע.—John Fry.

Verse 18.—“The Lord knoweth the days of the upright,” and they cannot be cut short by the malice of man.—W. Wilson.

Verse 20.—“As the fat of lambs.” As the glory of fat sheep, which are at length slain.—Targum.

Verse 20.—“Fat of lambs.” As the fat of the sacrifices was consumed on the altar by the fire (which was a type of God’s righteous vengeance upon sinners), till it vanished into smoke; so the wicked will be the sacrifices to God’s justice, and be destroyed by the fire of his indignation.—Thomas Scott.

Verse 20.—“Into smoke shall they consume.” “What hath pride profited us? or what hath our boasting of riches given us?” Such are the things, they shall speak who are in hell, and who have sinned. For the hope of the ungodly is like a dry thistle-down, by the wind carried away, or the thin foam spread upon the billows or as a smoke floated hither and thither by the wind, or as the remembrance of a wayfaring man for a day.—Wouter of Stoelwÿk, 1541.

Verse 21.—“Payeth not again;” i.e., has it not in his power, from his straitened circumstances, to repay what he has borrowed: comp. Deut. xxviii. 12. A Jew thus circumstanced became the bond-slave of his creditors: comp. 2 Kings iv. 1.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 22.—God promiseth that the seed of his people shall inherit the earth. The child of such a tenant as paid his rent well, shall not be put out of his farm.—John Glascock.

Verse 23.—“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” When this Pilot undertakes to steer their course, their vessel shall never split upon the rock, run upon the sands, or spring a leak, so as to sink in the seas. To be sure he will see them safe in their harbour. He was no Christian, yet I suppose none will deny but he spake good divinity, who said, “If a man will choose God for his Friend, he shall travel securely through a wilderness that hath many beasts of prey in it; he shall pass safely through this world; for he only is safe that hath God for his guide.” (Ar. Epist. xxvii.) Doth he not speak a little like David himself (Psalm xxxvii. 23), who never expected to come to glory except he were guided by his counsel? Now, if a poor heathen could say thus, and see good reason to trust God, and admire his faithfulness as he doth frequently (and so doth Seneca, justifying God’s faithfulness in all his dealings with the best men in all their sufferings, and the prosperity of the wicked); what then shall the heavenly Christian say, who hath experienced so much of God’s faithfulness in answering his prayers, in fulfilling his promises, and supplying all his exigencies?—James Janeway.

Verse 23.—“He delighteth in his way.” Note that in verse four, we are bidden to delight in the Lord, and here he delights in us, and as here our way is his delight, so in verse thirty-four we are to “keep his way.” These antitheses are instructive.—C. H. S.

Verses 23, 24.—Strange words to us! the very “steps” all “ordered,” and that by an Almighty One, who “delights” in the goodness of the good man’s way. And yet the inference so distinctly to be drawn is that the good man may fall, and that his God and Guide may stand by and behold and permit!

Let us add to the suggestion of these verses, one or two references which may help us to establish the principle in our hearts, that the child of God may fall and still remain the child of God; and also to explain somewhat of the reason why this is part of their lot, whether ordered, or only permitted, at all events, a step of the “right way,” by which God leads them to a city of habitation. Psalm cvii. 7.

It is observed near the close of Hezekiah’s good and prosperous life that, “in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon ... God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. And again, in Daniel’s prophecy regarding the latter days, we find (Daniel xi. 35), “And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white.” In the two preceding verses, we have also some valuable details regarding such falls, such as the help with which God will uphold them, the flatteries with which the world will still beset, and hinder them from rising again; the outward troubles into which their fall shall lead them, as through a furnace; the high position (instructors of many) which yet shall not save them from their needed ordeal—the time appointed—and the end in view. So here. The acknowledgment of the possibility of the good man’s fall is accompanied with the precious assurance that “he shall not be utterly cast down.”—Mary B. M. Duncan, in “Under the Shadow, 1867.”

Verse 24.—“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down,” etc. Thus the Spirit comforts and answers the secret thoughts which everyone might have, saying with himself, I have, however, seen it happen, that the righteous is oppressed, and his cause is trodden in the dust by the wicked. Nay, he replies, dear child, let it be so, that he falls; he still cannot remain lying thus and be cast away; he must be up again, although all the world doubts of it. For God catches him by the hand, and raises him again.—Martin Luther.

Verse 24.—“Though he fall,” namely, as one that were faint-hearted, “he shall not be cast off,” namely, utterly, or for ever from God (2 Cor. iv. 9); “for the Lord putteth under his hand,” i.e., his power and might, namely, to uphold him from utter falling away, which we should quickly do if God were not with us.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 24.—A man pardoned, and justified by faith in Christ, though he may, and sometimes doth, fall into foul sins, yet they never prevail so far as to reverse pardon, and reduce to a state of non-justification. “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand!” He speaks of a good man pardoned, justified; he may fall; but how far? from pardon, from justification? No, then he should utterly fall, be cast down beneath God’s hand; but the text saith, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand; or, as Montanus renders the words, the Lord upholdeth his hands, and he will not let him sink into such a condition. If it were so, then sin should have dominion over him, but, Rom. vi. 14. “Sin shall not have dominion over you;” and chap. viii. 2, justified ones are freed from the law of sin and death; and verse 30, the predestinated, called, justified, and glorified ones, are so linked together, that there is no breaking their chain; if they do sin, they have an “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John ii. 1, 2.—William Greenhill.

Verse 25.—“I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken” (he doth not say, In my experience I never saw the righteous afflicted, but, I never saw him left or forsaken in his affliction), “and I never saw his seed begging their bread:” he puts in that, because begging of bread, especially in the commonwealth of Israel, and in the state of the Jews, was a note of utter dereliction! for though God had told them that they should have the poor always with them, yet he had given an express law that there should be no beggar among them; therefore, saith he, I have not seen the righteous so forsaken, that they should be forced to live by begging. If any say, that David himself begged, he asked bread of Abimelech and of Nabal; I answer, it is a good rule, and it resolves the case; transitory cases, and sudden accidents, make no beggars: we must not say, David was a beggar, or begged his bread, because once he was in a strait and asked bread of Abimelech; and in a second strait sent to Nabal: in such sudden cases, the richest man in the world may be put to ask a piece of bread. A good man may fall into such wants, but good men are rarely, if ever or at all, left in them.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 25.—“Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Perhaps it will be objected that there have been many righteous men poor: but the place speaketh of a righteous charitable man, for so the following verse showeth, which saith, “He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” And who hath seen such a one or his seed to be brought to such poverty as to beg his bread? When our Saviour Christ had fed four thousand with seven loaves and a few fishes, all being filled, seven baskets full of fragments were gathered up; and it is Saint Austin’s note upon it, crescit dum impenditur victus, sic eleemosyna si indigentibus erogetur, the victuals in expending were augmented, and so is the alms which is given to the poor.—Michael Jermin.

Verse 25.—“Yet have I not seen,” etc. I believe this to be literally true in all cases. I am now grey-headed myself; I have travelled in different countries, and have had many opportunities of seeing and conversing with religious people in all situations in life; and I have not, to my knowledge, seen one instance to the contrary. I have seen no righteous man forsaken, nor any children of the righteous begging their bread. God puts honour upon all that fear him; and thus careful is he of them, and of their posterity.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 25.—“Begging bread.” This is not meant of an occasional seeking relief in want (for so David himself desired bread of Abimelech, 1 Samuel xxi. 3, and he and his soldiers desired some supply of victuals from Nabal, ch. xxv. 8); but of living in a continual way of begging from door to door, which is denounced as a curse against the wicked (Psalm cix. 10), “Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg.” Nor doth it hence follow, that neither the righteous man, nor his seed, are ever brought to this sad degree of misery; but only that it doth so rarely happen, that David in all his time had never seen it.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 25.—This observation of the Psalmist will be found generally verified. We find indeed exceptions, as in the case of Eli’s family. But this was the result of his defect of character as a righteous man. And we know that the promises must fail, if they neglect the means necessary to their accomplishment (see Genesis xviii. 19). But some think that this verse admits of an explanatory supplement; and render the last clause thus, “Nor his seed (forsaken, though) begging bread.”—David Davidson, in “The Pocket Commentary, 1836.”

Verse 25.—These words must be taken as a general observation, not absolutely verified in every case; yet the strict fact is, I apprehend, that the immediate descendants of truly pious persons are very seldom, if ever reduced to such extremities, unless by their own great imprudence, or their abandoned practices.—William Walford.

Verse 25.—Here he recordeth an experiment of his (such as whereof Psalm cxix. is mostly made up), and if other men’s experiences agree not altogether with his, it is no wonder: kings use not to mind beggars.—John Trapp.

Verses 25, 26.—Many persons are solicitously perplexed how their children shall do when they are dead; yet they consider not, how God provided for them when they were children. Is the Lord’s arm shortened? Did he take thee from thy mother’s breasts; and when thy parents forsook thee (as the Psalmist saith), became thy Father? And cannot this experienced mercy to thee, persuade thee that he will not forsake thine? Is not “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever?” “I have been young,” saith David, “and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,” that is granted, nay, “nor his seed begging bread.”

Many distrustful fathers are so carking for their posterity, that while they live they starve their bodies, and hazard their souls, to leave them rich. To such a father it is said justly, Dives es hœredi, pauper inopsque tibi. Like an over-kind hen he feeds his chickens, and famisheth himself. If usury, circumvention, oppression, extortion, can make them rich, they shall not be poor. Their folly is ridiculous; they fear lest their children should be miserable, yet take the only course to make them miserable; for they leave them not so much heirs to their goods as to their evils. They do as certainly inherit their fathers’ sins as their lands: “God layeth up his iniquity for his children: and his offspring shall want a morsel of bread.” Job xxi. 19.

On the contrary, the good man “is merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” What the worldling thinks shall make his posterity poor, God saith shall make the good man’s rich. The precept gives a promise of mercy to obedience, not confined to the obedient man’s self, but extended to his seed, and that even to a thousand generations, Exodus xx. 6. Trust, then, Christ with thy children; when thy friends shall fail, usury bear no date, oppression be condemned to hell, thyself rotten to the dust, the world itself turned and burned into cinders, still “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.”—Thomas Adams.

Verse 26.—“He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” He, the good man, is “merciful” to himself, for mercy, like charity, begins at home; he is not afraid to eat a good meal because he hath children. And he is merciful to others too; for he will lend and do good to whom he can, and then his seed fares the better for it. Mark, that the more he gives and lends in doing works of mercy, the better it is for his children; for those children are ever best provided for whose parents bear this mind—they had rather trust God with their children, than their children with riches; and have made this their hope, that though they die, yet God lives. Did but one of those rich and wretched parents (who pinched and pined himself to make his son a gentleman, forsooth), rise from the dead, and see that proverb of Solomon fulfilled in himself, “He begetteth a son, and in his hand is nothing;” I persuade myself, the rumination of this world afflict him in his soul as much as any one pain of sense, even in hell itself, O consider this, you that now live and see it in others; and remember withal, that if your goods be either ill-gotten, or worse kept, it may be your children’s case when you are departed, and feel it, though you see it not.—Matthew Griffith.

Verse 28.—“For the Lord ... forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever.” How? since they die as others do. Mark the antithesis, and that will explain it. “They are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” They are preserved in their posterity: children are but the parents multiplied, and the parents continued; ’tis nodosa æternitas; when the father’s life is run out to the last, there is a knot tied, and the line is still continued by the child. I confess temporal blessings, such as long life, and the promise of an happy posterity, are more visible in the eye of that dispensation of the covenant; but yet God still taketh care for the children of his people, and many promises run that way that belong to the gospel administration, and still God’s service is the surest way to establish a family, as sin is the ready way to root it out. And if it doth not always fall out accordingly, yet for the most part it doth; and we are no competent judges of God’s dispensations in this kind, because we see providence by pieces, and have not the skill to set them together; but at the day of judgment, when the whole contexture of God’s dealings is laid before us, we shall clearly understand how the children of his servants continue, and their seed is established. Psalm cii. 28.—Thomas Manton.

Verse 29.—“The righteous shall inherit the land,” or the earth. There is clearly an emphasis in the repetition of the same promise in the same terms which ought to have been uniformly rendered throughout verses 9, 11, 22, 29, 34. And it cannot be doubted, that there is a reference to the new heavens and the new earth of Isaiah lxvi. 17; 2 Peter iii. 13.—W. Wilson.

Verse 29.—“The righteous shall inherit the land,” etc. Comp. Matt. v. 5. Consider well this Bible truth, of the future exclusive possession of the earth by the righteous. The millennial kingdom furnishes a fuller explanation.—T. C. Barth.

Verse 31.—“The law of his God is in his heart,” etc. The flock of sheep that’s indisposed and unwilling to drive, start out of the way into every lane’s end, one this way and another that; and just so is it with an unwilling heart; one thought starts this way, and another that, and it’s a piece of skill to drive them through. But a willing heart, a heart prepared and ready to every good work, it flies quite up an end, and delights itself in the Lord.—Richard Steele.

Verse 31 (first clause).—He hath a Bible in his head, and another in his heart; he hath a good treasure within, and there hence bringeth good things.—John Trapp.

Verses 32, 33.—The Jews “watched” that Just One daily and hourly; they “sought to slay him,” and did so; but Jehovah left him not in their hands, but vindicated his innocence by raising him from the dead.—George Horne.

Verse 34.—“Wait on the Lord,” etc. He that truly trusts in God will stay God’s time, and use God’s means, and walk in God’s way, though it seem round about; they will not neglect their souls for haste; they know this would be to make more haste than good speed. Nor would they step out of the way, the way that is holy and righteous, though they may escape a loss, an affliction by it, though they might gain some desirable advantage by it. True faith goes leaning upon God, and therefore will “keep his way.” He that will not be liberal for the promoting and honouring of the gospel; he that fears poverty or affliction more than he fears sin; he that is more careful for the things of the world than for his soul; he that takes indirect or suspected courses, to get, or increase, or secure his estate; he that is not jealous or watchful, lest his cares for the world (when he is much engaged therein) should be immoderate—it is plain he doth not trust God with his estate; and he that does not trust God for his estate, whatever he think or pretend, he does not trust God for his soul, for his salvation; his hopes of heaven and salvation are but presumption.—David Clarkson.

Verse 34.—“Wait on the Lord.” Bind him not to a day, wake not the Beloved till he please.—John Trapp.

Verse 34.—“Wait ... keep.” While we are waiting let us take heed of wavering. Go not a step out of God’s way, though a lion be in the way; avoid not duty to meet with safety; keep God’s highway, the good old way (Jer. vi. 16), the way which is paved with holiness. “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness.” Isaiah xxxv. 8. Avoid crooked paths, take heed of turning to the left hand, lest you be set on the left hand. Sin doth cross our hopes, it barricades up our way; a man may as well expect to find heaven in hell, as in a sinful way.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 35.—“Green bay tree.” The LXX translates כְּאֶוְרָח רַעֲנָן as if it were כְּאֶזְרָח לְבָנֹן, “Like the cedar of Lebanon;” but אֶזְרָח רַעֲנָן according to Delitzsch, means a noble timber-tree, one that in the course of centuries of growth has acquired a gigantic trunk, and an umbrageous, dome-like crown.

Verse 35.—“Green bay tree.” The marginal rendering—“a tree that groweth in his own soil”—is, no doubt, the true one. The idea generally formed of this passage by the reader of the English Bible is that the tree referred to was the bay laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), or cherry laurel of our gardens. But this plant belongs to an entirely different family. The bay and the Portugal laurels, whose forms of growth and evergreen leaves make them highly ornamental in shrubberies, belong to a sub-family (Drupaceæ, Lind.) of the rose tribe (Rosaceæ), but the bay tree proper, which flourisheth luxuriantly in Southern Europe, is the type of the laurel family (Lauraceæ). Several circumstances make it unlikely that the true bay tree represents the Hebrew esrāch. There is no evidence that it was ever so plentiful in Palestine as to be chosen by the Psalmist in an illustration in a poem for popular use. It is indeed to be met with, but that chiefly in localities on the borders of the eastern shore of the Great Sea. The chief objection to the supposition that the bay tree was referred to by the royal poet is to be found in the Psalm itself. Having mentioned it in the lines quoted above, he adds, “Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” The idea here is not one which could be represented and illustrated by an evergreen plant, slow of growth, and yet reaching in maturity a height of above thirty feet. The words demand a quick growing tree, in a soil more than usually favourable to its growth. Thus planted, and shooting up in calm and sunshine, it would attract every eye; but when the storm broke over it, when the strong wind swept impetuously through its branches, it would not stand. Torn up by the root, and its timber comparatively useless, like Abraham’s dead, it would be buried out of sight. And thus with the wicked. He was sought and could not be found.—John Duns, D.D., F.R.S.E., in “Biblical Natural Science.”

Verse 35.—We see no force in the observation of Dr. Duns; in fact, if there were not other reasons for preferring the translation given in the following note by Wilson, we should see all the more reason to keep to the bay tree. It was a tree of permanence and of long-continued verdure, and so the prosperous wicked seem to be. They look as if their happiness would be eternal; yet, for all that, those who carefully note the dealings of providence observe with holy wonder that divine justice cuts short their glory, and they perish utterly.—C. H. S.

“I have seen the wicked in great power (terrible, fierce, violent), and spreading himself like a green bay tree” (a tree in its native soil, vigorous, and luxuriant, that had never been transplanted). A striking figure of the ungodly man of the world, firmly rooted in earthly things—his native soil, grown proud and wanton in his prosperity, without fear or apprehension of any reverse.—William Wilson.

Verse 35.—“Like a green bay tree,” which produceth all leaves and no fruit.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 35.—“I have seen the wicked,” saith David, “in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree.” And why like a green bay-tree? Because in the winter, when all other trees—as the vine-tree, fig-tree, apple-tree, &c., which are more profitable trees—are withered and naked, yet the bay-tree continueth as green in the winter as the summer. So fareth it with wicked men: when the children of God, in the storms of persecutions, and afflictions, and miseries, seem withered, and, as it were, dead, yet the wicked all that time flourish, and do appear green in the eyes of the world: they wallow in worldly wealth, but it is for their destruction; they wax fat, but it is for the day of slaughter. It was the case of Hophni and Phinehas: the Lord gave them enough and suffered them to go on and prosper in their wickedness; but what was the reason? Because he would destroy them.—J. Gore’s Sermon at St. Paul’s, 1633.

Verses 35, 36.—

——“To-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes, to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him: The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; And—when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a ripening—nips his root, And then he falls, as I do.”

William Shakspeare, in Henry VIII.

Verses 36, 37.—The hawk flies high, and is as highly prized, being set upon a perch, vervelled with the gingling bells of encouragement, and carried on his master’s fist; but being once dead and picked over the perch, is cast upon the dunghill as good for nothing. The hen scrapes in the dust, not anything rewarded when she is alive, but being dead, is brought as a choice dish to her master’s table. Thus wicked men are commonly set in high places, and prosper in this life; and good men lie grovelling with their mouths in the dust, as the very underlings of the world; but being once dead, the one is cast into the dungeon of hell, the other advanced to the kingdom of heaven: the one is into Abraham’s bosom, whilst the other is tormented with the devil and his angels.—Thomas Westfield, D.D., 1644.

Verse 37.—“Mark ... and behold.” Herodotus maketh mention of a custom among the Ethiopians to set the dead bodies of their friends in glazed sepulchres, that their proportions might be obvious to the passengers. How needless soever that custom was, ’tis doubtless no more than just that the pious lineaments of their minds who die in the Lord should be presented to the living in the mirrour of art. Indeed, commendation after death is the tribute of a religious life. Good works are jewels not to be locked up in a cabinet, but to be set forth to public view. If Christ would have Mary’s name remembered in the gospel until the world’s end for one box of ointment poured on his head, we cannot imagine that he would have the many pious and charitable deeds of his servants to be buried in oblivion. Consult the Scriptures, and you shall scarce find any godly man laid in his grave without an epitaph of honour. View the fathers, and you shall observe it their practice to honour the death of the good by giving them their deserved praises.—Nathanael Hardy.

Verse 37.—“The perfect man,” etc.—Divines well distinguish of a double perfection, it is absoluta or comparata. That is absolutely perfect, to which nothing (that may be accounted truly good) is wanting; and thus He only is perfectus who is infactus; God, who made all things, and himself is not made, only enjoying an all-sufficient perfection, in and of himself. That is comparatively perfect, in which, notwithstanding some wants, there is a fulness compared with others. Thus every saint is perfect in comparison of the wicked among whom he liveth. In this respect it is said of Noah, “That he was a perfect man in his generations;” his grace compared with the wickedness of the old world well deserving the name of perfection; indeed every upright man is perfect in comparison of them who are openly bad, or but openly good; stained with wickedness, or but painted with holiness. Thus one saint may be perfect if compared with another, the strong Christian in respect of the weak, whom he outstrips in grace and piety: such saints Paul means when he saith, “We speak wisdom among them that are perfect;” that is, such as have attained to greater measures of grace than others. It was said of Benaiah, “He was more honourable than thirty, but he attained not to the first three;” and though no saint can ever attain to the perfections of the first three, the blessed Trinity, yet many saints may be honourable amongst thirty perfect in comparison of those among whom they live.

We must further distinguish of a double perfection, it is extrinseca and intrinseca. Extrinsical perfection so called, because by imputation, is that which every believer is partaker of through the perfect righteousness of Christ, whereby all his imperfections are covered; in this respect the author to the Hebrews tells us, “That by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified;” and S. Paul tells the Colossians that they were “complete in him,” meaning Christ. Indeed omnia Dei mandata tunc facta deputantur, quando id quod non fit ignoscitur: divine commands are then in God’s account fulfilled when our defects for Christ’s sake are pardoned; and the evangelical perfection of a Christian consists not in perfectione virtutum, sed remissione vitiorum, in the completion of our graces, but remission of our sins.

Intrinsical perfection, so called because by inhæsion, is no less rationally than usually thus distinguished, there is perfectio partium et graduum. He is said to be perfect, cui nihil deest eorum quæ ad statum salutis necessaria, who wants no graces that accompany salvation; or he is perfect, cui nihil deest in gradibus gratiarum et virtutum; who is not defective in the measures of those graces; both these are frequently and fitly illustrated by the resemblance of a child, and a grown man; the one whereof hath all the essential and integral parts of a man, the other a complete use and measure of those parts.—Nathanael Hardy.

Verse 37.—“The end.” All wise men affect the conclusion to be best: to ride two or three miles of fair way, and to have a hundred deep and foul ones to pass afterward is uncomfortable; especially when the end is worse than the way. But let the beginning be troublesome, the progress somewhat more easy, and the journey’s end happy, and there is fair amends. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.” Mark him in the setting out, he hath many oppositions; mark him in the journey, he is full of tribulations; but mark in the conclusion, and the end of that man is peace.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 37.—“The end of that man is peace.” Give me leave to determine what it is to end or die in peace. To end in peace with Euthymius, is to end in pace cogitationis, in peace of mind as it is opposed to doubting. To end in peace with Cyprian, is to end in pace securilatis, in peace of security, as it is opposed to final falling. To end in peace with Origen, is to end in pace conscientiæ, in peace of conscience as it is opposed to despairing. To end in peace with old Irenæus, is to end in pace mortis, in the peace of death as it is opposed to labouring. Again, to end in peace, is to end in pace Dei, in the peace of God which passeth all understanding, i.e., far beyond men’s apprehensions. To end in peace, is to end in pace proximi, in peace with our neighbours, i.e., when no outcries or exclamations follow us. And lastly, to end in peace, is to end in pace sui, in peace with ourselves, i.e., when no distractions or perturbations of mind molest us.—Richard Parre.

Verse 37.—The text may be divided into these two parts. Here is, 1. The godly man’s property; and 2. The godly man’s privilege. His property is perfection; his privilege is peace. Here is the saint’s character and the saint’s crown: he is characterised by uprightness or sincerity, and crowned with peace. Here is the Christian’s way and his end, his motion, and his rest. His way is holiness, his end happiness; his motion is towards perfection and in uprightness; his rest is peace at his journey’s end.—John Whitlock, in a Funeral Sermon entitled, “The Upright Man and his Happy End,” 1658.

Verse 37.—Time would fail me to tell how Christians die, nor can anything save the pen of the recording angel who has stood by their bed of death and borne them to Abraham’s bosom, narrate the unnumbered instances of their delightful departure from the present world, which verify the truth of the Bible. “I could never have believed,” said a dying saint, “that it was so delightful a thing to die, or that it was possible to have such views of the heavenly world as I now enjoy.” The memorable Melancthon, just before he died, chanted in his sleep the words, “I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” He seemed restless, and on being asked by one near him, “Whether there were anything more that he desired?” replied, Aliud nihil nisi cœlum—nothing more, unless it be heaven.—Gardiner Spring.

Verse 37.—To die well be sure to live well; we must not think to have Lazarus’s death, and Dives’s life; like him in Plutarch that would live with Crœsus, as he said, but he would die with Socrates. No, Balaam’s wishes are foolish and fruitless: if you would die well, Christians, you must have a care to live well: qualis vita, finis ita, if you would die quietly, you must live strictly; if you would die comfortably, you must live comformably; if you would die happily, you must live holily. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.”—John Kitchin, M.A., 1660.

Verse 38.—“The end of the wicked shall be cut off.” The wicked in this world do easily run up without rub or interruption, many times with acclamations and applause, all the golden steps of honours and preferments; but upon the highest stair they find the most slippery standing, and the top of their earthly felicity is the most immediate and certain descent unto the greatest downfall. They are royally mounted here upon earth, and gallop swiftly over the fair and green plains of plenty and pleasures; but at the end of their race they are overturned horse and man, and tumbled headlong into the pit of destruction. They fairly glide over the sea of this world with full sail, with much calmness and serenity, and richly laden; but in the brightest sunshine, and when they least suspect it, they suddenly and without recovery, sink into the gulf of darkness and desolation.—Robert Bolton.

Verse 40.—“And the Lord shall help them.” He shall, he shall, he shall. Oh, the rhetoric of God! the safety of the saints! the certainty of the promises!—John Trapp.

Luther closes his Exposition of the Psalm with the words, Oh, shame on our faithlessness, mistrust, and vile unbelief, that we do not believe such rich, powerful, consolatory, declarations of God, and take up so readily with little grounds of offence, whenever we but hear the wicked speeches of the ungodly. Help, O God, that we may once attain to right faith. Amen.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—The art of tranquillity.—W. Jones.

Verses 1, 2.—A frequent temptation, and a double corrective—a sight of sinners in death and in hell.

Verse 2.—How and when the wicked perish.

Verse 3.—I. A combination descriptive of holy living. II. A combination descriptive of happy living.

Verse 3.—The believer portrayed. I. His object of trust. II. His mode of life. III. His place of abode. IV. His certainty of provision.

Verse 3 (last clause).—Read it in four ways. I. “Certainly fed,” or the certainty of supply. II. “Fed in verity,” or the sufficiency of the provision for soul and body. III. “Fed on truth,” or the spirituality of the provision. IV. “Feed on truth,” or the duty of choosing such provision.

Verse 4.—Explain the delight and the desire of the believer, and show the connection between them.

Verses 5, 6.—The higher life. I. Based on hearty resignation. II. Sustained by faith. III. Constantly unfolded by the Lord. IV. Consummated in meridian splendour.

Verse 6.—Sweet comfort for slandered saints. Where their character now is. Who shall reveal it. The gradual yet sure manner of the revelation, and the glorious conclusion.

Verse 7.—“Rest in the Lord.” What? Where? When? Why? How?

Verse 7.—Peace, patience, self-possession.

Verse 7.—Stillness in God.—Bishop Wilberforce.

Verse 7.—“Rest in the Lord.” I. Rest in the will of God, for whatever he wills is for your good, your highest good. II. Rest in the love of God, and often meditate on the words of Jesus on this point, “Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” III. Rest in the mercy of God. IV. Rest in the word of God. V. Rest in the relation thy God fills to thee; he is the Father. VI. Rest in the Lord as he is manifested in Jesus, thy God in covenant.—James Smith.

Verse 8.—A SERMON FOR THE FRETFUL. I. Cease from present anger. It is madness, it is sin; it shuts out our prayers; it will grow into malice; it may lead to worse. II. Forsake it for the future. Repent of it, watch temper, discipline thy passion, etc. III. Avoid all kindred feelings of fretfulness, impatience, envy, etc., for they lead to evil.

Verse 9.—How the humble are the true lords of the land.

Verse 10.—I. Consider what the departed sinner has left. Possessions, joys, honours, aims, hopes, etc. II. Consider where he has gone. III. Consider whether you will share the same lot.

Verses 10, 11.—Terror to the wicked: comfort to believers.—A Farindon.

Verse 11.—The meek man’s delight, or “the harvest of a quiet eye.”

Verse 14.—Upright conversation.—I. What it excludes. The horizontal or earthly, the crooked or crafty, the slanting or sinister. II. What it includes. Motive, object, language, action. III. What it achieves. It stands like a pillar; it supports like a column; it ascends like a tower; it adorns like a monument; it illuminates like a Pharos.

Verse 15.—The self-destructive nature of evil.

Verse 16.—How to make much of a little.

Verses 16, 17.—I. The owners contrasted. II. The possessions compared. III. The preference given. IV. The reasons declared.

Verse 17 (last clause).—I. The favoured persons. II. Their evident need, “upholding.” III. Their singular blessedness, “upheld,” above trial, under trial, after trial. IV. Their august Patron.

Verse 18.—The comforts derivable from a consideration of the divine knowledge. The eternity of the righteous man’s possessions.

Verse 18.—I. The persons, “the upright.” II. The period, “their days.” These are known to God—(1) He knows them kindly and graciously; (2) He knows their number; (3) He knows the nature of them. III. The portion, “their inheritance shall be for ever.”—William Jay.

Verse 18 (last clause).—What it is. How they come by it. How long they hold it.

Verse 19.—Good words for hard times.

Verse 21.—Monetary transactions tests of character.

Verse 22.—The divine blessing the secret of happiness. The divine displeasure the essence of misery.

Verses 23, 24.—I. The divine predestination. II. The divine delight. III. The divine support.

Verse 24.—Temporary trials. I. To be expected. II. Have their limit. III. Have their results. IV. Our secret comfort under them.

What may be. What cannot be. What shall be.

Verse 25.—Memorandum of an aged observer.

Verse 26.—The righteous man’s merciful disposition, generous action, and rich reward.

Verse 26.—The benediction of the good man’s family: what it is, and what it is not.

Verse 27.—Negative, positive, remunerative.

Verse 28.—I. The Lord’s love of right. II. His faithfulness to the righteous. III. Their sure preservation thus doubly guaranteed. IV. The doom of the wicked thus certified.

Verse 29.—Canaan as a type of the righteous man’s inheritance.

Verse 30.—Our speech as a test of godliness.

Verse 31.—I. The best thing. II. In the best place. III. With the best of results.

Verses 32, 33.—Our enemies; their inveterate malice; our safeguard and justification.

Verse 34.—I. A twofold admonition: 1. “Wait on the Lord.” 2. “And keep his way;” wait and work, wait and walk, get grace and exercise it. II. A two-fold promise: 1. “He shall exalt thee to inherit the land;” God is the source of all elevation and honour. 2. “When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it;” and they will be cut off.—William Jay.

Verse 34.—Patient faith, persevering holiness, and promised exaltation.

Verse 34 (last clause).—Emotions caused in the godly by a sight of the sinner’s doom.

Verse 34 (last clause).—The wicked are often cut off—1. Even in life, from their places, and riches, and prospects. 2. At death they are cut off from all their possessions and comforts. 3. In the last day they will be cut off from “the resurrection of life.”—William Jay.

Verses 35, 36, 37.—Three memorable scenes. I. The imposing spectacle. II. The astounding disappearance. III. The delightful exit.

Verses 39, 40.—I. The doctrines of grace condensed. II. The experience of the gracious epitomised. III. The promises of grace summarised. IV. The grandest evidence of grace declared: “because they trust in him.”

PSALM XXXVIII.

TITLE.—A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. David felt as if he had been forgotten of his God, and, therefore, he recounted his sorrows and cried mightily for help under them. The same title is given to Psalm lxx., where in like manner the Psalmist pours out his complaint before the Lord. It would be foolish to make a guess as to the point in David’s history when this was written; it may be a commemoration of his own sickness and endurance of cruelty; it may, on the other hand, have been composed by him for the use of sick and slandered saints, without special reference to himself.

DIVISIONS.—The Psalm opens with a prayer, 1; continues in a long complaint, 2-8; pauses to dart an eye to heaven, 9; proceeds with a second tale of sorrow, 10-14; interjects another word of hopeful address to God, 15; a third time pours out a flood of griefs, 16-20; and then closes as it opened, with renewed petitioning, 21 and 22.

EXPOSITION.

O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

1. “O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath.” Rebuked I must be, for I am an erring child and thou a careful Father, but throw not too much anger into the tones of thy voice; deal gently although I have sinned grievously. The anger of others I can bear, but not thine. As thy love is most sweet to my heart, so thy displeasure is most cutting to my conscience. “Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.” Chasten me if thou wilt, it is a Father’s prerogative, and to endure it obediently is a child’s duty; but, O turn not the rod into a sword, smite not so as to kill. True, my sins might well inflame thee, but let thy mercy and longsuffering quench the glowing coals of thy wrath. O let me not be treated as an enemy or dealt with as a rebel. Bring to remembrance thy covenant, thy fatherhood, and my feebleness, and spare thy servant.

2 For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

5 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.

6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.

8 I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

2. “For thine arrows stick fast in me.” By this he means both bodily and spiritual griefs, but we may suppose, especially the latter, for these are most piercing and stick the fastest. God’s law applied by the Spirit to the conviction of the soul of sin, wounds deeply and rankles long; it is an arrow not lightly to be brushed out by careless mirthfulness, or to be extracted by the flattering hand of self-righteousness. The Lord knows how to shoot so that his bolts not only strike but stick. He can make convictions sink into the innermost spirit like arrows driven in up to the head. It seems strange that the Lord should shoot at his own beloved ones, but in truth he shoots at their sins rather than them, and those who feel his sin-killing shafts in this life, shall not be slain with his hot thunderbolts in the next world. “And thy hand presseth me sore.” The Lord had come to close dealings with him, and pressed him down with the weight of his hand, so that he had no rest or strength left. By these two expressions we are taught that conviction of sin is a piercing and a pressing thing, sharp and sore, smarting and crushing. Those who know by experience “the terrors of the Lord,” will be best able to vouch for the accuracy of such descriptions; they are true to the life.

3. “There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger.” Mental depression tells upon the bodily frame; it is enough to create and foster every disease, and is in itself the most painful of all diseases. Soul sickness tells upon the entire frame; it weakens the body, and then bodily weakness reacts upon the mind. One drop of divine anger sets the whole of our blood boiling with misery. “Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.” Deeper still the malady penetrates, till the bones, the more solid parts of the system, are affected. No soundness and no rest are two sad deficiencies; yet these are both consciously gone from every awakened conscience until Jesus gives relief. God’s anger is a fire that dries up the very marrow; it searches the secret parts of the belly. A man who has pain in his bones tosses to and fro in search of rest, but he finds none; he becomes worn out with agony, and so in many cases a sense of sin creates in the conscience a horrible unrest which cannot be exceeded in anguish except by hell itself.

4. “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head.” Like waves of the deep sea; like black mire in which a man utterly sinks. Above my hopes, my strength, and my life itself, my sin rises in its terror. Unawakened sinners think their sins to be mere shallows, but when conscience is aroused they find out the depth of iniquity. “As an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” It is well when sin is an intolerable load, and when the remembrance of our sins burdens us beyond endurance. This verse is the genuine cry of one who feels himself undone by his transgressions and as yet sees not the great sacrifice.

5. “My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.” Apply this to the body, and it pictures a sad condition of disease; but read it of the soul, and it is to the life. Conscience lays on stripe after stripe till the swelling becomes a wound and suppurates, and the corruption within grows offensive. What a horrible creature man appears to be to his own consciousness when his depravity and vileness are fully opened up by the law of God, applied by the Holy Spirit! It is true there are diseases which are correctly described in this verse, when in the worst stage; but we prefer to receive the expressions as instructively figurative, since the words “because of my foolishness” point rather at a moral than a physical malady. Some of us know what it is to stink in our own nostrils so as to loathe ourselves. Even the most filthy diseases cannot be so foul as sin. No ulcers, cancers, or putrifying sores, can match the unutterable vileness and pollution of iniquity. Our own perceptions have made us feel this. We write what we do know, and testify what we have seen; and even now we shudder to think that so much of evil should lie festering deep within our nature.

6. “I am troubled.” I am wearied with distress, writhing with pain, in sore travail on account of sin revealed within me. “I am bowed down greatly.” I am brought very low, grievously weakened and frightfully depressed. Nothing so pulls a man down from all loftiness as a sense of sin and of divine wrath concerning it. “I go mourning all the day long.” The mourner’s soul-sorrow knew no intermission, even when he went about such business as he was able to attend, he went forth like a mourner who goes to the tomb, and his words and manners were like the lamentations of those who follow the corpse. The whole verse may be the more clearly understood if we picture the Oriental mourner, covered with sackcloth and ashes, bowed as in a heap, sitting amid squalor and dirt, performing contortions and writhings expressive of his grief; such is the awakened sinner, not in outward guise, but in very deed.

7. “For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease”—a hot, dry, parching disorder, probably accompanied by loathsome ulcers. Spiritually, the fire burns within when the evil of the heart is laid bare. Note the emphatic words, the evil is loathsome, it is in the loins, its seat is deep and vital—the man is filled with it. Those who have passed through the time of conviction understand all this. “And there is no soundness in my flesh.” This he had said before, and thus the Holy Spirit brings humiliating truth again and again to our memories, tears away every ground of glorying, and makes us know that in us, that is, in our flesh, there dwelleth no good thing.

8. “I am feeble.” The original is “benumbed,” or frozen, such strange incongruities and contradictions meet in a distracted mind and a sick body—it appears to itself to be alternately parched with heat and pinched with cold. Like souls in the Popish fabled Purgatory, tossed from burning furnaces into thick ice, so tormented hearts rush from one extreme to the other, with equal torture in each. A heat of fear, a chill of horror, a flaming desire, a horrible insensibility—by these successive miseries a convinced sinner is brought to death’s door. “And sore broken.” Crushed as in a mill, pounded as in a mortar. The body of the sick man appears to be all out of joint and smashed into a palpitating pulp, and the soul of the desponding is in an equally wretched case; as a victim crushed under the car of Juggernaut, such is a soul over whose conscience the wheels of divine wrath have forced their awful way. “I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.” Deep and hoarse is the voice of sorrow, and often inarticulate and terrible. The heart learns groanings which cannot be uttered, and the voice fails to tone and tune itself to human speech. When our prayers appear to be rather animal than spiritual, they are none the less prevalent with the pitiful Father of mercy. He hears the murmur of the heart and the roaring of the soul because of sin, and in due time he comes to relieve his afflicted.

The more closely the preceding portrait of an awakened soul is studied in the light of experience, the more will its striking accuracy appear. It cannot be a description of merely outward disorder, graphic as it might then be; it has a depth and pathos in it which only the soul’s mysterious and awful agony can fully match.

9 Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.

9. “Lord, all my desire is before thee.” If unuttered, yet perceived. Blessed be God, he reads the longings of our hearts; nothing can be hidden from him; what we cannot tell to him he perfectly understands. The Psalmist is conscious that he has not exaggerated, and therefore appeals to heaven for a confirmation of his words. The good Physician understands the symptoms of our disease and sees the hidden evil which they reveal, hence our case is safe in his hands. “And my groaning is not hid from thee.”

“He takes the meaning of our tears, The language of our groans.”

Sorrow and anguish hide themselves from the observation of man, but God spieth them out. None more lonely than the broken-hearted sinner, yet hath he the Lord for his companion.

10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.

11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.

12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.

13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.

14 Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.

10. “My heart panteth.” Here begins another tale of woe. He was so dreadfully pained by the unkindness of friends, that his heart was in a state of perpetual palpitation. Sharp and quick were the beatings of his heart; he was like a hunted roe, filled with distressing alarms, and ready to fly out of itself with fear. The soul seeks sympathy in sorrow, and if it finds none, its sorrowful heart-throbs are incessant. “My strength faileth me.” What with disease and distraction, he was weakened and ready to expire. A sense of sin, and a clear perception that none can help us in our distress, are enough to bring a man to death’s door, especially if there be none to speak a gentle word, and point the broken spirit to the beloved Physician. “As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.” Sweet light departed from his bodily eye, and consolation vanished from his soul. Those who were the very light of his eyes forsook him. Hope, the last lamp of night, was ready to go out. What a plight was the poor convict in! Yet here we have some of us been; and here should we have perished had not infinite mercy interposed. Now, as we remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, we see how good it was for us to find our own strength fail us, since it drove us to the strong for strength; and how right it was that our light should all be quenched, that the Lord’s light should be all in all to us.

11. “My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore.” Whatever affection they might pretend to, they kept out of his company, lest as a sinking vessel often draws down boats with it, they might be made to suffer through his calamities. It is very hard when those who should be the first to come to the rescue, are the first to desert us. In times of deep soul trouble even the most affectionate friends cannot enter into the sufferer’s case; let them be as anxious as they may, the sores of a tender conscience they cannot bind up. Oh, the loneliness of a soul passing under the convincing power of the Holy Ghost! “And my kinsmen stand afar off.” As the women and others of our Lord’s acquaintances from afar gazed on his cross, so a soul wounded for sin sees all mankind as distant spectators, and in the whole crowd finds none to aid. Often relatives hinder seekers after Jesus, oftener still they look on with unconcern, seldom enough to do they endeavour to lead the penitent to Jesus.

12. “They also that seek after my life lay snares for me.” Alas! for us when in addition to inward griefs, we are beset by outward temptations. David’s foes endeavoured basely to ensnare him. If fair means would not overthrow him, foul should be tried. This snaring business is a vile one, the devil’s own poachers alone condescend to it; but prayer to God will deliver us, for the craft of the entire college of tempters can be met and overcome by those who are led of the Spirit. “They that seek my hurt speak mischievous things.” Lies and slanders poured from them like water from the town-pump. Their tongue was for ever going, and their heart for ever inventing lies. “And imagine deceits all the day long.” They were never done, their forge was going from morning to night. When they could not act they talked, and when they could not talk they imagined, and schemed, and plotted. Restless is the activity of malice. Bad men never have enough of evil. They compass sea and land to injure a saint; no labour is too severe, no cost too great if they may utterly destroy the innocent. Our comfort is, that our glorious Head knows the pertinacious malignity of our foes, and will in due season put an end to it, as he even now sets a bound about it.

13. “But I, as a deaf man, heard not.” Well and bravely was this done. A sacred indifference to the slanders of malevolence is true courage and wise policy. It is well to be as if we could not hear or see. Perhaps the Psalmist means that this deafness on his part was unavoidable because he had no power to answer the taunts of the cruel, but felt much of the truth of their ungenerous accusations. “And I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.” David was bravely silent, and herein was eminently typical of our Lord Jesus, whose marvellous silence before Pilate was far more eloquent than words. To abstain from self-defence is often most difficult, and frequently most wise.

14. “Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.” He repeats the fact of his silence that we may note it, admire it, and imitate it. We have an advocate, and need not therefore plead our own cause. The Lord will rebuke our foes, for vengeance belongs to him; we may therefore wait patiently and find it our strength to sit still.

15 For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O LORD my God.

15. David committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, and so in patience was able to possess his soul. Hope in God’s intervention, and belief in the power of prayer, are two most blessed stays to the soul in time of adversity. Turning right away from the creature to the sovereign Lord of all, and to him as our own covenant God, we shall find the richest solace in waiting upon him. Reputation like a fair pearl may be cast into the mire, but in due time when the Lord makes up his jewels, the godly character shall shine with unclouded splendour. Rest then, O slandered one, and let not thy soul be tossed to and fro with anxiety.

16 For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.

17 For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.

18 For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.

19 But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

20 They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

16. “For I said, hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me.” The good man was not insensible, he dreaded the sharp stings of taunting malice; he feared lest either by his conduct or his condition, he should give occasion to the wicked to triumph. This fear his earnest desires used as an argument in prayer as well as an incentive to prayer. “When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.” The least flaw in a saint is sure to be noticed; long before it comes to a fall the enemy begins to rail, the merest trip of the foot sets all the dogs of hell barking. How careful ought we to be, and how importunate in prayer for upholding grace! We do not wish, like blind Samson, to make sport for our enemies; let us then beware of the treacherous Delilah of sin, by whose means our eyes may soon be put out.

17. “For I am ready to halt.” Like one who limps, or a person with tottering footsteps, in danger of falling. How well this befits us all. “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” How small a thing will lame a Christian, how insignificant a stumbling-block may cause him to fall! This passage refers to weakness caused by pain and sorrow; the sufferer was ready to give up in despair; he was so depressed in spirit that he stumbled at a straw. Some of us painfully know what it is to be like dry tinder for the sparks of sorrow; ready to halt, ready to mourn, and sigh and cry upon any occasion, and for any cause. “And my sorrow is continually before me.” He did not need to look out of window to find sorrow, he felt it within, and groaned under a body of sin which was an increasing plague to him. Deep conviction continues to irritate the conscience; it will not endure a patched-up peace; but cries war to the knife till the enmity is slain. Until the Holy Ghost applies the precious blood of Jesus, a truly awakened sinner is covered with raw wounds which cannot be healed nor bound up, nor mollified with ointment.

18. “For I will declare mine iniquity.” The slander of his enemies he repudiates, but the accusations of his conscience he admits. Open confession is good for the soul. When sorrow leads to hearty and penitent acknowledgment of sin it is blessed sorrow, a thing to thank God for most devoutly. “I will be sorry for my sin.” My confession shall be salted with briny tears. It is well not so much to bewail our sorrows as to denounce the sins which lie at the root of them. To be sorry for sin is no atonement for it, but it is the right spirit in which to repair to Jesus, who is the reconciliation and the Saviour. A man is near to the end of his trouble when he comes to an end with his sins.

19. “But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong.” However weak and dying the righteous man may be, the evils which oppose him are sure to be lively enough. Neither the world, the flesh, nor the devil, are ever afflicted with debility or inertness; this trinity of evils labours with mighty unremitting energy to overthrow us. If the devil were sick, or our lusts feeble, or Madame Bubble infirm, we might slacken prayer; but with such lively and vigorous enemies we must not cease to cry mightily unto our God. “And they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.” Here is another misery, that as we are no match for our enemies in strength, so also they outnumber us as a hundred to one. Wrong as the cause of evil is, it is a popular one. More and more the kingdom of darkness grows. Oh, misery of miseries, that we see the professed friends of Jesus forsaking him, and the enemies of his cross and his cause mustering in increasing bands!

20. “They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries.” Such would a wise man wish his enemies to be. Why should we seek to be beloved of such graceless souls? It is a fine plea against our enemies when we can without injustice declare them to be like the devil, whose nature it is to render evil for good. “Because I follow the thing that good is.” If men hate us for this reason we may rejoice to bear it: their wrath is the unconscious homage which vice renders to virtue. This verse is not inconsistent with the writer’s previous confession; we may feel deeply guilty before God, and yet be entirely innocent of any wrong to our fellow men. It is one thing to acknowledge the truth, quite another thing to submit to be belied. The Lord may smite me justly, and yet I may be able to say to my fellow man, “Why smitest thou me?”

21 Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.

22 Make haste to help me, O LORD my salvation.

21. “Forsake me not, O Lord.” Now is the time I need thee most. When sickness, slander, and sin, all beset a saint, he requires the especial aid of heaven, and he shall have it too. He is afraid of nothing while God is with him, and God is with him evermore. “Be not far from me.” Withhold not the light of thy near and dear love. Reveal thyself to me. Stand at my side. Let me feel that though friendless besides, I have a most gracious and all-sufficient friend in thee.

22. “Make haste to help me.” Delay would prove destruction. The poor pleader was far gone and ready to expire, only speedy help would serve his turn. See how sorrow quickens the importunity of prayer! Here is one of the sweet results of affliction, it gives new life to our pleading, and drives us with eagerness to our God. “O Lord my salvation.” Not my Saviour only, but my salvation. He who has the Lord on his side has salvation in present possession. Faith foresees the blessed issue of all her pleas, and in this verse begins to ascribe to God the glory of the expected mercy. We shall not be left of the Lord. His grace will succour us most opportunely, and in heaven we shall see that we had not one trial too many, or one pang too severe. A sense of sin shall melt into the joy of salvation; grief shall lead on to gratitude, and gratitude to joy unspeakable and full of glory.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—The first word, MIZMOR, or Psalm, is the designation of forty-four sacred poems, thirty-two of which are ascribed to David. The English reader must observe, that this word is not the same in the original Hebrew as that which forms the general title of the book of Psalms; the latter expressing a Hymn of Praise. The word Psalm, however, as used both in the context and in the titles of the individual compositions, is uniformly Mizmor in the original; a term which accurately defines their poetical character. To explain its proper meaning I must have recourse to the beautiful and accurate definition of Bishop Lowth. “The word Mizmor signifies a composition, which in a peculiar manner is cut up into sentences, short, frequent, and measured by regular intervals.”... He adds that Zamar means to cut or prune, as applied to the removing superfluous branches from trees; and, after mentioning the secondary sense of the word, “to sing with a voice or instrument,” gives it as his opinion, that Mizmor may be more properly referred to the primary sense of the root, so as to mean a poem cut up into short sentences, and pruned from all superfluity of words, which is the peculiar characteristic of the Hebrew poetry.—John Jebb.

Title.—The title that David gives this Psalm is worth your notice, A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance. David was on his death-bed as he thought, and he said it shall be a Psalm of remembrance, to bring sin to remembrance, to confess to God my uncleanness with Bathsheba, to bring to my remembrance the evils of my life. Whenever God brings thee under affliction, thou art then in a fit plight to confess sin to God, and call to remembrance thy sin.—Christopher Love.

Title.—The Psalm is “to bring to remembrance.” This seems to teach us that good things need to be kept alive in our memories, that we should often sit down, look back, retrace, and turn over in our meditation things that are past, lest at any time we should let any good thing sink into oblivion. Among the things which David brought to his own remembrance, the first and foremost were, (1), his past trials and his past deliverances. The great point, however, in David’s Psalm is to bring to remembrance, (2), the depravity of our nature. There is, perhaps, no Psalm which more fully than this describes human nature as seen in the light which God the Holy Ghost casts upon it in the time when he convinces us of sin. I am persuaded that the description here does not tally with any known disease of the body. It is very like leprosy, but it has about it certain features which cannot be found to meet in any leprosy described either by ancient or modern writers. The fact is, it is a spiritual leprosy, it is an inward disease which is here described, and David paints it to the very life, and he would have us to recollect this. A third thing the Psalm brings to our remembrance is, (3), our many enemies. David says, that his enemies laid snares for him, and sought his hurt, and spoke mischievous things, and devised and imagined deceits all the day long. “Well,” says one, “how was it that David had so many enemies? How could he make so many? Must he not have been imprudent and rash, or perhaps morose?” It does not appear so in his life. He rather made enemies by his being scrupulously holy. His enemies attacked him, not because he was wicked, but as he says, in this very Psalm, they were his enemies because he loved the thing which is good. The ultimate result of the religion of Christ is to make peace everywhere, but the first result is to cause strife. Further, the Psalm reminds us of, (4), our gracious God. Anything which drives us to God is a blessing, and anything which weans us from leaning on an arm of flesh, and especially that weans us from trying to stand alone, is a boon to us.—C. H. S.

Whole Psalm.—The most wonderful features in this Psalm, are the depth of misery into which the Psalmist gradually plunges in his complaints in the first part of it, the sudden grasp at the arm of mercy and omnipotence that is made in verse 8, and the extreme height of comfort and consolation that it reaches in the end.—Benjamin Weiss.

Verse 1.—“O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath.” But is it not an absurd request, to require God not to rebuke me in his anger; as though I thought he would rebuke me if he were not angry? Is it not a senseless suit to pray to God not to chasten me in his displeasure, as though he would chasten me if he were not displeased? The frowardest natures that are, will yet be quiet as long as they be pleased: and shall I have such a thought of the great yet gracious God, that he should be pleased and yet not be quiet? But, O my soul, is it all one, to rebuke in his anger and to rebuke when he is angry? He may rebuke when he is angry, and yet restrain and bridle in his anger; but to rebuke in his anger is to let loose the reins to his anger; and what is it to give the reins to his anger, but to make it outrun his mercy? And then what a miserable case should I be in, to have his anger to assault me, and not his mercy ready to relieve me? To have his indignation fall upon me when his lovingkindness were not by to take it off! Oh, therefore, rebuke me not in thine anger, O God, but let thy rebuking stay for thy mercy; chasten me not in thy displeasure, but let thy lovingkindness have the keeping of thy rod.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 1.—“Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure,” etc. Both these words, which we translate to chasten, and hot displeasure, are words of a heavy and of a vehement signification. They extend both to express the eternity of God’s indignation, even to the binding of the soul and body in eternal chains of darkness. For the first jasar, signifies in the Scriptures, vincire, to bind, often with ropes, often with chains; to fetter, or manacle, or pinion men that are to be executed; so that it imports a slavery, a bondage all the way, and a destruction at last. And so the word is used by Rehoboam, “My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” 1 Kings xii. 11. And then, the other word, chamath, doth not only signify “hot displeasure,” but that effect of God’s hot displeasure which is intended by the prophet Esay: “Therefore hath he poured forth his fierce wrath, and the strength of battle, and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not, and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.” These be the fearful conditions of God’s hot displeasure, to be in a furnace, and not to feel it; to be in a habit of sin, and not know what leads us into temptation; to be burnt to ashes, and so not only without all moisture, all holy tears, but, as ashes, without any possibility that any good thing can grow in us. And yet this word, chamath, hath a heavier signification than this; for it signifies poison itself, destruction itself, for so it is twice taken in one verse: “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent” (Psalm lviii. 4); so that this hot displeasure is that poison of the soul, obduration here, and that extension of that obduration, a final impenitence in this life, and an infinite impenitableness in the next, to die without any actual penitence here, and live without all possibility of future penitence for ever hereafter. David therefore foresees, that if God rebuke in anger, it will come to a chastening in hot displeasure. For what should stop him? For, “if a man sin against the Lord, who will plead for him?” says Eli. “Plead thou my cause,” says David; it is only the Lord that can be of counsel with him, and plead for him; and that Lord is both the judge and angry too.—John Donne.

Verse 2.—“For thine arrows stick fast in me.” First, we shall see in what respect he calls them “arrows:” and therein, first, that they are alienæ, they are shot from others, they are not in his own power; a man shoots not an arrow at himself; and then that they are veloces, swift in coming, he cannot give them their time; and again, they are vix visibiles, though they be not altogether invisible in their coming, yet there is required a quick eye, and an express diligence and watchfulness to avoid them; so they are arrows in the hand of another, not his own; and swift as they come, and invisible before they come. And secondly, they are many arrows: the victory lies not in escaping one or two. And thirdly, they “stick” in him: they find not David so good proof as to rebound back again, and imprint no sense: and they stick “fast:” though the blow be felt and the wound discerned, yet there is not a present cure, he cannot shake them off; infixæ sunt; and then, with all this, they stick fast in him; that is, in all him; in his body and soul; in him, in his thoughts and actions; in him, in his sins and in his good works too; infixæ mihi, there is no part of him, no faculty in him, in which they stick not; for (which may well be another consideration), that “hand” which shot them, presses him, follows the blow, and presses him “sore,” that is, vehemently. But yet (which will be our conclusion), sagittæ tuæ, thy arrows, and manus tua, thy hand, these arrows that are shot, and this hand that presses him so sore, are the arrows, and the hand of God; and therefore, first, they must have their effect, they cannot be disappointed: but yet they bring their comfort with them, because they are his, because no arrows from him, no pressing with his hand, comes without that balsamum of mercy to heal as fast as he wounds.—John Donne.

Verse 2.—“Thine arrows stick fast.” Though importunity be to God most pleasing always, yet to us it is then most necessary when the cheerful face of God is turned into frowns, and when there is a justly conceived fear of the continuance of his anger: and have I not just cause to fear it, having the arrows of his anger sticking so fast in me? If he had meant to make me but a butt, at which to shoot his arrows, he would quickly, I suppose, have taken them up again; but now that he leaves them sticking in me, what can I think, but that he means to make me his quiver; and then I may look long enough before he come to pluck them out. They are arrows, indeed, that are feathered with swiftness, and headed with sharpness; and to give them a force in flying, they are shot, I may say, out of his cross-bow, I am sure his bow of cross; for no arrows can fly so fast, none pierce so deep, as the crosses and afflictions with which he hath surprised me: I may truly say surprised me, seeing when I thought myself most safe, and said, “I shall never be moved,” even then, these arrows of his anger lighted upon me, and stick so fast in my flesh, that no arm but his that shot them is ever able to draw them forth. Oh, then, as thou hast stretched forth thine arm of anger, O God, to shoot these arrows at me, so stretch forth thine arm of mercy to draw them forth, that I may rather sing hymns than dirges unto thee; and that thou mayest show thy power, as well in pardoning as thou hast done in condemning.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 2.—“Thine arrows.” Arrows are (1) swift, (2) secret, (3) sharp, (4) killing, instruments. They are instruments drawing blood and drinking blood, even unto drunkenness (Deut. xxxii. 42); afflictions are like arrows in all these properties. 1. Afflictions often come very speedily, with a glance as an arrow, quick as a thought. 2. Afflictions come suddenly, unexpectedly; an arrow is upon a man afore he is aware, so are afflictions. Though Job saith, the thing he feared came upon him, he looked for this arrow before it came; yet usually afflictions are unlooked-for guests, they thrust in upon us when we dream not of them. 3. They come with little noise; an arrow is felt before, or, as soon as it is heard; an arrow flies silently and secretly, stealing upon and wounding a man, unobserved and unseen. Lastly, all afflictions are sharp, and in their own nature killing and deadly. That any have good from them, is from the grace of God, not from their nature.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 2.—Let no one think these expressions of penitence (verses 1-4) overstrained or excessive. They are the words of the Holy Spirit of God, speaking by the mouth of the man after God’s own heart. If we were as repentant as David, we should bring home to ourselves his language; as it is, our affections are chilled, and therefore we do not enter into his words.... And let us observe how all the miseries are referred to their proper end. The sin is not bewailed merely on account of its ill effect on the guilty one, but on account of the despite done to God. The Psalmist’s first thought is the “anger” of the Lord, and his “hot displeasure.” It is not the “arrows” that afflict him so much as that they are God’s. “Thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me.” The reason why there is no health in his flesh is because of God’s displeasure. Such is true contrition, “not the sorrow of the world which worketh death, but the sorrow that worketh repentance not to be repented of.”—A Commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms. Chiefly from Ancient Sources [by A. P. F.], 1847.

Verse 2.—“Thy hand presseth me sore.” Not the hand of Egypt or Ashur; then were it hand for hand, a duel of some equality: hand to hand; here forces and stratagems might achieve the victory: but “Thy hand.” The weight of a man’s blow is but weak, according to the force and pulse of his arm; as the princes of Midian answered Gideon, when he bade his son try the dint of his sword upon them; “Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength.” Judges viii. 21. But “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Heb. x. 31. As Homer called the hands of Jupiter χείρες ἄεπτοι, hands whose praise could not be sufficiently spoken; which some read χείρες ἄαπτοι, hands inaccessible, irresistible for strength: all the gods in heaven could not ward a blow of Jupiter’s hand. This hand never strikes but for sin; and where sin is mighty his blow is heavy.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 3.—“Thine anger ... my sin.” I, alas! am as an anvil under two hammers; one of thine anger, another of my sin; both of them beating incessantly upon me; the hammer of thine anger beating upon my flesh and making that unsound; the hammer of my sin beating upon my bones and making them unquiet; although indeed both beat upon both: but thine anger more upon my flesh, as being more sensible; my sin more upon my bones, as being more obdurate. God’s anger and sin are the two efficient causes of all misery; but the procatartic[13] cause indeed is sin: God’s anger, like the house that Samson pulled upon his own head, falls not upon us but when we pull it upon ourselves by sin.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 3.—“My flesh ... my bones.” I know by the unsoundness of my flesh that God is angry with me; for if it were not for his anger my flesh would be sound: but what soundness can there be in it now, when God’s angry hand lies beating upon it continually, and never ceaseth? I know by the unquietness of my bones that I have sin in my bosom; for if it were not for sin my bones would be quiet. But what quietness can be in them now, when sin lies gnawing upon them incessantly with the worm of remorse? One would think my bones were far enough removed and closely enough hidden from sins doing them any hurt: yet see the searching nature, the venomous poison of sin, which pierceth through my flesh, and makes unquietness in my very bones. I know my flesh is guilty of many faults, by which it justly deserves unsoundness; but what have my bones done? for they minister no fuel to the flames of my flesh’s sensuality; and why then should they be troubled? But are not my bones supporters of my flesh, and are they not by this at least accessory to my flesh’s faults? As accessories, then, they are subject to the same punishment the flesh itself is, which is the principal.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 3.—“Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.” A Christian in this life is like quicksilver, which hath a principle of motion in itself, but not of rest: we are never quiet, but as the ball upon the racket, or the ship upon the waves. As long as we have sin, this is like quicksilver: a child of God is full of motion and disquiet.... We are here in a perpetual hurry, in a constant fluctuation; our life is like the tide; sometimes ebbing, sometimes flowing; here is no rest; and the reason is because we are out of centre. Everything is in motion till it comes at the centre; Christ is the centre of the soul; the needle of the compass trembles till it comes to the North Pole.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 3.—Learn here of beggars how to procure succour and relief. Lay open thy sores, make known thy need, discover all thy misery, make not thy case better than it is. Beggars by experience find that the more miserable they appear to be, the more they are pitied, the more succoured; and yet the mercies of the most merciful men are but as drops in comparison of the oceans of God’s mercies; and among men there are many like the priest and Levite in the parable (Luke x. 30-32). that can pass by a naked, wounded man, left half dead, and not pity him nor succour him. But God, like the merciful Samaritan, hath always compassion on such as with sense of their misery are forced to cry out and crave help. Read how Job, chap. vi. and vii; David, Ps. xxxviii, 3, etc., Hezekiah, Isa. xxxviii. 10, etc., and other like saints, poured out their complaints before the Lord, and withal observe what mercy was showed them of the Lord, and you may have in them both good patterns how to behave yourselves in like cases, and good encouragement so to do. This is it which God expecteth of us, and whereunto he desireth to bring us, that seeing our own emptiness and insufficiency, and the impotency and disability of others to help us, we should in all humility fly to his mercy.—William Gouge.

Verse 4.—“For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” David proceeds to a reason why his prayer must be vehement, why these miseries of his are so violent, and why God’s anger is permanent, and he finds all this to be, because in his sins, all these venomous qualities, vehemence, violence, and continuance, were complicated, and enwrapped; for he had sinned vehemently, in the rage of lust, and violently, in the effusion of blood, and permanently, in a long and senseless security. They are all contracted in this text into two kinds, which will be our two parts in handling these words: first, the Supergressæ super, “Mine iniquities are gone over my head,” there is the multiplicity, the number, the succession, and so the continuation of his sin; and then, the Gravatæ super, “My sins are as a heavy burden, too heavy for me,” there is the greatness, the weight, the unsupportableness of his sin. St. Augustine calls these two distinctions or considerations of sin, ignorantiam, et difficultatem; first that David was ignorant, that he saw not the tide, as it swelled up upon him, abyssus abyssum, depth called upon depth; and all thy waters, and all thy billows are gone over me (says he in another place); he perceived them not coming till they were over him, he discerned not his particular sins then when he committed them, till they came to the supergressæ super, to that height that he was overflowed, surrounded, his iniquities were gone over his head; and in that St. Augustine notes ignorantiam, his unobservance, his inconsiderations of his own case; and then he notes difficultatem, the hardness of recovering, because he that is under water hath no air to see by, no air to hear by, he hath nothing to reach to, he touches not ground, to push him up, he feels no bough to pull him up, and therein that further notes difficultatem, the hardness of recovering. Now Moses expresses these two miseries together, in the destruction of the Egyptians, in his song, after Israel’s deliverance and the Egyptians’ submersion, “The depths have covered them” (there is the supergressæ super, their iniquities, in that punishment of their iniquities were gone over their heads), and then, they sank into the bottom like a stone (says Moses), there is the gravatæ super, they depressed them, suppressed them, oppressed them, they were under them, and there they must lie. The Egyptians had, David had, we have, too many sins to swim above water, and too great sins to get above water again when we are sunk.—John Donne.

Verse 4.—“As an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” No strength is so great but it may be overburdened: though Samson went light away with the gates of Gaza, yet when a whole house fell upon him it crushed him to death. And such, alas! am I; I have had sin as a burden upon me ever since I was born, but bore it a long time as light as Samson did the gates of Gaza; but now that I have pulled a whole house of sin upon me, how can I choose but be crushed to death with so great a weight? And crushed, O my soul, thou shouldst be indeed, if God for all his anger did not take some pity on thee, and for all his displeasure did not stay his hand from further chastening thee.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 4.—It is of singular use to us, that the backslidings of the holy men of God are recorded in Holy Writ. Spots appear nowhere more disagreeable than when seen in a most beautiful face, or on the cleanest garment. And it is expedient to have a perfect knowledge of the filthiness of sin. We also learn from them to think humbly of ourselves, to depend on the grace of God, to keep a stricter eye upon ourselves, lest perhaps we fall into the same or more grievous sins. Gal. vi. 1.—Herman Witsius, D.D., 1636-1708.

Verses 4, 5.—It is only when we can enter into all that is implied here that we begin to see our exceeding sinfulness. There is a certain feeling of sin which does not interfere with our pride and self-respect. We can have that sort of feeling, and say pretty earnestly, “Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” But it is otherwise with us when we get to know ourselves better and to feel ourselves loathsome in our wickedness, when our folly and meanness and ingratitude oppress us, and we begin to loathe ourselves, and can enter into verse five. Our wounds, once an object of self-pity, and something in which we could claim sympathy and healing from our friends, have become “corrupt,” because of the meanness and folly we feel to be in us. We hide them now, for if they were seen, would not “lovers and friends stand aloof from our sore?” Then we are silent except to God, “For in thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God,” verse 15. O love of God that turns not away! O blessed Jesus, that turned not away from the leprous man that fell upon his face and said, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,” but put forth thine hand and touched him, saying, “I will: be thou clean,” to whom can we go but unto thee!—Mary B. M. Duncan.

Verse 5.—“My wounds stink and are corrupt,” etc. These expressions seem to be in a great measure figurative, and significant rather of the diseased state of his mind than of his body.—William Walford.

Verse 5.—“My wounds stink and are corrupt.”—I know, O Lord, I have done most foolishly, to let my sores run so long without seeking for help; for now, “My wounds stink and are corrupt,” in as ill a case as Lazarus’ body was when it had been four days buried; enough to make any man despair that did not know thee as I do. For, do not I know, that nullum tempus occurrit tibi; do not I know thou hast as well wisdom to remedy my foolishness as power to cure my wounds? Could the grave hold Lazarus when thou didst but open thy mouth to call him forth? No more can the corruption of my sores be any hindrance to their healing when thy pleasure is to have them be cured. Although, therefore, I have done my own discretion wrong to defer my care, yet I will not do thy power wrong to despair of thy cure: for, how should I despair, who know thee to be as powerful as thou art merciful; if I may not rather say, to be as merciful as thou art powerful!—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 5.—“My wounds stink and are corrupt.” Either they must be understood literally of the sores that were in his body (as the words in the following verse may also seem to import) which he calls wounds, to intimate that he looked upon them as the wheals or swelling tumours (for so the original word may signify) which the rod of God had made in his flesh, or the wounds of those arrows of which he had spoken (verse 2), “Thine arrows stick fast in me;” or else figuratively, of any other miseries that God had brought upon him, comparing them to stinking and festering sores; either to imply the long continuance of them, or the sharp pains and sorrows which he felt in himself by reason thereof. Yet some, I know, would have it meant of the shame which his sins had brought upon him.—Arthur Jackson.

Verses 5, 6.—The spiritual feeling of sin is indispensable to the feeling of salvation. A sense of the malady must ever precede, and prepare the soul for a believing reception and due apprehension of the remedy. Wherever God intends to reveal his Son with power, wherever he intends to make the gospel to be “a joyful sound,” he makes the conscience feel and groan under the burden of sin. And sure am I that when a man is labouring under the burden of sin, he will be full of complaint. The Bible records hundreds of the complaints of God’s people under the burden of sin. “My wounds stink and are corrupt,” cries one, “because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.” “My soul,” cries another, “is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.” Psalm lxxxviii. 3. “He hath led me,” groans out a third, “and brought me into darkness, but not into light.” Lam. iii. 2. A living man must need cry under such circumstances. He cannot carry the burden without complaining of its weight. He cannot feel the arrow sticking in his conscience without groaning under the pain. He cannot have the worm gnawing his vitals, without complaining of its venomous tooth. He cannot feel that God is incensed against him without bitterly complaining that the Lord is his enemy. Spiritual complaint then is a mark of spiritual life, and is one which God recognises as such. “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself.” Jer. xxxi. 18. It shows that he has something to mourn over; something to make him groan being burdened; that sin has been opened up to him in its hateful malignancy; that it is a trouble and distress to his soul; that he cannot roll it like a sweet morsel under his tongue; but that it is found out by the penetrating eye, and punished by the chastening hand of God.—J. C. Philpot, 1842.

Verse 6.—“I am troubled.” I writhe with pain. This is the proper sense of the original, which means to “turn out of its proper situation, or course;” thence to be “distorted, writhed,” as a person in pain. Our Bible translation, which says in the text, “I am troubled,” adds in the margin, “wried,” an obsolete word, correctly expressing the Hebrew.—Richard Mant.

Verse 6.—“I go mourning all the day long.” And now was I both a burden and a terror to myself, nor did I ever so know, as now, what it was to be weary of my life, and yet afraid to die. Oh, how gladly now would I have been anybody but myself! Anything but a man! and in any condition but mine own! for there was nothing did pass more frequently over my mind than that it was impossible for me to be forgiven my transgression, and to be saved from wrath to come.—John Bunyan, in “Grace Abounding.”

Verse 6.—Let a man see and feel himself under the bonds of guilt, in danger of hell, under the power of his lusts, enmity against God, and God a stranger to him; let but the sense of this condition lie upon his heart, and let him go on in his jollity if he can. What a woful creature doth a man see himself now to be! He envies the happiness of the beasts that are filled, and play in their pastures. We have heard of him who when he saw a toad, stood weeping, because God had made him a man, so excellent a creature, and not a toad, so abominable: the goodness of God, then, it seems, as he apprehended it, made him weep; but this man meets a toad, and he weeps also, but why? because he is a man, who thinks his estate infinitely worse than the condition of a toad, and if it were possible to attain it, would change states with the toad, that hath no guilt of sin, fears no wrath of God, is not under power of lusts or creatures; God is no enemy to it, which is his miserable state.—Giles Firmin, 1617-1697.

Verse 7.—“For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease.” The word here used, according to Gesenius (Lex.), properly denotes the internal muscles of the loins near the kidneys, to which the fat adheres. The word rendered “loathsome”—the word “disease” being supplied by our translators—is derived from קָלָה, kalah, a word which means to roast, to parch, as fruit, grain, etc.; and then, in the form used here, it means scorched, burned; hence, a burning or inflammation; and the whole phrase would be synonymous with an inflammation of the kidneys. The word here used does not imply that there was any eruption, or ulcer, though it would seem from verse five that this was the fact, and that the inflammation had produced this effect.—Albert Barnes.

Verse 7.—“A loathsome disease.” In many things our estimates are extravagant; but we never over-estimate the evil of sin. It is as corrupting as it is damning. It covers the soul with plague-spots, with the leprosy. Isaiah i. 5, 6.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 8.—“I am feeble.” literally, I am benumbed, I have become deadly cold, cold as a corpse; possibly with reference to the burning inflammation in the previous verse, as marking the alternations in the fever fit.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 8.—“I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.” Where sin is, there will never be but unquietness of heart; and an unquiet heart will always produce these miserable effects—feebleness of body, dejectedness of mind, and roaring of voice. But how can roaring stand with feebleness, which seems to require a strength of spirits? Is it not, therefore, a roaring, perhaps not so much in loudness as in an inarticulate expressing? that having done actions more like a beast than a man, I am forced to use a voice not so much of a man as of a beast? Or is it perhaps a roaring in spirit, which the heart may send forth though the body be feeble; or rather then, most, when it is most feeble; not unlike the blaze of a candle, then greatest when going out? Howsoever it be, this is certain: the heart is that unhappy plot of ground, which, receiving into it the accursed seed of sin, brings forth in the body and soul of man these miserable fruits: and how, then, can I be free from these weeds of the fruits, since I have received into me so great a measure of the seed? Oh, vile sin, that I could as well avoid thee as I can see thee, or could as easily resist thee as I deadly hate thee, I should not then complain of either feebleness of body, or dejectedness of mind, or roaring of voice; but I should perfectly enjoy that happy quietness in all my parts, which thou, O God, didst graciously bestow as a blessed dowry on our first parents at their creation.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 8.—“I have roared,” etc. It is difficult for a true penitent, in the bitterness of his soul, to go over the life which he has dragged on in sinfulness, without groaning and sighing from the bottom of his heart. But happy are these groans, happy these sighs, happy these sobs, since they flow from the influence of grace, and from the breath of the Holy Spirit, who himself in an ineffable manner groans in us and with us, and who forms these groans in our hearts by penitence and love! but as the violence of both, that is, of penitence and of love, cannot but burst the narrow limits of a penitent heart, it must make a vent for itself by the eyes and mouth. The eyes shed tears, and the mouth sends forth sighs and groans, which it can no longer restrain; because they are driven on by the fire of divine love, and so these lamentations frame themselves into words and intelligible sentences.—Jean Baptiste Elias Avrillon, 1652-1729.

Verse 8.—“The disquietness of my heart.” David felt pains gather about his heart, and then he cried out. The heart is the mark that God principally aims at when a Christian hath turned aside from his upright course; other outward parts he may hit and deeply wound, but this is but to make holes in the heart, where the seat of unsoundness that principally offends him is. The fire which conscience kindles, it may flash forth into the eyes, and tongue, and hands, and make a man look fearfully, speak desperately, and do bloodily, against the body; but the heat of the fire is principally within, in the furnace, in the spirit; ’tis but some sparkles and flashes only that you see come forth at the lower holes of the furnace, which you behold in the eyes, words, and deeds of such men.—Nicholas Lockyer.

Verse 9.—There are usually, if not always, pains with desires, especially in desires after the creature, because that oftentimes there is a frustration of our desires, or an elongation of the things, the things are far off, hard to come by; our desires oftentimes are mute, they speak not; or the things that we desire, know not our minds: but our desires after God always speak, they are open unto God, he heareth their voice. “Lord, all my desire is before thee,” saith David, “and my groaning is not hid from thee.” Therefore it must needs be sweet, when the soul lies thus open unto God. Other desires do not assure and secure a man in the things he desires; a man may wish this and wish that and go without both; but the soul that thus longs after God is instated in his wish, hath a present enjoyment, and certainly shall have a full enjoyment of him. “He will fulfil the desire of those that fear him: he also will hear their cry.” Ps. cxlv. 19.—Joseph Symonds.

Verse 9.—“My groaning is not hid from thee.” Secret tears for secret sins are an excellent sign of a holy heart, and a healing balsam for broken spirits. God well understands the language of half words interrupted with sighs, and interprets them as the streams and breathings of a broken heart. As all our foolishness is before him to cover it, so is all our heaviness to ease it; and therefore shall our souls praise and please him more than a bullock with young horns and hoofs upon his altar. Holy mourning keeps out carnal sorrow and produces spirit joy. It stirs up the heart of a saint to beg preventing grace which no false heart can perform without secret reserves. This inward sorrow prevents open shame. God will never give up such souls to be trampled on by spiritual enemies, who are already humbled by themselves. In saints’ humiliation there’s a door opened for secret hope, because of the precious promises that are plighted to it, and especially of preventing future sin by strengthening grace. For as the love of God is the fountain of all true repentance, so it is the attractive of more incomes of divine love to the soul.—Samuel Lee.

Verse 10.—“My heart panteth.” The verb which David here uses signifies to travel or wander hither and thither, but here it is taken for the agitation or disquietude which distress of heart engenders when we know not what to do. According as men are disquieted in mind, so do they turn themselves on all sides; and so their heart may be said to turn round, or to run to and fro.—John Calvin.

Verse 11.—“My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.” So miserable am I, that I am left alone as one utterly forsaken; they are all pieces that recoil and fly back at the first voice of the powder. Yet it is not so much me they stand aloof from as my sore; for if it were not for my sore, I should have enough of their company easily enough; but they cannot abide sores, their eyes are too tender to endure to see them, and yet hard enough not to relieve them. Or is it they stand aloof, that is, so near as to show they are willing enough to see them; but yet so far off as to show they have no meaning to come and help them!...

“My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore,” as fearing more my sore than me; but “my kinsmen stand afar off,” as fearing me no less than my sore; and where my lovers and friends by standing aloof do but violate the law of a contracted friendship, my kinsmen by standing afar off violate even the law of natural affection; and is not this a grievous thing, that the law of reason, the law of friendship, the law of nature, shall all be broken rather than I shall be relieved or find assistance?—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 11.—“My lovers and my friends stand afar off.” Deserted by false friends, but conqueror through thee, to thee I speed, who though seeming to act the part of an enemy, yet never changest thy love; but lovest for ever him whom thou once hast loved. When thou seemest afar off, thou art near. I conceive this sorrow on account of the treachery of false friends, and the cowardliness of my kinsfolk, who are to me as piercing thorns rather than sweet-smelling roses. The proof of affection is seen by deeds. I hear the name of kinsman and friend; I see no deed. To thee, therefore, I flee, whose word is deed; for I need thy help.—From the Latin of A. Rivetus.

Verse 13.—“But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.” For why should I hear when I meant not to speak? and why should I speak when I knew beforehand I should not be heard? I knew by contesting I should but provoke them, and make them more guilty that were guilty too much before. I therefore thought it better myself to be silent than to set them a roaring and make them grow outrageous. No doubt a great wisdom in David, to know that to be deaf and dumb was in this case his best course, but yet a far greater virtue that knowing it, he was able to do it. Oh, how happy should we be, if we could always do that which we know is best to be done, and if our wills were as ready to act, as our reason is able to enact; we should then decline many rocks we now run upon, we should then avoid many errors we now run into. To be deaf and dumb are indeed great inabilities and defects, when they be natural; but when they be voluntary, and I may say artificial, they are then great abilities, or rather perfections.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 13.—“But I, as a deaf man, heard not.” The inspired writer here compares himself to a dumb and deaf man for two reasons. In the first place, he intimates that he was so overwhelmed with the false and wicked judgments of his enemies, that he was not even permitted to open his mouth in his own defence. In the second place, he alleges before God his own patience, as a plea to induce God the more readily to have pity upon him; for such meekness and gentleness, not only with good reason, secures favour to the afflicted and the innocent, but it is also a sign of true piety.—John Calvin.

Verse 14.—“Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.” You, who truly know yourselves; by whom silent suffering, secret grief, and hidden joy are understood; by the knowledge of your own unspoken sorrow, unexpressed, because inexpressible feelings, by the consciousness of the unrevealed depths of your own nature, the earnest, but ever unsatisfied yearnings of your spirit, learn to reverence and love those by whom you are surrounded, whose inner life can never be completely read, but whom you are sure must need sacred sympathy and tender consideration. If a secret grief is constantly gnawing my heart, making my voice falter in the song of praise, may not my brother’s downcast eye and heavy heart be occasioned by a similar cause; shall I condemn him for his want of gladness? No: but remember, “the heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.” The silent breathings of the spirit are not for our ears; the hot tears which in secret fall, are not for our eyes; in mercy has the veil been drawn round each heart; but by the sacred memory of our own sadness, let our voice be gentle, our look tender, our tread quiet, as we pass amongst the mourners.—Jessie Coombs, in “Thoughts for the Inner Life.” 1867.

Verse 15.—A man that is to go down into a deep pit, he does not throw himself headlong into it, or leap down at all adventures, but fastens a rope at top upon a cross beam or some sure place, and so lets himself down by degrees: so let thyself down into the consideration of thy sin, hanging upon Christ; and when thou art gone so low that thou canst endure no longer, but art ready to be overcome with the horror and darkness of thy miserable estate, dwell not too long at the gates of hell, lest the devil pull thee in, but wind thyself up again by renewed acts of faith, and “fly for refuge unto the hope that is set before thee.” Heb. vi. 18.—Thomas Cole (1627-1697), in “Morning Exercises.”

Verse 17.—“For I am ready to halt:” to show my infirmity in my trials and afflictions; as Jacob halted after his wrestling with God. Gen. xxxii. 31. In the Greek, I am ready for scourges, that is, to suffer correction and punishment for my sins: so the Chaldee saith, for calamity.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 18.—Pliny writeth of some families that had private marks on their bodies peculiar to those of that line, and every man hath, as it were, a private sin, which is most justly called his; but if we will confess our sins aright, we must not leave out that sin; nay, our chiefest spite must be against it, according to David’s resolve: “I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.” ... David doth not only say, “I will declare,” but, “I will be sorry for my sin.” The people of God (1 Sam. vii. 6) in the day of their confession not only say, “We have sinned,” but draw water, and pour it out before the Lord in token of contrition. We should, in confessing sin, have our hearts so affected, that our eyes, with Job, may “pour tears before God” (Job xvi. 20); that, with David, “rivers of tears, may run down our eyes” (Psalm cxix. 136); yea, we should wish with Jeremiah, that “our head were waters, and our eyes a fountain of tears.” Jer. ix. 1. But, however, nonne stillabit oculus noster? if we cannot pour out, shall we not drop a tear? or at least, if we cannot shed a tear, let us breathe forth a sigh for our sins. It is only the heart broken with godly sorrow that sends forth a true confession.—Nathanael Hardy.

Verse 20.—“They are mine enemies because I follow the thing that good is.” It is a bold attempt to ding Satan out of his nest. If we conform us to the men of this world we find peace with them; they will not discord with us so long as we go their way; but to shame them by a godly life is an affront they cannot digest; and to rebuke their sin, findeth at their hand all that Satan disappointed or corruption provoked can devise. A sleeping dog is quiet, but being stirred, turneth all in barking and biting. Not to do as they do is matter enough of anger, but a reproof is the highest degree of disgrace in their account. All that hatred which they ought to bear to Satan and his instruments, is turned upon God in his rebuking and reclaiming servants. That anger that in remorse should burn against their own sin is set against their reprovers.—William Struther.

Verse 22.—“O Lord my salvation.” Faith the suppliant is now made faith triumphant.—Franz Delitzsch.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Title.—The art of memory. Holy memorabilia. The usefulness of sacred remembrances.

Verse 1.—The rebuke of God’s wrath. I. Richly deserved. II. Reasonably dreaded. III. Earnestly deprecated.—B. Davies.

Verse 1.—The evil consequences of sin in this world.—J. J. Blunt.

Verse 1.—The bitterest of bitters, “thy wrath;” why deprecated; and how escaped.

Verse 2.—God sharply chasteneth many of his children, and yet for all that he loves them never a whit the less, nor withholdeth in good time his mercy from them.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 3 (last clause).—Sin causes unrest. He who cures it alone gives rest. Dwell on both facts.

Verse 4 (first clause).—Sin in its relations to us. To the eye pleasing. To the heart disappointing. In the bones vexing. Over the head overwhelming.

Verse 4.—The confession of an awakened sinner.

Verse 4 (last clause).—Sin. I. Heavy—“a burden.” II. Very heavy—“a heavy burden.” III. Superlatively heavy—“too heavy for me.” IV. Not immovable, for though too heavy for me, yet Jesus bore it.

Verse 5.—“Foolishness.” The folly of sin. Everything that a man has to do with sin shows his folly. I. Dallying with sin. II. Committing it. III. Continuing in it. IV. Hiding it. V. Palliating it.—B. Davies.

Verse 6.—Conviction of sin. Its grief, its depth, its continuance.

Verse 6.—“I go mourning.” I. Unlawful reasons for mourning. II. Legitimate themes for sorrow. III. Valuable alleviations of grief.

Verse 9.—The many desires of God’s children: the fact that God understands them even when unexpressed; and the certainty that he will grant them.

Verse 9.—Omniscience, a source of consolation to the desponding.

Verse 13.—The wisdom, dignity, power and difficulty of silence.

Verse 15.—Prayer, the offspring of hope. Hope strengthened by confidence in God’s answering prayer.

Verse 17.—Mr. Ready-to-Halt. His pedigree, and infirmity; his crutches, and his cure; his history, and safe departure.

Verse 18.—The excellence of penitent confession.

Verse 18.—The twin children of grace—confession and contrition: their mutual revelation and reaction.

Verse 18 (last clause).—There is good reason for such sorrow, God is well pleased with it. It benefits the mourner.

Verse 19.—The terrible energy and industry of the powers of evil.

Verse 22.—Faith tried, faith trembling, faith crying, faith grasping, faith conquering.

Footnote 13:

As applied to diseases, signifies the exciting cause.

PSALM XXXIX.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician, even to Jeduthun. Jeduthun’s name, which signifies praising or celebrating, was a most appropriate one for a leader in sacred psalmody. He was one of those ordained by the King’s order “for song in the house of the Lord with cymbals, psalteries, and harps” (1 Chron. xv. 6), and his children after him appear to have remained in the same hallowed service, even so late as the days of Nehemiah. To have a name and a place in Zion is no small honour, and to hold this place by a long entail of grace is an unspeakable blessing. O that our households may never lack a man to stand before the Lord God of Israel to do him service. David left this somewhat sorrowful ode in Jeduthun’s hands because he thought him most fit to set it to music, or because he would distribute the sacred honour of song among all the musicians who in their turn presided in the choir. A Psalm of David. Such as his chequered life would be sure to produce; fit effusion for a man so tempted, so strong in his passions, and yet so firm in faith.

DIVISION.—The Psalmist, bowed down with sickness and sorrow, is burdened with unbelieving thoughts, which he resolves to stifle, lest any evil should come from their expression, 1, 2. But silence creates an insupportable grief, which at last demands utterance, and obtains it in the prayer of verses 3 to 6, which is almost a complaint and a sigh for death, or at best, a very desponding picture of human life. From verses 7 to 13 the tone is more submissive, and the recognition of the divine hand more distinct: the cloud has evidently passed, and the mourner’s heart is relieved.

EXPOSITION.

I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

1. “I said.” I steadily resolved and registered a determination. In his great perplexity his greatest fear was lest he should sin; and, therefore, he cast about for the most likely method for avoiding it, and he determined to be silent. It is right excellent when a man can strengthen himself in a good course by the remembrance of a well and wisely-formed resolve. “What I have written I have written,” or what I have spoken I will perform, may prove a good strengthener to a man in a fixed course of right. “I will take heed to my ways.” To avoid sin one had need be very circumspect, and keep one’s actions as with a guard or garrison. Unguarded ways are generally unholy ones. Heedless is another word for graceless. In times of sickness or other trouble we must watch against the sins peculiar to such trials, especially against murmuring and repining. “That I sin not with my tongue.” Tongue sins are great sins: like sparks of fire ill-words spread, and do great damage. If believers utter hard words of God in times of depression, the ungodly will take them up and use them as a justification for their sinful courses. If a man’s own children rail at him, no wonder if his enemies’ mouths are full of abuse. Our tongue always wants watching, for it is restive as an ill-broken horse; but especially must we hold it in when the sharp cuts of the Lord’s rod excite it to rebel. “I will keep my mouth with a bridle,” or more accurately, with a muzzle. The original does not so much mean a bridle to check the tongue as a muzzle to stop it altogether. David was not quite so wise as our translation would make him; if he had resolved to be very guarded in his speech, it would have been altogether commendable, but when he went so far as to condemn himself to entire silence, “even from good,” there must have been at least a little sullenness in his soul. In trying to avoid one fault, he fell into another. To use the tongue against God is a sin of commission, but not to use it at all involves an evident sin of omission. Commendable virtues may be followed so eagerly that we may fall into vices; to avoid Scylla we run into Charybdis. “While the wicked is before me.” This qualifies the silence, and almost screens it from criticism, for bad men are so sure to misuse even our holiest speech, that it is as well not to cast any of our pearls before such swine; but what if the Psalmist meant, “I was silent while I had the prosperity of the wicked in my thoughts,” then we see the discontent and questioning of his mind, and the muzzled mouth indicates much that is not to be commended. Yet, if we blame we must also praise, for the highest wisdom suggests that when good men are bewildered with sceptical thoughts, they should not hasten to repeat them, but should fight out their inward battle upon its own battlefield. The firmest believers are exercised with unbelief, and it would be doing the devil’s work with a vengeance if they were to publish abroad all their questionings and suspicions. If I have the fever myself, there is no reason why I should communicate it to my neighbours. If any on board the vessel of my soul are diseased, I will put my heart in quarantine, and allow none to go on shore in the boat of speech till I have a clean bill of health.

2. “I was dumb with silence.” He was as strictly speechless as if he had been tongueless—not a word escaped him. He was as silent as the dumb. “I held my peace, even from good.” Neither bad nor good escaped his lips. Perhaps he feared that if he began to talk at all, he would be sure to speak amiss, and, therefore, he totally abstained. It was an easy, safe, and effectual way of avoiding sin, if it did not involve a neglect of the duty which he owed to God to speak well of his name. Our divine Lord was silent before the wicked, but not altogether so, for before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession, and asserted his kingdom. A sound course of action may be pushed to the extreme, and become a fault. “And my sorrow was stirred.” Inward grief was made to work and ferment by want of vent. The pent-up floods were swollen and agitated. Utterance is the natural outlet for the heart’s anguish, and silence is, therefore, both an aggravation of the evil and a barrier against its cure. In such a case the resolve to hold one’s peace needs powerful backing, and even this is most likely to give way when grief rushes upon the soul. Before a flood gathering in force and foaming for outlet the strongest banks are likely to be swept away. Nature may do her best to silence the expression of discontent, but unless grace comes to her rescue, she will be sure to succumb.

3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,

4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

3. “My heart was hot within me.” The friction of inward thoughts produced an intense mental heat. The door of his heart was shut, and with the fire of sorrow burning within, the chamber of his soul soon grew unbearable with heat. Silence is an awful thing for a sufferer, it is the surest method to produce madness. Mourner, tell your sorrow; do it first and most fully to God, but even to pour it out before some wise and godly friend is far from being wasted breath. “While I was musing the fire burned.” As he thought upon the ease of the wicked and his own daily affliction, he could not unravel the mystery of providence, and therefore he became greatly agitated. While his heart was musing it was fusing, for the subject was confusing. It became harder every moment to be quiet; his volcanic soul was tossed with an inward ocean of fire, and heaved to and fro with a mental earthquake; an eruption was imminent, the burning lava must pour forth in a fiery stream. “Then spake I with my tongue.” The original is grandly laconic. “I spake.” The muzzled tongue burst all its bonds. The gag was hurled away. Misery, like murder, will out. You can silence praise, but anguish is clamorous. Resolve or no resolve, heed or no heed, sin or no sin, the impetuous torrent forced for itself a channel and swept away every restraint.

4. “Lord.” It is well that the vent of his soul was Godward and not towards man. Oh! if my swelling heart must speak, Lord let it speak with thee; even if there be too much of natural heat in what I say, thou wilt be more patient with me than man, and upon thy purity it can cast no stain; whereas if I speak to my fellows, they may harshly rebuke me or else learn evil from my petulance. “Make me to know my end.” Did he mean the same as Elias in his agony, “Let me die, I am no better than my fathers?” Perhaps so. At any rate, he rashly and petulantly desired to know the end of his wretched life, that he might begin to reckon the days till death should put a finis to his woe. Impatience would pry between the folded leaves. As if there were no other comfort to be had, unbelief would fain hide itself in the grave and sleep itself into oblivion. David was neither the first nor the last who had spoken unadvisedly in prayer. Yet, there is a better meaning: the Psalmist would know more of the shortness of life, that he might better bear its transient ills, and herein we may safely kneel with him, uttering the same petition. That there is no end to its misery is the hell of hell; that there is an end to life’s sorrow is the hope of all who have a hope beyond the grave. God is the best teacher of the divine philosophy which looks for an expected end. They who see death through the Lord’s glass, see a fair sight, which makes them forget the evil of life in foreseeing the end of life. “And the measure of my days.” David would fain be assured that his days would be soon over and his trials with them; he would be taught anew that life is measured out to us by wisdom, and is not a matter of chance. As the trader measures his cloth by inches, and ells, and yards, so with scrupulous accuracy is life measured out to man. “That I may know how frail I am,” or when I shall cease to be. Alas! poor human nature, dear as life is, man quarrels with God at such a rate that he would sooner cease to be than bear the Lord’s appointment. Such pettishness in a saint! Let us wait till we are in a like position, and we shall do no better. The ship on the stocks wonders that the barque springs a leak, but when it has tried the high seas, it marvels that its timbers hold together in such storms. David’s case is not recorded for our imitation, but for our learning.

5. “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth.” Upon consideration, the Psalmist finds little room to bewail the length of life, but rather to bemoan its shortness. What changeful creatures we are! One moment we cry to be rid of existence, and the next instant beg to have it prolonged! A handbreadth is one of the shortest natural measures, being the breadth of four fingers; such is the brevity of life, by divine appointment; God has made it so, fixing the period in wisdom. The “behold” calls us to attention; to some the thought of life’s hastiness will bring the acutest pain, to others the most solemn earnestness. How well should those live who are to live so little! Is my earthly pilgrimage so brief? then let me watch every step of it, that in the little of time there may be much of grace. “And mine age is as nothing before thee.” So short as not to amount to an entity. Think of eternity, and an angel is as a new-born babe, the world a fresh blown bubble, the sun a spark just fallen from the fire, and man a nullity. Before the Eternal, all the age of frail man is less than one ticking of a clock. “Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” This is the surest truth, that nothing about man is either sure or true. Take man at his best, he is but a man, and man is a mere breath, unsubstantial as the wind. Man is settled, as the margin has it, and by divine decree it is settled that he shall not be settled. He is constant only in inconstancy. His vanity is his only verity; his best, of which he is vain, is but vain; and this is verily true of every man, that everything about him is every way fleeting. This is sad news for those whose treasures are beneath the moon; those whose glorying is in themselves may well hang the flag half-mast; but those whose best estate is settled upon them in Christ Jesus in the land of unfading flowers, may rejoice that it is no vain thing in which they trust.

6. “Surely every man walketh in a vain shew.” Life is but a passing pageant. This alone is sure, that nothing is sure. All around us shadows mock us; we walk among them, and too many live for them as if the mocking images were substantial; acting their borrowed parts with zeal fit only to be spent on realities, and lost upon the phantoms of this passing scene. Worldly men walk like travellers in a mirage, deluded, duped, deceived, soon to be filled with disappointment and despair. “Surely they are disquieted in vain.” Men fret, and fume, and worry, and all for mere nothing. They are shadows pursuing shadows, while death pursues them. He who toils and contrives, and wearies himself for gold, for fame, for rank, even if he wins his desire, finds at the end his labour lost; for like the treasure of the miser’s dream, it all vanishes when the man awakes in the world of reality. Read well this text, and then listen to the clamour of the market, the hum of the exchange, the din of the city streets, and remember that all this noise (for so the word means), this breach of quiet, is made about unsubstantial, fleeting vanities. Broken rest, anxious fear, over-worked brain, failing mind, lunacy, these are steps in the process of disquieting with many, and all to be rich, or, in other words, to load one’s self with the thick clay; clay, too, which a man must leave so soon. “He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.” He misses often the result of his ventures, for there are many slips between the cup and the lips. His wheat is sheaved, but an interloping robber bears it away—as often happens with the poor Eastern husbandman; or, the wheat is even stored, but the invader feasts thereon. Many work for others all unknown to them. Especially does this verse refer to those all-gathering muckrakes, who in due time are succeeded by all-scattering forks, which scatter riches as profusely as their sires gathered them parsimoniously. We know not our heirs, for our children die, and strangers fill the old ancestral halls; estates change hands, and entail, though riveted with a thousand bonds, yields to the corroding power of time. Men rise up early and sit up late to build a house, and then the stranger tramps along its passages, laughs in its chambers, and forgetful of its first builder, calls it all his own. Here is one of the evils under the sun for which no remedy can be prescribed.

7 And now, LORD, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.

9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.

12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

7. “And now, Lord, what wait I for?” What is there in these phantoms to enchant me? Why should I linger where the prospect is so uninviting, and the present so trying? It were worse than vanity to linger in the abodes of sorrow to gain a heritage of emptiness. The Psalmist, therefore, turns to his God, in disgust of all things else; he has thought on the world and all things in it, and is relieved by knowing that such vain things are all passing away; he has cut all cords which bound him to earth, and is ready to sound “Boot and saddle, up and away.” “My hope is in thee.” The Lord is self-existent and true, and therefore worthy of the confidence of men; he will live when all the creatures die, and his fulness will abide when all second causes are exhausted; to him, therefore, let us direct our expectation, and on him let us rest our confidence. Away from sand to rock let all wise builders turn themselves, for if not to-day, yet surely ere long, a storm will rise before which nothing will be able to stand but that which has the lasting element of faith in God to cement it. David had but one hope, and that hope entered within the veil, hence he brought his vessel to safe anchorage, and after a little drifting all was peace.

8. “Deliver me from all my transgressions.” How fair a sign it is when the Psalmist no longer harps upon his sorrows, but begs freedom from his sins! What is sorrow when compared with sin! Let but the poison of sin be gone from the cup, and we need not fear its gall, for the bitter will act medicinally. None can deliver a man from his transgressions but the blessed One who is called Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins; and when he once works this great deliverance for a man from the cause, the consequences are sure to disappear too. The thorough cleansing desired is well worthy of note: to be saved from some transgressions would be of small benefit; total and perfect deliverance is needed. “Make me not the reproach of the foolish.” The wicked are the foolish here meant: such are always on the watch for the faults of saints, and at once make them the theme of ridicule. It is a wretched thing for a man to be suffered to make himself the butt of unholy scorn by apostasy from the right way. Alas, how many have thus exposed themselves to well-deserved reproach! Sin and shame go together and from both David would fain be preserved.

9. “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.” This had been far clearer if it had been rendered, “I am silenced, I will not open my mouth.” Here we have a nobler silence, purged of all sullenness, and sweetened with submission. Nature failed to muzzle the mouth, but grace achieved the work in the worthiest manner. How like in appearance may two very different things appear! silence is ever silence, but it may be sinful in one case and saintly in another. What a reason for hushing every murmuring thought is the reflection, “because thou didst it”! It is his right to do as he wills, and he always wills to do that which is wisest and kindest; why should I then arraign his dealings? Nay, if it be indeed the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.

10. “Remove thy stroke away from me.” Silence from all repining did not prevent the voice of prayer, which must never cease. In all probability the Lord would grant the Psalmist’s petition, for he usually removes affliction when we are resigned to it; if we kiss the rod, our Father always burns it. When we are still, the rod is soon still. It is quite consistent with resignation to pray for the removal of a trial. David was fully acquiescent in the divine will, and yet found it in his heart to pray for deliverance; indeed, it was while he was rebellious that he was prayerless about his trial, and only when he became submissive did he plead for mercy. “I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.” Good pleas may be found in our weakness and distress. It is well to show our Father the bruises which his scourge has made, for peradventure his fatherly pity will bind his hands, and move him to comfort us in his bosom. It is not to consume us, but to consume our sins, that the Lord aims at in his chastisements.

11. “When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity.” God does not trifle with his rod; he uses it because of sin, and with a view to whip us from it; hence he means his strokes to be felt, and felt they are. “Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.” As the moth frets the substance of the fabric, mars all its beauty, and leaves it worn out and worthless, so do the chastisements of God discover to us our folly, weakness, and nothingness, and make us feel ourselves to be as worn-out vestures, worthless and useless. Beauty must be a poor thing when a moth can consume it and a rebuke can mar it. All our desires and delights are wretched moth-eaten things when the Lord visits us in his anger. “Surely every man is vanity.” He is as Trapp wittily says “a curious picture of nothing.” He is unsubstantial as his own breath, a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away. Selah. Well may this truth bring us to a pause, like the dead body of Amasa, which, lying in the way, stopped the hosts of Joab.

12. “Hear my prayer, O Lord.” Drown not my pleadings with the sound of thy strokes. Thou hast heard the clamour of my sins, Lord, hear the laments of my prayers. “And give ear unto my cry.” Here is an advance in intensity: a cry is more vehement, pathetic, and impassioned, than a prayer. The main thing was to have the Lord’s ear and heart. “Hold not thy peace at my tears.” This is a yet higher degree of importunate pleading. Who can withstand tears, which are the irresistible weapons of weakness? How often women, children, beggars, and sinners, have betaken themselves to tears as their last resort, and therewith have won the desire of their hearts!—“This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul,” falls not in vain. Tears speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues; they act as keys upon the wards of tender hearts, and mercy denies them nothing, if through them the weeper looks to richer drops, even to the blood of Jesus. When our sorrows pull up the sluices of our eyes, God will ere long interpose and turn our mourning into joy. Long may he be quiet as though he regarded not, but the hour of deliverance will come, and come like the morning when the dewdrops are plentiful. “For I am a stranger with thee.” Not to thee, but with thee. Like thee, my Lord, a stranger among the sons of men, an alien from my mother’s children. God made the world, sustains it, and owns it, and yet men treat him as though he were a foreign intruder; and as they treat the Master, so do they deal with the servants. “’Tis no surprising thing that we should be unknown.” These words may also mean, “I share the hospitality of God,” like a stranger entertained by a generous host. Israel was bidden to deal tenderly with the stranger, and the God of Israel has in much compassion treated us poor aliens with unbounded liberality. “And a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” They knew that this was not their rest; they passed through life in pilgrim guise, they used the world as travellers use an inn, and even so do I. Why should we dream of rest on earth when our fathers’ sepulchres are before our eyes? If they had been immortal, their sons would have had an abiding city this side the tomb; but as the sires were mortal, so must their offspring pass away. All of our lineage, without exception, were passing pilgrims, and such are we. David uses the fleeting nature of our life as an argument for the Lord’s mercy, and it is such a one as God will regard. We show pity to poor pilgrims, and so will the Lord.

13. “O spare me.” Put by thy rod. Turn away thine angry face. Give me breathing time. Do not kill me. “That I may recover strength.” Let me have sufficient cessation from pain, to be able to take repose and nourishment, and so recruit my wasted frame. He expects to die soon, but begs a little respite from sorrow, so as to be able to rally and once more enjoy life before its close. “Before I go hence, and be no more.” So far as this world is concerned, death is a being no more; such a state awaits us, we are hurrying onward towards it. May the short interval which divides us from it be gilded with the sunlight of our heavenly Father’s love. It is sad to be an invalid from the cradle to the grave, far worse to be under the Lord’s chastisements by the month together, but what are these compared with the endurance of the endless punishment threatened to those who die in their sins!

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—“To Jeduthun.” A Levite of the family of Merari, and one of the great masters of the temple of music. The department superintended by Jeduthun and his colleagues in the temple service was that of the “instruments of the song of God,” by which are intended the nebel or psaltery, the kinnor or harp, and the metsiltaim or cymbals. In 2 Chron. xxxv. 15, Jeduthun is called “the king’s seer,” which would seem to indicate that he was the medium of divine guidance to David. The name occurs in the title of Psalms xxxix., lxii., lxxvii.; where some have thought that it indicates some special kind of composition, and others some instrument of music, but without reason.—William Lindsay Alexander, in Kitto’s Cyclopædia.

Whole Psalm.—The most beautiful of all the elegies in the Psalter.—H. Ewald.

Verse 1.—“I said.” It was to himself that he said it; and it is impossible for any other to prove a good or a wise man, without much of this kind of speech to himself. It is one of the most excellent and distinguishing faculties of a reasonable creature; much beyond vocal speech, for in that, some birds may imitate us; but neither bird nor beast has anything of this kind of language, of reflecting or discoursing with itself. It is a wonderful brutality in the greatest part of men, who are so little conversant in this kind of speech, being framed and disposed for it, and which is not only of itself excellent, but of continual use and advantage; but it is a common evil among men to go abroad, and out of themselves, which is a madness, and a true distraction. It is true, a man hath need of a well set mind, when he speaks to himself; for otherwise, he may be worse company to himself than if he were with others. But he ought to endeavour to have a better with him, to call in God to his heart to dwell with him. If thus we did, we should find how sweet this were to speak to ourselves, by now and then intermixing our speech with discourses unto God. For want of this, the most part not only lose their time in vanity, in their converse abroad with others, but do carry in heaps of that vanity to the stock which is in their own hearts, and do converse with that in secret, which is the greatest and deepest folly in the world.—Robert Leighton.

Verse 1.—No lesson so hard to be learned of us here, as the wise and discreet government of the tongue. David promised a singular care of this, “I said, I will take heed,” etc. Socrates reports of one Pambo, an honest, well meaning man, who came to his friend, desiring him to teach him one of David’s Psalms, he read to him this verse. He answered: this one verse is enough, if I learn it well. Nineteen years after, he said, in all that time he had hardly learned that one verse.—Samuel Page.

Verse 1.—“That I sin not with my tongue.” Man’s mouth, though it be but a little hole, will hold a world full of sin. For there is not any sin forbidden in the law or gospel which is not spoken by the tongue, as well as thought in the heart, or done in the life. Is it not then almost as difficult to rule the tongue as to rule the world?—Edward Reynor.

Verse 1.—“I will keep a muzzle on my mouth, whilst a wicked man is before me.”—New Translation, by Charles Carter.

Verse 1.—“While the wicked is before me.” It is a vexation to be tied to hear so much impertinent babbling in the world, but profitable to discern and abhor it. A wonder that men can cast out so much wind, and the more they have to utter, the more they are prodigal of their own breath and of the patience of others, and careless of their own reckoning. If they believed to give account of every idle word, they would be more sparing of foolish speaking. I like either to be silent, or to speak that that may edify. At tables or meetings I cannot stop the mouths of others, yet may I close mine own ears, and by a heavenly soul-speech with God divert my mind from fruitless talking. Though I be among them I shall as little partake their prattling as they do my meditation.—William Struther.

Verse 2.—“I was dumb with silence,” etc. That is, for a while I did what I resolved; I was so long wholly silent, that I seemed in a manner to be dumb, and not able to speak. “I held my peace, even from good;” that is, I forbore to speak what I might well and lawfully enough have spoken, as from alleging anything that I might have said in mine own defence, from making my complaint to God, and desiring justice at his hands, and such like; to wit, lest by degrees I should have been brought to utter anything that was evil, and whilst I intended only to speak that which was good, some unseemly word might suddenly slip from me; or lest mine enemies should misconstrue anything I spake.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 2.—“I was dumb with silence.”—We shall enquire what kind of dumbness or silence this of the Psalmist was, which he is commended for, and which would so well beseem us when we smart under the rod of God, and then the doctrine will be, in a great measure, evident by its own light. We shall proceed in our enquiry, 1. Negatively, to prevent mistakes. 2. Positively, and show you what it doth import.

First, negatively. 1. This dumbness doth not import any such thing, as if the prophet had been brought to that pass that he had nothing to say to God by way of prayer and supplication. He was not so dumb, but that he could pray and cry too. Verses 8, 10, 11. 2. Nor was he so dumb, as that he could not frame to the confession and bewailing of his sins. 3. Nor was it a dumbness of stupidity and senselessness. It doth not imply any such thing, as if by degrees he grew to that pass, he cared not for, or made no matter of his affliction, but set, as the proverb is, an hard heart against his hard hap. No, he did make his moan to God, and as he smarted, so he did lament under the sense of his afflicting hand. 4. Neither was he so dumb as not to answer God’s voice in the rod that was upon him. 5. Much less was he dumb, and kept silence in any such sort as they did of whom Amos speaks (vi. 10), that in their misery they took up a resolution to mention the name of God no more, in whom they had gloried formerly.

Secondly, affirmatively. 1. He was dumb so as neither to complain of, nor quarrel with God’s providence, nor to entertain any hard thoughts against him. Complain to God he did; but against him he durst not. 2. He neither did nor durst quarrel, or fall out with the ways of holiness for all his sufferings, a thing we are naturally prone unto. 3. He was dumb, so as not to defend himself, or justify his own ways before God, as if they were righteous, and he had not deserved what he suffered. 4. He was dumb, so as to hearken to the voice of the rod. “I will (saith he in another place) hear what God the Lord will speak.” Psalm lxxxv. 8. Now a man cannot listen to another while he will have all the talk and discourse to himself. 5. Lastly, the prophet was dumb, that is, he did acquiesce, and rest satisfied with God’s dispensation; and that not only as good, but as best.—Condensed from a Funeral Sermon by Thomas Burroughes, B.D., entitled, “A Soveraign Remedy for all kindes of Grief,” 1657.

Verse 2.—“I held my peace.” A Christian being asked what fruit he had by Christ: Is not this fruit, said he, not to be moved at your reproaches? In cases of this nature, we must refer all to God; si tu tacueris, Deus loquitur; if thou hold thy peace, God speaks for thee; and if God speaks for us, it is better than we can speak for ourselves. David saith, Obmutui, quia tu fecisti. “I held my peace, for it was thy doing.”—Christopher Sutton, B.D., 1629, in Disce Vivere.

Verses 2-9.—An invalid who had been ordered a couple of pills, took them very absurdly, for, in place of swallowing them at once, he rolled them about in his mouth, ground them to pieces, and so tasted their full bitterness. Gotthold was present, and thus mused: The insults and calumnies of a slanderer and adversary are bitter pills, and all do not understand the art of swallowing without chewing them. To the Christian, however, they are wholesome in many ways. They remind him of his guilt, they try his meekness and patience, they show him what he needs to guard against, and at last they redound to his honour and glory in the sight of him for whose sake they were endured. In respect of the pills of slander, however, as well as the others, it is advisable not to roll them about continually in our minds, or judge of them according to the flesh, and the world’s opinion. This will only increase their bitterness, spread the savour of it to the tongue, and fill the heart with proportional enmity. The true way is to swallow, keep silence and forget. We must inwardly devour our grief, and say, “I will be dumb, and not open my mouth, because thou didst it.” The best antidotes to the bitterness of slander, are the sweet promises and consolations of Scripture, of which not the least is this, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.” Matt. v. 11, 12. Alas, my God! how hard it is to swallow the pills of obloquy, to bless them that curse me, to do good to them that hate me, and to pray for them that despitefully use me! But, Lord, as thou wilt have it so, give it as thou wilt have it, for it is a matter in which, without thy grace, I can do nothing!—Christian Scriver.

Verse 3.—“My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned.” They say of the loadstone (that wonder in nature), when either by carelessness in keeping it, or by some accident it loses its virtue, yet by laying it some good space of time in the filings of steel, it will again recover its virtues: when the spirit of a Christian by not looking well to it, loses of its heavenly heat and liveliness, the way of recovery is by laying it asteep in this so warming and quickening meditation. Oh, how burning and flaming may we often observe the spirit of the holy Psalmist David, in his acting of meditation! Musing made him hot, yea, burning hot at the heart. Thus oft in the beginning of a Psalm we find his heart low and discouraged but as this musing was acted and heightened, his spirit grew hotter, and at last flies all on a flame, flies up to a very high pitch of heavenly heat. Oh, how do all the conscientious practisers of meditation, ever and anon experience these happy, heavenly heats, and heart-enlargements! Ah, if all the saints’ so glorious heart-quickenings were gathered together, what a rich chain of pearls, pearls of rare experiences, would they make up of the heart-warming efficacies of meditation.—Nathanael Ranew.

Verse 3.—“I was musing.” What a blessed (shall I say duty or) privilege is prayer! Now meditation is a help to prayer. Gerson calls it the nurse of prayer. Meditation is like oil to the lamp; the lamp of prayer will soon go out unless meditation cherish and support it. Meditation and prayer are like two turtles, if you separate one the other dies; a cunning angler observes the time and season when the fish bite best, and then he throws in the angle; when the heart is warmed by meditation, now is the best season to throw in the angle of prayer, and fish for mercy. After Isaac had been in the field meditating he was fit for prayer when he came home. When the gun is full of powder it is fittest to discharge. So when the mind is full of good thoughts, a Christian is fittest by prayer to discharge; now he sends up whole volleys of sighs and groans to heaven. Meditation hath a double benefit in it, it pours in and pours out; first it pours good thoughts into the mind, and then it pours out those thoughts again into prayer; meditation first furnisheth with matter to pray and then it furnisheth with a heart to pray. “I was musing,” saith David, and the very next words are a prayer, “Lord, make me to know mine end.” I muse on the works of thy hands, I stretch forth my hands to thee. The musing of his head made way for the stretching forth of his hands in prayer. When Christ was upon the Mount, then he prayed: so when the soul is upon the mount of meditation, now it is in tune for prayer. Prayer is the child of meditation: meditation leads the van, and prayer brings up the rear.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 3.—“Musing.” Meditation is prayer in bullion, prayer in the ore, soon melted and run into holy desires. The laden cloud soon drops into rain, the piece charged soon goes off when fire is put to it. A meditating soul is in proxima potentia to prayer. This was an ejaculatory prayer shot from his soul when in the company of the wicked.—William Gurnall.

Verse 3.—“The fire burned.” My thoughts kindled my passions.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 3.—“The fire burned.” Meditate so long till thou findest thy heart grow warm in this duty. If, when a man is cold you ask how long he should stand by the fire? sure, till he be thoroughly warm, and made fit for his work. So, Christian, thy heart is cold; never a day, no, not the hottest day in summer, but it freezeth there; now stand at the fire of meditation till thou findest thy affections warmed, and thou art made fit for spiritual service. David mused till his heart waxed hot within him. I will conclude this with that excellent saying of Bernard: “Lord, I will never come away from thee without thee.” Let this be a Christian’s resolution, not to leave off his meditations of God till he find something of God in him; some moving of the bowels after God; some flamings of love, Cant. v. 4.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 3.—His company was bad, but his thoughts were good; even while the wicked was before him his heart was hot within him, while he was musing the fire burned. His thoughts inflame his affections with holy zeal, and this holy fire, as by an ante-peristasis, burnt so much the hotter for the frost of cursed contrariety that was about it. When the careful magistrates or officers of a city break into a suspected house in the night-time, the great question is, What company have you here? So when God breaks in upon our dark hearts, the enquiry is, What thoughts have you here? Why do thoughts arise in your minds? Are ye not become judges of evil thoughts? Luke xxiv. 38; James ii. 4.—Faithful Teat.

Verse 3.—“Then spake I with my tongue, Lord,” etc. It is, indeed, a happy circumstance when that silence which has long been preserved is first broken before the Lord.—John Morison.

Verse 4.—“Lord, make me to know mine end,” etc. But did not David know this? Yes, he knew it, and yet he desires to know it. It is very fit we should ask of God that he would make us to know the things that we do know; I mean, that what we know emptily and barely, we may know spiritually and fruitfully, and if there be any measure of this knowledge, that it may increase and grow more.... We know we must die, and that it is no long course to the utmost period of life; yet our hearts are little instructed by this knowledge.—Robert Leighton.

Verse 4.—“Lord, make me to know mine end.” David would know his end, not so much his death—the end consuming, as Christ the Lord of life—the end and perfection of all our desires; or know it, not for vain science, but in his experience feel the reward of his patience. Though thy chastisement be sharp, it will be but short, and therein sweet; thou shalt lie still and be quiet, thou shalt sleep and be at rest, Job iii. 13, 17, 18, 19. How few and evil soever thy days be in the world, by patience and rolling thyself upon God they will prove unto thee both long enough and good.—Edmund Layfielde.

Verse 4.—“Lord, make me to know mine end,” etc. Seeing that both sorrow and joy are both able to kill you, and your life hangeth upon so small a thread, that the least gnat in the air can choke you, as it choked a pope of Rome; a little hair in your milk strangle you, as it did a councillor in Rome; a stone of a raisin stop your breath, as it did the breath of Anacreon: put not the evil day far from you, which the ordinance of God hath put so near; “Remember your Creator in time, before the days comes wherein you shall say, We have no pleasure in them;” walk not always with your faces to the east, sometimes have an eye to the west, where the sun goeth down; sit not ever in the prow of the ship, sometimes go to the stern; “stand in your watch-towers,” as the creature doth (Rom. viii. 19), and wait for the hour of your deliverance; provide your armies before that dreadful king cometh to fight against you with his greater forces; order your houses before you die, that is, dispose of your bodies and souls, and all the implements of them both; let not your eyes be gadding after pleasure, nor your ear itching after rumours, nor your minds wandering in the fields, when death is in your houses; your bodies are not brass, nor your strength the strength of stones, your life none inheritance, your breath no more than as the vapour and smoke of the chimney within your nostrils, or as a stranger within your gates, coming and going again, not to return any more till the day of final redemption.—John King.

Verse 4.—“Lord, make me to know mine end,” etc. ’Tis worthy your notice, that passage you read of in Scripture, 1 Sam. x. 2. Samuel, when he had anointed Saul king, and the people had chosen him, what signal doth he give him, to confirm him anointed? It was to go to Rachel’s sepulchre. Now the reason is this, that he might not be glutted with the preferments and honours he was entering upon. The emperors of Constantinople, in their inaugurations, on their coronation days, had a mason come and show them several marble stones, and ask them to choose which of those should be made ready for their grave-stones. And so we read of Joseph of Arimathea, that he had his tomb in his garden, to check the pleasures of the place.—Christopher Love.

Verse 4.—“How frail I am.” Between Walsall and Iretsy, in Cheshire, is a house built in 1636, of thick oak framework, filled in with brick. Over the window of the tap-room is still legible, cut in the oak, the following Latin inscription:—Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem; rides cum non scis si sit forsitan una dies. The sense of which is “You would weep if you knew that your life was limited to one month, yet you laugh while you know not but it may be restricted to a day.” How sad the thought, that with this silent monitor, this truthful sermon before their very eyes, numbers have revelled in soul-destructive inebriation! And yet this is but a likeness of what we see constantly about us.—Quoted in a Monthly Periodical.

Verse 5.—“My days.” Man’s life is styled days because it is not conferred upon us by wholesale, by months and years, but by retail of days, hours, minutes, moments, as to check our curiosity in making enquiry how long we have to live (verse 4); so acquainting us with the brevity thereof, we may learn to depend upon God’s bounty for the loan of our life, employ it for his glory, and every day prepare for the Bridegroom, Christ.—Edmund Layfielde.

Verse 5.—“My days an handbreath.” That is one of the shortest measures. We need not long lines to measure our lives by: each one carries a measure about with him, his own hand; that is the longest and fullest measure. It is not so much as a span: that might possibly have been the measure of old age in the infancy of the world, but now it is contracted to a handbreath, and that is the longest. But how many fall short of that! Many attain not to a finger-breadth: multitudes pass from the womb to the grave; and how many end their course within the compass of childhood!—Robert Leighton.

Verse 5.—“Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreath.” The line wherewith our lives are measured, is made both of coarse and fine thread. 1. It is measured by itself, and considerable in its own frailty; so the just length of it is “an handbreadth.” 2. Secondly, with eternity, so it is found to be as nothing: “Mine age is as nothing before thee.”... “An handbreath,” and is that all? So he saith, that exactly measureth them all, and whatsoever else was created with his own hand. A handbreath is one of the shortest kind of measures. There is an ell, a cubit, and a palm or handbreath, whereof there be two kinds, the greater and the less. The greater handbreath is the whole space betwixt the top of the thumb and the little finger, when the hand is extended, called a span, in account near twelve inches. The lesser handbreadth, in a more proper and strict signification, is the just breadth of the four fingers of the hand closed together, here chiefly intended, this interpretation best agreeing with the original, and complying most with the prophet’s mind, by the unanimous consent of the choice interpreters.—Edmund Layfielde.

Verse 5.—“Mine age is as nothing before thee.” 1. David might truly have said, Mine age is short in respect of Methuselah’s; the days of Methuselah are said to be nine hundred sixty and nine years; the days of David, by computation of the time when he began and how long he reigned were not much above three score and ten, so that he lived not so many tens as Methuselah did hundreds. 2. David might have said, Mine age is very short in comparison of the age of the world. St. Paul saith of the fashion of this Macrocosm, it passeth away (1 Cor. vii. 31); but the age of the microcosm, man, passeth away far swifter. 3. David might have said, Mine age in this world is exceeding little in comparison of the duration of the other world. 4. Finally, David might have said, Mine age is scarcely anything before the angels, whose duration began with this world and shall continue in the world to come, and so is coætaneous with both the worlds. But all these are far short of this comparison which he here maketh of his age with God which is eternal, both a parte ante, and a parte post, from everlasting to everlasting.—Nathanael Hardy.

Verse 5.—“As nothing.” If a man be so diminutive a creature, compared with the fabric of that great world, and the world itself so little that it cannot contain the Lord, so little and light that he feels not the weight thereof upon the tip of his finger, man will well merit the name “nothing,” when he is placed before the Lord. The keel of man’s life is laden with more vanity than verity and substance, if the searcher of the reins and heart come aboard to view it. Ten thousand of our days will not make God one year, and a thousand of our years in his sight are but “as a day when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” As drops of rain are unto the sea, and as a gravel stone is in comparison of the sand, so are a thousand years to the days everlasting.—Edmund Layfielde.

Verse 5.—“Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” The Holy Spirit is pleased elsewhere to speak more sparingly, as it were, in favour of man; he discovers the nakedness, but yet comes backward to cast a garment of lenity over it, that somewhat shadows the shame of it. “Man is like to vanity (Ps. cxliv. 4); their days consume in vanity (Ps. lxxviii. 33); Man is vanity” (Ps. xxxix. 11); but here with open mouth and unveiled terms full of emphasis, he proclaims every man to be abstracted vanity; and as if that were short he adds, he is all vanity; mere vanity, all manner of vanity, altogether vanity: nothing else, nothing less; yea, somewhat more than vanity, “lighter than vanity” (Ps. lxii. 9); and “vanity of vanities.” Eccl. i. 2. And that no place of dubitation may be left, he ushers the doctrine unto our hearts with a strong asseveration; assuredly, in truth, without all controversy, “man is altogether vanity.”—Edmund Layfielde.

Verse 5.—“Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” Bythner expounds it thus. “Every man at his best state is altogether vanity;” hoc est omni ex parte, ita ut vanitas et miseria quæ per creaturas frustratim spargitur in uno homine aggregata videatur: sic homo evadit compendium omnium vanitatum quæ in creaturis extant: that is, he is the sink and centre of all the vanities in the world; he is as it were the universe of vanity.—Quoted in William Reynold’s Funeral Sermon for the Honourable Francis Pierrepont, 1657.

Verse 5.—“Every Adam standing is all Abel.”—See Hebrew Text.

Verse 5.—“Selah.” A little word, yet of no small difficulty to explain. Left out of the Bible by the vulgar translators as though it were impertinent, where, let them consider, whether they come not within the verge of that malediction in Revelation xxii. 19. The ancient interpreters did not much meddle with it, and our editions leave it uninterpreted. But seeing “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans xv. 4), and till “heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt. v. 18), we have sufficient warrant after the example of the learned, and encouragement to make enquiry after the mind of the Holy Spirit, in that which he hath both commanded to be written, and hath commended unto us. Wherein, like the crystal glass, I will rather present you with the true visage of antiquity, than use any new-framed feature or painting of my own.

Selah is mentioned seventy-four times in the Scripture, whereof seventy-one in the book of Psalms, and thrice in the prophet Habakkuk, which is written Psalm-wise; and it is ever placed in the end of a Psalm or verse, four places only excepted, where, like the sun in the midst of the planets, it is seated to con-join the precedent words with the subsequent, and communicate splendour unto both. There was a threefold use of it in ancient times, whereof the first concerned the music; the second, the matter handled unto which it was affixed; and the third, the men or congregation assembled in the temple of the Lord, which two last may still have place among us Christians, who are ingrafted into the stock Christ, from whence the Jews were cut off, but from the first we cannot properly suck such nourishment as once they did.

First of the music. The king’s choir (1 Chron. xxv. 1-6; Psalm lxii., Επιγραφή; 1 Chron. xvi. 41) learned five things by it:

1st. To make a little pause, stop, or stay, when they came to Selah, and to meditate awhile upon the matter foregoing.

2nd. They knew by that cessation and interval that King David, as he was prophesying unto the people, and praising God upon the loud sounding cymbals, was at that instant inspired and taught some new lesson. Wherefore, as men being in serious discourse, when they hear a sudden noise hold their peace to listen, saying, hark! see, lo! so David’s heart being smitten by the voice of God’s Spirit, the music ceased, stopped, and he checked himself as it were thus: “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.”

3rd. It signifieth the change and variation of the music in some strains, or of the metre, or sense, or disjunction of the rhyme, or ceasing of some one sort of music, which howsoever St. Hierome makes some scruple of. The Septuagint, as often as they meet with Selah in the Hebrew text, in their Greek version translated it, the change of the song.

4th. It directed them to sing the same verse over again whereunto Selah was annexed. Lastly, it was their instruction to elevate and lift up their voices, praising God with louder voices and loud sounding cymbals. “Selah” called upon them for louder strains of music and shrillness of voice. But seeing the Jewish harmony and sweet melody is overwhelmed in the ruins of their glorious temple, we remain unskilled in their notes, which doth obscure our annotations upon it. Let this suffice for the “music.”

II. “Selah” concerns the text of Scripture itself, or the matter handled, in five branches. 1st. Some think it to be only an ornament of speech, to grace the language with a sweet emphasis; or a non-significant word to complete the harmony, lest the verse should halt for want of a foot, but this conjecture is infirm, and many feet wide from the truth.

2nd. It is not only an adoration of speech, but signifies an end of that verse, matter, or Psalm, where it is found, and it is ever in the end of Psalm and verse, these four places only exempted from this rule: Psalm lv. 19; lvii. 3; Habakkuk iii. 3, 9. For as we write “finis” at the end of a book, song, or poem, so the Jews underwrite “Selah,” “Salome,” or “Amen,” at the end or finishing of any canticle or work. And the modern Jews at this day, following the opinion of Aben-Ezra, take “Selah” to be the same with “Amen,” using it at the end of their epitaphs and prayers twice or thrice indifferently; thus: “Amen, Selah, Amen, Selah,” which receives some credit from this that the particular Psalms end with “Selah” (Psalm iii. 8), and the books of Psalms with “Amen.” For whereas the Psalter is divided into five books, four of them end with “Amen”—so be it. As you shall find: Psalm xli. 13, the end of the first book; Psalm lxxii. 19, the end of the second book; Psalm lxxxix. 52, the end of the third; and Psalm cvi. 48, the conclusion of the fourth.

3rd. Selah is an hyperbole or illustration of the truth by way of excess in advancing and enlarging it, to make the truth and sense more clear and evident, as if we should say, “that is wonderful!” or, “that is excellent!” and sometimes by way of aggravation that is “monstrous,” “intolerable,” “horrible!” “The Lord came from Teman and the holy One from Mount Paran. Selah.” Habak. iii. 3. Selah. 1. God came with great dignity, excellency, and ample majesty. “Many there be that say of my soul there is no help for him in God. Selah.” Psalm iii. 2. Selah, as if he had said, Oh, monstrous, and horrible blasphemy, to excommunicate a child out of the favour of his heavenly Father; and limit his mercy whose hand is omnipotent to relieve all that rely upon him.

4th. It serves to declare the eternity of the truth revealed in that Psalm or verse, though perhaps it only began then to be manifested to the church, or more fully at that time than in former ages. Howsoever, the people unto whom it was published, or the persons unto whom it was sent, were otherwise persuaded at the first publication of it. That it was a veritie from everlasting and shall continue for ever: instance Psalm iii. 8, “Salvation belongs unto the Lord, thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.” As if he had said, “This is a thing beyond all controversy true, that God hath ever delivered, and will for ever bless his people.” This doctrine is sempeternal and durable, that the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever. Psalm cxxxvi.

5th. It did instruct them to meditate seriously upon those themes where “Selah” was engraven, as containing matter worthy of singular observation, meditation, and remembrance, as either concerning Christ, “Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” Psalm xxiv. 10. The mysteries of grace. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” Psalm xlvi. 7. Man’s duty (Psalm iv. 4; Psalm xxxii. 5), or frailty (Psalm ix. 20; xxxii. 4). That as the diamond is of greater value than other precious stones, and the sun is more glorious than the planets, so those sentences are more resplendent, than other parcels of Scripture. Which though at the first bare view, it doth not always so appear, there being other texts of Holy Writ more excellent (if it were meet to make any comparison) where Selah is not found, yet if we dive into the occasion, scope, and nature of the sentence, we shall more willingly accept, when we consider, that it is an usual custom of the Holy Spirit, for our singular instruction and benefit, to propound things of a low and inferior nature to our deepest meditation. Instance Psalm ix. 16. “The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands,” which is shut up with “Higgaion Selah,” meditation Selah, as if he had said, here is a matter worthy of observation and eternal meditation; the righteous should never forget this, that the wicked perish in their own counsels, and are taken in their own net. An observation worthy to be engraven in every religious person’s bosom, that God will one time or other be known among the wicked by his most severe judgments executed upon them, though they would never learn by his patience and mercies to acknowledge him for their Lord. Thus far of the matter. Now it remains for a conclusion to unfold the several instructions which “Selah” afforded unto the congregation, which are these six.

1st. It served as a note of attention and inattention of the mind to what was sung or said, Ps. iii. v. 2-8, that wheresoever they cast an eye upon “Selah,” they might conceive they heard the Lord’s voice from heaven speaking. “Hear this, all ye people, give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world. Both high and low, rich and poor together.” Ps. xlix. 1, 2. That as their voices were lift up in singing, so much more their hearts and affections might be elevated, that their voice and hearts being both in tune, the joint harmony might be sweet in the ears of the Lord.

2ndly. It was a note of affirmation, whereby they declared their consent and assent unto the truth delivered, as we say when we approve of another’s speech; right, just, you say truly, it is most certain. So their “Selah” was as much as true, certain, excellent. Instance, Ps. iii. 4, “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah,” i.e., It is most certain that the Lord knows the secrets of our hearts, and is the judge of the quick and dead, and will pass most righteous sentence upon us, giving to every man according to his deeds in the flesh, whether good or evil. Ps. lii. 3. “Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.”—that is to say, undeniable, we all confess it, our own experience and sorrows have made us know this, that those who have not the fear of God before their eyes love to speak and do all the mischief they are able against God’s people, to hurt them rather than help them, to wound their innocent reputation rather than preserve it.

3rdly. It was a devout ejaculation of the heart and soul unto God, wishing and desiring the accomplishment of what was spoken or promised. Instance, Habak. iii. 13.—“Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people. Selah.” As if he had said, Lord, I beseech thee, evermore go out so to deliver thine anointed. Ps. lv. 17-19. “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me; for there were many with me. God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah,” i.e., O Lord, I entreat thee, ever bow down an ear unto my humble suit, and rise up against them that rise up against me.

4thly. It denoted their admiration at some strange, unusual effect, whether the work of God, or wickedness of man. Ps. lvii. 3. “He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah,” i.e., Oh, wonderful and admirable goodness of God, that is pleased to send sometimes his angel from heaven, always his mercy and truth, to deliver his poor perplexed servants from them that are too strong and mighty for them, Ps. liv. 3. “Strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah,” i.e., Oh, horrible impiety and cruelty to hunt after the life of the saints, and cast the God of life and his remembrance behind their backs.

5thly. Of humiliation and consternation of their mind, by the consideration of God’s incomprehensible majesty, and their own great frailty and misery. Instance, Ps. lxvi. 7. “He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah,” i.e., here is matter of humiliation before the King of all the world, Ps. lxviii. 7, 8. “O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness. Selah,” i.e., my very heart trembled to consider; I am moved out of my place, to reflect upon that majesty before whom “the earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God; even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.” Ps. xxxix. 11. “When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.” As if he should say, this may humble the proudest heart in the world, and cast him down to the ground.

6thly. It was a note of Doxology and praising of God in a special manner, not much unlike, or the very same with this, “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.” As for example, “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee, they shall sing to thy name. Selah,” Ps. lxvi. 4. “Yea, Lord, in thee will we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah,” Ps. xliv. 8. “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; so be it, even so be it.” Ps. lxxii. 18, 19.—Edmund Layfielde.

Verse 6.—“Man walketh in a vain shew.” I see that we who live are nothing else but images, and a vain shadow.—Sophocles.

Verse 6 (first clause).—When in the Bristol election, his competitor died, Burke said, “What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.”—William S. Plumer.

Verse 6.—Every carnal man walks in a vain shew, and yet how vain is he of his shew of vanity! He is “disquieted in vain,” and it is only vanity which disquiets him. He labours all his life for the profit of riches, and yet in death his riches will not profit him. He that views an ox grazing in a fat pasture, concludes that he is but preparing for the day of slaughter.—William Secker.

Verse 6.—“He heapeth up riches.” This is the great foolishness and disease, especially of old age, that the less way a man has to go, he makes the greater provision for it. When the hands are stiff, and fit for no other labour, they are fitted and composed for scraping together.—Robert Leighton.

Verse 6.—“He heapeth up riches.” The Hebrew word rendered, “He heapeth up,” signifies to rake together; in which there is an allusion to the husbandman’s collecting his corn together before he carries it to the barn. The metaphor is elegant, intimating the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of human acquisitions; which though heaped up together like corn, by one person, may soon become the possession of another.—Samuel Burder.

Verse 6.—

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow. Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

William Shakspeare.

Verse 6.—The plentiful showers of tears which stand in our eyes when we come from the womb, and when we draw to the tomb, are faithful witnesses of man’s vanity. We bid the world “good morrow” with grief, and “good night” with a groan.—Edmund Layfielde.

Verse 7.—“Lord, what wait I for?”

At first her mother earth she holdeth deare, And doth embrace the world and worldly things: She flies close by the ground and houers here And mounts not up with her celestiall wings.

Yet vnder heauen she cannot light on ought That with her heauenly nature doth agree; She cannot rest, she cannot fix her thought, She cannot in this world contented bee.

Then as a bee which among weeds doth fall. Which seeme sweet flowers with lustre fresh and gay She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all, But pleased with none, doth rise, and soare away.

So, when the soule finds here no true content, And like Noah’s doue, can no sure footing take, She doth returne from whence she first was sent, And flies to Him, that first her wings did make.

Sir John Davies.

Verse 7.—

O loose this frame, this knot of man untie, That my free soul may use her wing, Which is now pinioned with mortality, As an entangled, hamper’d thing. What have I left that I should stay and groan? The most of me to heaven is fled; My thoughts and joys are all pack’d up and gone. And for their old acquaintance plead.

George Herbert.

Verse 7.—“My hope is in thee.” Sweet is it that our hope should rest in him who is never shaken; should abide in him who never changeth; should bind us to him who can hold us fast to himself, who alone is the full contentment of the soul; should, as it were, enter into him; since “in him is our being,” who is love.—E. B. Pusey, D.D., 1853.

Verse 8.—“Make me not the reproach of the foolish.” Let not their prosperity and my misery give them occasion to deride and reproach me for my serving of thee and trusting in thee to so little purpose.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 8.—“Make me not the reproach of the foolish.” Doubt not this; that of all the bitter agony which will be the portion of the lost soul at that, “Depart, ye cursed,” not the least will be the bitter reproaches and derision of those evil spirits who have seduced him to his ruin. “For this morsel of meat to have sold thy birthright! For the fleshly pleasures of a few days to have bartered thine eternal jewel! For a few grains of yellow earth to have missed the city with streets of gold, and gates of several pearls! O fool, beyond all folly! O madman, beyond all insanity! Truly we have need to pray with all earnestness, ‘Make me not the reproach of the foolish.’”—Origen, quoted by J. M. Neale.

Verse 9.—“I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.” See David’s carriage here; it was a patience not constrained, but from satisfaction of spirit: he saw love in his affliction, and that sweetened his soul.—Joseph Symonds.

Verse 9.—“I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.” God is training up his children here. This is the true character of his dealings with them. The education of his saints is the object he has in view. It is training for the kingdom; it is education for eternity.... It is the discipline of love. Every step of it is kindness. There is no wrath nor vengeance in any part of the process. The discipline of the school may be harsh and stern; but that of the family is love, We are sure of this; and the consolation which it affords is unutterable. Love will not wrong us. There will be no needless suffering. Were this but kept in mind there would be fewer hard thoughts of God amongst men, even when his strokes are most severe. I know not a better illustration of what the feelings of a saint should be, in the hour of bitterness, than the case of Richard Cameron’s father. The aged saint was in prison “for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The bleeding head of his martyred son was brought to him by his unfeeling persecutors, and he was asked derisively if he knew it. “I know it, I know it,”—said the father, as he kissed the mangled forehead of his fair-haired son—“it is my son’s, my own dear son’s! It is the Lord! good is the will of the Lord, who cannot wrong me or mine, but who hath made goodness and mercy to follow us all our days.”—Horatius Bonar, in “The Night of Weeping,” 1847.

Verse 9.—“Because thou didst it.” This holy man had a breach made both at his body and spirit at this time; he was sick and sad; yet he remembers from whose hand the blow came. Thou, Lord, didst it; thou, whom I love dearly, and so can take it kindly; thou whom I have offended, and so take it patiently; yea, thou, who mightest have cast me into a bed of flames, instead of my bed of sickness, and therefore I accept thy correction thankfully. Thus he catches at the blow without retorting it back upon God by any quarrelling discontented language.—William Gurnall.

Verse 9.—“Because thou didst it.” We digest not a blow from our equals, but a blow from our king we can well digest. If the King of kings lays his hand on our backs, let us, beloved, lay our hands on our mouths. I am sure this stopped David’s mouth from venting fretful speeches. “I held my tongue and said nothing.” Why didst thou so, David? “Because thou, Lord, didst it;” and God gives this testimony of such an one; that he is a prudent man that keeps silence at an evil time. Amos v. 13.—Nicholas Estwick, B.D., 1644.

Verse 9.—Perkins, in his “Salve for a Sick Man,” gives the “last words” of many holy men, among others of Calvin:—“I held my tongue, because thou, Lord, hast done it—I mourned as a dove—Lord, thou grindest me to powder, but it sufficeth me because it is thy hand.”

Verse 9.—I wondered once at providence, and called white providence black and unjust, that I should be smothered in a town where no soul will take Christ off my hand. But providence hath another lustre[14] with God than with my bleared eyes. I proclaim myself a blind body, who knoweth not black and white, in the unco[15] course of God’s providence. Suppose that Christ should set hell where heaven is and devils up in glory beside the elect angels (which yet cannot be), I would I had a heart to acquiesce in his way, without further dispute. I see that infinite wisdom is the mother of his judgments, and that his ways pass finding out. I cannot learn, but I desire to learn, to bring my thoughts, will, and lusts in under[16] Christ’s feet, that he may trample upon them. But, alas! I am still upon Christ’s wrong side.—Samuel Rutherford.

Verse 9.—A little girl, in the providence of God, was born deaf and dumb. She was received, and instructed, at an institution established for these afflicted ones. A visitor was one day requested to examine the children thus sadly laid aside from childhood’s common joys. Several questions were asked, and quickly answered by means of a slate and pencil. At length the gentleman wrote, “Why were you born deaf and dumb?” A look of anguish clouded for the moment the expressive face of the little girl; but it quickly passed, as she took her slate, and wrote, “Even so, Father; for so it seemeth good in thy sight.”—Mrs. Rogers, in “The Shepherd King.”

Verse 10.—“Remove thy plague away from me:” thy plague and mine; thine by affliction, mine by passion; thine because thou didst send it, mine because I endure it; thine because it comes from thy justice, mine because it answers my injustice; remit what I have done, and remove what thou hast done. But whosoever laid it on, the Lord will take off.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 10.—“Remove,” etc. Having first prayed off his sin, he would now pray off his pain, though it less troubled him; and for ease he repaireth to Jehovah that healeth, as well as woundeth. Hosea vi. 1.—John Trapp.

Verse 11.—“Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.” The meaning may be, As the moth crumbles into dust under the slightest pressure, or the gentlest touch, so man dissolves with equal ease, and vanishes into darkness, under the finger of the Almighty.—Paxton’s Illustrations of Scripture.

Verse 11.—“Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.” Moths I must not omit naming. I once saw some knives, the back bone hafts of which were said to have been half-consumed by them. I also saw the remains of a hair-seated sofa which had been devoured. It is no uncommon thing to find dresses consumed in a single night. In Isaiah li. 6, “wax old” probably refers to a garment that is moth-eaten. So in Psalm vi. 7, and xxxi. 9, “consumed” means moth-eaten; and again in Psalm xxxix. 11.—John Gadsby.

Verse 11.—“Like a moth.” The moths of the East are very large and beautiful, but short lived. After a few showers these splendid insects may be seen fluttering in every breeze, but the dry weather, and their numerous enemies, soon consign them to the common lot. Thus the beauty of man consumes away like that of this gay rover, dressed in his robes of purple, and scarlet, and green.—John Kitto.

Verse 11.—The body of man is as a “garment” to the soul: in this garment sin hath lodged a “moth,” which, by degrees, fretteth and weareth away, first, the beauty, then the strength, and, finally, the contexture of its parts. Whoever has watched the progress of a consumption, or any other lingering distemper, nay, the slow and silent devastations of time alone, in the human frame, will need no farther illustration of this just and affecting similitude; but will discern at once the propriety of the reflection which follows upon it.—“Surely every man is vanity.” George Horne.

Verse 11.—“Surely every man is vanity.” What is greatness? Can we predicate it of man, independently of his qualities as an immortal being? or of his actions, independently of principles and motives? Then the glitter of nobility is not superior to the plumage of the peacock; nor the valour of Alexander to the fury of a tiger; nor the sensual delights of Epicurus to those of any animal that roams the forest.—Ebenezer Porter, D.D., in Lectures on Homiletics, 1834.

Verse 12.—“Hear my prayer, O Lord.” etc. Now, in this prayer of David, we find three things, which are the chief qualifications of all acceptable prayers. The first is humility. He humbly confesses his sins, and his own weakness and worthlessness. We are not to put on a stoical, flinty kind of spirit under our affliction, that so we may seem to shun womanish repinings and complaints, lest we run into the other evil, of despising the hand of God, but we are to humble our proud hearts, and break our unruly passions.... The second qualification of this prayer is, fervency and importunity, which appears in the elegant gradation of the words, “Hear my prayer,” my words; if not that, yet “Give ear to my cry,” which is louder; and if that prevail not, yet, “Hold not thy peace at my tears,” which is the loudest of all; so David, elsewhere, calls it “the voice of my weeping.”... The third qualification is faith, “He who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Heb. xi. 6. And, certainly, as he that comes to God must believe this, so he that believes this, cannot but come to God; and if he be not presently answered, “he that believes makes no haste,” he resolves patiently to wait for the Lord, and to go to no other.—Condensed from Robert Leighton.

Verse 12.—“Hold not thy peace at my tears.” We may, in all humility, plead our heart-breakings and weepings in sense of want of mercies which we crave, and our pantings and faintings after the same.—Thomas Cobbett.

Verse 12.—“For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” Both in thy judgment expressed (Levit. xxv. 23), and in their own opinion (Heb. xi. 13), Upon which account thou didst take a special care of them, and therefore do so to me also.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 12.—“I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner.” How settled soever their condition be, yet this is the temper of the saints upon earth—to count themselves but strangers. All men indeed are strangers and sojourners, but the saints do best discern it, and most freely acknowledge it. Wicked men have no firm dwelling upon earth, but that is against their intentions; their inward thought and desire is that they may abide for ever; they are strangers against their wills, their abode is uncertain in the world, and they cannot help it. And pray mark, there are two distinct words used in this case, strangers and sojourners. A stranger is one that hath his abode in a foreign country, that is not a native and a denizen of the place, though he liveth there, and in opposition to the natives he is called a stranger: as if a Frenchman should live in England, he is a stranger. But a sojourner is one that intendeth not to settle, but only passeth through a place, and is in motion travelling homeward. So the children of God in relation to a country of their own in another place, namely, heaven, they are denizens there, but strangers in the world; and they are sojourners and pilgrims in regard of their motion and journey towards their country.—Thomas Manton.

Verse 12.—“A stranger.” 1. A stranger is one that is absent from his country, and from his father’s house: so are we, heaven is our country, God is there, and Christ is there. 2. A stranger in a foreign country is not known, nor valued according to his birth and breeding; so the saints walk up and down in the world like princes in disguise. 3. Strangers are liable to inconveniences, so are godly men in the world. Religion, saith Tertullian, is like a strange plant brought from a foreign country, and doth not agree with the nature of the soil, it thriveth not in the world. 4. A stranger is patient, standeth not for ill usage, and is contented with pilgrims’ fare and lodging. We are now abroad, and must expect hardship. 5. A stranger is wary, that he may not give offence, and incur the hatred and displeasure of the natives. 6. A stranger is thankful for the least favour; so we must be thankfully contented with the things God hath bestowed upon us: anything in a strange country is much. 7. A stranger, that hath a journey to go, would pass over it as soon as he can, and so we, who have a journey to heaven desire to be dissolved. 8. A stranger buyeth not such things as he cannot carry with him; he doth not buy trees, house, household stuff, but jewels and pearls, and such things as are portable. Our great care should be to get the jewels of the covenant, the graces of God’s Spirit, those things that will abide with us. 9. A stranger’s heart is in his country; so is a saint’s. 10. A stranger is inquisitive after the way, fearing lest he should go amiss, so is a Christian. 11. A stranger provides for his return, as a merchant, that he may return richly laden. So we must appear before God in Sion. What manner of persons ought we to be? Let us return from our travel well provided.—Condensed from Thomas Manton.

Verse 13.—“O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.” Man in his corrupt state is like Nebuchadnezzar, he hath a beast’s heart, that craves no more than the satisfaction of his sensual appetite; but when renewed by grace, then his understanding returns to him, by which he is enabled in praying for temporals to elevate his desires to a nobler end. Doth David pray that some farther time may be added to his temporal life? It is not out of a fond love for this world, but to prepare himself the better for another. Is he comforted with hopes of a longer stay here? It is not this world’s carnal pleasures that kindle this joy in his holy breast, but the advantage that thereby he shall have for praising God in the land of the living ... “O spare me, that I may recover strength.” David was not yet recovered out of that sin which had brought him exceeding low as you may perceive, ver. 10, 11. And the good man cannot think of dying with any willingness till his heart be in a holier frame: and for the peace of the gospel, serenity of conscience, and inward joy; alas! all unholiness is to it as poison is to the spirits which drink them up.—William Gurnall.

Verse 13.—“O spare me,” etc. Attachment to life, the feeling cherished by the Psalmist, when he thus appealed to the Sovereign of the universe, varies in its character with the occasions and the sentiments by which it is elicited and confirmed. Take one view of it, and you pronounce it criminal; take another, and you pronounce it innocent; take a third, and you pronounce it laudable. I. Life may inspire a criminal attachment, warranting our censure. The most obvious and aggravated case is that in which the attachment has its foundations in the opportunities which life affords, of procuring “the wages of unrighteousness,” and “the pleasures of sin.” II. Life may inspire an innocent attachment, awakening our sympathy.... Life is a scene in which we often descry a verdant and luxuriant spot, teeming with health, and ease, and harmony, and joy. We have beheld the husbands and the wives whose interwoven regards have, from year to year, alleviated all their afflictions, and heightened all their privileges. We have beheld the parents and the children whose fellowship has yielded them, through the shifting seasons, a daily feast. There are indulgent masters, and faithful servants; some neighbourhoods are undisturbed; some Christian societies are exquisitely attractive; here and there we have intercourse with those individuals in whom are seen the beauties of high character irradiated by the beams of general prosperity. You would pronounce no censure on a man thus happily connected, were he, when beginning to languish, as one “going the way of all the earth, to cry,” “O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.” III. The last view which is has been proposed to take of human life, shows that it may inspire a laudable attachment, at once challenging our approbation, and urging us to bring our minds under its influence. The language before us admits of being illustrated as the prayer of a penitent, a saint, and a philanthropist. 1. Commend him who pleads for life as a penitent. Was it recently that the Holy Spirit first wounded him with the arrows of conviction? Perhaps, he doubts the source, the quality, and the result, of his powerful feelings. He knows that we may be solemnly impressed, without being converted. There are many considerations which entitle to favourable opinion those who, not having arrived at a view of their moral state, at once evident and encouraging, wish earnestly to live, till grace shall have carried them from victory to victory, and enabled them “to make” their “calling and election sure.” Even they may fall from their steadfastness; and these words, “O spare me, that I may recover my strength,” may proceed from the lips of a backslider, once more blushing, trembling, and petitioning to be restored. 2. Commend him, in the next place, who pleads for life, as a saint.... The distinguished office of pleading, acting, and suffering, for the advancement of the divine honour among the profane, the sensual, the formal, and the worldly is delegated, exclusively, to “the saints which are upon the earth.” Yet, surely he whose attachment to life is strongly enhanced by a commission which dooms him to the contradiction of sinners, and defers “the fulness of joy,” a saint so magnanimous and devoted, puts forth the expressions of a piety which the very angels are compelled to revere. 3. Commend him, finally, who pleads for life as a philanthropist. I refer to the generous patron, a man intent on doing good. I would also refer to a fond parent. I would now refer to “a preacher of righteousness,” “a good minister of Jesus Christ.”—Outline of a sermon entitled “Attachment to Life,” preached by Joseph Hughes, M.A., as a Funeral Sermon for Rev. John Owen, M.A., 1822.

Verse 13.—May not the very elect and faithful themselves fear the day of judgment, and be far from fetching comfort at it? I answer, he may. First, at his first conversion and soon after, before he have gotten a full persuasion of the remission of his sins. And again, in some spiritual desertion, when the Lord seems to leave a man to himself, as he did David and others, he may fear to think of the same. And lastly, when he hath fallen into some great sin after he is a strong man in Christ, he may fear death and judgment, and be constrained to pray with Job and David, “O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.”—John Barlow’s Sermon, 1618.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verses 1, 2.—“I was dumb, etc.” I. There is a time to be silent. He had been enabled to do this when reproached and unjustly accused by others. He did it for good; others might attribute it to sullenness, or pride, or timidity, or conscious guilt; but he did it for good. Breathe upon a polished mirror and it will evaporate and leave it brighter than before; endeavour to wipe it off, and the mark will remain. II. There is a time to meditate in silence. The greater the silence without, often the greater commotion within. “His heart was hot.” The more he thought, the warmer he grew. The fire of pity and compassion, the fire of love, the fire of holy zeal burned within him. III. There is a time to speak. “Then spake I.” The time to speak is when the truth is clear and strong in the mind, and the feeling of the truth is burning in the heart. The emotions burst forth as from a volcano. Jer. xx. 8, 9. The language should always be a faithful representation of the mind and the heart.—G. Rogers, Tutor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle College.

Verse 2.—There is a sevenfold silence. 1. A stoical silence. 2. A politic silence. 3. A foolish silence. 4. A sullen silence. 5. A forced silence. 6. A despairing silence. 7. A prudent, a holy, a gracious silence.—Thomas Brooks’ “Mute Christian.”

Verse 4.—“Make me to know mine end.” I. What we may desire to know about our end. Not its date, place, circumstances, but 1. Its nature. Will it be the end of saint or sinner? 2. Its certainty. 3. Its nearness. 4. Its issues. 5. Its requirements. In the shape of attention, preparation, passport. II. Why ask God to make us know it? Because the knowledge is important, difficult to acquire, and can be effectually imparted by the Lord only.—W. Jackson.

Verse 4.—David prays, I. That he may be enabled continually to keep in view the end of life: all things should be judged by their end. “Then understood I their end.” Life may be honourable, and cheerful, and virtuous here; but the end! What will it be? II. That he may be diligent in the performance of all the duties of this life. The measure of his days, how short, how much to be done, how little time to do it in! III. He prays that he may gain much instruction and benefit from the frailties of life. “That I may know,” etc. My frailties may make me more humble, more diligent, while I am able for active service; more dependent upon divine strength, more patient and submissive to the divine will, more ripe for heaven.—G. Rogers.

Verse 5 (last clause).—Man is vanity, i.e., he is mortal, he is mutable. Observe how emphatically this truth is expressed here. I. Every man is vanity, without exception, high and low, rich and poor. II. He is so at his best estate; when he is young, and strong, and healthful, in wealth and honour, etc. III. He is altogether vanity, as vain as you can imagine. IV. Verily he is so. V. Selah is annexed, as a note commanding observation.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 6.—The vanity of man, as mortal, is here instanced in three things, and the vanity of each shown. I. The vanity of our joys and honours: “Surely every man walketh in a vain show.” II. The vanity of our griefs and fears: “Surely they are disquieted in vain.” III. The vanity of our cares and toils: “He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.”—Matthew Henry.

Verse 6.—The world’s trinity consists, 1. In fruitless honours: what appears to them to be substantial honours are but “a vain show.” 2. In needless cares. “They are disquieted in vain.” Imaginary cares are substituted for real ones. 3. In useless riches; such as yield no lasting satisfaction to themselves, or in their descent to others.—G. Rogers.

Verse 7.—“What wait I for?” 1. For what salvation as a sinner? Of works or grace—from Sinai or Calvary. 2. For what consolation as a sufferer? Earthly or heavenly? 3. For what supply as a suppliant? Meagre or bountiful? Present or future? 4. For what communication as a servant? Miraculous or ordinary? Pleasing or unacceptable? 5. For what instruction as a pupil? Mental or spiritual? Elating or humbling? Ornamental or useful? 6. For what inheritance as a heir? Sublunary or celestial?—W. Jackson.

Verse 7.—I. An urgent occasion. “And now Lord,” etc. There are seasons that should lead us specially to look up to God, and say, “Now, Lord.” “Father, the hour is come.” II. A devout exclamation, “Now, Lord, what wait I for?” Where is my expectation? Where my confidence? To whom shall I look? I am nothing, the world is nothing, all earthly sources of confidence and consolation fail: “What wait I for?” In life, in death, in a dying world, in a coming judgment, in an eternity at hand; what is it that I need?—G. Rogers.

Verse 8.—I. Prayer should be general: “Deliver me from all my transgressions.” We often need anew to say, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Afflictions should remind us of our sins. If we pray to be delivered from all transgressions, we are sure to be delivered from the one for which affliction was sent. II. Prayer should be particular: “Make me not the reproach of the foolish.” Suffer me not so to speak or show impatience in affliction as to give occasion even to the foolish to blaspheme. The thought that many watch for our halting should be a preservative from sin.—G. Rogers.

Verse 9.—I. The occasion referred to. “I was dumb,” etc. We are not told what the particular trial was, that each one may apply it to his own affliction, and because all are to be viewed in the same light. II. The conduct of the Psalmist upon that particular occasion: “I opened not my mouth.” 1. Not in anger and rebellion against God in murmurs or complaints. 2. Not in impatience, or complaining, or angry feelings against men. III. The reason he assigns for this conduct: “Because thou didst it.”—G. Rogers.

Verse 10.—I. Afflictions are sent by God. “Thy strokes.” They are strokes of his hand, not of the rod of the law, but of the shepherd’s rod. Every affliction is his stroke. II. Afflictions are removed by God. “Remove.” He asks not for miracles, but that God in his own way, in the use of natural means, would interpose for his deliverance. We should seek his blessing upon the means employed for our deliverance both by ourselves and others. “Cause to remove,” etc. III. Afflictions have their end from God. “I am consumed by the conflict,” etc. God has a controversy with his people. It is a conflict between his will and their wills. The Psalmist owns himself conquered and subdued in the struggle. We should be more anxious that this end should be accomplished than that the affliction should be removed, and when this is accomplished the affliction will be removed.—G. Rogers.

Verse 10.—I. The cause of our trials: “for iniquity.” Oh, this trial is come to take away my comforts, my peace of mind, and the divine smile! No, this is all the fruit to take away their sin—the dross, none of the gold—sin, nothing but sin. II. The effect of our trials. All that he counted desirable in this life, but is not for his real good, is “consumed.” His robes which are beautiful in men’s esteem are moth-eaten, but the robe of righteousness upon his soul cannot decay. III. The design of our trials. They are not penal inflictions, but friendly rebukes and fatherly corrections. On Christ our Surety the penal consequences were laid, upon us their paternal chastisements only. IV. The reasonableness of our trials. “Surely every man is vanity.” How in a world like this could any expect to be exempt from trials! The world is the same to the Christian as before, and his body is the same. He has a converted soul in an unconverted body, and how can he escape the external ills of life?—G. Rogers.

Verse 12.—David pleads the good impressions made upon him by his affliction. I. It had set him a weeping. II. It had set him a praying. III. It had helped to wean him from the world.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 12 (last clause).—Am I a stranger and a sojourner with God? Let me realise, let me exemplify the condition. I. Let me look for the treatment such characters commonly meet with. II. And surely if any of my own nation be near me, I shall be intimate with them. III. Let me not be entangled in the affairs of this life. IV. Let my affection be set on things that are above, and my conversation be always in heaven. V. Let me be not impatient for home; but prizing it.—W. Jay.

Verse 13.—I. The subject of his petition—not that he may escape death and live always in this life, because he knows that he must go hence; but 1. That he may be recovered from his afflictions; and, 2. That he may continue longer in this life. Such a prayer is lawful when offered in submission to the will of God. II. The reasons for this petition. 1. That he may remove by his future life the calumnies that had been heaped upon him. 2. That he may have brighter evidences of his interest in the divine favour. 3. That he may become a blessing to others, his family and nation. 4. That he might have greater peace and comfort in death; and, 5. That he might “have an entrance ministered more abundantly,” etc.—G. Rogers.

Footnote 14:

Shining; appearance.

Footnote 15:

Strange.

Footnote 16:

Close under.

PSALM XL.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician. Well might so exceedingly precious a Psalm be specially committed to the most skilled of the sacred musicians. The noblest music should be made tributary to a subject so incomparable. The dedication shows that the song was intended for public worship, and was not a merely personal hymn, as its being in the first person singular might lead us to suppose. A Psalm of David. This is conclusive as to the authorship: lifted by the Holy Spirit into the region of prophecy, David was honoured thus to write concerning a far greater than himself.

SUBJECT.—Jesus is evidently here, and although it might not be a violent wresting of language to see both David and his Lord, both Christ and the church, the double comment might involve itself in obscurity, and therefore we shall let the sun shine even though this should conceal the stars. Even if the New Testament were not so express upon it, we should have concluded that David spoke of our Lord in verses 6-9, but the apostle in Heb. x. 5-9, puts all conjecture out of court, and confines the meaning to Him who came into the world to do the Father’s will.

DIVISION.—From verses 1-3, is a personal thanksgiving, followed by a general declaration of Jehovah’s goodness to his saints, 4, 5. In verses 6-10, we have an avowal of dedication to the Lord’s will; verses 11-17, contain a prayer for deliverance from pressing trouble, and for the overthrow of enemies.

EXPOSITION.

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

1. “I waited patiently for the Lord.” Patient waiting upon God was a special characteristic of our Lord Jesus. Impatience never lingered in his heart, much less escaped his lips. All through his agony in the garden, his trial of cruel mockings before Herod and Pilate, and his passion on the tree, he waited in omnipotence of patience. No glance of wrath, no word of murmuring, no deed of vengeance came from God’s patient Lamb; he waited and waited on; was patient, and patient to perfection, far excelling all others who have according to their measure glorified God in the fires. Job on the dunghill does not equal Jesus on the cross. The Christ of God wears the imperial crown among the patient. Did the Only Begotten wait, and shall we be petulant and rebellious? “And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” Neither Jesus the head, nor any one of the members of his body, shall ever wait upon the Lord in vain. Mark the figure of inclining, as though the suppliant cried out of the lowest depression, and condescending love stooped to hear his feeble moans. What a marvel is it that our Lord should have to cry as we do, and wait as we do, and should receive the Father’s help after the same process of faith and pleading as must be gone through by ourselves! The Saviour’s prayers among the midnight mountains and in Gethsemane expound this verse. The Son of David was brought very low, but he rose to victory; and here he teaches us how to conduct our conflicts so as to succeed after the same glorious pattern of triumph. Let us arm ourselves with the same mind; and panoplied in patience, armed with prayer, and girt with faith, let us maintain the Holy War.

2. “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit.” When our Lord bore in his own person the terrible curse which was due to sin, he was so cast down as to be like a prisoner in a deep, dark, fearful dungeon, amid whose horrible glooms the captive heard a noise as of rushing torrents, while overhead resounded the tramp of furious foes. Our Lord in his anguish was like a captive in the oubliettes, forgotten of all mankind, immured amid horror, darkness, and desolation. Yet the Lord Jehovah made him to ascend from all his abasement; he retraced his steps from that deep hell of anguish into which he had been cast as our substitute. He who thus delivered our surety in extremis, will not fail to liberate us from our far lighter griefs. “Out of the miry clay.” The sufferer was as one who cannot find a foothold, but slips and sinks. The figure indicates not only positive misery as in the former figure, but the absence of solid comfort by which sorrow might have been rendered supportable. Once give a man good foothold, and a burden is greatly lightened, but to be loaded and to be placed on slimy, slippery clay, is to be tried doubly. Reader, with humble gratitude, adore the dear Redeemer who, for thy sake, was deprived of all consolation while surrounded with every form of misery; remark his gratitude at being upborne amid his arduous labours and sufferings, and if thou too hast experienced the divine help, be sure to join thy Lord in this song. “And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” The Redeemer’s work is done. He reposes on the firm ground of his accomplished engagements; he can never suffer again; for ever does he reign in glory. What a comfort to know that Jesus our Lord and Saviour stands on a sure foundation in all that he is and does for us, and his goings forth in love are not liable to be cut short by failure in years to come, for God has fixed him firmly. He is for ever and eternally able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing that in the highest heavens he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Jesus is the true Joseph taken from the pit to be Lord of all. It is something more than a “sip of sweetness” to remember that if we are cast like our Lord into the lowest pit of shame and sorrow, we shall by faith rise to stand on the same elevated, sure, and everlasting rock of divine favour and faithfulness.

3. “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” At the passover, before his passion, our Lord sang one of the grand old Psalms of praise; but what is the music of his heart now, in the midst of his redeemed! What a song is that in which his glad heart for ever leads the chorus of the elect! Not Miriam’s tabour nor Moses’ triumphant hymn o’er Mizraim’s chivalry can for a moment rival that ever new and exulting song. Justice magnified and grace victorious; hell subdued and heaven glorified; death destroyed and immortality established; sin o’erthrown and righteousness resplendent; what a theme for a hymn in that day when our Lord drinketh the red wine new with us all in our heavenly Father’s kingdom! Even on earth, and before his great passion, he foresaw the joy which was set before him, and was sustained by the prospect. “Our God.” The God of Jesus, the God of Israel, “my God and your God.” How will we praise him, but, ah! Jesus will be the chief player on our stringed instruments; he will lead the solemn hallelujah which shall go up from the sacramental host redeemed by blood. “Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” A multitude that no man can number shall see the griefs and triumphs of Jesus, shall tremble because of their sinful rejection of him, and then through grace shall receive faith and become trusters in Jehovah. Here is our Lord’s reward. Here is the assurance which makes preachers bold and workers persevering. Reader, are you one among the many? Note the way of salvation, a sight, a fear, a trust! Do you know what these mean by possessing and practising them in your own soul? Trusting in the Lord is the evidence, nay, the essence of salvation. He who is a true believer is evidently redeemed from the dominion of sin and Satan.

4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

4. “Blessed.” This is an exclamation similar to that of the first Psalm, “Oh, the happiness of the man.” God’s blessings are emphatic, “I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed,” indeed and in very truth. “Is that man that maketh the Lord his trust.” Faith obtaineth promises. A simple, single-eyed confidence in God is the sure mark of blessedness. A man may be as poor as Lazarus, as hated as Mordecai, as sick as Hezekiah, as lonely as Elijah, but while his hand of faith can keep its hold on God, none of his outward afflictions can prevent his being numbered among the blessed: but the wealthiest and most prosperous man who has no faith is accursed, be he who he may. “And respecteth not the proud.” The proud expect all men to bow down and do them reverence, as if the worship of the golden calves were again set up in Israel; but believing men are too noble to honour mere money-bags, or cringe before bombastic dignity. The righteous pay their respect to humble goodness, rather than to inflated self-consequence. Our Lord Jesus was in this our bright example. No flattery of kings and great ones ever fell from his lips; he gave no honour to dishonourable men. The haughty were never his favourites. “Nor such as turn aside to lies.” Heresies and idolatries are lies, and so are avarice, worldliness, and pleasure-seeking. Woe to those who follow such deceptions. Our Lord was ever both the truth and the lover of truth, and the father of lies had no part in him. We must never pay deference to apostates, time-servers, and false teachers; they are an ill leaven, and the more we purge ourselves of them the better; they are blessed whom God preserves from all error in creed and practice. Judged by this verse, many apparently happy persons must be the reverse of blessed, for anything in the shape of a purse, a fine equipage, or a wealthy establishment, commands their reverence, whether the owner be a rake or a saint, an idiot or a philosopher. Verily, were the arch-fiend of hell to start a carriage and pair, and live like a lord, he would have thousands who would court his acquaintance.

5. “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done.” Creation, providence, and redemption, teem with wonders as the sea with life. Our special attention is called by this passage to the marvels which cluster around the cross and flash from it. The accomplished redemption achieves many ends, and compasses a variety of designs; the outgoings of the atonement are not to be reckoned up, the influences of the cross reach further than the beams of the sun. Wonders of grace beyond all enumeration take their rise from the cross; adoption, pardon, justification, and a long chain of godlike miracles of love proceed from it. Note that our Lord here speaks of the Lord as “my God.” The man Christ Jesus claimed for himself and us a covenant relationship with Jehovah. Let our interest in our God be ever to us our peculiar treasure. “And thy thoughts which are to us-ward.” The divine thoughts march with the divine acts, for it is not according to God’s wisdom to act without deliberation and counsel. All the divine thoughts are good and gracious towards his elect. God’s thoughts of love are very many, very wonderful very practical! Muse on them, dear reader; no sweeter subject ever occupied your mind. God’s thoughts of you are many, let not yours be few in return. “They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.” Their sum is so great as to forbid alike analysis and numeration. Human minds fail to measure, or to arrange in order, the Lord’s ways and thoughts; and it must always be so, for he hath said, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” No maze to lose oneself in like the labyrinth of love. How sweet to be outdone, overcome and overwhelmed by the astonishing grace of the Lord our God! “If I would declare and speak of them,” and surely this should be the occupation of my tongue at all seasonable opportunities, “they are more than can be numbered;” far beyond all human arithmetic they are multiplied; thoughts from all eternity, thoughts of my fall, my restoration, my redemption, my conversion, my pardon, my upholding, my perfecting, my eternal reward; the list is too long for writing, and the value of the mercies too great for estimation. Yet, if we cannot show forth all the works of the Lord, let us not make this an excuse for silence; for our Lord, who is in this our best example, often spake of the tender thoughts of the great Father.

6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.

8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

6. Here we enter upon one of the most wonderful passages in the whole of the Old Testament, a passage in which the incarnate Son of God is seen not through a glass darkly, but as it were face to face. “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire.” In themselves considered, and for their own sakes, the Lord saw nothing satisfactory in the various offerings of the ceremonial law. Neither the victim pouring forth its blood, nor the fine flour rising in smoke from the altar, could yield content to Jehovah’s mind; he cared not for the flesh of bulls or of goats, neither had he pleasure in corn and wine, and oil. Typically these offerings had their worth, but when Jesus, the Antitype, came into the world, they ceased to be of value, as candles are of no estimation when the sun has arisen. “Mine ears hast thou opened.” Our Lord was quick to hear and perform his Father’s will; his ears were as if excavated down to his soul; they were not closed up like Isaac’s wells, which the Philistines filled up, but clear passages down to the fountains of his soul. The prompt obedience of our Lord is here the first idea. There is, however, no reason whatever to reject the notion that the digging of the ear here intended may refer to the boring of the ear of the servant, who refused out of love to his master to take his liberty at the year of jubilee; his perforated ear, the token of perpetual service, is a true picture of our blessed Lord’s fidelity to his Father’s business, and his love to his Father’s children. Jesus irrevocably gave himself up to be the servant of servants for our sake and God’s glory. The Septuagint, from which Paul quoted, has translated this passage, “A body hast thou prepared me:” how this reading arose it is not easy to imagine, but since apostolical authority has sanctioned the variation, we accept it as no mistake, but as an instance of various readings equally inspired. In any case, the passage represents the Only Begotten as coming into the world equipped for service; and in a real and material body, by actual life and death, putting aside all the shadows of the Mosaic law. “Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.” Two other forms of offering are here mentioned; tokens of gratitude and sacrifices for sin as typically presented are set aside; neither the general nor the private offerings are any longer demanded. What need of mere emblems when the substance itself is present? We learn from this verse that Jehovah values far more the obedience of the heart than all the imposing performances of ritualistic worship; and that our expiation from sin comes not to us as the result of an elaborate ceremonial, but as the effect of our great Substitute’s obedience to the will of Jehovah.

7. “Then said I.” That is to say, when it was clearly seen that man’s misery could not be remedied by sacrifices and offerings. It being certain that the mere images of atonement, and the bare symbols of propitiation were of no avail, the Lord Jesus, in propria persona, intervened. O blessed “then said I.” Lord, ever give us to hear and feed on such living words as these, so peculiarly and personally thine own. “Lo, I come.” Behold, O heavens, and thou earth, and ye places under the earth! Here is something worthy of your intensest gaze. Sit ye down and watch with earnestness, for the invisible God comes in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an infant the Infinite hangs at a virgin’s breast! Immanuel did not send but come; he came in his own personality, in all that constituted his essential self he came forth from the ivory palaces to the abodes of misery; he came promptly at the destined hour; he came with sacred alacrity as one freely offering himself. “In the volume of the book it is written of me.” In the eternal decree it is thus recorded. The mystic roll of predestination which providence gradually unfolds, contained within it, to the Saviour’s knowledge, a written covenant, that in the fulness of time the divine I should descend to earth to accomplish a purpose which hecatombs of bullocks and rams could not achieve. What a privilege to find our names written in the book of life, and what an honour, since the name of Jesus heads the page! Our Lord had respect to his ancient covenant engagements, and herein he teaches us to be scrupulously just in keeping our word; have we so promised, is it so written in the book of remembrance? then let us never be defaulters.

8. “I delight to do thy will, O my God.” Our blessed Lord alone could completely do the will of God. The law is too broad for such poor creatures as we are to hope to fulfil it to the uttermost: but Jesus not only did the Father’s will, but found a delight therein; from old eternity he had desired the work set before him; in his human life he was straitened till he reached the baptism of agony in which he magnified the law, and even in Gethsemane itself he chose the Father’s will, and set aside his own. Herein is the essence of obedience, namely, in the soul’s cheerful devotion to God: and our Lord’s obedience, which is our righteousness, is in no measure lacking in this eminent quality. Notwithstanding his measureless griefs, our Lord found delight in his work, and for “the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame.” “Yea, thy law is within my heart.” No outward, formal devotion was rendered by Christ; his heart was in his work, holiness was his element, the Father’s will his meat and drink. We must each of us be like our Lord in this, or we shall lack the evidence of being his disciples. Where there is no heart work, no pleasure, no delight in God’s law, there can be no acceptance. Let the devout reader adore the Saviour for the spontaneous and hearty manner in which he undertook the great work of our salvation.

9. “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation.” The purest morality and the highest holiness were preached by Jesus. Righteousness divine was his theme. Our Lord’s whole life was a sermon, eloquent beyond compare, and it is heard each day by myriads. Moreover, he never shunned in his ministry to declare the whole counsel of God; God’s great plan of righteousness he plainly set forth. He taught openly in the temple, and was not ashamed to be a faithful and a true witness. He was the great evangelist; the master of itinerant preachers; the head of the clan of open-air missionaries. O servants of the Lord, hide not your lights, but reveal to others what your God has revealed to you; and especially by your lives testify for holiness, be champions for the right, both in word and deed. “Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.” Never either from love of ease, or fear of men, did the Great Teacher’s lips become closed. He was instant in season and out of season. The poor listened to him, and princes heard his rebuke; Publicans rejoiced at him, and Pharisees raged, but to them both he proclaimed the truth from heaven. It is well for a tried believer when he can appeal to God and call him to witness that he has not been ashamed to bear witness for him; for rest assured if we are not ashamed to confess our God he will never be ashamed to own us. Yet what a wonder is here, that the Son of God should plead just as we plead, and urge just such arguments as would befit the mouths of his diligent ministers! How truly is he “made like unto his brethren.”

10. “I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart.” On the contrary, “Never man spake like this man.” God’s divine plan of making men righteous was well known to him, and he plainly taught it. What was in our great Master’s heart he poured forth in holy eloquence from his lips. The doctrine of righteousness by faith he spake with great simplicity of speech. Law and gospel equally found in him a clear expositor. “I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.” Jehovah’s fidelity to his promises and his grace in saving believers were declared by the Lord Jesus on many occasions, and are blessedly blended in the gospel which he came to preach. God, faithful to his own character, law and threatenings, and yet saving sinners, is a peculiar revelation of the gospel. God faithful to the saved ones evermore is the joy of the followers of Christ Jesus. “I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.” The tender as well as the stern attributes of God, our Lord Jesus fully unveiled. Concealment was far from the Great Apostle of our profession. Cowardice he never exhibited, hesitancy never weakened his language. He who as a child of twelve years spake in the temple among the doctors, and afterwards preached to five thousand at Gennesaret, and to the vast crowds at Jerusalem on that great day, the last day of the feast, was always ready to proclaim the name of the Lord, and could never be charged with unholy silence. He could be dumb when so the prophecy demanded and patience suggested, but otherwise, preaching was his meat and his drink, and he kept back nothing which would be profitable to his disciples. This in the day of his trouble, according to this Psalm, he used as a plea for divine aid. He had been faithful to his God, and now begs the Lord to be faithful to him. Let every dumb professor, tongue-tied by sinful shame, bethink himself how little he will be able to plead after this fashion in the day of his distress.

11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.

14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.

17 But I am poor and needy; yet the LORD thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

11. “Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord.” Alas! these were to be for awhile withheld from our Lord while on the accursed tree, but meanwhile in his great agony he seeks for gentle dealing; and the coming of the angel to strengthen him was a clear answer to his prayer. He had been blessed aforetime in the desert, and now at the entrance of the valley of the shadow of death, like a true, trustful, and experienced man, he utters a holy, plaintive desire for the tenderness of heaven. He had not withheld his testimony to God’s truth, now in return he begs his Father not to withhold his compassion. This verse might more correctly be read as a declaration of his confidence that help would not be refused; but whether we view this utterance as the cry of prayer, or the avowal of faith, in either case it is instructive to us who take our suffering Lord for an example, and it proves to us how thoroughly he was made like unto his brethren. “Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.” He had preached both of these, and now he asks for an experience of them, that he might be kept in the evil day and rescued from his enemies and his afflictions. Nothing endears our Lord to us more than to hear him thus pleading with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save. O Lord Jesus, in our nights of wrestling we will remember thee.

12. “For innumerable evils have compassed me about.” On every side he was beset with evils; countless woes environed the great Substitute for our sins. Our sins were innumerable, and so were his griefs. There was no escape for us from our iniquities, and there was no escape for him from the woes which we deserved. From every quarter evils accumulated about the blessed One, although in his heart evil found no place. “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up.” He had no sin, but sins were laid on him, and he took them as if they were his. “He was made sin for us.” The transfer of sin to the Saviour was real, and produced in him as man the horror which forbade him to look into the face of God, bowing him down with crushing anguish and woe intolerable. O my soul, what would thy sins have done for thee eternally if the Friend of sinners had not condescended to take them all upon himself? Oh, blessed Scripture! “The Lord hath made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all.” Oh, marvellous depth of love, which could lead the perfectly immaculate to stand in the sinner’s place, and bear the horror of great trembling which sin must bring upon those conscious of it. “They are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.” The pains of the divine penalty were beyond compute, and the Saviour’s soul was so burdened with them, that he was sore amazed, and very heavy even unto a sweat of blood. His strength was gone, his spirits sank, he was in an agony.

“Came at length the dreadful night; Vengeance with its iron rod Stood, and with collected might Bruised the harmless Lamb of God. See, my soul, thy Saviour see Prostrate in Gethsemane!

There my God bore all my guilt, This through grace can be believed; But the horrors which he felt Are too vast to be conceived. None can penetrate through thee, Doleful, dark Gethsemane!

Sins against a holy God; Sins against his righteous laws; Sins against his love, his blood; Sins against his name and cause; Sins immense as is the sea— Hide me, O Gethsemane!”

13. “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.” How touching! How humble! How plaintive! The words thrill us as we think that after this sort our Lord and Master prayed. His petition is not so much that the cup should pass away undrained, but that he should be sustained while drinking it, and set free from its power at the first fitting moment. He seeks deliverance and help; and he entreats that the help may not be slow in coming; this is after the manner of our pleadings. Is it not? Note, reader, how our Lord was heard in that he feared, for there was after Gethsemane a calm endurance which made the fight as glorious as the victory.

14. “Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it.” Whether we read this as a prayer or a prophecy it matters not, for the powers of sin, and death, and hell, may well be ashamed as they see the result of their malice for ever turned against themselves. It is to the infinite confusion of Satan that his attempt to destroy the Saviour destroyed himself; the diabolical conclave who plotted in council are now all alike put to shame, for the Lord Jesus has met them at all points, and turned all their wisdom into foolishness. “Let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.” It is even so; the hosts of darkness are utterly put to the rout, and made a theme for holy derision for ever and ever. How did they gloat over the thought of crushing the seed of the woman! but the Crucified has conquered, the Nazarene has laughed them to scorn, the dying Son of Man has become the death of death and hell’s destruction. For ever blessed be his name.

15. “Let them be desolate,” or amazed; even as Jesus was desolate in his agony, so let his enemies be in their despair when he defeats them. The desolation caused in the hearts of evil spirits and evil men by envy, malice, chagrin, disappointment, and despair, shall be a fit recompense for their cruelty to the Lord when he was in their hands. “For a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.” Did the foul fiend insult over our Lord? Behold how shame is now his reward! Do wicked men to-day pour shame upon the name of the Redeemer? Their desolation shall avenge him of his adversaries! Jesus is the gentle Lamb to all who seek mercy through his blood; but let despisers beware, for he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and “who shall rouse him up?” The Jewish rulers exulted and scornfully said, “Aha, aha;” but when the streets of Jerusalem ran like rivers deep with gore, “and the temple was utterly consumed,” then their house was left unto them desolate, and the blood of the last of the prophets, according to their own desire, came upon themselves and upon their children. O ungodly reader, if such a person glance over this page, beware of persecuting Christ and his people, for God will surely avenge his own elect. Your “ahas” will cost you dear. It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.

16. “Let all those that seek thee, rejoice and be glad in thee.” We have done with Ebal and turn to Gerizim. Here our Lord pronounces benedictions on his people. Note who the blessed objects of his petitions are: not all men, but some men, “I pray for them, I pray not for the world.” He pleads for seekers: the lowest in the kingdom, the babes of the family; those who have true desires, longing prayers, and consistent endeavours after God. Let seeking souls pluck up heart when they hear of this. What riches of grace, that in his bitterest hour Jesus should remember the lambs of the flock! And what does he entreat for them? it is that they may be doubly glad, intensely happy, emphatically joyful, for such the repetition of terms implies. Jesus would have all seekers made happy by finding what they seek after, and by winning peace through his grief. As deep as were his sorrows, so high would he have their joys. He groaned that we might sing, and was covered with a bloody sweat that we might be anointed with the oil of gladness. “Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.” Another result of the Redeemer’s passion is the promotion of the glory of God by those who gratefully delight in his salvation. Our Lord’s desire should be our directory; we love with all our hearts his great salvation, let us then, with all our tongues proclaim the glory of God which is resplendent therein. Never let his praises cease. As the heart is warm with gladness let it incite the tongue to perpetual praise. If we cannot do what we would for the spread of the kingdom, at least let us desire and pray for it. Be it ours to make God’s glory the chief end of every breath and pulse. The suffering Redeemer regarded the consecration of his people to the service of heaven as a grand result of his atoning death; it is the joy which was set before him; that God is glorified is the reward of the Saviour’s travail.

17. “But I am poor and needy.”—The man of sorrows closes with another appeal, based upon his affliction and poverty. “Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” Sweet was this solace to the holy heart of the great sufferer. The Lord’s thoughts of us are a cheering subject of meditation, for they are ever kind and never cease. His disciples forsook him, and his friends forgat him, but Jesus knew that Jehovah never turned away his heart from him, and this upheld him in the hour of need. “Thou art my help and my deliverer.” His unmoved confidence stayed itself alone on God. O that all believers would imitate more fully their great Apostle and High Priest in his firm reliance upon God, even when afflictions abounded and the light was veiled. “Make no tarrying, O my God.” The peril was imminent, the need urgent, the suppliant could not endure delay, nor was he made to wait, for the angel came to strengthen, and the brave heart of Jesus rose up to meet the foe.

Lord Jesus, grant that in all our adversities we may possess like precious faith, and be found like thee, more than conquerors.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—David’s Psalm, or, a Psalm of David; but David’s name is here set first, which elsewhere commonly is last: or, A Psalm concerning David, that is, Christ, who is called David in the prophets: Hos. iii. 5; Jer. xxx. 9; Ezek. xxxiv. 23, and xxxii. 24. Of him this Psalm entreateth as the apostle teacheth, Heb. x. 5, 6, etc.—Henry Ainsworth.

Whole Psalm.—It is plain, from verses 6-8 of this Psalm, compared with Heb. x. 5, that the prophet is speaking in the person of Christ, who, 1-5, celebrateth the deliverance wrought for his mystical body, the church, by his resurrection from the grave, effecting that of his members from the guilt and dominion of sin; for the abolition of which he declareth, 6-8, the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices, and mentioneth his own inclination to do the will of his Father, and 9, 10, to preach righteousness to the world. 11-13. He representeth himself as praying, while under his sufferings, for his own, and his people’s salvation; he foretelleth, 14, 15, the confusion and desolation of his enemies, and, 16, the joy and thankfulness of his disciples and servants; for the speedy accomplishment of which, 17, he preferreth a petition.—George Horne.

Verse 1.—“I waited patiently for the Lord: and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” I see that the Lord, suppose he drifteth and delayeth the effect of his servant’s prayer, and granteth not his desire at the first, yet he heareth him. I shall give a certain argument, whereby thou may know that the Lord heareth thee, suppose he delay the effect of thy prayers. Continuest thou in prayer? Hast thou this strength given thee to persevere in suiting[17] anything? Thou may be assured he heareth; for this is one sure argument that he heareth thee, for naturallie our impatience carrieth us to desperation; our suddenness is so great, speciallie in spiritual troubles, that we cannot continue in suiting. When thou, therefore, continues in suiting, thou may be sure that this strength is furnished of God, and cometh from heaven, and if thou have strength he letteth thee see that he heareth thy prayer; and suppose he delay the effect and force thereof, yet pray continuallie. This doctrine is so necessary for the troubled conscience, that I think it is the meetest bridle in the Scripture to refrain our impatience; it is the meetest bit to hold us in continual exercise of patience; for if the heart understand that the Lord hath rejected our prayer altogether, it is not possible to continue in prayer; so when we know that the Lord heareth us, suppose he delay, let us crave patience to abide his good will.—Robert Bruce, 1559-1631.

Verse 1.—“I waited for the Lord.” The infinite קַוֹּה being placed first brings the action strongly out: I waited. This strong emphasis on the waiting, has the force of an admonition; it suggests to the sufferer that everything depends on waiting.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 1.—“I waited patiently:” rather anxiously; the original has it, waiting I waited; a Hebraism, which signifies vehement solicitude.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 1.—“I waited.” The Saviour endured his sufferings waitingly, as well as patiently and prayerfully. He “waited for the Lord.” He expected help from Jehovah; and he waited for it until it came.—James Frame, in “Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm XL.” 1869.

Verse 1.—“Patiently.” Our Lord’s patience under suffering was an element of perfection in his work. Had he become impatient as we often do, and lost heart, his atonement would have been vitiated. Well may we rejoice that in the midst of all his temptations, and in the thickest of the battle against sin and Satan, he remained patient and willing to finish the work which his Father had given him to do.—James Frame.

Verse 1.—“Heard my cry.” Our Saviour endured his sufferings prayerfully as well as patiently.—James Frame.

Verse 2.—“An horrible pit.” Some of the pits referred to in the Bible were prisons, one such I saw at Athens, and another at Rome. To these there were no openings, except a hole at the top, which served for both door and window. The bottoms of these pits were necessarily in a filthy and revolting state, and sometimes deep in mud. “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay;” one of these filthy prisons being in the Psalmist’s view, in Isaiah xxxviii. 17, called “the pit of corruption,” or putrefaction and filth.—John Gadsby.

Verse 2.—“An horrible pit;” or, as it is in the Hebrew, a pit of noise; so called because of waters that falling into it, with great violence, make a roaring dreadful noise; or because of the strugglings and outcries they make that are in it; or because when anything is cast into deep pits, it will always make a great noise; and where he stuck fast in “miry clay,” without a seeming possibility of getting out. And some refer this to the greatness of Christ’s terrors and sufferings, and his deliverance from them both.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 2.—Three things are stated in verse two. First, resurrection as the act of God, “He brought me up,” etc. Secondly, the justification of the name and title of the Sufferer, “and set my feet upon a rock.” Jesus is set up, as alive from the dead, upon the basis of accomplished truth. Thirdly, there is his ascension, “He establisheth my goings.” The Son of God having trodden, in gracious and self-renouncing obedience the passage to the grave, now enters finally as Man the path of life. “He is gone into heaven,” says the Spirit. And again, “He ascended on high, and led captivity captive.”—Arthur Pridham in “Notes and Reflections on the Psalms,” 1869.

Verse 3.—“A new song.” See Notes on Psalm xxxiii. verse 3.

Verse 3.—“Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” The terms fear, and hope, or trust, do not seem at first view to harmonise; but David has not improperly joined them together, for no man will ever entertain the hope of the favour of God but he whose mind is first imbued with the fear of God. I understand fear, in general, to mean the feeling of piety which is produced in us by the knowledge of the power, equity, and mercy of God.—John Calvin.

Verse 3.—“Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” First of all they “see.” Their eyes are opened; and their opened eyes see and survey what they are, where they are, whence they came, and whither they are going.... When the attention of sinners is really and decisively arrested by the propitiation of Jesus, not only are their eyes opened to their various moral relations, not only do they “see” but they “fear” too. They “see” and “fear.”... Conviction follows illumination.... But while the sinner only sees and fears, he is but in the initial stage of conversion, only in a state of readiness to flee from the city of destruction. He may have set out on his pilgrimage, but he has not yet reached his Father to receive the kiss of welcome and forgiveness. The consummating step has not yet been taken. He has seen indeed; he has feared too; but he still requires to trust, to trust in the Lord, and banish all his fears. This is the culminating point in the great change; and, unless this be reached, the other experiences will either die away, like an untimely blossom, or they will only be fuel to the unquenchable fire.—James Frame.

Verse 5.—“Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done,” etc. Behold God in the magnificence and wisdom of the works which his hands have made, even this immense universe, which is full of his glory. What art and contrivance! What regularity, harmony, and proportion, are to be seen in all his productions, in the frame of our own bodies, or those that are about us! And with what beams of majestic glory do the sun, moon, and stars proclaim how august and wonderful in knowledge their Maker is! And ought not all these numberless beauties wherewith the world is stored, which the minds of inquisitive men are ready to admire, lead up our thoughts to the great Parent of all things, and inflame our amorous souls with love to him, who is infinitely brighter and fairer than them all?

Cast abroad your eyes through the nations, and meditate on the mighty acts which he hath done, and the wisdom and power of his providence, which should charm all thy affections. Behold his admirable patience, with what pity he looks down on obstinate rebels; and how he is moved with compassion when he sees his creatures polluted in their blood, and bent upon their own destruction; how long he waits to be gracious; how unwillingly he appears to give up with sinners, and execute deserved vengeance on his enemies; and then with what joy he pardons for “with him is plenteous redemption.” And what can have more force than these to win thy esteem, and make a willing conquest of thy heart? so that every object about thee is an argument of love, and furnishes fuel for this sacred fire. And whether you behold God in the firmament of his power, or the sanctuary of his grace, you cannot miss to pronounce him “altogether lovely.”—William Dunlop.

Verse 5.—“Thy thoughts which are to us-ward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee:” i.e., there is no one can digest them in order; for although that may be attempted according to the comprehension and meaning of men, yet not before thee, every attempt of that nature being infinitely beneath thy immeasurable glory.—Victorinus Bythner’s “Lyre of David;” translated by T. Dee: new edition, by N. L. Benmohel, 1847.

Verse 5.—“Us-ward.” It is worthy of notice that while addressing his Father, as Jehovah and his God, our Saviour speaks of the members of the human family as his fellows. This is implied in the expressions “to us-ward.” He regarded himself as most intimately associated with the children of men.—James Frame.

Verse 5.—“They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.” They are “in order” in themselves, and if they could be “reckoned up” as they are, they would be “reckoned in order.” Created mind may not be able to grasp the principle of order that pervades them, but such a principle there is. And the more we study the whole series in its interrelations, the more shall we be convinced that as to time and place all the preparations for the mediatorial work of Christ, all the parts of its accomplishment, and all the divinely appointed consequents of its acceptation throughout all time into eternity, are faultlessly in order; they are precisely what and where and when they should be.—James Frame.

Verse 5.—“They are more than can be numbered.” The pulses of Providence are quicker than those of our wrists or temples. The soul of David knew right well their multiplicity, but could not multiply them aright by any skill in arithmetic; nay, the very sum or chief heads of divine kindnesses were innumerable. His “wonderful works” and “thoughts” towards him could not be reckoned up in order by him, they were more than could be numbered.—Samuel Lee (1625-1691), in “The Triumph of Mercy in the Chariot of Praise.”

Verse 5.—It is Christ’s speech, of whom the Psalm is made, and that relating unto his Father’s resolved purposes and contrivements from eternity, and those continued unto his sending Christ into the world to die for us, as verses 6, 7. It follows so, as although his thoughts and purposes were but one individual act at first, and never to be altered; yet they became many, through a perpetuated reiteration of them, wherein his constancy to himself is seen.... My brethren, if God have been thinking thoughts of mercy from everlasting to those that are his, what a stock and treasury do these thoughts arise to, besides those that are in his nature and disposition! This is in his actual purposes and intentions, which he hath thought, and doth think over, again and again, every moment. “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward,” saith Jesus Christ; for Psalm xl. is a Psalm of Christ, and quoted by the apostle, and applied unto Christ in Heb. x., “How many are thy thoughts to us-ward!”—he speaks it in the name of the human nature—that is, to me and mine. “If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” And what is the reason? Because God hath studied mercies, mercies for his children, even from everlasting. And then, “He reneweth his mercies every morning;” not that any mercies are new, but he actually thinketh over mercies again and again, and so he brings out of his treasury, mercies both new and old, and the old are always new. What a stock, my brethren, must this needs amount unto!—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 6.—“Sacrifice and offering ... burnt-offering and sin-offering.” Four kinds are here specified, both by the Psalmist and apostle: namely, sacrifice, זֶבַח zebhach, θυσία; offering, מִנְחָה minchah, προσφορὰ; burnt-offering, עוֹלָה olah, ὁλοκαύτωμα; sin-offering, חֲטָאָה chataah, περὶ ἁμαρτίας. Of all these we may say with the apostle, it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats, etc., should take away sin.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 6.—“Mine ears hast thou opened.” The literal translation is, mine ears hast thou digged (or pierced) through; which may well be interpreted as meaning, “Thou hast accepted me as thy slave,” in allusion to the custom (Exod. xxi. 6) of masters boring the ear of a slave, who had refused his offered freedom, in token of retaining him.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 6.—John Calvin, in treating upon the interpretation, “mine ears hast thou bored,” says, “this mode of interpretation appears to be too forced and refined.”

Verse 6.—“Mine ears hast thou opened.” If it be said that the apostle to the Hebrews read this differently, I answer, this does not appear to me. It is true, he found a different, but corrupted translation (ὠτία, ears, as the learned have observed, having been changed into σῶμα, body) in the LXX, which was the version then in use; and he was obliged to quote it as he found it, under the penalty, if he altered it, of being deemed a false quoter. He therefore took the translation as he found it, especially as it served to illustrate his argument equally well. Upon this quotation from the LXX the apostle argues, verse 9, “He (Christ) taketh away the first (namely, legal sacrifices), that he may establish the second” (namely, obedience to God’s will), in offering himself a sacrifice for the sins of mankind; and thus he must have argued upon a quotation from the Hebrew text as it stands at present.—Green, quoted in S. Burder’s “Scripture Expositor.”

Verse 6.—The apostle’s reading (Heb. x. 5), though it be far distant from the letter of the Hebrew, and in part from the LXX (as I suppose it to have been originally), yet is the most perspicuous interpretation of the meaning of it: Christ’s body comprehended the ears, and that assumed on purpose to perform in it the utmost degree of obedience to the will of God, to be obedient even to death, and thereby to be as the priest.—Henry Hammond.

Verse 6.—

Nor sacrifice thy love can win, Nor offerings from the stain of sin Obnoxious man shall clear: Thy hand my mortal frame prepares, (Thy hand, whose signature it bears,) And opes my willing ear.

James Merrick, M.A., 1720-1769.

Verses 6, 7.—In these words an allusion is made to a custom of the Jews to bore the ears of such as were to be their perpetual servants, and to enrol their names in a book, or make some instrument of the covenant. “Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not have;” but because I am thy vowed servant, bored with an awl, and enrolled in thy book, “I said, Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God.” These words of the Psalm are alleged by S. Paul, Heb. x. But the first of them with a most strange difference. For whereas the Psalmist hath, according to the Hebrew verity, “Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not: mine ears thou hast bored or digged,” כָּרִיתָ; S. Paul reads with the LXX, σῶμα κατηρτίσω μοι, “A body thou hast prepared or fitted me.” What equipollency can be in sense between these two? This difficulty is so much the more augmented because most interpreters make the life of the quotation to lie in those very words where the difference is, namely, That the words, “A body thou hast prepared me,” are brought by the apostle to prove our Saviour’s incarnation; whereunto the words in the Psalm itself (“Mine ears hast thou bored, or digged, or opened”), take them how you will, will in no wise suit. I answer, therefore, That the life of the quotation lies not in the words of difference, nor can do, because this epistle was written to the Hebrews, and so first in the Hebrew tongue, where this translation of the LXX could have no place. And if the life of the quotation lay here, I cannot see how it can possibly be reconciled. It lies therefore in the words where there is no difference, namely, That Christ was such a High Priest as came to sanctify us, not with legal offerings and sacrifices, but by his obedience in doing like a devoted servant the will of his Father. Thus, the allegation will not depend at all upon the words of difference, and so they give us liberty to reconcile them: “Mine ears hast thou bored,” saith the Psalmist, i.e., Thou hast accepted me for a perpetual servant, as masters are wont, according to the law, to bore such servants’ ears as refuse to part from them. Now the LXX, according to whom the apostle’s epistle readeth, thinking perhaps the meaning of this speech would be obscure to such as knew not that custom, chose rather to translate it generally σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, “Thou hast fitted my body,” namely, to be thy servant in such a manner as servants’ bodies are wont to be. And so the sense is all one, though not specified to the Jewish custom of boring the ear with an awl, but left indifferently appliable to the custom of any nation in marking and stigmatising their servants’ bodies.—Joseph Mede, B.D., 1586-1638.

Verses 6-10.—Here we have in Christ for our instruction, and in David also (his type) for our example; 1. A firm purpose of obedience, in a bored ear, and a yielding heart. 2. A ready performance thereof: “Lo, I come.” 3. A careful observance of the word written: “In the volume of the book it is written of me,” verse 7. 4. A hearty delight in that observance, verse 8. 5. A public profession and communication of God’s goodness to others, verses 9, 10. Now, we should labour to express Christ to the world, to walk as he walked (1 John ii. 6): our lives should be in some sense parallel with his life, as the transcript with the original: he left us a copy to write by, saith Saint Peter, 1st Epistle ii. 21.—John Trapp.

Verse 7.—“Then said I, Lo, I come.” As his name is above every name, so this coming of his is above every coming. We sometimes call our own births, I confess, a coming into the world; but properly, none ever came into the world but he. For, 1. He only truly can be said to come, who is before he comes; so were not we, only he so. 2. He only strictly comes who comes willingly; our crying and struggling at our entrance into the world, shows how unwillingly we come into it. He alone it is that sings out, “Lo, I come.” 3. He only properly comes who comes from some place or other. Alas! we had none to come from but the womb of nothing. He only had a place to be in before he came.—Mark Frank.

Verse 7.—“Then said I, Lo, I come,” to wit, as surety, to pay the ransom, and to do thy will, O God. Every word carrieth a special emphasis as, 1. The time, “then,” even so soon as he perceived that his Father had prepared his body for such an end, then, without delay. This speed implieth forwardness and readiness; he would lose no opportunity. 2. His profession in this word, “said I;” he did not closely, secretly, timorously, as being ashamed thereof, but he maketh profession beforehand. 3. This note of observation, “Lo,” this is a kind of calling angels and men to witness, and a desire that all might know his inward intention, and the disposition of his heart; wherein was as great a willingness as any could have to anything. 4. An offering of himself without any enforcement or compulsion; this he manifesteth in this word, “I come.” 5. That very instant set out in the present tense, “I come;” he puts it not off to a future and uncertain time, but even in that moment, he saith, “I come.” 6. The first person twice expressed, thus, “I said,” “I come.” He sendeth not another person, nor substituteth any in his room; but he, even he himself in his own person, cometh. All which do abundantly evidence Christ’s singular readiness and willingness, as our surety, to do his Father’s will, though it were by suffering, and by being made a sacrifice for our sins.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 7.—“Lo, I come,” i.e., to appear before thee; a phrase used to indicate the coming of an inferior into the presence of a superior, or of a slave before his master, Num. xxii. 38; 2 Sam. xix. 20: as in the similar expression, “Behold, here I am,” generally expressive of willingness.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 7.—“Lo, I come.” Christ’s coming in the spirit is a joyful coming. I think this, “Lo, I come,” expresses, 1. Present joy. 2. It expresses certain joy: the “Lo,” is a note of certainty; the thing is certain and true; and his joy is certain; certain, true, solid joy. 3. It expresses communicative joy; designing his people shall share of his joy, “Lo, I come!” The joy that Christ has as Mediator is a fulness of joy, designed for his people’s use, that out of his fulness we may receive, and grace for grace, and joy for joy; grace answering grace in Jesus, and joy answering joy in him. 4. It expresses solemn joy. He comes with a solemnity; “Lo, I come!” according to the council of a glorious Trinity. Now, when the purpose of heaven is come to the birth, and the decree breaks forth, and the fulness of time is come, he makes heaven and earth witness, as it were, to his solemn march on the errand: he says it with a loud, “Lo!” that all the world of men and angels may notice, “Lo, I come!” And, indeed, all the elect angels brake forth into joyful songs of praise at this solemnity; when he came in the flesh, they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill towards man.”—Ralph Erskine, 1685-1752.

Verse 7.—“Lo, I come,” or, am come, to wit, into the world (Heb. x. 5), and particularly to Jerusalem, to give myself a sacrifice for sin.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 7.—“The volume of the book.” What book is meant, whether the Scripture, or the book of life, is not certain, probably the latter.—W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 7.—“The volume of the book.” But what volume of manuscript roll is here meant? Plainly, the one which was already extant when the Psalmist was writing. If the Psalmist was David himself (as the title of the Psalm seems to affirm), the only parts of the Hebrew Scriptures then extant, and of course, the only part to which he could refer, must have been the Pentateuch, and perhaps the book of Joshua. Beyond any reasonable doubt, then, the κεφαλὶς βιβλίον (מְגִלַּת סֵפֶר) was the Pentateuch.... But I apprehend the meaning of the writer to be, that the book of the law, which prescribes sacrifices that were merely σκιαὶ or παραβολαὶ of the great atoning sacrifice by Christ, did itself teach, by the use of these, that something of a higher and better nature was to be looked for than Levitical rites. In a word, it pointed to the Messiah; or, some of the contents of the written law had respect to him.—Moses Stuart, M.A., in “A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews,” 1851.

Verse 7.—“The volume of the book,” etc. When I first considered Rom. v. 14 and other Scriptures in the New Testament which make the first Adam, and the whole story of him both before and after, and in his sinning or falling, to be the type and lively shadow of Christ, the second Adam; likewise observing that the apostle Paul stands admiring at the greatness of this mystery or mystical type, the Christ, the second Adam should so wonderfully be shadowed forth therein, as Eph. v. 32, he cries out, “This is a great mystery,” which he speaks applying and fitting some passages about Adam and Eve unto Christ and his church; it made me more to consider an interpretation of a passage in Heb. x. 7, out of Psalm xl. 7, which I before had not only not regarded, but wholly rejected, as being too like a postil[18] gloss. The passage is, that “when Christ came into the world,” to take our nature on him, he alleged the reason of it to be the fulfilling of a Scripture written in “the beginning of God’s book,” ἐν κεφαλίδι Βιβλίου, so out of the original the words may be, and are by many interpreters, translated, though our translation reads them only thus, “In the volume of the book it is written of me.” It is true, indeed, that in the fortieth Psalm, whence they are quoted, the words in the Hebrew may signify no more than that in God’s book (the manner of writing which was anciently in rolls of parchment, folded up in a volume) Christ was everywhere written and spoken of. Yet the word κεφαλις, which out of the Septuagint’s translation the apostle took, signifying, as all know, the beginning of a book; and we finding such an emphasis set by the apostle in the fifth chapter of the Ephesians, upon the history of Adam in the beginning of Genesis, as containing the mystery, yea, the great mystery about Christ, it did somewhat induce, though not so fully persuade, me to think, that the Holy Ghost in those words might have some glance at the story of Adam in the first of the first book of Moses. And withal the rather because so, the words so understood do intimate a higher and further inducement to Christ to assume our nature, the scope of the speech, Heb. x., being to render the reason why he so willingly took man’s nature: not only because God liked not sacrifice and burnt-offering, which came in but upon occasion of sin, and after the fall, and could not take sins away, but further, that he was prophesied of, and his assuming a body prophetically foresignified as in the fortieth Psalm, so even by Adam’s story before the fall, recorded in the very beginning of Genesis, which many other Scriptures do expressly apply it unto.—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 8.—“I delight to do thy will, O my God.” The will of God to redeem sinners by the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, was most grateful and pleasing to the very heart of Christ. It is said, Prov. viii. 31, when he was solacing himself in the sweetest enjoyment of his Father, whilst he lay in that blessed bosom of delights, yet the very prospect of this work gave him pleasure, then his “delights were with the sons of men.” And when he was come into the world, and had endured many abuses and injuries, and was even now come to the most difficult part of the work; yet, “how am I straitened, or pained (saith he), till it be accomplished!” Luke xii. 50. Two things call our thoughts to stay upon them in this point. First.—The decency of it—why it ought to be so. 1.—It became Christ to go about this work with cheerfulness and delight, that thereby he might give his death the nature and formality of a sacrifice. In all sacrifices you shall find that God had still a regard, a special respect to the will of the offerer. See Exod. xxxv. 5, 21, and Levit. i. 3. 2.—It ought to be so in view of the unity of Christ’s will with the Father’s. 3.—This was necessary to commend the love of Jesus Christ to us for whom he gave himself. That he came into the world to die for us is a mercy of the first magnitude; but that he came in love to our souls, and underwent all his sufferings with such willingness for our sakes, this heightens it above all apprehension. 4.—It was necessary to be so for the regulating of all our obedience to God, according to this pattern; that seeing and setting this great example of obedience before us, we might never grudge nor grumble at any duty or suffering that God should call us to. Secondly.—Let us consider and examine whence it came to be so pleasant and acceptable to Jesus Christ, to come into the world and die for poor sinners. 1.—That in his sufferings there would be made a glorious display and manifestation of the divine attributes. 2.—Another delightful prospect Christ had of the fruit of his sufferings, was the recovery and salvation of all the elect by his death; and though his sufferings were exceedingly bitter, yet such fruit of them as this was exceedingly sweet. 3.—Add to this, the glory which would redound to him from his redeemed ones to all eternity, for it will be the everlasting employment of the saints in heaven to be ascribing glory, praise, and honour to the Redeemer. Did Christ find pleasure in abasement and torment, in suffering and dying for me, and can I find no pleasure in praying, hearing, meditating, and enjoying the sweet duties of communion with him? Did he come so cheerfully to die for me, and do I go so deadheartedly to prayers and sacraments to enjoy fellowship with him? Was it a pleasure to him to shed his blood, and is it none to me to apply it, and reap the benefits of it? O let there be no more grumblings, lazy excuses, shiftings of duty, or dead-hearted and listless performances of them, after such an example as this. Be ready to do the will of God, be ye also ready to suffer it. And as to sufferings for Christ, they should not be grievous to Christians that know how cheerfully Christ came from the bosom of the Father to die for them. What have we to leave or lose, in comparison with him? What are our sufferings to Christ’s. Alas! there is no compare; there was more bitterness in one drop of his sufferings than in a sea of ours. To conclude: your delight and readiness in the paths of obedience is the very measure of your sanctification.—Condensed from John Flavel.

Verse 8.—Now, saith Christ, “I delight to do thy will, O my God;” it is the joy and rejoicing of my heart to be a-seeking and a-saving lost sinners. When Christ was an hungry, he went not into a victualling house but into the temple, and taught the people most part of the day, to show how much he delighted in the salvation of sinners, etc. Christ did so much delight, and his heart was so much set upon the conversion and salvation of the Samaritans, that he neglected his own body to save their souls, as you may clearly see in John iv.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 8.—“To do.” It was Jesus who was the doer of the work. The Father willed it; but he did not do it. It was Jesus who did it, who wrought it out; who brought it in; who carried it within the veil, and laid it as an acceptable and meritorious offering at the feet of his well-pleased Father. The work then is done; it is finished. We need not attempt to do it. We cannot do it. We cannot do that which is already done; and we could not do it, though it were yet undone. There is much that man can do, but he cannot make a propitiation.—James Frame.

Verse 8.—“Thy will.” The covenant between the Father and the Son, as elsewhere, so it is most clearly expressed (Heb. x. 7, from Ps. xl. 7, 8), “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God.” And what will? Verse 10, “The will by which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The will of God was, that Jesus should be offered; and to this end, that we might be sanctified and saved. It is called “The offering of the body of Jesus Christ,” in answer to what was said before, “A body hast thou prepared me,” or a human nature, by a synecdoche. “My will,” says God the Father, “is that thou have a body, and that thy body be offered up; and all to this end, that the children, the elect, might be sanctified.” Says the Son to this, “Lo, I come to do thy will;”—“I accept of the condition, and give up myself to the performance of thy will.”—John Owen.

Verse 8.—“Thy law is within my heart.” The law of God is not to be kept in books, but in the midst of our hearts, that we may rightly understand the same, admire it, and observe it.—Martin Geier.

Verse 8.—“Thy law is within my heart.” The will of God in which Christ delighted, was (as appears by the coherence, and the quotation of Heb. x. 5) that Christ should make his soul an offering for sin, as more acceptable to God than all other burnt-offerings and sin-offerings. This law was in his heart, בְּתֹוךְ מֵעָי, in the midst of his bowels. He did as much delight in it as we do in following those inclinations which nature has implanted in our hearts, as we do in eating and drinking. So he expresses it (John iv. 34), “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” He was as willing to bleed and die for thee as thou art to eat when hungry. He was delighted as much to be scourged, wounded, crucified, as thou delightest in meat when most delicious.—David Clarkson.

Verse 8.—“Within my heart,” margin, my bowels. The intestines or viscera are here mentioned as the place of the most profound spiritual occupation.—Franz Delitzsch.

Verse 9.—“I have preached righteousness,” etc. It is Jesus who speaks, and he speaks of himself as a PREACHER. He was a preacher, and a great preacher too. He was great—1. In genuine eloquence. All the handmaids of the choicest rhetoric ministered to him as he spake. His mind touched the minds of his auditors on all sides. 2. He was great in knowledge. Many who have an astonishing command of words, and who can use their words with astonishing rhetorical adroitness, spoil their influence by their “lack of knowledge.” They go blunderingly onward when they attempt to think for themselves, or to guide their hearers into fields of thought which have not been tracked by minds of the pioneer order. 3. He was great also in goodness. There is a greatness in goodness, and the greatness of goodness is an important element in the greatness of a preacher. 4. Jesus was great, too, in official status. Official status, whether in things civil, literary, or sacred, when conferred on worthy individuals, confers, in its turn, undoubted weight and moral authority. Now Jesus was the highest official in the universe. His authority extended to all other office-bearers, his office exceeded all other offices. He came from above, and was “above all.” He was Lord of lords, and King of kings. 5. Another element still in the greatness of Jesus, as a preacher, consisted in the greatness of his essential dignity. He was God as well as man. Such was Christ as a preacher. True he was more than a preacher; he was likewise a pattern, and a priest, and a propitiator; and as pattern, priest, and propitiator, he stands without a peer. But he was a preacher, too, and as a preacher, he has never had, and never will have an equal.—Condensed from James Frame.

Verse 9.—“The great congregation.” The “congregation” here referred to was “great” not only in numbers, but “great” also in the necessities of its individual members, and great in pollution.—James Frame.

Verses 9, 10.—“I have published.... I would not refrain.... I have not covered ... I have uttered ... I have not hid:” words are heaped upon words to express the eager forwardness of a heart burning to show forth its gratitude. No elaborate description could so well have given us the likeness of one whose “life was a thanksgiving.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verses 9, 10.—The true way of justification of sinners by faith is a jewel so precious and necessary for poor souls, that it should not be concealed: “I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart.” One sermon on this subject is not sufficient; it is necessary to make this mystery plain, how by faith in Christ the man that flieth to him is justified from his sins, and saved according to the covenant passed between the suffering Mediator and God the faithful promiser, to justify and save by his own way. “I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.”—David Dickson.

Verses 9, 10.—“Thy.” The adding thy to every one of them is emphatical; it was thy righteousness I had commission to declare, thy faithfulness I had order to proclaim, thy mercy I had charge to publish; thou wert as much interested in all that I did as I myself was. I shall be counted false and a liar, thou wilt be counted unjust and cruel, if all be not fulfilled as I have spoken. Since it was thy rule I observed, and thy glory I aimed at in declaring it, disgrace not thyself and me in refusing the petition of such a suppliant, who believes in my word which I gave out by thy authority.—Stephen Charnock.

Verse 10.—“I have not hid.” This intimates, that whoever undertook to preach the gospel of Christ would be in great temptation to hide it, and conceal it, because it must be preached with great contention, and in the face of great opposition.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 10.—“I have not hid,” etc. What God has done for us, or for the church, we should lay to heart; but not lock up in our heart.—Carl Bernhard Moll in Lange’s “Bibelwerk,” 1869.

Verse 11.—“Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me.” Do not hinder them from coming showering down upon me. “Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me;” or, do thou employ them in preserving me.—John Diodati.

Verse 12.—“For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head.” We lose ourselves when we speak of the sins of our lives. It may astonish any considering man to take notice how many sins he is guilty of any one day; how many sins accompany any one single act; nay, how many bewray themselves in any one religious duty. Whensoever ye do anything forbidden, you omit the duty at that time commanded; and whenever you neglect that which is enjoined, the omission is joined with the acting of something forbidden; so that the sin, whether omission or commission, is always double; nay, the apostle makes every sin tenfold. James ii. 10. That which seems one to us, according to the sense of the law, and the account of God, is multiplied by ten. He breaks every command by sinning directly against one, and so sins ten times at once; besides that swarm of sinful circumstances and aggravations which surround every act in such numbers, as atoms use to surround your body in a dusty room; you may more easily number these than those. And though some count these but fractions, incomplete sins, yet even from hence it is more difficult to take an account of their number. And, which is more for astonishment, pick out the best religious duty that ever you performed, and even in that performance you may find such a swarm of sins as cannot be numbered. In the best prayer that ever you put up to God, irreverence, lukewarmness, unbelief, spiritual pride, self-seeking, hypocrisy, distractions, etc., and many more, that an enlightened soul grieves and bewails; and yet there are many more that the pure eye of God discerns, than any man does take notice of.—David Clarkson.

Verse 12.—“Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me.” They seized him as the sinner’s substitute, to deal with him as regards their own penalty, according to the sinner’s desert.—James Frame.

Verse 13.—The remaining verses of this Psalm are almost exactly identical with Psalm LXX.

Verse 14.—“Let them be ashamed and confounded,” etc. Even this prayer carried benevolence in its bosom. It sought from the divine Father, such a manifestation of what was glorious and God-like as might unnerve each rebel arm, and overawe each rebel heart in the traitor’s company. If each arm were for a little unnerved, if each heart were for a little unmanned, there might be time for the better principles of their nature to rise and put an arrest upon the prosecution of their wicked design. Such being the benevolent aim of the prayer, we need not wonder that it issued from the same heart that by-and-by exclaimed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;” neither need we marvel that it was answered to the very letter, and that as soon as he said to the traitor band, “I am he,” they went backward and fell to the ground.—James Frame.

Verse 15.—“Aha, aha.” An exclamation which occurs three times in the Psalms; and in each case there seems to be reference to the mockery at the Passion. See xxxv. 21; and lxx. 3, which appear to belong to the same time as the present Psalm.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 16.—“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.” As every mercy to every believer giveth a proof of God’s readiness to show the like mercy to all believers, when they stand in need; so should every mercy shown to any of the number, being known to the rest, be made the matter and occasion of magnifying the Lord.—David Dickson.

Verse 16.—“Such as love thy salvation.” To love God’s salvation is to love God himself, the Saviour, or Jesus.—Martin Geier.

Verse 16.—“Such as love thy salvation.” One would think that self-love alone should make us love salvation. Ay, but they love it because it is his, “that love thy salvation.” It is the character of a holy saint to love salvation itself; not as his own only, but as God’s, as God’s that saves him.—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 16.—“Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.” Jesus who gave us our capacity of happiness and our capacity of speaking, realised the relation which he had established between them; and hence in praying for his friends, he prayed that in the joy and gladness of their souls they might say, “The Lord be magnified.” He desired them to speak of their holy happiness; and it was his wish that when they did speak of it they should speak in terms of laudation of Jehovah, for he was the source of it. He desired them to say continually, “The Lord be magnified.”—James Frame.

Verse 17.—In Dr. Malan’s memoir, the editor, one of his sons, thus writes of his brother Jocelyn, who was for some years prior to his death, the subject of intense bodily sufferings:—“One striking feature in his character was his holy fear of God, and reverence for his will. One day I was repeating a verse from the Psalms, ‘As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord careth for me: thou art my helper and deliverer; O Lord, make no long tarrying.’ He said, ‘Mamma, I love that verse, all but the last bit, it looks like a murmur against God. He never tarries in my case.’”—From “The Life, Labours, and Writings of Cæsar Malan (1787-1864): By one of his sons,” 1689.

Verse 17.—“Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” Sacred story derives from heaven the kindness of Abimelech to Abraham, of Laban and Esau to Jacob, of Ruth to Naomi, of Boaz to Ruth, and Jonathan to David. When others think of kindness to us, let us imitate David, ’tis the Lord that thinketh upon me, and forms those thoughts within their hearts. This should calm our spirits when a former friend’s heart is alienated by rash admissions of false suggestions, or when any faithful Jonathan expires his spirit into the bosom of God. It should not be lost what Hobson, the late noted carrier of Cambridge, said to a young student receiving a letter of the sad tidings of his uncle’s decease (who maintained him at the University), and weeping bitterly, and reciting the cause of his grief, he replied, Who gave you that friend? Which saying did greatly comfort him, and was a sweet support to him afterwards in his ministry. The Everliving God is the portion of a living faith, and he can never want that hath such an ocean. He that turns the hearts of kings like rivers at his pleasure, turns all the little brooks in the world into what scorched and parched ground he pleases.—Samuel Lee.

Verse 17.—“The Lord thinketh upon me.” There are three things in God’s thinking upon us, that are solacing and delightful. Observe the frequency of his thoughts. Indeed, they are incessant. You have a friend, whom you esteem and love. You wish to live in his mind. You say when you part, and when you write, “Think of me.” You give him, perhaps, a token to revive his remembrance. How naturally is Selkirk, in his solitary island, made to say:

“My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought after me? O tell me, I yet have a friend, Though a friend I am never to see.

Ye winds, that have made me your sport, Convey to this desolate shore Some cordial, endearing report. Of a land I shall visit no more.”

But the dearest connexion in the world cannot be always thinking upon you. Half his time he is in a state of unconsciousness; and how much during the other half, is he engrossed! But there is no remission in the Lord’s thoughts.... Observe in the next place, the wisdom of his thoughts. You have a dear child, absent from you, and you follow him in your mind. But you know not his present circumstances. You left him in such a place; but where is he now? You left him in such a condition. But what is he now? Perhaps, while you are thinking upon his health, he is groaning under a bruised limb, or a painful disorder. Perhaps, while you are thinking of his safety, some enemy is taking advantage of his innocency. Perhaps, while you are rejoicing in his prudence, he is going to take a step that will involve him for life. But when God thinketh upon you, he is perfectly acquainted with your situation, your dangers, your wants. He knows all your walking through this great wilderness, and can afford you the seasonable succour you need. For again, observe the efficiency of his thoughts. You think upon another, and you are anxious to guide, or defend, or relieve him. But in how many cases can you think only? Solicitude cannot control the disease of the body, cannot dissipate the melancholy of the mind. But with God all things are possible. He who thinks upon you is a God at hand and not afar off; he has all events under his control; he is the God of all grace. If, therefore, he does not immediately deliver, it is not because he is unable to redress, but because he is waiting to be gracious.—William Jay.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—I. My part—praying and waiting. II. God’s part—condescension and reply.

Verse 2.—I. The depth of God’s goodness to his people. It finds them often in a horrible pit and miry clay. There is a certain spider which forms a pit in sand, and lies concealed at the bottom, in order to seize upon other insects that fall into it. Thus David’s enemies tried to bring him into a pit. II. The height of his goodness. He brought me out, and set my feet upon a rock. That rock is Christ. Those feet are faith and hope. III. The breadth of his goodness established my goings, restored me to my former place in his love, showing me still to have been his during my low estate. He was the same to me, though I felt not the same to him. My goings refer both to the past and the future. IV. The strength of his goodness established my goings, making me stand firmer after every fall.—George Rogers.

Verses 2, 3.—The sinner’s position by nature, and his rescue by grace.

Verses 2, 3.—By one and the same act the Lord works our salvation, our enemies’ confusion, and the church’s edification.—J. P. Lange’s Commentary.

Verse 3.—The new song, the singer, the teacher.

Verse 4 (last clause).—I. Find out who turn aside to lies—Atheists, Papists, self-righteous, lovers of sin. II. Show their folly in turning aside from God and truth, and in turning to fallacies which lead to death. III. Show how to be preserved from the like folly, by choosing truth, truthful persons, and above all the service of God.

Verse 5.—I. There are works of God in his people and for his people. There are his works of creation, of providence, and of redemption, and also his works of grace, wrought in them by his Spirit, and around them by his providence, as well as for them by his Son. II. These are wonderful works; wonderful in their variety, their tenderness, their adaptation to their need, their co-operation with outward means and their power. III. They are the result of the divine thoughts respecting us. They come not by chance, not by men, but by the hand of God, and that hand is moved by his will, and that will by his thought respecting us. Every mercy, even the least, represents some kind thought in the mind of God respecting us. God thinks of each one of his people, and every moment. IV. They are innumerable. “They cannot be reckoned up.” Could we see all the mercies of God to us and his wonderful works wrought for us individually, they would be countless as the sands, and all these countless mercies represent countless thoughts in the mind and heart of God to each one of his people.—George Rogers.

Verse 5.—The multitude of God’s thoughts, and deeds of grace, beginning in eternity, continuing for ever; and dealing with this life, heaven, hell, sin, angels, devils, and indeed all things.

Verse 6.—Here David goes beyond himself, and speaks the language of David’s Son. This was naturally suggested by God’s wonderful works, and innumerable thoughts of love to man. I. The sacrifices that were not required. These were the sacrifices and burnt-offerings under the law. 1. When required? From Adam to the coming of Christ. 2. When not required? 3. Why required before? As types of the one method of redemption. 4. Why not now required? Because the great Antetype had come. II. The sacrifice that was required. This was the sacrifice offered on Calvary. 1. It was required by God by his justice, his wisdom, his faithfulness, his love, his honour, his glory. 2. It was required by man to give him salvation and confidence in that salvation. 3. It was required for the honour of the moral government of God throughout the universe. III. The person by whom this sacrifice was offered. “Mine ears hast thou opened.” This is the language of Christ, prospectively denoting—1. Knowledge of the sacrifice required. 2. Consecration of himself as a servant for that end.—George Rogers.

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