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

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

4. “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth.” Angels and men, the upper and the lower worlds, are called to witness the solemn scene. The whole creation shall stand in court to testify to the solemnity and the truth of the divine pleading. Both earth beneath and heaven above shall unite in condemning sin; the guilty shall have no appeal, though all are summoned that they may appeal if they dare. Both angels and men have seen the guilt of mankind and the goodness of the Lord, they shall therefore confess the justice of the divine utterance, and say “Amen” to the sentence of the supreme Judge. Alas, ye despisers! What will ye do and to whom will ye fly? “That he may judge his people.” Judgment begins at the house of God. The trial of the visible people of God will be a most awful ceremonial. He will throughly purge his floor. He will discern between his nominal and his real people, and that in open court, the whole universe looking on. My soul, when this actually takes place, how will it fare with thee? Canst thou endure the day of his coming?

5. “Gather my saints together unto me.” Go, ye swift-winged messengers, and separate the precious from the vile. Gather out the wheat of the heavenly garner. Let the long-scattered, but elect people known by my separating grace to be my sanctified ones, be now assembled in one place. All are not saints who seem to be so—a severance must be made; therefore let all who profess to be saints be gathered before my throne of judgment, and let them hear the word which will search and try the whole, that the false may be convicted and the true revealed. “Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice;” this is the grand test, and yet some have dared to imitate it. The covenant was ratified by the slaying of victims, the cutting and dividing of offerings; this the righteous have done by accepting with true faith the great propitiatory sacrifice, and this the pretenders have done in merely outward form. Let them be gathered before the throne for trial, and testing, and as many as have really ratified the covenant by faith in the Lord Jesus shall be attested before all worlds as the objects of distinguishing grace while formalists shall learn that outward sacrifices are all in vain. Oh, solemn assize, how does my soul bow in awe at the prospect thereof!

6. “And the heavens shall declare his righteousness.” Celestial intelligences and the spirits of just men made perfect, shall magnify the infalliable judgment of the divine tribunal. Now they doubtless wonder at the hypocrisy of men; then they shall equally marvel at the exactness of the severance between the true and the false. “For God is judge himself.” This is the reason for the correctness of the judgment. Priests of old, and churches of later times, were readily deceived, but not so the all-discerning Lord. No deputy-judge sits on the great white throne; the injured Lord of all himself weighs the evidence and allots the vengeance or reward. The scene in the Psalm is a grand poetical conception, but it is also an inspired prophecy of that day which shall burn as an oven, when the Lord shall discern between him that feareth him and him that feareth him not. “Selah.” Here we may well pause in reverent prostration, in deep searching of heart, in humble prayer and in awe-struck expectation.

7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

The address which follows is directed to the professed people of God. It is clearly, in the first place, meant for Israel; but is equally applicable to the visible church of God in every age. It declares the futility of external worship when spiritual faith is absent and the mere outward ceremonial is rested in.

7. “Hear, O my people, and I will speak.” Because Jehovah speaks, and they are avowedly his own people, they are bound to give earnest heed. “Let me speak,” saith the great I AM. The heavens and earth are but listeners, the Lord is about both to testify and to judge. “O Israel, and I will testify against thee.” Their covenant name is mentioned to give point to the address; it was a double evil that the chosen nation should become so carnal, so unspiritual, so false, so heartless to their God. God himself, whose eyes sleep not, who is not misled by rumour, but sees for himself, enters on the scene as witness against his favoured nation. Alas! for us when God, even our fathers’ God, testifies to the hypocrisy of the visible church. “I am God, even thy God.” He had taken them to be his peculiar people above all other nations, and they had in the most solemn manner avowed that he was their God. Hence the special reason for calling them to account. The law began with, “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,” and now the session of their judgment opens with the same reminder of their singular position, privilege, and responsibility. It is not only that Jehovah is God, but thy God, O Israel; this it is that makes thee so amenable to his searching reproofs.

8. “I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifice or thy burnt offerings, to have been ever before me.” Though they had not failed in maintaining his outward worship, or even if they had, he was not about to call them to account for this: a more weighty matter was now under consideration. They thought the daily sacrifices and the abounding burnt offerings to be everything: he counted them nothing if the inner sacrifice of heart devotion had been neglected. What was greatest with them was least with God. It is even so to-day. Sacraments (so called) and sacred rites are the main concern with unconverted but religious men, but with the Most High the spiritual worship which they forget is the sole matter. Let the external be maintained by all means according to the divine command, but if the secret and spiritual be not in them, they are a vain oblation, a dead ritual, and even an abomination before the Lord.

9. “I will take no bullock out of thy house.” Foolishly they dreamed that bullocks with horns and hoofs could please the Lord, when indeed he sought for hearts and souls. Impiously they fancied that Jehovah needed these supplies, and that if they fed his altar with their fat beasts, he would be content. What he intended for their instruction, they made their confidence. They remembered not that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” “Nor he goats out of thy folds.” He mentions these lesser victims as if to rouse their common sense to see that the great Creator could find no satisfaction in mere animal offerings. If he needed these, he would not appeal to their scanty stalls and folds; in fact, he here refuses to take so much as one, if they brought them under the false and dishonouring view, that they were in themselves pleasing to him. This shows that the sacrifices of the law were symbolical of higher and spiritual things, and were not pleasing to God except under their typical aspect. The believing worshipper looking beyond the outward was accepted, the unspiritual who had no respect to their meaning was wasting his substance, and blaspheming the God of heaven.

10. “For every beast of the forest is mine.” How could they imagine that the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, had need of beasts, when all the countless hordes that find shelter in a thousand forests and wildernesses belong to him? “And the cattle upon a thousand hills.” Not alone the wild beasts, but also the tamer creatures are all his own. Even if God cared for these things, he could supply himself. Their cattle were not, after all, their own, but were still the great Creator’s property, why then should he be beholden to them. From Dan to Beersheba, from Nebaioth to Lebanon, there fed not a beast which was not marked with the name of the great Shepherd; why, then, should he crave oblations of Israel? What a slight is here put even upon sacrifices of divine appointment when wrongly viewed as in themselves pleasing to God! And all this to be so expressly stated under the law! How much more is this clear under the gospel, when it is so much more plainly revealed, that “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”? Ye Ritualists, ye Sacramentarians, ye modern Pharisees, what say ye to this?

11. “I know all the fowls of the mountains.” All the winged creatures are under my inspection and near my hand; what then can be the value of your pairs of turtledoves and your two young pigeons? The great Lord not only feeds all his creatures, but is well acquainted with each one; how wondrous is this knowledge! “And the wild beasts of the field are mine.” The whole population moving over the plain belongs to me; why then should I seek your beeves and rams? In me all things live and move; how mad are you to suppose that I desire your living things! A spiritual God demands other life than that which is seen in animals; he looks for spiritual sacrifice, for the love, the trust, the praise, the life of your hearts.

12. “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee.” Strange conception, a hungry God! Yet if such an absurd ideal could be truth, and if the Lord hungered for meat he would not ask it of men. He could provide for himself out of his own possessions; he would not turn suppliant to his own creatures. Even under the grossest idea of God, faith in outward ceremonies is ridiculous. Do men fancy that the Lord needs banners, and music, and incense, and fine linen? If he did, the stars would emblazon his standard, the winds and the waves become his orchestra, ten thousand times ten thousand flowers would breathe forth perfume, the snow should be his alb, the rainbow his girdle, the clouds of light his mantle. O fools and slow of heart, ye worship ye know not what! “For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.” What can he need who is owner of all things and able to create as he wills? Thus overwhelmingly does the Lord pour forth his arguments upon formalists.

13. “Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” Are you so infatuated as to think this? Is the great I AM subject to corporeal wants, and are they to be thus grossly satisfied? Heathens thought thus of their idols, but dare ye think thus of the God who made the heavens and the earth? Can ye have fallen so low as to think thus of me, O Israel? What vivid reasoning is here! How the fire-flashes dart into the idiot faces of trusters in outward forms! Ye dupes of Rome, can ye read this and be unmoved? The expostulation is indignant; the questions utterly confound; the conclusion is inevitable; heart worship only can be acceptable with the true God. It is inconceivable that outward things can gratify him, except so far as through them our faith and love express themselves.

14. “Offer unto God thanksgiving.” No longer look at your sacrifices as in themselves gifts pleasing to me, but present them as the tributes of your gratitude; it is then that I will accept them, but not while your souls have no love and no thankfulness to offer me. The sacrifices, as considered in themselves, are contemned, but the internal emotions of love consequent upon a remembrance of divine goodness, are commended as the substance, meaning, and soul of sacrifice. Even when the legal ceremonials were not abolished, this was true, and when they came to an end, this truth was more than ever made manifest. Not for want of bullocks on the altar was Israel blamed, but for want of thankful adoration before the Lord. She excelled in the visible, but in the inward grace, which is the one thing needful, she sadly failed. Too many in these days are in the same condemnation. “And pay thy vows unto the most High.” Let the sacrifice be really presented to the God who seeth the heart, pay to him the love you promised, the service you covenanted to render, the loyalty of heart you have vowed to maintain. O for grace to do this! O that we may be graciously enabled to love God, and live up to our profession! To be, indeed, the servants of the Lord, the lovers of Jesus, this is our main concern. What avails our baptism, to what end our gatherings at the Lord’s table, to what purpose our solemn assemblies, if we have not the fear of the Lord, and vital godliness reigning within our bosoms?

15. “And call upon me in the day of trouble.” Oh, blessed verse! Is this then true sacrifice? Is it an offering to ask an alms of heaven? It is even so. The King himself so regards it. For herein is faith manifested, herein is love proved, for in the hour of peril we fly to those we love. It seems a small thing to pray to God when we are distressed, yet is it a more acceptable worship than the mere heartless presentation of bullocks and he-goats. This is a voice from the throne, and how full of mercy it is! It is very tempestuous round about Jehovah, and yet what soft drops of mercy’s rain fall from the bosom of the storm! Who would not suffer such sacrifice? Troubled one, haste to present it now! Who shall say that Old Testament saints did not know the gospel? Its very spirit and essence breathe like frankincense all around this holy Psalm. “I will deliver thee.” The reality of thy sacrifice of prayer shall be seen in its answer. Whether the smoke of burning bulls be sweet to me or no, certainly thy humble prayer shall be, and I will prove it so by my gracious reply to thy supplication. This promise is very large, and may refer both to temporal and eternal deliverances; faith can turn it every way, like the sword of the cherubim. “And thou shalt glorify me.” Thy prayer will honour me, and thy grateful perception of my answering mercy will also glorify me. The goats and bullocks would prove a failure, but the true sacrifice never could. The calves of the stall might be a vain oblation, but not the calves of sincere lips.

Thus we see what is true ritual. Here we read inspired rubrics. Spiritual worship is the great, the essential matter; all else without it is rather provoking than pleasing to God. As helps to the soul, outward offerings were precious, but when men went not beyond them, even their hallowed things were profaned in the view of heaven.

16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.

21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

Here the Lord turns to the manifestly wicked among his people; and such there were even in the highest places of his sanctuary. If moral formalists had been rebuked, how much more these immoral pretenders to fellowship with heaven? If the lack of heart spoiled the worship of the more decent and virtuous, how much more would violations of the law, committed with a high hand, corrupt the sacrifices of the wicked?

16. “But unto the wicked God saith.” To the breakers of the second table he now addresses himself; he had previously spoken to the neglecters of the first. “What hast thou to do to declare my statutes?” You violate openly my moral law, and yet are great sticklers for my ceremonial commands! What have you to do with them? What interest can you have in them? Do you dare to teach my law to others, and profane it yourselves? What impudence, what blasphemy is this! Even if you claim to be sons of Levi, what of that? Your wickedness disqualifies you, disinherits you, puts you out of the succession. It should silence you, and would if my people were as spiritual as I would have them, for they would refuse to hear you, and to pay you the portion of temporal things which is due to my true servants. You count up your holy days, you contend for rituals, you fight for externals, and yet the weightier matters of the law ye despise! Ye blind guides, ye strain out gnats and swallow camels; your hypocrisy is written on your foreheads and manifest to all. “Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth.” Ye talk of being in covenant with me, and yet trample my holiness beneath your feet as swine trample upon pearls; think ye that I can brook this? Your mouths are full of lying and slander, and yet ye mouth my words as if they were fit morsels for such as you! How horrible an evil it is, that to this day we see men explaining doctrines who despise precepts! They make grace a coverlet for sin, and even judge themselves to be sound in the faith, while they are rotten in life. We need the grace of the doctrines as much as the doctrines of grace, and without it an apostle is but a Judas, and a fair-spoken professor is an arrant enemy of the cross of Christ.

17. “Seeing thou hatest instruction.” Profane professors are often too wise to learn, too besotted with conceit to be taught of God. What a monstrosity that men should declare those statutes which with their hearts they do not know, and which in their lives they openly disavow! Woe unto the men who hate the instruction which they take upon themselves to give. “And castest my words behind thee.” Despising them, throwing them away as worthless, putting them out of sight as obnoxious. Many boasters of the law did this practically; and in these last days there are pickers and choosers of God’s words who cannot endure the practical part of Scripture; they are disgusted at duty, they abhor responsibility, they disembowel texts of their plain meanings, they wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction. It is an ill sign when a man dares not look a Scripture in the face, and an evidence of brazen impudence when he tries to make it mean something less condemnatory of his sins, and endeavours to prove it to be less sweeping in its demands. How powerful is the argument that such men have no right to take the covenant of God into their mouths, seeing that its spirit does not regulate their lives!

18. “When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him.” Moral honesty cannot be absent where true grace is present. Those who excuse others in trickery are guilty themselves; those who use others to do unjust actions for them are doubly so. If a man be ever so religious, if his own actions do not rebuke dishonesty, he is an accomplice with thieves. If we can acquiesce in anything which is not upright, we are not upright ourselves, and our religion is a lie. “And hast been partaker with adulterers.” One by one the moral precepts are thus broken by the sinners in Zion. Under the cloak of piety, unclean livers conceal themselves. We may do this by smiling at unchaste jests, listening to indelicate expressions, and conniving at licentious behaviour in our presence; and if we thus act, how dare we preach, or lead public prayer, or wear the Christian name? See how the Lord lays righteousness to the plummet! How plainly all this declares that without holiness no man shall see the Lord! No amount of ceremonial or theological accuracy can cover dishonesty and fornication; these filthy things must be either purged from us by the blood of Jesus, or they will kindle a fire in God’s anger which will burn even to the lowest hell.

19. “Thou givest thy mouth to evil.” Sins against the ninth commandment are here mentioned. The man who surrenders himself to the habit of slander is a vile hypocrite if he associates himself with the people of God. A man’s health is readily judged by his tongue. A foul mouth, a foul heart. Some slander almost as often as they breathe, and yet are great upholders of the church, and great sticklers for holiness. To what depths will not they go in evil, who delight in spreading it with their tongues? “And thy tongue frameth deceit.” This is a more deliberate sort of slander, where the man dexterously elaborates false witness, and concocts methods of defamation. There is an ingenuity of calumny in some men, and, alas! even in some who are thought to be followers of the Lord Jesus. They manufacture falsehoods, weave them in their loom, hammer them on their anvil, and then retail their wares in every company. Are these accepted with God? Though they bring their wealth to the altar, and speak eloquently of truth and of salvation, have they any favour with God? We should blaspheme the holy God if we were to think so. They are corrupt in his sight, a stench in his nostrils. He will cast all liars into hell. Let them preach, and pray, and sacrifice as they will; till they become truthful, the God of truth loathes them utterly.

20. “Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother.” He sits down to it, makes it his meat, studies it, resolves upon it, becomes a master of defamation, occupies the chair of calumny. His nearest friend is not safe, his dearest relative escapes not. “Thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.” He ought to love him best, but he has an ill word for him. The son of one’s own mother was to the Oriental a very tender relation; but the wretched slanderer knows no claims of kindred. He stabs his brother in the dark, and aims a blow at him who came forth of the same womb: yet he wraps himself in the robe of hypocrisy, and dreams that he is a favourite of heaven, an accepted worshipper of the Lord. Are such monsters to be met with nowadays? Alas! they pollute our churches still, and are roots of bitterness, spots in our solemn feasts, wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Perhaps some such may read these lines, but they will probably read them in vain; their eyes are too dim to see their own condition, their hearts are waxen gross, their ears are dull of hearing; they are given up to a strong delusion to believe a lie, that they may be damned.

21. “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence.” No swift judgment overthrew the sinner—longsuffering reigned; no thunder was heard in threatening, and no bolt of fire was hurled in execution. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” The inference drawn from the Lord’s patience was infamous: the respited culprit thought his judge to be one of the same order as himself. He offered sacrifice, and deemed it accepted; he continued in sin, and remained unpunished, and therefore he rudely said, “Why need believe these crazy prophets? God cares not how we live so long as we pay our tithes. Little does he consider how we get the plunder, so long as we bring a bullock to his altar.” What will not men imagine of the Lord? At one time they liken the glory of Israel to a calf and anon their brutish selves. “But I will reprove thee.” At last I will break silence and let thee know my mind. “And set them in order before thine eyes.” I will marshal thy sins in battle array. I will make thee see them, I will put them down item by item, classified, and arranged. Thou shalt know that if silent awhile, I was never blind or deaf. I will make thee perceive what thou hast tried to deny. I will leave the seat of mercy for the throne of judgment, and there will I let thee see how great the difference between thee and me.

22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

22. “Now” or oh! it is a word of entreaty, for the Lord is loth even to let the most ungodly run on to destruction. “Consider this;” take these truths to heart, ye who trust in ceremonies and ye who live in vice, for both of you sin in that “ye forget God.” Bethink you how unaccepted you are, and turn unto the Lord. See how you have mocked the eternal, and repent of your iniquities. “Lest I tear you in pieces,” as a lion rends his prey, “and there be none to deliver,” no Saviour, no refuge, no hope. Ye reject the Mediator: beware, for ye will sorely need one in the day of wrath, and none will be near to plead for you. How terrible, how complete, how painful, how humiliating, will be the destruction of the wicked! God uses no soft words, or velvet metaphors, nor may his servants do so when they speak of the wrath to come. O reader, consider this.

23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

23. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.” Praise is the best sacrifice; true, hearty, gracious thanksgiving from a renewed mind. Not the lowing of bullocks bound to the altar, but the songs of redeemed men are the music which the ear of Jehovah delights in. Sacrifice your loving gratitude, and God is honoured thereby. “And to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.” Holy living is a choice evidence of salvation. He who submits his whole way to divine guidance, and is careful to honour God in his life, brings an offering which the Lord accepts through his dear Son; and such a one shall be more and more instructed, and made experimentally to know the Lord’s salvation. He needs salvation, for the best ordering of the life cannot save us, but that salvation he shall have. Not to ceremonies, not to unpurified lips, is the blessing promised, but to grateful hearts and holy lives.

O Lord, give us to stand in the judgment with those who have worshipped thee aright and have seen thy salvation.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—The exordium or beginning of this Psalm is the most grand and striking that can possibly be imagined—the speaker GOD, the audience an assembled world! We cannot compare or assimilate the scene here presented to us with any human resemblance; nor do I imagine that earth will ever behold such a day till that hour when the trumpet of the archangel shall sound, and shall gather all the nations of the earth from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other; when the dead, small and great, shall stand before God, and the sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and death and hell shall deliver up the dead that are in them.—Barton Bouchier.

Verse 1.—“El, Elohim, Jehovah has spoken!” So reads the Hebrew.—Andrew A. Bonar.

Verse 1 (first clause).—Some have observed that these three names, El, Elohim, Jehovah, here mentioned, have three very distinct accents set to them, and which being joined to a verb singular דִּבֶּר, hath spoken, contains the mystery of the trinity of Persons in the unity of the divine Essence.—John Gill.

Verse 1.—“And called the earth,” etc., i.e., all the inhabitants of the earth he has commanded to come as witnesses and spectators of the judgment.—Simon de Muis.

Verses 1-5.—

No more shall atheists mock his long delay; His vengeance sleeps no more; behold the day! Behold!—the Judge descends; his guards are nigh, Tempests and fire attend him down the sky. When God appears, all nature shall adore him. While sinners tremble, saints rejoice before him. Heaven, earth, and hell, draw near; let all things come, To hear my justice, and the sinner’s doom; But gather first my saints (the Judge commands), Bring them, ye angels, from their distant lands. When Christ returns, wake every cheerful passion, And shout, ye saints; he comes for your salvation.

Isaac Watts.

Verse 2.—Out of Zion, the perfection of God’s beauty hath shined; or, God has caused the perfection of beauty to shine out of Zion.—Martin Geier.

Verse 2.—“God hath shined.” Like the sun in his strength, sometimes for the comfort of his people, as Psalm lxxx. 1; sometimes for the terror of evil-doers, as Psalm xciv. 1, and here. But evermore God is terrible out of his holy places. Psalm lxviii. 35, and lxxxix. 7.—John Trapp.

Verse 2.—“God hath shined.” The proper meaning of יָפַא is to scatter rays from afar, and from a lofty place, and to glitter. It is a word of a grand sound, says Ch. Schultens, which is always used of a magnificent and flashing light.... It is apparently used of the splendid symbol of God’s presence, as in Deut. xxxiv. 2, where he is said to scatter beams from Mount Paran. From which it is manifest that it may refer to the pillar of cloud and fire, the seat of the Divine Majesty conspicuous on Mount Sinai, or on the tabernacle, or the loftiest part of the temple.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 3.—“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.” He kept silence that he might be judged, he will not keep silence when he begins to judge. It would not have been said, “He shall come manifestly,” unless at first he had come concealed; nor, “He shall not keep silence,” had he not at first kept silence. How did he keep silence? Ask Isaiah: “He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Isa. liii. 7. But he shall come manifestly, and shall not keep silence. How manifestly? “A fire shall go before him, and round about him a mighty tempest.” That tempest is to carry wholly away the chaff from the floor which is now in threshing; that fire, to consume what the tempest carries off. Now, however, he is silent; silent in judgment, but not in precept. For if Christ is silent, what mean these gospels? What the voices of the apostles? the canticles of the Psalms? the lofty utterances of the prophets? Truly in all these Christ is not silent. Howbeit he is silent for the present in not taking vengeance, not in not warning. But he will come in surpassing brightness to take vengeance, and will be seen of all, even of those who believe not on him; but now, forasmuch as although present he was not concealed, it behoved him to be despised: for unless he had been despised he would not have been crucified; if not crucified he would not have shed his blood, the price with which he redeemed us. But in order that he might give a price for us, he was crucified; that he might be crucified, he was despised; that he might be despised, he appeared in humble guise.—Augustine.

Verse 3 (first clause).—The future in the first clause may be rendered he is coming, as if the sound of his voice and the light of his glory had preceded his actual appearance. The imagery is borrowed from the giving of the law at Sinai.—J. A. Alexander.

Verse 3 (first clause).—May our God come![22] A prayer for the hastening of his advent, as in the Apocalypse, xxii. 20.—Pool’s Synopsis.

Verse 3.—“A fire shall devour before him.” As he gave his law in fire, so in fire shall he require it.—John Trapp.

Verse 4.—“He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth.” That these dumb creatures may be as so many speaking evidences against an unworthy people, and witnesses of God’s righteous dealings against them. See Deut. xxxii. 1; Isaiah i. 2; Mic. vi. 2. The Chaldee thus paraphraseth: He will call the high angels from above; and the just of the earth from beneath.—John Trapp.

Verse 5.—“Gather,” etc. To whom are these words addressed? Many suppose to the angels, as the ministers of God’s will; but it is unnecessary to make the expression more definite than it is in the Psalm.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 5.—“My saints,” the objects of my mercy, those whom I have called and specially distinguished. The term is here descriptive of a relation, not of an intrinsic quality.—J. A. Alexander.

Verse 5.—“Gather my saints together unto me.” There is a double or two-fold gathering to Christ. There is a gathering unto Christ by faith, a gathering within the bond of the covenant, a gathering into the family of God, a gathering unto the root of Jesse, standing up for an ensign of the people. “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” Isa. xi. 10. This is the main end of the gospel, the great work of ministers, the gathering of sinners unto Christ. But then there is a gathering unto Christ at the general judgment; and this is the gathering that is here spoken of. This gathering is consequential to the other. Christ will gather none to him at the last day but those that are gathered to him by faith here; he will give orders to gather together unto him all these, and none but these, that have taken hold of his covenant....

I would speak of Christ’s owning and acknowledging the saints at his second coming. His owning and acknowledging them is imported in his giving these orders, “Gather my saints together unto me.”... Now upon this head I mention the things following:—1. Saintship will be the only mark of distinction in that day. There are many marks of distinction now; but these will all cease, and this only will remain. 2. Saintship will then be Christ’s badge of honour. Beware of mocking at saintship, or sanctity, holiness, and purity; for it is Christ’s badge of honour, the garment with which his followers are clothed, and will be the only badge of honour at the great day. 3. Christ will forget and misken none of the saints. Many of the saints are forgotten here, it is forgotten that such persons were in the world, but Christ will forget and misken none of them at the great day; he will give forth a list of all his saints, and give orders to gather them all unto him. 4. He will confess, own, and acknowledge them before his Father, and his holy angels. Matt. x. 32; Luke xii. 8; Rev. iii. 5; They are to go to my Father’s house, and they are to go thither in my name, in my right, and at my back; and so it is necessary I should own and acknowledge them before my Father. But what need is there for his owning them before the angels? Ans. They are to be the angels’ companions, and so it is necessary he should own them before the angels. This will be like a testimonial for them unto the angels. Lastly. The evidences of his right to, and propriety in them, will then be made to appear. Mal. iii. 17: “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.” It is too late for persons to become his then; so the meaning is, they shall evidently appear to be mine.—James Scot, 1773.

Verse 5.—“Gather my saints together unto me.” Our text may be considered as the commission given by the great Judge to his angels—those ministering spirits who do his will, hearkening to the voice of his power. The language of the text is in accordance with that which was uttered by our Lord when, alluding to the coming of the Son of Man, he says, “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” But previous to this final, this general gathering together of his saints to judgment, Jehovah gathers them together in various ways, in various places, and by various means, both of providence and of grace. Previous to his being seated on a throne of judgment, we behold him sitting on a throne of mercy, and we hear him saying, “Gather my saints together unto me.” These words lead us to notice—I. The characters described, “My saints.” II. The command issued, “Gather my saints together unto me.” I. THE CHARACTERS HERE DESCRIBED—“My saints.” By the term “my saints,” we are to understand my holy ones—those who have been sanctified and set apart by God. None of us possess this character by nature. We are born sinners, and there is no difference; but by divine grace we experience a change of nature, and consequently a change of name. The title of saint is frequently given to the people of God in derision. “Such an one,” says a man of the world, “is one of your saints.” But, my brethren, no higher honour can be conferred upon us than to be denominated saints, if we truly deserve that character; but in what way do we become saints? We become saints—1. By divine choice. The saints are the objects of everlasting love; their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life; and it is worthy of remark that wherever the people of God are spoken of in sacred Scripture, as the objects of that everlasting love, it is in connection with their personal sanctification. Observe, they are not chosen because they are saints, nor because it is foreseen that they will be so, but they are chosen to be saints; sanctification is the effect and the only evidence of election. We become saints—2. By a divine change which is the necessary consequence of this election. An inward, spiritual, supernatural, universal change is effected in the saints by the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus they are renewed in the spirit of their minds, and made partakers of a divine nature.... Remember, then, this important truth, that Christians are called by the gospel to be saints; that you are Christians, not so much by your orthodoxy as by your holiness; that you are saints no further than as you are holy in all manner of conversation. 3. The people of God furnish an evidence of being saints by their godly conduct. “By their fruits,” not by their feelings; not by their lips, not by their general profession, but, “by their fruits shall ye know them.” 4. The character of the saints is evidenced by divine consecration. The people of God are called holy inasmuch as they are dedicated to God. It is the duty and the privilege of saints to consecrate themselves to the service of God. Even a heathen philosopher could say, “I lend myself to the world, but I give myself to the gods.” But we possess more light and knowledge, and are therefore laid under greater obligations than was Seneca.

II. THE COMMAND ISSUED—“Gather my saints together unto me.” Jehovah gathers his saints to himself in various ways. 1. He gathers them to himself in their conversion. The commission given by Christ to his ministers is, “Go ye forth into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” or in other words, “Gather my saints together unto me.” The gospel is to be preached to sinners in order that they may become saints. 2. Saints are gathered together by God in public worship.... 3. He gathers his saints together to himself in times of danger. When storms appear to be gathering around them, he is desirous to screen them from the blast. He says to them, in the language of Isaiah, “Come, my people, and enter into thy chamber—the chamber of my perfections and my promises—enter into thy chamber and shut the doors about thee, and hide thyself until the calamity is overpast.” 4. God gathers his saints together in the service of his church. Thus Christ collected his apostles together to give them their apostolic commission to go and teach all nations. At the period of the Reformation, the great Head of the church raised up Luther and Calvin, together with other eminent reformers, in order that they might light up a flame in Europe, yea, throughout the world, that the breath of popery should never be able to blow out. 5. God gathers his saints together in death, and at the resurrection. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” This is the commission which death is habitually receiving—“Go, death, and gather such-and-such of my saints unto me.” As the gardener enters the garden, and plucks the full-blown flower and the ripened fruit, so Jesus Christ enters the garden of his church and gathers his saints to himself; for he says, “Father, I will that all they whom thou hast given me may be with me, where I am, and behold my glory.”—Condensed from J. Sibree’s “Sermon preached at the reopening of Surrey Chapel, August 29th, 1830.”

Verse 5 (second clause).—“Made,” or ratifying a covenant; literally, cutting, striking, perhaps in allusion to the practice of slaying and dividing victims as a religious rite, accompanying solemn compacts. (See Genesis xv. 10-18). The same usage may be referred to in the following words, over sacrifice, i.e., standing over it; or, on sacrifice, i.e., founding the engagement on a previous appeal to God. There is probably allusion to the great covenant transaction recorded in Ex. xxiv. 4-8. This reference to sacrifice shows clearly that what follows was not intended to discredit or repudiate that essential symbol of the typical or ceremonial system.—J. A. Alexander.

Verse 5.—“Made a covenant with me.” Formerly soldiers used to take an oath not to flinch from their colours, but faithfully to cleave to their leaders; this they called sacramentum militare, a military oath; such an oath lies upon every Christian. It is so essential to the being of a saint, that they are described by this, “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me.” We are not Christians till we have subscribed this covenant, and that without any reservation. When we take upon us the profession of Christ’s name, we enlist ourselves in his muster-roll, and by it do promise that we will live and die with him in opposition to all his enemies.... He will not entertain us till we resign up ourselves freely to his disposal, that there may be no disputing with his commands afterwards, but, as one under his authority, go and come at his word.—William Gurnall.

Verse 6.—“The heavens shall declare his righteousness.” It is the manner of Scripture to commit the teaching of that which it desires should be most noticeable, and important to the heavens and the earth: for the heavens are seen by all, and their light discovers all things. Here it speaks of the heavens, not the earth, because these are everlasting, but not the earth.—Geier and Muis in Pool’s Synopsis.

Verse 8.—“I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices;” i.e., for thy neglect of them, but for thy resting in them, sticking in the bark, bringing me the bare shell without the kernel, not referring to the right end and use, but satisfying thyself in the work done.—John Trapp.

Verse 8.—“I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings continually before me.” Those words “to have been,” which our translators supply, may be left out, and the sense remain perfect: or if those words be continued, then the negative particle not, is to be reassumed out of the first part of the verse, and the whole read thus, “I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings not to have been continually before me.” That is, I will not charge thee with a neglect of outward duty or worship, the inward or spiritual (of which he speaks, ver. 14), being that which is most pleasing unto me.—Joseph Caryl.

Verses 8, 9.—It is the very remonstrance which our Lord himself makes against the Pharisees of his days, for laying so much stress on the outward observance of their own traditions, the washing of pots and cups and other such like things; the paying of tithes of anise and mint and cummin; the ostentatious fulfilment of all ceremonious observances in the eyes of men, the exalting the shadow to the exclusion of the substance. And have we not seen the like in our own days, even to the very vestment of the minister, the obeisance of the knee, and the posture of the body? as if the material church were all in all, and God were no Spirit, that demanded of those that worshipped him that they should worship him in spirit and in truth; as if the gold and ornaments of the temple were far beyond the hidden man of the heart in that which is incorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.—Barton Bouchier.

Verse 10.—“For to me [belongs] every beast of the forest, the cattle in hills of a thousand.” This last idiomatic phrase may either mean a thousand hills, or hills where the cattle rove by thousands, with probable allusion to the hilly grounds of Bashan beyond Jordan. According to etymology, the noun in the first clause means an animal, and that in the second beasts or brutes in general. But when placed in antithesis, the first denotes a wild beast, and the second domesticated animals or cattle. Both words were necessary to express God’s sovereign propriety in the whole animal creation. Thus understood, the verse assigns a reason for the negative assertion in the one before it. Even if God could stand in need of animal oblations, for his own sake, or for their sake, he would not be under the necessity of coming to man for them, since the whole animal creation is his property and perfectly at his disposal.—J. A. Alexander.

Verses 11, 12.—We show our scorn of God’s sufficiency, by secret thoughts of meriting from him by any religious act, as though God could be indebted to us, and obliged by us. As though our devotions could bring a blessedness to God more than he essentially hath; when indeed “our goodness extends not to him.” Ps. xvi. 2. Our services to God are rather services to ourselves, and bring a happiness to us, not to God. This secret opinion of merit (though disputed among the Papists, yet) is natural to man; and this secret self-pleasing, when we have performed any duty, and upon that account expect some fair compensation from God, as having been profitable to him; God intimates this: “The wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.” He implies, that they wronged his infinite fulness, by thinking that he stood in need of their sacrifices and services, and that he was beholden to them for their adoration of him. All merit implies a moral or natural insufficiency in the person of whom we merit, and our doing something for him, which he could not, or at least so well do for himself. It is implied in our murmuring at God’s dealing with us as a course of cross providences, wherein men think they have deserved better at the hands of God by their service, than to be cast aside and degraded by him. In our prosperity we are apt to have secret thoughts that our enjoyments were the debts God owed us, rather than gifts freely bestowed upon us. Hence it is that men are more unwilling to part with their righteousness than with their sins, and are apt to challenge salvation as a due, rather than beg it as an act of grace.—Stephen Charnock.

Verse 12.—“If I were hungry,” etc. Pagan sacrifices were considered as feasts of the gods.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 13.—“Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” That is, did I want anything I would not tell thee; but hast thou indeed such gross notions of men, as to imagine that I have appointed and required the blood and flesh of animals for their own sake and not with some design? Dost thou think I am pleased with these, when they are offered without faith, love, and gratitude? Nay, offer the sacrifice of praise, etc. Render to me a spiritual and reasonable service, performing thy engagements, and then thou wilt find me a very present help in trouble.—B. Boothroyd.

Verse 15.—“Call upon me,” etc. Prayer is like the ring which Queen Elizabeth gave to the Earl of Essex, bidding him if he were in any distress send that ring to her, and she would help him. God commandeth his people if they be in any perplexity to send this ring to him: “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.“—George Swinnock.

Verse 15.—“Call upon me in the day of trouble,” etc. Who will scrape to a keeper for a piece of venison who may have free access to the master of the game to ask and have? Hanker not after other helpers, rely on him only, fully trusting him in the use of such means as he prescribeth and affordeth. God is jealous, will have no co-rival, nor allow thee (in this case) two strings to thy bow. He who worketh all in all must be unto thee all in all: of, through, and to whom are all things, to him be all praise for ever. Rom. xi. 36.—George Gipps, in “A Sermon preached (before God, and from him) to the Honourable House of Commons, 1645.”

Verse 15.—“Call upon me in the day of trouble,” etc. The Lord hath promised his children supply of all good things, yet they must see the means of impetration; by prayer. He feeds the young ravens when they call upon him. Ps. cxlvii. 9. He feeds the young ravens, but first they call upon him. God withholds from them that ask not, lest he should give to them that desire not. (Augustine.) David was confident that by God’s power he should spring over a wall; yet not without putting his own strength and agility to it. Those things we pray for, we must work for. (Augustine.) The carter in Isidore, when his cart was overthrown, would needs have his god Hercules come down from heaven, to help him up with it; but whilst he forbore to set his own shoulder to it, his cart lay still. Abraham was as rich as any of our aldermen, David as valiant as any of our gentlemen, Solomon as wise as any of our deepest naturians, Susanna as fair as any of our painted pieces. Yet none of them thought that their riches, valour, policy, beauty, or excellent parts could save them; but they stirred the sparks of grace, and bestirred themselves in pious work. And this is our means, if our meaning be to be saved.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 15.—“I will deliver thee:” properly, “I will draw thee forth with my own mighty hand,” and plant thee in liberty and prosperity.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 16.—“Unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes?” etc. “As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.” Is it not? No wonder then that divine wisdom requires us ourselves to put off the old man (as snakes put off their skins) before we take on us the most honourable office of reproving sin; a duty which above any other brings praise to God, and profit to men; insomuch that God hath not a more honourable work that I know of to set us about. And what think you? Are greasy scullions fit to stand before kings? Are dirty kennel-rakers fit to be plenipotentiaries or ambassadors? Are unclean beasts fit to be made lord-almoners, and sent to bestow the king’s favours? Are swine fit to cast pearl, and the very richest pearl of God’s royal word? No man dreams it; consequently none can believe himself qualified or commissioned to be a reprover of sin “till he is washed, till he is sanctified, till he is justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.” A lunatick beggar in Athens would not believe but that all the ships in the harbour were his. His mistake exceeded not theirs, who persuade themselves that this richer office is theirs, before they are “alive from the dead,” and “born of the Spirit,” before they are returned to God or to themselves. The Duke of Alva is said to have complained that, “his king sent him in fetters to fight for him;” because without his pardon given him, and while he was a prisoner, he employed him in war. But the supreme King is a more merciful one, and orders our charity to begin at home; making it our first duty to break off our sins; and then when we have put off these our shackles, go to fight his battles.—Daniel Burgess (1645—1712-13) in “The Golden Snuffers.”

Verse 16.—“The wicked.” By whom are meant, not openly profane sinners; but men under a profession of religion, and indeed who were teachers of others, as appears from the following expostulations with them: the Scribes, Pharisees, and doctors among the Jews, are designed, and so Kimchi interprets it of their wise men, who learnt and taught the law, but did not act according to it.—John Gill.

Verse 16.—“What hast thou to do to declare my statutes?” etc. All the mediæval writers teach us, even from the Mosaic law concerning the leper, how the writer of this Psalm only put into words what those statutes expressed in fact. For so it is written: “The leper in whom the plague is, ... he shall put a covering upon his upper lip.” As they all, following Origen, say: Let them who are themselves of polluted lips, take good heed not to teach others. Or, to take it in the opposite way, see how Isaiah would not speak to his people, because he was a man of polluted lips, and he dwelt among a people of polluted lips, till they had been touched with the living coal from the altar; and by that, as by a sacrament of the Old Testament, a sentence of absolution had been pronounced upon them.—J. M. Neale.

Verse 16 (second clause).—Emphasis is laid on the phrase, to declare God’s statutes, which both denotes such an accurate knowledge of them as one may obtain by numbering them, and a diligent and public review of them. Properly speaking the word is derived from the Arabic, and signifies to reckon in dust, for the ancients were accustomed to calculate in dust finely sprinkled over tablets or the Abacus.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 16.—“But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do ... to take my covenant into thy mouth?” For whom is the covenant made but for the wicked? If men were not wicked or sinful, what needed there a covenant of grace? The covenant is for the wicked, and the covenant brings grace enough to pardon those who are most wicked; why, then, doth the Lord say to the wicked, “What hast thou to do to take my covenant into thy mouth?” Observe what follows, and his meaning is expounded: “Seeing thou hatest to be reformed.” As if God had said, Thou wicked man, who protectest thy sin, and holdest it close, refusing to return and hating to reform; what hast thou to do to meddle with my covenant? Lay off thy defiled hands. He that is resolved to hold his sin takes hold of the covenant in vain, or rather he lets it go, while he seems to hold it. Woe unto those who sue for mercy while they neglect duty.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 16.—When a minister does not do what he teaches, this makes him a vile person; nay, this makes him ridiculous, like Lucian’s apothecary, who had medicines in his shop to cure the cough, and told others that he had them, and yet was troubled with it himself. With what a forehead canst thou stand in a pulpit and publish the laws of God, and undertake the charge of souls, that when thine own nakedness appears, when thy tongue is of a larger size than thy hands, thy ministry is divided against itself, thy courses give thy doctrine the lie; thou sayest that men must be holy, and thy deeds do declare thy mouth’s hypocrisy; thou doest more mischief than a hundred others.—William Fenner.

Verse 17.—“And castest my words behind thee.” Thou castest away contemptuously. with disgust and detestation, as idols are cast out of a city; or as Moses indignantly dashed to the earth the tables of the law.—Martin Geier.

Verse 17.—“My words:” apparently the ten commandments, accustomed to be called the ten words, by which God is often said to have made his covenant with Israel.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 18.—“When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him;” or didst run with him. This was literally true of the Scribes and Pharisees; they devoured widows’ houses, and robbed them of their substance, under a pretext of long prayers; they consented to the deeds of Barabbas, a robber, when they preferred him to Jesus Christ; and they joined with the thieves on the cross in reviling him; and, in a spiritual sense, they stole away the word of the Lord, every man from his neighbour; took away the key of knowledge from the people, and put false glosses upon the sacred writings.—John Gill.

Verse 18.—“Thou consentedst with him;” became his accomplice. Συνέτρεχες αὐτῷ, LXX, i.e., you helped him to carry off his booty and to make his escape.—Samuel Horsley.

Verse 18.—“Thou consentedst with him.” Or, thou runnest along with him. “Hast been partaker with;” namely, thou art his companion; a term taken from commerce of merchants, or from banquets made after the ancient manner, to which divers did contribute, and had their shares therein.—John Diodati.

Verse 18 (last clause).—To give entertainment to them we know to be dissolute, is to communicate with their sins.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 19.—“Thou givest thy mouth to evil,” etc. “Thou givest.” Heb., thou sendest forth; to wit, free; for the word is used of men’s dismissing their wives or their servants, whom they left to their freedom. Thou hast an unbridled tongue, and castest off all restraints of God’s law, and of thine own conscience, and givest thy tongue liberty to speak what thou pleasest, though it be offensive and dishonourable to God, and injurious to thy neighbour, or to thy own soul; which is justly produced as an evidence of their hypocrisy. “To evil,” either to sinful or mischievous speeches. “Frameth deceit,” i.e., uttereth lies or fair words, wherewith to circumvent those who deal with them.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 19.—The ninth commandment is now added to the other two, as being habitually violated by the person here addressed.—J. A. Alexander.

Verse 20.—“Thou sittest and speakest,” etc. A man may both speak and do evil while he sits still and doth nothing; an idle posture may serve the turn for such work as that.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 20.—“Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother,” etc. When you are sitting still, and have nothing else to do, you are ever injuring your neighbour with your slanderous speech. Your table-talk is abuse of your nearest friends.—Samuel Horsley.

Verse 20.—“Thine own mother’s son.” To understand the force of this expression, it is necessary to bear in mind that polygamy was allowed amongst the Israelites. Those who were born to the same father were all brethren, but a yet more intimate relationship subsisted between those who had the same mother as well as the same father.—French and Skinner.

Verse 21.—“These things hast thou done, and I kept silence.” Neither sleep nor slumber, nor connivance, nor neglect of anything can be incident to God. Because he doth not execute present judgment and visible destruction upon sinners, therefore blasphemy presumptuously inferreth—will God trouble himself about such petty matters? So they imagined of their imaginary Jupiter. Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse Jovem. What a narrow and finite apprehension this is of God! He that causeth and produceth every action—shall he not be present at every action? What can we do without him, that cannot move but in him? He that takes notice of sparrows, and numbers the seeds which the very ploughman thrusts in the ground, can any action of man escape his knowledge, or slip from his contemplation? He may seem to wink at things, but never shuts his eyes. He doth not always manifest a reprehensive knowledge, yet he always retains an apprehensive knowledge. Though David smote not Shimei cursing, yet he heard Shimei cursing. As judges often determine to hear, but do not hear to determine; so though God does not see to like, yet he likes to see.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 21.—“Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” Such is the blindness and corruption of our nature, that we have very deformed and misshapen thoughts of him, till with the eye of faith we see his face in the glass of the word; and therefore Mr. Perkins affirms, that all men who ever came of Adam (Christ alone excepted) are by nature atheists; because at the same time that they acknowledge God, they deny his power, presence, and justice, and allow him to be only what pleaseth themselves. Indeed, it is natural for every man to desire to accommodate his lusts with such conception of God as may be most favourable to and suit best with them. God charges some for this: “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” Sinners do with God as the Ethiopians do with angels, whom they picture with black faces that they may be like themselves.—William Gurnall.

Verse 21.—“Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” This men do when they plead for sins as little, as venial, as that which is below God to take notice of; because they themselves think it so, therefore God must think it so too. Men, with a giant-like pride, would climb into the throne of the Almighty, and establish a contradiction to the will of God by making his own will, and not God’s, the square and rule of his actions. This principle commenced, and took date in Paradise, when Adam would not depend upon the will of God revealed to him, but upon himself and his own will, and thereby makes himself as God.—Stephen Charnock.

Verse 21.—“I will set them in order before thine eyes.” This is to be understood more militari, when sins shall be set in rank and file, in bloody array against thy soul; or more forensi, when they shall be set in order as so many indictments for thy rebellion and treason.—Stephen Charnock.

Verse 21.—“And set them in order before thine eyes:” as if he should say, Thou thoughtest all thy sins were scattered and dispersed; that there was not a sin to be found; that they should never be rallied and brought together; but I assure thee I will make an army of those sins, a complete army of them, I will set them in rank and file before thine eyes; and see how thou canst behold, much less contend with, such an host as they. Take heed therefore you do not levy war against your own souls; that’s the worst of all civil or intestine wars. If any army of divine terrors be so fearful, what will an army of black, hellish sins be? when God shall bring whole regiments of sins against you—here a regiment of oaths, there a regiment of lies, there a third of false dealings, here a troop of filthy actions, and there a legion of unclean or profane thoughts, all at once fighting against thy life and everlasting peace.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 21.—Atheists do mock at those Scriptures which tell us that we shall give account of all our deeds; but God shall make them find the truth of it in that day of their reckoning. It is as easy for him to make their forgetful minds remember as to create the minds in them. When he applieth his register to their forgetful spirits they shall see all their forgotten sins. When the printer presseth clean paper upon his oiled irons, it receiveth the print of every letter: so when God shall stamp their minds with his register, they shall see all their former sins in a view. The hand was ever writing against Belshazzar, as he was ever sinning, though he saw it not till the cup was filled: so is it to the wicked; their sins are numbered, and themselves weighed, and see not till they be divided by a fearful wakening.—William Struther.

Verse 21 (last clause).—“God setteth his sins in order before his eyes.” Imprimis, the sin of his conception. Item, the sins of his childhood. Item, of his youth. Item, of his man’s estate, etc. Or, Imprimis, sins against the first table. Item, sins against the second; so many of ignorance, so many of knowledge, so many of presumption, severally sorted by themselves. He committed sins confusedly, huddling them up in heaps; but God sets them in order, and methodizes them to his hands.—Thomas Fuller.

Verse 22.—“Now consider this, ye that forget God,” etc. What is less than a grain of sand? Yet when it comes to be multiplied, what is heavier than the sands of the sea? A little sum multiplied rises high; so a little sin unrepented of will damn us, as one leak in the ship, if it be not well looked to, will drown us. “Little sins,” as the world calls them, but great sins against the majesty of God Almighty, whose majesty, against which they are committed, doth accent and enhance them, if not repented of, will damn. One would think it no great matter to forget God, yet it has a heavy doom attending on it. The non-improvement of talents, the non-exercise of grace, the world looks upon as a small thing; yet we read of him who hid his talent in the earth—he had not spent it, only not trading it is sentenced.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 22.—“Lest I tear you in pieces.” This is a metaphorical expression, taken from the strength and irresistible fury of a lion, from which the interference of the shepherd can supply no protection, or defence, for his flock.—William Walford.

Verse 23.—“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.” Thanksgiving is a God-exalting work. Though nothing can add the least cubit to God’s essential glory, yet praise exalts him in the eyes of others. Praise is a setting forth of God’s honour, a lifting up of his name, a displaying the trophy of his goodness, a proclaiming his excellency, a spreading his renown, a breaking open the box of ointment, whereby the sweet savour and perfume of God’s name is sent abroad into the world. “To him that ordereth his conversation aright.” Though the main work of religion lies within, yet “our light must so shine,” that others may behold it: the foundation of sincerity is in the heart, yet its beautiful frontispiece appears in the conversation. The saints are called “jewels,” because they cast a sparkling lustre in the eyes of others. An upright Christian is like Solomon’s temple, gold within and without: sincerity is a holy leaven, which if it be in the heart will work itself into the life, and make it swell and rise as high as heaven. Phil. iii. 20.—Thomas Watson.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—It unspeakably concerns all men to know what God has spoken.—W. S. Plumer.

Verse 1.—I. Who has spoken? The mighty, not men or angels, but God himself. II. To whom has he spoken? To all nations—all ranks—all characters. This calls for, 1. Reverence—it is the voice of God. 2. Hope—because he condescends to speak to rebels. III. Where has he spoken? 1. In creation. 2. In providence. 3. In his word.—G. R.

Verses 1-6.—I. The court called in the name of the King of kings. II. The judgment set, and the judge taking his seat; v. 2, 3. III. The parties summoned; v. 8. IV. The issue of this solemn trial foretold; v. 6.—Matthew Henry.

Verses 1-15.—I. God’s call to man. II. Man’s call to God.

Verse 2.—I. The internal beauty of Zion. 1. Positive beauty of wisdom—holiness—love. 2. Comparative with the beauty of Paradise and the heaven of angels. 3. Superlative—all the perfections of God combined. II. Its external glory. Out of it God hath shined. 1. On this world. 2. On gracious souls. 3. On angels who desire to look, etc. 4. On the universe. “All the creatures heard I,” etc.—G. R.

Verse 4.—I.. What God will do for his people. He will judge them. 1. Deliver. 2. Defend. 3. Uphold. II. The means at his disposal for this purpose. “He shall call,” etc—heaven and earth are subservient to him for the good of his church.—G. R.

Verse 4.—The judgment of the visible church. It will be by God himself, public, searching—with fire and wind, exact, final.

Verse 5.—The great family gathering. I. Who are gathered. II. How they are gathered. III. To whom. IV. When they are gathered.

Verse 5 (last clause).—I. The covenant. II. The sacrifice which ratifies it. III. How we may be said to make it.

Verse 6 (last clause).—Then slander will not pervert the sentence, undue severity will not embitter it, partiality will not excuse, falsehood will not deceive, justice will surely be done.

Verse 7.—Sins of God’s people specially against God, and only known to God. A searching subject.

Verses 13-15.—What sacrifices are not, and what are acceptable with God.

Verse 15.—I. The occasion—“trouble.” II. The command—“call upon me.” III. The promise—“I will deliver thee.” IV. The design—“thou shalt,” etc.—G. R.

Verse 15.—“Thou shalt glorify me.” This we do by praying, and by praising when prayer is heard; as also by confidence in his promises, submission to his chastisements, concern for his honour, attachment to his cause, affection to his people, and by continual obedience to his commands.

Verse 15.—I. A special invitation as to person and time. II. Special promise to those accepting it. III. Special duty involved when the promise is fulfilled.

Verses 16, 17.—I. The prohibition given. 1. The prohibited things—“declare my statutes.” “Take my covenant,” etc. (1.) Preaching. (2.) Teaching, as in Sunday-schools. (3.) Praying. (4.) Attending ordinances. 2. Prohibited persons. Wicked preachers, etc., while they continue in wickedness. II. The reason assigned; v. 17. 1. No self-application of the truth. 2. Inward hatred of it. 3. Outward rejection.—G. R.

Verse 17.—I. The fatal sign. 1. Hating to be taught. 2. Hating what is taught. II. What it indicates. 1. Pride. 2. Contempt of God. 3. Indifference to truth. 4. Atheism at heart. 5. Deadness of conscience. II. What it leads to. See verse 22.

Verses 17, 18.—Rejection of salutary instruction leads sooner or later to open transgression. Instances, reasons, inferential warnings.

Verses 20, 21.—I. Man speaking and God silent. II. God speaking and man silent.

Verse 21.—I. God leaves men for a time to themselves. II. They judge of God on this account by themselves. III. He will in due time reveal their whole selves to themselves. “I will reprove,” etc.—G. R.

Verses 21, 23.—Note the alternative; a life rightly ordered now, or sins set in order hereafter.

Verse 22.—I. The accusation—“Ye that forget God,” his omniscience, his power, his justice, his goodness, his mercy, his word, his great salvation. II. The admonition—“Consider this,” rouse yourselves from your forgetfulness into serious reflection. III. The condemnation—“Lest,” etc. 1. The awfulness. “Tear,” as a lion or eagle its prey—tear body and soul. 2. Its irresistibleness—“None to deliver.”—G. R.

Verse 23.—I. Salvation is the work of God. II. The evidence of salvation is holiness of heart and life. III. The effect of that evidence is praise. IV. The tendency of that praise is to glorify God. God is not glorified by the doubts, and fears, and murmurings of his people, but by their praise.—G. R.

Verse 23 (last clause).—The true order of life. I. That first which is first. II. That most which is most. III. That ever which is ever. IV. That all which is all.

Footnote 22:

Version of Junius & Tremellius.

PSALM LI.

TITLE.—To the chief Musician.—Therefore not written for private meditation only, but for the public service of song. Suitable for the loneliness of individual penitence, this matchless Psalm is equally well adapted for an assembly of the poor in spirit. A Psalm of David. It is a marvel, but nevertheless a fact, that writers have been found to deny David’s authorship of this Psalm, but their objections are frivolous, the Psalm is David-like all over. It would be far easier to imitate Milton, Shakespeare, or Tennyson, than David. His style is altogether sui generis, and it is as easily distinguishable as the touch of Rafaelle or the colouring of Rubens. “When Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” When the divine message had aroused his dormant conscience and made him see the greatness of his guilt he wrote this Psalm. He had forgotten his Psalmody while he was indulging his flesh, but he returned to his harp when his spiritual nature was awakened, and he poured out his song to the accompaniment of sighs and tears. The great sin of David is not to be excused, but it is well to remember that his case has an exceptional collection of specialities in it. He was a man of very strong passions, a soldier, and an Oriental monarch having despotic power; no other king of his time would have felt any compunction for having acted as he did, and hence there were not around him those restraints of custom and association which, when broken through, render the offence the more monstrous. He never hints at any form of extenuation, nor do we mention these facts in order to apologise for his sin, which was detestable to the last degree; but for the warning of others, that they may reflect that the like licentiousness in themselves at this day might have even a graver guilt in it than in the erring King of Israel. When we remember his sin, let us dwell most upon his penitence, and upon the long series of chastisements which rendered the after part of his life such a mournful history.

DIVISIONS.—It will be simplest to note in the first twelve verses the penitent’s confessions and plea for pardon, and then in the last seven his anticipatory gratitude and the way in which he resolves to display it.

EXPOSITION.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

1. “Have mercy upon me, O God.” He appeals at once to the mercy of God, even before he mentions his sin. The sight of mercy is good for eyes that are sore with penitential weeping. Pardon of sin must ever be an act of pure mercy, and therefore to that attribute the awakened sinner flies. “According to thy lovingkindness.” Act, O Lord, like thyself; give mercy like thy mercy. Show mercy such as is congruous with thy grace.

“Great God, thy nature hath no bound: So let thy pardoning love be found.”

What a choice word is that of our English version, a rare compound of precious things: love and kindness sweetly blended in one—“lovingkindness,” “According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies.” Let thy most loving compassions come to me, and make thou thy pardons such as these would suggest. Reveal all thy gentlest attributes in my case, not only in their essence but in their abundance. Numberless have been thine acts of goodness, and vast is thy grace; let me be the object of thine infinite mercy, and repeat it all in me. Make my one case an epitome of all thy tender mercies. By every deed of grace to others I feel encouraged, and I pray thee let me add another and a yet greater one, in my own person, to the long list of thy compassions. “Blot out my transgressions.” My revolts, my excesses, are all recorded against me; but, Lord, erase the lines. Draw thy pen through the register. Obliterate the record, though now it seems engraven in the rock for ever: many strokes of thy mercy may be needed, to cut out the deep inscription, but then thou hast a multitude of mercies, and therefore, I beseech thee, erase my sins.

2. “Wash me throughly.” It is not enough to blot out the sin; his person is defiled, and he fain would be purified. He would have God himself cleanse him, for none but he could do it effectually. The washing must be thorough, it must be repeated, therefore he cries, “Multiply to wash me.” The dye is in itself immovable, and I, the sinner, have lain long in it, till the crimson is ingrained: but, Lord, wash, and wash, and wash again, till the last stain is gone, and not a trace of my defilement is left. The hypocrite is content if his garments be washed; but the true suppliant cries, “wash me.” The careless soul is content with a nominal cleansing, but the truly-awakened conscience desires a real and practical washing, and that of a most complete and efficient kind. “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity.” It is viewed as one great pollution, polluting the entire nature, and as all his own; as if nothing were so much his own as his sin. The one sin against Bathsheba, served to show the Psalmist the whole mountain of his iniquity, of which that foul deed was but one falling stone. He desires to be rid of the whole mass of his filthiness, which though once so little observed, had then become a hideous and haunting terror to his mind. “And cleanse me from my sin.” This is a more general expression; as if the Psalmist said, “Lord, if washing will not do, try some other process; if water avails not, let fire, let anything be tried, so that I may but be purified. Rid me of my sin by some means, by any means, by every means, only do purify me completely, and leave no guilt upon my soul.” It is not the punishment he cries out against, but the sin. Many a murderer is more alarmed at the gallows than at the murder which brought him to it. The thief loves the plunder, though he fears the prison. Not so David: he is sick of sin as sin; his loudest outcries are against the evil of his transgression, and not against the painful consequences of it. When we deal seriously with our sin, God will deal gently with us. When we hate what the Lord hates, he will soon make an end of it, to our joy and peace.

3. “For I acknowledge my transgressions.” Here he sees the plurality and immense number of his sins, and makes open declaration of them. He seems to say, I make a full confession of them. Not that this is my plea in seeking forgiveness, but it is a clear evidence that I need mercy, and am utterly unable to look to any other quarter for help. My pleading guilty has barred me from any appeal against the sentence of justice: O Lord, I must cast myself on thy mercy, refuse me not, I pray thee. Thou hast made me willing to confess. O follow up this work of grace with a full and free remission! “And my sin is ever before me.” My sin as a whole is never out of my mind; it continually oppresses my spirit. I lay it before thee because it is ever before me: Lord, put it away both from thee and me. To an awakened conscience, pain on account of sin is not transient and occasional, but intense and permanent, and this is no sign of divine wrath, but rather a sure preface of abounding favour.

4. “Against thee, thee only have I sinned.” The virus of sin lies in its opposition to God: the Psalmist’s sense of sin towards others rather tended to increase the force of his feeling of sin against God. All his wrong-doing centred, culminated, and came to a climax, at the foot of the divine throne. To injure our fellow men is sin, mainly because in so doing we violate the law of God. The penitent’s heart was so filled with a sense of the wrong done to the Lord himself, that all other confession was swallowed up in a broken-hearted acknowledgment of offence against him. “And done this evil in thy sight.” To commit treason in the very court of the king and before his eye is impudence indeed: David felt that his sin was committed in all its filthiness while Jehovah himself looked on. None but a child of God cares for the eye of God, but where there is grace in the soul it reflects a fearful guilt upon every evil act, when we remember that the God whom we offend was present when the trespass was committed. “That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” He could not present any argument against divine justice, if it proceeded at once to condemn him and punish him for his crime. His own confession, and the judge’s own witness of the whole transaction, placed the transgression beyond all question or debate; the iniquity was indisputably committed, and was unquestionably a foul wrong, and therefore the course of justice was clear and beyond all controversy.

5. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity.” He is thunderstruck at the discovery of his inbred sin, and proceeds to set it forth. This was not intended to justify himself, but it rather meant to complete the confession. It is as if he said, not only have I sinned this once, but I am in my very nature a sinner. The fountain of my life is polluted as well as its streams. My birth-tendencies are out of the square of equity; I naturally lean to forbidden things. Mine is a constitutional disease, rendering my very person obnoxious to thy wrath. “And in sin did my mother conceive me.” He goes back to the earliest moment of his being, not to traduce his mother, but to acknowledge the deep tap-roots of his sin. It is a wicked wresting of Scripture to deny that original sin and natural depravity are here taught. Surely men who cavil at this doctrine have need to be taught of the Holy Spirit what be the first principles of the faith. David’s mother was the Lord’s handmaid, he was born in chaste wedlock, of a good father, and he was himself “the man after God’s own heart;” and yet his nature was as fallen as that of any other son of Adam, and there only needed the occasion for the manifesting of that sad fact. In our shaping we were put out of shape, and when we were conceived our nature conceived sin. Alas, for poor humanity! Those who will may cry it up, but he is most blessed who in his own soul has learned to lament its lost estate.

6. “Behold.” Here is the great matter of consideration. God desires not merely outward virtue, but inward purity, and the penitent’s sense of sin is greatly deepened as with astonishment he discovers this truth, and how far he is from satisfying the divine demand. The second “Behold” is fitly set over against the first; how great the gulf which yawns between them! “Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” Reality, sincerity, true holiness, heart-fidelity, these are the demands of God. He cares not for the pretence of purity, he looks to the mind, heart, and soul. Always has the Holy One of Israel estimated men by their inner nature, and not by their outward professions; to him the inward is as visible as the outward, and he rightly judges that the essential character of an action lies in the motive of him who works it. “And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” The penitent feels that God is teaching him truth concerning his nature, which he had not before perceived. The love of the heart, the mystery of its fall, and the way of its purification—this hidden wisdom we must all attain; and it is a great blessing to be able to believe that the Lord will “make us to know it.” No one can teach our innermost nature but the Lord, but he can instruct us to profit. The Holy Spirit can write the law on our heart, and that is the sum of practical wisdom. He can put the fear of the Lord within, and that is the beginning of wisdom. He can reveal Christ in us, and he is essential wisdom. Such poor, foolish, disarranged souls as ours, shall yet be ordered aright, and truth and wisdom shall reign within us.

7. “Purge me with hyssop.” Sprinkle the atoning blood upon me with the appointed means. Give me the reality which legal ceremonies symbolise. Nothing but blood can take away my blood-stains, nothing but the strongest purification can avail to cleanse me. Let the sin-offering purge my sin. Let him who was appointed to atone, execute his sacred office on me; for none can need it more than I. The passage may be read as the voice of faith as well as a prayer, and so it runs—“Thou wilt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.” Foul as I am, there is such power in the divine propitiation, that my sin shall vanish quite away. Like the leper upon whom the priest has performed the cleansing rites, I shall be again admitted into the assembly of thy people and allowed to share in the privileges of the true Israel; while in thy sight also, through Jesus my Lord, I shall be accepted. “Wash me.” Let it not merely be in type that I am clean, but by real spiritual purification, which shall remove the pollution of my nature. Let the sanctifying as well as the pardoning process be perfected in me. Save me from the evils which my sin has created and nourished in me. “And I shall be whiter than snow.” None but thyself can whiten me, but thou canst in grace outdo nature itself in its purest state. Snow soon gathers smoke and dust, it melts and disappears; thou canst give me an enduring purity. Though snow is white below as well as on the surface, thou canst work the like inward purity in me, and make me so clean that only an hyperbole can set forth my immaculate condition. Lord, do this; my faith believes thou wilt, and well she knows thou canst.

Scarcely does Holy Scripture contain a verse more full of faith than this. Considering the nature of the sin, and the deep sense the Psalmist had of it, it is a glorious faith to be able to see in the blood sufficient, nay, all-sufficient merit entirely to purge it away. Considering also the deep, natural inbred corruption which David saw and experienced within, it is a miracle of faith that he could rejoice in the hope of perfect purity in his inward parts. Yet, be it added, the faith is no more than the word warrants, than the blood of atonement encourages, than the promise of God deserves. O that some reader may take heart, even now while smarting under sin, to do the Lord the honour to rely thus confidently on the finished sacrifice of Calvary and the infinite mercy there revealed.

8. “Make me to hear joy and gladness.” He prays about his sorrow late in the Psalm; he began at once with his sin; he asks to hear pardon, and then to hear joy. He seeks comfort at the right time and from the right source. His ear has become heavy with sinning, and so he prays, “Make me to hear.” No voice could revive his dead joys but that which quickeneth the dead. Pardon from God would give him double joy—“joy and gladness.” No stinted bliss awaits the forgiven one; he shall not only have a double-blooming joy, but he shall hear it; it shall sing with exultation. Some joy is felt but not heard, for it contends with fears; but the joy of pardon has a voice louder than the voice of sin. God’s voice speaking peace is the sweetest music an ear can hear. “That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.” He was like a poor wretch whose bones are crushed, crushed by no ordinary means, but by omnipotence itself. He groaned under no mere flesh wounds; his firmest and yet tenderest powers were “broken in pieces all asunder;” his manhood had become a dislocated, mangled, quivering sensibility. Yet if he who crushed would cure, every wound would become a new mouth for song, every bone quivering before with agony would become equally sensible of intense delight. The figure is bold, and so is the supplicant. He is requesting a great thing; he seeks joy for a sinful heart, music for crushed bones. Preposterous prayer anywhere but at the throne of God! Preposterous there most of all but for the cross where Jehovah Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree. A penitent need not ask to be an hired servant, or settle down in despairing content with perpetual mourning; he may ask for gladness and he shall have it; for if when prodigals return the father is glad, and the neighbours and friends rejoice and are merry with music and dancing, what need can there be that the restored one himself should be wretched?

9. “Hide thy face from my sins.” Do not look at them; be at pains not to see them. They thrust themselves in thy way; but, Lord, refuse to behold them, lest if thou consider them, thine anger burn, and I die. “Blot out all mine iniquities.” He repeats the prayer of the first verse with the enlargement of it by the word “all.” All repetitions are not “vain repetitions.” Souls in agony have no space to find variety of language: pain has to content itself with monotones. David’s face was ashamed with looking on his sin, and no diverting thoughts could remove it from his memory; but he prays the Lord to do with his sin what he himself cannot. If God hide not his face from our sin, he must hide it for ever from us; and if he blot not out our sins, he must blot our names out of his book of life.

10. “Create.” What! has sin so destroyed us, that the Creator must be called in again? What ruin then doth evil work among mankind! “Create in me.” I, in outward fabric, still exist; but I am empty, desert, void. Come, then, and let thy power be seen in a new creation within my old fallen self. Thou didst make a man in the world at first; Lord, make a new man in me! “A clean heart.” In the seventh verse he asked to be clean; now he seeks a heart suitable to that cleanliness; but he does not say, “Make my old heart clean;” he is too experienced in the hopelessness of the old nature. He would have the old man buried as a dead thing, and a new creation brought in to fill its place. None but God can create either a new heart or a new earth. Salvation is a marvellous display of supreme power; the work in us as much as that for us is wholly of Omnipotence. The affections must be rectified first, or all our nature will go amiss. The heart is the rudder of the soul, and till the Lord take it in hand we steer in a false and foul way. O Lord, thou who didst once make me, be pleased to new make me, and in my most secret parts renew me. “Renew a right spirit within me.” It was there once, Lord, put it there again. The law on my heart has become like an inscription hard to read: new write it, gracious Maker. Remove the evil as I have entreated thee; but, O replace it with good, lest into my swept, empty, and garnished heart, from which the devil has gone out for awhile, seven other spirits more wicked than the first should enter and dwell. The two sentences make a complete prayer. “Create” what is not there at all; “renew” that which is there, but in a sadly feeble state.

11. “Cast me not away from thy presence.” Throw me not away as worthless; banish me not, like Cain, from thy face and favour. Permit me to sit among those who share thy love, though I only be suffered to keep the door. I deserve to be for ever denied admission to thy courts; but, O good Lord, permit me still the privilege which is dear as life itself to me. “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” Withdraw not his comforts, counsels, assistances, quickenings, else I am indeed as a dead man. Do not leave me as thou didst Saul, when neither by Urim, nor by prophet, nor by dream, thou wouldst answer him. Thy Spirit is my wisdom, leave me not to my folly; he is my strength, O desert me not to my own weakness. Drive me not away from thee, neither do thou go away from me. Keep up the union between us, which is my only hope of salvation. It will be a great wonder if so pure a Spirit deigns to stay in so base a heart as mine; but then, Lord, it is all wonder together, therefore do this, for thy mercy’s sake, I earnestly entreat thee.

12. “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” Salvation he had known, and had known it as the Lord’s own; he had also felt the joy which arises from being saved in the Lord, but he had lost it for awhile, and therefore he longed for its restoration. None but God can give back this joy; he can do it; we may ask it; he will do it for his own glory and our benefit. This joy comes not first, but follows pardon and purity: in such order it is safe, in any other it is vain presumption or idiotic delirium. “And uphold me with thy free Spirit.” Conscious of weakness, mindful of having so lately fallen, he seeks to be kept on his feet by power superior to his own. That royal Spirit, whose holiness is true dignity, is able to make us walk as kings and priests, in all the uprightness of holiness; and he will do so if we seek his gracious upholding. Such influences will not enslave but emancipate us; for holiness is liberty, and the Holy Spirit is a free Spirit. In the roughest and most treacherous ways we are safe with such a keeper; in the best paths we stumble if left to ourselves. The praying for joy and upholding go well together; it is all over with joy if the foot is not kept; and, on the other hand, joy is a very upholding thing, and greatly aids holiness; meanwhile, the free, noble, loyal Spirit is at the bottom of both.

13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

13. “Then will I teach transgressors thy ways.” It was his fixed resolve to be a teacher of others; and assuredly none instruct others so well as those who have been experimentally taught of God themselves. Reclaimed poachers make the best gamekeepers. Huntingdon’s degree of S.S., or Sinner Saved, is more needful for a soul-winning evangelist than either M.A. or D.D. The pardoned sinner’s matter will be good, for he has been taught in the school of experience, and his manner will be telling, for he will speak sympathetically, as one who has felt what he declares. The audience the Psalmist would choose is memorable—he would instruct transgressors like himself; others might despise them, but, “a fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind.” If unworthy to edify saints, he would creep in along with the sinners, and humbly tell them of divine love. The mercy of God to one is an illustration of his usual procedure, so that our own case helps us to understand his “ways,” or his general modes of action: perhaps, too, David under that term refers to the preceptive part of the word of God, which, having broken, and having suffered thereby, he felt that he could vindicate and urge upon the reverence of other offenders. “And sinners shall be converted unto thee.” My fall shall be the restoration of others. Thou wilt bless my pathetic testimony to the recovery of many who, like myself, have turned aside unto crooked ways. Doubtless this Psalm and the whole story of David, have produced for many ages the most salutary results in the conversion of transgressors, and so evil has been overruled for good.

14. “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness.” He had been the means of the death of Uriah, the Hittite, a faithful and attached follower, and he now confesses that fact. Besides, his sin of adultery was a capital offence, and he puts himself down as one worthy to die the death. Honest penitents do not fetch a compass and confess their sins in an elegant periphrasis, but they come to the point, call a spade a spade, and make a clean breast of all. What other course is rational in dealing with the Omniscient? “O God, thou God of my salvation.” He had not ventured to come so near before. It had been, “O God,” up till now, but here he cries, “Thou God of my salvation.” Faith grows by the exercise of prayer. He confesses sin more plainly in this verse than before, and yet he deals with God more confidently: growing upward and downward at the same time are perfectly consistent. None but the King can remit the death penalty, it is therefore a joy to faith that God is King, and that he is the author and finisher of our salvation. “And my tongue shalt sing aloud of thy righteousness.” One would rather have expected him to say, I will sing of thy mercy; but David can see the divine way of justification, that righteousness of God which Paul afterwards spoke of by which the ungodly are justified, and he vows to sing, yea, and to sing lustily of that righteous way of mercy. After all, it is the righteousness of divine mercy which is its greatest wonder. Note how David would preach in the last verse, and now here he would sing. We can never do too much for the Lord to whom we owe more than all. If we could be preacher, precentor, doorkeeper, pewopener, footwasher, and all in one, all would be too little to show forth all our gratitude. A great sinner pardoned makes a great singer. Sin has a loud voice, and so should our thankfulness have. We shall not sing our own praises if we be saved, but our theme will be the Lord our righteousness, in whose merits we stand righteously accepted.

15. “O Lord, open thou my lips.” He is so afraid of himself that he commits his whole being to the divine care, and fears to speak till the Lord unstops his shame-silenced mouth. How marvellously the Lord can open our lips, and what divine things we poor simpletons pour forth under his inspiration! This prayer of a penitent is a golden petition for a preacher. Lord, I offer it for myself and my brethren. But it may stand in good stead any one whose shame for sin makes him stammer in his prayers, and when it is fully answered, the tongue of the dumb begins to sing. “And my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.” If God opens the mouth he is sure to have the fruit of it. According to the porter at the gate is the nature of that which comes out of man’s lips; when vanity, anger, falsehood, or lust unbar the door, the foulest villanies troop out; but if the Holy Spirit opens the wicket, then grace, mercy, peace, and all the graces come forth in tuneful dances, like the daughters of Israel when they met David returning with the Philistine’s head.

16. “For thou desirest not sacrifice.” This was the subject of the last Psalm. The Psalmist was so illuminated as to see far beyond the symbolic ritual; his eye of faith gazed with delight upon the actual atonement. “Else would I give it.” He would have been glad enough to present tens of thousands of victims if these would have met the case. Indeed, anything which the Lord prescribed he would cheerfully have rendered. We are ready to give up all we have if we may but be cleared of our sins; and when sin is pardoned our joyful gratitude is prepared for any sacrifice. “Thou delightest not in burnt offering.” He knew that no form of burnt sacrifice was a satisfactory propitiation. His deep soul-need made him look from the type to the antitype, from the external rite to the inward grace.

17. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.” All sacrifices are presented to thee in one, by the man whose broken heart presents the Saviour’s merit to thee. When the heart mourns for sin, thou art better pleased than when the bullock bleeds beneath the axe. “A broken heart” is an expression implying deep sorrow, embittering the very life; it carries in it the idea of all but killing anguish in that region which is so vital as to be the very source of life. So excellent is a spirit humbled and mourning for sin, that it is not only a sacrifice, but it has a plurality of excellencies, and is pre-eminently God’s “sacrifices.” “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” A heart crushed is a fragrant heart. Men contemn those who are contemptible in their own eyes, but the Lord seeth not as man seeth. He despises what men esteem, and values that which they despise. Never yet has God spurned a lowly, weeping penitent, and never will he while God is love, and while Jesus is called the man who receiveth sinners. Bullocks and rams he desires not, but contrite hearts he seeks after; yea, but one of them is better to him than all the varied offerings of the old Jewish sanctuary.

18. “Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion.” Let blessings according to thy wont be poured upon thy holy hill and chosen city. Zion was David’s favourite spot, whereon he had hoped to erect a temple. The ruling passion is so strong on him, that when he has discharged his conscience he must have a word for Zion. He felt he had hindered the project of honouring the Lord there as he desired, but he prayed God still to let the place of his ark be glorious, and to establish his worship and his worshipping people. “Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.” This had been one of David’s schemes, to wall in the holy city, and he desires to see it completed; but we believe he had a more spiritual meaning, and prayed for the prosperity of the Lord’s cause and people. He had done mischief by his sin, and had, as it were, pulled down her walls; he, therefore, implores the Lord to undo the evil, and establish his church. God can make his cause to prosper, and in answer to prayer he will do so. Without his building we labour in vain; therefore are we the more instant and constant in prayer. There is surely no grace in us if we do not feel for the church of God, and take a lasting interest in its welfare.

19. In those days of joyful prosperity thy saints shall present in great abundance the richest and holiest thank offerings to thee, and thou shalt be pleased to accept them. A saved soul expects to see its prayers answered in a revived church, and then is assured that God will be greatly glorified. Though we bring no more sacrifices for sin, yet as priests unto God our solemn praises and votive gifts are thank offerings acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. We bring not the Lord our least things—our doves and pigeons; but we present him with our best possessions—our bullocks. We are glad that in this present time we are able to fulfil in person the declaration of this verse: we also, forecasting the future, wait for days of the divine presence, when the church of God, with unspeakable joy, shall offer gifts upon the altar of God, which will far eclipse anything beheld, in these less enthusiastic days. Hasten it, O Lord.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—“After he had gone in to Bathsheba.” This was the devil’s nest-egg that caused many sins to be laid, one to, and upon another. See the woful chain of David’s lust, 2 Sam. xi. and xii.—John Trapp.

Title.—“When Nathan the prophet came unto him as he (i.e., David) had come unto Bathsheba.” The significant repetition of the phrase came unto, is lost in the English and most other versions. “As” is not a mere particle of time, simply equivalent to when, but suggests the ideas of analogy, proportion, and retaliation.—J. A. Alexander.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm is the brightest gem in the whole book, and contains instruction so large, and doctrine so precious, that the tongue of angels could not do justice to the full development.—Victorinus Strigelius, 1524-1569.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm is often and fitly called THE SINNER’S GUIDE. In some of its versions it often helps the returning sinner. Athanasius recommends to some Christians, to whom he was writing, to repeat it when they awake at night. All evangelical churches are familiar with it. Luther says, “There is no other Psalm which is oftener sung or prayed in the church.” This is the first Psalm in which we have the word Spirit used in application to the Holy Ghost.—William S. Plumer.

Whole Psalm.—I cannot doubt the prophetic bearing of this Psalm upon the nation of Israel. In the latter day they shall consider their ways: repentance and self-loathing will be the result. Blood-guiltiness heavier than that of David has to be removed from that nation. They will become the teachers of the Gentiles when first the iniquity of their own transgression has been purged away.—Arthur Pridham.

Whole Psalm.—This is the most deeply affecting of all the Psalms, and I am sure the one most applicable to me. It seems to have been the effusion of a soul smarting under the sense of a recent and great transgression. My God, whether recent or not, give me to feel the enormity of my manifold offences, and remember not against me the sins of my youth. What a mine of rich matter and expression for prayer! Wash, cleanse me, O Lord, and let my sin and my sinfulness be ever before me. Let me feel it chiefly as sin against thee, that my sorrow may be of the godly sort. Give me to feel the virulence of my native corruption, purge me from it thoroughly, and put truth into my inward parts, that mine may be a real turning from sin unto the Saviour. Create me anew, O God. Withdraw not thy Spirit. Cause me to rejoice in a present salvation. Deliver me, O God, from the blood-guiltiness of having offended any of thy little ones; and so open my lips that I may speak of the wondrous things thou hast done for my soul! May I offer up spiritual sacrifices; and oh! let not any delinquencies of mine bring a scandal upon thy church; but do thou so purify and build her up, that even her external services, freed from all taint of corruption or hypocrisy, may be well-pleasing in thy sight.—Thomas Chalmers.

Verse 1.—“Have mercy upon me, O God.” I tremble and blush to mention my name, for my former familiarities with thee only make me more confounded at being recognised by thee after my guilt. I therefore say not, “Lord, remember David,” as on a happier occasion; nor as propitiating thee, I used to say, to thy “servant,” or, “to the son of thy handmaid.” I suggest nothing that should recall my former relation to thee, and so enhance my wickedness. Ask not, then, Lord, who I am, but only forgive me who confess my sin, condemn my fault, and beseech thy pity. “Have mercy upon me, O God.” I dare not say my God, for that were presumption. I have lost thee by sin, I have alienated myself from thee by following the enemy, and therefore am unclean. I dare not approach thee, but standing afar off and lifting up my voice with great devotion and contrition of heart, I cry and say, “Have mercy upon me, O God.”—From “A Commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms, chiefly from ancient sources.” By the Right Rev. A. P. Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, 1857.

Verse 1.—“Have mercy.” The Hebrew word here translated have mercy, signifieth without cause or desert; Psalm xxxv. 19; lxix. 4; Ezekiel xiv. 23; and freely, without paying any price, Exodus xxi. 11. And it is made use of in Lev. vi. 8, where Noah is said to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord, that is special favour, such as the Lord beareth to his chosen in Christ Jesus.—Charles de Coetlogon, A.M., in “The Portraiture of the Christian Penitent,” 1775.

Verse 1.—“Mercy,” “lovingkindness,” “tender mercies.” I cannot but observe here, the gradation in the sense of the three words made use of, to express the divine compassion, and the propriety of the order in which they are placed, which would be regarded as a real excellence and beauty in any classical writer. The first, הָנֵּנִי, denotes that kind of affection which is expressed by moaning over any object that we love and pity that στοργὴ, natural affection and tenderness, which even brute creatures discover to their young ones, by the several noises which they respectively make over them; and particularly the shrill noise of the camel, by which it testifies its love to its foal. The second, כְּחַסְדֶּךָ, denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition to goodness and compassion powerfully prompting to all instances of kindness and bounty; flowing as freely and plentifully as milk into the breasts, or as waters from a perpetual fountain. This denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former. The third, רַחֲמֶיךָ, denotes what the Greeks express by σπλαγχνίζεσθαι; that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which human nature is susceptible. And how reviving is the belief and consideration of these abundant and tender compassions of God to one in David’s circumstances, whose mind laboured under the burthen of the most heinous complicated guilt, and the fear of the divine displeasure and vengeance!—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 1.—“According to the multitude.” Men are greatly terrified at the multitude of their sins, but here is a comfort—our God hath multitude of mercies. If our sins be in number as the hairs of our head, God’s mercies are as the stars of heaven; and as he is an infinite God, so his mercies are infinite; yea, so far are his mercies above our sins, as he himself is above us poor sinners. By this that the Psalmist seeketh for multitude of mercies, he would show how deeply he was wounded with his manifold sins, that one seemed a hundred. Thus it is with us, so long as we are under Satan’s guiding, a thousand seem but one; but if we betake ourselves to God’s service, one will seem a thousand.—Archibald Symson.

Verse 1.—“Tender mercies,” or, according to Zanchy in his treatise upon the attributes of God, such a kind of affection as parents feel when they see their children in any extremity. 1 Kings iii. 26.—Charles de Coetlogon.

Verse 1.—“Blot out my transgressions.” מְחֵה, mecheh, wipe out. There is reference here to an indictment: the Psalmist knows what it contains; he pleads guilty, but begs that the writing may be defaced; that a proper fluid may be applied to the parchment, to discharge the ink, that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the mercy, lovingkindness, and tender compassions of the Lord can do.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 1.—“Blot out my transgressions.” What the Psalmist alludes to is not, as Mr. LeClerc imagines, debts entered into a book, and so blotted out of it when forgiven; but the wiping or cleansing of a dish, so as nothing afterwards remains in it. The meaning of the petition is, that God would entirely and absolutely forgive him, so as that no part of the guilt he had contracted might remain, and the punishment of it might be wholly removed.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 1.—“Blot out,” or, as it is used in Exod. xvii. 14, utterly extirpate, so as that there shall not be any remembrance of them for ever. Isaiah xliii. 25; xliv. 22.—Charles de Coetlogon.

Verse 1.—“MY transgressions.” Conscience, when it is healthy, ever speaks thus: “MY transgressions.” It was not the guilt of them that tempted you: they have theirs; but each as a separate agent, has his own degree of guilt. Yours is your own: the violation of your own and not another’s sense of duty; solitary, awful, unshared, adhering to you alone of all the spirits of the universe.—Frederick William Robertson.

Verses 1, 2.—“Transgressions” ... “iniquity” ... “sin.” 1. It is transgression, פֶּשַׁע, pesha, rebellion. 2. It is iniquity, עָוֹן, avon, crooked dealing. 3. It is sin, הַטָּאת, chattath, error and wandering.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 2.—“Wash me.” David prays that the Lord would wash him; therefore sin defiles, and he was made foul and filthy by his sin; and to wash him much, and to rinse and bathe him, to show that sin had exceedingly defiled him and stained him both in soul and body, and made him loathsome, and therefore he desireth to be washed, and cleansed, and purged from the pollution of sin. Hence we may learn what a vile, filthy, and miserable thing sin is in the sight of God: it staineth a man’s body, it staineth a man’s soul, it maketh him more vile than the vilest creature that lives: no toad is so vile and loathsome in the sight of man, as a sinner, stained and defiled with sin, is in the sight of God, till he be cleansed and washed from it in the blood of Christ.—Samuel Smith.

Verse 2.—“Wash me,” etc. כִּבֵּם is peculiarly applied to the washing and cleansing of garments as fullers wash and cleanse their cloths. 2 Kings xviii. 7; Exod. xix. 10; Levit. xvii. 15.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 2.—“Wash me throughly from mine iniquity.” No other washing will do it but lava tu, wash thou; so foul, as it will need his washing throughly.—Samuel Page, in “David’s Broken Heart,” 1646.

Verse 2.—“Wash me throughly.” Heb. multiply to wash me; by which phrase he implies the greatness of his guilt, and the insufficiency of all legal washings, and the absolute necessity of some other and better thing to wash him, even of God’s grace, and the blood of Christ.—Matthew Pool.

Verse 2.—“Wash me ... cleanse me.” But why should David speak so superfluously? use two words when one would serve? For if we be cleansed, what matter is it whether it be by washing or no? Yet David had great reason for using both words; for he requires not that God would cleanse him by miracle, but by the ordinary way of cleansing, and this was washing; he names therefore washing as the means, and cleansing as the end: he names washing as the work a-doing, and cleansing as the work done; he names washing as considering the agent, and cleansing as applying it to the patient; and indeed, as in the figure of the law there was not, so in the verity of the gospel there is not any ordinary means of cleansing, but only by washing; and therefore out of Christ our Saviour’s side there flowed water and blood.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 2.—“Cleanse me from my sin.” Observe, it is from the guilt, and not from the punishment, that he thus asks deliverance. That the sword should never depart from his house; that the sin, begun, not only secretly even in its full accomplishment, but far more secretly in the recesses of David’s heart, should be punished before all Israel and before the sun; that the child so dear to David should be made one great punishment of his offence; these things, so far as this Psalm is concerned, might, or might not be. It is of the offence against God; of the defiling, although it were not then so expressly declared, God’s temple by impurity, that David speaks.—Ambrose, in J. M. Neale’s Commentary.

Verse 2.—“Sin.” The original word signifies to miss an aim, as an archer does who shoots short of his mark, beyond, or beside it. It is also used for treading aside, or tripping, in the act of walking. In a spiritual sense it denotes deviation from a rule, whether by omission or commission.—Thomas T. Biddulph, A.M., in Lectures on the Fifty-first Psalm, 1835.

Verse 2.—Sin is filthy to think of, filthy to speak of, filthy to hear of, filthy to do; in a word, there is nothing in it but vileness.—Archibald Symson.

Verse 3.—“For I acknowledge my transgressions,” etc. To acknowledge our transgressions, there is confession; and to have our sin ever before us, there is conviction and contrition. To acknowledge our transgressions, I say, is to confess our sins; to call them to mind, to bring them back to our remembrance what we can; to own them with shame, and to declare them with sorrow; to reckon them up one by one, to give in a particular account of them, as far as our memory will serve, and to spread them before the Lord, as Hezekiah did Rabshakeh’s letter, and in an humble sense of our own vileness to implore his goodness, that he would multiply his mercies over us, as we have multiplied our transgressions against him, in the free and full forgiveness of them all. To have our sin ever before us, is throughly to be convinced of it, to be continually troubled in mind about it, to be truly humbled under the sense of it, and to be possest of those dreads and terrors of conscience which may never let us rest or enjoy any quiet within our own breast till we have reconciled ourselves to a gracious God for it.—Adam Littleton.

Verse 3.—“I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.” There cannot be agnitio if there be not cognitio peccati, an acknowledging, unless there precede a knowledge of sin. David puts them together. If our sins be not before us, how can we set them before God? And therefore, to the right exercise of this duty, there is required a previous examination of our hearts, inspection into our lives, that we may be enabled to see our sins. He that hath not yet asked himself that question, Quid feci? What have I done? can never make the confession, sic feci, thus and thus have I done; and in this respect I would, though not require, yet advise it as a pious and prudent practice, and that which I doubt not but many Christians have found benefit by, to keep a constant daily catalogue, as of mercies received, so of sins committed.—Nathanael Hardy.

Verse 3.—“I,” “my,” “my.” David did not think it sufficient to acknowledge that the whole human race were sinners; but as if he stood alone in the world, and was the only offender in it, he says, “I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.”—Charles de Coetlogon.

Verse 3.—“MY sin.” David owneth his sin, and confesseth it his own. Here is our natural wealth: what can we call our own but sin? Our food and raiment, the necessaries of life, are borrowings. We came hungry and naked into the world, we brought none of these with us, and we deserved none of them here. Our sin came with us, as David after confesseth. We have right of inheritance in sin, taking it by traduction and transmission from our parents; we have right of possession. So Job: “Thou makest me to possess the sins of my youth.”—Samuel Page.

Verse 3.—“My SIN.” It is sin, as sin, not its punishment here, nor hereafter, not simply any of its evil consequences; but sin, the sin against God, the daring impiety of my breaking the good and holy law of this living, loving God.—Thomas Alexander, D.D., in “The Penitent’s Prayer,” 1861.

Verse 3.—“Ever before me.” Sorrow for sin exceeds sorrow for suffering, in the continuance and durableness thereof: the other, like a landflood, quickly come, quickly gone; this is a continual dropping or running river, keeping a constant stream. “My sins,” saith David, “are ever before me;” so also is the sorrow for sin in the soul of a child of God, morning, evening, day, night, when sick, when sound, feasting, fasting, at home, abroad, ever within him. This grief begins at his conversion, continues all his life, ends only at his death.—Thomas Fuller.

Verse 3.—“Before me.” Coram populo, before the people; shame to him: coram ecclesia, before the church; grief to them: coram inimicis, before the enemies; joy to them: coram Deo, before God; anger against him: coram Nathane, before Nathan; a chiding. But if any hope of repentance and amendment, it is in peccatum meum coram me, my sin before me. Here is the distress of a sinner, he never discerneth how unhappy he is, till his sin is before him.—Samuel Page.

Verse 4.—“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” This verse is differently expounded by different persons, and it has ever been considered, that this one little point is the greatest difficulty that is met with in the whole Psalm. Although, therefore, I leave it to others to go according to their own interpretations, yet I have a good hope that I shall be enabled to give thee true and genuine meaning of the text. This, then, I would first of all advise the reader to do—to bear in mind that which I observed at the beginning of the Psalm, that David is here speaking in the person of all the saints, and not in his own person only, nor in his own person as an adulterer. Although I do not say it might not be, that it was this fall which, as a medium, brought him under the knowledge of himself and of his whole human nature, and made him think thus: “Behold! I, so holy a king, who have with so much pious devotedness observed the law and the worship of God, have been so tempted and overcome by the inbred evil and sin of my flesh, that I have murdered an innocent man, and have for adulterous purposes taken away his wife! And is not this an evident proof that my nature is more deeply infected and corrupted by sin than ever I thought it was? I who was yesterday chaste am to-day an adulterer! I who yesterday had hands innocent of blood, am to-day a man of blood-guiltiness!” And it might be that in this way he derived the feeling sense of his entire sinfulness, from his fall into adultery and murder, and from thence drew this conclusion—that neither the tree nor the fruits of human nature were good, but that the whole was so deformed and lost by sin, that there was nothing sound left in the whole of nature. This I would have the reader bear in mind first of all, if he desire to have the pure meaning of this passage. In the next place, the grammatical construction is to be explained, which seems to be somewhat obscure. For what the translator has rendered by the preterperfect, ought to be the present: “Against thee only do I sin;” that is, I know that before thee I am nothing but a sinner; or, before thee I do nothing but evil continually; that is, my whole life is evil and depraved on account of sin. I cannot boast before thee of merit or of righteousness, but am evil altogether, and in thy sight this is my character—I do evil. I have sinned, I do sin, and shall sin to the end of the chapter.—Martin Luther.

Verse 4.—“Against thee, thee only have I sinned.” Is there not matter here to make us at a stand? For, to say, “Against thee have I sinned,” is most just and fit; but to say, “Against THEE ONLY I have sinned,” seems something hard. It had perhaps been a fit speech in the mouth of our first parent Adam; he might justly have said to God, “Against thee only have I sinned,” who never sinned against any other; but for us to say it, who commit sins daily against our neighbours, and especially for David to say it, who had committed two notorious sins against his neighbour and faithful friend Uriah, what unfitter speech could possibly be devised? But is it not that these actions of David were great wrongs indeed, and enormous iniquities against Uriah; but can we properly say they were sins against Uriah? For what is sin, but a transgression of God’s law? And how then can sin be committed against any but against him only whose law we transgress? Or is it, that it may justly be said, “Against thee only have I sinned,” because against others perhaps in a base tenure, yet only against God in capite? Or is it, that David might justly say to God, “Against thee only have I sinned;” because from others he might appeal, as being a king and having no superior; but no appealing from God, as being King of kings and supreme Lord over all? Or is it that we may justly say, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,” seeing that Christ hath taken and still takes all our sins upon him; and every sin we commit is as a new burthen laid upon his back, and upon his back only? Or is it, lastly, that I may justly say, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,” because in thy sight only I have done it? For from others, I could hide it, and did conceal it? But what can be hidden from thy All-seeing eye? And yet if this had been the worst, that I had sinned only against thee, though this had been bad enough, and infinitely too much, yet it might perhaps have admitted reconcilement; but to do this evil, “in thy sight,” as if I should say, I would do it though thou stand thyself and look on, and as if in defiance; what sin so formidable? what sin can be thought of so unpardonable? A sin of infirmity may admit apology; a sin of ignorance may find out excuse; but a sin of defiance can find no defence.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 4.—“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.” There is a godly sorrow which leads a man to life; and this sorrow is wrought in a man by the Spirit of God, and in the heart of the godly; that he mourns for sin because it has displeased God, who is so dear and so sweet a Father to him. And suppose he had neither a heaven to lose, nor a hell to gain, yet he is sad and sorrowful in heart because he has grieved God.—John Welch, 1576-1622.

Verse 4.—“Have I sinned.” Me, me, adsum, qui feci: Here, here am I that did it. I whom thou tookest from following the ewes great with lambs, whose sheep-hook thou hast changed for a sceptre, whose sheep for thine own people Israel, upon whose head thou hast set a crown of pure gold. I whom thou didst lately invest in the full monarchy of thy people; to whom thou gavest the possession of Jerusalem from the Jebusites; I who settled peace, religion, and courts of justice in Jerusalem, that thou mightest be served and honoured, and I would fain have built thee an house there; Ego, I, to whom God committed the trust of government to rule others, the trust of judgment to punish others, as king over his inheritance. I, to whom God committed the care of others’ souls to guide them by his word, to direct them by good counsel, to allure them by his gracious promises, to terrify them by his threatenings, as the Lord’s holy prophet. I, who both ways as king and prophet should have been an example of holiness and righteousness to all Israel. Nathan said, Tu es homo, thou art the man, in just accusation, and now David saith, Ego sum homo, I am the man, in humble confession.—Samuel Page.

Verse 4.—“I have done this evil.” We may find this in experience, that there be many who will not stick at a general speech that they be sinners, and yet will scarcely be known of one special evil to account for. If you fall with them into the several commandments, they will be ready to discover a conceit that there is scarce one that they are faulty in. In the first commandment they acknowledge no God but one; in the second, they do not worship images; in the third, they swear as little as any, and never but for the truth; in the fourth they keep their church on Sundays as well as most; in the second table, there is neither treason, nor murder, nor theft, nor whoredom, nor the like gross sin, but concerning it they are ready to protest their innocency. He that shall hear them in particular, I do not see how he shall believe them in the general, when they say they be sinners; for when you arraign them at the several commandments they are ready to plead not guilty to them all. So long as men are thus without sense and apprehension of particulars, there is no hope of bringing them ever unto good. Happy is he that is pricked to the heart with the feeling of “this evil.” The truth of repentance for that one, will bring him to a thorough repentance for his whole estate. This one evil throughly understood, brought David on his knees, brake his heart, melted his soul, made him cry for pardon, beg for purging, and importune the Lord for a free spirit to establish him.—Samuel Hieron, in “David’s Penitentiall Psalme opened,” 1617.

Verse 4.—“In thy sight.” David was so bent upon his sin, as that the majesty and presence of God did not awe him at all: this is a great aggravation of sin, and which makes it to be so much the more heinous. For a thief to steal in the very sight of the judge, is the highest piece of impudence that may be; and thus it is for any man to offend in the sight of God and not to be moved with it.—Thomas Horton.

Verse 4.—“That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” But hath not David a defence for it here, and that a very just one? For, in saying, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, that thou mightest be justified in thy saying,” doth he not speak as though he had sinned to do God a pleasure? therefore sinned that God might be justified? And what can be more said for justifying of God? But far is it from David to have any such meaning; his words import not a lessening but an aggravating of his sin, as spoken rather thus: Because a judge may justly be taxed of injustice if he lay a greater punishment upon an offender than the offence deserves; therefore to clear thee, O God, from all possibility of erring in this kind, I acknowledge my sins to be so heinous, my offences so grievous, that thou canst never be unmerciful in punishing though thy punishing should be never so unmerciful. For how can a judge pass the bounds of equity where the delinquent hath passed all bounds of iniquity? and what error can there be in thy being severe when the greatness of my fault is a justification of severity? That thou canst not lay so heavy a doom upon me, which I have not deserved? Thou canst not pronounce so hard a sentence against me, which I am not worthy of. If thou judge me to torture, it is but mildness; if to die the death, it is but my due; if to die everlastingly, I cannot say it were unjust.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 5.—“Behold I was shapen in iniquity,” etc. He said not, “Behold, this evil have I done,” but “Behold I was conceived in sin,” etc. He says not, “Behold, I, David,” a king, that have received such-and-such mercies from God, who would have given me more (as God told him), who had that entire communion with him, and graces from him, I, even I, have done this evil. No; he keeps it in till he came to this, and then his heart could hold no longer: “Oh, behold I was conceived in sin.” His debasement was at his auge here. And to whom is it he uttered this behold? What, to man? No; his meaning is not to call on men, q.d., O ye sons of men, behold! That is but his secondary aim, arising out of his having penned it, and delivered it unto the church; but when he uttered it, it was to God, or rather afore God, and yet not as calling on God to behold, for that needed not. David had elsewhere said, “God looked down,” etc., “and beheld the sons of men,” when speaking of this very corruption. He therefore knew God beheld it sufficiently; but he utters it afore God, or, as spoken of himself between God and himself, thereby to express his own astonishment and amazement at the sight and conviction of this corruption, and at the sight of what a monster he saw himself to be in the sight of God in respect of this sin. It was a behold of astonishment at himself, as before the great and holy God; and therefore it was he seconds and follows it with another behold made unto God: “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” And it is as if he had said in both, Oh, how am I in every way overwhelmed, whilst with one eye cast on myself I see how infinitely corrupt I am in the very constitution of my nature; and with the other eye I behold and consider what an infinite holy God thou art in thy nature and being, and what an holiness it is which thou requirest. I am utterly overwhelmed in the intuition of both these, and able to behold no more, nor look up unto thee, O holy God!—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 5.—“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,” etc. We are not to suppose that David here reflects upon his parents as the medium of transmitting to him the elements of moral evil; and that by the introduction of the doctrine of original sin he intended to extenuate the enormity of his own crimes. On the contrary, we are to regard him as afflicting himself by the humbling consideration that his very nature was fallen, that his transgressions flowed from a heart naturally at enmity with God; that he was not a sinner by accident, but by a depravity of purpose extending to the inmost desires and purposes of the soul; that there was “a law in his members, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin and death” (Rom. vii. 23); and that he was one of a race of guilty beings, none of whom could plead an exemption from an evil heart of unbelief, ready at all times to depart from the living God. Till we see sin in the fountain of the heart, we shall never truly mourn over it in the life and conversation.—John Morison.

Verse 5.—“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity.” He is not low enough down yet, he must come lower. It is not enough for him to confess that the water is filthy at the pool; he goes back to the source, and confesses that the whole river is polluted up to its head. The source is unclean; the very spring wells forth foul waters.—Thomas Alexander.

Verse 5.—“I was shapen in iniquity.” I shall not easily be persuaded to think that parents, who are sinners themselves and too much under the influence of bad affections and passions, will be very likely to produce children without transmitting to them some of those disorders and corruptions of nature with which they themselves are infected. And if this be a difficulty, I would beg leave to observe that it is a difficulty which affects natural as well as revealed religion. Since we must take human nature as it is, and if it be really in a state of disorder and corruption, and cannot be otherwise, considering the common law of its production, the difficulty must have been as ancient as the first man that was born; and therefore can be no objection against the truth of revelation, but it must be equally so against natural religion, which must equally allow the thing, if it be in reality a fact, with revelation itself.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 5.—Infants are no innocents, being born with original sin; the first sheet wherein they are wrapped is woven of sin, shame, blood, and filth. Ezek. xvi. 4, etc. They are said to sin as they were in the loins of Adam, just as Levi is said to pay tithes to Melchisedek, even in the loins of his forefather Abraham (Heb. vii. 9, 10); otherwise infants would not die, for death is the wages of sin (Rom. vi. 23); and the reign of death is procured by the reign of sin, which hath reigned over all mankind except Christ. All are sinners, infected with the guilt and filth of sin; the rot (according to the vulgar saying) overrunneth the whole flock. Hence David reflects upon original sin as the cause of all his actuals, saying, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Thus man’s malady begins betimes, even in our conception: this subtle serpent sowed his tares very early, so that we are all “born in sin.” John ix. 34.—Christopher Ness’s “Divine Legacy,” 1700.

Verse 5.—Notwithstanding all that Grotius and others have said to the contrary, I believe David to speak here of what is commonly called original sin; the propensity to evil which every man brings into the world with him, and which is the fruitful source whence all transgression proceeds.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 6.—“Behold.” Before he entereth on any of the parts of the verse he useth the particle of admiration, “Behold;” which he never useth but in some remarkable manner, thereby the more to raise us up to the contemplation of such great matters to be told.—Archibald Symson.

Verse 6.—“Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” Thou lovest truth, not shadows or images, but realities; thou lovest truth in the inward parts, inside truth, a true heart, a pure conscience: he is a Christian who is one inwardly. Rom. ii. 29.—John Ball.

Verse 6.—“Truth in the inward parts.” A great French pear is called le bon Chretien, the good Christian, because they say it is never rotten at the core.—George Swinnock.

Verse 6.—“In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” Piscator, in his annotations on this Psalm, puts this sense upon it, that David should bless God for having made him to know this special wisdom in this hidden thing or matter, and had brought the knowledge thereof home, as a point of saving wisdom, to the hidden man of his heart, so as to see fully and clearly this native corruption as the cause of all sin, and on that account to cause him to lay it to heart.—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 6.—“In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” It is one thing to be wise headed and wise tongued, and another to be wise hearted, and therefore in Scripture nothing more ordinary than to set forth wisdom that is true indeed by the heart. God himself is said to be wise of heart. Foolish creatures are like Ephraim, “a silly dove without heart.” They may have head enough, notion enough, flashing light, appearing to others enough, but they are without a heart; they have not the great work there, a new head and an old heart, a full head and an empty heart, a light and burning profession, and a dark, dead, and cold heart; he that takes up in such a condition is a fool and an errant fool.—John Murcot, 1657.

Verse 6.—“And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” Some read it, “In the hidden part thou hadst made me to know wisdom;” that thou hadst done, but I have fallen from my high state, marred thy handiwork. “By one plunge into lust I have fallen and fouled myself.”—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 6.—The copulative particle which connects the two clauses, implies the correspondence between the revelation of the divine will on the one part and the desire and prayer of the penitent heart on the other. “Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” “What I want thou hast promised to give.” Repentance and faith are the gifts of God, and the awakened mind is conscious that they are so.—Thomas T. Biddulph.

Verses 6-8.—The right conviction of sin comprehends its being acknowledged not only in our works, but also in our entire being.—Augustus F. Tholuck.

Verse 7.—“Purge me with hyssop.” Do I well to prescribe to God with that he shall purge me, as though I knew all God’s medicines as well as himself? and which is worse, I to prescribe and he to administer? But excuse me, O my soul, it is not I that prescribe it to God, it is God that prescribes it to me; for hyssop is his own receipt, and one of the ingredients prescribed by himself to make the water of separation for curing the leprosy.... I must confess I was glad at heart when I first heard hyssop spoken of; to think I should be purged so gently, and with a thing that may so easily be had, for hyssop grows in every garden; and then I thought I might go fetch it thence and purge myself, but now I perceive this is not the hyssop of which Solomon writ when he writ from the cedar to the hyssop; but this hyssop is rather the herb grace, which never grew in garden but in that of Paradise, and which none can fetch thence unless God himself deliver it. The truth is, this hyssop was sometimes a cedar; the highest of all trees became the lowest of all shrubs, only to be made this hyssop for us: for Christ indeed is the true hyssop, and his blood the juice of hyssop that only can purge away my sins.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 7.—“Purge me with hyssop.” תְּחַטְּאֵנִי. Properly, expiate my sin with hyssop. The Psalmist alludes to the purification from the leprosy (Levit. xiv. 52), or from the touch of a dead body (Num. xix. 19), both of which were to be done by the sprinkling of water and other things with hyssop.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 7.—“Hyssop.” The lasaf or asaf, the caper plant, the bright green creeper which climbs out of the fissures of the rocks in the Sinaitic valleys, has been identified on grounds of great probability with the “hyssop” or ezob of Scripture; and thus explains whence came the green branches used, even in the desert, for sprinkling the water over the tents of the Israelites.—Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, in “Sinai and Palestine.” 1864.

Verse 7.—“Hyssop.” Between twenty and thirty different plants have been proposed, but no one of them comes so near the above requirements as the caper plant (Capparis spinosa). It grows “out of the wall;” its stalks supply both bunch and rod admirably fitted for the ends indicated; and it has ever been esteemed in the East as possessing cleansing properties.—John Duns, D.D., in “Biblical Natural Science.”

Verse 7.—“Hyssop.” What a pity that Solomon’s botany is lost, in which he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall! The cedar we know, but what is the “hyssop” of the royal botanist? Mr. B——, French consul of this city [Sidon], and an enthusiastic botanist, exhibited to me two varieties of hyssop; one, called zatar by the Arabs, having the fragrance of thyme, with a hot pungent taste, and long, slender stems. A bunch of these would answer very well for sprinkling the paschal and sacrificial blood on the lintel and posts of the doors, and over the persons and houses cleansed from the leprosy. Mr. B——, however, thinks that a very small green plant, like a moss which covers old walls in damp places, is the “hyssop” of Solomon. This I doubt. The other kind also springs out of walls, those of the gardens especially, and was much more likely to attract the attention of the royal student.—W. M. Thomson, D.D., in “The Land and the Book.”

Verse 7.—The paraphrase of this verse in the Chaldee is: “Thou wilt sprinkle me like the priest, which sprinkleth the unclean with the purifying waters, with hyssop, with the ashes of an heifer, and I shall be clean.”—John Morison.

Verse 7.—“I shall be whiter than snow.” But how is this possible? All the dyers upon earth cannot dye a red into white; and how, then, is it possible that my sins which are as red as scarlet should ever be made as white as snow? Indeed such retrogradation is no work of human art; it must be only his doing who brought the sun ten degrees back in the dial of Ahaz: for God hath a nitre of grace that can bring not only the redness of scarlet sins, but even the blackness of deadly sins, into its native purity and whiteness again. But say it be possible, yet what need is there of so great a whiteness, as to be “whiter than snow”? seeing snow is not as paries dealbatus, a painted wall, white without and foul within; but it is white, intus et in cute, within and without, throughout and all over; and what eye so curious but such a whiteness may content? Yet such a whiteness will not serve, for I may be as white as snow and yet a leper still; as it is said of Gehazi that “he went from Elisha a leper as white as snow;” it must be therefore whiter than snow. And such a whiteness it is that God’s washing works upon us, makes within us; for no snow is so white in the eyes of men as a soul cleansed from sin is in the sight of God. And yet, a whiter whiteness than this too; for being purged from sin we shall, induere stolam album, put on the white robe; and this is a whiteness as much whiter than snow as angelical whiteness is more than elemental.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 7.—In the Hebrew language there are two words to express the different kinds of washing, and they are always used with the strictest propriety; the one, to signify that kind of washing which pervades the substance of the thing washed, and cleanses it thoroughly; and the other to express that kind of washing which only cleanses the surface of a substance which the water cannot penetrate. The former is applied to the washing of clothes; the latter is used for washing some part of the body. By a beautiful and strong metaphor, David uses the former word in this and the second verse: “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin;” “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” So in Jer. iv. 14, the same word is applied to the heart.—Richard Mant.

Verse 8.—“Make me to hear joy and gladness.” This is the exceeding great love of the Lord toward his children, that he hath not only provided a sure salvation for them through the remission of their sins in Christ Jesus, but also seals up in their heart the testimony thereof by his Holy Spirit of adoption, and that for their present consolation, lest they should be swallowed up of heaviness through continual temptations. Though he speak not to all his children as he did to Daniel, by an angel, “O man, greatly beloved of God,” nor as he did to the blessed Virgin Mary, “Hail, Mary, freely beloved,” yet doth he witness the same to the hearts of his children by an inward testimony: when they hear it they are alive; when they want it they are but dead; their souls refuse all other comfort whatsoever.—William Cowper.

Verse 8.—“Make me to hear joy and gladness.” As a Christian is the most sorrowful man in the world, so there is none more glad than he. For the cause of his joy is greatest. In respect his misery was greatest, his delivery greatest, therefore his joy greatest. From hell and death is he freed, to life in heaven is he brought.... The person from whom he seeketh this joy is God: “Make me to hear,” saith he; whereby he would teach us that this joy cometh only from God; it is he who is the fountain of joy and all pleasure, for “all good things come from above.” Natural joys proceed from a natural and fleshly fountain; spiritual joys spring only from God: so he who seeketh those joys beneath seeketh hot water under cold ice.—Archibald Symson.

Verse 8.—“Make me to hear joy and gladness.” Another reference to the expiation of the leper, whose ear was to be touched with the blood of the trespass-offering and the oil, as well as thumb and toe, to show that his faculties were now prepared for the service of God; so David prays that his ears may be sanctified to the hearing of joy and gladness; this an unsanctified heart can never receive.—W. Wilson.

Verse 8.—“The bones which thou hast broken.” God, in favour to his children, doth afflict them for sin; and the very phrase of breaking his bones, though it express extremity of misery and pain, yet it hath hope in it, for broken bones by a cunning hand may be set again and return to their former use and strength; so that a conscience distressed for sins is not out of hope; yet upon that hope no wise man will adventure upon sin, saying, though I am wounded, yet I may be healed again; though I am broken, I may be repaired; for let him consider—1. Who breaks his bones—Thou; he that made us our bones and put them in their several places, and tied them together with ligaments, and covered them with flesh; he that keepeth all our bones from breaking; it must be a great matter that must move him to break the bones of any of us. The God of all consolation, that comforteth us in all our distresses, when he cometh to distress us, this makes affliction weigh heavy.... 2. The pain of the affliction exprest so feelingly in the breaking of bones, which, as is said, is the anguish of the soul for sin, and fear of the consuming fire of God’s wrath, and the tempest, as Job calls it, of anger. 3. The pain of setting these bones again: for, though bones dislocated may be put in joint, and though bones broken may be set again, yet this is not done without pain and great extremity to the patient.

Repentance setteth all our broken, pained bones; it recovereth the soul from the anguish thereof; but he that once feeleth the smart of a true repentance, will say, the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season, are as hard a bargain as ever he made, and as dear bought; they cost tears, which are sanguis vulnerati cordis, the blood of a wounded heart; they cost sighs and groans which cannot be expressed; they cost watching, fasting, taming of the body to bring it in subjection, even to the crucifying of the flesh with the lusts thereof. Therefore, let no man adventure his bones in hope of setting them again.—Samuel Page.

Verse 8.—“That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.” The displeasure which God expressed against the sins he had been guilty of, and the deep sense he had of the aggravated nature of them, filled him with those pains and agonies of mind, as that he compares them to that exquisite torture he must have felt had all his bones been crushed, for the original word דִּכִּיתָ, signifies more than broken, namely, being entirely mashed; and he compares the joy that God’s declaring himself fully reconciled to him would produce in his mind, to that inconceivable pleasure, which would arise from the instantaneous restoring and healing those bones, after they had been thus broken and crushed to pieces.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 9.—“Hide thy face from my sins.” The verb סִתֵּר properly signifies to veil, or hide with a veil.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 9.—“Hide thy face from my sins.” He said in the third verse, that his sin was always in his sight; and now he prays that God would put it out of his sight. This is a very good order. If we hold our sins in our eyes to pursue them, God will cast them behind his back to pardon them: if we remember them and repent, he will forget them and forgive: otherwise, peccatum unde homo non avertit, advertit Deus: et si advertit, animadvertit—the sin from which man turns not, God looks to it; and if he look to it, sure he will punish it.—William Cowper.

Verse 9.—“All mine iniquities.” See how one sin calleth to mind many thousands, which though they lie asleep a long time, like a sleeping debt, yet we know not how soon they may be reckoned for. Make sure of a general pardon, and take heed of adding new sins to the old.—John Trapp.

Verse 10.—“Create in me a clean heart, O God.” O thou that createdst the first heaven and the first earth of nothing! O thou that createst the new heaven and the new earth (wherein dwells righteousness), when sin had made the creature worse than nothing! O thou that createst the new creature, the new man, fit to be an inhabitant of the new world, of the new Jerusalem! O thou that hast said, “Behold, I make all things new:” create thou in me, even in me, “a clean heart; and renew a right spirit within me.”—Matthew Lawrence.

Verse 10.—“Create in me a clean heart, O God,” etc. David prayeth the Lord to create in him a new heart, not to correct his old heart, but to create him a new heart; showing that his heart was like an old garment, so rotten and tattered that he could make no good of it by patching or piecing, but even must cut it off, and take a new. Therefore Paul saith, “Cast off the old man;” not pick him and wash him till he be clean, but cast him off and begin anew, as David did. Will ye know what this renewing is? It is the repairing of the image of God, until we be like Adam when he dwelt in Paradise. As there is a whole old man, so there must be a whole new man. The old man must change with the new man, wisdom for wisdom, love for love, fear for fear; his worldly wisdom for heavenly wisdom, his carnal love for spiritual love, his servile fear for Christian fear, his idle thoughts for holy thoughts, his vain words for wholesome words, his fleshly works for sanctified works.—Henry Smith.

Verse 10.—“Create in me a clean heart.” Creating, to speak properly, is to make of nought, and is here used improperly. The prophet speaketh according to his own feeling and present judgment of himself, as though he had lost all, and had no goodness in himself. No doubt the prophet’s heart was in part clean, though not so much as he desired. These things thus opened, here cometh a question first to be answered. Quest. Whether David could have lost the cleanness of heart, having once had it? Ans. No. The gifts and calling of God, that is (as I take it), the gifts of effectual calling, are such as God never repenteth of or taketh away. Faith, hope, and charity are abiding gifts, as sure as the election of God, which is unchangeable. Indeed, the children of God, if we only considered them in themselves with their enemies, might fall away, but being founded upon the unchangeable nature of God, and immutability of his counsel, they cannot, the gates of hell shall not prevail against them, the elect cannot be deceived or plucked out of Christ’s hands. Nay, certain it is that David did not actually leave his former cleanness. For sure it is, his heart smiting him (as here it did), so doing before in less matters, it was not wholly void of cleanness. And again, it could not pray for cleanness if it were not somewhat clean. This is most sure, that by grievous sins much filthiness cometh to the soul, as by a boisterous wind a tree may lose his leaves and some branches, so as that the party sinning may be brought into as great passions almost as if he had lost all, but the desire of grace is an infallible certainty of some grace of that kind. The prophet therefore desireth not a clean heart because he had it not in any sort, but because he could not so well perceive it in himself, and take such comfort in it as he had done before, and for that he desired it a great deal more than now he had it. So learned, so rich men, think themselves not learned, not rich, in respect of that which they do desire, and when the sun is up, the moon seemeth to have no light.—George Estey, in “Certaine Godly and Learned Expositions,” 1603.

Verse 10.—“Create in me a clean heart, O God,” etc. This “creation” is from nothing. David uses the same word of our creation which Moses uses of “the creation of the heaven and the earth.” Our creation “in Jesus Christ” is no mere strengthening of our powers, no mere aiding of our natural weakness by the might of the grace of God, it is not a mere amendment, improvement of our moral habits; it is a creation out of nothing, of that which we had not before. There was nothing in us whereof to make it. We were decayed, corrupt, dead in trespasses and sins. What is dead becometh not alive, except by the infusion of what it had not. What is corrupt receiveth not soundness, save by passing away itself and being replaced by a new production. “The old man” passeth not into the new man, but is “put off.” It is not the basis of the new life, but a hindrance to it. It must be “put off” and the new man “put on,” “created in Christ Jesus.”—E. B. Pusey, D.D., 1853.

Verse 10 (first clause).—He used the word create (Heb. bara), a word only used of the work of God, and showing that the change in him could be wrought only by God.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 10.—“A clean heart.” The priest was required to make a strict examination of the skin of the leper before he could pronounce him clean; David prays God to make his heart clean.—W. Wilson.

Verse 10.—“A right spirit.” A steadfast spirit, i.e., a mind steady in following the path of duty.—French and Skinner.

Verses 10-12.—Who was to do this work? Not himself; God alone. Therefore, he prays: “O God, create—O Lord, renew; uphold by thy Spirit.”—Adam Clarke.

Verse 11.—“Cast me not away from thy presence.” David lamented before that sin had slain him, and made him like a dead man, wanting a heart or quickening spirit; and now he fears lest, as the dead are abhorred by the living, so the Lord should cast him as a dead and abominable thing out of his presence. Whereof we learn this is one of the just punishments of sin; it procures the casting out of a man from the face of God; and it may let us see how dear bought are the pleasures of sin when a man to enjoy the face of the creature deprives himself of the comfortable face of the Creator; as David here, for the carnal love of the face of Bathsheba, puts himself in danger to be cast out for ever from the presence of the Lord his God. If a man could remember this in all Satan’s temptations, what it is that the deceiver offers, and what it is again that he seeks, he would be loth to buy the perishing pleasures of sin upon such a price as Satan selleth them, but would answer him as the apostle did Simon Magus. “Thy money, with thyself, go into perdition;” thy gain, thy glory, thy pleasure, and whatever thou wouldst give me to offend the Lord my God, go with thyself into perdition, for what canst thou offer unto me comparable to that which thou wouldst steal from me?

But how is it that he prays, “Cast me not out from thy presence”? May a man be cast any way from it? Saith he not himself, “What way can I flee from thy presence?” This is soon answered by distinguishing his twofold presence—one in mercy, wherewith he refresheth and comforteth his own, and this without intermission they enjoy who are in heaven; another, in wrath, whereby he terrifies and torments without intermission the damned in hell. As to them who are upon earth, certain it is he is displeased with many, who, because they see not his angry face, regard it not, borne out with temporal recreations of the creature, which will fail them; and there are many, again, to whom he looks as a loving Father in Christ, and yet they see not his merciful face by reason of many interjected veils; but to them who once have felt the sweetness of his favourable face it is death to want it.—William Cowper.

Verse 11.—“Cast me not away from thy presence.” Like the leper who is banished from society till cleansed, or as Saul was rejected from being king, because he obeyed not the word of the Lord. 1 Sam. xv. 23. David could not but feel that his transgressions would have deserved a similar rejection.—W. Wilson.

Verse 11.—“Cast me not away.” Lord, though I, alas! have cast thee from me, yet cast me not away: hide not thy face from me, although I so often have refused to look at thee; leave me not without help, to perish in my sins, though I have aforetime left thee.—Fra Thomé de Jesu.

Verse 11.—“Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” The words of this verse imply that the Spirit had not altogether been taken away from him, however much his gifts had been temporarily obscured.... Upon one point he had fallen into a deadly lethargy, but he was not “given over to a reprobate mind;” and it is scarcely conceivable that the rebuke of Nathan the prophet should have operated so easily and so suddenly in arousing him had there been no latent spark of godliness still remaining.... The truth on which we are now insisting is an important one, as many learned men have been inconsiderately drawn into the opinion that the elect, by falling into mortal sin, may lose the Spirit altogether, and be alienated from God. The contrary is clearly declared by Peter, who tells us that the word by which we are born again is an incorruptible seed (1 Peter i. 23); and John is equally explicit in informing us that the elect are preserved from falling away altogether. 1 John iii. 9. However much they may appear for a time to have been cast off by God, it is afterwards seen that grace must have been alive in their breast even during that interval when it seemed to be extinct. Nor is there any force in the objection that David speaks as if he feared that he might be deprived of the Spirit. It is natural that the saints, when they have fallen into sin, and have thus done what they could to expel the grace of God, should feel an anxiety upon this point; but it is their duty to hold fast the truth, that grace is the incorruptible seed of God, which never can perish in any heart where it has been deposited. This is the spirit displayed by David. Reflecting upon his offence, he is agitated with fears, and yet rests in the persuasion that, being a child of God, he would not be deprived of what, indeed, he had justly forfeited.—John Calvin.

Verse 12.—“Restore.” It is no small comfort to a man that hath lost his receipt for a debt paid when he remembers that the man he deals with is a good and just man, though his discharge is not presently to be found. That God whom thou hast to deal with is very gracious; what thou hast lost he is ready to restore (the evidence of thy grace I mean). David begged this, and obtained it. Yea, saith faith, if it were true what thou fearest, that thy grace was never true, there is mercy enough in God’s heart to pardon all thy former hypocrisy if thou comest in the sincerity of thy heart; and so faith persuades the soul by an act of adventure to cast itself upon God in Christ. Wilt not thou, saith faith, expect to find as much mercy at God’s hands as thou canst look for at a man’s? It is not beyond the line of created mercy to forgive many unkindnesses, much falseness and unfaithfulness, upon an humble, sincere acknowledgment of the same. The world is not so bad but it abounds with parents who can do thus much for their children, and masters for their servants; and is that hard for God to do which is so easy in his creature? Thus faith vindicates God’s name. And so long as we have not lost sight of God’s merciful heart, our head will be kept above water, though we want the evidence of our own grace.—William Gurnall.

Verse 12.—“Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,” etc. How can God restore that which he took not away? For, can I charge God with the taking away the joy of his salvation from me? O gracious God, I charge not thee with taking it, but myself with losing it; and such is the miserable condition of us poor wretches, that if thou shouldst restore no more to us than what thou takest from us, we should quickly be at a fault in our estates, and our ruin would be as sudden as inevitable. But why am I so earnest for restoring? for what good will restoring do me? and how shall I more keep it being restored, than I kept it before being enjoyed? and if I so enjoy it, as still to fear to lose it, what joy can there be in such enjoying? O therefore, not restore it only, but “establish me with thy free spirit;” that as by thy restoring I may enjoy it entirely, so by thy establishing I may enjoy it securely.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 12.—“Uphold me.” I am tempted to think that I am now an established Christian, that I have overcome this or that lust so long that I have got into the habit of the opposite grace, so that there is no fear; I may venture very near the temptation, nearer than other men. This is a lie of Satan. I might as well speak of gunpowder getting by habit a power of resisting fire, so as not to catch the spark. As long as powder is wet it resists the spark, but when it becomes dry it is ready to explode at the first touch. As long as the Spirit dwells in my heart, he deadens me to sin, so that if lawfully called through temptation I may reckon upon God carrying me through. But when the Spirit leaves me, I am like dry gunpowder. Oh, for a sense of this!—Robert Murray M’Cheyne.

Verse 12.—“Uphold me with thy free spirit.” A loving mother chooses a fitting place, and a fitting time, to let her little child fall; it is learning to walk, it is getting over confident, it may come to a dangerous place, and if possessed of all this confidence, may fall and destroy itself. So she permits it to fall at such a place, and in such a way as that it may be hurt, wholesomely hurt, but not dangerously so. It has now lost its confidence, and clings all the more fondly and trustingly to the strong hand that is able to hold up all its goings. So this David, this little child of the great God, has fallen; it is a sore fall, all his bones are broken, but it has been a precious and a profitable lesson to him; he has no confidence any longer in himself, his trust is not now in an arm of flesh. “Uphold me with thy free spirit.”—Thomas Alexander.

Verse 12 (last clause).—“Let a free spirit sustain me;” that is, let me not be enslaved, as I have been, by my sinful passions.—Henry Dimock, M.A., 1791.

Verse 13.—“Then will I teach transgressors thy ways,” etc. We see our duty craves that when we have received mercy from God for ourselves, we should make vantage of it for the edification of others. Every talent received from God should be put to profit, but specially the talent of mercy; as it is greatest, so the Lord requires greater fruit of it, both for his own glory and for the edification of our brethren. Seeing we are vessels of mercy, should not the scent and sweet odour of mercy go from us to others? This duty Christ craved from Peter: “And thou, when thou art converted, confirm thy brethren.” And this duty, as David here promiseth, so we may read how he did perform it: “Come unto me, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul.” The property of a Christian is, fides per delectionem efficax, faith worketh by love. What availeth it to pretend faith toward God, where there is no love toward thy neighbour? and wherein can thy love be declared more than in this, to draw thy neighbour to the participation of that same merit whereunto God hath called thee? By the law a man was bound to bring home his neighbour’s wandering beast if he had met with it before; how much more, then, to turn again his neighbour himself when he wanders from the Lord his God? If two men walking on the way should both fall into one pit, and the one being relieved out of it should go his way and forget his neighbour, might it not justly be called a barbarous and inhuman cruelty? We have all fallen into one and the same mire of iniquity; since the Lord hath put out his merciful hand to draw us out of this prison of sin, shall we refuse to put out our hand to see if possibly we may draw up our brethren with us?—William Cowper (Bishop).

Verse 14 (first clause).—“Deliver me from bloods.” The term bloods in Hebrew may denote any capital crime; and in my opinion he is here to be considered as alluding to the sentence of death, to which he felt himself to be obnoxious, and from which he requests deliverance.—John Calvin.

Verse 14 (first clause).—The Chaldee reads, “Deliver me from the judgment of murder.”

Verse 14.—“O God, thou God of my salvation.” “O God,” is a good invocation, for he heareth prayers. Yet to distinguish him from all false gods he is so particular as to single him from all other: “Thou God.” And to magnify him, and to re-enforce his petition, he calleth him Deum salutis, “the God of salvation,” which expresseth him able to deliver him; for it is his nature, and his love, and his glory, to be a preserver of men. And to bring home this joy and comfort into his own heart, he addeth, salutis meæ, “of my salvation.” So it is oratio fervens, and the apostle telleth us that such a prayer prevaileth much with God. For God may be a Saviour and a deliverer, and yet we may escape his saving hand, his right hand may skip us. We can have no comfort in the favours of God, except we can apply them at home; rather we may “think on God and be troubled.”—Samuel Page.

Verse 14.—“And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.” Hierom, Basil, Euthymius, and other ancient doctors observe that natural corruptions and actual sins are the very rampiers which stop the free passage of song (verse 15). So David himself doth expound himself: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.” His unthankfulness did cry, his adultery cry, his murder cry unto the Lord for revenge; but alas! himself was mute, till God in exceeding great mercy did stop the mouths of his clamorous adversaries, and gave him leave to speak.—John Boys.

Verse 14.—“Aloud.” This for God, for himself, for the church. 1. For God, that his honour may be proclaimed, therefore they borrowed the voice of still and loud instruments.... 2. For himself. Having received such a benefit, he cannot contain himself, this new wine of spiritual joy which filleth his vessel must have a vent. All passions are loud. Anger chides loud, sorrow cries loud, fear shrieks loud, and joy sings loud. So he expresseth the vehemency of his affection; for to whom much is forgiven, they love much. 3. For others. Iron whetteth iron—examples of zeal and devotion affect much, and therefore solemn and public assemblies do generally tender the best service to God, because one provoketh another.—Samuel Page.

Verse 15.—“O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.” As man is a little world in the great, so the tongue is a great world in the little. Nihil habet medium; aut grande malum est, aut grande bonum.[23] It has no mean; it is either a great evil, or a great good. If good (as Eunapius said of that famous rhetorician), a walking library, a whole university of edifying knowledge; but if bad (as St. James doth tell us, ch. iii. 6), “a world of wickedness.” No better dish for God’s public service, when it is well seasoned; again, none worse, when ill handled. So that if we desire to be doorkeepers in God’s house, let us entreat God first to be a doorkeeper in our house, that he would shut the wicket of our mouth against unsavoury speeches, and open the door of our lips, “that our mouth may shew forth his praise.” This was David’s prayer, and ought to be thy practice, wherein observe three points especially; who, the Lord; what, open my lips; why, that my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For the first—man of himself cannot untie the strings of his own stammering tongue, but it is God only which openeth “a door of utterance.” Col. iv. 3. When we have a good thought, it is (as the school doth speak) gratia infusa; when a good word, gratia effusa; when a good work, gratia diffusa. Man is a lock, the Spirit of God has a key, “which openeth, and no man shutteth;” again, “shutteth, and no man openeth.” Rev. iii. 7. He did open the heart of Lydia to conceive well, the ears of the prophet to hear well, the eyes of Elisha’s servant to see well, and here the lips of David to speak well. Acts xvi.; Isai. 1.; 2 Kings vi. And therefore, whereas in the former verse he might seem too peremptory, saying, “My tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness;” he doth, as it were, correct himself by this latter edition and second speech: O Lord, I find myself most unable to sing or say, but “open thou my lips,” and touch thou my tongue, and then I am sure “my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.”—John Boys.

Verse 15.—“O Lord, open thou my lips,” etc. Again he seems to have the case of the leper before his mind, with the upper lip covered, and only crying unclean, unclean; and he prays as a spiritual leper to be enabled, with freedom and fulness, to publish abroad the praise of his God.—W. Wilson.

Verse 15 (first clause).—He prays that his lips may be opened; in other words, that God would afford him matter of praise. The meaning usually attached to the expression is, that God would so direct his tongue by the Spirit as to fit him for singing his praises. But though it is true that God must supply us with words, and that if he do not, we cannot fail to be silent in his praise, David seems rather to intimate that his mouth must be shut until God called him to the exercise of thanksgiving by extending pardon.—John Calvin.

Verse 16.—“For thou desirest not sacrifice;” etc. There may be another reason why David here affirms that God would not accept of a sacrifice, nor be pleased with a burnt-offering. No particular sacrifices were appointed by the law of Moses to expiate the guilt of murder and adultery. The person who had perpetrated these crimes was, according to the divine law, to be punished with death. David therefore may be understood as declaring, that it was utterly vain for him to think of resorting to sacrifices and burnt-offerings with a view to the expiation of his guilt; that his criminality was of such a character, that the ceremonial law made no provision for his deliverance from the doom which his deeds of horror deserved; and that the only sacrifices which would avail were those mentioned in the succeeding verse, “The sacrifices of a broken heart.”—John Calvin.

Verse 16.—“Else would I give it thee.” And good reason it is, that we who lie daily at the beautiful gate of the temple begging alms of him, and receiving from his open hand, who openeth his hand, and filleth with his plenty every living thing, should not think much to return to him such offerings of our goods as his law requireth.—Samuel Page.

Verses 16, 17.—And now I was thinking what were fit to offer to God for all his lovingkindness he has showed me; and I thought upon sacrifices, for they have sometimes been pleasing to him, and he hath oftentimes smelt a sweet odour from them; but I considered that sacrifices were but shadows of things to come, and are not now in that grace they have been; for old things are past, and new are now come; the shadows are gone, the substances are come in place. The bullocks that are to be sacrificed now are our hearts; it were easier for me to give him bullocks for sacrifice, than to give him my heart. But why should I offer him that he cares not for? my heart, I know, he cares for; and if it be broken, and offered up by penitence and contrition, it is the only sacrifice that now he delights in. But can we think God to be so indifferent that he will accept of a broken heart? Is a thing that is broken good for anything? Can we drink in a broken glass? Or can we lean upon a broken staff? But though other things may be the worse for breaking, yet a heart is never at the best till it be broken; for till it be broken we cannot see what is in it; till it be broken, it cannot send forth its sweetest odour; and therefore, though God loves a whole heart in affection, yet he loves a broken heart in sacrifice. And no marvel, indeed, seeing it is he himself that breaks it; for as nothing but goat’s blood can break the adamant, so nothing but the blood of our scape-goat, Jesus Christ, is able to break our adamantine hearts. Therefore, accept, O God, my broken heart, which I offer thee with a whole heart; seeing thou canst neither except against it for being whole, which is broken in sacrifice, nor except against it for being broken, which is whole in affection.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 17.—“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart,” etc. When speaking of thankfulness, we might have expected him to say, “a joyful heart, or a thankful heart,” but instead of that he says, “a contrite heart.” For the joy of forgiveness does not banish sorrow and contrition for sin: this will still continue. And the deeper the sense of sin, and the truer the sorrow for it, the more heartfelt also will be the thankfulness for pardon and reconciliation. The tender, humble, broken heart, is therefore the best thank-offering.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 17.—It may be observed that the second word, נִדְכֶּה, which we render contrite, denotes the being bruised and broken to pieces, as a thing is bruised in a mortar (See Numbers xi. 8), and therefore, in a moral sense, signifies such a weight of sorrow as must wholly crush the mind without some powerful and seasonable relief.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 18.—“In thy good pleasure.” Whatever we seek must ever be sought under this restriction, “Thy good pleasure.” Build thou, but do it in thine own wise time, in thine own good way. Build thou the walls of separation that divide the church from the world; let them be in it, not of it; keep them from its evil. Build thou the walls that bind, that unite thy people into one city, under one polity, that they all may be one. Build thou, and raze thou; raze all the inner walls that divide thy people from thy people; hasten that day when, as there is but one Shepherd, so shall there be but one sheep-fold.—Thomas Alexander.

Verses 18, 19.—Some learned Jewish interpreters, while they assign the Psalm to the occasion mentioned in the title, conjecture that the 18th and 19th verses were added by some Jewish bard, in the time of the Babylonish captivity. This opinion is also held by Venema, Green, Street, French and Skinner. There does not, however, seem to be any sufficient ground for referring the poem, either in whole or in part, to that period. Neither the walls of Jerusalem, nor the buildings of Zion, as the royal palace and the magnificent structure of the temple, which we know David had already contemplated for the worship of God (2 Samuel vii. 1, etc.), were completed during his reign. This was only effected under the reign of his son Solomon. 1 Kings iii. 1.

The prayer, then, in the 18th verse might have a particular reference to the completion of these buildings, and especially to the rearing of the temple, in which sacrifices of unprecedented magnitude were to be offered. David’s fears might easily suggest to him that his crimes might prevent the building of the temple, which God had promised should be erected. 2 Samuel vii. 13. “The king forgets not,” observes Bishop Horne, “to ask mercy for his people as well as for himself; that so neither his own nor their sins might prevent either the building and flourishing of the earthly Jerusalem, or what was of infinitely greater importance, the promised blessing of Messiah, who was to descend from him, and to rear the walls of the New Jerusalem.”—James Anderson’s Note to Calvin, in loc.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

[The Psalm is upon its surface so full of suggestions for sermons that I have not attempted to offer any of my own, but have merely inserted a selection from Mr. G. Rogers and others.]

Verse 1.—I. The Prayer. 1. For mercy, not justice, Mercy is the sinner’s attribute—as much a part of the divine nature as justice. The possibility of sin is implied in its existence. The actual commission of sin is implied in its display. 2. For pardon, not pity merely, but forgiveness. II. The plea. 1. For the pardon of great sins on account of great mercies, and lovingkindness. 2. Many sins on account of multitude of mercies. 3. Hell-deserving sins on account of tender mercies. We who have sinned are human, he who pardons is divine.

“Great God, thy nature hath no bound, So let thy pardoning love be found.”

Verse 3.—I. Confession. “I acknowledge,” etc. II. Humiliation, not a mere confession with the lips, but ever before me—in its guilt—defilement—consequences in this life and hereafter.

Verses 3, 4, 11, 12, 17.—I. Scripture estimate of sin. 1. Personal accountability—“My sin.” 2. Estimated as hateful to God—“Against thee,” etc. 3. Sin estimated as separation from God. II. Spiritual restoration. First step—Sacrifice of a broken spirit. Last step—Spirit of liberty. “Thy free spirit.”—F. W. Robertson.

Verse 4.—1. The person—“I.” 2. The commission—“done.” 3. The trespass—“evil.” 4. The particularity—“this.” 5. The daring of it—“in thy sight.”—Samuel Page.

Verse 4.—“Against thee.” 1. Thee, an holy God—a God of pure eyes, and that cannot endure to behold iniquity. 2. Thee, a just God—who will punish sin. 3. Thee, an Almighty God. 4. Thee, a gracious God.—T. Horton.

Verse 4.—I. Self-condemnation. 1. For the greatness of sin. Not against self merely, or fellow men, but God. This includes all guilt, for all is against him. 2. Its effrontery, “in thy sight.” II. Divine justification. 1. In the permission of sin. 2. In its punishment. 3. In its forgiveness. God must be justified when he justifies the ungodly.

Verse 6.—See T. Goodwin’s Treatise, entitled, “An Unregenerate Man’s Guiltiness before God, in respect of Sin and Punishment.” Bk. ix. cap. i. ii. [Nichol’s edition, Vol. X., p. 324 et seq.]

Verse 7.—Here is, I. Faith in the fact of an atonement for sin. “I shall be clean.” II. Faith in the method of its application. “Purge me,” etc. Sprinkled as the blood of sacrifices. III. Faith in its efficacy. “I shall be whiter,” etc.

Verse 10.—I. The change to be effected. 1. A clean heart. 2. A right spirit. II. The power by which it is accomplished. 1. A creative power, such as created the world at first. 2. A renewing power, such as continually renews the face of the earth. III. The acquirement of these blessings. The prayer, “Create,” etc.

Verse 11 (first clause).—I am not cast away, and would be thankful. I deserve to be cast away, and ought to be penitential. I am afraid of being cast away, and must be prayerful. “Cast me not away.” 1. From thy protecting presence into danger. 2. From thy loving presence into wrath. 3. From thy joyous presence into distress. 4. From thy affluent presence into destitution. 5. From thy gracious presence into despair. Sin hurries us away from God; grace hastens us into his embrace: the former severs, and the latter unites, God and the soul.—W. Jackson.

Verse 11.—I. There is often much comfort in much grief. “Cast me not,” etc. A consciousness of still having the divine presence and a dread of losing it, prompts the prayer. II. There is often much faith in much fear. “Take not,” etc. Faith in the spirit works within him while he fears.

Verses 12-13.—A threefold desire: 1. To be happy—“Restore,” etc. 2. To be consistent—“Uphold,” etc. 3. To be useful—“Then will I teach,” etc.—W. Jackson.

Verse 13.—I. It is not our duty to seek the conversion of others until we are converted ourselves. II. The greater enjoyment we have in the ways of God, the more faithfully and earnestly we shall make them known to others. III. The more faithfully and earnestly we make them known to others the more they will be influenced by them.

Verse 15.—I. Confession. His lips are sealed on account—1. Of his fall—and well they might be. 2. Of natural timidity. 3. Of want of zeal. II. Petition. “Open thou,” etc. Not my understanding merely and heart, but “lips.” III. Resolution. Then he would speak freely in God’s praise.

Verse 15.—I. When God does not open our lips we had better keep them closed. II. When he does open them we ought not to close them. III. When he opens them it is not to speak in our own praise, and seldom in praise of others, but always in his own praise. IV. We should use this prayer whenever we are about to speak in his name. “O Lord, open,” etc.

Verses 16-17.—I. Men would gladly do something towards their own salvation if they could. “Thou desirest not,” etc., else would I give it. II. All that they can do is not of the least avail. All the ceremonial observances of Jewish or Gentile churches could not procure pardon for the least transgression of the moral law. III. The only offering of man which God will not despise is a broken and a contrite heart. IV. All other requirement for his salvation God himself will provide.

Verse 18.—I. For whom is the prayer offered—for the church or Zion? 1. Next to our own welfare we should seek the welfare of Zion. 2. All should seek it by prayer. II. For what is the prayer offered? 1. The kind of good, not worldly or ecclesiastical, but spiritual. 2. The measure of good. “In thy good pleasure. Thine own love to it, and what thou hast already done for it.” 3. The continuance of good. “Build,” etc. Its doctrines, graces, zeal.

Verse 19.—I. When we are accepted of God our offerings are accepted. “Then,” etc. II. We should then make the richest offerings in our power, our time, talents, influence, etc. 1. Holy obedience. 2. Self-sacrifices, not half offerings, but whole “burnt-offerings;” not lambs merely, but “bullocks.” 3. Zeal for divine ordinances. “Upon thine altar.” III. God will take pleasure in such services. “Then shalt thou be pleased.” 1. Because from his own redeemed. 2. Because given in the name of the Redeemer. With such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Footnote 23:

Jerome.

PSALM LII.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician.—Even short Psalms, if they record but one instance of the goodness of the Lord, and rebuke but briefly the pride of man, are worthy of our best minstrelsy. When we see that each Psalm is dedicated to “the chief musician,” it should make us value our Psalmody, and forbid us to praise the Lord carelessly. Maschil. An Instructive. Even the malice of a Doeg may furnish instruction to a David. A Psalm of David. He was the prime object of Doeg’s doggish hatred, and therefore the most fitting person to draw from the incident the lessons concealed within it. When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and saith unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. By this deceitful tale-bearing, he procured the death of all the priests at Nob: though it had been a crime to have succoured David as a rebel, they were not in their intent and knowledge guilty of the fault. David felt much the villany of this arch-enemy, and here he denounces him in vigorous terms; it may be also that he has Saul in his eye.

DIVISION.—We shall follow the sacred pauses marked by the Selahs of the poet.

EXPOSITION.

Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.

2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

3 Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

1. “Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man?” Doeg had small matter for boasting in having procured the slaughter of a band of defenceless priests. A mighty man indeed to kill men who never touched a sword! He ought to have been ashamed of his cowardice. He had no room for exultation! Honourable titles are but irony where the wearer is mean and cruel. If David alluded to Saul, he meant by these words pityingly to say, “How can one by nature fitted for nobler deeds, descend to so low a level as to find a theme for boasting in a slaughter so heartless and mischievous?” “The goodness of God endureth continually.” A beautiful contrast. The tyrant’s fury cannot dry up the perennial stream of divine mercy. If priests be slain their Master lives. If Doeg for awhile triumphs the Lord will outlive him, and right the wrongs which he has done. This ought to modify the proud exultations of the wicked, for after all, while the Lord liveth, iniquity has little cause to exalt itself.

2. “Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs.” Thou speakest with an ulterior design. The information given was for Saul’s assistance apparently, but in very deed in his heart the Edomite hated the priests of the God of Jacob. It is a mark of deep depravity, when the evil spoken is craftily intended to promote a yet greater evil. “Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.” David represents the false tongue as being effectual for mischief, like a razor which, unawares to the person operated on, is making him bald; so softly and deftly do Oriental barbers perform their work. Or he may mean that as with a razor a man’s throat may be cut very speedily, under the pretence of shaving him, even thus keenly, basely, but effectually Doeg destroyed the band of the priests. Whetted by malice, and guided by craft, he did his cruel work with accursed thoroughness.

3. “Thou lovest evil more than good.” He loved not good at all. If both had been equally profitable and pleasant, he would have preferred evil. “And lying rather than to speak righteousness.” He was more at home at lying than at truth. He spake not the truth except by accident, but he delighted heartily in falsehood. “SELAH.” Let us pause and look at the proud, blustering liar. Doeg is gone, but other dogs bark at the Lord’s people. Saul’s cattle-master is buried, but the devil still has his drovers, who fain would hurry the saints like sheep to the slaughter.

4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

4. “Thou lovest.” Thou hast a taste, a gusto for evil language. “All devouring words.” There are words that, like boa-constrictors, swallow men whole, or like lions, rend men to pieces; these words evil minds are fond of. Their oratory is evermore furious and bloody. That which will most readily provoke the lowest passions they are sure to employ, and they think such pandering to the madness of the wicked to be eloquence of a high order. “O thou deceitful tongue.” Men can manage to say a great many furious things, and yet cover all over with the pretext of justice. They claim that they are jealous for the right, but the truth is they are determined to put down truth and holiness, and craftily go about it under this transparent pretence.

5. “God shall likewise destroy thee for ever.” Fain would the persecutor destroy the church, and therefore God shall destroy him, pull down his house, pluck up his roots, and make an end of him. “He shall take thee away.” God shall extinguish his coal and sweep him away like the ashes of the hearth; he would have quenched the truth, and God shall quench him. “And pluck thee out of thy dwelling place,” like a plant torn from the place where it grew, or a captive dragged from his home. Ahimelech and his brother priests were cut off from their abode, and so should those be who compassed and contrived their murder. “And root thee out of the land of the living.” The persecutor shall be eradicated, stubbed up by the root, cut up root and branch. He sought the death of others and death shall fall upon him. He troubled the land of the living, and he shall be banished to that land where the wicked cease from troubling. Those who will not “let live” have no right to “live.” God will turn the tables on malicious men, and mete to them a portion with their own measure. “SELAH.” Pause again, and behold the divine justice proving itself more than a match for human sin.

6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:

7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.

8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

6. “The righteous”—the object of the tyrant’s hatred—shall outlive his enmity, and “also shall see,” before his own face, the end of the ungodly oppressor. God permits Mordecai to see Haman hanging on the gallows. David had brought to him the tokens of Saul’s death on Gilboa. “And fear.” Holy awe shall sober the mind of the good man; he shall reverently adore the God of providence. “And shall laugh at him.” If not with righteous joy, yet with solemn contempt. Schemes so far-reaching all baffled, plans so deep, so politic, all thwarted. Mephistopheles outwitted, the old serpent taken in his own subtlety. This is a goodly theme for that deep-seated laughter which is more akin to solemnity than merriment.

7. “Lo.” Look ye here, and read the epitaph of a mighty man, who lorded it proudly during his little hour, and set his heel upon the necks of the Lord’s chosen. “This is the man that made not God his strength.” Behold the man! The great vainglorious man. He found a fortress, but not in God; he gloried in his might, but not in the Almighty. Where is he now? How has it fared with him in the hour of his need? Behold his ruin, and be instructed. “But trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.” The substance he had gathered, and the mischiefs he had wrought, were his boast and glory. Wealth and wickedness are dreadful companions; when combined they make a monster. When the devil is master of money bags, he is a devil indeed. Beelzebub and Mammon together heat the furnace seven times hotter for the child of God, but in the end they shall work out their own destruction. Wherever we see to-day a man great in sin and substance, we shall do well to anticipate his end. and view this verse as the divine in memoriam.

8. “But I,” hunted and persecuted though I am, “am like a green olive tree.” I am not plucked up or destroyed, but am like a flourishing olive, which out of the rock draws oil, and amid the drought still lives and grows. “In the house of God.” He was one of the divine family, and could not be expelled from it; his place was near his God, and there was he safe and happy, despite all the machinations of his foes. He was bearing fruit, and would continue to do so when all his proud enemies were withered like branches lopped from the tree. “I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” Eternal mercy is my present confidence. David knew God’s mercy to be eternal and perpetual, and in that he trusted. What a rock to build on! What a fortress to fly to!

9. “I will praise thee for ever.” Like thy mercy shall my thankfulness be. While others boast in their riches I will boast in my God; and when their glorying is silenced for ever in the tomb, my song shall continue to proclaim the lovingkindness of Jehovah. “Because thou hast done it.” Thou hast vindicated the righteous, and punished the wicked. God’s memorable acts of providence, both to saints and sinners, deserve and must have our gratitude. David views his prayers as already answered, the promises of God as already fulfilled, and therefore at once lifts up the sacred Psalm. “And I will wait on thy name.” God shall still be the Psalmist’s hope; he will not in future look elsewhere. He whose name has been so gloriously made known in truth and righteousness, is justly chosen as our expectation for years to come. “For it is good before thy saints.” Before or among the saints David intended to wait, feeling it to be good both for him and them to look to the Lord alone, and wait for the manifestation of his character in due season. Men must not too much fluster us; our strength is to sit still. Let the mighty ones boast, we will wait on the Lord; and if their haste brings them present honour, our patience will have its turn by-and-by, and bring us the honour which excelleth.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—That Maschil means a sacred composition, is evident from the seventh verse of the 47th Psalm, where the passage which we render, “Sing ye praises with understanding,” is literally, “Sing ye a Maschil,” or song of instruction. This word occurs as a title in thirteen places; and six times is prefixed to compositions of David’s. In several instances it occurs in consecutive Psalms; i.e., in the 42nd (of which the 43rd is the sequel), the 44th and 45th, the 52nd, 53rd, 54th, and 55th, the 88th and 89th. A circumstance which favours the notion that the term was one peculiarly used by some particular editor or collector of a certain portion of the Psalter.—John Jebb.

Verse 1 (first clause).—Why doth he glory in malice that is mighty? that is, he, that in malice is mighty, why doth he glory? There is need that a man be mighty but in goodness, not in malice. Is it any great thing to glory in malice? To build a house doth belong to few men, any ignorant man you please can pull down. To sow wheat, to dress the crop, to wait until it ripen, and in that fruit on which one has laboured to rejoice, doth belong to few men: with one spark any man you please can burn all the crop.... What art thou about to do, O mighty man, what art thou about to do, boasting thyself much? Thou art about to kill a man: this thing also a scorpion, this also a fever, this also a poisonous fungus can do. To this is thy mightiness reduced, that it be made equal to a poisonous fungus!—Augustine.

Verse 1.—By “mischief” is understood not simply what evil he had done, but the prosperity which he now enjoyed, obtained through mischief; as is clear both from the word boasting and from the seventh verse.... Formerly he was the chief of Saul’s shepherds (1 Sam. xxi. 8), but by that wicked destruction of the priests of God by Saul, and the execution of the cruel sentence, he obtained the chief place near to the king (ibid. xxii. 9).—Hermann Venema.

Verse 1.—“O mighty man.” These words may be added either by way of irony, as if he had said, A great deal of valour and prowess you have shown in slaying a company of unarmed men, the priests of the Lord, yea, women and children, no way able to resist you; or else to imply the ground of his vain boasting, to wit, either his present greatness, as being a man in great place, and of great power with Saul; or the great preferments he expected from Saul.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 1.—“The goodness of God endureth continually.” He contrasts the goodness of God with the wealth and might of Doeg, and the foundation of his own confidence as widely different from that of Doeg, his own placed upon the goodness of God, enduring for ever and showing itself effectual. It is as if he had said, The goodness of God to which I trust, is most powerful and the same throughout all time, and in it I shall at all times most surely rejoice that goodness of God, since now it sustains me, so it will exalt me in its own good time; it therefore is, and will be above me.... Not without emphasis does he say the goodness אֵל of the strong God, a contrast to Doeg the hero, and the ruinous foundation of his fortune.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 2.—“Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.” Thus our version. But I do not very well understand the propriety of the tongue’s devising mischief, and devising it like a sharp razor. But we may easily avoid this harsh comparison by rendering the words: Thou contrivest mischiefs with thy tongue, as with a sharp razor, O thou dealer in deceit: i.e., Thou contrivest with thy smooth and flattering tongue to wound the reputation and character of others, as though thou wast cutting their throats with a smooth razor.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 2.—“Like a sharp razor,” that instead of shaving the hair lanceth the flesh; or missing the beard cutteth the throat.—John Trapp.

Verse 2.—The smooth, adroit manner of executing a wicked device neither hides nor abates its wickedness. Murder with “a sharp razor” is as wicked as murder with a meat-axe or a bludgeon. A lie very ingeniously framed and rehearsed in an oily manner, is as great a sin, and in the end will be seen to be as great a folly as the most bungling attempt at deception.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 3.—“Thou lovest evil more than good.”—“Thou hast loved evil,” he says, “more than good,” not by simply preferring it, but by substituting it; so that in the stead of good he hath done evil, and that from the inmost love of his soul, bent upon evil; wherefore he does not say that he admitted, but loved evil, not moral only, but physical, for the destruction of his neighbours; so to have loved it, that he willed nothing but evil, being averse to all good.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 4.—“Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.”—He was all tongue; a man of words: and these the most deceitful and injurious.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 5.—“God shall destroy thee for ever,” etc. There are four words the Psalmist makes use of to denote the utter vengeance that awaited this deceitful and bloody wretch, all of them having a very strong meaning. The first, יִתָּצךָ from נָחַץ, signifies to pull down, and break utterly into pieces; as when an altar is demolished. (Judges vi. 30; viii. 9.) The second, יַחְתְּךָ from the root חֶתֶה, which signifies to twist anything, or pluck it up by twisting it round, as trees are sometimes twisted up. The third, יסָּחֲךָ from נָסַח, which properly signifies utterly to sweep away anything like dust or chaff; and the expression יסָּחֲךָ מֵאֹהֶל means not sweep thee away from thy tent, but, sweep thee away, that thou mayest be no longer a tent; thyself, thy family, thy fortune, shall be wholly and entirely swept away, and dissipated for ever; to which the fourth word, שֵׁרֶשְׁךָ, answers, eradicabit te, he shall root thee out from the land of the living. ’Tis impossible words can express a more entire and absolute destruction.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 5.—“God shall likewise destroy thee for ever.” Here are quot verba tot tonotrua, so many words, so many thunderclaps. As thou hast destroyed the Lord’s priests, and their whole city, razing and harassing it; so God will demolish and destroy thee utterly as an house pulled down to the ground, so that one stone is not left upon another (Lev. xiv. 45); so shall God pull down Doeg from that high preferment, which he by sycophancy hath got at court.—John Trapp.

Verse 5.—Wonderful is the force of the verbs in the original, which convey to us the four ideas of laying prostrate, dissolving as by fire, sweeping away as with a besom, and totally extirpating root and branch, as a tree is eradicated from the spot on which it grew. If a farther comment be wanted, it may be found in the history of David’s enemies, and the crucifiers of the Son of David; but the passage will be fully and finally explained by the destruction of the world of the ungodly at the last day.—George Horne.

Verse 5.—The poet accumulates dire and heavy words, and mingles various metaphors that he might paint the picture of this man’s destruction in more lively colours. Three metaphors appear to be joined together, the first taken from a building, the second from a tent, the third from a tree, if attention is given to the force and common acceptation of the words.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 5.—“He shall take thee away;” or, seize thee, as coals are taken with the tongs.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 6.—“The righteous also shall see,” etc. That is, to use the apt words of Gejerus, “This shall not be a secret judgment, or known only to a few, but common fame shall spread abroad throughout the kingdom, or city, the notable punishment of the ungodly. The righteous also shall not pass by such an event with indifference but with earnest eyes shall contemplate it,” etc. I add, and hence shall they take joy, and turn it to their own use, to the greater fearing of God.... The righteous, upon whose destruction the ungodly man was intent, shall survive and spend their lives safe in the favour of God; they shall see with attentive mind, they shall consider; nor, as worldlings are accustomed, shall they pass it by without reflection or improvement, they shall see and fear, namely, God the just judge; and instructed in his judgment by this instance, they shall be the more careful to abstain from all designs and crimes of the kind.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 6.—“And shall laugh at him;” or over him—over the wicked man thus cast down—they shall laugh. Such exultation, to our modern sensibilities, seems shocking, because we can hardly conceive of it, apart from the gratification of personal vindictiveness. But there is such a thing as a righteous hatred, as a righteous scorn. There is such a thing as a shout of righteous joy at the downfall of the tyrant and the oppressor, at the triumph of righteousness and truth over wrong and falsehood.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 7.—“Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength.” David having showed (in verses 5, 6) the wicked man, by the righteous judgment of God rooted out of the land of the living, shows us in the next verse, the righteous man at once fearing and laughing at this sight, as also pointing at him saying, “Lo this is the man that made not God his strength.” The words are a divine but cutting sarcasm. The original is geber, which signifieth a strong, valiant man: as we say in English, Lo, this is the brave and gallant man you wot of! But who was this for a man? He was one, saith he, that “trusted in the abundance of his riches.” Oh! ’tis hard to abound in riches and not to trust in them. Hence that caution (Psalm lxii. 10): “If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” Now, what is the setting the heart upon riches but our rejoicing and trusting in them? And because the heart of man is so easily persuaded into this sinful trust upon riches, therefore the apostle is urgent with Timothy to persuade all rich men—not only mere worldly rich men, but godly rich men—against it; yea, he urgeth Timothy to persuade rich men against two sins, which are worse than all the poverty in the world, yet the usual attendants of riches—pride and confidence: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded.” 1 Tim. vi. 17.—Joseph Caryl.

Verses 7, 8.—Perhaps some of you have been long professors, and yet come to little growth in love to God, humility, heavenly-mindedness, mortification; and it is worth the digging to see what lies at the root of your profession, whether there be not a legal principle that hath too much influenced you. Have you not thought to carry all with God from your duties and services, and too much laid up your hopes in your own actings? Alas! this is as so much dead earth, which must be thrown out, and gospel principles laid in the room thereof. Try but this course, and try whether the spring of thy grace will not come on apace. David gives an account how he came to stand and flourish when some that were rich and mighty, on a sudden withered and came to nothing. “Lo,” saith he, “this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches.” “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” While others trust in the riches of their own righteousness and services, and make not Christ their strength, do thou renounce all, and trust in the mercy of God in Christ, and thou shalt be like a green olive when they fade and wither.—William Gurnall.

Verse 8 (first clause):—

“But I an olive charged with fruit In fertile soil that grows.”

This appears to express the meaning of the Hebrew words, which our translators render, “like a green olive tree,” but which in reality have no reference to the colour, but to the flourishing, vigorous, and thriving state of the plant; just as Homer gives it the epithet of “luxuriant,” and “flourishing;” and Ovid that of “ever-flourishing.” The fact is, the colour of the leaves of this tree is not a bright, lively green; but a dark, disagreeable, or yellowish one. Scheuchzen describes the leaves, as “superne coloris atrovirentis, vel in virdi flavescentis.” An English traveller, writing from Italy, thus expresses his disappointment about the olive tree:—“The fields, and indeed the whole face of Tuscany, are in a manner covered with olive trees; but the olive tree does not answer the character I had conceived of it. The royal Psalmist and some of the sacred writers, speak with rapture of the ‘green olive tree,’ so that I expected a beautiful green; and I confess to you, I was wretchedly disappointed to find its hue resembling that of our hedges when they are covered with dust.” I have heard other travellers express the same feeling of disappointment. “The true way of solving the difficulty,” as Harmer properly remarks, “is to consider the word translated ‘green,’ not as descriptive of colour, but of some other property; youthfulness, vigour, prosperity, or the like.”—Richard Mant.

Verse 8.—“Green olive tree in the house of God.”—Several expositors fancifully imagine that olive trees grew in certain of the courts of the Tabernacle; but the notion must not be endured, it would have been too near an approach to the groves of the heathen to have been tolerated, at least in David’s time. The text should surely be read with some discretion; the poet does not refer to olive trees in God’s house, but compares himself in the house of God to an olive tree. This reminds us of the passage, “Thy children like olive plants around thy table,” where some whose imaginations have been more lively than their judgments, have seen a table surrounded, not with children, but with olive plants. Whoever, in the realms of common sense ever heard of olive plants round a table? If, as Thrupp supposes, Nob was situated upon the Mount of Olives, we can, without any conjecture, see a reason for the present reference to a flourishing olive tree.—C. H. S.

Verse 9.—He compares himself (1) With an olive tree, a tree always green, lasting long and fruitful, whose fruit is most useful and grateful: so he paints his future state as joyful, glorious, lasting, and useful and pleasing to men: plainly a reference is made to the royal and prophetic office, in both of which he represents himself as an olive tree, by supplying others with oil through his rule and instruction: (2) With the olive growing luxuriantly, and abounding in spreading boughs, and so spacious and large.... (3) But why does he add in the house of God? That he might indicate, unless I am deceived: (a) That he should possess a dwelling in that place where the house of God was, whence he was now exiled through the calumnies of Doeg and the attacks of Saul stirred up thereby: (b) That he should perform distinguished service to the house of God, by adorning it, and by restoring religion, now neglected, and practising it with zeal: (c) That he should derive from God and his favour, whose that house was, all his prosperity: (d) That he, like a son of God, should rejoice in familiarity with him, and should become heir to his possessions and promises.—Hermann Venema.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—The confidence of faith. I. The circumstances were distressing. 1. David was misjudged. 2. David exiled. 3. A bad man in power. 4. God’s priests slain. II. The consolation was abiding. 1. There is a God. 2. He is good. 3. His goodness continues. 4. Good will, therefore, overcome. III. The rejoinder was triumphant, “Why boastest thou?” 1. The mischief did not touch the main point. 2. It would be overruled. 3. It would recoil. 4. It would expose the perpetrators to scorn.

Verse 3.—In what cases men clearly love evil more than good.

Verses 7, 8.—The worldling like an uprooted tree, the believer a vigorous, well-planted olive.

Verse 8.—The believer’s character, position, confidence, and continuance.

Verse 9.—The double duty, and the double reason: the single heart and its single object.

Verse 9.—What God has done, what we will do, and why.

PSALM LIII.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician.—If the leader of the choir is privileged to sing the jubilates of divine grace, he must not disdain to chant the misereres of human depravity. This is the second time he has had the same Psalm entrusted to him (see Psalm xiv.), and he must, therefore, be the more careful in singing it. Upon Mahalath. Here the tune is chosen for the musician, probably some mournfully solemn air; or perhaps a musical instrument is here indicated, and the master of the choir is requested to make it the prominent instrument in the orchestra; at any rate, this is a direction not found in the former copy of the Psalm, and seems to call for greater care. The word “Mahalath” appears to signify, in some forms of it, “disease,” and truly this Psalm is THE SONG OF MAN’S DISEASE—the mortal, hereditary taint of sin. Maschil. This is a second additional note not found in Psalm xiv., indicating that double attention is to be given to this most instructive song. A Psalm of David. It is not a copy of the fourteenth Psalm, emended and revised by a foreign hand; it is another edition by the same author, emphasised in certain parts, and re-written for another purpose.

SUBJECT.—The evil nature of man is here brought before our view a second time, in almost the same inspired words. All repetitions are not vain repetitions. We are slow to learn, and need line upon line. David after a long life, found men no better than they were in his youth. Holy Writ never repeats itself needlessly, there is good cause for the second copy of this Psalm; let us read it with more profound attention than before. If our age has advanced from fourteen to fifty-three, we shall find the doctrine of this Psalm more evident than in our youth.

[The reader is requested to peruse Psalm XIV., “Treasury of David,” Vol. I.]

EXPOSITION.

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.

5 There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.

6 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

1. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” And this he does because he is a fool. Being a fool he speaks according to his nature; being a great fool he meddles with a great subject, and comes to a wild conclusion. The atheist is, morally, as well as mentally, a fool, a fool in the heart as well as in the head; a fool in morals as well as in philosophy. With the denial of God as a starting point, we may well conclude that the fool’s progress is a rapid, riotous, raving, ruinous one. He who begins at impiety is ready for anything. “No God,” being interpreted, means no law, no order, no restraint to lust, no limit to passion. Who but a fool would be of this mind? What a Bedlam, or rather what an Aceldama, would the world become if such lawless principles came to be universal! He who heartily entertains an irreligious spirit, and follows it out to its legitimate issues is a son of Belial, dangerous to the commonwealth, irrational and despicable. Every natural man, is, more or less a denier of God. Practical atheism is the religion of the race. “Corrupt are they.” They are rotten. It is idle to compliment them as sincere doubters, and amiable thinkers—they are putrid. There is too much dainty dealing nowadays with atheism; it is not a harmless error, it is an offensive, putrid sin, and righteous men should look upon it in that light. All men being more or less atheistic in spirit, are also in that degree corrupt; their heart is foul, their moral nature is decayed. “And have done abominable iniquity.” Bad principles soon lead to bad lives. One does not find virtue promoted by the example of your Voltaires and Tom Paines. Those who talk so abominably as to deny their Maker will act abominably when it serves their turn. It is the abounding denial and forgetfulness of God among men which is the source of the unrighteousness and crime which we see around us. If all men are not outwardly vicious it is to be accounted for by the power of other and better principles, but left to itself the “No God” spirit so universal in mankind would produce nothing but the most loathsome actions. “There is none that doeth good.” The one typical fool is reproduced in the whole race; without a single exception men have forgotten the right way. This accusation twice made in the Psalm, and repeated a third time by the inspired apostle Paul, is an indictment most solemn and sweeping, but he who makes it cannot err, he knows what is in man; neither will he lay more to man’s charge than he can prove.

2. “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men.” He did so in ages past, and he has continued his steadfast gaze from his all-surveying observatory. “To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.” Had there been one understanding man, one true lover of his God, the divine eye would have discovered him. Those pure heathens and admirable savages that men talk so much of, do not appear to have been visible to the eye of Omniscience, the fact being that they live nowhere but in the realm of fiction. The Lord did not look for great grace, but only for sincerity and right desire, but these he found not. He saw all nations, and all men in all nations, and all hearts in all men, and all motions of all hearts, but he saw neither a clear head nor a clean heart among them all. Where God’s eyes see no favourable sign we may rest assured there is none.

3. “Every one of them is gone back.” The whole mass of manhood, all of it, is gone back. In the fourteenth Psalm it was said to turn aside, which was bad enough, but here it is described as running in a diametrically opposite direction. The life of unregenerate manhood is in direct defiance of the law of God, not merely apart from it but opposed to it. “They are altogether become filthy.” The whole lump is soured with an evil leaven, fouled with an all-pervading pollution, made rank with general putrefaction. Thus, in God’s sight, our atheistic nature is not the pardonable thing that we think it to be. Errors as to God are not the mild diseases which some account them, they are abominable evils. Fair is the world to blind eyes, but to the all-seeing Jehovah it is otherwise. “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” How could there be, when the whole mass was leavened with so evil a leaven? This puts an end to the fictions of the innocent savage, the lone patriarch, “the Indian whose untutored mind,” etc. Pope’s verse—

“Father of all, in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage, or by sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord,”

evaporates in smoke. The fallen race of man, left to its own energy, has not produced a single lover of God or doer of holiness, nor will it ever do so. Grace must interpose or not one specimen of humanity will be found to follow after the good and true. This is God’s verdict after looking down upon the race. Who shall gainsay it?

4. “Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?” They have no wisdom, certainly, but even so common a thing as knowledge might have restrained them. Can they not see that there is a God? that sin is an evil thing? that persecution recoils upon a man’s own head? Are they such utter fools as not to know that they are their own enemies, and are ruining themselves? “Who eat up my people as they eat bread.” Do they not see that such food will be hard to digest, and will bring on them a horrible vomit when God deals with them in justice? Can they imagine that the Lord will allow them to devour his people with impunity? They must be insane indeed. “They have not called upon God.” They carry on their cruel enterprises against the saints, and use every means but that which is essential to success in every case, namely, the invocation of God. In this respect persecutors are rather more consistent than Pharisees who devoured widows’ houses, and prayed too. The natural man, like Ishmael, loves not the spiritual seed, is very jealous of it, and would fain destroy it, because it is beloved of God; yet the natural man does not seek after the like favour from God. The carnal mind envies those who obtain mercy, and yet it will not seek mercy itself. It plays the dog in the manger. Sinners will out of a malicious jealousy devour those who pray, but yet they will not pray themselves.

5. “There were they in great fear, where no fear was.” David sees the end of the ungodly and the ultimate triumph of the spiritual seed. The rebellious march in fury against the gracious, but suddenly they are seized with a causeless panic. The once fearless boasters tremble like the leaves of the aspen, frightened at their own shadows. In this sentence and this verse, this Psalm differs much from the fourteenth. It is evidently expressive of a higher state of realisation in the poet, he emphasises the truth by stronger expressions. Without cause the wicked are alarmed. He who denies God is at bottom a coward, and in his infidelity he is like the boy in the churchyard who “whistles to keep his courage up.” “For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee.” When the wicked see the destruction of their fellows they may well quail. Mighty were the hosts which besieged Zion, but they were defeated, and their unburied carcasses proved the prowess of the God whose being they dared to deny. “Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.” God’s people may well look with derision upon their enemies since they are the objects of divine contempt. They scoff at us, but we may with far greater reason laugh them to scorn, because the Lord our God considers them as less than nothing and vanity.

6. “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion.” Would God the final battle were well over. When will the Lord avenge his own elect? When will the long oppression of the saints come to its close, and glory crown their heads? The word “salvation” is in the plural, to show its greatness. “When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.” Inasmuch as the yoke has been heavy, and the bondage cruel, the liberty will be gladsome, and the triumph joyous. The second advent and the restoration of Israel are our hope and expectation.

We have attempted to throw into rhyme the last two verses of this Psalm:—

The foes of Zion quake for fright, Where no fear was they quail; For well they know that sword of might Which cuts through coats of mail.

The Lord of old defiled their shields, And all their spears he scorn’d; Their bones lay scatter’d o’er the fields, Unburied and unmourn’d.

Let Zion’s foes be filled with shame; Her sons are bless’d of God; Though scoffers now despise their name, The Lord shall break the rod.

Oh! would our God to Zion turn, God with salvation clad; Then Judah’s harps should music learn, And Israel be glad.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—Probably the two Psalms refer to different periods; the fourteenth to the earlier portion of the world, or of Jewish history; the fifty-third to a later, perhaps a still future time. Jehovah, through Christ, is frequently said to turn to the world to see what its condition is, and always with the same result. “All flesh had corrupted its way” in the days of Noah, and, “when the Son of Man cometh” again, it is intimated that he will scarcely “find faith on the earth.” The two Psalms also apply to different persons. The former refers to the enemies of God, who tremble when his presence is made known; “they are in great fear,” because vengeance is about to be inflicted on them for their sins. Here the Supreme Being is called Jehovah. In the fifty-third Psalm the interests of God’s people are principally kept in view. The ungodly are regarded as plotting against the righteous, and it is in this relation their case is considered. The fear that was just and reasonable, in the fourteenth Psalm, because it concerned the unrighteous under a sense of impending judgment, is said to be unfounded in the fifty-third, because God was in the midst of his people, “scattering the bones of their enemies,” and showing himself, not as Jehovah, but as the Elohim of his redeemed children. The fourteenth Psalm contemplates judgment; the fifty-third deliverance; and thus, though seemingly alike, a different lesson is conveyed in each.

The Psalm, then, descriptive of the universal and continuous corruption of man’s nature, very properly occupies an introductory place in a series intended to represent the enemies of Messiah, who oppose his church during his absence, and who are to attempt to resist his power when he comes again. Before entering upon an examination of the character of these opponents, this Psalm teaches that, until changed by grace, all are gone astray; “there is none righteous, no, not one,” and that for all there is but one remedy, “the Deliverer coming out of Zion, who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”—R. H. Ryland, M.A., in “The Psalms restored to Messiah,” 1853.

Whole Psalm.—The state of earth ought to be deeply felt by us. The world lying in wickedness should occupy much of our thoughts. The enormous guilt, the inconceivable pollution, the ineffably provoking Atheism of this fallen province of God’s dominion, might be a theme for our ceaseless meditation and mourning. To impress it the more on us, therefore, the Psalm repeats what has been already sung in Psalm xiv. It is the same Psalm, with only a few words varied; it is “line upon line, precept upon precept;” the harp’s most melancholy, most dismal notes again sounded in our ear. Not that the Lord would detain us always, or disproportionately long, amid scenes of sadness; for elsewhere he repeats in like manner that most triumphant melody, Psalm lx. 6-12; cviii. 6-13; but it is good to return now and then to the open field on which we all were found, cast out in loathsome degradation.—Andrew A. Bonar, in “Christ and his Church in the Book of Psalms,” 1859.

Whole Psalm.—A second edition of the fourteenth Psalm, with variations more or less important, in each verse. That either of these compositions is an incorrect copy of the other is highly improbable, because two such copies of the same Psalm would not have been retained in the collection, and because the variations are too uniform, consistent, and significant, to be the work of chance or mere traditional corruption. That the changes were deliberately made by a later writer is improbable, because such a liberty would hardly have been taken with a Psalm of David, and because the later form, in that case, would either have been excluded from the Psalter or substituted for the first form, or immediately connected with it.

The only satisfactory hypothesis is, that the original author afterwards re-wrote it, with such modifications as were necessary to bring out certain points distinctly, but without any intention to supersede the use of the original composition, which therefore still retains its place in the collection. This supposition is confirmed by the titles, which ascribe both Psalms to David.... As a general fact, it may be stated, that the variations in the Psalm before us are such as render the expression stronger, bolder, and in one or two cases more obscure and difficult.—J. A. Alexander 1850.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm is a variation of Psalm xiv. In each of these two Psalms the name of God occurs seven times. In Psalm xiv. it is three times Elohim, and four times Jehovah; in the present Psalm it is seven times Elohim.—Christopher Wordsworth, 1868.

Whole Psalm.—God, in this Psalm, “speaketh twice,” for this is the same almost verbatim with the fourteenth Psalm. The scope of it is to convince us of our sins, to set us a-blushing, and to set us a-trembling because of them; there is need of “line upon line” to this purpose. God, by the Psalmist, here shows—

I. The fact of sin. God is a witness to it. He looks down from heaven and sees all the sinfulness of men’s hearts and lives. All this is open and naked before him.

II. The fault of sin. It is iniquity (verses 1, 4); it is an unrighteous thing; it is that in which there is no good (verses 1, 3); it is going back from God (verse 3).

III. The fountain of sin. How comes it that men are so bad? Surely, it is because there is no fear of God before their eyes; they say in their hearts, there is no God at all to call us to account, none that we need to stand in awe of. Men’s bad practices flow from their bad principles.

IV. The folly of sin. He is a fool (in the account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right) who harbours such corrupt thoughts. The “workers of iniquity,” whatever they pretend to, “have no knowledge;” they may truly be said to know nothing that do not know God. Verse 4.

V. The filthiness of sin. Sinners are “corrupt” (verse 1); their nature is vitiated and spoiled; their iniquity is “abominable;” it is odious to the holy God, and renders them so; whereas, otherwise he “hates nothing that he has made.” What neatness soever proud sinners pretend to, it is certain that wickedness is the greatest nastiness in the world.

VI. The fruit of sin. See to what a degree of barbarity it brings men at last! See their cruelty to their brethren! They “eat them up as they eat bread.” As if they had not only become beasts, but beasts of prey. See their contempt of God at the same time—they have not called upon him, but scorn to be beholden to him.

VII. The fear and shame that attends sin (verse 5). “There were they in great fear” who had made God their enemy; their own guilty consciences frightened them and filled them with horror. This enables the virgin, the daughter of Zion, to put them to shame and expose them, “because God hath despised them.”

VIII. The faith of the saints, and their hope and power touching this great evil (verse 6). There will come a Saviour, a great salvation, a salvation from sin. O that it might be hastened! for it will bring in glorious and joyful times. There were those in the Old Testament times that looked and hoped, that prayed and waited for this redemption. Such salvations were often wrought, and all typical of the everlasting triumphs of the glorious church.—Condensed from Matthew Henry, 1662-1714.

Verse 1.—“The fool hath said is his heart,” etc. It is in his heart he says this; this is the secret desire of every unconverted bosom. If the breast of God were within reach of men, it would be stabbed a million of times in one moment. When God was manifest in the flesh, he was altogether lovely; he did no sin; he went about continually doing good: and yet they took him and hung him on a tree; they mocked him and spat upon him. And this is the way men would do with God again. Learn—1st. The fearful depravity of your heart. I venture to say there is not an unconverted man present, who has the most distant idea of the monstrous wickedness that is now within his breast. Stop till you are in hell, and it will break out unrestrained. But still let me tell you what it is—you have a heart that would kill God if you could. If the bosom of God were now within your reach, and one blow would rid the universe of God, you have a heart fit to do the deed. 2nd. The amazing love of Christ—“While we were enemies, Christ died for us.”—Robert Murray M’Cheyne, 1813-1843.

Verse 1.—“There is no God.” אֵין is properly a noun, and means nonentity, or non-existence: “nothing of God,” or “no such thing as God.” It cannot be explained as a wish—“No God!” i.e., O that there were no God!—because אֵין in usage always includes the substantive verb, and denies the existence, or at least the presence of the person or thing to which it is prefixed. This is also clear from the use of the same word in the last clause, where its sense is unambiguous.—J. A. Alexander on Psalm XIV.

Verse 1.—“There is no God.” Thus denying the agency of Providence, for the word Elohim, here translated God, means judge (compare Exodus xxii. 28), and has reference not to the essence, but to the providence of the Deity.—Daniel Cresswell, 1776-1844.

Verse 1.—It is to be noted that Scripture saith, “The fool hath said in his heart,” and not “thought in his heart;” that is to say, he doth not so fully think it in judgment, as he hath a good will to be of that belief, for seeing that it makes not for him that there should be a God, he doth seek by all means accordingly to persuade and resolve himself, and studies to affirm, prove, and verify it to himself as some theme or position, all which labour, notwithstanding that sparkle of our creation light, whereby men acknowledge a Deity, burneth still within; and in vain doth he strive utterly to alienate it or put it out, so that it is out of the corruption of his heart and will, and not out of the natural apprehension of his brain and conceit, that he doth set down his opinion, as the comical poet saith, “Then came my mind to be of my opinion,” as if himself and his mind had been two diverse things; therefore, the atheist hath rather said, and held it in his heart, than thought or believed in his heart that there is no God.—Francis Bacon (1560-1626), in “Thoughts on Holy Scripture.”

Verse 2.—“That did seek God.” Although all things are full of God, yet is he to be sought for of godly men, by reason of the darkness which compasseth our minds through original sin. For both the flesh, and the senses, and earthly affections do hinder us from knowing of him, yea, though he be present—Peter Martyr, 1500-1562.

Verses 2, 3.—Their sin is described in gradation. They do not understand, because a true knowledge of things divine forms the basis of proper conduct towards God; they do not ask for God, because they only care for him whose clear and sure insight apprehends him as their highest possession; they are gone aside, because he who cares not for him is sure to get estranged from him, and to deviate from his paths; and they are altogether become filthy (i.e., worthless), because man’s proper strength and fitness for virtue must well from the fountain of communion with God.—Augustus F. Tholuck, 1856.

Verse 3.—“They are altogether become filthy.” נֶאְֶלָחוּ neelachu. They are become sour and rancid; a metaphor taken from milk that has fermented and turned sour, rancid and worthless.—Adam Clarke, 1760-1832.

Verse 3 (second clause).—The word נֶאְֶלָחוּ, rendered “they are become filthy,” might be read, they have become rotten or putrid.—John Morison, 1829.

Verse 3 (last clause).—Evil men are not only guilty of sins of commission, having done abominable iniquity, but they are guilty of many sins of omission. In fact, they have never done one holy act. They may be moral, decent, amiable, they may belong to the church; but “there is none that doeth good, no not one.”—William S. Plumer, 1867.

Verse 4.—“Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?” Conscience is a means to curb and restrain, control and rebuke corrupt nature, and the swelling forms of it. It is not there as a native inhabitant, but as a garrison planted in a rebellious town by the great Governor of the world, to keep the rebellion of the inhabitants within compass, who else would break forth into present confusion. David, speaking of the corruption of man by nature after this question, Whether there be not some knowledge to discover their evil doings to them? yes, says he, “Have they no knowledge, who eat up my people as bread?” Yes; and therefore (verse 5) “They are often in fear,” God having placed this there to overcome them with fear; and by that to restrain them from many outrages against God’s people, whom in their desires, and sometimes practice, they eat up as bread. Therefore this knowledge is put in as a bridle to corrupt nature, as a hook was put into Sennacherib’s nostrils (Isa. xxxvii. 29) to rule and tame men, and overcome them with fear. If they had no knowledge they would eat up one another, and the church, as bread; but there is their fear, says he, that is, thence it comes to pass they are kept in awe.—Thomas Goodwin, 1600-1679.

Verse 4.—“Who eat up my people as they eat bread.” C’est, n’en font non plus de conscience, que de manger un morceau de pain. [That is, they have no more scruple in doing this than in eating a morsel of bread.]—French Margin.

Verse 4.—“My people.” David may call the serious his people, because of his regard for them, and because they were his supporters and friends. They adhered to him in all his afflictions. [“Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Ruth i. 16.]—Benjamin Boothroyd, 1836.

Verse 5.—“There were they in great fear, where no fear was.” There is a fond and superstitious fear, when men are afraid of their shadows, as Pisander was afraid of meeting his own soul; and Antenor would never go forth of the doors, but either in a coach closed upon all sides, or with a target borne over his head, fearing, I guess, lest the sky should fall down upon it, according to that in the Psalm, “They fear where no fear is.”—John King, 1559-1621.

Verse 5.—“There were they in great fear, where no fear was.” Behold how fearful a hell a wounded conscience is! For why is Cain afraid to be killed, seeing there is none living to perform it, but his father and mother, and perhaps some women children which the Scripture nameth not? It is God’s just judgment, that they that will not fear the Lord who is only to be feared, should stand in fear of them who are justly no cause of fear. He that lately feared not to kill his brother, is now made a terror to himself. Hereby also we may consider what is the repentance of the wicked; they see perhaps the fault together with the punishment, but they admit the fault and lament the punishment.—Nicholas Gibbens, 1602.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

[See the Hints of Psalm XIV.]

Verse 1.—The fool’s inside and outside.

Verse 1.—I. The folly of atheism. He who says there is no God is a fool. 1. No reason for the assertion. 2. All reason against it. II. The seat of atheism is the heart; it is a moral unbelief not an intellectual, the language of the will not of the understanding. III. Cause of atheism. 1. Loving evil. 2. Hating good.—G. R.

Verse 2.—I. God has not left the world to itself. II. He takes particular notice of all that is in it. III. The only thing he values in it is the knowledge of himself.—G. R.

Verse 4.—How far knowledge is and is not a restraint upon ungodliness.

Verse 4.—It is a sin not to call upon God. I. What is it to call upon God? Three things required in it. 1. A drawing near to him. 2. A speaking to him. 1 Sam. i. 12, 13. 3. A praying to him. II. How should we call upon God? 1. Reverently, considering (1) God’s holiness and greatness; (2) our own sin and weakness. Gen. xviii. 27. 2. Understandingly. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. (1) Of what we ask. (2) Of whom we ask it. 3. Submissively. 4. Believingly. Mark xi. 24; James i. 6. 5. Sincerely. James iv. 3. 6. Constantly. (1) So as to be always in a praying frame. (2) So as to take all occasions of pouring forth our souls in prayer to God. (3) So as to let no day slip without prayer. III. How it appears to be a sin not to call upon God. 1. He hath commanded it. Isa. lv. 6; 1 Tim. ii. 8. 2. Because praying is one of the principal parts of worship we owe to God. IV. Who are guilty of this sin? 1. All who pray to any one else but God. 2. All who neglect either public, private, or family prayer. 3. All who pray, but not aright.—William Beveridge (1636-1708), in “Thesaurus Theoligicus.”

Verse 5.—I. What persecutors are to themselves—their own tormentors, full even of groundless fears. II. What they are to one another—though in concert here, their bones are scattered hereafter. III. What they are to those whom they persecute—made ashamed before them. IV. What they are to God—a contempt and derision.—G. R.

Verse 6.—I. There is salvation for Israel. II. That salvation is in Zion. III. Their salvation remains there when they are banished from it. IV. Their joy becomes greater when they return.—G. R.

PSALM LIV.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician on Neginoth. The music was to be that of stringed instruments. Variety is to be studied in our tunes, and in all other matters relating to sacred song. Monotony is often the death of congregational praise. Providence is varied, and so should our recording songs be. Maschil. We are to learn and to teach by what we sing. Edification must not be divorced from Psalmody. A Psalm of David. David’s productions were as plentiful as they are profitable. His varied life was for our benefit, for from it we derive these hymns, which at this hour are as fresh and as precious as when he wrote them. When the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us? To curry favour with Saul they were guilty of gross inhospitality. What cared they what innocent blood was shed so that they earned the graceless monarch’s smile! David came quietly among them, hoping for a little rest in his many flights, but they descried him in his solitary abode, and betrayed him. He turns to God in prayer, and so strong was his faith that he soon sang himself into delightful serenity.

DIVISIONS.—From verse 1 to 3, where the Selah makes a pause for us, the Psalmist pleads with God, and then in the rest of the song, laying aside all doubt, he chants a hymn of joyful triumph. The vigour of faith is the death of anxiety, and the birth of security.

EXPOSITION.

Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.

2 Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.

1. “Save me, O God.” Thou art my Saviour; all around me are my foes and their eager helpers. No shelter is permitted me. Every land rejects me and denies me rest. But thou, O God, wilt give me refuge, and deliver me from all my enemies. “By thy name,” by thy great and glorious nature. Employ all thine attributes for me. Let every one of the perfections which are blended in thy divine name work for me. Is not thine honour pledged for my defence? “And judge me by thy strength.” Render justice to me, for none else will or can. Thou canst give me efficient justice, and right my wrongs by thine omnipotence. We dare not appeal to God in a bad cause, but when we know that we can fearlessly carry our cause before his justice we may well commit it to his power.

2. “Hear my prayer, O God.” This has ever been the defence of saints. As long as God hath an open ear we cannot be shut up in trouble. All other weapons may be useless, but all-prayer is evermore available. No enemy can spike this gun. “Give ear to the words of my mouth.” Vocal prayer helps the supplicant, and we keep our minds more fully awake when we can use our tongues as well as our hearts. But what is prayer if God hear not? It is all one whether we babble nonsense or plead arguments if our God grant us not a hearing. When his case had become dangerous, David could not afford to pray out of mere custom, he must succeed in his pleadings, or become the prey of his adversary.

3. “For strangers are risen up against me.” Those who had no cause for ill-will had gone against him; persons to whom he could have given no offence, for they were strangers to him. They were aliens to his God also, and should these be allowed to worry and destroy him. A child may well complain to his father when strangers come in to molest him? What right have they to interfere? Let them leave off meddling and mind their own concerns. “And oppressors seek after my soul.” Saul, that persecuting tyrant, had stamped his own image on many more. Kings generally coin their own likeness. He led the way, and others followed seeking David’s soul, his blood, his life, his very existence. Cruel and intense were they in their malice, they would utterly crush the good man; no half measures would content them. “They have not set God before them.” They had no more regard for right and justice than if they knew no God, or cared for none. Had they regarded God they would not have betrayed the innocent to be hunted down like a poor harmless stag. David felt that atheism lay at the bottom of the enmity which pursued him. Good men are hated for God’s sake, and this is a good plea for them to urge in prayer. “Selah.” As if he said, “Enough of this, let us pause.” He is out of breath with indignation. A sense of wrong bids him suspend the music awhile. It may also be observed, that more pauses would, as a rule, improve our devotions: we are usually too much in a hurry: a little more holy meditation would make our words more suitable and our emotions more fervent.

4 Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.

5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.

6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good.

7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.

4. “Behold, God is mine helper.” He saw enemies everywhere, and now to his joy as he looks upon the band of his defenders he sees one whose aid is better than all the help of men; he is overwhelmed with joy at recognising his divine champion, and cries, “Behold.” And is not this a theme for pious exultation in all time, that the great God protects us, his own people: what matters the number or violence of our foes when HE uplifts the shield of his omnipotence to guard us, and the sword of his power to aid us? Little care we for the defiance of the foe while we have the defence of God. “The Lord is with them that uphold my soul.” The reigning Lord, the great Adonai is in the camp of my defenders. Here was a greater champion than any of the three mighties, or than all the valiant men who chose David for their captain. The Psalmist was very confident, he felt so thoroughly that his heart was on the Lord’s side that he was sure God was on his side. He asked in the first verse for deliverance, and here he returns thanks for upholding: while we are seeking one mercy which we have not, we must not be unmindful of another which we have. It is a great mercy to have some friends left us, but a greater mercy still to see the Lord among them, for like so many cyphers our friends stand for nothing till the Lord sets himself as a great unit in the front of them.

5. “He shall reward evil unto mine enemies.” They worked for evil, and they shall have their wages. It cannot be that malice should go unavenged. It were cruelty to the good to be lenient to their persecutors. It is appointed, and so it must ever be, that those who shoot upward the arrows of malice shall find them fall upon themselves. The recoil of their own gun has often killed oppressors. “Cut them off in thy truth.” Not in ferocious revenge is this spoken, but as an Amen to the sure sentence of the just Judge. Let the veracity of thy threatenings be placed beyond dispute, the decree is right and just, let it be fulfilled. It is not a private desire, but the solemn utterance of a military man, a grossly injured man, a public leader destined to be a monarch, and a man well trained in the school of Moses, whose law ordains eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.

6. “I will freely sacrifice unto thee.” Spontaneously will I bring my free-will offerings. So certain is he of deliverance that he offers a vow by anticipation. His overflowing gratitude would load the altars of God with victims cheerfully presented. The more we receive, the more we ought to render. The spontaneousness of our gift is a great element in their acceptance; the Lord loveth a cheerful giver. “I will praise thy name, O Lord.” As if no amount of sacrifice could express his joyful feelings, he resolves to be much in vocal thanksgiving. The name which he invoked in prayer (verse 1), he will now magnify in praise. Note how roundly he brings it out: “O Jehovah.” This is ever the grand name of the revealed God of Israel, a name which awakens the sublimest sentiments, and so nourishes the most acceptable praise. None can praise the Lord so well as those who have tried and proved the preciousness of his name in seasons of adversity. The Psalmist adds, “for it is good,” and surely we may read this with a double nominative, God’s name is good, and so is his praise. It is of great use to our souls to be much in praise; we are never so holy or so happy as when our adoration of God abounds. Praise is good in itself, good to us, and good to all around us. If David’s enemies are described in the third verse as not setting God before them, he here declares that he is of a different mind from them, for he resolves to have the Lord in perpetual remembrance in his sacrifices and praises.

7. “For he hath delivered me out of all trouble.” Up to that time deliverance had come, and for that danger also he felt that rescue was near. David lived a life of dangers and hair-breadth ’scapes, yet was he always safe. In the retrospect of his very many deliverances he feels that he must praise God, and looking upon the mercy which he had sought as though it were already received, he sang this song over it—

“And a new song is in my mouth, To long loved music set, _Glory to thee for all the grace I have not tasted yet_.”

Out of all trouble our covenant God is pledged to bring us, and therefore even now let us uplift the note of triumph unto Jehovah, the faithful preserver of them that put their trust in him. Thus far we have proved his promise good; he changes not, and therefore in all the unknown future he will be equally our guardian and defence, “showing himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” “And mine eyes hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.” He knew that yet he should look on his haughty foes, gazing down on them in triumph as now they looked on him in contempt. He desired this as a matter of justice, and not of personal pique. His righteous soul exulted because he knew that unprovoked and gratuitous malice would meet with a righteous punishment. Could we keep out of our hearts all personal enmity as fully as the Psalmist did in this Psalm, we might yet equally feel with him a sacred acquiescence and delight in that divine justice which will save the righteous and overthrow the malicious.

In closing, let us trust that if we are friendless as this man of God, we may resort to prayer as he did, exercise the like faith, and find ourselves ere long singing the same joyous hymn of praise.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—From the inscription, learn, 1. Particular straits and particular deliveries should be particularly remarked: as David here remembereth the danger he was in by the treachery of the Ziphims. 2. Mighty men will find readily more friends in an evil cause, than the godly do find in a good cause: as Saul has the Ziphims to offer their service to his cruelty, when David was in straits. 3. The wicked are very hearty to do an ill turn, and glad to find occasion of it. “Doth not David,” say they, “hide himself with us?” as if this had been good and blessed news.—David Dickson (1583-1662), in “A Brief Explication upon the Psalms.”

Whole Psalm.—The church has taken a clear view in appointing this as one of the Psalms in commemoration of the passion of Jesus. It is seen with greatest effect as a simple prophecy of Christ. Read thus, it is very plain and intelligible; requiring little more than the first idea to exhibit a perfect correspondence with the life and feelings of the Messiah.—William Hill Tucker, in “The Psalms ... with Notes,” 1840.

Whole Psalm.—In the first three verses, David being sought for by his enemies, prays against them. That was his course, he always began his conflict with God, contending and wrestling with him for a blessing and assistance. He durst not lift up his hand even against the enemies of God (yet what durst not David do?) till he had first lifted them up in humble supplication to the Lord his strength, “Who taught his hands to war, and his fingers to fight.” Psalm cxliv. 1. This being done, his courage breaks out like lightning, he doubts not of slaying his thousands and ten thousands. So in the fourth and fifth verses, he becomes his own prophet, promising himself victory. For who can resist him who hath omnipotence for his second? Or how can any enemy maintain a fight against that captain who hath beforehand defeated and broken their forces by his prayers? assured his conquest before he put on his armour? Then in the last verses, David concludes where he began, thankfully acknowledgeth God’s goodness in his deliverance, and the dissipation of his enemies, obliging himself to a return of dutiful, affectionate service, in consideration of so great mercies received.—J. Dolben, in a Thanksgiving Sermon, 1665.

Whole Psalm.—Blessed Redeemer! give me grace to eye thee, and to call to my recollection thine exercises amidst the false friends and open foes, which in the days of thy flesh surrounded thee. Lord! help me so to consider thee, who didst endure such a contradiction of sinners against thyself, that I may not be weary and faint in mind. And while the Ziphims of the present hour harass and distress me, and would deliver my soul up into the hand of the enemy: oh! for grace to be looking unto thee, and deriving strength from thee, that I may discover thy gracious hand delivering me out of all my troubles, and making me more than conqueror in thy strength, and in the power of thy might.—Robert Hawker, D.D., 1753-1827.

Verse 1.—“Save me, O God!” As David was at this time placed beyond the reach of human assistance, he must be understood as praying to be saved by the name and the power of God, in an emphatical sense, or by these in contradistinction to the usual means of deliverance. Though all help must ultimately come from God, there are ordinary methods by which he generally extends it. When these fail, and every earthly stay is removed, he must then take the work into his own hands. It was in such a situation that David here fled to the saints’ last asylum, and sought to be saved by a miracle of divine power.—John Calvin.

Verse 1.—“Judge me by thy strength,” or power, i.e., determine, decide my cause by thy mighty power. Saul, in the cause between him and David, was resolved to end it by force only, and to arbitrate in no other way than by a javelin, a sword, or his forces. The Psalmist well knew that Saul, in this respect, would be too hard for him; and therefore applies for protection and justice to one whose power he knew was infinitely superior to his adversaries, and who, he was assured, could and would defend him.—Samuel Chandler (1693-1766), in “A Critical History of the Life of David.”

Verse 2 (second clause).—Let “the words of my mouth” with which I have defended my cause, be pleasing and acceptable to thee. For in this way can prayers and words of the mouth be correctly distinguished, unless any one should wish simply to understand by them prayers uttered by the mouth; but, as I have said, the phrase is more emphatic.—Hermann Venema, 1697-1787.

Verse 3.—“Strangers:” aliens to his truth, men who from unbelief have estranged themselves from all lot and portion in his covenant—oppress and persecute.—William Hill Tucker.

Verse 3 (first clause).—The Chaldee interpreter reads, proud men, instead of “strangers,” a reading which also is found in eight of Kennicott’s Codices. So also Psalm lxxxvi. 14.—William Walford, in “The Book of Psalms. A New Translation,” etc., 1837.

Verse 3 (first clause).—There is a great mistake made by rendering the word זָרִים (zarim) “strangers.” The Ziphites surely were Israelites, and not strangers. The fact is this, that word is taken from זָרָה (zarah) the primary meaning of which is “to scatter,” “to disperse,” also “to sift,” as grain. Hence it signifies, likewise figuratively, to sift a matter, to investigate, to search out, to trace out. So here David complains of the new and dangerous enemies he had got in the Ziphites, who became Saul’s spies. When he pleads, therefore, for deliverance, saying, “Save me, O God,” etc., he describes the danger he was in: “For spies have risen against me.”—Benjamin Weiss, in “New Translation, Exposition and Chronological Arrangement of the Psalms,” 1858.

Verse 3.—“Oppressors seek after my soul;” i.e., my life at least; my soul also they would destroy, if it lay in their power, as the Papists delivered up John Huss to the devil.—John Trapp, 1611-1662.

Verse 3.—“Selah.” See “Treasury of David,” Vol. I., pp. 23, 26, 27; and Vol. II., pp. 224-227.

Verse 4.—“Behold,” says he, I produce a certain fact, well-known, demonstrated by a new proof, and worthy of all attention; for the particle behold, contains this breadth of meaning.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 4.—Christ sees with the utmost clearness, that God will be his own “helper,” and of them—the disciples and believers—“that uphold his soul.” In the same moment, does he foresee the destruction of his enemies. He views, in thought, the armies of Titus, the fall of the Jewish nation, and the dispersion of the remnant. He beholds the avenging hand of God, stretched in fury over the destroyers.—William Hill Tucker.

Verse 4 (second clause).—Such as take part with the persecuted saints, God will take part with them: “The Lord is with them that uphold my soul.”—David Dickson.

Verses 4, 5.—He is assured of help to himself and to his friends, and of vengeance to his enemies. Whence learn, 1. Fervent prayer hath readily a swift answer, and sometimes wonderfully swift, even before a man have ended speech, as here David findeth in experience. “Behold,” saith he, “God is my helper.” 2. The sight of faith is very clear, and piercing through all clouds, when God holds forth the light of his Spirit unto it, it can demonstrate God present in an instant; ready to help in greatest straits: “Behold, God is my helper.” 3. There is more joy in God’s felt presence than grief in felt trouble; for, “Behold, God is mine helper,” was more comfortable to David than his friends’ unkindness, and strangers’ malice was grievous.—David Dickson.

Verse 5.—“Cut them off.” He desires that God would destroy them with a death-dealing blow, which is the force the word צָמַת contains; its primitive sense is to be silent, to keep silence, whence it is transferred to a stroke penetrating deeply and striking fatally, such as is called a silent blow, opposed to a sounding one, which is wont to rebound and not pierce deeply.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 6.—“I will freely sacrifice unto thee.” He would sacrifice freely: by which he does not allude to the circumstance, that sacrifices of thanksgiving were at the option of worshippers, but to the alacrity and cheerfulness with which he would pay his vow when he had escaped his present dangers.—John Calvin.

Verse 7.—“Mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.” Or, mine eye hath looked upon mine enemies; that is, he was able to meet them without terror.—Samuel Davidson, D.D., 1852.

Verse 7.—The reader will note that the words his desire are supplied by our translators, and are not in the original text.—C. H. S.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.—In the deliverance of the saints the honour and power of God are concerned. I. Their failure would dishonour both. II. Their salvation glorifies both. III. Both are immutable, therefore we have a sure plea at all times.

Verse 2.—Our main concern in prayer. I. What is meant by God’s hearing prayer. II. How we may know that he has done so. III. What is to be done when this is doubtful. IV. What is due to him when the hearing is given.

Verse 3.—Strange trials. I. They are not altogether strange. 1. Not so to God. 2. Not so in the history of the church. 3. Not so to the provisions of grace wherein they are anticipated. II. Wherein they are strange. 1. They reveal God anew. 2. Endear forgotten promises. 3. Train unused graces. 4. Bring new praises, etc.

Verse 3 (last clause).—The root of sin: if they remembered his authority they dared not, if they tasted his love they would not, if they were conformed to his nature they could not.

Verse 4.—A theme for wonder. 1. At his unmerited grace, that he should side with me. 2. At his gracious power, for who can resist him? 3. At his practical help, for he has upheld my soul.

Verse 6.—We should sacrifice voluntarily, liberally, joyfully, continuously, with pure motive.

Verse 6.—The goodness of praising the good name.

Verse 7 (first clause).—The exclamation of the newly-pardoned penitent, the cry of the delivered saint, the song of the ripe Christian, the shout of the glorified believer.

PSALM LV.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician on Neginoth.—Another song to be accompanied by stringed instruments. The strain is at one time mournful, and at another softly sweet. It needed the chief musician’s best care to see that the music was expressive of the sentiment. Maschil. It is not a mere personal hymn, there is teaching in it for us all, and where our Lord shines through David, his personal type, there is a great deep of meaning. Of David. The man of many conditions, much tried and much favoured, persecuted but delivered and exalted, was from experience enabled to write such precious verses in which he sets forth not only the sorrows of common pilgrims, but of the Lord of the way himself.

SUBJECT.—It would be idle to fix a time, and find an occasion for this Psalm with any dogmatism. It reads like a song of the time of Absalom and Ahithophel. It was after David had enjoyed peaceful worship (verse 14), when he was or had just been a dweller in a city (verses 9, 10, 11), and when he remembered his former roamings in the wilderness. Altogether it seems to us to relate to that mournful era when the King was betrayed by his trusted counsellor. The spiritual eye ever and anon sees the Son of David and Judas, and the chief priests appearing and disappearing upon the glowing canvas of the Psalm.

DIVISIONS.—From verses 1 to 8 the suppliant spreads his case in general before his God; in verses 9, 10, 11, he portrays his enemies; in verses 12-14, he mentions one special traitor, and cries for vengeance, or foretells it in verse 15. From verses 16 to 19 he consoles himself by prayer and faith; in verses 20 and 21 he again mentions the deceitful covenant-breaker, and closes with a cheering exhortation to the saints (verse 22), and a denunciation of destruction upon the wicked and deceitful (verse 23).

EXPOSITION.

Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.

2 Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;

3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.

4 My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.

5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.

6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.

7 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah.

8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.

1. “Give ear to my prayer, O God.” The fact is so commonly before us, otherwise we should be surprised to observe how universally and constantly the saints resort to prayer in seasons of distress. From the Great Elder Brother down to the very least of the divine family, all of them delight in prayer. They run as naturally to the mercy-seat in time of trouble as the little chickens to the hen in the hour of danger. But note well that it is never the bare act of prayer which satisfies the godly, they crave an audience with heaven, and an answer from the throne, and nothing less will content them. “Hide not thyself from my supplication.” Do not stop thine ear, or restrain thy hand. When a man saw his neighbour in distress, and deliberately passed him by, he was said to hide himself from him; and the Psalmist begs that the Lord would not so treat him. In that dread hour when Jesus bore our sins upon the tree, his Father did hide himself, and this was the most dreadful part of all the Son of David’s agony. Well may each of us deprecate such a calamity as that God should refuse to hear our cries.

2. “Attend unto me, and hear me.” This is the third time he prays the same prayer. He is in earnest, in deep and bitter earnest. If his God do not hear, he feels that all is over with him. He begs for his God to be a listener and an answerer. “I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise.” He gives a loose to his sorrows, permits his mind to rehearse her griefs, and to pour them out in such language as suggests itself at the time, whether it be coherent or not. What a comfort that we may be thus familiar with our God! We may not complain of him, but we may complain to him. Our rambling thoughts when we are distracted with grief we may bring before him, and that too in utterances rather to be called “a noise” than language. He will attend so carefully that he will understand us, and he will often fulfil desires which we ourselves could not have expressed in intelligible words. “Groanings that cannot be uttered,” are often prayers which cannot be refused. Our Lord himself used strong cryings and tears, and was heard in that he feared.

3. “Because of the voice of the enemy.” The enemy was vocal and voluble enough, and found a voice where his godly victim had nothing better than a “noise.” Slander is seldom short of expression, it prates and prattles evermore. Neither David, nor our Lord, nor any of the saints were allowed to escape the attacks of venomous tongues, and this evil was in every case the cause of acute anguish. “Because of the oppression of the wicked:” the unjust pressed and oppressed the righteous; like an intolerable burden they crushed them down, and brought them to their knees before the Lord. This is a thrice-told story, and to the end of time it will be true; he that is born after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the Spirit. The great seed of the woman suffered from a bruised heel. “For they cast iniquity upon me,” they black me with their sootbags, throw the dust of their lying over me, cast the vitriol of their calumny over me. They endeavour to trip me up, and if I do not fall they say I do. “And in wrath they hate me.” With a hearty ill will they detested the holy man. It was no sleeping animosity, but a mortal rancour which reigned in their bosoms. The reader needs not that we show how applicable this is to our Lord.

4. “My heart is sore pained within me.” His spirit writhed in agony, like a poor worm; he was mentally as much in pain as a woman in travail physically. His inmost soul was touched; and a wounded spirit who can bear? If this were written when David was attacked by his own favourite son, and ignominiously driven from his capital, he had reason enough for using these expressions. “And the terrors of death are fallen upon me.” Mortal fears seized him, he felt like one suddenly surrounded with the glooms of the shadow of death, upon whom the eternal night suddenly descends. Within and without he was afflicted, and his chief terror seemed to come from above, for he uses the expression, “Fallen upon me.” He gave himself up for lost. He felt that he was as good as dead. The inmost centre of his nature was moved with dismay. Think of our Lord in the garden, with his “soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death,” and you have a parallel to the griefs of the Psalmist. Perchance, dear reader, if as yet thou hast not trodden this gloomy way, thou wilt do soon; then be sure to mark the foot prints of thy Lord in this miry part of the road.

5. “Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me.” Like housebreakers these robbers were entering his soul. Like one who feels a fainting fit coming over him, so the oppressed suppliant was falling into a state of terror. His fear was so great as to make him tremble. He did not know what would happen next, or how soon the worst would come. The sly, mysterious whisperings of slander often cause a noble mind more fear than open antagonism; we can be brave against an open foe, but cowardly, plotting conspiracies bewilder and distract us. “And horror hath overwhelmed me.” He was as one enveloped in a darkness that might be felt. As Jonah went down into the sea, so did David appear to go down into deeps of horror. He was unmanned, confounded, brought into a hideous state of suspense and mortal apprehension.

6. “And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” If he could not resist as an eagle, he would escape as a dove. Swiftly and unobserved, on strong, untiring pinions would he hie away from the abodes of slander and wickedness. His love of peace made him sigh for an escape from the scene of strife.

“O for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of shade, Where rumour of oppression and deceit Might never reach me more.”

We are all too apt to utter this vain desire, for vain it is; no wings of doves or eagles could bear us away from the sorrows of a trembling heart. Inward grief knows nothing of place. Moreover, it is cowardly to shun the battle which God would have us fight. We had better face the danger, for we have no armour for our backs. He had need of a swifter conveyance than doves’ pinions who would outfly slander; he may be at rest who does not fly, but commends his case to his God. Even the dove of old found no rest till she returned to her ark, and we amid all our sorrow may find rest in Jesus. We need not depart; all will be well if we trust in him.

7. “Lo, then would I wander far off.” Yet when David was far off, he sighed to be once more near Jerusalem; thus, in our ill estate we ever think the past to be better than the present. We shall be called to fly far enough away, and perchance we shall be loth to go; we need not indulge vain notions of premature escape from earth. “And remain in the wilderness.” He found it none such a dear abode when there, yet resolves now to make it his permanent abode. Had he been condemned to receive his wish he would ere long have felt like Selkirk, in the poet’s verse—

“O solitude, where are the charms That sages have found in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms Than reign in this horrible place.”

Our Lord, while free from all idle wishes, found much strength in solitude, and loved the mountain’s brow at midnight, and the quiet shade of the olives of Gethsemane. It is better practically to use retirement than pathetically to sigh for it. Yet it is natural, when all men do us wrong, to wish to separate ourselves from their society; nature, however, must yield to grace, and we must endure the contradiction of sinners against ourselves, and not be weary and faint in our minds. “Selah.” After such a flight well may the mind rest. When we are going too fast, and giving way too freely to regrets, it is well to cry, “halt,” and pause awhile till more sober thoughts return.

8. “I would hasten my escape.” He tried to pause but could not, like a horse which when pulled up slips on a little because of the speed at which he was going. David declares that he would not waste a moment, or stay to bid adieu to his friends, but up and away at once, for fear he should be too late, and because he could bear the clamour of his foes no longer. “From the windy storm and tempest.” A storm was brewing, and, like a dove, he would outfly it and reach a calmer region. Swifter than the storm-cloud would he fly, to avoid the deluge of rain, and the flash of the lightning. Alas! poor soul, no such wings are thine, as yet thou must tarry here and feel the tempest; but be of good cheer, thou shalt stretch thy wings ere long for a bolder flight, heaven shall receive thee, and there thy sorrows shall have a finis of felicity among the birds of paradise.

9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.

11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.

9. “Destroy, O Lord.” Put mine enemies to the rout. Let them be devoured by the sword, since they have unsheathed it against me. How could we expect the exiled monarch to offer any other prayer than this against the rebellious bands of Absalom, and the crafty devices of Ahithophel? “Divide their tongues.” Make another Babel in their debates and councils of war. Set them at cross purposes. Divide the pack that the hunted one may escape. The divisions of error are the hope of truth. “For I have seen violence and strife in the city.” The rabble and their leaders were plotting and planning, raging and contending against their king, running wild with a thousand mad projects: anarchy had fermented among them, and the king hoped that now it might come to pass that the very lawlessness which had exiled him would create weakness among his foes. Revolution devours its own children. They who are strong through violence, will sooner or later find that their strength is their death. Absalom and Ahithophel may raise the mob, but they cannot so easily rule it, nor so readily settle their own policy as to remain firm friends. The prayer of David was heard, the rebels were soon divided in their councils; Ahithophel went his way to be hanged with a rope, and Absalom to be hanged without one.

10. “Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof.” The city, the holy city had become a den of wickedness: conspirators met in the dark and talked in little knots in the streets even in broad daylight. Meanwhile the country was being roused to revolt, and the traitors without threatened to environ the city, and act in concert with the rebels within. No doubt there was a smothered fire of insurrection which Absalom kindled and fanned, which David perceived with alarm some time before he left Jerusalem; and when he quitted the city it broke out into an open flame. “Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.” Unhappy capital to be thus beset by foes, left by her monarch, and filled with all those elements of turbulence which breed evil and trouble. Unhappy king to be thus compelled to see the mischief which he could not avert laying waste the city which he loved so well. There was another King whose many tears watered the rebellious city, and who said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

11. “Wickedness is in the midst thereof.” The very heart of the city was base. In her places of authority crime went hand in hand with calamity. All the wilder and more wicked elements were uppermost; the canaille were commanders; the scum floated uppermost; justice was at a discount; the population was utterly demoralised; prosperity had vanished and order with it. “Deceit and guile depart not from her streets.” In all the places of concourse crafty tongues were busy persuading the people with cozening phrases. Crafty demagogues led the people by the nose. Their good king was defamed in all ways, and when they saw him go away, they fell to reviling the governors of their own choosing. The forum was the fortress of fraud, the congress was the convention of cunning. Alas, poor Jerusalem, to be thus the victim of sin and shame! Virtue reviled and vice regnant! Her solemn assemblies broken up, her priests fled, her king banished, and troops of reckless villains parading her streets, sunning themselves on her walls, and vomiting their blasphemies in her sacred shrines. Here was cause enough for the sorrow which so plaintively utters itself in these verses.

12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:

13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.

14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

12. The reader will do well to observe how accurately the Psalmist described his own Psalm when he said, “I mourn in my complaint,” or rather “give loose to my thoughts,” for he proceeds from one point of his sorrow to another, wandering on like one in a maze, making few pauses, and giving no distinct intimations that he is changing the subject. Now from the turbulent city his mind turns to the falsehearted councillor. “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it.” It was not an open foe, but a pretended friend; he went over to the other camp and tried to prove the reality of his treachery by calumniating his old friend. None are such real enemies as false friends. Reproaches from those who have been intimate with us, and trusted by us, cut us to the quick; and they are usually so well acquainted with our peculiar weaknesses that they know how to touch us where we are most sensitive, and to speak so as to do us most damage. The slanders of an avowed antagonist are seldom so mean and dastardly as those of a traitor, and the absence of the elements of ingratitude and treachery renders them less hard to bear. We can bear from Shimei what we cannot endure from Ahithophel. “Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him.” We can find a hiding-place from open foes, but who can escape from treachery? If our enemies proudly boast over us we nerve our souls for resistance, but when those who pretended to love us leer at us with contempt, whither shall we go? Our blessed Lord had to endure at its worst the deceit and faithlessness of a favoured disciple; let us not marvel when we are called to tread the road which is marked by his pierced feet.

13. “But it was thou.” He sees him. The poetic fury is on him, he sees the traitor as though he stood before him in flesh and blood. He singles him out, he points his finger at him, he challenges him to his face. “But thou.” Et tu, Brute? And thou, Ahithophel, art thou here? Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man? “A man mine equal.” Treated by me as one of my own rank, never looked upon as an inferior, but as a trusted friend. “My guide,” a counsellor so sage that I trusted thine advice and found it prudent to do so. “And mine acquaintance,” with whom I was on most intimate terms, who knew me even as I knew him by mutual disclosures of heart. No stranger occasionally conversed with, but a near and dear friend admitted to my secret fellowship. It was fiendish treason for such a one to prove falsehearted. There was no excuse for such villainy. Judas stood very much in this relation to our Lord, he was treated as an equal, trusted as treasurer, and in that capacity often consulted with. He knew the place where the Master was wont to spend his solitude, in fact, he knew all the Master’s movements, and yet he betrayed him to his remorseless adversaries. How justly might the Lord have pointed at him and said, “But thou;” but his gentler spirit warned the son of perdition in the mildest manner, and had not Iscariot been tenfold a child of hell he would have relinquished his detestable purpose.

14. “We took sweet counsel together.” It was not merely the counsel which men take together in public or upon common themes, their fellowship had been tender and confidential. The traitor had been treated lovingly and trusted much. Solace, mutual and cheering, had grown out of their intimate communings. There were secrets between them of no common kind. Soul had been in converse with soul, at least on David’s part. However feigned might have been the affection of the treacherous one, the betrayed friend had not dealt with him coldly, or guarded his utterance before him. Shame on the wretch who could belie such fellowship and betray such confidence! “And walked unto the house of God in company.” Religion had rendered their intercourse sacred, they had mingled their worship, and communed on heavenly themes. If ever any bonds ought to be held inviolable, religious connection should be. There is a measure of impiety, of a detestable sort, in the deceit which debases the union of men who make professions of godliness. Shall the very altar of God be defiled with hypocrisy? Shall the gatherings of the temple be polluted by the presence of treachery? All this was true of Ahithophel, and in a measure of Judas. His union with the Lord was on the score of faith, they were joined in the holiest of enterprises, he had been sent on the most gracious of errands. His co-operation with Jesus to serve his own abominable ends stamped him as the firstborn of hell. Better had it been for him had he never been born. Let all deceitful professors be warned by his doom, for like Ahithophel he went to his own place by his own hand, and retains a horrible pre-eminence in the calendar of notorious crime. Here was one source of heart-break for the Redeemer, and it is shared in by his followers. Of the serpent’s brood some vipers still remain, who will sting the hand that cherished them, and sell for silver those who raised them to the position which rendered it possible for them to be so abominably treacherous.

15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.

15. Not thus would Jesus pray, but the rough soldier David so poured out the anguish of his spirit, under treachery and malice seldom equalled and altogether unprovoked. The soldier, as such, desires the overthrow of his foes, for this very end he fights; and viewed as a matter of law and justice, David was right in his wish; he was waging a just, defensive war against men utterly regardless of truth and justice. Read the words as a warrior’s imprecation. “Let death seize upon them.” Traitors such as these deserve to die, there is no living with them, earth is polluted by their tread; if spies are shot, much more these sneaking villains. “Let them go down quick into hell.” While in the vigour of life into sheol let them sink, let them suddenly exchange the enjoyment of the quick or living for the sepulchres of the dead. There is, however, no need to read this verse as an imprecation, it is rather a confident expectation or prophecy: God would, he was sure, desolate them, and cast them out of the land of the living into the regions of the dead. “For wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.” They are too bad to be spared, for their houses are dens of infamy, and their hearts fountains of mischief. They are a pest to the commonwealth, a moral plague, a spiritual pestilence, to be stamped out by the laws of men and the providence of God. Both Ahithophel and Judas soon ended their own lives; Absalom was hanged in the oak, and the rebels perished in the wood in great numbers. There is Justice in the universe, love itself demands it; pity to rebels against God, as such, is no virtue—we pray for them as creatures, we abhor them as enemies of God. We need in these days far more to guard against the disguised iniquity which sympathises with evil, and counts punishment to be cruelty, than against the harshness of a former age. We have steered so far from Scylla that Charybdis is absorbing us.

16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.

17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

18 He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.

19 God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.

16. “As for me, I will call upon God.” The Psalmist would not endeavour to meet the plots of his adversaries by counterplots, nor imitate their incessant violence, but in direct opposition to their godless behaviour would continually resort to his God. Thus Jesus did, and it has been the wisdom of all believers to do the same. As this exemplifies the contrast of their character, so it will foretell the contrast of their end—the righteous shall ascend to their God, the wicked shall sink to ruin. “And the Lord shall save me.” Jehovah will fulfil my desire, and glorify himself in my deliverance. The Psalmist is quite sure. He knows that he will pray, and is equally clear that he will be heard. The covenant name is the pledge of the covenant promise.

17. “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray.” Often, but none too often. Seasons of great need call for frequent seasons of devotion. The three periods chosen are most fitting; to begin, continue, and end the day with God is supreme wisdom. Where time has naturally set up a boundary, there let us set up an altar-stone. The Psalmist means that he will always pray; he will run a line of prayer right along the day and track the sun with his petitions. Day and night he saw his enemies busy (verse 10), and therefore he would meet their activity by continuous prayer. “And cry aloud.” He would give a tongue to his complaint; he would be very earnest in his pleas with heaven. Some cry aloud who never say a word. It is the bell of the heart that rings loudest in heaven. Some read it, “I will muse and murmur;” deep heart-thoughts should be attended with inarticulate but vehement utterances of grief. Blessed be God, moaning is translatable in heaven. A father’s heart reads a child’s heart. “And he shall hear my voice.” He is confident that he will prevail; he makes no question that he would be heard, he speaks as if already he were answered. When our window is opened towards heaven, the windows of heaven are open to us. Have but a pleading heart and God will have a plenteous hand.

18. “He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me.” The deliverance has come. Joab has routed the rebels. The Lord has justified the cause of his anointed. Faith sees as well as foresees; to her foresight is sight. He is not only safe but serene, “delivered in peace”—peace in his inmost soul. “For there were many with me;” many contending against me. Or it may be that he thankfully acknowledges that the Lord raised him up unexpected allies, fetched him succour when he most needed it, and made the friendless monarch once more the head of a great army. The Lord can soon change our condition, and he often does so when our prayers become fervent. The crisis of life is usually the secret place of wrestling. Jabbok makes Jacob a prevailing prince. He who stripped us of all friends to make us see himself in their absence, can give them back again in greater numbers that we may see him more joyfully in the fact of their presence.

19. “God shall hear, and afflict them.” They make a noise as well as I, and God will hear them. The voice of slander, malice, and pride, is not alone heard by those whom it grieves, it reaches to heaven, it penetrates the divine ear, it demands vengeance, and shall have it. God hears and delivers his people, he hears and destroys the wicked. Their cruel jests, their base falsehoods, their cowardly insults, their daring blasphemies are heard, and shall be repaid to them by the eternal Judge. “Even he that abideth of old.” He sits in eternity, enthroned judge for evermore; all the prayers of saints and profanities of sinners are before his judgment-seat, and he will see that justice is done. “Selah.” The singer pauses, overwhelmed with awe in the presence of the everlasting God. “Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.” His own reverential feeling causes him to remember the daring godlessness of the wicked; he feels that his trials have driven him to his God, and he declares that their uninterrupted prosperity was the cause of their living in such neglect of the Most High. It is a very manifest fact that long-continued ease and pleasure are sure to produce the worst influences upon graceless men: though troubles do not convert them, yet the absence of them makes their corrupt nature more readily develop itself. Stagnant water becomes putrid. Summer heat breeds noxious insects. He who is without trouble is often without God. It is a forcible proof of human depravity that man turns the mercy of God into nutriment for sin: the Lord save us from this.

20 He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant.

21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.

20. The Psalmist cannot forget the traitor’s conduct, and returns again to consider it. “He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him.” He smites those to whom he had given the hand of friendship, he breaks the bonds of alliance, he is perfidious to those who dwell at ease because of his friendly professions. “He hath broken his covenant.” The most solemn league he has profaned, he is regardless of oaths and promises.

21. “The words of his mouth were smoother than butter.” He lauded and larded the man he hoped to devour. He buttered him with flattery and then battered him with malice. Beware of a man who has too much honey on his tongue; a trap is to be suspected where the bait is so tempting. Soft, smooth, oily words are most plentiful where truth and sincerity are most scarce. “But war was in his heart.” He brought forth butter in a lordly dish, but he had a tent-pin ready for the temples of his guest. When heart and lip so widely differ, the man is a monster, and those whom he assails are afflicted indeed. “His words were softer than oil.” Nothing could be more unctuous and fluent, there were no objectionable syllables, no jars or discords, his words were as yielding as the best juice of the olive; “yet were they drawn swords,” rapiers unsheathed, weapons brandished for the fray. Ah! base wretch, to be cajoling your victim while intending to devour him! entrapping him as if he were but a beast of prey; surely, such art thou thyself!

22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

22. “Thy burden,” or what thy God lays upon thee, lay thou it “upon the Lord.” His wisdom casts it on thee, it is thy wisdom to cast it on him. He cast thy lot for thee, cast thy lot on him. He gives thee thy portion of suffering, accept it with cheerful resignation, and then take it back to him by thine assured confidence. “He shall sustain thee.” Thy bread shall be given thee, thy waters shall be sure. Abundant nourishment shall fit thee to bear all thy labours and trials. As thy days so shall thy strength be. “He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” He may move like the boughs of a tree in the tempest, but he shall never be moved like a tree torn up by the roots. He stands firm who stands in God. Many would destroy the saints, but God has not suffered it, and never will. Like pillars, the godly stand immovable, to the glory of the Great Architect.

23 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction; bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days: but I will trust in thee.

23. For the ungodly a sure, terrible, and fatal overthrow is appointed. Climb as they may, the pit yawns for them, God himself will cause them to descend into it, and destruction there shall be their portion. “Bloody and deceitful men,” with double iniquity of cruelty and craft upon them, “shall not live out half their days;” they shall be cut off in their quarrels, or being disappointed in their artifices, vexation shall end them. They were in heart murderers of others, and they became in reality self-murderers. Doubt not that virtue lengthens life, and that vice tends to shorten it. “But I will trust in thee.” A very wise, practical conclusion. We can have no better ground of confidence. The Lord is all, and more than all that faith can need as the foundation of peaceful dependence. Lord, increase our faith evermore.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—Maschil. This is often prefixed to those Psalms in which David speaks of himself as being chastened by God, inasmuch as the end of chastisement is instruction.—Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.

Whole Psalm.—A prayer of the Man Christ in his humiliation, despised and rejected of men, when he was made sin for his people, that they might he made the righteousness of God in him, when he was about to suffer their punishment, pay their debt, and discharge their ransom.

Utter depravity of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; betrayment of Messiah by one of the twelve whom he had ordained to the apostolical office, and who was Messiah’s constant attendant in all his ministerial circuits.

Premature and punitive death of the traitor Judas, and of others banded together to crucify the Lord of glory.—John Noble Coleman, M.A., in “A Revision of the authorised English Versions of the Book of Psalms,” 1863.

Verse 1.—In the first clause he uses the word תְּפִלָּתִי, that he might indicate that he merely sought justice from God as a Judge; but in the second he implores the favour of God, that if perchance the prayer for justice be less becoming to himself as a sinner, God may not deny his grace.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 1.—“Hide not thyself from my supplication.” A figure taken from the conduct of a king who debars an offender from seeing his face (2 Sam. xiv. 24), or from an enemy, who conceals himself from the ox, etc.; that is, pretends not to see it, and goes away, leaving it (see Deut. xxii. 1, 3, 4; and Isa. lviii. 7); or, from a false friend, or an unkind person, who, foreseeing that he may be entreated by a miserable and needy man, will not let himself be seen, but seeks to make escape.—Martin Geier, 1614-1681.

Verse 2.—“I mourn.” As one cast down with sorrow, making a doleful noise.—Henry Ainsworth, 1622.

Verse 2.—“I mourn,” etc. A mourning suppliant shall neither lose his prayers nor his tears; for, “I mourn,” is brought for a reason of his hope that God shall attend and hear him.—David Dickson.

Verse 2.—“I mourn in my complaint.” The literal translation of these words is, I will suffer to wander in my thinking; i.e., I will let my mind wander, or my thoughts rove as they will.—J. A. Alexander.

Verse 2.—“In my complaint.” Saints have their complaints on account of their sins and corruptions, their barrenness and unfruitfulness, and the decay of vital religion in them, and because of the low estate of Zion, the declining state of the interest of Christ, and the little success of his gospel; and they mourn, in these complaints, over their own sins, and the sins of others, professors and profane, and under afflictions temporal and spiritual, both their own and the church’s. Christ also in the days of his flesh, had his complaints of the perverseness and faithlessness of the generation of men among whom he lived; of the frowardness, pride, and contentions, of his disciples; of the reproaches, insult, and injuries of his enemies; and of the dereliction of his God and Father; and he often mourned on account of one or other of these things, being a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs.—John Gill.

Verse 2.—“In my complaint.” The word here employed commonly means discourse, meditation. It here occurs in the sense of complaint, as in Job vii. 13; ix. 27; xxi. 4; xxiii. 2; Ps. cxlii. 2; 1 Sam. i. 16. It is not used, however, to denote complaint in the sense of fault-finding, complaining, accusing, or the idea that we have been dealt with unjustly. This is not the meaning in this place or in the Scriptures generally. It is the language of a troubled, not of an injured spirit.—Albert Barnes, 1868.

Verse 2.—In confession, when the soul melts into a holy shame and sorrow for the sins he spreads before the Lord, he feels a holy smart and pain within, and doth not act a tragical part with a comical heart. Chrysostom saith, “To paint tears is worse than to paint the face.” Here is true fervency, “I mourn in my complaint and make a noise.” There may be fire in the pan when there is none in the piece; a loud wind but no rain with it. David made a noise with his voice, and mourned in his spirit.—William Gurnall, 1617-1679.

Verse 3.—“Because of the voice of the enemy,” there is their railing; “because of the oppression of the wicked,” there is their violent robbing him of his estate; “they cast iniquity upon me,” there are their slanderous traducings of him, and charging him with faults falsely; “in wrath they hate me,” there is their cruel seeking to kill.—David Dickson.

Verse 3.—“For they cast iniquity upon me.” They tumble it on me, as men do stones or anything else upon their besiegers, to endamage them; so did these sin, shame, anything, upon innocent David, to make him odious.—John Trapp.

Verse 4.—“Is sore pained,” or, trembleth with pain. The word usually meaneth such pains as a woman feeleth in her travail.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 4.—“The terrors of death are fallen upon me.” “My heart,” said the afflicted Psalmist, “is sore pained within me;” and though I am repeatedly assured of my interest in the divine love and favour, yet now “the terrors of death are fallen upon me.” The case of David is so far from being peculiar to himself, that it portrays in the most striking colours, a state of mind to which many of the most exemplary Christians are frequently, if not constantly, subject. Many, whose hopes are placed on the right foundation, even Christ Jesus, and whose conduct is uniform and consistent, are yet harassed almost continually by the tormenting fears of death.... It will be an interesting and useful enquiry to examine into the real causes of a fear, which cultivates melancholy and despondency on the one hand and destroys our happiness on the other. To effect this design I shall consider, I. The various causes of the fear of death. II. The arguments calculated to remove it. There are few, indeed, so hardened in the slavery of vice, or so utterly regardless of every admonition, as to consider the awful period of dissolution without some emotions of terror and dismay. There is something so peculiarly awful in the idea of a change hitherto unknown, and of a state hitherto untried, that the most hardy veterans have owned its tremendous aspects.... One of the first causes of the fear of death is conscious guilt. The most hardened are conscious of many things which they may not readily confess; and the most self-righteous is conscious of many crimes which he artfully studies to conceal. Whilst the Christian is looking only to his own habits and temper, he may and will be always wretched; but if he looks to the great Surety, Christ Jesus, his gloomy prospect will soon be turned to joy. An attachment to this world is also a (second) cause of the fear of death. A principle of self-preservation is also a (third) cause of the fear of death. That our bodies, which are pampered by pride and nourished by indulgence, should be consigned to the silent grave, and become even the food of worms, is a humbling reflection to the boasted dignity of man. Besides, nature revolts at the idea of its own dissolution; hence a desire of preserving life, evidently implanted in us. The devil is also (fourthly) often permitted to terrify the consciences of men, and thereby increase at least the fear of death. Unbelief is also a (fifth) cause of the fear of death. Were our faith more frequently in exercise, we should be enabled to look beyond the dreary mansions of the grave with a hope full of immortality. Our fears of death may be often caused by looking for that perfection in ourselves, which we shall never easily discover. II. Consider the arguments calculated to remove the fear of death. It may be necessary to premise that the consolations of religion belong only to real Christians; for the wicked have just reason to dread the approach of death. But to such as are humbled under a sense of their own unworthiness, and who have fled to Christ for pardon and salvation, they have no cause to apprehend either the pain or the consequences of death; because first, the sting of death is taken away. Secondly, because death is no longer an enemy but a friend. Instead of threatening us with misery, it invites us to happiness. Thirdly, the safety of our state is founded on the oath, the purpose, and promise of God. A fourth argument calculated to remove the fear of death, is the consideration of the benefits resulting from it. The benefits which believers receive from Christ at the resurrection also, is a fifth argument calculated to remove the fear of death.—Condensed from a Sermon by John Grove, M.A., F.A.S., 1802.

Verses 4, 5.—In the version of the Psalter used in the Prayer-book, this verse stands with a more homely and expressive simplicity, “My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear of death is fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and an horrible dread hath overwhelmed me.” The fear of death is upon all flesh. It is no sign of manhood to be without it. To overcome it in the way of duty is courage; to meet death with patience is faith; but not to fear it is either a gift of special grace, or a dangerous insensibility. No doubt great saints have been able to say, “I have a desire to depart.” And many have rushed to martyrdom, as to the love and bosom of their Lord; but for the rest, the multitude of his flock, who are neither wilful sinners, nor to be numbered among the saints, the thought of death is a thought of fear. We see that, on the first feeling of their having so much as set foot in the path leading to the grave, even good men feel the “terror of death,” “a horrible dread,” which makes every pulse to beat with a hurried and vehement speed. Their whole nature, both in body and in soul, trembles to its very centre; and their heart is “disquieted,” “sore pained,” within them....

Let us see what are the causes or reasons of this “fear of death.” The fact must needs be a consciousness of personal sinfulness. A sense of unfitness to meet God, our unreadiness to die, a multitude of personal faults, evil tempers, thoughts, and inclinations; the recollection of innumerable sins, of great omissions and lukewarmness in all religious duties, the little love or gratitude we have to God, and the great imperfection of our repentance; all these make us tremble at the thought of going to give up our account. We feel as if it were impossible we could be saved. Shame, fear, and a “horrible dread,” fall upon us.—Henry Edward Manning, M.A., 1850.

Verse 5.—“Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me.” In this pitiful condition of mind, learn, that it is not a thing inconsistent with godliness to be much moved with fear in time of danger; natural affections are not taken away in conversion, but sanctified and moderated.—Daniel Dickson.

Verse 5.—“Fearfulness.” How natural is this description! He is in distress, he mourns, makes a noise, sobs and sighs, his heart is wounded, he expects nothing but death; this produces fear, this produces tremor, which terminates in that deep apprehension of approaching and inevitable ruin that overwhelms him with horror. No man ever described a mounded heart like David.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 6.—“And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” Wherever the Psalmist cast his eye, the inscription was vanity and vexation. A deluge of sin and misery covered the world, so that like Noah’s dove he could find no rest for the sole of his foot below, therefore does he direct his course toward heaven, and say, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest;” but rest is not a denizen of this world, nothing but the heaven of heavens is at rest, and here does he fix only.—Thomas Sharp (1630-1693), in “Divine Comforts.”

Verse 6.—“Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest,” King David, though for innocency not only a dove, but the phœnix of doves, and so a notable type of Christ, upon whom the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a dove, yet was his whole life nothing else but bellum sine induciis, a perpetual persecution without intermission. Such was also the portion of Christ the Lord of David; and such to the world’s end will ever be the lot of those that are the heritage of Christ. My text imports no less; which, taken historically, is the voice of David pursued by his enemies; prophetically, the voice of Christ at his passion; mystically, the voice of that mystical dove, the innocent soul, surrounded and environed with the snares of death; even generalis quædam querela (saith Pellican), a general complaint of the malice of the wicked persecuting the righteous. For (alas that it should be! yet so it is)—

“_Non rete accipitri tenditur, neque milvio, Qui malè faciunt, nobis; illis qui nil faciunt, tenditur._”[24]

“The net is not pitched for ravenous birds, as are the hawk and the kite; but for poor harmless birds, that never meditate mischief.’ And

“Dat veniam corvis, vexat, censura columbas.”

“The dove shall surely be shot at, when the carrion-crow shall go shot-free.”[25]

It will then be no news unto you, that here the faithful soul, the spouse, the dove of Christ, when trouble and heaviness take hold upon her, and the floods of Belial compass her about Tanquam avis e cave liberari cupit (as St. Austin speaks of the cloistered monks in his time), “Desireth like a bird to be loosed out of her cage.” Or, that as Jonas (by interpretation a dove), after three days’ and three nights’ imprisonment in the whale’s belly, could not but long after his enlargement. So the dove-like soul of man, when not three, but many days, and months, and years, she hath been imprisoned in the body, hath a longing desire to be enlarged, and to fly unto God that made her; and so mourning like a dove in devout supplication and mounting like a dove in divine speculation, breaks forth into these sad elegies: “Oh that I had wings!” and “Alas, that I have not wings! Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech, and to have mine habitation among the tents of Kedar. Like as the hart desires the water-brook, so longeth my soul to be with thee, O God. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Who will give me wings?” etc. Which is as if the poor distressed soul, pathetically bemoaning her forlorn estate of pilgrimage, should thus more plentifully enlarge herself. “My spouse is already ascended higher than the winds, than the clouds, than the highest heavens, and I, poor soul, as a husbandless widow, as a tutorless orphan, as a comfortless exile, am left desolate and disconsolate in this valley of tears; none to care for me, none to comfort me, till I have regained him whom I love, and in whom I live. Nay (which worse is), this mine own familiar friend, this nearest and dearest companion of mine, my body, is even a burden unto me. The weight of it, and oft the sins that hang so fast on it, doth so clog and shackle me, so glue and nail me to the earth, that I cannot raise or rear up myself towards heaven. Or let him therefore descend to relieve me, being filia, sponsa, soror, his daughter, and spouse, and sister; or let him give me wings wherewith I may ascend to him, under the shadow of whose wings I shall surely rest in safety.” Ps. xci. 4.

“I must confess it was the very bitterness of extremity that first compelled me to love him, though of himself no less lovely than love itself. It was the sharp sauce of affliction that gave edge to mine affections, and sharpened mine appetite to that ‘sweet meat that endureth to everlasting life.’ But now, having had some little foretaste of him, I am even in an holy ecstacy, so ravished, so transported with a fervent desire of him and of his presence, that ubi sum, ibi non sum; ubi non sum, ibi animus est: ‘where I am, there I am not; and where I am not, there am I.’ For, anima est ubi amat, non ubi animat:[26] ‘The soul is where it loveth, not where it liveth.’ Now sigh I not so much for the present dangers I would decline, as because of my absent love, whom I most desire. ‘Who will give me wings?’” etc.

In the scanning of which verse, ye will observe with me,

I. The efficient or author of these wings—God. “Who will give me?” Who? that is, who but God?

II. The matter of the wish—“wings.” “Who will give me wings?”

III. The form of those wings—dove-like. “Who will give me wings like unto a dove?”

IV. The end mediate—flying. “Then would I fly away.”

V. The end ultimate—resting. “And be at rest.”

I. “Who will give me?” There’s Christian humility. II. “Who will give me wings?” There’s prudent celerity. III. “Wings like unto a dove.” There’s innocent simplicity. IV. “Then would I fly away.” There’s devout sublimity. V. “And be at rest.” There’s permanent security.—John Rawlinson, in “The Dove-like Sovle. A Sermon preached before the Prince’s Highnes at Whitehall,” Feb. 19, 1618.

Verse 6.—“Oh that I had wings,” etc. Some of the most astounding sermons ever delivered have been preached on this text, which was a very favourite one with the old divines. They ransacked Pliny and Aldrovandus for the most outrageous fables about doves, their eyes, their livers, their crops, and even their dung, and then went on to find emblems of Christians in every fact and fable. Griffith Williams, at considerable length, enlarges upon the fact that David did not desire wings like a grasshopper to hop from flower to flower, as those hasty souls who leap in religion but do not run with perseverance; nor like an ostrich which keeps to the earth, though it be a bird, as hypocrites do who never mount towards heavenly things; nor like an eagle, or a peacock, or a beetle, or a crow, or a kite, or a bat; and after he has shown in many ways the similarity between the godly and doves, he refers us to Hugo Cardinalis, and others, for more. We do not think it would be to edification to load these pages with such eccentricities and conceits. This one single sentence from Bishop Patrick is worth them all, “He rather wished than hoped to escape.” He saw no way of escape except by some improbable or impossible means.—C. H. S.

Verse 6.—When the Gauls had tasted the wine of Italy, they asked where the grapes grew, and would never be quiet till they came there. Thus may you cry, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” A believer is willing to lose the world for the enjoyment of grace; and he is willing to leave the world for the fruition of glory.—William Secker.

Verse 6.—“Wings like a dove.” The pigeon, or dove, is one of the swiftest of birds.—The Religious Tract Society’s “Book of Psalms, with Preface and Explanatory Notes.”

Verse 6.—An old writer tells us it would have been more honourable for him to have asked for the strength of an ox to bear his trials, than for the wings of a dove to flee from them.—William Jay, 1769-1853.

Verse 6.—“Dove.” The reference is to the turtle-dove, I suppose. Their low, sad plaint may be heard all day long at certain seasons in the olive-groves, and in the solitary and shady valleys among these mountains; I have, however, been more affected by it in the vast orchards round Damascus than anywhere else—so subdued, so very sorrowful among the trees, where the air sighs softly, and little rills roll their melting murmurs down the flowery aisles. These birds can never be tamed. Confined in a cage they droop, and like Cowper, sigh for

“A lodge in some vast wilderness—some boundless contiguity of shade;”

and no sooner are they set at liberty than they flee, as a bird, to their mountain Ps. xi. 1. David refers to their habits in this respect when his heart was sore pained within him: “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness.” And there you will meet these timid birds far away from the haunts of cruel hunters, of whose society they are peculiarly suspicious.—W. M. Thomson, in “The Land and the Book,” 1859.

Verse 6.—“Oh that I had wings,” etc.—

At first her mother-earth she holdeth deare, And doth embrace the world and worldly things; She flies close by the ground, and hovers here, And mounts not up with her celestiall wings.

Yet under heaven she cannot light on ought That with her heavenly nature doth agree; She cannot rest, she cannot fix her thought, She cannot in this world contented be:

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 pleas’d with none, doth rise and soare away;

So when the Soule finds here no true content; And, like Noah’s dove, 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, 1569-1626.

Verse 7.—“Lo, then would I wander far off,” etc. A passage in the “Octavia” of Seneca has been referred to as being parallel to this of David. It is in the answer of Octavia to the Chorus, act v., ver. 914-923.

My woes who enough can bewail? O what notes can my sorrows express? Sweet Philomel’s self e’en would fail To respond with her plaintive distress. O had I her wings, I would fly To where sorrows I ne’er should feel more, Upborne on her plumes through the sky, Regions far from mankind would explore. In a grove where sad silence should reign, On a spray would I seat me alone; In shrill lamentations complain, And in wailings would pour forth my moan.

J. B. Clarke [From Adam Clarke, in loc.]

Verse 8.—“I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.” There was a windy storm and tempest without, and which is worse, a tumult and combustion within in his thoughts. A man may escape from external confusions, but how shall he fly from himself? If he be out of the reach of all the blood-suckers on earth, and all the furies in hell, yet be dogged and haunted with his own turbulent, ungovernable cogitations, he needs no other tormentors. This holy man was thus doubly distressed, a storm abroad and an earthquake at home rendered his condition most dolorous; but for both he hath εν μεγα; he goes not about with the foxes of this world to relieve himself with subtle stratagems and wiles, by carnal shifts and policies, a vanity tossed to and fro by them that seek death. No, his one great refuge is to get aloft, to ascend to God.—Thomas Sharp.

Verse 9.—“Destroy, Lord, and divide their tongues.” In the first place, their tongues were truly destroyed and they themselves divided, when the testimony of the two false witnesses agreed not so together. Then, secondly, by the contradictory account of the soldiers that kept watch at the sepulchre.—Michael Ayguan (1416), in J. M. Neale’s Commentary, 1860.

Verse 9.—“Divide their tongues:” i.e., cause them to give conflicting opinions.—French and Skinner, 1842.

Verse 10.—“Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.” The city, as Abenezra observes, was like a circle; violence and strife were as a line round about it, and mischief and sorrow the centre of it; and these two commonly go together: where mischief is, sorrow follows.—John Gill.

Verse 12.—“Then I could have borne it.” It is remarkable that the Lord, who endured the other unspeakable sorrows and agonies of his passion in perfect and marvellous silence, allowed his grief at this one alone to escape him, bewailing himself to his disciples that one of them should betray him, and addressing that one, when he was taken, in these words of reproach—“Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?”—Fra Thomé de Jesu, 1582.

Verse 12.—“Then I would have hid myself from him.” It is generally easy to get out of the way of an avowed enemy, but how can one be on his guard against a treacherous friend?—A. R. Fausset, in “A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical,” 1866.

Verse 13.—“A man mine equal.” The LXX here not badly, ἰσόψυχε (of equal soul), Jerome, unanimus mens (of one mind).—Hermann Venema.

Verse 14.—“We took sweet counsel.” From מָתַק, to be sweet, and the ordinary notion of סוֹד for secret, the phrase נַמְתִּיק סוֹד will literally be read, we made our secret sweet. And so it may be an elegance, to signify the pleasure of his friendship, or of communicating secrets to him.—Henry Hammond.

Verse 14.—The first clause speaks of private intimacy, the next of association in public acts, and especially in the great festivals and processions of the temple.—J. J. Stewart Perowne, 1864.

Verse 14.—“In company.” In the end of the verse בְּרָגֶשׁ may be rendered with a noise: and so the Chaldee seems to have taken it, which reads with haste; and to that agree the Jewish doctors, who tell us men are to go in haste and with speed to the synagogue, but return thence very leisurely.—Henry Hammond.

Verse 15.—“Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell.” The last part and end of sinners’ lives is worst with them. They have in their lives been busily trading in the world, buying and selling, and getting gain and ruffling it in the world, but meanwhile by their sins they run deep in debt with God, and for want of interest in Christ to be their surety at death (it may be on the sudden) it comes to that of the Psalmist, “Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell.” Death seizeth on them unawares, as a sergeant or pursevant, casts them into prison, which is expressed by their going down quick into hell (as it is said, Num. xvi. 32, 33), that Korah and his company did.—Anthony Tuckney, 1599-1670.

Verse 15.—“Let death seize upon them” by divine warrant, and let them go quick into hell; let them be dead and buried, and damned in a moment; for wickedness is wherever they are, it is in the midst of them. The souls of impenitent sinners go down quick, or alive, into hell; for they have a perfect sense of their miseries, and shall therefore live still, that they may be still miserable. This prayer is a prophecy of the utter, the final, the everlasting ruin of all those who, whether secretly or openly, oppose and rebel against the Lord’s Messiah.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 15.—“Quick,” that is, alive, like Korah, Dathan and Abiram.—From “The Psalms chronologically arranged. By Four Friends,” 1867.

Verse 15.—Throughout this series of Psalms, there appears to be a peculiar penalty attached to each class of transgressions, or, each variety of opposition against God meets a suitable end. The ungodly, that is, the irreligious and indifferent lay up for themselves an evil recompence when the wrath of God shall be revealed (Psalm liv. 5): but an instant punishment falls upon false and treacherous professors; as Paul denounced “anathema” against any who perverted the gospel of Christ in the churches of Galatia; so in this Psalm, “Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell,” announces the awful judgment of Jehovah, as once it was shown upon Dathan and Abiram; a punishment that will by its suddenness and notoriety at the same time expose the guilt, and make manifest the displeasure of the Almighty against it.—R. H. Ryland, in “The Psalms restored to Messiah,” 1853.

Verse 17.—“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray.” This was the custom of the pious Hebrews. See Dan. vi. 10. The Hebrews began their day in the evening, and hence David mentions the evening first. The rabbins say, men should pray three times each day, because the day changes three times. This was observed in the primitive church; but the times in different places were various. The old Psalter gives this a curious turn: “At even I sall tel his louing (praise) what tim Crist was on the Crosse; and at morn I sall schew his louing, what tim he ros fra dede. And sua he sall here my voice at midday, that is sitand at the right hand of his fader, wheder he stegh (ascended) at midday.”—Adam Clarke.

Verse 17.—“Evening and morning,” etc. The three principal parts of the day are mentioned, not as marking special times set apart for prayer, but as a poetical expression for “the whole day,” “at all times,” “without ceasing.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 17.—If our poor, frail bodies need refreshment from food three times a day, who, that knows his own weakness, will say that we need not as frequent refreshment for our poor frail spirits?—William S. Plumer, 1867.

Verse 17.—I can no more believe him to be frequent and spiritual in ejaculatory prayer, who neglects the season of solemn prayer, than I can believe that he keeps every day in the week a Sabbath, who neglects to keep that one which God hath appointed.—William Gurnall, 1617-1679.

Verse 17.—There is no limited time in the court of heaven for hearing petitions. It is not like the court of earthly princes, for there is a free access any day of the week, any hour of the day, or the night, any minute of the hour. As the lawyer saith of the king, for having his due, Nullum tempus occurrit regi: so may I say of the godly, for making his prayers and granting his requests, Nullum tempus occurrit fidelibus, no time unseasonable, so the heart be seasoned with faith; no non term in God’s court of requests. He keeps continually open house for all comers and goers; and indeed, most for comers, then goers. His eyes are always open to behold our tears; his ears are always open to hear our groans; his heart also and his bowels are always open, and never shut up so fast, but they will yearn and turn within him, if our misery be never so little. For as we have not an High Priest to pray by “that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;” so neither have we a God to pray to, that shall see us in distress, and hear us call and cry, and never be moved.—Zachary Bogan (1625-1659), in “Meditations of the Mirth of a Christian Life.”

Verse 17.—“And cry aloud.” The word here employed properly means to murmur; to make a humming sound; to sigh; to growl; to groan. Here the language means that he would give utterance to his deep feelings in appropriate tones—whether words, sighs, or groans.—Albert Barnes.

Verse 17.—“And he shall hear.” And what will this loud cry obtain? A hearing without doubt, so he assures himself, “He shall hear me.” Not that God hears any prayers whether he will or no (as men sometimes do that upon importunity which they have no mind to); but he hath no will, no mind not to hear such prayers, the prayers of those who cry aloud to him.—Joseph Caryl, 1602-1673.

Verse 18.—“He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle.” In the midst of war the Lord can keep a man as safe as in the time of peace, and in extreme perils preserve him from danger. He that depends upon God in the time of trouble, albeit he had an host against him, yet hath he more with him when God is with him, than can be against him.—David Dickson.

Verse 18.—“For.” The “for” implies the reason why God interposed to deliver him; namely, because of the general principle that God ministers relief when his people are come to an extremity.—A. R. Fausset.

Verse 18.—“There were many with me.” This is doubtful whether it be meant of foes or friends. If of foes, it may be resolved thus: for with many (with a great multitude) they were fighters with me. If of friends, it may be understood of God’s angels, that in a great number were with him, pitching camp for his aid (Psalm xxxiv. 7); as Elisha said, “Many more are with us than with them.” 2 Kings vi. 16, 17. The Chaldee explaineth it, “For in many afflictions his word was for my help.”—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 19.—“Even he that abideth of old.” The deeds by which God had already showed himself from of old as the righteous King and Judge, the judgments, for example, upon the wicked in the land of Shinar (ver. 9), the company of Korah (ver. 9 and 18), the cities of the plain (ver. 15), pledge his still ready interposition. He who had already so long held the throne, must now also show himself as King and Judge; he cannot now, at so late a period, be another.—E. W. Hengstenberg, 1845.

Verse 19.—“Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.” That is, there is no new thing among them, no extraordinary providential turns, no judiciary changes, their prosperity keeps a settled course, and because they find all things going on in the old course of providence, therefore they go on in their old course of sinfulness, “they fear not God;” intimating, that as such changes always should, so usually they do, awaken fear; and that, if the Lord would but change, and toss, and tumble them about, by various troublesome dispensations, surely they would fear him.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 19.—“Because they have no changes,” etc. Or, “with whom also there be no changes, yet they fear not God.” If changes be referred to their temporal estates and welfare, as Job x. 17 (it is the same word there as here, חְלִיפוֹת), “changes and war are against me;” then, according to the first translation, “because,” etc., a reason is given of their perseverance in wickedness, and contempt of God; to wit, their constant and uninterrupted world prosperity. Or, according to the second, “With whom there are no changes, yet,” etc.; it is a great aggravation of their impenitency, that notwithstanding so much goodness vouchsafed unto them, they should continue so unthankful as to requite so ill, or so stupid and insensible as not to acknowledge the author. But if changes be referred, as by many, to the soul, then the meaning is—that through long use and continuance of sinning, they are, through God’s just judgment, become altogether obdurate and inflexible; and therefore, no wonder if nothing work upon them to their conversion. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin?” etc. Jer. xiii. 23. But this “changes” might also have another meaning. The Grecians used to say, στρέπται φρένες ἐσθλῶν, that the minds or hearts of good men are changeable; their meaning is, that good men are merciful. Quos quisque est major, magis est placabilis ira: et faciles motus mens generosa capit, as the Latin proverb expresses it. He may therefore say, that they show by their cruel unmercifulness, that they have no fear or sense of God at all; else they would fear him, of whose mercy themselves stood in so much need, and consider that they whom they so fiercely persecute are his creatures as well as they.—Westminster Assembly’s Annotations.

Verse 19.—“They have no changes,” etc. Who are they who have no changes? Apparently those whom God is said to humble or chastise. And what is the meaning of the word “changes” as here used? Many understand it of a moral change; “who are without change of heart or reformation.” But the word never occurs in this sense. It means, properly, “a change,” in the sense of succession; as of garments, of troops relieving guard, servants leaving work, and the like. Hence it would rather mean in a moral sense: “They who have no cessation in their course (by being relieved guard, for instance), who always continue, and persevere in their evil life.” Calvin and others understand it of change of fortune, i.e., “who are always prosperous;” but this again is not supported by usage.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 19.—“They fear not God.” The fear required here, is to fear him as God, and as God presented in this name, Elohim; which, though it be a name primarily rooted in power and strength (for El is Deus fortis, The powerful God; and as there is no love without fear, so there is no fear without power), yet properly it signifies his judgment, and order, and providence, and dispensations and government of his creatures. It is that name which goes through all God’s whole work of the creation, and disposition of all creatures in the first of Genesis: in all that he is called by no other name than this, the name God; not by Jehovah, to present an infinite majesty; nor by Adonai, to present an absolute power; nor by Tzebaoth, to present a force, or conquest: but only the name of God, his name of government. All ends in this; to fear God is to adhere to him, in his way, as he hath dispensed and notified himself to us; that is, as God is manifested in Christ, in the Scriptures, and applied to us out of those Scriptures, by the church: not to rest in nature without God, nor in God without Christ.—John Donne, 1573-1631.

Verse 21.—“The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,” etc. Of this complexion are the cant of hypocrites, the charity of bigots and fanatics, the benevolence of atheists, the professions of the world, the allurements of the flesh, and the temptations of Satan, when he thinks proper to appear in the character of an angel of light.—George Horne, 1730-1792.

Verse 21.—“Butter.” The Eastern butter is by no means like the solid substance, which is known by that name in these colder climates; but is liquid and flowing, as appears from different passages in Scripture, particularly Job xxix. 6; xx. 17; and as is confirmed by the accounts of modern travellers; so that in fact it more resembles “cream,” which Vitringa says is the genuine sense of the word here used.—Richard Mant, 1776-1849.

Verse 21.—To avoid all difficulties, the readiest expedient is to receive the Septuagint rendering of חָלְקוּ, διεμερίσθησαν, they were, or are divided, viz., the members of the wicked man there spoken of, they are at great distance one from the other; מַחֲמָאֹת פִּיו, butter their mouth, or, their mouth is butter, וּקִרָב־לִבּוֹ and war their heart, or, their heart is war; and this seems to be the fairest rendering of it.—Henry Hammond, 1605-1660.

Verse 21.—A feigned friend is much like a crocodile who, when he smileth, poisoneth; and when he weepeth, devoureth; or the hyæna, having the voice of a man and the mind of a wolf, speaking like a friend and devouring like a fiend; or the flattering sirens that sweetly sing the sailor’s wreck; or the fowler’s pipe that pleasantly playeth the bird’s death; or the bee, who carrieth honey in her mouth and a sting in her tail; or the box-tree, whose leaves are always green, but the seeds poison. So his countenance is friendly and his words pleasant, but his intent dangerous, and his deeds unwholesome.

His fetch is to flatter, to catch what he can; His purpose obtained, a fig for his man.

L. Wright, 1616.

Verse 21.—“The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.” Well, when I came to the justice again, there was Mr. Foster, of Bedford, who coming out of another room, and seeing me by the light of the candle, for it was dark night when I came thither, he said unto me, “Who is there? John Bunyan?” with much seeming affection, as if he would have leaped in my neck and kissed me,[27] which made me somewhat wonder that such a man as he, with whom I had so little acquaintance, and, besides, that had ever been a close opposer of the ways of God, should carry himself so full of love to me, but afterwards when I saw what he did, it caused me to remember those sayings, “Their tongues were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords,” and again, “Beware of men,” etc. When I had answered him that, blessed be God, I was well, he said, “What is the occasion of your being here?” or to that purpose. To whom I answered that I was at a meeting of people a little way off, intending to speak a word of exhortation to them; but the justice hearing thereof (said I) was pleased to send his warrant to fetch me before him, etc.—John Bunyan. In relation to J. B.’s imprisonment: written by himself. Offor’s edit., Vol. I. p. 52.

Verse 21 (first clause).—

Smooth are his words, his voice as honey sweet, Yet war is in his heart, and dark deceit.

Mosschus (B.C. 250).

Verse 22.—“Cast thy burden upon the Lord,” etc. The remedy which the Psalm suggests, and, perhaps, the only resource in a difficulty of the kind, where the enemies of true religion are fighting under the semblance of friendship, is announced in an oracular voice from God: “Cast thy care upon Jehovah, for he will sustain thee; he will not suffer the just one to be tossed about for ever.”—R. H. Ryland.

Verse 22.—“Cast thy burden upon the Lord,” etc. The best way to ease thyself is to lay thy load upon God; he will take it up and also carry thee. There is many a man would be willing to go of himself, if another would but carry his burden for him; but if thou throwest thy burden upon God he will not only carry that, but will also carry thee. He cares not how much weight a Christian layeth on his back; a true Israelite may ease himself, and best please his God at once. God delights not to see tears in thine eyes, or paleness in thy countenance; thy groans and sighs make no music in his ears. He had rather that thou wouldst free thyself of thy burden by casting it upon him, that he might rejoice in thy joy and comfort. Now, true confidence in God, and resting upon God, will both free thee of thy burden and also bring in the strength of God to sustain and bear thee up from falling. Wouldst thou, therefore, own God as thy strength, and fetch strength from God to thy soul? rest upon God, roll thyself upon him, and that, (1) In time of greatest weakness. (2) In time of greatest service. (3) In times of greatest trials.—Samuel Blackerby, 1674.

Verse 22.—“Cast thy burden” on him in the same way that the ship in a storm casts her burden on the anchor, which anchor holds on to its sure fixing place. And to my mind, that is the more beautiful sense of the two—a sense which once entered into, may be followed out in these glorious verses:—

And I see the good ship riding, all in a perilous road; The low reef booming on her lee; the swell of ocean poured Sea after sea, from stem to stern; the mainmast by the broad; The bulwarks down; the rudder gone; the boats stove by the chains. But courage still, brave mariners, the ANCHOR yet remains: And he will flinch—no, never an inch—until ye pitch sky high; Then he moves his head as if he said, “Fear nought; for here am I!”

J. M. Neale’s Commentary.

Verse 23.—“Shalt bring them down.” Indicating a violent death, like that of the slain ox, which is said to descend, when it falls under the stroke. The pit of putrefaction is meant, in which the corpse decays, nor does it here merely denote the sepulchre, but the ignominious condition of a corpse cast forth, as when it is thrown into a pit.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 23.—“Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.” A wicked man never lives out half his days; for either he is cut off before he hath lived half the course of nature, or he is cut off before he hath lived a quarter of the course of his desires; either he lives not half so long as he might, or not a tenth, not a hundredth part so long as he would; and therefore let him die when he will, his death is full of terror, trouble, and confusion, because he dies out of season. He never kept time or season with God, and surely God will not keep or regard his time or season.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 23.—“Half their days.” In the Jewish account threescore years was the age of a man, and death at any time before that was looked upon as untimely, and deemed and styled כּרת excision, of which they made thirty-six degrees; so that not to live out half one’s days, is in their style to die before thirty years old.—Henry Hammond.

Verse 23 (second clause).—The more sins we do commit, the more we hasten our own death; because as the wise man saith, “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened” (Prov. x. 27); and the prophet David saith, “Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;” for sin is an epitomiser or shortener of everything: it consumes our wealth, it confines our liberty, it impeacheth our health, and it abbreviated our life, and brings us speedily into our graves.—Griffith Williams, 1636.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1 (second clause).—I. An evil to be dreaded: “Hide not thyself,” etc. 1. By long delay in an urgent case. 2. In the sinner’s case by refusing to hear altogether. II. Causes which may produce it. 1. In the man. 2. In the prayer itself. 3. In the manner of the prayer. III. Evils which will follow—a list which the preacher can readily think of. IV. Remedies for the evil. There is none if it should continue; but heart-searching, repentance, importunity, pleading the name of Jesus, etc., will lead to its removal.

Verse 2.—The Great Hearer. I. What address shall we present to him? II. What sort of attention do we desire? III. How shall we secure it? IV. What is the reflex duty on our part?—To attend and hear him.

Verse 2 (second clause).—Allowable complaining. I. Not of God but to God. II. Mainly of ourselves. III. Of the world as against God and right. IV. Ever with holy grief, and not selfish vexation.

Verse 4.—The terrors of death. See Sermon by Grove in the Notes.

Verse 7.—Solitude. I. Its fancied benefits. II. Its sore temptations. III. Its occasional benefits. IV. Its sweet solaces.

Verse 8.—Too hasty a flight from trial. 1. Would show rebellion against God. 2. Would manifest cowardly want of faith. 3. Would involve loss of useful experience. 4. Would land us in other and worse trials. 5. Would prevent our glorifying God. 6. Would mar our conformity to Christ and fellowship with his people. 7. Would lessen the value of heaven.

Verse 9 (first clause).—The Babel of heresies. Essential, for truth is one. Inevitable, for the motives of heretics clash. Providential, for so they weaken each other. Judicial, for so they torment each other.

Verse 10 (first clause).—The activity of evil.

Verse 10 (second clause).—The diabolical twins, or cause and effect.

Verse 14.—The social companionships which grow out of religion. 1. They are on a good foundation. 2. They yield profit—“counsel.” 3. They yield pleasure—“sweet.” 4. They lead to enthusiasm—“walked in company.” 5. They ought to be sacredly maintained. 6. But they need to be carefully watched.

Verse 16.—The contrast. I. A child of God will not wrong others as they do him. II. He will call upon God as they do not. III. God will hear him as he does not the wicked. IV. God will deal with him at last otherwise than with them.

Verse 17. 1.—David will pray fervently; “I will pray and cry aloud.” 2. He will pray frequently; every day, and three times a day, evening and morning, and at noon.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 18.—Our battles, our almost rout, our helper, our deliverances, our praise.

Verse 19.—The eternal government of God a threat to the ungodly.

Verse 19 (second part).—Prosperity creating atheism. This involves—1. Ingratitude—they ought to be the more devout. 2. Impudence—they think themselves as God. 3. Forgetfulness—they forget that changes will come. 4. Ignorance—they know not that unbroken prosperity is often for awhile the portion of the accursed. 5. Insanity—for there is no reason in their conduct. 6. Rottenness—preparing them to be cast away for ever.

Verse 21.—The hypocrite’s mouth. 1. It has many words. 2. They are only from his mouth. 3. They are very smooth. 4. They conceal rather than reveal his purpose. 5. They are cutting and killing. 6. They will kill himself.

Verse 22 (first clause).—Here we see the believer has—1. A burden to try him. 2. A duty to engage him, “Cast thy burden,” etc. 3. A promise to encourage him, “He shall sustain,” etc.—Ebenezer Temple, 1850.

Verse 22 (last clause).—Who are the righteous? What is meant by their being moved? Whose permission is needful to accomplish it? Will he give it? “Never.” Why not?

Verse 23 (last clause).—The grand “I WILL.” Sum up the Psalm.—When I pray, 1-3. II. When I faint, 4-7. III. When I am sore beset, 9-11. IV. When I am betrayed, 12-14, 20, 21. V. When others perish, 15. VI. After I am delivered, 18. VII. In every condition, 22.

Footnote 24:

Terence.

Footnote 25:

Juvenal.

Footnote 26:

Erasmus.

Footnote 27:

A right Judas.

PSALM LVI.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician. That mighty minstrel by degrees acquired a noble repertoire of hallowed songs, and set them all to music. Upon Jonath-elem-rechokim—this was probably the title of the tune, as we should say Old Hundred, or Sicilian Mariners. Perhaps the title may however belong to the Psalm, and if so it is instructive, for it has been translated “the silent dove in distant places.” We have here the songs of God’s servant, who rejoices once more to return from banishment, and to leave those dangerous places where he was compelled to hold his peace even from good. There is such deep spiritual knowledge in this Psalm that we might say of it, “Blessed art thou David Bar-jonas, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee.” When David plays the Jonah he is not like the prophet of that name; in David the love of the dove predominates, but in Jonah its moaning and complaining are most notable. Michtam of David. This is the second golden Psalm; we had the first in Psalm xvi., to which this Psalm has a great likeness, especially in its close, for it ends in the joyful presence. A golden mystery, the gracious secret of the life of faith is in both these Psalms most sweetly unveiled, and a pillar is set up because of God’s truth. When the Philistines took him in Gath. He was then like a dove in strangers’ hands, and on his escape he records his gratitude.

DIVISIONS.—In verses 1 and 2, he pours out his complaint; in verses 3 and 4 he declares his confidence in God; in verses 5 and 6 he returns to his complaining, but pleads with earnest hope in verses 7-9, and sings a grateful song from verse 10 to the close.

EXPOSITION.

Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.

2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.

1. “Be merciful unto me, O God.” In my deep distress my soul turns to thee, my God. Man has no mercy on me, therefore double thy mercy to me. If thy justice has let loose my enemies, let thy mercy shorten their chain. It is sweet to see how the tender dove-like spirit of the Psalmist flies to the tenderest attribute for succour in the hour of peril. “For man would swallow me up.” He is but thy creature, a mere man, yet like a monster he is eager for blood, he pants, he gapes for me; he would not merely wound me, or feed on my substance, but he would fain swallow me altogether, and so make an end of me. The open mouths of sinners when they rage against us should open our mouths in prayer. We may plead the cruelty of men as a reason for the divine interposition—a father is soon aroused when his children are shamefully entreated. “He fighting daily oppresseth me.” He gives me no interval—he fights daily. He is successful in his unrighteous war—he oppresses me, he crushes me, he presses me sore. David has his eye on the leader of his foes, and lays his plaint against him in the right place. If we may thus plead against man, much more against that great enemy of souls, the devil. We ask the Lord to forgive us our trespasses, which is another way of saying, “Be merciful unto me, O God,” and then we say, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” The more violent the attack of Satan the stronger our plea for deliverance.

2. “Mine enemies would daily swallow me up.” Their appetite for blood never fails them. With them there is no truce or armistice. They are many, but one mind animates them. Nothing I can do can make them relent. Unless they can quite devour me they will never be content. The ogres of nursery tales exist in reality in the enemies of the church, who would crush the bones of the godly, and make a mouthful of them if they could. “For they be many that fight against me.” Sinners are gregarious creatures. Persecutors hunt in packs. These wolves of the church seldom come down upon us singly. The number of our foes is a powerful plea for the interposition of the one Defender of the faithful, who is mightier than all their bands. These foes of the gracious are also keen-eyed, and ever on the watch, hence the margin calls them “observers.” “O thou most High.” Thus he invokes against the lofty ones of the earth the aid of one who is higher than the highest. Some translate the words differently, and think that the writer means that his foes assailed him from the high places in which pride and power had placed them. Saul, his great foe, attacked him from his throne with all the force which his high position placed at his disposal: our comfort in such a case is near to hand, for God will help us from a higher place than our proudest foes can occupy. The greatness of God as the Most High is a fertile source of consolation to weak saints oppressed by mighty enemies.

3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

3. “What time I am afraid.” David was no braggart, he does not claim never to be afraid, and he was no brutish Stoic free from fear because of the lack of tenderness. David’s intelligence deprived him of the stupid heedlessness of ignorance, he saw the imminence of his peril, and was afraid. We are men, and therefore liable to overthrow; we are feeble, and therefore unable to prevent it; we are sinful men, and therefore deserving it, and for all these reasons we are afraid. But the condition of the Psalmist’s mind was complex—he feared, but that fear did not fill the whole area of his mind, for he adds, “I will trust in thee.” It is possible, then, for fear and faith to occupy the mind at the same moment. We are strange beings, and our experience in the divine life is stranger still. We are often in a twilight, where light and darkness are both present, and it is hard to tell which predominates. It is a blessed fear which drives us to trust. Unregenerate fear drives from God, gracious fear drives to him. If I fear man I have only to trust God, and I have the best antidote. To trust when there is no cause for fear, is but the name of faith, but to be reliant upon God when occasions for alarm are abundant and pressing, is the conquering faith of God’s elect. Though the verse is in the form of a resolve, it became a fact in David’s life, let us make it so in ours. Whether the fear arise from without or within, from past, present, or future, from temporals, or spirituals, from men or devils, let us maintain faith, and we shall soon recover courage.

4. “In God I will praise his word.” Faith brings forth praise. He who can trust will soon sing. God’s promise, when fulfilled, is a noble subject for praise, and even before fulfilment it should be the theme of song. It is in or through God that we are able to praise. We praise as well as pray in the Spirit. Or we may read it—in extolling the Lord one of the main points for thanksgiving is his revealed will in the Scriptures, and the fidelity with which he keeps his word of promise. “In God I have put my trust.” Altogether and alone should we stay ourselves on God. What was a gracious resolve in the former verse, is here asserted as already done. “I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” Faith exercised, fear is banished, and holy triumph ensues, so that the soul asks, “What can flesh do unto me?” What indeed? He can do me no real injury; all his malice shall be overruled for my good. Man is flesh, flesh is grass—Lord, in thy name I defy its utmost wrath. There were two verses of complaint, and here are two of confidence; it is well to weigh out a sufficient quantity of the sweet to counteract the sour.

5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.

6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

5. “Every day they wrest my words.” This is a common mode of warfare among the ungodly. They put our language on the rack, they extort meanings from it which it cannot be made fairly to contain. Thus our Saviour’s prophecy concerning the temple of his body, and countless accusations against his servants, were founded on wilful perversions. They who do this every day become great adepts in the art. A wolf can always find in a lamb’s discourse a reason for eating him. Prayers are blasphemies if you choose to read them the wrong way upwards. “All their thoughts are against me for evil.” No mixture of good will tone down their malice. Whether they viewed him as a king, a Psalmist, a man, a father, a warrior, a sufferer, it was all the same, they saw through coloured glass, and could not think a generous thought towards him. Even those actions of his which were an undoubted blessing to the commonwealth, they endeavoured to undervalue. Oh, foul spring, from which never a drop of pure water can come!

6. “They gather themselves together.” Firebrands burn the fiercer for being pushed together. They are afraid to meet the good man till their numbers place terrible odds against him. Come out, ye cowards, man by man, and fight the old hero! No, ye wait till ye are assembled like thieves in bands, and even then ye waylay the man. There is nothing brave about you. “They hide themselves.” In ambuscade they wait their opportunity. Men of malice are men of cowardice. He who dares not meet his man on the king’s highway, writes himself down a villain. Constantly are the reputations of good men assailed with deep-laid schemes, and diabolical plots, in which the anonymous enemies stab in the dark. “They mark my steps,” as hunters mark the trail of their game, and so track them. Malicious men are frequently very sharp-sighted to detect the failings, or supposed failings, of the righteous. Spies and mouchards are not all in the pay of earthly governments, some of them will have wages to take in red-hot coin from one who himself is more subtle than all the beasts of the field. “When they wait for my soul.” Nothing less than his life would content them, only his present and eternal ruin could altogether glut them. The good man is no fool, he sees that he has enemies, and that they are many and crafty; he sees also his own danger, and then he shows his wisdom by spreading the whole case before the Lord, and putting himself under divine protection.

7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.

8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?

9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.

7. “Shall they escape by iniquity?” Will such wickedness as this stand them in good stead? Can it be that this conduct shall enable them to avoid the sentence of earthly punishment? They slander the good man to screen themselves—will this avail them? They have cunningly managed hitherto, but will there not be an end to their games? “In thine anger cast down the people, O God.” Trip them up in their tricks. Hurl them from the Tarpeian rock. A persecuted man finds a friend even in an angry God, how much more in the God of love! When men seek to cast us down, it is but natural and not at all unlawful to pray that they may be disabled from the accomplishment of their infamous designs. What God often does we may safely ask him to do.

8. “Thou tellest my wanderings.” Every step which the fugitive had taken when pursued by his enemies, was not only observed but thought worthy of counting and recording. We perhaps are so confused after a long course of trouble, that we hardly know where we have or where we have not been; but the omniscient and considerate Father of our spirits remembers all in detail, for he has counted them over as men count their gold, for even the trial of our faith is precious in his sight. “Put thou my tears into thy bottle.” His sorrows were so many that there would need a great wine-skin to hold them all. There is no allusion to the little complimentary lachrymatories of fashionable and fanciful Romans, it is a robuster metaphor by far; such floods of tears had David wept that a leathern bottle would scarce hold them. He trusts that the Lord will be so considerate of his tears as to store them up as men do the juice of the vine, and he hopes that the place of storage will be a special one—“thy bottle,” not a bottle. “Are they not in thy book?” Yes, they are recorded there, but let not only the record but the grief itself be present to thee. Look on my griefs as real things, for these move the heart more than a mere account, however exact. How condescending is the Lord! How exact his knowledge of us! How generous his estimations! How tender his regard!

9. “When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back.” So soon as I pray they shall fly. So surely as I cry they shall be put to the rout.

“So swift is prayer to reach the sky, So kind is God to me.”

The machinery of prayer is not always visible, but it is most efficient. God inclines us to pray, we cry in anguish of heart, he hears, he acts, the enemy is turned back. What irresistible artillery is this which wins the battle as soon as its report is heard! What a God is this who hearkens to the cry of his children, and in a moment delivers them from the mightiest adversaries! “This I know.” This is one of the believer’s certainties, his axioms, his infallible, indisputable verities. “For God is for me.” This we know, and we know, therefore, that none can be against us who are worth a moment’s fear. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Who will restrain prayer when it is so potent? Who will seek any other ally than God, who is instantly present so soon as we give the ordained signal, by which we testify both our need and our confidence?

10 In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.

11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.

13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I way walk before God in the light of the living?

10. “In God will I praise his word.” Now comes the thanksgiving. He is a wretch who, having obtained help, forgets to return a grateful acknowledgment. The least we can do is to praise him from whom we receive such distinguished favours. Does David here mean “by God’s grace I will praise him?” If so, he shows us that all our emotions towards God must be in God, produced by him and presented as such. Or does he mean, “that which in God is most the object of my praise is his word, and the faithfulness with which he keeps it?” If so, we see how attached our hearts should be to the sure word of promise, and especially to him who is the WORD incarnate. The Lord is to be praised under every aspect, and in all his attributes and acts, but certain mercies more peculiarly draw out our admiration towards special portions of the great whole. That praise which is never special in its direction cannot be very thoughtful, and it is to be feared cannot be very acceptable. “In the Lord will I praise his word.” He delights to dwell on his praise, he therefore repeats his song. The change by which he brings in the glorious name of Jehovah is doubtless meant to indicate that under every aspect he delights in his God and in his word.

11. “In God have I put my trust.” This and the former verse are evidently the chorus of the Psalm. We cannot be too careful of our faith, or see too sedulously that it is grounded on the Lord alone. “I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.” Faith has banished fear. He views his foes in their most forcible character, calling them not flesh, but indicating them as man, yet he dreads them not; though the whole race were his enemies he would not be afraid now that his trust is stayed on God. He is not afraid of what they threaten to do, for much of that they cannot do; and even what is in their power, what they can do, he defies with holy daring. He speaks for the future, “I will not,” for he is sure that the security of the present will suffice for days to come.

12. “Thy vows are upon me, O God.” Vows made in his trouble he does not lightly forget, nor should we. We voluntarily made them, let us cheerfully keep them. All professed Christians are men under vows, but especially those who in hours of dire distress have re-dedicated themselves unto the Lord. “I will render praises unto thee.” With heart, and voice, and gift, we should cheerfully extol the God of our salvation. The practice of making solemn vows in times of trouble is to be commended, when it is followed by the far less common custom of fulfilling them when the trouble is over.

13. “For thou hast delivered my soul from death.” His enemies were defeated in their attempts upon his life, and therefore he vowed to devote his life to God. “Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling?” One mercy is a plea for another, for indeed it may happen that the second is the necessary complement of the first. It little boots that we live, if we are made to fall in character by the thrusts of our enemies. As lief not be, as live to be bereft of honour, and fallen prostrate before my enemies. “That I may walk before God in the light of the living,” enjoying the favour and presence of God, and finding the joy and brightness of life therein. Walking at liberty, in holy service, in sacred communion, in constant progress in holiness, enjoying the smile of heaven—this I seek after. Here is the loftiest reach of a good man’s ambition, to dwell with God, to walk in righteousness before him, to rejoice in his presence, and in the light and glory which it yields. Thus in this short Psalm, we have climbed from the ravenous jaws of the enemy into the light of Jehovah’s presence, a path which only faith can tread.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—The words “Jonath-elem-rechokim” may be rendered, concerning the mute dove among them that are afar off, or in far places.—John Gill.

Title.—“Michtam.” See also Explanatory Notes on Psalm xvi., in the “Treasury of David,” Vol. I., pp. 197, 198.

Verse 1.—“Be merciful.” This is the second of the Psalms beginning with the miserere; the fifty-first being the first of them.—C. H. S.

Verse 1.—“Be merciful unto me, O God.” This is to me the one source of all my expectations, the one fountain of all promises: Miserere mei, Deus, miserere mei.—Bernard, 1091-1157.

Verse 1.—“Be merciful.” His first wrestling in prayer is with the check of his conscience, whether for his daily sins, or in particular for casting himself in such apparent danger, as to have ventured without probable security, to seek shelter among the enemies of the people of God, whose blood he himself had shed abundantly; for this rashness or other sins he beggeth mercy.—David Dickson.

Verse 1.—“Man.” He uses the indefinite term man in this verse, though in the next he speaks of having many enemies, the more forcibly to express the truth, that the whole world was combined against him, that he experienced no humanity amongst men, and stood in the last necessity of divine help.—John Calvin.

Verse 1.—“Would swallow me up.” Soop me up (as the Hebrew word soundeth); make but one draught of me or suck me in as a whirlpool, swallow me up as a ravenous wild beast.—John Trapp.

Verse 1.—“He fighting daily.” There is no morning on which we can arise and go forth into the world, and say, “No enemy will come out against me to-day.” There is no night in which we can retire from that world, and think to find safety in the solitude of our own chambers, and say, “No evil can enter here.”—Barton Bouchier, in “Manna in the Heart,” 1855.

Verses 1, 2.—The same words are applicable to the situation and circumstances of David, pursued by his enemies; of Christ, persecuted by the Jews; of the church, afflicted in the world; and of the soul, encompassed by enemies, against whom she is forced to wage perpetual war.—George Horne.

Verse 2.—“O thou most High.” The Hebrew is not that rendered “Most High” in Ps. vii. 17; nor in our version is it ever rendered “Most High” in any other place, although found in the Hebrew Bible more than fifty times. There are but two other places where it is applied, as an epithet, to God; Ps. xcii. 8; Mic. vi. 6. It is commonly rendered from above, on high, high places, high; once loftily, Ps. lxxiii. 8.... The probable meaning is, they “fight against me from the high places of authority, both in Jerusalem and in Gath,” q.d., mine enemies are in power.—William S. Plumer’s “Studies in the Book of Psalms,” 1867.

Verse 3.—“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” There is nothing like faith to help at a pinch; faith dissolves doubts as the sun drives away the mists. And that you may not be put out, know that your time for believing always is. There are times when some graces may be out of use, but there is no time wherein faith can be said to be so. Wherefore faith must be always in exercise. Faith is the eye, is the mouth, is the hand, and one of these is of use all the day long. Faith is to see, to receive, to work, or to eat; and a Christian should be seeing or receiving, or working, or feeding all day long. Let it rain, let it blow, let it thunder, let it lighten, a Christian must still believe. “At what time,” said the good man, “I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”—John Bunyan.

Verse 3.—“What time I am afraid,” etc. A divine spark may live in a smoke of doubts without a speedy rising into a flame. When grace is at the bottom of doubting, there will be reliance on Christ and lively petitions to him. Peter’s faith staggers when he began to sink, but he casts a look and sends forth a cry to his Saviour, acknowledging his sufficiency; Matt. xiv. 30, “Lord, save me.” Sometimes those doubtings strengthen our trust and make us take hold faster on God. Ps. lvi. 3, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” This was a fear of himself or others, rather than a jealousy of God. Had he had unworthy suspicions of him, he would not have trusted him; he would not have run for remedy to the object of his fear. The waverings where faith is, are like the tossings of a ship fast at anchor (still there is a relying upon God), not like a boat carried by the waves of the sea to be dashed against a rock. If the heart stay on Christ in the midst of those doubtings, it is not an evil heart of unbelief. Such doubtings consist with the indwelling of the Spirit, who is in the heart, to perform the office of a Comforter against such fears and to expel those thick fumes of nature.—Stephen Charnock.

Verse 3.—“What time I am afraid,” etc. I know not what to do, but I’ll try my old way, ’tis good for me to draw near still; I’ll do so still as I use to do; I’ll cast myself down upon the free grace of Christ in the promises; I’ll lay the weight of my sinking spirit there, I’ll renew my hold, life, expectation there; this is my old path, I’ll never be turned or beaten out here. This Christian in his strength may challenge all the gates of hell. This was David’s course (Ps. lxxi. 5), “Thou art my trust from my youth,” etc. Thence was it that he could say, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee:” his shield and sword was always in his hand, therefore he could make use of it when fear and inward trouble offered themselves. “Afraid!” alas, who is not? but what course will you take then? Even what course you used to take, i.e., believe; use faith always; and have it now.—Elias Pledger(—1676), in “Morning Exercises.”

Verse 3.—“What time,” etc. Literally, “What day.” As “Man daily oppresseth me” (ver. 1), so “Every day, when I am afraid, I trust in thee.”—A. R. Fausset.

Verse 3.—It is a good maxim with which to go into a world of danger; a good maxim to go to sea with; a good maxim in a storm; a good maxim when in danger on the land; a good maxim when we are sick; a good maxim when we think of death and the judgment—“What time I am afraid, I WILL TRUST IN THEE.”—Albert Barnes.

Verse 3.—“I will trust in thee.” Faith and fear stand together; and so fear and love.—John Richardson, 1654.

Verses 3, 4.—Sometimes faith comes from prayer in triumph, and cries, Victoria. It gives such a being and existence to the mercy prayed for in the Christian’s soul, before any likelihood of it appears to sense and reason, that the Christian can silence all his troubled thoughts with the expectation of its coming. So Hannah prayed, “and was no more sad.” 1 Samuel i. 18. Yea, it will make the Christian disburse his praises for the mercy long before it is received. Thus high faith wrought in David. “At what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee,” and in the next words, “In God I will praise his word;” that is, he would praise God for his promise before there was any performance of it to him, when it had no existence but in God’s faithfulness and David’s faith. This holy man had such a piercing eye of faith, that he could see the promise when he was at the lowest ebb of misery, so certain and unquestionable in the power and truth of God, that he could then praise God as if the promised mercy had been actually fulfilled to him.—William Gurnall.

Verse 4.—“In God I will praise his word.” Or, praise him for his word; for the whole Scripture that was then in being.—John Gill.

Verse 4.—The best hold that faith can have of God, is to take him by “his word,” however his dispensation seems to be; this will give satisfaction at length; for “In God I will praise his word,” is as much as to say, albeit he withhold comfort and deliverance from me, so that I cannot find what I would, yet let me have “his word,” and I will give him the glory of all his attributes.—David Dickson.

Verse 4.—“I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” Fear not man, he is but flesh. Thou needest not, thou oughtest not to fear. Thou needest not. What, not such a great man; not such a number of men, who have the keys of all the prisons at their girdle; who can kill or save alive? No, not these; only look they be thy enemies for righteousness’ sake. Take heed thou makest not the least child thine enemy, by offering wrong to him; God will right the wicked even upon the saint. If he offends he shall find no shelter under God’s wing for his sin. This made Jerome complain that the Christians’ sin made the arms of those barbarous nations which invaded Christendom victorious: Nostris peccatis fortes sunt barbari. But if man’s wrath find thee in God’s way, and his fury take fire at thy holiness, thou needest not fear though thy life be the prey he hunts for. Flesh can only wound flesh; he may kill thee, but not hurt thee. Why shouldest thou fear to be stripped of that which thou hast resigned already to Christ? It is the first lesson thou learnest, if a Christian, to deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow thy master; so that the enemy comes too late; thou hast no life to lose, because thou hast given it already to Christ; nor can man take away that without God’s leave; all thou hast is insured; and though God hath not promised thee immunity from suffering in this kind, yet he hath undertaken to bear the loss, yea, to pay thee a hundredfold, and thou shalt not stay for it till another world. Again, thou oughtest not to fear flesh. Our Saviour (Matt. x.) thrice, in the compass of six verses, commands us not to fear man: if thy heart quail at him, how wilt thou behave thyself in the list against Satan, whose little finger is heavier than man’s loins? The Romans had arma prælusoria, weapons rebated, or cudgels, which they were tried at before they came to the sharp. If thou canst not bear a bruise in thy flesh from man’s cudgels and blunt weapons, what wilt thou do when thou shalt have Satan’s sword in thy side? God counts himself reproached when his children fear a sorry man; therefore we are bid sanctify the Lord, not to fear their fear.—William Gurnall.

Verse 4.—“I will not fear,” etc. Eusebius tells us of a notable speech that Ignatius used when he was in his enemies’ hands, not long before he was to suffer, which argued a raised spirit to a wonderful height above the world, and above himself. “I care,” says he, “for nothing visible or invisible, that I might get Christ. Let fire, the cross, the letting out of beasts upon me, breaking of my bones, the tearing of my members, the grinding of my whole body, and the torments of the devils come upon me, so be it I may get Christ.”—From Jeremiah Burroughs’ “Moses his Self-denyall,” 1649.

Verse 4.—“What flesh can do,” etc. It is according to the phrase of Scripture, when it would speak contemptibly of man and show him to be the lowest creature, to call him “flesh,” to set forth the weakness that man is subject to.—John Arrowsmith, 1600-1660.

Verse 4 (last clause).—Fear of man—grim idol, bloody mouthed; many souls has he devoured and trampled down into hell! His eyes are full of hatred to Christ’s disciples. Scoffs and jeers lurk in his eye. The laugh of the scorner growls in his throat. Cast down this idol. This keeps some of you from secret prayer, from worshipping God in your family, from going to lay your case before ministers, from openly confessing Christ. You that have felt God’s love and Spirit, dash this idol to pieces. “Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die?” “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.” “What have I to do any more with idols?”—Robert Murray M’Cheyne, 1813-1843.

Verse 4.—Faith groweth valiant in fight; albeit it began like a coward, and staggered in the first conflict, yet it groweth stout, incontinent, and pulls its adversaries under foot: “In God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”—David Dickson.

Verse 5.—“Every day they wrest my words;” or, they put my words to pain and grief, or, they painfully and grievously wrest my words. David’s enemies took up what he spake, and put a new shape upon it; and this they did so vexingly, that they are said to “wrest” his words: a thing is vexed when it is wrested or wrought quite out of the form it before had. The same metaphor the apostle Peter useth in reference to doctrine, speaking of the Epistles of Paul, in which “are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest,” or put upon the rack; they painfully form his words, and represent them in a meaning which he never intended. 2 Pet. iii. 16. What is spoken may be right both in the matter and intendment of the speaker, yet another wrests, forms and fashions it in his own mould, and makes it bear a sense which the speaker never dreamed of.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 5.—“Every day they wrest my words,” etc. Mr. Jewel, the Bishop of Salisbury, who, according to his life, died most godly and patiently, at the point of death used the versicle of the Hymn, “Te Deum,” “O Lord, in thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded,” whereupon, suppressing the rest, they published, that the principal champion of the heretics, in his very last words, cried he was confounded.—Lord Bacon’s “Bible Thoughts.”

Verse 5.—“They wrest my words.” Whatever Christ said in justification of himself was twisted to a meaning injurious to him. So it is still in the world, self-justification by words answers but little purpose with ungodly men.—W. Wilson, D.D., 1860.

Verse 6.—“They mark my steps.” Go whither I will, they are at my heels.—William Nicholson (1671), in “David’s Harp Strung and Tuned.”

Verse 8.—“Put thou my tears in thy bottle.” Among other things in the collection of Mr. Abbott, of Cairo, he had a lachrymatory, or tear bottle, which had been found in a tomb at Thebes. This interested me very much. The custom in old times was, when a person was ill, or in great distress, for his friends to go to see him, and take with them a tear bottle. Then, as the tears rolled down the cheeks of the sufferer, they were caught in these bottles, sealed up, and preserved as a memorial of the event. This is what David referred to in Psalm lvi. 8. “Put thou my tears into thy bottle.” But it implies much more than at first suggests itself, and much more than I can attempt to write. For instance, it is as if David had said, “Visit me, and behold my tears;” (“O visit me with thy salvation!”) for without such visit there could be no bottling of his tears. “Thou tellest my wanderings; O visit me, and behold my anguish; put my tears into thy bottle,” for “they have been my meat day and night.” Psalm xliii. 3. “Keep them before thee, by way of remembrance, and when thou seest the bottle, O think of him whose tears it contains. Are they not in thy book?” That is, God’s book of remembrance, that was written for those “who thought upon his name” (Mal. iii. 16), just as the kings of old used to keep a book of chronicles of important events. See Esther vi. 1-11.—John Gadsby, 1860.

[We insert this to show what has been said by others; but we do not think there is the slightest allusion to this piece of Roman etiquette in this text.—C. H. S.]

Verse 8.—“My tear:” the singular used collectively. “In thy bottle:” as if one should say, take care of my tears, as of a kind of wine that is very costly, and very pleasant to thee; or, that hereafter you may measure out to me just that quantity of joys: a metaphor from the keeper of a vineyard, who receives into his vessel the drops of the grapes pressed out by the wine-press of affliction. The word ותּר (uter[28]) denotes the manner in which they preserved their wine. (1 Samuel xvi. 20; Joshua ix. 4, 13), and milk also (Judges iv. 19).—Martin Geier.

Verse 8.—“Put thou my tears into thy bottle.” What a sweet thought is suggested here of God’s remembrance of his peoples’ affliction! It is an interesting figure of speech, of bottling their tears. But the sense is, they are remembered. And woe will be to the man that offends one of God’s little ones on his account. What are now bottles of tears, will be poured out in the end as so many vials of wrath. But reader! think how the tears of Jesus have been treasured up when shedding for the sins of his people.—Robert Hawker, 1753-1827.

Verse 8.—“Put thou my tears into thy bottle.” It is the witty observation of one, that God is said in Scripture to have a bag and a bottle, a bag for our sins, and a bottle for our tears; and that we should help to fill this, as we have that. There is an allusion here in the original that cannot be Englished.—John Trapp.

Verse 8.—“Are they not in thy book?” While we remain in this vale of misery, God keeps all our tears in a bottle; so precious is the water that is distilled from penitent eyes: and because he will be sure not to fail, he notes how many drops there be in his register. It was a precious ointment wherewith the woman in the Pharisee’s house (it is thought Mary Magdalene) anointed the feet of Christ; but her tears, wherewith she washed them, were more worth than her spikenard.—Abraham Wright, in “A Practical Commentary or Exposition upon the Book of Psalms,” 1661.

Verse 9.—“When I cry.” The cry of faith and prayer to God is more dreadful to our spiritual foes than the war-whoop of the Indian is to his surprised brother savages.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 9 (first clause).—It was somewhat that when David prayed he was saved from his enemies. “I will call on the Lord: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” (2 Sam. xxii. 4); there is the defensive power of prayer; but it is more that it puts enemies to the foil. “When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back” and be put to flight: there is the offensive power of prayer. In David’s tower there was an armoury, thalpijoth, a place to hang swords with two edges, swords with two mouths (Cant. iv. 4); a defensive and an offensive edge. Both edges must be used by such as seek safety. Prayer is a sword with two edges. “Put up thy sword into his place,” says Christ to Peter; “for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Matt. xxii. 52. But he that takes not this sword may happen to perish by the sword; and the drawing of this sword may save a man from perishing by the sword. Mark that last reason that our Saviour adds why Peter should put up his sword: “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (ver. 53.) As if he had said, If it were my mind to confound these mine enemies that now set upon me, I should not need thy sword to do it. I could pray to my Father, and could presently by prayer bring such forces into the field as should rout and scatter all mine enemies; hereby implying, that if he would, he could do his enemies more damage and mischief by his prayers against them than by the sword and all instruments of war. Prayer is twelve legions strong, yea, twelve legions of angels strong against enemies.—Jeremiah Dyke (1620), in the Righteous Man’s Tower.

Verse 9.—“This I know.” Faith goeth upon solid grounds, and is not a fallible conjecture, but a sure knowledge.—David Dickson.

Verse 10.—“In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.”—The first word, Elohim, is a name belonging to God as a judge, the second word, Jehovah, is a name of mercy. I will praise God whether he deal with me in a way of justice or in a way of mercy, when he hath thunder in his voice, as well as when he hath honey under his tongue. Oh, how should we praise God, and pleasure ourselves by such a frame!—Stephen Charnock.

Verse 10 (first clause).—By the assistance of God I shall be enabled to praise him for the performance of his promises.—Symon Patrick, 1626-1707.

Verse 12.—“Thy vows are upon me, O God.” Whoever is conversant with the Psalms of David, will find him frequently making vows, and careful in paying them. When these words dropt from him he was just delivered out of a pressing danger among the Philistines, with whom he took shelter from the rage of King Saul, who unweariedly pursued him; but he soon found that the remembrance of his past achievements to their damage was still so fresh amongst them, and they so exasperated thereupon, that his life was in constant danger. In his distress he flies to God, his wonted refuge, and sends up earnest addresses to him, vowing if he would open a way for his deliverance out of these new straits, he would show his grateful sense of so signal a mercy, by the exactness and accuracy of his future obedience. God hears and succours him; and he thereupon gratefully looks back, endeavours to renew the sense of his former obligation to his great Deliverer, and to stir up himself by suitable returns, and so cries out, “Thy vows are upon me, O God;” as if he should say, I resolve, O Lord, not to forget what was transacted while I was under my fears. Thou hast heard my cries, and I own myself firmly bound by my vows. I was serious and in earnest when I made them, and I will endeavour to show that I was so by my care to perform them. “Thy vows,” O God, made indeed on my part, but justly to be exacted on thine, “are upon me,” they do in reality hold me fast, and I desire not to be released. I am sensible I deserve to be stigmatised for a perfidious wretch if I ever forget them. This temper of holy David with reference to the vows he made on this occasion, should be ours with reference to all the sacred vows we any way come under. All Christians, as such, are necessarily under vows to the blessed God; and particular circumstances may make it expedient for us to come under special engagements to him. But wherever they are such as that they may justly be denominated vows of God, i.e., are such as his word will warrant; we should make holy David, as speaking in this text, our pattern, and set ourselves to imitate him, in seriously owning their binding force, and endeavouring to answer and pay them.—Edmund Calamy, in “A Practical Discourse Concerning Vows,” 1704.

Verse 12.—“Thy vows are upon me, O God.” A well-composed vow will make thee more circumspect and wary in the general course of thy life. Such an influence it hath, as doth more directly work on one particular part, yet is not terminated to that particular only. Thus it was with David. These “vows” were made when he was in danger of his life, as it seemeth from verse 13: for when God heard him, he delivered his soul from death: for this he vowed praises in particular, and he will render them. But, withal, he takes himself to be hereby engaged to a more exact and circumspect walk before God in all duties; so he expresseth himself in the latter part of verse 13.—Henry Hurst (1629-1696), in “The Morning Exercise at Cripplegate,” 1661.

Verses 12, 13.—“Thy vows are upon me, O God.” Passively, vows made to God, not by God; or the obligations of those vows and prayers which I have made and upon which I have received answers. Sacrifices of thanksgiving were called vows, as having been vowed to God upon the want, and to be paid upon the receipt, of mercy. Lev. i. 1, “If the sacrifice that is offered be a vow.” Thy vows are upon me; the fruit of my vows, so that I stand indebted to God for the return of praise. “Thou hast delivered.” He understands some great danger wherein he had sunk had not God stood by him, and from a greater mercy, the deliverance of his soul from death, argues for a less, the keeping his feet from falling. “That I may walk before God in the light of the living.” By light of the living is meant life, which is called being enlightened with the “light of the living.” Job. xxxiii. 30. Sometimes eternal life in heaven. John viii. 12, “He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” “To walk before God.” To walk obediently in the sight of God; with a respect to his presence; a walking unto all well pleasing. This is the last argument in the Psalm whereon he builds his strongest plea, as if he knew not what to urge if this should fail him; as if he should have said, Lord, I have had experience of thy wisdom in contriving, thy power in effecting, thy mercy in bestowing deliverance upon me, thy goodness in answering my vows and prayers. “Thou hast delivered from death,” a danger as great and unavoidable as death itself; O Lord, art not thou the same as thou wert? Art not thou still as wise to design, and as gracious to confer further mercy? Wilt thou not as certainly also deliver my feet from falling? The one contains his experience, the other the inference or conclusion he draws from it. Mercies received are in a special manner to be remembered. Mercies received are encouragements to ask, and strong grounds to hope for the mercies we want.—Stephen Charnock.

Verse 13.—“From falling,” or, as more literally translated, from a thrust, or a push, by which one is caused to fall.—O. Prescott Hiller.

Verse 13 (last clause).—To walk in the presence of God is partly under his eyes, his guidance and care, partly in particular, where God is wont to be present, where he is worshipped by his people, and scatters his blessings, opposed to his present state by which he was removed from the place of his worship and presence. Conf. 1 Sam. xxvi. 19, etc. Lastly, to walk in the light of the living denotes in general to live amongst those who live in the light, or who enjoy the light, as it is said elsewhere, in the land of the living—Psalm xxvii. 13; Isaiah xxxviii. 11; liii. 8; Ezekiel xxxii. 32; Psalm cxlii. 6—opposed to the dead or the region of the dead, who dwell in darkness. But in particular it signifies to live in a safe and prosperous state, whose well-known emblem is light.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 13 (last clause).—We cannot restrict this phrase to the light of mortal life; David’s vows bound him to walk in the light of spiritual life, and also in the light of eternal life, of which by faith he was a partaker. And most commentators have applied this verse to the light of glory in the world to come, as the real and final object of the believer’s conversation here on earth.—W. Wilson, D.D.

HINTS TO PREACHERS

Verses 2, 3.—I. Fears are common to all men, at one time or another. II. Improper and inefficacious means of removing fear are often resorted to. III. There is here suggested a true and effectual method of removing fear.—Robert Morrison (1782-1834), in “A Parting Memorial.”

Verse 3.—“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Whensoever we are afraid of any evil, we are still to put our trust in God. I. What is it to put our trust in God? 1. To keep our hearts from desponding or sinking down under any fears. 2. To comfort ourselves in God. 3. To expect deliverance from him. II. What is there in God we ought to put our trust in? 1. In his promises. 2. In his properties. His power, wisdom, justice, mercy, all-sufficiency. III. Why should we in all our fears put our trust in God? 1. Because there is none else can secure us from our fears. Whereas, 2. There are no fears but God can secure us from them, either by removing the thing feared, or by subduing the fear of the thing.—Bishop Beveridge.

Verse 3.—I. There is fear without trust. II. There is trust without fear. III. There is fear and trust united.—G. R.

Verse 7.—I. From iniquity there is an escape. II. By iniquity there is no escape. The mercy of God secures the one. The justice of God prevents the other.—G. R.

Verse 8.—Here are—I. Manifold mercies, to reclaim from wanderings. II. Tender mercies, putting tears in a bottle. III. Covenant mercies, “Are they not,” etc.—G. R.

Verse 9.—I. God is on the side of his people. II. He is known to be on their side. III. In answer to prayer he appears on their side. IV. When he appears enemies flee. Or—I. The fact, God is for me. II. The knowledge of that fact—“This I know.” III. The use of that knowledge—“When I cry,” etc. IV. The consequence of that use—“Mine enemies turn back.”—G. R.

Verse 10.—I. “I will praise God for his word.” II. In his word, as he is there revealed. III. By his word. “Thou hast put a song,” etc.

Verse 12.—Here is—I. Past dedication. II. Present consecration. III. Future glorification.—G. R.

Verses 12, 13.—You have here—I. The commemoration of former mercies: “Thou hast delivered.” II. The confidence of future: “Wilt not thou.” III. The end of all: “To walk before God in the light of the living.”—Stephen Charnock.

Verse 13.—I. The language of Gratitude—“Thou hast,” etc. II. Of Faith—“Wilt not thou,” etc. III. Of Hope—“That I may walk,” etc.—G. R.

Footnote 28:

Leather or skin bottle.

PSALM LVII.

TITLE.—To the Chief Musician.—So glad a song as this becomes ere it closes, should be in the keeping of the most skilled of all the temple minstrels. Al-taschith, i.e., DESTROY NOT. This petition is a very sententious prayer, as full as it is brief, and well worthy to be the motto for a sacred song. David had said, “destroy not,” in reference to Saul, when he had him in his power and now he takes pleasure in employing the same words in supplication to God. We may infer from the spirit of the Lord’s prayer, that the Lord will spare us as we spare our foes. There are four of these “Destroy not” Psalms, namely, the 57th, 58th, 59th, and 75th. In all of them there is a distinct declaration of the destruction of the wicked and the preservation of the righteous, and they all have probably a reference to the overthrow of the Jews, on account of their persecution of the great Son of David: they will endure heavy chastisement, but concerning them it is written in the divine decree, “Destroy them not.” Michtam of David. For quality this Psalm is called golden, or a secret, and it well deserves the name. We may read the words and yet not know the secret joy of David, which he has locked up in this golden casket. When he fled from Saul in the cave. This is a song from the bowels of the earth, and, like Jonah’s prayer from the bottom of the sea, it has a taste of the place. The poet is in the shadow of the cave at first, but he comes to the cavern’s mouth at last, and sings in the sweet fresh air, with his eye on the heavens, watching joyously the clouds floating therein.

DIVISIONS.—We have here prayer, 1-6, and praise, 7-11. The hunted one takes a long breath of prayer, and when he is fully inspired, he breathes out his soul in jubilant song.

EXPOSITION.

Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

3 He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

4 My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.

6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.

1. “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me.” Urgent need suggests the repetition of the cry, for thus intense urgency of desire is expressed. If “he gives twice who gives quickly,” so he who would receive quickly must ask twice. For mercy the Psalmist pleads at first, and he feels he cannot improve upon his plea, and therefore returns to it. God is the God of mercy, and the Father of mercies, it is most fit therefore that in distress we should seek mercy from him in whom it dwells. “For my soul trusteth in thee.” Faith urges her suit right well. How can the Lord be unmerciful to a trustful soul? Our faith does not deserve mercy, but it always wins it from the sovereign grace of God when it is sincere, as in this case where the soul of the man believed. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” “Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge.” Not in the cave alone would he hide, but in the cleft of the Rock of ages. As the little birds find ample shelter beneath the parental wing, even so would the fugitive place himself beneath the secure protection of the divine power. The emblem is delightfully familiar and suggestive. May we all experimentally know its meaning. When we cannot see the sunshine of God’s face, it is blessed to cower down beneath the shadow of his wings. “Until these calamities be overpast.” Evil will pass away, and the eternal wings will abide over us till then. Blessed be God, our calamities are matters of time, but our safety is a matter of eternity. When we are under the divine shadow, the passing over of trouble cannot harm us; the hawk flies across the sky, but this is no evil to the chicks when they are safely nestling beneath the hen.

2. “I will cry.” He is quite safe, but yet he prays, for faith is never dumb. We pray because we believe. We exercise by faith the spirit of adoption whereby we cry. He says not, I do cry, or I have cried, but I will cry, and indeed, this resolution may stand with all of us until we pass through the gates of pearl; for while we are here below we shall still have need to cry. “Unto God most high”—Prayers are for God only; the greatness and sublimity of his person and character suggest and encourage prayer: however high our enemies, our heavenly Friend is higher, for he is “Most high,” and he can readily send from the height of his power the succour which we need. “Unto God that performeth all things for me.” He has cogent reason for praying, for he sees God performing. The believer waits and God works. The Lord has undertaken for us, and he will not draw back, he will go through with his covenant engagements. Our translators have very properly inserted the words, “all things,” for there is a blank in the Hebrew, as if it were a carte blanche, and you might write therein that the Lord would finish anything and everything which he has begun. Whatsoever the Lord takes in hand he will accomplish; hence past mercies are guarantees for the future, and admirable reasons for continuing to cry unto him.

3. “He shall send from heaven.” If there be no fit instruments on earth, heaven shall yield up its legions of angels for the succour of the saints. We may in times of great straits expect mercies of a remarkable kind; like the Israelites in the wilderness, we shall have our bread hot from heaven, new every morning; and for the overthrow of our enemies God shall open his celestial batteries, and put them to utter confusion. Wherever the battle is more fierce than ordinary, there shall come succours from headquarters, for the Commander-in-chief sees all. “And save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.” He will be in time, not only to rescue his servants from being swallowed up, but even from being reproached. Not only shall they escape the flames, but not even the smell of fire shall pass upon them. O dog of hell, I am not only delivered from thy bite, but even from thy bark. Our foes shall not have the power to sneer at us, their cruel jests and taunting gibes shall be ended by the message from heaven, which shall for ever save us. “Selah.” Such mercy may well make us pause to meditate and give thanks. Rest, singer, for God has given thee rest! “God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.” He asked for mercy, and truth came with it. Thus evermore doth God give us more than we ask or think. His attributes, like angels on the wing, are ever ready to come to the rescue of his chosen.

4. “My soul is among lions.” He was a very Daniel. Howled at, hunted, wounded, but not slain. His place was in itself one of extreme peril, and yet faith made him feel himself secure, so that he could lie down. The cave may have reminded him of a lion’s den, and Saul and his band shouting and yelling in their disappointment at missing him, were the lions; yet beneath the divine shelter he felt himself safe. “And I lie even among them that are set on fire.” Perhaps Saul and his band kindled a fire in the cavern while they halted in it, and David was thus reminded of the fiercer fire of their hate which burned within their hearts. Like the bush in Horeb, the believer is often in the midst of flames, but never consumed. It is a mighty triumph of faith when we can lie down even among firebrands and find rest, because God is our defence. “Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” Malicious men carry a whole armoury in their mouths; they have not harmless mouths, whose teeth grind their own food as in a mill, but their jaws are as mischievous as if every tooth were a javelin or an arrow. They have no molars, all their teeth are canine, and their nature is canine, leonine, wolfish, devilish. As for that busy member the tongue, in the case of the malicious, it is a two-edged, keen, cutting, killing sword. The tongue, which is here compared to a sword, has the adjective sharp added to it, which is not used in reference to the teeth, which are compared to spears, as if to show that if men were actually to tear us with their teeth, like wild beasts, they could not thereby wound us so severely as they can do with their tongues. No weapon is so terrible as a tongue sharpened on the devil’s grindstone; yet even this we need not fear, for “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.”

5. “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens.” This is the chorus of the Psalm. Before he has quite concluded his prayer the good man interjects a verse of praise; and glorious praise too, seeing it comes up from the lion’s den and from amid the coals of fire. Higher than the heavens is the Most High, and so high ought our praises to rise. Above even the power of cherubim and seraphim to express it, the glory of God is revealed and is to be acknowledged by us. “Let thy glory be above all the earth.” As above, so below, let thy praises, O thou great Jehovah, be universally proclaimed. As the air surrounds all nature, so let thy praises gird the earth with a zone of song.

6. “They have prepared a net for my steps.” The enemies of the godly spare no pains, but go about their wicked work with the coolest deliberation. As for each sort of fish, or bird, or beast, a fitting net is needed, so do the ungodly suit their net to their victim’s circumstances and character with a careful craftiness of malice. Whatever David might do, and whichever way he might turn, his enemies were ready to entrap him in some way or other. “My soul is bowed down.” He was held down like a bird in a trap; his enemies took care to leave him no chance of comfort. “They have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves.” He likens the designs of his persecutors to pits, which were commonly dug by hunters to entrap their prey; these were made in the usual path of the victim, and in this case David says, “before me,” i.e., in my ordinary way. He rejoices because these devices had recoiled upon themselves. Saul hunted David, but David caught him more than once and might have slain him on the spot. Evil is a stream which one day flows back to its source. “Selah.” We may sit down at the pit’s mouth and view with wonder the just retaliations of providence.

7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.

8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.

10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.

11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.

7. “My heart is fixed.” One would have thought he would have said, “My heart is fluttered;” but no, he is calm, firm, happy, resolute, established. When the central axle is secure, the whole wheel is right. If our great bower anchor holds, the ship cannot drive. “O God, my heart is fixed.” I am resolved to trust thee, to serve thee, and to praise thee. Twice does he declare this to the glory of God who thus comforts the souls of his servants. Reader, it is surely well with thee, if thy once roving heart is now firmly fixed upon God and the proclamation of his glory. “I will sing and give praise.” Vocally and instrumentally will I celebrate thy worship. With lip and with heart will I ascribe honour to thee. Satan shall not stop me, nor Saul, nor the Philistines. I will make Adullam ring with music, and all the caverns thereof echo with joyous song. Believer, make a firm decree that your soul in all seasons shall magnify the Lord.

“Sing, though sense and carnal reason Fain would stop the joyful song: Sing, and count it highest treason For a saint to hold his tongue.”

8. “Awake up, my glory.” Let the noblest powers of my nature bestir themselves: the intellect which conceives thought, the tongue which expresses it, and the inspired imagination which beautifies it—let all be on the alert now that the hour for praise has come. “Awake, Psaltery and harp.” Let all the music with which I am familiar be well attuned for the hallowed service of praise. “I myself will awake early.” I will awake the dawn with my joyous notes. No sleepy verses and weary notes shall be heard from me; I will thoroughly arouse myself for this high employ. When we are at our best we fall far short of the Lord’s deserts, let us, therefore, make sure that what we bring him is our best, and, if marred with infirmity, at least let it not be deteriorated by indolence. Three times the Psalmist calls upon himself to awake. Do we need so much arousing, and for such work? Then let us not spare it, for the engagement is too honourable, too needful to be left undone or ill done for want of arousing ourselves.

9. “I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people.” Gentiles shall hear my praise. Here is an instance of the way in which the truly devout evangelic spirit o’erleaps the boundaries which bigotry sets up. The ordinary Jew would never wish the Gentile dogs to hear Jehovah’s name, except to tremble at it; but this grace-taught Psalmist has a missionary spirit, and would spread the praise and fame of his God. “I will sing unto thee among the nations.” However far off they may be, I would make them hear of thee through my glad Psalmody.

10. “For thy mercy is great unto the heavens.” Right up from man’s lowliness to heaven’s loftiness mercy reaches. Imagination fails to guess the height of heaven, and even thus the riches of mercy exceed our highest thoughts. The Psalmist, as he sits at the cave’s mouth and looks up to the firmament, rejoices that God’s goodness is vaster and sublimer than even the vaulted skies. “And thy truth unto the clouds.” Upon the cloud he sets the seal of his truth, the rainbow, which ratifies his covenant; in the cloud he hides his rain and snow, which prove his truth by bringing to us seedtime and harvest, cold and heat. Creation is great, but the Creator greater far. Heaven cannot contain him; above clouds and stars his goodness far exceeds.

11. “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens.” A grand chorus. Take it up, ye angels and ye spirits made perfect, and join in it, ye sons of men below, as ye say, “Let thy glory be above all the earth.” The prophet in the previous verse spoke of mercy “unto the heavens,” but here his song flies “above the heavens;” praise rises higher and higher, and knows no bound.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—This Psalm was composed, as the title notes, by David prayer-wise, when he hid himself from Saul in the cave, and is inscribed with a double title, Al-taschith, Michtam of David. Al-taschith refers to the scope, and Michtam to the dignity of the subject-matter. The former signifies destroy not, or, let there be no slaughter; and may either refer to Saul, concerning whom he gave charge to his servants not to destroy him; or rather it hath reference to God, to whom in this great exigence he poured out his soul in this pathetical ejaculation; Al-taschith, destroy not. The latter title, Michtam, signifies a golden ornament, and so is suited to the choice and excellent matter of the Psalm, which much more deserves such a title than Pythagoras’ golden verses did.—John Flavel (1627-1691), in “Divine Conduct, or the Mystery of Providence.”

Title.—A Psalm composed when David fled from Saul in the cave, which is referred to in Ps. cxlii., and which, because it is without any other distinction called “the cave,” is probably that celebrated cave where David with his six hundred followers lay concealed when Saul entered and David cut off the skirt of his robe. The king, accompanied by three thousand followers, chased him to the loftiest alpine heights—“to the sheep-cotes,” where the cattle were driven in the hottest summer months only—to hunt him in every hiding-place. There was a cave, in the darkened cool of which David and his men were hid. Such caves in Palestine and the East are frequently enlarged by human hands, and so capacious that they accommodate thousands of people. This song of complaint was written during the hours of suspense which David spent there, to wait until the calamity was overpast (ver. 2); in which he only gradually gains a stout heart (ver. 8). His life was really suspended by a hair if Saul or any of his attendants had espied him!—Augustus F. Tholuck, 1856.

Title.—“The cave.” There appear good grounds for the local tradition which fixes the cave on the borders of the Dead Sea, although there is no certainty with regard to the particular cave pointed out. The cave so designated is at a point to which David was far more likely to summon his parents, whom he intended to take from Bethlehem into Moab, than to any place in the western plains.... It is an immense natural cavern, the mouth of which can be approached only on foot along the side of the cliff. Irby and Mangles, who visited it without being aware that it was the reputed Cave of Adullam, state that it “runs in by a long winding, narrow passage, with small chambers or cavities on either side. We soon came to a large chamber with natural arches of great height; from this last there were numerous passages, leading in all directions, occasionally joined by others at right angles, and forming a perfect labyrinth, which our guides assured us had never been perfectly explored—the people being afraid of losing themselves. The passages are generally four feet high by three feet wide, and were all on a level with each other.” ... It seems probable that David as a native of Bethlehem, must have been well acquainted with this remarkable spot, and had probably often availed himself of its shelter, when out with his father’s flocks. It would, therefore, naturally occur to him as a place of refuge when he fled from Gath.—John Kitto (1804-1854), in “A Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature.”

Whole Psalm.—Mystically this hymn may be construed of Christ, who was in the days of his flesh assaulted by the tyranny both of spiritual and temporal enemies. His temporal enemies, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, furiously raged and took counsel together against him. The chief priests and princes were, saith Hierome, like lions, and the people like the whelps of lions, all of them in a readiness to devour his soul. The rulers laid a net for his feet in their captious interrogatories, asking (Matt. xxii. 17), “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not?” and (John viii. 5) whether the woman taken in the very act of adultery should be stoned to death or no. The people were “set on fire,” when as they raged against him, and their teeth and tongues were spears and swords, in crying, “Crucify him, crucify him.” His spiritual enemies also sought to swallow him up; his soul was among lions all the days of his life, at the hour of his death especially. The devil in tempting and troubling him, had laid a snare for his feet; and death, in digging a pit for him, had thought to devour him. As David was in the cave, so Christ the Son of David was in the grave.—John Boys, 1571-1625.

Verse 1.—“Be merciful unto me, O God,” etc. This excellent Psalm was composed by David when there was enough to discompose the best man in the world. The repetition notes both the extremity of the danger, and the ardency of the supplicant. Mercy! Mercy! Nothing but mercy, and that exerting itself in an extraordinary way, can now save him from ruin. The arguments he pleads for obtaining mercy in this distress are very considerable. 1. He pleads his reliance upon God as an argument to move mercy. “My soul trusteth in thee,” etc. This his trust and dependence upon God, though it be not argumentative in respect of the dignity of the act; yet it is so in respect both of the nature of the object, a compassionate God, who will not expose any that take shelter under his wings, and in respect of the promise, whereby protection is assured to them that fly to him for sanctuary. Isa. xxvi. 3. 2. He pleads former experiences of his help in past distresses, as an argument encouraging hope under the present strait (ver. 2).—John Flavel.

Verse 1.—“Be merciful unto me.” According to the weight of the burden that grieveth us, is the cry that comes from us. How do poor condemned prisoners cry to their judges, “Have pity upon us, have pity upon us!” David, in the day of his calamities doubles his prayer for mercy: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee,” etc. “Until these calamities be overpast.” It was not a single calamity, but a multitude of calamities which compassed David, and therefore he compasseth the Lord about with petitions. His spirit being up in prayer, like a bell that rings out, he strikes on both sides, “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me.”—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 1.—“Be merciful unto me.” The first clause contains the prayer itself in a very forcible word חָנֵּנִי, properly, “Show thy most tender affection to me,” such as animals, with a humming sound, show to their young.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 1.—“For my soul trusteth in thee.” The best reason with God, who “taketh pleasure in those that hope in his mercy.” Ps. cxlvii. 11.—Pool’s Synopsis.

Verse 1.—“Soul.” His soul trusted in God; and this is a form of expression the force of which is not to be overlooked; for it implies that the trust which he exercised proceeded from his very innermost affections—that it was of no volatile character, but deeply and strongly rooted. He declares the same truth in figurative terms, when he adds his persuasion that God would cover him with the shadow of his wings.—John Calvin.

Verse 1.—“In the shadow of thy wings I will trust;” properly, I will seek for protection. The very delightful figure here employed, is taken from the chicken lying safely hid under the mother’s wings: at the same time it seems to have reference to the wings of the cherubim, by which the mercy-seat was covered.—Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.

Verse 1.—“The shadow of thy wings.” Compare Psalm xvii. 8; lxi. 4; and Matthew xxiii. 37; and the Apocalyptic imagery, describing the church fleeing from the dragon in the wilderness; and “to her are given the two wings of the great eagle,” and she is delivered from the dragon, who desires to swallow her up. See Rev. xii. 6, 15, 16.—Christopher Wordsworth, 1868.

Verse 1.—“Until these calamities be overpast.” He compareth his affliction and calamity to a storm that cometh and goeth: as it is not always fair weather with us in this life, so not always foul. Athanasius said of Julian furiously raging against the Lord’s Anointed, “Nubecula est, cito transibit,” he is a little cloud; he will soon pass away. Man is born to labour and dolor, to travail and trouble; to labour in his actions, to dolor in his passions; and so, “Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of all.” If we put our trust in him and cast all our care upon him, he will in his good time bring it to pass, that all our afflictions shall overpass. He will either take them from us or us from them, and then we shall assuredly know that the troubles of this life present are not worthy of the glory which in the life to come shall be showed unto us. For as the globe of the earth, which improperly for his show of bigness we term the world, and is, after the mathematician’s account, many thousand miles in compass; yet, being compared unto the greatness of the starry sky’s circumference, is but a centre or little prick: so the travail and affliction in this life temporal, in respect of the joys eternal in the world to come, bear not any proportion, but are to be reputed in comparison a very nothing, as a dark cloud that cometh and goeth in a moment.—John Boys.

Verses 1, 2, 3.—“In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast,” etc. As if he said, Lord, I am already in the cave and in the hold, and in the shadow of it, but yet for all that I think not myself safe indeed, till I have made my refuge in the shadow of thy wings: that is therefore the course I resolve and build upon. It was wisely done of him: and mark what course he takes to do it, verse 2, “I will cry unto God most high,” I will by prayer put myself under the shadow of God’s wings; and mark what success should follow, verse 3, “He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.” When we send prayers up to heaven, God will send help down from heaven. But yet David prays to God, as well as trusts in God. And unless we pray as well as trust, our trust will fail us, for we must trust to God for that we pray for.—Jeremiah Dyke, 1620.

Verse 2.—“Unto God that performeth all things for me.” God’s favours already received are a pledge that he will complete his work of love “upon (עַל) me.” The beginning is the earnest of the completion. His word is a guarantee for the performance of “all things” that I need. (Compare verse 3; Psalm lvi. 4; 1 Samuel ii. 9; iii. 12; xxiii. 17; xxiv. 21; Psalm cxxviii. 8; Job x. 3, 8; xiv. 15; Philippians i. 6; Isaiah xxvi. 12).—A. R. Fausset.

Verse 2.—“God that performeth all things for me.” Heb. that performeth (or perfecteth, or finisheth, as this word is rendered, Psalm cxxxviii. 8, i.e., will certainly perform or finish), for, or towards, or concerning me. He doth not express what he performeth, or perfecteth, or fulfilleth, but leaveth it to be understood, as being easy to be understood. “He performeth” or perfecteth, to wit, all that he hath promised; engaged himself to perform what he hath begun to do, or what is yet to be performed; it being usual in the Hebrew language to understand a verbal noun after the verb. He implies that God is not like men, who make large promises, but either through inability, or carelessness, or unfaithfulness, do not perform them, but will certainly be as good as his word.—Matthew Pool, 1624-1679.

Verse 2 (last clause).—The word which we translate “performeth” comes from a root that signifies both to perfect and to desist or cease. For when a business is performed and perfected, the agent then ceases and desists from working: he puts to the last hand when he finishes the work. To such a happy issue the Lord hath brought all his doubtful and difficult matters before; and this gives him encouragement that he will still be gracious, and perfect that which concerneth him now, as he speaks, Psalm cxxxviii. 8, “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” The Septuagint renders it by τὸν εὐεργετήσοντά με, who profiteth or benefiteth me. And it is a certain truth, that all the results and issues of providence are profitable and beneficial to the saints. But the supplement in our translation well conveys the importance of the place: “who performeth all things;” and it involves the most strict and proper notion of providence, which is nothing else but the performance of God’s gracious purposes and promises to his people. And therefore Vatablus and Muis supply and fill up the room which the conciseness of the original leaves, with quæ promisit: “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth the things which he hath promised.” Payment is the performance of promises. Grace makes the promise, and providence the payment. Piscator fills it with benignitatem et misericordiam suam; “unto God that performeth his kindness and mercy.” But still it supposes the mercy performed to be contained in the promise, and much more so in the providential performance of it to us.—John Flavel.

Verse 2 (last clause).—David even then when he fled from Saul in the cave he looks upon God as having performed all things for him. The word is, he hath perfected all things; and it is observable that David uses the same expression of praising God here when he was in the cave, hiding himself to save his life as he did when he triumphed over his enemies.—Ps. vi. and Ps. cviii.—Jeremiah Burroughs, 1599-1646.

Verse 2 (last clause).—The Targum curiously paraphrases this clause: “Who ordered the spider that wrought the web, on my account, at the mouth of the cave;” applying a later historical fact, which, however, may have had its prototype in David’s history.—Andrew A. Bonar, in “Christ and his Church in the Book of Psalms,” 1859.

Verse 3.—“Him that would swallow me up.” If I were to take you to my house, and say that I had an exquisitely fat man, and wished you to join me in eating him, your indignation could be restrained by nothing. You would pronounce me to be crazy. There is not in New York a man so mean that he would not put down a man who should propose to have a banquet off from a fellow man, cutting steaks out of him, and eating them. And that is nothing but feasting on the human body, while they all will sit down, and take a man’s soul, and look for the tender loins, and invite their neighbours in to partake of the little titbits. They will take a man’s honour and name, and broil them over the coals of their indignation, and fill the whole room with the aroma thereof, and give their neighbour a piece, and watch him, and wink as he tastes it. You all eat men up.... You eat the souls, the finest elements of men. You are more than glad if you can whisper a word that is derogatory to a neighbour, or his wife, or his daughter.... The morsel is too exquisite to be lost. Here is the soul of a person, here is a person’s hope for this world and the world to come, and you have it on your fork, and you cannot refrain from tasting it, and give it to some one else to taste. You are cannibals, eating men’s honour and name and rejoicing in it—and that, too, when you do not always know that the things charged against them are true; when in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the probabilities are that they are not true.—Henry Ward Beecher, 1870.

Verse 3.—“God shall send forth his mercy and his truth,” viz., to save me. That is to say, God, to manifest his mercy, and vindicate the truth of his promises, will save me. The reader will observe, that mercy and truth are here poetically represented as ministers of God, standing in his presence, ready to execute his pleasure, and employed by him in the salvation of his people.—Samuel Chandler.

Verse 3.—“His mercy and his truth.” He need not send down angels, he need send but “mercy and truth” down, which elsewhere it is said he prepares in the heavens. Ps. lxi. 7. He prepares commissions for them, and sends them down with them for execution.—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 4.—“My soul is among lions.” This may also be construed of the church and that both in respect of her spiritual enemies and temporal. As for her ghostly foes, the devil is a roaring lion (1 Pet. v. 8), and our sins are the whelps of lions, ready to devour us. And concerning outward enemies, the church in this world is like Daniel in the lion’s den, or as “the sucking child playing upon the hole of the asp.” Isa. xi. 8. She hath here no visible power or outward help to fly to for succour, all her trust is in the Lord, and “under the shadow of his wings is her refuge, till this evil is overpast.” ... And surely, beloved, if the church had not any other enemies, but only these monstrous Antichrists of Rome, yet she might truly complain with our prophet here, “My soul is among lions.” Eleven popes had that name, whereof all, excepting two or three, were roaring lions in their Bulls, and ravening lions in seeking after their prey. Leo the tenth so pilled[29] and polled[30] the goodly nations of Germany with his impardonable pardons and merciless indulgences, as that his insupportable cruelty gave the first occasion of the Reformation of religion in that country.—John Boys.

Verse 4 (first clause).—“Mudge translates literally, ‘I lie with my soul amidst lionesses.’” This agrees with the opinion of Bochart, who thinks that the animals here intended are lionesses, properly, when giving suck to their young, a time when they are peculiarly fierce and dangerous, “nor need we wonder,” he observes, “that the lioness is reckoned among the fiercest lions; for the lioness equals, or even exceeds, the lion in strength and fierceness;” and this he proves from the testimonies of ancient writers.—James Anderson’s Note to Calvin in loc., 1846.

Verse 4.—“And I lie even among them that are set on fire.” The whole pith lies in the word אֶשְׁכְּבָה I will recline, which denotes a tranquil and secure condition of body and mind, like a man reclining and sleeping, as Ps. iii. 5: “I laid me down and slept, I awaked;” and lived composedly; Ps. iv. 9; “I will both lay me down in peace” etc.—Hermann Venema.

Verse 4.—The horrors of a lion’s den, the burning of a fiery furnace, and the cruel onset of war, are the striking images by which David here describes the peril and wretchedness of his present condition.—John Morison.

Verse 6.—“Net.” Not having fire-arms, the ancients were much more skilful than the moderns in the use of snares, nets, and pits for capturing wild animals. A large class of Biblical figures and allusions necessarily presupposes this state of things.—W. M. Thomson.

Verse 7.—“My heart is fixed, O God” etc. The Psalmist, knowing that it is the order and work of God, first to prepare the heart for communion, and then to incline his own ear to hear his people, and to entertain communion with them in ordinances, he doth observe this order, and follow it with a practise suitable to it in his daily addresses to God, that is thus, wheresoever he doth find his heart put into a fitted and prepared frame for communion with God, he doth not let it die again, and go out of frame by a slothful neglect of such a disposition of heart. No, but he immediately sets himself to duty, to worship God, and to the acts of his worship, in his ordinances, as he expresseth himself in Ps. lvii. 7; viz., thus—נָכוֹן לִבִּי אֱלֹהִים נָכוֹן לִבִּי, Nachon libbi Elohim, nachon libbi (there is the first; he finds his heart fitted and prepared for communion with God): “My heart,” saith he, “is fitted or prepared” (for the word נָכוֹן, nachon is the passive conjugation niphal, signifying, he is fitted or prepared, from the root, כּוּן chun, he fitted or prepared, in the active; and so it is rather to be rendered prepared or fitted, then “fixed,” thus: לִבִּי, libbi, my heart; נָכוֹן, nachon, is fitted or prepared), “O God, my heart is fitted or prepared” for communion with thee. Well, what follows? He presently sets himself upon that great duty and ordinance of communion with God, in the praising of his name and singing forth those praises, as in the words immediately following in the same verse, thus: “My heart is prepared, O God, my heart is prepared:” therefore, וַאֲזַמֵּרָה, ashidah va-azamerah, “I will sing and give praise.”—William Strong, in “Communion with God,” 1656.

Verse 7.—“My heart is fixed, O God,” etc. Fitness for duty lies in the orderly temper of body and mind, making a man willing to undertake, and able to finish his work with comfortable satisfaction. If either the body or mind be distempered, a man is unfit for such an undertaking; both must be in a suitable frame, like a well-tuned instrument, else there will be no melody: hence when David prepared himself for praises and worship, he tells us his heart was ready and fixed, and then, his tongue was ready also (Psalm xlv. 1.), so was his hand with Psaltery and harp; all these were awakened into a suitable posture. That a man is or hath been in a fit order for service may be concluded from (1.) His alacrity to undertake a duty. (2.) His activity in the prosecution. (3.) His satisfaction afterward. Right grounds and principles in these things being still pre-supposed.—Richard Gilpin, (1625-1699, 1700) in “Dæmonologia Sacra.”

Verse 7.—“I will sing.” It should alarm the wicked that they are contending with a people who sing and shout on the battle-field. Yea, they never sing louder than when most distressed and afflicted. Whether saints conquer or are conquered they still sing on. Blessed be God for that. Let sinners tremble at contending with men of a spirit so heavenly.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 7.—Sincerity makes the Christian sing, when he hath nothing to his supper, David was in none of the best case when in the cave, yet we never find him merrier: his heart makes sweeter music than ever his harp did.—William Gurnall.

Verses 7, 8.—That worship that is performed with a sleepy, drowsy body, is a weak worship, but the Psalmist here makes the awaking of the body to be the fruit and effect of the preparation of the heart; “Awake up, my glory; awake, Psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.” Why so? My heart is prepared. The heart prepared and thereby awakened, will awake the body. To worship God therefore without a prepared heart, is to worship him with a drowsy body, because with a drowsy heart, and therefore weakly.—John Angier, in “An Help to better Hearts, for better Times,” 1647.

Verse 8.—“Awake up, my glory; awake, Psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.” We must prevent God by early praise as well as prayer; “The God of my mercy shall prevent me,” sings David; and every child of David must prevent God again with his songs. Jehoshaphat delighted God with instruments of music before his deliverance. Faith must tune an επινίκιον, a psalm of victory before the triumph. Praise is the ingenious mother of future mercies; as the Virgin Mary sang at Hebron before the birth of her son at Bethlehem. Oh, heavenly contention between mercy and duty!—Samuel Lee, 1625-1691.

Verse 8.—“Awake up, my glory,” etc. We must sing with excited grace. Not only with grace habitual, but with excited and actual: the musical instrument delights not but when it is played upon. In this duty we must follow Paul’s advice to Timothy (2 Tim. i. 6), ἀναζωπυρεῖν, stir up the grace that is in us, and cry out as David, “Awake love, awake delight.” Ps. lvii. 8. The clock must be wound up before it can guide our time; the bird pleaseth not in her nest, but in her notes; the chimes only make music while they are going. Let us therefore beg the Spirit to blow upon our garden, that the spices thereof may flow out, when we set upon this joyous service. God loves active grace in duty, that the soul should be ready trimmed when it presents itself to Christ in any worship.—John Wells, in “Morning Exercises,” 1674.

Verse 8.—“I will awake early,” Literally, “I will awake the dawn,” a bold figure of poetry, as if the writer had said—The morning shall not awake me to praise; but in my songs I will anticipate the dawn.—R. T. Society’s Notes.

Verse 8.—It will answer our purpose to take notice, first, of the terms David uses, and then, secondly, press the exhortation. Of the terms he uses: 1. My glory. That is my soul (say some) because the spirit of a man is the glory of a man, whereby he is dignified and raised so much above the brutes, as to be but a “little lower than the angels,” nay, to be akin to God himself, “the Father of spirits.” My musical skill, say others, the glory of the artist above the unskilful; and that wherein David had the glory of excelling, as Jubal had of the first invention. My tongue, say others; for this is also the glory of a man above dumb creatures, and the glory of a wise man above a fool. And as the tongue is the glory of a man, so the glory of the tongue is to glorify God. Praise is the glory of all other uses to which the tongue is employed; and the tongue is, in the body, that “temple of the Holy Ghost,” what the silver trumpet was in the temple of Solomon; to sound the high praises of God, and express the raised affections of our souls.

2. “Awake Psaltery and harp.” The one for a Psalm, the other for a spiritual song or hymn; that is to say, all my musical instruments and skill I will employ in, and consecrate to the glory of him who “puts new songs into my mouth.” He first teaches my fingers to fight, and then to play the epinikion, or song of triumph. Sound, then, my Psaltery and harp, emulous of those that are around the throne above; your melody can soften my cares, lay my fears, and turn my cave into a choir. As to these instruments in the worship of God, they were doubtless allowed to David, and to the church in his time. They were agreeable to the state of that church and people, who were led very much by their senses; and whose infant and less discerning condition made it needful for the natural man to have something to fasten upon and be entertained with in the worship of God, and to sweeten and take off from the labour and burden of that service. But as the gospel worship and appointments are a more spiritual, pleasant, and reasonable service, and need them less, so in the gospel institution we find no footsteps of them; and we know who first brought them into the church, as well as who first brought them into the world. It is not my business here to dispute this matter; and he must at any time do it but indifferently, whose inclination is against him all the while, and whose genius tempts him to wish himself solidly confuted in all he can advance. But since I find these instruments in my text, and since the sound of such texts as these is made use of to turn the public worship so frequently into concerts of music, I shall leave them with this remark: that to let them alone, especially in public worship, though one thought them tolerable, has a much better grace with it than to declare them “sorely displeasing to God, and that they filthily defile his holy house and place of prayer.”

3. “I myself will awake early.” And without this, all the rest had been an empty sound; there would have been no melody to the Lord, whatsoever good music he might have made to himself. He would not put God off with a sacrifice of mere air. He summons the attendance of all his powers. Himself is the offering; and his music plays to the sacrifice, as it goes up in holy affections and spiritual joys; and unless these accompany the song, the mere breath of an organ, or the trembling of the strings of an harp is as good devotion and less offensive to God. Consider the nature and excellency of the duty. Singing Psalms is a compound of several other duties. It contains prayer to a very great advantage: the stretch of the voice does humour and lead on the earnest reaching of the mind after the desired blessing. It is the very element and breath of praise; and the apostle tells us that “teaching and admonishing one another” is performed in singing “Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” For when we sing of judgment, it is awakening to sinners; and when we sing of mercy, it is comforting to all. Meditation cannot have a better help. The solemn movement of the time gives room for the mind to compass the full sense of the matter, and to impress it deep; and while the tongue is making the pause, the heart may make elevation. In short, it gives an accent to all duty; it is the music of all other ordinances; It is adapted and suited to all circumstances; as appears from the Psalms composed upon all occasions and subjects, doctrinal, prophetical, hortatory, and historical; of praise and prayer, of grief and joy, in the penitential and complaining, in the triumphal and rejoicing; as if singing of psalms could stand for everything, and, like the manna in the wilderness, gives a taste of all the other food we enjoy in the house of God.—Benjamin Grosvenor, D.D. (1675-1758), in “An Exhortation to the Duty of Singing.” Eastcheap Lectures, 1810.

Verse 8.—The Psaltery was a stringed instrument, usually with twelve strings, and played with the fingers. The harp or lyre was a stringed instrument, usually consisting of ten strings. Josephus says that it was struck or played with a key. It appears, however, that it was sometimes played with the fingers.—Albert Barnes.

Verse 9.—“I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people.” The Spirit of God who indited this scripture, made his penman know that the Gentiles should have the use of his Psalms.—David Dickson.

Verse 9.—“The people”—“the nations.” The Hebrew church was neither called nor qualified to be a missionary society, but it never ceased to desire and hope for the conversion of the nations. This is seen in those passages in which the Psalmists betray a consciousness that they shall one day have all the world for auditors. How boldly does David exclaim, “I will sing unto thee among the nations.” In the same spirit, a later Psalmist summons the church to lift up her voice, so that all the nations may hear her recital of the Lord’s mighty acts: “O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.” Ps. cv. 1. The full import of this class of texts is often hidden from the English reader by the circumstance that our translators have hardly ever used the word people in its plural form. Twice in the Revelation they venture to write peoples; everywhere else the singular form has to do duty for both numbers; so that in not a few passages the sense is greatly obscured to those who have no access either to the original or to other versions. In the Psalms, in particular, the mention of the Gentiles is more frequent than the English reader is made aware of. It is to be observed, moreover, that in addition to this strain of indirect prediction, the conversion of the world is articulately celebrated in many glorious Psalms. Indeed, so numerous are these, and so generally distributed over the centuries between David and Ezra, that it would seem that at no time during the long history of inspired Psalmody, did the Spirit cease to indite new songs in which the children of Zion might give utterance to their world-embracing hopes.—William Binnie, D.D., in “The Psalms: their History, Teachings, and Use,” 1870.

Verses 10, 11.—A hard and ungrateful heart beholds even in prosperity only isolated drops of divine grace; but a grateful one like David’s, though chased by persecutors, and striking the harp in the gloom of a cave, looks upon the mercy and faithfulness of God as a mighty ocean, waving and heaving from the earth to the clouds, and from the clouds to the earth again.—Augustus F. Tholuck.

Verse 11.—“Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens,” etc. Greater words of prayer than these never came from human lips. Heaven and earth have as they imply, a mutually interwoven history, and the blessed, glorious end of this is in the sunrise of the Divine glory over both.—Franz Delitzsch, 1869.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1 (first clause).—Repetition in prayer. I. Its dangers. May degenerate into “vain repetitions.” Carried to excess painfully suggests the idea, God is unwilling. II. Its uses. Eases the soul like tears. Manifests intense emotion. Enables those of less mental activity to join in a general supplication.—R. A. Griffin.

Verse 1.—Here are—I. Calamities. 1. War. 2. Pestilence. 3. Privations. 4. Sin, greatest of all. 5. Death. 6. Curse of a broken law. II. Here is a refuge from these calamities. 1. In God. 2. Specially in the mercy of God. III. There is flying to that refuge. 1. By faith; “My soul trusteth in thee;” “Under the shadow,” etc. 2. By prayer; “Be,” etc. IV. Here is continuance both in faith and prayer; “until,” etc.—G. R.

Verses 1, 4, 6, 7.—Note the varying condition of the same heart, at the same time. “My soul trusteth in thee.” “My soul is among lions.” “My soul is bowed down.” “My heart is fixed.”

Verse 2.—Prayer to the performing God. He performs all his promises, all my salvation, all my preservation, all needed between here and heaven. Here he reveals his omnipotence, his grace, his faithfulness, his immutability; and we are bound to show our faith, patience, joy, and gratitude.

Verse 2.—Strange reasons. I. The Psalmist, in the depths of distress, cries to God, because he is most high in glory. Surely this thought might well paralyse him with the fear of divine inaccessibility, but the soul quickened with suffering, sees through and beyond the metaphor, rejoices in the truth, “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly.” II. He cries to God for help, because God is performing all things for him. Why urge him then? Prayer is the music to which “the mighty man of war” goes forth to battle.—R. A. G.

Verse 3.—The saint’s comfort in adversity. I. All contingencies are provided for: “He shall (or will) send.” II. The highest resources are available: “from heaven.” III. The worst foes will be overcome in the end: “him that would swallow me up.” IV. By the holiest means: “mercy and truth.”—R. A. G.

Verse 3.—The celestial messengers. What they are. The certainty of their being sent. Their effectual operation. The grateful receiver.

Verse 3 (last clause).—The harmony of the divine attributes in salvation. Mercy founded on truth, truth vindicating mercy. Mercy without injustice, justice honoured in mercy.

Verse 4.—“My soul is among lions.” How came I there? If for God’s sake, then I may remember—1. So was my Lord in the wilderness. 2. The lions are chained. 3. Their howling is all they can do. 4. I shall come out of their den alive, unhurt, honoured. 5. The Lion of Judah is with me. 6. I shall soon be among the angels.

Verse 5.—I. The end which God has in view, both in heaven and earth, in a sinful and in sinless worlds—his own glory. II. Our duty to acquiesce in that end: “Be thou,” etc.—not self, not men, not angels—“Be thou exalted,” etc. In this we would acquiesce—1. Actively, by seeking that end. 2. Passively, by submission to his will.—G. R.

Verse 6 (first clause).—I. Who are they? 1. Those who lead us into sin. 2. Who argue from worldly philosophy. 3. Who proclaim priestly and sacramental superstition. 4. Who decoy us from the church of God. 5. Who teach Antinomian doctrine. II. How shall we escape them? 1. Keep out of their way. 2. Keep to God’s way. 3. Trust daily in the Lord.

Verse 6.—“My soul is bowed down.” I. The prostration. 1. Caused by enemies, weakness, fear, pain. 2. Deep, agonising, self-revealing. 3. Common to the Head and the members. II. The consolation. 1. Bowed down, but not condemned. 2. Hoping in the promise. 3. Trusting in God. 4. Expecting a blessing from the trial.

Verse 7 (first clause).—It is implied that the “heart” is the main thing required in all acts of devotion; nothing is done to purpose in religion further than it is done with the heart. The heart must be “fixed;” fixed for the duty, fitted and put in frame for it; fixed in the duty by a close application; attending on the Lord without distraction.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 7.—I. What is fixed? the heart, not the mind merely, but the will, the conscience, the affections, which draw the mind after them: “My heart is fixed”—found an anchorage, a resting-place, not therefore at the mercy of every gale, etc. II. The objects upon which it is fixed. 1. Upon God. 2. Upon his word. 3. Upon his salvation. 4. Upon heaven. III. The fixedness of the heart upon these objects, denotes—1. Singleness of aim. 2. Uniformity of action. 3. Perseverance to the end.—G. R.

Verses 7, 8, 9.—1. He that will be thankful must treasure up in his heart and memory the courtesy that is done him; so had David done, and therefore he mentions his heart; and to make it more emphatical, he names it again, “My heart.” 2. After he remembers it, he must be affected with it, and resolve upon it; so doth David: “My heart is ready,” or else, “My heart is fixed;” confirmed I am in it to be thankful, and I cannot be altered. 3. ’Tis not enough that a man carry about with him a thankful heart; he must anunciare, tell it abroad, and make it known publicly what God hath done for him; yea, and do it joyfully too: “I will,” saith David, “sing and give praise.” 4. He must use all means he can to make it known—“tongue,” “psaltery,” and “harp,” all are little enough. Whence, by an apostrophe, David turns to these. “Awake, my glory:” i.e. Tongue, awake; lute and harp, awake; I myself will awake. 5. He must not do it in a sleepy manner, but with intention and earnestness of spirit: “Awake, awake, I will awake.” 6. He must take the first opportunity to do it, and not hang off and delay it: “I will awake early.” 7. He must do it in such a place, and such an assembly as may most redound to God’s honour: “I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.”—William Nicholson.

Verse 8.—“I myself will wake early.” I will sleep lightly, for I am in an enemy’s country; I will ask God to arouse me; I will set the alarum of watchfulness; I will hear the cock of providential warning; the light of the Sun shall arouse me; the activities of the church, the trumpet of my foes, and the bell of duty shall combine to awaken me.

Verse 9.—Who? “I.” What? “Will praise.” Whom? “Thee, O Lord.” Where? “Among the people.” Why?

Verse 9.—Public profession. I. A necessity. II. A privilege. III. A duty.—R. A. G.

Verse 10.—The mercy of God reaches to the heavens—I. As a throne. God is exalted in our eyes by his mercy. II. As a ladder. By mercy we ascend from earth to heaven. III. As a rainbow. Present and past mercies argue exemption for the saints from the wrath of heaven. IV. As a mountain. Its base is on the earth though its summit is lost in clouds. The influence of the cross towers to the heaven of heavens. Who can tell the glory of the summit of this mountain, whose base is refulgent with glory!—R. A. G.

Verse 10.—The amazing greatness of mercy. It is not said merely that it is high as heaven, but great unto the heavens. It is high as the heavens, over-topping the greatest sin, and highest thought of man. II. It is wide as the far-reaching sky, compassing men of all ages, countries, classes, etc. III. It is deep. Everything of God is proportionate; this, therefore, is deep in abiding foundation, and infinite wisdom.

Footnote 29:

Pill = peel, to pillage, plunder, strip.

Footnote 30:

Poll, used synonymously with peel.

HUNT, BARNARD & CO., LTD., Printers, London and Aylesbury.

● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (italics), and text that was in bold face is enclosed by equals signs (=bold=). ○ Footnotes have been moved to follow the psalms in which they are referenced.

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