TITLE. "A Psalm of David, when he fled from
Absalom his Son." You will remember the sad story of
David's flight from his own palace, when in the dead of the
night, he forded the brook Kedron, and went with a few faithful
followers to hide himself for awhile from the fury of his
rebellious son. Remember that David in this was a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He, too, fled; he, too, passed over the brook
Kedron when his own people were in rebellion against him, and
with a feeble band of followers he went to the garden of
Gethsemane. He, too, drank of the brook by the way, and
therefore doth he lift up the head. By very many expositors this
is entitled THE MORNING HYMN. May we ever wake with holy
confidence in our hearts, and a song upon our lips!
DIVISION. This Psalm may be divided into four parts of two
verses each. Indeed, many of the Psalms cannot be well
understood unless we attentively regard the parts into which
they should be divided. They are not continuous descriptions of
one scene, but a set of pictures of many kindred subjects. As in
our modern sermons, we divide our discourse into different
heads, so is it in these Psalms. There is always unity, but it
is the unity of a bundle of arrows, and not of a single solitary
shaft. Let us now look at the Psalm before us. In the first two
verses you have David making a complaint to God concerning his
enemies; he then declares his confidence in the Lord (3, 4),
sings of his safety in sleep (5, 6), and strengthens himself for
future conflict (7, 8).
EXPOSITION Verse 1. The poor broken-hearted
father complains of the multitude of his enemies: and if you
turn to 2 Samuel 15:12, you will find it written that "the
conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with
Absalom," while the troops of David constantly diminished! "Lord
how are they increased that trouble me!" Here is a note
of exclamation to express the wonder of woe which amazed and
perplexed the fugitive father. Alas! I see no limit to my
misery, for my troubles are enlarged! There was enough at first
to sink me very low; but lo! my enemies multiply. When Absalom,
my darling, is in rebellion against me, it is enough to break my
heart; but lo! Ahithophel hath forsaken me, my faithful
counsellors have turned their backs on me; lo! my generals and
soldiers have deserted my standard. "How are they increased
that trouble me!" Troubles always come in flocks. Sorrow
hath a numerous family.
"Many
are they that rise up against me." Their hosts are far
superior to mine! Their numbers are too great for my reckoning!
Let
us here recall to our memory the innumerable host which beset
our Divine Redeemer. The legions of our sins, the armies of
fiends, the crowd of bodily pains, the host of spiritual
sorrows, and all the allies of death and hell, set themselves in
battle against the Son of Man. O how precious to know and
believe that he has routed their hosts, and trodden them down in
his anger! They who would have troubled us he has removed into
captivity, and those who would have risen up against us he has
laid low. The dragon lost his sting when he dashed it into the
soul of Jesus.
Verse 2. David complains before his loving God of the worst
weapon of his enemies' attacks, and the bitterest drop of his
distresses. "Oh!" saith David, "many there be
that say of my soul, There is no help for him in God."
Some of his distrustful friends said this sorrowfully, but his
enemies exultingly boasted of it, and longed to see their words
proved by his total destruction. This was the unkindest cut of
all, when they declared that his God had forsaken him. Yet David
knew in his own conscience that he had given them some ground
for this exclamation, for he had committed sin against God in
the very light of day. Then they flung his crime with Bathsheba
into his face, and they said, "Go up, thou bloody man; God
hath forsaken thee and left thee." Shimei cursed him, and
swore at him to his very face, for he was bold because of his
backers, since multitudes of the men of Belial thought of David
in like fashion. Doubtless, David felt this infernal suggestion
to be staggering to his faith. If all the trials which come from
heaven, all the temptations which ascend from hell, and all the
crosses which arise from earth, could be mixed and pressed
together, they would not make a trial so terrible as that which
is contained in this verse. It is the most bitter of all
afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in
God. And yet remember our most blessed Saviour had to endure
this in the deepest degree when he cried, "My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?" He knew full well what is was
to walk in darkness and to see no light. This was the curse of
the curse. This was the wormwood mingled with the gall. To be
deserted of his Father was worse than to be the despised of men.
Surely we should love him who suffered this bitterest of
temptations and trials for our sake. It will be a delightful and
instructive exercise for the loving heart to mark the Lord in
his agonies as here pourtrayed, for there is here, and in very
many other Psalms, far more of David's Lord than of David
himself.
"Selah."
This is a musical pause; the precise meaning of which is not
known. Some think it simply a rest, a pause in the music; others
say it means, "Lift up the strain—sing more
loudly—pitch the tune upon a higher key—there is nobler
matter to come, therefore retune your harps." Harp-strings
soon get out of order and need to be screwed up again to their
proper tightness, and certainly our heart-strings are evermore
getting out of tune, Let "Selah" teach us to pray
"O may my heart in tune be found
Like David's harp of solemn sound."
At least we may learn that wherever we see "Selah,"
we should look upon it as a note of observation. Let us read the
passage which preceeds and succeeds it with greater earnestness,
for surely there is always something excellent where we are
required to rest and pause and meditate, or when we are required
to lift up our hearts in grateful song. "SELAH."
Verse 3. Here David avows his confidence in God. "Thou,
O Lord, art a shield for me." The word in the original
signifies more than a shield; it means a buckler round about, a
protection which shall surround a man entirely, a shield above,
beneath, around, without and within. Oh! what a shield is God
for his people! He wards off the fiery darts of Satan from
beneath, and the storms of trials from above, while, at the same
instant, he speaks peace to the tempest within the breast. Thou
art "my glory." David knew that though he was
driven from his capital in contempt and scorn, he should yet
return in triumph, and by faith he looks upon God as honouring
and glorifying him. O for grace to see our future glory amid
present shame! Indeed, there is a present glory in our
afflictions, if we could but discern it; for it is no mean thing
to have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. David was
honoured when he made the ascent of Olivet, weeping, with his
head covered; for he was in all this made like unto his Lord.
May we learn, in this respect, to glory in tribulations also! "And
the lifter up of mine head"—thou shalt yet exalt me.
Though I hang my head in sorrow, I shall very soon lift it up in
joy and thanksgiving. What a divine trio of mercies is contained
in this verse!—defence for the defenceless, glory for the
despised, and joy for the comfortless. Verily we may well say,
"there is none like the God of Jeshurun."
Verse 4. "I cried unto the Lord with my
voice." Why doth he say, "with my voice?"
Surely, silent prayers are heard. Yes, but good men often find
that, even in secret, they pray better aloud than they do when
they utter no vocal sound. Perhaps, moreover, David would think
thus:—"My cruel enemies clamour against me; they
lift up their voices, and, behold, I lift up mine, and my
cry outsoars them all. They clamour, but the cry of my voice in
great distress pierces the very skies, and is louder and
stronger than all their tumult; for there is one in the
sanctuary who hearkens to me from the seventh heaven, and he
hath, heard me out of his holy hill." Answers to
prayers are sweet cordials for the soul. We need not fear a
frowning world while we rejoice in a prayer-hearing God.
Here
stands another Selah. Rest awhile, O tried believer, and
change the strain to a softer air.
Verse 5. David's faith enabled him to lie down;
anxiety would certainly have kept him on tiptoe, watching for an
enemy. Yea, he was able to sleep, to sleep in the midst
of trouble, surrounded by foes. "So he giveth his beloved
sleep." There is a sleep of presumption; God deliver us
from it! There is a sleep of holy confidence; God help us so to
close our eyes! But David says he awaked also. Some sleep
the sleep of death; but he, though exposed to many enemies,
reclined his head on the bosom of his God, slept happily beneath
the wing of Providence in sweet security, and then awoke in
safety. "For the Lord sustained me." The sweet
influence of the Pleiades of promise shone upon the sleeper, and
he awoke conscious that the Lord had preserved him. An excellent
divine has well remarked—"This quietude of a man's heart
by faith in God, is a higher sort of work than the natural
resolution of manly courage, for it is the gracious operation of
God's Holy Spirit upholding a man above nature, and therefore
the Lord must have all the glory of it."
Verse 6. Buckling on his harness for the day's battle, our
hero sings, "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of
people, that have set themselves against me round about."
Observe that he does not attempt to under- estimate the number
or wisdom of his enemies. He reckons them at tens of thousands,
and he views them as cunning huntsmen chasing him with cruel
skill. Yet he trembles not, but looking his foeman in the face
he is ready for the battle. There may be no way of escape; they
may hem me in as the deer are surrounded by a circle of hunters;
they may surround me on every side, but in the name of God I
will dash through them; or, if I remain in the midst of them,
yet shall they not hurt me; I shall be free in my very prison.
But
David is too wise to venture to the battle without prayer; he
therefore betakes himself to his knees, and cries aloud to
Jehovah.
Verse 7. His only hope is in his God, but that is so strong a
confidence, that he feels the Lord hath but to arise and
he is saved. It is enough for the Lord to stand up, and all is
well. He compares his enemies to wild beasts, and he declares
that God hath broken their jaws, so that they could not injure
him; "Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly."
Or else he alludes to the peculiar temptations to which he was
then exposed. They had spoken against him; God, therefore, has
smitten them upon the cheek bone. They seemed as if they would
devour him with their mouths; God hath broken their teeth, and
let them say what they will, their toothless jaws shall not be
able to devour him. Rejoice, O believer, thou hast to do with a
dragon whose head is broken, and with enemies whose teeth are
dashed from their jaws!
Verse 8. This verse contains the sum and substance of
Calvinistic doctrine. Search Scripture through, and you must, if
you read it with a candid mind, be persuaded that the doctrine
of salvation by grace alone is the great doctrine of the word of
God: "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord." This
is a point concerning which we are daily fighting. Our opponents
say, "Salvation belongeth to the free will of man; if not
to man's merit, yet at least to man's will;" but we hold
and teach that salvation from first to last, in every iota of
it, belongs to the Most High God. It is God that chooses his
people. He calls them by his grace; he quickens
them by his Spirit, and keeps them by his power. It is not of
man, neither by man; "not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." May we all
learn this truth experimentally, for our proud flesh and blood
will never permit us to learn it in any other way. In the last
sentence the peculiarity and speciality of salvation are plainly
stated: "Thy blessing is upon thy people."
Neither upon Egypt, nor upon Tyre, nor upon Ninevah; thy
blessing is upon thy chosen, thy blood-bought, thine
everlastingly-beloved people. "Selah:" lift up
your hearts, and pause, and meditate upon this doctrine.
"Thy blessing is upon thy people." Divine,
discriminating, distinguishing, eternal, infinite, immutable
love, is a subject for constant adoration. Pause, my soul, at
this Selah, and consider thine own interest in the
salvation of God; and if by humble faith thou art enabled to see
Jesus as thine by his own free gift of himself to thee, if this
greatest of all blessings be upon thee, rise up and sing—
"Rise, my soul! adore and wonder!
Ask, 'O why such love to me?'
Grace hath put me in the number
Of the Saviour's family:
Hallelujah!
Thanks, eternal thanks, to thee!"
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Title. With regard to the authority of the TITLES, it
becomes us to speak with diffidence, considering the very
opposite opinions which have been offered upon this subject by
scholars of equal excellence. In the present day, it is too much
the custom to slight or omit them altogether, as though added,
nobody knows when or by whom, and as, in many instances,
inconsistent with the subject-matter of the Psalm itself: while
Augustine, Theodoret, and various other early writers of the
Christian church, regard them as a part of the inspired text;
and the Jews still continue to make them a part of their chant,
and their rabbins to comment upon them.
It
is certainly unknown who invented or placed them where they are;
but it is unquestionable that they have been so placed from time
immemorial; they occur in the Septuagint, which contains also in
a few instances titles to Psalms that are without any in the
Hebrew; and they have been copied after the Septuagint by
Jerome. So far as the present writer has been able to penetrate
the obscurity that occasionally hangs over them, they are a
direct and most valuable key to the general history or subject
of the Psalms to which they are prefixed; and, excepting where
they have been evidently misunderstood or misinterpreted, he has
never met with a single instance in which the drift of the title
and its respective Psalm do not exactly coincide. Many of them
were, doubtless, composed by Ezra at the time of editing his own
collection, at which period some critics suppose the whole to
have been written; but the rest appear rather to be coeval, or
nearly so, with the respective Psalms themselves, and to have
been written about the period of their production. John Mason
Good, M.D., F.R.S., 1854.
See
title. Here we have the first use of the word Psalm.
In Hebrew, Mizmor, which hath the signification of
pruning, or cutting off superfluous twigs, and is applied to
songs made of short sentences, where many superfluous words are
put away. Henry Ainsworth.
Upon
this note an old writer remarks, "Let us learn from this,
that in times of sore trouble men will not fetch a compass and
use fine words in prayer, but will offer a prayer which is
pruned of all luxuriance of wordy speeches."
Whole Psalm. Thus you may plainly see how God hath
wrought in his church in old time, and therefore should not
discourage yourselves for any sudden change; but with David,
acknowledge your sins to God, declare unto him how many there be
that vex you and rise up against you, naming you Huguenots,
Lutherans, Heretics, Puritans, and the children of Belial, as
they named David. Let the wicked idolaters brag that they will
prevail against you and overcome you, and that God hath given
you over, and will be no more your God. Let them put their trust
in Absalom, with his large golden locks; and in the wisdom of
Ahithophel, the wise counsellor; yet say you, with David, "Thou,
O Lord, art my defender, and the lifter up of my head."
Persuade yourselves, with David, that the Lord is your defender,
who hath compassed you round about, and is, as it were, a "shield"
that doth cover you on every side. It is he only that may and
will compass you about with glory and honour. It is he that will
thrust down those proud hypocrites from their seat, and exalt
the lowly and meek. It is he which will "smite"
your "enemies on the cheek bone," and burst all
their teeth in sunder. He will hang up Absalom by his own long
hairs; and Ahithophel through desperation shall hang himself.
The bands shall be broken, and you delivered; for this belongeth
unto the Lord, to save his from their enemies, and to bless his
people, that they may safely proceed in their pilgrimage to
heaven without fear. Thomas Tymme's "Silver Watch
Bell", 1634.
Verse 1. Absalom's faction, like a snowball, strangely
gathered in its motion. David speaks of it as one amazed; and
well he might, that a people he had so many ways obliged, should
almost generally revolt from him, and rebel against him, and
choose for their head such a silly, giddy young fellow as
Absalom was. How slippery and deceitful are the many! And how
little fidelity and constancy is to be found among men! David
had had the hearts of his subjects as much as ever any king had,
and yet now of a sudden he had lost them! As people must not
trust too much to princes (Psalm 146:3), so princes must not
build too much upon their interest in the people. Christ the Son
of David had many enemies, when a great multitude came to seize
him, when the crowd cried, "Crucify him, crucify him,"
how were they then increased that troubled him! Even good people
must not think it strange if the stream be against them, and the
powers that threaten them grow more and more formidable. Matthew
Henry.
Verse 2. When the believer questions the power of God,
or his interest in it, his joy gusheth out as blood out of a
broken vein. This verse is a sore stab indeed. William
Gurnall.
Verse 2. A child of God startles at the very thought
of despairing of help in God; you cannot vex him with anything
so much as if you offer to persuade him, "There is no
help for him in God." David comes to God, and tells him
what his enemies said of him, as Hezekiah spread Rabshakeh's
blasphemous letter before the Lord; they say, "There is
no help for me in thee;" but, Lord, if it be so, I am
undone. They say to my soul, "There is no
salvation" (for so the word is) "for him in
God;" but, Lord, do thou say unto my soul, "I
am thy salvation" (Psalm 35:3), and that shall satisfy
me, and in due time silence them. Matthew Henry.
Verses 2, 4, 8. "Selah." (Heb.) Much
has been written on this word, and still its meaning does not
appear to be wholly determined. It is rendered in the Targum or
Chaldee paraphrase, (Hebrew), lealmin, for ever, or to
eternity. In the Latin Vulgate, it is omitted, as if it were
no part of the text. In the Septuagint it is rendered Diaqalma,
supposed to refer to some variation or modulation of the voice
in singing. Schleusner, Lex. The word occurs
seventy-three times in the Psalms, and three times in the book
of Habakkuk (3:3, 9, 13). It is never translated in our version,
but in all these places the original word Selah is
retained. It occurs only in poetry, and is supposed to have had
some reference to the singing or cantillation of the poetry, and
to be probably a musical term. In general, also, it indicates a
pause in the sense, as well as in the musical performance.
Gesenius (Lex.) supposes that the most probable meaning of this
musical term or note is silence or pause, and that
its use was, in chanting the words of the Psalm, to direct the
singer to be silent, to pause a little, while the
instruments played an interlude or harmony. Perhaps this is all
that can now be known of the meaning of the word, and this is
enough to satisfy every reasonable enquiry. It is probable, if
this was the use of the term, that it would commonly correspond
with the sense of the passage, and be inserted where the sense
made a pause suitable; and this will doubtless be found usually
to be the fact. But anyone acquainted at all with the character
of musical notation, will perceive at once that we are not to
suppose that this would be invariably or necessarily the fact,
for the musical pauses by no means always correspond with pauses
in the sense. This word, therefore, can furnish very little
assistance in determining the meaning of the passages where it
is found. Ewald supposes, differing from this view, that it
rather indicates that in the places where it occurs the voice is
to be raised, and that it is synonymous with up, higher, loud,
or distinct, from (Hebrew) sal, (Hebrew) salal,
to ascend. Those who are disposed to enquire further
respecting its meaning, and the uses of musical pauses in
general, may be referred to Ugolin, "Thesau. Antiq. Sacr.,"
tom. xxii. Albert Barnes, 1868.
Verses 2, 4, 8. Selah, (Heb.) is found seventy-three
times in the Psalms, generally at the end of a sentence or
paragraph; but in Psalm 55:19 and 57:3, it stands in the middle
of the verse. While most authors have agreed in considering this
word as somehow relating to the music, their conjectures
about its precise meaning have varied greatly. But at present
these two opinions chiefly obtain. Some, including Herder, De
Wette, Ewald (Poet. Böcher, i. 179), and Delitzsch,
derive it from (Heb.), or (Heb.), to raise, and
understand an elevation of the voice or music; others,
after Gesenius, in Thesaurus, derive it from (Heb.), to
be still or silent, and understand a pause in the
singing. So Rosenmüller, Hengstenberg, and Tholuck. Probably selah
was used to direct the singer to be silent, or to pause a
little, while the instruments played an interlude (so Sept.,
diuqalma or symphony. In Psalm 9:16, it occurs in the expression
higgaion selah, which Gesenius, with much probability,
renders instrumental music, pause; i.e., let the
instruments strike up a symphony, and let the singer pause. By
Tholuck and Hengstenberg, however, the two words are rendered meditation,
pause; i.e., let the singer meditate while the music stops. Benjamin
Davies, Ph.D.,L.L.D., article Psalms, in Kitto's Cyclopaedia of
Biblical Literature.
Verse 3. "Lifter up of my head." God
will have the body partake with the soul—as in matters of
grief, so in matters of joy; the lanthorn shines in the light of
the candle within. Richard Sibbs, 1639.
There
is a lifting up of the head by elevating to office, as with
Pharaoh's butler; this we trace to the divine appointment. There
is a lifting up in honour after shame, in health after sickness,
in gladness after sorrow, in restoration after a fall, in
victory after a temporary defeat; in all these respects the Lord
is the lifter up of our head. C. H. S.
Verse 4. When prayer leads the van, in due time
deliverance brings up the rear. Thomas Watson.
Verse 4. "He heard me." I have often
heard persons say in prayer, "Thou art a prayer-hearing and
a prayer-answering God," but the expression contains a
superfluity, since for God to hear is, according to Scripture,
the same thing as to answer. C. H. S.
Verse 5. "I laid me down and slept; I awaked;
for the Lord sustained me." The title of the Psalm
tells us when David had this sweet night's rest; not when he lay
on his bed of down in his stately palace at Jerusalem, but when
he fled for his life from his unnatural son Absalom, and
possibly was forced to lie in the open field under the canopy of
heaven. Truly it must be a soft pillow indeed that could make
him forget his danger, who then had such a disloyal army at his
back hunting of him; yea, so transcendent is the influence of
this peace, that it can make the creature lie down as cheerfully
to sleep in the grave, as on the softest bed. You will say that
child is willing that calls to be put to bed; some of the saints
have desired God to lay them at rest in their beds of dust, and
that not in a pet and discontent with their present trouble, as
Job did, but from a sweet sense of this peace in their bosoms.
"Now let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation," was the swan-like song of old Simeon.
He speaks like a merchant that had got all his goods on
ship-board, and now desires the master of the ship to hoist
sail, and be gone homewards. Indeed, what should a Christian,
that is but a foreigner here, desire to stay any longer for in
the world, but to get his full lading in for heaven? And when
hath he that, if not when he is assured of his peace with God?
This peace of the gospel, and sense of the love of God in the
soul, doth so admirably conduce to the enabling of a person in
all difficulties, and temptations, and troubles, that
ordinarily, before he calls his saints to any hard service, or
hot work, he gives them a draught of this cordial wine next
their hearts, to cheer them up and embolden them in the
conflict. William Gurnall.
Verse 5. Gurnall, who wrote when there were houses on
old London Bridge, has quaintly said, "Do you not think
that they sleep as soundly who dwell on London Bridge as they
who live at Whitehall or Cheapside? for they know that the waves
which rush under them cannot hurt them. Even so may the saints
rest quietly over the floods of trouble or death, and fear no
ill."
Verse 5. Xerxes, the Persian, when he destroyed all
the temples in Greece, caused the temple of Diana to be
preserved for its beautiful structure: that soul which hath the
beauty of holiness shining in it, shall be preserved for the
glory of the structure; God will not suffer his own temple to be
destroyed. Would you be secured in evil times? Get grace and
fortify this garrison; a good conscience is a Christian's
fort-royal. David's enemies lay round about him; yet, saith he, "I
laid me down and slept". A good conscience can sleep in
the mouth of a cannon; grace is a Christian's coat of mail,
which fears not the arrow or bullet. True grace may be shot at,
but can never be shot through; grace puts the soul into Christ,
and there it is safe, as the bee in the hive, as the dove in the
ark. "There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus," Romans 8:1. Thomas Watson.
Verse 5. "The Lord sustained me." It
would not be unprofitable to consider the sustaining power
manifested in us while we lie asleep. In the flowing of the
blood, heaving of the lung, etc., in the body, and the
continuance of mental faculties while the image of death is upon
us. C. H. S.
Verse 6. "I will not be afraid of ten
thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round
about." The psalmist will trust, despite
appearances. He will not be afraid though ten thousands of
people have set themselves against him round about. Let us here
limit our thoughts to this one idea, "despite
appearances." What could look worse to human sight than
this array of ten thousands of people? Ruin seemed to stare him
in the face; wherever he looked an enemy was to be seen. What
was one against ten thousand? It often happens that God's people
come into circumstances like this; they say, "All these
things are against me;" they seem scarce able to count
their troubles; they cannot see a loophole through which to
escape; things look very black indeed; it is great faith and
trust which says under these circumstances, "I will not be
afraid."
These
were the circumstances under which Luther was placed, as he
journeyed toward Worms. His friend Spalatin heard it said, by
the enemies of the Reformation, that the safe conduct of a
heretic ought not to be respected, and became alarmed for the
reformer. "At the moment when the latter was approaching
the city, a messenger appeared before him with this advice from
the chaplain, 'Do not enter Worms!' And this from his best
friend, the elector's confidant, from Spalatin himself! . . . .
. But Luther, undismayed, turned his eyes upon the messenger,
and replied, 'Go, and tell your master, that even should there
be as many devils in Worms as tiles upon the housetops, still I
would enter it.' The messenger returned to Worms, with this
astounding answer: 'I was then undaunted,' said Luther, a few
days before his death, 'I feared nothing.'"
At
such seasons as these, the reasonable men of the world, those
who walk by sight and not by faith, will think it reasonable
enough that the Christian should be afraid; they themselves
would be very low if they were in such a predicament. Weak
believers are now ready to make excuses for us, and we are only
too ready to make them for ourselves; instead of rising above
the weakness of the flesh, we take refuge under it, and use it
as an excuse. But let us think prayerfully for a little while,
and we shall see that it should not be thus with us. To trust
only when appearances are favourable, is to sail only with the
wind and tide, to believe only when we can see. Oh! let us
follow the example of the psalmist, and seek that unreservedness
of faith which will enable us to trust God, come what will, and
to say as he said, "I will not be afraid of ten
thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round
about." Philip Bennet Power's 'I wills' of the Psalms,
1862.
Verse 6. "I will not be afraid," etc.
It makes no matter what our enemies be, though for number,
legions; for power, principalities; for subtlety, serpents; for
cruelty, dragons; for vantage of place, a prince of the air; for
maliciousness, spiritual wickedness; stronger is he that is in
us, than they who are against us; nothing is able to separate us
from the love of God. In Christ Jesus our Lord, we shall be more
than conquerors. William Cowper, 1612.
Verse 7. "Arise, O Lord," Jehovah!
This is a common scriptural mode of calling upon God to manifest
his presence and his power, either in wrath or favour. By a
natural anthropomorphism, it describes the intervals of such
manifestations as periods of inaction or of slumber, out of
which he is besought to rouse himself. "Save me,"
even me, of whom they say there is no help for him in God. "Save
me, O my God," mine by covenant and mutual engagement,
to whom I therefore have a right to look for deliverance and
protection. This confidence is warranted, moreover, by
experience. "For thou hast," in former
exigencies, "smitten all mine enemies," without
exception "(on the) cheek" or jaw, an
act at once violent and insulting. J. A. Alexander, D.D.
Verse 7. "Upon the cheek bone."—The
language seems to be taken from a comparison of his enemies with
wild beasts. The cheek bone denotes the bone in which the teeth
are placed, and to break that is to disarm the animal. Albert
Barnes, in loc.
Verse 7. When God takes vengeance upon the ungodly, he
will smite in such a manner as to make them feel his
almightiness in every stroke. All his power shall be exercised
in punishing and none in pitying. O that every obstinate sinner
would think of this, and consider his unmeasurable boldness in
thinking himself able to grapple with Omnipotence! Stephen
Charnock.
Verse 8. "Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord:" parallel passage in Jonah 2:9, "Salvation
is of the Lord." The mariners might have written upon
their ship, instead of Castor and Pollux, or the like device, Salvation
is the Lord's; the Ninevites might have written upon their
gates, Salvation is the Lord's; and whole mankind, whose
cause is pitted and pleaded by God against the hardness of
Jonah's heart, in the last, might have written on the palms of
their hands, Salvation is the Lord's. It is the argument
of both the Testaments, the staff and supportation of heaven and
earth. They would both sink, and all their joints be severed, if
the salvation of the Lord's were not. The birds in the air sing
no other notes, the beasts in the field give no other voice,
than Salus Jehovæ, Salvation is the Lord's. The walls
and fortresses to our country's gates, to our cities and towns,
bars to our houses, a surer cover to our heads than a helmet of
steel, a better receipt to our bodies than the confection of
apothecaries, a better receipt to our souls than the pardons of
Rome, is Salus Jehovæ, the salvation of the Lord. The
salvation of the Lord blesseth, preserveth, upholdeth all
that we have; our basket and our store, the oil in our cruses,
our presses, the sheep in our folds, our stalls, the children in
the womb, at our tables, the corn in our fields, our stores, our
garners; it is not the virtue of the stars, nor nature of all
things themselves, that giveth being and continuance to any of
these blessings. And, "What shall I more say?" as the
apostle asked (Hebrews 9) when he had spoken much, and there was
much more behind, but time failed him. Rather, what should I not
say? for the world is my theatre at this time, and I neither
think nor can feign to myself anything that hath not dependence
upon this acclamation, Salvation is the Lord's. Plutarch
writeth, that the Amphictions in Greece, a famous council
assembled of twelve sundry people, wrote upon the temple of
Apollo Pythius, instead of the Iliads of Homer, or songs of
Pindarus (large and tiring discourses), short sentences and
memoratives, as, Know thyself, Use moderation, Beware of
suretyship, and the like; and doubtless though every
creature in the world, whereof we have use, be a treatise and
narration unto us of the goodness of God, and we might weary our
flesh, and spend our days in writing books of that inexplicable
subject, yet this short apothegm of Jonah comprehendeth all the
rest, and standeth at the end of the song, as the altars and
stones that the patriarch set up at the parting of the ways, to
give knowledge to the after-world by what means he was
delivered. I would it were daily preached in our temples, sung
in our streets, written upon our door-posts, painted upon our
walls, or rather cut with an adamant claw upon the tables of our
hearts, that we might never forget salvation to be the Lord's.
We have need of such remembrances to keep us in practise of
revolving the mercies of God. For nothing decayeth sooner than
love; nihil facilius quam amar putrescit. And of all the
powers of the soul, memory is most delicate, tender and brittle,
and first waxeth old, memoria delicata, tenera, fragilis, in
quam primum senectus incurrit; and of all the apprehensions
of memory, first benefit, primum senescit beneficium. John
King's Commentary on Jonah, 1594.
Verse 8. "Thy blessing is upon thy
people." The saints are not only blessed when they are
comprehensors, but while they are viators. They are blessed
before they are crowned. This seems a paradox to flesh and
blood: what, reproached and maligned, yet blessed! A man that
looks upon the children of God with a carnal eye, and sees how
they are afflicted, and like the ship in the gospel, which was
covered with waves (Matthew 8:24), would think they were far
from blessedness. Paul brings a catalogue of his sufferings (2
Corinthians 11:24-26), "Thrice was I beaten with rods, once
was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck," etc. And those
Christians of the first magnitude, of whom the world was not
worthy, "Had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, they
were sawn asunder, they were slain with the sword." Hebrews
11:36, 37. What! and were all these during the time of their
sufferings blessed? A carnal man would think, if this be to be
blessed, God deliver him from it. But, however sense would give
their vote, our Saviour Christ pronounceth the godly man
blessed; though a mourner, though a martyr, yet blessed. Job on
the dunghill was blessed Job. The saints are blessed when they
are cursed. Shimei did curse David (2 Samuel 16:5), "He
came forth and cursed him;" yet when he was cursed David he
was blessed David. The saints though they are bruised, yet they
are blessed. Not only they shall be blessed, but they are so.
Psalm 119:1. "Blessed are the undefiled." Psalm 3:8. "Thy
blessing is upon thy people." Thomas Watson.
As a curious instance of Luther's dogmatical
interpretations we give very considerable extracts from his
rendering of this Psalm without in any degree endorsing them.
C. H. S.
Whole Psalm. That the meaning of this Psalm is not
historical, is manifest from many particulars, which militate
against its being so understood. And first of all, there is this
which the blessed Augustine has remarked; that the words,
"I laid me down to sleep and took my rest," seem to be
the words of Christ rising from the dead. And then that there is
at the end the blessing of God pronounced upon the people, which
manifestly belongs to the whole church. Hence, the blessed
Augustine interprets the Psalm in a threefold way; first,
concerning Christ the head; secondly, concerning the whole of
Christ, that is, Christ and his church, the head and the body;
and thirdly, figuratively, concerning any private Christian. Let
each have his own interpretation. I, in the meantime, will
interpret it concerning Christ; being moved so to do by the same
argument that moved Augustine—that the fifth verse does not
seem appropriately to apply to any other but Christ. First,
because, "lying down" and "sleeping,"
signify in this place altogether a natural death, not a natural
sleep. Which may be collected from this—because it then
follows, "and rose again." Whereas if David had spoken
concerning the sleep of the body, he would have said, "and
awoke;" though this does not make so forcibly for the
interpretation of which we are speaking, if the Hebrew word
would be closely examined. But again, what new thing would he
advance by declaring that he laid him down and slept? Why did he
not say also that he walked, ate, drank, laboured, or was in
necessity, or mention particularly some other work of the body?
And moreover, it seems an absurdity under so great a
tribulation, to boast of nothing else but the sleep of the body;
for that tribulation would rather force him to a privation from
sleep, and to be in peril and distress; especially since those
two expressions, "I laid me down," and "I
slept," signify the quiet repose of one lying down in his
place, which is not the state of one who falls asleep from
exhausture through sorrow. But this consideration makes the more
forcibly for us—that he therefore glories in his rising up
again because it was the Lord that sustained him, who raised him
up while sleeping, and did not leave him in sleep. How can such
a glorying agree, and what new kind of religion can make it
agree, with any particular sleep of the body? (for in that case,
would it not apply to the daily sleep also?) and especially,
when this sustaining of God indicates at the same time an
utterly forsaken state in the person sleeping, which is not the
case in corporal sleep; for there the person sleeping may be
protected even by men being his guards; but this sustaining
being altogether of God, implies, not a sleep, but a heavy
conflict. And lastly, the word HEKIZOTHI itself favours such an
interpretation; which, being here put absolutely and
transitively, signifies, "I caused to arise or awake."
As if he had said, "I caused myself to awake, I roused
myself." Which certainly more aptly agrees with the
resurrection of Christ than with the sleep of the body; both
because those who are asleep are accustomed to be roused and
awaked, and because it is no wonderful matter, nor a matter
worthy of so important a declaration, for anyone to awake of
himself, seeing that it is what takes place every day. But this
matter being introduced by the Spirit as a something new and
singular, is certainly different from all that which attends
common sleeping and waking.
Verse 2. "There is no help for him in his
God." In the Hebrew the expression is simply, "in
God," without the pronoun "his", which
seems to me to give clearness and force to the expression. As if
he had said, They say of me that I am not only deserted and
oppressed by all creatures, but that even God, who is present
with all things, and preserves all things, and protects all
things, forsakes me as the only thing out of the whole universe
that he does not preserve. Which kind of temptation Job seems
also to have tasted where he says, "Why hast thou set me as
a mark against thee?" Job 7:20. For there is no temptation,
no, not of the whole world together, nor of all hell combined in
one, equal unto that wherein God stands contrary to man, which
temptation Jeremiah prays against (Jeremiah 17:17), "Be not
a terror unto me; thou art my hope in the days of evil;"
and concerning which also the sixth Psalm following saith,
"O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger;" and we find
the same petitions throughout the psaltery. This temptation is
wholly unsupportable, and is truly hell itself; as it is said in
the same sixth Psalm, "for in death there is no remembrance
of thee," etc. In a word, if you have never experienced it,
you can never form any idea of it whatever.
Verse 3. "For thou, O Lord, art my helper, my
glory, and the lifter up of my head." David here
contrasts three things with three; helper, with many troublings;
glory, with many rising up; and the lifter up of the head, with
the blaspheming and insulting. Therefore, the person here
represented is indeed alone in the estimation of man, and even
according to his own feelings also; but in the sight of God, and
in a spiritual view, he is by no means alone; but protected with
the greatest abundance of help; as Christ saith (John 16:32),
"Behold, the hour cometh when ye shall leave me alone; and
yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.". . . .
The words contained in this verse are not the words of nature,
but of grace; not of free-will, but of the spirit of strong
faith; which, even though seeing God, as in the darkness of the
storm of death and hell, a deserting God, acknowledges him a
sustaining God; when seeing him as a condemner, acknowledges him
a Saviour. Thus this faith does not judge of things according as
they seem to be, or are felt, like a horse or mule which have no
understanding; but it understands things which are not seen, for
"hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why
doth he yet hope for?" Romans 8:24.
Verse 4. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice,
and he heard me out of his holy hill." In the Hebrew,
the verb is in the future, and is, as Hieronymus translates it,
"I will cry," and "he shall hear;" and this
pleases me better than the perfect tense; for they are the words
of one triumphing in, and praising and glorifying God, and
giving thanks unto him who sustained, preserved, and lifted him
up, according as he had hoped in the preceeding verse. For it is
usual with those that triumph and rejoice, to speak of those
things which they have done and suffered, and to sing a song of
praise unto their helper and deliverer; as in Psalm 66:16,
"Come, then, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what
he hath done for my soul. I cried unto him with my mouth, and he
was extolled with my tongue." And also Psalm 81:1,
"Sing aloud unto God our strength." And so again,
Exodus 15:1, "Let us sing unto the Lord, for he hath
triumphed gloriously." And so here, being filled with an
overflowing sense of gratitude and joy, he sings of his being
dead, of his having slept and rose up again, of his enemies
being smitten, and of the teeth of the ungodly being broken.
This it is which causes the change; for he who hitherto had been
addressing God in the second person, changes on a sudden his
address to others concerning God, in the third person, saying, "and
he heard me", not "and thou heardest me;" and
also, "I cried unto the Lord", not, "I
cried unto thee," for he wants to make all know what
benefits God has heaped upon him; which is peculiar to a
grateful mind.
Verse 5. "I laid me down and slept; I awaked;
for the Lord sustained me." Christ, by the words of
this verse, signifies his death and burial. . . . For it is not
to be supposed that he would have spoken so importantly
concerning mere natural rest and sleep; especially since that
which preceeds, and that which follows, compel us to understand
him as speaking of a deep conflict and a glorious victory over
his enemies. By all which things he stirs us up and animates us
to faith in God, and commends unto us the power and grace of
God; that he is able to raise us up from the dead; an example of
which he sets before us, and proclaims it unto us as wrought in
himself. . . . . . . And this is shown also farther in his using
gentle words, and such as tend wonderfully to lessen the terror
of death. "I laid me down (saith he), and
slept." He does not say, I died, and was buried; for
death and the tomb had lost both their name and their power. And
now death is not death, but a sleep; and the tomb not a tomb,
but a bed and resting place; which was the reason why the words
of this prophecy were put somewhat obscurely and doubtfully,
that it might by that means render death most lovely in our eyes
(or rather most contemptible), as being that state from which,
as from the sweet rest of sleep, an undoubted arising and
awaking are promised. For who is not most sure of an awaking and
arising, who lies down to rest in a sweet sleep (where death
does not prevent)? This person, however, does not say that he
died, but that he laid him down to sleep, and that therefore he
awaked. And moreover, as sleep is useful and necessary for a
better renewal of the powers of the body (as Ambrosius says in
his hymn), and as sleep relieves the weary limbs, so is death
also equally useful, and ordained for the arriving at a better
life. And this is what David says in the following Psalm,
"I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest, for thou, O
Lord, in a singular manner hast formed me in hope."
Therefore, in considering death, we are not so much to consider
death itself, as that most certain life and resurrection which
are sure to those who are in Christ; that those words (John
8:51) might be fulfilled, "If a man keep my sayings, he
shall never see death." But how is it that he shall never
see it? Shall he not feel it? Shall he not die? No! he shall
only see sleep, for, having the eyes of his faith fixed upon the
resurrection, he so glides through death, that he does not even
see death; for death, as I have said, is to him no death at all.
And hence, there is that also of John 11:25, "He that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
Verse 7. "For thou hast smitten all mine
enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the
ungodly." Hieronymus uses this metaphor of "cheek
bones", and "teeth", to represent
cutting words, detractions, calumnies, and other injuries of the
same kind, by which the innocent are oppressed: according to
that of Proverbs 30:14, "There is a generation whose teeth
are as swords, and their jaw-teeth as knives, to devour the poor
from off the earth, and the needy from among men." It was
by these that Christ was devoured, when, before Pilate, he was
condemned to the cross by the voices and accusations of his
enemies. And hence it is that the apostle saith (Galatians
5:15), "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed
that ye be not consumed one of another."
Verse 8. "Salvation is of the Lord, and thy
blessing is upon thy people." A most beautiful
conclusion this, and, as it were, the sum of all the feelings
spoken of. The sense is, it is the Lord alone that saves and
blesses: and even though the whole mass of all evils should be
gathered together in one against a man, still, it is the Lord
who saves: salvation and blessing are in his hands. What then
shall I fear? What shall I not promise myself? When I know that
no one can be destroyed, no one reviled, without the permission
of God, even though all should rise up to curse and to destroy;
and that no one of them can be blessed and saved without the
permission of God, how much soever they may bless and strive to
save themselves. And as Gregory Nazianzen says, "Where God
gives, envy can avail nothing; and where God does not give,
labour can avail nothing." And in the same way also Paul
saith (Romans 8:31), "If God be for us, who can be against
us?" And so, on the contrary, if God be against them, who
can be for them? And why? Because "salvation is of the
Lord," and not of them, nor of us, for "vain is
the help of man." Martin Luther.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. The saint telling his griefs to his God.
(1)
His right to do so.
(2)
The proper manner of telling them.
(3)
The fair results of such holy communications with the Lord.
When
may we expect increased troubles? Why are they sent? What is our
wisdom in reference to them?
Verse 2. The lie against the saint and the libel upon
his God.
Verse 3. The threefold blessing which God affords to
his suffering ones—Defence, Honour, Joy. Show how all these
may be enjoyed by faith, even in our worst estate.
Verse 4.
(1)
In dangers we should pray.
(2)
God will graciously hear.
(3)
We should record his answers of grace.
(4)
We may strengthen ourselves for the future by remembering the
deliverances of the past.
Verse 5.
(1)
Describe sweet sleeping.
(2)
Describe happy waking.
(3)
Show how both are to be enjoyed, "for the Lord sustained
me."
Verse 6. Faith surrounded by enemies and yet
triumphant.
Verse 7.
(1)
Describe the Lord's past dealing with his enemies; "thou
hast."
(2)
Show that the Lord should be our constant resort, "O
Lord," "O my God."
(3)
Enlarge upon the fact that the Lord is to be stirred up:
"Arise."
(4)
Urge believers to use the Lord's past victories as an argument
with which to prevail with him.
Verse 7. (last clause). Our enemies vanquished
foes, toothless lions.
Verse 8. (first clause). Salvation of God from
first to last. (See the exposition.)
Verse 8. (last clause). They were blessed in
Christ, through Christ, and shall be blessed with
Christ. The blessing rests upon their persons, comforts, trials,
labours, families, etc. It flows from grace, is enjoyed by
faith, and is insured by oath, etc. James Smith's Portions,
1802-1862.