TITLE. To the Chief Musician. Well might
so exceedingly precious a Psalm be specially committed to the
most skilled of the sacred musicians. The noblest music should
be made tributary to a subject so incomparable. The dedication
shows that the song was intended for public worship, and was not
a merely personal hymn, as its being in the first person
singular might lead us to suppose. A Psalm of David. This is
conclusive as to the authorship: lifted by the Holy Spirit into
the region of prophecy, David was honoured to write concerning a
far greater than himself.
SUBJECT. Jesus is evidently here, and although it
might not be a violent wresting of language to see both David
and his Lord, both Christ and the church, the double comment
might involve itself in obscurity, and therefore we shall let
the sun shine even though this should conceal the stars. Even if
the New Testament were not so express upon it, we should have
concluded that David spoke of our Lord in Ps 40:6-9, but the
apostle in Heb 10:5-9, puts all conjecture out of court, and
confines the meaning to him who came into the world to do the
Father's will.
DIVISION. From Ps 40:1-3, is a
personal thanksgiving, followed by a general declaration of
Jehovah's goodness to his saints, Ps 40:4-5. In Ps 40:6-10, we
have an avowal of dedication to the Lord's will; Ps 40:11-17,
contains a prayer for deliverance from pressing trouble, and for
the overthrow of enemies.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord.
Patient waiting upon God was a special characteristic of our
Lord Jesus. Impatience never lingered in his heart, much less
escaped his lips. All through his agony in the garden, his trial
of cruel mockings before Herod and Pilate, and his passion on
the tree, he waited in omnipotence of patience. No glance of
wrath, no word of murmuring, no deed of vengeance came from
God's patient Lamb; he waited and waited on; was patient, and
patient to perfection, far excelling all others who have
according to their measure glorified God in the fires. Job on
the dunghill does not equal Jesus on the cross. The Christ of
God wears the imperial crown among the patient. Did the Only
Begotten wait, and shall we be petulant and rebellious? And
he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Neither Jesus the
head, nor any one of the members of his body, shall ever wait
upon the Lord in vain. Mark the figure of inclining, as though
the suppliant cried out of the lowest depression, and
condescending love stooped to hear his feeble moans. What a
marvel is it that our Lord Jesus should have to cry as we do,
and wait as we do, and should receive the Father's help after
the same process of faith and pleading as must be gone through
by ourselves! The Saviour's prayers among the midnight mountains
and in Gethsemane expound this verse. The Son of David was
brought very low, but he rose to victory; and here he teaches us
how to conduct our conflicts so as to succeed after the same
glorious pattern of triumph. Let us arm ourselves with the same
mind; and panoplied in patience, armed with prayer, and girt
with faith, let us maintain the Holy War.
Verse 2. He brought me up also out of an horrible
pit. When our Lord bore in his own person the terrible curse
which was due to sin, he was so cast down as to be like a
prisoner in a deep, dark, fearful dungeon, amid whose horrible
glooms the captive heard a noise as of rushing torrents, while
overhead resounded the tramp of furious foes. Our Lord in his
anguish was like a captive in the oubliettes, forgotten
of all mankind, immured amid horror, darkness, and desolation.
Yet the Lord Jehovah made him to ascend from all his abasement;
he retraced his steps from that deep hell of anguish into which
he had been cast as our substitute. He who thus delivered our
surety in extremis, will not fail to liberate us from our
far lighter griefs. Out of the miry clay. The sufferer
was as one who cannot find a foothold, but slips and sinks. The
figure indicates not only positive misery as in the former
figure, but the absence of solid comfort by which sorrow might
have been rendered supportable. Once give man a good foothold,
and a burden is greatly lightened, but to be loaded and to be
placed on slimy, slippery clay, is to be tried doubly. Reader,
with humble gratitude, adore the dear Redeemer who, for thy
sake, was deprived of all consolation while surrounded with
every form of misery; remark his gratitude at being born up amid
his arduous labours and sufferings, and if thou too hast
experienced the divine help, be sure to join thy Lord in this
song. And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
The Redeemer's work is done. He reposes on the firm ground of
his accomplished engagements; he can never suffer again; for
ever does he reign in glory. What a comfort to know that Jesus
our Lord and Saviour stands on a sure foundation in all that he
is and does for us, and his goings forth in love are not liable
to be cut short by failure in years to come, for God has fixed
him firmly. He is for ever and eternally able to save unto the
uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing that in the
highest heavens he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Jesus is the true Joseph taken from the pit to be Lord of all.
It is something more than a "sip of sweetness" to
remember that if we are cast like our Lord into the lowest pit
of shame and sorrow, we shall by faith rise to stand on the same
elevated, sure, and everlasting rock of divine favour and
faithfulness.
Verse 3. And he hath put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto our God. At the passover, before his
passion, our Lord sang one of the grand old Psalms of praise;
but what is the music of his heart now, in the midst of his
redeemed! What a song is that in which his glad heart for ever
leads the chorus of the elect! Not Miriam's tabor nor Moses'
triumphant hymn over Miriam's chivalry can for a moment rival
that ever new and exulting song. Justice magnified and grace
victorious; hell subdued and heaven glorified; death destroyed
and immortality established; sin overthrown and righteousness
resplendent; what a theme for a hymn in that day when our Lord
drinketh the red wine new with us all in our heavenly Father's
kingdom! Even on earth, and before his great passion, he foresaw
the joy which was set before him, and was sustained by the
prospect. Our God. The God of Jesus, the God of Israel,
"my God and your God." How will we praise him,
but ah! Jesus will be the chief player on our stringed
instruments; he will lead the solemn hallelujah which shall go
up from the sacramental host redeemed by blood. Many shall
see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. A multitude
that no man can number shall see the griefs and triumphs of
Jesus, shall tremble because of their sinful rejection of him,
and then through grace shall receive faith and become trusters
in Jehovah. Here is our Lord's reward. Here is the assurance
which makes preachers bold and workers persevering. Reader, are
you one among the many? Note the way of salvation, a sight, a
fear, a trust! Do you know what these mean by possessing and
practising them in your own soul? Trusting in the Lord is the
evidence, nay, the essence of salvation. He who is a true
believer is evidently redeemed from the dominion of sin and
Satan.
Verse 4. Blessed. This is an exclamation
similar to that of the first Psalm, "Oh, the happiness of
the man." God's blessings are emphatic, "I wot that he
whom thou blessest is blessed, "indeed and in very truth. Is
that man that maketh the Lord his trust. Faith obtaineth
promises. A simple single eyed confidence in God is the sure
mark of blessedness. A man may be as poor as Lazarus, as hated
as Mordecai, as sick as Hezekiah, as lonely as Elijah, but while
his hand of faith can keep its hold on God, none of his outward
afflictions can prevent his being numbered among the blessed;
but the wealthiest and most prosperous man who has no faith is
accursed, be he who he may. And respecteth not the proud.
The proud expect all men to bow down and do them reverence, as
if the worship of the golden calves were again set up in Israel;
but believing men are too noble to honour mere money bags, or
cringe before bombastic dignity. The righteous pay their respect
to humble goodness, rather than to inflated self consequence.
Our Lord Jesus was in this our bright example. No flattery of
kings and great ones ever fell from his lips; he gave no honour
to dishonourable men. The haughty were never his favourites. Nor
such as turn aside to lies. Heresies and idolatries are
lies, and so are avarice, worldliness, and pleasure seeking. Woe
to those who follow such deceptions. Our Lord was ever both the
truth and the lover of truth, and the father of lies had no part
in him. We must never pay deference to apostates, time servers,
and false teachers; they are an ill leaven, and the more we
purge ourselves of them the better; they are blessed whom God
preserves from all error in creed and practice. Judged by this
verse, many apparently happy persons must be the reverse of
blessed, for anything in the shape of a purse, a fine equipage,
or a wealthy establishment, commands their reverence, whether
the owner be a rake or a saint, an idiot or a philosopher.
Verily, were the arch fiend of hell to start a carriage and
pair, and live like a lord, he would have thousands who would
court his acquaintance.
Verse 5. Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful
works which thou hast done. Creation, providence, and
redemption, teem with wonders as the sea with life. Our special
attention is called by this passage to the marvels which cluster
around the cross and flash from it. The accomplished redemption
achieves many ends, and compasses a variety of designs; the
outgoings of the atonement are not to be reckoned up, the
influences of the cross reach further than the beams of the sun.
Wonders of grace beyond all enumeration take their rise from the
cross; adoption, pardon, justification, and a long chain of
godlike miracles of love proceed from it. Note that our Lord
here speaks of the Lord as "my God." The man Christ
Jesus claimed for himself and us a covenant relationship with
Jehovah. Let our interest in our God be ever to us our peculiar
treasure. And thy thoughts which are toward us. The
divine thoughts march with the divine acts, for it is not
according the God's wisdom to act without deliberation and
counsel. All the divine thoughts are good and gracious towards
his elect. God's thoughts of love are very many, very wonderful,
very practical! Muse on them, dear reader; no sweeter subject
ever occupied your mind. God's thoughts of you are many, let not
yours be few in return. They cannot be reckoned up in order
unto thee. Their sum is so great as to forbid alike analysis
and numeration. Human minds fail to measure, or to arrange in
order, the Lord's ways and thoughts; and it must always be so,
for he hath said, "As the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts
than your thoughts." No maze to lose oneself in like the
labyrinth of love. How sweet to be outdone, overcome and
overwhelmed by the astonishing grace of the Lord our God! If
I would declare and speak of them, and surely this should be
the occupation of my tongue at all seasonable opportunities, they
are more than can be numbered; far beyond all human
arithmetic they are multiplied; thoughts from all eternity,
thoughts of my fall, my restoration, my redemption, my
conversion, my pardon, my upholding, my perfecting, my eternal
reward; the list is too long for writing, and the value of the
mercies too great for estimation. Yet, if we cannot show forth
all the works of the Lord, let us not make this an excuse for
silence; for our Lord, who is in this our best example, often
spake of the tender thoughts of the great Father.
Verse 6. Here we enter upon one of the most wonderful
passages in the whole of the Old Testament, a passage in which
the incarnate Son of God is seen not through a glass darkly, but
as it were face to face. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. In themselves considered, and for their own
sakes, the Lord saw nothing satisfactory in the various
offerings of the ceremonial law. Neither the victim pouring
forth its blood, nor the fine flour rising in smoke from the
altar, could yield content to Jehovah's mind; he cared not for
the flesh of bulls or of goats, neither had he pleasure in corn
and wine, and oil. Typically these offerings had their worth,
but when Jesus, the Antitype, came into the world, they ceased
to be of value, as candles are of no estimation when the sun has
arisen. Mine ears hast thou opened. Our Lord was quick to
hear and perform his Father's will; his ears were as if
excavated down to his soul; they were not closed up like Isaac's
wells, which the Philistines filled up, but clear passages down
to the fountains of his soul. The prompt obedience of our Lord
is here the first idea. There is, however, no reason whatever to
reject the notion that the digging of the ear here intended may
refer to the boring of the ear of the servant, who refused out
of love to his master to take his liberty, at the year of
jubilee; his perforated ear, the token of perpetual service, is
a true picture of our blessed Lord's fidelity to his Father's
business, and his love to his Father's children. Jesus
irrevocably gave himself up to be the servant of servants for
our sake and God's glory. The Septuagint, from which Paul
quoted, has translated this passage, "A body hast thou
prepared me:" how this reading arose it is not easy to
imagine, but since apostolical authority has sanctioned the
variation, we accept it as no mistake, but as an instance of
various readings equally inspired. In any case, the passage
represents the Only Begotten as coming into the world equipped
for service; and in a real and material body, by actual life and
death, putting aside all the shadows of the Mosaic law. Burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Two other
forms of offerings are here mentioned; tokens of gratitude and
sacrifices for sin as typically presented are set aside; neither
the general nor the private offerings are any longer demanded.
What need of mere emblems when the substance itself is present?
We learn from this verse that Jehovah values far more the
obedience of the heart than all the imposing performances of
ritualistic worship; and that our expiation from sin comes not
to us as the result of an elaborate ceremonial, but as the
effect of our great Substitute's obedience to the will of
Jehovah.
Verse 7. Then said I. That is to say, when it
was clearly seen that man's misery could not be remedied by
sacrifices and offerings. It being certain that the mere images
of atonement, and the bare symbols of propitiation were of no
avail, the Lord Jesus, in propria persona, intervened. O
blessed "then said I." Lord, ever give us to hear and
feed on such living words as these, so peculiarly and personally
thine own. Lo, I come. Behold, O heavens, and thou earth,
and ye places under the earth! Here is something worthy of your
most intense gaze. Sit ye down and watch with earnestness, for
the invisible God comes in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as
an infant the Infinite hangs at a virgin's breast! Immanuel did
not send but come; he came in his own personality, in all
that constituted his essential self he came forth from the ivory
palaces to the abodes of misery; he came promptly at the
destined hour; he came with sacred alacrity as one freely
offering himself. In the volume of the book it is written of
me. In the eternal decree it is thus recorded. The mystic
roll of predestination which providence gradually unfolds,
contained within it, to the Saviour's knowledge, a written
covenant, that in the fulness of time the divine I should
descend to earth to accomplish a purpose which hecatombs of
bullocks and rams could not achieve. What a privilege to find
our names written in the book of life, and what an honour, since
the name of Jesus heads the page! Our Lord had respect to his
ancient covenant engagements, and herein he teaches us to be
scrupulously just in keeping our word; have we so promised, it
is so written in the book of remembrance? then let us never be
defaulters.
Verse 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God.
Our blessed Lord alone could completely do the will of God. The
law is too broad for such poor creatures as we are to hope to
fulfil it to the uttermost: but Jesus not only did the Father's
will, but found a delight therein; from old eternity he had
desired the work set before him; in his human life he was
straitened till he reached the baptism of agony in which he
magnified the law, and even in Gethsemane itself he chose the
Father's will, and set aside his own. Herein is the essence of
obedience, namely, in the soul's cheerful devotion to God: and
our Lord's obedience, which is our righteousness, is in no
measure lacking in this eminent quality. Notwithstanding his
measureless griefs, our Lord found delight in his work, and for
"the joy that was set before him he endured the cross,
despising the shame." Yea, thy law is within my heart.
No outward, formal devotion was rendered by Christ; his heart
was in his work, holiness was his element, the Father's will his
meat and drink. We must each of us be like our Lord in this, or
we shall lack the evidence of being his disciples. Where there
is no heart work, no pleasure, no delight in God's law, there
can be no acceptance. Let the devout reader adore the Saviour
for the spontaneous and hearty manner in which he undertook the
great work of our salvation.
Verse 9. I have preached righteousness in the great
congregation. The purest morality and the highest holiness
were preached by Jesus. Righteousness divine was his theme. Our
Lord's whole life was a sermon, eloquent beyond compare, and it
is heard each day by myriads. Moreover, he never shunned in his
ministry to declare the whole counsel of God; God's great plan
of righteousness he plainly set forth. He taught openly in the
temple, and was not ashamed to be a faithful and a true witness.
He was the great evangelist; the master of itinerant preachers;
the head of the clan of open air missionaries. O servants of the
Lord, hide not your lights, but reveal to others what your God
has revealed to you; and especially by your lives testify for
holiness, be champions for the right, both in word and deed. Lo,
I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. Never
either from love of ease, of fear of men, did the Great
Teacher's lips become closed. He was instant in season and out
of season. The poor listened to him, and princes heard his
rebuke; Publicans rejoiced at him, and Pharisees raged, but to
them both he proclaimed the truth from heaven. It is well for a
tried believer when he can appeal to God and call him to witness
that he has not been ashamed to bear witness for him; for rest
assured if we are not ashamed to confess our God, he will never
be ashamed to own us. Yet what a wonder is here, that the Son of
God should plead, just as we plead, and urge just such arguments
as would befit the mouths of his diligent minsters! How truly is
he "made like unto his brethren."
Verse 10. I have not hid thy righteousness within
my heart. On the contrary, "Never man spake like this
man." God's divine plan of making men righteous was well
known to him, and he plainly taught it. What was in our great
Master's heart he poured forth in holy eloquence from his lips.
The doctrine of righteousness by faith he spake with great
simplicity of speech. Law and gospel equally found in him a
clear expositor. I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
salvation. Jehovah's fidelity to his promises and his grace
in saving believers were declared by the Lord Jesus on many
occasions, and are blessedly blended in the gospel which he came
to preach. God, faithful to his own character, law and
threatenings, and yet saving sinners, is a peculiar revelation
of the gospel. God faithful to the saved ones evermore is the
joy of the followers of Christ Jesus. I have not concealed
thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
The tender as well as the stern attributes of God, our Lord
Jesus fully unveiled. Concealment was far from the Great Apostle
of our profession. Cowardice he never exhibited, hesitancy never
weakened his language. He who as a child of twelve years spake
in the temple among the doctors, and afterward preached to five
thousand at Gennesaret, and to the vast crowds at Jerusalem on
that great day, the last day of the feast, was always ready to
proclaim the name of the Lord, and could never be charged with
unholy silence. He could be dumb when so the prophecy demanded
and patience suggested, but otherwise, preaching was his meat
and his drink, and he kept back nothing which would be
profitable to his disciples. This in the day of his trouble,
according to this Psalm, he used as a plea for divine aid. He
had been faithful to his God, and now begs the Lord to be
faithful to him. Let every dumb professor, tongue tied by sinful
shame, bethink himself how little he will be able to plead after
this fashion in the day of his distress.
Verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from
me, O Lord. Alas! these were to be for awhile withheld from
our Lord while on the accursed tree, but meanwhile in his great
agony he seeks for gentle dealing; and the coming of the angel
to strengthen him was a clear answer to his prayer. He had been
blessed aforetime in the desert, and now at the entrance of the
valley of the shadow of death, like a true, trustful, and
experienced man, he utters a holy, plaintive desire for the
tenderness of heaven. He had not withheld his testimony to God's
truth, now in return he begs his Father not to withhold his
compassion. This verse might more correctly be read as a
declaration of his confidence that help would not be refused;
but whether we view this utterance as the cry of prayer, or the
avowal of faith, in either case it is instructive to us who take
our suffering Lord for an example, and it proves to us how
thoroughly he was made like unto his brethren. Let thy
lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. He had
preached both of these, and now he asks for an experience of
them, that he might be kept in the evil day and rescued from his
enemies and his afflictions. Nothing endears our Lord to us more
than to hear him thus pleading with strong crying and tears to
him who was able to save. O Lord Jesus, in our nights of
wrestling we will remember thee.
Verse 12. For innumerable evils have compassed me
about. On every side he was beset with evils; countless woes
environed the great Substitute for our sins. Our sins were
innumerable, and so were his griefs. There was no escape for us
from our iniquities, and there was no escape for him from the
woes which we deserved. From every quarter evils accumulated
about the blessed One, although in his heart evil found no
place. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am
not able to look up. He had no sin, but sins were laid on
him, and he took them as if they were his. "He was made sin
for us." The transfer of sin to the Saviour was real, and
produced in him as man the horror which forbade him to look into
the face of God, bowing him down with crushing anguish and woe
intolerable. O my soul, what would thy sins have done for thee
eternally if the Friend of sinners had not condescended to take
them all upon himself? Oh, blessed Scripture! "The Lord
hath made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all." Oh,
marvellous depth of love, which could lead the perfectly
immaculate to stand in the sinner's place, and bear the horror
of great trembling which sin must bring upon those conscious of
it. They are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my
heart faileth me. The pains of the divine penalty were
beyond compute, and the Saviour's soul was so burdened with
them, that he was sore amazed, and very heavy even unto a sweat
of blood. His strength was gone, his spirits sank, he was in an
agony.
Verse 13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O
Lord, make haste to help me. How touching! How humble! How
plaintive! The words thrill us as we think that after this sort
our Lord and Master prayed. His petition is not so much that the
cup should pass away undrained, but that he should be sustained
while drinking it, and set free from its power at the first
fitting moment. He seeks deliverance and help; and he entreats
that the help may not be slow in coming; this is after the
manner of our pleadings. Is it not? Note, reader, how our Lord
was heard in that he feared, for there was after Gethsemane a
calm endurance which made the fight as glorious as the victory.
Verse 14. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Whether we
read this as a prayer or a prophecy it matters not, for the
powers of sin, and death, and hell, may well be ashamed as they
see the result of their malice for ever turned against
themselves. It is to the infinite confusion of Satan that his
attempts to destroy the Saviour destroyed himself; the
diabolical conclave who plotted in council are now all alike put
to shame, for the Lord Jesus has met them at all points, and
turned all their wisdom into foolishness. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. It is even so;
the hosts of darkness are utterly put to the rout, and made a
theme for holy derision for ever and ever. How did they gloat
over the thought of crushing the seed of the woman! but the
Crucified has conquered, the Nazarene has laughed them to scorn,
the dying Son of Man has become the death of death and hell's
destruction. For ever blessed be his name.
Verse 15. Let them be desolate, or amazed; even
as Jesus was desolate in his agony, so let his enemies be in
their despair when he defeats them. The desolation caused in the
hearts of evil spirits and evil men by envy, malice, chagrin,
disappointment, and despair, shall be a fit recompense for their
cruelty to the Lord when he was in their hands. For a reward
of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. Did the foul
fiend insult over our Lord? Behold how shame is now his reward!
Do wicked men today pour shame upon the name of the Redeemer?
Their desolation shall avenge him of his adversaries! Jesus is
the gentle Lamb to all who seek mercy through his blood; but let
despisers beware, for he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and
"who shall rouse him up?" The Jewish rulers exulted
and scornfully said, "Aha, aha; "but when the streets
of Jerusalem ran like rivers deep with gore, "and the
temple was utterly consumed, "then their house was left
unto them desolate, and the blood of the last of the prophets,
according to their own desire, came upon themselves and upon
their children. O ungodly reader, if such a person glance over
this page, beware of persecuting Christ and his people, for God
will surely avenge his own elect. Your "ahas" will
cost you dear. It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.
Verse 16. Let all those that seek thee, rejoice and
be glad in thee. We have done with Ebal and turn to Gerizim.
Here our Lord pronounces benedictions on his people. Note who
the blessed objects of his petition are: not all men, but some
men, "I pray for them, I pray not for the world." He
pleads for seekers: the lowest in the kingdom, the babes of the
family; those who have true desires, longing prayers, and
consistent endeavours after God. Let seeking souls pluck up
heart when they hear of this. What riches of grace, that in his
bitterest hour Jesus should remember the lambs of the flock! And
what does he entreat for them? it is that they may be doubly
glad, intensely happy, emphatically joyful, for such the
repetition of terms implies. Jesus would have all seekers made
happy, by finding what they seek after, and by winning peace
through his grief. As deep as were his sorrows, so high would he
have their joys. He groaned that we might sing, and was covered
with a bloody sweat that we might be anointed with the oil of
gladness. Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The
Lord be magnified. Another result of the Redeemer's passion
is the promotion of the glory of God by those who gratefully
delight in his salvation. Our Lord's desire should be our
directory; we love with all our hearts his great salvation, let
us then, with all our tongues proclaim the glory of God which is
resplendent therein. Never let his praises cease. As the heart
is warm with gladness let it incite the tongue to perpetual
praise. If we cannot do what we would for the spread of the
kingdom, at least let us desire and pray for it. Be it ours to
make God's glory the chief end of every breath and pulse. The
suffering Redeemer regarded the consecration of his people to
the service of heaven as a grand result of his atoning death; it
is the joy which was set before him; that God is glorified as
the reward of the Saviour's travail.
Verse 17. But I am poor and needy. The man of
sorrows closes with another appeal, based upon his affliction
and poverty. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Sweet was
this solace to the holy heart of the great sufferer. The Lord's
thoughts of us are a cheering subject of meditation, for they
are ever kind and never cease. His disciples forsook him, and
his friends forgat him, but Jesus knew that Jehovah never turned
away his heart from him, and this upheld him in the hour of
need. Thou art my help and my deliverer. His unmoved
confidence stayed itself alone on God. O that all believers
would imitate more fully their great Apostle and High Priest in
his firm reliance upon God, even when afflictions abounded and
the light was veiled. Make no tarrying, O my God. The
peril was imminent, the need urgent, the suppliant could not
endure delay, nor was he made to wait, for the angel came to
strengthen, and the brave heart of Jesus rose up to meet the
foe. Lord Jesus, grant that in all our adversities we may
possess like precious faith, and be found like thee, more than
conquerors.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. David's Psalm, or, a Psalm of
David;but David's name is here set first, which elsewhere
commonly is last: or A Psalm concerning David, that is Christ,
who is called David in the prophets: Ho 3:5 Jer 30:9 Eze
34:23 32:24. Of him this Psalm entreateth as the apostle
teacheth, Heb 10:5-6, etc. Henry Ainsworth.
Whole Psalm. It is plain, from Ps 40:6-8 of this
Psalm, compared with Heb 10:5, that the prophet in speaking in
the person of Christ, who, Ps 40:1-5, celebrates the deliverance
wrought for his mystical body, the church, by his resurrection
from the grave, effecting that of his members from the guilt and
dominion of sin; for the abolition of which he declareth, Ps
40:6-8, the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices, and mentions his
own inclination to do the will of his Father, and Ps 40:9-10, to
preach righteousness to the world. Ps 40:11-13. He represents
himself as praying, while under his sufferings, for his own, and
his people's salvation; he foretells, Ps 40:14-15, the confusion
and desolation of his enemies, and, Ps 40:16, the joy and
thankfulness of his disciples and servants; for the speedy
accomplishment of which, Ps 40:17, he prefers a petition. George
Horne.
Verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord: and he
inclined unto me, and heard my cry. I see that the Lord,
suppose he drifts and delays the effect of his servant's prayer,
and grants not his desire at the first, yet he hears him. I
shall give a certain argument, whereby thou may know that the
Lord heareth thee, suppose he delay the effect of thy prayers.
Do you continue in prayer? Hast thou his strength given thee to
persevere in suiting (petitioning for or praying for) anything?
Thou may be assured he heareth; for this is one sure argument
that he heareth thee, for naturally our impatience carrieth us
to desperation; our suddenness is so great, specially in
spiritual troubles, that we cannot continue in suiting. When
thou, therefore, continues in suiting, thou may be sure that
this strength is furnished of God, and cometh from heaven, and
if thou have strength, he letteth thee see that he heareth thy
prayer; and suppose he delay the effect and force thereof, yet
pray continually. This doctrine is so necessary for the troubled
conscience, that I think it is the meetest bridle in the
Scripture to refrain our impatience; it is the meetest bit to
hold us in continual exercise of patience; for if the heart
understand that the Lord hath rejected our prayer altogether, it
is not possible to continue in prayer; so when we know that the
Lord heareth us, suppose he delay, let us crave patience to
abide his good will. Robert Bruce, 1559-1631.
Verse 1. I waited for the Lord. The infinitive
(hwq) being placed first brings the action strongly out: I
waited. This strong emphasis on the waiting, has the force
of an admonition; it suggests to the sufferer that
everything depends on waiting. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Verse 1. I waited patiently: rather anxiously;
the original has it, waiting I waited; a Hebraism which
signifies vehement solicitude. Daniel Cresswell.
Verse 1. I waited. The Saviour endureth his
sufferings waitingly, as well as patiently and
prayerfully. He "waited for the Lord." He expected
help from Jehovah; and he waited for it until it came. James
Frame, in "Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm
40." 1869.
Verse 1. Patiently. Our Lord's patience under
suffering was an element of perfection in his work. Had he
become impatient as we often do, and lost heart, his atonement
would have been vitiated. Well may we rejoice that in the midst
of all his temptations, and in the thickest of the battle
against sin and Satan, he remained patient and willing to finish
the work which his Father had given him to do. James Frame.
Verse 1. Heard my cry. Our Saviour endured his
sufferings prayerfully as well as patiently. James
Frame.
Verse 2. An horrible pit. Some of the pits
referred to in the Bible were prisons, one such I saw at Athens,
and another at Rome. To these there were no openings, except a
hole at the top, which served for both door and window. The
bottoms of these pits were necessarily in a filthy and revolting
state, and sometimes deep in mud. He brought me up also out
of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay; one of these
filthy prisons being in the psalmist's view, in Isa 38:17,
called "the pit of corruption, "or putrefaction and
filth. John Gadsby.
Verse 2. An horrible pit; or, as it is in the
Hebrew, a pit of noise; so called because of waters that
falling into it with great violence, make a roaring dreadful
noise; or because of the strugglings and outcries they make that
are in it; or because when anything is cast into deep pits, it
will always make a great noise; and where he stuck fast in miry
clay, without seeming possibility of getting out. And some
refer this to the greatness of Christ's terrors and sufferings,
and his deliverance from them both. Arthur Jackson.
Verse 2. Three things are stated in verse two. First,
resurrection as the act of God, He brought me up, etc.
Secondly, the justification of the name and title of the
Sufferer, and set my feet upon a rock. Jesus is set up,
as alive from the dead, upon the basis of accomplished truth.
Thirdly, there is his ascension, He establisheth my goings.
The Son of God having trodden, in gracious and self renouncing
obedience the passage to the grave, now enters finally as Man
the path of life. "He is gone into heaven, "says the
Spirit. And again, "He ascended on high, and led captivity
captive." Arthur Pridham in "Notes and Reflections
on the Psalms, "1869.
Verse 3. A new song. See Notes on Ps 33:3.
Verse 3. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall
trust in the Lord. The terms fear, and hope,
or trust, do not seem at first view to harmonise; but
David has not improperly joined them together, for no man will
ever entertain the hope of the favour of God but he whose
mind is first imbued with the fear of God. I understand fear,
in general, to mean the feeling of piety which is produced in us
by the knowledge of the power, equity, and mercy of God. John
Calvin.
Verse 3. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall
trust in the Lord. First of all they see. Their eyes
are opened; and their opened eyes see and survey what
they are, where they are, whence they came, and whither
they are going...When the attention of sinners is really and
decisively arrested by the propitiation of Jesus, not only are
their eyes opened to their various moral relations, not only do
they "see" but they fear too. They
"see" and "fear." ...Conviction follows
illumination...But while the sinner only sees and fears, he is
but in the initial stage of conversion, only in a state of
readiness to flee from the city of destruction. He may have set
out on his pilgrimage, but he has not yet reached his Father to
receive the kiss of welcome and forgiveness. The consummating
step has not yet been taken. He has seen indeed; he has feared
too; but he still requires to trust, to trust in the
Lord, and banish all his fears. This is the culminating point in
the great change; and, unless this be reached, the other
experiences will either die away, like an untimely blossom, or
they will only be fuel to the unquenchable fire. James Frame.
Verse 5. Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful
works which thou hast done, etc. Behold God in the
magnificence and wisdom of the works which his hands have made,
even this immense universe, which is full of his glory. What art
and contrivance! What regularity, harmony, and proportion, are
to be seen in all his productions, in the frame of our own
bodies, or those that are about us! And with what beams of
majestic glory do the sun, moon, and stars proclaim how august
and wonderful in knowledge their Maker is! And ought not all
these numberless beauties wherewith the world is stored, which
the minds of inquisitive men are ready to admire, lead up our
thoughts to the great Parent of all things, and inflame our
amorous souls with love to him, who is infinitely brighter and
fairer than them all? Cast abroad your eyes through the nations,
and meditate on the mighty acts which he hath done, and the
wisdom and power of his providence, which should charm all thy
affections. Behold his admirable patience, with what pity he
looks down on obstinate rebels; and how he is moved with
compassion when he sees his creatures polluted in their blood,
and bent upon their own destruction; how long he waits to be
gracious; how unwillingly he appears to give up with sinners,
and execute deserved vengeance on his enemies; and then with
what joy he pardons, for "with him is plenteous
redemption." And what can have more force than these to win
thy esteem, and make a willing conquest of thy heart? so that
every object about thee is an argument of love, and furnishes
fuel for this sacred fire. And whether you behold God in the
firmament of his power, or the sanctuary of his grace, you
cannot miss to pronounce him "altogether lovely." William
Dunlop.
Verse 5. Thy thoughts which are toward us, they
cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: i.e., there is no
one can digest them in order; for although that may be attempted
according to the comprehension and meaning of men, yet not
before thee, every attempt of that nature being infinitely
beneath thy immeasurable glory. Victorinus Bythner's
"Lyre of David; "translated by T. Dee: new edition, by
N. L. Benmohel, 1847.
Verse 5. Toward us. It is worthy of notice that
while addressing his Father, as Jehovah and his God, our Saviour
speaks of the members of the human family as his fellows. This
is implied in the expression "toward us." He regarded
himself as most intimately associated with the children of men. James
Frame.
Verse 5. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto
thee. They are "in order" in themselves, and if
they could be "reckoned up" as they are, they would be
"reckoned in order." Created mind may not be able to
grasp the principle of order that pervades them, but such a
principle there is. And the more we study the whole series in
its interrelations, the more shall we be convinced that as to
time and place all the preparations for the mediatorial work of
Christ, all the parts of its accomplishment, and all the
divinely appointed consequences of its acceptation throughout
all time into eternity, are faultlessly in order; they are
precisely what and where and when they should be. James
Frame.
Verse 5. They are more than can be numbered.
The pulses of Providence are quicker than those of our wrists or
temples. The soul of David knew right well their multiplicity,
but could not multiply them aright by any skill in arithmetic;
nay, the very sum or chief heads of divine kindnesses were
innumerable. His "wonderful works" and
"thoughts" towards him could not be reckoned up in
order by him, they were more than could be numbered. Samuel
Lee (1625-1691), in The Triumph of Mercy in the Chariot
of Praise.
Verse 5. It is Christ's speech, of whom the Psalm is
made, and that relating unto his Father's resolved purposes and
contrivings from eternity, and those continued unto his sending
Christ into the world to die for us, as Ps 40:6-7. It follows
so, as although his thoughts and purposes were but one
individual act at first, and never to be altered; yet they
became many, through a perpetuated reiteration of them, wherein
his constancy to himself is seen...My brethren, if God have been
thinking thoughts of mercy from everlasting to those that are
his, what a stock and treasury do these thoughts arise to,
besides those that are in his nature and disposition! This is in
his actual purposes and intentions, which he hath thought, and
doth think over, again and again, every moment. Many, O Lord
my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy
thoughts which are toward us, saith Jesus Christ; for Psalm
40 is a Psalm of Christ, and quoted by the apostle, and applied
unto Christ in Hebrews 10, How many are thy thoughts
toward us!—he speaks it in the name of the human nature—that
is, to me and mine. If I would declare and speak of them,
they are more than can be numbered. And what is the reason?
Because God hath studied mercies, mercies for his children, even
from everlasting. And then, "He renews his mercies every
morning; "not that any mercies are new, but he actually
thinketh over mercies again and again, and so he brings out of
his treasury, mercies both new and old, and old are always new.
What a stock, my brethren, must this needs amount unto! Thomas
Goodwin.
Verse 6. Sacrifice and offering...burnt offering
and sin offering. Four kinds are here specified, both by the
psalmist and apostle: namely, sacrifice (xbz) zebhach,
yusia; offering, (hxnm) minchah, prosfora; burnt
offering, (hlwe) olah, olokautwma; sin offering, (hajx)
chataah, peri amartias. Of all these we may say with the
apostle, it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats,
etc., should take away sin. Adam Clarke.
Verse 6. Mine ears hast thou opened. The
literal translation is, mine ears hast thou digged (or pierced)
through; which may well be interpreted as meaning,
"Thou hast accepted me as thy slave, " in allusion to
the custom Ex 21:6 of masters boring the ear of a slave, who had
refused his offered freedom, in token of retaining him. Daniel
Cresswell.
Verse 6. John Calvin, in treating upon the
interpretation, "mine ears hast thou bored, "says,
"this mode of interpretation appears to be too forced and
refined."
Verse 6. Mine ears hast thou opened. If it is
to be said that the apostle to the Hebrews read this
differently, I answer, this does not appear to me. It is true,
he found a different, but corrupted translation (wtia, ears,
as the learned have observed, having been changed into swma,
body) in the LXX, which was the version then in use; and he
was obliged to quote it as he found it, under the penalty, if he
altered it, of being deemed a false quoter. He therefore took
the translation as he found it, especially as it served to
illustrate his argument equally well. Upon this quotation from
the LXX the apostle argues, Ps 40:9, "He, (Christ) taketh
away the first (namely, legal sacrifices), that he may establish
the second" (namely, obedience to God's will), in offering
himself a sacrifice for the sins of mankind; and thus he must
have argued upon a quotation for the Hebrew text as it stands at
present. Green, quoted in S. Burder's "Scripture
Expositor."
Verse 6. The apostle's reading Heb 10:5, though it be
far distant from the letter of the Hebrew, and in part from the
LXX (as I suppose it to have been originally), yet is the most
perspicuous interpretation of the meaning of it: Christ's
body comprehended the ears, and that assumed on
purpose to perform in it the utmost degree of obedience to the
will of God, to be obedient even to death, and thereby to be as
the priest. Henry Hammond.
Verse 6.
Nor sacrifice thy love can win,
Nor offerings from the stain of sin
Obnoxious man shall clear:
Thy hand my mortal frame prepares,
(Thy hand, whose signature it bears,)
And opens my willing ear.
—James Merrick, M.A., 1720-1769.
Verses 6-7. In these words an allusion is made to a
custom of the Jews to bore the ears of such as were to be
their perpetual servants, and to enrol their names in a book,
or make some instrument of the covenant. "Sacrifices and
burnt offerings thou wouldst not have; "but because I am
thy vowed servant, bored with an awl, and enrolled in thy book, I
said, Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God. These
words of the Psalm are alleged by S. Paul, Hebrews 10. But the
first of them with a most strange difference. For whereas the
psalmist hath, according to the Hebrew verity, Sacrifice and
burnt offering thou wouldst not: mine ears thou hast bored or
digged, (tyrn); S. Paul reads with the LXX, swma
kathrtisw moi, "A body thou hast prepared or fitted
me." What equipollency can be in sense between these
two? This difficulty is so much the more augmented because most
interpreters make the life of the quotation to lie in those very
words where the difference is, namely, That the words, "A
body thou hast prepared me, "are brought by the apostle
to prove our Saviour's incarnation; whereunto the words in the
Psalm itself (Mine ears hast thou bored, or digged,
or opened), take them how you will in no wise suit. I
answer, therefore, That the life of the quotation lies not in
the words of difference, nor can do, because this epistle was
written to the Hebrews, and so first in the Hebrew tongue, where
this translation of the LXX could have no place. And if the life
of the quotation lay here, I cannot see how it can possibly be
reconciled. It lies therefore in the words where there is no
difference, namely, That Christ was such a High Priest as came
to sanctify us, not with the legal offerings and sacrifices, but
by his obedience in doing like a devoted servant the will of his
Father. Thus, the allegation will not depend at all upon the
words of difference, and so they give us liberty to reconcile
them: Mine ears hast thou bored, saith the psalmist, i.e.,
Thou hast accepted me for a perpetual servant, as masters are
wont, according to the law, to bore such servants' ears
as refuse to part from them. Now the LXX, according to whom the
apostle's epistle readeth, thinking perhaps the meaning of this
speech would be obscure to such as knew not that custom, chose
rather to translate it generally swma de katertisw moi,
"Thou hast fitted my body, "namely, to be thy
servant, in such a manner as servants' bodies are wont to be.
And so the sense is all one, though not specified to the Jewish
custom of boring the ear with an awl, but left indifferently
applicable to the custom of any nation in marking and
stigmatising their servants' bodies. Joseph Mede, B.D.,
1586-1638.
Verses 6-10. Here we have in Christ for our
instruction, and in David also (his type) for our example; 1. A
firm purpose of obedience, in a bored ear, and a yielding
heart. 2. A ready performance thereof: Lo, I come. 3. A
careful observance of the word written: In the volume of the
Book it is written of me, Ps 40:7. 4. A hearty delight in
that observance, Ps 40:8. 5. A public profession and
communication of God's goodness to others, Ps 40:9-10. Now, we
should labour to express Christ to the world, to walk as he
walked 1Jo 2:6: our lives should be in some sense parallel with
his life, as the transcript with the original: he left us a copy
to write by, saith St. Peter, 1Pe 2:21. John Trapp.
Verse 7. Then said I, Lo, I come. As his name
is above every name, so this coming of his is above every
coming. We sometimes call our own births, I confess, a coming
into the world; but properly, none ever came into the world but
he. For, 1. He only truly can be said to come, who is before he
comes; so were not we, only he so. 2. He only strictly comes who
comes willingly; our crying and struggling at our entrance into
the world, shows how unwillingly we come into it. He alone it is
that sings out, Lo, I come. 3. He only properly comes who
comes from some place or other. Alas! we had none to come from
but the womb of nothing. He only had a place to be in
before he came. Mark Frank.
Verse 7. Then said I, Lo, I come, to wit, as
surety, to pay the ransom, and to do thy will, O God. Every word
carrieth a special emphasis as 1. The time, then, even so
soon as he perceived that his Father had prepared his body for
such an end, then, without delay. This speed implies forwardness
and readiness; he would lose no opportunity. 2. His profession
in this word, said I; he did not closely, secretly,
timorously, as being ashamed thereof, but he maketh profession
beforehand. 3. This note of observation, Lo, this is a
kind of calling angels and men to witness, and a desire that all
might know his inward intention, and the disposition of his
heart; wherein was as great a willingness as any could have to
anything. 4. An offering of himself without any enforcement or
compulsion; this he manifests in this word, I come. 5.
That very instant set out in the present tense, I come;
he puts it not off to a future and uncertain time, but even in
that moment, he saith, I come. 6. The first person twice
expressed, thus, "I said, ""I come."
He sends not another person, nor substitutes any in his room;
but he, even he himself in his own person, comes. All which do
abundantly evidence Christ's singular readiness and willingness,
as our surety, to do his Father's will, though it were by
suffering, and by being made a sacrifice for our sins. Thomas
Brooks.
Verse 7. Lo, I come, i.e., to appear before
thee; a phrase used to indicate the coming of an inferior into
the presence of a superior, or of a slave before his master, Nu
22:38 2Sa 19:20: as in the similar expression, "Behold,
here I am, "generally expressive of willingness. J. J.
Stewart Perowne.
Verse 7. Lo, I come. Christ's coming in the
spirit is a joyful coming. I think this, Lo, I come,
expresses 1. Present joy. 2. It expresses certain
joy: the Lo, is a note of certainty; the thing is certain
and true; and his joy is certain; certain, true, solid joy. 3.
It expresses communicative joy; designing his people
shall share of his joy, Lo, I come! The joy that Christ
has as Mediator is a fulness of joy, designed for his people's
use, that out of his fulness we may receive, and grace for
grace, and joy for joy; grace answering grace in Jesus, and
joy answering joy in him. 4. It expresses solemn joy. He
comes with a solemnity; Lo, I come! according to the
council of a glorious Trinity. Now, when the purpose of heaven
is come to the birth, and the decree breaks forth, and the
fulness of time is come, he makes heaven and earth witness, as
it were, to his solemn march on the errand: he says it with a
loud, Lo! that all the world of men and angels may
notice, Lo, I come! And, indeed, all the elect angels
brake forth into joyful songs of praise at this solemnity; when
he came in the flesh, they sang, "Glory to God in the
highest, peace on earth, and good will towards man." Ralph
Erskine, 1685-1752.
Verse 7. Lo, I come, or, am come, to
wit, into the world Heb 10:5, and particularly to
Jerusalem, to give myself a sacrifice for sin. Henry
Ainsworth.
Verse 7. The volume of the book. What book is
meant, whether the Scripture, or the book of life, is not
certain, probably the latter. W. Wilson, D.D.
Verse 7. The volume of the book. But what
volume of manuscript roll is here meant? Plainly, the one which
was already extant when the psalmist was writing. If the
psalmist was David himself (as the title of the Psalm seems to
affirm), the only parts of the Hebrew Scriptures then extant,
and of course, the only part to which he could refer, must have
been the Pentateuch, and perhaps the book of Joshua. Beyond any
reasonable doubt, them, the kefalis biblion (rpo tlnm) was the
Pentateuch...But I apprehend the meaning of the writer to be,
that the book of the law, which prescribes sacrifices
that were merely skiai or parabolai of the great
atoning sacrifice by Christ, did itself teach, by the use of
these, that something of a higher and better nature was to be
looked for than Levitical rites. In a word, it pointed to the
Messiah; or, some of the contents of the written law had
respect to him. Moses Stuart, M.A., in "A Commentary on
the Epistle to the Hebrews," 1851.
Verse 7. The volume of the book etc. When I
first considered Ro 5:14, and other Scriptures in the New
Testament which make the first Adam, and the whole story of him
both before and after, and in his sinning or falling, to be the
type and lively shadow of Christ, the second Adam; likewise
observing that the apostle Paul stands admiring at the greatest
of this mystery or mystical type, the Christ, the second Adam
should so wonderfully be shadowed forth therein, as Eph 5:32, he
cries out, "This is a great mystery, "which he speaks
applying and fitting some passages about Adam and Eve unto
Christ and his church; it made me more to consider an
interpretation of a passage in Heb 10:7, out of Ps 40:7, which I
before had not only not regarded, but wholly rejected, as being
too like a postil (A marginal note) gloss. The passage is, that
"when Christ came into the world, "to take our nature
on him, he alleged the reason of it to be the fulfilling of a
Scripture written in "the beginning of God's book, "en
kefalisi Biblion, so out of the original the words may be, and
are by many interpreters, translated, though our translation
reads them only thus, In the volume of the book it is written
of me. It is true, indeed, that in the fortieth Psalm,
whence they are quoted, the words in the Hebrew may signify no
more than that in God's book (the manner of writing which was
anciently in rolls of parchment, folded up in a volume) Christ
was everywhere written and spoken of. Yet the word kefalis which
out of the Septuagint's translation the apostle took,
signifying, as all know, the beginning of a book; and we finding
such an emphasis set by the apostle in the fifth chapter of the
Ephesians, upon the history of Adam in the beginning of Genesis,
as containing the mystery, yea, the great mystery about Christ,
it did somewhat induce, though not so fully persuade, me to
think, that the Holy Ghost in those words might have some glance
at the story of Adam in the first of the first book of Moses.
And withal the rather because so, the words so understood do
intimate a higher and further inducement to Christ to assume our
nature, the scope of the speech, Hebrews 10, being to render the
reason why he so willingly took man's nature: not only because
God liked not sacrifice and burnt offering, which came in but
upon occasion of sin, and after the fall, and could not take sin
away, but further, that he was prophesied of, and his assuming a
body prophetically foresighted, as in the fortieth Psalm, so
even by Adam's story before the fall, recorded in the very
beginning of Genesis, which many other Scriptures do expressly
apply it unto. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 10. I have not hid. This intimates, that
whoever undertook to preach the gospel of Christ would be in
great temptation to hide it, and conceal it, because it must be
preached with great contention, and in the face of great
opposition. Matthew Henry.
Verse 10. I have not hid, etc. What God has
done for us, or for the church, we should lay to heart;
but not lock up in our heart. Carl Bernhard Moll in
Lange's "Bibelwerk." 1869.
Verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from
me. Do not hinder them from coming showering down upon me. Let
thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me;
or, do thou employ them in preserving me. John Diodati.
Verse 12. For innumerable evils have compassed me
about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not
able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head.
We lose ourselves when we speak of the sins of our lives. It may
astonish any considering man to take notice how many sins he is
guilty of any one day; how many sins accompany any one single
act; nay, how many bewray themselves in any one religious duty.
Whensoever ye do anything forbidden, you omit the duty at that
time commanded; and whenever you neglect that which is enjoined,
the omission is joined with the acting of something forbidden;
so that the sin, whether omission or commission, is always
double; nay, the apostle makes every sin tenfold. Jas 2:10. That
which seems one to us, according to the sense of the law, and
the account of God, is multiplied by ten. He breaks every
command by sinning directly against one, and so sins ten times
at once; besides that swarm of sinful circumstances and
aggravations which surround every act in such numbers, as atoms
use to surround your body in a dusty room; you may more easily
number these than those. And though some count these but
fractions, incomplete sins, yet even from hence it is more
difficult to take an account of their number. And, which is more
for astonishment, pick out the best religious duty that ever you
performed, and even in that performance you may find such a
swarm of sins as cannot be numbered. In the best prayer that
ever you put up to God, irreverence, lukewarmness, unbelief,
spiritual pride, self seeking, hypocrisy, distractions, etc.,
and many more, that an enlightened soul grieves and bewails; and
yet there are many more that the pure eye of God discerns, than
any man does take notice of. David Clarkson.
Verse 12. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me.
They seized him as the sinner's substitute, to deal with him as
regards their own penalty, according to the sinner's desert. James
Frame.
Verse 13. The remaining verses of this Psalm are
almost exactly identical with Psalm 70.
Verse 14. Let them be ashamed and confounded,
etc. Even this prayer carried benevolence in its bosom. It
sought from the divine Father, such a manifestation of what was
glorious and like God as might unnerve each rebel arm, and
overawe each rebel heart in the traitor's company. If each arm
were for a little unnerved, if each heart were for a little
unmanned, there might be time for the better principles of their
nature to rise and put an arrest upon the prosecution of their
wicked design. Such being the benevolent aim of the prayer, we
need not wonder that it issued from the same heart that by and
by exclaimed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do; "neither need we marvel that it was answered to
the very letter, and that as soon as he said to the traitor
band, "I am he, " they went backward and fell to the
ground. James Frame.
Verse 15. Aha, aha. An exclamation which occurs
three times in the Psalms; and in each case there seems to be
reference to the mockery at the Passion. See Ps 35:21 70:3,
which appear to belong to the same time as the present Psalm. Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse 16. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and
be glad in thee. As every mercy to every believer giveth a
proof of God's readiness to show the like mercy to all
believers, when they stand in need; so should every mercy shown
to any of the number, being known to the rest, be made the
matter and occasion of magnifying the Lord. David Dickson.
Verse 16. Such as love thy salvation. To love
God's salvation is to love God himself, the Saviour, or Jesus. Martin
Geier.
Verse 16. Such as love thy salvation. One would
think that self love alone should make us love salvation. Aye,
but they love it because it is his, "that love thy
salvation." It is the character of a holy saint to love
salvation itself; not as his own only, but as God's, as God's
that saves him. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 16. Let such as love thy salvation say
continually, The Lord be magnified. Jesus who gave us our
capacity of happiness and our capacity of speaking, realised the
relation which he had established between them; and hence in
praying for his friends, he prayed that in the joy and gladness
of their souls they might say, "The Lord be
magnified." He desired them to speak of their holy
happiness; and it was his wish that when they did speak of it
they should speak in terms of praise of Jehovah, for he was the
source of it. He desired them to say continually, The Lord be
magnified. James Frame.
Verse 17. In Dr. Malan's memoir, the editor, one of
his sons, thus writes of his brother Jocelyn, who was for some
years prior to his death, the subject of intense bodily
sufferings:—"One striking feature in his character was
his holy fear of God, and reverence for his will." One day
I was repeating a verse from the Psalms, `As for me, I am
poor and needy, but the Lord careth for me: thou art my helper
and deliverer; O Lord, make no long tarrying.' He said,
`Mamma, I love that verse, all but the last bit, it looks like a
murmur against God. He never `tarries' in my case.' From
"The Life, Labours, and Writings of Caesar Malan"
(1787-1864): By one of his sons, 1869.
Verse 17. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Sacred
story derives from heaven the kindness of Abimelech to Abraham,
of Laban and Esau to Jacob, of Ruth to Naomi, of Boaz to Ruth,
and Jonathan to David. When others think of kindness to us, let
us imitate David, it is the Lord that thinketh upon me, and
forms those thoughts within their hearts. This should calm our
spirits when a former friend's heart is alienated by rash
admissions of false suggestions, or when any faithful Jonathan
expires his spirit into the bosom of God. It should not be lost
what Hobson, the late noted carrier of Cambridge, said to a
young student receiving a letter of the sad tidings of his
uncle's decease (who maintained him at the University), and
weeping bitterly, and reciting the cause of his grief, he
replied, Who gave you that friend? Which saying did
greatly comfort him, and was a sweet support to him afterwards
in his ministry. The Ever living God is the portion of a living
faith, and he can never want that hath such an
ocean. He that turns the hearts of kings like rivers at his
pleasure, turns all the little brooks in the world into what
scorched and parched ground he pleases. Samuel Lee.
Verse 17. The Lord thinketh upon me. There are
three things in God's thinking upon us, that are solacing
and delightful. Observe the frequency of his thoughts.
Indeed, they are incessant. You have a friend, whom you esteem
and love. You wish to live in his mind. You say when you part,
and when you write, "Think of me." You give him,
perhaps, a token to revive his remembrance. How naturally is
Selkirk, in his solitary island, made to say:—
"My friends, do they now and then send
A wish or a thought after me?
O tell me, I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see."
"Ye winds, that have made me your sport,
Convey to this desolate shore
Some cordial, endearing report
Of a land I shall visit no more."
But the dearest connexion in the world cannot be always
thinking upon you. Half his time he is in a state of
unconsciousness; and how much during the other half is he
engrossed! But there is no remission in the Lord's
thoughts...Observe in the next place, the wisdom of his
thoughts. You have a dear child, absent from you, and you follow
him in your mind. But you know not his present circumstances.
You left him in such a place; but where is he now? You left him
in such a condition. But what is he now? Perhaps while you are
thinking upon his health, he is groaning under a bruised limb,
or a painful disorder. Perhaps, while you are thinking of his
safety, some enemy is taking advantage of his innocency.
Perhaps, while you are rejoicing in his prudence, he is going to
take a step that will involve him for life. But when God
thinketh upon you, he is perfectly acquainted with your
situation, your dangers, your wants. He knows all your walking
through this great wilderness, and can afford you the seasonable
succour you need. For again, observe the efficiency of
his thoughts. You think upon another, and you are anxious to
guide, or defend, or relieve him. But in how many cases can you
think only? Solicitude cannot control the disease of the body,
cannot dissipate the melancholy of the mind. But with God all
things are possible. He who thinks upon you is a God at hand and
not afar off; he has all events under his control; he is the God
of all grace. If, therefore, he does not immediately deliver, it
is not because he is unable to redress, but because he is
waiting to be gracious. William Jay.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1.
1. My part—praying and waiting.
2. God's part—condescension and reply.
Verse 2.
1. The depth of God's goodness to his people. It finds
them often in a horrible pit and miry clay. There is a certain
spider which forms a pit in sand, and lies concealed at the
bottom, in order to seize upon other insects that fall into it.
Thus David's enemies tried to bring him into a pit.
2. The height of his goodness. He brought me out and
set my feet upon a rock. That rock is Christ. Those feet are
faith and hope.
3. The breadth of his goodness establisheth my goings,
restored me to my former place in his love, showing me still to
have been his during my low estate. He was the same to me,
though I felt not the same to him. My goings refer both to the
past and the future.
4. The strength of his goodness established my
goings, making me stand firmer after every fall. —George
Rogers.
Verses 2-3. The sinner's position by nature, and his
rescue by grace.
Verses 2-3. By one and the same act the Lord works our
salvation, our enemies' confusion, and the church's edification.
J. P. Lange's Commentary.
Verse 3. The new song, the singer, the teacher.
Verse 4. (last clause).
1. Find out who turn aside to lies—Atheists, Papists, self
righteous, lovers of sin.
2. Show their folly in turning aside from God and truth, and
in turning to fallacies which lead to death.
3. Show how to be preserved from the like folly, by choosing
truth, truthful persons, and above all the service of God.
Verse 5.
1. There are works of God in his people and for his
people. There are his works of creation, of providence, and
of redemption, and also his works of grace, wrought in them by
his Spirit, and around them by his providence, as well as for
them by his Son.
2. These are wonderful works; wonderful in their
variety, their tenderness, their adaptation to their need, their
cooperation with outward means and their power.
3. They are the result of the divine thoughts respecting
us. They come not by chance, not by men, but by the hand of
God, and that hand is moved by his will, and that will by his
thought respecting us. Every mercy, even the least, represents
some kind thought in the mind of God respecting us. God thinks
of each one of his people, and every moment.
4. They are innumerable. They cannot be reckoned up.
Could we see all the mercies of God to us and his wonderful
works wrought for us individually, they would be countless as
the sands, and all these countless mercies represent countless
thoughts in the mind and heart of God to each one of his people. —George
Rogers.
Verse 5. The multitude of God's thoughts, and deeds of
grace; beginning in eternity, continuing for ever; and dealing
with this life, heaven, hell, sin, angels, devils, and indeed
all things.
Verse 6. Here David goes beyond himself, and speaks
the language of David's Son. This was naturally suggested by
God's wonderful works, and innumerable thoughts of love to man.
1. The sacrifices that were not required. These were
the sacrifices and burnt offerings under the law. (a) When
required? From Adam to the coming of Christ. (b) When not
required? (c) Why required before? As types of the one method of
redemption. (d) Why not now required? Because the great Antitype
had come.
2. The sacrifice that was required. This was the
sacrifice offered on Calvary. (a) It was required by God by his
justice, his wisdom, his faithfulness, his love, his honour, his
glory. (b) It was required by man to give him salvation and
confidence in that salvation. (c) It was required for the honour
of the moral government of God throughout the universe.
3. The person by whom this sacrifice was offered. Mine
ears hast thou opened. This is the language of Christ,
prospectively denoting—(a) Knowledge of the sacrifice
required. (b) Consecration of himself as a servant for that end. —George
Rogers.
Verse 6. Mine ears hast thou opened. Readiness
to hear, fixity of purpose, perfection of obedience, entireness
of consecration.
Verses 6-8. The Lord gives an ear to hear his word, a
mouth to confess it, a heart to love it, and power to keep it. —James
Merrick, M.A., 1720-1769.
Verses 6-8. The Lord gives an ear to hear his word, a
mouth to confess it, a heart to love it, and power to keep it.
Verse 7.
1. The time of Christ's coming. Then said I. When
types were exhausted, when prophecies looked for their
fulfilment, when worldly wisdom had done its utmost, when the
world was almost entirely united under one empire, when the time
appointed by the Father had come.
2. The design of his coming. In the volume was
written—(a) The constitution of his person. (b) His teaching.
(c) The manner of his life. (d) The design of his death. (e) His
resurrection and ascension. (f) The kingdom he would establish.
3. The voluntariness of his coming, Lo, I come. Though
sent by the Father, he came of his own accord. "Christ
Jesus came into the world." Men do not come into the world,
they are sent into it. Lo, I come, denotes pre-existence,
pre-determination, pre-operation. —George Rogers.
Verses 6-8. The Lord gives an ear to hear his word, a
mouth to confess it, a heart to love it, and power to keep it.
Verse 8. To do thy will, O God.
1. The will of God is seen in the fact of salvation. It has
its origin in the will of God.
2. The will of God is seen in the plan of salvation. All
things have proceeded, are proceeding, and will proceed
according to that plan.
3. It is seen in the provision of salvation, in the
appointment of his own Son to become the mediator the atoning
sacrifice, the law fulfiller, the head of the church, that his
plan required.
4. It is seen in the accomplishment of salvation.
Verse 9. Referring to our Lord; a great preacher, a
great subject, a great congregation, and his great faithfulness
in the work.
Verse 10. (first clause).
1. The righteousness possessed by God.
2. The righteousness prescribed by God.
3. The righteousness provided by God. James Frame.
Verse 10.
1. The preacher must reveal his whole message. 2. He must not
conceal any part: (a) Not of the righteousness of the law or the
gospel; (b) Not of the lovingkindness of grace; (c) Not of any
portion of the truth with flowers of rhetoric; (d) To give a
partial representation; (e) To put one truth in the place of
another; (f) To give the letter without the spirit. G.R.
Verse 10. The great sin of concealing what we know of
God.
Verse 11. Enrichment and preservation sought. The true
riches are from God, gifts of his sovereignty, fruits of his
mercy, marked with his tenderness. The best preservations are
divine love and faithfulness.
Verses 11-13. As an instance of clerical ingenuity, it
may be well to mention that Canon Wordsworth has a sermon from
these verses upon "the duty of making responses in public
prayer."
"Came at length the dreadful night.
Vengeance with its iron rod
Stood, and with collected might
Bruised the harmless Lamb of God,
See, my soul, thy Saviour see,
Prostrate in Gethsemane!"
"There my God bore all my guilt,
This through grace can be believed;
But the horrors which he felt
Are too vast to be conceived.
None can penetrate through thee,
Doleful, dark Gethsemane."
"Sins against a holy God;
Sins against his righteous laws;
Sins against his love, his blood;
Sins against his name and cause;
Sins immense as is the sea—
Hide me, O Gethsemane!"
Verses 11-13. As an instance of clerical ingenuity, it
may be well to mention that Canon Wordsworth has a sermon from
these verses upon "the duty of making responses in public
prayer."
Verse 12. Compare this with Ps 40:5. The number of our
sins, and the number of his thoughts of love.
Verse 12. (second clause).
1. The soul arrested—"taken hold."
2. The soul bewildered—"cannot look up."
3. The soul's only refuge—prayer, Ps 40:13.
Verses 11-13. As an instance of clerical ingenuity, it
may be well to mention that Canon Wordsworth has a sermon from
these verses upon "the duty of making responses int public
prayer."
Verse 13.
1. The language of believing prayer—deliver me, help me;
looking for deliverance and help to God only.
2. Of earnest prayer—make haste to help me.
3. Of submissive prayer—be pleased, O Lord, if according to
thy good pleasure.
4. Of consistent prayer. Help me, which implies efforts for
his own deliverance, putting his own shoulder to the wheel.
Verse 14. Honi soit mal y pense; or, the reward
of malignity.
Verse 16. (last clause). An everyday saying.
Who can use it? What does it mean? Why should they say
it? Why say it continually?
Verse 17. The humble But, and the believing Yet.
The little I am, and the great Thou art. The
fitting prayer.
Verse 17. The Lord thinketh upon me. Admire the
condescension, and then consider that this is—
1. A promised blessing.
2. A practical blessing—he thinks upon us to supply,
protect, direct, sanctify, &c.
3. A precious blessing—kind thoughts, continual, greatly
good. He thinks of us as his creatures with pity, as his
children with love, as his friends with pleasure.
4. A present blessing—promises, providences, visitations of
grace.
Verse 17.
1. The less we think of ourselves the more God will think
upon us.
2. The less we put trust in ourselves the more we may trust
in God for help and deliverance.
3. The less delay in prayer and active efforts the sooner God
will appear for us.
WORKS UPON THE FORTIETH PSALM
A Sermon upon the Fortieth Psalme, preached in
the time of Public Fast; in "Sermons by the Rev.
ROBERT BRUCE, Minister of Edinburgh, reprinted from the original
edition of 1590, and 1591...Edinburgh: printed for the Wodrow
Society. 1843."
Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm 40. By JAMES
FRAME, 1869.