TITLE. To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of
Korah. Dedicated to the Master of Music, this Psalm is worthy of
his office; he who can sing best can have nothing better to
sing. It is called, Maschil, or an instructive ode; and full as
it is of deep experimental expressions, it is eminently
calculated to instruct those pilgrims whose road to heaven is of
the same trying kind as David's was. It is always edifying to
listen to the experience of a thoroughly gracious and much
afflicted saint.
That choice band of singers, the sons of
Korah, are bidden to make this delightful Psalm one of their
peculiars. They had been spared when their father and all his
company, and all the children of his associates were swallowed
up alive in their sin. Numbers 26:11. They were the spared ones
of sovereign grace. Preserved, we know not why, by the
distinguishing favour of God, it may be surmised that after
their remarkable election to mercy, they became so filled with
gratitude that they addicted themselves to sacred music in order
that their spared lives might be consecrated to the glory of
God. At any rate, we who have been rescued as they were from
going down into the pit, out of the mere good pleasure of
Jehovah, can heartily join in this Psalm, and indeed in all the
songs which show forth the praises of our God and the pantings
of our hearts after him. Although David is not mentioned as the
author, this Psalm must be the offspring of his pen; it is so
Davidic, it smells of the son of Jesse, it bears the marks of
his style and experience in every letter. We could sooner doubt
the authorship of the second part of Pilgrim's Progress than
question David's title to be the composer of this Psalm.
SUBJECT. It is the cry of a man far
removed from the outward ordinances and worship of God, sighing
for the long loved house of his God; and at the same time it is
the voice of a spiritual believer, under depressions, longing
for the renewal of the divine presence, struggling with doubts
and fears, but yet holding his ground by faith in the living
God. Most of the Lord's family have sailed on the sea which is
here so graphically described. It is probable that David's
flight from Absalom may have been the occasion for composing
this Maschil.
DIVISION. The structure of the song
directs us to consider it in two parts which end with the same
refrain; Ps 42:1-5 and then Ps 42:6-11.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. As the hart panteth after the water
brooks, so panteth my soul after the, O God. As after a long
drought the poor fainting hind longs for the streams, or rather
as the hunted hart instinctively seeks after the river to lave
its smoking flanks and to escape the dogs, even so my weary,
persecuted soul pants after the Lord my God. Debarred from
public worship, David was heartsick. Ease he did not seek,
honour he did not covet, but the enjoyment of communion with God
was an urgent need of his soul; he viewed it not merely as the
sweetest of all luxuries, but as an absolute necessity, like
water to a stag. Like the parched traveller in the wilderness,
whose skin bottle is empty, and who finds the wells dry, he must
drink or die—he must have his God or faint. His soul,
his very self, his deepest life, was insatiable for a sense of
the divine presence. As the hart brays so his soul prays. Give
him his God and he is as content as the poor deer which at
length slakes its thirst and is perfectly happy; but deny him
his Lord, and his heart heaves, his bosom palpitates, his whole
frame is convulsed, like one who gasps for breath, or pants with
long running. Dear reader, dost thou know what this is, by
personally having felt the same? It is a sweet bitterness. The
next best thing to living in the light of the Lord's love is to
be unhappy till we have it, and to pant hourly after
it—hourly, did I say? thirst is a perpetual appetite, and not
to be forgotten, and even thus continual is the heart's longing
after God. When it is as natural for us to long for God as for
an animal to thirst, it is well with our souls, however painful
our feelings. We may learn from this verse that the eagerness of
our desires may be pleaded with God, and the more so, because
there are special promises for the importunate and fervent.
Verse 2. My soul. All my nature, my inmost
self. Thirsteth. Which is more than hungering; hunger you
can palliate, but thirst is awful, insatiable, clamorous,
deadly. O to have the most intense craving after the highest
good! this is no questionable mark of grace. For God. Not
merely for the temple and the ordinances, but for fellowship
with God himself. None but spiritual men can sympathise with
this thirst. For the living God. Because he lives, and
gives to men the living water; therefore we, with greater
eagerness, desire him. A dead God is a mere mockery; we loathe
such a monstrous deity; but the ever living God, the perennial
fountain of life and light and love, is our soul's desire. What
are gold, honour, pleasure, but dead idols? May we never pant
for these. When shall I come and appear before God? He
who loves the Lord loves also the assemblies wherein his name is
adored. Vain are all pretences to religion where the outward
means of grace have no attraction. David was never so much at
home as in the house of the Lord; he was not content with
private worship; he did not forsake the place where saints
assemble, as the manner of some is. See how pathetically he
questions as to the prospect of his again uniting in the joyous
gathering! How he repeats and reiterates his desire! After his
God, his Elohim (his God to be worshipped, who had entered into
covenant with him), he pined even as the drooping flowers for
the dew, or the moaning turtle for her mate. It were well if all
our resortings to public worship were viewed as appearances
before God, it would then be a sure mark of grace to delight in
them. Alas, how many appear before the minister, or their fellow
men, and think that enough! "To see the face of God"
is a nearer translation of the Hebrew; but the two ideas may be
combined—he would see his God and be seen of him: this is
worth thirsting after!
Verse 3. My tears have been my meat day and night.
Salt meats, but healthful to the soul. When a man comes to
tears, constant tears, plenteous tears, tears that fill his cup
and trencher, he is in earnest indeed. As the big tears stand in
the stag's eyes in her distress, so did the salt drops glitter
in the eyes of David. His appetite was gone, his tears not only
seasoned his meat, but became his only meat, he had no mind for
other diet. Perhaps it was well for him that the heart could
open the safety valves; there is a dry grief far more terrible
than showery sorrows. His tears, since they were shed because
God was blasphemed, were "honourable dew, "drops of
holy water, such as Jehovah putteth into his bottle. While
they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? Cruel taunts
come naturally from coward minds. Surely they might have left
the mourner alone; he could weep no more than he did—it was a
supererogation of malice to pump more tears from a heart which
already overflowed. Note how incessant was their jeer, and how
artfully they framed it! It cut the good man to the bone to have
the faithfulness of his God impugned. They had better have
thrust needles into his eyes than have darted insinuations
against his God. Shimei may here be alluded to who after this
fashion mocked David as he fled from Absalom. He roundly
asserted that David was a bloody man, and that God was punishing
him for supplanting Saul and his house; his wish was father to
his thought. The wicked know that our worst misfortune would be
to lose God's favour, hence their diabolical malice leads them
to declare that such is the case. Glory be to God, they lie in
their throats, for our God is in the heavens, aye, and in the
furnace too, succouring his people.
Verse 4. When I remember these things, I pour out
my soul in me. When he harped upon his woes his heart melted
into water and was poured out upon itself. God hidden, and foes
raging, a pair of evils enough to bring down the stoutest heart!
Yet why let reflections so gloomy engross us, since the result
is of no value: merely to turn the soul on itself, to empty it
from itself into itself is useless, how much better to pour out
the heart before the Lord! The prisoner's tread wheel might
sooner land him in the skies than mere inward questioning raise
us nearer to consolation. For I had gone with the multitude,
I went with them to the house of God. Painful reflections
were awakened by the memory of past joys; he had mingled in the
pious throng, their numbers had helped to give him exhilaration
and to awaken holy delight, their company had been a charm to
him as with them he ascended the hill of Zion. Gently proceeding
with holy ease, in comely procession, with frequent strains of
song, he and the people of Jehovah had marched in reverent ranks
up to the shrine of sacrifice, the dear abode of peace and
holiness. Far away from such goodly company the holy man
pictures the sacred scene and dwells upon the details of the
pious march. With the voice of joy and praise, with a
multitude that kept holyday. The festive noise is in his
ears, and the solemn dance before his eyes. Perhaps he alludes
to the removal of the ark and to the glorious gatherings of the
tribes on that grand national holy day and holiday. How changed
his present place! For Zion, a wilderness; for the priests in
white linen, soldiers in garments of war; for the song, the
sneer of blasphemy; for the festivity, lamentation; for joy in
the Lord, a mournful dirge over his absence.
Verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? As
though he were two men, the psalmist talks to himself. His faith
reasons with his fears, his hope argues with his sorrows. These
present troubles, are they to last forever? The rejoicings of my
foes, are they more than empty talk? My absence from the solemn
feasts, is that a perpetual exile? Why this deep depression,
this faithless fainting, this chicken hearted melancholy? As
Trapp says, "David chides David out of the dumps; "and
herein he is an example for all desponding ones. To search out
the cause of our sorrow is often the best surgery for grief.
Self ignorance is not bliss; in this case it is misery. The mist
of ignorance magnifies the causes of our alarm; a clearer view
will make monsters dwindle into trifles. Why art thou
disquieted within me? Why is my quiet gone? If I cannot keep
a public Sabbath, yet wherefore do I deny my soul her indoor
Sabbath? Why am I agitated like a troubled sea, and why do my
thoughts make a noise like a tumultuous multitude? The causes
are not enough to justify such utter yielding to despondency.
Up, my heart! What aileth thee? Play the man, and thy castings
down shall turn to up liftings, and thy disquietudes to calm. Hope
thou in God. If every evil be let loose from Pandora's box,
yet is there hope at the bottom. This is the grace that swims,
though the waves roar and be troubled. God is unchangeable, and
therefore his grace is the ground for unshaken hope. If
everything be dark, yet the day will come, and meanwhile hope
carries stars in her eyes; her lamps are not dependent on oil
from without, her light is fed by secret visitations of God,
which sustain the spirit. For I shall yet praise him. Yet
will my sighs give place to songs, my mournful ditties shall be
exchanged for triumphal paeans. A loss of the present sense of
God's love is not a loss of that love itself; the jewel is
there, though it gleams not on our breast; hope knows her title
good when she cannot read it clear; she expects the promised
boon though present providence stands before her with empty
hands. For I shall yet praise him for the help of his
countenance. Salvations come from the propitious face of
God, and he will yet lift up his countenance upon us. Note well
that the main hope and chief desire of David rest in the smile
of God. His face is what he seeks and hopes to see, and this
will recover his low spirits, this will put to scorn his
laughing enemies, this will restore to him all the joys of those
holy and happy days around which memory lingers. This is grand
cheer. This verse, like the singing of Paul and Silas, looses
chains and shakes prison walls. He who can use such heroic
language in his gloomy hours will surely conquer. In the garden
of hope grow the laurels for future victories, the roses of
coming joy, the lilies of approaching peace.
Verse 6. O my God, my soul is cast down within me.
Here the song begins again upon the bass. So sweet an ending
deserves that for the sake of a second hopeful close the Psalm
should even begin again. Perhaps the psalmist's dejection
continued, the spasm of despondency returned; well, then, he
will down with his harp again, and try again its power upon
himself, as in his younger days, he saw its influence upon Saul
when the evil spirit came upon him. With God the song begins a
second time more nearly than at first. The singer was also a
little more tranquil. Outward expression of desire was gone;
there was no visible panting; the sorrow was not all restrained
within doors. Within or upon himself he was cast down; and,
verily, it may well be so, while our thoughts look more within
than upward. If self were to furnish comfort, we should have but
poor provender. There is no solid foundation for comfort in such
fickle frames as our heart is subject to. It is well to tell the
Lord how we feel, and the more plain the confession the better:
David talks like a sick child to its mother, and we should learn
to imitate him. Therefore will I remember thee. It is
well to fly to our God. Here is terra firma. Blessed down
casting which drives us to so sure a rock of refuge as thee, O
Lord! From the hill Mizar. He recalls his seasons of
choice communion by the river and among the hills, and
especially that dearest hour upon the little hill, where love
spake her sweetest language and revealed her nearest fellowship.
It is great wisdom to store up in memory our choice occasions of
converse with heaven; we may want them another day, when the
Lord is slow in bringing back his banished ones, and our soul is
aching with fear. "His love in times past" has been a
precious cordial to many a fainting one; like soft breath it has
fanned the smoking flax into a flame, and bound up the bruised
reed. Oh, never to be forgotten valley of Achor, thou art a door
of hope! Fair days, now gone, ye have left a light behind you
which cheers our present gloom. Or does David mean that even
where he was he would bethink him of his God; does he declare
that, forgetful of time and place, he would count Jordan as
sacred as Siloa, Hermon as holy as Zion, and even Mizar, that
insignificant rising ground as glorious as the mountains which
are round about Jerusalem! Oh! it is a heavenly heart which can
sing
"To me remains nor place nor time;
my country is in every clime;
I can be calm and free from care
On any shore, since God is there."
"Could I be cast where thou art not,
That were indeed a dreadful lot,
But regions none remote I call,
Secure of finding God in all."
Verse 7. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy
waterspouts. Thy severe dealings with me seem to excite all
creation to attack me; heaven, and earth, and hell, call to each
other, stirring each other up in dreadful conspiracy against my
peace. As in a waterspout, the deeps above and below clasp
hands, so it seemed to David that heaven and earth united to
create a tempest around him. His woes were incessant and
overwhelming. Billow followed billow, one sea echoed the roaring
of another; bodily pain aroused mental fear, Satanic suggestions
chimed in with mistrustful forebodings, outward tribulation
thundered in awful harmony with inward anguish: his soul seemed
drowned as in a universal deluge of trouble, over whose waves
the providence of the Lord moved as a watery pillar, in dreadful
majesty inspiring the utmost terror. As for the afflicted one he
was like a lonely bark around which the fury of a storm is
bursting, or a mariner floating on a mast, almost every moment
submerged. All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
David thought that every trouble in the world had met in him,
but he exaggerated, for all the breaking waves of Jehovah
have passed over none but the Lord Jesus; there are griefs to
which he makes his children strangers for his love's sake.
Sorrow naturally states its case forcibly; the mercy is that the
Lord after all hath not dealt with us according to our fears.
Yet what a plight to be in! Atlantic rollers sweeping in
ceaseless succession over one's head, waterspouts coming nearer
and nearer, and all the ocean in uproar around the weary
swimmer; most of the heirs of heaven can realise the
description, for they have experienced the like. This is a deep
experience unknown to babes in grace, but common enough to such
as do business on great waters of affliction: to such it is some
comfort to remember that the waves and billows are the Lord's, "thy
waves and thy billows, "says David, they are all
sent, and directed by him, and achieve his designs, and the
child of God knowing this, is the more resigned.
Verse 8. Yet the Lord will command his
lovingkindness in the daytime. Come what may there shall be
"a certain secret something" to sweeten all.
Lovingkindness is a noble life belt in a rough sea. The day may
darken into a strange and untimely midnight, but the love of God
ordained of old to be the portion of the elect, shall be by
sovereign decree meted out to them. No day shall ever dawn on an
heir of grace and find him altogether forsaken of his Lord: the
Lord reigneth, and as a sovereign he will with authority command
mercy to be reserved for his chosen. And in the night.
Both divisions of the day shall be illuminated with special
love, and no stress of trial shall prevent it. Our God is God of
the nights as well as the days; none shall find his Israel
unprotected, be the hour what it may. His song shall be with
me. Songs of praise for blessings received shall cheer the
gloom of night. No music sweeter than this. The belief that we
shall yet glorify the Lord for mercy given in extremity is a
delightful stay to the soul. Affliction may put out our candle,
but if it cannot silence our song we will soon light the candle
again. And my prayer unto the God of my life. Prayer is
yoked with praise. He who is the living God, is the God of our
life, from him we derive it, with him in prayer and praise we
spend it, to him we devote it, in him we shall prefect it. To be
assured that our sighs and songs shall both have free access to
our glorious Lord is to have reason for hope in the most
deplorable condition.
Verse 9. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou
forgotten me? Faith is allowed to enquire of her God the
causes of his displeasure, and she is even permitted to
expostulate with him and put him in mind of his promises, and
ask why apparently they are not fulfilled. If the Lord be indeed
our refuge, when we find no refuge, it is time to be raising the
question, "Why is this?" Yet we must not let go our
hold, the Lord must be my rock still; we must keep to him
as our alone confidence, and never forego our interest in him. Why
go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? He who
condescends to be pleaded with by Abraham, his friend, allows us
to put to him the question that we may search out the causes of
his severity towards us. Surely he can have no pleasure in
seeing the faces of his servants stained and squalid with their
tears; he can find no content in the harshness with which their
foes assail them. He can never take pleasure in the tyranny with
which Satan vexes them. Why then does he leave them to be mocked
by his enemies and theirs? How can the strong God, who is as
firm and abiding as a rock, be also as hard and unmoved as a
rock towards those who trust in him? Such enquiries humbly
pressed often afford relief to the soul. To know the reason for
sorrow is in part to know how to escape it, or at least to
endure it. Want of attentive consideration often makes adversity
appear to be more mysterious and hopeless than it really is. It
is a pitiable thing for any man to have a limb amputated, but
when we know that the operation was needful to save life, we are
glad to hear that it has been successfully performed; even thus
as trial unfolds, the design of the Lord sending it becomes far
more easy to bear.
Verse 10. As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies
reproach me. Cruel mockeries cut deeper than the flesh, they
reach the soul as though a rapier were introduced between the
ribs to prick the heart. If reproaches kill not, yet they are
killing, the pain caused is excruciating. The tongue cuts to the
bone, and its wounds are hard to cure. While they say daily
unto me, Where is thy God? This is the most unkind cut of
all, reflecting as it does both upon the Lord's faithfulness and
his servant's character. Such was the malice of David's foes,
that having thought of the cruel question, they said it,
said it daily, repeated it to him, and that for a
length, of time; surely the continual yapping of these curs at
his heel was enough to madden him, and perhaps would have done
so had he not resorted to prayer and made the persecutions of
his enemies a plea with his Lord.
Verse 11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and
why art thou disquieted within me? In the rehearsal of his
sorrow, he finds after all no sufficient ground for being
disquieted. Looked in the face, his fears were not so
overwhelming as they seemed when shrouded in obscurity. Hope
thou in God. Let the anchor still keep its hold. God is
faithful, God is love, therefore there is room and reason for
hope. Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
This is the same hopeful expression as that contained in verse
five, but the addition of and my God shows that the
writer was growing in confidence, and was able defiantly to
reply to the question, "Where is thy God?" Here, even
here, he is, ready to deliver me. I am not ashamed to own him
amid your sneers and taunts, for he will rescue me out of your
hands. Thus faith closes the struggle, a victor in fact by
anticipation, and in heart by firm reliance. The saddest
countenance shall yet be made to shine, if there be a taking of
God at his word and an expectation of his salvation.
"For yet I know I shall him praise
Who graciously to me,
The health is of my countenance,
Yea, mine own God is he."
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. "Sons of Korah." Who were the
sons of Korah? These opinions have more or less prevailed.
One is that they sprang from some one of that name in the days
of David. Mudge and others think that the sons of Korah were a
society of musicians, founded or presided over by Korah. Others
think that the sons of Korah were the surviving descendants of
that miserable man who, together with two hundred and fifty of
his adherents, who were princes, perished when "the earth
opened her mouth and swallowed them up, together with Korah."
In Nu 26:11 we read: "Notwithstanding the children of Korah
died not." They had taken the warning given, and had
departed from the tents of these wicked men. Nu 16:24,26. It
must be admitted that the name Korah and the patronymic Korahite
are found in the Scriptures in a way that creates considerable
doubt respecting the particular man from whom the Korahites are
named. See 1Ch 1:35 2:43 6:22,54 9:19 26:1 2Ch 20:19. Yet the
more common belief is that they descended from him who perished
in his gainsaying. This view is taken by Ainsworth with entire
confidence, by Gill, and others. Korah, who perished, was a
Levite. Whatever may have been their origin, it is clear the
sons of Korah were a Levitical family of singers. Nothing,
then, could be more appropriate than the dedication of a sacred
song to these very people. William S. Plumer.
Title. "Sons of Korah." The "Korah"
whose "sons" are here spoken of, is the Levite
who headed the insurrection against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness. Nu 16:1-50. We find his descendants existing as a
powerful Levitical family in the time of David, at least, if
they are to be identified, as is probable, with the Korahites
mentioned in 1Ch 12:6, who, like our own warlike bishops of
former times, seem to have known how to doff the priestly
vestment for the soldier's armour, and whose hand could wield
the sword as well as strike the harp. The Korahites were a part
of the band who acknowledged David as their chief, at Ziklag;
warriors "whose faces, "it is said, "were like
the faces of lions, and who were (for speed) like gazelles upon
the mountains." According to 1Ch 9:17-19, the Korahites
were in David's time, keepers of the threshold of the
tabernacle; and still earlier, in the time of Moses, watchmen at
the entrance of the camp of the Levites. In 1Ch 26:1-19, we find
two branches of this family associated with that of Merari, as
guardians of the doors of the Temple. There is probably an
allusion to this their office, in Ps 84:10. But the Korahites
were also celebrated musicians and singers; see 1Ch 6:16-33,
where Heman, one of the three famous musicians of the time, is
said to be a Korahite (compare 1Ch 25:1-31). The musical
reputation of the family continued in the time of Jehoshaphat
2Ch 20:19, where we have the peculiar doubly plural form (Myxrqhynb),
"Sons of the Korahites." J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Title. "Sons of Korah." Medieval
writers remark how here, as so often, it was the will of God to
raise up saints where they could have been least looked for. Who
should imagine that from the posterity of him who said, "Ye
take too much upon you, ye sons of Aaron, "should have
risen those whose sweet Psalms would be the heritage of the
church of God to the end of time? J. M. Neale.
Verse 1. The hart panteth after the water brooks.
And here we have started up, and have sent leaping over the
plain another of Solomon's favourites. What elegant creatures
these gazelles are, and how gracefully they bound! ...The sacred
writers frequently mention gazelles under the various names of
harts, roes, and hinds...I have seen large flocks of these
panting harts gather round the water brooks in the great deserts
of Central Syria, so subdued by thirst that you could approach
quite near them before they fled. W. M. Thomson.
Verse 1. Little do the drunkards think that take so
much pleasure in frequenting the houses of Bacchus, that the
godly take a great deal more, and have a great deal more joy in
frequenting the houses of God. But it is a thing that God
promised long ago by the prophet: "Then will I bring to my
holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their
burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine
altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all
people." Isa 56:7. And I think, I hear the willing people
of God's power, merrily calling one to another in the words of
Mic 4:2, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us
of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go
forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
How is a godly man ravished with "the beauty of holiness,
"when he is at such meetings! How was holy David taken with
being in the house of God at Jerusalem! insomuch, that if he
were kept from it but a little while, his soul panted for it,
and longed after it, and fainted for lack of it, as a thirsty
hart would do for lack of water! As the hart panteth after
the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul
thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and
appear before God? The poor disconsolate captives preferred
it to the best place in their memory. "If I forget thee, O
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." Ps 137:5;
nay, they preferred it to their chiefest joy: "If I do not
remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if
I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy, "Ps 42:6. There
was no place in the world that David regarded or cared to be in
in comparison of it. "A day in thy courts is better than a
thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness" Ps 84:10,
insomuch, that he could find it in his heart, nay, and would
choose, if he might have his desire, to spend all his days in
that house. Ps 27:4. Zachary Bogan.
Verse 1. The soul strongly desires acquaintance with
God here in his ordinances. Chrysostom's very rhetorical upon
the text, and tells us how that David, like a lover in absence,
must express his affection; as they have their dainty sighs, and
passionate complaints, their loving exclamations, and sundry
discoveries of affection; they can meet with never a tree, but
in the bark of it they must engrave the name of their darling,
Denfos d o erws d kittos auton ek paaes anadeoai profaoews; it
will twine upon every opportunity, as the Moralist speaks. And
the true lovers of God, they are always thinking upon him,
sighing for him, panting after him, talking of him, and (if it
were possible) would engrave the name of the Lord Jesus upon the
breasts of all the men in the world. Look upon David, now a
banished man, and fled from the presence of Saul, and see how he
behaves himself: not like Themistocles or Camillus, or some of
those brave banished worthies. He does not complain of the
ungratefulness of his country, the malice of his adversaries,
and his own unhappy success. No, instead of murmuring, he falls
a panting, and that only after his God. He is banished from the
sanctuary, the palace of God's nearest presence, and chiefest
residence; he cannot enjoy the beauty of holiness, and all other
places seem to him but as the tents of Kedar. He is banished
from the temple, and he thinks himself banished from his God, as
it is in the following words, When shall I come and appear
before God? The whole stream of expositors run this way,
that it is meant of his strong longing to visit the Temple, and
those amiable courts of his God, with which his soul was so much
taken. Nathanael Culverwel's "Panting Soul,"
1652.
Verses 1-3. are an illustration of the frequent use of
the word Elohim in the second book of Psalms. We give Fry's
translation of the first three verses.—
As the hart looketh for the springs of water,
So my soul looketh for thee, O Elohim.
My soul is athirst for Elohim for the living El:
When shall I go and see the face of Elohim?
My tears have been my meat day and night,
While they say to me continually, Where is thy Elohim?
Verse 3. My tears have been my meat day and night.
The psalmist could eat nothing because of his extreme grief. John
Gadsby.
Verse 3. They say unto me. It is not only of
me, but to me; they spake it to his very face, as those who were
ready to justify it and make it good, that God had forsaken him.
Backbiting argues more baseness, but open reproach carries more
boldness, and shamelessness, and impudence in it; and this is
that which David's enemies were guilty of here in this place. Thomas
Horton.
Verse 3. Where is thy God? God's children are
impatient, as far as they are men, of reproaches; but so far as
they are Christian men, they are impatient of reproaches in
religion; Where is now thy God? They were not such
desperate Atheists as to think there was no God, to call in
question whether there were a God or no, though, indeed, they
were little better; but they rather reproach and upbraid him
with his singularity, where is thy God? You are
one of God's darlings; you are one that thought nobody served
God but you; you are one that will go alone—your God!
So this is an ordinary reproach, an ordinary part for wicked men
to cast at the best people, especially when they are in misery.
What it become of your profession now? What is become of your
forwardness and strictness now? What is become of your God that
you bragged so of, and thought yourselves so happy in, as if he
had been nobody's God but yours? We may learn hence the
disposition of wicked men. It is a character of a full of
poison, cursed disposition to upbraid a man with his religion.
But what is the scope? The scope is worse than the words Where
is thy God? The scope is to shake his faith and his
confidence in God, and this is that which touched him so
nearly while they upbraided him. For the devil knows well enough
that as long as God and the soul join together, it is in vain to
trouble any man, therefore he labours to put jealousies, to
accuse God to man, and man to God. He knows there is nothing in
the world can stand against God. As long as we make God our
confidence, all his enterprises are in vain. His scope is,
therefore, to shake our affiance in God. Where is thy God?
So he dealt with the head of the church, our blessed Saviour
himself, when he came to tempt him. "If thou be the Son of
God, command these stones to be made bread." Mt 4:3. He
comes with an "if, "he laboured to shake him in
his Sonship. The devil, since he was divided from God himself
eternally, is become a spirit of division; he labours to divide
even God the Father from his own Son; "If thou be the
Son of God?" So he labours to sever Christians from
their head Christ. Where is thy God? There was his scope,
to breed division if he could, between his heart and God, that
he might call God into jealousy, as if he had not regarded him:
thou hast taken a great deal of pains in serving thy God; thou
seest how he regards thee now; Where is thy God? Richard
Sibbes.
Verse 3. How powerfully do the scoffs and reproaches
of the ungodly tend to shake the faith of a mind already
dejected! How peculiarly afflictive to the soul that loves God,
is the dishonour cast upon him by his enemies! Henry March,
in "Sabbaths at Home, "1823.
Verse 3. Where is thy God?
"Where is now thy God!" Oh, sorrow!
Hourly thus to hear him say,
Finding thus the longed for morrow,
Mournful as the dark to day.
Yet not thus my soul would languish,
Would not thus be grieved and shamed,
But for that severer anguish,
When I hear the Lord defamed.
"Where is now thy God!" Oh, aid me,
Lord of mercy, to reply—
"He is HERE—though foes invade me,
Know his outstretched arm is nigh."
Help me thus to be victorious,
While the shield of faith I take;
Lord, appear, and make thee glorious:
Help me for thy honour's sake.
—Henry March.
Verse 4. When I remember these things, etc. To
a person in misery it is a great increase of misery to have been
once happy: it was to David an occasion of new tears when he
remembered his former joys. Time was, says the poor soul, when I
thought of God with comfort, and when I thought of him as my own
God; and to lose a God that I once enjoyed is the loss of all my
losses, and of all my terrors the most terrible. Time was when I
could go and pray to him, and ease myself in prayer; but now I
have no boldness, no hope, no success in prayer. I cannot call
him my Father any more. Time was when I could read the
Bible and treasure up the promises, and survey the land of
Canaan as my own inheritance; but now I dare not look into the
Word lest I read my own condemnation there. The Sabbath was
formerly to me as one of the days of heaven, but now it is also,
as well as the rest, a sad and mournful day. I formerly rejoiced
in the name of Christ, "I sat under his shadow." So
2:3. I was in his eyes as one that found favour; but now my soul
is like the deserts of Arabia, I am scorched with burning heat.
From how great a height have I fallen! How fair was I once for
heaven and for salvation, and now am like to come short of it! I
once was flourishing in the courts of the Lord, and now all my
fruit is blasted and withered away: "his dew lay all night
upon my branches, "but now I am like the mountains of
Gilboa, no rain falls upon me. Had I never heard of heaven I
could not have been so miserable as I now am: had I never known
God, the loss of him had not been so terrible as now it is like
to be. Job 29:2-3. Timothy Rogers.
Verse 4. (first clause). The blessedness of
even the remembrance of divine worship is so great, that it can
save the soul from despair. J. P. Lange's Commentary.
Verse 4. I pour out my soul. The very soul of
prayer lies in the pouring out of the soul before God. Thomas
Brooks.
Verse 4. I had gone with the multitude, I went with
them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with
a multitude that kept holyday. The gracious God is pleased
to esteem it his glory to have many beggars thronging at the
beautiful gate of his temple, for spiritual and corporal alms.
What an honour is it to our great Landlord that multitudes of
tenants flock together to his house to pay their rent of thanks
and worship for their all which they hold of him! How loud and
lovely is the noise of many golden trumpets! Good Lord, what an
echo do they make in heaven's ears! When many skilful musicians
play in concert with well tuned and prepared instruments the
music cannot but be ravishing to God himself. George Swinnock.
Verse 4. Do but consider David's tears and grief for
want of, and his fervent prayers for the fruition of public
ordinances even then, when he had opportunities for private
performances; and surely thou wilt esteem the ministry of the
Word no mean mercy. See his sorrow when he was driven from God's
sanctuary. When I remember these things I pour out my soul in
me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the
house of God." "My soul is poured out; that is, I
am overwhelmed with grief, and ever ready to die when I compare
my present condition with my former happiness in the fruition of
religious assemblies. There is an elegancy in the phrase poured
out; the word is applied to water, or any liquid thing, and
in Scripture signifieth abundance. Joe 2:28. My life is ready to
be poured out as water upon the ground, which cannot be gathered
up again, when I remember my former mercies, and consider my
present misery...The loss of his father, mother, wives,
children, lands, liberty—nay, of his very life, would not have
gone so near his heart as the loss of public ordinances. As his
sorrow was great for the want, so was his suit most earnest for
the enjoyment of them. How many a prayer doth he put up for the
liberty of the tabernacle! Ps 43:3-4 27:4,8. It is the one
thing, the principal thing which he begs of God. Henry Smith.
Verse 4. The bias of the soul is remarkably shown by
the objects of regretful recollection. Henry March.
Verse 4. With a multitude that kept holy day.
Though private prayer be a brave design
Yet public hath more promises, more love:
And love's a weight to hearts, to eyes a sign.
We all are but cold suitors; let us move
Where it is warmest. Leave thy six and seven;
Pray with the most: for where most pray, is heaven.
—George Herbert, in "The Temple."
Verse 5. WHY art thou cast down, O my soul?
Athanasius counselled his friend, that when any trouble should
fall upon him, he should fall presently to the reading of this
Psalm; for there was a way, he thought, of curing by the like,
as well as by the contrary: for it is observed indeed
that when two instruments are tuned to the same unison, if you
touch the strings of the one, the strings of the other will move
too, though untouched, if placed at a convenient distance. That
therefore you may try the same experiments upon yourselves, do
but set your affections for a tune in the same key in which
these words were spoken; if really you feel none, imagine
some affliction laid upon you; when you have done so, that you
may be the more fully moved, place your attention at a
convenient distance, look narrowly on this holy prophet, observe
how he retires himself, shuts out the world, calls his sad soul
to as sad a reckoning: Quare tam tristis? O my soul! thou
that wert infused to give me life; nay, says Philo the Jew, a
spark, a beam of the divinity, thou, which shouldest be to this
dark body of mine as the sun is to the earth, enlightening,
quickening, cheering up my spirits; tell me, why art thou
clouded? why art thou cast down? ...
Think of this, ye that feel the heaviness of your soul; think
of it, ye that do not, for ye may feel it. Know there is a
sorrow "that worketh repentance not to be repented
of." Know again there is a sorrow "that worketh
death." Remember that there were tears that got sinful Mary
heaven; remember again there were tears that got sinful Esau nothing.
For as in martyrdom, it is not the sword, the boiling lead, or
fire, not what we suffer, but why, that makes us
martyrs; so in our sorrows, it is not how deep they wound, but why,
that justifies them. Let every one, therefore, that hath a
troubled heart, ask his soul the "Why:" "Why
art thou cast down?" Is it not for thine own sins, or
the sins of others? Take either of them, thine eyes will have a
large field to water. Is it for that thou hast been a child of
wrath, a servant of the devil? Is it for that thou art a candle
set in the wind, blown at by several temptations? or is it for
that thou wouldst be freed from them? "Woe is me, that I
sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" Ps
120:5. Art thou troubled as St. Augustine was, when he read that
the way to heaven was narrow, the number small that travelled
thither? Or hast thou put on St. Bernard's resolution, who had
made a compact with his soul, never to joy till he had heard his
Saviour call him, "Come ye blessed, "nor never to
leave sorrowing till he had escaped the bitter sentence,
"Go, ye cursed?" If any of these be the Why,
the ground of thy sorrows, if such thoughts have cast thee
down; know, that thy Saviour hath already blessed thee, for
"Blessed are they that mourn." The angels are thy
servants, they gather thy tears; God is thy treasurer, he lays
them up in his bottle; the Holy Ghost is thy comforter, he will
not leave thee. Fear not, then, to be thus cast down,
fear not to be thus disquieted within thee. Brian Duppa
(Bishop), 1588-1662, in a Sermon entitled "The Soule's
Soloquie."
Verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
Why, or what may be the reason, that this text is three times
used in this Psalm and in the next? whereas you do not find two
verses of the same length used in all the Book of Psalms
besides, except in Psalm 107, where is often repeated, "O
that men would praise the Lord, "etc. Now, surely the
frequent mention of this text and words doth argue and note unto
us the weightiness of the matter...Wicked men oppressed David,
and the devil tempted him; yet he chides his own heart and
nothing else. David did not chide at Saul, nor chide at Absalom;
but he chides and checks his own heart. "Why art thou cast
down, O my soul?" Though the devil and wicked men, the one
do tempt, the other do oppress as instruments of punishment for
sin; yet we with David are to chide our own hearts. Consider,
what though in our translations the words are translated and
rendered passively, Why art thou cast down? yet, in the
original, they are rendered actively; we read it, Why art
thou cast down? etc; but in the original it is read, (yle
ymht-hmw yvkn yxxwtvt-hm) "Why bowest (or pressest) thou
down thyself, my soul? and why tumultest thou against me?"
As Arias Montanus, Cur humiliasti te? Cur deprimes te anima
mea? So Lorinus, Pr 12:25. And the words so read, they do
not intimate thus much, that God's own people may be cast down
too much for the sense of sin, and they are most active in their
own down casting. It is not God nor the devil that cast thee
down; but Why dost thou cast thyself down? to create more
trouble on thyself than either God doth inflict or the devil
tempt thee to. Christopher Love, in "The Dejected Soul's
Cure," 1657.
Verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
Consider but this, how much there is of God in the affliction.
1. Came it not without God's privity? Why art thou
troubled, then? Thy Father knowing of it would have stopped its
course if it had been best for thee. 2. Came it not without
his command? Why art thou troubled? It is the cup that thy
Father hath given thee, and wilt thou not drink it? 3. Is it thy
Father's will that thou shouldest suffer, and shall it be thy
humour to rebel? 4. Hath God done no more than he might do?
Why dost thou murmur, as if he had done thee wrong? 5. Is it a
piece of his wise acting? Why dost thou exalt thy foolish
will above his infinite wisdom? 6. Is his way a way of mercy?
Why does thy mutinous spirits tumble at it, as a rough way? 7.
Is the thing good that is befallen thee? Why dost thou
quarrel as if it were evil? 8. Is it less than men suffer,
than his own people, yea, than his own Son hath suffered, and
hast thou cause to complain? 9. Is it but thy merit? and
less than that, too; and shall the living man complain for the
punishment of his sin? 10. Is it in measure, ordered with
care? (1) by the physician's hand; and (2) a little draught, and
(3) proportioned to thy strength; (4) measured out according to
the proportion of strength and comfort he intends to measure
thee out, to bear it withal? Why are thou cast down? Why art
thou disquieted? Is the end and fruit of it but to make thee
white, and purify thee? to purge thy sin past, and to prevent it
for the time to come? and dost thou find a present fruit in it?
Dost thou find that now thou art turned into a chalk stone; thy
groves and images—those corruptions which did attend thee
while thou wert in prosperity, and which would attend thee if
you had those good things which you want, and are disquieted
for; and if those evils which you feel or fear were far from
your sense and fear, would still attend thee—that those do not
now stand up? Lift up thy head, Christian! say to thy soul, Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in
me? Meditate what there is of God in the cause of thy
disquietments. John Collinge (1623-1690) in "A Cordial
for a Fainting Soule," 1652.
Verse 5. Why art thou disquieted? more
literally, tumultuated, a word frequently applied to the
roaring and tumult and tossing of the sea. See Isa 17:12 Jer
5:22 6:23 51:55. Henry March.
Verse 5. Hope thou in God. I shall show what
powerful influence hope hath on the Christian in
affliction, and how. First, it stills and silences him under
affliction. It keeps the king's peace in the heart, which else
would soon be in an uproar. A hopeless soul is clamorous: one
while it charges God, another while it reviles his instruments.
It cannot long rest, and no wonder, when hope is not there. Hope
hath a rare art in stilling a froward spirit, when nothing else
can; as the mother can make the crying child quiet by laying it
to the breast, when the rod makes it cry worse. This way David
took, and found it effectual; when his soul was unquiet by
reason of his present affliction, he lays it to the breast of
the promise: "Why art thy cast down O my soul? and why art
thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God." And here his soul
sweetly sleeps, as the child with the breast in his mouth; and
that this was his usual way, we may think by the frequent
instances we find; thrice we find him taking this course in two
Psalms, 42 and 43...Secondly, this hope fills the afflicted soul
with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while
tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is
called "the rejoicing of hope, "Heb 3:6. And hope
never affords more joy than in affliction. It is on a watery
cloud that the sun paints those curious colours in the
rainbow...There are two graces, which Christ useth above any
other, to fill the soul with joy—faith and hope, because these
two fetch all their wine of joy without door. Faith tells the
soul what Christ hath done for it; and so comforts it; hope
revives the soul with the news of what Christ will do: both draw
at one tap—Christ and his promise. Condensed from William
Gurnall.
Verse 5. Hope thou in God. The word which is
here rendered, hope denotes that expectation which
is founded on faith in God, and which leads the soul to wait
upon him. The idea is beautifully expressed in Ps 39:7.
"And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee." Henry
March.
Verse 5. I shall yet praise him for the help of his
countenance. When it may be said, "He whom God loveth
is sick, "then it may be said, "This sickness is not
unto death; "and though it be to the first death, yet not
to the second. Who would think when Jonah was in the sea Jon
3:1-10, that he would preach at Nineveh? Who would think when
Nebuchadnezzar was in the forest Da 4:1-37, that he should reign
again in Babel? Who would think when Joseph was banished of his
brethren, that his brethren should seek unto him like his
servants? Who would think when Job scraped his sores upon the
dunghill, all his houses were burned, all his cattle stolen, and
all his children dead, that he should be richer than ever he
was? These are the acts of mercy which make the righteous sing,
"The Lord hath triumphed valiantly." Exodus 15-21. Henry
Smith.
Verse 5. I shall yet praise him. David's mind
is upon the duty more than upon the mercy; upon
the duty, as it is a matter of grace, more than
upon the mercy, as it is a matter of sense. And,
therefore, by a happy mistake, his tongue slips, as men are wont
to do in such cases, and he puts one for the other; when he
should say, I shall receive mercy from God, he says, I
shall give praise to him. Thomas Horton.
Verse 5. He is the skilful physician, who at the same
time that he evacuates the disease, doth also comfort and
strengthen nature; and he the true Christian, that doth not
content himself with a bare laying aside evil customs and
practices, but labours to walk in the exercise of the contrary
graces. Art thou discomposed with impatience, haunted with a
discontented spirit under any affliction? Think it not enough to
silence thy heart from quarrelling with God, but leave not till
thou canst bring it sweetly to rely on God. Holy David drove it
thus far, he did not only chide his soul for being disquieted,
but he charges it to trust in God. William Gurnall.
Verse 5. There was one Alice Benden, who, among
others, was imprisoned for religion in Canterbury Castle; but
after awhile, by the bishop's order, she was let down into a
deep dungeon, where none of her friends could come at her. There
she was fed with an halfpenny bread, and a farthing beer a day,
neither would they allow her any more for her money. Her lodging
was upon a little straw, between a pair of stocks and a stone
wall. This made her grievously to bewail and lament her estate,
reasoning with herself, why her Lord God did in so heavy a wise
afflict her, and suffered her thus to be sequestered from the
sweet society of her loving prison fellows. In this extremity of
misery, and in the midst of these dolorous mournings she
continued, till on a night, repeating that of the psalmist: "Why
art thou so heavy, O my soul? and why art thou so cast down
within me? Still trust in God, "etc.; and, God's
right hand can change all this, etc.; she received comfort
in the midst of her sorrows, and so continued joyful to the time
of her release. Samuel Clarke's "Mirror."
Verses 5, 11. In case thou art at any time oppressed
with sorrows, ask thy heart and soul that question which David
did in the like case twice in one Psalm: Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? and
certainly the soul would return answer, My distress of sadness
springs from my unbelief. You may know the disease by the cure,
in the very next words, O put thy trust in God; hope thou in
God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my
countenance, and my God. All sorrow of heart springs
principally from our unbelief, not from the greatness of other
evils; I mean, destructive sorrow, for godly sorrow is a
friend to godly joy. It is not so much the weight of the burden,
as the soreness of the back, that troubles the poor beast: so it
is not so much the weight of outward evils, as the inward
soreness of a galled conscience, not purified nor healed by
faith, that vexes and troubles the poor creature. Matthew
Lawrence, in "The Use and Practice of Faith," 1657.
Verses 5, 11. As afflictions do proceed from
ourselves, they may be called troubles, or perturbations; for
the best man doth sometimes cause this bad liquor to boil out of
his own bowels. David, not once, but often, hath cried out, Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thy disquieted in me?
And show me the man that annoys and troubles not himself in
vain, because with patience he doth not tarry the Lord's
leisure? The foolish bird, who, being in a room whose door is
locked, and the casements shut, beateth herself against the wall
and windows, breaking her feathers and bruising her body,
whereas, would she stay till the passages were by the keeper
opened, she might depart, being not at all wounded; even so
falleth it out with us: for when the Lord doth shut us up, and
straiten our liberty for a time, we would fain make way for
ourselves, having many devices in our hearts to break through
the walls of his providence; whereas, if we would stay his
leisure, depend on his promise, and submit ourselves to be
disposed of by his hand, we might with more ease endure this
prison, and with less hurt at the last be set at liberty. For
God is in one mind, and who can change him? He will bring to
pass that thing that he hath decreed upon us. John Barlow's
Sermon, 1618.
Verses 5, 11. If you would get assurance, spend more
time in strengthening your evidences for heaven, than in
questioning of them. It is the great fault of many Christians
they will spend much time in questioning, and not in
strengthening their comforts. They will reason themselves into
unbelief, and say, Lord, why should I believe? Why should I take
hold of a promise that am so unholy and so unmortified a
creature? And so by this they reason themselves to such a pass
that they dare not lay hold upon Christ, whereas it should be
your work to reason yourselves into Christ as much as you can.
Labour to strengthen your comforts, and reason thus, Why should
I not believe in Christ? Thus David did. Psalm 42. "Why
art thou troubled, O my soul, and why art thou cast down within
me?" Is not the mercy of God more than sin in the
creature? Is not there free grace where there is guilt? Are not
there pardoning mercies where condemnation is deserved? You
should reason up your comforts rather than reason them down, and
spend more time in strengthening than in questioning of them.
You would count him a very unwise man that hath a lease of so
much land, and he himself shall create scruples and doubts, and
shall use no means to make his title good. And truly many
Christians are as unwise for heaven. They have, as I may say,
good bond and seal that God will bring them to heaven, and yet
they will question and cavil themselves into unbelief. Beloved,
this should not be, but you ought rather to strengthen your
comforts than question them. Christopher Love.
Verse 6. O my God, my soul is cast down within me:
therefore will I remember thee. "Because I am very low
in spirit, am deeply sorrowful, therefore will I remember
thee. I will remember how condescending thou art to thy `poor
and afflicted people; 'how ready to receive them when deserted
or cast out by men; how kind and patient to hear their complaint
when they pour out the soul before thee. I will remember thy
lovingkindness to me in seasons past; how thou hast
looked on my distress, hast heard the voice of my supplications,
hast delivered me from my trials, or helped me to bear their
burden, strengthening me with strength in my soul. I will
remember all that I have enjoyed of thy presence when waiting on
thee in thy house, or when celebrating thy praises in company
with thy `saints, the excellent of the earth.' I will remember
what thou ART; how meet an object for the trust of a desolate
being like myself! For though I am poor, thou art rich; though I
am weak, thou art mighty; though I am miserable, thou art happy.
I will remember that thou art my God. That thou hast
manifested thyself to my soul, that thou hast enabled me to
choose thee for my portion, that I have trusted in thee, and
have never been confounded. I will remember that word of promise
on which thou hast caused me to hope, to which thou hast ever
been faithful throughout all the past, and will be, as I
truly believe, even unto the end." Oh, how happy, even in
the midst of their unhappiness, are they, who in their trials,
can take shelter in God! Henry March.
Verse 6. "MY God." Astonishing
expression! Who shall dare to say to the Creator of the ends of
the earth, the Majesty in the heavens, "My God"?
An exile, a wanderer, an outcast; a man forsaken, despised,
reviled; a soul cast down and disquieted: he shall dare.
By what right? Of covenant. Henry March.
Verse 6. Therefore will I remember thee from the
land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
It is remarkable what course the psalmist took to regain
comfort; he would remember three experiments of his
goodness—"the land of Jordan, "the land
"of the Hermonites, "and "the hill Mizar."
First, will I remember the land Jordan; that is, I will
remember the great goodness of God in drying up the river
Jordan, that so the tribes of Israel might pass over to the
promised land: why, God that hath been good, will be good. Then,
I will remember the land of the Hermonites; in that land
were Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan,
defeated; that you read of in Jos 12:1-2. "Now these are
the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and
possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising
of the sun, from the river Arnon unto Mount Hermon." Mizar,
some think to be a little hill near Mount Sinai, where the law
was given. I will remember God's goodness, in giving a law to
his people. Here David would call to remembrance the goodness of
God of old, to regain to him comfort and quietness in his mind. Christopher
Love.
Verse 6. The Hermons, or the peaks or ridges of
Hermon, the plural being used either because of the two
peaks of the mountain (Wilson, "Land of the Bible"),
or as I think probably, of the whole range of its snowy heights.
J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 6. The Hermons, i.e., as some suppose,
Mount Hermon, and the other mountains upon that side of the
river, just as Baalim means Baal, and other idols worshipped
with him; or more probably Mount Hermon considered not as a
single eminence, but a chain or range, like the Alps, the
Alleghenies, etc. J. A. Alexander.
Verse 6. From the hill. He that has a rich life
of past experience is thereby placed upon an eminence from which
he may take a happy view of the path lying before him. J. P
Lange's Commentary.
Verse 7. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy
waterspouts. Here he has conjoined two awful and terrific
phenomena of nature. It is a fact well ascertained by the
evidence of travellers, that the falling of waterspouts is not
uncommon on the coast of Judea. It should seem that they are
occasioned by the congregating of great masses of cloud, whose
waters concentrating to a point, pour themselves down in a
tremendous column, accompanied with a roaring noise. Now, the
image conceived in the mind of the psalmist seems to be that of
the rushing of this vast waterspout down into the sea, already
agitated, and increasing the turbulence and disorder of its
waves. And awful picture! Especially if there be added to it the
ideas of a black tempestuous sky, and the deafening roar
occasioned by the tumult. What would be the situation of a
vessel in the midst of such a tempest, the deluge pouring down
from above, and all around her the furious ocean heaving its
tremendous surges—how ungovernable, how helpless, how next to
impossible that she should escape foundering except by some
almost miraculous interference! Yet to such a situation does
David here compare the state of his soul when submersed, as it
were, under a sea of afflictions; "all thy waves and thy
billows are gone over me." How pungent must his sense of
grief have been to occasion him to make use of such a
comparison, so strongly expressive of the utmost danger and
terror! Henry March.
Verse 7. Deep calleth unto deep, etc. The abyss
above calls on the abyss below, in the voice of the droppings of
thy waterspouts. Targum.
Verse 7. Deep calleth unto deep. So let prayer
unto prayer, and faith unto faith, and one grace to the exercise
of another. If we cannot prevail with God it may be the first
time, yet we may the second; or if not then, the third. Thomas
Horton.
Verse 7. Deep calleth unto deep. What's that?
Why, it is expressed in the verse before: "O God, "says
he, "my soul is cast down within me." "Down,
"that is deep into the jaws of distrust and
fear. And, Lord, my soul in this depth of sorrow, calls
for help to thy depth of mercy. For though I am sinking
and going down, yet not so low but that thy mercy is yet
underneath me. Do, of thy compassions, open those everlasting
arms, and catch him that has no help or stay in himself. For so
it is with one that is falling into a well or a dungeon.
John Bunion.
Verse 7. Here the psalmist feels the spirit of
bondage, which is wrath and fear; and he prays for the joy of
God's salvation, and to be upheld by God's free spirit, which is
the Holy Spirit, the spirit of love and power. He complains of "deep
calling unto deep." A soul in the horrible pit hears
little else but the calls of law and justice for vengeance,
which are always answered again by the accusations of Satan and
conscience. The storms of Sinai, like a waterspout at
sea, threaten the earthen vessel with a deluge of wrath, which
would soon drown it in destruction and perdition. These waves of
real, and some imaginary, displeasure (no less terrible than
real), rolling over the poor creature, are ready to send the
bark to the bottom. This is the terrible way in which some
fallen and backsliding souls are purged and reclaimed, and
especially such as have brought public scandal upon the gospel,
and church of Christ. William Huntington (1744-1813) in
"Contemplations of the God of Israel."
Verse 7. Thy waterspouts. Dr. Boothroyd
translates (Kyrwnu), "thy cataracts." In
justification of which translation, he observes that the
situation of David suggested this forcible image. He saw the
torrents falling from the precipices, and heard them resounding,
and as if calling to one another for assistance; so, says he,
all thy waves, that is, afflictions and troubles, come upon me
and overwhelm me. John Morison.
Verse 7. Waterspouts. Look at those clouds
which hang like a heavy pall of sackcloth over the sea, along
the western horizon. From them, on such windy days as these, are
formed waterspouts, and I have already noticed several
incipient "spouts" lengthening downward from their
lower edge. These remarkable phenomena occur most frequently in
spring, but I have also seen them in autumn. They are not
accompanied with much rain; and between the dark stratum above
and the sea, the sky is clear and bright. Here and there
fragments of black vapour, shaped like long funnels, are drawn
down from the clouds towards the sea, and are seen to be in
violent agitation, whirling around on themselves as they are
driven along by the wind. Directly beneath them, the surface of
the sea is also in commotion by a whirlwind, which travels on in
concert with the spout above. I have often seen the two actually
unite in midair, and rush toward the mountains, writhing, and
twisting, and bending, like a huge serpent, with its head in the
clouds and its tail on the deep. They make a loud noise, of
course, and appear very frightful. Deep calleth unto deep at
the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are
gone over me, said David, when his soul was cast down within
him. But, though formidable in appearance, they do very little
injury. I have never heard of more than one instance in which
they proved destructive even to boats, though the sailors are
extremely afraid of them. As soon as they approach the shore,
they dissolve and disappear. That kind of waterspout which
bursts on the mountains, generally in the dry months of summer,
does immense mischief. In a few minutes the wadies along its
track are swollen into furious rivers, which sweep away grain,
olives, raisins, and every other produce of the farmer. I have
frequently known them to carry off and drown flocks of sheep and
goats, and even cows, horses, and their owners alike. W. M.
Thomson.
Verse 7. All thy waves and thy billows.
Deep to deep incessant calling,
Tossed by furious tempests' roll,
Endless waves and billows falling,
Overwhelm my fainting soul.
Yet I see a Power presiding
Mid the tumult of the storm,
Ever ruling, ever guiding,
Love's intentions to perform.
Yes, mid sorrows most distressing,
Faith contemplates thy design,
Humbly bowing, and confessing
All the waves and billows THINE.
—Henry March.
Verse 7. All thy waves and thy billows are gone
over me.
Wide over misfortune's surging tide
Billows succeeding billows spread;
Should one, its fury spent, subside,
Another lifts its boisterous head.
—Agschylus in "The Seven Chief's against Thebes."
Verse 8. Yet the Lord will command his
lovingkindness. His expression is remarkable; he does not
say simply that the Lord will bestow, but command his
lovingkindness. As the gift bestowed is grace—free favour
to the unworthy; so the manner of bestowing it is sovereign. It
is given by decree; it is a royal donative. And if he
commands the blessing, who shall hinder its reception? Henry
March.
Verse 8. It is all one to a godly man, night or
day. For what night can there be to him who hath
God always with him, who is a sun to comfort him, as well
as a shield to protect him Ps 84:11; and the light of whose
countenance, if it be but very little, is more comfortable
than all things else whatsoever that the day can bring
with it. He can say, "When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light unto me" Mic 7:8; and "the Lord my
God will enlighten my darkness." Ps 18:28. To tell you the
truth, I think the night is the merriest time that the
godly man hath, and the saddest for the wicked man (who, though
he may make use of darkness to hide his sin, yet is he
afraid, because of that very thing in which his safety
consists). For if a man be merry in good company, he must needs
be more merry when he enjoys it better, and there is less to
disturb his mirth. So as it is with a godly man in the night,
when the greatest part of his hindrances are removed, and he can
"delight himself in the Almighty" without disturbance.
Job 27:10. David says that the Lord would indeed command his
lovingkindness in the daytime. but, in the night
(says he) his song shall be with me.—"His song,
"as I think, not of thanksgiving, but of joy and
exultation, such as God uses to give at that time. Job
35:10. In the daytime the soul is so taken up with base
employments, so distracted with variety of sensible objects, and
so busied with work for the body, that either she hath no
leisure at all to do her own work (such as this joy is as much
as anything) or she cannot do it so well as she would, or so
well as she could in the night, when she hath less to do.
I doubt not but the worldly and carnal man, now that I am
talking so much of night, and sleep, will be ready to say
that I do but dream, and to answer me as the fellow did
the hunter, when he bade him hear "what heavenly music his
dogs made." For I know he counts the music and songs that
we speak of, nothing but a frenzy, or a fancy at least, such as
mad and diseased people have in their brain, while they imagine
it to be in the air. But, as Peter said of those upon whom the
Holy Ghost fell, "These men are not drunk, as ye suppose;
"so may I reply to such men, No such matter, the godly are
not mad, as ye suppose, for their songs are not works of their
own fancy, not made of their own head, but set for them by God
himself, "who giveth songs in the night." Job 35:10. Zachary
Bogan.
Verse 8. And my prayer unto the God of my life.
Here may be seen that David's religion was a religion of prayer after
deliverance, as well as before. The selfish who cry out in
trouble will have done with their prayers, when the trouble is
over. With David it was the very reverse. Deliverance from
trouble would strengthen his confidence in God, embolden his
addresses to him, and furnish him with new arguments...There is
great need of prayer after deliverance; for the time of
deliverance is often a time of temptation; the soul being
elated, and thrown off its guard. At such seasons much of the
joy that is felt may be merely natural, as David's would
probably be when rescued from that corroding care which injures
the body as well as distresses the soul. There is danger of
mistaking; of supposing it to be all spiritual, and hence of
imagining the soul to be in a higher state of grace than it
really is, and so, of being imperceptibly drawn into a state of
false security. There is then especial need of that prayer.
"Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." And with some
peculiarly, who being of a sanguine constitution of mind, are in
times of enjoyment, soon puffed up and brought into danger. Henry
March.
Verse 8. (last clause). Your song and your
prayer must be directed to God as the God of your life.
You do not own him as God, except you own and adore him as your
all sufficient good, and that "fulness which filleth all in
all." You detract from the glory of his Godhead, if you
attribute not this to him; and if, accordingly, as one that
cannot live without him, you do not seek union with him, and
join yourself to him, and then rejoice and solace yourself in
that blessed conjunction. John Howe.
Verse 9. God my rock. David was a fugitive,
with little means of defence, and continually pursued by enemies
who were powerful and numerous. The country in which he wandered
was mountainous, and he often sought and found shelter on the
tops of precipitous rocks, or in their natural hollows or
excavated caves. Thus the idea of shelter and defence being
associated in his mind with that of a rock, how natural that he
should apply the term to God, and when seeking him as his refuge
and helper, should address him by that appellation... Why
hast thou forgotten me? Not that he supposed he was
literally forgotten of God, so as to be given up and abandoned
by him; because he had still sufficient trust in his
faithfulness to seek him for a refuge, and to hope in his mercy.
His expression is to be regarded as the language of feeling, not
of judgment. He felt, he seemed, as one forgotten by God. Those
visits of love, those manifestations of favour with which he had
formerly been indulged, and which then seemed to him to be so
many tokens of the divine remembrance, were now withheld, now
when, on account of his distress, they appeared so unspeakably
more needful and desirable; whence it was that he felt as one
forgotten. Henry March.
Verse 10. Mine enemies. It is strange that he
should have enemies, that was so harmless a man that when they
were sick and distressed, he prayed for them, and put on
sackcloth for them, as it is, Ps 35:1-28. This compassionate
sweet natured man, yet, notwithstanding, you see he had enemies,
and enemies that would discover themselves to reproach him, and
that bitterly; in the bitterest manner, they reproach him in his
religion. We may be armed by this observation against the
scandal of opposition—that if we meet with enemies in the
world, we should not be much offended at it; grieve we may, but
wonder we need not. Was there ever any that did more good than
our Saviour Christ? "He went about doing good." Ac
10:38. He did never a miracle that was harmful (but only of the
swine that were drowned in the sea, and that was their own
fault), but he went about doing all the good he could; yet,
notwithstanding, we see what malicious opposites he had. That
that is true of the head must be true in the members. Therefore
we should rejoice in our conformity to Christ, if it be in a
good cause, that we find enemies and opposition. The devil is
not made a Christian yet, and he will never be made good, for
his is in termino, as we say, he is in his bounds, his
nature is immovable; he is in hell in regard of his estate,
though he be loose to do mischief. Now, until the devil be good,
God's children shall never want enemies; and he will never be
good; therefore, though there were good kings and good governors
over all the world, yet good men shall never want enemies as
long as the devil is alive, as long as he hath anything to do in
the world. Enemies, therefore, we must look for, and such
enemies as will not conceal their malice neither; for that were
something, if they would suffer their malice to boil and concoct
in their own hearts, but that will not be, but "out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth will speak." Richard
Sibbes.
Verse 10. They say daily unto me. Here's their
constancy and perseverance in this their carriage and language,
it is daily, or all the day, (Mwyh-lk) It is not
only for a fit and away, but it is their frequent and continual
practice; it's every, and it's all the day; they begin in the
morning, and they hold out still till night as unquiet persons
use to do; and they begin the week with it, and so they continue
till the end; he could never come into their company or near
them, but he had such language from them. Thomas Horton.
Verse 10. Where is thy God? David might rather
have said to them, Where are your eyes? where is your sight? for
God is not only in heaven, but in me. Though David was shut out
from the sanctuary, yet David's soul was a sanctuary for God;
for God is not tied to a sanctuary made with hands. God hath two
sanctuaries, he hath two heavens—the heaven of heavens and a
broken spirit. God dwelt in David as in his temple. God was with
David and in him; and he was never more with him, nor never more
in him than in his greatest afflictions. They wanted eyes, he
wanted not God. Though sometimes God hide himself, not only from
the world but from his own children, yet he is there; howsoever
their sorrow is such that it dims their sight (as we see in
Hagar), so that they cannot see him for the present, he
sometimes looks in their face, as we see in Mary's case. She
could not see Christ distinctly, but thought him to be the
gardener. There is a kind of concealment awhile in heavenly
wisdom, yet notwithstanding, God is with his children always,
and they know it by faith though not by feeling
always...Therefore, it was an ignorant question of them to ask, Where
is thy God? It showed that they were ignorant of the
passages of God's dealing with his children, as indeed none are
greater atheists than your scoffers. Where is thy God? as
if God had been only a God of observation, to be observed
outwardly in all his passages towards his children; whereas, as
I said, he is a God hiding himself ofttimes; and he shows
himself in contrary conditions most of all, most comfortably.
His work is by contraries. But these carnal men were ignorant of
the mysteries of religion, and the mysteries of divine
providence towards God's children. Therefore, their question
savours of their disposition, Where is now thy God? Richard
Sibbes.
Verse 10. Where is thy God? It is the deriding
question which persecutors put to the saints in the time of
their trials and troubles, Ubi Deus? "Where is now
your God?" But they may return a bold and confident answer,
Hic Deus, "Our God is here, "our God is nigh
unto us, our God is round about us, our God is in the midst of
us, our God has given us his promise "that he will never
leave us nor forsake us." Heb 13:5. In every trouble, in
every danger, in every death, the Lord will be sure to keep us
company. God will bear his children company, not only whilst
they are in a delightful paradise, but also when they are in a
howling wilderness. Ho 2:14. When a company of poor Christians
were going into banishment, one standing by to see them pass
along said, that it was a very sad condition that those poor
people were in, to be thus hurried from the society of men, and
to be made companions of the beasts of the fields. True, said
another, it were a sad condition indeed, if they were carried to
a place where they should not find their God; but let them be of
good cheer, for God goes along with them, and will exhibit the
comforts of his presence whithersoever they go, his presence is
infinite, and filleth all places. The Rabbins put Makom,
which signifies place, among the names of God; Bythner
brings them in expounding that text Es 4:14, thus:
"Deliverance shall arise from another place, "that is,
from God. Now, they called God place, because he is in
every place, filling heaven and earth with his presence. Thomas
Brooks.
Verse 10. Forest flies, small as they are, drive the
noble war horse mad; therefore David says, As with a sword in
my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto
me, Where is thy God? Frederick William Robertson, 1851.
Verse 11. Imitate here the example of David, instead
of yielding to a vague grief: cite your soul; enquire of
it the particular cause of your sorrow: different remedies will
be requisite according to the different sources of your
distress; and be careful that you trifle not with God, and your
comfort, and your salvation, while you enquire of your soul, Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? Be impartial, there is
another and more solemn judgment to succeed: be persevering,
like the psalmist, return, again and again to the investigation:
be prayerful; self love, or the delusion of your heart, may
otherwise deceive you. Pray then to God, to "search you,
and see if there be any wicked way in you." Henry
Kollock, D.D., in "Sermons," etc. 1822.
Verse 11. Hope. Hope is like the sun, which, as
we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
Samuel Smiles, L.L.D.
Verse 11. God...is the health of my countenance.
The health of David's countenance was not in his countenance,
but in his God, and this makes his faith silence his
fears, and so peremptorily resolve upon it, that there is a time
coming (how near so ever he now lies to the grave's mouth) when
he shall yet praise him. The health and life of thy grace
lie both of them, not in thy grace, saith faith, but in God,
who is thy God, therefore I shall yet live and praise
him. I do not wonder that the weak Christian is melancholy and
sad, when he sees his sickly face in any other glass than this. William
Gurnall.
Verse 11. The health of my countenance. The
countenance is often a true index to the mind. In the present
awakening in religion, nothing is more remarkable than the sad
or joyous looks of those whom God has spiritually exercised. It
is easy who are sad, and who happy. There is nothing new in
this; the psalmist says, "My soul is cast down within
me." Therefore had he a dejected countenance; but said he,
"Send thy light and thy truth; let them lead me; then will
I go unto God, my exceeding joy...And he shall be the health
of my countenance." In his sorrow, the face of Jesus
was marred more than any man's, and his visage more than the
sons of men. The martyr Stephen was so filled with the sight of
Jesus, that in the midst of his persecutors, with death in
prospect, he had a face which "shone as the face of an
angel." My friend, how is it with thee? Is thy countenance
sad? or doth it shine with the joy of the Lord, telling the true
tale of thy life and lot? J. Denham Smith. 1860.
Verse 11. Hast thou seen the sun shine forth in
February, and the sky blue, and the hedgerows bursting into bud,
and the primrose peeping beneath the bank, and the birds singing
in the bushes? Thou hast thought that spring was already come in
its beauty and sweet odours. But a few days, and the clouds
returned, and the atmosphere was chilled, and the birds were
mute, and snow was on the ground, and thou hast said that spring
would never come. And thus sometimes the young convert finds his
fears removed, and the comforts of the gospel shed abroad in his
heart, and praise and thanksgiving, and a new song put in his
mouth. And he deems unadvisedly that his troubles are past for
ever. But awhile, and his doubts return, and his comforts die
away, and his light is taken from him, and his spirit is
overwhelmed, and he is fain to conclude that salvation and all
its blessings are not for him. But the spring, though late,
shall break at last. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and
why art thou disquieted within me? H. G. Salter's "Book of
Illustrations," 1840.
Verse 11. His arguments and motives hereunto are
impregnated with very great sense and strength; and urged upon
himself as the just rate thereof. Hope thou in God. For
he is 1. God. 2. Thy God. 3. The health of thy
countenance, and 4. One whom thou shalt (certainly
and for ever) praise as such. And 5. Do it yet, as
lamentable and hopeless as thy case appears at present through
seeming difficulties or unlikelihoods. God and ourselves well
understood, deeply considered, and skilfully urged and improved,
give gracious hearts the best encouragements and supports under
the severest accidents of time. And they will very strangely
animate our hopes in God under our sorest troubles and
dejections. David had (1) confidence in God; and (2) reasons for
it; and (3) skill and a heart to urge them. When he reviewed
himself, he saw that his soul was gracious; and so he knew God
valued it. It was bent for praising God; and so he knew that he
should have an opportunity and cause to do it, through some
signal favours from him. He had an interest in God; and he would
neither lose it nor neglect it, and he had great experience of
God's former mercies, and he would not forget them. And when he
thinks on God, then praises must be thought on too, and
everything relating to it, and all the divine perfections,
within the circumference of his knowledge, must have their fresh
remembrances and powerful sense revived upon his own heart. Matthew
Sylvester (1636-1708), in "Morning Exercises."
Verse 11. The soul, when once greatly disturbed, is
often not soon calmed, on account of infirmities and remaining
corruptions. Henry March.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. The longing heart and the panting hart
compared.
Verses 1,2. Those who have enjoyed the presence of God
in the public ordinances of religion will greatly desire, if
deprived of them, to be favoured with them again...Prevention
from attending the public ordinances of God's house may be made
the means of great benefit to the soul.
1. By renewing our relish for the provisions of the Lord's
house, which so soon and so often palls.
2. By making us to prize the means of grace more highly.
There is, through human degeneracy, a proneness to value things
less, however excellent in themselves, because of their being
common, or plentiful, or of easy attainment.
3. By driving us more directly from God. H. March.
Verses 1-3. The home sickness of the soul. What
awakens it in the soul? To what is it directed, or does it point
or tend? Wherewith can it be satisfied? By the bitter, but
ofttimes wholesome food of tears. J. P. Lange.
Verses 1-2. Those who have enjoyed the presence of God
in the public ordinances of religion will greatly desire, if
deprived of them, to be favoured with them again...Prevention
from attending the public ordinances of God's house may be
Verse 2.
1. What thirsts? "my soul."
2. For what? "for God."
3. In what way? "when shall I come."
Or, the cause, incentives, excellences, and privileges of
spiritual thirst.
Verse 2. (last clause). The true view of public
worship.
Verse 2. (last clause). Appearance before God
here and hereafter. Isaac Watts, D.D., Two Sermons.
Verses 1-3. The home sickness of the soul. What
awakens it in the soul? To what is it directed, or does it point
or tend? Wherewith can it be satisfied? By the bitter, but
ofttimes wholesome food of tears. J. P. Lange.
Verse 3. The believer's Lent, and its salt meats.
1. What causes the sorrow?
2. What will remove it?
3. What benefit will come of it?
Verses 3, 10. The carriage of David's enemies.
1. The nature of it, and that was reproach.
2. The expression of it, They say unto me.
3. The constancy of it: daily, or, all the
day long.
4. The specification of it, in a scornful and
opprobrious question: Where is (now) thy God? Thomas Horton.
Verse 4.
1. It is common for the mind, in seasons of sorrow, to seek
relief from the present in recollections of the past.
2. In recollections of past enjoyments, those that relate to
social worship will be peculiarly dear to the servant of God.
3. Man is a social being, hence he derives help from united
worship.
Verse 4. I pour out my soul in me. The
uselessness of mistrustful introspection.
Verse 4. I had gone with the multitude, etc.
Company, if it be that which is good, is a very blessed and
comfortable accommodation in sundry respects.
1. It is an exercise of men's faculties, and the powers and
abilities of the mind.
2. It is a fence against danger, and a preservative against
sadness and various temptations.
3. An opportunity of doing more good. Thomas Horton.
Verse 4. I had gone, etc. Sunny memories, their
lessons of gratitude and hope.
Verse 4. (last clause). Not Chaucer's tales of
the Canterbury pilgrims, but David's tales of the Jerusalem
pilgrims.
Verse 4. With the voice, etc. Congregational
singing defended, extolled, discriminated, and urged.
Verse 5. Sorrow put to the question, or the
Consolatory Catechism.
Verse 5. The sweetness, safety, and rightness of hope in
God. Good grip for the anchor.
Verse 5. The music of the future, I shall yet
praise him.
Verse 5. The help of his countenance, or the
sustaining power of God's presence.
Verse 5. Why art thou cast down?
1. The mind, even of a holy man, may be unduly cast down and
disquieted.
2. In cases of undue dejection and disquietude, the proper
remedy is to expostulate with the soul, and to direct it to the only
true source of relief.
3. Expostulation with the soul in times of distress, is then
productive of its proper end, when it leads to an immediate
application to God. H. March.
Verse 5. An emphasis of enquiry or examination;
David calls himself to account for his present passion and
trouble of mind. An emphasis of reproof or objurgation;
David chides and rebukes himself for his present distemper. "Why
art thou thus?" Thomas Horton.
Verses 5, 11. or help and health.
Verse 6. Remember thee. The consolation
derivable from thoughts of God.
Verse 6. Therefore will I remember thee. There
are two ways of understanding this; each of them instructive and
profitable...
1. It may be considered as an expression of determined
remembrance of God should he ever be found in such places
and conditions. Believers can suppose the worst, and yet hope
for the best.
2. The language may be considered as an expression of encouragement
derived from reflection. He had been in these situations and
circumstances, and had experienced in them displays of divine
providence and grace. W. Jay.
Verse 6. Ebenezers, many, varied, remembered, helpful.
Verse 7. Deep calleth unto deep. See Spurgeon's
Sermons, No. 865.
Verse 7. Deep calleth unto deep. One evil
inviting another.
1. The variety of evils—one evil to another.
2. The conjunction of evils—one evil with another.
3. The connexion of evils, or dependence and mutual
reference—one evil upon another. T. Horton.
Verse 7. The threefold depth which the saints and
servants of God are subject to here in this life.
1. The depth of temptation.
2. The depth of desertion.
3. The depth of affliction and human calamities. T.
Horton.
Verses 7, 8. In seasons of affliction the servants of
God will be distinguished from others by their ready perception
and acknowledgment of the hand of God in their trials. H.
March.
Verse 8. Daily mercy and nightly song; the mercies of
sunshine and shade.
Verse 8. (last clause). The blessed alternation
between praise and prayer.
Verse 8. God of my life. Author, sustainer,
comforter, object, crown, consummation.
Verse 8. The God of my life. There is a
threefold life whereof we partake, and God is the God of each
unto us. First, the life of nature; secondly, the life of
grace; thirdly, the life of glory. T. Horton.
Verse 9. God my rock. Appellations of God,
suited to circumstances.
Verse 9. My rock. See Keach in his metaphors.
Verse 9.
1. Why thou?
2. Why I?
3. Why he? It is a why to all three. To God, Why
has thou forgotten me? To David himself, Why do I go
mourning? To David's adversary, whoever he was, Why
does the enemy oppress me?—T. Horton.
Verse 10. The most grievous of taunts.
Verse 11. My God.
1. It's a word of interest—My God, as in covenant
with him.
2. A word of compliance—My God, as submitting to
him.
3. A word of affection—My God, as taking delight,
and rejoicing in him. T. Horton.
Verse 11. A catechism, a consolation, a commendation.
Verse 11.
1. David's experience of God. He is the health,
or help of my countenance.
2. His relation to God, and interest in him—And
my God. T. Horton.
WORKS UPON THE FORTY-SECOND PSALM
A Practical Exposition of the Forty-second
Psalm, in ten Sermons, in Choice and Practical Expositions on
four select Psalms. Psalms 4, 42, 51, 63. By THOMAS HORTON,
D.D. 1675. Folio.
Sabbaths at Home: or, a help to their right
improvement; founded on the Forty-second and Forty-third
Psalms. Intended for the use of pious persons when prevented
from attending the public worship of God. By HENRY MARCH.
London: 1823.
On the eleventh verse of this Psalm there are
the following works:—Twelve Sermons, in "A Cordial for
a Fainting Soule." By JOHN COLLINGS. 1652. Part 2, pp.
133-206.
Thirteen Sermons in the works of WILLIAM
BRIDGE (1600-1670), entitled, "A Lifting Up for the
Downcast." Volume 2, of the edition of 1845.
Comfort and Counsel for Dejected Souls. By
JOHN DURANT. 8vo. 1651.
The Soul's Conflict with Itself. By RICHARD
SIBBES. (Numerous old editions). In Sibbes' Works, Nichol's
Puritan Series, vol. I.