TITLE. To the Chief Musician on
Neginoth. Another song to be accompanied by stringed
instruments. The strain is at one time mournful, and at another
softly sweet. It needed the chief musician's best care to see
that the music was expressive of the sentiment. Maschil.
It is not a mere personal hymn, there is teaching in it for us
all, and where our Lord shines through David, his personal type,
there is a great deep of meaning. Of David. The man of
many conditions, much tried, and much favoured, persecuted but
delivered and exalted, was from experience enabled to write such
precious verses in which he sets forth not only the sorrows of
common pilgrims, but of the Lord of the way himself.
SUBJECT. It would be idle to fix a time, and find an
occasion for this Psalm with any dogmatism. It reads like a song
of the time of Absalom and Ahithophel. It was after David had
enjoyed peaceful worship (Ps 55:14), when he was or had just
been a dweller in a city (Ps 55:9-11), and when he remembered
his former roamings in the wilderness. Altogether it seems to us
to relate to that mournful era when the King was betrayed by his
trusted counsellor. The spiritual eye ever and anon sees the Son
of David and Judas, and the chief priests appearing and
disappearing upon the glowing canvas of the Psalm.
DIVISION. From Ps 55:1-8, the
suppliant spreads his case in general before his God; in Ps
55:9-11, he portrays his enemies; in Ps 55:12-14, he mentions
one special traitor, and cries for vengeance, or foretells it in
Ps 55:15. From Ps 55:16-19 he consoles himself by prayer and
faith; in Ps 55:20-21 he again mentions the deceitful covenant
breaker, and closes with a cheering exhortation to the saints
(Ps 55:22), and a denunciation of destruction upon the wicked
and deceitful (Ps 55:22).
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Give ear to my prayer, O God. The fact
is so commonly before us, otherwise we should be surprised to
observe how universally and constantly the saints resort to
prayer in seasons of distress. From the Great Elder Brother down
to the very least of the divine family, all of them delight in
prayer. They run as naturally to the mercyseat in time of
trouble as the little chickens to the hen in the hour of danger.
But note well that it is never the bare act of prayer which
satisfies the godly, they crave an audience with heaven, and an
answer from the throne, and nothing less will content them. Hide
not thyself from my supplication. Do not stop thine ear, or
restrain thy hand. When a man saw his neighbour in distress, and
deliberately passed him by, he was said to hide himself from
him; and the psalmist begs that the Lord would not so treat him.
In that dread hour when Jesus bore our sins upon the tree, his
Father did hide himself, and this was the most dreadful part of
all the Son of David's agony. Well may each of us deprecate such
a calamity as that God should refuse to hear our cries.
Verse 2. Attend unto me, and hear me. This is
the third time he prays the same prayer. He is in earnest, in
deep and bitter earnest. If his God do not hear, he feels that
all is over with him. He begs for his God to be a listener and
an answerer. I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise. He gives
a loose to his sorrows, permits his mind to rehearse her griefs,
and to pour them out in such language as suggests itself at the
time, whether it be coherent or not. What a comfort that we may
be thus familiar with our God! We may not complain of
him, but we may complain to him. Our rambling thoughts
when we are distracted with grief we may bring before him, and
that too in utterances rather to be called a noise than
language. He will attend so carefully that he will understand
us, and he will often fulfil desires which we ourselves could
not have expressed in intelligible words. "Groanings that
cannot be uttered, "are often prayers which cannot be
refused. Our Lord himself used strong crying and tears, and was
heard in that he feared.
Verse 3. Because of the voice of the enemy. The
enemy was vocal and voluble enough, and found a voice where his
godly victim had nothing better than a "noise."
Slander is seldom short of expression, it prates and prattles
evermore. Neither David, nor our Lord, nor any of the saints
were allowed to escape the attacks of venomous tongues, and this
evil was in every case the cause of acute anguish. Because of
the oppression of the wicked: the unjust pressed and oppressed
the righteous; like an intolerable burden they crushed them
down, and brought them to their knees before the Lord. This is a
thrice told story, and to the end of time it will be true; he
that is born after the flesh will persecute him that is born
after the Spirit. The great seed of the woman suffered from a
bruised heel. For they cast iniquity upon me, they black me with
their soot bags, throw the dust of their lying over me, cast the
vitriol of their calumny over me. They endeavour to trip me up,
and if I do not fall they say I do. And in wrath they hate me.
With a hearty ill will they detested the holy man. It was no
sleeping animosity, but a moral rancour which reigned in their
bosoms. The reader needs not that we show how applicable this is
to our Lord.
Verse 4. My heart is sore pained within me. His
spirit writhed in agony, like a poor worm; he was mentally as
much in pain as a woman in travail physically. His inmost soul
was touched; and a wounded spirit who can bear? If this were
written when David was attacked by his own favourite son, and
ignominiously driven from his capital, he had reason enough for
using these expressions. And the terrors of death are fallen
upon me. Mortal fears seized him, he felt like one suddenly
surrounded with the glooms of the shadow of death, upon whom the
eternal night suddenly descends. Within and without he was
afflicted, and his chief terror seemed to come from above, for
he uses the expression, "Fallen upon me." He gave
himself up for lost. He felt that he was as good as dead. The
inmost centre of his nature was moved with dismay. Think of our
Lord in the garden, with his "soul exceeding sorrowful even
unto death, " and you have a parallel to the griefs of the
psalmist. Perchance, dear reader, if as yet thou hast not
trodden this gloomy way, thou wilt do soon; then be sure to mark
the footprints of thy Lord in this miry part of the road.
Verse 5. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon
me. Like house breakers these robbers were entering his
soul. Like one who feels a fainting fit coming over him, so the
oppressed suppliant was falling into a state of terror. His fear
was so great as to make him tremble. He did not know what would
happen next, or how soon the worst should come. The sly,
mysterious whisperings of slander often cause a noble mind more
fear than open antagonism; we can be brave against an open foe,
but cowardly, plotting conspiracies bewilder and distract us.
And horror hath overwhelmed me. He was as one enveloped in a
darkness that might be felt. As Jonah went down into the sea, so
did David appear to go down into deeps of horror. He was
unmanned, confounded, brought into a hideous state of suspense
and mortal apprehension.
Verse 6. And I said, Oh that I had wings like a
dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. If he could
not resist as an eagle, he would escape as a dove. Swiftly, and
unobserved, on strong, untiring pinions would he h away from the
abodes of slander and wickedness. His love of peace made him
sigh for an escape from the scene of strife.
"O for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit
Might never reach me more."
We are all too apt to utter this vain desire, for vain it is;
no wings of doves or eagles could bear us away from the sorrows
of a trembling heart. Inward grief knows nothing of place.
Moreover, it is cowardly to shun the battle which God would have
us fight. We had better face the danger, for we have no armour
for our backs. He had need of a swifter conveyance than doves'
pinions who would outfly slander; he may be at rest who does not
fly, but commends his case to his God. Even the dove of old
found no rest till she returned to her ark, and we amid all our
sorrow may find rest in Jesus. We need not depart; all will be
well if we trust in him.
Verse 7. Lo, then would I wander far off. Yet
when David was far off, he sighed to be once more near
Jerusalem; thus, in our ill estate we ever think the past to be
better than the present. We shall be called to fly far enough
away, and perchance we shall be loath to go; we need not indulge
vain notions of premature escape from earth.
And remain in the wilderness. He found it none such a dear
abode when there, yet resolves now to make it his permanent
abode. Had he been condemned to receive his wish he would ere
long have felt like Selkirk, in the poet's verse—
"O solitude, where are the charms
That sages have found in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place."
Our Lord, while free from all idle wishes, found much
strength in solitude, and loved the mountain's brow at midnight,
and the quiet shade of the olives of Gethsemane. It is better
practically to use retirement than pathetically to sigh for it.
Yet it is natural, when all men do us wrong, to wish to separate
ourselves from their society; nature, however, must yield to
grace, and we must endure the contradiction of sinners against
ourselves, and not be weary and faint in our minds. Selah. After
such a flight well may the mind rest. When we are going too
fast, and giving way too freely to regrets, it is well to cry,
"halt, "and pause awhile, till more sober thoughts
return.
Verse 8. I would hasten my escape. He tried to
pause but could not, like a horse which when pulled up slips on
a little because of the speed at which he was going. David
declares that he would not waste a moment, or stay to bid adieu
to his friends, but up and away at once, for fear he should be
too late, and because he could bear the clamour of his foes no
longer. From the windy storm and tempest. A storm was brewing,
and, like a dove, he would outfly it and reach a calmer region.
Swifter than the storm cloud would he fly, to avoid the deluge
of rain, and the flash of the lightning. Alas! poor soul, no
such wings are thine, as yet thou must tarry here and feel the
tempest; but be of good cheer, thou shalt stretch thy wings ere
long for a bolder flight, heaven shall receive thee, and there
thy sorrows shall have a finis of felicity among the birds of
paradise.
Verse 9. Destroy, O Lord. Put mine enemies to
the rout. Let them be devoured by the sword, since they have
unsheathed it against me. How could we expect the exiled monarch
to offer any other prayer than this against the rebellious bands
of Absalom, and the crafty devices of Ahithophel? Divide their
tongues. Make another Babel in their debates and councils of
war. Set them at cross purposes. Divide the pack that the hunted
one may escape. The divisions of error are the hope of truth.
For I have seen violence and strife in the city. The rabble and
their leaders were plotting and planning, raging and contending
against their king, running wild with a thousand mad projects:
anarchy had fermented among them, and the king hoped that now it
might come to pass that the very lawlessness which had exiled
him would create weakness among his foes. Revolution devours its
own children. They who are strong through violence, will sooner
or later find that their strength is their death. Absalom and
Ahithophel may raise the mob, but they cannot so easily rule it,
nor so readily settle their own policy as to remain firm
friends. The prayer of David was heard, the rebels were soon
divided in their councils; Ahithophel went his way to be hanged
with a rope, and Absalom to be hanged without one.
Verse 10. Day and night they go about it upon the
walls thereof. The city, the holy city had become a den of
wickedness; conspirators met in the dark, and talked in little
knots in the streets even in broad daylight. Meanwhile the
country was being roused to revolt, and the traitors without
threatened to environ the city, and act in concert with the
rebels within. No doubt there was a smothered fire of
insurrection which Absalom kindled and fanned, which David
perceived with alarm some time before he left Jerusalem; and
when he quitted the city it broke out into an open flame.
Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. Unhappy capital
to be thus beset by foes, left by her monarch, and filled with
all those elements of turbulence which breed evil and trouble.
Unhappy king to be thus compelled to see the mischief which he
could not avert laying waste the city which he loved so well.
There was another King whose many tears watered the rebellious
city, and who said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"
Verse 11. Wickedness is in the midst thereof.
The very heart of the city was base. In her places of authority
crime went hand in hand with calamity. All the wilder and more
wicked elements were uppermost; the canaille were
commanders; the scum floated uppermost; justice was at a
discount; the population was utterly demoralized; prosperity had
vanished and order with it. Deceit and guile depart not from her
streets. In all the places of concourse crafty tongues were busy
persuading the people with cozening phrases. Crafty demagogues
led the people by the nose. Their good king was defamed in all
ways, and when they saw him go away, they fell to
reviling the governors of their own choosing. The forum was the
fortress of fraud, the congress was the convention of cunning.
Alas, poor Jerusalem, to be thus the victim of sin and shame!
Virtue reviled and vice regnant! Her solemn assemblies broken
up, her priests fled, her king banished, and troops of reckless
villains parading her streets, sunning themselves on her walls,
and vomiting their blasphemies in her sacred shrines. Here was
cause enough for the sorrow which so plaintively utters itself
in these verses.
Verse 12. The reader will do well to observe how
accurately the psalmist described his own Psalm when he said,
"I mourn in my complaint, "or rather "give loose
to my thoughts, "for he proceeds from one point of his
sorrow to another, wandering on like one in a maze, making few
pauses, and giving no distinct intimations that he is changing
the subject. Now from the turbulent city his mind turns to the
false hearted councillor. For is was not an enemy that
reproached me; then I could have borne it. It was not an
open foe, but a pretended friend; he went over to the other camp
and tried to prove the reality of his treachery by calumniating
his old friend. None are such real enemies as false friends.
Reproaches from those who have been intimate with us, and
trusted by us, cut us to the quick; and they are usually so well
acquainted with our peculiar weaknesses that they know how to
touch us where we are most sensitive, and to speak so as to do
us most damage. The slanders of an avowed antagonist are seldom
so mean and dastardly as those of a traitor, and the absence of
the elements of ingratitude and treachery renders them less hard
to bear. We can bear from Shimei what we cannot endure from
Ahithophel. Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify
himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him.
We can find a hiding place from open foes, but who can escape
from treachery? If our enemies proudly boast over us we nerve
our souls for resistance, but when those who pretended to love
us leer at us with contempt, whither shall we go? Our blessed
Lord had to endure at its worst the deceit and faithlessness of
a favoured disciple; let us not marvel when we are called to
tread the road which is marked by his pierced feet.
Verse 13. But it was thou. He sees him. The
poetic fury is upon him, he sees the traitor as though he stood
before him in flesh and blood. He singles him out, he points his
finger at him, he challenges him to his face. But thou. Et tu,
Brute. And thou, Ahithophel, art thou here? Judas, betrayest
thou the Son of Man? A man mine equal. Treated by me as
one of my own rank, never looked upon as an inferior, but as a
trusted friend. My guide, a counsellor so sage that I trusted
thine advice and found it prudent to do so. And mine
acquaintance, with whom I was on most intimate terms, who knew
me even as I knew him by mutual disclosures of heart. No
stranger occasionally conversed with, but a near and dear friend
admitted to my secret fellowship. It was fiendish treason for
such a one to prove false hearted. There was no excuse for such
villainy. Judas stood very much in this relation to our Lord, he
was treated as an equal, trusted as treasurer, and in that
capacity often consulted with. He knew the place where the
Master was wont to spend his solitude; in fact, he knew all the
Master's movements, and yet he betrayed him to his remorseless
adversaries. How justly might the Lord have pointed at him and
said, But thou; but his gentler spirit warned the son of
perdition in the mildest manner, and had not Iscariot been
tenfold a child of hell he would have relinquished his
detestable purpose.
Verse 14. We took sweet counsel together. It
was not merely the counsel which men take together in public or
upon common themes, their fellowship had been tender and
confidential. The traitor had been treated lovingly, and trusted
much. Solace, mutual and cheering, had grown out of their
intimate communings. There were secrets between them of no
common kind. Soul had been in converse with soul, at least on
David's part. However feigned might have been the affection of
the treacherous one, the betrayed friend had not dealt with him
coldly, or guarded his utterance before him. Shame on the wretch
who could belie such fellowship, and betray such confidence! And
walked unto the house of God in company. Religion had rendered
their intercourse sacred, they had mingled their worship, and
communed on heavenly themes. If ever any bonds ought to be held
inviolable, religious connections should be. There is a measure
of impiety, of a detestable sort, in the deceit which debases
the union of men who make profession of godliness. Shall the
very altar of God be defiled with hypocrisy? Shall the
gatherings of the temple be polluted by the presence of
treachery? All this was true of Ahithophel, and in a measure of
Judas. His union with the Lord was on the score of faith, they
were joined in the holiest of enterprises, he had been sent on
the most gracious of errands. His cooperation with Jesus to
serve his own abominable ends stamped him as the firstborn of
hell. Better had it been for him had he never been born. Let all
deceitful professors be warned by his doom, for like Ahithophel
he went to his own place by his own hand, and retains a horrible
preeminence in the calendar of notorious crime. Here was one
source of heart break for the Redeemer, and it is shared in by
his followers. Of the serpent's brood some vipers still remain,
who will sting the hand that cherished them, and sell for silver
those who raised them to the position which rendered it possible
for them to be so abominably treacherous.
Verse 15. Not thus would Jesus pray, but the rough
soldier David so poured out the anguish of his spirit, under
treachery and malice seldom equalled and altogether unprovoked.
The soldier, as such, desires the overthrow of his foes, for
this very end he fights; and viewed as a matter of law and
justice, David was right in his wish; he was waging a just,
defensive war against men utterly regardless of truth and
justice. Read the words as a warrior's imprecation. Let death
seize upon them. Traitors such as these deserve to die, there is
no living with them, earth is polluted by their tread; if spies
are shot, much more these sneaking villains. Let them go down
quick into hell. While in the vigour of life into sheol
let them sink, let them suddenly exchange the enjoyment of the
quick or living for the sepulchre of the dead. There is,
however, no need to read this verse as an imprecation, it is
rather a confident expectation or prophecy: God would, he was
sure, desolate them, and cast them out of the land of the living
into the regions of the dead. For wickedness is in their
dwellings, and among them. They are too bad to be spared, for
their houses are dens of infamy, and their hearts fountains of
mischief. They are a pest to the commonwealth, a moral plague, a
spiritual pestilence, to be stamped out by the laws of men and
the providence of God. Both Ahithophel and Judas soon ended
their own lives; Absalom was hanged in the oak, and the rebels
perished in the wood in great numbers. There is justice in the
universe, love itself demands it; pity to rebels against God, as
such, is no virtue—we pray for them as creatures, we abhor
them as enemies of God. We need in these days far more to guard
against the disguised iniquity which sympathises with evil, and
counts punishment to be cruelty, than against the harshness of a
former age. We have steered so far from Scylla that Charybdis is
absorbing us.
Verse 16. As for me, I will call upon God. The
psalmist would not endeavour to meet the plots of his
adversaries by counterplots, or imitate their incessant
violence, but in direct opposition to their godless behaviour
would continually resort to his God. Thus Jesus did, and it has
been the wisdom of all believers to do the same. As this
exemplifies the contrast of their character, so it will foretell
the contrast of their end—the righteous shall ascend to their
God, the wicked shall sink to ruin. And the Lord shall save me.
Jehovah will fulfil my desire, and glorify himself in my
deliverance. The psalmist is quite sure. He knows that he will
pray, and is equally clear that he will be heard. The covenant
name is the pledge of the covenant promise.
Verse 17. Evening and morning, and at noon, will I
pray. Often but none too often. Seasons of great need call
for frequent seasons of devotion. The three periods chosen are
most fitting; to begin, continue, and end the day with God is
supreme wisdom. Where time has naturally set up a boundary,
there let us set up an altar stone. The psalmist means that he
will always pray; he will run a line of prayer right along the
day, and track the sun with his petitions. Day and night he saw
his enemies busy (Ps 55:10), and therefore he would meet their
activity by continuous prayer. And cry aloud. He would give a
tongue to his complaint; he would be very earnest in his pleas
with heaven. Some cry aloud who never say a word. It is the bell
of the heart that rings loudest in heaven. Some read it, "I
will nurse and murmur; "deep heart thoughts should be
attended with inarticulate but vehement utterances of grief.
Blessed be God, moaning is translatable in heaven. A father's
heart reads a child's heart. And he shall hear my voice. He is
confident that he will prevail; he makes no question that he
would be heard, he speaks as if already he were answered. When
our window is opened towards heaven, the windows of heaven are
open to us. Have but a pleading heart and God will have a
plenteous hand.
Verse 18. He hath delivered my soul in peace from
the battle that was against me. The deliverance has come.
Joab has routed the rebels. The Lord has justified the cause of
his anointed. Faith sees as well as foresees; to her foresight
is sight. He is not only safe but serene, delivered in
peace—peace in his inmost soul. For there were many with me;
many contending against me. Or it may be that he thankfully
acknowledges that the Lord raised him up unexpected allies,
fetched him succour when he most needed it, and made the
friendless monarch once more the head of a great army. The Lord
can soon change our condition, and he often does so when our
prayers become fervent. The crisis of life is usually the secret
place of wrestling. Jabbok makes Jacob a prevailing prince. He
who stripped us of all friends to make us see himself in their
absence, can give them back again in greater numbers that we may
see him more joyfully in the fact of their presence.
Verse 19. God shall hear, and afflict them.
They make a noise as well as I, and God will hear them. The
voice of slander, malice, and pride, is not alone heard by those
whom it grieves, it reaches to heaven, it penetrates the divine
ear, it demands vengeance, and shall have it. God hears and
delivers his people, he hears and destroys the wicked. Their
cruel jests, their base falsehoods, their cowardly insults,
their daring blasphemies are heard, and shall be repaid to them
by the eternal judge. Even he that abideth of old. He sits in
eternity, enthroned judge for evermore; all the prayers of
saints and profanities of sinners are before his judgment seat,
and he will see that justice is done. Selah. The singer pauses,
overwhelmed with awe in the presence of the everlasting God.
Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. His
own reverential feeling causes him to remember the daring
godlessness of the wicked; he feels that his trials have driven
him to his God, and he declares that their uninterrupted
prosperity was the cause of their living in such neglect of the
Most High. It is a very manifest fact that long continued ease
and pleasure are sure to produce the worst influences upon
graceless men: though troubles do not convert them, yet the
absence of them makes their corrupt nature more readily develop
itself. Stagnant water becomes putrid. Summer heat breeds
noxious insects. He who is without trouble is often without God.
It is a forcible proof of human depravity that man turns the
mercy of God into nutriment for sin: the Lord save us from this.
Verse 20. The psalmist cannot forget the traitor's
conduct, and returns again to consider it. He hath put forth his
hands against such as be at peace with him. He smites those to
whom he had given the hand of friendship, he breaks the bonds of
alliance, he is perfidious to those who dwell at ease because of
his friendly profession. He hath broken his covenant. The most
solemn league he has profaned, he is regardless of oaths and
promises.
Verse 21. The words of his mouth were smoother than
butter. He lauded and larded the man he hoped to devour. He
buttered him with flattery and then battered him with malice.
Beware of a man who has too much honey on his tongue; a trap is
to be suspected where the bait is so tempting. Soft, smooth,
oily words are most plentiful where truth and sincerity are most
scarce. But war was in his heart. He brought forth butter in a
lordly dish, but he had a tent pin ready for the temples of his
guest. When heart and lip so widely differ, the man is a
monster, and those whom he assails are afflicted indeed. His
words were softer than oil. Nothing could be more unctuous and
fluent, there were no objectionable syllables, no jars or
discords, his words were as yielding as the best juice of the
olive; yet were they drawn swords, rapiers unsheathed, weapons
brandished for the fray. Ah! base wretch, to be cajoling your
victim while intending to devour him! entrapping him as if he
were but a beast of prey; surely, such art thou thyself.
Verse 22. Thy burden, or what thy God lays upon
thee, lay thou it upon the Lord. His wisdom casts it on thee, it
is thy wisdom to cast it on him. He cast thy lot for thee, cast
thy lot on him. He gives thee thy portion of suffering, accept
it with cheerful resignation, and then take it back to him by
thine assured confidence. He shall sustain thee. Thy bread shall
be given thee, thy waters shall be sure. Abundant nourishment
shall fit thee to bear all thy labours and trials. As thy days
so shall thy strength be. He shall never suffer the righteous to
be moved. He may move like the boughs of a tree in the tempest,
but he shall never be moved like a tree torn up by the roots. He
stands firm who stands in God. Many would destroy the saints,
but God has not suffered it, and never will. Like pillars, the
godly stand immoveable, to the glory of the Great Architect.
Verse 23. For the ungodly a sure, terrible, and fatal
overthrow is appointed. Climb as they may, the pit yawns
for them, God himself will cause them to descend into it, and destruction
there shall be their portion. Bloody and deceitful men, with
double iniquity of cruelty and craft upon them, shall not live
out half their days; they shall be cut off in their quarrels, or
being disappointed in their artifices, vexation shall end them.
They were in heart murderers of others, and they became in
reality self murderers. Doubt not that virtue lengthens life,
and that vice tends to shorten it. But I will trust in thee. A
very wise, practical conclusion. We can have no better ground of
confidence. The Lord is all, and more than all that faith can
need as the foundation of peaceful dependence. Lord, increase
our faith evermore.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. Maschil. This is often prefixed to those Psalms
in which David speaks of himself as being chastened by God,
inasmuch as the end of chastisement is instruction. Simon de
Muis, 1587-1644.
Whole Psalm. A prayer of the Man Christ in his
humiliation, despised and rejected of men, when he was made sin
for his people, that they might be made the righteousness of God
in him, when he was about to suffer their punishment, pay their
debt, and discharge their ransom. Utter depravity of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem; betrayal of Messiah by one of the
twelve whom he had ordained to the apostolical office, and who
was Messiah's constant attendant in all his ministerial
circuits. Premature and punitive death of the traitor Judas, and
of others banded together to crucify the Lord of glory. John
Noble Coleman, M.A., in "A Revision of the authorised
English Version of the Book of Psalms, "1863.
Verse 1. In the first clause he uses the word ytlkt,
that he might indicate that he merely sought justice from God as
a Judge; but in the second he implores the favour of God,
that if perchance the prayer for justice be less becoming
to himself as a sinner, God may not deny his grace. Hermann
Venema.
Verse 1. Hide not thyself from my supplication.
A figure taken from the conduct of a king who debars an offender
from seeing his face (2Sa 14:24), or from an enemy, who conceals
himself from the ox, etc.; that is, pretends not to see it, and
goes away, leaving it (see De 22:1,3,4 Isa 58:7); or, from a
false friend, or an unkind person, who, foreseeing that he may
be entreated by a miserable and needy man, will not let himself
be seen, but seeks to make his escape. Martin Geier,
1614-1681.
Verse 2. I mourn. As one cast down with sorrow,
making a doleful noise. Henry Ainsworth, 1662.
Verse 2. I mourn, etc. A mourning supplicant
shall neither lose his prayers nor his tears; for, I mourn,
is brought for a reason of his hope that God shall attend and
hear him. David Dickson.
Verse 2. I mourn in my complaint. The literal
translation of these words is, I will suffer to wander in my
thinking; i.e., I will let my mind wander, or my thoughts
rove as they will. J. A Alexander.
Verse 2. In my complaint. Saints have their
complaints on account of their sins and corruptions, their
barrenness and unfruitfulness, and the decay of vital religion
in them, and because of the low estate of Zion, the declining
state of the interest of Christ, and the little success of his
gospel; and they mourn, in these complaints, over their own
sins, and the sins of others, professors and profane, and under
afflictions temporal and spiritual, both their own and the
church's. Christ also in the days of his flesh, had his
complaints of the perverseness and faithlessness of the
generation of men among whom he lived; of the frowardness,
pride, and contentions of his disciples; of the reproaches,
insult, and injuries of his enemies; and of the dereliction of
his God and Father; and he often mourned on account of one or
other of these things, being a man of sorrows and acquainted
with griefs. John Gill.
Verse 2. In my complaint. The word here
employed commonly means discourse, meditation. It here occurs in
the sense of complaint, as in Job 7:13 9:27 21:4 23:2 Ps
142:2 1Sa 1:16. It is not used, however, to denote complaint in
the sense of fault finding, complaining, accusing, or the idea
that we have been dealt with unjustly. This is not the meaning
in this place or in the Scriptures generally. It is the language
of a troubled, not of an injured spirit. Albert
Barnes, 1868.
Verse 2. In confession, when the soul melts into a
holy shame and sorrow for the sins he spreads before the Lord,
he feels a holy smart and pain within, and doth not act a
tragical part with a comical heart. Chrysostom saith, "To
paint tears is worse than to paint the face." Here is true
fervency, I mourn in my complaint and make a noise. There
may be fire in the pan when there is none in the piece; a loud
wind but no rain with it. David made a noise with his voice, and
mourned in his spirit. William Gurnall, 1617-1679.
Verse 3. Because of the voice of the enemy,
there is their railing; because of the oppression of the
wicked, there is their violent robbing him of his estate; they
cast iniquity upon me, there are their slanderous traducings
of him, and charging him with faults falsely; in wrath they
hate me, there is their cruel seeking to kill. David
Dickson.
Verse 3. For they cast iniquity upon me. They
tumble it on me, as men do stones or anything else upon their
besiegers, to endamage them; so did these sin, shame, anything,
upon innocent David, to make him odious. John Trapp.
Verse 4. Is sore pained, or, trembled with
pain, The word usually meaneth such pains as a woman
feels in her travail. Henry Ainsworth.
Verse 4. The terrors of death are fallen upon me.
My heart, said the afflicted psalmist, is sore pained
within me: and though I am repeatedly assured of my interest
in the divine love and favour, yet now the terrors of death
are fallen upon me. The case of David is so far from being
peculiar to himself, that it portrays, in the most striking
colours, a state of mind to which many of the most exemplary
Christians are frequently, if not constantly subject. Many,
whose hopes are placed on the right foundation, even Christ
Jesus, and whose conduct is uniform and consistent, are ye
harassed almost continually by the tormenting fears of death...
It will be an interesting and useful enquiry to examine into the
real causes of a fear, which cultivates melancholy and
despondency on the one hand and destroys our happiness on the
other. To effect this design I shall consider,
1. The various causes of the fear of death.
2. The arguments calculated to remove it. There are few,
indeed, so hardened in the slavery of vice, or so utterly
regardless of every admonition, as to consider the awful period
of dissolution without some emotions of terror and dismay. There
is something so peculiarly awful in the idea of a change
hitherto unknown, and of a state hitherto untried, that the most
hardy veterans have owned its tremendous aspects.
One of the first causes of the fear of death is conscious
guilt. The most hardened are conscious of many things which
they may not readily confess; and the most self righteous is
conscious of many crimes which he artfully studies to conceal.
Whilst the Christian is looking only to his own habits and
temper, he may and will be always wretched; but if he looks to
the great Surety, Christ Jesus, his gloomy prospect will soon be
turned to joy. An attachment to this world is also a
(second) cause of the fear of death. A principal of self
preservation is also a (third) cause of the fear of death. That
our bodies, which are pampered by pride and nourished by
indulgence, should be consigned to the silent grave, and become
even the food of worms, is a humbling reflection to the boasted
dignity of man. Besides, nature revolts at the idea of its own
dissolution; hence a desire of preserving life, evidently
implanted in us. The devil is also (fourthly) often permitted to
terrify the consciences of men, and thereby increase at least
the fear of death. Unbelief is also a (fifth) cause of the fear
of death. Were our faith more frequently in exercise, we should
be enabled to look beyond the dreary mansions of the grave with
a hope full of immortality. Our fears of death may be often
caused by looking for that perfection in ourselves, which we
shall never easily discover.
Consider the arguments calculated to remove the fear of
death. It may be necessary to premise that the consolations of
religion belong only to real Christians; for the wicked have
just reason to dread the approach of death. But to such as are
humbled under a sense of their own unworthiness, and who have
fled to Christ for pardon and salvation, they have no cause to
apprehend either the pain or the consequences of death; because
first, the sting of death is taken away. Secondly, because death
is no longer an enemy but a friend. Instead of threatening us
with misery, it invites us to happiness. Thirdly, the safety of
our state is founded on the oath, the purpose, and the promises
of God. A fourth argument calculated to remove the fear of
death, is the consideration of the benefits resulting from it.
The benefits which believers receive from Christ at the
resurrection also, is a fifth argument calculated to remove the
fear of death. Condensed from a Sermon by John Grove, M.A.,
F.A.S., 1802.
Verses 4-5. In the version of the Psalter used in the
Prayer book, this verse stands with a more homely and expressive
simplicity, "My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear
of death is fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come
upon me, and an horrible dread hath overwhelmed me." The
fear of death is upon all flesh. It is no sign of manhood to be
without it. To overcome it in the way of duty is courage; to
meet death with patience is faith; but not to fear it is either
a gift of special grace, or a dangerous insensibility. No doubt
great saints have been able to say, "I have a desire to
depart." And many have rushed to martyrdom as to the love
and bosom of their Lord; but for the rest, the multitude of his
flock, who are neither wilful sinners nor to be numbered among
the saints, the thought of death is a thought of fear. We see
that, on the first feeling of their having so much as set foot
in the path leading to the grave, even good men feel "the
terror of death, ""a horrible dread, "which makes
every pulse to beat with a hurried and vehement speed. Their
whole nature, both in body and in soul, trembles to its very
centre; and their heart is "disquieted, ""sore
pained, "within them. Let us see what are the causes or
reasons of this "fear of death." The first must needs
be a consciousness of personal sinfulness. A sense of unfitness
to meet God, our unreadiness to die, a multitude of personal
faults, evil tempers, thoughts, and inclinations; the
recollection of innumerable sins, of great omissions and
lukewarmness in all religious duties, the little love or
gratitude we have to God, and the great imperfections of our
repentance; all these make us tremble at the thought of going to
give up our account. We feel as if it were impossible we could
be saved. Shame, fear, and a "horrible dread" fall
upon us. Henry Edward Manning, M.A., 1850.
Verse 5. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon
me. In this pitiful condition of mind, learn, that it is not
a thing inconsistent with godliness to be much moved with fear
in time of danger; natural affections are not taken away in
conversion, but sanctified and moderated. David Dickson.
Verse 5. Fearfulness. How natural is this
description! He is in distress, he mourns, makes a
noise, sobs and sighs, his heart is wounded,
he expects nothing but death; this produces fear,
this produces tremor, which terminates in that deep
apprehension of approaching and inevitable ruin
that overwhelms him with horror. No man ever
described a wounded heart like David. Adam Clarke.
Verse 6. And I said, Oh that I had wings like a
dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Wherever
the psalmist cast his eye, the inscription was vanity and
vexation. A deluge of sin and misery covered the world, so that
like Noah's dove he could find no rest for the sole of his foot
below, therefore does he direct his course toward heaven, and
say, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly
away, and be at rest; but rest is not a denizen of this
world, nothing but the heaven of heavens is at rest, and here
does he fix only. Thomas Sharp (1630-1693), in "Divine
Comforts."
Verse 6. Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then
would I fly away, and be at rest. King David, though for
innocency not only a dove, but the phoenix of doves, and
so a notable type of Christ, upon whom the Holy Ghost descended
in the shape of a dove, yet was his whole life nothing else but bellum
sine induciis, a perpetual persecution without intermission.
Such was also the portion of Christ the Lord of David; and such
to the world's end will ever be the lot of those that are the
heritage of Christ. My text imports no less; which, taken historically,
is the voice of David pursued by his enemies; prophetically,
the voice of Christ at his passion; mystically, the voice
of that mystical dove, the innocent soul, surrounded and
environed with the snares of death; even generalis quoendam
querela (saith Pellican), a general complaint of the malice
of the wicked persecuting the righteous. For (alas that it
should be! yet so it is)—
"Non rete accipitri tenditur, neque milvio,
Qui male facinunt nobis; illis qui nil faciunt tenditur."
Terence.
"The net is not pitched for ravenous birds, as are the
hawk and the kite; but for poor harmless birds, that never
meditate mischief." And
"Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas."
"The dove shall surely be shot at, when the carrion crow
shall go shot free." Juvenal.
It will then be no news unto you, that here the faithful
soul, the spouse, the dove of Christ, when trouble and heaviness
take hold upon her, and the floods of Belial compass her about, Tanquam
avis e cave liberari cupit as St. Austin speaks of the
cloistered monks in his time), "Desireth like a bird to be
loosed out of her cage." Or, that as Jonas (by
interpretation a dove, after three days' and three
nights' imprisonment in the whale's belly, could not but long
after his enlargement. So the dove like soul of man, when not
three, but many days, and months, and years, she hath been
imprisoned in the body, hath a longing desire to be enlarged,
and to fly unto God that made her; and so mourning like a
dove in devout supplication, and mounting like a
dove in divine speculation, breaks forth into these sad
elegies: "Oh that I had wings!" and "Alas, that I
have not wings! Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell with
Mesech, and to have mine habitation among the tents of Kedar.
Like as the hart desires the water brook, so longeth my soul to
be with thee, O God. I desire to be dissolved and to be with
Christ. Who will give me wings?" etc. Which is as if the
poor distressed soul, pathetically bemoaning her forlorn estate
of pilgrimage, should thus more plentifully enlarge herself.
"My spouse is already ascended higher than the winds, than
the clouds, than the highest heavens, and I, poor soul, as a
husbandless widow, as a tutorless orphan, as a comfortless
exile, am left desolate and disconsolate in this valley of
tears; none to care for me, none to comfort me, till I have
regained him whom I love, and in whom I live. Nay (which worse
is), this mine own familiar friend, this nearest and dearest
companion of mine, my body, is even a burden unto me. The
weight of it, and oft the sins that hang so fast on it, doth so
clog and shackle me, so glue and nail me to the earth, that I
cannot raise or rear up myself towards heaven. Or let him
therefore descend to relieve me, being fila, sponsa, soror,
his daughter, and spouse, and sister; or let him give me wings
wherewith I may ascend to him, under the shadow of whose wings I
shall surely rest in safety." Ps 16:4. "I must confess
it was the very bitterness of extremity that first compelled me
to love him, though of himself no less lovely than love itself.
It was the sharp sauce of affliction that gave edge to mine
affections, and sharpened mine appetite to that `sweet meat that
endureth to everlasting life.' But now, having had some little
foretaste of him, I am even in an holy ecstasy, so ravished, so
transported with a fervent desire of him and of his presence,
that ubi sum, ibi non sum; ubi non sum, ibi animus est:"
"where I am, there I am not; and where I am not, there am
I." For, anima est ubi amat, non ubi animat:
(Erasmus). "The soul is where it loveth, not where it
liveth." Now sigh I not so much for the present dangers, I
would decline, as because of my absent love, whom I most desire.
Who will give me wings? etc. In the scanning of which
verse, ye will observe with me,
1. The efficient or author of these
wings—God. Who will give me? Who? that it, who but God?
2. The matter of the wish—wings. "Who
will give me wings?"
3. The form of those wings—dove like. Who
will give me wings like unto a dove?
4. The end mediate—flying. Then would I fly away.
5. The end ultimate—resting. And be at rest.
(a) "Who will give me?" There's Christian
humility.
(b) "Who will give me wings?" There's prudent
celerity.
(c) "Wings like unto a dove." There's innocent
simplicity.
(d) "Then would I fly away." There's devout
sublimity.
(e) "And be at rest." There's permanent
security.
John Rawlinson, in "The Dove like Soule. A Sermon
preached before the Prince's Highness at Whitehall,
"Feb. 19, 1618.
Verse 6. Oh that I had wings, etc. Some of the
most astounding sermons ever delivered have been preached on
this text, which was a very favourite one with the old divines.
They ransacked Pliny and Aldrovandus for the most outrageous
fables about doves, their eyes, their livers, their crops, and
even their dung, and then went on to find emblems of Christians
in every fact and fable. Griffith Williams, at considerable
length, enlarges upon the fact that David did not desire wings
like a grasshopper to hop from flower to flower, as those hasty
souls who leap in religion, but do not run with perseverance;
nor like an ostrich which keeps to the earth, though it be a
bird, as hypocrites do who never mount towards heavenly things;
nor like an eagle, or a peacock, or a beetle, or a crow, or a
kite, or a bat; and after that he has shown in many ways the
similarity between the godly and doves, he refers us to Hugo
Cardinalis, and others, for more. We do not think it would be to
edification to load these pages with such eccentricities and
conceits. This one single sentence, from Bishop Patrick is worth
them all, "He rather wished than hoped to escape." He
saw no way of escape except by some improbable or impossible
means. C. H. S.
Verse 6. When the Gauls had tasted the wine of Italy,
they asked where the grapes grew, and would never be quiet till
they came there. Thus may you cry, Oh that I had wings like a
dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. A believer
is willing to lose the world for the enjoyment of grace; and he
is willing to leave the world for the fruition of glory. William
Secker.
Verse 6. Wings like a dove. The pigeon, or
dove, is one of the swiftest of birds. The Religious Tract
Society's "Book of Psalms, with Preface and Explanatory
Notes."
Verse 6. An old writer tells us that it would have
been more honourable for him to have asked for the strength of
an ox to bear his trials, than for the wings of a dove to flee
from them. William Jay, 1769-1853.
Verse 6. Dove. The reference is to the turtle
dove, I suppose. Their low, sad complaint may be heard all day
long at certain seasons in the olive groves, and in the solitary
and shady valleys among these mountains; I have, however, been
more affected by it in the vast orchards round Damascus than
anywhere else—so subdued, so very sorrowful among the trees,
where the air sighs softly, and little rills roll their melting
murmurs down the flowery aisles. These birds can never be tamed.
Confined in a cage they droop, and like Cowper, sigh for
"A lodge in some vast wilderness—some boundless
contiguity of shade."
and no sooner are they set at liberty than they flee, as a
bird, to their mountain. Ps 11:1. David refers to their habits
in this respect when his heart was sore pained within him: Oh
that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be
at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the
wilderness. And there you will meet these timid birds far
away from the haunts of cruel hunters, of whose society they are
peculiarly suspicious. W. M. Thomson, in "The Land and
the Book," 1859.
Verse 6. Oh that I had wings, etc.—
At first her mother earth she holdeth dear,
And doth embrace the world and worldly things;
She flies close by the ground, and hovers there,
And mounts not up with her celestial wings.
Yet under heaven she cannot light on ought
That with heavenly nature doth agree;
She cannot rest, she cannot fix her thought,
She cannot in this world contented be:
Then as a bee which among weeds doth fall,
Which seem sweet flowers, with lustre fresh and gay;
She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all,
But pleased with none, doth rise and soar away;
So when the Soul finds here no true content;
And like Noah's dove, can no sure footing take,
She doth return from whence she first was sent,
And flies to him that first her wings did make.
—Sir John Davies, 1569-1626.
Verse 7. Lo, then would I wander far off, etc.
A passage in the "Octavia" of Seneca has been referred
to as being parallel to this of David. It is in the answer of
Octavia to the Chorus, act 5., ver. 914-923.
My woes who enough can bewail?
O what notes can my sorrows express?
Sweet Philomel's self even would fail
To respond with her plaintive distress.
O had I her wings, I would fly
To where sorrows I never should feel more,
Upborne on her plumes through the sky,
Regions far from mankind would explore.
In a grove where sad silence should reign,
On a spray would I seat me alone;
In shrill lamentations complain.
And in wailings would pour forth my moan.
—J. B. Clarke (From Adam Clarke, in loc.)
Verse 8. I would hasten my escape from the windy
storm and tempest. There was a windy storm and tempest
without, and which is worse, a tumult and combustion within in
his thoughts. A man may escape from external confusions, but how
shall he fly from himself? If he be out of the reach of all the
blood suckers on earth, and all the furies in hell, yet be
dogged and haunted with his own turbulent, ungovernable
cogitations, he needs no other tormentors. This holy man was
thus doubly distressed, a storm abroad and an earthquake at home
rendered his condition most dolorous; but for both he hath en
mega he goes not about with the foxes of this world to
relieve himself with subtle stratagems and wiles, by carnal
shifts and policies, a vanity tosses to and from by them that
seek death. No, his one great refuge is to get aloft, to ascend
to God. Thomas Sharp.
Verse 9. Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues.
In the first place, their tongues were truly destroyed and they
themselves divided, when the testimony of the two false
witnesses agreed not so together. Then secondly, by the
contradictory account of the soldiers that kept watch at the
sepulchre. Michael Ayguan (1416) in J. M. Neal's Commentary,
1860.
Verse 9. Divide their tongues: i.e., cause them
to give conflicting opinions. French and Skinner, 1842
Verse 10. Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst
of it. The city, as Abenezra observes, was like a circle;
violence and strife were as a line round about it, and mischief
and sorrow the centre of it; and these two commonly go together:
where mischief is, sorrow soon follows. John Gill.
Verse 12. Then I could have borne it. It is
remarkable that the Lord, who endured the other unspeakable
sorrows and agonies of his passion in perfect and marvellous
silence, allowed his grief at this one alone to escape him,
bewailing himself to his disciples that one of them should
betray him, and addressing that one, when he was taken, in these
words of reproach—"Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man
with a kiss?" Frau Thome de Jesu, 1582.
Verse 12. Then I would have hid myself from him.
It is generally easy to get out of the way of an avowed enemy,
but how can one be on his guard against a treacherous friend? A.
R. Fausset, in "A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and
Practical, "1866.
Verse 13. A man mine equal. The LXX here not
badly, isoquce (of equal soul), Jerome, unanimus mens
(of one mind). Hermann Venema.
Verse 14. We took sweet counsel. From qtx to
be sweet, and the ordinary notion of dwo for secret,
the phrase dwo qytmg will literally be read, we made our
secret sweet. And so it may be an elegance, to signify the
pleasure of his friendship, or of communicating secrets to him. Henry
Hammond.
Verse 14. The first clause speaks of private intimacy,
the next of association in public acts, and especially in the
great festivals and processions of the temple. J. J. Stewart
Perowne, 1864.
Verse 14. In company. In the end of the verse
vgrk may be rendered with a noise: and so the Chaldee
seems to have taken it, which reads with haste; and to
that agree the Jewish doctors, who tell us men are to go in haste
and with speed to the synagogue, but return thence
very leisurely. Henry Hammond.
Verse 15. Let death seize upon them, and let them
go down quick into hell. The last part and end of sinners'
lives is worst with them. They have in their lives been busily
trading in the world, buying and selling, and getting gain and
ruffling it in the world, but meanwhile by their sins they run
deep in debt with God, and for want of interest in Christ to be
their surety at death (it may be on the sudden) it comes to that
of the psalmist, Let death seize upon them, and let them go
down quick into hell. Death seizes on them unawares, as a
sergeant or pursevant, casts them into prison, which is
expressed by their going down quick into hell (as it is said Nu
16:32-33), that Korah and his company did. Anthony Tuckney,
1599-1670.
Verse 15. Let death seize upon them by divine
warrant, and let them go quick into hell; let them be dead and
buried, and damned in a moment; for wickedness is wherever they
are, it is in the midst of them. The souls of impenitent sinners
go down quick, or alive, into hell; for they have a perfect
sense of their miseries, and shall therefore live still, that
they may be still miserable. This prayer is a prophecy of the
utter, the final, the everlasting ruin of all those who, whether
secretly or openly, oppose and rebel against the Lord's Messiah.
Matthew Henry.
Verse 15. Quick, that is alive, like
Korah, Dathan and Abiram. From "The Psalms
chronologically arranged, By Four Friends," 1867.
Verse 15. Throughout this series of Psalms, there
appears to be a peculiar penalty attached to each class of
transgressions, or, each variety of opposition against God meets
a suitable end. The ungodly, that is, the irreligious and
indifferent, lay up for themselves an evil recompense when the
wrath of God shall be revealed (Ps 54:5): but an instant
punishment falls upon false and treacherous professors; as Paul
denounced "anathema" against any who perverted the
gospel of Christ in the churches of Galatia; so in this Psalm, Let
death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell,
announces the awful judgment of Jehovah, as once it was shown
upon Dathan and Abiram; a punishment that will by its suddenness
and notoriety at the same time expose the guilt, and make
manifest the displeasure of the Almighty against it. R. H.
Ryland, in "The Psalms restored to Messiah," 1853.
Verse 17. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I
pray. This was the custom of the pious Hebrews. See Da 6:10.
The Hebrews began their day in the evening, and hence
David mentions the evening first. The rabbins say, men
should pray three times each day because the day changes three
times. This was observed in the primitive church; but the times
in different places were various. The old Psalter gives this a
curious turn: "At even I sall tell his louing (praise)
what the Christ was on the Crosse; and at morn I sall
schew his louing, what tim he ros fra dede. And sua he sall here
my voice at midday, that is sitand at the right hand of
his fader, wheder he stegh (ascended) at midday." Adam
Clarke.
Verse 17. Evening and morning, etc. The three
principle parts of the day are mentioned, not as marking special
times set apart for prayer, but as a poetical expression for
"the whole day, ""at all times,
""without ceasing." J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 17. If our poor, frail bodies need refreshment
from food three times a day, who, that knows his own weakness,
will say that we need not as frequent refreshment for our poor
frail spirits? William S. Plumer, 1867.
Verse 17. I can no more believe him to be frequent and
spiritual in ejaculatory prayer, who neglects the season of
solemn prayer, than I can believe that he keeps every day in the
week a Sabbath, who neglects to keep that one which God hath
appointed. William Gurnall, 1617-1679.
Verse 17. There is no limited time in the court of
heaven for hearing petitions. It is not like the court of
earthly princes, for there is a free access any day of the week,
any hour of the day, or the night, any minute of the hour. As
the lawyer saith of the king, for having his due, Nullum
tempus occurrit regi: so may I say of the godly, for making
his prayers and granting his requests, Nullum tempus occurrit
fidelibus, no time unseasonable, so the heart be seasoned
with faith; no non term in God's court of requests. He
keeps continually open house for all comers and goers; and
indeed, most for comers, then goers. His eyes are always open to
behold our tears; his ears are always open to hear our groans;
his heart also and his bowels are always open, and never shut up
so fast, but they will yearn and turn within him, if our misery
be never so little. For as we have not an High Priest to pray by
"that cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; "so neither have we a God to pray to, that
shall see us in distress, and hear us call and cry, and never be
moved. Zachary Bogan (1625-1659), in "Meditations of the
Mirth of a Christian Life."
Verse 17. And cry aloud. The word here employed
properly means to murmur; to make a humming sound; to sigh; to
growl; to groan. Here the language means that he would give
utterance to his deep feelings in appropriate tones—whether
words, sighs, or groans. Albert Barnes.
Verse 17. And he shall hear. And what will this
loud cry obtain? A hearing without doubt, so he assures himself,
He shall hear me. Not that God hears any prayers whether
he will or no (as men sometimes do that upon importunity which
they have no mind to), but he hath no will, no mind not to hear
such prayers, the prayers of those who cry aloud to him. Joseph
Caryl, 1602-1673.
Verse 18. He hath delivered my soul in peace from
the battle. In the midst of war the Lord can keep a man as
safe as in the time of peace, and in extreme perils preserve him
from danger. He that depends upon God in the time of trouble,
albeit he had an host against him, yet hath he more with him
when God is with him, than can be against him. David Dickson.
Verse 18. For. The for implies the
reason why God interposed to deliver him; namely, because of the
general principle that God ministers relief when his people come
to an extremity. A. R. Fausset.
Verse 18. There were many with me. This is
doubtful whether it be meant of foes or friends.
If of foes, it may be resolved thus: for with many
(with a great multitude) they were fighters with me. If
of friends, it may be understood of God's angels,
that in a great number were with him, pitching camp for
his aid (Ps 34:7); as Elisha said, "Many more are with us
than with them." 2Ki 6:16-17. The Chaldee explains it,
"For in many afflictions his word was for my help." Henry
Ainsworth.
Verse 19. Even he that abideth of old. The
deeds by which God had already showed himself from of old as the
righteous King and Judge, the judgments, for example, upon the
wicked in the land of Shinar (Ps 55:9), the company of Korah (Ps
55:9,18), the cities of the plain (Ps 55:15), pledge his still
ready interposition. He who had already so long held the throne,
must now also show himself as King and Judge; he cannot now, at
so late a period, be another. E. W. Hengstenberg, 1845.
Verse 19. Because they have no changes, therefore
they fear not God. That is, there is no new thing among
them, no extraordinary providential turns, no judiciary changes,
their prosperity keeps a settled course, and because they find
all things going on in the old course of providence, therefore
they go on in their old course of sinfulness, they fear not
God; intimating, that as such changes always should,
so usually they do, awaken fear; and that, if the Lord would but
change, and toss, and tumble them about, by various troublesome
dispensations, surely they would fear him. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 19. Because they have no changes, etc.
Or, with whom also there be no changes, yet they fear not
God. If changes be referred to their temporal estates
and welfare, as Job 10:17 (it is the same word there as here,
twkylx), "changes and war are against me:" then,
according to the first translation, because etc., a
reason is given of their perseverance in wickedness, and
contempt of God; to wit, their constant and uninterrupted
worldly prosperity. Or, according to the second, With whom
there are no changes, yet, etc.; it is a great aggravation
of their impenitency, that notwithstanding so much goodness
vouchsafed unto them, they should continue so unthankful as to
requite so ill, or so stupid and insensible as not to
acknowledge the author. But if changes be referred, as by many,
to the soul, then the meaning is—that through long use and
continuance of sinning, they are, through God's just judgment,
become altogether obdurate and inflexible; and therefore, no
wonder if nothing work upon them to their conversion. "Can
the Ethiopian change his skin?" etc. Jer 13:23. But this changes
might also have another meaning. The Grecians used to say, streptai
esylwn, that the minds or hearts of good men are changeable;
their meaning is, that good men are merciful. Quos quisque
est major, magis est placabilis ira: et faciles motus mens
generosa capit, as the Latin proverb expresses it. He may
therefore say, that they show by their cruel unmercifulness,
that they have no fear or sense of God at all; else they would
fear him, of whose mercy themselves stood in so much need, and
consider that they whom they so fiercely persecute are his
creatures as well as they. Westminster Assembly's
Annotations.
Verse 19. They have no changes, etc. Who are
they who have no changes? Apparently those whom God is said to
humble or chastise. And what is the meaning of the word, changes
as here used? Many understand it of a moral change; "who
are without change of heart or reformation." But the word
never occurs in this sense. It means, properly, "a
change" in the sense of succession; as of
garments, of troops relieving guard, servants leaving work, and
the like. Hence it would rather mean in a moral sense:
"They who have no cessation in their course (by being
relieved guard, for instance), who always continue, and
persevere in their evil life." Calvin and others understand
it of change of fortune, i.e., "who are always
prosperous; "but this again is not supported by usage. J.
J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 19. They fear not God. The fear required
here, is to fear him as God, and as God presented in this name, Elohim;
which though it be a name primarily rooted in power and strength
(for El is Deus fortis, The powerful God; and as there is
no love without fear, so there is no fear without power), yet
properly it signifies his judgment, and order, and providence,
and dispensations and government of his creatures. It is that
name which goes through all God's whole work of the creation,
and disposition of all creatures in the first of Genesis: in all
that he is called by no other name than this, the name God; not
by Jehovah, to present an infinite majesty; nor by Adonai, to
present an absolute power; nor by Tzebaoth, to present a force,
or conquest; but only the name of God, his name of government.
All ends in this; to fear God is to adhere to him, in his way,
as he hath dispensed and notified himself to us; that is, as God
is manifested in Christ, in the Scriptures, and applied to us
out of those Scriptures, by the church: not to rest in nature
without God, nor in God without Christ. John Donne,
1573-1631.
Verse 21. The words of his mouth were smoother than
butter, etc. Of this complexion are the cant of hypocrites,
the charity of bigots and fanatics, the benevolence of atheists,
the professions of the world, the allurements of the flesh, and
the temptations of Satan, when he thinks proper to appear in the
character of an angel of light. George Horne, 1730-1792.
Verse 21. Butter. The Eastern butter is by no
means like the solid substance, which is known by that name in
these colder climates; but is liquid and flowing as appears from
different passages in Scripture, particularly Job 29:6 20:17;
and as is confirmed by the accounts of modern travellers; so
that in fact it more resembles "cream, "which Vitringa
says is the genuine sense of the word here used. Richard Mant,
1776-1849.
Verse 21. To avoid all difficulties, the readiest
expedient is to receive the Septuagint rendering of wqlx diemerisyhsan,
they were, or are divided, viz., the members
of the wicked man there spoken of, they are at great distance
one from the other; wyk tamxm, butter their mouth, or their
mouth is butter, wklkrqw and war their heart, or their
heart is war; and this seems to be the fairest rendering of
it. Henry Hammond, 1605-1660.
Verse 21. A feigned friend is much like a crocodile
who, when he smiles, poisons; and when he weepeth, devoureth; or
the hyaena, having the voice of a man and the mind of a wolf,
speaking like a friend and devouring like a fiend; or the
flattering sirens that sweetly sing the sailor's wreck; or the
fowler's pipe that pleasantly playeth the bird's death; or the
bee, who carrieth honey in her mouth and a sting in her tail; or
the box tree, whose leaves are always green, but the seeds
poison. So his countenance is friendly and his words pleasant,
but his intent dangerous, and his deeds unwholesome.
His fetch is to flatter, to catch what he can;
His purpose obtained, a fig for his man.
—L. Wright, 1616.
Verse 21. The words of his mouth were smoother than
butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than
oil, yet were they drawn swords. Well, when I came to the
justice again, there was Mr. Foster, of Bedford, who coming out
of another room, and seeing me by the light of the candle, for
it was dark night when I came thither, he said unto me,
"Who is there? John Bunyan?" with much seeming
affection, as if he would have leaped in my neck and kissed me,
(A right Judas.), which made me somewhat wonder that such a man
as he, with whom I had so little acquaintance, and, besides,
that had ever been a close opposer of the ways of God, should
carry himself so full of love to me, but afterwards when I saw
what he did, it caused me to remember those sayings, Their
tongues were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords,
and again, "Beware of men, "etc. When I had answered
him that, blessed be God, I was well, he said, "What is the
occasion of your being here?" or to that purpose. To whom I
answered that I was at a meeting of people a little way off,
intending to speak a word of exhortation to them; but the
justice hearing thereof (said I) was pleased to send his warrant
to fetch me before him, etc.—John Bunyan. In relation to
J.B.'s imprisonment: written by himself. Offor's edit., Vol.
1. p. 52.
Verse 21. (first clause).—
Smooth are his words, his voice as honey sweet,
Yet war was in his heart, and dark deceit. Moschus (B.C.
250.)
Verse 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, etc.
The remedy which the Psalm suggests, and, perhaps, the only
resource in a difficulty of the kind, where the enemies of true
religion are fighting under the semblance of friendship, is
announced in an oracular voice from God: "Cast thy care
upon Jehovah, for he will sustain thee; he will not suffer the
just one to be tossed about for ever." R. H. Ryland.
Verse 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, etc.
The best way to ease thyself is to lay thy load upon God; he
will take it up and also carry thee. There is many a man would
be willing to go of himself if another would but carry his
burden for him; but if you throw your burden upon God he will
not only carry that, but will also carry you. He cares not how
much weight a Christian layeth on his back; a true Israelite may
ease himself, and best please his God at once. God delights not
to see tears in thine eyes, or paleness in thy countenance; thy
groans and sighs make no music in his ears. He had rather that
thou wouldst free thyself of thy burden by casting it upon him,
that he might rejoice in thy joy and comfort. Now, true
confidence in God, and resting upon God, will both free thee of
thy burden and also bring in the strength of God to sustain and
bear thee up from falling. Wouldst thou, therefore, own God as
thy strength, and fetch strength from God to thy soul? rest upon
God, roll thyself upon him, and that
1. In time of greatest weakness.
2. In time of greatest service.
3. In times of greatest trials.
—Samuel Blackerby, 1674.
Verse 22. Cast thy burden upon him in the same
way that the ship in a storm casts her burden on the anchor,
which anchor holds on to its sure fixing place. And to my mind,
that is the more beautiful sense of the two—a sense which once
entered into, may be followed out in these glorious verses:
And I see the good ship riding, all in a perilous road; The
low reef booming on her lee; the swell of ocean poured Sea after
sea, from stem to stern; the mainmast by the board; The bulwarks
down; the rudder gone; the boats stove by the chains. But
courage still, brave mariners, the ANCHOR yet remains: And he
will flinch—no, never an inch—until ye pitch sky high; Then
he moves his head, as if he said, "Fear nought; for here am
I!" —J. M. Neale's Commentary.
Verse 23. Shalt bring them down. Indicating a
violent death, like that of the slain ox, which is said to descend,
when it falls under the stroke. The pit of putrefaction
is meant, in which the corpse decays, nor does it here merely
denote the sepulchre, but the ignominious condition of a corpse
cast forth, as when it is thrown into a pit. Hermann Venema.
Verse 23. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live
out half their days. A wicked man never lives out half his
days; for either he is cut off before he hath lived half the
course of nature, or he is cut off before he hath lived a
quarter of the course of his desires; either he lives not half
so long as he would; and therefore let him die when he will, his
death is full of terror, trouble, and confusion, because he dies
out of season. He never kept time or season with God, and surely
God will not keep or regard his time or season. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 23. Half their days. In the Jewish
account threescore years was the age of a man, and death at any
time before that was looked upon as untimely, and deemed and
styled trd excision, of which they made thirty-six degrees; so
that not to live out half one's days, is in their style to
die before thirty years old. Henry Hammond.
Verse 23. (second clause). The more sins we do
commit, the more we hasten our own death; because as the wise
man saith, "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the
years of the wicked shall be shortened" (Pr 10:27); and the
prophet David saith, Bloody and deceitful men shall not live
out half their days; for sin is an epitomiser or shortener
of everything: it consumes our wealth, it confines our liberty,
it impeaches our health, and it abbreviates our life, and brings
us speedily unto our grave. Griffith Williams, 1636.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. (second clause).
1. An evil to be dreaded: Hide not thyself, etc.
(a) By long delay in an urgent case.
(b) In the sinner's case by refusing to hear altogether.
2. Causes which may produce it.
(a) In the man.
(b) In the prayer itself.
(c) In the manner of the prayer.
3. Evils which will follow a list which the preacher can
readily think of.
4. Remedies for the evil. There is none of it should
continue; but heart searching, repentance, importunity, pleading
the name of Jesus, etc., will lead to its removal.
Verse 2. The Great Hearer.
1. What address shall we present to him?
2. What sort of attention do we desire?
3. How shall we secure it?
4. What is the reflex duty on our part? To attend and hear
him.
Verse 2. (second clause). Allowable
complaining.
1. Not of God but to God.
2. Mainly of ourselves.
3. Of the world as against God and right.
4. Ever with holy grief, and not selfish vexation.
Verse 4. The terrors of death. See Sermon by Grove
in the Notes.
Verse 7. Solitude.
1. Its fancied benefits.
2. Its sore temptations.
3. Its occasional benefits.
4. Its sweet solaces.
Verse 8. Too hasty a flight from trial.
1. Would show rebellion against God.
2. Would manifest cowardly want of faith.
3. Would involve loss of useful experience.
4. Would land us in other and worse trials.
5. Would prevent our glorifying God.
6. Would mar our conformity to Christ and fellowship with his
people.
7. Would lessen the value of heaven.
Verse 9. (first clause). The Babel of heresies.
Essential, for truth is one. Inevitable, for the
motives of heretics clash. Providential, for so they
weaken each other. Judicial, for so they torment each
other.
Verse 10. (first clause). The activity of evil.
Verse 10. (second clause). The diabolical
twins, or cause and effect.
Verse 14. The social companionships which grow out of
religion.
1. They are on a good foundation.
2. They yield profit—counsel.
3. They yield pleasure—sweet.
4. They lead to enthusiasm—walked in company.
5. They ought to be sacredly maintained.
6. But they need to be carefully watched.
Verse 16. The contrast.
1. A child of God will not wrong others as they do him.
2. He will call upon God as they do not.
3. God will hear him as he does not the wicked.
4. God will deal with him at last otherwise than with them.
Verse 17.
1. David will pray fervently; I will pray and cry aloud.
2. He will pray frequently; every day, and three times a day,
evening, and morning, and at noon. Matthew Henry.
Verse 18. Our battles, our almost rout, our helper,
our deliverances, our praise.
Verse 19. The eternal government of God a threat to
the ungodly.
Verse 19. (second part). Prosperity creating
atheism. This involves—
1. Ingratitude—they ought to be the more devout.
2. Impudence—they think themselves as God.
3. Forgetfulness—they forget that changes will come.
4. Ignorance—they know not that unbroken prosperity is
often for awhile the portion of the accursed.
5. Insanity—for there is no reason in their conduct.
6. Rottenness—preparing them to be cast away for ever.
Verse 21. The hypocrite's mouth.
1. It has many words.
2. They are only from his mouth.
3. They are very smooth.
4. They conceal rather than reveal his purpose.
5. They are cutting and killing.
6. They will kill himself.
Verse 22. (first clause). Here we see the
believer has—
1. A burden to try him.
2. A duty to engage him, "Cast thy burden,
"etc.
3. A promise to encourage him, "He shall sustain,
"etc. Ebenezer Temple, 1850.
Verse 22. (last clause). Who are the righteous?
What is meant by their being moved? Whose permission is needful
to accomplish it? Will he give it? "Never." Why not?
Verse 23. (last clause). The grand "I
WILL." Sum up the Psalm.—
1. When I pray, Ps 55:1-3.
2. When I faint, Ps 55:4-7.
3. When I am sore beset, Ps 55:9-11.
4. When I am betrayed, Ps 55:12-14,20-21.
5. When others perish, Ps 55:15.
6. After I am delivered, Ps 55:18.
7. In every condition, Ps 55:22.
WORK UPON THE FIFTY-FIFTH PSALM
In CHANDLER'S "Life of David,"
Vol. 2., pp. 305-315, there is an Exposition of this Psalm.