TITLE. To the Chief Musician. That
mighty minstrel by degrees acquired a noble repertoire of
hallowed songs, and set them all to music. Upon
Jonathelemrechokim—this was probably the title of the
tune, as we should say Old Hundred, or Sicilian Mariners.
Perhaps the title may however belong to the Psalm, and if so it
is instructive, for it has been translated "the silent dove
in distant places." We have here the songs of God's
servant, who rejoices once more to return from banishment, and
to leave those dangerous places where he was compelled to hold
his peace even from good. There is such deep spiritual knowledge
in this Psalm that we might say of it, "Blessed art thou
David Barjonas, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto
thee." When David plays the Jonah he is not like the
prophet of that name; in David the love of the dove
predominates, but in Jonah its moaning and complaining are most
notable. Michtam of David. This is the second golden Psalm, we
had the first in Psalm 16, to which this Psalm has a great
likeness, especially in its close, for it ends in the joyful
presence. A golden mystery, the gracious secret of the life of
faith is in both these Psalms most sweetly unveiled, and a
pillar is set up because of God's truth. When the Philistines
took him in Gath. He was like a dove in strangers' hands,
and on his escape he records his gratitude.
DIVISION. In Ps 56:1-2, he pours out
his complaint; in Ps 56:3-4 he declares his confidence in God;
in Ps 56:5-6 he returns to his complaining, but pleads in
earnest hope in Ps 56:7-9, and sings a grateful song from Ps
56:10 to the close.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Be merciful unto me, O God. In my deep
distress my soul turns to thee, my God. Man has no mercy on me,
therefore double thy mercy to me. If thy justice has let loose
my enemies, let thy mercy shorten their chain. It is sweet to
see how the tender dove like spirit of the psalmist flies to the
most tender attribute for succour in the hour of peril. For man
would swallow me up. He is but thy creature, a mere man, yet
like a monster he is eager for blood, he pants, he gapes for me;
he would not merely wound me, or feed on my substance, but he
would fain swallow me altogether, and so make an end of me. The
open mouths of sinners when they rage against us should open our
mouths in prayer. We may plead the cruelty of men as a reason
for the divine interposition—a father is soon aroused when his
children are shamefully entreated. He fighting daily oppresseth
me. He gives me no interval—he fights daily. He is successful
in his unrighteous war—he oppresses me, he crushes me, he
presses me sore. David has his eye on the leader of his foes,
and lays his complaint against him in the right place. If we may
thus plead against man, much more against that great enemy of
souls, the devil. We ask the Lord to forgive us our trespasses,
which is another way of saying, "Be merciful to me, O God,
"and then we may say, "Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one." The more violent the
attack of Satan the stronger our plea for deliverance.
Verse 2. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up.
Their appetite for blood never fails them. With them there is no
truce or armistice. They are many, but one mind animates them.
Nothing I can do can make them relent. Unless they can quite
devour me they will never be content. The ogres of nursery tales
exist in reality in the enemies of the church, who would crush
the bones of the godly, and make a mouthful of them if they
could. For they be many that fight against me. Sinners are
gregarious creatures. Persecutors hunt in packs. These wolves of
the church seldom come down upon us singly. The number of our
foes is a powerful plea for the interposition of the one
Defender of the faithful, who is mightier than all their bands.
These foes of the gracious are also keen eyed, and ever on the
watch, hence the margin calls them "observers." O thou
most High. Thus he invokes against the lofty ones of the earth
the aid of one who is higher than the highest. Some translate
the words differently, and think that the writer means that his
foes assailed him from the high places in which pride and power
had placed them. Saul, his great foe, attacked him from his
throne with all the force which his high position placed at his
disposal: our comfort in such a case is near to hand, for God
will help us from a higher place than our proudest foes can
occupy. The greatness of God as the Most High is a fertile
source of consolation to weak saints oppressed by mighty
enemies.
Verse 3. What time I am afraid. David was no
braggart, he does not claim never to be afraid, and he was no
brutish Stoic free from fear because of the lack of tenderness.
David's intelligence deprived him of the stupid heedlessness of
ignorance, he saw the imminence of his peril, and was afraid. We
are men, and therefore liable to overthrow; we are feeble, and
therefore unable to prevent it; we are sinful men, and therefore
deserving it, and for all these reasons we are afraid. But the
condition of the psalmist's mind was complex—he feared, but
that fear did not fill the whole area of his mind, for he adds,
I will trust in thee. It is possible, then, for fear and faith
to occupy the mind at the same moment. We are strange beings,
and our experience in the divine life is stranger still. We are
often in a twilight, where light and darkness are both present,
and it is hard to tell which predominates. It is a blessed fear
which drives us to trust. Unregenerate fear drives from God,
gracious fear drives to him. If I fear man I have only to trust
God, and I have the best antidote. To trust when there is no
cause for fear, is but the name of faith, but to be reliant upon
God when occasions for alarm are abundant and pressing, is the
conquering faith of God's elect. Though the verse is in the form
of a resolve, it became a fact in David's life, let us make it
so in ours. Whether the fear arise from without or within, from
past, present, or future, from temporals, or spirituals, from
men or devils, let us maintain faith, and we shall soon recover
courage.
Verse 4. In God I will praise his word. Faith
brings forth praise. He who can trust will soon sing. God's
promise, when fulfilled, is a noble subject for praise, and even
before fulfilment it should be the theme of song. It is in or
through God that we are able to praise. We praise as well as
pray in the Spirit. Or we may read it—in extolling the Lord
one of the main points for thanksgiving is his revealed will in
the Scriptures, and the fidelity with which he keeps his word of
promise. In God I have put my trust. Altogether and alone should
we stay ourselves on God. What was a gracious resolve in the
former verse, is here asserted as already done. I will not fear
what flesh can do unto me. Faith exercised, fear is banished,
and holy triumph ensues, so that the soul asks, "What can
flesh do unto me?" What indeed? He can do me no real
injury; all his malice shall be overruled for my good. Man is
flesh, flesh is grass—Lord, in thy name I defy its utmost
wrath. There were two verses of complaint, and here are two of
confidence; it is well to weigh out a sufficient quantity of the
sweet to counteract the sour.
Verse 5. Every day they wrest my words. This is
a common mode of warfare among the ungodly. They put our
language on the rack, they extort meanings from it which it
cannot be made fairly to contain. Thus our Saviour's prophecy
concerning the temple of his body, and countless accusations
against his servants, were founded on wilful perversions. They
who do this every day become great adepts in the art. A wolf can
always find in a lamb's discourse a reason for eating him.
Prayers are blasphemies if you choose to read them the wrong way
upwards. All their thoughts are against me for evil. No mixture
of good will tone down their malice. Whether they viewed him as
a king, a psalmist, a man, a father, a warrior, a sufferer, it
was all the same, they saw through coloured glass, and could not
think a generous thought towards him. Even those actions of his
which were an undoubted blessing to the commonwealth, they
endeavoured to undervalue. Oh, foul spring, from which never a
drop of pure water can come!
Verse 6. They gather themselves together.
Firebrands burn the fiercer for being pushed together. They are
afraid to meet the good man till their numbers place terrible
odds against him. Come out, ye cowards, man to man, and fight
the old hero! No, ye wait till ye are assembled like thieves in
bands, and even then ye waylay the man. There in nothing brave
about you. They hide themselves. In ambuscade they wait their
opportunity. Men of malice are men of cowardice. He who dares
not meet his man on the king's highway, writes himself down a
villain. Constantly are the reputations of good men assailed
with deep laid schemes, and diabolical plots, in which the
anonymous enemies stab in the dark. They mark my steps, as
hunters mark the trail of their game, and so track them.
Malicious men are frequently very sharp sighted to detect the
failings, or supposed failings, of the righteous. Spies and mouchards
are not all in the pay of earthly governments, some of them will
have wages to take in red hot coin from one who himself is more
subtle than all the beasts of the field. When they wait for my
soul. Nothing less than his life would content them, only his
present and eternal ruin could altogether glut them. The good
man is no fool, he sees that he has enemies, and that they are
many and crafty; he sees also his own danger, and then he shows
his wisdom by spreading the whole case before the Lord, and
putting himself under divine protection.
Verse 7. Shall they escape by iniquity? Will
such wickedness as this stand them in good stead? Can it be that
this conduct shall enable them to avoid the sentence of earthly
punishment? They slander the good man to screen
themselves—will this avail them? They have cunningly managed
hitherto, but will there not be an end to their games? In thine
anger cast down the people, O God. Trip them up in their tricks.
Hurl them from the Tarpeian rock. A persecuted man finds a
friend even in an angry God, how much more in the God of love!
When men seek to cast us down, it is but natural and not at all
unlawful to pray that they may be disabled from the
accomplishment of their infamous designs. What God often does we
may safely ask him to do.
Verse 8. Thou tellest my wanderings. Every step
which the fugitive had taken when pursued by his enemies, was
not only observed but thought worthy of counting and recording.
We perhaps are so confused after a long course of trouble, that
we hardly know where we have or where we have not been; but the
omniscient and considerate Father of our spirits remembers all
in detail; for he has counted them over as men count their gold,
for even the trial of our faith is precious in his sight. Put
thou my tears into thy bottle. His sorrows were so many that
there would need a great wineskin to hold them all. There is no
allusion to the little complimentary lachrymators for
fashionable and fanciful Romans, it is a more robust metaphor by
far; such floods of tears had David wept that a leathern bottle
would scarce hold them. He trusts that the Lord will be so
considerate of his tears as to store them up as men do the juice
of the vine, and he hopes that the place of storage will be a
special one—thy bottle, not a bottle. Are they
not in thy book? Yes, they are recorded there, but let not only
the record but the grief itself be present to thee. Look on my
griefs as real things, for these move the heart more than a mere
account, however exact. How condescending is the Lord! How exact
his knowledge of us! How generous his estimation! How tender his
regard!
Verse 9. When I cry unto thee, then shall mine
enemies turn back. So soon as I pray they shall fly. So
surely as I cry they shall be put to the rout.
"So swift is prayer to reach the sky,
So kind is God to me."
The machinery of prayer is not always visible, but it is most
efficient. God inclines us to pray, we cry in anguish of heart,
he hears, he acts, the enemy is turned back. What irresistible
artillery is this which wins the battle as soon as its report is
heard! What a God is this who harkens to the cry of his
children, and in a moment delivers them from the mightiest
adversaries! This I know. This is one of the believer's
certainties, his axioms, his infallible, indisputable verities.
For God is for me. This, we know, and we know, therefore, that
none can be against us who are worth a moment's fear. "If
God be for us, who can be against us?" Who will restrain
prayer when it is so potent? Who will seek any other ally than
God, who is instantly present so soon as we give the ordained
signal, by which we testify both our need and our confidence?
Verse 10. In God will I praise his word. Now
comes the thanksgiving. He is a wretch who, having obtained
help, forgets to return a grateful acknowledgment. The least we
can do is to praise him from whom we receive such distinguished
favours. Does David here mean "by God's grace I will praise
him"? If so, he shows us that all our emotions towards God
must be in God, produced by him and presented as such. Or does
he mean, "that which in God is most the object of my praise
is his word, and the faithfulness with which he keeps it"?
If so, we see how attached our hearts should be to the sure word
of promise, and especially to him who is the WORD
incarnate. The Lord is to be praised under every aspect, and in
all his attributes and acts, but certain mercies peculiarly draw
out our admiration towards special portions of the great whole.
That praise which is never special in its direction cannot be
very thoughtful, and it is to be feared cannot be very
acceptable. In the Lord will I praise his word. He delights to
dwell on his praise, he therefore repeats his song. The change
by which he brings in the glorious name of Jehovah is doubtless
meant to indicate that under every aspect he delights in his God
and in his word.
Verse 11. In God have I put my trust. This and
the former verse are evidently the chorus of the Psalm. We
cannot be too careful of our faith, or see too sedulously that
it is grounded on the Lord alone. I will not be afraid what man
can do unto me. Faith has banished fear. He views his foes in
their most forcible character, calling them not flesh,
but indicating them as man, yet he dreads them not;
though the whole race were his enemies he would not be afraid
now that his trust is stayed on God. He is not afraid of what
they threaten to do, for much of that they cannot do; and even
what is in their power, what they can do, he defies with
holy daring. He speaks for the future, "I will not,
"for he is sure that the security of the present will
suffice for days to come.
Verse 12. Thy vows are upon me, O God. Vows
made in his trouble he does not lightly forget, nor should we.
We voluntarily made them, let us cheerfully keep them. All
professed Christians are men under vows, but especially those
who in hours of dire distress have rededicated themselves unto
the Lord. I will render praises unto thee. With heart, and
voice, and gift, we should cheerfully extol the God of our
salvation. The practice of making solemn vows in times of
trouble is to be commended, when it is followed by the far less
common custom of fulfilling them when the trouble is over.
Verse 13. For thou hast delivered my soul from
death. His enemies were defeated in their attempts upon his
life, and therefore he vowed to devote his life to God. Wilt not
thou deliver my feet from falling? One mercy is a plea for
another, for indeed it may happen that the second is the
necessary complement of the first. It little boots that we live,
if we are made to fall in character by the thrusts of our
enemies. As lief not be, as live to be bereft of honour, and
fallen prostrate before my enemies. That I may walk before God
in the light of the living, enjoying the favour and presence of
God, and finding the joy and brightness of life therein. Walking
at liberty, in holy service, in sacred communion, in constant
progress in holiness, enjoying the smile of heaven—this I seek
after. Here is the loftiest reach of a good man's ambition, to
dwell with God, to walk in righteousness before him, to rejoice
in his presence, and in the light and glory which it yields.
Thus in this short Psalm, we have climbed from the ravenous jaws
of the enemy into the light of Jehovah's presence, a path which
only faith can tread.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. The words Jonathelemrechokim may be
rendered, concerning the mute dove among them that are afar
off, or in far places. John Gill.
Title. Michtam. See also Explanatory Notes on
Psalm 16, in the "Treasury of David, "Vol. 1, pp.,
222-223.
Verse 1. Be merciful. This is the second of the
Psalms beginning with the miserere; the fifty-first being the
first of them. C. H. S.
Verse 1. Be merciful unto me, O God. This is to
me the one source of all my expectations, the one fountain of
all promises: Miserere mei, Deus, miserere mei. Bernard,
1091-1157.
Verse 1. Be merciful. His first wrestling in
prayer is with the check of his conscience, whether for his
daily sins, or in particular for casting himself in such
apparent danger, as to have ventured without probable security,
to seek shelter among the enemies of the people of God, whose
blood he himself had shed abundantly; for this rashness or other
sins he begs mercy. David Dickson.
Verse 1. Man. He uses the indefinite term man
in this verse, though in the next he speaks of having many
enemies, the more forcibly to express the truth, that the whole
world was combined against him, that he experienced no humanity
amongst men, and stood in the last necessity of divine help. John
Calvin.
Verse 1. Would swallow me up. Soop me up (as
the Hebrew word soundeth); make but one draught of me, or suck
me in as a whirlpool, swallow me up as a ravenous wild beast. John
Trapp.
Verse 1. He fighting daily. There is no morning
on which we can arise and go forth into the world, and say,
"No enemy will come out against me today." There is no
night in which we can retire from that world, and think to find
safety in the solitude of our own chambers, and say, "No
evil can enter here." Barton Bouchier, in "Manna in
the Heart, "1855.
Verses 1-2. The same words are applicable to the
situation and circumstances of David, pursued by his enemies; of
Christ, persecuted by the Jews; of the church, afflicted in the
world; and of the soul, encompassed by enemies, against whom she
is forced to wage perpetual war. George Horne.
Verse 2. O thou most High. The Hebrew is not
that rendered Most High in Ps 7:17; nor in our version is
it ever rendered Most High in any other place, although
found in the Hebrew Bible more than fifty times. There
are but two other places where it is applied, as an epithet, to
God; Ps 92:8; Mic 6:6. It is commonly rendered, from above,
on high, high places, high; once loftily, Ps 73:8...
The probable meaning is, they "fight against me from the
high places of authority, both in Jerusalem and in Gath, "q.d.,
mine enemies are in power. William S. Plumer's "Studies
in the Book of Psalms, "1867.
Verse 3. What time I am afraid, I will trust in
thee. There is nothing like faith to help at a pinch; faith
dissolves doubts as the sun drives away the mists. And that you
may not be put out, know that your time for believing is always.
There are times when some graces may be out of use, but there is
no time wherein faith can be said to be so. Wherefore faith must
be always in exercise. Faith is the eye, is the mouth, is the
hand, and one of these is of use all the day long. Faith is to
see, to receive, to work, or to eat; and a Christian should be
seeing or receiving, or working, or feeding all day long. Let it
rain, let it blow, let it thunder, let it lighten, a Christian
must still believe. "At what time, "said the good man,
"I am afraid, I will trust in thee." John Bunyan.
Verse 3. What time I am afraid, etc. A divine
spark may live in a smoke of doubts without a speedy rising into
flame. When grace is at the bottom of doubting, there will be
reliance on Christ and lively petitions to him. Peter's faith
staggers when he began to sink, but he casts a look and sends
forth a cry to his Saviour, acknowledging his sufficiency; Mt
14:30, "Lord, save me." Sometimes those doubtings
strengthen our trust and make us take hold faster on God. Ps
56:3. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. This
was a fear of himself or others, rather than a jealousy of God.
Had he had unworthy suspicions of him, he would not have trusted
him; he would not have run for remedy to the object of his fear.
The waverings where faith is, are like the tossings of a ship
fast at anchor (still there is a relying upon God), not like a
boat carried by the waves of the sea to be dashed against a
rock. If the heart stay on Christ in the midst of those
doubtings, it is not an evil heart of unbelief. Such doubtings
consist with the indwelling of the Spirit, who is in the heart,
to perform the office of a Comforter against such fears and to
expel those thick fumes of nature. Stephen Charnock.
Verse 3. What time I am afraid, etc. I know not
what to do, but I will try my old way, it is good for me to draw
near still; I will do so still, as I used to do; I will cast
myself down upon the free grace of Christ in the promises; I
will lay the weight of my sinking spirit there, I will renew my
hold, life, expectation there; this is my old path, I will never
be turned or beaten out here. This Christian in his strength may
challenge all the gates of hell. This was David's course (Ps
71:5), "Thou art my trust from my youth, "etc. Thence
was it that he could say, What time I am afraid, I will trust
in thee: his shield and sword was always in his hand,
therefore he could make use of it when fear and inward trouble
offered themselves. Afraid! alas, who is not? but what
course will you take then? Even what course you used to take, i.e.,
believe; use faith always; and have it now. Elias Pledger(-1676),
in "Morning Exercises."
Verse 3. What time, etc. Literally, What
day. As "Man daily oppresseth me" (Ps
56:1), so "Every day, when I am afraid, I trust in
thee." A. R. Fausset.
Verse 3. It is a good maxim with which to go into a
world of danger; a good maxim to go to sea with; a good maxim in
a storm; a good maxim when in danger on the land; a good maxim
when we are sick; a good maxim when we think of death and the
judgment—What time I am afraid, I WILL TRUST IN THEE.
Albert Barnes.
Verse 3. I will trust in thee. Faith and fear
stand together; and so fear and love. John Richardson,
-1654.
Verses 3-4. Sometimes faith comes from prayer in
triumph, and cries, Victoria. It gives such a being and
existence to the mercy prayed for in the Christian's soul,
before any likelihood of it appears to sense and reason, that
the Christian can silence all his troubled thoughts with the
expectation of its coming. So Hannah prayed, "and was no
more sad." 1Sa 1:18. Yea, it will make the Christian
disburse his praises for the mercy long before it is received.
Thus high faith wrought in David. At what time I am afraid, I
will trust in thee, and in the next words, In God I will
praise his word; that is, he would praise God for his
promise before there was any performance of it in him, when it
had no existence but in God's faithfulness and David's faith.
This holy man had such a piercing eye of faith, that he could
see the promise when he was at the lowest ebb of misery, so
certain and unquestionable in the power and truth of God, that
he could then praise God as if the promised mercy had been
actually fulfilled to him. William Gurnall.
Verse 4. In God I will praise his word. Or,
praise him for his word; for the whole Scripture that was then
in being. John Gill.
Verse 4. The best hold that faith can have of God, is
to take him by his word, however his dispensation seems
to be; this will give satisfaction at length; for In God I
will praise his word, is as much as to say, albeit he
withhold comfort and deliverance from me, so that I cannot find
what I would, yet let me have his word, and I will give
him the glory of all his attributes. David Dickson.
Verse 4. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
Fear not man, he is but flesh. Thou needest not, thou oughtest
not to fear. Thou needest not. What, not such a great man; not
such a number of men, who have the keys of all the prisons at
their girdle; who can kill or save alive? No, not these; only
look they be thy enemies for righteousness sake. Take heed thou
makest not the least child thine enemy, by offering wrong to
him; God will right the wicked even upon the saint. If he
offends he shall find no shelter under God's wing for his sin.
This made Jerome complain that the Christian sin made the arms
of those barbarous nations which invaded Christendom victorious:
Nostris peccatis fortes sunt barbari. But if man's wrath
find thee on God's way, and his fury take fire at thy holiness,
thou needest not fear though thy life be the prey he hunts for.
Flesh can only wound flesh; he may kill thee, but not hurt thee.
Why shouldest thou fear to be stripped of that which thou hast
resigned already to Christ? It is the first lesson you learn, if
a Christian, to deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow thy
Master; so that the enemy comes too late; thou hast no life to
lose, because thou hast given it already to Christ; nor can man
take away that without God's leave; all thou hast is insured;
and though God hath not promised thee immunity from suffering in
this kind, yet he hath undertaken to bear the loss, yea, to pay
thee a hundredfold, and thou shalt not stay for it till another
world. Again, thou oughtest not to fear flesh. Our Saviour
(Matthew 10) thrice, in the compass of six verses, commands us
not to fear man: if thy heart quail at him, how wilt thou behave
thyself in the last against Satan, whose little finger is
heavier than man's loins? The Romans had arma proelusoria,
weapons rebated or cudgels, which they were tried at before they
came to the sharp. If thou canst not bear a bruise in thy flesh
from man's cudgels and blunt weapons, what wilt thou do when
thou shalt have Satan's sword in thy side? God counts himself
reproached when his children fear a sorry man; therefore we are
bid sanctify the Lord, not to fear their fear. William
Gurnall.
Verse 4. I will not fear, etc. Eusebius tells
us of a notable speech that Ignatius used when he was in his
enemies' hands, not long before he was to suffer, which argued a
raised spirit to a wonderful height above the world, and above
himself. "I care, "says he, "for nothing visible
or invisible, that I might get Christ. Let fire, the cross, the
letting out of beasts upon me, breaking of my bones, the tearing
of my members, the grinding of my whole body, and the torments
of the devils come upon me, so be it I may get Christ." From
Jeremiah Burroughs' "Moses his Self denial, "1649.
Verse 4. What flesh can do, etc. It is
according to the phrase of Scripture, when it would speak
contemptibly of man and show him to be the lowest creature, to
call him "flesh, "to set forth the weakness that man
is subject to. John Arrowsmith, 1600-1660.
Verse 4. (last clause). Fear of man—grim
idol, bloody mouthed; many souls has he devoured and trampled
down into hell! His eyes are full of hatred to Christ's
disciples. Scoffs and jeers lurk in his eye. The laugh of the
scorner growls in his throat. Cast down this idol. This keeps
some of you from secret prayer, from worshipping God in your
family, from going to lay your case before ministers, from
openly confessing Christ. You that have felt God's love and
Spirit, dash this idol to pieces. "Who art thou, that thou
shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die?" "Fear
not, thou worm Jacob." "What have I to do any more
with idols?" Robert Murray Macheyne, 1813-1843.
Verse 4. Faith groweth valiant in fight; albeit it
began like a coward, and staggered in the first conflict, yet it
groweth stout, incontinent, and pulls its adversaries under
foot: In God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh
can do unto me. David Dickson.
Verse 5. Every day they wrest my words; or,
they put my words to pain and grief, or, they painfully and
grievously wrest my words. David's enemies took up what he spake,
and put a new shape upon it; and this they did so vexingly, that
they are said to wrest his words; a thing is vexed when
it is wrested or wrought out of the form it before had. The same
metaphor the apostle Peter useth in reference to doctrine,
speaking of the Epistles of Paul, in which "are some things
hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, "or put upon the rack; they
painfully form his words, and represent them in a meaning which
he never intended. 2Pe 3:16. What is spoken may be right, both
in the matter and intendment of the speaker, yet another wrests,
forms and fashions it in his own mould, and makes it bear a
sense which the speaker never dreamed of. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 5. Every day they wrest my words, etc.
Mr. Jewel, the Bishop of Salisbury, who, according to his life,
died most godly and patiently, at the point of death used the
versicle of the Hymn, "Te Deum, ""O Lord, in thee
have I trusted, let me never be confounded, " whereupon,
suppressing the rest, they published that the principle champion
of the heretics, in his very last words, cried he was
confounded. Lord Bacon's "Bible Thoughts."
Verse 5. They wrest my words. Whatever Christ
said in justification of himself was twisted to a meaning
injurious to him. So it is still in the world, self
justification by words answers but little purpose with ungodly
men. W. Wilson, D.D., 1860.
Verse 6. They mark my steps. Go whither I will,
they are at my heels. William Nicholson(-1671), in
"David's Harp Strung and Tuned."
Verse 8. Put thou my tears in thy bottle. Among
other things in the collection of Mr. Abbott, of Cairo, he had a
lachrymatory, or tear bottle, which had been found in a tomb at
Thebes. This interested me very much. The custom in old times
was, when a person was ill or in great distress, for his friends
to go to see him, and take with them a tear bottle. Then, as the
tears rolled down the cheeks of the sufferer, they were caught
in these bottles, sealed up, and preserved as a memorial of the
event. This is what David referred to in Ps 56:8. Put thou my
tears into thy bottle. But it implies much more than at
first suggests itself, and much more than I can attempt to
write. For instance, it is as if David had said, "Visit me,
and behold my tears; "("O visit me with thy
salvation!") for without such visit there could be
no bottling of his tears. "Thou tellest my wanderings; O
visit me, and behold my anguish; put my tears into thy bottle,
"for "they have been my meat day and night." Ps
42:3. "Keep them before thee, by way of remembrance, and
when thou seest the bottle, O think of him whose tears it
contains. Are they not in thy book?" That is, God's book of
remembrance, that was written for those "who thought upon
his name" (Mal 3:16), just as the kings of old used to keep
a book of chronicles of important events. See Es 6:1-11. John
Gadsby, 1860.
(We insert this to show what has been said by others; but we
do not think there is the slightest allusion to this piece of Roman
etiquette in this text. C. H. S.)
Verse 8. My tear: the singular used
collectively. In thy bottle: as if one should say, take
care of my tears, as of a kind of wine that is very costly, and
very pleasant to thee; or, that hereafter you may measure out to
me just that quantity of joys: a metaphor from the keeper of a
vineyard, who receives into his vessel the drops of the grapes
pressed out by the winepress of affliction. The word dag (iter)
(leather or skin bottle) denotes the manner in which they
preserved their wine. (1Sa 16:20; Jos 9:4,13), and milk also
(Jud 4:19). Martin Geier.
Verse 8. Put thou my tears into thy bottle.
What a sweet thought is suggested here of God's remembrance of
his people's affliction! It is an interesting figure of speech,
of bottling their tears. But the sense is, they are
remembered. And woe will be to the man that offends one of God's
little ones on his account. What are now bottles of tears, will
be poured out in the end as so many vials of wrath. But reader!
think how the tears of Jesus have been treasured up when
shedding for the sins of his people. Robert Hawker,
1753-1827.
Verse 8. Put thou my tears into thy bottle. It
is the witty observation of one, that God is said in Scripture
to have a bag and a bottle, a bag for our sins, and a bottle
for our tears; and that we should help to fill this, as we have
that. There is an allusion here in the original that cannot be
Anglicized. John Trapp.
Verse 8. Are they not in thy book? While we
remain in this vale of misery, God keeps all our tears in a
bottle; so precious is the water that is distilled from penitent
eyes; and because he will be sure not to fail, he notes how many
drops there be in his register. It was a precious ointment
wherewith the woman in the Pharisee's house (it is thought Mary
Magdalene) anointed the feet of Christ; but her tears,
wherewith she washed them, were more worth than her spikenard. Abraham
Wright, in "A Practical Commentary or Exposition upon the
Book of Psalms, "1661.
Verse 9. When I cry. The cry of faith and
prayer to God is more dreadful to our spiritual foes than the
war whoop of the Indian is to his surprised brother savages. Adam
Clarke.
Verse 9. (first clause). It was somewhat that
when David prayed he was saved from his enemies. "I will
call on the Lord: so shall I be saved from mine enemies"
(2Sa 22:4); there is the defensive power of prayer; but
it is more that it puts enemies to the foil. When I cry unto
thee, then shall mine enemies turn back and be put to
flight; there is the offensive power of prayer. In
David's tower there was an armoury, thalpijoth, a place
to hang swords with two edges, swords with two mouths (Canticles
4:4); a defensive and an offensive edge. Both edges must be used
by such as seek safety. Prayer is a sword with two edges.
"Put up thy sword into his place, "says Christ to
Peter: "for all they that take the sword shall perish with
the sword." Mt 22:52. But he that takes not this sword may
happen to perish by the sword; and the drawing of this sword may
save a man from perishing by the sword. Mark that last reason
that our Saviour adds why Peter should put up his sword: "Thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently
give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Mt 22:53). As
if he had said, If it were my mind to confound these mine
enemies that now set upon me, I should not need thy sword to do
it. I could pray to my Father, and could presently by prayer
bring such forces into the field as should rout and scatter all
mine enemies; hereby implying, that if he would, he could do his
enemies more damage and mischief by his prayers against them
than by the sword and all instruments of war. Prayer is twelve
legions strong, yea, twelve legions of angels strong against
enemies. Jeremiah Dyke (1620), in the Righteous Man's Tower.
Verse 9. This I know. Faith goeth upon solid
grounds, and is not a fallible conjecture, but a sure knowledge.
David Dickson.
Verse 10. In God will I praise his word: in the
Lord will I praise his word. The first word, Elohim,
is a name belonging to God as a judge, the second word, Jehovah,
is a name of mercy. I will praise God whether he deal with me in
a way of justice or in a way of mercy, when he hath thunder in
his voice, as well as when he hath honey under his tongue. Oh,
how should we praise God, and pleasure ourselves by such a
frame! Stephen Charnock.
Verse 10. (first clause). By the assistance of
God I shall be enabled to praise him for the performance of his
promises. Symon Patrick, 1626-1707.
Verse 12. Thy vows are upon me, O God. Whoever
is conversant with the Psalms of David, will find him frequently
making vows, and careful in paying them. When these words
dropped from him he was just delivered out of a pressing danger
among the Philistines, with whom he took shelter from the rage
of King Saul, who unweariedly pursued him; but he soon found
that the remembrance of his past achievements to their damage
was still so fresh amongst them, and they so exasperated
thereupon, that his life was in constant danger. In his distress
he flies to God, his wonted refuge, and sends up earnest
addresses to him, vowing if he would open a way for his
deliverance out of these new straits, he would show his grateful
sense of so signal a mercy, by the exactness and accuracy of his
future obedience. God hears and succours him; and he thereupon
grateful looks back, endeavours to renew the sense of his former
obligation to his great Deliverer, and to stir up himself by
suitable returns, and so cries out, Thy vows are upon me, O
God; as if he should say, I resolve, O Lord, not to forget
what was transacted while I was under my fears. Thou hast heard
my cries, and I own myself firmly bound by my vows. I was
serious and in earnest when I made them, and I will endeavour to
show that I was so by my care to perform them. Thy vows,
O God, made indeed on my part, but justly to be exacted on thine,
are upon me, they do in reality hold me fast, and I
desire not to be released. I am sensible I deserve to be
stigmatised for a perfidious wretch if I ever forget them. This
temper of holy David with reference to the vows he made
on this occasion, should be ours with reference to all the
sacred vows we any way come under. All Christians, as
such, are necessarily under vows to the blessed God: and
particular circumstances may make it expedient for us to come
under special engagements to him. But wherever they are such as
that they may justly be denominated vows of God, i.e.,
are such as his word will warrant; we should make holy David, as
speaking in this text, our pattern, and set ourselves to imitate
him, in seriously owning their binding force, and endeavouring
to answer and pay them. Edmund Calamy, in "A Practical
Discourse Concerning Vows," 1704.
Verse 12. Thy vows are upon me, O God. A well
composed vow will make thee more circumspect and wary in
the general course of thy life. Such an influence it hath, as
doth more directly work on one particular part, yet is not
terminated to that particular only. Thus it was with David.
These vows were made when he was in danger of his life,
as it seemeth from Ps 56:13; for when God heard him, he
delivered his soul from death: for this he vowed praises in
particular, and he will render them. But, withal he takes
himself to be hereby engaged to a more exact and circumspect
walk before God in all duties: so he expresses himself in the
latter part of Ps 56:13. Henry Hurst (1629-1696), in
"The Morning Exercise at Cripplegate," 1661.
Verses 12-13. Thy vows are upon me, O God. Passively,
vows made to God, not by God; or the obligations of those vows
and prayers which I have made and upon which I have received
answers. Sacrifices of thanksgiving were called vows, as having
been vowed to God upon the want, and to be paid upon the
receipt, of mercy. Le 1:1, "If the sacrifice that is
offered be a vow." Thy vows are upon me; the fruit of my
vows, so that I stand indebted to God for the return of praise. Thou
hast delivered. He understands some great danger wherein he
had sunk had not God stood by him, and from a greater mercy, the
deliverance of his soul from death, argues for a less, the
keeping his feet from falling. That I may walk before God in
the light of the living. By light of the living is meant
life, which is called being enlightened with the "light of
the living." Job 33:30. Sometimes eternal life in heaven.
Joh 8:12, "He that follows me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life." "To walk before
God." To walk obediently in the sight of God; with a
respect to his presence; a walking unto all well pleasing. This
is the last argument in the Psalm whereon he builds his
strongest plea, as if he knew not what to urge if this should
fail him; as if he should have said, Lord, I have had experience
of thy wisdom in contriving, thy power in effecting, thy mercy
in bestowing deliverance upon me, thy goodness in answering my
vows and prayers. "Thou hast delivered from death, "a
danger as great and unavoidable as death itself. O Lord, art not
thou the same as thou wert? Art not thou still as wise to
design, and as gracious to confer further mercy? Wilt thou not
as certainly also deliver my feet from falling? The one contains
his experience, the other the inference or conclusion he draws
from it. Mercies received are in a special manner to be
remembered. Mercies received are encouragements to ask, and
strong grounds to hope for the mercies we want. Stephen
Charnock.
Verses 12-13. Thy vows are upon me, O God. See
Psalms on "Ps 56:12" for further information.
Verse 13. From falling, or, as more literally
translated, from a thrust, or a push, by which one
is caused to fall. O. Prescott Hiller.
Verse 13 (last clause). To walk in the
presence of God is partly under his eyes, his guidance and
care, partly in particular, where God is wont to be present,
where he is worshipped by his people and scatters his
blessings, opposed to his present state by which he was removed
from the place of his worship and presence. Conf. 1Sa 26:19,
etc. Lastly, to walk in the light of the living denotes
in general to live amongst those who live in the light,
or who enjoy the light, as it is said elsewhere, in
the land of the living—Ps 27:13 Isa 38:11 53:8; Eze 32:32;
Ps 142:6—opposed to the dead or the region of the
dead, who dwell in darkness. But in particular it
signifies to live in a safe and prosperous state,
whose well known emblem is light. Hermann Venema.
Verse 13 (last clause). We cannot restrict this
phrase to the light of mortal life; David's vows bound him to
walk in the light of spiritual life, and also in the light
of eternal life, of which by faith he was a partaker. And
most commentators have applied this verse to the light of
glory in the world to come, as the real and final object of
the believer's conversation here on earth. W. Wilson, D.D.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verses 2-3.
1. Fears are common to all men, at one time or
another.
2. Improper and inefficacious means of removing fear are
often resorted to.
3. There is here suggested a true and effectual method of
removing fear.
—Robert Morrison (1782-1834), in "A Parting
Memorial."
Verse 3. What time I am afraid, I will trust in
thee. Whensoever we are afraid of any evil, we are still to
put our trust in God.
1. What is it to put our trust in God?
(a) To keep our hearts from desponding or sinking down under
any fears.
(b) To comfort ourselves in God.
(c) To expect deliverance from him.
2. What is there in God we ought to put our trust in?
(a) In his promises.
(b) In his properties. His power, wisdom, justice, mercy, all
sufficiency.
3. Why should we in all our fears put our trust in God?
(a) Because there is none else can secure us from our fears.
Whereas,
(b) There are no fears but God can secure us from them,
either by removing the thing feared, or by subduing the fear of
the thing. Bishop Beveridge.
Verse 3.
1. There is fear without trust.
2. There is trust without fear.
3. There is fear and trust united. G. R.
Verse 7.
1. From iniquity there is an escape.
2. By iniquity there is no escape. The mercy of God secures
the one. The justice of God prevents the other. G. R.
Verse 8. Here are—
1. Manifold mercies, to reclaim from wanderings.
2. Tender mercies, putting tears in a bottle.
3. Covenant mercies, "Are they not, "etc. G. R.
Verse 9.
1. God is on the side of his people.
2. He is known to be on their side.
3. In answer to prayer he appears on their side.
4. When he appears enemies flee.
Or—
1. The fact, God is for me.
2. The knowledge of that fact—This I know.
3. The use of that knowledge—When I cry, etc.
4. The consequence of that use—Mine enemies turn back. G.
R.
Verse 10.
1. "I will praise God for his word."
2. In his word, as he is there revealed.
3. By his word. "Thou hast put a song, "etc.
Verse 12. Here is—
1. Past dedication.
2. Present consecration.
3. Future glorification. G. R.
Verses 12-13. You have here—
1. The commemoration of former mercies: Thou hast
delivered.
2. The confidence of future: Wilt not thou.
3. The end of all: To walk before God in the light of the
living. Stephen Charnock.
Verse 13.
1. The language of Gratitude—Thou hast, etc.
2. Of Faith—Wilt not thou, etc.
3. Of Hope—That I may walk, etc. G. R.
WORK UPON THE FIFTY-SIXTH PSALM
In CHANDLER'S "Life of David, "Vol.
1., pp. 104-7, there is an Exposition of this Psalm.