TITLE. To the Chief Musician. So
glad a song as this becomes ere it closes, should be in the
keeping of the most skilled of all the temple minstrels. Altaschith,
i.e., DESTROY NOT. This petition is a very sententious
prayer, as full as it is brief, and well worthy to be the motto
for a sacred song. David had said, "destroy not, "in
reference to Saul, when he had him in his power, and now he
takes pleasure in employing the same words in supplication to
God. We may infer from the spirit of the Lord's prayer, that the
Lord will spare us as we spare our foes. There are four of these
"Destroy not" Psalms, namely, the 57th, 58th,
59th, and 75th. In all of them there is a distinct declaration
of the destruction of the wicked and the preservation of the
righteous, and they all have probably a reference to the
overthrow of the Jews, on account of their persecution of the
great Son of David: they will endure heavy chastisement, but
concerning them it is written in the divine decree,
"Destroy them not." Michtam of David. For
quality this Psalm is called golden, or a secret, and it well
deserves the name. We may read the words and yet not know the
secret joy of David, which he has locked up in his golden
casket. When he fled from Saul in the cave. This is a
song from the bowels of the earth, and, like Jonah's prayer from
the bottom of the sea, it has a taste of the place. The poet is
in the shadow of the cave at first, but he comes to the cavern's
mouth at last, and sings in the sweet fresh air, with his eye on
the heavens, watching joyously the clouds floating therein.
DIVISION. We have here prayer, Ps
57:1-6, and praise, Ps 57:7-11. The hunted one takes a long
breath of prayer, and when he is fully inspired, he breathes out
his soul in jubilant song.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful
unto me. Urgent need suggests the repetition of the cry, for
thus intense urgency of desire is expressed. If `he gives twice
who gives quickly, 'so he who would receive quickly must ask
twice. For mercy the psalmist pleads at first, and he feels he
cannot improve upon his plea, and therefore returns to it. God
is the God of mercy, and the Father of mercies, it is most fit
therefore that in distress he should seek mercy from him in whom
it dwells. For my soul trusteth in thee. Faith urges her suit
right well. How can the Lord be unmerciful to a trustful soul?
Our faith does not deserve mercy, but it always wins it from the
sovereign grace of God when it is sincere, as in this case where
the soul of the man believed. "With the heart man
believeth unto righteousness." Yea, in the shadow of thy
wings will I make my refuge. Not in the cave alone would he
hide, but in the cleft of the Rock of ages. As the little birds
find ample shelter beneath the parental wing, even so would the
fugitive place himself beneath the secure protection of the
divine power. The emblem is delightfully familiar and
suggestive. May we all experimentally know its meaning. When we
cannot see the sunshine of God's face, it is blessed to cower
down beneath the shadow of his wings. Until these calamities be
overpast. Evil will pass away, and the eternal wings will abide
over us till then. Blessed be God, our calamities are matters of
time, but our safety is a matter of eternity. When we are under
the divine shadow, the passing over of trouble cannot harm us;
the hawk flies across the sky, but this is no evil to the chicks
when they are safely nestling beneath the hen.
Verse 2. I will cry. He is quite safe, but yet
he prays, for faith is never dumb. We pray because we believe.
We exercise by faith the spirit of adoption whereby we cry. He
says not I do cry, or I have cried, but I will cry, and indeed,
this resolution may stand with all of us until we pass through
the gates of pearl; for while we are here below we shall still
have need to cry. Unto God most high.—Prayers are for God
only; the greatness and sublimity of his person and character
suggest and encourage prayer; however high our enemies, our
heavenly Friend is higher, for he is Most high, and he
can readily send from the height of his power the succour which
we need. Unto God that performeth all things for me. He has
cogent reason for praying, for he sees God performing. The
believer waits and God works. The Lord has undertaken for us,
and he will not draw back, he will go through with his covenant
engagements. Our translators have very properly inserted the
words, "all things, "for there is a blank in the
Hebrew, as if it were a carte blanche, and you might
write therein that the Lord would finish anything and everything
which he has begun. Whatsoever the Lord takes in hand he will
accomplish; hence past mercies are guarantees for the future,
and admirable reasons for continuing to cry unto him.
Verse 3. He shall send from heaven. If there be
no fit instruments on earth, heaven shall yield up its legions
of angels for the succour of the saints. We may in times of
great straits expect mercies of a remarkable kind; like the
Israelites in the wilderness, we shall have our bread hot from
heaven, new every morning; and for the overthrow of our enemies
God shall open his celestial batteries, and put them to utter
confusion. Wherever the battle is more fierce than ordinary,
there shall come succours from headquarters, for the Commander
in chief sees all. And save me from the reproach of him that
would swallow me up. He will be in time, not only to rescue his
servants from being swallowed up, but even from being
reproached. Not only shall they escape the flames, but not even
the smell of fire shall pass upon them. O dog of hell, I am not
only delivered from thy bite, but even from thy bark. Our foes
shall not have the power to sneer at us, their cruel jests and
taunting gibes shall be ended by the message from heaven, which
shall for ever save us. Selah. Such mercy may well make us pause
to meditate and give thanks. Rest, singer, for God has given
thee rest! God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. He
asked for mercy, and truth came with it. Thus evermore doth God
give us more than we ask or think. His attributes, like angels
on the wing, are ever ready to come to the rescue of his chosen.
Verse 4. My soul is among lions. He was a very
Daniel. Howled at, hunted, wounded, but not slain. His place was
in itself one of extreme peril, and yet faith made him feel
himself secure, so that he could lie down. The cave may have
reminded him of a lion's den, and Saul and his band shouting and
yelling in their disappointment at missing him, were the lions;
yet beneath the divine shelter he finds himself safe. And I lie
even among them that are set on fire. Perhaps Saul and his band
kindled a fire in the cavern while they halted in it, and David
was thus reminded of the fiercer fire of their hate which burned
within their hearts. Like the bush in Horeb, the believer is
often in the midst of flames, but never consumed. It is a mighty
triumph of faith when we can lie down even among firebrands and
find rest, because God is our defence. Even the sons of men,
whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp
sword. Malicious men carry a whole armoury in their mouths;
they have not harmless mouths, whose teeth grind their own food
as in a mill, but their jaws are as mischievous as if every
tooth were a javelin or an arrow. They have no molars, all their
teeth are canines, and their nature is canine, leonine, wolfish,
devilish. As for that busy member the tongue, in the case of the
malicious, it is a two edged, keen, cutting, killing sword. The
tongue, which is here compared to a sword, has the adjective sharp
added to it, which is not used in reference to the teeth, which
are compared to spears, as if to show that if men were actually
to tear us with their teeth, like wild beasts, they could not
thereby wound us so severely as they can do with their tongues.
No weapon is so terrible as a tongue sharpened on the devil's
grindstone; yet even this we need not fear, for "No weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that
riseth against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn."
Verse 5. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens.
This is the chorus of the Psalm. Before he has quite concluded
his prayer the good man interjects a verse of praise; and
glorious praise too, seeing it comes from the lion's den and
from amid the coals of fire. Higher than the heavens is the Most
High, and so high ought our praises to rise. Above even the
power of cherubim and seraphim to express it, the glory of God
is revealed and is to be acknowledged by us. Let thy glory be
above all the earth. As above, so below, let thy praises, O thou
great Jehovah, be universally proclaimed. As the air surrounds
all nature, so let thy praises gird the earth with a zone of
song.
Verse 6. They have prepared a net for my steps.
The enemies of the godly spare no pains, but go about their
wicked work with the coolest deliberation. As for each sort of
fish, or bird, or beast, a fitting net is needed, so do the
ungodly suit their net to their victim's circumstances and
character with a careful craftiness of malice. Whatever David
might do, and whichever way he might turn, his enemies were
ready to entrap him in some way or other. My soul is bowed down.
He was held down like a bird in a trap; his enemies took care to
leave him no chance of comfort. They have digged a pit before
me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. He
likens the design of his persecutors to pits, which were
commonly dug by hunters to entrap their prey; these were made in
the usual path of the victim, and in this case David says, before
me, i.e., in my ordinary way. He rejoices because these
devices had recoiled upon themselves. Saul hunted David, but
David caught him more than once and might have slain him on the
spot. Evil is a stream which one day flows back to its source.
Selah. We may sit down at the pit's mouth and view with wonder
the just retaliations of providence.
Verse 7. My heart is fixed. One would have
thought he would have said, "My heart is fluttered;
"but no, he is calm, firm, happy, resolute, established.
When the central axle is secure, the whole wheel is right. If
our great bower anchor holds, the ship cannot drive. O God, my
heart is fixed. I am resolved to trust thee, to serve thee, and
to praise thee. Twice does he declare this to the glory of God
who thus comforts the souls of his servants. Reader, it is
surely well with thee, if thy once roving heart is now firmly
fixed upon God and the proclamation of his glory. I will sing
and give praise. Vocally and instrumentally will I celebrate thy
worship. With lip and with heart will I ascribe honour to thee.
Satan shall not stop me, nor Saul, nor the Philistines, I will
make Adullam ring with music, and all the caverns thereof echo
with joyous song. Believer, make a firm decree that your soul in
all seasons shall magnify the Lord.
"Sing, though sense and carnal reason
Fain would stop the joyful song:
Sing, and count it highest treason
For a saint to hold his tongue."
Verse 8. Awake up, my glory. Let the noblest
powers of my nature bestir themselves: the intellect which
conceives thought, the tongue which expresses it, and the
inspired imagination which beautifies it—let all be on the
alert now that the hour for praise has come. Awake, psaltery and
harp. Let all the music with which I am familiar be well attuned
for the hallowed service of praise. I myself will awake early. I
will awake the dawn with my joyous notes. No sleepy verses and
weary notes shall be heard from me; I will thoroughly arouse
myself for this high employ. When we are at our best we fall
short of the Lord's deserts, let us, therefore, make sure that
what we bring him is our best, and, if marred with infirmity, at
least let it not be deteriorated by indolence. Three times the
psalmist calls upon himself to awake. Do we need so much
arousing, and for such work? Then let us not spare it, for the
engagement is too honourable, too needful to be left undone or
ill done for want of arousing ourselves.
Verse 9. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the
people. Gentiles shall hear my praise. Here is an instance
of the way in which the truly devout evangelic spirit overleaps
the boundaries which bigotry sets up. The ordinary Jew would
never wish the Gentile dogs to hear Jehovah's name, except to
tremble at it; but this grace taught psalmist has a missionary
spirit, and would spread the praise and fame of his God. I will
sing unto thee among the nations. However far off they may be, I
would make them hear of thee through my glad psalmody.
Verse 10. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens.
Right up from man's lowliness to heaven's loftiness mercy
reaches. Imagination fails to guess the height of heaven, and
even thus the riches of mercy exceed our highest thoughts. The
psalmist, as he sits at the cave's mouth and looks up to the
firmament, rejoices that God's goodness is more vast and more
sublime than even the vaulted skies. And thy truth unto the
clouds. Upon the cloud he sets the seal of his truth, the
rainbow, which ratifies his covenant; in the cloud he hides his
rain and snow, which prove his truth by bringing to us seedtime
and harvest, cold and heat. Creation is great, but the Creator
greater far. Heaven cannot contain him; above clouds and stars
his goodness far exceeds.
Verse 11. Be thou exalted, O God, above the
heavens. A grand chorus. Take it up, ye angels and ye
spirits made perfect, and join in it, ye sons of men below, as
ye say, Let thy glory be above all the earth. The prophet in the
previous verse spoke of mercy "unto the heavens, "but
here his song flies "above the heavens; "praise rises
higher, and knows no bound
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. This Psalm was composed, as the title notes, by
David prayer wise, when he hid himself from Saul in the cave,
and is inscribed with a double title, Altaschith, Michtam of
David. Altaschith refers to the scope, and Michtam to
the dignity of the subject matter. The former signifies destroy
not, or, let there be no slaughter; and may either refer to
Saul, concerning whom he gave charge to his servants not to
destroy him; or rather it hath reference to God, to whom in this
great exigence he poured out his soul in this pathetic
ejaculation; Altaschith, destroy not. The latter title, Michtam,
signifies a golden ornament, and so is suited to the choice and
excellent matter of the Psalm, which much more deserves such a
title than Pythagoras' golden verses did. John Flavel
(1627-1692), in "Divine Conduct, or the Mystery of
Providence."
Title. A Psalm composed when David fled from Saul
in the cave, which is referred to in Psalm 143, and which,
because it is without any other distinction called "the
cave, "is probably that celebrated cave where David with
his six hundred followers lay concealed when Saul entered and
David cut off the skirt of his robe. The king, accompanied by
three thousand followers, chased him to the loftiest alpine
heights—"to the sheepcotes, "where the cattle were
driven in the hottest summer months only—to hunt him in every
hiding place. There was a cave, in the darkened cool of which
David and his men were hid. Such caves in Palestine and the East
are frequently enlarged by human hands, and so capacious that
they accommodate thousands of people. This song of complaint was
written during the hours of suspense which David spent there, to
wait until the calamity was overpast (Ps 57:2); in which he only
gradually gains a stout heart (Ps 57:8). His life was really
suspended by a hair, if Saul or any of his attendants had espied
him! Agustus F. Tholuck.
Title. The cave. There appear good grounds for
the local tradition which fixes the cave on the borders of the
Dead Sea, although there is no certainty with regard to the
particular cave pointed out. The cave so designated is at a
point to which David was far more likely to summon his parents,
whom he intended to take from Bethlehem in to Moab, than to any
place in the western plains... It is an immense natural cavern,
the mouth of which can be approached only on foot along the side
of the cliff. Irby and Mangles, who visited it without being
aware that it was the reputed Cave of Adullam, state that it
"runs in by a long, winding, narrow passage, with small
chambers or cavities on either side. We soon came to a large
chamber with natural arches of great height; from this last
there were numerous passages, leading in all directions,
occasionally joined by others at right angles, and forming a
perfect labyrinth, which our guides assured us had never been
perfectly explored—the people being afraid of losing
themselves. The passages are generally four feet high by three
feet wide, and were all on a level with each other." ...It
seems probable that David as a native of Bethlehem, must have
been well acquainted with this remarkable spot, and had probably
often availed himself of its shelter, when out with his father's
flocks. It would, therefore, naturally occur to him as a place
of refuge when he fled from Gath. John Kitto (1804-1854), in
"A Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature."
Whole Psalm. Mystically this hymn may be construed of
Christ, who was in the days of his flesh assaulted by the
tyranny both of spiritual and temporal enemies. His temporal
enemies, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people
of Israel, furiously raged and took counsel together against
him. The chief priests and princes were, saith Hierome, like lions,
and the people like the whelps of lions, all of them in a
readiness to devour his soul. The rulers laid a net for his
feet in their captious interrogatories, asking (Mt 22:17),
"Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?"
and (Joh 8:5) whether the woman taken in the very act of
adultery should be stoned to death or no. The people were "set
on fire, "when as they raged against him, and their
teeth and tongues were spears and swords in crying,
"Crucify him, crucify him." His spiritual enemies also
sought to swallow him up; his soul was among lions
all the days of his life, at the hour of his death especially.
The devil in tempting and troubling him, had laid a snare for
his feet; and death, in digging a pit for him, had
thought to devour him. As David was in death, so Christ
the Son of David was in the grave. John Boys, 1571-1625.
Verse 1. Be merciful unto me, O God, etc. This
excellent Psalm was composed by David when there was enough to
discompose the best man in the world. The repetition notes both
the extremity of the danger, and the ardency of the supplicant. Mercy!
Mercy! Nothing but mercy, and that exerting itself in any
extraordinary way, can now save him from ruin. The arguments he
pleads for obtaining mercy in this distress are very
considerable.
1. He pleads his reliance upon God as an argument to move
mercy. My soul trusteth in thee, etc. This his trust and
dependence upon God, though it be not argumentative in respect
of the dignity of the act; yet it is so in respect both
of the nature of the object, a compassionate God who will
not expose any that take shelter under his wings, and in respect
of the promise, whereby protection is assured to them
that fly to him for sanctuary. Isa 26:3.
2. He pleads former experiences of his help in past
distresses, as an argument encouraging hope under the present
strait (Ps 57:2). John Flavel.
Verse 1. Be merciful unto me. According to the
weight of the burden that grieveth us, is the cry that comes
from us. How do poor condemned prisoners cry to their judges,
"Have pity upon us, have pity upon us!" David, in the
day of his calamities doubles his prayer for mercy: Be
merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul
trusteth in thee, etc., Until these calamities be
overpast. It was not a single calamity, but a multitude of
calamities which compassed David, and therefore he compasseth
the Lord about with petitions. His spirit being up in prayer,
like a bell that rings out, he strikes on both sides, Be
merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 1. Be merciful unto me. The first clause
contains the prayer itself in a very forcible word ygnx,
properly, "Show thy most tender affection to me, "such
as animals, with a humming sound, show to their young. Hermann
Venema.
Verse 1. For my soul trusteth in thee. The best
reason with God, who "taketh pleasure in those that hope in
his mercy." Ps 147:11. Poole's Synopsis.
Verse 1. Soul. His soul trusted in God;
and this is a form of expression the force of which is not to be
overlooked; for it implies that the trust which he exercised
proceeded from his very innermost affection—that it was of no
volatile character, but deeply and strongly rooted. He declares
the same truth in figurative terms, when he adds his persuasion
that God would cover him with the shadow of his wings. John
Calvin.
Verse 1. In the shadow of thy wings I will trust;
properly, I will seek for protection. The very delightful figure
here employed, is taken from the chicken lying safely hid under
the mother's wings; at the same time it seems to have reference
to the wings of the cherubim, by which the mercyseat was
covered. Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.
Verse 1. The shadow of thy wings. Compare Ps
17:8 61:4; and Mt 23:37; and the Apocalyptic imagery, describing
the church fleeing from the dragon in the wilderness; and
"to her are given the two wings of the great eagle,
"and she is delivered from the dragon, who desires to swallow
her up. See Re 12:6,15-16. Christopher Wordsworth,
1868.
Verse 1. Until these calamities be overpast. He
compares his afflictions and calamity to a storm that cometh and
goeth; as it is not always fair weather with us in this life, so
not always foul. Athanasius said of Julian furiously raging
against the Lord's Anointed, "Nubecula est, cito
transibit, "he is a little cloud; he will soon pass
away. Man is born to labour and dolour, to travail and trouble;
to labour in his actions, to dolour in his passions; and so,
"Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord
delivereth him out of all." If we put our trust in him and
cast all our care upon him, he will in his good time bring it to
pass, that all our afflictions shall overpass. He will either
take them from us or us from them, and then we shall assuredly
know that the troubles of this life present are not worthy of
the glory which in the life to come shall be showed unto us. For
as the globe of the earth, which improperly for his show of
bigness we term the world, and is, after the mathematician's
account, many thousand miles in compass; yet, being compared
unto the greatness of the starry sky's circumference, is but a
centre or little prick: so the travail and affliction of this
life temporal, in respect of the joys eternal in the world to
come, bear not any proportion, but are to be reputed in
comparison a very nothing, as a dark cloud that cometh and goeth
in a moment. John Boys.
Verses 1-3. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my
refuge, until these calamities be overpast, etc. As if he
had said, Lord, I am already in the cave and in the holds, and
in the shadow of it, but yet for all that I think not myself
safe indeed, till I have made my refuge in the shadow of thy
wings: that is therefore the course I resolve and build upon. It
was wisely done of him: and mark what course he takes to do it,
Ps 57:2, I will cry unto God most high, I will by prayer
put myself under the shadow of God's wings: and mark what
success should follow, Ps 57:3, He shall send from heaven,
and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.
God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. When we send
prayers up to heaven, God will send help down from heaven. But
yet David prays to God, as well as trusts in God.
And unless we pray as well as trust, our trust will fail us, for
we must trust to God for that we pray for. Jeremiah Dyke,
1620.
Verse 3. Him that would swallow me up. If I
were to take you to my house, and say that I had an exquisite
fat man, and wished you to join me in eating him, your
indignation could be restrained by nothing. You would pronounce
me to be crazy. There is not in New York a man so mean that he
would not put down a man who should propose to have a banquet
off from a fellow man, cutting steaks out of him, and eating
them. And that is nothing but feasting on the human body, while
they will all sit down, and take a man's soul, and look for the
tender loins, and invite their neighbours in to partake of the
little titbits. They will take a man's honour and name, and
broil them over the coals of their indignation, and fill the
whole room with the aroma thereof, and give their neighbour a
piece, and watch him, and wink as he tastes it. You all eat men
up... You eat the souls, the finest elements of men. You are
more than glad if you can whisper a word that is derogatory to a
neighbour, or his wife, or his daughter... The morsel is too
exquisite to be lost. Here is the soul of a person, here is a
person's hope for this world and the world to come, and you have
it on your fork, and you cannot refrain from tasting it, and
give it to some one else to taste. You are cannibals, eating
men's honour and name and rejoicing in it—and that, too, when
you do not always know that the things charged against them are
true; when in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the
probabilities are that they are not true. Henry Ward Beecher,
1870.
Verse 3. God shall send forth his mercy and his
truth, viz., to save me. That is to say, God, to manifest
his mercy, and vindicate the truth of his promises, will save
me. The reader will observe, that mercy and truth are here
poetically represented as ministers of God, standing in his
presence, ready to execute his pleasure, and employed by him in
the salvation of his people. Samuel Chandler.
Verse 3. His mercy and his truth. He need not
send down angels, he need send but mercy and truth down,
which elsewhere it is said he prepares in the heavens. Ps 61:7.
He prepares commissions for them, and sends them down with them
for execution. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 4. My soul is among lions. This may also
be construed of the church, and that both in respect of her
spiritual enemies and temporal. As for her ghostly foes, the
devil is a roaring lion (1Pe 5:8), and our sins are the whelps
of lions, ready to devour us. And concerning outward
enemies, the church in this world is like Daniel in the lion's
den, or as "the sucking child playing upon the hole of the
asp." Isa 11:8. She hath here no visible power or outward
help to fly to for succour, all her trust is in the Lord, and
"under the shadow of his wings is her refuge, till this
evil is overpast."... And surely, beloved, if the church
had not any other enemies, but only these monstrous Antichrists
of Rome, yet she might truly complain with our prophet here, My
soul is among lions. Eleven popes had that name, whereof
all, excepting two or three, were roaring lions in their Bulls,
and ravening lions in seeking after their prey. Leo the
tenth so pilled (Pill—peel, to pillage, plunder, strip) and
polled (Poll, used synonymously with peel) the goodly nations of
Germany with his unpardonable pardons and merciless indulgences,
as that his insupportable cruelty gave the first occasion of the
Reformation of religion in that country. John Boys.
Verse 4. (first clause). Mudge translates
literally, I lie with my soul amidst lionesses. This
agrees with the opinion of Bochart, who thinks that the animals
here intended are lionesses, properly, when giving suck to their
young, a time when they are peculiarly fierce and dangerous,
"nor need we wonder, "he observes, "that the
lioness is reckoned among the fiercest lions; for the lioness
equals, or even exceeds, the lion in strength and fierceness;
"and this he proves from the testimonies of ancient
writers. James Anderson's Note to Calvin in loc, 1846.
Verse 4. And I lie even among them that are set on
fire. The whole pith lies in the word hbkva, I will
recline, which denotes a tranquil and secure condition of
body and mind, like a man reclining and sleeping, as Ps
3:5; I laid me down and slept, I awaked; and lived
composedly; Ps 4:9; I will both lay me down in peace,
etc. Hermann Venema.
Verse 4. The horrors of a lion's den, the burning of a
fiery furnace, and the cruel onset of war, are the striking
images by which David here describes the peril and wretchedness
of his present condition. John Morison.
Verse 6. Net. Not having fire arms, the
ancients were much more skilful than the moderns in the use of
snares, nets, and pits for capturing wild animals. A large class
of Biblical figures and allusions necessarily presuppose this
state of things. W. M. Thomson.
Verse 7. My heart is fixed, O God, etc. The
psalmist knowing that it is the order and work of God, first to
prepare the heart for communion, and then to incline his own ear
to hear his people, and to entertain communion with them in
ordinances, he doth observe this order, and follow it with a
practice suitable to it in his daily address to God, that is
thus, wheresoever he doth find his heart put into a fitted and
prepared frame for communion with God, he doth not let it die
again, and go out of frame by a slothful neglect of such a
disposition of heart. No, but he immediately sets himself to
duty, to worship God, and to the acts of his worship, in his
ordinances, as he expresses himself in Ps 57:7; viz., thus—ybl
nwkg myhla ybl nwkg, Nachon libbi Elohim, nachon libbi
(there is the first; he finds his heart fitted and prepared for
communion with God): "My heart, "saith he, "is
fitted or prepared" (for the word nwkg nachon is the
passive conjugation niphal, signifying, he is fitted or
prepared, from the root nzb, chun, he fitted or prepared,
in the active; and so it is rather to be rendered prepared or
fitted, then "fixed, "thus ykl, libbi, my
heart; nwkg, nachon, is fitted or prepared), "O God,
my heart is fitted or prepared" for communion with thee.
Well, what follows? He presently sets himself upon that great
duty and ordinance of communion with God, in the praising of his
name and singing forth those praises, as in the words
immediately following in the same verse, thus: My heart is
prepared, O God, my heart is prepared; therefore, hrmzaw, ashidah
va-azamerah, "I will sing and give praise." William
Strong, in "Communion with God," 1656.
Verse 7. My heart is fixed, O God, etc. Fitness
for duty lies in the orderly temper of body and mind, making a
man willing to undertake, and able to finish his work with
comfortable satisfaction. If either the body or mind be
distempered, a man is unfit for such an undertaking; both must
be in a suitable frame, like a well tuned instrument, else there
will be no melody: hence when David prepared himself for praises
and worship, he tells us his heart was ready and fixed,
and then, his tongue was ready also (Ps 45:1), so was his
hand with psaltery and harp; all these were awakened into a
suitable posture. That a man is or hath been in a fit order for
service may be concluded from
1. His alacrity to undertake a duty.
2. His activity in the prosecution.
3. His satisfaction afterward. Right grounds and principles
in these things being still presupposed. Richard Gilpin
(1625-1699,1700), in "Daemonologia Sacra."
Verse 7. I will sing. It should alarm the
wicked that they are contending with a people who sing and shout
on the battle field. Yea, they never sing louder than when most
distressed and afflicted. Whether saints conquer or are
conquered they still sing on. Blessed be God for that. Let
sinners tremble at contending with men of a spirit so heavenly. William
S. Plumer.
Verse 7. Sincerity makes the Christian sing, when he
hath nothing to his supper. David was in none of the best case
when in the cave, yet we never find him merrier: his heart makes
sweeter music than ever his harp did. William Gurnall.
Verses 7-8. That worship that is performed with a
sleepy, drowsy body, is a weak worship, but the psalmist here
makes the awakening of the body to be the fruit and effect of
the preparation of the heart; Awake up, my glory; awake,
psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. Why so? My
heart is prepared. The heart prepared and thereby awaked, will
awake the body. To worship God therefore without a prepared
heart, is to worship him with a drowsy body, because with a
drowsy heart, and therefore weakly. John Angier, in "An
Help to Better Hearts, for Better Times," 1647.
Verse 8. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and
harp: I myself will awake early. We must prevent God by
early praise as well as prayer: "The God of my mercy shall
prevent me, "sings David; and every child of David must
prevent God again with his songs. Jehoshaphat delighted God with
instruments of music before his deliverance. Faith must tune an epinikion,
a psalm of victory, before the triumph. Praise is the ingenious
mother of future mercies; as the Virgin Mary sang at Hebron
before the birth of her son at Bethlehem. Oh, heavenly
contention between mercy and duty! Samuel Lee, 1625-1691.
Verse 8. Awake up, my glory, etc. We must sing with
excited grace. Not only with grace habitual, but with
excited and actual: the musical instrument delights not but when
it is played upon. In this duty we must follow Paul's advice to
Timothy (2Ti 1:6), anazwpurein, stir up the grace that is
in us, and cry out as David, Awake love, awake delight.
Ps 57:8. The clock must be wound up before it can guide our
time; the bird pleaseth not in her nest, but in her notes; the
chimes only make music when they are going. Let us therefore beg
the Spirit to blow upon our garden, that the spices thereof may
flow out, when we set upon this joyous service. God loves active
grace in duty, that the soul should be ready trimmed when it
presents itself to Christ in any worship. John Wells, in
"Morning Exercises, "1674.
Verse 8. I will awake early. Literally, `I will
awake the dawn.' a bold figure of poetry, as if the writer had
said,—The morning shall not awake me to praise; but in my
songs I will anticipate the dawn. R. T. Society's Notes.
Verse 8. It will answer our purpose to take notice,
first, of the terms David uses, and then, secondly, press
the exhortation. Of the terms he uses:
1. My glory. That is my soul (say some) because
the spirit of a man is the glory of a man, whereby he is
dignified and raised so much above the brutes, as to be
but a "little lower than the angels, "nay, to be akin
to God himself, "the Father of spirits." My musical
skill, say others, the glory of the artist above the
unskilful; and that wherein David had the glory of excelling, as
Jubal had of the first invention. My tongue, say others;
for this is also the glory of a man above the dumb creatures,
and the glory of a wise man above a fool. And as the tongue is
the glory of a man, so the glory of the tongue is to glorify
God. Praise is the glory of all other uses to which the tongue
is employed; and the tongue is, in the body, that "temple
of the Holy Ghost, "what the silver trumpet was in the
temple of Solomon; to sound the high praises of God, and express
the raised affections of our souls.
2. Awake, psaltery and harp. The one for a psalm, the
other for a spiritual song or hymn; that is to say, all my
musical instruments and skill I will employ in and consecrate to
the glory of him who "puts new songs into my mouth."
He first teaches my fingers to fight, and then to play the epinikion,
or song of triumph. Sound, then, my psaltery and harp, emulous
of those that are around the throne above; your melody can
soften my cares, lay my fears, and turn my cave into a choir.
As to these instruments in the worship of God, they were
doubtless allowed to David, and to the church in his time. They
were agreeable to the state of that church and people, who were
led very much by their senses; and whose infant and less
discerning condition made it needful for the natural man to have
something to fasten upon and be entertained with in the worship
of God and to sweeten and take off from the labour and burden of
that service. But as the gospel worship and appointments are a
more spiritual, pleasant, and reasonable service, and need them
less, so in the gospel institution we find no footsteps of them;
and we know who first brought them into the church, as well as
who first brought them into the world. It is not my business
here to dispute this matter; and he must at any time do it but
indifferently, whose inclination is against him all the while,
and whose genius tempts him to wish himself solidly confuted in
all he can advance. But since I find these instruments in my
text, and since the sound of such texts as these is made use of
to turn the public worship so frequently into concerts of music,
I shall leave them with this remark: that to let them alone,
especially in public worship, though one thought them tolerable,
has a much better grace with it than to declare them
"sorely displeasing to God, and that they filthily defile
his holy house and place of prayer."
3. I myself will awake early. And without this, all
the rest have been an empty sound; there would have been no
melody to the Lord, whatsoever good music he might have made to
himself. He would not put God off with a sacrifice of mere air.
He summons the attendance of all his powers. Himself is the
offering; and his music plays to the sacrifice, as it goes up in
holy affections and spiritual joys; and unless these accompany
the song, the mere breath of an organ, or the trembling of the
strings of an harp is as good devotion and less offensive to
God. Consider the nature and excellency of the duty.
Singing psalms is a compound of several other duties. It
contains prayer to a very great advantage: the stretch of the
voice does humour and lead on the earnest reaching of the mind
after the desired blessing. It is the very element and breath of
praise; and the apostle tells us that "teaching and
admonishing one another" is performed in singing
"psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." For when we
sing of judgment, it is awakening to sinners; and when we
sing of mercy, it is comforting to all. Meditation cannot
have a better help. The solemn movement of the time gives room
for the mind to compass the full sense of the matter, and to
impress it deep; and while the tongue is making the pause,
the heart may make the elevation. In short, it gives an
accent to all duty; it is the music of all other ordinances; it
is adapted and suited to all circumstances; as appears from the
psalms composed upon all occasions and subjects, doctrinal,
prophetical, oratory, and historical; of praise and prayer, of
grief and joy, in the penitential and complaining, in the
triumphal and rejoicing; as if singing of psalms could stand for
everything, and, like the manna in the wilderness, gives a taste
of all the other food we enjoy in the house of God.
Benjamin Grosvenor, D.D. (1675-1758), in "An Exhortation
to the Duty of Singing, " Eastcheap Lectures, 1810.
Verse 8. The psaltery was a stringed
instrument, usually with twelve strings, and played with the
fingers. The harp or lyre was a stringed instrument,
usually consisting of ten strings. Josephus says that it was
struck or played with a key. It appears, however, that it was
sometimes played with the fingers. Albert Barnes.
Verse 9. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the
people. The Spirit of God who indited this scripture, made
his penman know that the Gentiles should have the use of his
Psalms. David Dickson.
Verse 9. The people—the nations. The Hebrew
church was neither called nor qualified to be a missionary
society, but it never ceased to desire and hope for the
conversion of the nations. This is seen in those passages in
which the psalmists betray a consciousness that they shall one
day have all the world for auditors. How boldly does David
exclaim, I will sing unto thee among the nations. In the
same spirit, a later psalmist summons the church to lift up her
voice, so that all the nations may hear her recital of the
Lord's mighty acts: O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon
his name: make known his deeds among the people. Ps 105:1.
The full import of this class of texts is often hidden from the
English reader by the circumstance that our translators have
hardly ever used the word people in its plural form.
Twice in the Revelation they venture to write peoples;
everywhere else the singular form has to do duty for both
numbers; so that in not a few passages the sense is greatly
obscured to those who have no access either to the original or
to other versions. In the Psalms, in particular, the mention of
the Gentiles is more frequent than the English reader is made
aware of. It is to be observed, moreover, that in addition to
this strain of indirect prediction, the conversion of the world
is articulately celebrated in many glorious Psalms. Indeed, so
numerous are these, and so generally distributed over the
centuries between David and Ezra, that it would seem that at no
time during the long history of inspired Psalmody, did the
Spirit cease to indite new songs in which the children of Zion
might give utterance to their world embracing hopes. William
Binnie, D.D., in "The Psalms: their History, Teachings, and
Use, "1870.
Verses 10-11. A hard and ungrateful heart beholds even
in prosperity only isolated drops of divine grace; but a
grateful one like David's, though chased by persecutors, and
striking the harp in the gloom of a cave, looks upon the mercy
and faithfulness of God as a mighty ocean, waving and heaving
from the earth to the clouds, and from the clouds to the earth
again. Agustus F. Tholuck.
Verse 11. Be thou exalted, O God, above the
heavens, etc. Greater words of prayer than these never came
from human lips. Heaven and earth have as they imply, a mutually
interwoven history, and the blessed, glorious end of this is in
the sunrise of the Divine glory over both. Franz Delitzsch,
1869.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. (first clause). Repetition in
prayer.
1. Its dangers. May degenerate into "vain
repetitions." Carried to excess painfully suggests the
idea, God is unwilling.
2. Its uses. Eases the soul like tears. Manifests intense
emotion. Enables those of less mental activity to join in the
general supplication. R. A. Griffin.
Verse 1. Here are—
1. Calamities:
(a) War.
(b) Pestilence.
(c) Privations.
(d) Sin, greatest of all.
(e) Death.
(f)Curse of a broken law.
2. Here is a refuge from these calamities.
(a) In God.
(b) Specially in the mercy of God.
3. There is flying to that refuge.
(a) By faith; My soul trusteth in thee; Under the
shadow, etc.
(b) By prayer; "Be "etc.
4. Here is continuance both in faith and prayer; until,
etc. G. R.
Verses 1, 4, 6-7. Note the varying condition of the
same heart, at the same time. My soul trusteth in thee... My
soul is among lions... My soul is bowed down... My heart is
fixed.
Verse 2. Prayer to the performing God. He performs all
his promises, all my salvation, all my preservation, all needed
between here and heaven. Here he reveals his omnipotence, his
grace, his faithfulness, his immutability; and we are bound to
show our faith, patience, joy, and gratitude.
Verse 2. Strange reasons.
1. The psalmist in the depth of distress, cries to God,
because he is most high in glory. Surely this thought might well
paralyse him with the fear of divine inaccessibility, but the
soul quickened with suffering, sees through and beyond the
metaphor, rejoices in the truth, "Though the Lord be high,
yet hath he respect unto the lowly."
2. He cries to God for help, because God is performing
all things for him. Why urge him then? Prayer is the music to
which "the mighty man of war" goes forth to battle. R.
A. G.
Verse 3. The saints comfort in adversity.
1. All contingencies are provided for: He shall (or
will) send.
2. The highest resources are available: from heaven.
3. The worst foes will be overcome in the end: him
that would swallow me up.
4. By the holiest means: mercy and truth. R. A. G.
Verse 3. The celestial messengers. What they are. The
certainty of their being sent. Their efficient operation. The
grateful receiver.
Verse 3. (last clause). The harmony of the
divine attributes in salvation. Mercy founded on truth, truth
vindicating mercy. Mercy without injustice, justice honoured in
mercy.
Verse 5.
1. The end which God has in view, both in heaven and earth,
in a sinful and in sinless worlds—his own glory.
2. Our duty to acquiesce in that end: Be thou,
etc.—Not self, not men, not angels—Be thou exalted,
etc. In this we should acquiesce—
(a) Actively, by seeking that end.
(b) Passively, by submission to his will. G. R.
Verse 7. (first clause). It is implied that the
heart is the main thing required in all acts of devotion;
nothing is done to purpose in religion further than it is done
with the heart. The heart must be fixed; fixed for
the duty, fitted and put in frame for it; fixed in the
duty by a close application; attending on the Lord
without distraction. Matthew Henry.
Verse 7.
1. What is fixed? the heart, not the mind merely, but the
will, the conscience, the affections, which draw the mind after
them: My heart is fixed—found an anchorage, a resting
place, not therefore at the mercy of every gale, etc.
2. The objects upon which it is fixed.
(a) Upon God.
(b) Upon his word.
(c) Upon his salvation.
(d) Upon heaven.
3. The fixedness of the heart upon these objects, denotes—
(a) Singleness of aim.
(b) Uniformity of action.
(c) Perseverance to the end. G. R.
Verses 7-9.
1. He that will be thankful must treasure up in his heart and
memory the courtesy that is done him; so had David done, and
therefore he mentions his heart; and to make it more
emphatic, he names it again, My heart.
2. After he remembers it, he must be affected with it, and
resolve upon it; so doth David: My heart is ready, or
else, My heart is fixed; confirmed I am in it to be
thankful, and I cannot be altered.
3. It is not enough that a man carry about with him a
thankful heart he must anunciare, tell it abroad, and
make it known publicly what God hath done for him; yea, and do
it joyfully too: I will, saith David, sing and give
praise.
4. He must use all means he can to make it known—"tongue,
""psaltery, "and "harp, "all
are little enough. Whence, by an apostrophe, David turns to
these. Awake, my glory: i.e., Tongue, awake; lute and harp,
awake; I myself will awake.
5. He must not do it in a sleepy manner, but with intention
and earnestness of spirit: "Awake, awake, I will
awake."
6. He must take the first opportunity to do it, and not hang
off and delay it. I will awake early.
7. He must do it in such a place, and such an assembly as may
most redound to God's honour: I will praise thee, O Lord,
among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.
William Nicholson.
Verse 9. Who? I. What? Will praise.
Whom? Thee, O Lord. Where? Among the people. Why?
Verse 9. Public profession.
1. A necessity.
2. A privilege.
3. A duty. R. A. G.
Verse 10. The mercy of God reaches to the heavens.
1. As a throne. God is exalted in our eyes by his mercy.
2. As a ladder. By mercy we ascend from earth to heaven.
3. As a rainbow. Present and past mercies argue exemption for
the saints from the wrath of heaven.
4. As a mountain. Its base is on the earth though its summit
is lost in clouds. The influence of the cross towers to the
heaven of heavens. Who can tell the glory of the summit of this
mountain, whose base is refulgent with glory! R. A. G.
Verse 10. The amazing greatness of mercy.
1. It is not said merely that it is high as heaven, but great
unto the heavens. It is high as the heavens, overtopping
the greatest sin, and highest thought of man.
2. It is wide as the far reaching sky, compassing men
of all ages, countries, classes, etc.
3. It is deep. Everything of God is proportionate;
this, therefore, is deep in abiding foundation, and infinite
wisdom.
WORKS UPON THE FIFTY-SEVENTH PSALM
The Works of JOHN BOYS, D.D., "Deane of
Canterburie, "1629, folio, pp. 834-40, contains an
Exposition of Psalm 57.
In CHANDLER'S "Life of David, "Vol.
1., pp. 176-9, there is an Exposition of this Psalm.