Here is a lengthy title, but it helps us much to
expound the Psalm. To the Chief Musician upon Shushaneduth,
or the Lily of Testimony. The forty-fifth was on the lilies, and
represented the kingly warrior in his beauty going forth to war;
here we see him dividing the spoil and bearing testimony to the
glory of God. Tunes have strange names apparently, but this
results from the fact that we do not know what was in the
composer's mind, else they might seem to be touchingly
appropriate; perhaps the music or the musical instruments have
more to do with this title than the Psalm itself. Yet in war
songs, roses and lilies are often mentioned, and one remembers
Macaulay's Song of the Hugenots, though perhaps we err in
mentioning so carnal a verse—
"Now by the lips of those ye love, fair gentlemen of
France,
Charge for the golden lilies now, upon them with the
lance."
Michtam of David, to teach. David obeyed the precept to teach
the children of Israel; he recorded the Lord's mighty acts that
they might be rehearsed in the ears of generations to come.
Golden secrets are to be told on the house tops; these things
were not done in a corner and ought not to be buried in silence.
We ought gladly to learn what inspiration so beautifully
teaches. When he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah.
The combined Aramean tribes sought to overcome Israel, but were
signally defeated. When Joab returned. He had been
engaged in another region, and the enemies of Israel took
advantage of his absence, but on his return with Abishai the
fortunes of war were changed. And smote of Edom in the valley
of salt twelve thousand. More than this appear to have
fallen according to 1Ch 18:12, but this commemorates one
memorable part of the conflict. Terrible must have been the
battle, but decisive indeed were the results, and the power of
the enemy was utterly broken. Well did the Lord deserve a song
from his servant.
DIVISION. Properly the song may be
said to consist of three parts: the complaining verses, Ps
60:1-3; the happy, Ps 60:4-8; the prayerful, Ps 60:9-12. We have
divided it as the sense appeared to change.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Before the days of Saul, Israel had been
brought very low; during his government it had suffered from
internal strife, and his reign was closed by an overwhelming
disaster at Gibeon. David found himself the possessor of a
tottering throne, troubled with the double evil of factions at
home, and invasion from abroad. He traced at once the evil to
its true source, and began at the fountainhead. His were the
politics of piety, which after all are the wisest and most
profound. He knew that the displeasure of the Lord had brought
calamity upon the nation, and to the removal of that displeasure
he set himself by earnest prayer. O God, thou hast cast us off.
Thou hast treated us as foul and offensive things, to be put
away; as mean and beggarly persons, to be shunned with contempt;
as useless dead boughs, to be torn away from the tree, which
they disfigure. To be cast off by God is the worst calamity that
can befall a man or a people; but the worst form of it is when
the person is not aware of it and is indifferent to it. When the
divine desertion causes mourning and repentance, it will be but
partial and temporary. When a cast off soul sighs for its God it
is indeed not cast off at all. Thou has scattered us. David
clearly sees the fruits of the divine anger, he traces the
flight of Israel's warriors, the breaking of her power, the
division in her body politic, to the hand of God. Whoever might
be the secondary agent of these disasters, he beholds the Lord's
hand as the prime moving cause, and pleads with the Lord
concerning the matter. Israel was like a city with a breach made
in its wall, because her God was wroth with her. These first two
verses, with their depressing confession, must be regarded as
greatly enhancing the power of the faith which in the after
verses rejoices in better days, through the Lord's gracious
return unto his people.
Thou hast been displeased. This is the secret of our
miseries. Had we pleased thee, thou wouldst have pleased us; but
as we have walked contrary to thee, thou hast walked contrary to
us. O turn thyself to us again. Forgive the sin and smile once
more. Turn us to thee, turn thou to us. Aforetime thy face was
towards thy people, be pleased to look on us again with thy
favour and grace. Some read it, "Thou wilt turn to us
again, "and it makes but slight difference which way we
take it, for a true hearted prayer brings a blessing so soon
that it is no presumption to consider it already obtained. There
was more need for God to turn to his people than for Judah's
troops to be brave, or Joab and the commanders wise. God with us
is better than strong battalions; God displeased is more
terrible than all the Edomites that ever marched into the valley
of salt, or all the devils that ever opposed the church. If the
Lord turn to us, what care we for Aramnaharaim or Aramzobah, or
death, or hell? but if he withdraw his presence we tremble at
the fall of a leaf.
Verse 2. Thou hast made the earth to tremble.
Things were as unsettled as though the solid earth had been made
to quake; nothing was stable; the priests had been murdered by
Saul, the worst men had been put in office, the military power
had been broken by the Philistines, and the civil authority had
grown despicable through insurrections and intestine contests.
Thou hast broken it. As the earth cracks, and opens itself in
rifts during violent earthquakes, so was the kingdom rent with
strife and calamity. Heal the breaches thereof. As a house in
time of earthquake is shaken, and the walls begin to crack, and
gape with threatening fissures, so was it with the kingdom. For
it shaketh. It tottered to a fall; if not soon propped up and
repaired it would come down in complete ruin. So far gone was
Israel, that only God's interposition could preserve it from
utter destruction. How often have we seen churches in this
condition, and how suitable is the prayer before us, in which
the extremity of the need is used as an argument for help. The
like may be said of our personal religion, it is sometimes so
tried, that like a house shaken by earthquake it is ready to
come down with a crash, and none but the Lord himself can repair
its breaches, and save us from utter destruction.
Verse 3. Thou hast showed thy people hard things.
Hardships had been heaped upon them, and the psalmist traces
these rigorous providences to their fountainhead. Nothing had
happened by chance, but all had come by divine design and with a
purpose, yet for all that things had gone hard with Israel. The
psalmist claims that they were still the Lord's own people,
though in the first verse he had said, "thou hast cast us
off." The language of complaint is usually confused, and
faith in time of trouble ere long contradicts the desponding
statements of the flesh. Thou hast made us to drink the wine of
astonishment. Our afflictions have made us like men drunken with
some potent and bitter wine; we are in amazement, confusion,
delirium; our steps reel, and we stagger as those about to fall.
The great physician gives his patients potent potions to purge
out their abounding and deep seated diseases. Astonishing evils
bring with them astonishing results. The grapes of the vineyard
of sin produce a wine which fills the most hardened with anguish
when justice compels them to quaff the cup. There is a fire
water of anguish of soul which even to the righteous makes a cup
of trembling, which causes them to be exceeding sorrowful almost
unto death. When grief becomes so habitual as to be our drink,
and to take the place of our joys, becoming our only wine, then
are we in an evil case indeed.
Verse 4. Here the strain takes a turn. The Lord has
called back to himself his servants, and commissioned them for
his service, presenting them with a standard to be used in his
wars. Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee. Their
afflictions had led them to exhibit holy fear, and then being
fitted for the Lord's favour, he gave them an ensign, which
would be both a rallying point for their hosts, a proof that he
had sent them to fight, and a guarantee of victory. The bravest
men are usually intrusted with the banner, and it is certain
that those who fear God must have less fear of man than any
others. The Lord has given us the standard of the gospel, let us
live to uphold it, and if needful die to defend it. Our right to
contend for God, and our reason for expecting success, are found
in the fact that the faith has been once committed to the
saints, and that by the Lord himself. That it may be displayed
because of the truth. Banners are for the breeze, the sun, the
battle. Israel might well come forth boldly, for a sacred
standard was borne aloft before them. To publish the gospel is a
sacred duty, to be ashamed of it a deadly sin. The truth of God
was involved in the triumph of David's armies, he had promised
them victory; and so in the proclamation of the gospel we need
feel no hesitancy, for as surely as God is true he will give
success to his own word. For the truth's sake, and because the
true God is on our side, let us in these modern days of warfare
emulate the warriors of Israel, and unfurl our banners to the
breeze with confident joy. Dark signs of present or coming ill
must not dishearten us; if the Lord had meant to destroy us he
would not have given us the gospel; the very fact that he has
revealed himself in Christ Jesus involves the certainty of
victory. Magna est veritas et praevalebit.
Hard things thou hast upon us laid,
And made us drink most bitter wine;
But still thy banner we have displayed,
And borne aloft thy truth divine.
Our courage fails not, though the night
No earthly lamp avails to break,
For thou wilt soon arise in might,
And of our captors captives make.
Selah. There is so much in the fact of a banner being given
to the hosts of Israel, so much of hope, of duty, of comfort,
that a pause is fitly introduced. The sense justifies it, and
the more joyful strain of the music necessitates it.
Verse 5. That thy beloved may be delivered.
David was the Lord's beloved, his name signifies "dear, or
beloved, "and there was in Israel a remnant according to
the election of grace, who were the beloved of the Lord; for
their sakes the Lord wrought great marvels, and he had an eye to
them in all his mighty acts. God's beloved are the inner seed,
for whose sake he preserves the entire nation, which acts as a
husk to the vital part. This is the main design of providence, That
thy beloved may be delivered; if it were not for their sakes
he would neither give a banner nor send victory to it. Save with
thy right hand, and hear me. Save at once, before the prayer is
over; the case is desperate unless there be immediate salvation.
Tarry not, O Lord, till I have done pleading: save first and
hear afterwards. The salvation must be a right royal and eminent
one, such as only the omnipotent hand of God linked with his
dexterous wisdom can achieve. Urgent distress puts men upon
pressing and bold petitions such as this. We may by faith ask
for and expect that our extremity will be God's opportunity;
special and memorable deliverances will be wrought out when dire
calamities appear to be imminent. Here is one suppliant for
many, even as in the case of our Lord's intercession for his
saints. He, the Lord's David, pleads for the rest of the
beloved, beloved and accepted in him the Chief Beloved; he seeks
salvation as though it were for himself, but his eye is ever
upon all those who are one with him in the Father's love. When
divine interposition is necessary for the rescue of the elect it
must occur, for the first and greatest necessity of providence
is the honour of God, and the salvation of his chosen. This is
fixed fate, the centre of the immutable decree, the inmost
thought of the unchangeable Jehovah.
Verse 6. God hath spoken in his holiness. Faith
is never happier than when it can fall back upon the promise of
God. She sets this over against all discouraging circumstances;
let outward providences say what they will, the voice of a
faithful God drowns every sound of tear. God had promised Israel
victory, and David the kingdom; the holiness of God secured the
fulfilment of his own covenant, and therefore the king spake
confidently. The goodly land had been secured to the tribes by
the promise made to Abraham, and that divine grant was an
abundantly sufficient warrant for the belief that Israel's arms
would be successful in battle. Believer make good use of this,
and banish doubts while promises remain. I will rejoice, or
"I will triumph." Faith regards the promise not as
fiction but fact, and therefore drinks in joy from it, and
grasps victory by it. "God hath spoken; I will
rejoice:" here is a fit motto for every soldier of the
cross.
I will divide Shechem. As a victor David would allot the
conquered territory to those to whom God had given it by lot.
Shechem was an important portion of the country, which as yet
had not yielded to his government; but he saw that by Jehovah's
help it would be, and indeed was all his own. Faith divides the
spoil, she is sure of what God has promised, and enters at once
into possession. And mete out the valley of Succoth. As the east
so the west of Jordan should be allotted to the proper persons.
Enemies should be expelled, and the landmarks of peaceful
ownership set up. Where Jacob had pitched his tent, there his
rightful heirs should till the soil. When God has spoken, his
divine shall, our I will, becomes no idle boast,
but the fit echo of the Lord's decree. Believer, up and take
possession of covenant mercies. Divide Shechem, and mete out
the valley of Succoth. Let not Canaanitish doubts and
legalisms keep thee out of the inheritance of grace. Live up to
thy privileges, take the good which God provides thee.
Verse 7. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine.
He claims the whole land on account of the promise. Two other
great divisions of the country he mentions, evidently delighting
to survey the goodly land which the Lord had given him. All
things are ours, whether things present or things to come; no
mean portion belongs to the believer, and let him not think
meanly of it. No enemy shall withhold from true faith what God
has given her, for grace makes her mighty to wrest it from the
foe. Life is mine, death is mine, for Christ is mine. Ephraim
also is the strength of mine head. All the military power of the
valiant tribe was at the command of David, and he praises God
for it. God will bow to the accomplishment of his purposes all
the valour of men; the church may cry, "the prowess of
armies is mine, " God will overrule all their achievements
for the progress of his cause. Judah is my lawgiver. There the
civil power was concentrated: the king being of that tribe sent
forth his laws out of her midst. We know no lawgiver, but the
King who came out of Judah. To all the claims of Rome, Or
Oxford, or the councils of men, we pay no attention; we are free
from all other ecclesiastical rule, but that of Christ: but we
yield joyful obedience to him: Judah is my lawgiver. Amid
distractions it is a great thing to have good and sound
legislation, it was a balm for Israel's wounds, it is our joy in
the Church of Christ.
Verse 8. Having looked at home with satisfaction, the
hero king now looks abroad with exultation. Moab, so injurious
to me in former years, is my washpot. The basin into
which the water falls when it is poured from an ewer upon my
feet. A mere pot to hold the dirty water after my feet have been
washed in it. Once she defiled Israel, according to the counsel
of Balaam, the son of Beor; but she shall no longer be able to
perpetrate such baseness; she shall be a washpot for those whom
she sought to pollute. The wicked as we see in them the evil,
the fruit, and the punishment of sin, shall help on the
purification of the saints. This is contrary to their will, and
to the nature of things, but faith finds honey in the lion, and
a washpot in filthy Moab. David treats his foes as but
insignificant and inconsiderable; a whole nation he counts but
as a footbath for his kingdom. Over Edom will I cast out my
shoe. As a man when bathing throws his shoes on one side, so
would he obtain his dominion over haughty Esau's descendants as
easily as a man casts a shoe. Perhaps he would throw his shoe as
nowadays men throw their glove, as a challenge to them to dare
dispute his sway. He did not need draw a sword to smite his now
crippled and utterly despondent adversary, for if he dared
revolt he would only need to throw his slipper at him, and he
would tremble. Easily are we victors when Omnipotence leads the
way. The day shall come when the church shall with equal ease
subdue China and Ethiopia to the sceptre of the Son of David.
Every believer also may by faith triumph over all difficulties,
and reign with him who hath made us kings and priests.
"They overcame through the blood of the Lamb, "shall
yet be said of all who rest in the power of Jesus.
Philistia, triumph thou because of me. Be so subdued as to
rejoice in my victories over my other foes. Or does he mean, I
who smote thy champion have at length so subdued thee that thou
shalt never be able to rejoice over Israel again; but if thou
must needs triumph it must be with me, and not against me; or
rather is it a taunting defiance, a piece of irony? O proud
Philistia, where are thy vaunts? Where now thy haughty looks,
and promised conquests? Thus dare we defy the last enemy,
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?" So utterly hopeless is the cause of hell when the
Lord comes forth to the battle, that even the weakest daughter
of Zion may shake her head at the enemy, and laugh him to scorn.
O the glorifying of faith! There is not a grain of vain glory in
it, but yet her holy boastings none can hinder. When the Lord
speaks the promise, we will not be slow to rejoice and glory in
it.
Verse 9. As yet the interior fortresses of Edom had
not been subdued. Their invading bands had been slain in the
valley of salt, and David intended to push his conquests even to
Petra the city of the rock, deemed to be impregnable. Who will
bring me into the strong city? It was all but inaccessible, and
hence the question of David. When we have achieved great success
it must be a stimulus to greater efforts, but it must not become
a reason for self confidence. We must look to the strong for
strength as much at the close of a campaign as at its beginning.
Who will lead me into Edom? High up among the stars stood the
city of stone, but God could lead his servant up to it. No
heights of grace are too elevated for us, the Lord being our
leader, but we must beware of high things attempted in self
reliance. EXCELSIOR is well enough as a cry, but we must look to
the highest of all for guidance. Joab could not bring David into
Edom. The veterans of the valley of salt could not force the
passage, yet was it to be attempted, and David looked to the
Lord for help. Heathen nations are yet to be subdued. The city
of the seven hills must yet hear the gospel. Who will give the
church the power to accomplish this? The answer is not far to
seek.
Verse 10. Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us
off? Yes, the chastising God is our only hope. He loves us
still. For a small moment doth he forsake, but with great mercy
does he gather his people. Strong to smite, he is also strong to
save. He who proved to us our need of him by showing us what
poor creatures we are without him, will now reveal the glory of
his help by conducting great enterprises to a noble issue. And
thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies? The self
same God art thou, and to thee faith cleaves. Though thou slay
us, we will trust in thee, and look for thy merciful help.
Verse 11. Give us help from trouble. Help us to
overcome the disasters of civil strife and foreign invasion;
save us from further incursions from without and division
within. Do thou, O Lord, work this deliverance, for vain is the
help of man. We have painfully learned the utter impotence of
armies, kings, and nations without thine help. Our banners
trailed in the mire have proven our weakness without thee, but
yonder standard borne aloft before us shall witness to our
valour now that thou hast come to our rescue. How sweetly will
this verse suit the tried people of God as a frequent
ejaculation. We know how true it is.
Verse 12. Through God we shall do valiantly.
From God all power proceeds, and all we do well is done by
divine operation; but still we, as soldiers of the great king,
are to fight, and to fight valiantly too. Divine working is not
an argument for human inaction, but rather is it the best
excitement for courageous effort. Helped in the past, we shall
also be helped in the future, and being assured of this we
resolve to play the man. For he it is that shall tread down our
enemies. From him shall the might proceed, to him shall the
honour be given. Like straw on the threshing floor beneath the
feet of the oxen shall we tread upon our abject foes, but it
shall rather be his foot which presses them down than
ours; his hand shall go out against them so as to put them down
and keep them in subjection. In the case of Christians there is
much encouragement for a resolve similar to that of the first
clause. We shall do valiantly, we will not be ashamed of our
colours, afraid of our foes, or fearful of our cause. The Lord
is with us, omnipotence sustains us, and we will not hesitate,
we dare not be cowards. O that our King, the true David, were
come to claim the earth, for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he
is the governor among the nations.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. There are some difficulties attendant upon the
title of this Psalm, when it is compared with the contents. We
naturally expect after such as inscription, joy, congratulation,
and praise for victory; but the psalmist breaks out into
lamentations and bitter complaints: his strains are, however,
changed, when he has proceeded as far as verse three, where he
begins to feel confidence, and to employ the language of
exultation and triumph. The best means of removing this
discrepancy seems to be by remarking, that this Psalm was
written after some of the battles of which mention is made in
the title, but that the author does not restrict himself to
those events without taking a wider range, so as to embrace the
afflictive conditions both of Israel and Judah during the latter
part of Saul's life, and the former years of David's reign. In
the concluding years of Saul, the Philistines obtained a
superiority over him, and finally destroyed him with his army.
Subsequently to these events the whole land was in a very
disturbed and agitated condition, arising out of the contentions
between the partisans of Saul's family, and those who were
attached to David. The nations which inhabited the regions
adjacent to the land of Canaan were at all times inimical to the
Jews, and seized every opportunity of attacking and injuring
them. But when David had succeeded in uniting the whole nation
under his authority, he proceeded to avenge the injuries and
insults that had been inflicted upon his countrymen by the
Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, and Syrians; and God was
pleased to give him signal success in his undertakings. He
appears, therefore, to have combined all these transactions, and
made them the subject of this Psalm. William Walford.
Title. Shushaneduth. The lilies of the testimony—means,
that this Psalm has for its chief subject something very lovely
and cheering in the law; namely, the words of promise quoted in
the beginning of verse six, according to which the land of
Canaan belonged to the Israelites, upon which is thus
established the confidence expressed in Ps 60:6-8, with respect
to their right of property over the land, and their possession
of it. This promise, not to cite many other passages, which
occur in the Five Books of Moses, and even so early as the
patriarchs, is contained in Genesis 49, and Deuteronomy 33. It
is evident of what value and importance this promise was, and
particularly the remembrance of it at this time. T. C.
Barth's "Bible Manual, "1865.
Title. The only other eduth or "testimony"
in the Psalter, Psalm 80, makes mention by name of the tribes of
Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, and is a witness against those
tribes for forsaking the Shepherd of Israel who had brought them
up out of the land of Egypt. Joseph Francis Thrupp, M.A., in
"An Introduction to the Study and Use of the Psalms, "1860.
Title. Aramnaharaim. The name Aram
corresponds to Syria in its widest and vaguest sense, and
is joined with other names to designate particular parts of that
large country. It even includes Mesopotamia, which is a term of
physical rather than political geography, and denotes the space
between the Tigris and Euphrates, corresponding to Aram
Naharaim, or Syria of the Two Rivers, in the verse
before us. The king of this country was tributary to the king of
Aram Zobah, as appears from the account of David's second
Aramean war (2Sa 10:16,19). Joseph Addison Alexander.
Title. When he strove with Aramnaharaim and with
Aramzobah. An insult offered to David's ambassadors by Hanun,
king of the Ammonites, led to a serious war. Hanun obtained
mercenaries from Syria to reinforce his army, Joab and Abishai
his brother, David's generals, gave them battle. Joab, opposed
to the Syrians, gained the first success, and the Ammonites,
seeing their allies routed, took to flight into their town. But
this defeat provoked a great coalition, embracing all the people
between the Jordan and the Euphrates. David, however, fearlessly
marched against them at the head of his army; he vanquished all
his enemies, and made himself master of the small Aramaean
kingdoms of Damascus, Zobah, and Hamath, and subjugated the
Eastern Idumaeans, who met their final defeat in the Valley of
Salt. Francois Lenormant and E. Chevallier, in "A Manual
of the Ancient History of the East, "1869.
Title. Joab returned and smote of Edom in the
valley of salt twelve thousand, compared with 2Sa 8:13,
"David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the
Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men,
"and 1Ch 18:12, where this very service was performed by Abishai.
Answer. It is one thing to attribute the victory for the honour
of the king that was the cause. But the mentioning of these
chief generals, by whom the service was performed, is another.
David, under God, must have the honour of the work, for the
increase of his name, being set for the typing out of Christ,
who must have all the glory of the day, whatever conquest he
gets by instruments of that service here, who likewise are typed
out in David's worthies, of whom Joab and Abishai were chief. By
these he obtained that great victory over Hadadezer. In
returning from which service Joab found his brother Abishai
engaged in the valley of salt against eighteen thousand
Edomites or Syrians (all one), whose valour the Almighty looked
on, as he attributes the whole slaughter to him, because first
attempting it. Joab, it seems, took this in his return from the
former slaughter, and fell in for the assistance of his brother
Abishai (for that was their usual course: though they divided
their armies, they did not divide their hearts). But if the
enemies were too strong, one would help the other. 1Ch 19:12.
And of this eighteen thousand attributed to David and Abishai
before, Joab slew twelve thousand of them; the memory of which
service is here embalmed with a Psalm; first showing the
extremes they were in, doubtful at first they should not get the
victory. Secondly, applying it to the kingdom of Christ. Lastly,
ascribing all the honour of the conquest to God; saying, through
God this valiant service was done; it was he that trod down our
enemies; and will do (last verse). William Streat, in
"The Dividing of the Hoof, "1654.
Title. The Valley of Salt. The ridge of Usdum
exhibits more distinctly its peculiar formation; the main
body of the mountain being a solid mass of rock salt... We
could at first hardly believe our eyes, until we had several
times approached the precipices, and broken off pieces to
satisfy ourselves, both by the touch and taste. The salt, where
thus exposed, is everywhere more or less furrowed by the rains.
As we advanced, large lumps and masses broken off from above,
lay like rocks along the shore, or were fallen down as debris.
The very stones beneath our feet were wholly salt... The
position of this mountain at the south end of the sea, enables
us also to ascertain the place of The Valley of Salt
mentioned in Scripture, where the Hebrews under David, and again
under Amaziah, gained decisive victories over Edom. This valley
could have been no other than the Ghor south of the Dead Sea,
adjacent to the mountain of salt; it separates indeed the
ancient territories of Judah and Edom. Edward Robinson's
"Biblical Researches in Palestine, "1867.
Title. The historic record mentions eighteen
thousand slain, and here but twelve thousand. The
greater of course includes the less. The discrepancy may be
explained by supposing that the title contains the numbers slain
by one division of the army, or that the twelve thousand
were slain in the battle, and the residue in the flight. Or an
error may have crept into the text. Every scholar admits that
there is sometimes serious difficulty in settling the numbers of
the Old Testament. In this place Calvin has two and twenty
thousand, the common version twelve thousand, while
the original is two ten thousand, which taken in one way
would mean twenty thousand, i.e., two tens of thousands.
Hammond refers the number slain to different battles, and so
avoids the difficulty. William S. Plumer.
Verse 1. O God, thou hast cast us off. The word
here used means properly to be foul, rancid, offensive; and
then, to treat anything as if it were foul or rancid; to
repel, to spurn, to cast away. It is strong language, meaning
that God had seemed to treat them as if they were loathsome of
offensive to him. Albert Barnes.
Verse 2. Heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.
They pray that this may be done with the utmost speed, because
there was a danger in delay, for the kingdom was already pressed
down with a heavy calamity, and on the brink of ruin, which is
signified by the word hjm whose origin is in a very strong and
tremulous inclination to one side, properly from the application
of a lever, and is applied to those who are leaning so
far to one side that they are just on the point of falling;
figuratively, therefore, it expresses a most perilous
condition, in which one is on the edge of destruction. Hermann
Venema.
Verse 2. Heal the breaches thereof. Even Israel
is subject to breaches. So it was with the literal
typical Israel, David's kingdom; so it may be with spiritual
mystical Israel, the kingdom of Christ, the church of God upon
earth. There are breaches from without, and breaches
from within. I will invert the order. From without,
by open persecution; from within, by intestine and
homebred divisions. Of both these the church of God in
all ages hath had sufficient experience. Look we upon the primitive
times, during the infancy of the church, however the soundest
and most entire church that ever was, yet how was it broken!
Broken, as by foreign persecutions, so by homebred divisions.
Both these ways was the church during the apostles' time broken,
distressed by enemies from without who persecuted it. John
Brinsley (1600-1665), in "The Healing of Israel's
Breaches."
Verse 2. It shaketh. That is, presaging nothing
but ruin and downfall, unless it be speedily
underpropped, and the breaches thereof made up and healed.
Thus did David look upon Israel's disease, and hereupon it was
that he was so deeply affected with it, so earnestly desiring
the cure of it. The reference, as interpreters conceive, is to
those homebred divisions, those civil wars betwixt the
two houses of Saul and David, after the death of Saul: then did
the "earth, "the land, that land of Israel (as
the Chaldee explains it), quake and tremble, being broken,
riven (as the word in the original signifieth): even as the
earth sometimes by earthquakes is riven, and torn asunder with
prodigious chasms, openings, or gapings: so was that kingdom
divided in those civil commotions, the nobles and commons taking
parts and siding, some with David, some with Ishbosheth. John
Brinsley.
Verse 3. Thou hast showed thy people hard things.
God will be sure to plough his own ground, whatsoever becometh
of the waste; and to weed his own garden, though the rest of the
world should be let alone to grow wild. John Trapp.
Verse 3. Thou hast given us to drink infatuation,
or bewilderment, as men drink wine. So Hupfeld explains the
constructions, referring to Ps 80:5, "Thou hast made them
feed upon weeping like bread; "1Ki 22:27, "Feed him
with affliction as bread, and with affliction as water" uxl
mymw; Isa 30:20. But the apposition is capable of being
explained in another way, for the second noun may in fact be a
predicate further defining the first: "Thou hast given us
wine to drink which is (not wine, but) bewilderment." J.
J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 3. The wine of astonishment.
"Intoxicating wine." Hebrew, "Wine of
staggering, "that is, which causeth staggering, or, in
other words, intoxicating. Some render, "wine of stupor,
"or stupefying. Symmachus, "wine of agitation,
"and this sense I have adopted which is also that of the
Syriac. Benjamin Boothroyd.
Verse 4. Thou hast given a banner to them that fear
thee. Perhaps the delivery of a banner was anciently
esteemed an obligation to protect, and that the psalmist might
consider it in this light, when, upon a victory over the Syrians
and Edomites, after the public affairs of Israel had been in a
bad state, he says, Thou hast shewed thy people hard things,
etc. Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee.
Though thou didst for a time give up thine Israel into the hands
of their enemies, thou hast now given them an assurance of thy
having received them under thy protection. Thomas Harmer
(1715-1788), in "Observations on Divers Passages of
Scripture."
Verse 4. Thou hast given a banner, etc. Thou
hast given us by the recent victory, after our prostrate
condition, a banner of triumph to lift up (so the
Hebrew), because of thy faithfulness to thy promise. Truth
here answers to God's holiness (Ps 60:6). So long as
soldiers see their banner uplifted, they flock round it
with confidence. But when it is prostrate their spirits and
hopes fall. The banner is a pledge of safety, and a
rallying point to those who fight under it. A. R. Faussett.
Verse 4. Thou hast given a banner, etc. The
psalmist compares the salvation which the Lord bestows
upon his people to a highly excellent banner, which
serves as a signal, to one lying prostrate in his misery, to
rise up, with an allusion perhaps to Nu 21:8. "And the Lord
said to Moses, Make thee a serpent, and set it upon a standard
pole; and it happened that every one who was bitten, and
looked at it, lived." At any rate, that passage in which
the serpent is a symbol of the healing power of God, may serve
to illustrate the passage before us. Compare heal its
breaches. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Verse 4. A banner, which is a sign or
instrument:
1. Of union. This people, who were lately divided and under
several banners, thou hast now gathered together and united
under one banner; to wit, under my government.
2. Of battle. Thou hast given us an army and power to oppose
our enemies. We had our banner to set against theirs.
3. Of triumph. We have not lost our banner but gained theirs,
and brought it away in triumph. Compare Ps 20:5. Matthew
Poole.
Verse 6. God hath spoken in his holiness. That
is, by Samuel he hath promised, as he is an holy God, and true
of his word, that I should be king of all Israel, and now he
hath performed it. (2 Samuel 5.) Yet Calvin speaks of it as not
yet performed; but the course of the history makes it plain that
David was now king over the parts of which he here speaketh. I
will divide Shechem, as subjects to me as Joshua having the
land under him, divided it amongst his people: so David being
king over all the parts of the land, divides to his followers
such portions as belonged unto them by inheritance, from which
happily some of them had been expelled by the time of Ishbosheth
his reign; or some families in the time of those wars might be
utterly wasted away, and so the king having free power to
dispose of their lands, might give them amongst his men, and
take part to himself. John Mayer.
Verse 6. God hath spoken in his holiness. That
is, he hath given out his word from heaven, the habitation of
his holiness and of his glory; or, he hath spoken it certainly,
there is nothing but holiness in his word (and that is the
strength of words). David having received this word stands
assured, that as Shechem and Succoth, Gilead and Manasseh,
Ephraim and Judah would willingly submit to him and yield
obedience; so, also, that Moab, Edom, and Philistia, who were
his professed enemies, should be subdued to him. He expected to
conquer and triumph over them, to put them to the basest
offices, as his vassals, because God had decreed and spoken it
in his holiness. God hath spoken the word, saith he, therefore
is shall be done, yea, it is done; and therefore David cried, All's
mine, Gilead in mine, Manasseh is mine, Moab and Edom are mine,
as soon as God had spoken the word. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 6. I will divide Shechem. It is as much
as if he should say, I will not look to have my share measured
out by others, but I will divide it, and measure myself, and
will be the right owner and possessor thereof. Thomas
Wilcocks.
Verse 6. I will divide Shechem, etc. Of Shechem
and the Valley of Succoth, or booths, so called from
Jacob's making booths, and feeding his cattle
there. (See Ge 33:17-18.) By these are meant Samaria; and David's
dividing or meting them out, is a phrase to express
his dominion over them, in being part of the regal
power to distribute his province into cities and regions,
and place judges and magistrates over them. To these the
addition of Gilead (which contained the whole region of Bashan,
etc., on the other side of Jordan), and then the mention
of Manasseh and Ephraim, are designed, as by so
many parts, to denote the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes;
and their being his, and the strength of his head,
notes him to be the Lord over them, and to make use of
their strength in his wars, for the defending or enlarging his
dominions. And then Judah yqqwxm is my lawgiver; as it
refers to Jacob's prophecy of the sceptre and lawgiver not
departing from Judah, denoting that to be the royal
tribe; so by it is signified the kingdom of Judah (under
which Benjamin is comprehended), that David is possessed
of that also. Henry Hammond.
Verse 6. Succoth. If the preceding views are
correct, we may rest in the result, that the present Sâkût
represents the name and site of the ancient Succoth...We passed
obliquely along the northern slope of the same broad swell,
where the ground was covered only by a thick crop of thistles.
On our right was a region of lower ground to which we gradually
descended; full of grass, wild oats, and thistles, with an
occasional thornbush. The soil was like that of an Ohio bottom.
The grass, intermingled with tall daisies, and the wild oats
reached to the horses backs; while the thistles sometimes
overtopped the rider's heads. All was now dry; and in some
places it was difficult to make our way through the exuberant
growth. At last we came to the cause of this fertility, a fine
brook winding along the bottom. We crossed it, and passed up
again obliquely over another like swell, covered as before only
with thistles. Here was an ancient oil vat, very large and of a
single stone; it was evidently brought hither, and indicates the
former growth of the olive in these parts. We struck the same
stream again at its source, called Ain el Beida, a large and
fine fountain, surrounded with gardens of cucumbers, and
watering an extensive tract. We were here on the edge of the
higher portion of the Ghôr, where low ridges and swells project
out from the foot of the western mountains, and form a rolling
plain or plateau, which is well watered, arable and very
extensively cultivated for wheat. The tract further east, which
we had now crossed, may be said to extend to the high bank of
the lower Jordan valley. It is less elevated, is more generally
level, though crossed by low swells between the water courses,
and has little tillage. The inhabitants of Tûbâs are divided
into three hostile parties; and they carry their divisions into
their agriculture in the Ghôr. One party sows at Ain el Beida,
where we now were; another around Ain Makhûz, more in the
north; and the third at Ridghah, Sâkût, and further south. The
people of Teyâsîr also sow on the south of Mâlih; the water
of which is used for irrigation. The whole tract north of Wady Mâlih
was said to be farmed from the government by one of the Sheiks
of the Jenâr family, who live at Jeba and in its neighbourhood.
By him it is again let to the different villages. Robinson's
"Biblical Researches in Palestine."
Verses 6-7. The chief and principal places where the
seditious party had their residence and abode, were those which
the psalmist mentions in the sixth and seventh verses, namely, Shechem,
a city in the tribe of Ephraim; Succoth, a city in the
tribe of Gad; Gilead and Manasseh, the utmost
borders of the land of Canaan beyond Jordan. These were some of
the chief places, which sided with Ishbosheth whilst he lived,
as you may see, 2 Samuel 2; and, as it seemeth, they still
cleaved to the house of Saul after he was dead, not
acknowledging David for their king. John Brinsley.
Verse 7. Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine.
That is to say, I will possess myself of them and rule over
them; not as a conqueror over slaves, but as a
lord over subjects, as a father over children, owning and
acknowledging them as mine. They are my inheritance, and
shall be my people, my subjects. John Brinsley.
Verse 7. Ephraim also is the strength of mine head.
The strong and warlike tribe of Ephraim being to the state what
the helmet is to the warriors in battle; or, perhaps the
allusion is to De 33:17: "His glory is like the firstling
of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns:
with them he shall push the nations." J. J. Stewart
Perowne.
Verse 7. Judah is (or shall be) my lawgiver,
i.e., all his subjects should be brought under one Head,
one governor, who should give them laws, according to which they
should be ordered or governed, which power and authority
belonged to the tribe of Judah, according to that
prophecy of Jacob (Ge 49:10), to which the psalmist here
alludes. No way, no means to bring the people unto unity, to
bring them into one body, but by bringing them under on head,
one law giver, by whose laws they may be regulated and
governed. Now in the church, and in matters of religion, this
one Head is Christ, even that Lion of the tribe
of Judah, as he is called (Re 5:5). He is the Law giver
of his church, and let him so be. This will be found one, aye,
and the only means to breed an holy and religious unity, and
bring home straying, wandering sheep. John Brinsley.
Verse 7. No government could stand which was not
resident in Judah. John Calvin.
Verse 8. Moab is my washpot. Implying that Moab
should be reduced to slavery, it being the business of a slave
to present the hand washing basin to his master. With the
Greeks, plunein tina, to wash down any one, was a slang
term, signifying to ridicule, abuse, or beat; hence we have the
word washpot applied to the subject of such treatment.
"You do not appear to be in your right senses, who make a
washpot of me in the presence of many men." Aristophanes.
Thomas S. Millington, in "The Testimony of the Heathen to
the Truths of Holy Writ," 1863.
Verse 8. (second clause). When, keeping in view
the idea of washing the feet, a person throws his shoes, which
he has taken off, to any one to be taken away or to be
cleaned—kylvh with le and also with la, 1Ki 19:19, is "to
throw to any one"—the individual to whom it belongs
to perform such an office must be a slave of the lowest kind. E.
W. Hengstenberg.
Verse 8. Over Edom will I cast out my shoe,
which notes either contempt of them, as if he had said, O look
upon them as worthy only to scrape and make clean my shoes. Or
secondly, conquest over them—I will walk through Edom and
subdue it. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 8. Over Edom will I cast out my shoe. By
extension, immission, or projection of the shoe, either upon the
necks of people, or over their countries, is meant nothing else
but to overcome, subdue, bring under power, possess, and subject
to vileness such men and such countries. The very vulgar
acceptation of the word possession, in the grammatical
sense, imports as much; for the etymology of possessio is
no more but pedum positio. This manner of speaking hath
also allusion to the positive law recorded in De 25:6-10; for
the letter of the law is, that is the kinsman would not marry
the brother's widow and raise up seed unto his brother; the
widow loosing his shoe, and spitting in his face, he lost the
claim and interest of such possessions as belonged to the woman
in right of her husband. And the house of such a man was called domus
discalceati, that is to say, "The house of him that
hath his shoe loosed." The practice also of this law we
find recorded in the book of Ruth, in the case of Elimelech's
land, between Boaz and the kinsman, about the widow Ruth, who
had her interest by right of her husband in the said land.
Moreover, the frequent use of this phrase meeting us very often
in the book of God, makes this to be the meaning of the words,
as clear as the day. This king elsewhere singing his trophies,
saith, "They are fallen under my feet." "Caleb
the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give
the land that he hath trodden upon." But the people must
"not meddle with Mount Seir; for God would not give them
thereof so much as a foot's breadth; "yet ever the place
whereon the soles of their feet should tread, from the
wilderness of Lebanon and from the river Euphrates unto the
utmost sea, should be theirs. Ps 18:38 De 1:36 2:5. William
Loe, in "A Sermon before the King at Theobalds,
"entitled, "The King's Shoe, made and ordained to
trample on, and to tread down enemies," 1623.
Verse 8. Over Edom will I cast out my shoe.
Turnus, having slain Palias,—"Bestrode the corpse, and
pressed it with his foot." Virgil.
Verse 8. Of the Philistines he says, Over Philistia
it is mine to boast; for so I would translate, and not, as
is usual, Philistia, triumph thou over me, which does not
yield a consistent meaning. Hermann Venema.
Verse 8. (last clause). Let not our adversaries
triumph over our breaches. "Rejoice not against me,
O mine enemy." Or, if they will, let them triumph: Triumph
thou, O Philistia, because of me, or over me. John
Brinsley.
Verses 8-10. Moab in the East, Edom in the South, and
Philistia in the West (the North is not mentioned, because the
banner of David had already been victorious there.) Augustus
F. Tholuck.
Verse 11. For vain is the help of man. As they
had lately experimented in Saul, a king of their own
choosing, but not able to save them from those proud
Philistines. John Trapp.
Verse 11. So long as sight and reason find footing in
matters, there is no place for faith and hope; the abundance of
human helps puts not grace to proof, but the strength of faith
is in the absence of them all. A man is stronger when he goeth
on his feet alone, than when he standeth by a grip in his
infancy, or leaneth on a staff in his old age: the two feet of
faith and hope serve us best when we are fixed on the Rock of
Sion alone. William Struther.
Verse 12. Through God we shall do, etc. In war
these two must be joined, and indeed in all actions: HE, we;
God and man.
1. "We shall do valiantly, "for God helps not
remiss, or cowardly, or negligent men.
2. And yet, that being done, the work is his: "He
shall tread down; "the blow and the overthrow are not to be
attributed to us, but to him. Adam Clarke.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. Prayer of a church in low condition.
1. Complaint.
(a) Left of God's Spirit.
(b) Scattered.
2. Cause. Something displeasing to God. Neglect or
actual sin; a subject for self examination.
3. Cure. The Lord's return to us and ours to him. In
our version it is a prayer; in the Septuagint an expression of
faith—"Thou wilt return."
Verse 2. The perturbation, the prayer, the plea. G.
R.
Verse 3. That God does afflict his people severely,
and that he has good reason for the same.
Verse 3. The wine of astonishment. A purgative,
a tonic. Astonishing sin followed by astonishing chastisements,
discoveries of corruption, of the spirituality of the law, of
the terrors of divine wrath, and by astonishing depressions,
temptations, and conflicts.
Verse 4. The banner of the gospel.
1. Why a banner? A rallying point, meant to fight under, etc.
2. By whom given. Thou.
3. To whom. To them that fear thee.
4. What is to be done with it. To be displayed.
5. For what cause. Because of the truth. Truth
promotes truth.
Verse 5. The deliverance of the elect needs a saving
God, a mighty God (right hand), and a prayer hearing God.
Verse 5. (last clause). Save... and hear.
The remarkable order of these words suggests that—
1. In the purpose of God.
2. In the first works of grace.
3. Often under trial.
4. And specially in fierce temptations, Gods saving precedes
man's praying.
Verse 6. God's holy promise, ground for present joy,
and for boldly taking possession of the promised good.
Verse 7. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine.
How, and in what respect this world is the Christian's.
Verse 7. Judah is my lawgiver. The believer
owning no law but that which comes from Christ.
Verse 8. Moab is my washpot. How we may make
sinners subservient to our sanctification. We are warned by
their sin, and punishment, etc. See "Spurgeon's Sermons,
"No. 983, "Moab is my washpot."
Verse 9. The soul winner's question.
1. The object of attack; the strong city of man's heart,
barricaded by depravity, ignorance, prejudice, custom, etc.
2. Our main design. To penetrate, to reach the citadel for
Jesus.
3. Our great enquiry. Eloquence, learning, wit, none of these
can force the gate, but there is One who can.
Verse 12. Divine operation a reason for human
activity.