TITLE. To the Chief Musician. He
had need be a man of great skill, worthily to sing such a Psalm
as this: the best music in the world would be honoured by
marriage with such expressions. A Song or Psalm,
or a Song and Psalm. It may be either said or sung; it is
a marvellous poem if it be but read; but set to suitable music,
it must have been one of the noblest strains ever heard by the
Jewish people. We do not know who is its author, but we see no
reason to doubt that David wrote it. It is in the Davidic style,
and has nothing in it unsuited to his times. It is true the
"house" of God is mentioned, but the tabernacle was
entitled to that designation as well as the temple.
SUBJECT AND DIVISION. Praise is the
topic, and the subjects for song are the Lord's great works, his
gracious benefits, his faithful deliverances, and all his
dealings with his people, brought to a close by a personal
testimony to special kindness received by the prophet bard
himself. Ps 66:1-4 are a kind of introductory hymn, calling upon
all nations to praise God, and dictating to them the words of a
suitable song. Ps 66:5-7 invite the beholder to "Come
and see" the works of the Lord, pointing attention to
the Red Sea, and perhaps the passage of Jordan. This suggests
the similar position of the afflicted people which is described,
and its joyful issue predicted, Ps 66:8-12. The singer then
becomes personal, and confesses his own obligations to the Lord
(Ps 66:13-15); and, bursting forth with a vehement "Come
and hear, "declares with thanksgiving the special
favour of the Lord to himself, Ps 66:16-20.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Make a joyful noise unto God. "In
Zion, "where the more instructed saints were accustomed to
profound meditation, the song was silent unto God, and was
accepted of him; but in the great popular assemblies a joyful
noise was more appropriate and natural, and it would be equally
acceptable. If praise is to be wide spread, it must be vocal;
exulting sounds stir the soul and cause a sacred contagion of
thanksgiving. Composers of tunes for the congregation should see
to it that their airs are cheerful; we need not so much noise,
as joyful noise. God is to be praised with the voice, and
the heart should go therewith in holy exultation. All praise
from all nations should be rendered unto the Lord. Happy the day
when no shouts shall be presented to Juggernaut or Boodh, but
all the earth shall adore the Creator thereof. All ye lands. Ye
heathen nations, ye who have not known Jehovah hitherto, with
one consent let the whole earth rejoice before God. The
languages of the lands are many, but their praises should be
one, addressed to one only God.
Verse 2. Sing forth the honour of his name. The
noise is to be modulated with tune and time, and fashioned into
singing, for we adore the God of order and harmony. The honour
of God should be our subject, and to honour him our object when
we sing. To give glory to God is but to restore to him his own.
It is our glory to be able to give God glory; and all our true
glory should be ascribed unto God, for it is his glory.
"All worship be to God only, "should be the motto of
all true believers. The name, nature, and person of God are
worthy of the highest honour. Make his praise glorious. Let not
his praise be mean and grovelling: let it arise with grandeur
and solemnity before him. The pomp of the ancient festivals is
not to be imitated by us, under this dispensation of the Spirit,
but we are to throw so much of heart and holy reverence into all
our worship that it shall be the best we can render. Heart
worship and spiritual joy render praise more glorious than
vestments, incense, and music could do.
Verse 3. Say unto God. Turn all your praises to
him. Devotion, unless it be resolutely directed to the Lord, is
no better than whistling to the wind. How terrible art thou in
thy works. The mind is usually first arrested by those
attributes which cause fear and trembling; and, even when the
heart has come to love God, and rest in him, there is an
increase of worship when the soul is awed by an extraordinary
display of the more dreadful of the divine characteristics.
Looking upon the convulsions which have shaken continents, the
hurricanes which have devastated nations, the plagues which have
desolated cities, and other great and amazing displays of divine
working, men may well say: How terrible art thou in thy
works. Till we see God in Christ, the terrible predominates
in all our apprehensions of him. Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee;
but, as the Hebrew clearly intimates, it will be a forced and
false submission. Power brings a man to his knee, but love alone
wins his heart. Pharaoh said he would let Israel go, but he lied
unto God; he submitted in word but not in deed. Tens of
thousands, both in earth and hell, are rendering this
constrained homage to the Almighty; they only submit because
they cannot do otherwise; it is not their loyalty, but his
power, which keeps them subjects of his boundless dominion.
Verse 4. All the earth shall worship thee, and
shall sing unto thee. All men must even now prostrate
themselves before thee, but a time will come when they shall do
this cheerfully; to the worship of fear shall be added the
singing of love. What a change shall have taken place when
singing shall displace sighing, and music shall thrust out
misery! They shall sing to thy name. The nature and works of God
will be the theme of earth's universal song, and he himself
shall be the object of the joyful adoration of our emancipated
race. Acceptable worship not only praises God as the mysterious
Lord, but it is rendered fragrant by some measure of knowledge
of his name or character. God would not be worshipped as an
unknown God, nor have it said of his people, "Ye worship ye
know not what." May the knowledge of the Lord soon cover
the earth, that so the universality of intelligent worship may
be possible: such a consummation was evidently expected by the
writer of this Psalm; and, indeed, throughout all Old Testament
writings, there are intimations of the future general spread of
the worship of God. It was an instance of wilful ignorance and
bigotry when the Jews raged against the preaching of the gospel
to the Gentiles. Perverted Judaism may be exclusive, but the
religion of Moses, and David, and Isaiah was not so. Selah. A
little pause for holy expectation is well inserted after so
great a prophecy, and the uplifting of the heart is also a
seasonable direction. No meditation can be more joyous that
excited by the prospect of a world reconciled to its Creator.
Verse 5. Come and see the works of God. Such
glorious events, as the cleaving of the Red Sea and the
overthrow of Pharaoh, are standing wonders, and throughout all
time a voice sounds forth concerning them—"Come and
see." Even till the close of all things, the marvellous
works of God at the Red Sea will be the subject of meditation
and praise; for, standing on the sea of glass mingled with fire,
the triumphal armies of heaven sing the song of Moses, the
servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. It has always been the
favourite subject of the inspired bards, and their choice was
most natural. He is terrible in his doing toward the children of
men. For the defence of his church and the overthrow of her foes
he deals terrific blows, and strikes the mighty with fear. O
thou enemy, wherefore dost thou vaunt thyself? Speak no more so
exceeding proudly, but remember the plagues which bowed the will
of Pharaoh, the drowning of Egypt's chariots in the Red Sea, the
overthrow of Og and Sihon, the scattering of the Canaanites
before the tribes. This same God still liveth, and is to be
worshipped with trembling reverence.
Verse 6. He turned the sea into dry land. It
was no slight miracle to divide a pathway through such a sea,
and to make it fit for the traffic of a whole nation. He who did
this can do anything, and must be God, the worthy object of
adoration. The Christian's inference is that no obstacle in his
journey heavenward need hinder him, for the sea could not hinder
Israel, and even death itself shall be as life; the sea shall be
dry land when God's presence is felt. They went through the
flood on foot. Through the river the tribes passed dry shod,
Jordan was afraid because of them.
"What ailed thee, O thou mighty sea?
Why rolled thy waves in dread?
What bade thy tide, O Jordan, flee
And bare its deepest bed?"
"O earth, before the Lord, the God
Of Jacob, tremble still;
Who makes the waste a watered sod,
The flint a gushing rill."
There did we rejoice in him. We participate this day in that
ancient joy. The scene is so vividly before us that it seems as
if we were there personally, singing unto the Lord because he
hath triumphed gloriously. Faith casts herself bodily into the
past joys of the saints, and realises them for herself in much
the same fashion in which she projects herself into the bliss of
the future, and becomes the substance of things hoped for. It is
to be remarked that Israel's joy was in her God, and there let
ours be. It is not so much what he has done, as what he is, that
should excite in us a sacred rejoicing. "He is my God, and
I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will
exalt him."
Verse 7. He ruleth by his power for ever. He
has not deceased, nor abdicated, nor suffered defeat. The
prowess displayed at the Red Sea is undiminished: the divine
dominion endures throughout eternity. His eyes behold the
nations. Even as he looked out of the cloud upon the Egyptians
and discomfited them, so does he spy out his enemies, and mark
their conspiracies. His hand rules and his eye observes, his
hand has not waxed weak, nor his eye dim. As so many
grasshoppers he sees the people and tribes, at one glance he
takes in all their ways. He oversees all and overlooks none. Let
not the rebellious exalt themselves. The proudest have no cause
to be proud. Could they see themselves as God sees them they
would shrivel into nothing. Where rebellion reaches to a great
head, and hopes most confidently for success, it is a sufficient
reason for abating our fears, that the Omnipotent ruler is also
an Omniscient observer. O proud rebels, remember that the Lord
aims his arrows at the high soaring eagles and brings them down
from their nest among the stars. "He hath put down the
mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree."
After a survey of the Red Sea and Jordan, rebels, if they were
in their senses, would have no more stomach for the fight, but
would humble themselves at the Conqueror's feet. Selah. Pause
again, and take time to bow low before the throne of the
Eternal.
Verse 8. O bless our God, ye people. Ye chosen
seed, peculiarly beloved, it is yours to bless your covenant God
as other nations cannot. Ye should lead the strain, for he is
peculiarly your God. First visited by his love, ye should be
foremost in his praise. And make the voice of his praise to be
heard. Whoever else may sing with bated breath, do you be sure
to give full tongue and volume to the song. Compel unwilling
ears to hear the praises of your covenant God. Make rocks, and
hills, and earth, and sea, and heaven itself to echo with your
joyful shouts.
Verse 9. Which holdeth our soul in life. At any
time the preservation of life, and especially the soul's life,
is a great reason for gratitude but much more when we are called
to undergo extreme trials, which of themselves would crush our
being. Blessed be God, who, having put our souls into possession
of life, has been pleased to preserve that heaven given life
from the destroying power of the enemy. And suffereth not our
feet to be moved. This is another and precious boon. If God has
enabled us not only to keep our life, but our position, we are
bound to give him double praise. Living and standing is the
saint's condition through divine grace. Immortal and immoveable
are those whom God preserves. Satan is put to shame, for instead
of being able to slay the saints, as he hoped, he is not even
able to trip them up. God is able to make the weakest to stand
fast, and he will do so.
Verse 10. For thou, O God, hast proved us. He
proved his Israel with sore trials. David had his temptations.
All the saints must go to the proving house; God had one Son
without sin, but he never had a son without trial. Why ought we
to complain if we are subjected to the rule which is common to
all the family, and from which so much benefit has flowed to
them? The Lord himself proves us, who then shall raise a
question as to the wisdom and the love which are displayed in
the operation? The day may come when, as in this case, we shall
make hymns out of our griefs, and sing all the more sweetly
because our mouths have been purified with bitter draughts. Thou
hast tried us, as silver is tried. Searching and repeated,
severe and thorough, has been the test; the same result has
followed us as in the case of precious metal, for the dross and
tin have been consumed, and the pure ore has been discovered.
Since trial is sanctified to so desirable an end, ought we not
to submit to it with abounding resignation.
Verse 11. Thou broughtest us into the net. The
people of God in the olden time were often enclosed by the power
of their enemies, like fishes or birds entangled in a net; there
seemed no way of escape for them. The only comfort was that God
himself had brought them there, but even this was not readily
available, since they knew that he had led them there in anger
as a punishment for their transgressions; Israel in Egypt was
much like a bird in the fowler's net. Thou laidest affliction
upon our loins. They were pressed even to anguish by their
burdens and pains. Not on their backs alone was the load, but
their loins were pressed and squeezed with the straits and
weights of adversity. God's people and affliction are intimate
companions. As in Egypt every Israelite was a burden bearer, so
is every believer while he is in this foreign land. As Israel
cried to God by reason of their sore bondage, so also do the
saints. We too often forget that God lays our afflictions upon
us; if we remembered this fact, we should more patiently submit
to the pressure which now pains us. The time will come when, for
every ounce of present burden, we shall receive a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Verse 12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our
heads. They stormed, and hectored, and treated us like the
mire of the street. Riding the high horse, in their arrogance,
they, who were in themselves mean men, treated the Lord's people
as if they were the meanest of mankind. They even turned their
captives into beasts of burden, and rode upon their heads, as
some read the Hebrew. Nothing is too bad for the servants of God
when they fall into the hands of proud persecutors. We went
through fire and through water. Trials many and varied were
endured by Israel in Egypt, and are still the portion of the
saints. The fires of the brick kiln and the waters of the Nile
did their worst to destroy the chosen race; hard labour and
child murder were both tried by the tyrant, but Israel went
through both ordeals unharmed, and even thus the church of God
has outlived, and will outlive, all the artifices and cruelties
of man. Fire and water are pitiless and devouring, but a divine
fiat stays their fury, and forbids these or any other agents
from utterly destroying the chosen seed. Many an heir of heaven
has had a dire experience of tribulation; the fire through which
he has passed has been more terrible than that which chars the
bones, for it has fed upon the marrow of his spirit, and burned
into the core of his heart; while the waterfloods of affliction
have been even more to be feared than the remorseless sea, for
they have gone in even unto the soul, and carried the inner
nature down into deeps horrible, and not to be imagined without
trembling. Yet each saint has been more than conqueror hitherto,
and, as it has been, so it shall be. The fire is not kindled
which can burn the woman's seed, neither does the dragon know
how to vomit a flood which shall suffice to drown it. But thou
broughtest us out into a wealthy place. A blessed issue to a
mournful story. Canaan was indeed a broad and royal domain for
the once enslaved tribes: God, who took them into Egypt, also
brought them into the land which flowed with milk and honey, and
Egypt was in his purposes en route to Canaan. The way to
heaven is via tribulation.
"The path of sorrow and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown."
How wealthy is the place of every believer, and how doubly
does he feel it to be so in contrast with his former slavery:
what songs shall suffice to set forth our joy and gratitude for
such a glorious deliverance and such a bountiful heritage. More
awaits us. The depth of our griefs bears no proportion to the
height of our bliss. For our shame we have double, and more than
double. Like Joseph we shall rise from the prison to the palace,
like Mordecai we shall escape the gallows prepared by malignity,
and ride the white horse and wear the royal robe appointed by
benignity. Instead of the net, liberty; instead of a burden on
the loins, a crown on our heads; instead of men riding over us,
we shall rule over the nations: fire shall no more try us, for
we shall stand in glory on the sea of glass mingled with fire;
and water shall not harm us, for there shall be no more sea. O
the splendour of this brilliant conclusion to a gloomy history.
Glory be unto him who saw in the apparent evil the true way to
the real good. With patience we will endure the present gloom,
for the morning cometh. Over the hills faith sees the daybreak,
in whose light we shall enter into the wealthy place.
Verse 13. I will. The child of God is so
sensible of his own personal indebtedness to grace, that he
feels that he must utter a song of his own. He joins in the
common thanksgiving, but since the best public form must fail to
meet each individual case, he makes sure that the special
mercies received by him shall not be forgotten, for he records
them with his own pen, and sings of theme with his own lips. I
will go into thy house with burnt offerings; the usual
sacrifices of godly men. Even the thankful heart dares not come
to God without a victim of grateful praise; of this as well as
of every other form of worship, we may say, "the blood is
the life thereof." Reader, never attempt to come before God
without Jesus, the divinely promised, given, and accepted burnt
offering. I will pay thee my vows. He would not appear before
the Lord empty, but at the same time he would not boast of what
he offered, seeing it was all due on account of former vows.
After all, our largest gifts are but payments; when we have
given all, we must confess, "O Lord, of thine own have we
given unto thee." We should be slow in making vows, but
prompt in discharging them. When we are released from trouble,
and can once more go up to the house of the Lord, we should take
immediate occasion to fulfil our promises. How can we hope for
help another time, if we prove faithless to covenants
voluntarily entered upon in hours of need.
Verse 15. I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices
of fatlings. The good man will give his best things to God.
No starveling goat upon the hills will he present at the altar,
but the well fed bullocks of the luxuriant pastures shall ascend
in smoke from the sacred fire. He who is miserly with God is a
wretch indeed. Few devise liberal things, but those few find a
rich reward in so doing. With the incense of rams. The smoke of
burning rams should also rise from the altar; he would offer the
strength and prime of his flocks as well as his herds. Of all we
have we should give the Lord his portion, and that should be the
choicest we can select. It was no waste to burn the fat upon
Jehovah's altar, nor to pour the precious ointment upon Jesus'
head; neither are large gifts and bountiful offerings to the
church of God any diminution to a man's estate: such money is
put to good interest and placed where it cannot be stolen by
thieves nor corroded by rust. I will offer bullocks with goats.
A perfect sacrifice, completing the circle of offerings, should
show forth the intense love of his heart. We should magnify the
Lord with the great and the little. None of his ordinances
should be disregarded; we must not omit either the bullocks or
the goats. In these three verses we have gratitude in action,
not content with words, but proving its own sincerity by deeds
of obedient sacrifice. Selah. It is most fit that we should
suspend the song while the smoke of the victims ascends the
heavens; let the burnt offerings stand for praises while we
meditate upon the infinitely greater sacrifice of Calvary.
Verse 16. Come and hear. Before, they were
bidden to come and see. Hearing is faith's seeing. Mercy comes
to us by way of ear gate. "Hear, and your soul shall
live." They saw how terrible God was, but they heard how
gracious he was. All ye that fear God. These are a fit audience
when a good man is about to relate his experience; and it is
well to select our hearers when inward soul matters are our
theme. It is forbidden us to throw pearls before swine. We do
not want to furnish wanton minds with subjects for their
comedies, and therefore it is wise to speak of personal
spiritual matters where they can be understood, and not where
they will be burlesqued. All God fearing men may hear us, but
far hence ye profane. And I will declare what he hath done for
my soul. I will count and recount the mercies of God to me, to
my soul, my best part, my most real self. Testimonies ought to
be borne by all experienced Christians, in order that the
younger and feebler sort may be encouraged by the recital to put
their trust in the Lord. To declare man's doings is needless;
they are too trivial, and, besides, there are trumpeters enough
of man's trumpery deeds; but to declare the gracious acts of God
is instructive, consoling, inspiriting, and beneficial in many
respects. Let each man speak for himself, for a personal witness
is the surest and most forcible; second hand experience is like
"cauld kale het again; "it lacks the flavour of first
hand interest. Let no mock modesty restrain the grateful
believer from speaking of himself, or rather of God's dealings
to himself, for it is justly due to God; neither let him shun
the individual use of the first person, which is most correct in
detailing the Lord's ways of love. We must not be egotists, but
we must be egotists when we bear witness for the Lord.
Verse 17. I cried unto him with my mouth, and he
was extolled with my tongue. It is well when prayer and
praise go together, like the horses in Pharaoh's chariot. Some
cry who do not sing, and some sing who do not cry: both together
are best. Since the Lord's answers so frequently follow close at
the heels of our petitions, and even overtake them, it becomes
us to let our grateful praises keep pace with our humble
prayers. Observe that the psalmist did both cry and speak; the
Lord has cast the dumb devil out of his children, and those of
them who are least fluent with their tongues are often the most
eloquent with their hearts.
Verse 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart. If,
having seen it to be there, I continue to gaze upon it without
aversion; if I cherish it, have a side glance of love toward it,
excuse it, and palliate it; The Lord will not hear me. How can
he? Can I desire him to connive at my sin, and accept me while I
wilfully cling to any evil way? Nothing hinders prayer like
iniquity harboured in the breast; as with Cain, so with us, sin
lieth at the door, and blocks the passage. If thou listen to the
devil, God will not listen to thee. If you refuse to hear God's
commands, he will surely refuse to hear thy prayers. An
imperfect petition God will hear for Christ's sake, but not one
which is wilfully miswritten by a traitor's hand. For God to
accept our devotions, while we are delighting in sin, would be
to make himself the God of hypocrites, which is a fitter name
for Satan than for the Holy One of Israel.
Verse 19. But verily God hath heard me. Sure
sign this that the petitioner was no secret lover of sin. The
answer to his prayer was a fresh assurance that his heart was
sincere before the Lord. See how sure the psalmist is that he
has been heard; it is with him no hope, surmise, or fancy, but
he seals it with a verily. Facts are blessed things when
they reveal both God's heart as loving, and our own heart as
sincere. He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. He gave his
mind to consider my cries, interpreted them, accepted them, and
replied to them; and therein proved his grace and also my
uprightness of heart. Love of sin is a plague spot, a condemning
mark, a killing sign, but those prayers, which evidently live
and prevail with God, most clearly arise from a heart which is
free from dalliance with evil. Let the reader see to it, that
his inmost soul be rid of all alliance with iniquity, all
toleration of secret lust, or hidden wrong.
Verse 20. Blessed be God. Be his name honoured
and loved. Which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his
mercy from me. He has neither withdrawn his love nor my
liberty to pray. He has neither cast out my prayer nor me. His
mercy and my cries still meet each other. The psalm ends on its
key note. Praise all through is its spirit and design. Lord
enable us to enter into it. Amen.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. This Psalm is said to be recited on
Easter day, by the Greek church: it is described in the Greek
Bible as A Psalm of the Resurrection, and may be
understood to refer, in a prophetic sense, to the regeneration
of the world, through the conversion of the Gentiles. Daniel
Cresswell.
Verse 1. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye
lands: Hebrew, all the earth; shout aloud for joy, as
the people did at the return of the ark, so that the earth rang
again. God shall show himself to be the God not of Jews
only, but of Gentiles also; these shall as well cry Christ,
as those Jesus; these say, Father, as those Abba.
And, as there was great joy in Samaria when the gospel was there
received (Ac 8:8), so shall there be the like in all other parts
of the earth. John Trapp.
Verse 1. All ye lands. Where, consider, that he
does not sing praises well, who desires to sing alone. Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse 2. Make his praise glorious. Another
meaning is, give or place glory, that is, your
glory to his praise, be fully persuaded when you praise
him that it will redound to your own glory, regard this as your
own glory; praise him in such a way that all your praises may be
given to glorify God; or, let your glory tend in this direction
that he may be praised. Desire not the glory of eternal
blessedness, unless for the praise of God, as the blessed
spirits in that temple do nothing but say glory to God, and sing
the hymn of his glory without end, "Holy, holy, holy."
Lorinus.
Verse 3. Say. Dicite, say, says David, delight
to speak of God; Dicite, say something. There was more
required than to think of God. Consideration, meditation,
contemplation upon God and divine objects, have their place and
their season; but this is more than that, and more than
admiration too; for all these may come to an end in ecstasies,
and in stupidities, and in useless and frivolous imaginations. John
Donne.
Verse 3. Unto God. To God, not concerning
God, as some interpret, but to God himself; to his
praises, and with minds raised to God, as it is in Ps 66:4, sing
to himself; Gejerus also correctly remarks, that the
following discourse is addressed to God. Besides, it is to our
God, as in Ps 66:8, O bless our God, ye people: he is
called God absolutely, because he alone is the true God. Hermann
Venema.
Verse 3. How terrible. Take from the Bible its
awful doctrines, and from providence its terrible acts,
and the whole system, under which God has placed us, would be
emasculated. William S. Plumer.
Verse 3. Thine enemies shall submit themselves unto
thee. In this, our first consideration is, that God
himself hath enemies; and then, how should we hope to be,
nay, why should we wish to be, without them. God had good, that
is, glory from his enemies; and we may have good, that is,
advantage in the way to glory, by the exercise of our patience,
from enemies too. Those for whom God had done most, the angels,
turned enemies first; vex not thou thyself, if those whom thou
hast loved best hate thee deadliest... God himself hath enemies.
Thine enemies shall submit, says the text, to God; there
thou hast one comfort, though thou have enemies too; but the
greater comfort is, that God calls thine enemies his. Nolite
tangere Christus meos (Ps 105:15), says God of all holy
people; you were as good touch me, as touch any of them, for,
"they are the apple of mine eye" (Ps 17:8). Our
Saviour Christ never expostulated for himself; never said, Why
scourge you me? why spit you upon me? why crucify you me? As
long as their rage determined in his person, he opened not his
mouth; when Saul extended the violence to the church, to his
servants, then Christ came to that, "Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me?" ...Here is a holy league, defensive
and offensive; God shall not only protect us from others, but he
shall fight for us against them; our enemies are his enemies. Condensed
from John Donne.
Verse 3. Thine enemies submit themselves.
Literally, lie unto thee. This was remarkably the case
with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They promised
again and again to let the people go, when the hand of the Lord
was upon them; and they as frequently falsified their word. Adam
Clarke.
Verse 3. (second clause). In times of
affliction every hypocrite—all tag and rag—will be ready to
come in to God in an outward profession; but usually this
submission to God at this time is not out of truth. Hence it is
said, Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies
submit themselves unto thee: in the original it is, they
shall lie unto thee, and so it is translated by Arias
Montanus, and some others, noting hereby that a forced
submission to God is seldom in truth. Jeremiah Burroughs.
Verse 3. The earthquakes in New England occasioned a
kind of religious panic. A writer, who was then one of the
ministers of Boston, informs us, that immediately after the
great earthquake, as it was called, a great number of his flock
came and expressed a wish to unite themselves with the church.
But, on conversing with them, he could find no evidence of
improvement in their religious views or feelings, no convictions
of their own sinfulness; nothing, in short, but a kind of
superstitious fear, occasioned by a belief that the end of the
world was at hand. All their replies proved that they had not
found God, though they had seen the greatness of his power
in the earthquake. Edward Payson, D.D.
Verse 5. Come and see the works of God. An
indirect censure is here passed upon that almost universal
thoughtlessness which leads men to neglect the praises of God. John
Calvin.
Verse 5. Come and see. The church at all times
appeals to the world, Come and see, as Jesus said to the
two disciples of John the Baptist, and Philip to Nathanael. Joh
1:39,46. God's marvels are to be seen by all, and seeing
them is the first step towards believing in their divine
author. A. R. Faussett.
Verse 6. He turned the sea into dry land. The
psalmist refers to the passage through the Red Sea and the
Jordan, not as to transactions which took place and were
concluded at a given period of time, but as happening really in
every age. God's guidance of his people is a constant drying up
of the sea and of the Jordan, and the joy over his mighty deeds
is always receiving new materials. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Verse 6. There did we rejoice in him; where
those things have been done, there have we rejoiced in him, not
taking any credit to ourselves as if they were our acts, but
rejoicing and glorying in God, and have praised him, as may be
seen in Exodus 15 and Joshua 3. The prophet uses the future for
the past, unless, perhaps, he meant to insinuate that these
miracles would be succeeded by much greater ones, of which they
were only the types and figures. A much greater miracle is that
men should pass over the bitter sea of this life, and cross the
river of mortality, that never ceases to run, and which swallows
up and drowns so many, and still come safe and alive to the land
of eternal promise, and there rejoice in God himself, beholding
him face to face; and yet this greater miracle is so
accomplished by God, that many pass through this sea as if it
were dry land, and cross this river with dry feet; that is to
say, having no difficulty in despising all things temporal, be
they good or be they bad; that is to say, being neither attached
to the good things, nor fearing the evil things, of this world,
that they may arrive in security at the heavenly Jerusalem,
where we will rejoice in him, not in hope, but in complete
possession for eternity. Robert Bellarmine.
Verse 7. His eyes behold the nations. The
radical meaning of the word hku is augazein, to shine,
and metonymically to examine with a bright eye; to
inspect with a piercing glance, and thence to behold, for
either good or evil, as Pr 15:3: "The eyes of the Lord
are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."
Here it is taken in an adverse sense, and means, to watch from a
watch tower, to threaten from a lofty place. Ps 37:32: "The
wicked watcheth the righteous; "and Job 15:22: He is
waited for "from the watch tower for the sword; "that
is to say, the sword is drawn above the head of the wicked,
as if it threatened him from the watch tower of God. But, at
the same time, there is also a reference to God's looking from
the pillar of fire, and of cloud, upon the host of Pharaoh in
the Red Sea. Ex 14:24. Hermann Venema.
Verse 7. His eyes behold the nations. This
should give check to much iniquity. Can a man's conscience
easily and delightedly swallow that which he is sensible falls
under the cognizance of God, when it is hateful to the eye of
his holiness, and renders the action odious to him? "Doth
not he see my ways, and count all my steps?" saith Job,
(Job 31:4)... The consideration of this attribute should make us
humble. How dejected would a person be if he were sure all the
angels in heaven, and men upon earth, did perfectly know his
crimes, with all their aggravations! But what is created
knowledge to an infinite and just censuring understanding? When
we consider that he knows our actions, whereof there are
multitudes, and our thoughts, whereof there are millions; that
he views all the blessings bestowed upon us; all the injuries we
have returned to him; that he exactly knows his own bounty, and
our ingratitude; all the idolatry, blasphemy, and secret enmity
in every man's heart against him; all tyrannical oppressions,
hidden lusts, omissions of necessary duties, violations of plain
precepts, every foolish imagination, with all the circumstances
of them, and that perfectly in all their full anatomy, every
mite of unworthiness and wickedness in every circumstance...
should not the consideration of this melt our hearts into
humiliation before him, and make us earnest in begging pardon
and forgiveness of him. Stephen Charnock.
Verse 9. Which holdeth our soul in life. As the
works of creation at first, and upholding all by his power and
providence, are yoked together as works of a like wonder,
vouchsafed the creation in common, Heb 1:2-3; so just in the
like manner we find regeneration and perseverance joined, as the
sum of all other works in this life. Thus "begotten again,
"and "kept by the power of God to salvation, "are
joined by the Apostle, 1Pe 1:3,5, "Called and preserved in
Christ Jesus; "so in Jude 1:1... "Blessed be God,
"says Peter, "who, according to his abundant mercy,
hath begotten us again." And, O bless our God, ye
people, which holdeth our souls in life, says the psalmist.
Yea, if we do narrowly eye the words in either, both Peter and
the psalmist do bless God for both at once. Blessed be God for
"begetting us," who are also "kept by the power
of God;" so it follows in Peter. In the psalmist both are
comprehended in this one word:
1. Which putteth our souls in life (so the margin, out
of the Hebrew), that is, who puts life into your soul at the
first, as he did into Adam when he made him a living soul;
2. And then which holdeth, that is, continueth our
souls in that life. So the translators render it also, according
to the psalmist's scope, and O bless the Lord, saith the
psalmist, for these and both these. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 9. Which holdest our soul in life. It is
truth, that all we have is in the hand of God; but God keeps our
life in his hand last of all, and he hath that in his hand in a
special manner. Though the soul continue, life may not
continue; there is the soul when there is not life: life is that
which is the union of soul and body. Thou holdest our soul in
life; that is, thou holdest soul and body together. So
Daniel describes God to Belshazzar, Da 5:23, "The God in
whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou
not glorified." The breath of princes is in the hand of
God, and the same hand holds the breath of the meanest subject.
This may be matter of comfort to us in times of danger, and
times of death: when the hand of man is lifted up to take thy
life, remember thy life is held in the hand of God; and as God
said to Satan (Job 2:6): Afflict the body of Job, but save his
life; so God saith still to bloody wretches, who are as the
limbs of Satan: The bodies of such and such are in your hands,
the estates of such and such are in your hands, but save their
lives. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 9. Putteth our soul in life. An elegant
and emphatic expression, only to be understood by observing the
exact force of the words. The soul is the life, as
is well known, the word Myv is to place, to place upon, to
press in, the word Myyx signifies properly joinings,
fastenings together, and hence those faculties and powers by
which nature is held together and made firm. Hermann Venema.
Verse 9. Which holdeth our soul in life. He
holdeth our soul in life, that it may not drop away of itself;
for being continually in our hands, it is apt to slip through
our fingers. Matthew Henry.
Verse 9. And suffereth not our feet to be moved.
It is a great mercy to be kept from desperate courses in the
time of sad calamities, to be supported under burdens, that we
sink not; and to be prevented from denying God, or his truth, in
time of persecution. David Dickson.
Verse 10. Thou, O God, hast proved us. It is
not known what corn will yield, till it come to the flail; nor
what grapes, till they come to the press. Grace is hid in
nature, as sweet water in rose leaves; the fire of affliction
fetcheth it out.—Thou hast tried us as silver. The
wicked also are tried (Re 3:10), but they prove reprobate silver
(Jer 6:28), or at best, as alchemy gold, that will not bear the
seventh fire, as Job did (Job 23:10). John Trapp.
Verse 10. As silver is tried. Convinced from
the frequent use of this illustration, that there was something
more than usually instructive in the process of assaying and
purifying silver, I have collected some few facts upon the
subject. The hackneyed story of the refiner seeing his image in
the molten silver while in the fire, has so charmed most of us,
that we have not looked further; yet, with more careful study,
much could be brought out. To assay silver requires great
personal care in the operator. "The principle of
assaying gold and silver is very simple theoretically, but in
practice great experience is necessary to insure accuracy; and
there is no branch of business which demands more personal and
undivided attention. The result is liable to the influence of so
many contingencies, that no assayer who regards his reputation
will delegate the principal process to one not equally skilled
with himself. Besides the result ascertainable by weight, there
are allowances and compensations to be made, which are known
only to an experienced assayer, and if these were disregarded,
as might be the case with the mere novice, the report would be
wide from the truth." (Encyclopaedia Britannica.) Pagnini's
version reads: "Thou hast melted us by blowing upon us,
"and in the monuments of Egypt, artificers are seen with
the blowpipe operating with small fire places, with cheeks to
confine and reflect the heat; the worker evidently paying
personal attention, which is evident also in Mal 3:3, "He
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." To assay
silver requires a skilfully constructed furnace. The
description of this furnace would only weary the reader, but it
is evidently a work of art in itself. Even the trial of our
faith is much more precious than that of gold which perisheth.
He has refined us, but not with silver, he would not trust us
there, the furnace of affliction is far more skilfully arranged
than that. To assay silver the heat must be nicely regulated.
"During the operation, the assayer's attention should be
directed to the heat of the furnace, which must be neither too
hot nor too cold: if too hot, minute portions of silver will be
carried off with the lead, and so vitiate the assay; moreover,
the pores of the cupel being more open, greater absorption will
ensue, and there is liability to loss from that cause. One
indication of an excess of heat in the furnace, is the rapid and
perpendicular rising of the fumes to the ceiling of the muffle,
the mode of checking and controlling which has been pointed out
in the description of the improved furnace. When the fumes are
observed to fall to the bottom of the muffle, the furnace is
then too cold; and if left unaltered, it will be found that the
cupellation has been imperfectly performed, and the silver will
not have entirely freed itself from the base metals. (Encyclopaedia
Britannica.) The assayer repeats his trying process.
Usually two or more trials of the same piece are made, so that
great accuracy may be secured. Seven times silver is said to be
purified, and the saints through varied trials reach the
promised rest." C. H. S.
Verse 11. Thou broughtest us into the net, etc.
Our enemies have pursued us (like to wild beasts taken by the
hunter) into most grievous straits (1Sa 13:6). They have used us
like beasts of burden, and laid sore loads upon us, which they
have fast bound upon our backs. Thou laidest affliction upon
our loins. Coarctationenem in lumbis; we are not only
hampered, as in a net, but fettered, as with chains; as if we
had been in the jailor's or hangman's hands. John Trapp.
Verse 12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our
heads. The agents are men. Man is a sociable living
creature, and should converse with man in love and tranquillity.
Man should be a supporter of man; is he become an overthrower?
He should help and keep him up; doth he ride over him and tread
him under foot? O apostasy, not only from religion, but even
from humanity! Quid homini inimicissimum? Homo. (Seneca.)
The greatest danger that befalls man comes whence it should
least come, from man himself. Caetera animantia, says
Pliny, in suo genere, probe degunt, &c. Lions fight
not with lions; serpents spend not their venom on serpents; but
man is the main suborner of mischief to his own kind...
1. They ride. What need they mount themselves upon
beasts, that have feet malicious enough to trample on us? They
have a "foot of pride, "Ps 36:11, from which David
prayed to be delivered; a presumptuous heel, which they dare
lift up against God; and, therefore, a tyrannous toe, to spurn
dejected men. They need not horses and mules, that can kick with
the foot of a revengeful malice, Ps 32:9.
2. Over us. The way is broad enough wherein they
travel, for it is the devil's road. They might well miss the
poor, there is room enough besides; they need not ride over us.
It were more brave for them to justle with champions that will
not give them the way. We never contend for their path; they
have it without our envy, not without our pity. Why should they
ride over us?
3. Over our heads. Is it not contentment enough to
their pride to ride, to their malice to ride over us,
but must they delight in bloodiness to ride over our heads?
Will not the breaking of our arms and legs, and such inferior
limbs, satisfy their indignation? Is it not enough to rack our
strength, to mock our innocence, to prey on our estates, but
must they thirst after our bloods and lives? Quo tendit saeva
libido? Whither will their madness run? But we must not tie
ourselves to the letter. Here is a mystical or metamorphical
gradation of their cruelty. Their riding is proud; their riding
over us is malicious; and their riding over our heads is bloody
oppression. Thomas Adams.
Verse 12. (first clause). The time was when the
Bonners and butchers rode over the faces of God's saints, and
madefied (Madefy, to moisten, to make wet) the earth with their
bloods, every drop whereof begot a new believer. Thomas
Adams.
Verse 12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our
heads. This verse is like that sea (Mt 8:24) so tempestuous
at first, that the vessel was covered with waves; but Christ's
rebuke quieted all, and there followed a great calm. Here are
cruel Nimrods riding over innocent heads, as they would over
fallow lands; and dangerous passages through fire and water; but
the storm is soon ended, or rather the passengers are landed. Thou
broughtest us out into a wealthy place. So that this strain
of David's music, or psalmody, consists of two notes—one
mournful, the other mirthful; the one a touch of distress, the
other of redress: which directs our course to an observation of misery
and of mercy; of grievous misery, of gracious mercy.
There is desolation and consolation in one verse: a deep
dejection, as laid under the feet of beasts; a happy
deliverance, broughtest us out into a wealthy place. In
both these strains God hath his stroke; he is a principal in
this concert. He is brought in for an actor, and for an author;
and actor in the persecution, and author in the deliverance. Thou
causest, etc; Thou broughtest, etc. In the one he is
a causing worker; in the other a sole working cause. In the one
he is joined with company: in the other he works alone. He hath
a finger in the former; his whole hand is in the latter. We must
begin with misery before we come to mercy. If
there were no trouble, we should not know the worth of a
deliverance. The passion of the saints is given, by the hearty
and ponderous description, for very grievous; yet it is written
in the forehead of the text, "The Lord caused it." Thou
causest men to ride, etc. Hereupon, some wicked libertine
may offer to rub his filthiness upon God's purity, and to plead
an authentic derivation of all his villainy against the saints
from the Lord's warrant: He caused it. We answer, to the
justification of truth itself, that God doth ordain and order
every persecution that striketh his children, without any
allowance to the instrument that gives the blow. God works in
the same action with others, not after the same manner. In the
affliction of Job were three agents—God, Satan, and the
Sabeans. The devil works on his body, the Sabeans on his goods;
yet Job confessed a third party: "The Lord gives, and the
Lord takes away." Here oppressors trample on the godly, and
God is said to cause it. He causeth affliction for trial (so Ps
66:10-11: Thou hast tried us, etc.); they work it for
malice; neither can God be accused nor they excused. Thomas
Adams.
Verse 12. Thou hast placed men over our heads.
Thus Jerome renders, although the Hebrew noun vwga, is in the
singular, the word itself denotes an obscure, mean man,
who is mentioned with indignity, but ought to be buried in
oblivion. The singular noun is taken collectively, and so also
is wgvar, with the affix. Such were the Egyptian and Babylonish
idolaters, whom the Hebrew served. To place any one over the
head of another, or, as the Hebrew word tbkrh means, to
ride, to be superior to, to subdue to oneself and subject,
and to sit upon and insult, just as the horseman rules with the
rein, and spur, and whip the beast which he rides. Lorinus.
Verse 12. To ride over our heads. This is an
allusion to beasts of burden, and particularly to camels, whose
heads the rider almost sits over, and so domineers over them as
he pleases. Thomas Fenton, in "Annotations on the Book
of Job, and the Psalms." 1732.
Verse 12. We went through fire and through water.
The children of Israel when they had escaped the Red Sea, and
seen their enemies the Egyptians dead, they thought all was
cocksure, and therefore sang Epicinia, songs of rejoicing
for the victory. But what followed within a while? The Lord
stirred up another enemy against them from out their bowels, as
it were, which was hunger, and this pinched them sorer, they
thought, than the Egyptian. But was this the last? No; after the
hunger came thirst, and this made them to murmur as much as the
former; and after the thirst came fiery serpents, and fire and
pestilence, and Amalekites, and Midianites, and what not? Thus
hath it been with the church not only under the law, but also
under Christ, as it might be easily declared unto you. Neither
hath it been better with the several members thereof; they
likewise have been made conformable to the body and to the Head.
What a sight of temptations did Abraham endure? So Jacob, so
Joseph, so the patriarchs, so the prophets? Yea, and all they
that would live godly in Christ Jesus, though their sorrow in
the end were turned to joy, yet they wept and lamented first.
Though they were brought at the length to a wealthy place, yet
they passed through fire and water first. Miles Smith,
1624.
Verse 12. We went through fire and through water.
There was a great variety of such perils; and not only of
several, but of contrary sorts: We went through fire and
through water, either of which singly and alone denotes an
extremity of evils. Thus, through water (Ps 69:1-2): "Save
me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in
deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep
waters, where the floods overflow me." Or, through fire (Eze
15:7): "And I will set my face against them; they shall go
out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye
shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against
them." But when through both successively, one after the
other, this denotes an accumulation of miseries, or trials,
indeed: as we read Isa 43:2, with God's promise to his people in
such conditions: "When thou passest through the waters I
will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt
not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."
Which promise is here, you see, acknowledged by the psalmist to
have been performed: God was with the three children when they
walked through the fire, in the very letter of Isaiah's speech;
and with the children of Israel when they went through the water
of the Red Sea. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 12. We went through fire and through water.
In allusion, probably, to the ordeal by fire and water, which is
of great antiquity. On the question who had interred the body of
Polynices:
"All denied:
Offering, in proof of innocence, to grasp
The burning steel, to walk through fire, and take
Their solemn oath they knew not of the deed."
Sophocles. From T. S. Millington's "Testimony of the
Heathen to the Truths of Holy Writ." 1863.
Verse 12. Fire and water. The Jewish law
required both these for purification of spoil in war, where they
could be borne. Nu 31:23: "Everything that may abide the
fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be
clean: nevertheless it shall be purified through the water of
separation." God's saints are, therefore, subject to both
ordeals. C. H. S.
Verse 12. But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy
place. Every word is sweetly significant, and amplifies
God's mercy to us. Four especially are remarkable:—
1. The deliverer;
2. The deliverance;
3. The delivered; and,
4. Their felicity or blessed advancement.
So there is the deliverer, aliquid celsitudinis, Thou; in
the delivery, certitudinis, broughtest out, in the
delivered, solitudinis, us; in the happiness, plenitudinis,
into a wealthy place. There is highness and lowness,
sureness and fulness. The deliverer is great, the deliverance is
certain, the distress grievous, the exaltation glorious. There
is yet a first word, that like a key unlocks this golden gate of
mercy, a veruntamen:—BUT. This is vox respirationis,
a gasp that fetcheth back again the very life of comfort. But
thou broughtest, etc. We were fearfully endangered into the
hands of our enemies; they rode and trod upon us, and drove us
through hard perplexities. But thou, etc. If there had
been a full point or period at our misery, if those gulfs of
persecution had quite swallowed us, and all our light of comfort
had been thus smothered and extinguished we might have cried, Periit
spes nostra, yea, periit salus nostra.—Our hope,
our help is quite gone. He had mocked us that would have
spoken, Be of good cheer. This same but is like a happy
oar, that turns our vessel from the rocks of despair, and lands
it at the haven of comfort. Thomas Adams.
Verse 12. (second and third clause).
1. The outlet of the trouble is happy. They are in fire and
water, yet they get through them; we went through fire and
water, and did not perish in the flames or floods. Whatever the
troubles of the saints are, blessed be God there is a way
through them.
2. The inlet to a better state is much more happy. Thou
broughtest us out into a wealthy place, into a well watered
place; for the word is, like the gardens of the Lord, and
therefore fruitful. Matthew Henry.
Verse 12. (last clause). Thou, O God, with the
temptation hast given the issue. Thou broughtest us out into
a wealthy place.
1. Thou hast proved, and thou hast brought.
2. Thou laidest the trouble, and thou tookest it off; yea,
and hast made us an ample recompense, for thou hast brought us
to a moist, pleasant, lovely, fertile, rich place, a happy
condition, a flourishing condition of things, so that thou hast
made us to forget all our trouble. William Nicholson, in
"David's Harp strung and tuned." 1662.
Verse 12. A wealthy place. The hand of God led
them in that fire and water of affliction through which they
went; but who led them out? The psalmist tells us in the next
words: Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place; the
margin saith, into a moist place. They were in fire and
water before. Fire is the extremity of heat and dryness; water
is the extremity of moistness and coldness. A moist place
notes a due temperament of heat and cold, of dryness and
moistness, and therefore elegantly shadows that comfortable and
contented condition into which the good hand of God had brought
them, which is significantly expressed in our translation by a
wealthy place; those places flourishing most in
fruitfulness, and so in wealth, which are neither over hot nor
over cold, neither over dry not over moist. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 13. You see all the parts of this song; the
whole concert or harmony of all is praising God. You see quo
loco, in his house; quo modo, with burnt offering; quo
animo, paying our vows. Thomas Adams.
Verse 13. Burnt offerings. For ourselves, be we
sure that the best sacrifice we can give to God is obedience;
not a dead beast, but a living soul. The Lord takes not delight
in the blood of brutish creatures. It is the mind, the life, the
soul, the obedience, that he requires: 1Sa 15:22, "To obey
is better than sacrifice." Let this be our burnt offering,
our holocaust, a sanctified body and mind given up to the Lord,
Ro 12:1-2. First, the heart: "My son, give me thy
heart." Is not the heart enough? No, the hand also: Isa
1:16, Wash the hands from blood and pollution. Is not the hand
enough? No, the foot also: "Remove thy foot from
evil." Is not the foot enough? No, the lips also:
"Guard the doors of thy mouth; " Ps 34:13,
"Refrain thy tongue from evil." Is not thy tongue
enough? No, the ear also: "Let him that hath ears to hear,
hear." Is not the ear enough? No, the eye also: "Let
thine eyes be towards the Lord." Is not all this
sufficient? No, give body and spirit: 1Co 6:20, "Ye are
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in
your spirit, which are God's." When the eyes abhor lustful
objects, the ear slanders, the foot erring paths, the hands
wrong and violence, the tongue flattery and blasphemy, the heart
pride and hypocrisy; this is thy holocaust, thy whole burnt
offering. Thomas Adams.
Verses 13, 15. In the burnt offerings, we
see his approach to the altar with the common and general
sacrifice; and next, in his paying vows, we see he has
brought his peace offerings with him. Again, therefore,
he says at the altar: I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices
of fatlings (Ps 66:15). This is the general offering,
brought from the best of his flock and herd. Then follow the peace
offerings: With the incense (trjq, fuming smoke) of rams; I will
offer bullocks with goats. Selah. Having brought his
offerings, he is in no haste to depart, notwithstanding; for his
heart is full. Ere, therefore, he leaves the sanctuary, he
utters the language of a soul at peace with God: Ps 66:16-20.
This, truly, is one whom the very God of peace has
sanctified, and whose whole spirit, and body, and soul he will
preserve blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1Th
5:23. Andrew A. Bonar.
Verses 13-15. He tells what were the vows he promised
in his troubles, and says he promised the richest sacrifice of
cattle that could be made according to the law. These were
three—rams, cows, and goats. Rams included lambs; cows
included heifers; and goats, kids. Robert Bellarmine.
Verse 14. Which my lips have uttered. Hebrew, have
opened; that is which I have uttered, diductis labiis,
with lips wide open. Videmus qualiter vota nuncupari soleant,
saith Vatablus. Here we see after what sort vows used to be
made, when we are under any pressing affliction; but when once
delivered, how heavily many come off in point of payment. John
Trapp.
Verse 14. Express mention is made of opened lips
to indicate that the vows were made with great vehemence
of mind, and in a state of need and pressure; so that his lips
were broken through and widely opened. For the root, huk
contains the idea of opening anything with violence;
to break open, as the Latin expression is, rumpere
labia. Hermann Venema.
Verse 15. I will offer, etc. Thou shalt have
the best of the herd and of the fold. Adam Clarke.
Verse 15. Fatlings. For as I will not come
empty into thy house, so I will not bring thee a niggardly
present; but offer sacrifices of all sorts, and the best and
choicest in every kind. Symon Patrick.
Verse 15. Bullocks with goats. That is, I will
liberally provide for every part of the service at the
tabernacle. Thomas Scott.
Verse 16. Come and hear, all ye that fear God.
One reason why the saints are so often inviting all that fear
God to come unto them is, because the saints see and know the
great good that they shall get by those that fear God. The
children of darkness are so wise in their generation as to
desire most familiarity and acquaintance with those persons whom
they conceive may prove most profitable and advantageous to
them, and to pretend much friendship there where is hope of most
benefit. And shall not the saints, the children of light, upon
the same account wish and long for the society of those that
fear God, because they see what great good they shall gain by
them? It is no wonder that the company of those that fear God is
so much in request, since it is altogether gainful and
commodious; it's no wonder they have many invitations, since
they are guests by which something is still gotten; and, indeed,
among all persons living, those that fear God are the most
useful and enriching. Samuel Heskins, in "Soul Mercies
Precious in the Eyes of Saints... set forth in a little Treatise
on Ps 66:16." 1654.
Verse 16. All ye that fear God. For such only
will hear to good purpose; others either cannot, or care not. And
I will declare, etc. Communicate unto you my soul secrets
and experiments. There is no small good to be gotten by such
declarations. Bilney, perceiving Latimer to be zealous without
knowledge, came to him in his study and desired him for God's
sake to hear his confession. "I did so, "saith
Latimer, "and, to say the truth, by this confession I
learned more than afore in many years. So from that time forward
I began to smell the word of God, and forsake the school
doctors, and such fooleries." John Trapp.
Verse 16. Ye that fear God. Observe the
invitation given to those only who fear God, because
"the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; "he
loosens the feet to come, opens the ears to hear;
and therefore, he who has no fear of God will be called to no
purpose, either to come or to hear. Robert Bellarmine.
Verse 16. I will declare. Consider the ends
which a believer should purpose in the discharge of this duty
("of communicating Christian experience"). The
principal end he should have in view when he declares his
experience is the glory of that God, who hath dealt so
bountifully with him. He would surely have the Lord exalted for
his faithfulness and goodness to him; he would have it published
that the name of the Lord might be great; that sinners might
know that his God is faithful to his word; that he hath not only
engaged to be "a present help in time of need, "but
that he hath found him in reality to be so. As he knows the
enemies of God are ready enough to charge him with neglect of
his people, because of the trials and afflictions they are
exercised with; so he would, in contradiction to them, declare
what he hath found in his own experience, that in very
faithfulness he afflicts those that are dearest to him. And with
what lustre doth the glory of God shine, when his children are
ready to acknowledge that he never called them out to any duty
but his grace was sufficient for them; that he never laid his
hand upon them in any afflictive exercise, but he, at the same
time, supplied them with all those supports which they stood in
need of? I say, for Christians thus to stand up, on proper
occasions, and bear their experimental testimony to the
faithfulness and goodness of God, what a tendency hath it to
make the name of the Lord, who hath been their strong tower,
glorious in the midst of the earth... How may we blush and be
ashamed, that we have so much conversation in the world and so
little about what God hath done for our souls? It is a very bad
sign upon us, in our day, that the things of God are generally
postponed; while either the affairs of state, or the
circumstances of outward life, or other things, perhaps, of a
more trifling nature, are the general subjects of our
conversation. What! are we ashamed of the noblest, the most
interesting subject? It is but a poor sign that we have felt
anything of it, if we think it unnecessary to declare it to our
fellow Christians. What think you? Suppose any two of us were
cast upon a barbarous shore, where we neither understood the
language, nor the customs of the inhabitants, and were treated
by them with reproach and cruelty; do you think we should not
esteem it a happiness that we could unburden ourselves to each
other, and communicate our griefs and troubles? And shall we
think it less so, while we are in such a world as this, in a
strange land, and at a distance from our Father's house? Shall
we neglect conversing with each other? No; let our conversation
not only be in heaven, but about spiritual and heavenly things. Samuel
Wilson (1703-1750), in "Sermons on Various Subjects."
Verse 16. I will declare. After we are
delivered from the dreadful apprehensions of the wrath of God,
it is our duty to be publicly thankful. It is for the glory of
our Healer to speak of the miserable wounds that once pained us;
and of that kind hand that saved us when we were brought very
low. It is for the glory of our Pilot to tell of the rocks and
of the sands; the many dangers and threatening calamities that
he, by his wise conduct, made us to escape: and to see us safe
on the shore, may cause others that are yet afflicted, and
tossed with tempests, to look to him for help; for he is able
and ready to save them as well as us. We must, like soldiers,
when a tedious war is over, relate our combats, our fears, our
dangers, with delight; and make known our experiences to
doubting, troubled Christians, and to those that have not yet
been under such long and severe trials as we have been. Timothy
Rogers (1660-1729), in "A Discourse on Trouble of
Mind."
Verse 17. This verse may be rendered thus:—I
cried unto him with my mouth, and his exaltation was under my
tongue; that is, I was considering and meditating how I
might lift up and exalt the name of God, and make his praise
glorious. Holy thoughts are said to be under the tongue when we
are in a preparation to bring them forth. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 17. He was extolled with my tongue. It is
a proof that prayer has proceeded from unworthy motives, when
the blessings which succeed it are not acknowledged with as much
fervency as when they were originally implored. The ten lepers
all cried for mercy, and all obtained it, but only one returned
to render thanks. John Morison.
Verse 17. He was extolled with my tongue: literally
an extolling (of Him was) under my tongue, implying fulness
of praise (Ps 10:7). A store of praise being conceived as under
the tongue, whence a portion might be taken on all
occasions. The sense is, scarcely had I cried unto him when,
by delivering me, he gave me abundant reason to extol him.
(Ps 34:6.) A. R. Faussett.
Verse 17. With my tongue. Let the praise of God
be in thy tongue, under thy tongue, and upon thy tongue, that it
may shine before all men, and that they may see that thy heart
is good. The fish lucerna has a shining tongue, (A
reviewer condemns us for quoting false natural history, but no
intelligent reader will be misled thereby.—Editor.) from which
it takes its name; and in the depths of the sea the light of its
tongue reveals it: if thy heart has a tongue, shining with the
praises of God, it will sufficiently show itself of what sort it
is. Hence the old saying, "Speak, that I may see
thee." Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the
Lord will not hear me. The very supposition that "if he
regarded iniquity in his heart, the Lord would not hear him,
"implies the possibility that such may be the state even of
believers; and there is abundant reason to fear that it is in
this way their prayers are so often hindered, and their
supplications so frequently remain unanswered. Nor is it
difficult to conceive how believers may be chargeable with
regarding iniquity in their heart, even amidst all the solemnity
of coming into the immediate presence of God, and directly
addressing him in the language of prayer and supplication. It is
possible that they may put themselves into such a situation, in
a state of mind but little fitted for engaging in that holy
exercise; the world, in one form or another, may for the time
have the ascendancy in their hearts; and there may have been so
much formality in their confessions, and so much indifference in
their supplications, that when the exercise is over, they could
not honestly declare that they really meant what they
acknowledged, or seriously desired what they prayed for. A
Christian, it is true, could not be contented to remain in a
state like this; and, when he is awakened from it, as he sooner
or later will be, he cannot fail to look back upon it with
humiliation and shame. But we fear there are seasons in which
believers themselves may make a very near approach to such a
state; and what then is the true interpretation of prayers
offered up at such a moment? It is in fact saying, that there is
something which, for the time, they prefer to what they are
formally asking of God; that, though the blessing which they do
ask may be for a time withheld, yet they would find a
compensation in the enjoyment of the worldly things which do at
the moment engross their affections; and that, in reality, they
would not choose to have at that instant such an abundant
communication of spiritual influence imparted to them, as would
render these worldly objects less valuable in their estimation,
and would turn the whole tide of their affections towards
spiritual things... The Christian may sometimes betake himself
to prayer, to ask counsel of God in some perplexity regarding
divine truth, or to seek direction in some doubtful point of
duty; but, instead of being prepared fairly to exercise his
judgment in the hope that, while doing so, the considerations
that lie of the side of truth will be made to his mind clear and
convincing; he may have allowed his inclinations so to influence
and bias his judgment towards the side of error, or in favour of
the line of conduct which he wishes to pursue, that when he asks
counsel it may only be in the hope that his previous opinion
will be confirmed, and when he seeks direction it is in reality
on a point about which he was previously determined... Another
case is, I fear, but too common, and in which the believer may
be still more directly chargeable with regarding iniquity in his
heart. It is possible that there may be in his heart or life
something which he is conscious is not altogether as it should
be—some earthly attachment which he cannot easily justify—or
some point of conformity to the maxims and practices of the
world, which he finds it difficult to reconcile with christian
principle; and yet all the struggle which these have from time
to time cost him, may only have been an effort of ingenuity on
his part to retain them without doing direct violence to
conscience—a laborious getting up of arguments whereby to show
how they may be defended, or in what way they may lawfully be
gone into; while the true and simple reason of his going into
them, namely, the love of the world, is all the while kept out
of view. And, as an experimental proof of how weak and
inconclusive all these arguments are, and at the same time how
unwilling he still is to relinquish his favourite objects, he
may be conscious that in confessing his sins he leaves them out
of the enumeration, rather because he would willingly pass them
over, than because he is convinced that they need not be there;
he may feel that he cannot and dare not make them the immediate
subject of solemn and deliberate communing with God; and, after
all his multiplied and ingenuous defences, he may be reconciled
to them at last, only by ceasing to agitate the question whether
they are lawful or not. Robert Gordon, D.D., 1825.
Verse 18. Whence is it that a man's regarding or
loving sin in his heart hinders his prayers from acceptance with
God?
1. The first reason is, because in this case he cannot pray
by the Spirit. All prayers that are acceptable with God are the
breathings of his own Spirit with us. Ro 8:26. As without the
intercession of Christ we cannot have our prayers accepted, so
without the intercession of the Spirit we cannot pray...
2. The second reason is, because as long as a man regards
iniquity in his heart he cannot pray in faith; that is, he
cannot build a rational confidence upon any promise that God
will accept him. Now, faith always respects the promise, and
promise of acceptance is made only to the upright: so long,
therefore, as men cherish a love of sin in their heart, they
either understand not the promises, and so they pray without
understanding, or they understand them, and yet misapply them to
themselves, and so they pray in presumption: in neither case,
they have little cause to hope for acceptance...
3. The third reason is, because while we regard iniquity in
our hearts we cannot pray with fervency; which, next to
sincerity, is the great qualification of prayer, to which God
has annexed a promise of acceptance (Mt 11:12): "The
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by
force." Mt 7:7: those only that seek are like to find, and
those that knock to have admittance; all which expressions
denote vehemence and importunity. Now, the cause of vehemence,
in our prosecution of any good, is our love of it; for
proportionable to the affection we bear to anything is the
earnestness of our desires and the diligence of our pursuit
after it. So long, therefore, as the love of sin possesses our
hearts, our love to spiritual things is dull, heavy, inactive,
and our prayers for them must needs be answerable. O the
wretched fallacy that the soul will here put upon itself! At the
same time it will love its sin and pray against it; at the same
time it will entreat for grace, with a desire not to prevail: as
a father confesses of himself, that before his conversion he
would pray for chastity, with a secret reserve in his wishes
that God would not grant his prayer. Such are the mysterious,
intricate treacheries by which the love of sin will make a soul
deceive and circumvent itself. How languidly and faintly will it
pray for spiritual mercies; conscience, in the meanwhile, giving
the lie to every such petition! The soul, in this case, cannot
pray against sin in earnest; it fights against it, but neither
with hope nor intent to conquer; as lovers, usually, in a game
one against another, with a desire to lose. So, then, while we
regard iniquity, how is it possible for us to regard spiritual
things, the only lawful object of our prayers? and, if we regard
them not, how can we be urgent with God for the giving of them?
And where there is no fervency on our part, no wonder if there
is no answer on God's. Robert South, 1633-1716.
Verse 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the
Lord will not hear me. Though the subject matter of a
saint's prayer be founded on the word, yet if the end he aims at
be not levelled right, this is a door at which his prayer will
be stopped: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts." Jas 4:3. Take, I
confess, a Christian in his right temper, and he aims at the
glory of God; yet, as a needle that is touched with a loadstone
may be removed from its point to which nature hath espoused it,
though trembling till it again recovers it; so a gracious soul
may in a particular act and request vary from this end, being
jogged by Satan, yea, disturbed by an enemy nearer home—his
own unmortified corruption. Do you not think it possible for a
saint, in distress of body and spirit, to pray for health in the
one, and comfort in the other, with too selfish a respect to his
own ease and quiet? Yes, surely; and to pray for gifts and
assistance in some eminent service, with an eye to his own
credit and applause; to pray for a child with too inordinate a
desire that the honour of his house may be built up in him. And
this may be understood as the sense, in part, of that
expression, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will
not hear me. For though to desire our own health, peace, and
reputation, be not an iniquity, when contained within the limits
that God hath set; yet, when they overflow at such a height, as
to overtop the glory of God, yea, to stand but in a level with
it, they are a great abomination. That which in the first or
second degree is wholesome food, would be rank poison in the
fourth or fifth: therefore, Christian, catechize thyself, before
thou prayest: O, my soul, what sends thee on this errand? Know
but thy own mind what thou prayest for, and thou mayest soon
know God's mind how thou shalt speed. Secure God his glory, and
thou mayest soon know God's mind how thou shalt speed. William
Gurnall.
Verse 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the
Lord will not hear me.
1. They regard iniquity in their heart, who practise it
secretly, who are under restraint from the world, but are not
possessed of an habitual fear of the omniscient God, the
searcher of all hearts, and from whose eyes there is no covering
of thick darkness where the workers of iniquity may hide
themselves. Jer 23:24.
2. They regard iniquity in the heart, who entertain and
indulge the desire of sin, although in the course of providence
they may be restrained from the actual commission of it. I am
persuaded the instances are not rare, of men feeding upon sinful
desires, even when through want of opportunity, through the fear
of man, or through some partial restraint of conscience, they
dare not carry them into execution.
3. They regard iniquity in their heart, who reflect upon past
sins with delight, or without sincere humiliation of mind.
Perhaps our real disposition, both towards sin and duty, may be
as certainly discovered by the state of our minds after, as in
the time of action. The strength and suddenness of temptation
may betray even a good man into the commission of sin; the
backwardness of heart and power of inward corruption may make
duty burdensome and occasion many defects in the performance;
but every real Christian remembers his past sins with unfeigned
contrition of spirit, and a deep sense of unworthiness before
God; and the discharge of his duty, however difficult it may
have been at the time, affords him the utmost pleasure on
reflection. It is otherwise with many; they can remember their
sins without sorrow, they can speak of them without shame, and
sometimes even with a mixture of boasting and vain glory. Did
you never hear them recall their past follies, and speak of them
with such relish, that it seems to be more to renew the pleasure
than to regret the sin? Even supposing such persons to have
forsaken the practice of some sin, if they can thus look upon
them with inward complacency, their seeming reformation must be
owing to a very different cause from renovation of heart.
4. They regard iniquity in their heart, who look upon the
sins of others with approbation; or, indeed, who can behold them
without grief. Sin is so abominable a thing, so dishonouring to
God, and so destructive to the souls of men, that no real
Christian can witness it without concern. Hence it is so
frequently taken notice of in Scripture, as the character of a
servant of God, that he mourns for the sins of others. Ps
119:136,158.
5. In the last place, I suspect that they regard sin in the
heart, who are backward to bring themselves to the trial, and
who are not truly willing that God himself would search and try
them. If any, therefore, are unwilling to be tried, if they are
backward to self examination, it is an evidence of a strong and
powerful attachment to sin. It can proceed from nothing but from
a secret dread of some disagreeable discovery, or the detection
of some lust which they cannot consent to forsake... There are
but too many who though they live in the practice of sin, and
regard iniquity in their hearts, do yet continue their outward
attendance on the ordinances of divine institution, and at
stated times lay hold of the seals of God's covenant. Shall they
find any acceptance with him? No. He counts it a profane
mockery; he counts it a sacrilegious usurpation. Ps 50:16-17.
Shall they have any comfort in it? No: unless in so far as in
righteous judgment he suffers them to be deceived; and they are
deceived, and they are most unhappy, who lie longest under the
delusion. Ps 50:21. Shall they have any benefit by it? No:
instead of appeasing his wrath, it provokes his vengeance;
instead of enlightening their minds, it blinds their eyes;
instead of sanctifying their nature, it hardens their hearts.
See a description of those who had been long favoured with
outward privileges and gloried in them. Joh 12:39-40. So that
nothing is more essential to an acceptable approach to God in
the duties of his worship in general, and particularly to
receiving the seals of his covenant, than a thorough and
universal separation from all known sin. Job 11:13-14. John
Witherspoon (1722-1749), in a Sermon entitled "The
Petitions of the Insincere Unavailing."
Verses 18-20. Lord, I find David making a syllogism,
in mood and figure, two propositions he perfected. If I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me; but
verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my
prayer. Now I expected that David should have concluded
thus: "Therefore I regard not wickedness in my heart; but
far otherwise he concludes": Blessed be God, which hath
not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Thus David
had deceived, but not wronged me. I looked that he should have
clapped the crown on his own, and he puts it on God's head. I
will learn this excellent logic; for I like David's better than
Aristotle's syllogisms, that whatsoever the premise be, I make
God's glory the conclusion. Thomas Fuller.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 3. The terrible in God's works of nature and
providence.
Verse 4.
1. Who? All the earth.
(a) All, collectively, all classes and tribes.
(b) All numerically.
(c) All harmoniously.
2. What? Shall worship and sing.
(a) Humiliation; then,
(b) Exultation.
3. When? Shall, &c. Denotes
(a) Futurity.
(b) Certainty. God has spoken it. All things are tending towards
it. G. R.
Verse 5. Here is—
1. A subject for general study: the Works of God.
2. For particular study: his doings towards, etc.
(a) These are the most wonderful.
(b) In these we are most concerned.
Verse 7. Sovereignty, immutability ("for
ever"), and omniscience,—the enemies of proud rebels.
Verse 8. (last clause). To get a hearing for
the gospel—difficult, necessary, and possible. Ways and means
for so doing.
Verses 8-9.
1. Praise to.
(a) As God.
(b) As our God.
2. Praise for. Preservation.
(a) Of natural life.
(b) Of spiritual life.
3. Praise by, ye people.
(a) On your own account.
(b) On account of others.
Or
(a) Individually.
(b) Unitedly. G. R.
Verse 9. Perseverance the subject of gratitude.
1. The maintenance of the inner life.
2. The integrity of the outward character.
Verse 10. The assaying of the saints.
Verse 10.
1. The design of the afflictions.
(a) To prove them.
(b) To reprove them.
2. The illustration of that design. As silver, etc.
3. The issue of the trial.
Verses 11-12. The hand of God should be acknowledged.
1. In our temptations: Thou broughtest us.
2. In our bodily afflictions: Thou laidest, etc.
3. In our persecutions: Thou hast caused, etc.
4. In our deliverances: Thou broughtest us out, etc. G.
R.
Verse 12. Fire and water. Varied trials.
1. Discover different evils.
2. Test all parts of manhood.
3. Educate varied graces.
4. Endear many promises.
5. Illustrate divine attributes.
6. Afford extensive knowledge.
7. Create capacity for the varied joys of heaven.
Verse 12. (first clause). The rage of
oppression. Thomas Adam's Sermon.
Verse 12. (last clause). A plentiful place,
free from penury; a pleasant place, void of sorrow; a safe
place, free from dangers and distresses. Daniel Wilcocks.
Verse 12. (last clause). The victory of
patience, with the expiration of malice. Thomas Adams'
Sermon.
Verse 12. (last clause). The wealth of a soul
whom God has tried and delivered. Among other riches he has the
wealth of experience, of strengthened graces, of confirmed
faith, and of sympathy for others.
Verse 13. God's house; or, the place of praises. Thomas
Adams' Sermon.
Verses 13-15.
1. Resolutions made (Ps 66:13).
(a) What? To offer praise.
(b) Why? For deliverance.
(c) Where? In thy house.
2. Resolutions uttered (Ps 66:14).
(a) To God.
(b) Before men.
3. Resolutions fulfilled.
(a) In public acknowledgment.
(b) In heartfelt gratitude.
(c) In more frequent attendance at the house of God.
(d) The renewed self dedication.
(e) In increased liberality. G. R.
Verse 16.
1. What has God done for the soul of every Christian?
2. Why does the Christian wish to declare what God has done
for his soul?
3. Why does he wish to make this declaration to those who
only fear God?
(a) Because they alone can understand such a declaration.
(b) They alone will really believe him.
(c) They only will listen with interest, or join with him in
praising his Benefactor. E. Payson.
Verse 16.
1. Religious teaching should be simple: I will declare.
2. Earnest: Come and hear.
3. Seasonable: All ye that.
4. Discriminating: Fear God.
5. Experimental: What he hath, etc.
Verse 17.
1. The two principal parts of devotion. Prayer and praise.
2. Their degree. In prayer, crying. In praise, extolling.
3. Their order.
(a) Prayer.
(b) Then praise. What is won by prayer is worn in praise.
Verses 18-19.
1. The test admitted.
2. The test applied.
3. The test approved.
Verse 19. The fact that God has heard prayer.
Verse 20. The mercy of God.
1. In permitting prayer.
2. In inclining to prayer.
3. In hearing prayer.
WORK UPON THE SIXTY-SIXTH PSALM
"A fourth Proceeding in the Harmony of
King David's Harp. That is to say; A Godly and learned
Exposition of six Psalms more of the princely Prophet David,
beginning with the 62, and ending with the 67, Psalm."
Done in Latin by the reverend Doctor VICTORINUS STRIGELIUS,
Professor of Diunitie in the university of Lypsia in Germany,
Anno 1562. Translated into English by Richard Robinson, Citizen
of London. 1596... London... 1596.
(The above is the "fourth, "and,
as far as we have been able to discover, the last part of
R. Robinson's Translation of Strigelius. The four parts,
separately titled and paged, contain Expositions of Psalms 1-67.
Dates: 1591-3-5-6.)