TITLE. To the Chief Musician upon
Shoshannim. Thus for the second time we have a Psalm
entitled "upon the lilies." In the forty-first they
were golden lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh, and blooming
in the fair gardens which skirt the ivory palaces: in this we
have the lily among thorns, the lily of the valley, fair and
beautiful, blooming in the garden of Gethsemane. A Psalm of
David. If any enquire, "of whom speaketh the psalmist
this? of himself, or of some other man?" we would reply,
"of himself, and of some other man." Who that other
is, we need not be long in discovering; it is the Crucified
alone who can say, "in my thirst they gave me vinegar to
drink." His footprints all through this sorrowful song have
been pointed out by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, and
therefore we believe, and are sure, that the Son of Man is here.
Yet is seems to be the intention of the Spirit, while he gives
us personal types, and so shows the likeness to the firstborn
which exists in the heirs of salvation, to set forth the
disparities between the best of the sons of men, and the Son of
God, for there are verses here which we dare not apply to our
Lord; we almost shudder when we see our brethren attempting to
do so, as for instance Ps 69:5. Especially do we note the
difference between David and the Son of David in the
imprecations of the one against his enemies, and the prayers of
the other for them. We commence our exposition of this Psalm
with much trembling, for we feel that we are entering with our
Great High Priest into the most holy place.
DIVISION. This Psalm consists of two
portions of 18 verses each. These again may each be sub divided
into three parts. Under the first head, from Ps 69:1-4, the
sufferer spreads his complaint before God; then he pleads that
his zeal for God is the cause of his sufferings, in Ps 69:5-12:
and this encourages him to plead for help and deliverance, from
Ps 69:13-18. In the second half of the Psalm he details the
injurious conduct of his adversaries, from Ps 69:19-21; calls
for their punishment, Ps 69:22-28, and then returns to prayer,
and to a joyful anticipation of divine interposition and its
results, Ps 69:29-36.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Save me, O God. "He saved others,
himself he cannot save." With strong cries and tears he
offered up prayers and supplications unto him that was able to
save him from death, and was heard in that he feared (Heb 5:7).
Thus David had prayed, and here his Son and Lord utters the same
cry. This is the second Psalm which begins with a "Save me,
O God, "and the former (Psalm 54) is but a short summary of
this more lengthened complaint. It is remarkable that such a
scene of woe should be presented to us immediately after the
jubilant ascension hymn of the last Psalm, but this only shows
how interwoven are the glories and the sorrows of our ever
blessed Redeemer. The head which now is crowned with glory is
the same which wore the thorns; he to whom we pray, "Save
us, O God, "is the selfsame person who cried, "Save
me, O God." For the waters are come in unto my soul.
Sorrows, deep, abounding, deadly, had penetrated his inner
nature. Bodily anguish is not his first complaint; he begins not
with the gall which embittered his lips, but with the mighty
griefs which broke into his heart. All the sea outside a vessel
is less to be feared than that which finds its way into the
hold. A wounded spirit who can bear. Our Lord in this verse is
seen before us as a Jonah, crying, "The waters compassed me
about, even to the soul." He was doing business for us on
the great waters, at his Father's command; the stormy wind was
lifting up the waves thereof, and he went down to the depths
till his soul was melted because of trouble. In all this he has
sympathy with us, and is able to succour us when we, like Peter,
beginning to sink, cry to him, "Lord, save, or we
perish."
Verse 2. I sink in deep mire. In water one
might swim, but in mud and mire all struggling is hopeless; the
mire sucks down its victim. Where there is no standing.
Everything gave way under the Sufferer; he could not get
foothold for support—this is a worse fate than drowning. Here
our Lord pictures the close, clinging nature of his heart's
woes. "He began to be sorrowful, and very heavy." Sin
is as mire for its filthiness, and the holy soul of the Saviour
must have loathed even that connection with it which was
necessary for its expiation. His pure and sensitive nature
seemed to sink in it, for it was not his element, he was not
like us born and acclimatised to this great dismal swamp. Here
our Redeemer became another Jeremiah, of whom it is recorded (Jer
38:6) that his enemies cast him into a dungeon wherein "was
no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." Let our
hearts feel the emotions, both of contrition and gratitude, as
we see in this simile the deep humiliation of our Lord. I am
come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. The sorrow
gathers even greater force; he is as one cast into the sea, the
waters go over his head. His sorrows were first within, then
around, and now above him. Our Lord was no fainthearted
sentimentalist; his were real woes, and though he bore them
heroically, yet were they terrible even to him. His sufferings
were unlike all others in degree, the waters were such as soaked
into the soul; the mire was the mire of the abyss itself, and
the floods were deep and overflowing. To us the promise is,
"the rivers shall not overflow thee, "but no such word
of consolation was vouchsafed to him. My soul, thy Well beloved
endured all this for thee. Many waters could not quench his
love, neither could the floods drown it; and, because of this,
thou hast the rich benefit of that covenant assurance, "as
I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the
earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor
rebuke thee." He stemmed the torrent of almighty wrath,
that we might for ever rest in Jehovah's love.
Verse 3. I am weary of my crying. Not of it,
but by it, with it. He had prayed till he sweat great drops of
blood, and well might physical weariness intervene. My throat is
dried, parched, and inflamed. Long pleading with awful fervour
had scorched his throat as with flames of fire. Few, very few,
of his saints follow their Lord in prayer so far as this. We
are, it is to be feared, more likely to be hoarse with talking
frivolities to men than by pleading with God; yet our sinful
nature demands more prayer than his perfect humanity might seem
to need. His prayers should shame us into fervour. Our Lord's
supplications were salted with fire, they were hot with agony;
and hence they weakened his system, and made him "a weary
man and full of woes." Mine eyes fail while I wait for my
God. He wanted in his direst distress nothing more than his God;
that would be all in all to him. Many of us know what watching
and waiting mean; and we know something of the failing eye when
hope is long deferred: but in all this Jesus bears the palm; no
eyes ever failed as his did or for so deep a cause. No painter
can ever depict those eyes; their pencils fail in every feature
of his all but fair but all marred countenance, but most of all
do they come short when they venture to pourtray those eyes
which were fountains of tears. He knew both how to pray and to
watch, and he would have us learn the like. There are times when
we should pray till the throat is dry, and watch till the eyes
grow dim. Only thus can we have fellowship with him in his
sufferings. What! can we not watch with him one hour? Does the
flesh shrink back? O cruel flesh to be so tender of thyself, and
so ungenerous to thy Lord!
Verse 4. They that hate me. Surprising sin that
men should hate the altogether lovely one, truly is it added,
without a cause, for reason there was none for this senseless
enmity. He neither blasphemed God, nor injured man. As Samuel
said: "Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or
whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed?" Even so
might Jesus enquire. Besides, he had not only done us no evil,
but he had bestowed countless and priceless benefits. Well might
he demand, "For which of these works do ye stone me?"
Yet from his cradle to his cross, beginning with Herod and not
ending with Judas, he had foes without number; and he justly
said, they are more than the hairs of mine head. Both the
civilians and the military, laics and clerics, doctors and
drunkards, princes and people, set themselves against the Lord's
anointed. "This is the heir, let us kill him that the
inheritance may be ours, "was the unanimous resolve of all
the keepers of the Jewish vineyard; while the Gentiles outside
the walls of the garden furnished the instruments for his
murder, and actually did the deed. The hosts of earth and hell,
banded together, made up vast legions of antagonists, none of
whom had any just ground for hating him.
They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully,
are mighty. It was bad that they were many, but worse
that they were mighty. All the ecclesiastical and military
powers of his country were arrayed against him. The might of the
Sanhedrin, the mob, and the Roman legions were combined in one
for his utter destruction: "Away with such a fellow from
this earth; it is not fit that he should live, "was the
shout of his ferocious foes. David's adversaries were on the
throne when he was hiding in caverns, and our Lord's enemies
were the great ones of the earth; while he, of whom the world
was not worthy, was reproached of men and despised of the
people. Then I restored that which I took not away. Though
innocent, he was treated as guilty. Though David had no share in
plots against Saul, yet he was held accountable for them. In
reference to our Lord, it may be truly said that he restores
what he took not away; for he gives back to the injured honour
of God a recompense, and to man his lost happiness, though the
insult of the one and the fall of the other were neither of
them, in any sense, his doings. Usually, when the ruler sins the
people suffer, but here the proverb is reversed—the sheep go
astray, and their wanderings are laid at the Shepherd's door.
Verse 5. O God, thou knowest my foolishness.
David might well say this, but not David's Lord; unless it be
understood as an appeal to God as to his freedom from the folly
which men imputed to him when they said he was mad. That which
was foolishness to men was superlative wisdom before God. How
often might we use these words in their natural sense, and if we
were not such fools as to be blind to our own folly, this
confession would be frequently on our lips. When we feel that we
have been foolish we are not, therefore, to cease from prayer,
but rather to be more eager and fervent in it. Fools had good
need consult with the infinitely wise. And my sins are not hid
from thee. They cannot be hid with any fig leaves of mine; only
the covering which thou wilt bring me can conceal their
nakedness and mine. It ought to render confession easy, when we
are assured that all is known already. That prayer which has no
confession in it may please a Pharisee's pride, but will never
bring down justification. They who have never seen their sins in
the light of God's omniscience are quite unable to appeal to
that omniscience in proof of their piety. He who can say, Thou
knowest my foolishness, is the only man who can add, "But
thou knowest that I love thee."
Verse 6. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God
of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. If he were deserted,
others who were walking in the same path of faith would be
discouraged and disappointed. Unbelievers are ready enough to
catch at anything which may turn humble faith into ridicule,
therefore, O God of all the armies of Israel, let not my case
cause the enemy to blaspheme—such is the spirit of this verse.
Our blessed Lord ever had a tender concern for his people, and
would not have his own oppression of spirit become a source of
discouragement to them. Let not those that seek thee be
confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. He appealed to
the Lord of hosts by his power to help him, and now to the God
of Israel by his covenant faithfulness to come to the rescue. If
the captain of the host fail, how will it fare with the rank and
file? If David flee, what will his followers do? If the king of
believers shall find his faith unrewarded, how will the feeble
ones hold on their way? Our Lord's behaviour during his sharpest
agonies is no cause of shame to us; he wept, for he was man, but
he murmured not, for he was sinless man; he cried, "My
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; "for
he was human, but he added, "Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt, "for his humanity was without taint of
rebellion. In the depths of tribulation no repining word escaped
him, for there was no repining in his heart. The Lord of martyrs
witnessed a good confession. He was strengthened in the hour of
peril, and came off more than a conqueror, as we also shall do,
if we hold fast our confidence even to the end.
Verse 7. Because for thy sake I have borne
reproach. Because he undertook to do the Father's will, and
teach his truth, the people were angry; because he declared
himself to be the Son of God, the priesthood raved. They could
find no real fault in him, but were forced to hatch up a lying
accusation before they could commence their sham trial of him.
The bottom of the quarrel was, that God was with him, and he
with God, while the Scribes and Pharisees sought only their own
honour. Reproach is at all times very cutting to a man of
integrity, and it must have come with acute force upon one of so
unsullied a character as our Lord; yet see, how he turns to his
God, and finds his consolation in the fact that he is enduring
all for his Father's sake. The like comfort belongs to all
misrepresented and persecuted saints. Shame hath covered my
face. Men condemned to die frequently had their faces covered as
they were dragged away from the judge's seat, as was the case
with the wicked Haman in Es 7:8: after this fashion they first
covered our Lord with a veil of opprobrious accusation, and then
hurried him away to be crucified. Moreover, they passed him
through the trial of cruel mockings, besmeared his face with
spittle, and covered it with bruises, so that Pilate's
"Ecce Homo" called the world's attention to an
unexampled spectacle of woe and shame. The stripping on the
cross must also have suffused the Redeemer's face with a modest
blush, as he hung there exposed to the cruel gaze of a ribald
multitude. Ah, blessed Lord, it was our shame which thou wast
made to bear! Nothing more deserves to be reproached and
despised than sin, and lo, when thou wast made sin for us thou
wast called to endure abuse and scorn. Blessed be thy name it is
over now, but we owe thee more than heart can conceive for thine
amazing stoop of love.
Verse 8. I am become a stranger unto my brethren.
The Jews his brethren in race rejected him, his family his
brethren by blood were offended at him, his disciples his
brethren in spirit forsook him and fled; one of them sold him,
and another denied him with oaths and cursings. Alas, my Lord,
what pangs must have smitten thy loving heart to be thus
forsaken by those who should have loved thee, defended thee,
and, if need be, died for thee. And an alien unto my mother's
children. These were the nearest of relatives, the children of a
father with many wives felt the tie of consanguinity but
loosely, but children of the same mother owned the band of love;
yet our Lord found his nearest and dearest ones ashamed to own
him. As David's brethren envied him, and spake evil of him, so
our Lord's relatives by birth were jealous of him, and his best
beloved followers in the hour of his agony were afraid to be
known as having any connection with him. These were sharp arrows
of the mighty in the soul of Jesus, the most tender of friends.
May none of us ever act as if we were strangers to him; never
may we treat him as if he were an alien to us: rather let us
resolve to be crucified with him, and may grace turn the resolve
into fact.
Verse 9. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up. His burning ardour, like the flame of a candle, fed on
his strength and consumed it. His heart, like a sharp sword, cut
through the scabbard. Some men are eaten up with lechery, others
with covetousness, and a third class with pride, but the master
passion with our great leader was the glory of God, jealousy for
his name, and love to the divine family. Zeal for God is so
little understood by men of the world, that it always draws down
opposition upon those who are inspired with it; they are sure to
be accused of sinister motives, or of hypocrisy, or of being out
of their senses. When zeal eats us up, ungodly men seek to eat
us up too, and this was preeminently the case with our Lord,
because his holy jealousy was preeminent. With more than a
seraph's fire he glowed, and consumed himself with his fervour.
And the reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen upon
me. Those who habitually blaspheme God now curse me
instead. I have become the butt for arrows intended for the Lord
himself. Thus the Great Mediator was, in this respect, a
substitute for God as well as for man, he bore the reproaches
aimed at the one, as well as the sins committed by the other.
Verse 10. When I wept, and chastened my soul with
fasting, that was to my reproach. Having resolved to hate
him, everything he did was made a fresh reason for reviling. If
he ate and drank as others, he was a man gluttonous and a
winebibber; if he wept himself away and wore himself out with
fasting, then he had a devil and was mad. Nothing is more cruel
than prejudice, its eye colours all with the medium through
which it looks, and its tongue rails at all indiscriminately.
Our Saviour wept much in secret for our sins, and no doubt his
private soul chastening on our behalf were very frequent. Lone
mountains and desert places saw repeated agonies, which, if they
could disclose them, would astonish us indeed. The emaciation
which these exercises wrought in our Lord made him appear nearly
fifty years old when he was but little over thirty; this which
was to his honour was used as a matter of reproach against him.
Verse 11. I made sackcloth also my garment.
This David did literally, but we have no reason to believe that
Jesus did. In a spiritual sense he, as one filled with grief,
was always a sackcloth wearer. And I became a proverb to them.
He was ridiculed as "the man of sorrows, "quoted as
"the acquaintance of grief." He might have said,
"here I and sorrow sit." This which should have won
him pity only earned him new and more general scorn. To
interweave one's name into a mocking proverb is the highest
stretch of malice, and to insult one's acts of devotion is to
add profanity to cruelty.
Verse 12. They that sit in the gate speak against
me. The ordinary gossips who meet at the city gates for idle
talk make me their theme, the business men who there resort for
trade forget their merchandise to slander me, and even the
beggars who wait at men's doors for alms contribute their share
of insult to the heap of infamy. And I was the song of the
drunkard. The ungodly know no merrier jest than that in which
the name of the holy is traduced. The flavour of slander is
piquant, and gives a relish to the revellers' wine. The
character of the man of Nazareth was so far above the
appreciation of the men of strength to mingle strong drink, it
was so much out of their way and above their thoughts, that it
is no wonder it seemed to them ridiculous, and therefore well
adapted to create laughter over their cups. The saints are ever
choice subjects for satire. Butler's Hudibras owed more of its
popularity to its irreligious banter than to any intrinsic
cleverness. To this day the tavern makes rare fun of the
tabernacle, and the ale bench is the seat of the scorner. What a
wonder of condescension is here that he who is the adoration of
angels should stoop to be the song of drunkards! What amazing
sin that he whom seraphs worship with veiled faces should be a
scornful proverb among the most abandoned of men.
"The byword of the passing throng,
The ruler's scoff, the drunkard's song."
Verse 13. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O
Lord. He turned to Jehovah in prayer as being the most
natural thing for the godly to do in their distress. To whom
should a child turn but to his father. He did not answer them;
like a sheep before her shearers he was dumb to them, but he
opened his mouth unto the Lord his God, for he would hear and
deliver. In an acceptable time. It was a time of rejection with
man, but of acceptance with God. Sin ruled on earth, but grace
reigned in heaven. There is to each of us an accepted time, and
woe to us if we suffer it to glide away unimproved. God's time
must be our time, or it will come to pass that, when time
closes, we shall look in vain for space for repentance. Our
Lord's prayers were well timed, and always met with acceptance.
O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me. Even the
perfect one makes his appeal to the rich mercy of God, much more
should we. To misery no attribute is more sweet than mercy, and
when sorrows multiply, the multitude of mercy is much prized.
When enemies are more than the hairs of our head, they are yet
to be numbered, but God's mercies are altogether innumerable,
and let it never be forgotten that every one of them is an
available and powerful argument in the hand of faith. In the
truth of thy salvation. "Jehovah's faithfulness is a
further mighty plea." His salvation is no fiction, no
mockery, no changeable thing, therefore he is asked to manifest
it, and make all men see his fidelity to his promise. Our Lord
teaches us here the sacred art of wrestling in prayer, and
ordering our cause with arguments; and he also indicates to us
that the nature of God is the great treasury of strong reasons,
which shall be to us most prevalent in supplication.
Verse 14. Deliver me out of the mire and let me not
sink. He turns into prayer the very words of his complaint;
and it is well, if, when we complain, we neither feel nor say
anything which we should fear to utter before the Lord as a
prayer. We are allowed to ask for deliverance from trouble as
well as for support under it; both petitions are here combined.
How strange it seems to hear such language from the Lord of
glory. Let me be delivered from them that hate, me, and out
of the deep waters. Both from his foes, and the griefs which
they caused him, he seeks a rescue. God can help us in all ways,
and we may, therefore, put up a variety of requests without fear
of exceeding our liberty to ask, or his ability to answer.
Verse 15. Let not the waterflood overflow me.
He continues to recapitulate the terms of his lament. He is
willing to bear suffering, but entreats grace that it may not
get the victory over him. He was heard in that he feared.
Neither let the deep swallow me up. As Jonah came forth again,
so let me also arise from the abyss of woe; here also our Lord
was heard, and so shall we be. Death itself must disgorge us.
Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. When a great stone was
rolled over the well, or pit, used as a dungeon, the prisoner
was altogether enclosed, and forgotten like one on the
oubliettes of the Bastille; this is an apt picture of the state
of a man buried alive in grief and left without remedy; against
this the great sufferer pleaded and was heard. He was baptised
in agony but not drowned in it; the grave enclosed him, but
before she could close her mouth he had burst his prison. It is
said that truth lies in a well, but it is assuredly an open
well, for it walks abroad in power; and so our great Substitute
in the pit of woe and death was yet the Conqueror of death and
hell. How appropriately may many of us use this prayer. We
deserve to be swept away as with a flood, to be drowned in our
sins, to be shut up in hell; let us, then, plead the merits of
our Saviour, lest these things happen unto us.
Verse 16. Hear me, O Lord. Do not refuse thy
suppliant Son. It is to the covenant God, the ever living
Jehovah, that he appeals with strong crying. For thy
lovingkindness is good. By the greatness of thy love have pity
upon thine afflicted. It is always a stay to the soul to dwell
upon the preeminence and excellence of the Lord's mercy. It has
furnished sad souls much good cheer to take to pieces that grand
old Saxon word, which is here used in our version, lovingkindness.
Its composition is of two most sweet and fragrant things, fitted
to inspire strength into the fainting, and make desolate hearts
sing for joy. Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy
tender mercies. If the Lord do but turn the eye of pity, and the
hand of power, the mourner's spirit revives. It is the gall of
bitterness to be without the comfortable smile of God; in our
Lord's case his grief culminated in "Lama Sabachthani,
"and his bitterest cry was that in which he mourned an
absent God. Observe how he dwells anew upon divine tenderness,
and touches again that note of abundance, "The multitude of
thy compassions."
Verse 17. And hide not thy face from thy servant.
A good servant desires the light of his master's countenance;
that servus servorum, who was also rex regium,
could not bear to lose the presence of his God. The more he
loved his Father, the more severely he felt the hiding of his
face. For I am in trouble. Stay thy rough wind in the day of
thine east wind; do not add sorrow upon sorrow. If ever a man
needs the comforting presence of God it is when he is in
distress; and, being in distress, it is a reason to be pleaded
with a merciful God why he should not desert us. We may pray
that our flight be not in the winter, and that God will not add
spiritual desertion to all our other tribulations. Hear me
speedily. The case was urgent, delay was dangerous, nay deadly.
Our Lord was the perfection of patience, yet he cried urgently
for speedy mercy; and therein he gives us liberty to do the
same, so long as we add, "nevertheless, not as I will, but
as thou wilt."
Verse 18. Draw nigh unto my soul. The near
approach of God is all the sufferer needs; one smile of heaven
will still the rage of hell. And redeem it. It shall be
redemption to me if thou wilt appear to comfort me. This is a
deeply spiritual prayer, and one very suitable for a deserted
soul. It is in renewed communion that we shall find redemption
realized. Deliver me because of mine enemies, lest they should,
in their vaunting, blaspheme thy name, and boast that thou art
not able to rescue those who put their trust in thee. Jesus, in
condescending to use such supplications, fulfils the request of
his disciples: "Lord, teach us to pray." Here we have
a sad recapitulation of sorrows, with more especial reference to
the persons concerned in their infliction.
Verse 19. Thou hast known my reproach, and my
shame, and my dishonour. It is no novelty or secret, it has
been long continued; thou, O God, hast seen it; and for thee to
see the innocent suffer is an assurance of help. Here are three
words piled up to express the Redeemer's keen sense of the
contempt poured upon him; and his assurance that every form of
malicious despite was observed of the Lord. Mine adversaries are
all before thee. The whole lewd and loud company is now present
to thine eye: Judas and his treachery; Herod and his cunning;
Caiaphas and his counsel; Pilate and his vacillation; Jews,
priests, people, rulers, all, thou seest and wilt judge.
Verse 20. Reproach hath broken my heart. There
is no hammer like it. Our Lord died of a broken heart, and
reproach had done the deed. Intense mental suffering arises from
slander; and in the case of the sensitive nature of the
immaculate Son of Man, it sufficed to lacerate the heart till it
broke. "Then burst his mighty heart." And I am full of
heaviness. Calumny and insult bowed him to the dust; he was sick
at heart. The heaviness of our Lord in the garden is expressed
by many and forcible words in the four gospels, and each term
goes to show that the agony was beyond measure great; he was
filled with misery, like a vessel which is full to the brim. And
I looked for some to take pity, but there was none.
"Deserted in his utmost need by those his former bounty
fed." Not one to say him a kindly word, or drop a
sympathetic tear. Amongst ten thousand foes there was not one
who was touched by the spectacle of his misery; not one with a
heart capable of humane feeling towards him. And for comforters,
but I found none. His dearest ones had sought their own safety,
and left their Lord alone. A sick man needs comforters, and a
persecuted man needs sympathy; but our blessed Surety found
neither on that dark and doleful night when the powers of
darkness had their hour. A spirit like that of our Lord feels
acutely desertion by beloved and trusted friends, and yearns for
real sympathy. This may be seen in the story of Gethsemane:—
"Backwards and forwards thrice he ran.
As if he sought some help from man;
Or wished, at least, they would condole—
It was all they could—his tortured soul."
"What ever he sought for, there was none;
Our Captain fought the field alone.
Soon as the chief to battle led,
That moment every soldier fled."
Verse 21. They gave me also gall for my meat.
This was the sole refreshment cruelty had prepared for him.
Others find pleasure in their food, but his taste was made to be
an additional path of pain to him. And in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink. A criminal's draught was offered to our
innocent Lord, a bitter portion to our dying Master. Sorry
entertainment had earth for her King and Saviour. How often have
our sins filled the gall cup for our Redeemer? While we blame
the Jews, let us not excuse ourselves. From this point David and
our Lord for awhile part company, if we accept the rendering of
our version. The severe spirit of the law breathes out
imprecations, while the tender heart of Jesus offers prayers for
his murderers. The whole of these verses, however, may be viewed
as predictions, and then they certainly refer to our Lord, for
we find portions of them quoted in that manner by the apostle in
Ro 11:9-10, and by Christ himself in Mt 23:38.
Verse 22. Let their table become a snare before
them. There they laid snares, and there they shall find
them. From their feasts they would afford nothing but wormwood
for their innocent victim, and now their banquets shall be their
ruin. It is very easy for the daily provisions of mercy to
become temptations to sin. As birds and beasts are taken in a
trap by means of baits for the appetite, so are men snared full
often by their meats and drinks. Those who despise the upper
springs of grace, shall find the nether springs of worldly
comfort prove their poison. The table is used, however, not
alone for feeding, but for conversations, transacting business,
counsel, amusement, and religious observance: to those who are
the enemies of the Lord Jesus that table may, in all these
respects, become a snare. This first plague is terrible, and the
second is like unto it. And that which should have been for
their welfare, let it become a trap. This, if we follow
the original closely, and the version of Paul in the Romans, is
a repetition of the former phrase; but we shall not err if we
say that, to the rejecters of Christ, even those things which
are calculated to work their spiritual and eternal good, become
occasions for yet greater sin. They reject Christ, and are
condemned for not believing on him; they stumble on this stone,
and are broken by it. Wretched are those men, who not only have
a curse upon their common blessings, but also on the spiritual
opportunities of salvation.
"Whom oils and balsams kill, what salve can cure?"
This second plague even exceeds the first.
Verse 23. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see
not. They shall wander in a darkness that may be felt. They
have loved darkness rather than light, and in darkness they
shall abide. Judicial blindness fell upon Israel after our
Lord's death and their persecution of his apostles; they were
blinded by the light which they would not accept. Eyes which see
no beauty in the Lord Jesus, but flash wrath upon him, may well
grow yet more dim, till death spiritual leads to death eternal.
And make their loins continually to shake. Their conscience
shall be so ill at ease that they shall continually quiver with
fear; their backs shall bend to the earth (so some read it) with
grovelling avarice, and their strength shall be utterly
paralysed, so that they cannot walk firmly, but shall totter at
every step. See the terrifying, degrading, and enfeebling
influence of unbelief. See also the retaliation of justice:
those who will not see shall not see; those who would not walk
in uprightness shall be unable to do so.
Verse 24. Pour out thine indignation upon them.
What can be too severe a penalty for those who reject the
incarnate God, and refuse to obey the commands of his mercy?
They deserve to be flooded with wrath, and they shall be; for
upon all who rebel against the Saviour, Christ the Lord,
"the wrath is come to the uttermost." 1Th 2:16. God's
indignation is no trifle; the anger of a holy, just, omnipotent,
and infinite Being, is above all things to be dreaded; even a
drop of it consumes, but to have it poured upon us is
inconceivably dreadful. O God, who knoweth the power of thine
anger? And let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Grasping
them, arresting them, abiding on them. If they flee, let it
overtake and seize them; let it lay them by the heels in the
condemned cell, so that they cannot escape from execution. It
shall indeed be so with all the finally impenitent, and it ought
to be so. God is not to be insulted with impunity, and his Son,
our ever gracious Saviour, the best gift of infinite love, is
not to be scorned and scoffed at for nothing. He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy, but what shall be the "sorer
punishment" reserved for those who have trodden under foot
the Son of God?
Verse 25. Let their habitation be desolate; and let
none dwell in their tents. This may signify that their
posterity shall be cut off, and the abode which they occupy
shall be left a ruin; or, as our Lord quoted it, it refers to
the temple, which was left by its divine occupant and became a
desolation. What occurs on a large scale to families and nations
is often fulfilled in individuals, as was conspicuously the case
with Judas, to whom Peter referred this prophecy, Ac 1:20,
"For it is written in the book of Psalms, let this
habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein." The
fierce proclamation of Nebuchadnezzar, "that every people,
nation, and language, that speak anything amiss against the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and
their houses shall be made a dunghill, "is but an
anticipation of that dread hour when the enemies of the Lord
shall be broken in pieces, and perish out of the land.
Verse 26. For they persecute him whom thou hast
smitten. They are cruel where they should be pitiful. When a
stroke comes to any in the providence of God, their friends
gather around them and condole, but these wretches hunt the
wounded and vex the sick. Their merciless hearts invent fresh
blows for him who is "smitten of God and afflicted."
And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. They
lay bare his wounds with their rough tongues. They lampoon the
mourner, satirise his sorrows, and deride his woes. They pointed
to the Saviour's wounds, they looked and stared upon him, and
then they uttered shameful accusations against him. After this
fashion the world still treats the members of Christ.
"Report, "say they, "and we will report it."
If a godly man be a little down in estate, how glad they are to
push him over altogether, and, meanwhile, to talk everywhere
against him. God takes note of this, and will visit it upon the
enemies of his children; he may allow them to act as a rod to
his saints, but he will yet avenge his own elect. "Thus
saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for
Zion, with a great jealousy; and I am very sore displeased with
the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased,
and they helped forward the affliction."
Verse 27. Add iniquity unto their iniquity.
Unbelievers will add sin to sin, and so, punishment to
punishment. This is the severest imprecation, or prophecy, of
all. For men to be let alone to fill up the measure of their
iniquity, is most equitable, but yet most awful. And let them
not come into thy righteousness. If they refuse it, and resist
thy gospel, let them shut themselves out of it.
"He that will not when he may,
When he would he shall have nay."
Those who choose evil shall have their choice. Men who hate
divine mercy shall not have it forced upon them, but (unless
sovereign grace interpose) shall be left to themselves to
aggravate their guilt, and ensure their doom.
Verse 28. Let them be blotted out of the book of
the living. Though in their conceit they wrote themselves
among the people of God, and induced others to regard them under
that character, they shall be unmasked and their names removed
from the register. Enrolled with honour, they shall be erased
with shame. Death shall obliterate all recollection of them;
they shall be held no longer in esteem, even by those who paid
them homage. Judas first, and Pilate, and Herod, and Caiaphas,
all in due time, were speedily wiped out of existence; their
names only remain as bywords, but among the honoured men who
live after their departure they are not recorded. And not be
written with the righteous. This clause is parallel with the
former, and shows that the inner meaning of being blotted out
from the book of life is to have it made evident that the name
was never written there at all. Man in his imperfect copy of
God's book of life will have to make many emendations, both of
insertion and erasure; but, as before the Lord, the record is
for ever fixed and unalterable. Beware, O man, of despising
Christ and his people, lest thy soul should never partake in the
righteousness of God, without which men are condemned already.
Imprecations, prophecies, and complaints are ended, and prayer
of a milder sort begins, intermingled with bursts of thankful
song, and encouraging foresight of coming good.
Verse 29. But I am poor and sorrowful. The
psalmist was afflicted very much, but his faith was in God. The
poor in spirit and mourners are both blessed under the gospel,
so that here is a double reason for the Lord to smile on his
suppliant. No man was ever poorer or more sorrowful than Jesus
of Nazareth, yet his cry out of the depths was heard, and he was
uplifted to the highest glory. Let thy salvation, O God, set me
up on high. How fully has this been answered in our great
Master's case, for he not only escaped his foes personally, but
he has become the author of eternal salvation to all who obey
him, and this continues to glorify him more and more. O ye poor
and sorrowful ones, lift up your heads, for as with your Lord so
shall it be with you. You are trodden down today as the mire of
the streets, but you shall ride upon the high places of the
earth ere long; and even now ye are raised up together, and made
to sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
Verse 30. I will praise the name of God with a
song. He who sang after the passover, sings yet more
joyously after the resurrection and ascension. He is, in very
truth, "the sweet singer of Israel." He leads the
eternal melodies, and all his saints join in chorus. And will
magnify him with thanksgiving. How sure was our Redeemer of
ultimate victory, since he vows a song even while yet in the
furnace. In us, also, faith foresees the happy issue of all
affliction, and makes us even now begin the music of gratitude
which shall go on for ever increasing in volume, world without
end. What clear shining after the rain we have in this and
succeeding verses. The darkness is past, and the glory light
shines forth as the sun. All the honour is rendered unto him to
whom all the prayer was presented; he alone could deliver and
did deliver, and, therefore, to him only be the praise.
Verse 31. This also shall please the Lord better
than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. No
sacrifice is so acceptable to God, who is a Spirit, as that
which is spiritual. He accepted bullocks under a dim and
symbolical dispensation; but in such offerings, in themselves
considered, he had no pleasure. "Will I eat the flesh of
bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" Here he puts dishonour
upon mere outward offerings by speaking of the horns and hoofs,
the offal of the victim. The opus operatum, which our
ritualists think so much of, the Lord puffs at. The horning and
hoofing are nothing to him, though to Jewish ritualists these
were great points, and matters for critical examination; our
modern rabbis are just as precise as to the mingling of water
with their wine, the baking of their wafers, the cut of their
vestments, and the performance of genuflections towards the
right quarter of the compass. O fools, and slow of heart to
perceive all that the Lord has declared. "Offer unto God
thanksgiving" is the everlasting rubric of the true
directory of worship. The depths of grief into which the
suppliant had been plunged gave him all the richer an experience
of divine power and grace in his salvation, and so qualified him
to sing more sweetly "the song of loves." Such music
is ever most acceptable to the infinite Jehovah.
Verse 32. The humble shall see this and be glad.
Grateful hearts are ever on the look out for recruits, and the
rejoicing psalmist discerns with joy the fact, that other
oppressed and lowly men observing the Lord's dealings with his
servants are encouraged to look for a like issue to their own
tribulations. The standing consolation of the godly is the
experience of their Lord, for as he is so are we also in this
world; yea, moreover, his triumph has secured ours, and
therefore, we may on the most solid grounds rejoice in him. This
gave our great leader satisfaction as he foresaw the comforts
which would flow to us from his conflict and conquest. And your
heart shall live that seek God. A similar assurance is given in
Psalm 22, which is near akin to this. It would have been useless
to seek if Jesus' victories had not cleared the way, and opened
a door of hope; but, since the Breaker has gone up before us,
and the King at the head of us, our hope is a living one, our
faith is living, our love is living, and our renewed nature is
full of a vitality which challenges the cold hand of death to
damp it.
Verse 33. For the Lord heareth the poor. The
examples of David and David's Lord, and tens of thousands of the
saints, all go to prove this. Monarchs of the nations are deaf
to the poor, but the Sovereign of the Universe has a quick ear
for the needy. None can be brought lower than was the Nazarene,
but see how highly he is exalted: descend into what depths we
may, the prayer hearing God can bring us up again. And despiseth
not his prisoners. Poor men have their liberty, but these are
bound; however, they are God's prisoners, and, therefore,
prisoners of hope. The captive in the dungeon is the lowest and
least esteemed of men, but the Lord seeth not as man seeth; he
visited those who are bound with chains, and proclaims a jail
delivery for his afflicted. God despises no man, and no prayer
that is honest and sincere. Distinctions of rank are nothing
with him; the poor have the gospel preached to them, and the
prisoners are loosed by his grace. Let all poor and needy ones
hasten to seek his face, and to yield him their love.
Verse 34. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the
seas, and every thing that moveth therein. The doxology of a
glowing heart. The writer had fathomed the deeps, and had
ascended to the heights; and, therefore, calls on the whole
range of creation to bless the Lord. Our Well Beloved here
excites us all to grateful adoration: who among us will hold
back? God's love to Christ argues good to all forms of life; the
exaltation of the Head brings good to the members, and to all in
the least connected with him. Inasmuch as the creation itself
also is by Christ's work to be delivered from bondage, let all
that have life and motion magnify the Lord. Glory be unto thee,
O Lord, for the sure and all including pledge of our Surety's
triumph; we see in this the exaltation of all thy poor and
sorrowful ones, and our heart is glad.
Verse 35. For God will save Zion, and will build
the cities of Judah. Poor, fallen Israel shall have a
portion in the mercy of the Lord; but, above all, the church, so
dear to the heart of her glorious bridegroom, shall be revived
and strengthened. Ancient saints so dearly loved Zion, that even
in their distresses they did not forget her; with the first
gleam of light which visited them, they fell to pleading for the
faithful: see notable instances of this which have passed under
our eye already. Ps 5:11 14:7 22:23 51:18. To us, in these
modern times, it is the subject of cheering hope that better
days are coming for the chosen people of God, and for this we
would ever pray. O Zion, whatever other memories fade away, we
cannot forget thee. That they may dwell there, and have it in
possession. Whatever captivities may occur, or desolations be
caused, the land of Canaan belongs to Israel by a covenant of
salt, and they will surely repossess it; and this shall be a
sign unto us, that through the atonement of the Christ of God,
all the poor in spirit shall enjoy the mercies promised in the
covenant of grace. The sure mercies of David shall be the
heritage of all the seed.
Verse 36. The seed also of his servants shall
inherit it. Under this image, which, however, we dare not
regard as a mere simile, but as having in itself a literal
significance, we have set forth to us the enrichment of the
saints, consequent upon the sorrow of their Lord. The
termination of this Psalm strongly recalls in us that of the
twenty-second. The seed lie near the Saviour's heart, and
their enjoyment of all promised good is the great concern of his
disinterested soul. Because they are his Father's servants,
therefore he rejoices in their welfare. And they that love his
name shall dwell therein. He has an eye to the Father's glory,
for it is to his praise that those who love him should attain,
and for ever enjoy, the utmost happiness. Thus a Psalm, which
began in the deep waters, ends in the city which hath
foundations. How gracious is the change. Hallelujah.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. To the Chief Musician, on the lilies, of
David. On the lilies, points to the beauty of the
subject treated of. D. W. Hengstenberg.
Whole Psalm. The subject of the Psalm is an ideal
person, representing the whole class of religious sufferers. The
only individual in whom the various traits meet is Christ. That
he is not, however, the exclusive, or even the immediate
subject, is clear from the confession in Ps 69:5. There is no
Psalm, except for the twenty-second, more distinctly applied to
him in the New Testament. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Whole Psalm. This has usually been regarded as a
Messianic Psalm. No portion of the Old Testament Scriptures is
more frequently quoted in the New, with the exception of Psalm
22. When Jesus drives the buyers and sellers from the temple (Joh
2:17), his disciples are reminded of the words of Ps 69:9 (first
clause). When it is said (Joh 15:25) that the enemies of Jesus
hated him without a cause, and this is looked upon as the
fulfilment of Scripture, the reference is probably to verse 4,
though it may be also to Ps 35:18. To him, and the reproach
which he endured for the sake of God, St. Paul refers the words
of this Psalm, Ps 69:9 (second clause): The reproaches of
them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. In Ps 69:12 we
have a foreshadowing of the mockery of our Lord by the soldiers
in the praetorium (Mt 27:27-30); in Ps 69:21, the giving of the
vinegar and the gall found their counterpart in the scenes of
the crucifixion, Mt 27:34. In Joh 19:28, there is an allusion,
probably to verse 21 of this Psalm, and to Ps 32:15. The
imprecation in Ps 69:25 is said, in Ac 1:20, to have been
fulfilled in the case of Judas Iscariot, though, as the words of
the Psalm are plural, the citation is evidently made with some
freedom. According to Ro 11:9-10, the rejection of Israel may
best be described in the words of Ps 69:22-23. J. J. Stewart
Perowne.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm follows in striking connection
with the preceding, and in contrast with the glory of his
kingdom. The two have been compared to the transfiguration on
the mount, where, after the manifestation of Christ in glory,
there appeared, also, Moses and Elias, and spake of his decease
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. The clearest
anticipation of future glory must not shut out the conviction,
that it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom. W.
Wilson.
Whole Psalm. Remember this is the fourth Psalm which
declares at length the passion and resurrection of our Lord.
Through the whole Psalm Christ speaks in person. He prays for
deliverance by the Father, because he has suffered by the Jews,
without cause, many afflictions and persecutions. He supplicates
on behalf of his members, that the hope of the faithful, resting
on his resurrection, may not be disappointed. By the power of
his prescience he declares the future events which should occur
to his enemies. Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus, circa 468-560.
Whole Psalm. In this Psalm the whole Christ speaks;
now in his own person, now crying with the voice of his members
to God his Father. Gerhohus.
Verse 1. Save me, O God. Let his distances be
never so great, he is resolved to cry after the Lord; and if he
get but his head never so little above water, the Lord shall
hear of him. One would think his discouragements such as he were
past crying any more; the waters entered into his soul, in
deep waters, the streams running over him: he sticketh fast in
the mire where is no standing (he is at the very bottom, and
there fast in the mire), he is weary of crying; yet, Ps
69:6,13: But, Lord, I make my prayers to thee: and as he
recovers breath, so breathes out fresh supplications to the
Lord. If men or devils would be forbidding to pray, as the
multitude sometimes did the poor blind man to cry after Jesus;
yet, as he, so an importunate suppliant "will cry so
much the more, Jesus thou Son of David, have mercy on
me." Mr 10:47-48. Thomas Cobbet.
Verse 1. The waters are come in unto my soul.
What means he by coming in unto his soul? Surely no other
than this:—that they oppressed his spirit, and, as it were,
penetrated into his conscience, raising fears and perplexities
there, by reason of his sins, which at present put his faith and
hope to some disorder; so that he could not for a while see to
the comfortable end of his affliction, but was as one under
water, covered with his fears, as appears by what follows (Ps
69:2): I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing.
He compares himself to one in a quagmire that can feel no ground
to bear him up; and, observe whence his trouble rose, and where
the waters made their entrance (Ps 69:5): O God, thou knowest
my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee. This holy
man lay under some fresh guilt, and this made him so
uncomfortable under his affliction, because he saw his sin in
the face of that, and tasted some displeasure from God for it in
his outward trouble, which made it so bitter in the going down;
and, therefore, when once he had humbled himself by confessing
his sin, and was able to see the coast clear between heaven and
him, so as to believe the pardon of his sin, and hope for good
news from God again, he then returns to his sweet temper, and
sings in the same affliction, where before he sunk. William
Gurnall.
Verse 3. I am weary of my crying. The word egy
means properly, to gape, to gasp, then, to become
weary.... but to gasp in his crying, is not so much
to grow weary because of the great vehemence thereof, but while
the crying lasts, and while he is in the act, to succumb under
the burden of his dangerous and shameful calamity. Hermann
Venema.
Verse 3. I am weary of my crying. He had cried
to God for the ways of man; he had cried to man of the ways of
God; he had not ceased, from his first beginning to teach, till
he said upon the cross, "I thirst." His eyes had grown
dim, and his flesh was faint and weary with his sufferings,
through the long passion of his life on earth. He had been
waiting in poverty, and insult, and treachery, and scourging,
and pain, until he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?" From "A Plain Commentary."
Verse 3. I am weary of my crying, etc. David is
like the post, who layeth by three horses as breathless; his
heart, his throat, his eyes... Objection. But I have
neither weeping one way or other, ordinary nor marred. Answer.
Looking up to heaven, lifting up of the eyes, goeth for prayer
also in God's books. "My prayer unto thee, and will look
up, "(Ps 5:3). Mine eyes fail with looking upward
(Ps 69:3). Because, first, prayer is a pouring out of the soul
to God, and faith will come out at the eye, in lieu of another
door: often affections break out at the window, when the door is
closed; as smoke vents at the window, when the chimney refuses
passage. Stephen looked up to heaven (Ac 7:55.). He sent a post;
a greedy, pitiful, and hungry look up to Christ, out at the
window, at the nearest passage, to tell that a poor friend was
coming up to him. Second, I would wish no more, if I were in
hell, but to send up a look to heaven. There be many love looks
of the saints, lying up before the throne, in the bosom of
Christ. The twinkling of thy eyes in prayer are not lost to
Christ; else Stephen's look, David's look, should not be
registered so many hundred years in Christ's written Testament. Samuel
Rutherford, in "The Trial and Triumph of Faith."
Verse 3. Crying. Meanwhile, we see how the
saints, in the vicissitudes of affairs, even when they are
innocent, are not insensible and stony; they do not despise the
threatening perils; they become anxious, they cry and sigh
during their temptations. Musculus.
Verse 3. Mine eyes fail. O pitiable sight! that
sight should fail, by which Jesus saw the multitudes and,
therefore, ascended the mount to give the precepts of the New
Testament; by which, beholding Peter and Andrew, he called them;
by which, looking upon the man sitting at the receipt of custom,
he called and made him an evangelist; by which, gazing upon the
city, he wept over it... With these eyes thou didst look upon
Simon, when thou didst say, "Thou art the son of Jonas;
thou shalt be called Cephas." With these eyes thou
didst gaze upon the woman who was a sinner, to whom thou didst
say, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."
Turn these eyes upon us, and never turn them away from our
continual prayers. Gerhohus.
Verse 3. I wait for my God. The hour is coming
when our eyes must fail, and be closed; but, even then, "Let
us wait for our God; "in this respect, let us die the
death of the righteous person, who died for us; "and let
our last end be like this." George Horne.
Verse 4. Without a cause. In suffering, let not
the mind be disturbed; for the injustice which is done to the
innocent in his sufferings, is not laid to the charge of the
sufferer, but to his who inflicts suffering... It is well known
what Tertullian relates of Socrates, when his wife met him after
his condemnation, and addresses him with a woman's tears: "Thou
art unjustly condemned, Socrates." His reply was, "Wouldst
thou have me justly?" Lorinus.
Verse 4. Then I restored that which I took not
away. It was the great and blessed work of our Lord Jesus
here upon the earth, to restore what he took not away. In
handling this: (1) Show what it is which was taken away, and
from whom? (2) Wherein it appears that Christ took it not away.
(3) How he restored it? (4) Why he did so? (5) Use.
1. What it was which was taken away, and from whom?
(a) There was glory taken from God. Not his essential glory,
nor any perfection of his being, for that cannot be taken away;
but that glory which shines forth in the moral government of his
creatures, and that glory which we are bound to give him.
(b) There was righteousness, holiness, and happiness taken
from man also. (1.) There was a loss of righteousness to the
guilty sinner; (2.) of holiness to the polluted sinner: (3.) of
happiness to the miserable sinner.
2. Wherein it appears that Christ did not take away those
things from either.
(a) It is plain, as to God, he never took away any glory from
him; for he never did anything dishonourable, or offensive to
God. Joh 8:29; Isa 50:5 Lu 1:35.
(b) It is also clear, as to man, that he took not away any
righteousness, holiness, or happiness from him. He was not such
a fountain of guilt, pollution, and misery, as the first Adam
had been, but the contrary.
(c) The Scripture, therefore, speaks of Christ's being cut
off, but not for himself, Da 9:26; 1Pe 3:18 Isa 53:4-5.
(d) The innocency of Christ was conspicuous in his very
sufferings. Though they found no cause of death in him, yet
desired they Pilate that he should be slain. Ac 13:28.
3. How did Christ restore those things which he took not
away? In general, by his active and passive obedience.
(a) Christ's doing the will of God in such a manner as he did
it, was a greater honour to God than ever had been, or could be
done before.
(b) Christ's suffering of the will of God, made a
considerable addition to the glory of God, which had been
impaired by the sin of man, Heb 5:8; Joh 17:4 13:31.
(c) Christ hath provided for the justification of the sinner
by the obedience which he fulfilled, Ro 5:8.
(d) Christ communicates that grace which is necessary for our
sanctification also.
(e) Christ hath merited for us a present blessedness in this
world.
(f) Jesus Christ hath procured for us a more full and
absolute blessedness in the world to come.
4. Why did Jesus Christ make it his work to restore what
he took not away?
(a) It was a necessary work, a work which must be done, in
order to his being a Saviour.
(b) It was a work impossible for any mere creature to do; so
that if Christ did not, it could not be done by any person
besides him. Timothy Cruso's Sermon.
Verse 4. Then I restored that which I took not
away. Rosenmueller observes, that this seems to be a
proverbial sentence, to denote an innocent man unjustly treated.
According to the law, if a man stole and killed, or sold an ox,
he was to restore five oxen; or a sheep, he was to restore four;
and if the ox or sheep was found alive, he was to restore two.
Hence, to oblige a man to restore when he had taken nothing, was
the greatest injustice. Ex 22:1-5. Ainsworth observes, that
though it may be taken for all unjust criminations, whereof
David and Christ were innocent, yet in special, it was verified
in Christ, who, "being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, "Php 2:6; notwithstanding,
for witnessing himself to be the Son of God, he was put to death
by the Jews. Joh 19:7. Benjamin Boothroyd.
Verse 4. I restored that which I took not away.
The devil took away by arrogating in heaven what was not his,
when he boasted that he was like the Most High, and for this he
pays a righteous penalty... Adam also took away what was not his
own, when, by the enticement of the devil, "You will be as
gods, "he sought after a likeness to God, by yielding to
the deception of the woman. But the Lord Jesus thought it not
robbery to be equal with God... And yet his enemies said,
"Let him be crucified, for he hath made himself the Son of
God." Gerhohus.
Verse 4. I restored that which I took not away.
What a blessed verse is here! Amidst all the opposition and
contradiction of sinners against himself, Jesus manifested that
character, by which Jehovah had pointed him out to the church by
the prophet; "Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many
generations; and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the
breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in." Isa 58:12. But
what was it Christ restored? Nay, all that was lost. Adam by sin
had done all that he could to take away God's glory, and with it
his own glory and happiness. He had robbed God of his glory,
God's law of its due, himself of God's image, and of God's
favour. Sin had brought in death, spiritual and eternal; and he
and all his descendants stood tremblingly exposed to everlasting
misery. All these and more Jesus restored. As man's Surety and
man's Representative, and called to it by the authority of
Jehovah, the Lord Christ restored to God his glory, and to man
God's image of favour; and having destroyed sin, death, hell,
and the grave, he restored to his redeemed a better paradise
than our nature had lost! Hail, oh, thou blessed Restorer of all
our long lost privileges. Robert Hawker.
Verse 5. Thou knowest. The knowledge of God is
of a double use to pious men. The first is, as we observe in
this place, to console the innocent: the second is, to make them
circumspect, since all their thoughts, and words, and deeds are
under the very eye of God. Musculus.
Verse 5. Thou knowest my offences, etc., that
is to say, that I am not an offender. This verse is not a
confession of sin, but a protestation of innocence, The writer
maintains that he is a sufferer, not for his sins, but for his
piety. See Ps 69:7, etc. George R. Noyes, in "A New
Translation of the Book of Psalms, with Notes," etc.
1846.
Verse 5. My sins are not hid from thee. The
sins of those for whom Christ died, by being imputed to him, no
doubt became his in the eyes of the law, in such a sense as to
make him answerable for them. But the Scriptures, be it
observed, while they speak of him as "wounded for our
transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, "and
as "bearing our sins in his own body on the tree,
"as if afraid to use any forms of expression which would
even seem to derogate from his immaculate purity, never speak of
the sins of those for whom he died as his own sins. James
Anderson's Note to Calvin in loc.
Verse 5. My sins are not hid. Not as the first
Adam, do I, the second Adam, hide myself or my sins,
especially in thy sight, O God; but lifted up upon the cross I
suffered without the gate for sins in such a way, that I
desire that my sins should be conspicuous to every
creature in heaven, earth, and hell—my sins which, as
they refer to my person, are marked with no taint, and, as they
pertain to my people believing in me, are blotted out by my
blood. Gerhohus.
Verse 6. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God
of hosts, be ashamed for my sake, etc. This says, that
unless the carriage and deportment of the godly man redounds to
the comfort of all the rest of the godly, it in some way tends
to the discredit of the godly. Since this is the case, when they
slip aside, or carry not aright; since they are all in hazard of
doing so, it should be matter of affecting and afflicting
exercise, lest they do so. Fellow professors are ashamed of the
person that walketh not aright; they are ashamed that ever they
should have been in company or fellowship with him; they are
ashamed that ever such a person should have owned such a cause,
and that ever such a thing should have befallen a professor of
such a cause; and, besides, they are weakened by him in their
hopes of persevering for themselves. Again, they are in hazard
of being a discredit to all the godly, because, say they, it
seems the Lord has granted no peremptory promise, as to the
manner of their final perseverance; and corruption enough
remains in them still, to overturn all their stock of grace, if
they get not present renewed influences. William Guthrie.
1620-1655.
Verse 6. Ashamed for my sake. I pray that they
may not be confounded by external enemies with their
boundless insults and reproaches, because they seem to be the
worshippers of a God crucified and dead, and are themselves like
dead men, and lie rotting before his sepulchre, as if their good
name were gone. Rather let my enemies who do not wish me to live
be terror stricken at my angelic countenance, and fall like the
dead. Gerhohus.
Verse 6. For my sake. yb: more exactly, in
me. In these words the voice of the Sponsor of his people's
peace is clearly audible. The prayer of the Sufferer has its
answer in the declarative testimony which now forms the basis of
the gospel: "He that believeth on him shall not be
confounded." 1Pe 2:6. Arthur Pridham.
Verse 6. Because I, for their sakes, do at thy command
bear that shame which they should else have done, Lord, take it
off from them, because thou hast laid it upon me; so it
expressly follows, Ps 69:7: Because for thy sake I have borne
reproach; shame hath covered my face. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 7. Shame hath covered my face. It is a
great question whether shame or death be the greater evil. There
have been those who have rather chosen death, and have wiped off
a dishonour with their blood. So Saul slew himself rather than
he would fall into the hands of the Philistines, who would have
insulted over him, and mocked him as they did Samson. So that
king (Jer 38:19) rather chose to lose his country, life and all,
than to be given to the Jews, his subjects, to be mocked of
them... Confusion of face is one of the greatest miseries that
hell itself is set forth unto us by. There is nothing that a
noble nature more abhors than shame, for honour is a spark of
God's image; and the more of God's image there is in any one,
the more is shame abhorred by him, which is the debasing of it,
and so the greater and more noble any one's spirit, the more he
avoids it. To a base, low spirit, indeed, shame is nothing; but
to a great spirit (as to David), than to have his "glory
turned into shame, "as Ps 4:2, is nothing more grievous.
And the greater glory any loseth, the greater is his shame. What
must it be then to Christ, who because he was to satisfy God in
point of honour debased by man's sin, therefore of all
punishments besides, he suffered most of shame; it being also
(as was said) one of the greatest punishments in hell. And
Christ, as he assumed other infirmities of our nature, that made
him passible in other things—as to be sensible of hunger, want
of sleep, bodily torments, of unkindness, contempt, so likewise
of disgrace and shame. He took that infirmity as well as fear;
and though he had a strength to bear and despise it (as the
author of the Hebrews speaks), yet none was ever more sensible
of it. As the delicacy of the temper of his body made him more
sensible of pains than ever any man was, so the greatness of his
spirit made him more apprehensive of the evil of shame than ever
any was. So likewise the infinite love and candour of his spirit
towards mankind made him take in with answerable grief the
unkindness and injuries which they heaped upon him. Thomas
Goodwin.
Verse 8. A stranger unto my brethren. Unless
this aversion of his brethren had pained him, he would not have
complained of it. It would not have pained him unless he had
felt a special affection for them. Musculus.
Verse 8. In the east where polygamy prevails, the
husband is a stern and unfeeling despot; his harem a group of
trembling slaves; and the children, while they regard their
common father with indifference or terror, cling to their own
mother with the fondest affection, as the only part, as the only
parent, in whom they feel an interest. Hence it greatly
aggravated the affliction of David that he had become an
alien unto his mother's children: the enmity of the other
children of his father, the children of his father's other
wives, gave him less concern. W. Greenfield, in Comprehensive
Bible.
Verse 9. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up. He who recollects that the Scriptures speak of a
"peace which passeth understanding, "and a "joy
unspeakable and full of glory, "will be more disposed to
lament the low state of his own feeling, than to suspect the
propriety of sentiments the most rational and scriptural, merely
because they rise to a pitch that he has never reached. The
Sacred Oracles afford no countenance to the supposition that
devotional feelings are to the condemned as visionary and
enthusiastic merely on account of their intenseness and
elevation; provided they be of the right kind, and spring from
legitimate sources, they never teach us to suspect they can be
carried too far. David danced before the Lord with all his
might, and when he was reproached for degrading himself in the
eyes of his people by indulging in such transports, he replied,
"If this be vile, I will yet make myself more vile."
That the objects which interest the heart in religion are
infinitely more durable and important than all others will not
be disputed; and why should it be deemed irrational to be
affected by them in a degree somewhat suitable to their value? Robert
Hall. 1764-1831.
Verse 9. The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
Consider the examples of the saints of old, who have taken
heaven by force. David broke his sleep for meditation. Ps
119:148. His violence for heaven was boiled up to zeal, Ps
119:139: "My zeal hath consumed me." And Paul did
"reach forth (epekteinomenoz) unto those things which were
before." The Greek word signifies to stretch out the neck,
a metaphor taken from racers that strain every limb, and reach
forward to lay hold upon the prize. We read of Anna, a
prophetess (Lu 2:37); "she departed not from the temple,
but served God with fastings and prayers night and day."
How industrious was Calvin in the Lord's vineyard. When his
friends persuaded him for his health's sake to remit a little of
his labour, saith he, "Would you have the Lord find me idle
when he comes?" Luther spent three hours a day in prayer.
It is said of holy Bradford, preaching, reading, and prayer, was
his whole life. I rejoice, said bishop Jewel, that my body is
exhausted in the labours of my holy calling. How violent were
the blessed martyrs! They wore their fetters as ornaments, they
snatched up torments as crowns, and embraced the flames as
cheerfully as Elijah did the fiery chariot that came to fetch
him to heaven. Let racks, fires, pullies, and all manner of
torments come, so I may win Christ, said Ignatius. These pious
souls "resisted unto blood." How should this provoke
our zeal! Write after these fair copies. Thomas Watson.
Verse 9. The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
Zeal in and for true religion is a praise worthy thing. Was David
zealous? it may then become a royal spirit. Was Christ
our Saviour zealous? it may become an heroical spirit. Albeit,
zeal is out of grace with most men who sit still, and love to be
at quiet rest; yet it is no disgrace to any generous spirit that
is regenerate, to have the zeal of God's house to eat him up. It
is a slander to call it folly. Was not zealous David wiser than
his teachers, than his enemies, than the aged? Lukewarm men call
it fury; God's Spirit names it a "live coal, " that
hath a most vehement flame. Why bears zeal the imputation of
indiscretion, rashness, puritanism, or headiness? Was it David's
rashness? It was fervency in religion. Was Christ indiscreet?
The wisdom of his Father. Festus called Paul mad, with a loud
voice (Ac 26:24), when he spake but words of truth and soberness
(Ac 26:25). Christ's kinsmen thought that he was beside himself.
Mr 3:21. Was the judgment of such stolid men any disparagement
to our Saviour's zeal? Nay, it is a commendation. To root out
evil from, and to establish good in, the house of God is a good
thing. Ga 4:18. Thomas Wilson, in "A Sermon preached
before sundry of the Honourable House of Commons,
"entitled, "David's Zeal for Zion." 1641.
Verse 9. Zeal, reproaches. Grace never rises to
so great a height as it does in times of persecution. Suffering
times are a Christian's harvest times. Let me instance in that
grace of zeal: I remember Moulin speaking of the French
Protestants, saith, "When Papists hurt us for reading the
Scriptures, we burn with zeal to be reading of them; but now
persecution is over, our Bibles are like old almanacs, "
etc. All the reproaches, frowns, threatenings, oppositions, and
persecutions that a Christian meets with in a way of holiness,
do but raise his zeal and courage to a greater height. Michal's
scoffing at David did but inflame and raise his zeal: "If
this be to be vile, I will be more vile, "2Sa 6:20-22.
Look, as fire in the winter burns the hotter, by an
antiperistasiv because of the coldness of the air; so in the
winter of affliction and persecution, that divine fire, the zeal
of a Christian, burns so much the hotter, and flames forth so
much the more vehemently and strongly. In times of greatest
affliction and persecution for holiness' sake, a Christian hath,
first, a good captain to lead and encourage him; secondly, a
righteous cause to prompt and embolden him; thirdly, a gracious
God to relieve and succour him; fourthly, a glorious heaven to
receive and reward him; and, certainly, these things cannot but
mightily raise him and inflame him under the greatest opposition
and persecution. These things will keep him from fearing,
fawning, fainting, sinking, or flying in a stormy day; yea,
these things will make his face like the face of an adamant, as
God's promised to make Ezekiel's. Eze 3:7-9, and Job 41:24. Now
an adamant is the hardest of stones, it is harder than a flint,
yea, it is harder than the nether millstone. The naturalists
(Pliny) observe, that the hardness of this stone is unspeakable:
the fire cannot burn it, nor so much as heat it through, nor the
hammer cannot break it, nor the water cannot dissolve it, and,
therefore, the Greeks call it an adamant from its untameableness;
and in all storms the adamant shrinks not, it shrinks not, it
fears not, it changeth not its hue; let the times be what they
will, the adamant is still the same. In times of persecution, a
good cause, a good God, and a good conscience will make a
Christian like an adamant, it will make him invincible and
unchangeable. When one desired to know what kind of man Basil
was, there was presented to him in a dream, saith the history, a
pillar of fire with this motto, Talis est Basilius, Basil
is such a one, he is all on a light fire for God. Persecutions
will but set a Christian all on a light fire for God. Thomas
Brooks.
Verse 9. Eaten me up. The verb means, not only
"to eat up, to devour, "but "to corrode, or
consume, "by separating the parts from each another, as
fire. And the radical import of the Hebrew word for zeal
seems to be "to eat into, corrode, as fire." The word,
says Parkhurst, is in the Hebrew Bible generally applied to the
fervent or ardent affections of the human frame; the effects of
which are well known to be ever like those of fire, corroding
and consuming. And, accordingly, the poets, both ancient and
modern, abound with descriptions of these ardent and consuming
affections, taken from fire and its effects. Richard Mant.
Verse 9. Eaten me up. He who is zealous in his
religion, or ardent in his attachments, is said to be eaten up.
"Old Muttoo has determined to leave his home for ever; he
is to walk barefoot to the Ganges for the salvation of his soul:
his zeal has eaten him up." J. Roberts' Oriental
Illustrations.
Verse 9. The reproaches of them that reproached
thee are fallen upon me. We should, if it were possible,
labour to wipe off all the reproach of Christ, and take it upon
ourselves that we might rather be spit upon and contemned than
Christ. It was a brave speech of Ambrose, "he wished it
would please God to turn all the adversaries from the church
upon himself, and let them satisfy their thirst with his
blood:" this is a true Christian heart. And, therefore, if
it be for our sakes, and we have anything in the business by
which Christ is reproached, we should be willing rather to
sacrifice ourselves, than that Christ should be reproached; and
as Jonah, when he knew that the tempest rose for his sake, says
he, "Cast me into the sea; "and so Nazianzen, when
contention rose about him, says he, "Cast me into the sea,
let me lose my place, rather than the name of Christ should
suffer for me." Jeremiah Burroughs.
Verse 10. When I wept, and chastened my soul with
fasting, that was to my reproach. Behold here, virtue is
accounted vice; truth, blasphemy; wisdom, folly. Behold, the
peace maker of the world is judged a seditious person; the
fulfiller of the law, a breaker of the law; our Saviour, a
sinner; our God, a devil. O poor troubled heart! wherefore dost
thou weakly wail for any injury or abuse that is offered to
thee? God handleth thee no otherwise in this world than he
handled his only Son, who hath pledged thee in this bitter
potion; not only taking essay thereof, but drinking to thee a
full draught. It is not only a comfort, but a glory, to be a
partner and fellow sufferer with Christ, who delighteth also to
see in us some representation of himself. Dogs bark not at those
whom they know, and with whom they are familiar; but against
strangers they usually bark; not always for any hurt which they
feel or fear, but commonly by nature or depraved custom. How
then canst thou be a stranger to the world, if it dost not
molest thee; if it detracts not from thee? Sir John Hayward
(1560-1627), in "The Sanctuary of a Troubled Soul."
Verse 10. There is nothing so well meant, but it may
be ill interpreted. Simon Patrick.
Verses 10-11. That Christ was derided and scoffed at
is plain, from Mark 5; for, when he said, "The girl is not
dead, but sleepeth, they laughed him to scorn; "and when he
spoke of the necessity of giving alms, "Now, the Pharisees,
who were covetous heard all these things, and they derided
him." And, in his passion, he was derided by the soldiers,
by Herod, by the high priests, and many others. Robert
Bellarmine.
Verse 11. I made sackcloth also my garment,
etc. Though we nowhere read that Jesus put on sackcloth
on any occasion, yet it is not improbable that he did; besides,
the phrase may only intend that he mourned and sorrowed at
certain times, as persons do when they put on sackcloth;
moreover, as the common garb of his forerunner was raiment of
camel's hair, with a leathern girdle; it is very likely his own
was very mean, suitable to his condition, who, though he was
rich, for our sakes became poor. And I became a proverb to
them; a byword; so that, when they saw any person in
sackcloth or in vile raiment, behold, such an one looks like
Jesus of Nazareth. John Gill.
Verse 11. I became a proverb. Two things are
usually implied when a man is said to be a byword. First, that
he is in a very low condition: some men are so high that the
tongues of the common people dare not climb over them, but where
the hedge is low every man goes over. Secondly, that he is in a
despised condition; to be a byword, carries a reflection of
disgrace. He that is much spoken of, in this sense, is ill
spoken of; and he is quite lost in the opinion of men, who is
thus found in their discourse... Hence, observe, great sufferers
in many things of this world, are the common subject of
discourses, and often the subject of disgrace. Such evils as few
men have felt or seen, all men will be speaking of. Great
sorrows, especially if they be the sorrows of great men, are
turned into songs, and poetry plays its part with the saddest
disasters... Holy David met with this measure from men in the
day of his sorrows: When I wept, and chastened my soul with
fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my
garment; and I became a proverb (or a byword) to them. In
the next verse he tells us in detail who did this: They that
sit in the gate (that is, great ones) speak against me, and I
was the song of the drunkard, that is, of the common sort. Joseph
Caryl.
Verse 12. They that sit in the gate: i.e., as
it is generally interpreted, the judges or chief persons of the
state; for the gates of cities were the places of judicature.
But Hillary interprets this of those who sat to beg at
the gates of the city; which seems a more probable
interpretation, better to agree with the design of the psalmist,
and to suit with the drunkards, mentioned in the next
clause. Samuel Burder.
Verse 12. They that sit in the gate. The
magistrates at the gate. Literally, "assessors at the gate;
""judges sitting to determine causes." John
Mason Good.
Verse 12. I was the song of the drunkards. Holy
walking is the drunkard's song, as David was; and so
preciseness and strictness of walking is ordinarily: the world
cannot bear the burning and shining conversations of some of the
saints; they are so cuttingly reproved by them, that with those
heathens, they curse the sun, that by its shining doth scorch
them. It is no new thing; the seed of the serpent did always
persecute the seed of the woman; and he that was born after the
flesh, persecutes him that was born after the spirit; even so it
is now, saith the apostle; and so it is now, may we say. Ishmael
mocked Isaac, and is it not so still? Or, if it be not so bold a
sin as formerly, it is because the times, not sinner's hearts,
are changed; they malign them still, watch for their halting:
"report, say they, and we will report it." John
Murcot.
Verse 12. I was the song of the drunkards. When
magistrates discountenance true religion, then it becometh a
matter of derision to rascals, and to every base villain without
control, and a table talk to every tippler. The shame of the
cross is more grievous than the rest of the trouble of it: this
is the fourth time that the shame of the cross is presented unto
God, in these last four verses: I was the song of the
drunkards; after complaining of his being reproached and
being made a proverb. David Dickson.
Verse 12. There is a tavern, or profane mirth, in
drinking, and roaring, and revelling, and instead of another
minstrel, David must be the song of the drunkards; nor
can the Philistines be merry unless Samson be made the fool in
the play (Jud 16:25): "Unless they scoff and jeer the ways
and servants of God" (as Mr. Greenham saith), "the
fools cannot tell how to be merry; "and then the Devil is
merry with them for company. But what? Not merry without abusing
their host? This some must dearly pay for, when a reckoning is
called for; or, they rather called to make it. Then they will be
off from their merry pins, and will find that this was very far
from being the "Comfort of the Holy Ghost, "wherein
and whereby that good Spirit and our Comforter was grieved, and
holiness scoffed and laughed at. Anthony Tuckney (1599-1670),
in "A Good Day Well Improved."
Verse 13. But as for me, my prayer, etc. The
phrase is full of emphasis; And I, my prayer to thee:
that is, such am I altogether, this is my main occupation; as it
is in Ps 109:4: And I, a prayer; this was my employment,
this ever my only refuge, this my present help and remedy. Venema.
Verse 13. An acceptable time. All times are not
alike. We will not always find admittance at the same rate, with
the same ease. As we will not always be chiding, so he will not
always be so pleasing neither. We may knock, and knock again,
and yet stand without a while; sometimes, so long, till our
knees are ready to sink under us, our eyes ready to drop out, as
well as drop with expectation, and our hearts ready to break in
pieces, while none heareth, or none regardeth. We should have
come before, or pitched our coming at a better time... The
prophet David expressly speaks of an acceptable time to
make our prayers in. And, "Today if you will hear his
voice, "in the psalmist, paraphrased by the apostle,
"Today, while it is called today, "shows there is a
set day, or days, of audience with God, wherein he sets himself,
as it were, with all readiness to hear and help us—an accepted
time. And will ye, next, know what it is that makes it so?
There are but two things that do. Either God's being in a good
or pleasing disposition towards us, or our being in a good and
pleasing disposition towards him. Come we but to him in either
of these, and we have nicked the time; we are sure to be
accepted. Mark Frank. 1613-1664.
Verse 13.
Heavier the cross, the heartier prayer;
The bruised herbs most fragrant are.
If sky and wind were always fair,
The sailor would not watch the star;
And David's Psalms had never been sung
If grief his heart had never wrung.
—From the German.
Verse 15. Faith in God giveth hope to be helped, and
is half a deliverance before the full deliverance come; for the
psalmist is now with his head above water, and not so afraid as
when he began the Psalm. David Dickson.
Verse 15. The pit. According to Dean Stanley,
the word Beer here used is always rendered "well,
"except in this and three other cases. When such wells no
longer yielded a full supply of water they were used as prisons,
no care being taken to cleanse out the mire remaining at the
bottom. The Dean also tells us in the Appendix to his
"Sinai and Palestine, "that "they have a broad
margin of masonry round this mouth, and often a stone filling up
the orifice." The rolling of this stone over the mouth of
the well was the well's "shutting her mouth; "and the
poor prisoner was, to all intents and purposes, buried alive. C.
H. S.
Verse 17. Hide not thy face from thy servant; for I
am in trouble. An upright servant, albeit he be troubled for
God's cause, and do miss comfort from God; yet will he not
change his Master, nor despair of his favour. David Dickson.
Verse 17. Hide not thy face. The proper sense
of the word rtm, gives the meaning to the phrase, veil not
thy face from thy servant. In this there is a reference to a
king, who, to prevent promiscuous approach to his chamber,
spreads a veil before it, and admits to his presence only his
minister of high confidence. So in Ps 31:21. The face of God is
his majesty, and his gracious and favourable presence; the servant
of God is his minister enjoying intimate access, and to veil
the face from him is to prevent him coming into the presence
of God; and, therefore, it belongs to the servant of God to be
treated in a widely different manner. Hermann Venema.
Verse 17. Thy servant. Hide not, he says, from
thy servant; as if he should say, such as I am, I am thy
servant. It belongs to the Master to take care of his servant,
if in peril for his sake. In this same verse he says he is in a
strait. In Ps 69:18 he declares that he is in jeopardy of his
life. Musculus.
Verse 19. Thou hast known my reproach, etc. It
is a great deal of comfort that God does take notice of our
reproaches; this was the comfort of the psalmist. If a man
suffer reproach, and disgrace, and trouble for his friends,
while he is abroad from them; O, says he, did my friends know
what I suffer, and suffer for them, it would comfort me: if it
be comfort to be known, much more when they shall be accounted
their own. Christ is acquainted with all the sufferings of every
member; and, therefore, do not say, I am a poor creature; who
takes notice of my sufferings? Heaven takes notice of your
sufferings; Christ takes notice of them better than yourselves. Jeremiah
Burroughs.
Verse 20. Reproach hath broken my heart. Mental
emotions and passions are well known by all to affect the
actions of the heart, in the way of palpitation, fainting, etc.
That these emotions and passions, when in overwhelming excess,
occasionally, though rarely, produce laceration or rupture of
the walls of the heart, is stated by most medical authorities
who have written on the affections of this organ; and our poets
even allude to this effect as an established fact.
"The grief that does not speak,
Whispers the over fraught heart, and bids it break."
But, if ever human heart was riven and ruptured by the mere
amount of mental agony that was endured, it would surely, we
might even argue, a priori, be that of our Redeemer,
when, during those dark and dreadful hours on the cross, he,
"being made a curse for us, ""bore our griefs,
and carried our sorrows, "and suffered for sin the
malediction of God and man, "full of anguish, "and now
"exceeding sorrowful even unto death." There are
theological as well as medical arguments in favour of the
opinion that Christ, in reality, died from a ruptured or broken
heart. If the various wondrous prophecies and minute predictions
in Psalms 22 and 69, regarding the circumstances connected with
Christ's death, be justly held as literally true, such as,
"They pierced my hands and my feet, ""They part
my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture,
"etc., why should we regard as merely metaphorical, and not
as literally true, also, the declarations in the same Psalms, Reproach
hath broken my heart, "My heart is like wax, it is melted
in the midst of my bowels, " Sir James Young Simpson
(1811-1870), in W. Stroud's "Treatise on the Physical Cause
of the Death of Christ."
Verse 20. I looked for some to take pity, but there
was none. Even under ordinary circumstances we yearn for
sympathy. Without it, the heart will contract and droop, and
shut like a flower in an unkindly atmosphere, but it will open
again amidst the sounds of frankness and the scenes of love.
When we are in trouble, this want is in proportion still more
pressing; and, for the sorrowful heart to feel alone, is a grief
greater than nature can sustain. A glance of sympathy seems to
help it more than the gift of untold riches; and a loving look,
even from a little child who is sorry for us, or a simple word
from some homely friend, will sometimes brace the spirit to new
exertions, and seem almost to waken life within the grasp of
death. Charles Stanford, in "Central Truths."
1859.
Verse 21. They gave me also gall, etc. Such are
the comforts often administered by the world, to an afflicted
and deserted soul. George Horne.
Verse 21. Gall and vinegar are here put
together to denote the most unpalatable forms of food and drink.
The passion of our Lord was providentially so ordered as to
furnish a remarkable coincidence with this verse. The Romans
were accustomed to give sour wine, with an infusion of myrrh, to
convicts on the cross, for the purpose of deadening the pain.
This practice was adhered to in our Saviour's case (Mr 15:23).
Though in itself not cruel, but the contrary, it formed part of
the great process of murderous persecution. On the part of the
Roman soldiery it may have been an act of kindness; but,
considered as an act of the unbelieving Jews, it was giving gall
and vinegar to one already overwhelmed with anguish. And so
Matthew, in accordance with his general method, represents it as
a verification of this passage (Mt 27:34). He does not
contradict Mark's account, before referred to, but merely
intimates that the wine and myrrh thus offered were to be
regarded as identical with the gall and vinegar of this
prediction. And, in order to prevent the coincidence from being
overlooked, our Lord, before he died, complained of thirst, and
vinegar was administered. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse 21. Gall for my meat. Since the life of
sin first began in tasting, contrary to the obedience due to
God, the Redeemer of sinners willed to be obedient even unto
death, upon the cross, and to end his life, in fulfilment of the
prophecy with the bitter taste of gall and vinegar, that, in
this manner, we, seeing the beginning of our perdition and the
end of our redemption, might feel ourselves to be most
sufficiently redeemed and most perfectly cured. Thome de Jesu
(1582), in "The Sufferings of Jesus."
Verse 21. Vinegar. Commentators have frequently
remarked the refreshing quality of the Eastern vinegar. I shall
not repeat their observations, but rather would ask, why the
psalmist prophetically complains of the giving him vinegar
to drink, in that deadly thirst, which, in another Psalm,
he describes by the tongue's cleaving to the jaws, if it be so
refreshing? Its refreshing quality cannot be doubted; but may it
not be replied, that, besides the gall which he mentions, and
which ought not to be forgotten, vinegar itself, refreshing as
it is, was only made use of by the meanest people? When a royal
personage has vinegar given him in his thirst, the refreshment
of a slave, of a wretched prisoner, instead of that
of a prince, he is greatly dishonoured, and may well
complain of it as a bitter insult, or represent such insults by
this image. Sweet wines, as appears from the ancient Eastern
translators of the Septuagint, were chiefly esteemed formerly,
for that which our version renders "royal wine in
abundance, according to the state of the King, "(Es 1:7.)
they translate, "much and sweet wine, such as the King
himself drank." Perhaps, it was with a view to this,
that the soldiers offered our Lord vinegar (wine that was
become very sour), in opposition to that sweet wine
princes were wont to drink: for Luke tells us that they did this
in mockery (Lu 23:36.) "And the soldiers also mocked him,
coming to him and offering him vinegar." Medicated wine, to
deaden their sense of pain, was wont, we are told, to be given
to Jewish criminals, when about to be put to death; but, they
gave our Lord vinegar, and that in mockery—in mockery (as they
did other things) of his claim to royalty. But the force
of this does not appear, if we do not recollect the quality of
the wines drank anciently by princes, which, it seems, were of
the sweet kind. Thomas Harmer.
Verse 22. The imprecations in this verse and those
following it are revolting only when considered as the
expression of malignant selfishness. If uttered by God, they
shock no reader's sensibilities, nor should they, when
considered as the language of an ideal person, representing the
whole class of righteous sufferers, and particularly him, who
though he prayed for his murderers while dying (Lu 23:34), had
before applied the words of this very passage to the unbelieving
Jews (Mt 23:38), as Paul did afterwards (Ro 11:9-10). The
general doctrine of providential retribution, far from being
confined to the Old Testament, is distinctly taught in many of
our Saviour's parables. See Mt 21:41 22:7 24:51. Joseph
Addison Alexander.
Verse 22. Let their table become a snare. Their
table figuratively sets forth their prosperity, the
abundance of all things. It represents peace and security, as in
Ps 33:5 Job 26:16. It likewise describes mutual friendship, a
blending of minds and plans; the emblem and sign whereof convivia
are accustomed to be. Ps 41:10 Da 11:27. Hermann Venema.
Verse 22. Let their table, etc. One said well, Licitis
perimus omnes, etc., "Ruin usually ariseth from the use
of lawful things; " there being most danger where it is
least suspected. In all our comforts, there is a forbidden
fruit, which seemeth fair and tasteth sweet, but which must not
be touched. Henry Wilkinson (1675), in "Morning
Exercises."
Verse 22. Let their table become a snare. Many
would have excused themselves from following Christ, in the
parable of the feast: some had bought land, some had married
wives, and others had bought yokes of oxen, and could not come
(Lu 14:18-20), that is, an immoderate love of the world hindered
them: their lawful enjoyments, from servants, became their
idols; they worshipped them more than God, and would not quit
them to come to God. But this is recorded to their reproach; and
we may herein see the power of self upon the worldly man, and
the danger that comes to him by the abuse of lawful things.
What, thy wife dearer to thee than thy Saviour! and thy land and
oxen preferred to thy soul's salvation. O beware, that thy
comforts prove not snares first, and then curses: to overrate
them, is to provoke him that gave them to take them away again.
Come, and follow him that giveth life eternal to the soul. William
Penn (1644-1718), in "No Cross, No Crown."
Verse 22. Let their table become a snare. That
is, for a recompense for their inhumanity and cruelty towards
me. Michaelis shows how exactly these comminations were
fulfilled in the history of the final siege of Jerusalem by the
Romans. Many thousands of the Jews had assembled in the city to
eat the paschal lamb, when Titus unexpectedly made an assault
upon them. In this siege, the greater part of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem miserably perished. William Walford.
Verse 22-23. Observe the Divine retribution of the
Jews. They gave gall and vinegar as food and drink to Christ;
and their own spiritual food and drink has become a snare to
them. His eyes were blindfolded; their eyes were darkened. His
loins were scourged; their loins were made to shake. Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse 23-28. He denounces ten plagues, or effects of
God's wrath, to come upon them for their wickedness. David
Dickson.
Verse 24. Pour out. Observe what is denoted by pouring
out. First, the facility with which God is able, without any
labour, to destroy his enemies, as easy is it as to incline a
vial full of liquid and pour it out. Secondly, the pouring out
denotes the abundance of his anger. Thirdly, that his wrath is
sudden, overwhelming, and inevitable. When it drops, one must
take care; when it is poured forth, it crushes the thoughtless. Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse 28. Let them be blotted out of the book of
the living. All the Israelites who came up out of Egypt were
put down in a muster roll of the living, called "the
writing of the house of Israel" (Eze 13:9), and "the
book of life." Those who had died were excluded when the
names were written out afresh each year. They were, thereby,
consigned to oblivion (Pr 10:7). Hence, the book of life
was used as an image for God's book of predestination to
eternal life (Ps 139:16 Ex 32:32 Ps 87:6 Da 12:1 Php 4:3 Re
17:8 13:8 Re 21:27; Lu 10:20). The book of life, in the human
point of view, has names written in it who have a name to
live, but are dead, being in it only by external call, or in
their own estimation, and in that of others. But, in the
divine point of view, it contains only those who are elected
finally to life. The former may be blotted out, as was Judas (Re
3:5 Mt 13:12 25:29 7:23 Ex 32:33); but the latter never (Re
20:12,15 Joh 10:28-29 Ac 13:48). A. R. Fausset.
Verse 28. Let them be wiped out, etc. This
verse alludes to the ancient Jewish practice of recording the
names of the inhabitants of every division, or tribe, of the
people, in a volume somewhat similar to the Dom-boc of
the Saxons. See Lu 2:1. The names of those who died were blotted
out or wiped out, and appeared no longer on the list of
the living. Such a book is attributed to God in Ps 139:16: and
the blotting out of Moses from God's book, in Ex 32:32,
is a figurative expression, for depriving him of life. Richard
Warner.
Verse 28. Let them be blotted out of the book of
the living, etc. We come to the question, Whether to be
written in heaven be an infallible assurance of salvation; or,
whether any there registered may come to be blotted out? The
truth is, that none written in heaven can ever be lost; yet they
object against it this verse. Hence, they infer, that some names
once there recorded are afterwards put out; but this opinion
casteth a double aspersion on God himself. Either it makes him
ignorant of future things, as if he foresaw not the end of elect
and reprobate, and so were deceived in decreeing some to be
saved that shall not be saved; or, that his decree is mutable,
in excluding those upon their sins whom he hath formerly chosen.
From both these weaknesses St. Paul vindicates him (2Ti 2:19):
"The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the
Lord knoweth them that are his." First, "The Lord
knows them that are his; "this were not true if God's
prescience could be deluded. Then, his "foundation stands
sure; "but that were no sure foundation, if those he hath
decreed to be his should afterwards fall out not to be his. The
very conclusion of truth is this impossibilis est deletio;
they which are "written in heaven" can never come into
hell. To clear this from the opposed doubt, among many, I will
cull out three proper distinctions:
1. One may be said to be written in heaven simpliciter,
and secundum quid. He that is simply written there, in
quantum praedestinatus ad vitam, because elected to life,
can never be blotted out. He that is written after a sort may,
for he is written non secundum Dei praescientiam, sed
secundum praesentem justitiam—not according to God's
former decree, but according to his present righteousness. So
they are said to be blotted out, not in respect of God's
knowledge, for he knows they never were written there; but
according to their present condition, apostatising from grace to
sin. (Lyra.)
2. Some are blotted out non secundum rei veritatem, sed
hominum opinionem—not according to the truth of the thing
but according to men's opinion. It is usual in the Scriptures to
say a thing is done quando innotescat fieri, when it is
declared to be done. Hypocrites have a simulation of outward
sanctity, so that men in charity judge them to be written in
heaven. But when those glistening stars appear to be only ignes
fatui, foolish meteors, and fall from the firmament of the
church, then we say they are blotted out. The written ex
existentia, by a perfect being, are never lost; but ex
apparentia, by a dissembled appearance, may. Some God so
writes, in se ut simpliciter habituri vitam—that they
have life simply in themselves, though not of themselves. Others
he so writes, ut habeant non in se, sed in sua causa;
from which falling they are said to be obliterated. (Aquinas.)
3. Augustine says, we must not so take it, that God first
writes and then dasheth out. For if a Pilate could say, Quod
scripsi, scripsi—"What I have written, I have
written, "and it shall stand; shall God say, Quod
scripsi expungam—What I have written, I will wipe out, and
it shall not stand? They are written, then, secundum spem
ipsorum, qui ibi se scriptos putabant—according to their
own hope that presumed their names there; and are blotted out quando
ipsis constet illos non ibi fuisse—when it is manifest to
themselves that their names never had any such honour of
inscription. This even that Psalm strengthens whence they fetch
their opposition: Let them be blotted out of the book of the
living, and not be written with the righteous. So that to be
blotted out of that book, it is, indeed, never to be written
there. To be wiped out in the end, is but a declaration that
such were not written in the beginning. Thomas Adams.
Verse 32. Your heart shall live that seek God.
As such who are poor in spirit, and truly humbled, do live upon
God's alms, and are daily at his doors for relief of their
necessities, and for communion with his gracious goodness; so
shall they thrive well in this trade. David Dickson.
Verse 32. Your heart shall live. The heart,
or the soul, is said to live, to be converted, or
to return, when it is refreshed and cured of its pains and
griefs. In this way it could be said of Jacob, when the good
tidings were brought, that his spirit revived... On the
contrary, when Nabal heard the bad news, it is recorded that his
heart died within him, and he became as a stone. Lorinus.
Verse 33. The Lord heareth the poor. The
consolation is much greater when it is said, "The Lord
heareth the poor, "than if it were written, He hath heard
poor David. Musculus.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. Our trials like waters.
1. They should be kept out of the heart.
2. There are, however, leaks which admit them.
3. Take note when the hold is filling.
4. Use the pumps, and cry for help.
Verses 2-3. The sinner aware of his position, unable
to hope, overwhelmed with fear, finding no comfort in prayer,
unvisited with divine consolation. Direct and console him.
Verse 3.
1. Here is faith in the midst of trouble: My God.
2. Hope in the midst of disappointment: Mine eyes fail,
etc.
3. Prayer in the midst of discouragement: I am weary,
etc.; My throat, etc. Or, (a) There is praying beyond
prayer: I am weary, etc.; (b) Hoping beyond hope: Mine
eyes, etc. G. R.
Verse 4. Jesus as the Restorer, the Christian
imitating him in the same office; Christianity a power which
will do this for the whole race in due season.
Verse 5. Our foolishness. Wherein it appears
generally, how it may display itself in individuals, what it
occasions, and what are the divine provisions to meet it.
Verse 5.
1. God's knowledge of sin is an inducement to repent.
(a) Because it is foolish to endeavour to hide any sin from
him.
(b) Because it is impossible to confess all our sin to him.
2. It is an encouragement to hope for pardon.
(a) Because, in the full knowledge of sin, he has declared
himself to be merciful and ready to forgive.
(b) Because he has made provision for pardon, not according
to our knowledge of sin, but his own.
Verses 8-9.
1. A grievous trial.
2. An honourable reason for it: for Christ's sake.
3. Consoling supports under it.
Verse 9.
1. The object of zeal: thy house; thy Zion; thy
Church.
2. The degree of zeal: hath eaten me up. Our Lord was
consumed by his own zeal. So Paul: And I if I be offered up,
etc.
3. The manifestation of zeal: The reproaches, etc.; of
thy justice; of thy law; of thy moral government; of thy
lovingkindness. "Who himself bare our sins," etc. G.
R.
Verses 10-12. A prophecy.
1. Of the Saviour's tears: When I wept.
2. Of his fasting.
3. Of reproach.
4. Of his humiliation: I made sackcloth, etc.
5. Of the perversion of his words: as, "I will destroy
this temple, "etc.
6. Of the opposition of the Pharisees, and rulers: They
that sit in the gate, etc.
7. Of the contempt of the lowest of the people: I was the
song, etc. G. R.
Verse 11. Proverbial sayings of a scoffing character.
Verse 13. An acceptable time. While life lasts
usually, and especially when we are repentant, feel our need,
are importunate, give all glory to God, have faith in his
promise, and expect a gracious reply.
Verse 13. Multitude of thy mercy. Seen in many
forbearances before conversion, countless pardons, innumerable
gifts, many promises, frequent visits, and abundant
deliverances. Of all these who can count the thousandth part?
Verse 13. The truth of thy salvation. An
instructive topic. Its reality, certainty, completeness,
eternity, etc., all illustrate its truth under various
aspects.
Verses 14-16.
1. The depth from which prayer may rise.
2. The height to which it may ascend. Thus Jonah, when at the
bottom of the sea, says, "My prayer came up," etc. G.
R.
Verse 17.
1. Prayer: Hide not thy face.
2. Person: Thy servant.
3. Plea: For I am in trouble.
4. Pressure: Hear me speedily.
Verse 19.
1. God knows what his people suffer; how much, how long, from
whom, for what.
2. His people should find consolation in this knowledge.
(a) That trial is permitted by him.
(b) That it is apportioned by him.
(c) That it has its design from him.
(d) That when the design is accomplished, it will be removed
by him. G. R.
Verse 20. The Saviour's broken heart. Broken hearts,
such as are sentimental, caused by disappointed pride,
penitence, persecution, sympathy, etc.
Verse 21. The conduct of men to Jesus throughout his
entire life, rendering to him evil for all his good, and where
good would have seemed to be the inevitable return.
Verse 22. The table a snare. Excess in
feasting; looseness in conversation; want of principal in
confederate councils; superstition in religion.
Verse 23. The judicial curse which falls on some
despisers of Christ; their understandings fail to perceive the
truth; and they tremble because they are unable to receive
strengthening comforts.
Verse 29.
1. The humiliation that precedes exaltation.
(a) Deep: I am poor and sorrowful.
(b) Confessed: I am poor, etc.
2. The exaltation that follows humiliation.
(a) Divine: Thy salvation, O Lord. Though the Lord be
high, etc.
(b) Complete: God does nothing by halves.
(c) Preeminent: Set me up on high. G. R.
Verse 30-31.
1. The effect of deliverance upon the people of God. It fills
them with praise and thanksgiving.
2. The effect in relation to God. He is more pleased with it
than with any other offerings: "Whoso offereth praise,
"etc. G. R.
Verse 32.
1. The joy of a good man's heart is in the experience of
others.
2. The life of his heart is in God.
Verse 33.
1. What the people of God are in their own esteem:
"poor" and "prisoners."
2. What they are in the divine esteem: not unnoticed; not
unheard; not despised.
Verse 34. The sea, etc. How God is, should be,
and shall be praised by the sea.
Verse 35. Salvation, edification, preservation, peace,
full assurance.
Verses 35-36. Observe the sequence:—"Save,
""build, ""dwell and have,
""inherit, ""love and dwell."
Verse 36.
1. The sure evidence of grace: "love his name."
2. The blessing given.
3. The enduring character of it: "shall dwell."
Verse 36.
1. The inheritance: "Inherit it; "we reign with
Christ on earth, then in heaven.
2. The title.
(a) Legal: "Seed of his servants"—Abraham, Jacob,
David—David's Lord and Son.
(b) Moral: "They that love his name." G. R.