TITLE. To the Chief Musician on
Neginoth. The Precentor is here instructed to perform this
song to the music of stringed instruments. The master of the
harpers was called for his most skilful minstrelsy, and truly
the song is worthy of the sweetest sounds that strings can
yield. A Psalm or Song of Asaph. The style and matter
indicate the same hand as that which wrote the preceding; and it
is an admirable arrangement which placed the two in
juxtaposition. Faith in the 75th Psalm sung of victories to
come, and here it sings of triumphs achieved. The present Psalm
is a most jubilant war song, a paean to the King of kings, the
hymn of a theocratic nation to its divine ruler. We have no need
to mark divisions in a song where the unity is so well preserved.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. In Judah is God known. If unknown in
all the world beside, he has so revealed himself to his people
by his deeds of grace, that he is no unknown God to them. His
name is great in Israel. To be known, in the Lord's case, is to
be honoured: those who know his name admire the greatness of it.
Although Judah and Israel were unhappily divided politically,
yet the godly of both nations were agreed concerning Jehovah
their God; and truly whatever schisms may mar the visible
church, the saints always "appear as one" in
magnifying the Lord their God. Dark is the outer world, but
within the favoured circle Jehovah is revealed, and is the
adoration of all who behold him. The world knows him not, and
therefore blasphemes him, but his church is full of ardour to
proclaim his fame unto the ends of the earth.
Verse 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle. In
the peaceful city he dwells, and the peace is perpetuated,
because there his sacred tent is pitched. The church of God is
the place where the Lord abides and he is to her the Lord and
giver of peace. And his dwelling place in Zion. Upon the chosen
hill was the palace of Israel's Lord. It is the glory of the
church that the Redeemer inhabits her by his Holy Spirit. Vain
are the assaults of the enemy, for they attack not us alone, but
the Lord himself. Immanuel, God with us, finds a home among his
people, who then shall work us ill?
Verse 3. There brake he the arrows of the bow.
Without leaving his tranquil abode, he sent forth his word and
snapped the arrows of his enemies before they could shoot them.
The idea is sublime, and marks the ease, completeness, and
rapidity of the divine action. The shield, and the sword, and
the battle. Every weapon, offensive and defensive, the Lord
dashed in pieces; death bearing bolts and life preserving armour
were alike of no avail when the Breaker sent forth his word of
power. In the spiritual conflicts of this and every age, the
like will be seen; no weapon that is formed against the church
shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against her in
judgment, she shall condemn. Selah. It is meet that we should
dwell on so soul stirring a theme, and give the Lord our
grateful adoration,—hence a pause is inserted.
Verse 4. Thou art more glorious and excellent than
the mountains of prey. Far more is Jehovah to be extolled
than all the invading powers which sought to oppress his people,
though they were for power and greatness comparable to
mountains. Assyria had pillaged the nations till it had become
rich with mountains of spoil, this was talked of among men as
glory, but the psalmist despised such renown, and declares that
the Lord was far more illustrious. What are the honours of war
but brags of murder? What the fame of conquerors but the reek of
manslaughter? But the Lord is glorious in holiness, and his
terrible deeds are done in justice for the defence of the weak
and the deliverance of the enslaved. Mere power may be glorious,
but it is not excellent: when we behold the mighty acts of the
Lord, we see a perfect blending of the two qualities.
Verse 5. The stouthearted are spoiled. They
came to spoil, and lo! they are spoiled themselves. Their stout
hearts are cold in death, the angel of the pestilence has dried
up their life blood, their very heart is taken from them. They
have slept their sleep. Their last sleep—the sleep of death.
And none of the men of might have found their hands. Their arms
are palsied, they cannot lift a finger, for the rigour of death
has stiffened them. What a scene was that when Sennacherib's
host was utterly destroyed in one night. The hands which were
furious to pull down Jerusalem, could not even be raised from
the sod, the most valiant warriors were as weak as the palsied
cripples at the temple gate, yea, their eyes they could not
open, a deep sleep sealed their vision in everlasting darkness.
O God, how terrible art thou! Thus shalt thou fight for us, and
in the hour of peril overthrow the enemies of thy gospel.
Therefore in thee will we trust and not be afraid.
Verse 6. At thy rebuke. A word accomplished
all, there was no need of a single blow. O God of Jacob. God of
thy wrestling people, who again like their father supplant their
enemy; God of the covenant and the promise, thou hast in this
gracious character fought for thine elect nation. Both the
chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. They will neither
neigh nor rattle again; still are the trampings of the horses
and the crash of the cars; the calvary no more creates its din.
The Israelites always had a special fear of horses and scythed
chariots; and, therefore, the sudden stillness of the entire
force of the enemy in this department is made the theme of
special rejoicing. The horses were stretched on the ground, and
the chariots stood still, as if the whole camp had fallen
asleep. Thus can the Lord send a judicial sleep over the enemies
of the church, a premonition of the second death, and this he
can do when they are in the zenith of power; and, as they
imagine, in the very act of blotting out the remembrance of his
people. The world's Rabshakahs can write terrible letters, but
the Lord answers not with pen and ink, but with rebukes, which
bear death in every syllable.
Verse 7. Thou, even thou, art to be feared. Not
Sennacherib, nor Nisroch his god, but Jehovah alone, who with a
silent rebuke had withered all the monarch's host.
"Fear him, ye saints, and then ye shall
Have nothing else to fear."
The fear of man is a snare, but the fear of God is a great
virtue, and has great power for good over the human mind. God is
to be feared profoundly, continually, and alone. Let all worship
be to him only. And who may stand in thy sight when once thou
art angry? Who indeed? The angels fell when their rebellion
provoked his justice; Adam lost his place in Paradise in the
same manner; Pharaoh and other proud monarchs passed away at his
frown; neither is there in earth or hell any who can abide the
terror of his wrath. How blest are they who are sheltered in the
atonement of Jesus, and hence have no cause to fear the
righteous anger of the Judge of all the earth.
Verse 8. Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from
heaven. So complete an overthrow was evidently a judgment
from heaven; those who saw it not, yet heard the report of it,
and said, "This is the finger of God." Man will not
hear God's voice if he can help it, but God takes care to cause
it to be heard. The echoes of that judgment executed on the
haughty Assyrian are heard still, and will ring on down all the
ages, to the praise of divine justice. The earth feared and was
still. All nations trembled at the tidings, and sat in humbled
awe. Repose followed the former turmoils of war, when the
oppressor's power was broken, and God was reverenced for having
given quiet to the peoples. How readily can Jehovah command an
audience! It may be that in the latter days he will, by some
such miracles of power in the realms of grace, constrain all
earth's inhabitants to attend to the gospel, and submit to the
reign of his all glorious Son. So be it, good Lord.
Verse 9. When God arose to judgment. Men were
hushed when he ascended the judgment seat and actively carried
out the decrees of justice. When God is still the people are in
tumult; when he arises they are still as a stone. To save all
the meek of the earth. The Ruler of men has a special eye
towards the poor and despised; he makes it his first point to
right all their wrongs. "Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth." They have little enough of it
now, but their avenger is strong and he will surely save them.
He who saves his people is the same God who overthrows their
enemies; he is as omnipotent to save as to destroy. Glory be
unto his name. Selah. Here pause, and let devout contemplation
adore the God of Jacob.
Verse 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise
thee. It shall not only be overcome but rendered subservient
to thy glory. Man with his breath of threatening is but blowing
the trumpet of the Lord's eternal fame. Furious winds often
drive vessels the more swiftly into port. The devil blows the
fire and melts the iron, and then the Lord fashions it for his
own purposes. Let men and devils rage as they may, they cannot
do otherwise than subserve the divine purposes. The remainder of
wrath shalt thou restrain. Malice is tethered and cannot break
its bounds. The fire which cannot be utilised shall be damped.
Some read it "thou shalt gird, "as if the Lord girded
on the wrath of man as a sword to be used for his own designs,
and certainly men of the world are often a sword in the hand of
God, to scourge others. The verse clearly teaches that even the
most rampant evil is under the control of the Lord, and will in
the end be overruled for his praise.
Verse 11. Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God.
Well may we do so in memory of such mercies and judgments. To
vow or not is a matter of choice, but to discharge our vows is
our bounden duty. He who would defraud God, his own God, is a
wretch indeed. He keeps his promises, let not his people fail in
theirs. He is their faithful God and deserves to have a faithful
people. Let all that be round about him bring presents unto him
that ought to be feared. Let surrounding nations submit
to the only living God, let his own people with alacrity present
their offerings, and let his priests and Levites be leaders in
the sacred sacrifice. He who deserves to be praised as our God
does, should not have mere verbal homage, but substantial
tribute. Dread Sovereign, behold I give myself to thee.
Verse 12. He shall cut off the spirit of princes.
Their courage, skill, and life are in his hands, and he can
remove them as a gardener cuts off a slip from a plant. None are
great in his hand. Caesars and Napoleons fall under his power as
the boughs of the tree beneath the woodman's axe. He is terrible
to the kings of the earth. While they are terrible to others, he
is terrible to them. If they oppose themselves to his people, he
will make short work of them; they shall perish before the
terror of his arm, "for the Lord is a man of war, the Lord
is his name." Rejoice before him all ye who adore the God
of Jacob.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. No Psalm has a greater right to follow
Psalm 75 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with
accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid.) iv. 1, a
Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of
Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps
75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of
unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair:
Psalm 75 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as
imminent, which Psalm 76 celebrates as having taken place. Franz
Delitzsch.
Verse 1. In Judah is God known. God is truly
and savingly known only in and through his Son; God indeed is
obscurely and darkly known in his works, as a God of
power; in his providence, as a God of authority, wisdom, and
order; in his common mercies, as a God of bounty; and in his
punishments and judgments, as a God of justice; but in Christ
opened and preached in the gospel, God is known with a clear, a
comfortable, and saving knowledge, as a father of grace and
singular mercy and lovingkindness. In Judah (saith the
psalmist) is God known: his name is great in Israel. In
Judah, in his church, where his word and ordinances are,
where Christ is preached and the mystery of man's salvation is
opened, there God is known truly without error, perspicuously
without obscurities, and savingly without uncertainties;
there he is known as a King in his courts, for the glory
and beauty which he there manifests; as a teacher in his
school, for the wisdom and knowledge which he there dispenses;
as a dweller in his house, for the holy orders he there
prescribes, and gracious rule and dominion he there erects and
beareth in the souls of his servants; as a bridegroom in
the banqueting house, for the spiritual dainties he there maketh,
for the clear and open manifestation of himself, and love and
comforts he there ministereth to his spiritual friends and
guests; and his name is great in Israel; his power,
wisdom, truth, love, and goodness is much magnified and very
glorious in their apprehensions who know him in Christ Jesus. Alexander
Grosse.
Verse 1. His name. By the name of God
here, God himself is understood; for in so many good effects as
God uttereth himself towards his kirk, so many names he
giveth to himself whereby he may be praised of her. As for
example, when he promises unto his kirk freely grace and mercy,
his kirk giveth him a name, and calleth him merciful.
When he keepeth his promise, and uttereth himself a faithful God
to his kirk, his kirk giveth him a name, and calleth him
a true God. When he delivereth his kirk out of danger, and
sheweth him a mighty God, and terrible against his enemies, the
kirk giveth him a name, and calleth him a potent God, and
so forth in the rest of his effects: so that by the name
of God is understood here God himself, as God maketh himself to
be known in his wonderful works. Robert Bruce.
Verse 1. His name is great in Israel. Properly
the great name in Israel, that is, the church, is the name of
Jesus, which is great, first, by its efficacy: for it signifies
Saviour. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be
saved. Secondly, it is great in dignity: for it is the name that
is above every name... Thirdly, it is great in the breadth if
its range, Ps 8:1: How excellent is thy name in all the
earth. Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle. It is
not without meaning that Jerusalem has the appellation of Salem;
for it is thereby insinuated that the tabernacle of God,
notwithstanding the assault of foes, in the very heart of the
tumults of war remained in peace. How much more now that
the invaders had been overthrown, would prosperity be
enjoyed? Hermann Venema.
Verse 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle. God
the Holy Ghost is a spirit of peace, he is the comforter; he
seals up peace (2Co 1:22). This blessed dove brings the olive
branch of peace in his mouth: now a peaceable disposition
evidences something of God in a man, therefore God loves to
dwell there. "In Salem is God's tabernacle:" Salem
signifies peace; God dwells in a peaceable spirit. Thomas
Watson.
Verse 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle, etc.
All the old versions, as well as the two English ones, have
missed one especial force of this passage. There is no direct
reference in words to any human habitation, but to the lair of
the Lion of Judah. The word wkm does not only mean his
tabernacle, but his covert, and is so translated in
another place (Jer 25:38): "He hath forsaken his covert, as
the lion; "and the vaguer word wtgwem which succeeds may
well be translated by "den, "or some equivalent
phrase. Ps 10:9. Simon De Muis.
Verses 2-3. The care of Salem, or Zion, lies at the
bottom of all God's powerful acting and workings among the sons
of men. Every mighty work of God throughout the world may be
prefaced with these two verses. The whole course of affairs in
the world in steered by Providence in reference to the good of
Salem. John Owen.
Verse 3. There. Observe how it is said, There
he brake, namely, in his temple, his habitation there. For
unto that his temple doth the coherence in the verse afore carry
it, for that was last in mention, and with the greatest
emphasis. In the story we read how that Sennacherib's overthrow
was from Hezekiah's prayer in the temple; for upon Sennacherib's
letter, and Hezekiah's hearsay of the blasphemy, he took himself
thither, went instantly into the temple, and began his prayer
thus: "O thou God of Israel, that dwellest between the
cherubims." He invocates him under that style of his
dwelling in the holiest, and so hearing prayers there. Thus you
have it recorded both in Isaiah and in 2Ki 19:15. And how
suitably, in answer hereunto, it is said here in the Psalm, that
God gave forth sentence presently out of his tabernacle, yea,
and that so suddenly too, as that the very execution is said to
be done there, that is, from thence. And yet again, in the
eighth verse of the Psalm, it is said to be a sentence from
heaven too; Thou didst cause judgment (so called because
it was the sentence of God as a judge) to be heard from
heaven. Thus Hezekiah prayed, and thus God heard; and both
as in the temple. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 3. There. These men, to wit the King of
Asshur and his accomplices, came to cast out God out of his
dwelling place; but he stood to the defence of his own house,
and showed them that he would not remove for their pleasure. Robert
Bruce.
Verse 4. God was not known in Babylon, in Egypt, in
other nations, his tabernacle and dwelling place was not amongst
them, therefore they were not glorious. But see what is in the
fourth verse, Thou art more glorious and excellent than the
mountains of prey; thou Judah, thou Israel, thou Salem, thou
Zion, that hast spiritual mercies and blessings, art more
glorious than they, whatever their glory be. Have the nations
abroad goodly towers? thou hast the temple; have they stately
cities? thou hast Jerusalem, the city of God; have they wise
men? thou hast the prophets; have they gods of gold, silver, and
stones; thou hast the true living God, Jehovah, to be thy God;
have they human laws that are good? thou hast divine laws that
excel; have they temporal excellencies? thou hast spiritual;
have they the glory of the world? thou hast the glory of heaven.
William Greenhill.
Verse 4. The mountains of prey. Why are they
called the mountains of prey? There is a reference to the
lairs of the lions in the mountains, whence they rush forth
upon those who come that way, and tear them in pieces. In the
same way the dwelling place of God was represented above under
the title of a tabernacle or lair. Moreover, this is a mystic
epithet of the mountains of Judah, by which it is hinted
that the enemies who venture to approach that lair are wont to
be torn in sunder: a terrible example of which had just been
shown in the case of the Assyrian, there overthrown, torn, and
spoiled. Compare Isa 31:4. Hermann Venema.
Verse 5. The stouthearted are spoiled. There is
indicated in these words that consternation of mind which
deprives of judgment and power. The valiant are spoiled of
their heart: that is, they who at other times were wise and
courageous have now lost their heart, and have
been reduced to foolishness and stupidity. Hermann Venema.
Verse 5. The stouthearted are spoiled. After
the breaking of their weapons their spoliation is recorded, for
that follows the slaughter of foes. Nor is mention made of that
without reason. They had come to spoil, therefore are they
deservedly spoiled. Musculus.
Verse 5. The stouthearted are spoiled. Some
translate it, They are spoiled of their stout heart. The
stouthearted, the strong, are spoiled. The strong man may be
spoiled by a stronger; that's a good sense, but it is more
elegantly rendered, they are spoiled of their stout heart;
that is, the Lord takes their heart out of their bosom. Daring
men, who fear nothing, are turned into Magor-missabibs—fear
round about; their stout hearts are taken from them, and
they are so far from being a terror to other men, that they run
from the shadow of a man; their courage is down; they cannot
give a child a confident look, much less look dangers or enemies
in the face. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 5. (last clause). The strength and power
of a man is in his hands; if they be gone, all his hope is gone.
If a man's sword be taken from him, he will do what he can with
his hands; but if his hands be gone, he may go to sleep for any
disturbance he will work. For men not to find their hands, is
not to have that power for the execution of their designs which
formerly they had. John Owen.
Verse 5. (last clause). As we say of a man that
goes lamely or lazily, "he cannot find his feet; "so
of a man that acts lamely or lazily, or of a soldier that fights
faintly and cowardly, he cannot find his hands. Joseph Caryl.
Verses 5-6.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever were still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride:
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock breaking surf.
And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
—George Gordon, Lord Byron.
Verse 6. Cast into a deep sleep. It is
observable that the verb here used is the same as is used in the
narrative of the act of Jael, and of the death of the proud
enemy of Israel, Sisera, cast into a deep sleep, by God's
power, working by the hand of a woman. Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse 7. Thou, even thou, art to be feared. The
emphasis in the word thou, redoubled, implies as much as
if he had said, Not principalities, not powers, not hell, not
death, nor anything for themselves, but thou, O Lord, alone art
to be feared. Arguments and reasons to confirm it are two, here
laid down in the text: the first is drawn from God's anger, who
hath decreed, and accordingly executes vengeance upon all the
proud. The second is drawn from his power; not princes, not
armies, not men, not angels, are able to endure the breath of
his fury; for, Who may stand in thy sight when once thou art
angry?... The anger of God is a terrible, unspeakable,
unsupportable, intolerable, burden. Every word in the text hath
a special emphasis to prove this. Who may stand? Who?
Shall angels? They are but like refracted beams or rays, if God
should hide his face, they would cease to shine. Shall man? His
glory and pomp, like the colours in the rainbow, vanish away,
when God puts forth in anger the brightness of his face. Shall
devils? If he speak the word, they are tumbled down from heaven
like lightning. Stand in thy sight. Stand. What! a reed
against a cedar, a thistle in Lebanon against a cedar in
Lebanon; a feather against a flame; a grasshopper against an
Almighty, a head of glass against a rod of brass? When once
thou art angry. Angry. By sending out his wrath, that it
wounds like arrows; angry, in pouring it out, that it drowns
like water; angry, in kindling of it, that it burns like fire; a
consuming fire, but you tell me such a fire may be quenched; an
unquenchable fire, but since that may cease to burn, when it
lacks matter, it is in one word an everlasting fire, that never
goes out. That, that's it; such anger as is never fully shown,
but in punishment of reprobates; in no punishment, but that in
hell; in none in hell, but that eternal. John Cragge's
"Cabinet of Spiritual Jewells." 1657.
Verse 9. God arose to judgment. This great
judgment was wrought upon the enemies when God rose: it
was not done when God sat; for the whole time when he sat his
enemies were aloft, stirring their time, raging in murder,
oppression, and blood... He bringeth in God here after the
manner of earthly judges, after the custom of our judges; for
first they sit down, they try, seek out, and advise, and after
consideration they resolve, and after resolution they rise up,
give forth judgment, and pronounce the sentence; even so the
prophet bringeth in God after the same manner; sitting, and
after sitting, rising and pronouncing the sentence. Robert
Bruce.
Verse 9. To save all the meek. We see from this
passage what care God takes of the afflicted. When he is angry
with the ungodly, he is angry with them chiefly because they
have oppressed the poor and the innocent. Although he detests
all iniquity, yet he is most indignant with that which is
committed against the needy and guiltless. So in Psalm 12,
"For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the
needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord." So in this verse,
when God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Musculus.
Verse 9. Is not this the day when the Saviour comes to
reign? the day when the results of things shall best be seen;
the day when every saint with anointed eye shall see that events
all tended to the glory of God; the day when they shall sing
better far than now.
"Surely the wrath of man praiseth thee.
Thou girdest thyself with the remnant of wrath."
—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 10. Surly the wrath of man shall praise thee.
Persecutions tend to correct the failings of good men, and to
exercise and illustrate their several graces and virtues. By
these, good men are usually made much better and more approved,
while they tend to exercise our patience, to quicken our
devotion, to evidence out zeal and Christian fortitude, and to
show to the whole world what love we bear to the truth, and how
much we are willing to undergo for the honour of God. Till they
have suffered something for it, truth is too apt to grow cheap
and be less prized many times, even by those that are good men
in the main; whereas we are apt on the contrary, never to value
it at a higher rate, or to be more zealous for it, or to make
better use of it, than when it is opposed and persecuted. What
more truly beneficial therefore, or tending to the divine glory,
than for God, who useth to bring good out of evil, to make use
also of the opposers of his truth, to rouse up his servants whom
he sees growing more remiss and negligent than they should be,
and to suffer such temptations to assault them, by which their
drowsy minds may be spurred on into a greater love and zeal for
the truth, and a deeper sense of the divine benefit in it, and
in general, excited to the more diligent performance of their
duty. Richard Pearson. 1684.
Verse 10. The wrath of man shall praise thee.
In the Septuagint it is, The wrath of man shall keep holy day
to thee, shall increase a festival for thee. God many times gets
up in the world on Satan's shoulders. When matters are ravelled
and disordered, he can find out the right end of the thread, and
how to disentangle us again; and when we have spoiled a
business, he can dispose it for good, and make an advantage of
those things which seem to obscure the glory of his name. Thomas
Manton.
Verse 10. The wrath of man shall praise thee.
The wrath of wicked men against the people of God is very
tributary to his praise.
1. It puts them upon many subtle devices and cunning
stratagems, in frustrating of which the wisdom of God and his
care of his Church is very much illustrated.
2. The wrath of wicked men impels them to many violent and
forcible attempts upon the people of God to destroy them, and so
gives him occasion to manifest his power in their defence.
3. It makes them sometimes fit to be his instruments in
correcting his people, and so he vindicates himself from the
suspicion of being a patron to sin in them that are nearest to
him, and makes them that hate holiness promote it in his people,
and them that intend them the greatest hurt, to do them the
greatest good.
4. It administers occasion to him for the manifestation of
the power of his grace in upholding the spirits of his people
and the being of his church in despite of all that enemies can
do against them.
5. It serves very much to adorn God's most signal
undertakings for his people in the world.
6. It serves to manifest the glory of God's justice upon his
people's enemies in the day when he rises up to avenge himself
upon them, when he shall stand over them, lashing them with
scorpions, and at every blow mind their former cruelties. Here,
take that for your inhuman rage against my people at such a
place, and that for your barbarous usage of them at such a time.
Now see how good it is to be imprisoned, beaten, tortured,
burnt, and sawn asunder. Thus the enemies themselves are often
constrained to acknowledge with Adoni Bezek the righteous hand
of God upon them in the day of inquisition. Condensed from
John Warren's Sermon before Parliament. 1656.
Verse 10. The wrath of man. Wrath is anger
accented unto the highest pitch, or blown up into a flame. The
wrath of man, (in the original it is The wrath of Adam,
or the wrath of clay, weak, impotent man) shall praise
thee, i.e., it shall turn to the praise and glory of God
through his overruling providence, though quite otherwise
intended. God will bring honour to himself, and serve his own
holy and wise designs out of it... This expression, the wrath
of man, imports the weakness and impotence of it; it is but
the wrath of Adam, or of red clay. How
contemptibly doth the Spirit of God speak of man, and of the
power of man, in Scripture? "Cease ye from man, whose
breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted
of?" The wrath of man, when it is lengthened out to its
utmost boundaries, can only go to the length of killing the
body, or in the breaking the sheath of clay in which the soul
lodges, and then it can do no more. Ebenezer Erskine.
Verse 10. Shall praise thee. God turns the
wrath of man to the praise of his adorable sovereignty. Never
have the Lord's people had such awful impressions of the
sovereignty of God, as when they have been in the furnace of
man's wrath, then they become dumb with silence. When the
Chaldean and Sabean robbers are let loose to plunder and spoil
the substance of Job, he is made to view adorable sovereignty in
it, saying, "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away:
blessed be the name of the Lord." It is in such a case as
this that God says to his own people, "Be still, and know
that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen." What
work of God about the church is advanced by the wrath of men?
1. His discovering work; for by the wind of man's
wrath he separates between the precious and the vile, betwixt
the chaff and the wheat. In the day of the church's prosperity
and quiet, hypocrites and true believers are mingled together,
like the chaff and the wheat in the barn floor: but the Lord,
like the husbandman, opens the door of his barn, and puts the
wind of man's wrath through it, that the world may know which is
which. O, sirs, much chaff is cast up already, both among
ministers and professors; but it is like the wind and sieve may
cast up much more yet ere all be done.
2. God's purging work is advanced among his own
children by the wrath of men: there is much of the dross of
corruption cleaves to the Lord's people while in the wilderness.
Now, the Lord heats the furnace of man's wrath, and casts his
people into it, that when he has tried them, he may bring them
forth as gold.
3. God's uniting work is hereby advanced. In a time of
peace and external tranquillity the sheep of Christ scatter and
divide among themselves; but God lets loose the dogs upon them,
and then the flock runs together; or like pieces of metal cast
into the fire, they run together in a lump.
4. God's enlarging work, or his work of spreading the
gospel, is sometimes advanced by the wrath of man. Ac 8:1-5. The
gospel, like the chamomile, the more it is trodden upon, the
more it spreads. Ebenezer Erskine.
Verse 10. The remainder of wrath shalt thou
restrain. The remainder of wrath, i.e. what is left behind
of the wrath of men, when God has glorified himself thereby.
Even after God has defeated the purposes of wicked men, and made
them contribute to his glory, yet there is abundance of wrath
remaining. But what becomes of that wrath that is left? God
shall restrain it. The word signifies to gird up.
However God may see fit to slacken the bridle of his providence,
and suffer wicked men to vent their wrath and enmity, as far as
it shall contribute to his glory; yet the super abounding and
the remainder of his wrath that is not for his glory and his
people's profit, God will gird it up, that they shall not get it
vented... If any wrath of man remain beyond what shall bring in
a revenue of praise unto God, he will restrain it, and
bind it up like the waters of a mill: he will suffer as much of
the current of water to run upon the wheel, as serves to carry
it about and grind his corn, but the remainder of the water he
sets it off another way: so God will let out as much of the
current of man's wrath as shall serve the ends of his glory and
our good, but the remainder of the stream and current he will restrain,
and turn another way. In Isaiah 28 we are told that God will not
be aye "threshing his corn, nor break it with the wheel of
his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This cometh forth
from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and
excellent in working." All this comfort is sure and
certain, there is not the least peradventure about it, that the
flame of man's wrath shall praise the Lord, and the superfluous
fire shall be quenched, or hemmed in; for here we have God's
parole of honour for it: Surely the wrath of man shall praise
thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Ebenezer
Erskine.
Verse 10. The remainder of wrath shalt thou
restrain. twmh Chemoth, "wrath, "in the
plural number, seems to be put in opposition to chamoth,
the single wrath of man in the former part of the verse;
to shew there is more wrath which God is to restrain, than
merely that of man. There is also more pride which needs a like
restraint; namely, that of the first Lucifer, who sinned,
and, as is thought, fell by aspiring to ascend, and to be like
the Most High. There are finally, other counsels also, as
well as other wrath and pride, besides human,
which God confounds. There is a wisdom that descendeth not from
above (no, nor grows on earth) but is devilish, Jas 3:15. And
both wrath, pride, and wisdom, of devils as
well as men, shall God restrain, when he pleases
not to turn them to his praise. Let there be hellish plots, yet
our God shall confound them. From "A Sermon
preached"... before the Queen... By Edward (Wetenhall) Lord
Bishop of Corke and Rosse. 1691.
Verse 10. Thou shalt restrain. This, in the
Hebrew, is expressed in one word, rygxt, which imports the
girding or binding of it on every side, that it shall by no
means break out, but shall be kept in, as a dog in a chain, as a
lion in his den, how violent soever. Cornelius Burges, in
"Another Sermon preached to the Honourable House of
Commons... November the fifth, 1641."
Verse 11. Round about him. A description of his
people, as the twelve tribes pitched round about the tabernacle,
Nu 2:2; and the twenty-four elders were round about God's
throne, Re 4:4. So the Chaldee expounds it;—Ye that dwell
about his sanctuary. Henry Ainsworth.
Verse 12. Cut off. He deals with princes as men
deal with a vine. An axe is too strong for a cluster of grapes,
or a sprig of a vine; it easily cuts them off: so God by a
judgment easily cuts off the spirit of princes; they are not
able to stand against the least judgments of God: when he puts
strength into worms, or any other creature they fall. William
Greenhill, in a Sermon, entitled, "The Axe at the
Root."
Verse 12. The Lord cuts off the spirit of princes;
the word is, he slips off, as one should slip off a
flower between one's fingers, or as one should slip off a bunch
of grapes from a vine, so soon is it done. How great uncertainty
have many great ones, by their miserable experience, found in
their outward glory and worldly felicity! What a change hath a
little time made in all their honours, riches, and delights!
That victorious emperor Henry the Fourth, who had fought
fifty-two pitched battles, fell to that poverty before he died,
that he was forced to petition to be a prebend in the church of
Spier, to maintain him in his old age. And Procopius reports of
King Gillimer, who was a potent king of the Vandals, who was so
low brought, as to intreat his friends to send him a sponge, a
loaf of bread, and a harp; a sponge to dry up his tears, a loaf
of bread to maintain his life, and a harp to solace himself in
his misery. Philip de Comines reports of a Duke of Exeter, who
though he had married Edward the Fourth's sister, yet he saw him
in the Low Countries begging barefoot. Bellisarius, the chief
man living in his time, having his eyes put out, was led at last
in a string, crying, "give a halfpenny to Bellisarius."
Jeremiah Burroughs.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. Reverence for God's name proportionate to
true knowledge of it.
Verse 2. The peculiar relation of God to his church.
Verse 2. (first clause). A peaceful church the
tabernacle of God. The benefits peace confers, the evils of
strife, the causes of dissension, and the means of promoting
unity.
Verse 3. Christian glories, or the victories
vouchsafed to the church over heathenism, heresy, persecution,
etc.
Verse 3.
1. Where enemies are conquered; "There; "not on the
battlefield so much as in the house of God; as Amalek by Moses
on the Mount; Sennacherib by Hezekiah in the Sanctuary.
2. How there?
(a) By faith.
(b) By prayer. "The weapons of our warfare, "etc.
Verse 4. The Lord, our portion, compared with the
treasures of empires.
Verse 4.
1. What the world is, compared with the church: Mountains of
prey.
(a) Cruelty instead of love.
(b) Violence instead of peace.
2. What the church is compared with the world.
(a) More glorious, because more excellent.
(b) More excellent, because more glorious. Both
are more real and abiding. G. R.
Verse 5. They have slept their sleep. Divers
kinds of deaths or sleeps for the various classes of men.
Verse 7. The anger of God. A very suggestive subject.
Verses 8-9.
1. The characters described: the meek of the earth.
2. The need implied.
(a) To be vindicated.
(b) To be saved.
3. The divine interposition on their behalf: Thou didst
cause, etc. When God arose, etc.
4. The effect of their deliverance: The earth feared,
etc. G. R.
Verse 10.
1. Evil permitted for good: the wrath, etc.
2. Restrained for good: The remainder, etc.
Or,
1. Ruled.
2. Overruled. G. R.
Verse 11.
1. To whom vows may be made. Not to man, but God.
2. What vows should be thus made.
(a) Of self dedication.
(b) Of self service.
(c) Of self sacrifice.
3. How kept: Vow and pay. (a) From duty.
(b) From fear of his displeasure. G. R.
Verse 11. The propriety, obligation, pleasure, and
profit of presenting gifts unto the Lord.