TITLE. To the Chief Musician, to
Jeduthun. It was meet that another leader of the psalmody
should take his turn. No harp should be silent in the courts of
the Lord's house. A Psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a man of
exercised mind, and often touched the minor key; he was
thoughtful, contemplative, believing, but withal there was a
dash of sadness about him, and this imparted a tonic flavour to
his songs. To follow him with understanding, it is needful to
have done business on the great waters, and weathered many an
Atlantic gale.
DIVISION. If we follow the poetical
arrangement, and divide at the Selahs, we shall find the
troubled man of God pleading in Ps 77:1-3, and then we shall
hear him lamenting and arguing within himself, Ps 77:4-9. From
Ps 77:10-15 his meditations run toward God, and in the close he
seems as in a vision to behold the wonders of the Red Sea and
the wilderness. At this point, as if lost in an ecstasy, he
hurriedly closes the Psalm with an abruptness, the effect of
which is quite startling. The Spirit of God knows when to cease
speaking, which is more than those do who, for the sake of
making a methodical conclusion, prolong their words even to
weariness. Perhaps this Psalm was meant to be a prelude to the
next, and, if so, its sudden close is accounted for. The hymn
now before us is for experienced saints only, but to them it
will be of rare value as a transcript of their own inner
conflicts.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. I cried unto God with my voice. This
Psalm has much sadness in it, but we may be sure it will end
well, for it begins with prayer, and prayer never has an ill
issue. Asaph did not run to man but to the Lord, and to him he
went, not with studied, stately, stilted words, but with a cry,
the natural, unaffected, unfeigned expression of pain. He used
his voice also, for though vocal utterance is not necessary to
the life of prayer, it often seems forced upon us by the energy
of our desires. Sometimes the soul feels compelled to use the
voice, for thus it finds a freer vent for its agony. It is a
comfort to hear the alarm bell ringing when the house is invaded
by thieves. Even unto God with my voice. He returned to his
pleading. If once sufficed not, he cried again. He needed an
answer, he expected one, he was eager to have it soon, therefore
he cried again and again, and with his voice too, for the sound
helped his earnestness. And he gave ear unto me. Importunity
prevailed. The gate opened to the steady knock. It shall be so
with us in our hour of trial, the God of grace will hear us in
due season.
Verse 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the
Lord. All day long his distress drove him to his God, so
that when night came he continued still in the same search. God
had hidden his face from his servant, therefore the first care
of the troubled saint was to seek his Lord again. This was going
to the root of the matter and removing the main impediment
first. Diseases and tribulations are easily enough endured when
God is found of us, but without him they crush us to the earth.
My sore ran in the night, and ceased not. As by day so by night
his trouble was on him and his prayer continued. Some of us know
what it is, both physically and spiritually, to be compelled to
use these words: no respite has been afforded us by the silence
of the night, our bed has been a rack to us, our body has been
in torment, and our spirit in anguish. It appears that this
sentence is wrongly translated, and should be, "my hand was
stretched out all night, "this shows that his prayer ceased
not, but with uplifted hand he continued to seek succour of his
God. My soul refused to be comforted. He refused some comforts
as too weak for his case, others as untrue, others as
unhallowed; but chiefly because of distraction, he declined even
those grounds of consolation which ought to have been effectual
with him. As a sick man turns away even from the most nourishing
food, so did he. It is impossible to comfort those who refuse to
be comforted. You may bring them to the waters of the promise,
but who shall make them drink if they will not do so? Many a
daughter of despondency has pushed aside the cup of gladness,
and many a son of sorrow has hugged his chains. There are times
when we are suspicious of good news, and are not to be persuaded
into peace, though the happy truth should be as plain before us
as the King's highway.
Verse 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. He
who is the wellspring of delight to faith becomes an object of
dread to the psalmist's distracted heart. The justice, holiness,
power, and truth of God have all a dark side, and indeed all the
attributed may be made to look black upon us if our eye be evil;
even the brightness of divine love blinds us, and fills us with
a horrible suspicion that we have neither part nor lot in it. He
is wretched indeed whose memories of the Ever Blessed prove
distressing to him; yet the best of men know the depth of this
abyss. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. He mused and
mused but only sank the deeper. His inward disquietudes did not
fall asleep as soon as they were expressed, but rather they
returned upon him, and leaped over him like raging billows of an
angry sea. It was not his body alone which smarted, but his
noblest nature writhed in pain, his life itself seemed crushed
into the earth. It is in such a case that death is coveted as a
relief, for life becomes an intolerable burden. With no spirit
left in us to sustain our infirmity, our case becomes forlorn;
like man in a tangle of briars who is stripped of his clothes,
every hook of the thorns becomes a lancet, and we bleed with ten
thousand wounds. Alas, my God, the writer of this exposition
well knows what thy servant Asaph meant, for his soul is
familiar with the way of grief. Deep glens and lonely caves of
soul depressions, my spirit knows full well your awful glooms!
Selah. Let the song go softly; this is no merry dance for the
swift feet of the daughters of music, pause ye awhile, and let
sorrow take breath between her sighs.
Verse 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. The
fears which thy strokes excite in me forbid my eyelids to fall,
my eyes continue to watch as sentinels forbidden to rest. Sleep
is a great comforter, but it forsakes the sorrowful, and then
their sorrow deepens and eats into the soul. If God holds the
eyes waking, what anodyne shall give us rest? How much we owe to
him who giveth his beloved sleep! I am so troubled that I cannot
speak. Great griefs are dumb. Deep streams brawl not among the
pebbles like the shallow brooklets which live on passing
showers. Words fail the man whose heart fails him. He had cried
to God but he could not speak to man, what a mercy it is that if
we can do the first, we need not despair though the second
should be quite out of our power. Sleepless and speechless Asaph
was reduced to great extremities, and yet he rallied, and even
so shall we.
Verse 5. I have considered the days of old, the
years of ancient times. If no good was in the present,
memory ransacked the past to find consolation. She fain would
borrow a light from the altars of yesterday to light the gloom
of today. It is our duty to search for comfort, and not in
sullen indolence yield to despair; in quiet contemplation topics
may occur to us which will prove the means of raising our
spirits, and there is scarcely any theme more likely to prove
consolatory than that which deals with the days of yore, the
years of the olden time, when the Lord's faithfulness was tried
and proven by hosts of his people. Yet it seems that even this
consideration created depression rather than delight in the good
man's soul, for he contrasted his own mournful condition with
all that was bright in the venerable experiences of ancient
saints, and so complained the more. Ah, sad calamity of a
jaundiced mind, to see nothing as it should be seen, but
everything as through a veil of mist.
Verse 6. I call to remembrance my song in the
night. At other times his spirit had a song for the darkest
hour, but now he could only recall the strain as a departed
memory. Where is the harp which once thrilled sympathetically to
the touch of those joyful fingers? My tongue, hast thou
forgotten to praise? Hast thou no skill except in mournful
ditties? Ah me, how sadly fallen am I! How lamentable that I,
who like the nightingale could charm the night, am now fit
comrade for the hooting owl. I commune with mine own heart. He
did not cease from introspection, for he was resolved to find
the bottom of his sorrow, and trace it to its fountain head. He
made sure work of it by talking not with his mind only, but with
his inmost heart; it was heart work with him. He was no idler,
no melancholy trifler; he was up and at it, resolutely resolved
that he would not tamely die of despair, but would fight for his
hope to the last moment of life. And my spirit made diligent
search. He ransacked his experience, his memory, his intellect,
his whole nature, his entire self, either to find comfort or to
discover the reason why it was denied him. That man will not die
by the hand of the enemy who has enough force of soul remaining
to struggle in this fashion.
Verse 7. Wilt the Lord cast off forever? This
was one of the matters he enquired into. He painfully knew that
the Lord might leave his people for a season, but his fear was
that the time might be prolonged and have no close; eagerly,
therefore, he asked, will the Lord utterly and finally reject
those who are his own, and suffer them to be the objects of his
contemptuous reprobation, his everlasting cast offs? This he was
persuaded could not be. No instance in the years of ancient
times led him to fear that such could be the case. And will he
be favourable no more? Favourable he had been; would that
goodwill never again show itself? Was the sun set never to rise
again? Would spring never follow the long and dreary winter? The
questions are suggested by fear, but they are also the cure for
fear. It is a blessed thing to have grace enough to look such
questions in the face, for their answer is self evident and
eminently fitted to cheer the heart.
Verse 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? If
he has no love for his elect, has he not still his mercy left?
Has that dried up? Has he no pity for the sorrowful? Doth his
promise fail for evermore? His word is pledged to those who
plead with him; is that become of none effect? Shall it be said
that from one generation to another the Lord's word has fallen
to the ground; whereas aforetime he kept his covenant to all
generations of them that fear him? It is a wise thing thus to
put unbelief through the catechism. Each one of the questions is
a dart aimed at the very heart of despair. Thus have we also in
our days of darkness done battle for life itself.
Verse 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Has
El, the Mighty One, become great in everything but grace? Does
he know how to afflict, but not how to uphold? Can he forget
anything? Above all, can he forget to exercise that attribute
which lies nearest to his essence, for he is love? Hath he in
anger shut up his tender mercies? Are the pipes of goodness
choked up so that love can no more flow through them? Do the
bowels of Jehovah no longer yearn towards his own beloved
children? Thus with cord after cord unbelief is smitten and
driven out of the soul; it raises questions and we will meet it
with questions: it makes us think and act ridiculously, and we
will heap scorn upon it. The argument of this passage assumes
very much the form of a reductio ad absurdam. Strip it
naked, and mistrust is a monstrous piece of folly. Selah. Here
rest awhile, for the battle of questions needs a lull.
Verse 10. And I said, This is my infirmity. He
has won the day, he talks reasonably now, and surveys the field
with a cooler mind. He confesses that unbelief is an infirmity,
a weakness, a folly, a sin. He may also be understood to mean,
"this is my appointed sorrow, "I will bear it without
complaint. When we perceive that our affliction is meted out by
the Lord, and is the ordained portion of our cup, we become
reconciled to it, and no longer rebel against the inevitable.
Why should we not be content if it be the Lord's will? What he
arranges it is not for us to cavil at. But I will remember the
years of the right hand of the most High. Here a good deal is
supplied by our translators, and they make the sense to be that
the psalmist would console himself by remembering the goodness
of God to himself and others of his people in times gone by: but
the original seems to consist only of the words, "the years
of the right hand of the most High, "and to express the
idea that his long continued affliction, reaching through
several years, was allotted to him by the Sovereign Lord of all.
It is well when a consideration of the divine goodness and
greatness silences all complaining, and creates a childlike
acquiescence.
Verse 11. I will remember the works of the Lord.
Fly back my soul, away from present turmoil, to the grandeurs of
history, the sublime deeds of Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts; for he
is the same and is ready even now to defend his servants as in
days of yore. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
Whatever else may glide into oblivion, the marvellous works of
the Lord in the ancient days must not be suffered to be
forgotten. Memory is a fit handmaid for faith. When faith has
its seven years of famine, memory like Joseph in Egypt opens her
granaries.
Verse 12. I will meditate also of all thy work.
Sweet work to enter into Jehovah's work of grace, and there to
lie down and ruminate, every thought being absorbed in the one
precious subject. And talk of thy doings. It is well that the
overflow of the mouth should indicate the good matter which
fills the heart. Meditation makes rich talking; it is to be
lamented that so much of the conversation of professors is
utterly barren, because they take no time for contemplation. A
meditative man should be a talker, otherwise he is a mental
miser, a mill which grinds corn only for the miller. The subject
of our meditation should be choice, and then our task will be
edifying; if we meditate on folly and affect to speak wisdom,
our double mindedness will soon be known unto all men. Holy talk
following upon meditation has a consoling power in it for
ourselves as well as for those who listen, hence its value in
the connection in which we find it in this passage.
Verse 13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary,
or in holiness. In the holy place we understand our God,
and rest assured that all his ways are just and right. When we
cannot trace his way, because it is "in the sea, "it
is a rich consolation that we can trust it, for it is in
holiness. We must have fellowship with holiness if we would
understand "the ways of God to man." He who would be
wise must worship. The pure in heart shall see God, and pure
worship is the way to the philosophy of providence. Who is so
great a God as our God? In him the good and the great are
blended. He surpasses in both. None can for a moment be compared
with the mighty One of Israel.
Verse 14. Thou art the God that doest wonders.
Thou alone art Almighty. The false gods are surrounded with the
pretence of wonders, but you really work them. It is thy
peculiar prerogative to work marvels; it is no new or strange
thing with thee, it is according to thy wont and use. Herein is
renewed reason for holy confidence. It would be a great wonder
if we did not trust the wonder working God. Thou hast declared
thy strength among the people. Not only Israel, but Egypt,
Bashan, Edom, Philistia, and all the nations have seen Jehovah's
power. It was no secret in the olden time and to this day it is
published abroad. God's providence and grace are both full of
displays of his power; he is in the latter peculiarly
conspicuous as "mighty to save." Who will not be
strong in faith when there is so strong an arm to lean upon?
Shall our trust be doubtful when his power is beyond all
question? My soul see to it that these considerations banish thy
mistrusts.
Verse 15. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy
people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. All Israel, the two
tribes of Joseph as well as those which sprang from the other
sons of Jacob, were brought out of Egypt by a display of divine
power, which is here ascribed not to the hand but to the arm of
the Lord, because it was the fulness of his might. Ancient
believers were in the constant habit of referring to the wonders
of the Red Sea, and we also can unite with them, taking care to
add the song of the Lamb to that of Moses, the servant of God.
The comfort derivable from such a meditation is obvious and
abundant, for he who brought up his people from the house of
bondage will continue to redeem and deliver till we come into
the promised rest. Selah. Here we have another pause preparatory
to a final burst of song.
Verse 16. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters
saw thee; they were afraid. As if conscious of its Maker's
presence, the sea was ready to flee from before his face. The
conception is highly poetical, the psalmist has the scene before
his mind's eye, and describes it gloriously. The water saw its
God, but man refuses to discern him; it was afraid, but proud
sinners are rebellious and fear not the Lord. The depths also
were troubled. To their heart the floods were made afraid. Quiet
caves of the sea, far down in the abyss, were moved with fear;
and the lowest channels were left bare, as the water rushed away
from its place, in terror of the God of Israel.
Verse 17. The clouds poured out water. Obedient
to the Lord, the lower region of the atmosphere yielded its aid
to overthrow the Egyptian host. The cloudy chariots of heaven
hurried forward to discharge their floods. The skies sent out a
sound. From the loftier aerial regions thundered the dread
artillery of the Lord of Hosts. Peal on peal the skies sounded
over the heads of the routed enemies, confusing their minds and
adding to their horror. Thine arrows also went abroad.
Lightnings flew like bolts from the bow of God. Swiftly, hither
and thither, went the red tongues of flame, on helm and shield
they gleamed; anon with blue bale fires revealing the innermost
caverns of the hungry sea which waited to swallow up the pride
of Mizraim. Behold, how all the creatures wait upon their God,
and show themselves strong to overthrow his enemies.
Verse 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the
heaven, or in the whirlwind. Rushing on with terrific
swiftness and bearing all before it, the storm was as a chariot
driven furiously, and a voice was heard (even thy voice, O
Lord!) out of the fiery car, even as when a mighty man in battle
urges forward his charger, and shouts to it aloud. All heaven
resounded with the voice of the Lord. The lightnings lightened
the world. The entire globe shone in the blaze of Jehovah's
lightnings. No need for other light amid the battle of that
terrible night, every wave gleamed in the fire flashes, and the
shore was lit up with the blaze. How pale were men's faces in
that hour, when all around the fire leaped from sea to shore,
from crag to hill, from mountain to star, till the whole
universe was illuminated in honour of Jehovah's triumph. The
earth trembled and shook. It quaked and quaked again.
Sympathetic with the sea, the solid shore forgot its quiescence
and heaved in dread. How dreadful art thou, O God, when thou
comest forth in thy majesty to humble thine arrogant
adversaries.
Verse 19. Thy way is in the sea. Far down in
secret channels of the deep is thy roadway; when thou wilt thou
canst make a sea a highway for thy glorious march. And thy path
in the great waters. There, where the billows surge and swell,
thou still dost walk; Lord of each crested wave. And thy
footsteps are not known. None can follow thy tracks by foot or
eye. Thou art alone in thy glory, and thy ways are hidden from
mortal ken. Thy purposes thou wilt accomplish, but the means are
often concealed, yea, they need no concealing, they are in
themselves too vast and mysterious for human understanding.
Glory be to thee, O Jehovah.
Verse 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by
the hand of Moses and Aaron. What a transition from tempest
to peace, from wrath to love. Quietly as a flock Israel was
guided on, by human agency which veiled the excessive glory of
the divine presence. The smiter of Egypt was the shepherd of
Israel. He drove his foes before him, but went before his
people. Heaven and earth fought on his side against the sons of
Ham, but they were equally subservient to the interests of the
sons of Jacob. Therefore, with devout joy and full of
consolation, we close this Psalm; the song of one who forgot how
to speak and yet learned to sing far more sweetly than his
fellows.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm
may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national.
It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth
of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people
are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to
the national history may indeed show that the season was a
season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was
himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by
woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own
sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of
which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 1. In the beginning of the Psalm, before
speaking of his sorrows, he hastens to show the necessary and
most efficacious remedy for allaying sorrow. He says that he did
not, as many do, out of their impatience of grief or murmuring,
either accuse God of cruelty or tyranny, or utter blasphemous
words by which dishonour might fall upon God, or by indulging in
sorrow and distrust hasten his own destruction, or fill the air
with vain complaining, but fled straight to God and to him
unburdened his sorrow, and sought that he would not shut him out
from that grace which he bountifully offers to all. This is the
only and sure sovereign remedy which most effectually heals his
griefs. Mollerus.
Verse 1. I cried. To the Orientals the word qeu
presented the idea of a crash, as of the heavens sending
out thunders and lightnings. Whence beyond other things he
metaphorically says, he cried for sorrow; ...shaken with
a tempest of thoughts he burst out into an open and loud
sounding complaint. Hermann Venema.
Verse 1. Even unto God with my voice. The
repetition here is emphatic. The idea is that it was an earnest
or fervent cry. Albert Barnes.
Verse 1. (last clause). At the second knock,
the door of grace flew open: the Lord heard me. John Collings.
Whole Psalm. See Psalms on "Ps 77:1" for
further information.
Verse 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the
Lord. Days of trouble must be days of prayer; in days of
inward trouble, especially when God seems to have withdrawn from
us, we must seek him, and seek till we find him. In the day of
his trouble he did not seek for the diversions of business or
recreation, to shake off his trouble that way, but he sought
God, and his favour and grace. Those that are under trouble of
mind, must not think to drink it away, or laugh it away, but
pray it away. Matthew Henry.
Verse 2. My sore ran in the night. Hebrew: My
hand was poured out; that is, stretched out in prayer; or
wet with continual weeping. Non fuit remissa, nec retracta in
lectum. John Trapp.
Verse 2. My sore ran in the night, and ceased not,
etc. There is no healing of this wound, no easing of this sore,
no cleansing of the conscience, no quieting of a man's spirit:
till God whom the soul seeketh show himself as the Physician,
the evil continueth still and groweth. David Dickson.
Verse 2. My soul refused to be comforted. God
has provided suitable and sufficient comfort for his people. He
sends them comforters just as their circumstances require. But
they at times refuse to hear the voice of the charmer. The Lord
has perhaps taken away an idol—or he withholds his sensible
presence, that they may learn to live by faith—or he has
blighted their worldly prospects—or he has written vanity and
emptiness upon all their gourds, cisterns, and delights. They
give way to passion, as did Jonah—or they sink into sullen
gloom—or allow unhumbled pride to rule the spirit—or yield
to extreme sorrow, as Rachel did—or fall under the power of
temptation—or imbibe the notion that they have no right to
comfort. This is wrong, all wrong, decidedly wrong. Look at what
is left you, at what the gospel presents to you, at what heaven
will be to you. But the psalmist was recovered from this state.
He was convinced that it was wrong. He was sorry for his sin. He
was reformed in his spirit and conduct. He wrote this Psalm to
instruct, caution, and warn us. Observe, they who are entitled
to all comfort, often through their own folly, enjoy the least.
The Lord's people are often their own tormentors, they put away
the cup of comfort from them, and say they are unworthy of it
O Thou source of every blessing,
Chase my sorrows, cheer my heart,
Till in heaven, thy smiles possessing,
Life, and joy, and peace impart. James Smith.
Verse 2. My soul refused to be comforted. Poor
I, that am but of yesterday, have known some that have been so
deeply plunged in the gulf of despair, that they would throw all
the spiritual cordials that have been tendered to them against
the walls. They were strong in reasoning against their own
souls, and resolved against everything that might be a comfort
and support unto them. They have been much set against all
ordinances and religious services; they have cast off holy
duties themselves, and peremptorily refused to join with others
in them; yea, they have, out of a sense of sin and wrath, which
hath laid hard upon them, refused the necessary comforts of this
life, even to the overthrow of natural life, and yet out of this
horrible pit, this hell upon earth, hath God delivered their
souls, and given them such manifestations of his grace and
favour, that they would not exchange them for a thousand worlds.
O despairing souls, you see that others, whose conditions have
been as bad if not worse than yours, have obtained mercy. God
hath turned their hell into a heaven; he hath remembered them in
their low estate; he hath pacified their raging consciences, and
quieted their distracted souls; he hath wiped all tears from
their eyes; and he hath been a well spring of life unto their
hearts. Therefore be not discouraged, O despairing souls, but
look up to the mercyseat. Thomas Brooks.
Verse 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. If
our hearts or consciences condemn us, it is impossible to
remember him without being troubled. It will then be painful to
remember that he is our Creator and Redeemer, for the
remembrance will be attended with a consciousness of base
ingratitude. It will be painful to think of him as Lawgiver; for
such thoughts will remind us that we have broken his law. It
will be painful to think of his holiness; for if he is holy, he
must hate our sins, and be angry with us as sinners:—of his
justice and truth, for these perfections make it necessary that
he should fulfil his threatenings and punish us for our sins. It
will be painful to think of his omniscience—for this
perfection makes him acquainted with our most secret offences,
and renders it impossible for conceal them from his view; of his
omnipresence—for the constant presence of an invisible witness
must be disagreeable to those who wish to indulge their sinful
propensities. It will be painful to think of his power—for it
enables him to restrain or destroy, as he pleases: of his
sovereignty, for sinners always hate to see themselves in the
hands of a sovereign God: of his eternity and immutability—for
from his possessing these perfections it follows that he will
never alter the threatening which he has denounced against
sinners, and that he will always live to execute them. It will
be painful to think of him as judge; for we shall feel, that as
sinners, we have no reason to expect a favourable sentence from
his lips. It will even be painful to think of the perfect
goodness and excellence of his character; for his goodness
leaves us without excuse in rebelling against him, and makes our
sins appear exceedingly sinful. Edward Payson.
Verse 3. I remembered God, and was troubled.
All had not been well between God and him; and whereas formerly,
in his remembrance of God, his thoughts were chiefly exercised
about his love and kindness, now they were wholly possessed with
his own sin and unkindness. This causeth his trouble. Herein
lies a share of the entanglements occasioned by sin. Saith such
a soul in itself, "Foolish creature, hast thou thus
requited the Lord?" Is this the return that thou hast made
unto him for all his love, his kindness, his consolations,
mercies? Is this thy kindness for him, thy love to him? Is this
thy kindness to thy friend? Is this thy boasting of him, that
thou hadst found so much goodness and excellence in him and his
love, that though all men should forsake him, thou never would
do so? Are all thy promises all thy engagements which thou
madest unto God, in times of distress upon prevailing
obligations, and mighty impressions of his good Spirit upon thy
soul, now come to this, that thou shouldest so foolishly forget,
neglect, despise, cast him off? Well! now he is gone; he is
withdrawn from thee; and what wilt thou do? Art thou not even
ashamed to desire him to return? They were thoughts of this
nature that cut Peter to the heart upon his fall. The soul finds
them cruel as death, and strong as the grave. It is bound in the
chains of them, and cannot be comforted, Ps 38:3-6. John
Owen.
Verse 3. There are moments in the life of all
believers when God and his ways become unintelligible to them.
They get lost in profound meditation, and nothing is left them
but a desponding sigh. But we know from Paul the apostle that
the Holy Spirit intercedes for believers with God, when they
cannot utter their sighs. Ro 8:26. Augustus F. Tholuck.
Verse 3. Selah. In the end of this verse is put
the word Selah. And it doth note unto the reader or
hearer what a miserable and comfortless thing man is in trouble,
if God be not present with him to help him. It is also put as a
spur and prick for every Christian man and woman to remember and
call upon God in the days of their troubles. For as the Jews
say, wheresoever this word Selah is, it doth admonish and
stir up the reader or hearer to mark what was said before it;
for it is a word always put after very notable sentences. John
Hooper.
Verse 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. Thou
art afflicted with want of sleep:—A complaint incident to
distempered bodies and thoughtful minds. Oh, how wearisome a
thing it is to spend the long night in tossing up and down in a
restless bed, in the chase of sleep; which the more eagerly it
is followed, flies so much the farther from us! Couldest thou
obtain of thyself to forbear the desire of it, perhaps it would
come alone: now that thou suest for it, like to some froward
piece, it is coy and overly, and punishes thee with thy longing.
Lo, he that could command a hundred and seven and twenty
provinces, yet could not command rest. `On that night his sleep
departed from him, 'Es 6:1, neither could be forced or entreated
to his bed. And the great Babylonian monarch, though he had laid
some hand on sleep, yet he could not hold it; for "his
sleep brake from him, "Da 2:1. And, for great and wise
Solomon, it would not so much as come within his view.
"Neither day nor night seeth he sleep with his eyes."
Ec 8:16. Surely, as there is no earthly thing more comfortable
to nature than bodily rest (Jer 31:26); so, there is nothing
more grievous and disheartening... Instead of closing thy lids
to wait for sleep, lift up thy stiff eyes to him that "giveth
his beloved rest, "Ps 127:2. Whatever be the means, he it
is that holdeth mine eyes waking. He that made thine
eyes, keeps off sleep from thy body, for the good of thy soul:
let not thine eyes wake, without thy heart. The spouse of Christ
can say, "I sleep, but my heart waketh, "So 5:2. How
much more should she say, "Mine eyes wake, and my heart
waketh also!" When thou canst not sleep with thine eyes,
labour to see him that is invisible: one glimpse of that sight
is more worth than all the sleep that thine eyes can be capable
of. Give thyself up into his hands, to be disposed of at his
will. What is this sweet acquiescence but the rest of the soul?
which if thou canst find in thyself, thou shalt quietly digest
the want of thy bodily sleep. Joseph Hall, in his "Balm
of Gilead."
Verse 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
He adds that he was so cut down and lifeless that he could not
speak. Little griefs, as it is often said, are uttered, great
ones strike us dumb. In great troubles and fears the spirit
fails the exterior members, and flows back to its fountain; the
limbs stand motionless, the whole body trembles, the eyes remain
fixed, and the tongue forgets its office. Hence it is that Niobe
was represented by the poets as turned into a stone. The history
of Psammentius also, in Herodotus, is well known, how over the
misfortunes of his children he sat silent and overwhelmed, but
when he saw his friend's calamities he bewailed them with bitter
tears. Mollerus.
Verse 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Sometimes our grief is so violent that it finds no vent, it
strangles us, and we are overcome. It is with us in our
desertions as with a man that gets a slight hurt; at first he
walks up and down, but not looking betimes to prevent a growing
mischief, the neglected wound begins to fester, or to gangrene,
and brings him to greater pain and loss. So it is with us many
times in our spiritual sadness; when we are first troubled, we
pray and pour out our souls before the Lord; but afterwards the
waters of our grief drown our cries and we are so overwhelmed,
that if we might have all the world we cannot pray, or at least
we can find no enlargement, no life, no pleasure in our prayers;
and God himself seems to take no delight in them, and that makes
us more sad, Ps 22:1. Timothy Rogers (1660-1729), in "A
Discourse on Trouble of Mind, and the Disease of
Melancholy."
Verse 4. Troubled. Or, bruised: the
Hebrew word probably signifieth an astonishment caused by some
great blow received. John Diodati.
Verse 4. I cannot speak. Words are but the
body, the garment, the outside of prayer; sighs are nearer the
heart work. A dumb beggar getteth an alms at Christ's gates,
even by making signs, when his tongue cannot plead for him; and
the rather, because he is dumb. Objection. I have not so
much as a voice to utter to God; and Christ saith, "Cause
me to hear thy voice" (Canticles 2:14). Answer. Yea,
but some other thing hath a voice beside the tongue: "The
Lord has heard the voice of my weeping" (Ps 6:8). Tears
have a tongue, and grammar, and language, that our Father
knoweth. Babes have no prayer for the breast, but weeping: the
mother can read hunger in weeping. Samuel Rutherford.
Verse 4. If through all thy discouragements thy
condition prove worse and worse, so that thou canst not pray,
but are struck dumb when thou comest into his presence, as
David, then fall making signs when thou canst not speak; groan,
sigh, sob, "chatter, "as Hezekiah did; bemoan thyself
for thine unworthiness, and desire Christ to speak thy requests
for thee, and God to hear him for thee. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 5. The days of old. Doubtless to our
first parents the darkness of the first night was somewhat
strange; persons who had never seen anything but the light of
the day, when the shadows of the night first did encompass them,
could not be without some apprehension: yet when at the back of
a number of nights they had seen the day spring of the morning
lights constantly to arise; the darkness of the blackest nights
was passed over without fear, and in as great security, as the
light of the fairest days. To men who have always lived upon
land, when first they set to sea, the winds, waves, and storms
are exceeding terrible; but when they are a little beaten with
the experience of tempests, their fears do change into
resolution and courage. It is of no small use to remember that
those things which vex most our spirit, are not new, but have
already been in times before our days. Robert Baylie's Sermon
before the House of Commons. 1643.
Verse 6. I call to remembrance my song in the
night. Either (1) "I will now, in the present night of
affliction, remember my former songs." "Though this is
a time of distress, and my present circumstances are gloomy, yet
I have known brighter days. He that lifted me up, has cast me
down, and he can raise me up again." Sometimes this
reflection, indeed, adds a poignancy to our distress, as it did
to David's trouble, Ps 42:4. Yet it will bear a better
improvement, which he seems to make of it; Ps 77:11, and so Job,
(Job 2:10.) "Shall we receive good at the hand of God,
and shall we not receive evil?" And his case shows that
after the most sweeping calamities the Lord can again give
things a turn in favour of them that hope in him. Therefore,
present troubles should not make us forget former comforts,
especially as the former so much exceeded our deserts, and the
present afflictions fall so short of our demerits. Or (2) the
text may mean, "I will remember how I have been enabled to
sing in the former nights of affliction." And surely it is
especially seasonable to remember supports and consolations
granted under preceding distresses. Elihu complained (Job
35:10), "There is none that saith, Where is God my maker,
who giveth songs on the night." David comforted himself
with the thought, "Though deep calleth unto deep, yet the
Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the
night his song shall be with me." Ps 42:8. And the Lord
promised by Isaiah (Isa 30:29), "Ye shall have a song, as
in the night when a holy solemnity is kept." No doubt Paul
and Silas remembered their song in the night, when imprisoned at
Philippi; and it afforded them encouragement under subsequent
trials. And cannot many of you, my brethren, in like manner,
remember the supports and consolations you have enjoyed in
former difficulties, and how the Lord turned the shadow of death
into morning? And ought you not to trust to him that hath
delivered, that he will yet deliver? He that hath delivered in
six troubles, will not forsake you in seven. The "clouds
may return after the rain, "but not a drop can fail without
the leave of him, who rides on the heavens for your help, and in
his excellency on the sky. Did you not forbode at first a very
different termination of the former troubles? and did the Lord
disappoint your fears, and put a new song into your mouth; and
will you not now begin to trust him, and triumph in him? Surely
you have found that the Lord can clear the darkest skies.
"Light is sown for the righteous, "and ere long you
shall see an eternal day. If such songs are given to the
pilgrims of the night, how shall they sing in that world where
the sun shall set no more! There will be no night there. John
Ryland. 1753-1825.
Verse 6. I call to remembrance: being glad in
this scarcity of comfort, to live upon the old store, as bees do
in winter. John Trapp.
Verse 6. My song in the night. The "songs
of the night" is as favourite a word of the Old Testament
as "glory in tribulation" is of the New, and it is one
of those which prove that both Testaments have the self same
root and spirit. John Kerr.
Verse 6. My spirit made diligent search. He
falls upon self examination, and searcheth his spirit, to
consider why the hand of God was so against him, and why the
face of God was so hid from him. Some read it, "I digged
into my spirit; "as Ezekiel digged into the wall, to search
for and find out the abomination, that made the Lord thus leave
him in the dark, and hide his face from him. He searcheth the
wound of his spirit; that was another way to cure it. It is a
notable way to cure the wounds of the soul, for the soul to
search them. John Collings.
Verse 6. My spirit made diligent search. The verb vbx,
chaphas, signifies such an investigation as a man makes
who is obliged to strip himself in order to do it; or to
lift up coverings, to search fold by fold, or in our own
phrase, to leave no stone unturned. Adam Clarke.
Verse 6. My spirit made diligent search. As
Ahasuerus, when he could not sleep, called for the records and
chronicles of his kingdom, so the doubting soul betakes himself
to the records of heaven, the word of God in the Scriptures, and
one while he is reading there, another while looking into his
heart, if he can find there anything that answers the characters
of Scripture faith, as the face in the glass doth the face of
man. David, when he was at a loss what to think of himself, and
many doubts did clog his faith, insomuch that the thinking of
God increased his trouble, he did not sit down and let the ship
drive, as we say, not regarding whether God loved him or no, but
communes with his own heart, and his spirit makes diligent
search. Thus it is with every sincere soul under doubting:
he dares no more sit down contented in that unresolved
condition, than one who thinks he smells fire in his house dares
settle himself to sleep till he hath looked in every room and
corner, and satisfied himself that all is safe, lest he should
be waked with the fire about his ears in the night: and the poor
doubting soul is much more afraid, lest it should wake with hell
fire about it: whereas a soul in a state and under the power of
unbelief is secure and careless. William Gurnall.
Verse 6. Diligent search. Thus duty requires
diligence. External acts of religion are facile; to lift up the
eye to heaven, to bow the knee, to read a prayer, this requires
no more labour than for a papist to tell over his beads; but to
examine a man's self, to take the heart all in pieces as a
watch, and see what is defective, this is not easy. Reflective
acts are hardest. The eye can see everything but itself. It is
easy to spy the faults of others, but hard to find out our own. Thomas
Watson.
Verse 8. Doth his promise fail for evermore?
Let no appearing impossibilities make you question God's
accomplishment of any of his gracious words. Though you cannot
see how the thing can be done, it is enough, if God has said
that he will do it. There can be no obstructions to promised
salvation, which we need to fear. He who is the God of this
salvation, and the Author of the promise, will prepare his own
way for the doing of his own work, so that "every valley
shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low."
Lu 3:5. Though the valleys be so deep that we cannot see the
bottom, and the mountains so high that we cannot see the tops of
them, yet God knows how to raise the one and level the other;
Isa 53:1: "I that speak in righteousness (or faithfulness)
am mighty to save." If anything would keep back the kingdom
of Christ, it would be our infidelity; but he will come, though
he should find no faith on the earth. See Ro 3:3. Cast not away
your confidence because God defers his performances. Though
providence run cross, though they move backwards and forwards,
you have a sure and faithful word to rely upon. Promises, though
they be for a time seemingly delayed, cannot be finally
frustrated. Dare not to harbour such a thought within
yourselves. The being of God may as well fail as the promise of
God. That which does not come in your time, will be hastened in
his time, which is always the more convenient season. Timothy
Cruso.
Verse 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? In
what pangs couldest thou be, O Asaph, that so woeful a word
should fall from thee: Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Surely, the temptation went so high, that the next step had been
blasphemy. Had not that good God, whom thy bold weakness
questions for forgetfulness, in great mercies remembered thee,
and brought thee speedily to remember thyself and him; that,
which you confess to have been infirmity, had proved a sinful
despair. I dare say for thee, that word washed thy cheeks with
many a tear, and was worthy of more; for, O God, what can be so
dear to thee, as the glory of thy mercy? There is none of thy
blessed attributes, which thou desirest to set forth so much
unto the sons of men, and so much abhorrest to be disparaged by
our detraction, as thy mercy. Thou canst, O Lord, forget thy
displeasure against thy people; thou canst forget our
iniquities, and cast our sins out of thy remembrance, Mic
7:18-19; but thou canst no more forget to be gracious, than thou
canst cease to be thyself. O my God, I sin against thy justice
hourly, and thy mercy interposes for my remission: but, oh, keep
me from sinning against thy mercy. What plea can I hope for,
when I have made my advocate my enemy? Joseph Hall.
Verse 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? The
poor child crieth after the mother. What shall I do for my
mother! Oh, my mother, my mother, what shall I do for my mother!
And it may be the mother stands behind the back of the child,
only she hides herself, to try the affection of the child: so
the poor soul cries after God, and complains, Oh my Father! my
Father! Where is my heavenly Father? Hath he forgotten to be
gracious? Hath he shut up his lovingkindness in displeasure?
when, (all the while), God is nearer than they think for,
shining upon them in "a spirit of grace and supplications,
"with sighs and "groans that cannot be uttered."
Thus the gracious woman, weeps: My dear Saviour, my dear Lord
and Master, he is "taken out of the sepulchre, and I know
not where they have laid him!" Thus she complains to the
disciples, and thus she complains to the angels, when Christ
stood at her very back and overheard all: nay, when she turned
her about and saw him, yet at first she did not know him; nay,
when he spoke to her and she to him, yet she knew him not, but
thought he had been the gardener, Joh 20:15. Thus it is with
many a gracious soul; though God speaks home to their hearts in
his Word, and they speak to him by prayer, and they cannot say
but the Spirit "helps their infirmities; "yet
they complain for want of his presence, as if there were nothing
of God in them. Matthew Lawrence.
Verse 9. Hath he in anger shut up his tender
mercies? The metaphor here is taken from a spring,
the mouth of which is closed, so that its waters can no longer
run in the same channel; but, being confined, break out and take
some other course. Wilt thou take thy mercy from the Israelites
and give it to some other people? Adam Clarke.
Verse 9. Selah. Thus was he going on with his
dark and dismal apprehensions, when on a sudden he first checked
himself with that word, Selah; stop there; go no further;
let us hear no more of these unbelieving surmises; and then he
chid himself, Ps 77:10: This is mine infirmity. Matthew
Henry.
Verse 10. This is my infirmity. Literally, this
is my disease,—which appears to mean, This is my lot and I
must bear it; lo! it is a partial evil, for which the equity of
God's government should not be questioned. The authorised
version, This is my infirmity, suggests, perhaps
advisedly, another signification, viz., These thoughts are but
hallucinations of my agony,—but to this gloss I should scruple
to commit myself. C. B. Cayley.
Verse 10. It is the infirmity of a believer to
be thinking of himself, and drawing false inferences (for all
such inferences are necessarily erroneous), from what he sees or
feels, as to the light in which he is beheld and estimated on
the part of God. It is his strength, on the other hand,
to remember the right hand of the Most High—to meditate upon
the changeless truth and mercy of that God who has committed
himself in holiness to the believing sinner's sure salvation, by
causing the Son of his love to suffer in our stead the dread
reality of penal death. Arthur Pridham.
Verse 10. Infirmity. An infirmity is
this,—some sickness or indisposition of the soul, that arises
from the weakness of grace. Or an infirmity is this,—when the
purpose and inclination of the heart is upright, but a man wants
strength to perform that purpose; when "the spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mt 26:41); when a man can
say with the apostle, "To will is present with me; but how
to perform that which is good I find not, "Ro 7:18. When
the bent and inclination of the soul is right, but either
through some violence of corruption or strength of temptation, a
man is diverted and turned out of the way. As the needle in the
seaman's compass, you know if it be right it will stand always
northwards, the bent of it will be toward the North Pole, but
being jogged and troubled, it may sometimes be put out of frame
and order, yet the bent and inclination of it is still
northward; this is an infirmity. James Nalton. 1664.
Verse 10. It is unnecessary to state all the
renderings which the learned have given of this verse. It is
unquestionably ambiguous, as the word ytwlh may be derived from
different roots, which have different significations. I derive
it from lwx or llx which signifies to be in pain as a
woman in labour, and as it is in the infinitive, I render it, "the
time of my sorrow or pain." The next term, twgv,
I derive from hgv to change, as the Chaldee does,
Ainsworth, Hammond, and others; and I render it potentially. I
consider the whole as a beautiful metaphor. The author considers
himself as in distress, like a woman in travail; and like her,
hopes soon to have his sorrow turned to joy. He confides in
God's power to effect such a change; and hence naturally
recollects the past instances of God's favour to his people. Benjamin
Boothroyd.
Verse 10. I will remember the years of the right
hand of the Most High. Not the moments, nor the hours, nor
days of a few short afflictions, that his left hand hath dealt
to me: but the years of his right hand; those long,
large, and boundless mercies wherewith he hath comforted me. Thomas
Adams.
Verse 10. I will remember the years, etc. The
words in the Hebrew text are shenoth jemin gneljon, which
I find to be variously rendered and translated by interpreters.
I shall not trouble you with them all at this present time, but
only take notice of two of them, which I conceive are the
principal and most comprehensive; the one is our oldest English
translation, and the other of our last and newest; the former
reads the words thus: The right hand of the Most High can
change all this. The latter reads the words thus, as we have
it now before us, I will remember the years, etc. The
main ground of this variation is the different exposition of the
Hebrew word shenoth, which may be translated either to
change, from the verb in the infinitive mood,
or else may be translated years, from the noun in
the plural number. This hath given the occasion to this
difference and variety of translation, but the sense is very
good and agreeable which way soever we take it—First,
take it according to the former translation, as it does
exhibit to us the power of God. The right hand of the Lord
can change all this. This was that whereby David did support
himself in his present affliction; that the Lord was able to
change and alter this his condition to him, and that for
the better... For the second sense here before us, that's
this: I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most
High; where the word remember is borrowed from the
next following verse, to supply the sense of this, as otherwise
being not in the text. Now here the prophet David fetches a
ground of comfort from God's practice, as before he did
from his power; there, from what God could do;
here, from what he has done already in former time, and ages,
and generations. Thomas Horton.
Verse 11. I will remember, etc. Remember
and commemorate, as the Hebrew (by a double reading)
imports. John Trapp.
Verse 11. I will remember. Faith is a
considering grace: he that believes will not make haste; no, not
to think or speak of God. Faith hath a good memory, and can tell
the Christian many stories of ancient mercies; and when his
present meal falls short, it can entertain the soul with a cold
dish, and not complain that God keeps a bad house. Thus David
recovered himself, when he was even tumbling down the hill of
temptation: This is my infirmity; but I will remember the
years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember thy
wonders of old. Therefore, Christian, when thou art in the
depths of affliction, and Satan tempts thee to asperse God, as
if he were forgetful of thee, stop his mouth with this: No,
Satan, God hath not forgot to do for me, but I have forgot what
he hath done for me, or else I could not question his fatherly
care at present over me. Go, Christian, play over thy own
lessons, praise God for past mercies, and it will not be long
before thou hast a new song put into thy mouth for a present
mercy. . . .
Sometimes a little writing is found in a man's study that
helps to save his estate, for want of which he had gone to
prison; and some one experience remembered keeps the soul from
despair, a prison which the devil longs to have the Christian
in. "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope,
"La 3:21. David was famous for his hope, and not less
eminent for his care to observe and preserve the experiences he
had of God's goodness. He was able to recount the dealings of
God with him; they were so often the subject of his meditation
and matter of his discourse, that he had made them familiar to
him. When his hope is at a loss, he doth but exercise his memory
a little, and he recovers himself presently, and chides himself
for his weakness. I said, this is my infirmity: but I will
remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. The
hound, when he hath lost his scent, hunts backwards and so
recovers it, and pursues his game with louder cry than ever.
Thus, Christian, when thy hope is at a loss, and you question
your salvation in another world, then look backward and see what
God hath already done for thee. Some promises have their day of
payment here, and others we must stay to receive in heaven. Now
the payment which God makes of some promises here, is an earnest
given to our faith that the others also shall be faithfully
discharged when their date expires; as every judgment inflicted
here on the wicked is sent as a pledge of that wrath the full
sum whereof God will make up in hell. William Gurnall.
Verse 11. The works of the Lord... Thy wonders.
The psalmist does not mean to draw a distinction between the works
and the wonders of God; but, rather, to state that all
God's works are wonders... All, whether in providence or
grace—all God's works are wonderful. If we take the individual
experience of the Christian, of what is that experience made up?
Of wonders. The work of his conversion, wonderful!—arrested in
a course of thoughtlessness and impiety; graciously sought and
gently compelled to be at peace with God, whose wrath he had
provoked. The communication of knowledge, wonderful!—Deity and
eternity gradually piled up; the Bible taken page by page, and
each page made a volume which no searching can exhaust. The
assistance in warfare, wonderful!—himself a child of
corruption, yet enabled to grapple with the world, the flesh,
and the devil, and often to trample them under foot. The solaces
in affliction, wonderful!—sorrow sanctified so as to minister
to joy, and a harvest of gladness reaped from a field which has
been watered with tears. The foretastes of heaven,
wonderful!—angels bringing down the clusters of the land, and
the spirit walking with lightsome tread the crystal river and
the streets of gold. All wonderful! Wonderful that the Spirit
should strive with man; wonderful that God should bear with his
backslidings; wonderful that God should love him notwithstanding
his pollution; wonderful that God should persist in saving him,
in spite, as it were, of himself. Oh! those amongst you who know
anything, experimentally, of salvation through Christ, well know
that the work is wonderful in its commencement, wonderful in its
continuance, and they will need no argument to vindicate the
transition from works to wonders. It will be the
transition of your own thoughts and your own feelings, and you
will never give in the record of God's dealings with yourselves
without passing, as the psalmist passed, from mentioning to
ascription. Ye may set yourselves to commemorate God's works,
ye will find yourselves extolling God's wonders. Ye may
begin with saying, I will remember the works of the Lord;
but ye will conclude by exclaiming, Surely I will remember
thy wonders of old. Henry Melvill.
Verse 11. Thy wonders. The word is in the
singular here, and also in Ps 77:14. So also in the next verse, Thy
work, because the one great wonder, the one great work in
which all others were included, is before his thoughts. J. J.
Stewart Perowne.
Verse 11. Thy wonders. He had before spoken to
others, but here he turns to God. It is good for a soul in a
hard exercise, to raise itself from thinking of God and of his
works, unto speaking unto God directly: no ease or relief will
be found till address be made unto himself, till we turn our
face toward him and direct our speech unto him, as here the
psalmist doth, from the midst of the eleventh verse to the end
of the psalm. David Dickson.
Verse 13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary.
The word sanctuary is to be taken either for heaven or
for the temple. I am rather inclined to refer it to heaven,
conceiving the meaning to be, that the ways of God rise high
above the world, so that if we are truly desirous to know them,
we must ascend above all heavens. Although the works of God are
in part manifest to us, yet all our knowledge of them comes far
short of their immeasurable height. Besides, it is to be
observed, that none enjoy the least taste of his works but those
who by faith rise up to heaven. And yet, the utmost point to
which we can ever attain is, to contemplate with admiration and
reverence the hidden wisdom and power of God, which, while they
shine forth in his works, yet far surpass the limited powers of
our understanding. John Calvin.
Verse 13. Thy way is in the sanctuary. That is,
every one of the elect may and ought to learn in thy church the
conduct and proceedings of thy providence towards those that
were thine. John Diodati.
Verse 13, 19. In the sanctuary and In the
sea. His way is in the sanctuary, and His
wayis in the sea. Now there is a great difference
between these two things. First of all, God's way is in the sanctuary,
where all is light, all is clear. There is no
mistake there. There is nothing, in the least degree, that is a
harass to the spirit. On the contrary, it is when the poor,
troubled one enters into the sanctuary, and views things there
in the light of God, that he sees the end of all
else—everything that is entangled, the end of which he cannot
find on the earth. But not only is God's way in the sanctuary
(and when we are there, all is bright and happy); but God's way
is in the "sea." He walks where we cannot
always trace his footsteps. God moves mysteriously by times,
as we all know. There are ways of God which are purposely to try
us. I need not say that it is not at all as if God had pleasure
in our perplexities. Nor is it as if we had no sanctuary to draw
near to, where we can rise above it. But, still, there is a
great deal in the ways of God that must be left entirely in his
own hands. The way of God is thus not only in the sanctuary, but
also in the sea. And yet, what we find even in connection with
his footsteps being in the sea is, "Thou leddest thy people
like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron." That was
through the sea; afterwards, it was through the wilderness. But
it had been through the sea. The beginnings of the ways of God
with his people were there; because, from first to last, God
must be the confidence of the saint. It may be an early lesson
of his soul, but it never ceases to be the thing to learn. How
happy to know that, while the sanctuary is open to us, yet God
himself is nearer still—and to him we are brought now. As it
is said (1 Peter 3), "Christ also hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God." This is
a most precious thing; because there we are in the sanctuary at
once, and brought to God himself. And I am bold to say, that
heaven itself would be but a small matter if it were not to God
that we are brought. It is better than any freedom from
trial—better than any blessing, to be in the presence of the
One we belong to; who is himself the source of all blessing and
joy. That we are brought to him now is infinitely precious.
There we are in the sanctuary brought to God. But, still, there
are other ways of God outside the sanctuary—In the sea.
And there we often find ourselves at a loss. If we are occupied
with the sea itself, and with trying to scan God's footsteps
there, then they are not known. But confidence in God
himself is always the strength of faith. May the Lord grant us
increasing simplicity and quietness in the midst of all that we
pass through, for his name's sake. From "Things New and
Old." 1865.
Verse 14. The God that doest wonders. If he
said, Thou art the God that hast done wonders, it would
be plain that he spake only of those ancient miracles which were
wrought in former days: but now that he saith, Thou art the
God that doest wonders, he evidently refers to those
wonderful works, which he is doing now, and shall not cease to
do even to the end of the world. Gerhohus.
Verse 15. The sons of Jacob and Joseph. The
distinction between the sons of Jacob and Joseph is not
meaningless. For by the sons of Jacob or Israel the believing
Jews are properly intended, those that trace their descent to
him not only according to the flesh but according to faith. Of
whom although Joseph was one, yet since he was sold by
his brethren and after many sufferings among foreign tribes
raised to high rank, it is highly congruous to distinguish him
from the sons of Jacob, and he is fitly regarded as a
prince of the Gentiles apart from Jacob's sons, who sold
him. Gerhohus.
Verse 15. The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Was it
Joseph or was it Jacob that begat the children of Israel?
Certainly Jacob begat, but as Joseph nourished them, they are
called by his name also. Talmud.
Verse 16. The waters saw thee, O God, etc.
"The waters of the Red Sea, "says Bishop Horne,
"are here beautifully represented as endued with
sensibility; as seeing, feeling, and being confounded, even to
the lowest depths, at the presence and power of their great
Creator, when he commanded them to open a way, and to form a
wall on each side of it, until his people were passed
over." This in fact is true poetry; and in this attributing
of life, spirit, feeling, action, and suffering to inanimate
objects, there are no poets who can vie with those of the Hebrew
nation. Richard Mant.
Verse 16. The depths also were troubled. The depths
are mentioned in addition to the waters, to show that the
dominion and power of God reach not only to the surface of the
waters, but penetrate to the most profound abysses, and agitate
and restrain the waters from their lowest bottom. Mollerus.
Verses 16-18. The waters saw thee, but men do not see
thee. The depths were troubled, but men say in their heart,
There is no God. The clouds poured out water, but men pour not
out cries and tears unto God. The skies send out a sound, but
men say not, Where is God my Maker? Thine arrows also went
abroad, but no arrows of contrition and supplication are sent
back by men in return. The voice of thy thunder was in the
heaven, but men hear not the louder thunders of the law. The
lightnings lightened the world, but the light of truth shines in
darkness and the darkness comprehends it not. The earth trembled
and shook, but human hearts remain unmoved.
"My heart it shakes not at the wrath
And terrors of a God." George Rogers.
Verse 16-19. As soon as ever the whole Egyptian army
was within it, the sea flowed to its own place, and came down
with a torrent raised by storms of wind, and encompassed the
Egyptians. Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and
dreadful thunders and lightning, with flashes of fire.
Thunderbolts also were darted upon them; nor was there anything
which used to be sent by God upon men, as indications of his
wrath, which did not happen at this time; for a dark and dismal
might oppressed them. And thus did all these men perish, so that
there was not one man left to be a messenger of this calamity to
the rest of the Egyptians. Josephus.
Verse 19. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in
the great waters, etc. Until lately, not much was known of
oceanic currents, nor of their influences on the condition of
particular localities and the intercourse of man with man. They
are now seen to be the way or path of the Creator in
the great waters. Numerous agencies tend to the production
of these currents. Amongst them we may reckon the propagation of
the tide wave in its progress over the globe, the duration and
strength of certain winds, the variations in density which
seawater undergoes in different latitudes, and at different
depths, by change of temperature, and the quantity of salt it
contains, and by the hourly alterations of atmospheric pressure
which take place within the tropics. The oceanic currents are
nearly constant in breadth, crossing the sea in many directions.
Long bands of seaweed carried by the currents shew at once their
velocity, and the line of demarcation between the waters at rest
and the waters in motion. Between the tropics there is a general
movement of the sea from east to west, called the equatorial
current, supposed to be due to the trade winds, and the progress
of the tide wave. There are narrower currents carrying warm
water to higher and cold water to lower latitudes. Edwin
Sidney, in "Conversations on the Bible and Science."
1860.
Verse 19. Thy way is in the sea, where no man
can wade, except God be before him, but where any man may walk
if God take him by the hand and lead him through. David
Dickson.
Verse 19. Thy footsteps are not known. He often
goeth so much out of our sight, that we are unable to give an
account of what he doeth, or what he is about to do. Frequently
the pillar of divine providence is dark throughout, to
Israelites as well as Egyptians; so that his own people
understand not the riddles, till he is pleased to be his own
interpreter, and to lead them into his secrets. Samuel
Slater(-1704), in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse 19. Thy footsteps are not known. That is,
they are not always known; or, they are not known in all things;
yea, they are not altogether known in anything. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 19. Thy footsteps are not known. Upon
some affair of great consequence which had occurred in some
providential dispensation, Luther was very importunate at the
throne of grace to know the mind of God in it; and it seemed to
him as if he heard God speak to his heart thus: "I am not
to be traced." Referring to this incident, one adds,
"If he is not to be traced, he may be trusted; "and
that religion is of little value which will not enable a man to
trust God where he can neither trace nor see him. But there is a
time for everything beneath the sun, and the Almighty has his
`times and seasons.' It has been frequently with my hopes and
desires, in regard to providence, as with my watch and the sun,
which has often been ahead of true time; I have gone faster than
providence, and have been forced to stand still and wait, or I
have been set back painfully. That was a fine sentiment of
Flavel, "Some providence, like Hebrew letters, must be read
backwards." Quoted in "Christian Treasury,
"1849. Author not mentioned.
Verse 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock,
etc. From this verse the afflicted may learn many consolations.
First, that the best people that be are no better able to resist
temptation, than the simple sheep is able to withstand the brier
that catcheth him. The next, that man is of no more ability to
beware of temptations, than the poor sheep is to avoid the
brier, being preserved only by the diligence of the shepherd.
The third, that as the shepherd is careful of his entangled and
briard sheep, so is God of his afflicted faithful. And the
fourth is, that the people of Israel could take no harm of the
water, because they entered the sea at God's commandment.
Whereof we learn, that no danger can hurt when God doth command
us to enter into it; and all dangers overcome us if we choose
them ourselves, besides God's commandment; as Peter, when he
went at God's commandment upon the water, took no hurt; but when
he entered into the bishop's house upon his own presumption, was
overcome and denied Christ. The Israelites, when they fought at
God's commandment, the peril was nothing; but when they would do
it of their own heads, they perished: so that we are bound to
attend upon God's commandment, and then no danger shall destroy
us, though it pain us. The other doctrine is in this, that God
used the ministry of Moses and Aaron in the deliverance of his
people, who did command them to do nothing but that the Lord did
first bid. Whereof we learn that such as be ministers appointed
of God, and do nothing but as God commandeth, are to be
followed; as Paul saith, "Follow me, as I follow
Christ." John Hooper.
Verse 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock.
Observe, the good shepherd leads his followers like sheep:
First, with great solicitude and care, to protect them from
wolves. Secondly, with consideration and kindness, for the sheep
is a harmless animal. Thirdly, with a wise strictness, for sheep
easily wander, and they are of all animals the most stupid. Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse 20. Leddest thy people. Our guiding must
be mild and gentle, else it is not duxisti, but traxisti;
drawing and driving, and no leading. Leni spiritu non dure
manu, rather by an inward sweet influence to be led, than by
an outward extreme violence to be forced forward. So did God
lead his people here. Not the greatest pace, I wist, for they
were a year marching that they might have posted in eleven days,
as Moses saith. (De 1:2.) No nor yet the nearest way neither, as
Moses telleth us. (Ex 8:18.) For he fetched a compass divers
times, as all wise governors by his example must do, that desire
rather safely to lead, than hastily to drive forward. "The
Spirit of God leadeth this people, "saith Isaiah (Isa
63:14) "as an horse is ridden down the hill into a valley;
" which must not be at a gallop, lest horse and ruler both
come down one over another; but warily and easily. Lancelot
Andrewes.
Verse 20. By the hand of Moses and Aaron. He
says not, Moses and Aaron led the people of Israel; but, Thou
leddest the people, and that thy people, by the hand of
Moses and Aaron. Great was the power of these two men;
nevertheless neither of them was the shepherd of the sheep, but
each was a servant to the one and only true shepherd, to whom
the sheep exclusively belonged. Nor yet was either the leader of
the sheep, but the shepherd himself was present and led his own
flock, to whom these two acted as servants. There are therefore
three things to be learned from this passage. First, the sheep
do not belong to the servants, but to the true shepherd.
Secondly, the true shepherd is the leader of his own sheep.
Thirdly, the offices of Moses and Aaron was to attend to this
duty, that the Lord's sheep should be properly led and pastured.
So Christ himself leads the sheep, his own sheep, and for this
work he employs the ministry of his servants. Musculus.
Verse 20. The psalmist has reached the climax of his
strain, he has found relief from his sorrow by forcing his
thoughts into another channel, by dwelling on all God's
mightiest wonders of old; but there he must end: in his present
intensity of passion he cannot trust himself to draw forth in
detail any mere lessons of comfort. There are seasons
when even the holiest faith cannot bear to listen to words of
reasoning; though it can still find a support whereon to rest,
in the simple contemplation, in all their native grandeur, of
the deeds that God hath wrought. Joseph Francis Thrupp.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. The benefit of using the voice in private
prayer.
Verses 1, 3, 5, 10. Note the wise man's progress out
of his soul trouble.
1. I cried.
2. I remembered.
3. I considered.
4. I said.
Verse 2. See "Spurgeon's Sermons, "No. 853.
"A Sermon for the Most Miserable of Men."
Verse 2.
1. Special prayer: In the days, etc.
2. Persevering prayer: hands lifted up to God by night as
well as by day.
3. Agonizing prayer: my soul refused to be comforted,
until the answer came. "Being in an agony, he prayed,
"etc.
Verse 2. (last clause). When this is wise, and
when it is censurable.
Verse 4.
1. A good man cannot rest on his bed until his soul rests on
God.
2. He cannot speak freely to others until God speaks peace to
his soul. G. R.
Verse 4. Occupation for the sleepless, and consolation
for the speechless.
Verses 5-6. There are four rules for obtaining comfort
in affliction.
1. The consideration of God's goodness to his people of old.
2. Remembrance of our own past experience.
3. Self examination.
4. The diligent study of the word. G. R.
Verse 6. Remembrance. A good memory is very
helpful and useful.
1. It is a great means of knowledge: for what
signifies your reading or hearing, if you remember nothing?
2. It is a means of faith: 1Co 15:2.
3. It is a means of comfort. If a poor Christian in
distress could remember God's promises they would inspire him
with new life; but when they are forgotten, his spirits sink.
4. It is a means of thankfulness.
5. It is a means of hope; for "experience worketh
hope" (Ro 5:4), and the memory is the storehouse of
experience.
6. It is a means of repentance; for, how can we repent
or mourn for that which we have forgotten?
7. It is a means of usefulness. When one spark of
grace is truly kindled in the heart, it will quickly endeavour
to heat others also. R. Steele.
Verse 7. (first clause). To place the question
in a strong light, let us consider,
1. Of whom is the question raised? the Lord.
2. What course of action is in question? cast off for
ever.
3. Towards whom would the action be performed?
Verse 8. These questions,
1. Suppose a change in the immutable Jehovah in two glorious
attributes.
2. Are contrary to all past evidence.
3. Can only arise from the flesh and Satan; and, therefore,
4. Are to be met in the power of the Spirit, with strong
faith in the Eternal God.
Verse 10. A confession applicable to many other
matters. Such as, fear of death, fear of desertion, dread of
public service, sensitiveness of neglect, etc.
Verse 10. My infirmity. Different meanings of
this word. These would furnish a good subject. Some infirmities
are to be patiently endured, others gloried in, others taken in
prayer to God for his Spirit's help, and others lamented and
repented of.
Verses 10-12. Remember, meditate, talk.
Verses 11-12.
1. Consolation derived from the remembrance of the past.
2. Consolation increased by meditation.
3. Consolation strengthened by communication: "and
talk," etc. G. R.
Verses 11-12.
1. Consolation derived from the remembrance of the past.
2. Consolation increased by meditation.
3. Consolation strengthened by communication: "and
talk," etc. G. R.
Verse 12. Themes for thought and topics for
conversation. Creation, Providence, Redemption, etc.
Verses 13, 19. In the sea, in the sanctuary.
God's way incomprehensible, though undoubtedly right: in his
holiness lies the answer to its enigmas.
Verse 14. Thaumaturgeis, or the Great Wonder
worker.
Verse 15. And Joseph. The honour of nourishing
those who have been begotten of God by other men's labours.
Verse 15. Redemption thy power, the consequence,
evidence, and necessary attendant of redemption by price.
Verse 15.
1. The redeemed: thy people; the sons of, etc.
(a) In captivity though they are his people.
(b) His people though they are in captivity.
2. The redemption: from Egyptian bondage.
3. The Redeemer: Thou, with thine arm, etc. God by
Christ, his arm: Mine own arm brought, etc. To whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed? G. R.
Verses 16-18.
1. The homage of nature to the God of grace.
2. Its subserviency to his designs. G. R.
Verse 19.
1. The ways of God to men are peculiar: In the sea: thy
path, etc.
2. They are uniform, they lie in regular footsteps.
3. They are inscrutable: like the path of the ship upon the
waters, not of the ploughshare on the land.
Verse 19. God's way is in the sea. In things
changeable, ungovernable, vast, unfathomable, terrible,
overwhelming, the Lord has the ruling power.
Verse 20.
1. The subjects of divine guidance: thy people.
2. The manner of their guidance: like a flock—separated,
united, dependent.
3. The agents employed: by the hand; the Great
Shepherd leads by the hand of under shepherds. "May every
under shepherd keep his eye intent on Thee."
Verse 20. Church history.
1. The church a flock.
2. God seen as leading it on.
3. Instrumentality always used.
WORK UPON THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH PSALM
"An Exposition upon the Seventy-seventh
Psalm, made by the constant Martyr of Christ, Master John
Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester." In the
"Later Writings of Bishop Hooper." (In Parker
Society's Publications, and also in the "British
Reformer's" series of the Religious Tract Society.)