SUBJECT. The writer sees evil doers in
power, and smarts under their oppressions. His sense of the
divine sovereignty, of which he had been singing in the previous
Psalm, leads him to appeal to God as the great Judge of the
earth; this he does with much vehemence and importunity,
evidently tingling under the lash of the oppressor. Confident in
God's existence, and assured of his personal observation of the
doings of men, the psalmist rebukes his atheistic adversaries,
and proclaims his triumph in his God: he also interprets the
severe dispensation of Providence to be in very deed most
instructive chastisements, and so he counts those happy who
endure them. The Psalm is another pathetic form of the old
enigma—"Wherefore do the wicked prosper?" It is
another instance of a good man perplexed by the prosperity of
the ungodly, cheering his heart by remembering that there is,
after all, a King in heaven, by whom all things are overruled
for good.
DIVISION. In Ps 94:1-7 the psalmist
utters his complaint against wicked oppressors. From Ps 94:8-11
he reasons against their sceptical notion that God did not
notice the actions of men. He then shows that the Lord does
bless his people and will deliver them, though for a while they
may be chastened, Ps 94:12-15. He again pleads for help in Ps
94:16, and declares his entire dependence upon God for
preservation, Ps 94:17-19; yet a third time urges his complaint,
Ps 94:20-21; and then concludes with the confident assurance
that his enemies, and all other wicked men, would certainly be
made to reap the due reward of their deeds,—"yea, the
Lord our God shall cut them off."
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; 0
God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself: or, God
of retribution, Jehovah, God of retribution, shine forth! A
very natural prayer when innocence is trampled down, and
wickedness exalted on high. If the execution of justice be a
right thing,—and who can deny the fact?—then it must be a
very proper thing to desire it; not out of private revenge, in
which case a man would hardly dare to appeal to God, but out of
sympathy with right, and pity for those who are made wrongfully
to suffer, Who can see a nation enslaved, or even an individual
downtrodden, without crying to the Lord to arise and vindicate
the righteous cause? The toleration of injustice is here
attributed to the Lord's being hidden, and it is implied that
the bare sight of him will suffice to alarm the tyrants into
ceasing their oppressions. God has but to show himself, and the
good cause wins the day. He comes, he sees, he conquers! Truly
in these evil days we need a manifest display of his power, for
the ancient enemies of God and man are again struggling for the
mastery, and if they gain it, woe unto the saints of God.
Verse 2. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth.
Ascend thy judgment seat and be acknowledged as the ruler of
men: and, moreover, raise thyself as men do who are about to
strike with all their might; for the abounding sin of mankind
requires a heavy blow from thy hand. Render a reward to the
proud, give them measure for measure, a fair retaliation, blow
for blow. The proud look down upon the gracious poor and strike
them from above, as a giant might hurl down blows upon his
adversary; after the same manner, O Lord, lift up thyself, and
"return a recompense upon the proud, "and let them
know that thou art far more above them than they can be above
the meanest of their fellow men. The psalmist thus invokes the
retribution of justice in plain speech, and his request is
precisely that which patient innocence puts up in silence, when
her looks of anguish appeal to heaven.
Verse 3. LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long
shall the wicked triumph? Shall wrong for ever rule? Are
slavery, robbery, tyranny, never to cease? Since there is
certainly a just God in heaven, armed with almighty power,
surely there must be sooner or later an end to the ascendancy of
evil, innocence must one day find a defender. This "how
long?" of the text is the bitter complaint of all the
righteous in all ages, and expresses wonder caused by that great
enigma of providence, the existence and predominance of evil.
The sound "how long?" is very akin to howling, as if
it were one of the saddest of all the utterances in which misery
bemoans itself. Many a time has this bitter complaint been heard
in the dungeons of the Inquisition, at the whipping posts of
slavery, and in the prisons of oppression. In due time God will
publish his reply, but the full end is not yet.
Verse 4. How long shall they utter and speak hard
things? The ungodly are not content with deeds of injustice,
but they add hard speeches, boasting, threatening, and insulting
over the saints. Will the Lord for ever endure this? Will he
leave his own children much longer to be the prey of their
enemies? Will not the insolent speeches of his adversaries and
theirs at last provoke his justice to interfere? Words often
wound more than swords, they are as hard to the heart as stones
to the flesh; and these are poured forth by the ungodly in
redundance, for such is the force of the word translated utter;
and they use them so commonly that they become their common
speech (they utter and speak them)—will this always be
endured? And all the workers of iniquity boast
themselves?—they even soliloquise and talk to themselves, and
of themselves, in arrogance of Spirit, as if they were doing
some good deed when they crush the poor and needy, and spit
their spite on gracious men. It is the nature of workers of
iniquity to boast, just as it is a characteristic of good men to
be humble—will their boasts always be suffered by the great
Judge, whose ear hears all that they say? Long, very long, have
they had the platform to themselves, and loud, very loud, have
been their blasphemies of God, and their railings at his
saints—will not the day soon come when the threatened heritage
of shame and everlasting contempt shall be meted out to them?
Thus the oppressed plead with their Lord, and shall not God
avenge his own elect? Will he not speak out of heaven to the
enemy and say, "Why persecutest thou me"?
Verse 5. They break in pieces thy people, O LORD,
grinding them with oppression, crushing them with contempt. Yet
the men they break in pieces are God's own people, and they are
persecuted because they are so; this is a strong plea for the
divine interposition. And afflict thine heritage, causing them
sorrowful humiliation and deep depression of heart. The term,
"thine heritage, "marks out the election of the
saints, God's peculiar interest and delight in them, his
covenant relation, of long standing, to them and their fathers;
this also is a storehouse of arguments with their faithful God.
Will he not defend his own? Will a man lose his inheritance, or
permit it to be contemptuously despoiled? Those who are ground
down, and trampled on, are not strangers, but the choice and
chosen ones of the Lord; how long will he leave them to be a
prey to cruel foes
Verse 6. They slay the widow and the stranger, and
murder the fatherless. They deal most arrogantly with those
who are the most evident objects of compassion. The law of God
especially commends these poor ones to the kindness of good men,
and it is peculiar wickedness which singles them out to be the
victims not only of fraud but of murder. Must not such inhuman
conduct as this provoke the Lord? Shall the tears of widows, the
groans of strangers, and the blood of orphans be poured forth in
vain? As surely as there is a God in heaven, he will visit those
who perpetrate such crimes; though he bear long with them, he
will yet take vengeance, and that speedily.
Verse 7. Yet they say, the Lord shall not see.
This was the reason of their arrogance, and the climax of their
wickedness: they were blindly wicked because they dreamed of a
blind God. When men believe that the eyes of God are dim, there
is no reason to wonder that they give full license to their
brutal passions. The persons mentioned above not only cherished
an infidel unbelief, but dared to avow it, uttering the
monstrous doctrine that God is too far away to take notice of
the actions of men. Neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Abominable blasphemy and transparent falsehood If God has
actually become his people's God, and proved his care for them
by a thousand acts of grace, how dare the ungodly assert that he
will not notice the wrongs done to them? There is no limit to
the proud man's profanity, reason itself cannot restrain him; he
has broken through the bounds of common sense. Jacob's God heard
him at the brook Jabbok; Jacob's God led him and kept him all
his life long, and said concerning him and his family,
"Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm;
"and yet these brutish ones profess to believe that he
neither sees nor regards the injuries wrought upon the elect
people! Surely in such unbelievers is fulfilled the saying of
the wise, that those whom the Lord means to destroy he leaves to
the madness of their corrupt hearts.
Verse 8. Understand, ye brutish among the people.
They said that God did not note, and now, using the same word in
the original, the psalmist calls on the wicked to note, and have
regard to the truth. He designates them as boors, boarish,
swinish men, and well was the term deserved; and he bids them
understand or consider, if they can. They thought themselves to
be wise, and indeed the only men of wit in the world, but he
calls them "boars among the people": wicked men are
fools, and the more they know, the more foolish they become.
"No fool like a learned fool" is a true proverb. When
a man has done with God, he has done with his manhood, and has
fallen to the level of the ox and the ass, yea, beneath them,
for "the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib." Instead of being humbled in the presence of
scientific infidels, we ought to pity them; they affect to look
clown upon us, but we have far more cause to look down upon
them. And ye fools, when will ye be wise? Is it not high time?
Ye know the ways of folly, what profit have ye in them? Have ye
no relics of reason left? no shreds of sense? If as yet there
lingers in your minds a gleam of intelligence, hearken to
argument, and consider the questions now about to be proposed to
you.
Verse 9. He that planted the ear, shall he not
hear? He fashioned that marvellous organ, and fixed it in
the most convenient place near to the brain, and is he deaf
himself? Is he capable of such design and invention, and yet can
he not discern what is done in the world which he made? He made
you hear, can he not himself hear? Unanswerable question! It
overwhelms the sceptic, and covers him with confusion. He that
formed the eye, shall he not see? He gives us vision; is it
conceivable that he has no sight himself? With skilful hand he
fashioned the optic nerve, and the eyeball, and all its curious
mechanism, and it surpasses all conception that he can himself
be unable to observe the doings of his creatures. If there be a
God, he must be a personal intelligent being, and no limit can
be set to his knowledge.
Verse 10. He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not
he correct? He reproves whole nations, can he not reprove
individuals? All history shows that he visits national sin with
national judgment, and can he not deal with single persons? The
question which follows is equally full of force, and is asked
with a degree of warmth which checks the speaker, and causes the
inquiry to remain incomplete. It begins, He that teacheth man
knowledge, and then it comes to a pause, which the translators
have supplied with the words, shall not he know? but no
such words are in the original, where the sentence comes to an
abrupt end, as if the inference were too natural to need to be
stated, and the writer had lost patience with the brutish men
with whom he had argued. The earnest believer often feels as if
he could say, "Go to, you are not worth arguing with! If
you were reasonable men, these things would be too obvious to
need to be stated in your hearing. I forbear." Man's
knowledge comes from God. Science in its first principles was
taught to our progenitor Adam, and all after advances have been
due to divine aid; does not the author and revealer of all
knowledge himself know?
Verse 11. Whether men admit or deny that God knows,
one thing is here declared, namely, that The Lord knoweth the
thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Not their words alone are
heard, and their works seen, but he reads the secret motions of
their minds, for men themselves are not hard to be discerned of
him, before his glance they themselves are but vanity. It is in
the Lord's esteem no great matter to know the thoughts of such
transparent pieces of vanity as mankind are, he sums them up in
a moment as poor vain things. This is the sense of the original,
but that given in the authorised version is also true—the
thoughts, the best part, the most spiritual portion of man's
nature, even these are vanity itself, and nothing better. Poor
man! And yet such a creature as this boasts, plays at monarch,
tyrannises over his fellow worms, and defies his God! Madness is
mingled with human vanity, like smoke with the fog, to make it
fouler but not more substantial than it would have been alone.
How foolish are those who think that God does not know their
actions, when the truth is that their vain thoughts are all
perceived by him! How absurd to make nothing of God when in fact
we ourselves are as nothing in his sight.
Verse 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest,
O LORD. The psalmist's mind is growing quiet. He no longer
complains to God or argues with men, but tunes his harp to
softer melodies, for his faith perceives that with the most
afflicted believer all is well. Though he may not feel blessed
while smarting under the rod of chastisement, yet blessed he is;
he is precious in God's sight, or the Lord would not take the
trouble to correct him, and right happy will the results of his
correction be. The psalmist calls the chastened one a "man"
in the best sense, using the Hebrew word which implies strength.
He is a man, indeed, who is under the teaching and training of
the Lord. And teachest him out of thy law. The book and the rod,
the law and the chastening, go together, and are made doubly
useful by being found in connection. Affliction without the word
is a furnace for the metal, but there is no flux to aid the
purifying: the word of God supplies that need, and makes the
fiery trial effectual. After all, the blessing of God belongs
far rather to those who suffer under the divine hand than to
those who make others suffer: better far to lie and cry out as a
"man" under the hand of our heavenly Father, than to
roar and rave as a brute, and to bring down upon one's self a
death blow from the destroyer of evil. The afflicted believer is
under tuition, he is in training for something higher and
better, and all that he meets with is working out his highest
good, therefore is he a blessed man, however much his outward
circumstances may argue the reverse.
Verse 13. That thou mayest give him rest from the
days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
The chastening hand and instructive book are sanctified to us,
so that we learn to rest in the Lord. We see that his end is our
everlasting benefit, and therefore abide quiet under all trying
providences and bitter persecutions, waiting our time. The
Mighty Hunter is preparing the pit for the brutish ones; they
are prowling about at this time, and tearing the sheep, but they
will soon be captured and destroyed, therefore the people of the
Lord learn to rest in days of adversity, and tarry the leisure
of their God. Wicked men may not yet be ripe for punishment, nor
punishment ready for them: hell is a prepared place for a
prepared people; as days of grace ripen saints for glory, so
days of wantonness help sinners to rot into the corruption of
eternal destruction.
Verse 14. For the LORD will not cast off his
people. He may cast them down, but he never can cast them
off. During fierce persecutions the saints have been apt to
think that the Lord had left his own sheep, and given them over
to the wolf; but it has never been so, nor shall it ever be, for
the Lord will not withdraw his love, neither will he forsake his
inheritance. For a time he may leave his own with the design of
benefiting them thereby, yet never can he utterly desert them.
"He may chasten and correct,
But he never can neglect;
May in faithfulness reprove,
But he never can cease to love."
Verse 15. But judgment shall return unto
righteousness. The great Judge will come, the reign of
righteousness will commence, the course of affairs will yet be
turned into the right channel, and then all the godly will
rejoice. The chariot of right will be drawn in triumph through
our streets, and all the upright in heart shall follow it, as in
happy procession. A delightful hope is here expressed in poetic
imagery of much beauty. The government of the world has been for
a while in the hands of those who have used it for the basest
and most vicious ends; but the cry of prayer will bring back
righteousness to the throne, and then every upright heart will
have its portion of joy.
Verse 16. Notwithstanding the psalmist's persuasion
that all would be well eventually, he could not at the time
perceive any one who would stand side by side with him in
opposing evil; no champion of the right was forthcoming, the
faithful failed from among men. This also is a bitter trial, and
a sore evil under the sun; yet it has its purpose, for it drives
the heart still more completely to the Lord, compelling it to
rest alone in him. If we could find friends elsewhere, it may be
our God would not be so dear to us; but when, after calling upon
heaven and earth to help, we meet with no succour but such as
comes from the eternal arm, we are led to prize our God, and
rest upon him with undivided trust. Never is the soul safer or
more at rest than when, all other helpers failing, she leans
upon the Lord alone. The verse before us is an appropriate cry,
now that the church sees error invading her on all sides, while
faithful ministers are few, and fewer still are bold enough to
"stand up" and defy the enemies of truth. Where are
our Luthers and our Calvins? A false charity has enfeebled the
most of the valiant men of Israel. Our John Knox would be worth
a mint at this hour, but where is he? Our grand consolation is
that the God of Knox and Luther is yet with us, and in due time
will call out his chosen champions.
Verse 17. Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul
had almost dwelt in silence. Without Jehovah's help, the
psalmist declares that he should have died outright, and gone
into the silent land, where no more testimonies can be borne for
the living God. Or he may mean that he would not have had a word
to speak against his enemies, but would have been wrapped in
speechless shame. Blessed be God, we are not left to that
condition yet, for the Almighty Lord is still the helper of all
those who look to him. Our inmost soul is bowed down when we see
the victories of the Lord's enemies—we cannot brook it, we
cover our mouths in confusion; but he will yet arise and avenge
his own cause, therefore have we hope.
Verse 18. When I said, My foot slippeth—is
slipping even now: I perceived my danger, and cried out in
horror, and then, at the very moment of my extremity, came the
needed help, thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. Often enough is this
the case, we feel our weakness, and see our danger, and in fear
and trembling we cry out. At such times nothing can help us but mercy;we
can make no appeal to any fancied merit, for we feel that it is
our inbred sin which makes our feet so ready to fail us; our joy
is that mercy endureth for ever, and is always at hand to pluck
us out of the danger, and hold us up, where else we should fall
to our destruction. Ten thousand times has this verse been true
in relation to some of us, and especially to the writer of this
comment. The danger was imminent, it was upon us, we were going;
the peril was apparent, we saw it, and were aghast at the sight;
our own heart was failing, and we concluded that it was all over
with us; but then came the almighty interposition: we did not
fail, we were held up by an unseen hand, the devices of the
enemy were frustrated, and we sang for joy. O faithful Keeper of
our souls, be thou extolled for ever and ever. We will bless the
Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in our
mouths.
Verse 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within
me. When I am tossed to and fro with various reasonings,
distractions, questions, and forebodings, I will fly to my true
rest, for thy comforts delight my soul. From my sinful thoughts,
my vain thoughts, my sorrowful thoughts, my griefs, my cares, my
conflicts, I will hasten to the Lord; he has divine comforts,
and these will not only console but actually delight me.
How sweet are the comforts of the Spirit! Who can muse upon
eternal love, immutable purposes, covenant promises, finished
redemption, the risen Saviour, his union with his people, the
coming glory, and such like themes, without feeling his heart
leaping with joy? The little world within is, like the great
world without full of confusion and strife; but when Jesus
enters it, and whispers "Peace be unto you, "there is
a calm, yea, a rapture of bliss. Let us turn away from the
mournful contemplation of the oppression of man and the present
predominance of the wicked, to that sanctuary of pure rest which
is found in the God of all comfort. Good will to us, and to give
us some evidence and assurance of his love and favour towards
us; these are his comforts. "Delight." This is
a transcendant expression, which the Holy Ghost in the pen of
the prophet David comes up unto. It had been a great matter to
have said, they satisfy my soul, or, they quiet me, no more but
so, that is the highest pitch which a perplexed spirit can wish
to itself. Those which are in great pain, they would be glad if
they might have but ease, they cannot aspire so high as pleasure
and delight, this is more than can be expected by them; but
see here now the notable efficacy of these Divine comforts; they
do not only pacify the mind, but they joy it; they
do not only satify it, but ravish it; they not
only quiet, but delight it. Thy comforts
delight my soul. That is, not only take away the present
grief, but likewise put in the room and place of it most
unspeakable comfort and consolation; as the sun does not
only dispel darkness, but likewise brings in a glorious light in
the stead of it.
Verse 20. Shall the throne of iniquity have
fellowship with thee? Such thrones there are, and they plead
a right divine, but their claim is groundless, a fraud upon
mankind and a blasphemy of heaven. God enters into no alliance
with unjust authority, he gives no sanction to unrighteous
legislation. Which frameth mischief by a law? They legalise
robbery and violence, and then plead that it is the law of the
land; and so indeed it may be, but it is a wickedness for all
that. With great care men prepare enactments intended to put
down all protests, so as to render wrong-doing a permanent
institution, but one element is necessary to true Conservatism,
viz., righteousness; and lacking that, all their arrangements of
the holders of power must come to an end, and all their decrees
must in process of time be wiped out of the statute book.
Nothing can last for ever but impartial right. No injustice can
be permanent, for God will not set his seal upon it, nor have
any fellowship with it, and therefore down it must come, and
happy shall be the day which sees it fall.
Verse 21. They gather themselves together against
the soul of the righteous, so many are there of them that
they crowd their assemblies, and carry their hard measures with
enthusiasm; they are the popular party, and are eager to put
down the saints. In counsel, and in action, they are unanimous;
their one resolve is to hold their own tyrannical position, and
put down the godly party. And condemn the innocent blood. They
are great at slander and false accusation, nor do they stick at
murder; no crime is too great for them, if only they can trample
on the servants of the Lord. This description is historically
true in reference to persecuting times; it has been fulfilled in
England, and may be again if Popery is to advance in future time
at the same rate as in the past few years. The dominant sect has
the law on its side, and blasts that it is the national church;
but the law which establishes and endows one religion rather
than another is radically an injustice. God has no fellowship
with it, and therefore the synagogue of Ritualism will yet be a
stench in the nostrils of all sane men. What evil times are in
store for us it is not for us to prophesy; it is ours to leave
the matter in the hands of him who cannot be in fellowship with
an oppressive system, and will not always endure to be insulted
to his face by Popish idols, and their priests.
Verse 22. Let the wicked gather as they may, the
psalmist is not afraid, but sweetly sings, The Lord is my
defence, and my God is the rock of my refuge. Firm as a rock is
Jehovah's love, and there do we betake ourselves for shelter. In
him, even in him alone, we find safety, let the world rage as it
may; we ask not aid from man, but are content to flee into the
bosom of omnipotence.
Verse 23. The natural result of oppression is the
destruction of the despot; his own iniquities crush him ere
long. Providence arranges retaliations as remarkable as they are
just. High crimes in the end bring on heavy judgments, to sweep
away evil men from off the face of the earth; yea, God himself
interposes in a special manner, and cuts short the career of
tyrants while they are in the very midst of their crimes. Wicked
men are often arrested by the pursuivants of divine justice red
handed, with the evidences of their guilt upon them. He shall
bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in
their own wickedness. While the stolen bread is in their
mouths wrath slays them, while the ill gotten wedge of gold is
yet in their tent judgment overtakes them. God himself
conspicuously visits them, and reveals his own power in their
overthrow, yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. Here, then,
the matter ends; faith reads the present in the light of the
future, and ends her song without a trembling note.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 1. 0 LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth.
It may perhaps seem to accord too little with a lover of piety,
so strenuously to urge upon God to show himself an avenger
against the wicked, and to rouse Him as if He were lingering and
procrastinating. But this supplication must be regarded in its
proper bearing; for David does not pray, neither should we pray,
that God would take vengeance on the wicked in the same way that
men, inflamed with anger and hatred, are wont often to avenge
themselves of their enemies, but that He would punish them after
his own divine manner and measure. The vengeance of God is for
the most part a medicine for the evil; but ours is at times
destruction even to the good. Therefore truly the Lord is alone
the God of revenges. For we, when we think we have inflicted a
penalty upon our enemy, are often much mistaken. What injury to
us was the body of our enemy? in depriving him of which we
nevertheless express all our bitterness. What wounded thee and
wrought thee harm and shame, was the spirit of thine enemy, and
that thou art not able to seize and hold, but God is able; and
He alone has such power that in no way can the spirit escape his
strength and force. Leave vengeance with Him, and He will repay.
He admonishes us, that if we ourselves wish to be avengers of
our own pains and injuries we may hurt ourselves more deeply
than our enemy: for when we take vengeance on him, we indeed
wound and do violence to his body, which in itself is vile and
of little regard; but in our own best and most precious part,
that is, in our spirit; we ourselves, by losing patience,
receive a deep stain, because when virtue and humanity have been
expelled thence, we meanwhile incur faults to be atoned for
therein. Wherefore God is entreated to become Himself the
avenger of our injuries, for He alone knows aright and is able
to avenge; and to become such an avenger that only the very
thing which injured us may be punished. Some greedy man has
cheated thee in money, may He punish avarice in him. A proud man
has treated thee with scorn, may He destroy his pride, etc...
This is vengeance most worthy to be inflicted of God, and by us
to be sought. Jacopo Sadoleto. 1477-1547.
Verse 1. I do not think that we sufficiently attend to
the distinction that exists between revenge and vengeance.
"Revenge, "says Dr. Johnson, "is an act of
passion, vengeance of justice; injuries are revenged, crimes
avenged." And it is from not attending to this essential
distinction that the scorner has been led into such profane
remarks, as if there were a vindictive spirit in the Almighty,
and as if he found delight in wreaking vengeance on an
adversary. The call which the psalmist here makes on God as a
God to whom vengeance belongeth, is no other than if he had
said, "O God, to whom justice belongeth!" Vengeance
indeed is not for man, because with man's feelings and
propensities it would ever degenerate into revenge. "I wilt
be even with him, "says nature; "I will be above him,
"says grace. Barton Bouchier.
Verse 1. The two divine names (El and Jehovah,—God
and Lord) recognize God as almighty, eternal, self
existent, bound by covenant to his people, and alone entitled to
take vengeance. J. A. Alexander.
Verses 1-6.
"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones,
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piemontese that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
Over all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who having learned the way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe." John Milton.
Verse 3. How long shall the wicked, how long,
etc. Twice he saith it, because the wicked boast day after day,
with such insolence and outrage, as if they were above control. John
Trapp.
Verse 3. How long shall the wicked triumph? For
"triumph, "the Hebrew word is wzley which
signifies to exalt. That is, they give themselves vain applause
on account of their prosperity, and declare their success both
with words and with the gestures of their body, like peacocks
spreading their feathers. How long shall they utter? etc.
For "utter" the Hebrew is weyby, they shall
flow, they shall cast forth. The metaphor is taken from
fountains springing out of the rock with a rush and abundance of
water. Where the abundance of words is noted, their rashness,
their waste and profusion, their sound and eagerness, their
continuance and the difficulty of obstructing them. Le Blanc.
Verse 3. How long shall the wicked triumph?
What answer shall we give, what date shall we put to this, "How
long?" The answer is given in Ps 94:23, "He
shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off
in their own wickedness, "etc. As if he had said,
Except the Lord cut them off in their wickedness, they will
never leave off doing wickedly. They are men of such a kind that
there is no curing of them, they will never have done doing
mischief until they be cut off by death, therefore God threatens
death to deter men from sin. A godly man saith, "If God
kill me, yet will I trust in him; "and some wicked men say
(in effect, if not in the letter), Till God kills us we will sin
against him. Joseph Caryl.
Verses 3-4. Triumph, utter and speak, boast. In the
very terms wherein the Psalmist complains of the continued
prevalence of the wicked, there is matter of comfort, for we
have three (rather four, as in the authorised version) words to
denote speaking, and only one, workers, to denote action,
showing us that they are far more powerful with their tongues
than with their hands. Hugo Cardinalis, quoted by Neale.
Verse 5. They break in pieces thy people. They
tread down; they grind; they crush. The Hebrew word is often
used as meaning to crush under foot; to trample on; and hence it
means to oppress. La 3:34, Isa 3:15. Albert Barnes.
Verse 6. Widow; fatherless. An old Jewish
writer (Philo Judaeus) has pointed out how aptly the titles of widow
and orphan befitted the Hebrew nation, because it had no
helper save God only, and was cut off from all other people by
its peculiar rites and usages, whereas the Gentiles, by their
mutual alliances and intercourse, had, as it were, a multitude
of kindred to help them in any strait. J. M. Neale.
Verse 7. They say, the Lord shall not see. As
if they had said, Though God should set himself to search us
out, and would greatly wish to see what we are doing, yet he
shall not. We will carry it so closely and cunningly, that the
eye of God shall not reach us. Their works were so foul and
bloody, that the sun might be ashamed to look upon them, and
they were so secret that they believed God could not look upon
them, or bring them to shame for them. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 7. The LORD... the God of Jacob. The
divine names are, as usual, significant. That the self existent
and eternal God should not see, is a palpable absurdity; and
scarcely less so, that the God of Israel should suffer his own
people to be slaughtered without even observing it. The last
verb means to mark, note, notice. J. A. Alexander.
Verses 8-11. In these words the following particulars
are to be observed.
1. A certain spiritual disease charged on some
persons, viz. darkness, and blindness of mind,
appearing in their ignorance and folly.
2. The great degree of this disease; so as to render
the subjects of it fools. Ye fools, when will ye be
wise? And so as to reduce them to a degree of brutishness.
Ye brutish among the people. This ignorance and folly were
to such a degree as to render men like beasts.
3. The obstinacy of this disease; expressed in that
interrogation, When will ye be wise? Their blindness and
folly were not only very great, but deeply rooted and
established, resisting all manner of cure.
4. Of what nature this blindness is. It is especially
in things pertaining to God. They were strangely ignorant
of his perfections, like beasts: and had foolish notions
of him, as though he did not see, nor know: and as though he
would not execute justice, by chastising and punishing wicked
men.
5. The unreasonableness and sottishness of the
notion they had of God, that he did not hear, did not observe
their reproaches of him and his people, is shown by observing
that he planted the ear. It is very unreasonable
to suppose that he who gave power of perceiving words to others,
should not perceive them himself. And the sottishness of their
being insensible of God's all seeing eye, and particularly of
his seeing their wicked actions, appears, in that God is the
being who formed the eye, and gave others a power
of seeing. The sottishness of their apprehension of God, as
though he did not know what they did, is argued from his being
the fountain and original of all knowledge. The
unreasonableness of their expecting to escape God's just
chastisement and judgments for sin, is set forth by his
chastising even the heathen, who did not sin against that
light, or against so great mercies, as the wicked in Israel did;
nor had ever made such a profession as they.
6. We may observe, that this dreadful disease is ascribed to mankind
in general. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of MAN, that
they are vanity. The psalmist had been setting forth the
vanity and unreasonableness of the thoughts of some of
the children of men; and immediately upon it he observes, that
this vanity and foolishness of thought is common and natural
to mankind. From these particulars we may fairly deduce the
following doctrinal observation: That there is an extreme and
brutish blindness in things of religion, which naturally
possesses the hearts of mankind. Jonathan Edwards.
Verses 8-15. God hath ability, bowels, verity.
Ability, He that made the eye, cannot he see? He that planted
the ear, cannot he hear? Ps 94:8-11. Bowels, He doth but
chasten his, not cast them off, Ps 94:12-14. Verity, this
is but until a pit be made for the wicked, Ps 94:13.
Mordecai is frowned upon, but till a gallows be made for Haman,
and then judgment returns unto righteousness. Nicholas
Lockyer.
Verse 9. He that planted the ear, shall he not
hear? etc. The psalmist does not say, He that planteth the
ear, hath he not an ear? He that formed the eye, hath
he not eyes? No; but, Shall he not hear? Shall he not
see? And why does he say so? To prevent the error of
humanizing God, of attributing members or corporeal parts to the
infinite Spirit. Adam Clarke.
Verse 9. Planted the ear. The mechanism of the
ear, like a root planted in the earth, is sunk deep into the
head, and concealed from view. Bagster's Comprehensive Bible.
Verse 9. The planting or deep seated position
of the ear, as well as its wonderful construction, are
illustrated by the following extract:—"The organ or
instrument of hearing is in all its most important parts so
hidden within the head, that we cannot perceive its construction
by a mere external inspection. What in ordinary language we call
the ear, is only the outer porch or entrance vestibule of a
curious series of intricate, winding passages, which, like the
lobbies of a great building, lead from the outer air into the
inner chambers. Certain of these passages are full of air;
others are full of liquid; and their membranes are stretched
like parchment curtains across the corridors at different
places, and can be thrown into vibration, or made to tremble, as
the head of a drum or the surface of a tambourine does when
struck with a stick or the fingers. Between two of these
parchment like curtains, a chain of very small bones extends,
which serves to tighten or relax these membranes, and to
communicate vibrations to them. In the innermost place of all,
rows of fine threads, called nerves, stretch like the strings of
a piano from the last points to which the tremblings or
thrillings reach, and pass inwards to the brain. If these
threads or nerves are destroyed, the power of hearing as
infallibly departs as the power to give out sound is lost by a
piano or violin when its strings are broken." We know far
less, however, of the ear than of the eye. The eye is a single
chamber open to the light, and we can see into it, and observe
what happens there. But the ear is many chambered, and its
winding tunnels traversing the rock like bones of the skull are
narrow, and hidden from us as the dungeons of a castle are, like
which, also, they are totally dark. Thus much, however, we know,
that it is in the innermost recesses of these unilluminated
ivory vaults, that the mind is made conscious of sound. Into
these gloomy cells, as into the bright chamber of the eye, the
soul is ever passing and asking for news from the world without;
and ever and anon, as of old in hidden subterranean caverns
where men listened in silence and darkness to the utterance of
oracles, reverberations echo along the surrounding walls, and
responses come to the waking spirit, while the world lifts up
its voice and speaks to the soul. The sound is that of a hushed
voice, a low but clear whisper; for as it is but a dim shadow of
the outer world we see; so it is but a faint echo of the outer
world we hear. George Wilson, in "The Five Gateways of
Knowledge," 1861.
Verse 9. He that planted the ear, &c. Shall
the Author of these senses be senseless? Our God is not as that
Jupiter of Crete, who was pictured without ears, and could not
be at leisure to attend upon small matters. He is onv kai nou;
he is also olofyalmov, all eye, all ear. We read of a people
called Panotii;God only is so, to speak properly John
Trapp.
Verse 9. Formed the eye. The term used of the
creation of the eye, is not merely "made, "as
the Prayer Book version reads, but "formed, "plasav,
finxit, directing our attention to the wonderful
mechanism of the organs of sight, and thence to the marvellous
skill of the Artificer. J. M. Neale.
Verse 9. He that formed the eye. The word here
used is frequently employed in reference to a potter;and
the idea is that God has moulded or formed the eye as the potter
fashions the clay. The more the eye is studied in its structure,
the more deeply shall we be impressed with the wonderful skill
and wisdom of God. Albert Barnes.
Verse 9. The eye. As illustrating the wisdom
displayed in the eye we have selected the following. "Our
physical good demands that we should have the power of
comprehending the world in all the respects in which it is
possible for matter or its forces to affect our bodies."
The senses completely meet this want... We are too apt to
confine ourselves to the mere mechanism of the eye or ear,
without considering how the senses supplement each other, and
without considering the provision made in the world that it may
be a fit place for the exercise of the senses. The eye would be
useless without all the properties of light; the ear would have
no power in a world without an atmosphere. Sight enables us to
avoid danger, and seek distant needful objects. What a vast
length of time and wearisome labour would it require for a blind
man to learn what one glance of the eye may give to one blessed
with sight. A race of blind men could not exist on this globe.
The sense of sight alone, as a means of adapting us to the
world, would strike us as wonderful in its results, and worthy
of the conception of the highest intelligence in adapting means
to ends, if we knew nothing of the adjustments by which sight is
secured. We can conceive of the power of sight as direct
perception, without the aid of light, or of a special organ
corresponding to the eye. But constituted as we are, we see only
through the agency of light; and we perceive light only by a
special organ; and objects only in consequence of a peculiar
structure of that organ. Of all these relationships of light to
objects, and of light to the eye, and of the parts of the eye to
each other, not one of them is a necessary condition of matter.
The arrangement of so many things by which this wonderful power
of perceiving distant objects is secured, is the only one that
will secure the end desired, out of an endless number of
arrangements that can be conceived of... Whoever contrived the
organ through which we are to perceive, understood perfectly all
the properties of light, and the wants of the being that was to
use it. The eye of man, though limited in its power to a certain
range, gives all that the common wants of life demand. And if
man needs greater range of vision, he has but to study the eye
itself, and fashion instruments to increase its power; as he is
able when the proper time has come in his civilization, to
increase by science and art the efficacy of nearly all his
physical powers. For the ordinary purposes of life, neither
telescopic nor microscopic adjustment of the eye is needful.
But the eye has not only the power of vision so necessary to
man, but it is an instrument of power, an instrument made up of
distinct parts, of solids and liquids, of transparent and opaque
tissues, of curtains, and lenses, and screens. Its mechanism can
be accurately examined and the use of each part as perfectly
understood as any of the works of man. We examine every part of
it as we would a microscope. We have first the solid case which
is to hold all the machinery, and upon which are to be fastened
the cords and pulleys of its skilful mounting. This covering,
opaque, white, and glistening, like silver on the back and sides
of the eye, in front, where the light must enter, suddenly
becomes transparent as the clearest crystal. Within this is a
second coating that coming to the front changes just as suddenly
into an opaque screen, through the tissues of which no ray of
light can pass. That screen is self adjusting, with a network
that no art of man ever equalled. Whether expanding or
contracting, its opening in the centre always remains a perfect
circle, adapted in size to the intensity of the light. How much
light shall enter the eye it determines without aid from us.
Next there must be connection with the brain, the seat of the
being for whom the provision is made. These two coatings are
pierced upon the back part of the eye, and a thread draw out
from the brain is passed through this opening and spread out
within the eye as a delicate screen upon which all impressions
are to be made. To fill the larger portion of the cavity, there
is packed into it a clear jelly, and imbedded in this a lens,
fashioned with a skill that no artist can equal, to refract the
light and throw the image on the perceptive screen. In front of
this lens is another humour, not like jelly as the other,
because in this, that delicate fringe the iris, is to float, and
nothing but a watery fluid will answer its purpose. Here then we
have a great variety of materials all brought together, of the
exact quality and in the quantity needed, placed in the exact
position which they ought to occupy, so perfectly adjusted that
the most that man can do is to imitate the eye without ever
hoping to equal it.
Nor is the curious structure of the eye itself all that is
worthy of our attention. The instrument when finished must be
mounted for use. A cavity is formed in solid bone, with grooves
and perforations for all the required machinery. The eye, when
placed, is packed with soft elastic cushions and fastened by
strings and pulleys to give it variety and rapidity of motion.
Its outer case is to cover it when not in use, and protect it
when in danger. The delicate fringe upon its border never needs
clipping; and set like a well arranged defence, its points all
gracefully turned back, that no ray of light may be obstructed.
Above the protecting brow is another defence to turn aside the
acrid fluids from the forehead, while near the eye is placed a
gland that bathes the whole organ with a clear soothing fluid,
to prevent all friction and keep its outward lens free from
dust, and polished for constant use. When we consider all this,
the perfect adaptation of the eye to our wants, the arrangement
of every part of its structure on strict mechanical and optical
principles, and all the provisions for its protection, we
pronounce the instrument perfect, the work of a Being like man,
but raised immeasurably above the most skilful human workman.
What shall we say when we learn that this instrument was
prepared in long anticipation of its use; that there is a
machinery within it to keep it in constant repair; that the
Maker not only adjusted the materials, but that he was the
chemist who formed all these substances from the dust of the
earth? We may be told that the architect found this dust ready
at hand, existing from all eternity. We may not be able to prove
the contrary, nor do we need to do so for this argument. It is
enough for our present purpose to know that the eyes with which
we now see, these wonderfully complex and perfect instruments,
were not long since common earth, dust upon which we perchance
have trod. We can understand the mechanism of the eye, we can
comprehend the wisdom that devised it; but the preparation of
materials, and the adjustment of parts, speak of a power and
skill to which man can never hope to attain. When he sees his
most cunning workmanship surpassed both in plan and execution,
shall he fail to recognise design? "Shall we fail to
recognise a builder when we contemplate such a work?" P.
A. Chadbourne, in "Lectures on Natural Theology"; or,
Nature and the Bible from the same Author. New York, 1867.
Verse 9. Shall he not see? A god or a saint
that should really cast the glance of a pure eye into the
conscience of the worshipper would not long be held in repute.
The grass would grow again around that idol's shrine. A seeing
god would not do: the idolater wants a blind god. The first
cause of idolatry is a desire in an impure heart to escape from
the look of the living God, and none but a dead image would
serve the turn. William Arnot.
Verse 9. He who made the sun itself, and causes it to
revolve, being a small portion of his works, if compared with
the whole, is he unable to perceive all things? Epictus.
Verse 9. That is wise counsel of the Rabbins, that the
three best safeguards against falling into sin are to remember,
first, that there is an ear which hears everything; secondly,
that there is an eye which sees everything; thirdly, that there
is a hand which writes everything in the Book of Knowledge,
which shall be opened at the Judgment. J. M. Neale.
Verses 9-10. It was no limited power that could make
this eye to see, this ear to hear, this heart to understand;
and, if that eye which he hath given us, can see all things that
are within our prospect, and that ear, that he hath planted, can
hear all sounds that are within our compass, and that heart,
that he hath given us, can know all matters within the reach of
our comprehension; how much more shall the sight, and hearing,
and knowledge of that Infinite Spirit, which can admit of no
bounds, extend to all the actions and events of all the
creatures, that lie open before him that made them! Joseph
Hall.
Verse 10. He that teacheth man knowledge. The
question posts midway (for the words in Italics are not
Scripture), the point of application being too obvious to need
mention. "He that teacheth man all his knowledge."
(Fill out the rest yourselves; think, What then?) Henry
Cowles.
Verse 10. He that teacheth man knowledge. What
knowledge have we but that which is derived from himself or from
the external world?—and what is that world, but his
Creation?—and what is creation, but the composition,
structure, and arrangement of all things according to his
previous designs, plans, intentions, will, and mandate? In
studying creation in any of its departments, we therefore study
his mind: and all that we can learn from it must be his ideas,
his purposes, and his performances. No author, in his
compositions—no artificer, in his mechanisms, can more truly
display their talents and ideas to others, than the unseen
Creator manifests his thoughts and intelligence to us in the
systems and substances which he has formed, and presents to our
continual contemplation. In this sense, Nature is an unceasing
revelation of them to us. Sharon Turner.
Verse 11. The LORD knoweth the thoughts. The
thoughts of man's heart—what millions are there of them in a
day! The twinkling of the eye is not so sudden a thing as the
twinkling of a thought; yet those thousands and thousands of
thoughts which pass from thee, that thou canst not reckon, they
are all known to God. Anthony Burgess.
Verse 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that
they are vanity. What a humbling thought is here
suggested to us! Let us examine it.
1. If vanity had been ascribed to the meaner parts of the
creation—if all inanimate and irrational beings, whose days
are as a shadow, and who know not whence they came nor whither
they go, had thus been characterized—it had little more than
accorded with our own ideas. But the humiliating truth belongs
to man, the lord of the lower creation—to man, that
distinguished link in the chain of being which unites in his
person mortality and immortality, heaven and earth. "The
LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are
vanity."
2. Had vanity been ascribed only to the exercise of our
sensual or mortal part, or of that which we possess in common
with other animals, it had been less humiliating. But the charge
is pointed at that which is the peculiar glory of man the
intellectual part, his thoughts. It is here, if anywhere,
that we excel the creatures which are placed around us. We can
contemplate our own existence, dive into the past and the
future, and understand whence we came and whither we go. Yet in
this tender part; we are touched. Even the "thoughts"
of man are vanity.
3. If vanity had been ascribed merely to those loose and
trifling excursions of the imagination which fall not under the
influence of choice, a kind of comers and goers, which are ever
floating in the mind, like insects in the air on a summer's
evening, it had been less affecting. The soul of man seems to be
necessarily active. Everything we see, hear, taste, feel, or
perceive, has some influence upon thought, which is moved by it
as leaves on the trees are moved by every breeze of wind. But
"thoughts" here include those exercises of the mind in
which it is voluntarily or intensely engaged, and in which we
are in earnest; even all our schemes, contrivances, and
purposes. One would think, if there were anything in man to be
accounted of, it should be those exercises in which his
intellectual faculty is seriously and intensely employed. Yet
the Lord knoweth that even these are vanity.
4. If during our state of childhood and youth only vanity had
been ascribed to our thoughts, it would have been less
surprising. This is a truth of which numberless parents have
painful proof; yea, and of which children themselves, as they
grow up to maturity, are generally conscious. Vanity at this
period, however, admits of some apology. The obstinacy and folly
of some young people, while they provoke disgust, often excite a
tear of pity. But the charge is exhibited against man.
"Man at his best estate is altogether vanity."
5. The decision proceeds from a quarter from which there can
be no appeal. "The LORD knoweth" it. Opinions
dishonourable to our species may sometimes arise from ignorance,
sometimes from spleen and disappointment, and sometimes from a
gloomy turn of mind, which views mankind through a distorted
medium. But the judgment given in this passage is the decision
of Him who cannot err; a decision therefore to which, if we had
no other proof, it becomes us to accede. Andrew Fuller.
Verse 11. They are vanity. The Syriac version
is, For they are a vapour. Compare Jas 4:14. John
Gill.
Verse 12. Blessed is the man, &e. I shall
show the various benefits of affliction, when it is sanctified
by the Spirit of God to those persons who are exercised by it.
(1.) The Great God has made affliction the occasion of
converting sinners, and bringing them into a spiritual
acquaintance with Christ his Son. See Isa 48:10. (2.) God not
only makes affliction the occasion of converting sinners at
first, but after conversion he sanctifies an afflicted state to
the saints, to weaken the remains of indwelling sin in them, and
make them afraid of sinning against him in future time. (3.)
God, in afflicting the saints, increases that good work of
grace, which his Spirit has implanted in them. God causes his
saints to grow in grace, when he corrects them with the rod of
sorrow; God assimilates and makes the saints like unto himself,
in a greater degree, by temporal troubles and distresses. Heb
12:10-11. (4.) God afflicts the saints for the improvement of
their knowledge in divine things. The Psalmist says, in the
words of the text, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O
LORD, and teachest him out of thy law. See also Ps 119:71.
(5.) The great God, by afflicting the saints, brings them unto
him with greater nearness and frequency, by prayer and
supplication. (6.) God afflicts the saints, to make them better
acquainted with the perfections of his nature. (7.) To make them
more conformed to Christ his Son. (8.) To subdue the pride of
their hearts, and make them more humble. (9.) God oftentimes
discovers to the saints, in the season of their affliction, in a
clearer manner, that grace which he has implanted in them, and
refreshes their souls with the consolations of his Spirit. (10.)
God afflicts the saints, to divide their hearts more from the
love of the world, and to make them more meet for heaven. Outline
of a Sermon by John Farmer, 1744.
Verse 12. Here observe generally, what it is which
afflictions, or God by afflictions, teacheth his children; even
the self same thing which he teacheth in his word; as the
schoolmaster teacheth his scholars the same thing by the rod,
which he teacheth by words. The word, then, is the storehouse of
all instruction. Look not for any new diverse doctrine to be
taught thee by affliction, which is not in the word. For, in
truth, herein stands our teaching by affliction, that it fits
and prepares us for the word, by breaking and subdividing the
stubbornness of our hearts, and making them pliable, and capable
of the impression of the word. Wherefore, as the Apostle saith,
that the law is our schoolmaster to Christ, Ga 3:24. Because the
law, by showing unto us our disease, forces us to the physician.
So likewise it may be said that afflictions are schoolmasters to
the law. For whilst we are at ease and in prosperity, though the
sons of thunder terrify never so much with the fearful cracks of
legal menaces, yet are we as deaf men, nothing moved therewith.
But when we are humbled and meekened by affliction, then is
there way made for the terrors of the law; then do we begin with
some reverence of attention to listen and give ear unto them.
When therefore God sends us any affliction, we must know that
then he sends us to the law and to the testimony. For he teaches
us indeed in our affliction, but it is in his law. And therefore
if in our affliction we will learn anything, we must take God's
book into our hands, and carefully and seriously peruse it. And
hereby shall it appear that our afflictions have been our
teachers, if by them we have felt ourselves stirred up to
greater diligence, zeal, and reverence in reading and hearing
the word... After that the prophet had preferred his complaint
to the Lord against the adversaries of the church, from the
first verse to the eighth, he leaveth God, and in a sudden
conversion of speech, turns himself from the party complained
unto, to the parties complained of, the cruel oppressors of the
church, terrifying them by those just judgments of God, which in
fine must overtake them, and so consequently cheering and
comforting the distressed church. But because the distress of
the church's enemies of itself could be no sufficient matter of
comfort unto her, therefore a second argument of further and
that far more effectual consolation is added in this twelfth
verse, drawn from the happy condition of the church, even while
she is thus overborne with those tigerly and tyrannical
persecutors. And the argument is propounded by the prophet, not
directing his speech to the church, but rather in his own
person, bringing in the church suddenly turning her speech from
her enemies, with whom she was expostulating, to God himself,
and breaking forth into this pathetic expostulation, Blessed
is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of
thy law. From the coherence of which words with the former,
we may observe, that the outward miseries of our enemies is but
cold comfort, unless withal we have a persuasion of our own
inward happiness... It would do the child little good to see the
rod cast into the fire, if he himself should be cast in after
it. Therefore the church having in this place meditated of the
just judgments of God, which should in due time befall her
adversaries, and not finding sufficiency of comfort therein,
here in this verse proceedeth to a further meditation of her own
case and condition. Wherein she seemeth thus to reason to
herself. What though these mine enemies be brought to their
deserved ends? what though I know they be reserved for shame and
confusion? What ease can this bring to my mind now dejected, and
happy thinking itself as miserable as these my foes? Now these
doubtful thoughts something disquieting her, further comfort is
ministered unto her by the Spirit of God in this verse, whereby
she is enabled to answer that objection she made against
herself, namely, that she is assured, that as her adversaries'
case is wretched, so is her own most happy and blessed. Daniel
Dyke, in "The Schoole of Affliction, "1633.
Verse 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest,
etc. If by outward afflictions thy soul be brought more under
the inward teachings of God, doubtless thy afflictions are in
love. All the chastening in the world, without divine teaching,
will never make a man blessed; that man that finds correction
attended with instruction, and lashing with learning, is a happy
man. If God, by the affliction that is upon thee, shall teach
thee how to loathe sin more, how to trample upon the world more,
and how to walk with God more, thy afflictions are in love. If
God shall teach thee by afflictions how to die to sin more, and
how to die to thy relations more, and how to die to thy self
interest more, thy afflictions are in love. If God shall teach
thee by afflictions how to live to Christ more, how to lift up
Christ more, and how to long for Christ more, thy afflictions
are in love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions to get
assurance of a better life, and to be still in a gracious
readiness and preparedness for the day of thy death, thy
afflictions are in love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions
how to mind heaven more, and how to fit for heaven more, thy
afflictions are in love. If God by afflictions shall teach thy
proud heart how to lie more low, and thy hard heart how to grow
more humble, and thy censorious heart how to grow more
charitable, and thy carnal heart how to grow more spiritual, and
thy froward heart how to grow more quiet, &c., thy
afflictions are in love. Pambo, an illiterate dunce, as the
historian terms him, was learning that one lesson, "I said
I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue,
"nineteen years, and yet had not learned it. Ah! it is to
be feared that there are many who have been in this school of
affliction above this nineteen years and yet have not learned
any saving lesson all this while. Surely their afflictions are
not in love, but in wrath. Where God loves, he afflicts in love,
and wherever God afflicts in love, there he will first and last
teach such souls such lessons as shall do them good to all
eternity. If you enjoy the special presence of God with your
spirits in your affliction, then your affliction is in love.
Hast thou a special presence of God with thy spirit,
strengthening of that, stilling of that, satisfying of that,
cheering and comforting of that? "In the multitude of my
thoughts, "—that is, of my troubled, intricate,
ensnared, intertwined, and perplexed thoughts, as the branches
of a tree by some strong wind are twisted one within another, as
the Hebrew word properly signifies,—"Thy comforts
delight my soul." Here is a presence of God with the
soul, here are comforts and delights that reach the soul, here
is a cordial to strengthen the spirit. Thomas Brooks.
Verse 12. You may and ought to get especial rejoicing
faith out of sanctified afflictions. Thus: "Whom God doth
correct and teach, him he loves, he is blessed:
(Ps 94:12 Heb 12:6:) but God doth so to me: ergo."
Here are bills and prayers for mercies; but who looks after the
issue, the teaching, the holy use? Sanctified afflictions are
very good evidences, and so very comfortable. There are those
who would not have lost their sufferings, temptations,
afflictions, for any good. The blessed Spirit hath taught them
that way many a divine truth by heart out of the word; they are
sensible of it, and from it conclude the love of God in Christ
to them; and thence they have joy and comfort,—that joy that
angels cannot give, and devils cannot take. Sanctified troubles
are tokens of special love. Christopher Fowler (1610-1678),
in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse 12. If we have nothing but the rod, we profit
not by the rod; yea, if we have nothing but the word, we shall
never profit by the word. It is the Spirit given with the word,
and the Spirit given with the rod, by which we profit under
both, or either. Chastening and divine teaching must go
together, else there will be no profit by chastening. Joseph
Caryl.
Verse 12. God sees that the sorrows of life are very
good for us; for, as seeds that are deepest covered with snow in
winter flourish most in spring; or as the wind by beating down
the flame raiseth it higher and hotter; and as when we would
have fires flame the more, we sprinkle water upon them; even so,
when the Lord would increase our joy and thankfulness, he allays
it with the tears of affliction. H. G. Salter.
Verse 12. And teachest. Teaching implies both a
schoolmaster, a teacher, instructing and lessons
taught. In this teaching both these points are here
noted out. And for the first, namely, the schoolmaster,
it is twofold: 1. The outward affliction and chastisement, "Whom
you chastise, teach, "that is, whom by chastising you
teach. 2. God himself, who is the chief and principal head
schoolmaster, the other being but an inferior and subordinate
one: "Whom thou teachest." And for the second
point, the lessons taught, they are included generally in
those words, "in thy law." To begin then with
the schoolmasters, and first with the first.
The first schoolmaster is affliction. A sharp and severe and
swingeing schoolmaster indeed, and so much the fitter for such
stout and stubborn scholars as we are; who because we will not
be overcome by fair means, must needs therefore be dealt withal
by foul. For God doth not willingly afflict us, but being
necessarily thereunto enforced, by that strength of corruption
in us, which otherwise will not be subdued. So physicians and
surgeons are constrained to come to cutting, lancing, and
burning, when milder remedies will not prevail. Let us therefore
hereby take notice of the hardness of our hearts, the fallow
ground whereof cannot be broken up but by this sharp plough of
affliction. See what dullards and blockheads we are, how slow to
understand spiritual things, not able to conceive of them by the
instruction of words, unless they be even beaten and driven into
our brains by blows. So thick and brawny is that foreskin which
is drawn over our uncircumcised ears and hearts, that no
doctrine can enter, unless it be pegged, and hammered, and
knocked into us by the fists of this sour and crabbed schoolmaster.
The second schoolmaster is God himself. Afflictions of
themselves, though severe schoolmasters, yet can do us no good,
unless God come by his Spirit, and teach our hearts inwardly.
Let us therefore pray that as in the ministry of God's word, so
also of his works and judgments, we may be all taught of God.
For it is his Spirit that quickens and animates the outward
means, which otherwise are a dead letter. And this is the reason
that many men have rather grown worse by their afflictions, than
anything better; because God's Spirit hath not gone with the
affliction, to put life and spirit into it, as Moses observed in
the Israelites, De 29:24. David Dyke.
Verse 13. That thou mayest give him rest. Here
usually, but hereafter certainly. Mors aerumnarum requies,
was Chaucer's motto: those that die in the Lord shall rest
from their labours. Meanwhile they are chastened of the
Lord, that they may not be condemned with the world. 1Co 11:32. John
Trapp.
Verse 13. To give him rest. This is the end of
God's teaching, that his servant may wait in patience, unmoved
by, safe from, the days of evil (comp. Ps 49:5) seeing
the evil all round lifting itself up, but seeing also the
secret, mysterious retribution, slowly but surely accomplishing
itself. In this sense the "rest" is the rest of a
calm, self possessed spirit, as Isa 7:4 30:15 32:17 57:20; and "to
give him" signifies "that thou mayest give
him." J. J. S. Perowne.
Verse 13. Rest. Let there be a revival of the
passive virtues. Mr. Hume calls them the "monkish
virtues." Many speak of them slightingly, especially as
compared with the dashing qualities so highly esteemed in the
world. But quietness of mind and of spirit, like a broken heart,
is of great price in the sight of God. Some seem to have
forgotten that silence and meekness are graces. William S.
Plumer.
Verse 13. Rest from the days of adversity. To rest
from the days of adversity is not to be disturbed by them to
such an extent as to murmur, or despond in spirit, but to trust
in God, and in silence of the mind and affections expect from
God deliverance. See Isa 7:4; Isa 26:20, &c. Moreover he
says not ymyk in, but ymym from the days of
adversity, an expression of greater elegancy and wider range of
meaning. For there is a reference to the primary form of the
verb vqv to sink, to settle down, as when the dregs of
disturbed liquor fall to the bottom; when it is applied to the
mind when shaken with a great agitation of cares, and full of
bitterness. The dregs, therefore, sprung from the days of
adversity, are pointed out as settling down. Besides, not
only is rest of mind while the evils continue indicated, but
also while they are ceasing, since m, from, has here, as
not infrequently elsewhere, a negativ force. Venema.
Verse 13. Until the pit be digged for the wicked.
Behold, thou hast the counsel of God, and the reason why he
spareth the wicked; the pit is being digged for the sinner. You
wish to bury him at once: the pit is as yet being dug for him:
do not be in haste to bury him. Augustine.
Verse 15. My text contains two parts; the providence
of God to his people, and the prosperity of the providence among
them. The providence of God to his people lies much in after
games: God seems to go away from his, and then the wicked have
the better: anon he returns, and then his people carry the day. Judgment
shall return unto righteousness; or justice shall return
unto judgment; a phrase of speech frequent in the Old
Testament to note retaliation, quid for quo, like
for like. The term is distinct as well as the phrase, and helps
to give the sense of the Spirit of God here; qru from qru, se
asseruit, justice shall assert herself; Christ shall assert
his people, his promises, his threatenings. "Shall return,
"retro-agi:what evil men do to good shall be redone to
them, done back again upon them by God. Or this root, here
rendered "return, "may be rendered to abide and
rest. In Ps 23:6, it is so rendered: "I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever." Justice doth, as it were, go
from home sometimes, when it visits the saints; but it returns
to its home and dwelling, i.e., the wicked. Justice is,
as it were, from home, till it returns to the wicked, there it
abides and dwells. "Justice shall dwell and rest in
judgment, "i.e., in the execution of punishments upon
wicked men. jpvm, from jpv, judicium exercuit, notes the
exercise and execution of justice: a thing rests in its end;
justice dwells and rests in judgment, i.e., in its
execution, in its end for which, and unto which and whom it is
appointed. Nicholas Lockyer, 1612-1684-5.
Verse 15. Shall follow it. The right reading is
in the margin,—shall be after it, or after that;that
is, (1) shall observe it. "He poureth contempt upon
princes; he setteth the poor on high from affliction; whose is
wise shall observe these things, "etc., Ps 107:43:
this Scripture, I think, in part explains the text. (2) "Shall
be after it, "that is, shall confess and acknowledge
it. It is not a small thing to bring men to confess the justice
of God in his dealings. (3) "Shall be after it, "that
is, shall triumph in it, and so to be compared with and opened
by Ps 58:10-11. (4) "Shall be after it; "that
is, the works of God shall be of effectual operation, to bring
such as are upright in heart more to love and obey God, and so
it is to be compared with Ps 31:23. Nicholas Lockyer.
Verse 16. Who will rise up, etc. I think we
ought to look upon David here in a public capacity, as a prince
or magistrate; and then as such he deplores the increase and
confidence of the wicked; and having fortified himself in God by
prayer, he resolves, in the words of the text, to do the duty of
his station, to employ all the power God had given him for the
extirpation of wickedness, and the reformation of an impious
people; and earnestly invites and calls in to his assistance all
that had either heart or ability for such a work, as being well
aware of the great difficulty of it. This is the sense I prefer,
because it best becomes the zeal and faith of David, best suits
the spirit and genius of several other parallel psalms, and
seems plainly to me, to have the countenance of the Targum and
the Septuagint. In the words thus explained we have these three
things:
1. The deplorable state of Israel. This is easily to
be collected from the form and manner of David's expressing
himself here, Who will stand up for me? or who will
take my part? As if he should have said, Such is the number
and power of the wicked, that how much soever my heart is set
upon a reformation, I can hardly hope to effect it, without the
concurrence and joint endeavours of good men. And yet, alas! how
little is the assistance I can reasonably expect of this kind?
How few are the sincere friends of goodness? How great and how
general is the coldness and indifference which possesses men in
the things of God?
2. The duty of the magistrate. This is plainly implied
here, and is, to curb and restrain wickedness, and to promote a
general reformation.
3. The duty of all good people. Which is, as far as in
them lies, to assist and encourage the magistrate in this good
work. Richard Lucas, 1697.
Verse 16. Who will rise up for me against the
wicked? In all ages, men who neither feared God nor regarded
man have combined together and formed confederacies, to carry on
the works of darkness. And herein they have shown themselves
wise in their generation, for by this means they more
effectually promoted the kingdom of their father the devil, than
otherwise they could have done. On the other hand, men who did
fear God, and desire the happiness of their fellow creatures,
have in every age found it needful to join together in order to
oppose the works of darkness, to spread the knowledge of God
their Saviour, and to promote his kingdom upon earth. Indeed he
himself instructed them so to do. From the time that men were
upon the earth, he hath taught them to join together in his
service, and has united them in one body by one Spirit. And for
this very end he has joined them together, "that he might
destroy the works of the devil; "first in them that are
already united, and by them that are round about them. John
Wesley, in a Sermon on these words, preached before the Society
for Reformation of Manners, Jan. 30, 1763.
Verse 17. Had been my help. The word signifieth
not only help, but summum et plenum auxilium, an helpfulness,
or full help:the Hebrew hath a letter more than ordinary,
to increase the signification, as learned Mr. Leigh observeth:
there is the sufficiency of help. Nathaniel Whiting, in
"The Saints' Dangers, Deliverances, and Duties, "1659.
Verse 19. In the multitude of my thoughts, etc.
That is, just when they were come to their height and extremity
in me. The comforts of God are seasonable, and observe the
proper time for their coming, neither too soon, nor too late
but, "in, "that is, just in the very point and
nick of time. There is another thing here spoken of. In the "thoughts,
"and in the "multitude" of the
"thoughts; "not in the indifference of thoughts, but
in the perplexity; not in the paucity of thoughts, but in the
plurality: our extremity is God's opportunity. "In the
mount will the Lord be seen, "when we have thought and
thought and thought all we could, and know not what to think
more, then does God delight to tender and exhibit his comforts
to us. . . . In the words "within me" we have,
next, the intimacy or closeness, of this grief. The Hebrew word
is ykzrk, in medio mei. The Arabic be-kalbi, in corde
meo. And so likewise the Septuagint, en th kardia mou, in
my very heart. This is added by way of further intention and
aggravation of the present evil and distress.
First, To show the secrecy of this grief. Those
evils which are external, and in the body, every one is ready to
bemoan them, and to bewail them, and to take notice of them, and
to shew a great deal of bowels towards those which are afflicted
with them; but these griefs which are inward, and in the mind,
they are such as are known but to God himself. "The heart
knoweth his own bitterness, "saith Solomon, Pr 14:10.
Secondly, Here is hereby denoted the settledness and radication
of this evil: it was within him and it was within his heart,
that is, it was deeply rooted and fastened, and such as had a
strong groundwork and foundation in him, such were these
troublesome "thoughts, "they were got into his
very inwards and bowels, and so were not easily got out again.
Thirdly, Here is hereby also signified the impression which
they had upon him, and the sense which he himself had of
them. They were such as did grievously afflict him, and pierce
him, and went near unto him, they went to his very heart, and
touched him, as it were, to the quick, through the grievousness
of them, as he speaks in another place concerning the reproaches
of his enemies, Ps 42:10: "As with a sword (or killing) in
my bones mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me,
Where is thy God?"
Now what are these "comforts" of God which
the psalmist does more especially intend here in this place? In
a word, they are the comforts which do flow from our communion
with him. The comforts of his attributes, and the comforts of
his promises, and the comforts of his gracious presence drawing
near unto our souls, when it pleases him to shine upon us, and
to express his "My soul." We showed before how the
grief was in the mind, and therefore the comfort must be so
also, that the remedy may answer the malady. Bodily pleasure
will not satisfy for mind distraction: nothing will ease the
soul but such comforts as are agreeable to itself, and such are
these present comforts of God, they delight the soul. Thomas
Horton.
Verse 19. Thoughts considered simply in
themselves do not contain any matter of grief or evil; they are
the proper and natural issue and emanations of the soul which
come from it with a great deal of easiness, and with a great
deal of delight; but it is the exorbitance and irregularity
of them which is here intended, when they do not proceed evenly
and fairly, as they ought to do, but with some kind of interruption;and
so the word which is here used in the text seems to import; the
Hebrew sagnaphim carrying an affinity with segnaphim,
which is derived from a root which signifies properly a bough.
Now we know that in a bough there are two things especially
considerable, as pertinent to our present purpose. First,
there's the perplexity of it. And, secondly, there's the agitation.
Boughs usually catch, and entangle one another, and boughs they
are easily shaken, and moved up and down by the wind. If there
be never so little air or breath stirring abroad,
the boughs presently discover it, and are made sensible of it.
So that this expression does serve very well to imitate and set
forth unto us the perplexity and inconstancy of thoughts, which
David was now troubled withal, and whereof he now complains, as
grievous and offensive to him. They were not thoughts in any
consideration, but thoughts of distraction, such
thoughts as did bring some grief and trouble with them. This the
Septuagint translators were so fully apprehensive of, that they
quite leave out thoughts, and render it only by griefs,
kata to pkhyov twn odunwn mou: according to the multitude of
my sorrows. But it is more full and agreeable to the word to
put them both together—my grievous and sorrowful thoughts—such
thoughts as in regard of the carriage and ordering of them, do
bring grief and sorrow with them. And here we may by the way
observe thus much, that God need not go far to punish and
afflict men when he pleases; he can do it even with their own
thoughts, no more but so. He can gather a rod of these
boughs, and make a scourge of these twistings, wherewith to lash
them, and that to purpose. If he does but raise a tempest in the
mind, and cause these thoughts to bluster and bustle one with
another, there will be trouble and affliction enough, though
there were nothing else. It is no matter whether there be any ground
or occasion for it in the things themselves; it is enough
that there be so but in the conceit and apprehension. God
can so use a fancy, a mere toy and imagination itself,
and so set it on upon the soul, that there shall be no quiet nor
rest for it. Thomas Horton.
Verse 19. Observe the greatness of this man's
distress. This is forcibly expressed in the text, though in our
translation it is scarcely obvious. The word in it rendered "thoughts,
"scholars tell us, signifies originally the small
branches of trees. The idea in the psalmist's mind appears to be
this: `Look at a tree, with its branches shooting in every
direction, entangling and entwining themselves one with another;
let the wind take them—see how they feel it, how restless they
become and confused, beating against and striving one with
another. Now my mind is like that tree. I have a great many
thoughts in it; and thoughts which are continually shifting and
changing; they are perplexed and agitated thoughts, battling one
with another'. There is no keeping the mind quiet under them;
they bring disorder into it as well as sorrow. And mark the word
"multitude" in the text; there is exactly the
same idea in that. It signifies more than number; confusion.
Think of a crowd collected and hurrying about: `so, 'says the
psalmist, `are my thoughts. I have a crowd of them in my mind,
and a restless confused crowd. One painful thought is bad
enough, but I have many; a multitude of them; and almost
countless, a disturbed throng.' We now, then, understand the
case we have before us. The man's sorrow arose, at this time,
from disquieting thoughts within his own breast; and his sorrow
was great, because these thoughts were many, and at the same
time tumultuous. When the psalmist says, "Thy comforts,
"he means more than comforts of which God is the author
or giver. God is the author and giver of all our comforts—of
all the earthly comforts that surround us; they are all the work
and gift of his gracious hand... We are to understand here
such comforts as are peculiarly and altogether God's, such as
flow at once from God; not from him through creatures to us, but
from him immediately to us without the intervention of
creatures. The comforts that we get from his attributes—from
meditating on, and what we call realising them; the comforts we
get from his promises—believing and hoping in him; and the
comforts of his presence, he drawing near to our souls and
shining into them—we knowing he is near us, conscious of it by
the light and happiness and renewed strength within us. "Thy
comforts"—the comforts we get from the Lord Jesus Christ;
from looking at him, considering him; thinking of his person,
and offices, and blood, and righteousness, and intercession, and
exaltation, and glory, and his second coming; our meeting him,
seeing him, being like him. "Thy
comforts"—the comforts which come from the Holy Spirit,
"the Comforter": when he opens the Scriptures to us,
or speaks through ceremonies and ordinances, or witnesses within
us of our adoption of God; shining in on his own work of grace
in our hearts; enabling us to see that work, and to see in it
God's peculiar, eternal love to us; not opening to us the book
of life, anal showing us our names there, but doing something
that makes us almost as joyful as though that book were opened
to us; showing us the hand of God in our own souls—his
converting, saving hand—his hand apprehending us as his own;
making us feel as it were, his grasp of love, and feel, too,
that it is a grasp which he will never loosen. Charles
Bradley.
Verse 19. Thy comforts delight my soul Xerxes
offered great rewards to him that could find out a new pleasure;
but the comforts of the Spirit are satisfactory, they recruit
the heart. There is as much difference between heavenly comforts
and earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten and one that is
painted on the wall. Thomas Watcom.
Verse 19. Thy comforts. Troubles may be of our
own begetting; but true comforts come only from that infinite
fountain, the God of consolation; for so he hath styled himself.
Thomas Adams.
Verse 19. Delight my soul. The original word
wevevy, signifies "to cause to leap or dance for joy;
"but the English language will not bear an application
of this image to the soul; though we say "to make the heart
leap for joy." Samuel Horsley.
Verse 19. Because the malignant host is first entered
into the ground of my text, consider with me: 1. The rebels, or
mutineers, "thoughts." 2. The number of them,
no less than a "multitude." 3. The captain
whose colours they bear; a disquieted mind; "my
thoughts." 4. The field where the battle is fought; in the
heart; apud me, "within me." In the other army
we find, 1. Quanta, how puissant they are; comforts.
2. Quota, how many they are; indefinitely set down;
abundant comfort. 3. Cujus, whose they are; the Lord's,
he is their general; thy comforts. 4. Quid operantur,
what they do; they delight the soul. In the nature of them being
comforts, there is tranquillity; in the number of them, being
many comforts, there is sufficiency; in the owner of them, being
thy comforts, there is omnipotence; and in the effect of
them, delighting the soul, there is security. From Thomas
Adams' Sermon entitled "Man's comfort."
Verse 19. A text of this kind shows us forcibly the
power of Divine grace in the human heart: how much it can do to
sustain and cheer the heart. The world may afflict a believer,
and pain him; but if the grace which God has given him is in
active exercise in his soul, the world cannot make him unhappy.
It rather adds by its ill treatment to his happiness; for it
brings God and his soul nearer together—God the fountain of
all happiness, the rest and satisfaction of his soul. This psalm
was evidently written by a deeply afflicted man. The wicked, he
says, were triumphing over him; and had been so for a long
while. He could find no one on earth to take his part against
them. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? he
asks in Ps 94:16; or who will stand up for me against the
workers of iniquity? And it seemed, too, as though God had
abandoned him. His enemies thought so, and he seems to have been
almost ready to think so himself. But what was the fact? All
this time the Lord was secretly pouring consolation into his
soul, and in the end made that consolation abundant. In
appearance a wretched, he was in reality a happy man; suffering,
yet comforted; yea, the text says delighted—Thy
comforts delight my soul. Charles Bradley, 1845.
Verse 20. The throne of iniquity... which frameth
mischief by a law. The first pretext of wicked men to colour
their proceedings against innocent men is their throne; the
second is the law; and the third is their council. What tyrant
could ask more? But God has prepared an awful hell for
impenitent tyrants, and they will be in it long before they now
expect to leave the world. William Nicholson.
Verse 20. The throne of iniquity... which frameth
mischief by a law. If there never had been such thrones in
the world, there would not have been that mention made of them
in the Scripture. But such there have been. That of Jeroboam was
one, who would not suffer the people, according to the divine
command, to go up to Jerusalem to worship God, who had there
placed his name; but spread, for them that went, nets upon
Mizpah, and set snares upon Mount Tabor. (Ho 5:1) And such
thrones there have been since, too many of them. Well saith the
Psalmist, Shall they have fellowship with thee? No, no;
God keeps his distance from them. Those that we call
"stinking dunghills" are not so offensive to God as
thrones of iniquity are, which shall neither be approved by him
nor secured. Stay a while, Christians, and "in patience
possess your souls; "for the world shall see that in due
time he will overturn them all. Samuel Slater, in "The
Morning Exercises."
Verse 20. Which frameth mischief by a law, i.e.,
frame wicked laws, or under the colour of law and justice,
oppress the innocent. Summum jus, summa injuria, the
higher the law, the greater the injustice, and injuries may and
are too often done ex prava interpretatione legis, from a
wicked interpretation of the law. With those who do injustice
with the sword of justice, God will have no fellowship. William
Nicholson.
Verse 23. He shall bring upon them their own
iniquity, etc. It is an ill work wicked ones are about, they
make fetters for their own feet, and build houses for to fall
upon their own heads; so mischievous is the nature of sin that
it damnifies and destroys the parents of it. William
Greenhill.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1.
1. Retribution the prerogative of God alone.
2. Under what aspects may we desire his rendering it.
3. How, and when he will surely fulfil this righteous wish.
Verse 1.
1. Vengeance belongs to God and not to man.
2. Vengeance is better in the hands of God than of man. Let
us fall into the hands of God, etc. G. R.
Verse 2. The peculiar provocation of the sin of pride
and its kindred vices. Its influence on the proud, on their
follow men, and upon God himself.
Verse 3.
I. The sweet potion of the wicked—present triumph.
2. The gall which embitters it—it is but temporary, and is
prayed against. C. A. Davis.
Verses 5-10.
1. High handed oppression by the wicked (Ps 94:5-6).
2. Hard hearted indifference to Divine supervision (Ps 94:7).
3. Clear headed demonstration of the Divine cognisance and
vengeance (Ps 94:8-10). C.A.D.
Verses 6-9.
1. Conspicuous sin.
2. Absurd supposition.
3. Overwhelming argument.
Verse 8. The duration of the reign of evil.
1. Till it has filled up its measure of guilt.
2. Till it has proved its own folly.
3. Till it has developed the graces and prayers of saints.
4. Till it has emptied man of all human trust and driven us
to look to the Lord alone, his Spirit, and his advent.
Verse 8. Practical Atheists.
1. Truly described.
2. Wisely counselled. C.A.D.
Verses 8-11.
1. The Exhortation (Ps 94:8).
2. The Expostulation (Ps 94:9-10).
3. The Affirmation (Ps 94:11). G. R.
Verses 9-10. True Rationalism; or, Reason's Revelation
of God. U.A.D.
Verse 11.
1. With respect to the present world, consider what
multitudes of thoughts are employed in vain.
(a) In seeking satisfaction where it is not to be found.
(b) In poring on events which cannot be recalled.
(c) In anticipating evils which never befall us.
(d) To these may be added the valuing ourselves on things of
little or no account.
(e) In laying plans which must be disconcerted.
2. Let us see what are man's thoughts with regard to
religion, and the concerns of a future life.
(a) What are the thoughts of the heathen world about
religion?
(b) What are all the thoughts of the Christian world, where
God's thoughts are neglected?
(c) What is all that practical atheism which induces
multitudes to act as if there were no God?
(d) What are all the unbelieving, self flattering
imaginations of wicked men, as though God were not in earnest in
his declarations and threatenings?
(e) What are the conceits of the self righteous, by which
they buoy up their minds with vain hopes, and refuse to submit
to the righteousness of God? Andrew Fuller.
Verse 11. God's intimate knowledge of man. A startling
truth. A humiliating truth.
Verses 12-13. Christ's College. The Master, the Book,
the Rod, the blessed Scholar, and the result of his education.
Verses 12-13.
1. The Blessed. (a) Divinely taught. (b) Divinely chastised.
2. The Blessing. (a) Rest in Affliction. (b) Rest from
Affliction. G. R.
Verse 14.
1. Fear implied. That God will cast off, forsake, etc.
2. Fear denied. God will not cast off—will not forsake. G.
R.
Verse 14.
1. Display his bright doctrine on a dark background. What if
the converse were true? Considerations that might lead us to
apprehend it true.
2. Joyfully regard the glowing truth itself. The doctrine
declared. The reasons hinted (His people. His inheritance). The
confidence expressed. C.A.D.
Verse 15.
1. Judgment suspended.
2. Judgment returned.
3. Judgment acknowledged. G. R.
Verse 16.
1. The question asked by the church of her champions.
2. The answer of every true hearted man.
3. The yet more encouraging answer of her Lord.
Verses 16-17. The sole source of succour.
1. A loud cry for help. As from a champion, or advocate.
2. Earth's answer. A dead silence, disturbed only by echo (Ps
94:17).
3. The succouring voice that breaks the silence—the Lord's (Ps
94:17). C.A.D.
Verse 18. The blessedness of the confession of
weakness.
1. The confession.
2. The succour.
3. The time.
4. The acknowledgment. C.A.D.
Verse 19.
1. In the multitude of my unbelieving thoughts thy comforts
delight my soul.
2. In the multitude of my penitential thoughts thy comforts,
etc.
3. In the multitude of my worldly thoughts, etc.
4. In the multitude of my family or social thoughts, etc.
5. Of my desponding thoughts, etc.
6. Of my prospective thoughts, etc.
Or
1. There is no consolation for man in himself.
2. There is no consolation for him in other creatures.
3. His only consolation is in God. G.R.
Verse 19.
1. The soul jostled in the thoroughfare of anxious thoughts.
2. The delectable company nevertheless enjoyed. C.A.D.
Verse 20. "It is the law of the land, you know,
"—the limit of this authority both in temporal and
spiritual matters.
Verse 20.
1. God can have no fellowship with the wicked.
2. The wicked can have no fellowship with God. G. R.
Verse 20. Divine politics.
1. There are thrones erected in opposition to the throne of
God, "thrones of iniquity, "e.g. which trespass
on civil liberty, which infringe religious equality, which
derive revenue from evil commerce, etc.
2. Such thrones, whatever their pretensions, are excluded
from divine fellowship; between them and God a great gulf is
fixed. C.A.D.
Verses 21-22.
1. The Danger of the righteous (Ps 94:21).
2. Their Defence (Ps 94:22). G. R.
Verse 21-23.
1. Sentence passed in the court of injustice (Ps 94:21).
2. An element in the case not considered by the court (Ps
94:22).
3. The sentence consequently alighting on the right heads (Ps
94:23). (This passage, under a very thin veil, exhibits Christ.
Mt 27:1) C.A.D.
Verse 23.
1. None may punish God's enemies but himself. "He shall
bring, "etc.
2. None need punish them but himself. (a) It will be
complete,—"shall cut them off." (b) Certain.
"Yea, "etc. G.R.
WORK UPON THE NINETY-FOURTH PSALM
In the Works of Cardinal Sadoleto
(1477-1547), pp. 895-972, there is an Exposition of this Psalm,
8 volume edition, Anno Domini 1607.