SUBJECT. This is a choice song for the
redeemed of the Lord (Ps 107:2). Although it celebrates
providential deliverances, and therefore may be sung by any man
whose life has been preserved in time of danger; yet under cover
of this, it mainly magnifies the Lord for spiritual blessings,
of which temporal favours are but types arid shadows. The theme
is thanksgiving, and the motives for it. The construction of the
psalm is highly poetical, and merely as a composition it would
be hard to find its compeer among human productions. The bards
of the Bible hold no second place among the sons of song.
DIVISION. The psalmist commences by
dedicating his poem to the redeemed who have been gathered from
captivity, Ps 107:1-3; he then likens their history to that of
travellers lost in the desert, Ps 107:4-9; to that of prisoners
in iron bondage, Ps 107:10-16; to that of sick men, Ps
107:17-22; and to that of mariners tossed with tempest, Ps
107:23-32. In the closing verses the judgment of God on the
rebellious, and the mercies of God to his own afflicted people
are made the burden of the song, Ps 107:33-42; and then the
psalm closes with a sort of summing up, in Ps 107:43, which
declares that those who study the works and ways of the Lord
shall be sure to see and praise his goodness.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is
good. It is all we can give him, and the least we can give;
therefore let us diligently render to him our thanksgiving. The
psalmist is in earnest in the exhortation, hence the use of the
interjection "O", to intensity his words: let us be at
all times thoroughly fervent in the praises of the Lord, both
with our lips and with our lives, by thanksgiving and thanks
living. JEHOVAH, for that is the name here used, is not to be
worshipped with groans and cries, but with thanks, for he is
good; and these thanks should be heartily rendered, for his is
no common goodness: he is good by nature, and essence, and
proven to be good in all the acts of his eternity. Compared with
him there is none good, no, not one: but he is essentially,
perpetually, superlatively, infinitely good. We are the
perpetual partakers of his goodness, and therefore ought above
all his creatures to magnify his name. Our praise should be
increased by the fact that the divine goodness is not a
transient thing, but in the attribute of mercy abides for ever
the same, for his mercy endureth for ever. The word endureth
has been properly supplied by the translators, but yet it
somewhat restricts the sense, which will be better seen if we
read it, "for his mercy forever." That mercy
had no beginning, and shall never know an end. Our sin required
that goodness should display itself to us in the form of mercy,
and it has done so, and will do so evermore; let us not be slack
in praising the goodness which thus adapts itself to our fallen
nature.
Verse 2. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.
Whatever others may think or say, the redeemed have overwhelming
reasons for declaring the goodness of the Lord. Theirs is a
peculiar redemption, and for it they ought to render peculiar
praise. The Redeemer is so glorious, the ransom price so
immense, and the redemption so complete, that they are under
sevenfold obligations to give thanks unto the Lord, and to
exhort others to do so. Let them not only feel so but say so;
let them both sing and bid their fellows sing. Whom he hath
redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Snatched by superior power
away from fierce oppressions, they are bound above all men to
adore the Lord, their Liberator. Theirs is a divine redemption,
"he hath redeemed" them, and no one else has done it.
His own unaided arm has wrought out their deliverance. Should
not emancipated slaves be grateful to the hand which set them
free? What gratitude can suffice for a deliverance from the
power of sin, death, and hell? In heaven itself there is no
sweeter hymn than that whose burden is, "Thou hast redeemed
us unto God by thy blood."
Verse 3. And gathered them out of the lands, from
the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
Gathering follows upon redeeming. The captives of old were
restored to their own land from every quarter of the earth, and
even from beyond the sea; for the word translated south
is really the sea. No matter what divides, the Lord will
gather his own into one body, and first on earth by "one
Lord, one faith, and one baptism", and then in heaven by
one common bliss they shall be known to be the one people of the
One God. What a glorious Shepherd must, he be who thus collects
the blood bought flock from the remotest regions, guides them
through countless perils, and at last makes them to lie down in
the green pastures of Paradise. Some have wandered one way and
some another they have all left Immanuel's land and strayed as
far as they could, and great are the grace and power by which
they are all collected into one flock by the Lord Jesus. With
one heart and voice let the redeemed praise the Lord who gathers
them into one.
Verse 4. They wandered in the wilderness. They wandered,
for the track was lost, no vestige of a road remained; worse
still, they wandered in a wilderness, where all around
was burning sand. They were lost in the worst possible place,
even as the sinner is who is lost in sin; they wandered up and
down in vain searches and researches as a sinner does when he is
awakened and sees his lost estate; but it ended in nothing, for
they still continued in the wilderness, though they had hoped to
escape from it. In a solitary way. No dwelling of man was near,
and no other company of travellers passed within hail. Solitude
is a great intensifier of misery. The loneliness of a desert has
a most depressing influence upon the man who is lost in the
boundless waste. The traveller's way in the wilderness is a waste
way, and when he leaves even that poor, barren trail, to get
utterly beyond the path of man, he is in a wretched plight
indeed. A soul without sympathy is on the borders of hell: a
solitary way is the way of despair. They found no city to dwell
in. How could they? There was none. Israel in the wilderness
abode under canvas, and enjoyed none of the comforts of settled
life; wanderers in the Sahara find no town or village. Men when
under distress of soul find nothing to rest upon, no comfort and
no peace; their efforts after salvation are many, weary, and
disappointing, and the dread solitude of their hearts fills them
with dire distress.
Verse 5. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in
them. The spirits sink when the bodily frame becomes
exhausted by long privations. Who can keep his courage up when
he is ready to fall to the ground at every step through utter
exhaustion? The supply of food is all eaten, the water is spent
in the bottles, and there are neither fields nor streams in the
desert, the heart therefore sinks in dire despair. Such is the
condition of an awakened conscience before it knows the Lord
Jesus; it is full of unsatisfied cravings, painful needs, and
heavy fears. It is utterly spent and without strength, and there
is nothing in the whole creation which can minister to its
refreshment.
Verse 6. Then they cried unto the LORD in their
trouble. Not till they were in extremities did they pray,
but the mercy is that they prayed then, and prayed in the
right manner, with a cry, and to the right person, even to
the Lord. Nothing else remained for them to do; they could
not help themselves, or find help in others, and therefore they
cried to God. Supplications which are forced out of us by stern
necessity are none the less acceptable with God; but, indeed,
they have all the more prevalence, since they are evidently
sincere, and make a powerful appeal to the divine pity. Some men
will never pray till they are half starved, and for their best
interests it is far better for them to be empty and faint than
to be full and stouthearted. If hunger brings us to our knees it
is more useful to us than feasting; if thirst drives us to the
fountain it is better than the deepest draughts of worldly joys;
and if fainting leads to crying it is better than the strength
of the mighty, And he delivered them out of their distresses.
Deliverance follows prayer most surely. The cry must have been
very feeble, for they were faint, and their faith was as weak as
their cry; but yet they were heard, and heard at once. A little
delay would have been their death: but there was none, for the
Lord was ready to save them. The Lord delights to come in when
no one else can be of the slightest avail. The case was hopeless
till Jehovah interposed, and then all was changed immediately;
the people were shut up, straitened, and almost pressed to
death, but enlargement came to them at once when they began to
remember their God, and look to him in prayer. Those deserve to
die of hunger who will not so much as ask for bread, and he who
being lost in a desert will not beg the aid of a guide cannot be
pitied even if he perish in the wilds and feed the vultures with
his flesh.
Verse 7. And he led them forth by the right way.
There are many wrong ways, but only one right one, and into this
none can lead us but God himself. When the Lord is leader the
way is sure to be right; we never need question that. Forth from
the pathless mazes of the desert he conducted the lost ones; he
found the way, made the way, and enabled them to walk along it,
faint and hungry as they were. That they might go to a city of
habitation. The end was worthy of the way: he did not lead them
from one desert to another, but he gave the wanderers an abode,
the weary ones a place of rest. They found no city to
dwell in, but he found one readily enough. What we
can do and what God can do are two very different things.
What a difference it made to them to leave their solitude for a
city, their trackless path for well frequented streets, and
their faintness of heart for the refreshment of a home! Far
greater are the changes which divine love works in the condition
of sinners when God answers their prayers and brings them to
Jesus. Shall not the Lord be magnified for such special mercies?
Can we who have enjoyed them sit down in ungrateful silence?
Verse 8. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his
goodness. Men are not mentioned here in the original, but
the word is fitly supplied by the translators; the psalmist
would have all things in existence magnify Jehovah's name.
Surely men will do this without being exhorted to it when
the deliverance is fresh in their memories. They must be
horrible ingrates who will not honour such a deliverer for so
happy a rescue from the most cruel death. It is well that the
redeemed should be stirred up to bless the Lord again and again,
for preserved life deserves life long thankfulness. Even those
who have not encountered the like peril, and obtained the like
deliverance, should bless the Lord in sympathy with their
fellows, sharing their joy. And for his wonderful works to the
children of men. These favours are bestowed upon our
race, upon children of the family to which we belong, and
therefore we ought to join in the praise. The children of men
are so insignificant, so feeble, and so undeserving, that it is
a great wonder that the Lord should do anything for them; but he
is not content with doing little works, he puts forth his
wisdom, power, and love to perform marvels on the behalf of
those who seek him. In the life of each one of the redeemed
there is a world of wonders, and therefore from each there
should resound a world of praises. As to the marvels of grace
which the Lord has wrought for his church as a whole there is no
estimating them, they are as high above our thoughts as the
heavens are high above the earth. When shall the day dawn when
the favoured race of man shall be as devoted to the praise of
God as they are distinguished by the favour of God?
Verse 9. For he satisfieth the longing soul.
This is the summary of the lost traveller's experience. He who
in a natural sense has been rescued from perishing in a howling
wilderness ought to bless the Lord who brings hint again to eat
bread among men. The spiritual sense is, however, the more rich
in instruction. The Lord sets us longing and then completely
satisfies us. That longing leads us into solitude, separation,
thirst, faintness and self despair, and all these conduct us to
prayer, faith, divine guidance, satisfying of the soul's thirst,
and rest: the good hand of the Lord is to be seen in the whole
process and in the divine result. And filleth the hungry soul
with goodness. As for thirst he gives satisfaction, so for
hunger he supplies filling. In both cases the need is more than
met, there is an abundance in the supply which is well worthy of
notice: the Lord does nothing in a niggardly fashion; satisfying
and filling are his peculiar modes of treating his guests; none
who come under the Lord's providing ever complain of short
commons. Nor does he fill the hungry with common fare, but with goodness
itself. It is not so much good, as the essence of goodness which
he bestows on needy suppliants. Shall man be thus royally
supplied and return no praise for the largeness of love? It must
not be so. We will even now give thanks with all the redeemed
church, and pray for the time when the whole earth shall be
filled with his glory.
Verse 10. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death. The cell is dark of itself, and the fear of
execution casts a still denser gloom over the prison. Such is
the cruelty of man to man that tens of thousands have been made
to linger in places only fit to be tombs; unhealthy,
suffocating, filthy sepulchres, where they have sickened and
died of broken hearts. Meanwhile the dread of sudden death has
been the most hideous part of the punishment; the prisoners have
felt as if the chill shade of death himself froze them to the
very marrow. The state of a soul under conviction of sin is
forcibly symbolized by such a condition; persons in that state
cannot see the promises which would yield them comfort, they sit
still in the inactivity of despair, they fear the approach of
judgment, and are thereby as much distressed as if they were at
death's door. Being bound in affliction and iron. Many prisoners
have been thus doubly fettered in heart and hand; or the text
may mean that affliction becomes as an iron band to them, or
that the iron chains caused them great affliction. None know
these things but those who have felt them; we should prize our
liberty more if we knew by actual experience what manacles and
fetters mean. In a spiritual sense affliction frequently attends
conviction of sin, and then the double grief causes a double
bondage. In such cases the iron enters into the soul, the poor
captives cannot stir because of their bonds, cannot rise to hope
because of their grief, and have no power because of their
despair. Misery is the companion of all those who are shut up
and cannot come forth. O ye who are made free by Christ Jesus,
remember those who are in bonds.
Verse 11. Because they rebelled against the words
of God. This was the general cause of bondage among the
ancient people of God, they were given over to their adversaries
because they were not loyal to the Lord. God's words are not to
be trifled with, and those who venture on such rebellion will
bring themselves into bondage. And contemned the counsel of the
Most High. They thought that they knew better than the Judge of
all the earth, and therefore they left his ways and walked in
their own. When men do not follow the divine counsel they give
the most practical proof of their contempt for it. Those who
will not be bound by God's law will, ere long, be bound by the
fetters of judgment. There is too much contemning of the divine
counsel, even among Christians, and hence so few of them know
the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free.
Verse 12. Therefore he brought down their heart
with labour. In eastern prisons men are frequently made to
labour like beasts of the field. As they have no liberty, so
they have no rest. This soon subdues the stoutest heart, and
makes the proud boaster sing another tune. Trouble and hard toil
are enough to tame a lion. God has methods of abating the
loftiness of rebellious looks; the cell and the mill make even
giants tremble. They fell down, and there was none to help.
Stumbling on in the dark beneath their weary task, they at last
fell prone upon the ground, but no one came to pity them or to
lift them up. Their fall might be fatal for aught that any man
cared about them; their misery was unseen, or, if observed, no
one could interfere between them and their tyrant masters. In
such a wretched plight the rebellious Israelite became more
lowly in mind, and thought more tenderly of his God and of his
offences against him. When a soul finds all its efforts at self
salvation prove abortive, and feels that it is now utterly
without strength, then the Lord is at work hiding pride from man
and preparing the afflicted one to receive his mercy. The
spiritual case which is here figuratively described is
desperate, and therefore affords the finer field for the divine
interposition; some of us remember well how brightly mercy shone
in our prison, and what music the fetters made when they fell
off from our hands. Nothing but the Lord's love could have
delivered us; without it we must have utterly perished.
Verse 13. Then they cried unto the Lord in their
trouble. Not a prayer till then. While there was any to help
below they would not look above. No cries till their hearts were
brought down and their hopes were all dead—then they
cried, but not before. So many a man offers what he calls prayer
when he is in good case and thinks well of himself, but in very
deed the only real cry to God is that which is forced out of him
by a sense of utter helplessness and misery. We pray best when
we are fallen on our faces in painful helplessness. And he saved
them out of their distresses. Speedily and willingly he sent
relief. They were long before they cried, but he was not long
before he saved. They had applied everywhere else before they
came to him, but when they did address themselves to him, they
were welcome at once. He who saved men in the open wilderness
can also save in the close prison: bolts and bars cannot shut
him out, nor long shut in his redeemed ones.
Verse 14. He brought them out of darkness and the
shadow of death. The Lord in providence fetches out
prisoners from their cells and bids them breathe the sweet fresh
air again, and then he takes off their fetters, and gives
liberty to their aching limbs. So also he frees men from care
and trouble, and especially from the misery and slavery of sin.
This he does with his own hand, for in the experience of all the
saints it is certified that there is no jail delivery unless by
the Judge himself. And brake their bands in sunder. Set them
free by force, so liberating them that they could not be chained
again, for he had broken the manacles to pieces. The Lord's
deliverances are of the most complete and triumphant kind, he
neither leaves the soul in darkness nor in bonds, nor does he
permit the powers of evil again to enthral the liberated
captive. What he does is done for ever. Glory be to his name.
Verse 15. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his
goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
The sight of such goodness makes a right minded man long to see
the Lord duly honoured for his amazing mercy. When dungeon doors
fly open, and chains are snapped, who can refuse to adore the
glorious goodness of the Lord? It makes the heart sick to think
of such gracious mercies remaining unsung: we cannot but plead
with men to remember their obligations and extol the Lord their
God.
Verse 16. For he hath broken the gates of brass,
and cut the bars of Zion in sunder. This verse belongs to
that which precedes it, and Sums up the mercy experienced by
captives. The Lord breaks the strongest gates and bars when the
time comes to set free his prisoners: and spiritually the Lord
Jesus has broken the most powerful of spiritual bonds and made
us free indeed. Brass and iron are as tow before the flame of
Jesus' love. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us,
neither shall the bars of the grave detain us. Those of us who
have experienced his redeeming power must and will praise the
Lord for the wonders of his grace displayed on our behalf.
Verse 17. Fools because of their transgression, and
because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Many sicknesses
are the direct result of foolish acts. Thoughtless and lustful
men by drunkenness, gluttony, and the indulgence of their
passions fill their bodies with diseases of the worst kind. Sin
is at the bottom of all sorrow, but some sorrows are the
immediate results of wickedness: men by a course of
transgression afflict themselves and are fools for their pains.
Worse still, even when they are in affliction they are fools
still; and if they were brayed in a mortar among wheat with a
pestle, yet would not their folly depart from them. From one
transgression they go on to many iniquities, and while under the
rod they add sin to sin. Alas, even the Lord's own people
sometimes play the fool in this sad manner.
Verse 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat.
Appetite departs from men when they are sick: the best of food
is nauseous to them, their stomach turns against it. And they
draw near unto the gates of death. From want of food, and from
the destructive power of their malady, they slide gradually down
till they lie at the door of the grave; neither does the skill
of the physician suffice to stay their downward progress. As
they cannot eat there is no support given to the system, and as
the disease rages their little strength is spent in pain and
misery. Thus it is with souls afflicted with a sense of sin,
they cannot find comfort in the choicest promises, but turn away
with loathing even from the gospel, so that they gradually decay
into the grave of despair. The mercy is that though near the
gates of death they are not yet inside the sepulchre.
Verse 19. Then they cry unto the LORD in their
trouble. They join the praying legion at last. Saul also is
among the prophets. The fool lays aside his motley in prospect
of the shroud, and betakes himself to his knees. What a cure for
the soul sickness of body is often made to be by the Lord's
grace! And he saveth them out of their distresses. Prayer is as
effectual on a sick bed as in the wilderness or in prison; it
may be tried in all places and circumstances with certain
result. We may pray about our bodily pains and weaknesses, and
we may look for answers too. When we have no appetite for meat
we may have an appetite for prayer. He who cannot feed on the
word of God may yet turn to God himself and find mercy.
Verse 20. He sent his word and healed them. Man
is not healed by medicine alone, but by the word which
proceedeth out of the mouth of God is man restored from going
down to the grave. A word will do it, a word has done it
thousands of times. And delivered them from their destructions.
They escape though dangers had surrounded them, dangers many and
deadly. The word of the Lord has a great delivering power; he
has but to speak and the armies of death flee in an instant. Sin
sick souls should remember the power of the Word, and be
much in hearing it and meditating upon it. Spiritually
considered, these verses describe a sin sick soul: foolish but
yet aroused to a sense of guilt, it refuses comfort from any and
every quarter, and a lethargy of despair utterly paralyses it.
To its own apprehension nothing remains but utter destruction in
many forms: the gates of death stand open before it, and it is,
in its own apprehension, hurried in that direction. Then is the
soul driven to cry in the bitterness of its grief unto the Lord,
and Christ, the eternal Word, comes with healing power in the
direst extremity, saving to the uttermost.
Verse 21. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his
goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
It is marvellous that men can be restored from sickness and yet
refuse to bless the Lord. It would seem impossible that they
should forget such great mercy, for we should expect to see both
themselves and the friends to whom they are restored uniting in
a lifelong act of thanksgiving. Yet when ten are healed it is
seldom that more than one returns to give glory to God. Alas,
where are the nine? When a spiritual cure is wrought by the
great Physician, praise is one of the surest signs of renewed
health. A mind rescued from the disease of sin and the weary
pains of conviction, must and will adore Jehovah Rophi, the
healing God: yet it were well if there were a thousand times as
much even of this.
Verse 22. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of
thanksgiving. In such a case let there be gifts and
oblations as well as words. Let the good Physician have his fee
of gratitude. Let life become a sacrifice to him who has
prolonged it, let the deed of self denying gratitude be repeated
again and again: there must be many cheerful sacrifices to
celebrate the marvellous boon. And declare his works with
rejoicing. Such things are worth telling, for the personal
declaration honours God, relieves ourselves, comforts others,
and puts all men in possession of facts concerning the divine
goodness which they will not be able to ignore.
Verse 23. They that go down to the sea in ships.
Navigation was so little practised among the Israelites that
mariners were invested with a high mystery, and their craft was
looked upon as one of singular daring degree of and peril. Tales
of the sea thrilled all hearts with awe, and he who had been to
Ophir or to Tarshish and had returned alive was looked upon as a
man of renown, an ancient mariner to be listened to with
reverent attention. Voyages were looked on as descending to an
abyss, "going down to the sea in ships"; whereas now
our bolder and more accustomed sailors talk of the "high
seas." That do business in great waters. If they had not
had business to do, they would never have ventured on the ocean,
for we never read in the Scriptures of any man taking his
pleasure on the sea: so averse was the Israelitish mind to
seafaring, that we do not hear of even Solomon himself keeping a
pleasure boat. The Mediterranean was "the great sea"
to David and his countrymen, and they viewed those who had
business upon it with no small degree of admiration.
Verse 24. These see the works of the LORD.
Beyond the dwellers on the land they see the Lord's greatest
works, or at least such as stayers at home judge to be so when
they hear the report thereof. Instead of the ocean proving to be
a watery wilderness, it is full of God's creatures, and if we
were to attempt to escape from his presence by flying to the
uttermost parts of it, we should only rush into Jehovah's arms,
and find ourselves in the very centre of his workshop. And his
wonders in the deep. They see wonders in it and on it. It is in
itself a wonder and it swarms with wonders. Seamen, because they
have fewer objects around them, are more observant of those they
have than landsmen are, and hence they are said to see
the wonders in the deep. At the same time, the ocean really does
contain many of the more striking of God's creatures, and it is
the scene of many of the more tremendous of the physical
phenomena by which the power and more majesty of the Lord are
revealed among men. The chief wonders alluded to by the Psalmist
are a sudden storm and the calm which follows it. All believers
have not the same deep experience; but for wise ends, that they
may do business for him, the Lord sends some of his saints to
the sea of soul trouble, and there they see, as others do not,
the wonders of divine grace. Sailing over the deeps of inward
depravity, the waste waters of poverty, the billows of
persecution, and the rough waves of temptation, they need God
above all others, and they find him.
Verse 25. For he commandeth: his word is enough
for anything, he has but to will it and the tempest rages. And
raiseth the stormy wiled. It seemed to he asleep before, but it
knows its Master's bidding, and is up at once in all its fury.
Which lifteth up the waves thereof. The glassy surface of the
sea is broken, and myriads of white heads appear and rage and
toss themselves to and fro as the wind blows upon them. Whereas
they were lying down in quiet before, the waves rise in their
might and leap towards the sky as soon as the howling of the
wind awakens them. Thus it needs but a word from God and the
soul is in troubled waters, tossed to and fro with a thousand
afflictions. Doubts, fears, terrors, anxieties lift their heads
like so many angry waves, when once the Lord allows the storm
winds to beat upon us.
Verse 26. They mount up to the heaven. Borne
aloft on the crest of the wave, the sailors and their vessels
appear to climb the skies, but it is only for a moment, for very
soon in the trough of the sea they go down again to the depths.
As if their vessel were but a sea bird, the mariners are tossed
"up and down, up and down, from the base of the wave to the
billow's crown." Their soul is melted because of trouble.
Weary, wet, dispirited, hopeless of escape, their heart is
turned to water, and they seem to have no manhood left. Those
who have been on the spiritual deep in one of the great storms
which occasionally agitate the soul know what this verse means.
In these spiritual cyclones presumption alternates with despair,
indifference with agony! No heart is left for anything, courage
is gone, hope is almost dead. Such an experience is as real as
the tossing of a literal tempest and far more painful. Some of
us have weathered many such an internal hurricane, and have
indeed seen the Lord's wondrous works.
Verse 27. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a
drunken man. The violent motion of the vessel prevents their
keeping their legs, and their fears drive them out of all power
to use their brains, and therefore they look like intoxicated
men. And are at their wit's end. What more can they do? They
have used every expedient known to navigation, but the ship is
so strained and beaten about that they know not how to keep her
afloat. Here too the spiritual mariner's log agrees with that of
the sailor on the sea. We have staggered frightfully! We could
stand to nothing and hold by nothing. We knew not what to do,
and could have done nothing if we had known it. We were as men
distracted, and felt as if destruction itself would be better
than our horrible state of suspense. As for wit and wisdom, they
were clean washed out of us, we felt ourselves to be at a
nonplus altogether.
Verse 28. Then they cry unto the LORD in their
trouble. Though at their wit's end, they had wit enough to
pray; their heart was melted, and it ran out in cries for help.
This was well and ended well, for it is written, And he brought
them out of their distresses. Prayer is good in a storm. We may
pray staggering and reeling, and pray when we are at our wit's
end. God will hear us amid the thunder and answer us out of the
storm. He brought their distresses upon the mariners, and
therefore they did well to turn to him for the removal of them;
nor did they look in vain.
Verse 29. He maketh the storm a calm. He
reveals his power in the sudden and marvellous transformations
which occur at his bidding. He commanded the storm and now he
ordains a calm: God is in all natural phenomena, and we do well
to recognise his working. So that the waves thereof are still.
They bow in silence at his feet. Where huge billows leaped aloft
there is scarce a ripple to be seen. When God makes peace it is
peace indeed, the peace of God which passeth all understanding.
He can in an instant change the condition of a man's mind, so
that it shall seem an absolute miracle to him that he has passed
so suddenly from hurricane to calm. O that the Lord would thus
work in the reader, should his heart be storm beaten with
outward troubles or inward fears. Lord, say the word and peace
will come at once.
Verse 30. Then are they glad because they be quiet.
No one can appreciate this verse unless he has been in a storm
at sea. No music can be sweeter than the rattling of the chain
as the shipmen let down the anchor; and no place seems more
desirable than the little cove, or the wide bay, in which the
ship rests in peace. So he bringeth them unto their desired
haven. The rougher the voyage the more the mariners long for
port, and heaven becomes more and more "a desired
haven", as our trials multiply. By storms and by favourable
breezes, though tempest and fair weather, the great Pilot and
Ruler of the sea brings mariners to port, and his people to
heaven. HE must have the glory of the successful voyage of time,
and when we are moored in the river of life above we shall take
care that his praises are not forgotten. We should long ago have
been wrecked if it had not been for his preserving hand, and our
only hope of outliving the storms of the future is based upon
his wisdom, faithfulness and power. Our heavenly haven shall
ring with shouts of grateful joy when once we reach its blessed
shore.
Verse 31. Oh that men would praise the Loud for his
goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Let the sea sound forth Jehovah's praises because of his
delivering grace. As the sailor touches the shore let him lift
the solemn hymn to heaven, and let others who see him rescued
from the jaws of death unite in his thanksgiving.
Verse 32. Let them exalt him also in the
congregation of the people. Thanks for such mercies should
be given in public in the place where men congregate for
worship. And praise him in the assembly of the elders. The
praise should be presented with great solemnity in the presence
of men of years, experience, and influence. High and weighty
service should be rendered for great and distinguished favours,
and therefore let the sacrifice be presented with due decorum
and with grave seriousness. Often when men hear of a narrow
escape from shipwreck they pass over the matter with a careless
remark about good luck, but it should never be thus jested with.
When a heart has been in great spiritual storms and has at last
found peace, there will follow as a duty and a privilege the
acknowledgment of the Lord's mercy before his people, and it is
well that this should be done in the presence of those who hold
office in the church, and who from their riper years are better
able to appreciate the testimony.
Verse 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and
the watersprings into dry ground. When the Lord deals with
rebellious men he can soon deprive them of those blessings of
which they feel most assured: their rivers and perennial springs
they look upon as certain never to be taken from them, but the
Lord at a word can deprive them even of these. In hot climates
after long droughts streams of water utterly fail, and even
springs cease to flow, and this also has happened in other parts
of the world when great convulsions of the earth's surface have
occurred. In providence this physical catastrophe finds its
counterpart when business ceases to yield profit and sources of
wealth are made to fail; as also when health and strength are
taken away, when friendly aids are withdrawn, and comfortable
associations are broken up. So, too, in soul matters, the most
prosperous ministries may become dry, the most delightful
meditations cease to benefit us, and the most fruitful religious
exercises grow void of the refreshment of grace which they
formerly yielded. Since
"It is God who lifts our comforts high,
Or sinks them in the grave",
it behooves us to walk before him with reverential gratitude,
and so to live that it may not become imperative upon him to
afflict us.
Verse 34. A fruitful land into barrenness. This
has been done in many instances, and notably in the case of the
psalmist's own country, which was once the glory of all lands
and is now almost a desert. For the wickedness of them that
dwell therein. Sin is at the bottom of sorrow. It first made the
ground sterile in father Adam's day, and it continues to have a
blighting effect upon all that it touches. If we have not the
salt of holiness we shall soon receive the salt of barrenness,
for the text in the Hebrew is—"a fruitful land into
saltness." If we will not yield the Lord a harvest of
obedience he may forbid the soil to yield us a harvest of bread,
and what then? If we turn good into evil can we wonder if the
Lord pays us in kind, and returns our baseness into our own
bosoms? Many a barren church owes its present sad estate to its
inconsistent behaviour, and many a barren Christian has come
into this mournful condition by a careless, unsanctified walk
before the Lord. Let not saints who are now useful run the risk
of enduring the loss of their mercies, but let them be watchful
that all things may go well with them.
Verse 35. He turneth the wilderness into a standing
water. With another turn of his hand he more than restores
that which in judgment he took away. He does his work of mercy
on a royal scale, for a deep lake is seen where before there was
only a sandy waste. It is not by natural laws, working by some
innate force, that this wonder is wrought, but by himself—HE
TURNETH. And dry ground into watersprings. Continuance,
abundance, and perpetual freshness are all implied in
watersprings, and these are created where all was dry. This
wonder of mercy is the precise reversal of the deed of judgment,
and wrought by the selfsame hand. Even thus in the church, and
in each individual saint, the mercy of the Lord soon works
wonderful changes where restoring and renewing grace begin their
benign work. O that we might see this verse fulfilled in all
around us, and within our own hearts: then would these words
serve us for an exclamation of grateful astonishment, and a song
of well deserved praise.
Verse 36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,
where none could dwell before. They will appreciate the change
and prize his grace; as the barrenness of the land caused their
hunger so will its fertility banish it for ever, and they will
settle down a happy and thankful people to bless God for every
handful of corn which the land yields to them. None are so ready
to return a revenue of praise to God for great mercies as those
who have known the lack of them. Hungry souls make sweet music
when the Lord fills them with his gracious gifts. Are we hungry?
Or are we satisfied with the husks of this poor, swinish world?
That they may prepare a city for habitation. When the earth is
watered and men cultivate it, cities spring up and teem with
inhabitants; when grace abounds where sin formerly reigned,
hearts find peace and dwell in God's love as in a strong city.
The church is built up where once all was a waste when the Lord
causes the broad rivers and streams of gospel grace to flow
forth.
Verse 37. And sow the fields, and plant vineyards,
which may yield fruits of increase. Men work when God works.
His blessing encourages the sower, cheers the planter, and
rewards the labourer. Not only necessaries but luxuries are
enjoyed, wine as well as corn, when the heavens are caused to
yield the needed rain to fill the watercourses. Divine
visitations bring great spiritual riches, foster varied works of
faith and labours of love, and cause every good fruit to abound
to our comfort and to God's praise. When God sends the blessing
it does not supersede, but encourages and develops human
exertion. Paul plants, Apollos waters, and God gives the
increase.
Verse 38. He blesseth them also, so that they are
multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
God's blessing is everything. It not only makes men happy, but
it makes men themselves, by causing men to be multiplied upon
the earth. When the Lord made the first pair he blessed them and
said "be fruitful and multiply", and here he restores
the primeval blessing. Observe that beasts as well as men fare
well when God favours his people: they share with men in the
goodness or severity of divine providence. Plagues and pests are
warded off from the flock and the herd when the Lord means well
towards a people; but when chastisement is intended, the flocks
and herds rot from off the face of the earth. O that nations in
the day of their prosperity would but own the gracious hand of
God, for it is to his blessing that they owe their all.
Verse 39. Again they are minished and brought low
through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. As they change
in character, so do their circumstances alter. Under the old
dispensation, this was very clearly to be observed; Israel's ups
and downs were the direct consequences of her sins and
repentance. Trials are of various kinds; here we have three
words for affliction, and there are numbers more: God has many
rods and we have many smarts; and all because we have many sins.
Nations and churches soon diminish in number when they are
diminished in grace. If we are low in love to God, it is small
wonder that he brings us low in other respects. God can reverse
the order of our prosperity, and give us a diminuendo
where we had a crescendo; therefore let us walk before
him with great tenderness of spirit, conscious of our dependence
upon his smile.
Verses 40-41. In these two verses we see how the Lord
at will turns the wheel of providence. Paying no respect to
man's imaginary grandeur, he puts princes down and makes them
wander in banishment as they had made their captives wander when
they drove them from land to land: at the same time, having ever
a tender regard for the poor and needy, the Lord delivers the
distressed and sets them in a position of comfort and happiness.
This is to be seen upon the roll of history again and again, and
in spiritual experience we remark its counterpart: the self
sufficient are made to despise themselves and search in vain for
help in the wilderness of their nature, while poor convicted
souls are added to the Lord's family and dwell in safety as the
sheep of his fold.
Verse 42. The righteous shall see it, and rejoice.
Divine providence causes joy to God's true people; they see the
hand of the Lord in all things, and delight to study the ways of
his justice and of his grace. And all iniquity shall stop her
mouth. What can she say? God's providence is often so conclusive
in its arguments of fact, that there is no replying or
questioning. It is not long that the impudence of ungodliness
can be quiet, but when God's judgments are abroad it is driven
to hold its tongue.
Verse 43. Those who notice providence shall never be
long without a providence notice. It is wise to observe what the
Lord doth, for he is wonderful in counsel; has given us eyes to
see with, and it is foolish to close them when there is most to
observe; but we must observe wisely, otherwise we may soon
confuse ourselves and others with hasty reflections upon the
dealings of the Lord. In a thousand ways the lovingkindness of
the Lord is shown, and if we will prudently watch, we shall come
to a better understanding of it. To understand the delightful
attribute of lovingkindness is an attainment as pleasant it is
profitable: those who are proficient scholars in this art will
be among sweetest singers to the glory of Jehovah.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. Dr. Lowth, in his 20th prelection,
remarks of this psalm:—No doubt the composition of this psalm
is admirable throughout; and the descriptive part of it adds at
least its share of beauty to the whole; but what is but most to
be admired is its conciseness, and withal the
expressiveness of the diction, which strikes the imagination
with inimitable elegance. The weary and bewildered
traveller, the miserable captive in the hideous
dungeon, the sick dying man, the seaman foundering in a
storm, are described in so affecting manner, that they far
exceed anything of the kind, though never so laboured. I may add
that had such an Idyle appeared in Theocritus or Virgil or had
it been found as a scene in any of the Greek tragedians, even in
Aeschylus himself, it would probably have been produced as their
master piece.—Adam Clarke.
Whole Psalm. I do not believe that the special care of
God over his own people is here rather indirectly than directly
touched upon, and that therefore this Psalm is composed to
illustrate the general care of God:
1. Because the subjects of the various deliverances are
called the redeemed of Jehovah, Ps 107:2, which is the
customary title of the people of God.
2. Because among the instances given, there are those which
are peculiar to the people of God, as in Ps 107:3 the return of
the dispersed out of every part of the globe, a singular
blessing, promised in the prophecies to the people of God, see
Ps 106:47.
3. The sick of Ps 106:17 are those who are spiritually sick
even unto death, as is clear from the fact of their being healed
by the word of God; which is not in the order of common
providence. The imprisoned of Ps 107:2 are those who on
account of the worship of God fall into the power of their
enemies, you cannot well apply to any other than the people of
God. If you understand the wicked, for others among the
heathen cannot be said to be thrust into prison on account of
the violation of the laws, then the liberation belongs
not to them.
4. Calling upon God, especially upon Jehovah,
under name He was known only to his people, you cannot apply
unless in a diluted and partial sense to those who are afflicted
in the general cause of providence.
5. He commands those who are delivered to celebrate the
divine goodness in the congregation of the people and the
assembly of the elders, Ps 107:32, which is the mark of the
true Church and her usual description.
6. Lastly, instances of general providences are not wont to
come under the name of dox, grace, by which these
deliverances are described, not do they require such great and
such careful attention in their consideration, as here the
sacred poet enjoins upon the pious and the wise: such things are
easily observed, and are of every day occurrence.—Venema.
Whole Psalm. The psalm divides itself into five parts;
the four first, as it should seem, describing four divisions of
the returning Israelites, and recounting the particular
accidents that had befallen each party on their journey, and the
particular mercies for which they ought to be thankful. The
fifth part describes what befalls the collected nations, or a
part of them, when they arrive at the land which was the object
of their journey—I think the first restoration or colonization
before the general gathering. Whether the four divisions of
travellers are supposed to come exactly from the four distinct
quarters of the earth, perhaps is not quite certain. The first
divisions are plainly described (Ps 107:4-5), as coming across
the desert, and meeting with all the disasters usual on that
route.—John Fry.
Whole Psalm. Without insisting on an exclusive
application of this psalm to Israel, there may be traced, I
think, not indistinctly, the leading incidents of the nation's
changeful experience in the descriptive language of the
narrative part. In Ps 107:4-7 the story of the wilderness is
briefly told, to the praise of the glory of his grace who
satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with
goodness. The strong discipline of national affliction which
visited the rebellious house, until the turning again of their
captivity, when the appointed term of Babylonish exile was
accomplished, appears to form the historical groundwork of Ps
107:10-16; but in its prophetic intention this passage would
demand a far wider interpretation. The resuscitation of Israel,
both spiritually and politically, would alone adequately fulfil
these words. The sufferings of the "foolish nation"
when, filled with Jehovah's indignation they find a snare in
that which should have fed them, and pine beneath the pressure
of a more grievous famine than that of bread, until, in answer
to their cry of sorrow, the word of saving health is sent them
from above, seem to be indicated in the next division (Ps
107:17-20). The language of Ps 107:22 is in agreement with this.
They who had daily gone about to establish their own
righteousness are called on now to offer the sacrifice of
thanksgiving, and to declare his works with singing. Besides the
obvious force and beauty of the following verses (Ps 107:23-30)
in their simple meaning and their general application, we have,
I believe, a figure of Jacob's restless trouble when, like a
vexed and frightened mariner, he wandered up and down the wide
sea of nations without ease, a friendless pilgrim of the Lord's
displeasure, until the long desired rest was gained at last,
under the faithful guidance of him who seeks his people in the
dark and cloudy day. Accordingly we find in the hortatory
reminder of praise which follows (Ps 107:32), a mention of the
gathered people and their elders, who are now called on to
celebrate, in the quiet resting places of Immanuel's land, his
faithful goodness and his might, who had turned their long
endured tempest of affliction to the calm sunshine of perpetual
peace.—Arthur Pridham, in "Notes and Reflections
on the Psalms", 1869.
Verse 1. O give thanks unto the LORD. Unto no
duty are we more dull and untoward, than to the praise of God,
and thanksgiving unto him; neither is there any duty whereunto
there is more need that we should be stirred up, as this earnest
exhortation doth import.—David Dickson.
Verse 1. For he is good, etc. The first words
of the psalm are abundant in thought concerning Jehovah. "For
he is good." Is not this the Old Testament version of
"God is love"? 1Jo 4:8. And then, For his mercy
endureth for ever. Is not this the gushing stream from the
fountain of Love?—the never failing stream, on whose banks the
redeemed of the Lord walk, those whom he has redeemed from the
hand of the enemy Hengstenberg, "hand of trouble",
ru. Nor is the rich significance of these clauses diminished by
our knowing that they were, from time to time, the burden of the
altar song. When the ark came to its resting place (1Ch
16:34), they sang to the Lord—"For he is good: for his
mercy endureth for ever!" In Solomon's temple, the
singers and players on instruments were making the resplendent
walls of the newly risen temple resound with these very words,
when the glory descended (2Ch 5:13); and these were the words
that burst from the lips of the awe struck and delighted
worshippers, who saw the fire descend on the altar (2Ch 7:3).
And in Ezra's days (Ezr 3:11), again, as soon as the altar rose,
they sang to the Lord—"Because he is good; for his
mercy endureth for ever." Our God is known to be
"Love", by the side of the atoning sacrifice. Jeremiah
(Jer 33:11) too, shows how restored Israel shall exult in this
name.—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 1. His mercy endureth for ever. St. Paul
assures us, that the covenant of grace, which is the fountain of
all mercy, was made before the foundation of the world, and this
he repeats in several of his epistles. The Psalmist teaches the
same doctrine, and frequently calls upon us to thank God,
because his mercy is for ever and ever—because his mercy is
everlasting—and in the text, because "his mercy
endureth for ever; "the word "endureth"
is inserted by the translators, for there is no verb in the
original neither in strictness of speech could there be any;
because there was no time when this mercy was not
exercised, neither will there be any time when the exercise of
it will fail. It was begun before all worlds, when the covenant
of grace was made, and it will continue to the ages of eternity,
after this world is destroyed. So that mercy was, and is, and
will be, "for ever", and sinful miserable man
may always find relief in this eternal mercy, whenever the sense
of his misery disposes him to seek for it. And does not this
motive loudly call upon us to "give thanks"?
Because there is mercy with God—mercy to pity the
miserable—and even to relieve them—although they do not
deserve it: for mercy is all free grace and unmerited love. Oh!
How adorable, then, and gracious is this attribute! How sweet is
it and full of consolation to the guilty.—William Romaine
(1714-1795), in "A Practical Comment on the Hundred and
Seventh Psalm."
Verse 2. Redeemed. Moses has given us in the
law a clear and full idea of what we are to understand by the
word gal, here rendered "redeemed." If
any person was either sold for a slave or carried away for a
captive, then his kinsman, who was nearest to him in blood, had
the right and equity of redemption. But no other person was
suffered to redeem. And such a kinsman was called "the
redeemer", when he paid down the price for which his
relation was sold to be a slave, or paid the ransom for which he
was led captive. And there is another remarkable instance in the
law, wherein it was provided, that in any case any person was
found murdered, then the nearest to him in blood was to
prosecute the murderer, and to bring him to justice, and this
nearest relation thus avenging the murder is called by the same
name, a redeemer. And how beautifully is the office of
our great Redeemer represented under these three instances; he
was to us such a Redeemer in spirituals, as these were in
temrporals: for sin had brought all mankind into slavery and
captivity, and had murdered us ...This most high God, who was
also man, united in one Christ, came into the world to redeem
us, and the same person being both God and man, must merit for
us as God in what he did for us as man. Accordingly, by the
merits of his obedience and sufferings, he paid the price our
redemption, and we were no longer the servants of sin; and by
his most precious blood shed upon the cross, by his death and
resurrection, he overcame both death, and him who had the power
of death, and by delivering us in this manner from slavery and
captivity, he fulfilled the third part of the Redeemer's office:
for Satan was the murderer from the beginning, who had given
both body and soul a mortal wound of sin, which was certain
death and eternal misery, and the Redeemer came to avenge the
murder. He took our cause in hand, as being our nearest kinsman,
and it cost him his own life to avenge ours.—William
Romaine.
Verse 2. From the hand of the enemy. From all
their sins which war against their souls; from Satan their
implacable adversary, who is stronger than they; from the law,
which threatens and curses them with damnation and death; from
death itself, the last enemy, and indeed from the hand of all
their enemies, be they who they may.—John Gill.
Verse 3. And gathered. If anything can inspire
us with gratitude, this motive should prevail, because we cannot
but feel the force of it, as it reminds us of that misery from
which we in particular were redeemed. The Gentiles had wandered
from God, and were so lost and bewildered in the mazes of error
and superstition, that nothing but the almighty love of our Lord
Jesus could have gathered them together into one church.—William
Romaine.
Verse 3. Gathered them. The Syriac gives as the
title of this psalm: God collects the Jews out of captivity, and
brings them back out of Babylon the only begotten Son of God
also, Jesus Christ, collects the nations from the four corners
of the world, by calling upon man to be baptized.—E.W.
Hengstenberg.
Verse 3. From the west. The mention of the west
leads the psalmist's thoughts to Egypt; and the remembrance of
the bondage and labours of the ancestors of the Israelites in
Egypt, coupled with the description in a previous psalm (Ps
105:17) of the imprisonment of Joseph.—Joseph Francis
Thrupp.
Verse 4. They wandered, etc. In these words it
is not easy to ascertain the persons immediately intended. But
this is a circumstance not to be lamented. It is even an
advantage; it constrains us to a more spiritual and evangelical
interpretation of the subject. And thus the whole representation
is fully and easily embodied. For the people of God are "redeemed"—redeemed
from the curse of the law, the powers of darkness, and the
bondage of corruption. They are "gathered"—gathered
by his grace out of all the diversities of the human race;
"out of all nations and kindreds and peoples and
tongues." Whatever this world is to others, they find it to
be "a wilderness"; when they are often tried, but
their trials urge them to prayer, and prayer brings them relief.
And being divinely conducted, they at length reach their
destination: and this is the conclusion of the whole, and it
applies to each of them: And he led them forth by the right
way, that they might go to a city of habitation.—William
Jay.
Verse 4. Wandered. Their passage through the
wilderness was not a journeying, such as when men pass on in a
road to some inhabited place; but a wandering up and down away
from all path and road, and so in an endless maze of
desolation.—Henry Hammond.
Verse 4. Wandered in the wilderness, etc. He
has lost his way. When he was in the world, he had no
difficulties; the path was so broad that he could not mistake
it. But when the work of divine grace begins in a sinner's
heart, he loses his way. He cannot find his way into the world;
God has driven him out of it, as he drove Lot out of Sodom. He
cannot find his way to heaven; because he at present lacks those
clear testimonies, those bright manifestations whereby alone he
can see his path. This is his experience then, that he has lost
his way; having turned his back upon the world; and yet unable
to realise those enjoyments in his soul that would make heaven
his home. He has so lost his way, that whether he turns to the
right hand or the left, he has no plain land marks to show him
the path in which his soul longs to go. We need not stray from
the text to find where the wanderer is. "They wandered in
the wilderness." The wilderness is a type and figure of
what this life is to the Lord's people. There is nothing that
grows in it fit for their food or nourishment. In it the fiery
flying serpents—sin and Satan—are perpetually biting and
stinging them: and there is nothing in it that can give them any
sweet and solid rest. The barren sands of carnality below, and
the burning sun of temptation above, alike deny them food and
shelter. But there is a word added which throws a further light
upon the character of the wilderness. "They wandered in the
wilderness, in a solitary way; "a way not tracked; a path
in which each has to walk alone; a road where no company cheers
him, and without landmarks to direct his course. This is a mark
peculiar to the child of God—that the path by which he travels
is, in his own feelings, a solitary way. This much
increases his exercises, that they appear peculiar to himself.
His perplexities are such as he cannot believe any living soul
is exercised with; the fiery darts which are cast into his mind
by the Wicked One are such as he thinks no child of God has ever
experienced; the darkness of his soul, the unbelief and
infidelity of his heart, and the workings of his powerful
corruptions, are such as he supposes none ever knew but himself.
It is this walking "in a solitary way", that
makes the path of trial and temptation so painful to God's
family.—J.C. Philpot (1802-1869), in a Sermon
entitled "The Houseless Wanderer."
Verse 4. In a solitary way.—The greater part
of the desert being totally destitute of water is seldom visited
by any human being; unless where the trading caravans trace out
their toilsome and dangerous route across it. In some parts of
this extensive waste the ground is covered with low, stunted
shrubs, which serve as landmarks for the caravans, and furnish
the camels with a scanty forage. In other parts, the
disconsolate wanderer, wherever he turns, sees nothing around
him but a vast interminable expanse of sand and sky; a gloomy
and barren void, where the eye finds no particular object to
rest upon, and the mind is filled with painful apprehensions of
perishing with thirst. Surrounded by this dreary solitude, the
traveller sees the dead bodies of birds, that the violence of
the wind has brought from happier regions; and, as he ruminates
on the fearful length of his remaining passage, listens with
horror to the driving blast, the only sound that interrupts the
awful repose of the desert. ("Proceedings of the African
Association.")—Mungo Park, 1771-1806
Verse 4. In a solitary way. See the reason why
people in trouble love solitariness. They are full of sorrow;
and sorrow, if it have taken deep root, is naturally reserved,
and flies all conversation. Grief is a thing that is very silent
and private. Those people that are very talkative and clamorous
in their sorrows, are never very sorrowful. Some are apt to
wonder why melancholy people delight to be so much alone,
and I will tell you the reason of it.
1. Because the disordered humours of their bodies alter their
temper, their humours, and their inclinations, that they are
no more the same that they used to be; their very distemper
is averse to what is joyous and diverting; and they that wonder
at them, may as wisely wonder why they will be diseased, which
they would not be, if they knew how to help it; but the disease
of melancholy is so obstinate, and so unknown to all but those
who have it, that nothing but the power of God can totally
overthrow it, and I know no other cure for it.
2. Another reason why they choose to be alone, is,
because people do not generally mind what they say, nor believe
them, but deride them, which they do not use so cruelly to do
with those that are in other distempers; and no man is to be
blamed for avoiding society, when it does not afford the common
credit to his words, that is due to the rest of men. But,
3. Another, and the principal reason why people in trouble
and sadness choose to be alone, is, because they generally
apprehend themselves singled out to be the marks of God's
peculiar displeasure, and they are often by their sharp
afflictions a terror to themselves, and a wonder to others. It
even breaks their hearts to see how low they are fallen, how
oppressed, that were once as easy, as pleasant, as full of hope
as others are, Job 6:21; "Ye see my casting down, and are
afraid." Ps 71:7; "I am as a wonder unto many."
And it is usually unpleasant to others to be with them. Ps
88:18; "Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and
mine acquaintance into darkness." And though it was not so
with the friends of Job; to see a man whom they had once known
happy, to be so miserable, one whom they had seen so very
prosperous, to be so very poor, in such sorry, forlorn
circumstances, did greatly affect them; he, poor man, was
changed, they knew him not, Job 2:12-13: "And when they
lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up
their voice and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and
sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down
with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none
spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very
great." As the prophet represents one under spiritual and
great afflictions, that "he sitteth alone, and keepeth
silence", La 3:28.—Timothy Rogers (1660-1729) in
"Trouble of Mind, and the Disease of Melancholy."
Verse 4. They found no city to dwell in; nor
even to call at or lodge in, for miles together; which is the
case of travellers in some parts, particularly in the desert of
Arabia. Spiritual travellers find no settlement, rest, peace,
joy, and comfort, but in Christ; nor any indeed in this world,
and the things of it; here they have no continuing city, Heb
13:14.—John Gill.
Verse 5. Their soul fainted in them. The word
here used, pje, ataph, means properly to cover, to
clothe, as with a garment, Ps 73:6; or a field with grain, Ps
65:13; then, to hide oneself, Job 23:9; then to cover with
darkness, Ps 77:3 and the title of Ps 102:1-28 thus it denotes
the state of mind when darkness seems to be in the way—a way
of calamity, trouble, sorrow; of weakness, faintness,
feebleness. Here it would seem from the connexion to refer to
the exhaustion produced by the want of food and drink.—Albert
Barnes.
Verse 6. Then they cried, etc. In these words
we find three things remarkable; first, the condition of God's
church and people, trouble and distress: Secondly, the
practice and the exercise of God's people in this state: "Then
they cried unto the Lord": Thirdly, their success, and
the good issue of this practice: "And he delivered
them", etc.—Peter Smith, in a Sermon preached
before the House of Commons, 1644.
Verse 6. Then they cried. The root qeu has here
a peculiar force: it denotes a cry of that kind into which any
one, when shaken with a violent tempest of emotion, in the
extremity of his grief and anxiety, breaks with a crash
and with complaining, as the heavens send forth thunder
and lightning. The original idea of the word being a crash,
it indicates such complaints and cries as they send forth, who
are oppressed by others, or are held fast in straits, in
imploring public protection and help. See De 22:24 1Ki 20:39 Isa
19:20.—Venema.
Verse 6. In their trouble. observe the words,
"Then they cried unto the Lord in their
trouble." Not before, nor after, but in
it. When they were in the midst of it; when trouble was wrapped
round their head, as the weeds were wrapped round the head of
Jonah; when they were surrounded by it, and could see no way out
of it; when, like a person in a mist, they saw no way of escape
before or behind; when nothing but a dark cloud of trouble
surrounded their souls, and they did not know that ever that
cloud would be dispersed;—then it was that they cried.—J.C.
Philpot.
Verse 6. "Trouble."
"Distresses." The condition of the Church, or its
most usual lot, is to be under sorrows and afflictions. I say,
most usual: "For I will not contend for ever, neither will
I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the
souls which I have made", Isa 57:16. But as we say of the
several callings and trades of life, this man professes such a
calling, and that man another; and as the poet said of
Hermogenes, Though he hold his peace (peradventure being asleep)
yet he's a good singer, and a musician by profession: so say I
of the people of God, their trade of life is suffering: and as
Julian told the Christians, when they complained of his cruelty,
It is your profession to endure tribulation.—Peter
Smith.
Verse 7. He led them forth. Forth out of the
world—forth out of a profession—forth out of a name to
live—forth out of every thing hateful in his holy and pure
eyes.—J.C. Philpot.
Verse 7. And he led them forth by the right way,
etc. Alexander translates this verse—"And he led them
in a straight course, to go to a city of habitation";
and adds, "No exact version can preserve or imitate the
paronomasia arising from the etymological affinity of the first
verb and noun, analogous to that between the English walk
and to walk, though the Hebrew forms are only similar and
not identical. The idea of physical rectitude or straightness
necessarily suggests that of moral rectitude or honesty,
commonly denoted by the Hebrew word."
Verse 7. A city of habitation. Not a city of inspection!
Many—(Eternal God, will it be any of this company?)—will
look in; and "there shall be weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth, when they shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in the kingdom of God, and they themselves shut out." Not a
city of visitation. Christians shall not only enter, but
abide. They shall go no more out—it is "a city of habitation."
This conveys the idea of repose. The Christian is now a
traveller; then he will be a resident: he is now on the road; he
will then be at home: "there remaineth a rest for
the people of God." It reminds us of a social state.
It is not a solitary condition; we shall partake of it with an
innumerable company of angels, with all the saved from among
men, with patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, our kindred
in Christ. "These are fellow citizens of the saints, and of
the household of God." It suggests magnificence. It
is not a village, or a town, but a city of habitation. A
city is the highest representation of civil community. There
have been famous cities; but what are they all to this!—William
Jay.
Verse 8. He does wonders for the children of men;
and therefore, men should praise the Lord. And he is the
more to be praised because these wonders, twalpn, niphlaoth,
miracles of mercy and grace, are done for the undeserving.
There are done Mda ynbl, libney Adam, for the children of
Adam, the corrupt descendants of a rebel father.—Adam
Clarke.
Verse 8. Oh that men would praise the LORD,
etc. Hebrew, That they would confess it to the Lord, both in
secret, and in society. This is all the rent that God requireth;
he is content that we have the comfort of his blessings, so he
may have the honour of them. This was all the fee Christ looked
for for his cures: go and tell what God hath done for thee.
Words seem to be a poor and slight recompense; but Christ, saith
Nazienzen, called himself the Word.—John Trapp.
Verse 8. To the children of men! We must
acknowledge God's goodness to the children of men, as well as to
the children of God; to others as well as to ourselves.—Matthew
Henry.
Verse 9. For he satisfieth the longing soul.
This is the reason which the psalmist gives for the duty
of thankfulness which he prescribes. "The longing
soul", hqqs vpn, nephesh shokekah, the soul that
pushes forward in eager desire after salvation.—Adam
Clarke.
Verse 10. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death, being bound in affliction and iron. Every son of
Adam in his natural state before he is redeemed is in "darkness"
and "the shadow of death", and is fast "bound"
with the chains of sin and misery, and there is no
help for him upon earth—the Almighty God and Saviour alone is
able to deliver him.—William Romaine.
Verse 11. Because they rebelled against the words
of God. There is in the Hebrew a play upon similar sounds—Himru
Imree. God's words are those spoken in the Law
and by the prophets. And contemned the counsel of the Most
High—another play upon like sounds in the Hebrew—Hatzath
Naatzu.—A.R. Fausset.
Verse 12. He brought down their heart. O
believer, God may see you have many and strong lusts to be
subdued, and that you need many and sore afflictions to bring
them down. Your pride and obstinacy of heart may be strong, your
distempers deeply rooted, and therefore the physic must be
proportioned to them.—John Willison.
Verse 12. He brought down their heart with labour.
Those towering passions by which they vainly vaunted themselves
above the law and the worship of God, he weakened and curbed, so
that they began to submit themselves to God. The root enk taken
from the Arabic, describes a process of weakening by compressing
the wings or shrinking the fingers, and is properly applied
to birds, which when their wings are compressed are
obliged to fall to the ground, or to men, who by the shrivelling
up of their fingers lose the power of working; whence it is
transferred to oppressions or depressions of any
kind.—Venema.
Verse 12. They fell down, and there was none to
help. Affliction is then come to the height and its complete
measure, when the sinner is made sensible of his own weakness,
and doth see there is no help for him, save in God alone.—David
Dickson.
Verse 12. They fell down. They threw themselves
prostrate at his feet for mercy; their heart and strength failed
them, as the word signifies, and is used in Ps 31:10; terrified
with a sense of divine wrath, they could not stand before the
Lord, nor brave it out against him. And there was none to
help. They could not help themselves, nor was there any
creature that could. There is salvation in no other than in
Christ; when he saw there was none to help him in that work, his
own arm brought salvation to him; and when sinners see there is
help in no other, they apply to him.—John Gill.
Verse 17. Fools. There is nothing more foolish
than an act of wickedness; there is no wisdom equal to that of
obeying God.—Albert Barnes.
Verses 17-20. Fools because of their transgression,
and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul
abhorreth all manner of meat (they are so sick that they can
relish, take down nothing,)and they draw near unto the gates
of death, they are almost in, they were on the brink of
hell; what course must be used for their cure? Truly this, He
sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their
destructions. No herb in the garden of the whole world can
do these distressed creatures the least good. Friends may speak,
and ministers may speak, yea, angels may speak, and all in vain;
the wounds are incurable for all their words; but if God please
to speak, the dying soul revives. This word is the only balm
that can cure the wounded conscience: he sendeth his word and
healeth them. Conscience is God's prisoner, he claps it in
hold, he layeth it in fetters, that the iron enters the very
soul; this he doth by his word, and truly he only who shuts up
can let out; all the world cannot open the iron gate, knock off
the shackles, and set the poor prisoner at liberty, till God
speak the word.—George Swinnock, 1627-1673.
Verse 17., etc. A Rescue from Death, with a Return of
Praise.—R. Sibbes' Works, Vol. 51; Nichol's edition.
Verses 17-21.
1. The distress of the sick.
2. Their cure by the Great Physician.
3. Their grateful behaviour to him.
—W. Romaine.
Verses 17-22. A Visit to Christ's Hospital.
1. The names and characters of the
patients—"fools"; all sinners are fools.
2. The cause of their pains and afflictions—"because
of their transgressions", etc.
3. The progress of the disease—"their soul abhorreth
all manner of meat"; and, "they draw near onto the
gates of death."
4. The interposition of the physician—"then they
cry", etc.,
Verses 19-20.
(a) Note, when the physician comes in—when "they
cry," etc.
(b) The kind of prayer—a cry.
(c) What the physician did—"saved,"
"healed," "delivered."
(d) How this was effected—"He sent his word,"
etc.
5. The consequent conduct of those who were healed; they
praised God for his goodness. They added sacrifice to this
praise, Ps 107:22. In addition to sacrifice the healed ones
began to offer songs—"sacrifice of thanksgiving."
They added a declaration of joy—"Let them declare his
works with rejoicing."
Verse 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat.
Nor is it without emphasis that it is not the sick man who is
said to spurn food, but his soul ...The Hebrew word vpn
which properly means a breath, hence a panting appetite, is
applied to a very vehement appetite for food. When,
therefore, the soul is said to abhor food, it is
equivalent to saying for the vehement appetite for food
abhors food: that is, in the place of an appetite for food,
they are oppressed with a loathing; when they ought to be moved
with a sharp desire of food, that their exhausted powers might
be refreshed, appetite itself becomes a loathing of food,
which is a most vivid description of the utmost loathing, and
utter prostration of all desire.—Venema.
Verse 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat.
The best of creature comforts are but vain comforts. What can
dainty meat do a man good, when he is sick and ready to die?
Then gold and silver, lands and houses, which are the dainty
meat of a covetous man, are loathsome to him. When a man is sick
to death, his very riches are sapless and tasteless to him; wife
and children, friends and acquaintance, can yield but little
comfort in that dark hour, yea, they often prove miserable
comforters: when we have most need of comfort, these things
administer least or no comfort at all to us. Is it not our
wisdom, then, to get a stock of such comforts, as will hold and
abide fresh with us, when all worldly comforts either leave us,
or become tasteless to us? Is it not good to get a store of that
food, which how sick soever we are, our stomachs will never
loathe? yea, the sicker we are, our stomachs will the more like,
hunger after, and feed the more heartily upon. The flesh of
Christ is meat indeed (Joh 6:55). Feed upon him by faith, in
health and sickness, ye will never loathe him. His flesh is the
true meat of desires, such meat as will fill and fatten us, but
never cloy us. A hungry craving appetite after Christ, and sweet
satisfaction in him, are inseparable, and still the stronger is
our appetite, the greater is our satisfaction. And (which is yet
a greater happiness) our souls will have the strongest appetite,
the most sharp set stomach after Christ, when, through bodily
sickness, our stomachs cannot take down, but loathe the very
scent and sight of the most pleasant perishing meat, and
delicious earthly dainties. Look, that ye provide somewhat to
eat, that will go down upon a sick bed; your sick bed meat is
Christ; all other dainty food may be an abhorring to you.—Joseph
Caryl.
Verse 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat.
The case is then growing desperate, and there seems to be no
hope left, when it comes to the last stage here described, viz.,
to loathe and "abhor all manner of meat." The
stomach turns at the sight of it, and the man has this loathing
and abhorrence of "all manner of meat." What he
most loved, and had the best appetite for, is now become so very
offensive, that at the smell of it he grows sick and faints
away. Nature cannot support itself long under this disorder. If
this loss of appetite, and loathing even the smell of the most
simple food continue, it must wear the patient out. Indeed, it
is not always a mortal distemper; there may be an entire
loathing of food, and even fainting away at the smell of it, and
the patient may sometimes recover; but in the present case the
distemper had continued so long, and was grown so inveterate
that there were no hopes, for they draw nigh, the
Psalmist says, to the gates of death. Those gates of
brass and bars of iron with which death locks up his prisoners
in the grave; and you may judge how great must be the strength
of these gates and bars, since only one person was ever able to
break through them, and if he had not been more than man, he
could never have broken these gates of brass, nor cut these bars
of iron in sunder.—William Romaine.
Verse 18. They draw near unto the gates of death.
Death is a great commander, a great tyrant, and hath gates to
sit in, as judges and magistrates used to `sit in the gates.'
There are three things implied in this phrase.
1. First, "They draw near unto the gates of
death", that is, they were "near to
death"; as he that draws near the gates of a city is
near the city, because the gates enter into the city.
2. Secondly, gates are applied to death for authority.
They were almost in death's jurisdiction. Death is a great
tyrant. He rules over all the men in the world, over kings and
potentates, and over mean men; and the greatest men fear death
most. He is "the king of fears", as Job calls him, Job
18:14; aye, and the fear of kings ...Therefore it is called
"the gate of death." It rules and overrules all
mankind. Therefore it is said "to reign", Ro 5:21.
Death and sin came in together. Sin was the gate that let in
death, and ever since death reigned, and will, till Christ
perfectly triumph over it, who is the King of that lord and
commander, and hath "the key of hell and death", Re
1:18. To wicked men, I say, he is a tyrant, and hath a gate; and
when they go through the "gate of death", they
go to a worse, to a lower place, to hell. It is the trap door to
hell.
3. Thirdly. By the "gate of death", is meant
not only the authority, but the power of death; as in the
gospel, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against
it", Mt 16:18; that is, the power and strength of hell. So
here it implies the strength of death, which is very great, for
it subdues all. It is the executioner of God's justice.—Richard
Sibbes.
Verse 18. The sin sick soul without appetite for
invitations, encouragements, or promises, however presented.
Milk too simple, strong meat too heavy, wine too heating, manna
too light, etc.
Verse 18.—Teacheth us, that even appetite to our
meat is a good gift of the Lord; also that when men are in
greatest extremity, then is God most commonly nigh unto them.—T.
Wilcocks.
Verse 20. When George Wishart arrived at Dundee, where
the plague was raging (1545), he caused intimation to be made
that he would preach; and for that purpose chose his station
upon the head of the East gate, the infected persons standing
without, and those that were whole within. His text was Ps
107:20, He sent his word and healed them, etc., wherein
he treated of the profit and comfort of God's word, the
punishment that comes by contempt of it, the readiness of God's
mercy to such as truly turn to him, and the happiness of those
whom God takes from this misery, etc. By which sermon he so
raised up the hearts of those that heard him, that they regarded
not death, but judged them more happy that should then depart,
rather than such as should remain behind, considering that they
knew not whether they should have such a comforter with them.—Samuel
Clarke (1599-1682), in "A General Martyrologie."
Verse 20. He sent his word. The same expression
occurs in Ps 147:15,18; compare Isa 55:11. We detect in such
passages the first glimmering of St. John's doctrine of the
agency of the personal Word. The Word by which the heavens were
made, Ps 33:6, is seen to be not merely the expression of God's
will, but his messenger mediating between himself and his
creatures. It is interesting to compare with this the language
of Elihu in the parallel passage of Job 33:23, where what is
here ascribed to the agency of the Word is ascribed to that of
the "mediating angel, or messenger."—J.J. Stewart
Perowne.
Verse 20. His word who healed them was
his essential Word, even the second person in the Godhead, our
Lord Jesus Christ, the word who was made flesh and dwelt among
us: of this divine Word it was foretold in the Old Testament,
that he should arise with the glory of the morning sun, bringing
healing in his wings for all our maladies; and accordingly the
New Testament relates, that Jesus went about all Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing ALL manner of
sickness, and ALL manner of disease among the people. He healed
the bodily disease miraculously, to prove that he was the
Almighty Physician of the soul. And it is remarkable that he
never rejected any person who applied to him for an outward
cure, to demonstrate to us, that he would never cast out any
person who should apply to him for a spiritual cure.—William
Romaine.
Verse 20. And delivered them from their
destructions. From their pits: or, From their sepulchres.
That is, from the deaths to which they were near. Others render,
From their nets or snares, Others, their destructions,
the diseases in which they were miserable prisoners.—Franciscus
Vatablus.
Verse 20. And delivered them from their
destructions. From the destruction of the body, of the
beauty and strength of it by diseases; restoring to health is a
redeeming of the life from destruction; from the grave, the pit
of corruption and destruction, so called because in it bodies
corrupt, putrefy, and are destroyed by worms; and such who are
savingly convinced of sin, and blessed with pardoning grace and
mercy, are delivered from the everlasting destruction of body
and soul in hell.—John Gill.
Verse 22. And let them sacrifice. For their healing
they should bring a sacrifice; and they should offer the life
of the innocent animal unto God, as he has offered their lives;
and let them thus confess that God has spared them
when they deserved to die; and let them declare also
"his works with rejoicing"; for who will not rejoice
when he is delivered from death?—Adam Clarke.
As a specimen of medieval spiritualizing we give the
following from the Hermit of Hampole:
Verse 23. They that go down to the sea in ships,
etc. They that (are true prelates and preachers,)go
down from the sublimity of contemplation, to the sea,
that is, suiting themselves to the lowly, that they also may be
saved, in ships, that is, in the faith, hope and charity of the
church, without which they would be drowned in the waters of
pleasure, that do business, that is, continue preaching, in
great waters, that is, among many people in order that they
may become fishers of men.—Richardus Hampolitanus.
Verse 23-27.
While thus our keels still onward boldly strayed—
Now tossed by tempest, now by calms delayed;
To tell the terrors of the deep untried,
What toils we suffered, and what storms defied;
What rattling deluges the black clouds poured,
What dreary weeks of solid darkness lowered;
What mountain surges mountain surges lashed,
What sudden hurricanes the canvas dashed;
What bursting lightnings, with incessant flare,
Kindled in one wide flame the burning air;
What roaring thunders bellowed over our head,
And seemed to shake the reeling ocean's bed:
To tell each horror in the deep revealed,
Would ask an iron throat with tenfold vigour steeled.
Those dreadful wonders of the deep I saw,
Which fill the sailor's breast with sacred awe;
And what the sages, of their learning vain,
Esteem the phantoms of a dreamful brain.
—Luiz de Camoens (1524-1579), in "the Lusiad."
Verse 23-31. No language can be more sublime than the
description of a storm at sea in this Psalm. It is the very soul
of poetry. The utmost simplicity of diction is employed to
convey the grandest thoughts. The picture is not crowded; none
but the most striking circumstances are selected; and everything
is natural, simple, and beyond measure interesting. The whole is
an august representation of the Providence of God, ruling in
what appears the most ungovernable province of nature. It is God
who raises the storm; it is God who stilleth it. The wise men of
this world may look no farther than the physical laws by which
God acts; but the Holy Spirit, by the Psalmist, views the awful
conflict of the elements as the work of God.—Alexander
Carson.
Verse 23-32. This last picture springs naturally from
the mention in Ps 107:3 of the sea; and here the psalmist may
have directed his imagination to the usual tempestuousness of
the season at which the psalm was sung.—Joseph Francis
Thrupp.
Verse 24. These see the works of the LORD.
There are sinners who, like Jonah, fleeing from the face of God,
go down to the sea, to the cares and pleasures of the world,
away from the solid land of humility, quiet, and grace. They
occupy themselves in many waters, in needless toils and
excessive pleasures, and yet even there God does not leave them,
but causes them to see his works and wonders even in the deep of
their sins, by giving them timely and sufficient warnings, and
alarming them with fear of the abyss.—Le Blanc, in Neale
and Littledale.
Verse 25-31.
Think, O my soul, devoutly think,
How, with affrighted eyes
Thou saw'st the wide extended deep
In all its horrors rise!
Confusion dwelt in every face,
And fear in every heart;
When waves on waves, and gulfs on gulfs,
Overcame the pilot's art.
Yet then from all my griefs, O Lord,
Thy mercy set me free,
Whilst in the confidence of prayer
My soul took hold on thee.
For though in dreadful whirls we hung
High on the broken wave,
I knew thou wert not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.
The storm was laid, the winds retired,
Obedient to thy will;
The sea that roared at thy command,
At thy command was still.
In midst of dangers, fears, and death,
Thy goodness I will adore,
And praise thee for thy mercies past;
And humbly hope for more.
My life, if thou preservest my life,
Thy sacrifice shall be;
And death, if death must be my doom,
Shall join my soul to thee.
—Joseph Addison.
Verse 26. They mount up to the heaven. There be
three heavens. 1. Coelum aerium. 2. Coelum astriferum.
3. Coelum beatorum. It is not the latter now they go to
in storms, but the two former.—Daniel Pell, in "An
Improvement of the Sea", 1659.
Verse 26. They mount up to the heaven, they go down
again to the depths.
To larboard all their oars and canvas bend;
We on a ridge of waters to the sky
Are lifted, down to Erebus again
Sink with the falling wave; thrice howled the rocks
Within their stony caverns, thrice we saw
The splashed up foam upon the lights of heaven.
—Virgil.
Verse 28. They cry unto the LORD. His
attributes are much honoured in calling upon him, especially in
times of danger and distresses.
1. When you call upon God at sea, you honour his sovereignty.
God says to these proud waves, "So far and no
farther!" So, "the storm and hail", they fulfil
his will, and when he pleases he commands a calm.
2. Prayer in time of danger honours God's wisdom, when
we see no way open for mercies and deliverance to come in at,
then to look up to him, believing, "He knows how to deliver
out of temptation." O how much of the wisdom of God appears
in preservation in time of danger! and is it not a good token of
mercy coming in when persons pray, though all visible ways are
blocked up? This honours God's wisdom, which we
acknowledge is never at a loss as to ways of bringing in mercy
and deliverance.
3. The faithfulness of God is much honoured in times
of danger, when he is called upon. The faithfulness of a friend
doth most appear in a strait: now if you can rely upon his
promise, God's faithfulness is the best line men sinking at sea
can lay hold on. So I might add, calling upon God honours all
his other attributes.—John Ryther (1632-1681) in
"A Plat for Mariners; or, The Seaman's Preacher,"
1675.
Verse 28. Then they cry. Tempestuous storms and
deadly dangers have brought those upon their knees, that would
never had bent in a calm: "Then they cry." If
any one would know at what time the sailors take up the duty of
prayer, let me say it is when death stares them in the face. If
ever you see the heavens veiled in sable blackness, the clouds
flying, and the winds roaring under them; you may conclude that
some of them (though God knows but few) are at prayer, yea, hard
at it with their God. But never believe it that there is any
prayer amongst them when the skies are calm, the winds down, and
the seas smooth. David tells you not of their praying in good
and comfortable weather, but that it is in time of storms, for I
believe that neither he nor I ever saw many of them on that
strain. . . . God hears oftener from an afflicted people, than
he either does or can from a people that are at ease, quiet, and
out of danger. Then they cry. The prodigal son was very
high, and resolved never to return till brought low by pinching
and nipping afflictions, then his father had some tidings of
him. Hagar was proud in Abraham's house, but humbled in the
wilderness. Jonah was asleep in the ship, but awake and at
prayer in the whale's belly, Jon 2:1. Manasses lived in
Jerusalem like a libertine, but when bound in chains at Babel,
his heart was turned to the Lord, 2Ch 33:11-12. Corporal
diseases forced many under the gospel to come to Christ, whereas
others that enjoyed bodily health would not acknowledge him. One
would think that the Lord would abhor to hear those prayers that
are made only out of the fear of danger, and not out of the
love, reality, and sincerity of the heart. If there had not been
so many miseries of blindness, lameness, palsies, fevers, etc.,
in the days of Christ, there would not have been that flocking
after him.—Daniel Pell.
Verse 28. Then they cry unto the LORD.
"Then", if ever: hence that speech of one, Qui
nescit orare, discat navigare, He that cannot pray, let him
go to sea, and there he will learn.—John Trapp.
Verse 28. Then they cry, etc. Gods of the sea
and skies (for what resource have I but prayer?) abstain from
rending asunder the joints of our shattered bark.—Ovid.
Verse 29. He maketh the storm a calm, etc. The
image is this. Mankind before they are redeemed are like a ship
in a stormy sea, agitated with passions, tossed up and down with
cares, and so blown about with various temptations, that they
are never at rest. This is their calmest state in the smiling
day of smooth prosperity: but afflictions will come, the
afflictions of sin and Satan, and the world will raise a violent
storm, which all the wit and strength of man cannot escape. He
will soon be swallowed up of the devouring waves: unless that
same God who created the sea speak to it, "Peace, be
still." We are all in the same situation the apostles were,
when they were alone in the evening in the midst of the sea, and
the wind and the waves were contrary; against which they toiled
rowing in vain, until Christ came to them walking upon the sea,
and commanded the winds to cease and the waves to be still. Upon
which there was a great calm; for they knew his voice, who had
spoken them into being, and they obeyed. His word is almighty to
compose and still the raging war of the most furious elements.
And he is as almighty in the spiritual world, as he is in the
natural. Into whatever soul he enters, he commands all the
jarring passions to be still, and there is indeed a blessed
calm. O may the Almighty Saviour speak thus unto you all, that
you may sail on a smooth unruffled sea, until you arrive safe at
the desired haven of eternal rest!—William Romaine.
Verse 29. If the sailor can do nothing so wise and
oftentimes indeed can do nothing else than trust in the Lord, so
is it with us in the storms of life. Like the mariner, we must
use lawful means for our protection; but what are means without
the divine blessing?—William S. Plumer.
Verse 30. Desired haven. At such a time as this
sweet April morning, indeed, a breakwater like this (of
Portland) may seem of little value, when the waves of the ocean
only just suffice to break its face into gems of changing
brilliance, and to make whispering music; while vessels of all
sizes, like those whose clustering masts we see yonder under the
promontory, ride with perfect security in the open road. But in
the fierce gales of November or March, when the shrieking blasts
drive furiously up the Channel, and the huge mountain billows,
green and white, open threatening graves on every side, how
welcome would be a safe harbour, easy of access, and placed at a
part of the coast which else would be unsheltered for many
leagues on either side! Blessed be God for the gift of his
beloved Son, the only Harbour of Refuge for poor tempest tossed
sinners! We may think lightly of it now, but in the coming day
of gloom and wrath, when "the rain descends, and the floods
come, and the winds blow", they only will escape who are
sheltered there!—Philip Henry Gosse, in "The
Aquarium," 1856.
Verse 31. Oh. This verse seems to include the
ardent earnestness of the psalmist's spirit, that seamen would
be much in thankfulness, and much and frequent in praising of
the Lord their deliverer out of all their distresses. "Oh",
seems he to say, that I could put men upon this duty, it would
be more comfortable to me, seems the psalmist to say, to find
such a principle in the hearts of those that are employed in the
great waters, than any one thing in the world again whatsoever. "Oh"
is but a little word consisting of two letters, but no word that
ever man utters with his tongue comes with that force and
affection from the heart as this doth. "Oh" is
a word of the highest expression, a word when a man can say no
more. This interjection oftentimes starts out of the heart upon
a sudden from some unexpected conception, or admiration, or
other.—Daniel Pell.
Verse 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness,
etc. God is the father of the rain. If he withholds that
refreshment for a long time, all nature droops, and every green
thing dies. The imagery is drawn from Palestine where there were
but two annual rainy seasons, and if either of them was long
deferred, the effect was frightful. The channels of considerable
rivers were dried up.—William S. Plumer.
Verse 33. Rivers...Watersprings. A church
enriched with the graces of heaven is compared by the prophets
to a well watered garden (Isa 63:11 Jer 31:12), to the paradise
of God, watered with its four fruitful rivers: for as everything
useful and ornamental in the vegetable world is raised up by
water, so is everything in the spiritual world raised up by the
Holy Spirit.—William Romaine.
Verse 34. A fruitful land into barrenness.
Hereof Judaea is at this day a notable instance (besides many
parts of Asia, and Africa, once very fruitful, now, since they
became Mahometan, dry and desert). Judaea, saith one, hath now
only some few parcels of rich ground found in it; that men may
guess the goodness of the cloth by the fineness of the
shreds.—John Trapp.
Verse 34. For the wickedness of them that dwell
therein. When I meet with a querulous husbandman, he tells
me of a churlish soil, of a wet seed time, of a green winter, of
an unkindly spring, of a lukewarm summer, of a blustering
autumn; but I tell him of a displeased God, who will be sure to
contrive and fetch all seasons and elements, to his own most
wise drifts and purposes.—Joseph Hall.
Verse 34. For the wickedness. God locks up the
clouds, because we have shut up our mouths. The earth is grown
hard as iron to us, because we have hardened our hearts against
our miserable neighbours. The cries of the poor for bread are
loud, because our cries against sin have been so low. Sicknesses
run apace from house to house, and sweep away the poor
unprepared inhabitants, because we sweep not out the sin that
breeds them.—Richard Baxter, 1615-1691.
Verse 35. Dry ground into watersprings. If God
afflict, his justice findeth the cause of it in man; but if he
do good to any man, it is of his own good pleasure, without any
cause in man: therefore no reason is given here of this change,
as was of the former, but simply, "He turneth dry ground
into watersprings."—David Dickson.
Verse 40. He poureth contempt upon princes.
Mighty potentates, who have been the terror and dread of the
whole world, when once denuded of their dignity and power, have
become the sport even of their own dependants.—John Calvin.
Verse 40. Princes. Persons of high rank are the
most exempt, in ordinary times, from destitution and want, and
misery must reach a great height when it invades them. No part
of the world probably has witnessed so many and great reverses
of this kind as the regions and countries of the East.—William
Walford.
Verse 41. He setteth the poor on high from
affliction. How high? Above the reach of the curse, which
shall never touch him; above the power of Satan, which shall
never ruin him; above the reigning influence of sin, which
"shall not have dominion over him"; above the
possibility of being banished from his presence, for
"Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation." This is the way God sets his people on high,
instructing them in the mysteries of his word, and giving them
to partake the joys that are contained therein.—Joseph
Irons, 1786-1852.
Verse 42. The righteous shall see it. The word
here rendered "righteous" is not what the Scripture
commonly uses to signify righteous or justified persons; but it
is another word, and conveys another idea. It signifies to
direct, to set right; and the "righteous" here
mentioned are they, who are directed in the right way, and walk,
as Enoch did, with God in his way, and not in the way of the
world. And these "shall see" the goodness and mercy of
God's dealings with the fallen race of man. They shall have eyes
to see the ways of his providence. The same grace which set them
right, will manifest to them the reasonableness of the plan of
redemption. They shall see and admire, and be thankful for the
wonders of his redeeming love, which are recorded in this divine
hymn.—William Romaine.
Verse 42. "All iniquity shall stop her
mouth." "Iniquity" is here personified, and
denotes the iniquitous; but the abstract is more
poetical, "Stop her mouth." Tongue tied,
literally, moistly shut; which, perhaps, might be not improperly
vernaculized.—Alexander Geddes.
Verse 43. Whoso is wise, etc. Or as it may be
read interrogatively, "Who is wise?" as in Jer
9:12 Ho 14:9; that is, spiritually wise, wise unto salvation;
who is made to know wisdom in the hidden part; for not such as
possessed of natural wisdom, or worldly wise men, much less who
are wise to do evil, are here meant. "And will observe
these things"; the remarkable appearances of divine
Providence to persons in distress; the various changes and
vicissitudes in the world; the several afflictions of God's
people, and their deliverances out of them; the wonderful works
of God in nature, providence, and grace; these will be observed,
taken notice of, laid up in the mind, and kept by such who are
truly wise, who know how to make a right use and proper
improvement of them. Even they shall understand the
lovingkindness of the LORD; every one of the wise men; they
will perceive the kindness of God unto men, in the several
dispensations of his providence towards them, and his special
love and kindness towards his own people, even in all their
afflictions they will perceive this to be at the bottom of every
mercy and blessing; they will understand more of the nature and
excellency of it, and know more of the love of God and Christ,
which passeth knowledge. Or, the kindnesses of the Lord shall
be understood; that is, by wise men; so R. Moses in Aben
Ezra renders the words.—John Gill.
Verse 43. Will observe these things, etc. Will
carefully note and remark what is here said of the fall and
recovery of mankind, of our state by nature and by grace. True
wisdom consists in observing these two things, what we are in
ourselves, and what we are in Christ; in a deep sense of our
misery by sin, stirring us up to seek our remedy in the
Redeemer. This is wisdom. And whosoever is thus wise unto
salvation shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord;
shall be able to apply what he understands of it to his own
private use and benefit. The verb in the original rendered "shall
understand", is in the conjugation called Hithpael,
which signifies to act upon itself. Whosoever observes those
things properly finds his own interest in them. He makes the
understanding of them useful to himself. He does not study them
as a science or theory, but as interesting points in which he is
nearly concerned, and which he therefore tries to bring home for
his own private advantage. When he hears of the mercies of the
Lord Jesus recorded in this psalm he desires to partake of them.
When he hears of the great deliverances vouchsafed to sinful
ruined man, he studies to have his own share in them. What is
said of these persons who wandered out of the way in the
wilderness, and fell into the bondage of sin, and were afflicted
with its diseases, and troubled like a stormy sea, with its
continual tempests; all this he knows was his own case, and
therefore what follows of their flourishing state after Christ
delivered them may be his also if he cry unto the Lord, as they
did, for help. And he never ceases praying and seeking, until
the blessed Jesus brings him to the haven of the church, where
he would be. And if he find the church diminished and brought
low, he is not discouraged; but relies on the promises of his
God, who will set him on high out of the reach of public
calamity, when he comes to destroy an infidel church. He
observes what is said on this psalm concerning those things; and
he knows it to be true, by his own experience. And therefore the
lovingkindness of the Lord here recorded is to him a subject of
exceeding great joy, because he has tasted of it. Whoso is wise
will bring his knowledge of this psalm home to his own heart,
and he shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord, he shall
be able to apply what he understands to his own benefit, and
shall therefore be continually praising the Lord for his
goodness, and declaring the wonders which he hath done for the
salvation of men.—William Romaine.
Verse 43. Observe these things. "To observe,
signifieth not only with our eyes to behold it; but so to stir
up our minds to the consideration of a thing, that one may grow
the better by it", saith a grave author. Now in this notion
of it, how few are they that observe "these
things"? . . . If you would by observing the providence
of God understand his loving kindness, and gain a spiritual
wisdom, let your eye affect your heart. Mollerus telleth
us, such an observation is here intended unde ad pietatem
exuscitemur, ut inde meliores evadamus, "as will
quicken us to piety, and help to make us better." There are
many careless observers of providence, who indeed see events
rather than providence; they see much that comes to pass in the
world, but consider nothing of God in them...They do by the book
of providence, as Augustine complained of himself, that in his
unregenerate state he did by the book of Scripture; he rather
brought to it discutiendi acumen, than discendi
pietatem. So men bring to the great works of God rather an
acute eye and wit to find out the immediate causes, and reasons
natural and political, than a trembling, humble heart,
that they might learn by them more to acknowledge, love,
fear, adore, and revere the great and mighty God whose works
these are. Let not yours be such an observation; but let your
eye, beholding God in his providential dispensations, affect
your hearts with that adoration and veneration, that love and
fear of the great and mighty God, which such works of God do
call to you for.—John Collinges (1623-1690), in
"Several Discourses concerning the actual Providence of
God."
Verse 43. Observe these things. These mighty
doings of our Saviour and our God in delivering his feeble
creatures from the trackless wilderness of error,—from the
noisome chain of carnal lust,—from the deadly sickness of a
corrupt nature,—and from the wild tempest of earthly passion,
deserve the thoughtful joy of all who would be faithful servants
of their Lord. The mouth of unbelief and the excuses of iniquity
are stopped by the sight of the marvels of that mercy which
endureth for ever. "The accuser of the brethren" is
silenced and cast down. The truly wise will ponder these things,
for in the knowledge of them is true wisdom; and so pondering,
there shall open before them, ever plainer, fuller, clearer,
brighter, the revelation of that mighty love of their eternal
Father which surpasses all understanding, and is more vast than
all thought.—"Plain Commentary."
Verse 43. How great a volume might be wrote, de
observandis Providentiae, concerning the observable things
of Divine Providence. I have seen a picture (one of those you
call kitchen pieces) concerning which it hath been proposed to
me, that for so many hours I should view it as curiously as I
could; yet the proposer would for any wager undertake to show me
something in it which I did not observe. Truly Providence is
such a thing, I can never look upon it, I can never take the
motions of it into my thoughts, but some new observation tenders
itself into my thoughts, I must turn my eyes from this wonderful
work, for I see they will not be satisfied with seeing, my mind
will never be filled with observation.—John Collinges.
Verse 43. When we speak of the love and favour of God
to his people, we are prone to understand by it nothing but
pleasing providence, grateful to our senses: now the lovingkindness
of God is not only seen in pleasing dispensations, but in
adverse providence also: "Whom he loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every child whom he receiveth": "all things
are yours", saith the apostle. This knowledge must be
gained by observation.—John Collinges.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Whole Psalm. This psalm is like the Interpreter's
house in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." Pilgrim is
told that he will there see excellent and profitable things. The
same promise is given in the introduction to this psalm, where
we have,
1. The source of these excellent things—the goodness and
all enduring mercy of God; mercy not exhausted by the
unworthiness of its objects.
2. Their acknowledgment, "Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so." Men will not own it, but the redeemed of the Lord
will. It is the experience of such that is pictorially
represented in this psalm. Let every one speak of God as he
finds. Is he good when he takes away as well as when he gives
"The redeemed of the Lord will say so." Is he merciful
when he frowns as well as when he smiles? "The redeemed of
the Lord say so." Does he make all things work together for
good to them that love him? "Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so."
3. Their end. Praise and thanksgiving: "Oh give",
etc.
(a) For general mercies;
(b) For redemption;
(c) For spacial deliverances.—G.R.
Verses 1-2. The duty of praise is universal, the real
presentation of it remains with the redeemed. Particular
redemption should lead to specific praise, special testimony to
truth and special faith in God: "Let the redeemed of the
Lord say so."
Verse 3. The ingathering of the chosen.
1. All wandered.
2. Their ways different.
3. All observed of the Lord.
4. All brought to Jesus as to one centre. Note ways, and
times of gathering.
Verse 4. Wandering Jews. Illustrate the roaming of a
mind in search of truth, peace, love, purity, etc.
Verse 4. The words contain a brief history of man's
fall and misery and of his restoration by Jesus Christ; which
are described under these particulars.
1. The lost state of men by nature.
2. They are brought to a right sense of it, and cry to the
Lord Jesus for deliverance.
3. He hears them and delivers them out of all their
distresses.
4. The tribute of thanks due to him for this great
deliverance.
—W. Romaine.
Verse 5. Spiritual hunger the cause of faintness.
Necessity of feeding the soul.
Verse 7. Divine grace stimulating our exertions.
"He led them forth ...that they might go."
Verse 8. He who has enjoyed God's help should mark,
1. In what distress he has been;
2. How he has called to God;
3. How God has helped him;
4. What thanks he has returned; and,
5. What thanks he is yet bound to render.
—Lange's Commentary.
Verse 9. A great general fact. The condition, the
benefactor, the blessing "goodness", the
result—"satisfieth." Then the further result of
praise as seen in Ps 107:8.
Verses 12-13.
1. The convicted soul's abject condition—humbled,
exhausted, prostrate, deserted.
2. His speedy deliverance. Cried, cried while in trouble,
unto the Lord, he saved, out of their distresses.
Verse 13. Man's work and God's work. They cried
and He saved.
Verse 14. God gives light, life, liberty.
Verse 20. Recovery from sickness must be ascribed to
the Lord, and gratitude should flow forth because of it. But the
text describes spiritual and mental sickness. Notice,
1. The Patient in his extremity.
(a) He is a fool: by nature inclined to evil.
(b) He has played the fool (see Ps 107:17),
"transgression", "iniquities."
(c) He now has lost all appetite and is past all cure.
(d) He is at death's door.
(e) But he has begun to pray.
2. The Cure in its simplicity.
(a) Christ the Word is the essential cure. He heals the
guilt, habit, depression, and evil results of sin. For every
form of malady Christ has healing; hence preachers should preach
him much, and all meditate much upon him.
(b) The word in the Book is the instrumental cure: its
teachings, doctrines, precepts, promises, encouragements,
invitations, examples.
(c) The word of the Lord by the Holy Spirit is the applying
cure. He leads us to believe. He is to be sought by the sick
soul. He is to be relied upon by those who would bring others to
the Great Physician.
Verse 26. The ups and downs of a convicted sinner's
experience.
Verse 27. The awakened sinner staggered and
nonplussed.
Verses 33-34. The scene which here opens with a
landscape of beauty and fertility is suddenly changed into a dry
and barren wilderness. The rivers are dried up, the springs
cease to flow among the hills, and the verdant fields are
scorched and bare. The reason assigned for this is "the
wickedness of them that dwell therein." This picture needs
no interpretation to the people of God. It is precisely what
happens within them when they have fallen into sin.—G.R.
Verse 34. The curse, cause, and cure of barrenness in
a church.
Verse 35. Hope for decayed churches lies in God; he
can work a marvellous change, he does do it—"turneth":
he will do it when the cause of barrenness is removed by
repentance.
Verses 35-38. Here the scene again changes. The
springs again gush forth, calm lakes again repose in the midst
of foliage and flowers, the hills are clothed with luxuriant
vines, and the fields are covered with corn; plenty abounds both
in town and country, and men and cattle increase. This picture,
too, has its counterpart in experimental godliness.
"Instead of the thorn shall come up", etc., "The
wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them",
etc. The one scene precedes prayer, the other follows it. A
desolate wilderness before, the garden of Eden behind.—G.R.
Verses 39-41. The scene again is reversed. There is a
change again from freedom to oppression; from plenty to want;
from honour to contempt. Then a revival again as suddenly
appears. The poor and afflicted are lifted up, and the bereaved
have "families like a flock." Such are the changeful
scenes through which the people of God are led; and such the
experience by which they are made meet for the pure, perfect,
and perpetual joys of heaven.—G.R.
Verses 42-43. Such surprising turns are of use,
1. For the solacing of saints; they observe these
dispensations with pleasure: "The righteous shall see it,
and rejoice", in the glorifying of God's attributes, and
the manifestation of his dominion over the children of men.
2. For the silencing of sinners: "all iniquity shall
stop her mouth"; i.e. it shall be a full conviction
of the folly of those that deny the divine presence.
3. For the satisfying of all concerning the divine goodness:
"Whoso is wise, and will observe these things"—these
various dispensations of divine providence, "even they
shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord."—M.
Henry.
Verse 43. The best observation and the noblest
understanding.
WORKS UPON THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM
Pe lagov. Nec inter vivos, nec inter
mortuos, Neither amongst the Living, nor amongst the Dead.
Or, an IMPROVEMENT of the SEA. Upon
The Nine Nautical Verses in the 107th Psalme...By
DANIEL PELL, Preacher of the Word. London...1659 (8vo.).
A Special Treatise of God's Providence, and
of Comforts against all kinds of crosses and calamities to be
fetched from the same. With an exposition of the 107th Psalme.
By P. Baro. Englished by I.L. (John Ludham) B.L. (London 1588,
8vo. Black Letter.)
A Practical Comment on the Hundred and
Seventh Psalm. Preached at the Thursday's Lecture, at St.
Dunstan's Church in the West, London. By William Romaine,
Lecturer of the said Church. London, 1767. (8vo.)