TITLE. A Psalm, Of David. Yes,
David under suspicion, half afraid to speak lest he should speak
unadvisedly while trying to clear himself; David slandered and
beset by enemies; David censured even by saints, and taking it
kindly; David deploring the condition of the godly party of whom
he was the acknowledged heard: David waiting upon God with
confident expectation. The Psalm is one of a group of four, and
it bears a striking likeness to the other three. Its meaning
lies so deep as to be in places exceedingly obscure, yet even
upon its surface it has dust of gold. In its commencement the
psalm is lighted up with the evening glow as the incense rises
to heaven; then comes a night of language whose meaning we
cannot see; and this gives place to morning light in which our
eyes are unto the Lord.
DIVISION. The Psalmist cries for
acceptance in prayer (Ps 141:1-2); Then he begs to be kept as to
his speech, preserved in heart and deed, and delivered from
every sort of fellowship with the ungodly. He prefers to be
rebuked by the gracious rather than to be flattered by the
wicked, and consoles himself with the confident assurance that
be will one day be understood by the godly party, and made to be
a comfort to them (Ps 141:3-6). In the last verses the slandered
saint represents the condition of the persecuted church, looks
away to God and pleads for rescue from his cruel enemies, and
for the punishment of his oppressors.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Lord, I cry unto thee. This is my last
resort: prayer never fails me. My prayer is painful and feeble,
and worthy only to be called a cry; but it is a cry unto
Jehovah, and this ennobles it. I have cried unto thee, I still
cry to thee, and I always mean to cry to thee. To whom else
could I go? What else can I do? Others trust to themselves, but
I cry unto thee. The weapon of all prayer is one which the
believer may always carry with him, and use in every time of
need. Make haste unto me. His case was urgent, and he
pleaded that urgency. God's time is the best time, but when we
are sorely pressed we may with holy importunity quicken the
movements of mercy. In many cases, if help should come late, it
would come too late; and we are permitted to pray against such a
calamity. Give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.
See how a second time he talks of crying: prayer had become his
frequent, yea, his constant exercise: twice in a few words he
says, "I cry; I cry." How he longs to be heard, and to
be heard at once! There is a voice to the great Father in every
cry, and groan, and tear of his children: he can understand what
they mean when they are quite unable to express it. It troubles
the spirit of the saints when they fear that no favourable car
is turned to their doleful cries: they cannot rest unless their
"unto thee" is answered by an "unto me."
When prayer is a man's only refuge, he is deeply distressed at
the bare idea of his failing therein.
"That were a grief I could not bear,
Didst thou not hear and answer prayer;
But a prayer hearing, answering God
Supports me under every load."
Verse 2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense. As incense is carefully prepared, kindled with holy
fire, and devoutly presented unto God, so let my prayer be. We
are not to look upon prayer as easy work requiring no thought.
It needs to be "set forth"; what is more, it must be
set forth "before the Lord, "by a sense of his
presence and a holy reverence for his name: neither may we
regard all supplication as certain of divine acceptance, it
needs to be set forth before the Lord "as incense,
"concerning the offering of which there were rules to be
observed, otherwise it would be rejected of God. And the
lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Whatever
form his prayer might take his one desire was that it might be
accepted of God. Prayer is sometimes presented without words by
the very motions of our bodies: bent knees and lifted hands are
the tokens of earnest, expectant prayer. Certainly work, or the
lifting up of the hands in labour, is prayer if it be done in
dependence upon God and for his glory: there is a hand prayer as
well as a heart prayer, and our desire is that tiffs may be
sweet unto the Lord as the sacrifice of eventide. Holy hope, the
lifting up of hands that hang down, is also a kind of worship:
may it ever be acceptable with God. The Psalmist makes a bold
request: he would have his humble cries and prayers to be as
much regarded of the Lord as the appointed morning and evening
sacrifices of the holy place. Yet the prayer is by no means too
bold, for, after all, the spiritual is in the Lord's esteem
higher than the ceremonial, and the calves of the lips are a
truer sacrifice than the calves of the stall. So far we have a
prayer about prayer: we have a distinct supplication in the two
following verses.
Verse 3. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth.
That mouth had been used in prayer, it would be a pity it should
ever be defiled with untruth, or pride, or wrath; yet so it will
become unless carefully watched, for these intruders are ever
lurking about the door. David feels that with all his own
watchfulness he may be surprised into sin, and so he begs the
Lord himself to keep him. When Jehovah sets the watch the city
is well guarded: when the Lord becomes the guard of our mouth
the whole man is well garrisoned. Keep the door of my lips.
God has made our lips the door of the mouth, but we cannot keep
that door of ourselves, therefore do we entreat the Lord to take
the rule of it. O that the Lord would both open and shut our
lips, for we can do neither the one nor the other aright if left
to ourselves. In times of persecution by ungodly men we are
peculiarly liable to speak hastily, or evasively, and therefore
we should be specially anxious to be preserved in that direction
from every form of sin. How condescending is the Lord! We are
ennobled by being door keepers for him, and yet he deigns to be
a door keeper for us. Incline not my heart to any evil thing. It
is equivalent to the petition, "Lead us not into
temptation." O that nothing may arise in providence which
would excite our desires in a wrong direction. The Psalmist is
here careful of his heart. He who holds the heart is lord of the
man: but if the tongue and the heart are under God's care all is
safe. Let us pray that he may never leave us to our own
inclinations, or we shall soon decline from the right.
To practise wicked works with men that work iniquity.
The way the heart inclines the life soon tends: evil things
desired bring forth wicked things practised. Unless the fountain
of life is kept pure the streams of life will soon be polluted.
Alas, there is great power in company: even good men are apt to
be swayed by association; hence the fear that we may practise
wicked works when we are with wicked workers. We must endeavour
not to be with them lest we sin with them. It is bad when the
heart goes the wrong way alone, worse when the life runs in the
evil road alone; but it is apt to increase unto a high degree of
ungodliness when the backslider runs the downward path with a
whole horde of sinners around him. Our practice will be our
perdition if it be evil: it is an aggravation of sin rather than
an excuse for it to say that it is our custom and our habit. It
is God's practice to punish all who make a practice of iniquity.
Good men are horrified at the thought of sinning as others do;
the fear of it drives them to their knees. Iniquity, which,
being interpreted, is a want of equity, is a thing to be shunned
as we would avoid an infectious disease. And let me not eat
of their dainties. If we work with them we shall soon eat
with them. They will bring out their sweet morsels, and delicate
dishes, in the hope of binding us to their service by the means
of our palates. The trap is baited with delicious meats that we
may be captured and become meat for their malice. If we would
not sin with men we had better not sit with them, and if we
would not share their wickedness we must not share their
wantonness.
Verse 5. Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a
kindness. He prefers the bitters of gracious company to the
dainties of the ungodly. He would rather be smitten by the
righteous than feasted by the wicked. He gives a permit to
faithful admonition, he even invites it—"let the
righteous smite me." When the ungodly smile upon us their
flattery is cruel; when the righteous smite us their
faithfulness is kind. Sometimes godly men rap hard; they do not
merely hint at evil, but hammer at it; and even then we are to
receive the blows in love, and be thankful to the hand which
smites so heavily. Fools resent reproof; wise men endeavour to
profit by it. And let him reprove me; it shall be an
excellent oil, which shall not break ray head. Oil breaks no
heads, and rebuke does no man any harm; rather, as oil refreshes
and perfumes, so does reproof when fitly taken sweeten and renew
the heart. My friend must love me well if he will tell me of my
faults: there is an unction about him if he is honest enough to
point out my errors. Many a man has had his head broken at the
feasts of the wicked, but none at the table of a true hearted
reprover. The oil of flattery is not excellent; the oil so
lavishly used at the banquet of the reveller is not excellent;
head breaking and heart breaking attend the anointings of the
riotous; but it is otherwise with the severest censures of the
godly: they are not always sweet, but they are always excellent;
they may for the moment bruise the heart, but they never break
either it or the head. For yet my prayer also shall be in
their calamities. Gracious men never grow wrathful with
candid friends so as to harbour an ill feeling against them; if
so, when they saw them in affliction, they would turn round upon
them and taunt them with their rebukes. Far from it; these
wisely grateful souls are greatly concerned to see their
instructors in trouble, and they bring forth their best prayers
for their assistance. They do not merely pray for them, but they
so closely and heartily sympathize that their prayers are
"in their calamities, "down in the dungeon with them.
So true is Christian brotherhood that we are with our friends in
sickness or persecution, suffering their griefs; so that our
heart's prayer is in their sorrows. When we can give good men
nothing more, let us give them our prayers, and let us do this
doubly to those who have given us their rebukes.
Verse 6. This is a verse of which the meaning seems
far to seek. Does it refer to the righteous among the
Israelites? We think so. David surely means that when their
leaders fell never to rise again, they would then turn to him
and take delight in listening to his voice. When their judges
are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for
they are sweet. And so they did: the death of Saul made all
the best of the nation look to the son of Jesse as the Lord's
anointed; his words became sweet to them. Many of those good men
who had spoken severely of David's quitting his country, and
going over to the Philistines, were nevertheless dear to his
heart for their fidelity, and to them he returned nothing but
good will, loving prayers, and sweet speeches, knowing that by
and by they would overlook his faults, and select him to be
their leader. They smote him when he erred, but they recognized
his excellences. He, on his part, bore no resentment, but loved
them for their honesty. He would pray for them when their land
lay bleeding at the feet of their foreign enemies; he would come
to their rescue when their former leaders were slain; and his
words of courageous hopefulness would be sweet in their ears.
This seems to me to be a good sense, consistent with the
context. At the same time, other and more laboured
interpretations have their learned admirers, and to these we
will refer in our notes from other authors.
Verse 7. David's case seemed hopeless: the cause of
God in Israel was as a dead thing, even as a skeleton broken,
and rotten, and shovelled out of the grave, to return as dust to
its dust. Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth.
There seemed to be no life, no cohesion, no form, order, or
headship among the godly party in Israel: Saul had demolished
it, and scattered all its parts, so that it did not exist as an
organized whole. David himself was like one of these dried
bones, and the rest of the godly were in much the same
condition. There seemed to be no vitality or union among the
holy seed; but their cause lay at death's door. As when one
cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. They were like
wood divided and thrown apart: not as one piece of timber, nor
even as a bundle, but all cut to pieces, and thoroughly divided.
Leaving out the word "wood", which is supplied by the
translators, the figure relates to cleaving upon the earth,
which probably means ploughing, but may signify any other form
of chopping and splitting, such as felling a forest, tearing up
bushes, or otherwise causing confusion and division. How often
have good men thought thus of the cause of God! Wherever they
have looked, death, division, and destruction have stared them
in the face. Cut and cloven, hopelessly sundered! Scattered,
yea, scattered at the grave's mouth! Split up and split for the
fire! Such the cause of God and truth has seemed to be.
"Upon the earth" the prospect was wretched; the field
of the church was ploughed, burrowed, and scarified: it had
become like a wood chopper's yard, where everything was doomed
to be broken up. We have seen churches in such a state, and have
been heart broken. What a mercy that there is always a place
above the earth to which we can look! There lives One who will
give a resurrection to his cause, and a reunion to his divided
people. He will bring up the dead bones from the grave's mouth,
and make the dried faggots live again. Let us imitate the
Psalmist in the next verse, and look up to the living God.
Verse 8. But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the
Lord. He looked upward and kept his eyes fixed there. He
regarded duty more than circumstances; he considered the promise
rather than the external providence; and he expected from God
rather than from men. He did not shut his eyes in indifference
or despair, neither did he turn them to the creature in vain
confidence, but he gave his eyes to his God, and saw nothing to
fear. Jehovah his Lord is also his hope. Thomas called Jesus
Lord and God, and David here speaks of his God and Lord. Saints
delight to dwell upon the divine names when they are adoring or
appealing. In thee is my trust. Not alone in thine
attributes or in thy promises, but in thyself. Others might
confide where they chose, but David kept to his God: in him he
trusted always, only, confidently, and unreservedly. Leave
not my soul destitute; as it would be if the Lord did not
remember and fulfil his promise. To be destitute in
circumstances is bad, but to be destitute in soul is far worse;
to be left of friends is a calamity, but to be left of God would
be destruction. Destitute of God is destitution with a
vengeance. The comfort is that God hath said, "I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee."
Verse 9. Keep me from, the snares which they have
laid for me. He had before asked, in Ps 141:3, that the door
of his mouth might be kept; but his prayer now grows into
"Keep me." He seems more in trouble about
covert temptation than concerning open attacks. Brave men do not
dread battle, but they hate secret plots. We cannot endure to be
entrapped like unsuspecting animals; therefore we cry to the God
of wisdom for protection. And the gins of the workers of
iniquity. These evil workers sought to catch David in his
speech or acts. This was in itself a piece of in equity, and so
of a piece with the rest of their conduct. They were bad
themselves, and they wished either to make him like themselves,
or to cause him to seem so. If they could not catch the good man
in one way, they would try another; snares and gins should be
multiplied, for anyhow they were determined to work his ruin.
Nobody could preserve David but the Omniscient and Omnipotent
One: he also will preserve us. It is hard to keep out of snares
which you cannot see, and to escape gins which you cannot
discover. Well might the much hunted Psalmist cry, "Keep
me."
Verse 10. Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
whilst that I withal escape. It may not be a Christian
prayer, but it is a very just one, and it takes a great deal of
grace to refrain from crying Amen to it; in fact, grace
does not work towards making us wish otherwise concerning the
enemies of holy men. Do we not all wish the innocent to be
delivered, and the guilty to reap the result of their own
malice? Of course we do, if we are just men. There can be no
wrong in desiring that to happen in our own case which we wish
for all good men. Yet is there a more excellent way.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. This psalm, like the one before it, is
distinguished by a pregnant brevity and the use of rare
expressions, while at the same time it is full of verbal and
real coincidences with the other psalms of David. These
indications are so clear and undeniable, that a sceptical critic
of great eminence (De Wette) pronounces it one of the oldest
psalms in the collection.—Joseph Addison Alexander.
Whole Psalm. Few psalms in so small a compass crowd
together so many gems of precious and holy truth.—Barton
Bouchier.
Whole Psalm. Many commentators are strongly of opinion
that this psalm was written as a memorial of that very
interesting scene in the life of David recorded in 1Sa 24:1-22,
relating to his generous treatment of Saul. Though he had an
opportunity of putting his cruel persecutor to death in the cave
of Engedi, yet he spared his life, only cutting off his skirt,
and not suffering his followers to touch him; and when Saul had
gone out of the cave, David, going out after him, remonstrated
with him from some distance in the gentlest and most respectful
language in regard to the injustice of his conduct towards him.
It is thought that the sixth verse contains so express a
reference to this very remarkable occurrence in David's history,
as to leave little doubt that it was the occasion on which the
psalm was composed.—James Anderson's Note to Calvin, in
loc.
Whole Psalm. The imagery and allusions of the psalm
are in keeping; viz., the oil which had lately anointed him; and
the watch before his mouth, etc., suggested by the watching at
the mouth of the cave, though ultimately referring to the
tabernacle service.—John Jebb.
Verse 1. LORD, I cry unto thee. Misbelief doth
seek many ways for delivery from trouble; but faith hath but one
way,—to go to God, to wit, by prayer, for whatsoever is
needful.—David Dickson.
Verse 1. LORD, I cry unto thee. No distress or
danger, how great soever, shall stifle my faith or stop my
mouth, but it shall make me more earnest, and my prayers, like
strong streams in narrow straits, shall bear down all before
them.—John Trapp.
Verse 1. Unto thee...unto me. Our prayer and
God's mercy are like two buckets in a well; while the one
ascends, the other descends.—Ezekiel Hopkins.
Verse 1. Note that the difference of tense, "I
have cried" (Heb., 70., and Vulgate) followed by "when
I cry", signifies the earnest perseverance of the saint
in prayer, never ceasing, so long as trouble lasts. And trouble
does last so long as we are in the world; wherefore the apostle
teaches us to "Pray without ceasing."—Augustine
and Bruno, in Neale and Littledale.
Verses 1-5. That the Psalmist was now in some
distress, whereof he was deeply sensible, is evident from the
vehemency of his spirit, which he expresses in the reiteration
of his request or supplication (Ps 141:1); and by his desire
that his "prayer might come before the Lord like incense,
and the lifting up of his hands as the evening sacrifice"
(Ps 141:2). The Jewish expositors guess, not improbably, that in
that allusion he had regard unto his present exclusion from the
holy services of the tabernacle, which in other places he deeply
complains of. For the matter of his prayer in the beginning of
the psalm, it respecteth himself, and his deportment under his
present condition, which he desireth may be harmless and holy,
becoming himself, and useful to others. And whereas he was two
ways liable to miscarry; first, by too high an exasperation of
spirit against his oppressors and persecutors; and, secondly, by
a fraudulent and pusillanimous compliance with them in their
wicked courses;—which are the two extremes which men are apt
sinfully to run into in such conditions: he prays earnestly to
be delivered from them both. The first he hath respect unto in
Ps 141:3, "Set a watch, O, LORD, before my mouth; keep
the door of my lips": namely, that he might not, under
those great provocations which were given him, break forth into
an unseemly intemperance of speech against his unjust
oppressors, which sometimes fierce and unreasonable cruelties
will wrest from the most sedate and moderate spirits. But it was
the desire of this holy Psalmist, as in like cases it should be
ours, that his heart might be always preserved in such a frame,
under the conduct of the Spirit of God, as not to be surprised
into an expression of distempered passion in any of his words or
sayings. The other he regards in his earnest supplication to be
delivered from it, Ps 141:4: "Incline not my heart to
any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work
iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties." There
are two parts of his request unto the purpose intended. 1. That
by the power of God's grace influencing his mind and soul, his
heart might not be inclined unto any communion or society with
his wicked adversaries in their wickedness. 2. That he might be
preserved from a liking of, or a longing after those things,
which are the baits and allurements whereby men are apt to be
drawn into societies and conspiracies with the workers of
iniquity; "And let me not eat of their dainties."
See Pr 1:10-14. For he here describeth the condition of men
prospering for a season in a course of wickedness; they first
jointly give up themselves unto the practice of iniquity, and
then together solace themselves in those satisfactions of their
lusts, with which their power and interest in the world do
furnish them.
These are the "dainties", for which an
impotent longing and desire do betray the minds of unstable
persons unto a compliance with ways of sin and folly: for I look
on these "dainties" as comprising whatever the
lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life
can afford. All these David prays to be delivered from any
inclination unto; especially when they are made the allurements
of a course of sin. In the enjoyment of these "dainties",
it is the common practice of wicked men to soothe up, and
mutually encourage one another in the way and course wherein
they are engaged. And this completes that poor felicity which in
this world so many aspire unto, and whereof alone they are
capable. The whole of it is but a society in perishing sensual
enjoyments, without control, and with mutual applause from one
another. This the Psalmist had a special regard unto when
casting his eye towards another communion and society which he
longed after (Ps 141:5). He saw there not dainties but rebukes:
he discerned that which is most opposite unto those mutual
applause and rejoicing in one another, which is the salt and
cement of all evil societies, for he noticed rebukes and
reproofs for the least miscarriages that shall be observed. Now
whereas the dainties which some enjoy in a course of prosperous
wickedness, are that alone which seems to have anything in it
amongst them that is desirable, and on the other side rebukes
and reproofs are those alone which seem to have any sharpness,
or matter of uneasiness and dislike in the society of the godly,
David balances that which seemeth to be sharpest in the one
society, against that which seems to be sweetest in the other,
and, without respect unto other advantages, prefers the one
above the other. Hence, some read the beginning of the words,
"Let the righteous rather smite me", meaning,
"rather than that I should eat of the dainties of the
ungodly."—John Owen.
Verse 2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee.
Margin, directed. The Hebrew word means to fit; to
establish; to make firm. The Psalmist desires that his prayer
should not be like that which is feeble, languishing, easily
dissipated; but that it should be like that which is firm and
secure.—Albert Barnes.
Verse 2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense. Literally, Let my prayer, incense, be set in order
before Thee,—implying that prayer was in the reality what
incense was in the symbol ...Passing to New Testament Scripture,
though still only to that portion which refers to Old Testament
times, we are told of the people without being engaged in
player, while Zacharias was offering incense within the
Sanctuary (Lu 1:10); they were in spirit going along with the
priestly service. And in the book of Revelation the prayers of
saints are once and again identified with the offering of
incense on the golden altar before the throne. Re 5:8 8:3-4.—Patrick
Fairbairn, in "The Typology of Scripture."
Verse 2. Set forth. Prayer is knowing work,
believing work, thinking work, searching work, humbling work,
and nothing worth if heart and hand do not join in it.—Thomas
Adam, 1701-1784.
Verse 2. Set forth before thee as incense,
whose fragrant smoke still ascends upwards. But many times in
the very ascent, whilst it strives up higher and higher, infimo
phantasmate verberatur, saith Gregory, "it is beaten
back again by earthly imaginations which intervene", and
then is extenuated by degrees, and vanisheth to nothing.
Therefore the prophet prays ut diriyatur oratio,
"that his prayer may be set before God", ut
stubiliatur;so some render it out of the Hebrew, "that
it may be established", that it may neither evaporate
itself nor be whiffed about with the wind of vain and contrary
imaginations, which come ab extrinseco from without], and may
corrupt it.—Anthony Farindon.
Verse 2. As incense. That in general by incense
prayer is signified, the Scripture expressly testifieth. And
there is a fourfold resemblance between them:
1. In that it was beaten and pounded before it was
used. So doth acceptable prayer proceed from a broken and
contrite heart: Ps 51:17.
2. It was of no use until fire was put under it, and
that taken from the altar. Nor is that prayer of any virtue or
efficacy which is no kindled by the fire from above, the Holy
Spirit of God, which we have from our altar, Christ Jesus.
3. It naturally ascended upwards towards heaven, as
all offerings in the Hebrew are called twle,
"ascensions", uprisings. And this is the design of
prayer, to ascend unto the throne of God: "I will direct
unto thee, and will look up"; that is, pray: Ps 5:3.
4. It yielded a sweet savour; which was one end of it in
temple services, wherein there was so much burning of flesh and
blood. So doth prayer yield a sweet savour unto God; a savour of
rest, wherein he is well pleased.—John Owen.
Verse 2. As incense...as the evening sacrifice.
Though this address of mine must necessarily want all that
solemnity of preparation required in the service of thy holy
Tabernacle, the cloud of incense and perfume, etc., the "mincha"
or oblation of fine flour, etc., yet let the purity and fervour
of my heart, and the innocency of my hands, now lifted up to
thee in tiffs sad hour of my distress, be accepted instead of
all these, and prevail for deliverance and a safe retreat to me
and my companions.—Charles Peters (—1777), in "A
Critical Dissertation on the Book of Job," 1751.
Verse 2. As the evening sacrifice. This should
be our daily service, as a lamb was offered up morning and
evening for a sacrifice. But, alas! how dull and dead are our
devotions! Like Pharaoh's chariots, they drive on heavily. Some,
like Balaam's ass, scarce ever open their mouths twice.—Thomas
Adams.
Verse 2. My hands. Spreading forth our hands in
believing and fervent prayer is the only way of grasping
mercy.—F. E., in "The Saints of Ebenezer,"
1667.
Verse 2. In the gorgeous ceremonial worship of the
Hebrews, none of the senses were excluded from taking part in
the service...The sense of smell occupied, perhaps, the most
prominent place; for the acceptance of the worship was always
indicated by a symbol borrowed from this sense: "The Lord
smelled a sweet savour." The prayer of the people ascended
as incense, and the lifting up of their hands as the evening
sacrifice. The offering of incense formed the essential part of
the religious service. The altar of incense occupied one of the
most conspicuous and honoured positions in the tabernacle and
temple... On this altar a censer full of incense poured forth
its fragrant clouds every morning and evening; and yearly, as
the day of atonement came round, when the high priest entered
the holy of holies, he filled a censer with live coals from the
sacred fire on the altar of burnt offerings, and bore it into
the sanctuary, where lie threw upon the burning coals the
"sweet incense beaten small", which he had brought in
his hand. Without this smoking censer lie was forbidden, on pain
of death, to enter into the awful shrine of Jehovah.
Notwithstanding the washing of his flesh, and the linen garments
with which he was clothed, tie dare not enter the holiest of all
with the blood of atonement, unless he could personally shelter
himself under a cloud of incense.
It has been supposed by some writers that incense was
invented for the purpose of concealing or neutralizing the
noxious effluvia caused by the number of beasts slaughtered
every day in the sanctuary. Other writers have attached a
mystical import to it, and believed that it was a symbol of the
breath of the world arising in praise to the Creator, the four
ingredients of which it was composed representing the four
elements. While a third class, looking upon the tabernacle as
the palace of God, the theocratic King of Israel, and the ark of
the covenant as his throne, regarded the incense as merely
corresponding to the perfume so lavishly employed about the
person and appointments of an Oriental monarch. It may doubtless
have been intended primarily to serve these purposes and convey
these meanings, but it derived its chief importance in
connection with the ceremonial observances of the Mosaic ritual
from the fact of its being the great symbol of prayer. It was
offered at the time when the people were in the posture and act
of devotion; and their prayers were supposed to be presented to
God by the priest, and to ascend to him in the smoke and odour
of that fragrant offering. Scripture is full of allusions to it,
understood in this beautiful symbolical sense. Acceptable,
prevailing prayer was a sweet smelling savour to the Lord; and
prayer that was unlawful, or hypocritical, or unprofitable, was
rejected with disgust by the organ of smell.
Doubtless the Jews felt, when they saw the soft white clouds
of fragrant smoke rising slowly from the altar of incense, as if
the voice of the priest were silently but eloquently pleading in
that expressive emblem in their behalf. The association of sound
was lost in that of smell, and the two senses were blended in
one. And this symbolical mode of supplication, as Dr. George
Wilson has remarked, has this one advantage over spoken or
written prayer, that it appealed to those who were both blind
and deaf, a class that are usually shut out from social worship
by their affliction. Those who could not hear the prayers of the
priest could join in devotional exercises symbolized by incense,
through the medium of their sense of smell; and the hallowed
impressions shut out by one avenue were admitted to the mind and
heart by another. The altar of incense stood in the closest
connection with the altar of burnt offerings. The blood of the
sin offering was sprinkled on the horns of both on the great day
of annual atonement. Morning and evening, as soon as the
sacrifice was offered, the censer poured forth its fragrant
contents, so that the perpetual incense within ascended
simultaneously with the perpetual burnt offering outside.
Without the live coals from off the sacrificial altar, the
sacred incense could not be kindled; and without the incense
previously filling the holy place, the blood of atonement from
the altar of burnt offering could not be sprinkled on the mercy
seat. Beautiful and expressive type of the perfect sacrifice and
the all prevailing intercession of Jesus—of intercession
founded upon atonement, of atonement preceded and followed by
intercession! Beautiful and expressive type, too, of the prayers
of believers kindled by the altar fire of Christ's sacrifice,
and perfumed by his merits!—Hugh Macmillan, in "The
Ministry of Nature," 1871.
Verse 3. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth,
etc.
1. A man would never use this language without a conviction
of the importance of the subject ...Everything is
transacted by speech, in natural, civil, and religious concerns:
how much, therefore, depends on the good or evil management of
the tongue! What an ardour of holy love and friendship, or of
anger and malice, may a few words fan into a flame! The tongue
is the principal instrument in the cause of God; and it is the
chief engine of the devil; give him this, and lie asks no
more—there is no mischief or misery he will not accomplish by
it. The use, the influence of it, therefore, is inexpressible;
and words are never to be considered only as effects, but
as causes, the operation of which can never be fully
imagined. Let us suppose a case, a case, I fear, but too common.
You drop, in the thoughtlessness of conversation, or for the
sake of argument or wit, some irreligious, sceptical,
expression—it lodges in the memory of a child, or a
servant—it takes root in a soil favourable to such seed—it
gradually springs up, and brings forth fruit, in the profanation
of the Sabbath; the neglect of the means of grace; in the
reading of improper books; in the choice of dangerous
companions;—who can tell where it will end? But there is a
Being who knows where it began. It will be acknowledged that
some have it in their power, by reason of their office, talents,
and influence, to do much more injury than others; but none are
so insignificant as to be harmless.
2. A man would never use this language without a conviction
that he is in danger of transgression. And if David was
conscious of a liableness to err, shall we ever presume on our
safety? Our danger arises from the depravity of our nature.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked"; and "who can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean?" Our danger arises from the contagion of example.
There is nothing in which mankind are more universally culpable
than in the disorders of speech. Yet with these we are
constantly surrounded; and to these we have been accustomed from
our impressible infancy. We are in danger from the frequency of
speech. "In the multitude of words there wanteth not
sin." We must of necessity speak often; but we often speak
without necessity. Duty calls us to intermingle much with our
fellow creatures; but we are too little in the closet, and too
much in the crowd—and when we are in company we forget the
admonition, "Let every man be swift to hear, and slow to
speak."
3. A man would never use this language without a conviction
of inability to preserve himself. The Bible teaches us
this truth, not only doctrinally, but historically. The examples
of good men, and men eminent in godliness, confirm it in the
very article before us. Moses, the meekest man in the earth,
"spake unadvisedly with his lips." You have heard of
the patience of Job, but he "cursed the day of his
birth"; and Jeremiah, the prophet of the Lord, did the
same. Peter said, "Though all men should be offended
because of thee, I will never be offended; though I should die
with thee, yet will I not deny thee." But how did he use
his tongue a few hours after? Then "began he to curse and
to swear, saying, I know not the man!"
4. A man would never use this language without a conviction of
the wisdom of applying to God for the assistance he needs.
Prayer is the effect of our weakness, and the expression of our
dependence. It confesses the agency of God.
(a) In the first place—God is equal to our preservation.
(b) His succours are not to be obtained without prayer.
(c) Prayer always brings the assistance it implores.
—Condensed from W. Jay's Sermon on "The Regulation of
the Tongue."
Verse 3. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth,
etc. Watching and prayer are often joined together. We are best
kept when recommended into God's hand. I do observe here, First,
That unadvised and passionate speeches do easily drop from us in
our troubles, especially in our persecution. Secondly, That a
godly, conscientious man is very tender of these, as of all
evil. He that would live in communion with God for the present,
and hope to appear with comfort before him hereafter, is
sensible of the least thing that tends to God's displeasure, and
God's dishonour: this is the true spirit of one that will be
owned by Christ at the last day. Thirdly, There is no way to
prevent being provoked to impatience and rashness of speech, or
any evil, but by keeping a watch, and renewing our obligations
to God. Fourthly, Whoever would keep a watch must call in the
aid and assistance of God's grace; "Lord, set a watch
before my mouth."—Thomas Manton.
Verse 3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth,
etc. Thus holy men have kept the sessions at home, and made
their hearts the foremen of the jury, and examined themselves as
we examine others. The fear of the Lord stood at the door of
their souls, to examine every thought before it went in, and at
the door of their lips, to examine every word before it went
out, whereby they escaped a thousand sins which we commit, as
though we had no other work.—Henry Smith.
Verse 3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth.
Nature having made my lips to be a door to my words, let grace
keep that door, that no word may be suffered to go out which may
any way tend to the dishonour of God, or the hurt of others.—Matthew
Henry.
Verse 3. Set a watch, etc. Let a seal for words
not to be spoken lie on the tongue. A watch over words is better
than over wealth.—Lucian.
Verse 3. Keep the door of my lips. That it move
not creaking and complaining, as on rusty hinges, for want of
the oil of joy and gladness. David had somewhat to do with his
tongue, as we see (Ps 39:1,3); and when he had carted the ark,
how untowardly he spake, as if the fault were more in God than
himself, that there was such a breach made in Uzzah (1Ch 13:12).
It was but need thus to pray.—John Trapp.
Verse 4. Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
etc. The present pleasure and commodity of sin is in high
estimation with the sinner, and much sweeter to him than what he
may lawfully enjoy; the pleasures of sin are his delicates. No
man can keep himself from being taken with the allurements of a
sinful course, except the Lord preserve him: Let me not eat
of their dainties. The holiest men in Scripture have been
most sensible of the impotency of their own free will, and of
their inability to resist temptations, or to bring the
principles of grace into action; most diffident of themselves,
most dependent upon God, most careful to make use of means, and
conscientious in following of ordinances, as their prayers do
testify: "Incline not my heart to any evil thing",
etc.—David Dickson.
Verse 4. Incline not my heart. Heb. Let not be
inclined my heart.—John Jebb.
Verse 4. My heart. That man is like Esau which
had an inheritance, which had a heart but now he hath not
possession of his own; therefore, give God thy heart, that he
may keep it; and not a piece of thy heart, not a room in thy
heart, but thy heart. The heart divided, dieth. God is not like
the mother which would have the child divided, but like the
natural mother, which said, rather than it should be divided,
let her take all. Let the devil have all, if he which gave it be
not worthy of it. God hath no cope-mate, therefore he will have
no parting of stakes, but all or none; and therefore he which
asks here thy heart, in the sixth of Deuteronomy and the fifth
verse, asketh "all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy
strength"; thrice he requireth all, lest we should
keep a thought behind. Yet it is thy heart, that is, a vain
heart, a barren heart, a sinful heart, until thou give it unto
God, and then it is the spouse of Christ, the temple of the Holy
Ghost, and the image of God, so changed, and formed, and
refined, that God calls it a new heart. There is such strife for
the heart as there was for Moses's body. "Give it me",
saith the Lord; "give it me", saith the tempter;
"give it me", saith the pope; "give it me",
saith riches; "give it me", saith pleasure; as though
thou must needs give it to some one. Now here is the choice,
whether thou wilt give it to God or the devil; God's heart or
the devil's heart; whose wilt thou be?—Henry Smith.
Verse 4. Let me not eat of their dainties. Sin
is not only meat, but sweet meat, not only bread, but pleasant
bread to an evil heart. Daniel for some weeks ate no pleasant
bread; he ate bread to keep life and soul together, but he
forbare feasting or good cheer. Sin is a feast to a carnal man,
it is his good cheer, yea, it is "dainties" to
him. David, speaking of wicked men, says, Incline not my
heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that
work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. These "dainties"
may be expounded either for the prosperity that comes in by
wicked practices (some by wicked ways get not only their
ordinary food but "dainties"); or those "dainties"
are sin itself: they feasted themselves in doing evil: "Lord,
let me not eat of their dainties." If that be their
food I had rather starve than eat with them.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse 4. Their dainties. The enemies of David
were sensual and luxurious; and they would have gladly admitted
him to share in their banquets, if his character had resembled
their own. He entreats to be preserved from inducement so to
do.—William Walford.
Verse 5. Let the righteous smite me, etc. This
verse is so obscure as to be almost unintelligible. According to
the English versions, it expresses his willingness to be rebuked
by good men for his benefit. But this sense is not only hard to
be extracted from the words, but foreign from the context. Of
the many contradictory interpretations which have been proposed
the most probable is that which makes the sentence mean, that
the sufferings endured by the good man, even at the hand of the
wicked, are chastisements inflicted by a righteous God in
justice and with mercy, and as such may be likened to a festive
ointment, which the head of the sufferer should not refuse, as
he will still have need of consolation and occasion to invoke
God, in the midst of trials and of mischiefs yet to be
experienced.—Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse 5. Let the righteous smite me, The word olh
is seldom used in Scripture but to signify a severe stroke which
shakes the subject smitten, and causeth it to tremble; see Pr
23:35 1Sa 14:16 Ps 74:6; and it is used for the stroke of the
hammer on the anvil in fashioning of the iron (Isa 41:7).
Wherefore the word dox
following may be taken adverbially, as a lenitive of that
severity which this word imports: "Let him smite me,
but" leniter, benigne, misericorditer, "gently,
kindly, friendly, mercifully": and so some translations
read the words, "Let the righteous smite me friendly, or
kindly."—John Owen.
Verse 5. Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a
kindness, etc. Grace will teach a Christian to take those
potions which are wholesome, though they be not toothsome.
Faithful reproof is a token of love, and therefore may well be
esteemed a kindness. Such wounding of a friend is healing, and
so David might well call it an excellent oil. And he did
not only say so, which is easy and ordinary, but acted
accordingly. He did not as the papists, who highly commend holy
water, but turn away their faces when it comes to be sprinkled
on them. When he had by sin, and continuance in it, so gangrened
his flesh, and corrupted himself, that he was in danger of
death, he suffered his sores to be thoroughly searched without
regret. Nathan was the chirurgeon whom God employed to search
that wound which had divers mouths for festering in his soul;
and truly he did not dally with his patient, though he were a
prince, but thrust his instrument to the bottom; yet whatever
pain it put him to, he took it patiently, and was so far from
being angry with the prophet, that he made him one of his privy
council. It is a sign of a polluted nature for a man, like a
serpent, if he be but touched, to gather poison, and vomit it up
at the party. "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love
thee": Pr 9:8.—George Swinnock.
Verse 5. Let the righteous smite me, etc. If
the righteous smite us by reproofs, it must be taken as a
kindness, and as a precious balsam, which doth not break our
head, but heal us. Not that we are bound to belie ourselves in
compliance with every man's censorious humour that will accuse
us; but we must be readier to censure ourselves than others, and
readier to confess a fault than to expect a confession from
others whom we reprove. Sincerity and serious repentance will be
honourable in that person who is most careful to avoid sin, and
most ready penitently to confess it when he hath been overcome,
and truly thankful to those that call him to repentance; as
being more desirous that God and his laws and religion should
have the glory of their holiness, than that he himself should
have the undue glory of innocency; and escape the deserved shame
of his sin. It is one of the most dangerous diseases of
professors, and one of the greatest scandals of this age, that
persons taken for eminently religious arc more impatient of
plain, though just, reproof than many a drunkard, swearer, or
fornicator; and when they have spent hours or days in the
seeming earnest confession of their sin, and lament before God
and man that they cannot do it with more grief and tears, yet
they take it for a heinous injury in another that will say half
so much against them, and take him for a malignant enemy of the
godly who will call them as they call themselves.—Richard
Baxter (1615-1691), in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse 5. Let the righteous smite me. If a
righteous or a right wise man smite and reprove, he will do it,
1. Sine felle, without gall, without bitterness. 2. Sine
publicatione, without publishing, divulging, or telling it
to the world. 3. Sine contumelia, without disgrace—to
reform his friend, not to disgrace him. 4. Sine adulatione,
without flattery. 5. Nonn sine Deo, not without God.—John
Gore, in a Sermon entitled "Unknowne Kindnesse",
1635.
Verse 5. The righteous, etc. The minister
cannot be always preaching; two or three hours, may be, in a
week, he spends among his people in the pulpit, holding the
glass of the gospel before their faces; but the lives of
professors, these preach all the week long: if they were but
holy and exemplary, they would be as a repetition of the
preacher's sermon to their families and neighbours among whom
they converse, and keep the sound of his doctrine continually
ringing in their ears. This would give Christians an amiable
advantage in doing good to their carnal neighbours by counsel
and reproof, which now is seldom done, and when done it proves
to little purpose, because not backed with their own exemplary
walking. "It behooves him", saith Tertullian,
"that would counsel or reprove another, to guard his speech
with the authority of his own conversation, lest, wanting that,
what he says puts himself to the blush." We do not love one
that hath a stinking breath to come very near us; such,
therefore, had need have a sweet scented life. Reproofs are a
good physic, but they have an unpleasant reception; it is hard
for men not to throw them back on the face of him that gives
them. Now nothing is more powerful to keep a reproof from thus
coming back than the holiness of the person that reproves. "Let
the righteous smite me", saith David, "it shall
be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent
oil, which shall not break my head." See how well it is
taken from such a hand, from the authority that holiness carries
with it. None but a vile wretch will smite a righteous man with
reproach for smiting him with a reproof, if softly laid on, and
like oil fermented, and wrought into him, as it should, with
compassion and love to his soul! Thus we see how influential the
power of holiness would be unto the wicked, neither would it be
less upon our brethren and fellow Christians. Holy David
professed he would take it as a kindness for the righteous man
to smite him; yea, as kindly as if he broke a box of precious
oil upon his head, which was amongst the Jews a high expression
of love.—William Gurnall.
Verse 5. It shall be a kindness.
1. It is a kindness reducere errarvin, to bring back
the wandering.
2. Senate cegrotum, to recover the sick.
3. Suscitare letbargum, to awake, to stir up the
lethargic, the sleepy.
4. Ligure insanum, to bind a madman.
5. Liberare perditum, to save a lost man, one in imminent
danger.
—John Gore.
Verse 5. It shall be an excellent oil, which shall
not break my head. Some persons pride themselves on being
blunt, or, as they call it, "honest"; but very blunt
people do little good to others, and get little love to
themselves. The Scriptures recommend gentleness and kindness.
Reproof should fall like the dew, and not like the rushing
hailstorm. The "oil" insinuates itself; the
stone wounds and then rebounds. Christians should take heed of
getting fond of the work of "rebuking." Such
"spiritual constables" do a great deal of mischief
without intending it. They are in a church what a very witty and
sarcastic person is in society, or what a tell tale is in a
school; and approximate very closely to that class which the
apostle terms "busy bodies in other men's matters."
Our manner must be tender and winning. The nail of reproof, says
an old writer, must be well oiled in kindness before it is
driven home. Meddling with the faults of others is like
attempting to move a person afflicted with the rheumatic gout:
it must be done slowly and tenderly, nor must we be frightened
by an out cry or two. The great thing is to show the person that
you really love him; and if you manifest this in the sight of
God, he will bless your efforts, and give you favour in the
sight of an erring brother.—Christian Treasury.
Verse 5. It shall be an excellent oil. Certain
oils are said to have a most salutary effect on the head; hence
in fevers, or any other complaints which affect the head, the
medical men always recommend oil. I have known people who were
deranged, cured in a very short time by nothing more than the
application of a peculiar kind of oil to the head. There are,
however, other kinds which are believed, when thus applied, to
produce delirium. Thus the reproofs of the righteous were
compared to "excellent oil", which produced a
most salutary effect on the head. So common is this practice of
anointing the head, that all who can afford it do it every week.
But, strange as it may appear, the crown of their heads is the
place selected for chastisement; thus owners of slaves, or
husbands, or school masters, beat the heads of the offenders
with their knuckles. Should all urchin come late to school, or
forget his lesson, the pedagogue says to some of the other boys,
"Go beat his head!" "Begone, fellow! or I will
beat thy head." Should a man be thus chastised by an
inferior, he quotes the old proverb: "If my head is to be
beaten, let it be done with the fingers that have rings
on"; meaning a man of rank. "Yes, yes; let a holy man
smite my head! and what of that? it is an excellent oil."
"My master has been beating my head, but it has been good
oil for me."—Joseph Roberts.
Verse 5. Oil, which shall not break my head.
When I first took this text in hand, this seemed unto me a very
strange and uncouth expression. If the Psalmist had said, It
shall be a stone that shall not break my head, etc., we had
easily understood him; but to speak of an oil, or a balm, which
we know to be so soft, so supple, so lithe and gentle an
ointment, that he should speak of breaking his head with oil, it
is strange. I confess it troubled me a while, till at length I
conceived it might be spoken by contraries; as when a physician
gives a patient some pectoral, or cordial, and saith, Take this,
it will not hurt you; his meaning is, it will help and do him
good. So this oil shall not break my head;that is, it
shall heal it, being broken by my own corruption, by Satan's
temptations, and by the evil influence of such as flatter me in
my sins.—John Gore.
Verse 5. If David could say of his enemy that cursed
him, "Let him alone, for God hath bidden him to
curse"; much more safely mayest thou say of thy friend that
reproves thee, "Let him alone, for God hath bidden him to
smite." And as the apostle saith of ministers, that God
"doth entreat you by us"; so persuade yourselves that
God doth reprove you by them.—John Gore.
Verse 5. It was the saying of a heat hell, though no
heathenish saying, "That he who would be good, must either
have a faithful friend to instruct him, or a watchful enemy to
correct him." Should we murder a physician because he comes
to cure us; or like him worse, because he would make us better?
The flaming sword of reprehension is but to keep us from
the forbidden fruit of transgression. "Let the
righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove
me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my
head." Let him smite me as with a hammer, for so
the word signifies. A Boanerges is as necessary as a
Barnabas.—William Seeker.
Verse 5. Yet my prayer also shall be in their
calamities. That is, if ever they who are my reprovers fall
into calamity, though they may think they provoked me so by
reproving me, that they have lost my love, and have cast
themselves out of my prayers, or that I will never speak well of
them or for them again; yet I will pray for them with all my
heart, as their matter shall require. I will pray for them when
they have most need of prayer, even "in their
calamities." Some heighten the sense thus,—The more
they sharpen their reproof, the more I think myself bound to
pray for them. It shows an excellent spirit, not to be hindered
from doing good to others by anything they do or speak against
us, nor by their sharpest (though perhaps mistaken) reproofs of
us. Thus it was that that good man Job "prayed for his
friends", who had spoken much against him, and not only
reproved him without cause, but reproached him without
charity.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse 6. When their judges are overthrown, etc.
When the judgments in reserve for the leaders of my enemies
shall come upon them, they will perceive too late how reasonable
are my words, and wish that they had hearkened to them
sooner.—Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse 6. Overthrown. The verb rendered
"overthrown" is used of Jezebel in 2Ki 9:33;
"Throw her down. So they threw her down."—Speaker's
Commentary.
Verse 6. They shall hear my words; for they are
sweet. This is especially true of all the words which David
spake by inspiration, or the Spirit of God spake to him;
articulately in his book of Psalms; concerning the Messiah, the
covenant of grace, and the blessings of it; of the rich
experiences of grace he had, and the several doctrines of the
gospel declared by him; which were sweet, delightful, and
entertaining to those who have ears to hear such things; or
whose ears are opened to hear them, so as to understand them and
distinguish them, but to others not.—John Gill.
Verse 6. They shall hear my words; for they are
sweet. Those that slighted the word of God before, will
relish it and be glad of it when they are in affliction; for
that opens the ear to instruction. When the world is bitter the
word is sweet. Oppressed innocency cannot gain a hearing with
those that live in pomp and pleasure; but when they come to be
overthrown themselves, they will have more compassionate
thoughts of the afflicted.—Matthew Henry.
Verse 6. For they are sweet. They shall be
pleasant; mild; gentle; equitable; just. After the hash and
severe enactments of Saul, after enduring his acts of tyranny,
the people will be glad to welcome me, and to live under the
laws of a just and equal administration. The passage, therefore,
expresses confidence that Saul and his hosts would be
overthrown, and that the people of the land would gladly hail
the accession to the throne of one who had been anointed to
reign over them.—Albert Barnes.
Verses 6-7. The mild and dutiful behaviour of David
towards Saul and his friends are set together by way of
contrast, in the strongest light, from the instances of each
sort here produced. The first is, David's humanity towards Saul,
in giving him his life at two several times, when he had it in
his power to destroy him as he pleased. "Their judges
have been dismissed in the rocky places; and have heard my words
that they are sweet"; that is, "Their princes have
been dismissed in safety, when I had them at an advantage in
those rocky deserts; and only heard me expostulate with them in
the gentlest words." The other is, Saul's barbarity and
cruelty towards David (or his friends, which is much the same)
in the horrid massacre of Ahimelech and the priests, by the hand
of Doeg the Edomite, done in such a savage manner, that he
compares it to the chopping and cleaving wood; "Like as
when one cutteth and cleaveth, so have our bones been scattered
on the earth at the command of Saul"; for so I read the
Hebrew words, le-pi Saul, at the mouth, that is, the command
of Saul. Should we suppose this passage to refer to the
first time of David's sparing Saul, viz., when he had him in his
power in the cave of Engedi (here called jede selay),
the sides of the rock, or the rocky places, the speech he made
on this occasion when he called after Saul (and which is
recorded in 1Sa 24:8-16.) might well be called sweet or pleasant
words. For they set his own innocence and the king's unjust
behaviour to him in so strong a light, and with all that
gentleness and mildness, and even this hard hearted prince could
not forbear being greatly affected with it for the present; and
we are told (1Sa 24:16-17) that "he lifted up his voice and
wept."—Charles Peters.
Verse 7. Our bones are scattered at the grave's
mouth, etc. The primary reference may be to the slaughter of
the priests by the command of Saul, 1Sa 22:16-19. The language,
however, may be illustrative of the many massacres like that on
the eve of St. Bartholomew, so numerous as to be scattered on
the face of the earth, marking the passage of pious martyrs from
this world to a better, and testifying where the blood of the
slain shall be disclosed for the judgment of their murderers.—W.
Wilson.
Verse 7. Our bones are scattered at the grave's
mouth, etc. Assuming the very extreme, it is a look of hope
into the future: should his bones and the bones of his followers
be even scattered about the mouth of Sheol (cf. the Syrian
picture of Sheol: "the dust upon its threshold, `al-escufteh",
Deutsche Morgenland. Zeit-schrift, 20. 513), their soul
below, their bones above—it would nevertheless be only as when
one in ploughing cleaves the earth; i.e., they do not lie there
in order that they may continue lying, but that they may rise up
anew, as the seed that is sown sprouts up out of the upturned
earth.—Franz Delitzsch.
Verse 7. Our bones are scattered at the grave's
mouth. That is to say, I and my company are in a dying
condition, free among the dead; yea, if taken we should be put
to most cruel deaths, hewn in pieces, or pulled limbmeal, and
left unburied; and our dead bodies mangled by a barbarous
inhumanity, as wood cleavers make the shivers fly hither and
thither. This is the perilous case of me and my partisans.—John
Trapp.
Verse 7. Our bones are scattered at the grave's
mouth. This seems to be strong eastern painting, and almost
figurative language; but that it may be strictly true, the
following extract demonstrates: "At five o'clock we left
Garigana, our journey being still to the eastward of north; and,
at a quarter past six in the evening, arrived at the village of
that name, whose inhabitants had all perished with hunger the
year before; their wretched bones being all unburied, and
scattered upon the surface of the ground, where the village
formerly stood. We encamped among the bones of the dead, as no
space could be found free from them; and on the 23rd, at six in
the morning, full of horror at this miserable spectacle, we set
out for Teawa."—(James Bruce's Travels.) To the
Jews such a spectacle must have been very dreadful, as the want
of burial was esteemed one of the greatest calamities which
could befall them.—Burder's "Oriental Customs."
Verse 7. Like one ploughing and cleaving in the
earth. This clause may be explained not of cleaving wood but
ploughing, to which the first verb is applied in Arabic. Like
(one) ploughing and cleaving (making furrows) in the
earth, not for the sake of mangling its surface, but to make
it fruitful and productive, (so) our bones are scattered
at the mouth of hell as the necessary means of a glorious
resurrection.—Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse 7. Who can attend the digging of a grave, and
view the ruins then disclosed, without exclaiming, Our bones
are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and
cleaveth wood upon the earth?—George Horne.
Verse 8. Mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord.
If you would keep your mind fixed in prayer, keep your eye
fixed. Much vanity comes in at the eye. When the eyes wander in
prayer, the heart wanders. To think to keep the heart fixed in
prayer, and yet let the eyes gaze abroad, is as if one should
think to keep his house sate, yet let the windows be open.—Thomas
Watson.
Verse 8. Leave not my soul destitute. The
literal Hebrew is, Pour not out my soul, but keep it in thy cup
of salvation.—Agellius. Compare Isa 53:12: "He hath
poured out his soul unto death."
Verse 8. Leave not my soul destitute, or, "Cast
not out my soul." That is, cast not my life away, as
water, which is of no account, is cast out of a vessel
containing it.—Daniel Cresswell.
Verse 8. Leave not my soul destitute. His soul
knew what it was to be "destitute"; he had
known the misery of spiritual beggary and soul poverty. It was
not with him as natural poverty is with the rich, a matter of
speculation, a mere matter of theory; but a matter of personal
and painful experience...It is in the margin "Make not
my soul bare", Strip me not of every hope; leave me not
completely naked; abandon me not to nature's beggary and misery;
let me not go down into the pit with all my sins upon my head;
leave not my soul destitute of pardon and peace.—Joseph C.
Philpot.
Verses 8-10.
O pour not out my soul, I pray,
From the dark snare preserve my way,
The chambers of the blind entangling net,
Which by my path the powers of evil set.
Behold them hid, the godless crew,
Low in the toils they darkly drew:
The while, with gathering heart and watchful eye
I wait mine hour to pass victorious by.
—John Keble.
Verses 9-10. Snares, Gins, Nets. The usual method of
capturing or killing the lion in Palestine was by pitfalls or
nets, to both of which there are many references in the
Scriptures. The mode of hunting the lion with nets was identical
with that which is practised in India at the present time. The
precise locality of the lion's dwelling place having been
discovered, a circular wall of net is arranged round it, or if
only a few nets can be obtained, they are set in a curved form,
the concave side being towards the lion. They then send dogs
into the thicket, hurl stones and sticks at the den, shoot
arrows into it, fling burning torches at it, and so irritate and
alarm the animal that it rushes against the net, which is so
made that it falls down and envelops the animal in its folds. If
the nets be few, the drivers go to the opposite side of the den,
and induce the lion to escape in the direction where he sees no
foes, but where he is sure to run against the treacherous net.
Other large and dangerous animals were also captured by the same
means. Another and more common, because an easier and a cheaper
method, was, by digging a deep pit, covering the mouth with a
slight covering of sticks and earth, and driving the animal upon
the treacherous covering. It is an easier method than the net,
because after the pit is once dug, the only trouble lies in
throwing the covering over its mouth. But it is not so well
adapted for taking beasts alive, as they are likely to be
damaged, either by the fall into the pit, or by the means used
in getting them out again. Animals, therefore, that are caught
in pits are generally, though not always, killed before they are
taken out. The net, however, envelops the animal so perfectly,
and renders it so helpless, that it can be easily bound and
taken away. The hunting net is very expensive, and requires a
large staff of men to work it, so that none but a rich man could
use the net in hunting. Besides the net, several other modes of
bird catching were used by the ancient Jews, just as is the case
at the present day. Boys, for example, who catch birds for their
own consumption, and not for the market, can do so by means of
various traps, most of which are made on the principle of the
noose, or snare. Sometimes a great number of hair nooses are set
in places to which the birds are decoyed, so that in hopping
about, many of them are sure to be entangled in the snares.
Sometimes the noose is ingeniously suspended in a narrow passage
which the birds are likely to traverse, and sometimes a simple
fall trap is employed.—J. G. Wood.
Verse 10. Into their own nets. The word
rendered "nets" occurs only in this place, as
the closely corresponding word in Ps 140:10, which is rendered "deep
pits", occurs there only.—Speaker's Commentary.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1.
1. The Perpetuity of Prayer: "I cry. I cry."
2. The Personality: "unto thee", "unto me."
3. The Practicalness: "Make haste; give ear."
Verse 1. Holy haste.
1. The saint hasting to God.
2. The saint hastening God.
3. God's sure hastening to his help.—W. B. H.
Verses 1-2.
1. Prayer put forth:
a) With urgency: "Make haste unto me."
b) With fervency: "Give ear", etc.
2. Prayer set forth: "Let my prayer be set forth",
etc. When hearing is obtained there is composure and order in
prayer. When the fire is kindled the incense rises.
3. Prayer held forth: "The lifting up of my hands as the
evening sacrifice", as constant and accepted.—G. R.
Verse 2. True prayer acceptable as incense and as the
evening sacrifice. It is spiritual, solemn, ordained of God,
brings Christ to remembrance.
Verse 3.
1. The mouth a door.
2. A watchman needed.
3. The Lord fulfilling that office.
Verse 4. Total abstinence from evil desires,
practices, and delights.
Verse 4. A prayer,
1. For the repression of every evil tendency in the heart:
"Incline not my heart", etc.
2. For the prevention of any association with the wicked in
their sinful works: "To practise", etc.
3. For a holy contempt of the temporal pleasure or profit
placed in our way through the sin of others: "Let me not
eat", etc. Note, many who will not engage in a wicked act
do not object to participate in its gains.—J. F.
Verse 4. Deprecation of,
1. Devil's desires.
2. Devil's deeds.
3. Devil's dainties.—W. B. H.
Verse 5. Rebukes of good men.
1. Invited.
2. Appreciated: "it shall be a kindness."
3. Utilized: "an excellent oil."
4. Cheerfully endured: "not break my head."
5. Repaid, by our prayers for them in time of trouble.
Verse 5. (last clause.) "Intercessory
Prayer." See" Spurgeon's Sermons", No. 1,049.
Verse 6.
1. Times of trouble will come to the careless.
2. Then they will be more ready to hear the gospel.
3. Then they will find sweetness in that which they formerly
refused.
Verse 6. A Desert Oasis.
1. The world is a stony place, hard, barren.
2. Often pride and self trust suffer overthrowing there.
3. Then words of God by his sent servant make an oasis in the
desert.
—W. B. H.
Verses 7-8. A cemetery scene.
1. Dry bones of the dead about the grave.
2. Weary bones of the aged and sick around the grave.
3. All bones being from day to day made ready for the grave.
4. Bones finding rest in God: "mine eyes are unto thee, O
God", etc.