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Psalm Sixteen
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 16
Michtam of David. This is a new title, not met with before,
though it afterwards is prefixed to "five" psalms running, the fifty
sixth, the fifty seventh, the fifty eighth, the fifty ninth, and the sixtieth
psalms. Some take the word "michtam" to be the name of a musical
instrument, as Kimchi on Psalm 4:1; others the name of one of the
tunes, as Jarchi; and others the tune of a song which began with this word, as
Aben Ezra observes, to which this psalm was sung; the Septuagint translate it
"stelography", or an inscription upon a pillar; such an one as is
erected by conquerors, as Theodoret observes, having writing on it declaring
the victory obtained; suggesting that the psalm, or the subject of it, the
death and resurrection of Christ, was worthy to be inscribed on a pillar of
marble; and the Targum renders it, "a right engraving", that deserves
to be engraven in a monument of brass: but what seems to be the best sense of
the word is, that it signifies a work of gold, and may be rendered, "a
golden [psalm] of David"; so called, either because it was a dear and
favourite song of his; or from the subject matter, which is more valuable and
precious than the most fine gold: the title of it in the Syriac and Arabic
versions is,
"concerning
the election of the church, and the resurrection of Christ;'
and
certain it is from Psalm 16:10, the resurrection of Christ is
spoken of in it, as is clear from the testimonies of two apostles, Peter and
Paul, who cite it in proof of it, Acts 2:25; and since there is but one
person speaking throughout the psalm, and Christ is he that speaks in Psalm 16:10, and which cannot be understood
of David, nor of any other person but Christ, the whole of the psalm must be
interpreted of him.
Psalm 16:1 Preserve
me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
YLT
1A Secret Treasure of David.
Preserve me, O God, for I did trust in Thee.
Preserve me, O God,.... Prayer is proper to Christ as man; he
offered up many prayers and supplications to Cost, even his Father, and his
God, and as the strong and mighty God, as the wordF9אל "Deus fortis seu potens", Muis; "Deus
omnipotens", Cocceius, Michaelis. here used is commonly rendered by
interpreters; with whom, all things are possible, and who is able to save; see Hebrews 5:7; and this petition for
preservation was suitable to him and his case, and was heard and answered by
God; he was very remarkably preserved in his infancy from the rage and fury of
Herod; and very wonderfully was his body preserved and supported in the
wilderness under a fast of forty days and forty nights together, and from being
torn to pieces by the wild beasts among which he was, and from the temptations
of Satan, with which he was there assaulted; and throughout the whole of his
ministry he was preserved from being hindered in the execution of his office,
either by the flatteries, or menaces, or false charges of his enemies; and
though his life was often attempted they could not take it away before his
time: and whereas Christ is in this psalm represented as in the view of death
and the grave, this petition may be of the same kind with those in John 12:27; and put up with the same
submission to the will of God; and at least may intend divine help and support
in his sufferings and death, preservation from corruption in the grave, and the
resurrection of him from the dead; and it may also include his concern for the
preservation of his church, his other self, and the members of it, his
apostles, disciples, and all that did or should believe in his name, for whom
he prayed after this manner a little before his death; see Luke 22:31;
for in thee do I put my trust: or "have
hoped"F11חסיתי בך
"speravi in te", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus. ; the graces of faith and
hope were implanted in the heart of Christ, as man, who had the gifts and
graces of the Spirit without measure bestowed on him, and these very early
appeared in him, and showed themselves in a very lively exercise, Psalm 22:7; and were in a very eminent
manner exercised by him a little before his death, in the view of it, and when
he was under his sufferings, and hung upon the cross, Isaiah 1:6, Matthew 27:46; and this his trust and
confidence in God alone, and not in any other, is used as a reason or argument
for his preservation and safety.
Psalm 16:2 2 O my soul,
you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.”
YLT
2Thou hast said to Jehovah,
`My Lord Thou [art];' My good [is] not for thine own sake;
O my soul, thou hast
said unto the Lord,.... Some take these to be the words of David speaking to the
church, who had owned the Lord to be her Lord, and had declared what follows;
others think they are the words of God the Father to his Son, suggesting to him
what he had said; but they are rather an apostrophe, or an address of Christ to
his own soul; and the phrase, "O my soul", though not in the original
text, is rightly supplied by our translators, and which is confirmed by the
Targum, and by the Jewish commentators, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi;
thou art my Lord; Christ, as man, is a
creature made by God; his human nature is the true tabernacle which God pitched
and not man, and on this consideration he is his Lord, being his Creator; and
as Mediator Christ is his servant, and was made under the law to him, obeyed
him, and submitted to his will in all things; so that he not only in words said
he was his Lord, but by deeds declared him to be so;
my goodness extendeth not to thee; such who
suppose that David here speaks in his own person, or in the person of other
believers, or that the church here speaks, differently interpret these words:
some render them, "my goodness is not above thee"F12טובתי בל עליך
"bonum meum non est supra te", Gejerus. ; it is far inferior to
thine, it is not to be mentioned with it, it is nothing in comparison of it;
all my goodness, happiness, and felicity lies, in thee, Psalm 73:25; others, "I have no
goodness without thee": the sense is the same as if it was "I have
said", as read the Greek, Vulgate Latin, and Oriental versions, and so
Apollinarius; I have none but what comes from thee; what I have is given me by
thee, which is the sense of the Targum; see James 1:17; others, "my goodness is
not upon thee"F13"Bonum meum non est super te",
Montanus, Cocceius. ; does not lie upon thee, or thou art not obliged to bestow
the blessings of goodness on me; they are not due to me, they spring from thy
free grace and favour; to this sense incline Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi; see
Luke 17:10; others, "thou hast no need
of my goodness"; nor wilt it profit thee, so R. Joseph Kimchi; see Job 22:2; or the words may be rendered,
"O my goodness", or "thou art my good, nothing is above
thee"F14So Gussetius, p. 299. ; no goodness in any superior to
God. But they are the words of Christ, and to be understood of his goodness;
not of his essential goodness as God, nor of his providential goodness, the
same with his Father's; but of his special goodness, and the effect of it to
his church and people; and denotes his love, grace, and good will towards them,
shown in his incarnation, sufferings, and death; and the blessings of goodness
which come thereby; such as a justifying righteousness, forgiveness of sin,
peace, and reconciliation, redemption, salvation, and eternal life. Now though
God is glorified by Christ in his incarnation, sufferings, and death, and in
the work of man's redemption, yet he stood in no need of the obedience and
sufferings of his Son; he could have glorified his justice another way, as he
did in not sparing the angels that sinned, in drowning the old world, and in
burning Sodom and Gomorrah, and in other instances of his vengeance; though
there is glory to God in the highest in the affair of salvation by Christ, yet
the good will is to men; though the debt of obedience and sufferings was paid
to the justice of God, whereby that is satisfied and glorified, yet the
kindness in paying the debt was not to God but to men, described in Psalm 16:8.
Psalm 16:3 3 As for the saints who are
on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”
YLT
3For the holy ones who [are]
in the land, And the honourable, all my delight [is] in them.
But to the saints that are
in the earth,.... Who are sanctified or set apart by God the Father in
election; whose sins are expiated by the blood of Christ in redemption, and who
are sanctified or made holy by the Spirit of God in the effectual calling; and
who live a holy life and conversation: these are said to be "in the
earth", not to distinguish them from the saints in heaven, to whom the
goodness of Christ extends as to them, unless it be to distinguish them from
the angels in heaven, who are called saints, Deuteronomy 33:2; as Aben Ezra observes;
but to point out the place of their abode, scattered up and down in the earth;
and to show that love, grace, goodness, and kindness of Christ reaches to them
in the present state of things, notwithstanding all their meanness and
imperfection in themselves, and their despicableness in the eyes of others; see
John 13:1;
and to the excellent; the same with the
saints, who though reckoned by men the faith of the world, and the offscouring
of all things, are in high esteem with Christ; they are "nobles"F15אדירי "magnificis", Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator, Rivetus; "nobilibus delectationis meae", Gejerus;
"ducibus eorum", Cocceius; so Michaelis. in his account, as the word
is rendered in Jeremiah 30:21; they are princes in all the
earth, and these princes are kings; they are made kings and priests unto God by
Christ; they wear and live like kings, and have the attendance, power, riches,
and glory of kings; they are guarded by angels, they have power with God, they
are rich in faith, and heirs of a kingdom;
in whom is all my delight; Christ's delights were
with these sons of men before the world was, and have always continued with
them; they are his "Hepbzibah" and "Beulah", as in Isaiah 62:4; hence he became incarnate, and
suffered and died for them, and makes application of all the blessings of his
grace and goodness to them.
Psalm 16:4 4 Their sorrows shall be
multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of
blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips.
YLT
4Multiplied are their
griefs, [Who] have hastened backward; I pour not out their libations of blood,
Nor do I take up their names on my lips.
Their sorrows shall be multiplied,.... Not the sorrows of
the saints and excellent ones, by seeing the idolatry of men, as Aben Ezra
interprets it; but the sorrows of such
that hasten after
another god; a false god, an idol, to serve and worship it; for, generally
speaking, idolaters are more forward, eager, and hasty to attend a false
worship, than the worshippers of the true God are to attend his service: now
their sorrows are many, even in their worship, by cutting their bodies with
knives and lancets, as the worshippers of Baal did; and by sacrificing their
own children, which, notwithstanding their rash and precipitate zeal, could not
fail of giving them pain and uneasiness; and, besides temporal punishments
inflicted on them for their idolatry by God, and stings of conscience, which
must sometimes attend them, the wrath of God lies upon them, and they will have
their portion in the lake of fire, and the smoke of their torment will ascend for
ever and ever. Some render the words, "their idols are multiplied";
and so the Chaldee paraphrase,
"they
multiply their idols, and after that hasten to offer their sacrifices;'
when
men leave the true God, they know not where to stop; the Heathens had not less
than thirty thousand gods, and the Jews when they fell into idolatry ran in the
same way, Jeremiah 2:28. The word "god" is
not in the original text, though the supplement is countenanced by the Jewish
writersF16Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Ben Melech, & Abendana in
loc. , who interpret it in this way; but I rather think the text is to be
understood not of Heathen idolaters, but of unbelieving Jews, who, rejecting
the true Messiah, hasten after another Messiah, king, and saviour; when Jesus
the true Messiah came they received him not; but when another came in his own
name they were eager to embrace him, John 5:43; and to this day they are
hastening after another; and in their daily prayers pray that the coming of the
Messiah might be במהידה, "in haste", in
their daysF17Seder Tephillot, fol. 128. 2. ; and the sense of the
passage is, that the sorrows of the Jews, rejecting the Messiah and hastening
after another, would come thick and fast upon them, until wrath came upon them
to the uttermost, Matthew 24:6, 1 Thessalonians 2:16; and it holds good of
all, whether Jews or Gentiles, that hasten after another saviour; that say to the
works of their hands, that they are their gods, or go about to establish a
righteousness of their own, or seek for life and salvation by their own doings;
these, sooner or later, will lie down in sorrow, Isaiah 50:11;
their drink offerings of blood will I not offer: meaning not
the libations of the Gentiles, which were not wine, according to the law, Numbers 15:10; but blood, even sometimes
human blood; but the sacrifices of the Jews, which were either got by blood,
murders and robberies, and on that account were hateful to God, Isaiah 61:8; or rather the sacrifices of
bloodthirsty persons, whose hands were full of blood, Isaiah 1:11; and such were the offerings of
the priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, in Christ's time, who were the children of
them that killed the prophets, and sought after the blood of Christ. Or it may
be rendered, "I will not offer their drink offerings because of
blood"F18מדם "propter
sanguinem", Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis. ; meaning his own blood shed for
the remission of sins, which being obtained, there remains no more offering for
sin; and so the words may express the abolition of all legal sacrifices, and the
causing of them to cease through the blood and sacrifice of Christ. This shows
the person speaking to be a priest, and therefore could not be David, but must
be the Messiah, who is a priest after the order of Melchizedek; and who had a
better sacrifice to other up than any of the offerings of the Jews, even his
own self, by which he has put away sin for ever. He adds,
nor take up their names into my lips; not the names
of idol deities, nor of their worshippers, but of the Jews that rejected him as
the Messiah, for whom he would not pray, John 17:9; and so as he refused to offer
their sacrifices, he would not perform the other part of his priestly office
for them in intercession; though this may also have respect to the rejection of
the Jewish nation as the people of God; writing a "Loammi", Hosea 1:9, upon them, declaring them to be
no longer the children of the living God; leaving their names for a curse, a
taunt, and a proverb in every place; expressing the utmost abhorrence of them,
and showing the utmost indignation at them, as persons whose names were not
worthy or fit to be mentioned, Ephesians 5:3.
Psalm 16:5 5 O Lord, You are
the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot.
YLT
5Jehovah [is] the portion of
my share, and of my cup, Thou -- Thou dost uphold my lot.
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup,.... This is
said by Christ as a priest, and in allusion to the Levitical priests, who had
no inheritance in the land of Canaan with their brethren, but the Lord was
their part and portion, and their inheritance, Numbers 18:20; and it expresses the strong
love and affection Christ had for the Lord as his God, the delight and pleasure
he had in him, and the satisfaction he had in the enjoyment of him and
communion with him, and that it was his meat and drink to serve him, and to do
his will; and though his goodness did not extend to him, yet his goodness and happiness
as man lay in him: unless the sense should be,
"the
Lord is he who gives me the portion of mine inheritance;'
meaning
his church and people, all the elect of God, who are Christ's portion and
inheritance, given him by the Father; see Deuteronomy 32:9; And assigns to me my cup,
as of blessings, so of sorrows and sufferings, which being measured out, filled
up, and put into his hand by his Father, he freely took it, John 18:11;
thou maintainest my lot; that is, either his
interest in God himself, as his covenant God, which always continued; or the
lot of goods, of grace and glory, put into his hands for his people, which
always remains; or rather the saints themselves, who, as they are Christ's
portion and inheritance, so they are his lot; in allusion to the land of
Canaan, which was divided by lot: these Jehovah took hold of, kept, preserved,
and upheld, as the wordF19תומיך
"sustentas", Musculus, Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator;
so Ainsworth; "sustentans", Montanus, Michaelis;
"tenuisti", Cocceius; "tenendo quasi sustentans", Gejerus.
signifies; so that they shall never totally and finally fall and perish; and this
sense is countenanced by what follows.
Psalm 16:6 6 The lines have fallen to
me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.
YLT
6Lines have fallen to me in
pleasant places, Yea, a beauteous inheritance [is] for me.
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places,.... The
allusion is to the measuring of land by lines, and appropriating each part to
the proper owners; and lines design the land that is measured out by them, and
here the church and people of God, the chosen ones who are given to Christ, as
his portion and inheritance; and the sense is, that Christ's portion lies among
or in pleasant persons; such as were so to him, as he saw them in his Father's
purposes and decrees; and as they are clothed in his righteousness, and washed
in his blood; and as they are adorned with the graces of his Spirit; and as
they will be as a bride adorned for him in the New Jerusalem state, for rather
persons than places are here meant: though as the bounds of the saints'
habitations are set, and they are known to Christ, so they were pleasant to
him, and he took delight and rejoiced in the very spots of ground where he knew
they would dwell, Proverbs 8:31; and the word
"places" is supplied by Aben Ezra and Kimchi: but the former sense
seems best, and agrees with what follows;
yea, I have a goodly heritage: so the Lord's people are
called, 1 Peter 5:3; these are Christ's heritage,
his peculiar treasure, his jewels, with whom he is greatly delighted and well
pleased; more than men are with their gold and silver, houses and land, and
their greatest wealth and substance: these persons are the inheritance with
which he is contented and fully satisfied.
Psalm 16:7 7 I will bless the Lord who has given
me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
YLT
7I bless Jehovah who hath
counselled me; Also [in] the nights my reins instruct me.
I will bless the Lord,.... As prayer, so
thanksgiving belongs to Christ, as man and Mediator; see Matthew 11:25; and here he determines to
praise the Lord, and give thanks to him for counsel and instruction:
who hath given me counsel; for though he himself is
the Counsellor, with respect to his people, yet as man he received counsel from
God, and the spirit of counsel rested on him, Isaiah 11:2; and fitted him for and
directed him in the execution of his prophetic office; for the doctrine he
taught was not his own, but his Father's; and he said nothing of himself but
what his Father taught him, and instructed him to speak, John 6:16. And he also gave him counsel
about the execution of his priestly office, or about his sufferings and death,
and drinking of the cup, which he, with submission to the divine will, desired
might pass from him; but having advice in this matter, most cheerfully and
courageously yielded to take it, see Matthew 26:39;
my reins also instruct me in the night seasons; when engaged
in prayer to God, in which he sometimes continued a whole night together, Luke 6:12; and especially in that dark and
dismal night in which he was betrayed, when it was the hour and power of
darkness with his enemies; then, his inward parts being influenced by the
spirit of wisdom and counsel, directed him how to behave and conduct himself.
Or "the reins" being the seat of the affections, and being put for
them, may signify, that his strong affection for God, and love to his people,
put him upon and moved him to take the steps he did, to deliver up himself into
the hands of sinful men, in order to suffer and die for his friends, and obtain
eternal salvation for them.
Psalm 16:8 8 I have set the Lord always before
me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
YLT 8I did place Jehovah before
me continually, Because -- at my right hand I am not moved.
I have set the Lord always before me, Not his fear
only, or the book of the law, as Jarchi interprets it, but the Lord himself;
or, "I foresaw the Lord always before my face", Acts 2:26; as Christ is set before men in
the Gospel, to look unto as the object of faith and hope, to trust in and
depend upon for life and salvation; so Jehovah the Father is the object which
Christ set before him, and looked unto in the whole course of his life here on
earth; he had always an eye to his glory, as the ultimate end of all his
actions; and to his will, his orders, and commands, as the rule of them; and to
his purposes, and counsel, and covenant, to accomplish them; and to his power,
truth, and faithfulness, to assist, support, and encourage him in all his
difficulties and most distressed circumstances;
because he is at my right hand: to counsel
and instruct, to help, protect, and defend: the phrase is expressive of the
nearness of God to Christ, his presence with him, and readiness to assist and
stand by him against all his enemies; see Psalm 109:31; so the Targum paraphrases it,
"because his Shechinah rests upon me";
I shall not be moved: as he was not from his
place and nation, from the duty of his office, and the execution of it, by all
the threats and menaces of men; nor from the fear, worship, and service of God,
by all the temptations of Satan; nor from the cause of his people he had
espoused, by all the terrors of death, the flaming sword of justice, and the
wrath of God; but, in the midst and view of all, stood unshaken and unmoved;
see Isaiah 42:4.
Psalm 16:9 9 Therefore my heart is
glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
YLT
9Therefore hath my heart
been glad, And my honour doth rejoice, Also my flesh dwelleth confidently:
Therefore my heart is glad,.... Because he had the
Lord always in view; he was at his right hand, for his support and assistance,
as well as because of what is expressed in the next verses: this is the same
with rejoicing in spirit, Luke 10:21; it denotes an inward joy, and
fulness of it, because of the Lord's presence with him; see Acts 2:28;
and my glory rejoiceth; meaning either his soul,
which is the most glorious and noble part of man, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben
Melech interpret it; or rather his tongue, as in Acts 2:26; the faculty of speaking in man
being what gives him a superior glory and excellency to other creatures, and is
that whereby he glorifies God; and so the word is often used in this book; see Psalm 30:12; and here the phrase designs
Christ's glorifying God, and singing his praise with joyful lips, among his
disciples, a little before his sufferings and death;
my flesh also shall rest in hope; in the grave, which, as
it is a resting place to the members of Christ, from all their sorrow, toil,
and labour here; so it was to Christ their head, who rested in it on the Jewish
sabbath, that day of rest, and that berth "in safety"F20לבטח "in tuto", Tigurine version;
"secure", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "in
confidence", Ainsworth. , as the word used may signify, and in of his
resurrection from the dead, as follows.
Psalm 16:10 10 For You will not leave my
soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
YLT
10For Thou dost not leave my
soul to Sheol, Nor givest thy saintly one to see corruption.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,.... Meaning,
not in the place of the damned, where Christ never went, nor was; for at his
death his soul was committed to his Father, and was the same day in paradise:
but rather, "sheol" here, as "hades" in the Near Testament,
signifies the state of the dead, the separate state of souls after death, the
invisible world of souls, where Christ's soul was; though it was not left
there, nor did it continue, but on the third day returned to its body again;
though it seems best of all to interpret it of the grave, as the word is
rendered in Genesis 42:38; and then by his
"soul" must be meant, not the more noble part of his human nature,
the soul, in distinction from the body; for as it died not, but went to God, it
was not laid in the grave; but either he himself, in which sense the word
"soul" is sometimes used, even for a man's self, Psalm 3:2. For it might be truly said of
him, God's Holy One, that he was laid in the grave, though not left there; or
rather his dead body, for so the word "nephesh" is rendered in Numbers 9:6; so "anima" is used
in Latin authorsF21"--animamque sepulchro coudimus--".
Virgil. Aeneid. 3. v. 67. : this was laid in the grave; for Joseph having
begged it of Pilate, took it down from the cross, and laid it in his own new
tomb; though it was the will of God it should not be left there, but be raised
from the dead, as it was on the third day, before it was corrupted, as follows:
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption; that is, to
lie so long in the grave as to putrefy and be corrupted; wherefore he was
raised from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures, before the
time bodies begin to be corrupted; see John 11:39; and this was owing not to the
care of Joseph or Nicodemus, in providing spices to preserve it, but of God who
raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; and who would not suffer his body
to be corrupted, because he was holy, and because he was his Holy One; that so
as there was no moral corruption in him, there should be no natural corruption
in him; so the Jewish MidrashF23Apud Kimchi in v. 9. interprets it,
that
"no
worm or maggot should have power over him;'
which
is not true of David, nor of any but the Messiah. This character of "Holy
One" eminently belongs to Christ above angels and men, yea, it is often
used of the divine Being, and it agrees with Christ in his divine nature, and
is true of him as man; he is the holy thing, the holy child Jesus; his nature
is pure and spotless, free from the taint of original sin; his life and
conversation were holy and harmless, he did no sin, nor knew any, nor could any
be found in him by men or devils; his doctrines were holy, and tended to
promote holiness of life; all his works are holy, and such is the work of
redemption, which is wrought out in consistence with and to the glory of the
holiness and righteousness of God; Christ is holy in all his offices, and is
the fountain of holiness to his people; and he is God's Holy One, he has
property in him as his Son, and as Mediator, and even as an Holy One; for he
was sanctified and sent into the world by him, being anointed with the holy oil
of his Spirit without measure. The word may be rendered, a "merciful"F24חסדיך "misericordem tuum", Pagninus, Montanus;
"beneficus tuus", Piscator. or "liberal" and
"beneficent one": for Christ is all this; he is a merciful as well as
a faithful high priest, and he generously distributes grace and glory to his
people.
Psalm 16:11 11 You will show me the path
of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are
pleasures forevermore.
YLT
11Thou causest me to know the
path of life; Fulness of joys [is] with Thy presence, Pleasant things by Thy
right hand for ever!
Thou wilt show me the path of life,.... Not the way of life
and salvation for lost sinners, which is Christ himself; but the resurrection
of the dead, which is a passing from death to life; and was shown to Christ,
not doctrinally, or by illuminating his mind, and leading him into the doctrine
of it, for so he himself has brought it to light by the Gospel; practically and
experimentally, by raising him the dead, or by causing him to pass from death
to life; and he was the first to whom the path of life was shown in this sense,
or the that who ever trod in it, and so has led the way for others: hence he is
called the that fruits of them that slept, the firstborn and first begotten
from the dead; for though others were raised before, yet not to an immortal
life, never to die more, as he was; now the view, the faith, and hope of this,
of not being left in the grave so long as to see corruption, and of being
raised from the dead to an immortal life, caused joy and gladness in Christ, at
the time of his sufferings and death, as well as what follows;
in thy presence is fulness of joy: Christ, being
raised from the dead, ascended to heaven, and was received up into glory into
his Father's presence, and is glorified with his own self, with his glorious
presence, for which he prayed, John 17:5; and which fills his human nature
with fulness of joy, with a joy unspeakable and full of glory; see Acts 2:28; and as it is with the head it
will be with the members in some measure; now the presence of God puts more joy
and gladness into them than anything else can do; but as yet their joy is not
full; but it will be when they shall enter into the joy of their Lord, into the
presence of God in the other world then everlasting joy will be upon their
heads;
at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore; Christ being
entered into heaven is set down at the right hand of God in human nature, an
honour which is not conferred on any of the angels, Hebrews 1:13; where the man Christ Jesus is
infinitely delighted with the presence of God, the never fading joys of heaven,
the company of angels and glorified saints; here he sits and sees of the
travail of his soul; he prolongs his days and sees his seed, souls called by
grace, and brought to glory one after another, until they are all brought in,
in whom is all his delight; and which was the joy set before him at the time of
his sufferings and death: or the words may be rendered "in thy right are
pleasant things for ever"F25נעימות בימינך נצח "amoenorum quae
sunt in dextera tua perpetuo", Cocceius; "delectationes in dextera
tua usque in seculum", Musculas. , and may design those gifts and graces,
which Christ, being exalted at the right hand of God, received from thence and
gives to men, for the use and service, of his church and people, in the several
successive ages of time; and so Aben Ezra takes the words to be an allusion to
a man's giving pleasant gifts to his friend with his right hand.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》