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Psalm Thirty-six
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO Psalm 36
To the chief Musician, cf15I A Psalm of David, the
servant of the Lord. This title, which the psalmist takes to himself, regards
him not only as a creature, every man being the servant of the Lord as such, of
right, though not in fact; but as a king, he being a minister of God for good
to good men, and for evil to evil men; and also may respect him as a renewed
man; and it is here used in opposition to and distinction from the wicked, who
are the servants of sin and Satan, of whom he speaks in this psalm. The Syriac
and Arabic versions in their titles suggest that this psalm was written when
David was persecuted by Saul, and which is the sense of some interpreters; but
R. Obadiah thinks Ahithophel is designed by the wicked man in it; and so it was
penned on account of Absalom's rebellion.
Psalm 36:1 An
oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is
no fear of God before his eyes.
YLT
1To the Overseer. -- By a
servant of Jehovah, by David. The transgression of the wicked Is affirming
within my heart, `Fear of God is not before his eyes,
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,.... Which is
represented as a person speaking within him; not that the transgression of the
wicked was really in him; sin was in him, and sin of the same kind and nature
with the wicked man's; but he taking notice of and considering the wicked man's
sinful course of life, and his daring impieties, conceived in his own mind, and
concluded from hence,
that there is no fear of God
before his eyes; no reverential affection for him, but enmity to him; no godly
filial fear, but at most only a slavish fear, a fear of punishment; no holy and
humble fear of him, but pride and wickedness; no fiducial and obediential fear,
but all the reverse; true worship of him, either internally or externally:
there can be no fear of God in any unregenerate man's, heart, because it is not
of nature, but of grace, and is, what is implanted at first conversion; there
is in some an appearance of it, where it is not really, whose fear is taught by
the precept of men; and in others there may be some awe of the divine Being,
and trembling at the thought of a future judgment, arising from the dictates of
nature, the light of revelation, and the enjoyment of a religious education;
but in some there is no fear of God at all, and they are bold and daring enough
to assert it themselves, as the unjust judge did, Luke 18:4. Such as
the atheist, the common swearer, the debauchee and epicure, who give up
themselves to all manner of wickedness, contemn revelation, despise the word of
God, and regard no day nor manner of worship; and this notwithstanding the
majesty of God, at whose presence they tremble not, and notwithstanding the
goodness of God, which should induce them to fear him, and notwithstanding the
judgment of God on others, and even on themselves; see Jeremiah 3:8; and
notwithstanding the future awful judgment, which they put far away or
disbelieve. The Targum is, "transgression saith to the wicked within my
heart"; and Jarchi's note upon the text is this,
"this
text is to be transposed thus, it is in my heart, that transgression, which is
the evil imagination, says to the wicked man, that there should be no fear of
God before his eyes; and the phrase, "in the midst of my heart", is
as if a man should say, so it seems to me.'
The
Septuagint version, and those that follow it, render the words thus, "the
transgressor said, that he might sin in himself, there is no fear of God before
his eyes". GussetiusF2Ebr. Comment. p. 488. interprets
"before his eyes", before the eyes of God himself, who is so good a
Being, that the sinner fears no punishment from him, but will pardon all his
sins.
Psalm 36:2 2 For he flatters himself in
his own eyes, When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.
YLT
2For he made [it] smooth to
himself in his eyes, To find his iniquity to be hated.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,.... There are
many self-flatterers; some on account of their worldly estate, that they are
out of the reach of God and men, and regard neither; and that as they have much
goods laid up, they shall enjoy them many years, and so never think of dying,
nor of another world: others on account of their eternal state, pleasing
themselves with their own purity, goodness, and righteousness: some flatter
themselves either that their sins are not sins, or they are small ones; or they
are no other than what multitudes commit; or they are not seen and known, and
that God himself sees them not, or takes no notice of them; and that they shall
go on with impunity, sentence against them being not speedily executed; and
others that there is no God, will be no judgment, nor future state;
until his iniquity be found to be hateful, or, "to
find his iniquity and to hate"F3So. Pagninus. that which is
good, as the word may be rendered; that is, he flatters himself, or speaks
smooth things to himself, and endeavours to work himself up into the belief of
the above things; that he may find, embrace, and indulge his lusts with a quiet
conscience, and hate God, good men, and everything that is good; the Targum is,
"that
he may find sins and hate doctrine'
or
instruction. Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret the words another way,
"that
the holy and blessed God may find out his iniquity to hate him;'
see
Genesis 44:16,
which God may be said to do, when he charges the guilt of sin upon the
conscience, and punishes for it; and exposes both the sinner and his sins to
the world; thereby testifying his hatred of him and his sins; and which should
have been hateful to him, as they are to all good men.
Psalm 36:3 3 The words of his mouth are
wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
YLT
3The words of his mouth
[are] iniquity and deceit, He ceased to act prudently -- to do good.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit,.... Not only
sinful, but sin itself; his mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, of filthy
and unchaste words, of corrupt communication, lying, deceit, and flattery; out
of the abundance of the wickedness of his heart his mouth speaketh; and which
shows the badness of it, and proves all that is said before of him;
he hath left off to be wise, and to do good; by which the
psalmist seems to intend one that had been a professor of religion, who,
besides the light of nature he had acted contrary to, had had the advantage of
a divine revelation, and had been enlightened into the knowledge of divine
things, and had done many things externally good, particularly acts of
beneficence; but now had dropped his profession of religion, denied the truths
he had been enlightened into, and ceased from doing good; otherwise a natural
man understandeth not; and, though he is wise to do evil, to do good he has no
knowledge.
Psalm 36:4 4 He devises wickedness on
his bed; He sets himself in a way that is not good; He does not abhor
evil.
YLT
4Iniquity he deviseth on his
bed, He stationeth himself on a way not good, Evil he doth not refuse.'
He deviseth mischief upon his bed,.... He casts about in
his mind on his pillow, when at leisure from all employment; and consults and
contrives schemes how to compass his lusts, and to do injury to others, without
doing which he cannot sleep;
he setteth himself in a way that is not good, in an evil
way, which he chooses and delights in, and determines to continue in, he
leaving the paths of righteousness to walk in the ways of darkness:
he abhorreth not evil; which is to be abhorred
both because of its nature and effects; see Romans 12:9; but on
the contrary he loves it, takes pleasure in doing it, and in them that commit
it: thus, by his thoughts, words, and actions, he appears to be devoid of the
fear of God.
Psalm 36:5 5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in
the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
YLT
5O Jehovah, in the heavens
[is] Thy kindness, Thy faithfulness [is] unto the clouds.
Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens,.... Meaning
either the general mercy of God the earth is full of, and extends to all
creatures; to which it is owing that wicked men before described are not
consumed; and which reaches "up to the heavens"F4בהשמים "usque ad coelos", Pagninus, Musculus,
Muis, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Kimchi & Noldius, p. 164. No. 744.
& Ainsworth. , as the words are by some rendered, as their sins do; see Psalm 57:10; or the
special mercy of God, and regards not the objects of it, creatures in heaven;
for there at, none there proper objects of mercy; but the seat of it, the heart
of God, who is in heaven; or the repository of it, the covenant of grace, which
is full of the sure mercies of David; and of mercy there was a most glaring
instance, when the son of God was sent down from heaven, to obtain salvation
for sinful men; or it may denote the original of it, the heaven, being, as Aben
Ezra observes some Jewish interpreters say, the fountain of mercy, and the
spring of truth; or the greatness and abundance of it, it being as high as
heaven, yea, above it; see Psalm 103:11;
and thy faithfulness reacheth
unto the clouds; which lies in the execution of his purposes, whose counsels of
old were faithfulness and truth; and in keeping his covenant and promises; he
never changes his mind, nor forgets his word; he is a God of truth, and cannot
lie; he knows the end from the beginning; no unforeseen event can turn up to
hinder the performance of what he has purposed and promised, and he is able to
perform; nor does ever any of the good things he has spoken of fail: though his
faithfulness sometimes seems to be not only to the clouds, but in them, and out
of sight; providences seem to clash with promises, which make unbelief to say,
doth his promise fail for evermore? yet, though we believe not, he abides
faithful, Psalm 77:8, 2 Timothy 2:13.
Psalm 36:6 6 Your righteousness is
like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Lord, You preserve
man and beast.
YLT
6Thy righteousness [is] as
mountains of God, Thy judgments [are] a great deep. Man and beast Thou savest,
O Jehovah.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains,.... Or,
"the mountains of God"; so called for their excellency, as the cedars
of God, Psalm 80:10; or, as
GussetiusF5Ebr. Comment. p. 66. observes, the greatest and highest
mountains, which are here meant, reaching above the clouds and the region of
the air, are the pillars of the palace of God, and a part of it; and therefore
called his mountains with great propriety, to which his righteousness is
compared: that is, either the righteousness of God in the government of the
world, which is sometimes like the high mountains, not to be reached and
accounted for in the present state of things, though always is, and is
immovable as they are; or the righteousness of God, by which he justifies
sinners, which may be said to be as the mountains of God, because of the
dignity of his person, who has wrought it out; and because of the clear
manifestation of it, the Gospel, and so visible, as high mountains; and because
of the immovableness and duration of it;
thy judgments are a great deep; both in a way
of providence, many of them being at present not to be traced, though before
long they will be made manifest; and in a way of grace, such as the choice of
some, and the leaving of others, the rejection of the Jews, and the call of the
Gentiles; see Romans 11:33;
O Lord, thou preservest man and beast; in a
providential way, upholding each in their being, and supplying them with the
necessaries of life: some understand this figuratively, of God's saving Jews
and Gentiles, wise and unwise, and particularly those who, through humility and
modesty, as Jarchi says, compare themselves to beasts, because of their
ignorance and stupidity, Proverbs 30:2.
Psalm 36:7 7 How precious is
Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under
the shadow of Your wings.
YLT
7How precious [is] Thy
kindness, O God, And the sons of men In the shadow of Thy wings do trust.
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God,.... Which has
appeared to men and not angels, to some and not others; to the chief of
sinners, who are by nature children of wrath as others; in choosing, redeeming,
and calling them, taking them into his family, and making them heirs of eternal
glory; and all this of his sovereign good will and pleasure, there being nothing
in them that could move him to it; which lovingkindness was in his heart from
everlasting, and will never change in him, nor depart from them; and hence it
must be most excellent and precious:
therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of
thy wings; not all men; for all have not faith, only some, to whom it is
given to believe, and who know the Lord and his lovingkindness; by which they
are induced and encouraged to trust in him, to betake themselves to him for
mercy and protection, which they find in him: the allusion is either to the hen
that gathers her chickens under her wings, and protects them in time of danger,
and so it expresses both the paternal affection of God to his people, and the
protection of them; or else to the wings of the cherubim over the mercy seat,
between which the Lord sat and communed with his people, and showed mercy and
favour to them, which encouraged them to trust in him.
Psalm 36:8 8 They are abundantly
satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the
river of Your pleasures.
YLT
8They are filled from the
fatness of Thy house, And the stream of Thy delights Thou dost cause them to
drink.
They shall be abundantly sallied with the fatness of thy house,.... By his
"house" is meant the church of God, of his building, and where he
dwells; by the fatness of it the provisions there, the word and ordinances, and
the blessings of grace which they hold forth; and especially Christ, the fatted
calf, the bread of life, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink
indeed, and which make a feast of fat things; and these they that trust in the
Lord are welcome to eat and drink of abundantly, and to abundant satisfaction;
see Matthew 5:6, Psalm 22:26;
and thou shall make them drink of the river of thy pleasure; the love of
God, whose streams make glad the city of God; or the fulness of grace, which is
in Christ, out of which believers draw with joy, and drink with pleasure; or
eternal glory and happiness, enjoyed in the presence of God, in which is
fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore; a never
ceasing torrent of them.
Psalm 36:9 9 For with You is the
fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
YLT
9For with Thee [is] a
fountain of life, In Thy light we see light.
For with thee is the fountain of life,.... Or
"lives"F6מקור חיים "vena vitarum", Montanus. : God himself is
the fountain of living waters; this is a reason proving the happiness of those
that trust in the Lord, and that they shall enjoy the above things; because
with God the object of their trust is the fountain of life; not only of natural
life, from whom they have it, and by whom it is supported, but of spiritual
life, being quickened by him when dead in sin, by virtue of which they live by
faith on Christ, and also of eternal life; and the phrase denotes, that life is
originally in God as in its fountain, and that both the fulness of it is with
him, and the freeness of it in the communication of it to others, as well as
its continuance and duration;
in thy light shall we see light; God is light itself, the
Father of lights, and the former of it in every sense; in the light of his
countenance, and the discoveries of his love, they that trust in him see light,
or enjoy comfort; and in the light of his Son Jesus Christ, the sun of
righteousness and light of the world, they see the face of God, and enjoy his
favour, and behold the glory and excellency of Christ himself; and in the light
of the divine Spirit, who is a spirit of wisdom and revelation, they see their
sins exceeding sinful, their righteousness as nothing, and a preciousness in
the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; and in the light of the
divine word they see the truths of the Gospel in their native simplicity and
excellency, and the duties of religion to be performed by them; and in the light
of faith, which is the gift of God, they have at least a glimpse of the unseen
glories of the other world; and when the beatific vision shall take place, they
shall see no more darkly through a glass, but face to face, even God himself,
as he is in Christ.
Psalm 36:10 10 Oh, continue Your
lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in
heart.
YLT
10Draw out Thy kindness to
those knowing Thee, And Thy righteousness to the upright of heart.
O continue thy lovingkindness to them that know thee,.... That is,
spiritually and experimentally; and such are they that trust in him and love
him: and these are the objects of the love of God; not that their knowledge,
faith, or love, are the cause of his love to them; but these things describe
and point at manifestly the objects of it; and this request regards the open
discovery of it unto them: for the love of God itself always continues, though
the manifestations of it are not always the same; and it is for the enlargement
and continuance of them the psalmist here prays: for it may be rendered,
"draw out thy lovingkindness"F7משך
"trahe", Pagninus, Montanus; "extende", Vatablus, Piscator;
"protrahe", Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis. ; that is, to a greater
length; make a larger and clearer discovery of it, that the height and depth,
and length and breadth of it, may be more discerned;
and thy righteousness unto the upright in heart; who are
sincere and without guile; who have new hearts created and right spirits
renewed in them, and have truth in the inward parts; and unto and upon such is
the righteousness of Christ, and where it always continues, for it is an
everlasting one; but here it means a clearer and constant revelation of it from
faith to faith; unless it should rather intend the righteousness of God in
protecting his people from the insults of their enemies, and the continual
exertion of it for that purpose.
Psalm 36:11 11 Let not the foot of pride
come against me, And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
YLT
11Let not a foot of pride
meet me, And a hand of the wicked let not move me.
Let not the foot of pride come against me,.... Meaning
some proud enemy, such an one as Ahithophel, of whom R. Obadiah expounds, it,
who lifted up his heel against him; and is applicable to any haughty enemy of
Christ and his people, and particularly to antichrist, the man of sin, that
exalts himself above all that is called God;
and let not the hand of the wicked remove me; either from
the house of God; or from his throne, that high station and dignity in which he
was placed.
Psalm 36:12 12 There the workers of
iniquity have fallen; They have been cast down and are not able to rise.
YLT
12There have workers of
iniquity fallen, They have been overthrown, And have not been able to arise!
There are the workers, of iniquity fallen,.... Either in
the pit they dug for others; or into hell, where they shall be turned at last;
See Gill on Psalm 5:5 and See
Gill on Psalm 6:8;
they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise; which will be
the case of Babylon when fallen, Revelation 18:21,
and this distinguishes the falls of the wicked from those of the righteous; for
though the righteous fall, whether into sin, or into any calamity, they rise
again; not so the wicked; see Psalm 37:24; and
thus, as the psalm begins with the transgression of the wicked, it ends with
their ruin.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》