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Psalm Six
Psalm 6
Chapter Contents
The psalmist deprecates God's wrath, and begs for the
return of his favour. (1-7) He assures himself of an answer of peace. (8-10)
Commentary on Psalm 6:1-7
(Read Psalm 6:1-7)
These verses speak the language of a heart truly humbled,
of a broken and contrite spirit under great afflictions, sent to awaken
conscience and mortify corruption. Sickness brought sin to his remembrance, and
he looked upon it as a token of God's displeasure against him. The affliction
of his body will be tolerable, if he has comfort in his soul. Christ's sorest
complaint, in his sufferings, was of the trouble of his soul, and the want of
his Father's smiles. Every page of Scripture proclaims the fact, that salvation
is only of the Lord. Man is a sinner, his case can only be reached by mercy; and
never is mercy more illustrious than in restoring backsliders. With good reason
we may pray, that if it be the will of God, and he has any further work for us
or our friends to do in this world, he will yet spare us or them to serve him.
To depart and be with Christ is happiest for the saints; but for them to abide
in the flesh is more profitable for the church.
Commentary on Psalm 6:8-10
(Read Psalm 6:8-10)
What a sudden change is here! Having made his request
known to God, the psalmist is confident that his sorrow will be turned into
joy. By the workings of God's grace upon his heart, he knew his prayer was
accepted, and did not doubt but it would, in due time, be answered. His prayers
will be accepted, coming up out of the hands of Christ the Mediator. The word
signifies prayer made to God, the righteous Judge, as the God of his
righteousness, who would plead his cause, and right his wrongs. A believer,
through the blood and righteousness of Christ, can go to God as a righteous
God, and plead with him for pardon and cleansing, who is just and faithful to
grant both. He prays for the conversion of his enemies, or foretells their
ruin.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 6
Verse 2
[2] Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal
me; for my bones are vexed.
Bones — My inmost parts.
Verse 5
[5] For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the
grave who shall give thee thanks?
In death — Among the dead.
Remembrance — He speaks of the remembrance or
celebration of God's grace in the land of the living, to the edification of
God's church, and the propagation of true religion among men; which is not done
in the other life.
Verse 6
[6] I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed
to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
With my tears — It well becomes the greatest
spirits to be tender, and to relent under the tokens of God's displeasure.
David who could face Goliath himself, melts into tears at the remembrance of
sin, and under the apprehension of Divine wrath, and it is no diminution to his
character.
Verse 8
[8] Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD
hath heard the voice of my weeping.
Hath heard — By the workings of God's grace upon
his heart, he knew his prayer was accepted. His tears had a voice, in the ears
of the God of mercy. Silent tears are no speechless ones. Our tears are cries
to God.
Verse 10
[10] Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them
return and be ashamed suddenly.
Ashamed — Of their vain confidence.
Return — Repent of their sins and return to their obedience.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Psalm 6
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
Other Works
TITLE. This
Psalm is commonly known as the first of the PENITENTIAL PSALMS, (The
other six are 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) and certainly its language well
becomes the lip of a penitent, for it expresses at once the sorrow, (verses 3,
6, 7), the humiliation (verses 2 and 4), and the hatred of sin (verse 8), which
are the unfailing marks of the contrite spirit when it turns to God. O Holy
Spirit, beget in us the true repentance which needeth not to be repented of.
The title of this Psalm is "To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon
Sheminith (1 Chronicle 15:21), A Psalm of David," that is, to the chief
musician with stringed instruments, upon the eighth, probably the octave. Some
think it refers to the bass or tenor key, which would certainly be well adapted
to this mournful ode. But we are not able to understand these old musical
terms, and even the term "Selah," still remains untranslated. This,
however, should be no difficulty in our way. We probably lose but very little
by our ignorance, and it may serve to confirm our faith. It is a proof of the
high antiquity of these Psalms that they contain words, the meaning of which is
lost even to the best scholars of the Hebrew language. Surely these are but
incidental (accidental I might almost say, if I did not believe them to be
designed by God), proofs of their being, what they profess to be, the ancient
writings of King David of olden times.
DIVISION.
You will observe that the Psalm is readily divided into two parts. First,
there is the Psalmist's plea in his great distress, reaching from the first to
the end of the seventh verse. Then you have, from the eighth to the end, quite
a different theme. The Psalmist has changed his note. He leaves the minor key,
and betakes himself to sublimer strains. He tunes his note to the high key of
confidence, and declares that God hath heard his prayer, and hath delivered him
out of all his troubles.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Having
read through the first division, in order to see it as a whole, we will now
look at it verse by verse. "O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger."
The Psalmist is very conscious that he deserves to be rebuked, and he feels,
moreover, that the rebuke in some form or other must come upon him, if not for
condemnation, yet for conviction and sanctification. "Corn is cleaned with
wind, and the soul with chastenings." It were folly to pray against the
golden hand which enriches us by its blows. He does not ask that the rebuke may
be totally withheld, for he might thus lose a blessing in disguise; but,
"Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger." If thou remindest me of
my sin, it is good; but, oh, remind me not of it as one incensed against me,
lest thy servant's heart should sink in despair. Thus saith Jeremiah, "O
Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to
nothing." I know that I must be chastened, and though I shrink from the
rod yet do I feel that it will be for my benefit; but, oh, my God, "chasten
me not in thy hot displeasure," lest the rod become a sword, and lest
in smiting, thou shouldest also kill. So may we pray that the chastisements of
our gracious God, if they may not be entirely removed, may at least be
sweetened by the consciousness that they are "not in anger, but in his
dear covenant love."
Verse
2. "Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak." Though I
deserve destruction, yet let thy mercy pity my frailty. This is the right way
to plead with God if we would prevail. Urge not your goodness or your
greatness, but plead your sin and your littleness. Cry, "I am
weak," therefore, O Lord, give me strength and crush me not. Send not
forth the fury of thy tempest against so weak a vessel. Temper the wind to the
shorn lamb. Be tender and pitiful to a poor withering flower, and break it not
from its stem. Surely this is the plea that a sick man would urge to move the
pity of his fellow if he were striving with him, "Deal gently with me,
'for I am weak.'" A sense of sin had so spoiled the Psalmist's pride, so
taken away his vaunted strength, that he found himself weak to obey the law,
weak through the sorrow that was in him, too weak, perhaps, to lay hold on the
promise. "I am weak." The original may be read, "I am one
who droops," or withered like a blighted plant. Ah! beloved, we know what
this means, for we, too, have seen our glory stained, and our beauty like a
faded flower.
Verse
3. "O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed." Here he prays
for healing, not merely the mitigation of the ills he endured, but their
entire removal, and the curing of the wounds which had arisen therefrom. His
bones were "shaken," as the Hebrew has it. His terror had
become so great that his very bones shook; not only did his flesh quiver, but
the bones, the solid pillars of the house of manhood, were made to tremble.
"My bones are shaken." Ah, when the soul has a sense of sin, it is
enough to make the bones shake; it is enough to make a man's hair stand up on
end to see the flames of hell beneath him, an angry God above him, and danger
and doubt surrounding him. Well might he say, "My bones are shaken."
Lest, however, we should imagine that it was merely bodily sickness— although
bodily sickness might be the outward sign—the Psalmist goes on to say, "My
soul is also sore vexed." Soul-trouble is the very soul of trouble. It
matters not that the bones shake if the soul be firm, but when the soul itself
is also sore vexed this is agony indeed. "But thou, O Lord, how
long?" This sentence ends abruptly, for words failed, and grief
drowned the little comfort which dawned upon him. The Psalmist had still,
however, some hope; but that hope was only in his God. He therefore cries,
"O Lord, how long?" The coming of Christ into the soul in his
priestly robes of grace is the grand hope of the penitent soul; and, indeed, in
some form or other, Christ's appearance is, and ever has been, the hope of the
saints.
Calvin's
favourite exclamation was, "Domine usquequo"—"O Lord, how
long?" Nor could his sharpest pains, during a life of anguish, force
from him any other word. Surely this is the cry of the saints under the altar,
"O Lord, how long?" And this should be the cry of the saints waiting
for the millennial glories, "Why are his chariots so long in coming; Lord,
how long?" Those of us who have passed through conviction of sin knew what
it was to count our minutes hours, and our hours years, while mercy delayed its
coming. We watched for the dawn of grace, as they that watch for the morning.
Earnestly did our anxious spirits ask, "O Lord, how long?"
Verse
4. "Return, O Lord; deliver my soul." As God's absence was the
main cause of his misery, so his return would be enough to deliver him from his
trouble. "Oh save me for thy mercies' sake." He knows where to
look, and what arm to lay hold upon. He does not lay hold on God's left hand of
justice, but on his right hand of mercy. He knew his iniquity too well to think
of merit, or appeal to anything but the grace of God.
"For
thy mercies' sake." What a plea that is! How prevalent it is with God!
If we turn to justice, what plea can we urge? but if we turn to mercy we may
still cry, notwithstanding the greatness of our guilt, "Save me for thy
mercies' sake."
Observe
how frequently David here pleads the name of Jehovah, which is always intended
where the word LORD is given in capitals. Five times in four verses we here
meet with it. Is not this a proof that the glorious name is full of consolation
to the tempted saint? Eternity, Infinity, Immutability, Self-existence, are all
in the name Jehovah, and all are full of comfort.
Verse
5. And now David was in great fear of death—death temporal, and perhaps death
eternal. Read the passage as you will, the following verse is full of power. "For
in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee
thanks?" Churchyards are silent places; the vaults of the sepulchre
echo not with songs. Damp earth covers dumb mouths. "O Lord!" saith
he, "if thou wilt spare me I will praise thee. If I die, then must my
mortal praise at least be suspended; and if I perish in hell, then thou wilt
never have any thanksgiving from me. Songs of gratitude cannot rise from the
flaming pit of hell. True, thou wilt doubtless be glorified, even in my eternal
condemnation, but then O Lord, I cannot glorify thee voluntarily; and among the
sons of men, there will be one heart the less to bless thee." Ah! poor
trembling sinners, may the Lord help you to use this forcible argument! It is
for God's glory that a sinner should be saved. When we seek pardon, we are not
asking God to do that which will stain his banner, or put a blot on his
escutcheon. He delighteth in mercy. It is his peculiar, darling attribute.
Mercy honours God. Do not we ourselves say, "Mercy blesseth him that
gives, and him that takes?" And surely, in some diviner sense, this is
true of God, who, when he gives mercy, glorifies himself.
Verse
6. The Psalmist gives a fearful description of his long agony: "I am
weary with my groaning." He has groaned till his throat was hoarse; he
had cried for mercy till prayer became a labour. God's people may groan, but
they may not grumble. Yea, they must groan, being burdened, or they will never
shout in the day of deliverance. The next sentence, we think, is not accurately
translated. It should be, "I shall make my bed to swim every
night" (when nature needs rest, and when I am most alone with my God).
That is to say, my grief is fearful even now, but if God do not soon save me,
it will not stay of itself, but will increase, until my tears will be so many,
that my bed itself shall swim. A description rather of what he feared would be,
than of what had actually taken place. May not our forebodings of future woe
become arguments which faith may urge when seeking present mercy?
Verse
7. "I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye is consumed because of
grief; it waxeth old because of all my enemies." As an old man's eye
grows dim with years, so, says David, my eye is grown red and feeble through
weeping. Conviction sometimes has such an effect upon the body, that even the
outward organs are made to suffer. May not this explain some of the convulsions
and hysterical attacks which have been experienced under convictions in the
revivals in Ireland? Is it surprising that some souls be smitten to the earth,
and begin to cry aloud; when we find that David himself made his bed to swim,
and grew old while he was under the heavy hand of God? Ah! brethren, it is no
light matter to feel one's self a sinner, condemned at the bar of God. The
language of this Psalm is not strained and forced, but perfectly natural to one
in so sad a plight.
Verse
8. Hitherto, all has been mournful and disconsolate, but now—
"Your
harps, ye trembling saints,
Down from the willows take."
Ye must have
your times of weeping, but let them be short. Get ye up, get ye up, from your
dunghills! Cast aside your sackcloth and ashes! Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.
David
has found peace, and rising from his knees he begins to sweep his house of the
wicked. "Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." The best
remedy for us against an evil man is a long space between us both. "Get ye
gone; I can have no fellowship with you." Repentance is a practical thing.
It is not enough to bemoan the desecration of the temple of the heart, we must
scourge out the buyers and sellers, and overturn the tables of the money
changers. A pardoned sinner will hate the sins which cost the Saviour
his blood. Grace and sin are quarrelsome neighbours, and one or the other must
go to the wall.
"For
the Lord hath hear the voice of my weeping." What a fine Hebraism, and
what grand poetry it is in English! "He hath heard the voice of my
weeping." Is there a voice in weeping? Does weeping speak? In what
language doth it utter its meaning? Why, in that universal tongue which is
known and understood in all the earth, and even in heaven above. When a man
weeps, whether he be a Jew or Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, it
has the same meaning in it. Weeping is the eloquence of sorrow. It is an
unstammering orator, needing no interpreter, but understood of all. Is it not
sweet to believe that our tears are understood even when words fail? Let us
learn to think of tears as liquid prayers, and of weeping as a constant
dropping of importunate intercession which will wear its way right surely into
the very heart of mercy, despite the stony difficulties which obstruct the way.
My God, I will "weep" when I cannot plead, for thou hearest the voice
of my weeping.
Verse
9. "The Lord hath heard my supplication." The Holy Spirit had
wrought into the Psalmist's mind the confidence that his prayer was heard. This
is frequently the privilege of the saints. Praying the prayer of faith, they
are often infallibly assured that they have prevailed with God. We read of
Luther that, having on one occasion wrestled hard with God in prayer, he came
leaping out of his closet crying, "Vicimus, vicimus;" that is,
We have conquered, we have prevailed with God." Assured confidence is no
idle dream, for when the Holy Ghost bestows it upon us, we know its reality,
and could not doubt it, even though all men should deride our boldness. "The
Lord will receive my prayer." Here is past experience used for future
encouragement. He hath, he will. Note this, O believer, and imitate its
reasoning.
Verse
10. "Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed." This is
rather a prophecy than an imprecation, it may be read in the future, "All
my enemies shall be ashamed and sore vexed." They shall return and be
ashamed instantaneously,—in a moment;—their doom shall come upon them suddenly.
Death's day is doom's day, and both are sure and may be sudden. The Romans were
wont to say, "The feet of the avenging Deity are shod with wool."
With noiseless footsteps vengeance nears its victim, and sudden and
overwhelming shall be its destroying stroke. If this were an imprecation, we
must remember that the language of the old dispensation is not that of the new.
We pray for our enemies, not against them. God have mercy on
them, and bring them into the right way.
Thus
the Psalm, like those which preceed it, shews the different estates of the
godly and the wicked. O Lord, let us be numbered with thy people, both
now and forever!
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. David was a
man that was often exercised with sickness and troubles from enemies, and in
all the instances almost that we meet with in the Psalms of these his
afflictions, we may observe the outward occasions of trouble brought him under
the suspicion of God's wrath and his own iniquity; so that he was seldom sick,
or persecuted, but this called on the disquiet of conscience, and brought his
sin to remembrance; as in this Psalm, which was made on the occasion of his
sickness, as appears from verse eight, wherein he expresseth the vexation of
his soul under the apprehension of God's anger; all his other griefs running
into this channel, as little brooks, losing themselves in a great river, change
their name and nature. He that at first was only concerned for his sickness, is
now wholly concerned with sorrow and smart under the fear and hazard of his
soul's condition; the like we may see in Psalm 38, and many places more. Richard
Gilpin, 1677.
Verse 1. "Rebuke
me not." God hath two means by which he reduceth his children to
obedience; his word, by which he rebukes them; and his rod, by which he
chastiseth them. The word precedes, admonishing them by his servants whom he
hath sent in all ages to call sinners to repentance: of the which David himself
saith, "Let the righteous rebuke me;" and as a father doth first
rebuke his disordered child, so doth the Lord speak to them. But when men
neglect the warnings of his word, then God as a good Father, takes up the rod
and beats them. Our Saviour wakened the three disciples in the garden three
times, but seeing that served not, he told them that Judas and his band were
coming to awaken them whom his own voice could not waken. A. Symson,
1638.
Verse 1. "Jehovah,
rebuke me not in thine anger," etc. He does not altogether refuse
punishment, for that would be unreasonable; and to be without it, he judged
would be more hurtful than beneficial to him; but what he is afraid of is the
wrath of God, which threatens sinners with ruin and perdition. To anger and indignation
David tacitly opposes fatherly and gentle chastisement, and this last he was
willing to bear. John Calvin, 1509 - 1564.
Verse 1. "O
Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger."
The anger of
the Lord? Oh, dreadful thought!
How can a creature frail as man endure
The tempest of his wrath? Ah, whither flee
To 'scape the punishment he well deserves?
Flee to the cross! the great atonement there
Will shield the sinner, if he supplicate
For pardon with repentence true and deep,
And faith that questions not. Then will the frown
Of anger pass from off the face of God,
Like a black tempest cloud that hides the sun.
Anon.
Verse 1. "Lord,
rebuke me not in thine anger," etc.; that is, do not lay upon me that
thou hast threatened in thy law; where anger is not put for the decree nor the
execution, but for the denouncing. So (Matthew 3:11, and so Hosea 11:9),
"I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger," that is, I will
not execute my wrath as I have declared it. Again, it is said, he executes
punishment on the wicked; he declares it not only, but executeth it, so anger
is put for the execution of anger. Richard Stock, 1641.
Verse 1. "Neither
chasten me in thine hot displeasure."
O keep up life
and peace within,
If I must feel thy chastening rod!
Yet kill not me, but kill my sin,
And let me know thou art my God.
O give my soul some sweet foretaste
Of that which I shall shortly see!
Let faith and love cry to the last,
"Come, Lord, I trust myself with thee!"
Richard Baxter, 1615-1691.
Verse 2. "Have
mercy upon me, O Lord." To fly and escape the anger of God, David sees
no means in heaven or in earth, and therefore retires himself to God, even to
him that wounded him that he might heal him. He flies not with Adam to the
bush, nor with Saul to the witch, nor with Jonah to Tarshish; but he appeals
from an angry and just God to a merciful God, and from himself to himself. The
woman who was condemned by King Philip, appealed from Philip being drunken to
Philip being sober. But David appeals from one virtue, justice, to another,
mercy. There may be appellation from the tribunal of man to the justice-seat of
God; but when thou art indicted before God's justice-seat, whither or to whom
wilt thou go but to himself and his mercy-seat, which is the highest and last
place of appellation? "I have none in heaven but thee, nor in earth
besides thee." . . . . . . David, under the name of mercy,
includeth all things, according to that of Jacob to his brother Esau, "I
have gotten mercy, and therefore I have gotten all things." Desirest thou
any thing at God's hands? Cry for mercy, out of which fountain all good
things will spring to thee. Archibald Symson.
Verse 2. "For
I am weak." Behold what rhetoric he useth to move God to cure him, "I
am weak," an argument taken from his weakness, which indeed were a
weak argument to move any man to show his favour, but is a strong argument to
prevail with God. If a diseased person would come to a physician, and only
lament the heaviness of his sickness, he would say, God help thee; or an
oppressed person come to a lawyer, and show him the estate of his action and
ask his advice, that is a golden question; or to a merchant to crave raiment,
he will either have present money or a surety; or a courtier favour, you must
have your reward ready in your hand. But coming before God, the most forcible
argument that you can use is your necessity, poverty, tears, misery,
unworthiness, and confessing them to him, it shall be an open door to furnish
you with all things that he hath. . . . The tears of our misery are forcible
arrows to pierce the heart of our heavenly Father, to deliver us and pity our
hard case. The beggars lay open their sores to the view of the world, that the
more they may move men to pity them. So let us deplore our miseries to God,
that he, with the pitiful Samaritan, at the sight of our wounds, may help us in
due time. Archibald Symson.
Verse 2. "Heal
me," etc. David comes not to take physic upon wantonness, but because
the disease is violent, because the accidents are vehement; so vehement, so violent,
as that it hath pierced ad ossa, and ad animam, "My bones
are vexed, and my soul is sore troubled," therefore "heal
me;" which is the reason upon which he grounds this second petition, "Heal
me, because my bones are vexed," etc. John Donne.
Verse 2. "My
bones are vexed." The Lord can make the strongest and most insensible
part of a man's body sensible of his wrath when he pleaseth to touch him, for
here David's bones are vexed. David Dickson.
Verse 2. The term "bones"
frequently occurs in the Psalms, and if we examine we shall find it used in
three different senses. (1.) It is sometimes applied literally to our blessed
Lord's human body, to the body which hung upon the cross, as, "They
pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my bones," (2.) It has
sometimes also a further reference to his mystical body the church. And then it
denotes all the members of Christ's body that stand firm in the faith, that
cannot be moved by persecutions, or temptations, however severe, as, "All
my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?" (3.) In some passages
the term bones is applied to the soul, and not to the body, to the inner man of
the individual Christian. Then it implies the strength and fortitude of the
soul, the determined courage which faith in God gives to the righteous. This is
the sense in which it is used in the second verse of Psalm 6,. "O Lord,
heal me; for my bones are vexed." Augustine, Ambrose, and
Chrysostom; quoted by F. H. Dunwell, B.A., in "Parochial Lectures on the
Psalms," 1855.
Verse 3. "My
soul." Yokefellows in sin are yokefellows in pain; the soul is
punished for informing, the body for performing, and as both the informer and
performer, the cause and the instrument, so shall the stirrer up of sin and the
executor of it be punished. John Donne.
Verse 3. "O
Lord, how long?" Out of this we have three things to observe; first,
that there is an appointed time which God hath measured for the crosses of all
his children, before which time they shall not be delivered, and for which they
must patiently attend, not thinking to prescribe time to God for their
delivery, or limit the Holy One of Israel. The Israelites remained in Egypt
till the complete number of four hundred and thirty years were accomplished.
Joseph was three years and more in the prison till the appointed time of his
delivery came. The Jews remained seventy years in Babylon. So that as the
physician appointeth certain times to the patient, both wherein he must fast,
and be dieted, and wherein he must take recreation, so God knoweth the
convenient times both of our humiliation and exaltation. Next, see the
impatiency of our nature in our miseries, our flesh still rebelling against the
Spirit, which oftentimes forgetteth itself so far, that it will enter into
reasoning with God, and quarrelling with him, as we may read in Job, Jonas,
etc., and here also of David. Thirdly, albeit the Lord delay his coming to
relieve his saints, yet hath he great cause if we could ponder it; for when we
were in the heat of our sins, many times he cried by the mouth of his prophets
and servants, "O fools, how long will you continue in your folly?"
And we would not hear; and therefore when we are in the heat of our pains,
thinking long, yea, every day a year till we be delivered, no wonder is it if
God will not hear; let us consider with ourselves the just dealing of God with
us; that as he cried and we would not hear, so now we cry, and he will not
hear. A. Symson.
Verse 3. "O
Lord, how long?" As the saints in heaven have their usque quo,
how long, Lord, holy and true, before thou begin to execute judgment? So, the
saints on earth have their usque quo. How long, Lord, before thou take
off the execution of this judgment upon us? For, our deprecatory prayers are
not mandatory, they are not directory, they appoint not God his ways, nor
times; but as our postulatory prayers are, they also are submitted to the will
of God, and have all in them that ingredient, that herb of grace, which Christ
put into his own prayer, that veruntamen, yet not my will, but thy will be
fulfilled; and they have that ingredient which Christ put into our prayer, fiat
voluntas, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven; in heaven there is
no resisting of his will; yet in heaven there is a soliciting, a hastening, an
accelerating of the judgment, and the glory of the resurrection; so though we
resist not his corrections here upon the earth, we may humbly present to God
the sense which we have of his displeasure, for this sense and apprehension of
his corrections is one of the principal reasons why he sends them; he corrects
us therefore that we might be sensible of his corrections; that when we, being
humbled under his hand, have said with his prophet, "I will bear the
wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him" (Micah 7:9), he
may be pleased to say to his correcting angel, as he did to his destroying
angel, This is enough, and so burn his rod now, as he put up his sword
then. John Donne.
Verse 4. "Return,
O Lord, deliver my soul," etc. In this his besieging of God, he brings
up his works from afar off, closer; he begins in this Psalm, at a deprecatory
prayer; he asks nothing, but that God would do nothing, that he would forbear
him— rebuke me not, correct me not. Now, it costs the king less to give
a pardon than to give a pension, and less to give a reprieve than to give a
pardon, and less to connive, not to call in question, than either reprieve,
pardon, or pension; to forbear is not much. But then as the mathematician said,
that he could make an engine, a screw, that should move the whole frame of the
world, if he could have a place assigned him to fix that engine, that screw
upon, that so it might work upon the world; so prayer, when one petition hath
taken hold upon God, works upon God, moves God, prevails with God, entirely for
all. David then having got this ground, this footing in God, he brings his
works closer; he comes from the deprecatory to a postulatory prayer; not only
that God would do nothing against him, but that he would do something for him.
God hath suffered man to see Arcana imperii, the secrets of his state,
how he governs—he governs by precedent; by precedents of his predecessors, he
cannot, he hath none; by precedents of other gods he cannot, there are none;
and yet he proceeds by precedents, by his own precedents, he does as he did
before, habenti dat, to him that hath received he gives more, and is
willing to be wrought and prevailed upon, and pressed with his own example.
And, as though his doing good were but to learn how to do good better, still he
writes after his own copy, and nulla dies sine linea. He writes
something to us, that is, he doth something for us every day. And then, that
which is not often seen in other masters, his copies are better than the
originals; his latter mercies larger than his former; and in this postulatory
prayer, larger than the deprecatory, enters our text, "Return, O Lord;
deliver my soul: O save me," etc. John Donne.
Verse 5. "For
in death there is no remembrance of thee, in the grave who will give thee
thanks?" Lord, be thou pacified and reconciled to me. . . . for
shouldest thou now proceed to take away my life, as it were a most direful
condition for me to die before I have propitiated thee, so I may well demand
what increase of glory or honour will it bring unto thee? Will it not be
infinitely more glorious for thee to spare me, till by true contrition I may
regain thy favour?—and then I may live to praise and magnify thy mercy and thy
grace: thy mercy in pardoning so great a sinner, and then confess thee by vital
actions of all holy obedience for the future, and so demonstrate the power of
thy grace which hath wrought this change in me; neither of which will be done
by destroying me, but only thy just judgments manifested in thy vengeance on
sinners, Henry Hammond, D.D., 1659.
Verse 6. "I
fainted in my mourning." It may seem a marvellous change in David,
being a man of such magnitude of mind, to be thus dejected and cast down.
Prevailed he not against Goliath, against the lion and the bear, through
fortitude and magnanimity? But now he is sobbing, sighing, and weeping as a
child! The answer is easy; the diverse persons with whom he hath to do
occasioneth the same. When men and beasts are his opposites, then he is more
than a conqueror; but when he hath to do with God against whom he sinned, then
he is less than nothing.
Verse 6. "I
caused my bed to swim." . . . . . . Showers be better than dews, yet
it is sufficient if God at least hath bedewed our hearts, and hath given us
some sign of a penitent heart. If we have not rivers of waters to pour forth
with David, neither fountains flowing with Mary Magdalen, nor as Jeremy, desire
to have a fountain in our head to weep day and night, nor with Peter weep
bitterly; yet if we lament that we cannot lament, and mourn that we cannot
mourn: yea, if we have the smallest sobs of sorrow and tears of compunction, if
they be true and not counterfeit, they will make us acceptable to God; for as
the woman with the bloody issue that touched the hem of Christ's garment, was
no less welcome to Christ than Thomas, who put his fingers in the print of the
nails; so, God looketh not at the quantity, but the sincerity of our
repentance.
Verse 6. "My
bed." The place of his sin is the place of his repentance, and so it
should be; yea, when we behold the place where we have offended, we should be
pricked in the heart, and there again crave him pardon. As Adam sinned in the
garden, and Christ sweat bloody tears in the garden. "Examine your hearts
upon your beds, and convert unto the Lord;" and whereas ye have stretched
forth yourselves upon your bed to devise evil things, repent there and make
them sanctuaries to God. Sanctify by your tears every place which ye have
polluted by sin. And let us seek Christ Jesus on our own bed, with the spouse
in the Canticles, who saith, "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul
loveth." Archibald Symson.
Verse 6. "I
water my couch with tears." Not only I wash, but also I water.
The faithful sheep of the great Shepherd go up from the washing place,
every one bringeth forth twins, and none barren among them. Canticles 4:2. For
so Jacob's sheep, having conceived at the watering troughs, brought forth
strong and party-coloured lambs. David likewise, who before had erred and
strayed like a lost sheep making here his bed a washing-place, by so much the
less is barren in obedience, by how much the more he is fruitful in repentance.
In Solomon's temple stood the caldrons of brass, to wash the flesh of those
beasts which were to be sacrificed on the altar. Solomon's father maketh a
water of his tears, a caldron of his bed, an altar of his heart, a sacrifice,
not of the flesh of unreasonable beasts, but of his own body, a living
sacrifice, which is his reasonable serving of God. Now the Hebrew word here
used signifies properly, to cause to swim, which is more than simply to wash.
And thus the Geneva translation readeth it, I cause my bed every night to swim.
So that as the priests used to swim in the molten sea, that they might be pure
and clean, against they performed the holy rites and services of the temple, in
like manner the princely prophet washeth his bed, yea, he swimmeth in his bed,
or rather he causeth his bed to swim in tears, as in a sea of grief and
penitent sorrow for his sin. Thomas Playfere, 1604.
Verse 6. "I water
my couch with my tears." Let us water our bed every night with our
tears. Do not only blow upon it with intermissive blasts, for then like fire,
it will resurge and flame the more. Sin is like a stinking candle newly put
out, it is soon lighted again. It may receive a wound, but like a dog it will
easily lick itself whole; a little forbearance multiplies it like Hydra's
heads. Therefore, whatsoever aspersion the sin of the day has brought upon us,
let the tears of the night wash away. Thomas Adams.
Verses 6, 7.
Soul-trouble is attended usually with great pain of body too, and so a man is
wounded and distressed in every part. There is no soundness in my flesh,
because of thine anger, says David. "The arrows of the Almighty are within
me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit." Job 6:4. Sorrow of heart
contracts the natural spirits, making all their motions slow and feeble; and
the poor afflicted body does usually decline and waste away; and, therefore,
saith Heman, "My soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto
the grave." In this inward distress we find our strength decay and melt,
even as wax before the fire; for sorrow darkeneth the spirits, obscures the
judgment, blinds the memory, as to all pleasant things, and beclouds the lucid
part of the mind, causing the lamp of life to burn weakly. In this troubled
condition the person cannot be without a countenance that is pale, and wan, and
dejected, like one that is seized with strong fear and consternation; all his
motions are sluggish, and no sprightliness nor activity remains. A merry heart
doth good, like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Hence come
those frequent complaints in Scripture: My moisture is turned into the drought
of the summer: I am like a bottle in the smoke; my soul cleaveth unto the dust:
my face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelid is the shadow of death. Job
16:16, 30:17, 18-19. "My bones are pierced in me, in the night seasons,
and my sinews take no rest; by the great force of my disease is my garment changed.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. Many times
indeed the trouble of the soul does begin from the weakness and indisposition
of the body. Long affliction, without any prospect of remedy, does, in process
of time, begin to distress the soul itself. David was a man often exercised
with sickness and the rage of enemies; and in all the instances almost that we
meet with him in the Psalms, we may observe that the outward occasions of
trouble brought him under an apprehension of the wrath of God for his sin.
(Psalm 6:1, 2; and the reasons given, verses 5 and 6.) All his griefs running
into this most terrible thought, that God was his enemy. As little brooks lose
themselves in a great river, and change their name and nature, it most
frequently happens that when our pain is long and sharp, and helpless and
unavoidable, we begin to question the sincerity of our estate toward God,
though at its first assault we had few doubts or fears about it. Long weakness
of body makes the soul more susceptible of trouble, and uneasy thoughts. Timothy
Rogers on Trouble of Mind.
Verse 7. "Mine
eye is consumed." Many make those eyes which God hath given them, as
it were two lighted candles to let them see to go to hell; and for this God in
justice requiteth them, seeing their minds are blinded by the lust of the eyes,
the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, God, I say, sendeth sickness to
debilitate their eyes which were so sharp-sighted in the devil's service, and
their lust now causeth them to want the necessary sight of their body.
Verse 7. "Mine
enemies." The pirates seeing an empty bark, pass by it; but if she be
loaded with precious wares, then they will assault her. So, if a man have no
grace within him, Satan passeth by him as not a convenient prey for him; but
being loaded with graces, as the love of God, his fear, and such other
spiritual virtues, let him be persuaded that according as he knows what stuff
is in him, so will he not fail to rob him of them, if in any case he may, Archibald
Symson.
Verse 7. That eye of
his that had looked and lusted after his neighbour's wife is now dimmed and
darkened with grief and indignation. He has wept himself almost blind. John
Trapp.
Verse 8. "Depart
from me," etc., i.e., you may now go your way; for that which
you look for, namely, my death, you shall not have at this present; for the
Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping, i.e., has graciously granted me
that which with tears I asked of him. Thomas Wilcocks.
Verse 8. "Depart
from me, all ye workers of iniquity." May not too much familiarity
with profane wretches be justly charged upon church members? I know man is a
sociable creature, but that will not excuse saints as to their carelessness of
the choice of their company. The very fowls of the air, and beasts of the
field, love not heterogeneous company. "Birds of a feather flock
together." I have been afraid that many who would be thought eminent, of a
high stature in grace and godliness, yet see not the vast difference there is
between nature and regeneration, sin and grace, the old and the new man, seeing
all company is alike unto them. Lewis Stuckley's "Gospel Glass",
1667.
Verse 8. "The
voice of my weeping." Weeping hath a voice, and as music upon the
water sounds farther and more harmoniously than upon the land, so prayers,
joined with tears, cry louder in God's ears, and make sweeter music than when
tears are absent. When Antipater had written a large letter against Alexander's
mother unto Alexander, the king answered him, "One tear from my mother
will wash away all her faults." So it is with God. A penitent tear is an
undeniable ambassador, and never returns from the throne of grace unsatisfied. Spencer's
Things New and Old.
Verse 8. The wicked
are called, "workers of iniquity," because they are free and
ready to sin, they have a strong tide and bent of spirit to do evil, and they
do it not to halves but thoroughly; they do not only begin or nibble at the
bait a little (as a good man often doth), but greedily swallow it down, hook and
all; they are fully in it, and do it fully; they make a work of it, and so are "workers
of iniquity." Joseph Caryl.
Verse 8. Some may
say, "My constitution is such that I cannot weep; I may as well go to
squeeze a rock, as think to get a tear." But if thou canst not weep for
sin, canst thou grieve? Intellectual mourning is best; there may be sorrow
where there are no tears, the vessel may be full though it wants vent; it is
not so much the weeping eye God respects as the broken heart; yet I would be
loath to stop their tears who can weep. God stood looking on Hezekiah's tears
(Isaiah 38:5), "I have seen thy tears." David's tears made music in
God's ears, "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping." It
is a sight fit for angels to behold, tears as pearls dropping from a penitent
eye. T. Watson.
Verse 8. "The
Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping." God hears the voice of our
looks, God hears the voice of our tears sometimes better than the voice of our
words; for it is the Spirit itself that makes intercession for us. Romans 8:26.
Gemitibus inenarrabilibus, in those groans, and so in those tears,
which we cannot utter; ineloquacibus, as Tertullian reads that place,
devout, and simple tears, which cannot speak, speak aloud in the ears of God;
nay, tears which we cannot utter; not only utter the force of the tears, but
not utter the very tears themselves. As God sees the water in the spring in the
veins of the earth before it bubble upon the face of the earth, so God sees
tears in the heart of a man before they blubber his face; God hears the tears
of that sorrowful soul, which for sorrow cannot shed tears. From this casting
up of the eyes, and pouring out the sorrow of the heart at the eyes, at least
opening God a window through which he may see a wet heart through a dry eye;
from these overtures of repentance, which are as those imperfect sounds of
words, which parents delight in, in their children, before they speak plain, a
penitent sinner comes to a verbal and a more expressive prayer. To these
prayers, these vocal and verbal prayers from David, God had given ear, and from
this hearing of those prayers was David come to this thankful confidence, "The
Lord hath heard, the Lord will hear." John Donne.
Verse 8. What a
strange change is here all of a sudden! Well might Luther say, "Prayer is
the leech of the soul, that sucks out the venom and swelling thereof."
"Prayer," saith another, "is an exorcist with God, and an
exorcist against sin and misery." Bernard saith, "How oft hath prayer
found me despairing almost, but left me triumphing, and well assured of
pardon!" The same in effect saith David here, "Depart from me, all ye
workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping."
What a word is that to his insulting enemies! Avaunt! come out! vanish! These
be words used to devils and dogs, but good enough for a Doeg or a Shimei. And
the Son of David shall say the same to his enemies when he comes to judgment. John
Trapp.
Verse 9. "The
Lord hath heard my supplication," etc. The psalmist three times
expresses his confidence of his prayers being heard and received, which may be
either in reference to his having prayed so many times for help, as the apostle
Paul did (2 Corinthians 12:8); and as Christ his antitype did (Matthew 26:39,
42, 44); or to express the certainty of it, the strength of his faith in it,
and the exuberance of his joy on account of it. John Gill, D.D.,
1697-1771.
Verse 10. "Let
all mine enemies be ashamed," etc. If this were an imprecation, a
malediction, yet it was medicinal, and had rationem boni, a charitable
tincture and nature in it; he wished the men no harm as men. But it is rather prædictorium,
a prophetical vehemence, that if they will take no knowledge of God's declaring
himself in the protection of his servants, if they would not consider that God
had heard, and would hear, had rescued, and would rescue his children, but
would continue their opposition against him, heavy judgments would certainly
fall upon them; their punishment should be certain, but the effect should be
uncertain; for God only knows whether his correction shall work upon his
enemies to their mollifying, or to their obduration. . . . In the second word, "Let
them be sore vexed," he wishes his enemies no worse than himself had
been, for he had used the same word of himself before, Ossa turbata, My
bones are vexed; and Anima turbata, My soul is vexed; and
considering that David had found this vexation to be his way to God, it was no
malicious imprecation to wish that enemy the same physic that he had taken, who
was more sick of the same disease than he was. For this is like a troubled sea
after a tempest; the danger is past, but yet the billow is great still; the
danger was in the calm, in the security, or in the tempest, by misinterpreting
God's correction to our obduration, and to a remorseless stupefication; but
when a man is come to this holy vexation, to be troubled, to be shaken with the
sense of the indignation of God, the storm is past, and the indignation of God
is blown over. That soul is in a fair and near way of being restored to a
calmness, and to reposed security of conscience that is come to this holy
vexation. John Donne.
Verse 10. "Let
all mine enemies [or all mine enemies shall] be ashamed, and sore
vexed," etc. Many of the mournful Psalms end in this manner, to
instruct the believer that he is continually to look forward, and solace
himself with beholding that day, when his warfare shall be accomplished; when
sin and sorrow shall be no more; when sudden and everlasting confusion shall
cover the enemies of righteousness; when the sackcloth of the penitent shall be
exchanged for a robe of glory, and every tear becomes a sparkling gem in his
crown; when to sighs and groans shall succeed the songs of heaven, set to
angels harps, and faith shall be resolved into the vision of the Almighty. George
Horne.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. A sermon
for afflicted souls.
I.
God's twofold dealings.
(1)
Rebuke, by a telling sermon, a judgment on another, a slight trial in
our own person, or a solemn monition in our conscience by the Spirit.
(2)
Chastening. This follows the other when the first is disregarded. Pain,
losses, bereavements, melancholy, and other trials.
II.
The evils in them to be most dreaded, anger and hot displeasure.
III.
The means to avert these ills. Humiliation, confession, amendment, faith in the
Lord, etc.
Verse 1. The believer's
greatest dread, the anger of God. What this fact reveals in the heart? Why is
it so? What removes the fear?
Verse 2. The
argumentum ad misericordiam.
Verse 2. First
sentence—Divine healing.
(1)
What precedes it, my bones are vexed.
(2)
How it is wrought.
(3)
What succeeds it.
Verse 3. The
impatience of sorrow; its sins, mischief, and cure.
Verse 3. A fruitful
topic may be found in considering the question, How long will God continue
afflictions to the righteous?
Verse 4. "Return,
O Lord." A prayer suggested by a sense of the Lord's absence, excited
by grace, attended with heart searching and repentance, backed by pressing
danger, guaranteed as to its answer, and containing a request for all mercies.
Verse 4. The praying
of the deserted saint.
1.
His state: his soul is evidently in bondage and danger;
2.
His hope: it is in the Lord's return.
3.
His plea: mercy only.
Verse 5. The final
suspension of earthly service considered in various practical aspects.
Verse 5. The duty of
praising God while we live.
Verse 6. Saint's
tears in quality, abundance, influence, assuagement, and final end.
Verse 7. The voice
of weeping. What it is.
Verse 8. The
pardoned sinner forsaking his bad companions.
Verse 9. Past
answers the ground of present confidence. He hath, he will.
Verse 10. The shame
reserved for the wicked.
WORKS UPON THE
SIXTH PSALM
A Godly and
Fruitful Exposition on the Sixt Psalme, the First of the Penitentials; in a
sacred Septenarie; or, a Godly and Fruitful Exposition on the Seven Psalmes of
Repentance. by MR. ARCHIBALD SYMSON, late Pastor of the Church at Dalkeeth in
Scotland. 1638.
Sermons
on the Penetential Psalms, in "The Works of John Donne, D.D., Dean of St. Paul's,"
1621-1631. Edited by HENRY ALFORD, M.A. In six volumes. 1839.
On
Verse 6. The Sick Man's Couch; a Sermon preached before the most noble Prince
Henry, as Greenwich, Mar. 12., ann. 1604. by THOMAS PLAYFERE.
&c., in Playfere's Sermons.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》