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Psalm Fifty-seven
Psalm 57
Chapter Contents
David begins with prayer and complaint. (1-6) He
concludes with joy and praise. (7-11)
Commentary on Psalm 57:1-6
(Read Psalm 57:1-6)
All David's dependence is upon God. The most eminent
believers need often repeat the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me
a sinner." But if our souls trust in the Lord, this may assure us, in our
utmost dangers, that our calamities will at length be overpast, and in the mean
time, by faith and prayer, we must make him our refuge. Though God be most
high, yet he condescends so low, as to take care that all things are made to
work for good to his people. This is a good reason why we should pray
earnestly. Look which way we will on this earth, refuge fails, no help appears;
but we may look for it from heaven. If we have fled from the wrath to come,
unto Jesus Christ, he that performed all things needful to purchase the
salvation of his people, will do for us and in us all things needful for our
enjoyment of it. It made David droop to think there should be those that bore
him so much ill-will. But the mischief they designed against him, returned on
themselves. And when David was in the greatest distress and disgrace, he did
not pray, Lord, exalt me, but, Lord, exalt thine own name. Our best
encouragement in prayer, is taken from the glory of God, and to that, more than
to our own comfort, we should have regard in all our petitions for mercy.
Commentary on Psalm 57:7-11
(Read Psalm 57:7-11)
By lively faith, David's prayers and complaints are at
once turned into praises. His heart is fixed; it is prepared for every event,
being stayed upon God. If by the grace of God we are brought into this even,
composed frame of mind, we have great reason to be thankful. Nothing is done to
purpose, in religion, unless it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed
for the duty, put in frame for it; fixed in the duty by close attention. Our
tongue is our glory, and never more so than when praising God; dull and sleepy
devotions will never be acceptable to God. Let us awake early in the morning,
to begin the day with God; early in the beginning of a mercy. When God comes
toward us with his favours, let us go forth to meet him with our praises. David
desired to bring others to join in praising God; and in his psalms, he is still
praising God among the people, singing to Him among the nations. Let us seek to
have our hearts fixed to praise his boundless mercy and unfailing faithfulness;
and to glorify him with body, soul, and spirit, which are his. Let us earnestly
pray that the blessings of the gospel may be sent through every land.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 57
Verse 3
[3] He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach
of him that would swallow me up. /*Selah*/. God shall send forth his mercy and
his truth.
Send forth — Will discover them, by affording
his gracious help in pursuance of his promises.
Verse 4
[4] My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that
are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and
their tongue a sharp sword.
Lions — Fierce and bloody men.
I lie — I have my abode.
On fire — From hell. Who are mere fire-brands, breathing out
wrath and threatenings, and incensing Saul against me.
Verse 5
[5] Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory
be above all the earth.
Excited — Glorify thy power, and goodness, and justice, and
faithfulness, by my deliverance.
Above, … — To the highest degree possible.
Verse 7
[7] My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing
and give praise.
Fixed — In a stedfast belief of thy promises.
Verse 8
[8] Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself
will awake early.
My glory — My tongue, the instrument of singing.
Awake — I will employ all the powers of my soul and body.
Verse 9
[9] I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing
unto thee among the nations.
The people — Among the Israelites, and among
the Heathens, as I shall have occasion.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
Other Works
TITLE. To the
Chief Musician. So glad a song as this becomes ere it closes, should be in
the keeping of the most skilled of all the temple minstrels. Altaschith,
i.e., DESTROY NOT. This petition is a very sententious prayer, as full as
it is brief, and well worthy to be the motto for a sacred song. David had said,
"destroy not, "in reference to Saul, when he had him in his power,
and now he takes pleasure in employing the same words in supplication to God.
We may infer from the spirit of the Lord's prayer, that the Lord will spare us
as we spare our foes. There are four of these "Destroy not"
Psalms, namely, the 57th, 58th, 59th, and 75th. In all of them there is a
distinct declaration of the destruction of the wicked and the preservation of
the righteous, and they all have probably a reference to the overthrow of the
Jews, on account of their persecution of the great Son of David: they will
endure heavy chastisement, but concerning them it is written in the divine
decree, "Destroy them not." Michtam of David. For quality this
Psalm is called golden, or a secret, and it well deserves the name. We may read
the words and yet not know the secret joy of David, which he has locked up in
his golden casket. When he fled from Saul in the cave. This is a song
from the bowels of the earth, and, like Jonah's prayer from the bottom of the
sea, it has a taste of the place. The poet is in the shadow of the cave at
first, but he comes to the cavern's mouth at last, and sings in the sweet fresh
air, with his eye on the heavens, watching joyously the clouds floating
therein.
DIVISION. We have here
prayer, Ps 57:1-6, and praise, Ps 57:7-11. The hunted one takes a long breath
of prayer, and when he is fully inspired, he breathes out his soul in jubilant
song.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. Urgent
need suggests the repetition of the cry, for thus intense urgency of desire is
expressed. If `he gives twice who gives quickly, 'so he who would receive
quickly must ask twice. For mercy the psalmist pleads at first, and he feels he
cannot improve upon his plea, and therefore returns to it. God is the God of
mercy, and the Father of mercies, it is most fit therefore that in distress he
should seek mercy from him in whom it dwells. For my soul trusteth in thee.
Faith urges her suit right well. How can the Lord be unmerciful to a trustful
soul? Our faith does not deserve mercy, but it always wins it from the
sovereign grace of God when it is sincere, as in this case where the soul
of the man believed. "With the heart man believeth unto
righteousness." Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge. Not
in the cave alone would he hide, but in the cleft of the Rock of ages. As the
little birds find ample shelter beneath the parental wing, even so would the
fugitive place himself beneath the secure protection of the divine power. The
emblem is delightfully familiar and suggestive. May we all experimentally know
its meaning. When we cannot see the sunshine of God's face, it is blessed to
cower down beneath the shadow of his wings. Until these calamities be overpast.
Evil will pass away, and the eternal wings will abide over us till then.
Blessed be God, our calamities are matters of time, but our safety is a matter
of eternity. When we are under the divine shadow, the passing over of trouble
cannot harm us; the hawk flies across the sky, but this is no evil to the
chicks when they are safely nestling beneath the hen.
Verse
2. I will cry. He is quite safe, but yet he prays, for faith
is never dumb. We pray because we believe. We exercise by faith the spirit of
adoption whereby we cry. He says not I do cry, or I have cried, but I will cry,
and indeed, this resolution may stand with all of us until we pass through the
gates of pearl; for while we are here below we shall still have need to cry.
Unto God most high.—Prayers are for God only; the greatness and sublimity of
his person and character suggest and encourage prayer; however high our
enemies, our heavenly Friend is higher, for he is Most high, and he can
readily send from the height of his power the succour which we need. Unto God
that performeth all things for me. He has cogent reason for praying, for he
sees God performing. The believer waits and God works. The Lord has undertaken
for us, and he will not draw back, he will go through with his covenant
engagements. Our translators have very properly inserted the words, "all
things, "for there is a blank in the Hebrew, as if it were a carte
blanche, and you might write therein that the Lord would finish anything
and everything which he has begun. Whatsoever the Lord takes in hand he will
accomplish; hence past mercies are guarantees for the future, and admirable
reasons for continuing to cry unto him.
Verse
3. He shall send from heaven. If there be no fit instruments
on earth, heaven shall yield up its legions of angels for the succour of the
saints. We may in times of great straits expect mercies of a remarkable kind;
like the Israelites in the wilderness, we shall have our bread hot from heaven,
new every morning; and for the overthrow of our enemies God shall open his
celestial batteries, and put them to utter confusion. Wherever the battle is
more fierce than ordinary, there shall come succours from headquarters, for the
Commander in chief sees all. And save me from the reproach of him that would
swallow me up. He will be in time, not only to rescue his servants from being
swallowed up, but even from being reproached. Not only shall they escape the
flames, but not even the smell of fire shall pass upon them. O dog of hell, I
am not only delivered from thy bite, but even from thy bark. Our foes shall not
have the power to sneer at us, their cruel jests and taunting gibes shall be
ended by the message from heaven, which shall for ever save us. Selah. Such
mercy may well make us pause to meditate and give thanks. Rest, singer, for God
has given thee rest! God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. He asked for
mercy, and truth came with it. Thus evermore doth God give us more than we ask
or think. His attributes, like angels on the wing, are ever ready to come to
the rescue of his chosen.
Verse
4. My soul is among lions. He was a very Daniel. Howled at,
hunted, wounded, but not slain. His place was in itself one of extreme peril,
and yet faith made him feel himself secure, so that he could lie down. The cave
may have reminded him of a lion's den, and Saul and his band shouting and
yelling in their disappointment at missing him, were the lions; yet beneath the
divine shelter he finds himself safe. And I lie even among them that are set on
fire. Perhaps Saul and his band kindled a fire in the cavern while they halted
in it, and David was thus reminded of the fiercer fire of their hate which
burned within their hearts. Like the bush in Horeb, the believer is often in
the midst of flames, but never consumed. It is a mighty triumph of faith when
we can lie down even among firebrands and find rest, because God is our
defence. Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue
a sharp sword. Malicious men carry a whole armoury in their mouths; they
have not harmless mouths, whose teeth grind their own food as in a mill, but
their jaws are as mischievous as if every tooth were a javelin or an arrow.
They have no molars, all their teeth are canines, and their nature is canine,
leonine, wolfish, devilish. As for that busy member the tongue, in the case of
the malicious, it is a two edged, keen, cutting, killing sword. The tongue,
which is here compared to a sword, has the adjective sharp added to it,
which is not used in reference to the teeth, which are compared to spears, as
if to show that if men were actually to tear us with their teeth, like wild
beasts, they could not thereby wound us so severely as they can do with their
tongues. No weapon is so terrible as a tongue sharpened on the devil's
grindstone; yet even this we need not fear, for "No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against thee in
judgment thou shalt condemn."
Verse
5. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. This is the
chorus of the Psalm. Before he has quite concluded his prayer the good man
interjects a verse of praise; and glorious praise too, seeing it comes from the
lion's den and from amid the coals of fire. Higher than the heavens is the Most
High, and so high ought our praises to rise. Above even the power of cherubim
and seraphim to express it, the glory of God is revealed and is to be
acknowledged by us. Let thy glory be above all the earth. As above, so below,
let thy praises, O thou great Jehovah, be universally proclaimed. As the air
surrounds all nature, so let thy praises gird the earth with a zone of song.
Verse
6. They have prepared a net for my steps. The enemies of the
godly spare no pains, but go about their wicked work with the coolest
deliberation. As for each sort of fish, or bird, or beast, a fitting net is
needed, so do the ungodly suit their net to their victim's circumstances and
character with a careful craftiness of malice. Whatever David might do, and
whichever way he might turn, his enemies were ready to entrap him in some way
or other. My soul is bowed down. He was held down like a bird in a trap; his
enemies took care to leave him no chance of comfort. They have digged a pit before
me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. He likens the
design of his persecutors to pits, which were commonly dug by hunters to entrap
their prey; these were made in the usual path of the victim, and in this case
David says, before me, i.e., in my ordinary way. He rejoices because
these devices had recoiled upon themselves. Saul hunted David, but David caught
him more than once and might have slain him on the spot. Evil is a stream which
one day flows back to its source. Selah. We may sit down at the pit's mouth and
view with wonder the just retaliations of providence.
Verse
7. My heart is fixed. One would have thought he would have
said, "My heart is fluttered; "but no, he is calm, firm, happy,
resolute, established. When the central axle is secure, the whole wheel is
right. If our great bower anchor holds, the ship cannot drive. O God, my heart
is fixed. I am resolved to trust thee, to serve thee, and to praise thee. Twice
does he declare this to the glory of God who thus comforts the souls of his
servants. Reader, it is surely well with thee, if thy once roving heart is now
firmly fixed upon God and the proclamation of his glory. I will sing and give
praise. Vocally and instrumentally will I celebrate thy worship. With lip and
with heart will I ascribe honour to thee. Satan shall not stop me, nor Saul,
nor the Philistines, I will make Adullam ring with music, and all the caverns
thereof echo with joyous song. Believer, make a firm decree that your soul in
all seasons shall magnify the Lord.
"Sing,
though sense and carnal reason
Fain would stop the joyful song:
Sing, and count it highest treason
For a saint to hold his tongue."
Verse
8. Awake up, my glory. Let the noblest powers of my nature
bestir themselves: the intellect which conceives thought, the tongue which
expresses it, and the inspired imagination which beautifies it—let all be on
the alert now that the hour for praise has come. Awake, psaltery and harp. Let
all the music with which I am familiar be well attuned for the hallowed service
of praise. I myself will awake early. I will awake the dawn with my joyous
notes. No sleepy verses and weary notes shall be heard from me; I will
thoroughly arouse myself for this high employ. When we are at our best we fall
short of the Lord's deserts, let us, therefore, make sure that what we bring
him is our best, and, if marred with infirmity, at least let it not be
deteriorated by indolence. Three times the psalmist calls upon himself to
awake. Do we need so much arousing, and for such work? Then let us not spare
it, for the engagement is too honourable, too needful to be left undone or ill
done for want of arousing ourselves.
Verse
9. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. Gentiles
shall hear my praise. Here is an instance of the way in which the truly devout
evangelic spirit overleaps the boundaries which bigotry sets up. The ordinary
Jew would never wish the Gentile dogs to hear Jehovah's name, except to tremble
at it; but this grace taught psalmist has a missionary spirit, and would spread
the praise and fame of his God. I will sing unto thee among the nations.
However far off they may be, I would make them hear of thee through my glad
psalmody.
Verse
10. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens. Right up from
man's lowliness to heaven's loftiness mercy reaches. Imagination fails to guess
the height of heaven, and even thus the riches of mercy exceed our highest
thoughts. The psalmist, as he sits at the cave's mouth and looks up to the
firmament, rejoices that God's goodness is more vast and more sublime than even
the vaulted skies. And thy truth unto the clouds. Upon the cloud he sets the
seal of his truth, the rainbow, which ratifies his covenant; in the cloud he
hides his rain and snow, which prove his truth by bringing to us seedtime and
harvest, cold and heat. Creation is great, but the Creator greater far. Heaven
cannot contain him; above clouds and stars his goodness far exceeds.
Verse
11. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. A grand chorus.
Take it up, ye angels and ye spirits made perfect, and join in it, ye sons of
men below, as ye say, Let thy glory be above all the earth. The prophet in the
previous verse spoke of mercy "unto the heavens, "but here his song
flies "above the heavens; "praise rises higher, and knows no bound
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. This Psalm was
composed, as the title notes, by David prayer wise, when he hid himself from
Saul in the cave, and is inscribed with a double title, Altaschith, Michtam
of David. Altaschith refers to the scope, and Michtam to the dignity
of the subject matter. The former signifies destroy not, or, let there
be no slaughter; and may either refer to Saul, concerning whom he gave charge
to his servants not to destroy him; or rather it hath reference to God, to whom
in this great exigence he poured out his soul in this pathetic ejaculation; Altaschith,
destroy not. The latter title, Michtam, signifies a golden ornament, and
so is suited to the choice and excellent matter of the Psalm, which much more
deserves such a title than Pythagoras' golden verses did. John Flavel
(1627-1692), in "Divine Conduct, or the Mystery of Providence."
Title. A Psalm
composed when David fled from Saul in the cave, which is referred to in
Psalm 143, and which, because it is without any other distinction called
"the cave, "is probably that celebrated cave where David with his six
hundred followers lay concealed when Saul entered and David cut off the skirt
of his robe. The king, accompanied by three thousand followers, chased him to
the loftiest alpine heights—"to the sheepcotes, "where the cattle
were driven in the hottest summer months only—to hunt him in every hiding
place. There was a cave, in the darkened cool of which David and his men were
hid. Such caves in Palestine and the East are frequently enlarged by human
hands, and so capacious that they accommodate thousands of people. This song of
complaint was written during the hours of suspense which David spent there, to
wait until the calamity was overpast (Ps 57:2); in which he only gradually
gains a stout heart (Ps 57:8). His life was really suspended by a hair, if Saul
or any of his attendants had espied him! Agustus F. Tholuck.
Title. The cave.
There appear good grounds for the local tradition which fixes the cave on the
borders of the Dead Sea, although there is no certainty with regard to the
particular cave pointed out. The cave so designated is at a point to which
David was far more likely to summon his parents, whom he intended to take from
Bethlehem in to Moab, than to any place in the western plains... It is an
immense natural cavern, the mouth of which can be approached only on foot along
the side of the cliff. Irby and Mangles, who visited it without being aware
that it was the reputed Cave of Adullam, state that it "runs in by a long,
winding, narrow passage, with small chambers or cavities on either side. We
soon came to a large chamber with natural arches of great height; from this
last there were numerous passages, leading in all directions, occasionally
joined by others at right angles, and forming a perfect labyrinth, which our
guides assured us had never been perfectly explored—the people being afraid of
losing themselves. The passages are generally four feet high by three feet
wide, and were all on a level with each other." ...It seems probable that
David as a native of Bethlehem, must have been well acquainted with this
remarkable spot, and had probably often availed himself of its shelter, when
out with his father's flocks. It would, therefore, naturally occur to him as a
place of refuge when he fled from Gath. John Kitto (1804-1854), in "A
Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature."
Whole
Psalm. Mystically this hymn may be construed of Christ, who was in the
days of his flesh assaulted by the tyranny both of spiritual and temporal
enemies. His temporal enemies, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and
people of Israel, furiously raged and took counsel together against him. The
chief priests and princes were, saith Hierome, like lions, and the
people like the whelps of lions, all of them in a readiness to devour
his soul. The rulers laid a net for his feet in their captious
interrogatories, asking (Mt 22:17), "Is it lawful to give tribute unto
Caesar, or not?" and (Joh 8:5) whether the woman taken in the very act of
adultery should be stoned to death or no. The people were "set on fire,
"when as they raged against him, and their teeth and tongues were
spears and swords in crying, "Crucify him, crucify him." His
spiritual enemies also sought to swallow him up; his soul was among
lions all the days of his life, at the hour of his death especially. The
devil in tempting and troubling him, had laid a snare for his feet; and
death, in digging a pit for him, had thought to devour him. As
David was in death, so Christ the Son of David was in the grave. John Boys,
1571-1625.
Verse
1. Be merciful unto me, O God, etc. This excellent Psalm was
composed by David when there was enough to discompose the best man in the
world. The repetition notes both the extremity of the danger, and the ardency
of the supplicant. Mercy! Mercy! Nothing but mercy, and that exerting
itself in any extraordinary way, can now save him from ruin. The arguments he
pleads for obtaining mercy in this distress are very considerable.
1.
He pleads his reliance upon God as an argument to move mercy. My soul
trusteth in thee, etc. This his trust and dependence upon God, though it be
not argumentative in respect of the dignity of the act; yet it is so in
respect both of the nature of the object, a compassionate God who will
not expose any that take shelter under his wings, and in respect of the promise,
whereby protection is assured to them that fly to him for sanctuary. Isa 26:3.
2.
He pleads former experiences of his help in past distresses, as an argument
encouraging hope under the present strait (Ps 57:2). John Flavel.
Verse
1. Be merciful unto me. According to the weight of the burden
that grieveth us, is the cry that comes from us. How do poor condemned
prisoners cry to their judges, "Have pity upon us, have pity upon
us!" David, in the day of his calamities doubles his prayer for mercy: Be
merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee,
etc., Until these calamities be overpast. It was not a single calamity,
but a multitude of calamities which compassed David, and therefore he
compasseth the Lord about with petitions. His spirit being up in prayer, like a
bell that rings out, he strikes on both sides, Be merciful unto me, O God,
be merciful unto me. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
1. Be merciful unto me. The first clause contains the prayer
itself in a very forcible word ygnx, properly, "Show thy most tender
affection to me, "such as animals, with a humming sound, show to their
young. Hermann Venema.
Verse
1. For my soul trusteth in thee. The best reason with God,
who "taketh pleasure in those that hope in his mercy." Ps 147:11. Poole's
Synopsis.
Verse
1. Soul. His soul trusted in God; and this is a form
of expression the force of which is not to be overlooked; for it implies that
the trust which he exercised proceeded from his very innermost affection—that
it was of no volatile character, but deeply and strongly rooted. He declares
the same truth in figurative terms, when he adds his persuasion that God would
cover him with the shadow of his wings. John Calvin.
Verse
1. In the shadow of thy wings I will trust; properly, I will
seek for protection. The very delightful figure here employed, is taken from
the chicken lying safely hid under the mother's wings; at the same time it
seems to have reference to the wings of the cherubim, by which the mercyseat
was covered. Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.
Verse
1. The shadow of thy wings. Compare Ps 17:8 61:4; and Mt
23:37; and the Apocalyptic imagery, describing the church fleeing from the
dragon in the wilderness; and "to her are given the two wings of the great
eagle, "and she is delivered from the dragon, who desires to swallow
her up. See Re 12:6,15-16. Christopher Wordsworth, 1868.
Verse
1. Until these calamities be overpast. He compares his
afflictions and calamity to a storm that cometh and goeth; as it is not always
fair weather with us in this life, so not always foul. Athanasius said of
Julian furiously raging against the Lord's Anointed, "Nubecula est,
cito transibit, "he is a little cloud; he will soon pass away. Man is
born to labour and dolour, to travail and trouble; to labour in his actions, to
dolour in his passions; and so, "Great are the troubles of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out of all." If we put our trust in him and
cast all our care upon him, he will in his good time bring it to pass, that all
our afflictions shall overpass. He will either take them from us or us from
them, and then we shall assuredly know that the troubles of this life present
are not worthy of the glory which in the life to come shall be showed unto us.
For as the globe of the earth, which improperly for his show of bigness we term
the world, and is, after the mathematician's account, many thousand miles in
compass; yet, being compared unto the greatness of the starry sky's
circumference, is but a centre or little prick: so the travail and affliction
of this life temporal, in respect of the joys eternal in the world to come,
bear not any proportion, but are to be reputed in comparison a very nothing, as
a dark cloud that cometh and goeth in a moment. John Boys.
Verses
1-3. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these
calamities be overpast, etc. As if he had said, Lord, I am already in the
cave and in the holds, and in the shadow of it, but yet for all that I think
not myself safe indeed, till I have made my refuge in the shadow of thy wings:
that is therefore the course I resolve and build upon. It was wisely done of
him: and mark what course he takes to do it, Ps 57:2, I will cry unto God most
high, I will by prayer put myself under the shadow of God's wings: and mark
what success should follow, Ps 57:3, He shall send from heaven, and save me
from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth his
mercy and his truth. When we send prayers up to heaven, God will send help
down from heaven. But yet David prays to God, as well as trusts
in God. And unless we pray as well as trust, our trust will fail us, for we
must trust to God for that we pray for. Jeremiah Dyke, 1620.
Verse
3. Him that would swallow me up. If I were to take you to my
house, and say that I had an exquisite fat man, and wished you to join me in
eating him, your indignation could be restrained by nothing. You would
pronounce me to be crazy. There is not in New York a man so mean that he would
not put down a man who should propose to have a banquet off from a fellow man,
cutting steaks out of him, and eating them. And that is nothing but feasting on
the human body, while they will all sit down, and take a man's soul, and look
for the tender loins, and invite their neighbours in to partake of the little
titbits. They will take a man's honour and name, and broil them over the coals
of their indignation, and fill the whole room with the aroma thereof, and give
their neighbour a piece, and watch him, and wink as he tastes it. You all eat
men up... You eat the souls, the finest elements of men. You are more than glad
if you can whisper a word that is derogatory to a neighbour, or his wife, or
his daughter... The morsel is too exquisite to be lost. Here is the soul of a
person, here is a person's hope for this world and the world to come, and you
have it on your fork, and you cannot refrain from tasting it, and give it to
some one else to taste. You are cannibals, eating men's honour and name and
rejoicing in it—and that, too, when you do not always know that the things
charged against them are true; when in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the
probabilities are that they are not true. Henry Ward Beecher, 1870.
Verse
3. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth, viz., to
save me. That is to say, God, to manifest his mercy, and vindicate the truth of
his promises, will save me. The reader will observe, that mercy and truth are
here poetically represented as ministers of God, standing in his presence,
ready to execute his pleasure, and employed by him in the salvation of his
people. Samuel Chandler.
Verse
3. His mercy and his truth. He need not send down angels, he
need send but mercy and truth down, which elsewhere it is said he
prepares in the heavens. Ps 61:7. He prepares commissions for them, and sends
them down with them for execution. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse
4. My soul is among lions. This may also be construed of the
church, and that both in respect of her spiritual enemies and temporal. As for
her ghostly foes, the devil is a roaring lion (1Pe 5:8), and our sins
are the whelps of lions, ready to devour us. And concerning outward
enemies, the church in this world is like Daniel in the lion's den, or as
"the sucking child playing upon the hole of the asp." Isa 11:8. She
hath here no visible power or outward help to fly to for succour, all her trust
is in the Lord, and "under the shadow of his wings is her refuge, till
this evil is overpast."... And surely, beloved, if the church had not any
other enemies, but only these monstrous Antichrists of Rome, yet she might
truly complain with our prophet here, My soul is among lions. Eleven
popes had that name, whereof all, excepting two or three, were roaring lions in
their Bulls, and ravening lions in seeking after their prey. Leo the
tenth so pilled (Pill—peel, to pillage, plunder, strip) and polled (Poll, used
synonymously with peel) the goodly nations of Germany with his unpardonable
pardons and merciless indulgences, as that his insupportable cruelty gave the
first occasion of the Reformation of religion in that country. John Boys.
Verse
4. (first clause). Mudge translates literally, I lie with
my soul amidst lionesses. This agrees with the opinion of Bochart, who
thinks that the animals here intended are lionesses, properly, when giving suck
to their young, a time when they are peculiarly fierce and dangerous, "nor
need we wonder, "he observes, "that the lioness is reckoned among the
fiercest lions; for the lioness equals, or even exceeds, the lion in strength
and fierceness; "and this he proves from the testimonies of ancient
writers. James Anderson's Note to Calvin in loc, 1846.
Verse
4. And I lie even among them that are set on fire. The whole
pith lies in the word hbkva, I will recline, which denotes a tranquil
and secure condition of body and mind, like a man reclining and
sleeping, as Ps 3:5; I laid me down and slept, I awaked; and lived
composedly; Ps 4:9; I will both lay me down in peace, etc. Hermann
Venema.
Verse
4. The horrors of a lion's den, the burning of a fiery furnace, and
the cruel onset of war, are the striking images by which David here describes
the peril and wretchedness of his present condition. John Morison.
Verse
6. Net. Not having fire arms, the ancients were much more
skilful than the moderns in the use of snares, nets, and pits for capturing
wild animals. A large class of Biblical figures and allusions necessarily
presuppose this state of things. W. M. Thomson.
Verse
7. My heart is fixed, O God, etc. The psalmist knowing that
it is the order and work of God, first to prepare the heart for communion, and
then to incline his own ear to hear his people, and to entertain communion with
them in ordinances, he doth observe this order, and follow it with a practice
suitable to it in his daily address to God, that is thus, wheresoever he doth
find his heart put into a fitted and prepared frame for communion with God, he
doth not let it die again, and go out of frame by a slothful neglect of such a
disposition of heart. No, but he immediately sets himself to duty, to worship
God, and to the acts of his worship, in his ordinances, as he expresses himself
in Ps 57:7; viz., thus—ybl nwkg myhla ybl nwkg, Nachon libbi Elohim, nachon
libbi (there is the first; he finds his heart fitted and prepared for
communion with God): "My heart, "saith he, "is fitted or
prepared" (for the word nwkg nachon is the passive conjugation niphal,
signifying, he is fitted or prepared, from the root nzb, chun, he fitted
or prepared, in the active; and so it is rather to be rendered prepared or
fitted, then "fixed, "thus ykl, libbi, my heart; nwkg, nachon,
is fitted or prepared), "O God, my heart is fitted or prepared" for
communion with thee. Well, what follows? He presently sets himself upon that
great duty and ordinance of communion with God, in the praising of his name and
singing forth those praises, as in the words immediately following in the same
verse, thus: My heart is prepared, O God, my heart is prepared;
therefore, hrmzaw, ashidah va-azamerah, "I will sing and give
praise." William Strong, in "Communion with God," 1656.
Verse
7. My heart is fixed, O God, etc. Fitness for duty lies in
the orderly temper of body and mind, making a man willing to undertake, and
able to finish his work with comfortable satisfaction. If either the body or
mind be distempered, a man is unfit for such an undertaking; both must be in a
suitable frame, like a well tuned instrument, else there will be no melody:
hence when David prepared himself for praises and worship, he tells us his
heart was ready and fixed, and then, his tongue was ready also (Ps
45:1), so was his hand with psaltery and harp; all these were awakened into a
suitable posture. That a man is or hath been in a fit order for service may be
concluded from
1.
His alacrity to undertake a duty.
2.
His activity in the prosecution.
3.
His satisfaction afterward. Right grounds and principles in these things being
still presupposed. Richard Gilpin (1625-1699,1700), in "Daemonologia
Sacra."
Verse
7. I will sing. It should alarm the wicked that they are
contending with a people who sing and shout on the battle field. Yea, they
never sing louder than when most distressed and afflicted. Whether saints
conquer or are conquered they still sing on. Blessed be God for that. Let
sinners tremble at contending with men of a spirit so heavenly. William S.
Plumer.
Verse
7. Sincerity makes the Christian sing, when he hath nothing to his
supper. David was in none of the best case when in the cave, yet we never find
him merrier: his heart makes sweeter music than ever his harp did. William
Gurnall.
Verses
7-8. That worship that is performed with a sleepy, drowsy body, is a
weak worship, but the psalmist here makes the awakening of the body to be the
fruit and effect of the preparation of the heart; Awake up, my glory; awake,
psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. Why so? My heart is prepared.
The heart prepared and thereby awaked, will awake the body. To worship God
therefore without a prepared heart, is to worship him with a drowsy body,
because with a drowsy heart, and therefore weakly. John Angier, in "An
Help to Better Hearts, for Better Times," 1647.
Verse
8. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will
awake early. We must prevent God by early praise as well as prayer:
"The God of my mercy shall prevent me, "sings David; and every child
of David must prevent God again with his songs. Jehoshaphat delighted God with
instruments of music before his deliverance. Faith must tune an epinikion,
a psalm of victory, before the triumph. Praise is the ingenious mother of
future mercies; as the Virgin Mary sang at Hebron before the birth of her son
at Bethlehem. Oh, heavenly contention between mercy and duty! Samuel Lee,
1625-1691.
Verse
8. Awake up, my glory, etc. We must sing with excited
grace. Not only with grace habitual, but with excited and actual: the
musical instrument delights not but when it is played upon. In this duty we
must follow Paul's advice to Timothy (2Ti 1:6), anazwpurein, stir up the
grace that is in us, and cry out as David, Awake love, awake delight. Ps
57:8. The clock must be wound up before it can guide our time; the bird
pleaseth not in her nest, but in her notes; the chimes only make music when
they are going. Let us therefore beg the Spirit to blow upon our garden, that
the spices thereof may flow out, when we set upon this joyous service. God
loves active grace in duty, that the soul should be ready trimmed when it
presents itself to Christ in any worship. John Wells, in "Morning
Exercises, "1674.
Verse
8. I will awake early. Literally, `I will awake the dawn.' a
bold figure of poetry, as if the writer had said,—The morning shall not awake
me to praise; but in my songs I will anticipate the dawn. R. T. Society's
Notes.
Verse
8. It will answer our purpose to take notice, first, of the terms
David uses, and then, secondly, press the exhortation. Of the terms he
uses:
1.
My glory. That is my soul (say some) because the spirit of a man
is the glory of a man, whereby he is dignified and raised so much above the brutes,
as to be but a "little lower than the angels, "nay, to be akin to God
himself, "the Father of spirits." My musical skill, say
others, the glory of the artist above the unskilful; and that wherein David had
the glory of excelling, as Jubal had of the first invention. My tongue,
say others; for this is also the glory of a man above the dumb creatures, and
the glory of a wise man above a fool. And as the tongue is the glory of a man,
so the glory of the tongue is to glorify God. Praise is the glory of all other
uses to which the tongue is employed; and the tongue is, in the body, that
"temple of the Holy Ghost, "what the silver trumpet was in the temple
of Solomon; to sound the high praises of God, and express the raised affections
of our souls.
2. Awake,
psaltery and harp. The one for a psalm, the other for a spiritual song or
hymn; that is to say, all my musical instruments and skill I will employ in and
consecrate to the glory of him who "puts new songs into my mouth." He
first teaches my fingers to fight, and then to play the epinikion, or
song of triumph. Sound, then, my psaltery and harp, emulous of those that are
around the throne above; your melody can soften my cares, lay my fears, and
turn my cave into a choir. As to these instruments in the worship
of God, they were doubtless allowed to David, and to the church in his time.
They were agreeable to the state of that church and people, who were led very
much by their senses; and whose infant and less discerning condition made it
needful for the natural man to have something to fasten upon and be entertained
with in the worship of God and to sweeten and take off from the labour and
burden of that service. But as the gospel worship and appointments are a more
spiritual, pleasant, and reasonable service, and need them less, so in the
gospel institution we find no footsteps of them; and we know who first brought
them into the church, as well as who first brought them into the world. It is
not my business here to dispute this matter; and he must at any time do it but
indifferently, whose inclination is against him all the while, and whose genius
tempts him to wish himself solidly confuted in all he can advance. But since I
find these instruments in my text, and since the sound of such texts as these
is made use of to turn the public worship so frequently into concerts of music,
I shall leave them with this remark: that to let them alone, especially in
public worship, though one thought them tolerable, has a much better grace with
it than to declare them "sorely displeasing to God, and that they filthily
defile his holy house and place of prayer."
3. I
myself will awake early. And without this, all the rest have been an empty
sound; there would have been no melody to the Lord, whatsoever good music he
might have made to himself. He would not put God off with a sacrifice of mere
air. He summons the attendance of all his powers. Himself is the offering; and
his music plays to the sacrifice, as it goes up in holy affections and
spiritual joys; and unless these accompany the song, the mere breath of an
organ, or the trembling of the strings of an harp is as good devotion and less
offensive to God. Consider the nature and excellency of the duty.
Singing psalms is a compound of several other duties. It contains prayer to a
very great advantage: the stretch of the voice does humour and lead on the
earnest reaching of the mind after the desired blessing. It is the very element
and breath of praise; and the apostle tells us that "teaching and
admonishing one another" is performed in singing "psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs." For when we sing of judgment, it is awakening
to sinners; and when we sing of mercy, it is comforting to all.
Meditation cannot have a better help. The solemn movement of the time gives
room for the mind to compass the full sense of the matter, and to impress it
deep; and while the tongue is making the pause, the heart may make the elevation.
In short, it gives an accent to all duty; it is the music of all other
ordinances; it is adapted and suited to all circumstances; as appears from the
psalms composed upon all occasions and subjects, doctrinal, prophetical,
oratory, and historical; of praise and prayer, of grief and joy, in the
penitential and complaining, in the triumphal and rejoicing; as if singing of
psalms could stand for everything, and, like the manna in the wilderness, gives
a taste of all the other food we enjoy in the house of God.
Benjamin
Grosvenor, D.D. (1675-1758), in "An Exhortation to the Duty of Singing,
" Eastcheap Lectures, 1810.
Verse
8. The psaltery was a stringed instrument, usually with
twelve strings, and played with the fingers. The harp or lyre was a
stringed instrument, usually consisting of ten strings. Josephus says that it
was struck or played with a key. It appears, however, that it was sometimes
played with the fingers. Albert Barnes.
Verse
9. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. The Spirit
of God who indited this scripture, made his penman know that the Gentiles
should have the use of his Psalms. David Dickson.
Verse
9. The people—the nations. The Hebrew church was neither
called nor qualified to be a missionary society, but it never ceased to desire
and hope for the conversion of the nations. This is seen in those passages in
which the psalmists betray a consciousness that they shall one day have all the
world for auditors. How boldly does David exclaim, I will sing unto thee
among the nations. In the same spirit, a later psalmist summons the church
to lift up her voice, so that all the nations may hear her recital of the
Lord's mighty acts: O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make
known his deeds among the people. Ps 105:1. The full import of this class
of texts is often hidden from the English reader by the circumstance that our
translators have hardly ever used the word people in its plural form.
Twice in the Revelation they venture to write peoples; everywhere else
the singular form has to do duty for both numbers; so that in not a few
passages the sense is greatly obscured to those who have no access either to
the original or to other versions. In the Psalms, in particular, the mention of
the Gentiles is more frequent than the English reader is made aware of. It is
to be observed, moreover, that in addition to this strain of indirect
prediction, the conversion of the world is articulately celebrated in many
glorious Psalms. Indeed, so numerous are these, and so generally distributed
over the centuries between David and Ezra, that it would seem that at no time
during the long history of inspired Psalmody, did the Spirit cease to indite
new songs in which the children of Zion might give utterance to their world
embracing hopes. William Binnie, D.D., in "The Psalms: their History,
Teachings, and Use, "1870.
Verses
10-11. A hard and ungrateful heart beholds even in prosperity only
isolated drops of divine grace; but a grateful one like David's, though chased
by persecutors, and striking the harp in the gloom of a cave, looks upon the
mercy and faithfulness of God as a mighty ocean, waving and heaving from the
earth to the clouds, and from the clouds to the earth again. Agustus F.
Tholuck.
Verse
11. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, etc. Greater
words of prayer than these never came from human lips. Heaven and earth have as
they imply, a mutually interwoven history, and the blessed, glorious end of
this is in the sunrise of the Divine glory over both. Franz Delitzsch,
1869.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1. (first clause). Repetition in prayer.
1.
Its dangers. May degenerate into "vain repetitions." Carried to
excess painfully suggests the idea, God is unwilling.
2.
Its uses. Eases the soul like tears. Manifests intense emotion. Enables those
of less mental activity to join in the general supplication. R. A. Griffin.
Verse
1. Here are—
1.
Calamities:
(a)
War.
(b) Pestilence.
(c) Privations.
(d) Sin, greatest of all.
(e) Death.
(f)Curse of a broken law.
2.
Here is a refuge from these calamities.
(a)
In God.
(b) Specially in the mercy of God.
3.
There is flying to that refuge.
(a)
By faith; My soul trusteth in thee; Under the shadow, etc.
(b) By prayer; "Be "etc.
4.
Here is continuance both in faith and prayer; until, etc. G. R.
Verses
1, 4, 6-7. Note the varying condition of the same heart, at the same time. My
soul trusteth in thee... My soul is among lions... My soul is bowed down... My
heart is fixed.
Verse
2. Prayer to the performing God. He performs all his promises, all
my salvation, all my preservation, all needed between here and heaven. Here he
reveals his omnipotence, his grace, his faithfulness, his immutability; and we
are bound to show our faith, patience, joy, and gratitude.
Verse
2. Strange reasons.
1.
The psalmist in the depth of distress, cries to God, because he is most high in
glory. Surely this thought might well paralyse him with the fear of divine
inaccessibility, but the soul quickened with suffering, sees through and beyond
the metaphor, rejoices in the truth, "Though the Lord be high, yet hath he
respect unto the lowly."
2.
He cries to God for help, because God is performing all things for him.
Why urge him then? Prayer is the music to which "the mighty man of
war" goes forth to battle. R. A. G.
Verse
3. The saints comfort in adversity.
1.
All contingencies are provided for: He shall (or will) send.
2.
The highest resources are available: from heaven.
3.
The worst foes will be overcome in the end: him that would swallow me
up.
4.
By the holiest means: mercy and truth. R. A. G.
Verse
3. The celestial messengers. What they are. The certainty of their
being sent. Their efficient operation. The grateful receiver.
Verse
3. (last clause). The harmony of the divine attributes in
salvation. Mercy founded on truth, truth vindicating mercy. Mercy without injustice,
justice honoured in mercy.
Verse
5.
1.
The end which God has in view, both in heaven and earth, in a sinful and in
sinless worlds—his own glory.
2.
Our duty to acquiesce in that end: Be thou, etc.—Not self, not men, not
angels—Be thou exalted, etc. In this we should acquiesce—
(a)
Actively, by seeking that end.
(b)
Passively, by submission to his will. G. R.
Verse
7. (first clause). It is implied that the heart is the
main thing required in all acts of devotion; nothing is done to purpose in religion
further than it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed; fixed for
the duty, fitted and put in frame for it; fixed in the duty by a close
application; attending on the Lord without distraction. Matthew
Henry.
Verse
7.
1.
What is fixed? the heart, not the mind merely, but the will, the conscience,
the affections, which draw the mind after them: My heart is fixed—found
an anchorage, a resting place, not therefore at the mercy of every gale, etc.
2.
The objects upon which it is fixed.
(a)
Upon God.
(b) Upon his word.
(c) Upon his salvation.
(d) Upon heaven.
3.
The fixedness of the heart upon these objects, denotes—
(a)
Singleness of aim.
(b) Uniformity of action.
(c) Perseverance to the end. G. R.
Verses
7-9.
1.
He that will be thankful must treasure up in his heart and memory the courtesy
that is done him; so had David done, and therefore he mentions his heart;
and to make it more emphatic, he names it again, My heart.
2.
After he remembers it, he must be affected with it, and resolve upon it; so
doth David: My heart is ready, or else, My heart is fixed;
confirmed I am in it to be thankful, and I cannot be altered.
3.
It is not enough that a man carry about with him a thankful heart he must anunciare,
tell it abroad, and make it known publicly what God hath done for him; yea, and
do it joyfully too: I will, saith David, sing and give praise.
4.
He must use all means he can to make it known—"tongue,
""psaltery, "and "harp, "all are little
enough. Whence, by an apostrophe, David turns to these. Awake, my glory:
i.e., Tongue, awake; lute and harp, awake; I myself will awake.
5.
He must not do it in a sleepy manner, but with intention and earnestness of
spirit: "Awake, awake, I will awake."
6.
He must take the first opportunity to do it, and not hang off and delay it. I
will awake early.
7.
He must do it in such a place, and such an assembly as may most redound to
God's honour: I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto
thee among the nations. William Nicholson.
Verse
9. Who? I. What? Will praise. Whom? Thee, O Lord.
Where? Among the people. Why?
Verse
9. Public profession.
1.
A necessity.
2. A privilege.
3. A duty. R. A. G.
Verse
10. The mercy of God reaches to the heavens.
1.
As a throne. God is exalted in our eyes by his mercy.
2.
As a ladder. By mercy we ascend from earth to heaven.
3.
As a rainbow. Present and past mercies argue exemption for the saints from the
wrath of heaven.
4.
As a mountain. Its base is on the earth though its summit is lost in clouds.
The influence of the cross towers to the heaven of heavens. Who can tell the
glory of the summit of this mountain, whose base is refulgent with
glory! R. A. G.
Verse
10. The amazing greatness of mercy.
1.
It is not said merely that it is high as heaven, but great unto the heavens. It
is high as the heavens, overtopping the greatest sin, and highest
thought of man.
2.
It is wide as the far reaching sky, compassing men of all ages,
countries, classes, etc.
3.
It is deep. Everything of God is proportionate; this, therefore, is deep
in abiding foundation, and infinite wisdom.
WORKS UPON THE
FIFTY-SEVENTH PSALM
The
Works of JOHN BOYS, D.D., "Deane of Canterburie, "1629, folio, pp.
834-40, contains an Exposition of Psalm 57.
In
CHANDLER'S "Life of David, "Vol. 1., pp. 176-9, there is an
Exposition of this Psalm.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》