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Psalm Sixty-one
Psalm 61
Chapter Contents
David seeks God upon former experience. (1-4) He vows to
serve God. (5-8)
Commentary on Psalm 61:1-4
(Read Psalm 61:1-4)
David begins with prayers and tears, but ends with
praise. Thus the soul, being lifted up to God, returns to the enjoyment of
itself. Wherever we are, we have liberty to draw near to God, and may find a
way open to the throne of grace. And that which separates us from other
comforts, should drive us nearer to God, the fountain of all comfort. Though
the heart is overwhelmed, yet it may be lifted up to God in prayer. Nay, I will
cry unto thee, for by that means it will be supported and relieved. Weeping
must quicken praying, and not deaden it. God's power and promise are a rock
that is higher than we are. This rock is Christ. On the Divine mercy, as on a
rock, David desired to rest his soul; but he was like a ship-wrecked sailor,
exposed to the billows at the bottom of a rock too high for him to climb
without help. David found that he could not be fixed on the Rock of salvation,
unless the Lord placed him upon it. As there is safety in Him, and none in
ourselves, let us pray to be led to and fixed upon Christ our Rock. The service
of God shall be his constant work and business: all must make it so who expect
to find God their shelter and strong tower. The grace of God shall be his
constant comfort.
Commentary on Psalm 61:5-8
(Read Psalm 61:5-8)
There is a people in the world that fear God's name.
There is a heritage peculiar to that people; present comforts in the soul,
earnests of future bliss. Those that fear God have enough in him, and must not
complain. We need desire no better heritage than that of those who fear God.
Those abide to good purpose in this world, who abide before God, serve him, and
walk in his fear; those who do so, shall abide before him for ever. And these
words are to be applied to Him of whom the angel said, the Lord shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there shall be no end, Luke 1:32. God's promises, and our faith in
them, are not to do away, but to encourage prayer. We need not desire to be
better secured than under the protection of God's mercy and truth. And if we
partake of that grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ, we may praise him,
whatever be our outward circumstances. But renewed experience of God's mercy
and truth towards his people in Christ, is the main matter of our joy in him,
and our praise unto him.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 61
Verse 2
[2] From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my
heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
The end — To which David was driven.
Lead me — Convey me into some high and secure fortress.
Verse 4
[4] I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in
the covert of thy wings. /*Selah*/.
I will — I shall, I doubt not, be restored to the tabernacle,
and worship thee there all my days.
Verse 5
[5] For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me
the heritage of those that fear thy name.
Heritage — Thou hast granted me this singular mercy, to live in
God's land, to enjoy his presence, and to worship in his tabernacle; which is
the heritage that all that fear thee, prize and desire above all things.
Verse 6
[6] Thou wilt prolong the king's life: and his years as many
generations.
Prolong — The years of my life and reign. Thus he speaks because
his kingdom was not like Saul's, but established to him and his heirs; and
because Christ, his son and heir, should actually, and in his own person
possess the kingdom for ever.
Verse 7
[7] He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and
truth, which may preserve him.
Abide — In the throne.
Before God — Living and ruling as in God's
presence, serving God and worshipping him in his tabernacle.
Truth — Thy truth in giving me those mercies which thou hast
promised, and thy mercy in giving me such further blessings as I needs.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
TITLE. To the
Chief Musician upon Neginah, a Psalm of David. The original indicates that
both the hymn and the musical instrument were David's. He wrote the verses and
himself sang them to the stringed instrument whose sound he loved so well. We
have left the Psalms entitled Michtam, but we shall still find much
precious meaning though the golden name be wanting. We have met with the title
of this Psalm before, in Psalms 4, 6, 54, and 55, but with this difference,
that in the present case the word is in the singular number: the Psalm itself
is very personal, and well adapted for the private devotion of a single
individual.
SUBJECT
AND DIVISION. This Psalm is a pearl. It is little, but precious. To many a mourner
it has furnished utterance when the mind could not have devised a speech for
itself. It was evidently composed by David after he had come to the throne,—see
Ps 61:6. The second verse leads us to believe that it was written during the
psalmist's enforced exile from the tabernacle, which was the visible abode of
God: if so, the period of Absalom's rebellion has been most suitably suggested
as the date of its authorship, and Delitzsch is correct in entitling it,
"Prayer and thanksgiving of an expelled King on his way back to his
throne." We might divide the verses according to the sense, but it is
preferable to follow the author's own arrangement, and make a break at each
SELAH.
Verse
1. Hear my cry, O God. He was in terrible earnest; he shouted,
he lifted up his voice on high. He is not however content with the expression
of his need: to give his sorrows vent is not enough for him, he wants actual
audience of heaven, and manifold succour as the result. Pharisees may rest in
their prayers; true believers are eager for an answer to them: ritualists may
be satisfied when they have, "said or sung" their litanies and
collects, but living children of God will never rest till their supplications
have entered the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth. Attend unto my prayer. Give
it thy consideration, and such an answer as thy wisdom sees fit. When it comes
to crying with us, we need not doubt but that it will come to attending with
God. Our heavenly Father is not hardened against the cries of his own children.
What a consoling thought it is that the Lord at all times hears his people's
cries, and is never forgetful of their prayers; whatever else fails to move
him, praying breath is never spent in vain!
Verse
2. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. He was
banished from the spot which was the centre of his delight, and at the same
time his mind was in a depressed and melancholy condition; both actually and
figuratively he was an outcast, yet he does not therefore restrain prayer, but
rather finds therein a reason for the louder and more importunate cries. To be
absent from the place of divine worship was a sore sorrow to saints in the
olden times; they looked upon the tabernacle as the centre of the world, and
they counted themselves to be at the fag end of the universe when they could no
longer resort to the sacred shrine; their heart was heavy as in a strange land
when they were banished from its solemnities. Yet even they knew right well
that no place is unsuitable for prayer. There may be an end of the earth, but
there must not be an end to devotion. On creation's verge we may call upon God,
for even there he is within call. No spot is too dreary, no condition too
deplorable; whether it be the world's end or life's end, prayer is equally
available. To pray in some circumstances needs resolve, and the psalmist here
expresses it,
I
will cry. It was a wise resolution, for had he ceased to pray he would have
become the victim of despair; there is an end to a man when he makes an end to
prayer. Observe that David never dreamed of seeking any other God; he did not
imagine the dominion of Jehovah to be local: he was at the end of the promised
land, but he knew himself to be still in the territory of the Great King; to
him only does he address his petitions. When my heart is overwhelmed:—when the
huge waves of trouble wash over me, and I am completely submerged, not only as
to my head, but also my heart. It is hard to pray when the very heart is
drowning, yet gracious men plead best at such times. Tribulation brings us to
God, and brings God to us. Faith's greatest triumphs are achieved in her
heaviest trials. It is all over with me, affliction is all over me; it
encompasses me as a cloud, it swallows me up like a sea, it shuts me in with
thick darkness, yet God is near, near enough to hear my voice, and I will call
him. Is not this brave talk? Mark how our psalmist tells the Lord, as if he
knew he were hearing him, that he intended to call upon him: our prayer by
reason of our distress may be like to a call upon a far off friend, but our
inmost faith has its quiet heart whispers to the Lord as to one who is
assuredly our very present help. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
I see thee to be my refuge, sure and strong; but alas! I am confused, and
cannot find thee; I am weak, and cannot climb thee. Thou art so steadfast,
guide me; thou art so high, uplift me. There is a mint of meaning in this brief
prayer. Along the iron bound coast of our northern shores, lives are lost
because the rocks are inaccessible to the shipwrecked mariner. A clergyman of
one of the coast villages has with immense labour cut steps up from the beach
to a large chamber, which he has excavated in the chalk cliffs; here many
mariners have been saved; they have climbed the rock, which had else been too
high for them, and they have escaped. We have heard of late, however, that the
steps have been worn away by the storms, and that poor sailors have perished
miserably within sight of the refuge which they could not reach, for it was too
high for them: it is therefore proposed to drive in iron stanchions, and to
hang up chain ladders that shipwrecked mariners may reach the chambers in the
rock. The illustration is self interpreting. Our experience leads us to
understand this verse right well, for the time was with us when we were in such
amazement of soul be reason of sin, that although we knew the Lord Jesus to be
a sure salvation for sinners, yet we could not come at him, by reason of our
many doubts and forebodings. A Saviour would have been of no use to us if the
Holy Spirit had not gently led us to him, and enabled us to rest upon him. To
this day we often feel that we not only want a rock, but to be led to it. With
this in view we treat very leniently the half unbelieving prayers of awakened
souls; for in their bewildered state we cannot expect from them all at once a
fully believing cry. A seeking soul should at once believe in Jesus, but it is
legitimate for a man to ask to be led to Jesus; the Holy Spirit is able to
effect such a leading, and he can do it even though the heart be on the borders
of despair. How infinitely higher that we are is the salvation of God. We are
low and grovelling, but it towers like some tall cliff far above us. This is
its glory, and is our delight when we have once climbed into the rock, and
claimed an interest in it; but while we are as yet trembling seekers, the glory
and sublimity of salvation appal us, and we feel that we are too unworthy ever
to be partakers of it; hence we are led to cry for grace upon grace, and to see
how dependent we are for everything, not only for the Saviour, but for the
power to believe on him.
Verse
3. For thou hast been a shelter for me. Observe how the
psalmist rings the changes on, Thou hast, and I will, —Ps 61:3-6.
Experience is the nurse of faith. From the past we gather arguments for present
confidence. Many and many a time had the persecutions of Saul and the perils of
battle imperilled David's life, and only by miracle had he escaped, yet was he
still alive and unhurt; this he remembers, and he is full of hope. And a strong
tower from the enemy. As in a fort impregnable, David had dwelt, because
surrounded by omnipotence. Sweet is it beyond expression to remember the
lovingkindnesses of the Lord in our former days, for he is unchangeable, and
therefore will continue to guard us from all evil.
Verse
4. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever. Let me once get
back to thy courts, and nothing shall again expel me from them: even now in my
banishment my heart is there; and ever will I continue to worship thee in
spirit wherever my lot may be cast. Perhaps by the word tabernacle is
here meant the dwelling place of God; and if so, the sense is, I will dwell
with the Lord, enjoying his sacred hospitality, and sure protection.
"There
would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger or a guest,
But like a child at home."
He
who communes with God is always at home. The divine omnipresence surrounds such
a one consciously; his faith sees all around him the palace of the King, in
which he walks with exulting security and overflowing delight. Happy are the
indoor servants who go not out from his presence. Hewers of wood and drawers of
water in the tents of Jehovah are more to be envied than the princes who riot in
the pavilions of kings. The best of all is that our residence with God is not
for a limited period of time, but for ages; yea, for ages of ages, for time and
for eternity: this is our highest and most heavenly privilege, I will abide
in thy tabernacle for ever. I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Often
does our sweet singer use this figure; and far better is it to repeat one apt
and instructive image, than for the sake of novelty to ransack creation for
poor, strained metaphors. The chicks beneath the hen how safe, how comfortable,
how happy! How warm the parent's bosom! How soft the cherishing feathers!
Divine condescension allows us to appropriate the picture to ourselves, and how
blessedly instructive and consoling it is! O for more trust; it cannot be too
implicit: such a covert invites us to the most unbroken repose. SELAH. Rest we
well may when we reach this point. Even the harp may be eloquently silent when
deep, profound calm completely fills the bosom, and sorrow has sobbed itself
into a peaceful slumber.
Verse
5. For thou, O God, hast heard my vows. Proofs of divine
faithfulness are to be had in remembrance, and to be mentioned to the Lord's
honour. The prayer of Ps 61:1 is certain of an answer because of the experience
of Ps 61:5, since we deal with an immutable God. Vows may rightly be joined
with prayers when they are lawful, well considered, and truly for God's glory.
It is great mercy on God's part to take any notice of the vows and promises of
such faithless and deceitful creatures as we are. What we promise him is his
due already, and yet he deigns to accept our vows as if we were not so much his
servants as his free suitors who could give or withhold at pleasure. Thou hast
given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. We are made heirs, joint
heirs with all the saints, partakers of the same portion. With this we ought to
be delighted. If we suffer, it is the heritage of the saints; if we are
persecuted, are in poverty, or in temptation, all this is contained in the
title deeds of the heritage of the chosen. Those we are to sup with we may well
be content to dine with. We have the same inheritance as the Firstborn himself;
what better is conceivable? Saints are described as fearing the name of God;
they are reverent worshippers; they stand in awe of the Lord's authority; they
are afraid of offending him, they feel their own nothingness in the sight of
the Infinite One. To share with such men, to be treated by God with the same
favour as he metes out to them, is matter for endless thanksgiving. All the
privileges of all the saints are also the privileges of each one.
Verse
6. Thou wilt prolong the king's life; or, better, "days
to the days of the King thou wilt add." Death threatened, but God
preserved his beloved. David, considering his many perils, enjoyed a long and
prosperous reign. And his years as many generations. He lived to see generation
after generation personally; in his descendants he lived as king through a very
long period; his dynasty continued for many generations; and in Christ Jesus,
his seed and son, spiritually David reigns on evermore. Thus he who began at
the foot of the rock, half drowned, and almost dead, is here led to the summit,
and sings as a priest abiding in the tabernacle, a king ruling with God for
ever, and a prophet foretelling good things to come. (Ps 61:7.) See the
uplifting power of faith and prayer. None so low but they may yet be set on
high.
Verse
7. He shall abide before God for ever. Though this is true of
David in a modified sense, we prefer to view the Lord Jesus as here intended as
the lineal descendant of David, and the representative of his royal race. Jesus
is enthroned before God to eternity; here is our safety, dignity, and delight.
We reign in him; in him we are made to sit together in the heavens. David's
personal claim to sit enthroned for ever is but a foreshadowing of the revealed
privilege of all true believers. O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve
him. As men cry, "Long live the king, "so we hail with acclamation
our enthroned Immanuel, and cry, "Let mercy and truth preserve him."
Eternal love and immutable faithfulness are the bodyguards of Jesus' throne,
and they are both the providers and the preservers of all those who in him are
made kings and priests unto God. We cannot keep ourselves, and nothing short of
divine mercy and truth can do it; but these both can and will, nor shall the
least of the people of God be suffered to perish.
Verse
8. So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever. Because my
prayer is answered, my song shall be perpetual; because Jesus for ever sits at
thy right hand, it shall be acceptable; because I am preserved in him, it shall
be grateful. David had given vocal utterance to his prayer by a cry; he will
now give expression to his praise by a song: there should be a parallel between
our supplications and our thanksgivings. We ought not to leap in prayer, and
limp in praise. The vow to celebrate the divine name for ever is no
hyperbolical piece of extravagance, but such as grace and glory shall enable us
to carry out to the letter. That I may daily perform my vows. To God who adds
days to our days we will devote all our days. We vowed perpetual praise, and we
desire to render it without intermission. We would worship God de die in
diem, going right on as the days roll on. We ask no vacation from this
heavenly vocation; we would make no pause in this sacred service. God daily
performs his promises, let us daily perform our vows: he keeps his covenant,
let us not forget ours. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth,
even for evermore.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. The word Neginah
(the singular of Neginoth) may be understood to be synonymous with the kinnor
or harp: that is to say, the instrument of eight strings, probably played with
a bow or plectrum. John Jess.
Verse
1. Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. Aquinas saith
that some read the words thus, Intende ad cantica mea, attend unto my
songs—and so the words may be safely read, from the Hebrew word hgr ranah,
which signifies to shout or shrill out for joy—to note that the prayers of the
saints are like pleasant songs and delightful ditties in the ears of God. No
mirth, no music, can be so pleasing to us as the prayers of the saints are
pleasing to God. So 2:14 Ps 141:2. Thomas Brooks.
Verse
1. My cry. There is a text in Job where the "hypocrites
in heart" are spoken of condemningly, because "they cry not when he
bindeth them." I like to feel that no hard fortitude is required of the
chastened child of God, but that it ought to feel, and may cry, under the rod,
without a single rebellious thought. Mary B. M. Duncan.
Verses
1-2. One ejaculation begetteth another. Hear my cry; attend
unto my prayer (yet no words thereof mentioned); and Ps 61:2. From the
end of the earth will I cry: he had thus cried, and he will therefore cry
again and again. As billows of temptation ever and anon stop his mouth and
interrupt him, so as he now and then doth but peep above water, and get
breathing space, he will thus cry, Lead me, or "guide me, "or
carry me to yonder rock which is higher than I. Thomas Cobbet (1608-1686),
on Prayer.
Verse
2. From the end of the earth. This may be taken two ways:
either naturally, and then it is an allusion to men that are far distant
and remote from help, relief and comfort: or, as I may say, ecclesiastically,
with reference to the temple of God, which was "in medio terrae, ""in
the midst and heart of the land, "where God manifested and gave tokens of
his gracious presence and favour: as if he had said, "I am at the end of
the earth; far from any tokens, pledges, or manifestations of the love and
favour of God, as well as from outward help and assistance." John Owen.
Verse
2. The end of the earth. What place was this, the end of
the earth, referring the expression to the writer of the Psalm? We know
that the centre of the affections and devotions of the pious Israelite was the
"holy city, Jerusalem; whither the tribes went up, even the tribes of the
Lord, to testify unto Israel, and to give thanks unto the name of the
Lord." The country of which this city was the capital, was to the Jew the
world; it was the world within the world; the earth within the earth; the whole
globe besides was to him a waste, a place out of the world; an extraterrestrial
territory, beyond the limits set up by the Lord Almighty. Thus in Holy Writ
what is called the world, or the earth, frequently signifieth only that part
thereof which was the heritage of the chosen people... The end of the earth,
then, as referred to the psalmist, would signify any place of bodily absence
from the temple where the Deity had taken up his special abode, or any place
whence his spiritual affections were unable to reach that temple. As referred
to us, the expression signifies any sensible distance from God: for as God is
the centre of life, hope, love, and joy, distance from him, of whatsoever
degree, is the antipodes of the soul, a region of sterility and darkness; the
Iceland of man's spirit. Alfred Bowen Evans, 1852.
Verse
2. I will cry unto thee. There is in this expression an
endeavour to approach unto God; as you do when you cry after one whom
you see at a distance, and are afraid he will go farther from you. It is the
great work of faith to cry out after God, at a distance, when you are afraid lest
at the next turn he should be quite out of sight. Crying to the Lord supposes
him to be withdrawing or departing. John Owen.
Verse
2. Cry. No matter how abrupt the prayer be, so it be the
representation of our hearts. Thus did David. Where doth he pray? In
banishment. When? When his spirit is overwhelmed. How does he pray? He cried.
Thus Hannah prayed herself into a composed state of mind. Remember, resignation
is the work of the Spirit of God; and therefore you must plead for it before
you have it. John Singleton (1706), in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse
2. Cry. Crying is a substitute for speech; and also the
expression of earnestness. William Jay.
Verse
2. When my heart is overwhelmed. Troubles are of various
kinds; some are provoking, some are gnawing, some are perplexing,
and some are overwhelming; but whatever form they assume, they are
troubles, and are part of the wear and tear of life. ...Overwhelming
troubles are such as sweep over a man, just as the mighty billows of the
ocean sweep over and submerge the sands. These are troubles which struggle with
us, as it were, for life and death; troubles which would leave us helpless
wrecks; troubles which enter into conflict with us in our prime, which grapple
with us in our health and strength, and threaten to conquer us by sheer force,
no matter how bravely we may contend. Such trouble the psalmist knew. Philip
Bennett Power, in "The I wills of the Psalms, "1861.
Verse
2. Heart. The heart is here represented to us as being
overwhelmed, or, as it is otherwise translated, "covered over; "it is
smothered in, unable to perform its functions with proper action, unable to
throw out the blood to the extremities, to give them needed vitality and power
for necessary effort. When the action of the heart is paralysed, even
temporarily, it will tell upon all the members, a chill there send its cold
vibration through every limb; Satan knows this well, and so all his dealings
are heart dealings, efforts to paralyse the very spring of life itself. This is
precisely what we ourselves have experienced; we have partially felt death
within us, we have felt a gradual numbing of our heart; a gradual diminution in
the quickness of its beat; a gradual closing in, and pressure of a weight upon
it, and this was the overwhelming process. Philip Bennett Power.
Verse
2. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. The tower,
in Ps 18:2, is "an high tower, "and the rock is here an
high rock, the rock higher than I; and yet there is a way to get
into the highest towers; by scaling ladders a man may get over the high walls
of towers. This tower and rock were too high for David himself to get into, and
therefore he sets to the scaling ladder. "Lead me to the rock, and
into the tower that is higher than I. Hear my cry, attend unto my prayer."
So he makes prayer the scaling ladder to get upon that rock and into that tower
that otherwise had been too high for him; he gets that safety and deliverance
which otherwise but by prayer unto God had been impossible to have been
obtained. Jeremiah Dyke.
Verse
2. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. The language is
very remarkable. It gives us the idea of a man suffering shipwreck. The vessel
in which he has been sailing has sunk. He has been plunged into the mighty
ocean; and there he is buffeting the waves, struggling for life, panting for
breath, and just about to give up all for lost. Suddenly he discovers a rock
towering above him. If he can but climb up to the top of it, and get sure
footing upon it, the billows will not be able to reach him, and he will be
safe. Now, the prayer in our text is the cry of that poor wretch for help. He
is so spent and exhausted, that he cannot reach the rock himself. He
shouts aloud for the friendly hand of some one stronger than himself, or for a
rope that may be flung to him by those who are already safe on the rock, if by
these helps he may gain it. Lead me to the rock, cries the poor
perishing wretch. "O, lead me, guide me, direct me to it; for I am so worn
and spent, that I cannot reach it otherwise. I am at the point to die; and I
must sink, and be no more seen for ever, if there is none to help me."
Thus he calls for some one to rescue him from the deep, and to place him on the
rock. But what rock? He knows that unless the rock be a high one, he
will not be in safety, though he should be on it. The rock, he says,
"must be higher than I, or the waves will reach me, and wash me off
again." It is not a rock, the top of which just shows itself above the
sea, no higher than a man's own body, that will save the life of a shipwrecked
mariner. Such a rock may occasion the wreck, but it will not afford any help to
the sufferers afterwards; it is a rock to split upon for destruction, not to
stand upon for safety. Lead me to the rock, or as it is in the Prayer
book version, "Set me upon the rock that is higher than I!"
...The text having shown us the danger of sin, does not leave us
comfortless; it shows us the security of the refuge. We have before
remarked, that the prayer of David, as a shipwrecked man, is, to be "led
to, "and set upon a rock, that is higher than himself. The
expression seems to imply much. The rock that is higher than he, must be
higher than any man; for David was a mighty monarch. He implies,
therefore, that the refuge he seeks must be more than any "arm of
flesh" can afford him; it must be therefore divine. Condensed from a
Sermon by Fountain Elwin, 1842.
Verse
2. It is more the image of one overtaken by the tide, as he is
hastening onwards to get beyond its reach, and yet with every step he sees it
rolling nearer and nearer to him; he hears its angry roar, the loosening sand
sinks beneath his tread—a few minutes more, and the waves will be around him;
despair hath "overwhelmed his heart; "when in the very depths
of his agony he sees a point of rock high above the waves. "O that I could
reach it and be safe!" And then comes the cry, the agonizing cry, to him
that is mighty to save, Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. It is
the sinner's cry to the sinner's Saviour! Barton Bouchier, A.M., in "Manna
in the Heart; or, Daily Comments on the Book of Psalms," 1855.
Verse
2. Lead me to the rock. If we would find ourselves upon the
rock, and enjoy the realisation of being so, we must be dependent upon
another's hand. And that hand can do everything for us, even in our worst of
times. When we are so blinded by the salt waves that dash in our eyes, so
reeling in brain that we perhaps cannot think, much less make continuous
efforts, there is a hand which can lead us, which can draw us out of the
waters, which can set our feet upon the rock. Surely we have already
experienced the power and tenderness of that hand? and it may be that in the
reader's case, the waves, as they made sure of their prey, found it
supernaturally drawn forth from them, that it might be set upon a rock,
immoveable amid all the waters, and sufficient amid all storms! Philip
Bennett Power.
Verse
2. The rock that is higher than I. The rock of our salvation,
then, is "higher than we." Here we have the Deity of Christ, the
Rock, set forth; in this he is "higher than we." And except as he is
thus higher, as he is God, he could not be a Saviour; for "He is a just
God, as well as a Saviour." A being no higher than we, or but a little
higher, as the angels (for we are but "a little lower than they"),
though he might teach us, or warn us, or console us, could never save us. The
prey is in the hands of the mighty, and the Almighty alone is mightier. But a
rock is not only high, but deep; it not only erects its front above the waves,
but its base is fixed in the ocean's bed. "Canst thou by searching find
out God? canst thou find our the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as
heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure
thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." Job 11:7.
Here we have the humanity of him who is the rock; that humanity by which he was
able to go down to the deeps, as well as ride triumphantly on the bosom of the
waters—those deeps, whereof David speaking experimentally of himself, spake
prophetically of him; the depths of our fall and degradation—that humanity in
which he went down into the grave, into the recesses of the intermediate state,
and "preached to the spirits in prison." This is our rock, both deep
and high; the rock of our salvation; to which those whose sons have set them at
"the end of the earth, "desire to be brought, that they may find a
place of safe standing. Let not those fear who feel the bitterness of distance
from God, for they shall be brought nigh; desolate may be the coast to which
they are driven, but over against it is the Paradise of God; clouds and
darkness may gather at the base of this rock of safety, but "eternal
sunshine settles in its head." Alfred Bowen Evans.
Verse
2. Higher. A hiding place must be locus exelsissimus.
Your low houses are soon scaled. Jesus Christ is a high place; he is as high as
heaven. He is the Jacob's ladder that reacheth from earth to heaven. Ge 28:12.
He is too high for men, too high for devils; no creature can scale these high
walls. Ralph Robinson (1614-1655), in "Christ All and in All."
Verse
4. I will abide in thy tabernacle. Some render it, I shall
dwell in thy tent or pavilion royal, making it a metaphor from
warfare, where those that are in the king's own tent must needs be in greatest
safety. And this sense suits well with the following words: I will trust in
the covert of thy wings. John Trapp.
Verse
4. Covert of thy wings. To a person who should penetrate the
Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, the most conspicuous object would be the
outspread wings above the mercyseat: under their shelter and upon the mercyseat
David would abide in quiet confidence. C. H. S.
Verse
5. (first clause). About this time I began to know that there
is a God who hears and answers prayer. John Newton, in his Journal.
Verse
5. Thou, O God, hast heard my vows: that is, his prayers,
which are always to be put up with vows. Indeed, that prayer is a blank which
hath not a vow in it. Is it a mercy thou prayest him to give? If sincere, thou
wilt vow to praise him for it, and serve him with it. Is it a sin thou prayest
against? Except you juggle with God, thou wilt vow as well as pray against it. William
Gurnall.
Verse
5. The heritage. Eternal life is called an inheritance.
Theodoret remarks: "The true inheritance is eternal life, concerning which
Christ saith to the sheep on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world. This
inheritance the Lord giveth to them that fear him." In Eph 1:14, the
Spirit is called "the earnest of our inheritance." In Col 1:12, the
apostle exhorts them "to give thanks unto the Father, who hath made them
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." On this
verse we have the golden comment of Chrysostom, reiterated by Theophylact. He
calls it an inheritance, to show that no man obtaineth the kingdom by his own
good works; for no man hath so lived as to render himself worthy of the
kingdom, but all is of the grace of God. Wherefore he saith, "When ye have
done all, say that we are unprofitable servants, for we have only done that
which we ought to have done." John Caspar Suicer's
"Thesaurus," 1728.
Verse
6. Thou wilt prolong the king's life, etc. David cannot be
considered as using these words of gratulation with an exclusive reference to
himself. It is true that he lived to an extreme old age, and died full of days,
leaving the kingdom in a settled condition, and in the hands of his son, who
succeeded him; but he did not exceed the period of one man's life, and the
greater part of it was spent in continued dangers and anxieties. There can be
no doubt, therefore, that the series of years, and even ages, of which he
speaks, extends prospectively to the coming of Christ, it being the very
condition of the kingdom, as I have often remarked, that God maintained them as
one people under on head, or when scattered, united them again. The same
succession still subsists in reference to ourselves. Christ must be viewed as
living in his members to the end of the world. To this Isaiah alludes when he
says, "Who shall declare his generation or age?"—words in which he
predicts that the church would survive through all ages, notwithstanding the
incessant danger of destruction to which it is exposed through the attacks of
its enemies, and the many storms assailing it. So here David foretells the
uninterrupted succession of the kingdom down to the time of Christ. John
Calvin.
Verse
6. The king's life: and his years. David speaks designedly of
the days of the king instead of his own days, as might have been
expected from what had been said, for the purpose of showing that he considered
the promise of eternal dominion as relating not to himself personally, but to
his family—the royal family of David. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Verse
7. O prepare mercy. David having declared in his own behalf
the purpose of God towards him for everlasting salvation, he, speaking
of himself, shall abide before God for ever: he withal considering what
he was to run through in this life, and what it might require to keep him unto
the end, and so for ever, doth presently thereupon, in way of prayer,
subjoin prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve me. As if he had
said, I have yet a long journey to go, and through many hazards, and thy
promise is, I shall abide before thee for ever. Lord, thou hast need lay
up and aforehand prepare an abundance of mercy and truth to preserve me for
time to come. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse
8. They that are godly are oppressed and vexed in the church or congregation
for this purpose: that when they are pressed, they should cry; and when they
cry, that they should be heard; and when they are heard, that they should laud
and praise God. Augustine.
Whole
Psalm. The progressive I wills.
1.
I will cry.
2. I will abide in thy tabernacle.
3. I will trust.
4. I will sing praise.
Verse
1. Answers to prayer to be earnestly sought.
1.
What hinders the answer of prayer?
2.
What is our duty when answers are denied?
3.
What encouragements we have to believe that the delay is only temporary.
Verse
2. Lead me.
1.
Show me the way: reveal Jesus.
2.
Enable me to tread it: work faith in me.
3.
Uplift me when I cannot tread: do for me what is beyond me.
Verse
2. Higher than I. Jesus greater than our highest efforts,
attainments, desires, expectations, conceptions.
Verse
2. God, the saint's rock. John Owen's Two Sermons. Works.
Vol. 9, pp. 237-256.
Verse
2. The heart's cry and desire.
1.
A recognition of a place of safety; then,
2.
We have this place brought before us, as abundantly sufficient, when personal
weakness has been realised.
3.
This place cannot be attained without the help of another's hand.
4.
The character of this refuge, and the position of a believer when availing himself
of it: the place of refuge is "a rock, "and the position of the
believer is "upon a rock." P. B. Power.
Verses
2-3.
1. How
would he pray? I will cry unto thee.
2. Where
would he pray? From the ends of the earth.
3. When
would he pray? When my heart is overwhelmed.
4. For
what would he pray? Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
5. Whence
does he derive his encouragement to pray? For thou hast been, etc. (Ps 61:3). William
Jay.
Verse
3. A shelter from the rain of trouble, the storm of
persecution, the floods of Satanic temptation, the heat of divine wrath, the
blast of death. The ark, Lot's mountain, the blood stained door in Egypt, the
city of refuge, the cave Adullam. A strong tower: lasting in itself,
impregnable against foes, secure for the occupant.
Verse
5. (second clause). Enquire whether or no it fares with us as
with the saints.
Verses
5, 8.
1.
Vows heard in heaven.
2. Vows to be carefully fulfilled on earth.
Verse
5. (second clause).
1.
They that fear God have a "heritage."
2. This heritage is "given."
3. We may know that we possess it. William Jay.
Verse
6. Our King, his eternal existence, our personal joy in this, and
our joy for our descendants.
Verses
4, 7.
1.
My privilege, I will abide (Ps 61:4).
2. The ground of it, He shall abide, etc. (Ps 61:7).
Verses
5, 8.
1.
Vows heard in heaven.
2. Vows to be carefully fulfilled on earth.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》