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Psalm Sixty-two
Psalm 62
Chapter Contents
David's confidence in God. (1-7) No trust to be put in
worldly things. (8-12)
Commentary on Psalm 62:1-7
(Read Psalm 62:1-7)
We are in the way both of duty and comfort, when our
souls wait upon God; when we cheerfully give up ourselves, and all our affairs,
to his will and wisdom; when we leave ourselves to all the ways of his
providence, and patiently expect the event, with full satisfaction in his
goodness. See the ground and reason of this dependence. By his grace he has
supported me, and by his providence delivered me. He only can be my Rock and my
salvation; creatures are nothing without him, therefore I will look above them
to him. Trusting in God, the heart is fixed. If God be for us, we need not fear
what man can do against us. David having put his confidence in God, foresees
the overthrow of his enemies. We have found it good to wait upon the Lord, and
should charge our souls to have such constant dependence upon him, as may make
us always easy. If God will save my soul, I may well leave every thing else to
his disposal, knowing all shall turn to my salvation. And as David's faith in
God advances to an unshaken stedfastness, so his joy in God improves into a
holy triumph. Meditation and prayer are blessed means of strengthening faith
and hope.
Commentary on Psalm 62:8-12
(Read Psalm 62:8-12)
Those who have found the comfort of the ways of God
themselves, will invite others into those ways; we shall never have the less
for others sharing with us. the good counsel given is, to trust wholly in God.
We must so trust in him at all times, as not at any time to put that trust in
ourselves, or in any creature, which is to be put in him only. Trust in him to
guide us when in doubt, to protect us when in danger, to supply us when in
want, to strengthen us for every good word and work. We must lay out wants and
our wishes before him, and then patiently submit our wills to his: this is
pouring out our hearts. God is a refuge for all, even for as many as will take
shelter in him. The psalmist warns against trusting in men. The multitude,
those of low degree, are changeable as the wind. The rich and noble seem to
have much in their power, and lavish promises; but those that depend on them,
are disappointed. Weighed in the balance of Scripture, all that man can do to
make us happy is lighter than vanity itself. It is hard to have riches, and not
to trust in them if they increase, though by lawful and honest means; but we
must take heed, lest we set our affections unduly upon them. A smiling world is
the most likely to draw the heart from God, on whom alone it should be set. The
consistent believer receives all from God as a trust; and he seeks to use it to
his glory, as a steward who must render an account. God hath spoken as it were
once for all, that power belongs to him alone. He can punish and destroy. Mercy
also belongs to him; and his recompensing the imperfect services of those that
believe in him, blotting out their transgressions for the Redeemer's sake, is a
proof of abundant mercy, and encourages us to trust in him. Let us trust in his
mercy and grace, and abound in his work, expecting mercies from him alone.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 62
Verse 3
[3] How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye
shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering
fence.
Ye — Mine enemies; to whom now he turns his speech.
Against — Against me, a man like yourselves, whom common
humanity obliges you to pity.
Verse 9
[9] Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high
degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than
vanity.
Vanity — Vain, and helpless creatures.
A lie — They promise much, but generally deceive those who
trust in them.
Verse 10
[10] Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery:
if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
Vain — Feeding yourselves with vain hopes of felicity, from
those riches which you take from others by violence.
Verse 11
[11] God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that
power belongeth unto God.
Spoken — Frequently, both immediately as at Sinai, and by his
holy prophets, from time to time.
That — That power is God's prerogative; and consequently all
creatures, either against or without him, are poor impotent things.
Verse 12
[12] Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou
renderest to every man according to his work.
Therefore — God is almighty, therefore he can
easily destroy all his enemies: he is also merciful, and therefore will pardon
good mens failings.
Renderest — And this as he is obliged to do
by his holy nature, so is he able to do it, being omnipotent, and willing to do
it to the godly (which was the only thing that might be doubted, because of
their manifold miscarriages) because he is merciful and gracious.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Other Works
TITLE. To the
Chief Musician, to Jeduthun. This is the second Psalm which is dedicated to
Jeduthun, or Ethan, the former one being the thirty-ninth, a Psalm which is
almost a twin with this in many respects, containing in the original the word
translated only four times as this does six. We shall meet with two
other Psalms similarly appointed for Jeduthun: namely, Psalms 77, and 89. The
sons of Jeduthun were porters or doorkeepers, according to 1Ch 16:42. Those who
serve well make the best of singers, and those who occupy the highest posts in
the choir must not be ashamed to wait at the posts of the doors of the Lord's
house. A PSALM OF DAVID. Even had not the signature of the royal poet
been here placed, we should have been sure from internal evidence that he alone
penned these stanzas; they are truly Davidic. From the sixfold use of the word ac
or only, we have been wont to call it THE ONLY PSALM.
DIVISION. The Psalmist
has marked his own pauses, by inserting SELAH at the end of Ps 62:4,8.
His true and sole confidence in God laughs to scorn all its enemies. When this
Psalm was composed it was not necessary for us to know, since true faith is
always in season, and is usually under trial. Moreover, the sentiments here
uttered are suitable to occasions which are very frequent in a believer's life,
and therefore no one historic incident is needful for their explanation.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Truly, or verily, or only. The last is probably the most
prominent sense here. That faith alone is true which rests on God alone, that
confidence which relies but partly on the Lord is vain confidence. If we Anglicized
the word by our word verily, as some do, we should have here a striking
reminder of our blessed Lord's frequent use of that adverb. My soul waiteth
upon God. My inmost self draws near in reverent obedience to God. I am no
hypocrite or mere posture maker. To wait upon God, and for God, is the habitual
position of faith; to wait on him truly is sincerity; to wait on him only is
spiritual chastity. The original is, "only to God is my soul
silence." The presence of God alone could awe his heart into quietude,
submission, rest, and acquiescence; but when that was felt, not a rebellious
word or thought broke the peaceful silence. The proverb that speech is silver
but silence is gold, is more than true in this case. No eloquence in the world
is half so full of meaning as the patient silence of a child of God. It is an
eminent work of grace to bring down the will and subdue the affections to such
a degree, that the whole mind lies before the Lord like the sea beneath the
wind, ready to be moved by every breath of his mouth, but free from all inward
and self caused emotion, as also from all power to be moved by anything other
than the divine will. We should be wax to the Lord, but adamant to every other
force. From him cometh my salvation. The good man will, therefore, in patience
possess his soul till deliverance comes: faith can hear the footsteps of coming
salvation, because she has learned to be silent. Our salvation in no measure or
degree comes to us from any inferior source; let us, therefore, look alone to
the true fountain, and avoid the detestable crime of ascribing to the creature
what belongs alone to the Creator. If to wait on God be worship, to wait on the
creature is idolatry; if to wait on God alone be true faith, to associate an
arm of the flesh with him is audacious unbelief.
Verse
2. He only is my rock and my salvation. Sometimes a metaphor
may be more full of meaning and more suggestive than literal speech: hence the
use of the figure of a rock, the very mention of which would awaken grateful
memories in the psalmists's mind. David had often lain concealed in rocky
caverns, and here he compares his God to such a secure refuge; and, indeed,
declares him to be his only real protection, all-sufficient in himself and
never failing. At the same time, as if to show us that what he wrote was not
mere poetic sentiment but blessed reality, the literal word salvation
follows the figurative expression: that our God is our refuge is no fiction,
nothing in the world is more a matter of fact. He is my defence, my height, my
lofty rampart, my high fort. Here we have another and bolder image; the tried
believer not only abides in God as in a cavernous rock; but dwells in him as a
warrior in some bravely defiant tower or lordly castle. I shall not be greatly
moved. His personal weakness might cause him to be somewhat moved; but his
faith would come in to prevent any very great disturbance; not much would he be
tossed about. Moved, as one says, "but not removed." Moved
like a ship at anchor which swings with the tide, but is not swept away by the
tempest. When a man knows assuredly that the Lord is his salvation, he cannot
be very much cast down: it would need more than all the devils in hell greatly
to alarm a heart which knows God to be its salvation.
Verse
3. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? It is
always best to begin with God, and then we may confront our enemies. Make all
sure with heaven, then may you grapple with earth and hell. David expostulates
with his insensate foes; he marvels at their dogged perseverance in malice,
after so many failures and with certain defeat before them. He tells them that
their design was an imaginary one, which they never could accomplish however
deeply they might plot. It is a marvel that men will readily enough continue in
vain and sinful courses, and yet to persevere in grace is so great a difficulty
as to be an impossibility, were it not for divine assistance. The persistency
of those who oppose the people of God is so strange that we may well
expostulate with them and say, "How long will ye thus display your
malice?" A hint is given in the text as to the cowardliness of so many
pressing upon one man; but none are less likely to act a fair and manly part
than those who are opposed to God's people for righteousness' sake. Satan could
not enter into combat with Job in fair duel, but must needs call in the Sabeans
and Chaldeans, and even then must borrow the lightning and the wind before his
first attack was complete. If there were any shame in him, or in his children,
they would be ashamed of the dastardly manner in which they have waged war
against the seed of the woman. Ten thousand to one has not seemed to them too
mean an advantage; there is not a drop of chivalrous blood in all their veins.
Ye shall be slain all of you. Your edged tools will cut your own fingers. Those
who take the sword shall perish with the sword. However many or fierce the
bands of the wicked may be, they shall not escape the just retribution of
heaven; rigorously shall the great Lawgiver exact blood from men of blood, and
award death to those who seek the death of others.
As
a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. Boastful persecutors bulge
and swell with pride, but they are only as a bulging wall ready to fall in a
heap; they lean forward to seize their prey, but it is only as a tottering
fence inclines to the earth upon which it will soon lie at length. They expect
men to bow to them, and quake for fear in their presence; but men made bold by
faith see nothing in them to honour, and very, very much to despise. It is
never well on our part to think highly of ungodly persons; whatever their
position, they are near their destruction, they totter to their fall; it will
be our wisdom to keep our distance, for no one is advantaged by being near a
falling wall; if it does not crush with its weight, it may stifle with its
dust. The passage is thought to be more correctly rendered as
follows:—"How long will ye press on one man, that ye may crush him in a
body, like a toppling wall, a sinking fence?" (So Dr. Kay, of Calcutta,
translates it.) We have, however, kept to our own version as yielding a good
and profitable meaning. Both senses may blend in our meditations; for if
David's enemies battered him as though they could throw him down like a bulging
wall, he, on the other hand, foresaw that they themselves would by retributive
justice be overthrown like an old crumbling, leaning, yielding fence.
Verse
4. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency.
The excellencies of the righteous are obnoxious to the wicked, and the main
object of their fury. The elevation which God gives to the godly in Providence,
or in dispute, is also the envy of the baser sort, and they labour to pull them
down to their own level. Observe the concentration of malice upon our point only,
as here set in contrast with the sole reliance of the gracious one upon his
Lord. If the wicked could but ruin the work of grace in us, they would be
content; to crush our character, to overturn our influence, is the object of
their consultation. They delight in lies; hence they hate the truth and the
truthful, and by falsehood endeavour to compass their overthrow. To lie is base
enough, but to delight in it is one of the blackest marks of infamy. They bless
with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Flattery has ever been a favourite
weapon with the enemies of good men; they can curse bitterly enough when it
serves their turn; meanwhile, since it answers their purpose, they mask their
wrath, and with smooth words pretend to bless those whom they would willingly
tear in pieces. It was fortunate for David that he was well practised in
silence, for to cozening deceivers there is no other safe reply. Selah. Here
pause, and consider with astonishment the futile rancour of unholy men, and the
perfect security of such as rest themselves upon the Lord.
Verse
5. My soul, wait thou only upon God. When we have already
practised a virtue, it is yet needful that we bind ourselves to a continuance
in it. The soul is apt to be dragged away from its anchorage, or is readily
tempted to add a second confidence to the one sole and sure ground of reliance;
we must, therefore, stir ourselves up to maintain the holy position which we
were at first able to assume. Be still silent, O my soul! submit thyself
completely, trust immovably, wait patiently. Let none of thy enemies'
imaginings, consultings, flatteries, or maledictions cause thee to break the
King's peace. Be like the sheep before her shearers, and like thy Lord, conquer
by the passive resistance of victorious patience: thou canst only achieve this
as thou shalt be inwardly persuaded of God's presence, and as you wait solely
and alone on him. Unmingled faith is undismayed. Faith with a single eye sees
herself secure, but if her eye be darkened by two confidences, she is blind and
useless. For my expectation is from him. We expect from God because we believe
in him. Expectation is the child of prayer and faith, and is owned of the Lord
as an acceptable grace. We should desire nothing but what would be right for
God to give, then our expectation would be all from God; and concerning truly
good things we should not look to second causes, but to the Lord alone, and so
again our expectation would be all from him. The vain expectations of worldly
men come not; they promise but there is no performance; our expectations are on
the way, and in due season will arrive to satisfy our hopes. Happy is the man
who feels that all he has, all he wants, and all he expects are to be found in
his God.
Verse
6. He only is my rock and my salvation. Alone, and without
other help, God is the foundation and completion of my safety. We cannot too
often hear the toll of that great bell only; let it ring the death knell
of all carnal reliances, and lead us to cast ourselves on the bare arm of God.
He is my defence. Not my defender only, but my actual protection. I am secure,
because he is faithful. I shall not be moved—not even in the least degree. See
how his confidence grows. In the second verse an adverb qualified his quiet;
here, however, it is absolute; he altogether defies the rage of his
adversaries, he will not stir an inch, nor be made to fear even in the smallest
degree. A living faith grows; experience develops the spiritual muscles of the
saint, and gives a manly force which our religious childhood has not yet
reached.
Verse
7. In God is my salvation and my glory. Wherein should we
glory but in him who saves us? Our honour may well be left with him who secures
our souls. To find all in God, and to glory that it is so, is one of the sure
marks of an enlightened soul. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in
God. He multiplies titles, for he would render much honour to the Lord, whom he
had tried, and proved to be a faithful God under so many aspects. Ignorance needs
but few words, but when experience brings a wealth of knowledge, we need varied
expressions to serve as coffers for our treasure. God who is our rock when we
flee for shelter, is also our strong rock when we stand firm and defy
the foe; he is to be praised under both characters. Observe how the psalmist
brands his own initials upon every name which he rejoicingly gives to his God—my
expectation, my rock, my salvation, my glory, my
strength, my refuge; he is not content to know that the Lord is all these
things; he acts faith towards him, and lays claim to him under every character.
What are the mines of Peru or Golconda to me if I have no inheritance in them?
It is the word my which puts the honey into the comb. If our experience
has not yet enabled us to realise the Lord under any of these consoling titles,
we must seek grace that we may yet be partakers of their sweetness. The bees in
some way or other penetrate the flowers and collect their juices; it must be
hard for them to enter the closed cups and mouthless bags of some of the
favourites of the garden, yet the honey gatherers find or make a passage; and
in this they are our instructors, for into each delightful name, character, and
office of our covenant God our persevering faith must find an entrance, and
from each it must draw delight.
Verse
8. Trust in him at all times. Faith is an abiding duty, a
perpetual privilege. We should trust when we can see, as well as when we are
utterly in the dark. Adversity is a fit season for faith; but prosperity is not
less so. God at all times deserves our confidence. We at all times need to
place our confidence in him. A day without trust in God is a day of wrath, even
if it be a day of mirth. Lean ever, ye saints, on him, on whom the world leans.
Ye people, pour out your heart before him. Ye to whom his love is revealed,
reveal yourselves to him. His heart is set on you, lay bare your hearts to him.
Turn the vessel of your soul upside down in his secret presence, and let your
inmost thoughts, desires, sorrows, and sins be poured out like water. Hide
nothing from him, for you can hide nothing. To the Lord unburden your
soul; let him be your only father confessor, for he only can absolve you when
he has heard your confession. To keep our griefs to ourselves is to hoard up
wretchedness. The stream will swell and rage if you dam it up: give it a clear
course, and it leaps along and creates no alarm. Sympathy we need, and if we
unload our hearts at Jesus' feet, we shall obtain a sympathy as practical as it
is sincere, as consolatory as it is ennobling. The writer in the Westminster
Assembly's Annotations well observes that it is the tendency of our wicked
nature to bite on the bridle, and hide our grief in sullenness; but the
gracious soul will overcome this propensity, and utter its sorrow before the
Lord. God is a refuge for us. Whatever he may be to others, his own people have
a peculiar heritage in him; for us he is undoubtedly a refuge: here then
is the best of reasons for resorting to him whenever sorrows weigh upon our
bosoms. Prayer is peculiarly the duty of those to whom the Lord has specially
revealed himself as their defence. SELAH. Precious pause! Timely silence! Sheep
may well lie down when such pasture is before them.
Verse
9. Surely men of low degree are vanity. Here the word is only
again; men of low degree are only vanity, nothing more. They are many and
enthusiastic, but they are not to be depended on; they are mobile as the waves
of the sea, ready to be driven to and fro by any and every wind; they cry "Hosanna"
today, and "Crucify him" tomorrow. The instability of popular
applause is a proverb; as well build a house with smoke as find comfort in the
adulation of the multitude. As the first son of Adam was called Abel or vanity,
so here we are taught that all the sons of Adam are Abels: it were well if they
were all so in character as well as in name; but alas! in this respect, too
many of them are Cains. And men of high degree are a lie. That is worse. We
gain little by putting our trust in the aristocracy, they are not one whit
better than the democracy: nay, they are even worse, for we expect something
from them, but get nothing. May we not trust the elite? Surely reliance
may be placed in the educated, the chivalrous, the intelligent? For this reason
are they a lie; because they promise so much, and in the end, when relied upon,
yield nothing but disappointment. How wretched is that poor man who puts his
trust in princes. The more we rely upon God, the more shall we perceive the
utter hollowness of every other confidence. To be laid in the balance, they are
altogether lighter than vanity. Take a true estimate of them; judge them
neither by quantity nor by appearance, but by weight, and they will no longer
deceive you. Calmly deliberate, quietly ponder, and your verdict will be that
which inspiration here records. Vainer than vanity itself are all human
confidences: the great and the mean, alike, are unworthy of our trust. A
feather has some weight in the scale, vanity has none, and creature confidence
has less than that: yet such is the universal infatuation, that mankind prefer
an arm of flesh to the power of the invisible but almighty Creator; and even
God's own children are too apt to be bitten with this madness.
Verse
10. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery.
Wealth ill gotten is the trust only of fools, for the deadly pest lies in it;
it is full of canker, it reeks with God's curse. To tread down the poor and
silence their cries for justice, is the delight of many a braggart bully, who
in his arrogance imagines that he may defy both God and man; but he is warned
in these words, and it will be well for him if he takes the warning, for the
Judge of all the earth will surely visit upon men the oppression of the
innocent, and the robbery of the poor: both of these may be effected legally in
the courts of man, but no twistings of the law, no tricks and evasions will
avail with the Court of Heaven. If riches increase, set not your heart upon
them. If they grow in an honest, providential manner, as the result of industry
or commercial success, do not make much account of the circumstance; be not
unduly elated, do not fix your love upon your money bags. To bow an immortal
spirit to the constant contemplation of fading possessions is extreme folly.
Shall those who call the Lord their glory, glory in yellow earth? Shall the
image and superscription of Caesar deprive them of communion with him who is
the image of the invisible God? As we must not rest in men, so neither must we
repose in money. Gain and fame are only so much foam of the sea. All the wealth
and honour the whole world can afford would be too slender a thread to bear up
the happiness of an immortal soul.
Verse
11. God hath spoken once. So immutable is God that he need not
speak twice, as though he had changed; so infallible, that one utterance
suffices, for he cannot err; so omnipotent, that his solitary word achieves all
his designs. We speak often and say nothing; God speaks once and utters eternal
verities. All our speaking may yet end in sound; but he speaks, and it is done;
he commands, and it stands fast. Twice have I heard this. Our meditative soul
should hear the echo of God's voice again and again. What he speaks once in
revelation, we should be always hearing. Creation and providence are evermore
echoing the voice of God; "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
We have two ears, that we may hear attentively, and the spiritual have inner
ears with which they hear indeed. He hears twice in the best sense who hears
with his heart as well as his ears. That power belongeth unto God. He is the
source of it, and in him it actually abides. This one voice of God we ought
always to hear, so as to be preserved from putting our trust in creatures in
whom there can be no power, since all power is in God. What reason for faith is
here! It can never be unwise to rest upon the almighty arm. Out of all troubles
he can release us, under all burdens sustain us, while men must fail us at the
last, and may deceive us even now. May our souls hear the thunder of Jehovah's
voice as he claims all power, and henceforth may we wait only upon God!
Verse
12. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy. This tender
attribute sweetens the grand thought of his power: the divine strength will not
crush us, but will be used for our good. God is so full of mercy that it
belongs to him, as if all the mercy in the universe came from God, and still
was claimed by him as his possession. His mercy, like his power, endureth for
ever, and is ever present in him, ready to be revealed, For thou renderest to
every man according to his work. This looks rather like justice than mercy; but
if we understand it to mean that God graciously rewards the poor, imperfect
works of his people, we see in it a clear display of mercy. May it not also
mean that according to the work he allots us is the strength which he renders
to us? he is not a hard master; he does not bid us make bricks without straw,
but he metes out to us strength equal to our day. In either meaning we have
power and mercy blended, and have a double reason for waiting only upon God.
Man neither helps us nor rewards us; God will do both. In him power and grace
are eternally resident; our faith should therefore patiently hope and quietly
wait, for we shall surely see the salvation of God. Deo soli gloria. All
glory be to God only.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Psalms
62, and 63 compared. ONLY AND EARLY. There is a sweet and profitable lesson
taught us in Psalms 62 and 63. The heart is ever prone to divide its confidence
between God and the creature. This will never do. We must "wait only
upon God." "He only"must be our "rock, "our
"salvation, "and our "defence." Then we are frequently
tempted to look to an arm of flesh first, and when that fails us, we
look to God. This will never do either. He must be our first as well as
our only resource. "O God, thou art my God, early will I
seek thee." This is the way in which the heart should ever treat the
blessed God. This is the lesson of Psalm 63. When we have learnt the blessedness
of seeking God "only, "we shall be sure to seek him "early."
Charles Mackintosh, in "Things New and Old, "1858.
Whole
Psalm. There is in it throughout not one single word (and this is a rare
occurrence), in which the prophet expresses fear or dejection;
and there is also no prayer in it, although, on other occasions, when in
danger, he never omits to pray... The prophet found himself remarkably well
furnished in reference to that part of piety which consists in pleroforia,
the full assurance and perfection of faith; and therefore he designed to rear a
monument of this his state of mind, for the purpose of stimulating the reader
to the same attainment. Moses Amyraut, 1596-1664.
Whole
Psalm. Athanasius says of this Psalm: "Against all attempts upon
thy body, thy state, thy soul, thy fame, temptations, tribulations,
machinations, defamations", say this Psalm. John Donne.
Verse
1. Only. The particle may be rendered only, as
restrictive; or, surely, as affirmative. Our translators have rendered
it differently in different verses of this Psalm; Ps 62:1, truly; in Ps
62:2,4-6, only; in Ps 62:9, surely. If we render only, the
meaning will be here that God exclusively is the object of trust; if surely,
that this truth, that God is his salvation, has come home to him with a more
lively conviction, with a more blessed certainty than ever. The first line of
the verse rendered literally is, "Only unto God my soul is
silence." J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
1. Truly my soul waiteth upon God, etc. In the use of means,
for answers of prayer, for performance of promises, and for deliverance from
enemies, and out of every trouble: or, is silent, as the Targum; not as
to prayer, but as to murmuring; patiently and quietly waiting for salvation
until the Lord's time come to give it; being subject to him, as the
Septuagint, Vulgate, Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions; resigned to his
will, and patient under his afflicting hand: it denotes a quiet, patient
waiting on the Lord, and not merely bodily exercise in outward ordinances; but
an inward frame of spirit, a soul waiting on the Lord, and that in truth and
reality, in opposition to mere form and show. John Gill.
Verse
1. Truly my soul waiteth upon God; or, as the Hebrew, My
soul is silent. Indeed, waiting on God for deliverance, in an afflicted
state, consists much in a holy silence. It is a great mercy, in an affliction,
to have our bodily senses, so as not to lie raving, but still and quiet, much
more to have the heart silent and patient; and we find the heart is as soon
heated into a distemper as the head. Now what the sponge is to the cannon, when
hot with often shooting, hope is to the soul in multiplied afflictions; it
cools the spirit and makes it meeker it, so that it doth not break out into
distempered thoughts or words against God. (See also Ps 62:5.) William
Gurnall.
Verse
1. Waiteth. Waiting is nothing else but hope and trust
lengthened. John Trapp.
Verse
1. My soul is silent before God. As if he had said: to me as
a man God has put in subjection all his creatures; to me as a king he has
subjected the whole of Judaea, the Philistines, the Moabites, Syrians,
Idumeans, Ammonites, and other tribes; having taken me from the sheep cotes he
has adorned me with a crown and sceptre now these thirty years, and extended my
kingdom to the sea, and to the great river Euphrates; it is not without reason,
then, that I subject myself to God alone in this affliction, wherein Absalom
thirsts to crush me, especially since he reveals the deliverance prepared for
me, and from him alone can I expect it. Thomas Le Blanc—1669, in Psalmorum
Davidicorum Analysis.
Verse
1. Is silent. The Hebrew word used is hymwd dumijah,
that is, silent, resting, expecting, reflecting, solicitous, and observing.
For, first, we ought to be subject to God as silent disciples before a
master...Whatever God has allowed to happen to me, yet I will be silent before
him, and from my heart admire, both enduring his strokes and receiving his
teaching... Secondly, we ought to be subject to God as creatures keeping quiet
before their Creator... "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker."
Isa 45:9. Thirdly, we ought to be subject to God as clay in the hands of the
potter, ready for the form into which he wishes to fashion us... "As
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."
Jer 18:6. Fourthly, we ought to be subject to God, as a maid servant to her
master, observing his wish, even in the most menial affairs... Fifthly, we
ought to be subject to God, as a wife to her husband (sponsa sponso),
who in her love is solicitous and careful to do whatever may be pleasing to
him. "My beloved is mine, and I am his." Canticles 2:16. And, "I
am my beloved's." Canticles 6:3. Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
1. After almost every quiet prayer and holy meditation in the divine
presence, we have the consciousness that there was an ear which heard us, and a
heart that received our sighs. The effect of a silent colloquy with God is so
soothing! There was a time when I used greatly to wonder at these words of Luther:—
"Bear
and forbear, and silent be,
Tell no man thy misery;
Yield not in trouble to dismay,
God can deliver any day."
I
wondered because we feel the outpouring of grief into the heart of a friend to
be so sweet. At the same time, he who talks much of his troubles to men
is apt to fall into a way of saying too little of them to God; while, on
the other hand, he who has often experienced the blessed alleviation which
flows from silent converse with the Eternal, loses much of his desire for the
sympathy of his fellows. It appears to me now as if spreading out our distress too
largely before men served only to make it broader, and to take away its zest;
and hence the proverb, "Talking of trouble makes it double." On the
contrary, if when in distress we can contrive to maintain calm composure of
mind, and to bear it always as in the sight of God, submissively waiting for
succour from him, according to the words of the psalmist, Truly my soul
waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation; in that case, the distress
neither extends in breadth nor sinks in depth. It lies upon the surface of the
heart like the morning mist, which the sun as it ascends dissipates into light
clouds. Agustus F. Tholuck, in "Hours of Christian Devotion,"
1870.
Verse
1. The natural mind is ever prone to reason, when we ought to
believe; to be at work, when we ought to be quiet; to go
our own way, when we ought steadily to walk on in God's ways, however trying to
nature... And how does it work, when we thus anticipate God, by going our own
way? We bring, in many instances, guilt on our conscience; but if not, we
certainly weaken faith, instead of increasing it; and each time we work thus a
deliverance of our own, we find it more and more difficult to trust in God,
till at last we give way entirely to our natural fallen reason, and unbelief
prevails. How different if one is enabled to wait God's own time, and to look
alone to him for help and deliverance! When at last help comes, after many
seasons of prayer it may be, and after much exercise of faith and patience it
may be, how sweet it is, and what a present recompense does the soul at once
receive for trusting in God, and waiting patiently for his deliverance! Dear
Christian reader, if you have never walked in this path of obedience before, do
so now, and you will then know experimentally the sweetness of the joy which
results from it. George Müller, in "A Narrative of some of the Lord's
Dealings," 1856.
Verse
2. I shall not be greatly moved. Grace makes the heart move
leisurely to all things except God. A mortified man is as a sea that hath no
winds, that ebbs not and flows not. The mortified man sings and is not light,
and weeps and is not sad, is zealous but he can quit it for God. Ah! few can
act but they over act. Alexander Carmichael, in "The Believer's
Mortification of Sin," 1677.
Verse
3.
"How
long will ye assault a man?
How long will ye crush him,
As though he were a leaning wall—
|A fence nearly thrust down?" French and Skinner.
Verse
3. Against a man. That sure is but a poetical expression for against
me, i.e., David, the speaker, against whom the neighbouring nations raised
war, and his own subjects rebellions. Thus doth Christ oft speak of himself
under the title of the Son of Man, in the third person; and Paul (2Co
12:2), Oisa anyrwpon, "I knew a man, "i.e., undoubtedly himself.
Henry Hammond.
Verse
3. As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.
Christ gave no blow, but merely asked his murderers whom they sought for; and
yet they fell flat and prostrate to the ground (John 18), so that the wicked
persecutors of the godly are aptly and properly likened and compared to a
tottering and trembling wall. For as soon as ever the blasts of God's wrath and
judgment are moved and kindled against them, they are so quivering and
comfortless, that they would take them to be most their friends who would
soonest despatch them out of the world; as Christ said aptly of them, they
would pray the mountains to fall upon them. Luke 23. John Hooper.
Verse
3. As a bowing wall shall ye be. In consequence of heavy
rains and floods, and unsound foundations, it is very common to see walls much
out of perpendicular; and some of them so much so, that it might be thought
scarcely possible for them to stand. "Poor old Raman is very ill, I hear."
"Yes, the wall is bowing." "Begone, thou low caste! thou art a kuttle
chiover, "that is, "a ruined wall." "By the oppression
of the head man, the people of that village are like a ruined wall." J.
Robert's "Oriental Illustrations."
Verse
3. A bowing wall. A wall, when ill built, bulges out in the
centre, presenting the appearance of nearly twice its actual breadth; but, as
it is hollow within, it soon falls to ruins. The wicked, in like manner, are
dilated with pride, and assume, in their consultations, a most formidable
appearance; but David predicts that they would be brought to unexpected and
utter destruction, like a wall badly constructed, and hollow in the interior,
which falls with a sudden crash, and is broken by its own weight into a
thousand pieces. John Calvin.
Verse
4. They only consult, etc. Truly I am he whom if they
shall consult to cast down from his excellency, they shall delight in a lie,
they shall bless with their mouth and curse inwardly. That is: what I have
said of worldly men, boasting themselves upon a man, falling into ruin, I
desire that you should know that the same fate shall never befall me who trust
in God; for otherwise does the matter stand. Hermann Venema.
Verse
4. Excellency. Rather, elevation; the figure of the
preceding verse being followed out. Religious Tract Society's Notes.
Verse
5. My soul, wait thou only upon God. They trust not God at
all who trust him not alone. He that stands with one foot on a rock,
and another foot upon a quicksand, will sink and perish, as certainly as he
that standeth with both feet upon a quicksand. David knew this, and therefore
calleth earnestly upon his soul (for his business lay most within doors) to
trust only upon God. See Ps 62:1. John Trapp.
Verse
5. My expectation is from him. As if he had said, never will
he frustrate the patient waiting of his saints; doubtless my silence shall meet
with its reward; I shall restrain myself, and not make that false haste which
will only retard my deliverance. John Calvin.
Verse
5. My expectation is from him. In an account of the voyage of
some of the early missionaries who left Hermannsburg for South Africa, is the
following incident:—After a long calm, a brother prayed thus to the Lord for
favouring wind: "Lord, thou givest them that fear thee the desires of
their heart, and dost help them; help us now, that we may no longer be becalmed
upon the sea; help us on our journey, you who ride on the wings of the
wind." He was so joyful over this word of the Lord, that he rose up and
said in his heart: "Now I have already that for which I prayed."
After the prayer, one of the crew stepped over to the helmsman, and said, half
mocking, half in earnest, "So we shall have wind: did you hear the prayer?
It does not look very like it!" So he said, and half an hour after there
came so strong a blast that the waves broke over the ship. William Fleming
Stevenson, in "Praying and Working," 1862.
Verse
5. He shifts much needless labour, and provideth great contentment,
who closes himself with God alone. To deal with man alone, apart from God, is
both an endless and fruitless labour. If we have counsel to ask, help or
benefit to obtain, or approbation to seek, there is none end with man: for
every man we must have sundry reasons and motives; and what pleaseth one will
offend twenty: as many heads, as many wits and fancies. No man can give
contentment to all, or change himself into so many fashions, as he shall
encounter humours; and yet it is more easy to take sundry fashions than to be
acceptable in them. William Struther.
Verses
6-7. Twice in this Psalm hath he repeated this, in the second and in
the sixth verses, He is my rock and my salvation, and my defence, and
(as it is enlarged in the seventh verse) my refuge and my glory. If my defence,
what temptation shall wound me? If my rock, what storm shall shake me?
If my salvation, what melancholy shall defeat me? If my glory,
what calumny shall defame me? John Dunne.
Verses
6-7. How quickly the soul of the faithful returns again to the God of
its confidence. He spared a moment to admonish the ungodly, but like the dove
of Noah he returns to the ark. Observe how the expressions of this holy
confidence are repeated, with every pleasing variety of expression, to denote
the comfort of his heart. Reader, ask yourself—are such views of Christ your
views of him? Do you know him in those covenant characters? Is Jesus your rock,
your salvation, your defence? Robert Hawker, D.D.
Verse
7. (first clause). On the shields of the Greeks, Neptune was
depicted; on the shields of the Trojans, Minerva; because in them they put
their confidence, and in their protection deemed themselves secure... Now,
Christ is the insignia of our shields. Often does David say, God is his
protector. The Hebrew is magen; that is, shield, buckler, as Ps 18:2,30.
Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
7. There are several names of God given in this verse, that so every
soul may take with him that name which may minister most comfort to him. Let
him that is pursued by any particular temptation, invest God, as God is a
refuge, a sanctuary; let him that is buffeted with Satan, battered with his
own concupiscence receive God, as God is his defence and target;
let him that is shaked with perplexities in his understanding, or scruples in
his conscience, lay hold on God, as God is his rock and his anchor;
let him that hath any diffident jealousy and suspicion of the free and full
mercy of God, apprehend God, as God is his salvation; and let him that
walks in the ingloriousness and contempt of the world, contemplate God, as God
is glory. Any of these notions is enough to any man; but God is all
these, and all else, that all souls can think, to every man. Abraham Wright.
Verse
9. Other doctrines, moral or civil instructions, may be delivered to
us possibly, and probably, and likely, and credibly, and under the like terms
and modifications, but this in our text, is assuredly, undoubtedly, undeniably,
irrefragably, Surely men of low degree, etc. For howsoever when they two
are compared together with one another, it may admit discourse and disputation,
whether men of high degree, or of low degree, do most violate the laws of God;
that is, whether prosperity or adversity make men most obnoxious to sin; yet,
when they come to be compared, not with one another, but both with God, this
asseveration, this surely reaches to both: "Surely men of low
degree are vanity, and, as surely, men of high degree are a lie."
And though this may seem to leave room for men of middle ranks, and fortunes,
and places, that there is a mediocrity that might give an assurance, and an
establishment, yet there is no such thing in this case; (as surely
still) to be laid in the balance, they are all (not of low, and all of
high degree, all rich, and all poor), but all, of all conditions, altogether
lighter than vanity. Now, all this doth destroy, not extinguish, not
annihilate, that affection in man, of hope and trust, and confidence in
anything; but it rectifies that hope, and trust, and confidence, and directs it
upon the right object. Trust not in flesh, but in spiritual things, that we
neither bend our hope downward, to infernal spirits, to seek help in witches;
nor miscarry it upward, to seek it in saints or angels, but fix it in him who
is nearer to us than our own souls—our blessed, and gracious, and powerful God,
who in this one Psalm is presented unto us by so many names of assurance and
confidence: "my expectation, my salvation, my rock, my defence, my
glory, my strength, my refuge, "and the rest... Men of high degree
are a lie. The Holy Ghost hath been pleased to vary the phrase here, and to
call men of high degree not "vanity, " but a lie;
because the poor, men of low degree, in their condition promise no assistance,
feed not men with hope, and therefore cannot be said to lie; but in the
condition of men of high degree, who are of power, there is a tacit promise, a
natural and inherent assurance of protection and assistance flowing from them.
For the magistrate cannot say that he never promised me justice, never promised
me protection; for in his assuming that place, he made me that promise. I
cannot say that I never promised my parish my service; for in my induction I
made them that promise, and if I perform it not I am a lie: for so this
word chasab (which we translate a lie) is frequently used in the
Scriptures, for that which is defective in the duty it should perform:
"Thou shalt be a spring of water" (says God in Isaiah), cujus
aquae non mentiuntur, "whose waters never lie; "that is, never
dry, never fail. So, then, when men of high degree do not perform the duties of
their places, then they are a lie of their own making; and when I over magnify
them in their place, flatter them, humour them, ascribe more to them, expect
more from them, rely more upon them than I should, then they are a lie of my
making... To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than
vanity. Vanity is nothing, but there is a condition worse than nothing.
Confidence in the things or persons of this world, but most of all a confidence
in ourselves, will bring us at last to that state wherein we would fain be
nothing, and cannot. But yet we have a balance in our text; and all
these are but put together in one balance. In the other scale there is
something put too, in comparison whereof all this world is so light. God does
not leave our great and noble faculty and affection of hope, and trust, and
confidence without something to direct itself upon, and rectify itself in. He
does not: for, for that he proposes himself. The words immediately before the
text are, God is a refuge; and, in comparison of him, To be laid in
the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. John Donne.
Verse
9. Surely men of low degree are vanity.
"Who
over the herd would wish to reign,
Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain!
Vain as the leaf upon the stream,
And fickle as a changeful dream;
Fantastic as a woman's mood,
And fierce as Frenzy's fevered blood,
Thou many headed monster thing,
O, who would wish to be thy king!"
—Walter Scott (1771-1832).
Verse
9. Surely men of low degree are vanity, etc. Or, sons of
Adam; of the earthly man; of fallen Adam; one of his immediate sons was
called Hebel, vanity; and it is true of all his sons, but here it
designs only one sort of them; such as are poor and low in the world; mean men,
as the phrase is rendered in Isa 2:9; these are subject to sinful vanity; their
thoughts are vain, their affections vain, their minds vain, their conversation
vain, sinful, foolish, fallacious, and inconstant. John Gill.
Verse
9. Men... are a lie. An active lie—they deceive others; and a
passive lie—they are deceived by others; and they who are most actively a lie,
are most usually and most deservedly a passive lie, or fed with lies. Joseph
Caryl.
Verse
9. Lighter than vanity. If there were any one among men
immortal, not liable to sin, or change, whom it were impossible for any one to
overcome, but who was strong as an angel, such a one might be something; but
inasmuch as every one is a man, a sinner, mortal, weak, liable to sickness and
death, exposed to pain and terror, like Pharaoh, even from the most
insignificant animals, and liable to so many miseries that it is impossible to
count them, the conclusion must be a valid one: "Man is nothing." Arndt.
Verse
10. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery.
Now this robbery and wrong is done two manner of ways—to God and to man. He
that putteth his trust for salvation in any other, save in God, loses not only
his salvation, but also robs God of his glory, and does God manifest wrong, as
much as lieth in him; as the wicked people amongst the Jews did, who said as
long as they honoured and trusted unto the queen of heaven, all things
prospered with them; but when they hearkened to the true preachers of God's
word, all things came into a worse state, and they were overwhelmed with scarcity
and trouble. Hosea 2; Jeremiah 44. He also that puts his trust and confidence
in any learning or doctrine beside God's word, not only falls into error and
loses the truth; but also, as much as lies in him, he robs God's book of his
sufficient truth and verity, and ascribes it to the book of men's decrees;
which is as much wrong to God and his book as may be thought or done. In which
robbery, or rather sacrilege, no man should put his trust, as the prophet
saith. John Hooper.
Verse
10. Become not vain in robbery. What? would he have them
serious in robbery? No; the meaning is this: do not trust in a thing of nought;
if you rob, oppress, deceive, or wrong others, you trust in a vain thing—in a
thing that is not—in a thing that will never do you good: there will be no
tack, no hold in anything got in such a manner. When you think to get riches by
wrong dealing, or closely circumventing others, you become vain in robbery.
Joseph Caryl.
Verse
10. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. We naturally
love riches, and therefore as naturally spend many thoughts, both how to get
and how to keep them. If a man have riches, or an increase in riches, it is not
unlawful for him to think of them (yet we should be as sparing of our thoughts
that way as may be, our thoughts and the bent of our souls should always be
upon God), but that which the psalmist forbids is the settling of our hearts;
as if he had said, Let not your thoughts stay or dwell here. Riches are
themselves transient things, therefore they should have but our transient
thoughts. Set not your hearts upon them, for they may quickly be
unsettled. Samuel bespoke Saul in the same language about a worldly
concernment, when he went out to seek his father's asses: "Set not thy
mind on them." 1Sa 9:20. It is like Saul was overburdened with this
thought, "What's become of, or what shall I do for, my father's
asses?" "Be not solicitous about them, "saith Samuel,
"greater things are towards thee." Joseph Caryl.
Verse
10. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. Consider
what is here meant by "riches." Indeed, some may imagine that it is
hardly possible to mistake the meaning of this common word. Yet, in truth,
there are thousands in this mistake; and many of them quite innocently. A
person of note hearing a sermon preached upon this subject several years since,
between surprise and indignation, broke out aloud, "Why does he talk about
riches here? There is no rich man at Whitehaven, but Sir James L——-r." And
it is true there was none but he that had forty thousand pounds a year, and
some millions in ready money. But a man may be rich that has not a hundred a
year—not even one thousand pounds in cash. Whosoever has food to eat, and
raiment to put on, with something over, is rich. Whoever has the necessaries
and conveniences of life for himself and his family, and a little to spare for
them that have not, is properly a rich man, unless he is a miser, a lover of
money, one that hoards up what he can and ought to give to the poor. For if so,
he is a poor man still, though he has millions in the bank; yea, he is the
poorest of men; for
"The
beggars but a common lot deplore;
The rich poor man's emphatically poor."
...O!
who can convince a rich man that he sets his heart upon riches? For
considerably above half a century I have spoken on this head, with all the
plainness that was in my power. But with how little effect! I doubt whether I
have in all that time convinced fifty misers of covetousness. When the lover of
money was described ever so clearly, and painted in the strongest colours, who
applied it to himself? To whom did God and all that knew him say, "Thou
art the man?" If he speaks to any of you that are present, O do not stop
your ears! Rather say, with Zacchaeus, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods
I give to the poor; and if I have done any wrong to any man, I restore him
fourfold." He did not mean that he had done this in time past; but that he
determined to do so for the time to come. I charge thee before God, thou lover
of money, to "go and do likewise.!" I have a message from God unto
thee, O rich man! whether thou wilt hear or whether thou wilt forbear. Riches
have increased with thee; at the peril of thy soul, "set not thine heart
upon them!" Be thankful to him that gave thee such a talent, so much power
of doing good. Yet dare not rejoice over them but with fear and trembling. Cave
ne inhaereas, says pious Kempis, ne capiaris et pereas; "Beware
thou cleave not unto them, lest thou be entangled and perish." Do not make
them thy end, thy chief delight, thy happiness, thy god! See that thou expect
not happiness in money, nor anything that is purchasable thereby; in gratifying
either the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, or the pride of life. John
Wesley's Sermon "On the Danger of Increasing Riches."
Verse
10. If riches increase, etc. "The lust of riches,
"says Valerian, "stirs with its stimulus the hearts of men, as oxen
perpetually plough the soil." Hugo, on Isaiah, says: "The more deeply
riches are sown in the heart through love, the more deeply will they pierce
through grief." Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
10. If riches increase bwg—literally, "sprout up" of
their own accord, as distinguished from riches acquired by
"oppression" and "robbery." A. R. Faussett.
Verse
10. Riches have in them uncertainty and deceitfulness. Riches have
never been true to those that trusted in them, but have ever proved "a lie
in their right hand." Isa 44:20. Hence they are called "lying
vanities, "Jon 2:8; and compared to a flock of birds sitting upon a man's ground,
which upon the least fright, take wing and fly away. Riches have "wings,
"saith Solomon; and rather than want they will "Make to
themselves wings." Pr 23:5. Yea, though they have not the wings so much as
of a little sparrow, wherewith to fly to you; yet will they make to themselves
the large wings of a great eagle, wherewith to fly from you. Oh, how many have
riches served as Absalom's mule served her master, whom she lurched, and left,
in his greatest need, hanging betwixt heaven and earth, as if rejected of both!
A spark of fire may set them on flying, a thief may steal them, a wicked
servant may embezzle and purloin them, a pirate or shipwreck at sea, a robber
or bad debtor at land; yea, an hundred ways sets them packing. They are as the
apples of Sodom, that look fair yet crumble away with the least touch—golden
delusions, a mere mathematical scheme or fancy of man's brain, 1Co 7:31; the
semblances and empty show of good without any reality or solid consistency; nec
vera, nec vestra: as they are slippery upon the account of verity, so they
are no less in respect of prosperity and possession, for they are winged birds,
especially in this, that they fly from man to man (as the birds do from tree to
tree), and always from the owner of them. This is a sore deceit and cozenage,
yet your heart is more deceitful, inasmuch as it will deceive you with these
deceitful riches, a quo aliquid tale est, illus est magis tale: they are
so, because the heart is so. Christopher Love (1618-1651), in "A
Crystal Mirror, or Christian Looking glass," 1679.
Verse
10. Set not your heart upon them. The word tyv properly is to
place, to arrange in a fixed firm order, is specially used of the
foundation stones of a building being placed fitly and firmly together...
Therefore to set the heart upon riches is, to fix the mind closely and
firmly upon them, to give it wholly up to them with all its powers; at the same
time to be puffed up with confidence and arrogance, as Cl. Schultens observes. Hermann
Venema.
Verses
10-12. Our estimate of man depends upon our estimate of God. David knows
that men of low and high degree, if separated from the primal fount of every
good, weigh nothing, and are less than nothing. Riches are nothing,
especially ill gotten ones. Man is not to get proud when riches increase. But
such is the course of things, that in proportion as the gifts of God are rich,
men confide more in the gifts than in the rich giver. But holy David is better
instructed. Once and again he has heard the divine voice in his soul, "that
power belongeth unto God only." Job 33:14. This powerful God is merciful:
can then any merit attach to our poor works? and yet the Lord rendereth to
every pious man according to his imperfect pious work. Agustus F. Tholuck.
Verse
12. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy. Something more is
necessary to invite us to a dependence on God than his bare power and
ability to help us. There must be also a firm persuasion of the promptitude and
readiness of his will to do what he is able; and this we have in the other
attribute of his mercy.... "Unto thee, "unto thee alone,
and unto none else. The most tender mercy amongst the creatures is none at all,
being compared with the divine mercy. It belongeth unto thee, as thy
prerogative and peculiar excellency. Mercy is a peculiar jewel of his crown.
Or, thine, O Lord, is mercy. Nothing amongst the creature deserves the
name of mercy but his own. Nothing is worthy to be so called, but what is
proper and peculiar to God. Or, with thee is mercy, as it is expressed elsewhere.
Ps 130:4,7. It is with him; that is, it is inseparable from his nature.
He is merciful in a way peculiar to himself, "the Father of mercies."
2Co 1:3. William Wisheart.
Verse
12. For thou rend rest to every man according to his work;
namely—judgment to the wicked, and mercy to the righteous; where the Syriac
interpreter giveth the good note: Est gratia Dei ut reddat homini secunda
opera bona, quia merces bonorum operum est ex gratia: It is mercy in God to
set his love on them that keep his commandments. Ex 20:6. John Trapp.
Verse
12. Thou renderest to every man according to his work. Learn
to admire the grace of God in rewarding your works. It is much that he accepts
them; and what is it, then, that he rewards them? It is much that he doth not
damn you for them, seeing they are all defiled, and have something of sin
cleaving to them; and what is it, then, that he crowns them? You would admire
the bounty and munificence of a man that should give you a kingdom for taking
up a straw at his foot, or give you a hundred thousand pounds for paying him a
penny rent you owed him: how, then, should you adore the rich grace and
transcendent bounty of God in so largely recompensing such mean services, in
setting a crown of glory upon your heads, as the reward of those works which
you can scarcely find in your hearts to call good ones! You will even blush one
day to see yourselves so much honoured for what you are ashamed of, and are
conscious to yourselves that you have deserved nothing by. You will wonder then
to see God recompensing you for doing what was your duty to do, and what was
his work in you; giving you grace, and crowning that grace; enabling you to do
things acceptable to him, and then rewarding you as having done them. Edward
Veal (1708), in "The Morning Exercises."
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1.
1. What
he did? Waited upon God. Believed, was patient, was silent in
resignation, was obedient.
2.
To whom he did it? To his God, who is true, a sovereign, gracious, etc.
3.
How he did it? With his soul, truly and only.
4.
What came of it? Salvation present, personal, eternal, etc.
Verse
2. God a rock. David speaks of him as high and strong, and as
a rock to stand upon, a rock of defence and refuge, a rock of habitation (Ps
71:3, in Hebrew), and a rock to be praised. Ps 95:1. See the Concordance for
many hints. "Christ the Rock:" a Sermon on 1Co 10:4. By RALPH
ROBINSON, in "Christ All and in All."
Verse
2. (first clause). See "SPURGEON'S Sermons",
No. 80, "God alone the Salvation of His People."
Verse
2, 6. I shall not be greatly moved. I shall not be moved. Growth in
faith. How it is produced, preserved, and evidenced.
Verse
4. Wherein lies a believer's excellency? Who would cast him down,
and why, and how they seek to do it?
Verse
4. They delight in lies. Those who invent them, or spread
them, or laugh at them, or readily believe them. Romanists, self righteous
persons, the presumptuous, persecutors, zealous errorists, etc.
Verse
5. (first clause). See "SPURGEON'S Sermons, "No.
144, "Waiting only upon God."
Verse
5. (second clause). Great expectations from a great God;
because of great promises, great provisions, and great foretastes.
Verse
5. (last clause). What we expect from God, and why and when?
Verse
2, 6. I shall not be greatly moved. I shall not be moved. Growth in
faith. How it is produced, preserved, and evidenced.
Verse
10. Evils usually connected with the love of riches. Idolatry,
covetousness, carking, care, meanness, forgetfulness of God and spiritual
truth, neglect of charity, hardness of heart, tendency to injustice, etc. Means
for escaping this seductive sin.
Verse
11.
1.
How God speaks. "Once, "plainly, powerfully, immutably, etc.
2.
How we should hear. Twice, continually, in heart as well as ear,
observantly in practice, in spirit as well as in letter.
Verses
11-12. The constant union of power and mercy in the language of
Scripture.
WORKS
UPON THE SIXTY-SECOND PSALM
An
Exposition upon some Select Psalmes of David. Containing great store of most
excellent and comfortable doctrine and instruction for all those that (under
the burden of sinne), thirst for comfort in Christ Jesus. Written by that
faithful servant of God, M. ROBERT ROLLOK, sometime pastor in the Church of
Edinburgh: and translated out of Latin into English, by CHARLES LUMISDEN.
Minister of the Gospel of Christ at Dudingstoun... 1600. (Contains an
Exposition of Psalm 62.)
Certain
Comfortable Expositions of the constant Martyr of Christ, John Hooper,
bishop of Gloucester and Worcester... Written in the time of tribulation
and imprisonment, upon the Twenty-third, Sixty-second, Seventy-third, and
Seventy-seventh Psalms of the prophet David.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》