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Psalm Seventy-three
Psalm 73
Chapter Contents
The psalmist's temptation. (1-14) How he gained a victory
over it. (15-20) How he profited by it. (21-28)
Commentary on Psalm 73:1-14
(Read Psalm 73:1-14)
The psalmist was strongly tempted to envy the prosperity
of the wicked; a common temptation, which has tried the graces of many saints.
But he lays down the great principle by which he resolved to abide. It is the
goodness of God. This is a truth which cannot be shaken. Good thoughts of God
will fortify against Satan's temptations. The faith even of strong believers
may be sorely shaken, and ready to fail. There are storms that will try the
firmest anchors. Foolish and wicked people have sometimes a great share of
outward prosperity. They seem to have the least share of the troubles of this
life; and they seem to have the greatest share of its comforts. They live
without the fear of God, yet they prosper, and get on in the world. Wicked men
often spend their lives without much sickness, and end them without great pain;
while many godly persons scarcely know what health is, and die with great
sufferings. Often the wicked are not frightened, either by the remembrance of
their sins, or the prospect of their misery, but they die without terror. We
cannot judge men's state beyond death, by what passes at their death. He looked
abroad, and saw many of God's people greatly at a loss. Because the wicked are
so very daring, therefore his people return hither; they know not what to say
to it, and the rather, because they drink deep of the bitter cup of affliction.
He spoke feelingly when he spoke of his own troubles; there is no disputing
against sense, except by faith. From all this arose a strong temptation to cast
off religion. But let us learn that the true course of sanctification consists
in cleansing a man from all pollution both of soul and body. The heart is
cleansed by the blood of Christ laid hold upon by faith; and by the begun works
of the Lord's Spirit, manifested in the hearty resolution, purpose, and study
of holiness, and a blameless course of life and actions, the hands are
cleansed. It is not in vain to serve God and keep his ordinances.
Commentary on Psalm 73:15-20
(Read Psalm 73:15-20)
The psalmist having shown the progress of his temptation,
shows how faith and grace prevailed. He kept up respect for God's people, and
with that he restrained himself from speaking what he had thought amiss. It is
a sign that we repent of the evil thoughts of the heart, if we suppress them.
Nothing gives more offence to God's children, than to say it is vain to serve
God; for there is nothing more contrary to their universal experience. He
prayed to God to make this matter plain to him; and he understood the wretched
end of wicked people; even in the height of their prosperity they were but
ripening for ruin. The sanctuary must be the resort of a tempted soul. The
righteous man's afflictions end in peace, therefore he is happy; the wicked
man's enjoyments end in destruction, therefore he is miserable. The prosperity
of the wicked is short and uncertain, slippery places. See what their
prosperity is; it is but a vain show, it is only a corrupt imagination, not
substance, but a mere shadow; it is as a dream, which may please us a little
while we are slumbering, yet even then it disturbs our repose.
Commentary on Psalm 73:21-28
(Read Psalm 73:21-28)
God would not suffer his people to be tempted, if his
grace were not sufficient, not only to save them from harm, but to make them
gainers by it. This temptation, the working of envy and discontent, is very
painful. In reflecting upon it, the psalmist owns it was his folly and
ignorance thus to vex himself. If good men, at any time, through the surprise
and strength of temptation, think, or speak, or act amiss, they will reflect
upon it with sorrow and shame. We must ascribe our safety in temptation, and
our victory, not to our own wisdom, but to the gracious presence of God with
us, and Christ's intercession for us. All who commit themselves to God, shall
be guided with the counsel both of his word and of his Spirit, the best
counsellors here, and shall be received to his glory in another world; the
believing hopes and prospects of which will reconcile us to all dark
providences. And the psalmist was hereby quickened to cleave the closer to God.
Heaven itself could not make us happy without the presence and love of our God.
The world and all its glory vanishes. The body will fail by sickness, age, and
death; when the flesh fails, the conduct, courage, and comfort fail. But Christ
Jesus, our Lord, offers to be all in all to every poor sinner, who renounces
all other portions and confidences. By sin we are all far from God. And a
profession Christ, if we go on in sin, will increase our condemnation. May we
draw near, and keep near, to our God, by faith and prayer, and find it good to
do so. Those that with an upright heart put their trust in God, shall never
want matter for thanksgiving to him. Blessed Lord, who hast so graciously
promised to become our portion in the next world, prevent us from choosing any
other in this.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 73
Verse 1
[1] Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a
clean heart.
A clean heart — To all true Israelites, who love
God, and serve him in spirit and truth.
Verse 2
[2] But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had
well nigh slipped.
My feet — My faith in God's providence, was almost overthrown.
Verse 4
[4] For there are no bands in their death: but their
strength is firm.
No bands — They are not dragged to death, by the sentence of the
magistrate, which they deserve.
Verse 5
[5] They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they
plagued like other men.
As other men — As good men frequently are.
Verse 8
[8] They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning
oppression: they speak loftily.
And speak — Boasting of their oppressions.
Verse 9
[9] They set their mouth against the heavens, and their
tongue walketh through the earth.
Against — Against God, blaspheming his name, and deriding his
providence.
Walketh — Using all manner of liberty, reproaching all sorts of
persons.
Verse 10
[10] Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full
cup are wrung out to them.
Turn — To this wicked company.
Waters — And partake of the same prosperity with their leaders.
God seems to give them a full cup of consolation, as if he would wring out all
his blessings upon them.
Verse 12
[12] Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world;
they increase in riches.
Behold — These seem to be the words of the psalmist, summing up
the matter.
Verse 13
[13] Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my
hands in innocency.
In vain — Hence I was sometimes tempted, to think that religion
was a vain, unprofitable thing. True religion is here described by its two
principal parts, the cleansing of the heart, and the hands.
Verse 15
[15] If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend
against the generation of thy children.
Offend — By grieving, discouraging and tempting them to revolt
from God.
Verse 16
[16] When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
To know — To find out the reason of this providence.
Verse 17
[17] Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood
I their end.
Until — 'Till I consulted the word of God. He alludes to the
practice of those times, which was, in difficult cases to resort to God's
sanctuary, and the oracle therein.
Their end — There I learned that their
prosperity was short.
Verse 19
[19] How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment!
they are utterly consumed with terrors.
Terrors — With God's dreadful judgements unexpectedly seizing
upon them.
Verse 20
[20] As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou
awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
They awake — Out of the pleasant dream of this
vain life.
Despise — Thou shalt make them despicable both to themselves and
to all others; raise them to shame, and everlasting contempt.
Image — All their felicity and glory, which shall be evidently
discerned to be, no real or substantial thing, but a mere image or shadow.
Verse 21
[21] Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my
reins.
Pricked — I was deeply wounded with disquieting thoughts.
Verse 22
[22] So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before
thee.
Nevertheless — Although I gave thee just cause
to cast me off, yet thou didst continue thy care and kindness to me.
Hast held — That my faith might not fail.
Verse 27
[27] For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou
hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
Go a whoring — Those who revolt from thee, to
work wickedness; which is called whoredom in scripture.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Other Works
TITLE. A Psalm of
Asaph. This is the second Psalm ascribed to Asaph, and the first of eleven
consecutive Psalms bearing the name of this eminent singer. Some writers are
not sure that Asaph wrote them, but incline to the belief that David was the
author, and Asaph the person to whom they were dedicated, that he might sing
them when in his turn he became the chief musician. But though our own heart
turns in the same direction, facts must be heard; and we find in 2Ch 29:30,
that Hezekiah commanded the Levites to sing "the words of David and of
Asaph the seer; "and, moreover, in Ne 12:46, David and Asaph are mentioned
together, as distinct from "the chief of the singers, "and as it
would seem, as joint authors of psalmody. We may, therefore, admit Asaph to be
the author of some, if not all, of the twelve Psalms ascribed to him. Often a great
star which seems to be but one to the eyes of ordinary observers, turns out
upon closer inspection to be of a binary character; so here the Psalms of David
are those of Asaph too. The great sun of David has a satellite in the moon of
Asaph. By reading our notes on Psalm Fifty, in Volume 2, the reader will glean
a little more concerning this man of God.
SUBJECT. Curiously
enough this Seventy-third Psalm corresponds in subject with the Thirty-seventh:
it will help the memory of the young to notice the reversed figures. The theme
is that ancient stumbling block of good men, which Job's friends could not get
over; viz.—the present prosperity of wicked men and the sorrows of the godly.
Heathen philosophers have puzzled themselves about this, while to believers it
has too often been a temptation.
DIVISION. In Ps 73:1 the
psalmist declares his confidence in God, and, as it were, plants his foot on a
rock while he recounts his inward conflict. From Ps 73:2-14 he states his
temptation; then, from Ps 73:15-17 he is embarrassed as how to act, but
ultimately finds deliverance from his dilemma. He describes with awe the fate
of the ungodly in Ps 73:18-20, condemns his own folly and adores the grace of
God, Ps 73:21-24, and concludes by renewing his allegiance to his God, whom he
takes afresh to be his portion and delight.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Truly, or, more correctly, only, God is good to Israel.
He is only good, nothing else but good to his own covenanted ones. He cannot
act unjustly, or unkindly to them; his goodness to them is beyond dispute, and
without mixture. Even to such as are of a clean heart. These are the true
Israel, not the ceremonially clean but the really so; those who are clean in
the inward parts, pure in the vital mainspring of action. To such he is, and must
be, goodness itself. The writer does not doubt this, but lays it down as his
firm conviction. It is well to make sure of what we do know, for this will be
good anchor hold for us when we are molested by those mysterious storms which
arise from things which we do not understand. Whatever may or may not be the
truth about mysterious and inscrutable things, there are certainties somewhere;
experience has placed some tangible facts within our grasp; let us, then, cling
to these, and they will prevent our being carried away by those hurricanes of
infidelity which still come from the wilderness, and, like whirlwinds, smite
the four corners of our house and threaten to overthrow it. O my God, however
perplexed I may be, let me never think ill of thee. If I cannot understand
thee, let me never cease to believe in thee. It must be so, it cannot be
otherwise, thou art good to those whom thou hast made good; and where thou hast
renewed the heart thou wilt not leave it to its enemies.
Verse
2. Here begins the narrative of a great soul battle, a spiritual
Marathon, a hard and well fought field, in which the half defeated became in
the end wholly victorious. But as for me. He contrasts himself with his God who
is ever good; he owns his personal want of good, and then also compares himself
with the clean in heart, and goes on to confess his defilement. The Lord is
good to his saints, but as for me, am I one of them? Can I expect to
share his grace? Yes, I do share it; but I have acted an unworthy part, very
unlike one who is truly pure in heart. My feet were almost gone. Errors of
heart and head soon affect the conduct. There is an intimate connection between
the heart and the feet. Asaph could barely stand, his uprightness was going,
his knees were bowing like a falling wall. When men doubt the righteousness of
God, their own integrity begins to waver. My steps had well nigh slipped. Asaph
could make no progress in the good road, his feet ran away from under him like
those of a man on a sheet of ice. He was weakened for all practical action, and
in great danger of actual sin, and so of a disgraceful fall. How ought we to
watch the inner man, since it has so forcible an effect upon the outward
character. The confession in this case is, as it should be, very plain and
explicit.
Verse
3. For I was envious at the foolish. "The foolish"
is the generic title of all the wicked: they are beyond all others fools, and
he must be a fool who envies fools. Some read it, "the proud:" and,
indeed, these, by their ostentation, invite envy, and many a mind which is out
of gear spiritually, becomes infected with that wasting disease. It is a
pitiful thing that an heir of heaven should have to confess "I was
envious, "but worse still that he should have to put it, "I was envious
at the foolish." Yet this acknowledgment is, we fear, due from most of us.
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. His eye was fixed too much on one
thing; he saw their present, and forgot their future, saw their outward
display, and overlooked their soul's discomfort. Who envies the bullock his fat
when he recollects the shambles? Yet some poor afflicted saint has been sorely
tempted to grudge the ungodly sinner his temporary plenty. All things
considered, Dives had more cause to envy Lazarus than Lazarus to be envious of
Dives.
Verse
4. For there are no bands in their death. This is mentioned
as the chief wonder, for we usually expect that in the solemn article of death,
a difference will appear, and the wicked will become evidently in trouble. The
notion is still prevalent that a quiet death means a happy hereafter. The
psalmist had observed that the very reverse is true. Careless persons become
case hardened, and continue presumptuously secure, even to the last. Some are
startled at the approach of judgment, but many more have received a strong
delusion to believe a lie. What with the surgeon's drugs and their own
infidelity, or false peace, they glide into eternity without a struggle. We
have seen godly men bound with doubts, and fettered with anxieties, which have
arisen from their holy jealousy; but the godless know nothing of such bands:
they care neither for God nor devil. Their strength is firm. What care they for
death? Frequently they are brazen and insolent, and can vent defiant
blasphemies even on their last couch. This may occasion sorrow and surprise
among saints, but certainly should not suggest envy, for, in this case, the
most terrible inward conflict is infinitely to be preferred to the profoundest
calm which insolent presumption can create. Let the righteous die as they may,
let my last end be like theirs.
Verse
5. They are not in trouble as other men. The prosperous
wicked escape the killing toils which afflict the mass of mankind; their bread
comes to them without care, their wine without stint. They have no need to
enquire, "Whence shall we get bread for our children, or raiment for our
little ones?" Ordinary domestic and personal troubles do not appear to
molest them. Neither are they plagued like other men. Fierce trials do not
arise to assail them: they smart not under the divine rod. While many saints
are both poor and afflicted, the prosperous sinner is neither. He is worse than
other men, and yet he is better off; he ploughs least, and yet has the most
fodder. He deserves the hottest hell, and yet has the warmest nest. All this is
clear to the eyes of faith, which unriddles the riddle; but to the bleared eye
of sense it seems an enigma indeed. They are to have nothing hereafter, let
them have what they can here; they, after all, only possess what is of
secondary value, and their possessing it is meant to teach us to set little
store by transient things. If earthly good were of much value, the Lord would
not give so large a measure of it to those who have least of his love.
Verse
6. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain. They are
as great in their own esteem as if they were aldermen of the New Jerusalem;
they want no other ornament than their own pomposity. No jeweller could
sufficiently adorn them; they wear their own pride as a better ornament than a
gold chain. Violence covereth them as a garment. In their boastful arrogance
they array themselves; they wear the livery of the devil, and are fond of it.
As soon as you see them, you perceive that room must be made for them, for,
regardless of the feelings and rights of others, they intend to have their way,
and achieve their own ends. They brag and bully, bluster and browbeat, as if
they had taken out license to ride roughshod over all mankind.
Verse
7. Their eyes stand out with fatness. In cases of obesity the
eyes usually appear to be enclosed in fat, but sometimes they protrude; in
either case the countenance is changed, loses its human form, and is
assimilated to that of fatted swine. The face is here the index of the man: the
man has more than suffices him; he is glutted and surfeited with wealth, and
yet is one of the wicked whom God abhorreth. They have more than heart could
wish. Their wishes are gratified, and more; their very greediness is exceeded;
they call for water, and the world gives them milk; they ask for hundreds, and
thousands are lavished at their feet. The heart is beyond measure gluttonous,
and yet in the case of certain ungodly millionaires, who have rivalled
Sardanapalus both in lust and luxury, it has seemed as if their wishes were
exceeded, and their meat surpassed their appetite.
Verse
8. They are corrupt. They rot above ground; their heart and
life are depraved. And speak wickedly concerning oppression. The reek of the
sepulchre rises through their mouths; the nature of the soul is revealed in the
speech. They choose oppression as their subject, and they not only defend it,
but advocate it, glory in it, and would fain make it the general rule among all
nations. "Who are the poor? What are they made for? What, indeed, but to
toil and slave that men of education and good family may enjoy themselves? Out
on the knaves for prating about their rights! A set of wily demagogues are
stirring them up, because they get a living by agitation. Work them like
horses, and feed them like dogs; and if they dare complain, send them to the
prison or let them die in the workhouse." There is still too much of this
wicked talk abroad, and, although the working classes have their faults, and
many of them very grave and serious ones too, yet there is a race of men who
habitually speak of them as if they were an inferior order of animals. God
forgive the wretches who thus talk. They speak loftily. Their high heads, like
tall chimneys, vomit black smoke. Big talk streams from them, their language is
colossal, their magniloquence ridiculous. They are Sir Oracle in every case,
they speak as from the judges' bench, and expect all the world to stand in awe
of them.
Verse
9. They set their mouth against the heavens. Against God
himself they aim their blasphemies. One would think, to hear them, that they
were demigods themselves, and held their heads above the clouds, for they speak
down upon other men as from a sublime elevation peculiar to themselves. Yet
they might let God alone, for their pride will make them enemies enough without
their defying him. And their tongue walketh through the earth. Leisurely and
habitually they traverse the whole world to find victims for their slander and
abuse. Their tongue prowls in every corner far and near, and spares none. They
affect to be universal censors, and are in truth perpetual vagrants. Like the
serpent, they go nowhere without leaving their slime behind them; if there were
another Eden to be found, its innocence and beauty would not preserve it from their
filthy trail. They themselves are, beyond measure, worthy of all honour, and
all the rest of mankind, except a few of their parasites, are knaves, fools,
hypocrites, or worse. When these men's tongues are out for a walk, they are
unhappy who meet them, for they push all travellers into the kennel: it is
impossible altogether to avoid them, for in both hemispheres they take their
perambulations, both on land and sea they make their voyages. The city is not
free from them, and the village swarms with them. They waylay men in the king's
highway, but they are able to hunt across country, too. Their whip has a long
lash, and reaches both high and low.
Verse
10. Therefore his people return hither. God's people are
driven to fly to his throne for shelter; the doggish tongues fetch home the
sheep to the Shepherd. The saints come again, and again, to their Lord, laden
with complaints on account of the persecutions which they endure from these
proud and graceless men. And waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. Though
beloved of God, they have to drain the bitter cup; their sorrows are as full as
the wicked man's prosperity. It grieves them greatly to see the enemies of God
so high, and themselves so low, yet the Lord does not alter his dispensations,
but continues still to chasten his children, and indulge his foes. The medicine
cup is not for rebels, but for those whom Jehovah Rophi loves.
Verse
11. And they say, How doth God know? Thus dare the ungodly
speak. They flatter themselves that their oppressions and persecutions are
unobserved of heaven. If there be a God, is he not too much occupied with other
matters to know what is going on upon this world? So they console themselves if
judgments be threatened. Boasting of their own knowledge, they yet dare to ask,
Is there knowledge in the Most High? Well were they called foolish. A God, and
not know? This is a solecism in language, a madness of thought. Such, however,
is the acted insanity of the graceless theists of this age; theists in name,
because avowed infidelity is disreputable, but atheists in practice beyond all
question. I could not bring my mind to accept the rendering of many expositors
by which this verse is referred to tried and perplexed saints. I am unable to
conceive that such language could flow from their lips, even under the most
depressing perplexities.
Verse
12. Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world.
Look! See! Consider! Here is the standing enigma! The crux of Providence! The
stumblingblock of faith! Here are the unjust rewarded and indulged, and that
not for a day or an hour, but in perpetuity. From their youth up these men, who
deserve perdition, revel in prosperity. They deserve to be hung in chains, and
chains are hung about their necks; they are worthy to be chased from the world,
and yet the world becomes all their own. Poor purblind sense cries, Behold
this! Wonder, and be amazed, and make this square with providential justice, if
you can. They increase in riches; or, strength. Both wealth and health are
their dowry. No bad debts and bankruptcies weigh them down, but robbery and
usury pile up their substance. Money runs to money, gold pieces fly in flocks;
the rich grow richer, the proud grow prouder. Lord, how is this? Thy poor
servants, who become yet poorer, and groan under their burdens, are made to
wonder at thy mysterious ways.
Verse
13. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain. Poor Asaph! he
questions the value of holiness when its wages are paid in the coin of
affliction. With no effect has he been sincere; no advantage has come to him
through his purity, for the filthy hearted are exalted and fed on the fat of
the land. Thus foolishly will the wisest of men argue, when faith is napping.
Asaph was a seer, but he could not see when reason left him in the dark; even
seers must have the sunlight of revealed truth to see by, or they grope like
the blind. In the presence of temporal circumstances, the pure in heart may
seem to have cleansed themselves altogether in vain, but we must not judge
after the sight of the eyes. And washed my hands in innocency. Asaph had been
as careful of his hands as of his heart; he had guarded his outer as well as
his inner life, and it was a bitter thought that all of this was useless, and
left him in even a worse condition than foul handed, black hearted worldlings.
Surely the horrible character of the conclusion must have helped to render it
untenable; it could not be so while God was God. It smelt too strong of a lie
to be tolerated long in the good man's soul; hence, in a verse or two, we see
his mind turning in another direction.
Verse
14. For all the day long have I been plagued. He was smitten
from the moment he woke to the time he went to bed. His griefs were not only
continued, but renewed with every opening day. And chastened every morning.
This was a vivid contrast to the lot of the ungodly. There were crowns for the
reprobates and crosses for the elect. Strange that the saints should sigh and
the sinners sing. Rest was given to the disturbers, and yet peace was denied to
the peace makers. The downcast seer was in a muse and a maze. The affairs of
mankind appeared to him to be in a fearful tangle; how could it be permitted by
a just ruler that things should be so turned upside down, and the whole course
of justice dislocated.
Verse
15. If I say, I will speak thus. It is not always wise to
speak one's thoughts; if they remain within, they will only injure ourselves;
but once uttered, their mischief may be great. From such a man as the psalmist,
the utterance which his discontent suggested would have been a heavy blow and
deep discouragement to the whole brotherhood. He dared not, therefore, come to
such a resolution, but paused, and would not decide to declare his feelings. It
was well, for in his case second thoughts were by far the best. I should offend
against the generation of thy children. I should scandalise them, grieve them,
and perhaps cause them to offend also. We ought to look at the consequences of
our speech to all others, and especially to the church of God. Woe unto the man
by whom offence cometh! Rash, undigested, ill considered speech, is responsible
for much of the heart burning and trouble in the churches. Would to God that,
like Asaph, men would bridle their tongues. Where we have any suspicion of
being wrong, it is better to be silent; it can do no harm to be quiet, and it
may do serious damage to spread abroad our hastily formed opinions. To grieve
the children of God by appearing to act perfidiously and betray the truth, is a
sin so heinous, that if the consciences of heresy mongers were not seared as
with a hot iron, they would not be so glib as they are to publish abroad their
novelties. Expressions which convey the impression that the Lord acts unjustly
or unkindly, especially if they fall from the lips of men of known character
and experience, are as dangerous as firebrands among stubble; they are used for
blasphemous purposes by the ill disposed; and the timid and trembling are sure
to be cast down thereby, and to find reason for yet deeper distress of soul.
Verse
16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me.
The thought of scandalising the family of God he could not bear, and yet his
inward thoughts seethed and fermented, and caused an intolerable anguish
within. To speak might have relieved one sorrow, but, as it would have created
another, he forbore so dangerous a remedy; yet this did not remove the first
pangs, which grew even worse and worse, and threatened utterly to overwhelm
him. A smothered grief is hard to endure. The triumph of conscience which
compels us to keep the wolf hidden beneath our own garments, does not forbid
its gnawing at our vitals. Suppressed fire in the bones rages more fiercely
than if it could gain a vent at the mouth. Those who know Asaph's dilemma will
pity him as none others can.
Verse
17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God. His mind entered
the eternity where God dwells as in a holy place, he left the things of sense
for the things invisible, his heart gazed within the veil, he stood where the
thrice holy God stands. Thus he shifted his point of view, and apparent
disorder resolved itself into harmony. The motions of the planets appear most
discordant from this world which is itself a planet; they appear as
"progressive, retrograde, and standing still; "but could we fix our
observatory in the sun, which is the centre of the system, we should perceive
all the planets moving in perfect circle around the head of the great solar
family. Then understood I their end. He had seen too little to be able to
judge; a wider view changed his judgment; he saw with his mind's enlightened
eye the future of the wicked, and his soul was in debate no longer as to the
happiness of their condition. No envy gnaws now at his heart, but a holy horror
both of their impending doom, and of their present guilt, fills his soul. He
recoils from being dealt with in the same manner as the proud sinners, whom
just now he regarded with admiration.
Verse
18. The Psalmist's sorrow had culminated, not in the fact that the
ungodly prospered, but that God had arranged it so: had it happened by mere
chance, he would have wondered, but could not have complained; but how the
arranger of all things could so dispense his temporal favours, was the
vexatious question. Here, to meet the case, he sees that the divine hand
purposely placed these men in prosperous and eminent circumstances, not with
the intent to bless them but the very reverse. Surely thou didst set them in
slippery places. Their position was dangerous, and, therefore, God did not set
his friends there but his foes alone. He chose, in infinite love, a rougher but
safer standing for his own beloved. Thou castedst them down into destruction.
The same hand which led them up to their Tarpeian rock, hurled them down from
it. They were but elevated by judicial arrangement for the fuller execution of
their doom. Eternal punishment will be all the more terrible in contrast with
the former prosperity of those who are ripening for it. Taken as a whole, the
case of the ungodly is horrible throughout; and their worldly joy instead of
diminishing the horror, actually renders the effect the more awful, even as the
vivid lightning amid the storm does not brighten but intensify the thick
darkness which lowers around. The ascent to the fatal gallows of Haman was an essential
ingredient in the terror of the sentence—"hang him thereon." If the
wicked had not been raised so high they could not have fallen so low.
Verse
19. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! This
is an exclamation of godly wonder at the suddenness and completeness of the
sinners' overthrow. Headlong is their fall; without warning, without escape,
without hope of future restoration! Despite their golden chains, and goodly
apparel, death stays not for manners but hurries them away; and stern justice
unbribed by their wealth hurls them into destruction. They are utterly consumed
with terrors. They have neither root nor branch left. They cease to exist among
the sons of men, and, in the other world, there is nothing left of their former
glory. Like blasted trees, consumed by the lightning, they are monuments of
vengeance; like the ruins of Babylon they reveal, in the greatness of their
desolation, the judgments of the Lord against all those who unduly exalt
themselves. The momentary glory of the graceless is in a moment effaced, their
loftiness is in an instant consumed.
Verse
20. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest,
thou shalt despise their image. They owe their existence and prosperity to
the forbearance of God, which the psalmist compares to a sleep; but as a dream
vanishes so soon as a man awakes, so the instant the Lord begins to exercise
his justice and call men before him, the pomp and prosperity of proud
transgressors shall melt away. When God awakes to judgment, they who despise
him shall be despised; they are already "such stuff as dreams are made of,
"but then the baseless fabric shall not leave a wreck behind. Let them
flaunt the little hour, poor unsubstantial sons of dreams; they will soon be
gone; when the day breaketh, and the Lord awake as a mighty man out of his
sleep, they will vanish away. Who cares for the wealth of dreamland? Who indeed
but fools? Lord, leave us not to the madness which covets unsubstantial wealth,
and ever teach us thine own true wisdom.
Verse
21. The holy poet here reviews his inward struggle and awards himself
censure for his folly. His pain had been intense; he says, Thus my heart was
grieved. It was a deep seated sorrow, and one which penetrated his inmost
being. Alexander reads it, "My heart is soured." His spirit had
become embittered; he had judged in a harsh, crabbed, surly manner. He had
become atrabilious, full of black bile, melancholy, and choleric; he had
poisoned his own life at the fountain head, and made all its streams to be
bitter as gall. And I was pricked in my reins. He was as full of pain as a man
afflicted with renal disease; he had pierced himself through with many sorrows;
his hard thoughts were like so many calculi in his kidneys; he was utterly
wretched and woebegone, and all through his own reflections. O miserable
philosophy, which stretches the mind on the rack, and breaks it on the wheel! O
blessed faith, which drives away the inquisitors, and sets the captives free!
Verse
22. So foolish was I. He, though a saint of God, had acted as
if he had been one of the fools whom God abhorreth. Had he not even envied
them?—and what is that but to aspire to be like them? The wisest of men have
enough folly in them to ruin them unless grace prevents. And ignorant. He had
acted as if he knew nothing, had babbled like an idiot, had uttered the very
drivel of a witless loon. He did not know how sufficiently to express his sense
of his own fatuity. I was as a beast before thee. Even in God's presence he had
been brutish, and worse than a beast. As the grass eating ox has but this
present life, and can only estimate things thereby, and by the sensual pleasure
which they afford, even so had the psalmist judged happiness by this mortal
life, by outward appearances, and by fleshly enjoyments. Thus he had, for the
time, renounced the dignity of an immortal spirit, and, like a mere animal,
judged after the sight of the eyes. We should be very loath to call an inspired
man a beast, and yet, penitence made him call himself so; nay, he uses the
plural, by way of emphasis, and as if he were worse than any one beast. It was
but an evidence of his true wisdom that he was so deeply conscious of his own
folly. We see how bitterly good men bewail mental wanderings; they make no
excuses for themselves, but set their sins in the pillory, and cast the vilest
reproaches upon them. O for grace to detest the very appearance of evil!
Verse
23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee. He does not give
up his faith, though he confesses his folly. Sin may distress us, and yet we
may be in communion with God. It is sin beloved and delighted in which
separates us from the Lord, but when we bewail it heartily, the Lord will not
withdraw from us. What a contrast is here in this and the former verse! He is
as a beast, and yet continually with God. Our double nature, as it always
causes conflict, so is it a continuous paradox: the flesh allies us with the
brutes, and the spirit affiliates us to God. Thou hast holden me by my right
hand. With love dost thou embrace me, with honour ennoble me, with power uphold
me. He had almost fallen, and yet was always upheld. He was a riddle to
himself, as he had been a wonder unto many. This verse contains the two
precious mercies of communion and upholding, and as they were both given to one
who confessed himself a fool, we also may hope to enjoy them.
Verse
24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. I have done with
choosing my own way, and trying to pick a path amid the jungle of reason. He
yielded not only the point in debate, but all intentions of debating, and he
puts his hand into that of the great Father, asking to be led, and agreeing to
follow. Our former mistakes are a blessing, when they drive us to this. The end
of our own wisdom is the beginning of our being wise. With Him is counsel, and
when we come to him, we are sure to be led aright. And afterward.
"Afterward!" Blessed word. We can cheerfully put up with the present,
when we foresee the future. What is around us just now is of small consequence,
compared with afterward. Receive me to glory. Take me up into thy splendour of
joy. Thy guidance shall conduct me to this matchless terminus. Glory shall I
have, and thou thyself wilt admit me into it. As Enoch was not, for God took
him, so all the saints are taken up—received up into glory.
Verse
25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? Thus, then, he turns away
from the glitter which fascinated him to the true gold which was his real
treasure. He felt that his God was better to him than all the wealth, health,
honour, and peace, which he had so much envied in the worldling; yea, He was
not only better than all on earth, but more excellent than all in heaven. He
bade all things else go, that he might be filled with his God. And there is
none upon earth that I desire beside thee. No longer should his wishes ramble,
no other object should tempt them to stray; henceforth, the Ever living One
should be his all in all.
Verse
26. My flesh and my heart faileth. They had failed him
already, and he had almost fallen; they would fail him in the hour of death,
and, if he relied upon them, they would fail him at once. But God is the
strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. His God would not fail him,
either as protection or a joy. His heart would be kept up by divine love, and filled
eternally with divine glory. After having been driven far out to sea, Asaph
casts anchor in the old port. We shall do well to follow his example. There is
nothing desirable save God; let us, then, desire only him. All other things
must pass away; let our hearts abide in him, who alone abideth for ever.
Verse
27. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish. We must
be near God to live; to be far off by wicked works is death. Thou hast
destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. If we pretend to be the Lord's
servants, we must remember that he is a jealous God, and requires spiritual
chastity from all his people. Offences against conjugal vows are very
offensive, and all sins against God have the same element in them, and they are
visited with the direst punishments. Mere heathens, who are far from God,
perish in due season; but those who, being his professed people, act
unfaithfully to their profession, shall come under active condemnation, and be
crushed beneath his wrath. We read examples of this in Israel's history; may we
never create fresh instances in our own persons.
Verse
28. But it is good for me to draw near to God. Had he done so
at first he would not have been immersed in such affliction; when he did so he
escaped from his dilemma, and if he continued to do so he would not fall into
the same evil again. The greater our nearness to God, the less we are affected
by the attractions and distractions of earth. Access into the most holy place
is a great privilege, and a cure for a multitude of ills. It is good for all
saints, it is good for me in particular; it is always good, and always will be
good for me to approach the greatest good, the source of all good, even God
himself. I have put my trust in the Lord God. He dwells upon the glorious name
of the Lord Jehovah, and avows it as the basis of his faith. Faith is wisdom;
it is the key of enigmas, the clue of mazes, and the pole star of pathless
seas. Trust and you will know. That I may declare all thy works. He who
believes shall understand, and so be able to teach. Asaph hesitated to utter
his evil surmisings, but he has no diffidence in publishing abroad a good
matter. God's ways are the more admired the more they are known. He who is
ready to believe the goodness of God shall always see fresh goodness to believe
in, and he who is willing to declare the works of God shall never be silent for
lack of wonders to declare.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. The Seventy-third Psalm is a very striking record of the mental
struggle which an eminently pious Jew underwent, when he contemplated the
respective conditions of the righteous and the wicked. Fresh from the conflict,
he somewhat abruptly opens the Psalm with the confident enunciation of the
truth of which victory over doubt had now made him more and more intelligently
sure than ever, that God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean
heart. And then he relates the most fatal shock which his faith has
received, when he contrasted the prosperity of the wicked, who, though they
proudly contemned God and man, prospered in the world and increased in riches,
with his own lot, who, though he had cleansed his heart and washed his hands in
innocency, had been plagued all the day long and chastened every morning.
The place where his doubts were removed and his tottering faith reestablished,
was the sanctuary of God. God himself was the teacher. What, then, did
he teach? By what divinely imparted considerations was the psalmist reassured?
Whatever is the proper rendering of Ps 73:4; whether, There are no sorrows
(tending) to their death, or, There are no sorrows until their death,
—their whole life to the very last is one unchequered course of happiness—that
verse conveys to us the psalmist's mistaken estimate of the prosperity
of the wicked, before he went unto the sanctuary of God. The true estimate, at
which he afterwards arrived, is found in Ps 73:18-20. Now, admitting (what, by
the way, is somewhat difficult of belief, inasmuch as the sudden and fearful
temporal destruction of all or even the most prosperous, cannot
be made out) that the end of these men means only and always their end in
this world, we come to the conclusion that, in the case of the wicked, this
Psalm does not plainly and undeniably teach that punishment awaits them after
death; but only that, in estimating their condition, it is necessary, in order
to vindicate the justice of God, to take in their whole career, and set over
against their great prosperity the sudden and fearful reverses and destruction
which they frequently encounter. But, in turning to the other side of the
comparison, the case of the righteous, we are not met by the thought,
that as the prosperity of the wicked is but the preparation for their ruin, the
raising higher the tower that the fall may be the greater, so the adversity of
the godly is but an introduction to worldly wealth and honour. That though is
not foreign to the Old Testament writers. "Evildoers shall be cut off;
"writes one of them, "but those who wait upon the Lord, they shall
inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea,
thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek
shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of
peace." Ps 37:9-11. But it is not so much as hinted at here. The
daily chastening may continue, flesh and heart may fail, but God is good to
Israel notwithstanding: he is their portion, their guide, their help while they
live, and he will take them to his glorious presence when they die. Nevertheless
I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt
guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. The New
Testament has nothing higher or more spiritual than this. The reference of the
last clause to happiness after death is, I believe, generally acknowledged by
Jewish commentators. They left it to the candour of Christian expositors to
doubt or deny it. Thomas Thompson Perowne, in "The Essential Coherence
of the Old and New Testaments." 1858.
Whole
Psalm. In Psalm Seventy-three the soul looks out, and reasons on
what it sees there; namely, successful wickedness and suffering righteousness.
What is the conclusion? "I have cleansed my heart in vain." So much
for looking about. In Psalm Seventy-seven the soul looks in, and reasons
on what it finds there. What is the conclusion? "Hath God forgotten to be
gracious?" So much for looking in. Where, then, should we look? Look up,
straight up, and believe what you see there. What will be the
conclusion? You will understand the "end" of man, and trace
the "way" of God. From "Things New and Old, a Monthly
Magazine." 1858.
Whole
Psalm. In this Psalm, the psalmist (Asaph) relates the great difficulty
which existed in his own mind, from the consideration of the wicked. He
observes (Ps 73:2-3), As for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well
nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. In the fourth and following verses he informs us what, in the
wicked, was his temptation. In the first place, he observed, that they were prosperous,
and all things went well with them. He then observed their behaviour in
their prosperity, and the use which they made of it; and that God,
notwithstanding such abuse, continued their prosperity. Then he tells us
by what means he was helped out of this difficulty, viz., by going into the sanctuary
(Ps 73:16-17), and proceeds to inform us what considerations they were which
helped him, viz.,—
1.
The consideration of the miserable end of wicked men. However they
prosper for the present, yet they come to a woeful end at last (Ps 73:18-20).
2.
The consideration of the blessed end of the saints. Although the saints,
while they live, may be afflicted, yet they come to a happy end at last (Ps 73:21-24).
3.
The consideration that the godly have a much better portion than the
wicked, even though they have no other portion but God; as in Ps 73:25-26.
Though
the wicked are in prosperity, and are not in trouble as other men; yet the
godly, though in affliction, are in a state infinitely better, because they
have God for their portion. They need desire nothing else: he that hath God
hath all. Thus the psalmist professes the sense and apprehension which he had
of things: Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that
I desire beside thee. In the twenty-fourth verse the psalmist takes notice
how the saints are happy in God, both when they are in this world and also when
they are taken to another. They are blessed in God in this world, in that he
guides them by his counsel; and when he takes them out of it they are still
happy, in that he receives them to glory. This probably led him to
declare that he desired no other portion, either in this world or in
that to come, either in heaven or upon earth. Jonathan Edwards.
Verse
1. Truly: it's but a particle; but the smallest filings of
gold are gathered up. Little pearls are of great price. And this small particle
is not of small use, being rightly applied and improved. First, take it (as our
translators gave it us) as a note of asseveration. Truly. It's a word of
faith, opposite to the psalmist's sense and Satan's injections. Whatsoever
sense sees or feels, whatsoever Satan insinuates and says; yet precious faith
with confidence asserts, Truly, verily God is good. He is not only good
in word, but in deed also. Not only seemingly good, but certainly good.
Secondly, consider it as an adversative particle, Yet, so our old
translation. Ainsworth renders it, yet surely; taking in the former and
this together. And then the sense runs thus: How ill soever things go in the
world, how ill soever it fares with God's church and people amongst men, yet
God is good to Israel. Thirdly, some conceive that the word carries admiration.
Oh, how good is God to Israel. Where expressions and apprehensions fail, there
the psalmist takes up God's providence with admiration. Oh, how wonderfully,
how transcendently good is God to Israel! This yet (as I conceive) hath
a threefold reference to the body of the Psalm. For as interpreters observe,
though these words are set in the beginning, yet they suggest the conclusion of
the psalmist's conflict. And the psalmist seems to begin somewhat abruptly. Yet
God is good. But having filled his thoughts with his former follies and
fears, and now seeing himself in a safe condition both for the present and the
future, he is full of confidence and comfort; and that which was the strongest
and chiefest in his heart now breaks our first: Yet God is good.
1.
This yet relates unto his sufferings, Ps 73:14: All the day long have
I been plagued, and chastened every morning. Notwithstanding the variety
and frequency of the saint's sufferings, yet God is good. Though sorrow
salutes them every morning at their first awaking, and trouble attends them to
bed at night, yet God is good. Though temptations many and terrible make
batteries and breeches upon their spirits, yet God is good to Israel.
2.
This yet reflects upon his sinning, the fretting and wrangling of his
distempered heart (Ps 73:2-3,21). Though sinful motions do mutiny in the soul
against God's wise administration, though there be foolish, proud quarrelling
with divine providence, and inexcusable distrust of his faithful promises;
though fretfulness at others prosperity and discontent at their own adversity, yet
God is good. Israel's sinful distempers cause not the Almighty to change
the course of his accustomed goodness. While corruptions are kept from breaking
out into scandal, while the soul contends against them, and is humbled for them
(as the psalmist was), this conclusion must be maintained: yet God is good.
3.
This yet looks back upon his misgivings. There had been distrustful
despondency upon the good man's heart. For from both the premises (viz., his
sufferings and sinning) he had inferred this conclusion, Ps 73:13, Verily I
have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. As if he
had said, "I have kept fasts, observed Sabbaths, heard sermons, made
prayers, received sacraments, given alms, avoided sins, resisted temptations,
withstood lusts, appeared for Christ and his cause and servants in vain":
yea, his heart had added an asseveration (verily) to this faithless
opinion, but now he is of another mind: Yet God is good. The
administrations of God are not according to the sad surmises of his people's
misgiving hearts. For, though they through diffidence are apt to give up their
holy labours as lost, and all their conscientious care and carriage as utterly
cast away; yet God is good to Israel. Simeon Ash, in a Sermon entitled
"God's Incomparable Goodness unto Israel." 1647.
Verse
1. David opens the Psalm abruptly, and from this we learn what is
worthy of particular notice, that, before he broke forth into this language,
his mind had been agitated with many doubts and conflicting suggestions. As a
brave and valiant champion, he had been exercised in very painful struggles and
temptations; but, after long and arduous exertion, he at length succeeded in
shaking off all perverse imaginations, and came to the conclusion that yet
God is gracious to his servants, and the faithful guardian of their welfare.
Thus these words contain a tacit contrast between the unhallowed imaginations
suggested to him by Satan, and the testimony in favour of true religion with
which he now strengthens himself, denouncing, as it were, the judgment of the
flesh, in giving place to misgiving thoughts with respect to the providence of
God. We see, then, how emphatic is this exclamation of the psalmist. He does
not ascend into the chair to dispute after the manner of the philosophers, and
to deliver his discourse in a style of studied oratory; but as if he had
escaped from hell, he proclaims with a loud voice, and with impassioned
feeling, that he had obtained the victory. John Calvin.
Verse
1. (first clause).
Yet
sure the gods are good: I would think so,
If they would give me leave!
But virtue in distress, and vice in triumph,
Make atheists of mankind. Dryden.
Verse
1. God is good. There is a beauty in the name appropriated by
the Saxon nations to the Deity, unequalled except by his most reverential
Hebrew appellation. They called him "GOD, "which is literally
"THE GOOD." The same word thus signifying the Deity, and his most
endearing quality. Turner.
Verse
1. God is good. Let the devil and his instruments say what
they will to the contrary, I will never believe them; I have said it before,
and I see no reason to reverse my sentence: Truly God is good. Though
sometimes he may hide his face for awhile, yet he doth that in faithfulness and
love; there is kindness in his very scourges, and love bound up in his rods; he
is good to Israel: do but mark it first or last: "The true Israelite, in
whom there is no guile, shall be refreshed by his Saviour." The Israelite
that wrestles with tears with God, and values his love above the whole world,
that will not be put off without his Father's blessing, shall have it with a
witness: "He shall reap in joy though he may at present sow in tears. Even
to such as are of a clean heart." The false hearted hypocrite, indeed,
that gives God only his tongue and lip, cap and knee, but reserves his heart
and love for sin and the world, that hath much of compliment, but nothing of
affection and reality, why let such a one never expect, while in such a state,
to taste those reviving comforts that I have been treating of; while he drives
such a trade, he must not expect God's company. James Janeway.
1636-1674.
Verse
1. Even to such as are of a clean heart. Purity of heart is
the characteristic note of God's people. Heart purity denominates us the Israel
of God; it makes us of Israel indeed; "but all are not Israel which are of
Israel." Ro 9:6. Purity of heart is the jewel which is hung only upon the
elect. As chastity distinguishes a virtuous woman from an harlot, so the true
saint is distinguished from the hypocrite by his heart purity. This is like the
nobleman's star or garter, which is a peculiar ensign of honour, differing him
from the vulgar; when the bright star of purity shineth in a Christian's heart
it doth distinguish him from the formal professor. . . . God is good to
the pure in heart. We all desire that God should be good to us; it is the sick
man's prayer: "The Lord be good to me." But how is God good to them?
Two ways.
1.
To them that are pure all things are sanctified, Tit 1:15: "To the pure
all things are pure; " estate is sanctified, relations are sanctified; as
the temple did sanctify the gold and the altar did sanctify the offering. To
the unclean nothing is clean; their table is a snare, their temple devotion a
sin. There is a curse entailed upon a wicked man (De 28:16), but holiness
removeth the curse, and cuts off the entail: "to the pure all things are
pure."
2.
The clean hearted have all things work for their good. Ro 8:28. Mercies and
afflictions shall turn to their good; the most poisonous drugs shall be
medicinal; the most cross providence shall carry on the design of their
salvation. Who, then, would not be clean on heart? Thomas Watson.
Verse
2. But as for me. Literally, it is, And I, which ought
to be read with emphasis; for David means that those temptations which cast an
affront upon the honour of God, and overwhelm faith, not only assail the common
class of men, or those who are endued only with some small measure of the fear
of God, but that he himself, who ought to have profited above all others in the
school of God, had experienced his own share of them. By thus setting himself
forth as an example, he designed the more effectually to arouse and incite us
to take great heed to ourselves. John Calvin.
Verse
2. Let such also as fear God and begin to look aside on the things
of this world, know it will be hard even for them to hold out in faith and in
the fear of God in time of trial. Remember the example of David, he was a man
that had spent much time in travelling towards heaven; yet, looking but a
little aside upon the glittering show of this world, had very near lost his
way, his feet were almost gone, his steps had well nigh slipped. Edward
Elton. 1620.
Verse
2. He tells us that his feet were almost gone. The word
signifies to bow, or bend under one. My steps had well nigh slipped, or
poured out, kept not within their true bounds; but like water poured
out and not confined, runs aside. Though these expressions be metaphorical,
and seemingly dark and cloudy, yet they clearly represent unto us this truth,
that his understanding was misguided, his judgment was corrupt,
his affections disordered, turbulent, and guilty of too great a passion;
and this, the consequence (Ps 73:22 in which he acknowledges himself ignorant,
foolish, and brutish) do sufficiently evidence. Our understanding
and judgment may well bear the comparison for feet, for as the
one, in our motion, supports the body, so the other, in human actions
and all employments, underprops the soul. The affections, also,
are as paths and steps; as these of the feet, so these are
the prints and expressions of the judgment and mind. Edward Parry, in
"David Restored." 1660.
Verse
2. Almost gone. There is to be noted that the prophet said he
was almost gone, and not altogether. Here is the presence, providence,
strength, safeguard, and keeping of man by Almighty God, marvellously set
forth. That although we are tempted and brought even to the very point to
perpetrate and do all mischief, yet he stays us and keeps us, that the
temptation shall not overcome us. John Hooper. 1495-1555.
Verse
2-14. But the prosperity of wicked and unjust men, both in
public and in private life, who, though not leading a happy life in reality,
are yet thought to do so in common opinion, being praised improperly in the
works of poets, and all kinds of books, may lead you—and I am not surprised at
your mistake—to a belief that the gods care nothing for the affairs of men.
These matters disturb you. Being led astray by foolish thoughts, and yet not
able to think ill of the gods, you have arrived at your present state of mind,
so as to think that the gods to indeed exist, but that they despise and neglect
human affairs. Plato.
Verse
8. They are corrupt. Prosperity, in an irreligious heart,
breeds corruption, which from thence is emitted by the breath in
conversation, to infect and taint the minds of others. George Horne.
Verse
8. They speak wickedly concerning oppression. Indeed, we see
that wicked men, after having for some time got everything to prosper according
to their desires, cast off all shame, and are at no pains to conceal
themselves, when about to commit iniquity, but loudly proclaim their own
turpitude. "What!" they will say, "is it not in my power to
deprive you of all that you possess, and even to cut your throat?"
Robbers, it is true, can do the same thing; but then they hide themselves for
fear. These giants, or rather inhuman monsters, of whom David speaks, on the
contrary not only imagine that they are exempted from subjection to any law,
but, unmindful of their own weakness, foam furiously, as if there were no
distinction between good and evil, between right and wrong. John Calvin.
Verse
15. I should offend, etc. That is, I do God's church a great
deal of injury, which hath always been under afflictions, if I think or say,
that all her piety hath been without hope, or her hope without effect. Others
understand it to mean, I deceive the generation, viz., I propound a false
doctrine unto them, which is apt to seduce them. Others, "behold the
generation, "etc.; that is to say, notwithstanding all afflictions, it is
certain that thou art a Father to the Church only; which is sufficient to make
me judge well of these afflictions; I have done ill, and confess I have erred
in this my rash judgment. John Diodati.
Verse
17. By the sanctuaries of God some, even among the Hebrews,
understand the celestial mansions in which the spirits of the just and angels
dwell; as if David had said, This was a painful thing in my sight, until I came
to acknowledge in good earnest that men are not created to flourish for a short
time in this world, and to luxuriate in pleasures while in it, but that their
condition here is that of pilgrims, whose aspirations, during their earthly pilgrimage,
should be towards heaven. I readily admit that no man can form a right judgment
of the providence of God but he who elevates his mind above the earth; but it
is more simple and natural to understand the word sanctuary as denoting
celestial doctrine. As the book of the law was laid up in the sanctuary, from
which the oracles of heaven were to be obtained, that is to say, the
declaration of the will of God; and as this was the true way of acquiring
profitable instruction, David very properly puts entering into the
sanctuaries for coming to the school of God, as if his meaning were
this: Until God become my schoolmaster, and until I learn by his word what
otherwise my mind, when I come to consider the government of the world, cannot
comprehend, I stop short all at once, and understand nothing about the subject.
When, therefore, we are here told that men are unfit for contemplating the
arrangements of divine providence, until they obtain wisdom elsewhere than from
themselves, how can we attain to wisdom but by submissively receiving what God
teaches us, both by his word and by his Holy Spirit? David by the word sanctuary
alludes to the external manner of teaching, which God had appointed among his
ancient people; but along with the word he comprehends the secret illumination
of the Holy Spirit. John Calvin.
Verse
17. The joy of a wicked man is imperfect in itself, because it is not
so as it seems to be, or it is not sincerely so. It is not pure gold, but
alloyed and adulterated with sorrow. It may look well to one that is blear
eyed, but it will not pass for good to one that looks well to it. Let any one
consider and weigh it well in the balance of the sanctuary, whither
David went to fetch the scales for the same purpose, and he will find it too
light by many grains. It is not so inside as it is without; no more than a mud
wall that is plastered with white, or a stinking grave covered with a glorious
monument. It is upouloz, looking fair and smooth, like true joy; as a wounded
member that is healed too soon (and you know how God by the prophet complains
of the hurt of his people that was slightly healed, Jer 6:14), and it looks as
well as any other part of the body; but, underneath, there is still a sore,
which festers so much more, and is the worse, for that the outside is so well.
Where pretences, and cloaks, and disguises are the fairest; there the knavery,
and the poison, and the evil concealed are usually foulest. Zachary Bogan
(1625-1659), in "Meditations of the Mirth of a Christian Life."
Verse
17. Then understood I. There is a famous story of providence
in Bradwardine to this purpose. A certain hermit that was much tempted, and was
utterly unsatisfied concerning the providence of God, resolved to journey from
place to place till he met with some who could satisfy him. An angel in the
shape of a man joined himself with him as he was journeying, telling him that
he was sent from God to satisfy him in his doubts of providence. The first
night they lodged at the house of a very holy man, and they spent their time in
discourses of heaven, and praises of God, and were entertained with a great
deal of freedom and joy. In the morning, when they departed, the angel took
with him a great cup of gold. The next night they came to the house of another
holy man, who made them very welcome, and exceedingly rejoiced in their society
and discourse; the angel, notwithstanding, at his departure killed an infant in
the cradle, which was his only son, he having been for many years before
childless, and, therefore, was a very fond father of this child. The third
night they came to another house, where they had like free entertainment as
before. The master of the family had a steward whom he highly prized, and told
them how happy he accounted himself in having such a faithful servant. Next
morning he sent his steward with them part of their way, to direct them
therein. As they were going over the bridge the angel flung the steward into
the river and drowned him. The last night they came to a very wicked man's
house, where they had very untoward entertainment, yet the angel, next morning,
gave him the cup of gold. All this being done, the angel asked the hermit
whether he understood those things? He answered, his doubts of providence were
increased, not resolved, for he could not understand why he should deal so
hardly with those holy men, who received them with so much love and joy, and
yet give such a gift to that wicked man who used them so unworthily. The angel
said, I will now expound these things unto you. The first house where we came
the master of it was a holy man; yet, drinking in that cup every morning, it
being too large, it did somewhat unfit him for holy duties, though not so much
that others or himself did perceive it; so I took it away, since it is better
for him to lose the cup of gold than his temperance. The master of the family
where we lay the second night was a man given much to prayer and meditation,
and spent much time in holy duties, and was very liberal to the poor all the
time he was childless; but as soon as he had a son he grew so fond of it, and
spent so much time in playing with it, that he exceedingly neglected his former
holy exercise, and gave but little to the poor, thinking he could never lay up
enough for his child; therefore I have taken the infant to heaven, and left him
to serve God better upon earth. The steward whom I did drown had plotted to
kill his master the night following; and as to that wicked man to whom I gave
the cup of gold, he was to have nothing in the other world, I therefore gave him
something in this, which, notwithstanding, will prove a snare to him, for he
will be more intemperate; and "let him that is filthy be filthy
still." The truth of this story I affirm not, but the moral is very good,
for it shows that God is an indulgent Father to the saints when he most
afflicts them; and that when he sets the wicked on high he sets them also in
slippery places, and their prosperity is their ruin. Pr 1:32. Thomas White,
in "A Treatise of the Power of Godliness." 1658.
Verse
17. Their end. Providence is often mysterious and a source of
perplexity to us. Walking in Hyde Park one day, I saw a piece of paper on the
grass. I picked it up; it was a part of a letter; the beginning was wanting,
the end was not there; I could make nothing of it. Such is providence. You
cannot see beginning or end, only a part. When you can see the whole, then the
mystery will be unveiled. Thomas Jones. 1871.
Verse
18. Slippery places. The word in the original signifies slick,
or smooth, as ice or polished marble, and is from thence by a metaphor
used for flattery. Hence, Abenezra renders it, In locis adulationis posuisti
eos: thou hast set them in places of flattery. Edward Parry.
Verse
18. They are but exalted, as the shellfish by the eagle, according to
the naturalist, to be thrown down on some rock and devoured. Their most
glorious prosperity is but like a rainbow, which showeth itself for a little
time in all its gaudy colours, and then vanisheth. The Turks, considering the
unhappy end of their viziers, use this proverb, "He that is in the
greatest office is but a statue of glass." Wicked men walk on glass or
ice, thou hast set them in slippery places; on a sudden their feet
slip—they fall, and break their necks. George Swinnock.
Verses
18, 20. Their banqueting house is very slippery, and the feast
itself a mere dream. Thomas Adams.
Verse
19. They are utterly consumed with terrors. Their destruction
is not only sudden, but entire; it is like the breaking in pieces of a potter's
vessel, a sherd of which cannot be gathered up and used; or like the casting of
a millstone into the sea, which will never rise more; and this is done with
terrors, either by terrible judgments inflicted on them from without, or
with terrors inwardly seizing upon their minds and consciences, as at the time
of temporal calamities, or at death, and certainly at the judgment, when the
awful sentence will be pronounced upon them. See Job 27:20. John Gill.
Verse
19. If thou shouldest live the longest measure of time that any man
hath done, and spend all that time in nothing but pleasures (which no man ever
did but met with some crosses, afflictions, or sicknesses), but at the evening
of this life, must take up thy lodging in the "everlasting burnings"
and "devouring fire" (Isa 30:14); were those pleasures answerable to
these everlasting burnings? An English merchant that lived at Dantzic, now with
God, told us this story, and it was true. A friend of his (a merchant also),
upon what grounds I know not, went to a convent, and dined with some friars.
His entertainment was very noble. After he had dined and seen all, the merchant
fell to commending their pleasant lives: "Yea, "said one of the
friars to him, "we live gallantly indeed, had we anybody to go to hell for
us when we die." Giles Firmin (1617-1617), in "The Real Christian,
or, A Treatise of Effectual Calling."
Verse
20. As a dream when one awaketh. The conception is rather
subtle, but seems to have been shrewdly penetrated by Shakespeare, who makes
the Plantagenet prince (affecting, perhaps, the airs of a ruler in God's stead)
say to his discarded favourite—
"I
have long dreamt of such a kind of man,
So surfeit swelled, so old and so profane,
But being awake I do not despise my dream."
—Henry IV.
For
as it is the inertness of the sleeper's will and intellect that gives reality
to the shapes and figments, the very sentiments and purposes that throng his
mind; so it seems, as it were, to be the negligence and oversight of the Moral
Ruler that makes to prosper the wicked or inane life and influence. So Paul
says, in reference to the polytheism of the ancient world: "and the times
of this ignorance God winked at." Ac 17:30. C. B. Cayley, in "The
Psalms in Metre." 1860.
Verse
21. Thus my heart was grieved, etc. Two similitudes are used,
by which his grief and indignation or zeal are described. First, he says his
heart boiled over like yeast. The passion which was stirred up in his thoughts
he compares to the yeast which inflates the whole mass, and causes it to swell
or boil over... The other simile is taken from the internal pains which calculi
produce; I was pricked in my reins. They who have felt them are aware of
the torture, and there is no need for a long description. It signifies that his
great pain was mingled with indignation, and that this came fresh upon him as
often as he looked upon the prosperity of the ungodly. Mollerus.
Verse
21. Reins. Before all the other intestines there are the
kidneys (twylb, nefroi), placed on both sides of the lumbar vertebrae on the
hinder wall of the abdomen, of which the Scripture makes such frequent mention,
and in the most psychically significant manner. It brings the most tender and
the most inward experience of a manifold kind into association with them. When
man is suffering most deeply within, he is pricked in his kidneys
("reins"). When fretting affliction overcomes him, his kidneys
are cloven asunder (Job 16:13; compare La 3:13); when he rejoices profoundly,
they exult (Pr 23:16); when he feels himself very penetratingly warned, they
chasten him (Ps 16:7); when he very earnestly longs, they are consumed away
with his body (Job 19:27). As the omniscient and all penetrating knower of the
most secret hidden things of man, God is frequently called (from Ps 7:10 to the
Apocalypse) the Trier of the hearts and reins; and of the ungodly it is said,
that God is far from their reins (Jer 12:2), that is, that he, being withdrawn
back into himself, allows not himself to be perceived by them. Franz
Delitzsch.
Verse
22. So foolish was I, and ignorant, etc. Is not a cavilling
spirit at the Lord's dispensations bad, both in its roots and fruits? What are
the roots of it but (1) ignorance; (2) pride, this lifteth up (Heb 2:4); (3)
impatience, or want of waiting on God to see the issues of matters; so in Jon
4:8-11; (4) forgetfulness who the Lord is, and who man is that grumbles at his
Maker, La 3:39, Ro 9:20. And as for the fruits, they are none of the best, but
bad enough. Men are ready to flag in duty, yea, to throw it off, Ro 9:13, and
Mal 3:14; yea, in the way to blaspheme God; see Job 2:9 Mal 3:13 Re 16:9. Thomas
Crane, in "A Prospect of Divine Providence." 1672.
Verse
22. I was as a beast before thee. I permitted my mind to be
wholly occupied with sensible things, like the beasts that perish, and
did not look into a future state, nor did I consider nor submit to the wise
designs of an unerring providence. Adam Clarke.
Verse
22. I was as a beast before thee. The original has in it no
word of comparison; it ought to be rather translated, I was a very beast
before thee, and we are told that the Hebrew word being in the plural
number, gives it a peculiar emphasis, indicating some monstrous or astonishing
beast. It is the word used by Job which is interpreted "behemoth,
"—"I was a very monster before thee, "not only a beast, but one
of the most brutish of all beasts, one of the most stubborn and intractable of
all beasts. I think no man can go much lower than this in humble confession.
This is a description of human nature, and of the old man in the renewed saint
which is not to be excelled. C.H.S.
Verse
22. Among the many arguments to prove the penman of the Scripture
inspired by the Spirit of God, this is not the last and least—that the penmen
of holy writ do record their own faults and the faults of their dearest and
nearest relatives. For instance hereof, how coarsely doth David speak of
himself: So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
And do you think that the face of St. Paul did look the more foul by being
drawn with his own pencil, when he says, "I was a murderer, a persecutor,
the greatest of sinners, "etc? This is not usual in the writings of human
authors, who praise themselves to the utmost of what they could, and rather
than lose a drop of applause they will lick it up with their own tongues. Tully
writes very copiously in setting forth the good service which he did the Roman
state, but not a word of his covetousness, of his affecting popular applause,
of his pride and vain glory, of his mean extraction and the like. Whereas,
clean contrary, Moses sets down the sin and punishment of his own sister, the
idolatry and superstition of Aaron his brother, and his own fault in his
preposterous striking the rock, for which he was excluded the land of Canaan. Thomas
Fuller.
Verse
23. I am continually with thee, as a child the tender care of
a parent; and as a parent, during my danger of falling in a slippery path, "thou
hast holden me, thy child, by my right hand." George Horne.
Verse
23. I am continually with thee. He does not say that the Lord is
continually with "his people, "and holds, and guides, and receives
them; he says, "He is continually with me; He holds me; He
will guide me; He will receive me." The man saw, and felt,
and rejoiced in his own personal interest in God's care and love. And he did
this (mark), in the very midst of affliction, with "flesh and heart
failing; "and in spite too of many wrong, and opposite, and sinful
feelings, that had just passed away; under a conviction of his own sinfulness,
and folly, and, as he calls it, even "brutishness." Oh! it is a
blessed thing, brethren, to have a faith like this. Charles Bradley.
1838.
Verse
23. I am still with thee. The word translated still
properly means always, and denotes that there had been no change or
interruption in the previous relation of the parties. There is a perfectly
analogous usage of the French toujours. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
24. Thou shalt guide me. How are we to work our way in strange
lands, if left entirely to our own resources? Hence it is, that so much is said
in the Bible about guides, and that the Lord is called the guide of his people.
They are in a foreign land, a land of pits and snares; and, without a good
guide, they will be sure to fall into the one, or be caught in the other.
"This God is our God, for ever and ever, "saith the psalmist; and not
only so, but he condescends to "be our guide, and will be, even
unto death" (Ps 48:14). Can we have a better guide? When a guide
has been well recommended to us by those who have tried him, it is our wisdom
to place ourselves unreservedly in his hands; and if he say our way lies to the
right, it would show our folly to say we were determined to go to the left. John
Gadsby.
Verse
24. Guide... receive. After conversion, God still works with
us: he doth not only give grace, but actual help in the work of obedience:
"He worketh all our works in us, "Isa 26:12. His actual help is
necessary to direct, quicken, strengthen, protect and defend us. In our way to
heaven, we need not only a rule and path, but a guide. The rule is the law
of God; but the guide is the Spirit of God. Thomas Manton.
Verse
24. Afterward. After all our toil in labour and duty, after
all our crosses and afflictions, after all our doubts and fears that we should
never receive it; after all the hiding of his face, and clouds and darkness
that have passed over us; and after all our battles and fightings for it, oh,
then how seasonably will the reception of this reward come in: Thou wilt
guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. O blessed afterwards;
when all your work is done, when all your doubts and fears are over, and when
all your battles are fought; then, O then, ye shall receive the reward. John
Spalding.
Verse
24. Receive me to glory. Mendelssohn in his Beor, has
perceived the probable allusion in this clause to the translation of Enoch. Of
Enoch it is said, Ge 5:24, Myhla wta xql, "God took him." Here
(Ps 73:24), the psalmist writes, ygzqt Kwbk. "Thou shalt take me to
glory, or gloriously." In another (Ps 49:16) we read, ygzqy yk. "For
he (God) shall take me." I can hardly think that the two latter
expressions were written and read in their context by Jews without reference to
the former. Thomas Thompson Perowne.
Verse
26. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my
heart, and my portion for ever. In which words we may take notice of five
things.
1.
The order inverted. When he mentions his malady he begins with the failing of
the flesh, and then of the heart; but when he reports the relief he begins with
that of the heart. From hence observe that when God works a cure in man
(out of love) he begins with the heart—he cures that first. And there may be
these reasons for it.
1.
Because the sin of the heart is often the procuring cause of the malady of body
and soul.
2.
The body ever fares the better for the soul, but not the soul for the body.
3.
The cure of the soul is the principal cure.
2.
The suitableness of the remedy to the malady. Strength of heart for failing of
heart, and a blessed portion for the failing of the flesh. Observe, that
there is a proportionate remedy and relief in God for all maladies and
afflictions whatsoever, both within and without. If your hearts fail you, God
is strength; if your flesh fails you, or comforts fail you, God is a portion.
3.
The prophet's interest; he calls God his portion. Observe, that true
Israelites have an undoubted interest in God:—He is theirs.
4.
The prophet's experience in the worst time. He finds this to be true, that when
communicated strength fails, there is a never failing strength in God. Observe,
that Christians' experiences of God's all sufficiency are then fullest and
highest when created comforts fail them.
5.
There is the prophet's improvement of his experience for support and comfort
against future trials and temptations. Observe, that a saint's consideration
of his experience of God's all sufficiency in times of exigency, is enough to
bear up and to fortify his spirit against all trials and temptations for the
time to come.
Thus
you may improve the text by way of observation; but there are two principal
doctrines to be insisted on. First, that God is the rock of a saint's heart,
his strength, and his portion for ever. Secondly, that divine influence and
relief passeth from God to his people when they stand in most need thereof.
First.
God is the rock of a saint's heart, strength, and portion for ever. Here are
two members or branches in this doctrine.
1.
That God is the rock of a saint's heart, strength.
2.
That God is the portion of a saint. Branch 1. God is the rock of a saint's
heart, strength. He is not only strength, and the strength of their hearts, but
the rock of their strength; so Isa 17:10. Ps 62:7, rwu, the same word that is
used in the text, from hence comes our English word "sure."
Explication. God is the rock of our strength, both in respect of our naturals
and also of our spirituals: he is the strength of nature and of grace (Ps
27:1); the strength of my life natural and spiritual. God is the strength of
thy natural faculties—of reason and understanding, of wisdom and prudence, of
will and affections. He is the strength of all thy graces, faith, patience,
meekness, temperance, hope, and charity; both as to their being and exercise.
He is the strength of all thy comfort and courage, peace and happiness,
salvation and glory. Ps 140:7. "O God, the rock of my salvation." In
three respects. First. He is the author and giver of all strength. Ps 18:32:
"It is God that girdeth me with strength." Ps 24:11: "He will
give strength to his people." Ps 138:3 68:35. Secondly. He is the
increaser and perfecter of a saint's strength; it is God that makes a saint
strong and mighty both to do and suffer, to bear and forbear, to believe and to
hope to the end; so Heb 11:34: "Out of weakness they were made strong;
"so 1Jo 2:14. And therefore is that prayer of Peter, 1Pe 5:10.
Thirdly. He is the preserver of your strength; your life is laid up in God. Col
3:3. Your strength is kept by the strength of God; so Ps 91:1. God doth
overshadow the strength of saints, that no breach can be made upon it. Ps 63:7.
"In the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice." Samuel Blackerby.
1673.
Verse
26. Oh, strange logic! Grace hath learned to deduce strong
conclusions out of weak premises, and happy out of sad. If the major be,
My flesh and my heart faileth; and the minor, "There is no
blossom in the fig tree, nor fruit in the vine, "etc.; yet his conclusion
is firm and undeniable: The Lord is the strength of my heart, and my portion
for ever; or, Yet will I rejoice in the God of my salvation. And if
there be more in the conclusion than in the premises, it is the
better; God comes even in the conclusion. John Sheffield, in "The
Rising Sun." 1654.
Verse
26. My flesh and my heart faileth. They who take the
expression in a bad sense, take it to be a confession of his former sin, and to
have relation to the combat mentioned in the beginning of the Psalm, between
the flesh and the spirit; as if he had said, I was so surfeited with self
conceitedness that I presumed to arraign divine actions at the bar of human
reason, and to judge the stick under water crooked by the eye of my sense,
when, indeed, it was straight: but now I see that flesh is no fit judge in
matters of faith; that neither my flesh nor heart can determine rightly of
God's dispensations, nor hold out uprightly under Satan's temptations; for if
God had not supported me my flesh had utterly supplanted me: My flesh and my
heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart. Flesh is sometimes
taken for corrupt nature. Ga 5:13. First, because it is propagated by the flesh
(Joh 3:6); secondly, because it is executed by the flesh (Ro 7:25); thirdly,
because corruption is nourished, strengthened, and increased by the flesh. 1Jo
2:16. They who take the words in a good sense, do not make them look back so
far as the beginning of the Psalm, but only to the neighbour verse. George
Swinnock.
Verse
26. God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
The Hebrew carrieth it, but God is the rock of my heart, i.e., a sure, strong,
and immovable foundation to build upon. Though the winds may blow, and the
waves beat, when the storm of death cometh, yet I need not fear that the house
of my heart will fall, for it is built on a sure foundation: God is the rock of
my heart. The strongest child that God hath is not able to stand alone; like
the hop or ivy, he must have somewhat to support him, or he is presently on the
ground. Of all seasons, the Christian hath most need of succour at his dying
hour; then he must take his leave of all his comforts on earth, and then he
shall be sure of the sharpest conflicts from hell, and therefore, it is
impossible he should hold out without extraordinary help from heaven. But the
psalmist had armour of proof ready, wherewith to encounter his last enemy. As
weak and fearful a child as he was, he durst venture a walk in the dark entry
of death, having his Father by the hand: "Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy
rod and thy staff they comfort me, "Psalm 23. Though at the troubles
of my life, and my trial at death, my heart is ready to fail me, yet I have a
strong cordial which will cheer me in my saddest condition: God is the
strength of my heart.
And
my portion. It is a metaphor taken from the ancient custom among the Jews, of
dividing inheritances, whereby every one had his allotted portion; as if he had
said, God is not only my rock to defend me from those tempests which assault
me, and, thereby, my freedom from evil; but he is also my portion, to supply my
necessities, and to give me the fruition of all good. Others, indeed, have
their parts on this side the land of promise, but the author of all portions is
the matter of my portion. My portion doth not lie in the rubbish and lumber, as
theirs doth whose portion is in this life, be they never so large; but my
portion containeth him whom the heavens, and heaven of heavens, can never
contain. God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever; not
for a year, or an age, or a million of ages, but for eternity. Though others'
portions, like roses, the fuller they blow, the sooner they shed; they are
worsted often by their pride, and wasted through their prodigality, so that at
last they come to want—and surely death always rends their persons and portions
asunder; yet my portion will be ever full, without diminution. Without
alteration, this God will be my God for ever and ever, my guide and aid unto
death; nay, death, which dissolves so many bonds, and unties such close knots,
shall never part me and my portion, but give me a perfect and everlasting
possession of it. George Swinnock.
Verse
28. It is good for me to draw near to God. When he saith, it
is good, his meaning is it is best. This positive is superlative. It
is more than good for us to draw nigh to God at all times, it is best for us to
do so, and it is at our utmost peril not to do so; For, lo, saith the
psalmist (Ps 73:27), they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast
destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. It is dangerous to be far
from God, but it is more dangerous to go far from him. Every man is far off by
nature, and wicked men go further off: the former shall perish, the
latter shall be destroyed. He that fares best in his withdrawing from
God, fares bad enough; therefore, it is best for us to draw nigh unto God. He
is the best friend at all times, and the only friend at sometimes. And may we
not say that God suffers and orders evil times, and the withdrawing of the
creature, for that very end, that we might draw nearer unto him? Doth he not
give up the world to a spirit of reviling and mocking that he may stir up in
his people a spirit of prayer? Joseph Caryl.
Verse
28. It is good; that is, it puts in us a blessed quality and
disposition. It makes a man to be like God himself; and, secondly, it is
good, that is, it is comfortable; for it is the happiness of the creature
to be near the Creator; it is beneficial and helpful. To draw near. How
can a man but be near to God, seeing he filleth heaven and earth: "Whither
shall I go from thy presence?" Ps 139:7. He is present always in power and
providence in all places, but graciously present with some by his Spirit,
supporting, comforting, strengthening the heart of a good man. As the soul is
said to be tota in toto, in several parts by several faculties, so God,
is present to all, but in a diverse manner. Now we are said to be near to God
in diverse degrees: first, when our understanding is enlightened;
intellectus est veritatis sponsa; and so the young man speaking discreetly
in things concerning God, is said not to be far from the kingdom of God, Mr
12:34. Secondly, in minding: when God is present to our minds, so that
the soul is said to be present to that which it minds; contrarily it is said of
the wicked, that "God is not in all their thoughts, "Ps 10:4. Thirdly,
when the will upon the discovery of the understanding comes to choose the
better part, and is drawn from that choice to cleave to him, as it was said
of Jonathan's heart, "it was knit to David, " 1Sa 18:1. Fourthly,
when our whole affections are carried to God, loving him as the chief
good. Love is the firstborn affection. That breeds desire of communion with
God. Thence comes joy in him, so that the soul pants after God, "as the
hart after the water springs, "Ps 41:1. Fifthly, and especially, when
the soul is touched with the Spirit of God working faith, stirring up
dependence, confidence, and trust on God. Hence ariseth sweet communion. The
soul is never at rest till it rests on him. Then it is afraid to break with him
or to displease him; but it groweth zealous and resolute, and hot in love,
stiff in good cases; resolute against his enemies. And yet this is not all, for
God will have also the outward man, so as the whole man must present itself before
God in word, in sacraments; speak of him and to him with reverence, and yet
with strength of affection mounting up in prayer, as in a fiery chariot; hear
him speak to us; consulting with his oracles; fetching comforts against
distresses, directions against maladies. Sixthly, and especially, we
draw near to him when we praise him; for this is the work of the souls
departed, and of the angels in heaven, that are continually near unto him. The
prophet here saith, It is good for me. How came he to know this? Why, he
had found it by experience, and by it he was thoroughly convinced. Richard
Sibbes.
Verse
28. To draw near to God. It is not one isolated act. It is nor
merely turning to God, and saying, "I have come to him." The
expression is draw. It is not a single act; it is the drawing, the
coming, the habitual walk, going on, and on, and on, so long as we are on
earth. It is, therefore, an habitual religion which must be pressed and
enforced upon us. Montagu Villiers. 1855.
Verse
28. To draw near to God. To draw near to God,
1.
A man should make his peace with God, in and through the Mediator Jesus Christ;
for, until once that be done, a man must be said to be far from God, and there
is a partition wall standing betwixt God and him. It is the same with that
advice given by Eliphaz to Job: "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be
at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee, " Job 22:21. Be friends
with God, and all shall be well with you.
2.
It is to seek more after communion and fellowship with God, and to pursue after
intimacy and familiarity with him; and to have more of his blessed company with
us in our ordinary walk and conversation; according to that word, "Blessed
is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light
of thy countenance, "Ps 89:15.
3.
As it stands here in the text, it is the expression of one who hath made up his
peace already, and is on good terms with God; and doth differ a little from
what the words absolutely imply; and so we may take it thus,
(a)
It implies the confirming or making sure our interest in God, and so it
supposes the man's peace to be made with God; for, whoever be the author of
this Psalm, it supposes he has made his peace; and, therefore, in the following
words it is subjoined, I have put my trust in the Lord, etc.; that is, I
have trusted my soul unto God, and made my peace with him through a mediator.
It is good, whatever comes, it is always good to be near to
God, that way, and to be made sure in him.
(b)
It implies to be more conformed unto the image of God, and, therefore, this
nearness to him is opposed to that of being far from God. It is good, says he
to draw near to God in our duty; when so many are far from him.
(c)
It implies, to lay by all things in the world, and to seek fellowship and
communion with God, and to be more set apart for his blessed company, and to
walk with him in a dependence upon him as the great burden bearer, as he who is
to be all in all unto us.
In
a word, to draw near unto God, is to make our peace with him, and to secure and
confirm that peace with him, and to study a conformity unto him, and to be near
unto him in our walk and conversation; in our fellowship, and whole carriage,
and deportment, to be always near unto him. William Guthrie.
Verse
28. The Epicurean, says Augustine, is wont to say, It is good for
me to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh: the Stoic is wont to say, For me
it is good to enjoy the pleasures of the mind: The Apostle used to say (not
in words but in sense), It is good for me to cleave to God. Lorinus.
Verse
28. The Lord God. The names The Lord Jehovah are a
combination expressive of God's sovereignty, self existence, and covenant
relation to his people. Joseph Addison Alexander.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Whole
Psalm. It containeth the godly man's trial, in the former part of
it, and his triumph, in the latter part of it. We have,
1.
The grievous conflict between the flesh and the spirit, to the 15th verse.
2.
The glorious conquest of the spirit over the flesh, to the end. G. Swinnock.
Whole
Psalm.
1.
The cause of his distemper.
2. The cure of it.
3. The psalmist's carriage after it.
—G. Swinnock.
Verse
1. The true Israel, the great blessing, and the sureness of it: or,
the proposition of the text expounded, enforced, and applied.
Verse
1. (first clause). Israel's receipts from God are,
1.
For quantity, the greatest;
2. For variety, the choicest;
3. For quality, the sweetest;
4. For security, the surest;
5. For duration, the most lasting.
—Simeon Ash.
Verse
2.
1.
How far a believer may fall.
2. How far he shall not fall.
3. What fears are and what are not allowable.
Verse
2. A retrospect of our slips; prospect of future danger; present
preparation for it.
Verse
4. Quiet death; the cases of the godly and ungodly distinguished by
the causes of the quiet, and the unreliability of mere feelings shown.
Verse
5. The bastard's portion contrasted with that of the true son.
Verse
7. The dangers of opulence and luxury.
Verse
8. Connection between a corrupt heart and a proud tongue.
Verse
10.
1.
The believer's cup is bitter.
2.
It is full.
3.
Its contents are varied waters.
4.
It is but a cup, measured and limited.
5.
It is the cup of his people, and, consequently, works good in the
highest degree.
Verse
11. The atheists open question; the oppressor's practical question;
the careless man's secret question; and the fearful saint's fainting question.
The reasons why it is ever asked, and the conclusive reasons which put the
matter beyond question.
Verse
12. This verse suggests solemn enquiries for persons who are growing
rich.
Verse
14. The frequent and even constant chastisement of the righteous; the
necessity and design thereof; and the consolations connected therewith.
Verse
15. How we may bring injury on the saints; why we should avoid so
doing, and how.
Verse
17.
1.
Entrance into the place of fellowship with God, it privileges, and the way
thereto.
2.
Lessons learned in that hallowed place; the text mentions one.
3.
Practical influence of the fellowship, and the instruction.
Verses
17-18. The sinner's end; See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 486.
Verse
18. Thou didst set them in slippery places.
1.
It implies that they were always exposed to sudden, unexpected destruction.
As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot
foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does
fall, he falls at once without warning.
2.
They are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the
hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing
but his own weight to throw him down.
3.
There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell but the
mere pleasure of God. Jonathan Edwards.
Verses
18-20. The end of the wicked is,
1.
Near: Thou hast set, etc. It may happen at any time.
2.
Judicial: Thou bringest, etc.
3.
Sudden: How are they, etc.
4.
Tormenting: They are utterly consumed, etc.
5.
Eternal: Left to themselves; gone from the mind of God; and disregarded as a
dream when one awaketh. No after act respecting them, either for deliverance or
annihilation.
Verse
19. The first sight and sense of hell by a proud and wealthy sinner,
who has just died in peace.
Verse
20. The contemptible object:—a self righteous, or boastful, or persecuting,
or cavilling, or wealthy sinner when his soul is called before God.
Verse
22. Our folly, ignorance, and brutishness. When displayed. What
effect the fact should have upon us; and how greatly it illustrates divine
grace.
Verse
22-25.
1.
The psalmist's confession concerning the flesh.
2.
The faithful expressions of the spirit.
3.
The conclusion of the whole matter. See "Spurgeon's Sermons, "No.
467.
Verse
25. God the best portion of the Christian. Jonathan Edwards'
Works, Vol. 2, pp. 104-7.
Verse
25. Heaven and earth ransacked to find a joy equal to the Lord
himself. Let the preacher take up various joys and show the inferiority.
Verse
26.
1.
The psalmist's complaint: My flesh and my heart faileth.
2.
His comfort: But God, etc. Or, we may take notice, (a) Of the frailty of
his flesh; (b) Of the flourishing of his faith.
Doctrine
1. That man's flesh will fail him. The highest, the holiest man's heart will
not always hold out. The prophet was great and gracious, yet his flesh failed
him.
Doctrine
2. That it is the comfort of a Christian, in his saddest condition, that God is
his portion. G. Swinnock.
Verse
26. "The Fading of the Flesh, " Swinnock's Treatise.
(Nichol's Puritan Series.)
Verse
26. Where we fail and where we cannot fail.
Verse
27.
1.
The sad conditions.
2. The terrible punishments.
3. The implied consolations.
Verse
28. To draw near to God is our wisdom, our honour, our safety, our
peace, our riches. Thomas Watson's Sermon, "The Happiness of Drawing
near to God." 1669. See also, "The Saint's Happiness, "R.
Sibbes's Sermons.
Verse
28. David's conclusion; or, the saint's resolution. R. Sibbes.
Verse
28.
1.
The language of prayer: It is good, etc.
2.
Of faith: I have put, etc.
3.
Of praise: That I may declare. G. R.
Verse
28. See "Spurgeon's Sermons," Nos. 287-8, "Let us
pray." No. 879, "An assuredly good thing."
WORKS UPON THE
SEVENTY-THIRD PSALM
Certain
Comfortable Expositions of the Constant Martyr of Christ JOHN HOOPER, Bishop of
Gloucester and Worcester, 1555, written in the time of his Tribulation and
Imprisonment, upon the Twenty-third, Sixty-second, Seventy-third, and Seventy-seventh
Psalm of the prophet David. (In Parker Society's publications, and also in the
"British Reformers" series of the Religious Tract Society.)
David
Restored; or, And Antidote against the Prosperity of the Wicked and the
Afflictions of the Just, shewing the different ends of both. In a most
seasonable discourse upon the Seventy-third Psalm. By the Right Reverend Father
in God EDWARD PARRY. Late Lord Bishop of Killaloe. 1660.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》