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Psalm Eighty-two
Psalm 82
Chapter Contents
An exhortation to judges. (1-5) The doom of evil rulers.
(6-8)
Commentary on Psalm 82:1-5
(Read Psalm 82:1-5)
Magistrates are the mighty in authority for the public
good. Magistrates are the ministers of God's providence, for keeping up order
and peace, and particularly in punishing evil-doers, and protecting those that
do well. Good princes and good judges, who mean well, are under Divine
direction; and bad ones, who mean ill, are under Divine restraint. The
authority of God is to be submitted to, in those governors whom his providence
places over us. But when justice is turned from what is right, no good can be
expected. The evil actions of public persons are public mischiefs.
Commentary on Psalm 82:6-8
(Read Psalm 82:6-8)
It is hard for men to have honour put upon them, and not
to be proud of it. But all the rulers of the earth shall die, and all their
honour shall be laid in the dust. God governs the world. There is a righteous
God to whom we may go, and on whom we may depend. This also has respect to the
kingdom of the Messiah. Considering the state of affairs in the world, we have
need to pray that the Lord Jesus would speedily rule over all nations, in
truth, righteousness, and peace.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 82
Verse 1
[1] God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he
judgeth among the gods.
Standeth — To observe all that is said or done there.
Mighty — Kings or chief rulers. By their congregation he understands
all persons whatsoever of this high and sacred order.
Judgeth — Passes sentence upon them.
The gods — Judges and magistrates are called gods, because they
have their commission from God, and act as his deputies.
Verse 2
[2] How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons
of the wicked? /*Selah*/.
How long — The psalmist speaks to them in God's name.
Accept — By giving sentence according to your respect or
affection to the person.
Verse 5
[5] They know not, neither will they understand; they walk
on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
They — The magistrates of whom this psalm treats.
Know not — The duty of their place.
Nor will — Their ignorance is wilful.
Walk on — They persist: it is their constant course.
In darkness — In their sinful courses.
The foundations — This corruption of the supreme
rulers, flows from them to their inferior officers and members.
Verse 6
[6] I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of
the most High.
Have said — I have given you my name and
power to rule your people in my stead.
All — Not only the rulers of Israel, but of all other
nations.
Children — Representing my person, and bearing both my name and
authority.
Verse 7
[7] But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the
princes.
Like men — Or, like ordinary men.
Verse 8
[8] Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit
all nations.
Arise — Take the sword of justice into thine own hand.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Other Works
TITLE AND
SUBJECT. A Psalm of Asaph. This poet of the temple here acts as a preacher
to the court and to the magistracy. Men who do one thing well are generally
equal to another; he who writes good verse is not unlikely to be able to
preach. What preaching it would have been had Milton entered the pulpit, or had
Virgil been an apostle.
Asaph's
sermon before the judges is now before us. He speaks very plainly, and his song
is rather characterised by strength than by sweetness. We have here a clear
proof that all psalms and hymns need not be direct expressions of praise to
God; we may, according to the example of this psalm, admonish one another in
our songs. Asaph no doubt saw around him much bribery and corruption, and while
David punished it with the sword, he resolved to scourge it with a prophetic
psalm. In so doing, the sweet singer was not forsaking his profession as a
musician for the Lord, but rather was practically carrying it out in another
department. He was praising God when he rebuked the sin which dishonoured him,
and if he was not making music, he was hushing discord when he bade rulers
dispense justice with impartiality.
DIVISION. The Psalm is a
whole and needs no formal division.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He is the
overlooker, who, from his own point of view, sees all that is done by the great
ones of the earth. When they sit in state he stands over them, ready to deal
with them if they pervert judgment. Judges shall be judged, and to justices
justice shall be meted out. Our village squires and country magistrates would
do well to remember this. Some of them had need go to school to Asaph till they
have mastered this psalm. Their harsh decisions and strange judgments are made
in the presence of him who will surely visit them for every unseemly act, for
he has no respect unto the person of any, and is the champion of the poor and
needy. A higher authority will criticise the decision of petty sessions, and
even the judgments of our most impartial judges will be revised by the High
Court of heaven. He judgeth among the gods. They are gods to other men, but he
is GOD to them. He lends them his name, and this is their authority for acting
as judges, but they must take care that they do not misuse the power entrusted
to them, for the Judge of judges is in session among them. Our puisne judges are
but puny judges, and their brethren who administer common law will one day be
tried by the common law. This great truth is, upon the whole, well regarded
among us in these times, but it was not so in the earlier days of English
history, when Jeffries, and such as he, were an insult to the name of justice.
Oriental judges, even now, are frequently, if not generally, amenable to
bribes, and in past ages it was very hard to find a ruler who had any notion of
justice apart from his own arbitrary will. Such plain teaching as this psalm
contains was needful indeed, and he was a bold good man who, in such courtly
phrases, delivered his own soul.
Verse
2. How long will ye judge unjustly and accept the persons of the
wicked? It is indirectly stated that the magistrates had been unjust and
corrupt. They not only excused the wicked, but even decided in their favour
against the righteous. A little of this is too much, a short time too long.
Some suitors could get their claims settled at once, and in their own favour, while
others were wearing out their lives by waiting for an audience, or were robbed
by legal process because their opponents had the judge's ear: how long were
such things to be perpetuated? Would they never remember the Great Judge, and
renounce their wickedness? This verse is so grandly stern that one is tempted
to say, "Surely an Elijah is here." Selah. This gives the offenders
pause for consideration and confession.
Verse
3. Defend the poor and fatherless. Cease to do evil, learn to
do well. Look not to the interests of the wealthy whose hands proffer you
bribes, but protect the rights of the needy, and especially uphold the claims
of orphans whose property too often becomes a prey. Do not hunt down the
peasant for gathering a few sticks, and allow the gentlemanly swindler to break
through the meshes of the law. Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Even they
can claim from you as judge no more than justice; your pity for their
circumstances must not make you hold the scales unfairly: but if you give them
no more than justice, at least be sure that you give them that to the full.
Suffer not the afflicted to be further afflicted by enduring injustice, and let
not the needy long stand in need of an equitable hearing.
Verse
4. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the
wicked. Break the nets of the man catchers, the legal toils, the bonds, the
securities, with which cunning men capture and continue to hold in bondage the
poor and the embarrassed. It is a brave thing when a judge can liberate a
victim like a fly from the spider's web, and a horrible case when magistrate
and plunderer are in league. Law has too often been an instrument for vengeance
in the hand of unscrupulous men, an instrument as deadly as poison or the
dagger. It is for the judge to prevent such villainy.
Verse
5. They know not, neither will they understand. A wretched
plight for a nation to be in when its justices know no justice, and its judges
are devoid of judgment. Neither to know his duty nor to wish to know it is rather
the mark of an incorrigible criminal than of a magistrate, yet such a stigma
was justly set upon the rulers of Israel. They walk on in darkness. They are as
reckless as they are ignorant. Being both ignorant and wicked they yet dare to
pursue a path in which knowledge and righteousness are essential: they go on
without hesitation, forgetful of the responsibilities in which they are
involved, and the punishment which they are incurring. All the foundations of
the earth are out of course. When the dispensers of law have dispensed with
justice, settlements are unsettled, society is unhinged, the whole fabric of
the nation is shaken. When injustice is committed in due course of law the
world is indeed out of course. When "Justices' justice" becomes a
byword it is time that justice dealt with justices. Surely it would be well
that certain of "the great unpaid" should be paid off, when day after
day their judgments show that they have no judgment. When peasants may be
horsewhipped by farmers with impunity, and a pretty bird is thought more
precious than poor men, the foundations of the earth are indeed sinking like
rotten piles unable to bear up the structures built upon them. Thank God we
have, as an almost invariable rule, incorruptible judges; may it always be so.
Even our lesser magistrates are, in general, most worthy men; for which we
ought to be grateful to God evermore.
Verse
6. I have said, ye are gods. The greatest honour was thus put
upon them; they were delegated gods, clothed for a while with a little of that
authority by which the Lord judges among the sons of men. And all of you are
children of the Most High. This was their ex-officio character, not
their moral or spiritual relationship. There must be some government among men,
and as angels are not sent to dispense it, God allows men to rule over men, and
endorses their office, so far at least that the prostitution of it becomes an
insult to his own prerogatives. Magistrates would have no right to condemn the
guilty if God had not sanctioned the establishment of government, the
administration of law, and the execution of sentences. Here the Spirit speaks
most honourably of these offices, even when it censures the officers; and
thereby teaches us to render honour to whom honour is due, honour to the office
even if we award censure to the officer bearer.
Verse
7. But ye shall die like men. What sarcasm it seems! Great as
the office made the men, they were still but men, and must die. To every judge
this verse is a memento mori! He must leave the bench to stand at the
bar, and on the way must put off the ermine to put on the shroud. And fall like
one of the princes. Who were usually the first to die: for battle, sedition,
and luxury, made greater havoc among the great than among any others. Even as princes
have often been cut off by sudden and violent deaths, so should the judges be
who forget to do justice. Men usually respect the office of a judge, and do not
conspire to slay him, as they do to kill princes and kings; but injustice
withdraws this protection, and puts the unjust magistrate in personal danger.
How quickly death unrobes the great. What a leveller he is. He is no advocate
for liberty, but in promoting equality and fraternity he is a masterly
democrat. Great men die as common men do. As their blood is the same, so the
stroke which lets out their life produces the same pains and throes. No places
are too high for death's arrows: he brings down his birds from the tallest
trees. It is time that all men considered this.
Verse
8. Arise, O God, and judge the earth. Come thou Judge of all
mankind, put the bad judges to thy bar and end their corruption and baseness.
Here is the world's true hope of rescue from the fangs of tyranny. For thou
shalt inherit all nations. The time will come when all races of men shall own
their God, and accept him as their king. There is one who is "King by
right divine, "and he is even now on his way. The last days shall see him
enthroned, and all unrighteous potentates broken like potter's vessels by his
potent sceptre. The second advent is still earth's brightest hope. Come
quickly, even so, come, Lord Jesus.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. Asaph, who has written so much in the previous Psalms of the
coming of Christ in the flesh, now speaks of his second coming to judgment. Josephus
Maria Thomasius. 1649-1713.
Verse
1. God standeth. He is said to stand, because of his
immutability, his power, his abiding presence, and also because of his
promptness in act, to decide for the right, and to help the poor, as he did S.
Stephen. But one commentator draws a yet deeper lesson from the word stand.
He reminds us that it is for the judge to sit, and for the litigants or accused
to stand; as it is written, Moses sat to judge the people: and the people
stood by Moses from the morning until the evening. Ex 18:13. It is then a
solemn warning for judges to remember, that whatever cause is before them is
God's cause, since right and wrong are at stake in it, and that by acquitting
the guilty, or condemning the innocent, they pass sentence against God himself.
Albertus Magnus, Le Blanc, and Agellius, quoted by Neale and Littledale.
Verse
1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, or, of
God. These words are exegetical, and help to illustrate what he had said before:
God standeth in the congregation of God. What is that? Why he judgeth as
supreme amongst the judges of the world. He stands not as a cipher, or a bare
spectator, but he himself makes one amongst them.
1.
He judgeth actively amongst them. We look upon men, and think the judgment is
theirs, but it is God that exerciseth judgment amongst them.
2.
Passively, he is so in the midst of these earthly gods, that if they do
unjustly he will execute justice on them, and judge the judges of the world;
for though they be great, yet there is a greater than they, to whom they must
shortly give an account. Thomas Hall. 1659-60.
Verse
1. In the congregation. Rulers must understand that they are
not placed over stocks and stones, nor over swine and dogs, but over the
congregation of God: they must therefore be afraid of acting against God
himself when they act unjustly. Martin Luther.
Verse
2. And accept the persons of the wicked. The last clause
exemplifies one of the most peculiar Hebrew idioms. The combination usually
rendered respect persons in the English Bible, and applied to judicial
partiality, means literally to take (or take up) faces.
Some suppose this to mean the raising of the countenance, or causing to look up
from dejection. But the highest philological authorities are now agreed, that
the primary idea is that of accepting one man's face or person rather than
another's, the precise form of expression, though obscure, being probably
derived from the practice of admitting suitors to confer with governors or
rulers, face to face, a privilege which can sometimes only be obtained by
bribes, especially, though not exclusively, in oriental courts. Joseph
Addison Alexander.
Verse
3. It is said of Francis the First, of France, that when a woman
kneeled to him to beg justice, he bade her stand up; for, said he, Woman, it is
justice that I owe thee, and justice thou shalt have; if thou beg anything of
me, let it be mercy. A happy place and people surely, where justice (as it
seemeth), was not extorted, but dropt as kindly as honey from the comb; where
there was no sale of offices, no exchanging of fees, no subtleties of delay, no
trucking for expedition, no making snares of petty and penal statutes: where
Justice had scales in her hand, not to weigh gold, but equity: where judges and
magistrates were as Noah's ark, to take in weary doves, and as the horns of the
altar, for oppressed innocency to betake himself unto; where lawyers,
advocates, pleaders, did not call evil good, or good evil, bitter sweet, etc.,
where plaintiffs and accusers did not inform or persecute through malice, envy,
or for advantage; where subordinate officers durst not help potent delinquents
out of the briars, nor suffer poor men, tempest tossed in law, to languish in
their business within ken of harbour for want of giving a sop to Cerberus, or
sacrificing to the great Diana of expedition; where those setting dogs, such as
base, promoting informers, were not countenanced, and severely punished upon
any false, unjust, or malicious information. To close up all, where the
magistrate owed justice to the people, and paid it; where the people begged for
mercy and had it. William Price. 1642.
Verses
3-4. The touchstone of magistrates' justice is in the causes and cases
of the poor, fatherless, afflicted, and needy, who are not able to
attend long their suits of law, have no friends nor money to deal for them; to
whom, therefore, the mighty should be eyes to direct them, and a staff to their
weakness, to support and help them in their right. David Dickson.
Verse
5. They know not, neither will they understand, etc. Every
judge must have in him (as Baldus actually said) two kinds of salt; the first
is sal scientiae, that he may know his duty; the second is sal
conscientiae, that he may do his duty. Such as fail in the first, are
censured here with a nescierunt, and non intellexerunt; such as
fall in the second, are branded here with an ambulant in tenebris. The
dangers upon this neglect of these duties are two: the one concerning the whole
commonwealth, All the foundations of the earth are out of course; the
other especially touching the private persons of the judges, at the seventh
verse, Ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes, and
after death comes judgment, Ps 82:8: Arise, O God, judge the earth.
Almighty God "standeth in the congregation of princes, and is a judge
among gods; "he sits Chief Justice in every session and assize, to mark
what matters pass, and how they pass, ready to judge those righteously, who
judge others unjustly, "giving wrong judgment, and accepting the persons
of the wicked." Ps 67:4 pros to krithrion tou yeou. Thus I have made the
way plain before you; God infinitely rich in mercy grant, that both I in
speaking, and you in hearing, may walk therein (as the blessed Apostle phraseth
it, Ga 2:14) "with a right foot." They know not, neither will they
understand. That is, they neither know God, who made them gods; nor
yet understand his law, which is a lantern to their feet, and a light to
their paths. Or, as Placidus Parmensis upon the place,—They neither consider
how they that be called gods, as commissioners and ministers of God,
ought to judge others; nor yet remember how they shall be judged themselves at
the last day, when "all the foundations of the world shall be moved,
"and God himself shall "arise to judge the earth." Or, they be
so corrupt and abominable, that they will neither learn what is their office
from others, nor yet understand it by themselves. Or briefly, to give that
gloss (which fits best I think the text, I am sure the time), Nescierunt
quid facti, non intelexerunt quid juris; they were both ignorant in the
matter of fact, as not searching out the cause; and ignorant in the matter of
law, sitting (as Paul said of Ananias) to give judgment according to the law,
and yet commanding that which is contrary to the law. The first concerns a good
deal the jury, the second a great deal the judges; in both are condemned, as
the nurses of all confusions in a commonwealth, ignorantia simplex, and affectata;
simple ignorance, when as they be so shallow that they cannot; affected
ignorance, when as they be so deep, that they will not understand what is right
and reason. John Boys, in "The Judge's Charge," 1618.
Verse
6. Ye are gods, etc. It is, of course, to civil governors,
especially those entrusted with the administration of justice, that the prophet
addresses this stern admonition. He calls them "the gods, "and
"the sons of the Most High." To the people of Israel this kind of
appellation would not seem over bold: for it was applied to judges in well
known texts of the Law of Moses. Thus, in the code of civil statutes delivered
at Sinai, it is said, Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of
thy people. Ex 22:28. Nor is that the only instance of the kind. In two
other passages of the same code (Ex 21:6 22:8-9), the word which our
translators have rendered "the judges" is in the Hebrew, "the
gods, "or "God." Since the ordinary Hebrew word for God (Elohim)
is almost always used in the plural form, it is hard to say whether it ought to
be rendered in these passages in the singular or plural. The meaning is the
same either way. It is a matter of indifference, for example, whether the law
in Ex 21:6, be rendered thus, His (the bondman's) master shall bring him to
the gods; or with the Septuagint, his master shall bring him to the
judgment seat of God. (prosto krithrion tou Teou). In either case the terms
used are plainly meant to imply that the Majesty of God is present in the place
of judgment. As it is said of Solomon that he sat on the throne of the LORD
as King, 1Ch 29:23, so it may be said of every magistrate that he sits in
God's seat. God has put upon him a portion of his own dominion and authority;
and has ordained that he is to be obeyed, not for wrath's sake only, but for
conscience sake. The civil magistrate, in discharging his high function, may
justly claim to govern with a divine right. No one needs to be told that this
old doctrine of the divine right of rulers has been woefully abused.
Sycophantic divines have often made of it a flattering unction for the care of
princes; teaching them that they owed no obedience to the laws; that they were
responsible to none but God for their administration; that any attempt on the
part of the people to curb their tyranny, or to depose them from their seats
when milder measures failed, was rebellion against God whose Viceregents they
were. Even now, the same doctrine occasionally makes itself heard from the
pulpit and the press; and thus men attempt to subject the consciences of the
people to the caprices of tyrants. Let it be carefully observed that the harp
of Asaph lends no sanction to this "right divine of kings to govern
wrong." If the prophet testifies that princes are gods, he includes in the
honour the humblest magistrate. The elders administering justice in the gate of
Bethlehem, though their town be little among the thousands of Judah, sit in
God's seat as truly as King Solomon on his ivory throne in the porch of
judgment at Jerusalem. The common saying that "the divine right of kings
is the divine right of constables, "is a rough way of expressing a Bible
truth. Let this be borne in mind, and no one will allege Scripture in defence
of royal claims to indefeasible and irresponsible authority, or claim for such
authority the sanction of divine right. But while care ought to be taken to
guard the divine right of civl government from abuse, the right itself is not
to be forgotten. The state is an ordinance of God, having, like the family, its
foundations in the very constitution of human nature. The officers of the
state, whether supreme or subordinate, have a divine right to administer
justice in the community over which Providence has placed them. They who resort
to the civil magistrate for judgment, resort to the judgment seat of God; just
as they who resort to the Ministry of the Word resort to the Great Prophet of
the Church. Unless the magistrate had received a commission from God, he could
not lawfully bear the sword. To take the life of an unarmed fellow man, without
a commission from the Most High warranting the act, would be to commit murder. William
Binnie.
Verse
6. In his Lex Rex, Rutherford argues from this psalm that
judges are not the creatures of kings, to execute their pleasure, and do not
derive their power from the monarch, but are authorized by God himself as much
as the king, and are therefore bound to execute justice whether the monarch
desires it or no.
Verse
6. I have said, ye are gods. Princes and judges are gods
(Elohim), on the ground that unto them the word of God came (Joh
10:35), constituting them such. Even here, where God is about to pass sentence
on them, he begins with recognizing their divinely appointed dignity on which
they presumed, as if giving them absolute power to do as they pleased, right or
wrong; forgetting that high office has its duties as well as its dignities.
Sonship is closely allied to kingship and judgeship. These
combined dignities, which by all others have been abused, shall be realized in
all their grandest ideal by the coming King, Judge, and Son of the Most High
(Ps 2:6-7,10-12.) A. R. Fausset.
Verse
6. I have said, ye are gods. As parasites in base flattery
and compliance with their pride, have vainly called some of them so, and as
some princes have most wickedly and blasphemously affected to be called, yea to
be adored, as gods, (God will take highest vengeance upon all those who take
his name upon them, or submit to it when given them), so God himself hath put
his own name upon magistrates, to mind them of their duty, or for a twofold
end: First, that being called gods, they should judge and rule as God doth, or
with a mind like God, free from the mixture of a private or passionate spirit,
and filled with a love to, and a delight in, impartial judgment and righteousness.
Secondly, that being called gods, all men might learn their duty, freely to
submit to them and duly to honour them; seeing any dishonour done to them
reflects upon God whose name they bear. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
6. Gods. It is not Jah or Jehovah, a name of essence,
but Eloah or Elohim, a name of office that is given them. Thomas
Gataker.
Verses
6-7. Ye are gods; there he considered their pomp and dignity: But
ye shall die like men; there he minds their end, that with the change of
his note they might also change countenance. He tells them their honour, but
withal their lot. In power, wealth, train, titles, friends, they differ from
others; in death they differ not from others. They are cold when winter comes,
withered with age, weak with sickness, and melt away with death, as the
meanest: all to ashes. All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as
the flower, 1Pe 1:24: the glory, that is, the best of it, but a flower. No
great difference, the flower shows fairer, the grass stands longer, one scythe
cuts down both. Beasts fat and lean, fed in one pasture, killed in one
slaughter. The prince in his lofty palace, the beggar in his lowly cottage,
have double difference, local and ceremonial height and lowness; yet meet at
the grave, and are mingled in ashes. We walk in this world as a man in a field
of snow; all the way appears smooth, yet cannot we be sure of any step. All are
like actors on a stage, some have one part and some another, death is still
busy amongst us; here drops one of the players, we bury him with sorrow, and to
our scene again: then falls another, yea all, one after another, till death be
left upon the stage. Death is that damp which puts out all the dim lights of
vanity. Yet man is easier to believe that all the world shall die, than to
suspect himself. Thomas Adams.
Verse
7. Ye shall die like men, etc. Even you which glisten like
angels, whom all the world admires, and sues and bows to, which are called
honourable, mighty and gracious lords, I will tell you to what your honour
shall come: first, ye shall wax old like others, then ye shall fall sick, like
others, then ye shall die like others, then ye shall be buried like others,
then ye shall be consumed like others, then ye shall be judged like others,
even like the beggars which cry at your gates: one sickens, the other sickens;
one dies, the other dies; one rots, the other rots: look in the grave, and shew
me which was Dives and which was Lazarus. This is some comfort to the poor,
that once he shall be like the rich; one day he shall be as wealthy, and as
glorious as a king: one hour of death will make all alike; they which crowed
over others, and looked down upon them like oaks, others shall walk upon them
like worms, and they shall be gone as if they had never been. Henry Smith.
Verse
7. Ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
The meditation of death would pull down the plumes of pride; thou art but dust
animated; shall dust and ashes be proud? Thou hast a grassy body, and shall
shortly be mowed down: I have said, ye are gods; but lest they should
grow proud, he adds a corrective: ye shall die like men; ye are dying
gods. Thomas Watson.
Verse
7. And fall like one of the princes. Tyrants seldom go to
their graves in peace. Most of the Caesars fell by the hands of the people, q.d.
If you be like tyrants in sin, expect to be like them in punishment; as I cast
them out of their thrones for their insolence and violence, so will I cast you
out, and you shall fall like one of these tyrannical princes. Thomas Hall.
Verse
7.
1.
Ye shall fall from the highest pinnacle of honour and reputation. The place of
magistracy, which knoweth you now, will know you no more. One of the ancients,
standing by Caesars tomb, crieth out, Ubi nunc pulchritudo Caesaris? quo
abiit magnificentia ejus? Where is now the beauty; what is become of the
magnificence; where are the armies now; where the honours, the triumphs, the
trophies of Caesar? All was gone when Caesar was gone. You honours and your
worships, your power, and your places, all die with you, if not before you.
2.
Ye fall from your greatest treasures and possessions. As ye brought nothing
into the world, so it is certain ye shall carry nothing out of the world. 1Ti
6:7. Saladin, the mighty monarch of the east, is gone, and hath carried no more
along with him than ye see—i.e., a shirt hung up for that purpose—said
the priest that went before the bier.
3.
Ye fall from all your friends and relations; when ye die, they that were near
and dear to you will leave you. George Swinnock.
Verse
7. Impressiveness is a leading characteristic of the
"death" or "fall" of "princes:" such incidents,
from a variety of causes, are most striking. But can the same remark be
commonly made respecting the decease of the children of poverty? Regard being
had to the startling effect which the demise of the potentate is calculated to
produce,—has the departure of the peasant, for example, in itself, the
same tendency to beget solemnity and awe, so that, even under this point of
view, the peasant might be justly affirmed to fall like one of the princes
Indeed, if you think of the outward circumstances attending his last
moments; and then, immediately afterwards, of those which belong to the close
of the life of the dweller in regal or stately halls, there would seem to be
hardly any ground here for instituting the slightest comparison: but I would
have you to associate the man, as he lies on the eve of dissolution, not with
others, his superiors in rank, in a similar case, but with himself,
when, in the full vigour of existence, he walked to and fro, and performed his
own humble but laborious share of this world's business; and, as you
subsequently mark how the great Destroyer has crushed all his energies, and
left but a corpse behind, you will surely admit that there is as wide a
difference between the individual as he was and as he is, as
there can possibly be between the scenes at the death beds, respectively, of
princes and of the poor. Yes, and as impressive a difference too; so
that you have only to allow the exhibition of the striking change to have its
legitimate effect upon the mind, and then, so far as that effect will be
concerned, you may declare of the rural labourer, that "he has fallen
like one of the princes; "seeing that he has given a lesson every whit
as awakening and as emphatic in its admonitions as could the other. Hugh B.
Moffatt, 1861.
Verses
7-8. Your day is coming! The saints are raising the loud cry of Ps
82:8, inviting Messiah, the true God, the Son of the Most High (Joh 10:34), the
Mighty One, the Judge and Ruler, to arise and take his inheritance, for
he is the heir of all things, and to be the true Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar,
Barak, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Samson, and Samuel, who will judge,
or govern and rule, a mismanaged earth. We sing this song of Zion in his ears,
urging him to come quickly; and we sing it to one another in joyful hope, while
the foundations of earth seem out of course, because here we find Messiah
the true Judge of a misgoverned world. Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse
8. Arise, O God. A metaphor taken from the common gesture of
judges, whose usual manner is to sit while they are hearing of cases; to arise
and stand up when they come to give sentence. Thomas Gataker.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1. The sovereignty of God over the most powerful and exalted. How
that sovereignty reveals itself, and what we may expect from it.
Verse
1. The Lord's presence in cabinets and senates.
Verse
2. A common sin. Regard for the persons of men often influences our
judgment of their opinions, virtues, vices, and general bearing; this involves
injustice to others, as well as deep injury to the flattered.
Verse
3. A plea for orphans.
Verse
5.
1.
The characters of wicked princes.
(a)
Ignorance: They know not.
(b) Wilful blindness: Neither will they, etc.
(c) Unrestrained perverseness: They walk on, etc.
2.
The consequences to others: All the foundations, etc.
(a)
Of personal security.
(b) Of social comfort.
(c) Of commercial prosperity.
(d) Of national tranquillity.
(e) Of religious liberty; all are out of course. G. R.
Verse
5. (middle clause). A description of the pilgrimage of
presumptuous sinners.
Verse
6. Ye are gods. The passage in the Old Testament which
involves the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. J. P. Lange.
Verse
8.
1.
The invocation: Arise, etc.
2. The prediction: For thou shalt, etc.—G. R.
WORK UPON THE
EIGHTY-SECOND PSALM
"The
Beauty of Magistracy. An Exposition of Psalm 82." By THOMAS HALL, B.D.
1659-60. (In SWINNOCK'S WORKS. Vol. 4. Nichol's Edition.)
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》